190 research outputs found
Novel Vitamin D Analogs for Prostate Cancer Therapy
Prostate cells contain specific receptors for 1Ī±,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1Ī±,25(OH)2D] or calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D. 1Ī±,25(OH)2D is known to inhibit the proliferation and invasiveness of prostate cancer cells. These findings support the use of 1Ī±,25(OH)2D for prostate cancer therapy. However, 1Ī±,25(OH)2D can cause hypercalcemia, analogs of 1Ī±,25(OH)2D that are less calcemic but exhibit potent antiproliferative activity would be attractive as therapeutic agents. To accomplish these goals, different strategies, based on metabolism, molecular mechanism of actions, and structural modeling, have been taken to modify the structure of vitamin D molecule with the aims to improve the efficacy and decrease the toxicity of vitamin D to treat different diseases. During the past four decades, over 3,000 analogs have been synthesized. In this paper, we discuss the development and the biological analysis of a unique class of vitamin D analogs with a substitution at the carbon 2 of 19-nor-1Ī±,25(OH)2D3 molecule for potential application to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer as well as other cancers
Determining the Surface-To-Bulk Progression in the Normal-State Electronic Structure of Sr2RuO4 by Angle-Resolved Photoemission and Density Functional Theory
In search of the potential realization of novel normal-state phases on the
surface of Sr2RuO4 - those stemming from either topological bulk properties or
the interplay between spin-orbit coupling (SO) and the broken symmetry of the
surface - we revisit the electronic structure of the top-most layers by ARPES
with improved data quality as well as ab-initio LDA slab calculations. We find
that the current model of a single surface layer (\surd2x\surd2)R45{\deg}
reconstruction does not explain all detected features. The observed
depth-dependent signal degradation, together with the close quantitative
agreement with LDA+SO slab calculations based on the LEED-determined surface
crystal structure, reveal that (at a minimum) the sub-surface layer also
undergoes a similar although weaker reconstruction. This points to a
surface-to-bulk progression of the electronic states driven by structural
instabilities, with no evidence for Dirac and Rashba-type states or surface
magnetism.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Further information and PDF available
at: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~quantmat/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/articles.htm
Airborne dust distributions over the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas derived from the first year of CALIPSO lidar observations
International audienceAirborne dust is a major environmental hazard in Asia. Using an analysis of the first full year of CALIPSO lidar measurements, this paper derives unprecedented, altitude-resolved seasonal distributions of desert dust transported over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the surrounding areas. The CALIPSO lidar observations include numerous large dust plumes over the northern slope and eastern part of the TP, with the largest number of dust events occurring in the spring of 2007, and some layers being lofted to altitudes of 10 km and higher. Generation of the Tibetan airborne dusts appears to be largely associated with source regions to the north and on the eastern part of the plateau. Examination of the CALIPSO time history reveals an "airborne dust corridor" due to the eastward transport of dusts originating primarily in these source areas. This corridor extends from west to east and shows a seasonality largely modulated by the TP through its dynamical and thermal forcing on the atmospheric flows. On the southern side, desert dust particles originate predominately in North India and Pakistan. The dust transport occurs primarily in dry seasons around the TP western and southern slopes and dust particles become mixed with local polluted aerosols. No significant amount of dust appears to be transported over the Himalayas. Extensive forward trajectory simulations are also conducted to confirm the dust transport pattern from the nearby sources observed by the CALIPSO lidar
Using Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar Data to Evaluate Combined Active Plus Passive Retrievals of Aerosol Extinction Profiles
Aerosol extinction profiles are derived from backscatter data by constraining the retrieval with column aerosol optical thickness (AOT), for example from coincident MODIS observations and without reliance on a priori assumptions about aerosol type or optical properties. The backscatter data were acquired with the NASA Langley High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL). The HSRL also simultaneously measures extinction independently, thereby providing an ideal data set for evaluating the constrained retrieval of extinction from backscatter. We will show constrained extinction retrievals using various sources of column AOT, and examine comparisons with the HSRL extinction measurements and with a similar retrieval using data from the CALIOP lidar on the CALIPSO satellite
Chemical data assimilation estimates of continental U.S. ozone and nitrogen budgets during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-North America
Global ozone analyses, based on assimilation of stratospheric profile and ozone column measurements, and NOy predictions from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) are used to estimate the ozone and NOy budget over the continental United States during the July-August 2004 Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-North America (INTEX-A). Comparison with aircraft, satellite, surface, and ozonesonde measurements collected during INTEX-A show that RAQMS captures the main features of the global and continental U.S. distribution of tropospheric ozone, carbon monoxide, and NOy with reasonable fidelity. Assimilation of stratospheric profile and column ozone measurements is shown to have a positive impact on the RAQMS upper tropospheric/lower stratosphere ozone analyses, particularly during the period when SAGE III limb scattering measurements were available. Eulerian ozone and NOy budgets during INTEX-A show that the majority of the continental U.S. export occurs in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere poleward of the tropopause break, a consequence of convergence of tropospheric and stratospheric air in this region. Continental U.S. photochemically produced ozone was found to be a minor component of the total ozone export, which was dominated by stratospheric ozone during INTEX-A. The unusually low photochemical ozone export is attributed to anomalously cold surface temperatures during the latter half of the INTEX-A mission, which resulted in net ozone loss during the first 2 weeks of August. Eulerian NOy budgets are shown to be very consistent with previously published estimates. The NOy export efficiency was estimated to be 24%, with NOx + PAN accounting for 54% of the total NOy export during INTEX-A. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union
Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4
This review presents a summary and evaluations of the superconducting
properties of the layered ruthenate Sr2RuO4 as they are known in the autumn of
2011. This paper appends the main progress that has been made since the
preceding review by Mackenzie and Maeno was published in 2003. Here, special
focus is placed on the critical evaluation of the spin-triplet, odd-parity
pairing scenario applied to Sr2RuO4. After an introduction to superconductors
with possible odd-parity pairing, accumulated evidence for the pairing symmetry
of Sr2RuO4 is examined. Then, significant recent progress on the theoretical
approaches to the superconducting pairing by Coulomb repulsion is reviewed. A
section is devoted to some experimental properties of Sr2RuO4 that seem to defy
simple explanations in terms of currently available spin-triplet scenario. The
next section deals with some new developments using eutectic boundaries and
micro-crystals, which reveals novel superconducting phenomena related to chiral
edge states, odd-frequency pairing states, and half-fluxoid states. Some of
these properties are intimately connected with the properties as a topological
superconductor. The article concludes with a summary of knowledge emerged from
the study of Sr2RuO4 that are now more widely applied to understand the physics
of other unconventional superconductors, as well as with a brief discussion of
relatively unexplored but promising areas of ongoing and future studies of
Sr2RuO4.Comment: 31 pages, 35 figures, published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. as a review
article of Special Topic
Dislocations and the enhancement of superconductivity in odd-parity superconductor SrRuO
We report observation of the enhancement of superconductivity near lattice
dislocations and the absence of the strengthening of vortex pinning in
odd-parity superconductor SrRuO, both surprising results in direct
contrast to the well known sensitivity of superconductivity in SrRuO to
disorder. The enhanced superconductivity appears to be related fundamentally to
the two-component nature of the superconducting order parameter, as revealed in
our phenomenological theory taking into account the effect of symmetry
reduction near a dislocation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
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