Effect of Pions in Cosmic Rays

The effects of pions for vacuum polarization in background magnetic fields are considered. The effects of quark condensates is also briefly addresses. Although these effects are out of the measurement accuracy of laboratory experiments they may be relevant for gamma-ray burst propagation. In particular, for emissions from the center of the galaxy, we show that the mixing between the neutral pion and photons results in a deviation of the gamma-ray spectrum from the standard power-law in the TeV range.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; Based in arXiv:0707.4200 with a new very short discussion in qq condensates. To appear in the Proceedings of Scadron'7

Wayfinding and Navigation for People with Disabilities Using Social Navigation Networks

To achieve safe and independent mobility, people usually depend on published information, prior experience, the knowledge of others, and/or technology to navigate unfamiliar outdoor and indoor environments. Today, due to advances in various technologies, wayfinding and navigation systems and services are commonplace and are accessible on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. However, despite their popularity and widespread use, current wayfinding and navigation solutions often fail to address the needs of people with disabilities (PWDs). We argue that these shortcomings are primarily due to the ubiquity of the compute-centric approach adopted in these systems and services, where they do not benefit from the experience-centric approach. We propose that following a hybrid approach of combining experience-centric and compute-centric methods will overcome the shortcomings of current wayfinding and navigation solutions for PWDs

Drug release, cytocompatibility, bioactivity, and antibacterial activity of doxycycline loaded Mg-Ca-TiO2 composite scaffold

Mg-Ca-TiO2 (MCT) composite scaffolds loaded with different concentrations of doxycycline (DC) with a network of interconnected pores with good compressive strength (5 ± 0.1 MPa) were fabricated via space holder method for the first time. The results showed that MCT-DC scaffolds possess a porosity and pore size in the range of 65–67% and 600–800 μm respectively. The bioactivity results exhibited the apatite formation on the MCT-DC scaffold surface, indicating that DC did not obstruct the bioactivity of MCT. The MCT-DC scaffolds drug release profiles show the initial burst and sustained drug release (55–75%) and the release rate could be adjusted via altering the DC concentration. The MCT loaded with 1 and 5% DC did not indicate cytotoxic behavior against MG63 cells while further DC loading resulted in some toxicity. Antimicrobial properties of MCT-DC scaffolds against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria were examined and the results reveal oblivious inhibition zone around each MCT-DC scaffold whereas no obvious inhibition is observed around the MCT scaffold. Therefore, MCT-DC composite scaffolds with low concentration of DC could be alternative candidates for infection prevention and bone tissue engineering

The Vehicle, Spring 1972

Vol. 14, No. 3 Table of Contents HarvestAnne Bradypage 3 poemJann Briesacherpage 5 Monday MorningJohn Harthpage 6 cartoon montageV. Gene Myerspage 8 From Winter to Spring is 3 Years LongCathie Kayserpage 10 FascinationBettie Jane Williamspage 12 The Arithmetic ProblemJanice Forbuspage 12 The Three A.M. Summer Nightpage 13 AccidentMaude Dailypage 13 The DisciplinarianGeorge J. Bueningpage 14 Photography Credits Jim Diaspage 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 CoverV. Gene Myershttps://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1027/thumbnail.jp

Glutaminolysis is a metabolic dependency in FLT3ITD acute myeloid leukemia unmasked by FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibition.

FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3ITD) mutations are common in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) associated with poor patient prognosis. Although new-generation FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have shown promising results, the outcome of FLT3ITD AML patients remains poor and demands the identification of novel, specific, and validated therapeutic targets for this highly aggressive AML subtype. Utilizing an unbiased genome-wide clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 screen, we identify GLS, the first enzyme in glutamine metabolism, as synthetically lethal with FLT3-TKI treatment. Using complementary metabolomic and gene-expression analysis, we demonstrate that glutamine metabolism, through its ability to support both mitochondrial function and cellular redox metabolism, becomes a metabolic dependency of FLT3ITD AML, specifically unmasked by FLT3-TKI treatment. We extend these findings to AML subtypes driven by other tyrosine kinase (TK) activating mutations and validate the role of GLS as a clinically actionable therapeutic target in both primary AML and in vivo models. Our work highlights the role of metabolic adaptations as a resistance mechanism to several TKI and suggests glutaminolysis as a therapeutically targetable vulnerability when combined with specific TKI in FLT3ITD and other TK activating mutation-driven leukemias.P.G. is funded by the Wellcome Trust (109967/Z/15/Z) and was previously supported by the Academy of medical Sciences and Lady Tata Memorial Trust. The Huntly lab is funded by European Research Council, MRC, Bloodwise, the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and core support grants to the Wellcome Trust - Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. C.F. and A.S.H.C are funded by the Medical Research Council, Core Grant to the Cancer Unit. P.M-P. is supported by a grant from Cancer Research UK (C56179/A21617). D.S. is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Mildred-Scheel Organisation, German Cancer Aid. This research was supported by the CIMR Flow Cytometry Core Facility. We would like to thank the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute facility for the MiSeq run

Population genetic structure and habitat connectivity for jaguar (Panthera onca) conservation in Central Belize

Background Connectivity among jaguar (Panthera onca) populations will ensure natural gene flow and the long-term survival of the species throughout its range. Jaguar conservation efforts have focused primarily on connecting suitable habitat in a broad-scale. Accelerated habitat reduction, human-wildlife conflict, limited funding, and the complexity of jaguar behaviour have proven challenging to maintain connectivity between populations effectively. Here, we used non-invasive genetic sampling and individual-based conservation genetic analyses to assess genetic diversity and levels of genetic connectivity between individuals in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Maya Forest Corridor. We used expert knowledge and scientific literature to develop models of landscape permeability based on circuit theory with fine-scale landscape features as ecosystem types, distance to human settlements and roads to predict the most probable jaguar movement across central Belize. Results We used 12 highly polymorphic microsatellite loci to identify 50 individual jaguars. We detected high levels of genetic diversity across loci (HE = 0.61, HO = 0.55, and NA = 9.33). Using Bayesian clustering and multivariate models to assess gene flow and genetic structure, we identified one single group of jaguars (K = 1). We identified critical areas for jaguar movement that fall outside the boundaries of current protected areas in central Belize. We detected two main areas of high landscape permeability in a stretch of approximately 18 km between Sittee River Forest Reserve and Manatee Forest Reserve that may increase functional connectivity and facilitate jaguar dispersal from and to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. Our analysis provides important insights on fine-scale genetic and landscape connectivity of jaguars in central Belize, an area of conservation concern. Conclusions The results of our study demonstrate high levels of relatively recent gene flow for jaguars between two study sites in central Belize. Our landscape analysis detected corridors of expected jaguar movement between the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Maya Forest Corridor. We highlight the importance of maintaining already established corridors and consolidating new areas that further promote jaguar movement across suitable habitat beyond the boundaries of currently protected areas. Continued conservation efforts within identified corridors will further maintain and increase genetic connectivity in central Belize

Modeling the excitation of graphene plasmons in periodic grids of graphene ribbons: an analytical approach

We study electromagnetic scattering and subsequent plasmonic excitations in periodic grids of graphene ribbons. To address this problem, we develop an analytical method to describe the plasmon-assisted absorption of electromagnetic radiation by a periodic structure of graphene ribbons forming a diffraction grating for THz and mid-IR light. The major advantage of this method lies in its ability to accurately describe the excitation of graphene surface plasmons (GSPs) in one-dimensional (1D) graphene gratings without the use of both time-consuming, and computationally-demanding full-wave numerical simulations. We thus provide analytical expressions for the reflectance, transmittance and plasmon-enhanced absorbance spectra, which can be readily evaluated in any personal laptop with little-to-none programming. We also introduce a semi-analytical method to benchmark our previous results and further compare the theoretical data with spectra taken from experiments, to which we observe a very good agreement. These theoretical tools may therefore be applied to design new experiments and cutting-edge nanophotonic devices based on graphene plasmonics.The authors thank N. Asger Mortensen for insightful and valuable comments. PADG acknowledges financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) from grant No. PD/BI/114376/2016. NMRP and YVB acknowledge financial support from the European Commission through the project “GrapheneDriven Revolutions in ICT and Beyond” (Ref. No. 696656). This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Financing UID/FIS/04650/2013. The Center for Nanostructured Graphene is sponsored by the Danish National Research Foundation, Project DNRF103

Synchronous down-modulation of miR-17 family members is an early causative event in the retinal angiogenic switch

Six members of the microRNA-17 (miR-17) family were mapped to three different chromosomes, although they share the same seed sequence and are predicted to target common genes, among which are those encoding hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF1A) and VEGFA. Here, we evaluated the in vivo expression profile of the miR-17 family in the murine retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) model, whereby Vegfa expression is highly enhanced at the early stage of retinal neovascularization, and we found simultaneous reduction of all miR-17 family members at this stage. Using gene reporter assays, we observed binding of these miRs to specific sites in the 3′ UTRs of Hif1a and Vegfa. Furthermore, overexpression of these miRs decreased HIF1A and VEGFA expression in vitro. Our data indicate that this miR-17 family elicits a regulatory synergistic down-regulation of Hif1a and Vegfa expression in this biological model. We propose the existence of a coordinated regulatory network, in which diverse miRs are synchronously regulated to target the Hif1a transcription factor, which in turn, potentiates and reinforces the regulatory effects of the miRs on Vegfa to trigger and sustain a significant physiological response