A cross sectional study of the prevalence and associated risks for bursitis in 6250 weaner, grower and finisher pigs from 103 British pig farms

A cross-sectional study of 93 farms in England was carried out to estimate the prevalence and associated risk factors for bursitis. A total of 6250 pigs aged 6–22 weeks were examined for presence and severity of bursitis. Details of pen construction, pen quality and farm management were recorded including floor type, presence of bedding, condition of the floor and floor materials. The prevalence of bursitis was 41.2% and increased with each week of age (OR 1.1). Two-level logistic regression models were developed with the outcome as the proportion of pigs affected with bursitis in a pen. Pigs kept on soil floors with straw bedding were used as the reference level. In comparison with these soil floors, bursitis increased on concrete floors where the bedding was deep throughout (OR 4.6), deep in part (OR 3.7), and sparse throughout (OR 9.0), part slatted floors (OR 8.0), and fully slatted floors (OR 18.8). Slip or skid marks in the dunging area (OR 1.5), pigs observed slipping during the examination of the pen (OR 1.3) and wet floors (OR 3.6) were also associated with an increased risk of bursitis. The results indicate that bursitis is a common condition of growing pigs and that the associated risk factors for bursitis were a lack of bedding in the lying area, presence of voids and pen conditions which increased the likelihood of injury

2D and 3D Polar Plume Analysis from the Three Vantage Positions of STEREO/EUVI A, B, and SOHO/EIT

Polar plumes are seen as elongated objects starting at the solar polar regions. Here, we analyze these objects from a sequence of images taken simultaneously by the three spacecraft telescopes STEREO/EUVI A and B, and SOHO/EIT. We establish a method capable of automatically identifying plumes in solar EUV images close to the limb at 1.01 - 1.39 R in order to study their temporal evolution. This plume-identification method is based on a multiscale Hough-wavelet analysis. Then two methods to determined their 3D localization and structure are discussed: First, tomography using the filtered back-projection and including the differential rotation of the Sun and, secondly, conventional stereoscopic triangulation. We show that tomography and stereoscopy are complementary to study polar plumes. We also show that this systematic 2D identification and the proposed methods of 3D reconstruction are well suited, on one hand, to identify plumes individually and on the other hand, to analyze the distribution of plumes and inter-plume regions. Finally, the results are discussed focusing on the plume position with their cross-section area.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, Solar Physics articl

Resultados de la enseñanza de estrategias de lectura y escritura en la alfabetización temprana de niños con riesgo social

Introducción: La evidencia científica reciente destaca la importancia de la alfabetización temprana como fundamento del aprendizaje lector posterior, especialmente en niños en riesgo social, pero no existen las condiciones adecuadas para alcanzar su desarrollo. El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar los resultados de una intervención focalizada en el aprendizaje temprano de la lectura y la escritura de niños con riesgo social (5 años 3 meses promedio). Material y Métodos: Se evaluaron 339 niños(as) (132 grupo intervención/207 grupo comparación), al inicio y al fin del año escolar. Los profesores del grupo de intervención participaron en un programa de desarrollo profesional de un año que incluyó capacitación y acompañamiento para la aplicación de estrategias de enseñanza de la alfabetización temprana. Resultados: Se observó un resultado positivo en el conocimiento del alfabeto, la escritura emergente y el reconocimiento visual de palabras, no en comprensión oral. Discusión: Se contrastan los resultados con otros programas de intervención en niños con riesgo social, resaltando la importancia de la capacitación y el acompañamiento a los educadores

Baryonic Generating Functions

We show how it is possible to use the plethystic program in order to compute baryonic generating functions that count BPS operators in the chiral ring of quiver gauge theories living on the world volume of D branes probing a non compact CY manifold. Special attention is given to the conifold theory and the orbifold C^2/Z_2 times C, where exact expressions for generating functions are given in detail. This paper solves a long standing problem for the combinatorics of quiver gauge theories with baryonic moduli spaces. It opens the way to a statistical analysis of quiver theories on baryonic branches. Surprisingly, the baryonic charge turns out to be the quantized Kahler modulus of the geometry.Comment: 44 pages, 7 figures; fonts change

Supersymmetric Branes on AdS_5 x Y^{p,q} and their Field Theory Duals

We systematically study supersymmetric embeddings of D-brane probes of different dimensionality in the AdS_5xY^{p,q} background of type IIB string theory. The main technique employed is the kappa symmetry of the probe's worldvolume theory. In the case of D3-branes, we recover the known three-cycles dual to the dibaryonic operators of the gauge theory and we also find a new family of supersymmetric embeddings. The BPS fluctuations of dibaryons are analyzed and shown to match the gauge theory results. Supersymmetric configurations of D5-branes, representing domain walls, and of spacetime filling D7-branes (which can be used to add flavor) are also found. We also study the baryon vertex and some other embeddings which break supersymmetry but are nevertheless stable.Comment: LaTeX, 2 figures, 54 pages; v2: discussions sharpened at several points, new subsection and references adde

Exceptional collections and D-branes probing toric singularities

We demonstrate that a strongly exceptional collection on a singular toric surface can be used to derive the gauge theory on a stack of D3-branes probing the Calabi-Yau singularity caused by the surface shrinking to zero size. A strongly exceptional collection, i.e., an ordered set of sheaves satisfying special mapping properties, gives a convenient basis of D-branes. We find such collections and analyze the gauge theories for weighted projective spaces, and many of the Y^{p,q} and L^{p,q,r} spaces. In particular, we prove the strong exceptionality for all p in the Y^{p,p-1} case, and similarly for the Y^{p,p-2r} case.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figures; v2 refs added; v3 published versio

Counting Chiral Operators in Quiver Gauge Theories

We discuss in detail the problem of counting BPS gauge invariant operators in the chiral ring of quiver gauge theories living on D-branes probing generic toric CY singularities. The computation of generating functions that include counting of baryonic operators is based on a relation between the baryonic charges in field theory and the Kaehler moduli of the CY singularities. A study of the interplay between gauge theory and geometry shows that given geometrical sectors appear more than once in the field theory, leading to a notion of "multiplicities". We explain in detail how to decompose the generating function for one D-brane into different sectors and how to compute their relevant multiplicities by introducing geometric and anomalous baryonic charges. The Plethystic Exponential remains a major tool for passing from one D-brane to arbitrary number of D-branes. Explicit formulae are given for few examples, including C^3/Z_3, F_0, and dP_1.Comment: 75 pages, 22 figure

Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using Lepton + Jets Events with Lifetime b-tagging

We present a measurement of the top quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production cross section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using 230 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse energy, and jets in the final state. We employ lifetime-based b-jet identification techniques to further enhance the $t\bar{t}$ purity of the selected sample. For a top quark mass of 175 GeV, we measure $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=8.6^{+1.6}_{-1.5}(stat.+syst.)\pm 0.6(lumi.)$ pb, in agreement with the standard model expectation.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Genetic testing reveals some mislabeling but general compliance with a ban on herbivorous fish harvesting in Belize

Overfishing of herbivorous fishes is one of the primary causes of Caribbean coral reef decline. In Belize, herbivorous fishes comprised 28% of the catch from 2005 to 2008. In 2009, the Belize Fisheries Department implemented a national ban on herbivorous fish harvesting to mitigate high-macroalgal cover on much of the Belize Barrier Reef. However, compliance with this approach has not been evaluated. We assessed the proportion of herbivorous fish in local markets by genetically identifying fish fillets sold in five major towns in Belize from 2009 to 2011. We found that 5-7% of 111 fillets were identified as herbivorous fish and 32-51% were mislabeled. A 5-7% proportion of parrotfish in local markets suggests some ongoing parrotfish harvesting. However, our results suggest that the ban has reduced herbivorous fish harvesting and has the potential to help facilitate the restoration of coral reef ecosystems

Carbon monoxide-releasing antibacterial molecules target respiration and global transcriptional regulators

Carbon monoxide, a classical respiratory inhibitor, also exerts vasodilatory, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects. CO-releasing molecules have therapeutic value, increasing phagocytosis and reducing sepsis-induced lethality. Here we identify for the first time the bacterial targets of Ru(CO)(3)Cl(glycinate) (CORM-3), a ruthenium-based carbonyl that liberates CO rapidly under physiological conditions. Contrary to the expectation that CO would be preferentially inhibitory at low oxygen tensions or anaerobically, Escherichia coli cultures were also sensitive to CORM-3 at concentrations equimolar with oxygen. CORM-3, assayed as ruthenium, was taken up by bacteria and rapidly delivered CO intracellularly to terminal oxidases. Microarray analysis of CORM-3-treated cells revealed extensively modified gene expression, notably down-regulation of genes encoding key aerobic respiratory complexes. Genes involved in metal metabolism, homeostasis, or transport were also differentially expressed, and free intracellular zinc levels were elevated. Probabilistic modeling of transcriptomic data identified the global transcription regulators ArcA, CRP, Fis, FNR, Fur, BaeR, CpxR, and IHF as targets and potential CO sensors. Our discovery that CORM-3 is an effective inhibitor and global regulator of gene expression, especially under aerobic conditions, has important implications for administration of CO-releasing agents in sepsis and inflammatio