686 research outputs found
A proposed minimum skill set for university graduates to meet the informatics needs and challenges of the "-omics" era
10.1186/1471-2164-10-S3-S36BMC Genomics10SUPPL. 3BGME
Dysregulation of kynurenine metabolism is related to proinflammatory cytokines, attention, and prefrontal cortex volume in schizophrenia
The kynurenine pathway (KP) of tryptophan (TRP) catabolism links immune system activation with neurotransmitter signaling. The KP metabolite kynurenic acid (KYNA) is increased in the brains of people with schizophrenia. We tested the extent to which: (1) brain KP enzyme mRNAs, (2) brain KP metabolites, and (3) plasma KP metabolites differed on the basis of elevated cytokines in schizophrenia vs. control groups and the extent to which plasma KP metabolites were associated with cognition and brain volume in patients displaying elevated peripheral cytokines. KP enzyme mRNAs and metabolites were assayed in two independent postmortem brain samples from a total of 71 patients with schizophrenia and 72 controls. Plasma KP metabolites, cognition, and brain volumes were measured in an independent cohort of 96 patients with schizophrenia and 81 healthy controls. Groups were stratified based on elevated vs. normal proinflammatory cytokine mRNA levels. In the prefrontal cortex (PFC), kynurenine (KYN)/TRP ratio, KYNA levels, and mRNA for enzymes, tryptophan dioxygenase (TDO) and kynurenine aminotransferases (KATI/II), were significantly increased in the high cytokine schizophrenia subgroup. KAT mRNAs significantly correlated with mRNA for glial fibrillary acidic protein in patients. In plasma, the high cytokine schizophrenia subgroup displayed an elevated KYN/TRP ratio, which correlated inversely with attention and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) volume. This study provides further evidence for the role of inflammation in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia and suggests a molecular mechanism through which inflammation could lead to schizophrenia. Proinflammatory cytokines may elicit conversion of TRP to KYN in the periphery and increase the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist KYNA via increased KAT mRNA and possibly more enzyme synthesis activity in brain astrocytes,  leading to DLPFC volume loss, and attention impairment in schizophrenia.Jochen Kindler, Chai K. Lim, Cynthia Shannon Weickert, Danny Boerrigter, Cherrie Galletly, Dennis Liu, Kelly R. Jacobs, Ryan Balzan, Jason Bruggemann, Maryanne OâDonnell, Rhoshel Lenroot, Gilles J. Guillemin and Thomas W. Weicker
Search for lepton-flavor violation at HERA
A search for lepton-flavor-violating interactions and has been performed with the ZEUS detector using the entire HERA I
data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 130 pb^{-1}. The data
were taken at center-of-mass energies, , of 300 and 318 GeV. No
evidence of lepton-flavor violation was found, and constraints were derived on
leptoquarks (LQs) that could mediate such interactions. For LQ masses below
, limits were set on , where
is the coupling of the LQ to an electron and a
first-generation quark , and is the branching ratio of
the LQ to the final-state lepton ( or ) and a quark . For
LQ masses much larger than , limits were set on the four-fermion
interaction term for LQs that couple to an electron and a quark
and to a lepton and a quark , where and are
quark generation indices. Some of the limits are also applicable to
lepton-flavor-violating processes mediated by squarks in -Parity-violating
supersymmetric models. In some cases, especially when a higher-generation quark
is involved and for the process , the ZEUS limits are the most
stringent to date.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by EPJC. References and 1 figure (Fig.
6) adde
Multijet production in neutral current deep inelastic scattering at HERA and determination of alpha_s
Multijet production rates in neutral current deep inelastic scattering have
been measured in the range of exchanged boson virtualities 10 < Q2 < 5000 GeV2.
The data were taken at the ep collider HERA with centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s)
= 318 GeV using the ZEUS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of
82.2 pb-1. Jets were identified in the Breit frame using the k_T cluster
algorithm in the longitudinally invariant inclusive mode. Measurements of
differential dijet and trijet cross sections are presented as functions of jet
transverse energy E_{T,B}{jet}, pseudorapidity eta_{LAB}{jet} and Q2 with
E_{T,B}{jet} > 5 GeV and -1 < eta_{LAB}{jet} < 2.5. Next-to-leading-order QCD
calculations describe the data well. The value of the strong coupling constant
alpha_s(M_Z), determined from the ratio of the trijet to dijet cross sections,
is alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1179 pm 0.0013(stat.) {+0.0028}_{-0.0046}(exp.)
{+0.0064}_{-0.0046}(th.)Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
Photoproduction of mesons associated with a leading neutron
The photoproduction of mesons associated with a leading
neutron has been observed with the ZEUS detector in collisions at HERA
using an integrated luminosity of 80 pb. The neutron carries a large
fraction, {}, of the incoming proton beam energy and is detected at
very small production angles, { mrad}, an indication of
peripheral scattering. The meson is centrally produced with
pseudorapidity {
GeV}, which is large compared to the average transverse momentum of the neutron
of 0.22 GeV. The ratio of neutron-tagged to inclusive production is
in the photon-proton
center-of-mass energy range { GeV}. The data suggest that the
presence of a hard scale enhances the fraction of events with a leading neutron
in the final state.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Measurement of charm fragmentation ratios and fractions in photoproduction at HERA
The production of D^*+, D^0, D^+, D_s^+ and Lambda_c^+ charm hadrons and
their antiparticles in ep scattering at HERA was measured with the ZEUS
detector using an integrated luminosity of 79 pb^-1. The measurement has been
performed in the photoproduction regime with the exchanged-photon virtuality
Q^2 < 1 GeV^2 and for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 <
W < 300 GeV. The charm hadrons were reconstructed in the range of transverse
momentum p_T(D, Lambda_c) > 3.8 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta(D, Lambda_c)| <
1.6. The production cross sections were used to determine the ratio of neutral
and charged D-meson production rates, R_u/d, the strangeness-suppression
factor, gamma_s, and the fraction of charged D mesons produced in a vector
state, P_v^d. The measured R_u/d and gamma_s values agree with those obtained
in deep inelastic scattering and in e^+e^- annihilations. The measured P_v^d
value is smaller than, but consistent with, the previous measurements. The
fractions of c quarks hadronising as a particular charm hadron, f(c -> D,
Lambda_c), were derived in the given kinematic range. The measured open-charm
fragmentation fractions are consistent with previous results, although the
measured f(c -> D^*+) is smaller and f(c -> Lambda_c^+) is larger than those
obtained in e^+e^- annihilations. These results generally support the
hypothesis that fragmentation proceeds independently of the hard sub-process.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables; minor text revision
Observation of isolated high-E_T photons in deep inelastic scattering
First measurements of cross sections for isolated prompt photon production in
deep inelastic ep scattering have been made using the ZEUS detector at the HERA
electron-proton collider using an integrated luminosity of 121 pb^-1. A signal
for isolated photons in the transverse energy and rapidity ranges 5 < E_T^gamma
< 10 GeV and -0.7 < eta^gamma < 0.9 was observed for virtualities of the
exchanged photon of Q^2 > 35 GeV^2. Cross sections are presented for inclusive
prompt photons and for those accompanied by a single jet in the range E_T^jet
\geq 6 GeV and -1.5 \leq eta^jet < 1.8. Calculations at order alpha^3alpha_s
describe the data reasonably well.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of the open-charm contribution to the diffractive proton structure function
Production of D*+/-(2010) mesons in diffractive deep inelastic scattering has
been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of
82 pb^{-1}. Diffractive events were identified by the presence of a large
rapidity gap in the final state. Differential cross sections have been measured
in the kinematic region 1.5 < Q^2 < 200 GeV^2, 0.02 < y < 0.7, x_{IP} < 0.035,
beta 1.5 GeV and |\eta(D*+/-)| < 1.5. The measured cross
sections are compared to theoretical predictions. The results are presented in
terms of the open-charm contribution to the diffractive proton structure
function. The data demonstrate a strong sensitivity to the diffractive parton
densities.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, 6 table
Measurement of beauty production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA
The beauty production cross section for deep inelastic scattering events with
at least one hard jet in the Breit frame together with a muon has been
measured, for photon virtualities Q^2 > 2 GeV^2, with the ZEUS detector at HERA
using integrated luminosity of 72 pb^-1. The total visible cross section is
sigma_b-bbar (ep -> e jet mu X) = 40.9 +- 5.7 (stat.) +6.0 -4.4 (syst.) pb. The
next-to-leading order QCD prediction lies about 2.5 standard deviations below
the data. The differential cross sections are in general consistent with the
NLO QCD predictions; however at low values of Q^2, Bjorken x, and muon
transverse momentum, and high values of jet transverse energy and muon
pseudorapidity, the prediction is about two standard deviations below the data.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
Search for contact interactions, large extra dimensions and finite quark radius in ep collisions at HERA
A search for physics beyond the Standard Model has been performed with
high-Q^2 neutral current deep inelastic scattering events recorded with the
ZEUS detector at HERA. Two data sets, e^+ p \to e^+ X and e^- p \to e^- X, with
respective integrated luminosities of 112 pb^-1 and 16 pb^-1, were analyzed.
The data reach Q^2 values as high as 40000 GeV^2. No significant deviations
from Standard Model predictions were observed. Limits were derived on the
effective mass scale in eeqq contact interactions, the ratio of leptoquark mass
to the Yukawa coupling for heavy leptoquark models and the mass scale parameter
in models with large extra dimensions. The limit on the quark charge radius, in
the classical form factor approximation, is 0.85 10^-16 cm.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters
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