Nuclear stopping and sideward-flow correlation from 0.35A to 200A GeV

The correlation between the nuclear stopping and the scale invariant nucleon sideward flow at energies ranging from those available at the GSI heavy ion synchrotron (SIS) to those at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is studied within ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD). The universal behavior of the two experimental observables for various colliding systems and scale impact parameters are found to be highly correlated with each other. As there is no phase transition mechanism involved in the UrQMD, the correlation may be broken down by the sudden change of the bulk properties of the nuclear matter, such as the formation of quark-gluon plasma (QGP), which can be employed as a QGP phase transition signal in high-energy heavy ion collisions. Furthermore, we also point out that the appearance of a breakdown of the correlation may be a powerful tool for searching for the critical point on the QCD phase diagram.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Investigation of a New Flux-Modulated Permanent Magnet Brushless Motor for EVs

This paper presents a flux-modulated direct drive (FMDD) motor. The key is to integrate the magnetic gear with the PM motor while removing the gear inner-rotor. Hence, the proposed FMDD motor can achieve the low-speed high-torque output and high-speed compact design requirements as well as high-torque density with a simple structure. The output power equation is analytically derived. By using finite element analysis (FEA), the static characteristics of the proposed motor are obtained. Based on these characteristics, the system mathematical model can be established. Hence, the evaluation of system performances is conducted by computer simulation using the Matlab/Simulink. A prototype is designed and built for experimentation. Experimental results are given to verify the theoretical analysis and simulation

(Bis{2-[3-(2,4,6-trimethyl­benz­yl)imid­azolin-2-yliden-1-yl-κC 2]-4-methyl­phenyl}amido-κN)chloridopalladium(II)

The coordination geometry about the Pd centre in the title compound, [Pd(C40H42N5)Cl], is approximately square-planar. The CNC pincer-type N-heterocyclic carbene ligand binds to the Pd atom in a tridentate fashion by the amido N atom and the two carbene atoms and generates two six-membered chelate rings, completing the coordination

The Role of Matrine and Mitogen-Ativated Protein Kinase/Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Signal Transduction in the Inhibition of the Proliferation and Migration of Human Umbilical Veins Endothelial Cells Induced by Lung Cancer cells

Background and objective Matrine, one of the major alkaloid components of the traditional Chinese medicine Sophora roots, has a wide range of pharmacological effects including anti-inflammatory activities, growth inhibition and induction of cell differentiation and apoptosis. Motigen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) has found to be a crucial signaling pathway in endothelial cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of Matrine and MAPK/ERK signal transduction in the inhibition of the proliferation and migration of human umbilical veins endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by lung cancer cells. Methods HUVECs were cultured with A549CM. Mat or PD98059 (i.e PD), specific inhibitor of MAPK/ERK, was added into the A549CM. The proliferation of the HUVECs was measured by cell counting. The migration of the HUVECs was observed by wound healing assay. The expression levels of ERK and p-ERK protein were detected by Western Blot analysis. Results On 24 hours after intervention, the A549CM significantly stimulated the proliferation, migration and expression of p-ERK of HUVECs. Compared with the A549CM group, Mat significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and p-ERK expression of HUVECs induced by A549CM. While PD only decreased the proliferation and p-ERK expression of HUVECs induced by A549CM. PD had no effect in the migration of HUVECs. Conclusion The results demonstrated that Mat and PD98059 can effectively decrease proliferation and expression of p-ERK of HUVECs induced by A549CM. Furthermore Mat can also inhibit migration of HUVECs induced by A549CM that did not changed by PD98059. These data implied that suppressing MAPK/ERK signal transduction may play the crucial role in resisting lung cacinoma angiogenesis with Mat

Recent emergence of the wheat Lr34 multi-pathogen resistance: insights from haplotype analysis in wheat, rice, sorghum and Aegilops tauschii

Spontaneous sequence changes and the selection of beneficial mutations are driving forces of gene diversification and key factors of evolution. In highly dynamic co-evolutionary processes such as plant-pathogen interactions, the plant's ability to rapidly adapt to newly emerging pathogens is paramount. The hexaploid wheat gene Lr34, which encodes an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, confers durable field resistance against four fungal diseases. Despite its extensive use in breeding and agriculture, no increase in virulence towards Lr34 has been described over the last century. The wheat genepool contains two predominant Lr34 alleles of which only one confers disease resistance. The two alleles, located on chromosome 7DS, differ by only two exon-polymorphisms. Putatively functional homoeologs and orthologs of Lr34 are found on the B-genome of wheat and in rice and sorghum, but not in maize, barley and Brachypodium. In this study we present a detailed haplotype analysis of homoeologous and orthologous Lr34 genes in genetically and geographically diverse selections of wheat, rice and sorghum accessions. We found that the resistant Lr34 haplotype is unique to the wheat D-genome and is not found in the B-genome of wheat or in rice and sorghum. Furthermore, we only found the susceptible Lr34 allele in a set of 252 Ae. tauschii genotypes, the progenitor of the wheat D-genome. These data provide compelling evidence that the Lr34 multi-pathogen resistance is the result of recent gene diversification occurring after the formation of hexaploid wheat about 8,000years ag

Synteny analysis in Rosids with a walnut physical map reveals slow genome evolution in long-lived woody perennials.

BackgroundMutations often accompany DNA replication. Since there may be fewer cell cycles per year in the germlines of long-lived than short-lived angiosperms, the genomes of long-lived angiosperms may be diverging more slowly than those of short-lived angiosperms. Here we test this hypothesis.ResultsWe first constructed a genetic map for walnut, a woody perennial. All linkage groups were short, and recombination rates were greatly reduced in the centromeric regions. We then used the genetic map to construct a walnut bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone-based physical map, which contained 15,203 exonic BAC-end sequences, and quantified with it synteny between the walnut genome and genomes of three long-lived woody perennials, Vitis vinifera, Populus trichocarpa, and Malus domestica, and three short-lived herbs, Cucumis sativus, Medicago truncatula, and Fragaria vesca. Each measure of synteny we used showed that the genomes of woody perennials were less diverged from the walnut genome than those of herbs. We also estimated the nucleotide substitution rate at silent codon positions in the walnut lineage. It was one-fifth and one-sixth of published nucleotide substitution rates in the Medicago and Arabidopsis lineages, respectively. We uncovered a whole-genome duplication in the walnut lineage, dated it to the neighborhood of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, and allocated the 16 walnut chromosomes into eight homoeologous pairs. We pointed out that during polyploidy-dysploidy cycles, the dominant tendency is to reduce the chromosome number.ConclusionSlow rates of nucleotide substitution are accompanied by slow rates of synteny erosion during genome divergence in woody perennials

A high-throughput strategy for screening of bacterial artificial chromosome libraries and anchoring of clones on a genetic map constructed with single nucleotide polymorphisms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current techniques of screening bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries for molecular markers during the construction of physical maps are slow, laborious and often assign multiple BAC contigs to a single locus on a genetic map. These limitations are the principal impediment in the construction of physical maps of large eukaryotic genomes. It is hypothesized that this impediment can be overcome by screening multidimensional pools of BAC clones using the highly parallel Illumina GoldenGate™ assay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To test the efficacy of the Golden Gate assay in BAC library screening, multidimensional pools involving 302976 <it>Aegilops tauschii </it>BAC clones were genotyped for the presence/absence of specific gene sequences with multiplexed Illumina GoldenGate oligonucleotide assays previously used to place single nucleotide polymorphisms on an <it>Ae. tauschii </it>genetic map. Of 1384 allele-informative oligonucleotide assays, 87.6% successfully clustered BAC pools into those positive for a BAC clone harboring a specific gene locus and those negative for it. The location of the positive BAC clones within contigs assembled from 199190 fingerprinted <it>Ae. tauschii </it>BAC clones was used to evaluate the precision of anchoring of BAC clones and contigs on the <it>Ae. tauschii </it>genetic map. For 41 (95%) assays, positive BAC clones were neighbors in single contigs. Those contigs could be unequivocally assigned to loci on the genetic map. For two (5%) assays, positive clones were in two different contigs and the relationships of these contigs to loci on the <it>Ae. tauschii </it>genetic map were equivocal. Screening of BAC libraries with a simple five-dimensional BAC pooling strategy was evaluated and shown to allow direct detection of positive BAC clones without the need for manual deconvolution of BAC clone pools.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The highly parallel Illumina oligonucleotide assay is shown here to be an efficient tool for screening BAC libraries and a strategy for high-throughput anchoring of BAC contigs on genetic maps during the construction of physical maps of eukaryotic genomes. In most cases, screening of BAC libraries with Illumina oligonucleotide assays results in the unequivocal relationship of BAC clones with loci on the genetic map.</p

A new implementation of high-throughput five-dimensional clone pooling strategy for BAC library screening

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A five-dimensional (5-D) clone pooling strategy for screening of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones with molecular markers utilizing highly-parallel Illumina GoldenGate assays and PCR facilitates high-throughput BAC clone and BAC contig anchoring on a genetic map. However, this strategy occasionally needs manual PCR to deconvolute pools and identify truly positive clones.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A new implementation is reported here for our previously reported clone pooling strategy. Row and column pools of BAC clones are divided into sub-pools with 1~2× genome coverage. All BAC pools are screened with Illumina's GoldenGate assay and the BAC pools are deconvoluted to identify individual positive clones. Putative positive BAC clones are then further analyzed to find positive clones on the basis of them being neighbours in a contig. An exhaustive search or brute force algorithm was designed for this deconvolution and integrated into a newly developed software tool, FPCBrowser, for analyzing clone pooling data. This algorithm was used with empirical data for 55 Illumina GoldenGate SNP assays detecting SNP markers mapped on <it>Aegilops tauschii </it>chromosome 2D and <it>Ae. tauschii </it>contig maps. Clones in single contigs were successfully assigned to 48 (87%) specific SNP markers on the map with 91% precision.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A new implementation of 5-D BAC clone pooling strategy employing both GoldenGate assay screening and assembled BAC contigs is shown here to be a high-throughput, low cost, rapid, and feasible approach to screening BAC libraries and anchoring BAC clones and contigs on genetic maps. The software FPCBrowser with the integrated clone deconvolution algorithm has been developed and is downloadable at <url>http://avena.pw.usda.gov/wheatD/fpcbrowser.shtml</url>.</p

Signature of QCD critical point: Anomalous transverse velocity dependence of antiproton-proton ratio

We formulate the QCD critical point focusing effect on transverse velocity ($\beta_{t}$) dependence of antiproton to proton ($\bar{p}/p$) ratio, which was recently proposed by Asakawa {\it et al.} as an experimental signature of QCD critical point in high energy heavy ion collisions (HICs). For quantitative analysis, Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model and THERMal heavy-IoN generATOR (THERMINATOR) are applied to calculate the corresponding $\beta_{t}$ dependence of $\bar{p}/p$ ratio for three gedanken focused isentropic trajectories with different focusing degree on QCD phase diagram. Finally, we obtained an observable anomaly in $\beta_{t}$ dependence of $\bar{p}/p$ ratio, which can be employed as a signature of QCD critical point.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; To be published on Physics Letters