809 research outputs found
Liquid encapsulated float zone process and apparatus
The process and apparatus for growing crystals using float zone techniques are described. A rod of crystalline materials is disposed in a cylindrical container, leaving a space between the rod and container walls. This space is filled with an encapsulant, selected to have a slightly lower melting point than the crystalline material. The rod is secured to a container end cap at one end and to a shaft at its other end. A piston slides over the rod and provides pressure to prevent loss of volatile components upon melting of the rod. Prior to melting the rod the container is first heated to melt the encapsulant, with any off-gas from this step being vented to a cavity behind the piston. The piston moves slightly forward owing to volume change upon melting of the encapsulant, and the vent passageway is closed. The container is then moved longitudinally through a heated zone to progressively melt sections of the rod as in conventional float zone processes. The float zone technique may be used in the microgravity environment of space
Analysis of Binding Site Hot Spots on the Surface of Ras GTPase
We have recently discovered an allosteric switch in Ras, bringing an additional level of complexity to this GTPase whose mutants are involved in nearly 30% of cancers. Upon activation of the allosteric switch, there is a shift in helix 3/loop 7 associated with a disorder to order transition in the active site. Here, we use a combination of multiple solvent crystal structures and computational solvent mapping (FTMap) to determine binding site hot spots in the âoffâ and âonâ allosteric states of the GTP-bound form of H-Ras. Thirteen sites are revealed, expanding possible target sites for ligand binding well beyond the active site. Comparison of FTMaps for the H and K isoforms reveals essentially identical hot spots. Furthermore, using NMR measurements of spin relaxation, we determined that K-Ras exhibits global conformational dynamics very similar to those we previously reported for H-Ras. We thus hypothesize that the global conformational rearrangement serves as a mechanism for allosteric coupling between the effector interface and remote hot spots in all Ras isoforms. At least with respect to the binding sites involving the G domain, H-Ras is an excellent model for K-Ras and probably N-Ras as well. Ras has so far been elusive as a target for drug design. The present work identifies various unexplored hot spots throughout the entire surface of Ras, extending the focus from the disordered active site to well-ordered locations that should be easier to target
Hubble Asteroid Hunter: II. Identifying strong gravitational lenses in HST images with crowdsourcing
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archives constitute a rich dataset of high
resolution images to mine for strong gravitational lenses. While many HST
programs specifically target strong lenses, they can also be present by
coincidence in other HST observations. We aim to identify non-targeted strong
gravitational lenses in almost two decades of images from the ESA it Hubble
Space Telescope archive (eHST), without any prior selection on the lens
properties. We used crowdsourcing on the Hubble Asteroid Hunter (HAH) citizen
science project to identify strong lenses, alongside asteroid trails, in
publicly available large field-of-view HST images. We visually inspected 2354
objects tagged by citizen scientists as strong lenses to clean the sample and
identify the genuine lenses. We report the detection of 252 strong
gravitational lens candidates, which were not the primary targets of the HST
observations. 198 of them are new, not previously reported by other studies,
consisting of 45 A grades, 74 B grades and 79 C grades. The majority are
galaxy-galaxy configurations. The newly detected lenses are, on average, 1.3
magnitudes fainter than previous HST searches. This sample of strong lenses
with high resolution HST imaging is ideal to follow-up with spectroscopy, for
lens modelling and scientific analyses. This paper presents an unbiased search
of lenses, which enabled us to find a high variety of lens configurations,
including exotic lenses. We demonstrate the power of crowdsourcing in visually
identifying strong lenses and the benefits of exploring large archival
datasets. This study shows the potential of using crowdsourcing in combination
with artificial intelligence for the detection and validation of strong lenses
in future large-scale surveys such as ESA's future mission Euclid or in JWST
archival images.Comment: 24 page, 14 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in A&A June
28 202
Assessment of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Landraces for Their Agronomic, Biochemical Characteristics and Resistance to Phytophthora infestans
Genetic diversity in crop plants is the conditio sine qua non for sustainable agriculture
and long-term food security. Our research carried out the morphological, agronomic, and physicochemical
characterization and resistance to late blight of 35 tomato landraces from seven countries.
These landraces have been approved and appear in the Official Catalog of Varieties. The International
Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) descriptors have been used to describe the tomatoâs
morphological and agronomic characteristics. For the physico-chemical characteristics, the dry matter,
the pH, and the carotenoid content (lycopene, lutein, and ÎČ-carotene)) were analyzed. Carotenoids
were monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed
that the morphological diversity of landraces was very high. Three landraces of remarkable commercial
value have shown increased resistance to late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans, one of
the most damaging diseases of tomato. Also, six landraces had a lycopene content exceeding 100
ÎŒg/g sample. The carotenoid content ranged between 0.769 (Marmande-FR 166) and 140.328 mg kgâ1
FW (RÄscruci). The landrace with the highest ÎČ carotene content was PT 308 with 65.499 mg kgâ1
FW, while the lowest values were registered for Marmande-FR 166 with 0.105 mg kgâ1 FW. The
present study provides essential information on the morphological and agronomic qualities of these
tomato landraces and their lycopene and other carotenoid content. The results are discussed in light
of the importance of tomato landraces in meeting the preferences of different producers and consumers,
the choice of the most suitable landraces for specific pedoclimatic conditions, and the supply
of carotenoid pigment sources for the pharmaceutical industry. Our research responds to humanityâs
great global challenges: preserving agricultural biodiversity, protecting the environment
by identifying pest-resistant varieties, and also protecting consumer health by finding important
sources of antioxidants
Long Term Streptomycin Toxicity in the Treatment of Buruli Ulcer:Follow-up of Participants in the BURULICO Drug Trial
Buruli Ulcer (BU) is a tropical infectious skin disease that is currently treated with 8 weeks of intramuscular streptomycin and oral rifampicin. As prolonged streptomycin administration can cause both oto- and nephrotoxicity, we evaluated its long term toxicity by following-up former BU patients that had received either 4 or 8 weeks of streptomycin in addition to other drugs between 2006 and 2008, in the context of a randomized controlled trial.Former patients were retrieved in 2012, and oto- and nephrotoxicity were determined by audiometry and serum creatinine levels. Data were compared with baseline and week 8 measurements during the drug trial.Of the total of 151 former patients, 127 (84%) were retrieved. Ototoxicity was present in 29% of adults and 25% of children. Adults in the 8 week streptomycin group had significantly higher hearing thresholds in all frequencies at long term follow-up, and these differences were most prominent in the high frequencies. In children, no differences between the two treatment arms were found. Nephrotoxicity that had been detected in 14% of adults and in 13% of children during treatment, was present in only 2.4% of patients at long term follow-up.Prolonged streptomycin administration in the adult study subjects caused significant persistent hearing loss, especially in the high frequency range. Nephrotoxicity was also present in both adults and children but appeared to be transient. Streptomycin should be given with caution especially in patients aged 16 or older, and in individuals with concurrent risks for renal dysfunction or hearing loss
Space-time analysis of reaction at RHIC
Space-time information about the Au-Au collisions produced at RHIC are key
tools to understand the evolution of the system and especially assess the
presence of collective behaviors. Using a parameterization of the system's
final state relying on collective expansion, we show that pion source radii can
be tied together with transverse mass spectra and elliptic flow within the same
framework. The consistency between these different measures provide a solid
ground to understand the characteristics of collective flow and especially the
possible peculiar behavior of particles such as Xi, Omega or phi. The validity
of the short time scales that are extracted from fits to the pion source size
is also addressed. The wealth of new data that will soon be available from
Au-Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV, will provide a stringet test of the
space-time analysis framework developped in these proceedings.Comment: Invited talk given at the SQM2003 conference (March 2003), to be
published in Journal of Physics G. 10 pages, 3 figure
Symptoms of somatization as a rapid screening tool for mitochondrial dysfunction in depression
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aims</p> <p>Somatic symptomatology is common in depression, and is often attributed to the Freudian-inspired concept of "somatization". While the same somatic symptoms and depression are common in mitochondrial disease, in cases with concurrent mood symptoms the diagnosis of a mitochondrial disorder and related therapy are typically delayed for many years. A short screening tool that can identify patients with depression at high risk for having underlying mitochondrial dysfunction is presented.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Six items of the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) were found to differentiate among 21 chronically-depressed Swedish subjects with low versus normal muscle ATP production rates. A screening tool consisting of the six KSP questions was validated in the relatives of American genetics clinic patients, including in 24 matrilineal relatives in families with maternally inherited mitochondrial disease and in 30 control relatives.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the depressed Swedish patients, the screening tool was positive in 13/14 with low and 1/7 with normal mitochondrial function (P = 0.0003). Applied to the American relatives of patients, the screening tool was positive in 13/24 matrilineal relatives and in 1/30 control relatives (P = 2 Ă 10<sup>-5</sup>).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our preliminary data suggest that a small number of specific somatic-related questions can be constructed into a valid screening tool for cases at high risk for having a component of energy metabolism in their pathogenesis.</p
Relic neutrino masses and the highest energy cosmic rays
We consider the possibility that a large fraction of the ultrahigh energy
cosmic rays are decay products of Z bosons which were produced in the
scattering of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos on cosmological relic
neutrinos. We compare the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum with
the one predicted in the above Z-burst scenario and determine the required mass
of the heaviest relic neutrino as well as the necessary ultrahigh energy cosmic
neutrino flux via a maximum likelihood analysis. We show that the value of the
neutrino mass obtained in this way is fairly robust against variations in
presently unknown quantities, like the amount of neutrino clustering, the
universal radio background, and the extragalactic magnetic field, within their
anticipated uncertainties. Much stronger systematics arises from different
possible assumptions about the diffuse background of ordinary cosmic rays from
unresolved astrophysical sources. In the most plausible case that these
ordinary cosmic rays are protons of extragalactic origin, one is lead to a
required neutrino mass in the range 0.08 eV - 1.3 eV at the 68 % confidence
level. This range narrows down considerably if a particular universal radio
background is assumed, e.g. to 0.08 eV - 0.40 eV for a large one. The required
flux of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos near the resonant energy should be
detected in the near future by AMANDA, RICE, and the Pierre Auger Observatory,
otherwise the Z-burst scenario will be ruled out.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures, REVTeX
Macroscopic Manifestation of Domain-wall Magnetism and Magnetoelectric Effect in a N\'eel-type Skyrmion Host
We report a magnetic state in GaVSe which emerges exclusively in
samples with mesoscale polar domains and not in polar mono-domain crystals. Its
onset is accompanied with a sharp anomaly in the magnetic susceptibility and
the magnetic torque, distinct from other anomalies observed also in polar
mono-domain samples upon transitions between the cycloidal, the N\'eel-type
skyrmion lattice and the ferromagnetic states. We ascribe this additional
transition to the formation of magnetic textures localized at structural domain
walls, where the magnetic interactions change stepwise and spin textures with
different spiral planes, hosted by neighbouring domains, need to be matched. A
clear anomaly in the magneto-current indicates that the domain-wall-confined
magnetic states also have strong contributions to the magnetoelectric response.
We expect polar domain walls to commonly host such confined magnetic edge
states, especially in materials with long wavelength magnetic order
New results from the NA57 experiment
We report results from the experiment NA57 at CERN SPS on hyperon production
at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/ and 40 GeV/.
, and yields are compared with those from the STAR
experiment at the higher energy of the BNL RHIC. , , \
and preliminary transverse mass spectra are presented and interpreted
within the framework of a hydro-dynamical blast wave model.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, contribution to the proceedings of The XXXVIIIth
Rencontres de Moriond "QCD and High Energy Hadronic Interactions
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