2,622 research outputs found
Cytogerontology since 1881: A reappraisal of August Weismann and a review of modern progress
Cytogerontology, the science of cellular ageing, originated in 1881 with the prediction by August Weismann that the somatic cells of higher animals have limited division potential. Weismann's prediction was derived by considering the role of natural selection in regulating the duration of an organism's life. For various reasons, Weismann's ideas on ageing fell into neglect following his death in 1914, and cytogerontology has only reappeared as a major research area following the demonstration by Hayflick and Moorhead in the early 1960s that diploid human fibroblasts are restricted to a finite number of divisions in vitro.
In this review we give a detailed account of Weismann's theory, and we reveal that his ideas were both more extensive in their scope and more pertinent to current research than is generally recognised. We also appraise the progress which has been made over the past hundred years in investigating the causes of ageing, with particular emphasis being given to (i) the evolution of ageing, and (ii) ageing at the cellular level. We critically assess the current state of knowledge in these areas and recommend a series of points as primary targets for future research
The Minimal Theory for R-parity Violation at the LHC
We investigate the simplest gauge theory for spontaneous R-parity breaking
and its testability at the LHC. This theory based on a local B-L gauge symmetry
can be considered as the simplest framework for understanding the origin of the
R-parity violating interactions, giving rise to potential lepton number
violating signals and suppressed baryon number violating operators. The full
spectrum of the theory and the constraints coming from neutrino masses are
analyzed in great detail. We discuss the proton decay issue and the possible
dark matter candidates. In order to assess the testability of the theory we
study the properties of the new gauge boson, the neutralino decays and the main
production channels for the charged sleptons at the LHC. We find that the
channels with four charged leptons, three of them with the same sign, and four
jets give us the most striking signals for the testability of lepton number
violation at the LHC.Comment: minor corrections, to appear in JHE
Development and Validation of the Behavioral Tendencies Questionnaire
At a fundamental level, taxonomy of behavior and behavioral tendencies can be described
in terms of approach, avoid, or equivocate (i.e., neither approach nor avoid). While there are
numerous theories of personality, temperament, and character, few seem to take advantage
of parsimonious taxonomy. The present study sought to implement this taxonomy by
creating a questionnaire based on a categorization of behavioral temperaments/tendencies
first identified in Buddhist accounts over fifteen hundred years ago. Items were developed
using historical and contemporary texts of the behavioral temperaments, described as
“Greedy/Faithful”, “Aversive/Discerning”, and “Deluded/Speculative”. To both maintain
this categorical typology and benefit from the advantageous properties of forced-choice
response format (e.g., reduction of response biases), binary pairwise preferences for items
were modeled using Latent Class Analysis (LCA). One sample (n1 = 394) was used to estimate
the item parameters, and the second sample (n2 = 504) was used to classify the participants
using the established parameters and cross-validate the classification against
multiple other measures. The cross-validated measure exhibited good nomothetic span
(construct-consistent relationships with related measures) that seemed to corroborate the
ideas present in the original Buddhist source documents. The final 13-block questionnaire
created from the best performing items (the Behavioral Tendencies Questionnaire or BTQ)
is a psychometrically valid questionnaire that is historically consistent, based in behavioral
tendencies, and promises practical and clinical utility particularly in settings that teach and
study meditation practices such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Clusters of spatial, temporal, and space-time distribution of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Liaoning Province, Northeastern China
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused by Hantavirus, with characteristics of fever, hemorrhage, kidney damage, and hypotension. HFRS is recognized as a notifiable public health problem in China, and Liaoning Province is one of the most seriously affected areas with the most cases in China. It is necessary to investigate the spatial, temporal, and space-time distribution of confirmed cases of HFRS in Liaoning Province, China for future research into risk factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cartogram map was constructed; spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial, temporal, and space-time cluster analysis were conducted in Liaoning Province, China over the period 1988-2001.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When the number of permutation test was set to 999, Moran's I was 0.3854, and was significant at significance level of 0.001. Spatial cluster analysis identified one most likely cluster and four secondary likely clusters. Temporal cluster analysis identified 1998-2001 as the most likely cluster. Space-time cluster analysis identified one most likely cluster and two secondary likely clusters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Spatial, temporal, and space-time scan statistics may be useful in supervising the occurrence of HFRS in Liaoning Province, China. The result of this study can not only assist health departments to develop a better prevention strategy but also potentially increase the public health intervention's effectiveness.</p
Environmental Factors in the Relapse and Recurrence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease:A Review of the Literature
The causes of relapse in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are largely unknown. This paper reviews the epidemiological and clinical data on how medications (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, estrogens and antibiotics), lifestyle factors (smoking, psychological stress, diet and air pollution) may precipitate clinical relapses and recurrence. Potential biological mechanisms include: increasing thrombotic tendency, imbalances in prostaglandin synthesis, alterations in the composition of gut microbiota, and mucosal damage causing increased permeability
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Letter processing and font information during reading: beyond distinctiveness, where vision meets design
Letter identification is a critical front end of the
reading process. In general, conceptualizations of the identification process have emphasized arbitrary sets of distinctive features. However, a richer view of letter processing incorporates principles from the field of type design, including an emphasis on uniformities across letters within a font. The importance of uniformities is supported by a small body of research indicating that consistency of font increases letter identification efficiency. We review design concepts and the relevant literature, with the goal of stimulating further thinking about letter processing during reading
Higher-order multipole amplitudes in charmonium radiative transitions
Using 24 million decays in CLEO-c, we have searched
for higher multipole admixtures in electric-dipole-dominated radiative
transitions in charmonia. We find good agreement between our data and
theoretical predictions for magnetic quadrupole (M2) amplitudes in the
transitions and ,
in striking contrast to some previous measurements. Let and
denote the normalized M2 amplitudes in the respective aforementioned decays,
where the superscript refers to the angular momentum of the . By
performing unbinned maximum likelihood fits to full five-parameter angular
distributions, we determine the ratios and , where
the theoretical predictions are independent of the charmed quark magnetic
moment and are and .Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures, acceptance updat
Dalitz Plot Analysis of Ds to K+K-pi+
We perform a Dalitz plot analysis of the decay Ds to K+K-pi+ with the CLEO-c
data set of 586/pb of e+e- collisions accumulated at sqrt(s) = 4.17 GeV. This
corresponds to about 0.57 million D_s+D_s(*)- pairs from which we select 14400
candidates with a background of roughly 15%. In contrast to previous
measurements we find good agreement with our data only by including an
additional f_0(1370)pi+ contribution. We measure the magnitude, phase, and fit
fraction of K*(892) K+, phi(1020)pi+, K0*(1430)K+, f_0(980)pi+, f_0(1710)pi+,
and f_0(1370)pi+ contributions and limit the possible contributions of other KK
and Kpi resonances that could appear in this decay.Comment: 21 Pages,available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/,
submitted to PR
Charmonium decays to gamma pi0, gamma eta, and gamma eta'
Using data acquired with the CLEO-c detector at the CESR e+e- collider, we
measure branching fractions for J/psi, psi(2S), and psi(3770) decays to gamma
pi0, gamma eta, and gamma eta'. Defining R_n = B[ psi(nS)-->gamma eta ]/B[
psi(nS)-->gamma eta' ], we obtain R_1 = (21.1 +- 0.9)% and, unexpectedly, an
order of magnitude smaller limit, R_2 < 1.8% at 90% C.L. We also use
J/psi-->gamma eta' events to determine branching fractions of improved
precision for the five most copious eta' decay modes.Comment: 14 pages, available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/,
published in Physical Review
Genomic perspectives on the evolution of fungal entomopathogenicity in Beauveria bassiana
The ascomycete fungus Beauveria bassiana is a pathogen of hundreds of insect species and is commercially produced as an environmentally friendly mycoinsecticide. We sequenced the genome of B. bassiana and a phylogenomic analysis confirmed that ascomycete entomopathogenicity is polyphyletic, but also revealed convergent evolution to insect pathogenicity. We also found many species-specific virulence genes and gene family expansions and contractions that correlate with host ranges and pathogenic strategies. These include B. bassiana having many more bacterial-like toxins (suggesting an unsuspected potential for oral toxicity) and effector-type proteins. The genome also revealed that B. bassiana resembles the closely related Cordyceps militaris in being heterothallic, although its sexual stage is rarely observed. A high throughput RNA-seq transcriptomic analysis revealed that B. bassiana could sense and adapt to different environmental niches by activating well-defined gene sets. The information from this study will facilitate further development of B. bassiana as a cost-effective mycoinsecticide
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