35 research outputs found

    A Review of the Adults and Larvae of the Genus \u3ci\u3ePycnopsyche\u3c/i\u3e (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) with Revision of the \u3ci\u3ePycnopsyche scabripennis\u3c/i\u3e (Rambur) and \u3ci\u3ePycnopsyche lepida\u3c/i\u3e (Hagen) Complexes

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    The adults and larvae of the genus Pycnopsyche are reviewed. Nineteen species are recognized for the genus. The males and females of all species are described and illustrated. All species accounts include description, diagnosis, type locality, distribution, variation, notes and material examined sections. The P. scabripennis complex is revised, and three distinct species are recognized (P. scabripennis s.s., P. antica, and P. conspersa). The P. lepida group (P. lepida, P. indiana, P. subfasciata, and P. virginica) is also revised with all species remaining recognized; however, P. virginica is removed from the complex. Two new species are described for the genus but will be named in a separate publication (herein identified as P. sp. A and P. sp. B). Keys are provided for all adults of both sexes. The larvae of sixteen species are described and/or discussed. A number of these were reared for the first time. Because of the conservativeness of larval morphology as a whole, many of the larvae can not be successfully identified below the level of groups of species. Keys to larvae are not included because of this difficulty. Known distributions of the species in the genus are updated utilizing information from published and unpublished sources. Maps plotted by county (U. S. records) or site (Canada records) are included. Finally, a preliminary discussion of phylogenetic relationships in the genus is provided. Based on this discussion the genus is modified from the five species groups of Schmid (1955) to a total of eight groups

    Intra-individual variability in information processing speed reflects white matter microstructure in multiple sclerosis

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    AbstractSlowed information processing speed is commonly reported in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), and is typically investigated using clinical neuropsychological tests, which provide sensitive indices of mean-level information processing speed. However, recent studies have demonstrated that within-person variability or intra-individual variability (IIV) in information processing speed may be a more sensitive indicator of neurologic status than mean-level performance on clinical tests. We evaluated the neural basis of increased IIV in mildly affected relapsing–remitting MS patients by characterizing the relation between IIV (controlling for mean-level performance) and white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Twenty women with relapsing–remitting MS and 20 matched control participants completed the Computerized Test of Information Processing (CTIP), from which both mean response time and IIV were calculated. Other clinical measures of information processing speed were also collected. Relations between IIV on the CTIP and DTI metrics of white matter microstructure were evaluated using tract-based spatial statistics. We observed slower and more variable responses on the CTIP in MS patients relative to controls. Significant relations between white matter microstructure and IIV were observed for MS patients. Increased IIV was associated with reduced integrity in more white matter tracts than was slowed information processing speed as measured by either mean CTIP response time or other neuropsychological test scores. Thus, despite the common use of mean-level performance as an index of cognitive dysfunction in MS, IIV may be more sensitive to the overall burden of white matter disease at the microstructural level. Furthermore, our study highlights the potential value of considering within-person fluctuations, in addition to mean-level performance, for uncovering brain–behavior relationships in neurologic disorders with widespread white matter pathology

    Negatively Charged Excitons and Photoluminescence in Asymmetric Quantum Well

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    We study photoluminescence (PL) of charged excitons (XX^-) in narrow asymmetric quantum wells in high magnetic fields B. The binding of all XX^- states strongly depends on the separation δ\delta of electron and hole layers. The most sensitive is the ``bright'' singlet, whose binding energy decreases quickly with increasing δ\delta even at relatively small B. As a result, the value of B at which the singlet--triplet crossing occurs in the XX^- spectrum also depends on δ\delta and decreases from 35 T in a symmetric 10 nm GaAs well to 16 T for δ=0.5\delta=0.5 nm. Since the critical values of δ\delta at which different XX^- states unbind are surprisingly small compared to the well width, the observation of strongly bound XX^- states in an experimental PL spectrum implies virtually no layer displacement in the sample. This casts doubt on the interpretation of PL spectra of heterojunctions in terms of XX^- recombination

    Energy spectra of fractional quantum Hall systems in the presence of a valence hole

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    The energy spectrum of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the fractional quantum Hall regime interacting with an optically injected valence band hole is studied as a function of the filling factor ν\nu and the separation dd between the electron and hole layers. The response of the 2DEG to the hole changes abruptly at dd of the order of the magnetic length λ\lambda. At d<λd<\lambda, the hole binds electrons to form neutral (XX) or charged (XX^-) excitons, and the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum probes the lifetimes and binding energies of these states rather than the original correlations of the 2DEG. The ``dressed exciton'' picture (in which the interaction between an exciton and the 2DEG was proposed to merely enhance the exciton mass) is questioned. Instead, the low energy states are explained in terms of Laughlin correlations between the constituent fermions (electrons and XX^-'s) and the formation of two-component incompressible fluid states in the electron--hole plasma. At d>2λd>2\lambda, the hole binds up to two Laughlin quasielectrons (QE) of the 2DEG to form fractionally charged excitons hhQEn_n. The previously found ``anyon exciton'' hhQE3_3 is shown to be unstable at any value of dd. The critical dependence of the stability of different hhQEn_n complexes on the presence of QE's in the 2DEG leads to the observed discontinuity of the PL spectrum at ν=13\nu={1\over3} or 23{2\over3}.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR

    Amyloid-related imaging abnormalities in the DIAN-TU-001 trial of gantenerumab and solanezumab: lessons from a trial in dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease

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    OBJECTIVE: To determine the characteristics of participants with amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) in a trial of gantenerumab or solanezumab in dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease (DIAD). METHODS: 142 DIAD mutation carriers received either gantenerumab SC (n=52), solanezumab IV (n=50), or placebo (n=40). Participants underwent assessments with the Clinical Dementia Rating® (CDR®), neuropsychological testing, CSF biomarkers, β-amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor ARIA. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses evaluated potential ARIA-related risk factors. RESULTS: Eleven participants developed ARIA-E, including 3 with mild symptoms. No ARIA-E was reported under solanezumab while gantenerumab was associated with ARIA-E compared to placebo (OR=9.1, CI[1.2, 412.3]; p=0.021). Under gantenerumab, APOE-ɛ4 carriers were more likely to develop ARIA-E (OR=5.0, CI[1.0, 30.4]; p=0.055), as were individuals with microhemorrhage at baseline (OR=13.7, CI[1.2, 163.2]; p=0.039). No ARIA-E was observed at the initial 225mg/month gantenerumab dose, and most cases were observed at doses >675mg. At first ARIA-E occurrence, all ARIA-E participants were amyloid-PET+, 60% were CDR>0, 60% were past their estimated year to symptom onset, and 60% had also incident ARIA-H. Most ARIA-E radiologically resolved after dose adjustment and developing ARIA-E did not significantly increase odds of trial discontinuation. ARIA-E was more frequently observed in the occipital lobe (90%). ARIA-E severity was associated with age at time of ARIA-E. INTERPRETATION: In DIAD, solanezumab was not associated with ARIA. Gantenerumab dose over 225mg increased ARIA-E risk, with additional risk for individuals APOE-ɛ4(+) or with microhemorrhage. ARIA-E was reversible on MRI in most cases, generally asymptomatic, without additional risk for trial discontinuation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

    Differential Function of Lip Residues in the Mechanism and Biology of an Anthrax Hemophore

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    To replicate in mammalian hosts, bacterial pathogens must acquire iron. The majority of iron is coordinated to the protoporphyrin ring of heme, which is further bound to hemoglobin. Pathogenic bacteria utilize secreted hemophores to acquire heme from heme sources such as hemoglobin. Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax disease, secretes two hemophores, IsdX1 and IsdX2, to acquire heme from host hemoglobin and enhance bacterial replication in iron-starved environments. Both proteins contain NEAr-iron Transporter (NEAT) domains, a conserved protein module that functions in heme acquisition in Gram-positive pathogens. Here, we report the structure of IsdX1, the first of a Gram-positive hemophore, with and without bound heme. Overall, IsdX1 forms an immunoglobin-like fold that contains, similar to other NEAT proteins, a 310-helix near the heme-binding site. Because the mechanistic function of this helix in NEAT proteins is not yet defined, we focused on the contribution of this region to hemophore and NEAT protein activity, both biochemically and biologically in cultured cells. Site-directed mutagenesis of amino acids in and adjacent to the helix identified residues important for heme and hemoglobin association, with some mutations affecting both properties and other mutations affecting only heme stabilization. IsdX1 with mutations that reduced the ability to associate with hemoglobin and bind heme failed to restore the growth of a hemophore-deficient strain of B. anthracis on hemoglobin as the sole iron source. These data indicate that not only is the 310-helix important for NEAT protein biology, but also that the processes of hemoglobin and heme binding can be both separate as well as coupled, the latter function being necessary for maximal heme-scavenging activity. These studies enhance our understanding of NEAT domain and hemophore function and set the stage for structure-based inhibitor design to block NEAT domain interaction with upstream ligands

    Immunochip SNP array identifies novel genetic variants conferring susceptibility to candidaemia

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    Candidaemia is the fourth most common cause of bloodstream infection, with a high mortality rate of up to 40%. Identification of host genetic factors that confer susceptibility to candidaemia may aid in designing adjunctive immunotherapeutic strategies. Here we hypothesize that variation in immune genes may predispose to candidaemia. We analyse 118,989 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across 186 loci known to be associated with immune-mediated diseases in the largest candidaemia cohort to date of 217 patients of European ancestry and a group of 11,920 controls. We validate the significant associations by comparison with a disease-matched control group. We observe significant association between candidaemia and SNPs in the CD58 (P = 1.97 x 10(-11); odds ratio (OR) = 4.68), LCE4A-C1orf68 (P = 1.98 x 10(-10); OR = 4.25) and TAGAP (P = 1.84 x 10(-8); OR = 2.96) loci. Individuals carrying two or more risk alleles have an increased risk for candidaemia of 19.4-fold compared with individuals carrying no risk allele. We identify three novel genetic risk factors for candidaemia, which we subsequently validate for their role in antifungal host defence

    Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

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    Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

    Larval And Pupal Descriptions Of Dolophilodes (Fumonta) Major (Banks)

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    Volume: 92Start Page: 85End Page: 9
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