Transport through correlated quantum dots: An investigation using the functional renormalization group

Calculations using the (exact) fermionic functional renormalization group are usually truncated at the second order of the corresponding hierarchy of coupled ordinary differential equations. We present a method for the systematic determination of higher order vertex functions. This method is applied to a study of transport properties of various correlated quantum dot systems. It is shown that for large Coulomb correlations higher order vertex functions cannot be neglected, and a static approximation is insufficient.Comment: 10 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

The Expression and Localization of N-Myc Downstream-Regulated Gene 1 in Human Trophoblasts

The protein N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) is implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, and cellular stress response. NDRG1 is expressed in primary human trophoblasts, where it promotes cell viability and resistance to hypoxic injury. The mechanism of action of NDRG1 remains unknown. To gain further insight into the intracellular action of NDRG1, we analyzed the expression pattern and cellular localization of endogenous NDRG1 and transfected Myc-tagged NDRG1 in human trophoblasts exposed to diverse injuries. In standard conditions, NDRG1 was diffusely expressed in the cytoplasm at a low level. Hypoxia or the hypoxia mimetic cobalt chloride, but not serum deprivation, ultraviolet (UV) light, or ionizing radiation, induced the expression of NDRG1 in human trophoblasts and the redistribution of NDRG1 into the nucleus and cytoplasmic membranes associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and microtubules. Mutation of the phosphopantetheine attachment site (PPAS) within NDRG1 abrogated this pattern of redistribution. Our results shed new light on the impact of cell injury on NDRG1 expression patterns, and suggest that the PPAS domain plays a key role in NDRG1's subcellular distribution. © 2013 Shi et al

Photoperiod affects the phenotype of mitochondrial complex I mutants

Plant mutants for genes encoding subunits of mitochondrial Complex I (CI, NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase), the first enzyme of the respiratory chain, display various phenotypes depending on growth conditions. Here, we examined the impact of photoperiod, a major environmental factor controlling plant development, on two Arabidopsis thaliana CI mutants: a new insertion mutant interrupted in both ndufs8.1 and ndufs8.2 genes encoding the NDUFS8 subunit, and the previously characterized ndufs4 CI mutant. In long day (LD) condition, both ndufs8.1 and ndufs8.2 single mutants were indistinguishable from Col-0 at phenotypic and biochemical levels, whereas the ndufs8.1 ndufs8.2 double mutant was devoid of detectable holo-CI assembly/activity, showed higher AOX content/activity and displayed a growth-retardation phenotype similar to that of the ndufs4 mutant. Although growth was more affected in ndufs4 than ndufs8.1 ndufs8.2 under short day (SD) condition, both mutants displayed a similar impairment of growth acceleration after transfer to LD as compared to the WT. Untargeted and targeted metabolomics showed that overall metabolism was less responsive to the SD-to-LD transition in mutants than in the WT. The typical LD acclimation of carbon, nitrogen-assimilation and redox-related parameters was not observed in ndufs8.1 ndufs8. Similarly, NAD(H) content, that was higher in SD condition in both mutants than in Col-0, did not adjust under LD. We propose that altered redox homeostasis and NAD(H) content/redox state control the phenotype of Complex I mutants and photoperiod acclimation in Arabidopsis

Braided Tensor Products and the Covariance of Quantum Noncommutative Free Fields

We introduce the free quantum noncommutative fields as described by braided tensor products. The multiplication of such fields is decomposed into three operations, describing the multiplication in the algebra M of functions on noncommutative space-time, the product in the algebra H of deformed field oscillators, and the braiding by factor Psi_{M,H} between algebras M and H. For noncommutativity generated by the twist factor we shall employ the star-product realizations of the algebra M in terms of functions on standard Minkowski space. The covariance of single noncommutative quantum fields under deformed Poincare symmetries is described by the algebraic covariance conditions which are equivalent to the deformation of generalized Heisenberg equations on Poincare group manifold. We shall calculate the covariant braided field commutator, which for free quantum noncommutative fields provides the field quantization condition and is given by standard Pauli-Jordan function. For ilustration of our new scheme we present explicit calculations for the well-known case in the literature of canonically deformed free quantum fields.Comment: 19 pages, v.4, final versio

Geo-spatial Hotspots of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome and Genetic Characterization of Seoul Variants in Beijing, China

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is caused by Hantaviruses, the enzootic viruses with a worldwide distribution. In China, HFRS is a significant public health problem with more than 10,000 human cases reported annually and the endemic areas of the disease have extended from rural to urban areas and even to central cities in recent years. The HFRS incidence has increased recently and the morbidity seemed to be considerably diverse in different areas in Beijing, the capital of China. With the aim of gaining more information to control this disease, we carried out a spatial analysis of HFRS based on the data from human cases during 2004–2006 and investigated the genetic features of complete S and partial L segment sequences of Seoul virus from natural infected rodent hosts and patients. We found three geo-spatial clusters, i.e., “hotspots” of HFRS in Beijing, where intervention should be enhanced. Our data indicated that the genetic variation and recombination of SEOV might be related to the high risk areas of HFRS in Beijing, which was worthy of further investigation

Reduced fire severity offers near-term buffer to climate-driven declines in conifer resilience across the western United States

Increasing fire severity and warmer, drier postfire conditions are making forests in the western United States (West) vulnerable to ecological transformation. Yet, the relative importance of and interactions between these drivers of forest change remain unresolved, particularly over upcoming decades. Here, we assess how the interactive impacts of changing climate and wildfire activity influenced conifer regeneration after 334 wildfires, using a dataset of postfire conifer regeneration from 10,230 field plots. Our findings highlight declining regeneration capacity across the West over the past four decades for the eight dominant conifer species studied. Postfire regeneration is sensitive to high-severity fire, which limits seed availability, and postfire climate, which influences seedling establishment. In the near-term, projected differences in recruitment probability between low- and high-severity fire scenarios were larger than projected climate change impacts for most species, suggesting that reductions in fire severity, and resultant impacts on seed availability, could partially offset expected climate-driven declines in postfire regeneration. Across 40 to 42% of the study area, we project postfire conifer regeneration to be likely following low-severity but not high-severity fire under future climate scenarios (2031 to 2050). However, increasingly warm, dry climate conditions are projected to eventually outweigh the influence of fire severity and seed availability. The percent of the study area considered unlikely to experience conifer regeneration, regardless of fire severity, increased from 5% in 1981 to 2000 to 26 to 31% by mid-century, highlighting a limited time window over which management actions that reduce fire severity may effectively support postfire conifer regeneration. © 2023 the Author(s)