Biomedical subjects

W R Edwards

Publications and source records attributed to W R Edwards.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Limits on the high-energy gamma and neutrino fluxes from the SGR 1806-20 giant flare of 27 December 2004 with the AMANDA-II detector.

On 27 December 2004, a giant gamma flare from the Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater 1806-20 saturated many satellite gamma-ray detectors, being the brightest transient event ever observed in the Galaxy. AMANDA-II was used to search for down-going muons indicative of high-energy gammas and/or neutrinos from this object. The data revealed no significant signal, so upper limits (at 90% C.L.) on the normalization constant were set: 0.05(0.5) TeV-1 m;{-2} s;{-1} for gamma=-1.47 (-2) in the gamma flux and 0.4(6.1) TeV-1 m;{-2} s;{-1} for gamma=-1.47 (-2) in the high-energy neutrino flux.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Direct observation of dijets in central Au+Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV.

The STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider reports measurements of azimuthal correlations of high transverse momentum (pT) charged hadrons in Au+Au collisions at higher pT than reported previously. As (pT) is increased, a narrow, back-to-back peak emerges above the decreasing background, providing a clear dijet signal for all collision centralities studied. Using these correlations, we perform a systematic study of dijet production and suppression in nuclear collisions, providing new constraints on the mechanisms underlying partonic energy loss in dense matter.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Identified baryon and meson distributions at large transverse momenta from Au + Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV.

Transverse momentum spectra of pi+/-, p, and p up to 12 GeV/c at midrapidity in centrality selected Au + Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV are presented. In central Au + Au collisions, both pi +/- and p(p) show significant suppression with respect to binary scaling at pT approximately >4 GeV/c. Protons and antiprotons are less suppressed than pi+/-, in the range 1.5 approximately < pT approximately < 6 GeV/c. The pi-/pi+ and p/p ratios show at most a weak pT dependence and no significant centrality dependence. The p/pi ratios in central Au + Au collisions approach the values in p + p and d + Au collisions at pT approximately >5 GeV/c. The results at high pT indicate that the partonic sources of pi+/-, p, and p have similar energy loss when traversing the nuclear medium.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Forward neutral pion production in p + p and d + Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV.

Measurements of the production of forward pi0 mesons from p + p and d + Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV are reported. The p + p yield generally agrees with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations. The d + Au yield per binary collision is suppressed as eta increases, decreasing to approximately 30% of the p + p yield at eta =4.00, well below shadowing expectations. Exploratory measurements of azimuthal correlations of the forward pi0 with charged hadrons at eta approximately 0 show a recoil peak in p + p that is suppressed in d + Au at low pion energy. These observations are qualitatively consistent with a saturation picture of the low-x gluon structure of heavy nuclei.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Strange baryon resonance production in sqrt s NN=200 GeV p+p and Au+Au collisions.

We report the measurements of Sigma(1385) and Lambda(1520) production in p+p and Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s{NN}]=200 GeV from the STAR Collaboration. The yields and the p(T) spectra are presented and discussed in terms of chemical and thermal freeze-out conditions and compared to model predictions. Thermal and microscopic models do not adequately describe the yields of all the resonances produced in central Au+Au collisions. Our results indicate that there may be a time span between chemical and thermal freeze-out during which elastic hadronic interactions occur.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Multistrange Baryon elliptic flow in Au+Au collisions at square root of sNN=200 GeV.

We report on the first measurement of elliptic flow v2(pT) of multistrange baryons Xi- +Xi+ and Omega- + Omega+ in heavy-ion collisions. In minimum-bias Au+Au collisions at square root of s(NN)=200 GeV, a significant amount of elliptic flow, comparable to other nonstrange baryons, is observed for multistrange baryons which are expected to be particularly sensitive to the dynamics of the partonic stage of heavy-ion collisions. The pT dependence of v2 of the multistrange baryons confirms the number of constituent quark scaling previously observed for lighter hadrons. These results support the idea that a substantial fraction of the observed collective motion is developed at the early partonic stage in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons in Au+Au collisions at square root of (S(NN)) = 62.4 GeV.

We present the first measurement of pseudorapidity distribution of photons in the region 2.3 < or = eta < or = 3.7 for different centralities in Au+Au collisions at square root of (S(NN)) = 62.4 GeV. We find that the photon yield scales with the number of participating nucleons at all collision centralities studied. The pseudorapidity distribution of photons, dominated by pi0 decays, has been compared to those of charged pions, photons, and inclusive charged particles from heavy-ion and nucleon-nucleon collisions at various energies. The photon production has been shown to be consistent with the energy and centrality independent limiting fragmentation scenario.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Open charm yields in d+Au collisions at squareroot[sNN]=200 GeV.

Midrapidity open charm spectra from direct reconstruction of D0(D0)-->K-/+pi+/- in d+Au collisions and indirect electron-positron measurements via charm semileptonic decays in p+p and d+Au collisions at squareroot[sNN]=200 GeV are reported. The D0(D0) spectrum covers a transverse momentum (pT) range of 0.1<pT<3 GeV/c, whereas the electron spectra cover a range of 1<pT<4 GeV/c. The electron spectra show approximate binary collision scaling between p+p and d+Au collisions. From these two independent analyses, the differential cross section per nucleon-nucleon binary interaction at midrapidity for open charm production from d+Au collisions at BNL RHIC is dsigma(NN)cc/dy=0.30+/-0.04(stat)+/-0.09(syst) mb. The results are compared to theoretical calculations. Implications for charmonium results in A+A collisions are discussed.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations at large transverse momenta in p + p and Au + Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV.

Results on high transverse momentum charged particle emission with respect to the reaction plane are presented for Au + Au collisions at square root s(NN)=200 GeV. Two- and four-particle correlations results are presented as well as a comparison of azimuthal correlations in Au + Au collisions to those in p + p at the same energy. The elliptic anisotropy v(2) is found to reach its maximum at p(t) approximately 3 GeV/c, then decrease slowly and remain significant up to p(t) approximately 7-10 GeV/c. Stronger suppression is found in the back-to-back high-p(t) particle correlations for particles emitted out of plane compared to those emitted in plane. The centrality dependence of v(2) at intermediate p(t) is compared to simple models based on jet quenching.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Genomic characterization of LIGHT reveals linkage to an immune response locus on chromosome 19p13.3 and distinct isoforms generated by alternate splicing or proteolysis.

LIGHT is a member of the TNF cytokine superfamily that signals through the lymphotoxin (LT)beta receptor and the herpesvirus entry mediator. LIGHT may function as a costimulatory factor for the activation of lymphoid cells and as a deterrent to infection by herpesvirus, which may provide significant selective pressure shaping the evolution of LIGHT. Here, we define the molecular genetics of the human LIGHT locus, revealing its close linkage to the TNF superfamily members CD27 ligand and 4-1BB ligand, and the third complement protein (C3), which positions LIGHT within the MHC paralog on chromosome 19p13.3. An alternately spliced isoform of LIGHT mRNA that encodes a transmembrane-deleted form is detected in activated T cells and gives rise to a nonglycosylated protein that resides in the cytosol. Furthermore, membrane LIGHT is shed from the cell surface of human 293 T cells. These studies reveal new mechanisms involved in regulating the physical forms and cellular compartmentalization of LIGHT that may contribute to the regulation and biological function of this cytokine.

4-1BB Ligand↗

PubMed2001

Elliptic flow in Au+Au collisions at square root(S)NN = 130 GeV.

Elliptic flow from nuclear collisions is a hadronic observable sensitive to the early stages of system evolution. We report first results on elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at square root(S)NN = 130 GeV using the STAR Time Projection Chamber at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The elliptic flow signal, v2, averaged over transverse momentum, reaches values of about 6% for relatively peripheral collisions and decreases for the more central collisions. This can be interpreted as the observation of a higher degree of thermalization than at lower collision energies. Pseudorapidity and transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow are also presented.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1998

Targeting of thylakoid proteins by the delta pH-driven twin-arginine translocation pathway requires a specific signal in the hydrophobic domain in conjunction with the twin-arginine motif.

Superficially similar cleavable targeting signals specify whether lumenal proteins are transported across the thylakoid membrane by a Sec- or delta pH-dependent pathway. A twin-arginine motif is essential but not sufficient to direct delta pH-dependent targeting; here we show that a second determinant is located in the hydrophobic region. A highly hydrophobic amino acid is found either two or three residues C-terminal to the twin-arginine in all known transfer peptides for the delta pH-dependent system, and substitution of this residue in the 23-kDa (23K) peptide markedly inhibits translocation. Further, whereas the insertion of twin-arginine in a Sec-dependent precursor does not permit efficient delta pH-dependent targeting, the simultaneous presence of a leucine at the +3 position (relative to the RR) enables the peptide to function as efficiently as an authentic transfer peptide. RRNVL, RRAAL and RRALA within a Sec targeting signal all support efficient delta pH-dependent targeting, RRNVA is less effective and RRNAA/RRNAG are totally ineffective. We conclude that the core signal for this pathway is a twin-arginine together with an adjacent hydrophobic determinant.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1997

A unified nomenclature for sap flow measurements.

A unified nomenclature for use in heat pulse measurement of sap flow is proposed. This unified nomenclature overcomes fundamental misunderstandings of the physics of heat and sap movement in wood. The nomenclature is also appropriate to other methodologies for sap flow measurement, such as heat balance methods.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1996

Hysterectomy, massive transfusion and packing to control haemorrhage from pelvic veins in the course of bilateral oophorectomy.

The patient required bilateral salpingoophorectomy for pain caused by the late effects of pelvic infection. Division of adhesions was followed by torrential bleeding from the gluteal tributaries of the right internal iliac vein aggravated by the partial retraction of those veins into the subgluteal region. Measures to control the bleeding and the late complications are described.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Presence of methylated adenine in GATC sequences in chromosomal DNAs from Campylobacter species.

We digested chromosomal DNAs from 12 Campylobacter strains (C. jejuni, 4 strains; C. coli, 2 strains; C. fetus subsp. fetus, 2 strains; C. hyointestinalis, 2 strains; and C. upsaliensis, 2 strains) and from 4 Helicobacter strains (H. pylori, 2 strains; and H. mustelae, 2 strains) with HindIII, SstI, BamHI, DpnI, MboI, and Sau3AI. Restriction fragments were then separated by electrophoresis in 1% agarose or 10% polyacrylamide gels. Only DNAs from three Campylobacter species (C. jejuni, C. coli, and C. upsaliensis) were digested with DpnI (an enzyme that recognizes only methylated adenine in GATC sequences). We used MboI and Sau3AI to confirm these findings.

Adenine↗

PubMed1986

Precision weighing lysimetry for trees, using a simplified tared-balance design.

Four weighing lysimeters (1.8 m diameter, 1 m depth, weight 3.5-4.5 Mg) were used to estimate transpiration from single, isolated trees. The weighing mechanism incorporated a simple, new system of wire ropes around torsion tubes, producing a lever action through which most of the weight was tared off with a counter weight. Weight differences measured by load cell under the main lever arm were unaffected by hysteresis or temperature change. Sensitivity better than 100 g was achieved in windless conditions. Daily measurements over yearly periods (trees could be regularly replaced using extra pots) revealed both sigmoid seasonal patterns, and sigmoid diurnal changes closely related to micrometeorological variables, for a range of tree species. Measurements taken during rainfall demonstrated that an isolated tree intercepts considerably more precipitation than does a uniform crop covering the same ground area, and that substantial evaporation from the canopy takes place while it is raining.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1986

A dynamic model for studying flow of water in single trees.

Flow of water in a single tree was modeled in terms of the Darcy equation using a catena of four compartments: root, stem (further divided into discs), branches and leaves. Within each compartment or disc, water content was related to both water potential and conductivity of the xylem tissue using power or logarithmic functions, thus introducing both capacitance and variable resistance to flow in the model. Transpiration from the leaves to the atmosphere was used as the upper boundary to the model, and the soil-root interface as the lower boundary. Parameters for the water content, water potential and conductivity functions, together with physical dimensions were obtained by direct measurement or from the literature. A sensitivity analysis showed that the largest changes in simulated water potential and flow were associated with changes in the parameters directly controlling conductivity. Simulation of both smoothed diurnal changes and stepwise changes showed a phase lag down the tree, with flow tending to approach a steady state, but with changes in the gradients of water potential, water content and conductivity. A preliminary test of the model was made against field data using the Penman-Monteith equation to estimate the transpiration rate in a well-watered Pinus contorta Dougl. stand. Stem flow, water potential and water content were measured directly on a representative tree, which was subsequently harvested to provide dimensions and laboratory estimations of the parameters in the functions by direct measurement.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

Patterns of bone marrow involvement with small cell lung cancer.

The extent of tumor involvement, necrosis, reticulin, and megakaryocytosis were assessed in 25 patients with small cell lung cancer in their bone marrow at diagnosis. The pattern of marrow involvement was compared with clinical outcome and tolerance of therapy. Any marrow involvement, no matter how minor, is a poor prognostic factor. Neither more extensive involvement, nor greater marrow fibrosis significantly worsened the prognosis.

Bone Marrow↗