408 research outputs found
Competition between normal and intruder states inside the "Island of Inversion"
The beta decay of the exotic 30Ne (N=20) is reported. For the first time, the
low-energy level structure of the N=19, 30Na (Tz = 4), is obtained from
beta-delayed gamma spectroscopy using fragment-beta-gamma-gamma coincidences.
The level structure clearly displays "inversion", i.e., intruder states with
mainly 2p2h configurations displacing the normal states to higher excitation
energies. The good agreement in excitation energies and the weak and
electromagnetic decay patterns with Monte Carlo Shell Model calculations with
the SDPF-M interaction in the sdpf valence space illustrates the small d3/2 -
f7/2 shell gap. The relative position of the "normal dominant" and "intruder
dominant" excited states provides valuable information to understand better the
N=20 shell gap.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Is there a need to review the syndromic case management of vaginal discharge due to candida in the Indian scenario?
Background: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) affects approximately 75% of women once in lifetime. National AIDS Control Organization has recommended Kit-2/Green (tablet secnidazole 2 gm OD stat and capsule fluconazole 150 mg OD stat) for syndromic case management (SCM) of patients with vaginal discharge since 2007. Patients are frequently revisiting the STI centre with recurrent VVC. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of fluconazole and other azoles in vulvovaginitis.
Methods: Vaginal swabs from 188 patients attending regional STI centre, at Government Medical College, Nagpur between October 2020 to June 2022 were processed. A total of 128 conventionally confirmed isolates of Candida species were tested on RPMI 1640 medium for susceptibility to azoles by E test. An MIC of ≥8 μg/ml for fluconazole and ≥1 μg/ml for itraconazole, ketoconazole and voriconazole was interpreted as resistance as per CLSI M-60.
Results: Candida species isolated were Candida albicans, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. dubliniensis and C. krusei. Candida species resistant to fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole and voriconazole were 22 (17.18%), 53 (41.40%), 19 (14.84%), and 3 (2.34%) respectively. C. glabrata was most resistant while C. parapsilosis was least resistant. Voriconazole was most effective.
Conclusions: Extensive use of fluconazole in syndromic case management of vaginal discharge could be the probable reason for 17.18% resistance to fluconazole. Withdrawal of fluconazole and replacement with another antifungal azole in SCM of vaginal discharge may prevent recurrent VVC and perhaps lead to emergence of fluconazole sensitive candida
London relation and fluxoid quantization for monopole currents in U(1) lattice gauge theory
We explore the analogy between quark confinement and the Meissner effect in
superconductors. We measure the response of color-magnetic "supercurrents" from
Dirac magnetic monopoles to the presence of a static quark-antiquark pair in
four dimensional U(1) lattice gauge theory. Our results indicate that in the
confined phase these currents screen the color-electric flux due to the quarks
in an electric analogy of the Meisner effect. We show that U(1) lattice guage
theory obeys both a dual London equation and an electric fluxoid quantization
condition.Comment: LSUHEP-1-92 May 1992, 13 page
Multimodal Treatment Eliminates Cancer Stem Cells and Leads to Long-Term Survival in Primary Human Pancreatic Cancer Tissue Xenografts.
Copyright: 2013 Hermann et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.PURPOSE: In spite of intense research efforts, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remains one of the most deadly malignancies in the world. We and others have previously identified a subpopulation of pancreatic cancer stem cells within the tumor as a critical therapeutic target and additionally shown that the tumor stroma represents not only a restrictive barrier for successful drug delivery, but also serves as a paracrine niche for cancer stem cells. Therefore, we embarked on a large-scale investigation on the effects of combining chemotherapy, hedgehog pathway inhibition, and mTOR inhibition in a preclinical mouse model of pancreatic cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Prospective and randomized testing in a set of almost 200 subcutaneous and orthotopic implanted whole-tissue primary human tumor xenografts. RESULTS: The combined targeting of highly chemoresistant cancer stem cells as well as their more differentiated progenies, together with abrogation of the tumor microenvironment by targeting the stroma and enhancing tissue penetration of the chemotherapeutic agent translated into significantly prolonged survival in preclinical models of human pancreatic cancer. Most pronounced therapeutic effects were observed in gemcitabine-resistant patient-derived tumors. Intriguingly, the proposed triple therapy approach could be further enhanced by using a PEGylated formulation of gemcitabine, which significantly increased its bioavailability and tissue penetration, resulting in a further improved overall outcome. CONCLUSIONS: This multimodal therapeutic strategy should be further explored in the clinical setting as its success may eventually improve the poor prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
The relation between star formation, morphology and local density in high redshift clusters and groups
We investigate how the [OII] properties and the morphologies of galaxies in
clusters and groups at z=0.4-0.8 depend on projected local galaxy density, and
compare with the field at similar redshifts and clusters at low-z. In both
nearby and distant clusters, higher-density regions contain proportionally
fewer star-forming galaxies, and the average [OII] equivalent width of
star-forming galaxies is independent of local density. However, in distant
clusters the average current star formation rate (SFR) in star-forming galaxies
seems to peak at densities ~15-40 galaxies Mpc^{-2}. At odds with low-z
results, at high-z the relation between star-forming fraction and local density
varies from high- to low-mass clusters. Overall, our results suggest that at
high-z the current star formation (SF) activity in star-forming galaxies does
not depend strongly on global or local environment, though the possible SFR
peak seems at odds with this conclusion. We find that the cluster SFR
normalized by cluster mass anticorrelates with mass and correlates with the
star-forming fraction. These trends can be understood given a) that the average
star-forming galaxy forms about 1 Msun/yr in all clusters; b) that the total
number of galaxies scales with cluster mass and c) the dependence of
star-forming fraction on cluster mass. We present the morphology-density (MD)
relation for our z=0.4-0.8 clusters, and uncover that the decline of the spiral
fraction with density is entirely driven by galaxies of types Sc or later. For
galaxies of a given Hubble type, we see no evidence that SF properties depend
on local environment. In contrast with recent findings at low-z, in our distant
clusters the SF-density relation and the MD-relation are equivalent, suggesting
that neither of the two is more fundamental than the other.(abr.)Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Selection of silk-binding peptides by phage display
Peptides that bind to silkworm-derived silk fibroin fiber were selected from a phage-displayed random peptide library. The selected silk-binding peptides contained a consensus sequence QSWS which is important for silk-binding as confirmed by binding assays using phage and synthetic peptides. With further optimization, we anticipate that the silk-binding peptides will be useful for functionalization of silk for biomaterial applications
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Further evidence for the involvement of EFL1 in a Shwachman-Diamond-like syndrome and expansion of the phenotypic features.
Recent evidence has implicated EFL1 in a phenotype overlapping Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS), with the functional interplay between EFL1 and the previously known causative gene SBDS accounting for the similarity in clinical features. Relatively little is known about the phenotypes associated with pathogenic variants in the EFL1 gene, but the initial indication was that phenotypes may be more severe, when compared with SDS. We report a pediatric patient who presented with a metaphyseal dysplasia and was found to have biallelic variants in EFL1 on reanalysis of trio whole-exome sequencing data. The variant had not been initially reported because of the research laboratory's focus on de novo variants. Subsequent phenotyping revealed variability in her manifestations. Although her metaphyseal abnormalities were more severe than in the original reported cohort with EFL1 variants, the bone marrow abnormalities were generally mild, and there was equivocal evidence for pancreatic insufficiency. Despite the limited number of reported patients, variants in EFL1 appear to cause a broader spectrum of symptoms that overlap with those seen in SDS. Our report adds to the evidence of EFL1 being associated with an SDS-like phenotype and provides information adding to our understanding of the phenotypic variability of this disorder. Our report also highlights the value of exome data reanalysis when a diagnosis is not initially apparent
Cross-shell excitations in Si 31
The Si31 nucleus was produced through the O18(O18, αn) fusion-evaporation reaction at Elab=24MeV. Evaporated α particles from the reaction were detected and identified in the Microball detector array for channel selection. Multiple γ-ray coincidence events were detected in Gammasphere. The energy and angle information for the α particles was used to determine the Si31 recoil kinematics on an event-by-event basis for a more accurate Doppler correction. A total of 22 new states and 52 new γ transitions were observed, including 14 from states above the neutron separation energy. The positive-parity states predicted by the shell-model calculations in the sd model space agree well with experiment. The negative-parity states were compared with shell-model calculations in the psdpf model space with some variations in the N=20 shell gap. The best agreement was found with a shell gap intermediate between that originally used for A≈20 nuclei and that previously adapted for P32,34. This variation suggests the need for a more universal cross-shell interaction
Measuring the total infrared light from galaxy clusters at z=0.5-1.6: connecting stellar populations to dusty star formation
Massive galaxy clusters undergo strong evolution from z~1.6 to z~0.5, with
overdense environments at high-z characterized by abundant dust-obscured star
formation and stellar mass growth which rapidly give way to widespread
quenching. Data spanning the near- to far-infrared (IR) spectrum can directly
trace this transformation; however, such studies have largely been limited to
the massive galaxy end of cluster populations. In this work, we present ``total
light" stacking techniques spanning 3.4-500{\mu}m aimed at revealing the total
cluster IR emission, including low mass members and potential intracluster
dust. We detail our procedures for WISE, Spitzer, and Herschel imaging,
including corrections to recover the total stacked emission in the case of high
fractions of detected galaxies. We apply our stacking techniques to 232
well-studied massive (log M200/Msun~13.8) clusters across multiple z bins,
recovering extended cluster emission at all wavelengths, typically at >5sigma.
We measure the averaged near- to far-IR radial profiles and SEDs, quantifying
the total stellar and dust content. The near-IR radial profiles are well
described by an NFW model with a high (c~7) concentration parameter. Dust
emission is similarly concentrated, albeit suppressed at small radii
(r<0.2Mpc). The measured SEDs lack warm dust, consistent with the colder SEDs
expected for low mass galaxies. We derive total stellar masses consistent with
the theoretical Mhalo-M_star relation and specific-star formation rates that
evolve strongly with redshift, echoing that of massive (log Mstar/Msun>10)
cluster galaxies. Separating out the massive galaxy population reveals that the
majority of cluster far-IR emission (~70-80%) is provided by the low mass
constituents, which differs from field galaxies. This effect may be a
combination of mass-dependent quenching and excess dust in low mass cluster
galaxies.Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, 7 tables. Submitted to MNRAS, comments welcome
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