476 research outputs found
Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of A Rotating Massive Star Collapsing to A Black Hole
We perform two-dimensional, axisymmetric, magnetohydrodynamic simulations of
the collapse of a rotating star of 40 Msun and in the light of the collapsar
model of gamma-ray burst. Considering two distributions of angular momentum, up
to \sim 10^{17} cm^2/s, and the uniform vertical magnetic field, we investigate
the formation of an accretion disk around a black hole and the jet production
near the hole. After material reaches to the black hole with the high angular
momentum, the disk is formed inside a surface of weak shock. The disk becomes
in a quasi-steady state for stars whose magnetic field is less than 10^{10} G
before the collapse. We find that the jet can be driven by the magnetic fields
even if the central core does not rotate as rapidly as previously assumed and
outer layers of the star has sufficiently high angular momentum. The magnetic
fields are chiefly amplified inside the disk due to the compression and the
wrapping of the field. The fields inside the disk propagate to the polar region
along the inner boundary near the black hole through the Alfv{\'e}n wave, and
eventually drive the jet. The quasi-steady disk is not an advection-dominated
disk but a neutrino cooling-dominated one. Mass accretion rates in the disks
are greater than 0.01 Msun/sec with large fluctuations. The disk is transparent
for neutrinos. The dense part of the disk, which locates near the hole, emits
neutrino efficiently at a constant rate of < 8 \times 10^{51} erg/s. The
neutrino luminosity is much smaller than those from supernovae after the
neutrino burst.Comment: 42 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. A
paper with higher-resolution figures available at
http://www.ec.knct.ac.jp/~fujimoto/collapsar/mhd-color.pd
Complex Analysis of a Piece of Toda Lattice
We study a small piece of two dimensional Toda lattice as a complex dynamical
system. In particular the Julia set, which appears when the piece is deformed,
is shown analytically how it disappears as the system approaches to the
integrable limit.Comment: 17 pages, LaTe
Nanoâbio interaction between human immunoglobulin G and nontoxic, near-infrared emitting water-borne silicon quantum dot micelles
In recent years, the field of nanomaterials has exponentially expanded with versatile biological applications. However, one of the roadblocks to their clinical translation is the critical knowledge gap about how the nanomaterials interact with the biological microenvironment (nanoâbio interactions). When nanomaterials are used as drug carriers or contrast agents for biological imaging, the nanoâbio interaction-mediated protein conformational changes and misfolding could lead to disease-related molecular alterations and/or cell death. Here, we studied the conformation changes of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) upon interaction with silicon quantum dots functionalized with 1-decene, Pluronic-F127 (SiQD-De/F127 micelles) using UV-visible, fluorescence steady state and excited state kinetics, circular dichroism, and molecular modeling. Decene monolayer terminated SiQDs are accumulated inside the Pluronic F127 shells to form SiQD-De/F127 micelles and were shown to bind strongly with IgG. In addition, biological evaluation studies in cell lines (HeLa, Fibroblast) and medaka fish (eggs and larvae) showed enhanced uptake and minimal cytotoxicity. Our results substantiate that engineered QDs obviating the protein conformational changes could have adept bioefficacy
Statin-induced mevalonate pathway inhibition attenuates the growth of mesenchymal-like cancer cells that lack functional E-cadherin mediated cell cohesion
The cholesterol reducing drugs, statins, exhibit anti-tumor effects against cancer stem cells and various cancer cell lines, exert potent additivity or synergy with existing chemotherapeutics in animal models of cancer and may reduce cancer incidence and cancer related mortality in humans. However, not all tumor cell lines are sensitive to statins, and clinical trials have demonstrated mixed outcomes regarding statins as anticancer agents. Here, we show that statin-induced reduction in intracellular cholesterol levels correlate with the growth inhibition of cancer cell lines upon statin treatment. Moreover, statin sensitivity segregates with abundant cytosolic vimentin expression and absent cell surface E-cadherin expression, a pattern characteristic of mesenchymal-like cells. Exogenous expression of cell surface E-cadherin converts statin- sensitive cells to a partially resistant state implying that statin resistance is in part dependent on the tumor cells attaining an epithelial phenotype. As metastasizing tumor cells undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition during the initiation of the metastatic cascade, statin therapy may represent an effective approach to targeting the cells most likely to disseminate
Materials for supercapacitors: When Li-ion battery power is not enough
Supercapacitors, also known as electrochemical capacitors, have witnessed a fast evolution in the recent years, but challenges remain. This review covers the fundamentals and state-of-the-art developments of supercapacitors. Conventional and novel electrode materials, including high surface area porous carbons for electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) and transition metal oxides, carbides, nitrides and their various nanocomposites for pseudocapacitors â are described. Latest characterization techniques help to better understand the charge storage mechanisms in such supercapacitors and recognize their current limitations, while recently proposed synthesis approaches enable various breakthroughs in this field
Evolution Equation of Phenotype Distribution: General Formulation and Application to Error Catastrophe
An equation describing the evolution of phenotypic distribution is derived
using methods developed in statistical physics. The equation is solved by using
the singular perturbation method, and assuming that the number of bases in the
genetic sequence is large. Applying the equation to the mutation-selection
model by Eigen provides the critical mutation rate for the error catastrophe.
Phenotypic fluctuation of clones (individuals sharing the same gene) is
introduced into this evolution equation. With this formalism, it is found that
the critical mutation rate is sometimes increased by the phenotypic
fluctuations, i.e., noise can enhance robustness of a fitted state to mutation.
Our formalism is systematic and general, while approximations to derive more
tractable evolution equations are also discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figure
North-South Neutrino Heating Asymmetry in Strongly Magnetized and Rotating Stellar Cores
We perform a series of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of
supernova cores. Since the distributions of the angular momentum and the
magnetic fields of strongly magnetized stars are quite uncertain, we
systematically change the combinations of the strength of the angular momentum,
the rotations law, the degree of differential rotation, and the profiles of the
magnetic fields to construct the initial conditions. By so doing, we estimate
how the rotation-induced anisotropic neutrino heating are affected by the
strong magnetic fields through parity-violating effects and first investigate
how the north-south asymmetry of the neutrino heating in a strongly magnetized
supernova core could be. As for the microphysics, we employ a realistic
equation of state based on the relativistic mean field theory and take into
account electron captures and the neutrino transport via the neutrino leakage
scheme. With these computations, we find that the parity-violating corrections
reduce of the neutrino heating rate than that without the
magnetic fields in the vicinity of the north pole of a star, on the other hand,
enhance about in the vicinity of the south pole. If the
global asymmetry of the neutrino heating in the both of the poles develops in
the later phases, the newly born neutron star might be kicked toward the north
pole in the subsequent time.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, ApJ in press. A paper with higher-resolution
figures available at
http://www-utap.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~kkotake/lonbun.htm
A new liver perfusion and preservation system for transplantation Research in large animals
A kidney perfusion machine, model MOX-100 (Waters Instruments, Ltd, Rochester, MN) was modified to allow continuous perfusion of the portal vein and pulsatile perfusion of the hepatic artery of the liver. Additional apparatus consists of a cooling system, a membrane oxygenator, a filter for foreign bodies, and bubble traps. This system not only allows hypothermic perfusion preservation of the liver graft, but furthermore enables investigation of ex vivo simulation of various circulatory circumstances in which physiological perfusion of the liver is studied. We have used this system to evaluate the viability of liver allografts preserved by cold storage. The liver was placed on the perfusion system and perfused with blood with a hematocrit of approximately 20% and maintained at 37°C for 3 h. The flows of the hepatic artery and portal vein were adjusted to 0.33 mL and 0.67 mL/g of liver tissue, respectively. Parameters of viability consisted of hourly bile output, oxygen consumption, liver enzymes, electrolytes, vascular resistance, and liver histology. This method of liver assessment in large animals will allow the objective evaluation of organ viability for transplantation and thereby improve the outcome of organ transplantation. Furthermore, this pump enables investigation into the pathophysiology of liver ischemia and preservation. © 1990 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted
Parafibromin tumor suppressor enhances cell growth in the cells expressing SV40 large T antigen
Parafibromin is a 531-amino acid protein encoded by HRPT2, a putative tumor suppressor gene recently implicated in the autosomal dominant hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor familial cancer syndrome and sporadic parathyroid carcinoma. To investigate effects of parafibromin's overexpression on cell proliferation, we performed assays in four different cell lines. The transient overexpression of parafibromin inhibited cell growth in HEK293 and NIH3T3 cells, but enhanced cell growth in the SV40 large T antigen expressing-cell lines such as 293FT and COS7 cells. In 293FT cells, parafibromin was found to interact with SV40 large T antigen and its overexpression promoted entry into the S phase, implying that the interaction enhanced progression through the cell cycle. The tumor suppressor protein parafibromin acts as a positive regulator of cell growth like an oncoprotein in the presence of SV40 large T antigen
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Lepton Number Asymmetry in the Universe
Recently it is reported that there is the discrepancy between big bang
nucleosynthesis theory and observations (BBN crisis). We show that BBN
predictions agree with the primordial abundances of light elements, He4, D, He3
and Li7 inferred from the observational data if an electron neutrino has a net
chemical potential xi_{nu_e} due to lepton asymmetry. We estimate that
xi_{nu_e} = 0.043^{+0.040}_{-0.040} (95% C.L.) and Omega_bh^2 =
0.015^{+0.006}_{-0.003} (95% C.L.).Comment: 10 pages, using AAS LATEX and three postscript figure
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