1,562 research outputs found
Accessing transversity with interference fragmentation functions
We discuss in detail the option to access the transversity distribution
function by utilizing the analyzing power of interference
fragmentation functions in two-pion production inside the same current jet. The
transverse polarization of the fragmenting quark is related to the transverse
component of the relative momentum of the hadron pair via a new azimuthal
angle. As a specific example, we spell out thoroughly the way to extract
from a measured single spin asymmetry in two-pion inclusive
lepton-nucleon scattering. To estimate the sizes of observable effects we
employ a spectator model for the fragmentation functions. The resulting
asymmetry of our example is discussed as arising in different scenarios for the
transversity.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures in .eps format included, typesetted in RevTeX
and epsfig.sty, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Gut microbiota differs between children with inflammatory bowel disease and healthy siblings in taxonomic and functional composition: a metagenomic analysis
Current treatment for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients is often ineffective, with serious side effects. Manipulating the gut microbiota via fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an emerging treatment approach but remains controversial. We aimed to assess the composition of the fecal microbiome through a comparison of pediatric IBD patients to their healthy siblings, evaluating risks and prospects for FMT in this setting. A case-control (sibling) study was conducted analyzing fecal samples of six children with Crohn's disease (CD), six children with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 12 healthy siblings by metagenomic sequencing. In addition, lifetime antibiotic intake was retrospectively determined. Species richness and diversity were significantly reduced in UC patients compared with control [Mann-Whitney U-test false discovery rate (MWU FDR) = 0.011]. In UC, bacteria positively influencing gut homeostasis, e.g., Eubacterium rectale and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, were significantly reduced in abundance (MWU FDR = 0.05). Known pathobionts like Escherichia coli were enriched in UC patients (MWU FDR = 0.084). Moreover, E. coli abundance correlated positively with that of several virulence genes (SCC > 0.65, FDR < 0.1). A shift toward antibiotic-resistant taxa in both IBD groups distinguished them from controls [MWU Benjamini-Hochberg-Yekutieli procedure (BY) FDR = 0.062 in UC, MWU BY FDR = 0.019 in CD). The collected results confirm a microbial dysbiosis in pediatric UC, and to a lesser extent in CD patients, replicating associations found previously using different methods. Taken together, these observations suggest microbiotal remodeling therapy from family donors, at least for children with UC, as a viable option.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this sibling study, prior reports of microbial dysbiosis in IBD patients from 16S rRNA sequencing was verified using deep shotgun sequencing and augmented with insights into the abundance of bacterial virulence genes and bacterial antibiotic resistance determinants, seen against the background of data on the specific antibiotic intake of each of the study participants. The observed dysbiosis, which distinguishes patients from siblings, highlights such siblings as potential donors for microbiotal remodeling therapy in IBD
The giant staphylococcal protein Embp facilitates colonization of surfaces through Velcro-like attachment to fibrillated fibronectin
Staphylococcus epidermidis causes some of the most hard-to-treat clinical infections by forming biofilms: Multicellular communities of bacteria encased in a protective matrix, supporting immune evasion and tolerance against antibiotics. Biofilms occur most commonly on medical implants, and a key event in implant colonization is the robust adherence to the surface, facilitated by interactions between bacterial surface proteins and host matrix components. S. epidermidis is equipped with a giant adhesive protein, extracellular matrix-binding protein (Embp), which facilitates bacterial interactions with surface-deposited, but not soluble fibronectin. The structural basis behind this selective binding process has remained obscure. Using a suite of single-cell and single-molecule analysis techniques, we show that S. epidermidis is capable of such distinction because Embp binds specifically to fibrillated fibronectin on surfaces, while ignoring globular fibronectin in solution. S. epidermidis adherence is critically dependent on multivalent interactions involving 50 fibronectin-binding repeats of Embp. This unusual, Velcro-like interaction proved critical for colonization of surfaces under high flow, making this newly identified attachment mechanism particularly relevant for colonization of intravascular devices, such as prosthetic heart valves or vascular grafts. Other biofilm-forming pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus, express homologs of Embp and likely deploy the same mechanism for surface colonization. Our results may open for a novel direction in efforts to combat devastating, biofilm-associated infections, as the development of implant materials that steer the conformation of adsorbed proteins is a much more manageable task than avoiding protein adsorption altogether
Threshold temperature for pairwise and many-particle thermal entanglement in the isotropic Heisenberg model
We study the threshold temperature for pairwise thermal entanglement in the
spin-1/2 isotropic Heisenberg model up to 11 spins and find that the threshold
temperature for odd and even number of qubits approaches the thermal dynamical
limit from below and above, respectively. The threshold temperature in the
thermodynamical limit is estimated. We investigate the many-particle
entanglement in both ground states and thermal states of the system, and find
that the thermal state in the four-qubit model is four-particle entangled
before a threshold temperature.Comment: 4 pages with 1 fig. More discussions on many-particle ground-state
and thermal entanglement in the multiqubit Heisenberg model from 2 to 11
qubits are adde
Incoherent Photoproduction of -mesons from the Deuteron near Threshold
Incoherent photoproduction of the -meson on the deuteron is studied for
photon energies from threshold to 800 MeV. The dominant contribution, the
N-N amplitude, is described within an isobar model. The final
state interaction derived from the CD-Bonn potential is included and found to
be important for the description of the production cross section close to
threshold. Possible effects from the final state interaction are
discussed.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, including 6 figure
Momentum Dependent Vertices , and : The NJL Scalar Hidden by Chiral Symmetry
We calculate the momentum dependence of three particle vertices , and in the context of a
Nambu Jona Lasinio type model. We show how they influence the processes , and and how chiral symmetry
shadows the presence of the .Comment: 9 pages (latex), 5 figures available from the authors, preprint
Coimbra 940506, IJS-TP-94/10, accepted for publication in Zeit. f. Physik
Red cell ABO incompatibility and production of tumour necrosis factor-alpha
Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) is a major mediator of diverse pathophysiological events similar to those of haemolytic transfusion reactions (HTR), such as fever, intravascular coagulation and organ failure. However, the possible role of TNF in HTR has not been investigated. We have constructed an in vitro whole blood model of HTR to examine whether TNF may be produced in red cell ABO incompatibility. TNF was observed in plasma, in a dose dependent manner, when ABO incompatible red cells were added, but not with compatible (group O) cells. Plasma TNF levels were maximal at 2 h, and declined to control levels by 24 h. Haemolysis of incompatible red cells was accompanied by TNF production. Immune haemolysis induced TNF gene expression by buffy coat leucocytes, as determined by Northern blot analysis. Heat inactivation of plasma abolished TNF production, whereas prior treatment with interferongamma augmented the response. These results demonstrate that a major cytokine is produced in response to red cell incompatibility, and suggest that TNF may play a role in the pathogenesis of haemolytic transfusion reactions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75627/1/j.1365-2141.1991.tb04485.x.pd
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): A Nulling Polarimeter for Cosmic Microwave Background Observations
The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) is an Explorer-class mission to
measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its
distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave
background. The instrument consists of a polarizing Michelson interferometer
configured as a nulling polarimeter to measure the difference spectrum between
orthogonal linear polarizations from two co-aligned beams. Either input can
view the sky or a temperature-controlled absolute reference blackbody
calibrator. PIXIE will map the absolute intensity and linear polarization
(Stokes I, Q, and U parameters) over the full sky in 400 spectral channels
spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 um
wavelength). Multi-moded optics provide background-limited sensitivity using
only 4 detectors, while the highly symmetric design and multiple signal
modulations provide robust rejection of potential systematic errors. The
principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear
polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with
tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10^{-3} at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE
data set will also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology
to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar
medium of the Galaxy.Comment: 37 pages including 17 figures. Submitted to the Journal of Cosmology
and Astroparticle Physic
A purely algebraic construction of a gauge and renormalization group invariant scalar glueball operator
This paper presents a complete algebraic proof of the renormalizability of
the gauge invariant operator to all orders of
perturbation theory in pure Yang-Mills gauge theory, whereby working in the
Landau gauge. This renormalization is far from being trivial as mixing occurs
with other gauge variant operators, which we identify explicitly. We
determine the mixing matrix to all orders in perturbation theory by using
only algebraic arguments and consequently we can uncover a renormalization
group invariant by using the anomalous dimension matrix derived from
. We also present a future plan for calculating the mass of the lightest
scalar glueball with the help of the framework we have set up.Comment: 17 page
Statistical Theory of Spin Relaxation and Diffusion in Solids
A comprehensive theoretical description is given for the spin relaxation and
diffusion in solids. The formulation is made in a general
statistical-mechanical way. The method of the nonequilibrium statistical
operator (NSO) developed by D. N. Zubarev is employed to analyze a relaxation
dynamics of a spin subsystem. Perturbation of this subsystem in solids may
produce a nonequilibrium state which is then relaxed to an equilibrium state
due to the interaction between the particles or with a thermal bath (lattice).
The generalized kinetic equations were derived previously for a system weakly
coupled to a thermal bath to elucidate the nature of transport and relaxation
processes. In this paper, these results are used to describe the relaxation and
diffusion of nuclear spins in solids. The aim is to formulate a successive and
coherent microscopic description of the nuclear magnetic relaxation and
diffusion in solids. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation is considered and the
Gorter relation is derived. As an example, a theory of spin diffusion of the
nuclear magnetic moment in dilute alloys (like Cu-Mn) is developed. It is shown
that due to the dipolar interaction between host nuclear spins and impurity
spins, a nonuniform distribution in the host nuclear spin system will occur and
consequently the macroscopic relaxation time will be strongly determined by the
spin diffusion. The explicit expressions for the relaxation time in certain
physically relevant cases are given.Comment: 41 pages, 119 Refs. Corrected typos, added reference
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