1,161 research outputs found
Phylogeny of Geomydoecus and Thomomydoecus pocket gopher lice (phthiraptera, trichodectidae) inferred from cladistic analysis of adult and first instar morphology
The phylogeny for all 122 species and subspecies of chewing lice of the genera Geomydoecus and Thomomydoecus (Phthiraptera: Trichodectidae) hosted by pocket gophers (Rodentia: Geomyidae) is estimated by a cladistic analysis of fifty-eight morphological characters obtained from adults and first instars. The data set has considerable homoplasy, but still contains phylogenetic information. The phylogeny obtained is moderately resolved and, with some notable exceptions, supports the species complexes proposed by Hellenthal and Price over the the last two decades. The subgenera G. (Thaelerius) and T. (Thomomydoecus) are both shown to be monophyletic, but the monophly of subgenus T. (Jamespattonius) could not be confirmed, perhaps due to the lack of first-instar data for one of its component species. The nominate subgenus of Geomydoecus may be monophyletic, but our cladogram was insufficiently resolved to corroborate this. Mapping the pocket gopher hosts onto the phylogeny reveals a consistent pattern of louse clades being restricted to particular genera or subgenera of gophers, but the history of the host-parasite association appears complex and will require considerable effort to resolve
A novel compartment, the 'subqpical stem' of the aerial hyphae, is the location of a sigN-dependent, developmentally distinct transcription in Streptomyces coelicolor.
Streptomyces coelicolor has nine SigB-like RNA polymerase sigma factors, several of them implicated in morphological differentiation and/or responses to different stresses. One of the nine, SigN, is the focus of this article. A constructed sigN null mutant was delayed in development and exhibited a bald phenotype when grown on minimal medium containing glucose as carbon source. One of two distinct sigN promoters, sigNP1, was active only during growth on solid medium, when its activation coincided with aerial hyphae formation. Transcription from sigNP1 was readily detected in several whi mutants (interrupted in morphogenesis of aerial mycelium into spores), but was absent from all bld mutants tested, suggesting that sigNP1 activity was restricted to the aerial hyphae. It also depended on sigN, thus sigN was autoregulated. Mutational and transcription studies revealed no functional significance to the location of sigN next to sigF, encoding another SigB-like sigma factor. We identified another potential SigN target, nepA, encoding a putative small secreted protein. Transcription of nepA originated from a single, aerial hyphae-specific and sigN-dependent promoter. While in vitro run-off transcription using purified SigN on the Bacillus subtilis ctc promoter confirmed that SigN is an RNA polymerase sigma factor, SigN failed to initiate transcription from sigNP1 and from the nepA promoter in vitro. Additional in vivo data indicated that further nepA upstream sequences, which are likely to bind a potential activator, are required for successful transcription. Using a nepA–egfp transcriptional fusion we located nepA transcription to a novel compartment, the ‘subapical stem’ of the aerial hyphae. We suggest that this newly recognized compartment defines an interface between the aerial and vegetative parts of the Streptomyces colony and might also be involved in communication between these two compartments
The imposition of Cauchy data to the Teukolsky equation I: The nonrotating case
Gravitational perturbations about a Kerr black hole in the Newman-Penrose
formalism are concisely described by the Teukolsky equation. New numerical
methods for studying the evolution of such perturbations require not only the
construction of appropriate initial data to describe the collision of two
orbiting black holes, but also to know how such new data must be imposed into
the Teukolsky equation. In this paper we show how Cauchy data can be
incorporated explicitly into the Teukolsky equation for non-rotating black
holes. The Teukolsky function and its first time derivative
can be written in terms of only the 3-geometry and the
extrinsic curvature in a gauge invariant way. Taking a Laplace transform of the
Teukolsky equation incorporates initial data as a source term. We show that for
astrophysical data the straightforward Green function method leads to divergent
integrals that can be regularized like for the case of a source generated by a
particle coming from infinity.Comment: 9 pages, REVTEX. Misprints corrected in formulas (2.4)-(2.7). Final
version to appear in PR
Electron-electron interactions and two-dimensional - two-dimensional tunneling
We derive and evaluate expressions for the dc tunneling conductance between
interacting two-dimensional electron systems at non-zero temperature. The
possibility of using the dependence of the tunneling conductance on voltage and
temperature to determine the temperature-dependent electron-electron scattering
rate at the Fermi energy is discussed. The finite electronic lifetime produced
by electron-electron interactions is calculated as a function of temperature
for quasiparticles near the Fermi circle. Vertex corrections to the random
phase approximation substantially increase the electronic scattering rate. Our
results are in an excellent quantitative agreement with experiment.Comment: Revtex style, 21 pages and 8 postscript figures in a separate file;
Phys. Rev. B (in press
Dynamical properties of liquid Al near melting. An orbital-free molecular dynamics study
The static and dynamic structure of liquid Al is studied using the orbital
free ab-initio molecular dynamics method. Two thermodynamic states along the
coexistence line are considered, namely T = 943 K and 1323 K for which X-ray
and neutron scattering data are available. A new kinetic energy functional,
which fulfills a number of physically relevant conditions is employed, along
with a local first principles pseudopotential. In addition to a comparison with
experiment, we also compare our ab-initio results with those obtained from
conventional molecular dynamics simulations using effective interionic pair
potentials derived from second order pseudopotential perturbation theory.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, submitted to PR
Phase III study of pasireotide long-acting release in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors and carcinoid symptoms refractory to available somatostatin analogues
In a randomized, double-blind, Phase III study, we compared pasireotide long-acting
release (pasireotide LAR) with octreotide long-acting repeatable (octreotide LAR) in managing
carcinoid symptoms refractory to first-generation somatostatin analogues. Adults with carcinoid
tumors of the digestive tract were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive pasireotide LAR (60 mg)
or octreotide LAR (40 mg) every 28 days. Primary outcome was symptom control based on
frequency of bowel movements and flushing episodes. Objective tumor response was a secondary
outcome. Progression-free survival (PFS) was calculated in a post hoc analysis. Adverse
events were recorded. At the time of a planned interim analysis, the data monitoring committee
recommended halting the study because of a low predictive probability of showing superiority
of pasireotide over octreotide for symptom control (n=43 pasireotide LAR, 20.9%; n=45
octreotide LAR, 26.7%; odds ratio, 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.27–1.97; P=0.53).
Tumor control rate at month 6 was 62.7% with pasireotide and 46.2% with octreotide (odds
ratio, 1.96; 95% CI, 0.89–4.32; P=0.09). Median (95% CI) PFS was 11.8 months (11.0 – not
reached) with pasireotide versus 6.8 months (5.6 – not reached) with octreotide (hazard ratio,
0.46; 95% CI, 0.20–0.98; P=0.045). The most frequent drug-related adverse events (pasireotide
vs octreotide) included hyperglycemia (28.3% vs 5.3%), fatigue (11.3% vs 3.5%), and nausea
(9.4% vs 0%). We conclude that, among patients with carcinoid symptoms refractory to available
somatostatin analogues, similar proportions of patients receiving pasireotide LAR or octreotide
LAR achieved symptom control at month 6. Pasireotide LAR showed a trend toward higher
tumor control rate at month 6, although it was statistically not significant, and was associated
with a longer PFS than octreotide LAR
Identifying topological edge states in 2D optical lattices using light scattering
We recently proposed in a Letter [Physical Review Letters 108 255303] a novel
scheme to detect topological edge states in an optical lattice, based on a
generalization of Bragg spectroscopy. The scope of the present article is to
provide a more detailed and pedagogical description of the system - the
Hofstadter optical lattice - and probing method. We first show the existence of
topological edge states, in an ultra-cold gas trapped in a 2D optical lattice
and subjected to a synthetic magnetic field. The remarkable robustness of the
edge states is verified for a variety of external confining potentials. Then,
we describe a specific laser probe, made from two lasers in Laguerre-Gaussian
modes, which captures unambiguous signatures of these edge states. In
particular, the resulting Bragg spectra provide the dispersion relation of the
edge states, establishing their chiral nature. In order to make the Bragg
signal experimentally detectable, we introduce a "shelving method", which
simultaneously transfers angular momentum and changes the internal atomic
state. This scheme allows to directly visualize the selected edge states on a
dark background, offering an instructive view on topological insulating phases,
not accessible in solid-state experiments.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. Revised and extended version, to appear in EJP
Special Topic for the special issue on "Novel Quantum Phases and Mesoscopic
Physics in Quantum Gases". Extended version of arXiv:1203.124
Muon Track Reconstruction and Data Selection Techniques in AMANDA
The Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) is a high-energy
neutrino telescope operating at the geographic South Pole. It is a lattice of
photo-multiplier tubes buried deep in the polar ice between 1500m and 2000m.
The primary goal of this detector is to discover astrophysical sources of high
energy neutrinos. A high-energy muon neutrino coming through the earth from the
Northern Hemisphere can be identified by the secondary muon moving upward
through the detector. The muon tracks are reconstructed with a maximum
likelihood method. It models the arrival times and amplitudes of Cherenkov
photons registered by the photo-multipliers. This paper describes the different
methods of reconstruction, which have been successfully implemented within
AMANDA. Strategies for optimizing the reconstruction performance and rejecting
background are presented. For a typical analysis procedure the direction of
tracks are reconstructed with about 2 degree accuracy.Comment: 40 pages, 16 Postscript figures, uses elsart.st
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