2,221 research outputs found
3D models of lamprey corticoid receptor complexed with 11-deoxycortisol and deoxycorticosterone
The serum of Atlantic sea lamprey, a basal vertebrate, contains two corticosteroids, 11-deoxycortisol and deoxycorticosterone. Only 11-deoxycortisol has high affinity [Kd~3 nM] for the corticoid receptor [CR] in lamprey gill cytosol. To investigate the binding of 11-deoxycortisol to the CR, we constructed 3D models of lamprey CR complexed with 11-deoxycortisol and deoxycorticosterone. These 3D models reveal that Leu-220 and Met-299 in lamprey CR have contacts with the 17[alpha]-hydroxyl on 11-deoxycortisol. Lamprey CR is the ancestor of the mineralocorticoid receptor [MR] and glucocorticoid receptor [GR]. Unlike human MR and human GR, the 3D model of lamprey CR finds a van der Waals contact between Cys-227 in helix 3 and Met-264 in helix 5. Mutant human MR and GR containing a van der Waals contact between helix 3 and helix 5 display enhanced responses to progesterone and glucocorticoids, respectively. We propose that this interaction was present in the CR and lost during the evolution of the MR and GR, leading to changes in their response to progesterone and corticosteroids, respectively
Prevalence, clinical and laboratory characteristics of kidney disease in antiretroviral naĂŻve HIV infected patients in South-South Nigeria
Background: Since the emergence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) about three decades ago, several renal disorders have been reported as common complications of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. These renal disorders have resulted from diverse aetiologies. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, clinical and laboratory characteristics of antiretroviral naïve HIV-infected patients with impaired kidney disorder in South-South Nigeria.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of antiretroviral naïve HIV-infected patients presenting at the University of BeninTeaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City in South-South Nigeria for six months. The patients biodata, clinical,haematological and biochemical parameters were assessed. Their glomerular filtration rate using the six equation ofMDRD and protein excretion was calculated from protein-creatinine ratio. Data was analysed using statistical software program SPSS version 15.0.Results: Three hundred and eighty-three (383) patients with a mean age of 35.39 ± 8.78 years with a male/female ratio of 1:1 were studied. Of these 53.3% had evidence of kidney disorder. The main clinical features in patients with kidney disorder were evidence of fluid retention, urinary symptoms, pallor and encephalopathy. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 115.33 ± 17.17 and 72.33 ± 14.31 mmHg respectively. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 52.5 ml/minute/1.73mm2. Patients with kidney disorder had worse proteinuria (p = 0.001), lower mean CD4 cell count, and packed cell volume (p = 0.019 and 0.001 respectively).Conclusion: Kidney disorder is a common complication in HIV-infected patients and they have clinical and laboratory anomalies. Screening of HIV/AIDS patients at point of diagnosis will facilitate early diagnosis of kidney disorders in them
Unethical ProâOrganizational Behavior and Employee Performance in CĂŽte dâIvoire: The Effects of LeaderâMember Exchange and Affective Organizational Commitment
Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) that is intended to promote the functioning of the organization but violates ethical norms impacts employeesâ in-role performance negatively due to the potential reputational and economic damages that such behavior may cause. Based on social exchange theory, we suggest that leader-member exchange (LMX) and affective organizational commitment moderate the UPB-performance relationship. We test our hypotheses with dyadic data collected in two waves from 218 employees and their 22 direct supervisors working in a federal government ministry in CĂŽte dâIvoire. Our findings support our hypothesis about the negative effects of UPB on employee performance and show that employees engaging in UPB hurt their own performance appraisal. We also find evidence for the moderating effects of LMX and affective organizational commitment. Our study contributes to a greater understanding of the effects of UPB in public organizations
Holographic dilepton production in a thermalizing plasma
We determine the out-of-equilibrium production rate of dileptons at rest in
strongly coupled N=4 Super Yang-Mills plasma using the AdS/CFT correspondence.
Thermalization is achieved via the gravitational collapse of a thin shell of
matter in AdS_5 space and the subsequent formation of a black hole, which we
describe in a quasistatic approximation. Prior to thermalization, the dilepton
spectral function is observed to oscillate as a function of frequency, but the
amplitude of the oscillations decreases when thermal equilibrium is approached.
At the same time, we follow the flow of the quasinormal spectrum of the
corresponding U(1) vector field towards its equilibrium limit.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. v2: Version accepted for publication in JHEP;
minor modifications, added reference
Stability Constraints on Classical de Sitter Vacua
We present further no-go theorems for classical de Sitter vacua in Type II
string theory, i.e., de Sitter constructions that do not invoke
non-perturbative effects or explicit supersymmetry breaking localized sources.
By analyzing the stability of the 4D potential arising from compactification on
manfiolds with curvature, fluxes, and orientifold planes, we found that
additional ingredients, beyond the minimal ones presented so far, are necessary
to avoid the presence of unstable modes. We enumerate the minimal setups for
(meta)stable de Sitter vacua to arise in this context.Comment: 18 pages; v2: argument improved, references adde
Holographic Magnetic Star
A warm fermionic AdS star under a homogeneous magnetic field is explored. We
obtain the relativistic Landau levels by using Dirac equation and use the
Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equation to study the physical profiles of the
star. Bulk properties such as sound speed, adiabatic index, and entropy density
within the star are calculated analytically and numerically. Bulk temperature
increases the mass limit of the AdS star but external magnetic field has the
opposite effect. The results are partially interpreted in terms of the
pre-thermalization process of the gauge matter at the AdS boundary after the
mass injection. The entropy density is found to demonstrate similar temperature
dependence as the magnetic black brane in the AdS in certain limits regardless
of the different nature of the bulk and Hawking temperatures. Total entropy of
the AdS star is also found to be an increasing function of the bulk temperature
and a decreasing function of the magnetic field, similar behaviour to the mass
limit. Since both total entropy and mass limit are global quantities, they
could provide some hints to the value of entropy and energy of the dual gauge
matter before and during the thermalization.Comment: 39 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, comments and references added, to
appear in JHE
Vacuum Ambiguity in de Sitter Space at Strong Coupling
It is well known that in the weak coupling regime, quantum field theories in
de Sitter space do not have a unique vacuum, but a class of vacua parametrized
by a complex parameter , i.e., the so-called -vacua. In this
article, using gauge/gravity duality, we calculate the symmetric two-point
function of strongly coupled supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on
. We find that there is a class of de Sitter invariant vacua,
parametrized by a set of complex parameters .Comment: 17 pages in JHEP style, references adde
Degenerate Stars and Gravitational Collapse in AdS/CFT
We construct composite CFT operators from a large number of fermionic primary
fields corresponding to states that are holographically dual to a zero
temperature Fermi gas in AdS space. We identify a large N regime in which the
fermions behave as free particles. In the hydrodynamic limit the Fermi gas
forms a degenerate star with a radius determined by the Fermi level, and a mass
and angular momentum that exactly matches the boundary calculations. Next we
consider an interacting regime, and calculate the effect of the gravitational
back-reaction on the radius and the mass of the star using the
Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations. Ignoring other interactions, we determine
the "Chandrasekhar limit" beyond which the degenerate star (presumably)
undergoes gravitational collapse towards a black hole. This is interpreted on
the boundary as a high density phase transition from a cold baryonic phase to a
hot deconfined phase.Comment: 75 page
Flux compactification on smooth, compact three-dimensional toric varieties
Three-dimensional smooth, compact toric varieties (SCTV), when viewed as real
six-dimensional manifolds, can admit G-structures rendering them suitable for
internal manifolds in supersymmetric flux compactifications. We develop
techniques which allow us to systematically construct G-structures on SCTV and
read off their torsion classes. We illustrate our methods with explicit
examples, one of which consists of an infinite class of toric CP^1 bundles. We
give a self-contained review of the relevant concepts from toric geometry, in
particular the subject of the classification of SCTV in dimensions less or
equal to 3. Our results open up the possibility for a systematic construction
and study of supersymmetric flux vacua based on SCTV.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures; v2: references, minor typos & improvement
Thermalization from gauge/gravity duality: Evolution of singularities in unequal time correlators
We consider a gauge/gravity dual model of thermalization which consists of a
collapsing thin matter shell in asymptotically Anti-de Sitter space. A central
aspect of our model is to consider a shell moving at finite velocity as
determined by its equation of motion, rather than a quasi-static approximation
as considered previously in the literature. By applying a divergence matching
method, we obtain the evolution of singularities in the retarded unequal time
correlator , which probes different stages of the thermalization. We
find that the number of singularities decreases from a finite number to zero as
the gauge theory thermalizes. This may be interpreted as a sign of decoherence.
Moreover, in a second part of the paper, we show explicitly that the thermal
correlator is characterized by the existence of singularities in the complex
time plane. By studying a quasi-static state, we show the singularities at real
times originate from contributions of normal modes. We also investigate the
possibility of obtaining complex singularities from contributions of
quasi-normal modes.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figure
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