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Sample records for factor autocrine loops

  1. Interleukin 6 promotes endometrial cancer growth through an autocrine feedback loop involving ERK–NF-κB signaling pathway

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    Che, Qi; Liu, Bin-Ya; Wang, Fang-Yuan; He, Yin-Yan; Lu, Wen; Liao, Yun [Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai First People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (China); Gu, Wei, E-mail: krisgu70@163.com [Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai (China); Wan, Xiao-Ping, E-mail: wanxp@sjtu.edu.cn [Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital Affiliated to Tong Ji University, Shanghai (China)

    2014-03-28

    Highlights: • IL-6 could promote endometrial cancer cells proliferation. • IL-6 promotes its own production through an autocrine feedback loop. • ERK and NF-κB pathway inhibitors inhibit IL-6 production and tumor growth. • IL-6 secretion relies on the activation of ERK–NF-κB pathway axis. • An orthotopic nude endometrial carcinoma model confirms the effect of IL-6. - Abstract: Interleukin (IL)-6 as an inflammation factor, has been proved to promote cancer proliferation in several human cancers. However, its role in endometrial cancer has not been studied clearly. Previously, we demonstrated that IL-6 promoted endometrial cancer progression through local estrogen biosynthesis. In this study, we proved that IL-6 could directly stimulate endometrial cancer cells proliferation and an autocrine feedback loop increased its production even after the withdrawal of IL-6 from the medium. Next, we analyzed the mechanism underlying IL-6 production in the feedback loop and found that its production and IL-6-stimulated cell proliferation were effectively blocked by pharmacologic inhibitors of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and extra-cellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Importantly, activation of ERK was upstream of the NF-κB pathways, revealing the hierarchy of this event. Finally, we used an orthotopic nude endometrial carcinoma model to confirm the effects of IL-6 on the tumor progression. Taken together, these data indicate that IL-6 promotes endometrial carcinoma growth through an expanded autocrine regulatory loop and implicate the ERK–NF-κB pathway as a critical mediator of IL-6 production, implying IL-6 to be an important therapeutic target in endometrial carcinoma.

  2. Active CREB1 promotes a malignant TGFβ2 autocrine loop in glioblastoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodón, Laura; Gonzàlez-Juncà, Alba; Inda, María del Mar; Sala-Hojman, Ada; Martínez-Sáez, Elena; Seoane, Joan

    2014-10-01

    In advanced cancer, including glioblastoma, the TGFβ pathway acts as an oncogenic factor. Some tumors exhibit aberrantly high TGFβ activity, and the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are not well understood. We have observed that TGFβ can induce TGFβ2, generating an autocrine loop leading to aberrantly high levels of TGFβ2. We identified cAMP-responsive element-binding protein 1 (CREB1) as the critical mediator of the induction of TGFβ2 by TGFβ. CREB1 binds to the TGFB2 gene promoter in cooperation with SMAD3 and is required for TGFβ to activate transcription. Moreover, the PI3K-AKT and RSK pathways regulate the TGFβ2 autocrine loop through CREB1. The levels of CREB1 and active phosphorylated CREB1 correlate with TGFβ2 in glioblastoma. In addition, using patient-derived in vivo models of glioblastoma, we found that CREB1 levels determine the expression of TGFβ2. Our results show that CREB1 can be considered a biomarker to stratify patients for anti-TGFβ treatments and a therapeutic target in glioblastoma. TGFβ is considered a promising therapeutic target, and several clinical trials using TGFβ inhibitors are generating encouraging results. Here, we discerned the molecular mechanisms responsible for the aberrantly high levels of TGFβ2 found in certain tumors, and we propose biomarkers to predict the clinical response to anti-TGFβ therapies. ©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.

  3. Autocrine HBEGF expression promotes breast cancer intravasation, metastasis and macrophage-independent invasion in vivo

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    Zhou, Z. N.; Sharma, V. P.; Beaty, B. T.; Roh-Johnson, M.; Peterson, E. A.; Van Rooijen, N.; Kenny, P. A.; Wiley, H. S.; Condeelis, J. S.; Segall, J. E.

    2014-10-13

    Increased expression of HBEGF in estrogen receptor-negative breast tumors is correlated with enhanced metastasis to distant organ sites and more rapid disease recurrence upon removal of the primary tumor. Our previous work has demonstrated a paracrine loop between breast cancer cells and macrophages in which the tumor cells are capable of stimulating macrophages through the secretion of colony-stimulating factor-1 while the tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), in turn, aid in tumor cell invasion by secreting epidermal growth factor. To determine how the autocrine expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) ligands by carcinoma cells would affect this paracrine loop mechanism, and in particular whether tumor cell invasion depends on spatial ligand gradients generated by TAMs, we generated cell lines with increased HBEGF expression. We found that autocrine HBEGF expression enhanced in vivo intravasation and metastasis and resulted in a novel phenomenon in which macrophages were no longer required for in vivo invasion of breast cancer cells. In vitro studies revealed that expression of HBEGF enhanced invadopodium formation, thus providing a mechanism for cell autonomous invasion. The increased invadopodium formation was directly dependent on EGFR signaling, as demonstrated by a rapid decrease in invadopodia upon inhibition of autocrine HBEGF/EGFR signaling as well as inhibition of signaling downstream of EGFR activation. HBEGF expression also resulted in enhanced invadopodium function via upregulation of matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP2) and MMP9 expression levels. We conclude that high levels of HBEGF expression can short-circuit the tumor cell/macrophage paracrine invasion loop, resulting in enhanced tumor invasion that is independent of macrophage signaling.

  4. Cytokine loops driving senescence

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bartek, Jiří; Hodný, Zdeněk; Lukáš, Jan

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 10, č. 8 (2008), s. 887-889 ISSN 1465-7392 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50520514 Keywords : cellular senescence * cytokines * autocrine feedback loop Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 17.774, year: 2008

  5. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) and fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) autocrine enhance breast cancer cells survival.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiong, Kai Hung; Tan, Boon Shing; Choo, Heng Lungh; Chung, Felicia Fei-Lei; Hii, Ling-Wei; Tan, Si Hoey; Khor, Nelson Tze Woei; Wong, Shew Fung; See, Sze-Jia; Tan, Yuen-Fen; Rosli, Rozita; Cheong, Soon-Keng; Leong, Chee-Onn

    2016-09-06

    Basal-like breast cancer is an aggressive tumor subtype with poor prognosis. The discovery of underlying mechanisms mediating tumor cell survival, and the development of novel agents to target these pathways, is a priority for patients with basal-like breast cancer. From a functional screen to identify key drivers of basal-like breast cancer cell growth, we identified fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) as a potential mediator of cell survival. We found that FGFR4 mediates cancer cell survival predominantly via activation of PI3K/AKT. Importantly, a subset of basal-like breast cancer cells also secrete fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19), a canonical ligand specific for FGFR4. siRNA-mediated silencing of FGF19 or neutralization of extracellular FGF19 by anti-FGF19 antibody (1A6) decreases AKT phosphorylation, suppresses cancer cell growth and enhances doxorubicin sensitivity only in the FGFR4+/FGF19+ breast cancer cells. Consistently, FGFR4/FGF19 co-expression was also observed in 82 out of 287 (28.6%) primary breast tumors, and their expression is strongly associated with AKT phosphorylation, Ki-67 staining, higher tumor stage and basal-like phenotype. In summary, our results demonstrated the presence of an FGFR4/FGF19 autocrine signaling that mediates the survival of a subset of basal-like breast cancer cells and suggest that inactivation of this autocrine loop may potentially serve as a novel therapeutic intervention for future treatment of breast cancers.

  6. Activated platelet-derived growth factor autocrine pathway drives the transformed phenotype of a human glioblastoma cell line.

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    Vassbotn, F S; Ostman, A; Langeland, N; Holmsen, H; Westermark, B; Heldin, C H; Nistér, M

    1994-02-01

    Human glioblastoma cells (A172) were found to concomitantly express PDGF-BB and PDGF beta-receptors. The receptors were constitutively autophosphorylated in the absence of exogenous ligand, suggesting the presence of an autocrine PDGF pathway. Neutralizing PDGF antibodies as well as suramin inhibited the autonomous PDGF receptor tyrosine kinase activity and resulted in up-regulation of receptor protein. The interruption of the autocrine loop by the PDGF antibodies reversed the transformed phenotype of the glioblastoma cell, as determined by (1) diminished DNA synthesis, (2) inhibition of tumor colony growth, and (3) reversion of the transformed morphology of the tumor cells. The PDGF antibodies showed no effect on the DNA synthesis of another glioblastoma cells line (U-343MGa 31L) or on Ki-ras-transformed fibroblasts. The present study demonstrates an endogenously activated PDGF pathway in a spontaneous human glioblastoma cell line. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the autocrine PDGF pathway drives the transformed phenotype of the tumor cells, a process that can be blocked by extracellular antagonists.

  7. The crystal structure of a multifunctional protein: phosphoglucose isomerase/autocrine motility factor/neuroleukin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Y J; Chou, C C; Chen, W S; Wu, R T; Meng, M; Hsiao, C D

    1999-05-11

    Phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI) plays a central role in both the glycolysis and the gluconeogenesis pathways. We present here the complete crystal structure of PGI from Bacillus stearothermophilus at 2.3-A resolution. We show that PGI has cell-motility-stimulating activity on mouse colon cancer cells similar to that of endogenous autocrine motility factor (AMF). PGI can also enhance neurite outgrowth on neuronal progenitor cells similar to that observed for neuroleukin. The results confirm that PGI is neuroleukin and AMF. PGI has an open twisted alpha/beta structural motif consisting of two globular domains and two protruding parts. Based on this substrate-free structure, together with the previously published biological, biochemical, and modeling results, we postulate a possible substrate-binding site that is located within the domains' interface for PGI and AMF. In addition, the structure provides evidence suggesting that the top part of the large domain together with one of the protruding loops might participate in inducing the neurotrophic activity.

  8. Spontaneous NF-κB activation by autocrine TNFα signaling: a computational analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jakub Pękalski

    Full Text Available NF-κB is a key transcription factor that regulates innate immune response. Its activity is tightly controlled by numerous feedback loops, including two negative loops mediated by NF-κB inducible inhibitors, IκBα and A20, which assure oscillatory responses, and by positive feedback loops arising due to the paracrine and autocrine regulation via TNFα, IL-1 and other cytokines. We study the NF-κB system of interlinked negative and positive feedback loops, combining bifurcation analysis of the deterministic approximation with stochastic numerical modeling. Positive feedback assures the existence of limit cycle oscillations in unstimulated wild-type cells and introduces bistability in A20-deficient cells. We demonstrated that cells of significant autocrine potential, i.e., cells characterized by high secretion of TNFα and its receptor TNFR1, may exhibit sustained cytoplasmic-nuclear NF-κB oscillations which start spontaneously due to stochastic fluctuations. In A20-deficient cells even a small TNFα expression rate qualitatively influences system kinetics, leading to long-lasting NF-κB activation in response to a short-pulsed TNFα stimulation. As a consequence, cells with impaired A20 expression or increased TNFα secretion rate are expected to have elevated NF-κB activity even in the absence of stimulation. This may lead to chronic inflammation and promote cancer due to the persistent activation of antiapoptotic genes induced by NF-κB. There is growing evidence that A20 mutations correlate with several types of lymphomas and elevated TNFα secretion is characteristic of many cancers. Interestingly, A20 loss or dysfunction also leaves the organism vulnerable to septic shock and massive apoptosis triggered by the uncontrolled TNFα secretion, which at high levels overcomes the antiapoptotic action of NF-κB. It is thus tempting to speculate that some cancers of deregulated NF-κB signaling may be prone to the pathogen-induced apoptosis.

  9. Dictyostelium cells bind a secreted autocrine factor that represses cell proliferation

    OpenAIRE

    Choe, Jonathan M; Bakthavatsalam, Deenadayalan; Phillips, Jonathan E; Gomer, Richard H

    2009-01-01

    Abstract Background Dictyostelium cells secrete the proteins AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking either AprA or CfaD proliferate faster than wild type, while AprA or CfaD overexpressor cells proliferate slowly, indicating that AprA and CfaD are autocrine factors that repress proliferation. CfaD interacts with AprA and requires the presence of AprA to slow proliferation. To determine if CfaD is necessary for the ability of AprA to slow proliferation, whether AprA binds to cells, and if so whether the...

  10. Regulation of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) I receptor expression during muscle cell differentiation. Potential autocrine role of IGF-II.

    OpenAIRE

    Rosenthal, S M; Brunetti, A; Brown, E J; Mamula, P W; Goldfine, I D

    1991-01-01

    Muscle is an important target tissue for insulin-like growth factor (IGF) action. The presence of specific, high affinity IGF receptors, as well as the expression of IGF peptides and binding proteins by muscle suggest that a significant component of IGF action in this tissue is mediated through autocrine and/or paracrine mechanisms. To explore autocrine/paracrine action of IGFs in muscle, we studied the regulation of the IGF-I receptor and the expression of IGF peptides during differentiation...

  11. The crystal structure of a multifunctional protein: Phosphoglucose isomerase/autocrine motility factor/neuroleukin

    OpenAIRE

    Sun, Yuh-Ju; Chou, Chia-Cheng; Chen, Wei-Shone; Wu, Rong-Tsun; Meng, Menghsiao; Hsiao, Chwan-Deng

    1999-01-01

    Phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI) plays a central role in both the glycolysis and the gluconeogenesis pathways. We present here the complete crystal structure of PGI from Bacillus stearothermophilus at 2.3-Å resolution. We show that PGI has cell-motility-stimulating activity on mouse colon cancer cells similar to that of endogenous autocrine motility factor (AMF). PGI can also enhance neurite outgrowth on neuronal progenitor cells similar to that observed for neuroleukin. The results confirm tha...

  12. A phosphatase-independent gain-of-function mutation in PTEN triggers aberrant cell growth in astrocytes through an autocrine IGF-1 loop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández, S; Genis, L; Torres-Alemán, I

    2014-08-07

    Loss-of-function mutations in the phosphatase PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome10) contribute to aberrant cell growth in part through upregulation of the mitogenic IGF-1/PI3K/Akt pathway. In turn, this pathway exerts a homeostatic feedback over PTEN. Using mutagenesis analysis to explore a possible impact of this mutual control on astrocyte growth, we found that truncation of the C-terminal region of PTEN (Δ51) associates with a marked increase in NFκB activity, a transcription factor overactivated in astrocyte tumors. Whereas mutations of PTEN are considered to lead to a loss-of-function, PTENΔ51, a truncation that comprises a region frequently mutated in human gliomas, displayed a neomorphic (gain-of-function) activity that was independent of its phosphatase activity. This gain-of-function of PTENΔ51 includes stimulation of IGF-1 synthesis through protein kinase A activation of the IGF-1 promoter. Increased IGF-1 originates an autocrine loop that activates Akt and NFκB. Constitutive activation of NFκB in PTENΔ51-expressing astrocytes leads to aberrant cell growth; astrocytes expressing this mutant PTEN generate colonies in vitro and tumors in vivo. Mutations converting a tumor suppressor such as PTEN into a tumor promoter through a gain-of-function involving IGF-1 production may further our understanding of the role played by this growth factor in glioma growth and help us define druggable targets for personalized therapy.

  13. Identification and targeting of a TACE-dependent autocrine loopwhich predicts poor prognosis in breast cancer

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    Kenny, Paraic A.; Bissell, Mina J.

    2005-06-15

    The ability to proliferate independently of signals from other cell types is a fundamental characteristic of tumor cells. Using a 3D culture model of human breast cancer progression, we have delineated a protease-dependent autocrine loop which provides an oncogenic stimulus in the absence of proto-oncogene mutation. Inhibition of this protease, TACE/ADAM17, reverts the malignant phenotype by preventing mobilization of two crucial growth factors, Amphiregulin and TGF{alpha}. We show further that the efficacy of EGFR inhibitors is overcome by physiological levels of growth factors and that successful EGFR inhibition is dependent on reducing ligand bioavailability. Using existing patient outcome data, we demonstrate a strong correlation between TACE and TGF{alpha} expression in human breast cancers that is predictive of poor prognosis.

  14. HER2 overexpression elicits a proinflammatory IL-6 autocrine signaling loop that is critical for tumorigenesis.

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    Hartman, Zachary C; Yang, Xiao-Yi; Glass, Oliver; Lei, Gangjun; Osada, Takuya; Dave, Sandeep S; Morse, Michael A; Clay, Timothy M; Lyerly, Herbert K

    2011-07-01

    HER2 overexpression occurs in approximately 25% of breast cancers, where it correlates with poor prognosis. Likewise, systemic inflammation in breast cancer correlates with poor prognosis, although the process is not understood. In this study, we explored the relationship between HER2 and inflammation, comparing the effects of overexpressing wild-type or mutated inactive forms of HER2 in primary human breast cells. Wild-type HER2 elicited a profound transcriptional inflammatory profile, including marked elevation of interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression, which we established to be a critical determinant of HER2 oncogenesis. Mechanistic investigations revealed that IL-6 secretion induced by HER2 overexpression activated Stat3 and altered gene expression, enforcing an autocrine loop of IL-6/Stat3 expression. Both mouse and human in vivo models of HER2-amplified breast carcinoma relied critically on this HER2-IL-6-Stat3 signaling pathway. Our studies offer the first direct evidence linking HER2 to a systemic inflammatory mechanism that orchestrates HER2-mediated tumor growth. We suggest that the HER2-IL-6-STAT3 signaling axis we have defined in breast cancer could prompt new therapeutic or prevention strategies for treatment of HER2-amplified cancers. ©2011 AACR.

  15. HER2 overexpression elicits a pro-inflammatory IL-6 autocrine signaling loop that is critical for tumorigenesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartman, Zachary C.; Yang, Xiao-Yi; Glass, Oliver; Lei, Gangjun; Osada, Takuya; Dave, Sandeep S.; Morse, Michael A.; Clay, Timothy M.; Lyerly, Herbert Kim

    2011-01-01

    HER2 overexpression occurs in ~25% of breast cancers where it correlates with poor prognosis. Likewise, systemic inflammation in breast cancer correlates with poor prognosis although the process is not understood. In this study, we explored the relationship between HER2 and inflammation, comparing the effects of overexpressing wild-type or mutated inactive forms of HER2 in primary human breast cells. Wild-type HER2 elicited a profound transcriptional inflammatory profile, including marked elevation of IL-6 expression, which we established to be a critical determinant of HER2 oncogenesis. Mechanistic investigations revealed that IL-6 secretion induced by HER2 overexpression activated Stat3 and altered gene expression, enforcing an autocrine loop of IL-6/Stat3 expression. Both mouse and human in vivo models of HER2 amplified breast carcinoma relied critically on this HER2-IL-6-Stat3 signaling pathway. Our studies offer the first direct evidence linking HER2 to a systemic inflammatory mechanism that orchestrates HER2-mediated tumor growth. We suggest that the HER2-IL6-STAT3 signaling axis we have defined in breast cancer could prompt new therapeutic or prevention strategies for treatment of HER2-amplified cancers. PMID:21518778

  16. BDNF, produced by a TPO-stimulated megakaryocytic cell line, regulates autocrine proliferation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamura, Shogo; Nagasawa, Ayumi; Masuda, Yuya; Tsunematsu, Tetsuya; Hayasaka, Koji; Matsuno, Kazuhiko; Shimizu, Chikara; Ozaki, Yukio; Moriyama, Takanori

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► It has been thought that BDNF is not produced in the megakaryocytic lineage. ► MEG-01 produces BDNF upon TPO stimulation and regulates its proliferation. ► BDNF accelerates proliferation of MEG-01 in an autocrine manner. ► BDNF may be an autocrine MEG-CSF, which regulates megakaryopoiesis. -- Abstract: While human platelets release endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) upon activation, a previous report on MEG-01, a megakaryocytic cell line, found no trace of BDNF production, and the pathophysiological function of platelet BDNF has remained elusive. In the present study, we demonstrate that MEG-01 produces BDNF in the presence of TPO and that this serves to potentiate cell proliferation. Our in vitro findings suggest that BDNF regulates MEG-01 proliferation in an autocrine manner, and we suggest that BDNF may be a physiological autocrine regulator of megakaryocyte progenitors.

  17. BDNF, produced by a TPO-stimulated megakaryocytic cell line, regulates autocrine proliferation

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    Tamura, Shogo [Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Japan); Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo (Japan); Nagasawa, Ayumi; Masuda, Yuya; Tsunematsu, Tetsuya [Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Japan); Hayasaka, Koji; Matsuno, Kazuhiko; Shimizu, Chikara [Division of Laboratory and Transfusion Medicine, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo (Japan); Ozaki, Yukio [Department of Clinical and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Yamanashi (Japan); Moriyama, Takanori, E-mail: moriyama@hs.hokuda.ac.jp [Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Japan)

    2012-10-26

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It has been thought that BDNF is not produced in the megakaryocytic lineage. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer MEG-01 produces BDNF upon TPO stimulation and regulates its proliferation. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer BDNF accelerates proliferation of MEG-01 in an autocrine manner. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer BDNF may be an autocrine MEG-CSF, which regulates megakaryopoiesis. -- Abstract: While human platelets release endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) upon activation, a previous report on MEG-01, a megakaryocytic cell line, found no trace of BDNF production, and the pathophysiological function of platelet BDNF has remained elusive. In the present study, we demonstrate that MEG-01 produces BDNF in the presence of TPO and that this serves to potentiate cell proliferation. Our in vitro findings suggest that BDNF regulates MEG-01 proliferation in an autocrine manner, and we suggest that BDNF may be a physiological autocrine regulator of megakaryocyte progenitors.

  18. Interleukin 1 is an autocrine regulator of human endothelial cell growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cozzolino, F.; Torcia, M.; Aldinucci, D.; Ziche, M.; Bani, D.; Almerigogna, F.; Stern, D.M.

    1990-01-01

    Proliferation of endothelial cells is regulated through the autocrine production of growth factors and the expression of cognate surface receptors. In this study, the authors demonstrate that interleukin 1 (IL-1) is an inhibitor of endothelial growth in vitro and in vivo. IL-1 arrested growing, cultured endothelial cells in G 1 phase; inhibition of proliferation was dose dependent and occurred in parallel with occupancy of endothelial surface IL-1 receptors. In an angiogenesis model, IL-1 could inhibit fibroblast growth factor-induced vessel formation. The autocrine nature of the IL-1 effect on endothelial proliferation was demonstrated by the observation that occupancy of cell-surface receptors by endogenous IL-1 depressed cell growth. The potential significance of this finding was emphasized by the detection of IL-1 in the native endothelium of human umbilical veins. A mechanism by which IL-1 may exert its inhibitory effect on endothelial cell growth was suggested by studies showing that IL-1 decreased the expression of high-affinity fibroblast growth factor binding sites on endothelium. These results point to a potentially important role of IL-1 in regulating blood vessel growth the suggest that autocrine production of inhibitory factors may be a mechanism controlling proliferation of normal cells

  19. Induction of autocrine factor inhibiting cell motility from murine B16-BL6 melanoma cells by alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murata, J; Ayukawa, K; Ogasawara, M; Watanabe, H; Saiki, I

    1999-03-15

    We have previously reported that neuropeptide alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) successfully inhibited Matrigel invasion and haptotactic migration of B16-BL6 melanoma cells towards both fibronectin and laminin without affecting their growth. In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory mechanism of tumor cell motility by alpha-MSH. Alpha-MSH significantly blocked the autocrine motility factor (AMF)-enhanced cell motility. However, alpha-MSH did neither prevent the secretion of AMF from B16-BL6 cells nor alter the expression level of AMF receptor (gp78). On the other hand, alpha-MSH induced the secretion of the motility inhibitory factor(s) from B16-BL6 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The induction of the motility inhibitor(s) was proportional to increasing levels of intracellular cAMP induced by alpha-MSH as well as forskolin, and the activity was abolished by an adenylate cyclase inhibitor, 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine (DDA). The motility-inhibiting activity in conditioned medium (CM) from alpha-MSH-treated B16-BL6 cells was found to have a m.w. below 3 kDa after fractionation. This activity was abolished by boiling but insensitive to trypsin. The treatment of tumor cells with cycloheximide reduced the activity in alpha-MSH-stimulated CM. Our results suggest that alpha-MSH inhibited the motility of B16-BL6 cells through induction of autocrine factor(s).

  20. Dictyostelium cells bind a secreted autocrine factor that represses cell proliferation.

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    Choe, Jonathan M; Bakthavatsalam, Deenadayalan; Phillips, Jonathan E; Gomer, Richard H

    2009-02-02

    Dictyostelium cells secrete the proteins AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking either AprA or CfaD proliferate faster than wild type, while AprA or CfaD overexpressor cells proliferate slowly, indicating that AprA and CfaD are autocrine factors that repress proliferation. CfaD interacts with AprA and requires the presence of AprA to slow proliferation. To determine if CfaD is necessary for the ability of AprA to slow proliferation, whether AprA binds to cells, and if so whether the binding requires the presence of CfaD, we examined the binding and effect on proliferation of recombinant AprA. We find that the extracellular accumulation of AprA increases with cell density and reaches a concentration of 0.3 microg/ml near a stationary cell density. When added to wild-type or aprA- cells, recombinant AprA (rAprA) significantly slows proliferation at 0.1 microg/ml and higher concentrations. From 4 to 64 microg/ml, the effect of rAprA is at a plateau, slowing but not stopping proliferation. The proliferation-inhibiting activity of rAprA is roughly the same as that of native AprA in conditioned growth medium. Proliferating aprA- cells show saturable binding of rAprA to 92,000 +/- 11,000 cell-surface receptors with a KD of 0.03 +/- 0.02 microg/ml. There appears to be one class of binding site, and no apparent cooperativity. Native AprA inhibits the binding of rAprA to aprA- cells with a Ki of 0.03 mug/ml, suggesting that the binding kinetics of rAprA are similar to those of native AprA. The proliferation of cells lacking CrlA, a cAMP receptor-like protein, or cells lacking CfaD are not affected by rAprA. Surprisingly, both cell types still bind rAprA. Together, the data suggest that AprA functions as an autocrine proliferation-inhibiting factor by binding to cell surface receptors. Although AprA requires CfaD for activity, it does not require CfaD to bind to cells, suggesting the possibility that cells have an AprA receptor and a CfaD receptor, and activation of both receptors is

  1. Role of pigment epithelium-derived factor in the involution of hemangioma: Autocrine growth inhibition of hemangioma-derived endothelial cells

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    Kim, Kyung-Jin [Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of); Yun, Jang-Hyuk; Heo, Jong-Ik [Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Eun Hui [Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701 (Korea, Republic of); Min, Hye Sook [Department of Pathology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 110-744 (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Tae Hyun, E-mail: psthchoi@snu.ac.kr [Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Seoul National University Children’s Hospital, Seoul 110-744 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Pediatric Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Seoul National University Children’s Hospital, Seoul 110-744 (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Chung-Hyun, E-mail: iamhyun@snu.ac.kr [Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of); Ischemic/Hypoxic Disease Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of); Cancer Research Institute, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 110-799 (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-11-14

    Highlights: • PEDF was expressed and induced during the involuting phase of IH. • PEDF inhibited the cell growth of the involuting HemECs in an autocrine manner. • PEDF suppression restored the impaired cell growth of the involuting HemECs. - Abstract: Hemangioma is a benign tumor derived from abnormal blood vessel growth. Unlike other vascular tumor counterparts, a hemangioma is known to proliferate during its early stage but it is followed by a stage of involution where regression of the tumor occurs. The critical onset leading to the involution of hemangioma is currently not well understood. This study focused on the molecular identities of the involution of hemangioma. We demonstrated that a soluble factor released from the involuting phase of hemangioma-derived endothelial cells (HemECs) and identified pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) as an anti-angiogenic factor that was associated with the growth inhibition of the involuting HemECs. The growth inhibition of the involuting HemECs was reversed by suppression of PEDF in the involuting HemECs. Furthermore, we found that PEDF was more up-regulated in the involuting phase of hemangioma tissues than in the proliferating or the involuted. Taken together, we propose that PEDF accelerates the involution of hemangioma by growth inhibition of HemECs in an autocrine manner. The regulatory mechanism of PEDF expression could be a potential therapeutic target to treat hemangiomas.

  2. Dictyostelium cells bind a secreted autocrine factor that represses cell proliferation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phillips Jonathan E

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Dictyostelium cells secrete the proteins AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking either AprA or CfaD proliferate faster than wild type, while AprA or CfaD overexpressor cells proliferate slowly, indicating that AprA and CfaD are autocrine factors that repress proliferation. CfaD interacts with AprA and requires the presence of AprA to slow proliferation. To determine if CfaD is necessary for the ability of AprA to slow proliferation, whether AprA binds to cells, and if so whether the binding requires the presence of CfaD, we examined the binding and effect on proliferation of recombinant AprA. Results We find that the extracellular accumulation of AprA increases with cell density and reaches a concentration of 0.3 μg/ml near a stationary cell density. When added to wild-type or aprA- cells, recombinant AprA (rAprA significantly slows proliferation at 0.1 μg/ml and higher concentrations. From 4 to 64 μg/ml, the effect of rAprA is at a plateau, slowing but not stopping proliferation. The proliferation-inhibiting activity of rAprA is roughly the same as that of native AprA in conditioned growth medium. Proliferating aprA- cells show saturable binding of rAprA to 92,000 ± 11,000 cell-surface receptors with a KD of 0.03 ± 0.02 μg/ml. There appears to be one class of binding site, and no apparent cooperativity. Native AprA inhibits the binding of rAprA to aprA- cells with a Ki of 0.03 μg/ml, suggesting that the binding kinetics of rAprA are similar to those of native AprA. The proliferation of cells lacking CrlA, a cAMP receptor-like protein, or cells lacking CfaD are not affected by rAprA. Surprisingly, both cell types still bind rAprA. Conclusion Together, the data suggest that AprA functions as an autocrine proliferation-inhibiting factor by binding to cell surface receptors. Although AprA requires CfaD for activity, it does not require CfaD to bind to cells, suggesting the possibility that cells have an AprA receptor and a Cfa

  3. High epiregulin expression in human U87 glioma cells relies on IRE1α and promotes autocrine growth through EGF receptor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Auf, Gregor; Vajkoczy, Peter; Seno, Masaharu; Bikfalvi, Andreas; Minchenko, Dmitri; Minchenko, Oleksandr; Moenner, Michel; Jabouille, Arnaud; Delugin, Maylis; Guérit, Sylvaine; Pineau, Raphael; North, Sophie; Platonova, Natalia; Maitre, Marlène; Favereaux, Alexandre

    2013-01-01

    Epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors contribute to the development of malignant glioma. Here we considered the possible implication of the EGFR ligand epiregulin (EREG) in glioma development in relation to the activity of the unfolded protein response (UPR) sensor IRE1α. We also examined EREG status in several glioblastoma cell lines and in malignant glioma. Expression and biological properties of EREG were analyzed in human glioma cells in vitro and in human tumor xenografts with regard to the presence of ErbB proteins and to the blockade of IRE1α. Inactivation of IRE1α was achieved by using either the dominant-negative strategy or siRNA-mediated knockdown. EREG was secreted in high amounts by U87 cells, which also expressed its cognate EGF receptor (ErbB1). A stimulatory autocrine loop mediated by EREG was evidenced by the decrease in cell proliferation using specific blocking antibodies directed against either ErbB1 (cetuximab) or EREG itself. In comparison, anti-ErbB2 antibodies (trastuzumab) had no significant effect. Inhibition of IRE1α dramatically reduced EREG expression both in cell culture and in human xenograft tumor models. The high-expression rate of EREG in U87 cells was therefore linked to IRE1α, although being modestly affected by chemical inducers of the endoplasmic reticulum stress. In addition, IRE1-mediated production of EREG did not depend on IRE1 RNase domain, as neither the selective dominant-negative invalidation of the RNase activity (IRE1 kinase active) nor the siRNA-mediated knockdown of XBP1 had significant effect on EREG expression. Finally, chemical inhibition of c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) using the SP600125 compound reduced the ability of cells to express EREG, demonstrating a link between the growth factor production and JNK activation under the dependence of IRE1α. EREG may contribute to glioma progression under the control of IRE1α, as exemplified here by the autocrine proliferation loop mediated in U87 cells by the

  4. Autocrine VEGF and IL-8 Promote Migration via Src/Vav2/Rac1/PAK1 Signaling in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ju, Li; Zhou, Zhiwen; Jiang, Bo; Lou, Yue; Guo, Xirong

    2017-01-01

    Pro-angiogenic factors VEGF and IL-8 play a major role in modulating the migratory potential of endothelial cells. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of autocrine VEGF and IL-8 in the form of self-conditioned medium (CM) on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) examined the automatic secretion of VEGF and IL-8 protein by HUVECs. Western blot, small interfering RNA (siRNA), pulldown and Transwell assays were used to explore the role and the mechanism of autocrine VEGF and IL-8 in migration of HUVECs. Neutralizing VEGF and IL-8 in CM significantly abrogated CM-induced migration of HUVECs. Autocrine VEGF and IL-8 increased Src phosphorylation, Rac1 activity and PAK1 phosphorylation in a time dependent manner. Additionally, blocking Rac1 activity with Rac1 siRNA largely abolished autocrine VEGF and IL-8-induced cell migration. Vav2 siRNA suppressed autocrine VEGF and IL-8-induced Rac1 activation and cell migration. Furthermore, blocking Src signaling with PP2, a specific inhibitor for Src, markedly prevented autocrine VEGF and IL-8-induced Vav2 and Rac1 activation as well as consequently cell migration. PAK1 siRNA also significantly abolished autocrine VEGF and IL-8-induced cell migration. We demonstrated for the first time that autocrine VEGF and IL-8 promoted endothelial cell migration via the Src/Vav2/Rac1/PAK1 signaling pathway. This finding reveals the molecular mechanism in the increase of endothelial cell migration induced by autocrine growth factors and cytokines, which is expected to provide a novel therapeutic target in vascular diseases. © 2017 The Author(s)Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

  5. Collagen and Stretch Modulate Autocrine Secretion of Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 and Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Proteins from Differentiated Skeletal Muscle Cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perrone, Carmen E.; Fenwick-Smith, Daniela; Vandenburgh, Herman H.

    1995-01-01

    Stretch-induced skeletal muscle growth may involve increased autocrine secretion of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) since IGF-1 is a potent growth factor for skeletal muscle hypertrophy, and stretch elevates IGF-1 mRNA levels in vivo. In tissue cultures of differentiated avian pectoralis skeletal muscle cells, nanomolar concentrations of exogenous IGF-1 stimulated growth in mechanically stretched but not static cultures. These cultures released up to 100 pg of endogenously produced IGF-1/micro-g of protein/day, as well as three major IGF binding proteins of 31, 36, and 43 kilodaltons (kDa). IGF-1 was secreted from both myofibers and fibroblasts coexisting in the muscle cultures. Repetitive stretch/relaxation of the differentiated skeletal muscle cells stimulated the acute release of IGF-1 during the first 4 h after initiating mechanical activity, but caused no increase in the long-term secretion over 24-72 h of IGF-1, or its binding proteins. Varying the intensity and frequency of stretch had no effect on the long-term efflux of IGF-1. In contrast to stretch, embedding the differentiated muscle cells in a three-dimensional collagen (Type I) matrix resulted in a 2-5-fold increase in long-term IGF-1 efflux over 24-72 h. Collagen also caused a 2-5-fold increase in the release of the IGF binding proteins. Thus, both the extracellular matrix protein type I collagen and stretch stimulate the autocrine secretion of IGF-1, but with different time kinetics. This endogenously produced growth factor may be important for the growth response of skeletal myofibers to both types of external stimuli.

  6. Negative feedback regulation of human platelets via autocrine activation of the platelet-derived growth factor alpha-receptor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vassbotn, F S; Havnen, O K; Heldin, C H; Holmsen, H

    1994-05-13

    Human platelets contain platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in their alpha-granules which is released during platelet exocytosis. We show by immunoprecipitation and 125I-PDGF binding experiments that human platelets have functionally active PDGF alpha-receptors, but not beta-receptors. The PDGF alpha-receptor (PDGFR-alpha) was identified as a 170-kDa glycosylated protein-tyrosine kinase as found in other cell types. Stimulation of platelets with 0.1 unit/ml thrombin resulted in a significant increase (2-5-fold) of the tyrosine phosphorylation of the PDGFR-alpha, as determined by immunoprecipitation with phosphotyrosine antiserum as well as with PDGFR-alpha antiserum. The observed thrombin-induced autophosphorylation of the PDGFR-alpha was inhibited by the addition of a neutralizing monoclonal PDGF antibody. Thus, our results suggest that the platelet PDGFR-alpha is stimulated in an autocrine manner by PDGF secreted during platelet activation. Preincubation of platelets with PDGF inhibited thrombin-induced platelet aggregation and secretion of ATP + ADP and beta-hexosaminidase. Thrombin-induced platelet aggregation was also reversed when PDGF was added 30 s after thrombin stimulation. Inhibition of the autocrine PDGF pathway during platelet activation by the PDGF antibody led to a potentiation of thrombin-induced beta-hexosaminidase secretion. Thus, the PDGFR-alpha takes part in a negative feedback regulation during platelet activation. Our demonstration of PDGF alpha-receptors on human platelets and its inhibitory function during platelet activation identifies a new possible role of PDGF in the regulation of thrombosis.

  7. Autocrine role of angiopoietins during megakaryocytic differentiation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernestina Saulle

    Full Text Available The tyrosine kinase Tie-2 and its ligands Angiopoietins (Angs transduce critical signals for angiogenesis in endothelial cells. This receptor and Ang-1 are coexpressed in hematopoietic stem cells and in a subset of megakaryocytes, though a possible role of angiopoietins in megakaryocytic differentiation/proliferation remains to be demonstrated. To investigate a possible effect of Ang-1/Ang-2 on megakaryocytic proliferation/differentiation we have used both normal CD34(+ cells induced to megakaryocytic differentiation and the UT7 cells engineered to express the thrombopoietin receptor (TPOR, also known as c-mpl, UT7/mpl. Our results indicate that Ang-1/Ang-2 may have a role in megakaryopoiesis. Particularly, Ang-2 is predominantly produced and released by immature normal megakaryocytic cells and by undifferentiated UT7/mpl cells and slightly stimulated TPO-induced cell proliferation. Ang-1 production is markedly induced during megakaryocytic differentiation/maturation and potentiated TPO-driven megakaryocytic differentiation. Blocking endogenously released angiopoietins partially inhibited megakaryocytic differentiation, particularly for that concerns the process of polyploidization. According to these data it is suggested that an autocrine angiopoietin/Tie-2 loop controls megakaryocytic proliferation and differentiation.

  8. Interleukin 1 as an autocrine growth factor for acute myeloid leukemia cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cozzolino, F.; Rubartelli, A.; Aldinucci, D.; Sitia, R.; Torcia, M.; Shaw, A.; Di Guglielmo, R.

    1989-01-01

    Production of interleukin 1 (IL-1) by leukemic cells was studied in 13 cases of acute myeloid leukemia. Intracytoplasmic immunofluorescence studies showed that the cells invariably contained the cytokine. Endogenous labeling studies demonstrated that acute myeloid leukemia cells produced either only the 33-kDa propeptide or both the propeptide and the 17-kDa mature form of IL-1β. The 33-kDa propeptide IL-1α was always produced but was less frequently released. Involvement of IL-1 in leukemic cell growth was investigated using two antibodies specific for IL-1 subtypes, which inhibited spontaneous cell proliferation in the six cases studied. After acid treatment of the cells, a surface receptor for IL-1 could be demonstrated, which mediated 125 I-labeled IL-1-specific uptake by leukemic cells. Furthermore, recombinant IL-1α or IL-1β induced significant cell proliferation in 10 12 cases. The above findings were uncorrelated with the cytologic type (French-American-British classification) of leukemia. The studies suggest that IL-1 may act as an autocrine growth factor in most cases of acute myeloid leukemia

  9. Autocrine-paracrine regulation of the mammary gland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, S R; Hernandez, L L

    2016-01-01

    The mammary gland has a remarkable capacity for regulation at a local level, particularly with respect to its main function: milk secretion. Regulation of milk synthesis has significant effects on animal and human health, at the level of both the mother and the neonate. Control by the mammary gland of its essential function, milk synthesis, is an evolutionary necessity and is therefore tightly regulated at a local level. For at least the last 60 yr, researchers have been interested in elucidating the mechanisms underpinning the mammary gland's ability to self-regulate, largely without the influence from systemic hormones or signals. By the 1960s, scientists realized the importance of milk removal in the capacity of the gland to produce milk and that the dynamics of this removal, including emptying of the alveolar spaces and frequency of milking, were controlled locally as opposed to traditional systemic hormonal regulation. Using both in vitro systems and various mammalian species, including goats, marsupials, humans, and dairy cows, it has been demonstrated that the mammary gland is largely self-regulating in its capacity to support the young, which is the evolutionary basis for milk production. Local control occurs at the level of the mammary epithelial cell through pressure and stretching negative-feedback mechanisms, and also in an autocrine fashion through bioactive factors within the milk which act as inhibitors, regulating milk secretion within the alveoli themselves. It is only within the last 20 to 30 yr that potential candidates for these bioactive factors have been examined at a molecular level. Several, including parathyroid hormone-related protein, growth factors (transforming growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, epidermal growth factor), and serotonin, are synthesized within and act upon the gland and possess dynamic receptor activity resulting in diverse effects on growth, calcium homeostasis, and milk composition. This review will focus on the

  10. Design factors analyses of second-loop PRHRS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ZHANG Hongyan

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In order to study the operating characteristics of a second-loop Passive Residual Heat Removal System (PRHRS, the transient thermal analysis code RELAP5 is used to build simulation models of the main coolant system and second-loop PRHRS. Transient calculations and comparative analyses under station blackout accident and one-side feed water line break accident conditions are conducted for three critical design factors of the second-loop PRHRS:design capacity, emergency makeup tank and isolation valve opening speed. The impacts of the discussed design factors on the operating characteristics of the second-loop PRHRS are summarized based on calculations and analyses. The analysis results indicate that the system safety and cooling rate should be taken into consideration in designing PRHRS's capacity,and water injection from emergency makeup tank to steam generator can provide advantage to system cooling in the event of accident,and system startup performance can be improved by reducing the opening speed of isolation valve. The results can provide references for the design of the second-loop PRHRS in nuclear power plants.

  11. Autocrine signal transmission with extracellular ligand degradation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muratov, C B; Posta, F; Shvartsman, S Y

    2009-01-01

    Traveling waves of cell signaling in epithelial layers orchestrate a number of important processes in developing and adult tissues. These waves can be mediated by positive feedback autocrine loops, a mode of cell signaling where binding of a diffusible extracellular ligand to a cell surface receptor can lead to further ligand release. We formulate and analyze a biophysical model that accounts for ligand-induced ligand release, extracellular ligand diffusion and ligand–receptor interaction. We focus on the case when the main mode for ligand degradation is extracellular and analyze the problem with the sharp threshold positive feedback nonlinearity. We derive expressions that link the speed of propagation and other characteristics of traveling waves to the parameters of the biophysical processes, such as diffusion rates, receptor expression level, etc. Analyzing the derived expressions we found that traveling waves in such systems can exhibit a number of unusual properties, e.g. non-monotonic dependence of the speed of propagation on ligand diffusivity. Our results for the fully developed traveling fronts can be used to analyze wave initiation from localized perturbations, a scenario that frequently arises in the in vitro models of epithelial wound healing, and guide future modeling studies of cell communication in epithelial layers

  12. Autocrine signal transmission with extracellular ligand degradation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muratov, C B; Posta, F; Shvartsman, S Y

    2009-03-01

    Traveling waves of cell signaling in epithelial layers orchestrate a number of important processes in developing and adult tissues. These waves can be mediated by positive feedback autocrine loops, a mode of cell signaling where binding of a diffusible extracellular ligand to a cell surface receptor can lead to further ligand release. We formulate and analyze a biophysical model that accounts for ligand-induced ligand release, extracellular ligand diffusion and ligand-receptor interaction. We focus on the case when the main mode for ligand degradation is extracellular and analyze the problem with the sharp threshold positive feedback nonlinearity. We derive expressions that link the speed of propagation and other characteristics of traveling waves to the parameters of the biophysical processes, such as diffusion rates, receptor expression level, etc. Analyzing the derived expressions we found that traveling waves in such systems can exhibit a number of unusual properties, e.g. non-monotonic dependence of the speed of propagation on ligand diffusivity. Our results for the fully developed traveling fronts can be used to analyze wave initiation from localized perturbations, a scenario that frequently arises in the in vitro models of epithelial wound healing, and guide future modeling studies of cell communication in epithelial layers.

  13. Two-loop SL(2) form factors and maximal transcendentality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loebbert, Florian; Sieg, Christoph; Wilhelm, Matthias; Yang, Gang

    2016-01-01

    Form factors of composite operators in the SL(2) sector of N=4 SYM theory are studied up to two loops via the on-shell unitarity method. The non-compactness of this subsector implies the novel feature and technical challenge of an unlimited number of loop momenta in the integrand’s numerator. At one loop, we derive the full minimal form factor to all orders in the dimensional regularisation parameter. At two loops, we construct the complete integrand for composite operators with an arbitrary number of covariant derivatives, and we obtain the remainder functions as well as the dilatation operator for composite operators with up to three covariant derivatives. The remainder functions reveal curious patterns suggesting a hidden maximal uniform transcendentality for the full form factor. Finally, we speculate about an extension of these patterns to QCD.

  14. Two-loop SL(2) form factors and maximal transcendentality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loebbert, Florian [Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Sieg, Christoph [Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Institut für Mathematik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Wilhelm, Matthias [Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Institut für Mathematik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen University,Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen Ø (Denmark); Yang, Gang [CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics,Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100190 (China); Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany)

    2016-12-19

    Form factors of composite operators in the SL(2) sector of N=4 SYM theory are studied up to two loops via the on-shell unitarity method. The non-compactness of this subsector implies the novel feature and technical challenge of an unlimited number of loop momenta in the integrand’s numerator. At one loop, we derive the full minimal form factor to all orders in the dimensional regularisation parameter. At two loops, we construct the complete integrand for composite operators with an arbitrary number of covariant derivatives, and we obtain the remainder functions as well as the dilatation operator for composite operators with up to three covariant derivatives. The remainder functions reveal curious patterns suggesting a hidden maximal uniform transcendentality for the full form factor. Finally, we speculate about an extension of these patterns to QCD.

  15. Alpha-tocopheryl succinate inhibits malignant mesothelioma by disrupting the fibroblast growth factor autocrine loop

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Stapelberg, M.; Gellert, N.; Swettenham, E.; Tomasetti, M.; Witting, P. K.; Procopio, A.; Neužil, Jiří

    2005-01-01

    Roč. 280, č. 27 (2005), s. 25369-25376 ISSN 0021-9258 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50520514 Keywords : alpha-tocopheryl succinate * malignant mesothelioma * fibroblast growth factor Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 5.854, year: 2005

  16. Autocrine motility factor (neuroleukin, phosphohexose isomerase) induces cell movement through 12-lipoxygenase-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation and serine dephosphorylation events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timár, J; Tóth, S; Tóvári, J; Paku, S; Raz, A

    1999-01-01

    Autocrine motility factor (AMF) is one of the motility cytokines regulating tumor cell migration, therefore identification of the signaling pathway coupled with it has critical importance. Previous studies revealed several elements of this pathway predominated by lipoxygenase-PKC activations but the role for tyrosine kinases remained questionable. Motility cytokines frequently have mitogenic effect as well, producing activation of overlapping signaling pathways therefore we have used B16a melanoma cells as models where AMF has exclusive motility effect. Our studies revealed that in B16a cells AMF initiated rapid (1-5 min) activation of the protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) cascade inducing phosphorylation of 179, 125, 95 and 40/37 kD proteins which was mediated by upstream cyclo- and lipoxygenases. The phosphorylated proteins were localized to the cortical actin-stress fiber attachment zones in situ by confocal microscopy. On the other hand, AMF receptor activation induced significant decrease in overall serine-phosphorylation level of cellular proteins accompanied by serine phosphorylation of 200, 90, 78 and 65 kd proteins. The decrease in serine phosphorylation was independent of PTKs, PKC as well as cyclo- and lipoxygenases. However, AMF induced robust translocation of PKCalpha to the stress fibers and cortical actin suggesting a critical role for this kinase in the generation of the motility signal. Based on the significant decrease in serine phosphorylation after AMF stimulus in B16a cells we postulated the involvement of putative serine/threonine phosphatase(s) upstream lipoxygenase and activation of the protein tyrosine kinase cascade downstream cyclo- and lipoxygenase(s) in the previously identified autocrine motility signal.

  17. Autocrine regulation of human urothelial cell proliferation and migration during regenerative responses in vitro

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varley, Claire; Hill, Gemma; Pellegrin, Stephanie; Shaw, Nicola J.; Selby, Peter J.; Trejdosiewicz, Ludwik K.; Southgate, Jennifer

    2005-01-01

    Regeneration of the urothelium is rapid and effective in order to maintain a barrier to urine following tissue injury. Whereas normal human urothelial (NHU) cells are mitotically quiescent and G0 arrested in situ, they rapidly enter the cell cycle upon seeding in primary culture and show reversible growth arrest at confluency. We have used this as a model to investigate the role of EGF receptor signaling in urothelial regeneration and wound-healing. Transcripts for HER-1, HER-2, and HER-3 were expressed by quiescent human urothelium in situ. Expression of HER-1 was upregulated in proliferating cultures, whereas HER-2 and HER-3 were more associated with a growth-arrested phenotype. NHU cells could be propagated in the absence of exogenous EGF, but autocrine signaling through HER-1 via the MAPK and PI3-kinase pathways was essential for proliferation and migration during urothelial wound repair. HB-EGF was expressed by urothelium in situ and HB-EGF, epiregulin, TGF-α, and amphiregulin were expressed by proliferating NHU cells. Urothelial wound repair in vitro was attenuated by neutralizing antibodies against HER-1 ligands, particularly amphiregulin. By contrast, the same ligands applied exogenously promoted migration, but inhibited proliferation, implying that HER-1 ligands provoke differential effects in NHU cells depending upon whether they are presented as soluble or juxtacrine ligands. We conclude that proliferation and migration during wound healing in NHU cells are mediated through an EGFR autocrine signalling loop and our results implicate amphiregulin as a key mediator

  18. Interferon beta 1, an intermediate in the tumor necrosis factor alpha- induced increased MHC class I expression and an autocrine regulator of the constitutive MHC class I expression

    OpenAIRE

    1987-01-01

    In conclusion, our observations indicate that the constitutive MHC class I expression is regulated by autocrine production of IFN-beta 1. TNF-alpha acts as an enhancer of the autocrine production of IFN-beta 1, and consequently as an enhancer of the MHC class I expression and viral protection.

  19. Autocrine effects of transgenic resistin reduce palmitate and glucose oxidation in brown adipose tissue

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pravenec, Michal; Mlejnek, Petr; Zídek, Václav; Landa, Vladimír; Šimáková, Miroslava; Šilhavý, Jan; Strnad, Hynek; Eigner, Sebastian; Eigner-Henke, Kateřina; Škop, V.; Malínská, H.; Trnovská, J.; Kazdová, L.; Drahota, Zdeněk; Mráček, Tomáš; Houštěk, Josef

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 48, č. 6 (2016), s. 420-427 ISSN 1094-8341 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LL1204; GA ČR(CZ) GB14-36804G; GA MZd(CZ) NT14325 Institutional support: RVO:67985823 ; RVO:68378050 ; RVO:61389005 Keywords : brown adipose tissue * autocrine * transgenic * spontaneously hypertensive rat Subject RIV: FB - Endocrinology, Diabetology, Metabolism, Nutrition Impact factor: 3.044, year: 2016

  20. Autocrine growth induced by the insulin-related factor in the insulin-independent teratoma cell line 1246-3A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Yukio; Serrero, G.

    1988-01-01

    An insulin-independent teratoma-derived cell line, called 1246-3A, has been isolated from the adipogenic cell line 1246, which stringently requires insulin for proliferation. The 1246-3A cell line, which can proliferate in the absence of exogenous insulin, produces in its conditioned medium a growth factor similar to pancreatic insulin by its biological and immunological properties. This factor, called insulin-related factor (IRF), was purified and iodinated to study its binding to cell surface receptors. 125 I-labeled IRF binding to intact 1246-3A cells is lower than to 1246 cells. Cell surface binding can be restored by culturing the 1246-3A cells in the presence of an anti-porcine insulin monoclonal antibody of by acid prewash of the cells prior to performing the binding. Scatchard analysis of binding indicates that IRF secreted by the 1246-3A cells partially occupies high-affinity binding sites on the producer cells. Moreover, insulin monoclonal antibody inhibits the proliferation of the IRF-producing 1246-3A cells, suggesting that these cells are dependent on the secreted IRF for growth in culture. The authors conclude that the insulin-related factor secreted by the insulin-independent 1246-3A cells stimulates their proliferation in an autocrine fashion

  1. Autocrine IL-6 mediates pituitary tumor senescence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuertes, Mariana; Ajler, Pablo; Carrizo, Guillermo; Cervio, Andrés; Sevlever, Gustavo; Stalla, Günter K.; Arzt, Eduardo

    2017-01-01

    Cellular senescence is a stable proliferative arrest state. Pituitary adenomas are frequent and mostly benign, but the mechanism for this remains unknown. IL-6 is involved in pituitary tumor progression and is produced by the tumoral cells. In a cell autonomous fashion, IL-6 participates in oncogene-induced senescence in transduced human melanocytes. Here we prove that autocrine IL-6 participates in pituitary tumor senescence. Endogenous IL-6 inhibition in somatotroph MtT/S shRNA stable clones results in decreased SA-β-gal activity and p16INK4a but increased pRb, proliferation and invasion. Nude mice injected with IL-6 silenced clones develop tumors contrary to MtT/S wild type that do not, demonstrating that clones that escape senescence are capable of becoming tumorigenic. When endogenous IL-6 is silenced, cell cultures derived from positive SA-β-gal human tumor samples decrease the expression of the senescence marker. Our results establish that IL-6 contributes to maintain senescence by its autocrine action, providing a natural model of IL-6 mediated benign adenoma senescence. PMID:27902467

  2. Master integrals for the four-loop Sudakov form factor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boels, Rutger; Kniehl, Bernd A.; Yang, Gang; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

    2015-08-01

    The light-like cusp anomalous dimension is a universal function in the analysis of infrared divergences. In maximally (N=4) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory (SYM) in the planar limit, it is known, in principle, to all loop orders. The non-planar corrections are not known in any theory, with the first appearing at the four-loop order. Probably the simplest quantity which contains this correction is the four-loop two-point form factor of the stress tensor multiplet. This form factor was obtained in integrand form in a previous work for N=4 SYM, up to a single parameter. In this work, a reduction of the appearing integrals obtained by solving integration-by-parts (IBP) identities using (a tweaked version of) Reduze is reported. The form factor is shown to be independent of the remaining parameter at integrand level due to an intricate pattern of cancellations after IBP reduction. The appearing master integrals are cross-checked using algebraic techniques explored in the Mint package. The latter results provide the basis of master integrals applicable to generic form factors, including those in Quantum Chromodynamics. Remaining bottlenecks to completing the computation of the four-loop non-planar cusp anomalous dimension in N=4 SYM and beyond are identified.

  3. Autocrine EGF receptor activation mediates endothelial cell migration and vascular morphogenesis induced by VEGF under interstitial flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Semino, Carlos E.; Kamm, Roger D.; Lauffenburger, Douglas A.

    2006-01-01

    We show here that autocrine ligand activation of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor in combination with interstitial flow is critically involved in the morphogenetic response of endothelial cells to VEGF stimulation. Human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) monolayers cultured on a collagen gel and exposed to low interstitial flow in the absence of EGF and VEGF remained viable and mitotic but exhibited little evidence of vascular morphogenesis. Addition of VEGF produced a flow-dependent morphogenetic response within 48 to 72 h, characterized by branched capillary-like structures. The response was substantially abolished by inhibitors related to the autocrine EGF receptor pathway including Galardin, AG1478, PD98059, and an EGF receptor-blocking antibody, indicating that regulation of the morphogenetic process operates via autocrine EGF receptor activation. Moreover, we observed that in our system the EGF receptor was always activated independently of the interstitial flow, and, in addition, the EGF receptor inhibitors used above reduced the phosphorylation state of the receptor, correlating with inhibition of capillary morphogenesis. Finally, 5'bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling identified dividing cells at the monolayer but not in the extending capillary-like structures. EGF pathway inhibitors Galardin and AG1478 did not reduce BrdU incorporation in the monolayer, indicating that the EGF-receptor-mediated morphogenetic behavior is mainly due to cell migration rather than proliferation. Based on these results, we propose a two-step model for in vitro capillary morphogenesis in response to VEGF stimulation with interstitial fluid flow: monolayer maintenance by mitotic activity independent of EGF receptors and a migratory response mediated by autocrine EGF receptor activation wherein cells establish capillary-like structures

  4. Autocrine production of TGF-β confers resistance to apoptosis after an epithelial-mesenchymal transition process in hepatocytes: Role of EGF receptor ligands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castillo, Gaelle del; Murillo, Miguel M.; Alvarez-Barrientos, Alberto; Bertran, Esther; Fernandez, Margarita; Sanchez, Aranzazu; Fabregat, Isabel

    2006-01-01

    Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) induces apoptosis in fetal rat hepatocytes. However, a subpopulation of these cells survives, concomitant with changes in phenotype, reminiscent of an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We have previously suggested that EMT might confer cell resistance to apoptosis (Valdes et al., Mol. Cancer Res., 1: 68-78, 2002). However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for this resistance are not explored yet. In this work, we have isolated and subcultured the population of hepatocytes that suffered the EMT process and are resistant to apoptosis (TGF-β-treated fetal hepatocytes: TβT-FH). We prove that they secrete mitogenic and survival factors, as analyzed by the proliferative and survival capacity of conditioned medium. Inhibition of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) sensitizes TβT-FH to die after serum withdrawal. TβT-FH expresses high levels of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-α) and heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) and shows constitutive activation of the EGFR pathway. A blocking anti-TGF-α antibody restores the capacity of cells to die. TGF-β, which is expressed by TβT-FH, mediates up-regulation of TGF-α and HB-EGF expression in those cells. In summary, results suggest that an autocrine loop of TGF-β confers resistance to apoptosis after an EMT process in hepatocytes, through the increase in the expression of EGFR ligands

  5. The three-loop form factor in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gehrmann, Thomas [Universitaet Zuerich (Switzerland); Henn, Johannes [IAS Princeton (United States); Huber, Tobias [Universitaet Siegen (Germany)

    2012-07-01

    We present the calculation of the Sudakov form factor in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory to the three-loop order. At leading colour, the latter is expressed in terms of planar and non-planar loop integrals. We show that it is possible to choose a representation in which each loop integral has uniform transcendentality in the Riemann {zeta}-function. We comment on the expected exponentiation of the infrared divergences and the values of the three-loop cusp and collinear anomalous dimensions in dimensional regularisation. We also compare the form factor in N=4 super Yang-Mills to the leading transcendentality pieces of the quark and gluon form factor in QCD. Finally, we investigate the ultraviolet properties of the form factor in D>4 dimensions.

  6. Theileria parva infection induces autocrine growth of bovine lymphocytes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dobbelaere, D A; Coquerelle, T M; Roditi, I J; Eichhorn, M; Williams, R O

    1988-01-01

    Bovine lymphocytes infected with the parasite Theileria parva continuously secrete a growth factor that is essential for their proliferation in vitro and also constitutively express interleukin 2 receptors on their surface. Dilution of the secreted growth factor, caused by culturing cells at low density, results in retardation of culture growth. Human recombinant interleukin 2, however, effectively substitutes for the diluted growth factor by restoring normal growth rates and also allows Theileria-infected cells to be grown at low density without the use of feeder layers. Secretion of the growth factor and expression of the interleukin 2 receptor depend on the presence of the parasite in the cytoplasm of the host cell. Elimination of the parasite from the cell cytoplasm by the specific antitheilerial drug BW 720c results in the arrest of growth factor secretion and the disappearance of interleukin 2 receptors from the cell surface. This is accompanied by growth arrest and reversion of the infected cells to the morphology of resting lymphocytes. We propose that the continuous proliferation of infected cells in vitro is mediated by autocrine receptor activation. Images PMID:3133661

  7. Master integrals for the four-loop Sudakov form factor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rutger H. Boels

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The light-like cusp anomalous dimension is a universal function in the analysis of infrared divergences. In maximally (N=4 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory (SYM in the planar limit, it is known, in principle, to all loop orders. The non-planar corrections are not known in any theory, with the first appearing at the four-loop order. The simplest quantity which contains this correction is the four-loop two-point form factor of the stress tensor multiplet. This form factor was largely obtained in integrand form in a previous work for N=4 SYM, up to a free parameter. In this work, a reduction of the appearing integrals obtained by solving integration-by-parts (IBP identities using a modified version of Reduze is reported. The form factor is shown to be independent of the remaining parameter at integrand level due to an intricate pattern of cancellations after IBP reduction. Moreover, two of the integral topologies vanish after reduction. The appearing master integrals are cross-checked using independent algebraic-geometry techniques explored in the Mint package. The latter results provide the basis of master integrals applicable to generic form factors, including those in Quantum Chromodynamics. Discrepancies between explicitly solving the IBP relations and the MINT approach are highlighted. Remaining bottlenecks to completing the computation of the four-loop non-planar cusp anomalous dimension in N=4 SYM and beyond are identified.

  8. Probing Embryonic Stem Cell Autocrine and Paracrine Signaling Using Microfluidics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Przybyla, Laralynne; Voldman, Joel

    2012-07-01

    Although stem cell fate is traditionally manipulated by exogenously altering the cells' extracellular signaling environment, the endogenous autocrine and paracrine signals produced by the cells also contribute to their two essential processes: self-renewal and differentiation. Autocrine and/or paracrine signals are fundamental to both embryonic stem cell self-renewal and early embryonic development, but the nature and contributions of these signals are often difficult to fully define using conventional methods. Microfluidic techniques have been used to explore the effects of cell-secreted signals by controlling cell organization or by providing precise control over the spatial and temporal cellular microenvironment. Here we review how such techniques have begun to be adapted for use with embryonic stem cells, and we illustrate how many remaining questions in embryonic stem cell biology could be addressed using microfluidic technologies.

  9. The SU(2|3) dynamic two-loop form factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brandhuber, A.; Kostacińska, M.; Penante, B.; Travaglini, G.; Young, D.

    2016-01-01

    We compute two-loop form factors of operators in the SU(2|3) closed subsector of N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills. In particular, we focus on the non-protected, dimension-three operators Tr(X[Y,Z]) and Tr(ψψ) for which we compute the four possible two-loop form factors, and corresponding remainder functions, with external states 〈X̄ȲZ̄| and 〈ψ̄ψ̄|. Interestingly, the maximally transcendental part of the two-loop remainder of 〈X̄ȲZ̄|Tr(X[Y,Z])|0〉 turns out to be identical to that of the corresponding known quantity for the half-BPS operator Tr(X"3). We also find a surprising connection between the terms subleading in transcendentality and certain a priori unrelated remainder densities introduced in the study of the spin chain Hamiltonian in the SU(2) sector. Next, we use our calculation to resolve the mixing, recovering anomalous dimensions and eigenstates of the dilatation operator in the SU(2|3) sector at two loops. We also speculate on potential connections between our calculations in N = 4 super Yang-Mills and Higgs + multi-gluon amplitudes in QCD in an effective Lagrangian approach.

  10. The SU(2|3) dynamic two-loop form factors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brandhuber, A.; Kostacińska, M. [Centre for Research in String Theory, School of Physics and Astronomy,Queen Mary University of London,Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom); Penante, B. [Centre for Research in String Theory, School of Physics and Astronomy,Queen Mary University of London,Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom); Institut für Physik und IRIS Adlershof, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin,Zum Großen Windkanal 6, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Travaglini, G.; Young, D. [Centre for Research in String Theory, School of Physics and Astronomy,Queen Mary University of London,Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom)

    2016-08-23

    We compute two-loop form factors of operators in the SU(2|3) closed subsector of N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills. In particular, we focus on the non-protected, dimension-three operators Tr(X[Y,Z]) and Tr(ψψ) for which we compute the four possible two-loop form factors, and corresponding remainder functions, with external states 〈X̄ȲZ̄| and 〈ψ̄ψ̄|. Interestingly, the maximally transcendental part of the two-loop remainder of 〈X̄ȲZ̄|Tr(X[Y,Z])|0〉 turns out to be identical to that of the corresponding known quantity for the half-BPS operator Tr(X{sup 3}). We also find a surprising connection between the terms subleading in transcendentality and certain a priori unrelated remainder densities introduced in the study of the spin chain Hamiltonian in the SU(2) sector. Next, we use our calculation to resolve the mixing, recovering anomalous dimensions and eigenstates of the dilatation operator in the SU(2|3) sector at two loops. We also speculate on potential connections between our calculations in N = 4 super Yang-Mills and Higgs + multi-gluon amplitudes in QCD in an effective Lagrangian approach.

  11. The heavy quark form factors at two loops

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ablinger, J.; Schneider, C. [Johannes Kepler Univ., Linz (Austria). Research Inst. for Symbolic Computation (RISC); Behring, A. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany); RWTH Aachen Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Teilchenphysik und Kosmologie; Bluemlein, J.; Freitas, A. de; Marquard, P.; Rana, N. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany); Falcioni, G. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany); Nikhef, Amsterdam (Netherlands). Theory Group

    2017-12-15

    We compute the two-loop QCD corrections to the heavy quark form factors in case of the vector, axial-vector, scalar and pseudo-scalar currents up to second order in the dimensional parameter ε=(4-D)/2. These terms are required in the renormalization of the higher order corrections to these form factors.

  12. Ikaros imposes a barrier to CD8+ T cell differentiation by restricting autocrine IL-2 production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, Shaun; Thomas, Rajan M; Wertheim, Gerald B; Zhang, Fuqin; Shen, Hao; Wells, Andrew D

    2014-06-01

    Naive CD4(+) T cells require signals from the TCR and CD28 to produce IL-2, expand, and differentiate. However, these same signals are not sufficient to induce autocrine IL-2 production by naive CD8(+) T cells, which require cytokines provided by other cell types to drive their differentiation. The basis for failed autocrine IL-2 production by activated CD8(+) cells is unclear. We find that Ikaros, a transcriptional repressor that silences IL-2 in anergic CD4(+) T cells, also restricts autocrine IL-2 production by CD8(+) T cells. We find that CD8(+) T cell activation in vitro in the absence of exogenous cytokines and CD4 help leads to marked induction of Ikaros, a known repressor of the Il2 gene. Naive murine CD8 T cells haplo-insufficient for Ikzf1 failed to upregulate Ikaros, produced autocrine IL-2, and differentiated in an IL-2-dependent manner into IFN-γ-producing CTLs in response to TCR/CD28 stimulation alone. Furthermore, Ikzf1 haplo-insufficient CD8(+) T cells were more effective at controlling Listeria infection and B16 melanoma growth in vivo, and they could provide help to neighboring, non-IL-2-producing cells to differentiate into IFN-γ-producing effectors. Therefore, by repressing autocrine IL-2 production, Ikaros ensures that naive CD8(+) T cells remain dependent on licensing by APCs and CD4(+) T cells, and it may therefore act as a cell-intrinsic safeguard against inappropriate CTL differentiation and immunopathology. Copyright © 2014 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.

  13. Age-related autocrine diabetogenic effects of transgenic resistin in spontaneously hypertensive rats: gene expression profile analysis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pravenec, Michal; Zídek, Václav; Landa, Vladimír; Šimáková, Miroslava; Mlejnek, Petr; Šilhavý, J.; Maxová, M.; Kazdová, L.; Seidman, J. G.; Seidman, Ch. E.; Eminaga, S.; Gorham, J.; Wang, J.; Kurtz, T. W.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 43, č. 7 (2011), s. 372-379 ISSN 1094-8341 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) ME08006; GA MŠk(CZ) 1M0510; GA AV ČR(CZ) IAA500110805; GA MZd(CZ) NS9759 Grant - others:Fondation Leducq(FR) 06CVD03 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50110509 Keywords : transgenic rat * adipose tissue * insulin resistance * autocrine effects Subject RIV: FB - Endocrinology, Diabetology, Metabolism, Nutrition Impact factor: 2.735, year: 2011

  14. ORIENTATION: KEY TO THE OODA LOOP – THE CULTURE FACTOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donald A. MACCUISH

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The late Colonel John Boyd developed what he called the OODA-Loop as both a learning and decision making model to help us better understand how we make decisions and learn. His OODA-Loop model consists of non-sequential elements: Observe – Orient – Decide – Action. He contended if one could cycle through these phases quicker and more accurately than one’s adversary you could then get inside your adversary’s OODA-Loop and “win”. The key to the OODA-Loop he noted is Orientation. He only drew one diagram of his OODA-Loop. Only in the Orientation phase did he elaborate component elements. These elements are: Cultural Traditions, Genetic Heritage, Analysis/Synthesis, New Information, and Previous Experience. All of these elements he contended are interconnected. Thus, the interaction of all these factors effects how we orient ourselves to the situation at hand. In this article I will share my view of the “Culture Factor” in Orientation.

  15. Reversion of autocrine transformation by a dominant negative platelet-derived growth factor mutant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vassbotn, F S; Andersson, M; Westermark, B; Heldin, C H; Ostman, A

    1993-07-01

    A non-receptor-binding mutant of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) A chain, PDGF-0, was generated by exchanging 7 amino acids in the sequence. The mutant chains formed dimers that were similar to wild-type PDGF-AA with regard to stability and rate of processing to the mature 30-kDa secreted forms. Moreover, the mutant chains formed disulfide-bonded heterodimers with the PDGF B chain in NIH 3T3 cells heterodimer underwent the same processing and secretion as PDGF-AB. Transfection of c-sis-expressing 3T3 cells with PDGF-0 significantly inhibited the transformed phenotype of these cells, as determined by the following criteria. (i) Compared with PDGF-0-negative clones, PDGF-0-producing clones showed a reverted morphology. (ii) Clones producing PDGF-0 grew more slowly than PDGF-0-negative clones, with a fivefold difference in cell number after 14 days in culture. (iii) The expression of PDGF-0 completely inhibited the ability of the c-sis-expressing 3T3 cells to form colonies in soft agar; this inhibition was overcome by the addition of recombinant PDGF-BB to the culture medium, showing that the lack of colony formation of these cells was not due to a general unresponsiveness to PDGF. The specific expression of a PDGF-0/PDGF wild-type heterodimer in COS cells revealed that the affinity of the mutant heterodimer for the PDGF alpha receptor was decreased by approximately 50-fold compared with that of PDGF-AA. Thus, we show that a non-receptor-binding PDGF A-chain mutant neutralizes in a trans-dominant manner the autocrine transforming potential of the c-sis/PDGF B chain by forming low-affinity heterodimers with wild-type PDGF chains. This method of specifically antagonizing the effect of PDGF may be useful in investigations of the role of PDGF in normal and pathological conditions.

  16. Conformal anomaly of generalized form factors and finite loop integrals

    CERN Document Server

    Chicherin, Dmitry

    2017-01-01

    We reveal a new mechanism of conformal symmetry breaking at Born level. It occurs in generalized form factors with several local operators and an on-shell state of massless particles. The effect is due to hidden singularities on collinear configurations of the momenta. This conformal anomaly is different from the holomorphic anomaly of amplitudes. We present a number of examples in four and six dimensions. We find an application of the new conformal anomaly to finite loop momentum integrals with one or more massless legs. The collinear region around a massless leg creates a contact anomaly, made visible by the loop integration. The anomalous conformal Ward identity for an $\\ell-$loop integral is a 2nd-order differential equation whose right-hand side is an $(\\ell-1)-$loop integral. We show several examples, in particular the four-dimensional scalar double box.

  17. Endothelium-derived fibronectin regulates neonatal vascular morphogenesis in an autocrine fashion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Christopher J; Badu-Nkansah, Kwabena; Hynes, Richard O

    2017-11-01

    Fibronectin containing alternatively spliced EIIIA and EIIIB domains is largely absent from mature quiescent vessels in adults, but is highly expressed around blood vessels during developmental and pathological angiogenesis. The precise functions of fibronectin and its splice variants during developmental angiogenesis however remain unclear due to the presence of cardiac, somitic, mesodermal and neural defects in existing global fibronectin KO mouse models. Using a rare family of surviving EIIIA EIIIB double KO mice, as well as inducible endothelial-specific fibronectin-deficient mutant mice, we show that vascular development in the neonatal retina is regulated in an autocrine manner by endothelium-derived fibronectin, and requires both EIIIA and EIIIB domains and the RGD-binding α5 and αv integrins for its function. Exogenous sources of fibronectin do not fully substitute for the autocrine function of endothelial fibronectin, demonstrating that fibronectins from different sources contribute differentially to specific aspects of angiogenesis.

  18. XIAP gene expression and function is regulated by autocrine and paracrine TGF-β signaling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Van Themsche Céline

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP is often overexpressed in cancer cells, where it plays a key role in survival and also promotes invasiveness. To date however, the extracellular signals and intracellular pathways regulating its expression and activity remain incompletely understood. We have previously showed that exposure to each of the three TGF-β (transforming growth factor beta isoforms upregulates XIAP protein content in endometrial carcinoma cells in vitro. In the present study, we have investigated the clinical relevance of TGF-β isoforms in endometrial tumours and the mechanisms through which TGF-β isoforms regulate XIAP content in uterine cancer cells. Methods TGF-β isoforms immunoreactivity in clinical samples from endometrial tumours was assessed using immunofluorescence. Two model cancer cell lines (KLE endometrial carcinoma cells and HeLa cervical cancer cells and pharmacological inhibitors were used to investigate the signalling pathways regulating XIAP expression and activity in response to autocrine and paracrine TGF-β in cancer cell. Results We have found immunoreactivity for each TGF-β isoform in clinical samples from endometrial tumours, localizing to both stromal and epithelial/cancer cells. Blockade of autocrine TGF-β signaling in KLE endometrial carcinoma cells and HeLa cervical cancer cells reduced endogenous XIAP mRNA and protein levels. In addition, each TGF-β isoform upregulated XIAP gene expression when given exogenously, in a Smad/NF-κB dependent manner. This resulted in increased polyubiquitination of PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome ten, a newly identified substrate for XIAP E3 ligase activity, and in a XIAP-dependent decrease of PTEN protein levels. Although each TGF-β isoform decreased PTEN content in a XIAP- and a Smad-dependent manner, decrease of PTEN levels in response to only one isoform, TGF-β3, was blocked by PI3-K inhibitor LY294002. Conclusions

  19. Self-amplifying autocrine actions of BDNF in axon development

    OpenAIRE

    Cheng, Pei-Lin; Song, Ai-Hong; Wong, Yu-Hui; Wang, Sheng; Zhang, Xiang; Poo, Mu-Ming

    2011-01-01

    A critical step in neuronal development is the formation of axon/dendrite polarity, a process involving symmetry breaking in the newborn neuron. Local self-amplifying processes could enhance and stabilize the initial asymmetry in the distribution of axon/dendrite determinants, but the identity of these processes remains elusive. We here report that BDNF, a secreted neurotrophin essential for the survival and differentiation of many neuronal populations, serves as a self-amplifying autocrine f...

  20. Cell wall trapping of autocrine peptides for human G-protein-coupled receptors on the yeast cell surface.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Ishii

    Full Text Available G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs regulate a wide variety of physiological processes and are important pharmaceutical targets for drug discovery. Here, we describe a unique concept based on yeast cell-surface display technology to selectively track eligible peptides with agonistic activity for human GPCRs (Cell Wall Trapping of Autocrine Peptides (CWTrAP strategy. In our strategy, individual recombinant yeast cells are able to report autocrine-positive activity for human GPCRs by expressing a candidate peptide fused to an anchoring motif. Following expression and activation, yeast cells trap autocrine peptides onto their cell walls. Because captured peptides are incapable of diffusion, they have no impact on surrounding yeast cells that express the target human GPCR and non-signaling peptides. Therefore, individual yeast cells can assemble the autonomous signaling complex and allow single-cell screening of a yeast population. Our strategy may be applied to identify eligible peptides with agonistic activity for target human GPCRs.

  1. Conformal anomaly of generalized form factors and finite loop integrals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chicherin, Dmitry; Sokatchev, Emery

    2018-04-01

    We reveal a new mechanism of conformal symmetry breaking at Born level. It occurs in generalized form factors with several local operators and an on-shell state of massless particles. The effect is due to hidden singularities on collinear configurations of the momenta. This conformal anomaly is different from the holomorphic anomaly of amplitudes. We present a number of examples in four and six dimensions. We find an application of the new conformal anomaly to finite loop momentum integrals with one or more massless legs. The collinear region around a massless leg creates a contact anomaly, made visible by the loop integration. The anomalous conformal Ward identity for an ℓ-loop integral is a 2nd-order differential equation whose right-hand side is an (ℓ - 1)-loop integral. It could serve as a new useful tool to find/test analytic expressions for conformal integrals. We illustrate this point with several examples of known integrals. We propose a new differential equation for the four-dimensional scalar double box.

  2. CGI-99 promotes breast cancer metastasis via autocrine interleukin-6 signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, C; Liao, W; Jian, Y; Peng, Y; Zhang, X; Ye, L; Cui, Y; Wang, B; Wu, X; Xiong, Z; Wu, S; Li, J; Wang, X; Song, L

    2017-06-29

    Metastatic relapse remains largely incurable and a major challenge of clinical management in breast cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Herein, we report that CGI-99 is overexpressed in breast cancer tissues from patients with metastatic recurrence within 5 years. High CGI-99 significantly predicts poorer 5-year metastasis-free patient survival. We find that CGI-99 increases breast cancer stem cell properties, and potentiates efficient tumor lung colonization and outgrowth in vivo. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CGI-99 activates the autocrine interleukin-6 (IL-6)/STAT3 signaling by increasing the accumulation and activity of RNA polymerase II and p300 cofactor at the proximal promoter of IL-6. Importantly, delivery of the IL-6-receptor humanized monoclonal antibody tocilizumab robustly abrogates CGI-99-induced metastasis in vivo. Finally, we find that high levels of CGI-99 are significantly correlated with STAT3 hyperactivation in breast cancer patients. These findings reveal a potential mechanism for constitutive activation of autocrine IL-6/STAT3 signaling and may suggest a novel target for clinical intervention in breast cancer.

  3. Closed-loop control with a coupling factor using an AO system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seo, Y-S; Baik, S-H; Park, S-K; Hong, S-K; Lim, C; Kim, C-J

    2008-01-01

    To stabilize a closed-loop control for a wavefront correction of a distorted laser beam, the instrumentation of an adaptive optics system and the closed-loop wavefront correction algorithms were investigated. We proposed a new control algorithm using a coupling factor from the zonal and the modal ideas. Compensating for an arbitrary wavefront distortion of a laser beam in the real-time, the wavefront correction speed was 5 Hz using the proposed methods of a zonal control with a coupling factor. Although the correction speed is slower in the new algorithm, the correction accuracy is more stable. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is appropriate for the wavefront correction of a low frequency fluctuation

  4. Autocrine stimulation of VEGFR-2 activates human leukemic cell growth and migration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias, Sergio; Hattori, Koichi; Zhu, Zhenping; Heissig, Beate; Choy, Margaret; Lane, William; Wu, Yan; Chadburn, Amy; Hyjek, Elizabeth; Gill, Muhammad; Hicklin, Daniel J.; Witte, Larry; Moore, M.A.S.; Rafii, Shahin

    2000-01-01

    Emerging data suggest that VEGF receptors are expressed by endothelial cells as well as hematopoietic stem cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that functional VEGF receptors may also be expressed in malignant counterparts of hematopoietic stem cells such as leukemias. We demonstrate that certain leukemias not only produce VEGF but also express functional VEGFR-2 in vivo and in vitro, resulting in the generation of an autocrine loop that may support leukemic cell survival and proliferation. Approximately 50% of freshly isolated leukemias expressed mRNA and protein for VEGFR-2. VEGF165 induced phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 and increased proliferation of leukemic cells, demonstrating these receptors were functional. VEGF165 also induced the expression of MMP-9 by leukemic cells and promoted their migration through reconstituted basement membrane. The neutralizing mAb IMC-1C11, specific to human VEGFR-2, inhibited leukemic cell survival in vitro and blocked VEGF165-mediated proliferation of leukemic cells and VEGF-induced leukemic cell migration. Xenotransplantation of primary leukemias and leukemic cell lines into immunocompromised nonobese diabetic mice resulted in significant elevation of human, but not murine, VEGF in plasma and death of inoculated mice within 3 weeks. Injection of IMC-1C11 inhibited proliferation of xenotransplanted human leukemias and significantly increased the survival of inoculated mice. Interruption of signaling by VEGFRs, particularly VEGFR-2, may provide a novel strategy for inhibiting leukemic cell proliferation. PMID:10953026

  5. Autocrine Effects of Tumor-Derived Complement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Soon Cho

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available We describe a role for the complement system in enhancing cancer growth. Cancer cells secrete complement proteins that stimulate tumor growth upon activation. Complement promotes tumor growth via a direct autocrine effect that is partially independent of tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic T cells. Activated C5aR and C3aR signal through the PI3K/AKT pathway in cancer cells, and silencing the PI3K or AKT gene in cancer cells eliminates the progrowth effects of C5aR and C3aR stimulation. In patients with ovarian or lung cancer, higher tumoral C3 or C5aR mRNA levels were associated with decreased overall survival. These data identify a role for tumor-derived complement proteins in promoting tumor growth, and they therefore have substantial clinical and therapeutic implications.

  6. Acetylcholine release by human colon cancer cells mediates autocrine stimulation of cell proliferation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Kunrong; Samimi, Roxana; Xie, Guofeng; Shant, Jasleen; Drachenberg, Cinthia; Wade, Mark; Davis, Richard J; Nomikos, George; Raufman, Jean-Pierre

    2008-09-01

    Most colon cancers overexpress M3 muscarinic receptors (M3R), and post-M3R signaling stimulates human colon cancer cell proliferation. Acetylcholine (ACh), a muscarinic receptor ligand traditionally regarded as a neurotransmitter, may be produced by nonneuronal cells. We hypothesized that ACh release by human colon cancer cells results in autocrine stimulation of proliferation. H508 human colon cancer cells, which have robust M3R expression, were used to examine effects of muscarinic receptor antagonists, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, and choline transport inhibitors on cell proliferation. A nonselective muscarinic receptor antagonist (atropine), a selective M3R antagonist (p-fluorohexahydro-sila-difenidol hydrochloride), and a choline transport inhibitor (hemicholinum-3) all inhibited unstimulated H508 colon cancer cell proliferation by approximately 40% (P<0.005). In contrast, two acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (eserine-hemisulfate and bis-9-amino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridine) increased proliferation by 2.5- and 2-fold, respectively (P<0.005). By using quantitative real-time PCR, expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), a critical enzyme for ACh synthesis, was identified in H508, WiDr, and Caco-2 colon cancer cells. By using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical detection, released ACh was detected in H508 and Caco-2 cell culture media. Immunohistochemistry in surgical specimens revealed weak or no cytoplasmic staining for ChAT in normal colon enterocytes (n=25) whereas half of colon cancer specimens (n=24) exhibited moderate to strong staining (P<0.005). We conclude that ACh is an autocrine growth factor in colon cancer. Mechanisms that regulate colon epithelial cell production and release of ACh warrant further investigation.

  7. Endothelin-3 production by human rhabdomyosarcoma: a possible new marker with a paracrine role.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palladini, Arianna; Astolfi, Annalisa; Croci, Stefania; De Giovanni, Carla; Nicoletti, Giordano; Rosolen, Angelo; Sartori, Francesca; Lollini, Pier-Luigi; Landuzzi, Lorena; Nanni, Patrizia

    2006-03-01

    Several autocrine and paracrine growth factor circuits have been found in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells. In this study we show that endothelin-3 (ET-3), a vasoactive peptide, is produced by human rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines, whereas it is not expressed by human sarcoma cell lines of non-muscle origin. We did not find evidence of a significant autocrine loop; nevertheless ET-3 produced by rhabdomyosarcoma cells can act as a paracrine factor, since it promotes migration of endothelial cells. Moreover ET-3 is present in plasma of mice bearing xenografts of human rhabdomyosarcoma cells, and may be potential new marker of the human rhabdomyosarcoma to be studied further.

  8. Transcription-factor-mediated DNA looping probed by high-resolution, single-molecule imaging in live E. coli cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zach Hensel

    Full Text Available DNA looping mediated by transcription factors plays critical roles in prokaryotic gene regulation. The "genetic switch" of bacteriophage λ determines whether a prophage stays incorporated in the E. coli chromosome or enters the lytic cycle of phage propagation and cell lysis. Past studies have shown that long-range DNA interactions between the operator sequences O(R and O(L (separated by 2.3 kb, mediated by the λ repressor CI (accession number P03034, play key roles in regulating the λ switch. In vitro, it was demonstrated that DNA segments harboring the operator sequences formed loops in the presence of CI, but CI-mediated DNA looping has not been directly visualized in vivo, hindering a deep understanding of the corresponding dynamics in realistic cellular environments. We report a high-resolution, single-molecule imaging method to probe CI-mediated DNA looping in live E. coli cells. We labeled two DNA loci with differently colored fluorescent fusion proteins and tracked their separations in real time with ∼40 nm accuracy, enabling the first direct analysis of transcription-factor-mediated DNA looping in live cells. Combining looping measurements with measurements of CI expression levels in different operator mutants, we show quantitatively that DNA looping activates transcription and enhances repression. Further, we estimated the upper bound of the rate of conformational change from the unlooped to the looped state, and discuss how chromosome compaction may impact looping kinetics. Our results provide insights into transcription-factor-mediated DNA looping in a variety of operator and CI mutant backgrounds in vivo, and our methodology can be applied to a broad range of questions regarding chromosome conformations in prokaryotes and higher organisms.

  9. Expression of transforming growth factor alpha and epidermal growth factor receptor in rat lung neoplasms induced by plutonium-239

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stegelmeier, B.L.; Gillett, N.A.; Hahn, F.F.; Kelly, G.; Rebar, A.H.

    1994-01-01

    Ninety-two rat lung proliferative lesions and neoplasms induced by inhaled 239 PuO 2 were evaluated for aberrant expression of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-α) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Expression of TGF-α protein, measured by immunohistochemistry, was higher in 94% of the squamous cell carcinomas and 87% of the foci of alveolar epithelial squamous metaplasia than that exhibited by the normal-appearing, adjacent lung parenchyma. In contrast, only 20% of adenocarcinomas and foci of epithelial hyperplasia expressed elevated levels of TGF-α. Many neoplasms expressing TGF-α also expressed excessive levels of EGFR mRNA. Southern and DNA slot blot analyses showed that the elevated EGFR expression was not due to amplification of the EGFR gene. These data suggest that increased amounts of TGF-α were early alterations in the progression of plutonium-induced squamous cell carcinoma, and these increases may occur in parallel with overexpression of the receptor for this growth factor. Together, these alterations create a potential autocrine loop for sustaining clonal expansion of cells initiated by high-LET radiation. 44 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  10. Heavy quark form factors at two loops in perturbative QCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ablinger, J.; Schneider, C.; Behring, A.; Falcioni, G.

    2017-11-01

    We present the results for heavy quark form factors at two-loop order in perturbative QCD for different currents, namely vector, axial-vector, scalar and pseudo-scalar currents, up to second order in the dimensional regularization parameter. We outline the necessary computational details, ultraviolet renormalization and corresponding universal infrared structure.

  11. Heavy quark form factors at two loops in perturbative QCD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ablinger, J.; Schneider, C. [Johannes Kepler Univ., Linz (Austria). Research Inst. for Symbolic Computation (RISC); Behring, A. [RWTH Aachen Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Teilchenphysik und Kosmologie; Bluemlein, J.; Freitas, A. de; Marquard, P.; Rana, N. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany); Falcioni, G. [Nikhef, Amsterdam (Netherlands). Theory Group

    2017-11-15

    We present the results for heavy quark form factors at two-loop order in perturbative QCD for different currents, namely vector, axial-vector, scalar and pseudo-scalar currents, up to second order in the dimensional regularization parameter. We outline the necessary computational details, ultraviolet renormalization and corresponding universal infrared structure.

  12. Toxoplasma gondii exposes phosphatidylserine inducing a TGF-β1 autocrine effect orchestrating macrophage evasion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seabra, Sergio H.; Souza, Wanderley de; Matta, Renato A. da

    2004-01-01

    Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Activated macrophages control T. gondii growth by nitric oxide (NO) production. However, T. gondii active invasion inhibits NO production, allowing parasite persistence. Here we show that the mechanism used by T. gondii to inhibit NO production persisting in activated macrophages depends on phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure. Masking PS with annexin-V on parasites or activated macrophages abolished NO production inhibition and parasite persistence. NO production inhibition depended on a transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β 1 ) autocrine effect confirmed by the expression of Smad 2 and 3 in infected macrophages. TGF-β 1 led to inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) degradation, actin filament (F-actin) depolymerization, and lack of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in the nucleus. All these features were reverted by TGF-β 1 neutralizing antibody treatment. Thus, T. gondii mimics the evasion mechanism used by Leishmania amazonensis and also the anti-inflammatory response evoked by apoptotic cells

  13. Renormalization of loop functions for all loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brandt, R.A.; Neri, F.; Sato, M.

    1981-01-01

    It is shown that the vacuum expectation values W(C 1 ,xxx, C/sub n/) of products of the traces of the path-ordered phase factors P exp[igcontour-integral/sub C/iA/sub μ/(x)dx/sup μ/] are multiplicatively renormalizable in all orders of perturbation theory. Here A/sub μ/(x) are the vector gauge field matrices in the non-Abelian gauge theory with gauge group U(N) or SU(N), and C/sub i/ are loops (closed paths). When the loops are smooth (i.e., differentiable) and simple (i.e., non-self-intersecting), it has been shown that the generally divergent loop functions W become finite functions W when expressed in terms of the renormalized coupling constant and multiplied by the factors e/sup -K/L(C/sub i/), where K is linearly divergent and L(C/sub i/) is the length of C/sub i/. It is proved here that the loop functions remain multiplicatively renormalizable even if the curves have any finite number of cusps (points of nondifferentiability) or cross points (points of self-intersection). If C/sub γ/ is a loop which is smooth and simple except for a single cusp of angle γ, then W/sub R/(C/sub γ/) = Z(γ)W(C/sub γ/) is finite for a suitable renormalization factor Z(γ) which depends on γ but on no other characteristic of C/sub γ/. This statement is made precise by introducing a regularization, or via a loop-integrand subtraction scheme specified by a normalization condition W/sub R/(C-bar/sub γ/) = 1 for an arbitrary but fixed loop C-bar/sub γ/. Next, if C/sub β/ is a loop which is smooth and simple except for a cross point of angles β, then W(C/sub β/) must be renormalized together with the loop functions of associated sets S/sup i//sub β/ = ]C/sup i/ 1 ,xxx, C/sup i//sub p/i] (i = 2,xxx,I) of loops C/sup i//sub q/ which coincide with certain parts of C/sub β/equivalentC 1 1 . Then W/sub R/(S/sup i//sub β/) = Z/sup i/j(β)W(S/sup j//sub β/) is finite for a suitable matrix Z/sup i/j

  14. The Expression and Action of Decay-Accelerating Factor (CD55 in Human Malignancies and Cancer Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan-Henrik Mikesch

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Decay-accelerating factor (DAF, CD55 is physiologically acting as an inhibitor of the complement system, but is also broadly expressed in malignant tumours. Here DAF seems to exert different functions beyond its immunological role such as e.g. promotion of tumorigenesis, decrease of complement mediated tumor cell lysis, autocrine loops for cell rescue and evasion of apoptosis, neoangiogenesis, invasiveness, cell motility, and metastasis via oncogenic tyrosine kinase pathways and specific seven-span transmembrane receptors (CD97 binding. Therefore, DAF has already become a target for therapy. In this paper we review the role of DAF in human malignancies as described in different basic, diagnostic and experimental therapeutic studies.

  15. Autocrine regulation of ecdysone synthesis by β3-octopamine receptor in the prothoracic gland is essential for Drosophila metamorphosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohhara, Yuya; Shimada-Niwa, Yuko; Niwa, Ryusuke; Kayashima, Yasunari; Hayashi, Yoshiki; Akagi, Kazutaka; Ueda, Hitoshi; Yamakawa-Kobayashi, Kimiko; Kobayashi, Satoru

    2015-02-03

    In Drosophila, pulsed production of the steroid hormone ecdysone plays a pivotal role in developmental transitions such as metamorphosis. Ecdysone production is regulated in the prothoracic gland (PG) by prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) and insulin-like peptides (Ilps). Here, we show that monoaminergic autocrine regulation of ecdysone biosynthesis in the PG is essential for metamorphosis. PG-specific knockdown of a monoamine G protein-coupled receptor, β3-octopamine receptor (Octβ3R), resulted in arrested metamorphosis due to lack of ecdysone. Knockdown of tyramine biosynthesis genes expressed in the PG caused similar defects in ecdysone production and metamorphosis. Moreover, PTTH and Ilps signaling were impaired by Octβ3R knockdown in the PG, and activation of these signaling pathways rescued the defect in metamorphosis. Thus, monoaminergic autocrine signaling in the PG regulates ecdysone biogenesis in a coordinated fashion on activation by PTTH and Ilps. We propose that monoaminergic autocrine signaling acts downstream of a body size checkpoint that allows metamorphosis to occur when nutrients are sufficiently abundant.

  16. PGE2 maintains self-renewal of human adult stem cells via EP2-mediated autocrine signaling and its production is regulated by cell-to-cell contact.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Byung-Chul; Kim, Hyung-Sik; Shin, Tae-Hoon; Kang, Insung; Lee, Jin Young; Kim, Jae-Jun; Kang, Hyun Kyoung; Seo, Yoojin; Lee, Seunghee; Yu, Kyung-Rok; Choi, Soon Won; Kang, Kyung-Sun

    2016-05-27

    Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess unique immunomodulatory abilities. Many studies have elucidated the clinical efficacy and underlying mechanisms of MSCs in immune disorders. Although immunoregulatory factors, such as Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and their mechanisms of action on immune cells have been revealed, their effects on MSCs and regulation of their production by the culture environment are less clear. Therefore, we investigated the autocrine effect of PGE2 on human adult stem cells from cord blood or adipose tissue, and the regulation of its production by cell-to-cell contact, followed by the determination of its immunomodulatory properties. MSCs were treated with specific inhibitors to suppress PGE2 secretion, and proliferation was assessed. PGE2 exerted an autocrine regulatory function in MSCs by triggering E-Prostanoid (EP) 2 receptor. Inhibiting PGE2 production led to growth arrest, whereas addition of MSC-derived PGE2 restored proliferation. The level of PGE2 production from an equivalent number of MSCs was down-regulated via gap junctional intercellular communication. This cell contact-mediated decrease in PGE2 secretion down-regulated the suppressive effect of MSCs on immune cells. In conclusion, PGE2 produced by MSCs contributes to maintenance of self-renewal capacity through EP2 in an autocrine manner, and PGE2 secretion is down-regulated by cell-to-cell contact, attenuating its immunomodulatory potency.

  17. Evidence for autocrine and paracrine regulation of allergen-induced mast cell mediator release in the guinea pig airways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Li; Liu, Qi; Canning, Brendan J

    2018-03-05

    Mast cells play an essential role in immediate type hypersensitivity reactions and in chronic allergic diseases of the airways, including asthma. Mast cell mediator release can be modulated by locally released autacoids and circulating hormones, but surprisingly little is known about the autocrine effects of mediators released upon mast cell activation. We thus set out to characterize the autocrine and paracrine effects of mast cell mediators on mast cell activation in the guinea pig airways. By direct measures of histamine, cysteinyl-leukotriene and thromboxane release and with studies of allergen-evoked contractions of airway smooth muscle, we describe a complex interplay amongst these autacoids. Notably, we observed an autocrine effect of the cysteinyl-leukotrienes acting through cysLT 1 receptors on mast cell leukotriene release. We confirmed the results of previous studies demonstrating a marked enhancement of mast cell mediator release following cyclooxygenase inhibition, but we have extended these results by showing that COX-2 derived eicosanoids inhibit cysteinyl-leukotriene release and yet are without effect on histamine release. Given the prominent role of COX-1 inhibition in aspirin-sensitive asthma, these data implicate preformed mediators stored in granules as the initial drivers of these adverse reactions. Finally, we describe the paracrine signaling cascade leading to thromboxane synthesis in the guinea pig airways following allergen challenge, which occurs indirectly, secondary to cysLT 1 receptor activation on structural cells and/ or leukocytes within the airway wall, and a COX-2 dependent synthesis of the eicosanoid. The results highlight the importance of cell-cell and autocrine interactions in regulating allergic responses in the airways. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  18. arXiv Conformal anomaly of generalized form factors and finite loop integrals

    CERN Document Server

    Chicherin, Dmitry

    2018-04-16

    We reveal a new mechanism of conformal symmetry breaking at Born level. It occurs in generalized form factors with several local operators and an on-shell state of massless particles. The effect is due to hidden singularities on collinear configurations of the momenta. This conformal anomaly is different from the holomorphic anomaly of amplitudes. We present a number of examples in four and six dimensions. We find an application of the new conformal anomaly to finite loop momentum integrals with one or more massless legs. The collinear region around a massless leg creates a contact anomaly, made visible by the loop integration. The anomalous conformal Ward identity for an ℓ−loop integral is a 2nd-order differential equation whose right-hand side is an (ℓ − 1)−loop integral. It could serve as a new useful tool to find/test analytic expressions for conformal integrals. We illustrate this point with several examples of known integrals. We propose a new differential equation for the four-dimensional sca...

  19. Autocrine and Paracrine Mechanisms Promoting Chemoresistance in Cholangiocarcinoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Massimiliano Cadamuro

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Resistance to conventional chemotherapeutic agents, a typical feature of cholangiocarcinoma, prevents the efficacy of the therapeutic arsenal usually used to combat malignancy in humans. Mechanisms of chemoresistance by neoplastic cholangiocytes include evasion of drug-induced apoptosis mediated by autocrine and paracrine cues released in the tumor microenvironment. Here, recent evidence regarding molecular mechanisms of chemoresistance is reviewed, as well as associations between well-developed chemoresistance and activation of the cancer stem cell compartment. It is concluded that improved understanding of the complex interplay between apoptosis signaling and the promotion of cell survival represent potentially productive areas for active investigation, with the ultimate aim of encouraging future studies to unveil new, effective strategies able to overcome current limitations on treatment.

  20. Massive three-loop form factor in the planar limit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henn, Johannes [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 9, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Smirnov, Alexander V. [Research Computing Center, Moscow State University,119991 Moscow (Russian Federation); Smirnov, Vladimir A. [Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University,119991 Moscow (Russian Federation); Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),Wolfgang-Gaede Straße 1, 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany); Steinhauser, Matthias [Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),Wolfgang-Gaede Straße 1, 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2017-01-17

    We compute the three-loop QCD corrections to the massive quark-anti-quark-photon form factors F{sub 1} and F{sub 2} in the large-N{sub c} limit. The analytic results are expressed in terms of Goncharov polylogarithms. This allows for a straightforward numerical evaluation. We also derive series expansions, including power suppressed terms, for three kinematic regions corresponding to small and large invariant masses of the photon momentum, and small velocities of the heavy quarks.

  1. Three-loop massive form factors: complete light-fermion corrections for the vector current

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Roman N.; Smirnov, Alexander V.; Smirnov, Vladimir A.; Steinhauser, Matthias

    2018-03-01

    We compute the three-loop QCD corrections to the massive quark-anti-quark-photon form factors F 1 and F 2 involving a closed loop of massless fermions. This subset is gauge invariant and contains both planar and non-planar contributions. We perform the reduction using FIRE and compute the master integrals with the help of differential equations. Our analytic results can be expressed in terms of Goncharov polylogarithms. We provide analytic results for all master integrals which are not present in the large- N c calculation considered in refs. [1, 2].

  2. A Classification of Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors of Soybean

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen A. Hudson

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The complete genome sequence of soybean allows an unprecedented opportunity for the discovery of the genes controlling important traits. In particular, the potential functions of regulatory genes are a priority for analysis. The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH family of transcription factors is known to be involved in controlling a wide range of systems critical for crop adaptation and quality, including photosynthesis, light signalling, pigment biosynthesis, and seed pod development. Using a hidden Markov model search algorithm, 319 genes with basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor domains were identified within the soybean genome sequence. These were classified with respect to their predicted DNA binding potential, intron/exon structure, and the phylogeny of the bHLH domain. Evidence is presented that the vast majority (281 of these 319 soybean bHLH genes are expressed at the mRNA level. Of these soybean bHLH genes, 67% were found to exist in two or more homeologous copies. This dataset provides a framework for future studies on bHLH gene function in soybean. The challenge for future research remains to define functions for the bHLH factors encoded in the soybean genome, which may allow greater flexibility for genetic selection of growth and environmental adaptation in this widely grown crop.

  3. Eosinophils as a novel cell source of prostaglandin D2: autocrine role in allergic inflammation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luna-Gomes, Tatiana; Magalhães, Kelly G; Mesquita-Santos, Fabio P.; Bakker-Abreu, Ilka; Samico, Rafaela F.; Molinaro, Raphael; Calheiros, Andrea S.; Diaz, Bruno L.; Bozza, Patrícia T.

    2011-01-01

    Prostaglandin (PG)D2 is a key mediator of allergic inflammatory diseases that is mainly synthesized by mast cells, which constitutively express high levels of the terminal enzyme involved in PGD2 synthesis, the hematopoietic PGD synthase (H-PGDS). Here, we investigated whether eosinophils are also able to synthesize, and therefore, supply biologically active PGD2. PGD2 synthesis was evaluated within human blood eosinophils, in vitro-differentiated mouse eosinophils, and eosinophils infiltrating inflammatory site of mouse allergic reaction. Biological function of eosinophil-derived PGD2 was studied by employing inhibitors of synthesis and activity. Constitutive expression of H-PGDS was found within non-stimulated human circulating eosinophils. Acute stimulation of human eosinophils with A23187 (0.1 – 5 μM) evoked PGD2 synthesis, which was located at the nuclear envelope and was inhibited by pre-treatment with HQL-79 (10 μM), a specific H-PGDS inhibitor. Pre-stimulation of human eosinophils with arachidonic acid (AA; 10 μM) or human eotaxin (6 nM) also enhanced HQL-79-sensitive PGD2 synthesis, which, by acting on membrane-expressed specific receptors (DP1 and DP2), displayed an autocrine/paracrine ability to trigger leukotriene (LT)C4 synthesis and lipid body biogenesis, hallmark events of eosinophil activation. In vitro-differentiated mouse eosinophils also synthesized paracrine/autocrine active PGD2 in response to AA stimulation. In vivo, at late time point of the allergic reaction, infiltrating eosinophils found at the inflammatory site appeared as an auxiliary PGD2-synthesizing cell population. Our findings reveal that eosinophils are indeed able to synthesize and secrete PGD2, hence representing during allergic inflammation an extra cell source of PGD2, which functions as an autocrine signal for eosinophil activation. PMID:22102725

  4. Bone mineralization is regulated by signaling cross talk between molecular factors of local and systemic origin: the role of fibroblast growth factor 23.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sapir-Koren, Rony; Livshits, Gregory

    2014-01-01

    Body phosphate homeostasis is regulated by a hormonal counter-balanced intestine-bone-kidney axis. The major systemic hormones involved in this axis are parathyroid hormone (PTH), 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D, and fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23). FGF23, produced almost exclusively by the osteocytes, is a phosphaturic hormone that plays a major role in regulation of the bone remodeling process. Remodeling composite components, bone mineralization and resorption cycles create a continuous influx-efflux loop of the inorganic phosphate (Pi) through the skeleton. This "bone Pi loop," which is formed, is controlled by local and systemic factors according to phosphate homeostasis demands. Although FGF23 systemic actions in the kidney, and for the production of PTH and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D are well established, its direct involvement in bone metabolism is currently poorly understood. This review presents the latest available evidence suggesting two aspects of FGF23 bone local activity: (a) Regulation of FGF23 production by both local and systemic factors. The suggested local factors include extracellular levels of Pi and pyrophosphate (PPi), (the Pi/PPi ratio), and another osteocyte-derived protein, sclerostin. In addition, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D, synthesized locally by bone cells, may contribute to regulation of FGF23 production. The systemic control is achieved via PTH and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D endocrine functions. (b) FGF23 acts as a local agent, directly affecting bone mineralization. We support the assumption that under balanced physiological conditions, sclerostin, by para- autocrine signaling, upregulates FGF23 production by the osteocyte. FGF23, in turn, acts as a mineralization inhibitor, by stimulating the generation of the major mineralization antagonist-PPi. © 2014 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  5. Autocrine release of angiopoietin-2 mediates cerebrovascular disintegration in Moyamoya disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blecharz, Kinga G; Frey, Dietmar; Schenkel, Tobias; Prinz, Vincent; Bedini, Gloria; Krug, Susanne M; Czabanka, Marcus; Wagner, Josephin; Fromm, Michael; Bersano, Anna; Vajkoczy, Peter

    2017-04-01

    Moyamoya disease is a rare steno-occlusive cerebrovascular disorder often resulting in hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. Although sharing the same ischemic stimulus with atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease, Moyamoya disease is characterized by a highly instable cerebrovascular system which is prone to rupture due to pathological neovascularization. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this instability, angiopoietin-2 gene expression was analyzed in middle cerebral artery lesions obtained from Moyamoya disease and atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease patients. Angiopoietin-2 was significantly up-regulated in Moyamoya vessels, while serum concentrations of soluble angiopoietins were not changed. For further evaluations, cerebral endothelial cells incubated with serum from these patients in vitro were applied. In contrast to atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease serum, Moyamoya disease serum induced an angiopoietin-2 overexpression and secretion, accompanied by loss of endothelial integrity. These effects were absent or inverse in endothelial cells of non-brain origin suggesting brain endothelium specificity. The destabilizing effects on brain endothelial cells to Moyamoya disease serum were partially suppressed by the inhibition of angiopoietin-2. Our findings define brain endothelial cells as the potential source of vessel-destabilizing factors inducing the high plasticity state and disintegration in Moyamoya disease in an autocrine manner. We also provide new insights into Moyamoya disease pathophysiology that may be helpful for preventive treatment strategies in future.

  6. Phosphoproteomic fingerprinting of epidermal growth factor signaling and anticancer drug action in human tumor cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Yoon-Pin; Diong, Lang-Shi; Qi, Robert; Druker, Brian J; Epstein, Richard J

    2003-12-01

    Many proteins regulating cancer cell growth are tyrosine phosphorylated. Using antiphosphotyrosine affinity chromatography, thiourea protein solubilization, two-dimensional PAGE, and mass spectrometry, we report here the characterization of the epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced phosphoproteome in A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells. Using this approach, more than 50 distinct tyrosine phosphoproteins are identifiable within five main clusters-cytoskeletal proteins, signaling enzymes, SH2-containing adaptors, chaperones, and focal adhesion proteins. Comparison of the phosphoproteomes induced in vitro by transforming growth factor-alpha and platelet-derived growth factor demonstrates the pathway- and cell-specific nature of the phosphoproteomes induced. Elimination of both basal and ligand-dependent phosphoproteins by cell exposure to the EGF receptor catalytic inhibitor gefitinib (Iressa, ZD1839) suggests either an autocrine growth loop or the presence of a second inhibited kinase in A431 cells. By identifying distinct patterns of phosphorylation involving novel signaling substrates, and by clarifying the mechanism of action of anticancer drugs, these findings illustrate the potential of immunoaffinity-based phosphoproteomics for guiding the discovery of new drug targets and the rational utilization of pathway-specific chemotherapies.

  7. The putative bZIP transcription factor BzpN slows proliferation and functions in the regulation of cell density by autocrine signals in Dictyostelium.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan E Phillips

    Full Text Available The secreted proteins AprA and CfaD function as autocrine signals that inhibit cell proliferation in Dictyostelium discoideum, thereby regulating cell numbers by a negative feedback mechanism. We report here that the putative basic leucine zipper transcription factor BzpN plays a role in the inhibition of proliferation by AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking BzpN proliferate more rapidly than wild-type cells but do not reach a higher stationary density. Recombinant AprA inhibits wild-type cell proliferation but does not inhibit the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Recombinant CfaD also inhibits wild-type cell proliferation, but promotes the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Overexpression of BzpN results in a reduced cell density at stationary phase, and this phenotype requires AprA, CfaD, and the kinase QkgA. Conditioned media from high-density cells stops the proliferation of wild-type but not bzpN(- cells and induces a nuclear localization of a BzpN-GFP fusion protein, though this localization does not require AprA or CfaD. Together, the data suggest that BzpN is necessary for some but not all of the effects of AprA and CfaD, and that BzpN may function downstream of AprA and CfaD in a signal transduction pathway that inhibits proliferation.

  8. The Putative bZIP Transcripton Factor BzpN Slows Proliferation and Functions in the Regulation of Cell Density by Autocrine Signals in Dictyostelium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Jonathan E.; Huang, Eryong; Shaulsky, Gad; Gomer, Richard H.

    2011-01-01

    The secreted proteins AprA and CfaD function as autocrine signals that inhibit cell proliferation in Dictyostelium discoideum, thereby regulating cell numbers by a negative feedback mechanism. We report here that the putative basic leucine zipper transcription factor BzpN plays a role in the inhibition of proliferation by AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking BzpN proliferate more rapidly than wild-type cells but do not reach a higher stationary density. Recombinant AprA inhibits wild-type cell proliferation but does not inhibit the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Recombinant CfaD also inhibits wild-type cell proliferation, but promotes the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Overexpression of BzpN results in a reduced cell density at stationary phase, and this phenotype requires AprA, CfaD, and the kinase QkgA. Conditioned media from high-density cells stops the proliferation of wild-type but not bzpN− cells and induces a nuclear localization of a BzpN-GFP fusion protein, though this localization does not require AprA or CfaD. Together, the data suggest that BzpN is necessary for some but not all of the effects of AprA and CfaD, and that BzpN may function downstream of AprA and CfaD in a signal transduction pathway that inhibits proliferation. PMID:21760904

  9. The putative bZIP transcription factor BzpN slows proliferation and functions in the regulation of cell density by autocrine signals in Dictyostelium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Jonathan E; Huang, Eryong; Shaulsky, Gad; Gomer, Richard H

    2011-01-01

    The secreted proteins AprA and CfaD function as autocrine signals that inhibit cell proliferation in Dictyostelium discoideum, thereby regulating cell numbers by a negative feedback mechanism. We report here that the putative basic leucine zipper transcription factor BzpN plays a role in the inhibition of proliferation by AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking BzpN proliferate more rapidly than wild-type cells but do not reach a higher stationary density. Recombinant AprA inhibits wild-type cell proliferation but does not inhibit the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Recombinant CfaD also inhibits wild-type cell proliferation, but promotes the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Overexpression of BzpN results in a reduced cell density at stationary phase, and this phenotype requires AprA, CfaD, and the kinase QkgA. Conditioned media from high-density cells stops the proliferation of wild-type but not bzpN(-) cells and induces a nuclear localization of a BzpN-GFP fusion protein, though this localization does not require AprA or CfaD. Together, the data suggest that BzpN is necessary for some but not all of the effects of AprA and CfaD, and that BzpN may function downstream of AprA and CfaD in a signal transduction pathway that inhibits proliferation.

  10. Analytic results for planar three-loop integrals for massive form factors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henn, Johannes M. [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz,55099 Mainz (Germany); Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, UC Santa Barbara,Santa Barbara (United States); Smirnov, Alexander V. [Research Computing Center, Moscow State University,119992 Moscow (Russian Federation); Smirnov, Vladimir A. [Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University,119992 Moscow (Russian Federation); Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),76128 Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2016-12-28

    We use the method of differential equations to analytically evaluate all planar three-loop Feynman integrals relevant for form factor calculations involving massive particles. Our results for ninety master integrals at general q{sup 2} are expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms, and results for fiftyone master integrals at the threshold q{sup 2}=4m{sup 2} are expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms of argument one, with indices equal to zero or to a sixth root of unity.

  11. Autocrine stimulation of osteoblast activity by Wnt5a in response to TNF-α in human mesenchymal stem cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Briolay, A. [ICBMS, UMR CNRS 5246, University of Lyon 1, Bâtiment Raulin, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex (France); Lencel, P. [Physiopathology of Inflammatory Bone Diseases, EA4490, ULCO. Quai Masset, Bassin Napoléon BP120, 62327 Boulogne/Mer (France); Bessueille, L. [ICBMS, UMR CNRS 5246, University of Lyon 1, Bâtiment Raulin, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex (France); Caverzasio, J. [Service of Bone Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine Specialties, University Hospital of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 14 (Switzerland); Buchet, R. [ICBMS, UMR CNRS 5246, University of Lyon 1, Bâtiment Raulin, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex (France); Magne, D., E-mail: david.magne@univ-lyon1.fr [ICBMS, UMR CNRS 5246, University of Lyon 1, Bâtiment Raulin, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex (France)

    2013-01-18

    Highlights: ► Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) leads to bone fusions and ankylosis. ► TNF-α stimulates osteoblasts through growth factors in AS. ► We compare the involvement of canonical vs non-canonical Wnt signaling. ► Canonical Wnt signaling is not involved in TNF-α effects in differentiating hMSCs. ► TNF-α stimulates osteoblasts through Wnt5a autocrine secretion in hMSCs. -- Abstract: Although anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α treatments efficiently block inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), they are inefficient to prevent excessive bone formation. In AS, ossification seems more prone to develop in sites where inflammation has resolved following anti-TNF therapy, suggesting that TNF-α indirectly stimulates ossification. In this context, our objectives were to determine and compare the involvement of Wnt proteins, which are potent growth factors of bone formation, in the effects of TNF-α on osteoblast function. In human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), TNF-α significantly increased the levels of Wnt10b and Wnt5a. Associated with this effect, TNF-α stimulated tissue-non specific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) and mineralization. This effect was mimicked by activation of the canonical β-catenin pathway with either anti-Dkk1 antibodies, lithium chloride (LiCl) or SB216763. TNF-α reduced, and activation of β-catenin had little effect on expression of osteocalcin, a late marker of osteoblast differentiation. Surprisingly, TNF-α failed to stabilize β-catenin and Dkk1 did not inhibit TNF-α effects. In fact, Dkk1 expression was also enhanced in response to TNF-α, perhaps explaining why canonical signaling by Wnt10b was not activated by TNF-α. However, we found that Wnt5a also stimulated TNAP in MSCs cultured in osteogenic conditions, and increased the levels of inflammatory markers such as COX-2. Interestingly, treatment with anti-Wnt5a antibodies reduced endogenous TNAP expression and activity. Collectively, these data suggest that increased

  12. Gibberellin-regulated gene in the basal region of rice leaf sheath encodes basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komatsu, Setsuko; Takasaki, Hironori

    2009-07-01

    Genes regulated by gibberellin (GA) during leaf sheath elongation in rice seedlings were identified using the transcriptome approach. mRNA from the basal regions of leaf sheaths treated with GA3 was analyzed by high-coverage gene expression profiling. 33,004 peaks were detected, and 30 transcripts showed significant changes in the presence of GA3. Among these, basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor (AK073385) was significantly upregulated. Quantitative PCR analysis confirmed that expression of AK073385 was controlled by GA3 in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor (AK073385) is therefore involved in the regulation of gene expression by GA3.

  13. Theory on the mechanism of distal action of transcription factors: looping of DNA versus tracking along DNA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murugan, R

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we develop a theory on the mechanism of distal action of the transcription factors, which are bound at their respective cis-regulatory enhancer modules on the promoter-RNA polymerase II (PR) complexes to initiate the transcription event in eukaryotes. We consider both the looping and tracking modes of their distal communication and calculate the mean first passage time that is required for the distal interactions of the complex of enhancer and transcription factor with the PR via both these modes. We further investigate how this mean first passage time is dependent on the length of the DNA segment (L, base-pairs) that connects the cis-regulatory binding site and the respective promoter. When the radius of curvature of this connecting segment of DNA is R that was induced upon binding of the transcription factor at the cis-acting element and RNAPII at the promoter in cis-positions, our calculations indicate that the looping mode of distal action will dominate when L is such that L > 2πR and the tracking mode of distal action will be favored when L 2 bps. It seems that the free energy associated with the binding of the transcription factor with its cis-acting element and the distance of this cis-acting element from the corresponding promoter of the gene of interest is negatively correlated. Our results suggest that the looping and tracking modes of distal action are concurrently operating on the transcription activation and the physics that determines the timescales associated with the looping/tracking in the mechanism of action of these transcription factors on the initiation of the transcription event must put a selection pressure on the distribution of the distances of cis-regulatory modules from their respective promoters of the genes. The computational analysis of the upstream sequences of promoters of various genes in the human and mouse genomes for the presence of putative cis-regulatory elements for a set of known transcription factors using

  14. Studying DNA looping by single-molecule FRET.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Tung T; Kim, Harold D

    2014-06-28

    Bending of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is associated with many important biological processes such as DNA-protein recognition and DNA packaging into nucleosomes. Thermodynamics of dsDNA bending has been studied by a method called cyclization which relies on DNA ligase to covalently join short sticky ends of a dsDNA. However, ligation efficiency can be affected by many factors that are not related to dsDNA looping such as the DNA structure surrounding the joined sticky ends, and ligase can also affect the apparent looping rate through mechanisms such as nonspecific binding. Here, we show how to measure dsDNA looping kinetics without ligase by detecting transient DNA loop formation by FRET (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer). dsDNA molecules are constructed using a simple PCR-based protocol with a FRET pair and a biotin linker. The looping probability density known as the J factor is extracted from the looping rate and the annealing rate between two disconnected sticky ends. By testing two dsDNAs with different intrinsic curvatures, we show that the J factor is sensitive to the intrinsic shape of the dsDNA.

  15. The growth and aggressive behavior of human osteosarcoma is regulated by a CaMKII-controlled autocrine VEGF signaling mechanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daft, Paul G; Yang, Yang; Napierala, Dobrawa; Zayzafoon, Majd

    2015-01-01

    Osteosarcoma (OS) is a hyperproliferative malignant tumor that requires a high vascular density to maintain its large volume. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in angiogenesis and acts as a paracrine and autocrine agent affecting both endothelial and tumor cells. The alpha-Ca2+/Calmodulin kinase two (α-CaMKII) protein is an important regulator of OS growth. Here, we investigate the role of α-CaMKII-induced VEGF in the growth and tumorigenicity of OS. We show that the pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of α-CaMKII results in decreases in VEGF gene expression (50%) and protein secretion (55%), while α- CaMKII overexpression increases VEGF gene expression (250%) and protein secretion (1,200%). We show that aggressive OS cells (143B) express high levels of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) and respond to exogenous VEGF (100nm) by increasing intracellular calcium (30%). This response is ameliorated by the VEGFR inhibitor CBO-P11, suggesting that secreted VEGF results in autocrine stimulated α-CaMKII activation. Furthermore, we show that VEGF and α-CaMKII inhibition decreases the transactivation of the HIF-1α and AP-1 reporter constructs. Additionally, chromatin immunoprecipitation assay shows significantly decreased binding of HIF-1α and AP-1 to their responsive elements in the VEGF promoter. These data suggest that α-CaMKII regulates VEGF transcription by controlling HIF-1α and AP-1 transcriptional activities. Finally, CBO-P11, KN-93 (CaMKII inhibitor) and combination therapy significantly reduced tumor burden in vivo. Our results suggest that VEGF-induced OS tumor growth is controlled by CaMKII and dual therapy by CaMKII and VEGF inhibitors could be a promising therapy against this devastating adolescent disease.

  16. The growth and aggressive behavior of human osteosarcoma is regulated by a CaMKII-controlled autocrine VEGF signaling mechanism.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul G Daft

    Full Text Available Osteosarcoma (OS is a hyperproliferative malignant tumor that requires a high vascular density to maintain its large volume. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF plays a crucial role in angiogenesis and acts as a paracrine and autocrine agent affecting both endothelial and tumor cells. The alpha-Ca2+/Calmodulin kinase two (α-CaMKII protein is an important regulator of OS growth. Here, we investigate the role of α-CaMKII-induced VEGF in the growth and tumorigenicity of OS. We show that the pharmacologic and genetic inhibition of α-CaMKII results in decreases in VEGF gene expression (50% and protein secretion (55%, while α- CaMKII overexpression increases VEGF gene expression (250% and protein secretion (1,200%. We show that aggressive OS cells (143B express high levels of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2 and respond to exogenous VEGF (100nm by increasing intracellular calcium (30%. This response is ameliorated by the VEGFR inhibitor CBO-P11, suggesting that secreted VEGF results in autocrine stimulated α-CaMKII activation. Furthermore, we show that VEGF and α-CaMKII inhibition decreases the transactivation of the HIF-1α and AP-1 reporter constructs. Additionally, chromatin immunoprecipitation assay shows significantly decreased binding of HIF-1α and AP-1 to their responsive elements in the VEGF promoter. These data suggest that α-CaMKII regulates VEGF transcription by controlling HIF-1α and AP-1 transcriptional activities. Finally, CBO-P11, KN-93 (CaMKII inhibitor and combination therapy significantly reduced tumor burden in vivo. Our results suggest that VEGF-induced OS tumor growth is controlled by CaMKII and dual therapy by CaMKII and VEGF inhibitors could be a promising therapy against this devastating adolescent disease.

  17. Loop Heat Pipe Startup Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ku, Jentung

    2016-01-01

    A loop heat pipe must start successfully before it can commence its service. The startup transient represents one of the most complex phenomena in the loop heat pipe operation. This paper discusses various aspects of loop heat pipe startup behaviors. Topics include the four startup scenarios, the initial fluid distribution between the evaporator and reservoir that determines the startup scenario, factors that affect the fluid distribution between the evaporator and reservoir, difficulties encountered during the low power startup, and methods to enhance the startup success. Also addressed are the pressure spike and pressure surge during the startup transient, and repeated cycles of loop startup and shutdown under certain conditions.

  18. Evidence for paracrine/autocrine regulation of GLP-1-producing cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kappe, Camilla; Zhang, Qimin; Holst, Jens Juul

    2013-01-01

    Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), secreted from gut L cells upon nutrient intake, forms the basis for novel drugs against type 2 diabetes (T2D). Secretion of GLP-1 has been suggested to be impaired in T2D and in conditions associated with hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. Further, recent...... studies support lipotoxicity of GLP-1-producing cells in vitro. However, little is known about the regulation of L-cell viability/function, the effects of insulin signaling, or the potential effects of stable GLP-1 analogs and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. We determined effects of insulin...... as well as possible autocrine action of GLP-1 on viability/apoptosis of GLP-1-secreting cells in the presence/absence of palmitate, while also assessing direct effects on function. The studies were performed using the GLP-1-secreting cell line GLUTag, and palmitate was used to simulate hyperlipidemia. Our...

  19. Autocrine CSF-1R signaling drives mesothelioma chemoresistance via AKT activation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cioce, M; Canino, C; Goparaju, C; Yang, H; Carbone, M; Pass, H I

    2014-01-01

    Clinical management of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is very challenging because of the uncommon resistance of this tumor to chemotherapy. We report here increased expression of macrophage colony-stimulating-factor-1-receptor (M-CSF/CSF-1R) mRNA in mesothelioma versus normal tissue specimens and demonstrate that CSF-1R expression identifies chemoresistant cells of mesothelial nature in both primary cultures and mesothelioma cell lines. By using RNAi or ligand trapping, we demonstrate that the chemoresistance properties of those cells depend on autocrine CSF-1R signaling. At the single-cell level, the isolated CSF-1Rpos cells exhibit a complex repertoire of pluripotency, epithelial–mesenchymal transition and detoxifying factors, which define a clonogenic, chemoresistant, precursor-like cell sub-population. The simple activation of CSF-1R in untransformed mesothelial cells is sufficient to confer clonogenicity and resistance to pemetrexed, hallmarks of mesothelioma. In addition, this induced a gene expression profile highly mimicking that observed in the MPM cells endogenously expressing the receptor and the ligands, suggesting that CSF-1R expression is mainly responsible for the phenotype of the identified cell sub-populations. The survival of CSF1Rpos cells requires active AKT (v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1) signaling, which contributed to increased levels of nuclear, transcriptionally competent β-catenin. Inhibition of AKT reduced the transcriptional activity of β-catenin-dependent reporters and sensitized the cells to senescence-induced clonogenic death after pemetrexed treatment. This work expands what is known on the non-macrophage functions of CSF-1R and its role in solid tumors, and suggests that CSF-1R signaling may have a critical pathogenic role in a prototypical, inflammation-related cancer such as MPM and therefore may represent a promising target for therapeutic intervention. PMID:24722292

  20. Two-Loop Scattering Amplitudes from the Riemann Sphere

    CERN Document Server

    Geyer, Yvonne; Monteiro, Ricardo; Tourkine, Piotr

    2016-01-01

    The scattering equations give striking formulae for massless scattering amplitudes at tree level and, as shown recently, at one loop. The progress at loop level was based on ambitwistor string theory, which naturally yields the scattering equations. We proposed that, for ambitwistor strings, the standard loop expansion in terms of the genus of the worldsheet is equivalent to an expansion in terms of nodes of a Riemann sphere, with the nodes carrying the loop momenta. In this paper, we show how to obtain two-loop scattering equations with the correct factorization properties. We adapt genus-two integrands from the ambitwistor string to the nodal Riemann sphere and show that these yield correct answers, by matching standard results for the four-point two-loop amplitudes of maximal supergravity and super-Yang-Mills theory. In the Yang-Mills case, this requires the loop analogue of the Parke-Taylor factor carrying the colour dependence, which includes non-planar contributions.

  1. PHOTOSPHERIC PROPERTIES OF WARM EUV LOOPS AND HOT X-RAY LOOPS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kano, R. [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan); Ueda, K. [Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan); Tsuneta, S., E-mail: ryouhei.kano@nao.ac.jp [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan)

    2014-02-20

    We investigate the photospheric properties (vector magnetic fields and horizontal velocity) of a well-developed active region, NOAA AR 10978, using the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope specifically to determine what gives rise to the temperature difference between ''warm loops'' (1-2 MK), which are coronal loops observed in EUV wavelengths, and ''hot loops'' (>3 MK), coronal loops observed in X-rays. We found that outside sunspots, the magnetic filling factor in the solar network varies with location and is anti-correlated with the horizontal random velocity. If we accept that the observed magnetic features consist of unresolved magnetic flux tubes, this anti-correlation can be explained by the ensemble average of flux-tube motion driven by small-scale random flows. The observed data are consistent with a flux tube width of ∼77 km and horizontal flow at ∼2.6 km s{sup –1} with a spatial scale of ∼120 km. We also found that outside sunspots, there is no significant difference between warm and hot loops either in the magnetic properties (except for the inclination) or in the horizontal random velocity at their footpoints, which are identified with the Hinode X-Ray Telescope and the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer. The energy flux injected into the coronal loops by the observed photospheric motion of the magnetic fields is estimated to be 2 × 10{sup 6} erg s{sup –1} cm{sup –2}, which is the same for both warm and hot loops. This suggests that coronal properties (e.g., loop length) play a more important role in giving rise to temperature differences of active-region coronal loops than photospheric parameters.

  2. Theory on the mechanism of distal action of transcription factors: looping of DNA versus tracking along DNA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murugan, R, E-mail: rmurugan@gmail.co [Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036 (India)

    2010-10-15

    In this paper, we develop a theory on the mechanism of distal action of the transcription factors, which are bound at their respective cis-regulatory enhancer modules on the promoter-RNA polymerase II (PR) complexes to initiate the transcription event in eukaryotes. We consider both the looping and tracking modes of their distal communication and calculate the mean first passage time that is required for the distal interactions of the complex of enhancer and transcription factor with the PR via both these modes. We further investigate how this mean first passage time is dependent on the length of the DNA segment (L, base-pairs) that connects the cis-regulatory binding site and the respective promoter. When the radius of curvature of this connecting segment of DNA is R that was induced upon binding of the transcription factor at the cis-acting element and RNAPII at the promoter in cis-positions, our calculations indicate that the looping mode of distal action will dominate when L is such that L > 2{pi}R and the tracking mode of distal action will be favored when L < 2{pi}R. The time required for the distal action will be minimum when L = 2{pi}R where the typical value of R for the binding of histones will be R {approx} 16 bps and L {approx} 10{sup 2} bps. It seems that the free energy associated with the binding of the transcription factor with its cis-acting element and the distance of this cis-acting element from the corresponding promoter of the gene of interest is negatively correlated. Our results suggest that the looping and tracking modes of distal action are concurrently operating on the transcription activation and the physics that determines the timescales associated with the looping/tracking in the mechanism of action of these transcription factors on the initiation of the transcription event must put a selection pressure on the distribution of the distances of cis-regulatory modules from their respective promoters of the genes. The computational analysis

  3. The Wilson loop and some applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bezerra, V.B.

    1983-01-01

    A simple relation between the classical Wilson loop and the angular deviation in the parallel shift is found. An example of potential which given field copies and which give the same classical Wilson loop for a given trajectory is exchibited. Afterwards, the asymptotic behaviour of the Wilson loop for the BPST instanton and meron is discussed. Using the dimensional regularization technique to calculate the second order term of Quantum Wilson loop, the influence of geometrical factors for the residue in the polo due to contact points, cusp and intersections, in function of the upsilon dimension of the space-time is investigated. Finally, the charge renormalization in Quantum Electrodynamics using Quantum Wilson loop is calculated. (L.C.) [pt

  4. The Wilson loop and some applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bezerra, V.B.

    1983-04-01

    A simple relation between the classical Wilson loop and the angular deviation in the parallel displacement is found. An example of potentials which give field copies and which suplly the same classical Wilson loop for a particular trajectory is exhibited. The asymptotic behaviour of the Wilson loop for the BPST instanton and the meron, is discussed. By using the dimensional regularization technique to calculate the second order term of the quantum Wilson loop, the influence of geometrical factors for the residue in the pole due to contact points, cuspides and intersections, in function of the space-time ν, is investigated. Charge renormalization in Quantum electrodynamics is finally calculated by using the quantum Wilson loop. (L.C.) [pt

  5. LoopIng: a template-based tool for predicting the structure of protein loops.

    KAUST Repository

    Messih, Mario Abdel

    2015-08-06

    Predicting the structure of protein loops is very challenging, mainly because they are not necessarily subject to strong evolutionary pressure. This implies that, unlike the rest of the protein, standard homology modeling techniques are not very effective in modeling their structure. However, loops are often involved in protein function, hence inferring their structure is important for predicting protein structure as well as function.We describe a method, LoopIng, based on the Random Forest automated learning technique, which, given a target loop, selects a structural template for it from a database of loop candidates. Compared to the most recently available methods, LoopIng is able to achieve similar accuracy for short loops (4-10 residues) and significant enhancements for long loops (11-20 residues). The quality of the predictions is robust to errors that unavoidably affect the stem regions when these are modeled. The method returns a confidence score for the predicted template loops and has the advantage of being very fast (on average: 1 min/loop).www.biocomputing.it/loopinganna.tramontano@uniroma1.itSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

  6. The Functional Effect of an Amphiregulin Autocrine Loop on Inflammatory Breast Cancer Progression

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-03-01

    Darby canine kidney cells (15). Also, using targeted knockout mice, Luetteke et al. reported that specific loss of AR, but not EGF or TGF-a, severely...due to relocalization of E-cadherin in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells (15). Our laboratory has also discovered that AR signaling differs from EGF...growth factor induction of matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors in osteosarcoma cells is modulated by the metastasis associated protein CAPL

  7. The ROCO Kinase QkgA Is Necessary for Proliferation Inhibition by Autocrine Signals in Dictyostelium discoideum▿

    OpenAIRE

    Phillips, Jonathan E.; Gomer, Richard H.

    2010-01-01

    AprA and CfaD are secreted proteins that function as autocrine signals to inhibit cell proliferation in Dictyostelium discoideum. Cells lacking AprA or CfaD proliferate rapidly, and adding AprA or CfaD to cells slows proliferation. Cells lacking the ROCO kinase QkgA proliferate rapidly, with a doubling time 83% of that of the wild type, and overexpression of a QkgA-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein slows cell proliferation. We found that qkgA− cells accumulate normal levels of ex...

  8. Autocrine CSF-1 and CSF-1 Receptor Co-expression Promotes Renal Cell Carcinoma Growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menke, Julia; Kriegsmann, Jörg; Schimanski, Carl Christoph; Schwartz, Melvin M.; Schwarting, Andreas; Kelley, Vicki R.

    2011-01-01

    Renal cell carcinoma is increasing in incidence but the molecular mechanisms regulating its growth remain elusive. Co-expression of the monocytic growth factor CSF-1 and its receptor CSF-1R on renal tubular epithelial cells (TEC) will promote proliferation and anti-apoptosis during regeneration of renal tubules. Here we show that a CSF-1-dependent autocrine pathway is also responsible for the growth of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CSF-1 and CSF-1R were co-expressed in RCC and TEC proximally adjacent to RCC. CSF-1 engagement of CSF-1R promoted RCC survival and proliferation and reduced apoptosis, in support of the likelihood that CSF-1R effector signals mediate RCC growth. In vivo CSF-1R blockade using a CSF-1R tyrosine kinase inhibitor decreased RCC proliferation and macrophage infiltration in a manner associated with a dramatic reduction in tumor mass. Further mechanistic investigations linked CSF-1 and EGF signaling in RCC. Taken together, our results suggest that budding RCC stimulates the proximal adjacent microenvironment in the kidney to release mediators of CSF-1, CSF-1R and EGF expression in RCC. Further, our findings imply that targeting CSF-1/CSF-1R signaling may be therapeutically effective in RCC. PMID:22052465

  9. Formation of PI 3-kinase products in platelets by thrombin, but not collagen, is dependent on synergistic autocrine stimulation, particularly through secreted ADP.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selheim, F; Idsøe, R; Fukami, M H; Holmsen, H; Vassbotn, F S

    1999-10-05

    Platelet activation by thrombin or collagen results in secretion and synthesis of several platelet agonists that enhance the responses to the primary agonists (autocrine stimulation). To disclose the effects of thrombin and collagen on the phosphorylation of 3-phosphoinositides per se we incubated platelets with five inhibitors of platelet autocrine stimulation (IAS) that act extracellularly. We found that IAS almost totally blocked thrombin-induced production of phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4)P(2)] and phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P(3)]. In contrast, collagen induced massive production of PtdIns(3,4)P(2) and PtdIns(3,4,5)P(3) in the presence of IAS. When testing the effect of each inhibitor individually we found the strongest inhibition of thrombin-induced PtdIns(3,4)P(2) production with the ADP scavenger system CP/CPK. Furthermore, we found a strong synergistic effect between exogenously added ADP and thrombin on production of PtdIns(3,4)P(2). In contrast to the results from 3-phosphorylated phosphoinositides, CP/CPK had little effect on thrombin-induced protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Our results show the importance of autocrine stimulation in thrombin-induced accumulation of 3-phosphorylated phosphoinositides and raise the question as to whether thrombin by itself is capable of inducing PI 3-K activation. In marked contrast to thrombin, collagen per se appears to be able to trigger increased production of PtdIns(3,4)P(2) and PtdIns(3,4,5)P(3). Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

  10. Thrombin induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition and collagen production by retinal pigment epithelial cells via autocrine PDGF-receptor signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastiaans, Jeroen; van Meurs, Jan C; van Holten-Neelen, Conny; Nagtzaam, Nicole M A; van Hagen, P Martin; Chambers, Rachel C; Hooijkaas, Herbert; Dik, Willem A

    2013-12-19

    De-differentiation of RPE cells into mesenchymal cells (epithelial-mesenchymal transition; EMT) and associated collagen production contributes to development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). In patients with PVR, intraocular coagulation cascade activation occurs and may play an important initiating role. Therefore, we examined the effect of the coagulation proteins factor Xa and thrombin on EMT and collagen production by RPE cells. Retinal pigment epithelial cells were stimulated with factor Xa or thrombin and the effect on zonula occludens (ZO)-1, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen, and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-B were determined by real-time quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR), immunofluorescence microscopy, and HPLC and ELISA for collagen and PDGF-BB in culture supernatants, respectively. PDGF-receptor activation was determined by phosphorylation analysis and inhibition studies using the PDGF-receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor AG1296. Thrombin reduced ZO-1 gene expression (P production of α-SMA and collagen increased. In contrast to thrombin, factor Xa hardly stimulated EMT by RPE. Thrombin clearly induced PDGF-BB production and PDGF-Rβ chain phosphorylation in RPE. Moreover, AG1296 significantly blocked the effect of thrombin on EMT and collagen production. Our findings demonstrate that thrombin is a potent inducer of EMT by RPE via autocrine activation of PDGF-receptor signaling. Coagulation cascade-induced EMT of RPE may thus contribute to the formation of fibrotic retinal membranes in PVR and should be considered as treatment target in PVR.

  11. Two-Loop Splitting Amplitudes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bern, Z.

    2004-01-01

    Splitting amplitudes govern the behavior of scattering amplitudes at the momenta of external legs become collinear. In this talk we outline the calculation of two-loop splitting amplitudes via the unitarity sewing method. This method retains the simple factorization properties of light-cone gauge, but avoids the need for prescriptions such as the principal value or Mandelstam-Leibbrandt ones. The encountered loop momentum integrals are then evaluated using integration-by-parts and Lorentz invariance identities. We outline a variety of applications for these splitting amplitudes

  12. Two-loop splitting amplitudes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bern, Z.; Dixon, L.J.; Kosower, D.A.

    2004-01-01

    Splitting amplitudes govern the behavior of scattering amplitudes at the momenta of external legs become collinear. In this talk we outline the calculation of two-loop splitting amplitudes via the unitarity sewing method. This method retains the simple factorization properties of light-cone gauge, but avoids the need for prescriptions such as the principal value or Mandelstam-Leibbrandt ones. The encountered loop momentum integrals are then evaluated using integration-by-parts and Lorentz invariance identities. We outline a variety of applications for these splitting amplitudes

  13. A secreted factor represses cell proliferation in Dictyostelium

    OpenAIRE

    Brock, Debra A.; Gomer, Richard H.

    2005-01-01

    Many cells appear to secrete factors called chalones that limit their proliferation, but in most cases the factors have not been identified. We found that growing Dictyostelium cells secrete a 60 kDa protein called AprA for autocrine proliferation repressor. AprA has similarity to putative bacterial proteins of unknown function. Compared with wild-type cells, aprA-null cells proliferate faster, while AprA overexpressing cells proliferate slower. Growing wild-type cells secrete a factor that i...

  14. WWER type reactor primary loop imitation on large test loop facility in MARIA reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moldysh, A.; Strupchevski, A.; Kmetek, Eh.; Spasskov, V.P.; Shumskij, A.M.

    1982-01-01

    At present in Poland in cooperation with USSR a nuclear water loop test facility (WL) in 'MARIA' reactor in Sverke is under construction. The program objective is to investigate processes occuring in WWER reactor under emergency conditions, first of all after the break of the mainprimary loop circulation pipe-line. WL with the power of about 600 kW consists of three major parts: 1) an active loop, imitating the undamaged loops of the WWER reactor; 2) a passive loop assignedfor modelling the broken loop of the WWER reactor; 3) the emergency core cooling system imitating the corresponding full-scale system. The fuel rod bundle consists of 18 1 m long rods. They were fabricated according to the standard WWER fuel technology. In the report some general principles of WWERbehaviour imitation under emergency conditions are given. They are based on the operation experience obtained from 'SEMISCALE' and 'LOFT' test facilities in the USA. A description of separate modelling factors and criteria effects on the development of 'LOCA'-type accident is presented (the break cross-section to the primary loop volume ratio, the pressure differential between inlet and outlet reactor chambers, the pressure drop rate in the loop, the coolant flow rate throuh the core etc.). As an example a comparison of calculated flow rate variations for the WWER-1000 reactor and the model during the loss-of-coolant accident with the main pipe-line break at the core inlet is given. Calculations have been carried out with the use of TECH'-M code [ru

  15. Stability, structure, and evolution of cool loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cally, P.S.; Robb, T.D.

    1991-01-01

    The criteria for the existence and stability of cool loops are reexamined. It is found that the stability of the loops strongly depends on the form of the heating and radiative loss functions and that if the Ly-alpha peak which appears in most calculations of the radiative loss function is real, cool loops are almost certainly unstable. Removing the hydrogen contribution from the recent loss function Q(T) by Cook et al. (1989) does not produce the much-used result, Q proportional to T-cubed, which is so favorable to cool loop stability. Even using the probably unrealistically favorable loss function Q1 of Cook et al. with the hydrogen contribution removed, the maximum temperature attainable in stable cool loops is a factor of 2-3 too small to account for the excess emission observed in lower transition region lines. Dynamical simulations of cool loop instabilities reveal that the final state of such a model is the hot loop equilibrium. 26 refs

  16. Contributions of basic amino acids in the autolysis loop of factor XIa to serpin specificity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaie, Alireza R; Sun, Mao-fu; Gailani, David

    2006-08-08

    The autolysis loops (amino acids 143-154, chymotrypsinogen numbering) of plasma serine proteases play key roles in determining the specificity of protease inhibition by plasma serpins. We studied the importance of four basic residues (Arg-144, Lys-145, Arg-147, and Lys-149) in the autolysis loop of the coagulation protease factor XIa (fXIa) for inhibition by serpins. Recombinant fXIa mutants, in which these residues were replaced individually or in combination with alanine, were prepared. The proteases were compared to wild-type fXIa (fXIa-WT) with respect to their ability to activate factor IX in a plasma clotting assay, to hydrolyze the chromogenic substrate S2366, and to undergo inhibition by the C1-inhibitor (C1-INH), protein Z dependent protease inhibitor (ZPI), antithrombin (AT), and alpha(1)-protease inhibitor (alpha(1)-PI). All mutants exhibited normal activity in plasma and hydrolyzed S2366 with catalytic efficiencies similar to that of fXIa-WT. Inhibition of mutants by C1-INH was increased to varying degrees relative to that of fXIa-WT, with the mutant containing alanine replacements for all four basic residues (fXIa-144-149A) exhibiting an approximately 15-fold higher rate of inhibition. In contrast, the inhibition by ZPI was impaired 2-3-fold for single amino acid substitutions, and fXIa-144-149A was essentially resistant to inhibition by ZPI. Alanine substitution for Arg-147 impaired inhibition by AT approximately 7-fold; however, other substitutions did not affect it or slightly enhanced inhibition. Arg-147 was also required for inhibition by alpha(1)-PI. Cumulatively, the results demonstrate that basic amino acids in the autolysis loop of fXIa are important determinants of serpin specificity.

  17. Chemical Hypoxia Brings to Light Altered Autocrine Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Signalling in Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Fibroblasts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chenqi Zhao

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Emerging evidence suggests a role for sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P in various aspects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA pathogenesis. In this study we compared the effect of chemical hypoxia induced by cobalt chloride (CoCl2 on the expression of S1P metabolic enzymes and cytokine/chemokine secretion in normal fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS and RAFLS. RAFLS incubated with CoCl2, but not S1P, produced less IL-8 and MCP-1 than normal FLS. Furthermore, incubation with the S1P2 and S1P3 receptor antagonists, JTE-013 and CAY10444, reduced CoCl2-mediated chemokine production in normal FLS but not in RAFLS. RAFLS showed lower levels of intracellular S1P and enhanced mRNA expression of S1P phosphatase 1 (SGPP1 and S1P lyase (SPL, the enzymes that are involved in intracellular S1P degradation, when compared to normal FLS. Incubation with CoCl2 decreased SGPP1 mRNA and protein and SPL mRNA as well. Inhibition of SPL enhanced CoCl2-mediated cytokine/chemokine release and restored autocrine activation of S1P2 and S1P3 receptors in RAFLS. The results suggest that the sphingolipid pathway regulating the intracellular levels of S1P is dysregulated in RAFLS and has a significant impact on cell autocrine activation by S1P. Altered sphingolipid metabolism in FLS from patients with advanced RA raises the issue of synovial cell burnout due to chronic inflammation.

  18. Prognostic factors of craniopharyngioma with special reference to autocrine/paracrine signaling: underestimated implication of growth hormone receptor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogawa, Yoshikazu; Watanabe, Mika; Tominaga, Teiji

    2015-10-01

    Craniopharyngioma is a slow-growing tumor classified as benign, but tight adhesion and significant local infiltration to the vital structures are common. In spite of improvement of modern microsurgery techniques and precise anatomical understanding not few cases of this tumor recur, and long-term tumor control and maintenance of quality of life are sometimes difficult. However, very little is known about the effects of the molecular characters of craniopharyngioma on the prognosis. Ninety eight cases of craniopharyngioma surgically treated at the Department of Neurosurgery, Tohoku University Hospital and Kohnan Hospital from April 1996 to May 2014, 45 males and 53 females aged from 2 to 80 years (mean, 40.84 years) were retrospectively reviewed, and postoperative outcomes and the possible involvement of the autocrine/paracrine mechanism were investigated. The patients were followed up at intervals of 6 months to assess tumor recurrence, and clinical outcomes were correlated with the findings of immunohistochemical examinations used growth hormone receptor (GHR) and downstream hormones. The follow-up period ranged from 3 to 209 months. Hormone expression was examined in 88 patients, of which 46 specimens (52.3 %) showed high expression of GHR. The GHR high expression group had a significantly shorter duration of postoperative stable disease compared with the low expression group (logrank test, p = 0.007). Simultaneous high expression of growth hormone (GH) and GHR was found in 33 specimens (37.5 %), and the high expression group had a significantly shorter duration of postoperative stable disease compared with the low expression group (logrank test, p = 0.011). No other hormones showed statistically significant differences in outcomes. High expression of GHR is associated with shorter duration of postoperative stable disease in patients with craniopharyngioma. If the surgical specimens were craniopharyngiomas with high GHR expression, GH supplementation

  19. Loop Transfer Matrix and Loop Quantum Mechanics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Savvidy, George K.

    2000-01-01

    The gonihedric model of random surfaces on a 3d Euclidean lattice has equivalent representation in terms of transfer matrix K(Q i ,Q f ), which describes the propagation of loops Q. We extend the previous construction of the loop transfer matrix to the case of nonzero self-intersection coupling constant κ. We introduce the loop generalization of Fourier transformation which allows to diagonalize transfer matrices, that depend on symmetric difference of loops only and express all eigenvalues of 3d loop transfer matrix through the correlation functions of the corresponding 2d statistical system. The loop Fourier transformation allows to carry out the analogy with quantum mechanics of point particles, to introduce conjugate loop momentum P and to define loop quantum mechanics. We also consider transfer matrix on 4d lattice which describes propagation of memebranes. This transfer matrix can also be diagonalized by using the generalized Fourier transformation, and all its eigenvalues are equal to the correlation functions of the corresponding 3d statistical system. In particular the free energy of the 4d membrane system is equal to the free energy of 3d gonihedric system of loops and is equal to the free energy of 2d Ising model. (author)

  20. An Autocrine Proliferation Repressor Regulates Dictyostelium discoideum Proliferation and Chemorepulsion Using the G Protein-Coupled Receptor GrlH

    OpenAIRE

    Yu Tang; Yuantai Wu; Sarah E. Herlihy; Francisco J. Brito-Aleman; Jose H. Ting; Chris Janetopoulos; Richard H. Gomer; Scott D. Emr

    2018-01-01

    In eukaryotic microbes, little is known about signals that inhibit the proliferation of the cells that secrete the signal, and little is known about signals (chemorepellents) that cause cells to move away from the source of the signal. Autocrine proliferation repressor protein A (AprA) is a protein secreted by the eukaryotic microbe Dictyostelium discoideum. AprA is a chemorepellent for and inhibits the proliferation of D. discoideum. We previously found that cells sense AprA using G proteins...

  1. Q-factor enhancement for self-actuated self-sensing piezoelectric MEMS resonators applying a lock-in driven feedback loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kucera, M; Bittner, A; Schmid, U; Manzaneque, T; Sánchez-Rojas, J L

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a robust Q-control approach based on an all-electrical feedback loop enhancing the quality factor of a resonant microstructure by using the self-sensing capability of a piezoelectric thin film actuator made of aluminium nitride. A lock-in amplifier is used to extract the feedback signal which is proportional to the piezoelectric current. The measured real part is used to replace the originally low-quality and noisy feedback signal to modulate the driving voltage of the piezoelectric thin-film actuator. Since the lock-in amplifier reduces the noise in the feedback signal substantially, the proposed enhancement loop avoids the disadvantage of a constant signal-to-noise ratio, which an analogue feedback circuit usually suffers from. The quality factor was increased from the intrinsic value of 1766 to a maximum of 34 840 in air. These promising results facilitate precise measurements for self-actuated and self-sensing MEMS cantilevers even when operated in static viscous media. (paper)

  2. Osmotic mechanism of the loop extrusion process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Tetsuya; Schiessel, Helmut

    2017-09-01

    The loop extrusion theory assumes that protein factors, such as cohesin rings, act as molecular motors that extrude chromatin loops. However, recent single molecule experiments have shown that cohesin does not show motor activity. To predict the physical mechanism involved in loop extrusion, we here theoretically analyze the dynamics of cohesin rings on a loop, where a cohesin loader is in the middle and unloaders at the ends. Cohesin monomers bind to the loader rather frequently and cohesin dimers bind to this site only occasionally. Our theory predicts that a cohesin dimer extrudes loops by the osmotic pressure of cohesin monomers on the chromatin fiber between the two connected rings. With this mechanism, the frequency of the interactions between chromatin segments depends on the loading and unloading rates of dimers at the corresponding sites.

  3. Possible autocrine loop of the epidermal growth factor system in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia treated with finasteride: a placebo-controlled randomized study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tørring, N.; Møller-Ernst Jensen, K.; Lund, L.

    2002-01-01

    To analyse the expression of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) system in prostate tissue and secretions obtained from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treated with or without finasteride (which primarily targets the androgen-sensitive secretory epithelial cells in the prostate......, with little effect on basal epithelial and stromal cells)....

  4. Four-loop photon quark form factor and cusp anomalous dimension in the large-N{sub c} limit of QCD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henn, Johannes [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Lee, Roman N. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 630090 Novosibirsk (Russian Federation); Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany); Smirnov, Alexander V. [Research Computing Center, Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow (Russian Federation); Smirnov, Vladimir A. [Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow (Russian Federation); Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany); Steinhauser, Matthias [Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2017-03-27

    We compute the four-loop QCD corrections to the massless quark-anti-quark-photon form factor F{sub q} in the large-N{sub c} limit. From the pole part we extract analytic expressions for the corresponding cusp and collinear anomalous dimensions.

  5. Loop kinematics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Migdal, A.A.

    1982-01-01

    Basic operators acting in the loop space are introduced. The topology of this space and properties of the Stokes type loop functionals are discussed. The parametrically invariant loop calculus developed here is used in the loop dynamics

  6. Parallel tiled Nussinov RNA folding loop nest generated using both dependence graph transitive closure and loop skewing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palkowski, Marek; Bielecki, Wlodzimierz

    2017-06-02

    RNA secondary structure prediction is a compute intensive task that lies at the core of several search algorithms in bioinformatics. Fortunately, the RNA folding approaches, such as the Nussinov base pair maximization, involve mathematical operations over affine control loops whose iteration space can be represented by the polyhedral model. Polyhedral compilation techniques have proven to be a powerful tool for optimization of dense array codes. However, classical affine loop nest transformations used with these techniques do not optimize effectively codes of dynamic programming of RNA structure predictions. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel approach allowing for generation of a parallel tiled Nussinov RNA loop nest exposing significantly higher performance than that of known related code. This effect is achieved due to improving code locality and calculation parallelization. In order to improve code locality, we apply our previously published technique of automatic loop nest tiling to all the three loops of the Nussinov loop nest. This approach first forms original rectangular 3D tiles and then corrects them to establish their validity by means of applying the transitive closure of a dependence graph. To produce parallel code, we apply the loop skewing technique to a tiled Nussinov loop nest. The technique is implemented as a part of the publicly available polyhedral source-to-source TRACO compiler. Generated code was run on modern Intel multi-core processors and coprocessors. We present the speed-up factor of generated Nussinov RNA parallel code and demonstrate that it is considerably faster than related codes in which only the two outer loops of the Nussinov loop nest are tiled.

  7. Identification of basic/helix-loop-helix transcription factors reveals candidate genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis from the strawberry white-flesh mutant

    OpenAIRE

    Zhao, Fengli; Li, Gang; Hu, Panpan; Zhao, Xia; Li, Liangjie; Wei, Wei; Feng, Jiayue; Zhou, Houcheng

    2018-01-01

    As the second largest transcription factor family in plant, the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family, characterized by the conserved bHLH domain, plays a central regulatory role in many biological process. However, the bHLH transcription factor family of strawberry has not been systematically identified, especially for the anthocyanin biosynthesis. Here, we identified a total of 113 bHLH transcription factors and described their chromosomal distribution and bioinformatics...

  8. Sema3C Promotes the Survival and Tumorigenicity of Glioma Stem Cells through Rac1 Activation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianghong Man

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Different cancer cell compartments often communicate through soluble factors to facilitate tumor growth. Glioma stem cells (GSCs are a subset of tumor cells that resist standard therapy to contribute to disease progression. How GSCs employ a distinct secretory program to communicate with and nurture each other over the nonstem tumor cell (NSTC population is not well defined. Here, we show that GSCs preferentially secrete Sema3C and coordinately express PlexinA2/D1 receptors to activate Rac1/nuclear factor (NF-κB signaling in an autocrine/paracrine loop to promote their own survival. Importantly, Sema3C is not expressed in neural progenitor cells (NPCs or NSTCs. Disruption of Sema3C induced apoptosis of GSCs, but not NPCs or NSTCs, and suppressed tumor growth in orthotopic models of glioblastoma. Introduction of activated Rac1 rescued the Sema3C knockdown phenotype in vivo. Our study supports the targeting of Sema3C to break this GSC-specific autocrine/paracrine loop in order to improve glioblastoma treatment, potentially with a high therapeutic index. : Glioma stem cells (GSCs have a high capacity for self-renewal, invasion, and survival. How they communicate with each other to survive and maintain their identity is not clear. Man et al. now show that GSCs have co-opted a neurodevelopmental program to activate Rac1 to promote defining features of GSCs.

  9. Two-loop polygon Wilson loops in N = 4 SYM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anastasiou, C.; Brandhuber, A.; Heslop, P.; Spence, B.; Travaglini, G.; Khoze, V.V.

    2009-01-01

    We compute for the first time the two-loop corrections to arbitrary n-gon lightlike Wilson loops in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, using efficient numerical methods. The calculation is motivated by the remarkable agreement between the finite part of planar six-point MHV amplitudes and hexagon Wilson loops which has been observed at two loops. At n = 6 we confirm that the ABDK/BDS ansatz must be corrected by adding a remainder function, which depends only on conformally invariant ratios of kinematic variables. We numerically compute remainder functions for n = 7,8 and verify dual conformal invariance. Furthermore, we study simple and multiple collinear limits of the Wilson loop remainder functions and demonstrate that they have precisely the form required by the collinear factorisation of the corresponding two-loop n-point amplitudes. The number of distinct diagram topologies contributing to the n-gon Wilson loops does not increase with n, and there is a fixed number of 'master integrals', which we have computed. Thus we have essentially computed general polygon Wilson loops, and if the correspondence with amplitudes continues to hold, all planar n-point two-loop MHV amplitudes in the N = 4 theory.

  10. Counting loop diagrams: computational complexity of higher-order amplitude evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eijk, E. van; Kleiss, R.; Lazopoulos, A.

    2004-01-01

    We discuss the computational complexity of the perturbative evaluation of scattering amplitudes, both by the Caravaglios-Moretti algorithm and by direct evaluation of the individual diagrams. For a self-interacting scalar theory, we determine the complexity as a function of the number of external legs. We describe a method for obtaining the number of topologically inequivalent Feynman graphs containing closed loops, and apply this to 1- and 2-loop amplitudes. We also compute the number of graphs weighted by their symmetry factors, thus arriving at exact and asymptotic estimates for the average symmetry factor of diagrams. We present results for the asymptotic number of diagrams up to 10 loops, and prove that the average symmetry factor approaches unity as the number of external legs becomes large. (orig.)

  11. Hexagon functions and the three-loop remainder function

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dixon, Lance J.; Drummond, James M.; von Hippel, Matt; Pennington, Jeffrey

    2013-12-01

    We present the three-loop remainder function, which describes the scattering of six gluons in the maximally-helicity-violating configuration in planar NN = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory, as a function of the three dual conformal cross ratios. The result can be expressed in terms of multiple Goncharov polylogarithms. We also employ a more restricted class of hexagon functions which have the correct branch cuts and certain other restrictions on their symbols. We classify all the hexagon functions through transcendental weight five, using the coproduct for their Hopf algebra iteratively, which amounts to a set of first-order differential equations. The three-loop remainder function is a particular weight-six hexagon function, whose symbol was determined previously. The differential equations can be integrated numerically for generic values of the cross ratios, or analytically in certain kinematic limits, including the near-collinear and multi-Regge limits. These limits allow us to impose constraints from the operator product expansion and multi-Regge factorization directly at the function level, and thereby to fix uniquely a set of Riemann ζ valued constants that could not be fixed at the level of the symbol. The near-collinear limits agree precisely with recent predictions by Basso, Sever and Vieira based on integrability. The multi-Regge limits agree with the factorization formula of Fadin and Lipatov, and determine three constants entering the impact factor at this order. We plot the three-loop remainder function for various slices of the Euclidean region of positive cross ratios, and compare it to the two-loop one. For large ranges of the cross ratios, the ratio of the three-loop to the two-loop remainder function is relatively constant, and close to -7.

  12. Alternative loop rings

    CERN Document Server

    Goodaire, EG; Polcino Milies, C

    1996-01-01

    For the past ten years, alternative loop rings have intrigued mathematicians from a wide cross-section of modern algebra. As a consequence, the theory of alternative loop rings has grown tremendously. One of the main developments is the complete characterization of loops which have an alternative but not associative, loop ring. Furthermore, there is a very close relationship between the algebraic structures of loop rings and of group rings over 2-groups. Another major topic of research is the study of the unit loop of the integral loop ring. Here the interaction between loop rings and group ri

  13. Quality-factor amplification in piezoelectric MEMS resonators applying an all-electrical feedback loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manzaneque, T; Hernando-García, J; Sánchez-Rojas, J L; Ababneh, A; Schwarz, P; Seidel, H; Schmid, U

    2011-01-01

    An all-electrical velocity feedback control to enhance the quality factor of piezoelectric aluminium nitride (AlN)-based microcantilevers and microbridges was implemented. Two alternatives to obtain a velocity-proportional signal were demonstrated depending on the top electrode configuration. For a straightforward electrode design in one-port configuration (i.e. self-actuation and self-sensing), a velocity signal, proportional to the piezoelectric current, was used in the feedback loop by cancelling out the dielectric current electronically. For top electrodes allowing a two-port configuration (i.e. one for actuation and one for sensing), the piezoelectric current is directly extracted and its relationship with velocity is analysed taking the symmetry of the modal shape into account. Standard operational amplifier-based configurations for the feedback circuits were implemented on a printed circuit board. Quality factors were determined from the transient electrical response of the devices. Comparable results were obtained from the displacement spectrum applying a laser Doppler vibrometer. Quality factors as high as 2 × 10 5 , corresponding to an enhancement factor of about 200, were achieved in air for the lowest gain margin achievable before the circuit becomes unstable, making this kind of device more competitive for mass sensor applications due to enhanced spectral resolution.

  14. Rapid and Simple Detection of Hot Spot Point Mutations of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor, BRAF, and NRAS in Cancers Using the Loop-Hybrid Mobility Shift Assay

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsukuma, Shoichi; Yoshihara, Mitsuyo; Kasai, Fumio; Kato, Akinori; Yoshida, Akira; Akaike, Makoto; Kobayashi, Osamu; Nakayama, Haruhiko; Sakuma, Yuji; Yoshida, Tsutomu; Kameda, Yoichi; Tsuchiya, Eiju; Miyagi, Yohei

    2006-01-01

    A simple and rapid method to detect the epidermal growth factor receptor hot spot mutation L858R in lung adenocarcinoma was developed based on principles similar to the universal heteroduplex generator technology. A single-stranded oligonucleotide with an internal deletion was used to generate heteroduplexes (loop-hybrids) bearing a loop in the complementary strand derived from the polymerase chain reaction product of the normal or mutant allele. By placing deletion in the oligonucleotide adjacent to the mutational site, difference in electrophoretic mobility between loop-hybrids with normal and mutated DNA was distinguishable in a native polyacrylamide gel. The method was also modified to detect in-frame deletion mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor in lung adenocarcinomas. In addition, the method was adapted to detect hot spot mutations in the B-type Raf kinase (BRAF) at V600 and in a Ras-oncogene (NRAS) at Q61, the mutations commonly found in thyroid carcinomas. Our mutation detection system, designated the loop-hybrid mobility shift assay was sensitive enough to detect mutant DNA comprising 7.5% of the total DNA. As a simple and straightforward mutation detection technique, loop-hybrid mobility shift assay may be useful for the molecular diagnosis of certain types of clinical cancers. Other applications are also discussed. PMID:16931592

  15. The Effect of Anabolic Steroid Administration on Passive Stretching-Induced Expression of Mechano-Growth Factor in Skeletal Muscle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Satoshi Ikeda

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Stretching of skeletal muscle induces expression of the genes which encode myogenic transcription factors or muscle contractile proteins and results in muscle growth. Anabolic steroids are reported to strengthen muscles. We have previously studied the effects of muscle stretching on gene expression. Here, we studied the effect of a combination of passive stretching and the administration of an anabolic steroid on mRNA expression of a muscle growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-I autocrine variant, or mechano-growth factor (MGF. Methods. Twelve 8-week-old male Wistar rats were used. Metenolone was administered and passive repetitive dorsiflexion and plantar flexion of the ankle joint performed under deep anesthesia. After 24 h, the gastrocnemius muscles were removed and the mRNA expression of insulin-like growth factor-I autocrine variant was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results. Repetitive stretching in combination with metenolone, but not stretching alone, significantly increased MGF mRNA expression. Conclusion. Anabolic steroids enhance the effect of passive stretching on MGF expression in skeletal muscle.

  16. The role of autolysis loop in determining the specificity of coagulation proteases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, L; Manithody, C; Rezaie, A R

    2007-08-01

    We recently demonstrated that the substitution of the autolysis loop (residues 143 to 154 in the chymotrypsin numbering system) of activated protein C (APC) with the corresponding loop of factor Xa (fXa) renders the APC mutant (APC/fX143-154) susceptible to inhibition by antithrombin (AT) in the presence of pentasaccharide. Our recent results further indicated, that in addition to an improvement in the reactivity of APC/fX143-154 with AT, both the amidolytic and anti-factor Va activities of the mutant APC have also been significantly increased. Since the autolysis loop of APC is five residues longer than the autolysis loop of fXa, it could not be ascertained whether this loop in the mutant APC specifically interacts with the activated conformation of AT or if a shorter autolysis loop is responsible for a global improvement in the catalytic activity of the mutant protease. To answer this question, we prepared another APC mutant in which the autolysis loop of the protease was replaced with the corresponding loop of trypsin (APC/Tryp143-154). Unlike an approximately 500-fold improvement in the reactivity of APC/fX143-154 with AT in the presence of pentasaccharide, the reactivity of APC/Tryp143-154 with the serpin was improved approximately 10-fold. These results suggest that both the length and structure of residues of the autolysis loop are critical for the specificity of the coagulation protease interaction with AT. Further factor Va inactivation studies with the APC mutants revealed a similar role for the autolysis loop of APC in the interaction with its natural substrate.

  17. The role of autolysis loop in determining the specificity of coagulation proteases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Yang

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available We recently demonstrated that the substitution of the autolysis loop (residues 143 to 154 in the chymotrypsin numbering system of activated protein C (APC with the corresponding loop of factor Xa (fXa renders the APC mutant (APC/fX143-154 susceptible to inhibition by antithrombin (AT in the presence of pentasaccharide. Our recent results further indicated, that in addition to an improvement in the reactivity of APC/fX143-154 with AT, both the amidolytic and anti-factor Va activities of the mutant APC have also been significantly increased. Since the autolysis loop of APC is five residues longer than the autolysis loop of fXa, it could not be ascertained whether this loop in the mutant APC specifically interacts with the activated conformation of AT or if a shorter autolysis loop is responsible for a global improvement in the catalytic activity of the mutant protease. To answer this question, we prepared another APC mutant in which the autolysis loop of the protease was replaced with the corresponding loop of trypsin (APC/Tryp143-154. Unlike an ~500-fold improvement in the reactivity of APC/fX143-154 with AT in the presence of pentasaccharide, the reactivity of APC/Tryp143-154 with the serpin was improved ~10-fold. These results suggest that both the length and structure of residues of the autolysis loop are critical for the specificity of the coagulation protease interaction with AT. Further factor Va inactivation studies with the APC mutants revealed a similar role for the autolysis loop of APC in the interaction with its natural substrate.

  18. Full colour for loop amplitudes in Yang-Mills theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ochirov, Alexander [Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy,The University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland (United Kingdom); Page, Ben [Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Physikalisches Institut,D-79104 Freiburg (Germany)

    2017-02-20

    We present a general method to account for full colour dependence Yang-Mills amplitudes at loop level. The method fits most naturally into the framework of multi-loop integrand reduction and in a nutshell amounts to consistently retaining the colour structures of the unitarity cuts from which the integrand is gradually constructed. This technique has already been used in the recent calculation of the two-loop five-gluon amplitude in pure Yang-Mills theory with all positive helicities, (DOI: 10.1007/JHEP10(2015)064). In this note, we give a careful exposition of the method and discuss its connection to loop-level Kleiss-Kuijf relations. We also explore its implications for cancellation of nontrivial symmetry factors at two loops. As an example of its generality, we show how it applies to the three-loop case in supersymmetric Yang-Mills case.

  19. Genome-wide identification and analysis of the chicken basic helix-loop-helix factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Wu-Yi; Zhao, Chun-Jiang

    2010-01-01

    Members of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family of transcription factors play important roles in a wide range of developmental processes. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide survey using the chicken (Gallus gallus) genomic database, and identified 104 bHLH sequences belonging to 42 gene families in an effort to characterize the chicken bHLH transcription factor family. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that chicken has 50, 21, 15, 4, 8, and 3 bHLH members in groups A, B, C, D, E, and F, respectively, while three members belonging to none of these groups were classified as ''orphans". A comparison between chicken and human bHLH repertoires suggested that both organisms have a number of lineage-specific bHLH members in the proteomes. Chromosome distribution patterns and phylogenetic analyses strongly suggest that the bHLH members should have arisen through gene duplication at an early date. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment statistics showed 51 top GO annotations of biological processes counted in the frequency. The present study deepens our understanding of the chicken bHLH transcription factor family and provides much useful information for further studies using chicken as a model system.

  20. Random walk loop soups and conformal loop ensembles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van de Brug, T.; Camia, F.; Lis, M.

    2016-01-01

    The random walk loop soup is a Poissonian ensemble of lattice loops; it has been extensively studied because of its connections to the discrete Gaussian free field, but was originally introduced by Lawler and Trujillo Ferreras as a discrete version of the Brownian loop soup of Lawler and Werner, a

  1. Calculation of the thermal neutron flux depression in the loop VISA-1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinc, R.

    1961-01-01

    Among other applications, the VISA-1 loop is to be used for thermal load testing of materials. For this type of testing one should know the maximum power generated in the loop. This power is determined from the maximum thermal neutron flux in the VK-5 channel and mean flux depression in the fissile component of the loop. Thermal neutron flux depression is caused by neutron absorption in the components of the loop, shape of the components and neutron leaking through gaps as well as properties of the surrounding medium of the core. All these parameters were taken into account for calculating the depression of thermal neutron flux in the VISA-1 loop. Two group diffusion theory was used. Fast neutron from the fission in the loop and slowed down were taken into account. Depression of the thermal neutron flux is expressed by depression factor which represents the ratio of the mean thermal neutron flux in the fissile loop component and the thermal neutron flux in the VK-5 without the loop. Calculation error was estimated and it was recommended to determine the depression factor experimentally as well [sr

  2. A LabVIEW model incorporating an open-loop arterial impedance and a closed-loop circulatory system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, R T; Lucas, C L; Cascio, W E; Johnson, T A

    2005-11-01

    While numerous computer models exist for the circulatory system, many are limited in scope, contain unwanted features or incorporate complex components specific to unique experimental situations. Our purpose was to develop a basic, yet multifaceted, computer model of the left heart and systemic circulation in LabVIEW having universal appeal without sacrificing crucial physiologic features. The program we developed employs Windkessel-type impedance models in several open-loop configurations and a closed-loop model coupling a lumped impedance and ventricular pressure source. The open-loop impedance models demonstrate afterload effects on arbitrary aortic pressure/flow inputs. The closed-loop model catalogs the major circulatory waveforms with changes in afterload, preload, and left heart properties. Our model provides an avenue for expanding the use of the ventricular equations through closed-loop coupling that includes a basic coronary circuit. Tested values used for the afterload components and the effects of afterload parameter changes on various waveforms are consistent with published data. We conclude that this model offers the ability to alter several circulatory factors and digitally catalog the most salient features of the pressure/flow waveforms employing a user-friendly platform. These features make the model a useful instructional tool for students as well as a simple experimental tool for cardiovascular research.

  3. LOOP: engineering marvel, economic calamity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brossard, E B

    1985-01-01

    The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is the first superport built in the Lower 48. The United States was the only major oil-importing country that did not have a superport, and therefore, could not offload very large crude carriers (VLCCs). Unfortunately, a number of factors changed after it was decided to build LOOP, and these, plus the onerous provisions of the Deepwater Ports Act of 1974, which authorized superports, prevented LOOP from operating economically. LOOP's facilities consist of an offshore platform complex with three single-point-mooring (SPM) system buoys, 19 miles offshore in 110 feet of water, as well as a 32-million-barrel storage terminal 31 miles inland at Clovelly Salt Dome, and connecting pipelines offshore and onshore. By the time LOOP was started-up in May 1981, demand for oil had declined, because of rises in the price of oil, and the source of US oil imports had shifted back to the western hemisphere, away from the eastern hemisphere, closer to the US. The refinery mix in the US also changed, because of up-grading of a number of big refineries, which further reduced demand and made heavier crudes from countries like Mexico and Venezuela more economical. Because of reduced oil imports and shorter hauls, oil shippers started using or continued to use smaller tankers. Smaller tankers are not economical for LOOP, nor do they need LOOP. The start-up of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) in mid-1977 backed out 1.5 million bd/sup -1/ of foreign imports. TAPS' capacity coincides with LOOP's offloading capacity of 1.4 million bd/sup -1/. US decontrol of domestic crude in 1981 and increased drilling, plus general energy conservation further reduced US oil imports. US consumption declined to 15.1 million bd/sup -1/ in 1983, from 18.8 million bd/sup -1/ in 1978. This award-winning superport needed federal decontrol and increased oil imports along with more VLCCs, in order to operate economically.

  4. LOW-FREQUENCY MAGNETIC FIELD SHIELDING BY A CIRCULAR PASSIVE LOOP AND CLOSED SHELLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.S. Grinchenko

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. To analyze the shielding factors for a circular passive loop and conductive closed shells placed in a homogeneous low-frequency magnetic field. Methodology. We have obtained simplified expressions for the shielding factors for a circular passive loop and a thin spherical shell. In addition, we have developed the numerical model of a thin cubical shell in a magnetic field, which allows exploring its shielding characteristics. Results. We have obtained dependences of the shielding factors for passive loops and shells on the frequency of the external field. Analytically determined frequency of the external magnetic field, below which field shielding of a passive loop is expedient to use, above which it is advisable to use a shielding shell.

  5. Generalized modal analysis for closed-loop piezoelectric devices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giraud-Audine, Christophe; Giraud, Frédéric; Amberg, Michel; Lemaire-Semail, Betty

    2015-01-01

    Stress in a piezoelectric material can be controlled by imposing an electrical field. Thanks to feedback, this electrical field can be a function of some strain-related measurement so as to confer on the piezoelectric device a closed-loop macroscopic behaviour. In this paper we address the modelling of such a system by extending the modal decomposition methods to account for the closed loop. To do so, the boundary conditions are modified to include the electrical feedback circuit, hence allowing a closed-loop modal analysis. A case study is used to illustrate the theory and to validate it. The main advantage of the method is that design issues such as the coupling factor of the device and closed-loop stability are simultaneously captured. (paper)

  6. Online control loop tuning in Pickering Nuclear Generating Stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, K.X.; Harrington, S.

    2008-01-01

    Most analog controllers in the Pickering B Nuclear Generating Stations adopted PID control scheme. In replacing the analog controllers with digital controllers, the PID control strategies, including the original tuning parameters were retained. The replacement strategy resulted in minimum effort on control loop tuning. In a few cases, however, it was found during commissioning that control loop tuning was required as a result of poor control loop performance, typically due to slow response and controlled process oscillation. Several factors are accounted for the necessities of control loop re-tuning. Our experience in commissioning the digital controllers showed that online control tuning posted some challenges in nuclear power plant. (author)

  7. Transforming growth factor alpha and epidermal growth factor in laryngeal carcinomas demonstrated by immunohistochemistry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, M E; Therkildsen, M H; Poulsen, Steen Seier

    1993-01-01

    the basal cell layer. The present investigation and our previous results confirm the existence of EGF receptors, TGF-alpha and EGF in laryngeal carcinomas. In addition, we conclude that the conditions do exist for growth factors to act through an autocrine system in poorly differentiated tumours and through......Fifteen laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas were investigated for the presence of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) using immunohistochemical methods. In a recent study the same material was characterized for epidermal growth factor receptors (EGF...... receptors) which were confined predominantly to the undifferentiated cells. The expression of this growth factor system in malignant cells may play a role in carcinogenesis and/or tumour growth. All carcinomas were positive for TGF-alpha and 12 were positive for EGF. In moderately-to-well differentiated...

  8. MCP-1 expressed by osteoclasts stimulates osteoclastogenesis in an autocrine/paracrine manner

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyamoto, Kana; Ninomiya, Ken; Sonoda, Koh-Hei; Miyauchi, Yoshiteru; Hoshi, Hiroko; Iwasaki, Ryotaro; Miyamoto, Hiroya

    2009-01-01

    Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a chemokine that plays a critical role in the recruitment and activation of leukocytes. Here, we describe that multinuclear osteoclast formation was significantly inhibited in cells derived from MCP-1-deficient mice. MCP-1 has been implicated in the regulation of osteoclast cell-cell fusion; however defects of multinuclear osteoclast formation in the cells from mice deficient in DC-STAMP, a seven transmembrane receptor essential for osteoclast cell-cell fusion, was not rescued by recombinant MCP-1. The lack of MCP-1 in osteoclasts resulted in a down-regulation of DC-STAMP, NFATc1, and cathepsin K, all of which were highly expressed in normal osteoclasts, suggesting that osteoclast differentiation was inhibited in MCP-1-deficient cells. MCP-1 alone did not induce osteoclastogenesis, however, the inhibition of osteoclastogenesis in MCP-1-deficient cells was restored by addition of recombinant MCP-1, indicating that osteoclastogenesis was regulated in an autocrine/paracrine manner by MCP-1 under the stimulation of RANKL in osteoclasts.

  9. Concentration and length dependence of DNA looping in transcriptional regulation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Han

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available In many cases, transcriptional regulation involves the binding of transcription factors at sites on the DNA that are not immediately adjacent to the promoter of interest. This action at a distance is often mediated by the formation of DNA loops: Binding at two or more sites on the DNA results in the formation of a loop, which can bring the transcription factor into the immediate neighborhood of the relevant promoter. These processes are important in settings ranging from the historic bacterial examples (bacterial metabolism and the lytic-lysogeny decision in bacteriophage, to the modern concept of gene regulation to regulatory processes central to pattern formation during development of multicellular organisms. Though there have been a variety of insights into the combinatorial aspects of transcriptional control, the mechanism of DNA looping as an agent of combinatorial control in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes remains unclear. We use single-molecule techniques to dissect DNA looping in the lac operon. In particular, we measure the propensity for DNA looping by the Lac repressor as a function of the concentration of repressor protein and as a function of the distance between repressor binding sites. As with earlier single-molecule studies, we find (at least two distinct looped states and demonstrate that the presence of these two states depends both upon the concentration of repressor protein and the distance between the two repressor binding sites. We find that loops form even at interoperator spacings considerably shorter than the DNA persistence length, without the intervention of any other proteins to prebend the DNA. The concentration measurements also permit us to use a simple statistical mechanical model of DNA loop formation to determine the free energy of DNA looping, or equivalently, the for looping.

  10. Comprehensive modulation of tumor progression and regression with periodic fasting and refeeding circles via boosting IGFBP-3 loops and NK responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiancheng; Lin, Xiaojuan; Li, Meng

    2012-10-01

    Progressive tumor-bearing patients deserve to benefit from more realistic approaches. Here, a study revealed the impact of modified periodic fasting and refeeding regimen on tumor progression or regression with little or no loss of food intake and body weight. Human A549 lung, HepG-2 liver, and SKOV-3 ovary progressive tumor-bearing mice were established and subjected to 4 wk of periodic fasting/refeeding cycles (PFRC), including periodic 1-d fasting/6-d refeeding weekly (protocol 1) and periodic 2-d fasting/5-d refeeding weekly (P2DF/5DR, protocol 2), with ad libitum (AL)-fed hosts as controls. Afterwards, PFRC groups exhibited tumor growth arrest with some tendency towards regression; especially, complete regression of progressive tumors and metastases comprised between 43.75 and 56.25% of tumor-challenged hosts in P2DF/5DR group (P fasting/6-d refeeding weekly groups survived a 4-month study period vs. only 31.25-37.5% in AL control group. Immunological assays and Luminex microarray revealed that tumor growth remission is mainly via natural killer cell (NK) reactivity and cross-regulation of IGF-binding protein-3, IGF/IGF-receptor, and megakaryocyte growth and development factor autocrine and paracrine loops. In vivo cellular and humoral assays indicated that tumor-regressive induction by PFRC protocols could be partly terminated by NK cell and IGF-binding protein-3 blockade or replenishment of IGF-I/-II and megakaryocyte growth and development factor. These findings offer a better understanding of comprehensive modulation of periodic fasting/refeeding strategy on the balance between tumor progression and regression.

  11. A basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, PhFBH4, regulates flower senescence by modulating ethylene biosynthesis pathway in petunia

    Science.gov (United States)

    The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors (TFs) play important roles in regulating multiple biological processes in plants. However, there are few reports about the function of bHLHs in flower senescence. In this study, a bHLH TF, PhFBH4, was found to be dramatically upregulated during...

  12. Dispersion relations in loop calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kniehl, B.A.

    1996-01-01

    These lecture notes give a pedagogical introduction to the use of dispersion relations in loop calculations. We first derive dispersion relations which allow us to recover the real part of a physical amplitude from the knowledge of its absorptive part along the branch cut. In perturbative calculations, the latter may be constructed by means of Cutkosky's rule, which is briefly discussed. For illustration, we apply this procedure at one loop to the photon vacuum-polarization function induced by leptons as well as to the γf anti-f vertex form factor generated by the exchange of a massive vector boson between the two fermion legs. We also show how the hadronic contribution to the photon vacuum polarization may be extracted from the total cross section of hadron production in e + e - annihilation measured as a function of energy. Finally, we outline the application of dispersive techniques at the two-loop level, considering as an example the bosonic decay width of a high-mass Higgs boson. (author)

  13. Mass transfer of steels for FBR in sodium loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Susukida, Hiroshi; Yonezawa, Toshio; Ueda, Mitsuo; Imazu, Takayuki; Kiyokawa, Teruyuki.

    1976-06-01

    In order to grasp quantitatively the corrosion and mass transfer of steels for FBR in sodium loop and to establish their allowable stress value and corrosion rate, a special sodium loop for material testing was designed and fabricated and the steels were given 3010 hours exposing test in the sodium loop. This paper gives the outline of the sodium loop and the results of the test. (1) Carburization and a slight increase in weight were observed in the specimens of type 304 stainless steel exposed in the sodium loop for 3010 hours, while decarburization was observed in the specimens of 2 1/4 Cr-1 Mo steel. It is considered that these phenomena were caused by the downstream factor of the sodium loop. (2) A remarkable decrease of Charpy absorbed energy was observed in the specimens of type 304 stainless steel exposed in the sodium loop. It is considered that this resulted from the weakening of the grain boundary due to heat history and mass transfer. (3) The specimens exposed in the sodium loop must be washed by ultrasonic waves in a water bath after washing in alcohol. (auth.)

  14. Effective state metamorphosis in semi-classical loop quantum cosmology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Singh, Parampreet [Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

    2005-10-21

    Modification to the behaviour of geometrical density at short scales is a key result of loop quantum cosmology, responsible for an interesting phenomenology in the very early universe. We demonstrate the way matter with arbitrary scale factor dependence in Hamiltonian incorporates this change in its effective dynamics in the loop-modified phase. For generic matter, the equation of state starts varying near a critical scale factor, becomes negative below it and violates the strong energy condition. This opens a new avenue to generalize various phenomenological applications in loop quantum cosmology. We show that different ways to define energy density may yield radically different results, especially for the case corresponding to classical dust. We also discuss implications for frequency dispersion induced by modification to geometric density at small scales.

  15. An autocrine γ-aminobutyric acid signaling system exists in pancreatic β-cell progenitors of fetal and postnatal mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Mary M; Xiang, Yun-Yan; Wang, Shuanglian; Lu, Wei-Yang

    2013-01-01

    Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is produced and secreted by adult pancreatic β-cells, which also express GABA receptors mediating autocrine signaling and regulating β-cell proliferation. However, whether the autocrine GABA signaling involves in β-cell progenitor development or maturation remains uncertain. By means of immunohistochemistry we analyzed the expression profiles of the GABA synthesizing enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and the α1-subunit of type-A GABA receptor (GABAARα1) in the pancreas of mice at embryonic day 15.5 (E15.5), E18.5, postnatal day 1 (P1) and P7. Our data showed that at E15.5 the pancreatic and duodenum homeobox-1 (Pdx1) was expressed in the majority of cells in the developing pancreata. Notably, insulin immunoreactivity was identified in a subpopulation of pancreatic cells with a high level of Pdx1 expression. About 80% of the high-level Pdx-1 expressing cells in the pancreas expressed GAD and GABAARα1 at all pancreatic developmental stages. In contrast, only about 30% of the high-level Pdx-1 expressing cells in the E15.5 pancreas expressed insulin; i.e., a large number of GAD/GABAARα1-expressing cells did not express insulin at this early developmental stage. The expression level of GAD and GABAARα1 increased steadily, and progressively more GAD/GABAARα1-expressing cells expressed insulin in the course of pancreatic development. These results suggest that 1) GABA signaling proteins appear in β-cell progenitors prior to insulin expression; and 2) the increased expression of GABA signaling proteins may be involved in β-cell progenitor maturation.

  16. Chemokine CXCL3 mediates prostate cancer cells proliferation, migration and gene expression changes in an autocrine/paracrine fashion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, Hua; Cao, Yu; Shao, Ming-Liang; Zhang, Wei; Zhang, Chun-Bin; Wang, Jing-Tao; Liang, Li-Chun; Shao, Wen-Wu; Qi, Ya-Ling; Li, Yue; Zhang, Ze-Yu; Yang, Zhe; Sun, Yu-Hong; Zhang, Peng-Xia; Jia, Lin-Lin; Wang, Wei-Qun

    2018-05-01

    We have previously indicated that CXCL3 was upregulated in the tissues of prostate cancer, and exogenous administration of CXCL3 played a predominant role in the tumorigenicity of prostate cancer cells. In the present study, we further explored the role and the underlying mechanism of CXCL3 overexpression in the oncogenic potential of prostate cancer in an autocrine/paracrine fashion. CXCL3-overexpressing prostate cancer cell line PC-3 and immortalized prostate stromal cell line WPMY-1 were established by gene transfection. CCK-8, transwell assays and growth of tumor xenografts were conducted to characterize the effects of CXCL3 on PC-3 cells' proliferation and migration. Western blotting was conducted to test whether CXCL3 could affect the expression of tumorigenesis-associated genes. The results showed that CXCL3 overexpression in PC-3 cells and the PC-3 cells treated with the supernatants of CXCL3-transfected WPMY-1 cells stimulated the proliferation and migration of PC-3 cells in vitro and in a nude mouse xenograft model. Western blotting revealed higher levels of p-ERK, Akt and Bcl-2 and lower levels of Bax in the tumor xenografts transplanted with CXCL3-transfected PC-3 cells. Moreover, the tumor xenografts derived from the PC-3 cells treated with supernatants of CXCL3-transfected WPMY-1 cells showed higher expression of ERK, Akt and Bcl-2 and lower expression of Bax. These findings suggest that CXCL3 autocrine/paracrine pathways are involved in the development of prostate cancer by regulating the expression of the target genes that are related to the progression of malignancies.

  17. The Plasma Parameters and Geometry of Cool and Warm Active Region Loops

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xie, Haixia; Li, Bo; Huang, Zhenghua; Xia, Lidong; Fu, Hui; Mou, Chaozhou [Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209 Shandong (China); Madjarska, Maria S.; Wiegelmann, Thomas [Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077, Göttingen (Germany)

    2017-06-10

    How the solar corona is heated to high temperatures remains an unsolved mystery in solar physics. In the present study we analyze observations of 50 whole active region loops taken with the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer on board the Hinode satellite. Eleven loops were classified as cool loops (<1 MK) and 39 as warm loops (1–2 MK). We study their plasma parameters, such as densities, temperatures, filling factors, nonthermal velocities, and Doppler velocities. We combine spectroscopic analysis with linear force-free magnetic field extrapolation to derive the 3D structure and positioning of the loops, their lengths and heights, and the magnetic field strength along the loops. We use density-sensitive line pairs from Fe xii, Fe xiii, Si x, and Mg vii ions to obtain electron densities by taking special care of intensity background subtraction. The emission measure loci method is used to obtain the loop temperatures. We find that the loops are nearly isothermal along the line of sight. Their filling factors are between 8% and 89%. We also compare the observed parameters with the theoretical Rosner–Tucker–Vaiana (RTV) scaling law. We find that most of the loops are in an overpressure state relative to the RTV predictions. In a follow-up study, we will report a heating model of a parallel-cascade-based mechanism and will compare the model parameters with the loop plasma and structural parameters derived here.

  18. Paracrine and autocrine signals promoting full chondrogenic differentiation of a mesoblastic cell line.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Locker, Morgane; Kellermann, Odile; Boucquey, Marie; Khun, Huot; Huerre, Michel; Poliard, Anne

    2004-01-01

    The pluripotent mesoblastic C1 cell line was used under serum-free culture conditions to investigate how paracrine and autocrine signals cooperate to drive chondrogenesis. Sequential addition of two systemic hormones, dexamethasone and triiodothyronine, permits full chondrogenic differentiation. The cell intrinsic activation of the BMP signaling pathway and Sox9 expression occurring on mesoblastic condensation is insufficient for recruitment of the progenitors. Dexamethasone-dependent Sox9 upregulation is essential for chondrogenesis. Differentiation of lineage stem cells relies on cell autonomous regulations modulated by external signals. We used the pluripotent mesoblastic C1 cell line under serum-free culture conditions to investigate how paracrine and autocrine signals cooperate to induce differentiation of a precursor clone along the chondrogenic lineage. C1 cells, cultured as aggregates, were induced toward chondrogenesis by addition of 10(-7) M dexamethasone in serum-free medium. After 30 days, dexamethasone was replaced by 10 nM triiodothyronine to promote final hypertrophic conversion. Mature and hypertrophic phenotypes were characterized by immunocytochemistry using specific antibodies against types II and X collagens, respectively. Type II collagen, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), BMP receptors, Smads, and Sox9 expression were monitored by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Northern blot, and/or Western blot analysis. Once C1 cells have formed nodules, sequential addition of two systemic hormones is sufficient to promote full chondrogenic differentiation. In response to dexamethasone, nearly 100% of the C1 precursors engage in chondrogenesis and convert within 30 days into mature chondrocytes, which triggers a typical cartilage matrix. On day 25, a switch in type II procollagen mRNA splicing acted as a limiting step in the acquisition of the mature chondrocyte phenotype. On day 30, substitution of dexamethasone with

  19. Positive and negative feedback loops in nutrient phytoplankton interactions related to climate dynamics factors in a shallow temperate estuary (Vistula Lagoon, southern Baltic)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruk, Marek; Kobos, Justyna; Nawrocka, Lidia; Parszuto, Katarzyna

    2018-04-01

    This study aims to demonstrate that factors associated with climate dynamics, such as temperature and wind, affect the ecosystem of the shallow Vistula Lagoon in the southern Baltic and cause nutrient forms phytoplankton interactions: the growth of biomass and constraints of it. This occurs through a network of direct and indirect relationships between environmental and phytoplankton factors, including interactions of positive and negative feedback loops. Path analysis supported by structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses regarding the impact of climate factors on algal assemblages. Increased phytoplankton biomass was affected directly by water temperature and salinity, while the wind speed effect was indirect as it resulted in increased concentrations of suspended solids (SS) in the water column. Simultaneously, the concentration of SS in the water was positively correlated with particulate organic carbon (POC), particulate nitrogen (PN), and particulate phosphorus (PP), and was negatively correlated with the total nitrogen to phosphorus (N:P) ratio. Particulate forms of C, N, and phosphorus (P), concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and nitrate and nitrite nitrogen (NO3-N + NO2-N), and ratios of the total N:P and DIN:SRP, all indirectly effected Cyanobacteria C concentrations. These processes influence other phytoplankton groups (Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyceae and the picophytoplankton fraction). Increased levels of SRP associated with organic matter (POC), which stemmed from reduced DIN:SRP ratios, contributed to increased Cyanoprokaryota and picophytoplankton C concentrations, which created a positive feedback loop. However, a simultaneous reduction in the total N:P ratio could have inhibited increases in the biomass of these assemblages by limiting N, which likely formed a negative feedback loop. The study indicates that the nutrients-phytoplankton feedback loop phenomenon can intensify eutrophication in a temperate lagoon

  20. Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of the Chicken Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu-yi Liu

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Members of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH family of transcription factors play important roles in a wide range of developmental processes. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide survey using the chicken (Gallus gallus genomic database, and identified 104 bHLH sequences belonging to 42 gene families in an effort to characterize the chicken bHLH transcription factor family. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that chicken has 50, 21, 15, 4, 8, and 3 bHLH members in groups A, B, C, D, E, and F, respectively, while three members belonging to none of these groups were classified as ‘‘orphans’’. A comparison between chicken and human bHLH repertoires suggested that both organisms have a number of lineage-specific bHLH members in the proteomes. Chromosome distribution patterns and phylogenetic analyses strongly suggest that the bHLH members should have arisen through gene duplication at an early date. Gene Ontology (GO enrichment statistics showed 51 top GO annotations of biological processes counted in the frequency. The present study deepens our understanding of the chicken bHLH transcription factor family and provides much useful information for further studies using chicken as a model system.

  1. The soft-gluon current at one-loop order

    CERN Document Server

    Catani, S

    2000-01-01

    We study the soft limit of one-loop QCD amplitudes and we derive the process-independent factorization formula that controls the singular behaviour in this limit. This is obtained from the customary eikonal factorization formula valid at tree (classical) level by introducing a generalized soft-gluon current that embodies the quantum corrections. We compute the explicit expression of the soft-gluon current at one-loop order. It contains purely non-abelian correlations between the colour charges of each pair of hard-momentum partons in the matrix element. This leads to colour correlations between (two and) three hard partons in the matrix element squared. Exploiting colour conservation, we recover QED-like factorization for the square of the matrix elements with two and three hard partons.

  2. Loop quantum cosmology: Recent progress

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Aspects of the full theory of loop quantum gravity can be studied in a simpler .... group) 1-forms and vector fields and Λ is an SO(3)-matrix indicating the internal ... are p and c which are related to the more familiar scale factor by the relations.

  3. Getting in (and out of) the loop: regulating higher order telomere structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luke-Glaser, Sarah; Poschke, Heiko; Luke, Brian

    2012-01-01

    The DNA at the ends of linear chromosomes (the telomere) folds back onto itself and forms an intramolecular lariat-like structure. Although the telomere loop has been implicated in the protection of chromosome ends from nuclease-mediated resection and unscheduled DNA repair activities, it potentially poses an obstacle to the DNA replication machinery during S-phase. Therefore, the coordinated regulation of telomere loop formation, maintenance, and resolution is required in order to establish a balance between protecting the chromosome ends and promoting their duplication prior to cell division. Until recently, the only factor known to influence telomere looping in human cells was TRF2, a component of the shelterin complex. Recent work in yeast and mouse cells has uncovered additional regulatory factors that affect the loop structure at telomeres. In the following "perspective" we outline what is known about telomere looping and highlight the latest results regarding the regulation of this chromosome end structure. We speculate about how the manipulation of the telomere loop may have therapeutic implications in terms of diseases associated with telomere dysfunction and uncontrolled proliferation.

  4. A Looping-Based Model for Quenching Repression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaroslav Pollak

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We model the regulatory role of proteins bound to looped DNA using a simulation in which dsDNA is represented as a self-avoiding chain, and proteins as spherical protrusions. We simulate long self-avoiding chains using a sequential importance sampling Monte-Carlo algorithm, and compute the probabilities for chain looping with and without a protrusion. We find that a protrusion near one of the chain's termini reduces the probability of looping, even for chains much longer than the protrusion-chain-terminus distance. This effect increases with protrusion size, and decreases with protrusion-terminus distance. The reduced probability of looping can be explained via an eclipse-like model, which provides a novel inhibitory mechanism. We test the eclipse model on two possible transcription-factor occupancy states of the D. melanogaster eve 3/7 enhancer, and show that it provides a possible explanation for the experimentally-observed eve stripe 3 and 7 expression patterns.

  5. Two-loop hard-thermal-loop thermodynamics with quarks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, Jens O.; Petitgirard, Emmanuel; Strickland, Michael

    2004-01-01

    We calculate the quark contribution to the free energy of a hot quark-gluon plasma to two-loop order using hard-thermal-loop (HTL) perturbation theory. All ultraviolet divergences can be absorbed into renormalizations of the vacuum energy and the HTL quark and gluon mass parameters. The quark and gluon HTL mass parameters are determined self-consistently by a variational prescription. Combining the quark contribution with the two-loop HTL perturbation theory free energy for pure glue we obtain the total two-loop QCD free energy. Comparisons are made with lattice estimates of the free energy for N f =2 and with exact numerical results obtained in the large-N f limit

  6. Pluripotency gene expression and growth control in cultures of peripheral blood monocytes during their conversion into programmable cells of monocytic origin (PCMO: evidence for a regulatory role of autocrine activin and TGF-β.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hendrik Ungefroren

    Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that peripheral blood monocytes can be converted in vitro to a stem cell-like cell termed PCMO as evidenced by the re-expression of pluripotency-associated genes, transient proliferation, and the ability to adopt the phenotype of hepatocytes and insulin-producing cells upon tissue-specific differentiation. However, the regulatory interactions between cultured cells governing pluripotency and mitotic activity have remained elusive. Here we asked whether activin(s and TGF-β(s, are involved in PCMO generation. De novo proliferation of PCMO was higher under adherent vs. suspended culture conditions as revealed by the appearance of a subset of Ki67-positive monocytes and correlated with down-regulation of p21WAF1 beyond day 2 of culture. Realtime-PCR analysis showed that PCMO express ActRIIA, ALK4, TβRII, ALK5 as well as TGF-β1 and the βA subunit of activin. Interestingly, expression of ActRIIA and ALK4, and activin A levels in the culture supernatants increased until day 4 of culture, while levels of total and active TGF-β1 strongly declined. PCMO responded to both growth factors in an autocrine fashion with intracellular signaling as evidenced by a rise in the levels of phospho-Smad2 and a drop in those of phospho-Smad3. Stimulation of PCMO with recombinant activins (A, B, AB and TGF-β1 induced phosphorylation of Smad2 but not Smad3. Inhibition of autocrine activin signaling by either SB431542 or follistatin reduced both Smad2 activation and Oct4A/Nanog upregulation. Inhibition of autocrine TGF-β signaling by either SB431542 or anti-TGF-β antibody reduced Smad3 activation and strongly increased the number of Ki67-positive cells. Furthermore, anti-TGF-β antibody moderately enhanced Oct4A/Nanog expression. Our data show that during PCMO generation pluripotency marker expression is controlled positively by activin/Smad2 and negatively by TGF-β/Smad3 signaling, while relief from growth inhibition is primarily the

  7. Closed loop identification using a modified Hansen scheme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sekunda, André Krabdrup; Niemann, Hans Henrik; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    2015-01-01

    in closed loop [4], and one such method is the Hansen scheme [1]. Standard identification using Hansen scheme demands generating the identification signals indirectly. In this paper it is instead proposed to use the relationship between the Youla factorization of a plant and its stabilizing controller...... in order to keep the system stable. Furthermore because the dynamics of such a system depends on the rotational speed it is needed to conduct an identification while the system is part of a closed loop scheme. The authors believe the paper able to contribute towards a simpler and more direct way...... of identifying closed loop plants using Hansen scheme....

  8. Inhibition of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) expression decreases the survival and myogenic differentiation of human rhabdomyosarcoma cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croci, Stefania; Landuzzi, Lorena; Astolfi, Annalisa; Nicoletti, Giordano; Rosolen, Angelo; Sartori, Francesca; Follo, Matilde Y; Oliver, Noelynn; De Giovanni, Carla; Nanni, Patrizia; Lollini, Pier-Luigi

    2004-03-01

    Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2), a cysteine-rich protein of the CCN (Cyr61, CTGF, Nov) family of genes, emerged from a microarray screen of genes expressed by human rhabdomyosarcoma cells. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a soft tissue sarcoma of childhood deriving from skeletal muscle cells. In this study, we investigated the role of CTGF in rhabdomyosarcoma. Human rhabdomyosarcoma cells of the embryonal (RD/12, RD/18, CCA) and the alveolar histotype (RMZ-RC2, SJ-RH4, SJ-RH30), rhabdomyosarcoma tumor specimens, and normal skeletal muscle cells expressed CTGF. To determine the function of CTGF, we treated rhabdomyosarcoma cells with a CTGF antisense oligonucleotide or with a CTGF small interfering RNA (siRNA). Both treatments inhibited rhabdomyosarcoma cell growth, suggesting the existence of a new autocrine loop based on CTGF. CTGF antisense oligonucleotide-mediated growth inhibition was specifically due to a significant increase in apoptosis, whereas cell proliferation was unchanged. CTGF antisense oligonucleotide induced a strong decrease in the level of myogenic differentiation of rhabdomyosarcoma cells, whereas the addition of recombinant CTGF significantly increased the proportion of myosin-positive cells. CTGF emerges as a survival and differentiation factor and could be a new therapeutic target in human rhabdomyosarcoma.

  9. LoopIng: a template-based tool for predicting the structure of protein loops.

    KAUST Repository

    Messih, Mario Abdel; Lepore, Rosalba; Tramontano, Anna

    2015-01-01

    ) and significant enhancements for long loops (11-20 residues). The quality of the predictions is robust to errors that unavoidably affect the stem regions when these are modeled. The method returns a confidence score for the predicted template loops and has

  10. R-loops: targets for nuclease cleavage and repeat instability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freudenreich, Catherine H

    2018-01-11

    R-loops form when transcribed RNA remains bound to its DNA template to form a stable RNA:DNA hybrid. Stable R-loops form when the RNA is purine-rich, and are further stabilized by DNA secondary structures on the non-template strand. Interestingly, many expandable and disease-causing repeat sequences form stable R-loops, and R-loops can contribute to repeat instability. Repeat expansions are responsible for multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy, and several types of ataxias. Recently, it was found that R-loops at an expanded CAG/CTG repeat tract cause DNA breaks as well as repeat instability (Su and Freudenreich, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114, E8392-E8401, 2017). Two factors were identified as causing R-loop-dependent breaks at CAG/CTG tracts: deamination of cytosines and the MutLγ (Mlh1-Mlh3) endonuclease, defining two new mechanisms for how R-loops can generate DNA breaks (Su and Freudenreich, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114, E8392-E8401, 2017). Following R-loop-dependent nicking, base excision repair resulted in repeat instability. These results have implications for human repeat expansion diseases and provide a paradigm for how RNA:DNA hybrids can cause genome instability at structure-forming DNA sequences. This perspective summarizes mechanisms of R-loop-induced fragility at G-rich repeats and new links between DNA breaks and repeat instability.

  11. Logical inference techniques for loop parallelization

    KAUST Repository

    Oancea, Cosmin E.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents a fully automatic approach to loop parallelization that integrates the use of static and run-time analysis and thus overcomes many known difficulties such as nonlinear and indirect array indexing and complex control flow. Our hybrid analysis framework validates the parallelization transformation by verifying the independence of the loop\\'s memory references. To this end it represents array references using the USR (uniform set representation) language and expresses the independence condition as an equation, S = Ø, where S is a set expression representing array indexes. Using a language instead of an array-abstraction representation for S results in a smaller number of conservative approximations but exhibits a potentially-high runtime cost. To alleviate this cost we introduce a language translation F from the USR set-expression language to an equally rich language of predicates (F(S) ⇒ S = Ø). Loop parallelization is then validated using a novel logic inference algorithm that factorizes the obtained complex predicates (F(S)) into a sequence of sufficient-independence conditions that are evaluated first statically and, when needed, dynamically, in increasing order of their estimated complexities. We evaluate our automated solution on 26 benchmarks from PERFECTCLUB and SPEC suites and show that our approach is effective in parallelizing large, complex loops and obtains much better full program speedups than the Intel and IBM Fortran compilers. Copyright © 2012 ACM.

  12. Fibroblast growth factor-mediated proliferation of central nervous system precursors depends on endogenous production of insulin-like growth factor I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drago, J.; Murphy, M.; Carroll, S.M.; Harvey, R.P.; Bartlett, P.F.

    1991-01-01

    Fibroblast growth factor stimulates proliferation and subsequent differentiation of precursor cells isolated from the neuroepithelium of embryonic day 10 mice in vitro. Here we show that fibroblast growth factor-induced proliferation is dependent on the presence of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and that IGF-I is endogenously produced by the neuroepithelial cells. Blocking of endogenous IGF-I activity with anti-IGF-I antibodies results in complete inhibition of fibroblast growth factor-mediated proliferation and in cell death. IGF-I alone acts as a survival agent. These observations correlate with the detection of transcripts for IGF-I and basic fibroblast growth factor in freshly isolated neuroepithelium and are consistent with an autocrine action of these factors in early brain development in vivo

  13. Can we observe open loop transfer functions in a stochastic feedback system ?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kishida, Kuniharu; Suda, Nobuhide.

    1991-01-01

    There are two kinds of problems concerning open loop and closed loop transfer functions in a feedback system. One is a problem even in the deterministic case, and the other is in the stochastic case. In the deterministic case it is guaranteed under a necessary and sufficient condition that total sum of degrees of sub-transfer functions coincides to the degree of the total system. In the stochastic case a systematic understanding of a physical state model, a theoretical innovation model and a data-oriented innovation model is indispensable for determination of open loop transfer functions from time series data. Undesirable factors appear in determination of open loop transfer functions, since a transfer function matrix from input noises to output variables has a redundancy factor of diagonal matrix. (author)

  14. Research on Open-Closed-Loop Iterative Learning Control with Variable Forgetting Factor of Mobile Robots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongbin Wang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We propose an iterative learning control algorithm (ILC that is developed using a variable forgetting factor to control a mobile robot. The proposed algorithm can be categorized as an open-closed-loop iterative learning control, which produces control instructions by using both previous and current data. However, introducing a variable forgetting factor can weaken the former control output and its variance in the control law while strengthening the robustness of the iterative learning control. If it is applied to the mobile robot, this will reduce position errors in robot trajectory tracking control effectively. In this work, we show that the proposed algorithm guarantees tracking error bound convergence to a small neighborhood of the origin under the condition of state disturbances, output measurement noises, and fluctuation of system dynamics. By using simulation, we demonstrate that the controller is effective in realizing the prefect tracking.

  15. Eco-efficiency and control loop configuration for recycle systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Munir, Muhammad Tajammal; Yu, Wei; Young, Brent P. [The University of Auckland, Auckland (New Zealand)

    2013-05-15

    To integrate measurements of eco-efficiency with control loop configuration has become an important topic since all industrial processes/plants are requested to increase their eco-efficiency. The exergy eco-efficiency factor, a new measure of eco-efficiency for control loop configuration, has been developed recently. The exergy eco-efficiency factor is based on the thermodynamic concept of exergy, which can be used to analyze a process in terms of its efficiency. The combination of the relative gain array (RGA), NI, CN, dynamic RGA, and the exergy eco-efficiency factor will help guide the process designer to find the optimal control design with low operating cost/eco-efficiency. In this paper, we validate the proposed exergy eco-efficiency factor for processes with recycles which are very common industrially.

  16. Eco-efficiency and control loop configuration for recycle systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Munir, Muhammad Tajammal; Yu, Wei; Young, Brent P.

    2013-01-01

    To integrate measurements of eco-efficiency with control loop configuration has become an important topic since all industrial processes/plants are requested to increase their eco-efficiency. The exergy eco-efficiency factor, a new measure of eco-efficiency for control loop configuration, has been developed recently. The exergy eco-efficiency factor is based on the thermodynamic concept of exergy, which can be used to analyze a process in terms of its efficiency. The combination of the relative gain array (RGA), NI, CN, dynamic RGA, and the exergy eco-efficiency factor will help guide the process designer to find the optimal control design with low operating cost/eco-efficiency. In this paper, we validate the proposed exergy eco-efficiency factor for processes with recycles which are very common industrially

  17. Function of the activated protein C (APC) autolysis loop in activated FVIII inactivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, Thomas J; Gale, Andrew J

    2011-06-01

    Activated protein C (APC) binds to its substrates activated factor V (FVa) and activated factor VIII (FVIIIa) with a basic exosite that consists of loops 37, 60, 70 and the autolysis loop. These loops have a high density of basic residues, resulting in a positive charge on the surface of APC. Many of these residues are important in the interaction of APC with FVa and FVIIIa. The current study focused on the function of the autolysis loop in the interaction with FVIIIa. This loop was previously shown to interact with FVa, and it inhibits APC inactivation by plasma serpins. Charged residues of the autolysis loop were individually mutated to alanine and the activity of these mutants was assessed in functional FVIIIa inactivation assays. The autolysis loop was functionally important for FVIIIa inactivation. Mutation of R306, K311 and R314 each resulted in significantly reduced FVIIIa inactivation. The inactivating cleavages of FVIIIa at R336 and R562 were affected equally by the mutations. Protein S and FV stimulated cleavage at R562 more than cleavage at R336, independent of mutations in the autolysis loop. Together, these results confirmed that the autolysis loop plays a significant role as part of the basic exosite on APC in the interaction with FVIIIa. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  18. Luminal and basal-like breast cancer cells show increased migration induced by hypoxia, mediated by an autocrine mechanism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voss, Melanie J; Möller, Mischa F; Powe, Desmond G; Niggemann, Bernd; Zänker, Kurt S; Entschladen, Frank

    2011-01-01

    Some breast cancer patients receiving anti-angiogenic treatment show increased metastases, possibly as a result of induced hypoxia. The effect of hypoxia on tumor cell migration was assessed in selected luminal, post-EMT and basal-like breast carcinoma cell lines. Migration was assessed in luminal (MCF-7), post-EMT (MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435S), and basal-like (MDA-MB-468) human breast carcinoma cell lines under normal and oxygen-deprived conditions, using a collagen-based assay. Cell proliferation was determined, secreted cytokine and chemokine levels were measured using flow-cytometry and a bead-based immunoassay, and the hypoxic genes HIF-1α and CA IX were assessed using PCR. The functional effect of tumor-cell conditioned medium on the migration of neutrophil granulocytes (NG) was tested. Hypoxia caused increased migratory activity but not proliferation in all tumor cell lines, involving the release and autocrine action of soluble mediators. Conditioned medium (CM) from hypoxic cells induced migration in normoxic cells. Hypoxia changed the profile of released inflammatory mediators according to cell type. Interleukin-8 was produced only by post-EMT and basal-like cell lines, regardless of hypoxia. MCP-1 was produced by MDA-MB-435 and -468 cells, whereas IL-6 was present only in MDA-MB-231. IL-2, TNF-α, and NGF production was stimulated by hypoxia in MCF-7 cells. CM from normoxic and hypoxic MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435S cells and hypoxic MCF-7 cells, but not MDA-MB-468, induced NG migration. Hypoxia increases migration by the autocrine action of released signal substances in selected luminal and basal-like breast carcinoma cell lines which might explain why anti-angiogenic treatment can worsen clinical outcome in some patients

  19. Neocortical electrical stimulation for epilepsy : Closed-loop versus open-loop

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vassileva, Albena; van Blooijs, Dorien; Leijten, Frans; Huiskamp, Geertjan

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this review is to evaluate whether open-loop or closed-loop neocortical electrical stimulation should be the preferred approach to manage seizures in intractable epilepsy. Twenty cases of open-loop neocortical stimulation with an implanted device have been reported, in 5 case studies.

  20. Getting in (and out of the loop: regulating higher order telomere structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah eLuke-Glaser

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The DNA at the ends of linear chromosomes (the telomere folds back onto itself and forms an intramolecular lariat-like structure. Although the telomere loop has been implicated in the protection of chromosome ends from nuclease-mediated resection and unscheduled DNA repair activities, it potentially poses an obstacle to the DNA replication machinery during S phase. Therefore, the coordinated regulation of telomere loop formation, maintenance and resolution is required in order to establish a balance between protecting the chromosome ends and promoting their duplication prior to cell division. Until recently, the only factor know to influence telomere looping in human cells was TRF2, a component of the shelterin complex. Recent work in yeast and mouse cells has uncovered additional regulatory factors that affect the loop structure at telomeres. In the following perspective we will outline what is known about telomere looping and highlight the latest results regarding the regulation of this chromosome end structure. We will speculate about how the manipulation of the telomere loop may have therapeutic implications in terms of diseases associated with telomere dysfunction and uncontrolled proliferation.

  1. PONDEROMOTIVE ACCELERATION IN CORONAL LOOPS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dahlburg, R. B.; Obenschain, K.; Laming, J. M.; Taylor, B. D.

    2016-01-01

    Ponderomotive acceleration has been asserted to be a cause of the first ionization potential (FIP) effect, the well-known enhancement in abundance by a factor of 3–4 over photospheric values of elements in the solar corona with FIP less than about 10 eV. It is shown here by means of numerical simulations that ponderomotive acceleration occurs in solar coronal loops, with the appropriate magnitude and direction, as a “by-product” of coronal heating. The numerical simulations are performed with the HYPERION code, which solves the fully compressible three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equations including nonlinear thermal conduction and optically thin radiation. Numerical simulations of coronal loops with an axial magnetic field from 0.005 to 0.02 T and lengths from 25,000 to 75,000 km are presented. In the simulations the footpoints of the axial loop magnetic field are convected by random, large-scale motions. There is a continuous formation and dissipation of field-aligned current sheets, which act to heat the loop. As a consequence of coronal magnetic reconnection, small-scale, high-speed jets form. The familiar vortex quadrupoles form at reconnection sites. Between the magnetic footpoints and the corona the reconnection flow merges with the boundary flow. It is in this region that the ponderomotive acceleration occurs. Mirroring the character of the coronal reconnection, the ponderomotive acceleration is also found to be intermittent.

  2. PONDEROMOTIVE ACCELERATION IN CORONAL LOOPS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dahlburg, R. B.; Obenschain, K. [LCP and FD, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Laming, J. M. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Taylor, B. D. [AFRL Eglin AFB, Pensacola, FL 32542 (United States)

    2016-11-10

    Ponderomotive acceleration has been asserted to be a cause of the first ionization potential (FIP) effect, the well-known enhancement in abundance by a factor of 3–4 over photospheric values of elements in the solar corona with FIP less than about 10 eV. It is shown here by means of numerical simulations that ponderomotive acceleration occurs in solar coronal loops, with the appropriate magnitude and direction, as a “by-product” of coronal heating. The numerical simulations are performed with the HYPERION code, which solves the fully compressible three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equations including nonlinear thermal conduction and optically thin radiation. Numerical simulations of coronal loops with an axial magnetic field from 0.005 to 0.02 T and lengths from 25,000 to 75,000 km are presented. In the simulations the footpoints of the axial loop magnetic field are convected by random, large-scale motions. There is a continuous formation and dissipation of field-aligned current sheets, which act to heat the loop. As a consequence of coronal magnetic reconnection, small-scale, high-speed jets form. The familiar vortex quadrupoles form at reconnection sites. Between the magnetic footpoints and the corona the reconnection flow merges with the boundary flow. It is in this region that the ponderomotive acceleration occurs. Mirroring the character of the coronal reconnection, the ponderomotive acceleration is also found to be intermittent.

  3. Ionizing radiation activates vascular endothelial growth factor-A transcription in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Hyounji; Kim, Kwang Seok; Jeong, Jae Hoon; Lim, Young Bin [Radiation Cancer Biology Team, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-12-15

    Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an essential paracrine factor for developmental and pathological angiogenesis. VEGF also exerts its effects in an autocrine manner in VEGF-producing cells. For instance, autocrine VEGF signaling occurs in tumor cells and contributes to key aspects of tumorigenesis, such as in the function of cancer stem cells and tumor initiation, which are independent of angiogenesis. In addition to tumors cells, non-transformed cells also express VEGF. For example, a VEGF dependent intracellular autocrine mechanism is crucial for the survival of hematopoietic stem cells and hematopoiesis. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is a novel treatment modality for early primary cancer and oligometastatic disease. SBRT delivers high-dose hypofractionated radiation, such as 20-60 Gy, to tumors in a single fraction or 2-5 fractions. As VEGF is a critical regulator of functional integrity and viability of vascular endothelial cells, we examined whether high-dose irradiation alters VEGF signaling by measuring the expression levels of VEGFA transcript. It is generally believed that endothelial cells do not produce VEGF in response to radiation. In present study, however, we provide the first demonstration of transcriptional regulation of VEGFA in human vascular endothelial cells by IR treatment. Irradiation with doses higher than 10 Gy in a single exposure triggers up-regulation of VEGFA transcription within 2 hours in HUVECs, whereas irradiation with 10 Gy does not alter VEGFA levels. Our data have shown that high-dose irradiation triggers immediate transactivation of VEGFA in human vascular endothelial cells.

  4. Amino-acid composition after loop deletion drives domain swapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nandwani, Neha; Surana, Parag; Udgaonkar, Jayant B; Das, Ranabir; Gosavi, Shachi

    2017-10-01

    Rational engineering of a protein to enable domain swapping requires an understanding of the sequence, structural and energetic factors that favor the domain-swapped oligomer over the monomer. While it is known that the deletion of loops between β-strands can promote domain swapping, the spliced sequence at the position of the loop deletion is thought to have a minimal role to play in such domain swapping. Here, two loop-deletion mutants of the non-domain-swapping protein monellin, frame-shifted by a single residue, were designed. Although the spliced sequence in the two mutants differed by only one residue at the site of the deletion, only one of them (YEIKG) promoted domain swapping. The mutant containing the spliced sequence YENKG was entirely monomeric. This new understanding that the domain swapping propensity after loop deletion may depend critically on the chemical composition of the shortened loop will facilitate the rational design of domain swapping. © 2017 The Protein Society.

  5. Reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Govindan, Kannan; Soleimani, Hamed; Kannan, Devika

    2015-01-01

    Based on environmental, legal, social, and economic factors, reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain issues have attracted attention among both academia and practitioners. This attention is evident by the vast number of publications in scientific journals which have been published in recent...... years. Hence, a comprehensive literature review of recent and state-of-the-art papers is vital to draw a framework of the past, and to shed light on future directions. The aim of this paper is to review recently published papers in reverse logistic and closed-loop supply chain in scientific journals...

  6. Loop residues and catalysis in OMP synthase

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Gary P.; Hansen, Michael Riis; Grubmeyer, Charles

    2012-01-01

    binding of OMP or PRPP in binary complexes was affected little by loop mutation, suggesting that the energetics of ground-state binding have little contribution from the catalytic loop, or that a favorable binding energy is offset by costs of loop reorganization. Pre-steady-state kinetics for mutants...... values for all four substrate molecules. The 20% (i.e., 1.20) intrinsic [1?-3H]OMP kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for WT is masked because of high forward and reverse commitment factors. K103A failed to express intrinsic KIEs fully (1.095 ± 0.013). In contrast, H105A, which has a smaller catalytic lesion...... (preceding paper in this issue, DOI 10.1021/bi300083p)]. The full expression of KIEs by H105A and E107A may result from a less secure closure of the catalytic loop. The lower level of expression of the KIE by K103A suggests that in these mutant proteins the major barrier to catalysis is successful closure...

  7. A multiple-pass ring oscillator based dual-loop phase-locked loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Danfeng; Ren Junyan; Deng Jingjing; Li Wei; Li Ning

    2009-01-01

    A dual-loop phase-locked loop (PLL) for wideband operation is proposed. The dual-loop architecture combines a coarse-tuning loop with a fine-tuning one, enabling a wide tuning range and low voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) gain without poisoning phase noise and reference spur suppression performance. An analysis of the phase noise and reference spur of the dual-loop PLL is emphasized. A novel multiple-pass ring VCO is designed for the dual-loop application. It utilizes both voltage-control and current-control simultaneously in the delay cell. The PLL is fabricated in Jazz 0.18-μm RF CMOS technology. The measured tuning range is from 4.2 to 5.9 GHz. It achieves a low phase noise of -99 dBc/Hz - 1 MHz offset from a 5.5 GHz carrier.

  8. A multiple-pass ring oscillator based dual-loop phase-locked loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen Danfeng; Ren Junyan; Deng Jingjing; Li Wei; Li Ning, E-mail: dfchen@fudan.edu.c [State Key Laboratory of ASIC and System, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203 (China)

    2009-10-15

    A dual-loop phase-locked loop (PLL) for wideband operation is proposed. The dual-loop architecture combines a coarse-tuning loop with a fine-tuning one, enabling a wide tuning range and low voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) gain without poisoning phase noise and reference spur suppression performance. An analysis of the phase noise and reference spur of the dual-loop PLL is emphasized. A novel multiple-pass ring VCO is designed for the dual-loop application. It utilizes both voltage-control and current-control simultaneously in the delay cell. The PLL is fabricated in Jazz 0.18-{mu}m RF CMOS technology. The measured tuning range is from 4.2 to 5.9 GHz. It achieves a low phase noise of -99 dBc/Hz - 1 MHz offset from a 5.5 GHz carrier.

  9. Sequence-structure relationships in RNA loops: establishing the basis for loop homology modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schudoma, Christian; May, Patrick; Nikiforova, Viktoria; Walther, Dirk

    2010-01-01

    The specific function of RNA molecules frequently resides in their seemingly unstructured loop regions. We performed a systematic analysis of RNA loops extracted from experimentally determined three-dimensional structures of RNA molecules. A comprehensive loop-structure data set was created and organized into distinct clusters based on structural and sequence similarity. We detected clear evidence of the hallmark of homology present in the sequence-structure relationships in loops. Loops differing by structures. Thus, our results support the application of homology modeling for RNA loop model building. We established a threshold that may guide the sequence divergence-based selection of template structures for RNA loop homology modeling. Of all possible sequences that are, under the assumption of isosteric relationships, theoretically compatible with actual sequences observed in RNA structures, only a small fraction is contained in the Rfam database of RNA sequences and classes implying that the actual RNA loop space may consist of a limited number of unique loop structures and conserved sequences. The loop-structure data sets are made available via an online database, RLooM. RLooM also offers functionalities for the modeling of RNA loop structures in support of RNA engineering and design efforts.

  10. Autosomal mutations affecting Y chromosome loops in Drosophila melanogaster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petrucci Romano

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster harbors several genes required for male fertility. The genes for these fertility factors are very large in size and contain conspicuous amounts of repetitive DNA and transposons. Three of these loci (ks-1, kl-3 and kl-5 have the ability to develop giant lampbrush-like loops in primary spermatocytes, a cytological manifestation of their active state in these cells. Y-loops bind a number of non-Y encoded proteins, but the mechanisms regulating their development and their specific functions are still to be elucidated. Results Here we report the results of a screen of 726 male sterile lines to identify novel autosomal genes controlling Y-loop function. We analyzed mutant testis preparations both in vivo and by immunofluorescence using antibodies directed against Y-loop-associated proteins. This screen enabled us to isolate 17 mutations at 15 loci whose wild-type function is required for proper Y-loop morphogenesis. Six of these loci are likely to specifically control loop development, while the others display pleiotropic effects on both loops and meiotic processes such as spermiogenesis, sperm development and maturation. We also determined the map position of the mutations affecting exclusively Y-loop morphology. Conclusion Our cytological screening permitted us to identify novel genetic functions required for male spermatogenesis, some of which show pleiotropic effects. Analysis of these mutations also shows that loop development can be uncoupled from meiosis progression. These data represent a useful framework for the characterization of Y-loop development at a molecular level and for the study of the genetic control of heterochromatin.

  11. Two-Stage Design Method for Enhanced Inductive Energy Transmission with Q-Constrained Planar Square Loops.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akaa Agbaeze Eteng

    Full Text Available Q-factor constraints are usually imposed on conductor loops employed as proximity range High Frequency Radio Frequency Identification (HF-RFID reader antennas to ensure adequate data bandwidth. However, pairing such low Q-factor loops in inductive energy transmission links restricts the link transmission performance. The contribution of this paper is to assess the improvement that is reached with a two-stage design method, concerning the transmission performance of a planar square loop relative to an initial design, without compromise to a Q-factor constraint. The first stage of the synthesis flow is analytical in approach, and determines the number and spacing of turns by which coupling between similar paired square loops can be enhanced with low deviation from the Q-factor limit presented by an initial design. The second stage applies full-wave electromagnetic simulations to determine more appropriate turn spacing and widths to match the Q-factor constraint, and achieve improved coupling relative to the initial design. Evaluating the design method in a test scenario yielded a more than 5% increase in link transmission efficiency, as well as an improvement in the link fractional bandwidth by more than 3%, without violating the loop Q-factor limit. These transmission performance enhancements are indicative of a potential for modifying proximity HF-RFID reader antennas for efficient inductive energy transfer and data telemetry links.

  12. LOOP CALCULUS AND BELIEF PROPAGATION FOR Q-ARY ALPHABET: LOOP TOWER

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    CHERTKOV, MICHAEL [Los Alamos National Laboratory; CHERNYAK, VLADIMIR [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2007-01-10

    Loop calculus introduced in [1], [2] constitutes a new theoretical tool that explicitly expresses symbol Maximum-A-Posteriori (MAP) solution of a general statistical inference problem via a solution of the Belief Propagation (BP) equations. This finding brought a new significance to the BP concept, which in the past was thought of as just a loop-free approximation. In this paper they continue a discussion of the Loop Calculus, partitioning the results into three Sections. In Section 1 they introduce a new formulation of the Loop Calculus in terms of a set of transformations (gauges) that keeping the partition function of the problem invariant. The full expression contains two terms referred to as the 'ground state' and 'excited states' contributions. The BP equations are interpreted as a special (BP) gauge fixing condition that emerges as a special orthogonality constraint between the ground state and excited states, which also selects loop contributions as the only surviving ones among the excited states. In Section 2 they demonstrate how the invariant interpretation of the Loop Calculus, introduced in Section 1, allows a natural extension to the case of a general q-ary alphabet, this is achieved via a loop tower sequential construction. The ground level in the tower is exactly equivalent to assigning one color (out of q available) to the 'ground state' and considering all 'excited' states colored in the remaining (q-1) colors, according to the loop calculus rule. Sequentially, the second level in the tower corresponds to selecting a loop from the previous step, colored in (q-1) colors, and repeating the same ground vs excited states splitting procedure into one and (q-2) colors respectively. The construction proceeds till the full (q-1)-levels deep loop tower (and the corresponding contributions to the partition function) are established. In Section 3 they discuss an ultimate relation between the loop calculus and the Bethe

  13. Human trophoblast survival at low oxygen concentrations requires metalloproteinase-mediated shedding of heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armant, D Randall; Kilburn, Brian A; Petkova, Anelia; Edwin, Samuel S; Duniec-Dmuchowski, Zophia M; Edwards, Holly J; Romero, Roberto; Leach, Richard E

    2006-02-01

    Heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HBEGF), which is expressed in the placenta during normal pregnancy, is down regulated in pre-eclampsia, a human pregnancy disorder associated with poor trophoblast differentiation and survival. This growth factor protects against apoptosis during stress, suggesting a role in trophoblast survival in the relatively low O(2) ( approximately 2%) environment of the first trimester conceptus. Using a well-characterized human first trimester cytotrophoblast cell line, we found that a 4-hour exposure to 2% O(2) upregulates HBEGF synthesis and secretion independently of an increase in its mRNA. Five other expressed members of the EGF family are largely unaffected. At 2% O(2), signaling via HER1 or HER4, known HBEGF receptors, is required for both HBEGF upregulation and protection against apoptosis. This positive-feedback loop is dependent on metalloproteinase-mediated cleavage and shedding of the HBEGF ectodomain. The restoration of trophoblast survival by the addition of soluble HBEGF in cultures exposed to low O(2) and metalloproteinase inhibitor suggests that the effects of HBEGF are mediated by autocrine/paracrine, rather than juxtacrine, signaling. Our results provide evidence that a post-transcriptional mechanism induced in trophoblasts by low O(2) rapidly amplifies HBEGF signaling to inhibit apoptosis. These findings have a high clinical significance, as the downregulation of HBEGF in pre-eclampsia is likely to be a contributing factor leading to the demise of trophoblasts.

  14. The functional significance of the autolysis loop in protein C and activated protein C.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Likui; Manithody, Chandrashekhara; Rezaie, Alireza R

    2005-07-01

    The autolysis loop of activated protein C (APC) is five residues longer than the autolysis loop of other vitamin K-dependent coagulation proteases. To investigate the role of this loop in the zymogenic and anticoagulant properties of the molecule, a protein C mutant was constructed in which the autolysis loop of the protein was replaced with the corresponding loop of factor X. The protein C mutant was activated by thrombin with approximately 5-fold higher rate in the presence of Ca2+. Both kinetics and direct binding studies revealed that the Ca2+ affinity of the mutant has been impaired approximately 3-fold. The result of a factor Va degradation assay revealed that the anticoagulant function of the mutant has been improved 4-5-fold in the absence but not in the presence of protein S. The improvement was due to a better recognition of both the P1-Arg506 and P1-Arg306 cleavage sites by the mutant protease. However, the plasma half-life of the mutant was markedly shortened due to faster inactivation by plasma serpins. These results suggest that the autolysis loop of protein C is critical for the Ca(2+)-dependence of activation by thrombin. Moreover, a longer autolysis loop in APC is not optimal for interaction with factor Va in the absence of protein S, but it contributes to the lack of serpin reactivity and longer half-life of the protease in plasma.

  15. RNA polymerase gate loop guides the nontemplate DNA strand in transcription complexes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    NandyMazumdar, Monali; Nedialkov, Yuri; Svetlov, Dmitri; Sevostyanova, Anastasia; Belogurov, Georgiy A; Artsimovitch, Irina

    2016-12-27

    Upon RNA polymerase (RNAP) binding to a promoter, the σ factor initiates DNA strand separation and captures the melted nontemplate DNA, whereas the core enzyme establishes interactions with the duplex DNA in front of the active site that stabilize initiation complexes and persist throughout elongation. Among many core RNAP elements that participate in these interactions, the β' clamp domain plays the most prominent role. In this work, we investigate the role of the β gate loop, a conserved and essential structural element that lies across the DNA channel from the clamp, in transcription regulation. The gate loop was proposed to control DNA loading during initiation and to interact with NusG-like proteins to lock RNAP in a closed, processive state during elongation. We show that the removal of the gate loop has large effects on promoter complexes, trapping an unstable intermediate in which the RNAP contacts with the nontemplate strand discriminator region and the downstream duplex DNA are not yet fully established. We find that although RNAP lacking the gate loop displays moderate defects in pausing, transcript cleavage, and termination, it is fully responsive to the transcription elongation factor NusG. Together with the structural data, our results support a model in which the gate loop, acting in concert with initiation or elongation factors, guides the nontemplate DNA in transcription complexes, thereby modulating their regulatory properties.

  16. Introduction to Loop Heat Pipes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ku, Jentung

    2015-01-01

    This is the presentation file for the short course Introduction to Loop Heat Pipes, to be conducted at the 2015 Thermal Fluids and Analysis Workshop, August 3-7, 2015, Silver Spring, Maryland. This course will discuss operating principles and performance characteristics of a loop heat pipe. Topics include: 1) pressure profiles in the loop; 2) loop operating temperature; 3) operating temperature control; 4) loop startup; 4) loop shutdown; 5) loop transient behaviors; 6) sizing of loop components and determination of fluid inventory; 7) analytical modeling; 8) examples of flight applications; and 9) recent LHP developments.

  17. Reactor loops at Chalk River

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sochaski, R.O.

    1962-07-01

    This report describes broadly the nine in-reactor loops, and their components, located in and around the NRX and NRU reactors at Chalk River. First an introduction and general description is given of the loops and their function, supplemented with a table outlining some loop specifications and nine simplified flow sheets, one for each individual loop. The report then proceeds to classify each loop into two categories, the 'main loop circuit' and the 'auxiliary circuit', and descriptions are given of each circuit's components in turn. These components, in part, are comprised of the main loop pumps, the test section, loop heaters, loop coolers, delayed-neutron monitors, surge tank, Dowtherm coolers, loop piping. Here again photographs, drawings and tables are included to provide a clearer understanding of the descriptive literature and to include, in tables, some specifications of the more important components in each loop. (author)

  18. Analytical description of brittle-to-ductile transition in bcc metals. Nucleation of dislocation loop at the crack tip

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voskoboinikov, R.E.

    2002-03-01

    Nucleation of dislocation loop at the crack tip in a material subjected to uniaxial loading is investigated. Analytical expression for the total energy of rectangular dislocation loop at the crack tip is found. Dependence of the nucleation energy barrier on dislocation loop shape and stress intensity factor at the crack tip is determined. It is established that the energetic barrier for nucleation of dislocation loop strongly depends on the stress intensity factor. Nucleation of dislocation loop is very sensitive to stress field modifiers (forest dislocations, precipitates, clusters of point defects, etc) in the crack tip vicinity. (orig.)

  19. Stimulated human mast cells secrete mitochondrial components that have autocrine and paracrine inflammatory actions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bodi Zhang

    Full Text Available Mast cells are hematopoietically-derived tissue immune cells that participate in acquired and innate immunity, as well as in inflammation through release of many chemokines and cytokines, especially in response to the pro-inflammatory peptide substance P (SP. Inflammation is critical in the pathogenesis of many diseases, but the trigger(s is often unknown. We investigated if mast cell stimulation leads to secretion of mitochondrial components and whether these could elicit autocrine and/or paracrine inflammatory effects. Here we show that human LAD2 mast cells stimulated by IgE/anti-IgE or by the SP led to secretion of mitochondrial particles, mitochondrial (mt mtDNA and ATP without cell death. Mitochondria purified from LAD2 cells and, when mitochondria added to mast cells trigger degranulation and release of histamine, PGD(2, IL-8, TNF, and IL-1β. This stimulatory effect is partially inhibited by an ATP receptor antagonist and by DNAse. These results suggest that the mitochondrial protein fraction may also contribute. Purified mitochondria also stimulate IL-8 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF release from cultured human keratinocytes, and VEGF release from primary human microvascular endothelial cells. In order to investigate if mitochondrial components could be secreted in vivo, we injected rats intraperiotoneally (ip with compound 48/80, which mimicks the action of SP. Peritoneal mast cells degranulated and mitochondrial particles were documented by transimission electron microscopy outside the cells. We also wished to investigate if mitochondrial components secreted locally could reach the systemic circulation. Administration ip of mtDNA isolated from LAD2 cells in rats was detected in their serum within 4 hr, indicating that extravascular mtDNA could enter the systemic circulation. Secretion of mitochondrial components from stimulated live mast cells may act as "autopathogens" contributing to the pathogenesis of inflammatory

  20. Provider risk factors for medication administration error alerts: analyses of a large-scale closed-loop medication administration system using RFID and barcode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Yeonsoo; Yoon, Dukyong; Ahn, Eun Kyoung; Hwang, Hee; Park, Rae Woong

    2016-12-01

    To determine the risk factors and rate of medication administration error (MAE) alerts by analyzing large-scale medication administration data and related error logs automatically recorded in a closed-loop medication administration system using radio-frequency identification and barcodes. The subject hospital adopted a closed-loop medication administration system. All medication administrations in the general wards were automatically recorded in real-time using radio-frequency identification, barcodes, and hand-held point-of-care devices. MAE alert logs recorded during a full 1 year of 2012. We evaluated risk factors for MAE alerts including administration time, order type, medication route, the number of medication doses administered, and factors associated with nurse practices by logistic regression analysis. A total of 2 874 539 medication dose records from 30 232 patients (882.6 patient-years) were included in 2012. We identified 35 082 MAE alerts (1.22% of total medication doses). The MAE alerts were significantly related to administration at non-standard time [odds ratio (OR) 1.559, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.515-1.604], emergency order (OR 1.527, 95%CI 1.464-1.594), and the number of medication doses administered (OR 0.993, 95%CI 0.992-0.993). Medication route, nurse's employment duration, and working schedule were also significantly related. The MAE alert rate was 1.22% over the 1-year observation period in the hospital examined in this study. The MAE alerts were significantly related to administration time, order type, medication route, the number of medication doses administered, nurse's employment duration, and working schedule. The real-time closed-loop medication administration system contributed to improving patient safety by preventing potential MAEs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  1. Distribution of sizes of erased loops for loop-erased random walks

    OpenAIRE

    Dhar, Deepak; Dhar, Abhishek

    1997-01-01

    We study the distribution of sizes of erased loops for loop-erased random walks on regular and fractal lattices. We show that for arbitrary graphs the probability $P(l)$ of generating a loop of perimeter $l$ is expressible in terms of the probability $P_{st}(l)$ of forming a loop of perimeter $l$ when a bond is added to a random spanning tree on the same graph by the simple relation $P(l)=P_{st}(l)/l$. On $d$-dimensional hypercubical lattices, $P(l)$ varies as $l^{-\\sigma}$ for large $l$, whe...

  2. IL-1β Suppresses the Formation of Osteoclasts by Increasing OPG Production via an Autocrine Mechanism Involving Celecoxib-Related Prostaglandins in Chondrocytes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuke Watanabe

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Elevated interleukin (IL-1 concentrations in synovial fluid have been implicated in joint bone and cartilage destruction. Previously, we showed that IL-1β stimulated the expression of prostaglandin (PG receptor EP4 via increased PGE2 production. However, the effect of IL-1β on osteoclast formation via chondrocytes is unclear. Therefore, we examined the effect of IL-1β and/or celecoxib on the expression of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF, receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL, and osteoprotegerin (OPG in human chondrocytes, and the indirect effect of IL-1β on osteoclast-like cell formation using RAW264.7 cells. OPG and RANKL expression increased with IL-1β; whereas M-CSF expression decreased. Celecoxib blocked the stimulatory effect of IL-1β. Conditioned medium from IL-1β-treated chondrocytes decreased TRAP staining in RAW264.7 cells. These results suggest that IL-1β suppresses the formation of osteoclast-like cells via increased OPG production and decreased M-CSF production in chondrocytes, and OPG production may increase through an autocrine mechanism involving celecoxib-related PGs.

  3. Gluon quasidistribution function at one loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Wei; Zhao, Shuai [Shanghai Jiao Tong University, INPAC, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai (China); Zhu, Ruilin [Shanghai Jiao Tong University, INPAC, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai (China); Nanjing Normal University, Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical Physics, Nanjing, Jiangsu (China)

    2018-02-15

    We study the unpolarized gluon quasidistribution function in the nucleon at one loop level in the large momentum effective theory. For the quark quasidistribution, power law ultraviolet divergences arise in the cut-off scheme and an important observation is that they all are subjected to Wilson lines. However for the gluon quasidistribution function, we first point out that the linear ultraviolet divergences also exist in the real diagram which is not connected to any Wilson line. We then study the one loop corrections to parton distribution functions in both cut-off scheme and dimensional regularization to deal with the ultraviolet divergences. In addition to the ordinary quark and gluon distributions, we also include the quark to gluon and gluon to quark splitting diagrams. The complete one-loop matching factors between the quasi and light cone parton distribution functions are presented in the cut-off scheme. We derive the P{sup z} evolution equation for quasi parton distribution functions, and find that the P{sup z} evolution kernels are identical to the DGLAP evolution kernels. (orig.)

  4. On the one loop γ(∗)→qq̄ impact factor and the exclusive diffractive cross sections for the production of two or three jets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boussarie, R.; Grabovsky, A.V.; Szymanowski, L.; Wallon, S.

    2016-01-01

    We present the calculation of the impact factor for the γ (∗) →qq̄ transition with one loop accuracy in arbitrary kinematics. The calculation was done within Balitsky’s high energy operator expansion. Together with our previous result for the γ (∗) →qq̄g Born impact factor it allows one to derive cross sections for 2- (one loop) and 3-jet (Born) difractive electroproduction. We write such cross sections for the 2 and 3 jet exclusive diffractive electroproduction off a proton in terms of hadronic matrix elements of Wilson lines. For the 2-jet cross section we demonstrate the cancellation of infrared, collinear and rapidity singularities. Our result can be directly exploited to describe the recently analyzed data on exclusive dijet production at HERA and used for the study of jet photoproduction in ultraperipheral proton or nuclear scattering.

  5. Regulation of TCF ETS-domain transcription factors by helix-loop-helix motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stinson, Julie; Inoue, Toshiaki; Yates, Paula; Clancy, Anne; Norton, John D; Sharrocks, Andrew D

    2003-08-15

    DNA binding by the ternary complex factor (TCF) subfamily of ETS-domain transcription factors is tightly regulated by intramolecular and intermolecular interactions. The helix-loop-helix (HLH)-containing Id proteins are trans-acting negative regulators of DNA binding by the TCFs. In the TCF, SAP-2/Net/ERP, intramolecular inhibition of DNA binding is promoted by the cis-acting NID region that also contains an HLH-like motif. The NID also acts as a transcriptional repression domain. Here, we have studied the role of HLH motifs in regulating DNA binding and transcription by the TCF protein SAP-1 and how Cdk-mediated phosphorylation affects the inhibitory activity of the Id proteins towards the TCFs. We demonstrate that the NID region of SAP-1 is an autoinhibitory motif that acts to inhibit DNA binding and also functions as a transcription repression domain. This region can be functionally replaced by fusion of Id proteins to SAP-1, whereby the Id moiety then acts to repress DNA binding in cis. Phosphorylation of the Ids by cyclin-Cdk complexes results in reduction in protein-protein interactions between the Ids and TCFs and relief of their DNA-binding inhibitory activity. In revealing distinct mechanisms through which HLH motifs modulate the activity of TCFs, our results therefore provide further insight into the role of HLH motifs in regulating TCF function and how the inhibitory properties of the trans-acting Id HLH proteins are themselves regulated by phosphorylation.

  6. Logical inference techniques for loop parallelization

    KAUST Repository

    Oancea, Cosmin E.; Rauchwerger, Lawrence

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents a fully automatic approach to loop parallelization that integrates the use of static and run-time analysis and thus overcomes many known difficulties such as nonlinear and indirect array indexing and complex control flow. Our hybrid analysis framework validates the parallelization transformation by verifying the independence of the loop's memory references. To this end it represents array references using the USR (uniform set representation) language and expresses the independence condition as an equation, S = Ø, where S is a set expression representing array indexes. Using a language instead of an array-abstraction representation for S results in a smaller number of conservative approximations but exhibits a potentially-high runtime cost. To alleviate this cost we introduce a language translation F from the USR set-expression language to an equally rich language of predicates (F(S) ⇒ S = Ø). Loop parallelization is then validated using a novel logic inference algorithm that factorizes the obtained complex predicates (F(S)) into a sequence of sufficient-independence conditions that are evaluated first statically and, when needed, dynamically, in increasing order of their estimated complexities. We evaluate our automated solution on 26 benchmarks from PERFECTCLUB and SPEC suites and show that our approach is effective in parallelizing large, complex loops and obtains much better full program speedups than the Intel and IBM Fortran compilers. Copyright © 2012 ACM.

  7. Insulin-like growth factor-1 is a negative modulator of glucagon secretion

    OpenAIRE

    Mancuso, Elettra; Mannino, Gaia C.; Fatta, Concetta Di; Fuoco, Anastasia; Spiga, Rosangela; Andreozzi, Francesco; Sesti, Giorgio

    2017-01-01

    Glucagon secretion involves a combination of paracrine, autocrine, hormonal, and autonomic neural mechanisms. Type 2 diabetes often presents impaired glucagon suppression by insulin and glucose. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) has elevated homology with insulin, and regulates pancreatic ?-cells insulin secretion. Insulin and IGF-1 receptors share considerable structure homology and function. We hypothesized the existence of a mechanism linking the inhibition of ?-cells glucagon secretion...

  8. Multiple Flow Loop SCADA System Implemented on the Production Prototype Loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baily, Scott A. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Dalmas, Dale Allen [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Wheat, Robert Mitchell [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Woloshun, Keith Albert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Dale, Gregory E. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2015-11-16

    The following report covers FY 15 activities to develop supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for the Northstar Moly99 production prototype gas flow loop. The goal of this effort is to expand the existing system to include a second flow loop with a larger production-sized blower. Besides testing the larger blower, this system will demonstrate the scalability of our solution to multiple flow loops.

  9. Proinflammatory Effect of High Glucose Concentrations on HMrSV5 Cells via the Autocrine Effect of HMGB1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuening Chu

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Peritoneal fibrosis, in which inflammation and apoptosis play crucial pathogenic roles, is a severe complication associated with the treatment of kidney failure with peritoneal dialysis (PD using a glucose-based dialysate. Mesothelial cells (MCs take part in the inflammatory processes by producing various cytokines and chemokines, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1 and interleukin 8 (IL-8. The apoptosis of MCs induced by high glucose levels also contributes to complications of PD. High mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1 is an inflammatory factor that has repeatedly been proven to be related to the occurrence of peritoneal dysfunction.Aim: In this study, we aimed to explore the effect and underlying mechanism of endogenous HMGB1 in high-glucose-induced MC injury.Methods: The human peritoneal MC line, HMrSV5 was cultured in high-glucose medium and incubated with recombinant HMGB1. Cellular expression of HMGB1 was blocked using HMGB1 small interfering RNA (siRNA. Apoptosis and production of inflammatory factors as well as the potential intermediary signaling pathways were examined.Results: The major findings of these analyses were: (1 MCs secreted HMGB1 from the nucleus during exposure to high glucose levels; HMGB1 acted in an autocrine fashion on the MCs to promote the production of MCP-1 and IL-8; (2 HMGB1 had little effect on high-glucose-induced apoptosis of the MCs; and (3 HMGB1-mediated MCP-1 and IL-8 production depended on the activation of MAPK signaling pathways. In conclusion, endogenous HMGB1 plays an important role in the inflammatory reaction induced by high glucose on MCs via mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK signaling pathways, but it seems to have little effect on high-glucose-induced apoptosis.

  10. On loop extensions and cohomology of loops

    OpenAIRE

    Benítez, Rolando Jiménez; Meléndez, Quitzeh Morales

    2015-01-01

    In this paper are defined cohomology-like groups that classify loop extensions satisfying a given identity in three variables for association identities, and in two variables for the case of commutativity. It is considered a large amount of identities. This groups generalize those defined in works of Nishigori [2] and of Jhonson and Leedham-Green [4]. It is computed the number of metacyclic extensions for trivial action of the quotient on the kernel in one particular case for left Bol loops a...

  11. On the one loop γ{sup (∗)}→qq̄ impact factor and the exclusive diffractive cross sections for the production of two or three jets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boussarie, R. [Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, UMR 8627, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, CNRS,Université Paris-Saclay,91405, Orsay (France); Grabovsky, A.V. [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics,11, Lavrenteva avenue, 630090, Novosibirsk (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University,630090, 2, Pirogova street, Novosibirsk (Russian Federation); Department of Physics, University of Minnesota,Duluth, Minnesota, 55812 (United States); Szymanowski, L. [National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ),Warsaw (Poland); Wallon, S. [Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, UMR 8627, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, CNRS,Université Paris-Saclay,91405, Orsay (France); UPMC University Paris 06, faculté de physique,4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05 (France)

    2016-11-24

    We present the calculation of the impact factor for the γ{sup (∗)}→qq̄ transition with one loop accuracy in arbitrary kinematics. The calculation was done within Balitsky’s high energy operator expansion. Together with our previous result for the γ{sup (∗)}→qq̄g Born impact factor it allows one to derive cross sections for 2- (one loop) and 3-jet (Born) difractive electroproduction. We write such cross sections for the 2 and 3 jet exclusive diffractive electroproduction off a proton in terms of hadronic matrix elements of Wilson lines. For the 2-jet cross section we demonstrate the cancellation of infrared, collinear and rapidity singularities. Our result can be directly exploited to describe the recently analyzed data on exclusive dijet production at HERA and used for the study of jet photoproduction in ultraperipheral proton or nuclear scattering.

  12. A differential equation approach to minor loops in the Jiles-Atherton hysteresis model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carpenter, K.H.

    1991-01-01

    Jiles and Atherton, in a series of papers, present physically based differential equations for magnetization in ferromagnetic materials. however, if one directly solves their differential equations, the minor loops obtained can be negative slopes, which is a nonphysical behavior. Only one of their papers gives a method for obtaining minor loops, and the method does not use a differential equation, but requires a priori knowledge of the loop turning points in order to obtain a scale factor and offset which allow a portion of a major loop to serve as a portion of a minor one. In this paper, the reason for the failure of the differential equations to yield physical minor loops is explained, and a modified solution for minor loops is presented which retains the features of Jiles and Atherton's original minor loops, but only requires knowledge of the initial point on each portion of the loop to obtain the solution. This yields a general differential equation formulation for the Jiles-Atherton theory that can be used with circuit simulations having arbitrary excitations and initial conditions for ferromagnetic components

  13. Arsenite evokes IL-6 secretion, autocrine regulation of STAT3 signaling, and miR-21 expression, processes involved in the EMT and malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luo, Fei; Xu, Yuan; Ling, Min; Zhao, Yue; Xu, Wenchao; Liang, Xiao; Jiang, Rongrong; Wang, Bairu; Bian, Qian; Liu, Qizhan

    2013-01-01

    Arsenite is an established human carcinogen, and arsenite-induced inflammation contributes to malignant transformation of cells, but the molecular mechanisms by which cancers are produced remain to be established. The present results showed that, evoked by arsenite, secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, led to the activation of STAT3, a transcription activator, and to increased levels of a microRNA, miR-21. Blocking IL-6 with anti-IL-6 antibody and inhibiting STAT3 activation reduced miR-21 expression. For human bronchial epithelial cells, cultured in the presence of anti-IL-6 antibody for 3 days, the arsenite-induced EMT and malignant transformation were reversed. Thus, IL-6, acting on STAT3 signaling, which up-regulates miR-21in an autocrine manner, contributes to the EMT induced by arsenite. These data define a link from inflammation to EMT in the arsenite-induced malignant transformation of HBE cells. This link, mediated through miRNAs, establishes a mechanism for arsenite-induced lung carcinogenesis. - Highlights: • Arsenite evokes IL-6 secretion. • IL-6 autocrine mediates STAT3 signaling and up-regulates miR-21expression. • Inflammation is involved in arsenite-induced EMT

  14. Rapid Simulation of Flat Knitting Loops Based On the Yarn Texture and Loop Geometrical Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu Zhiwen

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In order to create realistic loop primitives suitable for the fast computer-aided design (CAD of the flat knitted fabric, we have a research on the geometric model of the loop as well as the variation of the loop surface. Establish the texture variation model based on the changing process from the normal yarn to loop that provides the realistic texture of the simulative loop. Then optimize the simulative loop based on illumination variation. This paper develops the computer program with the optimization algorithm and achieves the loop simulation of different yarns to verify the feasibility of the proposed algorithm. Our work provides a fast CAD of the flat knitted fabric with loop simulation, and it is not only more realistic but also material adjustable. Meanwhile it also provides theoretical value for the flat knitted fabric computer simulation.

  15. All-loop Mondrian diagrammatics and 4-particle amplituhedron

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Yang; Li, Yi; Li, Zhinan; Rao, Junjie

    2018-06-01

    Based on 1712.09990 which handles the 4-particle amplituhedron at 3-loop, we have found an extremely simple pattern, yet far more non-trivial than one might naturally expect: the all-loop Mondrian diagrammatics. By further simplifying and rephrasing the key relation of positivity in the amplituhedron setting, remarkably, we find a completeness relation unifying all diagrams of the Mondrian types for the 4-particle integrand of planar N = 4 SYM to all loop orders, each of which can be mapped to a simple product following a few plain rules designed for this relation. The explicit examples we investigate span from 3-loop to 7-loop order, and based on them, we classify the basic patterns of Mondrian diagrams into four types: the ladder, cross, brick-wall and spiral patterns. Interestingly, for some special combinations of ordered subspaces (a concept defined in the previous work), we find failed exceptions of the completeness relation which are called "anomalies", nevertheless, they substantially give hints on the all-loop recursive proof of this relation. These investigations are closely related to the combinatoric knowledge of separable permutations and Schröder numbers, and go even further from a diagrammatic perspective. For physical relevance, we need to further consider dual conformal invariance for two basic diagrammatic patterns to correct the numerator for a local integrand involving one or both of such patterns, while the denominator encoding its pole structure and also the sign factor, are already fixed by rules of the completeness relation. With this extra treatment to ensure the integrals are dual conformally invariant, each Mondrian diagram can be exactly translated to its corresponding physical loop integrand after being summed over all ordered subspaces that admit it.

  16. Hematopoietic growth factors and human acute leukemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Löwenberg, B; Touw, I

    1988-10-22

    The study of myelopoietic maturation arrest in acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) has been eased by availability of the human recombinant hemopoietic growth factors, macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), granulocyte-(G-CSF), granulocyte-macrophage-(GM-CSF) and multilineage stimulating factor (IL-3). Nonphysiological expansion of the leukemic population is not due to escape from control by these factors. Proliferation in vitro of AML cells is dependent on the presence of one or several factors in most cases. The pattern of factor-dependency does not correlate with morphological criteria in individual cases, and may thus offer a new tool for classification of AML. Overproduction of undifferentiated cells is not due to abnormal expression of receptors for the stimulating factors acting at an immature level. Rather, autocrine secretion of early acting lymphokines maintains proliferation of the leukemic clone. When looking at causes of leukemic dysregulation, yet undefined inhibitors of differentiation probably are of equal importance as dysequilibrated stimulation by lymphokines.

  17. Power Impact of Loop Buffer Schemes for Biomedical Wireless Sensor Nodes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francky Catthoor

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Instruction memory organisations are pointed out as one of the major sources of energy consumption in embedded systems. As these systems are characterised by restrictive resources and a low-energy budget, any enhancement in this component allows not only to decrease the energy consumption but also to have a better distribution of the energy budget throughout the system. Loop buffering is an effective scheme to reduce energy consumption in instruction memory organisations. In this paper, the loop buffer concept is applied in real-life embedded applications that are widely used in biomedical Wireless Sensor Nodes, to show which scheme of loop buffer is more suitable for applications with certain behaviour. Post-layout simulations demonstrate that a trade-off exists between the complexity of the loop buffer architecture and the energy savings of utilising it. Therefore, the use of loop buffer architectures in order to optimise the instructionmemory organisation from the energy efficiency point of view should be evaluated carefully, taking into account two factors: (1 the percentage of the execution time of the application that is related to the execution of the loops, and (2 the distribution of the execution time percentage over each one of the loops that form the application.

  18. Multi-loop PWR modeling and hardware-in-the-loop testing using ACSL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, V.M.; Heibel, M.D.; Catullo, W.J.

    1989-01-01

    Westinghouse has developed an Advanced Digital Feedwater Control System (ADFCS) which is aimed at reducing feedwater related reactor trips through improved control performance for pressurized water reactor (PWR) power plants. To support control system setpoint studies and functional design efforts for the ADFCS, an ACSL based model of the nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) of a Westinghouse (PWR) was generated. Use of this plant model has been extended from system design to system testing through integration of the model into a Hardware-in-Loop test environment for the ADFCS. This integration includes appropriate interfacing between a Gould SEL 32/87 computer, upon which the plant model executes in real time, and the Westinghouse Distributed Processing family (WDPF) test hardware. A development program has been undertaken to expand the existing ACSL model to include capability to explicitly model multiple plant loops, steam generators, and corresponding feedwater systems. Furthermore, the program expands the ADFCS Hardware-in-Loop testing to include the multi-loop plant model. This paper provides an overview of the testing approach utilized for the ADFCS with focus on the role of Hardware-in-Loop testing. Background on the plant model, methodology and test environment is also provided. Finally, an overview is presented of the program to expand the model and associated Hardware-in-Loop test environment to handle multiple loops

  19. Random walk loop soup

    OpenAIRE

    Lawler, Gregory F.; Ferreras, José A. Trujillo

    2004-01-01

    The Brownian loop soup introduced in Lawler and Werner (2004) is a Poissonian realization from a sigma-finite measure on unrooted loops. This measure satisfies both conformal invariance and a restriction property. In this paper, we define a random walk loop soup and show that it converges to the Brownian loop soup. In fact, we give a strong approximation result making use of the strong approximation result of Koml\\'os, Major, and Tusn\\'ady. To make the paper self-contained, we include a proof...

  20. Numerical modeling of supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Archana, V., E-mail: archanav@barc.gov.in [Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 094 (India); Vaidya, A.M., E-mail: avaidya@barc.gov.in [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 085 (India); Vijayan, P.K., E-mail: vijayanp@barc.gov.in [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 085 (India)

    2015-11-15

    Highlights: • Supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop is modeled by in-house developed 1D and 2D axi-symmetric CFD codes. • Steady state characteristics of VHVC configuration of supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop are studied over a range of power. • Improved accuracy of predictions by 2D axi-symmetric formulation over 1D formulation is demonstrated. • The validity of correlations used in 1D model such as friction factor and heat transfer correlations is analyzed. • Simulation results shows normal, enhanced and deteriorated heat transfer regimes in supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop. - Abstract: The objective of this research project is to estimate steady state characteristics of supercritical natural circulation loop (SCNCL) using computational methodology and to compliment on-going experimental investigation of the same at the authors’ organization. For computational investigation, a couple of in-house codes are developed. At first, formulation and a corresponding computer program for the SCNCL based on conservation equations written in 1D framework is developed. Comparison of 1D code results with experimental data showed that, under some operating conditions, there is deviation between computed results and experimental data. To improve predictive capability, it was thought to model the SCNCL using conservation equations in 2D axi-symmetric framework. An existing 2D axi-symmetric code (named NAFA), which was developed and validated for supercritical fluid flow in pipes, is modified for natural circulation loop (NCL) geometry. The modified code, named NAFA-Loop, is subsequently used to compute the steady state characteristics of the SCNCL. These results are compared with experimental data. The steady state characteristics such as the variation of mass flow rate with power, velocity and temperature profiles in heater and cooler are studied using NAFA-Loop. The computed velocity and temperature fields show that the

  1. Neutron transport in irradiation loops (IRENE loop)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarsam, Maher.

    1980-09-01

    This thesis is composed of two parts with different aspects. Part one is a technical description of the loop and its main ancillary facilities as well as of the safety and operational regulations. The measurement methods on the model of the ISIS reactor and on the loop in the OSIRIS reactor are described. Part two deals with the possibility of calculating the powers dissipated by each rod of the fuel cluster, using appropriate computer codes, not only in the reflector but also in the core and to suggest a method of calculation [fr

  2. The Inverse Optimal Control Problem for a Three-Loop Missile Autopilot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Donghyeok; Tahk, Min-Jea

    2018-04-01

    The performance characteristics of the autopilot must have a fast response to intercept a maneuvering target and reasonable robustness for system stability under the effect of un-modeled dynamics and noise. By the conventional approach, the three-loop autopilot design is handled by time constant, damping factor and open-loop crossover frequency to achieve the desired performance requirements. Note that the general optimal theory can be also used to obtain the same gain as obtained from the conventional approach. The key idea of using optimal control technique for feedback gain design revolves around appropriate selection and interpretation of the performance index for which the control is optimal. This paper derives an explicit expression, which relates the weight parameters appearing in the quadratic performance index to the design parameters such as open-loop crossover frequency, phase margin, damping factor, or time constant, etc. Since all set of selection of design parameters do not guarantee existence of optimal control law, explicit inequalities, which are named the optimality criteria for the three-loop autopilot (OC3L), are derived to find out all set of design parameters for which the control law is optimal. Finally, based on OC3L, an efficient gain selection procedure is developed, where time constant is set to design objective and open-loop crossover frequency and phase margin as design constraints. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is illustrated through numerical simulations.

  3. Observable Signatures of Energy Release in Braided Coronal Loops

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pontin, D. I. [University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN (United Kingdom); Janvier, M. [Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Bât. 121, F-91405, Orsay Cedex (France); Tiwari, S. K.; Winebarger, A. R.; Cirtain, J. W. [NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, ZP 13, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States); Galsgaard, K. [Niels Bohr Institute, Geological Museum Østervoldgade 5-7, DK-1350, Copenhagen K (Denmark)

    2017-03-10

    We examine the turbulent relaxation of solar coronal loops containing non-trivial field line braiding. Such field line tangling in the corona has long been postulated in the context of coronal heating models. We focus on the observational signatures of energy release in such braided magnetic structures using MHD simulations and forward modeling tools. The aim is to answer the following question: if energy release occurs in a coronal loop containing braided magnetic flux, should we expect a clearly observable signature in emissions? We demonstrate that the presence of braided magnetic field lines does not guarantee a braided appearance to the observed intensities. Observed intensities may—but need not necessarily—reveal the underlying braided nature of the magnetic field, depending on the degree and pattern of the field line tangling within the loop. However, in all cases considered, the evolution of the braided loop is accompanied by localized heating regions as the loop relaxes. Factors that may influence the observational signatures are discussed. Recent high-resolution observations from Hi-C have claimed the first direct evidence of braided magnetic fields in the corona. Here we show that both the Hi-C data and some of our simulations give the appearance of braiding at a range of scales.

  4. On soft singularities at three loops and beyond

    CERN Document Server

    Dixon, Lance J; Magnea, Lorenzo

    2010-01-01

    We report on further progress in understanding soft singularities of massless gauge theory scattering amplitudes. Recently, a set of equations was derived based on Sudakov factorization, constraining the soft anomalous dimension matrix of multi-leg scattering amplitudes to any loop order, and relating it to the cusp anomalous dimension. The minimal solution to these equations was shown to be a sum over color dipoles. Here we explore potential contributions to the soft anomalous dimension that go beyond the sum-over-dipoles formula. Such contributions are constrained by factorization and invariance under rescaling of parton momenta to be functions of conformally invariant cross ratios. Therefore, they must correlate the color and kinematic degrees of freedom of at least four hard partons, corresponding to gluon webs that connect four eikonal lines, which first appear at three loops. We analyze potential contributions, combining all available constraints, including Bose symmetry, the expected degree of transcen...

  5. Loop space representation of quantum general relativity and the group of loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gambini, R.

    1991-01-01

    The action of the constraints of quantum general relativity on a general state in the loop representation is coded in terms of loop derivatives. These differential operators are related to the infinitesimal generators of the group of loops and generalize the area derivative first considered by Mandelstam. A new sector of solutions of the physical states space of nonperturbative quantum general relativity is found. (orig.)

  6. Fermions and loops on graphs: I. Loop calculus for determinants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chernyak, Vladimir Y; Chertkov, Michael

    2008-01-01

    This paper is the first in a series devoted to evaluation of the partition function in statistical models on graphs with loops in terms of the Berezin/fermion integrals. The paper focuses on a representation of the determinant of a square matrix in terms of a finite series, where each term corresponds to a loop on the graph. The representation is based on a fermion version of the loop calculus, previously introduced by the authors for graphical models with finite alphabets. Our construction contains two levels. First, we represent the determinant in terms of an integral over anti-commuting Grassmann variables, with some reparametrization/gauge freedom hidden in the formulation. Second, we show that a special choice of the gauge, called the BP (Bethe–Peierls or belief propagation) gauge, yields the desired loop representation. The set of gauge fixing BP conditions is equivalent to the Gaussian BP equations, discussed in the past as efficient (linear scaling) heuristics for estimating the covariance of a sparse positive matrix

  7. Dechanneling by dislocation loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chalant, Gerard.

    1976-09-01

    Ion implantation always induces the creation of dislocation loops. When the damage profile is determined by a backscattering technique, the dechanneling by these loops is implicitely at the origin of these measurements. The dechanneling of alpha particles by dislocation loops produced by the coalescence of quenched-in vacancies in aluminium is studied. The dechanneling and the concentration of loops were determined simultaneously. The dechanneling width around dislocation was found equal to lambda=6A, both for perfect and imperfect loops having a mean diameter d=250A. In the latter case, a dechanneling probability chi=0.34 was determined for the stacking fault, in good agreement with previous determination in gold. A general formula is proposed which takes into account the variation of lambda with the curvature (or the diameter d) of the loops. Finally, by a series of isothermal anneals, the self-diffusion energy ΔH of aluminium was measured. The value obtained ΔH=1.32+-0.10eV is in good agreement with the values obtained by other methods [fr

  8. Simulation of closed loop controlled boost converter for solar installation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kalirasu Athimulam

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available With the shortage of the energy and ever increasing of the oil price, research on the renewable and green energy sources, especially the solar arrays and the fuel cells, becomes more and more important. How to achieve high stepup and high efficiency DC/DC converters is the major consideration in the renewable power applications due to the low voltage of PV arrays and fuel cells. In this paper digital simulation of closed loop controlled boost converter for solar installation is presented. Circuit models for open loop and closed loop controlled systems are developed using the blocks of simulink. The simulation results are compared with the theoretical results. This converter has advantages like improved power factor, fast response and reduced hardware. .

  9. Metabolic impact of anti-angiogenic agents on U87 glioma cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tanja Mesti

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Glioma cells not only secrete high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF but also express VEGF receptors (VEGFR, supporting the existence of an autocrine loop. The direct impact on glioma cells metabolism of drugs targeting the VEGF pathway, such as Bevacizumab (Bev or VEGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI, is poorly known. MATERIAL AND METHODS: U87 cells were treated with Bev or SU1498, a selective VEGFR2 TKI. VEGFR expression was checked with FACS flow cytometry and Quantitative Real-Time PCR. VEGF secretion into the medium was assessed with an ELISA kit. Metabolomic studies on cells were performed using High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Spectroscopy (HR-MAS. RESULTS: U87 cells secreted VEGF and expressed low level of VEGFR2, but no detectable VEGFR1. Exposure to SU1498, but not Bev, significantly impacted cell proliferation and apoptosis. Metabolomic studies with HR MAS showed that Bev had no significant effect on cell metabolism, while SU1498 induced a marked increase in lipids and a decrease in glycerophosphocholine. Accordingly, accumulation of lipid droplets was seen in the cytoplasm of SU1498-treated U87 cells. CONCLUSION: Although both drugs target the VEGF pathway, only SU1498 showed a clear impact on cell proliferation, cell morphology and metabolism. Bevacizumab is thus less likely to modify glioma cells phenotype due to a direct therapeutic pressure on the VEGF autocrine loop. In patients treated with VEGFR TKI, monitoring lipids with magnetic resonance spectroscopic (MRS might be a valuable marker to assess drug cytotoxicity.

  10. Phase loop bandwidth measurements on the advanced photon source 352 MHz rf systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horan, D.; Nassiri, A.; Schwartz, C.

    1997-01-01

    Phase loop bandwidth tests were performed on the Advanced Photon Source storage ring 352-MHz rf systems. These measurements were made using the HP3563A Control Systems Analyzer, with the rf systems running at 30 kilowatts into each of the storage ring cavities, without stored beam. An electronic phase shifter was used to inject approximately 14 degrees of stimulated phase shift into the low-level rf system, which produced measureable response voltage in the feedback loops without upsetting normal rf system operation. With the PID (proportional-integral-differential) amplifier settings at the values used during accelerator operation, the measurement data revealed that the 3-dB response for the cavity sum and klystron power-phase loops is approximately 7 kHz and 45 kHz, respectively, with the cavities the primary bandwidth-limiting factor in the cavity-sum loop. Data were taken at various PID settings until the loops became unstable. Crosstalk between the two phase loops was measured

  11. Probing Wilson loops in N=4 Chern–Simons-matter theories at weak coupling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Griguolo

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available For three-dimensional N=4 super-Chern–Simons-matter theories associated to necklace quivers U(N0×U(N1×⋯U(N2r−1, we study at quantum level the two kinds of 1/2 BPS Wilson loop operators recently introduced in arXiv:1506.07614. We perform a two-loop evaluation and find the same result for the two kinds of operators, so moving to higher loops a possible quantum uplift of the classical degeneracy. We also compute the 1/4 BPS bosonic Wilson loop and discuss the quantum version of the cohomological equivalence between fermionic and bosonic Wilson loops. We compare the perturbative result with the Matrix Model prediction and find perfect matching, after identification and remotion of a suitable framing factor. Finally, we discuss the potential appearance of three-loop contributions that might break the classical degeneracy and briefly analyze possible implications on the BPS nature of these operators.

  12. The Brownian loop soup

    OpenAIRE

    Lawler, Gregory F.; Werner, Wendelin

    2003-01-01

    We define a natural conformally invariant measure on unrooted Brownian loops in the plane and study some of its properties. We relate this measure to a measure on loops rooted at a boundary point of a domain and show how this relation gives a way to ``chronologically add Brownian loops'' to simple curves in the plane.

  13. Reactor recirculation pump test loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taka, Shusei; Kato, Hiroyuki

    1979-01-01

    A test loop for a reactor primary loop recirculation pumps (PLR pumps) has been constructed at Ebara's Haneda Plant in preparation for production of PLR pumps under license from Byron Jackson Pump Division of Borg-Warner Corporation. This loop can simulate operating conditions for test PLR pumps with 130 per cent of the capacity of pumps for a 1100 MWe BWR plant. A main loop, primary cooling system, water demineralizer, secondary cooling system, instrumentation and control equipment and an electric power supply system make up the test loop. This article describes the test loop itself and test results of two PLR pumps for Fukushima No. 2 N.P.S. Unit 1 and one main circulation pump for HAZ Demonstration Test Facility. (author)

  14. Wilson loops in minimal surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drukker, Nadav; Gross, David J.; Ooguri, Hirosi

    1999-01-01

    The AdS/CFT correspondence suggests that the Wilson loop of the large N gauge theory with N = 4 supersymmetry in 4 dimensions is described by a minimal surface in AdS 5 x S 5 . The authors examine various aspects of this proposal, comparing gauge theory expectations with computations of minimal surfaces. There is a distinguished class of loops, which the authors call BPS loops, whose expectation values are free from ultra-violet divergence. They formulate the loop equation for such loops. To the extent that they have checked, the minimal surface in AdS 5 x S 5 gives a solution of the equation. The authors also discuss the zig-zag symmetry of the loop operator. In the N = 4 gauge theory, they expect the zig-zag symmetry to hold when the loop does not couple the scalar fields in the supermultiplet. They will show how this is realized for the minimal surface

  15. Wilson loops and minimal surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drukker, Nadav; Gross, David J.; Ooguri, Hirosi

    1999-01-01

    The AdS-CFT correspondence suggests that the Wilson loop of the large N gauge theory with N=4 supersymmetry in four dimensions is described by a minimal surface in AdS 5 xS 5 . We examine various aspects of this proposal, comparing gauge theory expectations with computations of minimal surfaces. There is a distinguished class of loops, which we call BPS loops, whose expectation values are free from ultraviolet divergence. We formulate the loop equation for such loops. To the extent that we have checked, the minimal surface in AdS 5 xS 5 gives a solution of the equation. We also discuss the zigzag symmetry of the loop operator. In the N=4 gauge theory, we expect the zigzag symmetry to hold when the loop does not couple the scalar fields in the supermultiplet. We will show how this is realized for the minimal surface. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society

  16. Novel tunable optical filter employing a fiber loop mirror for synthesis applications in WDM

    OpenAIRE

    Vázquez García, María Carmen; Vargas Palma, Salvador Elías; Sánchez-Pena, José Manuel

    2001-01-01

    A novel optical filter employing a fiber loop mirror within an amplified ring resonator is presented. The fiber loop mirror allows tuning by changing the coupling factor of a coupler. The device can be used as a building block to synthesize optical filters, as previously reported, saving components. Publicado

  17. Identification of sequence polymorphisms in the D-Loop region of mitochondrial DNA as a risk factor for colon cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Zhanjun; Zhao, Shengnan; Fan, Haiyan; Du, Yanming; Zhao, Yufei; Wang, Guiying

    2016-11-01

    The accumulation of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the displacement loop (D-Loop) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been identified for their association with cancer risk in a number of cancers. We investigated the colon cancer risk profile of D-Loop SNPs in a case-control study. The frequent alleles of nucleotides 73G/A, 146T/C, 195T/C, 324C/G, 16261C/T, and 16304T/C as well as the minor allele of 309C/C insert were significantly associated with an increased risk for colon cancer. In conclusion, SNPs in the mtDNA D-Loop were found to be valuable markers for colon cancer risk evaluation.

  18. BPS Wilson loops and Bremsstrahlung function in ABJ(M): a two loop analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bianchi, Marco S. [Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Griguolo, Luca [Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Parmaand INFN Gruppo Collegato di Parma,Viale G.P. Usberti 7/A, 43100 Parma (Italy); Leoni, Matias [Physics Department, FCEyN-UBA & IFIBA-CONICETCiudad Universitaria, Pabellón I, 1428, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Penati, Silvia [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano-Bicoccaand INFN, Sezione di Milano-Bicocca,Piazza della Scienza 3, I-20126 Milano (Italy); Seminara, Domenico [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenzeand INFN Sezione di Firenze,via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy)

    2014-06-19

    We study a family of circular BPS Wilson loops in N=6 super Chern-Simons-matter theories, generalizing the usual 1/2-BPS circle. The scalar and fermionic couplings depend on two deformation parameters and these operators can be considered as the ABJ(M) counterpart of the DGRT latitudes defined in N=4 SYM. We perform a complete two-loop analysis of their vacuum expectation value, discuss the appearance of framing-like phases and propose a general relation with cohomologically equivalent bosonic operators. We make an all-loop proposal for computing the Bremsstrahlung function associated to the 1/2-BPS cusp in terms of these generalized Wilson loops. When applied to our two-loop result it reproduces the known expression. Finally, we comment on the generalization of this proposal to the bosonic 1/6-BPS case.

  19. From maximal to minimal supersymmetry in string loop amplitudes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berg, Marcus; Buchberger, Igor [Department of Physics, Karlstad University,651 88 Karlstad (Sweden); Schlotterer, Oliver [Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut,14476 Potsdam (Germany)

    2017-04-28

    We calculate one-loop string amplitudes of open and closed strings with N=1,2,4 supersymmetry in four and six dimensions, by compactification on Calabi-Yau and K3 orbifolds. In particular, we develop a method to combine contributions from all spin structures for arbitrary number of legs at minimal supersymmetry. Each amplitude is cast into a compact form by reorganizing the kinematic building blocks and casting the worldsheet integrals in a basis. Infrared regularization plays an important role to exhibit the expected factorization limits. We comment on implications for the one-loop string effective action.

  20. Algebraic evaluation of rational polynomials in one-loop amplitudes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Binoth, Thomas; Guillet, Jean-Philippe; Heinrich, Gudrun

    2007-01-01

    One-loop amplitudes are to a large extent determined by their unitarity cuts in four dimensions. We show that the remaining rational terms can be obtained from the ultraviolet behaviour of the amplitude, and determine universal form factors for these rational parts by applying reduction techniques to the Feynman diagrammatic representation of the amplitude. The method is valid for massless and massive internal particles. We illustrate this method by evaluating the rational terms of the one-loop amplitudes for gg→H, γγ→γγ, gg→gg,γγ→ggg and γγ→γγγγ

  1. How to Disable Mortal Loops of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP Implementation: A System Dynamics Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaveh M. Cyrus

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Successful Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP implementation depends upon various factors known as critical success factors (CSFs. This study developed a system dynamics model of ERP implementation based on CSFs to discuss ERP implementation complexities, which identifies the effect of CSF interrelations on different aspects of ERP project failure. Based on the model hypothesis, CSF interrelations include many causal loop dependencies. Some of these causal loops are called mortal loops, because they may cause the failure of risk reduction efforts to a more severe failure in effect of lack of system thinking on CSFs interrelations. This study discusses how system thinking works as a leverage point for overcoming ERP implementation challenges.

  2. Full parabolic trough qualification from prototype to demonstration loop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janotte, Nicole; Lüpfert, Eckhard; Pottler, Klaus; Schmitz, Mark

    2017-06-01

    On the example of the HelioTrough® collector development the full accompanying and supporting qualification program for large-scale parabolic trough collectors for solar thermal power plants is described from prototype to demonstration loop scale. In the evaluation process the actual state and the optimization potential are assessed. This includes the optical and geometrical performance determined by concentrator shape, deformation, assembly quality and local intercept factor values. Furthermore, its mechanical performance in terms of tracking accuracy and torsional stiffness and its thermal system performance on the basis of the overall thermal output and heat loss are evaluated. Demonstration loop tests deliver results of collector modules statistical slope deviation of 1.9 to 2.6 mrad, intercept factor above 98%, peak optical performance of 81.6% and heat loss coefficients from field tests. The benefit of such a closely monitored development lies in prompt feedback on strengths, weaknesses and potential improvements on the new product at any development stage from first module tests until demonstration loop evaluation. The product developer takes advantage of the achieved technical maturity, already before the implementation in a commercial power plant. The well-understood performance characteristics allow the reduction of safety margins making the new HelioTrough collector competitive from the start.

  3. Beta cell proliferation and growth factors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jens Høiriis; Svensson, C; Møldrup, Annette

    1999-01-01

    Formation of new beta cells can take place by two pathways: replication of already differentiated beta cells or neogenesis from putative islet stem cells. Under physiological conditions both processes are most pronounced during the fetal and neonatal development of the pancreas. In adulthood little...... increase in the beta cell number seems to occur. In pregnancy, however, a marked hyperplasia of the beta cells is observed both in rodents and man. Increased mitotic activity has been seen both in vivo and in vitro in islets exposed to placental lactogen (PL), prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH...... and activation of the tyrosine kinase JAK2 and the transcription factors STAT1 and 3. The activation of the insulin gene however also requires the distal part of the receptor and activation of calcium uptake and STAT5. In order to identify putative autocrine growth factors or targets for growth factors we have...

  4. Pro-tumorigenic effects of transforming growth factor beta 1 in canine osteosarcoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portela, R F; Fadl-Alla, B A; Pondenis, H C; Byrum, M L; Garrett, L D; Wycislo, K L; Borst, L B; Fan, T M

    2014-01-01

    Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1) is a pleiotropic cytokine that contributes to reparative skeletal remodeling by inducing osteoblast proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis. Organic bone matrix is the largest bodily reservoir for latent TGFβ1, and active osteoblasts express cognate receptors for TGFβ1 (TGFβRI and TGFβRII). During malignant osteolysis, TGFβ1 is liberated from eroded bone matrix and promotes local progression of osteotropic solid tumors by its mitogenic and prosurvival activities. Canine osteosarcoma (OS) cells will possess TGFβ1 signaling machinery. Blockade of TGFβ1 signaling will attenuate pro-tumorigenic activities in OS cells. Naturally occurring primary OS samples will express cognate TGFβ1 receptors; and in dogs with OS, focal malignant osteolysis will contribute to circulating TGFβ1 concentrations. Thirty-three dogs with appendicular OS. Expression of TGFβ1 and its cognate receptors, as well as the biologic effects of TGFβ1 blockade, was characterized in OS cells. Ten spontaneous OS samples were characterized for TGFβRI/II expressions by immunohistochemistry. In 33 dogs with OS, plasma TGFβ1 concentrations were quantified and correlated with bone resorption. Canine OS cells secrete TGFβ1, express cognate receptors, and TGFβ1 signaling blockade decreases proliferation, migration, and vascular endothelial growth factor secretion. Naturally occurring OS samples abundantly and uniformly express TGFβRI/II, and in OS-bearing dogs, circulating TGFβ1 concentrations correlate with urine N-telopeptide excretion. Canine OS cells possess TGFβ1 signaling machinery, potentially allowing for the establishment of an autocrine and paracrine pro-tumorigenic signaling loop. As such, TGFβ1 inhibitors might impede localized OS progression in dogs. Copyright © 2014 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

  5. Glucose Stimulation of Transforming Growth Factor-β Bioactivity in Mesangial Cells Is Mediated by Thrombospondin-1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poczatek, Maria H.; Hugo, Christian; Darley-Usmar, Victor; Murphy-Ullrich, Joanne E.

    2000-01-01

    Glucose is a key factor in the development of diabetic complications, including diabetic nephropathy. The development of diabetic glomerulosclerosis is dependent on the fibrogenic growth factor, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Previously we showed that thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) activates latent TGF-β both in vitro and in vivo. Activation occurs as the result of specific interactions of latent TGF-β with TSP-1, which potentially alter the conformation of latent TGF-β. As glucose also up-regulates TSP-1 expression, we hypothesized that the increased TGF-β bioactivity observed in rat and human mesangial cells cultured with high glucose concentrations is the result of latent TGF-β activation by autocrine TSP-1. Glucose-induced bioactivity of TGF-β in mesangial cell cultures was reduced to basal levels by peptides from two different sequences that antagonize activation of latent TGF-β by TSP, but not by the plasmin inhibitor, aprotinin. Furthermore, glucose-dependent stimulation of matrix protein synthesis was inhibited by these antagonist peptides. These studies demonstrate that glucose stimulation of TGF-β activity and the resultant matrix protein synthesis are dependent on the action of autocrine TSP-1 to convert latent TGF-β to its biologically active form. These data suggest that antagonists of TSP-dependent TGF-β activation may be the basis of novel therapeutic approaches for ameliorating diabetic renal fibrosis. PMID:11021838

  6. Estimation of Parametric Fault in Closed-loop Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Niemann, Hans Henrik; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to present a method for estimation of parametric faults in closed-loop systems. The key technology applied in this paper is coprime factorization of both the dynamic system as well as the feedback controller. Using the Youla-Jabr-Bongiorno-Kucera (YJBK) parameterization...

  7. A complex approach to the blue-loop problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ostrowski, Jakub; Daszynska-Daszkiewicz, Jadwiga

    2015-08-01

    The problem of the blue loops during the core helium burning, outstanding for almost fifty years, is one of the most difficult and poorly understood problems in stellar astrophysics. Most of the work focused on the blue loops done so far has been performed with old stellar evolution codes and with limited computational resources. In the end the obtained conclusions were based on a small sample of models and could not have taken into account more advanced effects and interactions between them.The emergence of the blue loops depends on many details of the evolution calculations, in particular on chemical composition, opacity, mixing processes etc. The non-linear interactions between these factors contribute to the statement that in most cases it is hard to predict without a precise stellar modeling whether a loop will emerge or not. The high sensitivity of the blue loops to even small changes of the internal structure of a star yields one more issue: a sensitivity to numerical problems, which are common in calculations of stellar models on advanced stages of the evolution.To tackle this problem we used a modern stellar evolution code MESA. We calculated a large grid of evolutionary tracks (about 8000 models) with masses in the range of 3.0 - 25.0 solar masses from the zero age main sequence to the depletion of helium in the core. In order to make a comparative analysis, we varied metallicity, helium abundance and different mixing parameters resulting from convective overshooting, rotation etc.The better understanding of the properties of the blue loops is crucial for our knowledge of the population of blue supergiants or pulsating variables such as Cepheids, α-Cygni or Slowly Pulsating B-type supergiants. In case of more massive models it is also of great importance for studies of the progenitors of supernovae.

  8. Loss of MeCP2 disrupts cell autonomous and autocrine BDNF signaling in mouse glutamatergic neurons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampathkumar, Charanya; Wu, Yuan-Ju; Vadhvani, Mayur; Trimbuch, Thorsten; Eickholt, Britta; Rosenmund, Christian

    2016-01-01

    Mutations in the MECP2 gene cause the neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome (RTT). Previous studies have shown that altered MeCP2 levels result in aberrant neurite outgrowth and glutamatergic synapse formation. However, causal molecular mechanisms are not well understood since MeCP2 is known to regulate transcription of a wide range of target genes. Here, we describe a key role for a constitutive BDNF feed forward signaling pathway in regulating synaptic response, general growth and differentiation of glutamatergic neurons. Chronic block of TrkB receptors mimics the MeCP2 deficiency in wildtype glutamatergic neurons, while re-expression of BDNF quantitatively rescues MeCP2 deficiency. We show that BDNF acts cell autonomous and autocrine, as wildtype neurons are not capable of rescuing growth deficits in neighboring MeCP2 deficient neurons in vitro and in vivo. These findings are relevant for understanding RTT pathophysiology, wherein wildtype and mutant neurons are intermixed throughout the nervous system. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19374.001 PMID:27782879

  9. Computational stability appraisal of rectangular natural circulation loop: Effect of loop inclination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krishnani, Mayur; Basu, Dipankar N.

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Computational model developed for single-phase rectangular natural circulation loop. • Role of loop inclination to vertical on thermalhydraulic stability is explored. • Inclination has strong stabilizing effect due to lower effective gravitation force. • Increase in tilt angle reduces settling time and highest amplitude of oscillation. • An angle of 15° is suggested for the selected loop geometry. - Abstract: Controlling stability behavior of single-phase natural circulation loops, without significantly affecting its steady-state characteristics, is a topic of wide research interest. Present study explores the role of loop inclination on a particular loop geometry. Accordingly a 3D computational model of a rectangular loop is developed and transient conservation equations are solved to obtain the temporal variation in flow parameters. Starting from the quiescent state, simulations are performed for selected sets of operating conditions and also with a few selected inclination angles. System experiences instability at higher heater powers and also with higher sink temperatures. Inclination is found to have a strong stabilizing influence owing to the reduction in the effective gravitational acceleration and subsequent decline in local buoyancy effects. The settling time and highest amplitude of oscillations substantially reduces for a stable system with a small inclination. Typically-unstable systems can also suppress the oscillations, when subjected to tilting, within a reasonable period of time. It is possible to stabilize the loop within shorter time span by increasing the tilt angle, but at the expense of reduction in steady-state flow rate. Overall a tilt angle of 15° is suggested for the selected geometry. Results from the 3D model is compared with the predictions from an indigenous 1D code. While similar qualitative influence of inclination is observed, the 1D model predicts early appearance of the stability threshold and hence hints

  10. Diffusion of Wilson loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brzoska, A.M.; Lenz, F.; Thies, M.; Negele, J.W.

    2005-01-01

    A phenomenological analysis of the distribution of Wilson loops in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is presented in which Wilson loop distributions are described as the result of a diffusion process on the group manifold. It is shown that, in the absence of forces, diffusion implies Casimir scaling and, conversely, exact Casimir scaling implies free diffusion. Screening processes occur if diffusion takes place in a potential. The crucial distinction between screening of fundamental and adjoint loops is formulated as a symmetry property related to the center symmetry of the underlying gauge theory. The results are expressed in terms of an effective Wilson loop action and compared with various limits of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory

  11. Analysis of ATLAS LTC-04R Test for Loop Seal Reformation Phenomena using RELAP5

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lim, Sang-Gyu; Kim, Dae-Hun; Kim, Han-Gon [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    The loop seal reformation issue was selected to be the analysis topic of the DSP-04 based on the technical discussion between the participants and the operating agencies (KAERI and KINS) and domestic experts meetings. After that, KAERI performed LTC-04R test which is 4 inch top-slot cold-leg break test using ATLAS facility in December 27, 2015. KHNP CRI, as a participant of the DSP-04, performed the blind calculation and open calculation using RELAP5/Mod3.3 patch 3. This paper deals with the results of open calculation for ATLAS LTC-04R test. The results of several sensitivity analyses such as the critical flow modeling sensitivity and break flow system modeling sensitivity will be discussed. Several possible factors in the loop seal reformation behavior are examined in the sensitivity analysis. Heat loss modeling, fine break system modeling, fine loop seal nodalization and off-take modeling are not significant factor in the loop seal reformation. Still critical flow model and discharge coefficient are dominant factors. Based on the ATLAS LTC-04R, Ransom-Trapp model shows better prediction in the break flow than the Henry-Fauske model.

  12. On some properties of conjugacy closed loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adeniran, John Olusola

    2002-07-01

    It is shown that central loops are not conjugacy closed loops but instead are loops of units in their loop algebras that are conjugacy closed. It is also shown that certain inner mappings of a conjugacy closed loop are nuclear. Some invariants of left conjugacy closed loops are obtained. (author)

  13. Mirror symmetry and loop operators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Assel, Benjamin [Department of Mathematics, King’s College London,The Strand, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Gomis, Jaume [Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 2Y5 (Canada)

    2015-11-09

    Wilson loops in gauge theories pose a fundamental challenge for dualities. Wilson loops are labeled by a representation of the gauge group and should map under duality to loop operators labeled by the same data, yet generically, dual theories have completely different gauge groups. In this paper we resolve this conundrum for three dimensional mirror symmetry. We show that Wilson loops are exchanged under mirror symmetry with Vortex loop operators, whose microscopic definition in terms of a supersymmetric quantum mechanics coupled to the theory encode in a non-trivial way a representation of the original gauge group, despite that the gauge groups of mirror theories can be radically different. Our predictions for the mirror map, which we derive guided by branes in string theory, are confirmed by the computation of the exact expectation value of Wilson and Vortex loop operators on the three-sphere.

  14. Three-loop corrections to the soft anomalous dimension in multileg scattering

    CERN Document Server

    Almelid, Øyvind; Gardi, Einan

    2016-01-01

    We present the three-loop result for the soft anomalous dimension governing long-distance singularities of multi-leg gauge-theory scattering amplitudes of massless partons. We compute all contributing webs involving semi-infinite Wilson lines at three loops and obtain the complete three-loop correction to the dipole formula. We find that non-dipole corrections appear already for three coloured partons, where the correction is a constant without kinematic dependence. Kinematic dependence appears only through conformally-invariant cross ratios for four coloured partons or more, and the result can be expressed in terms of single-valued harmonic polylogarithms of weight five. While the non-dipole three-loop term does not vanish in two-particle collinear limits, its contribution to the splitting amplitude anomalous dimension reduces to a constant, and it only depends on the colour charges of the collinear pair, thereby preserving strict collinear factorization properties. Finally we verify that our result is consi...

  15. Temperature-dependent loop formation kinetics in flexible peptides studied by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harekrushna Sahoo

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Looping rates in short polypeptides can be determined by intramolecular fluorescence quenching of a 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene-labeled asparagine (Dbo by tryptophan. By this methodology, the looping rates in glycine-serine peptides with the structure Trp-(Gly-Sern-Dbo-NH2 of different lengths (n = 0–10 were determined in dependence on temperature in D2O and the activation parameters were derived. In general, the looping rate increases with decreasing peptide length, but the shortest peptide (n=0 shows exceptional behavior because its looping rate is slower than that for the next longer ones (n=1,2. The activation energies increase from 17.5 kJ mol−1 for the longest peptide (n=10 to 20.5 kJ mol−1 for the shortest one (n=0, while the pre-exponential factors (log⁡(A/s−1 range from 10.20 to 11.38. The data are interpreted in terms of an interplay between internal friction (stiffness of the biopolymer backbone and steric hindrance effects and solvent friction (viscosity-limited diffusion. For the longest peptides, the activation energies resemble more and more the value expected for solvent viscous flow. Internal friction is most important for the shortest peptides, causing a negative curvature and a smaller than ideal slope (ca. –1.1 of the double-logarithmic plots of the looping rates versus the number of peptide chain segments (N. Interestingly, the corresponding plot for the pre-exponential factors (logA versus logN shows the ideal slope (–1.5. While the looping rates can be used to assess the flexibility of peptides in a global way, it is suggested that the activation energies provide a measure of the “thermodynamic” flexibility of a peptide, while the pre-exponential factors reflect the “dynamic” flexibility.

  16. Natively unstructured loops differ from other loops.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avner Schlessinger

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Natively unstructured or disordered protein regions may increase the functional complexity of an organism; they are particularly abundant in eukaryotes and often evade structure determination. Many computational methods predict unstructured regions by training on outliers in otherwise well-ordered structures. Here, we introduce an approach that uses a neural network in a very different and novel way. We hypothesize that very long contiguous segments with nonregular secondary structure (NORS regions differ significantly from regular, well-structured loops, and that a method detecting such features could predict natively unstructured regions. Training our new method, NORSnet, on predicted information rather than on experimental data yielded three major advantages: it removed the overlap between testing and training, it systematically covered entire proteomes, and it explicitly focused on one particular aspect of unstructured regions with a simple structural interpretation, namely that they are loops. Our hypothesis was correct: well-structured and unstructured loops differ so substantially that NORSnet succeeded in their distinction. Benchmarks on previously used and new experimental data of unstructured regions revealed that NORSnet performed very well. Although it was not the best single prediction method, NORSnet was sufficiently accurate to flag unstructured regions in proteins that were previously not annotated. In one application, NORSnet revealed previously undetected unstructured regions in putative targets for structural genomics and may thereby contribute to increasing structural coverage of large eukaryotic families. NORSnet found unstructured regions more often in domain boundaries than expected at random. In another application, we estimated that 50%-70% of all worm proteins observed to have more than seven protein-protein interaction partners have unstructured regions. The comparative analysis between NORSnet and DISOPRED2 suggested

  17. Challenges in LCA modelling of multiple loops for aluminium cans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Niero, Monia; Olsen, Stig Irving

    considered the case of closed-loop recycling for aluminium cans, where body and lid are different alloys, and discussed the abovementioned challenge. The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) modelling of aluminium processes is traditionally based on a pure aluminium flow, therefore neglecting the presence of alloying...... elements. We included the effect of alloying elements on the LCA modelling of aluminium can recycling. First, we performed a mass balance of the main alloying elements (Mn, Fe, Si, Cu) in aluminium can recycling at increasing levels of recycling rate. The analysis distinguished between different aluminium...... packaging scrap sources (i.e. used beverage can and mixed aluminium packaging) to understand the limiting factors for multiple loop aluminium can recycling. Secondly, we performed a comparative LCA of aluminium can production and recycling in multiple loops considering the two aluminium packaging scrap...

  18. A type of loop algebra and the associated loop algebras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tam Honwah; Zhang Yufeng

    2008-01-01

    A higher-dimensional twisted loop algebra is constructed. As its application, a new Lax pair is presented, whose compatibility gives rise to a Liouville integrable hierarchy of evolution equations by making use of Tu scheme. One of the reduction cases of the hierarchy is an analogous of the well-known AKNS system. Next, the twisted loop algebra, furthermore, is extended to another higher dimensional loop algebra, from which a hierarchy of evolution equations with 11-potential component functions is obtained, whose reduction is just standard AKNS system. Especially, we prove that an arbitrary linear combination of the four Hamiltonian operators directly obtained from the recurrence relations is still a Hamiltonian operator. Therefore, the hierarchy with 11-potential functions possesses 4-Hamiltonian structures. Finally, an integrable coupling of the hierarchy is worked out

  19. Reliability analysis and component functional allocations for the ESF multi-loop controller design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hur, Seop; Kim, D.H.; Choi, J.K.; Park, J.C.; Seong, S.H.; Lee, D.Y.

    2006-01-01

    This paper deals with the reliability analysis and component functional allocations to ensure the enhanced system reliability and availability. In the Engineered Safety Features, functionally dependent components are controlled by a multi-loop controller. The system reliability of the Engineered Safety Features-Component Control System, especially, the multi-loop controller which is changed comparing to the conventional controllers is an important factor for the Probability Safety Assessment in the nuclear field. To evaluate the multi-loop controller's failure rate of the k-out-of-m redundant system, the binomial process is used. In addition, the component functional allocation is performed to tolerate a single multi-loop controller failure without the loss of vital operation within the constraints of the piping and component configuration, and ensure that mechanically redundant components remain functional. (author)

  20. Modeling of compact loop antennas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baity, F.W.

    1987-01-01

    A general compact loop antenna model which treats all elements of the antenna as lossy transmission lines has been developed. In addition to capacitively-tuned resonant double loop (RDL) antennas the model treats stub-tuned resonant double loop antennas. Calculations using the model have been compared with measurements on full-scale mockups of resonant double loop antennas for ATF and TFTR in order to refine the transmission line parameters. Results from the model are presented for RDL antenna designs for ATF, TFTR, Tore Supra, and for the Compact Ignition Tokamak

  1. Contribution of Topological Domains and Loop Formation to 3D Chromatin Organization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vuthy Ea

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Recent investigations on 3D chromatin folding revealed that the eukaryote genomes are both highly compartmentalized and extremely dynamic. This review presents the most recent advances in topological domains’ organization of the eukaryote genomes and discusses the relationship to chromatin loop formation. CTCF protein appears as a central factor of these two organization levels having either a strong insulating role at TAD borders, or a weaker architectural role in chromatin loop formation. TAD borders directly impact on chromatin dynamics by restricting contacts within specific genomic portions thus confining chromatin loop formation within TADs. We discuss how sub-TAD chromatin dynamics, constrained into a recently described statistical helix conformation, can produce functional interactions by contact stabilization.

  2. Infrared singularities of fermion propagator and their connection with the Wilson loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sissakyan, A.N.; Skachkov, N.B.; Shevchenko, O.Yu.

    1987-01-01

    The factorization of infrared singularities of gauge-invariant spinor propagator is proved in the framework of QED. It turns out that this infrared factor coincides with the Wilson loop and accumulates all the dependence on the form of the path of the initial Green function

  3. Rogowski Loop design for NSTX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCormack, B.; Kaita, R.; Kugel, H.; Hatcher, R.

    2000-01-01

    The Rogowski Loop is one of the most basic diagnostics for tokamak operations. On the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), the plasma current Rogowski Loop had the constraints of the very limited space available on the center stack, 5,000 volt isolation, flexibility requirements as it remained a part of the Center Stack assembly after the first phase of operation, and a +120 C temperature requirement. For the second phase of operation, four Halo Current Rogowski Loops under the Center Stack tiles will be installed having +600 C and limited space requirements. Also as part of the second operational phase, up to ten Rogowski Loops will installed to measure eddy currents in the Passive Plate support structures with +350 C, restricted space, and flexibility requirements. This presentation will provide the details of the material selection, fabrication techniques, testing, and installation results of the Rogowski Loops that were fabricated for the high temperature operational and bakeout requirements, high voltage isolation requirements, and the space and flexibility requirements imposed upon the Rogowski Loops. In the future operational phases of NSTX, additional Rogowski Loops could be anticipated that will measure toroidal plasma currents in the vacuum vessel and in the Passive Plate assemblies

  4. Exploring the Use of Design of Experiments in Industrial Processes Operating Under Closed-Loop Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Capaci, Francesca; Kulahci, Murat; Vanhatalo, Erik

    2017-01-01

    Industrial manufacturing processes often operate under closed-loop control, where automation aims to keep important process variables at their set-points. In process industries such as pulp, paper, chemical and steel plants, it is often hard to find production processes operating in open loop....... Instead, closed-loop control systems will actively attempt to minimize the impact of process disturbances. However, we argue that an implicit assumption in most experimental investigations is that the studied system is open loop, allowing the experimental factors to freely affect the important system...... responses. This scenario is typically not found in process industries. The purpose of this article is therefore to explore issues of experimental design and analysis in processes operating under closed-loop control and to illustrate how Design of Experiments can help in improving and optimizing...

  5. RNA/DNA Hybrid Interactome Identifies DXH9 as a Molecular Player in Transcriptional Termination and R-Loop-Associated DNA Damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cristini, Agnese; Groh, Matthias; Kristiansen, Maiken S; Gromak, Natalia

    2018-05-08

    R-loops comprise an RNA/DNA hybrid and displaced single-stranded DNA. They play important biological roles and are implicated in pathology. Even so, proteins recognizing these structures are largely undefined. Using affinity purification with the S9.6 antibody coupled to mass spectrometry, we defined the RNA/DNA hybrid interactome in HeLa cells. This consists of known R-loop-associated factors SRSF1, FACT, and Top1, and yet uncharacterized interactors, including helicases, RNA processing, DNA repair, and chromatin factors. We validate specific examples of these interactors and characterize their involvement in R-loop biology. A top candidate DHX9 helicase promotes R-loop suppression and transcriptional termination. DHX9 interacts with PARP1, and both proteins prevent R-loop-associated DNA damage. DHX9 and other interactome helicases are overexpressed in cancer, linking R-loop-mediated DNA damage and disease. Our RNA/DNA hybrid interactome provides a powerful resource to study R-loop biology in health and disease. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. ANALYSIS AND MODELING OF TWO FLARE LOOPS OBSERVED BY AIA AND EIS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Y.; Ding, M. D. [School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Qiu, J. [Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States)

    2012-10-10

    We analyze and model an M1.0 flare observed by SDO/AIA and Hinode/EIS to investigate how flare loops are heated and evolve subsequently. The flare is composed of two distinctive loop systems observed in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images. The UV 1600 A emission at the feet of these loops exhibits a rapid rise, followed by enhanced emission in different EUV channels observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS). Such behavior is indicative of impulsive energy deposit and the subsequent response in overlying coronal loops that evolve through different temperatures. Using the method we recently developed, we infer empirical heating functions from the rapid rise of the UV light curves for the two loop systems, respectively, treating them as two big loops with cross-sectional area of 5'' by 5'', and compute the plasma evolution in the loops using the EBTEL model. We compute the synthetic EUV light curves, which, with the limitation of the model, reasonably agree with observed light curves obtained in multiple AIA channels and EIS lines: they show the same evolution trend and their magnitudes are comparable by within a factor of two. Furthermore, we also compare the computed mean enthalpy flow velocity with the Doppler shift measurements by EIS during the decay phase of the two loops. Our results suggest that the two different loops with different heating functions as inferred from their footpoint UV emission, combined with their different lengths as measured from imaging observations, give rise to different coronal plasma evolution patterns captured both in the model and in observations.

  7. Hybrid Combustion-Gasification Chemical Looping

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herbert Andrus; Gregory Burns; John Chiu; Gregory Lijedahl; Peter Stromberg; Paul Thibeault

    2009-01-07

    For the past several years Alstom Power Inc. (Alstom), a leading world-wide power system manufacturer and supplier, has been in the initial stages of developing an entirely new, ultra-clean, low cost, high efficiency power plant for the global power market. This new power plant concept is based on a hybrid combustion-gasification process utilizing high temperature chemical and thermal looping technology The process consists of the oxidation, reduction, carbonation, and calcination of calcium-based compounds, which chemically react with coal, biomass, or opportunity fuels in two chemical loops and one thermal loop. The chemical and thermal looping technology can be alternatively configured as (i) a combustion-based steam power plant with CO{sub 2} capture, (ii) a hybrid combustion-gasification process producing a syngas for gas turbines or fuel cells, or (iii) an integrated hybrid combustion-gasification process producing hydrogen for gas turbines, fuel cells or other hydrogen based applications while also producing a separate stream of CO{sub 2} for use or sequestration. In its most advanced configuration, this new concept offers the promise to become the technology link from today's Rankine cycle steam power plants to tomorrow's advanced energy plants. The objective of this work is to develop and verify the high temperature chemical and thermal looping process concept at a small-scale pilot facility in order to enable AL to design, construct and demonstrate a pre-commercial, prototype version of this advanced system. In support of this objective, Alstom and DOE started a multi-year program, under this contract. Before the contract started, in a preliminary phase (Phase 0) Alstom funded and built the required small-scale pilot facility (Process Development Unit, PDU) at its Power Plant Laboratories in Windsor, Connecticut. Construction was completed in calendar year 2003. The objective for Phase I was to develop the indirect combustion loop with CO{sub 2

  8. Thermal-hydraulic analyses for in-pile SCWR fuel qualification test loops and SCWR material loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vojacek, A.; Mazzini, G.; Zmitkova, J.; Ruzickova, M. [Research Centre Rez (Czech Republic)

    2014-07-01

    One of the R&D directions of Research Centre Rez is dedicated to the supercritical water-cooled reactor concept (SCWR). Among the developed experimental facilities and infrastructure in the framework of the SUSEN project (SUStainable ENergy) is construction and experimental operation of the supercritical water loop SCWL focusing on material tests. At the first phase, this SCWL loop is assembled and operated out-of-pile in the dedicated loop facilities hall. At this out-of-pile operation various operational conditions are tested and verified. After that, in the second phase, the SCWL loop will be situated in-pile, in the core of the research reactor LVR-15, operated at CVR. Furthermore, it is planned to carry out a test of a small scale fuel assembly within the SuperCritical Water Reactor Fuel Qualification Test (SCWR-FQT) loop, which is now being designed. This paper presents the results of the thermal-hydraulic analyses of SCWL loop out-of-pile operation using the RELAP5/MOD3.3. The thermal-hydraulic modeling and the performed analyses are focused on the SCWL loop model validation through a comparison of the calculation results with the experimental results obtained at various operation conditions. Further, the present paper focuses on the transient analyses for start-up and shut-down of the FQT loop, particularly to explore the ability of system codes ATHLET 3.0A to simulate the transient between subcritical conditions and supercritical conditions. (author)

  9. Algorithm for counting large directed loops

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bianconi, Ginestra [Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste (Italy); Gulbahce, Natali [Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM 87545 (United States)

    2008-06-06

    We derive a Belief-Propagation algorithm for counting large loops in a directed network. We evaluate the distribution of the number of small loops in a directed random network with given degree sequence. We apply the algorithm to a few characteristic directed networks of various network sizes and loop structures and compare the algorithm with exhaustive counting results when possible. The algorithm is adequate in estimating loop counts for large directed networks and can be used to compare the loop structure of directed networks and their randomized counterparts.

  10. Oscillation damping of chiral string loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Babichev, Eugeny; Dokuchaev, Vyacheslav

    2002-01-01

    Chiral cosmic string loops tend to the stationary (vorton) configuration due to energy loss into gravitational and electromagnetic radiation. We describe the asymptotic behavior of near stationary chiral loops and their fading to vortons. General limits on the gravitational and electromagnetic energy losses by near stationary chiral loops are found. For these loops we estimate the oscillation damping time. We present solvable examples of gravitational radiation energy loss by some chiral loop configurations. The analytical dependence of string energy with time is found in the case of the chiral ring with small amplitude radial oscillations

  11. Senataxin Mutation Reveals How R-Loops Promote Transcription by Blocking DNA Methylation at Gene Promoters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grunseich, Christopher; Wang, Isabel X; Watts, Jason A; Burdick, Joshua T; Guber, Robert D; Zhu, Zhengwei; Bruzel, Alan; Lanman, Tyler; Chen, Kelian; Schindler, Alice B; Edwards, Nancy; Ray-Chaudhury, Abhik; Yao, Jianhua; Lehky, Tanya; Piszczek, Grzegorz; Crain, Barbara; Fischbeck, Kenneth H; Cheung, Vivian G

    2018-02-01

    R-loops are three-stranded nucleic acid structures found abundantly and yet often viewed as by-products of transcription. Studying cells from patients with a motor neuron disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 4 [ALS4]) caused by a mutation in senataxin, we uncovered how R-loops promote transcription. In ALS4 patients, the senataxin mutation depletes R-loops with a consequent effect on gene expression. With fewer R-loops in ALS4 cells, the expression of BAMBI, a negative regulator of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), is reduced; that then leads to the activation of the TGF-β pathway. We uncovered that genome-wide R-loops influence promoter methylation of over 1,200 human genes. DNA methyl-transferase 1 favors binding to double-stranded DNA over R-loops. Thus, in forming R-loops, nascent RNA blocks DNA methylation and promotes further transcription. Hence, our results show that nucleic acid structures, in addition to sequences, influence the binding and activity of regulatory proteins. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. LoopX: A Graphical User Interface-Based Database for Comprehensive Analysis and Comparative Evaluation of Loops from Protein Structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadumuri, Rajashekar Varma; Vadrevu, Ramakrishna

    2017-10-01

    Due to their crucial role in function, folding, and stability, protein loops are being targeted for grafting/designing to create novel or alter existing functionality and improve stability and foldability. With a view to facilitate a thorough analysis and effectual search options for extracting and comparing loops for sequence and structural compatibility, we developed, LoopX a comprehensively compiled library of sequence and conformational features of ∼700,000 loops from protein structures. The database equipped with a graphical user interface is empowered with diverse query tools and search algorithms, with various rendering options to visualize the sequence- and structural-level information along with hydrogen bonding patterns, backbone φ, ψ dihedral angles of both the target and candidate loops. Two new features (i) conservation of the polar/nonpolar environment and (ii) conservation of sequence and conformation of specific residues within the loops have also been incorporated in the search and retrieval of compatible loops for a chosen target loop. Thus, the LoopX server not only serves as a database and visualization tool for sequence and structural analysis of protein loops but also aids in extracting and comparing candidate loops for a given target loop based on user-defined search options.

  13. Proliferation of NS0 cells in protein-free medium: the role of cell-derived proteins, known growth factors and cellular receptors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spens, Erika; Häggström, Lena

    2009-05-20

    NS0 cells proliferate without external supply of growth factors in protein-free media. We hypothesize that the cells produce their own factors to support proliferation. Understanding the mechanisms behind this autocrine regulation of proliferation may open for the novel approaches to improve animal cell processes. The following proteins were identified in NS0 conditioned medium (CM): cyclophilin A, cyclophilin B (CypB), cystatin C, D-dopachrome tautomerase, IL-25, isopentenyl-diphosphate delta-isomerase, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), beta(2)-microglobulin, Niemann pick type C2, secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor, thioredoxin-1, TNF-alpha, tumour protein translationally controlled 1 and ubiquitin. Further, cDNA microarray analysis indicated that the genes for IL-11, TNF receptor 6, TGF-beta receptor 1 and the IFN-gamma receptor were transcribed. CypB, IFN-alpha/beta/gamma, IL-11, IL-25, MIF, TGF-beta and TNF-alpha as well as the known growth factors EGF, IGF-I/II, IL-6, leukaemia inhibitory factor and oncostatin M (OSM) were excluded as involved in autocrine regulation of NS0 cell proliferation. The receptors for TGF-beta, IGF and OSM are however present in NS0 cell membranes since TGF-beta(1) caused cell death, and IGF-I/II and OSM improved cell growth. Even though no ligand was found, the receptor subunit gp130, active in signal transduction of the IL-6 like proteins, was shown to be essential for NS0 cells as demonstrated by siRNA gene silencing.

  14. Plasticity of 150-loop in influenza neuraminidase explored by Hamiltonian replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nanyu Han

    Full Text Available Neuraminidase (NA of influenza is a key target for antiviral inhibitors, and the 150-cavity in group-1 NA provides new insight in treating this disease. However, NA of 2009 pandemic influenza (09N1 was found lacking this cavity in a crystal structure. To address the issue of flexibility of the 150-loop, Hamiltonian replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations were performed on different groups of NAs. Free energy landscape calculated based on the volume of 150-cavity indicates that 09N1 prefers open forms of 150-loop. The turn A (residues 147-150 of the 150-loop is discovered as the most dynamical motif which induces the inter-conversion of this loop among different conformations. In the turn A, the backbone dynamic of residue 149 is highly related with the shape of 150-loop, thus can function as a marker for the conformation of 150-loop. As a contrast, the closed conformation of 150-loop is more energetically favorable in N2, one of group-2 NAs. The D147-H150 salt bridge is found having no correlation with the conformation of 150-loop. Instead the intimate salt bridge interaction between the 150 and 430 loops in N2 variant contributes the stabilizing factor for the closed form of 150-loop. The clustering analysis elaborates the structural plasticity of the loop. This enhanced sampling simulation provides more information in further structural-based drug discovery on influenza virus.

  15. On the loop-loop scattering amplitudes in Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meggiolaro, Enrico

    2005-01-01

    The high-energy elastic scattering amplitude of two colour-singlet qq-bar pairs is governed by the correlation function of two Wilson loops, which follow the classical straight lines for quark (antiquark) trajectories. This quantity is expected to be free of IR divergences, differently from what happens for the parton-parton elastic scattering amplitude, described, in the high-energy limit, by the expectation value of two Wilson lines. We shall explicitly test this IR finiteness by a direct non-perturbative computation of the loop-loop scattering amplitudes in the (pedagogic, but surely physically interesting) case of quenched QED. The results obtained for the Abelian case will be generalized to the case of a non-Abelian gauge theory with Nc colours, but stopping to the order O(g4) in perturbation theory. In connection with the above-mentioned IR finiteness, we shall also discuss some analytic properties of the loop-loop scattering amplitudes in both Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories, when going from Minkowskian to Euclidean theory, which can be relevant to the still unsolved problem of the s-dependence of hadron-hadron total cross-sections

  16. Multi-parton loop amplitudes and next-to-leading order jet cross-sections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bern, Z.; Dixon, L.; Kosower, D.A.; Signer, A.

    1998-02-01

    The authors review recent developments in the calculation of QCD loop amplitudes with several external legs, and their application to next-to-leading order jet production cross-sections. When a number of calculational tools are combined together--helicity, color and supersymmetry decompositions, plus unitarity and factorization properties--it becomes possible to compute multi-parton one-loop QCD amplitudes without ever evaluating analytically standard one-loop Feynman diagrams. One-loop helicity amplitudes are now available for processes with five external partons (ggggg, q anti qggg and q anti qq anti q' g), and for an intermediate vector boson V ≡ γ * , Z, W plus four external partons (V q anti q and V q anti qq'anti q'). Using these amplitudes, numerical programs have been constructed for the next-to-leading order corrections to the processes p anti p → 3 jets (ignoring quark contributions so far) and e + e - → 4 jets

  17. K0-anti K0 mixing at three loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eeg, J.O.

    1987-01-01

    We consider diagrams of order α s 2 G F 2 for the K 0 -anti K 0 mixing, topologically different from the gluon-corrected standard box. The treatment of three-loop diagrams is simplified by factorizing them in terms of momentum-dependent effective vertices for s → dG and s → dGG transitions. An enhancement from the remaining loop-momentum integration compensates for the extra powers of the strong coupling. This gives a significant contribution to the CP-violating part (-15% to -40% of the standard-box value). The dependence of the results on the involved mass parameters is illustrated by LEGO plots for both the CP-conserving and CP-violating parts. (orig.)

  18. A positive feedback loop between progesterone and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1-mediated PGE2 promotes production of both in mouse granulosa cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamura, Kazuhiro; Naraba, Hiroaki; Hara, Takahiko; Nakamura, Kota; Yoshie, Mikihiro; Kogo, Hiroshi; Tachikawa, Eiichi

    2016-03-01

    Microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1) is primarily expressed in granulosa cells (GCs) in the preovulatory follicle. Both prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and progesterone (P4) are implicated in various reproductive functions. Here, we demonstrate that mPges-1 may be a direct downstream target gene of the P4 receptor and P4-stimulated PGE2 secretion can stimulate P4 production in a newly generated mouse GC line (GtsT). Treatment of GtsT cells with a P4 receptor agonist, norgestrel, markedly increased mPGES-1 expression detected by RT-PCR analysis. PGE2 secretion measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was enhanced by P4 treatment. Luciferase assays revealed that the proximal promoter region of the mPges-1 gene was responsible for the effects of P4 treatment. Conversely, PGE2 treatment stimulated P4 secretion, which coordinated with mRNA expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein. Taken together, P4 may regulate mPGES-1 expression to increase PGE2 secretion and in turn P4 production. An autocrine loop between P4 and PGE2 might function to maintain the increased levels of both in GCs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Higher dimensional loop quantum cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Xiangdong

    2016-01-01

    Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is the symmetric sector of loop quantum gravity. In this paper, we generalize the structure of loop quantum cosmology to the theories with arbitrary spacetime dimensions. The isotropic and homogeneous cosmological model in n + 1 dimensions is quantized by the loop quantization method. Interestingly, we find that the underlying quantum theories are divided into two qualitatively different sectors according to spacetime dimensions. The effective Hamiltonian and modified dynamical equations of n + 1 dimensional LQC are obtained. Moreover, our results indicate that the classical big bang singularity is resolved in arbitrary spacetime dimensions by a quantum bounce. We also briefly discuss the similarities and differences between the n + 1 dimensional model and the 3 + 1 dimensional one. Our model serves as a first example of higher dimensional loop quantum cosmology and offers the possibility to investigate quantum gravity effects in higher dimensional cosmology. (orig.)

  20. Creating integral value for stakeholders in closed loop supply chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schenkel, Maren; Krikke, Harold; Caniëls, Marjolein CJ; van der Laan, Erwin

    This paper contributes to the existing literature by researching integral value creation in closed loop supply chains (CLSCs). We distinguish between multiple types of business value, strategic success factors, and multiple groups of stakeholders that affect and are affected by CLSC activities. To

  1. Hyperstaticity and loops in frictional granular packings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tordesillas, Antoinette; Lam, Edward; Metzger, Philip T.

    2009-06-01

    The hyperstatic nature of granular packings of perfectly rigid disks is analyzed algebraically and through numerical simulation. The elementary loops of grains emerge as a fundamental element in addressing hyperstaticity. Loops consisting of an odd number of grains behave differently than those with an even number. For odd loops, the latent stresses are exterior and are characterized by the sum of frictional forces around each loop. For even loops, the latent stresses are interior and are characterized by the alternating sum of frictional forces around each loop. The statistics of these two types of loop sums are found to be Gibbsian with a "temperature" that is linear with the friction coefficient μ when μ<1.

  2. Conformal boundary loop models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacobsen, Jesper Lykke; Saleur, Hubert

    2008-01-01

    We study a model of densely packed self-avoiding loops on the annulus, related to the Temperley-Lieb algebra with an extra idempotent boundary generator. Four different weights are given to the loops, depending on their homotopy class and whether they touch the outer rim of the annulus. When the weight of a contractible bulk loop x≡q+q -1 element of (-2,2], this model is conformally invariant for any real weight of the remaining three parameters. We classify the conformal boundary conditions and give exact expressions for the corresponding boundary scaling dimensions. The amplitudes with which the sectors with any prescribed number and types of non-contractible loops appear in the full partition function Z are computed rigorously. Based on this, we write a number of identities involving Z which hold true for any finite size. When the weight of a contractible boundary loop y takes certain discrete values, y r ≡([r+1] q )/([r] q ) with r integer, other identities involving the standard characters K r,s of the Virasoro algebra are established. The connection with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions in the O(n) model is discussed in detail, and new scaling dimensions are derived. When q is a root of unity and y=y r , exact connections with the A m type RSOS model are made. These involve precise relations between the spectra of the loop and RSOS model transfer matrices, valid in finite size. Finally, the results where y=y r are related to the theory of Temperley-Lieb cabling

  3. Geometric phase in a split-beam experiment measured with coupled neutron interference loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasegawa, Yuji; Zawisky, M.; Rauch, H.; Ioffe, A.

    1996-01-01

    A geometric phase factor is derived for a split-beam experiment as an example of cyclic evolutions. The geometric phase is given by one half of the solid angle independent of the spin of the beam. We observe this geometric phase with a two-loop neutron interferometer, where a reference beam can be added to the beam from one interference loop. All the experimental results show complete agreement with our theoretical treatment. (author)

  4. Two-loop operator matrix elements for massive fermionic local twist-2 operators in QED

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bluemlein, J.; Freitas, A. de; Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas; Neerven, W.L. van

    2011-11-01

    We describe the calculation of the two--loop massive operator matrix elements with massive external fermions in QED. We investigate the factorization of the O(α 2 ) initial state corrections to e + e - annihilation into a virtual boson for large cms energies s >>m 2 e into massive operator matrix elements and the massless Wilson coefficients of the Drell-Yan process adapting the color coefficients to the case of QED, as proposed by F. A. Berends et. al. (Nucl. Phys. B 297 (1988)429). Our calculations show explicitly that the representation proposed there works at one-loop order and up to terms linear in ln (s/m 2 e ) at two-loop order. However, the two-loop constant part contains a few structural terms, which have not been obtained in previous direct calculations. (orig.)

  5. Large lithium loop experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolowith, R.; Owen, T.J.; Berg, J.D.; Atwood, J.M.

    1981-10-01

    An engineering design and operating experience of a large, isothermal, lithium-coolant test loop are presented. This liquid metal coolant loop is called the Experimental Lithium System (ELS) and has operated safely and reliably for over 6500 hours through September 1981. The loop is used for full-scale testing of components for the Fusion Materials Irradiation Test (FMIT) Facility. Main system parameters include coolant temperatures to 430 0 C and flow to 0.038 m 3 /s (600 gal/min). Performance of the main pump, vacuum system, and control system is discussed. Unique test capabilities of the ELS are also discussed

  6. Modular invariance and covariant loop calculus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petersen, J.L.; Roland, K.O.; Sidenius, J.R.

    1988-01-01

    The covariant loop calculus provides an efficient technique for computing explicit expressions for the density on moduli space corresponding to arbitrary (bosonic string) loop diagrams. Since modular invariance is not manifest, however, we carry out a detailed comparison with known explicit two- and three-loop results derived using analytic geometry (one loop is known to be okay). We establish identity to 'high' order in some moduli and exactly in others. Agreement is found as a result of various nontrivial cancellations, in part related to number theory. We feel our results provide very strong support for the correctness of the covariant loop calculus approach. (orig.)

  7. Modular invariance and covariant loop calculus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petersen, J.L.; Roland, K.O.; Sidenius, J.R.

    1988-01-01

    The covariant loop calculus provides and efficient technique for computing explicit expressions for the density on moduli space corresponding to arbitrary (bosonic string) loop diagrams. Since modular invariance is not manifest, however, we carry out a detailed comparison with known explicit 2- and 3- loop results derived using analytic geometry (1 loop is known to be ok). We establish identity to 'high' order in some moduli and exactly in others. Agreement is found as a result of various non-trivial cancellations, in part related to number theory. We feel our results provide very strong support for the correctness of the covariant loop calculus approach. (orig.)

  8. Thermal and hydrodynamic characteristics of supercritical CO2 natural circulation in closed loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Lin; Deng, Bi-Li; Jiang, Bin; Zhang, Xin-Rong

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► We model thermosyphon heat transfer and stability with super-/trans-critical turbulence model incorporated. ► Potentials of super-/trans-critical CO 2 thermosyphon are confirmed. ► Three characteristics found: flow instability; high flow rate with density wave; heat transfer discrepancies. ► Major laws of system stability factors are different compared with traditional fluids. ► Traditional thermosyphon flow correlation has its limitations and deserves further development. -- Abstract: Natural convective flow of supercritical fluids has become a hot topic in engineering applications. Natural circulation thermosyphon using supercritical/trans-critical CO 2 can be a potential choice for effectively transportation of heat and mass without pumping devices. This paper presents a series of numerical investigations into the fundamental features in a supercritical/trans-critical CO 2 based natural circulation loop. New heat transport model aiming at trans-critical thermosyphon heat transfer and stability is proposed with supercritical/trans-critical turbulence model incorporated. In this study, the fundamentals include the basic flow and heat transfer behavior of the above loop, the effect of heat source temperature on system stability, the effect of loop diameter on natural convection supercritical CO 2 loop and its coupling effect with heat source temperature and the effect of constant changing heat input condition and system behavior evolution during unsteady input or failure conditions. The fundamental potentials of supercritical/trans-critical CO 2 based natural convection system are confirmed. Basic supercritical CO 2 closed loop flow and heat transfer behaviors are clarified. During this study, the CO 2 loop stability map are also put forward and introduced as an important feature of supercritical CO 2 system. Stability factors of natural convective trans-critical CO 2 flow and its implications on real system control are also discussed in

  9. Gauge theory loop operators and Liouville theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drukker, Nadav; Teschner, Joerg

    2009-10-01

    We propose a correspondence between loop operators in a family of four dimensional N=2 gauge theories on S 4 - including Wilson, 't Hooft and dyonic operators - and Liouville theory loop operators on a Riemann surface. This extends the beautiful relation between the partition function of these N=2 gauge theories and Liouville correlators found by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa. We show that the computation of these Liouville correlators with the insertion of a Liouville loop operator reproduces Pestun's formula capturing the expectation value of a Wilson loop operator in the corresponding gauge theory. We prove that our definition of Liouville loop operators is invariant under modular transformations, which given our correspondence, implies the conjectured action of S-duality on the gauge theory loop operators. Our computations in Liouville theory make an explicit prediction for the exact expectation value of 't Hooft and dyonic loop operators in these N=2 gauge theories. The Liouville loop operators are also found to admit a simple geometric interpretation within quantum Teichmueller theory as the quantum operators representing the length of geodesics. We study the algebra of Liouville loop operators and show that it gives evidence for our proposal as well as providing definite predictions for the operator product expansion of loop operators in gauge theory. (orig.)

  10. A True Open-Loop Synchronization Technique

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Golestan, Saeed; Vidal, Ana; Yepes, Alejandro G.

    2016-01-01

    Synchronization techniques can be broadly classified into two major categories: Closed-loop and open-loop methods. The open-loop synchronization (OLS) techniques, contrary to the closed-loop ones, are unconditionally stable and benefit from a fast dynamic response. Their performance, however, tends...... is to develop a true OLS (and therefore, unconditionally stable) technique without any need for the calculation of sine and cosine functions. The effectiveness of the proposed synchronization technique is confirmed through the simulation and experimental results....

  11. A kinematic view of loop closure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coutsias, Evangelos A; Seok, Chaok; Jacobson, Matthew P; Dill, Ken A

    2004-03-01

    We consider the problem of loop closure, i.e., of finding the ensemble of possible backbone structures of a chain segment of a protein molecule that is geometrically consistent with preceding and following parts of the chain whose structures are given. We reduce this problem of determining the loop conformations of six torsions to finding the real roots of a 16th degree polynomial in one variable, based on the robotics literature on the kinematics of the equivalent rotator linkage in the most general case of oblique rotators. We provide a simple intuitive view and derivation of the polynomial for the case in which each of the three pair of torsional axes has a common point. Our method generalizes previous work on analytical loop closure in that the torsion angles need not be consecutive, and any rigid intervening segments are allowed between the free torsions. Our approach also allows for a small degree of flexibility in the bond angles and the peptide torsion angles; this substantially enlarges the space of solvable configurations as is demonstrated by an application of the method to the modeling of cyclic pentapeptides. We give further applications to two important problems. First, we show that this analytical loop closure algorithm can be efficiently combined with an existing loop-construction algorithm to sample loops longer than three residues. Second, we show that Monte Carlo minimization is made severalfold more efficient by employing the local moves generated by the loop closure algorithm, when applied to the global minimization of an eight-residue loop. Our loop closure algorithm is freely available at http://dillgroup. ucsf.edu/loop_closure/. Copyright 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 25: 510-528, 2004

  12. Strange mesonic transition form factor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goity, J.L.; Musolf, M.J.

    1996-01-01

    The strange-quark vector current ρ-to-π meson transition form factor is computed at one-loop order using strange meson intermediate states. A comparison is made with a φ-meson dominance model estimate. We find that one-loop contributions are comparable in magnitude to those predicted by φ-meson dominance. It is possible that the one-loop contribution can make the matrix element as large as those of the electromagnetic current mediating vector meson radiative decays. However, due to the quadratic dependence of the one-loop results on the hadronic form factor cutoff mass, a large uncertainty in the estimate of the loops is unavoidable. These results indicate that non-nucleonic strange quarks could contribute appreciable in moderate-parallel Q 2 parallel parity-violating electron-nucleus scattering measurements aimed at probing the strange-quark content of the nucleon. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

  13. PH4 of petunia is an R2R3-MYB protein that activates vacuolar acidification through interactions with Basic-Helix-Loop transcription factors of the anthocyanin pathway.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Quattrocchio, F.M.; Verweij, C.W.; Kroon, A.R.; Spelt, C.E.; Mol, J.N.M.; Koes, R.E.

    2006-01-01

    The Petunia hybrids genes ANTHOCYANIN1 (AN1) and AN2 encode transcription factors with a basic-helix-loop-helix (BHLH) and a MYB domain, respectively, that are required for anthocyanin synthesis and acidification of the vacuole in petal cells. Mutation of PH4 results in a bluer flower color,

  14. An experimental study of dislocation loop nucleation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bounaud, J.Y.; Leteurtre, J.

    1975-01-01

    The nucleation of dislocation loops is experimentally studied by observing the demixion of the Burgers vectors of dislocation loops nucleated in copper whiskers irradiated in flexion by fission fragments at room temperature. The demixion of Burgers vectors is observed by the dimensional effects of dislocation loops: after irradiation, the applied stress is removed; the whisker shows a residual strain that is due to loops because, after an annealing treatment to evaporate dislocation loops, each whisker recovers its initial straight shape. Everywhere along the whisker, the radius of curvature is measured and plotted vs the max. applied stress. Estimations of the interstitial and vacancy dislocation loop nuclei are derived [fr

  15. Coupling between feedback loops in autoregulatory networks affects bistability range, open-loop gain and switching times

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tiwari, Abhinav; Igoshin, Oleg A

    2012-01-01

    Biochemical regulatory networks governing diverse cellular processes such as stress-response, differentiation and cell cycle often contain coupled feedback loops. We aim at understanding how features of feedback architecture, such as the number of loops, the sign of the loops and the type of their coupling, affect network dynamical performance. Specifically, we investigate how bistability range, maximum open-loop gain and switching times of a network with transcriptional positive feedback are affected by additive or multiplicative coupling with another positive- or negative-feedback loop. We show that a network's bistability range is positively correlated with its maximum open-loop gain and that both quantities depend on the sign of the feedback loops and the type of feedback coupling. Moreover, we find that the addition of positive feedback could decrease the bistability range if we control the basal level in the signal-response curves of the two systems. Furthermore, the addition of negative feedback has the capacity to increase the bistability range if its dissociation constant is much lower than that of the positive feedback. We also find that the addition of a positive feedback to a bistable network increases the robustness of its bistability range, whereas the addition of a negative feedback decreases it. Finally, we show that the switching time for a transition from a high to a low steady state increases with the effective fold change in gene regulation. In summary, we show that the effect of coupled feedback loops on the bistability range and switching times depends on the underlying mechanistic details. (paper)

  16. Gauge theory loop operators and Liouville theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drukker, Nadav [Humboldt Univ. Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik; Gomis, Jaume; Okuda, Takuda [Perimeter Inst. for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON (Canada); Teschner, Joerg [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

    2009-10-15

    We propose a correspondence between loop operators in a family of four dimensional N=2 gauge theories on S{sup 4} - including Wilson, 't Hooft and dyonic operators - and Liouville theory loop operators on a Riemann surface. This extends the beautiful relation between the partition function of these N=2 gauge theories and Liouville correlators found by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa. We show that the computation of these Liouville correlators with the insertion of a Liouville loop operator reproduces Pestun's formula capturing the expectation value of a Wilson loop operator in the corresponding gauge theory. We prove that our definition of Liouville loop operators is invariant under modular transformations, which given our correspondence, implies the conjectured action of S-duality on the gauge theory loop operators. Our computations in Liouville theory make an explicit prediction for the exact expectation value of 't Hooft and dyonic loop operators in these N=2 gauge theories. The Liouville loop operators are also found to admit a simple geometric interpretation within quantum Teichmueller theory as the quantum operators representing the length of geodesics. We study the algebra of Liouville loop operators and show that it gives evidence for our proposal as well as providing definite predictions for the operator product expansion of loop operators in gauge theory. (orig.)

  17. Relating loop quantum cosmology to loop quantum gravity: symmetric sectors and embeddings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engle, J

    2007-01-01

    In this paper we address the meaning of states in loop quantum cosmology (LQC), in the context of loop quantum gravity. First, we introduce a rigorous formulation of an embedding proposed by Bojowald and Kastrup, of LQC states into loop quantum gravity. Then, using certain holomorphic representations, a new class of embeddings, called b-embeddings, are constructed, following the ideas of Engle (2006 Quantum field theory and its symmetry reduction Class. Quantum Gravity 23 2861-94). We exhibit a class of operators preserving each of these embeddings, and show their consistency with the LQC quantization. In the b-embedding case, the classical analogues of these operators separate points in phase space. Embedding at the gauge and diffeomorphism invariant level is discussed briefly in the conclusions

  18. DNA looping by FokI: the impact of twisting and bending rigidity on protein-induced looping dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laurens, Niels; Rusling, David A.; Pernstich, Christian; Brouwer, Ineke; Halford, Stephen E.; Wuite, Gijs J. L.

    2012-01-01

    Protein-induced DNA looping is crucial for many genetic processes such as transcription, gene regulation and DNA replication. Here, we use tethered-particle motion to examine the impact of DNA bending and twisting rigidity on loop capture and release, using the restriction endonuclease FokI as a test system. To cleave DNA efficiently, FokI bridges two copies of an asymmetric sequence, invariably aligning the sites in parallel. On account of the fixed alignment, the topology of the DNA loop is set by the orientation of the sites along the DNA. We show that both the separation of the FokI sites and their orientation, altering, respectively, the twisting and the bending of the DNA needed to juxtapose the sites, have profound effects on the dynamics of the looping interaction. Surprisingly, the presence of a nick within the loop does not affect the observed rigidity of the DNA. In contrast, the introduction of a 4-nt gap fully relaxes all of the torque present in the system but does not necessarily enhance loop stability. FokI therefore employs torque to stabilise its DNA-looping interaction by acting as a ‘torsional’ catch bond. PMID:22373924

  19. Water loop for training

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moeller, S.V.

    1983-02-01

    The procedures used to operate the water loop of the Institute of Nuclear Enginering (IEN) in Brazil are presented. The aim is to help future operators of the training water loop in the operation technique and in a better comprehension of the phenomena occured during the execution of an experience. (E.G.) [pt

  20. Loop equations in the theory of gravitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makeenko, Yu.M.; Voronov, N.A.

    1981-01-01

    Loop-space variables (matrices of parallel transport) for the theory of gravitation are described. Loop equations, which are equivalent to the Einstein equations, are derived in the classical case. Loop equations are derived for gravity with cosmological constant as well. An analogy with the loop-space approach in Yang-Mills theory is discussed [ru

  1. Tritium Management Loop Design Status

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rader, Jordan D. [ORNL; Felde, David K. [ORNL; McFarlane, Joanna [ORNL; Greenwood, Michael Scott [ORNL; Qualls, A L. [ORNL; Calderoni, Pattrick [Idaho National Laboratory (INL)

    2017-12-01

    This report summarizes physical, chemical, and engineering analyses that have been done to support the development of a test loop to study tritium migration in 2LiF-BeF2 salts. The loop will operate under turbulent flow and a schematic of the apparatus has been used to develop a model in Mathcad to suggest flow parameters that should be targeted in loop operation. The introduction of tritium into the loop has been discussed as well as various means to capture or divert the tritium from egress through a test assembly. Permeation was calculated starting with a Modelica model for a transport through a nickel window into a vacuum, and modifying it for a FLiBe system with an argon sweep gas on the downstream side of the permeation interface. Results suggest that tritium removal with a simple tubular permeation device will occur readily. Although this system is idealized, it suggests that rapid measurement capability in the loop may be necessary to study and understand tritium removal from the system.

  2. Criteria for saturated magnetization loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harres, A.; Mikhov, M.; Skumryev, V.; Andrade, A.M.H. de; Schmidt, J.E.; Geshev, J.

    2016-01-01

    Proper estimation of magnetization curve parameters is vital in studying magnetic systems. In the present article, criteria for discrimination non-saturated (minor) from saturated (major) hysteresis loops are proposed. These employ the analysis of (i) derivatives of both ascending and descending branches of the loop, (ii) remanent magnetization curves, and (iii) thermomagnetic curves. Computational simulations are used in order to demonstrate their validity. Examples illustrating the applicability of these criteria to well-known real systems, namely Fe_3O_4 and Ni fine particles, are provided. We demonstrate that the anisotropy-field value estimated from a visual examination of an only apparently major hysteresis loop could be more than two times lower than the real one. - Highlights: • Proper estimation of hysteresis-loop parameters is vital in magnetic studies. • We propose criteria for discrimination minor from major hysteresis loops. • The criteria analyze magnetization, remanence and ZFC/FC curves and/or their derivatives. • Examples of their application on real nanoparticles systems are given. • Using the criteria could avoid twofold or bigger saturation-field underestimation errors.

  3. Criteria for saturated magnetization loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harres, A. [Departamento de Física, UFSM, Santa Maria, 97105-900 Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil); Mikhov, M. [Faculty of Physics, University of Sofia, 1164 Sofia (Bulgaria); Skumryev, V. [Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona (Spain); Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona (Spain); Andrade, A.M.H. de; Schmidt, J.E. [Instituto de Física, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, 91501-970 Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil); Geshev, J., E-mail: julian@if.ufrgs.br [Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona (Spain); Instituto de Física, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, 91501-970 Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)

    2016-03-15

    Proper estimation of magnetization curve parameters is vital in studying magnetic systems. In the present article, criteria for discrimination non-saturated (minor) from saturated (major) hysteresis loops are proposed. These employ the analysis of (i) derivatives of both ascending and descending branches of the loop, (ii) remanent magnetization curves, and (iii) thermomagnetic curves. Computational simulations are used in order to demonstrate their validity. Examples illustrating the applicability of these criteria to well-known real systems, namely Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} and Ni fine particles, are provided. We demonstrate that the anisotropy-field value estimated from a visual examination of an only apparently major hysteresis loop could be more than two times lower than the real one. - Highlights: • Proper estimation of hysteresis-loop parameters is vital in magnetic studies. • We propose criteria for discrimination minor from major hysteresis loops. • The criteria analyze magnetization, remanence and ZFC/FC curves and/or their derivatives. • Examples of their application on real nanoparticles systems are given. • Using the criteria could avoid twofold or bigger saturation-field underestimation errors.

  4. State Feedback Decoupling with In-Loop Lead Compensator in Stand-Alone VSIs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Federico, de Bosio; Pastorelli, Michele; de Sousa Ribeiro, Luiz Antonio

    2016-01-01

    The performance of current and voltage regulators during transients and steady-state is of primary concern for power converters intended for stand-alone applications. Dynamics performance and command tracking capability are enhanced by actively decoupling the controlled states variables. To further...... widen the current loop bandwidth while still preserving a well-damped system a lead compensator structure on the forward loop is proposed. A 3 kHz bandwidth with 0.707 damping factor is achieved for the inner current controller. Accordingly, also the voltage regulator bandwidth can be widen, thus...

  5. Capillary-Condenser-Pumped Heat-Transfer Loop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silverstein, Calvin C.

    1989-01-01

    Heat being transferred supplies operating power. Capillary-condenser-pumped heat-transfer loop similar to heat pipe and to capillary-evaporator-pumped heat-transfer loop in that heat-transfer fluid pumped by evaporation and condensation of fluid at heat source and sink, respectively. Capillary condenser pump combined with capillary evaporator pump to form heat exchanger circulating heat-transfer fluids in both loops. Transport of heat more nearly isothermal. Thermal stress in loop reduced, and less external surface area needed in condenser section for rejection of heat to heat sink.

  6. Quantum chromodynamics as dynamics of loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makeenko, Yu.; Migdal, A.A.

    1980-01-01

    The problem of a possibility of reformulating quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in terms of colourless composite fields instead of coloured quarks and gluons is considered. The role of such fields is played by the gauge invariant loop functionals. The Shwinger equations of motion is derived in the loop space which completely describe dynamics of the loop fields. New manifestly gauge invariant diagram technique in the loop space is developed. These diagrams reproduce asymptotic freedom in the ultraviolet range and are consistent with the confinement law in the infrared range

  7. Abnormal duodenal loop demonstrated by X-ray

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thommesen, P.; Funch-Jensen, P.

    1986-01-01

    The occurrence of dyspeptic symptoms has previously been correlated with the shape of the duodenal loop in patients with X-ray-negative dyspepsia. An abnormal duodenal loop was associated with a significantly higher incidence of symtoms provoked by meals, vomiting, regurgitations, heartburn, and the irritable bowel syndrome. 89% of these patients (26 patients with a normal duodenal loop and 39 patients with abnormal duodenal loop) were available for a 5-year follow-up study of symptomatic outcome. The incidence of symptoms provoked by meals was still significantly higher in patients with an abnormal duodenal loop, and there was also a significant difference concerning symptomatic outcome. Approximately 75% of the patients with a normal duodenal loop had improved, and 25% had unchanged clinical conditions. Approximately 50% of the patients with an abnormal duodenal loop had improved, and 50% had an unchanged or even deteriorated clinical condition

  8. Kalman Orbit Optimized Loop Tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Lawrence E.; Meehan, Thomas K.

    2011-01-01

    Under certain conditions of low signal power and/or high noise, there is insufficient signal to noise ratio (SNR) to close tracking loops with individual signals on orbiting Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In addition, the processing power available from flight computers is not great enough to implement a conventional ultra-tight coupling tracking loop. This work provides a method to track GNSS signals at very low SNR without the penalty of requiring very high processor throughput to calculate the loop parameters. The Kalman Orbit-Optimized Loop (KOOL) tracking approach constitutes a filter with a dynamic model and using the aggregate of information from all tracked GNSS signals to close the tracking loop for each signal. For applications where there is not a good dynamic model, such as very low orbits where atmospheric drag models may not be adequate to achieve the required accuracy, aiding from an IMU (inertial measurement unit) or other sensor will be added. The KOOL approach is based on research JPL has done to allow signal recovery from weak and scintillating signals observed during the use of GPS signals for limb sounding of the Earth s atmosphere. That approach uses the onboard PVT (position, velocity, time) solution to generate predictions for the range, range rate, and acceleration of the low-SNR signal. The low- SNR signal data are captured by a directed open loop. KOOL builds on the previous open loop tracking by including feedback and observable generation from the weak-signal channels so that the MSR receiver will continue to track and provide PVT, range, and Doppler data, even when all channels have low SNR.

  9. Severe coagulation factor VII deficiency caused by a novel homozygous mutation (p. Trp284Gly) in loop 140s.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Xiuping; Cheng, XiaoLi; Ye, Jiajia; Wang, Yingyu; Yang, LiHong; Wang, Mingshan; Jin, Yanhui

    2016-06-01

    Congenital coagulation factor VII (FVII) deficiency is a rare disorder caused by mutation in F7 gene. Herein, we reported a patient who had unexplained hematuria and vertigo with consanguineous parents. He has been diagnosed as having FVII deficiency based on the results of reduced FVII activity (2.0%) and antigen (12.8%). The thrombin generation tests verified that the proband has obstacles in producing thrombin. Direct sequencing analysis revealed a novel homozygous missense mutation p.Trp284Gly. Also noteworthy is the fact that the mutational residue belongs to structurally conserved loop 140s, which majorly undergo rearrangement after FVII activation. Model analysis indicated that the substitution disrupts these native hydrophobic interactions, which are of great importance to the conformation in the activation domain of FVIIa.

  10. Variable Step Closed Loop Power Control with Space Diversity for Low Elevation Angle High Altitude Platforms Communication Channel [Langkah Variabel Kontrol Daya Loop Tertutup dengan Keragaman Ruang untuk Sudut Elevasi Rendah pada Kanal Komunikasi HAPs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iskandar Iskandar

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes variable step closed loop power control algorithm combined with space diversity to improve the performance of High Altitude Platforms (HAPs communication at low elevation angle using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA. In this contribution, we first develop HAPs channel model which is derived from experimental measurement. From our experiment, we found HAPs channel characteristic can be modeled as a Ricean distribution because the presence of line of sight path. Different elevation angle resulting different K factor value.  This value is then used in Signal to Interference Ratio (SIR based closed loop power control evaluation. The variable step algorithm is simulated under various elevation angles with different speed of mobile user. The performance is presented in terms of user elevation angle, user speed, step size and space diversity order. We found that the performance of variable step closed-loop power control less effective at low elevation angle. However our simulation shows that space diversity is able to improve the performance of closed loop power control for HAPs channel at low elevation angle.*****Kajian ini mengusulkan suatu algoritma kontrol daya langkah variabel loop tertutup dikombinasikan dengan keragaman ruang untuk meningkatkan kinerja komunikasi High Altitude Platforms(HAPs pada sudut elevasi rendah menggunakan Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA. Kami berkontribusi untuk mengembangkan model kanal HAPs yang berasal dari pengukuran eksperimental sebelumnya. Dari percobaan tersebut, kami menemukan karakteristik kanal HAPs yang dapat dimodelkan sebagai distribusi Ricean karena kehadiran jalur tanpa penghalang. Eksperimen menunjukkan bahwa perbedaan sudut elevasi menghasilkan perbedaan nilai factor K. Nilai ini kemudian digunakan dalam Signal to Interference Ratio (SIR berbasiskan evaluasi kontrol daya loop tertutup. Algoritma langkah variabel disimulasikan dibawah sudut elevasi yang berbeda dengan kecepatan

  11. The massless two-loop two-point function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bierenbaum, I.; Weinzierl, S.

    2003-01-01

    We consider the massless two-loop two-point function with arbitrary powers of the propagators and derive a representation from which we can obtain the Laurent expansion to any desired order in the dimensional regularization parameter ε. As a side product, we show that in the Laurent expansion of the two-loop integral only rational numbers and multiple zeta values occur. Our method of calculation obtains the two-loop integral as a convolution product of two primitive one-loop integrals. We comment on the generalization of this product structure to higher loop integrals. (orig.)

  12. Open loop thanks to direct torque control (DTC). Motor control without feedback loop; Open loop dank direkter Drehmomentregelung (DTC). Hochwertige Motorregelung ohne Rueckfuehrung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Link, Michael [ABB Automation Products GmbH, Ladenburg (Germany)

    2009-07-01

    Servo drives are used in various applications. The range of applications is huge and thus also requirements to the drive system. Mainly, a fast torque and speed control is required. This is the domaine of direct torque control (DTC). In many applications DTC can meet this challenge to control the motor with full torque at zero speed. The servo converter based on DTC technology provides a control concept for synchronous and asynchronous motors for both closed loop and open loop control. DTC controlled drives support the whole range from open loop up to high performance motion control applications. (orig.)

  13. Regulation of Hepatic Stellate Cells and Fibrogenesis by Fibroblast Growth Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justin D. Schumacher

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs are a family of growth factors critically involved in developmental, physiological, and pathological processes, including embryogenesis, angiogenesis, wound healing, and endocrine functions. In the liver, several FGFs are produced basally by hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs. Upon insult to the liver, expression of FGFs in HSCs is greatly upregulated, stimulating hepatocyte regeneration and growth. Various FGF isoforms have also been shown to directly induce HSC proliferation and activation thereby enabling autocrine and paracrine regulation of HSC function. Regulation of HSCs by the endocrine FGFs, namely, FGF15/19 and FGF21, has also recently been identified. With the ability to modulate HSC proliferation and transdifferentiation, targeting FGF signaling pathways constitutes a promising new therapeutic strategy to treat hepatic fibrosis.

  14. Cultured human foreskin fibroblasts produce a factor that stimulates their growth with properties similar to basic fibroblast growth factor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Story, M.T.

    1989-01-01

    To determine if fibroblasts could be a source of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) in tissue, cells were initiated in culture from newborn human foreskin. Fibroblast cell lysates promoted radiolabeled thymidine uptake by cultured quiescent fibroblasts. Seventy-nine percent of the growth-promoting activity of lysates was recovered from heparin-Sepharose. The heparin-binding growth factor reacted on immunoblots with antiserum to human placenta-derived basic FGF and competed with iodinated basic FGF for binding to antiserum to (1-24)bFGF synthetic peptide. To confirm that fibroblasts were the source of the growth factor, cell lysates were prepared from cells incubated with radiolabeled methionine. Heparin affinity purified material was immunoprecipitated with basic FGF antiserum and electrophoresed. Radiolabeled material was detected on gel autoradiographs in the same molecular weight region as authentic iodinated basic FGF. The findings are consistant with the notion that cultured fibroblasts express basic FGF. As these cells also respond to the mitogen, it is possible that the regulation of their growth is under autocrine control. Fibroblasts may be an important source of the growth factor in tissue

  15. PH4 of petunia is an R2R3-MYB protein that activates vacuolar acidification through interactions with Basic-Helix-Loop-Helix transcription factors of the anthocyanin pathway.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Quattrocchio, F.M.; Verweij, C.W.; Spelt, C.E.; Mol, J.N.M.; Koes, R.E.

    2007-01-01

    The Petunia hybrids genes ANTHOCYANIN1 (AN1) and AN2 encode transcription factors with a basic-helix-loop-helix (BHLH) and a MYB domain, respectively, that are required for anthocyanin synthesis and acidification of the vacuole in petal cells. Mutation of PH4 results in a bluer flower color,

  16. An ATR-dependent function for the Ddx19 RNA helicase in nuclear R-loop metabolism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodroj, Dana; Recolin, Bénédicte; Serhal, Kamar; Martinez, Susan; Tsanov, Nikolay; Abou Merhi, Raghida; Maiorano, Domenico

    2017-05-02

    Coordination between transcription and replication is crucial in the maintenance of genome integrity. Disturbance of these processes leads to accumulation of aberrant DNA:RNA hybrids (R-loops) that, if unresolved, generate DNA damage and genomic instability. Here we report a novel, unexpected role for the nucleopore-associated mRNA export factor Ddx19 in removing nuclear R-loops formed upon replication stress or DNA damage. We show, in live cells, that Ddx19 transiently relocalizes from the nucleopore to the nucleus upon DNA damage, in an ATR/Chk1-dependent manner, and that Ddx19 nuclear relocalization is required to clear R-loops. Ddx19 depletion induces R-loop accumulation, proliferation-dependent DNA damage and defects in replication fork progression. Further, we show that Ddx19 resolves R-loops in vitro via its helicase activity. Furthermore, mutation of a residue phosphorylated by Chk1 in Ddx19 disrupts its interaction with Nup214 and allows its nuclear relocalization. Finally, we show that Ddx19 operates in resolving R-loops independently of the RNA helicase senataxin. Altogether these observations put forward a novel, ATR-dependent function for Ddx19 in R-loop metabolism to preserve genome integrity in mammalian cells. © 2017 The Authors.

  17. Conformal anomaly of super Wilson loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belitsky, A.V., E-mail: andrei.belitsky@asu.edu [Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1504 (United States)

    2012-09-11

    Classically supersymmetric Wilson loop on a null polygonal contour possesses all symmetries required to match it onto non-MHV amplitudes in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. However, to define it quantum mechanically, one is forced to regularize it since perturbative loop diagrams are not well defined due to presence of ultraviolet divergences stemming from integration in the vicinity of the cusps. A regularization that is adopted by practitioners by allowing one to use spinor helicity formalism, on the one hand, and systematically go to higher orders of perturbation theory is based on a version of dimensional regularization, known as Four-Dimensional Helicity scheme. Recently it was demonstrated that its use for the super Wilson loop at one loop breaks both conformal symmetry and Poincare supersymmetry. Presently, we exhibit the origin for these effects and demonstrate how one can undo this breaking. The phenomenon is alike the one emerging in renormalization group mixing of conformal operators in conformal theories when one uses dimensional regularization. The rotation matrix to the diagonal basis is found by means of computing the anomaly in the Ward identity for the conformal boost. Presently, we apply this ideology to the super Wilson loop. We compute the one-loop conformal anomaly for the super Wilson loop and find that the anomaly depends on its Grassmann coordinates. By subtracting this anomalous contribution from the super Wilson loop we restore its interpretation as a dual description for reduced non-MHV amplitudes which are expressed in terms of superconformal invariants.

  18. Fundamental and Harmonic Oscillations in Neighboring Coronal Loops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Hongbo; Liu, Yu; Vai Tam, Kuan

    2017-06-01

    We present observations of multimode (fundamental and harmonic) oscillations in a loop system, which appear to be simultaneously excited by a GOES C-class flare. Analysis of the periodic oscillations reveals that (1) the primary loop with a period of P a ≈ 4 minutes and a secondary loop with two periods of P a ≈ 4 minutes and P b ≈ 2 minutes are detected simultaneously in closely spaced loop strands; (2) both oscillation components have their peak amplitudes near the loop apex, while in the second loop the low-frequency component P a dominates in a loop segment that is two times larger than the high-frequency component P b ; (3) the harmonic mode P b shows the largest deviation from a sinusoidal loop shape at the loop apex. We conclude that multiple harmonic modes with different displacement profiles can be excited simultaneously even in closely spaced strands, similar to the overtones of a violin string.

  19. Soft Neutrosophic Loops and Their Generalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mumtaz Ali

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Soft set theory is a general mathematical tool for dealing with uncertain, fuzzy, not clearly defined objects. In this paper we introduced soft neutrosophic loop,soft neutosophic biloop, soft neutrosophic N -loop with the discuission of some of their characteristics. We also introduced a new type of soft neutrophic loop, the so called soft strong neutrosophic loop which is of pure neutrosophic character. This notion also found in all the other corresponding notions of soft neutrosophic thoery. We also given some of their properties of this newly born soft structure related to the strong part of neutrosophic theory.

  20. Two- and three-loop amplitudes in covariant loop calculus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roland, K.

    1988-04-01

    We study 2- and 3-loop vacuum-amplitudes for the closed bosonic string. We compare two sets of expressions for the corresponding density on moduli space: One, based on the covariant Reggeon loop calculus (where modular invariance is not manifest). The other, based on analytic geometry. We want to prove identity between the two sets of expressions. Quite apart from demonstrating modular invariance of the Reggeon results, this would in itself be a remarkable mathematical feature. Identity is established to 'high' order in some moduli and exactly in others. The expansions reveal an essentially number-theoretical structure. Agreement is found only by exploiting the connection between the 4 Jacobi θ-functions and number theory. (orig.)

  1. Two- and three-loop amplitudes in covariant loop calculus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roland, K.

    1989-01-01

    We study two- and three-loop vacuum amplitudes for the closed bosonic string. We compare two sets of expressions for the corresponding density on moduli space. One is based on the covariant reggeon loop calculus (where modular invariance is not manifest). The other is based on analytic geometry. We want to prove identity between the two sets of expressions. Quite apart from demonstrating modular invariance of the reggeon results, this would in itself be a remarkable mathematical feature. Identity is established to ''high'' order in some moduli and exactly in others. The expansions reveal an essentially number-theoretic structure. Agreement is found only by exploiting the connection between the four Jacobi θ-functions and number theory. (orig.)

  2. Epigenetic control of the basal-like gene expression profile via Interleukin-6 in breast cancer cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitrugno Valentina

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Basal-like carcinoma are aggressive breast cancers that frequently carry p53 inactivating mutations, lack estrogen receptor-α (ERα and express the cancer stem cell markers CD133 and CD44. These tumors also over-express Interleukin 6 (IL-6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine that stimulates the growth of breast cancer stem/progenitor cells. Results Here we show that p53 deficiency in breast cancer cells induces a loss of methylation at IL-6 proximal promoter region, which is maintained by an IL-6 autocrine loop. IL-6 also elicits the loss of methylation at the CD133 promoter region 1 and of CD44 proximal promoter, enhancing CD133 and CD44 gene transcription. In parallel, IL-6 induces the methylation of estrogen receptor (ERα promoter and the loss of ERα mRNA expression. Finally, IL-6 induces the methylation of IL-6 distal promoter and of CD133 promoter region 2, which harbour putative repressor regions. Conclusion We conclude that IL-6, whose methylation-dependent autocrine loop is triggered by the inactivation of p53, induces an epigenetic reprogramming that drives breast carcinoma cells towards a basal-like/stem cell-like gene expression profile.

  3. High-temperature helium-loop facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tokarz, R.D.

    1981-09-01

    The high-temperature helium loop is a facility for materials testing in ultrapure helium gas at high temperatures. The closed loop system is capable of recirculating high-purity helium or helium with controlled impurities. The gas loop maximum operating conditions are as follows: 300 psi pressure, 500 lb/h flow rate, and 2100 0 F temperature. The two test sections can accept samples up to 3.5 in. diameter and 5 ft long. The gas loop is fully instrumented to continuously monitor all parameters of loop operation as well as helium impurities. The loop is fully automated to operate continuously and requires only a daily servicing by a qualified operator to replenish recorder charts and helium makeup gas. Because of its versatility and high degree of parameter control, the helium loop is applicable to many types of materials research. This report describes the test apparatus, operating parameters, peripheral systems, and instrumentation system. The experimental capabilities and test conand presents the results that have been obtained. The study has been conducted using a four-phase approach. The first phase develops the solution to the steady-state radon-diffusion equation in one-dimensieered barriers; disposal charge analysis; analysis of spent fuel policy implementation; spent f water. Field measurements and observations are reported for each site. Analytical data and field measurements are presented in tables and maps. Uranium concentrations in the sediments which were above detection limits ranged from 0.10 t 51.2 ppM. The mean of the logarithms of the uranium concentrations was 0.53. A group of high uranium concentrations occurs near the junctions of quadrangles AB, AC, BB, a 200 mK. In case 2), x-ray studies of isotopic phase separation in 3 He-- 4 He bcc solids were carried out by B. A. Fraass

  4. Combining Charge Couple Devices and Rate Sensors for the Feedforward Control System of a Charge Coupled Device Tracking Loop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Tao; Tian, Jing; Zhong, Daijun; Fu, Chengyu

    2016-06-25

    A rate feed forward control-based sensor fusion is proposed to improve the closed-loop performance for a charge couple device (CCD) tracking loop. The target trajectory is recovered by combining line of sight (LOS) errors from the CCD and the angular rate from a fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG). A Kalman filter based on the Singer acceleration model utilizes the reconstructive target trajectory to estimate the target velocity. Different from classical feed forward control, additive feedback loops are inevitably added to the original control loops due to the fact some closed-loop information is used. The transfer function of the Kalman filter in the frequency domain is built for analyzing the closed loop stability. The bandwidth of the Kalman filter is the major factor affecting the control stability and close-loop performance. Both simulations and experiments are provided to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed algorithm.

  5. Loop Quantum Gravity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rovelli Carlo

    1998-01-01

    Full Text Available The problem of finding the quantum theory of the gravitational field, and thus understanding what is quantum spacetime, is still open. One of the most active of the current approaches is loop quantum gravity. Loop quantum gravity is a mathematically well-defined, non-perturbative and background independent quantization of general relativity, with its conventional matter couplings. Research in loop quantum gravity today forms a vast area, ranging from mathematical foundations to physical applications. Among the most significant results obtained are: (i The computation of the physical spectra of geometrical quantities such as area and volume, which yields quantitative predictions on Planck-scale physics. (ii A derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy formula. (iii An intriguing physical picture of the microstructure of quantum physical space, characterized by a polymer-like Planck scale discreteness. This discreteness emerges naturally from the quantum theory and provides a mathematically well-defined realization of Wheeler's intuition of a spacetime ``foam''. Long standing open problems within the approach (lack of a scalar product, over-completeness of the loop basis, implementation of reality conditions have been fully solved. The weak part of the approach is the treatment of the dynamics: at present there exist several proposals, which are intensely debated. Here, I provide a general overview of ideas, techniques, results and open problems of this candidate theory of quantum gravity, and a guide to the relevant literature.

  6. Estimation of complex permittivity using loop antenna

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lenler-Eriksen, Hans-Rudolph; Meincke, Peter

    2004-01-01

    A method for estimating the complex permittivity of materials in the vicinity of a loop antenna is proposed. The method is based on comparing measured and numerically calculated input admittances for the loop antenna.......A method for estimating the complex permittivity of materials in the vicinity of a loop antenna is proposed. The method is based on comparing measured and numerically calculated input admittances for the loop antenna....

  7. Corrosion and deposition behaviour of 60Co and 54Mn in the SNR mockup loop for the primary sodium system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menken, G.; Reichel, H.

    1976-01-01

    The SNR corrosion mockup loop, simulating the SNR primary system is described. The influence of hydraulic conditions and temperature on the deposition behaviour is studied. γ-spectroscopy measurements at the pipe-work and removable samples allowed to determine the distribution of radioactive corrosion products in the loop and by-pass system. The release rate of Mn 54 could be reduced by a factor of 3 by decreasing the cold trap temperature from 165 0 C to 105 0 C while the Co 60 release rate could be reduced by a factor of 14, respectively. High temperature loop sections (873K) representing 13% of the loop surface absorbed 50-60% of the released Co 60 and only 8 - 18% of the Mn 54. The cold trap absorbed not more than 1% of the Co 60 and 10% of the Mn 54 inventory. (author)

  8. Functional Fourier transforms and the loop equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bershadskii, M.A.; Vaisburd, I.D.; Migdal, A.A.

    1986-01-01

    The Migdal-Makeenko momentum-space loop equation is investigated. This equation is derived from the ordinary loop equation by taking the Fourier transform of the Wilson functional. A perturbation theory is constructed for the new equation and it is proved that the action of the loop operator is determined by vertex functions which coincide with those of the previous equation. It is shown how the ghost loop arises in direct iterations of the momentum-space equation with respect to the coupling constant. A simple example is used to illustrate the mechanism of appearance of an integration in the interior loops in transition to observables

  9. Studying DNA Looping by Single-Molecule FRET

    OpenAIRE

    Le, Tung T.; Kim, Harold D.

    2014-01-01

    Bending of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is associated with many important biological processes such as DNA-protein recognition and DNA packaging into nucleosomes. Thermodynamics of dsDNA bending has been studied by a method called cyclization which relies on DNA ligase to covalently join short sticky ends of a dsDNA. However, ligation efficiency can be affected by many factors that are not related to dsDNA looping such as the DNA structure surrounding the joined sticky ends, and ligase can als...

  10. The E-domain region of mechano-growth factor inhibits cellular apoptosis and preserves cardiac function during myocardial infarction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mavrommatis, Evangelos; Shioura, Krystyna M; Los, Tamara; Goldspink, Paul H

    2013-09-01

    Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) isoforms are expressed via alternative splicing. Expression of the minor isoform IGF-1Eb [also known as mechano-growth factor (MGF)] is responsive to cell stress. Since IGF-1 isoforms differ in their E-domain regions, we are interested in determining the biological function of the MGF E-domain. To do so, a synthetic peptide analog was used to gain mechanistic insight into the actions of the E-domain. Treatment of H9c2 cells indicated a rapid cellular uptake mechanism that did not involve IGF-1 receptor activation but resulted in a nuclear localization. Peptide treatment inhibited the intrinsic apoptotic pathway in H9c2 cells subjected to cell stress with sorbitol by preventing the collapse of the mitochondrial membrane potential and inhibition of caspase-3 activation. Therefore, we administered the peptide at the time of myocardial infarction (MI) in mice. At 2 weeks post-MI cardiac function, gene expression and cell death were assayed. A significant decline in both systolic and diastolic function was evident in untreated mice based on PV loop analysis. Delivery of the E-peptide ameliorated the decline in function and resulted in significant preservation of cardiac contractility. Associated with these changes were an inhibition of pathologic hypertrophy and significantly fewer apoptotic nuclei in the viable myocardium of E-peptide-treated mice post-MI. We conclude that administration of the MGF E-domain peptide may provide a means of modulating local tissue IGF-1 autocrine/paracrine actions to preserve cardiac function, prevent cell death, and pathologic remodeling in the heart.

  11. Loop Evolution Observed with AIA and Hi-C

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulu-Moore, Fana; Winebarger, Amy R.; Cirtain, Jonathan W.; Kobayashi, Ken; Korreck, Kelly E.; Golub, Leon; Kuzin, Sergei; Walsh, Robert William; DeForest, Craig E.; De Pontieu, Bart; hide

    2012-01-01

    In the past decade, the evolution of EUV loops has been used to infer the loop substructure. With the recent launch of High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C), this inference can be validated. In this presentation we discuss the first results of loop analysis comparing AIA and Hi-C data. In the past decade, the evolution of EUV loops has been used to infer the loop substructure. With the recent launch of High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C), this inference can be validated. In this presentation we discuss the first results of loop analysis comparing AIA and Hi-C data.

  12. FGF7 supports hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and niche-dependent myeloblastoma cells via autocrine action on bone marrow stromal cells in vitro

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ishino, Ruri; Minami, Kaori; Tanaka, Satowa [Laboratory of Hematology, Division of Medical Biophysics, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Suma-ku, Kobe 654-0142 (Japan); Nagai, Mami [Consolidated Research Institute for Advanced Science and Medical Care, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 159-8555 (Japan); Matsui, Keiji; Hasegawa, Natsumi [Laboratory of Hematology, Division of Medical Biophysics, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Suma-ku, Kobe 654-0142 (Japan); Roeder, Robert G. [Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 (United States); Asano, Shigetaka [Consolidated Research Institute for Advanced Science and Medical Care, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 159-8555 (Japan); Ito, Mitsuhiro, E-mail: itomi@med.kobe-u.ac.jp [Laboratory of Hematology, Division of Medical Biophysics, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Suma-ku, Kobe 654-0142 (Japan); Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 (United States); Consolidated Research Institute for Advanced Science and Medical Care, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 159-8555 (Japan); Department of Family and Community Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 654-0142 (Japan)

    2013-10-11

    Highlights: •FGF7 is downregulated in MED1-deficient mesenchymal cells. •FGF7 produced by mesenchymal stromal cells is a novel hematopoietic niche molecule. •FGF7 supports hematopoietic progenitor cells and niche-dependent leukemia cells. •FGF7 activates FGFR2IIIb of bone marrow stromal cells in an autocrine manner. •FGF7 indirectly acts on hematopoietic cells lacking FGFR2IIIb via stromal cells. -- Abstract: FGF1 and FGF2 support hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) under stress conditions. In this study, we show that fibroblast growth factor (FGF7) may be a novel niche factor for HSPC support and leukemic growth. FGF7 expression was attenuated in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) deficient for the MED1 subunit of the Mediator transcriptional coregulator complex. When normal mouse bone marrow (BM) cells were cocultured with Med1{sup +/+} MEFs or BM stromal cells in the presence of anti-FGF7 antibody, the growth of BM cells and the number of long-time culture-initiating cells (LTC-ICs) decreased significantly. Anti-FGF7 antibody also attenuated the proliferation and cobblestone formation of MB1 stromal cell-dependent myeloblastoma cells. The addition of recombinant FGF7 to the coculture of BM cells and Med1{sup −/−} MEFs increased BM cells and LTC-ICs. FGF7 and its cognate receptor, FGFR2IIIb, were undetectable in BM cells, but MEFs and BM stromal cells expressed both. FGF7 activated downstream targets of FGFR2IIIb in Med1{sup +/+} and Med1{sup −/−} MEFs and BM stromal cells. Taken together, we propose that FGF7 supports HSPCs and leukemia-initiating cells indirectly via FGFR2IIIb expressed on stromal cells.

  13. FGF7 supports hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and niche-dependent myeloblastoma cells via autocrine action on bone marrow stromal cells in vitro

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishino, Ruri; Minami, Kaori; Tanaka, Satowa; Nagai, Mami; Matsui, Keiji; Hasegawa, Natsumi; Roeder, Robert G.; Asano, Shigetaka; Ito, Mitsuhiro

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: •FGF7 is downregulated in MED1-deficient mesenchymal cells. •FGF7 produced by mesenchymal stromal cells is a novel hematopoietic niche molecule. •FGF7 supports hematopoietic progenitor cells and niche-dependent leukemia cells. •FGF7 activates FGFR2IIIb of bone marrow stromal cells in an autocrine manner. •FGF7 indirectly acts on hematopoietic cells lacking FGFR2IIIb via stromal cells. -- Abstract: FGF1 and FGF2 support hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) under stress conditions. In this study, we show that fibroblast growth factor (FGF7) may be a novel niche factor for HSPC support and leukemic growth. FGF7 expression was attenuated in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) deficient for the MED1 subunit of the Mediator transcriptional coregulator complex. When normal mouse bone marrow (BM) cells were cocultured with Med1 +/+ MEFs or BM stromal cells in the presence of anti-FGF7 antibody, the growth of BM cells and the number of long-time culture-initiating cells (LTC-ICs) decreased significantly. Anti-FGF7 antibody also attenuated the proliferation and cobblestone formation of MB1 stromal cell-dependent myeloblastoma cells. The addition of recombinant FGF7 to the coculture of BM cells and Med1 −/− MEFs increased BM cells and LTC-ICs. FGF7 and its cognate receptor, FGFR2IIIb, were undetectable in BM cells, but MEFs and BM stromal cells expressed both. FGF7 activated downstream targets of FGFR2IIIb in Med1 +/+ and Med1 −/− MEFs and BM stromal cells. Taken together, we propose that FGF7 supports HSPCs and leukemia-initiating cells indirectly via FGFR2IIIb expressed on stromal cells

  14. Klotho expression in long bones regulates FGF23 production during renal failure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaludjerovic, Jovana; Komaba, Hirotaka; Sato, Tadatoshi; Erben, Reinhold G; Baron, Roland; Olauson, Hannes; Larsson, Tobias E; Lanske, Beate

    2017-05-01

    Circulating levels of bone-derived fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) increase early during acute and chronic kidney disease and are associated with adverse outcomes. Membrane-bound Klotho acts as a permissive coreceptor for FGF23, and its expression was recently found in osteoblasts/osteocytes. We hypothesized that Klotho in bone cells is part of an autocrine feedback loop that regulates FGF23 expression during renal failure. Thus, we induced renal failure in mice with targeted deletion of Klotho in long bones. Uremic wild-type ( KL fl/fl ) and knockout ( Prx1-Cre;KL fl/fl ) mice both responded with reduced body weight, kidney atrophy, hyperphosphatemia, and increased bone turnover. Importantly, long bones of Prx1-Cre;KL fl/fl mice but not their axial skeleton failed to increase FGF23 expression as observed in uremic KL fl/fl mice. Consequently, Prx1-Cre;KL fl/fl mice had significantly lower serum FGF23 and parathyroid hormone levels, and higher renal 1-α-hydroxylase expression, serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and calcium levels than KL fl/fl mice. These results were confirmed in two independent models of renal failure, adenine diet induced and 5/6 nephrectomy. Moreover, FGF23-treated bone cells required Klotho to increase FGF23 mRNA and ERK phosphorylation. In summary, our novel findings show that Klotho in bone is crucial for inducing FGF23 production upon renal failure. We propose the presence of an autocrine feedback loop in which Klotho senses the need for FGF23.-Kaludjerovic, J., Komaba, H., Sato, T., Erben, R. G., Baron, R., Olauson, H., Larsson, T. E., Lanske, B. Klotho expression in long bones regulates FGF23 production during renal failure. © FASEB.

  15. First cytoplasmic loop of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor can function at the third cytoplasmic loop position of rhodopsin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamashita, Takahiro; Tose, Koji; Shichida, Yoshinori

    2008-01-01

    G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are classified into several families based on their amino acid sequences. In family 1, GPCRs such as rhodopsin and adrenergic receptor, the structure-function relationship has been extensively investigated to demonstrate that exposure of the third cytoplasmic loop is essential for selective G protein activation. In contrast, much less is known about other families. Here we prepared chimeric mutants between Gt-coupled rhodopsin and Gi/Go- and Gs-coupled glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor of family 2 and tried to identify the loop region that functions at the third cytoplasmic loop position of rhodopsin. We succeeded in expressing a mutant having the first cytoplasmic loop of GLP-1 receptor and found that this mutant activated Gi and Go efficiently but did not activate Gt. Moreover, the rhodopsin mutant having the first loop of Gs-coupled secretin receptor of family 2 decreased the Gi and Go activation efficiencies. Therefore, the first loop of GLP-1 receptor would share a similar role to the third loop of rhodopsin in G protein activation. This result strongly suggested that different families of GPCRs have maintained molecular architectures of their ancestral types to generate a common mechanism, namely exposure of the cytoplasmic loop, to activate peripheral G protein.

  16. Pro-apoptotic signaling induced by Retinoic acid and dsRNA is under the control of Interferon Regulatory Factor-3 in breast cancer cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardo, Ana R; Cosgaya, José M; Aranda, Ana; Jiménez-Lara, Ana M

    2017-07-01

    Breast cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies for women. Retinoic acid (RA) and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) are considered signaling molecules with potential anticancer activity. RA, co-administered with the dsRNA mimic polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)), synergizes to induce a TRAIL (Tumor-Necrosis-Factor Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand)- dependent apoptotic program in breast cancer cells. Here, we report that RA/poly(I:C) co-treatment, synergically, induce the activation of Interferon Regulatory Factor-3 (IRF3) in breast cancer cells. IRF3 activation is mediated by a member of the pathogen recognition receptors, Toll-like receptor-3 (TLR3), since its depletion abrogates IRF3 activation by RA/poly(I:C) co-treatment. Besides induction of TRAIL, apoptosis induced by RA/poly(I:C) correlates with the increased expression of pro-apoptotic TRAIL receptors, TRAIL-R1/2, and the inhibition of the antagonistic receptors TRAIL-R3/4. IRF3 plays an important role in RA/poly(I:C)-induced apoptosis since IRF3 depletion suppresses caspase-8 and caspase-3 activation, TRAIL expression upregulation and apoptosis. Interestingly, RA/poly(I:C) combination synergizes to induce a bioactive autocrine/paracrine loop of type-I Interferons (IFNs) which is ultimately responsible for TRAIL and TRAIL-R1/2 expression upregulation, while inhibition of TRAIL-R3/4 expression is type-I IFN-independent. Our results highlight the importance of IRF3 and type-I IFNs signaling for the pro-apoptotic effects induced by RA and synthetic dsRNA in breast cancer cells.

  17. High pressure experimental water loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grenon, M.

    1958-01-01

    A high pressure experimental water loop has been made for studying the detection and evolution of cladding failure in a pressurized reactor. The loop has been designed for a maximum temperature of 360 deg. C, a maximum of 160 kg/cm 2 and flow rates up to 5 m 3 /h. The entire loop consists of several parts: a main circuit with a canned rotor circulation pump, steam pressurizer, heating tubes, two hydro-cyclones (one de-gasser and one decanter) and one tubular heat exchanger; a continuous purification loop, connected in parallel, comprising pressure reducing valves and resin pots which also allow studies of the stability of resins under pressure, temperature and radiation; following the gas separator is a gas loop for studying the recombination of the radiolytic gases in the steam phase. The preceding circuits, as well as others, return to a low pressure storage circuit. The cold water of the low pressure storage flask is continuously reintroduced into the high pressure main circuit by means of a return pump at a maximum head of 160 kg /cm 2 , and adjusted to the pressurizer level. This loop is also a testing bench for the tight high pressure apparatus. The circulating pump and the connecting flanges (Oak Ridge type) are water-tight. The feed pump and the pressure reducing valves are not; the un-tight ones have a system of leak recovery. To permanently check the tightness the circuit has been fitted with a leak detection system (similar to the HRT one). (author) [fr

  18. Modeling and Analysis of a Closed-Loop System for High-Q MEMS Accelerometer Sensor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Yalin

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available High-Q sensing element is desirable for high performance while makes the loop control a great challenge. This paper presents a closed-loop system for high-Q capacitive MEMS accelerometer which has achieved loop control effectively. The proportional-derivative(PDcontrol is developed in the system to improve the system stability. In addition, pulse width modulation (PWM electrostatic force feedback is designed in the loop to overcome the nonlinearity. Furthermore, a sigma-delta (ΣΔ modulator with noise shaping is built to realize digital output. System model is built in Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results indicate that equivalent Q value is reduced to 1.5 to ensure stability and responsiveness of the system. The effective number of bits of system output is 14.7 bits. The system nonlinearity is less than 5‰. The equivalent linear model including main noise factors is built, and then a complete theory of noise and linearity analysis is established to contribute to common MEMS accelerometer research.

  19. Automation of loop amplitudes in numerical approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimoto, J.; Ishikawa, T.; Shimizu, Y.; Kato, K.; Nakazawa, N.; Kaneko, T.

    1997-01-01

    An automatic calculating system GRACE-L1 of one-loop Feynman amplitude is reviewed. This system can be applied to 2 to 2-body one-loop processes. A sample calculation of 2 to 3-body one-loop amplitudes is also presented. (orig.)

  20. Loop-quantum-gravity vertex amplitude.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engle, Jonathan; Pereira, Roberto; Rovelli, Carlo

    2007-10-19

    Spin foam models are hoped to provide the dynamics of loop-quantum gravity. However, the most popular of these, the Barrett-Crane model, does not have the good boundary state space and there are indications that it fails to yield good low-energy n-point functions. We present an alternative dynamics that can be derived as a quantization of a Regge discretization of Euclidean general relativity, where second class constraints are imposed weakly. Its state space matches the SO(3) loop gravity one and it yields an SO(4)-covariant vertex amplitude for Euclidean loop gravity.

  1. THE CORONAL LOOP INVENTORY PROJECT: EXPANDED ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schmelz, J. T. [USRA, 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046 (United States); Christian, G. M.; Chastain, R. A., E-mail: jschmelz@usra.edu [Physics Department, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152 (United States)

    2016-11-10

    We have expanded upon earlier work that investigates the relative importance of coronal loops with isothermal versus multithermal cross-field temperature distributions. These results are important for determining if loops have substructure in the form of unresolved magnetic strands. We have increased the number of loops targeted for temperature analysis from 19 to 207 with the addition of 188 new loops from multiple regions. We selected all loop segments visible in the 171 Å images of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) that had a clean background. Eighty-six of the new loops were rejected because they could not be reliably separated from the background in other AIA filters. Sixty-one loops required multithermal models to reproduce the observations. Twenty-eight loops were effectively isothermal, that is, the plasma emission to which AIA is sensitive could not be distinguished from isothermal emission, within uncertainties. Ten loops were isothermal. Also, part of our inventory was one small flaring loop, one very cool loop whose temperature distribution could not be constrained by the AIA data, and one loop with inconclusive results. Our survey can confirm an unexpected result from the pilot study: we found no isothermal loop segments where we could properly use the 171-to-193 ratio method, which would be similar to the analysis done for many loops observed with TRACE and EIT. We recommend caution to observers who assume the loop plasma is isothermal, and hope that these results will influence the direction of coronal heating models and the effort modelers spend on various heating scenarios.

  2. Bootstrapping the Three-Loop Hexagon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dixon, Lance J.; /CERN /SLAC; Drummond, James M.; /CERN /Annecy, LAPTH; Henn, Johannes M.; /Humboldt U., Berlin /Santa Barbara, KITP

    2011-11-08

    We consider the hexagonal Wilson loop dual to the six-point MHV amplitude in planar N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. We apply constraints from the operator product expansion in the near-collinear limit to the symbol of the remainder function at three loops. Using these constraints, and assuming a natural ansatz for the symbol's entries, we determine the symbol up to just two undetermined constants. In the multi-Regge limit, both constants drop out from the symbol, enabling us to make a non-trivial confirmation of the BFKL prediction for the leading-log approximation. This result provides a strong consistency check of both our ansatz for the symbol and the duality between Wilson loops and MHV amplitudes. Furthermore, we predict the form of the full three-loop remainder function in the multi-Regge limit, beyond the leading-log approximation, up to a few constants representing terms not detected by the symbol. Our results confirm an all-loop prediction for the real part of the remainder function in multi-Regge 3 {yields} 3 scattering. In the multi-Regge limit, our result for the remainder function can be expressed entirely in terms of classical polylogarithms. For generic six-point kinematics other functions are required.

  3. Lattice QED in the loop space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fort, H.

    1994-01-01

    We present a survey on the state of the art in the formulation of lattice compact QED in the space of loops. In a first part we review our most recent Hamiltonian results which signal a second order transition for (3+1) compact QED. We devote the second part to the Lagrangian loop formalism, showing the equivalence of the recently proposed loop action with the Villain form. (orig.)

  4. Loop quantization as a continuum limit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manrique, Elisa; Oeckl, Robert; Weber, Axel; Zapata, Jose A

    2006-01-01

    We present an implementation of Wilson's renormalization group and a continuum limit tailored for loop quantization. The dynamics of loop-quantized theories is constructed as a continuum limit of the dynamics of effective theories. After presenting the general formalism we show as a first explicit example the 2D Ising field theory, an interacting relativistic quantum field theory with local degrees of freedom quantized by loop quantization techniques

  5. Zinc ion coordination as a modulating factor of the ZnuA histidine-rich loop flexibility: A molecular modeling and fluorescence spectroscopy study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castelli, Silvia [Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome (Italy); Stella, Lorenzo [Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, University of Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome (Italy); Neuromed, IRCCS, Pozzilli 86077 (Italy); Petrarca, Patrizia [Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome (Italy); Battistoni, Andrea [Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome (Italy); Interuniversity Consortium, National Institute Biostructure and Biosystem (INBB), Viale delle Medaglie D' Oro 305, 00136 Rome (Italy); Desideri, Alessandro [Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata and CIBB, Center of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome (Italy); Interuniversity Consortium, National Institute Biostructure and Biosystem (INBB), Viale delle Medaglie D' Oro 305, 00136 Rome (Italy); Falconi, Mattia, E-mail: falconi@uniroma2.it [Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata and CIBB, Center of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome (Italy); Interuniversity Consortium, National Institute Biostructure and Biosystem (INBB), Viale delle Medaglie D' Oro 305, 00136 Rome (Italy)

    2013-01-11

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Fluorescence data indicate that the His-loop of ZnuA interacts with Zn{sup +2} ions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The ZnuA structural model proposed validates these spectroscopic findings. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It is proposed that a zinc loaded His-loop may facilitate the ZnuA-ZnuB recognition. -- Abstract: ZnuA is the soluble component of the high-affinity ZnuABC zinc transporter belonging to the ATP-binding cassette-type periplasmic Zn-binding proteins. The zinc transporter ZnuABC is composed by three proteins: ZnuB, the membrane permease, ZnuC, the ATPase component and ZnuA, the soluble periplasmic metal-binding protein which captures Zn and delivers it to ZnuB. The ZnuA protein contains a charged flexible loop, rich in histidines and acidic residues, showing significant species-specific differences. Various studies have established that this loop contributes to the formation of a secondary zinc binding site, which has been proposed to be important in the acquisition of periplasmic Zn for its delivery to ZnuB or for regulation of zinc uptake. Due to its high mobility the structure of the histidine-rich loop has never been solved by X-ray diffraction studies. In this paper, through a combined use of molecular modeling, mutagenesis and fluorescence spectroscopy, we confirm the presence of two zinc binding sites characterized by different affinities for the metal ion and show that the flexibility of the loop is modulated by the binding of the zinc ions to the protein. The data obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy have then be used to validate a 3D model including the unsolved histidine-rich loop.

  6. Flat Knitting Loop Deformation Simulation Based on Interlacing Point Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiang Gaoming

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In order to create realistic loop primitives suitable for the faster CAD of the flat-knitted fabric, we have performed research on the model of the loop as well as the variation of the loop surface. This paper proposes an interlacing point-based model for the loop center curve, and uses the cubic Bezier curve to fit the central curve of the regular loop, elongated loop, transfer loop, and irregular deformed loop. In this way, a general model for the central curve of the deformed loop is obtained. The obtained model is then utilized to perform texture mapping, texture interpolation, and brightness processing, simulating a clearly structured and lifelike deformed loop. The computer program LOOP is developed by using the algorithm. The deformed loop is simulated with different yarns, and the deformed loop is applied to design of a cable stitch, demonstrating feasibility of the proposed algorithm. This paper provides a loop primitive simulation method characterized by lifelikeness, yarn material variability, and deformation flexibility, and facilitates the loop-based fast computer-aided design (CAD of the knitted fabric.

  7. Variational solution of the loop equation in QCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agishtein, M.E.; Migdal, A.A.

    1988-01-01

    A new technique for the large N loop equation of QCD is worked out. The Wilson loop W(C) is approximated by a Gaussian functional. The parameters are fitted to the loop equation, after which the equation is statisfied up to 0.2%. The resulting Wilson loop corresponds to linearly rising Regge trajectories. The problem of tachyon is still present, but it could be cured by iteration of the loop equation starting from this variational solution. (orig.)

  8. Variational solution of the loop equation in QCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agishtein, M.E.; Migdal, A.A.

    1988-01-01

    A new technique for the large N loop equation of QCD is worked out. The Wilson loop W(C) is approximated by a Gaussian functional. The parameters are fitted to the loop equation, after which the equation is satisfied up to 0.2%. The resulting Wilson loop corresponds to linearly rising Regge trajectories. The problem of tachyon is still present, but it could be cured by iteration of the loop equation starting from this variational solution

  9. Loop Quantum Cosmology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bojowald Martin

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Quantum gravity is expected to be necessary in order to understand situations in which classical general relativity breaks down. In particular in cosmology one has to deal with initial singularities, i.e., the fact that the backward evolution of a classical spacetime inevitably comes to an end after a finite amount of proper time. This presents a breakdown of the classical picture and requires an extended theory for a meaningful description. Since small length scales and high curvatures are involved, quantum effects must play a role. Not only the singularity itself but also the surrounding spacetime is then modified. One particular theory is loop quantum cosmology, an application of loop quantum gravity to homogeneous systems, which removes classical singularities. Its implications can be studied at different levels. The main effects are introduced into effective classical equations, which allow one to avoid the interpretational problems of quantum theory. They give rise to new kinds of early-universe phenomenology with applications to inflation and cyclic models. To resolve classical singularities and to understand the structure of geometry around them, the quantum description is necessary. Classical evolution is then replaced by a difference equation for a wave function, which allows an extension of quantum spacetime beyond classical singularities. One main question is how these homogeneous scenarios are related to full loop quantum gravity, which can be dealt with at the level of distributional symmetric states. Finally, the new structure of spacetime arising in loop quantum gravity and its application to cosmology sheds light on more general issues, such as the nature of time.

  10. Loop Quantum Cosmology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bojowald Martin

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Quantum gravity is expected to be necessary in order to understand situations where classical general relativity breaks down. In particular in cosmology one has to deal with initial singularities, i.e., the fact that the backward evolution of a classical space-time inevitably comes to an end after a finite amount of proper time. This presents a breakdown of the classical picture and requires an extended theory for a meaningful description. Since small length scales and high curvatures are involved, quantum effects must play a role. Not only the singularity itself but also the surrounding space-time is then modified. One particular realization is loop quantum cosmology, an application of loop quantum gravity to homogeneous systems, which removes classical singularities. Its implications can be studied at different levels. Main effects are introduced into effective classical equations which allow to avoid interpretational problems of quantum theory. They give rise to new kinds of early universe phenomenology with applications to inflation and cyclic models. To resolve classical singularities and to understand the structure of geometry around them, the quantum description is necessary. Classical evolution is then replaced by a difference equation for a wave function which allows to extend space-time beyond classical singularities. One main question is how these homogeneous scenarios are related to full loop quantum gravity, which can be dealt with at the level of distributional symmetric states. Finally, the new structure of space-time arising in loop quantum gravity and its application to cosmology sheds new light on more general issues such as time.

  11. CHY loop integrands from holomorphic forms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gomez, Humberto [Facultad de Ciencias Basicas, Universidad Santiago de Cali,Calle 5 62-00 Barrio Pampalinda, Cali, Valle (Colombia); Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,31 Caroline Street N, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5 (Canada); Mizera, Sebastian; Zhang, Guojun [Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,31 Caroline Street N, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5 (Canada); Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo,Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 (Canada)

    2017-03-16

    Recently, the Cachazo-He-Yuan (CHY) approach for calculating scattering amplitudes has been extended beyond tree level. In this paper, we introduce a way of constructing CHY integrands for Φ{sup 3} theory up to two loops from holomorphic forms on Riemann surfaces. We give simple rules for translating Feynman diagrams into the corresponding CHY integrands. As a complementary result, we extend the L-algorithm, originally introduced in https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.05373, to two loops. Using this approach, we are able to analytically verify our prescription for the CHY integrands up to seven external particles at two loops. In addition, it gives a natural way of extending to higher-loop orders.

  12. Autocrine effect of Zn²⁺ on the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slepchenko, Kira G; Daniels, Nigel A; Guo, Aili; Li, Yang V

    2015-09-01

    It is well known that zinc (Zn(2+)) is required for the process of insulin biosynthesis and the maturation of insulin secretory granules in pancreatic beta (β)-cells, and that changes in Zn(2+) levels in the pancreas have been found to be associated with diabetes. Glucose-stimulation causes a rapid co-secretion of Zn(2+) and insulin with similar kinetics. However, we do not know whether Zn(2+) regulates insulin availability and secretion. Here we investigated the effect of Zn(2+) on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in isolated mouse pancreatic islets. Whereas Zn(2+) alone (control) had no effect on the basal secretion of insulin, it significantly inhibited GSIS. The application of CaEDTA, by removing the secreted Zn(2+) from the extracellular milieu of the islets, resulted in significantly increased GSIS, suggesting an overall inhibitory role of secreted Zn(2+) on GSIS. The inhibitory action of Zn(2+) was mostly mediated through the activities of KATP/Ca(2+) channels. Furthermore, during brief paired-pulse glucose-stimulated Zn(2+) secretion (GSZS), Zn(2+) secretion following the second pulse was significantly attenuated, probably by the secreted endogenous Zn(2+) after the first pulse. Such an inhibition on Zn(2+) secretion following the second pulse was completely reversed by Zn(2+) chelation, suggesting a negative feedback mechanism, in which the initial glucose-stimulated Zn(2+) release inhibits subsequent Zn(2+) secretion, subsequently inhibiting insulin co-secretion as well. Taken together, these data suggest a negative feedback mechanism on GSZS and GSIS by Zn(2+) secreted from β-cells, and the co-secreted Zn(2+) may act as an autocrine inhibitory modulator.

  13. Mapping the structural and dynamical features of multiple p53 DNA binding domains: insights into loop 1 intrinsic dynamics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suryani Lukman

    Full Text Available The transcription factor p53 regulates cellular integrity in response to stress. p53 is mutated in more than half of cancerous cells, with a majority of the mutations localized to the DNA binding domain (DBD. In order to map the structural and dynamical features of the DBD, we carried out multiple copy molecular dynamics simulations (totaling 0.8 μs. Simulations show the loop 1 to be the most dynamic element among the DNA-contacting loops (loops 1-3. Loop 1 occupies two major conformational states: extended and recessed; the former but not the latter displays correlations in atomic fluctuations with those of loop 2 (~24 Å apart. Since loop 1 binds to the major groove whereas loop 2 binds to the minor groove of DNA, our results begin to provide some insight into the possible mechanism underpinning the cooperative nature of DBD binding to DNA. We propose (1 a novel mechanism underlying the dynamics of loop 1 and the possible tread-milling of p53 on DNA and (2 possible mutations on loop 1 residues to restore the transcriptional activity of an oncogenic mutation at a distant site.

  14. Loop quantum cosmology and singularities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Struyve, Ward

    2017-08-15

    Loop quantum gravity is believed to eliminate singularities such as the big bang and big crunch singularity. This belief is based on studies of so-called loop quantum cosmology which concerns symmetry-reduced models of quantum gravity. In this paper, the problem of singularities is analysed in the context of the Bohmian formulation of loop quantum cosmology. In this formulation there is an actual metric in addition to the wave function, which evolves stochastically (rather than deterministically as the case of the particle evolution in non-relativistic Bohmian mechanics). Thus a singularity occurs whenever this actual metric is singular. It is shown that in the loop quantum cosmology for a homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker space-time with arbitrary constant spatial curvature and cosmological constant, coupled to a massless homogeneous scalar field, a big bang or big crunch singularity is never obtained. This should be contrasted with the fact that in the Bohmian formulation of the Wheeler-DeWitt theory singularities may exist.

  15. Liquid Lead-Bismuth Materials Test Loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tcharnotskaia, Valentina; Ammerman, Curtt; Darling, Timothy; King, Joe; Li, Ning; Shaw, Don; Snodgrass, Leon; Woloshun, Keith

    2002-01-01

    We designed and built the Liquid Lead-Bismuth Materials Test Loop (MTL) to study the materials behavior in a flow of molten lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). In this paper we present a description of the loop with main components and their functions. Stress distribution in the piping due to sustained, occasional and expansion loads is shown. The loop is designed so that a difference of 100 deg. C can be attained between the coldest and the hottest parts at a nominal flow rate of 8.84 GPM. Liquid LBE flow can be activated by a mechanical sump pump or by natural convection. In order to maintain a self-healing protective film on the surface of the stainless steel pipe, a certain concentration of oxygen has to be maintained in the liquid metal. We developed oxygen sensors and an oxygen control system to be implemented in the loop. The loop is outfitted with a variety of instruments that are controlled from a computer based data acquisition system. Initial experiments include preconditioning the loop, filling it up with LBE, running at uniform temperature and tuning the oxygen control system. We will present some preliminary results and discuss plans for the future tests. (authors)

  16. Constructing QCD one-loop amplitudes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forde, D

    2008-01-01

    In the context of constructing one-loop amplitudes using a unitarity bootstrap approach we discuss a general systematic procedure for obtaining the coefficients of the scalar bubble and triangle integral functions of one-loop amplitudes. Coefficients are extracted after examining the behavior of the cut integrand as the unconstrained parameters of a specifically chosen parameterization of the cut loop momentum approach infinity. Measurements of new physics at the forthcoming experimental program at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will require a precise understanding of processes at next-to-leading order (NLO). This places increased demands for the computation of new one-loop amplitudes. This in turn has spurred recent developments towards improved calculational techniques. Direct calculations using Feynman diagrams are in general inefficient. Developments of more efficient techniques have usually centered around unitarity techniques [1], where tree amplitudes are effectively 'glued' together to form loops. The most straightforward application of this method, in which the cut loop momentum is in D = 4, allows for the computation of 'cut-constructible' terms only, i.e. (poly)logarithmic containing terms and any related constants. QCD amplitudes contain, in addition to such terms, rational pieces which cannot be derived using such cuts. These 'missing' rational parts can be extracted using cut loop momenta in D = 4-2 (var e psilon). The greater difficulty of such calculations has restricted the application of this approach, although recent developments [3, 4] have provided new promise for this technique. Recently the application of on-shell recursion relations [5] to obtaining the 'missing' rational parts of one-loop processes [6] has provided an alternative very promising solution to this problem. In combination with unitarity methods an 'on-shell bootstrap' approach provides an efficient technique for computing complete one-loop QCD amplitudes [7]. Additionally

  17. Loop-Loop Interactions Regulate KaiA-Stimulated KaiC Phosphorylation in the Cyanobacterial KaiABC Circadian Clock

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Egli, Martin [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Pattanayek, Rekha [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Sheehan, Jonathan H. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Xu, Yao [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Mori, Tetsuya [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Smith, Jarrod A. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Johnson, Carl H. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)

    2013-01-25

    We found that the Synechococcus elongatus KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC proteins in the presence of ATP generate a post-translational oscillator that runs in a temperature-compensated manner with a period of 24 h. KaiA dimer stimulates phosphorylation of KaiC hexamer at two sites per subunit, T432 and S431, and KaiB dimers antagonize KaiA action and induce KaiC subunit exchange. Neither the mechanism of KaiA-stimulated KaiC phosphorylation nor that of KaiB-mediated KaiC dephosphorylation is understood in detail at present. We demonstrate here that the A422V KaiC mutant sheds light on the former mechanism. It was previously reported that A422V is less sensitive to dark pulse-induced phase resetting and has a reduced amplitude of the KaiC phosphorylation rhythm in vivo. A422 maps to a loop (422-loop) that continues toward the phosphorylation sites. By pulling on the C-terminal peptide of KaiC (A-loop), KaiA removes restraints from the adjacent 422-loop whose increased flexibility indirectly promotes kinase activity. We found in the crystal structure that A422V KaiC lacks phosphorylation at S431 and exhibits a subtle, local conformational change relative to wild-type KaiC. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate higher mobility of the 422-loop in the absence of the A-loop and mobility differences in other areas associated with phosphorylation activity between wild-type and mutant KaiCs. Finally, the A-loop–422-loop relay that informs KaiC phosphorylation sites of KaiA dimer binding propagates to loops from neighboring KaiC subunits, thus providing support for a concerted allosteric mechanism of phosphorylation.

  18. Shortest loops are pacemakers in random networks of electrically coupled axons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikita eVladimirov

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available High-frequency oscillations (HFOs are an important part of brain activity in health and disease. However, their origins remain obscure and controversial. One possible mechanism depends on the presence of sparsely distributed gap junctions that electrically couple the axons of principal cells. A plexus of electrically coupled axons is modeled as a random network with bidirectional connections between its nodes. Under certain conditions the network can demonstrate one of two types of oscillatory activity. Type I oscillations (100-200 Hz are predicted to be caused by spontaneously spiking axons in a network with strong (high-conductance gap junctions. Type II oscillations (200-300 Hz require no spontaneous spiking and relatively weak (low-conductance gap junctions, across which spike propagation failures occur. The type II oscillations are reentrant and self-sustained. Here we examine what determines the frequency of type II oscillations. Using simulations we show that the distribution of loop lengths is the key factor for determining frequency in type II network oscillations. We first analyze spike failure between two electrically coupled cells using a model of anatomically reconstructed CA1 pyramidal neuron. Then network oscillations are studied by a cellular automaton model with random network connectivity, in which we control loop statistics. We show that oscillation periods can be predicted from the network's loop statistics. The shortest loop, around which a spike can travel, is the most likely pacemaker candidate.The principle of one loop as a pacemaker is remarkable, because random networks contain a large number of loops juxtaposed and superimposed, and their number rapidly grows with network size. This principle allows us to predict the frequency of oscillations from network connectivity and visa versa. We finally propose that type I oscillations may correspond to ripples, while type II oscillations correspond to so-called fast ripples.

  19. Acute cholangitis due to afferent loop syndrome after a Whipple procedure: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiliotis, John; Karnabatidis, Demetrios; Vaxevanidou, Archodoula; Datsis, Anastasios C; Rogdakis, Athanasios; Zacharis, Georgios; Siamblis, Demetrios

    2009-08-25

    Patients with resection of stomach and especially with Billroth II reconstruction (gastro jejunal anastomosis), are more likely to develop afferent loop syndrome which is a rare complication. When the afferent part is obstructed, biliary and pancreatic secretions accumulate and cause the distention of this part. In the case of a complete obstruction (rare), there is a high risk developing necrosis and perforation. This complication has been reported once in the literature. A 54-year-old Greek male had undergone a pancreato-duodenectomy (Whipple procedure) one year earlier due to a pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Approximately 10 months after the initial operation, the patient started having episodes of cholangitis (fever, jaundice) and abdominal pain. This condition progressively worsened and the suspicion of local recurrence or stenosis of the biliary-jejunal anastomosis was discussed. A few days before his admission the patient developed signs of septic cholangitis. Our case demonstrates a rare complication with serious clinical manifestation of the afferent loop syndrome. This advanced form of afferent loop syndrome led to the development of huge enterobiliary reflux, which had a serious clinical manifestation as cholangitis and systemic sepsis, due to bacterial overgrowth, which usually present in the afferent loop. The diagnosis is difficult and the interventional radiology gives all the details to support the therapeutic decision making. A variety of factors can contribute to its development including adhesions, kinking and angulation of the loop, stenosis of gastro-jejunal anastomosis and internal herniation. In order to decompress the afferent loop dilatation due to adhesions, a lateral-lateral jejunal anastomosis was performed between the afferent loop and a small bowel loop.

  20. Two-phase Heating in Flaring Loops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Chunming; Qiu, Jiong; Longcope, Dana W.

    2018-03-01

    We analyze and model a C5.7 two-ribbon solar flare observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, Hinode, and GOES on 2011 December 26. The flare is made of many loops formed and heated successively over one and half hours, and their footpoints are brightened in the UV 1600 Å before enhanced soft X-ray and EUV missions are observed in flare loops. Assuming that anchored at each brightened UV pixel is a half flaring loop, we identify more than 6700 half flaring loops, and infer the heating rate of each loop from the UV light curve at the footpoint. In each half loop, the heating rate consists of two phases: intense impulsive heating followed by a low-rate heating that is persistent for more than 20 minutes. Using these heating rates, we simulate the evolution of their coronal temperatures and densities with the model of the “enthalpy-based thermal evolution of loops.” In the model, suppression of thermal conduction is also considered. This model successfully reproduces total soft X-ray and EUV light curves observed in 15 passbands by four instruments GOES, AIA, XRT, and EVE. In this flare, a total energy of 4.9 × 1030 erg is required to heat the corona, around 40% of this energy is in the slow-heating phase. About two-fifths of the total energy used to heat the corona is radiated by the coronal plasmas, and the other three fifth transported to the lower atmosphere by thermal conduction.

  1. Control-structure interaction in precision pointing servo loops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spanos, John T.

    1989-01-01

    The control-structure interaction problem is addressed via stability analysis of a generic linear servo loop model. With the plant described by the rigid body mode and a single elastic mode, structural flexibility is categorized into one of three types: (1) appendage, (2) in-the-loop minimum phase, and (3) in-the-loop nonminimum phase. Closing the loop with proportional-derivative (PD) control action and introducing sensor roll-off dynamics in the feedback path, stability conditions are obtained. Trade studies are conducted with modal frequency, modal participation, modal damping, loop bandwidth, and sensor bandwidth treated as free parameters. Results indicate that appendage modes are most likely to produce instability if they are near the sensor rolloff, whereas in-the-loop modes are most dangerous near the loop bandwidth. The main goal of this paper is to provide a fundamental understanding of the control-structure interaction problem so that it may benefit the design of complex spacecraft and pointing system servo loops. In this framework, the JPL Pathfinder gimbal pointer is considered as an example.

  2. Numerical evaluation of one-loop QCD amplitudes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Badger, Simon David; Biedermann, Benedikt; Uwer, Peter

    2012-01-01

    We present the publicly available program NGluon allowing the numerical evaluation of primitive amplitudes at one-loop order in massless QCD. The program allows the computation of one-loop amplitudes for an arbitrary number of gluons. The focus of the present article is the extension to one-loop ...

  3. Vertically Polarized Omnidirectional Printed Slot Loop Antenna

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kammersgaard, Nikolaj Peter Iversen; Kvist, Søren H.; Thaysen, Jesper

    2015-01-01

    A novel vertically polarized omnidirectional printed slot loop antenna has been designed, simulated, fabricated and measured. The slot loop works as a magnetic loop. The loop is loaded with inductors to insure uniform and in-phase fields in the slot in order to obtain an omnidirectional radiation...... pattern. The antenna is designed for the 2.45 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical band. Applications of the antenna are many. One is for on-body applications since it is ideal for launching a creeping waves due to the polarization....

  4. The Cytokine TGF-β Promotes the Development and Homeostasis of Alveolar Macrophages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Xueyang; Buttgereit, Anne; Lelios, Iva; Utz, Sebastian G; Cansever, Dilay; Becher, Burkhard; Greter, Melanie

    2017-11-21

    Alveolar macrophages (AMs) derive from fetal liver monocytes, which colonize the lung during embryonic development and give rise to fully mature AMs perinatally. AM differentiation requires granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), but whether additional factors are involved in AM regulation is not known. Here we report that AMs, in contrast to most other tissue macrophages, were also dependent on transforming growth factor-β receptor (TGF-βR) signaling. Conditional deletion of TGF-βR in mice at different time points halted the development and differentiation of AMs. In adult mice, TGF-β was also critical for AM homeostasis. The source of TGF-β was AMs themselves, indicative of an autocrine loop that promotes AM self-maintenance. Mechanistically, TGF-βR signaling resulted in upregulation of PPAR-γ, a signature transcription factor essential for the development of AMs. These findings reveal an additional layer of complexity regarding the guidance cues, which govern the genesis, maturation, and survival of AMs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Central safety factor and β N control on NSTX-U via beam power and plasma boundary shape modification, using TRANSP for closed loop simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boyer, M. D.; Andre, R.; Gates, D. A.; Gerhardt, S.; Goumiri, I. R.; Menard, J.

    2015-04-24

    The high-performance operational goals of NSTX-U will require development of advanced feedback control algorithms, including control of ßN and the safety factor profile. In this work, a novel approach to simultaneously controlling ßN and the value of the safety factor on the magnetic axis, q0, through manipulation of the plasma boundary shape and total beam power, is proposed. Simulations of the proposed scheme show promising results and motivate future experimental implementation and eventual integration into a more complex current profile control scheme planned to include actuation of individual beam powers, density, and loop voltage. As part of this work, a flexible framework for closed loop simulations within the high-fidelity code TRANSP was developed. The framework, used here to identify control-design-oriented models and to tune and test the proposed controller, exploits many of the predictive capabilities of TRANSP and provides a means for performing control calculations based on user-supplied data (controller matrices, target waveforms, etc.). The flexible framework should enable high-fidelity testing of a variety of control algorithms, thereby reducing the amount of expensive experimental time needed to implement new control algorithms on NSTX-U and other devices.

  6. String breaking with Wilson loops?

    CERN Document Server

    Kratochvila, S; Kratochvila, Slavo; Forcrand, Philippe de

    2003-01-01

    A convincing, uncontroversial observation of string breaking, when the static potential is extracted from Wilson loops only, is still missing. This failure can be understood if the overlap of the Wilson loop with the broken string is exponentially small. In that case, the broken string ground state will only be seen if the Wilson loop is long enough. Our preliminary results show string breaking in the context of the 3d SU(2) adjoint static potential, using the L\\"uscher-Weisz exponential variance reduction approach. As a by-product, we measure the fundamental SU(2) static potential with improved accuracy and see clear deviations from Casimir scaling.

  7. BMN correlators by loop equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eynard, Bertrand; Kristjansen, Charlotte

    2002-01-01

    In the BMN approach to N=4 SYM a large class of correlators of interest are expressible in terms of expectation values of traces of words in a zero-dimensional gaussian complex matrix model. We develop a loop-equation based, analytic strategy for evaluating such expectation values to any order in the genus expansion. We reproduce the expectation values which were needed for the calculation of the one-loop, genus one correction to the anomalous dimension of BMN-operators and which were earlier obtained by combinatorial means. Furthermore, we present the expectation values needed for the calculation of the one-loop, genus two correction. (author)

  8. Loop-space quantum formulation of free electromagnetism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Bartolo, C.; Nori, F.; Gambini, R.; Trias, A.

    1983-01-01

    A procedure for direct quantization of free electromagnetism in the loop-space is proposed. Explicit solutions for the loop-dependent vacuum and the Wilson loop-average are given. It is shown that elementary lines of magnetic field appear as extremals in the vacuum state as a result of the regularization procedure

  9. A totally diverting loop colostomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merrett, N. D.; Gartell, P. C.

    1993-01-01

    A technique is described where the distal limb of a loop colostomy is tied with nylon or polydioxanone. This ensures total faecal diversion and dispenses with the supporting rod, enabling early application of stoma appliances. The technique does not interfere with the traditional transverse closure of a loop colostomy. PMID:8379632

  10. An Autocrine Proliferation Repressor Regulates Dictyostelium discoideum Proliferation and Chemorepulsion Using the G Protein-Coupled Receptor GrlH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Tang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available In eukaryotic microbes, little is known about signals that inhibit the proliferation of the cells that secrete the signal, and little is known about signals (chemorepellents that cause cells to move away from the source of the signal. Autocrine proliferation repressor protein A (AprA is a protein secreted by the eukaryotic microbe Dictyostelium discoideum. AprA is a chemorepellent for and inhibits the proliferation of D. discoideum. We previously found that cells sense AprA using G proteins, suggesting the existence of a G protein-coupled AprA receptor. To identify the AprA receptor, we screened mutants lacking putative G protein-coupled receptors. We found that, compared to the wild-type strain, cells lacking putative receptor GrlH (grlH{macron} cells show rapid proliferation, do not have large numbers of cells moving away from the edges of colonies, are insensitive to AprA-induced proliferation inhibition and chemorepulsion, and have decreased AprA binding. Expression of GrlH in grlH{macron} cells (grlH{macron}/grlHOE rescues the phenotypes described above. These data indicate that AprA signaling may be mediated by GrlH in D. discoideum.

  11. On-the-fly reduction of open loops

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buccioni, Federico; Pozzorini, Stefano; Zoller, Max [Universitaet Zuerich, Physik-Institut, Zurich (Switzerland)

    2018-01-15

    Building on the open-loop algorithm we introduce a new method for the automated construction of one-loop amplitudes and their reduction to scalar integrals. The key idea is that the factorisation of one-loop integrands in a product of loop segments makes it possible to perform various operations on-the-fly while constructing the integrand. Reducing the integrand on-the-fly, after each segment multiplication, the construction of loop diagrams and their reduction are unified in a single numerical recursion. In this way we entirely avoid objects with high tensor rank, thereby reducing the complexity of the calculations in a drastic way. Thanks to the on-the-fly approach, which is applied also to helicity summation and for the merging of different diagrams, the speed of the original open-loop algorithm can be further augmented in a very significant way. Moreover, addressing spurious singularities of the employed reduction identities by means of simple expansions in rank-two Gram determinants, we achieve a remarkably high level of numerical stability. These features of the new algorithm, which will be made publicly available in a forthcoming release of the OpenLoops program, are particularly attractive for NLO multi-leg and NNLO real-virtual calculations. (orig.)

  12. On-the-fly reduction of open loops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buccioni, Federico; Pozzorini, Stefano; Zoller, Max

    2018-01-01

    Building on the open-loop algorithm we introduce a new method for the automated construction of one-loop amplitudes and their reduction to scalar integrals. The key idea is that the factorisation of one-loop integrands in a product of loop segments makes it possible to perform various operations on-the-fly while constructing the integrand. Reducing the integrand on-the-fly, after each segment multiplication, the construction of loop diagrams and their reduction are unified in a single numerical recursion. In this way we entirely avoid objects with high tensor rank, thereby reducing the complexity of the calculations in a drastic way. Thanks to the on-the-fly approach, which is applied also to helicity summation and for the merging of different diagrams, the speed of the original open-loop algorithm can be further augmented in a very significant way. Moreover, addressing spurious singularities of the employed reduction identities by means of simple expansions in rank-two Gram determinants, we achieve a remarkably high level of numerical stability. These features of the new algorithm, which will be made publicly available in a forthcoming release of the OpenLoops program, are particularly attractive for NLO multi-leg and NNLO real-virtual calculations.

  13. Regulation of Prostate Development and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Autocrine Cholinergic Signaling via Maintaining the Epithelial Progenitor Cells in Proliferating Status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Naitao; Dong, Bai-Jun; Quan, Yizhou; Chen, Qianqian; Chu, Mingliang; Xu, Jin; Xue, Wei; Huang, Yi-Ran; Yang, Ru; Gao, Wei-Qiang

    2016-05-10

    Regulation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells is important in prostate development and prostate diseases. Our previous study demonstrated a function of autocrine cholinergic signaling (ACS) in promoting prostate cancer growth and castration resistance. However, whether or not such ACS also plays a role in prostate development is unknown. Here, we report that ACS promoted the proliferation and inhibited the differentiation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells in organotypic cultures. These results were confirmed by ex vivo lineage tracing assays and in vivo renal capsule recombination assays. Moreover, we found that M3 cholinergic receptor (CHRM3) was upregulated in a large subset of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissues compared with normal tissues. Activation of CHRM3 also promoted the proliferation of BPH cells. Together, our findings identify a role of ACS in maintaining prostate epithelial progenitor cells in the proliferating state, and blockade of ACS may have clinical implications for the management of BPH. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Regulation of Prostate Development and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Autocrine Cholinergic Signaling via Maintaining the Epithelial Progenitor Cells in Proliferating Status

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naitao Wang

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Regulation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells is important in prostate development and prostate diseases. Our previous study demonstrated a function of autocrine cholinergic signaling (ACS in promoting prostate cancer growth and castration resistance. However, whether or not such ACS also plays a role in prostate development is unknown. Here, we report that ACS promoted the proliferation and inhibited the differentiation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells in organotypic cultures. These results were confirmed by ex vivo lineage tracing assays and in vivo renal capsule recombination assays. Moreover, we found that M3 cholinergic receptor (CHRM3 was upregulated in a large subset of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH tissues compared with normal tissues. Activation of CHRM3 also promoted the proliferation of BPH cells. Together, our findings identify a role of ACS in maintaining prostate epithelial progenitor cells in the proliferating state, and blockade of ACS may have clinical implications for the management of BPH.

  15. Loop Quantum Cosmology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bojowald, Martin

    2008-01-01

    Quantum gravity is expected to be necessary in order to understand situations in which classical general relativity breaks down. In particular in cosmology one has to deal with initial singularities, i.e., the fact that the backward evolution of a classical spacetime inevitably comes to an end after a finite amount of proper time. This presents a breakdown of the classical picture and requires an extended theory for a meaningful description. Since small length scales and high curvatures are involved, quantum effects must play a role. Not only the singularity itself but also the surrounding spacetime is then modified. One particular theory is loop quantum cosmology, an application of loop quantum gravity to homogeneous systems, which removes classical singularities. Its implications can be studied at different levels. The main effects are introduced into effective classical equations, which allow one to avoid the interpretational problems of quantum theory. They give rise to new kinds of early-universe phenomenology with applications to inflation and cyclic models. To resolve classical singularities and to understand the structure of geometry around them, the quantum description is necessary. Classical evolution is then replaced by a difference equation for a wave function, which allows an extension of quantum spacetime beyond classical singularities. One main question is how these homogeneous scenarios are related to full loop quantum gravity, which can be dealt with at the level of distributional symmetric states. Finally, the new structure of spacetime arising in loop quantum gravity and its application to cosmology sheds light on more general issues, such as the nature of time. Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.12942/lrr-2008-4.

  16. 3-loop contributions to heavy flavor Wilson coefficients of neutral and charged current DIS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasselhuhn, Alexander

    2013-11-01

    In the present thesis several new contributions are made to achieve this goal. Different gauge-invariant subsets of graphs, i.e. whole color factors, are calculated, in order to break the ground for the systematic evaluation of new topologies and to develop corresponding computer algebra codes and computational algorithms to render a part of these problems. Furthermore, also some new results are obtained on the 2-loop level. The work focuses on the heavy quark corrections in the asymptotic region Q 2 >> m 2 , where the heavy flavor Wilson coefficients factorize into the light flavor Wilson coefficients and massive operator matrix elements. New contributions are obtained for the complete O(α s 3 n f T F 2 ) corrections to the operator matrix elements A gq,Q and A gg,Q . The computation of the Feynman integrals is performed using representations in generalized hypergeometric functions and finite sums. These sums are performed using modern symbolic summation methods implemented in the packages Sigma, Evaluate Multi Sums, and Sum Production. The results are renormalized and checked against Mellin moments. Furthermore, also the 2-loop corrections to the polarized massive OMEs ΔA gq,Q and ΔA gg,Q are calculated. Since the calculations are performed in dimensional regularization and Levi-Civita tensors are present in the diagrams, the OMEs are subject to a finite renormalization. New methods are developed to calculate genuine 3-loop topologies of ladder- and V-type, taking into account the number of heavy quark lines involved. The calculation methods involves mapping the Feynman parameterized representations onto multi-sums and using properties of Appell functions and other generalizations of hypergeometric functions. Two integrals are presented, for which the solution with summation methods remains yet an open problem. At three loops, for the first time also graphs with two distinct massive lines occur. A new method is presented for the calculation of such diagrams

  17. Hydraulic loop: practices using open control systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrasco, J.A.; Alonso, L.; Sanchez, F.

    1998-01-01

    The Tecnatom Hydraulic Loop is a dynamic training platform. It has been designed with the purpose of improving the work in teams. With this system, the student can obtain a full scope vision of a system. The hydraulic Loop is a part of the Tecnatom Maintenance Centre. The first objective of the hydraulic Loop is the instruction in components, process and process control using open control system. All the personal of an electric power plant can be trained in the Hydraulic Loop with specific courses. The development of a dynamic tool for tests previous to plant installations has been an additional objective of the Hydraulic Loop. The use of this platform is complementary to the use of full-scope simulators in order to debug and to analyse advanced control strategies. (Author)

  18. Free convection in a partially submerged fluid loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Britt, T.E.; Wood, D.C.

    1982-01-01

    Several natural convection loop systems are studied in order to determine the operational characteristics for a multiple loop container which is used to cool failed nuclear reactor assemblies. Both analytical and experimental studies were undertaken to examine flow in both circular and rectangular flow loops. It was found that when a circular loop is heated at the bottom and cooled at the top, recirculation cells form at all input power fluxes. At fluxes between 0.1 W/cm 2 and 0.7 W/cm 2 the cells caused flow oscillations and reversals. With the circular loop heated from the side, no recirculation cells were observed at the power fluxes up to 1.5 W/cm. Boiling did not occur in the circular loop. For a rectangular loop heated and cooled on its vertical sides, no recirculation cells or flow reversals were seen. At input power fluxes above 1.2 W/cm 2 , periodic boiling in the heated side caused flow oscillations

  19. Cooling Active Region Loops Observed With SXT and TRACE

    OpenAIRE

    Winebarger, Amy R.; Warren, Harry P.

    2005-01-01

    An Impulsive Heating Multiple Strand (IHMS) Model is able to reproduce the observational characteristics of EUV (~ 1 MK) active region loops. This model implies that some of the loops must reach temperatures where X-ray filters are sensitive (> 2.5 MK) before they cool to EUV temperatures. Hence, some bright EUV loops must be preceded by bright X-ray loops. Previous analysis of X-ray and EUV active region observations, however, have concluded that EUV loops are not preceded by X-ray loops. In...

  20. The morbidity of a divided stoma compared to a loop colostomy in patients with anorectal malformation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liechty, Shawn T; Barnhart, Douglas C; Huber, Jordan T; Zobell, Sarah; Rollins, Michael D

    2016-01-01

    Loop colostomies may contaminate the genitourinary (GU) tract in patients with anorectal malformations (ARM) owing to incomplete diversion of stool. Stoma complications are also thought to be higher with a loop versus divided colostomy. We sought to compare the morbidity, including urinary tract infections (UTI), in these two types of colostomies in children with ARM. A review was performed at a children's hospital (1989-2014). Children with ARM who had a colostomy performed were identified. Demographic data and outcome variables were collected. Analyses included Student's t-test, Fischer's exact and logistic regression as appropriate. 171 patients were identified (loop=78; divided=93). Thirty percent of patients with a divided colostomy and 24% with a loop experienced a stoma complication (p=0.5). A subgroup analysis of children with a rectourinary fistula (54 divided, 26 loop) was performed to assess for effect of colostomy type on UTI. After controlling for other UTI risk factors (major GU anomalies, vesicostomy, and prophylactic antibiotics), loop ostomies were not associated with risk of UTI (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.27-2.63). No patient with a loop colostomy developed megarectum. Children with ARM who undergo a loop colostomy are not at a detectable increased risk of experiencing a UTI compared to a divided stoma. The rate of stoma complication is high regardless of the type of stoma created. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Quantum chromodynamics as dynamics of loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makeenko, Yu.M.; Migdal, A.A.

    1981-01-01

    QCD is entirely reformulated in terms of white composite fields - the traces of the loop products. The 1/N expansion turns out to be the WKB (Hartree-Fock) approximation for these fields. The 'classical' equation describing the N = infinite case is reduced tp a bootstrap form. New, manifestly gauge-invariant perturbation theory in the loop space, reproducing asymptotic freedom, is developed by iterations of this equation. The area law appears to be a self-consistent solution at large loops. (orig.)

  2. Autocrine prostaglandin E2 signaling promotes promonocytic leukemia cell survival via COX-2 expression and MAPK pathway

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jaetae; Lee, Young Sup

    2015-01-01

    The COX-2/PGE2 pathway has been implicated in the occurrence and progression of cancer. The underlying mechanisms facilitating the production of COX-2 and its mediator, PGE2, in cancer survival remain unknown. Herein, we investigated PGE2-induced COX-2 expression and signaling in HL-60 cells following menadione treatment. Treatment with PGE2 activated anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL while reducing pro-apoptotic proteins, thereby enhancing cell survival. PGE2 not only induced COX-2 expression, but also prevented casapse-3, PARP, and lamin B cleavage. Silencing and inhibition of COX-2 with siRNA transfection or treatment with indomethacin led to a pronounced reduction of the extracellular levels of PGE2, and restored the menadione-induced cell death. In addition, pretreatment of cells with the MEK inhibitor PD98059 and the PKA inhibitor H89 abrogated the PGE2-induced expression of COX-2, suggesting involvement of the MAPK and PKA pathways. These results demonstrate that PGE2 signaling acts in an autocrine manner, and specific inhibition of PGE2 will provide a novel approach for the treatment of leukemia. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(2): 109-114] PMID:24965577

  3. The Universal One-Loop Effective Action

    CERN Document Server

    Drozd, Aleksandra; Quevillon, Jérémie; You, Tevong

    2016-01-01

    We present the universal one-loop effective action for all operators of dimension up to six obtained by integrating out massive, non-degenerate multiplets. Our general expression may be applied to loops of heavy fermions or bosons, and has been checked against partial results available in the literature. The broad applicability of this approach simplifies one-loop matching from an ultraviolet model to a lower-energy effective field theory (EFT), a procedure which is now reduced to the evaluation of a combination of matrices in our universal expression, without any loop integrals to evaluate. We illustrate the relationship of our results to the Standard Model (SM) EFT, using as an example the supersymmetric stop and sbottom squark Lagrangian and extracting from our universal expression the Wilson coefficients of dimension-six operators composed of SM fields.

  4. The universal one-loop effective action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drozd, Aleksandra; Ellis, John; Quevillon, Jérémie; You, Tevong

    2016-01-01

    We present the universal one-loop effective action for all operators of dimension up to six obtained by integrating out massive, non-degenerate multiplets. Our general expression may be applied to loops of heavy fermions or bosons, and has been checked against partial results available in the literature. The broad applicability of this approach simplifies one-loop matching from an ultraviolet model to a lower-energy effective field theory (EFT), a procedure which is now reduced to the evaluation of a combination of matrices in our universal expression, without any loop integrals to evaluate. We illustrate the relationship of our results to the Standard Model (SM) EFT, using as an example the supersymmetric stop and sbottom squark Lagrangian and extracting from our universal expression the Wilson coefficients of dimension-six operators composed of SM fields.

  5. Mathematical Modeling of Loop Heat Pipes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaya, Tarik; Ku, Jentung; Hoang, Triem T.; Cheung, Mark L.

    1998-01-01

    The primary focus of this study is to model steady-state performance of a Loop Heat Pipe (LHP). The mathematical model is based on the steady-state energy balance equations at each component of the LHP. The heat exchange between each LHP component and the surrounding is taken into account. Both convection and radiation environments are modeled. The loop operating temperature is calculated as a function of the applied power at a given loop condition. Experimental validation of the model is attempted by using two different LHP designs. The mathematical model is tested at different sink temperatures and at different elevations of the loop. Tbc comparison of the calculations and experimental results showed very good agreement (within 3%). This method proved to be a useful tool in studying steady-state LHP performance characteristics.

  6. Iteration of planar amplitudes in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory at three loops and beyond

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bern, Zvi; Dixon, Lance J.; Smirnov, Vladimir A.

    2005-01-01

    We compute the leading-color (planar) three-loop four-point amplitude of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in 4-2ε dimensions, as a Laurent expansion about ε=0 including the finite terms. The amplitude was constructed previously via the unitarity method, in terms of two Feynman loop integrals, one of which has been evaluated already. Here we use the Mellin-Barnes integration technique to evaluate the Laurent expansion of the second integral. Strikingly, the amplitude is expressible, through the finite terms, in terms of the corresponding one- and two-loop amplitudes, which provides strong evidence for a previous conjecture that higher-loop planar N=4 amplitudes have an iterative structure. The infrared singularities of the amplitude agree with the predictions of Sterman and Tejeda-Yeomans based on resummation. Based on the four-point result and the exponentiation of infrared singularities, we give an exponentiated Ansatz for the maximally helicity-violating n-point amplitudes to all loop orders. The 1/ε 2 pole in the four-point amplitude determines the soft, or cusp, anomalous dimension at three loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The result confirms a prediction by Kotikov, Lipatov, Onishchenko and Velizhanin, which utilizes the leading-twist anomalous dimensions in QCD computed by Moch, Vermaseren and Vogt. Following similar logic, we are able to predict a term in the three-loop quark and gluon form factors in QCD

  7. Analytical Investigation of the Heat-Transfer Limits of a Novel Solar Loop-Heat Pipe Employing a Mini-Channel Evaporator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thierno M. O. Diallo

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an analytical investigation of heat-transfer limits of a novel solar loop-heat pipe developed for space heating and domestic hot water use. In the loop-heat pipe, the condensate liquid returns to the evaporator via small specially designed holes, using a mini-channel evaporator. The study considered the commonly known heat-transfer limits of loop-heat pipes, namely, the viscous, sonic, entrainment, boiling and heat-transfer limits due to the two-phase pressure drop in the loop. The analysis considered the main factors that affect the limits in the mini-channel evaporator: the operating temperature, mini-channel aspect ratio, evaporator length, evaporator inclination angle, evaporator-to-condenser height difference and the dimension of the holes. It was found that the entrainment is the main governing limit of the system operation. With the specified loop design and operational conditions, the solar loop-heat pipe can achieve a heat-transport capacity of 725 W. The analytical model presented in this study can be used to optimise the heat-transfer capacity of the novel solar loop-heat pipe.

  8. Loop expansion in massless three-dimensional QED

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guendelman, E.I.; Radulovic, Z.M.

    1983-01-01

    It is shown how the loop expansion in massless three-dimensional QED can be made finite, up to three loops, by absorbing the infrared divergences in a gauge-fixing term. The same method removes leading and first subleading singularities to all orders of perturbation theory, and all singularities of the fermion self-energy to four loops

  9. Superstring elastic scattering at √s≥1019 GeV. The covariant loop calculus approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellini, A.; Cristofano, G.; Fabbrichesi, M.; Roland, K.; Texas Univ., Austin, TX

    1990-01-01

    We study quantum gravity by considering the elastic scattering of two on-shell string ground states in the large s, fixed t asymptotic limit. The amplitude is computed by means of the covariant loop calculus which turns out to be a powerful method in the study of such a Regge regime. The leading contribution in powers of s is shown to factorize at any g-loop order in a product of g+1 tree amplitudes times the expectation value of a factorized operator. The cumulative effect of these contributions - once it has been resummed - restores unitarity in the theory and gives a deflection angle in agreement with the linear approximation to general relativity. In the process, it is possible to determine the normalization dictated by unitarity of all terms in the topological expansion. Next, the first sub-leading contribution is calculated at the two-loop order, the so-called H-diagram. A resummation of such terms gives rise to the first non-linear correction in the deflection angle. Our results are in agreement with previous work by Amati, Ciafaloni and Veneziano in the framework of Regge-Gribov techniques. The correspondence between the two approaches is discussed. (orig.)

  10. A high ratio of insulin-like growth factor II/insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 messenger RNA as a marker for anaplasia in meningiomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordqvist, A C; Peyrard, M; Pettersson, H; Mathiesen, T; Collins, V P; Dumanski, J P; Schalling, M

    1997-07-01

    Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) I and II have been implicated as autocrine or paracrine growth promoters. These growth factors bind to specific receptors, and the response is modulated by interaction with IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). We observed a strong correlation between anaplastic/atypical histopathology and a high IGF-II/IGFBP-2 mRNA ratio in a set of 68 sporadic meningiomas. A strong correlation was also found between clinical outcome and IGF-II/IGFBP-2 ratio, whereas previously used histochemical markers were less correlated to outcome. We suggest that a high IGF-II/IGFBP-2 mRNA ratio may be a sign of biologically aggressive behavior in meningiomas that can influence treatment strategies. We propose that low IGFBP-2 levels in combination with increased levels of IGF-II would result in more free IGF-II and consequently greater stimulation of proliferation.

  11. Preliminary design of a small air loop for system analysis and validation of Cathare code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marchand, M.; Saez, M.; Tauveron, N.; Tenchine, D.; Germain, T.; Geffraye, G.; Ruby, G.P.

    2007-01-01

    The French Atomic Energy Commission (Cea) is carrying on the design of a Small Air Loop for System Analysis (SALSA), devoted to the study of gas cooled nuclear reactors behaviour in normal and incidental/accidental operating conditions. The reduced size of the SALSA components compared to a full-scale reactor and air as gaseous coolant instead of Helium will allow an easy management of the loop. The main purpose of SALSA will be the validation of the associated thermal hydraulic safety simulation codes, like CATHARE. The main goal of this paper is to present the methodology used to define the characteristics of the loop. In a first step, the study has been focused on a direct-cycle system for the SALSA loop with few global constraints using a similarity analysis to support the definition and design of the loop. Similarity requirements have been evaluated to determine the scale factors which have to be applied to the SALSA loop components. The preliminary conceptual design of the SALSA plant with a definition of each component has then be carried out. The whole plant has been modelled using the CATHARE code. Calculations of the SALSA steady-state in nominal conditions and of different plant transients in direct-cycle have been made. The first system results obtained on the global behaviour of the loop confirm that SALSA can be representative of a Gas-Cooled nuclear reactor with some minor design modifications. In a second step, the current prospects focus on the SALSA loop capability to reproduce correctly the heat transfer occurring in specific incidental situations. Heat decay removal by natural convection is a crucial point of interest. The first results show that the behaviour and the efficiency of the loop are strongly influenced by the definition of the main parameters for each component. A complete definition of SALSA is under progress. (authors)

  12. GLOBAL SAUSAGE OSCILLATION OF SOLAR FLARE LOOPS DETECTED BY THE INTERFACE REGION IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tian, Hui; He, Jiansen; Young, Peter R.; Reeves, Katharine K.; Wang, Tongjiang; Antolin, Patrick; Chen, Bin

    2016-01-01

    An observation from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph reveals coherent oscillations in the loops of an M1.6 flare on 2015 March 12. Both the intensity and Doppler shift of Fe xxi 1354.08 Å show clear oscillations with a period of ∼25 s. Remarkably similar oscillations were also detected in the soft X-ray flux recorded by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites ( GOES ). With an estimated phase speed of ∼2420 km s −1 and a derived electron density of at least 5.4 × 10 10 cm −3 , the observed short-period oscillation is most likely the global fast sausage mode of a hot flare loop. We find a phase shift of ∼ π /2 (1/4 period) between the Doppler shift oscillation and the intensity/ GOES oscillations, which is consistent with a recent forward modeling study of the sausage mode. The observed oscillation requires a density contrast between the flare loop and coronal background of a factor ≥42. The estimated phase speed of the global mode provides a lower limit of the Alfvén speed outside the flare loop. We also find an increase of the oscillation period, which might be caused by the separation of the loop footpoints with time.

  13. A regulatory transcriptional loop controls proliferation and differentiation in Drosophila neural stem cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tetsuo Yasugi

    Full Text Available Neurogenesis is initiated by a set of basic Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH transcription factors that specify neural progenitors and allow them to generate neurons in multiple rounds of asymmetric cell division. The Drosophila Daughterless (Da protein and its mammalian counterparts (E12/E47 act as heterodimerization factors for proneural genes and are therefore critically required for neurogenesis. Here, we demonstrate that Da can also be an inhibitor of the neural progenitor fate whose absence leads to stem cell overproliferation and tumor formation. We explain this paradox by demonstrating that Da induces the differentiation factor Prospero (Pros whose asymmetric segregation is essential for differentiation in one of the two daughter cells. Da co-operates with the bHLH transcription factor Asense, whereas the other proneural genes are dispensible. After mitosis, Pros terminates Asense expression in one of the two daughter cells. In da mutants, pros is not expressed, leading to the formation of lethal transplantable brain tumors. Our results define a transcriptional feedback loop that regulates the balance between self-renewal and differentiation in Drosophila optic lobe neuroblasts. They indicate that initiation of a neural differentiation program in stem cells is essential to prevent tumorigenesis.

  14. Mechanical evaluation of space closure loops in orthodontics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodrigues, Eduardo Uggeri; Maruo, Hiroshi; Guariza Filho, Odilon; Tanaka, Orlando; Camargo, Elisa Souza

    2011-01-01

    This study evaluated the mechanical performance of teardrop-shaped loops and teardrop-shaped loops with helix used in orthodontic space closure. Sixty retraction loops made with 0.019" x 0.025" stainless steel (SS) and beta-titanium (BT) wires were used. They were attached to a testing machine to measure the magnitudes of the sagittal force and the load-deflection ratio necessary for 1 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm activation. The results demonstrated that the BT alloy presented significantly smaller mean values (p < 0.01) of sagittal force and load-deflection than the SS alloy. The loop with the highest mean value of sagittal force and load-deflection was the teardrop-shaped loop (p < 0.01). Differences were observed in the mean values of sagittal force and load-deflection among activations, and the highest mean value was found in the activation of 3 mm, while the smallest mean value was evident in the activation of 1 mm (p < 0.01). It could be concluded that the metallic alloy used and the presence of a helix in configuration of the loops may have a strong influence on the sagittal force produced and on the load-deflection ratio; the teardrop-shaped loops and teardrop-shaped loops with helix in BT presented the release of lighter forces; the teardrop-shaped loop in SS generated a high load-deflection ratio, providing high magnitudes of horizontal force during its deactivation.

  15. Mechanical evaluation of space closure loops in Orthodontics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Uggeri Rodrigues

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available This study evaluated the mechanical performance of teardrop-shaped loops and teardrop-shaped loops with helix used in orthodontic space closure. Sixty retraction loops made with 0.019" x 0.025" stainless steel (SS and beta-titanium (BT wires were used. They were attached to a testing machine to measure the magnitudes of the sagittal force and the load-deflection ratio necessary for 1 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm activation. The results demonstrated that the BT alloy presented significantly smaller mean values (p < 0.01 of sagittal force and load-deflection than the SS alloy. The loop with the highest mean value of sagittal force and load-deflection was the teardrop-shaped loop (p < 0.01. Differences were observed in the mean values of sagittal force and load-deflection among activations, and the highest mean value was found in the activation of 3 mm, while the smallest mean value was evident in the activation of 1 mm (p < 0.01. It could be concluded that the metallic alloy used and the presence of a helix in configuration of the loops may have a strong influence on the sagittal force produced and on the load-deflection ratio; the teardrop-shaped loops and teardrop-shaped loops with helix in BT presented the release of lighter forces; the teardrop-shaped loop in SS generated a high load-deflection ratio, providing high magnitudes of horizontal force during its deactivation.

  16. Protein Loop Structure Prediction Using Conformational Space Annealing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heo, Seungryong; Lee, Juyong; Joo, Keehyoung; Shin, Hang-Cheol; Lee, Jooyoung

    2017-05-22

    We have developed a protein loop structure prediction method by combining a new energy function, which we call E PLM (energy for protein loop modeling), with the conformational space annealing (CSA) global optimization algorithm. The energy function includes stereochemistry, dynamic fragment assembly, distance-scaled finite ideal gas reference (DFIRE), and generalized orientation- and distance-dependent terms. For the conformational search of loop structures, we used the CSA algorithm, which has been quite successful in dealing with various hard global optimization problems. We assessed the performance of E PLM with two widely used loop-decoy sets, Jacobson and RAPPER, and compared the results against the DFIRE potential. The accuracy of model selection from a pool of loop decoys as well as de novo loop modeling starting from randomly generated structures was examined separately. For the selection of a nativelike structure from a decoy set, E PLM was more accurate than DFIRE in the case of the Jacobson set and had similar accuracy in the case of the RAPPER set. In terms of sampling more nativelike loop structures, E PLM outperformed E DFIRE for both decoy sets. This new approach equipped with E PLM and CSA can serve as the state-of-the-art de novo loop modeling method.

  17. Environmental impacts of open loop geothermal system on groundwater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Koo-Sang; Park, Youngyun; Yun, Sang Woong; Lee, Jin-Yong

    2013-04-01

    Application of renewable energies such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat has gradually increased to reduce emission of CO2 which is supplied from combustion of fossil fuel. The geothermal energy of various renewable energies has benefit to be used to cooling and heating systems and has good energy efficiency compared with other renewable energies. However, open loop system of geothermal heat pump system has possibility that various environmental problems are induced because the system directly uses groundwater to exchange heat. This study was performed to collect data from many documents such as papers and reports and to summarize environmental impacts for application of open loop system. The environmental impacts are classified into change of hydrogeological factors such as water temperature, redox condition, EC, change of microbial species, well contamination and depletion of groundwater. The change of hydrogeological factors can induce new geological processes such as dissolution and precipitation of some minerals. For examples, increase of water temperature can change pH and Eh. These variations can change saturation index of some minerals. Therefore, dissolution and precipitation of some minerals such as quartz and carbonate species and compounds including Fe and Mn can induce a collapse and a clogging of well. The well contamination and depletion of groundwater can reduce available groundwater resources. These environmental impacts will be different in each region because hydrogeological properties and scale, operation period and kind of the system. Therefore, appropriate responses will be considered for each environmental impact. Also, sufficient study will be conducted to reduce the environmental impacts and to improve geothermal energy efficiency during the period that a open loop system is operated. This work was supported by the Energy Efficiency and Resources of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning

  18. Effect of Loop Diameter on the Steady State and Stability Behaviour of Single-Phase and Two-Phase Natural Circulation Loops

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. K. Vijayan

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In natural circulation loops, the driving force is usually low as it depends on the riser height which is generally of the order of a few meters. The heat transport capability of natural circulation loops (NCLs is directly proportional to the flow rate it can generate. With low driving force, the straightforward way to enhance the flow is to reduce the frictional losses. A simple way to do this is to increase the loop diameter which can be easily adopted in pressure tube designs such as the AHWR and the natural circulation boilers employed in fossil-fuelled power plants. Further, the loop diameter also plays an important role on the stability behavior. An extensive experimental and theoretical investigation of the effect of loop diameter on the steady state and stability behavior of single- and two-phase natural circulation loops have been carried out and the results of this study are presented in this paper.

  19. UPTF loop seal tests and their RELAP simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tuomainen, M.; Tuunanen, J.

    1997-01-01

    In a pressurized water reactor the loop seals have an effect on the natural circulation. If a loop seal is filled with water it can cause a flow stagnation in the loop during two-phase natural circulation. Also the pressure loss over a filled loop seal is high, which lowers the water level in the core. Tests to investigate the loop seal behaviour were performed on a German Upper Plenum Test Facility (UPTF). The purpose of the tests was to study the amount of water in the loop seal under different steam flow rates. The tests were simulated with RELAP5/MOD3.2. With high steam flow rates the code had problems in simulating the amount of the water remaining in the pump elbow, but in general the agreement between the calculated results and the experimental data was good. (orig.)

  20. SU(2) string tension from large Wilson loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karsch, F.; Lang, C.B.

    1984-01-01

    We determine expectation values of Wilson loops and correlations of Polyakov loops on lattices of size 10 X 16 3 and 8 X 16 3 at β values 2.25 and 2.375. Utilizing a recently proposed method to reduce the variance of loop expectation values, we are able to measure loops up to 6 X 6. We find Λsub(L) = 0.0151 +- 0.0006√sub(K) at β = 2.375. (orig.)

  1. Incremental Closed-loop Identification of Linear Parameter Varying Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, Klaus

    2011-01-01

    , closed-loop system identification is more difficult than open-loop identification. In this paper we prove that the so-called Hansen Scheme, a technique known from linear time-invariant systems theory for transforming closed-loop system identification problems into open-loop-like problems, can be extended...

  2. Process/Equipment Co-Simulation on Syngas Chemical Looping Process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zeng, Liang; Zhou, Qiang; Fan, Liang-Shih

    2012-09-30

    The chemical looping strategy for fossil energy applications promises to achieve an efficient energy conversion system for electricity, liquid fuels, hydrogen and/or chemicals generation, while economically separate CO{sub 2} by looping reaction design in the process. Chemical looping particle performance, looping reactor engineering, and process design and applications are the key drivers to the success of chemical looping process development. In order to better understand and further scale up the chemical looping process, issues such as cost, time, measurement, safety, and other uncertainties need to be examined. To address these uncertainties, advanced reaction/reactor modeling and process simulation are highly desired and the modeling efforts can accelerate the chemical looping technology development, reduce the pilot-scale facility design time and operating campaigns, as well as reduce the cost and technical risks. The purpose of this work is thus to conduct multiscale modeling and simulations on the key aspects of chemical looping technology, including particle reaction kinetics, reactor design and operation, and process synthesis and optimization.

  3. Perception as a closed-loop convergence process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahissar, Ehud; Assa, Eldad

    2016-05-09

    Perception of external objects involves sensory acquisition via the relevant sensory organs. A widely-accepted assumption is that the sensory organ is the first station in a serial chain of processing circuits leading to an internal circuit in which a percept emerges. This open-loop scheme, in which the interaction between the sensory organ and the environment is not affected by its concurrent downstream neuronal processing, is strongly challenged by behavioral and anatomical data. We present here a hypothesis in which the perception of external objects is a closed-loop dynamical process encompassing loops that integrate the organism and its environment and converging towards organism-environment steady-states. We discuss the consistency of closed-loop perception (CLP) with empirical data and show that it can be synthesized in a robotic setup. Testable predictions are proposed for empirical distinction between open and closed loop schemes of perception.

  4. Feedback Loop Gains and Feedback Behavior (1996)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kampmann, Christian Erik

    2012-01-01

    Linking feedback loops and system behavior is part of the foundation of system dynamics, yet the lack of formal tools has so far prevented a systematic application of the concept, except for very simple systems. Having such tools at their disposal would be a great help to analysts in understanding...... large, complicated simulation models. The paper applies tools from graph theory formally linking individual feedback loop strengths to the system eigenvalues. The significance of a link or a loop gain and an eigenvalue can be expressed in the eigenvalue elasticity, i.e., the relative change...... of an eigenvalue resulting from a relative change in the gain. The elasticities of individual links and loops may be found through simple matrix operations on the linearized system. Even though the number of feedback loops can grow rapidly with system size, reaching astronomical proportions even for modest systems...

  5. Dynamic loop gain increases upon adopting the supine body position during sleep in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joosten, Simon A; Landry, Shane A; Sands, Scott A; Terrill, Philip I; Mann, Dwayne; Andara, Christopher; Skuza, Elizabeth; Turton, Anthony; Berger, Philip; Hamilton, Garun S; Edwards, Bradley A

    2017-11-01

    Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is typically worse in the supine versus lateral sleeping position. One potential factor driving this observation is a decrease in lung volume in the supine position which is expected by theory to increase a key OSA pathogenic factor: dynamic ventilatory control instability (i.e. loop gain). We aimed to quantify dynamic loop gain in OSA patients in the lateral and supine positions, and to explore the relationship between change in dynamic loop gain and change in lung volume with position. Data from 20 patients enrolled in previous studies on the effect of body position on OSA pathogenesis were retrospectively analysed. Dynamic loop gain was calculated from routinely collected polysomnographic signals using a previously validated mathematical model. Lung volumes were measured in the awake state with a nitrogen washout technique. Dynamic loop gain was significantly higher in the supine than in the lateral position (0.77 ± 0.15 vs 0.68 ± 0.14, P = 0.012). Supine functional residual capacity (FRC) was significantly lower than lateral FRC (81.0 ± 15.4% vs 87.3 ± 18.4% of the seated FRC, P = 0.021). The reduced FRC we observed on moving to the supine position was predicted by theory to increase loop gain by 10.2 (0.6, 17.1)%, a value similar to the observed increase of 8.4 (-1.5, 31.0)%. Dynamic loop gain increased by a small but statistically significant amount when moving from the lateral to supine position and this may, in part, contribute to the worsening of OSA in the supine sleeping position. © 2017 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

  6. A secreted factor represses cell proliferation in Dictyostelium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, Debra A; Gomer, Richard H

    2005-10-01

    Many cells appear to secrete factors called chalones that limit their proliferation, but in most cases the factors have not been identified. We found that growing Dictyostelium cells secrete a 60 kDa protein called AprA for autocrine proliferation repressor. AprA has similarity to putative bacterial proteins of unknown function. Compared with wild-type cells, aprA-null cells proliferate faster, while AprA overexpressing cells proliferate slower. Growing wild-type cells secrete a factor that inhibits the proliferation of wild-type and aprA- cells; this activity is not secreted by aprA- cells. AprA purified by immunoprecipitation also slows the proliferation of wild-type and aprA- cells. Compared with wild type, there is a higher percentage of multinucleate cells in the aprA- population, and when starved, aprA- cells form abnormal structures that contain fewer spores. AprA may thus decrease the number of multinucleate cells and increase spore production. Together, the data suggest that AprA functions as part of a Dictyostelium chalone.

  7. Results from GRACE/SUSY at one-loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimoto, J.; Ishikawa, T.; Kurihara, Y.; Jimbo, M.; Yasui, Y.; Kaneko, T.; Kon, T.; Kuroda, M.; Shimizu, Y.

    2007-01-01

    We report the recent development on the SUSY calculations with the help of GRACE system. GRACE/SUSY/1LOOP is the computer code which can generate Feynman diagrams in the MSSM automatically and compute one-loop amplitudes in the numerical way. We present new results of various two-body widths and chargino pair production at ILC (international linear collider) at one-loop level. (author)

  8. LMFBR with booster pump in pumping loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rubinstein, H.J.

    1975-01-01

    A loop coolant circulation system is described for a liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) utilizing a low head, high specific speed booster pump in the hot leg of the coolant loop with the main pump located in the cold leg of the loop, thereby providing the advantages of operating the main pump in the hot leg with the reliability of cold leg pump operation

  9. Technical and Economic Feasibility Evaluation of Calcium Looping with no CO2 Recirculation.

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hanak, D.P.; Erans, M.; Nabavi, S.A.; Jeremiáš, Michal; Romeo, L.M.; Manovic, V.

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 335, MAR 1 (2018), s. 763-773 ISSN 1385-8947 Institutional support: RVO:67985858 Keywords : calcium looping * clean coal * process modelling Subject RIV: JE - Non-nuclear Energetics, Energy Consumption ; Use OBOR OECD: Energy and fuels Impact factor: 6.216, year: 2016

  10. Computational advantages of reverberating loops for sensorimotor learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortney, Kristen; Tweed, Douglas B

    2012-03-01

    When we learn something new, our brain may store the information in synapses or in reverberating loops of electrical activity, but current theories of motor learning focus almost entirely on the synapses. Here we show that loops could also play a role and would bring advantages: loop-based algorithms can learn complex control tasks faster, with exponentially fewer neurons, and avoid the problem of weight transport. They do all this at a cost: in the presence of long feedback delays, loop algorithms cannot control very fast movements, but in this case, loop and synaptic mechanisms can complement each other-mixed systems quickly learn to make accurate but not very fast motions and then gradually speed up. Loop algorithms explain aspects of consolidation, the role of attention, and the relapses that are sometimes seen after a task has apparently been learned, and they make further predictions.

  11. Innovative hybrid pile oscillator technique in the Minerve reactor: open loop vs. closed loop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geslot, Benoit; Gruel, Adrien; Bréaud, Stéphane; Leconte, Pierre; Blaise, Patrick

    2018-01-01

    Pile oscillator techniques are powerful methods to measure small reactivity worth of isotopes of interest for nuclear data improvement. This kind of experiments has long been implemented in the Mineve experimental reactor, operated by CEA Cadarache. A hybrid technique, mixing reactivity worth estimation and measurement of small changes around test samples is presented here. It was made possible after the development of high sensitivity miniature fission chambers introduced next to the irradiation channel. A test campaign, called MAESTRO-SL, took place in 2015. Its objective was to assess the feasibility of the hybrid method and investigate the possibility to separate mixed neutron effects, such as fission/capture or scattering/capture. Experimental results are presented and discussed in this paper, which focus on comparing two measurements setups, one using a power control system (closed loop) and another one where the power is free to drift (open loop). First, it is demonstrated that open loop is equivalent to closed loop. Uncertainty management and methods reproducibility are discussed. Second, results show that measuring the flux depression around oscillated samples provides valuable information regarding partial neutron cross sections. The technique is found to be very sensitive to the capture cross section at the expense of scattering, making it very useful to measure small capture effects of highly scattering samples.

  12. Thermal instabilities in magnetically confined plasmas: Solar coronal loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Habbal, S.R.; Rosner, R.

    1979-01-01

    The thermal stability of confined solar coronal structures (''loops'') is investigated, following both normal mode and a new, global instability analysis. We demonstrate that: (a) normal mode analysis shows modes with size scales comparable to that of loops to be unstable, but to be strongly affected by the loop boundary conditions; (b) a global analysis, based upon variation of the total loop energy losses and gains, yields loop stability conditions for global modes dependent upon the coronal loop heating process, with magnetically coupled heating processes giving marginal stability. The connection between the present analysis and the minimum flux corona of Hearn is also discussed

  13. Effects of two-loop contributions in the pseudofermion functional renormalization group method for quantum spin systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rück, Marlon; Reuther, Johannes

    2018-04-01

    We implement an extension of the pseudofermion functional renormalization group method for quantum spin systems that takes into account two-loop diagrammatic contributions. An efficient numerical treatment of the additional terms is achieved within a nested graph construction which recombines different one-loop interaction channels. In order to be fully self-consistent with respect to self-energy corrections, we also include certain three-loop terms of Katanin type. We first apply this formalism to the antiferromagnetic J1-J2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice and benchmark our results against the previous one-loop plus Katanin approach. Even though the renormalization group (RG) equations undergo significant modifications when including the two-loop terms, the magnetic phase diagram, comprising Néel ordered and collinear ordered phases separated by a magnetically disordered regime, remains remarkably unchanged. Only the boundary position between the disordered and the collinear phases is found to be moderately affected by two-loop terms. On the other hand, critical RG scales, which we associate with critical temperatures Tc, are reduced by a factor of ˜2 indicating that the two-loop diagrams play a significant role in enforcing the Mermin-Wagner theorem. Improved estimates for critical temperatures are also obtained for the Heisenberg ferromagnet on the three-dimensional simple cubic lattice where errors in Tc are reduced by ˜34 % . These findings have important implications for the quantum phase diagrams calculated within the previous one-loop plus Katanin approach which turn out to be already well converged.

  14. Feedback loop compensates for rectifier nonlinearity

    Science.gov (United States)

    1966-01-01

    Signal processing circuit with two negative feedback loops rectifies two sinusoidal signals which are 180 degrees out of phase and produces a single full-wave rectified output signal. Each feedback loop incorporates a feedback rectifier to compensate for the nonlinearity of the circuit.

  15. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) over-production and autocrine cell activation are key factors in monomethylarsonous acid [MMA(III)]-induced malignant transformation of urothelial cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Escudero-Lourdes, C.; Wu, T.; Camarillo, J.M.; Gandolfi, A.J.

    2012-01-01

    The association between chronic human exposure to arsenicals and bladder cancer development is well recognized; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been fully determined. We propose that inflammatory responses can play a pathogenic role in arsenic-related bladder carcinogenesis. In previous studies, it was demonstrated that chronic exposure to 50 nM monomethylarsenous acid [MMA(III)] leads to malignant transformation of an immortalized model of urothelial cells (UROtsa), with only 3 mo of exposure necessary to trigger the transformation-related changes. In the three-month window of exposure, the cells over-expressed pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8), consistent with the sustained activation of NFKβ and AP1/c-jun, ERK2, and STAT3. IL-8 was over-expressed within hours after exposure to MMA(III), and sustained over-expression was observed during chronic exposure. In this study, we profiled IL-8 expression in UROtsa cells exposed to 50 nM MMA(III) for 1 to 5 mo. IL-8 expression was increased mainly in cells after 3 mo MMA(III) exposure, and its production was also found increased in tumors derived from these cells after heterotransplantation in SCID mice. UROtsa cells do express both receptors, CXCR1 and CXCR2, suggesting that autocrine cell activation could be important in cell transformation. Supporting this observation and consistent with IL-8 over-expression, CXCR1 internalization was significantly increased after three months of exposure to MMA(III). The expression of MMP-9, cyclin D1, bcl-2, and VGEF was significantly increased in cells exposed to MMA(III) for 3 mo, but these mitogen-activated kinases were significantly decreased after IL-8 gene silencing, together with a decrease in cell proliferation rate and in anchorage-independent colony formation. These results suggest a relevant role of IL-8 in MMA(III)-induced UROtsa cell transformation. -- Highlights: ► IL-8 is over-expressed in human MMA(III)-exposed urothelial

  16. Observing string breaking with Wilson loops

    CERN Document Server

    Kratochvila, S; Kratochvila, Slavo; Forcrand, Philippe de

    2003-01-01

    An uncontroversial observation of adjoint string breaking is proposed, while measuring the static potential from Wilson loops only. The overlap of the Wilson loop with the broken-string state is small, but non-vanishing, so that the broken-string groundstate can be seen if the Wilson loop is long enough. We demonstrate this in the context of the (2+1)d SU(2) adjoint static potential, using an improved version of the Luscher-Weisz exponential variance reduction. To complete the picture we perform the more usual multichannel analysis with two basis states, the unbroken-string state and the broken-string state (two so-called gluelumps). As by-products, we obtain the temperature-dependent static potential measured from Polyakov loop correlations, and the fundamental SU(2) static potential with improved accuracy. Comparing the latter with the adjoint potential, we see clear deviations from Casimir scaling.

  17. Near BPS Wilson loop in β-deformed theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chu, C-S; Giataganas, Dimitrios

    2007-01-01

    We propose a definition of the Wilson loop operator in the N = 1 β-deformed supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Although the operator is not BPS, it has a finite expectation value at least up to order (g 2 N) 2 . This does not happen generally for a generic non-BPS Wilson loop whose expectation value is UV divergent. For this reason we call this a near-BPS Wilson loop. We derive the general form of the boundary condition satisfied by the dual string worldsheet and find that it is deformed. Finiteness of the expectation value of the Wilson loop fixes the boundary condition to be one which is characterized by the vielbein of the deformed supergravity metric. The Wilson loop operators provide natural candidates as dual descriptions to some of the existing D-brane configurations in the Lunin-Maldacena background. We also construct the string dual configuration for a near-1/4 BPS circular Wilson loop operator. The string lies on a deformed three-sphere instead of a two-sphere as in the undeformed case. The expectation value of the Wilson loop operator is computed using the AdS/CFT correspondence and is found to be independent of the deformation. We conjecture that the exact expectation value of the Wilson loop is given by the same matrix model as in the undeformed case

  18. A virtual closed loop method for closed loop identification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Agüero, J.C.; Goodwin, G.C.; Hof, Van den P.M.J.

    2011-01-01

    Indirect methods for the identification of linear plant models on the basis of closed loop data are based on the use of (reconstructed) input signals that are uncorrelated with the noise. This generally requires exact (linear) controller knowledge. On the other hand, direct identification requires

  19. Mass inflation in the loop black hole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, Eric G.; Mann, Robert; Modesto, Leonardo

    2011-01-01

    In classical general relativity the Cauchy horizon within a two-horizon black hole is unstable via a phenomenon known as mass inflation, in which the mass parameter (and the spacetime curvature) of the black hole diverges at the Cauchy horizon. Here we study this effect for loop black holes - quantum gravitationally corrected black holes from loop quantum gravity - whose construction alleviates the r=0 singularity present in their classical counterparts. We use a simplified model of mass inflation, which makes use of the generalized Dray-'t Hooft relation, to conclude that the Cauchy horizon of loop black holes indeed results in a curvature singularity similar to that found in classical black holes. The Dray-'t Hooft relation is of particular utility in the loop black hole because it does not directly rely upon Einstein's field equations. We elucidate some of the interesting and counterintuitive properties of the loop black hole, and corroborate our results using an alternate model of mass inflation due to Ori.

  20. A comparative approach to closed-loop computation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, E; Sponberg, S; Cowan, N J

    2014-04-01

    Neural computation is inescapably closed-loop: the nervous system processes sensory signals to shape motor output, and motor output consequently shapes sensory input. Technological advances have enabled neuroscientists to close, open, and alter feedback loops in a wide range of experimental preparations. The experimental capability of manipulating the topology-that is, how information can flow between subsystems-provides new opportunities to understand the mechanisms and computations underlying behavior. These experiments encompass a spectrum of approaches from fully open-loop, restrained preparations to the fully closed-loop character of free behavior. Control theory and system identification provide a clear computational framework for relating these experimental approaches. We describe recent progress and new directions for translating experiments at one level in this spectrum to predictions at another level. Operating across this spectrum can reveal new understanding of how low-level neural mechanisms relate to high-level function during closed-loop behavior. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Decoding the Mobility and Time Scales of Protein Loops.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Yina; Li, Da-Wei; Brüschweiler, Rafael

    2015-03-10

    The flexible nature of protein loops and the time scales of their dynamics are critical for many biologically important events at the molecular level, such as protein interaction and recognition processes. In order to obtain a predictive understanding of the dynamic properties of loops, 500 ns molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulations of 38 different proteins were performed and validated using NMR chemical shifts. A total of 169 loops were analyzed and classified into three types, namely fast loops with correlation times Web server (http://spin.ccic.ohio-state.edu/index.php/loop). The results demonstrate that loop dynamics with their time scales can be predicted rapidly with reasonable accuracy, which will allow the screening of average protein structures to help better understand the various roles loops can play in the context of protein-protein interactions and binding.

  2. Shortening a loop can increase protein native state entropy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavrilov, Yulian; Dagan, Shlomi; Levy, Yaakov

    2015-12-01

    Protein loops are essential structural elements that influence not only function but also protein stability and folding rates. It was recently reported that shortening a loop in the AcP protein may increase its native state conformational entropy. This effect on the entropy of the folded state can be much larger than the lower entropic penalty of ordering a shorter loop upon folding, and can therefore result in a more pronounced stabilization than predicted by polymer model for loop closure entropy. In this study, which aims at generalizing the effect of loop length shortening on native state dynamics, we use all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to study how gradual shortening a very long or solvent-exposed loop region in four different proteins can affect their stability. For two proteins, AcP and Ubc7, we show an increase in native state entropy in addition to the known effect of the loop length on the unfolded state entropy. However, for two permutants of SH3 domain, shortening a loop results only with the expected change in the entropy of the unfolded state, which nicely reproduces the observed experimental stabilization. Here, we show that an increase in the native state entropy following loop shortening is not unique to the AcP protein, yet nor is it a general rule that applies to all proteins following the truncation of any loop. This modification of the loop length on the folded state and on the unfolded state may result with a greater effect on protein stability. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Gene expression of fibroblast growth factors in human gliomas and meningiomas: Demonstration of cellular source of basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA and peptide in tumor tissues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, J.A.; Mori, Hirotaka; Fukumoto, Manabu; Oda, Yoshifumi; Kikuchi, Haruhiko; Hatanaka, Masakazu; Igarashi, Koichi; Jaye, M.

    1990-01-01

    The growth autonomy of human tumor cells is considered due to the endogenous production of growth factors. Transcriptional expression of candidates for autocrine stimulatory factors such as basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF), acidic FGF, and transforming growth factor type β were determined in human brain tumors. Basic FGF was expressed abundantly in 17 of 18 gliomas, 20 of 22 meningiomas, and 0 of 5 metastatic brain tumors. The level of mRNA expression of acidic FGF in gliomas was significant. In contrast, transforming growth factor type β1 was expressed in all the samples investigated. The mRNA for basic FGF and its peptide were localized in tumor cells in vivo by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, showing that basic FGF is actually produced in tumor cells. The results suggest that tumor-derived basic FGF is involved in the progression of gliomas and meningiomas in vivo, whereas acidic FGF is expressed in a tumor origin-specific manner, suggesting that acidic FGF works in tandem with basic FGF in glioma tumorigenesis

  4. One loop back reaction on power law inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abramo, L.R.; Woodard, R.P.

    1999-01-01

    We consider quantum-mechanical corrections to a homogeneous, isotropic, and spatially flat geometry whose scale factor expands classically as a general power of the comoving time. The effects of both gravitons and the scalar inflaton are computed at one loop using the manifestly causal formalism of Schwinger [J. Math. Phys. 2, 407 (1961); Particles, Sources and Fields (Addison, Wesley, Reading, MA, 1970)] with the Feynman rules recently developed by Iliopoulos et al. [Nucl. Phys. B 534, 419 (1998)]. We find no significant effect, in marked contrast to the result obtained by Mukhanov and co-workers [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1624 (1998); Phys. Rev. D 56, 3248 (1997)] for chaotic inflation based on a quadratic potential. By applying the canonical technique of Mukhanov and co-workers to the exponential potentials of power law inflation, we show that the two methods produce the same results, within the approximations employed, for these backgrounds. We therefore conclude that the shape of the inflaton potential can have an enormous impact on the one loop back reaction. copyright 1999 The American Physical Society

  5. Secular effects on inflation from one-loop quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cabrer, J.A.; Espriu, D.

    2008-01-01

    In this Letter we revisit and extend a previous analysis where the possible relevance of quantum gravity effects in a cosmological setup was studied. The object of interest are non-local (logarithmic) terms generated in the effective action of gravity due to the exchange in loops of massless modes (such as photons or the gravitons themselves). We correct one mistake existing in the previous work and discuss the issue in a more general setting in different cosmological scenarios. We obtain the one-loop quantum-corrected evolution equations for the cosmological scale factor up to a given order in a derivative expansion in two particular cases: a matter dominated universe with vanishing cosmological constant, and in a de Sitter universe. We show that the quantum corrections, albeit tiny, may have a secular effect that eventually modifies the expansion rate. For a de Sitter universe they tend to slow down the rate of the expansion, while the effect may be the opposite in a matter dominated universe

  6. Numerical approach to one-loop integrals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimoto, Junpei; Shimizu, Yoshimitsu; Kato, Kiyoshi; Oyanagi, Yoshio.

    1992-01-01

    Two numerical methods are proposed for the calculation of one-loop scalar integrals. In the first method, the singularity is cancelled by the symmetrization of the integrand and the integration is done by a Monte-Carlo method. In the second one, after the transform of the integrand into a standard form, the integral is reduced into a regular numerical integral. These methods provide us practical tools to evaluate one-loop Feynman diagrams with desired numerical accuracy. They are extended to the integral with numerator and the treatment of the one-loop virtual correction to the cross section is also presented. (author)

  7. Loop corrections to primordial non-Gaussianity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boran, Sibel; Kahya, E. O.

    2018-02-01

    We discuss quantum gravitational loop effects to observable quantities such as curvature power spectrum and primordial non-Gaussianity of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. We first review the previously shown case where one gets a time dependence for zeta-zeta correlator due to loop corrections. Then we investigate the effect of loop corrections to primordial non-Gaussianity of CMB. We conclude that, even with a single scalar inflaton, one might get a huge value for non-Gaussianity which would exceed the observed value by at least 30 orders of magnitude. Finally we discuss the consequences of this result for scalar driven inflationary models.

  8. Thermodynamics in Loop Quantum Cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, L.F.; Zhu, J.Y.

    2009-01-01

    Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is very powerful to deal with the behavior of early universe. Moreover, the effective loop quantum cosmology gives a successful description of the universe in the semiclassical region. We consider the apparent horizon of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe as a thermodynamical system and investigate the thermodynamics of LQC in the semiclassical region. The effective density and effective pressure in the modified Friedmann equation from LQC not only determine the evolution of the universe in LQC scenario but also are actually found to be the thermodynamic quantities. This result comes from the energy definition in cosmology (the Misner-Sharp gravitational energy) and is consistent with thermodynamic laws. We prove that within the framework of loop quantum cosmology, the elementary equation of equilibrium thermodynamics is still valid.

  9. Comment on the prediction of two-loop standard chiral perturbation theory for low-energy ππ scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Girlanda, L.; Moussallam, B.; Stern, J.; Knecht, M.

    1997-03-01

    Four of the six parameters defining the two-loop ππ scattering amplitude have been determined using Roy dispersion relations. Combining this information with the Standard χ PT expressions, the threshold parameters, low-energy phases and the O(p 4 ) constants l 1 r , l 2 r are obtained. The result reproduces the correct D-waves but it is incompatible with existing Standard χ PT analyses of K 14 form factors beyond one loop. (author)

  10. Development of scalable frequency and power Phase-Locked Loop in 130nm CMOS technology

    CERN Document Server

    Firlej, M; Idzik, M; Moron, J; Swientek, K

    2014-01-01

    The design and measurements results of a prototype very low power Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) ASIC for applications in readout systems of particle physics detectors are presented. The PLL was fabricated in 130 nm CMOS technology. It was designed and simulated for frequency range 10 MHz–3.5 GHz. Four division factors i.e. 6, 8, 10 and 16 were implemented in the PLL feedback loop. The main PLL block-voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) should work in 16 frequency ranges/modes, switched either manually or automatically. Preliminary measurements done in frequency range 20 MHz–1.6 GHz showed that the ASIC is functional and generates proper clock signal. The automatic VCO mode switching, one of the main design goals, was positively verified. Power consumption of around 0.6mW was measured at 1 GHz for a division factor equal to 10.

  11. Development of scalable frequency and power Phase-Locked Loop in 130 nm CMOS technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Firlej, M; Fiutowski, T; Idzik, M; Moroń, J; Świentek, K

    2014-01-01

    The design and measurements results of a prototype very low power Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) ASIC for applications in readout systems of particle physics detectors are presented. The PLL was fabricated in 130 nm CMOS technology. It was designed and simulated for frequency range 10 MHz–3.5 GHz. Four division factors i.e. 6, 8, 10 and 16 were implemented in the PLL feedback loop. The main PLL block-voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) should work in 16 frequency ranges/modes, switched either manually or automatically. Preliminary measurements done in frequency range 20 MHz–1.6 GHz showed that the ASIC is functional and generates proper clock signal. The automatic VCO mode switching, one of the main design goals, was positively verified. Power consumption of around 0.6 mW was measured at 1 GHz for a division factor equal to 10

  12. Five-loop Konishi in N=4 SYM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eden, Burkhard; Heslop, Paul; Korchemsky, Gregory P.; Smirnov, Vladimir A.; Sokatchev, Emery

    2012-01-01

    We present a new method for computing the Konishi anomalous dimension in N=4 SYM at weak coupling. It does not rely on the conventional Feynman diagram technique and is not restricted to the planar limit. It is based on the OPE analysis of the four-point correlation function of stress-tensor multiplets, which has been recently constructed up to six loops. The Konishi operator gives the leading contribution to the singlet SU(4) channel of this OPE. Its anomalous dimension is the coefficient of the leading single logarithmic singularity of the logarithm of the correlation function in the double short-distance limit, in which the operator positions coincide pairwise. We regularize the logarithm of the correlation function in this singular limit by a version of dimensional regularization. At any loop level, the resulting singularity is a simple pole whose residue is determined by a finite two-point integral with one loop less. This drastically simplifies the five-loop calculation of the Konishi anomalous dimension by reducing it to a set of known four-loop two-point integrals and two unknown integrals which we evaluate analytically. We obtain an analytic result at five loops in the planar limit and observe perfect agreement with the prediction based on integrability in AdS/CFT.

  13. String corrections to circular Wilson loop and anomalies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cagnazzo, Alessandra; Medina-Rincon, Daniel; Zarembo, Konstantin

    2018-02-01

    We study string quantum corrections to the ratio of latitude and circular Wilson loops in N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory at strong coupling. Conformal gauge for the corresponding minimal surface in AdS5 × S 5 is singular and we show that an IR anomaly associated with the divergence in the conformal factor removes previously reported discrepancy with the exact field-theory result. We also carefully check conformal anomaly cancellation and recalculate fluctuation determinants by directly evaluting phaseshifts for all the fluctuation modes.

  14. Closed Loop Supply Chains for Sustainable Mass Customization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Kjeld; Brunø, Thomas Ditlev

    2013-01-01

    Closed loop supply chains reducing waste, energy consumption and natural resource depletion which all contribute to more sustainable production and products. For mass customization however, the challenges of closed loop supply chains are emphasized by the large variety of inbound end-of-life prod......Closed loop supply chains reducing waste, energy consumption and natural resource depletion which all contribute to more sustainable production and products. For mass customization however, the challenges of closed loop supply chains are emphasized by the large variety of inbound end...

  15. Design of diamagnetic loop on EAST superconducting tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xi Weibin; Shen Biao; Qian Jinping; Wu Songtao; Wan Baonan

    2007-01-01

    The design of EAST diamagnetic measurement system including diamagnetic loop and compensation loop has been given. The advantage of this method is that, the compensation loop is applied for eliminating the change of toroidal flux produced by the toroidal coils and the adjustable structure can be used to decrease the error signals come from the poloidal field. On the other hand, the effect of the material and structure on the diamagnetic loop is detailedly checked during engineering design. Error analysis of the measurement system is given. (authors)

  16. Stepping out of homogeneity in loop quantum cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rovelli, Carlo; Vidotto, Francesca

    2008-01-01

    We explore the extension of quantum cosmology outside the homogeneous approximation using the formalism of loop quantum gravity. We introduce a model where some of the inhomogeneous degrees of freedom are present, providing a tool for describing general fluctuations of quantum geometry near the initial singularity. We show that the dynamical structure of the model reduces to that of loop quantum cosmology in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. This result corroborates the assumptions that ground loop cosmology sheds some light on the physical and mathematical relation between loop cosmology and full loop quantum gravity, and on the nature of the cosmological approximation. Finally, we show that the non-graph-changing Hamiltonian constraint considered in the context of algebraic quantum gravity provides a viable effective dynamics within this approximation

  17. Tree-loop duality relation beyond single poles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bierenbaum, Isabella [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Buchta, Sebastian; Draggiotis, Petros; Malamos, Ioannis; Rodrigo, German [Valencia Univ. Paterna (Spain). Inst. de Fisica Corpuscular

    2012-11-15

    We develop the Tree-Loop Duality Relation for two- and three-loop integrals with multiple identical propagators (multiple poles). This is the extension of the Duality Relation for single poles and multi-loop integrals derived in previous publications. We prove a generalization of the formula for single poles to multiple poles and we develop a strategy for dealing with higher-order pole integrals by reducing them to single pole integrals using Integration By Parts.

  18. Chern-Simons induced spin factors in noncovariant gauges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, I.

    1993-01-01

    We study Chern-Simons induced spin factors in noncovariant metric-independent gauges, such as the axial gauge and the Coulomb gauge. These spin factors are defined without loop splitting. We find that they are equal to integers and have particular geometrical meanings. In the axial gauge, this integer is the writhe number of a link diagram defined by the projection of a loop to the time direction. In the Coulomb gauge, it is suggested that this integer is also the writhe number of a link diagram, defined by the projection of a loop to a spatial plane

  19. Autocrine production of beta-chemokines protects CMV-Specific CD4 T cells from HIV infection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph P Casazza

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Induction of a functional subset of HIV-specific CD4+ T cells that is resistant to HIV infection could enhance immune protection and decrease the rate of HIV disease progression. CMV-specific CD4+ T cells, which are less frequently infected than HIV-specific CD4+ T cells, are a model for such an effect. To determine the mechanism of this protection, we compared the functional response of HIV gag-specific and CMV pp65-specific CD4+ T cells in individuals co-infected with CMV and HIV. We found that CMV-specific CD4+ T cells rapidly up-regulated production of MIP-1alpha and MIP-1beta mRNA, resulting in a rapid increase in production of MIP-1alpha and MIP-1beta after cognate antigen stimulation. Production of beta-chemokines was associated with maturational phenotype and was rarely seen in HIV-specific CD4+ T cells. To test whether production of beta-chemokines by CD4+ T cells lowers their susceptibility to HIV infection, we measured cell-associated Gag DNA to assess the in vivo infection history of CMV-specific CD4+ T cells. We found that CMV-specific CD4+ T cells which produced MIP-1beta contained 10 times less Gag DNA than did those which failed to produce MIP-1beta. These data suggest that CD4+ T cells which produce MIP-1alpha and MIP-1beta bind these chemokines in an autocrine fashion which decreases the risk of in vivo HIV infection.

  20. On the Loop Current Penetration into the Gulf of Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weisberg, Robert H.; Liu, Yonggang

    2017-12-01

    The Gulf of Mexico Loop Current generally intrudes some distance into the Gulf of Mexico before shedding an anticyclonic eddy and retreating back to its more direct entry to exit pathway. The control of this aperiodic process remains only partially known. Here we describe the evolution of the Loop Current throughout the era of satellite altimetry, and offer a mechanistic hypothesis on Loop Current intrusion. As a complement to the known effects of Loop Current forcing on the west Florida shelf circulation, we argue that the west Florida shelf, in turn, impacts the Loop Current evolution. A Self-Organizing Map analysis shows that anomalous northward penetrations of the Loop Current into the Gulf of Mexico occur when the eastern side of Loop Current is positioned west from the southwest corner of the west Florida shelf, whereas the more direct inflow to outflow route occurs when the eastern side of the Loop Current comes in contact with the southwest corner of the west Florida shelf. In essence, we argue that the west Florida shelf anchors the Loop Current in its direct path configuration and that farther northward penetration into the Gulf of Mexico occurs when such anchoring is released. To test of this hypothesis heuristically, we estimate that the dissipation and buoyancy work due to known Loop Current forcing of the west Florida shelf circulation (when in contact with the southwest corner) may exceed the pressure work required for the Loop Current to advance against the ambient Gulf of Mexico fluid.Plain Language SummaryThe Gulf of Mexico Loop Current may intrude far into the Gulf of Mexico or take a more direct entry to exit pathway. Such Loop Current behaviors are described using remote observations by satellites, and a heuristic hypothesis on the control of Loop Current intrusion is presented. We argue that energy dissipation and buoyancy work by the west Florida shelf circulation, when the Loop Current contacts the southwest corner of the west Florida shelf

  1. Newtonian gravity in loop quantum gravity

    OpenAIRE

    Smolin, Lee

    2010-01-01

    We apply a recent argument of Verlinde to loop quantum gravity, to conclude that Newton's law of gravity emerges in an appropriate limit and setting. This is possible because the relationship between area and entropy is realized in loop quantum gravity when boundaries are imposed on a quantum spacetime.

  2. Two-loop off-shell QCD amplitudes in FDR

    CERN Document Server

    Page, Ben

    2015-01-01

    We link the FDR treatment of ultraviolet (UV) divergences to dimensional regularization up to two loops in QCD. This allows us to derive the one-loop and two-loop coupling constant and quark mass shifts necessary to translate infrared finite quantities computed in FDR to the MSbar renormalization scheme. As a by-product of our analysis, we solve a problem analogous to the breakdown of unitarity in the Four Dimensional Helicity (FDH) method beyond one loop. A fix to FDH is then presented that preserves the renormalizability properties of QCD without introducing evanescent quantities.

  3. Universality hypothesis breakdown at one-loop order

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carvalho, P. R. S.

    2018-05-01

    We probe the universality hypothesis by analytically computing the at least two-loop corrections to the critical exponents for q -deformed O (N ) self-interacting λ ϕ4 scalar field theories through six distinct and independent field-theoretic renormalization group methods and ɛ -expansion techniques. We show that the effect of q deformation on the one-loop corrections to the q -deformed critical exponents is null, so the universality hypothesis is broken down at this loop order. Such an effect emerges only at the two-loop and higher levels, and the validity of the universality hypothesis is restored. The q -deformed critical exponents obtained through the six methods are the same and, furthermore, reduce to their nondeformed values in the appropriated limit.

  4. Innovative hybrid pile oscillator technique in the Minerve reactor: open loop vs. closed loop

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geslot Benoit

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Pile oscillator techniques are powerful methods to measure small reactivity worth of isotopes of interest for nuclear data improvement. This kind of experiments has long been implemented in the Mineve experimental reactor, operated by CEA Cadarache. A hybrid technique, mixing reactivity worth estimation and measurement of small changes around test samples is presented here. It was made possible after the development of high sensitivity miniature fission chambers introduced next to the irradiation channel. A test campaign, called MAESTRO-SL, took place in 2015. Its objective was to assess the feasibility of the hybrid method and investigate the possibility to separate mixed neutron effects, such as fission/capture or scattering/capture. Experimental results are presented and discussed in this paper, which focus on comparing two measurements setups, one using a power control system (closed loop and another one where the power is free to drift (open loop. First, it is demonstrated that open loop is equivalent to closed loop. Uncertainty management and methods reproducibility are discussed. Second, results show that measuring the flux depression around oscillated samples provides valuable information regarding partial neutron cross sections. The technique is found to be very sensitive to the capture cross section at the expense of scattering, making it very useful to measure small capture effects of highly scattering samples.

  5. Electron acceleration and radiation signatures in loop coronal transients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vlahos, L.; Gergely, T.E.; Papadopoulos, K.

    1982-01-01

    A model for electron aceleration in loop coronal transients is suggested. We propose that in these transients an erupting loop moves away from the solar surface, with a velocity greater than the local Alfven speed, pushing against the overlying magnetic fields and driving a shock in the front of the moving part of the loop. We suggest that lower hybrid waves are excited at the shock front and propagate radially toward the center of the loop with phase velocity along the magnetic field which exceeds the thermal velocity. The lower hybrid waves stochastically accelerate the tail of the electron distribution inside the loop. We discuss how the accelerated electrons are trapped in the moving loop and give a rough estimate of their radiation signature. We find that plasma radiation can explain the power observed in stationary and moving type IV bursts. We discuss some of the conditions under which moving or stationary type IV bursts are expected to be associated with loop coronal transients

  6. Platelet-derived growth factor inhibits platelet activation in heparinized whole blood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selheim, F; Holmsen, H; Vassbotn, F S

    1999-08-15

    We previously have demonstrated that human platelets have functionally active platelet-derived growth factor alpha-receptors. Studies with gel-filtered platelets showed that an autocrine inhibition pathway is transduced through this tyrosine kinase receptor during platelet activation. The physiological significance of this inhibitory effect of platelet-derived growth factor on gel-filtered platelets activation is, however, not known. In the present study, we investigated whether platelet-derived growth factor inhibits platelet activation under more physiological conditions in heparinized whole blood, which represents a more physiological condition than gel-filtered platelets. Using flow cytometric assays, we demonstrate here that platelet-derived growth factor inhibits thrombin-, thrombin receptor agonist peptide SFLLRN-, and collagen-induced platelet aggregation and shedding of platelet-derived microparticles from the platelet plasma membrane during platelet aggregation in stirred heparinized whole blood. The inhibitory effect of platelet-derived growth factor was dose dependent. However, under nonaggregating conditions (no stirring), we could not demonstrate any significant effect of platelet-derived growth factor on thrombin- and thrombin receptor agonist peptide-induced platelet surface expression of P-selectin. Our results demonstrate that platelet-derived growth factor appears to be a true antithrombotic agent only under aggregating conditions in heparinized whole blood.

  7. Operation of the hot test loop facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheong, Moon Ki; Park, Choon Kyeong; Won, Soon Yeon; Yang, Sun Kyu; Cheong, Jang Whan; Cheon, Se Young; Song, Chul Hwa; Jeon, Hyeong Kil; Chang, Suk Kyu; Jeong, Heung Jun; Cho, Young Ro; Kim, Bok Duk; Min, Kyeong Ho

    1994-12-01

    The objective of this project is to obtain the available experimental data and to develop the measuring techniques through taking full advantage of the facilities. The facilities operated by the thermal hydraulics department have been maintained and repaired in order to carry out the thermal hydraulics tests necessary for providing the available data. The performance tests for double grid type bottom end piece which was improved on the debris filtering effectivity were performed using the PWR-Hot Test Loop. The CANDU-Hot Test Loop was operated to carry out the pressure drop tests and strength tests of fuel. The Cold Test Loop was used to obtain the local velocity data in subchannel within fuel bundle and to understand the characteristic of pressure drop required for improving the nuclear fuel and to develop the advanced measuring techniques. RCS Loop, which is used to measure the CHF, is presently under design and construction. B and C Loop is designed and constructed to assess the automatic depressurization safety system behavior. 4 tabs., 79 figs., 7 refs. (Author) .new

  8. Assessing catchment connectivity using hysteretic loops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Jason; Masselink, Rens; Goni, Mikel; Gimenez, Rafael; Casali, Javier; Seeger, Manuel; Keesstra, Saskia

    2017-04-01

    Storm events mobilize large proportions of sediments in catchment systems. Therefore understanding catchment sediment dynamics throughout the continuity of storms and how initial catchment states act as controls on the transport of sediment to catchment outlets is important for effective catchment management. Sediment connectivity is a concept which can explain the origin, pathways and sinks of sediments within catchments (Baartman et al., 2013; Parsons et al., 2015; Masselink et al., 2016a,b; Mekonnen et al., 2016). However, sediment connectivity alone does not provide a practicable mechanism by which the catchment's initial state - and thus the location of entrained sediment in the sediment transport cascade - can be characterized. Studying the dynamic relationship between water discharge (Q) and suspended sediment (SS) at the catchment outlet can provide a valuable research tool to infer the likely source areas and flow pathways contributing to sediment transport because the relationship can be characterized by predictable hysteresis patterns. Hysteresis is observed when the sediment concentration associated with a certain flow rate is different depending on the direction in which the analysis is performed - towards the increase or towards the diminution of the flow. However, the complexity of the phenomena and factors which determine the hysteresis make its interpretation ambiguous. Previous work has described various types of hysteretic loops as well as the cause for the shape of the loop, mainly pointing to the origin of the sediments. The data set for this study comes from four experimental watersheds in Navarre (Spain), owned and maintained by the Government of Navarre. These experimental watersheds have been monitored and studied since 1996 (La Tejería and Latxaga) and 2001 (Oskotz principal and Oskotz woodland). La Tejería and Latxaga watersheds are similar to each other regarding size (approximately 200 ha), geology (marls and sandstones), soils (fine

  9. Bending and Twisting the Embryonic Heart: A Computational Model for C-Looping Based on Realistic Geometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunfei eShi

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The morphogenetic process of cardiac looping transforms the straight heart tube into a curved tube that resembles the shape of the future four-chambered heart. Although great progress has been made in identifying the molecular and genetic factors involved in looping, the physical mechanisms that drive this process have remained poorly understood. Recent work, however, has shed new light on this complicated problem. After briefly reviewing the current state of knowledge, we propose a relatively comprehensive hypothesis for the mechanics of the first phase of looping, termed c-looping, as the straight heart tube deforms into a c-shaped tube. According to this hypothesis, differential hypertrophic growth in the myocardium supplies the main forces that cause the heart tube to bend ventrally, while regional growth and contraction in the omphalomesenteric veins (primitive atria and compressive loads exerted by the splanchnopleuric membrane drive rightward torsion. A computational model based on realistic embryonic heart geometry is used to test this hypothesis. The behavior of the model is in reasonable agreement with available experimental data from control and perturbed embryos, offering support for our hypothesis. The results also suggest, however, that several other mechanisms contribute secondarily to normal looping, and we speculate that these mechanisms play backup roles when looping is perturbed. Finally, some outstanding questions are discussed for future study.

  10. Stability analysis for single-phase liquid metal rectangular natural circulation loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Daogang; Zhang, Xun; Guo, Chao

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • The stability for asymmetric liquid metal natural circulation loops is analyzed. • The Na and NaK loops have higher critical Reynolds number than Pb and LBE loops. • Decreasing the ratio of height to width of loop can increase loop stability. • The length of heater would not affect the loop stability obviously. • Adding the length or heat transfer coefficient of cooler can increase loop stability. - Abstract: Natural circulation systems are preferred in some advanced nuclear power plants as they can simplify the designs and improve the inherent safety. The stability and steady-state characteristics of natural circulation are important for the applications of natural circulation loops (NCLs). A linear stability analysis method was used to study the stability behavior of liquid metal NCLs. The influences of the types of working fluids and loop geometry parameters on the stability of NCLs were evaluated. The liquid sodium (Na) loop and sodium–potassium alloy (NaK) loop would be more stable than lead bismuth eutectics (LBE) loop. The pressure drop could stabilize the loop behavior and also lead an increase of operating temperature for the loop. The NCL with a lower aspect ratio (ratio of vertical center distance between the heating and cooling section to the horizontal length of loop) is supposed to be more stable. It was found that the length of heating section would not have an obvious effect on the stability of NCL. However, the loop behavior could be stabilized by adding the length or heat transfer coefficient of the cooling section

  11. Closing the loop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dassau, E; Atlas, E; Phillip, M

    2010-02-01

    The dream of closing the loop is actually the dream of creating an artificial pancreas and freeing the patients from being involved with the care of their own diabetes. Insulin-dependent diabetes (type 1) is a chronic incurable disease which requires constant therapy without the possibility of any 'holidays' or insulin-free days. It means that patients have to inject insulin every day of their life, several times per day, and in order to do it safely they also have to measure their blood glucose levels several times per day. Patients need to plan their meals, their physical activities and their insulin regime - there is only very small room for spontaneous activities. This is why the desire for an artificial pancreas is so strong despite the fact that it will not cure the diabetic patients. Attempts to develop a closed-loop system started in the 1960s but never got to a clinical practical stage of development. In recent years the availability of continuous glucose sensors revived those efforts and stimulated the clinician and researchers to believe that closing the loop might be possible nowadays. Many papers have been published over the years describing several different ideas on how to close the loop. Most of the suggested systems have a sensing arm that measures the blood glucose repeatedly or continuously, an insulin delivery arm that injects insulin upon command and a computer that makes the decisions of when and how much insulin to deliver. The differences between the various published systems in the literature are mainly in their control algorithms. However, there are also differences related to the method and site of glucose measurement and insulin delivery. SC glucose measurements and insulin delivery are the most studied option but other combinations of insulin measurements and glucose delivery including intravascular and intraperitoneal (IP) are explored. We tried to select recent publications that we believe had influenced and inspired people interested

  12. XLOOPS - a package calculating one- and two-loop diagrams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruecher, L.

    1997-01-01

    A program package for calculating massive one- and two-loop diagrams is introduced. It consists of five parts: - a graphical user interface, - routines for generating diagrams from particle input, - procedures for calculating one-loop integrals both analytically and numerically, - routines for massive two-loop integrals, - programs for numerical integration of two-loop diagrams. Here the graphical user interface and the text interface to Maple are presented. (orig.)

  13. R-loops cause genomic instability in T helper lymphocytes from patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkar, Koustav; Han, Seong-Su; Wen, Kuo-Kuang; Ochs, Hans D; Dupré, Loïc; Seidman, Michael M; Vyas, Yatin M

    2017-12-15

    Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), X-linked thrombocytopenia (XLT), and X-linked neutropenia, which are caused by WAS mutations affecting Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp) expression or activity, manifest in immunodeficiency, autoimmunity, genomic instability, and lymphoid and other cancers. WASp supports filamentous actin formation in the cytoplasm and gene transcription in the nucleus. Although the genetic basis for XLT/WAS has been clarified, the relationships between mutant forms of WASp and the diverse features of these disorders remain ill-defined. We sought to define how dysfunctional gene transcription is causally linked to the degree of T H cell deficiency and genomic instability in the XLT/WAS clinical spectrum. In human T H 1- or T H 2-skewing cell culture systems, cotranscriptional R-loops (RNA/DNA duplex and displaced single-stranded DNA) and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) were monitored in multiple samples from patients with XLT and WAS and in normal T cells depleted of WASp. WASp deficiency provokes increased R-loops and R-loop-mediated DSBs in T H 1 cells relative to T H 2 cells. Mechanistically, chromatin occupancy of serine 2-unphosphorylated RNA polymerase II is increased, and that of topoisomerase 1, an R-loop preventing factor, is decreased at R-loop-enriched regions of IFNG and TBX21 (T H 1 genes) in T H 1 cells. These aberrations accompany increased unspliced (intron-retained) and decreased spliced mRNA of IFNG and TBX21 but not IL13 (T H 2 gene). Significantly, increased cellular load of R-loops and DSBs, which are normalized on RNaseH1-mediated suppression of ectopic R-loops, inversely correlates with disease severity scores. Transcriptional R-loop imbalance is a novel molecular defect causative in T H 1 immunodeficiency and genomic instability in patients with WAS. The study proposes that cellular R-loop load could be used as a potential biomarker for monitoring symptom severity and prognostic outcome in the XLT-WAS clinical spectrum

  14. Analysis of severe accidents on fast reactor test loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cenerini, R.; Verzelletti, G.; Curioni, S.

    1975-01-01

    The Pec reactor is a sodium cooled fast reactor which is being designed for the primary purpose of accomodating closed sodium cooled test loops for the developmental and proof testing of fast reactor fuel assemblies. The test loops are located in the central test region of reactor. The basic function for which the loop is designed is burn-up to failure testing of fuel under advanced performance conditions. It is therefore necessary to design the loop for failure conditions. Basically two types of accidents can occur within the loops: rupture of gas plenum in the fuel pins and coolant starvation. Explosive tests on Pec loop, whose first set is described in this report, are devoted to investigate the effects of an accidental energy release on loop containment. The loop model reproduces in the test section the prototype dimensions in radial scale 1:1. Using a wire explosive charge of 300mm, the height of test section is sufficient for determining the containment capability of the loop that has a nearly constant deformation in a length of. 3-4 time the diameter. The inertial effects of the coolant column are reproduced by two tubes at the extremities of test section, closed with top plugs. Some tests has been performed by wrapping around the test section four layers of steel wire in order to evaluate the influence on the containment of tungsten wire that is foreseen in prototype loop. The influence of the coolant around the loop was evaluated by inserting the model in water. Dummy sub-assemblies was used and explosive substitutes the central rods. Piezoelectric pressure transducers were mounted on the three plugs and radial deformation was measured directly at different height. From experiments performed it resulted the importance of harmonic wires and inertial reaction of external water on loop containment; maximum containable energy is about 50 Cal with E.1 explosive

  15. Blind loop syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001146.htm Blind loop syndrome To use the sharing features on ... Clinical Professor of Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC. Also reviewed by David ...

  16. On vanishing two loop cosmological constants in nonsupersymmetric strings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kachru, Shamit; Silverstein, Eva

    1998-01-01

    It has recently been suggested that in certain special nonsupersymmetric type II string compactifications, at least the first two perturbative contributions to the cosmological constant Λ vanish. Support for perturbative vanishing beyond 1-loop (as well as evidence for the absence of some nonperturbative contributions) has come from duality arguments. There was also a direct 2-loop computation which was incomplete; in this note we explain the deficiency of the previous 2-loop calculation and discuss the complete 2-loop computation in two different models. The corrected analysis yields a vanishing 2-loop contribution to Λ in these models

  17. On Vanishing Two Loop Cosmological Constants in Nonsupersymmetric Strings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kachru, S

    1998-10-22

    It has recently been suggested that in certain special nonsupersymmetric type II string compactifications, at least the first two perturbative contributions to the cosmological constant Lambda vanish. Support for perturbative vanishing beyond 1-loop (as well as evidence for the absence of some nonperturbative contributions) has come from duality arguments. There was also a direct 2-loop computation which was incomplete; in this note we explain the deficiency of the previous 2-loop calculation and discuss the complete 2-loop computation in two different models. The corrected analysis yields a vanishing 2-loop contribution to Lambda in these models.

  18. One-loop calculations with massive particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oldenborgh, G.J. van.

    1990-01-01

    In this thesis some techniques for performing one-loop calculations with massive particles are presented. Numerical techniques are presented necessary for evaluating one-loop integrals which occur in one-loop calculations of photon-photon scattering. The algorithms have been coded in FORTRAN (to evaluate the scalar integrals) and the algebraic language FORM (to reduce the tensor integrals to scalar integrals). Applications are made in the theory of the strong interaction, QCD, i.e. in handling one-loop integrals with massive particles, in order to regulate the infinities by mass parameters encountered in this theory. However this simplifies the computation considerably, the description of the proton structure functions have to be renormalized in order to obtain physical results. This renormalization is different from the published results for the gluon and thus has to be redone. The first physics results that have been obtained with these new methods are presented. These concern heavy quark production in semi-leptonic interactions, for instance neutrino charm production and top production at the electron-proton (ep) collider HERA and the proposed LEP/LHC combination. Total and differential cross-sections for one-loop corrections to top production at the HERA and proposed LEP/HLC ep colliders are given and structure functions for charmed quark production are compared with previously published results. (author). 58 refs.; 18 figs.; 5 tabs

  19. Coronal Loop Evolution Observed with AIA and Hi-C

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulu-Moore, Fana; Winebarger, A.; Cirtain, J.; Kobayashi, K.; Korreck, K.; Golub, L.; Kuzin. S.; Walsh, R.; DeForest, C.; DePontieu, B.; hide

    2012-01-01

    Despite much progress toward understanding the dynamics of the solar corona, the physical properties of coronal loops are not yet fully understood. Recent investigations and observations from different instruments have yielded contradictory results about the true physical properties of coronal loops. In the past, the evolution of loops has been used to infer the loop substructure. With the recent launch of High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C), this inference can be validated. In this poster we discuss the first results of loop analysis comparing AIA and Hi-C data. We find signatures of cooling in a pixel selected along a loop structure in the AIA multi-filter observations. However, unlike previous studies, we find that the cooling time is much longer than the draining time. This is inconsistent with previous cooling models.

  20. Electron acceleration and radiation signatures in loop coronal transients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vlahos, L.; Gergely, T. E.; Papadopoulos, K.

    1982-01-01

    It is proposed that in loop coronal transients an erupting loop moves away from the solar surface, with a velocity exceeding the local Alfven speed, pushing against the overlying magnetic fields and driving a shock in the front of the moving part of the loop. Lower hybrid waves are excited at the shock front and propagate radially toward the center of the loop with phase velocity along the magnetic field that exceeds the thermal velocity. The lower hybrid waves stochastically accelerate the tail of the electron distribution inside the loop. The manner in which the accelerated electrons are trapped in the moving loop are discussed, and their radiation signature is estimated. It is suggested that plasma radiation can explain the power observed in stationary and moving type IV bursts.

  1. 3-loop contributions to heavy flavor Wilson coefficients of neutral and charged current DIS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hasselhuhn, Alexander

    2013-11-15

    In the present thesis several new contributions are made to achieve this goal. Different gauge-invariant subsets of graphs, i.e. whole color factors, are calculated, in order to break the ground for the systematic evaluation of new topologies and to develop corresponding computer algebra codes and computational algorithms to render a part of these problems. Furthermore, also some new results are obtained on the 2-loop level. The work focuses on the heavy quark corrections in the asymptotic region Q{sup 2} >> m{sup 2}, where the heavy flavor Wilson coefficients factorize into the light flavor Wilson coefficients and massive operator matrix elements. New contributions are obtained for the complete O({alpha}{sub s}{sup 3}n{sub f}T{sub F}{sup 2}) corrections to the operator matrix elements A{sub gq,Q} and A{sub gg,Q}. The computation of the Feynman integrals is performed using representations in generalized hypergeometric functions and finite sums. These sums are performed using modern symbolic summation methods implemented in the packages Sigma, Evaluate Multi Sums, and Sum Production. The results are renormalized and checked against Mellin moments. Furthermore, also the 2-loop corrections to the polarized massive OMEs {Delta}A{sub gq,Q} and {Delta}A{sub gg,Q} are calculated. Since the calculations are performed in dimensional regularization and Levi-Civita tensors are present in the diagrams, the OMEs are subject to a finite renormalization. New methods are developed to calculate genuine 3-loop topologies of ladder- and V-type, taking into account the number of heavy quark lines involved. The calculation methods involves mapping the Feynman parameterized representations onto multi-sums and using properties of Appell functions and other generalizations of hypergeometric functions. Two integrals are presented, for which the solution with summation methods remains yet an open problem. At three loops, for the first time also graphs with two distinct massive lines occur

  2. Systematic classification of two-loop realizations of the Weinberg operator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sierra, D. Aristizabal; Degee, A. [IFPA, Dep. AGO, Universite de Liege,Bat B5, Sart Tilman B-4000 Liege 1 (Belgium); Dorame, L.; Hirsch, M. [AHEP Group, Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular-C.S.I.C./Universitat de Valencia,Edificio Institutos de Paterna, Apt 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain)

    2015-03-09

    We systematically analyze the d=5 Weinberg operator at 2-loop order. Using a diagrammatic approach, we identify two different interesting categories of neutrino mass models: (i) Genuine 2-loop models for which both, tree-level and 1-loop contributions, are guaranteed to be absent. And (ii) finite 2-loop diagrams, which correspond to the 1-loop generation of some particular vertex appearing in a given 1-loop neutrino mass model, thus being effectively 2-loop. From the large list of all possible 2-loop diagrams, the vast majority are infinite corrections to lower order neutrino mass models and only a moderately small number of diagrams fall into these two interesting classes. Moreover, all diagrams in class (i) are just variations of three basic diagrams, with examples discussed in the literature before. Similarly, we also show that class (ii) diagrams consists of only variations of these three plus two more basic diagrams. Finally, we show how our results can be consistently and readily used in order to construct two-loop neutrino mass models.

  3. Loop quantum gravity in asymptotically flat spaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arnsdorf, M.

    2000-01-01

    This thesis describes applications and extensions of the loop variable approach to non-perturbative quantum gravity. The common theme of the work presented, is the need to generalise loop quantum gravity to be applicable in cases where space is asymptotically flat, and no longer compact as is usually assumed. This is important for the study of isolated gravitational systems. It also presents a natural context in which to search for the semi-classical limit, one of the main outstanding problems in loop quantum gravity. In the first part of the thesis we study how isolated gravitational systems can be attributed particle-like properties. In particular, we show how spinorial states can arise in pure loop quantum gravity if spatial topology is non-trivial, thus confirming an old conjecture of Friedman and Sorkin. Heuristically, this corresponds to the idea that we can rotate isolated regions of spatial topology relative to the environment at infinity, and that only a 4π-rotation will take us back to the original configuration. To do this we extend the standard loop quantum gravity formalism by introducing a compactification of our non-compact spatial manifold, and study the knotting of embedded graphs. The second part of the thesis takes a more systematic approach to the study of loop quantum gravity on non-compact spaces. We look for new representations of the loop algebra, which give rise to quantum theories that are inequivalent to the standard one. These theories naturally describe excitations of a fiducial background state, which is specified via the choice of its vacuum expectation values. In particular, we can choose background states that describe the geometries of non-compact manifolds. We also discuss how suitable background states can be constructed that can approximate classical phase space data, in our case holonomies along embedded paths and geometrical quantities related to areas and volumes. These states extend the notion of the weave and provide a

  4. Epidermal growth factor receptor mediated proliferation depends on increased lipid droplet density regulated via a negative regulatory loop with FOXO3/Sirtuin6

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Penrose, Harrison; Heller, Sandra; Cable, Chloe [Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave SL-79, New Orleans, LA 70112 (United States); Makboul, Rania [Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave SL-79, New Orleans, LA 70112 (United States); Pathology Department, Assiut University, Assiut (Egypt); Chadalawada, Gita; Chen, Ying [Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave SL-79, New Orleans, LA 70112 (United States); Crawford, Susan E. [Department of Pathology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1402 South Grand Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63104 (United States); Savkovic, Suzana D., E-mail: ssavkovi@tulane.edu [Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave SL-79, New Orleans, LA 70112 (United States)

    2016-01-15

    The proliferation of colon cancer cells is mediated in part by epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and requires sustained levels of cellular energy to meet its high metabolic needs. Intracellular lipid droplets (LDs) are a source of energy used for various cellular functions and they are elevated in density in human cancer, yet their regulation and function are not well understood. Here, in human colon cancer cells, EGF stimulates increases in LD density, which depends on EGFR expression and activation as well as the individual cellular capacity for lipid synthesis. Increases in LDs are blockaded by inhibition of PI3K/mTOR and PGE2 synthesis, supporting their dependency on select upstream pathways. In colon cancer cells, silencing of the FOXO3 transcription factor leads to down regulation of SIRT6, a negative regulator of lipid synthesis, and consequent increases in the LD coat protein PLIN2, revealing that increases in LDs depend on loss of FOXO3/SIRT6. Moreover, EGF stimulates loss of FOXO3/SIRT6, which is blockaded by the inhibition of upstream pathways as well as lipid synthesis, revealing existence of a negative regulatory loop between LDs and FOXO3/SIRT6. Elevated LDs are utilized by EGF treatment and their depletion through the inhibition of lipid synthesis or silencing of PLIN2 significantly attenuates proliferation. This novel mechanism of proliferative EGFR signaling leading to elevated LD density in colon cancer cells could potentially be therapeutically targeted for the treatment of tumor progression. - Highlights: • In colon cancer cells, EGFR activation leads to increases in LD density. • EGFR signaling includes PI3K/mTOR and PGE2 leading to lipid synthesis. • Increases in LDs are controlled by a negative regulatory loop with FOXO3/SIRT6. • EGFR mediated colon cancer cell proliferation depends on increased LD density.

  5. Epidermal growth factor receptor mediated proliferation depends on increased lipid droplet density regulated via a negative regulatory loop with FOXO3/Sirtuin6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Penrose, Harrison; Heller, Sandra; Cable, Chloe; Makboul, Rania; Chadalawada, Gita; Chen, Ying; Crawford, Susan E.; Savkovic, Suzana D.

    2016-01-01

    The proliferation of colon cancer cells is mediated in part by epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and requires sustained levels of cellular energy to meet its high metabolic needs. Intracellular lipid droplets (LDs) are a source of energy used for various cellular functions and they are elevated in density in human cancer, yet their regulation and function are not well understood. Here, in human colon cancer cells, EGF stimulates increases in LD density, which depends on EGFR expression and activation as well as the individual cellular capacity for lipid synthesis. Increases in LDs are blockaded by inhibition of PI3K/mTOR and PGE2 synthesis, supporting their dependency on select upstream pathways. In colon cancer cells, silencing of the FOXO3 transcription factor leads to down regulation of SIRT6, a negative regulator of lipid synthesis, and consequent increases in the LD coat protein PLIN2, revealing that increases in LDs depend on loss of FOXO3/SIRT6. Moreover, EGF stimulates loss of FOXO3/SIRT6, which is blockaded by the inhibition of upstream pathways as well as lipid synthesis, revealing existence of a negative regulatory loop between LDs and FOXO3/SIRT6. Elevated LDs are utilized by EGF treatment and their depletion through the inhibition of lipid synthesis or silencing of PLIN2 significantly attenuates proliferation. This novel mechanism of proliferative EGFR signaling leading to elevated LD density in colon cancer cells could potentially be therapeutically targeted for the treatment of tumor progression. - Highlights: • In colon cancer cells, EGFR activation leads to increases in LD density. • EGFR signaling includes PI3K/mTOR and PGE2 leading to lipid synthesis. • Increases in LDs are controlled by a negative regulatory loop with FOXO3/SIRT6. • EGFR mediated colon cancer cell proliferation depends on increased LD density.

  6. Review article: closed-loop systems in anesthesia: is there a potential for closed-loop fluid management and hemodynamic optimization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinehart, Joseph; Liu, Ngai; Alexander, Brenton; Cannesson, Maxime

    2012-01-01

    Closed-loop (automated) controllers are encountered in all aspects of modern life in applications ranging from air-conditioning to spaceflight. Although these systems are virtually ubiquitous, they are infrequently used in anesthesiology because of the complexity of physiologic systems and the difficulty in obtaining reliable and valid feedback data from the patient. Despite these challenges, closed-loop systems are being increasingly studied and improved for medical use. Two recent developments have made fluid administration a candidate for closed-loop control. First, the further description and development of dynamic predictors of fluid responsiveness provides a strong parameter for use as a control variable to guide fluid administration. Second, rapid advances in noninvasive monitoring of cardiac output and other hemodynamic variables make goal-directed therapy applicable for a wide range of patients in a variety of clinical care settings. In this article, we review the history of closed-loop controllers in clinical care, discuss the current understanding and limitations of the dynamic predictors of fluid responsiveness, and examine how these variables might be incorporated into a closed-loop fluid administration system.

  7. PG-100 helium loop in the MR reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ponomarev-Stepnoj, N.N.; Yakovlev, V.V.; Tikhonov, N.I.

    1983-01-01

    Main systems and production equipment units of PG-100 helium loop in the MR reactor are described. Possible long-term synchronizing operation of loop and reactor as well as possibility of carrying out life-time tests of spherical fuel elements and materials are shown. Serviceability of spherical fuel elements under conditions similar to the ones of HTGR-50 operation as well as high serviceability of cleanup system accepted for HTGR are verified. Due to low radiation dose the loop is operated without limits, helium losses in the loop don't exceed 0.5%/24 h, taking account of experimental gas sampling

  8. Time Optimal Synchronization Procedure and Associated Feedback Loops

    CERN Document Server

    Angoletta, Maria Elena; CERN. Geneva. ATS Department

    2016-01-01

    A procedure to increase the speed of currently used synchronization loops in a synchrotron by an order of magnitude is presented. Beams dynamics constraint imposes an upper limit on excursions in stable phase angle, and the procedure presented exploits this limit to arrive in the synchronized state from an arbitrary initial state in the fastest possible way. Detailed corrector design for beam phase loop, differential frequency loop and final synchronization loop is also presented. Finally, an overview of the synchronization methods currently deployed in some other CERN’s machines is provided, together with a brief comparison with the newly proposed time-optimal algorithm.

  9. Nonequilibrium Chromosome Looping via Molecular Slip Links

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brackley, C. A.; Johnson, J.; Michieletto, D.; Morozov, A. N.; Nicodemi, M.; Cook, P. R.; Marenduzzo, D.

    2017-09-01

    We propose a model for the formation of chromatin loops based on the diffusive sliding of molecular slip links. These mimic the behavior of molecules like cohesin, which, along with the CTCF protein, stabilize loops which contribute to organizing the genome. By combining 3D Brownian dynamics simulations and 1D exactly solvable nonequilibrium models, we show that diffusive sliding is sufficient to account for the strong bias in favor of convergent CTCF-mediated chromosome loops observed experimentally. We also find that the diffusive motion of multiple slip links along chromatin is rectified by an intriguing ratchet effect that arises if slip links bind to the chromatin at a preferred "loading site." This emergent collective behavior favors the extrusion of loops which are much larger than the ones formed by single slip links.

  10. Closed-loop Identification for Control of Linear Parameter Varying Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, Klaus

    2014-01-01

    , closed- loop system identification is more difficult than open-loop identification. In this paper we prove that the so-called Hansen Scheme, a technique known from linear time-invariant systems theory for transforming closed-loop system identification problems into open-loop-like problems, can...

  11. Behavior of a solar collector loop during stagnation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Ziqian; Dragsted, Janne; Furbo, Simon

    2015-01-01

    A mathematical model simulating the emptying behavior of a pressurized solar collector loop with solar collectors with a good emptying behavior is developed and validated with measured data. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured results. The developed simulation model...... is therefore suitable to determine the behavior of a solar collector loop during stagnation. A volume ratio R, which is the ratio of the volume of the vapour in the upper pipes of the solar collector loop during stagnation and the fluid content of solar collectors, is introduced to determine the mass...... of the collector fluid pushed into the expansion vessel during stagnation, Min. A correlation function for the mass Min and the volume ratio R for solar collector loops is obtained. The function can be used to determine a suitable size of expansion vessels for solar collector loops....

  12. Automation of secondary loop operation in Indus-2 LCW plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srinivas, L.; Pandey, R.M.; Yadav, R.P.; Gupta, S.; Gandhi, M.L.; Thakurta, A.C.

    2013-01-01

    Indus-2 Low Conductivity Water (LCW) plant has two loops, primary loop and secondary loop. The primary loop mainly supplies LCW to magnets, power supplies and RF systems at constant flow rate. The secondary loop extracts heat from the primary loop through heat exchangers to maintain the supply water temperature of the primary loop around a set value. The supply water temperature of the primary loop is maintained by operating the pumps and cooling towers in the secondary loop. The desired water flow rate in the secondary loop is met by the manual operation of the required number of the pumps. The automatic operation of the pumps and the cooling towers is proposed to replace the existing inefficient manual operation. It improves the operational reliability and ensures the optimum utilization of the pumps and the cooling towers. An algorithm has been developed using LabView programming to achieve optimized operation of the pumps and the cooling towers by incorporating First-In-First-Out (FIFO) logic. It also takes care of safety interlocks, and generates alarms. The program exchanges input and output signals of the plant using existing SCADA system. In this paper, the development of algorithm, its design and testing are elaborated. In the end, the results obtained thereof are discussed. (author)

  13. Ground-based adaptive optics coronagraphic performance under closed-loop predictive control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Males, Jared R.; Guyon, Olivier

    2018-01-01

    The discovery of the exoplanet Proxima b highlights the potential for the coming generation of giant segmented mirror telescopes (GSMTs) to characterize terrestrial-potentially habitable-planets orbiting nearby stars with direct imaging. This will require continued development and implementation of optimized adaptive optics systems feeding coronagraphs on the GSMTs. Such development should proceed with an understanding of the fundamental limits imposed by atmospheric turbulence. Here, we seek to address this question with a semianalytic framework for calculating the postcoronagraph contrast in a closed-loop adaptive optics system. We do this starting with the temporal power spectra of the Fourier basis calculated assuming frozen flow turbulence, and then apply closed-loop transfer functions. We include the benefits of a simple predictive controller, which we show could provide over a factor of 1400 gain in raw point spread function contrast at 1 λ/D on bright stars, and more than a factor of 30 gain on an I=7.5 mag star such as Proxima. More sophisticated predictive control can be expected to improve this even further. Assuming a photon-noise limited observing technique such as high-dispersion coronagraphy, these gains in raw contrast will decrease integration times by the same large factors. Predictive control of atmospheric turbulence should therefore be seen as one of the key technologies that will enable ground-based telescopes to characterize terrestrial planets.

  14. Semiclassical analysis of loop quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Conrady, F.

    2005-01-01

    In this Ph.D. thesis, we explore and develop new methods that should help in determining an effective semiclassical description of canonical loop quantum gravity and spin foam gravity. A brief introduction to loop quantum gravity is followed by three research papers that present the results of the Ph.D. project. In the first article, we deal with the problem of time and a new proposal for implementing proper time as boundary conditions in a sum over histories: we investigate a concrete realization of this formalism for free scalar field theory. In the second article, we translate semiclassical states of linearized gravity into states of loop quantum gravity. The properties of the latter indicate how semiclassicality manifests itself in the loop framework, and how this may be exploited for doing semiclassical expansions. In the third part, we propose a new formulation of spin foam models that is fully triangulation- and background-independent: by means of a symmetry condition, we identify spin foam models whose triangulation-dependence can be naturally removed. (orig.)

  15. Semiclassical analysis of loop quantum gravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Conrady, F.

    2005-10-17

    In this Ph.D. thesis, we explore and develop new methods that should help in determining an effective semiclassical description of canonical loop quantum gravity and spin foam gravity. A brief introduction to loop quantum gravity is followed by three research papers that present the results of the Ph.D. project. In the first article, we deal with the problem of time and a new proposal for implementing proper time as boundary conditions in a sum over histories: we investigate a concrete realization of this formalism for free scalar field theory. In the second article, we translate semiclassical states of linearized gravity into states of loop quantum gravity. The properties of the latter indicate how semiclassicality manifests itself in the loop framework, and how this may be exploited for doing semiclassical expansions. In the third part, we propose a new formulation of spin foam models that is fully triangulation- and background-independent: by means of a symmetry condition, we identify spin foam models whose triangulation-dependence can be naturally removed. (orig.)

  16. Wilson loops to 20th order numerical stochastic perturbation theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horsley, R. [Edinburgh Univ. (United Kingdom). School of Physics; Hotzel, G.; Perlt, H.; Schiller, A. [Leipzig Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Ilgenfritz, E.M. [Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik; Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, VBLHEP, Dubna (Russian Federation); Millo, R.; Rakow, P.E.L. [Liverpool Univ. (Germany). Theoretical Physics Div.; Nakamura, Y. [RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science, Kobe, Hyogo (Japan); Schierholz, G. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

    2012-05-15

    We calculate Wilson loops of various sizes up to 20 loops in SU(3) pure lattice gauge theory at different lattice sizes for Wilson gauge action using the technique of numerical stochastic perturbation theory. This allows us to investigate the perturbative series for various Wilson loops at high loop orders. We observe differences in the behavior of those series as function of the loop order. Up to n=20 we do not find evidence for the factorial growth of the expansion coefficients often assumed to characterize an asymptotic series. Based on the actually observed behavior we sum the series in a model parametrized by hypergeometric functions. Alternatively we estimate the total series in boosted perturbation theory using information from the first 14 loops. We introduce generalized ratios of Wilson loops of different sizes. Together with the corresponding Wilson loops from standard Monte Carlo measurements they enable us to assess their non-perturbative parts.

  17. Construction of the blowdown and condensation loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Choon Kyung; Song, Chul Kyung; Cho, Seok; Chun, S. Y.; Chung, Moon Ki

    1997-12-01

    The blowdown and condensation loop (B and C loop) has been constructed to get experimental data for designing the safety depressurization system (SDS) and steam sparger which are considered to implement in the Korea Next Generation Reactor (KNGR). In this report, system description on the B and C loop is given in detail, which includes the drawings and technical specification of each component, instrumentation and control system, and the operational procedures and the results of the performance testing. (author). 7 refs., 11 tabs., 48 figs.

  18. The five-gluon amplitude and one-loop integrals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bern, Z.; Dixon, L.; Kosower, D.A.

    1992-12-01

    We review the conventional field theory description of the string motivated technique. This technique is applied to the one-loop five-gluon amplitude. To evaluate the amplitude a general method for computing dimensionally regulated one-loop integrals is outlined including results for one-loop integrals required for the pentagon diagram and beyond. Finally, two five-gluon helicity amplitudes are given

  19. Automated one-loop calculations with GOSAM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cullen, Gavin; Greiner, Nicolas; Heinrich, Gudrun; Reiter, Thomas; Luisoni, Gionata

    2011-11-01

    We present the program package GoSam which is designed for the automated calculation of one-loop amplitudes for multi-particle processes in renormalisable quantum field theories. The amplitudes, which are generated in terms of Feynman diagrams, can be reduced using either D-dimensional integrand-level decomposition or tensor reduction. GoSam can be used to calculate one-loop QCD and/or electroweak corrections to Standard Model processes and offers the flexibility to link model files for theories Beyond the Standard Model. A standard interface to programs calculating real radiation is also implemented. We demonstrate the flexibility of the program by presenting examples of processes with up to six external legs attached to the loop. (orig.)

  20. Automated one-loop calculations with GOSAM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cullen, Gavin [Edinburgh Univ. (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy; Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Zeuthen [DESY; Germany; Greiner, Nicolas [Illinois Univ., Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Physics; Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Heinrich, Gudrun; Reiter, Thomas [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Luisoni, Gionata [Durham Univ. (United Kingdom). Inst. for Particle Physics Phenomenology; Mastrolia, Pierpaolo [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Padua Univ. (Italy). Dipt. di Fisica; Ossola, Giovanni [New York City Univ., NY (United States). New York City College of Technology; New York City Univ., NY (United States). The Graduate School and University Center; Tramontano, Francesco [European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland)

    2011-11-15

    We present the program package GoSam which is designed for the automated calculation of one-loop amplitudes for multi-particle processes in renormalisable quantum field theories. The amplitudes, which are generated in terms of Feynman diagrams, can be reduced using either D-dimensional integrand-level decomposition or tensor reduction. GoSam can be used to calculate one-loop QCD and/or electroweak corrections to Standard Model processes and offers the flexibility to link model files for theories Beyond the Standard Model. A standard interface to programs calculating real radiation is also implemented. We demonstrate the flexibility of the program by presenting examples of processes with up to six external legs attached to the loop. (orig.)

  1. Molecular dynamics simulations of guanine quadruplex loops: Advances and force field limitations

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Fadrná, E.; Špačková, Naďa; Štefl, R.; Koča, J.; Cheatham III, T. E.; Šponer, Jiří

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 87, č. 1 (2004), s. 227-242 ISSN 0006-3495 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LN00A016 Grant - others:Wellcome Trust(GB) GR067507MF Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5004920 Keywords : quanine quadruplex * four-thymidine loop * locally enhanced sampling Subject RIV: BO - Biophysics Impact factor: 4.585, year: 2004

  2. 3-D numerical simulations of coronal loops oscillations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Selwa

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available We present numerical results of 3-D MHD model of a dipole active region field containing a loop with a higher density than its surroundings. We study different ways of excitation of vertical kink oscillations by velocity perturbation: as an initial condition, and as an impulsive excitation with a pulse of a given position, duration, and amplitude. These properties are varied in the parametric studies. We find that the amplitude of vertical kink oscillations is significantly amplified in comparison to horizontal kink oscillations for exciters located centrally (symmetrically below the loop, but not if the exciter is located a significant distance to the side of the loop. This explains why the pure vertical kink mode is so rarely observed in comparison to the horizontally polarized one. We discuss the role of curved magnetic field lines and the pulse overlapping at one of the loop's footpoints in 3-D active regions (AR's on the excitation and the damping of slow standing waves. We find that footpoint excitation becomes more efficient in 3-D curved loops than in 2-D curved arcades and that slow waves can be excited within an interval of time that is comparable to the observed one wave-period due to the combined effect of the pulse inside and outside the loop. Additionally, we study the effect of AR topology on the excitation and trapping of loop oscillations. We find that a perturbation acting directly on a single loop excites oscillations, but results in an increased leakage compared to excitation of oscillations in an AR field by an external source.

  3. 3-D numerical simulations of coronal loops oscillations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Selwa

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available We present numerical results of 3-D MHD model of a dipole active region field containing a loop with a higher density than its surroundings. We study different ways of excitation of vertical kink oscillations by velocity perturbation: as an initial condition, and as an impulsive excitation with a pulse of a given position, duration, and amplitude. These properties are varied in the parametric studies. We find that the amplitude of vertical kink oscillations is significantly amplified in comparison to horizontal kink oscillations for exciters located centrally (symmetrically below the loop, but not if the exciter is located a significant distance to the side of the loop. This explains why the pure vertical kink mode is so rarely observed in comparison to the horizontally polarized one. We discuss the role of curved magnetic field lines and the pulse overlapping at one of the loop's footpoints in 3-D active regions (AR's on the excitation and the damping of slow standing waves. We find that footpoint excitation becomes more efficient in 3-D curved loops than in 2-D curved arcades and that slow waves can be excited within an interval of time that is comparable to the observed one wave-period due to the combined effect of the pulse inside and outside the loop. Additionally, we study the effect of AR topology on the excitation and trapping of loop oscillations. We find that a perturbation acting directly on a single loop excites oscillations, but results in an increased leakage compared to excitation of oscillations in an AR field by an external source.

  4. Phase transitions in single macromolecules: Loop-stretch transition versus loop adsorption transition in end-grafted polymer chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shuangshuang; Qi, Shuanhu; Klushin, Leonid I.; Skvortsov, Alexander M.; Yan, Dadong; Schmid, Friederike

    2018-01-01

    We use Brownian dynamics simulations and analytical theory to compare two prominent types of single molecule transitions. One is the adsorption transition of a loop (a chain with two ends bound to an attractive substrate) driven by an attraction parameter ɛ and the other is the loop-stretch transition in a chain with one end attached to a repulsive substrate, driven by an external end-force F applied to the free end. Specifically, we compare the behavior of the respective order parameters of the transitions, i.e., the mean number of surface contacts in the case of the adsorption transition and the mean position of the chain end in the case of the loop-stretch transition. Close to the transition points, both the static behavior and the dynamic behavior of chains with different length N are very well described by a scaling ansatz with the scaling parameters (ɛ - ɛ*)Nϕ (adsorption transition) and (F - F*)Nν (loop-stretch transition), respectively, where ϕ is the crossover exponent of the adsorption transition and ν is the Flory exponent. We show that both the loop-stretch and the loop adsorption transitions provide an exceptional opportunity to construct explicit analytical expressions for the crossover functions which perfectly describe all simulation results on static properties in the finite-size scaling regime. Explicit crossover functions are based on the ansatz for the analytical form of the order parameter distributions at the respective transition points. In contrast to the close similarity in equilibrium static behavior, the dynamic relaxation at the two transitions shows qualitative differences, especially in the strongly ordered regimes. This is attributed to the fact that the surface contact dynamics in a strongly adsorbed chain is governed by local processes, whereas the end height relaxation of a strongly stretched chain involves the full spectrum of Rouse modes.

  5. A mixed incoherent feed-forward loop contributes to the regulation of bacterial photosynthesis genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mank, Nils N; Berghoff, Bork A; Klug, Gabriele

    2013-03-01

    Living cells use a variety of regulatory network motifs for accurate gene expression in response to changes in their environment or during differentiation processes. In Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a complex regulatory network controls expression of photosynthesis genes to guarantee optimal energy supply on one hand and to avoid photooxidative stress on the other hand. Recently, we identified a mixed incoherent feed-forward loop comprising the transcription factor PrrA, the sRNA PcrZ and photosynthesis target genes as part of this regulatory network. This point-of-view provides a comparison to other described feed-forward loops and discusses the physiological relevance of PcrZ in more detail.

  6. Effect of vacancy loops on swelling of metals under irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Golubov, S.I.

    1981-01-01

    Subsequent analysis of vacancy loops formation in metals under irradiation is carried out and effect of vacancy loops on vacancy porosity is studied. Expression for quasistationary function of vacancy loops distribution according to sizes taking into consideration two mechanisms of their initiation-cascade and fluctuational ones - is obtained. It is shown that rate of vacancy absorption and interstitials by vacancy loops in quasiequilibrium state is similar and depends only on summary length of loops, for its calculations the self-coordinated procedure is formulated. For the rate of metal swelling under irradiation obtained is the expression taking into consideration the presence of vacancy loops [ru

  7. Xenon oscillation tests in four-loop PWR cores

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoki, Norihiko; Osaka, Kenichi; Shimada, Shoichiro; Tochihara, Hiroshi; Machii, Seigo

    1980-01-01

    The Kansai Electric Power Co.'s OHI Unit 1 and 2 are the first 4-loop PWRs in Japan which use 17 x 17 fuel assemblies and have essentially the same plant parameters. A 4-loop core has larger core radius and higher power density than those of 2- or 3-loop cores, and is less stable for Xe oscillation. It is therefore important to confirm that Xe oscillations in radial direction are sufficiently stable in a 4-loop core. Radial and axial Xe oscillation tests were performed during the startup physics tests of OHI Unit 1 and 2; Xe oscillation was induced by perturbation of control rods and the Xe effect on power distribution observed periodically. The test results show that the transverse Xe oscillation in the 4-loop core is sufficiently stable and that the agreement between the measurement and the calculated prediction is good. (author)

  8. Loop Diuretics in the Treatment of Hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malha, Line; Mann, Samuel J

    2016-04-01

    Loop diuretics are not recommended in current hypertension guidelines largely due to the lack of outcome data. Nevertheless, they have been shown to lower blood pressure and to offer potential advantages over thiazide-type diuretics. Torsemide offers advantages of longer duration of action and once daily dosing (vs. furosemide and bumetanide) and more reliable bioavailability (vs. furosemide). Studies show that the previously employed high doses of thiazide-type diuretics lower BP more than furosemide. Loop diuretics appear to have a preferable side effect profile (less hyponatremia, hypokalemia, and possibly less glucose intolerance). Studies comparing efficacy and side effect profiles of loop diuretics with the lower, currently widely prescribed, thiazide doses are needed. Research is needed to fill gaps in knowledge and common misconceptions about loop diuretic use in hypertension and to determine their rightful place in the antihypertensive arsenal.

  9. A theory of desynchronisable closed loop system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harsh Beohar

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The task of implementing a supervisory controller is non-trivial, even though different theories exist that allow automatic synthesis of these controllers in the form of automata. One of the reasons for this discord is due to the asynchronous interaction between a plant and its controller in implementations, whereas the existing supervisory control theories assume synchronous interaction. As a consequence the implementation suffer from the so-called inexact synchronisation problem. In this paper we address the issue of inexact synchronisation in a process algebraic setting, by solving a more general problem of refinement. We construct an asynchronous closed loop system by introducing a communication medium in a given synchronous closed loop system. Our goal is to find sufficient conditions under which a synchronous closed loop system is branching bisimilar to its corresponding asynchronous closed loop system.

  10. Closed-loop conductance scanning tunneling spectroscopy: demonstrating the equivalence to the open-loop alternative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellenthal, Chris; Sotthewes, Kai; Siekman, Martin H; Kooij, E Stefan; Zandvliet, Harold J W

    2015-01-01

    We demonstrate the validity of using closed-loop z(V) conductance scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements for the determination of the effective tunneling barrier by comparing them to more conventional open-loop I(z) measurements. Through the development of a numerical model, the individual contributions to the effective tunneling barrier present in these experiments, such as the work function and the presence of an image charge, are determined quantitatively. This opens up the possibility of determining tunneling barriers of both vacuum and molecular systems in an alternative and more detailed manner.

  11. Automatic parallelization of while-Loops using speculative execution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collard, J.F.

    1995-01-01

    Automatic parallelization of imperative sequential programs has focused on nests of for-loops. The most recent of them consist in finding an affine mapping with respect to the loop indices to simultaneously capture the temporal and spatial properties of the parallelized program. Such a mapping is usually called a open-quotes space-time transformation.close quotes This work describes an extension of these techniques to while-loops using speculative execution. We show that space-time transformations are a good framework for summing up previous restructuration techniques of while-loop, such as pipelining. Moreover, we show that these transformations can be derived and applied automatically

  12. Nanoscale dislocation shear loops at static equilibrium and finite temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Khanh; Capolungo, Laurent; Spearot, Douglas E.

    2017-12-01

    Atomistic simulations are used to determine the resolved shear stress necessary for equilibrium and the resulting geometry of nanoscale dislocation shear loops in Al. Dislocation loops with different sizes and shapes are created via superposition of elemental triangular dislocation displacement fields in the presence of an externally imposed shear stress. First, a bisection algorithm is developed to determine systematically the resolved shear stress necessary for equilibrium at 0 K. This approach allows for the identification of dislocation core structure and a correlation between dislocation loop size, shape and the computed shear stress for equilibrium. It is found, in agreement with predictions made by Scattergood and Bacon, that the equilibrium shape of a dislocation loop becomes more circular with increasing loop size. Second, the bisection algorithm is extended to study the influence of temperature on the resolved shear stress necessary for stability. An approach is presented to compute the effective lattice friction stress, including temperature dependence, for dislocation loops in Al. The temperature dependence of the effective lattice friction stress can be reliably computed for dislocation loops larger than 16.2 nm. However, for dislocation loops smaller than this threshold, the effective lattice friction stress shows a dislocation loop size dependence caused by significant overlap of the stress fields on the interior of the dislocation loops. Combined, static and finite temperature atomistic simulations provide essential data to parameterize discrete dislocation dynamics simulations.

  13. Iterative structure within the five-particle two-loop amplitude

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cachazo, Freddy; Spradlin, Marcus; Volovich, Anastasia

    2006-01-01

    We find an unexpected iterative structure within the two-loop five-gluon amplitude in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Specifically, we show that a subset of diagrams contributing to the full amplitude, including a two-loop pentagon-box integral with nontrivial dependence on five kinematical variables, satisfies an iterative relation in terms of one-loop scalar box diagrams. The implications of this result for the possible iterative structure of the full two-loop amplitude are discussed

  14. Sigma models and renormalization of string loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tseytlin, A.A.

    1989-05-01

    An extension of the ''σ-model β-functions - string equations of motion'' correspondence to the string loop level is discussed. Special emphasis is made on how the renormalization group acts in string loops and, in particular, on the renormalizability property of the generating functional Z-circumflex for string amplitudes (related to the σ model partition function integrated over moduli). Renormalization of Z-circumflex at one and two loop order is analyzed in some detail. We also discuss an approach to renormalization based on operators of insertion of topological fixtures. (author). 70 refs

  15. Magic-factor 1, a partial agonist of Met, induces muscle hypertrophy by protecting myogenic progenitors from apoptosis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Cassano

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF is a pleiotropic cytokine of mesenchymal origin that mediates a characteristic array of biological activities including cell proliferation, survival, motility and morphogenesis. Its high affinity receptor, the tyrosine kinase Met, is expressed by a wide range of tissues and can be activated by either paracrine or autocrine stimulation. Adult myogenic precursor cells, the so called satellite cells, express both HGF and Met. Following muscle injury, autocrine HGF-Met stimulation plays a key role in promoting activation and early division of satellite cells, but is shut off in a second phase to allow myogenic differentiation. In culture, HGF stimulation promotes proliferation of muscle precursors thereby inhibiting their differentiation.Magic-Factor 1 (Met-Activating Genetically Improved Chimeric Factor-1 or Magic-F1 is an HGF-derived, engineered protein that contains two Met-binding domains repeated in tandem. It has a reduced affinity for Met and, in contrast to HGF it elicits activation of the AKT but not the ERK signaling pathway. As a result, Magic-F1 is not mitogenic but conserves the ability to promote cell survival. Here we show that Magic-F1 protects myogenic precursors against apoptosis, thus increasing their fusion ability and enhancing muscular differentiation. Electrotransfer of Magic-F1 gene into adult mice promoted muscular hypertrophy and decreased myocyte apoptosis. Magic-F1 transgenic mice displayed constitutive muscular hypertrophy, improved running performance and accelerated muscle regeneration following injury. Crossing of Magic-F1 transgenic mice with alpha-sarcoglycan knock-out mice -a mouse model of muscular dystrophy- or adenovirus-mediated Magic-F1 gene delivery resulted in amelioration of the dystrophic phenotype as measured by both anatomical/histological analysis and functional tests.Because of these features Magic-F1 represents a novel molecular tool to counteract muscle wasting in major

  16. A Verification Study on the Loop-Breaking Logic of FTREX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Jong Soo

    2008-01-01

    The logical loop problem in fault tree analysis (FTA) has been solved by manually or automatically breaking their circular logics. The breaking of logical loops is one of uncertainty sources in fault tree analyses. A practical method which can verify fault tree analysis results was developed by Choi. The method has the capability to handle logical loop problems. It has been implemented in a FORTRAN program which is called VETA (Verification and Evaluation of fault Tree Analysis results) code. FTREX, a well-known fault tree quantifier developed by KAERI, has an automatic loop-breaking logic. In order to make certain of the correctness of the loop-breaking logic of FTREX, some typical trees with complex loops are developed and applied to this study. This paper presents some verification results of the loop-breaking logic tested by the VETA code

  17. Mining protein loops using a structural alphabet and statistical exceptionality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Juliette

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein loops encompass 50% of protein residues in available three-dimensional structures. These regions are often involved in protein functions, e.g. binding site, catalytic pocket... However, the description of protein loops with conventional tools is an uneasy task. Regular secondary structures, helices and strands, have been widely studied whereas loops, because they are highly variable in terms of sequence and structure, are difficult to analyze. Due to data sparsity, long loops have rarely been systematically studied. Results We developed a simple and accurate method that allows the description and analysis of the structures of short and long loops using structural motifs without restriction on loop length. This method is based on the structural alphabet HMM-SA. HMM-SA allows the simplification of a three-dimensional protein structure into a one-dimensional string of states, where each state is a four-residue prototype fragment, called structural letter. The difficult task of the structural grouping of huge data sets is thus easily accomplished by handling structural letter strings as in conventional protein sequence analysis. We systematically extracted all seven-residue fragments in a bank of 93000 protein loops and grouped them according to the structural-letter sequence, named structural word. This approach permits a systematic analysis of loops of all sizes since we consider the structural motifs of seven residues rather than complete loops. We focused the analysis on highly recurrent words of loops (observed more than 30 times. Our study reveals that 73% of loop-lengths are covered by only 3310 highly recurrent structural words out of 28274 observed words. These structural words have low structural variability (mean RMSd of 0.85 Å. As expected, half of these motifs display a flanking-region preference but interestingly, two thirds are shared by short (less than 12 residues and long loops. Moreover, half of

  18. Mining protein loops using a structural alphabet and statistical exceptionality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Regad, Leslie; Martin, Juliette; Nuel, Gregory; Camproux, Anne-Claude

    2010-02-04

    Protein loops encompass 50% of protein residues in available three-dimensional structures. These regions are often involved in protein functions, e.g. binding site, catalytic pocket... However, the description of protein loops with conventional tools is an uneasy task. Regular secondary structures, helices and strands, have been widely studied whereas loops, because they are highly variable in terms of sequence and structure, are difficult to analyze. Due to data sparsity, long loops have rarely been systematically studied. We developed a simple and accurate method that allows the description and analysis of the structures of short and long loops using structural motifs without restriction on loop length. This method is based on the structural alphabet HMM-SA. HMM-SA allows the simplification of a three-dimensional protein structure into a one-dimensional string of states, where each state is a four-residue prototype fragment, called structural letter. The difficult task of the structural grouping of huge data sets is thus easily accomplished by handling structural letter strings as in conventional protein sequence analysis. We systematically extracted all seven-residue fragments in a bank of 93000 protein loops and grouped them according to the structural-letter sequence, named structural word. This approach permits a systematic analysis of loops of all sizes since we consider the structural motifs of seven residues rather than complete loops. We focused the analysis on highly recurrent words of loops (observed more than 30 times). Our study reveals that 73% of loop-lengths are covered by only 3310 highly recurrent structural words out of 28274 observed words). These structural words have low structural variability (mean RMSd of 0.85 A). As expected, half of these motifs display a flanking-region preference but interestingly, two thirds are shared by short (less than 12 residues) and long loops. Moreover, half of recurrent motifs exhibit a significant level of

  19. Afferent loop syndrome: Role of sonography and CT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Dong Ho; Lim, Jae Hoon; Ko, Young Tae [Kyung Hee University Hospital, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1992-03-15

    Afferent loop syndrome(ALS) is caused by obstruction of the afferent loop after subtotal gastrectomy with Billroth II gastrojejunostomy. Prompt diagnosis of ALS is important as perforation of the loop occurs. The aim of study is to ascertain the sonography and CT to diagnose ALS. We describe the radiologic findings in ten patients with ALS. The cause of ALS, established at surgery, included cancer recurrence (n=4), internal hernia (n=4), marginal ulcer (n=1), and development of cancer at the anastomosis site (n=1). Abdominal X-ray and sonography were performed in all cases, upper GI series in five cases and computed tomography in two cases. The dilated afferent loop was detected in only two cases out often patients in retrospective review of abdominal X-ray. ALS with recurrence of cancer was diagnosed in three cases by upper GI series. Of the cases that had sonography, the afferent loop was seen in the upper abdomen crossing transversely over the midline in all ten patients. The cause of ALS were predicated on the basis of the sonograms in three of the five patients. In two cases of computed tomography, the dilated afferent loop and recurrent cancer at the remnant stomach were seen.Our experience suggests that the diagnosis of afferent syndrome can be made on the basis of the typical anatomic location and shape of the dilated bowel loop in both sonography and computed tomography.

  20. Loop equations and bootstrap methods in the lattice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter D. Anderson

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Pure gauge theories can be formulated in terms of Wilson Loops by means of the loop equation. In the large-N limit this equation closes in the expectation value of single loops. In particular, using the lattice as a regulator, it becomes a well defined equation for a discrete set of loops. In this paper we study different numerical approaches to solving this equation. Previous ideas gave good results in the strong coupling region. Here we propose an alternative method based on the observation that certain matrices ρˆ of Wilson loop expectation values are positive definite. They also have unit trace (ρˆ⪰0,Trρˆ=1, in fact they can be defined as reduced density matrices in the space of open loops after tracing over color indices and can be used to define an entropy associated with the loss of information due to such trace SWL=−Tr[ρˆln⁡ρˆ]. The condition that such matrices are positive definite allows us to study the weak coupling region which is relevant for the continuum limit. In the exactly solvable case of two dimensions this approach gives very good results by considering just a few loops. In four dimensions it gives good results in the weak coupling region and therefore is complementary to the strong coupling expansion. We compare the results with standard Monte Carlo simulations.