cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
The Pseudomonas aeruginosa Chp Chemosensory System Regulates Intracellular cAMP Levels by Modulating Adenylate Cyclase Activity
Creators: name: Fulcher, Nanette B.
name: Holliday, Phillip M.
name: Cann, Martin J.
name: Klem, Erich
name: Wolfgang, Matthew C.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: Multiple virulence systems in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa are regulated by the second messenger signaling molecule adenosine 3’, 5’-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP). Production of cAMP by the putative adenylate cyclase enzyme CyaB represents a critical control point for virulence gene regulation. To identify regulators of CyaB, we screened a transposon insertion library for mutants with reduced intracellular cAMP. The majority of insertions resulting in reduced cAMP mapped to the Chp gene cluster encoding a putative chemotaxis-like chemosensory system. Further genetic analysis of the Chp system revealed that it has both positive and negative effects on intracellular cAMP and that it regulates cAMP levels by modulating CyaB activity. The Chp system was previously implicated in the production and function of type IV pili (TFP). Given that cAMP and the cAMP-dependent transcriptional regulator Vfr control TFP biogenesis gene expression, we explored the relationship between cAMP, the Chp system and TFP regulation. We discovered that the Chp system controls TFP production through modulation of cAMP while control of TFP-dependent twitching motility is cAMP-independent. Overall, our data define a novel function for a chemotaxis-like system in controlling cAMP production and establish a regulatory link between the Chp system, TFP and other cAMP-dependent virulence systems.
The dynamics and relative strength of bottom-up vs top-down impacts in a community of subtropical lake plankton
Creators: name: Matveev, Vladimir
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2023

description: Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre

MDFRC item.

By analysis of a previously described system consisting of three trophic levels (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and an invertebrate predator in a eutrophic lake), the generality of two hypotheses of food web theory was tested. (1) Top-down (predator-on-prey) impact weakens down the food web. (2) Time lags in the trophic level interactions decrease in duration from top to bottom of food webs. In the lake studied, a spring pulse of phytoplankton impacted with a delay the biomass of upper trophic levels - herbivorous zooplankton and the predatory water mite, Piona sp. Later in the season, the top-down control by Piona cascading down the food web became prevailing over bottom-up forces. Cross-correlations revealed that the top-down effect was not weakening downwards. Instead, the impact of zooplankton biomass on phytoplankton biomass was stronger than that of the invertebrate predator on zooplankton, despite the fact that the predator caused a decline in zooplankton biomass. Contrary to the theory, the time lags did not differ significantly between the impacts of trophic levels of a given pathway direction. However, they differed between bottom-up vs top-down pathways in support of the theory. Thus, some predictions of the food web theory may be restricted only to fish-impacted systems for which it was originally developed. An alternative explanation could be that the strength of top-down impact is associated with the width of consumers' feeding niches: the impact is stronger when niches are wider.
Molecular Dynamics in Dissociative Electron Attachment to CO probed by Velocity Slice Imaging
Creators: name: Nag, Pamir
name: Nandi, Dhananjay
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Atomic and Molecular Clusters (physics.atm-clus)
subject: Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Kinetic energy and angular distributions of O$^-$ ions formed by dissociative electron attachment to CO molecule have been studied for 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5 eV incident electron energies around the resonance using time sliced velocity map imaging spectrometer. Detailed observations clearly show two separate DEA reactions lead to the formation of O$^{-}$ ions in the ground $^{2}P$ state along with the neutral C atoms in ground $^{3}P$ state and first excited $^{1}D$ state, respectively. Within the axial recoil approximation and involving four partial waves, our angular distribution results clearly indicate that the two reactions leading to O$^{-}$ formation proceed through the distinct resonant state(s). For the first process, more than one intermediate states are involved. Whereas, for the second process, only one state is involved. The observed forward-backward asymmetry is explained due to the interference between the different partial waves that are involved in the processes.
description: Few arguments are changed, Typos are corrected, all results are unchanged
On the use of traffic assignment and microsimulation to predict work zone effects
Creators: name: Smith, Harry Vincent
name: 0000-0002-2969-2464
Publisher: name: The University of Texas at Austin
Year: 2022
Subjects: Static traffic assignment
Microsimulation
Work zone
Diversion

description: The field of transportation modeling exists at a crossroads. Practice lags behind advancements in theory, software, and computer power. During this transitional phase, it becomes difficult to understand which estimations are reliable. Several popular programs work toward similar purposes, but inputs and outputs from one program might not translate to another. This thesis analyzes the cross-compatibility of static traffic assignment and microsimulation for the San Antonio, Texas area. The methodology uses two models already built and in use for the area: one in TransCAD for static traffic assignment and another in VISSIM for microsimulation. In Chapter 2, the reader is presented an overview of the literature on several topics. First, the basics of work zone demand management and traffic control plans are covered. Then, this section introduces the differences between static and dynamic traffic assignment. The discussion also includes reasons why advancements have not been universally implemented yet. Next, the text of Chapter 3 and 4 explains the methodology and results from traffic assignment and microsimulation. Challenges and successes of the entire process are thoroughly explored. A conclusion in Chapter 5 assesses the feasibility of combining the two methods to obtain useful results of user delay and traffic volume for planners.
ACME encoded speG abrogates the unique hypersensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus to exogenous polyamines
Creators: name: Joshi, Gauri S.
name: Spontak, Jeffrey S.
name: Klapper, David G.
name: Richardson, Anthony R.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Polyamines, including spermine (Spm) and spermidine (Spd), are aliphatic cations that are reportedly synthesized by all living organisms. They exert pleiotropic effects on cells and are required for efficient nucleic acid and protein synthesis. Here, we report that the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus lacks identifiable polyamine biosynthetic genes, and consequently produces no Spm/Spd or their precursor compounds putrescine and agmatine. Moreover, while supplementing defined medium with polyamines generally enhances bacterial growth, Spm and Spd exert bactericidal effects on S. aureus at physiologic concentrations. Small colony variants specifically lacking menaquinone biosynthesis arose after prolonged Spm exposure and exhibited reduced polyamine-sensitivity. However, other respiratory-defective mutants were no less susceptible to Spm implying menaquinone itself rather than general respiration is required for full Spm-toxicity. Polyamine hypersensitivity distinguishes S. aureus from other bacteria and is exhibited by all tested strains save those belonging to the USA-300 group of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA). We identified one gene within the USA-300-specific Arginine Catabolic Mobile Element (ACME) encoding a Spm/Spd N-acetyltransferase that is necessary and sufficient for polyamine resistance. S. aureus encounters significant polyamine levels during infection, however the acquisition of ACME encoded speG allows USA-300 clones to circumvent polyamine-hypersensitivity, a peculiar trait of S. aureus.
Measurement of telescope transmission using a Collimated Beam Projector
Creators: name: Mondrik, Nicholas
name: Coughlin, Michael
name: Betoule, Marc
name: Bongard, Sébastien
name: Rice, Joseph P.
name: Shaw, Ping-Shine
name: Stubbs, Christopher W.
name: Woodward, John T.
name: Collaboration, LSST Dark Energy Science
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: With the increasingly large number of type Ia supernova being detected by current-generation survey telescopes, and even more expected with the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the precision of cosmological measurements will become limited by systematic uncertainties in flux calibration rather than statistical noise. One major source of systematic error in determining SNe Ia color evolution (needed for distance estimation) is uncertainty in telescope transmission, both within and between surveys. We introduce here the Collimated Beam Projector (CBP), which is meant to measure a telescope transmission with collimated light. The collimated beam more closely mimics a stellar wavefront as compared to flat-field based instruments, allowing for more precise handling of systematic errors such as those from ghosting and filter angle-of-incidence dependence. As a proof of concept, we present CBP measurements of the StarDICE prototype telescope, achieving a standard (1 sigma) uncertainty of 3 % on average over the full wavelength range measured with a single beam illumination.
The stimulation of phytoplankton growth by an invertebrate predator
Creators: name: Matveeva, Lilian K
name: Matveev, Vladimir F
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2023

description: Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre

MDFRC item.

In experimental microcosms with water from two lakes of different productivity, carnivorous planktonic water mites Piona australica Viets prefed with Daphnia directly simulated the growth of most algae present. In the experiments, the biovolumes of individual species of algae and their total biovolumes were positively correlated with manipulated water mite density. Water mites enhanced the growth of increasing populations of algae and made declining populations start growing. This stimulation was apparently mediated through predators’ excreta.
Localization and activity of the calcineurin catalytic and regulatory subunit complex at the septum is essential for hyphal elongation and proper septation in Aspergillus fumigatus: Analysis of the calcineurin complex in Aspergillus fumigatus
Creators: name: Rogg, Luise E.
name: Fortwendel, Jarrod R.
name: Randell, Scott H.
name: Juvvadi, Praveen Rao
name: Burns, Kimberlie A.
name: Steinbach, William J.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Calcineurin, a heterodimer composed of the catalytic (CnaA) and regulatory (CnaB) subunits, plays key roles in growth, virulence, and stress responses of fungi. To investigate the contribution of CnaA and CnaB to hyphal growth and septation, ΔcnaB and ΔcnaA ΔcnaB strains of A. fumigatus were constructed. CnaA co-localizes to the contractile actin ring early during septation and remains at the center of the mature septum. While CnaB's septal localization is CnaA-dependent, CnaA's septal localization is CnaB-independent but CnaB is required for CnaA's function at the septum. Catalytic null mutations in CnaA caused stunted growth despite septal localization of the calcineurin complex, indicating the requirement of calcineurin activity at the septum. Compared to the ΔcnaA and ΔcnaB strains, the ΔcnaA ΔcnaB strain displayed more defective growth and aberrant septation. While three Ca2+-binding motifs in CnaB were sufficient for its association with CnaA at the septum, the amino-terminal arginine-rich domains (16-RRRR-19 and 44-RLRKR-48) are dispensable for septal localization, yet required for complete functionality. Mutation of the 51-KLDK-54 motif in CnaB causes its mislocalization from the septum to the nucleus, suggesting it is a nuclear export signal sequence. These findings confirm a cooperative role for calcineurin complex in regulating hyphal growth and septation.
The use of wetlands for the control of non-point source pollution
Creators: name: Raisin, G. W
name: Mitchell, D. S
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2023

description: Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre

MDFRC item.

There is increasing interest in the use of wetlands to intercept nutrients in diffuse run-off from rural catchments. However, the scientific basis for this strategy is far from secure. While research in several countries provides support for this approach, there is a general lack of rigorous data sets of nutrient balances showing the real effect of such wetlands on the quality of run-off emanating from rural catchments. Research being conducted on two natural and one constructed wetland in south-eastern Australia will contribute to filling this gap.In each of these three wetlands, volumn of inflow and outflow is being measured at 15 minute intervals. Automatic water samplers connected to the flow measurement device are measured and are triggered to take samples at appropriate intervals during run-off events. All these water samples are analysed chemically and the total loads of selected chemicals entering and leaving a wetland are calculated for several storm events over the winter and spring period during 1993.Results for the Total Nitrogen and Total Phophorus show that during winter there is a net release of these nutrients from the linear wetlands with greater flows resulting in greater flushing. However in spring and early summer there was a net retention of nutrients in the wetlands despitesimilar hydrological loadings. These results were affected by the size of the wetland relative to the catchment (and therefore retention time), land use of the catchment, any intrusion of ground water and the nature of the wetland in terms of its shape and vegetation.
Astrogliosis in CNS Pathologies: Is There A Role for Microglia?
Creators: name: Hong, Jau-Shyong
name: Zhang, Dan
name: O’Callaghan, James P.
name: Hu, Xiaoming
name: Qian, Li
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: Astrogliosis, a cellular reaction with specific structural and functional characteristics, represents a remarkably homotypic response of astrocytes to all kinds of central nervous system (CNS) pathologies. Astrocytes play diverse functions in the brain, both harmful and beneficial. Mounting evidence indicates that astrogliosis is an underlying component of a diverse range of diseases and associated neuropathologies. The mechanisms that lead to astrogliosis are not fully understood, nevertheless, damaged neurons have long been reported to induce astrogliosis and astrogliosis has been used as an index for underlying neuronal damage. As the predominant source of proinflammatory factors in the CNS, microglia are readily activated under certain pathological conditions. An increasing body of evidence suggests that release of cytokines and other soluble products by activated microglia can significantly influence the subsequent development of astrogliosis and scar formation in CNS. It is well known that damaged neurons activate microglia very quickly, therefore, it is possible that activated microglia contribute factors/mediators through which damaged neuron induce astrogliosis. The hypothesis that activated microglia initiate and maintain astrogliosis suggests that suppression of microglial overactivation might effectively attenuate reactive astrogliosis. Development of targeted anti-microglial activation therapies might slow or halt the progression of astrogliosis and, therefore, help achieve a more beneficial environment in various CNS pathologies.
Joint Channel Selection and Power Control in Infrastructureless Wireless Networks: A Multi-Player Multi-Armed Bandit Framework
Creators: name: Maghsudi, Setareh
name: Stanczak, Slawomir
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Computer Science and Game Theory (cs.GT)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: This paper deals with the problem of efficient resource allocation in dynamic infrastructureless wireless networks. Assuming a reactive interference-limited scenario, each transmitter is allowed to select one frequency channel (from a common pool) together with a power level at each transmission trial; hence, for all transmitters, not only the fading gain, but also the number of interfering transmissions and their transmit powers are varying over time. Due to the absence of a central controller and time-varying network characteristics, it is highly inefficient for transmitters to acquire global channel and network knowledge. Therefore a reasonable assumption is that transmitters have no knowledge of fading gains, interference, and network topology. Each transmitting node selfishly aims at maximizing its average reward (or minimizing its average cost), which is a function of the action of that specific transmitter as well as those of all other transmitters. This scenario is modeled as a multi-player multi-armed adversarial bandit game, in which multiple players receive an a priori unknown reward with an arbitrarily time-varying distribution by sequentially pulling an arm, selected from a known and finite set of arms. Since players do not know the arm with the highest average reward in advance, they attempt to minimize their so-called regret, determined by the set of players' actions, while attempting to achieve equilibrium in some sense. To this end, we design in this paper two joint power level and channel selection strategies. We prove that the gap between the average reward achieved by our approaches and that based on the best fixed strategy converges to zero asymptotically. Moreover, the empirical joint frequencies of the game converge to the set of correlated equilibria. We further characterize this set for two special cases of our designed game.
What Choline Metabolism Can Tell Us About the Underlying Mechanisms of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Creators: name: Zeisel, Steven H.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: The consequences of fetal exposure to alcohol are very diverse and the likely molecular mechanisms involved must be able to explain how so many developmental processes could go awry. If pregnant rat dams are fed alcohol, their pups develop abnormalities characteristic of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), but if these rat dams were also treated with choline, the effects from ethanol were attenuated in their pups. Choline is an essential nutrient in humans, and is an important methyl group donor. Alcohol exposure disturbs the metabolism of choline and other methyl donors. Availability of choline during gestation directly influences epigenetic marks on DNA and histones, and alters gene expression needed for normal neural and endothelial progenitor cell proliferation. Maternal diets low in choline alter development of the mouse hippocampus, and decrement memory for life. Women eating low-choline diets have an increased risk of having an infant with a neural tube or or ofacial cleft birth defect. Thus, the varied effects of choline could affect the expression of FASD, and studies on choline might shed some light on the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for FASD.
Non-perturbative renormalization of lattice QCD at all scales
Creators: name: Jansen, Karl
name: Liu, Chuan
name: Lüscher, Martin
name: Simma, Hubert
name: Sint, Stefan
name: Sommer, Rainer
name: Weisz, Peter
name: Wolff, Ulli
Publisher: name: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
Year: 1996
Subjects: subject: 530
subject: fermion: lattice field theory
subject: gauge field theory: SU(3)
subject: renormalization: nonperturbative
subject: effect: finite size
subject: current: axial
subject: quark: mass
subject: mass: quark
subject: density: axial
subject: boundary condition
subject: numerical calculations: Monte Carlo

description: A general strategy to solve the non-perturbative renormalization problem in lattice QCD, using finite-size techniques and numerical simulations, is described. As an illustration we discuss the computation of the axial current normalization constant, the running coupling at zero quark masses and the scale evolution of the renormalized axial density. The non-perturbative calculation of O(a) correction terms (as they appear in Symanzik's improvement programme) is another important field of application.
Microdomains in Forebrain Spines: an Ultrastructural Perspective
Creators: name: Rácz, Bence
name: Weinberg, Richard J.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Glutamatergic axons in the mammalian forebrain terminate predominantly onto dendritic spines. Long-term changes in the efficacy of these excitatory synapses are tightly coupled to changes in spine morphology. The reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton underlying this spine “morphing” involves numerous proteins that provide the machinery needed for adaptive cytoskeletal remodeling. Here we review recent literature addressing the chemical architecture of the spine, focusing mainly on actin-binding proteins (ABPs). Accumulating evidence suggests that ABPs are organized into functionally-distinct microdomains within the spine cytoplasm. This functional compartmentalization provides a structural basis for regulation of the spinoskeleton, offering a novel window into mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity.
Galactic Model Parameters and Space Density of Cataclysmic Variables in Gaia Era: New Constraints to Population Models
Creators: name: Canbay, R.
name: Bilir, S.
name: Özdönmez, A.
name: Ak, T.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The spatial distribution, Galactic model parameters and luminosity function of cataclysmic variables (CVs) are established using re-estimated trigonometric parallaxes of {\it Gaia} DR3. The data sample of 1,587 CVs in this study is claimed to be suitable for Galactic model parameter estimation as the distances are based on trigonometric parallaxes and the {\it Gaia} DR3 photometric completeness limits were taken into account when the sample was created. According to the analysis, the scale height of All CVs increases from 248$\pm$2 to 430$\pm$4 pc towards shorter periods near the lower limit of the period gap and suddenly drops to 300$\pm$2 pc for the shortest orbital period CVs. The exponential scale heights of All CVs and magnetic systems are found to be 375$\pm$2 and 281$\pm$3 pc, respectively, considerably larger than those suggested in previous observational studies. The local space density of All CVs and magnetic systems in the sample are $6.8^{+1.3}_{-1.1}\times$10$^{-6}$ and $2.1^{+0.5}_{-0.4}\times10^{-6}$ pc$^{-3}$, respectively. Our measurements strengthen the 1-2 order of magnitude discrepancy between CV space densities predicted by population synthesis models and observations. It is likely that this discrepancy is due to objects undetected by CV surveys, such as the systems with very low $\dot{M}$ and the ones in the period gap. The comparisons of the luminosity function of white dwarfs with the luminosity function of All CVs in this study show that 500 times the luminosity function of CVs fits very well to the luminosity function of white dwarfs. We conclude that the estimations and data sample in this study can be confidently used in further analysis of CVs.
description: 23 pages, including 12 figures and 6 tables, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal
#UNICA400. Raccontare i 400 anni dell’Università di Cagliari sul web [poster]
#UNICA400. Raccontare i 400 anni dell’Università di Cagliari sul web [poster]
Creators: name: Ibba, Roberto
name: Nuvoli, Sergio
Publisher: name: R. Ibba, S. Nuvoli, "#UNICA400. Raccontare i 400 anni dell’Università di Cagliari sul web", in Book of Abstract AIPH 2022, Quarta Conferenza Nazionale di Public History, Storia bene comune, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, M9 – Museo del ’900. Venezia-Mestre, 27-31 maggio 2022.
Year: 2020

description: Nel 2020 l’Ateneo cagliaritano ha celebrato i 400 anni dalla concessione dei privilegio di fondazione da parte del sovrano Filippo III. L’emergenza pandemica ha costretto il gruppo di lavoro a ripensare il calendario delle attività previste in presenza per realizzarle in modalità mista o a distanza. In quel contesto il sito web e i social network istituzionali sono diventati centrali nel rapporto di mediazione con il pubblico, nella trasmissione degli eventi, nel trasferimento di conoscenze storiche.
A concept of the photon collider beam dump
Creators: name: Shekhtman, L. I.
name: Telnov, V. I.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Photon beams at photon colliders are very narrow, powerful (10--15 MW) and cannot be spread by fast magnets (because photons are neutral). No material can withstand such energy density. For the ILC-based photon collider, we suggest using a 150 m long, pressurized (P ~ 4 atm) argon gas target in front of a water absorber which solves the overheating and mechanical stress problems. The neutron background at the interaction point is estimated and additionally suppressed using a 20 m long hydrogen gas target in front of the argon.
description: 9 pages, 7 figures, Latex. Talk at Int. conf. on instrumentation for colliding beam physics (INSTR 2014), Feb. 24 - March 1, 2014, BINP, Novosibirsk. To be published in JINST
Deconstructing the molecular portraits of breast cancer
Creators: name: Perou, Charles M.
name: Prat, Aleix
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease in terms of histology, therapeutic response, dissemination patterns to distant sites, and patient outcomes. Global gene expression analyses using high-throughput technologies have helped to explain much of this heterogeneity and provided important new classifications of cancer patients. In the last decade, genomic studies have established five breast cancer intrinsic subtypes (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, Claudin-low, Basal-like) and a Normal Breast-like group. In this review, we dissect the most recent data on this genomic classification of breast cancer with a special focus on the Claudin-low subtype, which appears enriched for mesenchymal and stem cell features. In addition, we discuss how the combination of standard clinical-pathological markers with the information provided by these genomic entities might help further understand the biological complexity of this disease, increase the efficacy of current and novel therapies, and ultimately improve outcomes for breast cancer patients.
Tumor suppressive activity of prolyl isomerase Pin1 in renal cell carcinoma
Creators: name: Chen, Shufen
name: Teng, Brian L.
name: Rathmell, W. Kimryn
name: Means, Anthony R.
name: Hacker, Kathryn E.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Pin1 specifically recognizes and catalyzes the cis-trans isomerization of phosphorylated-Ser/Thr-Pro bonds, which modulate the stability, localization, and function of numerous Pin1 targets involved in tumor progression. However, the role of Pin1 in cancer remains enigmatic as the gene is located on chromosome 19p13.2, which is a region subject to loss of heterozygosity in several tumors. Since Pin1 protein is frequently under-expressed in kidney cancer, we have explored its role in human clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Here we show evidence for PIN1 gene deletion and mRNA under-expression as a mechanism of Pin1 reduction in ccRCC tumors. We demonstrate that restoration of Pin1 in cell lines found to be deficient in Pin1 protein expression can attenuate the growth of ccRCC cells in soft agar and a xenograft tumor model. Moreover, this ability of Pin1 to negatively influence tumor growth in ccRCC cells may be dependent on the presence of functional p53, which is infrequently mutated in ccRCC. These observations suggest Pin1 may have a mild tumor suppressive role in ccRCC.
Phase transition and stiffer core fluid in neutron stars: Effects on stellar configurations, dynamical stability, and tidal deformability
Creators: name: Arbañil, José D. V.
name: Rodrigues, Lucas S.
name: Lenzi, César H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this work, we investigate the influence of the phase transition and a stiffer fluid in neutron stars' cores on the static equilibrium configuration, dynamical stability, and tidal deformability. For this aim, it is taken into account that the fluid in the core and the envelope follow the relativistic polytropic equation of state. We find that the phase transition and a stiffer fluid in the core will reflect in the total mass, radius, speed of sound, core radius, radial stability with a slow and rapid conversion at the interface, and tidal deformability. We also investigate the dimensionless tidal deformability $Λ_1$ and $Λ_2$ for a binary neutron stars system with chirp mass equal to GW$170817$. Finally, we contrast our results with observational data to show the role that phase transition and a stiffer core fluid could play in the study of neutron stars.
description: To appear in EPJC
Emerging uses of patient generated health data in clinical research
Creators: name: Wood, William A.
name: Bennett, Antonia V.
name: Basch, Ethan
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: Recent advancements in consumer directed personal computing technology have led to the generation of biomedically-relevant data streams with potential health applications. This has catalyzed international interest in Patient Generated Health Data (PGHD), defined as "health-related data - including health history, symptoms, biometric data, treatment history, lifestyle choices, and other information-created, recorded, gathered, or inferred by or from patients or their designees (i.e. care partners or those who assist them) to help address a health concern."(Shapiro et al., 2012) PGHD offers several opportunities to improve the efficiency and output of clinical trials, particularly within oncology. These range from using PGHD to understand mechanisms of action of therapeutic strategies, to understanding and predicting treatment-related toxicity, to designing interventions to improve adherence and clinical outcomes. To facilitate the optimal use of PGHD, methodological research around considerations related to feasibility, validation, measure selection, and modeling of PGHD streams is needed. With successful integration, PGHD can catalyze the application of "big data" to cancer clinical research, creating both "n of 1" and population-level observations, and generating new insights into the nature of health and disease.
Application of new Rényi uncertainty relations to wave packet revivals
Creators: name: Santos, Francisco de los
name: Guglieri, Clara
name: Romera, Elvira
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Wave packet revivals and fractional revivals are studied by means of newly derived uncertainty relations that involve Rényi entropies and position and momentum dispersions.
description: 6 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the international conference Frontiers of Quantum and Mesoscopic Thermodynamics FQMT'08
Note on quantitatively correct simulations of the kinetic beam-plasma instability
Creators: name: Lotov, K. V.
name: Timofeev, I. V.
name: Mesyats, E. A.
name: Snytnikov, A. V.
name: Vshivkov, V. A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
subject: Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A large number of model particles is shown necessary for quantitatively correct simulations of the kinetic beam-plasma instability with the clouds-in-cells method. The required number of particles scales inversely with the expected growth rate, as in the kinetic regime only a narrow interval of beam velocities is resonant with the wave.
description: 5 pages, 3 figures
Toll-like receptor 4 mediates intrauterine growth restriction after systemic Campylobacter rectus infection in mice: TLR4 mediates IUGR after C. rectus infection
Creators: name: Arce, R.M.
name: Caron, K.M.
name: Barros, S.P.
name: Offenbacher, S.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Campylobacter rectus is associated with fetal exposure and low-birth weight in humans. C. rectus also invades placental tissues and induces fetal intrauterine growth-restriction (IUGR) in mice, along with Toll-like receptors (TLR4) overexpression, suggesting that TLR4 may mediate placental immunity and IUGR in mice. To test this hypothesis we examined the effect of in vitroTLR4 neutralization in trophoblastic proinflammatory activity and studied the IUGR phenotype in a congenic TLR4-mutant mouse strain after in vivo C. rectus infection. Human trophoblasts were pretreated with TLR4 neutralizing antibodies and infected with C. rectus; pro-inflammatory cytokine production was assessed by cytokine multiplexing assays. Neutralizing TLR4 antibodies significantly impaired the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in trophoblastic cells after infection in a dose-dependent manner. We used a subcutaneous chamber model to provide a C. rectus challenge in BALB/cAnPt (TLR4Lps-d) and wild-type(WT) females. Females were mated with WT or TLR4Lps-dmales once/week; pregnant mice were infected at (E)7.5 and sacrificed at (E)16.5 to establish IUGR phenotypes. Maternal C. rectus infection significantly decreased fetal weight/length in infected WT when compared to sham WT controls(PLps-d−/− mice did not show statistically significant differences in fetal weight and length when compared to WT controls(P>0.05). Furthermore, heterozygous TLR4Lps-d −/+fetuses showed IUGR phenotype rescue. We concluded that TLR4 is an important mediator of trophoblastic proinflammatory responses and TLR4-deficient fetuses do not develop IUGR phenotypes after C. rectus infection, suggesting that placental cytokine activation is likely to be mediated by TLR4 during low birth weight/preterm delivery pathogenesis.
title: Association of primary allostatic load mediators and metabolic syndrome (MetS): A systematic review
Creators: name: Osei, Francis
name: Block, Andrea
name: Wippert, Pia-Maria
Publisher: name: Universitätsverlag Potsdam
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: 610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Allostatic load (AL) exposure may cause detrimental effects on the neuroendocrine system, leading to metabolic syndrome (MetS). The primary mediators of AL involve serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS; a functional HPA axis antagonist); further, cortisol, urinary norepinephrine (NE), and epinephrine (EPI) excretion levels (assessed within 12-h urine as a golden standard for the evaluation of the HPA axis activity and sympathetic nervous system activity). However, the evidence of an association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS is limited. This systematic review aimed to critically examine the association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS. PubMed and Web of Science were searched for articles from January 2010 to December 2021, published in English. The search strategy focused on cross-sectional and case–control studies comprising adult participants with MetS, obesity, overweight, and without chronic diseases. The STROBE checklist was used to assess study quality control. Of 770 studies, twenty-one studies with a total sample size (n = 10,666) met the eligibility criteria. Eighteen studies were cross-sectional, and three were case–control studies. The included studies had a completeness of reporting score of COR % = 87.0 ± 6.4%. It is to be noted, that cortisol as a primary mediator of AL showed an association with MetS in 50% (urinary cortisol), 40% (serum cortisol), 60% (salivary cortisol), and 100% (hair cortisol) of the studies. For DHEAS, it is to conclude that 60% of the studies showed an association with MetS. In contrast, urinary EPI and urinary NE had 100% no association with MetS. In summary, there is a tendency for the association between higher serum cortisol, salivary cortisol, urinary cortisol, hair cortisol, and lower levels of DHEAS with MetS. Future studies focusing on longitudinal data are warranted for clarification and understanding of the association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS.
description: Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Gesundheitswissenschaftliche Reihe; 6
OGLE-SMC-LPV-00861 (LIN 9): the first proven Z And outburst in a Magellanic symbiotic star
Creators: name: Miszalski, Brent
name: Mikołajewska, Joanna
name: Udalski, Andrzej
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report on the discovery of a new Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) symbiotic star, OGLE-SMC-LPV-00861, previously catalogued as H$α$ emission line source LIN 9. The OGLE light curve shows multiple-maxima outburst behaviour over $\sim$1200 d with a maximum outburst of $ΔV=1.5$ mag. An optical spectrum of LIN 9 taken with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) at quiescence reveals a K5 red giant with emission lines confirming its symbiotic star nature, demonstrating the potential use of ongoing large time-domain surveys to identify strong symbiotic star candidates. It is the first Magellanic symbiotic star proven to show poorly understood Z And outbursts. At outburst the estimated hot component luminosity is $L\sim3165$ $L_\odot$, compared to $L\sim225$ $L_\odot$ at quiescence. Further observations are needed, especially at outburst, to better understand this unique Z And-like system at a known distance, and to provide essential input to physical models of the Z And phenomenon.
description: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters, 5 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables
Assessing geriatrics training in palliative care fellowships: a survey of program directors
Creators: name: Shafir, Adi
Publisher: name: Oregon Health and Science University
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Aged
subject: Frailty
subject: Geriatrics
subject: Physicians
subject: Aging
subject: Dementia
subject: United States
subject: Assessment of learning
subject: Educational research findings
subject: Educational research methods and models

description: The United States population is rapidly aging. The population age 65 and older increased from 39.6 million in 2009 to 54.1 million in 2019 (a 36% increase) and is projected to reach 94.7 million in 2060. The 85 and older population is projected to more than double from 6.6 million in 2019 to 14.4 million in 2040 (a 118% increase). This aging population is more likely to experience multiple comorbidities that result in frailty, falls, dementia, and other geriatric syndromes. Palliative care is a specialty focused on symptom management and assessing goals of care for seriously ill adults, and will frequently see older adults, but has limited training and exposure in basic geriatrics training. The purpose of this project is to Determine whether palliative care physician fellows receive training in geriatrics principles to equip them for taking care of seriously ill older adults.
The use of wetlands for water pollution control in Australia: an ecological perspective
Creators: name: Mitchell, D. S
name: Chick, A. J
name: Raisin, G. W
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2023

description: Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre

MDFRC item.

The potential use of natural and constructed wetlands to treat rural and urban wastewaters and run-offs has been under active investigation in Australia by the authors and others associated with them for about 15 years. The results of these investigations will be briefly summarised in relation to factors affecting their performance and their application for management of water pollution.Investigations have included rigorous experimentations with wetland microcosms, calculation of nutrient balances for natural and artificial wetlands, fundemental research on the role of wetland plants, the construction of experiemental wetlands of various designs at a pilot scale, and the installation of operating systems.The results confirm the potential of wetland systems to ameliorate water quality but do not demonstrate how to do this consistently under normal day-to-day operating conditions. Issues that now need to be addressed include hydraulic short-circuiting, the role and management of the wetland plants, the extent to which constructed systems should mimic natural systems, and problems associated with scaling up from successful experimental systems to full scale operating treatment plants.
Reduction of Voltage Gated Sodium Channel Protein in DRG by Vector Mediated miRNA Reduces Pain in Rats with Painful Diabetic Neuropathy
Creators: name: Chattopadhyay, Munmun
name: Fink, David J
name: Zhou, Zhigang
name: Hao, Shuanglin
name: Mata, Marina
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: BackgroundPainful neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes. Previous studies have identified significant increases in the amount of voltage gated sodium channel isoforms NaV1.7 and NaV1.3 protein in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. We found that gene transfer-mediated release of the inhibitory neurotransmitters enkephalin or gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) from DRG neurons in diabetic animals reduced pain-related behaviors coincident with a reduction in NaV1.7 protein levels in DRG in vivo. To further evaluate the role of NaVα subunit levels in DRG in the pathogenesis of pain in diabetic neuropathy, we constructed a non-replicating herpes simplex virus (HSV)-based vector expressing a microRNA (miRNA) against NaVα subunits.ResultsSubcutaneous inoculation of the miRNA-expressing HSV vector into the feet of diabetic rats to transduce DRG resulted in a reduction in NaVα subunit levels in DRG neurons, coincident with a reduction in cold allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical hyperalgesia.ConclusionsThese data support the role of increased NaVα protein in DRG in the pathogenesis of pain in diabetic neuropathy, and provide a proof-of-principle demonstration for the development of a novel therapy that could be used to treat intractable pain in patients with diabetic neuropathy.
Methods To Evaluate Biliary Excretion of Drugs in Humans:  An Updated Review
Creators: name: Leslie, Elaine M.
name: Brouwer, Kim L. R.
name: Ghibellini, Giulia
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2006

description: Determining the biliary clearance of drugs in humans is very challenging because bile in not readily accessible due to the anatomy of the hepatobiliary tract. The collection of bile usually is limited to post-surgical patients with underlying hepatobiliary disease. In healthy subjects, feces typically are used as a surrogate to quantify the amount of drug excreted via non-urinary pathways. Nevertheless, it is very important to characterize hepatobiliary elimination because this is a potential site of drug interactions that might result in significant alterations in systemic or hepatic exposure. In addition to the determination of in vivo biliary clearance values of drugs, the availability of in vitro models that can predict the extent of biliary excretion of drugs in humans may be a powerful tool in the pre-clinical stages of drug development. In this review, recent advances in the most commonly used in vivo methods to estimate biliary excretion of drugs in humans are outlined. Additionally, in vitro models that can be employed to investigate the molecular processes involved in biliary excretion are discussed to present an updated picture of the new tools and techniques that are available to study the complex processes involved in hepatic drug transport.
Multiplane gravitational lenses with an abundance of images
Creators: name: Keeton, Charles R.
name: Lundberg, Erik
name: Perry, Sean
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 85-10

description: We consider gravitational lensing of a background source by a finite system of point-masses. The problem of determining the maximum possible number of lensed images has been completely resolved in the single-plane setting (where the point masses all reside in a single lens plane), but this problem remains open in the multiplane setting. We construct examples of $K$-plane point-mass gravitational lens ensembles that produce $\prod_{i=1}^K (5g_i-5)$ images of a single background source, where $g_i$ is the number of point masses in the $i^\text{th}$ plane. This gives asymptotically (for large $g_i$ with $K$ fixed) $5^K$ times the minimal number of lensed images. Our construction uses Rhie's single-plane examples and a structured parameter-rescaling algorithm to produce preliminary systems of equations with the desired number of solutions. Utilizing the stability principle from differential topology, we then show that the preliminary (nonphysical) examples can be perturbed to produce physically meaningful examples while preserving the number of solutions. We provide numerical simulations illustrating the result of our construction, including the positions of lensed images as well as the structure of the critical curves and caustics. We observe an interesting ``caustic of multiplicity'' phenomenon that occurs in the nonphysical case and has a noticeable effect on the caustic structure in the physically meaningful perturbative case.
description: 20 pages, 8 figures. The paper will appear in the Journal of Mathematical Physics