Secretoglobin and Transferrin Expression in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid of Horses with Chronic Respiratory Disease

Background: Lower expression of secretoglobin and transferrin has been found in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of a small number of horses with experimentally induced signs of recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) compared to healthy controls. Hypothesis/Objectives: Secretoglobin and transferrin BALF expression will be similarly decreased in horses with naturally occurring clinical signs of RAO and in horses with experimentally induced clinical signs of RAO as compared to healthy controls and intermediate in horses with inflammatory airway disease (IAD). Animals: Recurrent airway obstruction-affected and control horses were subjected to an experimental hay exposure trial to induce signs of RAO. Client-owned horses with a presumptive diagnosis of RAO and controls from the same stable environments were recruited. Methods: Pulmonary function and BALF were evaluated from control and RAO-affected research horses during an experimental hay exposure trial (n = 5 in each group) and from client-owned horses (RAO-affected horses, n = 17; IAD-affected horses, n = 19; healthy controls, n = 5). The concentrations of secretoglobin and transferrin in BALF were assessed using Western blots. Results: Naturally occurring and experimentally induced RAO horses had similar decreases in BALF transferrin expression, but secretoglobin expression was most decreased in naturally occurring RAO. Secretoglobin and transferrin expression were both lower in BALF of RAO-affected horses than in IAD-affected and control horses. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Secretoglobin and transferrin expression is decreased in BALF of RAO-affected horses after both experimental and natural exposure. Secretoglobin and transferrin likely play clinically relevant roles in the pathophysiology of RAO, and may thus be used as biomarkers of the disease

Dynamic compartmentalization of bacteria: accurate division in E. coli

Positioning of the midcell division plane within the bacterium E. coli is controlled by the min system of proteins: MinC, MinD and MinE. These proteins coherently oscillate from end to end of the bacterium. We present a reaction--diffusion model describing the diffusion of min proteins along the bacterium and their transfer between the cytoplasmic membrane and cytoplasm. Our model spontaneously generates protein oscillations in good agreement with experiments. We explore the oscillation stability, frequency and wavelength as a function of protein concentration and bacterial length.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Latex2e, Revtex

CMOS Compatible Anodic Al2O3 Based Sensors for Bacteria Detection

AbstractRapid, real-time detection of pathogenic microorganisms is an emerging evolving field of research, especially for microorganisms that pose a major threat to public health. Alumina covered interdigitated capacitive microsensors were previously designed in our laboratory for DNA hybridization electrical detection (LOD of 30 nM target DNA). The device is constructed with standard CMOS materials. We show here that when coated with an appropriate anti- Staphylococcus aureus monoclonal antibody (MoAb), this device also permits to specifically detect this bacteria. The binding of bacteria to the microsensors induce a significant capacitance shift that is proportional to the amount of immobilized bacteria, thus enabling a possible quantitative analysis

Remnants of Binary White Dwarf Mergers

We carry out a comprehensive smooth particle hydrodynamics simulation survey of double-degenerate white dwarf binary mergers of varying mass combinations in order to establish correspondence between initial conditions and remnant configurations. We find that all but one of our simulation remnants share general properties such as a cold, degenerate core surrounded by a hot disk, while our least massive pair of stars forms only a hot disk. We characterize our remnant configurations by the core mass, the rotational velocity of the core, and the half-mass radius of the disk. We also find that some of our simulations with very massive constituent stars exhibit helium detonations on the surface of the primary star before complete disruption of the secondary. However, these helium detonations are insufficiently energetic to ignite carbon, and so do not lead to prompt carbon detonations.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, Accepted to Ap

Schottky barrier lowering with the formation of crystalline Er silicide on n-Si upon thermal annealing

The evolution of the Schottky barrier height (SBH) of Er silicide contacts to n-Si is investigated as a function of the annealing temperature. The SBH is found to drop substantially from 0.43 eV for the as-deposited sample to reach 0.28 eV, its lowest value, at 450 C. By x-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the decrease in the SBH is shown to be associated with the progressive formation of crystalline ErSi2-x

On Type Ia Supernovae From The Collisions of Two White Dwarfs

We explore collisions between two white dwarfs as a pathway for making Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa). White dwarf number densities in globular clusters allow 10-100 redshift <1 collisions per year, and observations by (Chomiuk et al. 2008) of globular clusters in the nearby S0 galaxy NGC 7457 have detected what is likely to be a SNIa remnant. We carry out simulations of the collision between two 0.6 solar mass white dwarfs at various impact parameters and mass resolutions. For impact parameters less than half the radius of the white dwarf, we find such collisions produce approximately 0.4 solar masses of Ni56, making such events potential candidates for underluminous SNIa or a new class of transients between Novae and SNIa.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Measurement of the Transverse-Longitudinal Cross Sections in the p (e,e'p)pi0 Reaction in the Delta Region

Accurate measurements of the p(e,e?p)pi0 reaction were performed at Q^2=0.127(GeV/c)^2 in the Delta resonance energy region. The experiments at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator used an 820 MeV polarized electron beam with the out of plane magnetic spectrometer system (OOPS). In this paper we report the first simultaneous determination of both the TL and TL? (``fifth" or polarized) cross sections at low Q^{2} where the pion cloud contribution dominates the quadrupole amplitudes (E2 and C2). The real and imaginary parts of the transverse-longitudinal cross section provide both a sensitive determination of the Coulomb quadrupole amplitude and a test of reaction calculations. Comparisons with model calculations are presented. The empirical MAID calculation gives the best overall agreement with this accurate data. The parameters of this model for the values of the resonant multipoles are |M_{1+}(I=3/2)|= (40.9 \pm 0.3)10^{-3}/m_pi, CMR= C2/M1= -6.5 \pm 0.3%, EMR=E2/M1=-2.2 \pm 0.9%, where the errors are due to the experimental uncertainties.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, minor corrections and addition

Towards ensemble asteroseismology of the young open clusters Chi Persei and NGC 6910

As a result of the variability survey in Chi Persei and NGC6910, the number of Beta Cep stars that are members of these two open clusters is increased to twenty stars, nine in NGC6910 and eleven in Chi Persei. We compare pulsational properties, in particular the frequency spectra, of Beta Cep stars in both clusters and explain the differences in terms of the global parameters of the clusters. We also indicate that the more complicated pattern of the variability among B type stars in Chi Persei is very likely caused by higher rotational velocities of stars in this cluster. We conclude that the sample of pulsating stars in the two open clusters constitutes a very good starting point for the ensemble asteroseismology of Beta Cep-type stars and maybe also for other B-type pulsators.Comment: 4 pages, Astronomische Nachrichten, HELAS IV Conference, Arecife, Lanzarote, Feb 2010, submitte

Type Ia Supernovae as Stellar Endpoints and Cosmological Tools

Empirically, Type Ia supernovae are the most useful, precise, and mature tools for determining astronomical distances. Acting as calibrated candles they revealed the presence of dark energy and are being used to measure its properties. However, the nature of the SN Ia explosion, and the progenitors involved, have remained elusive, even after seven decades of research. But now new large surveys are bringing about a paradigm shift --- we can finally compare samples of hundreds of supernovae to isolate critical variables. As a result of this, and advances in modeling, breakthroughs in understanding all aspects of SNe Ia are finally starting to happen.Comment: Invited review for Nature Communications. Final published version. Shortened, update