1,100 research outputs found
Thermodynamic Geometry of black hole in the deformed Horava-Lifshitz gravity
We investigate the thermodynamic geometry and phase transition of
Kehagias-Sfetsos black hole in the deformed Horava-Lifshitz gravity with
coupling constant . The phase transition in black hole
thermodynamics is thought to be associated with the divergence of the
capacities. And the structures of these divergent points are studied. We also
find that the thermodynamic curvature produced by the Ruppeiner metric is
positive definite for all and is divergence at
corresponded to the divergent points of and . These results
suggest that the microstructure of the black hole has an effective repulsive
interaction, which is very similar to the ideal gas of fermions. These may
shine some light on the microstructure of the black hole.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Experimental entanglement verification and quantification via uncertainty relations
We report on experimental studies on entanglement quantification and
verification based on uncertainty relations for systems consisting of two
qubits. The new proposed measure is shown to be invariant under local unitary
transformations, by which entanglement quantification is implemented for
two-qubit pure states. The nonlocal uncertainty relations for two-qubit pure
states are also used for entanglement verification which serves as a basic
proposition and promise to be a good choice for verification of multipartite
entanglement.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and 2 table
Upper bounds on the first eigenvalue for a diffusion operator via Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature II
Let be a symmetric diffusion operator
with an invariant measure on a complete Riemannian
manifold. In this paper we prove Li-Yau gradient estimates for weighted
elliptic equations on the complete manifold with
and -dimensional Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature bounded below by some
negative constant. Based on this, we give an upper bound on the first
eigenvalue of the diffusion operator on this kind manifold, and thereby
generalize a Cheng's result on the Laplacian case (Math. Z., 143 (1975)
289-297).Comment: Final version. The original proof of Theorem 2.1 using Li-Yau
gradient estimate method has been moved to the appendix. The new proof is
simple and direc
-minimal surface and manifold with positive -Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature
In this paper, we first prove a compactness theorem for the space of closed
embedded -minimal surfaces of fixed topology in a closed three-manifold with
positive Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature. Then we give a Lichnerowicz type
lower bound of the first eigenvalue of the -Laplacian on compact manifold
with positive -Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature, and prove that the lower
bound is achieved only if the manifold is isometric to the -shpere, or the
-dimensional hemisphere. Finally, for compact manifold with positive
-Bakry-\'{E}mery Ricci curvature and -mean convex boundary, we prove an
upper bound for the distance function to the boundary, and the upper bound is
achieved if only if the manifold is isometric to an Euclidean ball.Comment: 15 page
PEG Minocycline-Liposomes Ameliorate CNS Autoimmune Disease
Minocycline is an oral tetracycline derivative with good bioavailability in the central nervous system (CNS). Minocycline, a potent inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, attenuates disease activity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Potential adverse effects associated with long-term daily minocycline therapy in human patients are concerning. Here, we investigated whether less frequent treatment with long-circulating polyethylene glycol (PEG) minocycline liposomes are effective in treating EAE.Performing in vitro time kinetic studies of PEG minocycline-liposomes in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we determined that PEG minocycline-liposome preparations stabilized with CaCl(2) are effective in diminishing MMP-9 activity. Intravenous injections of PEG minocycline-liposomes every five days were as effective in ameliorating clinical EAE as daily intraperitoneal injections of minocycline. Treatment of animals with PEG minocycline-liposomes significantly reduced the number of CNS-infiltrating leukocytes, and the overall expression of MMP-9 in the CNS. There was also a significant suppression of MMP-9 expression and proteolytic activity in splenocytes of treated animals, but not in CNS-infiltrating leukocytes. Thus, leukocytes gaining access to the brain and spinal cord require the same absolute amount of MMP-9 in all treatment groups, but minocycline decreases the absolute cell number.Our data indicate that less frequent injections of PEG minocycline-liposomes are an effective alternative pharmacotherapy to daily minocycline injections for the treatment of CNS autoimmune diseases. Also, inhibition of MMP-9 remains a promising treatment target in EAE and patients with MS
Identification of an INa-dependent and Ito-mediated proarrhythmic mechanism in cardiomyocytes derived from pluripotent stem cells of a Brugada syndrome patient
Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited cardiac arrhythmia commonly associated with SCN5A mutations, yet its ionic mechanisms remain unclear due to a lack of cellular models. Here, we used human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) from a BrS patient (BrS1) to evaluate the roles of Na+ currents (INa) and transient outward K+ currents (Ito) in BrS induced action potential (AP) changes. To understand the role of these current changes in repolarization we employed dynamic clamp to "electronically express" IK1 and restore normal resting membrane potentials and allow normal recovery of the inactivating currents, INa, ICa and Ito. HiPSC-CMs were generated from BrS1 with a compound SCN5A mutation (p. A226V & p. R1629X) and a healthy sibling control (CON1). Genome edited hiPSC-CMs (BrS2) with a milder p. T1620M mutation and a commercial control (CON2) were also studied. CON1, CON2 and BrS2, had unaltered peak INa amplitudes, and normal APs whereas BrS1, with over 75% loss of INa, displayed a loss-of-INa basal AP morphology (at 1.0 Hz) manifested by a reduced maximum upstroke velocity (by ~80%, p < 0.001) and AP amplitude (p < 0.001), and an increased phase-1 repolarization pro-arrhythmic AP morphology (at 0.1 Hz) in ~25% of cells characterized by marked APD shortening (~65% shortening, p < 0.001). Moreover, Ito densities of BrS1 and CON1 were comparable and increased from 1.0 Hz to 0.1 Hz by ~ 100%. These data indicate that a repolarization deficit could be a mechanism underlying BrS
GC-1 mRHBDD1 knockdown spermatogonia cells lose their spermatogenic capacity in mouse seminiferous tubules
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Apoptosis is important for regulating spermatogenesis. The protein mRHBDD1 (mouse homolog of human RHBDD1)/rRHBDD1 (rat homolog of human RHBDD1) is highly expressed in the testis and is involved in apoptosis of spermatogonia. GC-1, a spermatogonia cell line, has the capacity to differentiate into spermatids within the seminiferous tubules. We constructed mRHBDD1 knockdown GC-1 cells and evaluated their capacity to differentiate into spermatids in mouse seminiferous tubules.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Stable mRHBDD1 knockdown GC-1 cells were sensitive to apoptotic stimuli, PS341 and UV irradiation. <it>In vitro</it>, they survived and proliferated normally. However, they lost the ability to survive and differentiate in mouse seminiferous tubules.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that mRHBDD1 may be associated with mammalian spermatogenesis.</p
Expression of a Serine Protease Gene prC Is Up-Regulated by Oxidative Stress in the Fungus Clonostachys rosea: Implications for Fungal Survival
BACKGROUND: Soil fungi face a variety of environmental stresses such as UV light, high temperature, and heavy metals. Adaptation of gene expression through transcriptional regulation is a key mechanism in fungal response to environmental stress. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the transcription factors Msn2/4 induce stress-mediated gene expression by binding to the stress response element. Previous studies have demonstrated that the expression of extracellular proteases is up-regulated in response to heat shock in fungi. However, the physiological significance of regulation of these extracellular proteases by heat shock remains unclear. The nematophagous fungus Clonostachys rosea can secret an extracellular serine protease PrC during the infection of nematodes. Since the promoter of prC has three copies of the stress response element, we investigated the effect of environmental stress on the expression of prC. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our results demonstrated that the expression of prC was up-regulated by oxidants (H(2)O(2) or menadione) and heat shock, most likely through the stress response element. After oxidant treatment or heat shock, the germination of conidia in the wild type strain was significantly higher than that in the prC mutant strain in the presence of nematode cuticle. Interestingly, the addition of nematode cuticle significantly attenuated the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by oxidants and heat shock in the wild type strain, but not in prC mutant strain. Moreover, low molecule weight (<3 kD) degradation products of nematode cuticle suppressed the inhibitory effect of conidial germination induced by oxidants and heat shock. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results indicate that PrC plays a protective role in oxidative stress in C. rosea. PrC degrades the nematode cuticle to produce degradation products, which in turn offer a protective effect against oxidative stress by scavenging ROS. Our study reveals a novel strategy for fungi to adapt to environmental stress
Direct observational evidence of the multi-scale, dynamical mass accretion toward a high-mass star forming hub-filament system
There is growing evidence that high-mass star formation and hub-filament
systems (HFS) are intricately linked. The gas kinematics along the filaments
and the forming high-mass star(s) in the central hub are in excellent agreement
with the new generation of global hierarchical high-mass star formation models.
In this paper, we present an observational investigation of a typical HFS
cloud, G310.142+0.758 (G310 hereafter) which reveals unambiguous evidence of
mass inflow from the cloud scale via the filaments onto the forming
protostar(s) at the hub conforming with the model predictions. Continuum and
molecular line data from the ATOMS and MALT90 surveys are used that cover
different spatial scales. Three filaments (with total mass ) are identified converging toward the central hub region where
several signposts of high-mass star formation have been observed. The hub
region contains a massive clump () harbouring a central
massive core. Additionally, five outflow lobes are associated with the central
massive core implying a forming cluster. The observed large-scale, smooth and
coherent velocity gradients from the cloud down to the core scale, and the
signatures of infall motion seen in the central massive clump and core, clearly
unveil a nearly-continuous, multi-scale mass accretion/transfer process at a
similar mass infall rate of over all scales,
feeding the central forming high-mass protostar(s) in the G310 HFS cloud.Comment: Accepted to publish in ApJ. 10 pages with 6 figures and 2 table
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