Light Quark Masses with an O(a)-Improved Action

We present the recent Fermilab calculations of the masses of the light quarks, using tadpole-improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert (SW) quarks. Various sources of systematic errors are studied. Our final result for the average light quark mass in the quenched approximation evaluated in the $\bar{MS}$ scheme is $\bar{m}_q(\mu=2 GeV;n_f=0)= (m_u+m_d)/2=3.6 \pm 0.6 MeV$.Comment: 3 pgs. 3 figures. espcrc2.sty included. Talk presented at LATTICE96(phenomenology

Comparative Natural History of Visual Function From Patients With Biallelic Variants in BBS1 and BBS10.

The purpose of this study was to compare the natural history of visual function change in cohorts of patients affected with retinal degeneration due to biallelic variants in Bardet-Biedl syndrome genes: BBS1 and BBS10. Patients were recruited from nine academic centers from six countries (Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States). Inclusion criteria were: (1) female or male patients with a clinical diagnosis of retinal dystrophy, (2) biallelic disease-causing variants in BBS1 or BBS10, and (3) measures of visual function for at least one visit. Retrospective data collected included genotypes, age, onset of symptoms, and best corrected visual acuity (VA). When possible, data on refractive error, fundus images and autofluorescence (FAF), optical coherence tomography (OCT), Goldmann kinetic perimetry (VF), electroretinography (ERG), and the systemic phenotype were collected. Sixty-seven individuals had variants in BBS1 (n = 38; 20 female patients and 18 male patients); or BBS10 (n = 29; 14 female patients and 15 male patients). Missense variants were the most common type of variants for patients with BBS1, whereas frameshift variants were most common for BBS10. When ERGs were recordable, rod-cone dystrophy (RCD) was observed in 82% (23/28) of patients with BBS1 and 73% (8/11) of patients with BBS10; cone-rod dystrophy (CORD) was seen in 18% of patients with BBS1 only, and cone dystrophy (COD) was only seen in 3 patients with BBS10 (27%). ERGs were nondetectable earlier in patients with BBS10 than in patients with BBS1. Similarly, VA and VF declined more rapidly in patients with BBS10 compared to patients with BBS1. Retinal degeneration appears earlier and is more severe in BBS10 cases as compared to those with BBS1 variants. The course of change of visual function appears to relate to genetic subtypes of BBS

Rethinking Equality in the Global Society

The future of affirmative action, especially in the area of American higher education, has been called into question by the 1996 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Hopwood v. State of Texas, requiring race-blind admission to state universities in Texas, and the passage of Proposition 209 in California. The seemingly endless American debate on this issue almost entirely has ignored the fact that other countries faced with comparable problems of remedying the effects of past discrimination have developed programs and acquired experience from which Americans might learn. Further, the legal debate has not been adequately informed by the social science disciplines. This conference was intended to expand discussion at a critical moment by introducing these missing perspectives

Magnetic Field Generation in Stars

Enormous progress has been made on observing stellar magnetism in stars from the main sequence through to compact objects. Recent data have thrown into sharper relief the vexed question of the origin of stellar magnetic fields, which remains one of the main unanswered questions in astrophysics. In this chapter we review recent work in this area of research. In particular, we look at the fossil field hypothesis which links magnetism in compact stars to magnetism in main sequence and pre-main sequence stars and we consider why its feasibility has now been questioned particularly in the context of highly magnetic white dwarfs. We also review the fossil versus dynamo debate in the context of neutron stars and the roles played by key physical processes such as buoyancy, helicity, and superfluid turbulence,in the generation and stability of neutron star fields. Independent information on the internal magnetic field of neutron stars will come from future gravitational wave detections. Thus we maybe at the dawn of a new era of exciting discoveries in compact star magnetism driven by the opening of a new, non-electromagnetic observational window. We also review recent advances in the theory and computation of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence as it applies to stellar magnetism and dynamo theory. These advances offer insight into the action of stellar dynamos as well as processes whichcontrol the diffusive magnetic flux transport in stars.Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures. Invited review chapter on on magnetic field generation in stars to appear in Space Science Reviews, Springe

Current Knowledge and Priorities for Future Research in Late Effects after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes: Consensus Statement from the Second Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium International Conference on Late Effects after Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Transplantation and immunomodulatio

Late Effects Screening Guidelines after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes: Consensus Statement From the Second Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium International Conference on Late Effects After Pediatric HCT

Transplantation and immunomodulatio

QED Effective Action Revisited

The derivation of a convergent series representation for the quantum electrodynamic effective action obtained by two of us (S.R.V. and D.R.L.) in [Can. J. Phys. vol. 71, p. 389 (1993)] is reexamined. We present more details of our original derivation. Moreover, we discuss the relation of the electric-magnetic duality to the integral representation for the effective action, and we consider the application of nonlinear convergence acceleration techniques which permit the efficient and reliable numerical evaluation of the quantum correction to the Maxwell Lagrangian.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 1 table; minor additions and adjustments; to appear in Can. J. Phy

Identification and validation of novel biomarkers and therapeutics for pulpitis using connectivity mapping

International audienceAim To create an irreversible pulpitis gene signature from microarray data of healthy and inflamed dental pulps, followed by a bioinformatics approach using connectivity mapping to identify therapeutic compounds that could potentially treat pulpitis. Methodology The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, an international public repositor

Discovery of 24 radio-bright quasars at 4.9 <= z <= 6.6 using low-frequency radio observations

Galaxie

A conserved fungal glycosyltransferase facilitates pathogenesis of plants by enabling hyphal growth on solid surfaces

Article Authors Metrics Comments Related Content Abstract Author summary Introduction Results and discussion Conclusions Methods Supporting information Acknowledgments References Reader Comments (0) Media Coverage (0) Figures Abstract Pathogenic fungi must extend filamentous hyphae across solid surfaces to cause diseases of plants. However, the full inventory of genes which support this is incomplete and many may be currently concealed due to their essentiality for the hyphal growth form. During a random T-DNA mutagenesis screen performed on the pleomorphic wheat (Triticum aestivum) pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici, we acquired a mutant unable to extend hyphae specifically when on solid surfaces. In contrast “yeast-like” growth, and all other growth forms, were unaffected. The inability to extend surface hyphae resulted in a complete loss of virulence on plants. The affected gene encoded a predicted type 2 glycosyltransferase (ZtGT2). Analysis of >800 genomes from taxonomically diverse fungi highlighted a generally widespread, but discontinuous, distribution of ZtGT2 orthologues, and a complete absence of any similar proteins in non-filamentous ascomycete yeasts. Deletion mutants of the ZtGT2 orthologue in the taxonomically un-related fungus Fusarium graminearum were also severely impaired in hyphal growth and non-pathogenic on wheat ears. ZtGT2 expression increased during filamentous growth and electron microscopy on deletion mutants (ΔZtGT2) suggested the protein functions to maintain the outermost surface of the fungal cell wall. Despite this, adhesion to leaf surfaces was unaffected in ΔZtGT2 mutants and global RNAseq-based gene expression profiling highlighted that surface-sensing and protein secretion was also largely unaffected. However, ΔZtGT2 mutants constitutively overexpressed several transmembrane and secreted proteins, including an important LysM-domain chitin-binding virulence effector, Zt3LysM. ZtGT2 likely functions in the synthesis of a currently unknown, potentially minor but widespread, extracellular or outer cell wall polysaccharide which plays a key role in facilitating many interactions between plants and fungi by enabling hyphal growth on solid matrices