Very high energy gamma-ray follow-up observations of novae and dwarf novae with the MAGIC telescopes

In the last few years the Fermi-LAT instrument has detected GeV gamma-ray emission from several novae. Such GeV emission can be interpreted in terms of inverse Compton emission from electrons accelerated in the shock or in terms of emission from hadrons accelerated in the same conditions. The latter might reach much higher energies and could produce a second component in the gamma-ray spectrum at TeV energies. We perform follow-up observations of selected novae and dwarf novae in search of the second component in TeV energy gamma rays. This can shed light on the acceleration process of leptons and hadrons in nova explosions. We have performed observations with the MAGIC telescopes of 3 sources, a symbiotic nova YY Her, a dwarf nova ASASSN-13ax and a classical nova V339 Del, shortly after their outbursts. We did not detect TeV gamma-ray emission from any of the objects observed. The TeV upper limits from MAGIC observations and the GeV detection by Fermi constrain the acceleration parameters for electrons and hadrons.Comment: Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July- 6 August, 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands. The content of this submission is similar to our paper in the Fermi Symposium of novae observations with MAGIC, which appeared as arXiv:1502.05853. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1502.0585

The synergistic effect of IFN-α and IFN-γ against HSV-2 replication in Vero cells is not interfered by the plant antiviral 1-cinnamoyl-3, 11-dihydroxymeliacarpin

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that gamma interferon (IFN-γ) synergizes with IFN-α/β to inhibit herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) replication in vitro. Since IFN response represents an early host defense event against viral infection and the fact that treatment with meliacine, a plant antiviral, ameliorate the severity of the herpetic infection in female mice infected intravaginally with HSV-2, we wanted to investigate whether the administration of meliacine to HSV-2 infected mice could altered the homoestasis of IFNs host response. For this purpose we studied the effect of the compound 1-cinnamoyl-3,11-dihydroxymeliacarpin (CDM), which is the responsible for meliacine antiviral action, on the HSV-2 inhibition exerted by IFN α, IFN-γ or their combination. RESULTS: We have found that like HSV-1, IFN-γ synergizes with IFN-α to inhibit HSV-2 replication in Vero cells. While treatment with IFN-α or IFN-γ alone has weak antiviral action, HSV-2 plaque formation, viral replication and the onset of viral CPE in Vero cells are synergistically inhibited by interferon combination. In addition, CDM treatment contributes to protect cells from virus cytopathic effect and causes a strong inhibition of HSV-2 titer. Moreover, the presence of CDM for 2 h before IFN induction, during the 16 h induction period, only for 24 h after infection or during the complete IFN treatment period, reduces virus yields in an additive way without affecting IFN antiviral action. CONCLUSION: The results reported here indicated that the presence of CDM did not alter the antiviral activity of IFN-α, IFN-γ or the synergism exerted by their combination. As a result we can envision that the administration of CDM in vivo could not affect the biological activity of IFNs, which are so important mediators of the innate resistance to HSV-2 infection

Functional analysis of archaeal MBF1 by complementation studies in yeast

Contains fulltext : 95916.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Multiprotein-bridging factor 1 (MBF1) is a transcriptional co-activator that bridges a sequence-specific activator (basic-leucine zipper (bZIP) like proteins (e.g. Gcn4 in yeast) or steroid/nuclear-hormone receptor family (e.g. FTZ-F1 in insect)) and the TATA-box binding protein (TBP) in Eukaryotes. MBF1 is absent in Bacteria, but is well- conserved in Eukaryotes and Archaea and harbors a C-terminal Cro-like Helix Turn Helix (HTH) domain, which is the only highly conserved, classical HTH domain that is vertically inherited in all Eukaryotes and Archaea. The main structural difference between archaeal MBF1 (aMBF1) and eukaryotic MBF1 is the presence of a Zn ribbon motif in aMBF1. In addition MBF1 interacting activators are absent in the archaeal domain. To study the function and therefore the evolutionary conservation of MBF1 and its single domains complementation studies in yeast (mbf1Delta) as well as domain swap experiments between aMBF1 and yMbf1 were performed. RESULTS: In contrast to previous reports for eukaryotic MBF1 (i.e. Arabidopsis thaliana, insect and human) the two archaeal MBF1 orthologs, TMBF1 from the hyperthermophile Thermoproteus tenax and MMBF1 from the mesophile Methanosarcina mazei were not functional for complementation of an Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant lacking Mbf1 (mbf1Delta). Of twelve chimeric proteins representing different combinations of the N-terminal, core domain, and the C-terminal extension from yeast and aMBF1, only the chimeric MBF1 comprising the yeast N-terminal and core domain fused to the archaeal C-terminal part was able to restore full wild-type activity of MBF1.However, as reported previously for Bombyx mori, the C-terminal part of yeast Mbf1 was shown to be not essential for function. In addition phylogenetic analyses revealed a common distribution of MBF1 in all Archaea with available genome sequence, except of two of the three Thaumarchaeota; Cenarchaeum symbiosum A and Nitrosopumilus maritimus SCM1. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of MBF1-interacting activators in the archaeal domain, the presence of a Zn ribbon motif in the divergent N-terminal domain of aMBF1 and the complementation experiments using archaeal- yeast chimeric proteins presented here suggests that archaeal MBF1 is not able to functionally interact with the transcription machinery and/or Gcn4 of S. cerevisiae. Based on modeling and structural prediction it is tempting to speculate that aMBF1 might act as a single regulator or non-essential transcription factor, which directly interacts with DNA via the positive charged linker or the basal transcription machinery via its Zn ribbon motif and the HTH domain. However, also alternative functions in ribosome biosynthesis and/or functionality have been discussed and therefore further experiments are required to unravel the function of MBF1 in Archaea

Prevalence of malocclusions in the 13-20-year-old categories of football athletes

The dentist can offer athletes improvement in their physical performance through the maintenance of oral health, preventing and treating any and all changes in the stomatognathic system, such as dental malocclusions, that compromise the athletes' performance. The objective of this study is to research the presence of dental malocclusions in athletes of the category between 13 and 20 years of age, from the São Paulo Football Club. 84 athletes participated in this study, dealing with the following topics: molar relation (Angle's classification); presence of overbite; underbite; overcrowding; abnormal spacing; open bite; and anterior, posterior, bilateral and unilateral crossbite; midline deviation and facial type (mesofacial, brachyfacial and dolichofacial). Only one table was made, showing percentages. In regard to Angle's molar relation, 89% are in Class I, 8% in Class II, 3% Class III, 9% of the athletes had overbite, 4% had underbite, 13% had overcrowding and 21% had abnormal spacing. In regard to the bite, 11% presented anterior open bite. In regard to crossbite, 7% presented unilateral crossbite on the right side and 2% on the left side; 5% presented posterior crossbite and 4% anterior crossbite. In regard to midline deviations, 4% presented deviation in the maxilla and 33% in the mandible. In regard to facial type: 39% are dolichofacial, 4% brachyfacial and 57% mesofacial. Based on the results shown, proposals for the implementation of dental, phoniatric, and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) practices are already being discussed with the multidisciplinary team of the club involved

Plywood Industry by Using Eco-efficiency Approach and LIA- Wood Balance Sheet Program

The general purposes of this study were to improve the efficiency of wood utilization and to create wood’s value added for plywood industry. To achieve the above purposes a strategy for Agro forestry Industry should be develop based on eco-efficiencyprinciples. The details of targets were: (1). to analyze critical factors in plywood industry management regarding to eco-efficiency implementation, (2) to analyze production technology that is used in plywood industry, and (3). to design a developing strategy of integrated plywood industry based on eco-efficiency principles. The result of this study show that the key factors for plywood management’s policy was environmental awareness; material utilization; and international issues. The production technology of all plywood industry in Indonesia is relatively similar. They are using the machineries of the 80’s and have the similar working procedures. The kinds of wood wastes generated from plywood industry were classified into log end, reject log end, green veneer waste, and others. The wood waste was calculated 49.52% released from 100% input log in plywood industry. There are three strategy of integrated plywood industry based on eco-efficiency, namely (1) selecting and managing of environmental impact, showing three kinds of waste which affect the environment (2) Improvement the plywood manufacturing technology, showing the newinnovation technology or process control management and (3) Development of new product from wood waste. Wood waste can be used to produce block board, laminated board, handicraft, and others

Servidor de datos y página web para el aprendizaje de SIG en la ingeniería forestal

Los Sistemas de Información geográfica (SIG) son una herramienta de trabajo habitual en el ámbito de la ingeniería forestal, tanto en la faceta de redacción de proyectos, como en la investigación sobre el medio ambiente y el territorio. Cada vez hay más información cartográfica disponible desde servidores de diferentes instituciones, por lo que consideramos que es muy útil contar con una herramienta de organización de la información. En el trabajo que se presenta, se pretende proporcionar a los estudiantes e investigadores en materia forestal un portal que contenga información actualizada y ordenada sobre los recursos existentes compatibles con los SIG. Por tanto constituiráuna herramienta de apoyo que facilitarála fase de documentación, búsqueda de datos compatibles y aprendizaje de las herramientas que sirven de base para el desarrollo de cualquier trabajo técnico o de investigación relacionado con el medio ambiente y el territorio que se apoye en los SIG