All hormone-producing cell types of the pituitary intermediate and anterior lobes derive from prop1-expressing progenitors

Mutations in PROP1, the most common known cause of combined pituitary hormone deficiency in humans, can result in the progressive loss of all hormones of the pituitary anterior lobe. In mice, Prop1 mutations result in the failure to initiate transcription of Pou1f1 (also known as Pit1) and lack somatotropins, lactotropins, and thyrotropins. The basis for this species difference is unknown. We hypothesized that Prop1 is expressed in a progenitor cell that can develop into all anterior lobe cell types, and not just the somatotropes, thyrotropes, and lactotropes, which are collectively known as the PIT1 lineage. To test this idea, we produced a transgenic Prop1-cre mouse line and conducted lineage-tracing experiments of Prop1-expressing cells. The results reveal that all hormone-secreting cell types of both the anterior and intermediate lobes are descended from Prop1-expressing progenitors. The Prop1-cre mice also provide a valuable genetic reagent with a unique spatial and temporal expression for generating tissue-specific gene rearrangements early in pituitary gland development. We also determined that the minimal essential sequences for reliable Prop1 expression lie within 10 kilobases of the mouse gene and demonstrated that human PROP1 can substitute functionally for mouse Prop1. These studies enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of disease in patients with PROP1 mutations.Fil: Davis, Shannon W.. University of South Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Keisler, Jessica L.. University of South Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Pérez Millán, María Inés. University of Michigan; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Schade, Vanessa. University of Michigan; Estados UnidosFil: Camper, Sally A.. University of Michigan; Estados Unido

Leptin and IGF-I as Metabolic Indicators of Reproductive Performance

Last updated: 6/12/200

Randomisation and Derandomisation in Descriptive Complexity Theory

We study probabilistic complexity classes and questions of derandomisation from a logical point of view. For each logic L we introduce a new logic BPL, bounded error probabilistic L, which is defined from L in a similar way as the complexity class BPP, bounded error probabilistic polynomial time, is defined from PTIME. Our main focus lies on questions of derandomisation, and we prove that there is a query which is definable in BPFO, the probabilistic version of first-order logic, but not in Cinf, finite variable infinitary logic with counting. This implies that many of the standard logics of finite model theory, like transitive closure logic and fixed-point logic, both with and without counting, cannot be derandomised. Similarly, we present a query on ordered structures which is definable in BPFO but not in monadic second-order logic, and a query on additive structures which is definable in BPFO but not in FO. The latter of these queries shows that certain uniform variants of AC0 (bounded-depth polynomial sized circuits) cannot be derandomised. These results are in contrast to the general belief that most standard complexity classes can be derandomised. Finally, we note that BPIFP+C, the probabilistic version of fixed-point logic with counting, captures the complexity class BPP, even on unordered structures

Measuring primordial gravitational waves from CMB B-modes in cosmologies with generalized expansion histories

We evaluate our capability to constrain the abundance of primordial tensor perturbations in cosmologies with generalized expansion histories in the epoch of cosmic acceleration. Forthcoming satellite and sub-orbital experiments probing polarization in the CMB are expected to measure the B-mode power in CMB polarization, coming from PGWs on the degree scale, as well as gravitational lensing on arcmin scales; the latter is the main competitor for the measurement of PGWs, and is directly affected by the underlying expansion history, determined by the presence of a DE component. In particular, we consider early DE possible scenarios, in which the expansion history is substantially modified at the epoch in which the CMB lensing is most relevant. We show that the introduction of a parametrized DE may induce a variation as large as 30% in the ratio of the power of lensing and PGWs on the degree scale. We find that adopting the nominal specifications of upcoming satellite measurements the constraining power on PGWs is weakened by the inclusion of the extra degrees of freedom, resulting in a reduction of about 10% of the upper limits on r in fiducial models with no GWs, as well as a comparable increase in the error bars in models with non-zero r. Moreover, we find that the inclusion of sub-orbital CMB experiments, capable of mapping the B-mode power up to the angular scales affected by lensing, can restore the forecasted performances with a cosmological constant. Finally, we show how the combination of CMB data with Type Ia SNe, BAO and Hubble constant allows to constrain simultaneously r and the DE quantities in the parametrization we consider, consisting of present abundance and first redshift derivative of the energy density. We compare this study with results obtained using the forecasted lensing potential measurement precision from CMB satellite observations, finding consistent results.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication by JCAP. Modified version after the referee's comment

SPT-3G: A Next-Generation Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Experiment on the South Pole Telescope

We describe the design of a new polarization sensitive receiver, SPT-3G, for the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT). The SPT-3G receiver will deliver a factor of ~20 improvement in mapping speed over the current receiver, SPTpol. The sensitivity of the SPT-3G receiver will enable the advance from statistical detection of B-mode polarization anisotropy power to high signal-to-noise measurements of the individual modes, i.e., maps. This will lead to precise (~0.06 eV) constraints on the sum of neutrino masses with the potential to directly address the neutrino mass hierarchy. It will allow a separation of the lensing and inflationary B-mode power spectra, improving constraints on the amplitude and shape of the primordial signal, either through SPT-3G data alone or in combination with BICEP-2/KECK, which is observing the same area of sky. The measurement of small-scale temperature anisotropy will provide new constraints on the epoch of reionization. Additional science from the SPT-3G survey will be significantly enhanced by the synergy with the ongoing optical Dark Energy Survey (DES), including: a 1% constraint on the bias of optical tracers of large-scale structure, a measurement of the differential Doppler signal from pairs of galaxy clusters that will test General Relativity on ~200 Mpc scales, and improved cosmological constraints from the abundance of clusters of galaxies.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 9153. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2014, conference 915

A Comparison of Maps and Power Spectra Determined from South Pole Telescope and Planck Data

We study the consistency of 150 GHz data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and 143 GHz data from the Planck satellite over the patch of sky covered by the SPT-SZ survey. We first visually compare the maps and find that the residuals appear consistent with noise after accounting for differences in angular resolution and filtering. We then calculate (1) the cross-spectrum between two independent halves of SPT data, (2) the cross-spectrum between two independent halves of Planck data, and (3) the cross-spectrum between SPT and Planck data. We find the three cross-spectra are well-fit (PTE = 0.30) by the null hypothesis in which both experiments have measured the same sky map up to a single free calibration parameter---i.e., we find no evidence for systematic errors in either data set. As a by-product, we improve the precision of the SPT calibration by nearly an order of magnitude, from 2.6% to 0.3% in power. Finally, we compare all three cross-spectra to the full-sky Planck power spectrum and find marginal evidence for differences between the power spectra from the SPT-SZ footprint and the full sky. We model these differences as a power law in spherical harmonic multipole number. The best-fit value of this tilt is consistent among the three cross-spectra in the SPT-SZ footprint, implying that the source of this tilt is a sample variance fluctuation in the SPT-SZ region relative to the full sky. The consistency of cosmological parameters derived from these datasets is discussed in a companion paper.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Published in The Astrophysical Journal. Current arxiv version matches published versio

A Comparison of Cosmological Parameters Determined from CMB Temperature Power Spectra from the South Pole Telescope and the Planck Satellite

The Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature data are best fit with a LCDM model that is in mild tension with constraints from other cosmological probes. The South Pole Telescope (SPT) 2540 $\text{deg}^2$ SPT-SZ survey offers measurements on sub-degree angular scales (multipoles $650 \leq \ell \leq 2500$) with sufficient precision to use as an independent check of the Planck data. Here we build on the recent joint analysis of the SPT-SZ and Planck data in \citet{hou17} by comparing LCDM parameter estimates using the temperature power spectrum from both data sets in the SPT-SZ survey region. We also restrict the multipole range used in parameter fitting to focus on modes measured well by both SPT and Planck, thereby greatly reducing sample variance as a driver of parameter differences and creating a stringent test for systematic errors. We find no evidence of systematic errors from such tests. When we expand the maximum multipole of SPT data used, we see low-significance shifts in the angular scale of the sound horizon and the physical baryon and cold dark matter densities, with a resulting trend to higher Hubble constant. When we compare SPT and Planck data on the SPT-SZ sky patch to Planck full-sky data but keep the multipole range restricted, we find differences in the parameters $n_s$ and $A_se^{-2\tau}$. We perform further checks, investigating instrumental effects and modeling assumptions, and we find no evidence that the effects investigated are responsible for any of the parameter shifts. Taken together, these tests reveal no evidence for systematic errors in SPT or Planck data in the overlapping sky coverage and multipole range and, at most, weak evidence for a breakdown of LCDM or systematic errors influencing either the Planck data outside the SPT-SZ survey area or the SPT data at $\ell >2000$.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Updated 1 figure and expanded on the reasoning for fixing the affect of lensing on the power spectrum instead of varying Alen

The Galactic Halo in Mixed Dark Matter Cosmologies

A possible solution to the small scale problems of the cold dark matter (CDM) scenario is that the dark matter consists of two components, a cold and a warm one. We perform a set of high resolution simulations of the Milky Way halo varying the mass of the WDM particle ($m_{\rm WDM}$) and the cosmic dark matter mass fraction in the WDM component ($\bar{f}_{\rm W}$). The scaling ansatz introduced in combined analysis of LHC and astroparticle searches postulates that the relative contribution of each dark matter component is the same locally as on average in the Universe (e.g. $f_{\rm W,\odot} = \bar{f}_{\rm W}$). Here we find however, that the normalised local WDM fraction ($f_{\rm W,\odot}$ / $\bar{f}_{\rm W}$) depends strongly on $m_{\rm WDM}$ for $m_{\rm WDM} <$ 1 keV. Using the scaling ansatz can therefore introduce significant errors into the interpretation of dark matter searches. To correct this issue a simple formula that fits the local dark matter densities of each component is provided.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in JCA