On impulse excitation of the global poloidal modes in the magnetosphere

International audienceThrough the combined action of the field line curvature and finite plasma pressure in some regions of the magnetosphere (plasmapause, ring current) there can exist global poloidal Alfvén modes standing both along field lines and across magnetic shells and propagating along azimuth. In this paper we investigate the spatio-temporal structure of such waves generated by an impulsive source. In general, the mode is the sum of radial harmonics whose structure is described by Hermitian polynomials. For the usually observed second harmonic structure along the background field, frequencies of these radial harmonics are very close to each other; therefore, the generated wave is almost a monochromatic oscillation. But mixing of the harmonics with different radial structure causes the evolution of the initially poloidal wave into the toroidal one. This casts some doubts upon the interpretation of observed high-m poloidal waves as global poloidal modes

“How do we get to them?” Insights on Preconception and Interconception Health for Women in Rural Northwest Ohio

Background: Rural women in the United States are at increased risk for poor preconception and interconception health. In a previous study, women living in Hardin County, a Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area and maternity care desert in rural northwest Ohio expressed their concerns and their need for more resources to improve their health. As a follow-up study, key informants of Hardin County were interviewed to provide further insight on current resources for preconception and women’s health available to community members, barriers and challenges community members face, and interventions could be implemented in the county to improve health and pregnancy outcomes. Methods: A purposive sample of 14 key informants from community assets in Hardin County were recruited and individually interviewed with semistructured questions from 2 domains: perceived needs and barriers to care. Interview recordings were transcribed, precoded, and thematically analyzed. Participants received a $20 gift card as a token of appreciation. Results: Three themes were characterized from the data: current resources available, community observations, and suggested intervention strategies. Key informants identified the federally-qualified health center and YMCA, among others, as potentially underutilized resources for reproductive-age women. The small-town culture was described as both an advantage and disadvantage when trying to raise awareness about preconception/interconception health. Interventions built on partnerships and utilizing various outlets were suggested. Childcare, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and trust were issues crossing multiple themes. Conclusion: Key informants gave direction on available resources for reproductive-age women and potential approaches to provide education and outreach regarding preconception/interconception health and care

Yin-Yang1 is required for epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and regulation of Nodal signaling during mammalian gastrulation

AbstractThe ubiquitously expressed Polycomb Group protein Yin-Yang1 (YY1) is believed to regulate gene expression through direct binding to DNA elements found in promoters or enhancers of target loci. Additionally, YY1 contains diverse domains that enable a plethora of protein–protein interactions, including association with the Oct4/Sox2 pluripotency complex and Polycomb Group silencing complexes. To elucidate the in vivo role of YY1 during gastrulation, we generated embryos with an epiblast specific deletion of Yy1. Yy1 conditional knockout (cKO) embryos initiate gastrulation, but both primitive streak formation and ingression through the streak is severely impaired. These streak descendants fail to repress E-Cadherin and are unable to undergo an appropriate epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Intriguingly, overexpression of Nodal and concomitant reduction of Lefty2 are observed in Yy1 cKO embryos, suggesting that YY1 is normally required for proper Nodal regulation during gastrulation. Furthermore, definitive endoderm is specified but fails to properly integrate into the outer layer. Although anterior neuroectoderm is specified, mesoderm production is severely restricted. We show that YY1 directly binds to the Lefty2 locus in E7.5 embryos and that pharmacological inhibition of Nodal signaling partially restores mesoderm production in Yy1 cKO mutant embryos. Our results reveal critical requirements for YY1 during several important developmental processes, including EMT and regulation of Nodal signaling. These results are the first to elucidate the diverse role of YY1 during gastrulation in vivo

Pc5 waves generated by substorm injection: a case study

We analyzed the spectral-polarized characteristics of Pc5 ULF waves observed on 17 September 2000 after the 03:20:25 UT substorm onset with the satellites GOES 8 and 10 located east and west of the onset location. In the course of the event, the wave polarization changed from mixed (between toroidal and poloidal) to poloidal, and then to mixed again. The hodogram of magnetic field oscillations rotated counterclockwise at GOES 8, and clockwise at GOES 10. It is suggested that the satellites detected the waves generated by the substorm injected clouds of the charged particles drifting in the magnetosphere in the opposite azimuthal directions: GOES 8 (located east of the substorm onset) detected the wave generated by an electron cloud, and GOES 10 (west of the onset) detected the wave generated by a positive ion cloud. This interpretation is confirmed by the energetic particles data recorded by LANL satellites

Tissue-specific regulation of Igf2r/Airn imprinting during gastrulation

Background Appropriate epigenetic regulation of gene expression during lineage allocation and tissue differentiation is required for normal development. One example is genomic imprinting, which is defined as parent-of-origin mono-allelic gene expression. Imprinting is established largely due to epigenetic differences arriving in the zygote from sperm and egg haploid genomes. In the mouse, there are approximately 150 known imprinted genes, many of which occur in imprinted gene clusters that are regulated together. One imprinted cluster includes the maternally expressed Igf2r, Slc22a2, and Slc22a3 genes and the paternally expressed long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) Airn. Although it is known that Igf2r and Airn are reciprocally imprinted, the timing of imprinted expression and accompanying epigenetic changes have not been well characterized in vivo. Results Here we show lineage- and temporal-specific regulation of DNA methylation and histone modifications at the Igf2r/Airn locus correlating with differential establishment of imprinted expression during gastrulation. Our results show that Igf2r is expressed from both alleles in the E6.5 epiblast. After gastrulation commences, the locus becomes imprinted in the embryonic lineage with the lncRNA Airn expressed from the paternal allele and Igf2r restricted to maternal allele expression. We document differentially enriched allele-specific histone modifications in extraembryonic and embryonic tissues. We also document for the first time allele-specific spreading of DNA methylation during gastrulation concurrent with establishment of imprinted expression of Igf2r. Importantly, we show that imprinted expression does not change in the extraembryonic lineage even though maternal DMR2 methylation spreading does occur, suggesting distinct mechanisms at play in embryonic and extraembryonic lineages. Conclusions These results indicate that similar to preimplantation, gastrulation represents a window of dynamic lineage-specific epigenetic regulation in vivo

Variable DNA methylation of transposable elements: The case study of mouse Early Transposons

Phenotypic variation stems from both genetic and epigenetic differences between individuals. In order to elucidate how phenotypes are determined, it is necessary to understand the forces that generate variation in genome sequence as well as its epigenetic state. In both contexts, transposable elements (TEs) may play an important role. It is well established that TE activity is a major generator of genetic variation, but recent research also suggests that TEs contribute to epigenetic variation. Stochastic epigenetic silencing of some TE insertions in mice has been shown to cause phenotypic variability between individuals. However, the prevalence of this phenomenon has never been evaluated. Here, we use 18 insertions of a mouse Endogenous Retrovirus (ERV) family, the Early Transposons (ETns), to detect insertion-dependent determinants of DNA methylation levels and variability between both cells and individuals. We show that the structure and age of insertions influence methylation levels and variability, resulting in a subgroup of loci that displays unexpectedly high variability in methylation and suggesting stochastic events during methylation establishment. Despite variation in methylation according to the age and structure of each locus, homologous CpG sites show similar tendencies in methylation levels across loci, emphasizing the role of the insertion's sequence in methylation determination. Our results show that differences in methylation of ETns between individuals is not a sporadic phenomenon and support the hypothesis that ERVs contribute to phenotypic variability through their stochastic silencing