Trophonella (Gastropoda: Muricidae), a New Genus from Antarctic Waters, with the Description of a New Species

The new genus Trophonella is described from the outer shelf and upper continental slope of Antarcticaand islands within the Antarctic Convergence. Four previously known species that had been attributed to the genusTrophon (Trophon scotianus Powell, 1951; T. echinolamellatus Powell, 1951; T. enderbyensis Powell, 1958; and T.eversoni Houart, 1997) are included in Trophonella, as is one new species (Trophonella rugosolamellata) describedherein. Trophonella resembles Trophon in gross shell morphology: the members of both genera have large, globoseshells, paucispiral protoconchs, prominent axial lamellae, and short siphonal canals. Trophonella differs fromTrophon in having shells with evenly rounded whorls that lack a well-defined shoulder; rachidian teeth withdistinctive, broadly triangular central cusps, but that lack the marginal cusps of Trophon; characteristic sphericalaccessory salivary glands; and a circumpapillar fold on the penis that is absent in Trophon. Relationships of thegenera Trophon and Trophonella, as well as of the subfamily Trophoninae are reexamined by supplementing the datamatrix of Kool (1993b, Table 3) with data for additional taxa. Results support the segregation of Trophonella fromTrophon at the generic level. Based on the relationships of the type species of their respective nominotypical genera,Trophoninae is either the sister taxon of a narrowly circumscribed Ocenebrinae, or both are part of a larger clade. Abetter resolved phylogeny containing a much broader sampling of the more than 50 genus-level taxa that have beenattributed to these two subfamilies will be required in order to delineate more precisely the membership of the cladeand to identify its diagnostic synapomorphies.Fil: Harasewych, M. G.. National Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Pastorino, Roberto Santiago Guido. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; Argentin

Cyclic motion and inversion of surface flow direction in a dense polymer brush under shear

Using molecular simulations, we study the properties of a polymer brush in contact with an explicit solvent under Couette and Poiseuille flow. The solvent is comprised of chemically identical chains. We present evidence that individual, unentangled chains in the dense brush exhibit cyclic, tumbling motion and non-Gaussian fluctuations of the molecular orientations similar to the behaviour of isolated tethered chains in shear flow. The collective molecular motion gives rise to an inversion of hydrodynamic flow direction in the vicinity of the brush-coated surface. Utilising Couette and Poiseuille flow, we investigate to what extend the effect of a brush-coated surface can be described by a Navier slip condition.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted for publicatio

Comparison of Dissipative Particle Dynamics and Langevin thermostats for out-of-equilibrium simulations of polymeric systems

In this work we compare and characterize the behavior of Langevin and Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) thermostats in a broad range of non-equilibrium simulations of polymeric systems. Polymer brushes in relative sliding motion, polymeric liquids in Poiseuille and Couette flows, and brush-melt interfaces are used as model systems to analyze the efficiency and limitations of different Langevin and DPD thermostat implementations. Widely used coarse-grained bead-spring models under good and poor solvent conditions are employed to assess the effects of the thermostats. We considered equilibrium, transient, and steady state examples for testing the ability of the thermostats to maintain constant temperature and to reproduce the underlying physical phenomena in non-equilibrium situations. The common practice of switching-off the Langevin thermostat in the flow direction is also critically revisited. The efficiency of different weight functions for the DPD thermostat is quantitatively analyzed as a function of the solvent quality and the non-equilibrium situation.Comment: 12 pages, introduction improved, references added, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Frizzled receptor 6 marks rare, highly tumourigenic stem-like cells in mouse and human neuroblastomas

Copyright © 2011 Cantilena et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The article was made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Wnt signalling is an important component of vertebrate development, required for specification of the neural crest. Ten Wnt receptors [Frizzled receptor 1-10 (Fzd1-10)] have been identified so far, some of which are expressed in the developing nervous system and the neural crest. Here we show that expression of one such receptors, Fzd6, predicts poor survival in neuroblastoma patients and marks rare, HIF1/2 α-positive cells in tumour hypoxic areas. Fzd6 positive neuroblastoma cells form neurospheres with high efficiency, are resistant to doxorubicin killing and express high levels of mesenchymal markers such as Twist1 and Notch1. Expression of Fzd6 is required for the expression of genes of the noncanonical Wnt pathway and the spheres forming activity. When transplanted into immunodeficient mice, neuroblastoma cells expressing the Fzd6 marker grow more aggressively than their Fzd6 negative counterparts. We conclude that Fzd6 is a new surface marker of aggressive neuroblastoma cells with stem cell-like features.This work was sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, the RICC cancer fund, SPARKS, the Italian Association for Cancer Research, Regione Liguria and the Italian Ministry of Health

Static and dynamic properties of the interface between a polymer brush and a melt of identical chains

Molecular dynamics simulations of a short-chain polymer melt between two brush-covered surfaces under shear have been performed. The end-grafted polymers which constitute the brush have the same chemical properties as the free chains in the melt and provide a soft deformable substrate. Polymer chains are described by a coarse-grained bead-spring model with Lennard-Jones interactions between the beads and a FENE potential between nearest neighbors along the backbone of the chains. The grafting density of the brush layer offers a way of controlling the behavior of the surface without altering the molecular interactions. We perform equilibrium and non-equilibrium Molecular Dynamics simulations at constant temperature and volume using the Dissipative Particle Dynamics thermostat. The equilibrium density profiles and the behavior under shear are studied as well as the interdigitation of the melt into the brush, the orientation on different length scales (bond vectors, radius of gyration, and end-to-end vector) of free and grafted chains, and velocity profiles. The viscosity and slippage at the interface are calculated as functions of grafting density and shear velocity.Comment: 12 pages, submitted to J Chem Phy

Mean properties and Free Energy of a few hard spheres confined in a spherical cavity

We use analytical calculations and event-driven molecular dynamics simulations to study a small number of hard sphere particles in a spherical cavity. The cavity is taken also as the thermal bath so that the system thermalizes by collisions with the wall. In that way, these systems of two, three and four particles, are considered in the canonical ensemble. We characterize various mean and thermal properties for a wide range of number densities. We study the density profiles, the components of the local pressure tensor, the interface tension, and the adsorption at the wall. This spans from the ideal gas limit at low densities to the high-packing limit in which there are significant regions of the cavity for which the particles have no access, due the conjunction of excluded volume and confinement. The contact density and the pressure on the wall are obtained by simulations and compared to exact analytical results. We also obtain the excess free energy for N=4, by using a simulated-assisted approach in which we combine simulation results with the knowledge of the exact partition function for two and three particles in a spherical cavity.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures and two table

A hybrid asymptotic-FVTD method for the estimation of the radar cross section of 3D structures

The Finite Volume Time-Domain (FVTD) method is an effective full-wave technique which allows an accurate computation of the electromagnetic field. In order to analyze the scattering effects due to electrically large structures, it can be combined with methods based on high-frequency approximations. This paper proposes a hybrid technique, which combines the FVTD method with an asymptotic solver based on the physical optics (PO) and the equivalent current method (ECM), allowing the solution of electromagnetic problems in the presence of electrically large structures with small details. Preliminary numerical simulations, aimed at computing the radar cross section of perfect electric conducting (PEC) composite objects, are reported in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Improved microwave imaging procedure for non-destructive evaluations of two-dimensional structures

Improved microwave imaging procedure for nondestructive evaluations of two dimensional structures Author(s): Caorsi, S (Caorsi, S); Massa, A (Massa, A); Pastorino, M (Pastorino, M); Donelli, M (Donelli, M) Source: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION Volume: 52 Issue: 6 Pages: 1386-1397 DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2004.830254 Published: JUN 2004 Times Cited: 31 (from Web of Science) Cited References: 23 [ view related records ] Citation Map Abstract: An improved microwave procedure for detecting defects in dielectric structures is proposed. The procedure is based on the integral equations of the inverse scattering problem. A hybrid genetic algorithm (GA) is applied in order to minimize the obtained nonlinear functional. Since in nondestructive evaluations the unperturbed object is completely known, it is possible off-line to numerically compute the. Green's function for the configuration without defects. Consequently, a very significant computation saving is obtained, since the "chromosome" of the GA codes only the parameters describing the unknown defect. Accession Number: WOS:000221857300001 Document Type: Article Language: English Author Keywords: genetic algorithms (GAs); Green's function; microwave imaging; nondestructive evaluation (NDE) KeyWords Plus: GENETIC ALGORITHM; ELECTROMAGNETICS; RECONSTRUCTION Reprint Address: Caorsi, S (reprint author), Univ Pavia, Dept Elect, Via Palestro 3, I-27100 Pavia, Italy Addresses: 1. Univ Pavia, Dept Elect, I-27100 Pavia, Italy E-mail Address: [email protected] Publisher: IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC, 445 HOES LANE, PISCATAWAY, NJ 08855 USA Web of Science Category: Engineering, Electrical & Electronic; Telecommunications Subject Category: Engineering; Telecommunications IDS Number: 826VJ ISSN: 0018-926

A high-fat, high-glycaemic index, low-fibre dietary pattern is prospectively associated with type 2 diabetes in a British birth cohort

The combined association of dietary fat, glycaemic index (GI) and fibre with type 2 diabetes has rarely been investigated. The objective was to examine the relationship between a high-fat, high-GI, low-fibre dietary pattern across adult life and type 2 diabetes risk using reduced rank regression. Data were from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. Repeated measures of dietary intake estimated using 5-d diet diaries were available at the age of 36, 43 and 53 years for 1180 study members. Associations between dietary pattern scores at each age, as well as longitudinal changes in dietary pattern z-scores, and type 2 diabetes incidence (n 106) from 53 to 60-64 years were analysed. The high-fat, high-GI, low-fibre dietary pattern was characterised by low intakes of fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole-grain cereals, and high intakes of white bread, fried potatoes, processed meat and animal fats. There was an increasing trend in OR for type 2 diabetes with increasing quintile of dietary pattern z-scores at the age of 43 years among women but not among men. Women in the highest z-score quintile at the age of 43 years had an OR for type 2 diabetes of 5·45 (95 % CI 2·01, 14·79). Long-term increases in this dietary pattern, independently of BMI and waist circumference, were also detrimental among women: for each 1 sd unit increase in dietary pattern z-score between 36 and 53 years, the OR for type 2 diabetes was 1·67 (95 % CI 1·20, 2·43) independently of changes in BMI and waist circumference in the same periods. A high-fat, high-GI, low-fibre dietary pattern was associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk in middle-aged British women but not in men

Distance learning training in genetics and genomics testing for Italian health professionals: results of a pre and post-test evaluation

BACKGROUND: Progressive advances in technologies for DNA sequencing and decreasing costs are allowing an easier diffusion of genetic and genomic tests. Physicians' knowledge and confidence on the topic is often low and not suitable for manage this challenge. Tailored educational programs are required to reach a more and more appropriate use of genetic technologies. METHODS: A distance learning course has been created by experts from different Italian medical associations with the support of the Italian Ministry of Health. The course was directed to professional figures involved in prescription and interpretation of genetic tests. A pretest-post-test study design was used to assess knowledge improvement. We analyzed the proportion of correct answers for each question pre and post-test, as well as the mean score difference stratified by gender, age, professional status and medical specialty. RESULTS: We reported an improvement in the proportion of correct answers for 12 over 15 questions of the test. The overall mean score to the questions significantly increased in the post-test, from 9.44 to 12.49 (p-value < 0.0001). In the stratified analysis we reported an improvement in the knowledge of all the groups except for geneticists; the pre-course mean score of this group was already very high and did not improve significantly. CONCLUSION: Distance learning is effective in improving the level of genetic knowledge. In the future, it will be useful to analyze which specialists have more advantage from genetic education, in order to plan more tailored education for medical professionals