855 research outputs found
Maximal Spontaneous Photon Emission and Energy Loss from Free Electrons
Free electron radiation such as Cerenkov, Smith--Purcell, and transition
radiation can be greatly affected by structured optical environments, as has
been demonstrated in a variety of polaritonic, photonic-crystal, and
metamaterial systems. However, the amount of radiation that can ultimately be
extracted from free electrons near an arbitrary material structure has remained
elusive. Here we derive a fundamental upper limit to the spontaneous photon
emission and energy loss of free electrons, regardless of geometry, which
illuminates the effects of material properties and electron velocities. We
obtain experimental evidence for our theory with quantitative measurements of
Smith--Purcell radiation. Our framework allows us to make two predictions. One
is a new regime of radiation operation---at subwavelength separations, slower
(nonrelativistic) electrons can achieve stronger radiation than fast
(relativistic) electrons. The second is a divergence of the emission
probability in the limit of lossless materials. We further reveal that such
divergences can be approached by coupling free electrons to photonic bound
states in the continuum (BICs). Our findings suggest that compact and efficient
free-electron radiation sources from microwaves to the soft X-ray regime may be
achievable without requiring ultrahigh accelerating voltages.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Generation of germline ablated male pigs by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the NANOS2 gene
Genome editing tools have revolutionized the generation of genetically modified animals including livestock. In particular, the domestic pig is a proven model of human physiology and an agriculturally important species. In this study, we utilized the CRISPR/Cas9 system to edit the NANOS2 gene in pig embryos to generate offspring with mono-allelic and bi-allelic mutations. We found that NANOS2 knockout pigs phenocopy knockout mice with male specific germline ablation but other aspects of testicular development are normal. Moreover, male pigs with one intact NANOS2 allele and female knockout pigs are fertile. From an agriculture perspective, NANOS2 knockout male pigs are expected to serve as an ideal surrogate for transplantation of donor spermatogonial stem cells to expand the availability of gametes from genetically desirable sires
Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues
Numerosity estimation is a basic preverbal ability that humans share with many animal species and that is believed to be foundational of numeracy skills. It is notoriously difficult, however, to establish whether numerosity estimation is based on numerosity itself, or on one or more non-numerical cues like-in visual stimuli-spatial extent and density. Frequently, different non-numerical cues are held constant on different trials. This strategy, however, still allows numerosity estimation to be based on a combination of non-numerical cues rather than on any particular one by itself.Here we introduce a novel method, based on second-order (contrast-based) visual motion, to create stimuli that exclude all first-order (luminance-based) cues to numerosity. We show that numerosities can be estimated almost as well in second-order motion as in first-order motion.The results show that numerosity estimation need not be based on first-order spatial filtering, first-order density perception, or any other processing of luminance-based cues to numerosity. Our method can be used as an effective tool to control non-numerical variables in studies of numerosity estimation
Interaction between alcohol dehydrogenase II gene, alcohol consumption, and risk for breast cancer
MaeIII Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism in exon 3 of the alcohol dehydrogenase II was assessed in serum from 467 randomly selected German women and 278 women with invasive breast cancer to evaluate the interaction between a polymorphism of the alcohol dehydrogenase II gene, alcohol consumption and risk for breast cancer. In both groups, usual consumption of different alcoholic beverages was asked for using semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires. We used multivariable logistic regression to separately estimate the association between alcohol consumption and alcohol dehydrogenase II polymorphism in the population sample and women with breast cancer. The alcohol dehydrogenase II polymorphism was detected in 14 women from the population sample (3.0%) and in 27 women with invasive breast cancer (9.7%). Frequency of alcohol consumption was independent of the genotype in the population sample. In women with breast cancer, there was a significant inverse association between the alcohol dehydrogenase II polymorphism and frequency of alcohol consumption (adjusted case-only odds ratio over increasing frequency of alcohol consumption=0.5; P for interaction=0.02). We observed a gene-environment interaction between the alcohol dehydrogenase II polymorphism, alcohol consumption, and risk for breast cancer. Breast cancer risk associated with alcohol consumption may vary according to the alcohol dehydrogenase II polymorphism, probably due to differences in alcohol metabolism
The spatial distribution of radiodense breast tissue: a longitudinal study
Introduction Mammographic breast density is one of the strongest known markers of susceptibility to breast cancer. To date research into density has relied on a single measure ( for example, percent density (PD)) summarising the average level of density for the whole breast, with no consideration of how the radiodense tissue may be distributed. This study aims to investigate the spatial distribution of density within the breast using 493 mammographic images from a sample of 165 premenopausal women (similar to 3 medio-lateral oblique views per woman).Methods Each breast image was divided into 48 regions and the PD for the whole breast ( overall PD) and for each one of its regions ( regional PD) was estimated. The spatial autocorrelation ( Moran's I value) of regional PD for each image was calculated to investigate spatial clustering of density, whether the degree of clustering varied between a woman's two breasts and whether it was affected by age and other known density correlates.Results The median Moran's / value for 165 women was 0.31 (interquartile range: 0.26, 0.37), indicating a clustered pattern. High-density areas tended to cluster in the central regions of the breast, regardless of the level of overall PD, but with considerable between-woman variability in regional PD. The degree of clustering was similar between a woman's two breasts (mean within-woman difference in Moran's / values between left and right breasts = 0.00 (95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.01, 0.01); P = 0.76) and did not change with aging (mean within-woman difference in I values between screens taken on average 8 years apart = 0.01 (95% CI = -0.01, 0.02); P = 0.30). Neither parity nor age at first birth affected the level of spatial autocorrelation of density, but increasing body mass index (BMI) was associated with a decrease in the degree of spatial clustering.Conclusions This study is the first to demonstrate that the distribution of radiodense tissue within the breast is spatially autocorrelated, generally with the high-density areas clustering in the central regions of the breast. The degree of clustering was similar within a woman's two breasts and between women, and was little affected by age or reproductive factors although it declined with increasing BMI
The disruption of GDP-fucose de novo biosynthesis suggests the presence of a novel fucose-containing glycoconjugate in <i>Plasmodium</i> asexual blood stages
Glycosylation is an important posttranslational protein
modification in all eukaryotes. Besides
glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors and N-glycosylation,
O-fucosylation has been recently reported in key sporozoite
proteins of the malaria parasite. Previous analyses showed the
presence of GDP-fucose (GDP-Fuc), the precursor for all
fucosylation reactions, in the blood stages of Plasmodium
falciparum. The GDP-Fuc de novo pathway, which requires the
action of GDP-mannose 4,6-dehydratase (GMD) and GDP-L-fucose
synthase (FS), is conserved in the parasite genome, but the
importance of fucose metabolism for the parasite is unknown. To
functionally characterize the pathway we generated a PfGMD
mutant and analyzed its phenotype. Although the labelling by the
fucose-binding Ulex europaeus agglutinin I (UEA-I) was
completely abrogated, GDP-Fuc was still detected in the mutant.
This unexpected result suggests the presence of an alternative
mechanism for maintaining GDP-Fuc in the parasite. Furthermore,
PfGMD null mutant exhibited normal growth and invasion rates,
revealing that the GDP-Fuc de novo metabolic pathway is not
essential for the development in culture of the malaria parasite
during the asexual blood stages. Nonetheless, the function of
this metabolic route and the GDP-Fuc pool that is generated
during this stage may be important for gametocytogenesis and
sporogonic development in the mosquito
Studying the Underlying Event in Drell-Yan and High Transverse Momentum Jet Production at the Tevatron
We study the underlying event in proton-antiproton collisions by examining
the behavior of charged particles (transverse momentum pT > 0.5 GeV/c,
pseudorapidity |\eta| < 1) produced in association with large transverse
momentum jets (~2.2 fb-1) or with Drell-Yan lepton-pairs (~2.7 fb-1) in the
Z-boson mass region (70 < M(pair) < 110 GeV/c2) as measured by CDF at 1.96 TeV
center-of-mass energy. We use the direction of the lepton-pair (in Drell-Yan
production) or the leading jet (in high-pT jet production) in each event to
define three regions of \eta-\phi space; toward, away, and transverse, where
\phi is the azimuthal scattering angle. For Drell-Yan production (excluding the
leptons) both the toward and transverse regions are very sensitive to the
underlying event. In high-pT jet production the transverse region is very
sensitive to the underlying event and is separated into a MAX and MIN
transverse region, which helps separate the hard component (initial and
final-state radiation) from the beam-beam remnant and multiple parton
interaction components of the scattering. The data are corrected to the
particle level to remove detector effects and are then compared with several
QCD Monte-Carlo models. The goal of this analysis is to provide data that can
be used to test and improve the QCD Monte-Carlo models of the underlying event
that are used to simulate hadron-hadron collisions.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.
Analysis of additivity and synergism in the anti-plasmodial effect of purified compounds from plant extracts
In the search for antimalarials from ethnobotanical origin, plant extracts are chemically fractionated and biological tests guide the isolation of pure active compounds. To establish the responsibility of isolated active compound(s) to the whole antiplasmodial activity of a crude extract, the literature in this field was scanned and results were analysed quantitatively to find the contribution of the pure compound to the activity of the whole extract. It was found that, generally, the activity of isolated molecules could not account on their own for the activity of the crude extract. It is suggested that future research should take into account the “drugs beside the drug”, looking for those products (otherwise discarded along the fractionation process) able to boost the activity of isolated active compounds
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