348 research outputs found
Investigations of solutions of Einstein's field equations close to lambda-Taub-NUT
We present investigations of a class of solutions of Einstein's field
equations close to the family of lambda-Taub-NUT spacetimes. The studies are
done using a numerical code introduced by the author elsewhere. One of the main
technical complication is due to the S3-topology of the Cauchy surfaces.
Complementing these numerical results with heuristic arguments, we are able to
yield some first insights into the strong cosmic censorship issue and the
conjectures by Belinskii, Khalatnikov, and Lifschitz in this class of
spacetimes. In particular, the current investigations suggest that strong
cosmic censorship holds in this class. We further identify open issues in our
current approach and point to future research projects.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, uses psfrag and hyperref; replaced with
published version, only minor corrections of typos and reference
Intermediate inflation and the slow-roll approximation
It is shown that spatially homogeneous solutions of the Einstein equations
coupled to a nonlinear scalar field and other matter exhibit accelerated
expansion at late times for a wide variety of potentials . These potentials
are strictly positive but tend to zero at infinity. They satisfy restrictions
on and related to the slow-roll approximation. These results
generalize Wald's theorem for spacetimes with positive cosmological constant to
those with accelerated expansion driven by potentials belonging to a large
class.Comment: 19 pages, results unchanged, additional backgroun
Population genetic analysis reveals a geographically limited transition zone between two genetically distinct Atlantic salmon lineages in Norway
Atlantic salmon is characterized by a high degree of population genetic structure throughout its native range. However, while populations inhabiting rivers in Norway and Russia make up a significant proportion of salmon in the Atlantic, thus far, genetic studies in this region have only encompassed low to modest numbers of populations. Here, we provide the first âinâdepthâ investigation of population genetic structuring in the species in this region. Analysis of 18 microsatellites on >9,000 fish from 115 rivers revealed highly significant population genetic structure throughout, following a hierarchical pattern. The highest and clearest level of division separated populations north and south of the Lofoten region in northern Norway. In this region, only a few populations displayed intermediate genetic profiles, strongly indicating a geographically limited transition zone. This was further supported by a dedicated cline analysis. Population genetic structure was also characterized by a pattern of isolation by distance. A decline in overall genetic diversity was observed from the south to the north, and two of the microsatellites showed a clear decrease in number of alleles across the observed transition zone. Together, these analyses support results from previous studies, that salmon in Norway originate from two main genetic lineages, one from the BarentsâWhite Sea refugium that recolonized northern Norwegian and adjacent Russian rivers, and one from the eastern Atlantic that recolonized the rest of Norway. Furthermore, our results indicate that local conditions in the limited geographic transition zone between the two observed lineages, characterized by open coastline with no obvious barriers to gene flow, are strong enough to maintain the genetic differentiation between them.publishedVersio
Detection and Identification of the Atypical Bovine Pestiviruses in Commercial Foetal Bovine Serum Batches
The recently emerging atypical bovine pestiviruses have been detected in commercial foetal bovine serum (FBS) of mainly South American origin so far. It is unclear how widely the viruses are presented in commercial FBS of different geographic origins. To further investigate the possible pestivirus contamination of commercially available FBS batches, 33 batches of FBS were obtained from ten suppliers and analysed in this study for the presence of both the recognised and the atypical bovine pestiviruses. All 33 batches of FBS were positive by real-time RT-PCR assays for at least one species of bovine pestiviruses. According to the certificate of analysis that the suppliers claimed for each batch of FBS, BVDV-1 was detected in all 11 countries and BVDV-2 was detected exclusively in the America Continent. The atypical pestiviruses were detected in 13 batches claimed to originate from five countries. Analysis of partial 5âČUTR sequences showed a high similarity among these atypical bovine pestiviruses. This study has demonstrated, for the first time that commercial FBS batches of different geographic origins are contaminated not only with the recognised species BVDV-1 and BVDV-2, but also with the emerging atypical bovine pestiviruses
Translational Database Selection and Multiplexed Sequence Capture for Up Front Filtering of Reliable Breast Cancer Biomarker Candidates
Biomarker identification is of utmost importance for the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics. Here we make use of a translational database selection strategy, utilizing data from the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) on differentially expressed protein patterns in healthy and breast cancer tissues as a means to filter out potential biomarkers for underlying genetic causatives of the disease. DNA was isolated from ten breast cancer biopsies, and the protein coding and flanking non-coding genomic regions corresponding to the selected proteins were extracted in a multiplexed format from the samples using a single DNA sequence capture array. Deep sequencing revealed an even enrichment of the multiplexed samples and a great variation of genetic alterations in the tumors of the sampled individuals. Benefiting from the upstream filtering method, the final set of biomarker candidates could be completely verified through bidirectional Sanger sequencing, revealing a 40 percent false positive rate despite high read coverage. Of the variants encountered in translated regions, nine novel non-synonymous variations were identified and verified, two of which were present in more than one of the ten tumor samples
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