634 research outputs found
Undifferentiated human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are highly sensitive to mechanical strain: transcriptionally controlled early osteo-chondrogenic response in vitro
SummaryObjectivePhysical cues play a crucial role in skeletogenesis and osteochondral regeneration. Although human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) offer considerable therapeutic potential, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that control their differentiation. We hypothesized that mechanical strain might be an inherent stimulus for chondrogenic and/or osteogenic differentiation in undifferentiated hMSCs, where c-Fos (FOS) might play a major role in mechanotransduction.MethodhMSCs from 10 donors were intermittently stimulated by cyclic tensile strain (CTS) at 3000 μstrain for a period of 3 days. Differential gene expression of strained and unstrained hMSCs was analysed by real-time RT-PCR for several marker genes, including the transcription factors FOS, RUNX2, SOX9, and others. Additionally, alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) was determined kinetically.ResultsThe application of CTS significantly stimulated the expression levels of the early chondrogenic and osteogenic marker genes (SOX9, LUM, DCN; RUNX2, SPARC, SPP1, ALPL); this was accompanied by stimulation of ALP activity (+38%±12 standard error of mean, P<0.05). Matrix analysis revealed that the osteo-chondrogenic response followed a coordinated expression pattern, in which FOS was attributed to early osteogenic but not chondrogenic differentiation.ConclusionUndifferentiated hMSCs are highly sensitive to mechanical strain with a transcriptionally controlled osteo-chondrogenic differentiation response in vitro
Semi-Hard Scattering Unraveled from Collective Dynamics by Two-Pion Azimuthal Correlations in 158 A GeV/c Pb + Au Collisions
Elliptic flow and two-particle azimuthal correlations of charged hadrons and
high- pions ( 1 GeV/) have been measured close to mid-rapidity in
158A GeV/ Pb+Au collisions by the CERES experiment. Elliptic flow ()
rises linearly with to a value of about 10% at 2 GeV/. Beyond
1.5 GeV/, the slope decreases considerably, possibly indicating
a saturation of at high . Two-pion azimuthal anisotropies for
1.2 GeV/ exceed the elliptic flow values by about 60% in mid-central
collisions. These non-flow contributions are attributed to near-side and
back-to-back jet-like correlations, the latter exhibiting centrality dependent
broadening.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters, 4 pages, 5 figure
Low-mass e+e- pair production in 158 A GeV Pb-Au collisions at the CERN SPS, its dependence on multiplicity and transverse momentum
We report a measurement of low-mass electron pairs observed in 158
GeV/nucleon Pb-Au collisions. The pair yield integrated over the range of
invariant masses 0.2 < m < 2.0 GeV is enhanced by a factor of 3.5 +/- 0.4
(stat) +/- 0.9 (syst) over the expectation from neutral meson decays. As
observed previously in S-Au collisions, the enhancement is most pronounced in
the invariant-mass region 300-700 MeV. For Pb-Au we find evidence for a strong
increase of the enhancement with centrality. In addition, we show that the
enhancement covers a wide range in transverse momentum, but is largest at the
lowest observed pt.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Lett.
Lambda production in 40 A GeV/c Pb-Au collisions
During the 1999 lead run, CERES has measured hadron and electron-pair
production at 40 A GeV/c beam momentum with the spectrometer upgraded by the
addition of a radial TPC. Here the analysis of lambda and antilambda will be
presented.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. 6th International Conference on Strange Quarks in
Matter, Frankfurt 200
Leptonic and charged kaon decay modes of the meson measured in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS
We report a measurement of meson production in central Pb+Au
collisions at E/A=158 GeV. For the first time in heavy-ion collisions,
mesons were reconstructed in the same experiment both in the KK
and the dilepton decay channel. Near mid-rapidity, this yields rapidity
densities, corrected for production at the same rapidity value, of 2.05 +-
0.14(stat) +- 0.25(syst) and 2.04 +- 0.49(stat)+-{0.32}(syst), respectively.
The shape of the measured transverse momentum spectra is also in close
agreement in both decay channels. The data rule out a possible enhancement of
the yield in the leptonic over the hadronic channel by a factor larger
than 1.6 at 95% CL.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures,submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Azimuthal dependence of pion source radii in Pb+Au collisions at 158 A GeV
We present results of a two-pion correlation analysis performed with the
Au+Pb collision data collected by the upgraded CERES experiment in the fall of
2000. The analysis was done in bins of the reaction centrality and the pion
azimuthal emission angle with respect to the reaction plane. The pion source,
deduced from the data, is slightly elongated in the direction perpendicular to
the reaction plane, similarly as was observed at the AGS and at RHIC.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Elliptic flow of charged pions, protons and strange particles emitted in Pb+Au collisions at top SPS energy
Differential elliptic flow spectra v2(pT) of \pi-, K0short, p, \Lambda have
been measured at \sqrt(s NN)= 17.3 GeV around midrapidity by the
CERN-CERES/NA45 experiment in mid-central Pb+Au collisions (10% of
\sigma(geo)). The pT range extends from about 0.1 GeV/c (0.55 GeV/c for
\Lambda) to more than 2 GeV/c. Protons below 0.4 GeV/c are directly identified
by dE/dx. At higher pT, proton elliptic flow v2(pT) is derived as a
constituent, besides \pi+ and K+, of the elliptic flow of positive pion
candidates. The retrieval requires additional inputs: (i) of the particle
composition, and (ii) of v2(pT) of positive pions. For (i), particle ratios
obtained by NA49 were adapted to CERES conditions; for (ii), the measured
v2(pT) of negative pions is substituted, assuming \pi+ and \pi- elliptic flow
magnitudes to be sufficiently close. The v2(pT) spectra are compared to
ideal-hydrodynamics calculations. In synopsis of the series \pi- - K0short - p
- \Lambda, flow magnitudes are seen to fall with decreasing pT progressively
even below hydro calculations with early kinetic freeze-out (Tf= 160 MeV)
leaving not much time for hadronic evolution. The proton v2(pT) data show a
downward swing towards low pT with excursions into negative v2 values. The
pion-flow isospin asymmetry observed recently by STAR at RHIC, invalidating in
principle our working assumption, is found in its impact on proton flow
bracketed from above by the direct proton flow data, and not to alter any of
our conclusions. Results are discussed in perspective of recent viscous
dynamics studies which focus on late hadronic stages.Comment: 38 pages, 27 figures, 2 tables. Abstract and parts of introduction
made more comprehensible; corrected typos; acknowledgement added. To appear
in Nucl.Phys.
Modification of the rho meson detected by low-mass electron-positron pairs in central Pb-Au collisions at 158 A GeV/c
We present a measurement of pair production in central Pb-Au
collisions at 158 GeV/. As reported earlier, a significant excess of the
pair yield over the expectation from hadron decays is observed. The
improved mass resolution of the present data set, recorded with the upgraded
CERES experiment at the CERN-SPS, allows for a comparison of the data with
different theoretical approaches. The data clearly favor a substantial
in-medium broadening of the spectral function over a density-dependent
shift of the pole mass. The in-medium broadening model implies that
baryon induced interactions are the key mechanism to in-medium modifications of
the -meson in the hot fireball at SPS energy.Comment: Revised versio
New Results on Pb-Au Collisions at 40 AGeV from the CERES/NA45 Experiment
In 1999 the CERES/NA45 ran at the CERN SPS with a beam energy of 40
GeV/nucleon. The data set comprises about 8.7 millions Pb-Au events with a
trigger selection corresponding to approximately the most central 30% of the
geometrical cross section. Results on low-mass electron pair analysis are
presented.
The upgrade of the experimental setup with the radial drift TPC has allowed
to enhance hadron physics capabilities of the experiment. New results on hadron
spectra (including Lambda) and flow are presented.Comment: Talk at the International Nuclear Physics Conference INPC2001,
Berkeley, CA, July 29th - August 3rd 200
Recent results from Pb-Au collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon obtained with the CERES spectrometer
During the 1996 lead run time, CERES has accumulated 42 million events,
corresponding to a factor of 5 more statistics than in 1995 and 2.5 million
events of a special photon-run. We report on the results of the low-mass
ee-pair analysis. Since the most critical item is the poor
signal-to-background ratio we also discuss the understanding of this
background, in absolute terms, with the help of a detailed Monte Carlo
simulation. We show preliminary results of the photon analysis and summarize
the results of the hadron analysis preliminarily reported on already at QM'97Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Proceedings of the XIV Int. Conf. on
Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions,Quark Matter 99, Torino, Italy, May 10 - 15, 199
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