309 research outputs found
Slater to Mott crossover in the metal to insulator transition of Nd2Ir2O7
We present an angle-resolved photoemission study of the electronic structure
of the three-dimensional pyrochlore iridate Nd2Ir2O7 through its magnetic
metal-insulator transition. Our data reveal that metallic Nd2Ir2O7 has a
quadratic band, touching the Fermi level at the Gamma point, similarly to that
of Pr2Ir2O7. The Fermi node state is, therefore, a common feature of the
metallic phase of the pyrochlore iridates. Upon cooling below the transition
temperature, this compound exhibits a gap opening with an energy shift of
quasiparticle peaks like a band gap insulator. The quasiparticle peaks are
strongly suppressed, however, with further decrease of temperature, and
eventually vanish at the lowest temperature, leaving a non-dispersive flat band
lacking long-lived electrons. We thereby identify a remarkable crossover from
Slater to Mott insulators with decreasing temperature. These observations
explain the puzzling absence of Weyl points in this material, despite its
proximity to the zero temperature metal-insulator transition
Spin-polarized Dirac-cone-like surface state with character at W(110)
The surface of W(110) exhibits a Dirac-cone-like surface state with
character within a spin-orbit-induced symmetry gap. As a function of wave
vector parallel to the surface, it shows nearly massless energy dispersion and
a pronounced spin polarization, which is antisymmetric with respect to the
Brillouin zone center. In addition, the observed constant energy contours are
strongly anisotropic for all energies. This discovery opens new pathways to the
study of surface spin-density waves arising from a strong Fermi surface nesting
as well as -electron-based topological properties.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Soliton excitations in halogen-bridged mixed-valence binuclear metal complexes
Motivated by recent stimulative observations in halogen (X)-bridged binuclear
transition-metal (M) complexes, which are referred to as MMX chains, we study
solitons in a one-dimensional three-quarter-filled charge-density-wave system
with both intrasite and intersite electron-lattice couplings. Two distinct
ground states of MMX chains are reproduced and the soliton excitations on them
are compared. In the weak-coupling region, all the solitons are degenerate to
each other and are uniquely scaled by the band gap, whereas in the
strong-coupling region, they behave differently deviating from the scenario in
the continuum limit. The soliton masses are calculated and compared with those
for conventional mononuclear MX chains.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures embedded, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn.
71, No. 1 (2002
Combined effects of a third-generation bisphosphonate, zoledronic acid with other anticancer agents against murine osteosarcoma
Bisphosphonates (BPs) are widely used to treat bone diseases and also appear to possess direct antitumour activity. We have previously reported that third-generation BPs such as zoledronic acid (ZOL) and minodronic acid (YM529) synergistically augment the effects of anticancer agents in various cancer cells. Recently, we have also reported the antitumour effects of YM529 on murine osteosarcoma cells. As YM529 has not been clinically available, we herein focused on the anti-osteosarcoma effects of ZOL which is clinically available. In addition to ZOL alone, we evaluated the concurrent or sequential combined effects of ZOL with other anticancer agents against murine osteosarcoma cell lines. ZOL showed almost same anti-osteosarcoma activity compared with YM529 and more sensitive growth inhibitory effects against osteosarcoma cells than normal cells. Moreover, ZOL acted synergistically in vitro when administered concurrently with paclitaxel (PAC) or gemcitabine (GEM), not only in wild-type osteosarcoma cells but also in P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-overexpressing osteosarcoma cells, which were much less sensitive against each anticancer agent. Furthermore, 24 h of ZOL pretreatment significantly augmented the sensitivity of doxorubicin (DOX), PAC or GEM against osteosarcoma cells. These findings suggest that combined administration of ZOL with other anticancer agents may improve the osteosarcoma treatment
Monoclonal antibody induced with inactived EV71-Hn2 virus protects mice against lethal EV71-Hn2 virus infection
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a viral pathogen that belongs to the <it>Picornaviridae </it>family, EV71-infected children can develop severe neurological complications leading to rapid clinical deterioration and death.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, several monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced by immunizing mice with the inactived EV71 Henan (Hn2) virus strain. The isolated MAbs were characterised by <it>in vitro </it>neutralizing analysis and peptide ELISA. ELISA assay showed that the neutralizing monoclonal antibody 4E8 specifically reacted with synthetic peptides which contain amino acid 240-250 and 250-260 of EV71 VP1. The <it>in vivo </it>protection assay showed that 4E8 can protect two-day-old BALB/c mice against the lethal challenge of EV71 virus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The MAb 4E8 could be a promising candidate to be humanized and used for treatment of EV71 infection.</p
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