1,434 research outputs found
Effects of warming on the structure of aquatic communities in tropical bromeliad microecosystems
An integrative analysis uncovers a new, pseudo-cryptic species of Amazonian marmoset (Primates: Callitrichidae: Mico) from the arc of deforestation
Amazonia has the richest primate fauna in the world. Nonetheless, the diversity and distribution of Amazonian primates remain little known and the scarcity of baseline data challenges their conservation. These challenges are especially acute in the Amazonian arc of deforestation, the 2500 km long southern edge of the Amazonian biome that is rapidly being deforested and converted to agricultural and pastoral landscapes. Amazonian marmosets of the genus Mico are little known endemics of this region and therefore a priority for research and conservation efforts. However, even nascent conservation efforts are hampered by taxonomic uncertainties in this group, such as the existence of a potentially new species from the Juruena–Teles Pires interfluve hidden within the M. emiliae epithet. Here we test if these marmosets belong to a distinct species using new morphological, phylogenomic, and geographic distribution data analysed within an integrative taxonomic framework. We discovered a new, pseudo-cryptic Mico species hidden within the epithet M. emiliae, here described and named after Horacio Schneider, the pioneer of molecular phylogenetics of Neotropical primates. We also clarify the distribution, evolutionary and morphological relationships of four other Mico species, bridging Linnean, Wallacean, and Darwinian shortfalls in the conservation of primates in the Amazonian arc of deforestation
Segmental correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis by all-screw fixation method in adolescents and young adults. minimum 5 years follow-up with SF-36 questionnaire
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In our institution, the fixation technique in treating idiopathic scoliosis was shifted from hybrid fixation to the all-screw method beginning in 2000. We conducted this study to assess the intermediate -term outcome of all-screw method in treating adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty-nine consecutive patients were retrospectively included with minimum of 5-year follow-up (mean, 6.1; range, 5.1-7.3 years). The average age of surgery was 18.5 ± 5.0 years. We assessed radiographic measurements at preoperative (Preop), postoperative (PO) and final follow-up (FFU) period. Curve correction rate, correction loss rate, complications, accuracy of pedicle screws and SF-36 scores were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The average major curve was corrected from 58.0 ± 13.0° Preop to 16.0 ± 9.0° PO(<it>p </it>< 0.0001), and increased to 18.4 ± 8.6°(<it>p </it>= 0.12) FFU. This revealed a 72.7% correction rate and a correction loss of 2.4° (3.92%). The thoracic kyphosis decreased little at FFU (22 ± 12° to 20 ± 6°, (<it>p </it>= 0.25)). Apical vertebral rotation decreased from 2.1 ± 0.8 PreOP to 0.8 ± 0.8 at FFU (Nash-Moe grading, <it>p </it>< 0.01). Among total 831 pedicle screws, 56 (6.7%) were found to be malpositioned. Compared with 2069 age-matched Taiwanese, SF-36 scores showed inferior result in 2 variables: physical function and role physical.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Follow-up more than 5 years, the authors suggest that all-screw method is an efficient and safe method.</p
CyclinPred: A SVM-Based Method for Predicting Cyclin Protein Sequences
Functional annotation of protein sequences with low similarity to well characterized protein sequences is a major challenge of computational biology in the post genomic era. The cyclin protein family is once such important family of proteins which consists of sequences with low sequence similarity making discovery of novel cyclins and establishing orthologous relationships amongst the cyclins, a difficult task. The currently identified cyclin motifs and cyclin associated domains do not represent all of the identified and characterized cyclin sequences. We describe a Support Vector Machine (SVM) based classifier, CyclinPred, which can predict cyclin sequences with high efficiency. The SVM classifier was trained with features of selected cyclin and non cyclin protein sequences. The training features of the protein sequences include amino acid composition, dipeptide composition, secondary structure composition and PSI-BLAST generated Position Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSM) profiles. Results obtained from Leave-One-Out cross validation or jackknife test, self consistency and holdout tests prove that the SVM classifier trained with features of PSSM profile was more accurate than the classifiers based on either of the other features alone or hybrids of these features. A cyclin prediction server- CyclinPred has been setup based on SVM model trained with PSSM profiles. CyclinPred prediction results prove that the method may be used as a cyclin prediction tool, complementing conventional cyclin prediction methods
Haemostatic alterations in a group of canine cancer patients are associated with cancer type and disease progression
Search for rare quark-annihilation decays, B --> Ds(*) Phi
We report on searches for B- --> Ds- Phi and B- --> Ds*- Phi. In the context
of the Standard Model, these decays are expected to be highly suppressed since
they proceed through annihilation of the b and u-bar quarks in the B- meson.
Our results are based on 234 million Upsilon(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected
with the BABAR detector at SLAC. We find no evidence for these decays, and we
set Bayesian 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions BF(B-
--> Ds- Phi) Ds*- Phi)<1.2x10^(-5). These results
are consistent with Standard Model expectations.Comment: 8 pages, 3 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid
Communications
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS
has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions
at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection
criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined.
For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a
muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the
whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4,
while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The
efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than
90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall
momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The
transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity
for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be
better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions
of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy
A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated
leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The
analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of
7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of
140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The
observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence
for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on
possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To
facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics
scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and
efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter
Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments
In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one
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