353 research outputs found
Bound states in a nonlinear Kronig-Penney model
We study the bound states of a Kronig Penney potential for a nonlinear
one-dimensional Schroedinger equation. This potential consists of a large, but
not necessarily infinite, number of equidistant delta-function wells. We show
that the ground state can be highly degenerate. Under certain conditions
furthermore, even the bound state that would normally be the highest can have
almost the same energy as the ground state. This holds for simple periodic
potentials as well.Comment: TeX file, figures available as postscript files upon reques
Serum markers of deranged myocardial collagen turnover: their relation to malignant ventricular arrhythmias in cardioverter-defibrillator recipients with heart failure
BACKGROUND: Pathologic collagen remodeling has been involved in the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in heart failure. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between malignant ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac collagen turnover indexes, expressing specific types of derangement in collagen physiology, in stable patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).
METHODS: Seventy-four patients with an ICD and heart failure were studied. They had coronary artery disease (n = 42) or dilated cardiomyopathy, New York Heart Association classes I and II, and left ventricular ejection fraction 29% +/- 1%. An ICD had been implanted for secondary (n = 36) or primary prevention of sudden cardiac death. We assessed (1) markers of collagen types I and III synthesis and their ratio: procollagen type I carboxyterminal peptide (PICP), procollagen type III aminoterminal peptide (PIIINP), and PICP/PIIINP; (2) markers of collagen degradation, degradation inhibition, and their ratio: matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP) 1 (TIMP-1), and MMP-9/TIMP-1. Patients were prospectively followed up for 1 year. The number of episodes necessitating appropriate interventions for ventricular tachyarrhythmias (>170 beat/min) was related to the assessed parameters.
RESULTS: Multivariate analysis revealed a significant relation between the number of tachyarrhythmic episodes and MMP-9/TIMP-1 (P = .007), PICP/PIIINP (P = .007), and ejection fraction (P = .04). No other significant relation was observed between arrhythmias and the remaining parameters.
CONCLUSION: In heart failure, biochemical markers indicative of a deranged equilirium in myocardial collagen deposition/degradation and collagen I/III synthesis are related to ventricular arrhythmogenesis. Further studies are needed to investigate their predictive ability
Effects of acute exercise on liver function and blood redox status in heavy drinkers
Excessive alcohol consumption can induce oxidative stress, resulting in the development of several diseases. Exercise has been reported to prevent and/or improve a number of health issues through several mechanisms, including an improvement in redox status. It has also been previously suggested that exercise can help individuals with alcohol use disorders reduce their alcohol intake; however, research in this field is limited. The aim of the present study was to investigage the effects of acute exercise of moderate intensity on the liver function and blood redox status in heavy drinkers. For this purpose, a total of 17 heavy drinkers [age, 31.6±3.2 years; body mass index (BMI), 27.4±0.8 kg/m2; experimental group (EG)] and 17 controls [age, 33.5±1.3 years; BMI, 26.1±1.4 kg/m2; control group (CG), who did not exceed moderate alcohol consumption], underwent one trial of acute exercise of moderate intensity (50-60% of the heart rate reserve) for 30 min on a cycle ergometer, following an overnight fast, and abstaining from smoking and alcohol consumption. Blood samples were obtained before and immediately after exercise for later determination of the indices of liver function and blood redox status. The subjects in the EG had significantly higher (p<0.05) baseline γ-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) levels compared to the subjects in the CG. Exercise thus resulted in significantly higher γ-GT levels (p<0.005) only in the EG. No significant differences in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) baseline levels were observed between the 2 groups. Following exercise, the AST levels increased significantly (p<0.001) in both groups, whereas the ALT levels increased significantly (p<0.01) only in the EG. The baseline glutathione (GSH) levels were significantly lower (p<0.05) and remained low following exercise in the EG. In addition, we observed a trend for higher (p=0.07) baseline levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), which remained elevated post-exercise in the EG compared to the CG. Significantly increased post-exercise total antioxidant capacity (TAC; p<0.01) and uric acid (UA; p<0.05) levels were noted in the CG, whereas the TAC (p=0.06) and UA (p=0.08) levels increased and approached significance post-exercise in the EG. No significant differences in the baseline levels of total bilirubin and protein carbonyl were observed between the 2 groups, even post-exercise. Thus, the findings of the present study indicate that even though heavy drinkers may be prone to oxidative stress, their exercise-induced antioxidant response is similar to that of individuals who do not drink heavily.Interna
Bose-Einstein condensates in standing waves: The cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation with a periodic potential
We present a new family of stationary solutions to the cubic nonlinear
Schroedinger equation with a Jacobian elliptic function potential. In the limit
of a sinusoidal potential our solutions model a dilute gas Bose-Einstein
condensate trapped in a standing light wave. Provided the ratio of the height
of the variations of the condensate to its DC offset is small enough, both
trivial phase and nontrivial phase solutions are shown to be stable. Numerical
simulations suggest such stationary states are experimentally observable.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Stability of Repulsive Bose-Einstein Condensates in a Periodic Potential
The cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with repulsive nonlinearity and an
elliptic function potential models a quasi-one-dimensional repulsive dilute gas
Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a standing light wave. New families of
stationary solutions are presented. Some of these solutions have neither an
analog in the linear Schr\"odinger equation nor in the integrable nonlinear
Schr\"odinger equation. Their stability is examined using analytic and
numerical methods. All trivial-phase stable solutions are deformations of the
ground state of the linear Schr\"odinger equation. Our results show that a
large number of condensed atoms is sufficient to form a stable, periodic
condensate. Physically, this implies stability of states near the Thomas-Fermi
limit.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figure
Enhanced erythrocyte antioxidant status following an 8-week aerobic exercise training program in heavy drinkers
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. Alcohol-induced oxidative stress is involved in the development and progression of various pathological conditions and diseases. On the other hand, exercise training has been shown to improve redox status, thus attenuating oxidative stress-associated disease processes. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of an exercise training program that has been previously reported to decrease alcohol consumption on blood redox status in heavy drinkers. In a non-randomized within-subject design, 11 sedentary, heavily drinking men (age: 30.3 ± 3.5 years; BMI: 28.4 ± 0.86 kg/m2) participated first in a control condition for 4 weeks, and then in an intervention where they completed an 8-week supervised aerobic training program of moderate intensity (50–60% of the heart rate reserve). Blood samples were collected in the control condition (pre-, post-control) as well as before, during (week 4 of the training program), and after intervention (week 8 of the training program). Samples were analyzed for total antioxidant capacity (TAC), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), protein carbonyls (PC), uric acid (UA), bilirubin, reduced glutathione (GSH), and catalase activity. No significant change in indices of redox status in the pre- and post-control was observed. Catalase activity increased (p < 0.05) after 8 weeks of intervention compared to week 4. GSH increased (p < 0.05) after 8 weeks of intervention compared to the control condition and to week 4 of intervention. TAC, UA, bilirubin, TBARS, and PC did not significantly change at any time point. Moreover, concentrations of GSH, TBARS, and catalase activity negatively correlated with alcohol consumption. In conclusion, an 8-week aerobic training program enhanced erythrocyte antioxidant status in heavy drinkers, indicating that aerobic training may attenuate pathological processes caused by alcohol-induced oxidative stress.This study was co-financed by the European Union [European Social Fund (ESF)] and Greek national funds through the Operational Program ‘Education and Lifelong Learning’ of the National Strategic Reference Framework-Research Funding Program: THALES. Investing in knowledge society through the ESF.Published versio
Wang-Landau study of the 3D Ising model with bond disorder
We implement a two-stage approach of the Wang-Landau algorithm to investigate
the critical properties of the 3D Ising model with quenched bond randomness. In
particular, we consider the case where disorder couples to the nearest-neighbor
ferromagnetic interaction, in terms of a bimodal distribution of strong versus
weak bonds. Our simulations are carried out for large ensembles of disorder
realizations and lattices with linear sizes in the range . We apply
well-established finite-size scaling techniques and concepts from the scaling
theory of disordered systems to describe the nature of the phase transition of
the disordered model, departing gradually from the fixed point of the pure
system. Our analysis (based on the determination of the critical exponents)
shows that the 3D random-bond Ising model belongs to the same universality
class with the site- and bond-dilution models, providing a single universality
class for the 3D Ising model with these three types of quenched uncorrelated
disorder.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.
Interlaced linear-nonlinear optical waveguide arrays
The system of coupled discrete equations describing a two-component
superlattice with interlaced linear and nonlinear constituents is revisited as
a basis for investigating binary waveguide arrays, such as ribbed AlGaAs
structures, among others. Compared to the single nonlinear lattice, the
interlaced system exhibits an extra band-gap controlled by the, suitably chosen
by design, relative detuning. In more general physics settings, this system
represents a discretization scheme for the single-equation-based continuous
models in media with transversely modulated linear and nonlinear properties.
Continuous wave solutions and the associated modulational instability are fully
analytically investigated and numerically tested for focusing and defocusing
nonlinearity. The propagation dynamics and the stability of periodic modes are
also analytically investigated for the case of zero Bloch momentum. In the
band-gaps a variety of stable discrete solitary modes, dipole or otherwise,
in-phase or of staggered type are found and discussed
The nonlinear Schroedinger equation for the delta-comb potential: quasi-classical chaos and bifurcations of periodic stationary solutions
The nonlinear Schroedinger equation is studied for a periodic sequence of
delta-potentials (a delta-comb) or narrow Gaussian potentials. For the
delta-comb the time-independent nonlinear Schroedinger equation can be solved
analytically in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions and thus provides useful
insight into the features of nonlinear stationary states of periodic
potentials. Phenomena well-known from classical chaos are found, such as a
bifurcation of periodic stationary states and a transition to spatial chaos.
The relation of new features of nonlinear Bloch bands, such as looped and
period doubled bands, are analyzed in detail. An analytic expression for the
critical nonlinearity for the emergence of looped bands is derived. The results
for the delta-comb are generalized to a more realistic potential consisting of
a periodic sequence of narrow Gaussian peaks and the dynamical stability of
periodic solutions in a Gaussian comb is discussed.Comment: Enhanced and revised version, to appear in J. Nonlin. Math. Phy
Superspreading: Mechanisms and Molecular Design
The
intriguing ability of certain surfactant molecules to drive
the superspreading of liquids to complete wetting on hydrophobic substrates
is central to numerous applications that range from coating flow technology
to enhanced oil recovery. Despite significant experimental efforts,
the precise mechanisms underlying superspreading remain unknown to
date. Here, we isolate these mechanisms by analyzing coarse-grained
molecular dynamics simulations of surfactant molecules of varying
molecular architecture and substrate affinity. We observe that for
superspreading to occur, two key conditions must be simultaneously
satisfied: the adsorption of surfactants from the liquid–vapor
surface onto the three-phase contact line augmented by local bilayer
formation. Crucially, this must be coordinated with the rapid replenishment
of liquid–vapor and solid–liquid interfaces with surfactants
from the interior of the droplet. This article also highlights and
explores the differences between superspreading and conventional surfactants,
paving the way for the design of molecular architectures tailored
specifically for applications that rely on the control of wetting
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