998 research outputs found
Gluon self-energy in a two-flavor color superconductor
The energy and momentum dependence of the gluon self-energy is investigated
in a color superconductor with two flavors of massless quarks. The presence of
a color-superconducting quark-quark condensate modifies the gluon self-energy
for energies which are of the order of the gap parameter. For gluon energies
much larger than the gap, the self-energy assumes the form given by the
standard hard-dense loop approximation. It is shown that this modification of
the gluon self-energy does not affect the magnitude of the gap to leading and
subleading order in the weak-coupling limit.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, RevTeX, aps and epsfig style files require
Debye screening and Meissner effect in a two-flavor color superconductor
I compute the gluon self-energy in a color superconductor with two flavors of
massless quarks, where condensation of Cooper pairs breaks SU(3)_c to SU(2)_c.
At zero temperature, there is neither Debye screening nor a Meissner effect for
the three gluons of the unbroken SU(2)_c subgroup. The remaining five gluons
attain an electric as well as a magnetic mass. For temperatures approaching the
critical temperature for the onset of color superconductivity, or for gluon
momenta much larger than the color-superconducting gap, the self-energy assumes
the form given by the standard hard-dense loop approximation. The gluon
self-energy determines the coefficient of the kinetic term in the effective
low-energy theory for the condensate fields.Comment: 29 pages, RevTe
Inhibition of glycolysis modulates prednisolone resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells
Treatment failure in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is related to cellular resistance to glucocorticoids (eg, prednisolone). Recently, we demonstrated that genes associated with glucose metabolism are differentially expressed between prednisolone-sensitive and prednisolone-resistant precursor B-lineage leukemic patients. Here, we show that prednisolone resistance is associated with increased glucose consumption and that inhibition of glycolysis sensitizes prednisolone-resistant ALL cell lines to glucocorticoids. Treatment of prednisolone-resistant Jurkat and Molt4 cells with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), lonidamine (LND), or3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA) increased the in vitro sensitivity to glucocorticoids, while treatment of the prednisolone-sensitive cell lines Tom-1 and RS4; 11 did not influence drug cyto-toxicity. This sensitizing effect of the glycolysis inhibitors in glucocorticoid-resistant ALL cells was not found for other classes of antileukemic drugs (ie, vincris-tine and daunorubicin). Moreover, down-regulation of the expression of GAPDH by RNA interference also sensitized to prednisolone, comparable with treatment with glycolytic inhibitors. Importantly, the ability of 2-DG to reverse glucocorticoid resistance was not limited to cell lines, but was also observed in isolated primary ALL cells from patients. Together, these findings indicate the importance of the glycolytic pathway in glucocorticoid resistance in ALL and suggest that targeting glycolysis is a viable strategy for modulating prednisolone resistance in ALL
Asparagine synthetase expression is linked with L-asparaginase resistance in TEL-AML1-negative but not TEL-AML1-positive pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Resistance to L-asparaginase in leukemic cells may be caused by an
elevated cellular expression of asparagine synthetase (AS). Previously, we
reported that high AS expression did not correlate to L-asparaginase
resistance in TEL-AML1-positive B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia
(ALL). In the present study we confirmed this finding in TEL-AML1-positive
patients (n = 28) using microarrays. In contrast, 35
L-asparaginase-resistant TEL-AML1-negative B-lineage ALL patients had a
significant 3.5-fold higher AS expression than 43 sensitive patients (P <
.001). Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTQ-PCR),
this finding was confirmed in an independent group of 39 TEL-AML1-negative
B-lineage ALL patients (P = .03). High expression of AS was associated
with poor prognosis (4-year probability of disease-free survival [pDFS]
58% +/- 11%) compared with low expression (4-year pDFS 83% +/- 7%; P =
.009). We conclude that resistance to l-asparaginase and relapse risk are
associated with high expression of AS in TEL-AML1-negative but not
TEL-AML1-positive B-lineage ALL
Concentration of anti-Müllerian hormone in dairy heifers is positively associated with productive herd life
Reliable biomarkers predictive of productive herd life (time in herd after birth of first calf) have heretofore not been discovered in dairy cattle. However, circulating concentrations of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) are positively associated with number of follicles or antral follicle count (AFC), ovarian function, and fertility, and approximately 25% of cows have a relatively low AFC and low AMH concentrations. The present study tested the hypothesis that heifers with the lowest AMH concentrations have suboptimal fertility and are removed from a herd for poor reproductive performance at a greater rate, and therefore have a shorter productive herd life compared with age-matched herdmates with higher AMH. To test this hypothesis, 11- to 15-mo-old Holstein heifers (n=281) were subjected to a single measurement of AMH. All heifers not removed from the herd had the opportunity to complete 2 lactations and start their third lactation after calving. During this time, performance and health parameters for each individual were recorded daily by herd managers. Results showed that the quartile of heifers with the lowest AMH concentration also had, on average, a shorter productive herd life (by 196 d), a reduced survival rate after birth of the first calf, the lowest level of milk production (first lactation), the lowest total percentage of cows pregnant (across all lactations), the highest culling rates (first and second lactations and overall), and the highest culling rate for poor reproduction (first lactation) compared with age-matched herdmates with higher AMH. We concluded that a single determination of AMH concentration in young adult dairy heifers may be a simple diagnostic method to predict herd longevity, and AMH may be a useful phenotypic marker to improve longevity of dairy cows
Initial State Interactions for -Proton Radiative Capture
The effects of the initial state interactions on the radiative
capture branching ratios are examined and found to be quite sizable. A general
coupled-channel formalism for both strong and electromagnetic channels using a
particle basis is presented, and applied to all the low energy data
with the exception of the {\it 1s} atomic level shift. Satisfactory fits are
obtained using vertex coupling constants for the electromagnetic channels that
are close to their expected SU(3) values.Comment: 16 pages, uses revte
Self-Similar Factor Approximants
The problem of reconstructing functions from their asymptotic expansions in
powers of a small variable is addressed by deriving a novel type of
approximants. The derivation is based on the self-similar approximation theory,
which presents the passage from one approximant to another as the motion
realized by a dynamical system with the property of group self-similarity. The
derived approximants, because of their form, are named the self-similar factor
approximants. These complement the obtained earlier self-similar exponential
approximants and self-similar root approximants. The specific feature of the
self-similar factor approximants is that their control functions, providing
convergence of the computational algorithm, are completely defined from the
accuracy-through-order conditions. These approximants contain the Pade
approximants as a particular case, and in some limit they can be reduced to the
self-similar exponential approximants previously introduced by two of us. It is
proved that the self-similar factor approximants are able to reproduce exactly
a wide class of functions which include a variety of transcendental functions.
For other functions, not pertaining to this exactly reproducible class, the
factor approximants provide very accurate approximations, whose accuracy
surpasses significantly that of the most accurate Pade approximants. This is
illustrated by a number of examples showing the generality and accuracy of the
factor approximants even when conventional techniques meet serious
difficulties.Comment: 22 pages + 11 ps figure
Quantum-well states in ultrathin Ag(111) films deposited onto H-passivated Si(111)-(1x1) surfaces
Ag(111) films were deposited at room temperature onto H-passivated
Si(111)-(1x1) substrates, and subsequently annealed at 300 C. An abrupt
non-reactive Ag/Si interface is formed, and very uniform non-strained Ag(111)
films of 6-12 monolayers have been grown. Angle resolved photoemission
spectroscopy has been used to study the valence band electronic properties of
these films. Well-defined Ag sp quantum-well states (QWS) have been observed at
discrete energies between 0.5-2eV below the Fermi level, and their dispersions
have been measured along the GammaK, GammaMM'and GammaL symmetry directions.
QWS show a parabolic bidimensional dispersion, with in-plane effective mass of
0.38-0.50mo, along the GammaK and GammaMM' directions, whereas no dispersion
has been found along the GammaL direction, indicating the low-dimensional
electronic character of these states. The binding energy dependence of the QWS
as a function of Ag film thickness has been analyzed in the framework of the
phase accumulation model. According to this model, a reflectivity of 70% has
been estimated for the Ag-sp states at the Ag/H/Si(111)-(1x1) interface.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Low Energy Theory for 2 flavors at High Density QCD
We construct the effective Lagrangian describing the low energy excitations
for Quantum Chromodynamics with two flavors at high density. The non-linear
realization framework is employed to properly construct the low energy
effective theory. The light degrees of freedom, as required by 't Hooft anomaly
conditions, contain massless fermions which we properly include in the
effective Lagrangian. We also provide a discussion of the linearly realized
Lagrangian.Comment: 17 pages, RevTeX format, references added. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Instanton Effects in QCD at High Baryon Density
We study instanton effects in QCD at very high baryon density. In this regime
instantons are suppressed by a large power of , where
is the QCD scale parameter and is the baryon chemical
potential. Instantons are nevertheless important because they contribute to
several physical observables that vanish to all orders in perturbative QCD. We
study, in particular, the chiral condensate and its contribution to the masses of Goldstone bosons in the CFL phase of QCD
with flavors. We find that at densities , where
is the density of nuclear matter, the result is dominated by large
instantons and subject to considerable uncertainties. We suggest that these
uncertainties can be addressed using lattice calculations of the instanton
density and the pseudoscalar diquark mass in QCD with two colors. We study the
topological susceptibility and Witten-Veneziano type mass relations in both
and QCD.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, minor revision
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