We estimate the top quark, lightest sparticle (LSP) and scalar higgs masses within a supersymmetric grand unified framework in which tan β ≃ m t /m b and the electroweak symmetry is radiatively broken. The requirement that the calculated b quark mass lie close to its measured value, together with the cosmological constraint Ω LSP ≈ 1, fixes the top quark mass to be m t (m t ) ≈ 170±15 GeV . The LSP (of bino purity > ∼ 98%) has mass ∼ 200−350 GeV . In the scalar higgs sector the CP-odd scalar mass m A < ∼ 220 GeV . With m A > ∼ M Z , as suggested by the decay b → sγ, we find M Z < ∼ m h 0 (m H 0 ) < ∼ 140(220) GeV and 120 GeV < ∼ m H ± <

Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) is a well known invasive insect species. Little information is available on immune system of B. tabaci to date. In this study, one of the Toll-like receptors (TLR; namely BtToll) was cloned in MEAM1 B. tabaci which contains an open reading frame of 3153bp, encoding putative 1050 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that BtToll is highly identitical with other members of the TLR family. Transcripts of BtToll detected through qRT-PCR were expressed in all developmental stages of B. tabaci and the highest expression level was observed in the 3rd nymphal instar. BtToll was highly expressed in response to immune challenge. RNA interference was used to knockdown the BtToll expression in adults through the oral route which resulted in significant reduction of BtToll transcript. When the adults were challenged with a mycotoxin from entomogenous fungi - destruxin A (DA) and RNAi, the median lethal concentration (LC) decreased by 70.67% compared to DA treatment only. Our results suggest that BtToll is an important component of the B. tabaci immune system. RNAi technology using dsToll combined with general control methods (using toxin only) can be used as a potential strategy in integrated B. tabaci management programs.

Data clustering is a vital tool for data analysis. This work shows that some existing useful methods in data clustering are actually based on quantum mechanics and can be assembled into a powerful and accurate data clustering method where the efficiency of computational quantum chemistry eigenvalue methods is therefore applicable. These methods can be applied to scientific data, engineering data and even text.

Clostridium difficile causes pseudomembranous colitis and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection is finally accomplished by the isolation of toxigenic C. difficile. However, only a small number of Japanese clinical laboratories are able to reach a definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection, probably because simple reliable assays for toxins in the isolates are not available. In this study, we examined the compatibility of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and tissue culture assay to identify toxigenic C. difficile, in toxigenic and nontoxigenic C. difficile isolates from Japanese patients and healthy carriers. The specificity of PCR primers was demonstrated by restriction endonuclease digestion and seminested PCR in C. difficile VPI 10463 strain. No PCR product was amplified in the eight other clostridial species used to check the specificity of the PCR assay. The detection limit was 10(3) cells. Both toxin A and toxin B genes (the genes encoding the major virulence factors of C. difficile) were detected in 58 toxigenic C. difficile isolates, which showed a wide range of cytotoxic activity in tissue culture assays. Neither of the toxin genes was carried by 40 nontoxigenic strains of C. difficile. The results of this study strongly suggest that a definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection can be accomplished by PCR detection of the toxin genes rather than by tissue culture assay of isolates.