Lithostratigraphical subdivision of the Sherwood Sandstone Group (Triassic) of the north-eastern part of the Carlisle Basin, Cumbria, and adjacent parts of Dumfries and Galloway, UK.

This report presents a review of the history of the lithostratigraphical subdivision of the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group of the north-eastern part of the Carlisle Basin, Cumbria, and adjacent parts of Dumfries and Galloway, UK. Two formations, the St Bees Sandstone and Kirklinton Sandstone, have been mapped in the past. However, previous workers have found considerable difficulty in consistently identifying, defining and mapping the Kirklinton Sandstone Formation. Moreover, previous accounts of the sandstones in the Carlisle area appear to suggest that the succession there differs in several key aspects from its correlatives in other parts of Cumbria and, in particular, the adjacent offshore area. As a result of a short period of field work in the area, it is concluded that the principal lithological change is between mainly fine-grained sandstones, that are generally or commonly micaceous and contain common or numerous mudstone interbeds, in the lower and middle parts of the group, and fine- to coarsegrained sandstones with rare or no mica and mudstone partings at the top of the group. This change occurs within the Kirklinton Sandstone Formation as previously mapped, and it is suggested that this unit is now invalid. Several options are considered as to how the group should be subdivided and the nomenclature to be adopted. All options presently have some associated problems, but the adoption of the same terminology as in the continuous offshore is suggested, i.e. St Bees Sandstone Formation below (subdivided where possible into Rottington Sandstone and Calder Sandstone Members) and Ormskirk Sandstone Formation above

Mapping the cortical representation of the lumbar paravertebral muscles

Objective: The aim of this study was to map the cortical representation of the lumbar spine paravertebral (LP) muscles in healthy subjects. Methods: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was employed to map the cortical representations of the LP muscles at two sites. Stimuli were applied to points on a grid representing scalp positions. The amplitude of motor evoked potentials (n = 6) was averaged for each position. Results: The optimal site for evoking responses in the contralateral LP muscles was situated 1 cm anterior and 4 cm lateral to the vertex. Ipsilateral responses were evoked from sites lateral to the optimal site for evoking contralateral responses. Contralateral responses were also obtained from areas anterior to the optimal site. Conclusions: Maps of these muscles can be produced. The results suggest discrete contra- and ipsilateral cortical projections. Anterior sites at which excitation can be evoked may indicate projections arising in the SMA are involved. Significance: This study provides normative data regarding the cortical representation of the paravertebral muscles and provides a technique for evaluating cortical motor plasticity in patients presenting with spinal pathologies

Superhard Phases of Simple Substances and Binary Compounds of the B-C-N-O System: from Diamond to the Latest Results (a Review)

The basic known and hypothetic one- and two-element phases of the B-C-N-O system (both superhard phases having diamond and boron structures and precursors to synthesize them) are described. The attention has been given to the structure, basic mechanical properties, and methods to identify and characterize the materials. For some phases that have been recently described in the literature the synthesis conditions at high pressures and temperatures are indicated.Comment: Review on superhard B-C-N-O phase

Doping-insensitive density-of-states suppression in polycrystalline iron-based superconductor SmO1−x_{1-x}Fx_{x}FeAs

We investigated the temperature dependence of the density-of-states in the iron-based superconductor SmO_1-xF_xFeAs (x=0, 0.12, 0.15, 0.2) with high resolution angle-integrated photoemission spectroscopy. The density-of-states suppression is observed with decreasing temperature in all samples, revealing two characteristic energy scales (10meV and 80meV). However, no obvious doping dependence is observed. We argue that the 10meV suppression is due to an anomalously doping-independent normal state pseudogap, which becomes the superconducting gap once in the superconducting state; and alert the possibility that the 80meV-scale suppression might be an artifact of the polycrystalline samples.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Classification of Supernovae

The current classification scheme for supernovae is presented. The main observational features of the supernova types are described and the physical implications briefly addressed. Differences between the homogeneous thermonuclear type Ia and similarities among the heterogeneous core collapse type Ib, Ic and II are highlighted. Transforming type IIb, narrow line type IIn, supernovae associated with GRBs and few peculiar objects are also discussed.Comment: 16 Pages, 4 figures, to be published in "Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursters," ed. Kurt W. Weile

Modeling Host Genetic Regulation of Influenza Pathogenesis in the Collaborative Cross

Genetic variation contributes to host responses and outcomes following infection by influenza A virus or other viral infections. Yet narrow windows of disease symptoms and confounding environmental factors have made it difficult to identify polymorphic genes that contribute to differential disease outcomes in human populations. Therefore, to control for these confounding environmental variables in a system that models the levels of genetic diversity found in outbred populations such as humans, we used incipient lines of the highly genetically diverse Collaborative Cross (CC) recombinant inbred (RI) panel (the pre-CC population) to study how genetic variation impacts influenza associated disease across a genetically diverse population. A wide range of variation in influenza disease related phenotypes including virus replication, virus-induced inflammation, and weight loss was observed. Many of the disease associated phenotypes were correlated, with viral replication and virus-induced inflammation being predictors of virus-induced weight loss. Despite these correlations, pre-CC mice with unique and novel disease phenotype combinations were observed. We also identified sets of transcripts (modules) that were correlated with aspects of disease. In order to identify how host genetic polymorphisms contribute to the observed variation in disease, we conducted quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping. We identified several QTL contributing to specific aspects of the host response including virus-induced weight loss, titer, pulmonary edema, neutrophil recruitment to the airways, and transcriptional expression. Existing whole-genome sequence data was applied to identify high priority candidate genes within QTL regions. A key host response QTL was located at the site of the known anti-influenza Mx1 gene. We sequenced the coding regions of Mx1 in the eight CC founder strains, and identified a novel Mx1 allele that showed reduced ability to inhibit viral replication, while maintaining protection from weight loss

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Gaia Early Data Release 3: The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF3)

Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue. Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality. Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3). Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13-21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 μas yr-1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution

Content and performance of the MiniMUGA genotyping array: A new tool to improve rigor and reproducibility in mouse research

The laboratory mouse is the most widely used animal model for biomedical research, due in part to its well-annotated genome, wealth of genetic resources, and the ability to precisely manipulate its genome. Despite the importance of genetics for mouse research, genetic quality control (QC) is not standardized, in part due to the lack of cost-effective, informative, and robust platforms. Genotyping arrays are standard tools for mouse research and remain an attractive alternative even in the era of high-throughput whole-genome sequencing. Here, we describe the content and performance of a new iteration of the Mouse Universal Genotyping Array (MUGA), MiniMUGA, an array-based genetic QC platform with over 11,000 probes. In addition to robust discrimination between most classical and wild-derived laboratory strains, MiniMUGA was designed to contain features not available in other platforms: (1) chromosomal sex determination, (2) discrimination between substrains from multiple commercial vendors, (3) diagnostic SNPs for popular laboratory strains, (4) detection of constructs used in genetically engineered mice, and (5) an easy-to-interpret report summarizing these results. In-depth annotation of all probes should facilitate custom analyses by individual researchers. To determine the performance of MiniMUGA, we genotyped 6899 samples from a wide variety of genetic backgrounds. The performance of MiniMUGA compares favorably with three previous iterations of the MUGA family of arrays, both in discrimination capabilities and robustness. We have generated publicly available consensus genotypes for 241 inbred strains including classical, wild-derived, and recombinant inbred lines. Here, we also report the detection of a substantial number of XO and XXY individuals across a variety of sample types, new markers that expand the utility of reduced complexity crosses to genetic backgrounds other than C57BL/6, and the robust detection of 17 genetic constructs. We provide preliminary evidence that the array can be used to identify both partial sex chromosome duplication and mosaicism, and that diagnostic SNPs can be used to determine how long inbred mice have been bred independently from the relevant main stock. We conclude that MiniMUGA is a valuable platform for genetic QC, and an important new tool to increase the rigor and reproducibility of mouse research

Gaia Early Data Release 3: acceleration of the solar system from Gaia astrometry

Stars and planetary system