Extra dimensions, SN1987a, and nucleon-nucleon scattering data

One of the strongest constraints on the existence of large, compact, "gravity-only" dimensions comes from SN1987a. If the rate of energy loss into these putative extra dimensions is too high, then the neutrino pulse from the supernova will differ from that actually seen. The dominant mechanism for the production of Kaluza-Klein gravitons and dilatons in the supernova is via gravistrahlung and dilastrahlung from the nucleon-nucleon system. In this paper we compute the rates for these processes in a model-independent way using low-energy theorems which relate the emissivities to the measured nucleon-nucleon cross section. This is possible because for soft gravitons and dilatons the leading contribution to the energy-loss rate is from graphs in which the gravitational radiation is produced from external nucleon legs. Previous calculations neglected these mechanisms. We re-evaluate the bounds on toroidally-compactified "gravity-only" dimensions (GODs), and find that consistency with the observed SN1987a neutrino signal requires that if there are two such dimensions then their radius must be less than 1 micron.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes to first two paragraphs of introductio

Superficial temporal artery aneurysms

AbstractObjective: We analyzed the data from our vascular registry to determine the cause, clinical features, and cost-effective management of this uncommon pathologic entity. Design: Patients referred to the vascular surgery outpatient clinic of a tertiary referral center during the past 18 years were evaluated. Subjects: The subjects were six male patients (14 to 32 years) referred for evaluation of a unilateral pulsatile mass over the temporal region of the head. Intervention: Diagnosis of superficial temporal artery aneurysm was verified by loss of the aneurysm's pulse with compression of the ipsilateral proximal superficial temporal artery. All treated aneurysms were electively ligated and excised as an ambulatory procedure. Results: The symptoms were resolved. No recurrences or other complications were seen. Conclusions: Although rare, a superficial temporal artery aneurysm should be considered when a temporal head mass is evaluated. This condition is almost always a result of blunt or penetrating head trauma. Clinical examination is sufficient to confirm the diagnosis. Simple elective ligation and excision of the aneurysm is curative. (J Vasc Surg 1998;27:374-7.

The Average Physical Properties and Star Formation Histories of the UV-Brightest Star-Forming Galaxies at z~3.7

[Abridged] We investigate the average physical properties and star formation histories of the most UV-luminous star-forming galaxies at z~3.7. Our results are derived from analyses of the average spectral energy distributions (SEDs), constructed from stacked optical to infrared photometry, of a sample of the 1,902 most UV-luminous star-forming galaxies found in 5.3 square degrees of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. We bin the sample according to UV luminosity, and find that the shape of the average SED in the rest-frame optical and infrared is fairly constant with UV luminosity: i.e., more UV luminous galaxies are, on average, also more luminous at longer wavelengths. In the rest-UV, however, the spectral slope (measured at 0.13-0.28 um) rises steeply with the median UV luminosity from -1.8 at L L* to -1.2 in the brightest bin (L~4-5L*). We use population synthesis analyses to derive the average physical properties of these galaxies and find that: (1) L_UV, and thus star formation rates (SFRs), scale closely with stellar mass such that more UV-luminous galaxies are also more massive; (2) The median ages indicate that the stellar populations are relatively young (200-400 Myr) and show little correlation with UV luminosity; and (3) More UV-luminous galaxies are dustier than their less-luminous counterparts, such that L~4-5L* galaxies are extincted up to A(1600)=2 mag while L L* galaxies have A(1600)=0.7-1.5 mag. Based on these observations, we argue that the average star formation histories of UV-luminous galaxies are better described by models in which SFR increases with time in order to simultaneously reproduce the tight correlation between the observed SFR and stellar mass, and the universally young ages of these galaxies. We demonstrate the potential of measurements of the SFR-M* relation at multiple redshifts to discriminate between simple models of star formation histories.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

The Isolation and Characterization of β-Glucogallin as a Novel Aldose Reductase Inhibitor from Emblica officinalis

Diabetes mellitus is recognized as a leading cause of new cases of blindness. The prevalence of diabetic eye disease is expected to continue to increase worldwide as a result of the dramatic increase in the number of people with diabetes. At present, there is no medical treatment to delay or prevent the onset and progression of cataract or retinopathy, the most common causes of vision loss in diabetics. The plant Emblica officinalis (gooseberry) has been used for thousands of years as a traditional Indian Ayurvedic preparation for the treatment of diabetes in humans. Extracts from this plant have been shown to be efficacious against the progression of cataract in a diabetic rat model. Aldose reductase (ALR2) is implicated in the development of secondary complications of diabetes including cataract and, therefore, has been a major drug target for the development of therapies to treat diabetic disease. Herein, we present the bioassay-guided isolation and structure elucidation of 1-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose (β-glucogallin), a major component from the fruit of the gooseberry that displays selective as well as relatively potent inhibition (IC50 = 17 µM) of AKR1B1 in vitro. Molecular modeling demonstrates that this inhibitor is able to favorably bind in the active site. Further, we show that β-glucogallin effectively inhibits sorbitol accumulation by 73% at 30 µM under hyperglycemic conditions in an ex-vivo organ culture model of lenses excised from transgenic mice overexpressing human ALR2 in the lens. This study supports the continued development of natural products such as β-glucogallin as therapeutic leads in the development of novel therapies to treat diabetic complications such as cataract

A Nonlinear Constitutive Theory for Deviatoric Cauchy Stress Tensor for Incrompressible Viscous Fluids

Newton’s law of visocosity is a commonly used constitutive theory for deviatoric Cauchy stress tensor. In this constitutive theory originally constructed based on experimental observation, the deviatoric Cauchy stress is proportional to the symmetric part of the velocity gradient tensor. The constant of proportionality is the viscosity of the fluid. For all continuous media if the deforming matter is in thermodynamic equilibrium then all constitutive theories including those considered here must satisfy conservation and balance laws. It is well known that only the second law of thermodynamics provides possible conditions or mechanisms for deriving constitutive theories. The constitutive theory for deviatoric stress tensor used here can be shown to be a simplified form of the constitutive theory derived using conditions resulting from the entropy inequality in conjunction with the theory of generators and invariants that contains up to fifth degree terms in the components of the symmetric part of the velocity gradient tensor. In general the constitutive theory for deviatoric stress tensor is basis (covariant, contravariant, or Jaumann) dependent as it uses convected time derivatives of the Green and Almansi strain tensors of orders higher than one. However, the first convected time derivative of the Green and Almansi strain tensors are in fact symmetric part of the velocity gradient tensor which is basis independent. Thus, if the constitutive theory for deviatoric Cauchy stress tensor is only dependent on the symmetric part of the velocity gradient tensor, then it is basis independent. This is the case for the theory presented in this paper. In this paper we limit the constitutive theory for deviatoric Cauchy stress tensor to contain only up to quadratic terms in the components of the symmetric part of the velocity gradient tensor. The objective is to study the resulting flow physics due to the constitutive theory for deviatoric Cauchy stress tensor that contains up to quadratic terms in the velocity gradient tensor. Model problems consisting of fully developed flow between parallel plates, square lid-driven cavity, and asymmetric sudden expansion are used to present numerical solutions. Numerical solutions of the model problems are calculated using least squares finite element formulation based on residual functional in which the local approximations are considered in higher order scalar product spaces that permit higher order global differentiability solutions. Nonlinear system of algebraic equations are solved using Newton’s linear method with line search

A Nonlinear Constitutive Theory for Heat Conduction in Lagrangian Description Based on Integrity

If the deforming matter is to be in thermodynamic equilibrium, then all constitutive theories, including those for heat vector, must satisfy conservation and balance laws. It is well known that only the second law of thermodynamics provides possible conditions or mechanisms for deriving constitutive theories, but the constitutive theories so derived also must not violate other conservation and balance laws. In the work presented here constitutive theories for heat vector in Lagrangian description are derived (i) strictly using the conditions resulting from the entropy inequality and (ii) using theory of generators and invariants in conjunction with the conditions resulting from the entropy inequality. Both theories are used in the energy equation to construct a mathematical model in R1 that is utilized to present numerical studies using p-version least squares finite element method based on residual functional in which the local approximations are considered in higher order scalar product spaces that permit higher order global differentiability approximations. The constitutive theory for heat vector resulting from the theory of generators and invariants contains up to cubic powers of temperature gradients and is based on integrity, hence complete. The constitutive theory in approach (i) is linear in temperature gradient, standard Fourier heat conduction law, and shown to be subset of the constitutive theory for heat vector resulting from the theory of generators and invariants

Novel critical point drying (CPD) based preparation and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of protein specific molecularly imprinted polymers (HydroMIPs)

We report the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of a hydrogel-based molecularly imprinted polymer (HydroMIP) specific to the template molecule bovine haemoglobin (BHb). A novel critical point drying based sample preparation technique was employed to prepare the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) samples in a manner that would facilitate the use of TEM to image the imprinted cavities, and provide an appropriate degree of both magnification and resolution to image polymer architecture in the <10 nm range. For the first time, polymer structure has been detailed that clearly displays molecularly imprinted cavities, ranging from 5-50 nm in size, that correlate (in terms of size) with the protein molecule employed as the imprinting template. The modified critical point drying sample preparation technique used may potentially play a key role in the imaging of all molecularly imprinted polymers, particularly those prepared in the aqueous phase

Delivery of Dark Material to Vesta via Carbonaceous Chondritic Impacts

NASA's Dawn spacecraft observations of asteroid (4) Vesta reveal a surface with the highest albedo and color variation of any asteroid we have observed so far. Terrains rich in low albedo dark material (DM) have been identified using Dawn Framing Camera (FC) 0.75 {\mu}m filter images in several geologic settings: associated with impact craters (in the ejecta blanket material and/or on the crater walls and rims); as flow-like deposits or rays commonly associated with topographic highs; and as dark spots (likely secondary impacts) nearby impact craters. This DM could be a relic of ancient volcanic activity or exogenic in origin. We report that the majority of the spectra of DM are similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites mixed with materials indigenous to Vesta. Using high-resolution seven color images we compared DM color properties (albedo, band depth) with laboratory measurements of possible analog materials. Band depth and albedo of DM are identical to those of carbonaceous chondrite xenolith-rich howardite Mt. Pratt (PRA) 04401. Laboratory mixtures of Murchison CM2 carbonaceous chondrite and basaltic eucrite Millbillillie also show band depth and albedo affinity to DM. Modeling of carbonaceous chondrite abundance in DM (1-6 vol%) is consistent with howardite meteorites. We find no evidence for large-scale volcanism (exposed dikes/pyroclastic falls) as the source of DM. Our modeling efforts using impact crater scaling laws and numerical models of ejecta reaccretion suggest the delivery and emplacement of this DM on Vesta during the formation of the ~400 km Veneneia basin by a low-velocity (<2 km/sec) carbonaceous impactor. This discovery is important because it strengthens the long-held idea that primitive bodies are the source of carbon and probably volatiles in the early Solar System.Comment: Icarus (Accepted) Pages: 58 Figures: 15 Tables: