Preliminary observations on the effects of water flow on Protozoan populations

Volume: XXV

Observation of Bell Inequality violation in B mesons

A pair of $B^0\bar B^0$ mesons from $\Upsilon(4S)$ decay exhibit EPR type non-local particle-antiparticle (flavor) correlation. It is possible to write down Bell Inequality (in the CHSH form: $S\le2$) to test the non-locality assumption of EPR. Using semileptonic $B^0$ decays of $\Upsilon(4S)$ at Belle experiment, a clear violation of Bell Inequality in particle-antiparticle correlation is observed: S=2.725+-0.167(stat)+-0.092(syst)Comment: Conference Proceeding for Garda Lake Workshop 2003 "Mysteries, Puzzles and Paradoxes in Quantum Mechanics

Microbial Community Composition Impacts Pathogen Iron Availability during Polymicrobial Infection

Iron is an essential nutrient for bacterial pathogenesis, but in the host, iron is tightly sequestered, limiting its availability for bacterial growth. Although this is an important arm of host immunity, most studies examine how bacteria respond to iron restriction in laboratory rather than host settings, where the microbiome can potentially alter pathogen strategies for acquiring iron. One of the most important transcriptional regulators controlling bacterial iron homeostasis is Fur. Here we used a combination of RNA-seq and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-seq to characterize the iron-restricted and Fur regulons of the biofilm-forming opportunistic pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. We discovered that iron restriction and Fur regulate 4% and 3.5% of the genome, respectively. While most genes in these regulons were related to iron uptake and metabolism, we found that Fur also directly regulates the biofilm-dispersing enzyme Dispersin B, allowing A. actinomycetemcomitans to escape from iron-scarce environments. We then leveraged these datasets to assess the availability of iron to A. actinomycetemcomitans in its primary infection sites, abscesses and the oral cavity. We found that A. actinomycetemcomitans is not restricted for iron in a murine abscess mono-infection, but becomes restricted for iron upon co-infection with the oral commensal Streptococcus gordonii. Furthermore, in the transition from health to disease in human gum infection, A. actinomycetemcomitans also becomes restricted for iron. These results suggest that host iron availability is heterogeneous and dependent on the infecting bacterial community

Performance of CMS ECAL Preshower in 2007 test beam

The Preshower detector is part of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter, located in the endcap regions, in front of the lead tungstate crystals. It consist of two orthogonal planes of silicon strip sensors interleaved with two planes of lead absorbers. A combined beam test of close-to-final prototypes of the Hadron calorimeter, the crystal calorimeter and the Preshower detector was performed in the summer of 2007. Calibrations were made using electron and pion data. The combined crystal and Preshower energy resolution was studied using electrons. Good signal/noise performance was obtained in both sets of measurement

A UNIVERSIDADEEM EXPANSÃO: DA GESTÃO DO ENSINO À FORMAÇÃO DO CORPO TÉCNICO-ADMINISTRATIVO

A partir do processo de expansão do ensino superior e do enfoque ao promissor mercado universitário instaurados no Brasil, este estudo analisou as tecnologias educacionais, enquanto ferramentas de apoio à gestão e ao desenvolvimento de equipes. Para isso, além de revisão bibliográfica em relação às políticas e tecnologias educacionais, este estudo de caso contou com a observação participante, a qual possibilitou o aprofundamento na realidade dos gestores responsáveis por equipes atuantes em unidades distantes da sede principal. No decorrer do estudo, percebeu-se que a instituição, que utiliza tecnologias educacionais avançadas e tem sido reconhecida pela excelência no ensino, demonstra enorme dificuldade para o desenvolvimento de suas equipes, o que evidenciou um desalinhamento, sobretudo da área de Recursos Humanos, em comparação às áreas de ensino. Frente a isso, o estudo reforça a necessidade de todas as áreas de uma instituição estarem alinhadas aos processos de expansão, assim como, aponta para a importância das tecnologias educacionais na formação dos funcionários e alinhamento das equipes

Heating of Nanoshells by Near-infrared Radiation: A Rapid and Minimally-invasive method for destroying tumors

The purpose of this project is to model a novel and promising cancer treatment that involves the destruction of tumor cells by the direct injection of biocompatible nanoparticles (gold-silicon nanoshells) and their subsequent heating with near-infrared radiation. The use of near infra-red radiation gives this procedure an advantage over other thermal ablation treatments for cancer since light at this range (700-900 nm) is not significantly absorbed by chromopores in human tissue and can therefore penetrate more deeply (Hirsch et al., 2003). The method is also quick and minimally invasive. Using the simulation software FIDAP, we analyzed the diffusion of the nanoshells into a spherical tumor after being injected into its center. The change in temperature of the tumor due to the exposure of the nanoshells to near-infrared light was also studied. We found out that when 50 microliters of nanoshell solution (concentration of 1.5 e10 nanoshells/ml) is introduced to a 1-cm diameter tumor, it takes 29 hours for the nanoshells to fill up the tumor. At this point, exposure of the tumor with a laser (800 nm, power = 5.6 W/m2) for 10 min raised the temperature of the entire tumor to at least 45?C, effectively destroying it. Further analysis on the effect of nanoshell distribution on the temperatures obtained showed that it has negligible effect. All distributions tested (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) resulted in the entire tumor being heated above 45?C. The laser can therefore be immediately applied to the tumor right after injection. Nanoshell concentration vs. time and temperature vs. time profiles for the tumor for various treatment conditions were also obtained. The results of the mathematical modeling will help further studies of this treatment. Although the method still needs to be refined, it should provide an effective new treatment for the destruction of breast carcinomas and other localized tumors