160 research outputs found
Structural basis of subtype-selective competitive antagonism for GluN2C/2D-containing NMDA receptors.
N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) play critical roles in the central nervous system. Their heterotetrameric composition generates subtypes with distinct functional properties and spatio-temporal distribution in the brain, raising the possibility for subtype-specific targeting by pharmacological means for treatment of neurological diseases. While specific compounds for GluN2A and GluN2B-containing NMDARs are well established, those that target GluN2C and GluN2D are currently underdeveloped with low potency and uncharacterized binding modes. Here, using electrophysiology and X-ray crystallography, we show that UBP791 ((2S*,3R*)-1-(7-(2-carboxyethyl)phenanthrene-2-carbonyl)piperazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid) inhibits GluN2C/2D with 40-fold selectivity over GluN2A-containing receptors, and that a methionine and a lysine residue in the ligand binding pocket (GluN2D-Met763/Lys766, GluN2C-Met736/Lys739) are the critical molecular elements for the subtype-specific binding. These findings led to development of UBP1700 ((2S*,3R*)-1-(7-(2-carboxyvinyl)phenanthrene-2-carbonyl)piperazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid) which shows over 50-fold GluN2C/2D-selectivity over GluN2A with potencies in the low nanomolar range. Our study shows that the L-glutamate binding site can be targeted for GluN2C/2D-specific inhibition
Identified baryon and meson distributions at large transverse momenta from Au+Au collisions at GeV
Transverse momentum spectra of , and up to 12 GeV/c
at mid-rapidity in centrality selected Au+Au collisions at GeV are presented. In central Au+Au collisions, both and
show significant suppression with respect to binary scaling at
4 GeV/c. Protons and anti-protons are less suppressed than
, in the range 1.5 6 GeV/c. The and
ratios show at most a weak dependence and no significant
centrality dependence. The ratios in central Au+Au collisions approach
the values in p+p and d+Au collisions at 5 GeV/c. The results at high
indicate that the partonic sources of , and have
similar energy loss when traversing the nuclear medium.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Neutral Kaon Interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
We present the first statistically meaningful results from two-K0s
interferometry in heavy-ion collisions. A model that takes the effect of the
strong interaction into account has been used to fit the measured correlation
function. The effects of single and coupled channel were explored. At the mean
transverse mass m_T = 1.07 GeV, we obtain the values R = 4.09 +/- 0.46 (stat.)
+/- 0.31 (sys) fm and lambda = 0.92 +/- 0.23 (stat) +/- 0.13 (sys), where R and
lambda are the invariant radius and chaoticity parameters respectively. The
results are qualitatively consistent with m_T systematics established with
pions in a scenario characterized by a strong collective flow.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Strangelet search at RHIC
Two position sensitive Shower Maximum Detector (SMDs) for Zero-Degree
Calorimeters (ZDCs) were installed by STAR before run 2004 at both upstream and
downstream from the interaction point along the beam axis where particles with
small rigidity are swept away by strong magnetic field. The ZDC-SMDs provides
information about neutral energy deposition as a function of transverse
position in ZDCs. We report the preliminary results of strangelet search from a
triggered data-set sampling 100 million Au+Au collisions at top RHIC energy.Comment: Strange Quark Matter 2004 conference proceedin
Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive jet production in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and
the differential cross section for inclusive midrapidity jet production in
polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. The cross section data cover
transverse momenta 5 < pT < 50 GeV/c and agree with next-to-leading order
perturbative QCD evaluations. The A_LL data cover 5 < pT < 17 GeV/c and
disfavor at 98% C.L. maximal positive gluon polarization in the polarized
nucleon.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes from review process in Phys. Rev.
Lett. Plain text tables of data in STAR publications may be found at
http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications
Multiplicity and Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Particles and Photons at Forward Pseudorapidity in Au + Au Collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV
We present the centrality dependent measurement of multiplicity and
pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles and photons in Au + Au
collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV. The charged particles and photons are
measured in the pseudorapidity region 2.9 < eta < 3.9 and 2.3 < eta < 3.7,
respectively. We have studied the scaling of particle production with the
number of participating nucleons and the number of binary collisions. The
photon and charged particle production in the measured pseudorapidity range has
been shown to be consistent with energy independent limiting fragmentation
behavior. The photons are observed to follow a centrality independent limiting
fragmentation behavior while for the charged particles it is centrality
dependent. We have carried out a comparative study of the pseudorapidity
distributions of positively charged hadrons, negatively charged hadrons,
photons, pions, net protons in nucleus--nucleus collisions and pseudorapidity
distributions from p+p collisions. From these comparisons we conclude that
baryons in the inclusive charged particle distribution are responsible for the
observed centrality dependence of limiting fragmentation. The mesons are found
to follow an energy independent behavior of limiting fragmentation while the
behavior of baryons seems to be energy dependent.Comment: 17 pages and 20 figure
Minijet deformation and charge-independent angular correlations on momentum subspace in Au-Au collisions at = 130 GeV
First measurements of charge-independent correlations on angular difference
variables (pseudorapidity) and (azimuth)
are presented for primary charged hadrons with transverse momentum GeV/ and from Au-Au collisions at
GeV. Strong charge-independent angular correlations are
observed associated with jet-like structures and elliptic flow. The width of
the jet-like peak on increases by a factor 2.3 from
peripheral to central collisions, suggesting strong coupling of semi-hard
scattered partons to a longitudinally-expanding medium. New methods of jet
analysis introduced here provide evidence for nonperturbative QCD medium
effects in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a Modulated Proton Bunch
The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of
a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches
compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is
directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and
inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling
laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of
existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching
1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons beyond 6 TeV were found
in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
The energy dependence of angular correlations inferred from mean- fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC
We present the first study of the energy dependence of angular
correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum
fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance
measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to
SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure
suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is
minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in
correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly
with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related
fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Computational geometry analysis of dendritic spines by structured illumination microscopy
We are currently short of methods that can extract objective parameters of dendritic spines useful for their categorization. Authors present in this study an automatic analytical pipeline for spine geometry using 3D-structured illumination microscopy, which can effectively extract many geometrical parameters of dendritic spines without bias and automatically categorize spine population based on their morphological feature
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