2,516 research outputs found
The ParB homologs, Spo0J and Noc, together prevent premature midcell Z ring assembly when the early stages of replication are blocked in Bacillus subtilis
© 2019 The Authors. Molecular Microbiology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Precise cell division in coordination with DNA replication and segregation is of utmost importance for all organisms. The earliest stage of cell division is the assembly of a division protein FtsZ into a ring, known as the Z ring, at midcell. What still eludes us, however, is how bacteria precisely position the Z ring at midcell. Work in B. subtilis over the last two decades has identified a link between the early stages of DNA replication and cell division. A recent model proposed that the progression of the early stages of DNA replication leads to an increased ability for the Z ring to form at midcell. This model arose through studies examining Z ring position in mutants blocked at different steps of the early stages of DNA replication. Here, we show that this model is unlikely to be correct and the mutants previously studied generate nucleoids with different capacity for blocking midcell Z ring assembly. Importantly, our data suggest that two proteins of the widespread ParB family, Noc and Spo0J are required to prevent Z ring assembly over the bacterial nucleoid and help fine tune the assembly of the Z ring at midcell during the cell cycle
Metabolic adaptations of Uropathogenic E. coli in the urinary tract
© 2017 Mann, Mediati, Duggin, Harry and Bottomley. Escherichia coli ordinarily resides in the lower gastrointestinal tract in humans, but some strains, known as Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), are also adapted to the relatively harsh environment of the urinary tract. Infections of the urine, bladder and kidneys by UPEC may lead to potentially fatal bloodstream infections. To survive this range of conditions, UPEC strains must have broad and flexible metabolic capabilities and efficiently utilize scarce essential nutrients. Whole-organism (or âomicsâ) methods have recently provided significant advances in our understanding of the importance of metabolic adaptation in the success of UPECs. Here we describe the nutritional and metabolic requirements for UPEC infection in these environments, and focus on particular metabolic responses and adaptations of UPEC that appear to be essential for survival in the urinary tract
Simonsenia aveniformis sp nov (Bacillariophyceae), molecular phylogeny and systematics of the genus, and a new type of canal raphe system
The genus Simonsenia is reviewed and S. aveniformis described as new for science by light and electron microscopy. The new species originated from estuarine environments in southern Iberia (Atlantic coast) and was isolated into culture. In LM, Simonsenia resembles Nitzschia, with bridges (fibulae) beneath the raphe, which is marginal. It is only electron microscope (EM) examination that reveals the true structure of the raphe system, which consists of a raphe canal raised on a keel (wing), supported by rib like braces (fenestral bars) and tube-like portulae; between the portulae the keel is perforated by open windows (fenestrae). Based on the presence of portulae and a fenestrated keel, Simonsenia has been proposed to be intermediate between Bacillariaceae and Surirellaceae. However, an rbcL phylogeny revealed that Simonsenia belongs firmly in the Bacillariaceae, with which it shares a similar chloroplast arrangement, rather than in the Surirellaceae. Lack of homology between the surirelloid and simonsenioid keels is reflected in subtle differences in the morphology and ontogeny of the portulae and fenestrae. The diversity of Simonsenia has probably been underestimated, particularly in the marine environment.Polish National Science Centre in Cracow within the Maestro program [N 2012/04/A/ST10/00544]; Sciences and Technologies Foundation-FCT (Portugal) [SFRH/BD/62405/2009]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Gauss-Bonnet Black Holes and Heavy Fermion Metals
We consider charged black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity with
Lifshitz boundary conditions. We find that this class of models can reproduce
the anomalous specific heat of condensed matter systems exhibiting
non-Fermi-liquid behaviour at low temperatures. We find that the temperature
dependence of the Sommerfeld ratio is sensitive to the choice of Gauss-Bonnet
coupling parameter for a given value of the Lifshitz scaling parameter. We
propose that this class of models is dual to a class of models of
non-Fermi-liquid systems proposed by Castro-Neto et.al.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, pdfLatex; small corrections to figure 10 in this
versio
Analytic Lifshitz black holes in higher dimensions
We generalize the four-dimensional R^2-corrected z=3/2 Lifshitz black hole to
a two-parameter family of black hole solutions for any dynamical exponent z and
for any dimension D. For a particular relation between the parameters, we find
the first example of an extremal Lifshitz black hole. An asymptotically
Lifshitz black hole with a logarithmic decay is also exhibited for a specific
critical exponent depending on the dimension. We extend this analysis to the
more general quadratic curvature corrections for which we present three new
families of higher-dimensional D>=5 analytic Lifshitz black holes for generic
z. One of these higher-dimensional families contains as critical limits the z=3
three-dimensional Lifshitz black hole and a new z=6 four-dimensional black
hole. The variety of analytic solutions presented here encourages to explore
these gravity models within the context of non-relativistic holographic
correspondence.Comment: 14 page
Injury Risk Estimation Expertise Assessing the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz
Background: Available methods for screening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk are effective but limited in application as
they generally rely on expensive and time-consuming biomechanical movement analysis. A potential efficient alternative to biomechanical
screening is skilled movement analysis via visual inspection (ie, having experts estimate injury risk factors based on
observations of athletesâ movements).
Purpose: To develop a brief, valid psychometric assessment of ACL injury risk factor estimation skill: the ACL Injury Risk Estimation
Quiz (ACL-IQ).
Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3.
Methods: A total of 660 individuals participated in various stages of the study, including athletes, physicians, physical therapists,
athletic trainers, exercise science researchers/students, and members of the general public in the United States. The ACL-IQ was
fully computerized and made available online (www.ACL-IQ.org). Item sampling/reduction, reliability analysis, cross-validation,
and convergent/discriminant validity analysis were conducted to optimize the efficiency and validity of the assessment.
Results: Psychometric optimization techniques identified a short (mean time, 2 min 24 s), robust, 5-item assessment with high
reliability (test-retest: r = 0.90) and consistent discriminability (average difference of exercise science professionals vs general
population: Cohen d = 1.98). Exercise science professionals and general population individuals scored 74% and 53% correct,
respectively. Convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated. Scores on the ACL-IQ were most associated with ACL
knowledge and various cue utilities and were least associated with domain-general spatial/decision-making ability, personality,
or other demographic variables. Overall, 23% of the total sample (40% exercise science professionals; 6% general population)
performed better than or equal to the ACL nomogram.
Conclusion: This study presents the results of a systematic approach to assess individual differences in ACL injury risk factor
estimation skill; the assessment approach is efficient (ie, it can be completed in\3 min) and psychometrically robust. The results
provide evidence that some individuals have the ability to visually estimate ACL injury risk factors more accurately than other
instrument-based ACL risk estimation methods (ie, ACL nomogram). The ACL-IQ provides the foundation for assessing the efficacy
of observational ACL injury risk factor assessment (ie, does simple skilled visual inspection reduce ACL injuries?). It also
provides a representative task environment that can be used to increase our understanding of the perceptual-cognitive mechanisms
underlying observational movement analysis and to improve injury risk assessment performance
Universal thermal and electrical conductivity from holography
It is known from earlier work of Iqbal, Liu (arXiv:0809.3808) that the
boundary transport coefficients such as electrical conductivity (at vanishing
chemical potential), shear viscosity etc. at low frequency and finite
temperature can be expressed in terms of geometrical quantities evaluated at
the horizon. In the case of electrical conductivity, at zero chemical potential
gauge field fluctuation and metric fluctuation decouples, resulting in a
trivial flow from horizon to boundary. In the presence of chemical potential,
the story becomes complicated due to the fact that gauge field and metric
fluctuation can no longer be decoupled. This results in a nontrivial flow from
horizon to boundary. Though horizon conductivity can be expressed in terms of
geometrical quantities evaluated at the horizon, there exist no such neat
result for electrical conductivity at the boundary. In this paper we propose an
expression for boundary conductivity expressed in terms of geometrical
quantities evaluated at the horizon and thermodynamical quantities. We also
consider the theory at finite cutoff outside the horizon (arXiv:1006.1902) and
give an expression for cutoff dependent electrical conductivity, which
interpolates smoothly between horizon conductivity and boundary conductivity .
Using the results about the electrical conductivity we gain much insight into
the universality of thermal conductivity to viscosity ratio proposed in
arXiv:0912.2719.Comment: An appendix added discussing relation between boundary conductivity
and universal conductivity of stretched horizon, version to be published in
JHE
Black holes and black branes in Lifshitz spacetimes
We construct analytic solutions describing black holes and black branes in
asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes with arbitrary dynamical exponent z and for
arbitrary number of dimensions. The model considered consists of Einstein
gravity with negative cosmological constant, a scalar, and N U(1) gauge fields
with dilatonic-like couplings. We study the phase diagrams and thermodynamic
instabilities of the solution, and find qualitative differences between the
cases with 12.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures; v2 references added, minor comments adde
Lifshitz black holes in string theory
We provide the first black hole solutions with Lifshitz asymptotics found in
string theory. These are expected to be dual to models enjoying anisotropic
scale invariance with dynamical exponent z=2 at finite temperature. We employ a
consistent truncation of type IIB supergravity to four dimensions with an
arbitrary 5-dimensional Einstein manifold times a circle as internal geometry.
New interesting features are found that significantly differ from previous
results in phenomenological models. In particular, small black holes are shown
to be thermodynamically unstable, analogously to the usual AdS-Schwarzschild
black holes, and extremality is never reached. This signals a possible
Hawking-Page like phase transition at low temperatures.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. v2 references adde
Flavoured soft leptogenesis and natural values of the B term
We revisit flavour effects in soft leptogenesis relaxing the assumption of
universality for the soft supersymmetry breaking terms. We find that with
respect to the case in which the heavy sneutrinos decay with equal rates and
equal CP asymmetries for all lepton flavours, hierarchical flavour
configurations can enhance the efficiency by more than two orders of magnitude.
This translates in more than three order of magnitude with respect to the
one-flavour approximation. We verify that lepton flavour equilibration effects
related to off-diagonal soft slepton masses are ineffective for damping these
large enhancements. We show that soft leptogenesis can be successful for
unusual values of the relevant parameters, allowing for and for values of the washout parameter up to .Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures postscript, Minor changes to match the published
version in JHE
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