923 research outputs found
Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D is related to protein signaling involved in glucose homeostasis in a tissue-specific manner
Vitamin D has been suggested to play a role in glucose metabolism. However, previous findings are contradictory and mechanistic pathways remain unclear. We examined the relationship between plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), insulin sensitivity, and insulin signaling in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Seventeen healthy adults (Body mass index: 26 ± 4; Age: 30 ± 12 years) underwent a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, and resting skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biopsies. In this cohort, the plasma 25(OH)D concentration was not associated with insulin sensitivity (r = 0.19, p = 0.56). However, higher plasma 25(OH)D concentrations correlated with lower phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) αSer21 and βSer9 in skeletal muscle (r = −0.66, p = 0.015 and r = −0.53, p = 0.06, respectively) and higher GSK-3 αSer21 and βSer9 phosphorylation in adipose tissue (r = 0.82, p < 0.01 and r = 0.62, p = 0.042, respectively). Furthermore, higher plasma 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with greater phosphorylation of both protein kinase-B (AktSer473) (r = 0.78, p < 0.001) and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1Ser312) (r = 0.71, p = 0.01) in adipose tissue. No associations were found between plasma 25(OH)D concentration and IRS-1Tyr612 phosphorylation in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. The divergent findings between muscle and adipose tissue with regard to the association between 25(OH)D and insulin signaling proteins may suggest a tissue-specific interaction with varying effects on glucose homeostasis. Further research is required to elucidate the physiological relevance of 25(OH)D in each tissu
Isovector Giant Dipole Resonance from the 3D Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory for Superfluid Nuclei
A fully symmetry unrestricted Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory
extended to include pairing correlations is used to calculate properties of the
isovector giant dipole resonances of the deformed open-shell nuclei 172Yb
(axially deformed), 188Os (triaxially deformed), and 238U (axially deformed),
and to demonstrate good agreement with experimental data on nuclear
photo-absorption cross-sections for two different Skyrme force parametrizations
of the energy density functional: SkP and SLy4.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published versio
Photonuclear reactions of actinides in the giant dipole resonance region
Photonuclear reactions at energies covering the giant dipole resonance (GDR)
region are analyzed with an approach based on nuclear photoabsorption followed
by the process of competition between light particle evaporation and fission
for the excited nucleus. The photoabsorption cross section at energies covering
the GDR region is contributed by both the Lorentz type GDR cross section and
the quasideuteron cross section. The evaporation-fission process of the
compound nucleus is simulated in a Monte-Carlo framework. Photofission reaction
cross sections are analyzed in a systematic manner in the energy range of
10-20 MeV for the actinides Th, U and Np.
Photonuclear cross sections for the medium-mass nuclei Cu and Zn,
for which there are no fission events, are also presented. The study reproduces
satisfactorily the available experimental data of photofission cross sections
at GDR energy region and the increasing trend of nuclear fissility with the
fissility parameter for the actinides.Comment: 4 pages including 2 tables and 1 figur
Deuteron distribution in nuclei and the Levinger's factor
We compute the distribution of quasideuterons in doubly closed shell nuclei.
The ground states of O and Ca are described in coupling
using a realistic hamiltonian including the Argonne and the
Urbana IX models of two-- and three--nucleon potentials, respectively. The
nuclear wave function contains central and tensor correlations, and correlated
basis functions theory is used to evaluate the distribution of neutron-proton
pairs, having the deuteron quantum numbers, as a function of their total
momentum. By computing the number of deuteron--like pairs we are able to
extract the Levinger's factor and compare to both the available experimental
data and the predictions of the local density approximation, based on nuclear
matter estimates. The agreement with the experiments is excellent, whereas the
local density approximation is shown to sizably overestimate the Levinger's
factor in the region of the medium nuclei.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, typeset using REVTe
Deuteron tensor polarization component T_20(Q^2) as a crucial test for deuteron wave functions
The deuteron tensor polarization component T_20(Q^2) is calculated by
relativistic Hamiltonian dynamics approach. It is shown that in the range of
momentum transfers available in to-day experiments, relativistic effects, meson
exchange currents and the choice of nucleon electromagnetic form factors almost
do not influence the value of T_20(Q^2). At the same time, this value depends
strongly on the actual form of the deuteron wave function, that is on the model
of NN-interaction in deuteron. So the existing data for T_20(Q^2) provide a
crucial test for deuteron wave functions.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Gait training with real-time augmented toe-ground clearance information decreases tripping risk in older adults and a person with chronic stroke
Falls risk increases with ageing but is substantially higher in people with stroke. Tripping-related balance loss is the primary cause of falls, and Minimum Toe Clearance (MTC) during walking is closely linked to tripping risk. The aim of this study was to determine whether real-time augmented information of toe-ground clearance at MTC can increase toe clearance, and reduce tripping risk. Nine healthy older adults (76 ± 9 years) and one 71 year old female stroke patient participated. Vertical toe displacement was displayed in real-time such that participants could adjust their toe clearance during treadmill walking. Participants undertook a session of unconstrained walking (no-feedback baseline) and, in a subsequent Feedback condition, were asked to modify their swing phase trajectory to match a "target" increased MTC. Tripping probability (PT) pre- and post-training was calculated by modeling MTC distributions. Older adults showed significantly higher mean MTC for the post-training retention session (27.7 ± 3.79 mm) compared to the normal walking trial (14.1 ± 8.3 mm). The PT on a 1 cm obstacle for the older adults reduced from 1 in 578 strides to 1 in 105,988 strides. With gait training the stroke patient increased MTC and reduced variability (baseline 16 ± 12 mm, post-training 24 ± 8 mm) which reduced obstacle contact probability from 1 in 3 strides in baseline to 1 in 161 strides post-training. The findings confirm that concurrent visual feedback of a lower limb kinematic gait parameter is effective in changing foot trajectory control and reducing tripping probability in older adults. There is potential for further investigation of augmented feedback training across a range of gait-impaired populations, such as stroke
Universal pattern in (e,e'p) at large missing momenta: quasi-deuteron or diffractive final state interactions?
The intrinsic single particle momentum distributions in nuclei are supposed
to show a universal behavior at large momenta, dominated by short-range
correlated pairs, or quasi-deuterons. We discuss whether the quasi-deuteron
universality survives the final state interaction effects, which are present in
the missing momentum spectra measured in experiments at GeV
energies. We demonstrate that in the observed missing momentum spectra an
approximate universality is present, but originating from the universal pattern
of diffractive final state interactions of the struck proton independent of the
target nucleus.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, 3 uuencoded figure
Photofission and Quasi-Deuteron-Nuclear State as Mixing of Bosons and Fermions
The empirical-phenomenological quasi-deuteron photofission description is
theoretically justified within the semiclassical, intermediate statistics
model. The transmutational fermion (nucleon) - boson (quasi-deuteron) potential
plays an essential role in the present context and is expressed in terms of
thermodynamical and of microscopical quantities, analogous to those commonly
used in the superfluid nuclear model.Comment: 7 pages, RevTex, to appear in Zeit. f. Phys.
Ultra-low energy scattering of a He atom off a He dimer
We present a new, mathematically rigorous, method suitable for bound state
and scattering processes calculations for various three atomic or molecular
systems where the underlying forces are of a hard-core nature. We employed this
method to calculate the binding energies and the ultra-low energy scattering
phase shifts below as well as above the break-up threshold for the three
He-atom system. The method is proved to be highly successful and suitable for
solving the three-body bound state and scattering problem in configuration
space and thus it paves the way to study various three-atomic systems, and to
calculate important quantities such as the cross-sections, recombination rates
etc.Comment: LaTeX, RevTeX and amssymb styles, 7 pages (25 Kb), 3 table
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