663 research outputs found
Geometrically Precise Building Blocks: the Self-Assembly of beta-Peptides
Peptides comprised entirely of b-amino acids, or b-peptides, have attracted substantial interest over the past 25 years due to their unique structural and chemical characteristics. b-Peptides form well-defined secondary
structures that exhibit different geometries compared with their a-peptide counterparts, giving rise to their
foldamer classification. b-Peptide foldamers can be functionalized easily and are metabolically stable and,
together with the predictable side-chain topography, have led to the design of a growing number of bioactive
b-peptides with a range of biological targets. The strategic engineering of chemical and topographic properties has also led to the design of b-peptide mimics of higher-order oligomers. More recently, the ability
of these peptides to self-assemble into complex structures of controlled geometries has been exploited in
materials applications. The focus of thismini-review is on how the unique structural features of b-peptide assemblies have been exploited in the design of self-assembled proteomimetic bundles and nanomaterials
Top A_FB at the Tevatron vs. charge asymmetry at the LHC in chiral U(1) flavor models with flavored Higgs doublets
We consider the top forward-backward (FB) asymmetry at the Tevatron and top
charge asymmetry at the LHC within chiral U(1)^\prime models with
flavor-dependent U(1)^\prime charges and flavored Higgs fields, which were
introduced in the ref. [65]. The models could enhance not only the top
forward-backward asymmetry at Tevatron, but also the top charge asymmetry at
LHC, without too large same-sign top pair production rates. We identify
parameter spaces for the U(1)^\prime gauge boson and (pseudo)scalar Higgs
bosons where all the experimental data could be accommodated, including the
case with about 125 GeV Higgs boson, as suggested recently by ATLAS and CMS.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, figures and discussion adde
Effective Functional Form of Regge Trajectories
We present theoretical arguments and strong phenomenological evidence that
hadronic Regge trajectories are essentially nonlinear and can be well
approximated, for phenomenological purposes, by a specific square-root form.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX. Published versio
Measurement of the Omega_c Lifetime
We present the measurement of the lifetime of the Omega_c we have performed
using three independent data samples from two different decay modes. Using a
Sigma- beam of 340 GeV/c we have obtained clean signals for the Omega_c
decaying into Xi- K- pi+ pi+ and Omega- pi+ pi- pi+, avoiding topological cuts
normally used in charm analysis. The short but measurable lifetime of the
Omega_c is demonstrated by a clear enhancement of the signals at short but
finite decay lengths. Using a continuous maximum likelihood method we
determined the lifetime to be tau(Omega_c) = 55 +13-11(stat) +18-23(syst) fs.
This makes the Omega_c the shortest living weakly decaying particle observed so
far. The short value of the lifetime confirms the predicted pattern of the
charmed baryon lifetimes and demonstrates that the strong interaction plays a
vital role in the lifetimes of charmed hadrons.Comment: 15 pages, including 7 figures; gzipped, uuencoded postscrip
Phase I clinical trial in healthy adults of a nasal vaccine candidate containing recombinant hepatitis B surface and core antigens
SummaryBackgroundThe nasal vaccine candidate (NASVAC), comprising hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface (HBsAg) and core antigens (HBcAg), has been shown to be highly immunogenic in animal models.MethodsA phase I double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial was carried out in 19 healthy male adults with no serologic markers of immunity/infection to HBV. This study was aimed at exploring the safety and immunogenic profile of nasal co-administration of both HBV recombinant antigens. The trial was performed according to Good Clinical Practice guidelines. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 45 years and were randomly allocated to receive a mixture of 50μg HBsAg and 50μg HBcAg or 0.9% physiologic saline solution, as a placebo, via nasal spray in a five-dose schedule at 0, 7, 15, 30, and 60 days. A total volume of 0.5ml was administered in two dosages of 125μl per nostril. Adverse events were actively recorded 1h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 48h, 72h, 7 days and 30 days after each dose. Anti-HBs and anti-HBc titers were evaluated using corresponding ELISA kits at days 30 and 90.ResultsThe vaccine candidate was safe and well tolerated. Adverse reactions included sneezing (34.1%), rhinorrhea (12.2%), nasal stuffiness (9.8%), palate itching (9.8%), headache (9.8%), and general malaise (7.3%). These reactions were all self-limiting and mild in intensity. No severe or unexpected events were recorded during the trial. The vaccine elicited anti-HBc seroconversion in 100% of subjects as early as day 30 of the immunization schedule, while a seroprotective anti-HBs titer (≥10IU/l) was at a maximum at day 90 (75%). All subjects in the placebo group remained seronegative during the trial.ConclusionThe HBsAg–HBcAg vaccine candidate was safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in this phase I study in healthy adults. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of safety and immunogenicity for a nasal vaccine candidate comprising HBV antigens
Advances in ab-initio theory of Multiferroics. Materials and mechanisms: modelling and understanding
Within the broad class of multiferroics (compounds showing a coexistence of
magnetism and ferroelectricity), we focus on the subclass of "improper
electronic ferroelectrics", i.e. correlated materials where electronic degrees
of freedom (such as spin, charge or orbital) drive ferroelectricity. In
particular, in spin-induced ferroelectrics, there is not only a {\em
coexistence} of the two intriguing magnetic and dipolar orders; rather, there
is such an intimate link that one drives the other, suggesting a giant
magnetoelectric coupling. Via first-principles approaches based on density
functional theory, we review the microscopic mechanisms at the basis of
multiferroicity in several compounds, ranging from transition metal oxides to
organic multiferroics (MFs) to organic-inorganic hybrids (i.e. metal-organic
frameworks, MOFs)Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
CP Violation in the Semileptonic (B->D \pi l \nu) Decays: A Model Independent Analysis
CP violation from physics beyond the Standard Model is investigated in
decays: . The semileptonic -meson decay to
a -meson with an emission of single pion is analyzed with heavy quark
effective theory and chiral perturbation theory. In the decay process, we
include various excited states as intermediate states decaying to the final
hadrons, . The CP violation is implemented in a model independent way,
in which we extend leptonic current by including complex couplings of the
scalar sector and those of the vector sector in extensions of the Standard
Model. With these complex couplings, we calculate the CP-odd rate asymmetry and
the optimal asymmetry. We find that the optimal asymmetry is sizable and can be
detected at level with about - -meson pairs, for some
reference values of new physics effects.Comment: 25 pages, Latex, 4 figures include
Study of Inclusive Strange-Baryon Production and Search for Pentaquarks in Two-Photon Collisions at LEP
Measurements of inclusive production of the Lambda, Xi- and Xi*(1530) baryons
in two-photon collisions with the L3 detector at LEP are presented. The
inclusive differential cross sections for Lambda and Xi- are measured as a
function of the baryon transverse momentum, pt, and pseudo-rapidity, eta. The
mean number of Lambda, Xi- and Xi*(1530) baryons per hadronic two-photon event
is determined in the kinematic range 0.4 GeV < pt< 2.5 GeV, |eta| < 1.2.
Overall agreement with the theoretical models and Monte Carlo predictions is
observed. A search for inclusive production of the pentaquark theta+(1540) in
two-photon collisions through the decay theta+ -> proton K0s is also presented.
No evidence for production of this state is found
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results
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