Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Sizing Me Up: Validation of an Obesity-Specific Health-Related Quality of Life Measure in Latino Youth

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mTORC2 critically regulates renal potassium handling

The mTOR pathway orchestrates cellular homeostasis. The rapamycin-sensitive mTOR complex (mTORC1) in the kidney has been widely studied; however, mTORC2 function in renal tubules is poorly characterized. Here, we generated mice lacking mTORC2 in the distal tubule (Rictorfl/fl Ksp-Cre mice), which were viable and had no obvious phenotype, except for a 2.5-fold increase in plasma aldosterone. Challenged with a low-Na+ diet, these mice adequately reduced Na+ excretion; however, Rictorfl/fl Ksp-Cre mice rapidly developed hyperkalemia on a high-K+ diet, despite a 10-fold increase in serum aldosterone levels, implying that mTORC2 regulates kaliuresis. Phosphorylation of serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 1 (SGK1) and PKC-α was absent in Rictorfl/fl Ksp-Cre mice, indicating a functional block in K+ secretion activation via ROMK channels. Indeed, patch-clamp experiments on split-open tubular segments from the transition zone of the late connecting tubule and early cortical collecting duct demonstrated that Ba2+-sensitive apical K+ currents were barely detectable in the majority of Rictorfl/fl Ksp-Cre mice. Conversely, epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) activity was largely preserved, suggesting that the reduced ability to maintain K+ homeostasis is the result of impaired apical K+ conductance and not a reduced electrical driving force for K+ secretion. Thus, these data unravel a vital and nonredundant role of mTORC2 for distal tubular K+ handling

Degree of adaptive male mate choice is positively correlated with female quality variance

When the cost of reproduction for males and variance in female quality are high, males are predicted to show adaptive mate choice. Using Drosophila melanogaster, we test this prediction and show that sperm limited males preferentially mated with young and/or well fed females. The preferred females had higher reproductive output – direct evidence of adaptive precopulatory male mate choice. Our most striking finding is the strong positive correlation between the degree of mating bias showed by the males and the variance in the fitness of the females. We discuss the possible mechanism for such adaptive male mate choice and propose that such choice has important consequences with respect to the existing understanding of the mating system and the evolution of aging

Transcriptional activity of Hyacinthus orientalis L. female gametophyte cells before and after fertilization

We characterized three phases of Hyacinthus orientalis L. embryo sac development, in which the transcriptional activity of the cells differed using immunolocalization of incorporated 5′-bromouracil, the total RNA polymerase II pool and the hypo- (initiation) and hyperphosphorylated (elongation) forms of RNA Pol II. The first stage, which lasts from the multinuclear stage to cellularization, is a period of high transcriptional activity, probably related to the maturation of female gametophyte cells. The second stage, encompassing the period of embryo sac maturity and the progamic phase, involves the transcriptional silencing of cells that will soon undergo fusion with male gametes. During this period in the hyacinth egg cell, there are almost no newly formed transcripts, and only a small pool of RNA Pol II is present in the nucleus. The transcriptional activity of the central cell is only slightly higher than that observed in the egg cell. The post-fertilization stage is related to the transcriptional activation of the zygote and the primary endosperm cell. The rapid increase in the pool of newly formed transcripts in these cells is accompanied by an increase in the pool of RNA Pol II, and the pattern of enzyme distribution in the zygote nucleus is similar to that observed in the somatic cells of the ovule. Our data, together with the earlier results of Pięciński et al. (2008), indicate post-fertilization synthesis and the maturation of numerous mRNA transcripts, suggesting that fertilization in H. orientalis induces the activation of the zygote and endosperm genomes

Defensin-Like ZmES4 Mediates Pollen Tube Burst in Maize via Opening of the Potassium Channel KZM1

Species-preferential osmotic pollen tube burst and sperm discharge in maize involve induced opening of the pollen tube-expressed potassium channel KZM1 by the egg apparatus-derived defensin-like protein ZmES4

Measurement of global polarization of {\Lambda} hyperons in few-GeV heavy-ion collisions

The global polarization of {\Lambda} hyperons along the total orbital angular momentum of a relativistic heavy-ion collision is presented based on the high statistics data samples collected in Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.4 GeV and Ag+Ag at 2.55 GeV with the High-Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at GSI, Darmstadt. This is the first measurement below the strangeness production threshold in nucleon-nucleon collisions. Results are reported as a function of the collision centrality as well as a function of the hyperon transverse momentum (p_T) and rapidity (y_{CM}) for the range of centrality 0--40%. We observe a strong centrality dependence of the polarization with an increasing signal towards peripheral collisions. For mid-central (20--40%) collisions the polarization magnitudes are (%) = 6.0 \pm 1.3 (stat.) \pm 2.0 (syst.) for Au+Au and (%) = 4.6 \pm 0.4 (stat.) \pm 0.5 (syst.) for Ag+Ag, which are the largest values observed so far. This observation thus provides a continuation of the increasing trend previously observed by STAR and contrasts expectations from recent theoretical calculations predicting a maximum in the region of collision energies about 3 GeV. The observed polarization is of a similar magnitude as predicted by 3D fluid dynamics and the UrQMD plus thermal vorticity model and significantly above results from the AMPT model.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Rasiowa–Sikorski deduction systems in computer science applications

AbstractA Rasiowa-Sikorski system is a sequence-type formalization of logics. The system uses invertible decomposition rules which decompose a formula into sequences of simpler formulae whose validity is equivalent to validity of the original formula. There may also be expansion rules which close indecomposable sequences under certain properties of relations appearing in the formulae, like symmetry or transitivity. Proofs are finite decomposition trees with leaves having “fundamental”, valid labels. The author describes a general method of applying the R-S formalism to develop complete deduction systems for various brands of C.S and A.I. logic, including a logic for reasoning about relative similarity, a three-valued software specification logic with McCarthy's connectives and Kleene quantifiers, a logic for nondeterministic specifications, many-sorted FOL with possibly empty carriers of some sorts, and a three-valued logic for reasoning about concurrency