A pelagic thresher shark (Alopias pelagicus) gives birth at a cleaning station in the Philippines

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1249-8This article discusses photographic evidence captured on April 4, 2013, as the first record of a thresher shark giving birth

All-optical interrogation of neural circuits in behaving mice

Recent advances combining two-photon calcium imaging and two-photon optogenetics with computer-generated holography now allow us to read and write the activity of large populations of neurons in vivo at cellular resolution and with high temporal resolution. Such 'all-optical' techniques enable experimenters to probe the effects of functionally defined neurons on neural circuit function and behavioral output with new levels of precision. This greatly increases flexibility, resolution, targeting specificity and throughput compared with alternative approaches based on electrophysiology and/or one-photon optogenetics and can interrogate larger and more densely labeled populations of neurons than current voltage imaging-based implementations. This protocol describes the experimental workflow for all-optical interrogation experiments in awake, behaving head-fixed mice. We describe modular procedures for the setup and calibration of an all-optical system (~3 h), the preparation of an indicator and opsin-expressing and task-performing animal (~3-6 weeks), the characterization of functional and photostimulation responses (~2 h per field of view) and the design and implementation of an all-optical experiment (achievable within the timescale of a normal behavioral experiment; ~3-5 h per field of view). We discuss optimizations for efficiently selecting and targeting neuronal ensembles for photostimulation sequences, as well as generating photostimulation response maps from the imaging data that can be used to examine the impact of photostimulation on the local circuit. We demonstrate the utility of this strategy in three brain areas by using different experimental setups. This approach can in principle be adapted to any brain area to probe functional connectivity in neural circuits and investigate the relationship between neural circuit activity and behavior

Identification of Maize Genes Associated with Host Plant Resistance or Susceptibility to Aspergillus flavus Infection and Aflatoxin Accumulation

infection and aflatoxin accumulation. inoculation were compared in two resistant maize inbred lines (Mp313E and Mp04∶86) in contrast to two susceptible maize inbred lines (Va35 and B73) by microarray analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to find genes contributing to the larger variances associated with the resistant or susceptible maize inbred lines. The significance levels of gene expression were determined by using SAS and LIMMA programs. Fifty candidate genes were selected and further investigated by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) in a time-course study on Mp313E and Va35. Sixteen of the candidate genes were found to be highly expressed in Mp313E and fifteen in Va35. Out of the 31 highly expressed genes, eight were mapped to seven previously identified quantitative trait locus (QTL) regions. A gene encoding glycine-rich RNA binding protein 2 was found to be associated with the host hypersensitivity and susceptibility in Va35. A nuclear pore complex protein YUP85-like gene was found to be involved in the host resistance in Mp313E. infection and aflatoxin accumulation. These findings will be important in identification of DNA markers for breeding maize lines resistant to aflatoxin accumulation

Functional analysis of genes involved in the biosynthesis of isoprene in Bacillus subtilis

In comparison to other bacteria Bacillus subtilis emits the volatile compound isoprene in high concentrations. Isoprene is the smallest representative of the natural product group of terpenoids. A search in the genome of B. subtilis resulted in a set of genes with yet unknown function, but putatively involved in the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway to isoprene. Further identification of these genes would give the possibility to engineer B. subtilis as a host cell for the production of terpenoids like the valuable plant-produced drugs artemisinin and paclitaxel. Conditional knock-out strains of putative genes were analyzed for the amount of isoprene emitted. Differences in isoprene emission were used to identify the function of the enzymes and of the corresponding selected genes in the MEP pathway. We give proof on a biochemical level that several of these selected genes from this species are involved in isoprene biosynthesis. This opens the possibilities to investigate the physiological function of isoprene emission and to increase the endogenous flux to the terpenoid precursors, isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethylallyl diphosphate, for the heterologous production of more complex terpenoids in B. subtilis

Search for sterile neutrino mixing in the MINOS long-baseline experiment

A search for depletion of the combined flux of active neutrino species over a 735 km baseline is reported using neutral-current interaction data recorded by the MINOS detectors in the NuMI neutrino beam. Such a depletion is not expected according to conventional interpretations of neutrino oscillation data involving the three known neutrino flavors. A depletion would be a signature of oscillations or decay to postulated noninteracting sterile neutrinos, scenarios not ruled out by existing data. From an exposure of 3.18×1020 protons on target in which neutrinos of energies between ~500¿¿MeV and 120 GeV are produced predominantly as ¿µ, the visible energy spectrum of candidate neutral-current reactions in the MINOS far detector is reconstructed. Comparison of this spectrum to that inferred from a similarly selected near-detector sample shows that of the portion of the ¿µ flux observed to disappear in charged-current interaction data, the fraction that could be converting to a sterile state is less than 52% at 90% confidence level (C.L.). The hypothesis that active neutrinos mix with a single sterile neutrino via oscillations is tested by fitting the data to various models. In the particular four-neutrino models considered, the mixing angles ¿24 and ¿34 are constrained to be less than 11° and 56° at 90% C.L., respectively. The possibility that active neutrinos may decay to sterile neutrinos is also investigated. Pure neutrino decay without oscillations is ruled out at 5.4 standard deviations. For the scenario in which active neutrinos decay into sterile states concurrently with neutrino oscillations, a lower limit is established for the neutrino decay lifetime t3/m3>2.1×10-12¿¿s/eV at 90% C.L

Mining a Sea of Data: Deducing the Environmental Controls of Ocean Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll biomass in the surface ocean is regulated by a complex interaction of physiological, oceanographic, and ecological factors and in turn regulates the rates of primary production and export of organic carbon to the deep ocean. Mechanistic models of phytoplankton responses to climate change require the parameterization of many processes of which we have limited knowledge. We develop a statistical approach to estimate the response of remote-sensed ocean chlorophyll to a variety of physical and chemical variables. Irradiance over the mixed layer depth, surface nitrate, sea-surface temperature, and latitude and longitude together can predict 83% of the variation in log chlorophyll in the North Atlantic. Light and nitrate regulate biomass through an empirically determined minimum function explaining nearly 50% of the variation in log chlorophyll by themselves and confirming that either light or macronutrients are often limiting and that much of the variation in chlorophyll concentration is determined by bottom-up mechanisms. Assuming the dynamics of the future ocean are governed by the same processes at work today, we should be able to apply these response functions to future climate change scenarios, with changes in temperature, nutrient distributions, irradiance, and ocean physics

First observations of separated atmospheric nu_mu and bar{nu-mu} events in the MINOS detector

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of nuµ and [overline nu ]µ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving Rup/downdata/Rup/downMC=0.62-0.14+0.19(stat.)±0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field nuµ and [overline nu ]µ interactions are separated. The ratio of [overline nu ]µ to nuµ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]data/R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]MC=0.96-0.27+0.38(stat.)±0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for nuµ and [overline nu ]µ

Patients with schizophrenia show deficits of working memory maintenance components in circuit-specific tasks

Working memory (WM) deficits are a neuropsychological core finding in patients with schizophrenia and also supposed to be a potential endophenotype of schizophrenia. Yet, there is a large heterogeneity between different WM tasks which is partly due to the lack of process specificity of the tasks applied. Therefore, we investigated WM functioning in patients with schizophrenia using process- and circuit-specific tasks. Thirty-one patients with schizophrenia and 47 controls were tested with respect to different aspects of verbal and visuospatial working memory using modified Sternberg paradigms in a computer-based behavioural experiment. Total group analysis revealed significant impairment of patients with schizophrenia in each of the tested WM components. Furthermore, we were able to identify subgroups of patients showing different patterns of selective deficits. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit specific and, in part, selective WM deficits with indirect but conclusive evidence of dysfunctions of the underlying neural networks. These deficits are present in tasks requiring only maintenance of verbal or visuospatial information. In contrast to a seemingly global working memory deficit, individual analysis revealed differential patterns of working memory impairments in patients with schizophrenia

Search for Nucleon Decay with Final States l+ eta, nubar eta, and nubar pi+,0 Using Soudan 2

We have searched for nucleon decay into five two-body final states using a 4.4 kiloton-year fiducial exposure of the Soudan 2 iron tracking calorimeter. For proton decay into the fully visible final states mu+ eta and e+ eta, we observe zero and one event, respectively, that satisfy our search criteria for nucleon decay. The lifetime lower limits (tau/B) thus implied are 89 x 10^30 years and 81 x 10^30 years at 90% confidence level. For neutron decay into nubar eta, we obtain the lifetime lower limit 71 x 10^30 years. Limits are also reported for neutron decay into nubar pi0, and for proton decay into nubar pi+.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 3 table

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente