Drying colloidal systems: laboratory models for a wide range of applications

The drying of complex fluids provides a powerful insight into phenomena that take place on time and length scales not normally accessible. An important feature of complex fluids, colloidal dispersions and polymer solutions is their high sensitivity to weak external actions. Thus, the drying of complex fluids involves a large number of physical and chemical processes. The scope of this review is the capacity to tune such systems to reproduce and explore specific properties in a physics laboratory. A wide variety of systems are presented, ranging from functional coatings, food science, cosmetology, medical diagnostics and forensics to geophysics and art

Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children

Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children

Stimulation of Armillaria rhizomorph growth by oak root fungi

Thirty one different genera of fungi were isolated from the wood of roots of 5O·year·old oak (Quercus robur). The most frequently isolated fungi were: Mycelium radicis atrovirens alpha (MRAA), Clonostachys sp. and Penicillium daleae, Beauveria bassiana, Clonostachys sp., Cryplosporiopsis rodicicolo, Geotrichum candidum, Mortierella vinacea, MRAA, P. daleae, P. janczewskii P. spinulosum, Sporothrix schenckii and Tolypocladium niveum significantly enhanced Armillaria mellea rhizomorph initiation and growth from oak branch segments in vitro. The biggest stimulation effect was noticed when the dematiaceous hyphomycetes, e.g. MRAA, P. dimorphospora and S. schenckii were studied

Dynamic karyotype evolution and unique sex determination systems in Leptidea wood white butterflies

Background. Chromosomal rearrangements have the potential to limit the rate and pattern of gene flow within and between species and thus play a direct role in promoting and maintaining speciation. Wood white butterflies of the genus Leptidea are excellent models to study the role of chromosome rearrangements in speciation because they show karyotype variability not only among but also within species. In this work, we investigated genome architecture of three cryptic Leptidea species (L. juvernica, L. sinapis and L. reali) by standard and molecular cytogenetic techniques in order to reveal causes of the karyotype variability./nResults. Chromosome numbers ranged from 2n = 85 to 91 in L. juvernica and 2n = 69 to 73 in L. sinapis (both from Czech populations) to 2n = 51 to 55 in L. reali (Spanish population). We observed significant differences in chromosome numbers and localization of cytogenetic markers (rDNA and H3 histone genes) within the offspring of individual females. Using FISH with the (TTAGG)n telomeric probe we also documented the presence of multiple chromosome fusions and/or fissions and other complex rearrangements. Thus, the intraspecific karyotype variability is likely due to irregular chromosome segregation of multivalent meiotic configurations. The analysis of female meiotic chromosomes by GISH and CGH revealed multiple sex chromosomes: W1W2W3Z1Z2Z3Z4 in L. juvernica, W1W2W3Z1Z2Z3 in L. sinapis and W1W2W3W4Z1Z2Z3Z4 in L. reali./nConclusions. Our results suggest a dynamic karyotype evolution and point to the role of chromosomal rearrangements in the speciation of Leptidea butterflies. Moreover, our study revealed a curious sex determination system with 3–4 W and 3–4 Z chromosomes, which is unique in the Lepidoptera and which could also have played a role in the speciation process of the three Leptidea species.This research was funded by Grant 14-22765S of the Czech Science Foundation, Grant IAA600960925 of the Grant Agency of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Grant 063/2012/P of the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia and Grant CGL2013-48277-P from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. JŠ and AV were supported by Grant 052/2013/P of the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia, VD by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (project no. 625997), PN by Grant 14-35819P of the Czech Science Foundation and KS by JSPS 23380030 grant and JSPS Excellent Young Researchers Overseas Visit Program (21–7147