Isospin breaking corrections to low-energy pi-K scattering

We evaluate the matrix elements for the processes pi^0 K^0 -> pi^0 K^0 and pi^- K^+ -> pi^0 K^0 in the presence of isospin breaking terms at leading and next-to-leading order. As a direct application the releveant combination of the S-wave scattering lengths involved in the pion-kaon atom lifetime is determined. We discuss the sensitivity of the results with respect to the input parameters.Comment: 33 pages, plain latex, 2 figure

The Expression of a Xylanase Targeted to ER-Protein Bodies Provides a Simple Strategy to Produce Active Insoluble Enzyme Polymers in Tobacco Plants

Background Xylanases deserve particular attention due to their potential application in the feed, pulp bleaching and paper industries. We have developed here an efficient system for the production of an active xylanase in tobacco plants fused to a proline-rich domain (Zera) of the maize storage protein γ-zein. Zera is a self-assembling domain able to form protein aggregates in vivo packed in newly formed endoplasmic reticulum-derived organelles known as protein bodies (PBs). Methodology/Principal Findings Tobacco leaves were transiently transformed with a binary vector containing the Zera-xylanase coding region, which was optimized for plant expression, under the control of the 35S CaMV promoter. The fusion protein was efficiently expressed and stored in dense PBs, resulting in yields of up to 9% of total protein. Zera-xylanase was post-translationally modified with high-mannose-type glycans. Xylanase fused to Zera was biologically active not only when solubilized from PBs but also in its insoluble form. The resistance of insoluble Zera-xylanase to trypsin digestion demonstrated that the correct folding of xylanase in PBs was not impaired by Zera oligomerization. The activity of insoluble Zera-xylanase was enhanced when substrate accessibility was facilitated by physical treatments such as ultrasound. Moreover, we found that the thermostability of the enzyme was improved when Zera was fused to the C-terminus of xylanase. Conclusion/Significance In the present work we have successfully produced an active insoluble aggregate of xylanase fused to Zera in plants. Zera-xylanase chimeric protein accumulates within ER-derived protein bodies as active aggregates that can easily be recovered by a simple density-based downstream process. The production of insoluble active Zera-xylanase protein in tobacco outlines the potential of Zera as a fusion partner for producing enzymes of biotechnological relevance. Zera-PBs could thus become efficient and low-cost bioreactors for industrial purposes.This work was mainly supported by ERA Biotech (www.erabiotech.com). Additional support was supplied by grant SGR 2009/703 funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (www10.gencat.net) and grants CDS2007/00036 of Consolider Ingenio program and TRA 2009/0124 of TRACE program funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación (MICINN, www.micinn.es). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewe

Kinetic Pathway Analysis of Aggregation of Therapeutic Proteins

Protein aggregation represents probably the most common and troubling manifestation of protein instability. [...

Image fusion scheme for differential phase contrast mammography

Latest progresses in breast imaging using differential phase contrast technique pose the question how to fuse multiple information (yielded by the absorption, differential phase, and scattering signals) into a single, but more informative image for clinical diagnosis and evaluation. In this work, we propose an image fusion scheme based on the multiple-resolution (MR) framework. The three signals are first transformed into multiple bands presenting information at different frequency and then a two-step processing follows: section 3.2 an intra-band processing enhances the local signal-to-noise ratio using a novel noise estimation method and context modeling; section 3.3 an inter-band processing weights each band by considering their characteristics and contributions, as well as suppressing the global noise level. The fused image, which looks similar to conventional mammogram but with significantly enhanced detail features, is then reconstructed by inverse transform. This fused image is compatible with clinical settings and enables the radiologists to use their years of diagnosis experiences in mammography

Photon-Counting Spectral Phase-Contrast Mammography

Phase-contrast imaging is an emerging technology that may increase the signal-difference-to-noise ratio in medical imaging. One of the most promising phase-contrast techniques is Talbot interferometry, which, combined with energy-sensitive photon-counting detectors, enables spectral differential phase-contrast mammography. We have evaluated a realistic system based on this technique by cascaded-systems analysis and with a task-dependent ideal-observer detectability index as a figure-of-merit. Beam-propagation simulations were used for validation and illustration of the analytical framework. Differential phase contrast improved detectability compared to absorption contrast, in particular for fine tumor structures. This result was supported by images of human mastectomy samples that were acquired with a conventional detector. The optimal incident energy was higher in differential phase contrast than in absorption contrast when disregarding the setup design energy. Further, optimal weighting of the transmitted spectrum was found to have a weaker energy dependence than for absorption contrast. Taking the design energy into account yielded a superimposed maximum on both detectability as a function of incident energy, and on optimal weighting. Spectral material decomposition was not facilitated by phase contrast, but phase information may be used instead of spectral information.QC 20120731</p

Measurement of the linear polarization of channeling radiation in silicon and diamond

Utilizing 90 Compton scattering the linear polarization of channeling radiation produced at the superconducting accelerator S-DALINAC with 62 MeV electrons in silicon and diamond has been measured in the energy range between 50 and 400 keV. Planar channeling radiation due to transitions involving transversal bound as well as unbound states is completely linearly polarized perpendicular to the channeling plane. Axial channeling radiation does not show linear polarization. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RR 2916(95-04) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman