Diversity of Lecidea (Lecideaceae, Ascomycota) species revealed by molecular data and morphological characters

The diversity of lichens, especially crustose species, in continental Antarctica is still poorly known. To overcome difficulties with the morphology based species delimitations in these groups, we employed molecular data (nuclear ITS and mitochondrial SSU rDNA sequences) to test species boundaries within the genus Lecidea. Sampling was done along a north–south transect at five different areas in the Ross Sea region (Cape Hallett, Botany Bay to Mount Suess, Taylor Valley, Darwin Area and Mount Kyffin). A total of 153 specimens were collected from 13 localities. Phylogenetic analyses also include specimens from other regions in Antarctica and non-Antarctic areas. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses agreed in placing the samples from continental Antarctica into four major groups. Based on this phylogenetic estimate, we restudied the micromorphology and secondary chemistry of these four clades to evaluate the use of these characters as phylogenetic discriminators. These clades are identified as the following species Lecidea cancriformis, L. andersonii as well as the new species L. polypycnidophora Ruprecht & Türk sp. nov. and another previously unnamed clade of uncertain status, referred to as Lecidea sp. (L. UCR1)

A lattice for the muon collider demonstration ring in the RHIC tunnel

The future {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup {minus}} Muon Collider should have a luminosity of the order of 10{sup 35} cm{sup {minus}2} s{sup {minus}1}, and the energy of 2 x 2 TeV. The authors present here a demonstration machine at a lower energy to test the feasibility of all components involved, which could be placed inside the existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) tunnel. The maximum energy of the muons in the RHIC tunnel depends on the maximum attainable field in the dipoles. The maximum energy in the existing RHIC rings for protons is 250 GeV, where the strength of the magnetic field in the dipoles is 3.5 T. A design of the storage ring lattice for a 50 GeV muon demonstration machine is also presented

Lattices for High-Power Proton Beam Acceleration and Secondary Beam Collection and Cooling.

Rapid cycling synchrotrons are used to accelerate high-intensity proton beams to energies of tens of GeV for secondary beam production. After primary beam collision with a target, the secondary beam can be collected, cooled, accelerated or decelerated by ancillary synchrotrons for various applications. In this paper, we first present a lattice for the main synchrotron. This lattice has: (a) flexible momentum compaction to avoid transition and to facilitate RF gymnastics (b) long straight sections for low-loss injection, extraction, and high-efficiency collimation (c) dispersion-free straights to avoid longitudinal-transverse coupling, and (d) momentum cleaning at locations of large dispersion with missing dipoles. Then, we present a lattice for a cooler ring for the secondary beam. The momentum compaction across half of this ring is near zero, while for the other half it is normal. Thus, bad mixing is minimized while good mixing is maintained for stochastic beam cooling

Conceptual design of a nonscaling fixed field alternating gradient accelerator for protons and carbon ions for charged particle therapy

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.The conceptual design for a nonscaling fixed field alternating gradient accelerator suitable for charged particle therapy (the use of protons and other light ions to treat some forms of cancer) is described.EPSR

Molecular remission of infant B-ALL after infusion of universal TALEN gene-edited CAR T cells

Autologous T cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptor against the B cell antigen CD19 (CAR19) are achieving marked leukemic remissions in early-phase trials but can be difficult to manufacture, especially in infants or heavily treated patients. We generated universal CAR19 (UCART19) T cells by lentiviral transduction of non-human leukocyte antigen-matched donor cells and simultaneous transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN)-mediated gene editing of T cell receptor α chain and CD52 gene loci. Two infants with relapsed refractory CD19(+) B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia received lymphodepleting chemotherapy and anti-CD52 serotherapy, followed by a single-dose infusion of UCART19 cells. Molecular remissions were achieved within 28 days in both infants, and UCART19 cells persisted until conditioning ahead of successful allogeneic stem cell transplantation. This bridge-to-transplantation strategy demonstrates the therapeutic potential of gene-editing technology

Societal sentience: constructions of the public in animal research policy and practice

The use of non-human animals as models in research and drug testing is a key route through which contemporary scientific knowledge is certified. Given ethical concerns, regulation of animal research promotes the use of less ‘sentient’ animals. This paper draws on a documentary analysis of legal documents, and qualitative interviews with Named Veterinary Surgeons and others at a commercial laboratory in the UK. Its key claim is that the concept of animal sentience is entangled with a particular imaginary of how the general public or wider society views animals. We call this imaginary societal sentience. Against a backdrop of increasing ethnographic work on care encounters in the laboratory, this concept helps to stress the wider context within which such encounters take place. We conclude that societal sentience has potential purchase beyond the animal research field, in helping to highlight the affective dimension of public imaginaries (Welsh and Wynne 2013), and their ethical consequences. Researching and critiquing societal sentience, we argue, may ultimately have more impact on the fate of humans and non-humans in the laboratory, than focusing wholly on ethics as situated practice

Multi-species sociology of the body

The human body has become a central focus in sociology. Such work has centred largely on the human body and its significance in social contexts. This article draws on sociological understandings of human embodiment, especially the idea of the ‘body as a project’, to facilitate a multi-species understanding of bodies and their entanglements. Conceptualising the body as a project has provided sociological insights into the scientific and technological innovations that are designed to improve health and delay death. Nonhuman animals are entangled in these efforts, though their presence is often occluded. By examining notions of body masks, body regimes and body options, which are well established in sociological thinking about the body, this article seeks to prompt consideration of how to utilise theories of the body to examine human–nonhuman animal entanglements in order to establish a multi-species sociology of the body