568 research outputs found
Spin(p+1,p+1) Covariant Dp-brane Bound States
We construct Spin(p+1,p+1) covariant Dp-brane bound states by using that the
potentials in the RR sector of toroidically compactified type II supergravity
transform as a chiral spinor of the T-duality group. As an application, we show
the invariance of the zero-force condition for a probe D-brane under
noncommutative deformations of the background, which gives a holographic proof
of the stability of the corresponding field theory ground state under
noncommutative deformations. We also identify the Spin(p+1,p+1) transformation
laws by examining the covariance of the D-brane Lagrangians.Comment: revtex, 26 p
Coenzyme Q10 dose-escalation study in hemodialysis patients: safety, tolerability, and effect on oxidative stress.
BackgroundCoenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation improves mitochondrial coupling of respiration to oxidative phosphorylation, decreases superoxide production in endothelial cells, and may improve functional cardiac capacity in patients with congestive heart failure. There are no studies evaluating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of varying doses of CoQ10 in chronic hemodialysis patients, a population subject to increased oxidative stress.MethodsWe performed a dose escalation study to test the hypothesis that CoQ10 therapy is safe, well-tolerated, and improves biomarkers of oxidative stress in patients receiving hemodialysis therapy. Plasma concentrations of F2-isoprostanes and isofurans were measured to assess systemic oxidative stress and plasma CoQ10 concentrations were measured to determine dose, concentration and response relationships.ResultsFifteen of the 20 subjects completed the entire dose escalation sequence. Mean CoQ10 levels increased in a linear fashion from 704 ± 286 ng/mL at baseline to 4033 ± 1637 ng/mL, and plasma isofuran concentrations decreased from 141 ± 67.5 pg/mL at baseline to 72.2 ± 37.5 pg/mL at the completion of the study (P = 0.003 vs. baseline and P < 0.001 for the effect of dose escalation on isofurans). Plasma F2-isoprostane concentrations did not change during the study.ConclusionsCoQ10 supplementation at doses as high as 1800 mg per day was safe in all subjects and well-tolerated in most. Short-term daily CoQ10 supplementation decreased plasma isofuran concentrations in a dose dependent manner. CoQ10 supplementation may improve mitochondrial function and decrease oxidative stress in patients receiving hemodialysis.Trial registrationThis clinical trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov [NCT00908297] on May 21, 2009
Supersymmetric Higher Spin Theories
We revisit the higher spin extensions of the anti de Sitter algebra in four
dimensions that incorporate internal symmetries and admit representations that
contain fermions, classified long ago by Konstein and Vasiliev. We construct
the , Euclidean and Kleinian version of these algebras, as well as the
corresponding fully nonlinear Vasiliev type higher spin theories, in which the
reality conditions we impose on the master fields play a crucial role. The
supersymmetric higher spin theory in , on which we elaborate
further, is included in this class of models. A subset of Konstein-Vasiliev
algebras are the higher spin extensions of the superalgebras
for mod 4 and can be realized using
fermionic oscillators. We tensor the higher superalgebras of the latter kind
with appropriate internal symmetry groups and show that the mod 4
higher spin algebras are isomorphic to those with mod 4. We
describe the fully nonlinear higher spin theories based on these algebras as
well, and we elaborate further on the supersymmetric theory,
providing two equivalent descriptions one of which exhibits manifestly its
relation to the supersymmetric higher spin theory.Comment: 30 pages. Contribution to J. Phys. A special volume on "Higher Spin
Theories and AdS/CFT" edited by M. R. Gaberdiel and M. Vasilie
CT beam dosimetric characterization procedure for personalized dosimetry
Personalized dosimetry in computed tomography (CT) can be realized by a full Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of the scan procedure. Essential input data needed for the simulation are appropriate CT x-ray source models and a model of the patient's body which is based on the CT image. The purpose of this work is to develop comprehensive procedures for the determination of CT x-ray source models and their verification by comparison of calculated and measured dose distributions in physical phantoms. Mobile equipment together with customized software was developed and used for non-invasive determination of equivalent source models of CT scanners under clinical conditions. Standard and physical anthropomorphic CT dose phantoms equipped with real-time CT dose probes at five representative positions were scanned. The accumulated dose was measured during the scan at the five positions. ImpactMC, an MC-based CT dose software program, was used to simulate the scan. The necessary inputs were obtained from the scan parameters, from the equivalent source models and from the material-segmented CT images of the phantoms. 3D dose distributions in the phantoms were simulated and the dose values calculated at the five positions inside the phantom were compared to measured dose values. Initial results were obtained by means of a General Electric Optima CT 660 and a Toshiba (Canon) Aquilion ONE. In general, the measured and calculated dose values were within relative uncertainties that had been estimated to be less than 10%. The procedures developed were found to be viable and rapid. The procedures are applicable to any scanner type under clinical conditions without making use of the service mode with stationary x-ray tube position. Results show that the procedures are well suited for determining and verifying the equivalent source models needed for personalized CT dosimetry based on post-scan MC calculations.Peer reviewe
Molecular cloning and characterization of human endothelial nitric oxide synthase
AbstractThe constitutive calcium/calmodulin-dependent nitric oxide (NO) synthase expressed in vascular endothelium shares common biochemical and pharmacologic properties with neuronal NO synthase. However, recent cloning and molecular characterization of NO synthase from bovine endothelial cells indicated the existence of a family of constitutive NO synthases. Accordingly, we undertook molecular cloning and sequence analysis of human endothelial NO synthase. Complementary DNA clones predict a protein of 1,203 amino acids sharing 94% identity with the bovine endothelial protein, but only 60% identity with the rat brain NO synthase isoform. Northern blot analysis with an endothelial-derived cDNA identified a 4.6–4.8 kb mRNA transcript in HUVEC and in situ hybridization localized transcripts to vascular endothelium but not neuronal tissue
On gravitational interactions for massive higher spins in
In this paper we investigate gravitational interactions of massive higher
spin fields in three dimensional space with arbitrary value of
cosmological constant including flat Minkowski space. We use frame-like gauge
description for such massive fields adopted to three-dimensional case. At
first, we carefully analyze the procedure of switching on gravitational
interactions in the linear approximation on the example of massive spin-3 field
and then proceed with the generalization to the case of arbitrary integer spin
field. As a result we construct a cubic interaction vertex linear in spin-2
field and quadratic in higher spin field on background. As in the
massless case the vertex does not contain any higher derivative corrections to
the Lagrangian and/or gauge transformations. Thus, even after switching on
gravitational interactions, one can freely consider any massless or partially
massless limits as well as the flat one.Comment: 21 pages. Some clarifications and 1 new reference added. Version to
appear in the J.Phys.A special volume on "Higher Spin Theories and AdS/CFT"
edited by Matthias Gaberdiel and Mikhail Vasilie
Miocene initiation and acceleration of extension in the South Lunggar rift, western Tibet: Evolution of an active detachment system from structural mapping and (U-Th)/He thermochronology
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tect.20053/abstractOngoing extension in Tibet may have begun in the middle to late Miocene, but there are few robust estimates of the rates, timing, or magnitude of Neogene deformation within the Tibetan plateau. We present a comprehensive study of the seismically active South Lunggar rift in southwestern Tibet incorporating mapping, U-Pb geochronology and zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronology. The South Lunggar rift is the southern continuation of the North Lunggar rift and comprises a ~50 km N-S central horst bound by two major normal faults, the west-dipping South Lunggar detachment and the east-dipping Palung Co fault. The SLD dips at the rangefront ~20°W and exhumes a well-developed mylonite zone in its footwall displaying fabrics indicative of normal-sense shear. The range is composed of felsic orthogneiss, mafic amphibolite, and leucogranite intrusions dated at ~16 and 63 Ma. Zircon (U-Th)/He cooling ages are Oligocene through late Pliocene, with the youngest ages observed in the footwall of the SLD. We tested ~25,000 unique thermokinematic forward models in Pecube against the structural and (U-Th)/He data to fully bracket the allowable ranges in fault initiations, accelerations, and slip rates. We find that normal faulting in the SLR began in the middle Miocene with horizontal extension rates of ~1 mm a−1, and in the north accelerated at 8 Ma to 2.5–3.0 mm a−1 as faulting commenced on the SLD. Cumulative horizontal extension across the SLR ranges from <10 km in the south to 19–21 km in the north
Deformation independent open brane metrics and generalized theta parameters
We investigate the consequences of generalizing certain well established
properties of the open string metric to the conjectured open membrane and open
Dp-brane metrics. By imposing deformation independence on these metrics their
functional dependence on the background fields can be determined including the
notorious conformal factor. In analogy with the non-commutativity parameter
in the string case, we also obtain `generalized' theta
parameters which are rank q+1 antisymmetric tensors (polyvectors) for open
Dq-branes and rank 3 for the open membrane case. The expressions we obtain for
the open membrane quantities are expected to be valid for general background
field configurations, while the open D-brane quantities are only valid for one
parameter deformations. By reducing the open membrane data to five dimensions,
we show that they, modulo a subtlety with implications for the relation between
OM-theory and NCYM, correctly generate the open string and open D2-data.Comment: 24 pages, LaTe
Gauge fields and infinite chains of dualities
We show that the particle states of Maxwell's theory, in dimensions, can
be represented in an infinite number of ways by using different gauge fields.
Using this result we formulate the dynamics in terms of an infinite set of
duality relations which are first order in space-time derivatives. We derive a
similar result for the three form in eleven dimensions where such a possibility
was first observed in the context of E11. We also give an action formulation
for some of the gauge fields. In this paper we give a pedagogical account of
the Lorentz and gauge covariant formulation of the irreducible representations
of the Poincar\'e group, used previously in higher spin theories, as this plays
a key role in our constructions. It is clear that our results can be
generalised to any particle.Comment: 37 page
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