Internal validation of STRmix™ – A multi laboratory response to PCAST

We report a large compilation of the internal validations of the probabilistic genotyping software STRmix™. Thirty one laboratories contributed data resulting in 2825 mixtures comprising three to six donors and a wide range of multiplex, equipment, mixture proportions and templates. Previously reported trends in the LR were confirmed including less discriminatory LRs occurring both for donors and non-donors at low template (for the donor in question) and at high contributor number. We were unable to isolate an effect of allelic sharing. Any apparent effect appears to be largely confounded with increased contributor number

Leipzig Ice Nucleation chamber Comparison (LINC): Intercomparison of four online ice nucleation counters

Ice crystal formation in atmospheric clouds has a strong effect on precipitation, cloud lifetime, cloud radiative properties, and thus the global energy budget. Primary ice formation above 235 K is initiated by nucleation on seed aerosol particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs). Instruments that measure the ice-nucleating potential of aerosol particles in the atmosphere need to be able to accurately quantify ambient INP concentrations. In the last decade several instruments have been developed to investigate the ice-nucleating properties of aerosol particles and to measure ambient INP concentrations. Therefore, there is a need for intercomparisons to ensure instrument differences are not interpreted as scientific findings. In this study, we intercompare the results from parallel measurements using four online ice nucleation chambers. Seven different aerosol types are tested including untreated and acid-treated mineral dusts (microcline, which is a K-feldspar, and kaolinite), as well as birch pollen washing waters. Experiments exploring heterogeneous ice nucleation above and below water saturation are performed to cover the whole range of atmospherically relevant thermodynamic conditions that can be investigated with the intercompared chambers. The Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS) and the Portable Immersion Mode Cooling chAmber coupled to the Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber (PIMCA-PINC) performed measurements in the immersion freezing mode. Additionally, two continuous-flow diffusion chambers (CFDCs) PINC and the Spectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) are used to perform measurements below and just above water saturation, nominally presenting deposition nucleation and condensation freezing. The results of LACIS and PIMCA-PINC agree well over the whole range of measured frozen fractions (FFs) and temperature. In general PINC and SPIN compare well and the observed differences are explained by the ice crystal growth and different residence times in the chamber. To study the mechanisms responsible for the ice nucleation in the four instruments, the FF (from LACIS and PIMCA-PINC) and the activated fraction, AF (from PINC and SPIN), are compared. Measured FFs are on the order of a factor of 3 higher than AFs, but are not consistent for all aerosol types and temperatures investigated. It is shown that measurements from CFDCs cannot be assumed to produce the same results as those instruments exclusively measuring immersion freezing. Instead, the need to apply a scaling factor to CFDCs operating above water saturation has to be considered to allow comparison with immersion freezing devices. Our results provide further awareness of factors such as the importance of dispersion methods and the quality of particle size selection for intercomparing online INP counters.ISSN:1680-7375ISSN:1680-736

ALOX12 In Human Toxoplasmosis.

International audience: ALOX12 is a gene encoding arachidonate 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX), a member of a non-heme lipoxygenase family of dioxygenases. ALOX12 catalyzes the addition of oxygen onto arachidonic acid producing 12-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid, 12-HPETE, which can be reduced to eicosanoid, 12-HETE. 12-HETE acts in diverse cellular processes including catecholamine synthesis, vasoconstriction, neuronal function and inflammation. Consistent with effects on these fundamental mechanisms, allelic variants of ALOX12 are associated with diseases including schizophrenia, atherosclerosis and cancers without definition of mechanisms. Toxoplasma gondii is an apicomplexan parasite that causes morbidity and mortality and stimulates an innate and adaptive immune inflammatory reaction. Recently, it has been shown that a gene region known as Toxo1 is critical for susceptibility or resistance to T. gondii infection in rats. An orthologous gene region with ALOX12 centromeric is also present in humans. Herein, we report that the human ALOX12 gene has susceptibility alleles for human congenital toxoplasmosis (rs6502997 [P<0.000309], rs312462 [P<0.028499], rs6502998 [P<0.029794], rs434473 [P<0.038516]). A human monocytic cell line was genetically engineered using lentivirus RNA interference to knockdown ALOX12. In ALOX12 knockdown cells, ALOX12 RNA expression decreased and ALOX12 substrate, arachidonic acid, increased. ALOX12 knockdown attenuated progression of T. gondii infection and resulted in greater parasite burden, but decreased consequent late cell death of the human monocytic cell line. These findings suggest that, ALOX12 influences host responses to T. gondii infection in human cells. ALOX12 has been shown in other studies to be important in numerous diseases. Herein, we now demonstrate the critical role ALOX12 plays in T. gondii infection in humans

Nonresonant central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

The central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13\TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-$\beta^*$ run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\lt$ 0.7 GeV or $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\gt$ 1.8 GeV. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$ are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2. A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton