60 research outputs found
Study of the transverse mass spectra of strange particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c
The NA57 experiment has collected high statistics, high purity samples of
\PKzS and \PgL, and hyperons produced in Pb-Pb collisions at 158
GeV/. In this paper we present a study of the transverse mass spectra of
these particles for a sample of events corresponding to the most central 53% of
the inelastic Pb-Pb cross-section. We analyse the transverse mass distributions
in the framework of the blast-wave model for the full sample and, for the first
time at the SPS, as a function of the event centrality.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, submitted to J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phy
Strange particle production in 158 and 40 GeV/ Pb-Pb and p-Be collisions
Results on strange particle production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 and 40
GeV/ beam momentum from the NA57 experiment at CERN SPS are presented.
Particle yields and ratios are compared with those measured at RHIC.
Strangeness enhancements with respect to p-Be reactions at the same beam
momenta have been also measured: results about their dependence on centrality
and collision energy are reported and discussed.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the "Hot Quarks 2004" Conference,
July 18-24 2004, New Mexico, USA, submitted to Journal of Physics G 7 pages,
5 figure
Breast Cancer Stem-Like Cells Are Inhibited by a Non-Toxic Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Agonist
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have increased resistance to cancer chemotherapy. They can be enriched as drug-surviving CSCs (D-CSCs) by growth with chemotherapeutic drugs, and/or by sorting of cells expressing CSC markers such as aldehyde dehydrogenase-1 (ALDH). CSCs form colonies in agar, mammospheres in low-adherence cultures, and tumors following xenotransplantation in Scid mice. We hypothesized that tranilast, a non-toxic orally active drug with anti-cancer activities, would inhibit breast CSCs.We examined breast cancer cell lines or D-CSCs generated by growth of these cells with mitoxantrone. Tranilast inhibited colony formation, mammosphere formation and stem cell marker expression. Mitoxantrone-selected cells were enriched for CSCs expressing stem cell markers ALDH, c-kit, Oct-4, and ABCG2, and efficient at forming mammospheres. Tranilast markedly inhibited mammosphere formation by D-CSCs and dissociated formed mammospheres, at pharmacologically relevant concentrations. It was effective against D-CSCs of both HER-2+ and triple-negative cell lines. Tranilast was also effective in vivo, since it prevented lung metastasis in mice injected i.v. with triple-negative (MDA-MB-231) mitoxantrone-selected cells. The molecular targets of tranilast in cancer have been unknown, but here we demonstrate it is an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonist and this plays a key role. AHR is a transcription factor activated by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other ligands. Tranilast induced translocation of the AHR to the nucleus and stimulated CYP1A1 expression (a marker of AHR activation). It inhibited binding of the AHR to CDK4, which has been linked to cell-cycle arrest. D-CSCs expressed higher levels of the AHR than other cells. Knockdown of the AHR with siRNA, or blockade with an AHR antagonist, entirely abrogated the anti-proliferative and anti-mammosphere activity of tranilast. Thus, the anti-cancer effects of tranilast are AHR dependent.We show that tranilast is an AHR agonist with inhibitory effects on breast CSCs. It is effective against CSCs of triple-negative breast cancer cells selected for anti-cancer drug resistance. These results suggest it might find applications in the treatment of breast cancer
Results on cascade production in lead-lead interactions from the NA57 experiment
The NA57 experiment has been designed to study the production of strange and multi-strange particles in Pb-Pb and p-Be collisions at the CERN SPS. The predecessor experiment WA97 has measured an enhanced abundance of strange particles in Pb-Pb collisions relative to p-A reactions at 160 GeV/c per nucleon beam momentum. NA57 has extended the WA97 measurements to investigate the evolution of the strangeness enhancement pattern as a function of the beam energy and over a wider centrality range. In this paper, we report results on cascade production for about the 60% most central collisions at 160 GeV/c per nucleon
PS1 Alzheimer's disease family with spastic paraplegia: The search for a gene modifier
PS1 mutations are associated with classic Alzheimer's disease (AD); however, some families develop AD and spastic paraplegia (SP) with brain pathology characterized by Aβ cotton wool plaques. The authors report a variant AD family with the E280Q PS1 mutation. The fact that the same PS1 mutation can be found in patients with either variant or classic AD argues in favor of the presence of a genetic modifier. The authors have excluded that this modifier effect originates from coding sequence variations in three SP genes or from a second mutation in the other AD genes.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
PS1 Alzheimer's disease family with spastic paraplegia: the search for a gene modifier
PS1 mutations are associated with classic Alzheimer's disease (AD); however, some families develop AD and spastic paraplegia (SP) with brain pathology characterized by Abeta cotton wool plaques. The authors report a variant AD family with the E280Q PS1 mutation. The fact that the same PS1 mutation can be found in patients with either variant or classic AD argues in favor of the presence of a genetic modifier. The authors have excluded that this modifier effect originates from coding sequence variations in three SP genes or from a second mutation in the other AD genes
Hyperon yields in Pb - Pb collisions from NA57 experiment
ABSTRACT We report results from the experiment NA57 at CERN SPS on hyperon yields at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c and 40 A GeV/c. A, Z and R yields are compared with preliminary results from the STAR. experiment at BNL
Strange baryon production in Pb-Pb interactions at CERN SPS
Recent results on strange baryon and antibaryon production in Pb-Pb collisions at 160 GeV per nucleon from the NA57 experiment are reported. Strangeness enhancements and the transverse mass spectra properties are described
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