Chiral Extrapolation of the Strangeness Changing K pi Form Factor

We perform a chiral extrapolation of lattice data on the scalar K pi form factor and the ratio of the kaon and pion decay constants within Chiral Perturbation Theory to two loops. We determine the value of the scalar form factor at zero momentum transfer, at the Callan-Treiman point and at its soft kaon analog as well as its slope. Results are in good agreement with their determination from experiment using the standard couplings of quarks to the W boson. The slope is however rather large. A study of the convergence of the chiral expansion is also performed.Comment: few minor change

Orbifold equivalence for finite density QCD and effective field theory

In the large N_c limit, some apparently different gauge theories turn out to be equivalent due to large N_c orbifold equivalence. We use effective field theory techniques to explore orbifold equivalence, focusing on the specific case of a recently discovered relation between an SO(2N_c) gauge theory and QCD. The equivalence to QCD has been argued to hold at finite baryon chemical potential, \mu_B, so long as one deforms the SO(2N_c) theory by certain "double-trace" terms. The deformed SO(2N_c) theory can be studied without a sign problem in the chiral limit, in contrast to SU(N_c) QCD at finite \mu_B. The purpose of the double-trace deformation in the SO(2N_c) theory is to prevent baryon number symmetry from breaking spontaneously at finite density, which is necessary for the equivalence to large N_c QCD to be valid. The effective field theory analysis presented here clarifies the physical significance of double-trace deformations, and strongly supports the proposed equivalence between the deformed SO(2N_c) theory and large N_c QCD at finite density.Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. v2: Minor typo fixes and clarification

Tandem quadruplication of HMA4 in the zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulator noccaea caerulescens

Zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulation may have evolved twice in the Brassicaceae, in Arabidopsis halleri and in the Noccaea genus. Tandem gene duplication and deregulated expression of the Zn transporter, HMA4, has previously been linked to Zn/Cd hyperaccumulation in A. halleri. Here, we tested the hypothesis that tandem duplication and deregulation of HMA4 expression also occurs in Noccaea. A Noccaea caerulescens genomic library was generated, containing 36,864 fosmid pCC1FOSTM clones with insert sizes ~20–40 kbp, and screened with a PCR-generated HMA4 genomic probe. Gene copy number within the genome was estimated through DNA fingerprinting and pooled fosmid pyrosequencing. Gene copy numbers within individual clones was determined by PCR analyses with novel locus specific primers. Entire fosmids were then sequenced individually and reads equivalent to 20-fold coverage were assembled to generate complete whole contigs. Four tandem HMA4 repeats were identified in a contiguous sequence of 101,480 bp based on sequence overlap identities. These were flanked by regions syntenous with up and downstream regions of AtHMA4 in Arabidopsis thaliana. Promoter-reporter b-glucuronidase (GUS) fusion analysis of a NcHMA4 in A. thaliana revealed deregulated expression in roots and shoots, analogous to AhHMA4 promoters, but distinct from AtHMA4 expression which localised to the root vascular tissue. This remarkable consistency in tandem duplication and deregulated expression of metal transport genes between N. caerulescens and A. halleri, which last shared a common ancestor >40 mya, provides intriguing evidence that parallel evolutionary pathways may underlie Zn/Cd hyperaccumulation in Brassicaceae

Interactions among mitochondrial proteins altered in glioblastoma

Mitochondrial dysfunction is putatively central to glioblastoma (GBM) pathophysiology but there has been no systematic analysis in GBM of the proteins which are integral to mitochondrial function. Alterations in proteins in mitochondrial enriched fractions from patients with GBM were defined with label-free liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. 256 mitochondrially-associated proteins were identified in mitochondrial enriched fractions and 117 of these mitochondrial proteins were markedly (fold-change ≥2) and significantly altered in GBM (p ≤ 0.05). Proteins associated with oxidative damage (including catalase, superoxide dismutase 2, peroxiredoxin 1 and peroxiredoxin 4) were increased in GBM. Protein–protein interaction analysis highlighted a reduction in multiple proteins coupled to energy metabolism (in particular respiratory chain proteins, including 23 complex-I proteins). Qualitative ultrastructural analysis in GBM with electron microscopy showed a notably higher prevalence of mitochondria with cristolysis in GBM. This study highlights the complex mitochondrial proteomic adjustments which occur in GBM pathophysiology

Termination of pregnancy due to Thalassemia major, Hemophilia, and Down's Syndrome: the views of Iranian physicians

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic disorders due to <b>kindred </b>marriages are common medical conditions in Iran; however, the legal aspects of abortion remain controversial. This study was undertaken to determine physicians' opinions regarding the termination of pregnancy for three genetic diseases: thalassemia major, hemophilia, and Down's syndrome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A questionnaire was administered to selected physicians by stratified random sampling to determine the following: age, gender, knowledge about prenatal diagnosis of diseases in high risk pregnancies, agreement with abortion, recommended gestational age for abortion, and, if opposed to abortion, the reason.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 323 physicians, who participated in the study, 91.3(295), 40.6(131), and 78.6%(254) were in agreement and 8.7(28), 59.4(192), and 21.4%(69) were opposed to abortion for thalassemia major, hemophilia, and Down's syndrome, respectively. Among 289 physicians opposed to abortion in respect of each of all three conditions, the following reasons were cited: religion, 18; emotional, 10; quality of care, 23; hope to find a new treatment option in the future, 103; miscellaneous reasons, 6; and a combination of these reasons, 129. Among 680 physicians in agreement with abortion in relation to all of the diseases, 4.6%(31) were agreed with abortion in less than 12 weeks gestation, 79.2%(538) in less than 16 weeks gestation, 5.6%(38) in less than 20 weeks gestation, 2.2%(15) in less than 24 weeks gestation, and 8.4%(58) were agreed with beyond the 24 weeks of gestational age.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The majority of physicians were in agreement with abortion for thalassemia major and Down's syndrome because of the overall prognosis, but opposed to abortion for hemophilia.</p

An Anti-Human ICAM-1 Antibody Inhibits Rhinovirus-Induced Exacerbations of Lung Inflammation

Human rhinoviruses (HRV) cause the majority of common colds and acute exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Effective therapies are urgently needed, but no licensed treatments or vaccines currently exist. Of the 100 identified serotypes, ∼90% bind domain 1 of human intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) as their cellular receptor, making this an attractive target for development of therapies; however, ICAM-1 domain 1 is also required for host defence and regulation of cell trafficking, principally via its major ligand LFA-1. Using a mouse anti-human ICAM-1 antibody (14C11) that specifically binds domain 1 of human ICAM-1, we show that 14C11 administered topically or systemically prevented entry of two major groups of rhinoviruses, HRV16 and HRV14, and reduced cellular inflammation, pro-inflammatory cytokine induction and virus load in vivo. 14C11 also reduced cellular inflammation and Th2 cytokine/chemokine production in a model of major group HRV-induced asthma exacerbation. Interestingly, 14C11 did not prevent cell adhesion via human ICAM-1/LFA-1 interactions in vitro, suggesting the epitope targeted by 14C11 was specific for viral entry. Thus a human ICAM-1 domain-1-specific antibody can prevent major group HRV entry and induction of airway inflammation in vivo

Neural Network Parameterizations of Electromagnetic Nucleon Form Factors

The electromagnetic nucleon form-factors data are studied with artificial feed forward neural networks. As a result the unbiased model-independent form-factor parametrizations are evaluated together with uncertainties. The Bayesian approach for the neural networks is adapted for chi2 error-like function and applied to the data analysis. The sequence of the feed forward neural networks with one hidden layer of units is considered. The given neural network represents a particular form-factor parametrization. The so-called evidence (the measure of how much the data favor given statistical model) is computed with the Bayesian framework and it is used to determine the best form factor parametrization.Comment: The revised version is divided into 4 sections. The discussion of the prior assumptions is added. The manuscript contains 4 new figures and 2 new tables (32 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables

Erytrocyte membrane anionic charge in type 2 diabetic patients with retinopathy

BACKGROUND: The Steno hypothesis states that changes in basement membrane anionic charge leads to diabetic microvascular complications. In diabetic nephropathy, loss of basement membrane glycosaminoglycans and the association between glomerular basement membrane heparan sulphate and proteinuria has been documented. A correlation between erythrocyte surface and the glomerular capillary wall charges has also been observed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between retinopathy and erythrocyte anionic charge and urinary glycosaminoglycan excretion in type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS: 49 subjects (58 ± 7 yrs, M/F 27/22) with type 2 diabetes with proliferative retinopathy (n = 13), nonproliferative retinopathy (n = 13) and without retinopathy (n = 23) were included in the study. 38 healthy subjects were selected as control group (57 ± 5 yrs, M/F 19/19). Erythrocyte anionic charge (EAC) was determined by the binding of the cationic dye, alcian blue. Urinary glycosaminoglycan and microalbumin excretion were measured. RESULTS: EAC was significantly decreased in diabetic patients with retinopathy (255 ± 30 ng alcian blue/10(6 )RBC, 312 ± 30 ng alcian blue/10(6 )RBC for diabetic and control groups respectively, p < 0.001). We did not observe an association between urinary GAG and microalbumin excretion and diabetic retinopathy. EAC is found to be negatively corralated with microalbuminuria in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that type 2 diabetic patients with low erythrocyte anionic charge are associated with diabetic retinopathy. Reduction of negative charge of basement membranes may indicate general changes in microvasculature rather than retinopathy. More prospective and large studies needs to clarify the role of glycosaminoglycans on progression of retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients

Charged-Higgs phenomenology in the Aligned two-Higgs-doublet model

The alignment in flavour space of the Yukawa matrices of a general two-Higgs-doublet model results in the absence of tree-level flavour-changing neutral currents. In addition to the usual fermion masses and mixings, the aligned Yukawa structure only contains three complex parameters, which are potential new sources of CP violation. For particular values of these three parameters all known specific implementations of the model based on discrete Z_2 symmetries are recovered. One of the most distinctive features of the two-Higgs-doublet model is the presence of a charged scalar. In this work, we discuss its main phenomenological consequences in flavour-changing processes at low energies and derive the corresponding constraints on the parameters of the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model.Comment: 46 pages, 19 figures. Version accepted for publication in JHEP. References added. Discussion slightly extended. Conclusions unchange