955 research outputs found
Lovelock theories, holography and the fate of the viscosity bound
We consider Lovelock theories of gravity in the context of AdS/CFT. We show
that, for these theories, causality violation on a black hole background can
occur well in the interior of the geometry, thus posing more stringent
constraints than were previously found in the literature. Also, we find that
instabilities of the geometry can appear for certain parameter values at any
point in the geometry, as well in the bulk as close to the horizon. These new
sources of causality violation and instability should be related to CFT
features that do not depend on the UV behavior. They solve a puzzle found
previously concerning unphysical negative values for the shear viscosity that
are not ruled out solely by causality restrictions. We find that, contrary to
previous expectations, causality violation is not always related to positivity
of energy. Furthermore, we compute the bound for the shear viscosity to entropy
density ratio of supersymmetric conformal field theories from d=4 till d=10 -
i.e., up to quartic Lovelock theory -, and find that it behaves smoothly as a
function of d. We propose an approximate formula that nicely fits these values
and has a nice asymptotic behavior when d goes to infinity for any Lovelock
gravity. We discuss in some detail the latter limit. We finally argue that it
is possible to obtain increasingly lower values for the shear viscosity to
entropy density ratio by the inclusion of more Lovelock terms.Comment: 42 pages, 17 figures, JHEP3.cls. v2: reference adde
Generating Temperature Flow for eta/s with Higher Derivatives: From Lifshitz to AdS
We consider charged dilatonic black branes in AdS_5 and examine the effects
of perturbative higher derivative corrections on the ratio of shear viscosity
to entropy density eta/s of the dual plasma. The structure of eta/s is
controlled by the relative hierarchy between the two scales in the plasma, the
temperature and the chemical potential. In this model the background
near-horizon geometry interpolates between a Lifshitz-like brane at low
temperature, and an AdS brane at high temperatures -- with AdS asymptotics in
both cases. As a result, in this construction the viscosity to entropy ratio
flows as a function of temperature, from a value in the IR which is sensitive
to the dynamical exponent z, to the simple result expected for an AdS brane in
the UV. Coupling the scalar directly to the higher derivative terms generates
additional temperature dependence, and leads to a particularly interesting
structure for eta/s in the IR.Comment: Plots and references added. Journal version of the pape
Novel Solutions of Finite-Density D3/D5 Probe Brane System and Their Implications for Stability
In this article we present a novel set of solutions of the probe brane system
consisting of Nf-D5 probe branes embedded in the near-horizon geometry
generated by Nc-D3 branes, with the D5 worldvolume U(1) gauge fields turned on.
Our system is holographically dual to a supersymmetric defect field theory at
finite density in non-trivial vacua. We find that a large class of vacua turns
out to satisfy a no-force condition, even with supersymmetry explicitly broken
by the finite density; our solutions include configuration in which charge
separates from the horizon and is instead carried by probe branes outside the
horizon. The free energy is lowered in this process. Whether this corresponds
to a genuine instability of the finite-density probe brane system remains to be
seen.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure
The Oogenic Germline Starvation Response in C. elegans
Many animals alter their reproductive strategies in response to environmental stress. Here we have investigated how L4 hermaphrodites of Caenorhabditis elegans respond to starvation. To induce starvation, we removed food at 2 h intervals from very early- to very late-stage L4 animals. The starved L4s molted into adulthood, initiated oogenesis, and began producing embryos; however, all three processes were severely delayed, and embryo viability was reduced. Most animals died via ‘bagging,’ because egg-laying was inhibited, and embryos hatched in utero, consuming their parent hermaphrodites from within. Some animals, however, avoided bagging and survived long term. Long-term survival did not rely on embryonic arrest but instead upon the failure of some animals to produce viable progeny during starvation. Regardless of the bagging fate, starved animals showed two major changes in germline morphology: All oogenic germlines were dramatically reduced in size, and these germlines formed only a single oocyte at a time, separated from the remainder of the germline by a tight constriction. Both changes in germline morphology were reversible: Upon re-feeding, the shrunken germlines regenerated, and multiple oocytes formed concurrently. The capacity for germline regeneration upon re-feeding was not limited to the small subset of animals that normally survive starvation: When bagging was prevented ectopically by par-2 RNAi, virtually all germlines still regenerated. In addition, germline shrinkage strongly correlated with oogenesis, suggesting that during starvation, germline shrinkage may provide material for oocyte production. Finally, germline shrinkage and regeneration did not depend upon crowding. Our study confirms previous findings that starvation uncouples germ cell proliferation from germline stem cell maintenance. Our study also suggests that when nutrients are limited, hermaphrodites scavenge material from their germlines to reproduce. We discuss our findings in light of the recently proposed state of dormancy, termed Adult Reproductive Diapause
Prediction model and prognostic index to estimate clinically relevant pelvic organ prolapse in a general female population
Introduction and hypothesis: Estimation on prevalence and distribution of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) signs in a general female population is difficult. We therefore developed and validated
QGP Theory: Status and Perspectives
The current status of Quark-Gluon-Plasma Theory is reviewed. Special emphasis
is placed on QGP signatures, the interpretation of current data and what to
expect from RHIC in the near future.Comment: 20 pages, invited overview talk at the 4th International Conference
on the Physcis and Astrophysics of the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, November 2001,
Jaipur, India, to appear in Praman
Serum S100A6 Concentration Predicts Peritoneal Tumor Burden in Mice with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer and Is Associated with Advanced Stage in Patients
BACKGROUND:Ovarian cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer related deaths in women. Five-year survival rates for early stage disease are greater than 94%, however most women are diagnosed in advanced stage with 5 year survival less than 28%. Improved means for early detection and reliable patient monitoring are needed to increase survival. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Applying mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we sought to elucidate an unanswered biomarker research question regarding ability to determine tumor burden detectable by an ovarian cancer biomarker protein emanating directly from the tumor cells. Since aggressive serous epithelial ovarian cancers account for most mortality, a xenograft model using human SKOV-3 serous ovarian cancer cells was established to model progression to disseminated carcinomatosis. Using a method for low molecular weight protein enrichment, followed by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis, a human-specific peptide sequence of S100A6 was identified in sera from mice with advanced-stage experimental ovarian carcinoma. S100A6 expression was documented in cancer xenografts as well as from ovarian cancer patient tissues. Longitudinal study revealed that serum S100A6 concentration is directly related to tumor burden predictions from an inverse regression calibration analysis of data obtained from a detergent-supplemented antigen capture immunoassay and whole-animal bioluminescent optical imaging. The result from the animal model was confirmed in human clinical material as S100A6 was found to be significantly elevated in the sera from women with advanced stage ovarian cancer compared to those with early stage disease. CONCLUSIONS:S100A6 is expressed in ovarian and other cancer tissues, but has not been documented previously in ovarian cancer disease sera. S100A6 is found in serum in concentrations that correlate with experimental tumor burden and with clinical disease stage. The data signify that S100A6 may prove useful in detecting and/or monitoring ovarian cancer, when used in concert with other biomarkers
Common polymorphisms within the NR4A3 locus, encoding the orphan nuclear receptor Nor-1, are associated with enhanced β-cell function in non-diabetic subjects
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuron-derived orphan receptor (Nor) 1, nuclear receptor (Nur) 77, and nuclear receptor-related protein (Nurr) 1 constitute the NR4A family of orphan nuclear receptors which were recently found to modulate hepatic glucose production, insulin signalling in adipocytes, and oxidative metabolism in skeletal muscle. In this study, we assessed whether common genetic variation within the <it>NR4A3 </it>locus, encoding Nor-1, contributes to the development of prediabetic phenotypes, such as glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, or β-cell dysfunction.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We genotyped 1495 non-diabetic subjects from Southern Germany for the five tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7047636, rs1526267, rs2416879, rs12686676, and rs10819699 (minor allele frequencies ≥ 0.05) covering 100% of genetic variation within the <it>NR4A3 </it>locus (with D' = 1.0, r<sup>2 </sup>≥ 0.9) and assessed their association with metabolic data derived from the fasting state, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp (subgroup, N = 506). SNPs that revealed consistent associations with prediabetic phenotypes were subsequently genotyped in a second cohort (METSIM Study; Finland; N = 5265) for replication.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All five SNPs were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p ≥ 0.7, all). The minor alleles of three SNPs, i.e., rs1526267, rs12686676, and rs10819699, consistently tended to associate with higher insulin release as derived from plasma insulin at 30 min(OGTT), AUC<sub>C-peptide</sub>-to-AUC<sub>Gluc </sub>ratio and the AUC<sub>Ins30</sub>-to-AUC<sub>Gluc30 </sub>ratio with rs12686676 reaching the level of significance (p ≤ 0.03, all; additive model). The association of the SNP rs12686676 with insulin secretion was replicated in the METSIM cohort (p ≤ 0.03, additive model). There was no consistent association with glucose tolerance or insulin resistance in both study cohorts.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that common genetic variation within the <it>NR4A3 </it>locus determines insulin secretion. Thus, <it>NR4A3 </it>represents a novel candidate gene for β-cell function which was not covered by the SNP arrays of recent genome-wide association studies for type 2 diabetes mellitus.</p
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