15,589 research outputs found
Campylobacter jejuni colonization promotes the translocation of Escherichia coli to extra-intestinal organs and disturbs the short-chain fatty acids profiles in the chicken gut
For a long time Campylobacter was only considered as a commensal microorganism in avian hosts restricted to the ceca, without any pathogenic features. The precise reasons for the symptomless chicken carriers are still unknown, but investigations of the gastrointestinal ecology of broiler chickens may improve our understanding of the microbial interactions with the host. Therefore, the current studies were conducted to investigate the effects of Campylobacter jejuni colonization on Escherichia coli translocation and on the metabolic end products (short-chain fatty acids, SCFAs). Following oral infection of 14 day old broiler chickens with 1 × 108 CFU of Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 12744 in two independent animal trials, it was found that C. jejuni heavily colonized the intestine and disseminate to extra-intestinal organs. Moreover, in both animal trials, the findings revealed that C. jejuni promoted the translocation of E. coli with a higher number encountered in the spleen and liver at 14 days post infection (dpi). In addition, Campylobacter affected the microbial fermentation in the gastrointestinal tract of broilers by reducing the amount of propionate, isovalerate, and isobutyrate in the cecal digesta of the infected birds at 2 dpi and, at 7 and 14 dpi, butyrate, isobutyrate, and isovalerate were also decreased. However, in the jejunum, the C. jejuni infection lowered only butyrate concentrations at 14 dpi. These data indicated that C. jejuni may utilize SCFAs as carbon sources to promote its colonization in the chicken gut, suggesting that Campylobacter cannot only alter gut colonization dynamics but might also influence physiological processes due to altered microbial metabolite profiles.
Finally, the results demonstrated that C. jejuni can cross the intestinal epithelial barrier and facilitates the translocation of Campylobacter itself as well as of other enteric microorganisms such as E. coli to extra-intestinal organs of infected birds. Altogether, our findings suggest that the Campylobacter carrier state in chicken is characterised by multiple changes in the intestinal barrier function, which supports multiplication and survival within the host
Research study of droplet sizing technology leading to the development of an advanced droplet sizing system
An instrument to measure the size and velocity of droplets was developed. The instrument uses one of two techniques, as appropriate. In the first technique two small laser beams of one color identify the center of a larger laser beam of a different color. This defines a region of almost uniform intensity where the light scattered by the individual droplets can be related to their size. The first technique uses the visibility of a Doppler burst and validates it against the peak intensity of the signal's pedestal. Results are presented for monodisperse, bimodal, trimodal, and polydisperse sprays produced by the Berglund-Liu droplet generator and a pressure nozzle. Size distributions of a given spray obtained using three different size ranges show excellent self-consistency in the overlapping region. Measurements of sprays of known characteristics exhibit errors in the order of 10%. The principles of operation and design criteria of the instrument are discussed in great detail
What's wrong with this rebuttal?
A recent rebuttal to criticism of Bell's analysis is shown to be defective by
fault of failure to consider all hypothetical conditions input into the
derivation of Bell Inequalitites.Comment: 2 page
Mixed-State Quasiparticle Spectrum for d-wave Superconductors
Controversy concerning the pairing symmetry of high- materials has
motivated an interest in those measurable properties of superconductors for
which qualitative differences exist between the s-wave and d-wave cases. We
report on a comparison between the microscopic electronic properties of d-wave
and s-wave superconductors in the mixed state. Our study is based on
self-consistent numerical solutions of the mean-field Bogoliubov-de Gennes
equations for phenomenological BCS models which have s-wave and d-wave
condensates in the absence of a magnetic field. We discuss differences between
the s-wave and the d-wave local density-of-states, both near and away from
vortex cores. Experimental implications for both scanning-tunneling-microscopy
measurements and specific heat measurements are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, REVTEX3.0, 3 figures available upon reques
An Introduction to the Integrated Community-Engaged Learning and Ethical Reflection Framework (I-CELER)
Cultivating ethical Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics researchers and
practitioners requires movement beyond reducing ethical instruction to the rational exploration of moral quandaries via case studies and into the complexity of the ethical issues that students will encounter within their careers. We designed the Integrated Community-Engaged Learning and Ethical Reflection (I-CELER) framework as a means to promote the ethical becoming of future STEM practitioners. This paper provides a synthesis of and rationale for I-CELER for promoting ethical becoming based on scholarly literature from various social science fields, including social anthropology, moral development, and psychology. This paper proceeds in five parts. First, we introduce the state of the art of engineering ethics instruction; argue for the need of a lens that we describe as ethical becoming; and then detail the Specific Aims of the I-CELER approach. Second, we outline the three interrelated components of the project intervention. Third, we detail our convergent mixed methods research design, including its qualitative and quantitative counterparts. Fourth, we provide a brief description of what a course modified to the I-CELER approach might look like. Finally, we close by detailing the potential impact of this study in light of existing ethics education research within STEM
Magnetic heat conductivity in : linear temperature dependence
We present experimental results for the thermal conductivity of the
pseudo 2-leg ladder material . The strong buckling of the ladder
rungs renders this material a good approximation to a Heisenberg-chain.
Despite a strong suppression of the thermal conductivity of this material in
all crystal directions due to inherent disorder, we find a dominant magnetic
contribution along the chain direction.
is \textit{linear} in temperature, resembling the
low-temperature limit of the thermal Drude weight of the
Heisenberg chain. The comparison of and
yields a magnetic mean free path of \AA, in good agreement with magnetic measurements.Comment: appears in PR
A Self-Consistent Microscopic Theory of Surface Superconductivity
The electronic structure of the superconducting surface sheath in a type-II
superconductor in magnetic fields is calculated
self-consistently using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We find that the
pair potential exhibits pronounced Friedel oscillations near the
surface, in marked contrast with the results of Ginzburg-Landau theory. The
role of magnetic edge states is emphasized. The local density of states near
the surface shows a significant depletion near the Fermi energy due to the
development of local superconducting order. We suggest that this structure
could be unveiled by scanning-tunneling microscopy studies performed near the
edge of a superconducting sample.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex 3.0, 3 postscript figures appende
Poor encoding of position by contrast-defined motion
Second-order (contrast-defined) motion stimuli lead to poor performance on a number of tasks, including discriminating form from motion and visual search. To investigate this deficiency, we tested the ability of human observers to monitor multiple regions for motion, to code the relative positions of shapes defined by motion, and to simultaneously encode motion direction and location. Performance with shapes from contrast-defined motion was compared with that obtained from luminance-defined (first-order) stimuli. When the position of coherent motion was uncertain, direction-discrimination thresholds were elevated similarly for both luminance-defined and contrast-defined motion, compared to when the stimulus location was known. The motion of both luminance- and contrast-defined structure can be monitored in multiple visual field locations. Only under conditions that greatly advantaged contrast-defined motion, were observers able to discriminate the positional offset of shapes defined by either type of motion. When shapes from contrast-defined and luminance-defined motion were presented under comparable conditions, the positional accuracy of contrast-defined motion was found to be poorer than its luminance-defined counterpart. These results may explain some, but possibly not all, of the deficits found previously with second-order motion
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