446 research outputs found
Selectivity of the insulin-like actions of vanadate on glucose and protein metabolism in skeletal muscle
Recommended from our members
Characterization of the chemical signatures of air masses observed during the PEM experiments over the western Pacific
Extensive observations of tropospheric trace species during the second NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment Western Pacific Exploratory Mission (PEM-West B) in February-March 1994 showed significant seasonal variability in comparison with the first mission (PEM-West A), conducted in September-October 1991. In this study we adopt a previously established analytical method, i.e., the ratio C2H2/CO as a measure of the relative degree of atmospheric processing, to elucidate the key similarities and variations between the two missions. In addition, the C2H2/CO ratio scheme is combined with the back-trajectory-based and the LIDAR-based air mass classification schemes, respectively, to make in-depth analysis of the seasonal variation between PEM-West A and PEM-West B (hereinafter referred to as PEM-WA and PEM-WB). A large number of compounds, including long-lived NMHCs, CH4, and CO2, are, as expected, well correlated with the ratio C2H2/CO. In comparison with PEM-WA, a significantly larger range of observed C2H2/CO values at the high end for the PEM-WB period indicates that the western Pacific was more impacted by "fresher" source emissions, i.e., faster or more efficient continental outflow. As in the case of PEM-WA, the C2H2/CO scheme complements the back-trajectory air mass classification scheme very well. By combining the two schemes, we found that the atmospheric processing in the region is dominated by atmospheric mixing for the trace species analyzed. This PEM-WB wintertime result is similar to that found in PEM-WA for the autumn. In both cases, photochemical reactions are found to play a significant role in determining the background mixing ratios of trace gases, and in this way the two processes are directly related and dependent upon each other. This analysis also indicates that many of the upper tropospheric air masses encountered over the western Pacific during PEM-WB may have had little impact from eastern Asia's continental surface sources. NOx mixing ratios were significantly enhanced during PEM-WB when compared with PEM-WA, in the upper troposphere's more atmospherically processed air masses. These high levels of NOx resulted in a substantial amount of photochemical production of O3. A lack of corresponding enhancements in surface emission tracers strongly implies that in situ atmospheric sources such as lightning are responsible for the enhanced upper tropospheric NOx. The similarity in NOx values between the northern (higher air traffic) and southern continental air masses together with the indications of a large seasonal shift suggests that aircraft emissions are not the dominant source. However, photochemical recycling cannot be ruled out as this in situ source of NOx. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union
In-Situ Infrared Transmission Study of Rb- and K-Doped Fullerenes
We have measured the four IR active molecular vibrations in
as a function of doping . We observe
discontinuous changes in the vibrational spectra showing four distinct phases
(presumably , and 6). The and modes
show the largest changes shifting downward in frequency in four steps as the
doping increases. Several new very weak modes are visible in the phase
and are possibly Raman modes becoming weakly optically active. We present
quantitative fits of the data and calculate the electron-phonon coupling of the
IR mode.Comment: 3 pages, Figure 1 included, 3 more figures available by request.
REVTEX v3.0 IRC60DO
SIRPα Mediates IGF1 Receptor in Cardiomyopathy Induced by Chronic Kidney Disease
BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by increased myocardial mass despite near-normal blood pressure, suggesting the presence of a separate trigger. A potential driver is SIRPα (signal regulatory protein alpha)-a mediator impairing insulin signaling. The objective of this study is to assess the role of circulating SIRPα in CKD-induced adverse cardiac remodeling.
METHODS: SIRPα expression was evaluated in mouse models and patients with CKD. Specifically, mutant, muscle-specific, or cardiac muscle-specific SIRPα KO (knockout) mice were examined after subtotal nephrectomy. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography. Metabolic responses were confirmed in cultured muscle cells or cardiomyocytes.
RESULTS: We demonstrate that SIRPα regulates myocardial insulin/IGF1R (insulin growth factor-1 receptor) signaling in CKD. First, in the serum of both mice and patients, SIRPα was robustly secreted in response to CKD. Second, cardiac muscle upregulation of SIRPα was associated with impaired insulin/IGF1R signaling, myocardial dysfunction, and fibrosis. However, both global and cardiac muscle-specific SIRPα KO mice displayed improved cardiac function when compared with control mice with CKD. Third, both muscle-specific or cardiac muscle-specific SIRPα KO mice did not significantly activate fetal genes and maintained insulin/IGF1R signaling with suppressed fibrosis despite the presence of CKD. Importantly, SIRPα directly interacted with IGF1R. Next, rSIRPα (recombinant SIRPα) protein was introduced into muscle-specific SIRPα KO mice reestablishing the insulin/IGF1R signaling activity. Additionally, overexpression of SIRPα in myoblasts and cardiomyocytes impaired pAKT (phosphorylation of AKT) and insulin/IGF1R signaling. Furthermore, myotubes and cardiomyocytes, but not adipocytes treated with high glucose or cardiomyocytes treated with uremic toxins, stimulated secretion of SIRPα in culture media, suggesting these cells are the origin of circulating SIRPα in CKD. Both intracellular and extracellular SIRPα exert biologically synergistic effects impairing intracellular myocardial insulin/IGF1R signaling.
CONCLUSIONS: Myokine SIRPα expression impairs insulin/IGF1R functions in cardiac muscle, affecting cardiometabolic signaling pathways. Circulating SIRPα constitutes an important readout of insulin resistance in CKD-induced cardiomyopathy
GaN Homoepitaxy on Freestanding (11̄00) Oriented GaN Substrates
We report homoepitaxialGaNgrowth on freestanding (11̄00) oriented (M-plane GaN) substrates using low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.Scanning electron microscopy,atomic-force microscopy, and photoluminescence were used to study the influence of growth conditions such as the V/III molar ratio and temperature on the surface morphology and optical properties of the epilayers. Optimized growth conditions led to high quality (11̄00) oriented GaN epilayers with a smooth surface morphology and strong band-edge emission. These layers also exhibited strong room temperature stimulated emission under high intensity pulsed optical pumping. Since for III-N materials the (11̄00) crystal orientation is free from piezoelectric or spontaneous polarization electric fields, our work forms the basis for developing high performance III-N optoelectronic devices
Nonperturbative approach to the Hubbard model in C60 cluster
We propose a computational scheme for the Hubbard model in the C60 cluster in
which the interaction with the Fermi sea of charges added to the neutral
molecule is switched on sequentially. This is applied to the calculation of the
balance of charging energies, within a low-energy truncation of the space of
states which produces moderate errors for an intermediate range of the
interaction strength.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex, 2 figure
Midinfrared Conductivity in Orientationally Disordered Doped Fullerides
The coupling between the intramolecular vibrational modes and the doped
conduction electrons in is studied by a calculation of the
electronic contributions to the phonon self energies. The calculations are
carried out for an orientationally ordered reference solid with symmetry and for a model with quenched orientational disorder on the
fullerene sites. In both cases, the dispersion and symmetry of the renormalized
modes is governed by the electronic contributions. The current current
correlation functions and frequency dependent conductivity through the
midinfrared are calculated for both models. In the disordered structures, the
renormalized modes derived from even parity intramolecular phonons are resonant
with the dipole excited single particle spectrum, and modulate the predicted
midinfrared conductivity. The spectra for this coupled system are calculated
for several recently proposed microscopic models for the electron phonon
coupling, and a comparison is made with recent experimental data which
demonstrate this effect.Comment: 32 pages + 9 postscript figures (on request), REVTeX 3.
Renormalization Group Approach to the Coulomb Pseudopotential for C_{60}
A numerical renormalization group technique recently developed by one of us
is used to analyse the Coulomb pseudopotential () in
for a variety of bare potentials. We find a large reduction in due to
intraball screening alone, leading to an interesting non-monotonic dependence
of on the bare interaction strength.
We find that is positive for physically reasonable bare parameters,
but small enough to make the electron-phonon coupling a viable mechanism for
superconductivity in alkali-doped fullerides. We end with some open problems.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 7 figures available from [email protected]
Electrical transport studies of quench condensed Bi films at the initial stage of film growth: Structural transition and the possible formation of electron droplets
The electrical transport properties of amorphous Bi films prepared by
sequential quench deposition have been studied in situ. A
superconductor-insulator (S-I) transition was observed as the film was made
increasingly thicker, consistent with previous studies. Unexpected behavior was
found at the initial stage of film growth, a regime not explored in detail
prior to the present work. As the temperature was lowered, a positive
temperature coefficient of resistance (dR/dT > 0) emerged, with the resistance
reaching a minimum before the dR/dT became negative again. This behavior was
accompanied by a non-linear and asymmetric I-V characteristic. As the film
became thicker, conventional variable-range hopping (VRH) was recovered. We
attribute the observed crossover in the electrical transport properties to an
amorphous to granular structural transition. The positive dR/dT found in the
amorphous phase of Bi formed at the initial stage of film growth was
qualitatively explained by the formation of metallic droplets within the
electron glass.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
- …