498 research outputs found
Black Hole as a Quantum Field Configuration
We describe 4D evaporating black holes as quantum field configurations by
solving the semi-classical Einstein equation and quantum matter fields in a self-consistent
manner. As the matter fields we consider massless free scalar fields (
is large). We find a spherically symmetric self-consistent solution of the
metric and state . Here, is locally
geometry, and provides , where is the ground state of the
matter fields in the metric and consists of the
excitation of s-waves that describe the collapsing matter and Hawking radiation
with the ingoing negative energy flow. This object is supported by a large
tangential pressure due to the vacuum
fluctuation of the bound modes with large angular momenta. This describes the
interior of the black hole when the back reaction of the evaporation is
considered. The black hole is a compact object with a surface (instead of
horizon) that looks like a conventional black hole from the outside and
eventually evaporates without a singularity. If we count the number of
self-consistent configurations , we reproduce the area law of
the entropy. This tells that the information is carried by the s-waves inside
the black hole. also describes the process that the negative
ingoing energy flow created with Hawking radiation is superposed on the
collapsing matter to decrease the total energy while the total energy density
remains positive. As a special case, we consider conformal matter fields and
show that the interior metric is determined by the matter content of the
theory, which leads to a new constraint to the matter content.Comment: ver4: We added a new paragraph to Sec.2.1. and made Appendix
Interior of Black Holes and Information Recovery
We analyze time evolution of a spherically symmetric collapsing matter from a
point of view that black holes evaporate by nature. We first consider a
spherical thin shell that falls in the metric of an evaporating Schwarzschild
black hole of which the radius decreases in time. The important point is
that the shell can never reach but it approaches . This situation holds at any radius because the motion of a shell
in a spherically symmetric system is not affected by the outside. In this way,
we find that the collapsing matter evaporates without forming a horizon.
Nevertheless, a Hawking-like radiation is created in the metric, and the object
looks the same as a conventional black hole from the outside. We then discuss
how the information of the matter is recovered. We also consider a black hole
that is adiabatically grown in the heat bath and obtain the interior metric. We
show that it is the self-consistent solution of and that the four-dimensional Weyl anomaly induces the
radiation and a strong angular pressure. Finally, we analyze the internal
structures of the charged and the slowly rotating black holes.Comment: Appear in Physical Review D. Typos fixed. References, clarifications
and new appendixes adde
Phenomenological Description of the Interior of the Schwarzschild Black Hole
We discuss a sufficiently large 4-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole which
is in equilibrium with a heat bath. In other words, we consider a black hole
which has grown up from a small one in the heat bath adiabatically. We express
the metric of the interior of the black hole in terms of two functions: One is
the intensity of the Hawking radiation, and the other is the ratio between the
radiation energy and the pressure in the radial direction. Especially in the
case of conformal matters we check that it is a self-consistent solution of the
semi-classical Einstein equation, . It is shown that the strength of the Hawking radiation is
proportional to the c-coefficient, that is, the coefficient of the square of
the Weyl tensor in the 4-dimensional Weyl anomaly.Comment: 10 pages. Detail discussions and references added. Accepted Int. J.
Mod. Phys.
Back Reaction of 4D Conformal Fields on Static Geometry
Static, spherically symmetric solutions to the semi-classical Einstein
equation are studied, including the effect of the quantum energy-momentum
tensor for conformal matters with 4D Weyl anomaly. Through both perturbative
and non-perturbative methods, we show that the quantum effect can play a
crucial role in shaping the near-horizon geometry, and that the existence of
the horizon requires fine-tuning.Comment: 35 pages, minor modificatio
Fusing enzymes to transcription activator LuxR for the rapid creation of metabolite sensors
Metabolite sensors have been applied for high-throughput screening for improved biosynthetic pathways, as well as for dynamic control of the metabolic networks. Obviously, however, current repertoire of natural sensors covers only a small fraction of the known metabolite.
We have been developing the new robust workflow for the rapid creation of metabolite sensors where biosynthetic enzymes can be adopted as the sensory (recognizing) components. Most of the known metabolites act as the direct substrates of some enzymes, and they are recognized and converted by these enzymes in physiologically relevant concentrations. Thus, ever-increasing repertoire of available enzymes is a rich and reliable source of sensory units. We found that the transcription activator LuxR can be fused with various biosynthetic enzymes without losing its function. By adding moderately de-stabilizing mutations, typically by random mutagenesis of the resultant fusion proteins followed by screening a small number (~100) of variants, we could have quickly isolated variants that can activate LuxR-dependent promoter in response to the substrates of the enzymes fused to LuxR. In this presentation, we demonstrate various metabolites can be detected by this manner.
Detailed analysis of the thus-obtained fusion proteins indicated that function of LuxR is dependent on the substrate binding-induced stabilization of the enzymes. The biosensors with this mode of action exhibited various unique features. For instance, we found that the sensitivity (EC50) and dynamic range of these sensors to the target metabolites can be flexibly altered by the concentration of homoserine lactones, the cognate ligand of LuxR, in the media. Also, this provides unique opportunity to indirectly visualizing the substrate-binding to the enzyme in high-throughput manner. Indeed, multi-round mutagenesis and screening of the fusion protein of isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (IDI) with LuxR variant (IDI-LuxR) revealed that many of the mutations that improved sensory performance of IDI-LuxR also elevated the catalytic performance of IDI. Some of such mutations turned out to elevate IDI activity even without fusion partner LuxR. Altogether, by fusing to LuxR, random mutagenesis, and traditional reporter (fluorescence)-based screening, one can not only adopt a variety of biosynthetic enzymes as sensor components but also laboratory evolve their catalytic functions
Ultrasound Stimulation Inhibits Morphological Degeneration of Motor Endplates in the Denervated Skeletal Muscle of Rats
Recovery of motor function after peripheral nerve injury requires treatment of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), as well as the injured nerve and skeletal muscle. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of ultrasound (US) stimulation on NMJ degeneration after denervation using a rat model of peroneal nerve transection. Twelve-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 3 groups: US stimulation, sham stimulation, and intact. US or sham stimulation was performed on the left tibialis anterior (TA) muscle starting the day after peroneal nerve transection for 5 minutes daily under anesthesia. Four weeks later, the number and morphology of the motor endplates were analyzed to assess NMJ in the TA muscle. The endplates were classified as normal, partially fragmented, or fully fragmented for morphometric analysis. In addition, the number of terminal Schwann cells (tSCs) per endplate and percentage of endplates with tSCs (tSC retention percentage) were calculated to evaluate the effect of tSCs on NMJs. Our results showed that endplates degenerated 4 weeks after transection, with a decrease in the normal type and an increase in the fully fragmented type in both the US and sham groups compared to the intact group. Furthermore, the US group showed significant suppression of the normal type decrease and a fully fragmented type increase compared to the sham group. These results suggest that US stimulation inhibits endplate degeneration in denervated TA muscles. In contrast, the number of endplates and tSC and tSC retention percentages were not significantly different between the US and sham groups. Further investigations are required to determine the molecular mechanisms by which US stimulation suppresses degeneration
4D Weyl Anomaly and Diversity of the Interior Structure of Quantum Black Hole
We study the interior metric of 4D spherically symmetric static black holes
by using the semi-classical Einstein equation and find a consistent class of
geometries with large curvatures. We approximate the matter fields by conformal
fields and consider the contribution of 4D Weyl anomaly, giving a
state-independent constraint. Combining this with an equation of state yields
an equation that determines the interior geometry completely. We explore the
solution space of the equation in a non-perturbative manner for . First,
we find three types of asymptotic behaviors and examine the general features of
the solutions. Then, by imposing physical conditions, we obtain approximately a
general class of interior geometries: various combinations of dilute and dense
structures without a horizon or singularity. This represents a diversity of the
interior structure. Finally, we show that the number of possible patterns of
such interior geometries corresponds to the entropy-area law.Comment: 28 pages, many figure
Cardiorespiratory fitness and the incidence of type 2 diabetes: a cohort study of Japanese male athletes
BACKGROUND: In Japan, although the incidence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25) is still low compared with that in Europe and the United States, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased over the last 15 years,. In both Japanese and Caucasian populations it has been reported that a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness protects against the development of type 2 diabetes. However, there are no reports focused specifically on athletes that investigate whether high cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age can prevent disease later in life. We examined the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age and the development of type 2 diabetes in Japanese athletes using a cohort study. METHODS: The cardiorespiratory fitness of male alumni of the physical education department of Juntendo University, as measured by stored data of a 1,500-m endurance run in college (1971–1991) was compared with their incidence of type 2 diabetes as determined by follow-up questionnaires (2007–2009). This study used Cox’s proportional hazards models and adjusted for age, year of graduation, BMI, smoking, and sports club participation at college age. RESULTS: We collected data on cardiorespiratory fitness at college age and medical history survey data during 2007–2009 from 570 male alumni. The median follow-up period was 26 years (IQR: 23–29 years), and 22 men had developed type 2 diabetes. An inverse relationship was observed between incidence of type 2 diabetes and level of cardiorespiratory fitness at time of college after adjustment for age, year of graduation, BMI, smoking, and sports participation. The adjusted hazards ratio and 95% CI by category (low, medium, and high) were 1.00 (reference), 0.40 (0.14–1.13) and 0.26 (0.07–1.00) (p = 0.03 for trend). CONCLUSIONS: A high level of cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age can help prevent type 2 diabetes later in life
Concept of Virtual Incision for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Minimally invasive surgery has been introduced to various surgical fields for its benefits such as smaller scars and less pain as compared to open surgery. Highly skilled surgical techniques are required for surgeons to conduct minimally invasive surgery with fewer ports, whereas minimally invasive surgery has a number of advantages for patients. Single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS), in which surgical instruments and a laparoscope are inserted through a single port, has better cosmetic results than conventional multi-incision surgery; moreover, the scar is invisible when the port is opened in navel. However, instrument collisions and visual defects often occur due to the limited space of the single opening. We propose a new surgical approach entitled “virtual incision” that enables surgeons to increase the number of openings virtually. Using our approach, we have developed two types of master-slave surgical robot systems for SILS—remote-operated and local-operated systems—which have operability close to that of multiple-incision surgery. Through evaluation of these systems, we demonstrated that the visual field and operability during virtual incision surgery are similar to those of conventional multi-incision surgery. Our surgical approach can be applied to not only single-incision surgery but also multi-incision surgery, and is very likely to improve operability
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