A distinctive response to concanavalin A-mediated agglutination shown by cells from two different slime strains

Response of slime strains to concanavalin

Mutations affecting accumulation of glycogen

Mutations affecting accumulation of glycoge

Role of the cell wall on the expression of osmotic-sensitive (os-1) and temperature-sensitive (cot-1) phenotypes of N. crassa. A comparative study on mycelial and wall-less phenotypes of the slime variant

Ascospore segregants ( slime -like) of the triple mutant fz(fuzzy);sg(spontaneous germination) os-1(osmotic) ( slime ; Emerson 1963. Genetica 34:162-182) of Neurospora crassa germinate as a plasmodium which, after some time, results in a morphologically abnormal mycelium. If the mycelium of a slime -like isolate is cultured under high osmotic pressure (Nelson et al. 1975. Neurospora Newsl. 22:15-16), it releases cells lacking walls which proliferate as spheroplasts

Planck Low Frequency Instrument: Beam Patterns

The Low Frequency Instrument on board the ESA Planck satellite is coupled to the Planck 1.5 meter off-axis dual reflector telescope by an array of 27 corrugated feed horns operating at 30, 44, 70, and 100 GHz. We briefly present here a detailed study of the optical interface devoted to optimize the angular resolution (10 arcmin at 100 GHz as a goal) and at the same time to minimize all the systematics coming from the sidelobes of the radiation pattern. Through optical simulations, we provide shapes, locations on the sky, angular resolutions, and polarization properties of each beam.Comment: On behalf of the Planck collaboration. 3 pages, 1 figure. Article published in the Proceedings of the 2K1BC Experimental Cosmology at millimetre wavelength

Metastatic Uterine Leiomyosarcoma in the Upper Buccal Gingiva Misdiagnosed as an Epulis

Uterine leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a rare tumor constituting 1% of all uterine malignancies. This sarcoma demonstrates an aggressive growth pattern with an high rate of recurrence with hematologic dissemination; the most common sites are lung, liver, and peritoneal cavity, head and neck district being rarely interested. Only other four cases of metastasis in the oral cavity have been previously described. The treatment of choice is surgery and the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation has limited impact on clinical outcome. In case of metastases, surgical excision can be performed considering extent of disease, number and type of distant lesions, disease free interval from the initial diagnosis to the time of metastases, and expected life span. We illustrate a case of uterine LMS metastasis in the upper buccal gingiva that occurred during chemotherapy in a 63-year-old woman that underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for a diagnosis of LMS staged as pT2bN0 and that developed lung metastases eight months after primary treatment. Surgical excision of the oral mass (previously misdiagnosed as epulis at a dental center) and contemporary reconstruction with pedicled temporalis muscle flap was performed in order to improve quality of life. Even if resection was achieved in free margins, "local" relapse was observed 5 months after surgery

Towards a reappraisal of the phenotype of the cell wall deficient fz;sg;os-1 ( slime ) triple mutant of Neurospora crassa

Morphological mutants represent roughly 23% of seven hundred-odd distinct chromosomal loci of N. crassa, as listed by Perkins et al. (1982, Microbiol. Rev. 46:426). Probably the most radical phenotype among these strains is that of the fz;sg;os-1 ( slime ) triple mutant, which was isolated by Sterling Emerson (1963, Genetica 34:162) in a mutagenic experiment using an os-1 strain. The slime strain has been systematically referred to in the literature as a strain lacking cell wall and growing as protoplasts or plasmodium (Perkins et al. 1982). Through the years, the fragile slime structures were frequently used as a source of organelles (Martinoia et al. 1979. Arch. Microbiol. 120:31), membranes (Scarborough, 1975. J. Biol. Chem. 250:1106) or for the study of membrane-bound enzymes (Brooks et al. 1983. J. Biol. Chem. 258:13909). Slime spheroplasts practically never revert to hyphal morphology; thus, the causes for impaired cell wall synthesis were investigated and attributed either to the lack of glucan synthase activity (Leal-Morales and Ruiz-Herrera, 1985. Exp. Mycol 9:28) or to improper ultrastructural characteristics of the organelles responsible for chitin synthesis: the chitosomes (Martinez et al. 1989. Biochem. Biophys. Acta 990:45)

Dynamic validation of the Planck/LFI thermal model

The Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) is an array of cryogenically cooled radiometers on board the Planck satellite, designed to measure the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave backgrond (CMB) at 30, 44 and 70 GHz. The thermal requirements of the LFI, and in particular the stringent limits to acceptable thermal fluctuations in the 20 K focal plane, are a critical element to achieve the instrument scientific performance. Thermal tests were carried out as part of the on-ground calibration campaign at various stages of instrument integration. In this paper we describe the results and analysis of the tests on the LFI flight model (FM) performed at Thales Laboratories in Milan (Italy) during 2006, with the purpose of experimentally sampling the thermal transfer functions and consequently validating the numerical thermal model describing the dynamic response of the LFI focal plane. This model has been used extensively to assess the ability of LFI to achieve its scientific goals: its validation is therefore extremely important in the context of the Planck mission. Our analysis shows that the measured thermal properties of the instrument show a thermal damping level better than predicted, therefore further reducing the expected systematic effect induced in the LFI maps. We then propose an explanation of the increased damping in terms of non-ideal thermal contacts.Comment: Planck LFI technical papers published by JINST: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/1748-022

Planck-LFI radiometers tuning

"This paper is part of the Prelaunch status LFI papers published on JINST: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/jinst" This paper describes the Planck Low Frequency Instrument tuning activities performed through the ground test campaigns, from Unit to Satellite Levels. Tuning is key to achieve the best possible instrument performance and tuning parameters strongly depend on thermal and electrical conditions. For this reason tuning has been repeated several times during ground tests and it has been repeated in flight before starting nominal operations. The paper discusses the tuning philosophy, the activities and the obtained results, highlighting developments and changes occurred during test campaigns. The paper concludes with an overview of tuning performed during the satellite cryogenic test campaign (Summer 2008) and of the plans for the just started in-flight calibration.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in JINST. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher authenticated version is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/4/12/T12013

Thermal susceptibility of the Planck-LFI receivers

This paper is part of the Prelaunch status LFI papers published on JINST: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/jinst . This paper describes the impact of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument front end physical temperature fluctuations on the output signal. The origin of thermal instabilities in the instrument are discussed, and an analytical model of their propagation and impact on the receivers signal is described. The experimental test setup dedicated to evaluate these effects during the instrument ground calibration is reported together with data analysis methods. Finally, main results obtained are discussed and compared to the requirements.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Instrumentation. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher authenticated version is available online at 10.1088/1748-0221/4/12/T1201

Analysis of 3 years of data from the gravitational wave detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS

We performed a search for short gravitational wave bursts using about 3 years of data of the resonant bar detectors Nautilus and Explorer. Two types of analysis were performed: a search for coincidences with a low background of accidentals (0.1 over the entire period), and the calculation of upper limits on the rate of gravitational wave bursts. Here we give a detailed account of the methodology and we report the results: a null search for coincident events and an upper limit that improves over all previous limits from resonant antennas, and is competitive, in the range h_rss ~1E-19, with limits from interferometric detectors. Some new methodological features are introduced that have proven successful in the upper limits evaluation.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure