Frontiers of parasitology research in the People's Republic of China : infection, diagnosis, protection and surveillance

ABSTRACT: Control and eventual elimination of human parasitic diseases in the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) requires novel approaches, particularly in the areas of diagnostics, mathematical modelling, monitoring, evaluation, surveillance and public health response. A comprehensive effort, involving the collaboration of 188 scientists (<85% from P.R. China) from 48 different institutions and universities (80% from P.R. China), covers this collection of 29 articles published in Parasites & Vectors. The research mainly stems from a research project entitled 'Surveillance and diagnostic tools for major parasitic diseases in P.R. China' (grant no. 2008ZX10004-011) and highlights the frontiers of research in parasitology. The majority of articles in this thematic series deals with the most important parasitic diseases in P.R. China, emphasizing Schistosoma japonicum, Plasmodium vivax and Clonorchis sinensis plus some parasites of emerging importance such as Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Significant achievements have been made through the collaborative research programme in the following three fields: (i) development of control strategies for the national control programme; (ii) updating the surveillance data of parasitic infections both in human and animals; and (iii) improvement of existing, and development of novel, diagnostic tools to detect parasitic infections. The progress is considerable and warrants broad validation efforts. Combined with the development of improved tools for diagnosis and surveillance, integrated and multi-pronged control strategies now pave the way for elimination of parasitic diseases in P.R. China. Experiences and lessons learned can stimulate control and elimination efforts of parasitic diseases in other parts of the world

Sub-dekahertz ultraviolet spectroscopy of 199Hg+

Using a laser that is frequency-locked to a Fabry-Perot etalon of high finesse and stability, we probe the 5d10 6s 2S_1/2 (F=0) - 5d9 6s 2D_5/2 (F=2) Delta-m_F = 0 electric-quadrupole transition of a single laser-cooled 199Hg+ ion stored in a cryogenic radio-frequency ion trap. We observe Fourier-transform limited linewidths as narrow as 6.7 Hz at 282 nm (1.06 X 10^15 Hz), yielding a line Q = 1.6 X 10^14. We perform a preliminary measurement of the 5d9 6s2 2D_5/2 electric-quadrupole shift due to interaction with the static fields of the trap, and discuss the implications for future trapped-ion optical frequency standards.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publicatio

SEPARATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL MEMBRANES OF NEUROSPORA CRASSA : II. Submitochondrial Localization of the Isoleucine-Valine Biosynthetic Pathway

Separation of Neurospora mitochondrial outer membranes from the inner membrane/matrix fraction was effected by digitonin treatment and discontinuous density gradient centrifugation. The solubilization of four isoleucine-valine biosynthetic enzymes was studied as a function of digitonin concentration and time of incubation in the detergent. The kinetics of the appearance of valine biosynthetic function in fractions outside of the inner membrane/matrix fraction, coupled with enzyme solubilization patterns similar to that for the matrix marker, mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase, indicate that the four isoleucine-valine pathway enzymes are localized in the mitochondrial matrix

The Potential and Limitations of 2D Seismic Experiments for 3D Tomography

The Liguro-Provençal Basin is located in a complex tectonic area, at the junction of the Western Alps and Northern Apennines. Despite its central location within Europe, much about the basin, including the character of the crust, and the continuation of the Alpine orogen offshore, remain ambiguous. The basin began opening in the late Oligocene as a back-arc basin related to the retreat of the Apennine subduction zone. Opening continued into the early Miocene with the counter-clockwise rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block to its current position. In the southern part of the basin where this rotation opened the widest, seismic tomography has shown evidence of oceanic crust, however, the extent of this spreading zone northward into the Ligurian Sea is poorly mapped. The nature of the crust in the basin, whether atypical oceanic crust or partially serpentinized mantle overlain by sediments or highly thinned continental crust is still a matter of debate. At a larger scale there are still open questions as to the continuation of the alpine orogen offshore, and the change in polarity between the Alp and Apennine subduction zones. As well, present day seismicity with thrust-faulting focal mechanisms have been observed in the basin, indicating that the stress field is now compressive. This could potentially reactivate rift-structures in the basin, which are difficult to map due to thick sediment cover including a layer of Messinian salt with variable thickness. These open questions, and the accessibility of the basin in the heart of Europe, have led to the collection of at least 18 active seismic profiles, and even more multi-channel seismic lines. Each of these studies have contributed to understanding the tectonics of the area through 2D tomography along the profile, but these are small snapshots of a complex setting. The amount of data that has been collected provides a unique opportunity to combine data sets and examine the possibility of gaining new information in the form of 3D tomography from existing 2D data sets. In this project we use active seismic data from the LOBSTER-AlpArray Experiment, the GROSMarin Experiment, and the SARDINIA Experiment, as well as passive seismic data from the AlpArray Experiment and the ISC Bulletin. We explore the potential and limitations of these data sets for use in 3D tomography using two new methods. We first use off-profile stations along a 2D seismic line combined with passive seismicity to provide back-shots for the stations, then in the Gulf of Lion we use two parallel seismic profiles where stations recorded shots from both profiles. This project is part of the DFG Priority Program “Mountain Building Processes in Four Dimensions (4DMB)”

Laser frequency stabilization to a single ion

A fundamental limit to the stability of a single-ion optical frequency standard is set by quantum noise in the measurement of the internal state of the ion. We discuss how the interrogation sequence and the processing of the atomic resonance signal can be optimized in order to obtain the highest possible stability under realistic experimental conditions. A servo algorithm is presented that stabilizes a laser frequency to the single-ion signal and that eliminates errors due to laser frequency drift. Numerical simulations of the servo characteristics are compared to experimental data from a frequency comparison of two single-ion standards based on a transition at 688 THz in 171Yb+. Experimentally, an instability sigma_y(100 s)=9*10^{-16} is obtained in the frequency difference between both standards.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys.

Coherent optical phase transfer over a 32-km fiber with 1-s instability at 10−1710^{-17}

The phase coherence of an ultrastable optical frequency reference is fully maintained over actively stabilized fiber networks of lengths exceeding 30 km. For a 7-km link installed in an urban environment, the transfer instability is $6 \times 10^{-18}$ at 1-s. The excess phase noise of 0.15 rad, integrated from 8 mHz to 25 MHz, yields a total timing jitter of 0.085 fs. A 32-km link achieves similar performance. Using frequency combs at each end of the coherent-transfer fiber link, a heterodyne beat between two independent ultrastable lasers, separated by 3.5 km and 163 THz, achieves a 1-Hz linewidth.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Complementation of Subquandles

Saki and Kiani proved that the subrack lattice of a rack $R$ is necessarily complemented if $R$ is finite but not necessarily complemented if $R$ is infinite. In this paper, we investigate further avenues related to the complementation of subquandles. Saki and Kiani's example of an infinite rack without complements is a quandle, which is neither ind-finite nor profinite. We provide an example of an ind-finite quandle whose subobject lattice is not complemented, and conjecture that profinite quandles have complemented subobject lattices. Additionally, we provide a complete classification of subquandles whose set-theoretic complement is also a subquandle, which we call \textit{strongly complemented}, and provide a partial transitivity criterion for the complementation in chains of strongly complemented subquandles. One technical lemma used in establishing this is of independent interest: the inner automorphism group of a subquandle is always a subquotient of the inner automorphism group of the ambient quandle

Observation of the 1S0 - 3P0 clock transition in 27Al+

We report for the first time, laser spectroscopy of the 1S0 - 3P0 clock transition in 27Al+. A single aluminum ion and a single beryllium ion are simultaneously confined in a linear Paul trap, coupled by their mutual Coulomb repulsion. This coupling allows the beryllium ion to sympathetically cool the aluminum ion, and also enables transfer of the aluminum's electronic state to the beryllium's hyperfine state, which can be measured with high fidelity. These techniques are applied to a measurement of the clock transition frequency, \nu = 1 121 015 393 207 851(8) Hz. They are also used to measure the lifetime of the metastable clock state, \tau = 20.6 +/- 1.4 s, the ground state 1S0 g-factor, g_S = -0.00079248(14), and the excited state 3P0 g-factor, g_P = -0.00197686(21), in units of the Bohr magneton.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; updated author lis

Quantum state engineering on an optical transition and decoherence in a Paul trap

A single Ca+ ion in a Paul trap has been cooled to the ground state of vibration with up to 99.9% probability. Starting from this Fock state |n=0> we have demonstrated coherent quantum state manipulation on an optical transition. Up to 30 Rabi oscillations within 1.4 ms have been observed. We find a similar number of Rabi oscillations after preparation of the ion in the |n=1> Fock state. The coherence of optical state manipulation is only limited by laser and ambient magnetic field fluctuations. Motional heating has been measured to be as low as one vibrational quantum in 190 ms.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure