181 research outputs found
Simulation of guiding of multiply charged projectiles through insulating capillaries
Recent experiments have demonstrated that highly charged ions can be guided
through insulating nanocapillaries along the direction of the capillary axis
for a surprisingly wide range of injection angles. Even more surprisingly, the
transmitted particles remain predominantly in their initial charge state, thus
opening the pathway to the construction of novel ion-optical elements without
electric feedthroughs. We present a theoretical treatment of this
self-organized guiding process. We develop a classical trajectory transport
theory that relates the microscopic charge-up with macroscopic material
properties. Transmission coefficients, angular spread of transmitted particles,
and discharge characteristics of the target are investigated. Partial agreement
with experiment is found
Transition to Long Range Magnetic Order in the Highly Frustrated Insulating Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet Gd_2Ti_2O_7
Experimental evidence from measurements of the a.c. and d.c. susceptibility,
and heat capacity data show that the pyrochlore structure oxide, Gd_2Ti_2O_7,
exhibits short range order that starts developing at 30K, as well as long range
magnetic order at K. The Curie-Weiss temperature, =
-9.6K, is largely due to exchange interactions. Deviations from the Curie-Weiss
law occur below 10K while magnetic heat capacity contributions are found
at temperatures above 20K. A sharp maximum in the heat capacity at K
signals a transition to a long range ordered state, with the magnetic specific
accounting for only 50% of the magnetic entropy. The heat capacity above
the phase transition can be modeled by assuming that a distribution of random
fields acts on the ground state for Gd. There is no
frequency dependence to the a.c. susceptibility in either the short range or
long range ordered regimes, hence suggesting the absence of any spin-glassy
behavior. Mean field theoretical calculations show that no long range ordered
ground state exists for the conditions of nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic
exchange and long range dipolar couplings. At the mean-field level, long range
order at various commensurate or incommensurate wave vectors is found only upon
inclusion of exchange interactions beyond nearest-neighbor exchange and dipolar
coupling. The properties of Gd$_2Ti_2O_7 are compared with other geometrically
frustrated antiferromagnets such as the Gd_3Ga_5O_{12} gadolinium gallium
garnet, RE_2Ti_2O_7 pyrochlores where RE = Tb, Ho and Tm, and Heisenberg-type
pyrochlore such as Y_2Mo_2O_7, Tb_2Mo_2O_7, and spinels such as ZnFe_2O_4Comment: Letter, 6 POSTSCRIPT figures included. (NOTE: Figure 5 is not
included --) To appear in Physical Review B. Contact:
[email protected]
Vasodilator factors in the systemic and local adaptations to pregnancy
We postulate that an orchestrated network composed of various vasodilatory systems participates in the systemic and local hemodynamic adaptations in pregnancy. The temporal patterns of increase in the circulating and urinary levels of five vasodilator factors/systems, prostacyclin, nitric oxide, kallikrein, angiotensin-(1–7) and VEGF, in normal pregnant women and animals, as well as the changes observed in preeclamptic pregnancies support their functional role in maintaining normotension by opposing the vasoconstrictor systems. In addition, the expression of these vasodilators in the different trophoblastic subtypes in various species supports their role in the transformation of the uterine arteries. Moreover, their expression in the fetal endothelium and in the syncytiotrophoblast in humans, rats and guinea-pigs, favour their participation in maintaining the uteroplacental circulation. The findings that sustain the functional associations of the various vasodilators, and their participation by endocrine, paracrine and autocrine regulation of the systemic and local vasoactive changes of pregnancy are abundant and compelling. However, further elucidation of the role of the various players is hampered by methodological problems. Among these difficulties is the complexity of the interactions between the different factors, the likelihood that experimental alterations induced in one system may be compensated by the other players of the network, and the possibility that data obtained by manipulating single factors in vitro or in animal studies may be difficult to translate to the human. In addition, the impossibility of sampling the uteroplacental interface along normal pregnancy precludes obtaining longitudinal profiles of the various players. Nevertheless, the possibility of improving maternal blood pressure regulation, trophoblast invasion and uteroplacental flow by enhancing vasodilation (e.g. L-arginine, NO donors, VEGF transfection) deserves unravelling the intricate association of vasoactive factors and the systemic and local adaptations to pregnancy
Contrast Adaptation Contributes to Contrast-Invariance of Orientation Tuning of Primate V1 Cells
BACKGROUND: Studies in rodents and carnivores have shown that orientation tuning width of single neurons does not change when stimulus contrast is modified. However, in these studies, stimuli were presented for a relatively long duration (e. g., 4 seconds), making it possible that contrast adaptation contributed to contrast-invariance of orientation tuning. Our first purpose was to determine, in marmoset area V1, whether orientation tuning is still contrast-invariant with the stimulation duration is comparable to that of a visual fixation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed extracellular recordings and examined orientation tuning of single-units using static sine-wave gratings that were flashed for 200 msec. Sixteen orientations and three contrast levels, representing low, medium and high values in the range of effective contrasts for each neuron, were randomly intermixed. Contrast adaptation being a slow phenomenon, cells did not have enough time to adapt to each contrast individually. With this stimulation protocol, we found that the tuning width obtained at intermediate contrast was reduced to 89% (median), and that at low contrast to 76%, of that obtained at high contrast. Therefore, when probed with briefly flashed stimuli, orientation tuning is not contrast-invariant in marmoset V1. Our second purpose was to determine whether contrast adaptation contributes to contrast-invariance of orientation tuning. Stationary gratings were presented, as previously, for 200 msec with randomly varying orientations, but the contrast was kept constant within stimulation blocks lasting >20 sec, allowing for adaptation to the single contrast in use. In these conditions, tuning widths obtained at low contrast were still significantly less than at high contrast (median 85%). However, tuning widths obtained with medium and high contrast stimuli no longer differed significantly. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Orientation tuning does not appear to be contrast-invariant when briefly flashed stimuli vary in both contrast and orientation, but contrast adaptation partially restores contrast-invariance of orientation tuning
Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases
The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of
aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs)
can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves
excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological
concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can
lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl
radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic
inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the
involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a
large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and
inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation
of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many
similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e.
iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The
studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic
and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and
lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and
longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is
thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As
systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have
multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent
patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of
multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the
decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference
PISA – an experiment for fragment spectroscopy at the Internal Beam of COSY: application of an Axial Ionization Chamber
Imaging of the Muscle-Bone Relationship
Muscle can be assessed by imaging techniques according to its size (as thickness, area, volume, or alternatively, as a mass) and architecture (fiber length and pennation angle), with values used as an anthropometric measure or a surrogate for force production. Similarly, the size of the bone (as area or volume) can be imaged using MRI or pQCT, although typically bone mineral mass is reported. Bone imaging measures of mineral density, size, and geometry can also be combined to calculate bone’s structural strength—measures being highly predictive of bone’s failure load ex vivo. Imaging of muscle-bone relationships can, hence, be accomplished through a number of approaches by adoption and comparison of these different muscle and bone parameters, dependent on the research question under investigation. These approaches have revealed evidence of direct, mechanical muscle-bone interactions independent of allometric associations. They have led to important information on bone mechanoadaptation and the influence of muscular action on bone, in addition to influences of age, gender, exercise, and disuse on muscle-bone relationships. Such analyses have also produced promising diagnostic tools for clinical use, such as identification of primary, disuse-induced, and secondary osteoporosis and estimation of bone safety factors. Standardization of muscle-bone imaging methods is required to permit more reliable comparisons between studies and differing imaging modes, and in particular to aid adoption of these methods into widespread clinical practice
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