A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

A WNT1-regulated developmental gene cascade prevents dopaminergic neurodegeneration in adult <em>En1^+/-</em> mice.

The protracted and age-dependent degeneration of dopamine (DA)-producing neurons of the Substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the mammalian midbrain is a hallmark of human Parkinson&#39;s Disease (PD) and of certain genetic mouse models of PD, such as mice heterozygote for the homeodomain transcription factor Engrailed 1 (En1(+/-) mice). Neurotoxin-based animal models of PD, in contrast, are characterized by the fast and partly reversible degeneration of the SNc and VTA DA neurons. The secreted protein WNT1 was previously shown to be strongly induced in the neurotoxin-injured adult ventral midbrain (VM), and to protect the SNc and VTA DA neurons from cell death in this context. We demonstrate here that the sustained and ectopic expression of Wnt1 in the SNc and VTA DA neurons of En1(+/Wnt1) mice also protected these genetically affected En1 heterozygote (En1(+/-)) neurons from their premature degeneration in the adult mouse VM. We identified a developmental gene cascade that is up-regulated in the adult En1(+/Wnt1) VM, including the direct WNT1/&beta;-catenin signaling targets Lef1, Lmx1a, Fgf20 and Dkk3, as well as the indirect targets Pitx3 (activated by LMX1A) and Bdnf (activated by PITX3). We also show that the secreted neurotrophin BDNF and the secreted WNT modulator DKK3, but not the secreted growth factor FGF20, increased the survival of En1 mutant dopaminergic neurons in vitro. The WNT1-mediated signaling pathway and its downstream targets BDNF and DKK3 might thus provide a useful means to treat certain genetic and environmental (neurotoxic) forms of human PD

Diagnostic-imaging algorithm for cervical soft disc herniation

MRI with surface coils is currently the preferred method for evaluating degenerative cervical spine disease. The differentiation between soft disc herniation and osteophytic spurs is not always obvious, however, on a 0.5 Tesla unit. The procedure of choice for soft disc herniation, MRI on a 0.5 T superconducting system associated with plain radiography of the cervical spine, in selecting patients for anterior cervical discectomy without interbody fusion (ACD), was evaluated. This prospective study comprised 100 patients with cervical radicular symptoms, not subsiding after conservative treatment. Plain radiographs were obtained for all patients. Patients without spinal instability, spondylosis, or major osteophytes on plain radiographs and without clinical findings of myelopathy underwent MRI (n = 59) on a 0.5 Tesla superconducting system. The other 41 patients underwent CT myelography. On MRI, herniation of a cervical soft disc was seen in 55 patients and the localisation corresponded well with the clinical symptoms. CT myelography showed a foraminal herniation in one of four selected patients with negative MRI. Fifty of 55 patients underwent ACD. All herniations were confirmed at operation, but in two patients there were important foraminal spurs not seen on MRI. It is concluded that 0.5 T MRI combined with plain radiographs offers an accurate, non-invasive test in the assessment of selected patients with cervical radiculopathy