The Tabby cat locus maps to feline chromosome B1.

The Tabby markings of the domestic cat are unique coat patterns for which no causative candidate gene has been inferred from other mammals. In this study, a genome scan was performed on a large pedigree of cats that segregated for Tabby coat markings, specifically for the Abyssinian (Ta-) and blotched (tbtb) phenotypes. There was linkage between the Tabby locus and eight markers on cat chromosome B1. The most significant linkage was between marker FCA700 and Tabby (Z = 7.56, theta = 0.03). Two additional markers in the region supported linkage, although not with significant LOD scores. Pairwise analysis of the markers supported the published genetic map of the cat, although additional meioses are required to refine the region. The linked markers cover a 17-cM region and flank an evolutionary breakpoint, suggesting that the Tabby gene has a homologue on either human chromosome 4 or 8. Alternatively, Tabby could be a unique locus in cats

Electrically tunable GHz oscillations in doped GaAs-AlAs superlattices

Tunable oscillatory modes of electric-field domains in doped semiconductor superlattices are reported. The experimental investigations demonstrate the realization of tunable, GHz frequencies in GaAs-AlAs superlattices covering the temperature region from 5 to 300 K. The orgin of the tunable oscillatory modes is determined using an analytical and a numerical modeling of the dynamics of domain formation. Three different oscillatory modes are found. Their presence depends on the actual shape of the drift velocity curve, the doping density, the boundary condition, and the length of the superlattice. For most bias regions, the self-sustained oscillations are due to the formation, motion, and recycling of the domain boundary inside the superlattice. For some biases, the strengths of the low and high field domain change periodically in time with the domain boundary being pinned within a few quantum wells. The dependency of the frequency on the coupling leads to the prediction of a new type of tunable GHz oscillator based on semiconductor superlattices.Comment: Tex file (20 pages) and 16 postscript figure

A Layer Correlation Technique for ATLAS Calorimetry Calibration at the 2004 ATLAS Combined Beam Test

A method for calibrating the response of a segmented calorimeter to hadrons is developed. The ansatz is that information on longitudinal shower fluctuations gained from a principal component analysis of the layer energy depositions can improve energy resolution by correcting for hadronic invisible energy and dead material losses: projections along the eigenvectors of the correlation matrix are used as input for the calibration. The technique is used to reconstruct the energy of pions impinging on the ATLAS calorimeters during the 2004 Barrel Combined Beam Test at the CERN H8 area. Simulated Monte Carlo events are used to derive corrections for invisible energy lost in nuclear reactions and in dead material in front and in between the calorimeters. For pion beams with energies between 20 and 180 GeV, the particle energy is reconstructed within 3% and the resolution is improved by about 20%

Quasiperiodic time dependent current in driven superlattices: distorted Poincare maps and strange attractors

Intriguing routes to chaos have been experimentally observed in semiconductor superlattices driven by an ac field. In this work, a theoretical model of time dependent transport in ac driven superlattices is numerically solved. In agreement with experiments, distorted Poincare maps in the quasiperiodic regime are found. They indicate the appearance of very complex attractors and routes to chaos as the amplitude of the AC signal increases. Distorted maps are caused by the discrete well-to-well jump motion of a domain wall during spiky high-frequency self-sustained oscillations of the current.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

The role of prestimulus activity in visual extinction.

Patients with visual extinction following right-hemisphere damage sometimes see and sometimes miss stimuli in the left visual field, particularly when stimuli are presented simultaneously to both visual fields. Awareness of left visual field stimuli is associated with increased activity in bilateral parietal and frontal cortex. However, it is unknown why patients see or miss these stimuli. Previous neuroimaging studies in healthy adults show that prestimulus activity biases perceptual decisions, and biases in visual perception can be attributed to fluctuations in prestimulus activity in task relevant brain regions. Here, we used functional MRI to investigate whether prestimulus activity affected perception in the context of visual extinction following stroke. We measured prestimulus activity in stimulus-responsive cortical areas during an extinction paradigm in a patient with unilateral right parietal damage and visual extinction. This allowed us to compare prestimulus activity on physically identical bilateral trials that either did or did not lead to visual extinction. We found significantly increased activity prior to stimulus presentation in two areas that were also activated by visual stimulation: the left calcarine sulcus and right occipital inferior cortex. Using dynamic causal modelling (DCM) we found that both these differences in prestimulus activity and stimulus evoked responses could be explained by enhanced effective connectivity within and between visual areas, prior to stimulus presentation. Thus, we provide evidence for the idea that differences in ongoing neural activity in visually responsive areas prior to stimulus onset affect awareness in visual extinction, and that these differences are mediated by fluctuations in extrinsic and intrinsic connectivity

CXCL13 in patients with facial palsy caused by varicella zoster virus and Borrelia burgdorferi: a comparative study

High cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of the chemokine CXCL13 have been associated with Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), and have recently been studied as a potential diagnostic marker. It has proven difficult to establish a reliable diagnostic cut-off, possibly in part due to heterogenicity of case–control groups. Our purpose was to investigate CSF CXCL13 concentrations in patients with similar clinical presentations, facial palsy. We retrospectively included patients with facial palsy associated with LNB (n = 21), or varicella zoster virus (VZV) (n = 26). Median CXCL13 concentrations were significantly higher in patients with LNB facial palsy compared to VZV facial palsy. Receiver-operating characteristic analyses yielded an optimal cut-off concentration at 34.5 pg/mL (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity of 84.6%), lower than that in previous studies. Although the analysis has potential, it is still not adequately established that CXCL13 provides additional, clinically useful, diagnostic information over current recommendations

Measurement of miniband parameters of a doped superlattice by photoluminescence in high magnetic fields

We have studied a 50/50\AA superlattice of GaAs/Al$_{0.21}$Ga$_{0.79}$As composition, modulation-doped with Si, to produce $n=1.4\times 10^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$ electrons per superlattice period. The modulation-doping was tailored to avoid the formation of Tamm states, and photoluminescence due to interband transitions from extended superlattice states was detected. By studying the effects of a quantizing magnetic field on the superlattice photoluminescence, the miniband energy width, the reduced effective mass of the electron-hole pair, and the band gap renormalization could be deduced.Comment: minor typing errors (minus sign in eq. (5)