Small-scale Interaction of Turbulence with Thermonuclear Flames in Type Ia Supernovae

Microscopic turbulence-flame interactions of thermonuclear fusion flames occuring in Type Ia Supernovae were studied by means of incompressible direct numerical simulations with a highly simplified flame description. The flame is treated as a single diffusive scalar field with a nonlinear source term. It is characterized by its Prandtl number, Pr << 1, and laminar flame speed, S_L. We find that if S_L ~ u', where u' is the rms amplitude of turbulent velocity fluctuations, the local flame propagation speed does not significantly deviate from S_L even in the presence of velocity fluctuations on scales below the laminar flame thickness. This result is interpreted in the context of subgrid-scale modeling of supernova explosions and the mechanism for deflagration-detonation-transitions.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Astrophys.

Combined Classifier versus Combined Feature Space in Scale Space Texture Classification

Using combined classifiers alleviates the problem of generating a large feature space, as the features generated from each scale/derivative are directly fed to a base classifier. In this approach, instead of concatenating features generated from each scale/derivative, the decision made by the base classifiers are combined in a two-stage combined classifier.In this paper, the performance of the proposed classification system is first compared against the combined feature space for only the zeroth order Gaussian derivative at multiple scales. The results clearly show that the proposed system using combined classifiers outperforms the classical approach of the combined feature space. The significance of the parameters, especially the fraction of variance maintained after applying PCA (principal component analysis) is also discussed

Terrestrial organic carbon storage in a British moorland

Accurate estimates for the size of terrestrial organic carbon (C) stores are needed to determine their importance in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The C stored in vegetation and soil components of a British moorland was evaluated in order to: (i) investigate the importance of these ecosystems for C storage and (ii) test the accuracy of the United Kingdom's terrestrial C inventory. The area of vegetation and soil types was determined using existing digitized maps and a Geographical Information System (GIS). The importance of evaluating C storage using 2D area projections, as opposed to true surface areas, was investigated and found to be largely insignificant. Vegetation C storage was estimated from published results of productivity studies at the site supplemented by field sampling to evaluate soil C storage. Vegetation was found to be much less important for C storage than soil, with peat soils, particularly Blanket bog, containing the greatest amounts of C. Whilst the total amount of C in vegetation was similar to the UK national C inventory's estimate for the same area, the national inventory estimate for soil C was over three times higher than the value derived in the current study. Because the UK's C inventory can be considered relatively accurate compared to many others, the results imply that current estimates for soil C storage, at national and global scales, should be treated with caution

On the binaural brain entrainment indicating lower heart rate variability

Products based on binaural beat technology are popular as these claim to relax the user by altering (i.e.entraining) the brain?s neuronal rhythm and a Google search will result in more than a million hits [1]. Whilst this is possible in certain approaches, for example in photic frequency following effects such as in braincomputer interfaces [2]; binaural brain entrainments uses two beats (usually sinusoidal tones) that are different in frequency by a small amount that generates a third pseudo-rhythm at the difference of the two frequencies [3]. Furthermore, binaural brain entrainment is also claimed to allow altered states of consciousness and hemispheric synchronisation [4]. However, the effects of this entrainment on the cardiac rhythm appear to be understudied, though equally important as the effects on the brain. Hence, the investigation here is set out with this aim

Statistical analysis of the mass-to-flux ratio in turbulent cores: effects of magnetic field reversals and dynamo amplification

We study the mass-to-flux ratio (M/\Phi) of clumps and cores in simulations of supersonic, magnetohydrodynamical turbulence for different initial magnetic field strengths. We investigate whether the (M/\Phi)-ratio of core and envelope, R = (M/\Phi)_{core}/(M/\Phi)_{envelope} can be used to distinguish between theories of ambipolar diffusion and turbulence-regulated star formation. We analyse R for different Lines-of-Sight (LoS) in various sub-cubes of our simulation box. We find that, 1) the average and median values of |R| for different times and initial magnetic field strengths are typically greater, but close to unity, 2) the average and median values of |R| saturate at average values of |R| ~ 1 for smaller magnetic fields, 3) values of |R| < 1 for small magnetic fields in the envelope are caused by field reversals when turbulence twists the field lines such that field components in different directions average out. Finally, we propose two mechanisms for generating values |R| ~< 1 for the weak and strong magnetic field limit in the context of a turbulent model. First, in the weak field limit, the small-scale turbulent dynamo leads to a significantly increased flux in the core and we find |R| ~< 1. Second, in the strong field limit, field reversals in the envelope also lead to values |R| ~< 1. These reversals are less likely to occur in the core region where the velocity field is more coherent and the internal velocity dispersion is typically subsonic.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Synthesis, characterization and biological activity of novel Cu(II) complexes of 6-methyl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carbaldehy de-4N-substituted thiosemicarbazones

Three new 6-methyl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde-thiosemicarbazones-N-4-substituted pro-ligands and their Cu(II) complexes (1, -NH2; 2, -NHMe; 3, -NHEt) have been prepared and characterized. In both the X-ray structures of 1 and 3, two crystallographically independent complex molecules were found that differ either in the nature of weakly metal-binding species (water in 1a and nitrate in 1b) or in the co-ligand (water in 3a and methanol in 3b). Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) measurements carried out on complexes 1 and 3 confirmed the presence of such different species in the solution. The electrochemical behavior of the pro-ligands and of the complexes was investigated, as well as their biological activity. Complexes 2 and 3 exhibited a high cytotoxicity against human tumor cells and 3D spheroids derived from solid tumors, related to the high cellular uptake. Complexes 2 and 3 also showed a high selectivity towards cancerous cell lines with respect to non-cancerous cell lines and were able to circumvent cisplatin resistance. Via the Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging technique, preliminary insights into the biological activity of copper complexes were obtained

Local Delivery of Interleukin 4 by Retrovirus-Transduced T Lymphocytes Ameliorates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system which serves as a model for the human disease multiple sclerosis. We demonstrate here that encephalitogenic T cells, transduced with a retroviral gene, construct to express interleukin 4, and can delay the onset and reduce the severity of EAE when adoptively transferred to myelin basic protein–immunized mice. Thus, T lymphocytes transduced with retroviral vectors can deliver “regulatory cytokines” in a site-specific manner and may represent a viable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of autoimmune disease

Gene expression and splicing alterations analyzed by high throughput RNA sequencing of chronic lymphocytic leukemia specimens.

BackgroundTo determine differentially expressed and spliced RNA transcripts in chronic lymphocytic leukemia specimens a high throughput RNA-sequencing (HTS RNA-seq) analysis was performed.MethodsTen CLL specimens and five normal peripheral blood CD19+ B cells were analyzed by HTS RNA-seq. The library preparation was performed with Illumina TrueSeq RNA kit and analyzed by Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing system.ResultsAn average of 48.5 million reads for B cells, and 50.6 million reads for CLL specimens were obtained with 10396 and 10448 assembled transcripts for normal B cells and primary CLL specimens respectively. With the Cuffdiff analysis, 2091 differentially expressed genes (DEG) between B cells and CLL specimens based on FPKM (fragments per kilobase of transcript per million reads and false discovery rate, FDR q &lt; 0.05, fold change &gt;2) were identified. Expression of selected DEGs (n = 32) with up regulated and down regulated expression in CLL from RNA-seq data were also analyzed by qRT-PCR in a test cohort of CLL specimens. Even though there was a variation in fold expression of DEG genes between RNA-seq and qRT-PCR; more than 90 % of analyzed genes were validated by qRT-PCR analysis. Analysis of RNA-seq data for splicing alterations in CLL and B cells was performed by Multivariate Analysis of Transcript Splicing (MATS analysis). Skipped exon was the most frequent splicing alteration in CLL specimens with 128 significant events (P-value &lt;0.05, minimum inclusion level difference &gt;0.1).ConclusionThe RNA-seq analysis of CLL specimens identifies novel DEG and alternatively spliced genes that are potential prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. High level of validation by qRT-PCR for a number of DEG genes supports the accuracy of this analysis. Global comparison of transcriptomes of B cells, IGVH non-mutated CLL (U-CLL) and mutated CLL specimens (M-CLL) with multidimensional scaling analysis was able to segregate CLL and B cell transcriptomes but the M-CLL and U-CLL transcriptomes were indistinguishable. The analysis of HTS RNA-seq data to identify alternative splicing events and other genetic abnormalities specific to CLL is an added advantage of RNA-seq that is not feasible with other genome wide analysis

Targeting IL-11R/EZH2 Signaling Axis as a Therapeutic Strategy for Osteosarcoma Lung Metastases

Lung metastases are the primary cause of death for osteosarcoma (OS) patients. We recently validated interleukin-11 receptor α (IL-11Rα) as a molecular target for the inhibition of OS lung metastases. Since there is no clinically approved antibody against this receptor, we sought to identify downstream targets that mediate the effects of IL-11Rα signaling. We used shRNA to deplete IL-11Rα from OS cells; as a complementary approach, we added IL-11 exogenously to OS cells. The resulting changes in gene expression identified EZH2 as a downstream candidate. This was confirmed by knockdown of IL-11Rα in OS cells, which led to increased expression of genes repressed by histone methyltransferase EZH2, including members of the WNT pathway, a known target pathway of EZH2. Exogenous IL-11 increased the global levels of histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation, evidence of EZH2 activation. Treatment with the EZH2 inhibitor GSK126 significantly reduced in vitro proliferation and increased cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis, which were partially mediated through the WNT pathway. In vivo, treatment of an orthotopic nude mouse model of OS with GSK126 inhibited lung metastatic growth and prolonged survival. In addition, significantly shorter recurrence-free survival was seen in OS patients with high levels of EZH2 in their primary tumors (P \u3c .05). This suggests that IL-11Rα promotes OS lung metastasis via activation of EZH2. Thus, blocking EZH2 activity may be an effective strategy for inhibiting OS lung metastasis and improving prognosis