Signal Intensity Change on Unenhanced T1-Weighted Images in Dentate Nucleus Following Gadobenate Dimeglumine in Patients With and Without Previous Multiple Administrations of Gadodiamide

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of previous administration of gadodiamide and neural tissue gadolinium deposition in patients who received gadobenate dimeglumine. METHODS: Our population included 62 patients who underwent at least three administrations of gadobenate dimeglumine, plus an additional contrast-enhanced last MRI for reference, divided into two groups: group 1, patients who in addition to gadobenate dimeglumine administrations had prior exposure to multiple doses of gadodiamide; group 2, patients without previous exposure to other gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCAs). Quantitative analysis was performed on the first and last gadobenate dimeglumine MRIs in both groups. Dentate nucleus-to-middle cerebellar peduncle signal intensity ratios (DN/MCP) and relative change (RC) in signal over time were calculated and compared between groups using generalized additive model. RESULTS: Group 1 showed significant increase in baseline and follow-up DN/MCP compared to group 2 (p < 0.0001). The RC DN/MCP showed a non-statistically significant trend towards an increase in patients who underwent previous gadodiamide (p = 0.0735). CONCLUSION: There is increased T1 signal change over time in patients who underwent gadobenate dimeglumine and had received prior gadodiamide compared to those without known exposure to previous gadodiamide. A potentiating effect from prior gadodiamide on subsequent administered gadobenate dimeglumine may occur. KEY POINTS: • Neural gadolinium deposition is associated with multiple administrations of less stable GBCAs. • Less stable GBCA effect on subsequent more stable GBCA administrations is undetermined. • Significant increase of DN/MCP was seen in patients with previous gadodiamide exposure. • RC DN/MCP showed a non-significant increase in patients who received previous gadodiamide. • Potentiating effects from prior gadodiamide on subsequent administered gadobenate dimeglumine may occur.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sex-biased parental care and sexual size dimorphism in a provisioning arthropod

The diverse selection pressures driving the evolution of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) have long been debated. While the balance between fecundity selection and sexual selection has received much attention, explanations based on sex-specific ecology have proven harder to test. In ectotherms, females are typically larger than males, and this is frequently thought to be because size constrains female fecundity more than it constrains male mating success. However, SSD could additionally reflect maternal care strategies. Under this hypothesis, females are relatively larger where reproduction requires greater maximum maternal effort – for example where mothers transport heavy provisions to nests. To test this hypothesis we focussed on digger wasps (Hymenoptera: Ammophilini), a relatively homogeneous group in which only females provision offspring. In some species, a single large prey item, up to 10 times the mother’s weight, must be carried to each burrow on foot; other species provide many small prey, each flown individually to the nest. We found more pronounced female-biased SSD in species where females carry single, heavy prey. More generally, SSD was negatively correlated with numbers of prey provided per offspring. Females provisioning multiple small items had longer wings and thoraxes, probably because smaller prey are carried in flight. Despite much theorising, few empirical studies have tested how sex-biased parental care can affect SSD. Our study reveals that such costs can be associated with the evolution of dimorphism, and this should be investigated in other clades where parental care costs differ between sexes and species

A novel East African monopartite begomovirus-betasatellite complex that infects Vernonia amygdalina

The complete genomes of a monopartite begomovirus (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae) and an associated betasatellite found infecting Vernonia amygdalina Delile (family Compositae) in Uganda were cloned and sequenced. Begomoviruses isolated from two samples showed the highest nucleotide sequence identity (73.1% and 73.2%) to an isolate of the monopartite begomovirus tomato leaf curl Vietnam virus, and betasatellites from the same samples exhibited the highest nucleotide sequence identity (67.1% and 68.2%) to vernonia yellow vein Fujian betasatellite. Following the current taxonomic criteria for begomovirus species demarcation, the isolates sequenced here represent a novel begomovirus species. Based on symptoms observed in the field, we propose the name vernonia crinkle virus (VeCrV) for this novel begomovirus and vernonia crinkle betasatellite (VeCrB) for the associated betasatellite. This is the first report of a monopartite begomovirus-betasatellite complex from Uganda

Bacterial microevolution and the Pangenome

The comparison of multiple genome sequences sampled from a bacterial population reveals considerable diversity in both the core and the accessory parts of the pangenome. This diversity can be analysed in terms of microevolutionary events that took place since the genomes shared a common ancestor, especially deletion, duplication, and recombination. We review the basic modelling ingredients used implicitly or explicitly when performing such a pangenome analysis. In particular, we describe a basic neutral phylogenetic framework of bacterial pangenome microevolution, which is not incompatible with evaluating the role of natural selection. We survey the different ways in which pangenome data is summarised in order to be included in microevolutionary models, as well as the main methodological approaches that have been proposed to reconstruct pangenome microevolutionary history

Desmodium mottle virus, the first legumovirus (genus Begomovirus) from East Africa

A novel bipartite legumovirus (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae), that naturally infects the wild leguminous plant Desmodium sp. in Uganda, was molecularly characterized and named Desmodium mottle virus. The highest nucleotide identities for DNA-A, obtained from two field-collected samples, were 79.9% and 80.1% with the legumovirus, soybean mild mottle virus. DNA-B had the highest nucleotide identities (65.4% and 66.4%) with a typical non-legumovirus Old World begomovirus, African cassava mosaic virus. This is the first report of a legumovirus in East Africa and extends the known diversity of begomoviruses found infecting wild plants in this continent

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent Accumulation and Toxicity: an Update

In current practice, gadolinium-based contrast agents have been considered safe when used at clinically recommended doses in patients without severe renal insufficiency. The causal relationship between gadolinium-based contrast agents and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis in patients with renal insufficiency resulted in new policies regarding the administration of these agents. After an effective screening of patients with renal disease by performing either unenhanced or reduced-dose-enhanced studies in these patients and by using the most stable contrast agents, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis has been largely eliminated since 2009. Evidence of in vivo gadolinium deposition in bone tissue in patients with normal renal function is well-established, but recent literature showing that gadolinium might also deposit in the brain in patients with intact blood-brain barriers caught many individuals in the imaging community by surprise. The purpose of this review was to summarize the literature on gadolinium-based contrast agents, tying together information on agent stability and animal and human studies, and to emphasize that low-stability agents are the ones most often associated with brain deposition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Strongly magnetized pulsars: explosive events and evolution

Well before the radio discovery of pulsars offered the first observational confirmation for their existence (Hewish et al., 1968), it had been suggested that neutron stars might be endowed with very strong magnetic fields of $10^{10}$-$10^{14}$G (Hoyle et al., 1964; Pacini, 1967). It is because of their magnetic fields that these otherwise small ed inert, cooling dead stars emit radio pulses and shine in various part of the electromagnetic spectrum. But the presence of a strong magnetic field has more subtle and sometimes dramatic consequences: In the last decades of observations indeed, evidence mounted that it is likely the magnetic field that makes of an isolated neutron star what it is among the different observational manifestations in which they come. The contribution of the magnetic field to the energy budget of the neutron star can be comparable or even exceed the available kinetic energy. The most magnetised neutron stars in particular, the magnetars, exhibit an amazing assortment of explosive events, underlining the importance of their magnetic field in their lives. In this chapter we review the recent observational and theoretical achievements, which not only confirmed the importance of the magnetic field in the evolution of neutron stars, but also provide a promising unification scheme for the different observational manifestations in which they appear. We focus on the role of their magnetic field as an energy source behind their persistent emission, but also its critical role in explosive events.Comment: Review commissioned for publication in the White Book of "NewCompStar" European COST Action MP1304, 43 pages, 8 figure