Optimal restoration of noisy 3D X-ray data via shearlet

decomposition

Avaliacoes da infeccao de explantes de feijoeiro por Agrobacterium tumefaciens por meio de microscopia.

Phaseolus vulgaris L. e considerada recalcitrante a transformacao por Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Contudo, alteracoes no meio de co-cultivo, utilizacao de linhagens hipervirulentas de Agrobacterium e de vetores binarios contendo genes vir demostraram que o feijoeiro e susceptivel a essa bacteria. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi estudar o efeito da sonificacao nos tecidos vegetais de feijoeiro, bem como a penetracao da Agrobacterium nas camadas subepidermicas do tecido vegetal, usando a metodologia SAAT ("Sonification-Assisted Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation"). A variedade de feijoeiro utilizada foi a Olathe Pinto, a linhagem de A. tumefaciens foi LBA4404:pTOK.Os embrioes de feijao foram pre-tratados po 14 dias em meio de multibrotacao e, entao submetidos a sonificacao (de 0 ou 60 segundos) na presenca de Agrobacterium. Apos a inoculacao foram co-cultivados por 24 horas em meio liquido seguido de 48 horas em meio solido, ambos, contendo 20 m. L -1 de acetoceringona. Os explantes inoculados foram fixadas em solucao de Karnovsk para avaliacoes em microscopia optica e eletronica de varredura. As analises da microspia demostraram a presenca de rupturas na epiderme, quebras da parede celular e invasao da Agrobacterium nos tecidos subepidermicos. Os reultados demostraram que o metodo SAAT e uma tecnica viavel para a inoculcao de Agrobacterium em explantes de P. vulgaris.bitstream/CPAC-2010/23710/1/bolpd-04.pd

Telomere length shortening is associated with treatment-free remission in chronic myeloid leukemia patients

We studied telomere length in 32 CML patients who discontinued imatinib after achieving complete molecular remission and 32 age-sex-matched controls. The relative telomere length (RTL) was determined by q-PCR as the telomere to single copy gene (36B4) ratio normalized to a reference sample (K-562 DNA). Age-corrected RTL (acRTL) was also obtained. The 36-month probability of treatment-free remission (TFR) was 59.4 %. TFR patients showed shorter acRTL compared to relapsed (mean ± SD = 0.01 ± 0.14 vs 0.20 ± 0.21; p = 0.01). TFR was significantly higher in CML patients with acRTL ≤0.09 (78.9 vs 30.8 %, p = 0.002). CML stem cells harboring longer telomeres possibly maintain a proliferative potential after treatment discontinuation

Time resolved pattern evolution in a large aperture laser

We have measured quasi-instantaneous transverse patterns in a broad aperture laser. Non-ordered patterns yielding to boundary determined regular structures in progressive time-integrated recording are observed. The linear analysis and numerical integration of the full Maxwell-Bloch equations allow us to interpret the features of the experiment. We show that this system being far from threshold cannot be fully understood with a perturbative model.Comment: 7 pages, 5 GIF figures . To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

The PLASMONX Project for advanced beam physics experiments

The Project PLASMONX is well progressing into its design phase and has entered as well its second phase of procurements for main components. The project foresees the installation at LNF of a Ti:Sa laser system (peak power > 170 TW), synchronized to the high brightness electron beam produced by the SPARC photo-injector. The advancement of the procurement of such a laser system is reported, as well as the construction plans of a new building at LNF to host a dedicated laboratory for high intensity photon beam experiments (High Intensity Laser Laboratory). Several experiments are foreseen using this complex facility, mainly in the high gradient plasma acceleration field and in the field of mono- chromatic ultra-fast X-ray pulse generation via Thomson back-scattering. Detailed numerical simulations have been carried out to study the generation of tightly focused electron bunches to collide with laser pulses in the Thomson source: results on the emitted spectra of X-rays are presented

Laboratory measurements of resistivity in warm dense plasmas relevant to the microphysics of brown dwarfs

Since the observation of the first brown dwarf in 1995, numerous studies have led to a better understanding of the structures of these objects. Here we present a method for studying material resistivity in warm dense plasmas in the laboratory, which we relate to the microphysics of brown dwarfs through viscosity and electron collisions. Here we use X-ray polarimetry to determine the resistivity of a sulphur-doped plastic target heated to Brown Dwarf conditions by an ultra-intense laser. The resistivity is determined by matching the plasma physics model to the atomic physics calculations of the measured large, positive, polarization. The inferred resistivity is larger than predicted using standard resistivity models, suggesting that these commonly used models will not adequately describe the resistivity of warm dense plasma related to the viscosity of brown dwarfs

Causal hierarchy within the thalamo-cortical network in spike and wave discharges

Background: Generalised spike wave (GSW) discharges are the electroencephalographic (EEG) hallmark of absence seizures, clinically characterised by a transitory interruption of ongoing activities and impaired consciousness, occurring during states of reduced awareness. Several theories have been proposed to explain the pathophysiology of GSW discharges and the role of thalamus and cortex as generators. In this work we extend the existing theories by hypothesizing a role for the precuneus, a brain region neglected in previous works on GSW generation but already known to be linked to consciousness and awareness. We analysed fMRI data using dynamic causal modelling (DCM) to investigate the effective connectivity between precuneus, thalamus and prefrontal cortex in patients with GSW discharges. Methodology and Principal Findings: We analysed fMRI data from seven patients affected by Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy (IGE) with frequent GSW discharges and significant GSW-correlated haemodynamic signal changes in the thalamus, the prefrontal cortex and the precuneus. Using DCM we assessed their effective connectivity, i.e. which region drives another region. Three dynamic causal models were constructed: GSW was modelled as autonomous input to the thalamus (model A), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (model B), and precuneus (model C). Bayesian model comparison revealed Model C (GSW as autonomous input to precuneus), to be the best in 5 patients while model A prevailed in two cases. At the group level model C dominated and at the population-level the p value of model C was ∼1. Conclusion: Our results provide strong evidence that activity in the precuneus gates GSW discharges in the thalamo-(fronto) cortical network. This study is the first demonstration of a causal link between haemodynamic changes in the precuneus - an index of awareness - and the occurrence of pathological discharges in epilepsy. © 2009 Vaudano et al

Relationship between spatial ability, visuospatial working memory and self-assessed spatial orientation ability: a study in older adults

This paper describes some novel spatial tasks and questionnaires designed to assess spatial and orientation abilities. The new tasks and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 90 older adults (41 males, age range 57–90), along with some other tests of spatial ability (Minnesota Paper Form Board, Mental Rotations Test, and Embedded Figures Test) and tests of visuospatial working memory (Corsi’s Block Test and Visual Pattern Test). The internal reliability of the new tasks and questionnaires was analyzed, as well as their relationship with the spatial and working memory tests. The results showed that the new spatial tasks are reliable, correlate with working memory and spatial ability tests and, compared with the latters, show stronger correlations with the self-report questionnaires referring to orientation abilities. A model was also tested (with reference to Allen et al. in Intelligence 22:327–355, 1996) in which the new tasks were assumed to relate to spatial ability and predict orientation abilities as assessed by the self-report measures

PRESTIGIO RING: "A 59-year-old HIV-1 positive, highly treatment-experienced woman failing darunavir/ ritonavir plus raltegravir"

Management of heavily treatment experienced (HTE) people with HIV remains a challenge. Tailored antiretroviral therapy (ART) is needed in this fragile population who almost invariably harbor viral quasispecies with resistance-associated mutations (RAMs). The reference method for HIV genotypic resistance testing (GRT) has long been Sanger sequencing (SS), but next-generation sequencing (NGS), following recent progress in workflow and cost-effectiveness, is replacing SS because of higher sensitivity. From the PRESTIGIO Registry, we present a case of a 59-year-old HTE woman who failed darunavir/ritonavir plus raltegravir at low-viremia levels due mainly to high pill burden and poor adherence. NGS-GRT was performed on HIV-RNA at failure and the results were compared to all past SS-GRT data available (historical genotype). In this case, NGS-GRT did not detect any minority drug-resistant variants. After discussing several therapeutic options, the treatment was changed to dolutegravir 50 mg twice daily plus doravirine 100 mg once a day, based on clinical history, adherence issues, and pill burden, as well as the historical SS-GRT and the latest NGS-GRT results. At six months follow-up visit, the patient had HIV-RNA below 30 copies/ml and CD4+ T cell count increased from 673 cells/ mm3 to 688 cells/ mm3. Close follow-up of this patient is ongoing