94 research outputs found
Diagnostic and treatment strategy in complicated colon diverticulitis
Acute diverticulitis is a disease with a wide clinical spectrum, ranging from a phlegmon (stage I a) to localized abscesses (stages I b and II), to free perforation with purulent (stage III) or feculent (stage IV) peritonitis. The planned therapy of colonic diverticulitis is very difficult because preoperative diagnosis is uncommon and the method of treatment is usually decided at the time of laparotomy. While there is a little debate about the best treatment for mild episodes, uncertainty persists about the optimal management for severe episodes and complicated diverticulitis
Matching three-point functions of BMN operators at weak and strong coupling
The agreement between string theory and field theory is demonstrated in the
leading order by providing the first calculation of the correlator of three
two-impurity BMN states with all non-zero momenta. The calculation is performed
in two completely independent ways: in field theory by using the large-
perturbative expansion, up to the terms subleading in finite-size, and in
string theory by using the Dobashi-Yoneya 3-string vertex in the leading order
of the Penrose expansion. The two results come out to be completely identical.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur
Holographic three-point functions of giant gravitons
Working within the AdS/CFT correspondence we calculate the three-point
function of two giant gravitons and one pointlike graviton using methods of
semiclassical string theory and considering both the case where the giant
gravitons wrap an S^3 in S^5 and the case where the giant gravitons wrap an S^3
in AdS_5. We likewise calculate the correlation function in N=4 SYM using two
Schur polynomials and a single trace chiral primary. We find that the gauge and
string theory results have structural similarities but do not match perfectly,
and interpret this in terms of the Schur polynomials' inability to interpolate
between dual giant and pointlike gravitons.Comment: 21 page
On the pulsating strings in AdS_5 x T^{1,1}
We study the class of pulsating strings in AdS_5 x T^{1,1}. Using a
generalized ansatz for pulsating string configurations we find new solutions of
this class. Further we semiclassically quantize the theory and obtain the first
correction to the energy. The latter, due to AdS/CFT correspondence, is
supposed to give the anomalous dimensions of operators in the dual N=1
superconformal gauge field theory.Comment: 12 pages, improvements made, references adde
Wave functions and correlation functions for GKP strings from integrability
We develop a general method of computing the contribution of the vertex
operators to the semi-classical correlation functions of heavy string states,
based on the state-operator correspondence and the integrable structure of the
system. Our method requires only the knowledge of the local behavior of the
saddle point configuration around each vertex insertion point and can be
applied to cases where the precise forms of the vertex operators are not known.
As an important application, we compute the contributions of the vertex
operators to the three-point functions of the large spin limit of the
Gubser-Klebanov-Polyakov (GKP) strings in spacetime, left unevaluated
in our previous work [arXiv:1110.3949] which initiated such a study. Combining
with the finite part of the action already computed previously and with the
newly evaluated divergent part of the action, we obtain finite three-point
functions with the expected dependence of the target space boundary coordinates
on the dilatation charge and the spin.Comment: 80 pages, 7 figures, v2: typos and minor errors corrected, a
reference added, v3: typos and a reference corrected, published versio
Study of cosolvent-induced α-chymotrypsin fibrillogenesis: Does protein surface hydrophobicity trigger early stages of aggregation reaction?
The misfolding of specific proteins is often associated with their assembly into fibrillar aggregates, commonly termed amyloid fibrils. Despite the many efforts expended to characterize amyloid formation in vitro, there is no deep knowledge about the environment (in which aggregation occurs) as well as mechanism of this type of protein aggregation. Alpha-chymotrypsin was recently driven toward amyloid aggregation by the addition of intermediate concentrations of trifluoroethanol. In the present study, approaches such as turbidimetric, thermodynamic, intrinsic fluorescence and quenching studies as well as chemical modification have been successfully used to elucidate the underlying role of hydrophobic interactions (involved in early stages of amyloid formation) in α-chymotrypsin-based experimental system. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
The Contrasting Effect of Macromolecular Crowding on Amyloid Fibril Formation
Amyloid fibrils associated with neurodegenerative diseases can be considered biologically relevant failures of cellular quality control mechanisms. It is known that in vivo human Tau protein, human prion protein, and human copper, zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) have the tendency to form fibril deposits in a variety of tissues and they are associated with different neurodegenerative diseases, while rabbit prion protein and hen egg white lysozyme do not readily form fibrils and are unlikely to cause neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we have investigated the contrasting effect of macromolecular crowding on fibril formation of different proteins.As revealed by assays based on thioflavin T binding and turbidity, human Tau fragments, when phosphorylated by glycogen synthase kinase-3β, do not form filaments in the absence of a crowding agent but do form fibrils in the presence of a crowding agent, and the presence of a strong crowding agent dramatically promotes amyloid fibril formation of human prion protein and its two pathogenic mutants E196K and D178N. Such an enhancing effect of macromolecular crowding on fibril formation is also observed for a pathological human SOD1 mutant A4V. On the other hand, rabbit prion protein and hen lysozyme do not form amyloid fibrils when a crowding agent at 300 g/l is used but do form fibrils in the absence of a crowding agent. Furthermore, aggregation of these two proteins is remarkably inhibited by Ficoll 70 and dextran 70 at 200 g/l.We suggest that proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases are more likely to form amyloid fibrils under crowded conditions than in dilute solutions. By contrast, some of the proteins that are not neurodegenerative disease-associated are unlikely to misfold in crowded physiological environments. A possible explanation for the contrasting effect of macromolecular crowding on these two sets of proteins (amyloidogenic proteins and non-amyloidogenic proteins) has been proposed
Efficacy and timing of some new products against pear psylla (Cacopsylla pyri L.) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae): I. Spirotetramat
Abstract. Pear psylla (Cacopsylla pyri L.) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) is one of the key insect pests in pear orchards of Bulgaria. Field trials to evaluate the efficacy
and timing of spirotetramat (Movento 100 SC ®) against C. pyri were carried out in a commercial pear orchard in the village Dink near Plovdiv (Bulgaria) in 2014
and 2015. Three periods of application were tested against the second summer generation of C. pyri: (А) in the presence of predominantly "white" eggs, (B) in
the presence of predominantly "yellow" eggs and the first hatched larvae, and (C) in the presence of about 15 – 30% hatched larvae and nymphs. In all three
periods of application spirotetramat (Movento 100 SC) applied at a dose of 150 ml/hl effectively reduced the population of pear psylla after only once
application. Movento 100 SC applied in the presence of predominantly "white" eggs (A) and in the presence of predominantly "yellow" eggs and the first
hatched larvae (B) demonstrated better efficacy than in the presence of about 15 – 30% hatched larvae and nymphs (C). The efficacy of spirotetramat
(Movento100 SC) in the first two periods of application (A) and (B) was similar and insignificantly different from that of the reference insecticide abamectin
(Vertimec 18 EC, applied at a dose of 150 ml/hl), but significantly higher than the efficacy of spirotetramat, applied in period (C). The total reduction of larvae at
three week post-treatment was at the level of 94.6 - 98.7% for the period (A) and (B), 89.7 – 93.3% for the period (C) and 94.0 – 98.7% for the reference
insecticide - abamectin. The high efficacy observed in different terms of application and long persistence makes this product extremely valuable in controlling
populations of C. pyri
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