4,666 research outputs found
Investigation of measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible ownership amongst dog owners with dog control issues in the UK
The overall aim of the project is to identify methods to reduce dog attacks and dog control issues as well as provide evidence-based recommendations to promote responsible dog
ownership amongst owners with dog control issues. The project examined contemporary enforcement practice and also explored risk factors related to dog attacks
Transverse nucleon structure and diagnostics of hard parton-parton processes at LHC
We propose a new method to determine at what transverse momenta particle
production in high-energy pp collisions is governed by hard parton-parton
processes. Using information on the transverse spatial distribution of partons
obtained from hard exclusive processes in ep/gamma p scattering, we evaluate
the impact parameter distribution of pp collisions with a hard parton-parton
process as a function of p_T of the produced parton (jet). We find that the
average pp impact parameters in such events depend very weakly on p_T in the
range 2 < p_T < few 100 GeV, while they are much smaller than those in
minimum-bias inelastic collisions. The impact parameters in turn govern the
observable transverse multiplicity in such events (in the direction
perpendicular to the trigger particle or jet). Measuring the transverse
multiplicity as a function of p_T thus provides an effective tool for
determining the minimum p_T for which a given trigger particle originates from
a hard parton-parton process. Additional tests of the proposed geometric
correlations are possible by measuring the dependence on the trigger rapidity.
Various strategies for implementing this method are outlined.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Work environment, volume of activity and staffing in neonatal intensive care units in Italy: results of the SONAR-nurse study
Neonatal units' volume of activity, and other quantitative and qualitative variables, such as staffing, workload, work environment, care organization and geographical location, may influence the outcome of high risk newborns. Data about the distribution of these variables and their relationships among Italian neonatal units are lacking
Work environment, volume of activity and staffing in neonatal intensive care units in Italy: results of the SONAR-nurse study
Neonatal units' volume of activity, and other quantitative and qualitative variables, such as staffing, workload, work environment, care organization and geographical location, may influence the outcome of high risk newborns. Data about the distribution of these variables and their relationships among Italian neonatal units are lacking
W+jets Matrix Elements and the Dipole Cascade
We extend the algorithm for matching fixed-order tree-level matrix element
generators with the Dipole Cascade Model in Ariadne to apply to processes with
incoming hadrons. We test the algoritm on for the process W+n jets at the
Tevatron, and find that the results are fairly insensitive to the cutoff used
to regularize the soft and collinear divergencies in the tree-level matrix
elements. We also investigate a few observables to check the sensitivity to the
matrix element correction
Revised fission yeast gene and allele nomenclature guidelines for machine readability
Standardized nomenclature for genes, gene products, and isoforms is crucial to prevent ambiguity and enable clear communication of scientific data, facilitating efficient biocuration and data sharing. Standardized genotype nomenclature, which describes alleles present in a specific strain that differ from those in the wild-type reference strain, is equally essential to maximize research impact and ensure that results linking genotypes to phenotypes are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). In this publication, we extend the fission yeast clade gene nomenclature guidelines to support the curation efforts at PomBase (www.pombase.org), the Schizosaccharomyces pombe Model Organism Database. This update introduces nomenclature guidelines for noncoding RNA genes, following those set forth by the Human Genome Organisation Gene Nomenclature Committee. Additionally, we provide a significant update to the allele and genotype nomenclature guidelines originally published in 1987, to standardize the diverse range of genetic modifications enabled by the fission yeast genetic toolbox. These updated guidelines reflect a community consensus between numerous fission yeast researchers. Adoption of these rules will improve consistency in gene and genotype nomenclature, and facilitate machine-readability and automated entity recognition of fission yeast genes and alleles in publications or datasets. In conclusion, our updated guidelines provide a valuable resource for the fission yeast research community, promoting consistency, clarity, and FAIRness in genetic data sharing and interpretation
Modulation of enhancer looping and differential gene targeting by Epstein-Barr virus transcription factors directs cellular reprogramming
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epigenetically reprogrammes B-lymphocytes to drive immortalization and facilitate viral persistence. Host-cell transcription is perturbed principally through the actions of EBV EBNA 2, 3A, 3B and 3C, with cellular genes deregulated by specific combinations of these EBNAs through unknown mechanisms. Comparing human genome binding by these viral transcription factors, we discovered that 25% of binding sites were shared by EBNA 2 and the EBNA 3s and were located predominantly in enhancers. Moreover, 80% of potential EBNA 3A, 3B or 3C target genes were also targeted by EBNA 2, implicating extensive interplay between EBNA 2 and 3 proteins in cellular reprogramming. Investigating shared enhancer sites neighbouring two new targets (WEE1 and CTBP2) we discovered that EBNA 3 proteins repress transcription by modulating enhancer-promoter loop formation to establish repressive chromatin hubs or prevent assembly of active hubs. Re-ChIP analysis revealed that EBNA 2 and 3 proteins do not bind simultaneously at shared sites but compete for binding thereby modulating enhancer-promoter interactions. At an EBNA 3-only intergenic enhancer site between ADAM28 and ADAMDEC1 EBNA 3C was also able to independently direct epigenetic repression of both genes through enhancer-promoter looping. Significantly, studying shared or unique EBNA 3 binding sites at WEE1, CTBP2, ITGAL (LFA-1 alpha chain), BCL2L11 (Bim) and the ADAMs, we also discovered that different sets of EBNA 3 proteins bind regulatory elements in a gene and cell-type specific manner. Binding profiles correlated with the effects of individual EBNA 3 proteins on the expression of these genes, providing a molecular basis for the targeting of different sets of cellular genes by the EBNA 3s. Our results therefore highlight the influence of the genomic and cellular context in determining the specificity of gene deregulation by EBV and provide a paradigm for host-cell reprogramming through modulation of enhancer-promoter interactions by viral transcription factors
From START to FINISH : the influence of osmotic stress on the cell cycle
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
The Value of Information for Populations in Varying Environments
The notion of information pervades informal descriptions of biological
systems, but formal treatments face the problem of defining a quantitative
measure of information rooted in a concept of fitness, which is itself an
elusive notion. Here, we present a model of population dynamics where this
problem is amenable to a mathematical analysis. In the limit where any
information about future environmental variations is common to the members of
the population, our model is equivalent to known models of financial
investment. In this case, the population can be interpreted as a portfolio of
financial assets and previous analyses have shown that a key quantity of
Shannon's communication theory, the mutual information, sets a fundamental
limit on the value of information. We show that this bound can be violated when
accounting for features that are irrelevant in finance but inherent to
biological systems, such as the stochasticity present at the individual level.
This leads us to generalize the measures of uncertainty and information usually
encountered in information theory
- …