615 research outputs found
AMPA Receptor Activation Causes Silencing of AMPA Receptor-Mediated Synaptic Transmission in the Developing Hippocampus
Agonist-induced internalization of transmembrane receptors is a widespread biological phenomenon that also may serve as a mechanism for synaptic plasticity. Here we show that the agonist AMPA causes a depression of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) signaling at glutamate synapses in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in slices from developing, but not from mature, rats. This developmentally restricted agonist-induced synaptic depression is expressed as a total loss of AMPAR signaling, without affecting NMDA receptor (NMDAR) signaling, in a large proportion of the developing synapses, thus creating AMPAR silent synapses. The AMPA-induced AMPAR silencing is induced independently of activation of mGluRs and NMDARs, and it mimics and occludes stimulus-induced depression, suggesting that this latter form of synaptic plasticity is expressed as agonist-induced removal of AMPARs. Induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) rendered the developing synapses resistant to the AMPA-induced depression, indicating that LTP contributes to the maturation-related increased stability of these synapses. Our study shows that agonist binding to AMPARs is a sufficient triggering stimulus for the creation of AMPAR silent synapses at developing glutamate synapses
Alcohol and cardio-respiratory deaths in Chinese: a population-based case-control study of 32,462 older Hong Kong adults
Background: In observational studies moderate alcohol use reduces cardio-respiratory mortality. However observational studies may be biased by many factors including residual confounding by unmeasured differences between moderate alcohol users and other groups or by changes in alcohol use with ill-health and aging. We used two different analytic strategies in an under-studied population, i.e. southern Chinese, to provide an assessment of the specific impact of moderate alcohol use on mortality from ischemic heart disease (IHD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). Methods: In a population-based case-control study of all adult deaths in Hong Kong Chinese in 1998, we used adjusted logistic regression to compare alcohol use in decedents aged ≥ 60 years from IHD (2270) and COPD (1441) with 10,320 living and 9043 dead controls (all non-alcohol related deaths). We also examined whether the association of alcohol use with death from IHD or COPD varied with sex or smoking status. Results: Using living controls and adjusted for age, socio-economic status and lifestyle, occasional and moderate alcohol use were generally associated with lower mortality from IHD and COPD. However, using dead controls the protection of occasional and moderate alcohol use appeared to be limited to ever-smokers for IHD (odds ratio (OR) 0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46 to 0.73 for moderate compared to never-use in ever-smokers, but OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.50 in never-smokers), and possibly to men for COPD. High alcohol use was associated with lower IHD mortality and possibly with lower COPD mortality. Conclusion: High levels of alcohol use in an older Chinese population were associated with lower IHD mortality. Moderate alcohol use was less consistently protective against IHD mortality. Alcohol use was associated with lower COPD mortality particularly in men, either due to some yet to be clarified properties of alcohol or as the artefactual result of genetic selection into alcohol use in a Chinese population. Given the increasing use of alcohol in China with economic development, other designs and analytic strategies are needed to assess the impact of alcohol in this population, so that an evidence-based public health policy can be formulated.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
Search for W' bosons decaying to an electron and a neutrino with the D0 detector
This Letter describes the search for a new heavy charged gauge boson W'
decaying into an electron and a neutrino. The data were collected with the D0
detector at the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton Collider at a
center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity
of about 1 inverse femtobarn. Lacking any significant excess in the data in
comparison with known processes, an upper limit is set on the production cross
section times branching fraction, and a W' boson with mass below 1.00 TeV can
be excluded at the 95% C.L., assuming standard-model-like couplings to
fermions. This result significantly improves upon previous limits, and is the
most stringent to date.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the B0_s semileptonic branching ratio to an orbitally excited D_s** state, Br(B0_s -> Ds1(2536) mu nu)
In a data sample of approximately 1.3 fb-1 collected with the D0 detector
between 2002 and 2006, the orbitally excited charm state D_s1(2536) has been
observed with a measured mass of 2535.7 +/- 0.6 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst) MeV via
the decay mode B0_s -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X. A first measurement is made of the
branching ratio product Br(b(bar) -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X).Br(D_s1(2536)->D*
K0_S). Assuming that D_s1(2536) production in semileptonic decay is entirely
from B0_s, an extraction of the semileptonic branching ratio Br(B0_s ->
D_s1(2536) mu nu X) is made.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, version with minor changes as accepted by
Phys. Rev. Let
Simultaneous measurement of the ratio B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq) and the top quark pair production cross section with the D0 detector at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present the first simultaneous measurement of the ratio of branching
fractions, R=B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq), with q being a d, s, or b quark, and the top
quark pair production cross section sigma_ttbar in the lepton plus jets channel
using 0.9 fb-1 of ppbar collision data at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV collected with the
D0 detector. We extract R and sigma_ttbar by analyzing samples of events with
0, 1 and >= 2 identified b jets. We measure R = 0.97 +0.09-0.08 (stat+syst) and
sigma_ttbar = 8.18 +0.90-0.84 (stat+syst)} +/-0.50 (lumi) pb, in agreement with
the standard model prediction.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Letter
Measurement of the ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet production cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross section in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV
We present a study of events with Z bosons and jets produced at the Fermilab
Tevatron Collider in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV.
The data sample consists of nearly 14,000 Z/G* -> e+e- candidates corresponding
to the integrated luminosity of 0.4 fb-1 collected using the D0 detector.
Ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross
section have been measured for n = 1 to 4 jet events. Our measurements are
found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order QCD calculation and
with a tree-level QCD prediction with parton shower simulation and
hadronization.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, slightly modified, submitted to Phys. Lett.
Measurement of the ppbar to ttbar production cross section at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV in the fully hadronic decay channel
A measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in proton
anti-proton collisions at an interaction energy of sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV is
presented. This analysis uses 405 pb-1 of data collected with the D0 detector
at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Fully hadronic ttbar decays with final
states of six or more jets are separated from the multijet background using
secondary vertex tagging and a neural network. The ttbar cross section is
measured as sigma(ttbar)=4.5 -1.9 +2.0 (stat) -1.1 +1.4 (syst) +/- 0.3 (lumi)
pb for a top quark mass of m(t) = 175 GeV/c^2.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Search for R-parity violating supersymmetry via the LLE couplings lambda_{121}, lambda_{122} or lambda_{133} in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
A search for gaugino pair production with a trilepton signature in the
framework of R-parity violating supersymmetry via the couplings lambda_121,
lambda_122, or lambda_133 is presented. The data, corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of L~360/pb, were collected from April 2002 to August
2004 with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, at a
center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. This analysis considers final states
with three charged leptons with the flavor combinations eel, mumul, and eetau
(l=e or mu). No evidence for supersymmetry is found and limits at the 95%
confidence level are set on the gaugino pair production cross section and lower
bounds on the masses of the lightest neutralino and chargino are derived in two
supersymmetric models.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures (fig2 includes 3 subfigures
Search for W' boson production in the W'->tb decay channel
We present a search for the production of a new heavy gauge boson W' that
decays to a top quark and a bottom quark. We have analyzed 230 pb^{-1} of data
collected with the Dzero detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider at a
center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. No significant excess of events above the
standard model expectation is found in any region of the final state invariant
mass distribution. We set upper limits on the production cross section of W'
bosons times branching ratio to top quarks at the 95% confidence level for
several different W' boson masses. We exclude masses between 200 GeV and 610
GeV for a W' boson with standard-model-like couplings, between 200 GeV and 630
GeV for a W' boson with right-handed couplings that is allowed to decay to both
leptons and quarks, and between 200 GeV and 670 GeV for a W' boson with
right-handed couplings that is only allowed to decay to quarks.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Phys. Lett.
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