Scalar glueballs: Constraints from the decays into η or η′

We study the mixing of the scalar glueball into the isosinglet mesons f0(1370), f0(1500), and f0(1710) to describe the two-body decays to pseudoscalars. We use an effective Hamiltonian and employ the two-angle mixing scheme for η and η′. In this framework, we analyze existing data and look forward to new data into η and η′ channels. For now, the f0(1710) has the largest glueball component and a sizable branching ratio into ηη′, testable at BESIII.

Genome-wide hydroxymethylcytosine pattern changes in response to oxidative stress

The TET enzymes convert methylcytosine to the newly discovered base hydroxymethylcytosine. While recent reports suggest that TETs may play a role in response to oxidative stress, this role remains uncertain, and results lack in vivo models. Here we show a global decrease of hydroxymethylcytosine in cells treated with buthionine sulfoximine, and in mice depleted for the major antioxidant enzymes GPx1 and 2. Furthermore, genome-wide profiling revealed differentially hydroxymethylated regions in coding genes, and intriguingly in microRNA genes, both involved in response to oxidative stress. These results thus suggest a profound effect of in vivo oxidative stress on the global hydroxymethylome.

Expression of galectin-3 in the tumor immune response in colon cancer.

The role of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) is controversial. Although most studies on different cancer types associate them with a poorer prognosis, interestingly in colon cancer, most articles indicate that TAMs prevent tumor development; patients with high TAMs have better prognosis and survival rate. M1-polarized macrophages produce high level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1 beta or reactive oxygen species, which can effectively kill susceptible tumor cells. In contrast, M2-polarized macrophages can secrete different factors that promote tumor cell growth and survival or favor angiogenesis and tissue invasion. Considering the beneficial role of TAMs in colon cancer, we speculated that they may not display the M2 polarization commonly observed in tumor microenvironment, but rather develop M1 properties. Therefore, we used an in vitro model to analyze the effects of supernatants from M1-polarized macrophages on DLD-1 colon cancer cells. Our data indicate that the conditioned medium from LPS-activated macrophages (CM-LAM) contains a high level of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukins-1 beta, -6, -8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and that it exerts a marked growth inhibitory activity on DLD-1 cells. Prolonged exposure to CM-LAM results in cell death by apoptosis. Such exposure to CM-LAM leads to the modulation of gal-3 expression: we observed a marked downregulation of gal-3 mRNA and protein expression following CM-LAM treatment. We also describe that the knockdown of gal-3 sensitizes DLD-1 cells to CM-LAM. These data suggest an involvement of gal-3 in the response of colon cancer cells to proinflammatory stimuli, such as the conditioned medium from activated macrophages.

Absolute line intensities for formic acid and dissociation constant of the dimer

Absolute line intensities in the v6 and v8 interacting bands of trans-HCOOH, observed near 1105.4 and 1033.5 cm -1, respectively, and the dissociation constant of the formic acid dimer (HCOOH)2 have been measured using Fourier transform spectroscopy at a resolution of 0.002 cm-1. Eleven spectra of formic acid, at 296.0(5) K and pressures ranging from 14.28(25) to 314.0(24) Pa, have been recorded between 600 and 1900 cm-1 with an absorption path length of 19.7(2) cm. 437 integrated absorption coefficients have been measured for 72 lines in the v6 band. Analysis of the pressure dependence yielded the dissociation constant of the formic acid dimer, k p=361(45) Pa, and the absolute intensity of the 72 lines of HCOOH. The accuracy of these results was carefully estimated. The absolute intensities of four lines of the weak v8 band were also measured. Using an appropriate theory, the integrated intensity of the v6 and v 8 bands was determined to be 3.47 × 1017 and 4.68 × 10-19 cm-1/(molecule cm-1) respectively, at 296 K. Both the dissociation constant and integrated intensities were compared to earlier measurements. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Emission spectroscopy from optically thick laboratory acetylene samples at high temperature

info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Vibration-rotation pattern in acetylene. II. Introduction of Coriolis coupling in the global model and analysis of emission spectra of hot acetylene around 3 microns

This paper was selected by the editors of the Journal of Chemical Physics as one of the few of the many notable JCP articles published in 2009 that present ground-breaking research

Intracellular Cytokine Staining and Flow Cytometry: Considerations for Application in Clinical Trials of Novel Tuberculosis Vaccines.

Intracellular cytokine staining combined with flow cytometry is one of a number of assays designed to assess T-cell immune responses. It has the specific advantage of enabling the simultaneous assessment of multiple phenotypic, differentiation and functional parameters pertaining to responding T-cells, most notably, the expression of multiple effector cytokines. These attributes make the technique particularly suitable for the assessment of T-cell immune responses induced by novel tuberculosis vaccines in clinical trials. However, depending upon the particular nature of a given vaccine and trial setting, there are approaches that may be taken at different stages of the assay that are more suitable than other alternatives. In this paper, the Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI) TB Biomarker Working group reports on efforts to assess the conditions that will determine when particular assay approaches should be employed. We have found that choices relating to the use of fresh whole blood or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and frozen PBMC; use of serum-containing or serum-free medium; length of stimulation period and use of co-stimulatory antibodies can all affect the sensitivity of intracellular cytokine assays. In the case of sample material, frozen PBMC, despite some loss of sensitivity, may be more advantageous for batch analysis. We also recommend that for multi-site studies, common antibody panels, gating strategies and analysis approaches should be employed for better comparability.

A New Approach to Media Cluster Research: Bringing the Human Factor back into Scope

This paper is part of a collaborative project being undertaken by the three leading universities of Brussels, VUB, ULB and USL-B supported by Innnoviris. The project called Media Clusters Brussels - MCB - started in October 2014 with the goal to analyze the development of a Media Park around the two public broadcasters at the site of Reyers in Brussels being host of a media cluster in the capital city. Not only policymakers but also many authors recognized in the last decade that the media industry is characterized from a geographical point of view by a heavy concentration to a limited number of large cities, where media clusters have emerged (Karlsson & Picard, 2011). The common assumption about media clusters is that locating inside a regional agglomeration of related actors brings advantages for these firms. Especially, the interrelations and interactions between the actors on a social level matter for the shape and efficiency of the agglomerations (Picard, 2008). However, even though the importance of the actors and their interrelations has been a common assumption, many authors solely focus on the macro-economical aspects of the clusters. Within this paper, we propose to realize a socio-economical analysis of media clusters to make informed decisions in the development and so, bring the social (human) factor back into scope. Therefore, this article focuses on the development of a novel valuable framework, the so-called 7P framework with a multilevel and interdisciplinary approach, which includes three aspects, which have been identified as emerging success-factors of media clusters: partnerships, (media) professionals and positive spillovers.

Properties of the protein matrix revealed by the free energy of cavity formation.

The classical picture of the hydrophobic stabilization of proteins invokes a resemblance between the protein interior and nonpolar solvents, but the extent to which this is the case has often been questioned. The protein interior is believed to be at least as tightly packed as organic crystals, and was shown to have very low compressibility. There is also evidence that these properties are not uniform throughout the protein, and conflicting views exist on the nature of sidechain packing and on its influence on the properties of the protein.

Regulation of the alpha-fetoprotein promoter: Ku binding and DNA spatial conformation

This work shows that the proximal promoter of the mouse Afp gene contains a Ku binding site and that Ku binding is associated with down-regulation of the transcriptional activity of the Afp promoter. The Ku binding site is located in a segment able to adopt a peculiar structured form, probably a hairpin structure. Interestingly, the structured form eliminates the binding sites of the positive transcription factor HNF1. Furthermore, a DNAse hypersensitive site is detected in footprinting experiments done with extracts of AFP non-expressing hepatoma cells. These observations suggest that the structured form is stabilised by Ku and is associated with extinction of the gene in AFP non-expressing hepatic cells.

A comprehensive life cycle water analysis framework for residential buildings

Most studies on the environmental performance of buildings focus on energy demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions. They often neglect to consider the range of other resource demands and environmental impacts associated with buildings, including water. Studies that assess water use in buildings typically consider only operational water, which excludes the embodied water in building materials or the water associated with the mobility of building occupants. A new framework is presented that quantifies water requirements at the building scale (i.e. the embodied and operational water of the building as well as its maintenance and refurbishment) and at the city scale (i.e. the embodied water of nearby infrastructures such as roads, gas distribution and others) and the transport-related indirect water use of building occupants. A case study house located in Melbourne, Australia, is analysed using the new framework. The results show that each of the embodied, operational and transport requirements is nearly equally important. By integrating these three water requirements, the developed framework provides architects, building designers, planners and decision-makers with a powerful means to understand and effectively reduce the overall water use and associated environmental impacts of residential buildings.

Experimental investigation of thermal structures in regular three-dimensional falling films

Interfacial waves on the surface of a falling liquid film are known to modify heat and mass transfer. Under non-isothermal conditions, the wave topology is strongly influenced by the presence of thermocapillary (Marangoni) forces at the interface which leads to a destabilization of the film flow and potentially to critical film thinning. In this context, the present study investigates the evolution of the surface topology and the evolution of the surface temperature for the case of regularly excited solitary-type waves on a falling liquid film under the influence of a wall-side heat flux. Combining film thickness (chromatic confocal imaging) and surface temperature information (infrared thermography), interactions between hydrodynamics and thermocapillary forces are revealed. These include the formation of rivulets, film thinning and wave number doubling in spanwise direction. Distinct thermal structures on the films’ surface can be associated to characteristics of the surface topology.

Role of Landau quantization on the neutron-drip transition in magnetar crusts

The role of a strong magnetic field on the neutron-drip transition in the crust of a magnetar is studied. The composition of the crust and the neutron-drip threshold are determined numerically for different magnetic field strengths using the experimental atomic mass measurements from the 2012 Atomic Mass Evaluation complemented with theoretical masses calculated from the Brussels-Montreal Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov nuclear mass model HFB-24. The equilibrium nucleus at the neutron-drip point is found to be independent of the magnetic field strength. As demonstrated analytically, the neutron-drip density and pressure increase almost linearly with the magnetic field strength in the strongly quantizing regime for which electrons lie in the lowest Landau level. For weaker magnetic fields, the neutron-drip density exhibits typical quantum oscillations. In this case, the neutron-drip density can be either increased by about 14% or decreased by 25% depending on the magnetic field strength. These variations are shown to be almost universal, independently of the nuclear mass model employed. These results may have important implications for the physical interpretation of timing irregularities and quasiperiodic oscillations detected in soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous x-ray pulsars, as well as for the cooling of strongly magnetized neutron stars.

Hopf hypersurfaces in pseudo-Riemannian complex and para-complex space forms

The study of real hypersurfaces in pseudo-Riemannian complex space forms and para-complex space forms, which are the pseudo-Riemannian generalizations of the complex space forms, is addressed. It is proved that there are no umbilic hypersurfaces, nor real hypersurfaces with parallel shape operator in such spaces. Denoting by J be the complex or para-complex structure of a pseudo-complex or para-complex space form respectively, a non-degenerate hypersurface of such space with unit normal vector field N is said to be Hopf if the tangent vector field JN is a principal direction. It is proved that if a hypersurface is Hopf, then the corresponding principal curvature (the Hopf curvature) is constant. It is also observed that in some cases a Hopf hypersurface must be, locally, a tube over a complex (or para-complex) submanifold, thus generalizing previous results of Cecil, Ryan and Montiel.

Rotational analysis of the v6 band in furan (C4H4O)

SCOPUS: no.j