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Next-generation sequencing of dsRNA is greatly improved by treatment with the inexpensive denaturing reagent DMSO.
dsRNA is the genetic material of important viruses and a key component of RNA interference-based immunity in eukaryotes. Previous studies have noted difficulties in determining the sequence of dsRNA molecules that have affected studies of immune function and estimates of viral diversity in nature. DMSO has been used to denature dsRNA prior to the reverse-transcription stage to improve reverse transcriptase PCR and Sanger sequencing. We systematically tested the utility of DMSO to improve the sequencing yield of a dsRNA virus (Φ6) in a short-read next-generation sequencing platform. DMSO treatment improved sequencing read recovery by over two orders of magnitude, even when RNA and cDNA concentrations were below the limit of detection. We also tested the effects of DMSO on a mock eukaryotic viral community and found that dsRNA virus reads increased with DMSO treatment. Furthermore, we provide evidence that DMSO treatment does not adversely affect recovery of reads from a ssRNA viral genome (influenza A/California/07/2009). We suggest that up to 50 % DMSO treatment be used prior to cDNA synthesis when samples of interest are composed of or may contain dsRNA
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A study of the antioxidant capacity of oak wood used in wine ageing and the correlation with polyphenol composition
The antioxidant capacity of oak wood used in the ageing of wine was studied by four different methods: measurement of scavenging capacity against a given radical (ABTS, DPPH), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Although, the four methods tested gave comparable results for the antioxidant capacity measured in oak wood extracts, the ORAC method gave results with some differences from the other methods. Non-toasted oak wood samples displayed more antioxidant power than toasted ones due to differences in the polyphenol compositon. A correlation analysis revealed that ellagitannins were the compounds mainly responsible for the antioxidant capacity of oak wood. Some phenolic acids, mainly gallic acid, also showed a significant correlation with antioxidant capacity
Dynamical coupled-channels analysis of 1H(e,e'pi)N reactions
We have performed a dynamical coupled-channels analysis of available
p(e,e'pi)N data in the region of W < 1.6 GeV and Q^2 < 1.45 (GeV/c)^2. The
channels included are gamma^* N, pi N, eta N, and pi pi N which has pi Delta,
rho N, and sigma N components. With the hadronic parameters of the model
determined in our previous investigations of pi N --> pi N, pi pi N reactions,
we have found that the available data in the considered W < 1.6 GeV region can
be fitted well by only adjusting the bare gamma^* N --> N^* helicity amplitudes
for the lowest N^* states in P33, P11, S11 and D13 partial waves. The
sensitivity of the resulting parameters to the amount of data included in the
analysis is investigated. The importance of coupled-channels effect on the
p(e,e' pi)N cross sections is demonstrated. The meson cloud effects, as
required by the unitarity conditions, on the gamma^* N --> N^* form factors are
also examined. Necessary future developments, both experimentally and
theoretically, are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. Version to appear in PR
A graceful multiversal link of particle physics to cosmology
In this paper we work out a multiverse scenario whose physical
characteristics enable us to advance the following the conjecture that whereas
the physics of particles and fields is confined to live in the realm of the
whole multiverse formed by finite-time single universes, that for our
observable universe must be confined just in one of the infinite number of
universes of the multiverse when such a universe is consistently referred to an
infinite cosmic time. If this conjecture is adopted then some current
fundamental problems that appear when one tries to make compatible particle
physics and cosmology- such as that for the cosmological constant, the arrow of
time and the existence of a finite proper size of the event horizon- can be
solved.Comment: 10 pages, LaTe
A dark energy multiverse
We present cosmic solutions corresponding to universes filled with dark and
phantom energy, all having a negative cosmological constant. All such solutions
contain infinite singularities, successively and equally distributed along
time, which can be either big bang/crunchs or big rips singularities.
Classicaly these solutions can be regarded as associated with multiverse
scenarios, being those corresponding to phantom energy that may describe the
current accelerating universe
Testing models with non-minimal Higgs sector through the decay t->q+WZ
We study the contribution of charged Higgs boson to the rare decay of the top
quark t->q+WZ (q=d,s,b) in models with Higgs sector that includes doublets and
triplets. Higgs doublets are needed to couple charged Higgs with quarks,
whereas the Higgs triplets are required to generate the non-standard vertex HWZ
at tree-level. It is found that within a model that respect the custodial SU(2)
symmetry and avoids flavour changing neutral currents by imposing discrete
symmetries, the decay mode t->b+WZ, can reach a branching ratio of order
0.0178, whereas the decay modes t->(d,s)+WZ, can reach a similar branching
ratio in models where flavour changing neutral currents are suppressed by
flavour symmetries.Comment: Typeset using REVTEX and EPSF, 5 pag, 2 figure
Statistical analysis of Ni nanowires breaking processes: a numerical simulation study
A statistical analysis of the breaking behavior of Ni nanowires is presented.
Using molecular dynamic simulations, we have determined the time evolution of
both the nanowire atomic structure and its minimum cross section (Sm(t)).
Accumulating thousands of independent breaking events, Sm histograms are built
and used to study the influence of the temperature, the crystalline stretching
direction and the initial nanowire size. The proportion of monomers, dimers and
more complex structures at the latest stages of the breaking process are
calculated, finding important differences among results obtained for different
nanowire orientations and sizes. Three main cases have been observed. (A) [111]
stretching direction and large nanowire sizes: the wire evolves from more
complex structures to monomers and dimers prior its rupture; well ordered
structures is presented during the breaking process. (B) Large nanowires
stretched along the [100] and [110] directions: the system mainly breaks from
complex structures (low probability of finding monomers and dimers), having
disordered regions during their breakage; at room temperature, a huge histogram
peak around Sm=5 appears, showing the presence of long staggered pentagonal Ni
wires with ...-5-1-5-... structure. (C) Initial wire size is small: strong size
effects independently on the temperature and stretching direction. Finally, the
local structure around monomers and dimmers do not depend on the stretching
direction. These configurations differ from those usually chosen in static
studies of conductance.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure
Directed percolation depinning models: Evolution equations
We present the microscopic equation for the growing interface with quenched
noise for the model first presented by Buldyrev et al. [Phys. Rev. A 45, R8313
(1992)]. The evolution equation for the height, the mean height, and the
roughness are reached in a simple way. The microscopic equation allows us to
express these equations in two contributions: the contact and the local one. We
compare this two contributions with the ones obtained for the Tang and
Leschhorn model [Phys. Rev A 45, R8309 (1992)] by Braunstein et al. [Physica A
266, 308 (1999)]. Even when the microscopic mechanisms are quiet different in
both model, the two contribution are qualitatively similar. An interesting
result is that the diffusion contribution, in the Tang and Leschhorn model, and
the contact one, in the Buldyrev model, leads to an increase of the roughness
near the criticality.Comment: 10 pages and 4 figures. To be published in Phys. Rev.
A tabu search heuristic for the Equitable Coloring Problem
The Equitable Coloring Problem is a variant of the Graph Coloring Problem
where the sizes of two arbitrary color classes differ in at most one unit. This
additional condition, called equity constraints, arises naturally in several
applications. Due to the hardness of the problem, current exact algorithms can
not solve large-sized instances. Such instances must be addressed only via
heuristic methods. In this paper we present a tabu search heuristic for the
Equitable Coloring Problem. This algorithm is an adaptation of the dynamic
TabuCol version of Galinier and Hao. In order to satisfy equity constraints,
new local search criteria are given. Computational experiments are carried out
in order to find the best combination of parameters involved in the dynamic
tenure of the heuristic. Finally, we show the good performance of our heuristic
over known benchmark instances
Dynamical coupled-channel approach to hadronic and electromagnetic production of kaon-hyperon on the proton
A dynamical coupled-channel formalism for processes and
is presented which provides a comprehensive investigation of
recent data on the reaction. The non-resonant
interactions within the subspace are derived from effective
Lagrangians, using a unitary transformation method. The calculations of
photoproduction amplitudes are simplified by casting the coupled-channel
equations into a form such that the empirical amplitudes
are input and only the parameters associated with the channel are
determined by performing -fits to all of the available data for and . Good
agreement between our models and those data are obtained. In the fits to channels, most of the parameters are constrained within of
the values given by the Particle Data Group and/or quark model predictions,
while for parameters, ranges compatible with broken
symmetry are imposed. The main reaction mechanisms in photoproduction are singled out and issues related to newly suggested
resonances , , and are studied. Results illustrating
the importance of using a coupled-channel treatment are reported. Meson cloud
effects on the transitions are also discussed.Comment: Accepted Physical Review
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