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Sialic acids in biological and therapeutic processes: opportunities and challenges
It is now well documented that carbohydrates play multiple roles in biological processes, and hence are interesting targets for chemical biology and medicinal chemistry programmes. This review focuses on a subset of carbohydrates, specifically sialic acid containing carbohydrates. It highlights their occurrence and diversity, and presents evidence for their roles in a range of biological pathways. It illustrates that they are targets for novel medicinal chemistry strategies for a range of therapeutic areas, including cancer and immunity. Case studies highlight opportunities and challenges in this area, and sialic acid based drugs that have entered clinical practice, and are promising candidates for future disease intervention schemes, are discussed. The review concludes by highlighting perspectives and emerging roles for these targets
Diffeomorphic random sampling using optimal information transport
In this article we explore an algorithm for diffeomorphic random sampling of
nonuniform probability distributions on Riemannian manifolds. The algorithm is
based on optimal information transport (OIT)---an analogue of optimal mass
transport (OMT). Our framework uses the deep geometric connections between the
Fisher-Rao metric on the space of probability densities and the right-invariant
information metric on the group of diffeomorphisms. The resulting sampling
algorithm is a promising alternative to OMT, in particular as our formulation
is semi-explicit, free of the nonlinear Monge--Ampere equation. Compared to
Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, we expect our algorithm to stand up well when
a large number of samples from a low dimensional nonuniform distribution is
needed.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Evidence for the Coexistence of Anisotropic Superconducting Gap and Nonlocal Effects in the Non-magnetic Superconductor LuNi2B2C
A study of the dependence of the heat capacity Cp(alpha) on field angle in
LuNi2B2C reveals an anomalous disorder effect. For pure samples, Cp(alpha)
exhibits a fourfold variation as the field H < Hc2 is rotated in the [001]
plane, with minima along (alpha = 0). A slightly disordered sample,
however, develops anomalous secondary minima along for H > 1 T, leading
to an 8-fold pattern. The anomalous pattern is discussed in terms of coexisting
superconducting gap anisotropy and non-local effects.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Refractory Hypertension and Isosexual Pseudoprecocious Puberty Associated with Renin-Secreting Ovarian Steroid Cell Tumor in a Girl
Steroid cell tumor, not otherwise specified (NOS), are rare ovarian tumor, in addition, it is more rare in children. The majority of these tumors produce several steroid hormones, particularly testosterone. Estrogen also secreted by steroid cell tumor, NOS, but it is uncommon. Furthermore, hypertension is an infrequent sign in steroid cell tumor, NOS. An 8.5-yr-old girl with hypertension and frequent vaginal spotting visited at our clinic. On laboratory evaluation, secondary hypertension due to an elevated plasma renin level and isosexual pseudoprecocious puberty was diagnosed. Right solid ovarian mass was detected in radiologic tests. She underwent a right ooporectomy and it revealed renin and progesterone receptor positive steroid cell tumor, NOS. After operation, her blood pressure returned to normal level and vaginal bleeding disappeared. Even though this case is very rare, when hypertension coincides with virilization or feminization, a renin-secreting ovarian steroid cell tumor, NOS, should be considered
Controlling a magnetic Feshbach resonance with laser light
The capability to tune the strength of the elastic interparticle interaction
is crucial for many experiments with ultracold gases. Magnetic Feshbach
resonances are a tool widely used for this purpose, but future experiments
would benefit from additional flexibility such as spatial modulation of the
interaction strength on short length scales. Optical Feshbach resonances offer
this possibility in principle, but suffer from fast particle loss due to
light-induced inelastic collisions. Here we show that light near-resonant with
a molecular bound-to-bound transition can be used to shift the magnetic field
at which a magnetic Feshbach resonance occurs. This makes it possible to tune
the interaction strength with laser light and at the same time induce
considerably less loss than an optical Feshbach resonance would do
Top quark forward-backward asymmetry in R-parity violating supersymmetry
The interaction of bottom squark-mediated top quark pair production,
occurring in the R-parity violating minimal supersymmetric standard model
(MSSM), is proposed as an explanation of the anomalously large
forward-backward asymmetry (FBA) observed at the Tevatron. We find that this
model can give a good fit to top quark data, both the inclusive and invariant
mass-dependent asymmetries, while remaining consistent (at the 2-
level) with the total and differential production cross-sections. The scenario
is challenged by strong constraints from atomic parity violation (APV), but we
point out an extra diagram for the effective down quark-Z vertex, involving the
same coupling constant as required for the FBA, which tends to weaken the APV
constraint, and which can nullify it for reasonable values of the top squark
masses and mixing angle. Large contributions to flavor-changing neutral
currents can be avoided if only the third generation of sparticles is light.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. v3: included LHC top production cross section
data; model still consistent at 2 sigma leve
Spin Seebeck insulator
Thermoelectric generation is an essential function of future energy-saving
technologies. However, this generation has been an exclusive feature of
electric conductors, a situation which inflicts a heavy toll on its
application; a conduction electron often becomes a nuisance in thermal design
of devices. Here we report electric-voltage generation from heat flowing in an
insulator. We reveal that, despite the absence of conduction electrons, a
magnetic insulator LaY2Fe5O12 converts a heat flow into spin voltage. Attached
Pt films transform this spin voltage into electric voltage by the inverse spin
Hall effect. The experimental results require us to introduce thermally
activated interface spin exchange between LaY2Fe5O12 and Pt. Our findings
extend the range of potential materials for thermoelectric applications and
provide a crucial piece of information for understanding the physics of the
spin Seebeck effect.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures (including supplementary information
Colored Resonant Signals at the LHC: Largest Rate and Simplest Topology
We study the colored resonance production at the LHC in a most general
approach. We classify the possible colored resonances based on group theory
decomposition, and construct their effective interactions with light partons.
The production cross section from annihilation of valence quarks or gluons may
be on the order of 400 - 1000 pb at LHC energies for a mass of 1 TeV with
nominal couplings, leading to the largest production rates for new physics at
the TeV scale, and simplest event topology with dijet final states. We apply
the new dijet data from the LHC experiments to put bounds on various possible
colored resonant states. The current bounds range from 0.9 to 2.7 TeV. The
formulation is readily applicable for future searches including other decay
modes.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures. References updated and additional K-factors
include
A Case of a Shiga Toxin Producing Escherichia Coli
We encountered a patient with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) with persistent isolation of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) for 3 weeks despite of having no clinical symptoms. STEC has been recognized as an important food-borne pathogen that causes severe diseases such as HUS. We characterized this STEC strain via a polymerase chain reaction, reverse-passive latex agglutination and the slide agglutination method. In this STEC strain, stx2 (shiga toxin), eaeA, tir, iha (adherence genes), espADB (type III secretion genes), and hlyA, ehxA, clyA (hemolysin genes) were present. The O antigen of the strain was non-typable
Anesthetic considerations of percutaneous transcatheter aortic valve implantation: first attempt in Korea -A report of 2 cases-
Conventional aortic valve replacement for severe aortic stenosis is associated with a high operative mortality in the elderly patients with significant comorbidities, including severe respiratory dysfunction, renal insufficiency, and compromised cardiac function. Human transcatheter aortic valve implantation was first reported in 2002 and has become a valid alternative in selected high-risk patients in Europe and North America. This article describes the first attempt of transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation in Korea. The procedure was applied in two consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis. Despite several intra-operative complications during procedure, the post-operative outcomes were good for both patients. At post-operative 30 days there was satisfactory prosthetic valve function and hemodynamic stability
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