Surveillance studies of Lymphocystis disease virus in farmed gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) by real-time PCR

Lymphocystis disease (LCD) is the main viral infection reported to affect cultured gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) in Southern Atlantic and Mediterranean aquaculture. Its etiological agent is the Lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV), a member of the family Iridoviridae (genus Lymphocystivirus). The only adequate measures for LCD prevention in the aquaculture systems are general prophylactic practices, such as the control of fish to be introduced in the farm facilities in order to detect carrier fish. These animals may pose a risk for the introduction of LCDV in fish farms, as direct contact between fish specimens is considered the main route of LCDV spreading. More recently, asymptomatic carrier breeders, as well as virus contaminated-live food, have been involved in LCDV transmission to fish larvae. The detection of subclinical viral infections in carrier fish requires the use of sensitive diagnostic methods. In this context, the objective of this study was to establish the applicability of a real-time PCR assay for LCDV diagnosis in surveillance studies. In addition, the assay has been evaluated with samples from a gilthead seabream hatchery, in order to prove its utility to trace the origin of LCDV in fish farms. Juvenile fish were collected at four farms with different background regarding to LCD. LCDV was detected in all farms, and 30 to 100% of fish were identified as LCDV-infected. Estimated viral load in caudal fin of asymptomatic fish was two to five orders of magnitude lower than in diseased fish. Carrier fish were also identified in the broodstock from a farm with LCD records by analysing caudal fin samples by qPCR. In this farm, the q-PCR assay developed in this study allowed the quantitative detection of LCDV in all samples collected in the hatchery, including fertilized eggs, larvae and fingerlings, and also rotifer cultures and artemia metanauplii and cysts used for larval rearing.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Follow-up of X-ray transients detected by SWIFT with COLORES using the BOOTES network

The Burst Observer and Optical Transient Exploring System (BOOTES) is a network of telescopes that allows the continuous monitoring of transient astrophysical sources. It was originally devoted to the study of the optical emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that occur in the Universe. In this paper we show the initial results obtained using the spectrograph COLORES (mounted on BOOTES-2), when observing compact objects of diverse nature.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figues, to appear in "Swift: 10 years of discovery", Proceedings of Scienc

ALMA observations of the Red Rectangle, a preliminary analysis

We aim to study equatorial disks in rotation and axial outflows in post-AGB objects, as to disclose the formation and shaping mechanisms in planetary nebulae. So far, both disks and outflows had not been observed simultaneously. We have obtained high-quality ALMA observations of 12CO and 13CO J=3-2 and 12CO J=6-5 line emission in the Red Rectangle, the only post-AGB/protoplanetary object in which a disk in rotation has been mapped up to date. These observations provide an unprecedented description of the complex structure of this source. Together with an equatorial disk in rotation, we find a low-velocity outflow that occupies more or less the region placed between the disk and the optical X-shaped nebula. From our observations and preliminary modeling of the data, we confirm the previously known properties of the disk and obtain a first description of the structure, dynamics, and physical conditions of the outflow.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Dynamical charge and spin density wave scattering in cuprate superconductor

We show that a variety of spectral features in high-T_c cuprates can be understood from the coupling of charge carriers to some kind of dynamical order which we exemplify in terms of fluctuating charge and spin density waves. Two theoretical models are investigated which capture different aspects of such dynamical scattering. The first approach leaves the ground state in the disordered phase but couples the electrons to bosonic degrees of freedom, corresponding to the quasi singular scattering associated with the closeness to an ordered phase. The second, more phenomological approach starts from the construction of a frequency dependent order parameter which vanishes for small energies. Both theories capture scanning tunneling microscopy and angle-resoved photoemission experiments which suggest the protection of quasiparticles close to the Fermi energy but the manifestation of long-range order at higher frequencies.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, to appear in New J. Phy

Cognition in informal caregivers: evidence from an English population study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between caregiving and cognition remains unclear. We investigate this association comparing four cognitive tasks and exploring the role of potential explanatory pathways such as healthy behaviours (healthy caregiver hypothesis) and depression (stress process model).D RESEARCH AND DESIGN METHODS: Respondents were from English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) (N = 8910). Cognitive tasks included immediate and delayed word recall, verbal fluency and serial 7 subtraction. Series of hierarchical linear regressions were performed. Adjustments included socio-demographics, health related variables, health behaviours and depression. RESULTS: Being a caregiver was positively associated with immediate and delayed recall, verbal fluency but not with serial 7. For immediate and delayed recall, these associations were partially attenuated when adjusting for health behaviours, and depression. For verbal fluency, associations were partially attenuated when adjusting for depression but fully attenuated when adjusting for health behaviours. No associations were found for serial 7. DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our findings show that caregivers have higher level of memory and executive function compared to non-caregivers. For memory, we found that although health behaviours and depression can have a role in this association, they do not fully explain it. However, health behaviours seem to have a clear role in the association with executive function. Public health and policy do not need to target specifically cognitive function but other areas as the promotion of healthy behaviours and psychological adjustment such as preventing depression and promoting physical activity in caregivers

Spatial fluctuations in an optical parametric oscillator below threshold with an intracavity photonic crystal

We show how to control spatial quantum correlations in a multimode degenerate optical parametric oscillator type I below threshold by introducing a spatially inhomogeneous medium, such as a photonic crystal, in the plane perpendicular to light propagation. We obtain the analytical expressions for all the correlations in terms of the relevant parameters of the problem and study the number of photons, entanglement, squeezing, and twin beams. Considering different regimes and configurations we show the possibility to tune the instability thresholds as well as the quantumness of correlations by breaking the translational invariance of the system through a photonic crystal modulation.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

The IACOB project. V. Spectroscopic parameters of the O-type stars in the modern grid of standards for spectral classification

The IACOB and OWN surveys are two ambitious complementary observational projects which have made available a large multi-epoch spectroscopic database of optical high resolution spectra of Galactic massive O-type stars. As a first step in the study of the full sample of (more than 350) O stars surveyed by the IACOB/OWN projects, we have performed the quantitative spectroscopic analysis of a subsample of 128 stars included in the modern grid of O-type standards for spectral classification. We use semi-automatized tools to determine the set of spectroscopic parameters that can be obtained from the optical spectrum of O-type stars. We also benefit from the multi-epoch character of the surveys to perform a spectroscopic variability study of the sample, accounting for spectroscopic binarity and variability of the main wind diagnostic lines. We provide a general overview of the stellar and wind parameters of this reference sample, and updated recipes for the SpT\,--\,Teff/log g calibrations for Galactic O-type stars. We evaluate our semi-automatized analysis strategy with $\sim$40 stars from the literature, and find a good agreement. The agreement between the synthetic spectra associated with fastwind best fitting models and the observed spectra is good for most targets, but 46 stars present a particular behavior of the wind diagnostic lines that cannot be reproduced by our grid of spherically symmetric unclumped models. These are potential targets of interest for more detailed investigations of clumpy winds and/or the existence of additional circumstellar components. Last, our variability study has led to the detection of signatures of spectroscopic binarity in 27\% of the stars and small amplitude radial velocity variations in the photospheric lines of another 30\%. Additionally, 31\% of the investigated stars show variability in the wind diagnostic lines.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Adsorption of proteins to thin-films of PDMS and its effect on the adhesion of human endothelial cells

This paper describes a simple and inexpensive procedure to produce thin-films of poly(dimethylsiloxane). Such films were characterized by a variety of techniques (ellipsometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, atomic force microscopy, and goniometry) and used to investigate the adsorption kinetics of three model proteins (fibrinogen, collagen type-I, and bovine serum albumin) under different conditions. The information collected from the protein adsorption studies was then used to investigate the adhesion of human dermal microvascular endothelial cells. The results of these studies suggest that these films can be used to model the surface properties of microdevices fabricated with commercial PDMS. Moreover, the paper provides guidelines to efficiently attach cells in BioMEMS devices.Fil: Chumbimuni Torres, Karin Y.. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Coronado, Ramon E.. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Mfuh, Adelphe M.. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Castro Guerrero, Carlos. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Silva, María Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Negrete, George R.. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Bizios, Rena. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Garcia, Carlos D.. The University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados Unido