Histopathological Characterization of the Lesions of Contagious Ovine Digital Dermatitis and Immunolabelling of Treponema-like Organisms

SummaryContagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) is a cause of severe lameness in sheep and the three Treponema phylogroups Treponema medium/Treponema vincentii-like, Treponema phagedenis-like and Treponema pedis have been associated with clinical disease. The aims of this study were: (1) to describe the histopathological changes associated with each previously established grade of clinical lesion, and (2) to investigate immunohistochemically the association of the Treponema-like organisms with the observed histopathological changes. Early lesions were characterized by lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of the distal digital skin, with suppurative coronitis and intracorneal pustules. In more advanced stages of the disease there was complete separation of the dorsal wall of the hoof with a necrotizing and fibrinosuppurative exudate and dermatitis. The later lesions were mostly resolved, but with milder suppurative changes remaining within the cornified layer and periosteal reaction of the dorsal aspect of the distal phalanx. Large numbers of Treponema-like organisms were identified within early grade lesions (as well as later, more advanced grade lesions) and were specifically associated with the observed histopathological changes. The results of this study provide some evidence in support of the hypothesis that the three CODD-associated Treponema phylogroups are involved in the aetiopathogenesis of this disease

6D Dyonic String With Active Hyperscalars

We derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a Killing spinor in N=(1,0) gauge supergravity in six dimensions coupled to a single tensor multiplet, vector multiplets and hypermultiplets. These are shown to imply most of the field equations and the remaining ones are determined. In this framework, we find a novel 1/8 supersymmetric dyonic string solution with nonvanishing hypermultiplet scalars. The activated scalars parametrize a 4 dimensional submanifold of a quaternionic hyperbolic ball. We employ an identity map between this submanifold and the internal space transverse to the string worldsheet. The internal space forms a 4 dimensional analog of the Gell-Mann-Zwiebach tear-drop which is noncompact with finite volume. While the electric charge carried by the dyonic string is arbitrary, the magnetic charge is fixed in Planckian units, and hence necessarily non-vanishing. The source term needed to balance a delta function type singularity at the origin is determined. The solution is also shown to have 1/4 supersymmetric AdS_3 x S^3 near horizon limit where the radii are proportional to the electric charge.Comment: 28 pages, latex, minor corrections mad

Effects of adding saturated fat to diets with sorghum-based dried distillers grains with solubles on growth performance and carcass characteristics in finishing pigs

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of adding sources of saturated fat to diets with sorghum-based dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS). For Exp. 1, 112 barrows (initially 140 lb) were used in a 69-d growth assay with 7 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Treatments were a corn-soybean meal-based control and diets having 40% sorghum-based DDGS (U.S. En-ergy Partners, Russell, KS) without and with 5% added tallow or palm oil. Feed and water were consumed on an ad libitum basis until pigs were slaughtered (average BW 283 lb) to allow collection of carcass data and jowl samples. Fatty acid composition of jowl samples was used to calculate iodine value (IV) as an indicator of carcass fat firmness. Overall (d 0 to 69), the corn-soybean control supported greater ADG and ADFI (P 0.9) compared with the DDGS treatments. Adding 5% beef tallow and palm oil to diets with DDGS improved overall F/G (P 0.14). Changes in IV indicated softer fat in pigs fed DDGS (P 0.14) compared with DDGS treatments. Adding fat sources to diets with DDGS tended to improve (P < 0.06) overall F/G, and coconut oil improved F/G compared with stearic acid (P < 0.001). Pigs fed the control diet had greater (P < 0.05) HCW than pigs fed the DDGS treatments. Pigs fed the control diet had lower IV and greater firmness score than pigs fed diets with added DDGS (P < 0.02). Adding fat sources to diets with DDGS improved these estimates of carcass firmness and tip to tip distance for suspended bellies (P < 0.001); coconut oil had a much greater effect than stearic acid (P < 0.001). In conclusion, adding beef tallow, palm oil, and coconut oil to diets with 40% DDGS improved efficiency of gain in finishing pigs. However, only coconut oil restored carcass firmness to levels at or above a corn-soybean diet without DDGS

Insulated skin temperature as a measure of core body temperature for individuals wearing CBRN protective clothing

This study assessed the validity of insulated skin temperature (Tis) to predict rectal temperature (Tre) for use as a non-invasive measurement of thermal strain to reduce the risk of heat illness for emergency service personnel. Volunteers from the Police, Fire and Rescue, and Ambulance Services performed rolerelated tasks in hot (30 ◦C) and neutral (18 ◦C) conditions, wearing service specific personal protective equipment. Insulated skin temperature and micro climate temperature (Tmc) predicted Tre with an adjusted r2 = 0.87 and standard error of the estimate (SEE) of 0.19 ◦C. A bootstrap validation of the equation resulted in an adjusted r2 = 0.85 and SEE = 0.20 ◦C. Taking into account the 0.20 ◦C error, the prediction of Tre resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 91%, respectively. Insulated skin temperature and Tmc can be used in a model to predict Tre in emergency service personnel wearing CBRN protective clothing with an SEE of 0.2 ◦C. However, the model is only valid for Tis over 36.5 ◦C, above which thermal stability is reached between the core and the skin

Partial Deconfinement in Color Superconductivity

We analyze the fate of the unbroken SU(2) color gauge interactions for 2 light flavors color superconductivity at non zero temperature. Using a simple model we compute the deconfining/confining critical temperature and show that is smaller than the critical temperature for the onset of the superconductive state itself. The breaking of Lorentz invariance, induced already at zero temperature by the quark chemical potential, is shown to heavily affect the value of the critical temperature and all of the relevant features related to the deconfining transition. Modifying the Polyakov loop model to describe the SU(2) immersed in the diquark medium we argue that the deconfinement transition is second order. Having constructed part of the equation of state for the 2 color superconducting phase at low temperatures our results are relevant for the physics of compact objects featuring a two flavor color superconductive state.Comment: 9 pp, 4 eps-figs, version to appear in PR

Polyakov Loops versus Hadronic States

The order parameter for the pure Yang-Mills phase transition is the Polyakov loop which encodes the symmetries of the Z_N center of the SU(N) gauge group. On the other side the physical degrees of freedom of any asymptotically free gauge theory are hadronic states. Using the Yang-Mills trace anomaly and the exact Z_N symmetry we construct a model able to communicate to the hadrons the information carried by the order parameter.Comment: RevTex4 2-col., 6 pages, 2 figures. Typos fixed and added a paragraph in the conclusion

Dark energy generated from a (super)string effective action with higher order curvature corrections and a dynamical dilaton

We investigate the possibility of a dark energy universe emerging from an action with higher-order string loop corrections to Einstein gravity in the presence of a massless dilaton. These curvature corrections (up to $R^4$ order) are different depending upon the type of (super)string model which is considered. We find in fact that Type II, heterotic, and bosonic strings respond differently to dark energy. A dark energy solution is shown to exist in the case of the bosonic string, while the other two theories do not lead to realistic dark energy universes. Detailed analysis of the dynamical stability of the de-Sitter solution is presented for the case of a bosonic string. A general prescription for the construction of a de-Sitter solution for the low-energy (super)string effective action is also indicated. Beyond the low-energy (super)string effective action, when the higher-curvature correction coefficients depend on the dilaton, the reconstruction of the theory from the universe expansion history is done with a corresponding prescription for the scalar potentials.Comment: 15 pages, 7 eps figures, minor corrections, published versio

Ligneous membranitis in Scottish terriers is associated with a single nucleotide polymorphism in the plasminogen (plg) gene

Ligneous membranitis (LM) is a rare chronic inflammatory condition of the mucous membranes associated with plasminogen (encoded by PLG) deficiency in affected humans and dogs. In human, the condition is genetic in nature with numerous mutations and polymorphisms in PLG identified in affected individuals and related family members. The condition is uncommonly reported in dogs and, to date, no genetic studies have been performed. We identified related Scottish Terriers (littermates) with severe LM and unaffected relatives (sire, dam and a sibling from a previous litter). Plasma plasminogen activity was below normal in one affected dog but within normal reference intervals for the other. Sequencing of PLG from the affected dogs revealed a homozygous A>T single nucleotide polymorphism in an intron donor site (c.1256+2T>A). The related, unaffected dogs displayed heterozygous alleles at this position (c.1256+2T/A), whereas no mutation was detected in unaffected, non‐related control dogs. This is the first report to identify gene polymorphisms associated with LM in dogs

New Agegraphic Dark Energy in f(R)f(R) Gravity

In this paper we study cosmological application of new agegraphic dark energy density in the $f(R)$ gravity framework. We employ the new agegraphic model of dark energy to obtain the equation of state for the new agegraphic energy density in spatially flat universe. Our calculation show, taking $n<0$, it is possible to have $w_{\rm \Lambda}$ crossing -1. This implies that one can generate phantom-like equation of state from a new agegraphic dark energy model in flat universe in the modified gravity cosmology framework. Also we develop a reconstruction scheme for the modified gravity with $f(R)$ action.Comment: 8 pages, no figur

Molecular characterization and partial cDNA cloning of facilitative glucose transporters expressed in human articular chondrocytes; stimulation of 2-deoxyglucose uptake by IGF-I and elevated MMP-2 secretion by glucose deprivation

AbstractObjective Recent evidence suggests that human chondrocytes express several facilitative glucose transporter (GLUT) isoforms and also that 2-deoxyglucose transport is accelerated by cytokine stimulation. The aim of the present investigation was to determine if human articular chondrocytes express any of the recently identified members of the GLUT/SLC2A gene family and to examine the effects of endocrine factors, such as insulin and IGF-I on the capacity of human chondrocytes for transporting 2-deoxyglucose.Design/methods PCR, cloning and immunohistochemistry were employed to study the expression of GLUT/SLC2A transporters in normal human articular cartilage. The uptake of 2-deoxyglucose was examined in monolayer cultured immortalized human chondrocytes following stimulation with TNF-α, insulin and IGF-I. Levels of MMP-2 were assessed by gelatin zymography following glucose deprivation of alginate cultures.Results Using PCR we detected transcripts for eight glucose transporter isoforms (GLUTs 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12) and for a fructose transporter (GLUT5) in human articular cartilage. Expression of GLUT1, GLUT3 and GLUT9 proteins in normal human articular cartilage was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The uptake of 2-deoxyglucose was dependent on time and temperature, inhibited by cytochalasin B and phloretin, and significantly accelerated in chondrocyte cultures stimulated with IGF-I. However, 2-deoxyglucose uptake was unaffected by short and long-term insulin treatment, which ruled out a functional role for insulin-sensitive GLUT4-mediated glucose transport. Furthermore, secretion of MMP-2 was increased in alginate cultures deprived of glucose.Conclusions The data supports a critical role for glucose transport and metabolism in the synthesis and degradation of cartilage. Copyright 2002 OsteoArthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved