4,802 research outputs found
Del Pezzo surfaces with 1/3(1,1) points
We classify del Pezzo surfaces with 1/3(1,1) points in 29 qG-deformation
families grouped into six unprojection cascades (this overlaps with work of
Fujita and Yasutake), we tabulate their biregular invariants, we give good
model constructions for surfaces in all families as degeneracy loci in rep
quotient varieties and we prove that precisely 26 families admit
qG-degenerations to toric surfaces. This work is part of a program to study
mirror symmetry for orbifold del Pezzo surfaces.Comment: 42 pages. v2: model construction added of last remaining surface,
minor corrections, minor changes to presentation, references adde
Upregulated sirtuin 1 by miRNA-34a is required for smooth muscle cell differentiation from pluripotent stem cells
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. microRNA-34a (miR-34a) and sirtuin 1 (SirT1) have been extensively studied in tumour biology and longevityaging, but little is known about their functional roles in smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation from pluripotent stem cells. Using well-established SMC differentiation models, we have demonstrated that miR-34a has an important role in SMC differentiation from murine and human embryonic stem cells. Surprisingly, deacetylase sirtuin 1 (SirT1), one of the top predicted targets, was positively regulated by miR-34a during SMC differentiation. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that miR-34a promoted differentiating stem cells' arrest at G0G1 phase and observed a significantly decreased incorporation of miR-34a and SirT1 RNA into Ago2-RISC complex upon SMC differentiation. Importantly, we have identified SirT1 as a transcriptional activator in the regulation of SMC gene programme. Finally, our data showed that SirT1 modulated the enrichment of H3K9 tri-methylation around the SMC gene-promoter regions. Taken together, our data reveal a specific regulatory pathway that miR-34a positively regulates its target gene SirT1 in a cellular context-dependent and sequence-specific manner and suggest a functional role for this pathway in SMC differentiation from stem cells in vitro and in vivo
Gamma-ray Constraints on Effective Interactions of the Dark Matter
Using an effective interaction approach to describe the interactions between
the dark matter particle and the light degrees of freedom of the standard
model, we calculate the gamma-ray flux due to the annihilation of the dark
matter into quarks, followed by fragmentation into neutral pions which
subsequently decay into photons. By comparison to the mid-latitude data
released from the Fermi-LAT experiment, we obtain useful constraints on the
size of the effective interactions and they are found to be comparable to those
deduced from collider, gamma-ray line and anti-matter search experiments.
However, the two operators induced by scalar and vector exchange among
fermionic dark matter and light quarks that contribute to spin-independent
cross sections are constrained more stringently by the recent XENON100 data.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures; title fixed and a couple of references adde
Infrared Spectroscopy of Quantum Crossbars
Infrared (IR) spectroscopy can be used as an important and effective tool for
probing periodic networks of quantum wires or nanotubes (quantum crossbars,
QCB) at finite frequencies far from the Luttinger liquid fixed point. Plasmon
excitations in QCB may be involved in resonance diffraction of incident
electromagnetic waves and in optical absorption in the IR part of the spectrum.
Direct absorption of external electric field in QCB strongly depends on the
direction of the wave vector This results in two types of
dimensional crossover with varying angle of an incident wave or its frequency.
In the case of QCB interacting with semiconductor substrate, capacitive contact
between them does not destroy the Luttinger liquid character of the long wave
QCB excitations. However, the dielectric losses on a substrate surface are
significantly changed due to appearance of additional Landau damping. The
latter is initiated by diffraction processes on QCB superlattice and manifests
itself as strong but narrow absorption peaks lying below the damping region of
an isolated substrate.SubmiComment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Basonuclin-Null Mutation Impairs Homeostasis and Wound Repair in Mouse Corneal Epithelium
At least two cellular processes are required for corneal epithelium homeostasis and wound repair: cell proliferation and cell-cell adhesion. These processes are delicately balanced to ensure the maintenance of normal epithelial function. During wound healing, these processes must be reprogrammed in coordination to achieve a rapid re-epithelialization. Basonuclin (Bnc1) is a cell-type-specific transcription factor expressed mainly in the proliferative keratinocytes of stratified epithelium (e.g., corneal epithelium, epidermis and esophageal epithelium) and the gametogenic cells in testis and ovary. Our previous work suggested that basonuclin could regulate transcription of ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) and genes involved in chromatin structure, transcription regulation, cell-cell junction/communication, ion-channels and intracelllular transportation. However, basonuclin's role in keratinocytes has not been demonstrated in vivo. Here we show that basonuclin-null mutation disrupts corneal epithelium homeostasis and delays wound healing by impairing cell proliferation. In basonuclin-null cornea epithelium, RNA polymerase I (Pol I) transcription is perturbed. This perturbation is unique because it affects transcripts from a subset of rDNA. Basonuclin-null mutation also perturbs RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcripts from genes encoding chromatin structure proteins histone 3 and HMG2, transcription factor Gli2, gap-junction protein connexin 43 and adheren E-cadherin. In most cases, a concerted change in mRNA and protein level is observed. However, for E-cadherin, despite a notable increase in its mRNA level, its protein level was reduced. In conclusion, our study establishes basonuclin as a regulator of corneal epithelium homeostasis and maintenance. Basonuclin likely coordinates functions of a subset of ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) and a group of protein coding genes in cellular processes critical for the regulation of cell proliferation
Service Supply Chain Design by Using Agent-Based Simulation
Supply chain management is an important function in the service delivery. It comprises of physical materials and tools needed as well as intangible operational parts. The process of designing service supply chains is a task combining the aspects of customer-server interaction, resourcing, and service delivery. Operational and structure-related decisions are evaluated by using key performance indicators. Agent-based modelling (ABM) offers a possibility to simulate the behaviour of such system. Customers and servers can be modelled as agents obeying rules and operating in a common world. Interactions and events may occur based on agent type, geographic location, or past events. ABM approach can answer what-if questions or test the limit conditions of a designed delivery system.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed
Household air pollution from solid fuel use as a dose-dependent risk factor for cognitive impairment in northern China
The relationship between exposure to household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use and cognition remains poorly understood. Among 401 older adults in peri-urban northern China enrolled in the INTERMAP-China Prospective Study, we estimated the associations between exposure to HAP and z-standardized domain-specific and overall cognitive scores from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Interquartile range increases in exposures to fine particulate matter (53.2-µg/m3) and black carbon (0.9-µg/m3) were linearly associated with lower overall cognition [- 0.13 (95% confidence interval: - 0.22, - 0.04) and - 0.10 (- 0.19, - 0.01), respectively]. Using solid fuel indoors and greater intensity of its use were also associated with lower overall cognition (range of point estimates: - 0.13 to - 0.03), though confidence intervals included zero. Among individual cognitive domains, attention had the largest associations with most exposure measures. Our findings indicate that exposure to HAP may be a dose-dependent risk factor for cognitive impairment. As exposure to HAP remains pervasive in China and worldwide, reducing exposure through the promotion of less-polluting stoves and fuels may be a population-wide intervention strategy to lessen the burden of cognitive impairment
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