Absence of class 1 and class 2 integrons among Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli isolated from poultry in Italy

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A Radio Determination of the Time of the New Moon

The detection of the New Moon at sunset is of importance to communities based on the lunar calendar. This is traditionally undertaken with visual observations. We propose a radio method which allows a higher visibility of the Moon relative to the Sun and consequently gives us the ability to detect the Moon much closer to the Sun than is the case of visual observation. We first compare the relative brightness of the Moon and Sun over a range of possible frequencies and find the range 5--100\,GHz to be suitable. The next consideration is the atmospheric absorption/emission due to water vapour and oxygen as a function of frequency. This is particularly important since the relevant observations are near the horizon. We show that a frequency of $\sim 10$ GHz is optimal for this programme. We have designed and constructed a telescope with a FWHM resolution of 0$^\circ{}\!\!$.6 and low sidelobes to demonstrate the potential of this approach. At the time of the 21 May 2012 New Moon the Sun/Moon brightness temperature ratio was $72.7 \pm 2.2$ in agreement with predictions from the literature when combined with the observed sunspot numbers for the day. The Moon would have been readily detectable at $\sim 2^{\circ}$ from the Sun. Our observations at 16\,hr\,36\,min UT indicated that the Moon would have been at closest approach to the Sun 16\,hr\,25\,min earlier; this was the annular solar eclipse of 00\,hr\,00\,min\,UT on 21 May 2012.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Detection of Zak phases and topological invariants in a chiral quantum walk of twisted photons

Topological insulators are fascinating states of matter exhibiting protected edge states and robust quantized features in their bulk. Here, we propose and validate experimentally a method to detect topological properties in the bulk of one-dimensional chiral systems. We first introduce the mean chiral displacement, and we show that it rapidly approaches a multiple of the Zak phase in the long time limit. Then we measure the Zak phase in a photonic quantum walk, by direct observation of the mean chiral displacement in its bulk. Next, we measure the Zak phase in an alternative, inequivalent timeframe, and combine the two windings to characterize the full phase diagram of this Floquet system. Finally, we prove the robustness of the measure by introducing dynamical disorder in the system. This detection method is extremely general, as it can be applied to all one-dimensional platforms simulating static or Floquet chiral systems.Comment: 10 pages, 7 color figures (incl. appendices) Close to the published versio

COMPASS: a 2.6m telescope for CMBR polarization studies

COMPASS (COsmic Microwave Polarization at Small Scale) is an experiment devoted to measuring the polarization of the CMBR. Its design and characteristics are presented

Chirality effects on the IRMPD spectra of basket resorcinarene/nucleoside complexes

The IRMPD spectra of the ESI-formed proton-bound complexes of the R,R,R,R- and S,S,S,S-enantiomers of a bis(diamido)-bridged basket resorcin[4]arene (R and S) with cytosine (1), cytidine (2), and cytarabine (3) were measured in the region 2800– 3600 cm1. Comparison of the IRMPD spectra with the corresponding ONIOM (B3LYP/6-31(d):UFF)-calculated absorption frequencies allowed the assessment of the vibrational modes that are responsible for the observed spectroscopic features. All of the complexes investigated, apart from [R·H·3]+, showed similar IRMPD spectra, which points to similar structural and conformational landscapes. Their IRMPD spectra agree with the formation of several isomeric structures in the ESI source, wherein the N(3)-protonated guest establishes noncovalent interactions with the host amidocarbonyl groups that are either oriented inside the host cavity or outside it between one of the bridged side-chains and the upper aromatic nucleus. The IRMPD spectrum of the [R·H·3]+ complex was clearly different from the others. This difference is attributed to the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between the C(2’)-OH group and the aglycone oxygen atom of the nucleosidic guest upon repulsive interactions between the same oxygen atom and the aromatic rings of the host

CLOVER - A new instrument for measuring the B-mode polarization of the CMB

We describe the design and expected performance of Clover, a new instrument designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The proposed instrument will comprise three independent telescopes operating at 90, 150 and 220 GHz and is planned to be sited at Dome C, Antarctica. Each telescope will feed a focal plane array of 128 background-limited detectors and will measure polarized signals over angular multipoles 20 < l < 1000. The unique design of the telescope and careful control of systematics should enable the B-mode signature of gravitational waves to be measured to a lensing-confusion-limited tensor-to-scalar ratio r~0.005.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the XXXVIXth Rencontres de Moriond "Exploring the Universe

Enrofloxacin against Escherichia coli in turkeys: Which treatment scheme is effective?

Abstract The efficacy of enrofloxacin (ENRO) was evaluated against multidrug-resistant avian pathogenic Escherichia coli correlating the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 235 E. coli field strains with its pharmacokinetics (PK) in 50 healthy turkeys (5 groups) with a PK/pharmacodynamic approach. The treatments were as follows: a) single oral gavage and b) single subcutaneous (SC) treatment at the recommended dose of 10 mg/kg; c) single oral gavage, d) 5 d of 10-h pulsed water medication, and e) 5 d of 24-h continuous water medication at the doubled dose of 20 mg/kg. Blood samples were collected at established times over 24 h. Plasma was analyzed using a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method that was validated in house. A monocompartmental and a noncompartmental model were applied to the data to obtain the PK results. After gavage administration, the mean maximum concentration Cmax/MIC50 and area under the curve AUC0–24/MIC50 ratios were, respectively, 3.07 ± 0.62 and 7.01 ± 1.03 and 25.48 ± 3.04 and 57.2 ± 3.73 for the 10 and 20 mg/kg doses, respectively. After SC administration of 10 mg/kg, Cmax/MIC50 and AUC0–24/MIC50 ratios were 3.45 ± 0.75 and 33.96 ± 7.46, respectively. After the administration of 10-h pulsed or 24-h continuous medicated water at 20 mg/kg, lower values of Cmax/MIC50 (10-h pulsed: 3.45 ± 0.7; 24-h continuous: 3.05 ± 0.48) and AUC0–24/MIC50 (10-h pulsed: 42.42 ± 6.17; 24-h continuous: 53.32 ± 5.55) were obtained. Based on these results, the European Union-recommended dosage of 10 mg/kg seems ineffective to achieve adequate drug plasma concentrations and even the 20 mg/kg by 10 h pulsed or continuous medicated water administration did not reach completely efficacious concentrations in plasma against colibacillosis. Although the results obtained were not completely encouraging, the medicated water should preferably be provided continuously. To conclude about the efficacy of ENRO treatment against colibacillosis, target tissue concentration should be extensively considered

Celiac disease in pediatric patients according to HLA genetic risk classes: a retrospective observational study

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune enteropathy in which HLA-DQ haplotypes define susceptibility. Our aim was to evaluate if belonging to a certain HLA-DQ class risk could be associated to the clinical, serological and histological presentation of CD. Methods: We performed a retrospective observational monocentric study including all 300 patients diagnosed with CD, who underwent HLA typing. Clinical, serological and histological data was collected from clinical records and their association with HLA-DQ class risk was verified through statistical tests. Results: In our sample mean age at onset was 6.7 ± 4.2 years, with a prevalence of females (n = 183; 61%), typical symptoms (n = 242; 80.6%) and anti-tTG IgA ≥ 100 U/mL (n = 194; 64.7%). Family history was present only in 19% (n = 57) of patients, and it was not significantly associated with any of the clinical and demographical data analyzed or the belonging to a certain HLA-DQ class risk. We found in the male population more frequently a coexistence of CD and atopic syndrome (males: n = 47; 40.2%; females: n = 50; 27.3%; p = 0.020). Early age of onset, instead, was associated with typical symptoms (m = 6.4 ± 4; p = 0.045) and elevated liver enzymes (m = 5 ± 3.8; p < 0.001), while later age of onset was associated with presence of other autoimmune diseases (m = 8.2 ± 4; p = 0.01). We observed statistically significant influences of HLA class risk on antibodies and liver enzymes levels: G1, G4 and G2 classes showed more frequently anti-tTG IgA ≥ 100 U/mL (n = 44; 80%, n = 16; 69.6%, n = 48; 67.6% respectively; p-value = 0.037), and in patients from G2 class we found enhanced liver enzymes (n = 28; 39.4%; p-value = 0.005). HLA class risk was still significantly associated with anti-tTG ≥ 100 (p = 0.044) and with hypertransaminasemia (p = 0.010) after a multiple logistic regression adjusted for the effect of gender, age at onset and family history. Conclusions: We failed to prove an association between HLA-DQ genotypes and the clinical features in our CD pediatric patients. Although, our results suggest an effect of the DQB1–02 allele not only on the level of antibodies to tTG, but possibly also on liver involvement

An experimental and theoretical investigation of XPS and NEXAFS of nicotine, nicotinamide, and nicotinc acid

The electronic structures of nicotine, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide have been studied by valence photoemission spectroscopy (PES), core X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and interpreted with the aid of quantum chemical calculations. Nicotinamide and nicotinic acid are closely related and show correspondingly similar spectral features, while nicotine is both structurally and spectroscopically diverse