Melting Spectral Functions of the Scalar and Vector Mesons in a Holographic QCD Model

We investigate the finite-temperature spectral functions of heavy quarkonia by using the soft-wall AdS/QCD model. We discuss the scalar, the pseudo-scalar, the vector, and the axial-vector mesons and compare their qualitative features of the melting temperature and growing width. We find that the axial-vector meson melts earlier than the vector meson, while there appears only a slight difference between the scalar and pseudo-scalar mesons which also melt earlier than the vector meson.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure

Evaluation of Pathological Association between Stroke-Related QTL and Salt-Induced Renal Injury in Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat

The stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) suffers from severe hypertension and hypertensive organ damage such as cerebral stroke and kidney injury under salt-loading. By a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis between SHRSP and SHR (the stroke-resistant parental strain of SHRSP), two major QTLs for stroke susceptibility were identified on chromosomes 1 and 18 of SHRSP, which were confirmed in congenic strains constructed between SHRSP and SHR. As the progression of renal dysfunction was suggested to be one of the key factors inducing stroke in SHRSP, we examined effects of the stroke-related QTLs on kidney injury using two congenic strains harboring either of SHRSP-derived fragments of chromosomes 1 and 18 in the SHR genome. The congenic strains were challenged with 1% NaCl solution for 4 weeks; measurement of systolic blood pressure and urinary isoprostane level (a marker for oxidative stress) and evaluation of renal injury by quantification of genetic marker expression and histological examination were performed. We found that the congenic rats with SHRSP-derived fragment of chromosome 18 showed more severe renal damage with higher expression of Col1α-1 (a genetic marker for renal fibrosis) and higher urinary isoprostane level. In contrast, the fragment of chromosome 1 from SHRSP did not give such effects on SHR. Blood pressure was not greater in either of the congenic strains when compared with SHR. We concluded that the QTL region on chromosome 18 might deteriorate salt-induced renal injury in SHR through a blood pressure-independent mechanism

Diagnosis of infective endocarditis with cardiac CT in an adult

The diagnosis of infective endocarditis is based on modified Duke's criteria, which includes clinical, biological, and echocardiographic findings. However, computed tomography (CT) has not been mentioned as a diagnostic tool in the criteria. We report a case of infective endocarditis confirmed by cardiac CT in which we could identify vegetations and perivalvular abscess not on transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography. Cardiac CT was feasible imaging modality for evaluating and diagnosing infective endocarditis. Cardiac CT should be recommended in patients with clinical suspicion of infective endocarditis even when transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography is negative for infective endocarditis. Keywords: Cardiac computed tomography, Infective endocarditi

The Coiled-Coil Protein VIG1 Is Essential for Tethering Vacuoles to Mitochondria during Vacuole Inheritance of Cyanidioschyzon merolae[C][W][OA]

The mechanism of vacuole inheritance is poorly understood. This work makes use of the model organism C. merolae, which has a minimum set of organelles that are systematically inherited, and identifies vig1 as being essential for vacuole inheritance