Could Inflammaging and Its Sequelae Be Prevented or Mitigated?

Aged humans display a chronic and low-grade inflammation, termed "inflammaging", which has been potentially linked to the subsequent development of some aging-associated systemic disorders, including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and obesity. Though the origin of aging-associated systemic inflammation is uncertain, epidemiological studies show that inflammatory dermatoses (psoriasis and eczema) are risk factors for some aging-associated systemic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Moreover, recent studies demonstrate that epidermal dysfunction in aged skin not only causes cutaneous inflammation, but also a subsequent increase in circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines, suggesting that the skin could be a major contributor to inflammaging. This hypothesis is further supported by reductions in circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines in both aged humans and murine, following improvements in epidermal function with topical emollients. Therefore, correction of epidermal dysfunction could be a novel approach for the prevention and mitigation of certain inflammation-associated chronic disorders in aged humans

Bound states of the Klein-Gordon equation for vector and scalar general Hulthen-type potentials in D-dimension

We solve the Klein-Gordon equation in any $D$-dimension for the scalar and vector general Hulth\'{e}n-type potentials with any $l$ by using an approximation scheme for the centrifugal potential. Nikiforov-Uvarov method is used in the calculations. We obtain the bound state energy eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenfunctions of spin-zero particles in terms of Jacobi polynomials. The eigenfunctions are physical and the energy eigenvalues are in good agreement with those results obtained by other methods for D=1 and 3 dimensions. Our results are valid for $q=1$ value when $l\neq 0$ and for any $q$ value when $l=0$ and D=1 or 3. The $s$% -wave ($l=0$) binding energies for a particle of rest mass $m_{0}=1$ are calculated for the three lower-lying states $(n=0,1,2)$ using pure vector and pure scalar potentials.Comment: 25 page

Effect due to charge symmetry violation on the Paschos-Wolfenstein relation

The modification of the Paschos-Wolfenstein relation is investigated when the charge symmetry violations of valence and sea quark distributions in the nucleon are taken into account. We also study qualitatively the impact of charge symmetry violation (CSV) effect on the extraction of $\sin^{2}\theta_{w}$ from deep inelastic neutrino- and antineutrino-nuclei scattering within the light-cone meson-baryon fluctuation model. We find that the effect of CSV is too small to give a sizable contribution to the NuTeV result with various choices of mass difference inputs, which is consistence with the prediction that the strange-antistrange asymmetry can account for largely the NuTeV deviation in this model. It is noticeable that the effect of CSV might contribute to the NuTeV deviation when the larger difference between the internal momentum scales, $\alpha_{p}$ of the proton and $\alpha_{n}$ of the neutron, is considered.Comment: 15 Latex pages, no figure, final version to appear in PR

Human Capital, Economic Growth, and Regional Inequality in China

We study the dispersion in rates of provincial economic- and TFP growth in China. Our results show that regional growth patterns can be understood as a function of several interrelated factors, which include investment in physical capital, human capital, and infrastructure capital; the infusion of new technology and its regional spread; and market reforms, with a major step forward occurring following Deng Xiaoping’s “South Trip” in 1992. We find that FDI had much larger effect on TFP growth before 1994 than after, and we attribute this to emergence of other channels of technology transfer when marketization accelerated. We find that human capital positively affects output per worker and productivity growth. In particular, in terms of its direct contribution to production, educated labor has a much higher marginal product. Moreover, we estimate a positive, direct effect of human capital on TFP growth. This direct effect is hypothesized to come from domestic innovation activities. The estimated spillover effect of human capital on TFP growth is positive and statistically significant, which is very robust to model specifications and estimation methods. The spillover effect appears to be much stronger before 1994. We conduct cost-benefit analysis and a policy “experiment,” in which we project the impact increases in human capital and infrastructure capital on regional inequality. We conclude that investing in human capital will be an effective policy to reduce regional gaps in China as well as an efficient means to promote economic growth.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57237/1/wp857 .pd

The K−p→Σ0π0K^-p\to \Sigma^0\pi^0 reaction at low energies in a chiral quark model

A chiral quark-model approach is extended to the study of the $\bar{K}N$ scattering at low energies. The process of $K^-p\to \Sigma^0\pi^0$ at $P_K\lesssim 800$ MeV/c (i.e. the center mass energy $W\lesssim 1.7$ GeV) is investigated. This approach is successful in describing the differential cross sections and total cross section with the roles of the low-lying $\Lambda$ resonances in $n=1$ shells clarified. The $\Lambda(1405)S_{01}$ dominates the reactions over the energy region considered here. Around $P_K\simeq 400$ MeV/c, the $\Lambda(1520)D_{03}$ is responsible for a strong resonant peak in the cross section. The $\Lambda(1670)S_{01}$ has obvious contributions around $P_K=750$ MeV/c, while the contribution of $\Lambda(1690)D_{03}$ is less important in this energy region. The non-resonant background contributions, i.e. $u$-channel and $t$-channel, also play important roles in the explanation of the angular distributions due to amplitude interferences.Comment: 18 pages and 7 figure

Possible pi-phase shift at interface of two pnictides with antiphase s-wave pairing

We examine the nature of Josephson junction between two identical Fe-pnictides with anti-phase s-wave pairing. pi-phase shift is found if the junction barrier is thick and the two Fe-pnictides are oriented in certain directions relative to the interface. Our theory provides a possible explanation for the observed half integer flux quantum transitions in a niobium/polycrystal NdFeAsO loop, and attributes the pi-phase shift to intergrain junctions of Fe-pnictides.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure