2,016 research outputs found
Residual interaction effects on deeply bound pionic states in Sn and Pb isotopes
We have studied the residual interaction effects theoretically on the deeply
bound pionic states in Pb and Sn isotopes. We need to evaluate the residual
interaction effects carefully in order to deduce the nuclear medium effects for
pion properties, which are believed to provide valuable information on nuclear
chiral dynamics. The s- and p-wave interactions are used for the
pion-nucleon residual interactions. We show that the complex energy shifts are
around [(10-20)+i(2-7)]keV for 1s states in Sn, which should be taken into
account in the analyses of the high precision data of deeply bound pionic
states in Sn isotopes.Comment: REVTEX4, 6 pages, 5 tables, Submitted to Phys. Rev. C, Some
explanations are added in Version
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
High-precision CTE measurement of hybrid C/SiC composite for cryogenic space telescopes
This paper presents highly precise measurements of thermal expansion of a
"hybrid" carbon-fiber reinforced silicon carbide composite,
HB-Cesic\textregistered - a trademark of ECM, in the temperature region of
\sim310-10K. Whilst C/SiC composites have been considered to be promising for
the mirrors and other structures of space-borne cryogenic telescopes, the
anisotropic thermal expansion has been a potential disadvantage of this
material. HB-Cesic\textregistered is a newly developed composite using a
mixture of different types of chopped, short carbon-fiber, in which one of the
important aims of the development was to reduce the anisotropy. The
measurements indicate that the anisotropy was much reduced down to 4% as a
result of hybridization. The thermal expansion data obtained are presented as
functions of temperature using eighth-order polynomials separately for the
horizontal (XY-) and vertical (Z-) directions of the fabrication process. The
average CTEs and their dispersion (1{\sigma}) in the range 293-10K derived from
the data for the XY- and Z-directions were 0.8050.003\times10
K and 0.837\pm0.001\times10 K, respectively. The absolute
accuracy and the reproducibility of the present measurements are suggested to
be better than 0.01\times10 K and 0.001\times(10)^{-6} K^{-1},
respectively. The residual anisotropy of the thermal expansion was consistent
with our previous speculation regarding carbon-fiber, in which the residual
anisotropy tended to lie mainly in the horizontal plane.Comment: Accepted by Cryogeincs. 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabll
Pharmacology of novel treatments for COPD: are fixed dose combination LABA/LAMA synergistic?
Benefit of adjuvant immunotherapy in renal cell carcinoma: A myth or a reality?
Background The benefit of adjuvant immunotherapy after nephrectomy in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is controversial. The present study aimed to examine the possible benefit of adjuvant immunotherapy in various clinical settings. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 436 patients with pT1-3N0-2M0 RCC who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy with curative intent at our institution between 1981 and 2009. Of them, 98 (22.5%) patients received adjuvant interferon-α (IFN-α) after surgery (adjuvant IFN-α group), while 338 (77.5%) did not (control group). The primary endpoint was cancer-specific survival (CSS). Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models, respectively. Results Fifty-two (11.9%) patients died from RCC with a median follow-up period of 96 months. Preliminary univariate analyses comparing CSS among treatment groups in each TNM setting revealed that CSS in the control group was equal or superior to that in the adjuvant IFN-α group in earlier stages, while the opposite trend was observed in more advanced stages. We evaluated the TNM cutoffs and demonstrated maximized benefit of adjuvant IFN-α in patients with pT2b-3cN0 (P = 0.0240). In multivariate analysis, ôpT3 and pN1-2 were independent predictors for poor CSS in all patients. In the subgroups with ôpT2 disease (n = 123), pN1-2 and no adjuvant treatment were significant poor prognostic factors. Conclusions Adjuvant immunotherapy after nephrectomy may be beneficial in pT2b-3cN0 RCC. Careful consideration is, however, required for interpretation of this observational study because of its selection bias and adverse effects of IFN-α
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
Foxc Transcription Factors Directly Regulate Dll4 and Hey2 Expression by Interacting with the VEGF-Notch Signaling Pathways in Endothelial Cells
Recent studies have shown that in the developing embryo, arterial and venous identity is established by genetic mechanisms before circulation begins. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling and its downstream Notch pathway play critical roles in arterial cell fate determination. We have recently shown that Foxc1 and Foxc2, two closely related Fox transcription factors, are essential for arterial cell specification during development by directly inducing the transcription of Delta-like 4 (Dll4), a ligand for Notch receptors. However, the basic mechanisms whereby the VEGF and Notch signaling pathways control transcriptional regulation of arterial-specific genes have yet to be elucidated.In the current study, we examined whether and how Foxc transcription factors are involved in VEGF and Notch signaling in induction of Dll4 as well as the Notch target gene Hey2 in endothelial cells. We found that Foxc1 and Foxc2 directly activate the Hey2 promoter via Foxc binding elements. Significantly, Foxc2 physically and functionally interacts with a Notch transcriptional activation complex containing Su(H) and Notch intracellular domain to induce Hey2 promoter activity. Moreover, activation of the Dll4 and Hey2 promoters is induced by VEGF in conjunction with either Foxc1 or Foxc2 more than by either component alone. VEGF-activated PI3K and ERK intracellular pathways modulate the transcriptional activity of Foxc proteins in Dll4 and Hey2 induction.Our new findings demonstrate that Foxc transcriptional factors interact with VEGF and Notch signaling to regulate arterial gene expression in multiple steps of the VEGF-Dll4-Notch-Hey2 signaling pathway
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