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Facilitation of I Kr current by some hERG channel blockers suppresses early afterdepolarizations.
Drug-induced block of the cardiac rapid delayed rectifying potassium current (I Kr), carried by the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) channel, is the most common cause of acquired long QT syndrome. Indeed, some, but not all, drugs that block hERG channels cause fatal cardiac arrhythmias. However, there is no clear method to distinguish between drugs that cause deadly arrhythmias and those that are clinically safe. Here we propose a mechanism that could explain why certain clinically used hERG blockers are less proarrhythmic than others. We demonstrate that several drugs that block hERG channels, but have favorable cardiac safety profiles, also evoke another effect; they facilitate the hERG current amplitude in response to low-voltage depolarization. To investigate how hERG facilitation impacts cardiac safety, we develop computational models of I Kr block with and without this facilitation. We constrain the models using data from voltage clamp recordings of hERG block and facilitation by nifekalant, a safe class III antiarrhythmic agent. Human ventricular action potential simulations demonstrate the ability of nifekalant to suppress ectopic excitations, with or without facilitation. Without facilitation, excessive I Kr block evokes early afterdepolarizations, which cause lethal arrhythmias. When facilitation is introduced, early afterdepolarizations are prevented at the same degree of block. Facilitation appears to prevent early afterdepolarizations by increasing I Kr during the repolarization phase of action potentials. We empirically test this prediction in isolated rabbit ventricular myocytes and find that action potential prolongation with nifekalant is less likely to induce early afterdepolarization than action potential prolongation with dofetilide, a hERG channel blocker that does not induce facilitation. Our data suggest that hERG channel blockers that induce facilitation increase the repolarization reserve of cardiac myocytes, rendering them less likely to trigger lethal ventricular arrhythmias
DWBA analysis of the 13C(6Li,d)17O reaction at 10 MeV/nucleon and its astrophysical implications
The value of the alpha spectroscopic factor (S_alpha) of the 6.356 MeV 1/2+
state of 17O is believed to have significant astrophysical implications due to
the importance of the 13C(alpha,n)16O reaction as a possible source of neutron
production for the s process. To further study this effect, an accurate
measurement of the 13C(6Li,d)17O reaction at E_lab = 60 MeV has been performed
recently by Kubono et al., who found a new value for the spectroscopic factor
of the 6.356 MeV 1/2+ state of 17O based on a distorted wave Born approximation
(DWBA) analysis of these data. This new value, S_alpha approximately = 0.011,
is surprisingly much smaller than those used previously in astrophysical
calculations (S_alpha approximately = 0.3-0.7) and thus poses a serious
question as to the role of the 13C(alpha,n)16O reaction as a source of neutron
production. In this work we perform a detailed analysis of the same
13C(6Li,d)17O data within the DWBA as well as the coupled reaction channel
(CRC) formalism. Our analysis yields an S_alpha value of over an order of
magnitude larger than that of Kubono et al. for the 6.356 MeV 1/2+ state of
17O.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, accepted by Nuclear Physics
Important role of the spin-orbit interaction in forming the 1/2^+ orbital structure in Be isotopes
The structure of the second 0^+ state of ^{10}Be is investigated using a
microscopic model based on the molecular-orbit (MO) model.
The second 0^+ state, which has dominantly the (1/2^+)^2 configuration, is
shown to have a particularly enlarged structure. The kinetic
energy of the two valence neutrons occupying along the axis is
reduced remarkably due to the strong clustering and, simultaneously,
the spin-orbit interaction unexpectedly plays important role to make the energy
of this state much lower. The mixing of states with different spin structure is
shown to be important in negative-parity states. The experimentally observed
small-level spacing between 1^- and 2^- (~ 300 keV) is found to be an evidence
of this spin-mixing effect. ^{12}{Be} is also investigated using
model, in which four valence neutrons are considered to
occupy the (3/2^-)^2(1/2^+)^2 configuration. The energy surface of ^{12}Be is
shown to exhibit similar characteristics, that the remarkable
clustering and the contribution of the spin-orbit interaction make the binding
of the state with (3/2^-)^2(1/2^+)^2 configuration properly stronger in
comparison with the closed p-shell (3/2^-)^2(1/2^-)^2 configuration.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Design and Test of a Forward Neutron Calorimeter for the ZEUS Experiment
A lead scintillator sandwich sampling calorimeter has been installed in the
HERA tunnel 105.6 m from the central ZEUS detector in the proton beam
direction. It is designed to measure the energy and scattering angle of
neutrons produced in charge exchange ep collisions. Before installation the
calorimeter was tested and calibrated in the H6 beam at CERN where 120 GeV
electrons, muons, pions and protons were made incident on the calorimeter. In
addition, the spectrum of fast neutrons from charge exchange proton-lucite
collisions was measured. The design and construction of the calorimeter is
described, and the results of the CERN test reported. Special attention is paid
to the measurement of shower position, shower width, and the separation of
electromagnetic showers from hadronic showers. The overall energy scale as
determined from the energy spectrum of charge exchange neutrons is compared to
that obtained from direct beam hadrons.Comment: 45 pages, 22 Encapsulated Postscript figures, submitted to Nuclear
Instruments and Method
Triaxial deformation in 10Be
The triaxial deformation in Be is investigated using a microscopic
model. The states of two valence neutrons are classified
based on the molecular-orbit (MO) model, and the -orbit is introduced
about the axis connecting the two -clusters for the description of the
rotational bands. There appear two rotational bands comprised mainly of and , respectively, at low excitation energy, where the two
valence neutrons occupy or orbits. The
triaxiality and the -mixing are discussed in connection to the molecular
structure, particularly, to the spin-orbit splitting. The extent of the
triaxial deformation is evaluated in terms of the electro-magnetic transition
matrix elements (Davydov-Filippov model, Q-invariant model), and density
distribution in the intrinsic frame. The obtained values turned out to be
.Comment: 15 pages, latex, 3 figure
Grassmannian flows and applications to nonlinear partial differential equations
We show how solutions to a large class of partial differential equations with
nonlocal Riccati-type nonlinearities can be generated from the corresponding
linearized equations, from arbitrary initial data. It is well known that
evolutionary matrix Riccati equations can be generated by projecting linear
evolutionary flows on a Stiefel manifold onto a coordinate chart of the
underlying Grassmann manifold. Our method relies on extending this idea to the
infinite dimensional case. The key is an integral equation analogous to the
Marchenko equation in integrable systems, that represents the coodinate chart
map. We show explicitly how to generate such solutions to scalar partial
differential equations of arbitrary order with nonlocal quadratic
nonlinearities using our approach. We provide numerical simulations that
demonstrate the generation of solutions to
Fisher--Kolmogorov--Petrovskii--Piskunov equations with nonlocal
nonlinearities. We also indicate how the method might extend to more general
classes of nonlinear partial differential systems.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure
Structure of the mirror nuclei Be and B in a microscopic cluster model
The structure of the mirror nuclei Be and B is studied in a
microscopic and three-cluster model
using a fully antisymmetrized 9-nucleon wave function. The two-nucleon
interaction includes central and spin-orbit components and the Coulomb
potential. The ground state of Be is obtained accurately with the
stochastic variational method, while several particle-unbound states of both
Be and B are investigated with the complex scaling method.The
calculation for Be supports the recent identification for the existence of
two broad states around 6.5 MeV, and predicts the and
states at about 4.5 MeV and 8 MeV, respectively. The
similarity of the calculated spectra of Be and B enables one to
identify unknown spins and parities of the B states. Available data on
electromagnetic moments and elastic electron scatterings are reproduced very
well. The enhancement of the 1 transition of the first excited state in
Be is well accounted for. The calculated density of Be is found to
reproduce the reaction cross section on a Carbon target. The analysis of the
beta decay of Li to Be clearly shows that the wave function of Be
must contain a small component that cannot be described by the simple model. This small component can be well accounted for by extending a
configuration space to include the distortion of the -particle to
and partitions.Comment: 24 page
Western Pacific atmospheric nutrient deposition fluxes, their impact on surface ocean productivity
The atmospheric deposition of both macronutrients and micronutrients plays an important role in driving primary productivity, particularly in the low-latitude ocean. We report aerosol major ion measurements for five ship-based sampling campaigns in the western Pacific from similar to 25 degrees N to 20 degrees S and compare the results with those from Atlantic meridional transects (similar to 50 degrees N to 50 degrees S) with aerosols collected and analyzed in the same laboratory, allowing full incomparability. We discuss sources of the main nutrient species (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and iron (Fe)) in the aerosols and their stoichiometry. Striking north-south gradients are evident over both basins with the Northern Hemisphere more impacted by terrestrial dust sources and anthropogenic emissions and the North Atlantic apparently more impacted than the North Pacific. We estimate the atmospheric supply rates of these nutrients and the potential impact of the atmospheric deposition on the tropical western Pacific. Our results suggest that the atmospheric deposition is P deficient relative to the needs of the resident phytoplankton. These findings suggest that atmospheric supply of N, Fe, and P increases primary productivity utilizing some of the residual excess phosphorus (P*) in the surface waters to compensate for aerosol P deficiency. Regional primary productivity is further enhanced via the stimulation of nitrogen fixation fuelled by the residual atmospheric iron and P*. Our stoichiometric calculations reveal that a P* of 0.1 mu mol L-1 can offset the P deficiency in atmospheric supply for many months. This study suggests that atmospheric deposition may sustain similar to 10% of primary production in both the western tropical Pacific
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