150 research outputs found
Absence of the zero bias peak in vortex tunneling spectra of high temperature superconductors?
The c-axis tunneling matrix of high-Tc superconductors is shown to depend
strongly on the in-plane momentum of electrons and vanish along the four nodal
lines of the d(x^2-y^2)-wave energy gap. This anisotropic tunneling matrix
suppresses completely the contribution of the most extended quasiparticles in
the vortex core to the c-axis tunneling current and leads to a spectrum similar
to that of a nodeless superconductor. Our results give a natural explanation of
the absence of the zero bias peak as well as other features observed in the
vortex tunneling spectra of high-Tc cuprates.Comment: 4 pages 3 figures, minor corrections, to appear in Phys Rev
A quantitative risk assessment model to evaluate effective border control measures for rabies prevention
Border control is the primary method to prevent rabies emergence. This study developed a quantitative risk model incorporating stochastic processes to evaluate whether border control measures could efficiently prevent rabies introduction through importation of cats and dogs using Taiwan as an example. Both legal importation and illegal smuggling were investigated. The impacts of reduced quarantine and/or waiting period on the risk of rabies introduction were also evaluated. The results showed that Taiwan's current animal importation policy could effectively prevent rabies introduction through legal importation of cats and dogs. The median risk of a rabid animal to penetrate current border control measures and enter Taiwan was 5.33 X 10(-8) (95th percentile: 3.20 x 10(-7)). However, illegal smuggling may pose Taiwan to the great risk of rabies emergence. Reduction of quarantine and/or waiting period would affect the risk differently, depending on the applied assumptions, such as increased vaccination coverage, enforced custom checking, and/or change in number of legal importations. Although the changes in the estimated risk under the assumed alternatives were not substantial except for completely abolishing quarantine, the consequences of rabies introduction may yet be considered to be significant in a rabies-free area. Therefore, a comprehensive benefit-cost analysis needs to be conducted before recommending these alternative measures
Polyhedral vesicles
Polyhedral vesicles with a large bending modulus of the membrane such as the
gel phase lipid membrane were studied using a Brownian dynamics simulation. The
vesicles exhibit various polyhedral morphologies such as tetrahedron and cube
shapes. We clarified two types of line defects on the edges of the polyhedrons:
cracks of both monolayers at the spontaneous curvature of monolayer , and a crack of the inner monolayer at . Around the
latter defect, the inner monolayer curves positively. Our results suggested
that the polyhedral morphology is controlled by .Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Robust signatures of solar neutrino oscillation solutions
With the goal of identifying signatures that select specific neutrino
oscillation parameters, we test the robustness of global oscillation solutions
that fit all the available solar and reactor experimental data. We use three
global analysis strategies previously applied by different authors and also
determine the sensitivity of the oscillation solutions to the critical nuclear
fusion cross section, S_{17}(0), for the production of 8B. The favored
solutions are LMA, LOW, and VAC in order of g.o.f. The neutral current to
charged current ratio for SNO is predicted to be 3.5 +- 0.6 (1 sigma), which is
separated from the no-oscillation value of 1.0 by much more than the expected
experimental error. The predicted range of the day-night difference in charged
current rates is (8.2 +- 5.2)% and is strongly correlated with the day-night
effect for neutrino-electron scattering. A measurement by SNO of either a NC to
CC ratio > 3.3 or a day-night difference > 10%, would favor a small region of
the currently allowed LMA neutrino parameter space. The global oscillation
solutions predict a 7Be neutrino-electron scattering rate in BOREXINO and
KamLAND in the range 0.66 +- 0.04 of the BP00 standard solar model rate, a
prediction which can be used to test both the solar model and the neutrino
oscillation theory. Only the LOW solution predicts a large day-night effect(<
42%) in BOREXINO and KamLAND. For the KamLAND reactor experiment, the LMA
solution predicts 0.44 of the standard model rate; we evaluate 1 sigma and 3
sigma uncertainties and the first and second moments of the energy spectrum.Comment: Included predictions for KamLAND reactor experiment and updated to
include 1496 days of Super-Kamiokande observation
Blocking Effect of an Immuno-Suppressive Agent, Cynarin, on CD28 of T-Cell Receptor
Purpose: Cynarin, a potential immunosuppressant that blocks the interaction between the CD28 of T-cell receptor and CD80 of antigen presenting cells, was found in Echinacea purpurea by a new pharmaceutical screening method: After Flowing Through Immobilized Receptor (AFTIR; Dong et al., J Med Chem, 49:1845-1854, 2006). This Echinacea component is the first small molecule that is able to specifically block "signal 2" of T-cell activation. Methods: In this study, we used the AFTIR method to further confirm that cynarin effectively blocked the binding between CD80 of B-cells and CD28 of T-cells, and provide details of its mechanism of action. Results: The experimental results showed that cynarin blocked about 87% of the CD28-dependent "signal 2" pathway of T-cell activation under the condition of one to one ratio of T-cell and B-cell in vitro. Theoretical structure modeling showed that cynarin binds to the "G-pocket" of CD28 (Evans et al., Nat Immunol, 6:271-279, 2005), and thus interrupts the site of interaction between CD28 and CD80. Conclusions: These results confirm both that AFTIR is a promising method for screening selective active compounds from herbal medicine and that cynarin has great potential as an immuno-suppressive agent
Green function techniques in the treatment of quantum transport at the molecular scale
The theoretical investigation of charge (and spin) transport at nanometer
length scales requires the use of advanced and powerful techniques able to deal
with the dynamical properties of the relevant physical systems, to explicitly
include out-of-equilibrium situations typical for electrical/heat transport as
well as to take into account interaction effects in a systematic way.
Equilibrium Green function techniques and their extension to non-equilibrium
situations via the Keldysh formalism build one of the pillars of current
state-of-the-art approaches to quantum transport which have been implemented in
both model Hamiltonian formulations and first-principle methodologies. We offer
a tutorial overview of the applications of Green functions to deal with some
fundamental aspects of charge transport at the nanoscale, mainly focusing on
applications to model Hamiltonian formulations.Comment: Tutorial review, LaTeX, 129 pages, 41 figures, 300 references,
submitted to Springer series "Lecture Notes in Physics
Long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments and CP violation in the lepton sector
We discuss possibilities to investigate the effects of CP (and T) violation
in the lepton sector in neutrino oscillation experiments. We consider the
effects of CP violation in the framework of two schemes of mixing of four
massive neutrinos that can accommodate the results of all neutrino oscillation
experiments. Using the constraints on the mixing parameters that follow from
the results of short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, we derive
rather strong upper bounds on the effects of CP violation in nu_munu_e
transitions in long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. We show that the
effects of CP violation in nu_munu_tau transitions in long-baseline
oscillation experiments can be as large as is allowed by the unitarity of the
mixing matrix. The matter effects, which complicate the problem of searching
for CP violation in long-baseline experiments, are discussed in detail. We
consider the T-odd asymmetries whose measurement could allow to reveal T and CP
violation in the lepton sector independently from matter effects.Comment: 31 pages, including 5 figure
Rare SLC13A1 variants associate with intervertebral disc disorder highlighting role of sulfate in disc pathology
Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Back pain is a common and debilitating disorder with largely unknown underlying biology. Here we report a genome-wide association study of back pain using diagnoses assigned in clinical practice; dorsalgia (119,100 cases, 909,847 controls) and intervertebral disc disorder (IDD) (58,854 cases, 922,958 controls). We identify 41 variants at 33 loci. The most significant association (ORIDD = 0.92, P = 1.6 × 10−39; ORdorsalgia = 0.92, P = 7.2 × 10−15) is with a 3’UTR variant (rs1871452-T) in CHST3, encoding a sulfotransferase enzyme expressed in intervertebral discs. The largest effects on IDD are conferred by rare (MAF = 0.07 − 0.32%) loss-of-function (LoF) variants in SLC13A1, encoding a sodium-sulfate co-transporter (LoF burden OR = 1.44, P = 3.1 × 10−11); variants that also associate with reduced serum sulfate. Genes implicated by this study are involved in cartilage and bone biology, as well as neurological and inflammatory processes.Peer reviewe
Ezrin Mediates Tethering of the γ-Aminobutyric Acid Transporter GAT1 to Actin Filaments Via a C-Terminal PDZ-Interacting Domain
A high density of neurotransmitter transporters on axons and presynaptic boutons is required for the efficient clearance of neurotransmitters from the synapse. Therefore, regulators of transporter trafficking (insertion, retrieval, and confinement) can play an important role in maintaining the transporter density necessary for effective function. We determined the interactions that confine GAT1 at the membrane by investigating the lateral mobility of GAT1-yellow fluorescent protein-8 (YFP8) expressed in neuroblastoma 2a cells. Through fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, we found that a significant fraction (~50%) of membrane-localized GAT1 is immobile on the time scale investigated (~150 s). The mobility of the transporter can be increased by depolymerizing actin or by interrupting the GAT1 postsynaptic density 95/Discs large/zona occludens 1 (PDZ)-interacting domain. Microtubule depolymerization, in contrast, does not affect GAT1 membrane mobility. We also identified ezrin as a major GAT1 adaptor to actin. Förster resonance energy transfer suggests that GAT1-YFP8 and cyan fluorescent (CFP) tagged ezrin (ezrin-CFP) exist within a complex that has a Förster resonance energy transfer efficiency of 19% ± 2%. This interaction can be diminished by disrupting the actin cytoskeleton. In addition, the disruption of actin results in a >3-fold increase in γ-aminobutyric acid uptake, apparently via a mechanism distinct from the PDZ-interacting protein. Our data reveal that actin confines GAT1 to the plasma membrane via ezrin, and this interaction is mediated through the PDZ-interacting domain of GAT1
- …