81 research outputs found
Realistic loophole-free Bell test with atom-photon entanglement
The establishment of nonlocal correlations, obtained through the violation of
a Bell inequality, is not only important from a fundamental point of view, but
constitutes the basis for device-independent quantum information technologies.
Although several nonlocality tests have been performed so far, all of them
suffered from either the locality or the detection loopholes. Recent studies
have suggested that the use of atom-photon entanglement can lead to Bell
inequality violations with moderate transmission and detection efficiencies. In
this paper we propose an experimental setup realizing a simple atom-photon
entangled state that, under realistic experimental parameters available to
date, achieves a significant violation of the Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt
inequality. Most importantly, the violation remains when considering typical
detection efficiencies and losses due to required propagation distances.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 3 table, to appear in Nature Com
Report on developing bottom-up Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACCS) for representative farm types.
bitstream/item/177181/1/D11.2-Report-on-developing-bottom-up-MACCs-for-representative-farm-types-0263D69D-63D3-4EA3-A333-EDA004AFDFCB1.pd
Optimizing Staining Protocols for Laser Microdissection of Specific Cell Types from the Testis Including Carcinoma In Situ
Microarray and RT-PCR based methods are important tools for analysis of gene expression; however, in tissues containing many different cells types, such as the testis, characterization of gene expression in specific cell types can be severely hampered by noise from other cells. The laser microdissection technology allows for enrichment of specific cell types. However, when the cells are not morphologically distinguishable, it is necessary to use a specific staining method for the target cells. In this study we have tested different fixatives, storage conditions for frozen sections and staining protocols, and present two staining protocols for frozen sections, one for fast and specific staining of fetal germ cells, testicular carcinoma in situ cells, and other cells with embryonic stem cell-like properties that express the alkaline phosphatase, and one for specific staining of lipid droplet-containing cells, which is useful for isolation of the androgen-producing Leydig cells. Both protocols retain a morphology that is compatible with laser microdissection and yield RNA of a quality suitable for PCR and microarray analysis
Socioeconomic Inequality in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a U.S. Cross-Sectional Study
This study was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among children in the United States is positively associated with socioeconomic status (SES).A cross-sectional study was implemented with data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a multiple source surveillance system that incorporates data from educational and health care sources to determine the number of 8-year-old children with ASD among defined populations. For the years 2002 and 2004, there were 3,680 children with ASD among a population of 557,689 8-year-old children. Area-level census SES indicators were used to compute ASD prevalence by SES tertiles of the population.Prevalence increased with increasing SES in a dose-response manner, with prevalence ratios relative to medium SES of 0.70 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64, 0.76) for low SES, and of 1.25 (95% CI 1.16, 1.35) for high SES, (P<0.001). Significant SES gradients were observed for children with and without a pre-existing ASD diagnosis, and in analyses stratified by gender, race/ethnicity, and surveillance data source. The SES gradient was significantly stronger in children with a pre-existing diagnosis than in those meeting criteria for ASD but with no previous record of an ASD diagnosis (p<0.001), and was not present in children with co-occurring ASD and intellectual disability.The stronger SES gradient in ASD prevalence in children with versus without a pre-existing ASD diagnosis points to potential ascertainment or diagnostic bias and to the possibility of SES disparity in access to services for children with autism. Further research is needed to confirm and understand the sources of this disparity so that policy implications can be drawn. Consideration should also be given to the possibility that there may be causal mechanisms or confounding factors associated with both high SES and vulnerability to ASD
Sucrose Counteracts the Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Fish Oil in Adipose Tissue and Increases Obesity Development in Mice
BACKGROUND: Polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) are reported to protect against high fat diet-induced obesity and inflammation in adipose tissue. Here we aimed to investigate if the amount of sucrose in the background diet influences the ability of n-3 PUFAs to protect against diet-induced obesity, adipose tissue inflammation and glucose intolerance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We fed C57BL/6J mice a protein- (casein) or sucrose-based high fat diet supplemented with fish oil or corn oil for 9 weeks. Irrespective of the fatty acid source, mice fed diets rich in sucrose became obese whereas mice fed high protein diets remained lean. Inclusion of sucrose in the diet also counteracted the well-known anti-inflammatory effect of fish oil in adipose tissue, but did not impair the ability of fish oil to prevent accumulation of fat in the liver. Calculation of HOMA-IR indicated that mice fed high levels of proteins remained insulin sensitive, whereas insulin sensitivity was reduced in the obese mice fed sucrose irrespectively of the fat source. We show that a high fat diet decreased glucose tolerance in the mice independently of both obesity and dietary levels of n-3 PUFAs and sucrose. Of note, increasing the protein∶sucrose ratio in high fat diets decreased energy efficiency irrespective of fat source. This was accompanied by increased expression of Ppargc1a (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, gamma, coactivator 1 alpha) and increased gluconeogenesis in the fed state. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The background diet influence the ability of n-3 PUFAs to protect against development of obesity, glucose intolerance and adipose tissue inflammation. High levels of dietary sucrose counteract the anti-inflammatory effect of fish oil in adipose tissue and increases obesity development in mice
Genome-wide association study of placental weight identifies distinct and shared genetic influences between placental and fetal growth
A well-functioning placenta is essential for fetal and maternal health throughout pregnancy. Using placental weight as a proxy for placental growth, we report genome-wide association analyses in the fetal (n = 65,405), maternal (n = 61,228) and paternal (n = 52,392) genomes, yielding 40 independent association signals. Twenty-six signals are classified as fetal, four maternal and three fetal and maternal. A maternal parent-of-origin effect is seen near KCNQ1. Genetic correlation and colocalization analyses reveal overlap with birth weight genetics, but 12 loci are classified as predominantly or only affecting placental weight, with connections to placental development and morphology, and transport of antibodies and amino acids. Mendelian randomization analyses indicate that fetal genetically mediated higher placental weight is causally associated with preeclampsia risk and shorter gestational duration. Moreover, these analyses support the role of fetal insulin in regulating placental weight, providing a key link between fetal and placental growth
Invited review: Large-scale indirect measurements for enteric methane emissions in dairy cattle: A review of proxies and their potential for use in management and breeding decisions
Publication history: Accepted - 7 December 2016; Published online - 1 February 2017.Efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of milk production through selection and management of low-emitting
cows require accurate and large-scale measurements of
methane (CH4) emissions from individual cows. Several
techniques have been developed to measure CH4 in a research setting but most are not suitable for large-scale
recording on farm. Several groups have explored proxies (i.e., indicators or indirect traits) for CH4; ideally
these should be accurate, inexpensive, and amenable
to being recorded individually on a large scale. This
review (1) systematically describes the biological basis
of current potential CH4 proxies for dairy cattle; (2)
assesses the accuracy and predictive power of single
proxies and determines the added value of combining
proxies; (3) provides a critical evaluation of the relative
merit of the main proxies in terms of their simplicity,
cost, accuracy, invasiveness, and throughput; and (4)
discusses their suitability as selection traits. The proxies range from simple and low-cost measurements such
as body weight and high-throughput milk mid-infrared
spectroscopy (MIR) to more challenging measures such
as rumen morphology, rumen metabolites, or microbiome profiling. Proxies based on rumen samples are generally poor to moderately accurate predictors of CH4,
and are costly and difficult to measure routinely onfarm. Proxies related to body weight or milk yield and
composition, on the other hand, are relatively simple,
inexpensive, and high throughput, and are easier to
implement in practice. In particular, milk MIR, along
with covariates such as lactation stage, are a promising
option for prediction of CH4 emission in dairy cows.
No single proxy was found to accurately predict CH4,
and combinations of 2 or more proxies are likely to be
a better solution. Combining proxies can increase the
accuracy of predictions by 15 to 35%, mainly because
different proxies describe independent sources of variation in CH4 and one proxy can correct for shortcomings
in the other(s). The most important applications of
CH4 proxies are in dairy cattle management and breeding for lower environmental impact. When breeding for
traits of lower environmental impact, single or multiple
proxies can be used as indirect criteria for the breeding
objective, but care should be taken to avoid unfavorable correlated responses. Finally, although combinations of proxies appear to provide the most accurate
estimates of CH4, the greatest limitation today is the
lack of robustness in their general applicability. Future
efforts should therefore be directed toward developing
combinations of proxies that are robust and applicable
across diverse production systems and environments.Technical and financial support from the COST Action FA1302 of the European Union
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