9,610 research outputs found
Novel targets of the CbrAB/Crc carbon catabolite control system revealed by transcript abundance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is able to utilize a wide range of carbon and nitrogen compounds, allowing it to grow in vastly different environments. The uptake and catabolism of growth substrates are organized hierarchically by a mechanism termed catabolite repression control (Crc) whereby the Crc protein establishes translational repression of target mRNAs at CA (catabolite activity) motifs present in target mRNAs near ribosome binding sites. Poor carbon sources lead to activation of the CbrAB two-component system, which induces transcription of the small RNA (sRNA) CrcZ. This sRNA relieves Crc-mediated repression of target mRNAs. In this study, we have identified novel targets of the CbrAB/Crc system in P. aeruginosa using transcriptome analysis in combination with a search for CA motifs. We characterized four target genes involved in the uptake and utilization of less preferred carbon sources: estA (secreted esterase), acsA (acetyl-CoA synthetase), bkdR (regulator of branched-chain amino acid catabolism) and aroP2 (aromatic amino acid uptake protein). Evidence for regulation by CbrAB, CrcZ and Crc was obtained in vivo using appropriate reporter fusions, in which mutation of the CA motif resulted in loss of catabolite repression. CbrB and CrcZ were important for growth of P. aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) sputum medium, suggesting that the CbrAB/Crc system may act as an important regulator during chronic infection of the CF lung
Excitation Spectra and Thermodynamic Response of Segmented Heisenberg Spin Chains
The spectral and thermodynamic response of segmented quantum spin chains is
analyzed using a combination of numerical techniques and finite-size scaling
arguments. Various distributions of segment lengths are considered, including
the two extreme cases of quenched and annealed averages. As the impurity
concentration is increased, it is found that (i) the integrated spectral weight
is rapidly reduced, (ii) a pseudo-gap feature opens up at small frequencies,
and (iii) at larger frequencies a discrete peak structure emerges, dominated by
the contributions of the smallest cluster segments. The corresponding
low-temperature thermodynamic response has a divergent contribution due to the
odd-site clusters and a sub-dominant exponentially activated component due to
the even-site segments whose finite-size gap is responsible for the spectral
weight suppression at small frequencies. Based on simple scaling arguments,
approximate low-temperature expressions are derived for the uniform
susceptibility and the heat capacity. These are shown to be in good agreement
with numerical solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations for ensembles of
open-end chains.Comment: RevTex, 9 pages with 6 figure
Performance Evaluation of Gradient Routing Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks
International audienceWe consider Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) applications in which sensors have to send data to a unique sink in a multi-hop fashion. Gradient routing protocol is a scalable way to route data in these applications. Many gradient routing protocols exist, they mainly differ in their performances (delay, delivery ratio, etc.). In this paper, we propose an extensive performance evaluation study of some gradient routing protocols in order to give guidelines for WSN developers
Optimal transport on wireless networks
We present a study of the application of a variant of a recently introduced
heuristic algorithm for the optimization of transport routes on complex
networks to the problem of finding the optimal routes of communication between
nodes on wireless networks. Our algorithm iteratively balances network traffic
by minimizing the maximum node betweenness on the network. The variant we
consider specifically accounts for the broadcast restrictions imposed by
wireless communication by using a different betweenness measure. We compare the
performance of our algorithm to two other known algorithms and find that our
algorithm achieves the highest transport capacity both for minimum node degree
geometric networks, which are directed geometric networks that model wireless
communication networks, and for configuration model networks that are
uncorrelated scale-free networks.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Apixaban versus enoxaparin for thromboprophylaxis in medically ill patients
The efficacy and safety of prolonging prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism in medically ill patients beyond hospital discharge remain uncertain. We hypothesized that extended prophylaxis with apixaban would be safe and more effective than short-term prophylaxis with enoxaparin. METHODS: In this double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled trial, we randomly assigned acutely ill patients who had congestive heart failure or respiratory failure or other medical disorders and at least one additional risk factor for venous thromboembolism and who were hospitalized with an expected stay of at least 3 days to receive apixaban, administered orally at a dose of 2.5 mg twice daily for 30 days, or enoxaparin, administered subcutaneously at a dose of 40 mg once daily for 6 to 14 days. The primary efficacy outcome was the 30-day composite of death related to venous thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism, symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis, or asymptomatic proximal-leg deep-vein thrombosis, as detected with the use of systematic bilateral compression ultrasonography on day 30. The primary safety outcome was bleeding. All efficacy and safety outcomes were independently adjudicated. RESULTS: A total of 6528 subjects underwent randomization, 4495 of whom could be evaluated for the primary efficacy outcome - 2211 in the apixaban group and 2284 in the enoxaparin group. Among the patients who could be evaluated, 2.71% in the apixaban group (60 patients) and 3.06% in the enoxaparin group (70 patients) met the criteria for the primary efficacy outcome (relative risk with apixaban, 0.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62 to 1.23; P = 0.44). By day 30, major bleeding had occurred in 0.47% of the patients in the apixaban group (15 of 3184 patients) and in 0.19% of the patients in the enoxaparin group (6 of 3217 patients) (relative risk, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.02 to 7.24; P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: In medically ill patients, an extended course of thromboprophylaxis with apixaban was not superior to a shorter course with enoxaparin. Apixaban was associated with significantly more major bleeding events than was enoxaparinSupported by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfize
Order by disorder from non-magnetic impurities in a two-dimensional quantum spin liquid
We consider doping of non-magnetic impurities in the spin-1/2, 1/5-depleted
square lattice. This structure, whose undoped phase diagram offers both
magnetically ordered and spin-liquid ground states, is realized physically in
CaV_4O_9. Doping into the ordered phase results in a progressive loss of order,
which becomes complete at the percolation threshold. By contrast, non-magnetic
impurities introduced in the spin liquids create a phase of weak but
long-ranged antiferromagnetic order coexisting with the gapped state. The
latter may be viewed as a true order-by-disorder phenomenon. We study the phase
diagram of the doped system by computing the static susceptibility and
staggered magnetization using a stochastic series-expansion quantum Monte Carlo
technique.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Quasiparticle spectrum of a type-II superconductor in a high magnetic field with randomly pinned vortices
We show that gapless superconductivity of a strongly type-II superconductor
in a high magnetic field prevails in the presence of disorder, suggesting a
topological nature. We calculate the density of states of the Bogoliubov-de
Gennes quasiparticles for a two-dimensional inhomogeneous system in both cases
of weak and strong disorder. In the limit of very weak disorder, the effect is
very small and the density of states is not appreciably changed. As the
disorder increases, the density of states at low energies increases and the
ratio of the low-energy density of states to its maximum increases
significantly
HAG1 and SWI3A/B control of male germ line development in P. patens suggests conservation of epigenetic reproductive control across land plants
Bryophytes as models to study the male germ line: loss-of-function mutants of epigenetic regulators HAG1 and SWI3a/b demonstrate conserved function in sexual reproduction
A Novel Pyrochlore Ruthenate: Ca2Ru2O7
Single crystals of a novel ruthenate, Ca2Ru2O7, were obtained. An X-ray
diffraction study on a single crystal revealed that this material crystallizes
in a pyrochlore structure with a lattice parameter, a = 10.197 Angstroms. The
magnetic susceptibility above 30 K is the summation of a Curie-Weiss
contribution and a constant term independent of temperature. The effective
moment per Ru atom is only 0.36 Bohr magnetons, one order of magnitude smaller
than that expected from a localized spin model with S=3/2 for Ru5+. Below 23 K,
the localized spins freeze in a spin-glass state. The resistivity at room
temperature is 2E-3 Ohm cm, comparable to that in metallic, highly correlated
oxides.}Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, J. Phys. Soc. Jan., in pres
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