Unique morphological characteristics of mitochondrial subtypes in the heart: the effect of ischemia and ischemic preconditioning.

RATIONALE: Three subsets of mitochondria have been described in adult cardiomyocytes - intermyofibrillar (IMF), subsarcolemmal (SSM), and perinuclear (PN). They have been shown to differ in physiology, but whether they also vary in morphological characteristics is unknown. Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is known to prevent mitochondrial dysfunction induced by acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), but whether IPC can also modulate mitochondrial morphology is not known. AIMS: Morphological characteristics of three different subsets of adult cardiac mitochondria along with the effect of ischemia and IPC on mitochondrial morphology will be investigated. METHODS: Mouse hearts were subjected to the following treatments (N=6 for each group): stabilization only, IPC (3x5 min cycles of global ischemia and reperfusion), ischemia only (20 min global ischemia); and IPC and ischemia. Hearts were then processed for electron microscopy and mitochondrial morphology was assessed subsequently. RESULTS: In adult cardiomyocytes, IMF mitochondria were found to be more elongated and less spherical than PN and SSM mitochondria. PN mitochondria were smaller in size when compared to the other two subsets. SSM mitochondria had similar area to IMF mitochondria but their sphericity measures were similar to PN mitochondria. Ischemia was shown to increase the sphericity parameters of all 3 subsets of mitochondria; reduce the length of IMF mitochondria, and increase the size of PN mitochondria. IPC had no effect on mitochondrial morphology either at baseline or after ischemia. CONCLUSION: The three subsets of mitochondria in the adult heart are morphologically different. IPC does not appear to modulate mitochondrial morphology in adult cardiomyocytes

Transit Photometry as an Exoplanet Discovery Method

Photometry with the transit method has arguably been the most successful exoplanet discovery method to date. A short overview about the rise of that method to its present status is given. The method's strength is the rich set of parameters that can be obtained from transiting planets, in particular in combination with radial velocity observations; the basic principles of these parameters are given. The method has however also drawbacks, which are the low probability that transits appear in randomly oriented planet systems, and the presence of astrophysical phenomena that may mimic transits and give rise to false detection positives. In the second part we outline the main factors that determine the design of transit surveys, such as the size of the survey sample, the temporal coverage, the detection precision, the sample brightness and the methods to extract transit events from observed light curves. Lastly, an overview over past, current and future transit surveys is given. For these surveys we indicate their basic instrument configuration and their planet catch, including the ranges of planet sizes and stellar magnitudes that were encountered. Current and future transit detection experiments concentrate primarily on bright or special targets, and we expect that the transit method remains a principal driver of exoplanet science, through new discoveries to be made and through the development of new generations of instruments.Comment: Review chapte

Reviews of

Antibiotic Switch therapy is defined by the switch of intravenous antibiotic therapy to oral form. This research aimed to learn about the relationship of switch therapy toward the value of wound healing, lenght of stay and the antibiotic expenditure. The data of this cross sectional study was collected from medical record and by direct investigation to patients for their macroscopis the wound healings value. T-test was used to compared the relationship of the patient wound healings value, lenght of stay and the antibiotic expenditure between the those with and accurate switch therapy and those without it. The result showed that there was no different of wound healing value between those groups of patients (P>0,1). On the other hand, lenght of stay and antibiotic expenditure of the patient with the accurate switch therapy was cuted on the patient with the accurate switch therapy. These indicated that accuracy of switch therapy will proceed a benefit outcome to the patient with appendicitis, especially to there lenght of stay and antibiotic expenditure as well

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

The role of anti-aquaporin 4 antibody in the conversion of acute brainstem syndrome to neuromyelitis optica

Background: Acute brainstem syndrome (ABS) may herald multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica (NMO), or occur as an isolated syndrome. The aquaporin 4 (AQP4)-specific serum autoantibody, NMO-IgG, is a biomarker for NMO. However, the role of anti-AQP4 antibody in the conversion of ABS to NMO is unclear. Methods: Thirty-one patients with first-event ABS were divided into two groups according to the presence of anti-AQP4 antibodies, their clinical features and outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Fourteen of 31 patients (45.16 %) were seropositive for NMO-IgG. The 71.43 % of anti-AQP4 (+) ABS patients converted to NMO, while only 11.76 % of anti-AQP4 (-) ABS patients progressed to NMO. Anti-AQP4 (+) ABS patients demonstrated a higher IgG index (0.68 ± 0.43 vs 0.42 ± 0.13, p < 0.01) and Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (4.64 ± 0.93 vs 2.56 ± 0.81, p < 0.01) than anti-AQP4 (-) ABS patients. Area postrema clinical brainstem symptoms occurred more frequently in anti-AQP4 (+) ABS patients than those in anti-AQP4 (-) ABS patients (71.43 % vs 17.65 %, p = 0.004). In examination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the 78.57 % of anti-AQP4 (+) ABS patients had medulla-predominant involvements in the sagittal view and dorsal-predominant involvements in the axial view. Conclusions: ABS represents an inaugural or limited form of NMO in a high proportion of anti-AQP4 (+) patients

Divergence of Mammalian Higher Order Chromatin Structure Is Associated with Developmental Loci

Several recent studies have examined different aspects of mammalian higher order chromatin structure - replication timing, lamina association and Hi-C inter-locus interactions - and have suggested that most of these features of genome organisation are conserved over evolution. However, the extent of evolutionary divergence in higher order structure has not been rigorously measured across the mammalian genome, and until now little has been known about the characteristics of any divergent loci present. Here, we generate a dataset combining multiple measurements of chromatin structure and organisation over many embryonic cell types for both human and mouse that, for the first time, allows a comprehensive assessment of the extent of structural divergence between mammalian genomes. Comparison of orthologous regions confirms that all measurable facets of higher order structure are conserved between human and mouse, across the vast majority of the detectably orthologous genome. This broad similarity is observed in spite of many loci possessing cell type specific structures. However, we also identify hundreds of regions (from 100 Kb to 2.7 Mb in size) showing consistent evidence of divergence between these species, constituting at least 10% of the orthologous mammalian genome and encompassing many hundreds of human and mouse genes. These regions show unusual shifts in human GC content, are unevenly distributed across both genomes, and are enriched in human subtelomeric regions. Divergent regions are also relatively enriched for genes showing divergent expression patterns between human and mouse ES cells, implying these regions cause divergent regulation. Particular divergent loci are strikingly enriched in genes implicated in vertebrate development, suggesting important roles for structural divergence in the evolution of mammalian developmental programmes. These data suggest that, though relatively rare in the mammalian genome, divergence in higher order chromatin structure has played important roles during evolution

Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering

The coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei has eluded detection for four decades, even though its predicted cross-section is the largest by far of all low-energy neutrino couplings. This mode of interaction provides new opportunities to study neutrino properties, and leads to a miniaturization of detector size, with potential technological applications. We observe this process at a 6.7-sigma confidence level, using a low-background, 14.6-kg CsI[Na] scintillator exposed to the neutrino emissions from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Characteristic signatures in energy and time, predicted by the Standard Model for this process, are observed in high signal-to-background conditions. Improved constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions with quarks are derived from this initial dataset

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente