Chemical rescue of cleft palate and midline defects in conditional GSK-3 beta mice

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3 beta) has integral roles in a variety of biological processes, including development, diabetes, and the progression of Alzheimer's disease(1-4). As such, a thorough understanding of GSK-3 beta function will have a broad impact on human biology and therapeutics. Because GSK-3 beta interacts with many different pathways, its specific developmental roles remain unclear(5). We have discovered a genetic requirement for GSK-3 beta in midline development. Homozygous null mice display cleft palate, incomplete fusion of the ribs at the midline and bifid sternum as well as delayed sternal ossification. Using a chemically regulated allele of GSK-3 beta ( ref. 6), we have defined requirements for GSK-3 beta activity during discrete temporal windows in palatogenesis and skeletogenesis. The rapamycin-dependent allele of GSK-3 beta produces GSK-3 beta fused to a tag, FRB* (FKBP/rapamycin binding), resulting in a rapidly destabilized chimaeric protein. In the absence of drug, GSK-3 beta(FRB*/FRB*) mutants appear phenotypically identical to GSK-3 beta(-/-) mutants. In the presence of drug, GSK-3 beta FRB* is rapidly stabilized, restoring protein levels and activity(6). Using this system, mutant phenotypes were rescued by restoring endogenous GSK-3 beta activity during two distinct periods in gestation. This technology provides a powerful tool for defining windows of protein function during developmen

Study of the bunch crossing identification at LHC using microstrip gas chambers

During the beam test of a tracker prototype for the Compact Muon Solenoid detector proposed for the LHC, the time response of the Microstrip Gas Chambers was studied using different gases and chamber gaps. The subsequent efficiency to identify the bunch crossings at LHC is discussed for several algorithms used in the off-line signal processing of the data.0SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Charcoal anatomy of Brazilian species. I. Anacardiaceae

ABSTRACT Anthracological studies are firmly advancing in the tropics during the last decades. The theoretical and methodological bases of the discipline are well established. Yet, there is a strong demand for comparative reference material, seeking for an improvement in the precision of taxonomic determination, both in palaeoecological and palaeoethnobotanical studies and to help preventing illegal charcoal production. This work presents descriptions of charcoal anatomy of eleven Anacardiaceae species from six genera native to Brazil (Anacardium occidentale, Anacardium parvifolium, Astronium graveolens, Astronium lecointei, Lithrea molleoides, Schinus terebenthifolius, Spondias mombin, Spondias purpurea, Spondias tuberosa, Tapirira guianensis, and Tapirira obtusa). They are characterized by diffuse-porous wood, vessels solitary and in multiples, tyloses and spiral thickenings sometimes present; simple perforation plates, alternate intervessel pits, rounded vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple; parenchyma paratracheal scanty to vasicentric; heterocellular rays, some with radial canals and crystals; septate fibres with simple pits. These results are quite similar to previous wood anatomical descriptions of the same species or genera. Yet, charcoal identification is more effective when unknown samples are compared to charred extant equivalents, instead of to wood slides

Measurement of B0 - anti-B0 mixing at the CERN S p anti-p S collider

We report on a new measurement of B0-BBAR0 mixing at the CERN SppBARS Collider. Mixing is measured in the non-isolated high mass dimuon sample using data from the 1988-1989 collider runs. The measured value of the mixing parameter, chi, is 0.145 +/- 0.035(stat.) +/- 0.014(syst.). The average of this measurement and that from our 1984-1985 data is chi = 0.148 +/- 0.029(stat.) +/- 0.017(syst.) assuming fully correlated systematic errors. Using the measurement of chi-d from ARGUS and CLEO, we obtain chi-s = 0.50 +/- 0.20, which gives a limit of chi-s > 0.17 (0.12) at 90% (95%) CL. Including the measurements of chi from the ALEPH and L3 experiments gives chi-s = 0.53 +/- 0.15, and a limit of chi-s > 0.27 (0.23) at 90% (95%) CL

First observation of the beauty baryon LAMBDA(b) in the decay channel LAMBDA(b) ---> J / psi LAMBDA at the CERN proton - anti-proton collider

We report on the first observation of the beauty baryon LAMBDA(b) in an exclusive decay channel at the CERN ppBAR collider. Using 4.7 pb-1 of muon data collected in the 1988/89 collider runs we reconstruct 16 +/- 5 LAMBDA(b)'s in the decay mode LAMBA(b) --> J/psi-LAMBDA above a background of 9 +/- 1 events, corresponding to a significance of about five standard deviations. We measure the LAMBDA(b) mass to be m(LAMBDA(b)) = 5640 +/- 50 +/- 30 MeV/c2. Using the beauty cross-section measured by UA1 we deduce for the product of the production fraction and branching ratio f(LAMBDA(b)) Br(LAMBDA(b) --> J/psi-LAMBDA) = (1.8 +/- 1.0) X 10(-3). Our sample contains a three-muon event in which the beauty particle opposite to the LAMBDA(b)BAR is tagged by the third muon. We also observe an indication of a signal in the decay channel B0 --> J/psi-K0* with a significance of three standard deviations

The LBNO long-baseline oscillation sensitivities with two conventional neutrino beams at different baselines

The proposed Long Baseline Neutrino Observatory (LBNO) initially consists of $\sim 20$ kton liquid double phase TPC complemented by a magnetised iron calorimeter, to be installed at the Pyh\"asalmi mine, at a distance of 2300 km from CERN. The conventional neutrino beam is produced by 400 GeV protons accelerated at the SPS accelerator delivering 700 kW of power. The long baseline provides a unique opportunity to study neutrino flavour oscillations over their 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima exploring the $L/E$ behaviour, and distinguishing effects arising from $\delta_{CP}$ and matter. In this paper we show how this comprehensive physics case can be further enhanced and complemented if a neutrino beam produced at the Protvino IHEP accelerator complex, at a distance of 1160 km, and with modest power of 450 kW is aimed towards the same far detectors. We show that the coupling of two independent sub-MW conventional neutrino and antineutrino beams at different baselines from CERN and Protvino will allow to measure CP violation in the leptonic sector at a confidence level of at least $3\sigma$ for 50\% of the true values of $\delta_{CP}$ with a 20 kton detector. With a far detector of 70 kton, the combination allows a $3\sigma$ sensitivity for 75\% of the true values of $\delta_{CP}$ after 10 years of running. Running two independent neutrino beams, each at a power below 1 MW, is more within today's state of the art than the long-term operation of a new single high-energy multi-MW facility, which has several technical challenges and will likely require a learning curve