From counting to construction of BPS states in N=4 SYM

We describe a universal element in the group algebra of symmetric groups, whose characters provides the counting of quarter and eighth BPS states at weak coupling in N=4 SYM, refined according to representations of the global symmetry group. A related projector acting on the Hilbert space of the free theory is used to construct the matrix of two-point functions of the states annihilated by the one-loop dilatation operator, at finite N or in the large N limit. The matrix is given simply in terms of Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of symmetric groups and dimensions of U(N) representations. It is expected, by non-renormalization theorems, to contain observables at strong coupling. Using the stringy exclusion principle, we interpret a class of its eigenvalues and eigenvectors in terms of giant gravitons. We also give a formula for the action of the one-loop dilatation operator on the orthogonal basis of the free theory, which is manifestly covariant under the global symmetry.Comment: 41 pages + Appendices, 4 figures; v2 - refs and acknowledgments adde

Climate change impacts on banana yields around the world

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this r4ecordData availability: All data used are publicly available and open access. All banana production data sources are listed in Supplementary Table 1. All climatic and topographic data sources are listed in the Methods.Nutritional diversity is a key element of food security1,2,3. However, research on the effects of climate change on food security has, thus far, focused on the main food grains4,5,6,7,8, while the responses of other crops, particularly those that play an important role in the developing world, are poorly understood. Bananas are a staple food and a major export commodity for many tropical nations9. Here, we show that for 27 countries—accounting for 86% of global dessert banana production—a changing climate since 1961 has increased annual yields by an average of 1.37 t ha−1. Past gains have been largely ubiquitous across the countries assessed and African producers will continue to see yield increases in the future. However, global yield gains could be dampened or disappear, reducing to 0.59 t ha−1 and 0.19 t ha−1 by 2050 under the climate scenarios for Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 and 8.5, respectively, driven by declining yields in the largest producers and exporters. By quantifying climate-driven and technology-driven influences on yield, we also identify countries at risk from climate change and those capable of mitigating its effects or capitalizing on its benefits.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)European Union Horizon 202

Phenotype instability of hepatocyte-like cells produced by direct reprogramming of mesenchymal stromal cells

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2020-05-20T13:36:52Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Orge Yasmin Diniz , Phenotype....pdf: 16650804 bytes, checksum: c3eb41edf819fec369deb1d2cfc161da (MD5) Orge Yasmin Diniz , Phenotype....pdf: 16650804 bytes, checksum: c3eb41edf819fec369deb1d2cfc161da (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2020-05-20T14:09:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Orge Yasmin Diniz , Phenotype....pdf: 16650804 bytes, checksum: c3eb41edf819fec369deb1d2cfc161da (MD5) Orge Yasmin Diniz , Phenotype....pdf: 16650804 bytes, checksum: c3eb41edf819fec369deb1d2cfc161da (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2020-05-20T14:09:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Orge Yasmin Diniz , Phenotype....pdf: 16650804 bytes, checksum: c3eb41edf819fec369deb1d2cfc161da (MD5) Orge Yasmin Diniz , Phenotype....pdf: 16650804 bytes, checksum: c3eb41edf819fec369deb1d2cfc161da (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil.MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Edinburgh, UK.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil / D’Or Institute for Research and Education. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.Universidade Federal da Bahia. Institute of Health Sciences. Salvador, BA, Brasil.MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Edinburgh, UK.São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil / D’Or Institute for Research and Education. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil / D’Or Institute for Research and Education. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / National Institute of Science and Technology for Regenerative Medicine. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil.MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Edinburgh, UK.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / National Institute of Science and Technology for Regenerative Medicine. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil / São Rafael Hospital. Center for Biotechnology and Cell Therapy, Salvador, BA, Brazil / D’Or Institute for Research and Education. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil / National Institute of Science and Technology for Regenerative Medicine. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil /Hepatocyte-like cells (iHEPs) generated by transcription factor-mediated direct reprogramming of somatic cells have been studied as potential cell sources for the development of novel therapies targeting liver diseases. The mechanisms involved in direct reprogramming, stability after long-term in vitro expansion, and safety profile of reprogrammed cells in different experimental models, however, still require further investigation. Methods: iHEPs were generated by forced expression of Foxa2/Hnf4a in mouse mesenchymal stromal cells and characterized their phenotype stability by in vitro and in vivo analyses. Results: The iHEPs expressed mixed hepatocyte and liver progenitor cell markers, were highly proliferative, and presented metabolic activities in functional assays. A progressive loss of hepatic phenotype, however, was observed after several passages, leading to an increase in alpha-SMA+ fibroblast-like cells, which could be distinguished and sorted from iHEPs by differential mitochondrial content. The resulting purified iHEPs proliferated, maintained liver progenitor cell markers, and, upon stimulation with lineage maturation media, increased expression of either biliary or hepatocyte markers. In vivo functionality was assessed in independent pre-clinical mouse models. Minimal engraftment was observed following transplantation in mice with acute acetaminophen-induced liver injury. In contrast, upon transplantation in a transgenic mouse model presenting host hepatocyte senescence, widespread engraftment and uncontrolled proliferation of iHEPs was observed, forming islands of epithelial-like cells, adipocytelike cells, or cells presenting both morphologies. Conclusion: The results have significant implications for cell reprogramming, suggesting that iHEPs generated by Foxa2/Hnf4a expression have an unstable phenotype and depend on transgene expression for maintenance of hepatocyte-like characteristics, showing a tendency to return to the mesenchymal phenotype of origin and a compromised safety profil

HIV-1 Epidemic in the Caribbean Is Dominated by Subtype B

The molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in the Caribbean has been described using partial genome sequencing; subtype B is the most common subtype in multiple countries. To expand our knowledge of this, nearly full genome amplification, sequencing and analysis was conducted.Virion RNA from sera collected in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were reverse transcribed, PCR amplified, sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. Nearly full genomes were completed for 15 strains; partial pol was done for 67 strains. All but one of the 67 strains analyzed in pol were subtype B; the exception was a unique recombinant of subtypes B and C collected in the Dominican Republic. Of the nearly full genomes of 14 strains that were subtype B in pol, all were subtype B from one end of the genome to the other and not inter-subtype recombinants. Surprisingly, the Caribbean subtype B strains clustered significantly with each other and separate from subtype B from other parts of the pandemic.The more complete analysis of HIV-1 from 4 Caribbean countries confirms previous research using partial genome analysis that the predominant subtype in circulation was subtype B. The Caribbean strains are phylogenetically distinct from other subtype B strains although the biological meaning of this finding is unclear

An Osmotic Model of the Growing Pollen Tube

Pollen tube growth is central to the sexual reproduction of plants and is a longstanding model for cellular tip growth. For rapid tip growth, cell wall deposition and hardening must balance the rate of osmotic water uptake, and this involves the control of turgor pressure. Pressure contributes directly to both the driving force for water entry and tip expansion causing thinning of wall material. Understanding tip growth requires an analysis of the coordination of these processes and their regulation. Here we develop a quantitative physiological model which includes water entry by osmosis, the incorporation of cell wall material and the spreading of that material as a film at the tip. Parameters of the model have been determined from the literature and from measurements, by light, confocal and electron microscopy, together with results from experiments made on dye entry and plasmolysis in Lilium longiflorum. The model yields values of variables such as osmotic and turgor pressure, growth rates and wall thickness. The model and its predictive capacity were tested by comparing programmed simulations with experimental observations following perturbations of the growth medium. The model explains the role of turgor pressure and its observed constancy during oscillations; the stability of wall thickness under different conditions, without which the cell would burst; and some surprising properties such as the need for restricting osmotic permeability to a constant area near the tip, which was experimentally confirmed. To achieve both constancy of pressure and wall thickness under the range of conditions observed in steady-state growth the model reveals the need for a sensor that detects the driving potential for water entry and controls the deposition rate of wall material at the tip

Tissue Engineering in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery : From Lab to Clinics

Regenerative medicine aims at the functional restoration of tissue malfunction, damage or loss, and can be divided into three main approaches. Firstly, the cell-based therapies, where cells are administered to re-establish a tissue either directly or through paracrine functions. Secondly, the often referred to as classical tissue engineering, consisting of the combined use of cells and a bio-degradable scaffold to form tissue. Thirdly, there are material-based approaches, which have made significant advances which rely on biodegradable materials, often functionalized with cellular functions (De Jong et al. 2014). In 1993, Langer and Vacanti, determined tissue engineering as an “interdisciplinary field that applies the principles of engineering and the life sciences toward the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function”. They published this definition in Science in 1993. Tissue engineering has been classically thought to consist of three elements: supporting scaffold, cells and regulating factors such as growth factors (Fig. 1). Depending on the tissue to be regenerated, all three vary. Currently, it is known, that many other factors may have an effect on the outcome of the regenerate. These include factors enabling angiogenesis, physical stimulation, culture media, gene delivery and methods to deliver patient specific implants (PSI) (Fig. 2). During the past two decades, major obstacles have been tackled and tissue engineering is currently being used clinically in some applications while in others it is just taking its first baby steps.Peer reviewe

Hypoxic gene expression in chronic hepatitis B virus infected patients is not observed in state-of-the-art in vitro and mouse infection models

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. The prolyl hydroxylase domain (PHD)-hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway is a key mammalian oxygen sensing pathway and is frequently perturbed by pathological states including infection and inflammation. We discovered a significant upregulation of hypoxia regulated gene transcripts in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in the absence of liver cirrhosis. We used state-of-the-art in vitro and in vivo HBV infection models to evaluate a role for HBV infection and the viral regulatory protein HBx to drive HIF-signalling. HBx had no significant impact on HIF expression or associated transcriptional activity under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, we found no evidence of hypoxia gene expression in HBV de novo infection, HBV infected human liver chimeric mice or transgenic mice with integrated HBV genome. Collectively, our data show clear evidence of hypoxia gene induction in CHB that is not recapitulated in existing models for acute HBV infection, suggesting a role for inflammatory mediators in promoting hypoxia gene expression

Giant Graviton Oscillators

We study the action of the dilatation operator on restricted Schur polynomials labeled by Young diagrams with p long columns or p long rows. A new version of Schur-Weyl duality provides a powerful approach to the computation and manipulation of the symmetric group operators appearing in the restricted Schur polynomials. Using this new technology, we are able to evaluate the action of the one loop dilatation operator. The result has a direct and natural connection to the Gauss Law constraint for branes with a compact world volume. We find considerable evidence that the dilatation operator reduces to a decoupled set of harmonic oscillators. This strongly suggests that integrability in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory is not just a feature of the planar limit, but extends to other large N but non-planar limits.Comment: 72 page

Crosstalk between Medulloblastoma Cells and Endothelium Triggers a Strong Chemotactic Signal Recruiting T Lymphocytes to the Tumor Microenvironment

Cancer cells can live and grow if they succeed in creating a favorable niche that often includes elements from the immune system. While T lymphocytes play an important role in the host response to tumor growth, the mechanism of their trafficking to the tumor remains poorly understood. We show here that T lymphocytes consistently infiltrate the primary brain cancer, medulloblastoma. We demonstrate, both in vitro and in vivo, that these T lymphocytes are attracted to tumor deposits only after the tumor cells have interacted with tumor vascular endothelium. Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF)” is the key chemokine molecule secreted by tumor cells which induces the tumor vascular endothelial cells to secrete the potent T lymphocyte attractant “Regulated upon Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed, and Secreted (RANTES).” This in turn creates a chemotactic gradient for RANTES-receptor bearing T lymphocytes. Manipulation of this pathway could have important therapeutic implications