Uric acid enhances longevity and endurance and protects the brain against ischemia

Among mammals, there is a positive correlation between serum uric acid (UA) levels and life span. Humans have high levels of UA because they lack a functional urate oxidase (UOX) enzyme that is present in shorter lived mammals. Here, we show that male and female mice with UOX haploinsufficiency exhibit an age-related elevation of UA levels, and that the life span of female but not male UOX+/− mice is significantly increased compared to wild-type mice. Serum UA levels are elevated in response to treadmill exercise in UOX+/− mice, but not wild-type mice, and the endurance of the UOX+/− mice is significantly greater than wild-type mice. UOX+/− mice exhibit elevated levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, reduced brain damage and improved functional outcome in a model of focal ischemic stroke. Levels of oxidative protein nitration and lipid peroxidation are reduced in muscle and brain tissues of UOX+/− mice under conditions of metabolic and oxidative stress (running in the case of muscle and ischemia in the case of the brain), consistent with prior evidence that UA can scavenge peroxynitrite and hydroxyl radical. Our findings reveal roles for UA in life span determination, endurance and adaptive responses to brain injury, and suggest novel approaches for protecting cells against injury and for optimizing physical performance.España, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte EX2009–091

Optimal unambiguous discrimination of two subspaces as a case in mixed state discrimination

We show how to optimally unambiguously discriminate between two subspaces of a Hilbert space. In particular we suppose that we are given a quantum system in either the state \psi_{1}, where \psi_{1} can be any state in the subspace S_{1}, or \psi_{2}, where \psi_{2} can be any state in the subspace S_{2}, and our task is to determine in which of the subspaces the state of our quantum system lies. We do not want to make a mistake, which means that our procedure will sometimes fail if the subspaces are not orthogonal. This is a special case of the unambiguous discrimination of mixed states. We present the POVM that solves this problem and several applications of this procedure, including the discrimination of multipartite states without classical communication.Comment: 8 pages, replaced with published versio

Survival of Kamchatka pink salmon as result of combined influence of density regulation and environmental factors

Dynamics of stock abundance and survival is similar for the pink salmon populations from East Kamchatka and West Kamchatka, obviously because of the same large-scale environmental factors influence, as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Western Pacific pattern (WP) that correlate significantly with the pink salmon populations indices for various stages of the life cycle. The survival measured as the recruits number per parental stock (R/S) has a non-linear dependence on this environmental indices described by parabolic equations. These dependencies are used in reproductive models, which simulate observed fluctuations of R/S with high accuracy. Note that these environmental factors influence on the pink salmon survival is opposite for its odd and even generations. For example, high PDO value in November is unfavorable for survival of the pink salmons in East Kamchatka in the first year of their life (incubation) but favorable for survival of the same population in the second year (marine feeding) - that’s why strong and weak year-classes of pink salmon are alternated. Both PDO and WP indices have quasi-biennial periodicity that is a bit longer than the 2-year alternation of the pink salmon generations, hence favorable environments change their correspondence with odd or even generations from time to time, on average in approximately every 8 years. Similar regularities are supposed for other salmon species, as West Kamchatka coho salmon

Relations between sensory responsiveness and features of autism in children

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition defined by differences in social communication and by the presence of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities (RRBs). Individuals with autism also commonly present with atypical patterns of sensory responsiveness (i.e., hyporesponsiveness, hyperresponsiveness, and sensory seeking), which are theorized to produce cascading effects across other domains of development. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in sensory responsiveness in children with and without autism (ages 8-18 years), as well as relations between patterns of sensory responsiveness and core and related features of autism. Participants were 50 children with autism and 50 non-autistic peers matched on age and sex. A comprehensive clinical battery included multiple measures of sensory responsiveness, core features of autism, adaptive behavior, internalizing behaviors, cognitive ability, and language ability. Groups significantly differed on all three patterns of sensory responsiveness. Some indices of core and related autism features were robustly associated with all three patterns of sensory responsiveness (e.g., RRBs), while others were more strongly associated with discrete patterns of sensory responsiveness (i.e., internalizing problem behaviors and hyperresponsiveness, language and sensory seeking). This study extends prior work to show that differences in sensory responsiveness that are linked with core and related features of autism persist in older children and adolescents on the spectrum

OBIS-USA: A Data-Sharing Legacy of the Census of Marine Life

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.tos.org/oceanography.The United States Geological Survey's Biological Informatics Program hosts OBIS-USA, the US node of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). OBIS-USA gathers, coordinates, applies standard formats to, and makes widely available data on biological collections in marine waters of the United States and other areas where US investigators have collected data and, in some instances, specimens. OBIS-USA delivers its data to OBIS international, which then delivers its data to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and other Web portals for marine biodiversity data. OBIS-USA currently has 145 data sets from 36 participants, representing over 6.5 million occurrence records of over 83,000 taxa from more than 888,000 locations. OBIS-USA, a legacy of the decade-long (2001–2010) international collaborative Census of Marine Life enterprise, continues to add data, including those from ongoing Census projects. Among the many challenges in creating OBIS, including OBIS-USA, were developing a community of trust and shared value among data providers, and demonstrating to providers the value of making their data accessible to others. Challenges also posed by the diversity of data sets relevant to marine biodiversity stored on thousands of computers, in a variety of formats, not all widely accessible, have been met in OBIS-USA by implementing a uniform standard and publishing platform that is easily accessible to a broad range of users

Discovery of Two Distant Type Ia Supernovae in the Hubble Deep Field North with the Advanced Camera for Surveys

We present observations of the first two supernovae discovered with the recently installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. The supernovae were found in Wide Field Camera images of the Hubble Deep Field North taken with the F775W, F850LP, and G800L optical elements as part of the ACS guaranteed time observation program. Spectra extracted from the ACS G800L grism exposures confirm that the objects are Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at redshifts z=0.47 and z=0.95. Follow-up HST observations have been conducted with ACS in F775W and F850LP and with NICMOS in the near-infrared F110W bandpass, yielding a total of 9 flux measurements in the 3 bandpasses over a period of 50 days in the observed frame. We discuss many of the important issues in doing accurate photometry with the ACS. We analyze the multi-band light curves using two different fitting methods to calibrate the supernovae luminosities and place them on the SNe Ia Hubble diagram. The resulting distances are consistent with the redshift-distance relation of the accelerating universe model, although evolving intergalactic grey dust remains as a less likely possibility. The relative ease with which these SNe Ia were found, confirmed, and monitored demonstrates the potential ACS holds for revolutionizing the field of high-redshift SNe Ia, and therefore of testing the accelerating universe cosmology and constraining the "epoch of deceleration".Comment: 11 pages, 8 embedded figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Overview of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Mission

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite observes light in the far-ultraviolet spectral region, 905 - 1187 A with high spectral resolution. The instrument consists of four coaligned prime-focus telescopes and Rowland spectrographs with microchannel plate detectors. Two of the telescope channels use Al:LiF coatings for optimum reflectivity from approximately 1000 to 1187 A and the other two use SiC coatings for optimized throughput between 905 and 1105 A. The gratings are holographically ruled to largely correct for astigmatism and to minimize scattered light. The microchannel plate detectors have KBr photocathodes and use photon counting to achieve good quantum efficiency with low background signal. The sensitivity is sufficient to examine reddened lines of sight within the Milky Way as well as active galactic nuclei and QSOs for absorption line studies of both Milky Way and extra-galactic gas clouds. This spectral region contains a number of key scientific diagnostics, including O VI, H I, D I and the strong electronic transitions of H2 and HD.Comment: To appear in FUSE special issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 6 pages + 4 figure

Parents' Perspectives on the School Experiences of Children with Cancer

Interviews with 59 parents of school age children with cancer indicate problems children encountered in returning to school: missing significant amounts of school due to illness and treatments, teasing by classmates and peers, and strained relations with teachers. Most parents report that despite missing much school their child was caught up with schoolwork, suggesting that academic difficulties are not paramount. Most parents also report receiving substantial help from sympathetic and competent educators. However, parents also indicate that some teachers were insensitive to their child's condition, while others were overprotective, suggesting the need for a delicate balance in defining appropriate teacher behavior. A responsive yet normalizing school environment can be facilitated by vigorous and proactive partnerships among the medical staff, family, and school system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68682/2/10.1177_027112148600500405.pd