What will the first year of SNO show?

The ratio of the measured to the predicted standard model CC event rates in SNO will be 0.47 if no oscillations occur. The best-fit active oscillation predictions for the CC ratio are: 0.35-39 (MSW) and 0.38-42 (vacuum) (all for a 5 MeV energy threshold), typically about 20% less than the no-oscillation expectation. We calculate the predicted ratios for six active and sterile neutrino oscillation solutions allowed at 99% CL and determine the dependence of the ratios on energy threshold. If the high-energy anomaly observed by SuperKamiokande is due to an enhanced hep flux, MSW active solutions predict that out of a total of 5000 CC events above 5 MeV in SNO between 49 and 54 events will be observed above 13 MeV whereas only 19 events are expected for no-oscillations and a nominal standard hep flux.Comment: Phys Lett accepted. Editorial corrections. Related material and viewgraphs at http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jn

Entropy of the Nordic electricity market: anomalous scaling, spikes, and mean-reversion

The electricity market is a very peculiar market due to the large variety of phenomena that can affect the spot price. However, this market still shows many typical features of other speculative (commodity) markets like, for instance, data clustering and mean reversion. We apply the diffusion entropy analysis (DEA) to the Nordic spot electricity market (Nord Pool). We study the waiting time statistics between consecutive spot price spikes and find it to show anomalous scaling characterized by a decaying power-law. The exponent observed in data follows a quite robust relationship with the one implied by the DEA analysis. We also in terms of the DEA revisit topics like clustering, mean-reversion and periodicities. We finally propose a GARCH inspired model but for the price itself. Models in the context of stochastic volatility processes appear under this scope to have a feasible description.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Insights into the Binding of Dietary Phenolic Compounds to Human Serum Albumin and Food-Drug Interactions

The distribution of drugs and dietary phenolic compounds in the systemic circulation depends on, among other factors, unspecific/specific reversible binding to plasma proteins such as human serum albumin (HSA). Phenolic substances, present in plant-derived feeds, foods, beverages, herbal medicines, and dietary supplements, are of great interest due to their biological activity. Recently, considerable research has been directed at the formation of phenol-HSA complexes, focusing above all on structure-affinity relationships. The nucleophilicity and planarity of molecules can be altered by the number and position of hydroxyl groups on the aromatic ring and by hydrogenation. Binding affinities towards HSA may also differ between phenolic compounds in their native form and conjugates derived from phase II reactions. On the other hand, food-drug interactions may increase the concentration of free drugs in the blood, affecting their transport and/or disposition and in some cases provoking adverse or toxic effects. This is caused mainly by a decrease in drug binding affinities for HSA in the presence of flavonoids. Accordingly, to avoid the side effects arising from changes in plasma protein binding, the intake of flavonoid-rich food and beverages should be taken into consideration when treating certain pathologies

Expression Profiles and DNA-Binding Affinity of Five ERF Genes in Bunches of Vitis vinifera cv. Cardinal Treated with High Levels of CO2 at Low Temperature

Ethylene response factors (ERFs) play an important role in plants by regulating defense response through interaction with various stress pathways. After harvest, table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are subject to a range of problems associated with postharvest storage at 0°C, such as fungal attack, water loss and rachis browning. The application of a 3-day high CO2 treatment maintained fruit quality and activated the induction of transcription factors belonging to different families such as ERF. In this paper, we have isolated five VviERFs from table grapes cv. Cardinal, whose deduced amino acid sequence contained the conserved apetalous (AP2)/ERF domain. The phylogeny and putative conserved motifs in VviERFs were analyzed and compared with those previously reported in Vitis. VviERFs-c gene expression was studied by quantitative real-time RT-PCR in the different tissues of bunches stored at low temperature and treated with high levels of CO2. The results showed that in most of the tissues analyzed, VviERFs-c gene expression was induced by the storage under normal atmosphere although the application of high levels of CO2 caused a greater increase in the VviERFs-c transcript accumulation. The promoter regions of two PRs (pathogenesis related proteins), Vcchit1b and Vcgns1, were obtained and the in silico analysis revealed the presence of a cis-acting ethylene response element (GCC box). In addition, expression of these two PR genes was analyzed in the pulp and rachis of CO2-treated and non-treated table grapes stored at 0°C and results showed significant correlations with VviERF2-c and VviERF6L7-c gene expression in rachis, and between VviERF11-c and Vcchit1b in pulp. Finally by using electro mobility shift assays, we denoted differences in binding of VviERFs to the GCC sequences present in the promoters of both PRs, with VviERF6L7-c being the only member which did not bind to any tested probe. Overall, our results suggest that the beneficial effect of high CO2 treatment maintaining table grape quality seems to be mediated by the regulation of ERFs and in particular VviERF2-c might play an important role by modulating the expression of PR genes.This work was supported by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG no. 321694 and by CICYT projects AGL2011-26742 and AGL2014-53081-R. IR and MV-H were supported by a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva contract from the MICINN and a predoctoral contract from the MEC, respectively.USD 2,116.5 APC fee funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access PilotPeer reviewe

LC-ESI-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS for Profiling the Distribution of Oleacein and Its Metabolites in Rat Tissues

The purpose of this work was to study the distribution of oleacein (OLEA) and its metabolites in rat plasma and different tissues, namely brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung, small intestine, spleen, stomach, skin, and thyroid, following the acute intake of a refined olive oil containing 0.3 mg/mL of OLEA. For this purpose, a distribution kinetics study was carried out. The plasma and tissues were collected at 1, 2, and 4.5 h after the intervention, and analyzed by LC-ESI-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS. Unmetabolized OLEA was detected in the stomach, small intestine, liver, plasma and, most notably, the heart. This finding may be useful for the development of new applications of OLEA for cardiovascular disease prevention. Noteworthy are also the high levels of hydroxytyrosol (OH-TY) and OLEA + CH3 found in the small intestine, liver, and plasma, and the detection of nine OLEA metabolites, five of them arising from conjugation reactions. Liver, heart, spleen, and lungs were the target tissues where the metabolites were most distributed. However, it is important to note that OH-TY, in our experimental conditions, was not detected in any target tissue (heart, spleen, thyroids, lungs, brain, and skin). These results shed further light on the metabolism and tissue distribution of OLEA and contribute to understanding the mechanisms underlying its effect in human health. Keywords: biotransformation, extra virgin olive oil, hydroxytyrosol, phenolic compound, secoiridoi

Stability of the personal relationship networks in a longitudinal study of middle school students

The personal network of relationships is structured in circles of friendships, that go from the most intense relationships to the least intense ones. While this is a well established result, little is known about the stability of those circles and their evolution in time. To shed light on this issue, we study the temporal evolution of friendships among teenagers during two consecutive academic years by means of a survey administered on five occasions. We show that the first two circles, best friends and friends, can be clearly observed in the survey but also that being in one or the other leads to more or less stable relationships. We find that being in the same class is one of the key drivers of friendship evolution. We also observe an almost constant degree of reciprocity in the relationships, around 60%, a percentage influenced both by being in the same class and by gender homophily. Not only do our results confirm the mounting evidence supporting the circle structure of human social networks, but they also show that these structures persist in time despite the turnover of individual relationships -- a fact that may prove particularly useful for understanding the social environment in middle schools.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, requires wlscirep.cls, jabbrv.sty, jabbrv-ltwa-all.ldf, and jabbrv-ltwa-en.ldf (included