Higher-dimensional solitons and black holes with a non-minimally coupled scalar field

We study higher-dimensional soliton and hairy black hole solutions of the Einstein equations non-minimally coupled to a scalar field. The scalar field has no self-interaction potential but a cosmological constant is included. Non-trivial solutions exist only when the cosmological constant is negative and the constant governing the coupling of the scalar field to the Ricci scalar curvature is positive. At least some of these solutions are stable when this coupling constant is not too large.Comment: 17 pages, revtex4, 21 figures, minor changes to match published versio

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Cdc7 Homology in Drosophila Melanogaster

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Dbf4(Dumbbell former 4) and Cdc7(Cell Division Cycle 7) form a complex that phosphorylates Mcm2 (Minichromosome maintenance 2) to initiate DNA replication. Cdc7 is a target for cancer research because there is a Cdc7 ortholog in humans that is necessary for DNA replication and cell survival. Our goal is to characterise a putative Cdc7 homolog in Drosophila melanogaster (dCdc7). We have previously shown that expression of the known Drosophila Dbf4 ortholog, Chiffon, and dCdc7 can rescue yeast cells deficient in active Cdc7. Our hypothesis is that the dCdc7 is activated by Chiffon to phosphorylate MCM2. To test this hypothesis, we will determine if Chiffon interacts with dCdc7 and if Chiffon triggers kinase activity of dCdc7. To do this we purified dCdc7, a putative kinase dead substitution mutant of dCdc7, Chiffon, and Chiffon truncations that are predicted to contain the interacting domains. To produce these proteins we performed a combination of subcloning, SLIC(sequence and ligation independent cloning), and MultiBac Baculovirus techniques. SLIC is a recently developed method of cloning that uses single strand sequence complements instead of ligation to combine vector and insert. This allows us to clone any insert without regard to enzyme restriction sites within the insert’s DNA sequence. MultiBac is a system that allows us to infect insect cells with a Baculovirus to coexpress multiple proteins. We purified our proteins through affinity chromatography using various resins that bind to tags on the proteins. These proteins will then be used for protein binding pulldowns and kinase activity assays to determine if Chiffon and dCdc7 have a physical interaction, and if dCdc7 is a kinase. The results from the protein binding pulldown and kinase assay are pending. The results from these experiments will show us whether or not this protein is the Cdc7 ortholog in Drosophila

Information gap for classical and quantum communication in a Schwarzschild spacetime

Communication between a free-falling observer and an observer hovering above the Schwarzschild horizon of a black hole suffers from Unruh-Hawking noise, which degrades communication channels. Ignoring time dilation, which affects all channels equally, we show that for bosonic communication using single and dual rail encoding the classical channel capacity reaches a finite value and the quantum coherent information tends to zero. We conclude that classical correlations still exist at infinite acceleration, whereas the quantum coherence is fully removed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The Effects of High Liquid Water Content on Thunderstorm Charging

Charge transfer to a riming graupel target during interactions with ice crystals has been investigated in the laboratory. When liquid water contents sufficiently high to cause wet growth are achieved, the charge transfer falls to values which are insignificant to thunderstorm electrification. The implications of this null result to a recent analysis of thunderstorm-charging processes by Wiliams et al. (1991) are discussed

Self-organization in the olfactory system: one shot odor recognition in insects

We show in a model of spiking neurons that synaptic plasticity in the mushroom bodies in combination with the general fan-in, fan-out properties of the early processing layers of the olfactory system might be sufficient to account for its efficient recognition of odors. For a large variety of initial conditions the model system consistently finds a working solution without any fine-tuning, and is, therefore, inherently robust. We demonstrate that gain control through the known feedforward inhibition of lateral horn interneurons increases the capacity of the system but is not essential for its general function. We also predict an upper limit for the number of odor classes Drosophila can discriminate based on the number and connectivity of its olfactory neurons

Ultraintense X-Ray Induced Ionization, Dissociation, and Frustrated Absorption in Molecular Nitrogen

Sequential multiple photoionization of the prototypical molecule N_2 is studied with femtosecond time resolution using the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). A detailed picture of intense x-ray induced ionization and dissociation dynamics is revealed, including a molecular mechanism of frustrated absorption that suppresses the formation of high charge states at short pulse durations. The inverse scaling of the average target charge state with x-ray peak brightness has possible implications for single-pulse imaging applications

Broad clinical phenotypes associated with TAR-DNA binding protein (TARDBP) mutations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The finding of TDP-43 as a major component of ubiquitinated protein inclusions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has led to the identification of 30 mutations in the transactive response-DNA binding protein (TARDBP) gene, encoding TDP-43. All but one are in exon 6, which encodes the glycine-rich domain. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of TARDBP mutations in a large cohort of motor neurone disease patients from Northern England (42 non-superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) familial ALS (FALS), nine ALS-frontotemporal dementia, 474 sporadic ALS (SALS), 45 progressive muscular atrophy cases). We identified four mutations, two of which were novel, in two familial (FALS) and two sporadic (SALS) cases, giving a frequency of TARDBP mutations in non-SOD1 FALS of 5% and SALS of 0.4%. Analysis of clinical data identified that patients had typical ALS, with limb or bulbar onset, and showed considerable variation in age of onset and rapidity of disease course. However, all cases had an absence of clinically overt cognitive dysfunction

Muir‐Torre syndrome appropriate use criteria: Effect of patient age on appropriate use scores

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150503/1/cup13459_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150503/2/cup13459.pd

Olfactory Interference during Inhibitory Backward Pairing in Honey Bees

Background: Restrained worker honey bees are a valuable model for studying the behavioral and neural bases of olfactory plasticity. The proboscis extension response (PER; the proboscis is the mouthpart of honey bees) is released in response to sucrose stimulation. If sucrose stimulation is preceded one or a few times by an odor (forward pairing), the bee will form a memory for this association, and subsequent presentations of the odor alone are sufficient to elicit the PER. However, backward pairing between the two stimuli (sucrose, then odor) has not been studied to any great extent in bees, although the vertebrate literature indicates that it elicits a form of inhibitory plasticity. Methodology/Principal Findings: If hungry bees are fed with sucrose, they will release a long lasting PER; however, this PER can be interrupted if an odor is presented 15 seconds (but not 7 or 30 seconds) after the sucrose (backward pairing). We refer to this previously unreported process as olfactory interference. Bees receiving this 15 second backward pairing show reduced performance after a subsequent single forward pairing (excitatory conditioning) trial. Analysis of the results supported a relationship between olfactory interference and a form of backward pairing-induced inhibitory learning/ memory. Injecting the drug cimetidine into the deutocerebrum impaired olfactory interference. Conclusions/Significance: Olfactory interference depends on the associative link between odor and PER, rather than between odor and sucrose. Furthermore, pairing an odor with sucrose can lead either to association of this odor to PER or t