Bloch bundles, Marzari-Vanderbilt functional and maximally localized Wannier functions

We consider a periodic Schroedinger operator and the composite Wannier functions corresponding to a relevant family of its Bloch bands, separated by a gap from the rest of the spectrum. We study the associated localization functional introduced by Marzari and Vanderbilt, and we prove some results about the existence and exponential localization of its minimizers, in dimension d < 4. The proof exploits ideas and methods from the theory of harmonic maps between Riemannian manifolds.Comment: 37 pages, no figures. V2: the appendix has been completely rewritten. V3: final version, to appear in Commun. Math. Physic

T-lymphocyte-rich thymoma and myasthenia gravis in a Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)

A 10-year-old captive male Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) presented with acute onset collapse, vomiting and dyspnoea, preceded by a 6-month period of progressive muscle wasting. Following humane destruction, post-mortem examination revealed a large multilobulated mass in the cranial mediastinum, which was diagnosed as a T-lymphocyte-rich thymoma with the aid of immunohistochemistry. Retrospective serology for acetylcholine receptor antibodies (titre 3.90 nmol/l) confirmed a diagnosis of thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis. Thymomas are reported rarely in wild carnivores, but when detected they appear to be similar in morphology to those seen in domestic carnivores and may also be accompanied by paraneoplastic syndromes. The clinical signs of myasthenia gravis in the tiger were consistent with those reported in cats and dogs and the condition is proposed as an important differential diagnosis for generalized weakness in captive Felidae

Inflation and inflation uncertainty in Nigeria: A test of the Friedman's hypothesis

This paper examines the relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty in Nigeria. It attempts to test whether the Friedman's hypothesis - that a rise in the average rate of inflation leads to more uncertainty about future rate of inflation - holds for the country. The monthly inflation data spanning the period 1960:1 to 2014:07 was used. Inflation uncertainty was modeled as a time varying process using a GARCH framework. Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) complemented by seasonal ARIMA (2, 0, 2) (0, 0, 1) was employed to model the inflation uncertainty. Given that inflation series display structural breaks, this was tested and found to be significant which was accounted for in the model. The EGARCH fitted our data better than the symmetric GARCH model. The bivariate Granger Causality test was performed on inflation and its uncertainty; it showed that inflation causes inflation uncertainty in Nigeria. The fitted EGARCH model found strong support for the Friedman's hypothesis

Chern-Simons Solitons, Toda Theories and the Chiral Model

The two-dimensional self-dual Chern--Simons equations are equivalent to the conditions for static, zero-energy solutions of the $(2+1)$-dimensional gauged nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with Chern--Simons matter-gauge dynamics. In this paper we classify all finite charge $SU(N)$ solutions by first transforming the self-dual Chern--Simons equations into the two-dimensional chiral model (or harmonic map) equations, and then using the Uhlenbeck--Wood classification of harmonic maps into the unitary groups. This construction also leads to a new relationship between the $SU(N)$ Toda and $SU(N)$ chiral model solutions

Electronic Structure Calculation by First Principles for Strongly Correlated Electron Systems

Recent trends of ab initio studies and progress in methodologies for electronic structure calculations of strongly correlated electron systems are discussed. The interest for developing efficient methods is motivated by recent discoveries and characterizations of strongly correlated electron materials and by requirements for understanding mechanisms of intriguing phenomena beyond a single-particle picture. A three-stage scheme is developed as renormalized multi-scale solvers (RMS) utilizing the hierarchical electronic structure in the energy space. It provides us with an ab initio downfolding of the global band structure into low-energy effective models followed by low-energy solvers for the models. The RMS method is illustrated with examples of several materials. In particular, we overview cases such as dynamics of semiconductors, transition metals and its compounds including iron-based superconductors and perovskite oxides, as well as organic conductors of kappa-ET type.Comment: 44 pages including 38 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. as an invited review pape

Bilateral cemented custom-made total hip arthroplasty in paget’s diseasewithfemoral cortical thickening and canal narrowing

In this report, we present a case of a 57-year-old man complaining of pain in both his hips. Clinically, the patient reported lamenessandreductionintherangeofmotionof the hips. Radiographic imaging showed a very narrow medullary femoral canal, confirmed by a computed tomography scan. In consideration of the narrowness of the femoral canal and cortex thickening, and due to the rarity of the clinical case, we opted to use a custom-made prosthesis. We performed total hip arthroplasty, initially on the right side. One year later, we repeated the procedure on the left side. One year after the last surgery, the patient reported well-being and continuous improvement in walking, with no complications. This case report highlights the features and the critical issues related to this kind of surgery in patients affected by Paget’s disease of the bone and the importance of custom-made implants in challenging cases

mTORC1 is essential for early steps during Schwann cell differentiation of amniotic fluid stem cells and regulates lipogenic gene expression.

Schwann cell development is hallmarked by the induction of a lipogenic profile. Here we used amniotic fluid stem (AFS) cells and focused on the mechanisms occurring during early steps of differentiation along the Schwann cell lineage. Therefore, we initiated Schwann cell differentiation in AFS cells and monitored as well as modulated the activity of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, the major regulator of anabolic processes. Our results show that mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) activity is essential for glial marker expression and expression of Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein (SREBP) target genes. Moreover, SREBP target gene activation by statin treatment promoted lipogenic gene expression, induced mTORC1 activation and stimulated Schwann cell differentiation. To investigate mTORC1 downstream signaling we expressed a mutant S6K1, which subsequently induced the expression of the Schwann cell marker S100b, but did not affect lipogenic gene expression. This suggests that S6K1 dependent and independent pathways downstream of mTORC1 drive AFS cells to early Schwann cell differentiation and lipogenic gene expression. In conclusion our results propose that future strategies for peripheral nervous system regeneration will depend on ways to efficiently induce the mTORC1 pathway

Constraints in Livestock Rearing among Resource Poor Farmers in Rural Tamil Nadu

The present study was undertaken in rural Tamil Nadu to explore various constraints in livestock rearing in rural Tamil Nadu using randomly selected 100 dairy farmers and 113 sheep and goat farmers from six sample districts. The data pertaining to the objectives of the study were collected through personal interview. Most of the poor livestock farmers expressed fodder shortage (with RBQ more than 60), water scarcity (RBQ – around 60 for buffalo and sheep), labour problems (RBQ – 55.71 to 62.08) as their major constraints. However, priority of the constraints varied with respect to the livestock species reared

Synthetic Analogue Of The Natural Product Piperlongumine As A Potent Inhibitor Of Breast Cancer Cell Line Migration

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Piperlongumine is a natural amide alkaloid isolated from several species of Piper and is described in the literature as selectively cytotoxic to several cancer cell lines. Inhibiting cell migration has gained considerable interest as an approach for discovering antimetastatic agents because this process is fundamental to metastasis. Piperlongumine, selected from cell-based assay screening of NuBBE Database, inhibited the migration of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells with an EC50 of 3.0 +/- 1.0 mu M by the Boyden chamber assay. A series of five analogous compounds based on the structure of piperlongumine were designed, synthesized and evaluated in cell migration and cytotoxicity assays. The analogue designed by molecular simplification ((E)-N-acryloyl-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) acrylamide) was the most active of the series, with an EC50 of 1.5 +/- 1 mu M. Additionally, this compound was selectively cytotoxic, with a selectivity index (SI) of 4.4.283475484State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo) [2013/07600-3]Biota-FAPESP [2003/02176-7]SISBIOTA-CNPq-FAPESP [2010/52327-5]Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [2010/17329-7, 2010/06741-4, 2007/56140-4]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Mechanism of eIF6 release from the nascent 60S ribosomal subunit.

SBDS protein (deficient in the inherited leukemia-predisposition disorder Shwachman-Diamond syndrome) and the GTPase EFL1 (an EF-G homolog) activate nascent 60S ribosomal subunits for translation by catalyzing eviction of the antiassociation factor eIF6 from nascent 60S ribosomal subunits. However, the mechanism is completely unknown. Here, we present cryo-EM structures of human SBDS and SBDS-EFL1 bound to Dictyostelium discoideum 60S ribosomal subunits with and without endogenous eIF6. SBDS assesses the integrity of the peptidyl (P) site, bridging uL16 (mutated in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia) with uL11 at the P-stalk base and the sarcin-ricin loop. Upon EFL1 binding, SBDS is repositioned around helix 69, thus facilitating a conformational switch in EFL1 that displaces eIF6 by competing for an overlapping binding site on the 60S ribosomal subunit. Our data reveal the conserved mechanism of eIF6 release, which is corrupted in both inherited and sporadic leukemias.Supported by a Federation of European Biochemical Societies Long term Fellowship (to FW), Specialist Programme from Bloodwise [12048] (AJW), the Medical Research Council [MC_U105161083] (AJW) and [U105115237] (RRK), Wellcome Trust strategic award to the Cambridge Institute for Medal Research [100140], Tesni Parry Trust (AJW), Ted’s Gang (AJW) and the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.311