645 research outputs found
Local positive feedback and the persistence and recovery of fringe Avicennia marina (Forssk.) Vierh. mangroves
While mangrove restoration efforts are reasonably successful, failure often occurs in high wave energy situations. Due to differences in wave energy, seedling mortality rates vary strongly with position on the intertidal flat between high water spring and high water neap elevations. However, a local positive feedback can be present between the pneumatophores of adult mangroves and the survival of mangrove seedlings to trigger recovery. In this study, a mangrove population of Avicennia marina is modelled to determine the effects of seedling mortality and local positive feedback on mangrove recovery. The model uses life history data and dispersal to simulate population dynamics. The mangrove range limits are determined by high water spring and high water neap levels. The results indicate that within these limits mangrove populations with life-history parameter values as derived from literature are indeed capable of fast growth under conditions with low seedling mortality. Local positive feedback has then a small positive influence on population recovery after mangrove loss. If, however, mortality rates increase, such as in high wave energy situations, the importance of a positive feedback increases. The model shows that a positive feedback may, given high seedling mortality rates, be an important factor for mangrove recovery. While a positive feedback may enable mangrove persistence in unfavourable conditions, destruction of adult mangroves can remove the positive feedback, which would render the system uninhabitable and practically prohibits reforestation of such areas. The model results and the presence of positive feedbacks and their importance for population dynamics in harsh conditions indicate that investigating and understanding possible feedbacks could be crucial for successful restoration effort
Factorization of Seiberg-Witten Curves and Compactification to Three Dimensions
We continue our study of nonperturbative superpotentials of four-dimensional
N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge group U(N) on R^3 x S^1, broken to
N=1 due to a classical superpotential. In a previous paper, hep-th/0304061, we
discussed how the low-energy quantum superpotential can be obtained by
substituting the Lax matrix of the underlying integrable system directly into
the classical superpotential. In this paper we prove algebraically that this
recipe yields the correct factorization of the Seiberg-Witten curves, which is
an important check of the conjecture. We will also give an independent proof
using the algebraic-geometrical interpretation of the underlying integrable
system.Comment: laTeX, 14 pages, uses AMSmat
Renal clearance of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone-like peptide pyroglutamyl-glutamyl-prolineamide in humans
TRH-like peptides have been identified that differ from TRH
(pGlu-His-ProNH2) in the middle amino acid. We have estimated TRH-like
immunoreactivity (TRH-LI) in human serum and urine by RIA with
TRH-specific antiserum 8880 or with antiserum 4319, which binds most
peptides with the structure pGlu-X-ProNH2. TRH was undetectable in serum
(< 25 pg/mL), but TRH-LI was detected with antiserum 4319 in serum of 27
normal subjects, 21 control patients, and 12 patients with carcinoid
tumors (range 17-45, 5-79, and 18-16,600 pg/mL, respectively). Because
serum was kept for at least 2 h at room temperature, which causes
degradation of TRH, pGlu-Phe-ProNH2, and pGlu-Tyr-ProNH2, serum TRH-LI is
not caused by these peptides. On high-performance liquid chromatography,
serum TRH-LI coeluted with pGlu-Glu-ProNH2 (< EEP-NH2), a peptide produced
in, among others, the prostate. Urine of normals and control patients also
contained TRH-LI (range 1.14-4.97 and 0.24-5.51 ng/mL, respectively), with
similar levels in males and females. TRH represented only 2% of urinary
TRH-LI, and anion-exchange chromatography and high-performance liquid
chromatography revealed that most TRH-LI in urine was < EEP-NH2. In
patients with carcinoid tumors, increased urinary TRH-LI levels were noted
(range 1.35-962.4 ng/mL). Urinary TRH-LI correlated positively with
urinary creatinine, and the urinary clearance rate of TRH-LI was similar
to the glomerular filtration rate. In addition, serum TRH-LI was increased
in 17 hemodialysis patients (43-373 pg/mL). This suggests that serum <
EEP-NH2 is cleared by glomerular filtration wit
Renal clearance of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone-like peptide pyroglutamyl-glutamyl-prolineamide in humans
TRH-like peptides have been identified that differ from TRH
(pGlu-His-ProNH2) in the middle amino acid. We have estimated TRH-like
immunoreactivity (TRH-LI) in human serum and urine by RIA with
TRH-specific antiserum 8880 or with antiserum 4319, which binds most
peptides with the structure pGlu-X-ProNH2. TRH was undetectable in serum
(< 25 pg/mL), but TRH-LI was detected with antiserum 4319 in serum of 27
normal subjects, 21 control patients, and 12 patients with carcinoid
tumors (range 17-45, 5-79, and 18-16,600 pg/mL, respectively). Because
serum was kept for at least 2 h at room temperature, which causes
degradation of TRH, pGlu-Phe-ProNH2, and pGlu-Tyr-ProNH2, serum TRH-LI is
not caused by these peptides. On high-performance liquid chromatography,
serum TRH-LI coeluted with pGlu-Glu-ProNH2 (< EEP-NH2), a peptide produced
in, among others, the prostate. Urine of normals and control patients also
contained TRH-LI (range 1.14-4.97 and 0.24-5.51 ng/mL, respectively), with
similar levels in males and females. TRH represented only 2% of urinary
TRH-LI, and anion-exchange chromatography and high-performance liquid
chromatography revealed that most TRH-LI in urine was < EEP-NH2. In
patients with carcinoid tumors, increased urinary TRH-LI levels were noted
(range 1.35-962.4 ng/mL). Urinary TRH-LI correlated positively with
urinary creatinine, and the urinary clearance rate of TRH-LI was similar
to the glomerular filtration rate. In addition, serum TRH-LI was increased
in 17 hemodialysis patients (43-373 pg/mL). This suggests that serum <
EEP-NH2 is cleared by glomerular filtration with little tubular
resorption. The possible role of the prostate as a source of urinary
TRH-LI was evaluated in 11 men with prostate cancer, showing a 25%
decrease in urinary TRH-LI excretion after prostatectomy (0.19 +/- 0.02
vs. 0.15 +/- 0.01 ng/mumol creatinine, mean +/- SEM). However, TRH-LI was
similar in spontaneously voided urine and in urine obtained through a
nephrostomy cannula from 16 patients with unilateral urinary tract
obstruction (0.15 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.14 +/- 0.01 ng/mumol creatinine). These
data indicate that: 1) TRH-LI in human serum represents largely < EEP-NH2,
which is cleared by renal excretion; 2) part of urinary < EEP-NH2 is
derived from prostatic secretion into the blood and not directly into
urine; and 3) urinary < EEP-NH2 can be used as marker for carcinoid
tumors
Nonperturbative Superpotentials and Compactification to Three Dimensions
We consider four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge
group U(N) on R^3 x S^1, in the presence of a classical superpotential. The
low-energy quantum superpotential is obtained by simply replacing the adjoint
scalar superfield in the classical superpotential by the Lax matrix of the
integrable system that underlies the 4d field theory. We verify in a number of
examples that the vacuum structure obtained in this way matches precisely that
in 4d, although the degrees of freedom that appear are quite distinct. Several
features of 4d field theories, such as the possibility of lifting vacua from
U(N) to U(tN), become particularly simple in this framework. It turns out that
supersymmetric vacua give rise to a reduction of the integrable system which
contains information about the field theory but also about the Dijkgraaf-Vafa
matrix model. The relation between the matrix model and the quantum
superpotential on R^3 x S^1 appears to involve a novel kind of mirror symmetry.Comment: LaTeX, 45 pages, uses AmsMath, minor correction, reference adde
Methods to assess the effect of meat processing on viability of Toxoplasma gondii: towards replacement of mouse bioassay by in vitro testing
Consumption of meat containing viable tissue cysts is considered one of the main sources of human infection with Toxoplasma gondii. In contrast to fresh meat, raw meat products usually undergo processing, including salting and mixing with other additives such as sodium acetate and sodium lactate, which affects the viability of T. gondii. However, the experiments described in the literature are not always performed in line with the current processing methods applied in industry. It was our goal to study the effect of salting and additives according to the recipes used by industrial producers. Mouse or cat bioassay is the ‘gold standard’ to demonstrate the presence of viable T. gondii. However, it is costly, time consuming and for ethical reasons not preferred for large-scale studies. Therefore, we first aimed to develop an alternative for mouse bioassay that can be used to determine the effect of processing on the viability of T. gondii tissue cysts. The assays studied were (i) a cell culture method to determine the parasite’s ability to multiply, and (ii) a propidium monoazide (PMA) dye-based assay to selectively detect DNA from intact parasites. Processing experiments were performed with minced meat incubated for 20 h with low concentrations of NaCl, sodium lactate and sodium acetate. NaCl appeared to be the most effective ingredient with only one or two out of eight mice infected after inoculation with pepsin-digest of portions processed with 1.0, 1.2 and 1.6% NaCl. Results of preliminary experiments with the PMA-based method were inconsistent and did not sufficiently discriminate between live and dead parasites. In contrast, the cell culture method showed promising results, but further optimization is needed before it can replace or reduce the number of mouse bioassays needed. In future, standardised in vitro methods are necessary to allow more extensive testing of product-specific processing methods, thereby providing a better indication of the risk of T. gondii infection for consumers
N=1 G_2 SYM theory and Compactification to Three Dimensions
We study four dimensional N=2 G_2 supersymmetric gauge theory on R^3\times
S^1 deformed by a tree level superpotential. We will show that the exact
superpotential can be obtained by making use of the Lax matrix of the
corresponding integrable model which is the periodic Toda lattice based on the
dual of the affine G_2 Lie algebra. At extrema of the superpotential the
Seiberg-Witten curve typically factorizes, and we study the algebraic equations
underlying this factorization. For U(N) theories the factorization was closely
related to the geometrical engineering of such gauge theories and to matrix
model descriptions, but here we will find that the geometrical interpretation
is more mysterious. Along the way we give a method to compute the gauge theory
resolvent and a suitable set of one-forms on the Seiberg-Witten curve. We will
also find evidence that the low-energy dynamics of G_2 gauge theories can
effectively be described in terms of an auxiliary hyperelliptic curve.Comment: 27 pages, late
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