Early otic development depends on autophagy for apoptotic cell clearance and neural differentiation

Autophagy is a highly regulated program of self-degradation of the cytosolic constituents that has key roles during early development and in adult cell growth and homeostasis. To investigate the role of autophagy in otic neurogenesis, we studied the expression of autophagy genes in early stages of chicken (Gallus gallus) inner ear development and the consequences of inhibiting the autophagic pathway in organotypic cultures of explanted chicken otic vesicles (OVs). Here we show the expression of autophagy-related genes (Atg) Beclin-1 (Atg6), Atg5 and LC3B (Atg8) in the otocyst and the presence of autophagic vesicles by using transmission electron microscopy in the otic neurogenic zone. The inhibition of the transcription of LC3B by using antisense morpholinos and of class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase with 3-methyladenine causes an aberrant morphology of the OV with accumulation of apoptotic cells. Moreover, inhibition of autophagy provokes the misregulation of the cell cycle in the otic epithelium, impaired neurogenesis and poor axonal outgrowth. Finally, our results indicate that autophagy provides the energy required for the clearing of neuroepithelial dying cells and suggest that it is required for the migration of otic neuronal precursors. Taken together, our results show for the first time that autophagy is an active and essential process during early inner ear development

Rice seedlings showed a higher heat tolerance through the foliar application of biostimulants

The use of biostimulants is an agronomic tool to improve plant tolerance to abiotic stress in plants. This study explored the effect of foliar biostimulants sprays such as brassinosteroids (BR), amino acids (AA), nitrophenolates (NP) or a biostimulant based on botanical extracts (BE) on leaf gas exchange parameters [photosynthesis (PN), stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration (E)], leaf photosynthetic pigments, lipid peroxidation of membranes and proline content of two commercial rice genotypes [‘Fedearroz 67’ and ‘Fedearroz 60’] under heat stress conditions. The established treatments were: i) plants without heat stress and foliar applications of biostimulants (C), ii) plants under heat stress and without foliar applications of biostimulants (HT), and iii) plants with heat stress and three foliar applications with BR (1 mL·L-1), AA (30 mL·L-1), NP (15 mL·L-1) or BE (15 mL·L-1). The results showed that the application of BR, AA, NP or BE increased the values ​​of PN (~14.5 µmol CO2·m-2·s-1), gs (~0.46 mmol·m-2·s-1) and E (~43.9 H20 day-1·plant-1) compared to plants (both genotypes) not treated with biostimulants under heat stress (9.9 µmol CO2·m-2·s-1 for PN, 0.31 mmol·m-2·s-1 for gs, and 27.3 H20 day-1·plant-1 for E). Foliar biostimulant sprays also caused a lower malondialdehyde and proline production in rice genotypes under heat stress. In conclusion, the biostimulants BR, AA, NP, or BE can be considered an agronomic strategy to help mitigate the adverse effects of heat stress in rice areas where periods of high temperatures are expected during the day in Colombia

Limited local electron-lattice coupling in manganites

(Pr,Ca)MnO3 is the archetypal charge-ordered manganite, but in Pr0.48Ca0.52MnO3 we find (using convergent-beam electron diffraction and dark-field images) that the superlattice period is locally incommensurate with respect to the parent lattice, and that the superlattice orientation possesses significant local variations. This suggests that local electron-lattice coupling never overwhelmingly dominates the rich physics of manganites, even in the most extreme scenarios that produce the largest colossal magnetoresistance effects.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; accepted in Physical Review

Phase shift of amplitude-modulated optical signals in graphene oxide water dispersions due to thermal lens focal length oscillation

We analyze the phase shift induced in an amplitude-modulated laser beam propagating through a water dispersion of graphene oxide sheets in a fiber-to-fiber U-bench. This phase shift arises from the thermally induced nonlinear refraction in the sample. The system exhibits strong optical limiting performance for weak continuous-wave signals. A theoretical model including beam propagation and thermal lens focal length oscillation reproduces the experimental findings

Incorporación de raíz de mandioca (Manihot sculenta) en la dieta de cerdos y su efecto sobre variables productivas

En un programa de alimentación de cerdos existe una gran variedad de ingredientes que pueden utilizarse en la formulación de la dieta. El objetivo del trabajo fue verificar la conveniencia de utilizar raíz de mandioca en sustitución del maíz como recurso energético en cerdos, mediante la medición de las variables productivas consumo de alimento, ganancia diaria de peso vivo y conversión alimenticia. En el ensayo se utilizó un diseño completamente aleatorizado. Tuvo una duración de 28 días: 7 de adaptación y 21 de medición. La experiencia incluyó 12 animales y cuatro dietas: dieta base (DB) con maíz molido (71%) más concentrado proteico (29%); dietas 33%, 66% y 100%: DB a las cuales se les reemplazó el 33%, el 66% y 100% del maíz por raíz de mandioca respectivamente. El análisis estadístico se realizó con el software InfoStat/P v.2011. Los resultados indicaron que para las variables consumo de alimento (1,63-DB; 1,56-33%; 1,53-66%; 1,44-100%) y ganancia diaria de peso vivo (0,42-DB; 0,40-33%; 0,39-66%; 0,36-100%) no hubo diferencias entre los tratamientos DB, 33% y 66%, siendo a su vez iguales entre sí los tres niveles de mandioca, mientras que para la conversión (3,91-DB; 3,90-33%; 3,93-66%; 4,02-100%) no hubo diferencias entre los cuatro tratamientos (p<0,05), lo cual permite concluir que, excepto en el nivel de 100%, la inclusión de la raíz de mandioca en distintos niveles es una opción viable para la alimentación de cerdos

The STAR Time Projection Chamber: A Unique Tool for Studying High Multiplicity Events at RHIC

The STAR Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is used to record collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The TPC is the central element in a suite of detectors that surrounds the interaction vertex. The TPC provides complete coverage around the beam-line, and provides complete tracking for charged particles within +- 1.8 units of pseudo-rapidity of the center-of-mass frame. Charged particles with momenta greater than 100 MeV/c are recorded. Multiplicities in excess of 3,000 tracks per event are routinely reconstructed in the software. The TPC measures 4 m in diameter by 4.2 m long, making it the largest TPC in the world.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure

Tenemos cita con el arte: a pilot project of visits and workshops with people affected by Alzheimer's disease in the Prado Museum, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Museum and the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid

GIMUPAI is a research group comprising teachers and researchers from the Faculty of Fine Arts (University Complutense of Madrid) and the Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology (Salamanca University) who have been working in art and health projects over the last thirteen years. Recently, we have carried out Tenemos cita con el arte, part of a national research project entitled "Art education in museums and other cultural institutions as a tool for increasing the wellbeing of people affected with Alzheimer" (Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness-EDU2013-43253-R). The main objective of the program is to make the museum‘s artworks available to people with Alzheimer‘s and their caregivers, at the same time encouraging them to participate in artistic activities and artistic creation through art workshops. Tenemos cita con el arte has been designed as a program of visits of the Prado Museum and the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museum. The program also has included participation in workshops on visual arts and artistic creativity in the Faculty of Fine Arts. The program was undertaken between October and December 2015 with a group of 15 participants (Alzheimer‘s patients, caregivers, and other health and social workers)

Search for a W'' boson decaying to a muon and a neutrino in pp collisions at vs=7 TeV

A new heavy gauge boson, , decaying to a muon and a neutrino, is searched for in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb?1. No significant excess of events above the standard model expectation is found in the transverse mass distribution of the muon?neutrino system. Masses below 1.40 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level for a sequential standard-model-like . The mass lower limit increases to 1.58 TeV when the present analysis is combined with the CMS result for the electron channel.We wish to congratulate our colleagues in the CERN accelerator departments for the excellent performance of the LHC machine. We thank the technical and administrative staff at CERN and other CMS institutes, and acknowledge support from: FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF and WCU (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLPFAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTD (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)

Search for resonances in the dijet mass spectrum from 7 TeV pp collisions at CMS

A search for narrow resonances with a mass of at least 1 TeV in the dijet mass spectrum is performed using pp collisions at ?s = 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb?1, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. No resonances are observed. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are presented on the product of the resonance cross section, branching fraction into dijets, and acceptance, separately for decays into quark?quark, quark?gluon, and gluon?gluon pairs. The data exclude new par- ticles predicted in the following models at the 95% confidence level: string resonances with mass less than 4.00 TeV, E6 diquarks with mass less than 3.52 TeV, excited quarks with mass less than 2.49 TeV, axigluons and colorons with mass less than 2.47 TeV, and W? bosons with mass less than 1.51 TeV. These results extend previous exclusions from the dijet mass search technique.We wish to congratulate our colleagues in the CERN accelerator departments for the excellent performance of the LHC machine. We thank the technical and administrative staff at CERN and other CMS institutes, and acknowledge support from: FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF and WCU (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTD (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA). We thank Can Kilic for calculations of the string resonance cross section