4,660 research outputs found
Low-energy magnetic radiation: deviations from GOE
A pronounced spike at low energy in the strength function for magnetic
radiation (LEMAR) is found by means of Shell Model calculations, which explains
the experimentally observed enhancement of the dipole strength. LEMAR
originates from statistical low-energy M1-transitions between many excited
complex states. Re-coupling of the proton and neutron high-j orbitals generates
the strong magnetic radiation. LEMAR is closely related to Magnetic Rotation.
LEMAR is predicted for nuclides participating in the r-process of element
synthesis and is expected to change the reaction rates. An exponential decrease
of the strength function and a power law for the size distribution of the
values are found, which strongly deviate from the ones of the GOE of
random matrices, which is commonly used to represent complex compound states.Comment: Proceedings of the conference on Nuclei and Mesoscopic Physics 2014,
MSU, to be published AIP Conference Proceeding
Fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 single nucleotide polymorphism Gly388Arg in head and neck carcinomas
BACKGROUND Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is considered to be a progressive disease resulting from alterations in multiple genes regulating cell proliferation and differentiation like receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and members of the fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR)-family. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) Arg388 of the FGFR4 is associated with a reduced overall survival in patients with cancers of various types. We speculate that FGFR4 expression and SNP is associated with worse survival in patients with HSNCC. AIM To investigate the potential clinical significance of FGFR4 Arg388 in the context of tumors arising in HNSCC, a comprehensive analysis of FGFR4 receptor expression and genotype in tumor tissues and correlated results with patients' clinical data in a large cohort of patients with HNSCC was conducted. METHODS Surgical specimens from 284 patients with HNSCC were retrieved from the Institute of Pathology at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Germany. Specimens were analyzed using immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The expression of FGFR4 was analyzed in 284 surgical specimens of HNSCC using immunohistochemstry. FGFR4 polymorphism was detected by PCR-RFLP. Patients' clinical data with a minimum follow-up of 5 syears were statistically evaluated with a special emphasis on survival analysis employing Kaplan-Meier estimator and Cox regression analysis. RESULTS Concerning the invasive tumor areas the intensity of the FGFR4 expression was evaluated in a four-grade system: no expression, low expression, intermediate and high expression. FGFR4 expression was scored as "high" (+++) in 74 (26%), "intermediate" (++) in 103 (36.3%), and "low" (+) in 107 (36.7%) cases. Analyzing the FGFR4 mutation it was found in 96 tumors (33.8%), 84 of them (29.6%) having a heterozygous and 12 (4.2%) homozygous mutated Arg388 allele. The overall frequency concerning the mutant alleles demonstrated 65% vs 34% mutated alleles in general. FGFR4 Arg388 was significantly associated with advanced tumor stage (P < 0.004), local metastasis (P < 0.0001) and reduced disease-free survival (P < 0.01). Furthermore, increased expression of FGFR4 correlated significantly with worse overall survival (P < 0.003). CONCLUSION In conclusion, the FGFR4 Arg388 genotype and protein expression of FGFR4 impacts tumor progression in patients with HNSCC and may present a useful target within a multimodal therapeutic intervention
Spin-orbit induced longitudinal spin-polarized currents in non-magnetic solids
For certain non-magnetic solids with low symmetry the occurrence of
spin-polarized longitudinal currents is predicted. These arise due to an
interplay of spin-orbit interaction and the particular crystal symmetry. This
result is derived using a group-theoretical scheme that allows investigating
the symmetry properties of any linear response tensor relevant to the field of
spintronics. For the spin conductivity tensor it is shown that only the
magnetic Laue group has to be considered in this context. Within the introduced
general scheme also the spin Hall- and additional related transverse effects
emerge without making reference to the two-current model. Numerical studies
confirm these findings and demonstrate for (AuPt)Sc that
the longitudinal spin conductivity may be in the same order of magnitude as the
conventional transverse one. The presented formalism only relies on the
magnetic space group and therefore is universally applicable to any type of
magnetic order.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, 2 figures (3 & 2 subfigures
The Impact of "Deregulation" on Regulator Behavior: An Empirical Analysis of the Telecommunications Act of 1996
This paper examines how regulators set local prices in response to the changes brought on by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“Telecom Act”). We are particularly interested in the extent to which state regulators set prices that promoted efficiency or were influenced by private-interest groups who had secured rents under a regime of regulated monopoly. Using regional Bell operating company (RBOC) data, our empirical results indicate that private interests continue to influence the structure of retail and wholesale prices, although their influence appears to be waning. We find that changes to the regulatory structure, as measured by federal approval of RBOC Section 271 applications that open up markets to competition and universal service subsidies, resulted in a re-balancing of retail prices and lower overall price levels.competition, political contributions, private interest, public interest, regulation, telecommunications, universal service
Tauroursodeoxycholic acid exerts anticholestatic effects by a cooperative cPKC alpha-/PKA-dependent mechanism in rat liver.
Objective: Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) exerts anticholestatic effects in part by protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent mechanisms. Its taurine conjugate, TUDCA, is a cPKCa agonist. We tested whether protein kinase A (PKA) might contribute to the anticholestatic action of TUDCA via cooperative cPKCa-/PKA-dependent mechanisms
in taurolithocholic acid (TLCA)-induced cholestasis.
Methods: In perfused rat liver, bile flow was determined gravimetrically, organic anion secretion spectrophotometrically,
lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release enzymatically, cAMP response-element binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation by immunoblotting, and cAMP by immunoassay. PKC/PKA inhibitors were tested radiochemically. In vitro phosphorylation of the conjugate export pump, Mrp2/Abcc2, was studied in rat hepatocytes and human Hep-G2 hepatoma cells.
Results: In livers treated with TLCA (10 mmol/l)+TUDCA (25 mmol/l), combined inhibition of cPKC by the cPKCselective
inhibitor Go¨6976 (100 nmol/l) or the nonselective PKC inhibitor staurosporine (10 nmol/l) and of PKA by H89 (100 nmol/l) reduced bile flow by 36% (p,0.05) and 48% (p,0.01), and secretion of the Mrp2/
Abcc2 substrate, 2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione, by 31% (p,0.05) and 41% (p,0.01), respectively; bile flow was
unaffected in control livers or livers treated with TUDCA only or TLCA+taurocholic acid. Inhibition of cPKC or PKA alone did not affect the anticholestatic action of TUDCA. Hepatic cAMP levels and CREB phosphorylation as readout of PKA activity were unaffected by the bile acids
tested, suggesting a permissive effect of PKA for the anticholestatic action of TUDCA. Rat and human hepatocellular Mrp2 were phosphorylated by phorbol ester pretreatment and recombinant cPKCa, nPKCe, and PKA, respectively, in a staurosporine-sensitive manner.
Conclusion: UDCA conjugates exert their anticholestatic action in bile acid-induced cholestasis in part via cooperative post-translational cPKCa-/PKA-dependent
mechanisms. Hepatocellular Mrp2 may be one target of bile acid-induced kinase activation
One-loop surface tensions of (supersymmetric) kink domain walls from dimensional regularization
We consider domain walls obtained by embedding the 1+1-dimensional
-kink in higher dimensions. We show that a suitably adapted dimensional
regularization method avoids the intricacies found in other regularization
schemes in both supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric theories. This method
allows us to calculate the one-loop quantum mass of kinks and surface tensions
of kink domain walls in a very simple manner, yielding a compact d-dimensional
formula which reproduces many of the previous results in the literature. Among
the new results is the nontrivial one-loop correction to the surface tension of
a 2+1 dimensional N=1 supersymmetric kink domain wall with chiral domain-wall
fermions.Comment: 23 pages, LATeX; v2: 25 pages, 2 references added, extended
discussion of renormalization schemes which dispels apparent contradiction
with previous result
Interfaces Within Graphene Nanoribbons
We study the conductance through two types of graphene nanostructures:
nanoribbon junctions in which the width changes from wide to narrow, and curved
nanoribbons. In the wide-narrow structures, substantial reflection occurs from
the wide-narrow interface, in contrast to the behavior of the much studied
electron gas waveguides. In the curved nanoribbons, the conductance is very
sensitive to details such as whether regions of a semiconducting armchair
nanoribbon are included in the curved structure -- such regions strongly
suppress the conductance. Surprisingly, this suppression is not due to the band
gap of the semiconducting nanoribbon, but is linked to the valley degree of
freedom. Though we study these effects in the simplest contexts, they can be
expected to occur for more complicated structures, and we show results for
rings as well. We conclude that experience from electron gas waveguides does
not carry over to graphene nanostructures. The interior interfaces causing
extra scattering result from the extra effective degrees of freedom of the
graphene structure, namely the valley and sublattice pseudospins.Comment: 19 pages, published version, several references added, small changes
to conclusion
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