Differential inhibition of postnatal brain,spinal cord and body growth by a growth hormone antagonist

Background  

Growth hormone (GH) plays an incompletely understood role in the development of the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, we use transgenic mice expressing a growth hormone antagonist (GHA) to explore the role of GH in regulating postnatal brain, spinal cord and body growth into adulthood. The GHA transgene encodes a protein that inhibits the binding of GH to its receptor, specifically antagonizing the trophic effects of endogenous GH.     

Anomalous tunneling of phonon excitations between two Bose-Einstein condensates

We discuss the tunneling of phonon excitations across a potential barrier separating two condensates. It is shown that a strong barrier proves to be transparent for the excitations at low energy epsilon. Moreover, the transmission is reduced with increasing epsilon in contrast to the standard dependence. This anomalous behavior is due to the existence of a quasiresonance interaction. The origin of this interaction is a result of the formation of a special well determined by the density distribution of the condensate in the vicinity of a high barrier.     

Experimental investigation of the two-photon widths of the chi(c0) and the chi(c2) mesons

Using 12.7 fb(-1) of data collected with the CLEO detector at CESR, we observed two-photon production of the cc states chi(c0) and chi(c2) in their decay to pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-). We measured gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c))xB(chi(c)-->pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)) to be 75+/-13(stat)+/-8(syst) eV for the chi(c0) and 6.4+/-1.8(stat)+/-0.8(syst) eV for the chi(c2), implying gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c0)) = 3.76+/-0.65(stat)+/-0.41(syst)+/-1.69(br) keV and gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c2)) = 0.53+/-0.15(stat)+/-0.06(syst)+/-0.22(br) keV. Also, cancellation of dominant experimental and theoretical uncertainties permits a precise comparison of gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c0))/gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c2)), evaluated to be 7.4+/-2.4(stat)+/-0.5(syst)+/-0.9(br), with QCD-based predictions.     

First observation of the sigma(*+)(c) baryon and a new measurement of the sigma(*+)(c) mass

Using data recorded with the CLEO II and CLEO II.V detector configurations at the Cornell Electron Storage Rings, we report the first observation and mass measurement of the Sigma(*+)(c) charmed baryon, and an updated measurement of the mass of the Sigma(+)(c) baryon. We find M(Sigma(*+)(c))-M(Lambda(+)(c)) = (231.0+/-1.1+/-2.0) MeV, and M(Sigma(+)(c))-M(Lambda(+)(c)) = (166.4+/-0.2+/-0.3) MeV, where the errors are statistical and systematic, respectively.     

Modification of Escherichia coli single-stranded DNA binding protein with gold nanoparticles for electrochemical detection of DNA hybridization

The unique binding event between Escherichia coli single-stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) and single-stranded oligonucleotides conjugated to gold (Au) nanoparticles is utilized for the electrochemical detection of DNA hybridization. SSB was attached onto a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of single-stranded oligonucleotide modified Au nanoparticle, and the resulting Au-tagged SSB was used as the hybridization label. Changes in the Au oxidation signal was monitored upon binding of Au tagged SSB to probe and hybrid on the electrode surface. The amplified oxidation signal of Au nanoparticles provided a detection limit of 2.17 pM target DNA, which can be applied to genetic diagnosis applications. This work presented here has important implications with regard to combining a biological binding event between a protein and DNA with a solid transducer and metal nanoparticles.     

Regression of polynomial statistics on the sample mean and natural exponential families

A polynomial Q = Q(X ₁, …, X _n ) of degree m in independent identically distributed random variables with distribution function F is an unbiased estimator of a functional q(α ₁(F), …, α _m (F)), where q(u ₁, …, u _m ) is a polynomial in u ₁, …, u _m and α _j (F) is the jth moment of F (assuming the necessary moment of F exists). It is shown that the relation E(Q | X ₁ + … + X n) = 0 holds if and only if q(α ₁(θ), …, α _m (θ)) ≡ 0, where α _j (θ) is the jth moment of the natural exponential family generated by F. This result, based on the fact that X ₁ + … + X n is a complete sufficient statistic for a parameter θ in a sample from a natural exponential family of distributions F _θ(x) = ∫_−∞ ^x e ^θu−k(θ) dF(u), explains why the distributions appearing as solutions of regression problems are the same as solutions of problems for natural exponential families though, at the first glance, the latter seem unrelated to the former.