484 research outputs found
Cytomegalovirus and Child Day Care
Abstract
To determine whether day-care workers acquire cytomegalovirus infection from the children they care for, we studied 610 women employed at 34 day-care centers over two years.
Forty-one percent of the caretakers were seropositive for cytomegalovirus. After adjustment for the effects of race, marital status, and age on seropositivity, the women who cared for children younger than two years of age had a significantly higher seropositivity rate (46 percent) than the women who cared for children older than two years of age (35 percent) (relative risk, 1.29; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.57; P\u3c0.02).
Of 202 initially seronegative caretakers (observed for an average of 305 days per woman), 19 seroconverted, for an annual seroconversion rate of 11 percent. This rate was significantly higher than the 2 percent annual rate of seroconversion among 229 seronegative women (11 of whom seroconverted) in a comparison group of female hospital employees observed for an average of 781 days per woman (relative risk, 5.0; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.4 to 10.5; P
We conclude that workers in day-care centers may acquire cytomegalovirus infection from the children in their care and that this risk is significantly greater among those who care for children less than two years of age. (N Engl J Med 1989;321:1290–6.
Comparative genomic analysis of Asian haemorrhagic septicaemia-associated strains of Pasteurella multocida identifies more than 90 haemorrhagic septicaemia-specific genes
Pasteurella multocida is the primary causative agent of a range of economically important diseases in animals, including haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS), a rapidly fatal disease of ungulates. There is limited information available on the diversity of P. multocida strains that cause HS. Therefore, we determined draft genome sequences of ten disease-causing isolates and two vaccine strains and compared these genomes using a range of bioinformatic analyses. The draft genomes of the 12 HS strains were between 2,298,035 and 2,410,300 bp in length. Comparison of these genomes with the North American HS strain, M1404, and other available P. multocida genomes (Pm70, 3480, 36950 and HN06) identified a core set of 1,824 genes. A set of 96 genes was present in all HS isolates and vaccine strains examined in this study, but absent from Pm70, 3480, 36950 and HN06. Moreover, 59 genes were shared only by the Asian B:2 strains. In two Pakistani isolates, genes with high similarity to genes in the integrative and conjugative element, ICEPmu1 from strain 36950 were identified along with a range of other antimicrobial resistance genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the HS strains formed clades based on their country of isolation. Future analysis of the 96 genes unique to the HS isolates will aid the identification of HS-specific virulence attributes and facilitate the development of disease-specific diagnostic tests
Topological entropy and secondary folding
A convenient measure of a map or flow's chaotic action is the topological
entropy. In many cases, the entropy has a homological origin: it is forced by
the topology of the space. For example, in simple toral maps, the topological
entropy is exactly equal to the growth induced by the map on the fundamental
group of the torus. However, in many situations the numerically-computed
topological entropy is greater than the bound implied by this action. We
associate this gap between the bound and the true entropy with 'secondary
folding': material lines undergo folding which is not homologically forced. We
examine this phenomenon both for physical rod-stirring devices and toral linked
twist maps, and show rigorously that for the latter secondary folds occur.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. pdfLaTeX with RevTeX4 macro
Extensions of the matrix Gelfand-Dickey hierarchy from generalized Drinfeld-Sokolov reduction
The matrix version of the -KdV hierarchy has been recently
treated as the reduced system arising in a Drinfeld-Sokolov type Hamiltonian
symmetry reduction applied to a Poisson submanifold in the dual of the Lie
algebra . Here a
series of extensions of this matrix Gelfand-Dickey system is derived by means
of a generalized Drinfeld-Sokolov reduction defined for the Lie algebra
using the natural
embedding for any positive integer. The
hierarchies obtained admit a description in terms of a matrix
pseudo-differential operator comprising an -KdV type positive part and a
non-trivial negative part. This system has been investigated previously in the
case as a constrained KP system. In this paper the previous results are
considerably extended and a systematic study is presented on the basis of the
Drinfeld-Sokolov approach that has the advantage that it leads to local Poisson
brackets and makes clear the conformal (-algebra) structures related to
the KdV type hierarchies. Discrete reductions and modified versions of the
extended -KdV hierarchies are also discussed.Comment: 60 pages, plain TE
A systematic study of J/psi suppression in cold nuclear matter
Based on a Glauber model, a statistical analysis of all mid-rapidity J/psi
hadroproduction and leptoproduction data on nuclear targets is carried out.
This allows us to determine the J/psi-nucleon inelastic cross section, whose
knowledge is crucial to interpret the J/psi suppression observed in heavy-ion
collisions, at SPS and at RHIC. The values of sigma are extracted from each
experiment. A clear tension between the different data sets is reported. The
global fit of all data gives sigma=3.4+/-0.2 mb, which is significantly smaller
than previous estimates. A similar value, sigma=3.5+/-0.2 mb, is obtained when
the nDS nuclear parton densities are included in the analysis, although we
emphasize that the present uncertainties on gluon (anti)shadowing do not allow
for a precise determination of sigma. Finally, no significant energy dependence
of the J/psi-N interaction is observed, unless strong nuclear modifications of
the parton densities are assumed.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Keeping it in the family: Parental influences on young people's attitudes to police
Prior research finds young people are less satisfied with police than their older counterparts. Despite this, our understanding of youth attitudes to police is limited, as most research has focused on adult attitudes to police. This study adds to our understanding by examining the influence of parent–child dynamics on youth attitudes to police. We predict that youth attitudes to police will be influenced by their parents’ attitudes. A survey of 540 school students in South East Queensland reveals that perceived parental attitudes to police are associated with youth attitudes to police. However, this effect is partially mediated by maternal, but not paternal attachment. These findings suggest that youth attitudes to police are not simply influenced by contact with police and delinquency, but that familial context is important. Consequently, our theoretical understanding of youth attitudes to police must move beyond a focus upon police contact and delinquency
Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX collaboration
Extensive experimental data from high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions were
recorded using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC). The comprehensive set of measurements from the first three years of
RHIC operation includes charged particle multiplicities, transverse energy,
yield ratios and spectra of identified hadrons in a wide range of transverse
momenta (p_T), elliptic flow, two-particle correlations, non-statistical
fluctuations, and suppression of particle production at high p_T. The results
are examined with an emphasis on implications for the formation of a new state
of dense matter. We find that the state of matter created at RHIC cannot be
described in terms of ordinary color neutral hadrons.Comment: 510 authors, 127 pages text, 56 figures, 1 tables, LaTeX. Submitted
to Nuclear Physics A as a regular article; v3 has minor changes in response
to referee comments. 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
Complementarity in classical dynamical systems
The concept of complementarity, originally defined for non-commuting
observables of quantum systems with states of non-vanishing dispersion, is
extended to classical dynamical systems with a partitioned phase space.
Interpreting partitions in terms of ensembles of epistemic states (symbols)
with corresponding classical observables, it is shown that such observables are
complementary to each other with respect to particular partitions unless those
partitions are generating. This explains why symbolic descriptions based on an
\emph{ad hoc} partition of an underlying phase space description should
generally be expected to be incompatible. Related approaches with different
background and different objectives are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, no figure
Quaternion-Loop Quantum Gravity
It is shown that the Riemannian curvature of the 3-dimensional hypersurfaces
in space-time, described by the Wilson loop integral, can be represented by a
quaternion quantum operator induced by the SU(2) gauge potential, thus
providing a justification for quaternion quantum gravity at the Tev energy
scale.Comment: 5 pages, latex, no figures. Improved pdf. To appear in the
Foundations of Physic
The Time-Energy Uncertainty Relation
The time energy uncertainty relation has been a controversial issue since the
advent of quantum theory, with respect to appropriate formalisation, validity
and possible meanings. A comprehensive account of the development of this
subject up to the 1980s is provided by a combination of the reviews of Jammer
(1974), Bauer and Mello (1978), and Busch (1990). More recent reviews are
concerned with different specific aspects of the subject. The purpose of this
chapter is to show that different types of time energy uncertainty relation can
indeed be deduced in specific contexts, but that there is no unique universal
relation that could stand on equal footing with the position-momentum
uncertainty relation. To this end, we will survey the various formulations of a
time energy uncertainty relation, with a brief assessment of their validity,
and along the way we will indicate some new developments that emerged since the
1990s.Comment: 33 pages, Latex. This expanded version (prepared for the 2nd edition
of "Time in quantum mechanics") contains minor corrections, new examples and
pointers to some additional relevant literatur
- …