Tailoring of motional states in double-well potentials by time-dependent processes

We show that the vibrational state tailoring method developed for molecular systems can be applied for cold atoms in optical lattices. The original method is based on a three-level model interacting with two strong laser pulses in a counterintuitive sequence [M. Rodriguez et al., Phys. Rev. A 62, 053413 (2000)]. Here we outline the conditions for achieving similar dynamics with single time-dependent potential surfaces. It is shown that guided switching between diabatic and adiabatic evolution has an essential role in this system. We also show that efficient and precise tailoring of motional states in optical lattices can be achieved, for instance, simply by superimposing two lattices and moving them with respect to each other.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, 25 references; accepted to PRA; v2: minor explanatory remarks added & typos correcte

Age- and Sex-Specific Mortality Patterns in an Emerging Wildlife Epidemic: The Phocine Distemper in European Harbour Seals

Analyses of the dynamics of diseases in wild populations typically assume all individuals to be identical. However, profound effects on the long-term impact on the host population can be expected if the disease has age and sex dependent dynamics. The Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) caused two mass mortalities in European harbour seals in 1988 and in 2002. We show the mortality patterns were highly age specific on both occasions, where young of the year and adult (>4 yrs) animals suffered extremely high mortality, and sub-adult seals (1–3 yrs) of both sexes experienced low mortality. Consequently, genetic differences cannot have played a main role explaining why some seals survived and some did not in the study region, since parents had higher mortality levels than their progeny. Furthermore, there was a conspicuous absence of animals older than 14 years among the victims in 2002, which strongly indicates that the survivors from the previous disease outbreak in 1988 had acquired and maintained immunity to PDV. These specific mortality patterns imply that contact rates and susceptibility to the disease are strongly age and sex dependent variables, underlining the need for structured epidemic models for wildlife diseases. Detailed data can thus provide crucial information about a number of vital parameters such as functional herd immunity. One of many future challenges in understanding the epidemiology of the PDV and other wildlife diseases is to reveal how immune system responses differ among animals in different stages during their life cycle. The influence of such underlying mechanisms may also explain the limited evidence for abrupt disease thresholds in wild populations

Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) abundance within the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary, Scotland:recent trends and extrapolation to extinction

Aerial surveys were funded by SNH and NERC.1. Aerial surveys have detected alarming declines in counts of harbour seals in several regions across Scotland. 2. Demographic data and simple models were used to examine the recent decline in the numbers of harbour seals counted in one population within a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) on the east coast of Scotland. The models suggest that the continuation of current trends would result in the species effectively disappearing from this area within the next 20 years. 3. While the cause of the decline is unknown, it must be reducing adult survival because the high rate of decline cannot be wholly accounted for by changes in other demographic parameters. 4. Recovery of the population to the abundance recorded at the time the SAC was designated (2005) is likely to take at least 40 years, even if the cause of the decline is immediately identified and removed. 5. The models suggest that partial removal of the cause can have only limited benefits to population recovery, and there are unlikely to be any long-term benefits from introducing or reintroducing additional individuals while the underlying problem persists. Therefore, if the population of harbour seals in this area is to recover it is essential that the sources of the increased mortality are identified and measures are put in place to manage these.PostprintPeer reviewe

Life-history genotype explains variation in migration activity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Peer reviewe

Circulating beta cell-specific CD8(+) T cells restricted by high-risk HLA class I molecules show antigen experience in children with and at risk of type 1 diabetes

In type 1 diabetes (T1D), autoreactive cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells are implicated in the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells. The HLA-B*3906 and HLA-A*2402 class I genes confer increased risk and promote early disease onset, suggesting that CD8(+) T cells that recognize peptides presented by these class I molecules on pancreatic beta cells play a pivotal role in the autoimmune response. We examined the frequency and phenotype of circulating preproinsulin (PPI)-specific and insulin B (InsB)-specific CD8(+) T cells in HLA-B*3906(+) children newly diagnosed with T1D and in high-risk HLA-A*2402(+) children before the appearance of disease-specific autoantibodies and before diagnosis of T1D. Antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells were detected using human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class I tetramers and flow cytometry was used to assess memory status. In HLA-B*3906(+) children with T1D, we observed an increase in PPI5-12-specific transitional memory CD8(+) T cells compared to non-diabetic, age- and HLA-matched subjects. Furthermore, PPI5-12-specific CD8(+) T cells in HLA-B*3906(+) children with T1D showed a significantly more antigen-experienced phenotype compared to polyclonal CD8(+) T cells. In longitudinal samples from high-risk HLA-A*2402(+) children, the percentage of terminal effector cells within the InsB(15-24)-specific CD8(+) T cells was increased before diagnosis relative to samples taken before the appearance of autoantibodies. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to report HLA-B*3906-restricted autoreactive CD8(+) T cells in T1D. Collectively, our results provide evidence that beta cell-reactive CD8(+) T cells restricted by disease-associated HLA class I molecules display an antigen-experienced phenotype and acquire enhanced effector function during the period leading to clinical diagnosis, implicating these cells in driving disease.Peer reviewe

HAS3-induced extracellular vesicles from melanoma cells stimulate IHH mediated c-Myc upregulation via the hedgehog signaling pathway in target cells.

Intercellular communication is fundamental to the survival and maintenance of all multicellular systems, whereas dysregulation of communication pathways can drive cancer progression. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are mediators of cell-to-cell communication that regulate a variety of cellular processes involved in tumor progression. Overexpression of a specific plasma membrane enzyme, hyaluronan synthase 3 (HAS3), is one of the factors that can induce EV shedding. HAS3, and particularly its product hyaluronan (HA), are carried by EVs and are known to be associated with the tumorigenic properties of cancer cells. To elucidate the specific effects of cancerous, HAS3-induced EVs on target cells, normal human keratinocytes and melanoma cells were treated with EVs derived from GFP-HAS3 expressing metastatic melanoma cells. We found that the HA receptor CD44 participated in the regulation of EV binding to target cells. Furthermore, GFP-HAS3-positive EVs induced HA secretion, proliferation and invasion of target cells. Our results suggest that HAS3-EVs contains increased quantities of IHH, which activates the target cell hedgehog signaling cascade and leads to the activation of c-Myc and regulation of claspin expression. This signaling of IHH in HAS3-EVs resulted in increased cell proliferation. Claspin immunostaining correlated with HA content in human cutaneous melanocytic lesions, supporting our in vitro findings and suggesting a reciprocal regulation between claspin expression and HA synthesis. This study shows for the first time that EVs originating from HAS3 overexpressing cells carry mitogenic signals that induce proliferation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in target cells. The study also identifies a novel feedback regulation between the hedgehog signaling pathway and HA metabolism in melanoma, mediated by EVs carrying HA and IHH.Peer reviewe

Principal-component analysis of two-particle azimuthal correlations in PbPb and pPb collisions at CMS

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Search for dark matter and unparticles in events with a Z boson and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Erratum 1: DOI:10.1007/JHEP09(2017)106 Erratum 2: DOI:10.1007/JHEP01(2018)056Peer reviewe