Correlated Quantum Transport of Density Wave Electrons

Recently observed Aharonov-Bohm quantum interference of period h/2e in charge density wave rings strongly suggest that correlated density wave electron transport is a cooperative quantum phenomenon. The picture discussed here posits that quantum solitons nucleate and transport current above a Coulomb blockade threshold field. We propose a field-dependent tunneling matrix element and use the Schrodinger equation, viewed as an emergent classical equation as in Feynman's treatment of Josephson tunneling, to compute the evolving macrostate amplitudes, finding excellent quantitative agreement with voltage oscillations and current-voltage characteristics in NbSe3. A proposed phase diagram shows the conditions favoring soliton nucleation versus classical depinning. (Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 036404 (2012).)Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, (5 pages & 3 figures for main article), includes Supplemental Material with 1 figure. Published version: Physical Review Letters, vol. 108, p. 036404 (2012

Oligonucleotide therapies in the treatment of arthritis:a narrative review

Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are two of the most common chronic inflammatory joint diseases, for which there remains a great clinical need to develop safer and more efficacious pharmacological treatments. The pathology of both OA and RA involves multiple tissues within the joint, including the synovial joint lining and the bone, as well as the articular cartilage in OA. In this review, we discuss the potential for the development of oligonucleotide therapies for these disorders by examining the evidence that oligonucleotides can modulate the key cellular pathways that drive the pathology of the inflammatory diseased joint pathology, as well as evidence in preclinical in vivo models that oligonucleotides can modify disease progression

Heat transfer measurement of turbulent spots in a hypersonic blunt-body boundary layer

This paper presents data on turbulent-spot propagation in the hypersonic boundary-layer flow over a blunted cylindrical body. Data are based on the measurement of time-dependent surface heat transfer rates using gauges positioned as arrays in either th

The Role of Geography in Management: A Timely Matter of Concern in Education and Knowledge Management in Sri Lanka

AbstractAccording to Hartshorne (1939) geography is the science that provides accurate, orderly and rational description of the variable character of the earth surface. This definition emphasizes that everything on this earth has a geographic dimension as everything is place specific and changing from place to place. Thus, management is also a geographic phenomenon, as managerial methods, practices and decisions also change from place to place. They are time and place specific and acting as processes changing over time and space which are emphasized as identities in geography.At present, geographical concepts are significantly applied in management. Particularly in environmental, real estate, human resource and marketing management its application is salient. Internationally, geography is taught as a subject in different faculties of commerce and management. In UK and USA universities even degrees on geography and management are offered.Unfortunately the management faculties in Sri Lanka have neglected its importance particularly in the recent past. Nearly two decades ago economic and commercial geography was taught as a subject of the commerce degree programme but that has also been excluded after the revision of curricular. However, geographical concepts are still significantly applied in management but it seems that academics and practitioners in the field of education and knowledge management are not well aware of geography behind management. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the role of geography for creative and innovative business management practices in Sri Lanka.Methodologically this is a conceptual and thought raising paper by emphasizing the significance of various concepts in geography to the field of management. This is done through a literature survey by following purposive sampling technique for the selection of literature. To emphasize its significance many theoretical and practical aspects particularly accepted internationally are cited. As the outcome, it is expected that the expertise in the field of education and knowledge management will understand the importance of this subject for creative business management practices in Sri Lanka as the paper emphasizes its importance through the geographical identity and the concepts applied in management, decision making in management, world practices in different universities and the text books published in the field of geography and management.Keywords: Education and knowledge management, Geography, Place specific, Process, Time

A Preliminary Investigation towards the Risk Stratification of Allogeneic Stem Cell Recipients with Respect to the Potential for Development of GVHD via Their Pre-Transplant Plasma Lipid and Metabolic Signature

The clinical outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) may be influenced by the metabolic status of the recipient following conditioning, which in turn may enable risk stratification with respect to the development of transplant-associated complications such as graft vs. host disease (GVHD). To better understand the impact of the metabolic profile of transplant recipients on post-transplant alloreactivity, we investigated the metabolic signature of 14 patients undergoing myeloablative conditioning followed by either human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched related or unrelated donor SCT, or autologous SCT. Blood samples were taken following conditioning and prior to transplant on day 0 and the plasma was comprehensively characterized with respect to its lipidome and metabolome via liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LCMS) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS). A pro-inflammatory metabolic profile was observed in patients who eventually developed GVHD. Five potential pre-transplant biomarkers, 2-aminobutyric acid, 1-monopalmitin, diacylglycerols (DG 38:5, DG 38:6), and fatty acid FA 20:1 demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity towards predicting post-transplant GVHD. The resulting predictive model demonstrated an estimated predictive accuracy of risk stratification of 100%, with area under the curve of the ROC of 0.995. The likelihood ratio of 1-monopalmitin (infinity), DG 38:5 (6.0), and DG 38:6 (6.0) also demonstrated that a patient with a positive test result for these biomarkers following conditioning and prior to transplant will be at risk of developing GVHD. Collectively, the data suggest the possibility that pre-transplant metabolic signature may be used for risk stratification of SCT recipients with respect to development of alloreactivity

Conversion of Parameters Among Variants of Scatchard's Neutral-Electrolyte Model for Electrolyte Mixtures that Have Different Numbers of Mixing Terms

Various model equations are available for representing the excess Gibbs energy properties (osmotic and activity coefficients) of aqueous and other liquid mixed-electrolyte solutions. Scatchard's neutral-electrolyte model is among the simplest of these equations for ternary systems and contains terms that represent both symmetrical and asymmetric deviations from ideal mixing behavior when two single-electrolyte solutions are mixed in different proportions at constant ionic strengths. The usual form of this model allows from zero to six mixing parameters. In this report we present an analytical method for transforming the mixing parameters of neutral-electrolyte-type models with larger numbers of mixing parameters directly to those of models with fewer mixing parameters, without recourse to the source data used for evaluation of the original model parameters. The equations for this parameter conversion are based on an extension to ternary systems of the methodology of Rard and Wijesinghe [J. Chem. Thermodyn. 35, 439-473 (2003)] and Wijesinghe and Rard [J. Chem. Thermodyn. 37, 1196-1218 (2005)] that was applied by them to binary systems. It was found that the use of this approach with a constant ionic-strength cutoff of I {le} 6.2 mol {center_dot} kg{sup -1} (the NaCl solubility limit) yielded parameters for the NaCl + SrCl{sub 2} + H{sub 2}O and NaCl + MgCl{sub 2} + H{sub 2}O systems that predicted osmotic coefficients {phi} in excellent agreement with those calculated using the same sets of parameters whose values were evaluated directly from the source data by least-squares, with root mean square differences of RMSE({phi}) = 0.00006 to 0.00062 for the first system and RMSE({phi}) = 0.00014 to 0.00042 for the second. If, however, the directly evaluated parameters were based on experimental data where the ionic strength cutoff varied with the ionic-strength fraction, i.e. because they were constrained by isopiestic ionic strengths (MgCl{sub 2} + MgSO{sub 4} + H{sub 2}O) or solubility/oversaturation ionic strengths (NaCl + SrCl{sub 2} + H{sub 2}O and NaCl + MgCl{sub 2} + H{sub 2}O), then parameters converted by this approach assuming a constant ionic-strength cutoff yield RMSE({phi}) differences about an order of magnitude larger than the previous case. This indicates that for an accurate conversion of model parameters when the source model is constrained with variable ionic strength cutoffs, an extension of the parameter conversion method described herein will be required. However, when the source model parameters are evaluated at a constant ionic strength cutoff, such as when source isopiestic data are constrained to ionic strengths at or below the solubility limit of the less soluble component, or are Emf measurements that are commonly made at constant ionic strengths, then our method yields accurate converted models

pHLIP-Mediated Delivery of PEGylated Liposomes to Cancer Cells

We develop a method for pH-dependent fusion between liposomes and cellular membranes using pHLIP (pH Low Insertion Peptide), which inserts into lipid bilayer of membrane only at low pH. Previously we establish the molecular mechanism of peptide action and show that pHLIP can target acidic diseased tissue. Here we investigate how coating of PEGylated liposomes with pHLIP might affect liposomal uptake by cells. The presence of pHLIP on the surface of PEGylated-liposomes enhanced membrane fusion and lipid exchange in a pH dependent fashion, leading to increase of cellular uptake and payload release, and inhibition of cell proliferation by liposomes containing ceramide. A novel type of pH-sensitive, “fusogenic” pHLIP-liposomes was developed, which could be used to selectively deliver various diagnostic and therapeutic agents to acidic diseased cells

Correction: Detecting antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli using benchtop attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and machine learning.

Correction for 'Detecting antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli using benchtop attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and machine learning' by Hewa G. S. Wijesinghe et al., Analyst, 2021, DOI: 10.1039/d1an00546d