28,477 research outputs found
Gene expression analysis of bovine embryonic disc, trophoblast and parietal hypoblast at the start of gastrulation
In cattle early gastrulation-stage embryos (Stage 5), four tissues can be discerned: (i) the top layer of the embryonic disc consisting of embryonic ectoderm (EmE); (ii) the bottom layer of the disc consisting of mesoderm, endoderm and visceral hypoblast (MEH); (iii) the trophoblast (TB); and (iv) the parietal hypoblast. We performed microsurgery followed by RNA-seq to analyse the transcriptome of these four tissues as well as a developmentally earlier pre-gastrulation embryonic disc. The cattle EmE transcriptome was similar at Stages 4 and 5, characterised by the OCT4/SOX2/NANOG pluripotency network. Expression of genes associated with primordial germ cells suggest their presence in the EmE tissue at these stages. Anterior visceral hypoblast genes were transcribed in the Stage 4 disc, but no longer by Stage 5. The Stage 5 MEH layer was equally similar to mouse embryonic and extraembryonic visceral endoderm. Our data suggest that the first mesoderm to invaginate in cattle embryos is fated to become extraembryonic. TGFβ, FGF, VEGF, PDGFA, IGF2, IHH and WNT signals and receptors were expressed, however the representative members of the FGF families differed from that seen in equivalent tissues of mouse embryos. The TB transcriptome was unique and differed significantly from that of mice. FGF signalling in the TB may be autocrine with both FGFR2 and FGF2 expressed. Our data revealed a range of potential inter-tissue interactions, highlighted significant differences in early development between mice and cattle and yielded insight into the developmental events occurring at the start of gastrulation
Efficiency of initiating cell adhesion in hydrodynamic flow
We theoretically investigate the efficiency of initial binding between a
receptor-coated sphere and a ligand-coated wall in linear shear flow. The mean
first passage time for binding decreases monotonically with increasing shear
rate. Above a saturation threshold of the order of a few 100 receptor patches,
the binding efficiency is enhanced only weakly by increasing their number and
size, but strongly by increasing their height. This explains why white blood
cells in the blood flow adhere through receptor patches localized to the tips
of microvilli, and why malaria-infected red blood cells form elevated receptor
patches (knobs).Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 Postscript figures included, to appear in PR
Locating the Source of Diffusion in Large-Scale Networks
How can we localize the source of diffusion in a complex network? Due to the
tremendous size of many real networks--such as the Internet or the human social
graph--it is usually infeasible to observe the state of all nodes in a network.
We show that it is fundamentally possible to estimate the location of the
source from measurements collected by sparsely-placed observers. We present a
strategy that is optimal for arbitrary trees, achieving maximum probability of
correct localization. We describe efficient implementations with complexity
O(N^{\alpha}), where \alpha=1 for arbitrary trees, and \alpha=3 for arbitrary
graphs. In the context of several case studies, we determine how localization
accuracy is affected by various system parameters, including the structure of
the network, the density of observers, and the number of observed cascades.Comment: To appear in Physical Review Letters. Includes pre-print of main
paper, and supplementary materia
Monotonicity and logarithmic convexity relating to the volume of the unit ball
Let stand for the volume of the unit ball in for
. In the present paper, we prove that the sequence
is logarithmically convex and that the sequence
is strictly
decreasing for . In addition, some monotonic and concave properties of
several functions relating to are extended and generalized.Comment: 12 page
Kinematics of the swimming of Spiroplasma
\emph{Spiroplasma} swimming is studied with a simple model based on
resistive-force theory. Specifically, we consider a bacterium shaped in the
form of a helix that propagates traveling-wave distortions which flip the
handedness of the helical cell body. We treat cell length, pitch angle, kink
velocity, and distance between kinks as parameters and calculate the swimming
velocity that arises due to the distortions. We find that, for a fixed pitch
angle, scaling collapses the swimming velocity (and the swimming efficiency) to
a universal curve that depends only on the ratio of the distance between kinks
to the cell length. Simultaneously optimizing the swimming efficiency with
respect to inter-kink length and pitch angle, we find that the optimal pitch
angle is 35.5 and the optimal inter-kink length ratio is 0.338, values
in good agreement with experimental observations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Microscale swimming: The molecular dynamics approach
The self-propelled motion of microscopic bodies immersed in a fluid medium is
studied using molecular dynamics simulation. The advantage of the atomistic
approach is that the detailed level of description allows complete freedom in
specifying the swimmer design and its coupling with the surrounding fluid. A
series of two-dimensional swimming bodies employing a variety of propulsion
mechanisms -- motivated by biological and microrobotic designs -- is
investigated, including the use of moving limbs, changing body shapes and fluid
jets. The swimming efficiency and the nature of the induced, time-dependent
flow fields are found to differ widely among body designs and propulsion
mechanisms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures (minor changes to text
A single-photon sampling architecture for solid-state imaging
Advances in solid-state technology have enabled the development of silicon
photomultiplier sensor arrays capable of sensing individual photons. Combined
with high-frequency time-to-digital converters (TDCs), this technology opens up
the prospect of sensors capable of recording with high accuracy both the time
and location of each detected photon. Such a capability could lead to
significant improvements in imaging accuracy, especially for applications
operating with low photon fluxes such as LiDAR and positron emission
tomography.
The demands placed on on-chip readout circuitry imposes stringent trade-offs
between fill factor and spatio-temporal resolution, causing many contemporary
designs to severely underutilize the technology's full potential. Concentrating
on the low photon flux setting, this paper leverages results from group testing
and proposes an architecture for a highly efficient readout of pixels using
only a small number of TDCs, thereby also reducing both cost and power
consumption. The design relies on a multiplexing technique based on binary
interconnection matrices. We provide optimized instances of these matrices for
various sensor parameters and give explicit upper and lower bounds on the
number of TDCs required to uniquely decode a given maximum number of
simultaneous photon arrivals.
To illustrate the strength of the proposed architecture, we note a typical
digitization result of a 120x120 photodiode sensor on a 30um x 30um pitch with
a 40ps time resolution and an estimated fill factor of approximately 70%, using
only 161 TDCs. The design guarantees registration and unique recovery of up to
4 simultaneous photon arrivals using a fast decoding algorithm. In a series of
realistic simulations of scintillation events in clinical positron emission
tomography the design was able to recover the spatio-temporal location of 98.6%
of all photons that caused pixel firings.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 5 table
Geometry and topology of knotted ring polymers in an array of obstacles
We study knotted polymers in equilibrium with an array of obstacles which
models confinement in a gel or immersion in a melt. We find a crossover in both
the geometrical and the topological behavior of the polymer. When the polymers'
radius of gyration, , and that of the region containing the knot,
, are small compared to the distance b between the obstacles, the knot
is weakly localised and scales as in a good solvent with an amplitude
that depends on knot type. In an intermediate regime where ,
the geometry of the polymer becomes branched. When exceeds b, the
knot delocalises and becomes also branched. In this regime, is
independent of knot type. We discuss the implications of this behavior for gel
electrophoresis experiments on knotted DNA in weak fields.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Tin dioxide sol-gel derived thin films deposited on porous silicon
Undoped and Sb-doped SnO2 sol¿gel derived thin films have been prepared for the first time from tin (IV) ethoxide precursor and SbCl3 in order to be utilised for gas sensing applications where porous silicon is used as a substrate. Transparent, crack-free and adherent layers were obtained on different types of substrates (Si, SiO2/Si). The evolution of the Sn¿O chemical bonds in the SnO2 during film consolidation treatments was monitored by infrared spectroscopy. By energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy performed on the cross section of the porosified silicon coupled with transmission electron microscopy, the penetration of the SnO2 sol¿gel derived films in the nanometric pores of the porous silicon has been experimentally proved
Information retrieval system
Generalized information storage and retrieval system capable of generating and maintaining a file, gathering statistics, sorting output, and generating final reports for output is reviewed. File generation and file maintenance programs written for the system are general purpose routines
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