Mass endomorphism, surgery and perturbations

We prove that the mass endomorphism associated to the Dirac operator on a Riemannian manifold is non-zero for generic Riemannian metrics. The proof involves a study of the mass endomorphism under surgery, its behavior near metrics with harmonic spinors, and analytic perturbation arguments

Performance and governance of Swiss pension funds

We investigate the relationship between pension fund governance and investment performance. For this purpose, we develop the Swiss Pension Fund Governance Index (SPGI) which is a standard metric for the governance quality of Swiss pension funds. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 96 pension funds with total assets of more than CHF 190 billion. We find evidence for governance issues in the area organization and target setting. Our results support the widespread hypothesis of a positive relationship between pension fund governance and investment performanc

Transduktion in Streptococcus thermophilus

Because of commercial losses due to phage infection, development of phage resistant starter strains is important for dairy industry. For this purpose directed genetic exchange is one option. Transduction, a phage mediated gene transfer, is an alternative to standard methods as transformation and conjugation, which are not very efficient in Streptococcus thermophilus. This work characterizes transduction in S. thermophilus and its use as a gene transfer system avoiding genetic engineering. Several derivatives of native S. thermophilus plasmids were successfully transduced with S. thermophilus cos-type phages P1109, P53, a10/J9 and PST. Plasmid DNA was packaged as concatemers into the phage head. Amount of plasmid containing phage particles was up to 50% in comparison to infective particles. All transducable plasmids and several native plasmids of S. thermophilus share homologies to cos-regions and ori-regions of S. thermophilus phages. On the basis of DNA alignments with cos-regions from S. thermophilus phages and plasmids, highly conserved sequences were characterized, containing direct and indirect repeats typical for cos-regions. Conserved sequences showed homologies to the cos-regions of the Lactococcus lactis phage BK5-T and the Lactobacillus gasseri phage adh. Cloning of the cos-region of P53 and transduction experiments with deletion derivatives of pAGJ34E and pAG106AE showed that in contrast to ori-regions homologies to cos-regions were responsible and sufficient for high transduction frequencies. Derivatives of S. thermophilus St11 harbouring plasmids pAG106AE, pSt04 or pAGS4E2 were less sensitive against infection by phage P1109. This was due to a reduced burst of infective phage particles. For strain a10, reduction of phage sensitivity was only observed for plasmid pAG106AE. Transduction were successfully done with several host and non-host strains of S. thermophilus. Several host and non-host strains failed as recipients even in spite of high adsorption. Restriction-/modification systems were detected in strains 55n and DC5. The occurrence of prophage TP-J34 reduces the transduction frequency 50fold compared to a prophage-cured derivative of S. thermophilus J34. L. lactis was also suitable as an recipient in transduction with S. thermophilus phages, showing the impact of transduction on horizontal gene transfer. For plasmids pAGJ34E and pAG106AE, an optimised transduction protocol was applied to detect transductants of S. thermophilus St11 and a10 without use of selective marker. Important parameters were the use of high phage concentrations, adapted adsorption times, use of logarithmic pre-cultures, low cell concentrations and a calcium clorid concentration of 100 mM

Generic metrics and the mass endomorphism on spin three-manifolds

Let $(M,g)$ be a closed Riemannian spin manifold. The constant term in the expansion of the Green function for the Dirac operator at a fixed point $p\in M$ is called the mass endomorphism in $p$ associated to the metric $g$ due to an analogy to the mass in the Yamabe problem. We show that the mass endomorphism of a generic metric on a three-dimensional spin manifold is nonzero. This implies a strict inequality which can be used to avoid bubbling-off phenomena in conformal spin geometry.Comment: 8 page

Fever in neutropenia in children and adolescents: Evolution over time of main characteristics in a single center, 1993-2001

Goals of work: To assess the evolution over time of main characteristics of episodes of fever in severe chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (FN) in children and adolescents with cancer treated for FN following nonmyeloablative chemotherapy, to compare the results with the experiences of other centers, and to assess the impact of the changes found on management of FN and on risk prediction rules. Patients and methods: Retrospective cohort study of all children and adolescents up to 18 years presenting with FN in a single pediatric oncology unit between 1993 and 2001. Main results: In 132 patients, 364 episodes of FN were reported. The relative incidence of FN increased significantly over time in patients with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (PBC-ALL), reflecting the increased intensity of chemotherapy. At presentation with FN, the proportions of patients (1) with PBC-ALL versus other malignancies, (2) with other malignancies being in complete remission, (3) with a central venous catheter, and (4) with shaking chills all significantly increased over time (overall proportions, 64%, 60%, 50%, and 5%, respectively; p <0.001 for all). In 337 (93%) episodes, ceftriaxone plus amikacin was used as empirical broad spectrum antimicrobial therapy. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that some characteristics of FN, though not necessarily its management, change over time, implying regular update of risk prediction rules. In contrast to other centers, the first-line antimicrobial therapy did not need modification because of changing resistance pattern

Storage of Heat, Cold and Electricity

A promising energy storage system is presented based on the combination of a heat pump, a heat engine, a hot and a cold storage. It can be operated as a pure bulk electricity storage (alternative to Pumped Heat Electrical Storage (PHES)/Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES)) or as combined storage of heat, cold and electricity. Both variations have been evaluated using a steady state, thermodynamic model and two promising concepts are proposed: A transcritical CO2 cycle for the pure electricity storage and a subcritical NH3 cycle for combined storage of electricity, heat and cold. Parametric studies are used to evaluate the influence of different parameters on the roundtrip efficiency of the storage system

Safety of ondansetron loading doses in children with cancer

Introduction: In highly emetogenic chemotherapy, the recommended dose of the serotonin-receptor antagonist ondansetron (5mg/m2 q8h) may be insufficient to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. In adults, ondansetron-loading doses (OLD) of 32mg are safe. We aimed to evaluate in children the safety of an OLD of 16mg/m2 (top, 24mg) i.v., followed by two doses of 5mg/m2 q8h. Materials and methods: This retrospective single-center study included all pediatric oncology patients having received ≥1 OLD between 2002 and 2005. Adverse events (AE) definitely, probably, or possibly related to OLD were studied, excluding AE not or unlikely related to the OLD. Associations between potential predictors and at least moderate AE were analyzed by mixed logistic regression. Results: Of 167 patients treated with chemotherapy, 37 (22%) received 543 OLD. The most common AE were hypotension, fatigue, injection site reaction, headache, hot flashes/flushes, and dizziness. At least mild AE were described in 139 OLD (26%), at least moderate AE in 23 (4.2%), and severe AE in 5 (0.9%; exact 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.4-2.1). Life-threatening or lethal AE were not observed (0.0%; 0.0-0.6). At least moderate AE were significantly more frequent in female patients (odds ratio [OR] 3.5; 95% CI 1.4-8.8; p = 0.010), after erroneously given second OLD (17.0; 1.9-154; p = 0.012) and higher 24h cumulative surface corrected dose (1.26 per mg/m2; 1.06-1.51; p = 0.009). OLD given to infants below 2years were not associated with more frequent AE. Conclusions: Ondansetron-loading doses of 16mg/m2 (top, 24mg) i.v. seem to be safe in infants, children, and adolescent

Production and use of 13N labeled N2O5 to determine gas-aerosol interaction kinetics

Dinitrogen pentoxide has aroused significant interest in atmospheric chemistry because of its importance in the night time chemistry of nitrogen oxides to influence the tropospheric oxidation capacity. We have used an established method of 13N production to synthesize 13N labeled N2O5 for the first time in order to study N2O5 uptake kinetics on aerosol particles. 13N is produced via the 16O(p, α)13N reaction in a gas target attached to the IP2 endstation of the Injector 2 cyclotron at PSI. The 13NO produced in the gas target is transported to a laboratory where it is mixed, under dry conditions, with non-labeled NO and O3 in a gas reactor, giving 13NNO5. The N2O5 thus produced is fed into an aerosol flow tube together with a humidified aerosol gas flow. The gaseous species present in the resulting gas flow are selectively separated via a narrow parallel plate diffusion denuder system, while aerosol particles can be trapped on a particle filter placed at the end of the denuder system. The activity of the 13N labeled species trapped on the denuder plates and in the particle filter can be monitored via scintillation counters. A system for the routine online production of 13N labeled N2O5 has been assembled and used to assess the conformity of the results by kinetic modeling of gas phase N2O5 chemistry, showing good agreement. A few exemplary experiments of uptake of labelled N2O5 to ammonium sulfate and citric acid particles are presented that are in good agreement with results obtained with other methods reported in the literatur

The role of B- and T-cell immunity in toltrazuril-treated C57BL/6 WT, µMT and nude mice experimentally infected with Neospora caninum

Neospora caninum is a protozoan parasite predominantly known for causing abortion in cattle and neuromuscular disease in dogs. So far, no efficient metaphylactic chemotherapy has been developed. In preliminary studies, toltrazuril had been successfully used against experimental neosporosis in mice and calves. In the present study, we used immunocompetent and immunodeficient mouse strains to address the role of immunity in supporting the chemotherapy of experimental N. caninum infection. WT, µMT and athymic nude mice were intraperitoneally inoculated with 1×106 Nc-1 tachyzoites. The drug was administered in the drinking water for 6 consecutive days so as to obtain a daily dose of approximately 20mg toltrazuril/kg body weight. The course of infection was monitored by clinical, histological and immunohistochemical means, as well as by the search for parasite DNA using PCR-analyses of various organs. In immunocompetent WT mice, treatment proved to be of high efficacy by abrogation of any lesion formation or PCR-positivity in medicated C57BL/6 mice and a significant reduction of lesion formation or PCR-positivity in BALB/c animals. Similarly, treated µMT mice exhibited a significant reduction in cerebral lesion formation as well as in parasite DNA detectability by PCR when compared to untreated animals. Athymic nude mice, however, did not respond to treatment in that only a delay of the parasite dissemination was achieved, and nude mice still showed the neosporosis disease symptoms, although later than untreated animals. We conclude that treatment with toltrazuril appears to act parasitostatically rather than parasitocidically. This is supported by the fact that: (1) although the lack of B-cells did not impair the effect of toltrazuril, (2) the lack of T-cells did not allow for a full efficacy of treatment. Therefore, chemotherapy with toltrazuril against experimental infections with N. caninum requires the support of T-cell immunity in order to be successfu

Zero-Broadening Measurement in Brillouin Based Slow-Light Delays

A novel method for the achievement of zero-broadening in a SBS based slow-light system is discussed in theory and demonstrated experimentally. The system is realized just with a single broadened Brillouin gain. It is shown, that if the gain bandwidth is much broader than the initial pulse width, the output pulse width decreases with increasing pump power. A compression of approximately 90 % of the initial pulse width was achieved in simulation and experiment