Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive deep inelastic scattering events produced in $ep$ interactions at HERA. The events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function of \xpom, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of $\beta$, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to \xpom, and of $Q^2$. The \xpom dependence is consistent with the form \xpoma where $a~=~1.30~\pm~0.08~(stat)~^{+~0.08}_{-~0.14}~(sys)$ in all bins of $\beta$ and $Q^2$. In the measured $Q^2$ range, the diffractive structure function approximately scales with $Q^2$ at fixed $\beta$. In an Ingelman-Schlein type model, where commonly used pomeron flux factor normalisations are assumed, it is found that the quarks within the pomeron do not saturate the momentum sum rule.Comment: 36 pages, latex, 11 figures appended as uuencoded fil

Bladder cancer index: cross-cultural adaptation into Spanish and psychometric evaluation

BACKGROUND: The Bladder Cancer Index (BCI) is so far the only instrument applicable across all bladder cancer patients, independent of tumor infiltration or treatment applied. We developed a Spanish version of the BCI, and assessed its acceptability and metric properties. METHODS: For the adaptation into Spanish we used the forward and back-translation method, expert panels, and cognitive debriefing patient interviews. For the assessment of metric properties we used data from 197 bladder cancer patients from a multi-center prospective study. The Spanish BCI and the SF-36 Health Survey were self-administered before and 12 months after treatment. Reliability was estimated by Cronbach's alpha. Construct validity was assessed through the multi-trait multi-method matrix. The magnitude of change was quantified by effect sizes to assess responsiveness. RESULTS: Reliability coefficients ranged 0.75-0.97. The validity analysis confirmed moderate associations between the BCI function and bother subscales for urinary (r = 0.61) and bowel (r = 0.53) domains; conceptual independence among all BCI domains (r ≤ 0.3); and low correlation coefficients with the SF-36 scores, ranging 0.14-0.48. Among patients reporting global improvement at follow-up, pre-post treatment changes were statistically significant for the urinary domain and urinary bother subscale, with effect sizes of 0.38 and 0.53. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish BCI is well accepted, reliable, valid, responsive, and similar in performance compared to the original instrument. These findings support its use, both in Spanish and international studies, as a valuable and comprehensive tool for assessing quality of life across a wide range of bladder cancer patients

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Observation of Events with an Energetic Forward Neutron in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

In deep inelastic neutral current scattering of positrons and protons at the center of mass energy of 300 GeV, we observe, with the ZEUS detector, events with a high energy neutron produced at very small scattering angles with respect to the proton direction. The events constitute a fixed fraction of the deep inelastic, neutral current event sample independent of Bjorken x and Q2 in the range 3 · 10-4 \u3c xBJ \u3c 6 · 10-3 and 10 \u3c Q2 \u3c 100 GeV2

Mean-field transport theory for the two-flavour NJL model

By making decomposition of the Wigner function simultaneously in both the spinor and the isospin spaces we derive a set of kinetic equations for the quark distribution functions and the spin densities. A detailed analysis of the consequences imposed by the chiral invariance on the form of the transport equations is presented.Comment: Revtex, 25 pages, no figure

Modulation of serotonergic function in rat brain by VN2222, a 5-HT reuptake inhibitor with 5-HT1A receptor agonist

VN2222 (1-(benzo[b]thiophen-3-yl)-3-[4-(2-methoxiphenyl piperazin-1-yl]propan-1-ol) is a potential antidepressant with high affinity for the serotonin transporter and 5-HT1A receptors. Locally applied, VN2222 enhanced the extracellular 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) concentration (5-HText) in rat striatum to 780% of baseline whereas its systemic administration (1–10 mg/kg s.c.) reduced 5-HText. In the presence of citalopram, 8-OH-DPAT or VN2222 applied in medial prefrontal cortex reduced 5-HText. Fluoxetine, VN2222, and 8-OH-DPAT suppressed the firing rate of dorsal raphe 5-HT neurons (ED50: 790, 14.9, and 0.8 g/kg i.v., respectively). These effects were antagonized by WAY 100635. Administration of VN2222 for 2 weeks desensitized 5-HT1A receptors as assessed by microdialysis and single-unit recordings (ED50 values for 8-OH-DPAT were 0.45 and 2.34 g/kg i.v. for controls and rats treated with 6 mg/kg day VN2222). These results show that VN2222 is a mixed 5-HT reuptake inhibitor/5-HT1A agonist that markedly desensitizes 5-HT1A autoreceptors. These properties suggest that it may be a clinically effective dual action antidepressant drug.Peer reviewe

The effects of extracellular pH and of the transcriptional regulator PACI on the transcriptome of Trichoderma reesei

BACKGROUND: Extracellular pH is one of the several environmental factors affecting protein production by filamentous fungi. Regulatory mechanisms ensure that extracellular enzymes are produced under pH-conditions in which the enzymes are active. In filamentous fungi, the transcriptional regulation in different ambient pH has been studied especially in Aspergilli, whereas the effects of pH in the industrial producer of hydrolytic enzymes, Trichoderma reesei, have mainly been studied at the protein level. In this study, the pH-dependent expression of T. reesei genes was investigated by genome-wide transcriptional profiling and by analysing the effects of deletion of the gene encoding the transcriptional regulator pac1, the orthologue of Aspergillus nidulans pacC gene. RESULTS: Transcriptional analysis revealed the pH-responsive genes of T. reesei, and functional classification of the genes identified the activities most affected by changing pH. A large number of genes encoding especially transporters, signalling-related proteins, extracellular enzymes and proteins involved in different metabolism-related functions were found to be pH-responsive. Several cellulase- and hemicellulase-encoding genes were found among the pH-responsive genes. Especially, genes encoding hemicellulases with the similar type of activity were shown to include both genes up-regulated at low pH and genes up-regulated at high pH. However, relatively few of the cellulase- and hemicellulase-encoding genes showed direct PACI-mediated regulation, indicating the importance of other regulatory mechanisms affecting expression in different pH conditions. New information was gained on the effects of pH on the genes involved in ambient pH-signalling and on the known and candidate regulatory genes involved in regulation of cellulase and hemicellulase encoding genes. In addition, co-regulated genomic clusters responding to change of ambient pH were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Ambient pH was shown to be an important determinant of T. reesei gene expression. The pH-responsive genes, including those affected by the regulator of ambient pH sensing, were identified, and novel information on the activity of genes encoding carbohydrate active enzymes at different pH was gained. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-015-0247-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Metformin intake associates with better cognitive function in patients with Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited, dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an abnormal expansion of CAG triplets in the huntingtin gene (htt). Despite extensive efforts to modify the progression of HD thus far only symptomatic treatment is available. Recent work suggests that treating invertebrate and mice HD models with metformin, a well-known AMPK activator which is used worldwide to treat type 2-diabetes, reduces mutant huntingtin from cells and alleviates many of the phenotypes associated to HD. Herein we report statistical analyses of a sample population of participants in the Enroll-HD database, a world-wide observational study on HD, to assess the effect of metformin intake in HD patients respect to cognitive status using linear models. This cross-sectional study shows for the first time that the use of metformin associates with better cognitive function in HD patients