8,032 research outputs found
SGR 0418+5729: a low-magnetic-field magnetar
Soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars are a small (but
growing) group of X-ray sources characterized by the emission of short bursts
and by a large variability in their persistent flux. They are believed to be
magnetars, i.e. neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields 1E14-1E15 G).
We found evidence for a magnetar with a low magnetic field, SGR 0418+5729,
recently detected after it emitted bursts similar to those of soft gamma-ray
repeaters. New X-ray observations show that its dipolar magnetic field cannot
be greater than 8E12 G, well in the range of ordinary radio pulsars, implying
that a high surface dipolar magnetic field is not necessarily required for
magnetar-like activity. The magnetar population may thus include objects with a
wider range of magnetic-field strengths, ages and evolutionary stages than
observed so far.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of the Pulsar
Conference 2010, Chia, Sardinia (Italy), 10-15 October 201
Imaging of brain metabolism with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in connection with the pathophysiology of focal brain diseases
Imaging of brain metabolism with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in connection with the pathophysiology of focal brain diseases
Imaging of brain metabolism with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in connection with the pathophysiology of focal brain diseases
Imaging of brain metabolism with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in connection with the pathophysiology of focal brain diseases
The Effect of Steroid Treatment on Lipocortin Immunoreactivity of Rat Brain
Lipocortin-1, lipocortin-2 and lipocortin-5 were
immunohistochemically assessed in rats. Apart from animals receiving
no treatment, other animals received pretreatment with
methylprednisolone, or the 21-aminosteroid U-74389F. Whereas
Hpocortin immunoreactivity was absent in the greater part of the
brain in animals not pretreated with steroid (except in sporadic
microglial cells and choroid plexus), there was obvious
immunostaining of parenchymatous elements in steroid pretreated
animals. In the steroid pretreated animals lipocortin
immunoreactivity of the brain tissue may indicate local formation of
lipocortin under the influence of steroids that had entered the
tissue. The cellular elements which showed immunostaining included
meningeal cells, neurones, ependyma, oligodendroglia and capillary
endotheHum
Induction of annexin-1 at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level in rat brain by methylprednisolone and the 21-aminosteroid U74389F
Brain tissue of rats pretreated with methylprednisolone or with the 21-aminosteroid U74389F, and that of untreated control rats, was assessed for the expression of annexin-1 (Anx-1) and the transcription of its mRNA. For this purpose Anx-1 cDNA was amplified and simultaneously a T7-RNA-polymerase promoter was incorporated into the cDNA using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Then digoxigenin-11-UTP was incorporated into the transcribed cRNA with T7-RNA-polymerase. With this probe in situ hybridization was carried out on sections of the brain. The probe was visualized by an immunoassay using an antidigoxigenin antibody conjugate. Anx-1 protein was assessed by means of immunohistochemistry using a polyclonal antibody. The various brain areas of the control animals showed an appreciable amount of Anx-1 at mRNA or protein level; on the other hand, the animals which had been pretreated with either steroid, showed a more intense Anx-1 mRNA signal than the controls in many areas. In the pretreated animals Anx-1 immunostaining was unchanged in cortex, basal ganglia, amygdala and septum, but more intense in hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus. In ependyma, choroid plexus, meninges, and vascular walls there was no Anx-1 mRNA transcription detectable. An opposite profile was shown by the Anx-1 immunoreactivity, the protein was present in control animals as well as the steroid-pretreated animals, suggesting that here the protein was either from systemic origin, or has diffused from adjacent structures. The results indicated that Anx-1 mRNA transcription is upregulated by either steroid, and that in the untreated animals there is a resting level of Anx-1 mRNA transcription, presumably reflecting physiological influences on Anx-1 expression
Fusion Operators in the Generalized -model and Root-of-unity Symmetry of the XXZ Spin Chain of Higher Spin
We construct the fusion operators in the generalized -model using
the fused -operators, and verify the fusion relations with the truncation
identity. The algebraic Bethe ansatz discussion is conducted on two special
classes of which include the superintegrable chiral Potts model.
We then perform the parallel discussion on the XXZ spin chain at roots of
unity, and demonstrate that the -loop-algebra symmetry exists for the
root-of-unity XXZ spin chain with a higher spin, where the evaluation
parameters for the symmetry algebra are identified by the explicit
Fabricius-McCoy current for the Bethe states. Parallels are also drawn to the
comparison with the superintegrable chiral Potts model.Comment: Latex 33 Pages; Typos and errors corrected, New improved version by
adding explanations for better presentation. Terminology in the content and
the title refined. References added and updated-Journal versio
Protocol for studying cough frequency in people with pulmonary tuberculosis.
INTRODUCTION: Cough is a key symptom of tuberculosis (TB) as well as the main cause of transmission. However, a recent literature review found that cough frequency (number of coughs per hour) in patients with TB has only been studied once, in 1969. The main aim of this study is to describe cough frequency patterns before and after the start of TB treatment and to determine baseline factors that affect cough frequency in these patients. Secondarily, we will evaluate the correlation between cough frequency and TB microbiological resolution. METHODS: This study will select participants with culture confirmed TB from 2 tertiary hospitals in Lima, Peru. We estimated that a sample size of 107 patients was sufficient to detect clinically significant changes in cough frequency. Participants will initially be evaluated through questionnaires, radiology, microscopic observation drug susceptibility broth TB-culture, auramine smear microscopy and cough recordings. This cohort will be followed for the initial 60 days of anti-TB treatment, and throughout the study several microbiological samples as well as 24 h recordings will be collected. We will describe the variability of cough episodes and determine its association with baseline laboratory parameters of pulmonary TB. In addition, we will analyse the reduction of cough frequency in predicting TB cure, adjusted for potential confounders. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained from the ethics committees at each participating hospital in Lima, Peru, Asociación Benéfica PRISMA in Lima, Peru, the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. We aim to publish and disseminate our findings in peer-reviewed journals. We also expect to create and maintain an online repository for TB cough sounds as well as the statistical analysis employed
Simple models of protein folding and of non--conventional drug design
While all the information required for the folding of a protein is contained
in its amino acid sequence, one has not yet learned how to extract this
information to predict the three--dimensional, biologically active, native
conformation of a protein whose sequence is known. Using insight obtained from
simple model simulations of the folding of proteins, in particular of the fact
that this phenomenon is essentially controlled by conserved (native) contacts
among (few) strongly interacting ("hot"), as a rule hydrophobic, amino acids,
which also stabilize local elementary structures (LES, hidden, incipient
secondary structures like --helices and --sheets) formed early
in the folding process and leading to the postcritical folding nucleus (i.e.,
the minimum set of native contacts which bring the system pass beyond the
highest free--energy barrier found in the whole folding process) it is possible
to work out a succesful strategy for reading the native structure of designed
proteins from the knowledge of only their amino acid sequence and of the
contact energies among the amino acids. Because LES have undergone millions of
years of evolution to selectively dock to their complementary structures, small
peptides made out of the same amino acids as the LES are expected to
selectively attach to the newly expressed (unfolded) protein and inhibit its
folding, or to the native (fluctuating) native conformation and denaturate it.
These peptides, or their mimetic molecules, can thus be used as effective
non--conventional drugs to those already existing (and directed at neutralizing
the active site of enzymes), displaying the advantage of not suffering from the
uprise of resistance
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