Increased focal adhesion kinase- and urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor-associated cell signaling in endothelial cells exposed to asbestos.

Exposure of low-passage endothelial cells in culture to nonlethal amounts of asbestos, but not refractory ceramic fiber-1, increases cell motility and gene expression. These changes may be initiated by the fibers mimicking matrix proteins as ligands for receptors on the cell surface. In the present study, 1- to 3-hr exposures of endothelial cells to 5 mg/cm2 of chrysotile asbestos caused marked cell elongation and motility. However, little morphological change was seen when chrysotile was added to cells pretreated with either mannosamine to prevent assembly of glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored receptors or with herbimycin A to inhibit tyrosine kinase activity. Affinity purification of GPI-anchored urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) from chrysotile-exposed cells demonstrated that asbestos altered the profile of proteins and phosphoproteins complexed with this receptor. Tyrosine kinase activities in the complexes were also increased by asbestos. Immunoprecipitations with selective monoclonal antibodies demonstrated that both chrysotile and crocidolite asbestos increase kinase activities associated with p60 Src or p120 focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Further, chrysotile also changed the profile of proteins and phosphoproteins associated with FAK in intact cells. These data suggest that asbestos initiates endothelial cell phenotypic change through interactions with uPAR-containing complexes and that this change is mediated through tyrosine kinase cascades

Coexistence of glassy antiferromagnetism and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in Fe/Cr multilayer structures

Using temperature-dependent magnetoresistance and magnetization measurements on Fe/Cr multilayers that exhibit pronounced giant magnetoresistance (GMR), we have found evidence for the presence of a glassy antiferromagnetic (GAF) phase. This phase reflects the influence of interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) at low temperature (T < 140K) and is characterized by a field-independent glassy transition temperature, Tg, together with irreversible behavior having logarithmic time dependence below a "de Almeida and Thouless" (AT) critical field line. At room temperature, where the GMR effect is still robust, IEC plays only a minor role, and it is the random potential variations acting on the magnetic domains that are responsible for the antiparallel interlayer domain alignment.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Retrofit 2050:Critical challenges for urban transitions

Scaling up retrofit presents a number of critical challenges for the transition to urban sustainability. Drawing together insights from the EPSRC Retrofit 2050 project this briefing sets out key success factors that need to be in place to deliver sustainable futures for UK cities

Recent Advances in High Density Area Array Interconnect Bonding for 3D Integration

The demand for more complex and multifunctional micro systems with enhanced performance characteristics for military applications is driving the electronics industry toward the use of best-of-breed materials and device technologies. Threedimensional (3-D) integration provides a way to build complex microsystems through bonding and interconnection of individually optimized device layers without compromising system performance and fabrication yield. Bonding of device layers can be achieved through polymer bonding or metal-metal interconnect bonding with a number of metalmetal systems. RTI has been investigating and characterizing Cu-Cu and CulSn-Cu processes for high density area array imaging applications, demonstrating high yield bonding between sub-I5 11m pads on large area array configurations. This paper will review recent advances in the development of high yield, large area array metal-metal interconnects which enable 3-D integration of heterogeneous materials (e.g. HgCdTe with silicon) and heterogeneous fabrication processes (e.g. infrared emitters or microbolometers with ICs) for imaging and scene projector applications

Water formation at low temperatures by surface O2 hydrogenation II: the reaction network

Water is abundantly present in the Universe. It is the main component of interstellar ice mantles and a key ingredient for life. Water in space is mainly formed through surface reactions. Three formation routes have been proposed in the past: hydrogenation of surface O, O2, and O3. In a previous paper [Ioppolo et al., Astrophys. J., 2008, 686, 1474] we discussed an unexpected non-standard zeroth-order H2O2 production behaviour in O2 hydrogenation experiments, which suggests that the proposed reaction network is not complete, and that the reaction channels are probably more interconnected than previously thought. In this paper we aim to derive the full reaction scheme for O2 surface hydrogenation and to constrain the rates of the individual reactions. This is achieved through simultaneous H-atom and O2 deposition under ultra-high vacuum conditions for astronomically relevant temperatures. Different H/O2 ratios are used to trace different stages in the hydrogenation network. The chemical changes in the forming ice are followed by means of reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). New reaction paths are revealed as compared to previous experiments. Several reaction steps prove to be much more efficient (H + O2) or less efficient (H + OH and H2 + OH) than originally thought. These are the main conclusions of this work and the extended network concluded here will have profound implications for models that describe the formation of water in space.Comment: 1 page, 1 figur

Bupivacaine versus lidocaine analgesia for neonatal circumcision

BACKGROUND: Analgesia for neonatal circumcision was recently advocated for every male infant, and its use is considered essential by the American Academy of Pediatrics. We compared the post-operative analgesic quality of bupivacaine to that of lidocaine for achieving dorsal penile nerve block (DPNB) when performing neonatal circumcision. METHODS: Data were obtained from 38 neonates following neonatal circumcision. The infants had received DPNB analgesia with either lidocaine or bupivacaine. The outcome variable was the administration by the parents of acetaminophen during the ensuing 24 hours. RESULTS: Seventeen infants received lidocaine and 19 received bupivacaine DPNB. Ten infants in the lidocaine group (59%) were given acetaminophen following circumcision compared to only 3 (16%) in the bupivacaine group (P < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that the only significant variable associated with the need for acetaminophen was the use of lidocaine (R(2 )= 20.6; P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: DPNB with bupivacaine for neonatal circumcision apparently confers better analgesia than lidocaine as judged by the requirement of acetaminophen over the ensuing 24-hour period

Search for the Higgs boson in events with missing transverse energy and b quark jets produced in proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV

We search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with an electroweak vector boson in events with no identified charged leptons, large imbalance in transverse momentum, and two jets where at least one contains a secondary vertex consistent with the decay of b hadrons. We use ~1 fb-1 integrated luminosity of proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Tevatron. We find 268 (16) single (double) b-tagged candidate events, where 248 +/- 43 (14.4 +/- 2.7) are expected from standard model background processes. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on the Higgs boson production cross section for several Higgs boson masses ranging from 110 GeV/c2 to 140 GeV/c2. For a mass of 115 GeV/c2 the observed (expected) limit is 20.4 (14.2) times the standard model prediction.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Inclusive Search for Anomalous Production of High-pT Like-Sign Lepton Pairs in Proton-Antiproton Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV

We report on a search for anomalous production of events with at least two charged, isolated, like-sign leptons with pT > 11 GeV/c using a 107 pb^-1 sample of 1.8 TeV ppbar collisions collected by the CDF detector. We define a signal region containing low background from Standard Model processes. To avoid bias, we fix the final cuts before examining the event yield in the signal region using control regions to test the Monte Carlo predictions. We observe no events in the signal region, consistent with an expectation of 0.63^(+0.84)_(-0.07) events. We present 95% confidence level limits on new physics processes in both a signature-based context as well as within a representative minimal supergravity (tanbeta = 3) model.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Minor textual changes, cosmetic improvements to figures and updated and expanded reference

Observation and Mass Measurement of the Baryon Ξb−\Xi^-_b

We report the observation and measurement of the mass of the bottom, strange baryon $\Xi^-_b$ through the decay chain $\Xi^-_b \to J/\psi \Xi^-$, where $J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^-$, $\Xi^- \to \Lambda \pi^-$, and $\Lambda \to p \pi^-$. Evidence for observation is based on a signal whose probability of arising from the estimated background is 6.6 x 10^{-15}, or 7.7 Gaussian standard deviations. The $\Xi^-_b$ mass is measured to be $5792.9\pm 2.5$ (stat.) $\pm 1.7$ (syst.) MeV/$c^2$.Comment: Minor text changes for the second version. Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let