Exact soliton solutions of the one-dimensional complex Swift-Hohenberg equation

Using Painlev\'e analysis, the Hirota multi-linear method and a direct ansatz technique, we study analytic solutions of the (1+1)-dimensional complex cubic and quintic Swift-Hohenberg equations. We consider both standard and generalized versions of these equations. We have found that a number of exact solutions exist to each of these equations, provided that the coefficients are constrained by certain relations. The set of solutions include particular types of solitary wave solutions, hole (dark soliton) solutions and periodic solutions in terms of elliptic Jacobi functions and the Weierstrass $\wp$ function. Although these solutions represent only a small subset of the large variety of possible solutions admitted by the complex cubic and quintic Swift-Hohenberg equations, those presented here are the first examples of exact analytic solutions found thus far.Comment: 32 pages, no figures, elsart.cl

The RNA interference pathway affects midgut infection- and escape barriers for Sindbis virus in Aedes aegypti

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The RNA interference (RNAi) pathway acts as an innate antiviral immune response in <it>Aedes aegypti</it>, modulating arbovirus infection of mosquitoes. Sindbis virus (SINV; family: <it>Togaviridae</it>, genus: <it>Alphavirus</it>) is an arbovirus that infects <it>Ae. aegypti </it>in the laboratory. SINV strain TR339 encounters a midgut escape barrier (MEB) during infection of <it>Ae. aegypti</it>. The nature of this barrier is not well understood. To investigate the role of the midgut as the central organ determining vector competence for arboviruses, we generated transgenic mosquitoes in which the RNAi pathway was impaired in midgut tissue of bloodfed females. We used these mosquitoes to reveal effects of RNAi impairment in the midgut on SINV replication, midgut infection and dissemination efficiencies, and mosquito longevity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As a novel tool for studying arbovirus-mosquito interactions, we engineered a transgenic mosquito line with an impaired RNAi pathway in the midgut of bloodfed females by silencing expression of the <it>Aa</it>-<it>dcr2 </it>gene. In midgut tissue of the transgenic Carb/dcr16 line, <it>Aa</it>-<it>dcr2 </it>expression was reduced ~50% between 1-7 days post-bloodmeal (pbm) when compared to the recipient mosquito strain. After infection with SINV-TR339EGFP, <it>Aa</it>-<it>dcr2 </it>expression levels were enhanced in both mosquito strains. In the RNAi pathway impaired mosquito strain SINV titers and midgut infection rates were significantly higher at 7 days pbm. There was also a strong tendency for increased virus dissemination rates among the transgenic mosquitoes. Between 7-14 days pbm, SINV was diminished in midgut tissue of the transgenic mosquitoes. Transgenic impairment of the RNAi pathway and/or SINV infection did not affect longevity of the mosquitoes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We showed that RNAi impaired transgenic mosquitoes are a useful tool for studying arbovirus-mosquito interactions at the molecular level. Following ingestion by <it>Ae. aegypti</it>, the recombinant SINV-TR339EGFP was confronted with both MEB and a midgut infection barrier (MIB). Impairment of the RNAi pathway in the midgut strongly reduced both midgut barriers for the virus. This confirms that the endogenous RNAi pathway of <it>Ae. aegypti </it>modulates vector competence for SINV in the midgut. The RNAi pathway acts as a gatekeeper to the incoming virus by affecting infection rate of the midgut, intensity of infection, and dissemination from the midgut to secondary tissues.</p

Videojuego para mejorar las habilidades cognitivas en los estudiantes del centro educativo Orión Ben Carson en Trujillo, 2022

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo general mejorar las habilidades cognitivas en los estudiantes del centro educativo Orión Ben Carson, mediante el uso de un videojuego en el año 2022. El tipo de investigación fue aplicada y el diseño de grado experimental puro, además como técnica de recolección de datos se usó la encuesta y como instrumento fue el cuestionario, se hizo uso de la metodología SUM para el desarrollo el videojuego, la cual consta de 5 fases: concepto, planificación, elaboración, beta y cierre. Los resultados obtenidos para el grupo experimental fueron, aumentó el nivel de memoria visual, donde se obtuvo un 67% de logro esperado y un 33% logro destacado a comparación del grupo control que tuvo un 17% de nivel de inicio, un 33% en proceso y un 50% en logro esperado, además se aumentó el nivel de razonamiento verbal, el cual mostró un 3% en proceso, un 53% en logro esperado y un 43% en logro destacado, a comparación del grupo control que obtuvo un 3% en un nivel de inicio, un 43% en proceso y un 53% en logro esperado, también aumento el nivel de percepción visual, donde se dio a conocer que un 67% de estudiantes estaban en un nivel de logro esperado y un 33% en un logro destacado, a comparación del grupo control que mostró un 6% en nivel de inicio, un 37% en proceso y un 57% en un nivel de logro esperado; debido a que la muestra fueron 30 registros relacionados con este proceso; se empleó la prueba de normalidad Shapiro - Wilk para procesar los resultados del grupo control y grupo experimental, y con estos, se usó la prueba no paramétrica U de Mann Whitney para analizar el indicador de memoria visual; así mismo, se usó la prueba paramétrica T-Student para analizar los indicadores de razonamiento verbal y percepción visual. Como conclusión se obtuvo que el uso de un videojuego si mejora las habilidades cognitivas de los estudiantes del centro educativo Orión Ben Carson en Trujillo en el año 2022

Relationship of Self-Determination Theory Constructs and Physical Activity and Diet in a Mexican American Population in Nueces County, Texas

Due to disparities in stroke risk among U.S. Hispanics, the need for culturally tailored, theory based effective health behavior change interventions persists. The purpose of this study was to examine self-determination theory (SDT) constructs related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a predominantly Mexican American population. The Stroke Health and Risk Education (SHARE) project was a cluster-randomized, faith-based behavioral intervention trial that enrolled Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) from Catholic Churches in Nueces County, Texas. Data regarding SDT constructs and dietary and physical activity behaviors were collected via computer-assisted interviews using standardized instruments at the baseline assessment. Of the 801 subjects who consented, 760 completed baseline interviews. After eliminating cases with missing data, 733 participants (617 MA and 116 NHW) were included in the analyses. Participants were predominantly Mexican American (84%) and female (64%), and had a median age of 53 years. There were no significant ethnic differences in any of the baseline SDT scale scores with the exception of higher autonomous motivation scores for exercise among MAs (7.00 vs. 6.67, p = 0.01). Demographic differences in mean SDT scale scores were identified for sex, age, and income. Perceived competence and autonomous motivation were both significant predictors of diet and physical activity behaviors. This study increases our understanding of SDT constructs relative to diet and physical activity in a large, predominantly Mexican American sample. The results indicate that SDT is an appropriate framework to address CVD behavioral risk factors in a predominantly Hispanic population

Three Poems from "Kung Saan sa Katawan"

http://dx.doi.org/10.13185/KK2013.0201

Constraints on the Progenitor of SN 2016gkg From Its Shock-Cooling Light Curve

SN 2016gkg is a nearby Type IIb supernova discovered shortly after explosion. Like several other Type IIb events with early-time data, SN 2016gkg displays a double-peaked light curve, with the first peak associated with the cooling of a low-mass extended progenitor envelope. We present unprecedented intranight-cadence multi-band photometric coverage of the first light-curve peak of SN 2016gkg obtained from the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, the Swift satellite and various amateur-operated telescopes. Fitting these data to analytical shock-cooling models gives a progenitor radius of ~25-140 solar radii with ~2-30 x 10^-2 solar masses of material in the extended envelope (depending on the model and the assumed host-galaxy extinction). Our radius estimates are broadly consistent with values derived independently (in other works) from HST imaging of the progenitor star. However, the shock-cooling model radii are on the lower end of the values indicated by pre-explosion imaging. Hydrodynamical simulations could refine the progenitor parameters deduced from the shock-cooling emission and test the analytical models.Comment: Accepted by ApJ

Absence of maternal methylation in biparental hydatidiform moles from women with NLRP7 maternal-effect mutations reveals widespread placenta-specific imprinting

Familial recurrent hydatidiform mole (RHM) is a maternal-effect autosomal recessive disorder usually associated with mutations of the NLRP7 gene. It is characterized by HM with excessive trophoblastic proliferation, which mimics the appearance of androgenetic molar conceptuses despite their diploid biparental constitution. It has been proposed that the phenotypes of both types of mole are associated with aberrant genomic imprinting. However no systematic analyses for imprinting defects have been reported. Here, we present the genome-wide methylation profiles of both spontaneous androgenetic and biparental NLRP7 defective molar tissues. We observe total paternalization of all ubiquitous and placenta-specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in four androgenetic moles; namely gain of methylation at paternally methylated loci and absence of methylation at maternally methylated regions. The methylation defects observed in five RHM biopsies from NLRP7 defective patients are restricted to lack-of-methylation at maternal DMRs. Surprisingly RHMs from two sisters with the same missense mutations, as well as consecutive RHMs from one affected female show subtle allelic methylation differences, suggesting inter-RHM variation. These epigenotypes are consistent with NLRP7 being a maternal-effect gene and involved in imprint acquisition in the oocyte. In addition, bioinformatic screening of the resulting methylation datasets identified over sixty loci with methylation profiles consistent with imprinting in the placenta, of which we confirm 22 as novel maternally methylated loci. These observations strongly suggest that the molar phenotypes are due to defective placenta-specific imprinting and over-expression of paternally expressed transcripts, highlighting that maternal-effect mutations of NLRP7 are associated with the most severe form of multi-locus imprinting defects in humans

Functional characterization of the Arabidopsis transcription factor bZIP29 reveals its role in leaf and root development

Plant bZIP group I transcription factors have been reported mainly for their role during vascular development and osmosensory responses. Interestingly, bZIP29 has been identified in a cell cycle interactome, indicating additional functions of bZIP29 in plant development. Here, bZIP29 was functionally characterized to study its role during plant development. It is not present in vascular tissue but is specifically expressed in proliferative tissues. Genome-wide mapping of bZIP29 target genes confirmed its role in stress and osmosensory responses, but also identified specific binding to several core cell cycle genes and to genes involved in cell wall organization. bZIP29 protein complex analyses validated interaction with other bZIP group I members and provided insight into regulatory mechanisms acting on bZIP dimers. In agreement with bZIP29 expression in proliferative tissues and with its binding to promoters of cell cycle regulators, dominant-negative repression of bZIP29 altered the cell number in leaves and in the root meristem. A transcriptome analysis on the root meristem, however, indicated that bZIP29 might regulate cell number through control of cell wall organization. Finally, ectopic dominant-negative repression of bZIP29 and redundant factors led to a seedling-lethal phenotype, pointing to essential roles for bZIP group I factors early in plant development

Targeting CXCR4 (CXC Chemokine Receptor Type 4) for Molecular Imaging of Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma

Primary aldosteronism is the most frequent cause of secondary hypertension and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality compared with hypertensive controls. The central diagnostic challenge is the differentiation between bilateral and unilateral disease, which determines treatment options. Bilateral adrenal venous sampling, currently recommended for differential diagnosis, is an invasive procedure with several drawbacks, making it desirable to develop novel noninvasive diagnostic tools. When investigating the expression pattern of chemokine receptors by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, we observed high expression of CXCR4 (CXC chemokine receptor type 4) in aldosterone-producing tissue in normal adrenals, adjacent adrenal cortex from adrenocortical adenomas, and in aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA), correlating strongly with the expression of CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase). In contrast, CXCR4 was not detected in the majority of nonfunctioning adenomas that are frequently found coincidently. The specific CXCR4 ligand 68Ga-pentixafor has recently been established as radiotracer for molecular imaging of CXCR4 expression and showed strong and specific binding to cryosections of APAs in our study. We further investigated 9 patients with primary aldosteronism because of APA by 68Ga-pentixafor-positron emission tomography. The tracer uptake was significantly higher on the side of increased adrenocortical aldosterone secretion in patients with APAs compared with patients investigated by 68Ga-pentixafor-positron emission tomography for other causes. Molecular imaging of aldosterone-producing tissue by a CXCR4-specific ligand may, therefore, be a highly promising tool for noninvasive characterization of patients with APAs