Hox Genes, Digit Identities and the Theropod/Bird Transition

Vargas and Fallon (2005) propose that Hox gene expression patterns indicate that the most anterior digit in bird wings is homologous to digit 1 rather than to digit 2 in other amniotes. This interpretation is based on the presence of Hoxd13 expression in combination with the absence of Hoxd12 expression in the second digit condensation from which this digit develops (the first condensation is transiently present). This is a pattern that is similar to that in the developing digit 1 of the chicken foot and the mouse hand and foot. They have tested this new hypothesis by analysing Hoxd12 and Hoxd13 expression patterns in two polydactylous chicken mutants, Silkie and talpid2. They conclude that the data supports the notion that the most anterior remaining digit of the bird wing is homologous to digit 1 in other amniotes either in a standard phylogenetic sense, or alternatively in a (limited) developmental sense in agreement with the Frameshift Hypothesis of Wagner and Gautier (1997, i.e. that the developmental pathway is homologous to the one that leads to a digit 1 identity in other amniotes, albeit that it occurs in the second instead of the first digit condensation). We argue that the Hoxd12 and Hoxd13 expression patterns found for these and other limb mutants do not allow distinguishing between the hypothesis of Vargas and Fallon (2005) and the alternative one, i.e. the most anterior digit in bird wings is homologous to digit 2 in other amniotes, in a phylogenetic, or developmental sense. Therefore, at the moment the data on limb mutants does not present a challenge to the hypothesis, based on other developmental data (Holmgren 55, Hinchliffe 484, Burke and Feduccia 497, Kundrat et al. 2002, Larsson and Wagner 2002, Feduccia and Nowicki 2002), that the digits of bird wings are homologous to digits 2,3,4 in amniotes. We recommend further testing of the hypothesis by comparing Hoxd expression patterns in different taxa

Forward Physics at the LHC (Elba 2010)

The papers review the main theoretical and experimental aspects of the Forward Physics at the Large Hadron Collider

Stereo Laryngoscopic Impact Site Prediction for Droplet-Based Stimulation of the Laryngeal Adductor Reflex

The laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR) is a vital reflex of the human larynx. LAR malfunctions may cause life-threatening aspiration events. An objective, noninvasive, and reproducible method for LAR assessment is still lacking. Stimulation of the larynx by droplet impact, termed Microdroplet Impulse Testing of the LAR (MIT-LAR), may remedy this situation. However, droplet instability and imprecise stimulus application thus far prevented MIT-LAR from gaining clinical relevance. We present a system comprising two alternative, custom-built stereo laryngoscopes, each offering a distinct set of properties, a droplet applicator module, and image/point cloud processing algorithms to enable a targeted, droplet-based LAR stimulation. Droplet impact site prediction (ISP) is achieved by droplet trajectory identification and spatial target reconstruction. The reconstruction and ISP accuracies were experimentally evaluated. Global spatial reconstruction errors at the glottal area of (0.3±0.3) mm and (0.4±0.3) mm and global ISP errors of (0.9±0.6) mm and (1.3±0.8) mm were found for a rod lens-based and an alternative, fiberoptic laryngoscope, respectively. In the case of the rod lens-based system, 96% of all observed ISP error values are inferior to 2 mm; a value of 80% was found with the fiberoptic assembly. This contribution represents an important step towards introducing a reproducible and objective LAR screening method into the clinical routine

Type I Interferon Imposes a TSG101/ISG15 Checkpoint at the Golgi for Glycoprotein Trafficking during Influenza Virus Infection

SummarySeveral enveloped viruses exploit host pathways, such as the cellular endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery, for their assembly and release. The influenza A virus (IAV) matrix protein binds to the ESCRT-I complex, although the involvement of early ESCRT proteins such as Tsg101 in IAV trafficking remain to be established. We find that Tsg101 can facilitate IAV trafficking, but this is effectively restricted by the interferon (IFN)-stimulated protein ISG15. Cytosol from type I IFN-treated cells abolished IAV hemagglutinin (HA) transport to the cell surface in infected semi-intact cells. This inhibition required Tsg101 and could be relieved with deISGylases. Tsg101 is itself ISGylated in IFN-treated cells. Upon infection, intact Tsg101-deficient cells obtained by CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing were defective in the surface display of HA and for infectious virion release. These data support the IFN-induced generation of a Tsg101- and ISG15-dependent checkpoint in the secretory pathway that compromises influenza virus release

First Results from the TOTEM Experiment

The first physics results from the TOTEM experiment are here reported, concerning the measurements of the total, differential elastic, elastic and inelastic pp cross-section at the LHC energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, obtained using the luminosity measurement from CMS. A preliminary measurement of the forward charged particle $\eta$ distribution is also shown.Comment: Conference Proceeding. MPI@LHC 2010: 2nd International Workshop on Multiple Partonic Interactions at the LHC. Glasgow (UK), 29th of November to the 3rd of December 201

Measurement of elastic pp scattering at √ s = 8 TeV in the Coulomb-nuclear interference region : determination of the rho-parameter and the total cross-section

The TOTEM experiment at the CERN LHC has measured elastic proton-proton scattering at the centre-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV and four-momentum transfers squared, vertical bar t vertical bar, from 6 x 10(-4) to 0.2GeV(2). Near the lower end of the t-interval the differential cross-section is sensitive to the interference between the hadronic and the electromagnetic scattering amplitudes. This article presents the elastic cross-section measurement and the constraints it imposes on the functional forms of the modulus and phase of the hadronic elastic amplitude. The data exclude the traditional Simplified West and Yennie interference formula that requires a constant phase and a purely exponential modulus of the hadronic amplitude. For parametrisations of the hadronic modulus with second-or third-order polynomials in the exponent, the data are compatible with hadronic phase functions giving either central or peripheral behaviour in the impact parameter picture of elastic scattering. In both cases, the.-parameter is found to be 0.12 +/- 0.03. The results for the total hadronic cross-section are sigma(tot) = (102.9 +/- 2.3) mb and (103.0 +/- 2.3) mb for central and peripheral phase formulations, respectively. Both are consistent with previous TOTEM measurements.Peer reviewe

Diamond detectors for the TOTEM timing upgrade

This paper describes the design and the performance of the timing detector developed by the TOTEM Collaboration for the Roman Pots (RPs) to measure the Time-Of-Flight (TOF) of the protons produced in central diffractive interactions at the LHC. The measurement of the TOF of the protons allows the determination of the longitudinal position of the proton interaction vertex and its association with one of the vertices reconstructed by the CMS detectors. The TOF detector is based on single crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition (scCVD) diamond plates and is designed to measure the protons TOF with about 50 ps time precision. This upgrade to the TOTEM apparatus will be used in the LHC run 2 and will tag the central diffractive events up to an interaction pileup of about 1. A dedicated fast and low noise electronics for the signal amplification has been developed. The digitization of the diamond signal is performed by sampling the waveform. After introducing the physics studies that will most profit from the addition of these new detectors, we discuss in detail the optimization and the performance of the first TOF detector installed in the LHC in November 2015.Peer reviewe

Elastic differential cross-section d sigma/dt at root s=2.76 TeV and implications on the existence of a colourless C-odd three-gluon compound state

The proton-proton elastic differential cross sectvion d sigma/dt has been measured by the TOTEM experiment at root s = 2.76 TeV energy with beta* = 11 m beam optics. The Roman Pots were inserted to 13 times the transverse beam size from the beam, which allowed tomeasure the differential cross-section of elastic scattering in a range of the squared four-momentum transfer (vertical bar t vertical bar) from 0.36 to 0.74 GeV2. The differential cross-section can be described with an exponential in the vertical bar t vertical bar-range between 0.36 and 0.54 GeV2, followed by a diffractive minimum (dip) at vertical bar t(dip)vertical bar = (0.61 +/- 0.03) GeV2 and a subsequent maximum (bump). The ratio of the ds/dt at the bump and at the dip is 1.7 +/- 0.2. When compared to proton-antiproton measurement of the D0 experiment at root s = 1.96 TeV, a significant difference can be observed. Under the condition that the effects due to the energy difference between TOTEM and D0 can be neglected, the result provides evidence for the exchange of a colourless C-odd three-gluon compound state in the t-channel of the proton-proton and proton-antiproton elastic scattering.Peer reviewe