On the divine clockwork: the spectral gap for the correspondence limit of the Nelson diffusion generator for the atomic elliptic state

The correspondence limit of the atomic elliptic state in three dimensions is discussed in terms of Nelson's stochastic mechanics. In previous work we have shown that this approach leads to a limiting Nelson diffusion and here we discuss in detail the invariant measure for this process and show that it is concentrated on the Kepler ellipse in the plane z=0. We then show that the limiting Nelson diffusion generator has a spectral gap; thereby proving that in the infinite time limit the density for the limiting Nelson diffusion will converge to its invariant measure. We also include a summary of the Cheeger and Poincare inequalities both of which are used in our proof of the existence of the spectral gap.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Math. Phy

Unexpected Transcripts in Tn7 orf19.2646 C. albicans Mutant Lead to Low Fungal Burden Phenotype In vivo.

The commensal fungus Candida albicans is the major cause of fungal systemic infection in immuno-compromised patients, with a mortality rate approaching 50% in the case of bloodstream infections. There is therefore a clear need to better understand fungal biology during infection to improve treatment. One of the particularities of C. albicans is its capacity to adapt to drastically diverse environments such as brain, bloodstream or gut. Adaptations to environmental change are mediated by transcription factors (TF) that modulate the expression of their target genes. Previous screening of a collection of Tn7 C. albicans TF mutants in vivo identified orf19.2646 as playing a crucial role in the ability of the fungus to survive within its host. Indeed, the orf19.2646 Tn7 interruption mutant strain displayed a reduced fungal burden compared to the wild-type strain. Surprisingly, an independent deletion mutant did not recapitulate the phenotype of the Tn7 interruption mutant. In the present study, we therefore investigated the difference between these two mutants and determined by performing a RACE analysis whether unexpected transcripts of the Tn7 mutant occurred. We found that two such transcripts upstream and downstream of the Tn7 insertion site were produced. The two transcripts were expressed in an orf19.2646 deletion mutant which displayed a significantly reduced fungal burden level compared to the wild-type in G. mellonella. When the regions corresponding to these transcripts were deleted in the Tn7 mutants, the strains lacking both regions displayed a fungal burden similar to that of the wild-type strain. This study shows for the first time that mRNA transcription may occur downstream of a Tn7 sequence. In addition, these results demonstrated that the low fungal burden phenotype observed in the orf19.2646 Tn7 mutant is due to the presence of these two transcripts together participating to an unidentified virulence mechanism to be further elucidated

Resonant Magnetic Vortices

By using the complex angular momentum method, we provide a semiclassical analysis of electron scattering by a magnetic vortex of Aharonov-Bohm-type. Regge poles of the $S$-matrix are associated with surface waves orbiting around the vortex and supported by a magnetic field discontinuity. Rapid variations of sharp characteristic shapes can be observed on scattering cross sections. They correspond to quasibound states which are Breit-Wigner-type resonances associated with surface waves and which can be considered as quantum analogues of acoustic whispering-gallery modes. Such a resonant magnetic vortex could provide a new kind of artificial atom while the semiclassical approach developed here could be profitably extended in various areas of the physics of vortices.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

How Yeast Antifungal Resistance Gene Analysis Is Essential to Validate Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Systems.

The antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) of yeast pathogen alerts clinicians about the potential emergence of resistance. In this study, we compared two commercial microdilution AFST methods: Sensititre YeastOne read visually (YO) and MICRONAUT-AM read visually (MN) or spectrophotometrically (MNV), interpreted with Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing criteria, respectively. Overall, 97 strains from 19 yeast species were measured for nine antifungal drugs including a total of 873 observations. First, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was compared between YO and MNV, and between MNV and MN, either directly or by assigning them to five susceptibility categories. Those categories were based on the number of MIC dilutions around the breakpoint or epidemiological cut-off reference values (ECOFFs or ECVs). Second, YO and MNV methods were evaluated for their ability to detect the elevation of MICs due to mutation in antifungal resistance genes, thanks to pairs or triplets of isogenic strains isolated from a single patient along a treatment previously analyzed for antifungal resistance gene mutations. Reproducibility measurement was evaluated, thanks to three quality control (QC) strains. YO and MNV direct MIC comparisons obtained a global agreement of 67%. Performing susceptibility category comparisons, only 22% and 49% of the MICs could be assigned to categories using breakpoints and ECOFFs/ECVs, respectively, and 40% could not be assigned due to the lack of criteria in both consortia. The YO and MN susceptibility categories gave accuracies as low as 50%, revealing the difficulty to implement this method of comparison. In contrast, using the antifungal resistance gene sequences as a gold standard, we demonstrated that both methods (YO and MN) were equally able to detect the acquisition of resistance in the Candida strains, even if MN showed a global lower MIC elevation than YO. Finally, no major differences in reproducibility were observed between the three AFST methods. This study demonstrates the valuable use of both commercial microdilution AFST methods to detect antifungal resistance due to point mutations in antifungal resistance genes. We highlighted the difficulty to conduct conclusive analyses without antifungal gene sequence data as a gold standard. Indeed, MIC comparisons taking into account the consortia criteria of interpretation remain difficult even after the effort of harmonization

Review on Antifungal Resistance Mechanisms in the Emerging Pathogen Candida auris.

Candida auris is an emerging multi-drug resistant yeast, that causes major issues regarding patient treatment and surface disinfection in hospitals. Indeed, an important proportion of C. auris strains isolated worldwide present a decreased sensitivity to multiple and sometimes even all available antifungals. Based on recent tentative breakpoints by the CDC, it appears that in the USA about 90, 30, and < 5% of isolates have been resistant to fluconazole, amphotericin B, and echinocandins, respectively. To date, this has lead to a low therapeutic success. Furthermore, C. auris is prone to cause outbreaks, especially since it can persist for weeks in a nosocomial environment and survive high-end disinfection procedures. In this review, we describe the molecular resistance mechanisms to antifungal drugs identified so far in C. auris and compare them to those previously discovered in other Candida species. Additionally, we examine the role that biofilm formation plays in the reduced antifungal sensitivity of this organism. Finally, we summarize the few insights on how this yeast survives on hospital surfaces and discuss the challenge it presents regarding nosocomial environment disinfection

Uniform bounds on complexity and transfer of global properties of Nash functions

We show that the complexity of semialgebraic sets and mappings can be used to parametrize Nash sets and mappings by Nash families. From this we deduce uniform bounds on the complexity of Nash functions that lead to first-order descriptions of many properties of Nash functions and a good behaviour under real closed field extension (e.g. primary decomposition). As a distinguished application, we derive the solution of the extension and global equations problems over arbitrary real closed fields, in particular over the field of real algebraic numbers. This last fact and a technique of change of base are used to prove that the Artin-Mazur description holds for abstract Nash functions on the real spectrum of any commutative ring, and solve extension and global equations in that abstract setting. To complete the view, we prove the idempotency of the real spectrum and an abstract version of the separation problem. We also discuss the conditions for the rings of abstract Nash functions to be noetherian

Variations de tolérance aux pesticides agricoles des diatomées périphytiques dans une rivière contaminée : une analyse de l'échelle des communautés à celle des populations

3rd International Conference on EnvironmentalManagement, Engineering, Planning and Economics (CEMEPE 2011) & SECOTOX Conference, Skiathos, GRC, 19-/06/2011 - 24/06/2011International audiencePeriphytic diatoms are an important phototrophic component of river biofilm and are used in situ for the bioindication of pollution as well as in laboratory ecotoxicological tests to assess the toxicity of contaminants. In spring 2009, phototrophic biofilm samples composed mostly of diatoms were collected in a small river and their sensitivity to the herbicide diuron was estimated via photosynthesis bioassays. A large difference in tolerance to diuron was demonstrated between two periphytic communities from an upstream unpolluted site and a downstream site subjected to high seasonal contamination by pesticides. The comparison of diatom community structure between sites revealed important variations of the relative abundance of some species which could explain this difference. Consequently, some of these species were isolated from the river in autumn when toxic pressure was low, and kept in culture for more than six months in uncontaminated water. Acute toxicity tests of diuron based on growth inhibition were then performed on each species. Surprisingly the sensitivities of the species as estimated by EC50 were almost the same. However two strains of another species that could be isolated from each site of the river showed significant differences in tolerance to diuron and copper, another contaminant of the river. These results suggest the importance of adaptation at the intraspecific level in the induction of periphytic community tolerance to toxicants and the probably low sensitivity of bioindication methods to assess river contaminations