Floral biology and late-acting self-incompatibility in Jacaranda racemosa (Bignoniaceae)

Breeding-system studies have been conducted with 38 of the approximately 800 species of Bignoniaceae, and self-incompatibility was found in 31 of these. In species for which the site of self-incompatibility barrier was studied, self-pollinated flowers consistently failed to develop into fruits, even though pollen tubes grew down to the ovary and penetrated most of the ovules. In this study, we have investigated the. oral biology and the breeding system in Jacaranda racemosa Chamisso, with hand-pollination experiments and the histology of post-pollination events. Flower anthesis lasted 1-3 days, and although the frequency of flower visitation was extremely low, natural pollination seemed to be effected mainly by medium-sized bees. Because the conspicuous staminodium favours eventual pollination by small bees, a possible role of the staminodium in the increase of potential pollinators is suggested. Hand-pollinations indicated that J. racemosa is a self-sterile species. Histological analysis of post-pollination events indicated the occurrence of a kind of late-acting self-incompatibility in which the processes of ovule penetration, fertilisation and endosperm initiation were slower in selfed than in crossed pistils. Until the time of self-pollinated pistil abscission, no signs of endosperm malfunction or proembryo development were observed in selfed pistils. Therefore, inbreeding depression is an unlikely explanation for self-sterility in J. racemosa.

Quark clustering and chiral symmetry breaking in nuclear matter

Chiral symmetry breaking at finite baryon density is usually discussed in the context of quark matter, i.e. a system of deconfined quarks. Many systems like stable nuclei and neutron stars however have quarks confined within nucleons. In this paper we construct a Fermi sea of three-quark nucleon clusters and investigate the change of the quark condensate as a function of baryon density. We study the effect of quark clustering on the in-medium quark condensate and compare results with the traditional approach of modeling hadronic matter in terms of a Fermi sea of deconfined quarks.

A QCD sum rule study of Theta(+) in nuclear matter

We consider a [ud](2)(s) over bar current, in the finite-density QCD sum rule approach, to investigate the scalar and vector self-energies of the recently observed pentaquark state Theta(+)(1540), propagating in nuclear matter. We find that, opposite to what was obtained for the nucleon, the vector self-energy is negative, and the scalar self-energy is positive. There is a substantial cancellation between them resulting in an attractive net self-energy of the same order as in the nucleon case. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

J/Psi mass shift in nuclear matter

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Signatures of primordial non-Gaussianities in the matter power-spectrum and bispectrum: the time-RG approach

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Charmonium and D mesons in hadronic matter

We discuss two aspects of charmonium in medium. First, we present results of a recent study that compares the phenomenology of charmonium spectroscopy using smooth and sudden string breaking potentials. Next, we present results of a study that explores the possibility that J/ψ might be bound in a large nucleus through the excitation of a color singlet intermediate states of D and D* mesons with density masses. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

J/Ψ in nuclear matter

We report on recent estimates of the J/Ψ mass shift in infinite nuclear matter and finite nuclei arising from in-medium D and D* meson loops. The density dependence of the J/Ψ mass shift is evaluated employing medium-modified D and D* meson masses derived within the quark-meson coupling model. Using a local density approximation, J/Ψ-nuclear bound state energies are calculated for a range of nuclei. We predict that J/Ψ-nuclear bound states should be observed with a clear signal in experiments, provided the J/Ψ meson is produced in recoilless kinematics. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Low mass enhanced probability of pion in hadronic matter due to its Landau cut contributions

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Systematic uncertainties from halo asphericity in dark matter searches

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Exploring nu signals in dark matter detectors

We investigate standard and non-standard solar neutrino signals in direct dark matter detection experiments. It is well known that even without new physics, scattering of solar neutrinos on nuclei or electrons is an irreducible background for direct dark matter searches, once these experiments reach the ton scale. Here, we entertain the possibility that neutrino interactions are enhanced by new physics, such as new light force carriers (for instance a "dark photon") or neutrino magnetic moments. We consider models with only the three standard neutrino flavors, as well as scenarios with extra sterile neutrinos. We find that low-energy neutrino-electron and neutrino-nucleus scattering rates can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude, potentially enough to explain the event excesses observed in CoGeNT and CRESST. We also investigate temporal modulation in these neutrino signals, which can arise from geometric effects, oscillation physics, non-standard neutrino energy loss, and direction-dependent detection efficiencies. We emphasize that, in addition to providing potential explanations for existing signals, models featuring new physics in the neutrino sector can also be very relevant to future dark matter searches, where, on the one hand, they can be probed and constrained, but on the other hand, their signatures could also be confused with dark matter signals.

Coarse-graining and quantum-classical adaptive coupling in soft matter

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen Skalen in Systemen weicher Materie, der für Multiskalen-Simulationen eine wichtige Rolle spielt. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine Methode entwickelt, die die Approximation der Separierbarkeit von Variablen für die Molekulardynamik und ähnliche Anwendungen bewertet. Der zweite und größere Teil dieser Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der konzeptionellen und technischen Erweiterung des Adaptive Resolution Scheme'' (AdResS), einer Methode zur gleichzeitigen Simulation von Systemen mit mehreren Auflösungsebenen. Diese Methode wurde auf Systeme erweitert, in denen klassische und quantenmechanische Effekte eine Rolle spielen.rnrnDie oben genannte erste Methode benötigt nur die analytische Form der Potentiale, wie sie die meisten Molekulardynamik-Programme zur Verfügung stellen. Die Anwendung der Methode auf ein spezielles Problem gibt bei erfolgreichem Ausgang einen numerischen Hinweis auf die Gültigkeit der Variablenseparation. Bei nicht erfolgreichem Ausgang garantiert sie, dass keine Separation der Variablen möglich ist. Die Methode wird exemplarisch auf ein zweiatomiges Molekül auf einer Oberfläche und für die zweidimensionale Version des Rotational Isomer State (RIS) Modells einer Polymerkette angewandt.rnrnDer zweite Teil der Arbeit behandelt die Entwicklung eines Algorithmus zur adaptiven Simulation von Systemen, in denen Quanteneffekte berücksichtigt werden. Die Quantennatur von Atomen wird dabei in der Pfadintegral-Methode durch einen klassischen Polymerring repräsentiert. Die adaptive Pfadintegral-Methode wird zunächst für einatomige Flüssigkeiten und tetraedrische Moleküle unter normalen thermodynamischen Bedingungen getestet. Schließlich wird die Stabilität der Methode durch ihre Anwendung auf flüssigen para-Wasserstoff bei niedrigen Temperaturen geprüft.

TRENDS IN PARTICULATE MATTER AND MORTALITY: AN APPROACH TO THE ASSESSMENT OF UNMEASURED CONFOUNDING

We propose a method for diagnosing confounding bias under a model which links a spatially and temporally varying exposure and health outcome. We decompose the association into orthogonal components, corresponding to distinct spatial and temporal scales of variation. If the model fully controls for confounding, the exposure effect estimates should be equal at the different temporal and spatial scales. We show that the overall exposure effect estimate is a weighted average of the scale-specific exposure effect estimates. We use this approach to estimate the association between monthly averages of fine particles (PM2.5) over the preceding 12 months and monthly mortality rates in 113 U.S. counties from 2000-2002. We decompose the association between PM2.5 and mortality into two components: 1) the association between “national trends” in PM2.5 and mortality; and 2) the association between “local trends,” defined as county-specificdeviations from national trends. This second component provides evidence as to whether counties having steeper declines in PM2.5 also have steeper declines in mortality relative to their national trends. We find that the exposure effect estimates are different at these two spatio-temporalscales, which raises concerns about confounding bias. We believe that the association between trends in PM2.5 and mortality at the national scale is more likely to be confounded than is the association between trends in PM2.5 and mortality at the local scale. If the association at the national scale is set aside, there is little evidence of an association between 12-month exposure to PM2.5 and mortality.

Evaluation of the transforming growth factor beta1 codon 25 (Arg-->Pro) polymorphism in alcoholic liver disease

INTRODUCTION: Liver cirrhosis develops only in a minority of heavy drinkers. Genetic factors may account for some variation in the progression of fibrosis in alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFbeta1) is a key profibrogenic cytokine in fibrosis and its gene contains several polymorphic sites. A single nucleotide polymorphism at codon 25 has been suggested to affect fibrosis progression in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection, fatty liver disease, and hereditary hemochromatosis. Its contribution to the progression of ALD has not been investigated sufficiently so far. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One-hundred-and-fifty-one heavy drinkers without apparent ALD, 149 individuals with alcoholic cirrhosis, and 220 alcoholic cirrhotics who underwent liver transplantation (LTX) were genotyped for TGFbeta1 codon 25 variants. RESULTS: Univariate analysis suggested that genotypes Arg/Pro or Pro/Pro are associated with decompensated liver cirrhosis requiring LTX. However, after adjusting for patients' age these genotypes did not confer a significant risk for cirrhosis requiring LTX. CONCLUSION: TGFbeta1 codon 25 genotypes Arg/Pro or Pro/Pro are not associated with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Our study emphasizes the need for adequate statistical methods and accurate study design when evaluating the contribution of genetic variants to the course of chronic liver diseases.