The phylogenetic origin and evolution of acellular bone in teleost fishes: insights into osteocyte function in bone metabolism

Vertebrate bone is composed of three main cell types: osteoblasts, osteoclasts and osteocytes, the latter being by far the most numerous. Osteocytes are thought to play a fundamental role in bone physiology and homeostasis, however they are entirely absent in most extant species of teleosts, a group that comprises the vast majority of bony ‘fishes’, and approximately half of vertebrates. Understanding how this acellular (anosteocytic) bone appeared and was maintained in such an important vertebrate group has important implications for our understanding of the function and evolution of osteocytes. Nevertheless, although it is clear that cellular bone is ancestral for teleosts, it has not been clear in which specific subgroup the osteocytes were lost. This review aims to clarify the phylogenetic distribution of cellular and acellular bone in teleosts, to identify its precise origin, reversals to cellularity, and their implications. We surveyed the bone type for more than 600 fossil and extant ray‐finned fish species and optimised the results on recent large‐scale molecular phylogenetic trees, estimating ancestral states. We find that acellular bone is a probable synapomorphy of Euteleostei, a group uniting approximately two‐thirds of teleost species. We also confirm homoplasy in these traits: acellular bone occurs in some non‐euteleosts (although rarely), and cellular bone was reacquired several times independently within euteleosts, in salmons and relatives, tunas and the opah (Lampris sp.). The occurrence of peculiar ecological (e.g. anadromous migration) and physiological (e.g. red‐muscle endothermy) strategies in these lineages might explain the reacquisition of osteocytes. Our review supports that the main contribution of osteocytes in teleost bone is to mineral homeostasis (via osteocytic osteolysis) and not to strain detection or bone remodelling, helping to clarify their role in bone physiology

Graphene Ripples as a Realization of a Two-Dimensional Ising Model: A Scanning Tunneling Microscope Study

Ripples in pristine freestanding graphene naturally orient themselves in an array that is alternately curved-up and curved-down; maintaining an average height of zero. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to apply a local force, the graphene sheet will reversibly rise and fall in height until the height reaches 60-70 percent of its maximum at which point a sudden, permanent jump occurs. We successfully model the ripples as a spin-half Ising magnetic system, where the height of the graphene is the spin. The permanent jump in height, controlled by the tunneling current, is found to be equivalent to an antiferromagnetic-to-ferromagnetic phase transition. The thermal load underneath the STM tip alters the local tension and is identified as the responsible mechanism for the phase transition. Four universal critical exponents are measured from our STM data, and the model provides insight into the statistical role of graphenes unusual negative thermal expansion coefficient.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Generalised Factorial Moments and QCD Jets

{ In this paper we present a natural and comprehensive generalisation of the standard factorial moments (\clFq) analysis of a multiplicity distribution. The Generalised Factorial Moments are defined for all $q$ in the complex plane and, as far as the negative part of its spectrum is concerned, could be useful for the study of infrared structure of the Strong Interactions Theory of high energy interactions (LEP multiplicity distribution under the ${\cal Z}_0$). The QCD calculation of the Generalised Factorial Moments for negative $q$ is performed in the double leading log accuracy and is compared to OPAL experimental data. The role played by the infrared cut-off of the model is discussed and illustrated with a Monte Carlo calculation. }Comment: 11pages 4 figures uuencode, LATEC, INLN 94/

Nonlinear rheology of Laponite suspensions under an external drive

We investigate the nonlinear rheological behavior of colloidal suspensions of Laponite, a synthetic clay, driven by a steady and homogeneous shear strain. We show that the external drive leads to a drastic slowing down of the aging dynamics or even, in some cases, in the rejuvenation of the system. Under shear, after a surprisingly long time, the spontaneous aging process observed at rest is suppressed. The system then reaches a non-equilibrium stationary state, characterised by a complex viscosity depending on the applied shear rate. In addition, the glass exhibits a non-Newtonian shear-thinning behavior. These rheological behaviors confirm recent numerical and theoretical predictions.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 6 figures, figures included in the body of the text, to appear in Journal of Rheolog

Image Restoration Using Functional and Anatomical Information Fusion with Application to SPECT-MRI Images

Image restoration is usually viewed as an ill-posed problem in image processing, since there is no unique solution associated with it. The quality of restored image closely depends on the constraints imposed of the characteristics of the solution. In this paper, we propose an original extension of the NAS-RIF restoration technique by using information fusion as prior information with application in SPECT medical imaging. That extension allows the restoration process to be constrained by efficiently incorporating, within the NAS-RIF method, a regularization term which stabilizes the inverse solution. Our restoration method is constrained by anatomical information extracted from a high resolution anatomical procedure such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This structural anatomy-based regularization term uses the result of an unsupervised Markovian segmentation obtained after a preliminary registration step between the MRI and SPECT data volumes from each patient. This method was successfully tested on 30 pairs of brain MRI and SPECT acquisitions from different subjects and on Hoffman and Jaszczak SPECT phantoms. The experiments demonstrated that the method performs better, in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, than a classical supervised restoration approach using a Metz filter

Interpretation of Light-Quenching Factor Measurements

We observe that the pattern of the quenching factors for scintillation light from various ions, recently studied in $CaWO_4$ in connection with dark matter detectors, can be understood as a saturation phenomenon in which the light output is simply proportional to track length, independent of the ion and its energy. This observation is in accord with the high dE/dx limit of Birks' law. It suggests a simple model for the intrinsic resolution of light detectors for low energy ions, which we briefly discuss.Comment: Seven pages, seven figures, some with colo

Rfx6 Maintains the Functional Identity of Adult Pancreatic β Cells.

SummaryIncreasing evidence suggests that loss of β cell characteristics may cause insulin secretory deficiency in diabetes, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we show that Rfx6, whose mutation leads to neonatal diabetes in humans, is essential to maintain key features of functionally mature β cells in mice. Rfx6 loss in adult β cells leads to glucose intolerance, impaired β cell glucose sensing, and defective insulin secretion. This is associated with reduced expression of core components of the insulin secretion pathway, including glucokinase, the Abcc8/SUR1 subunit of KATP channels and voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, which are direct targets of Rfx6. Moreover, Rfx6 contributes to the silencing of the vast majority of “disallowed” genes, a group usually specifically repressed in adult β cells, and thus to the maintenance of β cell maturity. These findings raise the possibility that changes in Rfx6 expression or activity may contribute to β cell failure in humans

Energy Conservation Constraints on Multiplicity Correlations in QCD Jets

We compute analytically the effects of energy conservation on the self-similar structure of parton correlations in QCD jets. The calculations are performed both in the constant and running coupling cases. It is shown that the corrections are phenomenologically sizeable. On a theoretical ground, energy conservation constraints preserve the scaling properties of correlations in QCD jets beyond the leading log approximation.Comment: 11 pages, latex, 5 figures, .tar.gz version avaliable on ftp://www.inln.unice.fr