Condition for gapless color-antitriplet excitations in NJL models

We present an exact condition for the existence of gapless quasiparticle excitations in NJL models of color superconducting quark matter with a quark-quark interaction in the scalar color-antitriplet channel. The condition can be represented by a rotated ellipse in the plane of mass and chemical potential differences for the paired quark fields.Comment: Accepted for publication in PRC. 5 pages, 4 figures; Corrected typos and added one more term to the series expansion in (19

Complexity and anisotropy in host morphology make populations safer against epidemic outbreaks

One of the challenges in epidemiology is to account for the complex morphological structure of hosts such as plant roots, crop fields, farms, cells, animal habitats and social networks, when the transmission of infection occurs between contiguous hosts. Morphological complexity brings an inherent heterogeneity in populations and affects the dynamics of pathogen spread in such systems. We have analysed the influence of realistically complex host morphology on the threshold for invasion and epidemic outbreak in an SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) epidemiological model. We show that disorder expressed in the host morphology and anisotropy reduces the probability of epidemic outbreak and thus makes the system more resistant to epidemic outbreaks. We obtain general analytical estimates for minimally safe bounds for an invasion threshold and then illustrate their validity by considering an example of host data for branching hosts (salamander retinal ganglion cells). Several spatial arrangements of hosts with different degrees of heterogeneity have been considered in order to analyse separately the role of shape complexity and anisotropy in the host population. The estimates for invasion threshold are linked to morphological characteristics of the hosts that can be used for determining the threshold for invasion in practical applications.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Novel monoclonal antibodies detect Smad-Interacting Protein 1 (SIP1) in the cytoplasm of human cells from multiple tumor tissue arrays

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Smad-interacting protein 1 (SIP1, also known as ZEB2) represses the transcription of E-cadherin and mediates epithelial-mesenchymal transition in development and tumor metastasis. Due to the lack of human SIP1-specific antibodies, its expression in human tumor tissues has not been studied in detail by immunohistochemistry. Hence, we generated two anti-SIP1 monoclonal antibodies, clones 1C6 and 6E5, with IgG1 and IgG2a isotypes, respectively. The specificity of these antibodies was shown by Western blotting studies using siRNA mediated downregulation of SIP1 and ZEB1 in a human osteosarcoma cell line. In the same context, we also compared them with 5 commercially available SIP1 antibodies. Antibody specificity was further verified in an inducible cell line system by immunofluorescence. By using both antibodies, we evaluated the tissue expression of SIP1 in paraffin-embedded tissue microarrays consisting of 22 normal and 101 tumoral tissues of kidney, colon, stomach, lung, esophagus, uterus, rectum, breast and liver. Interestingly, SIP1 predominantly displayed a cytoplasmic expression, while the nuclear localization of SIP1 was observed in only 6 cases. Strong expression of SIP1 was found in distal tubules of kidney, glandular epithelial cells of stomach and hepatocytes, implicating a co-expression of SIP1 and E-cadherin. Squamous epithelium of the esophagus and surface epithelium of colon and rectum were stained with moderate to weak intensity. Normal uterus, breast and lung tissues remained completely negative. By comparison with their normal tissues, we observed SIP1 overexpression in cancers of the kidney, breast, lung and uterus. However, SIP1 expression was found to be downregulated in tumors from colon, rectum, esophagus, liver and stomach tissues. Finally we did nuclear/cytoplasmic fractionation in 3 carcinoma cell lines and detected SIP1 in both fractions, nucleus being the dominant one. To our best knowledge, this is the first comprehensive immunohistochemical study of the expression of SIP1 in a series of human cancers. Our finding that SIP1 is not exclusively localized to nucleus suggests that the subcellular localization of SIP1 is regulated in normal and tumor tissues. These novel monoclonal antibodies may help elucidate the role of SIP1 in tumor development. © 2010 Elsevier Inc

Needs to Achieve Improved Fire Protection as regards the Implementation and Development of the EN Eurocodes

The work reported is a deliverable within the framework of the Administrative Arrangement between DG ENTR and JRC on support to the implementation, harmonization and further development of the Eurocodes. The report encompasses the results achieved during the three-year work on Sub-task 5.2 'Needs for fire protection' of the Administrative Arrangement with DG ENTR. The report consists of three self-contained sections, namely: - Research needs to achieve improved fire design using the Eurocodes, - Implementation and use of fire-parts of the Eurocodes, and - Survey on the progress in the National implementation of the Eurocodes fire design parts. The present report has been prepared by the JRC in collaboration with the two ad-hoc groups on fire design convened by the JRC and in consultation with DG ENTR, Member States and individual experts and organizations involved in fire design.JRC.G.5-European laboratory for structural assessmen

Thin film MoS2 nanocrystal based ultraviolet photodetector

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We report on the development of UV range photodetector based on molybdenum disulfide nanocrystals (MoS2-NCs). The inorganic MoS2-NCs are produced by pulsed laser ablation technique in deionized water and the colloidal MoS2-NCs are characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and UV/VIS absorption measurements. The photoresponse studies indicate that the fabricated MoS2-NCs photodetector (MoS2-NCs PD) operates well within 300-400 nm UV range, with diminishing response at visible wavelengths, due to the MoS2-NCs absorption characteristics. The structural and the optical properties of laser generated MoS2-NCs suggest promising applications in the field of photonics and optoelectronics. (C) 2012 Optical Society of Americ

The circadian clock shapes the Arabidopsis transcriptome by regulating alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation

The circadian clock in plants temporally coordinates biological processes throughout the day, synchronizing gene expression with diurnal environmental changes. Circadian oscillator proteins are known to regulate the expression of clock-controlled plant genes by controlling their transcription. Here, using a high-throughput RNA-Seq approach, we examined genome-wide circadian and diurnal control of the Arabidopsis transcriptome, finding that the oscillation patterns of different transcripts of multitranscript genes can exhibit substantial differences and demonstrating that the circadian clock affects posttranscriptional regulation. In parallel, we found that two major posttranscriptional mechanisms, alternative splicing (AS; especially intron retention) and alternative polyadenylation (APA), display circadian rhythmicity resulting from oscillation in the genes involved in AS and APA. Moreover, AS-related genes exhibited rhythmic AS and APA regulation, adding another layer of complexity to circadian regulation of gene expression. We conclude that the Arabidopsis circadian clock not only controls transcription of genes but also affects their posttranscriptional regulation by influencing alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation

Delayed diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma: a case series

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>In malign neoplasms, oral cancer is one of the important causes of mortality and morbidity. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common form of oral cancers in adults and is related to risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>In this article, we present three case reports of oral squamous cell carcinomas with delayed diagnosis. The first patient was a 52-year-old Turkish man, the second patient was a 61-year-old Turkish man and the third patient was a 60-year-old Turkish woman. All were referred to the Ankara University Faculty of Dentistry with pain, swelling and various complaints in their jaws.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Early diagnosis is of vital importance for the prognosis of the patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas. For this reason, dentists play a crucial role in the early detection and prevention of oral cancers.</p

Structural and Content Diversity of Mitochondrial Genome in Beet: A Comparative Genomic Analysis

Despite their monophyletic origin, mitochondrial (mt) genomes of plants and animals have developed contrasted evolutionary paths over time. Animal mt genomes are generally small, compact, and exhibit high mutation rates, whereas plant mt genomes exhibit low mutation rates, little compactness, larger sizes, and highly rearranged structures. We present the (nearly) whole sequences of five new mt genomes in the Beta genus: four from Beta vulgaris and one from B. macrocarpa, a sister species belonging to the same Beta section. We pooled our results with two previously sequenced genomes of B. vulgaris and studied genome diversity at the species level with an emphasis on cytoplasmic male-sterilizing (CMS) genomes. We showed that, contrary to what was previously assumed, all three CMS genomes belong to a single sterile lineage. In addition, the CMSs seem to have undergone an acceleration of the rates of substitution and rearrangement. This study suggests that male sterility emergence might have been favored by faster rates of evolution, unless CMS itself caused faster evolution