5,843 research outputs found
Serum levels of matrix metalloproteinases-2 and-9 and their tissue inhibitors in inflammatory neuromuscular disorders
We monitored serum levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) before and during intravenously applied immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy in 33 patients with chronic immune-mediated neuropathies and myopathies and 15 controls. Baseline MMP-2 and TIMP-2 serum levels were lower and MMP-9 and TIMP-1 serum levels higher in all patients compared to age-matched controls. Eight days after IVIG treatment, MMP-2, TIMP-2, and TIMP-1 serum levels increased, while MMP-9 serum levels decreased, indicating tissue repair. After 60 days, MMP-9 levels increased, MMP-2 approached normal levels, while TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 serum levels were below day 8 levels, indicating relapsing tissue damage. Comparing the MMP/TIMP results with the clinical courses, IVIG treatment tended to change MMP/TIMP levels in a way that paralleled clinical improvement and relapse. In sum, during a distinct time period, IVIG therapy seems to be able to modulate VIMP-mediated tissue repair. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
The generalised NMSSM at one loop: fine tuning and phenomenology
We determine the degree of fine tuning needed in a generalised version of the
NMSSM that follows from an underlying Z4 or Z8 R symmetry. We find that it is
significantly less than is found in the MSSM or NMSSM and extends the range of
Higgs mass that have acceptable fine tuning up to Higgs masses of mh ~ 130 GeV.
For universal boundary conditions analogous to the CMSSM the phenomenology is
rather MSSM like with the singlet states typically rather heavy. For more
general boundary conditions the singlet states can be light, leading to
interesting signatures at the LHC and direct detection experiments.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, matches published versio
Light MSSM Higgs boson mass to three-loop accuracy
The light CP even Higgs boson mass, Mh, is calculated to three-loop accuracy
within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The result is
expressed in terms of DRbar parameters and implemented in the computer program
H3m. The calculation is based on the proper approximations and their
combination in various regions of the parameter space. The three-loop effects
to Mh are typically of the order of a few hundred MeV and opposite in sign to
the two-loop corrections. The remaining theory uncertainty due to higher order
perturbative corrections is estimated to be less than 1 GeV.Comment: 39 pages, 13 figures. v2: minor changes, typos fixe
A Geometric Approach to CP Violation: Applications to the MCPMFV SUSY Model
We analyze the constraints imposed by experimental upper limits on electric
dipole moments (EDMs) within the Maximally CP- and Minimally Flavour-Violating
(MCPMFV) version of the MSSM. Since the MCPMFV scenario has 6 non-standard
CP-violating phases, in addition to the CP-odd QCD vacuum phase \theta_QCD,
cancellations may occur among the CP-violating contributions to the three
measured EDMs, those of the Thallium, neutron and Mercury, leaving open the
possibility of relatively large values of the other CP-violating observables.
We develop a novel geometric method that uses the small-phase approximation as
a starting point, takes the existing EDM constraints into account, and enables
us to find maximal values of other CP-violating observables, such as the EDMs
of the Deuteron and muon, the CP-violating asymmetry in b --> s \gamma decay,
and the B_s mixing phase. We apply this geometric method to provide upper
limits on these observables within specific benchmark supersymmetric scenarios,
including extensions that allow for a non-zero \theta_QCD.Comment: 34 pages, 16 eps figures, to appear in JHE
Fermion correlators in non-abelian holographic superconductors
We consider fermion correlators in non-abelian holographic superconductors.
The spectral function of the fermions exhibits several interesting features
such as support in displaced Dirac cones and an asymmetric distribution of
normal modes. These features are compared to similar ones observed in angle
resolved photoemission experiments on high T_c superconductors. Along the way
we elucidate some properties of p-wave superconductors in AdS_4 and discuss the
construction of SO(4) superconductors.Comment: 49 pages, 11 figure
Gate-Controlled Ionization and Screening of Cobalt Adatoms on a Graphene Surface
We describe scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements performed on
individual cobalt (Co) atoms deposited onto backgated graphene devices. We find
that Co adatoms on graphene can be ionized by either the application of a
global backgate voltage or by the application of a local electric field from a
scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. Large screening clouds are observed to
form around Co adatoms ionized in this way, and we observe that some intrinsic
graphene defects display a similar behavior. Our results provide new insight
into charged impurity scattering in graphene, as well as the possibility of
using graphene devices as chemical sensors.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure
The identification of informative genes from multiple datasets with increasing complexity
Background
In microarray data analysis, factors such as data quality, biological variation, and the increasingly multi-layered nature of more complex biological systems complicates the modelling of regulatory networks that can represent and capture the interactions among genes. We believe that the use of multiple datasets derived from related biological systems leads to more robust models. Therefore, we developed a novel framework for modelling regulatory networks that involves training and evaluation on independent datasets. Our approach includes the following steps: (1) ordering the datasets based on their level of noise and informativeness; (2) selection of a Bayesian classifier with an appropriate level of complexity by evaluation of predictive performance on independent data sets; (3) comparing the different gene selections and the influence of increasing the model complexity; (4) functional analysis of the informative genes.
Results
In this paper, we identify the most appropriate model complexity using cross-validation and independent test set validation for predicting gene expression in three published datasets related to myogenesis and muscle differentiation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that models trained on simpler datasets can be used to identify interactions among genes and select the most informative. We also show that these models can explain the myogenesis-related genes (genes of interest) significantly better than others (P < 0.004) since the improvement in their rankings is much more pronounced. Finally, after further evaluating our results on synthetic datasets, we show that our approach outperforms a concordance method by Lai et al. in identifying informative genes from multiple datasets with increasing complexity whilst additionally modelling the interaction between genes.
Conclusions
We show that Bayesian networks derived from simpler controlled systems have better performance than those trained on datasets from more complex biological systems. Further, we present that highly predictive and consistent genes, from the pool of differentially expressed genes, across independent datasets are more likely to be fundamentally involved in the biological process under study. We conclude that networks trained on simpler controlled systems, such as in vitro experiments, can be used to model and capture interactions among genes in more complex datasets, such as in vivo experiments, where these interactions would otherwise be concealed by a multitude of other ongoing events
The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?
This article provides a methodological contribution to the study of the effect of changes in population age structure on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. First, I propose a generalization of the IPAT equation to a multisector economy with an age-structured population and discuss the insights that can be obtained in the context of stable population theory. Second, I suggest a statistical model of household consumption as a function of household size and age structure to quantitatively evaluate the extent of economies of scale in consumption of energy-intensive goods, and to estimate age-specific profiles of consumption of energy-intensive goods and of CO2 emissions. Third, I offer an illustration of the methodologies using data for the United States. The analysis shows that per-capita CO2 emissions increase with age until the individual is in his or her 60s, and then emissions tend to decrease. Holding everything else constant, the expected change in U.S. population age distribution during the next four decades is likely to have a small, but noticeable, positive impact on CO2 emissions
Constraining New Physics with a Positive or Negative Signal of Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay
We investigate numerically how accurately one could constrain the strengths
of different short-range contributions to neutrino-less double beta decay in
effective field theory. Depending on the outcome of near-future experiments
yielding information on the neutrino masses, the corresponding bounds or
estimates can be stronger or weaker. A particularly interesting case, resulting
in strong bounds, would be a positive signal of neutrino-less double beta decay
that is consistent with complementary information from neutrino oscillation
experiments, kinematical determinations of the neutrino mass, and measurements
of the sum of light neutrino masses from cosmological observations. The keys to
more robust bounds are improvements of the knowledge of the nuclear physics
involved and a better experimental accuracy.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes. Matches version published in JHE
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