14,018 research outputs found
Bi-stability of mixed states in neural network storing hierarchical patterns
We discuss the properties of equilibrium states in an autoassociative memory
model storing hierarchically correlated patterns (hereafter, hierarchical
patterns). We will show that symmetric mixed states (hereafter, mixed states)
are bi-stable on the associative memory model storing the hierarchical patterns
in a region of the ferromagnetic phase. This means that the first-order
transition occurs in this ferromagnetic phase. We treat these contents with a
statistical mechanical method (SCSNA) and by computer simulation. Finally, we
discuss a physiological implication of this model. Sugase et al. analyzed the
time-course of the information carried by the firing of face-responsive neurons
in the inferior temporal cortex. We also discuss the relation between the
theoretical results and the physiological experiments of Sugase et al.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure
Rescue with an anti-inflammatory peptide of chickens infected H5N1 avian flu
Chickens suffering from avian flu caused by H5N1 influenza virus are destined to die within 2 days due to a systemic inflammatory response. Since HVJ infection (1,2) and influenza virus infection (3,4) cause infected cells to activate homologous serum complement, the systemic inflammatory response elicited could be attributed to the unlimited generation of C5a anaphylatoxin of the complement system, which is a causative peptide of serious inflammation. In monkeys inoculated with a lethal dose of LPS (4 mg/kg body weight), inhibition of C5a by an inhibitory peptide termed AcPepA (5) rescued these animals from serious septic shock which would have resulted in death within a day (6). Therefore, we tested whether AcPepA could also have a beneficial effect on chickens with bird flu. On another front, enhanced production of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and the activation of mast cells (MCs) have been implicated in granulocyte sequestration (7). An endothelin receptor derived antisense homology box peptide (8) designated ETR-P1/fl was shown to antagonize endothelin A receptor (ET-A receptor) (9) and reduce such inflammatory responses as endotoxin-shock (10) and hemorrhagic shock (11), thereby suppressing histamine release in the circulation (12). Thus, we also administered ETR-P1/fl to bird flu chickens expecting suppression of a systemic inflammatory response
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Genetically Engineered T-Cells for Malignant Glioma: Overcoming the Barriers to Effective Immunotherapy.
Malignant gliomas carry a dismal prognosis. Conventional treatment using chemo- and radiotherapy has limited efficacy with adverse events. Therapy with genetically engineered T-cells, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, may represent a promising approach to improve patient outcomes owing to their potential ability to attack highly infiltrative tumors in a tumor-specific manner and possible persistence of the adaptive immune response. However, the unique anatomical features of the brain and susceptibility of this organ to irreversible tissue damage have made immunotherapy especially challenging in the setting of glioma. With safety concerns in mind, multiple teams have initiated clinical trials using CAR T-cells in glioma patients. The valuable lessons learnt from those trials highlight critical areas for further improvement: tackling the issues of the antigen presentation and T-cell homing in the brain, immunosuppression in the glioma microenvironment, antigen heterogeneity and off-tumor toxicity, and the adaptation of existing clinical therapies to reflect the intricacies of immune response in the brain. This review summarizes the up-to-date clinical outcomes of CAR T-cell clinical trials in glioma patients and examines the most pressing hurdles limiting the efficacy of these therapies. Furthermore, this review uses these hurdles as a framework upon which to evaluate cutting-edge pre-clinical strategies aiming to overcome those barriers
Thermal leptogenesis in brane world cosmology
The thermal leptogenesis in brane world cosmology is studied. In brane world
cosmology, the expansion law is modified from the four-dimensional standard
cosmological one at high temperature regime in the early universe. As a result,
the well-known upper bound on the lightest light neutrino mass induced by the
condition for the out-of-equilibrium decay of the lightest heavy neutrino,
eV, can be moderated to be in the case of with the
lightest heavy neutrino mass () and the ``transition temperature''
(), at which the modified expansion law in brane world cosmology is
smoothly connecting with the standard one. This implies that the degenerate
mass spectrum of the light neutrinos can be consistent with the thermal
leptogenesis scenario. Furthermore, as recently pointed out, the gravitino
problem in supersymmetric case can be solved if the transition temperature is
low enough GeV. Therefore, even in the supersymmetric
case, thermal leptogenesis scenario can be successfully realized in brane world
cosmology.Comment: 9 pages, final versio
High Spectral and Spatial Resolution Observations of the PDR Emission in the NGC2023 Reflection Nebula with SOFIA and APEX
We have mapped the NGC 2023 reflection nebula in [CII] and CO(11--10) with
the heterodyne receiver GREAT on SOFIA and obtained slightly smaller maps in
13CO(3--2), CO(3--2), CO(4--3), CO(6--5), and CO(7--6) with APEX in Chile. We
use these data to probe the morphology, kinematics, and physical conditions of
the C II region, which is ionized by FUV radiation from the B2 star HD37903.
The [CII] emission traces an ellipsoidal shell-like region at a position angle
of ~ -50 deg, and is surrounded by a hot molecular shell. In the southeast,
where the C II region expands into a dense, clumpy molecular cloud ridge, we
see narrow and strong line emission from high-J CO lines, which comes from a
thin, hot molecular shell surrounding the [CII] emission. The [CII] lines are
broader and show photo evaporating gas flowing into the C II region. Based on
the strength of the [13CII] F=2--1 line, the [CII] line appears to be somewhat
optically thick over most of the nebula with an optical depth of a few. We
model the physical conditions of the surrounding molecular cloud and the PDR
emission using both RADEX and simple PDR models. The temperature of the CO
emitting PDR shell is ~ 90 -- 120 K, with densities of 10^5 -- 10^6 cm^-3, as
deduced from RADEX modeling. Our PDR modeling indicates that the PDR layer
where [CII] emission dominates has somewhat lower densities, 10^4 to a few
times 10^5 cm^-3Comment: Accepted by A&
Dynamical replica theoretic analysis of CDMA detection dynamics
We investigate the detection dynamics of the Gibbs sampler for code-division
multiple access (CDMA) multiuser detection. Our approach is based upon
dynamical replica theory which allows an analytic approximation to the
dynamics. We use this tool to investigate the basins of attraction when phase
coexistence occurs and examine its efficacy via comparison with Monte Carlo
simulations.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure
The CP properties of the lightest Higgs boson with sbottom effects
In the framework of the recently proposed gluino-axion model, using the
effective potential method and taking into account the top-stop as well as the
bottom-sbottom effects, we discuss the CP--properties of the lightest Higgs
boson, in particular its CP--odd composition, which can offer new opportunities
at collider searches. It is found that although the CP-odd composition of the
lightest Higgs increases slightly with the inclusion of the sbottom effects, it
never exceeds %0.17 for all values of the renormalization scale Q ranging from
top mass to TeV scaleComment: 24 pp, 12 eps fig
Electroweak phase transition in a nonminimal supersymmetric model
The Higgs potential of the minimal nonminimal supersymmetric standard model
(MNMSSM) is investigated within the context of electroweak phase transition. We
investigate the allowed parameter space yielding correct electroweak phase
transitoin employing a high temperature approximation. We devote to
phenomenological consequences for the Higgs sector of the MNMSSM for
electron-positron colliders. It is observed that a future linear
collider with GeV will be able to test the model with regard
to electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 28 pages, 5 tables, 12 figure
Anomalous superconductivity and its competition with antiferromagnetism in doped Mott insulators
Proximity to a Mott insulating phase is likely to be an important physical
ingredient of a theory that aims to describe high-temperature superconductivity
in the cuprates. Quantum cluster methods are well suited to describe the Mott
phase. Hence, as a step towards a quantitative theory of the competition
between antiferromagnetism (AFM) and d-wave superconductivity (SC) in the
cuprates, we use Cellular Dynamical Mean Field Theory to compute zero
temperature properties of the two-dimensional square lattice Hubbard model. The
d-wave order parameter is found to scale like the superexchange coupling J for
on-site interaction U comparable to or larger than the bandwidth. The order
parameter also assumes a dome shape as a function of doping while, by contrast,
the gap in the single-particle density of states decreases monotonically with
increasing doping. In the presence of a finite second-neighbor hopping t', the
zero temperature phase diagram displays the electron-hole asymmetric
competition between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity that is observed
experimentally in the cuprates. Adding realistic third-neighbor hopping t''
improves the overall agreement with the experimental phase diagram. Since band
parameters can vary depending on the specific cuprate considered, the
sensitivity of the theoretical phase diagram to band parameters challenges the
commonly held assumption that the doping vs T_{c}/T_{c}^{max} phase diagram of
the cuprates is universal. The calculated ARPES spectrum displays the observed
electron-hole asymmetry. Our calculations reproduce important features of
d-wave superconductivity in the cuprates that would otherwise be considered
anomalous from the point of view of the standard BCS approach.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
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