3,969 research outputs found
Global Analysis of Fragmentation Functions for Eta Mesons
Fragmentation functions for eta mesons are extracted at next-to-leading order
accuracy of QCD in a global analysis of data taken in electron-positron
annihilation and proton-proton scattering experiments. The obtained
parametrization is in good agreement with all data sets analyzed and can be
utilized, for instance, in future studies of double-spin asymmetries for
single-inclusive eta production. The Lagrange multiplier technique is used to
estimate the uncertainties of the fragmentation functions and to assess the
role of the different data sets in constraining them.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, updated reference
Alginate hydrogels for in vivo bone regeneration : the immune competence of the animal model matters
Biomaterials with tunable biophysical properties hold great potential for tissue engineering. The adaptive immune system plays an important role in bone regeneration. Our goal is to investigate the regeneration potential of cell-laden alginate hydrogels depending on the immune status of the animal model. Specifically, the regeneration potential of rat mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-laden, void-forming alginate hydrogels, with a stiffness optimized for osteogenic differentiation, is studied in 5 mm critical-sized femoral defects, in both T-cell deficient athymic RNU nude rats and immunocompetent Sprague Dawley rats. Bone volume fraction, bone mineral density and tissue mineral density are higher for athymic RNU nude rats 6 weeks post-surgery. Additionally, these animals show a significantly higher number of total cells and cells with non-lymphocyte morphology at the defect site, while the number of cells with lymphocyte-like morphology is lower. Hydrogel degradation is slower and the remaining alginate fragments are surrounded by a thicker fibrous capsule. Ossification islands originating from alginate residues suggest that encapsulated MSCs differentiate into the osteogenic lineage and initiate the mineralization process. However, this effect is insufficient to fully bridge the bone defect in both animal models. Alginate hydrogels can be used to deliver MSCs and thereby recruit endogenous cells through paracrine signaling, but additional osteogenic stimuli are needed to regenerate critical-sized segmental femoral defects
In vivo microCT-based time-lapse morphometry reveals anatomical site-specific differences in bone (re)modeling serving as baseline parameters to detect early pathological events
The bone structure is very dynamic and continuously adapts its geometry to external stimuli by modeling and remodeling the mineralized tissue. In vivo microCT-based time-lapse morphometry is a powerful tool to study the temporal and spatial dynamics of bone (re)modeling. Here an advancement in the methodology to detect and quantify site-specific differences in bone (re)modeling of 12-week-old BALB/c nude mice is presented. We describe our method of quantifying new bone surface interface readouts and how these are influenced by bone curvature. This method is then used to compare bone surface (re)modeling in mice across different anatomical regions to demonstrate variations in the rate of change and spatial gradients thereof. Significant differences in bone (re)modeling baseline parameters between the metaphyseal and epiphyseal are shown, as well as cortical and trabecular bone of the distal femur and proximal tibia. These results are validated using conventional static in vivo microCT analysis. Finally, the insights from these new baseline values of physiological bone (re)modeling were used to evaluate pathological bone (re)modeling in a pilot breast cancer bone metastasis model. The method shows the potential to be suitable to detect early pathological events and track their spatio-temporal development in both cortical and trabecular bone. This advancement in (re)modeling surface analysis and defined baseline parameters according to distinct anatomical regions will be valuable to others investigating various disease models with site-distinct local alterations in bone (re)modeling.ER
Pion production in deeply virtual Compton scattering
Using a soft pion theorem based on chiral symmetry and a
resonance model we propose an estimate for the production cross section of low
energy pions in the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) process. In
particular, we express the processes in terms of
generalized parton distributions. We provide estimates of the contamination of
the DVCS observables due to this associated pion
production processes when the experimental data are not fully exclusive, for a
set of kinematical conditions representative of present or planned experiments
at JLab, HERMES and COMPASS.Comment: 50 pages, 22 figure
Understanding the proton's spin structure
We discuss the tremendous progress that has been towards an understanding of
how the spin of the proton is distributed on its quark and gluon constituents.
This is a problem that began in earnest twenty years ago with the discovery of
the proton ``spin crisis'' by the European Muon Collaboration. The discoveries
prompted by that original work have given us unprecedented insight into the
amount of spin carried by polarized gluons and the orbital angular momentum of
the quarks.Comment: Review article for J. Phys. G, 1 figure, 22 page
Beam-helicity asymmetries for single-hadron production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering from unpolarized hydrogen and deuterium targets
A measurement of beam-helicity asymmetries for single-hadron production in
deep-inelastic scattering is presented. Data from the scattering of 27.6 GeV
electrons and positrons off gaseous hydrogen and deuterium targets were
collected by the HERMES experiment. The asymmetries are presented separately as
a function of the Bjorken scaling variable, the hadron transverse momentum, and
the fractional energy for charged pions and kaons as well as for protons and
anti-protons. These asymmetries are also presented as a function of the three
aforementioned kinematic variables simultaneously
Modelling generalized parton distributions to describe deeply virtual Compton scattering data
We present a new model for generalized parton distributions (GPDs), based on
the aligned jet model, which successfully describes the deeply virtual Compton
scattering (DVCS) data from H1, ZEUS, HERMES and CLAS. We also present an
easily implementable and flexible algorithm for their construction. This new
model is necessary since the most widely used models for GPDs, which are based
on factorized double distributions, cannot, in their current form, describe the
DVCS data when employed in a full QCD analysis. We demonstrate explicitly the
reason for the shortcoming in the data description. We also highlight several
non-perturbative input parameters which could be used to tune the GPDs, and the
-dependence, to the DVCS data using a fitting procedure.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, revtex4, shortened version accepted for
publication in PRD, figures improved and references adde
- …