665 research outputs found
A Review of Rabbit Diseases in Egypt
Promising approaches of the Egyptian governmental as well as non-governmental society to rabbit industry to overcome the unemployment of youth in the society required more efforts from scientific institutes to help in development of such industry. Epidemiological studies are of outmost importance to highlight disease nature and to help in meantime implement of successful preventive and control measures. The aim of this paper is to review the situation of rabbit diseases of economic impact in Egypt (1952 to 2013). The review will highlight the viral infection of rabbit hemorrhagic disease, bacterial disease of colibacillosis, clostridiosis, salmonellosis, pasteurellosis, staphylococcosis and listeriosis and parasitic infection of coccidiosis and mange. Key words: Rabbit, disease, bacteria, viral infectio
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphism in type 1 diabetes mellitus: Relationship to microvascular complications
In patients with type-I diabetes mellitus folate deficiency is associated with endothelial dysfunction. So, polymorphism in genes involved in folate metabolism may have a role in vascular disease. This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphism and microvascular complications in adolescents with type I diabetes mellitus. A total of 99 patients with disease duration of more than 5 years aged 11–18 years participated in the study. History taking, physical, neurological and fundus examinations were performed. Laboratory investigations included mean glycated hemoglobin in the last year, urinary albumin excretion, serum creatinine, nerve conduction velocity and MTHFR genotype determination. Results revealed that 54 (54.5%) of our patients had normal MTHFR genotype (C/C subgroup), 36 (36.4%) had heterozygous MTHFR gene polymorphism (C/T subgroup) and 9 (9.1%) had homozygous MTHFR gene polymorphism (T/T subgroup). No significant difference was found between the three studied groups as regards age, disease duration or glycemic control. When testing for microalbuminuria, the T/T subgroup showed a significantly higher number of patients with microalbuminuria when compared with C/C and C/T subgroups. Regarding fundus changes, the C/C subgroup showed a significantly lower number of patients with fundus changes when compared with C/T and T/T subgroups .On the other hand the T/T subgroup showed a significantly higher number of patients with fundus changes when compared with the C/T subgroup. For nerve conduction abnormalities, the T/T subgroup showed a significantly higher number of patients with nerve conduction abnormalities when compared with C/C and C/T subgroups. Multivariate forward stepwise logistic regression analysis for determination of independent risk factors that best predicts the occurrence of microalbuminuria, fundus changes and nerve conduction abnormalities revealed MTHFR gene polymorphism to be the most important variable. MTHFR gene polymorphism (T/T) subtype is an important risk factor for the development of micro-vascular complications in patients with type I diabetes mellitus.Keywords: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphism; Microvascular complications; Type 1 diabetes; Microalbuminuri
Goldstone Fermion Dark Matter
We propose that the fermionic superpartner of a weak-scale Goldstone boson
can be a natural WIMP candidate. The p-wave annihilation of this `Goldstone
fermion' into pairs of Goldstone bosons automatically generates the correct
relic abundance, whereas the XENON100 direct detection bounds are evaded due to
suppressed couplings to the Standard Model. Further, it is able to avoid
indirect detection constraints because the relevant s-wave annihilations are
small. The interactions of the Goldstone supermultiplet can induce non-standard
Higgs decays and novel collider phenomenology.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures. References added, minor typos corrected.
Submitted to JHE
Slepton mass-splittings as a signal of LFV at the LHC
Precise measurements of slepton mass-splittings might represent a powerful
tool to probe supersymmetric (SUSY) lepton flavour violation (LFV) at the LHC.
We point out that mass-splittings of the first two generations of sleptons are
especially sensitive to LFV effects involving transitions. If these
mass-splittings are LFV induced, high-energy LFV processes like the neutralino
decay {\nt}_2\to\nt_1\tau^{\pm}\mu^{\mp} as well as low-energy LFV processes
like are unavoidable. We show that precise slepton
mass-splitting measurements and LFV processes both at the high- and low-energy
scales are highly complementary in the attempt to (partially) reconstruct the
flavour sector of the SUSY model at work. The present study represents another
proof of the synergy and interplay existing between the LHC, i.e. the {\em
high-energy frontier}, and high-precision low-energy experiments, i.e. the {\em
high-intensity frontier}.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. v2: added discussion on backgrounds, added
references, version to be published on JHE
Supersymmetric QCD: Exact Results and Strong Coupling
We revisit two longstanding puzzles in supersymmetric gauge theories. The
first concerns the question of the holomorphy of the coupling, and related to
this the possible definition of an exact (NSVZ) beta function. The second
concerns instantons in pure gluodynamics, which appear to give sensible, exact
results for certain correlation functions, which nonetheless differ from those
obtained using systematic weak coupling expansions. For the first question, we
extend an earlier proposal of Arkani-Hamed and Murayama, showing that if their
regulated action is written suitably, the holomorphy of the couplings is
manifest, and it is easy to determine the renormalization scheme for which the
NSVZ formula holds. This scheme, however, is seen to be one of an infinite
class of schemes, each leading to an exact beta function; the NSVZ scheme,
while simple, is not selected by any compelling physical consideration. For the
second question, we explain why the instanton computation in the pure
supersymmetric gauge theory is not reliable, even at short distances. The
semiclassical expansion about the instanton is purely formal; if infrared
divergences appear, they spoil arguments based on holomorphy. We demonstrate
that infrared divergences do not occur in the perturbation expansion about the
instanton, but explain that there is no reason to think this captures all
contributions from the sector with unit topological charge. That one expects
additional contributions is illustrated by dilute gas corrections. These are
infrared divergent, and so difficult to define, but if non-zero give order one,
holomorphic, corrections to the leading result. Exploiting an earlier analysis
of Davies et al, we demonstrate that in the theory compactified on a circle of
radius beta, due to infrared effects, finite contributions indeed arise which
are not visible in the formal limit that beta goes to infinity.Comment: 28 pages, two references added, one typo correcte
On duality symmetry in perturbative quantum theory
Non-compact symmetries of extended 4d supergravities involve duality
rotations of vectors and thus are not manifest off-shell invariances in
standard "second-order" formulation. To study how such symmetries are realised
in the quantum theory we consider examples in 2 dimensions where vector-vector
duality is replaced by scalar-scalar one. Using a "doubled" formulation, where
fields and their momenta are treated on an equal footing and the duality
becomes a manifest symmetry of the action (at the expense of Lorentz symmetry),
we argue that the corresponding on-shell quantum effective action or S-matrix
are duality symmetric as well as Lorentz invariant. The simplest case of
discrete Z_2 duality corresponds to a symmetry of the S-matrix under flipping
the sign of the negative-chirality scalars in 2 dimensions or phase rotations
of chiral (definite-helicity) parts of vectors in 4 dimensions. We also briefly
discuss some 4d models and comment on implications of our analysis for extended
supergravities.Comment: 21 pages, Latex v2: comments and references added v3: references and
minor comments adde
Sommerfeld Enhancement from Multiple Mediators
We study the Sommerfeld enhancement experienced by a scattering object that
couples to a tower of mediators. This can occur in, e.g., models of secluded
dark matter when the mediator scale is generated naturally by hidden-sector
confinement. Specializing to the case of a confining CFT, we show that
off-resonant values of the enhancement can be increased by ~ 20% for cases of
interest when (i) the (strongly-coupled) CFT admits a weakly-coupled dual
description and (ii) the conformal symmetry holds up to the Planck scale.
Larger enhancements are possible for lower UV scales due to an increase in the
coupling strength of the tower.Comment: 17p, 2 figures; v2 JHEP version (inconsequential typo fixed,
references added
Searches for Long Lived Neutral Particles
An intriguing possibility for TeV scale physics is the existence of neutral
long lived particles (LOLIPs) that subsequently decay into SM states. Such
particles are many cases indistinguishable from missing transverse energy (MET)
at colliders. We propose new methods to search for these particles using
neutrino telescopes. We study their detection prospects, assuming production
either at the LHC or through dark matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun and the
Earth. We find that the sensitivity for LOLIPs produced at the LHC is limited
by luminosity and detection energy thresholds. On the other hand, in the case
of DM annihilation into LOLIPs, the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes is
promising and may extend beyond the reach of upcoming direct detection
experiments. In the context of low scale hidden sectors weakly coupled to the
SM, such indirect searches allow to probe couplings as small as 10^-15.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
Lactobacillus reuteri-fortified camel milk infant formula: Effects of encapsulation, in vitro digestion, and storage conditions on probiotic cell viability and physicochemical characteristics of infant formula
This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. Lactobacillus reuteri
fortified camel milk infant formula (CMIF) was produced. The effect of encapsulation in different matrices (sodium alginate and galacto-oligosaccharides) via spray drying, simulated infant gastrointestinal digestion (SIGID), and storage conditions (temperature and humidity) on the viability of L. reuteri in CMIF and the physicochemical properties of CMIF were evaluated. Compared with free cells, probiotic cell viability was significantly enhanced against SIGID conditions upon encapsulation. However, L. reuteri viability in CMIF decreased after 60 d of storage, predominantly at higher storage humidity and temperature levels. At the end of the storage period, significant changes in the color values were observed in all CMIF, with a reduction in their greenness, an increase in yellowness, and a wide variation in their whiteness. Moreover, pH values and caking behavior of all CMIF stored at higher temperature (40°C) and humidity [water activity (aw) = 0.52] levels were found to be significantly higher than the samples stored under other conditions. Over 30 d of storage at lower humidity conditions (aw = 0.11 and 0.33) and room temperature (25°C), no significant increase in CMIF lipid oxidation rates was noted. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis showed that, compared with the other storage conditions, CMIF experienced fewer changes in functional groups when stored at aw = 0.11. Microscopic images showed typical morphological characteristics of milk powder, with round to spherical-shaped particles. Overall, camel milk fortified with encapsulated L. reuteri can be suggested as a promising alternative in infant formula industries, potentially able to maintain its physicochemical characteristics as well as viability of probiotic cells when stored at low humidity levels (aw = 0.11) and temperature (25°C), over 60 d of storage.United Arab Emirates University (Al Ain
Slightly Non-Minimal Dark Matter in PAMELA and ATIC
We present a simple model in which dark matter couples to the standard model
through a light scalar intermediary that is itself unstable. We find this model
has several notable features, and allows a natural explanation for a surplus of
positrons, but no surplus of anti-protons, as has been suggested by early data
from PAMELA and ATIC. Moreover, this model yields a very small nucleon
coupling, well below the direct detection limits. In this paper we explore the
effect of this model in both the early universe and in the galaxy.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, v3: updated for new data, added discussion of
Ferm
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