The Hartree ensemble approximation revisited: The "symmetric phase"

The Hartree ensemble approximation is studied in the ``symmetric phase'' of 1+1 dimensional lambda phi^4 theory. In comparison with the ``broken phase'' studied previously, it is shown that the dynamical evolution of observables such as the particle distribution, energy exchange and auto-correlation functions, is substantially slower. Approximate thermalization is found only for relatively large energy densities and couplings.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX, 16 figures, 3 tables, uses amsmath and feynmp. Extended some sections, reordered Sec.IV, added 3 refs, numerical typo corrected, published versio

Determining the Gluon Distributions in the Proton and Photon from Two-Jet Production at HERA

Two-jet production from the direct photon contribution at HERA is a sensitive measure of the small-$x$ gluon in the proton. We propose measurements of ratios of the jet cross-sections which will clearly distinguish between gluons with or without singular behaviour at small $x$. Furthermore, we show that analogous ratio measurements for the resolved photon contribution provide a sensitive way of determining the gluon distribution in the photon.Comment: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory report RAL-93-071 7 pages 3 figs Fig2 and Fig3 included as psfile

A migrant study of pubertal timing and tempo in British-Bangladeshi girls at varying risk for breast cancer

Introduction: Earlier menarche is related to subsequent breast cancer risk, yet international differences in the age and tempo of other pubertal milestones and their relationships with body mass index (BMI) are not firmly established in populations at differing risk for breast cancer. We compared age and tempo of adrenarche, thelarche, pubarche, and menarche in a migrant study of Bangladeshi girls to the United Kingdom (UK) and assessed whether differences by migration were explained by differences in BMI. Methods: Included were groups of Bangladeshi (n =168, British-Bangladeshi (n =174) and white British (n =54) girls, aged 5 to 16 years. Interviewer-administered questionnaires obtained pubertal staging; height and weight were measured. Salivary dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate concentrations >400 pg/ml defined adrenarche. Median ages of pubertal milestones and hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated from Weibull survival models. Results: In all three groups, adrenarche occurred earliest, followed by thelarche, pubarche, and finally menarche. Neither median age at adrenarche (Bangladeshi = 7.2, British-Bangladeshi = 7.4, white British = 7.1; P-trend = 0.70) nor at menarche (Bangladeshi = 12.5, BritishBangladeshi = 12.1, white British = 12.6; P-trend = 0.70) differed across groups. In contrast, median age at thelarche (Bangladeshi = 10.7, British-Bangladeshi = 9.6, white British = 8.7; P-trend <0.01) occurred earlier among girls living in the UK. Compared with Bangladeshi girls, HRs (95% CI) for earlier thelarche were 1.6 (1.1 to 2.4) for British-Bangladeshi girls and 2.6 (1.5 to 4.4) for white British girls (P-trend <0.01), but were attenuated after adjustment for BMI (British-Bangladeshi = 1.1 (0.7 to 1.8), white British = 1.7(1.0 to 3.1); Ptrend =0.20). Conclusions: Thelarche occurred earlier, but puberty progressed slower with increasing exposure to the UK environment; differences were partially explained by greater BMI. The growth-environment might account for much of the ethnic differences in pubertal development observed across and within countries

HPV-18 transformed cells fail to arrest in G1 in response to quercetin treatment

Previous work with primary human keratinocytes demonstrated that quercetin, a potent mutagen found in high levels in bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), arrested cells in G1 with concomitant elevation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (cdki) p27Kip1. Expression of the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E6 and E7 oncoproteins, under transcriptional control of a heterologous promoter, in transformed keratinocytes failed to abrogate this arrest [Beniston, R., Campo, M.S., 2003. Quercetin elevates p27(Kip1) and arrests both primary and HPV-16 E6/E7 transformed human keratinocytes in G1. Oncogene 22, 5504–5514]. Given the link between papillomavirus infection, bracken fern in the diet and cancer of the oesophagus in humans, we wished to investigate further whether cells transformed by the whole genome of HPV-16 or HPV-18, with E6 and E7 under the transcriptional control of their respective homologous promoters, would be similarly arrested in G1 by quercetin. In agreement with earlier work, quercetin arrested HPV-16 transformed cells in G1 with an increase in the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip1. However, HPV-18 transformed cells did not arrest after quercetin treatment. The failure of HPV-18 transformed cells to arrest in G1 was linked to the up-regulation of the HPV-18 long control region (LCR) by quercetin, maintaining high expression of the viral transforming proteins. Transcriptional up-regulation of the HPV-18 LCR was mediated by a “quercetin responsive element” homologous to the one identified previously in the bovine papillomavirus type 4 (BPV-4) LCR

Egg yolk fatty acid profile of avian species - influence on human nutrition

Lipids are an important nutritional component of the avian egg. A review of the literature was completed to determine the fatty acid compositions in egg yolk from some avian species. Additionally, the nutritional influence of lipid and lipoprotein content on the plasma of male participants during 30-day feeding was discussed. The ostrich eggs had the highest unsaturated fatty acid and the lowest cholesterol content in relation to other avian species. Ostrich had a higher proportion of 18:3n-3 (p < 0.01) compared with other species. Chicken yolk numerically contained much higher levels of 22:6n-3 than those found in turkeys, quails and geese, but the amount of 22:6n-3 in ostrich egg was lower by comparison with other species (p < 0.01). After the storage of eggs at the room temperature, there was a notable loss of vitamin E (vitE) in the yolks of all species and this decrease was marginal (p < 0.01) in ostrich compared with other species. There were significant (p < 0.05) increases in plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level in all male subjects. Plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level decreased (p < 0.05) only in men who were fed chicken or ostrich eggs daily. Consumption of different species’ eggs had no influence on the total male plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. LDL-C:HDL-C ratio increased (p < 0.05) after goose and turkey egg consumption. Consumption of one egg/month by healthy human subjects had no effect on serum total cholesterol and triglyceride. The LDL-C:HDL-C ratio (which is a strong predictor of coronary heart disease risk) increased, although non-significantly, by consuming chicken, quail and ostrich eggs.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0396hb201

Quercetin elevates p27Kip1 and arrests both primary and HPV16 E6/E7 transformed human keratinocytes in G1

Our previous work with primary bovine fibroblasts demonstrated that quercetin, a potent mutagen found in high levels in bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), arrested cells in G1 and G2/M, in correlation with p53 activation. The expression of bovine papillomavirus type 4 (BPV-4) E7 overcame this arrest and lead to the development of tumorigenic cells lines (Beniston et al., 2001). Given the possible link between papillomavirus infection, bracken fern in the diet and cancer of the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract in humans, we investigated whether a similar situation would occur in human cells transformed by human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) oncoproteins. Quercetin arrested primary human foreskin keratinocytes in G1. Arrest was linked to an elevation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (cdki) p27Kip1. Expression of the HPV16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins in transformed cells failed to abrogate cell cycle arrest. G1 arrest in the transformed cells was also linked to an increase of p27Kip1 with a concomitant reduction of cyclin E-associated kinase activity. This elevation of p27Kip1 was due not only to increased protein half-life, but also to increased mRNA transcription

Isolated oxygen defects in 3C- and 4H-SiC: A theoretical study

Ab initio calculations in the local-density approximation have been carried out in SiC to determine the possible configurations of the isolated oxygen impurity. Equilibrium geometry and occupation levels were calculated. Substitutional oxygen in 3C-SiC is a relatively shallow effective mass like double donor on the carbon site (O-C) and a hyperdeep double donor on the Si site (O-Si). In 4H-SiC O-C is still a double donor but with a more localized electron state. In 3C-SiC O-C is substantially more stable under any condition than O-Si or interstitial oxygen (O-i). In 4H-SiC O-C is also the most stable one except for heavy n-type doping. We propose that O-C is at the core of the electrically active oxygen-related defect family found by deep level transient spectroscopy in 4H-SiC. The consequences of the site preference of oxygen on the SiC/SiO2 interface are discussed

Energy States of Colored Particle in a Chromomagnetic Field

The unitary transformation, which diagonalizes squared Dirac equation in a constant chromomagnetic field is found. Applying this transformation, we find the eigenfunctions of diagonalized Hamiltonian, that describe the states with definite value of energy and call them energy states. It is pointed out that, the energy states are determined by the color interaction term of the particle with the background chromofield and this term is responsible for the splitting of the energy spectrum. We construct supercharge operators for the diagonal Hamiltonian, that ensure the superpartner property of the energy states.Comment: 25 pages, some calculation details have been removed, typos correcte