Measuring the Absolute Height and Profile of the Mesospheric Sodium Layer using a Continuous Wave Laser

We have developed and tested a novel method, based on LIDAR, of measuring the height and profile of the mesospheric sodium layer using a continuous wave laser. It is more efficient than classical LIDAR as the laser is on for 50% of the time, and so can in principle be used during laser guide star adaptive optics observations. It also has significant advantages over direct imaging techniques because it does not require a second telescope, is almost independent of the atmospheric conditions, and avoids triangulation problems in determining the height. In the long term, regular monitoring using this method would allow a valuable database of sodium layer profiles, heights, and return flux measurements to be built up which would enable observatory staff astronomers to schedule observations optimally. In this paper we describe the original experiment carried out using the ALFA laser guide star system at Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. We validate the method by comparing the LIDAR results with those obtained from simultaneous imaging from an auxiliary telescope. Models are presented of a similar system to be implemented in the Very Large Telescope Laser Guide Star Facility, which will enable the initial focus setting for the adaptive optics systems to be determined with an accuracy of less than 200 m on a timescale of 1 minute.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 12 pages, 14 figure

Retinoic acid regulates avian lung branching through a molecular network

Retinoic acid (RA) is of major importance during vertebrate embryonic development and its levels need to be strictly regulated otherwise congenital malformations will develop. Through the action of specific nuclear receptors, named RAR/RXR, RA regulates the expression of genes that eventually influence proliferation and tissue patterning. RA has been described as crucial for different stages of mammalian lung morphogenesis, and as part of a complex molecular network that contributes to precise organogenesis; nonetheless, nothing is known about its role in avian lung development. The current report characterizes, for the first time, the expression pattern of RA signaling members (stra6, raldh2, raldh3, cyp26a1, rar alpha, and rar beta) and potential RA downstream targets (sox2, sox9, meis1, meis2, tgf beta 2, and id2) by in situ hybridization. In the attempt of unveiling the role of RA in chick lung branching, in vitro lung explants were performed. Supplementation studies revealed that RA stimulates lung branching in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, the expression levels of cyp26a1, sox2, sox9, rar beta, meis2, hoxb5, tgf beta 2, id2, fgf10, fgfr2, and shh were evaluated after RA treatment to disclose a putative molecular network underlying RA effect. In situ hybridization analysis showed that RA is able to alter cyp26a1, sox9, tgf beta 2, and id2 spatial distribution; to increase rar beta, meis2, and hoxb5 expression levels; and has a very modest effect on sox2, fgf10, fgfr2, and shh expression levels. Overall, these findings support a role for RA in the proximal-distal patterning and branching morphogenesis of the avian lung and reveal intricate molecular interactions that ultimately orchestrate branching morphogenesis.The authors would like to thank Ana Lima for slide sectioning and Rita Lopes for contributing to the initiation of this project. This work has been funded by FEDER funds, through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE), and by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038; and by the Project NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000013, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mosquitoes LTR Retrotransposons: A Deeper View into the Genomic Sequence of Culex quinquefasciatus

A set of 67 novel LTR-retrotransposon has been identified by in silico analyses of the Culex quinquefasciatus genome using the LTR_STRUC program. The phylogenetic analysis shows that 29 novel and putatively functional LTR-retrotransposons detected belong to the Ty3/gypsy group. Our results demonstrate that, by considering only families containing potentially autonomous LTR-retrotransposons, they account for about 1% of the genome of C. quinquefasciatus. In previous studies it has been estimated that 29% of the genome of C. quinquefasciatus is occupied by mobile genetic elements

Influence of Experimental Resolution on the Spectral Statistics Used to Show Quantum Chaos: The Case of Molecular Vibrational Chaos

International audienceWe show how the resolution of an experimental spectrum influences the standard statistical tests of random matrix theory such as the nearest neighbor distribution, the Fourier transform, or the number variance. A new experiment on very highly excited vibrational states of CS2 is analyzed in light of these new results. The resolution problem in the published results concerning the molecular vibrational chaos is then examined

Regularity of the vibrational spectrum of the CS[sub 2] in the Σ[sub g][sup +] state: Our previous results revisited

International audienceIn previous experiments, a nearly complete vibrational spectrum of the CS2 molecule in the Σg+ state has been obtained using a laser induced fluorescence method. The statistical tests of the random matrix theory, applied on this spectrum, suggest a transition to quantum chaos. The aim of this letter is to show that these statistical results are biased because of a nonsingle excitation of the molecule. This is experimentally confirmed by high-resolution new experiments in supersonic jet, using the powerful laser chain of the french project for the isotopic separation of uranium by laser (SILVA project)

Experimental Windowed Fourier Transform of the Vibrational Spectrum of CS2

International audienceWe present the windowed Fourier transform or vibrogram of 960 experimental vibrational levels of CS2 up to 19 150 cm-1. The averaged vibrogram shows the evolution of the correlation hole. Then the dynamics at short times is investigated by the periodic orbit theory. The first recurrences of the vibrogram are assigned in terms of winding numbers of an integrable 3D resonance model

IR-UV double resonance experiment using a CO and a CuHBr (HyBrID) laser pumped dye laser: application to the spectroscopy of CS2

International audienceAn Infrared-Ultraviolet Double Resonance (IR-UV DR) experiment has been built in order to resolve and identify single rotational levels in dense molecular spectra. The system is based on a CO laser, working on the CO fundamental transition (Δ v=1), and a frequency doubled dye laser pumped by a recently developed copper vapor "HyBrID " or "CuHBr" laser. We demonstrate the promising nature of the CuHBr laser as a pump laser for high power dye lasers. Different excitation schemes can be used with this experiment in order to obtain information about excited electronic states. We also report here preliminary results on the spectroscopy of the carbon disulfide (CS 2) molecule

The downregulation of miR-125b in chronic lymphocytic leukemias leads to metabolic adaptation of cells to a transformed state.

MiR-125b-1 maps at 11q24, a chromosomal region close to the epicenter of 11q23 deletions in chronic lymphocytic leukemias (CLLs). Our results establish that both aggressive and indolent CLL patients show reduced expression of miR-125b. Overexpression of miR-125b in CLL-derived cell lines resulted in the repression of many transcripts encoding enzymes implicated in cell metabolism. Metabolomics analyses showed that miR-125b overexpression modulated glucose, glutathione, lipid and glycerolipid metabolism. Changes on the same metabolic pathways were also observed in CLLs. We furthermore analyzed the expression of some of miR-125b-target transcripts that are potentially involved in the above metabolic pathways and defined a miR-125b-dependent CLL metabolism-related transcript signature. Thus, miR-125b acts as a master regulator for the adaptation of cell metabolism to a transformed state. MiR-125b and miR-125b-dependent metabolites therefore warrant further investigation as possible novel therapeutic approaches for CLLs