5,429 research outputs found
Modulation of endoglin expression in islets of langerhans by VEGF reveals a novel regulator of islet endothelial cell function
BACKGROUND: Endoglin/CD105 is an auxiliary receptor for transforming growth factor-ÎČ with established roles in vascular remodelling. It has recently been shown that heterozygous endoglin deficiency in mice decreases insulin secretion in an animal model of obesity, highlighting a potential role for endoglin in the regulation of islet function. We have previously identified two different populations of endoglin expressing cells in human and mouse islets which are: (i) endothelial cells (ECs) and (ii) islet mesenchymal stromal cells. The contribution of islet EC endoglin expression to islet development and sensitivity to VEGF is unknown and is the focus of this study. RESULTS: In vitro culture of mouse islets with VEGF164 for 48Â h increased endoglin mRNA levels above untreated controls but VEGF did not modulate VEGFR2, CD31 or CD34 mRNA expression or islet viability. Removal of EC-endoglin expression in vivo reduced islet EC area but had no apparent effect on islet size or architecture. CONCLUSION: EC-specific endoglin expression in islets is sensitive to VEGF and plays partial roles in driving islet vascular development, however such regulation appears to be distinct to mechanisms required to modulate islet viability and size
Consequences of critical interchain couplings and anisotropy on a Haldane chain
Effects of interchain couplings and anisotropy on a Haldane chain have been
investigated by single crystal inelastic neutron scattering and density
functional theory (DFT) calculations on the model compound SrNiVO.
Significant effects on low energy excitation spectra are found where the
Haldane gap (; where is the intrachain exchange
interaction) is replaced by three energy minima at different antiferromagnetic
zone centers due to the complex interchain couplings. Further, the triplet
states are split into two branches by single-ion anisotropy. Quantitative
information on the intrachain and interchain interactions as well as on the
single-ion anisotropy are obtained from the analyses of the neutron scattering
spectra by the random phase approximation (RPA) method. The presence of
multiple competing interchain interactions is found from the analysis of the
experimental spectra and is also confirmed by the DFT calculations. The
interchain interactions are two orders of magnitude weaker than the
nearest-neighbour intrachain interaction = 8.7~meV. The DFT calculations
reveal that the dominant intrachain nearest-neighbor interaction occurs via
nontrivial extended superexchange pathways Ni--O--V--O--Ni involving the empty
orbital of V ions. The present single crystal study also allows us to
correctly position SrNiVO in the theoretical - phase
diagram [T. Sakai and M. Takahashi, Phys. Rev. B 42, 4537 (1990)] showing where
it lies within the spin-liquid phase.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables PRB (accepted). in Phys. Rev. B (2015
A radiation-like era before inflation
We show that the semiclassical approximation to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation
for the minisuperspace of a minimally coupled scalar field in the spatially
flat de Sitter Universe prompts the existence of an initial power-law evolution
driven by non-adiabatic terms from the gravitational wavefunction which act
like radiation. This simple model hence describes the onset of inflation from a
previous radiation-like expansion during which the cosmological constant is
already present but subleading.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, no figures; final version to be published in JCA
Constraint-preserving boundary treatment for a harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations
We present a set of well-posed constraint-preserving boundary conditions for
a first-order in time, second-order in space, harmonic formulation of the
Einstein equations. The boundary conditions are tested using robust stability,
linear and nonlinear waves, and are found to be both less reflective and
constraint preserving than standard Sommerfeld-type boundary conditions.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted in CQ
On the linear stability of solitons and hairy black holes with a negative cosmological constant: the odd-parity sector
Using a recently developed perturbation formalism based on curvature
quantities, we investigate the linear stability of black holes and solitons
with Yang-Mills hair and a negative cosmological constant. We show that those
solutions which have no linear instabilities under odd- and even- parity
spherically symmetric perturbations remain stable under odd-parity, linear,
non-spherically symmetric perturbations.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur
The Efroimsky formalism adapted to high-frequency perturbations
The Efroimsky perturbation scheme for consistent treatment of gravitational
waves and their influence on the background is summarized and compared with
classical Isaacson's high-frequency approach. We demonstrate that the Efroimsky
method in its present form is not compatible with the Isaacson limit of
high-frequency gravitational waves, and we propose its natural generalization
to resolve this drawback.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in Class. Quantum Gra
A Liquid Model Analogue for Black Hole Thermodynamics
We are able to characterize a 2--dimensional classical fluid sharing some of
the same thermodynamic state functions as the Schwarzschild black hole. This
phenomenological correspondence between black holes and fluids is established
by means of the model liquid's pair-correlation function and the two-body
atomic interaction potential. These latter two functions are calculated exactly
in terms of the black hole internal (quasilocal) energy and the isothermal
compressibility. We find the existence of a ``screening" like effect for the
components of the liquid.Comment: 20 pages and 6 Encapsulated PostScript figure
Generating and Revealing a Quantum Superposition of Electromagnetic Field Binomial States in a Cavity
We introduce the -photon quantum superposition of two orthogonal
generalized binomial states of electromagnetic field. We then propose, using
resonant atom-cavity interactions, non-conditional schemes to generate and
reveal such a quantum superposition for the two-photon case in a single-mode
high- cavity. We finally discuss the implementation of the proposed schemes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Title changed (published version
The Distribution of High and Low Redshift Type Ia Supernovae
The distribution of high redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with respect to
projected distance from the center of the host galaxy is studied and compared
to the distribution of local SNe. The distribution of high-z SNe Ia is found to
be similar to the local sample of SNe Ia discovered with CCDs, but different
than the sample discovered photographically. This is shown to be due to the
Shaw effect. These results have implications for the use of SNe Ia to determine
cosmological parameters if the local sample of supernovae used to calibrate the
light curve decline relationships is drawn from a sample discovered
photographically. A K-S test shows that the probability that the high redshift
SNe of the Supernova Cosmology Project are drawn from the same distribution as
the low redshift calibrators of Riess et al. is 0.1%. This is a potential
problem because photographically discovered SNe are preferentially discovered
farther away from the galaxy nucleus, where SNe show a lower scatter in
absolute magnitude, and are on average 0.3 magnitudes fainter than SNe located
closer to the center of their host galaxy. This raises questions about whether
or not the calibration SNe sample the full range of parameters potentially
present in high redshift SNe Ia. The limited data available suggest that the
calibration process is adequate; however, it would be preferable if high
redshift SNe and the low redshift SNe used to calibrate them were drawn from
the same sample, as subtle differences may be important. Data are also
presented which suggest that the seeming anti-Malmquist trend noticed by
Tammann et al.(1996, 1998) for SNe Ia in galaxies with Cepheid distances may be
due to the location of the SNe in their host galaxies.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
The Uncertainty Relation in "Which-Way" Experiments: How to Observe Directly the Momentum Transfer using Weak Values
A which-way measurement destroys the twin-slit interference pattern. Bohr
argued that distinguishing between two slits a distance s apart gives the
particle a random momentum transfer \wp of order h/s. This was accepted for
more than 60 years, until Scully, Englert and Walther (SEW) proposed a
which-way scheme that, they claimed, entailed no momentum transfer. Storey,
Tan, Collett and Walls (STCW) in turn proved a theorem that, they claimed,
showed that Bohr was right. This work reviews and extends a recent proposal
[Wiseman, Phys. Lett. A 311, 285 (2003)] to resolve the issue using a
weak-valued probability distribution for momentum transfer, P_wv(\wp). We show
that P_wv(\wp) must be wider than h/6s. However, its moments can still be zero
because P_wv(\wp) is not necessarily positive definite. Nevertheless, it is
measurable in a way understandable to a classical physicist. We introduce a new
measure of spread for P_wv(\wp): half of the unit-confidence interval, and
conjecture that it is never less than h/4s. For an idealized example with
infinitely narrow slits, the moments of P_wv(\wp) and of the momentum
distributions are undefined unless a process of apodization is used. We show
that by considering successively smoother initial wave functions, successively
more moments of both P_wv(\wp) and the momentum distributions become defined.
For this example the moments of P_wv(\wp) are zero, and these are equal to the
changes in the moments of the momentum distribution. We prove that this
relation holds for schemes in which the moments of P_wv(\wp) are non-zero, but
only for the first two moments. We also compare these moments to those of two
other momentum-transfer distributions and \hat{p}_f-\hat{p}_i. We find
agreement between all of these, but again only for the first two moments.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Opt.
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