723 research outputs found
Choosing a physician depends on how you want to feel: The role of ideal affect in health-related decision making
When given a choice, how do people decide which physician to select? Although significant research has demonstrated that how people actually feel (their “actual affect”) influences their health care preferences, how people ideally want to feel (their “ideal affect”) may play an even greater role. Specifically, we predicted that people trust physicians whose affective characteristics match their ideal affect, which leads people to prefer those physicians more. Consistent with this prediction, the more participants wanted to feel high arousal positive states on average ([ideal HAP]; e.g., excited), the more likely they were to select a HAP-focused physician. Similarly, the more people wanted to feel low arousal positive states on average ([ideal LAP]; e.g., calm), the more likely they were to select a LAP-focused physician. Also as predicted, these links were mediated by perceived physician trustworthiness. Notably, while participants’ ideal affect predicted physician preference, actual affect (how much people actually felt HAP and LAP on average) did not. These findings suggest that people base even serious decisions on how they want to feel and highlight the importance of considering ideal affect in models of decision making, person perception, and patient physician communication
Endothelial miR-30c suppresses tumor growth via inhibition of TGF-β–induced Serpine1
In tumors, extravascular fibrin forms provisional scaffolds for endothelial cell (EC) growth and motility during angiogenesis. We report that fibrin-mediated angiogenesis was inhibited and tumor growth delayed following postnatal deletion of Tgfbr2 in the endothelium of Cdh5-CreERT2 Tgfbr2fl/fl mice (Tgfbr2iECKOmice). ECs from Tgfbr2iECKO mice failed to upregulate the fibrinolysis inhibitor plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (Serpine1, also known as PAI-1), due in part to uncoupled TGF-β–mediated suppression of miR-30c. Bypassing TGF-β signaling with vascular tropic nanoparticles that deliver miR-30c antagomiRs promoted PAI-1–dependent tumor growth and increased fibrin abundance, whereas miR-30c mimics inhibited tumor growth and promoted vascular-directed fibrinolysis in vivo. Using single-cell RNA-Seq and a NanoString miRNA array, we also found that subtypes of ECs in tumors showed spectrums of Serpine1 and miR-30c expression levels, suggesting functional diversity in ECs at the level of individual cells; indeed, fresh EC isolates from lung and mammary tumor models had differential abilities to degrade fibrin and launch new vessel sprouts, a finding that was linked to their inverse expression patterns of miR-30c and Serpine1 (i.e., miR-30chi Serpine1lo ECs were poorly angiogenic and miR-30clo Serpine1hi ECs were highly angiogenic). Thus, by balancing Serpine1 expression in ECs downstream of TGF-β, miR-30c functions as a tumor suppressor in the tumor microenvironment through its ability to promote fibrin degradation and inhibit blood vessel formation
Neutralino Decays at the CERN LHC
We study the distribution of lepton pairs from the second lightest neutralino
decay \tchi^0_2\to\tchi^0_1 l^+l^-. This decay mode is important to measure the
mass difference between \tchi^0_2 and the lightest neutralino \tchi^0_1, which
helps to determine the parameters of the minimal supersymmetric standard model
at the CERN LHC. We found that the decay distribution strongly depends on the
values of underlying MSSM parameters. For some extreme cases, the amplitude
near the end point of the lepton invariant mass distribution can be suppressed
so strongly that one needs the information of the whole m_{ll} distribution to
extract m_{\tchi^0_2}-m_{\tchi^0_1}. On the other hand, if systematic errors on
the acceptance can be controlled, this distribution can be used to constrain
slepton masses and the Z\tchi^0_2\tchi^0_1 coupling. Measurements of the
velocity distribution of \tchi^0_2 from samples near the end point of the
m_{ll} distribution, and of the asymmetry of the p_T of leptons, would be
useful to reduce the systematic errors.Comment: 23 pages, latex2e, 9 figures, minor change, accepted to PR
Computation of protein geometry and its applications: Packing and function prediction
This chapter discusses geometric models of biomolecules and geometric
constructs, including the union of ball model, the weigthed Voronoi diagram,
the weighted Delaunay triangulation, and the alpha shapes. These geometric
constructs enable fast and analytical computaton of shapes of biomoleculres
(including features such as voids and pockets) and metric properties (such as
area and volume). The algorithms of Delaunay triangulation, computation of
voids and pockets, as well volume/area computation are also described. In
addition, applications in packing analysis of protein structures and protein
function prediction are also discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figure
Theoretical prediction of CNT-CF/PP composite tensile properties using various numerical modeling methods
Development of effective models to predict tensile properties of ‘carbon nanotube coated carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene (CNT-CF/PP)’ composites is briefly discussed. The composite taken as the reference is based on the highest growth mechanism of CNTs over carbon fibres. Halpin-Tsai and Combined Voigt-Reuss model has been implemented. Young's modulus for CNT-CF/PP composites has been found 4.5368 GPa and the tensile strength has been estimated 45.367 MPa considering the optimum operating condition of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. Stiffness of the composite is represented through the stress-strain plots; stiffness is proportional to the steepness of the slope. There are slight deviations of results that have been found theoretically over the experimental issues
Comportamento de dois genótipos de milho cultivados em sistema de aléias preestabelecido com diferentes leguminosas arbóreas.
O cultivo em aléias tem sido recomendado como alternativa para a substituição da agricultura de corte e queima, no trópico úmido, devido à grande capacidade de produção de matéria orgânica e de reciclagem de nutrientes, mas algumas dúvidas quanto à sustentabilidade e à competição interespecífica são persistentes. O objetivo no trabalho foi avaliar a viabilidade da cultura do milho em um sistema de cultivo em aléias de leguminosas arbóreas. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos casualisados, com quatro repetições dos tratamentos: aléias de sombreiro (Clitoria fairchildiana), ingá (Inga edulis), guandu (Cajanus cajan) e leucena (Leucaena leucocephala) e uma testemunha sem aléias. Foram avaliadas a remobilização de carbono e nitrogênio, massa de grãos, massa de mil grãos e competição interespecífica entre as cultivares de milho e as leguminosas. A produção de grãos foi maior nas parcelas com C. fairchildiana e L. leucocephala. A produtividade do híbrido de milho foi superior à da variedade em todos os tratamentos. A produtividade e a massa de mil grãos de milho não são negativamente afetadas pela distância da linha da leguminosa arbórea. Esse estudo conclui que o sistema de aléias com leguminosas arbóreas é uma alternativa importante ao manejo sustentável dos agroecossistemas no tropico úmido. Além disso, nessa região a produtividade em grãos na cultura do milho é favorecida no sistema de aléias preeestabelecidas com as leguminosas arbóreas sombreiro, ingá e leucena e pela utilização de genótipos eficientes no aproveitamento do nitrogênio, cujo sincronismo entre a liberação e a absorção do N aplicado por meio das leguminosas deve ser aprimorado
Charged Higgs Boson Search at the Tevatron Upgrade Using Tau Polarization
We explore the prospect of charged Higgs boson search in top quark decay at
the Tevatron collider upgrade, taking advantage of the opposite states of
polarization resulting from the and decays. Methods of
distinguishing the two contributions in the inclusive 1-prong hadronic decay
channel of are suggested. The resulting signature and discovery limit of
are presented for the Tevatron upgrade as well as the Tevatron
and the Ditevatron options.Comment: 19 pages LaTeX + 6 figures (available on request
Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: The Search Continues
Gravitationally bound supermassive black hole binaries (SBHBs) are thought to
be a natural product of galactic mergers and growth of the large scale
structure in the universe. They however remain observationally elusive, thus
raising a question about characteristic observational signatures associated
with these systems. In this conference proceeding I discuss current theoretical
understanding and latest advances and prospects in observational searches for
SBHBs.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of 2014 Sant Cugat
Forum on Astrophysics. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, ed.
C.Sopuerta (Berlin: Springer-Verlag
Kaon Production and Kaon to Pion Ratio in Au+Au Collisions at \snn=130 GeV
Mid-rapidity transverse mass spectra and multiplicity densities of charged
and neutral kaons are reported for Au+Au collisions at \snn=130 GeV at RHIC.
The spectra are exponential in transverse mass, with an inverse slope of about
280 MeV in central collisions. The multiplicity densities for these particles
scale with the negative hadron pseudo-rapidity density. The charged kaon to
pion ratios are and
for the most central collisions. The ratio is lower than the same
ratio observed at the SPS while the is higher than the SPS result.
Both ratios are enhanced by about 50% relative to p+p and +p
collision data at similar energies.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Production of Pairs Accompanied by Nuclear Dissociation in Ultra-Peripheral Heavy Ion Collision
We present the first data on pair production accompanied by nuclear
breakup in ultra-peripheral gold-gold collisions at a center of mass energy of
200 GeV per nucleon pair. The nuclear breakup requirement selects events at
small impact parameters, where higher-order corrections to the pair production
cross section should be enhanced. We compare the pair kinematic distributions
with two calculations: one based on the equivalent photon approximation, and
the other using lowest-order quantum electrodynamics (QED); the latter includes
the photon virtuality. The cross section, pair mass, rapidity and angular
distributions are in good agreement with both calculations. The pair transverse
momentum, , spectrum agrees with the QED calculation, but not with the
equivalent photon approach. We set limits on higher-order contributions to the
cross section. The and spectra are similar, with no evidence
for interference effects due to higher-order diagrams.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figures Slightly modified version that will appear in
Phys. Rev.
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