Towards understanding Regge trajectories in holographic QCD

We reassess a work done by Migdal on the spectrum of low-energy vector mesons in QCD in the light of the AdS-QCD correspondence. Recently, a tantalizing parallelism was suggested between Migdal's work and a family of holographic duals of QCD. Despite the intriguing similarities, both approaches face a major drawback: the spectrum is in conflict with well-tested Regge scaling. However, it has recently been shown that holographic duals can be modified to accomodate Regge behavior. Therefore, it is interesting to understand whether Regge behavior can also be achieved in Migdal's approach. In this paper we investigate this issue. We find that Migdal's approach, which is based on a modified Pade approximant, is closely related to the issue of quark-hadron duality breakdown in QCD.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure. Typos fixed, references added, improved discussion. Minor changes to match the journal versio

Estimating the underlying infant mortality rates for small populations, including those reporting zero infant deaths: A case study of counties in California

Infant mortality is an important population health statistic that is often used to make health policy decisions. For a small population, an infant mortality rate is subject to high levels of uncertainty and may not indicate the “underlying” mortality regime affecting the population. This situation leads some agencies to either not report infant mortality for these populations or report infant mortality aggregated over space, time or both. A method is presented for estimating “underlying” infant mortality rates that reflect the intrinsic mortality regimes of small populations. The method is described and illustrated in a case study by estimating IMRs for the 15 counties in California where zero infant deaths are reported at the county level for the period 2009-2011. We know that among these 15 counties there are 50 infant deaths reported at the state level but not for the counties in which they occurred. The method’s validity is tested using a synthetic population in the form of a simulated data set generated from a model life table infant mortality rate, representing Level 23 of the West Family Model Life Table for both sexes. The test indicates that the method is capable of producing estimates that represent underlying rates. In this regard, the method described here may assist in the generation of information about the health status of small populations

Primary structure and sexual stage-specific expression of a LAMMER protein kinase of Plasmodium falciparum.

We have isolated a LAMMER-like gene from Plasmodium falciparum by vectorette technique. The gene consists of 3316 bp encoding a protein 881 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of approximately 106.7 kDa. The encoded protein, termed PfLAMMER, is composed of two distinct domains. The N-terminal domain is not related to any previously described protein kinases and has several interesting features including multiple consensus phosphorylation sites for a range of protein kinases, a number of RS/SR dipeptides, a large proportion of charged amino acids, two putative nuclear localisation signals and 14 copies of a tetramer DKYD repeats. The C-terminal domain is characteristic of a kinase in the LAMMER family with the highest homology to the Arabidopsis thaliana AFC3 kinase. Genomic restriction analysis showed that PfLAMMER is encoded by a single copy gene in the parasite genome. A single transcript of approximately 3800 nucleotides is expressed specifically in the sexual stage, indicating that PfLAMMER may be important in regulating the processes of sexual differentiation of the parasite

Phosphorus sources trials

HIGH RAINFALL AREAS -Sand 76BU1 - New land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) T. O\u27Byrne, Yalingup. 76BU4 - Old land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) T. Combe, Busselton. Gravel 76MT10 - New land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) Mt. Barker Research Station. 76MT9 - Old land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) Mt. Barker Research Station. 77MT1 - Newland particle size and method of cultivation phosphorus source trial (pasture) Mt. Barker Research Station. 77MT2 - Old land phosphorus sources cropping trial (oats every 3rd year) Mt. Barker Research Station. MEDIUM RAINFALL AREAS Sand 76ES37 - Young land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) F. Fels, Esperance. 77E1 - New land phosphorus sources trial (pasture)~ Esperance Downs Research Station. 77E2 - Old land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) Esperance Downs Research Station. Gravel 75no7B - New land phosphorus sources trial (pasture) G. Watson (formerly D. Gillespie), East Chittering 77MO16 - New land phosphorus sources cropping trial (wheat) Martindale Pty Ltd, \u27Newdale\u27, New Norcia. LOW RAINFALL AREAS Sand 76WH9 - New land phosphorus sources trial (pasture & crop) Wongan Hills Research Station. 76WH10 - Young land phosphorus sources trial (pasture & crop) Wongan Hills Research Station. 76WH14 - Old land phosphorus sources trial (cropped every 3rd year) Wongan Hills Research Station. 77WH2 - Old land phosphorus sources cropping trial, Wongan Hills Research Station. Gravel 76N4 - New land phosphorus sources trial (pasture & crop) Newdegate Research Station. 76N6 - Old land phosphorus sources trial (cropped every 3rd year) Newdegate Research Station. 76LG6 - Young land.phosphorus sources trial (pasture & crop) Newdegate Research station

Neural crest migration is driven by a few trailblazer cells with a unique molecular signature narrowly confined to the invasive front

Neural crest (NC) cell migration is crucial to the formation of peripheral tissues during vertebrate development. However, how NC cells respond to different microenvironments to maintain persistence of direction and cohesion in multicellular streams remains unclear. To address this, we profiled eight subregions of a typical cranial NC cell migratory stream. Hierarchical clustering showed significant differences in the expression profiles of the lead three subregions compared with newly emerged cells. Multiplexed imaging of mRNA expression using fluorescent hybridization chain reaction (HCR) quantitatively confirmed the expression profiles of lead cells. Computational modeling predicted that a small fraction of lead cells that detect directional information is optimal for successful stream migration. Single-cell profiling then revealed a unique molecular signature that is consistent and stable over time in a subset of lead cells within the most advanced portion of the migratory front, which we term trailblazers. Model simulations that forced a lead cell behavior in the trailing subpopulation predicted cell bunching near the migratory domain entrance. Misexpression of the trailblazer molecular signature by perturbation of two upstream transcription factors agreed with the in silico prediction and showed alterations to NC cell migration distance and stream shape. These data are the first to characterize the molecular diversity within an NC cell migratory stream and offer insights into how molecular patterns are transduced into cell behaviors

Human epicardial adipose tissue expresses a pathogenic profile of adipocytokines in patients with cardiovascular disease

Introduction: Inflammation contributes to cardiovascular disease and is exacerbated with increased adiposity, particularly omental adiposity; however, the role of epicardial fat is poorly understood. Methods: For these studies the expression of inflammatory markers was assessed in epicardial fat biopsies from coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients using quantitative RT-PCR. Further, the effects of chronic medications, including statins, as well as peri-operative glucose, insulin and potassium infusion, on gene expression were also assessed. Circulating resistin, CRP, adiponectin and leptin levels were determined to assess inflammation. Results: The expression of adiponectin, resistin and other adipocytokine mRNAs were comparable to that in omental fat. Epicardial CD45 expression was significantly higher than control depots (p < 0.01) indicating significant infiltration of macrophages. Statin treated patients showed significantly lower epicardial expression of IL-6 mRNA, in comparison with the control abdominal depots (p < 0.001). The serum profile of CABG patients showed significantly higher levels of both CRP (control: 1.28 ± 1.57 μg/mL vs CABG: 9.11 ± 15.7 μg/mL; p < 0.001) and resistin (control: 10.53 ± 0.81 ng/mL vs CABG: 16.8 ± 1.69 ng/mL; p < 0.01) and significantly lower levels of adiponectin (control: 29.1 ± 14.8 μg/mL vs CABG: 11.9 ± 6.0 μg/mL; p < 0.05) when compared to BMI matched controls. Conclusion: Epicardial and omental fat exhibit a broadly comparable pathogenic mRNA profile, this may arise in part from macrophage infiltration into the epicardial fat. This study highlights that chronic inflammation occurs locally as well as systemically potentially contributing further to the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease