Invariance Violation Extends the Cosmic Ray Horizon ?

We postulate in the present paper that the energy-momentum relation is modified for very high energy particles to violate Lorentz invariance and the speed of photon is changed from the light velocity c. The violation effect is amplified, in a sensitive way to detection, through the modified kinematical constraints on the conservation of energy and momentum, in the absorption process of gamma-rays colliding against photons of longer wavelengths and converting into an electron-positron pair. For gamma-rays of energies higher than 10 TeV, the minimum energy of the soft photons for the reaction and then the absorption mean free path of gamma-rays are altered by orders of magnitude from the ones conventionally estimated. Consideration is similarly applied to high energy cosmic ray protons. The consequences may require the standard assumptions on the maximum distance that very high energy radiation can travel from to be revised.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Ap J Letter

Sensitivity of a Ground-Based Infrared Interferometer for Aperture Synthesis Imaging

Sensitivity limits of ground-based infrared interferometers using aperture synthesis are presented. The motivation of this analysis is to compare an interferometer composed of multiple large telescopes and a single giant telescope with adaptive optics. In deriving these limits, perfect wavefront correction by adaptive optics and perfect cophasing by fringe tracking are assumed. We consider the case in which n beams are pairwise combined at n(n-1)/2 detectors and the case in which all the n beams are combined at a single detector. As a case study, we compare the point-source sensitivities of interferometers composed of nine 10-m diameter telescopes and a 30-m diameter single telescope with adaptive optics between 1 and 10 microns.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in PAS

Photometric Observations of Star Formation Activity in Early Type Spirals

We observationally study the current star formation activities of early type spiral galaxies. We construct a complete sample of 15 early type spirals having far-infrared (FIR) to optical B band luminosity ratios, L(FIR)/L(B), larger than the average of the type, and make their CCD imaging of the R and H-alpha bands. The equivalent widths of H-alpha emission increase with increasing L(FIR)/L(B), indicating that L(FIR)/L(B) can be an indicator of star formation for such early type spirals with star formation activities higher than the average. For all of the observed early type spirals, the extended HII regions exist at the central regions with some asymmetric features. H-alpha emission is more concentrated to the galactic center than the R band light, and the degree of the concentration increases with the star formation activity. We also analyze the relation between the star formation activities and the existence of companion galaxies in the sample galaxies and other bright early type spirals. No correlation is found and this suggests that the interaction is not responsible for all of the star formation activities of early type spirals.Comment: LaTex, 23 pages (2 tables included), plus 9 Postscript figures & 1 table. To be published in AJ (November issue

Common Mistakes in Anthurium Blight Control Pracitices: An Aid to Anthurium Blight Management

Recommendations for practices to control anthurium blight included propagation with tissue culture, daily renewal of disinfestation solution, caution in applying fertilizer, nematode control, midday irrigation, drainage improvement, frequent roguing, and keeping medium pH between 5.5 and 7

Biochemical correlates of cardiac hypertrophy. I. Experimental model; changes in heart weight, RNA content, and nuclear RNA polymerase activity

Cardiac hypertrophy occurred in mature rats after producing supravalvular aortic stenosis with a specially designed silver clip. For 2 weeks following this procedure, heart weight, body weight, and RNA content of the myocardium were serially determined. Heart weight and RNA content increased within 24 hours of aortic banding, reaching a maximal level in 2 days and remaining elevated during the 2 weeks of observation. Nuclei were isolated and purified from heart muscle homogenates, and changes in RNA polymerase activity following aortic banding were determined. The nearest neighbor frequency of the bases of the RNA synthesized by the polymerase from nuclear preparations was identical in both the banded animals and the sham-operated controls. Both groups could thus be compared on the basis of the enzyme assay. RNA polymerase activity in nuclei from the hearts of banded rats rose rapidly when compared with the activity in sham-operated rats; peak values were reached on the second day, the earliest detectable change being around 12 hours. The increase in RNA polymerase activity represents one of the earliest biochemical events that take place in the myocardium following aortic banding

Why Do We Need Post-Dilation After Implantation of a Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold Even for a Soft Lesion?

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Pitx2 is functionally important in the early stages of vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation

Mechanisms that control vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation are poorly understood. We identify Pitx2 as a previously unknown homeodomain transcription factor that is rapidly induced in an in vitro model of SMC differentiation from multipotent stem cells. Pitx2 induces expression of multiple SMC differentiation marker genes by binding to a TAATC(C/T) cis-element, by interacting with serum response factor, and by increasing histone acetylation levels within the promoters of SMC differentiation marker genes. Suppression of Pitx2 reduces expression of SMC differentiation marker genes in the early stages of SMC differentiation in vitro, whereas Prx1, another homeodomain protein, regulates SMC differentiation marker genes in fully differentiated SMCs. Pitx2, but not Prx1, knockout mouse embryos exhibit impaired induction of SMC differentiation markers in the dorsal aorta and branchial arch arteries. Our results demonstrate that Pitx2 functions to regulate the early stages of SMC differentiation

A Molecular Phylogeny And New Infrageneric Classification Of Mucuna Adans. (leguminosae-papilionoideae) Including Insights From Morphology And Hypotheses About Biogeography

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Premise of research. The genus Mucuna has a pantropical distribution and comprises approximately 105 species, many of which show great economic value for forage, ornament, and medicine. To date, phylogenetic relationships within Mucuna have not been investigated using molecular data. The aim of this study was to build a phylogenetic framework for Mucuna to address questions about its monophyly, infrageneric relationships, divergence times, and biogeography. Methodology. We sequenced plastid (trnL-F) and nuclear ribosomal (internal transcribed spacer) regions and applied Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses. An ancestral area reconstruction coupled with a divergence time analysis was used to investigate the historical biogeography of the genus. Pivotal results. Our results show that Mucuna is a monophyletic genus and that subgenus Stizolobium is a monophyletic group within it. We present here the analyses and results that support the need to recircumscribe subgenus Mucuna and to segregate a small group of species with large fruits into a newly proposed subgenus (to be described formally elsewhere after additional investigations). Conclusions. On the basis of ancestral area reconstruction and divergence time analyses, we conclude that the genus Mucuna originated and first diversified in the Paleotropics around 29.2 Ma and achieved a pantropical distribution through multiple long-distance dispersal events, which were facilitated by the occurrence of seeds adapted to oceanic dispersal.17717689Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Science without Borders Program [245590/2012-9]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Shirley A. Graham Fellowship, Missouri Botanical GardenBiologia Vegetal postgraduate program at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), BrazilRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewMissouri Botanical GardenCentro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genetica (CBMEG) Laboratory, BrazilEnvironment Research and Technology Development Fund of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan [S-9]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

TCT-627 Comparison of Procedural Feasibility Between Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold and New-generation Drug Eluting Stent in an All-comer Population

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Myopericytoma of low grade malignancy in the oral cavity

Myopericytoma (MPC) of the oral cavity is extremely rare. Herein reported is a case of MPC of low grade malignancy in the oral cavity. A 61-year-old man noticed a tumor of the cheek mucosa, and admitted to our hospital. Oral examination revealed a reddish elevated tumor of the cheek mucosa. Tumorectomy with wide margins was performed. The clinical diagnosis was pyogenic granuloma. Grossly, the tumor was reddish, and measured 1×1×1 cm. Microscopically, oval to spindle tumor cells with hyperchromatic vesicular nuclei and many vasculatures were seen. The tumor cells were contiguous and mixed with endothelial cells in many blood vessels, thus resembling pericytes. Mitotic figures were scattered. The surgical margins were negative for tumor cells. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, α-smooth muscle actin and p53. The Ki67 labeling was 40%. The tumor cells were negative for cytokeratins (AE1/3 and CAM5.2), CD31, CD34, S100 protein, HMB45, CD10, vimentin, desmin, and factor VIII-related antigen. The endothelium of the vessels were positive for vimentin, CD31, CD34 and factor VIII-related antigen, but negative for α-smooth muscle actin, p53, cytokeratins (AE1/3 and CAM5.2), S100 protein, HMB45, CD10, vimentin, and desmin. The Ki67 labeling was 5%. Because the pericytoid tumor cells showed α-smooth muscle actin and negative for endothelial markers, MPC was diagnosed. In addition, because there was some atypia and mitotic figures were scatters and also because the tumor cells were positive for p53 and Ki67 labeling was high, a pathological diagnosis of MPC with low grade malignancy was made. No recurrence was observed, and the patient is now free from tumor 6 months after the operation