Exotic mesons with hidden charm and bottom near thresholds

We study heavy hadron spectroscopy near heavy meson thresholds. We employ heavy pseudoscalar meson P and heavy vector meson P* as effective degrees of freedom and consider meson exchange potentials between them. All possible composite states which can be constructed from the P and P* mesons are studied up to the total angular momentum J <= 2. We consider, as exotic states, isosinglet states with exotic J^{PC} quantum numbers and isotriplet states. We solve numerically the Schr\"odinger equation with channel-couplings for each state. We found B(*)barB(*) molecule states for I^G(J^{PC}) = 1^+(1^{+-}) correspond to the masses of twin resonances Zb(10610) and Zb(10650). We predict several possible B(*)barB(*) bound and/or resonant states in other channels. On the other hand, there are no B(*)barB(*) bound and/or resonant states whose quantum numbers are exotic.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of The 5th International Workshop on Charm Physics (Charm 2012

Exotic mesons with double charm and bottom flavor

We study exotic mesons with double charm and bottom flavor, whose quark configuration is \bar{Q}\bar{Q}qq. This quark configuration has no annihilation process of quark and antiquark, and hence is a genuinely exotic states. We take a hadronic picture by considering the molecular states composed of a pair of heavy mesons, such as DD, DD* and D*D* for charm flavor, and BB, BB* and B*B* for bottom flavor. The interactions between heavy mesons are derived from the heavy quark effective theory. All molecular states are classified by I(J^P) quantum numbers, and are systematically studied up to the total angular momentum J \leq 2. By solving the coupled channel Schrodinger equations, due to the strong tensor force of one pion exchanging, we find bound and/or resonant states of various quantum numbers.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Polarized Parton Distribution in Neutrino Induced Heavy Flavor Production

In order to examine polarized strange quark distribution, semi-inclusive D/\Dbar production in neutrino deep inelastic scattering is studied including ${\cal O}(\alpha_s)$ corrections. Cross section and spin asymmetry are calculated by using various parametrizations of polarized parton distribution functions. It is found that \Dbar production is promising to directly extract the polarized strange sea.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. Talk given at the NuFact02 workshop, London, UK, July 1-6, 200

Spin degeneracy in multi-hadron systems with a heavy quark

We study multi-hadron systems with a single heavy quark (charm or bottom) in the limit of heavy quark mass. The spin degeneracy of the states with quantum numbers $(j+1/2)^{P}$ and $(j-1/2)^{P}$ for $j \neq 0$, known in a normal hadron, can be generalized to multi-hadron systems. The spin degeneracy is the universal phenomena for any multi-hadron systems with a single heavy quark, irrespective of their internal structures, including compact multi-quarks, hadronic molecules and exotic nuclei. We demonstrate the spin degeneracy in the hadronic systems formed by a heavy hadron effective theory; $P^{(\ast)}N$ states with a $P^{(\ast)}=\bar{D}^{(\ast)}$, $B^{(\ast)}$ meson and a nucleon $N$, and a $P^{(\ast)}$ meson in nuclear matter.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Vicinal Surfaces, Fractional Statistics and Universality

We propose that the phases of all vicinal surfaces can be characterized by four fixed lines, in the renormalization group sense, in a three-dimensional space of coupling constants. The observed configurations of several Si surfaces are consistent with this picture. One of these fixed lines also describes one-dimensional quantum particles with fractional exclusion statistics. The featureless steps of a vicinal surface can therefore be thought of as a realization of fractional-statistics particles, possibly with additional short-range interactions.Comment: 6 pages, revtex, 3 eps figures. To appear in Physical Review Letters. Reference list properly arranged. Caption of Fig. 1 slightly reworded. Fig 3 (in color) is not part of the paper. It complements Fig.

Homologous and heterologous desensitization of guanylyl cyclase-B signaling in GH3 somatolactotropes

The guanylyl cyclases, GC-A and GC-B, are selective receptors for atrial and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP and CNP, respectively). In the anterior pituitary, CNP and GC-B are major regulators of cGMP production in gonadotropes and yet mouse models of disrupted CNP and GC-B indicate a potential role in growth hormone secretion. In the current study, we investigate the molecular and pharmacological properties of the CNP/GC-B system in somatotrope lineage cells. Primary rat pituitary and GH3 somatolactotropes expressed functional GC-A and GC-B receptors that had similar EC50 properties in terms of cGMP production. Interestingly, GC-B signaling underwent rapid homologous desensitization in a protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)-dependent manner. Chronic exposure to either CNP or ANP caused a significant down-regulation of both GC-A- and GC-B-dependent cGMP accumulation in a ligand-specific manner. However, this down-regulation was not accompanied by alterations in the sub-cellular localization of these receptors. Heterologous desensitization of GC-B signaling occurred in GH3 cells following exposure to either sphingosine-1-phosphate or thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH). This heterologous desensitization was protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent, as pre-treatment with GF109203X prevented the effect of TRH on CNP/GC-B signaling. Collectively, these data indicate common and distinct properties of particulate guanylyl cyclase receptors in somatotropes and reveal that independent mechanisms of homologous and heterologous desensitization occur involving either PP2A or PKC. Guanylyl cyclase receptors thus represent potential novel therapeutic targets for treating growth-hormone-associated disorders

Gene Expression of ANP, BNP and ET-1 in the Heart of Rats during Pulmonary Embolism

Aims: Atrial natriuretic petide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) may reflect the severity of right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). The exact nature and source of BNP, ANP and ET-1 expression and secretion following PE has not previously been studied. Methods and Results: Polystyrene microparticles were injected to induce PE in rats. Gene expression of BNP, ANP and ET-1 were determined in the 4 cardiac chambers by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (QPCR). Plasma levels of ANP, BNP, ET-1 and cardiac troponin I (TNI) were measured in plasma. PE dose-dependently increased gene expression of ANP and BNP in the right ventricle (RV) and increased gene expression of ANP in the right atrium (RA). In contrast PE dosedependently decreased BNP gene expression in both the left ventricle (LV) and the left atrium (LA). Plasma levels of BNP, TNI and ET-1 levels dose-dependently increased with the degree of PE. Conclusion: We found a close correlation between PE degree and gene-expression of ANP, and BNP in the cardiac chambers with a selective increase in the right chambers of the heart. The present data supports the idea of natriuretic peptides a

Establishment of infectious HCV virion-producing cells with newly designed full-genome replicon RNA

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon systems enable in-depth analysis of the life cycle of HCV. However, the previously reported full-genome replicon system is unable to produce authentic virions. On the basis of these results, we constructed newly designed full-genomic replicon RNA, which is composed of the intact 5′-terminal-half RNA extending to the NS2 region flanked by an extra selection marker gene. Huh-7 cells harboring this full-genomic RNA proliferated well under G418 selection and secreted virion-like particles into the supernatant. These particles, which were round and 50 nm in diameter when analyzed by electron microscopy, had a buoyant density of 1.08 g/mL that shifted to 1.19 g/mL after NP-40 treatment; these figures match the putative densities of intact virions and nucleocapsids without envelope. The particles also showed infectivity in a colony-forming assay. This system may offer another option for investigating the life cycle of HCV

DHA Supplemented in Peptamen Diet Offers No Advantage in Pathways to Amyloidosis: Is It Time to Evaluate Composite Lipid Diet?

Numerous reports have documented the beneficial effects of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on beta-amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, none of these studies have examined and compared DHA, in combination with other dietary nutrients, for its effects on plaque pathogenesis. Potential interactions of DHA with other dietary nutrients and fatty acids are conventionally ignored. Here we investigated DHA with two dietary regimes; peptamen (pep+DHA) and low fat diet (low fat+DHA). Peptamen base liquid diet is a standard sole-source nutrition for patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction. Here we demonstrate that a robust AD transgenic mouse model shows an increased tendency to produce beta-amyloid peptides and amyloid plaques when fed a pep+DHA diet. The increase in beta-amyloid peptides was due to an elevated trend in the levels of beta-secretase amyloid precursor protein (APP) cleaving enzyme (BACE), the proteolytic C-terminal fragment beta of APP and reduced levels of insulin degrading enzyme that endoproteolyse beta-amyloid. On the contrary, TgCRND8 mice on low fat+DHA diet (based on an approximately 18% reduction of fat intake) ameliorate the production of abeta peptides and consequently amyloid plaques. Our work not only demonstrates that DHA when taken with peptamen may have a tendency to confer a detrimental affect on the amyloid plaque build up but also reinforces the importance of studying composite lipids or nutrients rather than single lipids or nutrients for their effects on pathways important to plaque development