Treatment with bestatin (the exogenous synthetic inhibitor of metalloproteinases) reduces the activity of metalloproteinase 2 and 12 in the spleen and lung tissues of rats in a model of lipopolysaccharide-induced sepsis.

Sepsis is caused by an inadequate or dysregulated host response to infection. Enzymes causing cellular degradation are matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is used in models of sepsis in laboratory settings The aim of the study was to measure MMP 2 and 12 concentrations in spleen and lungs in rats in which septic shock was induced by LPS.

Communication: Nonexistence of a critical point within the Kirkwood superposition approximation.

An analytic argument is given to show that the application of the Kirkwood superposition approximation to the description of fluid correlation functions precludes the existence of a critical point. The argument holds irrespective of the dimension of the system and the specific form of the interaction potential and settles a long-standing controversy surrounding the nature of the critical behavior predicted within the approximation.

Stability of phases of a square-well fluid within superposition approximation.

The analytic and numerical methods introduced previously to study the phase behavior of hard sphere fluids starting from the Yvon-Born-Green (YBG) equation under the Kirkwood superposition approximation (KSA) are adapted to the square-well fluid. We are able to show conclusively that the YBG equation under the KSA closure when applied to the square-well fluid: (i) predicts the existence of an absolute stability limit corresponding to freezing where undamped oscillations appear in the long-distance behavior of correlations, (ii) in accordance with earlier studies reveals the existence of a liquid-vapor transition by the appearance of a "near-critical region" where monotonically decaying correlations acquire very long range, although the system never loses stability.

Casimir force induced by an imperfect Bose gas.

We present a study of the Casimir effect in an imperfect (mean-field) Bose gas contained between two infinite parallel plane walls. The derivation of the Casimir force follows from the calculation of the excess grand-canonical free energy density under periodic, Dirichlet, and Neumann boundary conditions with the use of the steepest descent method. In the one-phase region, the force decays exponentially fast when distance D between the walls tends to infinity.

Structural transitions in hypersphere fluids: predictions of Kirkwood's approximation.

We use an analytic criterion for vanishing of exponential damping of correlations developed previously [J. Piasecki et al., J.

Prediction of a structural transition in the hard disk fluid.

Starting from the second equilibrium equation in the BBGKY hierarchy under the Kirkwood superposition closure, we implement a new method for studying the asymptotic decay of correlations in the hard disk fluid in the high density regime. From our analysis and complementary numerical studies, we find that exponentially damped oscillations can occur only up to a packing fraction η(∗)∼0.718, a value that is in substantial agreement with the packing fraction, η∼0.

Less invasive posterior surgical approach for hip joint replacement--complications and limitations.

Background: We attempted to analyse the difficulties and risk of complications associated with total hip replacement using a limited posterior approach and standard instrumentation.

Material And Methods: A series of 85 consecutive cases (47 females and 38 males; age range 22-87 years; mean age: 65.6 +/- 10.

Bose gas beyond mean field.

We study a homogeneous Bose gas with purely repulsive forces. Using the Kac scaling of the binary potential we derive analytically the form of the thermodynamic functions of the gas for small but finite values of the scaling parameter in the low density regime. In this way we determine dominant corrections to the mean-field theory.

Kinetic models of ion transport through a nanopore.

Kinetic equations for the stationary state distribution function of ions moving through narrow pores are solved for a number of 1D models of single ion transport. Ions move through pores of length L, under the action of a constant external field and of a concentration gradient. The interaction of single ions with the confining pore surface and with water molecules inside the pore are modeled by a Fokker-Planck term in the kinetic equation, or by uncorrelated collisions with thermalizing centers distributed along the pore.

Self-consistent equation for an interacting Bose gas.

We consider interacting Bose gas in thermal equilibrium assuming a positive and bounded pair potential V(r) such that 0< integral dr V(r)=a< infinity. Expressing the partition function by the Feynman-Kac functional integral yields a classicallike polymer representation of the quantum gas. With the Mayer graph summation techniques, we demonstrate the existence of a self-consistent relation rho(mu)=F(mu-(a)rho(mu)) between the density rho and the chemical potential mu, valid in the range of convergence of Mayer series.

Some exact results for Boltzmann's annihilation dynamics.

The problem of ballistic annihilation for a spatially homogeneous system is revisited within Boltzmann's kinetic theory in two and three dimensions. Analytical results are derived for the time evolution of the particle density for some isotropic discrete bimodal velocity modulus distributions. According to the allowed values of the velocity modulus, different behaviors are obtained: power law decay with nonuniversal exponents depending continuously upon the ratio of the two velocities, or exponential decay.

Dynamics of ballistic annihilation.

The problem of ballistically controlled annihilation is revisited for general initial velocity distributions and an arbitrary dimension. An analytical derivation of the hierarchy equations obeyed by the reduced distributions is given, and a scaling analysis of the corresponding spatially homogeneous system is performed. This approach points to the relevance of the nonlinear Boltzmann equation for dimensions larger than 1 and provides expressions for the exponents describing the decay of the particle density n(t) proportional, variant t(-xi) and the root-mean-square velocity v proportional, variant t(-gamma) in terms of a parameter related to the dissipation of kinetic energy.