The NA48 LKr calorimeter readout electronics

The NA48 experiment at the CERN SPS accelerator is making a measurement of the direct CP violation parameter $\epsilon'/\epsilon$ by comparing the four rates of decay of $K_{S}$ and $K_{L}$ into $2\pi^{0}$ and $\pi^{+}\pi^{-}$. To reconstruct the decays into $2\pi^{0}$ the information from the almost 13500 channels of a quasi-homogeneous liquid krypton electromagnetic calorimeter is used. The readout electronics of the calorimeter has been designed to provide a dynamic range from a few MeV to about 50 GeV energy deposition per cell, and to sustain a high rate of incident particles. The system is made by cold charge preamplifiers (working at 120 degrees K), low-noise fast shapers followed by digitizer electronics at 40 MHz sampling rate that employs a gain switching technique to expand the dynamic range, where the gain can be selected for each sample individually (i.e. every 25 ns). To reduce the amount of data collected the system contains a zero suppression circuit based on halo expansion

Supplementary Material for: Identification and Analysis of Two Novel Sites of Rat GnRH Receptor Gene Promoter Activity: The Pineal Gland and Retina

<b><i>Background and Aims:</i></b> In mammals, activation of pituitary GnRH receptor (GnRHR) by hypothalamic GnRH increases the synthesis and secretion of LH and FSH, which, in turn, regulate gonadal functions. However, GnRHR gene <i>(Gnrhr)</i> expression is not restricted to the pituitary. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> To gain insight into the extrapituitary expression of <i>Gnrhr</i>, a transgenic mouse model that expresses the human placental alkaline phosphatase reporter gene driven by the rat <i>Gnrhr</i> promoter was created. <b><i>Results:</i></b> This study shows that the rat <i>Gnrhr</i> promoter is operative in two functionally related organs, the pineal gland, as early as embryonic day (E) 13.5, and the retina where activity was only detected at E17.5. Accordingly, <i>Gnrhr</i> mRNA were present in both tissues. Transcription factors known to regulate <i>Gnrhr</i> promoter activity such as the LIM homeodomain factors LHX3 and ISL1 were also detected in the retina. Furthermore, transient transfection studies in CHO and gonadotrope cells revealed that OTX2, a major transcription factor in both pineal and retina cell differentiation, is able to activate the <i>Gnrhr</i> promoter together with either CREB or PROP1, depending on the cell context. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Rather than using alternate promoters, <i>Gnrhr</i> expression is directed to diverse cell lineages through specific associations of transcription factors acting on distinct response elements along the same promoter. These data open new avenues regarding GnRH-mediated control of seasonal and circadian rhythms in reproductive physiology

The marsupial MHC: The Tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, contains an expressed DNA-like gene on chromosome 1

In the placental mammal major histocompatibility complex (MHC) three main families of class II genes, DR, DQ, and DP, have been recognized. Each family contains genes that code for one or more A- and B-chains. Recent evidence has indicated that a fourth family can be described, the DN/DO family. These four families arose sometime early in mammalian evolution. Our purpose was to deduce the MHC of an early mammalian ancestor of marsupials and eutherians. Using primers designed to conserved regions in exon 2 and exon 3 of the DQA gene we amplified an 830-bp band from the total genomic DNA of the marsupial, Macropus eugenii (tammar wallaby). However, sequence analysis of cloned genomic products showed that the primers had amplified three genes, two of which appeared to be alleles at one locus, while the other gene belonged to a closely related locus. Phylogenetic analysis showed that both these loci were most closely related to the human (HLA-DNA) and mouse (H-20a) DNA genes, with a bootstrap support of 78%. Expression of only one locus could be detected by RT-PCR from spleen RNA. In situ hybridization to tammar wallaby chromosomes mapped these genes to one region on the long arm of chromosome 1, indicating the position of the MHC in marsupials. Related A-chain genes were detected in monotremes, and human by southern blotting, and very faint bands were observed in the chicken. Hybridization with a tammar DNA-like gene on several marsupial species showed evidence of at least three DNA-like loci in the tammar wallaby, at least one in the koala, but none in the kowari. This indicates that the organization of the class II MHC may be more dynamic in marsupial than in placental mammals, but, in contrast to a previous study on the MHC of a marsupial, we cannot conclude that the class II gene families of placental and marsupial mammals evolved from different ancestral genes

Antagonic activities of Trypanosoma cruzi metacaspases affect the balance between cell proliferation, death and differentiation

Metacaspases are distant relatives of animal caspases present in plants, fungi and protozoa. At variance with caspases, metacaspases exhibit stringent specificity for basic amino-acid residues and are absolutely dependent on millimolar concentrations of calcium. In the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, metacaspases have been suggested to be involved in an apoptosis-like phenomenon upon exposure of the parasite to fresh human serum (FHS). Nuclear relocalization of metacaspases was observed after FHS treatment and overexpression of metacaspase-5 led to enhanced sensitivity to this stimulus. Here we report some biochemical properties of T. cruzi metacaspases. Performing fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis of epimastigotes inducibly overexpressing metacaspase-3, we demonstrate a role for this metacaspase in cell cycle progression, protection of epimastigotes from naturally occurring cell death and differentiation to infective metacyclic trypomastigotes. We also show that regulation of metacaspase-3 activity is important for cell cycle completion inside the mammalian host. On the other hand, inducible overexpression of metacaspase-5 lacking its C-terminal domain caused an apoptotic-like response. These results suggest that the two T. cruzi metacaspases could play an important role in the life cycle and bring to light the close relationship between cell division, death and differentiation in this ancient unicellular eukaryote. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.Fil: Laverriere, Marc. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Raúl Alfonsín" (sede Chascomús). Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Raúl Alfonsín" (sede Chascomús); ArgentinaFil: Cazzulo, Juan Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Raúl Alfonsín" (sede Chascomús). Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Raúl Alfonsín" (sede Chascomús); ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Vanina Eder. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Raúl Alfonsín" (sede Chascomús). Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Raúl Alfonsín" (sede Chascomús); Argentin

A new internet tool to report peritoneal malignancy extent. PeRitOneal MalIgnancy Stage Evaluation (PROMISE) application

International audienceBased on the importance of assessing the true extent of peritoneal disease, PeRitOneal MalIgnancy Stage Evaluation (PROMISE) internet application (www.e-promise.org) has been developed to facilitate tabulation and automatically calculate surgically validated peritoneal cancer index (PCI), and other surgically validated scores as Gilly score, simplified peritoneal cancer index (SPCI), Fagotti and Fagotti-modified scores. This application offers computer-assistance to produce simple, quick but precise and standardized pre, intra and postoperative reports of the extent of peritoneal metastases and may help specialized and non-specialized institutions in their current practice but also facilitate research and multicentre studies on peritoneal surface malignancies