327 research outputs found
Sum rules for charmed baryon masses
The measured masses of the three charge states of the charmed
baryon are found to be in disagreement with a sum rule based on the quark
model, but relying on no detailed assumptions about the form of the
interaction. This poses a significant problem for the charmed baryon sector of
the quark model. Other relations among charmed baryon masses are also
discussed.Comment: 5 pages, latex, no figure
A Systematic Study on Nonrelativistic Quarkonium Interaction
recently proposed strictly phenomenological static quark-antiquark potential
belonging to the generality is
tested with heavy quarkonia in the context of the shifted large N-expansion
method. This nonrelativistic potential model fits the spin-averaged mass
spectra of the and quarkonia within a few
and also the five experimentally known leptonic decay widths of the
and vector states. Further, we compute the hyperfine
splittings of the bottomonium spectrum as well as the fine and hyperfine
splittings of the charmonium spectrum. We give predictions for not yet observed
splittings. The model is then used to predict the masses of the
remaining quarkonia and the leptonic decay widths of the two pseudoscalar
c\bar{b%} states. Our results are compared with other models to gauge the
reliability of the predictions and point out differences.Comment: 24 page
Qubits in phase space: Wigner function approach to quantum error correction and the mean king problem
We analyze and further develop a new method to represent the quantum state of
a system of qubits in a phase space grid of points (where
). The method, which was recently proposed by Wootters and co--workers
(Gibbons {\it et al.}, quant-ph/0401155), is based on the use of the elements
of the finite field to label the phase space axes. We present a
self--contained overview of the method, we give new insights on some of its
features and we apply it to investigate problems which are of interest for
quantum information theory: We analyze the phase space representation of
stabilizer states and quantum error correction codes and present a phase space
solution to the so--called ``mean king problem''.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures; typos fixed, some minor corrections, figures of
the circuits were change
Finding critical points using improved scaling Ansaetze
Analyzing in detail the first corrections to the scaling hypothesis, we
develop accelerated methods for the determination of critical points from
finite size data. The output of these procedures are sequences of
pseudo-critical points which rapidly converge towards the true critical points.
In fact more rapidly than previously existing methods like the Phenomenological
Renormalization Group approach. Our methods are valid in any spatial
dimensionality and both for quantum or classical statistical systems. Having at
disposal fast converging sequences, allows to draw conclusions on the basis of
shorter system sizes, and can be extremely important in particularly hard cases
like two-dimensional quantum systems with frustrations or when the sign problem
occurs. We test the effectiveness of our methods both analytically on the basis
of the one-dimensional XY model, and numerically at phase transitions occurring
in non integrable spin models. In particular, we show how a new Homogeneity
Condition Method is able to locate the onset of the
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition making only use of ground-state
quantities on relatively small systems.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. New version including more general Ansaetze
basically applicable to all case
Cell wall and organelle modifications during nitrogen starvation in Nannochloropsis oceanica F&M-M24
AbstractNannochloropsis oceanica F&M-M24 is able to increase its lipid content during nitrogen starvation to more than 50% of the total biomass. We investigated the ultrastructural changes and the variation in the content of main cell biomolecules that accompany the final phase of lipid accumulation. Nitrogen starvation induced a first phase of thylakoid disruption followed by chloroplast macroautophagy and formation of lipid droplets. During this phase, the total amount of proteins decreased by one-third, while carbohydrates decreased by 12â13%, suggesting that lipid droplets were formed by remodelling of chloroplast membranes and synthesis of fatty acids from carbohydrates and amino acids. The change in mitochondrial ultrastructure suggests also that these organelles were involved in the process. The cell wall increased its thickness and changed its structure during starvation, indicating that a disruption process could be partially affected by the increase in wall thickness for biomolecules recovery from starved cells. The wall thickness in strain F&M-M24 was much lower than that observed in other strains of N. oceanica, showing a possible advantage of this strain for the purpose of biomolecules extraction. The modifications following starvation were interpreted as a response to reduction of availability of a key nutrient (nitrogen). The result is a prolonged survival in quiescence until an improvement of the environmental conditions (nutrient availability) allows the rebuilding of the photosynthetic apparatus and the full recovery of cell functions
A transcriptome analysis identifies molecular effectors of unconjugated bilirubin in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells
Background: The deposition of unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) in selected regions of the brain results in irreversible neuronal damage, or Bilirubin Encephalopathy (BE). Although UCB impairs a large number of cellular functions in other tissues, the basic mechanisms of neurotoxicity have not yet been fully clarified. While cells can accumulate UCB by passive diffusion, cell protection may involve multiple mechanisms including the extrusion of the pigment as well as pro-survival homeostatic responses that are still unknown.
Results: Transcriptome changes induced by UCB exposure in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line were examined by high density oligonucleotide microarrays. Two-hundred and thirty genes were induced after 24 hours. A Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that at least 50 genes were directly involved in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response. Validation of selected ER stress genes is shown by quantitative RT-PCR. Analysis of XBP1 splicing and DDIT3/CHOP subcellular localization is presented.
Conclusion: These results show for the first time that UCB exposure induces ER stress response as major intracellular homeostasis in surviving neuroblastoma cells in vitro
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