8,755 research outputs found
Quantitative trait loci for bone traits segregating independently of those for growth in an F-2 broiler X layer cross
An F broiler-layer cross was phenotyped for 18 skeletal traits at 6, 7 and 9 weeks of age and genotyped with 120 microsatellite markers. Interval mapping identified 61 suggestive and significant QTL on 16 of the 25 linkage groups for 16 traits. Thirty-six additional QTL were identified when the assumption that QTL were fixed in the grandparent lines was relaxed. QTL with large effects on the lengths of the tarsometatarsus, tibia and femur, and the weights of the tibia and femur were identified on GGA4 between 217 and 249 cM. Six QTL for skeletal traits were identified that did not co-locate with genome wide significant QTL for body weight and two body weight QTL did not coincide with skeletal trait QTL. Significant evidence of imprinting was found in ten of the QTL and QTL x sex interactions were identified for 22 traits. Six alleles from the broiler line for weight- and size-related skeletal QTL were positive. Negative alleles for bone quality traits such as tibial dyschondroplasia, leg bowing and tibia twisting generally originated from the layer line suggesting that the allele inherited from the broiler is more protective than the allele originating from the layer
Polyfunctional T cell responses in children in early stages of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection contrast with monofunctional responses of long-term infected adults
Background: Adults with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi exhibit a poorly functional T cell compartment, characterized by monofunctional (IFN-γ-only secreting) parasite-specific T cells and increased levels of terminally differentiated T cells. It is possible that persistent infection and/or sustained exposure to parasites antigens may lead to a progressive loss of function of the immune T cells. Methodology/Principal Findings: To test this hypothesis, the quality and magnitude of T. cruzi-specific T cell responses were evaluated in T. cruzi-infected children and compared with long-term T. cruzi-infected adults with no evidence of heart failure. The phenotype of CD4+ T cells was also assessed in T. cruzi-infected children and uninfected controls. Simultaneous secretion of IFN-γ and IL-2 measured by ELISPOT assays in response to T. cruzi antigens was prevalent among T. cruzi-infected children. Flow cytometric analysis of co-expression profiles of CD4+ T cells with the ability to produce IFN-γ, TNF-α, or to express the co-stimulatory molecule CD154 in response to T. cruzi showed polyfunctional T cell responses in most T. cruzi-infected children. Monofunctional T cell responses and an absence of CD4+TNF-α+-secreting T cells were observed in T. cruzi-infected adults. A relatively high degree of activation and differentiation of CD4+ T cells was evident in T. cruzi-infected children. Conclusions/Significance: Our observations are compatible with our initial hypothesis that persistent T. cruzi infection promotes eventual exhaustion of immune system, which might contribute to disease progression in long-term infected subjects.Fil: Albareda, María Cecilia. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: de Rissio, Ana María. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Tomas, Gonzalo. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Serjan, Alicia. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Juan A. Fernández"; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, María Gabriela. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Viotti, Rodolfo Jorge. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Fichera, Laura Edith. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Esteva, Mónica Inés. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Potente, Daniel Fernando. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Armenti, Alejandro. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Tarleton, Rick L.. University of Georgia; Estados UnidosFil: Laucella, Susana Adriana. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin
Degenerate Stars and Gravitational Collapse in AdS/CFT
We construct composite CFT operators from a large number of fermionic primary
fields corresponding to states that are holographically dual to a zero
temperature Fermi gas in AdS space. We identify a large N regime in which the
fermions behave as free particles. In the hydrodynamic limit the Fermi gas
forms a degenerate star with a radius determined by the Fermi level, and a mass
and angular momentum that exactly matches the boundary calculations. Next we
consider an interacting regime, and calculate the effect of the gravitational
back-reaction on the radius and the mass of the star using the
Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations. Ignoring other interactions, we determine
the "Chandrasekhar limit" beyond which the degenerate star (presumably)
undergoes gravitational collapse towards a black hole. This is interpreted on
the boundary as a high density phase transition from a cold baryonic phase to a
hot deconfined phase.Comment: 75 page
On Field Theory Thermalization from Gravitational Collapse
Motivated by its field theory interpretation, we study gravitational collapse
of a minimally coupled massless scalar field in Einstein gravity with a
negative cosmological constant. After demonstrating the accuracy of the
numerical algorithm for the questions we are interested in, we investigate
various aspects of the apparent horizon formation. In particular, we study the
time and radius of the apparent horizon formed as functions of the initial
Gaussian profile for the scalar field. We comment on several aspects of the
dual field theory picture.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures; V2 Some figures corrected, minor revision.
arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1106.233
Compatibility of neutrino DIS data and global analyses of parton distribution functions
Neutrino\antineutrino deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data provide useful
constrains for the flavor decomposition in global fits of parton distribution
functions (PDF). The smallness of the cross-sections requires the use of
nuclear targets in the experimental setup. Understanding the nuclear
corrections is, for this reason, of utmost importance for a precise
determination of the PDFs. Here, we explore the nuclear effects in the
neutrino\antineutrino-nucleon DIS by comparing the NuTeV, CDHSW, and CHORUS
cross-sections to the predictions derived from the latest parton distribution
functions and their nuclear modifications. We obtain a good description of
these data and find no apparent disagreement between the nuclear effects in
neutrino DIS and those in charged lepton DIS. These results also indicate that
further improvements in the knowledge of the nuclear PDFs could be obtained by
a more extensive use of these sets of neutrino data.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
InternationaL cross-sectIonAl and longItudinal assessment on aSthma cONtrol in European adult patients : the LIAISON study protocol
The study is funded by Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., Parma, ItalyPeer reviewedPublisher PD
Molecular Valves for Controlling Gas Phase Transport Made from Discrete Angstrom-Sized Pores in Graphene
An ability to precisely regulate the quantity and location of molecular flux
is of value in applications such as nanoscale 3D printing, catalysis, and
sensor design. Barrier materials containing pores with molecular dimensions
have previously been used to manipulate molecular compositions in the gas
phase, but have so far been unable to offer controlled gas transport through
individual pores. Here, we show that gas flux through discrete angstrom-sized
pores in monolayer graphene can be detected and then controlled using
nanometer-sized gold clusters, which are formed on the surface of the graphene
and can migrate and partially block a pore. In samples without gold clusters,
we observe stochastic switching of the magnitude of the gas permeance, which we
attribute to molecular rearrangements of the pore. Our molecular valves could
be used, for example, to develop unique approaches to molecular synthesis that
are based on the controllable switching of a molecular gas flux, reminiscent of
ion channels in biological cell membranes and solid state nanopores.Comment: to appear in Nature Nanotechnolog
Mobility promotes and jeopardizes biodiversity in rock-paper-scissors games
Biodiversity is essential to the viability of ecological systems. Species
diversity in ecosystems is promoted by cyclic, non-hierarchical interactions
among competing populations. Such non-transitive relations lead to an evolution
with central features represented by the `rock-paper-scissors' game, where rock
crushes scissors, scissors cut paper, and paper wraps rock. In combination with
spatial dispersal of static populations, this type of competition results in
the stable coexistence of all species and the long-term maintenance of
biodiversity. However, population mobility is a central feature of real
ecosystems: animals migrate, bacteria run and tumble. Here, we observe a
critical influence of mobility on species diversity. When mobility exceeds a
certain value, biodiversity is jeopardized and lost. In contrast, below this
critical threshold all subpopulations coexist and an entanglement of travelling
spiral waves forms in the course of temporal evolution. We establish that this
phenomenon is robust, it does not depend on the details of cyclic competition
or spatial environment. These findings have important implications for
maintenance and evolution of ecological systems and are relevant for the
formation and propagation of patterns in excitable media, such as chemical
kinetics or epidemic outbreaks.Comment: Final submitted version; the printed version can be found at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06095 Supplementary movies are available at
http://www.theorie.physik.uni-muenchen.de/lsfrey/images_content/movie1.AVI
and
http://www.theorie.physik.uni-muenchen.de/lsfrey/images_content/movie2.AV
Electric Field Control of Spin Transport
Spintronics is an approach to electronics in which the spin of the electrons
is exploited to control the electric resistance R of devices. One basic
building block is the spin-valve, which is formed if two ferromagnetic
electrodes are separated by a thin tunneling barrier. In such devices, R
depends on the orientation of the magnetisation of the electrodes. It is
usually larger in the antiparallel than in the parallel configuration. The
relative difference of R, the so-called magneto-resistance (MR), is then
positive. Common devices, such as the giant magneto-resistance sensor used in
reading heads of hard disks, are based on this phenomenon. The MR may become
anomalous (negative), if the transmission probability of electrons through the
device is spin or energy dependent. This offers a route to the realisation of
gate-tunable MR devices, because transmission probabilities can readily be
tuned in many devices with an electrical gate signal. Such devices have,
however, been elusive so far. We report here on a pronounced gate-field
controlled MR in devices made from carbon nanotubes with ferromagnetic
contacts. Both the amplitude and the sign of the MR are tunable with the gate
voltage in a predictable manner. We emphasise that this spin-field effect is
not restricted to carbon nanotubes but constitutes a generic effect which can
in principle be exploited in all resonant tunneling devices.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure
- …