9,159 research outputs found
Bose-Einstein condensation in linear sigma model at Hartree and large N approximation
The BEC of charged pions is investigated in the framework of O(4) linear
sigma model. By using Cornwall-Jackiw-Tomboulis formalism, we have derived the
gap equations for the effective masses of the mesons at finite temperature and
finite isospin density. The BEC is discussed in chiral limit and non-chiral
limit at Hartree approximation and also at large N approximation.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Impaired aortic distensibility measured by computed tomography is associated with the severity of coronary artery disease.
Impaired aortic distensibility index (ADI) is associated with cardiovascular risk factors. This study evaluates the relation of ADI measured by computed tomographic angiography (CTA) with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis in subjects with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). Two hundred and twenty-nine subjects,age 63 ± 9 years, 42% female, underwent coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning and CTA, and their ADI and Framingham risk score (FRS) were measured. End-systolic and end-diastolic (ED) cross-sectional-area(CSA) of ascending-aorta (AAo) was measured 15-mm above the left-main coronary ostium. ADI was defined as: [(Δlumen-CSA)/(lumen-CSA in ED × systemic-pulse-pressure) × 10(3)]. ADI measured by 2D-trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) was compared with CTA-measured ADI in 26 subjects without CAC. CAC was defined as 0, 1-100, 101-400 and 400+. CAD was defined as luminal stenosis 0, 1-49% and 50%+. There was an excellent correlation between CTA- and TTE-measured ADI (r(2)=0.94, P=0.0001). ADI decreased from CAC 0 to CAC 400+; similarly from FRS 1-9% to FRS 20% + (P<0.05). After adjustment for risk factors, the relative risk for each standard deviation decrease in ADI was 1.66 for CAC 1-100, 2.26 for CAC 101-400 and 2.32 for CAC 400+ as compared to CAC 0; similarly, 2.36 for non-obstructive CAD and 2.67 for obstructive CAD as compared to normal coronaries. The area under the ROC-curve to predict significant CAD was 0.68 for FRS, 0.75 for ADI, 0.81 for CAC and 0.86 for the combination (P<0.05). Impaired aortic distensibility strongly correlates with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. Addition of ADI to CAC and traditional risk factors provides incremental value to predict at-risk individuals
Resident Endothelial Cells and Endothelial Progenitor Cells Restore Endothelial Barrier Function After Inflammatory Lung Injury
Objective Disruption of endothelial barrier integrity is a characteristic of many inflammatory conditions. However, the origin and function of endothelial cells (ECs) restoring endothelial barrier function remain unknown. This study defined the roles of resident ECs (RECs) and bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (BMDEPCs) in endothelial barrier restoration after endotoxemic lung injury. Approach and Results We generated mice that enable to quantify proliferating RECs or BMDEPCs and also to study the causal link between REC or BMDEPC proliferation and endothelial barrier restoration. Using these mouse models, we showed that endothelial barrier restoration was associated with increased REC and BMDEPC proliferation. RECs and BMDEPCs participate in barrier repair. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that RECs proliferate in situ on endothelial layer and that BMDEPCs are engrafted into endothelial layer of lung microvessels at the active barrier repair phase. In lungs, 8 weeks after lipopolysaccharide-induced injury, the number of REC-derived ECs (CD45(-)/CD31(+)/BrdU(+)/rtTA(+)) or BMDEPC-derived ECs (CD45(-)/CD31(+)/eNOS(+)/GFP(+)) increased by 22- or 121-fold, respectively. The suppression of REC or BMDEPC proliferation by blocking REC or BMDEPC intrinsic nuclear factor-B at the barrier repair phase was associated with an augmented endothelial permeability and impeded endothelial barrier recovery. RECs and BMDEPCs contributed differently to endothelial barrier repair. In lungs, 8 weeks after lipopolysaccharide-induced injury, REC-derived ECs constituted 22%, but BMDEPC-derived ECs constituted only 3.7% of the total new ECs. Conclusions REC is a major and BMDEPC is a complementary source of new ECs in endothelial barrier restoration. RECs and BMDEPCs play important roles in endothelial barrier restoration after inflammatory lung injury
Modification of membrane lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes activation in transgenic rice resistant to Rhizoctonia solani
Activation of membrane lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes were investigated in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) lines J6 and J61 expressing the rice chitinase gene (RCH10) and the alfalfa â-1,3-glucanase gene (AGLU1). Our results show enhanced resistance of both lines to Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of rice sheath blight disease. While malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly generated with increasing infection time, maximum production in wild-type (WT) transgenic lines J6 and J61 (44.35, 35.00 and 38.65 ìmol/g FW, respectively) occurred after 4 days. Analysis of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity after 2 days inoculation also revealed distinct differences between WT (34.45 U/mg protein) and the 2 transgenic lines (J6; 45.86 U/mg protein; J61, 71.90 U/mg protein). On the other hand, the activities of catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) were found to be quite similar in all 3 lines. Taken together, these findings suggest that MDA content and SOD activity might play important roles in enhancing pathogen resistance in the transgenic plants. Our study provides a valuable route to analyze the mechanism of transgene-mediated defense in transgenic rice.Key words: Transgenic rice, resistance, sheath blight, Rhizoctonia solani, membrane lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes
Energy Transport and Scintillation of Cerium Doped Elpasolite Cs2LiYCl6: Hybrid Density Functional Calculations
Elpasolites are a large family of halides which have recently attracted
considerable interest for their potential applications in room-temperature
radiation detection. Cs2LiYCl6 is one of the most widely studied elpasolite
scintillators. In this paper, we will show hybrid density functional
calculations on electronic structure, energetics of small electron and hole
polarons and self-trapped excitons, and the excitation of luminescence centers
(Ce impurities) in Cs2LiYCl6. The results provide important understanding in
energy transport and scintillation mechanisms in Cs2LiYCl6 and rare-earth
elpasolites in general
The Digital Life of Walkable Streets
Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. That is
why web and mobile services have been offering ways of computing walkability
scores of individual street segments. Those scores are generally computed from
survey data and manual counting (of even trees). However, that is costly, owing
to the high time, effort, and financial costs. To partly automate the
computation of those scores, we explore the possibility of using the social
media data of Flickr and Foursquare to automatically identify safe and walkable
streets. We find that unsafe streets tend to be photographed during the day,
while walkable streets are tagged with walkability-related keywords. These
results open up practical opportunities (for, e.g., room booking services,
urban route recommenders, and real-estate sites) and have theoretical
implications for researchers who might resort to the use social media data to
tackle previously unanswered questions in the area of walkability.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of International World Wide Web
Conference (WWW 2015
Entropic Interactions in Suspensions of Semi-Flexible Rods: Short-Range Effects of Flexibility
We compute the entropic interactions between two colloidal spheres immersed
in a dilute suspension of semi-flexible rods. Our model treats the
semi-flexible rod as a bent rod at fixed angle, set by the rod contour and
persistence lengths. The entropic forces arising from this additional
rotational degree of freedom are captured quantitatively by the model, and
account for observations at short range in a recent experiment. Global fits to
the interaction potential data suggest the persistence length of fd-virus is
about two to three times smaller than the commonly used value of .Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRE rapid communication
Relativistic quantum transport theory of hadronic matter: the coupled nucleon, delta and pion system
We derive the relativistic quantum transport equation for the pion
distribution function based on an effective Lagrangian of the QHD-II model. The
closed time-path Green's function technique, the semi-classical, quasi-particle
and Born approximation are employed in the derivation. Both the mean field and
collision term are derived from the same Lagrangian and presented analytically.
The dynamical equation for the pions is consistent with that for the nucleons
and deltas which we developed before. Thus, we obtain a relativistic transport
model which describes the hadronic matter with , and degrees
of freedom simultaneously. Within this approach, we investigate the medium
effects on the pion dispersion relation as well as the pion absorption and pion
production channels in cold nuclear matter. In contrast to the results of the
non-relativistic model, the pion dispersion relation becomes harder at low
momenta and softer at high momenta as compared to the free one, which is mainly
caused by the relativistic kinetics. The theoretically predicted free cross section is in agreement with the experimental data. Medium
effects on the cross section and momentum-dependent
-decay width are shown to be substantial.Comment: 66 pages, Latex, 12 PostScript figures included; replaced by the
revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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