Recovering Relativistic Nuclear Phenomenology from the Quark-Meson Coupling Model

The quark-meson coupling (QMC) model for nuclear matter, which describes nuclear matter as non-overlapping MIT bags bound by the self-consistent exchange of scalar and vector mesons is modified by the introduction of a density dependent bag constant. The density dependence of the bag constant is related to that of the in-medium effective nucleon mass through a scaling ansatz suggested by partial chiral symmetry restoration in nuclear matter. This modification overcomes drawbacks of the QMC model and leads to the recovery of the essential features of relativistic nuclear phenomenology. This suggests that the modification of the bag constant in the nuclear medium may play an important role in low- and medium-energy nuclear physics.Comment: Revised version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Coulomb Distortion in Quasielastic (e,e′)(e,e') Scattering on Nuclei: Effective Momentum Approximation and Beyond

The role of the effective momentum approximation to disentangle Coulomb distortion effects in quasielastic $(e,e')$ reactions is investigated. The separation of the cross section in longitudinal and transverse components is discussed including higher order DWBA corrections due to the focusing of the electron waves.The experimental studies performed, in the last few years, making use of different approximate treatments are shown to be sometime inconsistent. As a consequence some of the longitudinal and transverse responses, extracted from the inclusive cross sections cannot be considered reliable. A separation procedure based on the effective momentum approximation is discussed in connection with the recent experimental data on electron/positron quasielastic scattering on $^{12}$C and $^{208}$Pb.Comment: latex, no figures, submitted to Nucl. Phys.

Review of They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools

Altemus concludes that the report's claim that public education is overpriced is much overstated because it counts capital expenditures twice. Altemus indicates when this error is eliminated, the report's main argument collapses rendering it virtually useless for policymaking

Relativistic pionic effects in quasielastic electron scattering

The impact of relativistic pionic correlations and meson-exchange currents on the response functions for electromagnetic quasielastic electron scattering from nuclei is studied in detail. Results in first-order perturbation theory are obtained for one-particle emission electronuclear reactions within the context of the relativistic Fermi gas model. Improving upon previous analyses where non-relativistic reductions of the currents were performed, here a fully relativistic analysis in which both forces and currents are treated consistently is presented. Lorentz covariance is shown to play a crucial role in enforcing the gauge invariance of the theory. Effects stemming uniquely from relativity in the pionic correlations are identified and, in particular, a comprehensive study of the self-energy contributions and of the currents associated with the pion is presented. First- and second-kind scaling for high momentum transfer is investigated.Comment: 43 pages, 21 figure

Induction of Liver abcg5/abcg8 Expression Is an Important Determinant of the Macrophage-To-Feces Reverse Cholesterol Transport Response to Treatment with Ezetimibe

Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) consists of the transfer of cholesterol from peripheral tissues for excretion in the feces. The RCT from macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions is an important determinant of arterial wall atherosclerotic lesion formation. Previous studies by our group have shown that treatment with ezetimibe (EZ), a potent inhibitor of cholesterol absorption from the intestine, results in a 2-6 fold increase in RCT. To determine whether EZ may increase RCT by mechanisms that are independent of its well established cholesterol absorption inhibitory effects, we examined the expression of genes involved in the RCT pathway in the jejunum and liver tissues of C57BL/6J mice fed a chow diet or chow supplemented with 0.005 EZ. These studies revealed that treatment with EZ specifically stimulates the expression of Abcg5/Abcg8 in the liver, but not in the intestine. Further experiments clearly demonstrated that stimulation of liver Abcg5/Abcg8 expression was due to the inhibition of cholesterol absorption from the intestine and not a direct effect of EZ in the liver. This conclusion was further supported by the absence of an ABCG5/ABCG8 expression response to treatment of primary human hepatocytes with a glucuronated form of EZ. Finally, we found that the induction of liver Abcg5/Abcg8 accounts for nearly 50 of the EZ-dependent stimulation of RCT. To our knowledge, our studies are the first to demonstrate increased liver Abcg5/Abcg8 expression in response to EZ treatment which, in conjunction with suppression of intestinal cholesterol absorption, synergistically stimulate the macrophage-to-feces RC

Mother Santa Claus Stories

Part of Altemus\u27 Mother Stories Series, Mother Santa Claus Stories evokes a time when life seemed simpler and childhood seemed more innocent. Have you ever heard of the Santa Claus of the Telephone? It may sound strange at first, but stop and think a moment and you will agree that Santa Claus has a right to make use of late inventions (from Hello! Give Me Santa Claus! ). Now, how adorable is that? This collection of twenty-eight Christmas stories in prose and verse is adorned with charming black and white illustrations on nearly every page. Among the stories included are Christmas in Kandahoo, How the Turkey Felt About Christmas, When Dorothy Saw Santa Claus (illustrated with a slightly disturbing drawing of a goose asleep in a bed while a smiling knife and fork sit on its chest, pointing as if to say, We\u27re coming for you! ) and, of course, Clemente C. Moore\u27s classic The Night Before Christmas. While adults will enjoy these stories for their quaintness of language and illustration, children will enjoy them simply because they are delightful. Intended for reading aloud, they are a perfect way for folks of all ages to get in the old-fashioned Christmas spirit. Mother Santa Claus Stories also offers a great glimpse into the popular culture of early 20th century United States, and provides many opportunities to teach kids about the past. (summary written by Liz Argentieri)https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/historical-reprints/1005/thumbnail.jp

Implementing the Stop the Bleed Program: The Impact of Stop the Bleed on Nursing Students at Northern Illinois University.

A victim of a life-threatening bleed, which includes but is not limited to a proximal extremity, can bleed to death in as little as 4-5 minutes (Burns et al., 2014). “Stop the Bleed” is a national initiative that teach laypeople how to become immediate responders in a bleeding emergency. Participants are given information on techniques to stop a bleeding emergency including applying direct pressure, packing a wound, and applying a tourniquet. The Stop the Bleed (STB) course was hosted for nursing students to explore nursing student’s perceptions of being an immediate responder in a bleeding emergency. Before hosting the STB course, background research was completed to understand the goals and outcomes of STB. The training course was held on March 6th and was open to all undergraduate nursing students at Northern Illinois University. There was a total of 34 participants all of which completed the assessments. The course included pre-assessments and post-assessments to understand the impact of STB on nursing students. The results showed positive impact on nursing students, and the assessments explored the nursing student’s confidence in using STB techniques to be an immediate responder in a bleeding emergency. The feedback that was presented after the STB training course proved that nursing students felt more confident in using STB techniques in a bleeding emergency

Induction of Liver abcg5/abcg8 Expression Is an Important Determinant of the Macrophage-To-Feces Reverse Cholesterol Transport Response to Treatment with Ezetimibe

Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) consists of the transfer of cholesterol from peripheral tissues for excretion in the feces. The RCT from macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions is an important determinant of arterial wall atherosclerotic lesion formation. Previous studies by our group have shown that treatment with ezetimibe (EZ), a potent inhibitor of cholesterol absorption from the intestine, results in a 2-6 fold increase in RCT. To determine whether EZ may increase RCT by mechanisms that are independent of its well established cholesterol absorption inhibitory effects, we examined the expression of genes involved in the RCT pathway in the jejunum and liver tissues of C57BL/6J mice fed a chow diet or chow supplemented with 0.005 EZ. These studies revealed that treatment with EZ specifically stimulates the expression of Abcg5/Abcg8 in the liver, but not in the intestine. Further experiments clearly demonstrated that stimulation of liver Abcg5/Abcg8 expression was due to the inhibition of cholesterol absorption from the intestine and not a direct effect of EZ in the liver. This conclusion was further supported by the absence of an ABCG5/ABCG8 expression response to treatment of primary human hepatocytes with a glucuronated form of EZ. Finally, we found that the induction of liver Abcg5/Abcg8 accounts for nearly 50 of the EZ-dependent stimulation of RCT. To our knowledge, our studies are the first to demonstrate increased liver Abcg5/Abcg8 expression in response to EZ treatment which, in conjunction with suppression of intestinal cholesterol absorption, synergistically stimulate the macrophage-to-feces RC

Superscaling of Inclusive Electron Scattering from Nuclei

We investigate the degree to which the concept of superscaling, initially developed within the framework of the relativistic Fermi gas model, applies to inclusive electron scattering from nuclei. We find that data obtained from the low energy loss side of the quasielastic peak exhibit the superscaling property, i.e., the scaling functions f(\psi') are not only independent of momentum transfer (the usual type of scaling: scaling of the first kind), but coincide for A \geq 4 when plotted versus a dimensionless scaling variable \psi' (scaling of the second kind). We use this behavior to study as yet poorly understood properties of the inclusive response at large electron energy loss.Comment: 33 pages, 12 color EPS figures, LaTeX2e using BoxedEPSF macros; email to [email protected]