Excited hadrons on the lattice: Mesons

We present results for masses of excited mesons from quenched calculations using chirally improved quarks at pion masses down to 350 MeV. The key features of our analysis are the use of a matrix of correlators from various source and sink operators and a basis which includes quark sources with different spatial widths, thereby improving overlap with states exhibiting radial excitations.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures; version accepted to PR

Equation of State and Heavy-Quark Free Energy at Finite Temperature and Density in Two Flavor Lattice QCD with Wilson Quark Action

We study the equation of state at finite temperature and density in two-flavor QCD with the RG-improved gluon action and the clover-improved Wilson quark action on a $16^3 \times 4$ lattice. Along the lines of constant physics at $m_{\rm PS}/m_{\rm V} = 0.65$ and 0.80, we compute the second and forth derivatives of the grand canonical partition function with respect to the quark chemical potential $\mu_q = (\mu_u+\mu_d)/2$ and the isospin chemical potential $\mu_I = (\mu_u-\mu_d)/2$ at vanishing chemical potentials, and study the behaviors of thermodynamic quantities at finite $\mu_q$ using these derivatives for the case $\mu_I=0$. In particular, we study density fluctuations at none-zero temperature and density by calculating the quark number and isospin susceptibilities and their derivatives with respect to $\mu_q$. To suppress statistical fluctuations, we also examine new techniques applicable at low densities. We find a large enhancement in the fluctuation of quark number when the density increased near the pseudo-critical temperature, suggesting a critical point at finite $\mu_q$ terminating the first order transition line between hadronic and quark gluon plasma phases. This result agrees with the previous results using staggered-type quark actions qualitatively. Furthermore, we study heavy-quark free energies and Debye screening masses at finite density by measuring the first and second derivatives of these quantities for various color channels of heavy quark-quark and quark-anti-quark pairs. The results suggest that, to the leading order of $\mu_q$, the interaction between two quarks becomes stronger at finite densities, while that between quark and anti-quark becomes weaker.Comment: 38 pages, 63 figure

A Novel Enediynyl Peptide Inhibitor of Furin That Blocks Processing of proPDGF-A, B and proVEGF-C

BACKGROUND: Furin represents a crucial member of secretory mammalian subtilase, the Proprotein Convertase (PC) or Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin (PCSK) superfamily. It has been linked to cancer, tumorgenesis, viral and bacterial pathogenesis. As a result it is considered a major target for intervention of these diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Herein, we report, for the first time, the synthesis and biological evaluation of a newly designed potent furin inhibitor that contains a highly reactive beta-turn inducing and radical generating "enediynyl amino acid" (Eda) moiety. "Eda" was inserted between P1 and P1' residues of hfurin(98-112) peptide, derived from the primary cleavage site of furin's own prodomain. The resulting hexadecapeptide derivative inhibited furin in vitro with IC(50) approximately 40 nM when measured against the fluorogenic substrate Boc-RVRR-MCA. It also inhibited furin-mediated cleavage of a fluorogenic peptide derived from hSARS-CoV spike protein with IC(50) approximately 193 nM. Additionally it also blocked furin-processing of growth factors proPDGF-A, B and VEGF-C that are linked to tumor genesis and cancer. Circular dichroism study showed that this inhibitor displayed a predominantly beta-turn structure while western blots confirmed its ability to protect furin protein from self degradation. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings imply its potential as a therapeutic agent for intervention of cancer and other furin-associated diseases

Chiral Gauge Theory on Lattice with Domain Wall Fermions

We investigate a U(1) lattice chiral gauge theory with domain wall fermions and compact gauge fixing. In the reduced model limit, our perturbative and numerical investigations show that there exist no extra mirror chiral modes. The longitudinal gauge degrees of freedom have no effect on the free domain wall fermion spectrum consisting of opposite chiral modes at the domain wall and at the anti-domain wall which have an exponentially damped overlap.Comment: 16 pages revtex, 5 postscript figures, PRD versio

Burst dynamics during drainage displacements in porous media: Simulations and experiments

We investigate the burst dynamics during drainage going from low to high injection rate at various fluid viscosities. The bursts are identified as pressure drops in the pressure signal across the system. We find that the statistical distribution of pressure drops scales according to other systems exhibiting self-organized criticality. The pressure signal was calculated by a network model that properly simulates drainage displacements. We compare our results with corresponding experiments.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Europhys. Let

Biometric relationships of the black-lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Andaman and Nicobar waters

The black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera is widely distributed in Indo-Pacific region and has prime importance in the production of black pearls. In India, its natural occurrence is confined to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The biometric relationships between (dorso-ventral measurement [DVM] and Hinge Length [HL]; Thickness [THK] and Total Weight [TWT]) were studied from 458 oysters collected from these islands which were grouped in to 5 length classes. In all size groups, there was increase in weight with increase in length. The highest coefficient (r2=0.7828) was obtained for the animals with DVM ranging from 76 to 95 mm. The correlation coefficient ‘r’ was low for DVM-HL and slightly higher for DVM-THK. Comparisons of biometric relationships of the natural populations of the Indian pearl oysters with that of farmed oysters in other regions indicated xenomorphism in pearl oysters in Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to restricted space in natural habitats

Missense mutation in the ATPase, aminophospholipid transporter protein ATP8A2 is associated with cerebellar atrophy and quadrupedal locomotion

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Cerebellar ataxia, mental retardation and dysequilibrium syndrome is a rare and heterogeneous condition. We investigated a consanguineous family from Turkey with four affected individuals exhibiting the condition. Homozygosity mapping revealed that several shared homozygous regions, including chromosome 13q12. Targeted next-generation sequencing of an affected individual followed by segregation analysis, population screening and prediction approaches revealed a novel missense variant, p.I376M, in ATP8A2. The mutation lies in a highly conserved C-terminal transmembrane region of E1 E2 ATPase domain. The ATP8A2 gene is mainly expressed in brain and development, in particular cerebellum. Interestingly, an unrelated individual has been identified, in whom mental retardation and severe hypotonia is associated with a de novo t(10;13) balanced translocation resulting with the disruption of ATP8A2. These findings suggest that ATP8A2 is involved in the development of the cerebro-cerebellar structures required for posture and gait in humans. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved