Nanoscale phase-engineering of thermal transport with a Josephson heat modulator

Macroscopic quantum phase coherence has one of its pivotal expressions in the Josephson effect [1], which manifests itself both in charge [2] and energy transport [3-5]. The ability to master the amount of heat transferred through two tunnel-coupled superconductors by tuning their phase difference is the core of coherent caloritronics [4-6], and is expected to be a key tool in a number of nanoscience fields, including solid state cooling [7], thermal isolation [8, 9], radiation detection [7], quantum information [10, 11] and thermal logic [12]. Here we show the realization of the first balanced Josephson heat modulator [13] designed to offer full control at the nanoscale over the phase-coherent component of thermal currents. Our device provides magnetic-flux-dependent temperature modulations up to 40 mK in amplitude with a maximum of the flux-to-temperature transfer coefficient reaching 200 mK per flux quantum at a bath temperature of 25 mK. Foremost, it demonstrates the exact correspondence in the phase-engineering of charge and heat currents, breaking ground for advanced caloritronic nanodevices such as thermal splitters [14], heat pumps [15] and time-dependent electronic engines [16-19].Comment: 6+ pages, 4 color figure

Quantum corrections and black hole spectroscopy

In the work \cite{BRM,RBE}, black hole spectroscopy has been successfully reproduced in the tunneling picture. As a result, the derived entropy spectrum of black hole in different gravity (including Einstein's gravity, Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity and Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz gravity) are all evenly spaced, sharing the same forms as $S_n=n$, where physical process is only confined in the semiclassical framework. However, the real physical picture should go beyond the semiclassical approximation. In this case, the physical quantities would undergo higher-order quantum corrections, whose effect on different gravity shares in different forms. Motivated by these facts, in this paper we aim to observe how quantum corrections affect black hole spectroscopy in different gravity. The result shows that, in the presence of higher-order quantum corrections, black hole spectroscopy in different gravity still shares the same form as $S_n=n$, further confirming the entropy quantum is universal in the sense that it is not only independent of black hole parameters, but also independent of higher-order quantum corrections. This is a desiring result for the forthcoming quantum gravity theory.Comment: 14 pages, no figure, use JHEP3.cls. to be published in JHE

Antiglucocorticoid RU38486 reduces net protein catabolism in experimental acute renal failure

BACKGROUND: In acute renal failure, a pronounced net protein catabolism occurs that has long been associated with corticoid action. By competitively blocking the glucocorticoid receptor with the potent antiglucocorticoid RU 38486, the present study addressed the question to what extent does corticoid action specific to uremia cause the observed muscle degradation, and does inhibition of glucocorticoid action reduce the protein wasting? METHODS: RU 38486 was administered in a dose of 50 mg/kg/24 h for 48 h after operation to fasted bilaterally nephrectomized (BNX) male adult Wistar rats and sham operated (SHAM) controls. Protein turnover was evaluated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of amino acid efflux in sera from isolated perfused hindquarters of animals treated with RU 38486 versus untreated controls. RESULTS: Administration of RU 38486 reduces the total amino acid efflux (TAAE) by 18.6% in SHAM and 15.6% in BNX and efflux of the indicator of net protein turnover, phenylalanine (Phe) by 33.3% in SHAM and 13% in BNX animals as compared to the equally operated, but untreated animals. However, the significantly higher protein degradation observed in BNX (0.6 ± 0.2 nmol/min/g muscle) versus SHAM (0.2 ± 0.1 nmol/min/g muscle) rats, as demonstrated by the marker of myofribrillar proteolytic rate, 3-Methylhistidine (3 MH) remains unaffected by administration of RU 38486 (0.5 ± 0.1 v. 0.2 ± 0.1 nmol/min/g muscle in BNX v. SHAM). CONCLUSION: RU 38486 does not act on changes of muscular protein turnover specific to uremia but reduces the effect of stress- stimulated elevated corticosterone secretion arising from surgery and fasting. A potentially beneficial effect against stress- induced catabolism in severe illness can be postulated that merits further study

Comparison of two dependent within subject coefficients of variation to evaluate the reproducibility of measurement devices

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The within-subject coefficient of variation and intra-class correlation coefficient are commonly used to assess the reliability or reproducibility of interval-scale measurements. Comparison of reproducibility or reliability of measurement devices or methods on the same set of subjects comes down to comparison of dependent reliability or reproducibility parameters.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this paper, we develop several procedures for testing the equality of two dependent within-subject coefficients of variation computed from the same sample of subjects, which is, to the best of our knowledge, has not yet been dealt with in the statistical literature. The Wald test, the likelihood ratio, and the score tests are developed. A simple regression procedure based on results due to Pitman and Morgan is constructed. Furthermore we evaluate the statistical properties of these methods via extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The methodologies are illustrated on two data sets; the first are the microarray gene expressions measured by two plat- forms; the Affymetrix and the Amersham. Because microarray experiments produce expressions for a large number of genes, one would expect that the statistical tests to be asymptotically equivalent. To explore the behaviour of the tests in small or moderate sample sizes, we illustrated the methodologies on data from computer-aided tomographic scans of 50 patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It is shown that the relatively simple Wald's test (WT) is as powerful as the likelihood ratio test (LRT) and that both have consistently greater power than the score test. The regression test holds its empirical levels, and in some occasions is as powerful as the WT and the LRT.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A comparison between the reproducibility of two measuring instruments using the same set of subjects leads naturally to a comparison of two correlated indices. The presented methodology overcomes the difficulty noted by data analysts that dependence between datasets would confound any inferences one could make about the differences in measures of reliability and reproducibility. The statistical tests presented in this paper have good properties in terms of statistical power.</p

Genome characterization of Long Island tick rhabdovirus, a new virus identified in Amblyomma americanum ticks

Background: Ticks are implicated as hosts to a wide range of animal and human pathogens. The full range of microbes harbored by ticks has not yet been fully explored. Methods: As part of a viral surveillance and discovery project in arthropods, we used unbiased high-throughput sequencing to examine viromes of ticks collected on Long Island, New York in 2013. Results: We detected and sequenced the complete genome of a novel rhabdovirus originating from a pool of Amblyomma americanum ticks. This virus, which we provisionally name Long Island tick rhabdovirus, is distantly related to Moussa virus from Africa. Conclusions: The Long Island tick rhabdovirus may represent a novel species within family Rhabdoviridae

Pediatric DXA: clinical applications

Normal bone mineral accrual requires adequate dietary intake of calcium, vitamin D and other nutrients; hepatic and renal activation of vitamin D; normal hormone levels (thyroid, parathyroid, reproductive and growth hormones); and neuromuscular functioning with sufficient stress upon the skeleton to induce bone deposition. The presence of genetic or acquired diseases and the therapies that are used to treat them can also impact bone health. Since the introduction of clinical DXA in pediatrics in the early 1990s, there has been considerable investigation into the causes of low bone mineral density (BMD) in children. Pediatricians have also become aware of the role adequate bone mass accrual in childhood has in preventing osteoporotic fractures in late adulthood. Additionally, the availability of medications to improve BMD has increased with the development of bisphosphonates. These factors have led to the increased utilization of DXA in pediatrics. This review summarizes much of the previous research regarding BMD in children and is meant to assist radiologists and clinicians with DXA utilization and interpretation

Correlation between E-cadherin and p120 expression in invasive ductal breast cancer with a lobular component and MRI findings

Invasive breast cancer comprises a spectrum of histological changes with purely lobular cancer on one side and purely ductal cancer on the other, with many mixed lesions in between. In a previous study, we showed that in patients with any percentage lobular component at core needle biopsy, preoperative MRI leads to the detection of clinically relevant additional findings in a substantial percentage of patients, irrespective of the percentage of the lobular component. Detection of a small lobular component may however not be reproducible among pathologists. Loss of membrane expression of E-cadherin or p120 is useful biomarkers of ILC and may therefore support a more objective diagnosis. All patients diagnosed with breast cancer containing a lobular component of any percentage between January 2008 and October 2012 were prospectively offered preoperative MRI. Clinically relevant additional findings on MRI were verified by pathology evaluation. Expression patterns of E-cadherin and p120 were evaluated by immunohistochemistry on the core needle biopsy. MRI was performed in 109 patients. The percentage of lobular component was significantly increased in cases with aberrant E-cadherin or p120 expression (both p = <0.001). However, aberrant expression of E-cadherin and p120 was not related to the probability of detecting relevant additional MRI findings. E-cadherin and p120 did not appear to be useful objective biomarkers for predicting additional relevant findings on MRI in patients with a lobular component in the core needle of their breast cancer

A Human-Specific De Novo Protein-Coding Gene Associated with Human Brain Functions

To understand whether any human-specific new genes may be associated with human brain functions, we computationally screened the genetic vulnerable factors identified through Genome-Wide Association Studies and linkage analyses of nicotine addiction and found one human-specific de novo protein-coding gene, FLJ33706 (alternative gene symbol C20orf203). Cross-species analysis revealed interesting evolutionary paths of how this gene had originated from noncoding DNA sequences: insertion of repeat elements especially Alu contributed to the formation of the first coding exon and six standard splice junctions on the branch leading to humans and chimpanzees, and two subsequent substitutions in the human lineage escaped two stop codons and created an open reading frame of 194 amino acids. We experimentally verified FLJ33706's mRNA and protein expression in the brain. Real-Time PCR in multiple tissues demonstrated that FLJ33706 was most abundantly expressed in brain. Human polymorphism data suggested that FLJ33706 encodes a protein under purifying selection. A specifically designed antibody detected its protein expression across human cortex, cerebellum and midbrain. Immunohistochemistry study in normal human brain cortex revealed the localization of FLJ33706 protein in neurons. Elevated expressions of FLJ33706 were detected in Alzheimer's brain samples, suggesting the role of this novel gene in human-specific pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. FLJ33706 provided the strongest evidence so far that human-specific de novo genes can have protein-coding potential and differential protein expression, and be involved in human brain functions