Habitat fragmentation causes rapid genetic differentiation and homogenization in natural plant populations – A case study in Leymus chinensis

The effects of habitat fragmentations on the forage grass Leymus thinness (Trin.) Tzvel, which has high genetic diversity in northeast China were investigated. Four natural populations of the same ecotype (Grey-green leaf, GGL), namely, BT, ZL, CL and CC (named after location) were collected from different abiotic growing conditions. The CC population has become isolated in a park inside a city by tall buildings though geologically close to CL. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) selected primer combinations were highly efficient in revealing the inter-clonal and inter-populational genetic variation in this species. The genetic diversity indices were higher in BT (H = 0.2305) and ZL (0.2467) populations and the lowest in CC (0.1674) population. Cluster analysis showed that the CC population was becoming isolated from the rest with the least gene flow from BT (1.51) as compared from BT to ZL (2.24). Lowest polymorphism was observed in CC (52.31%) as compared to CL (57.69%), BT (70.00%) and ZL (70.38%); this showed a tendency towards homogenization probably due to increased selfing, and due to reduced gene flow apparently caused by city buildings. These results were supported by multiple statistical analyses including Mantel’s test, PCOORDA and AMOVA. Genetic enrichment and epigenetic variation studies can be included in habitat fragmentation analysis and its implications in inducing homogenization and susceptibility in natural plant populations

Chaotic dynamics of cold atoms in far-off-resonant donut beam

We describe the classical two dimensinal nonlinear dynamics of cold atoms in far-off-resonant donut beams. We show that there chaotic dynamics exists for charge greater than unity, when the intensity of the beam is periodically modulated. The two dimensional distributions of atoms in $(x,y)$ plane for charge two are simulated. We show that the atoms will acumulate on several ring regions when the system enters to regime of global chaos.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Molecular evidence of the haploid origin in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with Aegilops kotschyi cytoplasm and whole genome expression profiling after haploidization

Aegiolops kotschyi cytoplasmic male sterile system often results in part of haploid plants in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). To elucidate the origin of haploid, 235 wheat microsatellite (SSR) primers were randomly selected and screened for polymorphism between haploid (2n = 3x = 21 ABD) and its parents, male-sterile line YM21 (2n = 6x = 42 AABBDD) and male fertile restorer YM2 (2n = 6x = 42 AABBDD). About 200 SSR markers yielded clear bands from denatured PAGE, of which 180 markers have identifiable amplification patterns, and 20 markers (around 8%) resulted in different amplification products between the haploid and the restorer, YM2. There were no SSR markers that were found to be distinguishable between the haploid and the male sterile line YM21. In addition, different distribution of HMW-GS between endosperm and seedlings from the same seeds further confirmed that the haploid genomes were inherited from the maternal parent. After haploidization, 1.7% and 0.91% of total sites were up- and down-regulated exceeding twofold in the shoot and the root of haploid, respectively, and most of the differentially expressed loci were up/down-regulated about twofold. Out of the sensitive loci in haploid, 94 loci in the shoot, 72 loci in the root can be classified into three functional subdivisions: biological process, cellular component and molecular function, respectively

Strategy and Long-term Outcomes of Endovascular Treatment for Budd–Chiari Syndrome Complicated by Inferior Vena Caval Thrombosis

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the strategy and long-term outcomes of endovascular treatment of Budd–Chiari syndrome (BCS) complicated by inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis.MethodsThe treatment strategy and outcomes of BCS complicated by IVC thrombosis were retrospectively evaluated in a single-center study. The treatment was aimed at the IVC thrombus, not hepatic vein occlusion. All 133 patients with BCS complicated by IVC thrombosis from February 2003 to March 2013 underwent endovascular treatment. For the fresh thrombus group (n = 75) recanalization was performed after transcatheter thrombolysis with urokinase. For the mixed thrombus group (n = 19) a small balloon pre-dilation of the IVC was performed first, followed by transcatheter thrombolysis using urokinase and a large balloon dilation of the IVC. For the old thrombus group (n = 39) a large balloon dilation or/and stent placement was performed directly. Pre- and post-treatment follow-ups were recorded.ResultsThe endovascular treatment was successful in 131 out of 133 patients (98.5%). Thirty seven patients had synchronous hepatic vein occlusion. The incidence of serious complications was 4.5% (6/133). Symptomatic pulmonary embolism occurred in three cases, cerebral hemorrhage in two, and cardiac tamponade in one. The cumulative 1-, 5-, and 10-year primary patency rate was 96.3%, 84.0%, and 64.6%, respectively. The cumulative 1-, 5-, and 10-year secondary patency rate was 99.0%, 96.1% and 91.3%, respectively. Segmental occlusion of the IVC and duration of anticoagulant therapy less than 6 months were independent risk factors for reocclusion.ConclusionsFor patients with BCS complicated by IVC thrombosis, an individualized treatment strategy based on the property of the thrombus can result in excellent long-term patency

Hall-conductivity sign change and fluctuations in amorphous Nbx_{x}Ge1−x_{1-x} films

The sign change in the Hall conductivity has been studied in thin amorphous Nb$_{1-x}$Ge$_x (x\approx$0.3) films. By changing the film thickness it is shown that the field at which the sign reversal occurs shifts to lower values (from above to below the mean-field transition field $H_{c2}$) with increasing film thickness. This effect can be understood in terms of a competition between a positive normal and a negative fluctuation contribution to the Hall conductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

First-Principles Calculation of the Superconducting Transition in MgB2 within the Anisotropic Eliashberg Formalism

We present a study of the superconducting transition in MgB2 using the ab-initio pseudopotential density functional method and the fully anisotropic Eliashberg equation. Our study shows that the anisotropic Eliashberg equation, constructed with ab-initio calculated momentum-dependent electron-phonon interaction and anharmonic phonon frequencies, yields an average electron-phonon coupling constant lambda = 0.61, a transition temperature Tc = 39 K, and a boron isotope-effect exponent alphaB = 0.31 with a reasonable assumption of mu* = 0.12. The calculated values for Tc, lambda, and alphaB are in excellent agreement with transport, specific heat, and isotope effect measurements respectively. The individual values of the electron-phonon coupling lambda(k,k') on the various pieces of the Fermi surface however vary from 0.1 to 2.5. The observed Tc is a result of both the raising effect of anisotropy in the electron-phonon couplings and the lowering effect of anharmonicity in the relevant phonon modes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Growth and properties of ferromagnetic In(1-x)Mn(x)Sb alloys

We discuss a new narrow-gap ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor alloy, In(1-x)Mn(x)Sb, and its growth by low-temperature molecular-beam epitaxy. The magnetic properties were investigated by direct magnetization measurements, electrical transport, magnetic circular dichroism, and the magneto-optical Kerr effect. These data clearly indicate that In(1-x)Mn(x)Sb possesses all the attributes of a system with carrier-mediated FM interactions, including well-defined hysteresis loops, a cusp in the temperature dependence of the resistivity, strong negative magnetoresistance, and a large anomalous Hall effect. The Curie temperatures in samples investigated thus far range up to 8.5 K, which are consistent with a mean-field-theory simulation of the carrier-induced ferromagnetism based on the 8-band effective band-orbital method.Comment: Invited talk at 11th International Conference on Narrow Gap Semiconductors, Buffalo, New York, U.S.A., June 16 - 20, 200

Influence of Carbon Concentration on the Superconductivity in MgCxNi3

The influence of carbon concentration on the superconductivity (SC) in MgC$_{x}$Ni$_3$ has been investigated by measuring the low temperature specific heat combined with first principles electronic structure calculation. It is found that the specific heat coefficient $\gamma_n=C_{en}/T$ of the superconducting sample ($x\approx1$) in normal state is twice that of the non-superconducting one ($x\approx 0.85$). The comparison of measured $\gamma_n$ and the calculated electronic density of states (DOS) shows that the effective mass renormalization changes remarkably as the carbon concentration changes. The large mass renormalization for the superconducting sample and the low $T_{c}$(7K) indicate that more than one kind of boson mediated electron-electron interactions exist in MgC$_{x}$Ni$_3$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Mass Transportation on Sub-Riemannian Manifolds

We study the optimal transport problem in sub-Riemannian manifolds where the cost function is given by the square of the sub-Riemannian distance. Under appropriate assumptions, we generalize Brenier-McCann's Theorem proving existence and uniqueness of the optimal transport map. We show the absolute continuity property of Wassertein geodesics, and we address the regularity issue of the optimal map. In particular, we are able to show its approximate differentiability a.e. in the Heisenberg group (and under some weak assumptions on the measures the differentiability a.e.), which allows to write a weak form of the Monge-Amp\`ere equation