344 research outputs found
The relationship between blood lead, blood pressure, stroke, and heart attacks in middle-aged British men.
The relationship between blood lead concentration and blood pressure is examined in a survey of 7371 men aged 40 to 59 from 24 British towns. After allowance for relevant confounding variables, including town of residence and alcohol consumption, there exists a very weak but statistically significant positive association between blood lead and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. These cross-sectional data indicate that an estimated mean increase of 1.45 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure occurs for every doubling of blood lead concentration with a 95% confidence interval of 0.47 to 2.43 mm Hg. After 6 years of follow-up, 316 of these men had major ischemic heart disease, and 66 had a stroke. After allowance for the confounding effects of cigarette smoking and town of residence there is no evidence that blood lead is a risk factor for these cardiovascular events. However, as the blood lead-blood pressure association is so weak, it is unlikely that any consequent association between lead and cardiovascular disease could be demonstrated from prospective epidemiological studies. An overview of data from this and other large epidemiological surveys provides reasonably consistent evidence on lead and blood pressure. While NHANES II data on 2254 U.S. men indicate a slightly stronger association between blood lead and systolic blood pressure, data from two Welsh studies on over 2000 men did not show a statistically significant association. However, the overlapping confidence limits for all these studies suggest that there may be a weak positive statistical association whereby systolic blood pressure is increased by about 1 mm Hg for every doubling of blood lead concentration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
The Nernst effect and the boundaries of the Fermi liquid picture
Following the observation of an anomalous Nernst signal in cuprates, the
Nernst effect was explored in a variety of metals and superconductors during
the past few years. This paper reviews the results obtained during this
exploration, focusing on the Nernst response of normal quasi-particles as
opposed to the one generated by superconducting vortices or by short-lived
Cooper pairs. Contrary to what has been often assumed, the so-called Sondheimer
cancelation does not imply a negligible Nernst response in a Fermi liquid. In
fact, the amplitude of the Nernst response measured in various metals in the
low-temperature limit is scattered over six orders of magnitude. According to
the data, this amplitude is roughly set by the ratio of electron mobility to
Fermi energy in agreement with the implications of the semi-classical transport
theory.Comment: Final version, Topical review for JPC
Neutron-3H and Proton-3He Zero Energy Scattering
The Kohn variational principle and the (correlated) Hyperspherical Harmonics
technique are applied to study the n-3H and p-3He scattering at zero energy.
Predictions for the singlet and triplet scattering lengths are obtained for
non-relativistic nuclear Hamiltonians including two- and three-body potentials.
The calculated n-3H total cross section agrees well with the measured value,
while some small discrepancy is found for the coherent scattering length. For
the p-3He channel, the calculated scattering lengths are in reasonable
agreement with the values extrapolated from the measurements made above 1 MeV.Comment: 13 pages, REVTEX, 1 figur
Optimal interlayer hopping and high temperature Bose–Einstein condensation of local pairs in quasi 2D superconductors
Both FeSe and cuprate superconductors are quasi 2D materials with high transition temperatures and local fermion pairs. Motivated by such systems, we investigate real space pairing of fermions in an anisotropic lattice model with intersite attraction, V, and strong local Coulomb repulsion, U, leading to a determination of the optimal conditions for superconductivity from Bose–Einstein condensation. Our aim is to gain insight as to why high temperature superconductors tend to be quasi 2D. We make both analytically and numerically exact solutions for two body local pairing applicable to intermediate and strong V. We find that the Bose–Einstein condensation temperature of such local pairs pairs is maximal when hopping between layers is intermediate relative to in-plane hopping, indicating that the quasi 2D nature of unconventional superconductors has an important contribution to their high transition temperatures
Radiative capture and electromagnetic dissociation involving loosely bound nuclei: the B example
Electromagnetic processes in loosely bound nuclei are investigated using an
analytical model. In particular, electromagnetic dissociation of B is
studied and the results of our analytical model are compared to numerical
calculations based on a three-body picture of the B bound state. The
calculation of energy spectra is shown to be strongly model dependent. This is
demonstrated by investigating the sensitivity to the rms intercluster distance,
the few-body behavior, and the effects of final state interaction. In contrast,
the fraction of the energy spectrum which can be attributed to E1 transitions
is found to be almost model independent at small relative energies. This
finding is of great importance for astrophysical applications as it provides us
with a new tool to extract the E1 component from measured energy spectra. An
additional, and independent, method is also proposed as it is demonstrated how
two sets of experimental data, obtained with different beam energy and/or
minimum impact parameter, can be used to extract the E1 component.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. C. 10 pages, 7 figure
Geometry and symmetries of multi-particle systems
The quantum dynamical evolution of atomic and molecular aggregates, from
their compact to their fragmented states, is parametrized by a single
collective radial parameter. Treating all the remaining particle coordinates in
d dimensions democratically, as a set of angles orthogonal to this collective
radius or by equivalent variables, bypasses all independent-particle
approximations. The invariance of the total kinetic energy under arbitrary
d-dimensional transformations which preserve the radial parameter gives rise to
novel quantum numbers and ladder operators interconnecting its eigenstates at
each value of the radial parameter.
We develop the systematics and technology of this approach, introducing the
relevant mathematics tutorially, by analogy to the familiar theory of angular
momentum in three dimensions. The angular basis functions so obtained are
treated in a manifestly coordinate-free manner, thus serving as a flexible
generalized basis for carrying out detailed studies of wavefunction evolution
in multi-particle systems.Comment: 37 pages, 2 eps figure
Chemoenzymatic Probes for Detecting and Imaging Fucose-α(1-2)-galactose Glycan Biomarkers
The disaccharide motif fucose-α(1-2)-galactose (Fucα(1-2)Gal) is involved in many important physiological processes, such as learning and memory, inflammation, asthma, and tumorigenesis. However, the size and structural complexity of Fucα(1-2)Gal-containing glycans have posed a significant challenge to their detection. We report a new chemoenzymatic strategy for the rapid, sensitive detection of Fucα(1-2)Gal glycans. We demonstrate that the approach is highly selective for the Fucα(1-2)Gal motif, detects a variety of complex glycans and glycoproteins, and can be used to profile the relative abundance of the motif on live cells, discriminating malignant from normal cells. This approach represents a new potential strategy for biomarker detection and expands the technologies available for understanding the roles of this important class of carbohydrates in physiology and disease
Immunoglobulin G; structure and functional implications of different subclass modifications in initiation and resolution of allergy.
IgE and not IgG is usually associated with allergy. IgE lodged on mast cells in skin or gut and basophils in the blood allows for the prolonged duration of allergy through the persistent expression of high affinity IgE receptors. However, many allergic reactions are not dependent on IgE and are generated in the absence of allergen specific and even total IgE. Instead, IgG plasma cells are involved in induction of, and for much of the pathogenesis of, allergic diseases. The pattern of IgG producing plasma cells in atopic children and the tendency for direct or further class switching to IgE are the principle factors responsible for long-lasting sensitization of mast cells in allergic children. Indirect class switching from IgG producing plasma cells has been shown to be the predominant pathway for production of IgE while a Th2 microenvironment, genetic predisposition, and the concentration and nature of allergens together act on IgG plasma cells in the atopic tendency to undergo further immunoglobulin gene recombination. The seminal involvement of IgG in allergy is further indicated by the principal role of IgG4 in the natural resolution of allergy and as the favourable immunological response to immunotherapy. This paper will look at allergy through the role of different antibodies than IgE and give current knowledge of the nature and role of IgG antibodies in the start, maintenance and resolution of allergy
Spatial Localisation of Actin Filaments across Developmental Stages of the Malaria Parasite
Actin dynamics have been implicated in a variety of developmental processes during the malaria parasite lifecycle. Parasite motility, in particular, is thought to critically depend on an actomyosin motor located in the outer pellicle of the parasite cell. Efforts to understand the diverse roles actin plays have, however, been hampered by an inability to detect microfilaments under native conditions. To visualise the spatial dynamics of actin we generated a parasite-specific actin antibody that shows preferential recognition of filamentous actin and applied this tool to different lifecycle stages (merozoites, sporozoites and ookinetes) of the human and mouse malaria parasite species Plasmodium falciparum and P. berghei along with tachyzoites from the related apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Actin filament distribution was found associated with three core compartments: the nuclear periphery, pellicular membranes of motile or invasive parasite forms and in a ring-like distribution at the tight junction during merozoite invasion of erythrocytes in both human and mouse malaria parasites. Localisation at the nuclear periphery is consistent with an emerging role of actin in facilitating parasite gene regulation. During invasion, we show that the actin ring at the parasite-host cell tight junction is dependent on dynamic filament turnover. Super-resolution imaging places this ring posterior to, and not concentric with, the junction marker rhoptry neck protein 4. This implies motor force relies on the engagement of dynamic microfilaments at zones of traction, though not necessarily directly through receptor-ligand interactions at sites of adhesion during invasion. Combined, these observations extend current understanding of the diverse roles actin plays in malaria parasite development and apicomplexan cell motility, in particular refining understanding on the linkage of the internal parasite gliding motor with the extra-cellular milieu
Assessment of therapeutic responses to gametocytocidal drugs in Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
Indirect clinical measures assessing anti-malarial drug transmission-blocking activity in falciparum malaria include measurement of the duration of gametocytaemia, the rate of gametocyte clearance or the area under the gametocytaemia-time curve (AUC). These may provide useful comparative information, but they underestimate dose-response relationships for transmission-blocking activity. Following 8-aminoquinoline administration P. falciparum gametocytes are sterilized within hours, whereas clearance from blood takes days. Gametocytaemia AUC and clearance times are determined predominantly by the more numerous female gametocytes, which are generally less drug sensitive than the minority male gametocytes, whereas transmission-blocking activity and thus infectivity is determined by the more sensitive male forms. In choosing doses of transmission-blocking drugs there is no substitute yet for mosquito-feeding studies
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