Characterization of an endogenous gene expressed in Aedes aegypti using an orally infectious recombinant Sindbis virus

Sindbis virus expression vectors have been used successfully to express and silence genes of interest in vivo in several mosquito species, including Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Ae. triseriatus,Culex pipiens, Armigeres subalbatus and Anopheles gambiae. Here we describe the expression of an endogenous gene, defensin, in Ae. aegypti using the orally infectious Sindbis virus, MRE/3′2J expression vector. We optimized conditions to infect mosquito larvae per os using C6/36 Ae. albopictus cells infected with the recombinant virus to maximize virus infection and expression of defensin. Infection with the parental Sindbis virus (MRE/3′2J) did not induce defensin expression. Mosquito larvae infected by ingestion of recombinant Sindbis virus-infected C6/36 cells expressed defensin when they emerged as adults. Defensin expression was observed by western analysis or indirect fluorescent assay in all developmental stages of mosquitoes infected with MRE/3′2J virus that contained the defensin insert. The multiplicity of infection of C6/36 cells and the quantity of infected cells consumed by larvae played an important role in defensin expression. Parental viruses, missing the defensin insert, and/or other defective interfering virus may have contributed to these observations

Identification of a new murine tumor necrosis factor receptor locus that contains two novel murine receptors for tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL).

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand and receptor superfamily members play critical roles in diverse developmental and pathological settings. In search for novel TNF superfamily members, we identified a murine chromosomal locus that contains three new TNF receptor-related genes. Sequence alignments suggest that the ligand binding regions of these murine TNF receptor homologues, mTNFRH1, -2 and -3, are most homologous to those of the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptors. By using a number of in vitro ligand-receptor binding assays, we demonstrate that mTNFRH1 and -2, but not mTNFRH3, bind murine TRAIL, suggesting that they are indeed TRAIL receptors. This notion is further supported by our demonstration that both mTNFRH1:Fc and mTNFRH2:Fc fusion proteins inhibited mTRAIL-induced apoptosis of Jurkat cells. Unlike the only other known murine TRAIL receptor mTRAILR2, however, neither mTNFRH2 nor mTNFRH3 has a cytoplasmic region containing the well characterized death domain motif. Coupled with our observation that overexpression of mTNFRH1 and -2 in 293T cells neither induces apoptosis nor triggers NFkappaB activation, we propose that the mTnfrh1 and mTnfrh2 genes encode the first described murine decoy receptors for TRAIL, and we renamed them mDcTrailr1 and -r2, respectively. Interestingly, the overall sequence structures of mDcTRAILR1 and -R2 are quite distinct from those of the known human decoy TRAIL receptors, suggesting that the presence of TRAIL decoy receptors represents a more recent evolutionary event

EC62-219 Nebraska Swine Production Report

This 1962 Nebraska Swine Production Report was developed by the Animal Husbandry Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Authors from the departments of Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Economics Veterinary Science, Agricultural Engineering contributed to this publication. It covers the following areas: breeding, feeding, economics, disease control, mechanization, housing and equipment

Social Support and Health: A Theoretical Formulation Derived from King's Conceptual Framework

This article describes the development and initial empirical testing of a theoretical formulation of social support, family, health, and child health derived from Imogene King's conceptual framework for nursing. A correlational design was used to test the formulation with 103 families who have children with diabetes mellitus. Three hypotheses were sup ported : parents' social support had a direct and positive effect on family health, parents' social support and child's social support were positively related, and illness factors had a direct and negative effect on child health. Both the supported and unsupported hypotheses are discussed in terms of the present substantive knowledge base and evidence of validity for King's framework. Direction for further theory development and research are identified.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68995/2/10.1177_089431848900200309.pd

Coherent electron-phonon coupling and polaron-like transport in molecular wires

We present a technique to calculate the transport properties through one-dimensional models of molecular wires. The calculations include inelastic electron scattering due to electron-lattice interaction. The coupling between the electron and the lattice is crucial to determine the transport properties in one-dimensional systems subject to Peierls transition since it drives the transition itself. The electron-phonon coupling is treated as a quantum coherent process, in the sense that no random dephasing due to electron-phonon interactions is introduced in the scattering wave functions. We show that charge carrier injection, even in the tunneling regime, induces lattice distortions localized around the tunneling electron. The transport in the molecular wire is due to polaron-like propagation. We show typical examples of the lattice distortions induced by charge injection into the wire. In the tunneling regime, the electron transmission is strongly enhanced in comparison with the case of elastic scattering through the undistorted molecular wire. We also show that although lattice fluctuations modify the electron transmission through the wire, the modifications are qualitatively different from those obtained by the quantum electron-phonon inelastic scattering technique. Our results should hold in principle for other one-dimensional atomic-scale wires subject to Peierls transitions.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B (to appear march 2001

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC

High pTp_{T} non-photonic electron production in pp+pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

We present the measurement of non-photonic electron production at high transverse momentum ($p_T >$ 2.5 GeV/$c$) in $p$ + $p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV using data recorded during 2005 and 2008 by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The measured cross-sections from the two runs are consistent with each other despite a large difference in photonic background levels due to different detector configurations. We compare the measured non-photonic electron cross-sections with previously published RHIC data and pQCD calculations. Using the relative contributions of B and D mesons to non-photonic electrons, we determine the integrated cross sections of electrons ($\frac{e^++e^-}{2}$) at 3 GeV/$c < p_T <~$10 GeV/$c$ from bottom and charm meson decays to be ${d\sigma_{(B\to e)+(B\to D \to e)} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 4.0$\pm0.5$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.1$({\rm syst.}) nb and ${d\sigma_{D\to e} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 6.2$\pm0.7$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.5$({\rm syst.}) nb, respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function with centrality in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We present first measurements of the evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function, {\it C}, with collision centrality in Au+Au interactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV. {\it C} exhibits a strong dependence on collision centrality that is qualitatively similar to that of number correlations previously reported. We use the observed longitudinal broadening of the near-side peak of {\it C} with increasing centrality to estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density, $\eta/s$, of the matter formed in central Au+Au interactions. We obtain an upper limit estimate of $\eta/s$ that suggests that the produced medium has a small viscosity per unit entropy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, STAR paper published in Phys. Lett.

Measurement of the Bottom contribution to non-photonic electron production in p+pp+p collisions at s\sqrt{s} =200 GeV

The contribution of $B$ meson decays to non-photonic electrons, which are mainly produced by the semi-leptonic decays of heavy flavor mesons, in $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 200 GeV has been measured using azimuthal correlations between non-photonic electrons and hadrons. The extracted $B$ decay contribution is approximately 50% at a transverse momentum of $p_{T} \geq 5$ GeV/$c$. These measurements constrain the nuclear modification factor for electrons from $B$ and $D$ meson decays. The result indicates that $B$ meson production in heavy ion collisions is also suppressed at high $p_{T}$.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PR