Phase separation in a lattice model of a superconductor with pair hopping

We have studied the extended Hubbard model with pair hopping in the atomic limit for arbitrary electron density and chemical potential. The Hamiltonian considered consists of (i) the effective on-site interaction U and (ii) the intersite charge exchange interactions I, determining the hopping of electron pairs between nearest-neighbour sites. The model can be treated as a simple effective model of a superconductor with very short coherence length in which electrons are localized and only electron pairs have possibility of transferring. The phase diagrams and thermodynamic properties of this model have been determined within the variational approach, which treats the on-site interaction term exactly and the intersite interactions within the mean-field approximation. We have also obtained rigorous results for a linear chain (d=1) in the ground state. Moreover, at T=0 some results derived within the random phase approximation (and the spin-wave approximation) for d=2 and d=3 lattices and within the low density expansions for d=3 lattices are presented. Our investigation of the general case (as a function of the electron concentration and as a function of the chemical potential) shows that, depending on the values of interaction parameters, the system can exhibit not only the homogeneous phases: superconducting (SS) and nonordered (NO), but also the phase separated states (PS: SS-NO). The system considered exhibits interesting multicritical behaviour including tricritical points.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures; pdf-ReVTeX, final version, corrected typos; submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

The Role of Polyphenols, β-Carotene, and Lycopene in the Antioxidative Action of the Extracts of Dried, Edible Mushrooms

One of the nutritional benefits of mushrooms is the presence of bioactive secondary metabolites which have been reported to exert various beneficial effects in vivo. Therefore, we selected thirteen frequently consumed species of Polish mushrooms and determined the concentration of polyphenols, flavonoids, β-carotene, and lycopene in aqueous and methanolic extracts of dried fruiting bodies as well as their reducing power and ability to scavenge ABTS cation radical. We found that the concentration of antioxidants is different in different species and in various parts of the fruiting body of mushrooms. We observed a strong correlation (r > 0.9) between the concentration of total phenolics and reducing power/scavenging effects in both aqueous and methanolic extracts, while this correlation was moderate for flavonoids. Beta-carotene did not contribute discernibly to the antioxidative properties of the extracts, while lycopene had a significant contribution to the scavenging activity of methanolic mushroom extracts

PARP1 Co-regulates EP300–BRG1-dependent transcription of genes involved in breast cancer cell proliferation and DNA repair

BRG1, an active subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex, enables the EP300-dependent transcription of proliferation and DNA repair genes from their E2F/CpG-driven promoters in breast cancer cells. In the current study, we show that BRG1–EP300 complexes are accompanied by poly-ADP-ribose polymerase 1 (PARP1), which emerges as the functional component of the promoter-bound multiprotein units that are capable of controlling gene expression. This enzyme is co-distributed with BRG1 at highly acetylated promoters of genes such as CDK4, LIG1, or NEIL3, which are responsible for cancer cell growth and the removal of DNA damage. ADP-ribosylation is necessary to maintain active transcription, since it ensures an open chromatin structure that allows high acetylation and low histone density. PARP1-mediated modification of BRG1 and EP300 does not affect the association of enzymes with gene promoters; however, it does activate EP300, which acetylates nucleosomes, leading to their eviction by BRG1, thus allowing mRNA synthesis. Although PARP1 was found at BRG1 positive/H3K27ac negative promoters of highly expressed genes in a transformed breast cancer cell line, its transcriptional activity was limited to genes simultaneously controlled by BRG1 and EP300, indicating that the ADP-ribosylation of EP300 plays a dominant role in the regulation of BRG1–EP300-driven transcription. In conclusion, PARP1 directs the transcription of some proliferation and DNA repair genes in breast cancer cells by the ADP-ribosylation of EP300, thereby causing its activation and marking nucleosomes for displacement by BRG1. PARP1 in rapidly dividing cells facilitates the expression of genes that confer a cancer cell phenotype. Our study shows a new mechanism that links PARP1 with the removal of DNA damage in breast cancer cells via the regulation of BRG1–EP300-dependent transcription of genes involved in DNA repair pathways

HOCl-modified phosphatidylcholines induce apoptosis and redox imbalance in HUVEC-ST cells

Electrophilic attack of hypochlorous acid on unsaturated bonds of fatty acyl chains is known to result mostly in chlorinated products that show cytotoxicity to some cell lines and were found in biological systems exposed to HOCl. This study aimed to investigate more deeply the products and the mechanism underlying cytotoxicity of phospholipid-HOCl oxidation products, synthesized by the reaction of HOCl with 1-stearoyl-2-oleoyl-, 1-stearoyl-2-linoleoyl-, and 1-stearoyl-2-arachidonyl-phosphatidylcholine. Phospholipid chlorohydrins were found to be the most abundant among obtained products. HOCl-modified lipids were cytotoxic towards HUVEC-ST (endothelial cells), leading to a decrease of mitochondrial potential and an increase in the number of apoptotic cells. These effects were accompanied by an increase of the level of active caspase-3 and caspase-7, while the caspase-3/-7 inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO dramatically decreased the number of apoptotic cells. Phospholipid-HOCl oxidation products were shown to affect cell proliferation by a concentration-dependent cell cycle arrest in the G/G phase and activating redox sensitive p38 kinase. The redox imbalance observed in HUVEC-ST cells exposed to modified phosphatidylcholines was accompanied by an increase in ROS level, and a decrease in glutathione content and antioxidant capacity of cell extracts

Transport and Magnetic Studies of New Mixed-Valence Compounds: K3Cu8Se6, KCu3Se2, K3Cu8Te6 and BaCuS3-x

New mixed-valent copper chalcogenides BaCuS3_x and K3Cu8X6 with X = Se or Te and KCu3Se2, with chemical patterns corresponding to the recently investigated K3Cu8S6 and KCu3S2, were synthesized. For these new samples the results of resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements are presented. For BaCuS3_x, K3Cu8Se6 and KCu3Se2 the metal—insulator transition is observed with the low temperature phase being metallic, which is untypical, whereas K3Cu8Te6 is a metal in the investigated temperature range. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility of the studied samples testifies to their diamagnetic or weakly paramagnetic behaviour

SUPERFLUID CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUCED-PAIRING MODEL

We study the electromagnetic and thermodynamic properties of a model of coexisting local electron pairs and itinerant carriers coupled via the intersubsystem charge exchange. The calculations of the London penetration depth, the energy gap, the magnetic critical fields and the coherence length in the superconducting phase are performed. The effects of reduced binding energy of local pairs are discussed. The 'considered effective Hamiltonian of coexisting localized d-electrons and itinerant c-electrons can be written as where E0 measures the relative position of d-level with respect to the bottom of the c-electron band εk in the absence of interactions, is the chemical potential which ensures that a total number of particles is constant, i.e. n = n, -I-n a = (Σkσ (ck ckσ) + Σi σ (n ó)) /N, U is the effective on-site density interaction between d-electrons, t is the hopping integral for c-electrons and I0 is the intersubsystem charge exchange coupling. The Peierls factor in Eq. (1) account for the coupling of electrons to the magnetic field via its vector potential A(r). Φij = -fi g f' drA(r), and e is the electron charge. In analysis we used the variational approach which treats the on-site interaction term U exactl

Effect of disorder on superconductivity in the boson-fermion model

We study how a randomness of either boson or fermion site energies affects the superconducting phase of the boson fermion model. We find that, contrary to what is expected for s-wave superconductors, the non-magnetic disorder is detrimental to the s-wave superconductivity. However, depending in which subsystem the disorder is located, we can observe different channels being affected. Weak disorder of the fermion subsystem is responsible mainly for renormalization of the single particle density of states while disorder in the boson subsystem directly leads to fluctuation of the strength of the effective pairing between fermions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Physical Review B (accepted for publication

Band and filling controlled transitions in exactly solved electronic models

We describe a general method to study the ground state phase diagram of electronic models on chains whose extended Hubbard hamiltonian is formed by a generalized permutator plus a band-controlling term. The method, based on the appropriate interpretation of Sutherland's species, yields under described conditions a reduction of the effective Hilbert space. In particular, we derive the phase diagrams of two new models; the first one exhibits a band-controlled insulator-superconductor transition at half-filling for the unusually high value $U_c=6 t$; the second one is characterized by a filling-controlled metal-insulator transition between two finite regions of the diagram.Comment: 5 pages, REVTEX, 2 eps figure

Temperature and filling dependence of the superconducting π\pi-phase in the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model

We investigate in the Hartree Fock approximation the temperature and filling dependence of the superconducting $\pi$-phase for the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard model. Due to the presence of the pair-hopping term, the phase survives for repulsive values of the on-site Coulomb interaction, exhibiting an interesting filling and temperature dependence. The structure of the self-consistent equations peculiar to the $\pi$-phase of the model allows to explicitly solve them for the chemical potential. The phase diagrams are shown and discussed in dimension 2 and 3. We also show that, when a next-nearest neighbours hopping term is included, the critical temperature of the superconducting region increases, and the corresponding range of filling values is shifted away from half-filling. Comparison with known exact results is also discussed.Comment: 20 pages, REVTEX, 8 eps figure