Measurement of the intersystem crossing rate in aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) and its modulation by an applied magnetic field

Copyright 2009 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. This article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 106, 043511 (2009) and may be found at

Reduced hole mobility due to the presence of excited states in poly-(3-hexylthiophene)

Copyright 2007 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. This article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 93, 233306 (2008) and may be found at

Coalescent-based genome analyses resolve the early branches of the euarchontoglires

Despite numerous large-scale phylogenomic studies, certain parts of the mammalian tree are extraordinarily difficult to resolve. We used the coding regions from 19 completely sequenced genomes to study the relationships within the super-clade Euarchontoglires (Primates, Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Dermoptera and Scandentia) because the placement of Scandentia within this clade is controversial. The difficulty in resolving this issue is due to the short time spans between the early divergences of Euarchontoglires, which may cause incongruent gene trees. The conflict in the data can be depicted by network analyses and the contentious relationships are best reconstructed by coalescent-based analyses. This method is expected to be superior to analyses of concatenated data in reconstructing a species tree from numerous gene trees. The total concatenated dataset used to study the relationships in this group comprises 5,875 protein-coding genes (9,799,170 nucleotides) from all orders except Dermoptera (flying lemurs). Reconstruction of the species tree from 1,006 gene trees using coalescent models placed Scandentia as sister group to the primates, which is in agreement with maximum likelihood analyses of concatenated nucleotide sequence data. Additionally, both analytical approaches favoured the Tarsier to be sister taxon to Anthropoidea, thus belonging to the Haplorrhine clade. When divergence times are short such as in radiations over periods of a few million years, even genome scale analyses struggle to resolve phylogenetic relationships. On these short branches processes such as incomplete lineage sorting and possibly hybridization occur and make it preferable to base phylogenomic analyses on coalescent methods

Genes Suggest Ancestral Colour Polymorphisms Are Shared across Morphologically Cryptic Species in Arctic Bumblebees

email Suzanne orcd idCopyright: © 2015 Williams et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Colored Motifs Reveal Computational Building Blocks in the C. elegans Brain

Background: Complex networks can often be decomposed into less complex sub-networks whose structures can give hints about the functional organization of the network as a whole. However, these structural motifs can only tell one part of the functional story because in this analysis each node and edge is treated on an equal footing. In real networks, two motifs that are topologically identical but whose nodes perform very different functions will play very different roles in the network. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we combine structural information derived from the topology of the neuronal network of the nematode C. elegans with information about the biological function of these nodes, thus coloring nodes by function. We discover that particular colorations of motifs are significantly more abundant in the worm brain than expected by chance, and have particular computational functions that emphasize the feed-forward structure of information processing in the network, while evading feedback loops. Interneurons are strongly over-represented among the common motifs, supporting the notion that these motifs process and transduce the information from the sensor neurons towards the muscles. Some of the most common motifs identified in the search for significant colored motifs play a crucial role in the system of neurons controlling the worm's locomotion. Conclusions/Significance: The analysis of complex networks in terms of colored motifs combines two independent data sets to generate insight about these networks that cannot be obtained with either data set alone. The method is general and should allow a decomposition of any complex networks into its functional (rather than topological) motifs as long as both wiring and functional information is available

The clinical features of the piriformis syndrome: a systematic review

Piriformis syndrome, sciatica caused by compression of the sciatic nerve by the piriformis muscle, has been described for over 70 years; yet, it remains controversial. The literature consists mainly of case series and narrative reviews. The objectives of the study were: first, to make the best use of existing evidence to estimate the frequencies of clinical features in patients reported to have PS; second, to identify future research questions. A systematic review was conducted of any study type that reported extractable data relevant to diagnosis. The search included all studies up to 1 March 2008 in four databases: AMED, CINAHL, Embase and Medline. Screening, data extraction and analysis were all performed independently by two reviewers. A total of 55 studies were included: 51 individual and 3 aggregated data studies, and 1 combined study. The most common features found were: buttock pain, external tenderness over the greater sciatic notch, aggravation of the pain through sitting and augmentation of the pain with manoeuvres that increase piriformis muscle tension. Future research could start with comparing the frequencies of these features in sciatica patients with and without disc herniation or spinal stenosis

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

Two new rapid SNP-typing methods for classifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex into the main phylogenetic lineages

There is increasing evidence that strain variation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) might influence the outcome of tuberculosis infection and disease. To assess genotype-phenotype associations, phylogenetically robust molecular markers and appropriate genotyping tools are required. Most current genotyping methods for MTBC are based on mobile or repetitive DNA elements. Because these elements are prone to convergent evolution, the corresponding genotyping techniques are suboptimal for phylogenetic studies and strain classification. By contrast, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) are ideal markers for classifying MTBC into phylogenetic lineages, as they exhibit very low degrees of homoplasy. In this study, we developed two complementary SNP-based genotyping methods to classify strains into the six main human-associated lineages of MTBC, the 'Beijing' sublineage, and the clade comprising Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium caprae. Phylogenetically informative SNPs were obtained from 22 MTBC whole-genome sequences. The first assay, referred to as MOL-PCR, is a ligation-dependent PCR with signal detection by fluorescent microspheres and a Luminex flow cytometer, which simultaneously interrogates eight SNPs. The second assay is based on six individual TaqMan real-time PCR assays for singleplex SNP-typing. We compared MOL-PCR and TaqMan results in two panels of clinical MTBC isolates. Both methods agreed fully when assigning 36 well-characterized strains into the main phylogenetic lineages. The sensitivity in allele-calling was 98.6% and 98.8% for MOL-PCR and TaqMan, respectively. Typing of an additional panel of 78 unknown clinical isolates revealed 99.2% and 100% sensitivity in allele-calling, respectively, and 100% agreement in lineage assignment between both methods. While MOL-PCR and TaqMan are both highly sensitive and specific, MOL-PCR is ideal for classification of isolates with no previous information, whereas TaqMan is faster for confirmation. Furthermore, both methods are rapid, flexible and comparably inexpensive

Assembly PCR synthesis of optimally designed, compact, multi-responsive promoters suited to gene therapy application

MRC-DTA studentship award British Pharmacological Society Integrative Awar

Comparative Analysis of the Efficacy of Abrocitinib and Dupilumab in the Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis

Dan Song, Wei-Ping Gong, Gui-Lin Xiao Department of Dermatology, Zhoushan Hospital, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, 316000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dan Song, Department of Dermatology, Zhoushan Hospital, No. 739, Dingshen Road, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, 316000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: This study compares the efficacy and safety of Abrocitinib, a Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor, and Dupilumab, an interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 inhibitor, in the treatment of Atopic dermatitis (AD).Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 136 patients with moderate to severe AD, treated with either Abrocitinib (n=60) or Dupilumab (n=76) from June 2022 to June 2024. Abrocitinib was administered at 100 mg/day orally, and Dupilumab at 300 mg subcutaneously every two weeks after a 600 mg loading dose. Primary outcome measures included serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, eosinophil (Egb) counts, and clinical symptom improvement, assessed by the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI), Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pruritus, and Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD). Quality of life was evaluated using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), while emotional distress was assessed through the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The incidence of adverse reactions was also recorded. Statistical significance was determined using t-tests and Chi-square tests (p 0.05). Abrocitinib was more effective in reducing pruritus, with a greater reduction in NRS scores (p < 0.05). EASI, SCORAD, DLQI, SAS and SDS improvements were similar, though Abrocitinib showed a greater reduction in anxiety (p = 0.011). The overall effective rate was higher in the Abrocitinib group (80.00%) compared to Dupilumab (69.73%) but not significantly (p = 0.174). Adverse reactions were minimal and comparable, with incidences of 8.33% for Abrocitinib and 9.21% for Dupilumab (p = 0.858).Conclusion: Both Abrocitinib and Dupilumab are effective and well-tolerated treatments for atopic dermatitis. While their overall efficacy and safety profiles are comparable, Abrocitinib offers superior relief of pruritus. Both therapies represent valuable options in the management of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.Keywords: atopic dermatitis, Abrocitinib, Dupilumab, Janus kinase 1 inhibitor, interleukin-4 inhibito