Femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion, UV-Vis and IR transient absorption spectroscopy are used to study the photo-isomerization dynamics of a new type of zwitterionic photoswitch based on a N-alkylated indanylidene pyrroline Schiff base framework (ZW-NAIP). The system is biomimetic, as it mimics the photophysics of retinal, in coupling excited state charge translocation and isomerization. Whi...

Willows (Salix) and poplars (Populus) are dioecious plants in Salicaceae family. Sex chromosome in poplar genome was consistently reported to be associated with chromosome XIX. In contrast to poplar, this study revealed that chromosome XV was sex chromosome in willow. Previous studies revealed that both ZZ/ZW and XX/XY sex-determining systems could be present in some species of Populus. In this...

In twenty-eight healthy subjects, ten men and eighteen women, with a range in body mass index (BMI) of 17.9-31.6 kg/m2 and an age range 20-60 years, body composition was estimated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), skinfold anthropometry (SFA) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) of the 'whole body' and body segments. In thirteen subjects muscle mass was also estimated by 24 h ur...

Sex chromosomal dose difference between sexes is often normalized by a gene regulatory mechanism called dosage compensation (DC). Studies indicate that DC mechanisms are generally effective in XY rather than ZW systems. However, DC studies in lepidopterans (ZW system) gave bewildering results. In Manduca sexta, DC was complete and in Plodia interpunctella, it was incomplete. In Heliconius speci...

A wide variety of sex determination systems exist among squamate reptiles. They can therefore serve as an important model for studies of evolutionary transitions among particular sex determination systems. However, we still have only a limited knowledge of sex determination in certain important lineages of squamates. In this respect, one of the most understudied groups is the family Helodermati...

Lignobrycon myersi is an endemic fish species from a few coastal rivers in northeastern Brazil. Based on molecular evidence, Lignobrycon myersi and genera Triportheus Cope, 1872, Agoniates Müller & Troschel, 1845, Clupeacharax Pearson, 1924 and Engraulisoma Castro, 1981 were placed in the family Triportheidae. In the present work, we report the first cytogenetic data for Lignobrycon myersi to t...

We present deep JHK images of I Zw 18, the most metal-deficient Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxy known, and analyze them in conjunction with archival HST/WFPC2 optical images. To investigate the stellar populations, we have divided the main body of I Zw18 into eight regions, and fit the optical, near-infrared (NIR), and hybrid optical-NIR colors of these and the C component with evolutionary syn...

In this paper, a novel algorithm for detecting microarray sub-grids is proposed. The only input to the proposed algorithm is the raw microarray image, which can be at any resolution, and the subgrid detection is performed with no prior assumptions. The algorithm consists of a series of methods of spot shape detection, spot filtering, spot spacing estimation, and sub-grid shape detection. The al...

Recent progress of chicken genome projects has revealed that bird ZW and mammalian XY sex chromosomes were derived from different autosomal pairs of the common ancestor; however, the evolutionary relationship between bird and reptilian sex chromosomes is still unclear. The Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) exhibits genetic sex determination, but no distinguishable (heteromorphic...

Let A be a unital Banach algebra, and denote the spectral radius of f ∈ A by ρ(f). If A is a uniform algebra and ρ(fh + 1) = ρ(gh + 1) for all h ∈ A, then it can be shown that f = g, a result that also carries in algebras of bounded linear operators on Banach spaces. On the other hand ρ(fh) = ρ(gh) does not imply f = g in any unital algebra, marking a distinction between the polynomials p(z, w)...