Quark condensation, induced symmetry breaking and color superconductivity at high density

The phase structure of hadronic matter at high density relevant to the physics of compact stars and relativistic heavy-ion collisions is studied in a low-energy effective quark theory. The relevant phases that figure are (1) chiral condensation, (2) diquark color condensation (color superconductivity) and (3) induced Lorentz-symmetry breaking (“ISB”). For a reasonable strength for the effective four-Fermi current–current interaction implied by the low-energy effective quark theory for systems with a Fermi surface we find that the “ISB” phase sets in together with chiral symmetry restoration (with the vanishing quark condensate) at a moderate density while color superconductivity associated with scalar diquark condensation is pushed up to an asymptotic density. Consequently, color superconductivity seems rather unlikely in heavy-ion collisions although it may play a role in compact stars. Lack of confinement in the model makes the result of this analysis only qualitative but the hierarchy of the transitions we find seems to be quite robust.     

Bifunctional organocatalyst for methanolytic desymmetrization of cyclic anhydrides: increasing enantioselectivity by catalyst dilution

Highly enantioselective methanolysis of meso-cyclic anhydride was achieved with bifunctional organocatalyst containing a quinine-thiourea moiety; unusual concentration, temperature and solvent effects on the enantioselectivity can be explained in terms of a mechanism involving monomer-dimer equilibration of the catalyst.     

Sensitized near-IR luminescence of Ln(III) complexes with benzothiazole derivatives

Lanthanide complexes with benzothiazole derivatives (Btz-R, R = OCH(3) and OH) and terpyridine (tpy) ligands were synthesized, and their photophysical properties were precisely investigated. The free Btz-OCH(3) ligand in toluene, excited with UV light, produced the normal emission bands around 410 nm, whereas Btz-OH produced a strong excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) band at 510 nm. The Ln(III) complexes (Ln = Nd, Er, and Yb) exhibited sensitized near-IR luminescence when the Btz-R ligands were excited. The sensitized luminescence quantum yields (Phi(Ln)) of the lanthanide complexes were markedly enhanced by ESIPT: for [Nd(Btz-R)(tpy)] in toluene solution, Phi(Ln) = 0.04% for Btz-OCH(3) and 0.39% for Btz-OH. The sensitized luminescence of the Er(III) complexes (Phi(Ln) = 0.002% for Btz-OCH(3) and 0.009% for Btz-OH) was less efficient than that of the Nd(III) complexes. This difference is due to the smaller energy gap between the emitting and ground levels of the Er(III) ion. The rate constants for the energy transfer from Btz-R to Ln(III) were about approximately 10(9) s(-1), as evaluated by the F?rster resonance energy transfer mechanism.     

PMA-induced up-regulation of MMP-9 is regulated by a PKCalpha-NF-kappaB cascade in human lung epithelial cells

Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is associated with airway remodeling and tissue injury in asthma. However, little is known about how MMP-9 is up-regulated in airway epithelial cells. In this study, we show that phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) induces MMP-9 expression via a protein kinase Calpha (PKCalpha)-dependent signaling cascade in BEAS-2B human lung epithelial cells. Pretreatment with either GF109203X, a general PKC inhibitor, or Go6976, a PKCalpha/beta isozyme inhibitor, inhibited PMA-induced activation of the MMP-9 promoter, as did transient transfection with PKCalpha antisense oligonuclotides. PMA activated NF-kappaB by phosphorylating IkappaB in these cells and this was also inhibited by GF109203X and Go6976, suggesting that PKCa acts as an upstream regulator of NF-kappaB in PMA-induced MMP-9 induction. Our results indicate that a "PKCalpha-NF- kappaB"-dependent cascade is involved in the signaling leading to PMA-induced MMP-9 expression in the lung epithelium.     

Hydration behavior of heart muscle studies by nuclear magnetic relaxation: Deuterium exchange of water protons in the myocardium

Proton transverse relaxation, deuterium and oxygen-17 NMR measurements on functional animal heart muscle were employed to study the distribution and exchange of water protons in the heart. Our nonlinear regression analysis of such data showed the presence of three proton transverse relaxation components that are likely to correspond, respectively, to two major types of water compartments in the heart muscle and the heart muscle matrix. A deuterium exchange study was undertaken to obtain additional information concerning the chemical exchange of water protons/deuterium within these two water compartments, and the effects of proton intermolecular dipolar interactions on the transverse relaxation of water protons. Our results are likely to influence the analysis and interpretation of MRI data for myocardium since it provides details of the microscopic water distribution in the myocardium which is important to the heart function.     

Nuclear axial currents from scale-chiral effective field theory

By incorporating hidden scale symmetry and hidden local symmetry in the nuclear effective field theory,combined with the double soft-pion theorem, we predict that the Gamow-Teller operator coming from the space component of the axial current should remain unaffected by the QCD vacuum change caused by the baryonic density,whereas the first forbidden beta transition operator coming from the time component should be strongly enhanced.While the latter has been confirmed for some time, the former was given support by a powerful recent ab initio quantum Monte Carlo calculation for light nuclei, which also confirmed the old?chiral filter hypothesis." Formulated in terms of the Fermi-liquid fixed point structure of strong-coupled nuclear interactions, we offer an extremely simple resolution to the long-standing puzzle of the?quenched g A," g_A~(eff) ≈1 [1], found in nuclear Gamow-Teller beta transitions, giant Gamow-Teller resonances, and double beta decays.     

Misalignment tolerance analysis and fabrication for highly efficient parallel optical-electrical convertor module

A compact, highly efficient, and passively assembled parallel optical-electrical convertor module (POECM) for active optical cable application is proposed. This paper presents our POECM structure, optical design simulation results, fabrication process, and data transmission test results, in sequence. The POECM has a compact size of \(18.5\hbox {mm} \times 10\hbox {mm} \times 2.8\hbox {mm}\) . We confirm a data rate of total throughput at 21.6 Gbps ( \(5.4\hbox {Gbps} \times 4\) channels) with a bit error rate of less than \(10^{-12}\) .     

Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinases and p21Waf1 in hydroxyurea-induced G1 arrest and senescence of McA-RH7777 rat hepatoma cell line

Hydroxyurea is commonly used to treat hematologic disorders and some type of solid tumors, but the mechanism for its therapeutic effect is not clearly known. In this study, we examined the effect of hydroxyurea on rat hepatoma McA-RH7777 cells, specifically, on the role of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signal transduction pathways and p21(Waf1), p27(Kip1) and p53. Rat hepatoma McA-RH7777 cells treated with hydroxyurea for 7 days, caused the inhibition of cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. But, this growth inhibition was not caused by necrosis or apoptosis but instead was associated with cell senescence-like change as evidenced by senescence associated-beta-galactosidase staining, and cells arrest at G1 phase of cell cycle. Phosphorylation of MAP kinases, such as ERK, JNK, and p38, was found to be decreased after treatment of cells with hydroxyurea. But, the expression of p21(Waf1) was increased, while p27(Kip1) and p53 were not detected in hydroxyurea treated rat hepatoma cells. Hydroxyurea treatment induced G1 arrest and a senescence-like changes in rat hepatoma McA-RH7777 cells may be the likely results of signal disruption of MAP kinases (ERK, JNK, and p38 MAP kinase) and p21(Waf1) over-expression.