We develop a new methodology for extracting Compton form factors (CFFs) from deeply virtual exclusive reactions such as the unpolarized DVCS cross section using a specialized inverse problem solver, a variational autoencoder inverse mapper (VAIM). The VAIM-CFF framework not only allows us access to a fitted solution set possibly containing multiple solutions in the extraction of all 8 CFFs from a single cross section measurement, but also accesses the lost information contained in the forward mapping from CFFs to cross section. We investigate various assumptions and their effects on the predicted CFFs such as cross section organization, number of extracted CFFs, use of uncertainty quantification technique, and inclusion of prior physics information. We then use dimensionality reduction techniques such as principal component analysis to visualize the missing physics information tracked in the latent space of the VAIM framework. Through re-framing the extraction of CFFs as an inverse problem, we gain access to fundamental properties of the problem not comprehensible in standard fitting methodologies: exploring the limits of the information encoded in deeply virtual exclusive experiments.

The insect molting process is critical to growth and development and is regulated in part by the neuropeptides corazonin, eclosion hormone, and α and β bursicon. We found messages in a synganglion transcriptome from adult, female American dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis (that do not molt), with a high similarity to the larval insect neuropeptides that control molting. The phylogenetic analysis of the tick putative neuropeptides compared to other arthropods is discussed in detail. The relative gene expression of these peptides was determined by quantitative PCR during the following adult developmental stages: (i) virgin, unfed 0-24 h after entering the adult stage (non-host-seeking), (ii) host-seeking, unfed, and not mated (3 d after emergence), (iii) part-fed (unmated, attached to host; 1st and 3rd day after emergence), (iv) mated (females are part-fed; allowed to mate for ≤1 day, 7th day after emergence), (v) mated repletes (completion of blood feeding but still attached to host), and (vi) post-drop-off (from host) with egg laying starting within 1 d of detachment. Eclosion hormone transcript levels peaked at mating and at drop-off. Bursicon α levels were highest just after molting into adults, with a second smaller peak in replete females. Bursicon β levels were highest (32-fold) post-drop-off. Corazonin message levels peaked in part-feds and were much higher (40-fold) in repletes compared to 0-24 h after emergence. RNAi suppression of the corazonin message by injection in newly molted ticks reduced oviposition and the number of vitellogenic eggs in the ovaries at drop-off but had no apparent effect on host-seeking, partial feeding, mating, feeding to repletion, and drop-off. The possible roles of these transcripts in adult, female tick development are discussed.

Well-differentiated liposarcomas are common retroperitoneal lesions, but exceedingly rare when primary to the small bowel mesentery, with only a handful of cases reported in the literature. Presented is a patient with a primary mesenteric well-differentiated inflammatory liposarcoma with mucosal extension at high risk for misdiagnosis. A broad differential diagnosis with careful histopathologic observation, ancillary immunohistochemical studies, and fluorescent in situ hybridization for MDM2 amplification are key to make a correct diagnosis. This is especially true if such a lesion was first noted in the lamina propria on histopathology from an endoscopic mucosal biopsy.