2,090 research outputs found
Ice: a strongly correlated proton system
We discuss the problem of proton motion in Hydrogen bond materials with
special focus on ice. We show that phenomenological models proposed in the past
for the study of ice can be recast in terms of microscopic models in close
relationship to the ones used to study the physics of Mott-Hubbard insulators.
We discuss the physics of the paramagnetic phase of ice at 1/4 filling (neutral
ice) and its mapping to a transverse field Ising model and also to a gauge
theory in two and three dimensions. We show that H3O+ and HO- ions can be
either in a confined or deconfined phase. We obtain the phase diagram of the
problem as a function of temperature T and proton hopping energy t and find
that there are two phases: an ordered insulating phase which results from an
order-by-disorder mechanism induced by quantum fluctuations, and a disordered
incoherent metallic phase (or plasma). We also discuss the problem of
decoherence in the proton motion introduced by the lattice vibrations (phonons)
and its effect on the phase diagram. Finally, we suggest that the transition
from ice-Ih to ice-XI observed experimentally in doped ice is the
confining-deconfining transition of our phase diagram.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
Caloric restriction, aerobic exercise training and soluble lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 levels in overweight and obese post-menopausal women
Background—Elevated circulating levels of soluble lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (sLOX-1) have been observed in obese persons and are reduced by weight loss. However, it is not known if combining caloric restriction (CR) with exercise training is better in reducing sLOX-1 levels than CR alone.
Objective—We examined whether the addition of aerobic exercise to a weight loss intervention differentially affects sLOX-1 levels in 61 abdominally obese postmenopausal women randomly assigned to a CR only (n=22), CR + moderate-intensity exercise (n=22), or CR + vigorous intensity exercise (n=17) intervention for 20 weeks. The caloric deficit was ~2,800 kcal/week for all groups.
Results—The intervention groups were similar at baseline with respect to body weight, body composition, lipids, and blood pressure. However, plasma sLOX-1 levels were higher in the CR only group (99.90 ± 8.23 pg/ml) compared to both the CR + moderate-intensity exercise (69.39 ± 8.23 pg/ml, p=0.01) and CR + vigorous-intensity exercise (72.83 ± 9.36 pg/ml, p=0.03) groups. All three interventions significantly reduced body weight (~14%), body fat, and waist and hip circumferences to a similar degree. These changes were accompanied by a 23% reduction in sLOX-1 levels overall (−19.00 ± 30.08 pg/ml, p\u3c0.0001), which did not differ among intervention groups (p=0.13). Changes in body weight, body fat, and VO2 max were not correlated with changes in sLOX-1 levels. In multiple regression analyses in all women combined, baseline sLOX-1 levels (β = − 0.70 ± 0.06, p\u3c0.0001), age (β = 0.92 ± 0.43, p=0.03) and baseline BMI (β = 1.88 ± 0.66, p=0.006) were independent predictors of the change in sLOX-1 with weight loss.
Conclusions—Weight loss interventions of equal energy deficit have similar effects on sLOX-1 levels in overweight and obese postmenopausal women, with the addition of aerobic exercise having no added benefit when performed in conjunction with CR
A Compact Gas Cerenkov Detector with Novel Optics
We discuss the design and performance of a threshold Cerenkov counter for
identification of charged hadrons. The radiator is pressurized gas, which is
contained in thin-walled cylindrical modules. A mirror system of novel design
transports Cerenkov photons to photomultiplier tubes. This system is compact,
contains relatively little material, and has a large fraction of active volume.
A prototype of a module designed for the proposed CLEO III detector has been
studied using cosmic rays. Results from these studies show good agreement with
a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the module and indicate that it should
achieve separation of pions and kaons at the 2.5-3.0sigma level in the momentum
range 0.8-2.8 GeV/c. We predict performance for specific physics analyses using
a GEANT-based simulation package.Comment: Submitted to NIM. 23 pages, 11 postscript figures. Postscript file is
also available at http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/199
Determination of astrophysical 12N(p,g)13O reaction rate from the 2H(12N, 13O)n reaction and its astrophysical implications
The evolution of massive stars with very low-metallicities depends critically
on the amount of CNO nuclides which they produce. The
N(,\,)O reaction is an important branching point in
the rap-processes, which are believed to be alternative paths to the slow
3 process for producing CNO seed nuclei and thus could change the fate
of massive stars. In the present work, the angular distribution of the
H(N,\,O) proton transfer reaction at =
8.4 MeV has been measured for the first time. Based on the Johnson-Soper
approach, the square of the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) for the
virtual decay of O N + was
extracted to be 3.92 1.47 fm from the measured angular
distribution and utilized to compute the direct component in the
N(,\,)O reaction. The direct astrophysical S-factor at
zero energy was then found to be 0.39 0.15 keV b. By considering the
direct capture into the ground state of O, the resonant capture via the
first excited state of O and their interference, we determined the total
astrophysical S-factors and rates of the N(,\,)O
reaction. The new rate is two orders of magnitude slower than that from the
REACLIB compilation. Our reaction network calculations with the present rate
imply that N()O will only compete successfully with
the decay of N at higher (two orders of magnitude)
densities than initially predicted.Comment: 8 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to Physical Review
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Foxc1 is required by pericytes during fetal brain angiogenesis
Summary Brain pericytes play a critical role in blood vessel stability and blood–brain barrier maturation. Despite this, how brain pericytes function in these different capacities is only beginning to be understood. Here we show that the forkhead transcription factor Foxc1 is expressed by brain pericytes during development and is critical for pericyte regulation of vascular development in the fetal brain. Conditional deletion of Foxc1 from pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells leads to late-gestation cerebral micro-hemorrhages as well as pericyte and endothelial cell hyperplasia due to increased proliferation of both cell types. Conditional Foxc1 mutants do not have widespread defects in BBB maturation, though focal breakdown of BBB integrity is observed in large, dysplastic vessels. qPCR profiling of brain microvessels isolated from conditional mutants showed alterations in pericyte-expressed proteoglycans while other genes previously implicated in pericyte–endothelial cell interactions were unchanged. Collectively these data point towards an important role for Foxc1 in certain brain pericyte functions (e.g. vessel morphogenesis) but not others (e.g. barriergenesis)
Spatial control of translation repression and polarized growth by conserved NDR kinase Orb6 and RNA-binding protein Sts5
© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in eLife 5 (2016): e14216, doi:10.7554/eLife.14216.RNA-binding proteins contribute to the formation of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules by phase transition, but regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Conserved fission yeast NDR (Nuclear Dbf2-Related) kinase Orb6 governs cell morphogenesis in part by spatially controlling Cdc42 GTPase. Here we describe a novel, independent function for Orb6 kinase in negatively regulating the recruitment of RNA-binding protein Sts5 into RNPs to promote polarized cell growth. We find that Orb6 kinase inhibits Sts5 recruitment into granules, its association with processing (P) bodies, and degradation of Sts5-bound mRNAs by promoting Sts5 interaction with 14-3-3 protein Rad24. Many Sts5-bound mRNAs encode essential factors for polarized cell growth, and Orb6 kinase spatially and temporally controls the extent of Sts5 granule formation. Disruption of this control system affects cell morphology and alters the pattern of polarized cell growth, revealing a role for Orb6 kinase in the spatial control of translational repression that enables normal cell morphogenesis.Work in FV’s laboratory is supported by the National Institutes of Health R01 grant number GM095867. Part of this work was also supported by NSF grant 0745129. TT was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science grants 16H02503 and 16K14672 and by Cancer Research UK
Significance of Off-Center Rattling for Emerging Low-lying THz Modes in type-I Clathrates
We show that the distinct differences of low-lying THz-frequency dynamics
between type-I clathrates with on-center and off-center guest ions naturally
follow from a theoretical model taking into account essential features of the
dynamics of rattling guest ions. Our model analysis demonstrates the drastic
change from the conventional dynamics shown by on-center systems to the
peculiar dynamics of off-center systems in a unified manner. We claim that
glass-like plateau thermal conductivities observed for off-center systems stem
from the flattening of acoustic phonon dispersion in the regime |k|<|G|/4. The
mechanism is applicable to other systems such as glasses or relaxers
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