Radio-frequency dressed lattices for ultracold alkali atoms

Ultracold atomic gases in periodic potentials are powerful platforms for exploring quantum physics in regimes dominated by many-body effects as well as for developing applications that benefit from quantum mechanical effects. Further advances face a range of challenges including the realization of potentials with lattice constants smaller than optical wavelengths as well as creating schemes for effective addressing and manipulation of single sites. In this paper we propose a dressed-based scheme for creating periodic potential landscapes for ultracold alkali atoms with the capability of overcoming such difficulties. The dressed approach has the advantage of operating in a low-frequency regime where decoherence and heating effects due to spontaneous emission do not take place. These results highlight the possibilities of atom-chip technology in the future development of quantum simulations and quantum technologies, and provide a realistic scheme for starting such an exploration

Modificación de un horno eléctrico doméstico a incubadora de laboratorio controlada con Arduino

Teniendo en cuenta que un Horno Eléctrico Doméstico (HED) THOMAS TH-42NO2 tiene un costo de $141,87 USD (S/ 458,24) y que su estructura y algunos elementos pueden ser utilizados, se modificó a Incubadora de Laboratorio Controlada con Arduino (ILCA) y su funcionamiento fue probado experimentalmente, con la incubación en medio de cultivo de un microorganismo base (Rodosporidium turoloides), sensible a la temperatura. Se comprobó que no existieron diferencias significativas (p > 0,05) en su crecimiento utilizando una Incubadora de Laboratorio Comercial (ILC) y la ILCA; demostrando la eficiencia de control de la temperatura. El costo total de la ILCA fue de S/ 608,74, menor que los ILC; cuyo costo fluctúa para una unidad de similar tamaño en S/ 10 723,60. Lo que justifica económicamente la modificación de un HED a una ILCA para fines de trabajos de laboratorio

The placental pursuit for an adequate oxidant balance between the mother and the fetus

The placenta is the exchange organ that regulates metabolic processes between the mother and her developing fetus. The adequate function of this organ is clearly vital for a physiologic gestational process and a healthy baby as final outcome. The umbilico-placental vasculature has the capacity to respond to variations in the materno-fetal milieu. Depending on the intensity and the extensity of the insult, these responses may be immediate-, mediate-, and long-lasting, deriving in potential morphostructural and functional changes later in life. These adjustments usually compensate the initial insults, but occasionally may switch to long-lasting remodeling and dysfunctional processes, arising maladaptation. One of the most challenging conditions in modern perinatology is hypoxia and oxidative stress during development, both disorders occurring in high-altitude and in low-altitude placental insufficiency. Hypoxia and oxidative stress may induce endothelial dysfunction and thus, reduction

A novel gene cluster allows preferential utilization of fucosylated milk oligosaccharides in Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum SC596

La microbiota intestinal infantil es a menudo colonizada por dos subespecies de Bifidobacterium longum: subsp. infantis (B. infantis) y subsp. longum (B. longum). El crecimiento competitivo de B. infantis en el intestino del neonato ha sido vinculado a la utilización de oligosacáridos (HMO) en la leche humana. Sin embargo, poco se sabe sobre cómo B. longum en el consumo de HMO. En este estudio, las cepas B. longum transmitidas mostraron diferentes fenotipos de crecimiento de HMO. Mientras que todas las cepas utilizadas eficientemente con lacto-N-tetraosa, focalizaron ciertas cepas, que, además, metabolizaron el HMO. El B. longum SC596 creció vigorosamente en el HMO, y la glycocaracterización reveló una preferencia por el consumo de HMO fucosilados. El transcriptomes SC596 durante la etapa temprana de crecimiento sobre HMO se asemeja más al crecimiento de la fucosilactosa, pasando más tarde a un patrón similar al crecimiento en el HMO neutro. El B. longum SC596 contiene un gen novedoso cerrado dedicado a la utilización de HMO fucosilado, incluyendo los genes para la importación de moléculas fucosiladas, metabolismo fucoso y dos α-fucosidasas. Este grupo mostró una inducción modular durante el crecimiento temprano de HMO y fucosilactosa. Este trabajo aclara el genoma y la variabilidad fisiológica del bebé portador de B. longum en el consumo de HMO, que se asemeja a B. infantis. La capacidad de consumir preferentemente HMO fucosilado sugiere una ventaja competitiva para estas singulares de las cepas de B. longum en el lactante alimentado con tripa.The infant intestinal microbiota is often colonized by two subspecies of Bifidobacterium longum: subsp. infantis (B. infantis) and subsp. longum (B. longum). Competitive growth of B. infantis in the neonate intestine has been linked to the utilization of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO). However, little is known how B. longum consumes HMO. In this study, infant-borne B. longum strains exhibited varying HMO growth phenotypes. While all strains efficiently utilized lacto-N-tetraose, certain strains additionally metabolized fucosylated HMO. B. longum SC596 grew vigorously on HMO, and glycoprofiling revealed a preference for consumption of fucosylated HMO. Transcriptomes of SC596 during early-stage growth on HMO were more similar to growth on fucosyllactose, transiting later to a pattern similar to growth on neutral HMO. B. longum SC596 contains a novel gene cluster devoted to the utilization of fucosylated HMO, including genes for import of fucosylated molecules, fucose metabolism and two α-fucosidases. This cluster showed a modular induction during early growth on HMO and fucosyllactose. This work clarifies the genomic and physiological variation of infant-borne B. longum to HMO consumption, which resembles B. infantis. The capability to preferentially consume fucosylated HMO suggests a competitive advantage for these unique B. longum strains in the breast-fed infant gut.• National Institutes of Health Awards AT007079, HD065122 y AT008759 • Peter J. Shields Endowed Chair in Dairy Food Science • Conicyt Fondecyt: Beca de iniciación 11130518 • Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia y Universidad de Extremadura.peerReviewe

Conditional Gene Targeting in Mouse Pancreatic β-Cells: Analysis of Ectopic Cre Transgene Expression in the Brain

B. W. and M. B. Contributed equally to this manuscript Corresponding authors

Islet Formation during the Neonatal Development in Mice

The islet of Langerhans is a unique micro-organ within the exocrine pancreas, which is composed of insulin-secreting beta-cells, glucagon-secreting alpha-cells, somatostatin-secreting delta-cells, pancreatic polypeptide-secreting PP cells and ghrelin-secreting epsilon-cells. Islets also contain non-endocrine cell types such as endothelial cells. However, the mechanism(s) of islet formation is poorly understood due to technical difficulties in capturing this dynamic event in situ. We have developed a method to monitor beta-cell proliferation and islet formation in the intact pancreas using transgenic mice in which the beta-cells are specifically tagged with a fluorescent protein. Endocrine cells proliferate contiguously, forming branched cord-like structures in both embryos and neonates. Our study has revealed long stretches of interconnected islets located along large blood vessels in the neonatal pancreas. Alpha-cells span the elongated islet-like structures, which we hypothesize represent sites of fission and facilitate the eventual formation of discrete islets. We propose that islet formation occurs by a process of fission following contiguous endocrine cell proliferation, rather than by local aggregation or fusion of isolated beta-cells and islets. Mathematical modeling of the fission process in the neonatal islet formation is also presented

Late-time Entropy Production from Scalar Decay and Relic Neutrino Temperature

Entropy production from scalar decay in the era of low temperatures after neutrino decoupling will change the ratio of the relic neutrino temperature to the CMB temperature, and, hence, the value of N_eff, the effective number of neutrino species. Such scalar decay is relevant to reheating after thermal inflation, proposed to dilute massive particles, like the moduli and the gravitino, featuring in supersymmetric and string theories. The effect of such entropy production on the relic neutrino temperature ratio is calculated in a semi-analytic manner, and a recent lower bound on this ratio, obtained from the WMAP satellite and 2dF galaxy data, is used to set a lower bound of ~ 1.5 x 10^-23 Gev on the scalar decay constant, corresponding to a reheating temperature of about 3.3 Mev.Comment: 13 pages, to appear in PR

Restructuring of Pancreatic Islets and Insulin Secretion in a Postnatal Critical Window

Function and structure of adult pancreatic islets are determined by early postnatal development, which in rats corresponds to the first month of life. We analyzed changes in blood glucose and hormones during this stage and their association with morphological and functional changes of alpha and beta cell populations during this period. At day 20 (d20), insulin and glucose plasma levels were two- and six-fold higher, respectively, as compared to d6. Interestingly, this period is characterized by physiological hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, where peripheral insulin resistance and a high plasmatic concentration of glucagon are also observed. These functional changes were paralleled by reorganization of islet structure, cell mass and aggregate size of alpha and beta cells. Cultured beta cells from d20 secreted the same amount of insulin in 15.6 mM than in 5.6 mM glucose (basal conditions), and were characterized by a high basal insulin secretion. However, beta cells from d28 were already glucose sensitive. Understanding and establishing morphophysiological relationships in the developing endocrine pancreas may explain how events in early life are important in determining adult islet physiology and metabolism