From Antenna to Antenna: Lateral Shift of Olfactory Memory Recall by Honeybees

Honeybees, Apis mellifera, readily learn to associate odours with sugar rewards and we show here that recall of the olfactory memory, as demonstrated by the bee extending its proboscis when presented with the trained odour, involves first the right and then the left antenna. At 1–2 hour after training using both antennae, recall is possible mainly when the bee uses its right antenna but by 6 hours after training a lateral shift has occurred and the memory can now be recalled mainly when the left antenna is in use. Long-term memory one day after training is also accessed mainly via the left antenna. This time-dependent shift from right to left antenna is also seen as side biases in responding to odour presented to the bee's left or right side. Hence, not only are the cellular events of memory formation similar in bees and vertebrate species but also the lateralized networks involved may be similar. These findings therefore seem to call for remarkable parallel evolution and suggest that the proper functioning of memory formation in a bilateral animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, requires lateralization of processing

Bootstrapping Q Methodology to Improve the Understanding of Human Perspectives.

Q is a semi-qualitative methodology to identify typologies of perspectives. It is appropriate to address questions concerning diverse viewpoints, plurality of discourses, or participation processes across disciplines. Perspectives are interpreted based on rankings of a set of statements. These rankings are analysed using multivariate data reduction techniques in order to find similarities between respondents. Discussing the analytical process and looking for progress in Q methodology is becoming increasingly relevant. While its use is growing in social, health and environmental studies, the analytical process has received little attention in the last decades and it has not benefited from recent statistical and computational advances. Specifically, the standard procedure provides overall and arguably simplistic variability measures for perspectives and none of these measures are associated to individual statements, on which the interpretation is based. This paper presents an innovative approach of bootstrapping Q to obtain additional and more detailed measures of variability, which helps researchers understand better their data and the perspectives therein. This approach provides measures of variability that are specific to each statement and perspective, and additional measures that indicate the degree of certainty with which each respondent relates to each perspective. This supplementary information may add or subtract strength to particular arguments used to describe the perspectives. We illustrate and show the usefulness of this approach with an empirical example. The paper provides full details for other researchers to implement the bootstrap in Q studies with any data collection design

Nasal Acai Polysaccharides Potentiate Innate Immunity to Protect against Pulmonary Francisella tularensis and Burkholderia pseudomallei Infections

Pulmonary Francisella tularensis and Burkholderia pseudomallei infections are highly lethal in untreated patients, and current antibiotic regimens are not always effective. Activating the innate immune system provides an alternative means of treating infection and can also complement antibiotic therapies. Several natural agonists were screened for their ability to enhance host resistance to infection, and polysaccharides derived from the Acai berry (Acai PS) were found to have potent abilities as an immunotherapeutic to treat F. tularensis and B. pseudomallei infections. In vitro, Acai PS impaired replication of Francisella in primary human macrophages co-cultured with autologous NK cells via augmentation of NK cell IFN-γ. Furthermore, Acai PS administered nasally before or after infection protected mice against type A F. tularensis aerosol challenge with survival rates up to 80%, and protection was still observed, albeit reduced, when mice were treated two days post-infection. Nasal Acai PS administration augmented intracellular expression of IFN-γ by NK cells in the lungs of F. tularensis-infected mice, and neutralization of IFN-γ ablated the protective effect of Acai PS. Likewise, nasal Acai PS treatment conferred protection against pulmonary infection with B. pseudomallei strain 1026b. Acai PS dramatically reduced the replication of B. pseudomallei in the lung and blocked bacterial dissemination to the spleen and liver. Nasal administration of Acai PS enhanced IFN-γ responses by NK and γδ T cells in the lungs, while neutralization of IFN-γ totally abrogated the protective effect of Acai PS against pulmonary B. pseudomallei infection. Collectively, these results demonstrate Acai PS is a potent innate immune agonist that can resolve F. tularensis and B. pseudomallei infections, suggesting this innate immune agonist has broad-spectrum activity against virulent intracellular pathogens

Spleen Tyrosine Kinase (Syk) Regulates Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) T Cell Signaling

Engagement of the CD3/T cell receptor complex in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) T cells involves Syk rather than the zeta-associated protein. Because Syk is being considered as a therapeutic target we asked whether Syk is central to the multiple aberrantly modulated molecules in SLE T cells. Using a gene expression array, we demonstrate that forced expression of Syk in normal T cells reproduces most of the aberrantly expressed molecules whereas silencing of Syk in SLE T cells normalizes the expression of most abnormally expressed molecules. Protein along with gene expression modulation for select molecules was confirmed. Specifically, levels of cytokine IL-21, cell surface receptor CD44, and intracellular molecules PP2A and OAS2 increased following Syk overexpression in normal T cells and decreased after Syk silencing in SLE T cells. Our results demonstrate that levels of Syk affect the expression of a number of enzymes, cytokines and receptors that play a key role in the development of disease pathogenesis in SLE and provide support for therapeutic targeting in SLE patients

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

A monolithic integrated photonic microwave filter

[EN] Meeting the increasing demand for capacity in wireless networks requires the harnessing of higher regions in the radiofrequency spectrum, reducing cell size, as well as more compact, agile and power-efficient base stations that are capable of smoothly interfacing the radio and fibre segments. Fully functional microwave photonic chips are promising candidates in attempts to meet these goals. In recent years, many integrated microwave photonic chips have been reported in different technologies. To the best of our knowledge, none has monolithically integrated all the main active and passive optoelectronic components. Here, we report the first demonstration of a tunable microwave photonics filter that is monolithically integrated into an indium phosphide chip. The reconfigurable radiofrequency photonic filter includes all the necessary elements (for example, lasers, modulators and photodetectors), and its response can be tuned by means of control electric currents. This is an important step in demonstrating the feasibility of integrated and programmable microwave photonic processors.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial (CDTI) through the NEOTEC start-up programme, the European Commission through the 7th Research Framework Programme project, Photonic Advanced Research and Development for Integrated Generic Manufacturing (FP7-PARADIGM), the Generalitat Valenciana through the Programa para grupos de Investigacion de Excelencia (PROMETEO) project code 2013/012, the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Comercio (MINECO) via project TEC2013-42332-P, PIF4ESP, and the Unwersitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPVOV) through projects 10-3E-492 and 08-3E-008 funded by the Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). J.S. Fandino acknowledges financial support from Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU) grant AP2010-1595.Sanchez Fandiño, JA.; Muñoz Muñoz, P.; Doménech Gómez, JD.; Capmany Francoy, J. (2017). A monolithic integrated photonic microwave filter. Nature Photonics. 11(2):124-129. https://doi.org/10.1038/NPHOTON.2016.233S124129112Novak, D. et al. Radio-over-fiber technologies for emerging wireless systems. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 52, 1–11 (2016).Waterhouse, R. & Novak, D. Realizing 5G: microwave photonics for 5G mobile wireless systems. IEEE Microw. Mag. 16, 84–92 (2015).Won, R. Microwave photonics shines. Nat. Photon. 5, 736 (2011).Capmany, J. & Novak, D. Microwave photonics combines two worlds. Nat. Photon. 1, 319–330 (2007).Yao, J. Microwave photonics. J. Lightw. Technol. 27, 314–335 (2009).Andrews, J. G. et al. What will 5G be? IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. 32, 1065–1082 (2014).Gosh, A., et al. Millimetre-wave enhanced local area systems: a high-data-rate approach for future wireless networks. IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. 32, 1152–1163 (2014).Marpaung, D. et al. Integrated microwave photonics. Laser Photon. Rev. 7, 506–538 (2013).Iezekiel, S., Burla, M., Klamkin, J., Marpaung, D. & Capmany, J. RF engineering meets optoelectronics: progress in integrated microwave photonics. IEEE Microw. Mag. 16, 28–45 (2015).Mitchell, J. E. Integrated wireless backhaul over optical access networks. J. Lightw. Technol. 32, 3373–3382 (2014).Liu, C., Wang, J., Cheng, L., Zhu, M. & Chang, G.-K. Key microwave-photonics technologies for next-generation cloud-based radio access networks. J. Lightw. Technol. 32, 3452–3460 (2014).Norberg, E. J., Guzzon, R. S., Parker, J. S., Johansson, L. A. & Coldren, L. A. Programmable photonic microwave filters monolithically integrated in InP/InGaAsP. J. Lightw. Technol. 29, 1611–1619 (2011).Guzzon, R., Norberg, E., Parker, J., Johansson, L. & Coldren, L. Integrated InP–InGaAsP tuneable coupled ring optical bandpass filters with zero insertion loss. Opt. Express 19, 7816–7826 (2011).Fandiño, J. S. & Muñoz, P. Photonics-based microwave frequency measurement using a double-sideband suppressed-carrier modulation and an InP integrated ring-assisted Mach–Zehnder interferometer filter. Opt. Lett. 38, 4316–4319 (2013).Burla, M. et al. On-chip ultra-wideband microwave photonic phase shifter and true time delay line based on a single phase-shifted waveguide Bragg grating. In IEEE International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics 92–95 (IEEE, 2013).Shi, W., Veerasubramanian, V., Patel, D. & Plant, D. Tuneable nanophotonic delay lines using linearly chirped contradirectioinal couplers with uniform Bragg gratings. Opt. Lett. 39, 701–703 (2014).Guan, B. et al. CMOS compatible reconfigurable silicon photonic lattice filters using cascaded unit cells for RF-photonic processing. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 20, 359–368 (2014).Khan, M. H. et al. Ultrabroad-bandwidth arbitrary radiofrequency waveform generation with a silicon photonic chip-based spectral shaper. Nat. Photon. 4, 117–122 (2010).Pagani, M. et al. Instantaneous frequency measurement system using four-wave mixing in an ultra-compact long silicon waveguide. In Proc. 41st European Conf. on Optical Communication (ECOC) 1–3 (IEEE, 2015).Khilo, A. et al. Photonic ADC: overcoming the bottleneck of electronic jitter. Opt. Express 20, 4454–4469 (2012).Wang, J. et al. Reconfigurable radio-frequency arbitrary waveforms synthesized in a silicon photonic chip. Nat. Commun. 6, 5957 (2015).Marpaung, D. et al. Si3N4 ring resonator-based microwave photonic notch filter with an ultrahigh peak rejection. Opt. Express 21, 23286–23294 (2013).Zhuang, L. et al. Ring resonator-based on-chip modulation transformer for high-performance phase-modulated microwave photonic links. Opt. Express 21, 25999–26013 (2013).Marpaung, D., Chevalier, L., Burla, M. & Roeloffzen, C. Impulse radio ultrawideband pulse shaper based on a programmable photonic chip frequency discriminator. Opt. Express 19, 24838–24848 (2011).Marpaung, D. On-chip photonic-assisted instantaneous microwave frequency measurement system. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 25, 837–840 (2013).Burla, M. et al. On-chip CMOS compatible reconfigurable optical delay line with separate carrier tuning for microwave photonic signal processing. Opt. Express 19, 21475–21484 (2011).Tan, K. et al. Photonic-chip-based all-optical ultra-wideband pulse generation via XPM and birefringence in a chalcogenide waveguide. Opt. Express 21, 2003–2011 (2013).Pagani, M. et al. Tuneable wideband microwave photonic phase shifter using on-chip stimulated Brillouin scattering. Opt. Express 22, 28810–28818 (2014).Pérez, D., Gasulla, I. & Capmany, J. Software-defined reconfigurable microwave photonics processor. Opt. Express 23, 14640–14654 (2015).Capmany, J., Gasulla, I. & Pérez, D. Microwave photonics: the programmable processor. Nat. Photon. 10, 6–8 (2016).Zhuang, L., Roeloffzen, C. G. H., Hoekman, M., Boller, K.-J. & Lowery, A. J. Programmable photonic signal processor chip for radiofrequency applications. Optica 2, 854–859 (2015).Roeloffzen, C. G. et al. Silicon nitride microwave photonic circuits. Opt. Express 21, 22937–22961 (2013).Liu, W. et al. A fully reconfigurable photonic integrated signal processor. Nat. Photon. 10, 190–195 (2016).Madsen, C. K. & Zhao, J. H. Optical Filter Design and Analysis: A Signal Processing Approach (Wiley, 1999).Román, J., Frankel, M. Y. & Esman, R. D. Spectral characterization of fiber gratings with high resolution. Opt. Lett. 23, 939–941 (1998).Hernández, R., Loayssa, A. & Benito, D. Optical vector network analysis based on single-sideband modulation. Opt. Eng. 43, 2418–2421 (2004).Jinguji, K. & Oguma, M. Optical half-band filters. J. Lightw. Technol. 18, 252–259 (2000).Madsen, C. K. Efficient architectures for exactly realizing optical filters with optimum bandpass designs. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 10, 1136–1138 (1998).Madsen, C. K. General IIR optical filter design for WDM applications using all-pass filters. J. Lightw. Technol. 18, 860–868 (2000).Smit, M. K. et al. An introduction to InP-based generic integration technology. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 29, 083001 (2014).Besse, P. A., Gini, E., Bachmann, M. & Melchior, H. New 2×2 and 1×3 multimode interference couplers with free selection of power splitting ratios. J. Lightw. Technol. 14, 2286–2293 (1996).Pérez, D. et al. Figures of merit for self-beating filtered microwave photonic systems. Opt. Express 24, 10087–10102 (2016).Zhuang, L. et al. Novel low-loss waveguide delay lines using Vernier ring resonators for on-chip multi-λ microwave photonic signal processors. Laser Photon. Rev. 7, 994–1002 (2013)

Predictors of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening among Chamorro Women in Southern California

This study examined the role of sociodemographic characteristics, health insurance, cancer knowledge, perceived health risk, and having a recent physicians’ visit on breast and cervical cancer screening utilization among a randomly selected group of Chamorro women (n = 250) residing in San Diego, California. Data were collected by a telephone survey and analyzed using multiple logistic regression models. After adjusting for covariates, having a recent full exam was the strongest predictor of having had a Pap exam in the past 2 years for women 21 years and older and a clinical breast exam in the past 2 years for women 40 years and over