Visualization of leukocyte transendothelial and interstitial migration using reflected light oblique transillumination in intravital video microscopy

Dynamic visualization of the intravascular events leading to the extravasation of leukocytes into tissues by intravital microscopy has significantly expanded our understanding of the underlying molecular processes. In contrast, the detailed observation of leukocyte transendothelial and interstitial migration in vivo has been hampered by the poor image contrast of cells within turbid media that is obtainable by conventional brightfield microscopy. Here we present a microscopic method, termed reflected light oblique transillumination microscopy, that makes use of the optical interference phenomena generated by oblique transillumination to visualize subtle gradients of refractive indices within tissues for enhanced image contrast. Using the mouse cremaster muscle, we demonstrate that this technique makes possible the reliable quantification of extravasated leukocytes as well as the characterization of morphological phenomena of leukocyte transendothelial and interstitial migration

On Martin-Löf convergence of Solomonoff’s mixture

We study the convergence of Solomonoff’s universal mixture on individual Martin-Löf random sequences. A new result is presented extending the work of Hutter and Muchnik (2004) by showing that there does not exist a universal mixture that converges on all Martin-Löf random sequences

Experimental field cultivation of in vitro propagated high-yield varieties of Tropaeolum majus L.

About 10,000 mass propagated clonal progenies of the medicinal plant Tropaeolum majus L. had been cultivated in an experimental field trial to analyze the large scale cultivation of nasturtium-plants for pharmaceutical utilization. The glucotropaeolin contents of the eight Tropaeolum-clones, which had been established and propagated by in vitro-culture techniques, had been monitored and compared with unselected plants from commercial seed mixtures (sm-plants). Whereas the intra-clonal variation of the glucosinolate levels was significantly lower than the variability of the sm-plants, the glucotropaeolin content in the clonal progenies was markedly lower than in both, in the clonal mother plants as well as in the sm-plants. The proposed explanation for this phenomenon is based on the fact that the genetically identical cloned plants reveal only a very narrow phenotypical amplitude, which accordingly resulted in designated glucosinolate levels due to the certain environmental situations. However, under changing conditions, the corresponding glucotropaeolin content might be much lower. In contrast, the sm-plants reveal – due to the strong genetic heterogeneity – a much broader phenotypical amplitude of their physiological characteristics. Consequently, under changing growth conditions various individual plants may accumulate high amounts of glucotropaeolin. These coherences explain both, firstly, the finding that the clonal mother plants revealed very high glucotropaeolin levels under the certain – maybe spatial limited cultivation conditions – whereas their progenies accumulate far less glucosinolates; and secondly, that the average content in the sm-plants is higher than the mean content of the clonal progenies.These data suggest that the much cheaper growing of nasturtium plants from seeds should be favoured over the more sophisticated in vitro-propagation techniques. Anyhow, for industrial farming there is one great advantage for the usage of in vitro generated Tropaeolum plants: the selected, high glucosinolate-nasturtium clones all reveal a compact growth with short tendrils. Therefore, the mechanical harvest of the corresponding clonal progenies, is quite unproblematic in comparison to the difficile harvest of sm-plants, most exhibiting tendrils of several meters

A case of Muir-Torre syndrome associated with mucinous hepatic cholangiocarcinoma and a novel germline mutation of the MSH2 gene

Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS) is a rare cancer-predisposing syndrome that is autosomal dominantly inherited and characterized by the development of sebaceous skin lesions (adenomas, epitheliomas, basaliomas and carcinomas). These lesions are typically associated with tumors that belong to the spectrum of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) (i.e. tumors of the colorectum, endometrium, stomach or ovary). Biliary malignancy in association with MTS has only rarely been reported. We report a case of Muir-Torre syndrome associated with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a location not previously described, and associated with a novel missense mutation of the MSH2 gene (c.2026T>C), predicted to disrupt the function of the gen

Electron correlation in C_(4N+2) carbon rings: aromatic vs. dimerized structures

The electronic structure of C_(4N+2) carbon rings exhibits competing many-body effects of Huckel aromaticity, second-order Jahn-Teller and Peierls instability at large sizes. This leads to possible ground state structures with aromatic, bond angle or bond length alternated geometry. Highly accurate quantum Monte Carlo results indicate the existence of a crossover between C_10 and C_14 from bond angle to bond length alternation. The aromatic isomer is always a transition state. The driving mechanism is the second-order Jahn-Teller effect which keeps the gap open at all sizes.Comment: Submitted for publication: 4 pages, 3 figures. Corrected figure

Analysis of algorithm components and parameters : some case studies

Modern high-performing algorithms are usually highly parameterised, and can be configured either manually or by an automatic algorithm configurator. The algorithm performance dataset obtained after the configuration step can be used to gain insights into how different algorithm parameters influence algorithm performance. This can be done by a number of analysis methods that exploit the idea of learning prediction models from an algorithm performance dataset and then using them for the data analysis on the importance of variables. In this paper, we demonstrate the complementary usage of three methods along this line, namely forward selection, fANOVA and ablation analysis with surrogates on three case studies, each of which represents some special situations that the analyses can fall into. By these examples, we illustrate how to interpret analysis results and discuss the advantage of combining different analysis methods.Postprin

A Parameter Study of Classical Be Star Disk Models Constrained by Optical Interferometry

We have computed theoretical models of circumstellar disks for the classical Be stars $\kappa$ Dra, $\beta$ Psc, and $\upsilon$ Cyg. Models were constructed using a non-LTE radiative transfer code developed by \citet{sig07} which incorporates a number of improvements over previous treatments of the disk thermal structure, including a realistic chemical composition. Our models are constrained by direct comparison with long baseline optical interferometric observations of the H$\alpha$ emitting regions and by contemporaneous H$\alpha$ line profiles. Detailed comparisons of our predictions with H$\alpha$ interferometry and spectroscopy place very tight constraints on the density distributions for these circumstellar disks.Comment: 10 figures,28 pages, accepted by Ap

Artificial selection reveals the energetic expense of producing larger eggs

This is the final version of the article. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: The amount of resources provided by the mother before birth has important and long-lasting effects on offspring fitness. Despite this, there is a large amount of variation in maternal investment seen in natural populations. Life-history theory predicts that this variation is maintained through a trade-off between the benefits of high maternal investment for the offspring and the costs of high investment for the mother. However, the proximate mechanisms underlying these costs of reproduction are not well understood. Here we used artificial selection for high and low maternal egg investment in a precocial bird, the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) to quantify costs of maternal reproductive investment. RESULTS: We show that females from the high maternal investment lines had significantly larger reproductive organs, which explained their overall larger body mass, and resulted in a higher resting metabolic rate (RMR). Contrary to our expectations, this increase in metabolic activity did not lead to a higher level of oxidative damage. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to provide experimental evidence for metabolic costs of increased per offspring investment.The study was financially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P3 128386 and 458 PP00P3 157455 to BT)