2,929 research outputs found
Simulation of Cosmic Ray neutrinos Interactions in Water
The program CORSIKA, usually used to simulate extensive cosmic ray air
showers, has been adapted to a water medium in order to study the acoustic
detection of ultra high energy neutrinos. Showers in water from incident
protons and from neutrinos have been generated and their properties are
described. The results obtained from CORSIKA are compared to those from other
available simulation programs such as Geant4.Comment: Talk presented on behalf of the ACoRNE Collaboration at the ARENA
Workshop 200
Evolution of antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates from pigs in Belgium
The aim of the present study was to investigate the antimicrobial sensitivity of Salmonella isolates from pigs between 2011 and 2015. In total, 275 Salmonella isolates from samples originating from pigs sent in for diagnostic examination at Animal Health Care Flanders were tested for their sensitivity against different antimicrobials. Except for colistin, where the disk prediffusion test was used, the disk diffusion test was used. E. coli ATCC 25922 was used as reference isolate and the interpretative breakpoints were based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute
The PANDA GEM-based TPC Prototype
We report on the development of a GEM-based TPC prototype for the PANDA
experiment. The design and requirements of this device will be illustrated,
with particular emphasis on the properties of the recently tested GEM-detector,
the characterization of the read-out electronics and the development of the
tracking software that allows to evaluate the GEM-TPC data.Comment: submitted to NIMA 4 pages, 6 picture
Traditional banana diversity in Oceania: an endangered heritage
This study aims to understand the genetic diversity of traditional Oceanian starchy bananas in order to propose an efficient conservation strategy for these endangered varieties. SSR and DArT molecular markers are used to characterize a large sample of Pacific accessions, from New Guinea to Tahiti and Hawaii. All Pacific starchy bananas are shown of New Guinea origin, by interspecific hybridization between Musa acuminata (AA genome), more precisely its local subspecies M. acuminata ssp. banksii, and M. balbisiana (BB genome) generating triploid AAB Pacific starchy bananas. These AAB genotypes do not form a subgroup sensu stricto and genetic markers differentiate two subgroups across the three morphotypes usually identified: Iholena versus Popoulu and Maoli. The Popoulu/Maoli accessions, even if morphologically diverse throughout the Pacific, cluster in the same genetic subgroup. However, the subgroup is not strictly monophyletic and several close, but different genotypes are linked to the dominant genotype. One of the related genotypes is specific to New Caledonia (NC), with morphotypes close to Maoli, but with some primitive characters. It is concluded that the diffusion of Pacific starchy AAB bananas results from a series of introductions of triploids originating in New Guinea area from several sexual recombination events implying different genotypes of M. acuminata ssp. banksii. This scheme of multiple waves from the New Guinea zone is consistent with the archaeological data for peopling of the Pacific. The present geographic distribution suggests that a greater diversity must have existed in the past. Its erosion finds parallels with the erosion of cultural traditions, inexorably declining in most of the Polynesian or Melanesian Islands. Symmetrically, diversity hot spots appear linked to the local persistence of traditions: Maoli in New Caledonian Kanak traditions or Iholena in a few Polynesian islands. These results will contribute to optimizing the conservation strategy for the ex-situ Pacific Banana Collection supported collectively by the Pacific countries
Comparison of phenotypic and genotypic tropism determination in triple-class-experienced HIV patients eligible for maraviroc treatment
BACKGROUND: Determination of HIV-1 tropism is a pre-requisite to the use of CCR5 antagonists. This study evaluated the potential of population genotypic tropism tests (GTTs) in clinical practice, and the correlation with phenotypic tropism tests (PTTs) in patients accessing routine HIV care. METHODS: Forty-nine consecutive plasma samples for which an original Trofile(TM) assay was performed were obtained from triple-class-experienced patients in need of a therapy change. Viral tropism was defined as the consensus of three or more tropism calls obtained from the combination of two independent population PTT assays (Trofile Biosciences, San Francisco, CA, USA, and Virco, Beerse, Belgium), population GTTs and GTTs based on ultra-deep sequencing. If no consensus was reached, a clonal PTT was performed in order to finalize the tropism call. This two-step approach allowed the definition of a reference tropism call. RESULTS: According to the reference tropism result, 35/49 samples were CCR5 tropic (R5) (patients eligible for maraviroc treatment) and 14/49 were assigned as non-R5 tropic. The non-R5 samples [patients not eligible for maraviroc treatment according to the FDA/European Medicines Agency (EMEA) label] group included both the CXCR4 (X4) samples and the dual and mixed CCR5/CXCR4 (R5/X4) samples. Compared with Trofile(TM) population PTTs, population GTTs showed a higher sensitivity (97%) and a higher negative predictive value (91%), but almost equal specificity and an equal positive predictive value. CONCLUSIONS: In line with recent reports from clinical trial data, our data support the use of population genotypic tropism testing as a tool for tropism determination before the start of maraviroc
TL1A/DR3 axis involvement in the inflammatory cytokine network during pulmonary sarcoidosis
BACKGROUND:
TNF-like ligand 1A (TL1A), a recently recognized member of the TNF superfamily, and its death domain receptor 3 (DR3), firstly identified for their relevant role in T lymphocyte homeostasis, are now well-known mediators of several immune-inflammatory diseases, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to inflammatory bowel diseases to psoriasis, whereas no data are available on their involvement in sarcoidosis, a multisystemic granulomatous disease where a deregulated T helper (Th)1/Th17 response takes place.
METHODS:
In this study, by flow cytometry, real-time PCR, confocal microscopy and immunohistochemistry analyses, TL1A and DR3 were investigated in the pulmonary cells and the peripheral blood of 43 patients affected by sarcoidosis in different phases of the disease (29 patients with active sarcoidosis, 14 with the inactive form) and in 8 control subjects.
RESULTS:
Our results demonstrated a significant higher expression, both at protein and mRNA levels, of TL1A and DR3 in pulmonary T cells and alveolar macrophages of patients with active sarcoidosis as compared to patients with the inactive form of the disease and to controls. In patients with sarcoidosis TL1A was strongly more expressed in the lung than the blood, i.e., at the site of the involved organ. Additionally, zymography assays showed that TL1A is able to increase the production of matrix metalloproteinase 9 by sarcoid alveolar macrophages characterized, in patients with the active form of the disease, by reduced mRNA levels of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1.
CONCLUSIONS:
These data suggest that TL1A/DR3 interactions are part of the extended and complex immune-inflammatory network that characterizes sarcoidosis during its active phase and may contribute to the pathogenesis and to the progression of the disease
Flavor decomposition of the sea quark helicity distributions in the nucleon from semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering
Double-spin asymmetries of semi-inclusive cross sections for the production
of identified pions and kaons have been measured in deep-inelastic scattering
of polarized positrons on a polarized deuterium target. Five helicity
distributions including those for three sea quark flavors were extracted from
these data together with re-analyzed previous data for identified pions from a
hydrogen target. These distributions are consistent with zero for all three sea
flavors. A recently predicted flavor asymmetry in the polarization of the light
quark sea appears to be disfavored by the data.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Nuclear Polarization of Molecular Hydrogen Recombined on a Non-metallic Surface
The nuclear polarization of molecules formed by recombination
of nuclear polarized H atoms on the surface of a storage cell initially coated
with a silicon-based polymer has been measured by using the longitudinal
double-spin asymmetry in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering. The
molecules are found to have a substantial nuclear polarization, which is
evidence that initially polarized atoms retain their nuclear polarization when
absorbed on this type of surfac
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