8,174 research outputs found
THE EVALUATION AND IMPACT OF COLIFORM BACTERIAL AND ENTERIC VIRUS POLLUTION IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Rescue of splicing-mediated intron loss maximizes expression in lentiviral vectors containing the human ubiquitin C promoter.
Lentiviral vectors almost universally use heterologous internal promoters to express transgenes. One of the most commonly used promoter fragments is a 1.2-kb sequence from the human ubiquitin C (UBC) gene, encompassing the promoter, some enhancers, first exon, first intron and a small part of the second exon of UBC. Because splicing can occur after transcription of the vector genome during vector production, we investigated whether the intron within the UBC promoter fragment is faithfully transmitted to target cells. Genetic analysis revealed that more than 80% of proviral forms lack the intron of the UBC promoter. The human elongation factor 1 alpha (EEF1A1) promoter fragment intron was not lost during lentiviral packaging, and this difference between the UBC and EEF1A1 promoter introns was conferred by promoter exonic sequences. UBC promoter intron loss caused a 4-fold reduction in transgene expression. Movement of the expression cassette to the opposite strand prevented intron loss and restored full expression. This increase in expression was mostly due to non-classical enhancer activity within the intron, and movement of putative intronic enhancer sequences to multiple promoter-proximal sites actually repressed expression. Reversal of the UBC promoter also prevented intron loss and restored full expression in bidirectional lentiviral vectors
A Study of the 20 Day Superorbital Modulation in the High-Mass X-ray Binary IGR J16493-4348
We report on Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Neil Gehrels
Swift Observatory (Swift) X-ray Telescope (XRT) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope
(BAT) observations of IGR J16493-4348, a wind-fed Supergiant X-ray Binary
(SGXB) showing significant superorbital variability. From a discrete Fourier
transform of the BAT light curve, we refine its superorbital period to be
20.058 0.007 days. The BAT dynamic power spectrum and a fractional root
mean square analysis both show strong variations in the amplitude of the
superorbital modulation, but no observed changes in the period were found. The
superorbital modulation is significantly weaker between MJD 55,700 and MJD
56,300. The joint NuSTAR and XRT observations, which were performed near the
minimum and maximum of one cycle of the 20 day superorbital modulation, show
that the flux increases by more than a factor of two between superorbital
minimum and maximum. We find no significant changes in the 3-50 keV pulse
profiles between superorbital minimum and maximum, which suggests a similar
accretion regime. Modeling the pulse-phase averaged spectra we find a possible
Fe K emission line at 6.4 keV at superorbital maximum. The feature is
not significant at superorbital minimum. While we do not observe any
significant differences between the pulse-phase averaged spectral continua
apart from the overall flux change, we find that the hardness ratio near the
broad main peak of the pulse profile increases from superorbital minimum to
maximum. This suggests the spectral shape hardens with increasing luminosity.
We discuss different mechanisms that might drive the observed superorbital
modulation.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal on 2019 May 1
Average motion of emerging solar active region polarities I: Two phases of emergence
Our goal is to constrain models of active region formation by tracking the
average motion of active region polarity pairs as they emerge onto the surface.
We measured the motion of the two main opposite polarities in 153 emerging
active regions (EARs) using line-of-sight magnetic field observations from the
Solar Dynamics Observatory Helioseismic Emerging Active Region (SDO/HEAR)
survey (Schunker et al. 2016). We first measured the position of each of the
polarities eight hours after emergence and tracked their location forwards and
backwards in time. We find that, on average, the polarities emerge with an
east-west orientation and the separation speed between the polarities
increases. At about 0.1 days after emergence, the average separation speed
reaches a peak value of 229 +/- 11 m/s, and then starts to decrease, and about
2.5 days after emergence the polarities stop separating. We also find that the
separation and the separation speed in the east-west direction are
systematically larger for active regions with higher flux. Our results reveal
two phases of the emergence process defined by the rate of change of the
separation speed as the polarities move apart. Phase 1 begins when the opposite
polarity pairs first appear at the surface, with an east-west alignment and an
increasing separation speed. We define Phase 2 to begin when the separation
speed starts to decrease, and ends when the polarities have stopped separating.
This is consistent with the picture of Chen, Rempel, & Fan (2017): the peak of
a flux tube breaks through the surface during Phase 1. During Phase 2 the
magnetic field lines are straightened by magnetic tension, so that the
polarities continue to move apart, until they eventually lie directly above
their anchored subsurface footpoints.Comment: accepted A&
Zener Disaccommodation In Dilute F.C.C. Co-Ti Alloys
The magnetic Dis accommodation, i.e., the time dependence of the low field magnetic permeability, was investigated in cobalt base alloys containing 0-5.1 at.% (0-4.2 wt.%) titanium in the temperature range 400-700°C. A strong temperature dependence of the Dis accommodation observed in the range 430-530°C could be accounted for predominantly by a single first order relaxation process. Analyzing the data in terms of (a) a single exponential relaxation, (b) a lognormal distribution of relaxation times, and (c) a sum of exponential relaxations, it was shown that the relaxation strength varies as the square of the titanium concentration and that the relaxation is characterized by an activation enthalpy of 69 ± 1 kcal/mole and a Ï0 of the order of 10-16 sec. The Dis accommodation was attributed to the reorientation of substitutional solute atom (titanium) pairs. From the temperature dependence of the relaxation strength the binding energy of Ti atom pairs was determined to be 0.17 ± 0.08 eV. © 1968
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Human gut Bacteroides capture vitamin B12 via cell surface-exposed lipoproteins.
Human gut Bacteroides use surface-exposed lipoproteins to bind and metabolize complex polysaccharides. Although vitamins and other nutrients are also essential for commensal fitness, much less is known about how commensal bacteria compete with each other or the host for these critical resources. Unlike in Escherichia coli, transport loci for vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and other corrinoids in human gut Bacteroides are replete with conserved genes encoding proteins whose functions are unknown. Here we report that one of these proteins, BtuG, is a surface-exposed lipoprotein that is essential for efficient B12 transport in B. thetaiotaomicron. BtuG binds B12 with femtomolar affinity and can remove B12 from intrinsic factor, a critical B12 transport protein in humans. Our studies suggest that Bacteroides use surface-exposed lipoproteins not only for capturing polysaccharides, but also to acquire key vitamins in the gut
Stress Buffer or Identity Threat?: Negative Media Portrayal, Public and Private Religious Involvement, and Mental Health in a National Sample of US Adults
Guided by the stress process tradition, complex links between religion and mental health have received growing attention from researchers. This study gauges individualsâ public and private religiosity, uses a novel measure of environmental stressânegative media portrayal of religionâand presents two divergent hypotheses: (1) religiosity as stress-exacerbating attachment to valued identities producing mental health vulnerability to threat and (2) religiosity as stress-buffering social psychological resource. To assess these hypotheses, we analyze three mental health outcomes (generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and general mental health problems) in national U.S. data from 2010 (N = 1,714). Our findings align with the stress-buffering perspective. Results show that individuals low in public and private religiosity tend to have worse mental health with greater negative media portrayal. High public or private religiosity tends to nullify the relationship between negative media portrayal and mental health
Effect of Casting and Mould Cooling Temperatures on the Warping Phenomenon of Aluminium at High Pressure Die- Casting
Abstract. The effect of molten aluminium pouring temperature and hot oiltemperature for mould heating and cooling on the warping phenomenon ofthick-thin section aluminium high-pressure die-casting process was investigatedon a four cavities hard disk drive mould. Nine combinations of moltenaluminium A380 pouring temperature of 660ÂșC, 690ÂșC and 720ÂșC and hot oiltemperature of 150ÂșC, 200ÂșC and 250ÂșC were being studied. Magmasoftsimulation software was used to simulate the molten aluminium flow in themould and distortion to understand the die-casting cooling pattern in responseto different molten aluminium temperature and mould cooling parameterssettings. Actual casting was carried out to produce the parts according tosimulation settings. Warping data was collected and analysed using Minitab 17.It was found that each mould cavity had different cooling pattern resulting indifferent warping magnitude. Pouring temperature at 660ÂșC and 720ÂșC both hadhigher warping distortion then 690ÂșC. Hot oil temperature at 150ÂșC had higherwarping distortion than 200ÂșC and 250ÂșC. The lowest warping distortion wasestablish at molten aluminium pouring and hot oil temperature of 690ÂșC and200ÂșC respectively
X-ray scattering from surfaces: discrete and continuous components of roughness
Incoherent surface scattering yields a statistical description of the
surface, due to the ensemble averaging over many independently sampled volumes.
Depending on the state of the surface and direction of the scattering vector
relative to the surface normal, the height distribution is discrete,
continuous, or a combination of the two. We present a treatment for the
influence of multimodal surface height distributions on Crystal Truncation Rod
scattering. The effects of a multimodal height distribution are especially
evident during in situ monitoring of layer-by-layer thin-film growth via Pulsed
Laser Deposition. We model the total height distribution as a convolution of
discrete and continuous components, resulting in a broadly applicable
parameterization of surface roughness which can be applied to other scattering
probes, such as electrons and neutrons. Convolution of such distributions could
potentially be applied to interface or chemical scattering. Here we find that
this analysis describes accurately our experimental studies of SrTiO3
annealing and homoepitaxial growth.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure
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