Satellite cell content is specifically reduced in type II skeletal muscle fibers in the elderly

Satellite cells (SC) are essential for skeletal muscle growth and repair. As sarcopenia is associated with type II muscle fiber atrophy, we hypothesized that SC content is specifically reduced in the type II fibers in the elderly. A total of 8 elderly (E:76+/-1y) and 8 young (Y:20+/-1y) healthy males were selected. Muscle biopsies were collected from the vastus lateralis in both legs. ATPase staining and a pax7-antibody were used to determine fiber type specific SC content (i.e. pax7-positive SC) on serial muscle cross-sections. In contrast to the type I fibers, the proportion and mean cross-sectional area of the type II fibers were substantially reduced in the E versus the Y. The number of SC per type I fiber was similar in E and Y. However, the number of SC per type II fiber was substantially lower in the E versus the Y (0.044+/-0.003 vs 0.080+/-0.007; P<0.01). In addition, in the type II fibers the number of SC relative to the total number of nuclei and the number of SC per fiber area were also significantly lower in the E. This study is the first to show type II fiber atrophy in the elderly to be associated with a fiber type specific decline in SC content. The latter is evident when SC content is expressed per fiber or per fiber area. The decline in SC content might be an important factor in the etiology of type II muscle fiber atrophy, which accompanies the loss of skeletal muscle with aging. Key words: skeletal muscle, sarcopenia, muscle stem cells, atrophy, metabolism

Complementarity in classical dynamical systems

The concept of complementarity, originally defined for non-commuting observables of quantum systems with states of non-vanishing dispersion, is extended to classical dynamical systems with a partitioned phase space. Interpreting partitions in terms of ensembles of epistemic states (symbols) with corresponding classical observables, it is shown that such observables are complementary to each other with respect to particular partitions unless those partitions are generating. This explains why symbolic descriptions based on an \emph{ad hoc} partition of an underlying phase space description should generally be expected to be incompatible. Related approaches with different background and different objectives are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, no figure

A Refuelable Zinc/Air Battery for Fleet Electric Vehicle Propulsion

We report the development and on-vehicle testing of an engineering prototype zinc/air battery. The battery is refueled by periodic exchange of spent electrolyte for zinc particles entrained in fresh electrolyte. The technology is intended to provide a capability for nearly continuous vehicle operation, using the fleet s home base for 10 minute refuelings and zinc recycling instead of commercial infrastructure. In the battery, the zinc fuel particles are stored in hoppers, from which they are gravity fed into individual cells and completely consumed during discharge. A six-celled (7V) engineering prototype battery was combined with a 6 V lead/acid battery to form a parallel hybrid unit, which was tested in series with the 216 V battery of an electric shuttle bus over a 75 mile circuit. The battery has an energy density of 140 Wh/kg and a mass density of 1.5 kg/L. Cost, energy efficiency, and alternative hybrid configurations are discussed

Survey strategy optimization for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

In recent years there have been significant improvements in the sensitivity and the angular resolution of the instruments dedicated to the observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). ACTPol is the first polarization receiver for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and is observing the CMB sky with arcmin resolution over about 2000 sq. deg. Its upgrade, Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT), will observe the CMB in five frequency bands and over a larger area of the sky. We describe the optimization and implementation of the ACTPol and AdvACT surveys. The selection of the observed fields is driven mainly by the science goals, that is, small angular scale CMB measurements, B-mode measurements and cross-correlation studies. For the ACTPol survey we have observed patches of the southern galactic sky with low galactic foreground emissions which were also chosen to maximize the overlap with several galaxy surveys to allow unique cross-correlation studies. A wider field in the northern galactic cap ensured significant additional overlap with the BOSS spectroscopic survey. The exact shapes and footprints of the fields were optimized to achieve uniform coverage and to obtain cross-linked maps by observing the fields with different scan directions. We have maximized the efficiency of the survey by implementing a close to 24 hour observing strategy, switching between daytime and nighttime observing plans and minimizing the telescope idle time. We describe the challenges represented by the survey optimization for the significantly wider area observed by AdvACT, which will observe roughly half of the low-foreground sky. The survey strategies described here may prove useful for planning future ground-based CMB surveys, such as the Simons Observatory and CMB Stage IV surveys.Comment: 14 Pages, 9 Figures, 4 Table

Renormalization Group Approach to Field Theory at Finite Temperature

Scalar field theory at finite temperature is investigated via an improved renormalization group prescription which provides an effective resummation over all possible non-overlapping higher loop graphs. Explicit analyses for the lambda phi^4 theory are performed in d=4 Euclidean space for both low and high temperature limits. We generate a set of coupled equations for the mass parameter and the coupling constant from the renormalization group flow equation. Dimensional reduction and symmetry restoration are also explored with our improved approach.Comment: 29 pages, can include figures in the body of the text using epsf.st