305 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Damaged axons promote OPC differentiation
Oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) differentiation is an important therapeutic target to promote remyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS). We previously reported hyperphosphorylated and aggregated microtubule-associated protein tau in MS lesions, suggesting its involvement in axonal degeneration. However, the influence of pathological tau-induced axonal damage on the potential for remyelination is unknown. Therefore, we investigated OPC differentiation in human P301S tau (P301S-htau) transgenic mice, both in vitro and in vivo following focal demyelination. In 2-month-old P301S-htau mice, which show hyperphosphorylated tau in neurons, we found atrophic axons in the spinal cord in the absence of prominent axonal degeneration. These signs of early axonal damage were associated with microgliosis and an upregulation of IL-1β and TNFα. Following in vivo focal white matter demyelination we found that OPCs differentiated more efficiently in P301S-htau mice than wild type (Wt) mice. We also found an increased level of myelin basic protein within the lesions, which however did not translate into increased remyelination due to higher susceptibility of P301S-htau axons to demyelination-induced degeneration compared to Wt axons. In vitro experiments confirmed higher differentiation capacity of OPCs from P301S-htau mice compared with Wt mice-derived OPCs. Because the OPCs from P301S-htau mice do not ectopically express the transgene, and when isolated from newborn mice behave like Wt mice-derived OPCs, we infer that their enhanced differentiation capacity must have been acquired through microenvironmental priming. Our data suggest the intriguing concept that damaged axons may signal to OPCs and promote their differentiation in the attempt at rescue by remyelination. GLIA 2016;64:457-471.This project was funded by the Multiple Sclerosis Society UK via the Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair consortium, and core support grant from the Wellcome Trust and MRC to the Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
Polarizing the Dipoles
We extend the massless dipole formalism of Catani and Seymour, as well as its
massive version as developed by Catani, Dittmaier, Seymour and Trocsanyi, to
arbitrary helicity eigenstates of the external partons. We modify the real
radiation subtraction terms only, the primary aim being an improved efficiency
of the numerical Monte Carlo integration of this contribution as part of a
complete next-to-leading order calculation. In consequence, our extension is
only applicable to unpolarized scattering. Upon summation over the helicities
of the emitter pairs, our formulae trivially reduce to their original form. We
implement our extension within the framework of Helac-Phegas, and give some
examples of results pertinent to recent studies of backgrounds for the LHC. The
code is publicly available. Since the integrated dipole contributions do not
require any modifications, we do not discuss them, but they are implemented in
the software.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, Integrated dipoles implemented for massless and
massive case
Dynamic Critical Behavior of the Chayes-Machta Algorithm for the Random-Cluster Model. I. Two Dimensions
We study, via Monte Carlo simulation, the dynamic critical behavior of the
Chayes-Machta dynamics for the Fortuin-Kasteleyn random-cluster model, which
generalizes the Swendsen-Wang dynamics for the q-state Potts ferromagnet to
non-integer q \ge 1. We consider spatial dimension d=2 and 1.25 \le q \le 4 in
steps of 0.25, on lattices up to 1024^2, and obtain estimates for the dynamic
critical exponent z_{CM}. We present evidence that when 1 \le q \lesssim 1.95
the Ossola-Sokal conjecture z_{CM} \ge \beta/\nu is violated, though we also
present plausible fits compatible with this conjecture. We show that the
Li-Sokal bound z_{CM} \ge \alpha/\nu is close to being sharp over the entire
range 1 \le q \le 4, but is probably non-sharp by a power. As a byproduct of
our work, we also obtain evidence concerning the corrections to scaling in
static observables.Comment: LaTeX2e, 75 pages including 26 Postscript figure
Feynman Rules for the Rational Part of the Standard Model One-loop Amplitudes in the 't Hooft-Veltman Scheme
We study Feynman rules for the rational part of the Standard Model
amplitudes at one-loop level in the 't Hooft-Veltman scheme.
Comparing our results for quantum chromodynamics and electroweak 1-loop
amplitudes with that obtained based on the Kreimer-Korner-Schilcher (KKS)
scheme, we find the latter result can be recovered when our
scheme becomes identical (by setting in our expressions)
with the KKS scheme. As an independent check, we also calculate Feynman rules
obtained in the KKS scheme, finding our results in complete agreement with
formulae presented in the literature. Our results, which are studied in two
different schemes, may be useful for clarifying the
problem in dimensional regularization. They are helpful to eliminate or find
ambiguities arising from different dimensional regularization schemes.Comment: Version published in JHEP, presentation improved, 41 pages, 10
figure
Dynamic critical behavior of the Chayes-Machta-Swendsen-Wang algorithm
We study the dynamic critical behavior of the Chayes-Machta dynamics for the
Fortuin-Kasteleyn random-cluster model, which generalizes the Swendsen-Wang
dynamics for the q-state Potts model to noninteger q, in two and three spatial
dimensions, by Monte Carlo simulation. We show that the Li-Sokal bound z \ge
\alpha/\nu is close to but probably not sharp in d=2, and is far from sharp in
d=3, for all q. The conjecture z \ge \beta/\nu is false (for some values of q)
in both d=2 and d=3.Comment: Revtex4, 4 pages including 4 figure
Urban Gardens as a Space to Engender Biophilia: Evidence and Ways Forward
Cities are losing green space driving an extinction of nature experiences for urban communities. Incremental green space loss can trigger a ratcheting-down effect where individuals' expectations of nature continually decrease through time. This loss of everyday nature experiences may produce a citizenry with reduced knowledge and appreciation of biodiversity and the environment. In this review, we examine how urban gardens, as urban spaces that bring people into close contact with nature in an otherwise built environment, can combat this ratcheting-down effect by encouraging interactions and knowledge of nature. We review three ways urban gardens may engender greater biophilia: (1) the provision of natural elements to expose urban dwellers to the diversity of plants, animals, and soils that they would otherwise not encounter in their daily life; (2) fostering a greater understanding of natural processes that affect food production (e.g., climate processes, pest control, pollination) and thus the natural world; and (3) the provision of a safe space in which humans can corporeally interact with nature elements to develop greater fascination with nature. Thus, urban gardens can engender biophilia for their participants by increasing exposure, positive interactions, and knowledge of nature, potentially changing people's attitudes to nature. We present examples from a variety of urban gardens to show how these spaces can be designed using biophilic thinking to enhance people's everyday nature experiences and their drive to interact with the natural world
Analytic Structure of Three-Mass Triangle Coefficients
``Three-mass triangles'' are a class of integral functions appearing in
one-loop gauge theory amplitudes. We discuss how the complex analytic
properties and singularity structures of these amplitudes can be combined with
generalised unitarity techniques to produce compact expressions for three-mass
triangle coefficients. We present formulae for the N=1 contributions to the
n-point NMHV amplitude.Comment: 22 pages; v3: NMHV n=point expression added. 7 point expression
remove
Four-lepton production at hadron colliders: aMC@NLO predictions with theoretical uncertainties
We use aMC@NLO to study the production of four charged leptons at the LHC,
performing parton showers with both HERWIG and Pythia6. Our underlying matrix
element calculation features the full next-to-leading order
result and the contribution of the channel, and it
includes all off-shell, spin-correlation, virtual-photon-exchange, and
interference effects. We present several key distributions together with the
corresponding theoretical uncertainties. These are obtained through a
process-independent technique that allows aMC@NLO to compute scale and PDF
uncertainties in a fully automated way and at no extra CPU-time costComment: 24 pages, 6 figure
Next-to-leading order QCD predictions for W+W+jj production at the LHC
Because the LHC is a proton-proton collider, sizable production of two
positively charged W-bosons in association with two jets is possible. This
process leads to a distinct signature of same sign high-pt leptons, missing
energy and jets. We compute the NLO QCD corrections to the QCD-mediated part of
pp -> W+W+jj. These corrections reduce the dependence of the production
cross-section on the renormalization and factorization scale to about +- 10
percent. We find that a large number of W+W+jj events contain a relatively hard
third jet. The presence of this jet should help to either pick up the W+W+jj
signal or to reject it as an unwanted background.Comment: 15 pages, 5 (lovely) figures, v3 accepted for publication in JHEP,
corrects tables in appendi
Local and cluster critical dynamics of the 3d random-site Ising model
We present the results of Monte Carlo simulations for the critical dynamics
of the three-dimensional site-diluted quenched Ising model. Three different
dynamics are considered, these correspond to the local update Metropolis scheme
as well as to the Swendsen-Wang and Wolff cluster algorithms. The lattice sizes
of L=10-96 are analysed by a finite-size-scaling technique. The site dilution
concentration p=0.85 was chosen to minimize the correction-to-scaling effects.
We calculate numerical values of the dynamical critical exponents for the
integrated and exponential autocorrelation times for energy and magnetization.
As expected, cluster algorithms are characterized by lower values of dynamical
critical exponent than the local one: also in the case of dilution critical
slowing down is more pronounced for the Metropolis algorithm. However, the
striking feature of our estimates is that they suggest that dilution leads to
decrease of the dynamical critical exponent for the cluster algorithms. This
phenomenon is quite opposite to the local dynamics, where dilution enhances
critical slowing down.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, style file include
- …