Nanocapsules were prepared from 6-O-carboxymethyl chitosan, ovalbumin, and calcium chloride as a cross-linker agent. Cryoprotectants were added to the formulation to protect these carriers during ...freezing and desiccation steps. The nanocapsules showed acceptable stability with regard to the residual humidity and cake appearance. Regarding the stability, particle diameter, and polydispersity index increased over the storage time, especially for formulations stored at room temperature. For all studied lyophilization protocols exclusively δ-mannitol was formed, and the addition of an annealing step maximized mannitol crystallization. The decrease of the pore surface area for annealed formulations resulted of structural changes other than Ostwald ripening.
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted; see image).We present a measurement of eta meson production in photon-photon interactions produced by electron-positron beams ...colliding with ... GeV. The measurement is done with the KLOE detector at the -factory DA Phi NE with an integrated luminosity of 0.24 fb super(-1). The e super(+) e super(-) arrow right e super(+) e super(-) eta cross section is measured without detecting the out-going electron and positron, selecting the decays eta arrow right pi super(+) pi super(-) pi super(0) and eta arrow right pi super(0) pi super(0) pi super(0). The most relevant background is due to e super(+) e super(-) arrow right eta gamma when the monochromatic photon escapes detection. The cross section for this process is measured as sigma (e super(+) e super(-) arrow right eta gamma ) = (856 plus or minus 8 sub(stat) plus or minus 16 sub(syst)) pb. The combined result for the e super(+) e super(-) arrow right e super(+) e super(-) eta cross section is sigma (e super(+) e super(-) arrow right e super(+) e super(-) eta ) = (32.72 plus or minus 1.27 sub(stat) plus or minus 0.70 sub(syst)) pb. From this we derive the partial width Gamma ( eta arrow right gamma gamma ) = (520 plus or minus 20 sub(stat) plus or minus 13 sub(syst)) eV. This is in agreement with the world average and is the most precise measurement to date.
Cardiovascular manifestations account for marked morbi-mortality in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Pkd1- and Pkd2-deficient mice develop cardiac dysfunction, however the ...underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. It is unknown whether impairment of polycystin-1 cleavage at the G-protein-coupled receptor proteolysis site, a significant ADPKD mutational mechanism, is involved in this process. We analyzed the impact of polycystin-1 cleavage on heart metabolism using Pkd1V/V mice, a model unable to cleave this protein and with early cardiac dysfunction. Pkd1V/V hearts showed lower levels of glucose and amino acids and higher lipid levels than wild-types, as well as downregulation of p-AMPK, p-ACCβ, CPT1B-Cpt1b, Ppara, Nppa and Acta1. These findings suggested decreased fatty acid β-oxidation, which was confirmed by lower oxygen consumption by Pkd1V/V isolated mitochondria using palmitoyl-CoA. Pkd1V/V hearts also presented increased oxygen consumption in response to glucose, suggesting that alternative substrates may be used to generate energy. Pkd1V/V hearts displayed a higher density of decreased-size mitochondria, a finding associated with lower MFN1, Parkin and BNIP3 expression. These derangements were correlated with increased apoptosis and inflammation but not hypertrophy. Notably, Pkd1V/V neonate cardiomyocytes also displayed shifts in oxygen consumption and p-AMPK downregulation, suggesting that, at least partially, the metabolic alterations are not induced by kidney dysfunction. Our findings reveal that disruption of polycystin-1 cleavage leads to cardiac metabolic rewiring in mice, expanding the understanding of heart dysfunction associated with Pkd1 deficiency and likely with human ADPKD.
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•Germline disruption of PC1 cleavage leads to cardiac metabolic rewiring in mice.•Lack of cleaved PC1 is associated with specific metabolome and lipidome signatures.•This deficiency increases mitochondria density and glucose-based oxygen consumption.•Fatty acid oxidation is reduced but Warburg effect and mTOR upregulation do not occur.•Hearts lacking PC1 cleavage show a metabolic pattern partly similar to cystic kidneys.
Data handling, reconstruction, and simulation for the KLOE experiment Ambrosino, F.; Antonelli, A.; Antonelli, M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
12/2004, Volume:
534, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The broad physics program of the KLOE experiment is based on the high event rate at the Frascati φ
factory, and calls for an up-to-date system for data acquisition and processing. In this review of ...the KLOE offline environment, the architecture of the data-processing system and the programs developed for data reconstruction and Monte Carlo simulation are described, as well as the various procedures used for data handling and transfer between the different components of the system.
We present a measurement of the flux of neutrino-induced upgoing muons (<E
ν
>∼ 100 GeV) using the MACRO detector. The ratio of the number of observed to expected events integrated over all zenith ...angles is 0.74 ±0.036 (stat) ±0.046 (systematic) ±0.13 (theoretical). The observed zenith distribution for −1.0≤cos
θ≤−0.1 does not fit well with the no oscillation expectation, giving a maximum probability for
χ
2 of 0.1%. The acceptance of the detector has been extensively studied using downgoing muons, independent analyses and Monte Carlo simulations. The other systematic uncertainties cannot be the source of the discrepancies between the data and expectations.
We have investigated whether the observed number of events and the shape of the zenith distribution can be explained by a neutrino oscillation hypothesis. Fitting either the flux or zenith distribution independently yields mixing parameters of sin
22
θ=1.0 and
Δm
2 of a few times 10
−3 eV
2. However, the observed zenith distribution does not fit well with any expectations, giving a maximum probability for
χ
2 of 5% for the best oscillation hypothesis, and the combined probability for the shape and number of events is 17%. We conclude that these data favor a neutrino oscillation hypothesis, but with unexplained structure in the zenith distribution not easily explained by either the statistics or systematics of the experiment.
The energy of atmospheric neutrinos detected by MACRO was estimated using multiple Coulomb scattering of upward throughgoing muons. This analysis allows a test of atmospheric neutrino oscillations, ...relying on the distortion of the muon energy distribution. These results have been combined with those coming from the upward throughgoing muon angular distribution only. Both analyses are independent of the neutrino flux normalization and provide strong evidence, above the 4σ level, in favour of neutrino oscillations.
This study examined the association between estimated working memory (WM) capacity and comprehension of passages that required revision of an initial interpretation. Predictions stemmed from the ...recently elaborated theory of capacity-constrained comprehension (Just & Carpenter, 1992, Psychological Review, 99, 122-149), which includes as a major feature the principle that WM influences comprehension only as processing demands approach or exceed the limits of capacity. As anticipated from task analysis, correlations between unilaterally brain-damaged patients' estimated WM capacity and discourse comprehension performance were minimal for nondemanding measures, and increased in magnitude with task processing requirements. Most notably, a meaningful correlation (/r/ greater than .50) emerged only for the task judged to involve the most demanding comprehension processes, for adults with right hemisphere brain damage. No meaningful associations between estimated WM capacity and task performance were observed for normally aging subjects, who were not expected to have difficulty with any of our comprehension measures. The nature of WM deficits in brain-damaged adults (total capacity, vs. resource allocation, vs. slow or otherwise faulty component processing operations) is considered, and some existing work is interpreted from a cognitive resource perspective. Theoretical implications and clinical applicability of the working memory/resource framework are also discussed.
A detailed investigation was conducted about the process of alkali activation of charred rice hulls using NaOH. A carbon-rich precursor was initially prepared from the pyrolysis of rice hulls under N
...2 atmosphere, part of it being leached with HF to remove silica. The precursor was then mixed with NaOH, heat-treated at activation temperatures from 600 to 800
°C, and part of the product was finally washed with distilled water. Thermogravimetric curves under O
2 flux showed a strong reduction in the ash content of the activated samples, indicating the consumption of silica during the activation process. From X-ray diffractometry,
29Si, and
23Na NMR spectroscopy, it was possible to identify the formation of sodium carbonate and silicates in the non-washed samples. After washing, all these compounds were removed and specific surface area measurements indicated a substantial porosity development, with larger surface area values obtained for the samples prepared from the HF-leached precursor. The use of
23Na NMR spectroscopy indicated the retention of sodium in the washed samples, in a chemical environment distinct from carbonates and silicates. The shapes and positions of the observed resonance lines pointed to a disordered environment, associated with oxygenated surface groups within the porous structure of the activated carbons.
Using a large sample of pure, slow, short lived K0 mesons collected with KLOE detector at DAΦNE, we have measured the KS lifetime. From a fit to the proper time distribution we find ...τ(KS)=(89.562±0.029stat±0.043syst) ps. This is the most precise measurement to date of the short lived K0 meson lifetime, in good agreement with the world average derived from previous measurements. We observe no dependence of the lifetime on the direction of the KS in galactic coordinates.
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