513 research outputs found
Discrepancies in Determinations of the Ginzburg-Landau Parameter
Long-standing discrepancies within determinations of the Ginzburg-Landau
parameter from supercritical field measurements on superconducting
microspheres are reexamined. The discrepancy in tin is shown to result from
differing methods of analyses, whereas the discrepancy in indium is a
consequence of significantly differing experimental results. The reanalyses
however confirms the lower determinations to within experimental
uncertainties.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
Towards an Intraoral-Based Silent Speech Restoration System for Post-laryngectomy Voice Replacement
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017, Silent Speech Interfaces (SSIs) are alternative assistive speech technologies that are capable of restoring speech communication for those individuals who have lost their voice due to laryngectomy or diseases affecting the vocal cords. However, many of these SSIs are still deemed as impractical due to a high degree of intrusiveness and discomfort, hence limiting their transition to outside of the laboratory environment. We aim to address the hardware challenges faced in developing a practical SSI for post-laryngectomy speech rehabilitation. A new Permanent Magnet Articulography (PMA) system is presented which fits within the palatal cavity of the user’s mouth, giving unobtrusive appearance and high portability. The prototype is comprised of a miniaturized circuit constructed using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and is implemented in the form of a dental retainer, which is mounted under roof of the user’s mouth and firmly clasps onto the upper teeth. Preliminary evaluation via speech recognition experiments demonstrates that the intraoral prototype achieves reasonable word recognition accuracy and is comparable to the external PMA version. Moreover, the intraoral design is expected to improve on its stability and robustness, with a much improved appearance since it can be completely hidden inside the user’s mouth
Reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere 1950–2010 atmospheric non-methane hydrocarbons
The short-chain non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) are mostly emitted into the
atmosphere by anthropogenic processes. Recent studies have pointed out a
tight linkage between the atmospheric mole fractions of the NMHC ethane and
the atmospheric growth rate of methane. Consequently, atmospheric NMHC are
valuable indicators for tracking changes in anthropogenic emissions,
photochemical ozone production, and greenhouse gases. This study investigates
the 1950–2010 Northern Hemisphere atmospheric C<sub>2</sub>–C<sub>5</sub> NMHC ethane,
propane, <i>i</i>-butane, <i>n</i>-butane, <i>i</i>-pentane, and <i>n</i>-pentane by (a)
reconstructing atmospheric mole fractions of these trace gases using firn air
extracted from three boreholes in 2008 and 2009 at the North Greenland Eemian
Ice Drilling (NEEM) site and applying state-of-the-art models of trace gas
transport in firn, and by (b) considering eight years of ambient NMHC
monitoring data from five Arctic sites within the NOAA Global Monitoring
Division (GMD) Cooperative Air Sampling Network. Results indicate that these
NMHC increased by ~40–120% after 1950, peaked around 1980 (with
the exception of ethane, which peaked approximately 10 yr earlier), and have
since dramatically decreased to be now back close to 1950 levels. The earlier
peak time of ethane vs. the C<sub>3</sub>–C<sub>5</sub> NMHC suggests that different
processes and emissions mitigation measures contributed to the decline in
these NMHC. The 60 yr record also illustrates notable increases in the
ratios of the isomeric <i>iso-/n</i>-butane and <i>iso-/n</i>-pentane
ratios. Comparison of the reconstructed NMHC histories with 1950–2000
volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions data and with other recently
published ethane trend analyses from ambient air Pacific transect data showed
(a) better agreement with North America and Western Europe emissions than
with total Northern Hemisphere emissions data, and (b) better agreement with
other Greenland firn air data NMHC history reconstructions than with the
Pacific region trends. These analyses emphasize that for NMHC, having
atmospheric lifetimes on the order of < 2 months, the Greenland firn
air records are primarily a representation of Western Europe and North
America emission histories
Charge-Dependence of the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction
Based upon the Bonn meson-exchange-model for the nucleon-nucleon ()
interaction, we calculate the charge-independence breaking (CIB) of the
interaction due to pion-mass splitting. Besides the one-pion-exchange (OPE), we
take into account the -exchange model and contributions from three and
four irreducible pion exchanges. We calculate the CIB differences in the
effective range parameters as well as phase shift differences for
partial waves up to total angular momentum J=4 and laboratory energies below
300 MeV. We find that the CIB effect from OPE dominates in all partial waves.
However, the CIB effects from the model are noticable up to D-waves and
amount to about 40% of the OPE CIB-contribution in some partial waves, at 300
MeV. The effects from 3 and 4 contributions are negligible except in
and .Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, 14 figure
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Beamsplitting using self-imaging
The production of a variable array of optical point sources from a single point source can be achieved through the self-imaging properties inherent in a rectangular waveguide. Two prototype devices, based upon this concept, were designed and constructed. The resulting output patterns are discussed along with future design considerations and applications
Baricitinib inhibits structural joint damage progression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis – a comprehensive review
Baricitinib is an oral selective inhibitor of Janus kinase (JAK)1 and JAK2 that has proved effective and well tolerated in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in an extensive programme of clinical studies of patients with moderate-to-severe disease. In a phase 2b dose-ranging study of baricitinib in combination with traditional disease-modifyingantirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in RA patients, magnetic resonance imaging showed that baricitinib 2 mg or 4 mgonce daily provided dose-dependent suppression of synovitis, osteitis, erosion and cartilage loss at weeks 12 and 24versus placebo. These findings correlated with clinical outcomes and were confirmed in three phase 3 studies (RA-BEGIN, RA-BEAM and RA-BUILD) using X-rays to assess structural joint damage. In patients naïve to DMARDs (RA-BEGINstudy), baricitinib 4 mg once daily as monotherapy or combined with methotrexate produced smaller mean changesin structural joint damage than methotrexate monotherapy at week 24. Differences versus methotrexate werestatistically significant for combined therapy. In patients responding inadequately to methotrexate (RA-BEAM study),baricitinib 4 mg plus background methotrexate significantly inhibited structural joint damage at week 24 versus placebo, and the results were comparable to those observed with adalimumab plus background methotrexate. Inpatients responding inadequately to conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs; RA-BUILD study), baricitinib 4 mgagain significantly inhibited radiographic progression compared with placebo at week 24. Benefits were also observedwith baricitinib 2 mg once daily, but the effects of baricitinib 4 mg were more robust. The positive effects of baricitinib4 mg on radiographic progression continued over 1 and 2 years in the long-term extension study RA-BEYOND, withsimilar effects to adalimumab and significantly greater effects than placebo. Findings from the phase 3 studies ofpatients with RA were supported by preclinical studies, which showed that baricitinib has an osteoprotective effect, increasing mineralisation in bone-forming cells. In conclusion, baricitinib 4 mg once daily inhibits radiographic jointdamage progression in patients with moderate-to-severe RA who are naïve to DMARDs or respond inadequately to csDMARDs, including methotrexate, and the beneficial effects are similar to those observed with adalimumab
Rheumatoid synovial fluid interleukin-17-producing CD4 T cells have abundant tumor necrosis factor-alpha co-expression, but little interleukin-22 and interleukin-23R expression
Introduction\ud
Th17 cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to systematically analyse the phenotype, cytokine profile and frequency of interleukin-17 (IL-17) producing CD4-positive T cells in mononuclear cells isolated from peripheral blood, synovial fluid and synovial tissue of RA patients with established disease, and to correlate cell frequencies with disease activity. \ud
\ud
Methods\ud
Flow cytometry was used to analyse the phenotype and cytokine production of mononuclear cells isolated from peripheral blood (PBMC) (n = 44), synovial fluid (SFMC) (n = 14) and synovium (SVMC) (n = 10) of RA patients and PBMC of healthy controls (n = 13). \ud
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Results\ud
The frequency of IL-17-producing CD4 T cells was elevated in RA SFMC compared with RA PBMC (P = 0.04). However, the frequency of this population in RA SVMC was comparable to that in paired RA PBMC. The percentage of IL-17-producing CD4 T cells coexpressing tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) was significantly increased in SFMC (P = 0.0068). The frequency of IFNγ-producing CD4 T cells was also significantly higher in SFMC than paired PBMC (P = 0.042). The majority of IL-17-producing CD4 T cells coexpressed IFNγ. IL-17-producing CD4 T cells in RA PBMC and SFMC exhibited very little IL-22 or IL-23R coexpression. \ud
\ud
Conclusions\ud
These findings demonstrate a modest enrichment of IL-17-producing CD4 T cells in RA SFMC compared to PBMC. Th17 cells in SFMC produce more TNFα than their PBMC counterparts, but are not a significant source of IL-22 and do not express IL-23R. However, the percentage of CD4 T cells which produce IL-17 in the rheumatoid joint is low, suggesting that other cells may be alternative sources of IL-17 within the joints of RA patients. \ud
\u
The properties of the three-nucleon system with the dressed-bag model for nn interaction. I: New scalar three-body force
A multi-component formalism is developed to describe three-body systems with
nonstatic pairwise interactions and non-nucleonic degrees of freedom. The
dressed-bag model for interaction based on the formation of an
intermediate six-quark bag dressed by a -field is applied to the
system, where it results in a new three-body force between the six-quark bag
and a third nucleon. Concise variational calculations of bound states are
carried out in the dressed-bag model including the new three-body force. It is
shown that this three-body force gives at least half the total binding
energy, while the weight of non-nucleonic components in the H and He
wavefunctions can exceed 10%. The new force model provides a very good
description of bound states with a reasonable magnitude of the
coupling constant. The model can serve as a natural bridge between dynamical
description of few-nucleon systems and the very successful Walecka approach to
heavy nuclei and nuclear matter.Comment: 26 pages, Latex, 7 figure
Role of mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in the regulation of cell apoptosis
Lipid rafts are envisaged as lateral assemblies of specific lipids and proteins that dissociate and associate rapidly and form functional clusters in cell membranes. These structural platforms are not confined to the plasma membrane; indeed lipid microdomains are similarly formed at subcellular organelles, which include endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi and mitochondria, named raft-like microdomains. In addition, some components of raft-like microdomains are present within ER-mitochondria associated membranes. This review is focused on the role of mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in the regulation of cell apoptosis, since these microdomains may represent preferential sites where key reactions take place, regulating mitochondria hyperpolarization, fission-associated changes, megapore formation and release of apoptogenic factors. These structural platforms appear to modulate cytoplasmic pathways switching cell fate towards cell survival or death. Main insights on this issue derive from some pathological conditions in which alterations of microdomains structure or function can lead to severe alterations of cell activity and life span. In the light of the role played by raft-like microdomains to integrate apoptotic signals and in regulating mitochondrial dynamics, it is conceivable that these membrane structures may play a role in the mitochondrial alterations observed in some of the most common human neurodegenerative diseases, such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's chorea and prion-related diseases. These findings introduce an additional task for identifying new molecular target(s) of pharmacological agents in these pathologies
Genome Wide Transcriptome Analysis of Dendritic Cells Identifies Genes with Altered Expression in Psoriasis
Activation of dendritic cells by different pathogens induces the secretion of proinflammatory mediators resulting in
local inflammation. Importantly, innate immunity must be properly controlled, as its continuous activation leads to the
development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or peptidoglycan (PGN)
induced tolerance, a phenomenon of transient unresponsiveness of cells to repeated or prolonged stimulation,
proved valuable model for the study of chronic inflammation. Thus, the aim of this study was the identification of the
transcriptional diversity of primary human immature dendritic cells (iDCs) upon PGN induced tolerance. Using SAGESeq
approach, a tag-based transcriptome sequencing method, we investigated gene expression changes of primary
human iDCs upon stimulation or restimulation with Staphylococcus aureus derived PGN, a widely used TLR2 ligand.
Based on the expression pattern of the altered genes, we identified non-tolerizeable and tolerizeable genes. Gene
Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (Kegg) analysis showed marked enrichment of
immune-, cell cycle- and apoptosis related genes. In parallel to the marked induction of proinflammatory mediators,
negative feedback regulators of innate immunity, such as TNFAIP3, TNFAIP8, Tyro3 and Mer are markedly
downregulated in tolerant cells. We also demonstrate, that the expression pattern of TNFAIP3 and TNFAIP8 is
altered in both lesional, and non-lesional skin of psoriatic patients. Finally, we show that pretreatment of immature
dendritic cells with anti-TNF-α inhibits the expression of IL-6 and CCL1 in tolerant iDCs and partially releases the
suppression of TNFAIP8. Our findings suggest that after PGN stimulation/restimulation the host cell utilizes different
mechanisms in order to maintain critical balance between inflammation and tolerance. Importantly, the transcriptome
sequencing of stimulated/restimulated iDCs identified numerous genes with altered expression to date not associated
with role in chronic inflammation, underlying the relevance of our in vitro model for further characterization of IFNprimed
iDCs
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