Trace initial interaction from final state observable in relativistic heavy ion collisions

In order to trace the initial interaction in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collision in all azimuthal directions, two azimuthal multiplicity-correlation patterns -- neighboring and fixed-to-arbitrary angular-bin correlation patterns -- are suggested. From the simulation of Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV by using the Monte Carlo models RQMD with hadron re-scattering and AMPT with and without string melting, we observe that the correlation patterns change gradually from out-of-plane preferential one to in-plane preferential one when the centrality of collision shifts from central to peripheral, meanwhile the anisotropic collective flow v_2 keeps positive in all cases. This regularity is found to be model and collision energy independent. The physics behind the two opposite trends of correlation patterns, in particular, the presence of out-of-plane correlation patterns at RHIC energy, are discussed.Comment: 5pages, 4figure

Thermal Conductivity of Chirality-Sorted Carbon Nanotube Networks

The thermal properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are of significant interest, yet their dependence on SWNT chirality has been, until now, not explored experimentally. Here, we used electrical heating and infrared thermal imaging to simultaneously study thermal and electrical transport in chirality-sorted SWNT networks. We examined solution processed 90% semiconducting, 90% metallic, purified unsorted (66% semiconducting), and as-grown HiPco SWNT films. The thermal conductivities of these films range from 80 to 370 W m-1 K-1 but are not controlled by chirality, instead being dependent on the morphology (i.e., mass and junction density, quasi-alignment) of the networks. The upper range of the thermal conductivities measured is comparable to that of the best metals (Cu and Ag), but with over an order of magnitude lower mass density. This study reveals important factors controlling the thermal properties of light-weight chirality-sorted SWNT films, for potential thermal and thermoelectric applications

Protective effect of mulberry flavonoids on sciatic nerve in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Folhas de amoreira (Morus alba L.) é um medicamento tradicional chinês para a redução da glicose no soro sanguíneo. Avaliaram-se, neste trabalho, os efeitos protetores dos flavonóides de amora no nervo ciático em ratos diabéticos aloxano-induzidos. Dividiram-se 80 ratos Sprague-Dawley em cinco grupos: A (controle), B (diabétidos tratados com solução salina), C-D (diabéticos tratados com 0,3, 0,1 g/kg) e E (diabéticos tratados com 0,3 mg de metilcobal).A diabetes foi induzida por injeção intraperitoneal de 200 mg/kg de aloxana dissolvida em solução salina. No final do período experimental, obtiveram-se amostras de sangue e de tecido para investigação bioquímica e histopatológica. O tratamento com 0,3 g/kg de flavonóides da amoreira inibiu, significativamente, a elevação de glicose no soro (pMulberry leaves (Morus alba L.) are a traditional Chinese medicine for blood serum glucose reduction. This study evaluated the protective effects of mulberry flavonoids on sciatic nerve in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. In this study, 80 Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: A (control), B (diabetic treated with saline), C-D (diabetic treated with 0.3, 0.1 g/kg mulberry flavonoids once a day for 8 weeks) and E (diabetic treated with 0.3 mg/kg methycobal). The diabetic condition was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg/kg alloxan dissolved in saline. At the end of the experimental period, blood, and tissue samples were obtained for biochemical and histopathological investigation. Treatment with 0.3 g/kg mulberry flavonoids significantly inhibited the elevated serum glucose (P< 0.01). The increased myelin sheath area (P< 0.01), myelinated fiber cross-sectional area and extramedullary fiber number (P< 0.05) were also reduced in alloxan-induced rats treated with 0.3 g/kg mulberry flavonoids. 0.3 g/kg mulberry flavonoids also markedly decreased onion-bulb type myelin destruction and degenerative changes of mitochondria and Schwann cells. These findings demonstrate that mulberry flavonoids may improve the recovery of a severe peripheral nerve injury in alloxan-induced diabetic rats and is likely to be useful as a potential treatment on peripheral neuropathy (PN) in diabetic rats

Efficient and Adaptive Node Selection for Target Tracking in Wireless Sensor Network

In target tracking wireless sensor network, choosing the proper working nodes can not only minimize the number of active nodes, but also satisfy the tracking reliability requirement. However, most existing works focus on selecting sensor nodes which are the nearest to the target for tracking missions and they did not consider the correlation of the location of the sensor nodes so that these approaches can not meet all the goals of the network. This work proposes an efficient and adaptive node selection approach for tracking a target in a distributed wireless sensor network. The proposed approach combines the distance-based node selection strategy and particle filter prediction considering the spatial correlation of the different sensing nodes. Moreover, a joint distance weighted measurement is proposed to estimate the information utility of sensing nodes. Experimental results show that EANS outperformed the state-of-the-art approaches by reducing the energy cost and computational complexity as well as guaranteeing the tracking accuracy

Thalassemia intermedia in HbH-CS disease with compound heterozygosity for β-thalassemia: challenges in hemoglobin analysis and clinical diagnosis

Co-inheritance of α-thalassemia with homozygosity or compound heterozygosity for β-thalassemia may ameliorate β-thalassemia major. A wide range of clinical phenotypes is produced depending on the number of α-thalassemia alleles (-α/αα --/αα, --/-α). The co-inheritance of β-thalassemia with α-thalassemia with a single gene deletion (-α/αα) is usually associated with thalassemia major. In contrast, the co-inheritance of β-thalassemia with two α-genes deleted in cis or trans (--/αα or -α/-α) generally produces β-thalassemia intermedia. In Southeast Asia, the most common defect responsible for α-thalassemia is the Southeast Asian (SEA) deletion of 20.5 kilobases. The presence of the SEA deletion with Hb Constant Spring (HbCS) produces HbH-CS disease. Co-inheritance of HbH-CS with compound heterozygosity for β-thalassemia is very rare. This study presents a Malay patient with HbH-CS disorder and β° /β +-thalassemia. The SEA deletion was confirmed in the patient using a duplex-PCR. A Combine-Amplification Refractory Mutation System (C-ARMS) technique to simultaneously detect HbCS and Hb Quong Sze confirmed HbCS in the patient. Compound heterozygosity for CD41/ 42 and Poly A was confirmed using the ARMS. This is a unique case as the SEA α-gene deletion in cis (-- SEA/αα) is generally not present in the Malays, who more commonly posses the two α-gene deletion in trans (-α/-α). In addition, the β-globin gene mutation at CD41/42 is a common mutation in the Chinese and not in the Malays. The presence of both the SEA deletion and CD41/42 in the mother of the patient suggests the possible introduction of these two defects into the family by marriage with a Chinese

Cucumber SUPERMAN Has Conserved Function in Stamen and Fruit Development and a Distinct Role in Floral Patterning

This is the published version. Copyright 2014 Public Library of Science.The Arabidopsis SUPERMAN (SUP) gene encodes a C2H2 type zinc finger protein that is required for maintaining the boundaries between stamens and carpels, and for regulating development of ovule outer integument. Orthologs of SUP have been characterized in bisexual flowers as well as dioecious species, but it remains elusive in monoecious plants with unisexual flowers on the same individual. Here we isolate the SUP ortholog in Cucumis sativus L (CsSUP), a monoecious vegetable. CsSUP is predominantly expressed in female specific organs: the female flower buds and ovules. Ectopic expression of CsSUP in Arabidopsis can partially complement the fruit development in sup-5 mutant, and its over-expression in wide-type leads to reduced silique length, suppressed stamen development and distorted petal patterning. Our data suggest that CsSUP plays conserved as well as distinct roles during flower and fruit development, and it may function in the boundaries and ovules to balance petal patterning, stamen and ovule development in Arabidopsis

Organic light emitting diode for in vitro antimicrobial photodynamic therapy of Candida strains

Funding: NSF grant 1545852 (OISE:PIRE-SOMBRERO)/CONACyT 251992.Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are very attractive light sources because they are large area emitters and, can in principle, deposited on flexible substrates. These features make them suitable for ambulatory photodynamic therapy (PDT), in fact there are a few reports of in vitro or in vivo OLED based PDT studies for cancer or microbial inhibition but to our best knowledge, none against yeasts. Yeast infections are a significant health risk, especially in low income countries with limited medical facilities. In this work, OLED-based antimicrobial PDT (aPDT), using methylene blue (MB) as photosensitizer (PS), is studied to inactivate opportunistic yeast of four Candida strains of two species: Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis. Before aPDT experiments, fluconazole-resistance was evaluated for all strains, showing that both strains of C. tropicalis were resistant and both strains of C. albicans were sensitive to it. We found that is useful for aPDT and that 3 repetitive irradiations work better than a single dose while keeping the total fluence constant, and that this result applies whether or not the strains are resistant to fluconazole.PostprintPeer reviewe