Five-Body Efimov Effect and Universal Pentamer in Fermionic Mixtures.

We show that four heavy fermions interacting resonantly with a lighter atom (4+1 system) become Efimovian at mass ratio 13.279(2), which is smaller than the corresponding 2+1 and 3+1 thresholds. We thus predict the five-body Efimov effect for this system in the regime where any of its subsystem is non-Efimovian.

Role of the pretreatment F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography maximal standardized uptake value in predicting outcomes of colon liver metastases and that value's association with Beclin-1 expression.

The current study sought to evaluate the predictive and prognostic performance of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) prior to treatment in 43 patients with colon cancer and unresectable liver metastases. Patients with colon cancer who underwent F-FDG-PET/computed tomography (CT) scans for staging before the start of first-line 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Expression of Beclin-1 in cancer cells was evaluated in primary tumors using immunohistochemical staining.

Soft Selective Sweeps in Evolutionary Rescue.

Evolutionary rescue occurs when a population that is declining in size because of an environmental change is rescued from extinction by genetic adaptation. Evolutionary rescue is an important phenomenon at the intersection of ecology and population genetics, and the study of evolutionary rescue is critical to understanding processes ranging from species conservation to the evolution of drug and pesticide resistance. While most population-genetic models of evolutionary rescue focus on estimating the probability of rescue, we focus on whether one or more adaptive lineages contribute to evolutionary rescue.

Seeking Goldilocks During Evolution of Drug Resistance.

Speciation can occur when a population is split and the resulting subpopulations evolve independently, accumulating mutations over time that make them incompatible with one another. It is thought that such incompatible mutations, known as Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller (BDM) incompatibilities, may arise when the two populations face different environments, which impose different selective pressures. However, a new study in PLOS Biology by Ono et al.

Pediatric cerebral sinovenous thrombosis following cranial surgery.

Purpose: Pediatric cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT) is an important, though less common subtype of pediatric stroke. It has been linked to several risk factors, including cranial procedures, with few studies highlighting this relationship. The aim of this study was to characterize the diagnosis and treatment of CSVT after cranial surgery.

Extremely Rare Polymorphisms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Allow Inference of the Mutational Spectrum.

The characterization of mutational spectra is usually carried out in one of three ways-by direct observation through mutation accumulation (MA) experiments, through parent-offspring sequencing, or by indirect inference from sequence data. Direct observations of spontaneous mutations with MA experiments are limited, given (i) the rarity of spontaneous mutations, (ii) applicability only to laboratory model species with short generation times, and (iii) the possibility that mutational spectra under lab conditions might be different from those observed in nature. Trio sequencing is an elegant solution, but it is not applicable in all organisms.

De Novo Intraneural Arachnoid Cyst Presenting with Complete Third Nerve Palsy: Case Report and Literature Review.

Background: Intraneural arachnoid cyst is an extremely rare etiology of isolated cranial nerve palsy. Although seldom encountered in clinical practice, this pathology is amenable to surgical intervention. Correct identification and treatment of the cyst are required to prevent permanent nerve damage and potentially reverse the deficits.

Effects of Meteorological Variables on the Incidence of Rupture of Intracranial Aneurysms in Central New Jersey.

 Previous studies have suggested relationships between the rupture of intracranial aneurysms and meteorological variables such as season, barometric pressure, and temperature. Our objective was to examine the relationship between the incidence of hospital admissions secondary to aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and meteorological variables in central New Jersey.  The study population consisted of 312 patients who presented to University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2008, with aSAH.

Multipass optical system for a Raman gas spectrometer.

In the present work, a multipass optical system intended for increasing the sensitivity of a Raman gas spectrometer based on the 90° geometry of scattered light collection is described. The system is characterized by an adjustment stability and an increased number of laser beams that pass through a small scattering volume, thus allowing the intensities of Raman signals from components of the gas medium in this volume to be increased. It is demonstrated that the application of this multipass optical system allows the sensitivity of the Raman gas spectrometer to be increased practically by 20 times (to several ppm for the 30-s registration time).

Collection optics for a Raman spectrometer based on the 90° geometry of scattered light collection.

In the present work, efficiency of classical lens, mirror-lens, and pure mirror variants of the collection optics for a Raman spectrometer based on 90° geometry of scattered light collection is investigated. It is experimentally established that, despite a smaller collection angle, in the case of a relatively narrow input slit of the spectrometer (<100  μm), the lens optics with corrected off-axis and chromatic aberrations allows larger signal intensities to be registered. However, the low f/# mirror collection optics described in the work provide a more stable adjustment and can be used to increase the Raman signal intensities in cases when the image of the scattering volume formed by them is commensurable with the sizes of the input slit of the spectrometer.

Evaluation of the Role of JNK1 in the Hippocampus in an Experimental Model of Familial Alzheimer's Disease.

c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), which belong to a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, are involved in the regulation of several physiological functions in mammals and act as mediators of apoptosis, obesity, and memory storage in the brain, including the processes of neuronal de- and regeneration. JNK subfamily is encoded by three separate but related genes: jnk1, jnk2, and jnk3, giving rise to at least ten distinct splice variants of the JNK proteins. JNK3 is thought to be a major contributor to neurodegeneration in mammalian brain.

Anisotropic Expansion of a Thermal Dipolar Bose Gas.

We report on the anisotropic expansion of ultracold bosonic dysprosium gases at temperatures above quantum degeneracy and develop a quantitative theory to describe this behavior. The theory expresses the postexpansion aspect ratio in terms of temperature and microscopic collisional properties by incorporating Hartree-Fock mean-field interactions, hydrodynamic effects, and Bose-enhancement factors. Our results extend the utility of expansion imaging by providing accurate thermometry for dipolar thermal Bose gases.

Adaptive dynamics of cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila.

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are hydrophobic compounds deposited on the arthropod cuticle that are of functional significance with respect to stress tolerance, social interactions and mating dynamics. We characterized CHC profiles in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster at five levels: across a latitudinal transect in the eastern United States, as a function of developmental temperature during culture, across seasonal time in replicate years, and as a function of rapid evolution in experimental mesocosms in the field. Furthermore, we also characterized spatial and temporal changes in allele frequencies for SNPs in genes that are associated with the production and chemical profile of CHCs.

The Evolution of Neuroprosthetic Interfaces.

The ideal neuroprosthetic interface permits high-quality neural recording and stimulation of the nervous system while reliably providing clinical benefits over chronic periods. Although current technologies have made notable strides in this direction, significant improvements must be made to better achieve these design goals and satisfy clinical needs. This article provides an overview of the state of neuroprosthetic interfaces, starting with the design and placement of these interfaces before exploring the stimulation and recording platforms yielded from contemporary research.

Ultradilute Low-Dimensional Liquids.

We calculate the energy of one- and two-dimensional weakly interacting Bose-Bose mixtures analytically in the Bogoliubov approximation and by using the diffusion Monte Carlo technique. We show that in the case of attractive inter- and repulsive intraspecies interactions the energy per particle has a minimum at a finite density corresponding to a liquid state. We derive the Gross-Pitaevskii equation to describe droplets of such liquids and solve it analytically in the one-dimensional case.

Development of a Comprehensive Genotype-to-Fitness Map of Adaptation-Driving Mutations in Yeast.

Adaptive evolution plays a large role in generating the phenotypic diversity observed in nature, yet current methods are impractical for characterizing the molecular basis and fitness effects of large numbers of individual adaptive mutations. Here, we used a DNA barcoding approach to generate the genotype-to-fitness map for adaptation-driving mutations from a Saccharomyces cerevisiae population experimentally evolved by serial transfer under limiting glucose. We isolated and measured the fitness of thousands of independent adaptive clones and sequenced the genomes of hundreds of clones.

Evaluation of Neuropathological Effects of a High-Fat Diet in a Presymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease Stage in APP/PS1 Mice.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is currently an incurable aging-related neurodegenerative disorder. Recent studies give support to the hypotheses that AD should be considered as a metabolic disease. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between hippocampal neuropathological amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque formation and obesity at an early presymptomatic disease stage (3 months of age).

aPKCζ affects directed cell migration through the regulation of myosin light chain phosphorylation.

Cell motility is an essential cellular process for a variety of biological events. It requires cross-talk between the signaling and the cytoskeletal systems. Despite the recognized importance of aPKCζ for cell motility, there is little understanding of the mechanism by which aPKCζ mediates extracellular signals to the cytoskeleton.

An Intrinsically Disordered Region of the DNA Repair Protein Nbs1 Is a Species-Specific Barrier to Herpes Simplex Virus 1 in Primates.

Humans occasionally transmit herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) to captive primates, who reciprocally harbor alphaherpesviruses poised for zoonotic transmission to humans. To understand the basis for the species-specific restriction of HSV-1 in primates, we simulated what might happen during the cross-species transmission of HSV-1 and found that the DNA repair protein Nbs1 from only some primate species is able to promote HSV-1 infection. The Nbs1 homologs that promote HSV-1 infection also interact with the HSV-1 ICP0 protein.

Surgery and pleuro-pulmonary tuberculosis: a scientific literature review.

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major public health concern, mostly affecting resource-constrained settings and marginalized populations. The fight against the disease is hindered by the growing emergence of drug-resistant forms whose management can be rather challenging. Surgery may play an important role to support diagnosis and treatment of the most complex cases and improve their therapeutic outcome.

Endoscopic versus microscopic microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia: equivalent pain outcomes with possibly decreased postoperative headache after endoscopic surgery.

OBJECTIVE Endoscopic surgery has revolutionized surgery of the ventral skull base but has not yet been widely adopted for use in the cerebellopontine angle. Given the relatively normal anatomy of the cerebellopontine angle in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN), the authors hypothesized that a fully endoscopic microvascular decompression (E-MVD) might provide pain outcomes equivalent to those of microscopic MVD (M-MVD) but with fewer complications. METHODS The authors conducted a single-institution, single-surgeon retrospective study with patients treated in the period of 2006-2013.

Brownian Carnot engine.

The Carnot cycle imposes a fundamental upper limit to the efficiency of a macroscopic motor operating between two thermal baths1. However, this bound needs to be reinterpreted at microscopic scales, where molecular bio-motors2 and some artificial micro-engines3-5 operate. As described by stochastic thermodynamics6,7, energy transfers in microscopic systems are random and thermal fluctuations induce transient decreases of entropy, allowing for possible violations of the Carnot limit8.

Whole Genome Analysis of 132 Clinical Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains Reveals Extensive Ploidy Variation.

Budding yeast has undergone several independent transitions from commercial to clinical lifestyles. The frequency of such transitions suggests that clinical yeast strains are derived from environmentally available yeast populations, including commercial sources. However, despite their important role in adaptive evolution, the prevalence of polyploidy and aneuploidy has not been extensively analyzed in clinical strains.

Raman Gas Analyzer (RGA): Natural Gas Measurements.

In the present work, an improved model of the Raman gas analyzer (RGA) of natural gas (NG) developed by us is described together with its operating principle. The sensitivity has been improved and the number of measurable gases has been expanded. Results of its approbation on a real NG sample are presented for different measurement times.