Mitochondrial haplogroups associated with elite Japanese athlete status

Purpose It has been hypothesised that certain mitochondrial haplogroups, which are defined by the presence of a characteristic cluster of tightly linked mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms, would be associated with elite Japanese athlete status. To examine this hypothesis, the frequencies of mitochondrial haplogroups found in elite Japanese athletes were compared with those in the general Japanese population. Methods Subjects comprised 139 Olympic athletes (79 endurance/middle-power athletes (EMA), 60 sprint/power athletes (SPA)) and 672 controls (CON). Two mitochondrial DNA fragments containing the hypervariable sequence I (m16024-m16383) of the major non-coding region and the polymorphic site at m. 5178C>A within the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene were sequenced, and subjects were classified into 12 major mitochondrial haplogroups (ie, F, B, A, N9a, N9b, M7a, M7b, M*, G2, G1, D5 or D4). The mitochondrial haplogroup frequency differences among EMA, SPA and CON were then examined. Results EMA showed an excess of haplogroup G1 (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.05 to 6.02, p=0.032), with 8.9% compared with 3.7% in CON, whereas SPA displayed a greater proportion of haplogroup F (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.28 to 6.07, p=0.007), with 15.0% compared with 6.0% in CON. Conclusions The results suggest that mitochondrial haplogroups G1 and F are associated with elite EMA and SPA status in Japanese athletes, respectivel

Infrared study of spin crossover Fe-picolylamine complex

Infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy has been used to probe the evolution of microscopic vibrational states upon the temperature- and photo-induced spin crossovers in [Fe(2-picolylamine)3]Cl2EtOH (Fe-pic). To overcome the small sizes and the strong IR absorption of the crystal samples used, an IR synchrotron radiation source and an IR microscope have been used. The obtained IR spectra of Fe-pic show large changes between high-spin and low-spin states for both the temperature- and the photo- induced spin crossovers. Although the spectra in the temperature- and photo-induced high-spin states are relatively similar to each other, they show distinct differences below 750 cm-1. This demonstrates that the photo-induced high-spin state involves microscopically different characters from those of the temperature-induced high-spin state. The results are discussed in terms of local pressure and structural deformations within the picolylamine ligands, and in terms of their possible relevance to the development of macroscopic photo-induced phase in Fe-pic.Comment: 6 pages (text) and 6 figures,submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

A new infrared band in the Interstellar and Circumstellar Clouds: C_4 or C_4H?

We report on the detection with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) of a molecular band at 57.5 microns (174 cm^{-1}) in carbon-rich evolved stars and in Sgr B2. Taking into account the chemistry of these objects the most likelihood carrier is a carbon chain. We tentatively assign the band to the nu_5 bending mode of C_4 for which a wavenumber of 170-172.4 cm^{-1} has been derived in matrix experiments (Withey et al. 1991). An alternate carrier might be C_4H, although the frequency of its lowest energy vibrational bending mode, nu_7, is poorly known (130-226 cm^{-1}). If the carrier is C_4, the derived maximum abundance is nearly similar to that found for C_3 in the interstellar and circumstellar media by Cernicharo, Goicoechea & Caux (2000). Hence, tetra-atomic carbon could be one of the most abundant carbon chain molecules in these media.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, accepted in ApJ Letter

Optical properties of polycrystalline Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te

Bulk polycrystalline cadmium manganese telluride, Cd(l-x)Mn(x)Te, was manufactured in several compositions by a synthesis process. The structure of the obtained compounds was the characteristic zinc-blende polycrystalline pattern being the grain size lOOj=20 nm. These materials are manufactured to replace single-crystal compounds in some magneto-optical devices. The cut-off wavelength and the Verdet constant are the same as the single-crystals with identical composition. A polarized laser beam, after having passed through a sample of 0.76 mm thickness, was depolarized less than 2.5%, and 90% of its energy was spread into a 2º cone. Scattering of light is produced because of the polycrystalline structure of these ompounds. Some scattering diagrams, due to the diffraction and Mie scattering in the polycrystalline grains are shown

Indicadores de custos, produtividade e renda da pupunheira irrigada na Região Noroeste do Estado do Paraná: um estudo de caso.

bitstream/CNPF-2009-09/40375/1/circ-tec100.pd

Multimode quantum interference of photons in multiport integrated devices

We report the first demonstration of quantum interference in multimode interference (MMI) devices and a new complete characterization technique that can be applied to any photonic device that removes the need for phase stable measurements. MMI devices provide a compact and robust realization of NxM optical circuits, which will dramatically reduce the complexity and increase the functionality of future generations of quantum photonic circuits

Observation of Large CP Violation in the Neutral B Meson System

We present a measurement of the Standard Model CP violation parameter sin 2phi_1 based on a 29.1 fb^{-1} data sample collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. One neutral B meson is fully reconstructed as a J/psi Ks, psi(2S) Ks, chi_c1 Ks, eta_c Ks, J/psi K_L or J/psi K^{*0} decay and the flavor of the accompanying B meson is identified from its decay products. From the asymmetry in the distribution of the time intervals between the two B meson decay points, we determine sin 2phi_1 = 0.99 +- 0.14(stat) +- 0.06(syst). We conclude that we have observed CP violation in the neutral B meson system.Comment: 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter

New Particles from Belle

I report recent results on hidden charm spectroscopy from Belle. These include: observation of a near-threshold enhancement in the omega-J/psi invariant mass distribution for exclusive B-->K omega J/psi decays; evidence for the decay X(3872)-->pi+pi-pi0 J/psi, where the pi+pi-pi0 invariant mass distribution has a strong peak between 750 MeV and the kinematic limit of 775 MeV, suggesting that the process is dominated by the sub-threshold decay X-->omega J/psi; and the observation of a peak near 3940 MeV in the J/psi recoil mass spectrum for the inclusive continuum process e+e- --> J/psi X. The results are based on a study of a 287 fb-1 sample of e+e- annihilation data collected at center- of-mass energies around the Upsilon(4S) in the Belle detector at the KEKB collider.Comment: 10 pages 12 figures. Invited talk at the 1st meeting of the APS Topical Group on Hadronic Physics, Fermilab, October 24-26, 2004; revised to correct some reference