Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Cosmology of Composite Inelastic Dark Matter

Composite dark matter is a natural setting for implementing inelastic dark matter - the O(100 keV) mass splitting arises from spin-spin interactions of constituent fermions. In models where the constituents are charged under an axial U(1) gauge symmetry that also couples to the Standard Model quarks, dark matter scatters inelastically off Standard Model nuclei and can explain the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation signal. This article describes the early Universe cosmology of a minimal implementation of a composite inelastic dark matter model where the dark matter is a meson composed of a light and a heavy quark. The synthesis of the constituent quarks into dark mesons and baryons results in several qualitatively different configurations of the resulting dark matter hadrons depending on the relative mass scales in the system.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures; references added, typos correcte

Comparative analysis of miRNAs and their targets across four plant species

BACKGROUND: MicroRNA (miRNA) mediated regulation of gene expression has been recognized as a major posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism also in plants. We performed a comparative analysis of miRNAs and their respective gene targets across four plant species: Arabidopsis thaliana (Ath), Medicago truncatula(Mtr), Brassica napus (Bna), and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cre). RESULTS: miRNAs were obtained from mirBase with 218 miRNAs for Ath, 375 for Mtr, 46 for Bna, and 73 for Cre, annotated for each species respectively. miRNA targets were obtained from available database annotations, bioinformatic predictions using RNAhybrid as well as predicted from an analysis of mRNA degradation products (degradome sequencing) aimed at identifying miRNA cleavage products. On average, and considering both experimental and bioinformatic predictions together, every miRNA was associated with about 46 unique gene transcripts with considerably variation across species. We observed a positive and linear correlation between the number miRNAs and the total number of transcripts across different plant species suggesting that the repertoire of miRNAs correlates with the size of the transcriptome of an organism. Conserved miRNA-target pairs were found to be associated with developmental processes and transcriptional regulation, while species-specific (in particular, Ath) pairs are involved in signal transduction and response to stress processes. Conserved miRNAs have more targets and higher expression values than non-conserved miRNAs. We found evidence for a conservation of not only the sequence of miRNAs, but their expression levels as well. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the notion of a high birth and death rate of miRNAs and that miRNAs serve many species specific functions, while conserved miRNA are related mainly to developmental processes and transcriptional regulation with conservation operating at both the sequence and expression level

Identifying patterns of alumni commitment in key strategic relationship programmes

Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to understand their alumni when drawing strategic relationship programmes. This paper aims to identify clusters of alumni based on their commitment relationship and to analyse factors influencing their intention to collaborate with the HEI. The study took place at a Portuguese university, considering a dataset of 1075 of alumni asserting intention to collaborate. First, a cluster analysis was conducted to identify patterns of commitment relationship. Secondly, a logistic regression was run to identify determinants of intention to collaborate. Both techniques revealed the decisive role of HEI commitment in the process. Relationship advantages and positive feelings towards the HEI were also pointed out as important. Alumni asserted recommendations, further training, sharing experiences and giving help as ways to collaborate with HEI. Regression results suggest that sociodemographic variables such as gender, marital status and volunteering are significantly associated with a probability to collaborate. Results also show that affiliation in sororities/fraternities and participation in extracurricular activities are significantly associated with that collaborative intention. The findings provide clues to support strategic relationship programmes based on consistent marketing campaigns, while bringing value to the literature in the European context, where alumni culture requires real insights to evolve.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Limits on WWZ and WW\gamma couplings from p\bar{p}\to e\nu jj X events at \sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV

We present limits on anomalous WWZ and WW-gamma couplings from a search for WW and WZ production in p-bar p collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV. We use p-bar p -> e-nu jjX events recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during the 1992-1995 run. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 96.0+-5.1 pb^(-1). Assuming identical WWZ and WW-gamma coupling parameters, the 95% CL limits on the CP-conserving couplings are -0.33<lambda<0.36 (Delta-kappa=0) and -0.43<Delta-kappa<0.59 (lambda=0), for a form factor scale Lambda = 2.0 TeV. Limits based on other assumptions are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Search For Heavy Pointlike Dirac Monopoles

We have searched for central production of a pair of photons with high transverse energies in $p\bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV using $70 pb^{-1}$ of data collected with the D\O detector at the Fermilab Tevatron in 1994--1996. If they exist, virtual heavy pointlike Dirac monopoles could rescatter pairs of nearly real photons into this final state via a box diagram. We observe no excess of events above background, and set lower 95% C.L. limits of $610, 870, or 1580 GeV/c^2$ on the mass of a spin 0, 1/2, or 1 Dirac monopole.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

The Dijet Mass Spectrum and a Search for Quark Compositeness in bar{p}p Collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV

Using the DZero detector at the 1.8 TeV pbarp Fermilab Tevatron collider, we have measured the inclusive dijet mass spectrum in the central pseudorapidity region |eta_jet| < 1.0 for dijet masses greater than 200 Gev/c^2. We have also measured the ratio of spectra sigma(|eta_jet| < 0.5)/sigma(0.5 < |eta_jet| < 1.0). The order alpha_s^3 QCD predictions are in good agreement with the data and we rule out models of quark compositeness with a contact interaction scale < 2.4 TeV at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let