We have found an exact analytical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for the Tkachenko modes of the vortex lattice in the lowest Landau level (LLL) in the thermodynamic limit at any momenta and calculated their damping rates. At finite temperatures both Beliaev and Landau damping leads to momentum independent damping rates in the low-energy limit, which shows that at sufficiently low energies Tkachenko modes become strongly damped. We then found that the mean square fluctuations of the density grow logarithmically at large distances, which indicates that the state is ordered in the vortex lattice only on a finite (although exponentially large) distance scale and introduces a low-momentum cut-off. Using this circumstance we showed that at finite temperatures the one-body density matrix undergoes an exponential decay at large distances.

{p=The goal of pediatric intensive care is early identification, severity assessment and resuscitation of critical patients by utilizing standardized protocols. The primary or precipitating disorder should be the focus of attention and specific intervention. But in order to provide holistic care to a patient, due attention should also be rendered to supportive care. Monitoring of sick children in PICU is an essential part of management. Various monitoring technologies add to the clinical monitoring but cannot replace clinical monitoring. The treating team should follow a checklist to ensure all aspects of supportive care are taken care of in every patient. Due attention should be paid to glucose control, skin and eye care, oral hygiene, prevention of stress ulcer, care of various lines and catheters and prevention of nosocomial infections., h1=Abstract}

{p=Desulfarculus baarsii (Widdel 1981) Kuever et al. 2006 is the type and only species of the genus Desulfarculus , which represents the family Desulfarculaceae and the order Desulfarculales . This species is a mesophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium with the capability to oxidize acetate and fatty acids of up to 18 carbon atoms completely to CO_2. The acetyl-CoA/CODH (Wood-Ljungdahl) pathway is used by this species for the complete oxidation of carbon sources and autotrophic growth on formate. The type strain 2st14^T was isolated from a ditch sediment collected near the University of Konstanz, Germany. This is the first completed genome sequence of a member of the order Desulfarculales . The 3,655,731 bp long single replicon genome with its 3,303 protein-coding and 52 RNA genes is a part of the G enomic E ncyclopedia of B acteria and A rchaea project., h1=Abstract}

Background: The loss of species during the Holocene was, dramatically more important on islands than on continents. Seabirds from islands are very vulnerable to human-induced alterations such as habitat destruction, hunting and exotic predators. For example, in the genus Puffinus (family Procellariidae) the extinction of at least five species has been recorded during the Holocene, two of them coming from the Canary Islands. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used bones of the two extinct Canary shearwaters (P. olsoni and P. holeae) to obtain genetic data, for use in providing insights into the differentiation process within the genus Puffinus. Although mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b sequences were successfully retrieved from four Holocene specimens of the extinct Lava shearwater (P. olsoni) from Fuerteventura (Canary Islands), the P. holeae specimens yielded no DNA. Only one haplotype was detected in P. olsoni, suggesting a low genetic diversity within this species. Conclusions: The phylogenetic analyses based on the DNA data reveal that: (i) the “Puffinus puffinus complex”, an assemblage of species defined using osteological characteristics (P. puffinus, P. olsoni, P. mauretanicus, P. yelkouan and probably P. holeae), shows unresolved phylogenetic relationships; (ii) despite the differences in body size and proportions, P. olsoni and the extant P. puffinus are sister species. Several hypotheses can be considered to explain the incipient differentiation between P. olsoni and P. puffinus.

Autophagy degrades pathogens in vitro. The autophagy gene Atg5 has been reported to be required for IFN-γ-dependent host protection in vivo. However, these protective effects occur independently of autophagosome formation. Thus, the in vivo role of classic autophagy in protection conferred by adaptive immunity and how adaptive immunity triggers autophagy are incompletely understood. Employing biochemical, genetic and morphological studies, we found that CD40 upregulates the autophagy molecule Beclin 1 in microglia and triggers killing of Toxoplasma gondii dependent on the autophagy machinery. Infected CD40−/− mice failed to upregulate Beclin 1 in microglia/macrophages in vivo. Autophagy-deficient Beclin 1+/− mice, mice with deficiency of the autophagy protein Atg7 targeted to microglia/macrophages as well as CD40−/− mice exhibited impaired killing of T. gondii and were susceptible to cerebral and ocular toxoplasmosis. Susceptibility to toxoplasmosis occurred despite upregulation of IFN-γ, TNF-α and NOS2, preservation of IFN-γ-induced microglia/macrophage anti-T. gondii activity and the generation of anti-T. gondii T cell immunity. CD40 upregulated Beclin 1 and triggered killing of T. gondii by decreasing protein levels of p21, a molecule that degrades Beclin 1. These studies identified CD40-p21-Beclin 1 as a pathway by which adaptive immunity stimulates autophagy. In addition, they support that autophagy is a mechanism through which CD40-dependent immunity mediates in vivo protection and that the CD40-autophagic machinery is needed for host resistance despite IFN-γ.

Two numbers $m$ and $n$ are considered amicable if the sum of their proper divisors, $s(n)$ and $s(m)$, satisfy $s(n) = m$ and $s(m) = n$. In 1981, Pomerance showed that the sum of the reciprocals of all such numbers, $P$, is a constant. We obtain both a lower and an upper bound on the value of $P$.

{p=[Background, Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is found in 10% of all gastric adenocarcinomas but its role in tumor development and maintenance remains unclear. The objective of this study was to examine EBV-mediated dysregulation of cellular factors implicated in gastric carcinogenesis., Methods, Gene expression patterns were examined in EBV-negative and EBV-positive AGS gastric epithelial cells using a low density microarray, reverse transcription PCR, histochemical stains, and methylation-specific DNA sequencing. Expression of PTGS2 (COX2) was measured in AGS cells and in primary gastric adenocarcinoma tissues., Results, In array studies, nearly half of the 96 human genes tested, representing 15 different cancer-related signal transduction pathways, were dysregulated after EBV infection. Reverse transcription PCR confirmed significant impact on factors having diverse functions such as cell cycle regulation ( IGFBP3 , CDKN2A, CCND1, HSP70, ID2, ID4) , DNA repair (BRCA1, TFF1 ), cell adhesion ( ICAM1 ), inflammation ( COX2 ), and angiogenesis ( HIF1A ). Demethylation using 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine reversed the EBV-mediated dysregulation for all 11 genes listed here. For some promoter sequences, CpG island methylation and demethylation occurred in an EBV-specific pattern as shown by bisulfite DNA sequencing. Immunohistochemistry was less sensitive than was western blot for detecting downregulation of COX2 upon EBV infection. Virus-related dysregulation of COX2 levels in vitro was not recapitulated in vivo among naturally infected gastric cancer tissues., Conclusions, EBV alters human gene expression in ways that could contribute to the unique pathobiology of virus-associated cancer. Furthermore, the frequency and reversability of methylation-related transcriptional alterations suggest that demethylating agents have therapeutic potential for managing EBV-related carcinoma.], h1=Abstract}

We have fabricated and characterized samples of the superconducting- semiconducting Bi-Pb-Sb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O/CdS composite. Nano-size particles of CdS were deposited and introduced into the porosities of the Bi-Pb-Sb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O material by the spray pyrolysis technique. The morphology and hollow size in the porous superconducting material as well as the grain size in CdS and the morphology of the surface of the composite were obtained by Scanning Electron Microscopy. We obtained the critical superconducting temperature of both the Bi-Pb-Sb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O and the Bi-Pb-Sb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O/CdS composite measuring the resistivity. Both show a metallic behaviour just above the superconducting transition. For the superconductor alone, resistivity starts falling at Tc,on sup = 99,9 K and reaches zero at Tc,sup=76,3 K. The behaviour of the composite is different. The transition starts at Tc,on comp = 65,3 K and reaches zero resistance at Tc,comp = 56,5 K. This seems to indicate that the semiconductor penetrates the whole superconducting Bi-Pb-Sb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O sample so that there is no region of pure superconducting material left. Since the materials do not actually mix (see text) the behaviour might be attributable to the interface. Also the resistivity curves present a very interesting feature, i.e., below the temperature at which the composite attains zero-resistivity, a re-entrant behaviour manifests itself and a finite resistivity peak appears. It increases to a certain value to drop back to zero at some temperature below. We comment further on this feature in the text.

Background: We are moving to second-wave analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), characterized by comprehensive bioinformatical and statistical evaluation of genetic associations. Existing biological knowledge is very valuable for GWAS, which may help improve their detection power particularly for disease susceptibility loci of moderate effect size. However, a challenging question is how to utilize available resources that are very heterogeneous to quantitatively evaluate the statistic significances. Methodology/Principal Findings: We present a novel knowledge-based weighting framework to boost power of the GWAS and insightfully strengthen their explorative performance for follow-up replication and deep sequencing. Built upon diverse integrated biological knowledge, this framework directly models both the prior functional information and the association significances emerging from GWAS to optimally highlight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for subsequent replication. In the theoretical calculation and computer simulation, it shows great potential to achieve extra over 15% power to identify an association signal of moderate strength or to use hundreds of whole-genome subjects fewer to approach similar power. In a case study on late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD) for a proof of principle, it highlighted some genes, which showed positive association with LOAD in previous independent studies, and two important LOAD related pathways. These genes and pathways could be originally ignored due to involved SNPs only having moderate association significance. Conclusions/Significance: With user-friendly implementation in an open-source Java package, this powerful framework will provide an important complementary solution to identify more true susceptibility loci with modest or even small effect size in current GWAS for complex diseases.