Charmonium mass splittings at the physical point

We present results from an ongoing study of mass splittings of the lowest lying states in the charmonium system. We use clover valence charm quarks in the Fermilab interpretation, an improved staggered (asqtad) action for sea quarks, and the one-loop, tadpole-improved gauge action for gluons. This study includes five lattice spacings, 0.15, 0.12, 0.09, 0.06, and 0.045 fm, with two sets of degenerate up- and down-quark masses for most spacings. We use an enlarged set of interpolation operators and a variational analysis that permits study of various low-lying excited states. The masses of the sea quarks and charm valence quark are adjusted to their physical values. This large set of gauge configurations allows us to extrapolate results to the continuum physical point and test the methodology.Comment: 7 pp, 6 figs, Lattice 201

Survival rates of band‐tailed pigeons estimated using passive integrated transponder tags

Obtaining survival estimates on the Interior population of band-tailed pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata) is challenging because they are trap shy, but the joint use of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and bands is a potential solution. We investigated the use of PIT tags to passively recapture band‐tailed pigeon at 3 locations in New Mexico, USA, to estimate survival. From 2013–2015, we captured, banded, and marked \u3e600 individual band‐tailed pigeons with PIT tags. To estimate annual survival rates, we used a Barker multi‐state joint live and dead encounters and resighting model. Survival models excluding transience had survival estimates across site, sex, and year of 0.86 (95% CI = 0.84–0.88) for after hatch year birds and 0.63 (95% CI = 0.48–0.76) for hatch year birds. These results are consistent with other survival estimates reported for the Interior population of band‐tailed pigeons using band return data and potentially provide an effective alternative method of monitoring survival of this population

Multi-scale Investigation of Weight-bearing Exercise on Bone Biomechanical Integrity in the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Model (oim) Mouse

Comparative Medicine - OneHealth and Comparative Medicine Poster SessionOsteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a heritable connective tissue disorder generally due to type I collagen defects, is characterized by small stature, reduced bone mineral density, and frequent fractures. Bone is inherently mechanosensitive, responding and adapting to its mechanical environment. Bone formation occurs in response to high mechanical loads; often changing its geometry to strengthen the skeleton. In humans, during the normal 2 year prepubertal/pubertal growth period normal children attain 26% of their peak bone mass, and children which are physically active accrue 10-40% more bone (region specific) than inactive children. This suggests that sedentary lifestyle choices of children with OI are particularly detrimental to their bone health. We postulate that even though the OI bone material is biomechanically weaker, the OI bone will respond to exercise (muscle loading and/or gravitational ground force), especially during pubertal growth by altering bone geometry, architecture, and/or mineral:matrix physiochemistry to generate an inherently stronger bone. The potential benefits of therapeutic exercise to OI patients are significant, but the risks are real. It is critical that we first demonstrate the feasibility and potential success of an exercise therapy in a mouse model of OI for it to be considered a viable therapy for patients. To address this need we combined the unique strengths of two University of Missouri Campuses (Columbia and Kansas City) to create a collaborative research team from the Departments of Biochemistry (UMC) and Veterinary Pathobiology (UMC) and Oral Biology (UMKC School of Dentistry) to determine if weight bearing exercise will improve bone biomechanical integrity in a mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta (oim), and to investigate the molecular, biochemical, physiochemical, structural and biomechanical impact of exercise on bone at the macro-, ultra- and nano-structural levels. The relationship of whole bone biomechanical integrity and geometry to the mineral:matrix composition, architecture, crystal geometry, and the matrix:mineral interactions of bone is poorly understood. Therefore, we examined femurs of wildtype and oim mice by multi-scale analyses characterizing geometry (muCT) and biomechanics (torsional loading to failure) in relation to the bone mineral and matrix, physicochemical and mechanical properties (FTIR, Raman and scanning acoustic microscopy). By muCT and torsional loading to failure we defined the geometric structural properties and the whole bone biomechanical properties (torsional ultimate strength, torsional stiffness, and strain energy until failure), which are a function of both the geometry and bone biomechanical material properties (tensile strength and shear modulus of elasticity). We used FTIR and Raman microscopy in conjunction with scanning acoustic microscopy to correlate the chemical structure and composition with mechanical integrity. We then performed the same analyses on femoral bones from wildtype and oim mice that underwent moderate weight bearing exercise (running on a treadmill) to determine if weight bearing exercise could alter the molecular structure of bone mineral:matrix and improve bone physicochemical and biomechanical properties. Our preliminary findings support the hypothesis that weight bearing exercise induces an adaptive response in oim mouse bone to alter its matrix/mineral composition, physiochemical structure/ property, and geometry to increase bone quality and biomechanical strength

Characterization of muscle in OI Model mice

Abstract only availableOsteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a congenital connective tissue disorder characterized by decreased bone mineral density and increased bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. In addition to skeletal fragility, patients with OI reportedly have muscle weakness although currently no systematic evaluation of muscle function or morphology in humans or animal models of the disease has been performed. Normal type I collagen is coded for two genes located on different chromosomes: COL1A1 and COL1A2. The oim/oim mouse is homozygous for a null mutation in the COL1A2 gene and is a phenocopy of human type III OI (severe disease phenotype). Heterozygous mice (oim/+) harbor the null mutation in only one allele of the COL1A2 gene and model human patients with type I OI (mild disease phenotype). We wanted to determine whether the reported muscle weakness in OI patients is due to a muscle pathology. We analyzed the muscle mass, fiber morphology, and cross-sectional area of muscles fibers of the hind limb muscles (quadriceps, gastrocnemius, plantaris, tibialis anterior and soleus), as well as the fiber type composition of the soleus muscle of wildtype (wt), heterozygous (oim/+), and homozygous (oim/oim) mice. Our results demonstrate that the muscle mass/body mass, fiber morphology, cross-sectional area of hindlimb muscles, as well as fiber type composition of the soleus muscle of oim, oim/+ relative to wt (+/+) mouse muscles were not significantly different between the genotypes. We correlated our morphologic findings with a functional contractile assay and determined that muscle tension-force generation and nerve conduction are not impaired in oim/oim or oim/+ mice. These findings suggest that oim and oim/+ mice do not have inherent muscle pathology. This knowledge is important in our ultimate understanding of skeletal muscle in OI model mice and ultimately, humans with this disease.Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Progra

Potts Flux Tube Model at Nonzero Chemical Potential

We model the deconfinement phase transition in quantum chromodynamics at nonzero baryon number density and large quark mass by extending the flux tube model (three-state, three-dimensional Potts model) to nonzero chemical potential. In a direct numerical simulation we confirm mean-field-theory predictions that the deconfinement transition does not occur in a baryon-rich environment.Comment: 14 pp RevTeX, 10 Postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev D. (Corrected some typographical errors.

Intermediate Vancomycin Susceptibility in a Community-associated MRSA Clone

We describe a case of treatment failure caused by a strain of USA300 community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with intermediate susceptibility to vancomycin and reduced susceptibility to daptomycin. The strain was isolated from the bone of a 56-year-old man with lumbar osteomyelitis after a 6-week treatment course of vancomycin for catheter-associated septic thrombophlebitis