Pre-existing virus-specific CD8+ T-cells provide protection against pneumovirus-induced disease in mice

Pneumoviruses such as pneumonia virus of mice (PVM), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (bRSV) or human (h)RSV are closely related pneumoviruses that cause severe respiratory disease in their respective hosts. It is well-known that T-cell responses are essential in pneumovirus clearance, but pneumovirus-specific T-cell responses also are important mediators of severe immunopathology. In this study we determined whether memory- or pre-existing, transferred virus-specific CD8 + T-cells provide protection against PVM-induced disease. We show that during infection with a sublethal dose of PVM, both natural killer (NK) cells and CD8 + T-cells expand relatively late. Induction of CD8 + T-cell memory against a single CD8 + T-cell epitope, by dendritic cell (DC)-peptide immunization, leads to partial protection against PVM challenge and prevents Th2 differentiation of PVM-induced CD4 T-cells. In addition, adoptively transferred PVM-specific CD8 + T-cells, covering the entire PVM-specific CD8 + T-cell repertoire, provide partial protection from PVM-induced disease. From these data we infer that antigen-specific memory CD8 + T-cells offer significant protection to PVM-induced disease. Thus, CD8 + T-cells, despite being a major cause of PVM-associated pathology during primary infection, may offer promising targets of a protective pneumovirus vaccine

Ontogenic differences in sexual size dimorphism across four plover populations

Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) among adults is commonly observed in animals and is considered to be adaptive. However, the ontogenic emergence of SSD, i.e. the timing of divergence in body size between males and females, has only recently received attention. It is widely acknowledged that the ontogeny of SSD may differ between species, but it remains unclear how variable the ontogeny of SSD is within species. Kentish Plovers Charadrius alexandrinus and Snowy Plovers C. nivosus are closely related wader species that exhibit similar, moderate (c. 4%), male-biased adult SSD. To assess when SSD emerges we recorded tarsus length variation among 759 offspring in four populations of these species. Tarsus length of chicks was measured on the day of hatching and up to three times on recapture before fledging. In one population (Mexico, Snowy Plovers), males and females differed in size from the day of hatching, whereas growth rates differed between the sexes in two populations (Turkey and United Arab Emirates, both Kentish Plovers). In contrast, a fourth population (Cape Verde, Kentish Plovers) showed no significant SSD in juveniles. Our results suggest that adult SSD can emerge at different stages of development (prenatal, postnatal and post-juvenile) in different populations of the same species. We discuss the proximate mechanisms that may underlie these developmental differences

Grain Destruction in Interstellar Shocks

Interstellar shock waves can erode and destroy grains present in the shocked gas, primarily as the result of sputtering and grain-grain collisions. Uncertainties in current estimates of sputtering yields are reviewed. Results are presented for the simple case of sputtering of fast grains being stopped in cold gas. An upper limit is derived for sputtering of refractory grains in C-type MHD shocks: shock speeds v_s \gtrsim 50 \kms are required for return of more than 30\% of the silicate to the gas phase. Sputtering can also be important for removing molecular ice mantles from grains in two-fluid MHD shock waves in molecular gas. Recent estimates of refractory grain lifetimes against destruction in shock waves are summarized, and the implications of these short lifetimes are discussed.Comment: To appear in Shocks in Astrophysics, ed. T.J. Millar. Talk given at conference Shocks in Astrophysics, Manchester, Jan. 1995. 13 pages with 6 figures: uuencoded compressed postscript. Also available as POPe-633 on http://astro.princeton.edu/~library/prep.htm

An analysis of growth, differentiation and apoptosis genes with risk of renal cancer

We conducted a case-control study of renal cancer (987 cases and 1298 controls) in Central and Eastern Europe and analyzed genomic DNA for 319 tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 21 genes involved in cellular growth, differentiation and apoptosis using an Illumina Oligo Pool All (OPA). A haplotype-based method (sliding window analysis of consecutive SNPs) was used to identify chromosome regions of interest that remained significant at a false discovery rate of 10%. Subsequently, risk estimates were generated for regions with a high level of signal and individual SNPs by unconditional logistic regression adjusting for age, gender and study center. Three regions containing genes associated with renal cancer were identified: caspase 1/5/4/ 12(CASP 1/5/4/12), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP3). We observed that individuals with CASP1/5/4/12 haplotype (spanning area upstream of CASP1 through exon 2 of CASP5) GGGCTCAGT were at higher risk of renal cancer compared to individuals with the most common haplotype (OR:1.40, 95% CI:1.10-1.78, p-value = 0.007). Analysis of EGFR revealed three strong signals within intron 1, particularly a region centered around rs759158 with a global p = 0.006 (GGG: OR:1.26, 95% CI:1.04-1.53 and ATG: OR:1.55, 95% CI:1.14-2.11). A region in IGFBP3 was also associated with increased risk (global p = 0.04). In addition, the number of statistically significant (p-value 0.05) SNP associations observed within these three genes was higher than would be expected by chance on a gene level. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate these genes in relation to renal cancer and there is need to replicate and extend our findings. The specific regions associated with risk may have particular relevance for gene function and/or carcinogenesis. In conclusion, our evaluation has identified common genetic variants in CASP1, CASP5, EGFR, and IGFBP3 that could be associated with renal cancer risk

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Surface charging and electrostatic dust acceleration at the nucleus of comet 67P during periods of low activity

We have investigated through simulation the electrostatic charging of the nucleus of Comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during periods of weak outgassing activity. Specifically, we have modeled the surface potential and electric field at the surface of the nucleus during the initial Rosetta rendezvous at 3.5 AU and the release of the Philae lander at 3 AU. We have also investigated the possibility of dust acceleration and ejection above the nucleus due to electrostatic forces. Finally, we discuss these modeling results in the context of possible observations by instruments on both the Rosetta orbiter and the Philae lander

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Baryons: What, When and Where?

We review the current state of empirical knowledge of the total budget of baryonic matter in the Universe as observed since the epoch of reionization. Our summary examines on three milestone redshifts since the reionization of H in the IGM, z = 3, 1, and 0, with emphasis on the endpoints. We review the observational techniques used to discover and characterize the phases of baryons. In the spirit of the meeting, the level is aimed at a diverse and non-expert audience and additional attention is given to describe how space missions expected to launch within the next decade will impact this scientific field.Comment: Proceedings Review for "Astrophysics in the Next Decade: JWST and Concurrent Facilities", ed. X. Tielens, 38 pages, 10 color figures. Revised to address comments from the communit