Critical postsynaptic density 95/disc large/zonula occludens-1 interactions by glutamate receptor 1 (GluR1) and GluR2 required at different subcellular sites

Interactions between AMPA receptor subunits and proteins containing postsynaptic density 95/disc large/zonula occludens-1 (PDZ) domains have been shown to play critical roles in the proper trafficking of receptors to excitatory synapses. Synaptic accumulation of AMPA receptors containing the glutamate receptor 1 (GluR1) subunit can be driven by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II activity or long-term potentiation and requires an interaction between GluR1 and a type I PDZ domain-containing protein. Synaptic incorporation of AMPA receptors with only GluR2 occurs continuously, and this requires an interaction between GluR2 and a type II PDZ domain-containing protein. We used dual-channel, two-photon laser scanning microscopy to provide high-resolution visualization and quantification of green fluorescent protein-tagged AMPA receptors in different subcellular compartments. We showed that mutations on GluR1 or GluR2 AMPA subunit that perturb interactions with PDZ domain proteins lead to the accumulation of these receptors at different subcellular sites. GluR1 mutants accumulate in the dendrite, whereas GluR2 mutants accumulate in dendritic spines. This suggests that the critical PDZ domain interactions are required for entry into spines for GluR1 and for entry into synapses for GluR2

'To see what’s down there’:Embodiment, Gestural Archaeologies and Materializing Futures

Concerns with screening embodiment have focused on the way in which cinema invites the spectator to consider a lived sense of the human body as a material subject that feels its own subjectivity. In this paper, I suspend the return of gesture to the transcendental human body. Gesture practises and produces complex and diverse bodies, bodies that do not precede their intra-actions but emerge through them. Drawing on the work of Karen Barad, I consider gesture in television that concerns archaeological practices in order to ask how gesture operates in this televisual subgenre to invite new ways of thinking about the human and other-than-human. Focusing on archaeology on television, I consider entangled gestures as intra-acting, material-discursive boundary-making practices that congeal and fix what we come to know as discrete, bounded bodies. </jats:p

Systematic Analysis of Gene Expression Differences between Left and Right Atria in Different Mouse Strains and in Human Atrial Tissue

Background: Normal development of the atria requires left-right differentiation during embryonic development. Reduced expression of Pitx2c (paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 2, isoform c), a key regulator of left-right asymmetry, has recently been linked to atrial fibrillation. We therefore systematically studied the molecular composition of left and right atrial tissue in adult murine and human atria. Methods: We compared left and right atrial gene expression in healthy, adult mice of different strains and ages by employing whole genome array analyses on freshly frozen atrial tissue. Selected genes with enriched expression in either atrium were validated by RT-qPCR and Western blot in further animals and in shock-frozen left and right atrial appendages of patients undergoing open heart surgery. Results: We identified 77 genes with preferential expression in one atrium that were common in all strains and age groups analysed. Independent of strain and age, Pitx2c was the gene with the highest enrichment in left atrium, while Bmp10, a member of the TGFb family, showed highest enrichment in right atrium. These differences were validated by RT-qPCR in murine and human tissue. Western blot showed a 2-fold left-right concentration gradient in PITX2 protein in adult human atria. Several of the genes and gene groups enriched in left atria have a known biological role for maintenance of healthy physiology, specifically the prevention of atrial pathologies involved in atrial fibrillation, including membrane electrophysiology, metabolic cellular function, and regulation of inflammatory processes. Comparison of the array datasets with published array analyses in heterozygous Pitx2c+/2 atria suggested that approximately half of the genes with left-sided enrichment are regulated by Pitx2c. Conclusions: Our study reveals systematic differences between left and right atrial gene expression and supports the hypothesis that Pitx2c has a functional role in maintaining ‘‘leftness’’ in the atrium in adult murine and human hearts

Measurement of the branching ratio of the decay Ξ0→Σ+μ−νˉμ\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}

From the 2002 data taking with a neutral kaon beam extracted from the CERN-SPS, the NA48/1 experiment observed 97 $\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ candidates with a background contamination of $30.8 \pm 4.2$ events. From this sample, the BR($\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$) is measured to be $(2.17 \pm 0.32_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.17_{\mathrm{syst}})\times10^{-6}$

Recent NA48/2 and NA62 results

The NA48/2 Collaboration at CERN has accumulated and analysed unprecedented statistics of rare kaon decays in the $K_{e4}$ modes: $K_{e4}(+-)$ ($K^\pm \to \pi^+ \pi^- e^\pm \nu$) and $K_{e4}(00)$ ($K^\pm \to \pi^0 \pi^0 e^\pm \nu$) with nearly one percent background contamination. It leads to the improved measurement of branching fractions and detailed form factor studies. New final results from the analysis of 381 $K^\pm \to \pi^\pm \gamma \gamma$ rare decay candidates collected by the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments at CERN are presented. The results include a decay rate measurement and fits to Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT) description.Comment: Prepared for the Proceedings of "Moriond QCD and High Energy Interactions. March 22-29 2014." conferenc

Prospects for K+→π+ννˉK^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar{ \nu } at CERN in NA62

The NA62 experiment will begin taking data in 2015. Its primary purpose is a 10% measurement of the branching ratio of the ultrarare kaon decay $K^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar{ \nu }$, using the decay in flight of kaons in an unseparated beam with momentum 75 GeV/c.The detector and analysis technique are described here.Comment: 8 pages for proceedings of 50 Years of CP

Measurement of K^0_e3 form factors

The semileptonic decay of the neutral K meson, KL -> pi e nu (Ke3), was used to study the strangeness-changing weak interaction of hadrons. A sample of 5.6 million reconstructed events recorded by the NA48 experiment was used to measure the Dalitz plot density. Admitting all possible Lorentz-covariant couplings, the form factors for vector (f_+(q^2)), scalar (f_S) and tensor (f_T) interactions were measured. The linear slope of the vector form factor lambda_+ = 0.0284+-0.0007+-0.0013 and values for the ratios |f_S/f_+(0)| = 0.015^{+0.007}_{-0.010}+-0.012 and |f_T/f_+(0)| = 0.05^{+0.03}_{-0.04}+-0.03 were obtained. The values for f_S and f_T are consistent with zero. Assuming only Vector-Axial vector couplings, lambda_+ = 0.0288+-0.0004+-0.0011 and a good fit consistent with pure V-A couplings were obtained. Alternatively, a fit to a dipole form factor yields a pole mass of M = 859+-18 MeV, consistent with the K^*(892) mass.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. submitted to Phys. Lett.