15,570 research outputs found
Association of PET-measured myocardial flow reserve with echocardiography-estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
BackgroundPulmonary hypertension (PH) is a known complication of HCM and is a strong predictor of mortality. We aim to investigate the relationship between microvascular dysfunction measured by quantitative PET and PH in HCM patients.MethodsEighty-nine symptomatic HCM patients were included in the study. Each patient underwent two 20-min 13N-NH3 dynamic PET scans for rest and stress conditions, respectively. A 2-tissue irreversible compartmental model was used to fit the segments time activity curves for estimating segmental and global myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR). Echocardiographic derived PASP was utilized to estimate PH.ResultsPatients were categorized into two groups across PASP: PH (PASP > 36 mmHg) and no-PH (PASP ≤ 36 mmHg). patients with PH had larger left atrium, ratio of higher inflow early diastole (E) and atrial contraction (A) waves, E/A, and ratio of inflow and peak early diastolic waves, E/e', significantly reduced global stress MBF (1.85 ± 0.52 vs. 2.13 ± 0.56 ml/min/g; p = 0.024) and MFR (2.21 ± 0.57 vs. 2.62 ± 0.75; p = 0.005), while the MBFs at rest between the two groups were similar. There were significant negative correlations between global stress MBF/MFR and PASP (stress MBF: r = -0.23, p = 0.03; MFR: r = -0.32, p = 0.002); for regional MBF and MFR measurements, the highest linear correlation coefficients were observed in the septal wall (stress MBF: r = -0.27, p = 0.01; MFR: r = -0.31, p = 0.003). Global MFR was identified to be independent predictor for PH in multivariate regression analysis.ConclusionEchocardiography-derived PASP is negatively correlated with global MFR measured by 13N-NH3 dynamic PET. Global MFR is suggested to be an index of PH in HCM patients.</div
Experimental phase functions of mm-sized cosmic dust grains
We present experimental phase functions of three types of millimeter-sized
dust grains consisting of enstatite, quartz and volcanic material from Mount
Etna, respectively. The three grains present similar sizes but different
absorbing properties. The measurements are performed at 527 nm covering the
scattering angle range from 3 to 170 degrees. The measured phase functions show
two well defined regions i) soft forward peaks and ii) a continuous increase
with the scattering angle at side- and back-scattering regions. This behavior
at side- and back-scattering regions are in agreement with the observed phase
functions for the Fomalhaut and HR 4796A dust rings. Further computations and
measurements (including polarization) for millimeter sized-grains are needed to
draw some conclusions about the fluffy or compact structure of the dust grains
SUSY Dark Matter In Light Of CDMS/XENON Limits
In this talk we briefly review the current CDMS/XENON constraints on the
neutralino dark matter in three popular supersymmetric models: the minimal
(MSSM), the next-to-minimal (NMSSM) and the nearly minimal (nMSSM). The
constraints from the dark matter relic density and various collider experiments
are also taken into account. The conclusion is that for each model the current
CDMS/XENON limits can readily exclude a large part of the parameter space
allowed by other constraints and the future SuperCDMS or XENON100 can cover
most of the allowed parameter space. The implication for the Higgs search at
the LHC is also discussed. It is found that in the currently allowed parameter
space the MSSM charged Higgs boson is quite unlikely to be discovered at the
LHC while the neutral Higgs bosons and may be accessible at the LHC in
the parameter space with a large parameter.Comment: talk given at 2nd International Workshop on Dark Matter, Dark Energy
and Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry, Nov 5-6, 2010, Hsinchu, Taiwan (to appear in
Int. J. Mod. Phys. D
The composition and size distribution of the dust in the coma of comet Hale-Bopp
We discuss the composition and size distribution of the dust in the coma of
comet Hale-Bopp. We do this by fitting simultaneously the infrared emission
spectrum measured by the infrared space observatory (ISO) and the measured
degree of linear polarization of scattered light at various phase angles and 12
different wavelengths. The effects of particle shape on the modeled optical
properties of the dust grains are taken into account. We constrain our fit by
forcing the abundances of the major rock forming chemical elements to be solar.
The infrared spectrum at long wavelengths reveals that large grains are needed
in order to fit the spectral slope. The size and shape distribution we employ
allows us to estimate the sizes of the crystalline silicates. The ratios of the
strength of various forsterite features show that the crystalline silicate
grains in Hale-Bopp must be submicron sized. We exclude the presence of large
crystalline silicate grains in the coma. Because of this lack of large
crystalline grains combined with the fact that we do need large amorphous
grains to fit the emission spectrum at long wavelengths, we need only
approximately 4% of crystalline silicates by mass. After correcting for
possible hidden crystalline material included in large amorphous grains, our
best estimate of the total mass fraction of crystalline material is
approximately 7.5%, significantly lower than deduced in previous studies in
which the typical derived crystallinity is 20-30%. The implications of this on
the possible origin and evolution of the comet are discussed. The crystallinity
we observe in Hale-Bopp is consistent with the production of crystalline
silicates in the inner solar system by thermal annealing and subsequent radial
mixing to the comet forming region.Comment: Accepted for publication in Icaru
Detectability of dirty dust grains in brown dwarf atmospheres
Dust clouds influence the atmospheric structure of brown dwarfs, and they
affect the heat transfer and change the gas-phase chemistry. However, the
physics of their formation and evolution is not well understood. In this
letter, we predict dust signatures and propose a potential observational test
of the physics of dust formation in brown dwarf atmosphere based on the
spectral features of the different solid components predicted by dust formation
theory. A momentum method for the formation of dirty dust grains (nucleation,
growth, evaporation, drift) is used in application to a static brown dwarf
atmosphere structure to compute the dust grain properties, in particular the
heterogeneous grain composition and the grain size. Effective medium and Mie
theory are used to compute the extinction of these spherical grains. Dust
formation results in grains whose composition differs from that of grains
formed at equilibrium. Our kinetic model predicts that solid amorphous SiO2[s]
(silica) is one of the most abundant solid component followed by amorphous
MgSiO4[s] and MgSiO3[s], while SiO2[s] is absent in equilibrium models
because it is a metastable solid. Solid amorphous SiO2[s] possesses a strong
broad absorption feature centered at 8.7mum, while amorphous
Mg2SiO4[s]/MgSiO3[s] absorb at 9.7mum beside other absorption features at
longer wavelength. Those features at lambda < 15mum are detectable in
absorption if grains are small (radius < 0.2mum) in the upper atmosphere as
suggested by our model. We suggest that the detection of a feature at 8.7mum in
deep infrared spectra could provide evidence for non-equilibrium dust formation
that yields grains composed of metastable solids in brown dwarf atmospheres.
This feature will shift towards 10mum and broaden if silicates (e.g. fosterite)
are much more abundant.Comment: A&A Letter, accepte
Entangling two superconducting LC coherent modes via a superconducting flux qubit
Based on a pure solid-state device consisting of two superconducting LC
circuits coupled to a superconducting flux qubit, we propose in this paper that
the maximally entangled coherent states of the two LC modes can be generated
for arbitrary coherent states through flux qubit controls.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Electronic structure of YbB: Is it a Topological Insulator or not?
To resolve the controversial issue of the topological nature of the
electronic structure of YbB, we have made a combined study using density
functional theory (DFT) and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES).
Accurate determination of the low energy band topology in DFT requires the use
of modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential incorporating the spin-orbit
coupling and the on-site Coulomb interaction of Yb electrons as large
as 7 eV. We have double-checked the DFT result with the more precise GW band
calculation. ARPES is done with the non-polar (110) surface termination to
avoid band bending and quantum well confinement that have confused ARPES
spectra taken on the polar (001) surface termination. Thereby we show
definitively that YbB has a topologically trivial B 2-Yb 5
semiconductor band gap, and hence is a non-Kondo non-topological insulator
(TI). In agreement with theory, ARPES shows pure divalency for Yb and a -
band gap of 0.3 eV, which clearly rules out both of the previous scenarios of
- band inversion Kondo TI and - band inversion non-Kondo TI. We
have also examined the pressure-dependent electronic structure of YbB,
and found that the high pressure phase is not a Kondo TI but a
\emph{p}-\emph{d} overlap semimetal.Comment: The main text is 6 pages with 4 figures, and the supplementary
information contains 6 figures. 11 pages, 10 figures in total To be appeared
in Phys. Rev. Lett. (Online publication is around March 16 if no delays.
Anthelmintic tolerance in free-living and facultative parasitic isolates of Halicephalobus (Panagrolaimidae)
Studies on anthelmintic resistance in equine parasites do not include facultative parasites. Halicephalobus gingivalis is a free-living bacteriovorous nematode and a known facultative parasite of horses with a strong indication of some form of tolerance to common anthelmintic drugs. This research presents the results of an in vitro study on the anthelmintic tolerance of several isolates of Halicephalobus to thiabendazole and ivermectin using an adaptation of the Micro-Agar Larval Development Test hereby focusing on egg hatching and larval development. Panagrellus redivivus and Panagrolaimus superbus were included as a positive control. The results generally show that the anthelmintic tolerance of Halicephalobus to both thiabendazole and ivermectin was considerably higher than that of the closely related Panagrolaimidae and, comparing to other studies, than that of obligatory equine parasites. Our results further reveal a remarkable trend of increasing tolerance from fully free-living isolates towards horse-associated isolates. In vitro anthelmintic testing with free-living and facultative parasitic nematodes offers the advantage of observing drug effect on the complete lifecycle as opposed to obligatory parasites which can only be followed until the third larval stage. We therefore propose Halicephalobus gingivalis as an experimental tool to deepen our understanding of the biology of anthelmintic tolerance
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