1,255 research outputs found
Characteristics of the polymer transport in ratchet systems
Molecules with complex internal structure in time-dependent periodic
potentials are studied by using short Rubinstein-Duke model polymers as an
example. We extend our earlier work on transport in stochastically varying
potentials to cover also deterministic potential switching mechanisms,
energetic efficiency and non-uniform charge distributions. We also use currents
in the non-equilibrium steady state to identify the dominating mechanisms that
lead to polymer transportation and analyze the evolution of the macroscopic
state (e.g., total and head-to-head lengths) of the polymers. Several numerical
methods are used to solve the master equations and nonlinear optimization
problems. The dominating transport mechanisms are found via graph optimization
methods. The results show that small changes in the molecule structure and the
environment variables can lead to large increases of the drift. The drift and
the coherence can be amplified by using deterministic flashing potentials and
customized polymer charge distributions. Identifying the dominating transport
mechanism by graph analysis tools is found to give insight in how the molecule
is transported by the ratchet effect.Comment: 35 pages, 17 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Two-proton overlap functions in the Jastrow correlation method and cross section of the OC reaction
Using the relationship between the two-particle overlap functions (TOF's) and
the two-body density matrix (TDM), the TOF's for the
OC reaction are calculated on the
basis of a TDM obtained within the Jastrow correlation method. The main
contributions of the removal of and pairs from O
are considered in the calculation of the cross section of the
OC reaction using the Jastrow TOF's
which include short-range correlations (SRC). The results are compared with the
cross sections calculated with different theoretical treatments of the TOF's.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, ReVTeX
Racial Bias Beliefs Related to COVID-19 Among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: Findings From the COVID-19 Effects on the Mental and Physical Health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Survey Study (COMPASS)
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been increased reports of racial biases against Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals. However, the extent to which different Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups perceive and experience (firsthand or as a witness to such experiences) how COVID-19 has negatively affected people of their race has not received much attention. Objective: This study used data from the COVID-19 Effects on the Mental and Physical Health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Survey Study (COMPASS), a nationwide, multilingual survey, to empirically examine COVID-19-related racial bias beliefs among Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals and the factors associated with these beliefs. Methods: COMPASS participants were Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults who were able to speak English, Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin), Korean, Samoan, or Vietnamese and who resided in the United States during the time of the survey (October 2020 to May 2021). Participants completed the survey on the web, via phone, or in person. The Coronavirus Racial Bias Scale (CRBS) was used to assess COVID-19-related racial bias beliefs toward Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals. Participants were asked to rate the degree to which they agreed with 9 statements on a 5-point Likert scale (ie, 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree). Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the associations between demographic, health, and COVID-19-related characteristics and perceived racial bias. Results: A total of 5068 participants completed the survey (mean age 45.4, SD 16.4 years; range 18-97 years). Overall, 73.97% (3749/5068) agreed or strongly agreed with ≥1 COVID-19-related racial bias belief in the past 6 months (during the COVID-19 pandemic). Across the 9 racial bias beliefs, participants scored an average of 2.59 (SD 0.96, range 1-5). Adjusted analyses revealed that compared with Asian Indians, those who were ethnic Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other or multicultural had significantly higher mean CRBS scores, whereas no significant differences were found among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals. Nonheterosexual participants had statistically significant and higher mean CRBS scores than heterosexual participants. Compared with participants aged ≥60 years, those who were younger (aged \u3c30, 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59 years) had significantly higher mean CRBS scores. US-born participants had significantly higher mean CRBS scores than foreign-born participants, whereas those with limited English proficiency (relative to those reporting no limitation) had lower mean CRBS scores. Conclusions: Many COMPASS participants reported racial bias beliefs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Relevant sociodemographic contexts and pre-existing and COVID-19-specific factors across individual, community, and society levels were associated with the perceived racial bias of being Asian during the pandemic. The findings underscore the importance of addressing the burden of racial bias on Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities among other COVID-19-related sequelae
Restoration of Overlap Functions and Spectroscopic Factors in Nuclei
An asymptotic restoration procedure is applied for analyzing bound--state
overlap functions, separation energies and single--nucleon spectroscopic
factors by means of a model one--body density matrix emerging from the Jastrow
correlation method in its lowest order approximation for and
nuclei . Comparison is made with available experimental data and mean--field
and natural orbital representation results.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX style, to be published in Physical Review
Mice lacking NF-κB1 exhibit marked DNA damage responses and more severe gastric pathology in response to intraperitoneal tamoxifen administration
Tamoxifen (TAM) has recently been shown to cause acute gastric atrophy and metaplasia in mice. We have previously demonstrated that the outcome of Helicobacter felis infection, which induces similar gastric lesions in mice, is altered by deletion of specific NF-κB subunits. Nfkb1-/- mice developed more severe gastric atrophy than wild-type (WT) mice 6 weeks after H. felis infection. In contrast, Nfkb2-/- mice were protected from this pathology. We therefore hypothesized that gastric lesions induced by TAM may be similarly regulated by signaling via NF-κB subunits. Groups of five female C57BL/6 (WT), Nfkb1-/-, Nfkb2-/- and c-Rel-/- mice were administered 150 mg/kg TAM by IP injection. Seventy-two hours later, gastric corpus tissues were taken for quantitative histological assessment. In addition, groups of six female WT and Nfkb1-/- mice were exposed to 12 Gy γ-irradiation. Gastric epithelial apoptosis was quantified 6 and 48 h after irradiation. TAM induced gastric epithelial lesions in all strains of mice, but this was more severe in Nfkb1-/- mice than in WT mice. Nfkb1-/- mice exhibited more severe parietal cell loss than WT mice, had increased gastric epithelial expression of Ki67 and had an exaggerated gastric epithelial DNA damage response as quantified by γH2AX. To investigate whether the difference in gastric epithelial DNA damage response of Nfkb1-/- mice was unique to TAM-induced DNA damage or a generic consequence of DNA damage, we also assessed gastric epithelial apoptosis following γ-irradiation. Six hours after γ-irradiation, gastric epithelial apoptosis was increased in the gastric corpus and antrum of Nfkb1-/- mice. NF-κB1-mediated signaling regulates the development of gastric mucosal pathology following TAM administration. This is associated with an exaggerated gastric epithelial DNA damage response. This aberrant response appears to reflect a more generic sensitization of the gastric mucosa of Nfkb1-/- mice to DNA damage
Generator coordinate method calculations of one-nucleon removal reactions on Ca
An approach to the Generator Coordinate Method (GCM) using Skyrme-type
effective forces and Woods-Saxon construction potential is applied to calculate
the single-particle proton and neutron overlap functions in Ca. The
relationship between the bound-state overlap functions and the one-body density
matrix has been used. These overlap functions are applied to calculate the
cross sections of one-nucleon removal reactions such as (), ()
and () on Ca on the same theoretical footing. A consistent
description of data for the different reactions is achieved. The shapes of the
experimental cross sections for transitions to the ground state and
the first excited state of the residual nuclei are well reproduced by
the overlap functions obtained within the GCM. An additional spectroscopic
factor accounting for correlations not included in the overlap function must be
applied to the calculated results to reproduce the size of the experimental
cross sections.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
A randomized, open-label study of the efficacy and safety of AZD4547 monotherapy versus paclitaxel for the treatment of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma with FGFR2 polysomy or gene amplification
Background:Approximately 5%-10% of gastric cancers have a fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 (FGFR2) gene amplification. AZD4547 is a selective FGFR-1, 2, 3 tyrosine kinase inhibitor with potent preclinical activity in FGFR2 amplified gastric adenocarcinoma SNU16 and SGC083 xenograft models. The randomized phase II SHINE study (NCT01457846) investigated whether AZD4547 improves clinical outcome versus paclitaxel as second-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma displaying FGFR2 polysomy or gene amplification detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Patients and methods:Patients were randomized 3:2 (FGFR2 gene amplification) or 1:1 (FGFR2 polysomy) to AZD4547 or paclitaxel. Patients received AZD4547 80 mg twice daily, orally, on a 2 weeks on/1 week off schedule of a 21-day cycle or intravenous paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 administered weekly on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Safety outcomes were assessed and an exploratory biomarker analysis was undertaken. Results:Of 71 patients randomized (AZD4547 n = 41, paclitaxel n = 30), 67 received study treatment (AZD4547 n = 40, paclitaxel n = 27). Among all randomized patients, median PFS was 1.8 months with AZD4547 and 3.5 months with paclitaxel (one-sided P = 0.9581); median follow-up duration for PFS was 1.77 and 2.12 months, respectively. The incidence of adverse events was similar in both treatment arms. Exploratory biomarker analyses revealed marked intratumor heterogeneity of FGFR2 amplification and poor concordance between amplification/polysomy and FGFR2 mRNA expression. Conclusions:AZD4547 did not significantly improve PFS versus paclitaxel in gastric cancer FGFR2 amplification/polysomy patients. Considerable intratumor heterogeneity for FGFR2 gene amplification and poor concordance between FGFR2 amplification/polysomy and FGFR2 expression indicates the need for alternative predictive biomarker testing. AZD4547 was generally well tolerated
Jastrow-type calculations of one-nucleon removal reactions on open - shell nuclei
Single-particle overlap functions and spectroscopic factors are calculated on
the basis of Jastrow-type one-body density matrices of open-shell nuclei
constructed by using a factor cluster expansion. The calculations use the
relationship between the overlap functions corresponding to bound states of the
-particle system and the one-body density matrix for the ground state of
the -particle system. In this work we extend our previous analyses of
reactions on closed-shell nuclei by using the resulting overlap functions for
the description of the cross sections of reactions on the open -
shell nuclei Mg, Si and S and of S
reaction. The relative role of both shell structure and short-range
correlations incorporated in the correlation approach on the spectroscopic
factors and the reaction cross sections is pointed out.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Evidence of Doping-Dependent Pairing Symmetry in Cuprate Superconductors
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) studies reveal long-range spatial
homogeneity and predominantly -pairing spectral characteristics in
under- and optimally doped superconductors, whereas
STS on exhibits {\it
microscopic} spatial modulations and strong scattering near the Zn or Mg
impurity sites, together with global suppression of the pairing potential. In
contrast, in overdoped ,
-pairing symmetry is found, suggesting significant changes in
the superconducting ground-state at a critical doping value.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Published in Physical Review Letters.
Corresponding author: Nai-Chang Yeh (e-mail address: [email protected]
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