346 research outputs found
Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue in kabuki syndrome with associated hyper-IgM syndrome/common variable immunodeficiency
A 28-year-old woman with a medical history significant for Kabuki syndrome with associated hyper-IgM syndrome/common variable immunodeficiency presented with a 3-month history of dyspnea, pleuritic pain, and nonproductive cough. Imaging demonstrated nodular infiltrates increasing toward the lung bases (Figure 1A). Bronchoscopy with lavage and transbronchial biopsies was performed to evaluate for an infectious or inflammatory etiology; however, results were unrevealing, and no infectious etiology was identified. Therefore, she underwent a video-assisted thoracic surgery biopsy that demonstrated nodular lymphoid hyperplasia with follicles centered on small airways and areas of organizing pneumonia (Figure 1B). Immunostains demonstrated follicles composed of CD31 T cells and CD201 B cells (Figure 1B) and no morphologic evidence of lymphoma or plasma cell neoplasm. Results were consistent with bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT). High-dose steroids were administered without resolution of symptoms or radiographic findings. A report of effective responses with rituximab and azathioprine in patients with common variable immunodeficiency who had a similar inflammatory lung process containing tertiary lymphoid structures, granulomas, and organizing pneumonia has been published (1). After four doses of rituximab (weekly), together with the initiation of azathioprine, her symptoms and radiographic findings improved (Figure 1C)
Primordial nucleosynthesis with a varying fine structure constant: An improved estimate
We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure
constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of
alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider
contributions arising from Coulomb barrier penetration, photon coupling to
nuclear currents, and the electromagnetic components of nuclear masses. We find
the primordial abundances to depend more weakly on alpha than previously
estimated, by up to a factor of 2 in the case of ^7Li. We discuss the
constraints on variations in alpha from the individual abundance measurements
and the uncertainties affecting these constraints. While the present best
measurements of primordial D/H, ^4He/H, and ^7Li/H may be reconciled pairwise
by adjusting alpha and the universal baryon density, no value of alpha allows
all three to be accommodated simultaneously without consideration of systematic
error. The combination of measured abundances with observations of acoustic
peaks in the cosmic microwave background favors no change in alpha within the
uncertainties.Comment: Phys. Rev. D accepted version; minor changes in response to refere
Constraining Very Heavy Dark Matter Using Diffuse Backgrounds of Neutrinos and Cascaded Gamma Rays
We consider multi-messenger constraints on very heavy dark matter (VHDM) from
recent Fermi gamma-ray and IceCube neutrino observations of isotropic
background radiation. Fermi data on the diffuse gamma-ray background (DGB)
shows a possible unexplained feature at very high energies (VHE), which we have
called the "VHE Excess" relative to expectations for an attenuated power law
extrapolated from lower energies. We show that VHDM could explain this excess,
and that neutrino observations will be an important tool for testing this
scenario. More conservatively, we derive new constraints on the properties of
VHDM for masses of 10^3-10^10 GeV. These generic bounds follow from cosmic
energy budget constraints for gamma rays and neutrinos that we developed
elsewhere, based on detailed calculations of cosmic electromagnetic cascades
and also neutrino detection rates. We show that combining both gamma-ray and
neutrino data is essential for making the constraints on VHDM properties both
strong and robust. In the lower mass range, our constraints on VHDM
annihilation and decay are comparable to other results; however, our
constraints continue to much higher masses, where they become relatively
stronger.Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in JCA
Cosmology With Non-Minimally Coupled K-Field
We consider non-minimally coupled (with gravity) scalar field with
non-canonical kinetic energy. The form of the kinetic term is of
Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) form.We study the early evolution of the universe when
it is sourced only by the k-field, as well as late time evolution when both the
matter and k-field are present. For the k-field, we have considered constant
potential as well as potential inspired from Boundary String Field Theory
(B-SFT). We show that it is possible to have inflationary solution in early
time as well as late time accelerating phase. The solutions also exhibit
attractor property in a sense that it does not depend on the initial conditions
for a certain values of the parameters.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex style, 14 eps figures, to appear in General
Relativity and Gravitatio
Gas injection in a liquid saturated porous medium. Influence of pressurization effects and liquid films
We study numerically and experimentally the displacement of a liquid by a gas in a two-dimensional model porous medium. In contrast with previous pore-network studies on drainage in porous media, the gas compressibility is fully taken account. The influence of the gas injection rate on the displacement pattern, breakthrough time and the evolution of the pressure in the gas phase due in part to gas compressibility are investigated. A good agreement is found between the simulations and the experiments as regards the invasion patterns. The agreement is also good on the drainage kinetics when the dynamic liquid films are taken into account
Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions
We review the most important experimental results from the first three years
of nucleus-nucleus collision studies at RHIC, with emphasis on results from the
STAR experiment, and we assess their interpretation and comparison to theory.
The theory-experiment comparison suggests that central Au+Au collisions at RHIC
produce dense, rapidly thermalizing matter characterized by: (1) initial energy
densities above the critical values predicted by lattice QCD for establishment
of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP); (2) nearly ideal fluid flow, marked by
constituent interactions of very short mean free path, established most
probably at a stage preceding hadron formation; and (3) opacity to jets. Many
of the observations are consistent with models incorporating QGP formation in
the early collision stages, and have not found ready explanation in a hadronic
framework. However, the measurements themselves do not yet establish
unequivocal evidence for a transition to this new form of matter. The
theoretical treatment of the collision evolution, despite impressive successes,
invokes a suite of distinct models, degrees of freedom and assumptions of as
yet unknown quantitative consequence. We pose a set of important open
questions, and suggest additional measurements, at least some of which should
be addressed in order to establish a compelling basis to conclude definitively
that thermalized, deconfined quark-gluon matter has been produced at RHIC.Comment: 101 pages, 37 figures; revised version to Nucl. Phys.
Constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS) activity in Langerhans islets from streptozotocin diabetic rats
Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel
A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or 'scaffold') of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data 'onto' this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at âs=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector
The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in protonâproton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fbâ1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photonâjet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photonâjet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements
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