181 research outputs found
Non-collinear Hox gene expression in bivalves and the evolution of morphological novelties in mollusks
Hox genes are key developmental regulators that are involved in establishing morphological features during animal ontogeny. They are commonly expressed along the anterior--posterior axis in a staggered, or collinear, fashion. In mollusks, the repertoire of body plans is widely diverse and current data suggest their involvement during development of landmark morphological traits in Conchifera, one of the two major lineages that comprises those taxa that originated from a uni-shelled ancestor (Monoplacophora, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Scaphopoda, Bivalvia). For most clades, and bivalves in particular, data on Hox gene expression throughout ontogeny are scarce. We thus investigated Hox expression during development of the quagga mussel, Dreissena rostriformis, to elucidate to which degree they might contribute to specific phenotypic traits as in other conchiferans. The Hox/ParaHox complement of Mollusca typically comprises 14 genes, 13 of which are present in bivalve genomes including Dreissena. We describe here expression of 9 Hox genes and the ParaHox gene Xlox during Dreissena development. Hox expression in Dreissena is first detected in the gastrula stage with widely overlapping expression domains of most genes. In the trochophore stage, Hox gene expression shifts towards more compact, largely mesodermal domains. Only few of these domains can be assigned to specific developing morphological structures such as Hox1 in the shell field and Xlox in the hindgut. We did not find traces of spatial or temporal staggered expression of Hox genes in Dreissena. Our data support the notion that Hox gene expression has been coopted independently, and to varying degrees, into lineage-specific structures in the respective conchiferan clades. The non-collinear mode of Hox expression in Dreissena might be a result of the low degree of body plan regionalization along the bivalve anterior--posterior axis as exemplified by the lack of key morphological traits such as a distinct head, cephalic tentacles, radula apparatus, and a simplified central nervous system
A model independent and rephase invariant parametrization of CP violation
The phenomenological description of the neutral B meson system is proposed in
terms of the fundamental CP-violating observables and within a rephasing
invariant formalism. This generic formalism can select the time-dependent and
time-integrated asymmetries which provide the basic tools to discriminate the
different kinds of possible CP-violating effects in dedicated experimental
B-meson facilities.Comment: 19 pages, Plain Te
Help-Seeking Attitudes and Distress Disclosure Among Syrian Refugees in Germany
Many refugees experience a wide range of mental health problems, but typically use mental health services less often than settled residents. Practical constraints like limited access to mental health care and language barriers largely account for this discrepancy. However, little is known about the psychological aspects explaining this difference in mental health service usage, like attitudes toward psychological help-seeking and the disclosure of distress. The present study compares German residents’ and Syrian refugees’ attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help ( N = 384). Refugees reported more depressive symptoms and functional impairment than residents. Crucially, refugees also held more negative attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking than residents. These group differences in attitudes were to a large part mediated by distress disclosure. We conclude that it is important to achieve a thorough understanding of how to address help-seeking attitudes and to encourage distress disclosure to promote treatment of mental health issues among many refugees.</jats:p
Comparative transcriptomics enlarges the toolkit of known developmental genes in mollusks
Data used for the phylogenetic analysis of Hox and ParaHox genes, including the respective GenBank accession numbers. (DOC 31Â kb
Inelastic Final-State Interactions and Two-body Hadronic B decays into Single-Isospin channels
The role of inelastic final-state interactions in CP asymmetries and
branching ratios is investigated in certain chosen single isospin two-body
hadronic B decays. Treating final-state interactions through Pomeron and Regge
exchanges, we demonstrate that inelastic final state interactions could lead to
sizeable effects on the CP asymmetry.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, 1 eps-figur
GLONASS CDMA L3 ambiguity resolution and positioning
A first assessment of GLONASS CDMA L3 ambiguity resolution and positioning performance is provided. Our analyses are based on GLONASS L3 data from the satellite pair SVNs 755-801, received by two JAVAD receivers at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. In our analyses, four different versions of the two-satellite model are applied: the geometry-free model, the geometry-based model , the height-constrained geometry-based model, and the geometry-fixed model. We study the noise characteristics (carrier-to-noise density, measurement precision), the integer ambiguity resolution performance (success rates and distribution of the ambiguity residuals), and the positioning performance (ambiguity float and ambiguity fixed). The results show that our empirical outcomes are consistent with their formal counterparts and that the GLONASS data have a lower noise level than that of GPS, particularly in case of the code data. This difference is not only seen in the noise levels but also in their onward propagation to the ambiguity time series and ambiguity residuals distribution
Nonfactorizable contributions in B decays to charmonium: the case of
Nonleptonic to charmonium decays generally show deviations from the
factorization predictions. For example, the mode has
been experimentally observed with sizeable branching fraction while its
factorized amplitude vanishes. We investigate the role of rescattering effects
mediated by intermediate charmed meson production in this class of decay modes,
and consider with the meson.
Using an effective lagrangian describing interactions of pairs of heavy-light
mesons with a quarkonium state, we relate this mode to the
analogous mode with in the final state. We find large enough to be measured at the factories, so that this decay
mode could be used to study the poorly known .Comment: RevTex, 16 pages, 2 eps figure
The roles of XJ13 and XJ44-specific mutations within the Candid #1 GPC in Junin virus attenuation
Junin virus (JUNV) is a member of the Arenaviridae family of viruses and is the pathogen responsible for causing Argentine hemorrhagic fever, a potentially lethal disease endemic to Argentina. A live attenuated vaccine for human use, called Candid#1, is approved only in Argentina. Candid#1 vaccine strain of Junin virus was obtained through serial passage in mouse brain tissues followed by passage in Fetal Rhesus macaque lung fibroblast (FRhL) cells. Previously, the mutations responsible for attenuation of this virus in Guinea pigs were mapped in the gene encoding for glycoprotein precursor (GPC) protein. The resulting Candid#1 glycoprotein complex has been shown to cause endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in vitro resulting in the degradation of the GPC. To evaluate the attenuating properties of specific mutations within GPC, we created recombinant viruses expressing GPC mutations specific to key Candid#1 passages and evaluated their pathogenicity in our outbred Hartley guinea pig model of Argentine hemorrhagic fever. Here, we provide evidence that early mutations in GPC obtained through serial passaging attenuate the visceral disease and increase immunogenicity in guinea pigs. Specific mutations acquired prior to the 13th mouse brain passage (XJ13) are responsible for attenuation of the visceral disease while having no impact on the neurovirulence of Junin virus. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that the mutation within an N-linked glycosylation motif, acquired prior to the 44th mouse brain passage (XJ44), is unstable but necessary for complete attenuation and enhanced immunogenicity of Candid#1 vaccine strain. The highly conserved N-linked glycosylation profiles of arenavirus glycoproteins could therefore be viable targets for designing attenuating viruses for vaccine development against other arenavirus-associated illnesses
Resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects in atoms
In this article, we review the history, current status, physical mechanisms,
experimental methods, and applications of nonlinear magneto-optical effects in
atomic vapors. We begin by describing the pioneering work of Macaluso and
Corbino over a century ago on linear magneto-optical effects (in which the
properties of the medium do not depend on the light power) in the vicinity of
atomic resonances, and contrast these effects with various nonlinear
magneto-optical phenomena that have been studied both theoretically and
experimentally since the late 1960s. In recent years, the field of nonlinear
magneto-optics has experienced a revival of interest that has led to a number
of developments, including the observation of ultra-narrow (1-Hz)
magneto-optical resonances, applications in sensitive magnetometry, nonlinear
magneto-optical tomography, and the possibility of a search for parity- and
time-reversal-invariance violation in atoms.Comment: 51 pages, 23 figures, to appear in Rev. Mod. Phys. in Oct. 2002,
Figure added, typos corrected, text edited for clarit
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