Identification of superior doubled haploid maize (Zea mays) inbred lines derived from high oil content subtropical populations

High oil maize (HOM) hybrids, adapted to subtropical regions are needed to meet existing requirements forindustrial and livestock purposes. Recently, the doubled haploid (DH) breeding technology is applied to reduceconsiderably the time to generate homozygous maize lines, however, information of heterotic response, per seproductivity, stress, disease reaction, and adaptation to different environments are not known. In this work, fieldevaluations of per se and testcross high oil content DH lines adapted for subtropical environments were studiedto identify superior DH lines with good heterotic response and agronomic characteristics. White and yellow kerneltest crosses were formed using the different heterotic population as testers from which DH lines were derived.Test crosses were evaluated at three locations in Mexico. Superior DH lines from each tester presented highGCA effects through test crosses, with a range of grain yield across locations of 12.8 to 10.4 Mg ha-1 and 11.1to 9.1 Mg ha-1 respectively. Per se DH lines were observed and screened for adaptation, productivity, diseasereaction and other agronomic traits in five locations/year environments. Per se DH lines screening process acrossenvironments was able to obtain information for adaptation, productivity, and healthiness. Also of DH lines withhigh response of GCA, information regarding heterotic groups, and DH lines oil content determination was usedto identify outstanding DH lines for developing HOM high-yielding hybrids adapted for subtropical regions, withfewer costs and time. This research demonstrated that it was feasible to identify subtropical elite DH lines withhigh oil content

THE RATE OF BINARY BLACK HOLE MERGERS INFERRED FROM ADVANCED LIGO OBSERVATIONS SURROUNDING GW150914

A transient gravitational-wave signal, GW150914, was identi fi ed in the twin Advanced LIGO detectors on 2015 September 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC. To asse ss the implications of this discovery, the detectors remained in operation with unchanged con fi gurations over a period of 39 days around the time of t he signal. At the detection statistic threshold corresponding to that observed for GW150914, our search of the 16 days of simultaneous two-detector observational data is estimated to have a false-alarm rate ( FAR ) of < ́ -- 4.9 10 yr 61 , yielding a p -value for GW150914 of < ́ - 210 7 . Parameter estimation follo w-up on this trigger identi fi es its source as a binary black hole ( BBH ) merger with component masses ( )( ) = - + - + mm M ,36,29 12 4 5 4 4 at redshift = - + z 0.09 0.04 0.03 ( median and 90% credible range ) . Here, we report on the constraints these observations place on the rate of BBH coalescences. Considering only GW150914, assuming that all BBHs in the universe have the same masses and spins as this event, imposing a search FAR threshold of 1 per 100 years, and assuming that the BBH merger rate is constant in the comoving frame, we infer a 90% credible range of merger rates between – -- 2 53 Gpc yr 31 ( comoving frame ) . Incorporating all search triggers that pass a much lower threshold while accounting for the uncerta inty in the astrophysical origin of each trigger, we estimate a higher rate, ranging from – -- 13 600 Gpc yr 31 depending on assumptions about the BBH mass distribution. All together, our various rate estimat es fall in the conservative range – -- 2 600 Gpc yr 31

All Muddled Up

First Line: Ev'rything today is syncopated, it's too much for meFirst Line of Chorus: I get so all muddled up whenever I attempt to syncopateKey: C Majo

Courtship Behavior of the Corn Leafhopper Dalbulus maidis (DeLong & Wolcott) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

Decreased Choline Acetyltransferase (ChAT) brain level is one of the main biochemical disorders in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). In rodents, recent data show that the CHAT gene can be regulated by a neural restrictive silencer factor (NRSF). The aim of the present work was to evaluate the gene and protein expression of CHAT and NRSF in frontal, temporal, entorhinal and parietal cortices of AD patient brains. Four brains from patients with AD and four brains from subjects without dementia were studied. Cerebral tissues were obtained and processed by the guanidine isothiocyanate method for RNA extraction. CHAT and NRSF gene and protein expression were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting. CHAT gene expression levels were 39% lower in AD patients as compared to the control group (p 0.05, U test) than in the control subjects. These findings suggest for the first time that in the brain of AD patients high NRSF protein levels are related to low CHAT gene expression levels. " 2013, Sociedade Brasileira de Genética. Printed in Brazil.",,,,,,,,,"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12104/43074","http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84874824211&partnerID=40&md5=4aef30d76862bd7c29a21895f569dd6

First targeted search for gravitational-wave bursts from core-collapse supernovae in data of first-generation laser interferometer detectors

We present results from a search for gravitational-wave bursts coincident with two core-collapse supernovae observed optically in 2007 and 2011. We employ data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), the Virgo gravitational-wave observatory, and the GEO 600 gravitational-wave observatory. The targeted core-collapse supernovae were selected on the basis of (1) proximity (within approximately 15 Mpc), (2) tightness of observational constraints on the time of core collapse that defines the gravitational-wave search window, and (3) coincident operation of at least two interferometers at the time of core collapse. We find no plausible gravitational-wave candidates. We present the probability of detecting signals from both astrophysically well-motivated and more speculative gravitational-wave emission mechanisms as a function of distance from Earth, and discuss the implications for the detection of gravitational waves from core-collapse supernovae by the upgraded Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors

Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, first published a century ago, was described by physicist Max Born as "the greatest feat of human thinking about nature."We report on two major scientific breakthroughs involving key predictions of Einstein's theory: the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of the collision and merger of a pair of black holes. This cataclysmic event, producing the gravitational-wave signal GW150914, took place in a distant galaxy more than one billion light years from the Earth. It was observed on September 14, 2015 by the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), arguably the most sensitive scientific instruments ever constructed. LIGO estimated that the peak gravitational-wave power radiated during the final moments of the black hole merger was more than ten times greater than the combined light power from all the stars and galaxies in the observable Universe. This remarkable discovery marks the beginning of an exciting new era of astronomy as we open an entirely new, gravitational-wave window on the Universe