701 research outputs found
Size polymorphism and low sequence diversity in the locus encoding the Plasmodium vivax rhoptry neck protein 4 (PvRON4) in Colombian isolates
Background: Designing a vaccine against Plasmodium vivax has focused on selecting antigens involved in invasion mechanisms that must have domains with low polymorphism for avoiding allele-specific immune responses. The rhoptry neck protein 4 (RON4) forms part of the tight junction, which is essential in the invasion of hepatocytes and/or erythrocytes; however, little is known about this locus’ genetic diversity. Methods: DNA sequences from 73 Colombian clinical isolates from pvron4 gene were analysed for characterizing their genetic diversity; pvron4 haplotype number and distribution, as well as the evolutionary forces determining diversity pattern, were assessed by population genetics and molecular evolutionary approaches. Results: ron4 has low genetic diversity in P. vivax at sequence level; however, a variable amount of tandem repeats at the N-terminal region leads to extensive size polymorphism. This region seems to be exposed to the immune system. The central region has a putative esterase/lipase domain which, like the protein’s C-terminal fragment, is highly conserved at intra- and inter-species level. Both regions are under purifying selection. Conclusions: pvron4 is the locus having the lowest genetic diversity described to date for P. vivax. The repeat regions in the N-terminal region could be associated with immune evasion mechanisms while the central region and the C-terminal region seem to be under functional or structural constraint. Bearing such results in mind, the PvRON4 central and/or C-terminal portions represent promising candidates when designing a subunit-based vaccine as they are aimed at avoiding an allele-specific immune response, which might limit vaccine efficacy. © 2016 The Author(s)
Self-trapping of a binary Bose-Einstein condensate induced by interspecies interaction
The problem of self-trapping of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and a binary
BEC in an optical lattice (OL) and double well (DW) is studied using the
mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation. For both DW and OL, permanent
self-trapping occurs in a window of the repulsive nonlinearity of the GP
equation: . In case of OL, the critical nonlinearities
and correspond to a window of chemical potentials
defining the band gap(s) of the periodic OL. The
permanent self-trapped BEC in an OL usually represents a breathing oscillation
of a stable stationary gap soliton. The permanent self-trapped BEC in a DW, on
the other hand, is a dynamically stabilized state without any stationary
counterpart. For a binary BEC with intraspecies nonlinearities outside this
window of nonlinearity, a permanent self trapping can be induced by tuning the
interspecies interaction such that the effective nonlinearities of the
components fall in the above window
305: Irradiation of cellular blood components with cobalt 60 is very efficient and safe in the prevention of transfusion associated graft versus host disease (TA-GVHD) in the allogeneic transplant setting
Life-threatening orolingual angioedema during thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke
Background: Orolingual angioedema can occur during thrombolysis with alteplase in stroke patients. However, data about its frequency, severity and the significance of concurrent use of angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) are sparse. Objective: (1), to alert to the potentially life-threatening complication of orolingual angioedema. (2), to present CT-scans of the tongue which exclude lingual hematoma. (3), to estimate the frequency of orolingual angioedema. (4), to evaluate the risk associated with the concurrent use of ACEi. Methods: Single center, databank-based observational study on 120 consecutive patients with i. v. alteplase for acute stroke. Meta-analysis of all stroke studies on alteplase-associated angioedema, which provided detailed information about the use of ACEinhibitors. Across studies, the Peto odds ratio of orolingual angioedema for "concurrent use of ACEi" was calculated. Results: Orolingual angioedema occurred in 2 of 120 patients (1.7%, 95% CI 0.2-5.9 %).Angioedema was mild in one, but rapidly progressive in another patient. Impending asphyxia prompted immediate intubation. CT showed orolingual swelling but no bleeding. One of 19 (5%) patients taking ACEi had orolingual angioedema, compared to 1 of 101 (1%) patients without ACEi. Medline search identified one further study about the occurrence of alteplase-associated angioedema in stroke patients stratified to the use of ACEi. Peto odds ratio of 37 (95 % CI 8-171) indicated an increased risk of alteplasetriggered angioedema for patients with ACEi (p <0.001). Conclusion: Orolingual angioedema is a potentially life-threatening complication of alteplase treatment in stroke patients, especially in those with ACEi. Orolingual hematoma as differential diagnosis can be excluded by CT-sca
T-PHOT: A new code for PSF-matched, prior-based, multiwavelength extragalactic deconfusion photometry
We present T-PHOT, a publicly available software aimed at extracting accurate
photometry from low-resolution images of deep extragalactic fields, where the
blending of sources can be a serious problem for the accurate and unbiased
measurement of fluxes and colours. T-PHOT has been developed within the
ASTRODEEP project and it can be considered as the next generation to TFIT,
providing significant improvements above it and other similar codes. T-PHOT
gathers data from a high-resolution image of a region of the sky, and uses it
to obtain priors for the photometric analysis of a lower resolution image of
the same field. It can handle different types of datasets as input priors: i) a
list of objects that will be used to obtain cutouts from the real
high-resolution image; ii) a set of analytical models; iii) a list of
unresolved, point-like sources, useful e.g. for far-infrared wavelength
domains. We show that T-PHOT yields accurate estimations of fluxes within the
intrinsic uncertainties of the method, when systematic errors are taken into
account (which can be done thanks to a flagging code given in the output).
T-PHOT is many times faster than similar codes like TFIT and CONVPHOT (up to
hundreds, depending on the problem and the method adopted), whilst at the same
time being more robust and more versatile. This makes it an optimal choice for
the analysis of large datasets. In addition we show how the use of different
settings and methods significantly enhances the performance. Given its
versatility and robustness, T-PHOT can be considered the preferred choice for
combined photometric analysis of current and forthcoming extragalactic optical
to far-infrared imaging surveys. [abridged]Comment: 23 pages, 20 figures, 2 table
Broad-band gravitational-wave pulses from binary neutron stars in eccentric orbits
Maximum gravitational wave emission from binary stars in eccentric orbits
occurs near the periastron passage. We show that for a stationary distribution
of binary neutron stars in the Galaxy, several high-eccentricity systems with
orbital periods in the range from tens of minutes to several days should exist
that emit broad gravitational-wave pulses in the frequency range 1-100 mHz. The
space interferometer LISA could register the pulsed signal from these system at
a signal-to-noise ratio level in the frequency range Hz during one-year observational time. Some detection
algorithms for such a signal are discussed.Comment: 17 pages, LATEX, 3 figures, Astronomy Letters, 2002, in press; typos
corrected, refference adde
IGR J19552+0044: A new asynchronous short period polar: "Filling the gap between intermediate and ordinary polars"
Based on XMM--Newton X-ray observations IGR J19552+0044 appears to be either
a pre-polar or an asynchronous polar. We conducted follow-up optical
observations to identify the sources and periods of variability precisely and
to classify this X-ray source correctly. Extensive multicolor photometric and
medium- to high-resolution spectroscopy observations were performed and period
search codes were applied to sort out the complex variability of the object. We
found firm evidence of discording spectroscopic (81.29+/-0.01m) and photometric
(83.599+/-0.002m) periods that we ascribe to the white dwarf (WD)\ spin period
and binary orbital period, respectively. This confirms that IGR J19552+0044 is
an asynchronous polar. Wavelength-dependent variability and its continuously
changing shape point at a cyclotron emission from a magnetic WD with a
relatively low magnetic field below 20 MG.
The difference between the WD spin period and the binary orbital period
proves that IGR J19552+0044 is a polar with the largest known degree of
asynchronism (0.97 or 3%).Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, A&A accepte
Galactomannan Does Not Precede Major Signs on a Pulmonary Computerized Tomographic Scan Suggestive of Invasive Aspergillosis in Patients with Hematological Malignancies
Background. Detection of serum galactomannan (GM) antigen and presence of the halo sign on a pulmonary computerized tomographic (CT) scan have a high specificity but a low sensitivity to diagnose invasive aspergillosis (IA) in patients at risk for this disease. To our knowledge, the relationship between the time at which pulmonary infiltrates are detected by CT and the time at which GM antigens are detected by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) has not been studied. Methods. In a prospective study, tests for detection of GM were performed twice weekly for patients with hematological malignancies who had undergone hematopoetic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) or had received induction and/or consolidation chemotherapy. A pulmonary CT scan was performed once weekly. Infiltrates were defined as either major or minor signs. IA was classified as proven, probable, or possible, in accordance with the definition stated by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Invasive Fungal Infections Cooperative Group and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Mycoses Study Group. Results. We analyzed 161 episodes of infection in 107 patients (65 allogeneic HSCT recipients, 30 autologous HSCT recipients, and 66 induction and/or consolidation chemotherapy recipients). A total of 109 episodes with no IA, 32 episodes with possible IA, and 20 episodes with probable or proven IA were identified. Minor pulmonary signs were detected by CT in 70 episodes (43%), and major pulmonary signs were detected by CT in 11 episodes (7%). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed no significant association between detection of GM by EIA and detection of abnormal pulmonary signs by CT. A significant association was found between GM levels and receipt of piperacillin-tazobactam. GM test results were not positive before major signs were seen on CT images. Only 7 (10%) of 70 patients with minor pulmonary signs had positive GM test results before detection of the greatest pathologic change by CT. Conclusions. We show that detection of GM by EIA does not precede detection of major lesions by pulmonary CT. In the clinical setting, the decision to administer mold-active treatment should based on detection of new pulmonary infiltrates on CT performed early during infection, rather than on results of EIA for detection of G
Identification of z~>2 Herschel 500 micron sources using color-deconfusion
We present a new method to search for candidate z~>2 Herschel 500{\mu}m
sources in the GOODS-North field, using a S500{\mu}m/S24{\mu}m "color
deconfusion" technique. Potential high-z sources are selected against
low-redshift ones from their large 500{\mu}m to 24{\mu}m flux density ratios.
By effectively reducing the contribution from low-redshift populations to the
observed 500{\mu}m emission, we are able to identify counterparts to high-z
500{\mu}m sources whose 24{\mu}m fluxes are relatively faint. The recovery of
known z~4 starbursts confirms the efficiency of this approach in selecting
high-z Herschel sources. The resulting sample consists of 34 dusty star-forming
galaxies at z~>2. The inferred infrared luminosities are in the range
1.5x10^12-1.8x10^13 Lsun, corresponding to dust-obscured star formation rates
(SFRs) of ~260-3100 Msun/yr for a Salpeter IMF. Comparison with previous SCUBA
850{\mu}m-selected galaxy samples shows that our method is more efficient at
selecting high-z dusty galaxies with a median redshift of z=3.07+/-0.83 and 10
of the sources at z~>4. We find that at a fixed luminosity, the dust
temperature is ~5K cooler than that expected from the Td-LIR relation at z<1,
though different temperature selection effects should be taken into account.
The radio-detected subsample (excluding three strong AGN) follows the
far-infrared/radio correlation at lower redshifts, and no evolution with
redshift is observed out to z~5, suggesting that the far-infrared emission is
star formation dominated. The contribution of the high-z Herschel 500{\mu}m
sources to the cosmic SFR density is comparable to that of SMG populations at
z~2.5 and at least 40% of the extinction-corrected UV samples at z~4
(abridged).Comment: 33 pages in emulateapj format, 24 figures, 2 tables, accepted for
publication in the ApJ
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