17,887 research outputs found
The discovery and properties of pentaquarks
The pentaquarks are exotic baryons formed of four quarks and an antiquarks.
Their existence has been discussed in the literature over the last 30 years or
more, first in connection with kaon nucleon scattering data. The subject has
been revived by the end of 2002 when experimental evidence of a narrow baryon
of strangeness = + 1, and mass 1530 MeV has been found. This is
interpreted as the lightest member of an SU(3)-flavor antidecuplet. Here we
shall mainly review the predictions of pentaquark properties as e.g. mass, spin
and parity, within constituent quark models.
Both light and heavy pentaquarks will be presented.Comment: Plenary talk, MESON2004 Conference Proceedings, Crakow, June 4-8 200
The Nucleon-Nucleon Potential in the Chromo-Dielectric Soliton Model: Statics
We study the N-N interaction in the framework of the chromo-dielectric
soliton model. Here, the long-range parts of the nonabelian gluon
self-interactions are assumed to give rise to a color-dielectric function which
is parameterized in terms of an effective scalar background field. The
six-quark system is confined in a deformed mean field through an effective
non-linear interaction between the quarks and the scalar field. The CDM is
covariant, respects chiral invariance, leads to absolute color confinement and
is free of the spurious long range Van der Waals forces which trouble
non-relativistic investigations employing a confining potential. Six-quark
molecular-type configurations are generated as a function of deformation and
their energies are evaluated in a coupled channel analysis. By using molecular
states instead of cluster model wave functions, all important six-quark
configurations are properly taken into account. The corresponding Hamiltonian
includes the effective interaction between the quarks and the scalar background
field and quark-quark interactions generated through one gluon exchange treated
in Coulomb gauge. When evaluating the gluonic propagators, the inhomogeneity
and deformation of the dielectric medium are taken into account. Results for
the adiabatic nucleon-nucleon potential are presented, and the various
contributions are discussed. Finally, an outlook is given on how, in the next
stage of our investigation, the dynamical effects will be incorporated by
employing the generator coordinate method.Comment: 43 pages, REVTeX file followed by 11 uuencoded PostScript figures,
DOE/ER/40427-02-N9
New approach to He charge distribution
We present a study of the He charge distribution based on realistic
nucleonic wave functions and incorporation of the nucleon's quark substructure.
The central depression of the proton point density seen in modern four-body
calculations is too small by itself to lead to a correct description of the
charge distribution. We utilize six-quark structures calculated in the
Chromodielectric Model for N-N interactions, and we find a swelling of the
proton charge distribution as the internucleon distance decreases. These charge
distributions are combined with the He wave function using the Independent
Pair Approximation and two-body distributions generated from Green's Function
Monte Carlo calculations. We obtain a reasonably good fit to the experimental
charge distribution without including meson exchange currents.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures (Figures 1 and 2 doesn't exist as
postscript files : they are only available on request
Per operative discovery of Placenta Praevia Percreta: A case report
Placenta percreta is a rare pathological entity with challenging diagnostic and therapeutic requirements especially for resource limited settings. We present here the case of a 40 year old woman with a per operative diagnosis of placenta accreta during a caesarian section indicated for placenta praevia. We highlight the diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties associated with this condition especially in low resource settings. Physicians performing caesarian sections should be prepared for complex intra-operative findings in high risk patients
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Role of topical tretinoin in melanoma and dysplastic nevi.
The retinoids have been investigated extensively as chemopreventive and therapeutic agents in a variety of neoplasms. They have been shown to inhibit the proliferation of transformed cell lines in vitro and transplanted tumors in vivo. In cultured murine melanoma cells, retinoids inhibit proliferation and induce differentiation. Human melanoma cell lines have shown a mixed response. The clinical experience with retinoids in melanoma has been limited. Previously we investigated the activity of topical B-all-trans-retinoic acid (Retin-A, vitamin A acid, retinoic acid, and tretinoin) against intracutaneous metastases from malignant melanoma. We saw complete remission of multiple lesions in one individual and regression of several lesions in a second patient. This experience led us to conduct the present pilot trial of topical tretinoin in dysplastic nevus syndrome. The latter is a precursor of malignant melanoma. We saw regression of some of the treated lesions to benign nevi showing minimal or no dysplasia. Thus topical tretinoin appears to possess some activity against melanoma and at least one of its precursor conditions. In view of these preliminary results, more extensive trials are warranted to better define the role of tretinoin in the chemoprevention of malignant melanoma in high-risk lesions
NN interaction in a Goldstone boson exchange model
Adiabatic nucleon-nucleon potentials are calculated in a six-quark
nonrelativistic chiral constituent quark model where the Hamiltonian contains a
linear confinement and a pseudoscalar meson (Goldstone boson) exchange
interaction between quarks. Calculations are performed both in a cluster model
and a molecular orbital basis, through coupled channels. In both cases the
potentials present an important hard core at short distances, explained through
the dominance of the [51]_{FS} configuration, but do not exhibit an attractive
pocket. We add a scalar meson exchange interaction and show how it can account
for some middle-range attraction.Comment: 32 pages with 12 eps figures incorporated, RevTeX. Final version
published in PR
On passion and moral behavior in achievement settings: The mediating role of pride
The Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) distinguishes two types of passion: harmonious passion (HP) and obsessive passion (OP) that predict adaptive and less adaptive outcomes, respectively. In the present research, we were interested in understanding the role of passion in the adoption of moral behavior in achievement settings. It was predicted that the two facets of pride (authentic and hubristic; Tracy & Robins, 2007) would mediate the passion-moral behavior relationship. Specifically, because people who are passionate about a given activity are highly involved in it, it was postulated that they should typically do well and thus experience high levels of pride when engaged in the activity. However, it was also hypothesized that while both types of passion should be conducive to authentic pride, only OP should lead to hubristic pride. Finally, in line with past research on pride (Carver, Sinclair, & Johnson, 2010; Tracy et al., 2009), only hubristic pride was expected to negatively predict moral behavior, while authentic pride was expected to positively predict moral behavior. Results of two studies conducted with paintball players (N=163, Study 1) and athletes (N=296, Study 2) supported the proposed model. Future research directions are discussed in light of the Dualistic Model of Passion
Fabrication and transport critical currents of multifilamentary MgB2/Fe wires and tapes
Multifilamentary MgB2/Fe wires and tapes with high transport critical current
densities have been fabricated using a straightforward powder-in-tube (PIT)
process. After annealing, we measured transport jc values up to 1.1 * 105 A/cm2
at 4.2 K and in a field of 2 T in a MgB2/Fe square wire with 7 filaments
fabricated by two-axial rolling, and up to 5 * 104 A/cm2 at 4.2 K in 1 T in a
MgB2/Fe tape with 7 filaments. For higher currents these multifilamentary wires
and tapes quenched due to insufficient thermal stability of filaments. Both the
processing routes and deformation methods were found to be important factors
for fabricating multifilamentary MgB2 wires and tapes with high transport jc
values.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
From residue coevolution to protein conformational ensembles and functional dynamics
The analysis of evolutionary amino acid correlations has recently attracted a surge of renewed interest, also due to their successful use in de novo protein native structure prediction. However, many aspects of protein function, such as substrate binding and product release in enzymatic activity, can be fully understood only in terms of an equilibrium ensemble of alternative structures, rather than a single static structure. In this paper we combine coevolutionary data and molecular dynamics simulations to study protein conformational heterogeneity. To that end, we adapt the Boltzmann-learning algorithm to the analysis of homologous protein sequences and develop a coarse-grained protein model specifically tailored to convert the resulting contact predictions to a protein structural ensemble. By means of exhaustive sampling simulations, we analyze the set of conformations that are consistent with the observed residue correlations for a set of representative protein domains, showing that (i) the most representative structure is consistent with the experimental fold and (ii) the various regions of the sequence display different stability, related to multiple biologically relevant conformations and to the cooperativity of the coevolving pairs. Moreover, we show that the proposed protocol is able to reproduce the essential features of a protein folding mechanism as well as to account for regions involved in conformational transitions through the correct sampling of the involved conformers
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