AKAP-Lbc mobilizes a cardiac hypertrophy signaling pathway.

Elevated catecholamines in the heart evoke transcriptional activation of the Myocyte Enhancer Factor (MEF) pathway to induce a cellular response known as pathological myocardial hypertrophy. We have discovered that the A-Kinase Anchoring Protein (AKAP)-Lbc is upregulated in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes. It coordinates activation and movement of signaling proteins that initiate MEF2-mediated transcriptional reprogramming events. Live-cell imaging, fluorescent kinase activity reporters, and RNA interference techniques show that AKAP-Lbc couples activation of protein kinase D (PKD) with the phosphorylation-dependent nuclear export of the class II histone deacetylase HDAC5. These studies uncover a role for AKAP-Lbc in which increased expression of the anchoring protein selectively amplifies a signaling pathway that drives cardiac myocytes toward a pathophysiological outcome

Spin in relativistic quantum theory

We discuss the role of spin in Poincar\'e invariant formulations of quantum mechanics.Comment: 54 page

Galactic vs. Extragalactic Origin of the Peculiar Transient SCP 06F6

We study four scenarios for the SCP 06F6 transient event that was announced recently. Some of these were previously briefly discussed as plausible models for SCP 06F6, in particular with the claimed detection of a z=0.143 cosmological redshift of a Swan spectrum of a carbon rich envelope. We adopt this value of z for extragalactic scenarios. We cannot rule out any of these models, but can rank them from most to least preferred. Our favorite model is a tidal disruption of a CO white dwarf (WD) by an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). To account for the properties of the SCP 06F6 event, we have to assume the presence of a strong disk wind that was not included in previous numerical simulations. If the IMBH is the central BH of a galaxy, this explains the non detection of a bright galaxy in the direction of SCP 06F6. Our second favorite scenario is a type Ia-like SN that exploded inside the dense wind of a carbon star. The carbon star is the donor star of the exploded WD. Our third favorite model is a Galactic source of an asteroid that collided with a WD. Such a scenario was discussed in the past as the source of dusty disks around WDs, but no predictions exist regarding the appearance of such an event. Our least favorite model is of a core collapse SN. The only way we can account for the properties of SCP 06F6 with a core collapse SN is if we assume the occurrence of a rare type of binary interaction.Comment: Accepted by New Astronom

Nonparametric Information Geometry

The differential-geometric structure of the set of positive densities on a given measure space has raised the interest of many mathematicians after the discovery by C.R. Rao of the geometric meaning of the Fisher information. Most of the research is focused on parametric statistical models. In series of papers by author and coworkers a particular version of the nonparametric case has been discussed. It consists of a minimalistic structure modeled according the theory of exponential families: given a reference density other densities are represented by the centered log likelihood which is an element of an Orlicz space. This mappings give a system of charts of a Banach manifold. It has been observed that, while the construction is natural, the practical applicability is limited by the technical difficulty to deal with such a class of Banach spaces. It has been suggested recently to replace the exponential function with other functions with similar behavior but polynomial growth at infinity in order to obtain more tractable Banach spaces, e.g. Hilbert spaces. We give first a review of our theory with special emphasis on the specific issues of the infinite dimensional setting. In a second part we discuss two specific topics, differential equations and the metric connection. The position of this line of research with respect to other approaches is briefly discussed.Comment: Submitted for publication in the Proceedings od GSI2013 Aug 28-30 2013 Pari

Neuroplastin genetically interacts with Cadherin 23 and the encoded isoform Np55 is sufficient for cochlear hair cell function and hearing

Mammalian hearing involves the mechanoelectrical transduction (MET) of sound-induced fluid waves in the cochlea. Essential to this process are the specialised sensory cochlear cells, the inner (IHCs) and outer hair cells (OHCs). While genetic hearing loss is highly heterogeneous, understanding the requirement of each gene will lead to a better understanding of the molecular basis of hearing and also to therapeutic opportunities for deafness. The Neuroplastin (Nptn) gene, which encodes two protein isoforms Np55 and Np65, is required for hearing, and homozygous loss-of-function mutations that affect both isoforms lead to profound deafness in mice. Here we have utilised several distinct mouse models to elaborate upon the spatial, temporal, and functional requirement of Nptn for hearing. While we demonstrate that both Np55 and Np65 are present in cochlear cells, characterisation of a Np65-specific mouse knockout shows normal hearing thresholds indicating that Np65 is functionally redundant for hearing. In contrast, we find that Nptn-knockout mice have significantly reduced maximal MET currents and MET channel open probabilities in mature OHCs, with both OHCs and IHCs also failing to develop fully mature basolateral currents. Furthermore, comparing the hearing thresholds and IHC synapse structure of Nptn-knockout mice with those of mice that lack Nptn only in IHCs and OHCs shows that the majority of the auditory deficit is explained by hair cell dysfunction, with abnormal afferent synapses contributing only a small proportion of the hearing loss. Finally, we show that continued expression of Neuroplastin in OHCs of adult mice is required for membrane localisation of Plasma Membrane Ca2+ ATPase 2 (PMCA2), which is essential for hearing function. Moreover, Nptn haploinsufficiency phenocopies Atp2b2 (encodes PMCA2) mutations, with heterozygous Nptn-knockout mice exhibiting hearing loss through genetic interaction with the Cdh23ahl allele. Together, our findings provide further insight to the functional requirement of Neuroplastin for mammalian hearing

NO2 detection at room temperature with copper phthalocyanine thin film devices

In this work, we report the effect of post-deposition film treatment on the NO2 sensing properties of CuPc thin films for room temperature operation. The gas-sensitive response of the electrical conductivity to doping with NO2, doping with oxygen (in air) and cooling to 77 K in liquid nitrogen are reported. The pretreatment with NO2 is shown to improve the gas sensing properties by providing both an increase in the magnitude of the conductivity change for a given NO2 concentration and a significant improvement in the recovery time. Data is analysed using an Elovich model, which suggests that the cooled devices have the best fit to this model; the data for the NO2 doped devices suggest a Langmuir behaviour. For all devices, a simple time derivative of the change in current provides a measure of concentration for real time gas sensing applications

Persistence of Ebola virus RNA in some body fluids of Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors – the Nigerian experience

Introduction: Ebola virus (EBOV) has been shown to persist in some body fluids of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) survivors with implication for future transmission particularly in Nigeria where EVD was experienced for the first time in 2014. Thus, this paper was aimed at providing information on the duration of persistence of EBOV in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Ten consenting EVD survivors were enrolled. Baseline specimens; urine and semen (males), urine and high vaginal swab (HVS) (females) were obtained within one month after discharge from the Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) and subsequently every fortnight. Samples were analyzed using quantitative Real-Star Filovirus Screen RT-PCR kit 1.0 at the National Reference Laboratory in Lagos.Results: Ten EVD survivors comprising 4 (40%) males and 6 (60%) females with age ranges of 28 to >33 years (mean age: 33.0 ± 6.9 years) were evaluated. EBOV RNA was not detected in the urine of all the participants and HVS from the females. However, EBOV RNA was detected in the semen of all 4 (100%) male participants at baseline, and at 2 months after discharge from the ETC. Two men were still positive for EBOV RNA 4 months after discharge from the ETC despite persistent negative vireamia. Conclusions: Our data confirm that a negative viremia in the convalescent period is not predictive of the absence of the virus in semen. Despite an early clearance of the virus from the urine and HVS, there was persistence of EBOV RNA in semen of male survivors 4 months after recovery

Deep long asymmetric occultation in EPIC 204376071

We have discovered a young M star of mass 0.16 M and radius 0.63 R, likely in the Upper Sco Association, that exhibits only a single 80 per cent deep occultation of 1-d duration. The star has frequent flares and a low-amplitude rotational modulation, but is otherwise quiet over 160 d of cumulative observation during K2 campaigns C2 and C15. We discuss how such a deep eclipse is not possible by one star crossing another in any binary or higher order stellar system in which no mass transfer has occurred. The two possible explanations we are left with are (1) orbiting dust or small particles (e.g. a disc bound to a smaller orbiting body, or unbound dust that emanates from such a body); or (2) a transient accretion event of dusty material near the corotation radius of the star. In either case, the time between such occultation events must be longer than ∼80 d. We model a possible orbiting occulter both as a uniform elliptically shaped surface (e.g. an inclined circular disc) and as a ‘dust sheet’ with a gradient of optical depth behind its leading edge. The required masses in such dust features are then 3 × 1019 g and 1019 g, for the two cases, respectively.Support for G Z is provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51402.001-A awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555. A V’s work was supported in part under a contract with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) funded by NASA through the Sagan Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. E R N is supported by an National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-1602597 We thank Allan R. Schmitt and Troy Winarski for making their light curve examining software tools LCTOOLS and AKO-TPF freely available. Some of the data presented in this paper were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Support for MAST for non-HST data is provided by the NASA Office of Space Science via grant NNX09AF08G and by other grants and contracts. Some results are based on data from the Carlsberg Meridian Catalogue 15 Data Access Service at CAB (INTA-CSIC). This research has used IMCCE’s SkyBoT VO tool

Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial change