Amixicile reduces severity of cryptosporidiosis but does not have in vitro activity against Cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidium species cause significant morbidity in malnourished children. Nitazoxanide (NTZ) is the only approved treatment for cryptosporidiosis, but NTZ has diminished effectiveness during malnutrition. Here, we show that amixicile, a highly selective water-soluble derivative of NTZ diminishes Cryptosporidium infection severity in a malnourished mouse model despite a lack of direct anticryptosporidial activity. We suggest that amixicile, by tamping down anaerobes associated with intestinal inflammation, reverses weight loss and indirectly mitigates infection-associated pathology

Topological Defects and CMB anisotropies : Are the predictions reliable ?

We consider a network of topological defects which can partly decay into neutrinos, photons, baryons, or Cold Dark Matter. We find that the degree-scale amplitude of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies as well as the shape of the matter power spectrum can be considerably modified when such a decay is taken into account. We conclude that present predictions concerning structure formation by defects might be unreliable.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in PR

The electromagnetic counterpart of the binary neutron star merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Discovery of the optical counterpart using the Dark Energy Camera

We present the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) discovery of the optical counterpart of the first binary neutron star merger detected through gravitational wave emission, GW170817. Our observations commenced 10.5 hours post-merger, as soon as the localization region became accessible from Chile. We imaged 70 deg2 in the i and z bands, covering 93% of the initial integrated localization probability, to a depth necessary to identify likely optical counterparts (e.g., a kilonova). At 11.4 hours post-merger we detected a bright optical transient located 10:600 from the nucleus of NGC4993 at redshift z = 0:0098, consistent (for H0 = 70 km s-1 Mpc-1) with the distance of 40±8 Mpc reported by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration (LVC). At detection the transient had magnitudes i=17.3 and z=17.4, and thus an absolute magnitude of Mi = -15.7, in the luminosity range expected for a kilonova. We identified 1,500 potential transient candidates. Applying simple selection criteria aimed at rejecting background events such as supernovae, we find the transient associated with NGC4993 as the only remaining plausible counterpart, and reject chance coincidence at the 99.5% confidence level. We therefore conclude that the optical counterpart we have identified near NGC4993 is associated with GW170817. This discovery ushers in the era of multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves, and demonstrates the power of DECam to identify the optical counterparts of gravitational-wave sources

Advances in chromosomal studies in Neottieae (Orchidaceae): constitutive heterochromatin, chromosomal rearrangements and speciation

Abstract — In this work, we describe a karyomorphological study on three taxa of the tribe Neottieae (Orchidaceae). Epipactis aspromontana and E. schubertiorum are characterized by a chromosome complement of 2n = 2× = 38. Significant differences in heterochromatin distribution were found between them. Similarities in the karyotype structure and C-banding of E. schubertiorum and E. helleborine group have been observed. A specimen of E. aspromontana showed a triploid chromosome number. The meiosis are characterized by univalent, bivalent and trivalent forms and in some somatic metaphase cells has been possible to observe a series of aneuploid numbers with 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 and 53 chromosomes. The largest differences can be emphasized between the Epipactis species and Neottia nidusavis, mainly in the the karyomorphology and heterochromatin distributions. In Neottia nidusavis the evolution process seems to be determined by reversing Robertsonian mutations