5,645 research outputs found
Morphological effects of Pasteurella multocida Type-D dermonecrotoxin on rat osteosarcoma cells in a nude mouse model
Of 15 athymic nude mice that received subcutaneous implants of a rat osteosarcoma cell line, two groups of four subsequently received either a short (group 1) or a more prolonged (group 2) course of subcutaneous injections of the dermonecrotic toxin (DNT) of Pasteurella multocida type D. The remaining seven mice (controls) received no DNT. Both groups of DNT-treated mice lost body weight as compared with controls. Tumour weight, expressed as a percentage of body weight, increased in the four group 1 mice, Tumours in this group 1 were consistently larger than those in appropriate controls, indicating that this percentage was not simply a function of decreased body weight. The immunohistochemical labelling of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and morphometric analysis of intratumoral necrosis suggested that the DNT had a mitogenic effect and contributed to the neoplastic growth. The presence of foci of neoplastic osteoblasts in the lungs of some DNT-treated mice suggested that the enhanced tumour growth led to an increased incidence of metastasis
D-Foam Phenomenology: Dark Energy, the Velocity of Light and a Possible D-Void
In a D-brane model of space-time foam, there are contributions to the dark
energy that depend on the D-brane velocities and on the density of D-particle
defects. The latter may also reduce the speeds of photons linearly with their
energies, establishing a phenomenological connection with astrophysical probes
of the universality of the velocity of light. Specifically, the cosmological
dark energy density measured at the present epoch may be linked to the apparent
retardation of energetic photons propagating from nearby AGNs. However, this
nascent field of `D-foam phenomenology' may be complicated by a dependence of
the D-particle density on the cosmological epoch. A reduced density of
D-particles at redshifts z ~ 1 - a `D-void' - would increase the dark energy
while suppressing the vacuum refractive index, and thereby might reconcile the
AGN measurements with the relatively small retardation seen for the energetic
photons propagating from GRB 090510, as measured by the Fermi satellite.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Azimuthal Correlations with High-pT Multi-Hadron Cluster Triggers in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV
Di-hadron correlation measurements have been used to probe di-jet production
in collisions at RHIC. A strong suppression of the away-side high-pT yield in
these measurements is direct evidence that high-pT partons lose energy as they
traverse the strongly interacting medium. However, since the momentum of the
trigger particle is not a good measure of the jet energy, azimuthal di-hadron
correlations have limited sensitivity to the shape of the fragmentation
function. We explore the possibility to better constrain the initial parton
energy by using clusters of multiple high-pT hadrons in a narrow cone as the
'trigger particle' in the azimuthal correlation analysis. We present first
results from this analysis of multi-hadron triggered correlated yields in Au+Au
collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV from STAR. The results are compared to Pythia
calculations, and the implications for energy loss and jet fragmentation are
discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the proceedings of the 24th Winter
Workshop on Nuclear Dynamic
Solving -means on High-dimensional Big Data
In recent years, there have been major efforts to develop data stream
algorithms that process inputs in one pass over the data with little memory
requirement. For the -means problem, this has led to the development of
several -approximations (under the assumption that is a
constant), but also to the design of algorithms that are extremely fast in
practice and compute solutions of high accuracy. However, when not only the
length of the stream is high but also the dimensionality of the input points,
then current methods reach their limits.
We propose two algorithms, piecy and piecy-mr that are based on the recently
developed data stream algorithm BICO that can process high dimensional data in
one pass and output a solution of high quality. While piecy is suited for high
dimensional data with a medium number of points, piecy-mr is meant for high
dimensional data that comes in a very long stream. We provide an extensive
experimental study to evaluate piecy and piecy-mr that shows the strength of
the new algorithms.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, published at the 14th International Symposium on
Experimental Algorithms - SEA 201
Adenine-Induced Nephropathy Reduces Atherosclerosis in ApoE Knockout Mice.
BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular events are the main cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease. We hypothesize that the protective effects of renal cholesterol and vitamin D3 metabolism are lost under this condition. Nephropathy was induced by adenine in Apolipoprotein E knockout mice. The atherosclerotic phenotype was compared to mice with normal renal function.
METHODS
Mice were fed a western diet ±0.15% adenine. Urine and feces were collected to assess renal function and fecal output. Atherosclerosis, serum lipoprotein composition and functionality, hepatic lipids, and expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism, vitamin D3 and Na+ homeostasis, were assessed. Bones were analyzed by microCT.
RESULTS
Mice fed with adenine showed enhanced urinary Na+, Ca2+, and Pi excretion, reduced urinary pH, UreaUrine/UreaSerum, and CreatinineUrine/CreatinineSerum ratios. They developed less atherosclerosis. Lipoproteins in serum and hepatic lipids remained unchanged. Cholesterol efflux increased. Fecal output of cholesteryl ester and triglycerides increased. In the liver, mRNA levels of Cyp27a1, Cyp7a1, and Scarb1 increased; in the kidneys, Slc9a3, Slc12a3, Vdr, and Cyp24a1 decreased. Adenine increased cholesterol efflux in vitro. Tibias were shorter.
CONCLUSION
Adenine induced tubular damage and was athero-protective because of enhanced cholesterol efflux and lipids elimination in feces. Bone growth was also affected
Mit Bio blüht die Vielfalt – wildtierfreundlicher Biolandbau
In Bereich Grundlagen und Methoden wurden einige Arbeiten abgeschlossen. Einerseits wurden die statistischen Kennzahlen zum ökologischen Ausgleich auf Biobetrieben und ÖLN-Betrieben in der Schweiz abschliessend dargestellt und eine vergleichende Analyse auf drei Ebenen (Zonen, Kanton, Bezirk) vorgenommen. Der Vergleich der Umsetzungsraten auf allen Betrieben auf Basis der Landwirtschaftlichen Betriebsstrukturerhebung 2005 ergab, dass Ökoausgleichsmassnahmen auf Biobetrieben durchschnittlich um zwei Drittel häufiger umgesetzt werden. Der durchschnittliche Flächenanteil von Ökoausgleichsmassnahmen beträgt auf Biobetrieben 22,4%, und auf ÖLN-Betrieben 13,1%. Die grössten Unterschiede wurden bei „Extensiven Wiesen“, „Wenig intensiven Wiesen“ und „Hecken“ festgestellt. „Rotations- und Buntbrachen“ wurden häufiger auf ÖLN-Betrieben angelegt. Die grossen Umsetzungsunterschiede bei „Hecken“ und „Hochstamm-Feldobstbäumen“ lassen auf eine grundsätzlich andere Einstellung der Biobetriebsleiter zum Naturschutz schliessen und die generell höhere Umsetzung von Ökomassnahmen weist auf höhere Biodiversitätsleistungen von Biobetrieben hin. Die Ergebnisse wurden in der Oktoberausgabe der Zeitschrift ‚Agrarforschung’ publiziert.
Im Weiteren wurde ein in Zusammenarbeit mit der Vogelwarte Sempach entwickeltes Beurteilungssystem fertig entwickelt. Das sogenannte ‚Punktesystem’ beurteilt die ökologische Qualität von Landwirtschaftsbetrieben und fokussiert auf die Beurteilung von Zuständen und Massnahmen in Nutzflächen und naturnahen Flächen.
Eine Literaturstudie zum Thema ‚Bioackerbau und Naturschutz’ wurde verfasst, um allgemeine Problemfelder im Bioackerbau zu dokumentieren und möglichen Handlungsbedarf abzuleiten.
Im Modul 2 „Beratung“ wurde in vier Regionen eine Umsetzungskontrolle der vereinbarten Massnahmen auf den Betriebsflächen durchgeführt. Die Betriebe wurden in der Umsetzungwildtierfreundlicher Bewirtschaftung weiter beraten.
Im Teilprojekt Schmetterlingsförderung auf Jura-Graslandbetrieben wurde im Rahmen des Monitorings die Ziel-/Leitarten komplettiert. Die zwei Betriebe wiesen mit 30 bzw. 33 Arten und 4 bis 5 Rote Liste Arten eine beachtlich hohe Artenvielfalt auf.
Im Unterengadin wurde die Akzeptanz der Betriebsleiter für Naturschutzmassnahmen und ihre Erfahrungen mit dem gesamtbetrieblichen Beratungsansatz in einer qualitativen Befragung untersucht. Die vorgeschlagenen Massnahmen konnten zu einem grossen Teil im Rahmen des Vernetzungsprojekts Ardez vertraglich festgelegt werden. Insgesamt wurden 31.3 ha Grünland,verteilt auf 300 Parzellen unter Vertrag genommen. Der Anteil an der landwirtschaftlichen Nutzfläche der einzelnen Betriebe liegt zwischen 19,2 und 55,6%. Mit diesen Verträgen kann ein Grünland-Nutzungsmosaik erreicht werden, das den Ansprüchen der Ziel- und Leitarten entspricht.
Die Umsetzungskontrolle auf 128 Vertragsparzellen ergab, dass sich die Landwirte schon im ersten Jahr ausnahmslos an die Vertragsbedingungen gehalten haben.
Im Modul 3 „Öffentlichkeitsarbeit“ lag der Schwerpunkt auf der Pressearbeit. Es wurden ein Medientermin organisiert und verschiedene Artikel zu Naturschutz in der Biolandwirtschaft in Fach und Publikumszeitschriften publiziert. Im Zuge des Relaunch von www.fibl.org werden die FiBLInternetseiten über das Projekt überarbeitet und ein Internetdossier zum Thema Naturschutz in der Landwirtschaft wird entstehen
Gamma Ray Bursts: recent results and connections to very high energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos
Gamma-ray bursts are the most concentrated explosions in the Universe. They
have been detected electromagnetically at energies up to tens of GeV, and it is
suspected that they could be active at least up to TeV energies. It is also
speculated that they could emit cosmic rays and neutrinos at energies reaching
up to the eV range. Here we review the recent developments in
the photon phenomenology in the light of \swift and \fermi satellite
observations, as well as recent IceCube upper limits on their neutrino
luminosity. We discuss some of the theoretical models developed to explain
these observations and their possible contribution to a very high energy cosmic
ray and neutrino background.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Text of a plenary lecture at the PASCOS 12
conference, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, June 2012; to appear in J.Phys. (Conf.
Series
Beam Performance of Tracking Detectors with Industrially Produced GEM Foils
Three Gas-Electron-Multiplier tracking detectors with an active area of 10 cm
x 10 cm and a two-dimensional, laser-etched orthogonal strip readout have been
tested extensively in particle beams at the Meson Test Beam Facility at
Fermilab. These detectors used GEM foils produced by Tech-Etch, Inc. They
showed an efficiency in excess of 95% and spatial resolution better than 70 um.
The influence of the angle of incidence of particles on efficiency and spatial
resolution was studied in detail.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Nuclear Instruments and Methods in
Physics Research
Syk tyrosine kinase is critical for B cell antibody responses and memory B cell survival
Signals from the BCR are required for Ag-specific B cell recruitment into the immune response. Binding of Ag to the BCR induces phosphorylation of immune receptor tyrosine-based activation motifs in the cytoplasmic domains of the CD79a and CD79b signaling subunits, which subsequently bind and activate the Syk protein tyrosine kinase. Earlier work with the DT40 chicken B cell leukemia cell line showed that Syk was required to transduce BCR signals to proximal activation events, suggesting that Syk also plays an important role in the activation and differentiation of primary B cells during an immune response. In this study, we show that Syk-deficient primary mouse B cells have a severe defect in BCR-induced activation, proliferation, and survival. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Syk is required for both T-dependent and T-independent Ab responses, and that this requirement is B cell intrinsic. In the absence of Syk, Ag fails to induce differentiation of naive B cells into germinal center B cells and plasma cells. Finally, we show that the survival of existing memory B cells is dependent on Syk. These experiments demonstrate that Syk plays a critical role in multiple aspects of B cell Ab responses
Energy and system dependence of high- triggered two-particle near-side correlations
Previous studies have indicated that the near-side peak of high-
triggered correlations can be decomposed into two parts, the \textit{Jet} and
the \textit{Ridge}. We present data on the yield per trigger of the
\textit{Jet} and the \textit{Ridge} from , and collisions
at = 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV and compare data on the \textit{Jet}
to PYTHIA 8.1 simulations for . PYTHIA describes the \textit{Jet}
component up to a scaling factor, meaning that PYTHIA can provide a better
understanding of the \textit{Ridge} by giving insight into the effects of the
kinematic cuts. We present collision energy and system dependence of the
\textit{Ridge} yield, which should help distinguish models for the production
mechanism of the \textit{Ridge}.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, proceedings for Hot Quarks in Estes Park,
Colorad
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