125,342 research outputs found
Evaluation of the ADVIA (R) Centaur (TM) TSH-3 assay
An analytical evaluation of the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH-3) assay on the Sayer ADVIA(R) Centaur(TM) immunoassay system was performed. General analytical requirements (linearity, resistance to typical interferences, absence of a carry-over effect) were fulfilled and reproducibility was satisfactory. Inter-assay coefficient of variation (CV) of a human serum pool with a concentration of 0.014 mU/l was 22.3%; at concentrations between 0.26 and 83 mU/l CV was below 6%. Method comparison study demonstrated close agreement of TSH results compared to those obtained with the Roche Elecsys(R) 2010 TSH assay (ADVIA Centaur = 1.08 x Elecsys - 0.18 mU/l; r = 0.987; n = 324). Handling and practicability of the ADVIA Centaur system proved to be convenient with a very high sample throughput. We conclude that the ADVIA Centaur TSH-3 assay meets requirements for clinical use
Physical properties of 6dF dwarf galaxies
Spectral synthesis is basically the decomposition of an observed spectrum in
terms of the superposition of a base of simple stellar populations of various
ages and metallicities, producing as output the star formation and chemical
histories of a galaxy, its extinction and velocity dispersion. The STARLIGHT
code provides one of the most powerful spectral synthesis tools presently
available. We have applied this code to the entire Six-Degree-Field Survey
(6dF) sample of nearby star-forming galaxies, selecting dwarf galaxy candidates
with the goal of: (1) deriving the age and metallicity of their stellar
populations and (2) creating a database with the physical properties of our
sample galaxies together with the FITS files of pure emission line spectra
(i.e. the observed spectra after subtraction of the best-fitting synthetic
stellar spectrum). Our results yield a good qualitative and quantitative
agreement with previous studies based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
However, an advantage of 6dF spectra is that they are taken within a twice as
large fiber aperture, much reducing aperture effects in studies of nearby dwarf
galaxies.Comment: To appear in JENAM Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy
Formation and Evolution", P. Papaderos, S. Recchi, G. Hensler (eds.). Lisbon,
September 2010, Springer Verlag, in pres
Chiral corrections to the Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner relation
The next to leading order chiral corrections to the
Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner (GMOR) relation are obtained using the pseudoscalar
correlator to five-loop order in perturbative QCD, together with new finite
energy sum rules (FESR) incorporating polynomial, Legendre type, integration
kernels. The purpose of these kernels is to suppress hadronic contributions in
the region where they are least known. This reduces considerably the systematic
uncertainties arising from the lack of direct experimental information on the
hadronic resonance spectral function. Three different methods are used to
compute the FESR contour integral in the complex energy (squared) s-plane, i.e.
Fixed Order Perturbation Theory, Contour Improved Perturbation Theory, and a
fixed renormalization scale scheme. We obtain for the corrections to the GMOR
relation, , the value . This result
is substantially more accurate than previous determinations based on QCD sum
rules; it is also more reliable as it is basically free of systematic
uncertainties. It implies a light quark condensate . As a byproduct, the chiral perturbation theory (unphysical) low energy
constant is predicted to be , or .Comment: A comment about the value of the strong coupling has been added at
the end of Section 4. No change in results or conslusion
Following basal stem rot in young oil palm plantings
The PCR primer GanET has previously been shown to be suitable for the specific amplification of DNA from Ganoderma boninense. A DNA extraction and PCR method has been developed that allows for the amplification of the G. boninense DNA from environmental samples of oil palm tissue. The GanET primer reaction was used in conjunction with a palm-sampling programme to investigate the possible infection of young palms through cut frond base surfaces. Ganoderma DNA was detected in frond base material at a greater frequency than would be expected by comparison with current infection levels. Comparisons are made between the height of the frond base infected, the number of frond bases infected, and subsequent development of basal stem rot. The preliminary results suggest that the development of basal stem rot may be more likely to occur when young lower frond bases are infected
New distinguished classes of spectral spaces: a survey
In the present survey paper, we present several new classes of Hochster's
spectral spaces "occurring in nature", actually in multiplicative ideal theory,
and not linked to or realized in an explicit way by prime spectra of rings. The
general setting is the space of the semistar operations (of finite type),
endowed with a Zariski-like topology, which turns out to be a natural
topological extension of the space of the overrings of an integral domain,
endowed with a topology introduced by Zariski. One of the key tool is a recent
characterization of spectral spaces, based on the ultrafilter topology, given
in a paper by C. Finocchiaro in Comm. Algebra 2014. Several applications are
also discussed
Teaching Tip: developing an intercollegiate Twitter forum to aid student exam study and the development of digital professionalism
#VetFinals has been developed as a novel online Twitter teaching event designed to support intercollegiate veterinary teaching using social media. Previous studies in other fields have suggested that Twitter use within universities may have benefits for undergraduate education. This “teaching tip” paper describes a project using Twitter to host online exam study sessions. The project has been a highly successful collaborative effort between the Royal Veterinary College and Nottingham Veterinary School in the UK. Over 4 years, the #VetFinals project has developed into a long-term, self-sustaining enterprise. This initiative provides a semi-structured means for student exam preparation with direct real-time input from a faculty member. It also creates a network of peers both horizontally across institutions and vertically throughout year groups. Based on similar initiatives in other disciplines, an anticipated outcome of this project was to contribute to student online professionalism. This could help address the veterinary community's recently highlighted problems with professional conduct and appropriate use of social media. Analysis of the success of this endeavor will be available in a future publication
Cryptic female choice favours sperm from major histocompatibility complex-dissimilar males
Cryptic female choice may enable polyandrous females to avoid inbreeding or bias offspring variability at key loci after mating. However, the role of these genetic benefits in cryptic female choice remains poorly understood. Female red junglefowl, Gallus gallus, bias sperm use in favour of unrelated males. Here, we experimentally investigate whether this bias is driven by relatedness per se, or by similarity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), genes central to vertebrate acquired immunity, where polymorphism is critical to an individual's ability to combat pathogens. Through experimentally controlled natural matings, we confirm that selection against related males' sperm occurs within the female reproductive tract but demonstrate that this is more accurately predicted by MHC similarity: controlling for relatedness per se, more sperm reached the eggs when partners were MHC-dissimilar. Importantly, this effect appeared largely owing to similarity at a single MHC locus (class I minor). Further, the effect of MHC similarity was lost following artificial insemination, suggesting that male phenotypic cues might be required for females to select sperm differentially. These results indicate that postmating mechanisms that reduce inbreeding may do so as a consequence of more specific strategies of cryptic female choice promoting MHC diversity in offspring
Rapid and efficient stable gene transfer to mesenchymal stromal cells using a modified foamy virus vector
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) hold great promise for regenerative medicine. Stable ex vivo gene transfer to MSCs could improve the outcome and scope of MSC therapy, but current vectors require multiple rounds of transduction, involve genotoxic viral promoters and/or the addition of cytotoxic cationic polymers in order to achieve efficient transduction. We describe a self-inactivating foamy virus vector (FVV), incorporating the simian macaque foamy virus envelope and using physiological promoters, which efficiently transduces murine MSCs (mMSCs) in a single-round. High and sustained expression of the transgene, whether GFP or the lysosomal enzyme, arylsulphatase A (ARSA), was achieved. Defining MSC characteristics (surface marker expression and differentiation potential), as well as long-term engraftment and distribution in the murine brain following intracerebroventricular delivery, are unaffected by FVV transduction. Similarly, greater than 95% of human MSCs (hMSCs) were stably transduced using the same vector, facilitating human application. This work describes the best stable gene transfer vector available for mMSCs and hMSCs
Hydrodynamic simulations of shell convection in stellar cores
Shell convection driven by nuclear burning in a stellar core is a common
hydrodynamic event in the evolution of many types of stars. We encounter and
simulate this convection (i) in the helium core of a low-mass red giant during
core helium flash leading to a dredge-down of protons across an entropy
barrier, (ii) in a carbon-oxygen core of an intermediate-mass star during core
carbon flash, and (iii) in the oxygen and carbon burning shell above the
silicon-sulfur rich core of a massive star prior to supernova explosion. Our
results, which were obtained with the hydrodynamics code HERAKLES, suggest that
both entropy gradients and entropy barriers are less important for stellar
structure than commonly assumed. Our simulations further reveal a new dynamic
mixing process operating below the base of shell convection zones.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures .. submitted to a proceedings of conference about
"Red Giants as Probes of the Structure and Evolution of the Milky Way" which
has taken place between 15-17 November 2010 in Rom
Direct observation of growth and collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate with attractive interactions
The dynamical behavior of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in a gas with
attractive interactions is striking. Quantum theory predicts that BEC of a
spatially homogeneous gas with attractive interactions is precluded by a
conventional phase transition into either a liquid or solid. When confined to a
trap, however, such a condensate can form provided that its occupation number
does not exceed a limiting value. The stability limit is determined by a
balance between self-attraction and a repulsion arising from position-momentum
uncertainty under conditions of spatial confinement. Near the stability limit,
self-attraction can overwhelm the repulsion, causing the condensate to
collapse. Growth of the condensate, therefore, is punctuated by intermittent
collapses, which are triggered either by macroscopic quantum tunneling or
thermal fluctuation. Previous observation of growth and collapse has been
hampered by the stochastic nature of these mechanisms. Here we reduce the
stochasticity by controlling the initial number of condensate atoms using a
two-photon transition to a diatomic molecular state. This enables us to obtain
the first direct observation of the growth of a condensate with attractive
interactions and its subsequent collapse.Comment: 10 PDF pages, 5 figures (2 color), 19 references, to appear in Nature
Dec. 7 200
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