109 research outputs found
Circadian deep sequencing reveals stress-response genes that adopt robust rhythmic expression during aging
Disruption of the circadian clock, which directs rhythmic expression of numerous output genes, accelerates aging. To enquire how the circadian system protects aging organisms, here we compare circadian transcriptomes in heads of young and old Drosophila melanogaster. The core clock and most output genes remained robustly rhythmic in old flies, while others lost rhythmicity with age, resulting in constitutive over- or under-expression. Unexpectedly, we identify a subset of genes that adopted increased or de novo rhythmicity during aging, enriched for stress-response functions. These genes, termed late-life cyclers, were also rhythmically induced in young flies by constant exposure to exogenous oxidative stress, and this upregulation is CLOCK-dependent. We also identify age-onset rhythmicity in several putative primary piRNA transcripts overlapping antisense transposons. Our results suggest that, as organisms age, the circadian system shifts greater regulatory priority to the mitigation of accumulating cellular stress
Magnetization steps in Zn_(1-x)Mn_xO: Four largest exchange constants and single-ion anisotropy
Magnetization steps (MST's) from Mn pairs in several single crystals of
Zn_(1-x)Mn_xO (0.0056<=x<=0.030, and in one powder (x=0.029), were observed.
The largest two exchange constants, J1/kB=-18.2+/-0.5K and J1'/kB=-24.3+/-0.6K,
were obtained from large peaks in the differential susceptibility, dM/dH,
measured in pulsed magnetic fields, H, up to 500 kOe. These two largest J's are
associated with the two inequivalent classes of nearest neighbors (NN's) in the
wurtzite structure. The 29% difference between J1 and J1' is substantially
larger than 13% in CdS:Mn, and 15% in CdSe:Mn. The pulsed-field data also
indicate that, despite the direct contact between the samples and a
superfluid-helium bath, substantial departures from thermal equilibrium
occurred during the 7.4 ms pulse. The third- and fourth-largest J's were
determined from the magnetization M at 20 mK, measured in dc magnetic fields H
up to 90 kOe. Both field orientations H||c and H||[10-10] were studied. (The
[10-10] direction is perpendicular to the c-axis, [0001].) By definition,
neighbors which are not NN's are distant neighbors (DN's). The largest DN
exchange constant (third-largest overall), has the value J/kB=-0.543+/-0.005K,
and is associated with the DN at r=c. Because this is not the closest DN, this
result implies that the J's do not decrease monotonically with the distance r.
The second-largest DN exchange constant (fourth-largest overall), has the value
J/kB=-0.080 K. It is associated with one of the two classes of neighbors that
have a coordination number z=12, but the evidence is insufficient for a
definite unique choice. The dependence of M on the direction of H gives
D/kB=-0.039+/-0.008K, in fair agreement with -0.031 K from earlier EPR work.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to PR
Interlayer Exchange Coupling Mediated by Valence Band Electrons
The interlayer exchange coupling mediated by valence band electrons in
all-semiconductor IV-VI magnetic/nonmagnetic superlattices is studied
theoretically. A 3D tight-binding model, accounting for the band and magnetic
structure of the constituent superlattice components is used to calculate the
spin-dependent part of the total electronic energy. The antiferromagnetic
coupling between ferromagnetic layers in EuS/PbS superlattices is obtained, in
agreement with the experimental evidences. The results obtained for the
coupling between antiferromagnetic layers in EuTe/PbTe superlattices are also
presented.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to be submitted to Phys.Rev.
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Accelerated food source location in aging Drosophila
Adequate energy stores are essential for survival, and sophisticated neuroendocrine mechanisms evolved to stimulate foraging in response to nutrient deprivation. Food search behavior is usually investigated in young animals, and it is not known how aging alters this behavior. To address this question in Drosophila melanogaster, we compared the ability to locate food by olfaction in young and old flies using a food-filled trap. As aging is associated with a decline in motor functions, learning, and memory, we expected that aged flies would take longer to enter the food trap than their young counterparts. Surprisingly, old flies located food with significantly shorter latency than young ones. Robust food search behavior was associated with significantly lower fat reserves and lower starvation resistance in old flies. Food-finding latency (FFL) was shortened in young wild-type flies that were starved until their fat was depleted but also in heterozygous chico mutants with reduced insulin receptor activity and higher fat deposits. Conversely, food trap entry was delayed in old flies with increased insulin signaling. Our results suggest that the difference in FFL between young and old flies is linked to age-dependent differences in metabolic status and may be mediated by reduced insulin signaling.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of the Anatomical Society. The published article can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291474-9726
Spin Glass and Antiferromagnetic Behaviour in a Diluted fcc Antiferromagnet
We report on a Monte Carlo study of a diluted Ising antiferromagnet on a fcc
lattice. This is a typical model example of a highly frustrated
antiferromagnet, and we ask, whether sufficient random dilution of spins does
produce a spin glass phase. Our data strongly indicate the existence of a spin
glass transition for spin--concentration : We find a divergent spin
glass susceptibility and a divergent spin glass correlation length, whereas the
antiferromagnetic correlation length saturates in this regime. Furthermore, we
find a first order phase transition to an antiferromagnet for ,
which becomes continuous in the range . Finite size scaling is
employed to obtain critical exponents. We compare our results with experimental
systems as diluted frustrated antiferromagnets as .Comment: 29 pages (revtex) and 10 figures uuencoded and Z-compresse
Magnetic susceptibility of EuTe/PbTe Heisenberg superlattices: experimental and theoretical studies
We report results on the temperature dependence of the susceptibilities of a
set of MBE-grown short-period EuTe/PbTe antiferromagnetic superlattices having
different EuTe layer thicknesses. In-plane and orthogonal susceptibilities have
been measured and display a strong anisotropy at low temperature, confirming
the occurrence of a magnetic phase transition in the thicker samples, as seen
also in neutron diffraction studies. We suggest that dipolar interactions
stabilize antiferromagnetic long-range order in an otherwise isotropic system
and we present numerical and analytical results for the low-temperature
orthogonal susceptibility.Comment: 30 pages, 8 ps figures, RevTe
Environmental factors associated with childhood norovirus diarrhoea in León, Nicaragua
Norovirus is detected in one in five diarrhoea episodes in children, yet little is known about environmental risk factors associated with this disease, especially in low-income settings. The objective of this study was to examine environmental risk factors, and spatial and seasonal patterns of norovirus diarrhoea episodes in children in León, Nicaragua. We followed a population-based cohort of children under age 5 years for norovirus diarrhoea over a 1-year period. At baseline, characteristics of each household were recorded. Households were geocoded and spatial locations of garbage dumps, rivers, and markets were collected. In bivariate analysis we observed younger children and those with animals in their households were more likely to have experienced norovirus episodes. In adjusted models, younger children remained at higher risk for norovirus episodes, but only modest associations were observed with family and environmental characteristics. We next identified symptomatic children living in the same household and within 500 m buffer zones around the household of another child infected with the same genotype. Norovirus diarrhoea episodes peaked early in the rainy season. These findings contribute to our understanding of environmental factors and norovirus infection
Magnetic interactions in EuTe epitaxial layers and EuTe/PbTe superlattices
The magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic (AFM) EuTe epitaxial layers and
short period EuTe/PbTe superlattices (SLs), grown by molecular beam epitaxy on
(111) BaF substrates, were studied by magnetization and neutron diffraction
measurements. Considerable changes of the N\'eel temperature as a function of
the EuTe layer thickness as well as of the strain state were found. A mean
field model, taking into account the variation of the exchange constants with
the strain-induced lattice distortions, and the nearest neighbor environment of
a Eu atoms, was developed to explain the observed changes in wide
range of samples. Pronounced interlayer magnetic correlations have been
revealed by neutron diffraction in EuTe/PbTe SLs with PbTe spacer thickness up
to 60 \AA. The observed diffraction spectra were analyzed, in a kinematical
approximation, assuming partial interlayer correlations characterized by an
appropriate correlation parameter. The formation of interlayer correlations
between the AFM EuTe layers across the nonmagnetic PbTe spacer was explained
within a framework of a tight-binding model. In this model, the interlayer
coupling stems from the dependence of the total electronic energy of the
EuTe/PbTe SL on the spin configurations in adjacent EuTe layers. The influence
of the EuTe and PbTe layer thickness fluctuations, inherent in the epitaxial
growth process, on magnetic properties and interlayer coupling is discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures, accepted to PR
Spin Glass Ordering in Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors: a Monte Carlo Study
We study the temperature-dilution phase diagram of a site-diluted Heisenberg
antiferromagnet on a fcc lattice, with and without the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya
anisotropic term, fixed to realistic microscopic parameters for (IIB=Cd, Hg, Zn). We show that the dipolar Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropy
induces a finite-temperature phase transition to a spin glass phase, at
dilutions larger than 80%. The resulting probability distribution of the order
parameter P(q) is similar to the one found in the cubic lattice
Edwards-Anderson Ising model. The critical exponents undergo large finite size
corrections, but tend to values similar to the ones of the
Edwards-Anderson-Ising model.Comment: 4 pages plus 3 postscript figure
The Role of Vaccine Coverage within Social Networks in Cholera Vaccine Efficacy
Traditional vaccine trial methods have an underlying assumption that the effect of a vaccine is the same throughout the trial area. There are, however, many spatial and behavioral factors that alter the rates of contact among infectious and susceptible individuals and result in different efficacies across a population. We reanalyzed data from a field trial in Bangladesh to ascertain whether there is evidence of indirect protection from cholera vaccines when vaccination rates are high in an individual's social network.We analyzed the first year of surveillance data from a placebo-controlled trial of B subunit-killed whole-cell and killed whole-cell-only oral cholera vaccines in children and adult women in Bangladesh. We calculated whether there was an inverse trend for the relation between the level of vaccine coverage in an individual's social network and the incidence of cholera in individual vaccine recipients or placebo recipients after controlling for potential confounding variables.Using bari-level social network ties, we found incidence rates of cholera among placebo recipients were inversely related to levels of vaccine coverage (5.28 cases per 1000 in the lowest quintile vs 3.27 cases per 1000 in the highest quintile; p = 0.037 for trend). Receipt of vaccine by an individual and the level of vaccine coverage of the individual's social network were independently related to a reduced risk of cholera.Findings indicate that progressively higher levels of vaccine coverage in bari-level social networks can lead to increasing levels of indirect protection of non-vaccinated individuals and could also lead to progressively higher levels of total protection of vaccine recipients
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