Conserved genetic defense response against X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca in olive and citrus

X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca causes diseases in citrus and olive plants. Fortunately, there are citrus species and olive varieties more tolerant to X. fastidiosa and therefore good genotypes to search for genetic sources of resistance. Following this approach, global gene expression analyses were recently achieved using Citrus reticulata cv. Ponkan and Olea europaea cv. Leccino allowing the identification of potential genes involved in plant defense response. Thus, the objective of this work was to identify key genes involved in common genetic defense responses that could be further explored to get resistant varieties. Overall we identified two main mechanisms for both plant species: i. Bacteria recognition and ii. Cell wall fortification. The former involve the expression of patternrecognition receptors, which recognize pathogen molecular patterns and trigger cell defense responses. Some of these receptors belong to the LRR-XII group which contains cell surface immune receptors. The latter involves downregulation of genes in tolerant host such as expansin, pectate lyases and polygalacturonases, related with cell wall expansion and degradation. This suggests that in tolerant hosts, plant cell recognizes X. fastidiosa and reprograms the cell wall development to impair its colonization through the xylem vessels. Therefore these genes represent good candidates to be explored aiming their use in breeding and/or genetic engineering program. Giampetruzzi A., Morelli M., Saponari M., Loconsole G., Chiumenti M., Boscia D., Savino V.N., Martelli G.P. & Saldarelli P. 2016. Transcriptome profiling of two olive cultivars in response to infection by the CoDiRO strain of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca. BMC Genomics 17:475. Rodrigues C.M., De Souza A.A., Takita M.A., Kishi L.T. & Machado M.A. 2013. RNA-Seq analysis of Citrus reticulata in the early stages of Xylella fastidiosa infection reveals auxin-related genes as a defense response. BMC Genomics 14: 676

Statistical distribution of quantum entanglement for a random bipartite state

We compute analytically the statistics of the Renyi and von Neumann entropies (standard measures of entanglement), for a random pure state in a large bipartite quantum system. The full probability distribution is computed by first mapping the problem to a random matrix model and then using a Coulomb gas method. We identify three different regimes in the entropy distribution, which correspond to two phase transitions in the associated Coulomb gas. The two critical points correspond to sudden changes in the shape of the Coulomb charge density: the appearance of an integrable singularity at the origin for the first critical point, and the detachement of the rightmost charge (largest eigenvalue) from the sea of the other charges at the second critical point. Analytical results are verified by Monte Carlo numerical simulations. A short account of some of these results appeared recently in Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 104}, 110501 (2010).Comment: 7 figure

Dynamic structure factor of the Ising model with purely relaxational dynamics

We compute the dynamic structure factor for the Ising model with a purely relaxational dynamics (model A). We perform a perturbative calculation in the $\epsilon$ expansion, at two loops in the high-temperature phase and at one loop in the temperature magnetic-field plane, and a Monte Carlo simulation in the high-temperature phase. We find that the dynamic structure factor is very well approximated by its mean-field Gaussian form up to moderately large values of the frequency $\omega$ and momentum $k$. In the region we can investigate, $k\xi \lesssim 5$, $\omega \tau \lesssim 10$, where $\xi$ is the correlation length and $\tau$ the zero-momentum autocorrelation time, deviations are at most of a few percent.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure

Ab initio study of the beta$-tin->Imma->sh phase transitions in silicon and germanium

We have investigated the structural sequence of the high-pressure phases of silicon and germanium. We have focussed on the cd->beta-tin->Imma->sh phase transitions. We have used the plane-wave pseudopotential approach to the density-functional theory implemented within the Vienna ab-initio simulation package (VASP). We have determined the equilibrium properties of each structure and the values of the critical parameters including a hysteresis effect at the phase transitions. The order of the phase transitions has been obtained alternatively from the pressure dependence of the enthalpy and of the internal structure parameters. The commonly used tangent construction is shown to be very unreliable. Our calculations identify a first-order phase transition from the cd to the beta-tin and from the Imma to the sh phase, and they indicate the possibility of a second-order phase-transition from the beta-tin to the Imma phase. Finally, we have derived the enthalpy barriers between the phases.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure

Recent progress with hot carrier solar cells

Hot carrier solar cells offer one of the most promising options for high performance “third generation” photovoltaic devices. For successful operation, these need to be thin, strongly absorbing, radioactively efficient devices in a simple 2-terminal configuration. Nonetheless, they offer potential performance close to the maximum possible for solar conversion, equivalent to a multi-cell stack of six or more tandem cells possibly without some of the limitations, such as spectral sensitivity. However, hot carrier cells offer some quite fundamental challenges in implementation that our team is addressing in an internationally collaborative effort

Evaluation of EphA2 and EphB4 as Targets for Image-Guided Colorectal Cancer Surgery

Imaging- and therapeutic targets in neoplastic and musculoskeletal inflammatory diseas

Measurement of (anti)deuteron and (anti)proton production in DIS at HERA

The first observation of (anti)deuterons in deep inelastic scattering at HERA has been made with the ZEUS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 300--318 GeV using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb-1. The measurement was performed in the central rapidity region for transverse momentum per unit of mass in the range 0.3<p_T/M<0.7. The particle rates have been extracted and interpreted in terms of the coalescence model. The (anti)deuteron production yield is smaller than the (anti)proton yield by approximately three orders of magnitude, consistent with the world measurements.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, submitted to Nucl. Phys.

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186