7,719 research outputs found
Ghrelin, motilin in health and disease
Ghrelin is a 28 amino-acid peptide produced predominantly by the stomach. Two main
isoforms of ghrelin are currently known (octanoyl- and desoctanoyl ghrelin). It
functions as a circulating orexigenic hormone In addition, it has an effect on the
nervous, cardiovascular and immune system. Current data suggest that ghrelin may have
beneficial anti-inflammatory effects. Chapter 3 in this thesis primarily examines the
relationship between ghrelin and inflammation in Crohn’s disease (CD). Modulation of
inflammation with infliximab, a powerful anti-TNFα antibody therapy, can increase
total ghrelin concentration by 25%. In addition, a normal physiological post-prandial
decrease in ghrelin following a meal is restored when infused with infliximab,
suggesting a dysregulation of ghrelin in CD patients with active inflammation. At
cellular level, there is evidence that ghrelin may have an immunosuppressive effect on
activated T-lymphocytes. Chapter 4 of this thesis examines the effect of ghrelin, a
manufactured agonist and des-octanoyl ghrelin on NFκB activation on a human Blymphocyte
cell line. This study demonstrated that exposure to octanoyl ghrelin confers
an initial increase of NFκB activation in inactivated cells of up to 50% which suggests a
pro-inflammatory effect. However, NFκB activation appears to decrease at much higher
concentrations of octanoyl ghrelin, which may indicate toxicity at supra-physiological
levels. Ghrelin is also involved in the regulation of gastric motility and has structural
similarities to motilin. Symptoms of delayed gastric emptying can occur long after
cancer chemotherapy has ended. Chapter 5 of this thesis compares the contractility and
pro-motility neurotransmitter expression in chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy
exposed stomach tissues obtained from patients undergoing surgery for oesophagogastric
cancers. Chemotherapy exposed tissues have reduced contractility to carbachol
and apparent destruction of the cholinergic activity. The tendency for ghrelin receptors
to increase suggests an attempt to upregulate compensating systems. In conclusion,
ghrelin can be altered by inflammation and may have beneficial effects on gastric
motility
Type II superconductivity in SrPd2Ge2
Previous investigations have shown that SrPd2Ge2, a compound isostructural
with "122" iron pnictides but iron- and pnictogen-free, is a conventional
superconductor with a single s-wave energy gap and a strongly three-dimensional
electronic structure. In this work we reveal the Abrikosov vortex lattice
formed in SrPd2Ge2 when exposed to magnetic field by means of scanning
tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Moreover, by examining the differential
conductance spectra across a vortex and estimating the upper and lower critical
magnetic fields by tunneling spectroscopy and local magnetization measurements,
we show that SrPd2Ge2 is a strong type II superconductor with \kappa >>
sqrt(2). Also, we compare the differential conductance spectra in various
magnetic fields to the pair breaking model of Maki - de Gennes for dirty limit
type II superconductor in the gapless region. This way we demonstrate that the
type II superconductivity is induced by the sample being in the dirty limit,
while in the clean limit it would be a type I superconductor with \kappa\ <<
sqrt(2), in concordance with our previous study (T. Kim et al., Phys. Rev. B
85, (2012)).Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Maximally Supersymmetric Yang-Mills in five dimensions in light-cone superspace
We formulate maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in five dimensions in
light-cone superspace. The light-cone Hamiltonian is of the quadratic form and
the theory can be understood as an oxidation of the N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory
in four dimensions. We specifically study three-point counterterms and show how
these counterterms vanish on-shell. This study is a preliminary to set up the
technique in order to study possible four-point counterterms.Comment: 25 pages, typos corrected, references adde
Robust nodal superconductivity induced by isovalent doping in Ba(FeRu)As and BaFe(AsP)
We present the ultra-low-temperature heat transport study of iron-based
superconductors Ba(FeRu)As and
BaFe(AsP). For optimally doped
Ba(FeRu)As, a large residual linear term
at zero field and a dependence of are observed,
which provide strong evidences for nodes in the superconducting gap. This
result demonstrates that the isovalent Ru doping can also induce nodal
superconductivity, as P does in BaFe(AsP).
Furthermore, in underdoped Ba(FeRu)As and heavily
underdoped BaFe(AsP), manifests similar
nodal behavior, which shows the robustness of nodal superconductivity in the
underdoped regime and puts constraint on theoretical models.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures - with two underdoped samples added, this paper
supersedes arXiv:1106.541
Thermal and electric properties of Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) and Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y)
Electric resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, thermoelectric power, and Hall coefficient of Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) and Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) whose onset temperature of the superconductivity are 24 and 23 K were measured. Experimental results show many interesting features. In particular, the Hall coefficients are negative and relatively flat as a function of temperature. However, the temperature dependence of the thermoelectric power (TEP) for these two samples shows the positive sign for both samples in contrast to the previous results. Moreover, TEP for both samples remains flat in the normal state below 250 K, but decreases rapidly above 250 K. TEP of only Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) shows a peak near 50 K. Finally, onset temperatures of sudden drop of TEP are higher than those of resistance drop. The physical properties of these samples produced at different conditions such as different heat treatment temperatures, atmospheres were also measured. TEP and resistance measurement show that oxygen deficiency is essential to produce better superconducting samples. Correlation between TEP and superconductivity for these different samples are discussed
Thermal and electric properties of Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) and Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y)
Electric resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, thermoelectric power, and Hall coefficient of Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) and Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) whose onset temperature of the superconductivity are 24 K and 23 K were measured. Experimental results show many interesting features. In particular, the Hall coefficients are negative and relatively flat as a function of temperature. However, the temperature dependence of the thermoelectric power (TEP) for these two samples shows the positive sign for both samples in contrast to the previous results. Moreover TEP for both samples remains flat in the normal state below 250 K, but decreases rapidly above 250 K. TEP of only Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) shows a peak near 50 K. Finally onset temperatures of sudden drop of TEP are higher than those of resistance drop. The physical properties of these samples produced at different conditions such as different heat treatment temperatures, atmospheres were also measured. TEP and resistance measurement show that oxygen deficiency is essential to produce better superconducting samples. Correlation between TEP and superconductivity for these different samples will be discussed
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Rapid Intramitochondrial Zn2+ Accumulation in CA1 Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons After Transient Global Ischemia: A Possible Contributor to Mitochondrial Disruption and Cell Death.
Mitochondrial Zn2+ accumulation, particularly in CA1 neurons, occurs after ischemia and likely contributes to mitochondrial dysfunction and subsequent neurodegeneration. However, the relationship between mitochondrial Zn2+ accumulation and their disruption has not been examined at the ultrastructural level in vivo. We employed a cardiac arrest model of transient global ischemia (TGI), combined with Timm's sulfide silver labeling, which inserts electron dense metallic silver granules at sites of labile Zn2+ accumulation, and used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to examine subcellular loci of the Zn2+ accumulation. In line with prior studies, TGI-induced damage to CA1 was far greater than to CA3 pyramidal neurons, and was substantially progressive in the hours after reperfusion (being significantly greater after 4- than 1-hour recovery). Intriguingly, TEM examination of Timm's-stained sections revealed substantial Zn2+ accumulation in many postischemic CA1 mitochondria, which was strongly correlated with their swelling and disruption. Furthermore, paralleling the evolution of neuronal injury, both the number of mitochondria containing Zn2+ and the degree of their disruption were far greater at 4- than 1-hour recovery. These data provide the first direct characterization of Zn2+ accumulation in CA1 mitochondria after in vivo TGI, and support the idea that targeting these events could yield therapeutic benefits
Memory-built-in quantum teleportation with photonic and atomic qubits
The combination of quantum teleportation and quantum memory of photonic
qubits is essential for future implementations of large-scale quantum
communication and measurement-based quantum computation. Both steps have been
achieved separately in many proof-of-principle experiments, but the
demonstration of memory-built-in teleportation of photonic qubits remains an
experimental challenge. Here, we demonstrate teleportation between photonic
(flying) and atomic (stationary) qubits. In our experiment, an unknown
polarization state of a single photon is teleported over 7 m onto a remote
atomic qubit that also serves as a quantum memory. The teleported state can be
stored and successfully read out for up to 8 micro-second. Besides being of
fundamental interest, teleportation between photonic and atomic qubits with the
direct inclusion of a readable quantum memory represents a step towards an
efficient and scalable quantum network.Comment: 19 pages 3 figures 1 tabl
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