ALBERT

Description: Bio-optical variables in the Northern Gulf of California were analyzed using in situ and satellite data obtained during a cruise in June 2008. The study area was divided into three bio-optical regions: Upper Gulf (UG), Northern Gulf (NG), and Great Isles (GI). Each region was characterized according to phytoplankton pigment concentration, phytoplankton and nonpigmented material spectral absorption coefficients, and spectral reflectance. Observed patterns were an indication of the shift in bio-optical conditions from north to south going from turbid and eutrophic waters to mesotrophic ones. Although there was a good agreement between satellite and in situ Chla (RMSE ±33%), an overestimation of in situ Chla was observed. This was partly explained by the presence of nonalgal particles, as well as the influence of desert and continental aerosols, which is generally overcorrected in the standard processing. The UG and NG could be considered as Case  2 waters, but they did exhibit different bio-optical characteristics. This implies that both biological and optical properties should be invoked to better understand water reflectance variability in the study region and its implications for the remote sensing of Chla and biogeochemical processes.

Description: Consensus of continuous-time single-integrator multiagent systems with inherent nonlinear dynamics and measurement noises is addressed in this paper. The consensus controller is developed for directed interaction topologies. Each agent’s control input is constructed based on its own state and its neighbors’ states corrupted by noises. The control input contains a time-varying consensus gain in order to attenuate the noises. Conditions for ensuring mean square convergence under noisy measurement and asymptotic convergence in the noise-free case are derived. Finally, some simulations were carried out to show the effectiveness of our control law and how it can solve the consensus problem.

Description: Author(s): N. A. Sinitsyn We consider nonadiabatic transitions in explicitly time-dependent systems with Hamiltonians of the form Ĥ(t)=Â+B̂t+Ĉ/t, where t is time and Â, B̂, Ĉ are Hermitian N×N matrices. We show that in any model of this type, scattering matrix elements satisfy nontrivial exact constraints that follow fr... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 062509] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): P. Szańkowski, M. Trippenbach, and J. Chwedeńczuk We demonstrate that memory in an N-qubit system subjected to decoherence, is a potential resource for the slowdown of the entanglement decay. We show that this effect can be used to retain the sub-shot-noise sensitivity of the parameter estimation in quantum interferometry. We calculate quantum Fish... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 063619] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): J. Lam, C. J. Rennick, and T. P. Softley Near-threshold photodissociation of Br 2 from a supersonic beam produces slow bromine atoms that are trapped in the magnetic-field minimum formed between two opposing permanent magnets. Here we quantify the dominant trap-loss rate due to collisions with two sources of residual gas: the background lim... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 063419] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Y. Lutsyshyn, G. E. Astrakharchik, C. Cazorla, and J. Boronat We study the zero-temperature quantum phase transition between liquid and hcp solid 4 He. We use the variational method with a simple yet exchange-symmetric and fully explicit wave function. It is found that the optimized wave function undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking and describes the quantum... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 214512] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): L. Z. Deng, B. Lv, Z. Wu, Y. Y. Xue, W. H. Zhang, F. S. Li, L. L. Wang, X. C. Ma, Q. K. Xue, and C. W. Chu We report a detailed investigation on the superconductivity in eight 1–4 unit-cell (UC) FeSe films on SrTiO 3 substrates by measuring their magnetization and sheet resistance in a field between 5×10 −2 and 7×10 4  Oe over the last one and a half years as a function of temperature and frequency, from 2 t... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 214513] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Hiromi Otsuka We present an algorithm for Monte Carlo simulations of a nearest-neighbor spin-ice model based on its cluster representation. To assess its performance, we estimate a relaxation time, and find that, in contrast to the Metropolis algorithm, our algorithm does not develop spin freezing. Also, to demon... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 220406] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Hongbin Yao, Wei Guo, Mark R. Hoffmann, and Keli Han We demonstrate an efficient scheme for controlling the tunneling ionization of a H 2 + molecular ion. Our scheme is based on the idea that the tunneling ionization rate is highly dependent on the instantaneous magnitude of the electric field. By manipulating the relative phase of the synthesized 5-fs,... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 063418] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Wenkui Ding, Anqi Shi, J. Q. You, and Wenxian Zhang We numerically investigate the encoding and retrieval processes for quantum memory realized in a semiconductor quantum dot by focusing on the effect of inhomogeneously polarized nuclear spins whose polarization depends on the local hyperfine coupling strength. We find that the performance of quantum... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 235421] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Sam Morley-Short, Lawrence Rosenfeld, and Pieter Kok The study of quantum systems evolving from initial states to distinguishable, orthogonal final states is important for information processing applications such as quantum computing and quantum metrology. However, for most unitary evolutions and initial states the system does not evolve to an orthogo... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 062116] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Chaitanya Joshi, Patrik Öhberg, James D. Cresser, and Erika Andersson We investigate how to model Markovian evolution of coupled harmonic oscillators, each of them interacting with a local environment. When the coupling between the oscillators is weak, dissipation may be modeled using local Lindblad terms for each of the oscillators in the master equation, as is commo... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 063815] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Yoshihito Kuno, Keita Suzuki, and Ikuo Ichinose In this paper, we study an extended bosonic t-J model in an optical lattice, which describes two-component hard-core bosons with nearest-neighbor pseudospin interactions and, also, inter- and intraspecies dipole-dipole interactions. In particular, we focus on the case in which two-component hard-cor... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 063620] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Jixia Dai, Kristjan Haule, J. J. Yang, Y. S. Oh, S-W. Cheong, and Weida Wu Layered 5d transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) IrTe 2 is distinguished from the traditional TMDs (such as NbSe 2 ) by the existence of multiple charge-density wave (CDW)-like stripe phases and superconductivity at low temperatures. Despite intensive studies, there is still no consensus on the physica... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 235121] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: The purpose of this literature review was to describe the main features of phantom eye syndrome in relation to their possible causes, symptoms, treatments, and influence of eye amputation on quality of life of anophthalmic patients. For this, a bibliographical research was performed in Pubmed database using the following terms: “eye amputation,” “eye trauma,” “phantom eye syndrome,” “phantom pain,” and “quality of life,” associated or not. Thirteen studies were selected, besides some relevant references contained in the selected manuscripts and other studies hallowed in the literature. Thus, 56 articles were included in this review. The phantom eye syndrome is defined as any sensation reported by the patient with anophthalmia, originated anophthalmic cavity. In phantom eye syndrome, at least one of these three symptoms has to be present: phantom vision, phantom pain, and phantom sensations. This syndrome has a direct influence on the quality of life of the patients, and psychological support is recommended before and after the amputation of the eyeball as well as aid in the treatment of the syndrome. Therefore, it is suggested that, for more effective treatment of phantom eye syndrome, drug therapy should be associated with psychological approach.

Description: Author(s): Martin Doškář, Jan Novák, and Jan Zeman The paper presents a concept to compress and synthesize complex material morphologies that is based on Wang tilings. Specifically, a microstructure is stored in a set of Wang tiles and its reconstruction is performed by means of a stochastic tiling algorithm. A substantial part of the study is devot... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062118] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): A. Le Yaouanc, L. Oliver, and J.-C. Raynal We pursue the group-theoretical method to study Isgur-Wise (IW) functions. We extend the general formalism, formerly applied to the baryon case j P =0 + (for Λ b →Λ c ℓν̅ ℓ ), to mesons with j P =1/2 - , i.e. B̅ →D(D (*) )ℓν. In this case, which is more involved from the angular momentum point of vi... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 114016] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): D. Fuster, J. M. Conoir, and T. Colonius We study the influence of bubble-bubble interactions on the propagation of linear acoustic waves in bubbly liquids. Using the full model proposed by Fuster and Colonius [J. Fluid Mech. 688 , 253 (2011)JFLSA710.1017/jfm.2011.380], numerical simulations reveal that direct bubble-bubble interactions hav... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 063010] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Felix Yndurain Using ab initio methods based on the density functional theory, we study the magnetic properties of different point defects in graphene. We consider separately, atomic hydrogen, atomic fluorine, and single vacancies. The three defects have completely different magnetic properties. A local spin one-h... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 245420] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Kees Wapenaar In time-reversal acoustics, waves recorded at the boundary of a strongly scattering medium are sent back into the medium to focus at the original source position. This requires that the medium can be accessed from all sides. We discuss a focusing method for media that can be accessed from one side o... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 063202] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Alan Heavens, Raul Jimenez, and Licia Verde A measure of how galaxies are spatially distributed can be determined in a new, more robust way. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 241302] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Ya-Bo Wu, Jun-Wang Lu, Wen-Xin Zhang, Cheng-Yuan Zhang, Jian-Bo Lu, and Fang Yu In the probe limit, we numerically construct a holographic p-wave superfluid model in the four-dimensional (4D) and five-dimensional (5D) anti-de Sitter black holes coupled to a Maxwell-complex vector field. We find that, for the condensate with the fixed superfluid velocity, the results are similar... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 126006] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): Douglas Stanford and Leonard Susskind In this paper we refine a conjecture relating the time-dependent size of an Einstein-Rosen bridge (ERB) to the computational complexity of the dual quantum state. Our refinement states that the complexity is proportional to the spatial volume of the ERB. More precisely, up to an ambiguous numerical ... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 126007] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): A. Ludwig, J. Maurer, B. W. Mayer, C. R. Phillips, L. Gallmann, and U. Keller We report the breakdown of the electric dipole approximation in the long-wavelength limit in strong-field ionization with linearly polarized few-cycle mid-infrared laser pulses at intensities on the order of 10 13   W/cm 2 . Photoelectron momentum distributions were recorded by velocity map imaging and ... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 243001] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: Author(s): N. Y. Yao, C. R. Laumann, S. Gopalakrishnan, M. Knap, M. Müller, E. A. Demler, and M. D. Lukin Systems of strongly interacting dipoles offer an attractive platform to study many-body localized phases, owing to their long coherence times and strong interactions. We explore conditions under which such localized phases persist in the presence of power-law interactions and supplement our analytic... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 243002] Published Thu Dec 11, 2014

Description: by Sheng Sun, R. Blake Billmyre, Piotr A. Mieczkowski, Joseph Heitman In fungi, unisexual reproduction, where sexual development is initiated without the presence of two compatible mating type alleles, has been observed in several species that can also undergo traditional bisexual reproduction, including the important human fungal pathogens Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans . While unisexual reproduction has been well characterized qualitatively, detailed quantifications are still lacking for aspects of this process, such as the frequency of recombination during unisexual reproduction, and how this compares with bisexual reproduction. Here, we analyzed meiotic recombination during α-α unisexual and a-α bisexual reproduction of C. neoformans . We found that meiotic recombination operates in a similar fashion during both modes of sexual reproduction. Specifically, we observed that in α-α unisexual reproduction, the numbers of crossovers along the chromosomes during meiosis, recombination frequencies at specific chromosomal regions, as well as meiotic recombination hot and cold spots, are all similar to those observed during a-α bisexual reproduction. The similarity in meiosis is also reflected by the fact that phenotypic segregation among progeny collected from the two modes of sexual reproduction is also similar, with transgressive segregation being observed in both. Additionally, we found diploid meiotic progeny were also produced at similar frequencies in the two modes of sexual reproduction, and transient chromosomal loss and duplication likely occurs frequently and results in aneuploidy and loss of heterozygosity that can span entire chromosomes. Furthermore, in both α-α unisexual and a-α bisexual reproduction, we observed biased allele inheritance in regions on chromosome 4, suggesting the presence of fragile chromosomal regions that might be vulnerable to mitotic recombination. Interestingly, we also observed a crossover event that occurred within the MAT locus during α-α unisexual reproduction. Our results provide definitive evidence that α-α unisexual reproduction is a meiotic process similar to a-α bisexual reproduction.

Description: by Marcus Feldman

Description: by Jie Liu, Xiliu Cheng, Da Liu, Weihui Xu, Roger Wise, Qian-Hua Shen Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) Mla alleles encode coiled-coil (CC), nucleotide binding, leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) receptors that trigger isolate-specific immune responses against the powdery mildew fungus, Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei ( Bgh ). How Mla or NB-LRR genes in grass species are regulated at post-transcriptional level is not clear. The microRNA family, miR9863, comprises four members that differentially regulate distinct Mla alleles in barley. We show that miR9863 members guide the cleavage of Mla1 transcripts in barley, and block or reduce the accumulation of MLA1 protein in the heterologous Nicotiana benthamiana expression system. Regulation specificity is determined by variation in a unique single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) in mature miR9863 family members and two SNPs in the Mla miR9863-binding site that separates these alleles into three groups. Further, we demonstrate that 22-nt miR9863s trigger the biogenesis of 21-nt phased siRNAs (phasiRNAs) and together these sRNAs form a feed-forward regulation network for repressing the expression of group I Mla alleles. Overexpression of miR9863 members specifically attenuates MLA1, but not MLA10-triggered disease resistance and cell-death signaling. We propose a key role of the miR9863 family in dampening immune response signaling triggered by a group of MLA immune receptors in barley.

Description: by Saheed Imam, Daniel R. Noguera, Timothy J. Donohue Photosynthesis is a crucial biological process that depends on the interplay of many components. This work analyzed the gene targets for 4 transcription factors: FnrL, PrrA, CrpK and MppG (RSP_2888), which are known or predicted to control photosynthesis in Rhodobacter sphaeroides . Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) identified 52 operons under direct control of FnrL, illustrating its regulatory role in photosynthesis, iron homeostasis, nitrogen metabolism and regulation of sRNA synthesis. Using global gene expression analysis combined with ChIP-seq, we mapped the regulons of PrrA, CrpK and MppG. PrrA regulates ∼34 operons encoding mainly photosynthesis and electron transport functions, while CrpK, a previously uncharacterized Crp-family protein, regulates genes involved in photosynthesis and maintenance of iron homeostasis. Furthermore, CrpK and FnrL share similar DNA binding determinants, possibly explaining our observation of the ability of CrpK to partially compensate for the growth defects of a ΔFnrL mutant. We show that the Rrf2 family protein, MppG, plays an important role in photopigment biosynthesis, as part of an incoherent feed-forward loop with PrrA. Our results reveal a previously unrealized, high degree of combinatorial regulation of photosynthetic genes and significant cross-talk between their transcriptional regulators, while illustrating previously unidentified links between photosynthesis and the maintenance of iron homeostasis.

Description: by Simon R. F. Warburton-Pitt, Malan Silva, Ken C. Q. Nguyen, David H. Hall, Maureen M. Barr Cilia are microtubule-based cellular organelles that mediate signal transduction. Cilia are organized into several structurally and functionally distinct compartments: the basal body, the transition zone (TZ), and the cilia shaft. In vertebrates, the cystoprotein Inversin localizes to a portion of the cilia shaft adjacent to the TZ, a region termed the “Inversin compartment” (InvC). The mechanisms that establish and maintain the InvC are unknown. In the roundworm C. elegans, the cilia shafts of amphid channel and phasmid sensory cilia are subdivided into two regions defined by different microtubule ultrastructure: a proximal doublet-based region adjacent to the TZ, and a distal singlet-based region. It has been suggested that C. elegans cilia also possess an InvC, similarly to mammalian primary cilia. Here we explored the biogenesis, structure, and composition of the C. elegans ciliary doublet region and InvC. We show that the InvC is conserved and distinct from the doublet region. nphp-2 (the C. elegans Inversin homolog) and the doublet region genes arl-13 , klp-11, and unc-119 are redundantly required for ciliogenesis. InvC and doublet region genes can be sorted into two modules— nphp-2 + klp-11 and arl-13 + unc-119— which are both antagonized by the hdac-6 deacetylase. The genes of this network modulate the sizes of the NPHP-2 InvC and ARL-13 doublet region. Glutamylation, a tubulin post-translational modification, is not required for ciliary targeting of InvC and doublet region components; rather, glutamylation is modulated by nphp-2 , arl-13 , and unc-119 . The ciliary targeting and restricted localization of NPHP-2, ARL-13, and UNC-119 does not require TZ-, doublet region, and InvC-associated genes. NPHP-2 does require its calcium binding EF hand domain for targeting to the InvC. We conclude that the C. elegans InvC is distinct from the doublet region, and that components in these two regions interact to regulate ciliogenesis via cilia placement, ciliary microtubule ultrastructure, and protein localization.

Description: by Federico Donà, Jonathan Houseley Ribonuclease A (RNase A) is widely used in molecular biology research both for analytical assays and for nucleic acid preparation. The catalytic mechanism of RNase A is well understood and absolutely precludes activity on DNA; however anecdotal reports of DNA degradation by RNase A are not uncommon. Here we describe a mechanism by which RNase A treatment can lead to apparent DNA degradation. This results from the surprising finding that RNase A remains functional in a phenol:chloroform mixture, to our knowledge the only enzyme that survives this highly denaturing solvent environment. Although RNase A does not cleave the DNA backbone it is capable of binding to DNA, forming stable RNase A-DNA complexes that partition to the interphase or organic phase during phenol:chloroform purification. The unexpected survival of the RNase A DNA-binding activity in phenol means that these complexes are not dissolved and a substantial amount of RNase A-bound DNA is permanently removed from the aqueous phase and lost on phase separation. This effect will impact DNA recovery from multiple procedures and is likely to represent a source of sequence bias in genome-wide studies. Our results also indicate that the results of analytical studies performed using RNase A must be considered with care.

Description: by Pierre Soubeyran, Carine Bellera, Jean Goyard, Damien Heitz, Hervé Curé, Hubert Rousselot, Gilles Albrand, Véronique Servent, Olivier Saint Jean, Isabelle van Praagh, Jean-Emmanuel Kurtz, Stéphane Périn, Jean-Luc Verhaeghe, Catherine Terret, Christophe Desauw, Véronique Girre, Cécile Mertens, Simone Mathoulin-Pélissier, Muriel Rainfray Background Geriatric Assessment is an appropriate method for identifying older cancer patients at risk of life-threatening events during therapy. Yet, it is underused in practice, mainly because it is time- and resource-consuming. This study aims to identify the best screening tool to identify older cancer patients requiring geriatric assessment by comparing the performance of two short assessment tools the G8 and the Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13). Patients and Methods The diagnostic accuracy of the G8 and the (VES-13) were evaluated in a prospective cohort study of 1674 cancer patients accrued before treatment in 23 health care facilities. 1435 were eligible and evaluable. Outcome measures were multidimensional geriatric assessment (MGA), sensitivity (primary), specificity, negative and positive predictive values and likelihood ratios of the G8 and VES-13, and predictive factors of 1-year survival rate. Results Patient median age was 78.2 years (70-98) with a majority of females (69.8%), various types of cancer including 53.9% breast, and 75.8% Performance Status 0-1. Impaired MGA, G8, and VES-13 were 80.2%, 68.4%, and 60.2%, respectively. Mean time to complete G8 or VES-13 was about five minutes. Reproducibility of the two questionnaires was good. G8 appeared more sensitive (76.5% versus 68.7%, P  =  0.0046) whereas VES-13 was more specific (74.3% versus 64.4%, P

Description: by Laurence Lacroix, Sergio Manzano, Lynda Vandertuin, Florence Hugon, Annick Galetto-Lacour, Alain Gervaix Background The Lab-score, based on the combined determination of procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and urinary dipstick results, has been shown accurate in detecting serious bacterial infections (SBI) in children with fever without source (FWS) on retrospective cohorts. We aimed to prospectively assess the utility of the Lab-score in safely decreasing antibiotic prescriptions in children with FWS and to determine its diagnostic characteristics compared to common SBI biomarkers. Methods Randomized controlled trial in children 7 days to 36 months old with FWS, allocated either to the Lab-score group (Lab-score reported, blinded WBC count) or to the control group (WBC, bands and C-reactive protein determined, blinded procalcitonin and Lab-score), followed up until recovery. Demographic data, antibiotic prescription rate, admission rate and diagnostic properties of the Lab-score were analyzed. Results 271 children were analyzed. No statistically significant difference concerning antibiotic prescription rate was observed: 41.2% (54 of 131) in the Lab-score group and 42.1% (59 of 140) in the control group (p = 1.000). If recommendations based on the Lab-score had been strictly applied, a hypothetical 30.6% treatment rate would have been encountered, compared to the overall 41.7% observed rate (p = 0.0095). A Lab-score ≥3 showed the following characteristics: sensitivity 85.1% (95% CI: 76.5–93.6%), specificity 87.3% (95% CI: 82.7–91.8%), positive predictive value 68.7% (95% CI: 58.7–78.7%), negative predictive value 94.1% (95% CI: 91.5–97.9%), positive and negative likelihood ratios: 6.68 and 0.17 respectively. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was best for the Lab-score (0.911, 95% CI: 0.871–0.950). Discussion No difference regarding antibiotic treatment rate was observed when using the Lab-score, due to lack of adherence to the related recommendations. However, if strictly followed, a significant 26.5% reduction of antibiotic prescriptions would have been encountered. Medical education needs to be reinforced in order to observe rather than treat low-risk well-appearing children with FWS. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02179398

Description: by Simon Bate, Natasha A. Karp Methods for choosing an appropriate sample size in animal experiments have received much attention in the statistical and biological literature. Due to ethical constraints the number of animals used is always reduced where possible. However, as the number of animals decreases so the risk of obtaining inconclusive results increases. By using a more efficient experimental design we can, for a given number of animals, reduce this risk. In this paper two popular cases are considered, where planned comparisons are made to compare treatments back to control and when researchers plan to make all pairwise comparisons. By using theoretical and empirical techniques we show that for studies where all pairwise comparisons are made the traditional balanced design, as suggested in the literature, maximises sensitivity. For studies that involve planned comparisons of the treatment groups back to the control group, which are inherently more sensitive due to the reduced multiple testing burden, the sensitivity is maximised by increasing the number of animals in the control group while decreasing the number in the treated groups.

Description: by Jinseok Kim, Jin-Won Noh, Jumin Park, Young Dae Kwon Background There are conflicting results about the association between body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms in older adults. The present study examined the relationship between weight and depressive symptoms over time in older adults in South Korea. Methods We used data from three waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging and ran a series of cross-lagged panel models to test the reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and obesity in older Korean adults. We assumed a temporally stable relationship between depressive symptoms and obesity and, thus imposed equality constraints over time. Results After controlling for the effect of depressive symptoms two years prior, underweight older adults had a higher depressive symptom score than those of normal weight. When controlling for obesity status from two years prior, older adults with higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to be underweight and less likely to be overweight than normal weight. The same patterns were observed in data from 2006 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2010. Conclusions These results show that there is a correlation between depressive symptoms and weight status. In middle-aged and elderly Asian populations, depression can lead to weight loss rather than obesity, and underweight may develop depressive symptoms.

Description: by Brett Howland, Dejan Stojanovic, Iain J. Gordon, Adrian D. Manning, Don Fletcher, David B. Lindenmayer Large mammalian grazers can alter the biotic and abiotic features of their environment through their impacts on vegetation. Grazing at moderate intensity has been recommended for biodiversity conservation. Few studies, however, have empirically tested the benefits of moderate grazing intensity in systems dominated by native grazers. Here we investigated the relationship between (1) density of native eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus , and grass structure, and (2) grass structure and reptiles (i.e. abundance, richness, diversity and occurrence) across 18 grassland and grassy Eucalyptus woodland properties in south-eastern Australia. There was a strong negative relationship between kangaroo density and grass structure after controlling for tree canopy cover. We therefore used grass structure as a surrogate for grazing intensity. Changes in grazing intensity (i.e. grass structure) significantly affected reptile abundance, reptile species richness, reptile species diversity, and the occurrence of several ground-dwelling reptiles. Reptile abundance, species richness and diversity were highest where grazing intensity was low. Importantly, no species of reptile was more likely to occur at high grazing intensities. Legless lizards ( Delma impar , D. inornata ) were more likely to be detected in areas subject to moderate grazing intensity, whereas one species ( Hemiergis talbingoensis ) was less likely to be detected in areas subject to intense grazing and three species ( Menetia greyii , Morethia boulengeri , and Lampropholis delicata ) did not appear to be affected by grazing intensity. Our data indicate that to maximize reptile abundance, species richness, species diversity, and occurrence of several individual species of reptile, managers will need to subject different areas of the landscape to moderate and low grazing intensities and limit the occurrence and extent of high grazing.

Description: by David M. Baron, Ulrike Kaindl, Verena J. Haudek-Prinz, Editha Bayer, Clemens Röhrl, Christopher Gerner, Brigitte Marian Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Resistance to therapy is common and often results in patients succumbing to the disease. The mechanisms of resistance are poorly understood. Cells basically have two possibilities to survive a treatment with potentially apoptosis-inducing substances. They can make use of their existing proteins to counteract the induced reactions or quickly upregulate protective factors to evade the apoptotic signal. To identify protein patterns involved in resistance to apoptosis, we studied two colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines with different growth responses to low-molar concentrations of the thiazolidinedione Ciglitazone: HT29 cells underwent apoptosis, whereas SW480 cells increased cell number. Fluorescence detection and autoradiography scans of 2D-PAGE gels were performed in both cell lines to assess protein synthesis and turnover, respectively. To verify the data we performed shotgun analysis using the same treatment procedure as in 2D-experiments. Biological functions of the identified proteins were mainly associated with apoptosis regulation, chaperoning, intrinsic inflammation, and DNA repair. The present study suggests that different growth response of two colorectal carcinoma cell lines after treatment with Ciglitazone results from cell-specific protein synthesis and differences in protein regulation.

Description: Author(s): M. A. Reshchikov, D. O. Demchenko, A. Usikov, H. Helava, and Yu. Makarov In high-purity GaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy, the commonly observed yellow luminescence (YL) band gives way to a green luminescence (GL) band at high excitation intensity. We propose that the GL band with a maximum at 2.4 eV is caused by transitions of electrons from the conduction band t... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 235203] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): M. N. Achasov et al. The process e + e - →nn̅ has been studied at the VEPP-2000 e + e - collider with the SND detector in the energy range from threshold up to 2 GeV. As a result of the experiment, the e + e - →nn̅ cross section and effective neutron form factor have been measured. [Phys. Rev. D 90, 112007] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): S. Mohammad Moosavi Nejad and Mahboobe Balali We calculate the O (α s ) radiative corrections to the spin-dependent differential decay rates of the process t→b+W + . These are needed to study the angular distribution of the energy of hadrons produced in polarized top quark decays at next-to-leading order. In our previous work, we studied the angular... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 114017] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): Rui Xu, Daowei He, Yuhan Zhang, Bing Wu, Fengyuan Liu, Lan Meng, Jun-Fang Liu, Qisheng Wu, Yi Shi, Jinlan Wang, Jia-Cai Nie, Xinran Wang, and Lin He Very recently, it was demonstrated that the carrier mobility of a molecular monolayer dioctylbenzothienobenzothiophene (C 8 -BTBT) on boron nitride can reach 10 cm 2 /Vs, the highest among the previously reported monolayer molecular field-effect transistors. Here we show that the high-quality single cry... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 224106] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): C. Oswald et al. (Belle Collaboration) [Phys. Rev. D 90, 119901] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): T. Appelquist, R. C. Brower, G. T. Fleming, J. Kiskis, M. F. Lin, E. T. Neil, J. C. Osborn, C. Rebbi, E. Rinaldi, D. Schaich, C. Schroeder, S. Syritsyn, G. Voronov, P. Vranas, E. Weinberg, and O. Witzel (Lattice Strong Dynamics (LSD) Collaboration) We study an SU(3) gauge theory with N f =8 degenerate flavors of light fermions in the fundamental representation. Using the domain wall fermion formulation, we investigate the light hadron spectrum, chiral condensate ⟨ψ̅ ψ⟩ and electroweak S parameter. We consider a range of light fermion mass... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 114502] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): D. Hove, D. V. Fedorov, H. O. U. Fynbo, A. S. Jensen, K. Riisager, N. T. Zinner, and E. Garrido Borromean nuclear cluster structures are expected at the corresponding drip lines. We locate the regions in the nuclear chart with the most promising constituents, it being protons and α particles and investigate in details the properties of the possible Borromean two-α systems in medium-heavy nucle... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064311] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): P. Doornenbal et al. The reduced transition probability B(E2)↑ of the first excited 2 + state in the nucleus 104 Sn was measured via Coulomb excitation in inverse kinematics at intermediate energies. A value of 0.173(28) e 2 b 2 was extracted from the absolute cross section on a Pb target. Feeding contributions in 104 Sn from... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 061302] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): A. Göök, F.-J. Hambsch, and M. Vidali The spontaneous fission of 252 Cf serves as an excellent benchmark of prompt emission in fission since experimental data can be obtained without the need of an incident beam. With the purpose of providing experimental data on the prompt fission neutron properties in correlation with fission-fragment ... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064611] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): Orest Hrycyna, Marek Szydłowski, and Michał Kamionka We investigate observational constraints on the Brans-Dicke cosmological model using observational data coming from distant supernovae type Ia, the Hubble function H(z) measurements, information coming from the Alcock-Paczyński test, and baryon acoustic oscillations. Our analysis is based on the mod... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 124040] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): V. Barger, Lingjun Fu, J. G. Learned, D. Marfatia, S. Pakvasa, and T. J. Weiler The Glashow resonance at E ν =6.3  PeV is a measure of the ν̅ e content of the astrophysical neutrino flux. The fractional ν̅ e content depends on the neutrino production model at the cosmic neutrino source, and the environment at the source. Thus, the strength of the Glashow resonance e... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 121301] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): Atsushi Taruya, Takahiro Nishimichi, Francis Bernardeau, Takashi Hiramatsu, and Kazuya Koyama Based on the multipoint propagator expansion, we present resummed perturbative calculations for cosmological power spectra and correlation functions in the context of modified gravity. In a wide class of modified gravity models that have a screening mechanism to recover general relativity (GR) on sm... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 123515] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): Victor T. Kim and Grigorii B. Pivovarov A new approach to computing the amplitudes of multiparticle processes in renormalizable quantum field theories is presented. Its major feature is a separation of the renormalization from the computation. Within the suggested approach, new computational rules are formulated. According to the new rule... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 125009] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): H. Berrehrah, P. B. Gossiaux, J. Aichelin, W. Cassing, and E. Bratkovskaya In this study we evaluate the dynamical collisional energy loss of heavy quarks, their interaction rate, as well as the different transport coefficients (drag and diffusion coefficients, q̂, etc). We calculate these different quantities for (i) perturbative partons (on-shell particles in the vacuum ... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064906] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): H. Ness We suggest a generalization of the expression of the nonequilibrium (NE) density matrix obtained by Hershfield's method for the cases where both heat and charge steady-state currents are present in a quantum open system. The finite-size quantum system, connected to two temperature and particle reser... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062119] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): N. Panza, H. Rodrigues, D. Cocuroci, and J. A. Helayël-Neto In this paper, we analyze a curvature- and torsion-square quantum gravity action with an additional Holst term minimally coupled to a massive Dirac field in four dimensions. The main purpose here is to try to estimate and compare the value of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter with its currently known re... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 125007] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: Author(s): Moupriya Das The states of an overdamped Brownian particle confined in a two-dimensional bilobal enclosure are considered to correspond to two binary values: 0 (left lobe) and 1 (right lobe). An ensemble of such particles represents bits of entropic information. An external bias is applied on the particles, equa... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062120] Published Fri Dec 12, 2014

Description: by The PLOS ONE Staff

Description: by Danica F. Patton, Ângela M. Katsuyama, Ilya Pavlovski, Mateusz Michalik, Zachary Patterson, Maksim Parfyonov, Andrea N. Smit, Elliott G. Marchant, John Chung, Alfonso Abizaid, Kai-Florian Storch, Horacio de la Iglesia, Ralph E. Mistlberger Circadian clocks in many brain regions and peripheral tissues are entrained by the daily rhythm of food intake. Clocks in one or more of these locations generate a daily rhythm of locomotor activity that anticipates a regular mealtime. Rats and mice can also anticipate two daily meals. Whether this involves 1 or 2 circadian clocks is unknown. To gain insight into how the circadian system adjusts to 2 daily mealtimes, male rats in a 12∶12 light-dark cycle were fed a 2 h meal either 4 h after lights-on or 4 h after lights-off, or a 1 h meal at both times. After 30 days, brain, blood, adrenal and stomach tissue were collected at 6 time points. Multiple clock genes from adrenals and stomachs were assayed by RT-PCR. Blood was assayed for corticosterone and ghrelin. Bmal1 expression was quantified in 14 brain regions by in situ hybridization. Clock gene rhythms in adrenal and stomach from day-fed rats oscillated in antiphase with the rhythms in night-fed rats, and at an intermediate phase in rats fed twice daily. Corticosterone and ghrelin in 1-meal rats peaked at or prior to the expected mealtime. In 2-meal rats, corticosterone peaked only prior the nighttime meal, while ghrelin peaked prior to the daytime meal and then remained elevated. The olfactory bulb, nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum, cerebellum and arcuate nucleus exhibited significant daily rhythms of Bmal1 in the night-fed groups that were approximately in antiphase in the day-fed groups, and at intermediate levels (arrhythmic) in rats anticipating 2 daily meals. The dissociations between anticipatory activity and the peripheral clocks and hormones in rats anticipating 2 daily meals argue against a role for these signals in the timing of behavioral rhythms. The absence of rhythmicity at the tissue level in brain regions from rats anticipating 2 daily meals support behavioral evidence that circadian clock cells in these tissues may reorganize into two populations coupled to different meals.

Description: by Shradha Wali, Rishein Gupta, Ronald L. Veselenak, Yansong Li, Jieh-Juen Yu, Ashlesh K. Murthy, Andrew P. Cap, M. Neal Guentzel, James P. Chambers, Guangming Zhong, Roger G. Rank, Richard B. Pyles, Bernard P. Arulanandam Guinea pigs have been used as a second animal model to validate putative anti-chlamydial vaccine candidates tested in mice. However, the lack of guinea pig-specific reagents has limited the utility of this animal model in Chlamydia sp . vaccine studies. Using a novel guinea pig-specific transcriptome array, we determined correlates of protection in guinea pigs vaccinated with Chlamydia caviae ( C. caviae ) via the intranasal route, previously reported by us and others to provide robust antigen specific immunity against subsequent intravaginal challenge. C. caviae vaccinated guinea pigs resolved genital infection by day 3 post challenge. In contrast, mock vaccinated animals continued to shed viable Chlamydia up to day 18 post challenge. Importantly, at day 80 post challenge, vaccinated guinea pigs experienced significantly reduced genital pathology - a sequelae of genital chlamydial infections, in comparison to mock vaccinated guinea pigs. Sera from vaccinated guinea pigs displayed antigen specific IgG responses and increased IgG1 and IgG2 titers capable of neutralizing GPIC in vitro . Th1-cellular/inflammatory immune genes and Th2-humoral associated genes were also found to be elevated in vaccinated guinea pigs at day 3 post-challenge and correlated with early clearance of the bacterium. Overall, this study provides the first evidence of guinea pig-specific genes involved in anti-chlamydial vaccination and illustrates the enhancement of the utility of this animal model in chlamydial pathogenesis.

Description: by The PLOS Genetics Staff

Description: by Thoi Cong Truong, Van Thai Than, Wonyong Kim Viral gastroenteritis is the most common causal agent of public health problems worldwide. Noroviruses cause nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis in humans of all ages. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of norovirus infection in children with acute gastroenteritis admitted to university hospitals in South Korea. We also analyzed the genetic diversity of the viruses and identified novel recombination events among the identified viral strains. Of 502 children with acute gastroenteritis admitted to our three hospitals between January 2011 and March 2012, genotyping of human noroviruses was performed in 171 (34%) norovirus-positive samples. Of these samples, 170 (99.5%) were in genogroup II (GII), while only one (0.5%) was in genogroup I (GI). The most common GII strain was the GII.4-2006b variant (n = 96, 56.5%), followed by GII.6 (n = 23, 13.5%), GII.12 (n = 22, 12.9%), GII.3 (n = 20, 11.8%), GII.2 (n = 6, 3.5%), GII.b (n = 2, 1.2%), and GII.10 (n = 1, 0.6%). Potential recombination events (polymerase/capsid) were detected in 39 GII strains (22.9%), and the most frequent genotypes were GII.4/GII.12 (n = 12, 30.8%), GII.4/GII.6 (n = 12, 30.8%), GII.4/GII.3 (n = 8, 20.5%), GII.b/GII.3 (n = 3, 7.7%), GII.16/GII.2 (n = 2, 5.1%), GII.4/GII.2 (n = 1, 2.6%), and GII.2/GII.10 (n = 1, 2.6%). For the first time, a novel GII.2/GII.10 recombination was detected; we also identified the GII.16/GII.2 strain for the first time in South Korea. Our data provided important insights into new recombination events, which may prove valuable for predicting the emergence of circulating norovirus strains with global epidemic potential.

Description: by Laura R. Geuss, Douglas C. Wu, Divya Ramamoorthy, Corinne D. Alford, Laura J. Suggs Mechanical forces play an important role in proper embryologic development, and similarly such forces can directly impact pluripotency and differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC) in vitro . In addition, manipulation of the embryoid body (EB) microenvironment, such as by incorporation of microspheres or microparticles, can similarly influence fate determination. In this study, we developed a mechanical stimulation regimen using permanent neodymium magnets to magnetically attract cells within an EB. Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic Acid (RGD)-conjugated paramagnetic beads were incorporated into the interior of the EBs during aggregation, allowing us to exert force on individual cells using short-term magnetization. EBs were stimulated for one hour at different magnetic field strengths, subsequently exerting a range of force intensity on the cells at different stages of early EB development. Our results demonstrated that following exposure to a 0.2 Tesla magnetic field, ESCs respond to magnetically mediated strain by activating Protein Kinase A (PKA) and increasing phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (pERK1/2) expression. The timing of stimulation can also be tailored to guide ESC differentiation: the combination of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) supplementation with one hour of magnetic attraction on Day 3 enhances cardiomyogenesis by increasing contractile activity and the percentage of sarcomeric α-actin-expressing cells compared to control samples with BMP4 alone. Interestingly, we also observed that the beads alone had some impact on differentiation by increasingly slightly, albeit not significantly, the percentage of cardiomyocytes. Together these results suggest that magnetically mediated strain can be used to enhance the percentage of mouse ESC-derived cardiomyocytes over current differentiation protocols.

Description: by Yabing Cao, Guangli Xiao, Xibin Qiu, Sheng Ye, Tongyu Lin Introduction We report the efficacy and safety of crizotinib treatment among Chinese patients with advanced-stage NSCLC. Methods We retrospectively analyzed patients with EML4-ALK positive advanced NSCLC who were treated with crizotinib from May 2012 to Aug 2013. Baseline clinical parameters, treatment protocol, response to therapy and survival were noted. The primary goal was to evaluate the efficacy of crizotinib in patients who were previously treated patients or who had poor ECOG performance status (PS). Results Forty patients were evaluable for safety and efficacy. Median age was 43 years, 100% had adenocarcinoma and stage IV disease, and 42.5% were female. Six patients received frontline treatment with crizotinib, 17 patients had 1 prior treatment, and 17 patients had more than 2 lines of prior treatment. Patients received a median of 5 cycles of treatment (range 1–15 cycles). After the first cycle, 92.5% (37/40) patients archived partial remission (PR). At the end of the follow-up period, the overall PR rate was 70% (28/40), and progression of disease (PD) occurred in 30% of patients (12/40). The median PFS was 28 weeks (95% CI 15.4 to 40.5 weeks), and median OS was 40 weeks (95% CI 38.6 to 49.3 weeks). The most frequent treatment-related AEs were vomiting (47.5%), vision disorder (27.5%) and increased ALT/AST (42%); most toxicities were Grade 1/2. Observed treatment-related Grade 3/4 AEs included increased ALT/AST (10%) and vomiting (5%). The EML4-ALK fusion rate and number of prior chemotherapy cycles did not appear to significantly affect the efficacy of crizotinib. However, PS 0–2 patients had improved PFS (50 weeks vs. 24 weeks, p = 0.015). Conclusions Crizotinib was safe, well-tolerated, and effective in Chinese patients with pre-treated ALK-rearranged NSCLC. QOL was improved and PS appears to have an effect on the efficacy of crizotinib, but prior treatment and ALK fusion rate do not.

Description: by Cécile Feuillie, Maxime M. Merheb, Benjamin Gillet, Gilles Montagnac, Isabelle Daniel, Catherine Hänni The analysis of ancient or processed DNA samples is often a great challenge, because traditional Polymerase Chain Reaction – based amplification is impeded by DNA damage. Blocking lesions such as abasic sites are known to block the bypass of DNA polymerases, thus stopping primer elongation. In the present work, we applied the SERRS-hybridization assay, a fully non-enzymatic method, to the detection of DNA refractory to PCR amplification. This method combines specific hybridization with detection by Surface Enhanced Resonant Raman Scattering (SERRS). It allows the detection of a series of double-stranded DNA molecules containing a varying number of abasic sites on both strands, when PCR failed to detect the most degraded sequences. Our SERRS approach can quickly detect DNA molecules without any need for DNA repair. This assay could be applied as a pre-requisite analysis prior to enzymatic reparation or amplification. A whole new set of samples, both forensic and archaeological, could then deliver information that was not yet available due to a high degree of DNA damage.

Description: by Navdeep Grewal, Gail M. Thornton, Hayedeh Behzad, Aishwariya Sharma, Alex Lu, Peng Zhang, W. Darlene Reid, David J. Granville, Alex Scott Objective Clinical studies have suggested an association between dyslipidemia and tendon injuries or chronic tendon pain; the mechanisms underlying this association are not yet known. The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate the impact of a high fat diet on the function of load-bearing tendons and on the distribution in tendons of oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL), and (2) to examine the effect of oxLDL on tendon fibroblast proliferation and gene expression. Methods Gene expression ( Mmp2, Tgfb1 , Col1a1 , Col3a1 ), fat content (Oil Red O staining), oxLDL levels (immunohistochemistry) and tendon biomechanical properties were examined in mice (C57Bl/6 or ApoE -/-) receiving a standard or a high fat diet. Human tendon fibroblast proliferation and gene expression ( COL1A1 , COL3A1 , MMP2 ) were examined following oxLDL exposure. Results In both types of mice (C57Bl/6 or ApoE -/-), consumption of a high fat diet led to a marked increase in oxLDL deposition in the load-bearing extracellular matrix of the tendon. The consumption of a high fat diet also reduced the failure stress and load of the patellar tendon in both mouse types, and increased Mmp2 expression. ApoE -/- mice exhibited more pronounced reductions in tendon function than wild-type mice, and decreased expression of Col1a1 compared to wild type mice. Human tendon fibroblasts responded to oxLDL by increasing their proliferation and their mRNA levels of MMP2 , while decreasing their mRNA levels for COL1A1 and COL3A1 . Conclusion The consumption of a high fat diet resulted in deleterious changes in tendon function, and these changes may be explained in part by the effects of oxLDL, which induced a proliferative, matrix-degrading phenotype in human tenocytes.

Description: by Valentina Grande, Giusi Manassero, Alessandro Vercelli Excitotoxic damage represents the major mechanism leading to cell death in many human neurodegenerative diseases such as ischemia, trauma and epilepsy. Caused by an excess of glutamate that acts on metabotropic and ionotropic excitatory receptors, excitotoxicity activates several death signaling pathways leading to an extensive neuronal loss and a consequent strong activation of astrogliosis. Currently, the search for a neuroprotective strategy is aimed to identify the level in the signaling pathways to block excitotoxicity avoiding the loss of important physiological functions and side effects. To this aim, PTEN can be considered an ideal candidate: downstream the excitatory receptors activated in excitotoxicity (whose inhibition was shown to be not clinically viable), it is involved in neuronal damage and in the first stage of the reactive astrogliosis in vivo . In this study, we demonstrated the involvement of PTEN in excitotoxicity through its pharmacological inhibition by dipotassium bisperoxo (picolinato) oxovanadate [bpv(pic)] in a model of temporal lobe epilepsy, obtained by intraperitoneal injection of kainate in 2-month-old C57BL/6J male mice. We have demonstrated that inhibition of PTEN by bpv(pic) rescues neuronal death and decreases the reactive astrogliosis in the CA3 area of the hippocampus caused by systemic administration of kainate. Moreover, the neurotoxin administration increases significantly the scanty presence of mitochondrial PTEN that is significantly decreased by the administration of the inhibitor 6 hr after the injection of kainate, suggesting a role of PTEN in mitochondrial apoptosis. Taken together, our results confirm the key role played by PTEN in the excitotoxic damage and the strong anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective potential of its inhibition.

Description: by Stephen J. Genuis, Yanna Liu, Quentin I. T. Genuis, Jonathan W. Martin Background Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are a family of commonly used synthetic chemicals that have become widespread environmental contaminants. In human serum, perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perflurooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are most frequently detected, in part owing to their long elimination half-lives of between 3.8 yrs (PFOA) and 8.5 yrs (PFHxS). These PFAAs also cross the placenta and have been associated with developmental toxicity, and some are considered likely human carcinogens. Interventions to eliminate PFAAs in highly contaminated individuals would reduce future health risks, but minimal research has been conducted on methods to facilitate accelerated human clearance of these persistent substances. Methods Six patients with elevated serum concentrations from a single family were treated by intermittent phlebotomy over a 4–5 year period at intervals similar to, or less frequent than what is done for routine blood donation at Canadian Blood Services. The apparent elimination half-life (HL app ) for PFHxS, PFOS, and PFOA in this treated population was calculated in each patient and compared to the intrinsic elimination half-lives (HL in ) from a literature reference population of untreated fluorochemical manufacturing plant retirees (n = 26, age 〉55 yrs). Results For all three PFAAs monitored during phlebotomy, HL app in each of the family members (except the mother, who had a low rate of venesection) was significantly shorter than the geometric mean HL measured in the reference population, and in some cases were even shorter compared to the fastest eliminator in the reference population. Conclusion This study suggests significantly accelerated PFAA clearance with regular phlebotomy treatment, but the small sample size and the lack of controls in this clinical intervention precludes drawing firm conclusions. Given the minimal risks of intermittent phlebotomy, this may be an effective and safe clinical intervention to diminish the body burden of PFAAs in highly exposed people.

Description: by Karin Janssen van Doorn, Walter Verbrugghe, Kristien Wouters, Hilde Jansens, Philippe G. Jorens Background Exploration of the impact of severe hypotension on the evolution of acute kidney injury in septic patients. Methods and Results We reviewed the hemodynamic parameters of 137 adults with septic shock and proven blood stream infection in the ICU. Severe hypotension was defined as a mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) ≤65 mmHg. The influence of the duration of severe hypotension on the evolution of acute kidney injury was evaluated according to the RIFLE classification, with day 0 defined as the day of a positive blood stream infection. After bloodstream infection, the probability for a patient to be in Failure was significantly higher than before blood stream infection (OR = 1.94, p = 0.0276). Patients have a significantly higher risk of evolving to Failure if the duration of severe hypotension is longer (OR = 1.02 for each 10 minutes increase in duration of a MAP

Description: Metal-on-metal hip resurfacing (MOM-HR) is offered as an alternative to traditional hip arthroplasty for young, active adults with advanced osteoarthritis. Nevertheless, concerns remain regarding wear and corrosion of the bearing surfaces and the resulting increase in metal ion levels. We evaluated three cohorts of patients with Birmingham hip resurfacing (BHR) at an average follow-up of 2, 5, and 9 years. We asked whether there would be differences in ion levels between the cohorts and inside the gender. Nineteen patients were prospectively analyzed. The correlation with clinical-radiographic data was also performed. Chromium, cobalt, nickel, and molybdenum concentrations were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Chromium and cobalt levels demonstrated a tendency to decrease over time. Such tendency was present only in females. An inverse correlation between chromium, implant size, and Harris hip score was present at short term; it disappeared over time together with the decreased ion levels. The prospective analysis showed that, although metal ion levels remained fairly constant within each patient, there was a relatively large variation between subjects, so mean data in this scenario must be interpreted with caution. The chronic high exposure should be carefully considered during implant selection, particularly in young subjects, and a stricter monitoring is mandatory.

Description: Adsorption of strong polyelectrolyte, poly(styrenesulfonate), PSS, of different molecular weights onto large α-Al2O3 beads was systematically investigated as functions of pH and NaCl concentrations. The ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectra of PSS at different pH and salt concentrations confirmed that the structure of PSS is independent of pH. With the change of molecular weight from 70 kg/mol (PSS 70) to 1000 kg/mol (PSS 1000), adsorption amount of PSS increases and proton coadsorption on the surface of α-Al2O3 decreases at given pH and salt concentration. It suggests that higher molecular weight of PSS was less flat conformation than lower one. The adsorption density of PSS 70 and PSS 1000 decreases with decreasing salt concentrations, indicating that both electrostatic and nonelectrostatic interactions are involved. Experimental results of both PSS 70 and PSS 1000 adsorption isotherms onto α-Al2O3 at different pH and salt concentrations can be represented well by two-step adsorption model. The effects of molecular weight and salt concentration are explained by structure of adsorbed PSS onto α-Al2O3. The influence of added SDS on the isotherms is evaluated from the sequential adsorption. The SDS uptake onto α-Al2O3 in the presence of hemimicelles can prevent the adsorption of PSS at low concentration so that adsorption of PSS reduces with preadsorbed SDS.

Description: Author(s): James Schneeloch, Curtis J. Broadbent, and John C. Howell We postulate the existence of a universal uncertainty relation between the quantum and classical mutual informations between pairs of quantum systems. Specifically, we propose that the sum of the classical mutual information, determined by two mutually unbiased pairs of observables, never exceeds th... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 062119] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): L. Gulyás, S. Egri, and T. Kirchner We study the process of single ionization of Li in collisions with H + and O 8+ projectile ions at 6-MeV and 1.5-MeV/amu impact energies, respectively. Using the frameworks of the independent-electron model and the impact parameter picture, fully (FDCS) and doubly (DDCS) differential cross sections ar... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 062710] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Fam Le Kien and A. Rauschenbeutel We study the propagation of nanofiber-guided light through an array of atomic cesium, taking into account the transitions between the hyperfine levels 6S 1/2 F=4 and 6P 3/2 F ′ =5 of the D 2 line. We derive the coupled-mode propagation equation, the input-output equation, the scattering matrix, the transfe... [Phys. Rev. A 90, 063816] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Yachin Ivry, Chung-Soo Kim, Andrew E. Dane, Domenico De Fazio, Adam N. McCaughan, Kristen A. Sunter, Qingyuan Zhao, and Karl K. Berggren Thin superconducting films form a unique platform for geometrically confined, strongly interacting electrons. They allow an inherent competition between disorder and superconductivity, which in turn enables the intriguing superconducting-to-insulating transition and is believed to facilitate the com... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 214515] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): T. J. Davis and D. E. Gómez A complete theoretical methodology of the interactions between chiral molecules and the evanescent fields of localized surface plasmons generated in a metallic nanostructure of arbitrary shape. The calculations confirm various previous results on the enhancement of the absorption of light and subsequent circular dichroism by surface plasmons. They also predict a chirality-dependent absorption arising from the metallic nanostructure illuminated with linearly polarized light. [Phys. Rev. B 90, 235424] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Tobias Meng and Eran Sela We extend the coupled-wire construction of quantum Hall phases, and search for fractional topological insulating states in models of weakly coupled wires at zero external magnetic field. Focusing on systems beyond double copies of fractional quantum Hall states at opposite fields, we find that spin-... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 235425] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Carmine Ortix, Carlo Di Castro, and José Lorenzana We show that in layered systems with electronic phase separation tendency, the long-range Coulomb interaction can drive the spontaneous formation of unidirectional superlattices of electronic charge in a completely homogeneous crystalline background. In this self-organized electronic heterostructure... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 241110] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Jonathan D. Mar, Jeremy J. Baumberg, Xiulai Xu, Andrew C. Irvine, and David A. Williams We demonstrate the initialization of a single quantum-dot hole spin with high fidelity (lower bound 〉97%), on picosecond time scales, and without the need for magnetic fields. Using the initialization scheme based on rapid electric-field ionization of a resonantly excited exciton, this is achieve... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 241303] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Pranay Patil, Ishita Dasgupta, and Kedar Damle We study bond and spin correlations of the nearest-neighbor resonating valence bond (RVB) wave function for a SU(2) symmetric S=1/2 antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice. We find that spin correlations in this wave function are short ranged, while the bond energy correlation function takes on an ... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 245121] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): J. H. Pixley, Aditya Shashi, and Andriy H. Nevidomskyy The antiferromagnetic spin-1 chain has a venerable history and has been thought to be well understood. Here, we show that inclusion of both next-nearest-neighbor (α) and biquadratic (β) interactions results in a rich phase diagram with a multicritical point that has not been observed before. We stud... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 214426] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Andrea Di Cicco, Keisuke Hatada, Erika Giangrisostomi, Roberto Gunnella, Filippo Bencivenga, Emiliano Principi, Claudio Masciovecchio, and Adriano Filipponi High intensity pulses obtained by modern extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and x-ray photon sources allows the observation of peculiar phenomena in condensed matter. Experiments performed at the Fermi@Elettra FEL-1 free-electron-laser source at 23.7, 33.5, and 37.5 eV on Al thin films, for an intermediate-f... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 220303] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Eliot Gann, Anne Watson, John R. Tumbleston, Justin Cochran, Hongping Yan, Cheng Wang, Jaewook Seok, Michael Chabinyc, and Harald Ade The internal structures of thin films, particularly interfaces between different materials, are critical to system properties and performance across many disciplines, but characterization of buried interface topography is often unfeasible. In this work, we demonstrate that grazing resonant soft x-ra... [Phys. Rev. B 90, 245421] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): P. N. Fountas, G. A. Souliotis, M. Veselsky, and A. Bonasera Detailed calculations of the yields of projectilelike fragments (with focus on the neutron-rich isotopes) are presented for the interaction of 86 Kr (15 MeV/nucleon) with 64 Ni, 58 Ni, and 124 Sn, 112 Sn, as well as 86 Kr (25 MeV/nucleon) with 124 Sn and compared with our recently published experimental da... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064613] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): G. A. Souliotis, P. N. Fountas, M. Veselsky, S. Galanopoulos, Z. Kohley, A. McIntosh, S. J. Yennello, and A. Bonasera The isoscaling of heavy projectile residues from peripheral heavy-ion reactions at 15–25 MeV/nucleon is employed to obtain information on the process of N/Z equilibration. Recent mass spectrometric data of projectile residues from the reactions of 86 Kr (15 MeV/nucleon) with 64,58 Ni and 124,112 Sn wer... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064612] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Thomas Elghozi, William Nelson, and Mairi Sakellariadou We study the occurrence of cuspy events on a light string stretched between two Y-junctions with fixed heavy strings. We first present an analytic study and give a solid criterion to discriminate between cuspy and noncuspy string configurations. We then describe a numerical code, built to test this ... [Phys. Rev. D 90, 123517] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Kazuyuki Sekizawa and Kazuhiro Yabana Background: The time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory has been successful in describing low-energy heavy ion collisions. Recently, we have shown that multinucleon transfer processes can be reasonably described in the TDHF theory combined with the particle-number projection technique. [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064614] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Sylvain Joubaud, Tess Homan, Y. Gasteuil, Detlef Lohse, and Devaraj van der Meer We describe direct measurements of the acceleration of an object impacting on a loosely packed granular bed under various pressures, using an instrumented sphere. The sphere acts as a noninvasive probe that measures and continuously transmits the acceleration as it penetrates into the sand, using a ... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 060201] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): M. Borówko and W. Rżysko The phase behavior of Janus disks on a square lattice is studied using the Monte Carlo method. A particle is composed of two different parts, A and B. The interactions between neighboring particles depend on their orientations. To control the strength of the interactions, we use energy parameters ch... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062308] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): T. P. Bennett, G. D'Alessandro, and K. R. Daly We use homogenization theory to develop a multiscale model of colloidal dispersion of particles in nematic liquid crystals under weak-anchoring conditions. We validate the model by comparing it with simulations by using the Landau–de Gennes free energy and show that the agreement is excellent. We th... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062505] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Chanyong Park, Do-Young Gwak, Bum-Hoon Lee, Yumi Ko, and Sunyoung Shin [Phys. Rev. D 90, 129902] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Matthias Punk We develop a method for multidimensional optimization using flow equations. This method is based on homotopy continuation in combination with a maximum entropy approach. Extrema of the optimizing functional correspond to fixed points of the flow equation. While ideas based on Bayesian inference such... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 063307] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Christopher J. Moore and Jonathan R. Gair Posterior distributions on parameters computed from experimental data using Bayesian techniques are only as accurate as the models used to construct them. In many applications, these models are incomplete, which both reduces the prospects of detection and leads to a systematic error in the parameter... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 251101] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): A. Boyarsky, O. Ruchayskiy, D. Iakubovskyi, and J. Franse An x-ray feature recently detected by different astronomy groups may be the long-awaited signature of dark matter. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 251301] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Marco Baggio, Vasilis Niarchos, and Kyriakos Papadodimas We report an exact solution of 2- and 3-point functions of chiral primary fields in SU(2) N =2 super-Yang-Mills theory coupled to four hypermultiplets. It is shown that these correlation functions are nontrivial functions of the gauge coupling, obeying differential equations which take the form of th... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 251601] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Sumesh P. Thampi, Ramin Golestanian, and Julia M. Yeomans Active turbulence in dense active systems is characterized by high vorticity on a length scale that is large compared to that of individual entities. We describe the properties of active turbulence as momentum propagation is screened by frictional damping. As friction is increased, the spacing betwe... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062307] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): J. Upadhyay, Do Im, S. Popović, A.-M. Valente-Feliciano, L. Phillips, and L. Vušković Plasma-based surface modification of niobium is a promising alternative to wet etching of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. We have demonstrated surface layer removal in an asymmetric nonplanar geometry, using a simple cylindrical cavity. The etching rate is highly correlated with the ... [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 17, 122001] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Zehui Deng, Jinshan Wu, and Wenan Guo The n-index Rényi mutual information and transfer entropies for the two-dimensional kinetic Ising model with arbitrary single-spin dynamics in the thermodynamic limit are derived as functions of ensemble averages of observables and spin-flip probabilities. Cluster Monte Carlo algorithms with differe... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 063308] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: Author(s): Y. Xu, J. T. Padding, and J. A. M. Kuipers The plunging of a large intruder sphere into a prefluidized granular bed with various constant velocities and various sphere diameters is investigated using a state-of-the-art hybrid discrete particle and immersed boundary method, in which both the gas-induced drag force and the contact force exerte... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 062203] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: We construct a massive theory of gravity that is invariant under conformal transformations. The massive action of the theory depends on the metric tensor and a scalar field, which are considered the only field variables. We find the vacuum field equations of the theory and analyze its weak-field approximation and Newtonian limit.

Description: Author(s): Adam Bzdak and Guo-Liang Ma Using a multiphase transport model (AMPT) we calculate the elliptic v 2 and triangular v 3 Fourier coefficients of the two-particle azimuthal correlation function in proton-nucleus (p-Pb) and peripheral nucleus-nucleus (Pb-Pb) collisions. Our results for v 3 are in a good agreement with the CMS data co... [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 252301] Published Mon Dec 15, 2014

Description: by The PLOS ONE Staff

Description: by The PLOS ONE Staff