Simulating Turing Machines with Polarizationless P Systems with Active Membranes

We prove that every single-tape deterministic Turing machine working in t(n) t(n) time, for some function t:N→N t:N→N , can be simulated by a uniform family of polarizationless P systems with active membranes. Moreover, this is done without significant slowdown in the working time. Furthermore, if logt(n) log⁡t(n) is space constructible, then the members of the uniform family can be constructed by a family machine that uses O(logt(n)) O(log⁡t(n)) space.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2012-3743

Population Genetics of Franciscana Dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei): Introducing a New Population from the Southern Edge of Their Distribution

Due to anthropogenic factors, the franciscana dolphin, Pontoporia blainvillei, is the most threatened small cetacean on the Atlantic coast of South America. Four Franciscana Management Areas have been proposed: Espiritu Santo to Rio de Janeiro (FMA I), São Paulo to Santa Catarina (FMA II), Rio Grande do Sul to Uruguay (FMA III), and Argentina (FMA IV). Further genetic studies distinguished additional populations within these FMAs. We analyzed the population structure, phylogeography, and demographic history in the southernmost portion of the species range. From the analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences, 5 novel haplotypes were found, totalizing 60 haplotypes for the entire distribution range. The haplotype network did not show an apparent phylogeographical signal for the southern FMAs. Two populations were identified: Monte Hermoso (MH) and Necochea (NC)+Claromecó (CL)+Río Negro (RN). The low levels of genetic variability, the relative constant size over time, and the low levels of gene flow may indicate that MH has been colonized by a few maternal lineages and became isolated from geographically close populations. The apparent increase in NC+CL+RN size would be consistent with the higher genetic variability found, since genetic diversity is generally higher in older and expanding populations. Additionally, RN may have experienced a recent split from CL and NC; current high levels of gene flow may be occurring between the latter ones. FMA IV would comprise four franciscana dolphin populations: Samborombón West+Samborombón South, Cabo San Antonio+Buenos Aires East, NC+CL+Buenos Aires Southwest+RN and MH. Results achieved in this study need to be taken into account in order to ensure the long-term survival of the species.Fil: Gariboldi, María Constanza. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; ArgentinaFil: Tunez, Juan Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Luján; ArgentinaFil: Dejean, Cristina Beatriz. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas. Sección Antropología Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Failla, Mauricio. Fundación Cethus; ArgentinaFil: Vitullo, Alfredo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; ArgentinaFil: Negri, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; ArgentinaFil: Cappozzo, Humberto Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; Argentin

The Spinal Cord Expression of Neuronal and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthases and Their Contribution in the Maintenance of Neuropathic Pain in Mice

Background: Nitric oxide generated by neuronal (NOS1), inducible (NOS2) or endothelial (NOS3) nitric oxide synthases contributes to pain processing, but the exact role of NOS1 and NOS2 in the maintenance of chronic peripheral neuropathic pain as well as the possible compensatory changes in their expression in the spinal cord of wild type (WT) and NOS knockout (KO) mice at 21 days after total sciatic nerve ligation remains unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings: The mechanical and thermal allodynia as well as thermal hyperalgesia induced by sciatic nerve injury was evaluated in WT, NOS1-KO and NOS2-KO mice from 1 to 21 days after surgery. The mRNA and protein levels of NOS1, NOS2 and NOS3 in the spinal cord of WT and KO mice, at 21 days after surgery, were also assessed. Sciatic nerve injury led to a neuropathic syndrome in WT mice, in contrast to the abolished mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia as well as the decreased or suppressed thermal allodynia observed in NOS1-KO and NOS2-KO animals, respectively. Sciatic nerve injury also increases the spinal cord expression of NOS1 and NOS2 isoforms, but not of NOS3, in WT and NOS1-KO mice respectively. Moreover, the presence of NOS2 is required to increase the spinal cord expression of NOS1 whereas an increased NOS1 expression might avoid the up-regulation of NOS2 in the spinal cord of nerve injured WT mice. Conclusions/Significance: These data suggest that the increased spinal cord expression of NOS1, regulated by NOS2, might be responsible for the maintenance of chronic peripheral neuropathic pain in mice and propose these enzymes as interesting therapeutic targets for their treatment

Drivers of population structure of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

The drivers of population differentiation in oceanic high dispersal organisms, have been crucial for research in evolutionary biology. Adaptation to different environments is commonly invoked as a driver of differentiation in the oceans, in alternative to geographic isolation. In this study, we investigate the population structure and phylogeography of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the Mediterranean Sea, using microsatellite loci and the entire mtDNA control region. By further comparing the Mediterranean populations with the well described Atlantic populations, we addressed the following hypotheses: (1) bottlenose dolphins show population structure within the environmentally complex Eastern Mediterranean Sea; (2) population structure was gained locally or otherwise results from chance distribution of preexisting genetic structure; (3) strong demographic variations within the Mediterranean basin have affected genetic variation sufficiently to bias detected patterns of population structure. Our results suggest that bottlenose dolphin exhibits population structures that correspond well to the main Mediterranean oceanographic basins. Furthermore, we found evidence for fine scale population division within the Adriatic and the Levantine seas. We further describe for the first time, a distinction between populations inhabiting pelagic and coastal regions within the Mediterranean. Phylogeographic analysis suggests that current genetic structure, results mostly from stochastic distribution of Atlantic genetic variation, during a recent postglacial expansion. Comparison with Atlantic mtDNA haplotypes, further suggest the existence of a metapopulation across North Atlantic/Mediterranean, with pelagic regions acting as source for coastal environments

Epidemiological and some clinical characteristics of neuroblastoma in Mexican children (1996–2005)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuroblastoma (NB) is the principal tumor of the sympathetic nervous system in children under one year of age. The incidence in developed countries is greater than that in developing countries. The aim of this article is to present the epidemiological and some clinical characteristics of Mexican children with NB.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A population-based, prolective study, with data obtained from the Childhood Cancer Registry of the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social. Statistical analysis: The simple frequencies of the variables of the study and the annual average incidence (per 1,000,000 children/years) by age and sex were obtained. The trend was evaluated by calculating the annual percentage of change. The curves of Kaplan-Meyer were employed for the survival rate and the log-rank test was used to compare the curves.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of a total of 2,758 children with cancer registered during the period from 1996–2005, 72 (2.6%) were identified as having Group IV, defined according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer. The incidence for NB was 3.8 per 1,000,000 children/year; NB was highest in the group of children under one year of age, followed by the group of children between the ages 1–4 years (18.5 and 5.4 per 1,000,000 children/years, respectively). The male/female ratio was 1.1 and there was no trend toward an increase. The time of diagnosis was 26 days (median), but varied according to the stage at diagnosis. Stages III and IV were presented in 88% of the cases. There was no association between the stage, the age at time of diagnosis, or the histological pattern. The overall five-year survival rate was 64%; the patients with stage I, II, III, or IVs did not die; and the five-year survival rate of cases in Stage IV was 40%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is possible that the low incidence of neuroblastoma in Mexican children is due to the difficulty in diagnosing the cases with the best prognosis, some of which could have had spontaneous regression. There was no trend to an increase; the majority of the cases were diagnosed in the advanced stages; and the overall five-years survival rate was similar to that for developed countries.</p

Mitochondrial Control Region and microsatellite analyses on harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) unravel population differentiation in the Baltic Sea and adjacent waters

The population status of the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in the Baltic area has been a continuous matter of debate. Here we present the by far most comprehensive genetic population structure assessment to date for this region, both with regard to geographic coverage and sample size: 497 porpoise samples from North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, Belt Sea, and Inner Baltic Sea were sequenced at the mitochondrial Control Region and 305 of these specimens were typed at 15 polymorphic microsatellite loci. Samples were stratified according to sample type (stranding vs. by-caught), sex, and season (breeding vs. non-breeding season). Our data provide ample evidence for a population split between the Skagerrak and the Belt Sea, with a transition zone in the Kattegat area. Among other measures, this was particularly visible in significant frequency shifts of the most abundant mitochondrial haplotypes. A particular haplotype almost absent in the North Sea was the most abundant in Belt Sea and Inner Baltic Sea. Microsatellites yielded a similar pattern (i.e., turnover in occurrence of clusters identified by STRUCTURE). Moreover, a highly significant association between microsatellite assignment and unlinked mitochondrial haplotypes further indicates a split between North Sea and Baltic porpoises. For the Inner Baltic Sea, we consistently recovered a small, but significant separation from the Belt Sea population. Despite recent arguments that separation should exceed a predefined threshold before populations shall be managed separately, we argue in favour of precautionary acknowledging the Inner Baltic porpoises as a separate management unit, which should receive particular attention, as it is threatened by various factors, in particular local fishery measures. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

A search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks is performed in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The signal is characterized by a large missing transverse momentum recoiling against a bottom quark-antiquark system that has a large Lorentz boost. The number of events observed in the data is consistent with the standard model background prediction. Results are interpreted in terms of limits both on parameters of the type-2 two-Higgs doublet model extended by an additional light pseudoscalar boson a (2HDM+a) and on parameters of a baryonic Z simplified model. The 2HDM+a model is tested experimentally for the first time. For the baryonic Z model, the presented results constitute the most stringent constraints to date.Peer reviewe

Search for strongly interacting massive particles generating trackless jets in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A search for dark matter in the form of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) using the CMS detector at the LHC is presented. The SIMPs would be produced in pairs that manifest themselves as pairs of jets without tracks. The energy fraction of jets carried by charged particles is used as a key discriminator to suppress efficiently the large multijet background, and the remaining background is estimated directly from data. The search is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 16.1 fb - 1 , collected with the CMS detector in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. For the simplified dark matter model under consideration, SIMPs with masses up to 100 GeV are excluded and further sensitivity is explored towards higher masses

Evidence for Top Quark Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

Peer reviewe