Effect of adding Garlic Powder (Allium sativum) and Black Seed ( Nigella sativa) in Feed on Broiler Growth Performance and Intestinal Wall Structure

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of garlic powder (GP) black seed (BS) and plant premix (GP and BS) in feed on broiler growth and intestinal wall structure. The result included 480 Hubbard broiler chicks( day-old) There were 4 treatment groups each consisting of 3 replicates .The four dietary treatments consisted of a control ( basal diet ) , basal diet + 0.5% GP , basal diet +0.5% BS and basal diet +0.5% plant premix (GP and BS) , to the starter and finisher diet. The experiment lasted 42 days. Body weight , body weight gain , feed intake and feed conversion ratio were determined weekly and intestinal characteristics were determined at the end of the study (42 day) .The addition of GP and BS plant premix (GP and BS) to the diet resulted in significantly higher body weight , body weight gain and feed intake as compared to that of control group. However , feed conversion ratio was not influenced by dietary treatment (p>0.05) . The villus height , crypt depth and crypt depth to villus height ratio was significantly higher in group garlic powder and plant premix (GP and BS) than other groups. While villus height , crypt depth and crypt depth to villus height ratio significantly lower in the control group compared with other treatment groups. It was found that the goblet cell were not affected by any treatment . Based on the results of this study it be could be advised to supplement broiler feed with 0.5% GP and plant premix. Key words: Garlic , Black seed, Performance, wall intestinal structure

Optical Alignment System for the PHENIX Muon Tracking Chambers

A micron-precision optical alignment system (OASys) for the PHENIX muon tracking chambers is developed. To ensure the required mass resolution of vector meson detection, the relative alignment between three tracking station chambers must be monitored with a precision of 25$\mu$m. The OASys is a straightness monitoring system comprised of a light source, lens and CCD camera, used for determining the initial placement as well as for monitoring the time dependent movement of the chambers on a micron scale.Comment: Accepted for the publication in Nucl.Instr.Meth.

Constructing public health policies in post crisis countries: lessons to learn from the associations between free-sugars consumption and diabetes, obesity and dental caries before, during and after sanctions in Iraq.

BACKGROUND: This article aims to provide evidence for an informed public health policy on free-sugar consumption in post-crisis countries. METHODS: Iraq was selected as a case study. A systematic search for published data on the prevalence/incidence of type-2 diabetes, overweight/obesity, dental caries and free-sugar consumption levels in Iraq was conducted using MEDLINE, the Iraqi Academic Scientific journals and relevant international organisations' websites. Comparable data before (1980-1990), during (1991-2002) and after (2003-2015) the United Nations sanctions (UNS) were included. RESULTS: Ten studies were included. Quality scores ranged between 3 and 7/8. Free-sugar consumption decreased dramatically during the UNS (from 50 to 16.3 kg/person/year) and started increasing afterwards (24.1 kg/person/year). Changes in type-2 diabetes, overweight/obesity and caries levels mirrored those of free-sugar consumption. Caries declined markedly during UNS and started increasing afterwards. Comparable data on diabetes and overweight/obesity were only available for the periods during and after the UNS. Both of these conditions started increasing with increased free-sugar consumption after lifting the UNS. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to develop a public health policy in post-crisis countries to maintain the reduction in free-sugar consumption, and hence promote both general and dental health, by integrating the common risk factor approach into the social determinant framework

Beam Energy and Centrality Dependence of Direct-Photon Emission from Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions.

The PHENIX collaboration presents first measurements of low-momentum (0.41  GeV/c) direct-photon yield dN_{γ}^{dir}/dη is a smooth function of dN_{ch}/dη and can be well described as proportional to (dN_{ch}/dη)^{α} with α≈1.25. This scaling behavior holds for a wide range of beam energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider, for centrality selected samples, as well as for different A+A collision systems. At a given beam energy, the scaling also holds for high p_{T} (>5  GeV/c), but when results from different collision energies are compared, an additional sqrt[s_{NN}]-dependent multiplicative factor is needed to describe the integrated-direct-photon yield

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

Centrality dependence of charged hadron production in deuteron+gold and nucleon+gold collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

We present transverse momentum (p_T) spectra of charged hadrons measured in deuteron-gold and nucleon-gold collisions at \sqrts = 200 GeV for four centrality classes. Nucleon-gold collisions were selected by tagging events in which a spectator nucleon was observed in one of two forward rapidity detectors. The spectra and yields were investigated as a function of the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, \nu, suffered by deuteron nucleons. A comparison of charged particle yields to those in p+p collisions show that the yield per nucleon-nucleon collision saturates with \nu for high momentum particles. We also present the charged hadron to neutral pion ratios as a function of p_T.Comment: 330 authors, 15 pages text, 16 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. v2 has minor changes to reflect revisions during review process. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Azimuthal Angle Correlations for Rapidity Separated Hadron Pairs in d+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We report on two-particle azimuthal angle correlations between charged hadrons at forward/backward (deuteron/gold going direction) rapidity and charged hadrons at mid-rapidity in deuteron-gold (d+Au) and proton-proton (p+p) collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Jet structures are observed in the correlations which we quantify in terms of the conditional yield and angular width of away side partners. The kinematic region studied here samples partons in the gold nucleus carrying nucleon momentum fraction x~0.1 to x~0.01. Within this range, we find no x dependence of the jet structure in d+Au collisions.Comment: 330 authors, 6 pages text, 4 figures, no tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Transverse momentum and centrality dependence of dihadron correlations in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV: Jet-quenching and the response of partonic matter

Azimuthal angle \Delta\phi correlations are presented for charged hadrons from dijets for 0.4 < p_T < 10 GeV/c in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. With increasing p_T, the away-side distribution evolves from a broad to a concave shape, then to a convex shape. Comparisons to p+p data suggest that the away-side can be divided into a partially suppressed "head" region centered at Delta\phi ~ \pi, and an enhanced "shoulder" region centered at Delta\phi ~ \pi +/- 1.1. The p_T spectrum for the "head" region softens toward central collisions, consistent with the onset of jet quenching. The spectral slope for the "shoulder" region is independent of centrality and trigger p_T, which offers constraints on energy transport mechanisms and suggests that the "shoulder" region contains the medium response to energetic jets.Comment: 420 authors from 58 institutions, 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Jet Structure from Dihadron Correlations in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

Dihadron correlations at high transverse momentum in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV at midrapidity are measured by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). From these correlations we extract several structural characteristics of jets; the root-mean-squared (RMS) transverse momentum of fragmenting hadrons with respect to the jet sqrt(), the mean sine-squared angle between the scattered partons , and the number of particles produced within the dijet that are associated with a high-p_T particle (dN/dx_E distributions). We observe that the fragmentation characteristics of jets in d+Au collisions are very similar to those in p+p collisions and that there is also little dependence on the centrality of the d+Au collision. This is consistent with the nuclear medium having little influence on the fragmentation process. Furthermore, there is no statistically significant increase in the value of from p+p to d+Au collisions. This constrains the amount of multiple scattering that partons undergo in the cold nuclear medium before and after a hard-collision.Comment: 330 authors, 30 pages text, RevTeX4, 42 figures, 20 tables. Submitted to Physical Review C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Nuclear Modification Factors for Hadrons At Forward and Backward Rapidities in Deuteron-Gold Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We report on charged hadron production in deuteron-gold reactions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Our measurements in the deuteron-direction cover 1.4 < eta < 2.2, referred to as forward rapidity, and in the gold-direction -2.0 < eta < -1.4, referred to as backward rapidity, and a transverse momentum range p_T = 0.5-4.0 GeV/c. We compare the relative yields for different deuteron-gold collision centrality classes. We observe a suppression relative to binary collision scaling at forward rapidity, sensitive to low momentum fraction (x) partons in the gold nucleus, and an enhancement at backward rapidity, sensitive to high momentum fraction partons in the gold nucleus.Comment: 330 authors, 6 pages text, 4 figures, REVTeX4. Published in Physical Review Letters. Minor changes over previous version in response to referee and editor comments, plus updating of references. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm