The ArT\'eMiS wide-field submillimeter camera: preliminary on-sky performances at 350 microns

ArTeMiS is a wide-field submillimeter camera operating at three wavelengths simultaneously (200, 350 and 450 microns). A preliminary version of the instrument equipped with the 350 microns focal plane, has been successfully installed and tested on APEX telescope in Chile during the 2013 and 2014 austral winters. This instrument is developed by CEA (Saclay and Grenoble, France), IAS (France) and University of Manchester (UK) in collaboration with ESO. We introduce the mechanical and optical design, as well as the cryogenics and electronics of the ArTeMiS camera. ArTeMiS detectors are similar to the ones developed for the Herschel PACS photometer but they are adapted to the high optical load encountered at APEX site. Ultimately, ArTeMiS will contain 4 sub-arrays at 200 microns and 2x8 sub-arrays at 350 and 450 microns. We show preliminary lab measurements like the responsivity of the instrument to hot and cold loads illumination and NEP calculation. Details on the on-sky commissioning runs made in 2013 and 2014 at APEX are shown. We used planets (Mars, Saturn, Uranus) to determine the flat-field and to get the flux calibration. A pointing model was established in the first days of the runs. The average relative pointing accuracy is 3 arcsec. The beam at 350 microns has been estimated to be 8.5 arcsec, which is in good agreement with the beam of the 12 m APEX dish. Several observing modes have been tested, like On-The-Fly for beam-maps or large maps, spirals or raster of spirals for compact sources. With this preliminary version of ArTeMiS, we concluded that the mapping speed is already more than 5 times better than the previous 350 microns instrument at APEX. The median NEFD at 350 microns is 600 mJy.s1/2, with best values at 300 mJy.s1/2. The complete instrument with 5760 pixels and optimized settings will be installed during the first half of 2015.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, June 24, 2014. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 915

SPICES: Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems

SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) is a five-year M-class mission proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450 - 900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40 using both spectroscopy and polarimetry. By 2020/22, present and near-term instruments will have found several tens of planets that SPICES will be able to observe and study in detail. Equipped with a 1.5 m telescope, SPICES can preferentially access exoplanets located at several AUs (0.5-10 AU) from nearby stars ($<$25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths ($\sim$2 Earth radii, $\sim$10 M$_{\oplus}$) as well as circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System

SPICES: Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems - From Planetary Disks To Nearby Super Earths

SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) is a five-year M-class mission proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450-900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40 using both spectroscopy and polarimetry. By 2020/2022, present and near-term instruments will have found several tens of planets that SPICES will be able to observe and study in detail. Equipped with a 1.5 m telescope, SPICES can preferentially access exoplanets located at several AUs (0.5-10 AU) from nearby stars (less than 25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths (approximately 2 Earth radii, approximately 10 mass compared to Earth) as well as circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System

Comparative in vitro activity of Meropenem, Imipenem and Piperacillin/tazobactam against 1071 clinical isolates using 2 different methods: a French multicentre study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Meropenem is a carbapenem that has an excellent activity against many gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic, facultative, and anaerobic bacteria. The major objective of the present study was to assess the <it>in vitro </it>activity of meropenem compared to imipenem and piperacillin/tazobactam, against 1071 non-repetitive isolates collected from patients with bacteremia (55%), pneumonia (29%), peritonitis (12%) and wound infections (3%), in 15 French hospitals in 2006. The secondary aim of the study was to compare the results of routinely testings and those obtained by a referent laboratory.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>Susceptibility testing and Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of meropenem, imipenem and piperacillin/tazobactam were determined locally by Etest method. Susceptibility to meropenem was confirmed at a central laboratory by disc diffusion method and MICs determined by agar dilution method for meropenem, imipenem and piperacillin/tazobactam.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cumulative susceptibility rates against <it>Escherichia coli </it>were, meropenem and imipenem: 100% and piperacillin/tazobactam: 90%. Against other <it>Enterobacteriaceae</it>, the rates were meropenem: 99%, imipenem: 98% and piperacillin/tazobactam: 90%. All <it>Staphylococci</it>, <it>Streptococci </it>and anaerobes were susceptible to the three antibiotics. Against non fermeters, meropenem was active on 84-94% of the strains, imipenem on 84-98% of the strains and piperacillin/tazobactam on 90-100% of the strains.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Compared to imipenem, meropenem displays lower MICs against <it>Enterobacteriaceae</it>, <it>Escherichia coli </it>and <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</it>. Except for non fermenters, MICs90 of carbapenems were <4 mg/L. Piperacillin/tazobactam was less active against <it>Enterobacteriaceae </it>and <it>Acinetobacter </it>but not <it>P. aeruginosa</it>. Some discrepancies were noted between MICs determined by Etest accross centres and MICs determined by agar dilution method at the central laboratory. Discrepancies were more common for imipenem testing and more frequently related to a few centres. Overall MICs determined by Etest were in general higher (0.5 log to 1 log fold) than MICs by agar dilution.</p

(Homo)glutathione Deficiency Impairs Root-knot Nematode Development in Medicago truncatula

Root-knot nematodes (RKN) are obligatory plant parasitic worms that establish and maintain an intimate relationship with their host plants. During a compatible interaction, RKN induce the redifferentiation of root cells into multinucleate and hypertrophied giant cells essential for nematode growth and reproduction. These metabolically active feeding cells constitute the exclusive source of nutrients for the nematode. Detailed analysis of glutathione (GSH) and homoglutathione (hGSH) metabolism demonstrated the importance of these compounds for the success of nematode infection in Medicago truncatula. We reported quantification of GSH and hGSH and gene expression analysis showing that (h)GSH metabolism in neoformed gall organs differs from that in uninfected roots. Depletion of (h)GSH content impaired nematode egg mass formation and modified the sex ratio. In addition, gene expression and metabolomic analyses showed a substantial modification of starch and γ-aminobutyrate metabolism and of malate and glucose content in (h)GSH-depleted galls. Interestingly, these modifications did not occur in (h)GSH-depleted roots. These various results suggest that (h)GSH have a key role in the regulation of giant cell metabolism. The discovery of these specific plant regulatory elements could lead to the development of new pest management strategies against nematodes

CBP-HSF2 structural and functional interplay in Rubinstein-Taybi neurodevelopmental disorder

Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RSTS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with unclear underlying mechanisms. Here, the authors unravel the contribution of a stress-responsive pathway to RSTS where impaired HSF2 acetylation, due to RSTS-associated CBP/EP300 mutations, alters the expression of neurodevelopmental players, in keeping with hallmarks of cell-cell adhesion defects.Patients carrying autosomal dominant mutations in the histone/lysine acetyl transferases CBP or EP300 develop a neurodevelopmental disorder: Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RSTS). The biological pathways underlying these neurodevelopmental defects remain elusive. Here, we unravel the contribution of a stress-responsive pathway to RSTS. We characterize the structural and functional interaction between CBP/EP300 and heat-shock factor 2 (HSF2), a tuner of brain cortical development and major player in prenatal stress responses in the neocortex: CBP/EP300 acetylates HSF2, leading to the stabilization of the HSF2 protein. Consequently, RSTS patient-derived primary cells show decreased levels of HSF2 and HSF2-dependent alteration in their repertoire of molecular chaperones and stress response. Moreover, we unravel a CBP/EP300-HSF2-N-cadherin cascade that is also active in neurodevelopmental contexts, and show that its deregulation disturbs neuroepithelial integrity in 2D and 3D organoid models of cerebral development, generated from RSTS patient-derived iPSC cells, providing a molecular reading key for this complex pathology.</p

Association of the PHACTR1/EDN1 genetic locus with spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Background: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an increasingly recognized cause of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) afflicting predominantly younger to middle-aged women. Observational studies have reported a high prevalence of extracoronary vascular anomalies, especially fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) and a low prevalence of coincidental cases of atherosclerosis. PHACTR1/EDN1 is a genetic risk locus for several vascular diseases, including FMD and coronary artery disease, with the putative causal noncoding variant at the rs9349379 locus acting as a potential enhancer for the endothelin-1 (EDN1) gene. Objectives: This study sought to test the association between the rs9349379 genotype and SCAD. Methods: Results from case control studies from France, United Kingdom, United States, and Australia were analyzed to test the association with SCAD risk, including age at first event, pregnancy-associated SCAD (P-SCAD), and recurrent SCAD. Results: The previously reported risk allele for FMD (rs9349379-A) was associated with a higher risk of SCAD in all studies. In a meta-analysis of 1,055 SCAD patients and 7,190 controls, the odds ratio (OR) was 1.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.50 to 1.86) per copy of rs9349379-A. In a subset of 491 SCAD patients, the OR estimate was found to be higher for the association with SCAD in patients without FMD (OR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.53 to 2.33) than in SCAD cases with FMD (OR: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.28 to 1.99). There was no effect of genotype on age at first event, P-SCAD, or recurrence. Conclusions: The first genetic risk factor for SCAD was identified in the largest study conducted to date for this condition. This genetic link may contribute to the clinical overlap between SCAD and FMD

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements