1,152 research outputs found
Increased serum NSE and S100B indicate neuronal and glial alterations in subjects under 71 years with mild neurocognitive disorder/mild cognitive impairment
Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a pre-stage of different dementia syndromes. Despite diagnostic criteria refined by DSM-5 and a new term for MCI - "mild neurocognitive disorder" (mild NCD) - this diagnosis is still based on clinical criteria.Methods: To link mild NCD to the underlying pathophysiology we assessed the degree of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in the brain and peripheral biomarkers for neuronal integrity (neuron-specific enolase, NSE), plasticity (brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF), and glial function (S100B) in 158 community-dwelling subjects with mild NCD and 82 healthy controls. All participants (63-79 years old) were selected from the Leipzig-population-based study of adults (LIFE).Results: Serum S100B levels were increased in mild NCD in comparison to controls (p = 0.007). Serum NSE levels were also increased but remained non-significant after Bonferroni-Holm correction (p = 0.04). Furthermore, age by group interaction was significant for S100B. In an age-stratified sub-analysis, NSE and S100B were higher in younger subjects with mild NCD below 71 years of age. Some effects were inconsistent after controlling for potentially confounding factors. The discriminatory power of the two biomarkers NSE and S100B was insufficient to establish a pathologic threshold for mild NCD. In subjects with mild NCD, WMH load correlated with serum NSE levels (r = 0.20, p = 0.01), independently of age.Conclusion: Our findings might indicate the presence of neuronal (NSE) and glial (S100B) injury in mild NCD. Future studies need to investigate whether younger subjects with mild NCD with increased biomarker levels are at risk of developing major NCD
Precise determination of the Wtb couplings at LHC
Top pair production at LHC is the ideal place to search for nonstandard Wtb
couplings in t -> W b -> l nu b decays. The lb forward-backward asymmetry in
the W rest frame is very sensitive to sigma_{mu nu} couplings, and can spot
one-loop QCD corrections to the decay vertex with more than 5 sigma statistical
significance. We discuss the potential of this asymmetry to signal nonstandard
gamma_mu and sigma_{mu nu} couplings and compare with top-antitop spin
correlation asymmetries, which have a lower sensitivity. We also briefly
summarise the results for Tevatron.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 2 PS figures. One reference added. To be published
in PR
Identification of a gene for an ancient cytokine, interleukin 15-like, in mammals; interleukins 2 and 15 co-evolved with this third family member, all sharing binding motifs for IL-15Rα
Interleukins 2 and 15 (IL-2 and IL-15) are highly differentiated but related cytokines with overlapping, yet also distinct functions, and established benefits for medical drug use. The present study identified a gene for an ancient third IL-2/15 family member in reptiles and mammals, interleukin 15-like (IL-15L), which hitherto was only reported in fish. IL-15L genes with intact open reading frames (ORFs) and evidence of transcription, and a recent past of purifying selection, were found for cattle, horse, sheep, pig and rabbit. In human and mouse the IL-15L ORF is incapacitated. Although deduced IL-15L proteins share only ~21 % overall amino acid identity with IL-15, they share many of the IL-15 residues important for binding to receptor chain IL-15Rα, and recombinant bovine IL-15L was shown to interact with IL-15Rα indeed. Comparison of sequence motifs indicates that capacity for binding IL-15Rα is an ancestral characteristic of the IL-2/15/15L family, in accordance with a recent study which showed that in fish both IL-2 and IL-15 can bind IL-15Rα. Evidence reveals that the species lineage leading to mammals started out with three similar cytokines IL-2, IL-15 and IL-15L, and that later in evolution (1) IL-2 and IL-2Rα receptor chain acquired a new and specific binding mode and (2) IL-15L was lost in several but not all groups of mammals. The present study forms an important step forward in understanding this potent family of cytokines, and may help to improve future strategies for their application in veterinarian and human medicine
Chirality and Symmetry Breaking in a discrete internal Space
In previous papers the permutation group S_4 has been suggested as an
ordering scheme for elementary particles, and the appearance of this finite
symmetry group was taken as indication for the existence of a discrete inner
symmetry space underlying elementary particle interactions. Here it is pointed
out that a more suitable choice than the tetrahedral group S_4 is the
pyritohedral group A_4 x Z_2 because its vibrational spectrum exhibits exactly
the mass multiplet structure of the 3 fermion generations. Furthermore it is
noted that the same structure can also be obtained from a primordial symmetry
breaking S_4 --> A_4. Since A_4 is a chiral group, while S_4 is achiral, an
argument can be given why the chirality of the inner pyritohedral symmetry
leads to parity violation of the weak interactions.Comment: 42 pages, 3 table
A new approach to calculate the gluon polarization
We derive the Leading-Order master equation to extract the polarized gluon
distribution G(x;Q^2) = x \deltag(x;Q^2) from polarized proton structure
function, g1p(x;Q^2). By using a Laplace-transform technique, we solve the
master equation and derive the polarized gluon distribution inside the proton.
The test of accuracy which are based on our calculations with two different
methods confirms that we achieve to the correct solution for the polarized
gluon distribution. We show that accurate experimental knowledge of g1p(x;Q^2)
in a region of Bjorken x and Q^2, is all that is needed to determine the
polarized gluon distribution in that region. Therefore, to determine the gluon
polarization \deltag /g,we only need to have accurate experimental data on
un-polarized and polarized structure functions (F2p (x;Q^2) and g1p(x;Q^2)).Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Radio-frequency discharges in Oxygen. Part 1: Modeling
In this series of three papers we present results from a combined
experimental and theoretical effort to quantitatively describe capacitively
coupled radio-frequency discharges in oxygen. The particle-in-cell Monte-Carlo
model on which the theoretical description is based will be described in the
present paper. It treats space charge fields and transport processes on an
equal footing with the most important plasma-chemical reactions. For given
external voltage and pressure, the model determines the electric potential
within the discharge and the distribution functions for electrons, negatively
charged atomic oxygen, and positively charged molecular oxygen. Previously used
scattering and reaction cross section data are critically assessed and in some
cases modified. To validate our model, we compare the densities in the bulk of
the discharge with experimental data and find good agreement, indicating that
essential aspects of an oxygen discharge are captured.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Genomic catastrophes frequently arise in esophageal adenocarcinoma and drive tumorigenesis
Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) incidence is rapidly increasing in Western countries. A better understanding of EAC underpins efforts to improve early detection and treatment outcomes. While large EAC exome sequencing efforts to date have found recurrent loss-offunction mutations, oncogenic driving events have been underrepresented. Here we use a combination of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and single-nucleotide polymorphism-array profiling to show that genomic catastrophes are frequent in EAC, with almost a third (32%, n¼40/123) undergoing chromothriptic events. WGS of 22 EAC cases show that catastrophes may lead to oncogene amplification through chromothripsis-derived double-minute chromosome formation (MYC and MDM2) or breakage-fusion-bridge (KRAS, MDM2 and RFC3). Telomere shortening is more prominent in EACs bearing localized complex rearrangements. Mutational signature analysis also confirms that extreme genomic instability in EAC can be driven by somatic BRCA2 mutations. These findings suggest that genomic catastrophes have a significant role in the malignant transformation of EAC
PROTOCOL: Organised crime groups: A systematic review of individual\u2010level risk factors related to recruitment
This article presents the protocol for a systematic review of individual\u2010level risk factors related to recruitment into organised crime group
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