Prevalence and Correlates of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in adults from a French Community Sample

Validated tools are lacking in languages like French to diagnose ADHD in adults. The Adult ADHD symptoms Self-Report (ASRS) was filled out by 1,171 parents of 900 school-aged youths in the context of the Children and Parents with ADHD and Related Disorders study. Prevalence estimates based on three scoring methods are compared (6-item screener, all 18 items, or the screener followed by the 12 remaining items). Based on the recommended and more conservative scoring method, the overall prevalence of ADHD symptoms is estimated to be 2.99%, without significant group differences between genders, or between younger and older adults. Potential correlates of ADHD symptoms were also examined in their relatives (children, brothers/sisters, uncles/aunts, and parents): birth order, level of education, body mass index categories, enuresis, suicide attempts, depression, and learning disabilities. Adults can be screened for ADHD symptoms using the ASRS; negative long-term outcomes should be assessed in patients’ relatives too

Sequestration of DROSHA and DGCR8 by Expanded CGG RNA Repeats Alters MicroRNA Processing in Fragile X-Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome

SummaryFragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of 55–200 CGG repeats in the 5′ UTR of FMR1. These expanded CGG repeats are transcribed and accumulate in nuclear RNA aggregates that sequester one or more RNA-binding proteins, thus impairing their functions. Here, we have identified that the double-stranded RNA-binding protein DGCR8 binds to expanded CGG repeats, resulting in the partial sequestration of DGCR8 and its partner, DROSHA, within CGG RNA aggregates. Consequently, the processing of microRNAs (miRNAs) is reduced, resulting in decreased levels of mature miRNAs in neuronal cells expressing expanded CGG repeats and in brain tissue from patients with FXTAS. Finally, overexpression of DGCR8 rescues the neuronal cell death induced by expression of expanded CGG repeats. These results support a model in which a human neurodegenerative disease originates from the alteration, in trans, of the miRNA-processing machinery

Eustress in Space: Opportunities for Plant Stressors Beyond the Earth Ecosystem

Human space exploration cannot occur without reliable provision of nutritious and palatable food to sustain physical and mental well-being. This ultimately will depend upon efficient production of food in space, with on-site manufacturing on space stations or the future human colonies on celestial bodies. Extraterrestrial environments are by their nature foreign, and exposure to various kinds of plant stressors likely cannot be avoided. But this also offers opportunities to rethink food production as a whole. We are used to the boundaries of the Earth ecosystem such as its standard temperature range, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations, plus diel cycles of light, and we are unfamiliar with liberating ourselves from those boundaries. However, space research, performed both in true outer space and with mimicked space conditions on Earth, can help explore plant growth from its ‘first principles’. In this sense, this perspective paper aims to highlight fundamental opportunities for plant growth in space, with a new perspective on the subject. Conditions in space are evidently demanding for plant growth, and this produces “stress”. Yet, this stress can be seen as positive or negative. With the positive view, we discuss whether plant production systems could proactively leverage stresses instead of always combatting against them. With an engineering view, we focus, in particular, on the opportunities associated with radiation exposure (visible light, UV, gamma, cosmic). Rather than adapting Earth conditions into space, we advocate on rethinking the whole issue; we propose there are opportunities to exploit space conditions, commonly seen as threats, to benefit space farming

The Presence of Acinetobacter baumannii DNA on the Skin of Homeless People and Its Relationship With Body Lice Infestation. Preliminary Results

The presence of Acinetobacter baumannii was demonstrated in body lice, however, little is known about the mechanism of natural lice infection. In 2013 and 2014, cross-sectional one-day studies were therefore performed within two Marseille homeless shelters to assess the presence of A. baumannii DNA on human skin, blood and in body lice collected from the same homeless individuals. All 332 participants completed questionnaires, were examined for dermatologic signs, and provided four skin samples (hair, neck, armpits, and pelvic belt), blood samples and body lice (if any). We developed a new real-time PCR tool targeting the ompA/motB gene for the detection of A. baumannii for all collected samples. Blood culture was also performed. Body lice were found in 24/325 (7.4%) of subjects. We showed a prevalence of A. baumannii DNA skin-carriage in 33/305 (10.8%) of subjects. No difference was found in A. baumannii DNA prevalence according to body sites. A strong association between body lice infestation (OR = 3.07, p = 0.029) and A. baumannii DNA skin-carriage was noted. In lice, A. baumannii DNA was detected in 59/219 arthropods (26.9%). All blood cultures and real-time PCR on blood samples were negative for A. baumannii. Lice probably get infected with A. baumannii while biting through the colonized skin and likely transmit the bacteria in their feces. We found no evidence that lice facilitate the invasion of A. baumannii into the blood stream. Further investigations are needed to compare phenotypic and genotypic features of A. baumannii isolates from human skin and lice from the same individuals

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter