Three-centre cluster structure in 11C and 11B

Studies of the 16O(9Be,alpha 7Be)14C, 7Li(9Be,alpha 7Li)5He and 7Li(9Be,alpha alpha t)5He reactions at E(beam)=70 and 55 MeV have been performed using resonant particle spectroscopy techniques. The 11C excited states decaying into alpha+7Be(gs) are observed between 8.5 and 13.5 MeV. The alpha+7Li(gs), alpha+7Li*(4.652 MeV) and t+8Be(gs) decays of 11B excited states between 9 and 19 MeV are observed. The decay processes are used to indicate the possible three-centre 2alpha+3He (2alpha+3H) cluster structure of observed states. This cluster structure is more prominent in the positive-parity states, where two rotational bands with large deformations are suggested. Excitations of some of the observed T=1/2 resonances coincide with the energies of previously measured T=3/2 isobaric analogs of the 11Be states,indicating that these states may have mixed isospin.Comment: Contribution for the proceedings of the NUSTAR'05: NUclear STructure, Astrophysics and Reactions, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; accepted for publication in Journal of Physics

Polysaccharide utilization loci and nutritional specialization in a dominant group of butyrate-producing human colonic Firmicutes

Acknowledgements The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health (University of Aberdeen) receives financial support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS). POS is a PhD student supported by the Scottish Government (RESAS) and the Science Foundation Ireland, through a centre award to the APC Microbiome Institute, Cork, Ireland. Data Summary The high-quality draft genomes generated in this work were deposited at the European Nucleotide Archive under the following accession numbers: 1. Eubacterium rectale T1-815; CVRQ01000001–CVRQ0100 0090: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB9320 2. Roseburia faecis M72/1; CVRR01000001–CVRR010001 01: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB9321 3. Roseburia inulinivorans L1-83; CVRS01000001–CVRS0 100 0151: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB9322Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Light-particle emission from the fissioning nuclei 126Ba, 188Pt and (266,272,278)/110: theoretical predictions and experimental results

We present a comparison of our model treating fission dynamics in conjunction with light-particle (n, p, alpha) evaporation with the available experimental data for the nuclei 126Ba, 188Pt and three isotopes of the element Z=110. The dynamics of the symmetric fission process is described through the solution of a classical Langevin equation for a single collective variable characterizing the nuclear deformation along the fission path. A microscopic approach is used to evaluate the emission rates for pre-fission light particles. Entrance-channel effects are taken into account by generating an initial spin distribution of the compound nucleus formed by the fusion of two deformed nuclei with different relative orientations

Strongly damped nuclear collisions: zero or first sound ?

The relaxation of the collective quadrupole motion in the initial stage of a central heavy ion collision at beam energies $E_{lab}=5\div20$ AMeV is studied within a microscopic kinetic transport model. The damping rate is shown to be a non-monotonic function of E_{lab} for a given pair of colliding nuclei. This fact is interpreted as a manifestation of the zero-to-first sound transition in a finite nuclear system.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

4He decay of excited states in 14C

A study of the 7Li(9Be,4He 10Be)2H reaction at E{beam}=70 MeV has been performed using resonant particle spectroscopy techniques and provides the first measurements of alpha-decaying states in 14C. Excited states are observed at 14.7, 15.5, 16.4, 18.5, 19.8, 20.6, 21.4, 22.4 and 24.0 MeV. The experimental technique was able to resolve decays to the various particle bound states in 10Be, and provides evidence for the preferential decay of the high energy excited states into states in 10Be at ~6 MeV. The decay processes are used to indicate the possible cluster structure of the 14C excited states.Comment: accepted for publication in PR

Iron supplementation promotes gut microbiota metabolic activity but not colitis markers in human gut microbiota-associated rats

The global prevalence of Fe deficiency is high and a common corrective strategy is oral Fe supplementation, which may affect the commensal gut microbiota and gastrointestinal health. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of different dietary Fe concentrations on the gut microbiota and gut health of rats inoculated with human faecal microbiota. Rats (8 weeks old, n 40) were divided into five (n 8 each) groups and fed diets differing only in Fe concentration during an Fe-depletion period (12 weeks) and an Fe-repletion period (4 weeks) as follows: (1) Fe-sufficient diet throughout the study period; (2) Fe-sufficient diet followed by 70mg Fe/kg diet; (3) Fe-depleted diet throughout the study period; (4) Fe-depleted diet followed by 35mg Fe/kg diet; (5) Fe-depleted diet followed by 70mg Fe/kg diet. Faecal and caecal samples were analysed for gut microbiota composition (quantitative PCR and pyrosequencing) and bacterial metabolites (HPLC), and intestinal tissue samples were investigated histologically. Fe depletion did not significantly alter dominant populations of the gut microbiota and did not induce Fe-deficiency anaemia in the studied rats. Provision of the 35mg Fe/kg diet after feeding an Fe-deficient diet significantly increased the abundance of dominant bacterial groups such as Bacteroides spp. and Clostridium cluster IV members compared with that of an Fe-deficient diet. Fe supplementation increased gut microbial butyrate concentration 6-fold compared with Fe depletion and did not affect histological colitis scores. The present results suggest that Fe supplementation enhances the concentration of beneficial gut microbiota metabolites and thus may contribute to gut healt

Birth after TESE–ICSI in a man with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and congenital adrenal hypoplasia linked to a DAX-1 (NR0B1) mutation

DAX1/NR0B1 mutations are responsible for X-linked congenital adrenal hypoplasia (AHC) associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH). Few data are available concerning testicular function and fertility in men with DAX1 mutations. Azoospermia as well as failure of gonadotrophin treatment have been reported. We induced spermatogenesis in a patient who has a DAX1 mutation (c.1210C>T), leading to a stop codon in position 404 (p.Gln404X). His endocrine testing revealed a low testosterone level at 1.2 nmol/l (N: 12–40) with low FSH and LH levels at 2.1 IU/l (N: 1–5 IU/l) and 0.1 IU/l (N: 1–4 IU/l), respectively. Baseline semen analysis revealed azoospermia. Menotropin (Menopur®:150 IU, three times weekly) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (1500 IU, twice weekly) were used. After 20 months of treatment, as azoospermia persisted, bilateral multiple site testicular biopsies were performed. Histology revealed severe hypospermatogenesis. Rare spermatozoa were extracted from the right posterior fragment and ICSI was performed. Four embryos were obtained and, after a frozen–thawed single-embryo transfer, the patient's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy boy. We report the first case of paternity after TESE–ICSI in a patient with DAX1 mutation, giving potential hope to these patients to father non-affected children. Furthermore, this case illustrates the fact that patients with X-linked AHC have a primary testicular defect in addition to HH

SPIRAL II Project (electron option) - Preliminary Design Study

This document presents a Preliminary Design Study (PDS) of the electron option of the SPIRAL II project

The Human Phenotype Ontology in 2024: phenotypes around the world

\ua9 The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research. The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) is a widely used resource that comprehensively organizes and defines the phenotypic features of human disease, enabling computational inference and supporting genomic and phenotypic analyses through semantic similarity and machine learning algorithms. The HPO has widespread applications in clinical diagnostics and translational research, including genomic diagnostics, gene-disease discovery, and cohort analytics. In recent years, groups around the world have developed translations of the HPO from English to other languages, and the HPO browser has been internationalized, allowing users to view HPO term labels and in many cases synonyms and definitions in ten languages in addition to English. Since our last report, a total of 2239 new HPO terms and 49235 new HPO annotations were developed, many in collaboration with external groups in the fields of psychiatry, arthrogryposis, immunology and cardiology. The Medical Action Ontology (MAxO) is a new effort to model treatments and other measures taken for clinical management. Finally, the HPO consortium is contributing to efforts to integrate the HPO and the GA4GH Phenopacket Schema into electronic health records (EHRs) with the goal of more standardized and computable integration of rare disease data in EHRs