2,410 research outputs found
The Entanglement in Anisotropic Heisenberg XYZ Chain with inhomogeneous magnetic field
The thermal entanglement of a two-qubit anisotropic Heisenberg chain
under an inhomogeneous magnetic field b is studied. It is shown that when
inhomogeneity is increased to certain value, the entanglement can exhibit a
larger revival than that of less values of b. The property is both true for
zero temperature and a finite temperature. The results also show that the
entanglement and critical temperature can be increased by increasing
inhomogeneous exteral magnetic field
Shape complexity and fractality of fracture surfaces of swelled isotactic polypropylene with supercritical carbon dioxide
We have investigated the fractal characteristics and shape complexity of the
fracture surfaces of swelled isotactic polypropylene Y1600 in supercritical
carbon dioxide fluid through the consideration of the statistics of the islands
in binary SEM images. The distributions of area , perimeter , and shape
complexity follow power laws , , and , with the scaling ranges spanning
over two decades. The perimeter and shape complexity scale respectively as
and in two scaling regions delimited by . The fractal dimension and shape complexity increase when the temperature
decreases. In addition, the relationships among different power-law scaling
exponents , , , , and have been derived analytically,
assuming that , , and follow power-law distributions.Comment: RevTex, 6 pages including 7 eps figure
Quantum-classical transition of the escape rate of uniaxial antiferromagnetic particles in an arbitrarily directed field
Quantum-classical escape rate transition has been studied for uniaxial
antiferromagnetic particles with an arbitrarily directed magnetic field. In the
case that the transverse and longitudinal fileds coexist, we calculate the
phase boundary line between first- and second-order transitions, from which
phase diagrams can be obtained. It is shown that the effects of the applied
longitudinal magnetic field on quantum-classical transition vary greatly for
different relative magnitudes of the non-compensation.Comment: to be appeared in Phys. Rev.
WT1 regulates epicardial epithelial to mesenchymal transition through β-catenin and retinoic acid signaling pathways
AbstractAn epithelial sheet, the epicardium, lines the surface of the heart. In the developing embryo, the epicardium expresses the transcriptional regulator Wilm's Tumor Gene 1 (Wt1). Through incompletely understood mechanisms, Wt1 inactivation derails normal heart development. We investigated mechanisms by which Wt1 regulates heart development and epicardial epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). We used genetic lineage tracing approaches to track and isolate epicardium and epicardium derivatives in hearts lacking Wt1 (Wt1KO). Wt1KO hearts had diminished proliferation of compact myocardium and impaired coronary plexus formation. Wt1KO epicardium failed to undergo EMT. Wt1KO epicardium expressed reduced Lef1 and Ctnnb1 (β-catenin), key components of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Wt1KO epicardium expressed decreased levels of canonical Wnt downstream targets Axin2, Cyclin D1, and Cyclin D2 and exhibited decreased activity of the Batgal Wnt/β-catenin reporter transgene, suggestive of diminished canonical Wnt signaling. Hearts with epicardium-restricted Ctnnb1 loss of function resembled Wt1KO hearts and also failed to undergo epicardial EMT. However, Ctnnb1 inactivation did not alter WT1 expression, positioning Wt1 upstream of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Wnt5a, a prototypic non-canonical Wnt with enriched epicardial expression, and Raldh2, a key regulator of retinoic acid signaling confined to the epicardium, were also markedly downregulated in Wt1KO epicardium. Hearts lacking Wnt5a or Raldh2 shared phenotypic features with Wt1KO. Although Wt1 has been proposed to regulate EMT by repressing E-cadherin, we detected no change in E-cadherin in Wt1KO epicardium. Collectively, our study shows that Wt1 regulates epicardial EMT and heart development through canonical Wnt, non-canonical Wnt, and retinoic acid signaling pathways
Systematic Detection of Polygenic cis-Regulatory Evolution
The idea that most morphological adaptations can be attributed to changes in the
cis-regulation of gene expression levels has been gaining
increasing acceptance, despite the fact that only a handful of such cases have
so far been demonstrated. Moreover, because each of these cases involves only
one gene, we lack any understanding of how natural selection may act on
cis-regulation across entire pathways or networks. Here we
apply a genome-wide test for selection on cis-regulation to two
subspecies of the mouse Mus musculus. We find evidence for
lineage-specific selection at over 100 genes involved in diverse processes such
as growth, locomotion, and memory. These gene sets implicate candidate genes
that are supported by both quantitative trait loci and a validated
causality-testing framework, and they predict a number of phenotypic
differences, which we confirm in all four cases tested. Our results suggest that
gene expression adaptation is widespread and that these adaptations can be
highly polygenic, involving cis-regulatory changes at numerous
functionally related genes. These coordinated adaptations may contribute to
divergence in a wide range of morphological, physiological, and behavioral
phenotypes
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