1,235 research outputs found
Enzymatic hydrolysate from velvet antler suppresses adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells and attenuates obesity in high-fat diet-fed mice
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the potential anti-obesity activity of an enzymatic hydrolysate of velvet antler in inhibiting adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells and in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice. The enzy- matic hydrolysate was prepared using the commercial food grade protease, Protamex. The velvet antler Protamex hydrolysate (VAPH) indicated profound inhibitory effects on adipogenesis dose-dependently by decreasing the accumulation of triglycerides and down-regulating expression levels of adipogenesis-related proteins C/EBPα, SREBP-1, and PPARγ. In a mouse model of HFD-induced obesity, oral administration of VAPH (100 and 300 mg/kg for 13 weeks) significantly reduced the body weight gain that had resulted from the HFD. VAPH treat- ment also lowered the serum glucose and triglyceride levels, while increasing the HDL-C level. Furthermore, the treatment greatly reduced hepatic lipid droplet accumulation as well as the size of adipocytes. Current findings H has profound anti-obesity effects and could be an effective candidate for preventing obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases
Cost-benefit analysis of introducing next-generation sequencing (metagenomic) pathogen testing in the setting of pyrexia of unknown origin
Pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO) is defined as a temperature of >38.3°C that lasts for >3 weeks, where no cause can be found despite appropriate investigation. Existing protocols for the work-up of PUO can be extensive and costly, motivating the application of recent advances in molecular diagnostics to pathogen testing. There have been many reports describing various analytical methods and performance of metagenomic pathogen testing in clinical samples but the economics of it has been less well studied. This study pragmatically evaluates the feasibility of introducing metagenomic testing in this setting by assessing the relative cost of clinically-relevant strategies employing this investigative tool under various cost and performance scenarios using Singapore as a demonstration case, and assessing the price and performance benchmarks, which would need to be achieved for metagenomic testing to be potentially considered financially viable relative to the current diagnostic standard. This study has some important limitations: we examined only impact of introducing the metagenomic test to the overall diagnostic cost and excluded costs associated with hospitalization and makes assumptions about the performance of the routine diagnostic tests, limiting the cost of metagenomic test, and the lack of further work-up after positive pathogen detection by the metagenomic test. However, these assumptions were necessary to keep the model within reasonable limits. In spite of these, the simplified presentation lends itself to the illustration of the key insights of our paper. In general, we find the use of metagenomic testing as second-line investigation is effectively dominated, and that use of metagenomic testing at first-line would typically require higher rates of detection or lower cost than currently available in order to be justifiable purely as a cost-saving measure. We conclude that current conditions do not warrant a widespread rush to deploy metagenomic testing to resolve any and all uncertainty, but rather as a front-line technology that should be used in specific contexts, as a supplement to rather than a replacement for careful clinical judgement
Superconductivity in carbon nanotube ropes
We investigate the conditions in which superconductivity may develop in ropes
of carbon nanotubes. It is shown that the interaction among a large number of
metallic nanotubes favors the appearance of a metallic phase in the ropes,
intermediate between respective phases with spin-density-wave and
superconducting correlations. These arise in samples with about 100 metallic
nanotubes or more, where the long-range Coulomb interaction is very effectively
reduced and it may be overcome by the attractive interaction from the exchange
of optical phonons within each nanotube. We estimate that the probability for
the tunneling of Cooper pairs between neighboring nanotubes is much higher than
that for single electrons in a disordered rope. The effect of pair hopping is
therefore what establishes the intertube coherence, and the tunneling amplitude
of the Cooper pairs dictates the scale of the transition to the superconducting
state.Comment: 12 page
Unconventional MBE Strategies from Computer Simulations for Optimized Growth Conditions
We investigate the influence of step edge diffusion (SED) and desorption on
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) using kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations of the
solid-on-solid (SOS) model. Based on these investigations we propose two
strategies to optimize MBE growth. The strategies are applicable in different
growth regimes: During layer-by-layer growth one can exploit the presence of
desorption in order to achieve smooth surfaces. By additional short high flux
pulses of particles one can increase the growth rate and assist layer-by-layer
growth. If, however, mounds are formed (non-layer-by-layer growth) the SED can
be used to control size and shape of the three-dimensional structures. By
controlled reduction of the flux with time we achieve a fast coarsening
together with smooth step edges.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Avalanche Dynamics in Evolution, Growth, and Depinning Models
The dynamics of complex systems in nature often occurs in terms of
punctuations, or avalanches, rather than following a smooth, gradual path. A
comprehensive theory of avalanche dynamics in models of growth, interface
depinning, and evolution is presented. Specifically, we include the Bak-Sneppen
evolution model, the Sneppen interface depinning model, the Zaitsev flux creep
model, invasion percolation, and several other depinning models into a unified
treatment encompassing a large class of far from equilibrium processes. The
formation of fractal structures, the appearance of noise, diffusion with
anomalous Hurst exponents, Levy flights, and punctuated equilibria can all be
related to the same underlying avalanche dynamics. This dynamics can be
represented as a fractal in spatial plus one temporal dimension. We develop
a scaling theory that relates many of the critical exponents in this broad
category of extremal models, representing different universality classes, to
two basic exponents characterizing the fractal attractor. The exact equations
and the derived set of scaling relations are consistent with numerical
simulations of the above mentioned models.Comment: 27 pages in revtex, no figures included. Figures or hard copy of the
manuscript supplied on reques
Nuclear transparency from quasielastic A(e,e'p) reactions uo to Q^2=8.1 (GeV/c)^2
The quasielastic (e,ep) reaction was studied on targets of
deuterium, carbon, and iron up to a value of momentum transfer of 8.1
(GeV/c). A nuclear transparency was determined by comparing the data to
calculations in the Plane-Wave Impulse Approximation. The dependence of the
nuclear transparency on and the mass number was investigated in a
search for the onset of the Color Transparency phenomenon. We find no evidence
for the onset of Color Transparency within our range of . A fit to the
world's nuclear transparency data reflects the energy dependence of the free
proton-nucleon cross section.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Vector meson production and nucleon resonance analysis in a coupled-channel approach for energies m_N < sqrt(s) < 2 GeV I: pion-induced results and hadronic parameters
We present a nucleon resonance analysis by simultaneously considering all
pion- and photon-induced experimental data on the final states gamma N, pi N, 2
pi N, eta N, K Lambda, K Sigma, and omega N for energies from the nucleon mass
up to sqrt(s) = 2 GeV. In this analysis we find strong evidence for the
resonances P_{31}(1750), P_{13}(1900), P_{33}(1920), and D_{13}(1950). The
omega N production mechanism is dominated by large P_{11}(1710) and
P_{13}(1900) contributions. In this first part, we present the results of the
pion-induced reactions and the extracted resonance and background properties
with emphasis on the difference between global and purely hadronic fits.Comment: 54 pages, 26 figures, discussion extended, typos corrected,
references updated, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Small-scale solar magnetic fields
As we resolve ever smaller structures in the solar atmosphere, it has become
clear that magnetism is an important component of those small structures.
Small-scale magnetism holds the key to many poorly understood facets of solar
magnetism on all scales, such as the existence of a local dynamo, chromospheric
heating, and flux emergence, to name a few. Here, we review our knowledge of
small-scale photospheric fields, with particular emphasis on quiet-sun field,
and discuss the implications of several results obtained recently using new
instruments, as well as future prospects in this field of research.Comment: 43 pages, 18 figure
Random walks and polymers in the presence of quenched disorder
After a general introduction to the field, we describe some recent results
concerning disorder effects on both `random walk models', where the random walk
is a dynamical process generated by local transition rules, and on `polymer
models', where each random walk trajectory representing the configuration of a
polymer chain is associated to a global Boltzmann weight. For random walk
models, we explain, on the specific examples of the Sinai model and of the trap
model, how disorder induces anomalous diffusion, aging behaviours and Golosov
localization, and how these properties can be understood via a strong disorder
renormalization approach. For polymer models, we discuss the critical
properties of various delocalization transitions involving random polymers. We
first summarize some recent progresses in the general theory of random critical
points : thermodynamic observables are not self-averaging at criticality
whenever disorder is relevant, and this lack of self-averaging is directly
related to the probability distribution of pseudo-critical temperatures
over the ensemble of samples of size . We describe the
results of this analysis for the bidimensional wetting and for the
Poland-Scheraga model of DNA denaturation.Comment: 17 pages, Conference Proceedings "Mathematics and Physics", I.H.E.S.,
France, November 200
To wet or not to wet: that is the question
Wetting transitions have been predicted and observed to occur for various
combinations of fluids and surfaces. This paper describes the origin of such
transitions, for liquid films on solid surfaces, in terms of the gas-surface
interaction potentials V(r), which depend on the specific adsorption system.
The transitions of light inert gases and H2 molecules on alkali metal surfaces
have been explored extensively and are relatively well understood in terms of
the least attractive adsorption interactions in nature. Much less thoroughly
investigated are wetting transitions of Hg, water, heavy inert gases and other
molecular films. The basic idea is that nonwetting occurs, for energetic
reasons, if the adsorption potential's well-depth D is smaller than, or
comparable to, the well-depth of the adsorbate-adsorbate mutual interaction. At
the wetting temperature, Tw, the transition to wetting occurs, for entropic
reasons, when the liquid's surface tension is sufficiently small that the free
energy cost in forming a thick film is sufficiently compensated by the fluid-
surface interaction energy. Guidelines useful for exploring wetting transitions
of other systems are analyzed, in terms of generic criteria involving the
"simple model", which yields results in terms of gas-surface interaction
parameters and thermodynamic properties of the bulk adsorbate.Comment: Article accepted for publication in J. Low Temp. Phy
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