Fast-twitch skeletal muscle fiber adaptation to SERCA1 deficiency in a Dutch Improved Red and White calf pseudomyotonia case.

Missense mutations in ATP2A1 gene, encoding SERCA1 protein, cause a muscle disorder designed as congenital pseudomyotonia (PMT) in Chianina and Romagnola cattle or congenital muscular dystonia1 (CMD1) in Belgian Blue cattle. Although PMT is not life-threatening, CMD1 affected calves usually die within a few weeks of age as a result of respiratory complication. We have recently described a muscular disorder in a double muscle Dutch Improved Red and White cross-breed calf. Mutation analysis revealed an ATP2A1 mutation identical to that described in CMD1, even though clinical phenotype was quite similar to that of PMT. Here, we provide evidence for a deficiency of mutated SERCA1 in PMT affected muscles of Dutch Improved Red and White calf, but not of its mRNA. The reduced expression of SERCA1 is selective and not compensated by the SERCA2 isoform. By contrast, pathological muscles are characterized by a broad distribution of mitochondrial markers in all fiber types, not related to intrinsic features of double muscle phenotype and by an increased expression of sarcolemmal calcium extrusion pump. Calcium removal mechanisms, operating in muscle fibers as compensatory response aimed at lowering excessive cytoplasmic calcium concentration caused by SERCA1 deficiency, could explain the difference in severity of clinical signs.

Development of a method for fast and automatic radiocarbon measurement of aerosol samples by online coupling of an elemental analyzer with a MICADAS AMS

A fast and automatic method for radiocarbon analysis of aerosol samples is presented. This type of analysis requires high number of sample measurements of low carbon masses, but accepts precisions lower than for carbon dating analysis. The method is based on online Trapping CO2 and coupling an elemental analyzer with a MICADAS AMS by means of a gas interface. It gives similar results to a previously validated reference method for the same set of samples. This method is fast and automatic and typically provides uncertainties of 1.5–5% for representative aerosol samples. It proves to be robust and reliable and allows for overnight and unattended measurements. A constant and cross contamination correction is included, which indicates a constant contamination of 1.4 ± 0.2 μg C with 70 ± 7 pMC and a cross contamination of (0.2 ± 0.1)% from the previous sample. A Real-time online coupling version of the method was also investigated. It shows promising results for standard materials with slightly higher uncertainties than the Trapping online approach.

Tracking the origins of Yakutian horses and the genetic basis for their fast adaptation to subarctic environments

Yakutia, Sakha Republic, in the Siberian Far East, represents one of the coldest places on Earth, with winter record temperatures dropping below -70 °C. Nevertheless, Yakutian horses survive all year round in the open air due to striking phenotypic adaptations, including compact body conformations, extremely hairy winter coats, and acute seasonal differences in metabolic activities. The evolutionary origins of Yakutian horses and the genetic basis of their adaptations remain, however, contentious. Here, we present the complete genomes of nine present-day Yakutian horses and two ancient specimens dating from the early 19th century and ∼5,200 y ago. By comparing these genomes with the genomes of two Late Pleistocene, 27 domesticated, and three wild Przewalski's horses, we find that contemporary Yakutian horses do not descend from the native horses that populated the region until the mid-Holocene, but were most likely introduced following the migration of the Yakut people a few centuries ago. Thus, they represent one of the fastest cases of adaptation to the extreme temperatures of the Arctic. We find cis-regulatory mutations to have contributed more than nonsynonymous changes to their adaptation, likely due to the comparatively limited standing variation within gene bodies at the time the population was founded. Genes involved in hair development, body size, and metabolic and hormone signaling pathways represent an essential part of the Yakutian horse adaptive genetic toolkit. Finally, we find evidence for convergent evolution with native human populations and woolly mammoths, suggesting that only a few evolutionary strategies are compatible with survival in extremely cold environments.

An das Preußische Volk! Das Ministerium Brandenburg, welches gegen die fast einstimmig ausgesprochene Erklärung der National-Versammlung ...

Welsch (Projektbearbeiter): Die preußischen Volksvertreter sprechen dem Ministerium Brandenburg das Recht ab, die Nationalversammlung zu verlegen, zu vertagen oder aufzulösen. Aufruf der Bevölkerung zur Verteidigung der errungenen Freiheiten, aber Warnung vor ungesetzlichen Handlungen

Fast Prediction of Femoral Biomechanics Using Supervised Machine Learning and Statistical Shape Modeling

Finite element (FE) analysis is an important computational tool in biomechanics. However, its adoption into clinical practice has been hampered by its computational complexity and required high technical competences for clinicians. In this paper we propose a supervised learning approach to predict the outcome of the FE analysis. We demonstrate our approach on clinical CT and X-ray femur images for FE predictions ( FEP), with features extracted, respectively, from a statistical shape model and from 2D-based morphometric and density information. Using leave-one-out experiments and sensitivity analysis, comprising a database of 89 clinical cases, our method is capable of predicting the distribution of stress values for a walking loading condition with an average correlation coefficient of 0.984 and 0.976, for CT and X-ray images, respectively. These findings suggest that supervised learning approaches have the potential to leverage the clinical integration of mechanical simulations for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions.

A fast protocol for purification of translating mRNAs

We present a protocol that enables easy extraction of translating mRNAs by purification of tagged ribosomes and associated mRNAs. By studying three different examples of stress influenced genes, we demonstrate the effectiveness and compare our rapid method to an older protocol (Halbeisen et al., 2009).

Temporally Coherent Disparity Maps Using CRFs with Fast 4D Filtering

State of the art methods for disparity estimation achieve good results for single stereo frames, but temporal coherence in stereo videos is often neglected. In this paper we present a method to compute temporally coherent disparity maps. We define an energy over whole stereo sequences and optimize their Conditional Random Field (CRF) distributions using mean-field approximation. We introduce novel terms for smoothness and consistency between the left and right views, and perform CRF optimization by fast, iterative spatio-temporal filtering with linear complexity in the total number of pixels. Our results rank among the state of the art while having significantly less flickering artifacts in stereo sequences.

Fast magnetic resonance temperature imaging for focused ultrasound thermal therapy

The current standard for temperature sensitive imaging using magnetic resonance (MR) is 2-D, spoiled, fast gradient-echo (fGRE) phase-difference imaging exploiting temperature dependent changes in the proton resonance frequency (PRF). The echo-time (TE) for optimal sensitivity is larger than the typical repetition time (TR) of an fGRE sequence. Since TE must be less than TR in the fGRE sequence, this limits the technique's achievable sensitivity, spatial, and temporal resolution. This adversely affects both accuracy and volume coverage of the measurements. Accurate measurement of the rapid temperature changes associated with pulsed thermal therapies, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (FUS), at optimal temperature sensitivity requires faster acquisition times than those currently available. ^ Use of fast MR acquisition strategies, such as interleaved echo-planar and spiral imaging, can provide the necessary increase in temporal performance and sensitivity while maintaining adequate signal-to-noise and in-plane spatial resolution. This research explored the adaptation and optimization of several fast MR acquisition methods for thermal monitoring of pulsed FUS thermal therapy. Temperature sensitivity, phase-difference noise and phase-difference to phase-difference-to noise ratio for the different pulse sequences were evaluated under varying imaging parameters in an agar gel phantom to establish optimal sequence parameters for temperature monitoring. The temperature sensitivity coefficient of the gel phantom was measured, allowing quantitative temperature extrapolations. ^ Optimized fast sequences were compared based on the ability to accurately monitor temperature changes at the focus of a high-intensity focused ultrasound unit, volume coverage, and contrast-to-noise ratio in the temperature maps. Operating parameters, which minimize complex phase-difference measurement errors introduced by use of the fast-imaging methods, were established. ^

Fast Algorithms Using Minimal Data Structures for Common Topological Relationships in Large, Irregularly-spaced Topographic Data Sets

Digital terrain models (DTM) typically contain large numbers of postings, from hundreds of thousands to billions. Many algorithms that run on DTMs require topological knowledge of the postings, such as finding nearest neighbors, finding the posting closest to a chosen location, etc. If the postings are arranged irregu- larly, topological information is costly to compute and to store. This paper offers a practical approach to organizing and searching irregularly-space data sets by presenting a collection of efficient algorithms (O(N),O(lgN)) that compute important topological relationships with only a simple supporting data structure. These relationships include finding the postings within a window, locating the posting nearest a point of interest, finding the neighborhood of postings nearest a point of interest, and ordering the neighborhood counter-clockwise. These algorithms depend only on two sorted arrays of two-element tuples, holding a planimetric coordinate and an integer identification number indicating which posting the coordinate belongs to. There is one array for each planimetric coordinate (eastings and northings). These two arrays cost minimal overhead to create and store but permit the data to remain arranged irregularly.

Wunderseltzame, und fast unerhörte Kindertracht : von Anna Maria Mußin, einer Bäurin in Unter-Bayern ...

Zwei riesenwüchsige Kleinkinder als Volksbelustigung

Unparteysche beschreibung, gemeinister Victualien, was dieselben in̄ zeit Augspurgischer Bloqvierung, von vngefahr anfang deß Monats Novemb. Anno 1634 biß fast zu ende deß Martii, Anno 1635 ... gegolten : Vnd entgegen wie dergleichen Sachen, die zwey Jar, Anno 1640 vnd 1641 ... nach der menge, in ringem Preß, sein zubekom̄en gewesen ...

[C. A. A. ; JE scu.]