1,537 research outputs found
Ultrasonography of the reticulum in 30 healthy Saanen goats
Background: The reticulum plays a crucial role in the ruminant digestive tract because the primary cycle of rumen motility always starts with a reticular contraction. In contrast to cattle, there are only few results on the ultrasonographic examination of the reticulum in goats. Therefore, it was the goal of the present study, to describe the results of ultrasonography of the reticulum of 30 healthy Saanen goats. Methods: Ultrasonography was carried out on standing, non-sedated animals using a 5.0 MHz linear transducer. The shape, contour and motility of the reticulum were investigated. A nine-minute video recording of the reticulum was made for each goat and the frequency, duration and amplitude of reticular contractions were calculated as described for cattle. Results: The reticulum appeared as a crescent-shaped structure with a smooth contour located immediately adjacent to the diaphragm. 0.8 to 2.1 (1.41 ± 0.31) reticular contractions were seen per minute. In all goats, biphasic reticular contractions were observed. 90% of the goats also had monophasic reticular contractions, and two had triphasic contractions. During the nine-minute observation periods, there were 0 to 6 monophasic reticular contractions and 6 to 15 biphasic contractions per goat. The duration of the biphasic contractions was 6.56 ± 0.74 s, which was significantly longer than the monophasic contractions at 4.31 ± 0.81 s. The average interval between two reticular contractions was 45.06 ± 12.57 s. Conclusion: Ultrasonography of the reticulum in goats is a valuable tool to characterise the appearance and motility of this organ. In addition to the biphasic motility pattern seen in cattle the reticular motility of goats is characterized by monophasic reticular contractions. The results of the present study are an important contribution for better understanding of the reticular motility in goats
Heavy-to-light baryonic form factors at large recoil
We analyze heavy-to-light baryonic form factors at large recoil and derive
the scaling behavior of these form factors in the heavy quark limit. It is
shown that only one universal form factor is needed to parameterize Lambda_b to
p and Lambda_b to Lambda matrix elements in the large recoil limit of light
baryons, while hadronic matrix elements of Lambda_b to Sigma transition vanish
in the large energy limit of Sigma baryon due to the space-time parity
symmetry. The scaling law of the soft form factor eta(P^{\prime} \cdot v),
P^{\prime} and v being the momentum of nucleon and the velocity of Lambda_b
baryon, responsible for Lambda_b to p transitions is also derived using the
nucleon distribution amplitudes in leading conformal spin. In particular, we
verify that this scaling behavior is in full agreement with that from
light-cone sum rule approach in the heavy-quark limit. With these form factors,
we further investigate the Lambda baryon polarization asymmetry alpha in
Lambda_b to Lambda gamma and the forward-backward asymmetry A_{FB} in Lambda_b
to Lambda l^{+} l^{-}. Both two observables (alpha and A_{FB}) are independent
of hadronic form factors in leading power of 1/m_b and in leading order of
alpha_s. We also extend the analysis of hadronic matrix elements for Omega_b to
Omega transitions to rare Omega_b to Omega gamma and Omega_b to Omega l^{+}
l^{-} decays and find that radiative Omega_b to Omega gamma decay is probably
the most promising FCNC b to s radiative baryonic decay channel. In addition,
it is interesting to notice that the zero-point of forward-backward asymmetry
of Omega_b to Omega l^{+} l^{-} is the same as the one for Lambda_b to Lambda
l^{+} l^{-} to leading order accuracy provided that the form factors
\bar{\zeta}_i (i=3, 4, 5) are numerically as small as indicated from the quark
model.Comment: 19 page
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Generation of strength in a drying film: How fracture toughness depends on dispersion properties
The fracture toughness of colloidal films is measured by characterizing cracks which form during directional drying. Images from a confocal microscope are processed to measure the crack width as a function of distance from the crack tip. Applying theory for thin elastic films the fracture toughness is extracted. It is found that the fracture toughness scales with the particle size to the −0.8 power and that the critical energy release rate scales with the particle size to the −1.3 power. In addition, the fracture toughness is found to increase at lower evaporation rates, but the film thickness does not have a significant effect.We thank Professor Bill Clegg for helpful discussions, and Martin Lippert for help with matlab, as well as the Ernest-Solvay-Stiftung and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes for financial support of the research visit of N.B.-B. from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to the University of Cambridge
Challenges in Smart Low-Temperature District Heating Development
Previous research and development shows that low temperature district heating (LTDH) system is economic feasible for low energy buildings and buildings at sparse areas. Coupling with reduced network temperature and well-designed district heating (DH) networks, LTDH can reduce network heat loss by up to 75% comparing with the current medium temperature district heating system. Further system efficiency improvement can be achieved through a holistic approach which includes measures such as reduced system design margin, enhanced demand side management and improved operation of decentralized heat generations. The realization of such efficiency improvement measures will increase the demand for well functioned monitoring, communication, control and decision support tools and services to coordinate each component in the DH system
A model of decay
We suggest a parameterization of the matrix element for decay using kinematic variables convenient for experimental
analysis. The contributions of intermediate - and -states up
to spin 3 have been taken into account. The angular distributions for each
discussed hypothesis have been obtained and analysed using Monte-Carlo
simulation.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; V2: text in some places improved and
acknowledgments adde
Prime movers : mechanochemistry of mitotic kinesins
Mitotic spindles are self-organizing protein machines that harness teams of multiple force generators to drive chromosome segregation. Kinesins are key members of these force-generating teams. Different kinesins walk directionally along dynamic microtubules, anchor, crosslink, align and sort microtubules into polarized bundles, and influence microtubule dynamics by interacting with microtubule tips. The mechanochemical mechanisms of these kinesins are specialized to enable each type to make a specific contribution to spindle self-organization and chromosome segregation
Exploring the views of young women and their healthcare professionals on dietary habits and supplementation practices in adolescent pregnancy: a qualitative study
Background: Nutrition is a modifiable factor affecting foetal growth and pregnancy outcomes. Inadequate nutrition
is of particular concern in adolescent pregnancies with poor quality diet and competing demands for nutrients. The
aim of this study was to explore knowledge and understanding of nutrition advice during adolescent pregnancy,and identify barriers and facilitators to dietary change and supplementation use in this vulnerable population.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with young women and key antenatal healthcare providers:
midwives, family nurses and obstetricians. Doncaster, Manchester and London were chosen as sites offering different models of midwifery care alongside referral to the Family Nurse Partnership programme.
Results: A total of 34 young women (adolescents aged 16–19 years) and 20 health professionals were interviewed.
Young women made small changes to their dietary intake despite limited knowledge and social constraints.
Supplementation use varied; the tablet format was identified by few participants as a barrier but forgetting to take them was the main reason for poor adherence. Health professionals provided nutrition information but
often lack the time and resources to tailor this appropriately. Young women’s prime motivator was a desire
to have a healthy baby; they wanted to understand the benefits of supplementation and dietary change in
those terms.
Conclusion: Pregnancy is a window of opportunity for improving nutrition but often constrained by social
circumstances. Health professionals should be supported in their role to access education, training and resources which
build their self-efficacy to facilitate change in this vulnerable population group beyond the routine care they provide
A capillary electrophoresis method for the characterization of ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (NTPDases) and the analysis of inhibitors by in-capillary enzymatic microreaction
A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the characterization of recombinant NTPDases 1, 2, and 3, and for assaying NTPDase inhibitors has been developed performing the enzymatic reaction within the capillary. After hydrodynamic injection of plugs of substrate solution with or without inhibitor in reaction buffer, followed by a suspension of an enzyme-containing membrane preparation, and subsequent injection of another plug of substrate solution with or without inhibitor, the reaction took place close to the capillary inlet. After 5 min, the electrophoretic separation of the reaction products was initiated by applying a constant current of μA. The method employing a polyacrylamide-coated capillary and reverse polarity mode provided baseline resolution of substrates and products within a short separation time of less than 7 min. A 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6.5) was used for the separations and the products were detected by their UV absorbance at 210 nm. The Michaelis–Menten constants (Km) for the recombinant rat NTPDases 1, 2, and 3 obtained with this method were consistent with previously reported data. The inhibition studies revealed pronounced differences in the potency of reactive blue 2, pyridoxalphosphate-6-azophenyl-2-4-disulfonic acid (PPADS), suramin, and N6-diethyl-β,γ-dibromomethylene-ATP (ARL67156) towards the NTPDase isoforms. Notably, ARL67156 does not inhibit all NTPDases, having only a minor inhibitory effect on NTPDase2. Dipyridamole is not an inhibitor of the NTPDase isoforms investigated. The new method is fast and accurate, it requires only tiny amounts of material (nanoliter scale), no sample pretreatment and can be fully automated; thus it is clearly superior to the current standard methods
Suppression of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in central Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of primary charged particles in Pb-Pb
collisions at = 2.76 TeV have been measured by the ALICE
Collaboration at the LHC. The data are presented for central and peripheral
collisions, corresponding to 0-5% and 70-80% of the hadronic Pb-Pb cross
section. The measured charged particle spectra in and GeV/ are compared to the expectation in pp collisions at the same
, scaled by the number of underlying nucleon-nucleon
collisions. The comparison is expressed in terms of the nuclear modification
factor . The result indicates only weak medium effects ( 0.7) in peripheral collisions. In central collisions,
reaches a minimum of about 0.14 at -7GeV/ and increases
significantly at larger . The measured suppression of high- particles is stronger than that observed at lower collision energies,
indicating that a very dense medium is formed in central Pb-Pb collisions at
the LHC.Comment: 15 pages, 5 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 10,
published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/98
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