Mendelian Inheritance Pattern and High Mutation Rates of Microsatellite Alleles in the Diatom Pseudo-nitzchia multistriata

The diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata exhibits a diplontic life cycle composed of an extensive phase of vegetative cell division and a brief phase of sexual reproduction. To explore genotypic stability, we genotyped seven polymorphic microsatellite loci in 26 monoclonal strains over 3–16 months in a culture maintenance regime. Moreover, to assess inheritance patterns of the microsatellite alleles, we genotyped 246 F1 strains resulting from four mating experiments between parental strains of know genotype. Results generally conformed expectations according to Mendelian inheritance patterns, but deviations were detected indicating mutations during sexual reproduction. A total of forty-two mutations were detected in the clonal cultures over time. Microsatellites with more core-repeats accumulated mutations faster. The mutation rate varied significantly across loci and strains. A binomial mass function and a computer simulation showed that the mutation rate was significantly higher during the first months of culture (μ≈3×10-3 per locus per cell division) and decreased to μ≈1×10-3 in the strains kept for 16 months. Our results suggest that genetic mutations acquired in both the vegetative phase and sexual reproduction add to the allelic diversity of microsatellites, and hence to the genotypic variation present in a natural population

Filling the Gap: New Precise Early Cretaceous Radioisotopic Ages from the Andes

Two tuffs in the Lower Cretaceous Agrio Formation, Neuquén Basin, provided U–Pb zircon radioisotopic ages of 129.09 ± 0.16 Ma and 127.42 ± 0.15 Ma. Both horizons are well constrained biostratigraphically by ammonites and nannofossils and can be correlated with the ‘standard’ sequence of the Mediterranean Province. The lower horizon is very close to the base of the Upper Hauterivian and the upper horizon to the Hauterivian/Barremian boundary, indicating that the former lies at c. 129.5 Ma and the latter at c. 127 Ma. These new radioisotopic ages fill a gap of over 8 million years in the numerical calibration of the current global Early Cretaceous geological time scale

MÍDIA E PSICOLOGIA: UMA REVISÃO DE LITERATURA

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo realizar uma revisão de literatura a fim de identificar a produção sobre mídia desenvolvida pela área da psicologia no Brasil. Para tanto, foram feitos levantamentos em bases de dados nacionais, utilizando duas combinações de descritores: mídia e psicologia; comunicação e psicologia. Com os dados obtidos foi possível verificar a exígua produção sobre o tema. Por meio da análise dos artigos foram identificados autores e instituições que se destacam na produção do conhecimento sobre o assunto. Também, verificou-se que a mídia aparece nos artigos tanto como objeto de estudo, quanto como instrumento para coleta de informações. A análise apontou que o interesse pela psicologia em pesquisar a mídia aumentou na última década. Nos últimos anos, o meio digital vem ganhando destaque entre as pesquisas. Por fim, espera-se que esta pesquisa, além de apresentar um panorama da produção acadêmica da psicologia brasileira sobre mídia, possa apontar as lacunas, indicando novas e urgentes possibilidades de investigação sobre a interface mídia e psicologia

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version

Superior induction and maintenance of protective CD8 T cells in mice infected with mouse cytomegalovirus vector expressing RAE-1

Due to a unique pattern of CD8 T-cell response induced by cytomegaloviruses (CMVs), live attenuated CMVs are attractive candidates for vaccine vectors for a number of clinically relevant infections and tumors. NKG2D is one of the most important activating NK cell receptors that plays a role in costimulation of CD8 T cells. Here we demonstrate that the expression of CD8 T-cell epitope of Listeria monocytogenes by a recombinant mouse CMV (MCMV) expressing the NKG2D ligand retinoic acid early-inducible protein 1-gamma (RAE-1γ) dramatically enhanced the effectiveness and longevity of epitope-specific CD8 T-cell response and conferred protection against a subsequent challenge infection with Listeria monocytogenes. Unexpectedly, theattenuatedgrowth in vivo of the CMV vector expressing RAE-1γ and its capacity to enhance specific CD8 T-cell response were preserved even in mice lacking NKG2D, implying additional immune function for RAE-1γ beyond engagement of NKG2D. Thus, vectors expressing RAE-1γ represent a promising approach in the development of CD8 T-cell– based vaccine

TLR9-Dependent and Independent Pathways Drive Activation of the Immune System by Propionibacterium Acnes

Propionibacterium acnes is usually a relatively harmless commensal. However, under certain, poorly understood conditions it is implicated in the etiology of specific inflammatory diseases. In mice, P. acnes exhibits strong immunomodulatory activity leading to splenomegaly, intrahepatic granuloma formation, hypersensitivity to TLR ligands and endogenous cytokines, and enhanced resistance to infection. All these activities reach a maximum one week after P. acnes priming and require IFN-γ and TLR9. We report here the existence of a markedly delayed (1–2 weeks), but phenotypically similar TLR9-independent immunomodulatory response to P. acnes. This alternative immunomodulation is also IFN-γ dependent and requires functional MyD88. From our experiments, a role for MyD88 in the IFN-γ-mediated P. acnes effects seems unlikely and the participation of the known MyD88-dependent receptors, including TLR5, Unc93B-dependent TLRs, IL-1R and IL-18R in the development of the alternative response has been excluded. However, the crucial role of MyD88 can partly be attributed to TLR2 and TLR4 involvement. Either of these two TLRs, activated by bacteria and/or endogenously generated ligands, can fulfill the required function. Our findings hint at an innate immune sensitizing mechanism, which is potentially operative in both infectious and sterile inflammatory disorders

Erratum: “The eighth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: first data from SDSS-III” (2011, ApJS, 193, 29)

Section 3.5 of Aihara et al. (2011) described various sources of systematic error in the astrometry of the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In addition to these sources of error, there is an additional and more serious error, which introduces a large systematic shift in the astrometry over a large area around the north celestial pole. The region has irregular boundaries but in places extends as far south as declination δ ≈ 41◦. The sense of the shift is that the positions of all sources in the affected area are offset by roughly 250 mas in a northwest direction. We have updated the SDSS online documentation to reflect these errors, and to provide detailed quality information for each SDSS field

The 16th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release from the APOGEE-2 Southern Survey and Full Release of eBOSS Spectra

This paper documents the 16th data release (DR16) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS), the fourth and penultimate from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). This is the first release of data from the Southern Hemisphere survey of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2); new data from APOGEE-2 North are also included. DR16 is also notable as the final data release for the main cosmological program of the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), and all raw and reduced spectra from that project are released here. DR16 also includes all the data from the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey and new data from the SPectroscopic IDentification of ERosita Survey programs, both of which were co-observed on eBOSS plates. DR16 has no new data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey (or the MaNGA Stellar Library "MaStar"). We also preview future SDSS-V operations (due to start in 2020), and summarize plans for the final SDSS-IV data release (DR17)

SDSS-III: Massive Spectroscopic Surveys of the Distant Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems

Building on the legacy of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I and II), SDSS-III is a program of four spectroscopic surveys on three scientific themes: dark energy and cosmological parameters, the history and structure of the Milky Way, and the population of giant planets around other stars. In keeping with SDSS tradition, SDSS-III will provide regular public releases of all its data, beginning with SDSS DR8 (which occurred in Jan 2011). This paper presents an overview of the four SDSS-III surveys. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.5 million massive galaxies and Lya forest spectra of 150,000 quasars, using the BAO feature of large scale structure to obtain percent-level determinations of the distance scale and Hubble expansion rate at z<0.7 and at z~2.5. SEGUE-2, which is now completed, measured medium-resolution (R=1800) optical spectra of 118,000 stars in a variety of target categories, probing chemical evolution, stellar kinematics and substructure, and the mass profile of the dark matter halo from the solar neighborhood to distances of 100 kpc. APOGEE will obtain high-resolution (R~30,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N>100 per resolution element), H-band (1.51-1.70 micron) spectra of 10^5 evolved, late-type stars, measuring separate abundances for ~15 elements per star and creating the first high-precision spectroscopic survey of all Galactic stellar populations (bulge, bar, disks, halo) with a uniform set of stellar tracers and spectral diagnostics. MARVELS will monitor radial velocities of more than 8000 FGK stars with the sensitivity and cadence (10-40 m/s, ~24 visits per star) needed to detect giant planets with periods up to two years, providing an unprecedented data set for understanding the formation and dynamical evolution of giant planet systems. (Abridged)Comment: Revised to version published in The Astronomical Journa

The 16th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release from the APOGEE-2 Southern Survey and Full Release of eBOSS Spectra

This paper documents the 16th data release (DR16) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS), the fourth and penultimate from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). This is the first release of data from the Southern Hemisphere survey of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2); new data from APOGEE-2 North are also included. DR16 is also notable as the final data release for the main cosmological program of the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), and all raw and reduced spectra from that project are released here. DR16 also includes all the data from the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey and new data from the SPectroscopic IDentification of ERosita Survey programs, both of which were co-observed on eBOSS plates. DR16 has no new data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey (or the MaNGA Stellar Library "MaStar"). We also preview future SDSS-V operations (due to start in 2020), and summarize plans for the final SDSS-IV data release (DR17)