519 research outputs found
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans accurately predict differing body fat content in live sheep
Background
There is considerable interest in implementing mobile scanning technology for on-farm body composition analysis on live animals. These experiments evaluated the use of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as an accurate method of total body fat measurement in live sheep.
Results
In Exp. 1, visceral and whole body fat analysis was undertaken in sheep with body condition scores (BCS) in the range 2 to 3.25 (scale 1: thin to 5: fat). The relationship of BCS was moderately correlated with visceral fat depot mass (r = 0.59, P 0.05, n = 9). There was a moderate correlation between DXA body fat and BCS (r = 0.70, P < 0.01, n = 17), and DXA body fat was highly correlated with chemical body fat (r = 0.81, P < 0.001, n = 9). In Exp. 3, a series of five DXA scans, at 8-week intervals, was performed on growing sheep over a 32-week period. The average BCS ranged from 2.39 ± 0.07 (S.E.M.) to 3.05 ± 0.11 and the DXA body fat (%) ranged from 16.8 ± 0.8 to 24.2 ± 1.2. There was a moderate correlation between DXA body fat and BCS over the 32 weeks (r = 0.61, P < 0.001, n = 24).
Conclusions
Overall, these experiments indicated that there was good agreement between BCS, DXA and chemical analysis for measuring total body fat in sheep, and that DXA scanning is a valid method for longitudinal measurement of total body fat in live sheep
Induced CMB quadrupole from pointing offsets
Recent claims in the literature have suggested that the {\it WMAP} quadrupole
is not primordial in origin, and arises from an aliasing of the much larger
dipole field because of incorrect satellite pointing. We attempt to reproduce
this result and delineate the key physics leading to the effect. We find that,
even if real, the induced quadrupole would be smaller than claimed. We discuss
reasons why the {\it WMAP} data are unlikely to suffer from this particular
systematic effect, including the implications for observations of point
sources. Given this evidence against the reality of the effect, the similarity
between the pointing-offset-induced signal and the actual quadrupole then
appears to be quite puzzling. However, we find that the effect arises from a
convolution between the gradient of the dipole field and anisotropic coverage
of the scan direction at each pixel. There is something of a directional
conspiracy here -- the dipole signal lies close to the Ecliptic Plane, and its
direction, together with the {\it WMAP} scan strategy, results in a strong
coupling to the component in Ecliptic co-ordinates. The dominant
strength of this component in the measured quadrupole suggests that one should
exercise increased caution in interpreting its estimated amplitude. The {\it
Planck} satellite has a different scan strategy which does not so directly
couple the dipole and quadrupole in this way and will soon provide an
independent measurement.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Which treatment is most effective for patients with Achilles tendinopathy?:A living systematic review with network meta-analysis of 29 randomised controlled trials
Objective: To provide a consistently updated overview of the comparative effectiveness of treatments for Achilles tendinopathy. Design: Living systematic review and network meta-analysis. Data sources: Multiple databases including grey literature sources were searched up to February 2019. Study eligibility criteria: Randomised controlled trials examining the effectiveness of any treatment in patients wit
Supernova Neutrinos, Neutrino Oscillations, and the Mass of the Progenitor Star
We investigate the initial progenitor mass dependence of the early-phase
neutrino signal from supernovae taking neutrino oscillations into account. The
early-phase analysis has advantages in that it is not affected by the time
evolution of the density structure of the star due to shock propagation or
whether the remnant is a neutron star or a black hole. The initial mass affects
the evolution of the massive star and its presupernova structure, which is
important for two reasons when considering the neutrino signal. First, the
density profile of the mantle affects the dynamics of neutrino oscillation in
supernova. Second, the final iron core structure determines the features of the
neutrino burst, i.e., the luminosity and the average energy. We find that both
effects are rather small. This is desirable when we try to extract information
on neutrino parameters from future supernova-neutrino observations. Although
the uncertainty due to the progenitor mass is not small for intermediate
(), we
can, nevertheless, determine the character of the mass hierarchy and whether
is very large or very small.Comment: 8 pages, 15 figure
Protection induced by simultaneous subcutaneous and endobronchial vaccination with BCG/BCG and BCG/adenovirus expressing antigen 85A against Mycobacterium bovis in cattle
The incidence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the GB has been increasing since the 1980s. Immunisation, alongside current control measures, has been proposed as a sustainable measure to control bTB. Immunisation with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been shown to protect against bTB. Furthermore, much experimental data indicates that pulmonary local immunity is important for protection against respiratory infections including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and that pulmonary immunisation is highly effective. Here, we evaluated protection against M. bovis, the main causative agent of bTB, conferred by BCG delivered subcutaneously, endobronchially or by the new strategy of simultaneous immunisation by both routes. We also tested simultaneous subcutaneous immunisation with BCG and endobronchial delivery of a recombinant type 5 adenovirus expressing mycobacterial antigen 85A. There was significantly reduced visible pathology in animals receiving the simultaneous BCG/BCG or BCG/Ad85 treatment compared to naïve controls. Furthermore, there were significantly fewer advanced microscopic granulomata in animals receiving BCG/Ad85A compared to naive controls. Thus, combining local and systemic immunisation limits the development of pathology, which in turn could decrease bTB transmission
Identifying the 'incredible'! Part 2: Spot the difference - A rigorous risk of bias assessment can alter the main findings of a systematic review
Cosmic Chronometers: Constraining the Equation of State of Dark Energy. I: H(z) Measurements
We present new determinations of the cosmic expansion history from
red-envelope galaxies. We have obtained for this purpose high-quality spectra
with the Keck-LRIS spectrograph of red-envelope galaxies in 24 galaxy clusters
in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1.0. We complement these Keck spectra with
high-quality, publicly available archival spectra from the SPICES and VVDS
surveys. We improve over our previous expansion history measurements in Simon
et al. (2005) by providing two new determinations of the expansion history:
H(z) = 97 +- 62 km/sec/Mpc at z = 0.5 and H(z) = 90 +- 40 km/sec/Mpc at z =
0.8. We discuss the uncertainty in the expansion history determination that
arises from uncertainties in the synthetic stellar-population models. We then
use these new measurements in concert with cosmic-microwave-background (CMB)
measurements to constrain cosmological parameters, with a special emphasis on
dark-energy parameters and constraints to the curvature. In particular, we
demonstrate the usefulness of direct H(z) measurements by constraining the
dark- energy equation of state parameterized by w0 and wa and allowing for
arbitrary curvature. Further, we also constrain, using only CMB and H(z) data,
the number of relativistic degrees of freedom to be 4 +- 0.5 and their total
mass to be < 0.2 eV, both at 1-sigma.Comment: Submitted to JCA
Magnetotransport in two-dimensional electron gas at large filling factors
We derive the quantum Boltzmann equation for the two-dimensional electron gas
in a magnetic field such that the filling factor . This equation
describes all of the effects of the external fields on the impurity collision
integral including Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, smooth part of the
magnetoresistance, and non-linear transport. Furthemore, we obtain quantitative
results for the effect of the external microwave radiation on the linear and
non-linear transport in the system. Our findings are relevant for the
description of the oscillating resistivity discovered by Zudov {\em et al.},
zero-resistance state discovered by Mani {\em et al.} and Zudov {\em et al.},
and for the microscopic justification of the model of Andreev {\em et al.}. We
also present semiclassical picture for the qualitative consideration of the
effects of the applied field on the collision integral.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures; The discussion of the role of the effect of the
microwave field on the distribution function is revised (see also
cond-mat/0310668). Accepted in Phys. Rev.
Assessment of health risks of policies
The assessment of health risks of policies is an inevitable, although challenging prerequisite for the inclusion of health considerations in political decision making. The aim of our project was to develop a so far missing methodological guide for the assessment of the complex impact structure of policies. The guide was developed in a consensual way based on experiences gathered during the assessment of specific national policies selected by the partners of an EU project. Methodological considerations were discussed and summarized in workshops and pilot tested on the EU Health Strategy for finalization. The combined tool, which includes a textual guidance and a checklist, follows the top-down approach, that is, it guides the analysis of causal chains from the policy through related health determinants and risk factors to health outcomes. The tool discusses the most important practical issues of assessment by impact level. It emphasises the transparent identification and prioritisation of factors, the consideration of the feasibility of exposure and outcome assessmentwith special focus on quantification. The developed guide provides useful methodological instructions for the comprehensive assessment of health risks of policies that can be effectively used in the health impact assessment of policy proposals.
Measurements of the observed cross sections for exclusive light hadrons containing at , 3.650 and 3.6648 GeV
By analyzing the data sets of 17.3, 6.5 and 1.0 pb taken,
respectively, at , 3.650 and 3.6648 GeV with the BES-II
detector at the BEPC collider, we measure the observed cross sections for
, , ,
and at the three energy
points. Based on these cross sections we set the upper limits on the observed
cross sections and the branching fractions for decay into these
final states at 90% C.L..Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
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