Recognizing a Something When Your Library Sees It

AbstractAdvances are needed in random-display technologies to more tightly link drug actions and functions to the genes that control physiological processes. The reports discussed here explore two sides of these issues—generating new library formats and identifying the targets of drug ligands

Experimental verification of broadband cloaking using a volumetric cloak composed of periodically stacked cylindrical transmission-line networks

Cloaking using a volumetric structure composed of stacked two-dimensional transmission-line networks is verified with measurements. The measurements are done in a waveguide, in which an array of metallic cylinders is inserted causing a short-circuit in the waveguide. The metal cylinders are cloaked using a previously designed and simulated cloak that hides the cylinders and thus enables wave propagation inside the waveguide.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

High-Resolution Fourier-Transform Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer for the Measurement of Atmospheric Trace Species: Application to OH

A compact, high-resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer for atmospheric near-ultraviolet spectroscopy has been installed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory s Table 1 Mountain Facility (34.4 N, 117.7 W, elevation 2290 m). This instrument is designed with an unapodized resolving power near 500,000 at 300 nm to provide high-resolution spectra from 290 to 675 nm for the quantification of column abundances of trace atmospheric species. The measurement technique used is spectral analysis of molecular absorptions of solar radiation. The instrument, accompanying systems designs, and results of the atmospheric hydroxyl column observations are described

Decreased expression of caveolin 1 in patients with systemic sclerosis: crucial role in the pathogenesis of tissue fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have implicated caveolin 1 in the regulation of transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) downstream signaling. Given the crucial role of TGFbeta in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc), we sought to determine whether caveolin 1 is also involved in the pathogenesis of tissue fibrosis in SSc. We analyzed the expression of CAV1 in affected SSc tissues, studied the effects of lack of expression of CAV1 in vitro and in vivo, and analyzed the effects of restoration of caveolin 1 function on the fibrotic phenotype of SSc fibroblasts in vitro. METHODS: CAV1 expression in tissues was analyzed by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. The extent of tissue fibrosis in Cav1-knockout mice was assessed by histologic/histochemical analyses and quantified by hydroxyproline assays. Cav1-null and SSc fibroblast phenotypes and protein production were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence, Western blot, and multiplexed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques. The effects of restoration of caveolin 1 function in SSc fibroblasts in vitro were also examined using a cell-permeable recombinant CAV1 peptide. RESULTS: CAV1 was markedly decreased in the affected lungs and skin of SSc patients. Cav1-knockout mice developed pulmonary and skin fibrosis. Down-regulation of caveolin 1 was maintained in cultured SSc fibroblasts, and restoration of caveolin 1 function in vitro normalized their phenotype and abrogated TGFbeta stimulation through inhibition of Smad3 activation. CONCLUSION: Caveolin 1 appears to participate in the pathogenesis of tissue fibrosis in SSc. Restoration of caveolin 1 function by treatment with a cell-permeable peptide corresponding to the CAV1 scaffolding domain may be a novel therapeutic approach in SSc

Finite dimensional quantizations of the (q,p) plane : new space and momentum inequalities

We present a N-dimensional quantization a la Berezin-Klauder or frame quantization of the complex plane based on overcomplete families of states (coherent states) generated by the N first harmonic oscillator eigenstates. The spectra of position and momentum operators are finite and eigenvalues are equal, up to a factor, to the zeros of Hermite polynomials. From numerical and theoretical studies of the large $N$ behavior of the product $\lambda\_m(N) \lambda\_M(N)$ of non null smallest positive and largest eigenvalues, we infer the inequality $\delta\_N(Q) \Delta\_N(Q) = \sigma\_N \overset{<}{\underset{N \to \infty}{\to}} 2 \pi$ (resp. $\delta\_N(P) \Delta\_N(P) = \sigma\_N \overset{<}{\underset{N \to \infty}{\to}} 2 \pi$) involving, in suitable units, the minimal ($\delta\_N(Q)$) and maximal ($\Delta\_N(Q)$) sizes of regions of space (resp. momentum) which are accessible to exploration within this finite-dimensional quantum framework. Interesting issues on the measurement process and connections with the finite Chern-Simons matrix model for the Quantum Hall effect are discussed

Systematic Analysis of 22 Microlensing Parallax Candidates

We attempt to identify all microlensing parallax events for which the parallax fit improves \Delta\chi^2 > 100 relative to a standard microlensing model. We outline a procedure to identify three types of discrete degeneracies (including a new one that we dub the ``ecliptic degeneracy'') and find many new degenerate solutions in 16 previously published and 6 unpublished events. Only four events have one unique solution and the other 18 events have a total of 44 solutions. Our sample includes three previously identified black-hole (BH) candidates. We consider the newly discovered degenerate solutions and determine the relative likelihood that each of these is a BH. We find the lens of event MACHO-99-BLG-22 is a strong BH candidate (78%), event MACHO-96-BLG-5 is a marginal BH candidate (37%), and MACHO-98-BLG-6 is a weak BH candidate (2.2%). The lens of event OGLE-2003-BLG-84 may be a Jupiter-mass free-floating planet candidate based on a weak 3 sigma detection of finite-source effects. We find that event MACHO-179-A is a brown dwarf candidate within ~100 pc of the Sun, mostly due to its very small projected Einstein radius, \tilde r_E = 0.23+-0.05 AU. As expected, these microlensing parallax events are biased toward lenses that are heavier and closer than average. These events were examined for xallarap (or binary-source motion), which can mimic parallax. We find that 23% of these events are strongly affected by xallarap.Comment: 69 Pages, 10 Figures, 24 Tables, Submitted to Ap

Symbolic approach and induction in the Heisenberg group

We associate a homomorphism in the Heisenberg group to each hyperbolic unimodular automorphism of the free group on two generators. We show that the first return-time of some flows in "good" sections, are conjugate to niltranslations, which have the property of being self-induced.Comment: 18 page

Evolution of large males is associated with female-skewed adult sex ratios in amniotes

Body size often differs between the sexes (leading to sexual size dimorphism, SSD), as a consequence of differential responses by males and females to selection pressures. Adult sex ratio (ASR, the proportion of males in the adult population) should influence SSD because ASR relates to both the number of competitors and available mates, which shape the intensity of mating competition and thereby promotes SSD evolution. However, whether ASR correlates with SSD variation among species has not been yet tested across a broad range of taxa. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses of 462 amniotes (i.e., reptiles, birds, and mammals), we fill this knowledge gap by showing that male bias in SSD increases with increasingly female-skewed ASRs in both mammals and birds. This relationship is not explained by the higher mortality of the larger sex because SSD is not associated with sex differences in either juvenile or adult mortality. Phylogenetic path analysis indicates that higher mortality in one sex leads to skewed ASR, which in turn may generate selection for SSD biased toward the rare sex. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that skewed ASRs in amniote populations can result in the rarer sex evolving large size to capitalize on enhanced mating opportunities