The secretory output of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons is critically influenced by peptidergic neurons synthesizing kisspeptins (KP) and neurokinin B (NKB) in the hypothalamic infundibular nucleus (Inf). These cells mediate negative feedback effects of sex steroids on the reproductive axis. While negative feedback is lost in postmenopausal women, it is partly preserved by the sustained testosterone secretion in aged men. We hypothesized that the different reproductive physiology of aged men and women is reflected in morphological differences of KP and NKB neurons. This sexual dimorphism was studied with immunohistochemistry in hypothalamic sections of aged human male (≥50 years) and female (>55 years) subjects. KP and NKB cell bodies of the Inf were larger in females. The number of KP cell bodies, the density of KP fibers, and the incidence of their contacts on GnRH neurons were much higher in aged women compared with men. The number of NKB cell bodies was only slightly higher in women and there was no sexual dimorphism in the regional density of NKB fibers and the incidence of their appositions onto GnRH cells. The incidences of NKB cell bodies, fibers, and appositions onto GnRH neurons exceeded several-fold those of KP-IR elements in men. More NKB than KP inputs to GnRH cells were also present in women. Immunofluorescent studies identified only partial overlap between KP and NKB axons. KP and NKB were colocalized in higher percentages of afferents to GnRH neurons in women compared with men. Most of these sex differences might be explained with the lack of estrogen negative feedback in aged women, whereas testosterone can continue to suppress KP, and to a lesser extent, NKB synthesis in men. Overall, sex differences in reproductive physiology of aged humans were reflected in the dramatic sexual dimorphism of the KP system, with significantly higher incidences of KP-IR neurons, fibers and inputs to GnRH neurons in aged females vs. males.

The projectile beam coherence effects occurring in ion-atom collisions are analyzed on the basis of the recent theory of Karlovets et al. [Phys. Rev. A 92, 052703 (2015)] developed for the elastic scattering of wave packets of particles off a potential field. This theory is generalized to estimate the loss of coherence for inelastically scattered projectiles in ionizing collisions. The results obtained by the suggested model are compared with experimental data for the ionization of hydrogen atoms and molecules by 75-keV proton impact. Significantly improved agreement is observed between the theory and experiment. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.032702 In a recent work Karlovets et al.[1] investigated theoretically the scattering of wave packets of nonrelativistic particles off a potential field. The authors derived a simple general expression that determines the number of scattering events for the case when the incident particle beam is a wave packet of arbitrary form but with its mean momentum strongly centered at a given value p i . Furthermore, they considered the example when the wave packet is scattered off randomly distributed potential centers. By averaging the number of events over the impact parameter between the potential center and the wave packet axis, they derived a formula for the effective cross section that reproduces the one obtained by previous authors (see, e.g., [2,3]where dσ /d | q i →q f is the differential cross section for the elastic scattering in an angle θ = arccos(q i ·q f ). Furthermore, by writing (k) = ⊥ (k ⊥ ) (k ), with strongly centered on p i , they obtainedKarlovets et al. carried out sample calculations for the case of electron impact, applying the Born approximation. They considered the collisions of a Gaussian wave packeton a Gaussian potential as well as on the hydrogen atom. Here σ ⊥ is the averaged transverse size of the wave packet. As a remarkable result, they found that the angular distributions of the effective cross section broaden with the decrease of σ ⊥ . [4] could control the coherence properties of the ion beam and thereby demonstrate the effect of the projectile coherence on the angular distribution of the scattered protons. The principle of the experiment is based on the van Cittert-Zernike theorem according to which the transverse coherence length r (the diameter of the area of coherence) of a source of waves at a distance L is of the order of λ/kα, where λ is the wavelength, α is the angular diameter of the source, and k is a dimensionless constant.Egodapitiya et al. used a well-collimated nearly monochromatic [< 1 eV full width at half maximum (FWHM)] proton beam that crossed a molecular hydrogen beam. The measured quantity was the doubly differential cross section (DDCS) for the ionization as a function of the scattering angle θ and the energy loss of the protons. The measurements were made at two coherence length values corresponding to two values of the distance between the target and the last aperture of the collimator, L = 6.5 and 50 cm. The diameter of t...

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