345 research outputs found

    Chronic e-cigarette exposure alters the human bronchial epithelial proteome

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    Rationale: E-cigarettes vaporize propylene glycol/vegetable glycerin (PG/VG), nicotine, and flavorings. However, the long-term health effects of exposing lungs to vaped e-liquids are unknown. Objectives: To determine the effects of chronic vaping on pulmonary epithelia. Methods: We performed research bronchoscopies on healthy nonsmokers, cigarette smokers, and e-cigarette users (vapers) and obtained bronchial brush biopsies and lavage samples from these subjects for proteomic investigation. We further employed in vitro and murine exposure models to support our human findings. Measurements and Main Results: Visual inspection by bronchoscopy revealed that vaper airways appeared friable and erythematous. Epithelial cells from biopsy samples revealed approximately 300 proteins that were differentially expressed in smoker and vaper airways, with only 78 proteins being commonly altered in both groups and 113 uniquely altered in vapers. For example, CYP1B1 (cytochrome P450 family 1 subfamily B member 1), MUC5AC (mucin 5 AC), and MUC4 levels were increased in vapers. Aerosolized PG/VG alone significantly increasedMUC5AC protein in human airway epithelial cultures and in murine nasal epithelia in vivo.We also found that e-liquids rapidly entered cells and that PG/VG reduced membrane fluidity and impaired protein diffusion. Conclusions: We conclude that chronic vaping exerts marked biological effects on the lung and that these effects may in part be mediated by the PG/VG base. These changes are likely not harmless and may have clinical implications for the development of chronic lung disease. Further studies will be required to determine the full extent of vaping on the lung

    Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

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    We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC

    Longitudinal scaling property of the charge balance function in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV

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    We present measurements of the charge balance function, from the charged particles, for diverse pseudorapidity and transverse momentum ranges in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We observe that the balance function is boost-invariant within the pseudorapidity coverage [-1.3, 1.3]. The balance function properly scaled by the width of the observed pseudorapidity window does not depend on the position or size of the pseudorapidity window. This scaling property also holds for particles in different transverse momentum ranges. In addition, we find that the width of the balance function decreases monotonically with increasing transverse momentum for all centrality classes.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

    High pTp_{T} non-photonic electron production in pp+pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

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    We present the measurement of non-photonic electron production at high transverse momentum (pT>p_T > 2.5 GeV/cc) in pp + pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV using data recorded during 2005 and 2008 by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The measured cross-sections from the two runs are consistent with each other despite a large difference in photonic background levels due to different detector configurations. We compare the measured non-photonic electron cross-sections with previously published RHIC data and pQCD calculations. Using the relative contributions of B and D mesons to non-photonic electrons, we determine the integrated cross sections of electrons (e++e2\frac{e^++e^-}{2}) at 3 GeV/c<pT< c < p_T <~10 GeV/cc from bottom and charm meson decays to be dσ(Be)+(BDe)dyeye=0{d\sigma_{(B\to e)+(B\to D \to e)} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0} = 4.0±0.5\pm0.5({\rm stat.})±1.1\pm1.1({\rm syst.}) nb and dσDedyeye=0{d\sigma_{D\to e} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0} = 6.2±0.7\pm0.7({\rm stat.})±1.5\pm1.5({\rm syst.}) nb, respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

    Measurement of the Bottom contribution to non-photonic electron production in p+pp+p collisions at s\sqrt{s} =200 GeV

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    The contribution of BB meson decays to non-photonic electrons, which are mainly produced by the semi-leptonic decays of heavy flavor mesons, in p+pp+p collisions at s=\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV has been measured using azimuthal correlations between non-photonic electrons and hadrons. The extracted BB decay contribution is approximately 50% at a transverse momentum of pT5p_{T} \geq 5 GeV/cc. These measurements constrain the nuclear modification factor for electrons from BB and DD meson decays. The result indicates that BB meson production in heavy ion collisions is also suppressed at high pTp_{T}.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PR

    Pion, kaon, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum distributions from p+p and d+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

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    Identified mid-rapidity particle spectra of π±\pi^{\pm}, K±K^{\pm}, and p(pˉ)p(\bar{p}) from 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions are reported. A time-of-flight detector based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology is used for particle identification. The particle-species dependence of the Cronin effect is observed to be significantly smaller than that at lower energies. The ratio of the nuclear modification factor (RdAuR_{dAu}) between protons (p+pˉ)(p+\bar{p}) and charged hadrons (hh) in the transverse momentum range 1.2<pT<3.01.2<{p_{T}}<3.0 GeV/c is measured to be 1.19±0.051.19\pm0.05(stat)±0.03\pm0.03(syst) in minimum-bias collisions and shows little centrality dependence. The yield ratio of (p+pˉ)/h(p+\bar{p})/h in minimum-bias d+Au collisions is found to be a factor of 2 lower than that in Au+Au collisions, indicating that the Cronin effect alone is not enough to account for the relative baryon enhancement observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. We extended the pion spectra from transverse momentum 1.8 GeV/c to 3. GeV/

    Evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function with centrality in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

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    We present first measurements of the evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function, {\it C}, with collision centrality in Au+Au interactions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV. {\it C} exhibits a strong dependence on collision centrality that is qualitatively similar to that of number correlations previously reported. We use the observed longitudinal broadening of the near-side peak of {\it C} with increasing centrality to estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density, η/s\eta/s, of the matter formed in central Au+Au interactions. We obtain an upper limit estimate of η/s\eta/s that suggests that the produced medium has a small viscosity per unit entropy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, STAR paper published in Phys. Lett.

    Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a Modulated Proton Bunch

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    The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching 1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons beyond 6 TeV were found in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

    The energy dependence of ptp_t angular correlations inferred from mean-ptp_{t} fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC

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    We present the first study of the energy dependence of ptp_t angular correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

    Measurement of Transverse Single-Spin Asymmetries for Di-Jet Production in Proton-Proton Collisions at s=200\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

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    We report the first measurement of the opening angle distribution between pairs of jets produced in high-energy collisions of transversely polarized protons. The measurement probes (Sivers) correlations between the transverse spin orientation of a proton and the transverse momentum directions of its partons. With both beams polarized, the wide pseudorapidity (1η+2-1 \leq \eta \leq +2) coverage for jets permits separation of Sivers functions for the valence and sea regions. The resulting asymmetries are all consistent with zero and considerably smaller than Sivers effects observed in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS). We discuss theoretical attempts to reconcile the new results with the sizable transverse spin effects seen in SIDIS and forward hadron production in pp collisions.Comment: 6 pages total, 1 Latex file, 3 PS files with figure
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