Mechanisms of T cell organotropism

F.M.M.-B. is supported by the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council of the UK and the Gates Foundation

Spinster Homolog 2 (Spns2) Deficiency Causes Early Onset Progressive Hearing Loss

Spinster homolog 2 (Spns2) acts as a Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) transporter in zebrafish and mice, regulating heart development and lymphocyte trafficking respectively. S1P is a biologically active lysophospholipid with multiple roles in signalling. The mechanism of action of Spns2 is still elusive in mammals. Here, we report that Spns2-deficient mice rapidly lost auditory sensitivity and endocochlear potential (EP) from 2 to 3 weeks old. We found progressive degeneration of sensory hair cells in the organ of Corti, but the earliest defect was a decline in the EP, suggesting that dysfunction of the lateral wall was the primary lesion. In the lateral wall of adult mutants, we observed structural changes of marginal cell boundaries and of strial capillaries, and reduced expression of several key proteins involved in the generation of the EP (Kcnj10, Kcnq1, Gjb2 and Gjb6), but these changes were likely to be secondary. Permeability of the boundaries of the stria vascularis and of the strial capillaries appeared normal. We also found focal retinal degeneration and anomalies of retinal capillaries together with anterior eye defects in Spns2 mutant mice. Targeted inactivation of Spns2 in red blood cells, platelets, or lymphatic or vascular endothelial cells did not affect hearing, but targeted ablation of Spns2 in the cochlea using a Sox10-Cre allele produced a similar auditory phenotype to the original mutation, suggesting that local Spns2 expression is critical for hearing in mammals. These findings indicate that Spns2 is required for normal maintenance of the EP and hence for normal auditory function, and support a role for S1P signalling in hearing

Optimum diffraction efficiency dye sensitized dichromated gelatin holograms for systems development

The results of investigations on the realization of optimum diffraction efficiency volume phase holograms recorded in methylene blue sensitized dichromated gelatin (MBDCG) are discussed

Holographic optical elements — State-of-the-art review:Part I

A state-of-the-art review on holographic optical elements (HOE) is presented in two parts. In Part I a conceptual overview and an assessment of the current status on the design of HOE have been included. It is pointed out that HOE development based on the use of squeezed light, speckle, non-linear recording, comparative studies between optics and communication approaches, are some of the promising directions for future research in this vital area of photonics

Holographic optical elements: State-of-the-art review: Part 2

This is the second part of a two part review on the state-of-the-art in holographic optical elements (HOEs). The aspects of fabrication, evaluation, and applications of HOEs, are discussed in this part. It details the direction of future efforts towards finding work-horse type recording media, developing new methods for the evaluation of HOE, and identifying the areas of application where HOEs are to be considered as indispensable components/tools. Finally a summary of all the suggestions for future work made in the two parts is displayed in Table 2 of this part of the review

Towards optimum diffraction efficiency for methylene blue sensitized dichromated gelatin holograms

A systematic investigation has been carried out into the optimization of diffraction efficiency (η) of methylene blue sensitized dichromated gelatin (MBDCG) holograms. The influence of the following parameters on η have been studied: prehardener concentration (CH), concentrations of ammonium dichromate (CA) and methylene blue (CM) as photosensitizers, and exposure (E). This study revealed that with CH similar, equals 0.5, CA similar, equals 30, CM similar, equals 0.3, and E similar, equals 400–600, optimum diffraction efficiency of over 80%, can be easily achieved in MBDCG holograms

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Not AvailableBackground Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV; Tospovirus: Bunyaviridae) has been an economically important virus in the USA for over 30 years. However the complete sequence of only one TSWV isolate PA01 characterized from pepper in Pennsylvania is available. Results The large (L) RNA of a TSWV WA-USA isolate was cloned and sequenced. It consisted of 8914 nucleotides (nt) encoding a single open reading frame of 8640 nts in the viral-complementary sense. The ORF potentially codes for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of 330.9 kDa. Two untranslated regions of 241 and 33 nucleotides were present at the 5′ and 3′ termini, respectively that shared conserved tospoviral sequences. Phylogenetic analysis using nucleotide sequences of the complete L RNA showed that TSWV WA-USA isolate clustered with the American and Asian TSWV isolates which formed a distinct clade from Euro-Asiatic Tospoviruses. Phylogeny of the amino acid sequence of all tospoviral RdRps used in this study showed that all the known TSWV isolates including the USA isolate described in this study formed a distinct and a close cluster with that of Impateins necrotic spot virus. Multiple sequence alignment revealed conserved motifs in the RdRp of TSWV. Recombination analysis identified two recombinants including the TSWV WA-USA isolate. Among them, three recombination events were detected in the conserved motifs of the RdRp. Conclusions Sequence analysis and phylogenetic analysis of the L RNA showed distinct clustering with selected TSWV isolates reported from elsewhere. Conserved motifs in the core polymerase region of the RdRp and recombination events were identifiedDBT CREST AWAR