881 research outputs found
Diagnosis of cattle diseases endemic to sub-Saharan Africa : evaluating a low cost decision support tool in use by veterinary personnel
Background: Diagnosis is key to control and prevention of livestock diseases. In areas of sub-Saharan Africa where private practitioners rarely replace Government veterinary services reduced in effectiveness by structural adjustment programmes, those who remain lack resources for diagnosis and might benefit from decision support. Methodology/Principal Findings: We evaluated whether a low-cost diagnostic decision support tool would lead to changes in clinical diagnostic practice by fifteen veterinary and animal health officers undertaking primary animal healthcare in Uganda. The eight diseases covered by the tool included 98% of all bovine diagnoses made before or after its introduction. It may therefore inform proportional morbidity in the area; breed, age and geographic location effects were consistent with current epidemiological understanding. Trypanosomosis, theileriosis, anaplasmosis, and parasitic gastroenteritis were the most common conditions among 713 bovine clinical cases diagnosed prior to introduction of the tool. Thereafter, in 747 bovine clinical cases estimated proportional morbidity of fasciolosis doubled, while theileriosis and parasitic gastroenteritis were diagnosed less commonly and the average number of clinical signs increased from 3.5 to 4.9 per case, with 28% of cases reporting six or more signs compared to 3% beforehand. Anaemia/pallor, weakness and staring coat contributed most to this increase, approximately doubling in number and were recorded in over half of all cases. Finally, although lack of a gold standard hindered objective assessment of whether the tool improved the reliability of diagnosis, informative concordance and misclassification matrices yielded useful insights into its role in the diagnostic process. Conclusions/Significance: The diagnostic decision support tool covered the majority of diagnoses made before or after its introduction, leading to a significant increase in the number of clinical signs recorded, suggesting this as a key beneficial consequence of its use. It may also inform approximate proportional morbidity and represent a useful epidemiological tool in poorly resourced areas
NASA Sea Ice Validation Program for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Microwave Imager
The history of the program is described along with the SSM/I sensor, including its calibration and geolocation correction procedures used by NASA, SSM/I data flow, and the NASA program to distribute polar gridded SSM/I radiances and sea ice concentrations (SIC) on CD-ROMs. Following a discussion of the NASA algorithm used to convert SSM/I radiances to SICs, results of 95 SSM/I-MSS Landsat IC comparisons for regions in both the Arctic and the Antarctic are presented. The Landsat comparisons show that the overall algorithm accuracy under winter conditions is 7 pct. on average with 4 pct. negative bias. Next, high resolution active and passive microwave image mosaics from coordinated NASA and Navy aircraft underflights over regions of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in March 1988 were used to show that the algorithm multiyear IC accuracy is 11 pct. on average with a positive bias of 12 pct. Ice edge crossings of the Bering Sea by the NASA DC-8 aircraft were used to show that the SSM/I 15 pct. ice concentration contour corresponds best to the location of the initial bands at the ice edge. Finally, a summary of results and recommendations for improving the SIC retrievals from spaceborne radiometers are provided
Using agent-based modelling to predict the role of wild refugia in the evolution of resistance of sea lice to chemotherapeutants
A major challenge for Atlantic salmon farming in the northern hemisphere is infestation by the sea louse parasite Lepeophtheirus salmonis. The most frequent method of controlling these sea louse infestations is through the use of chemical treatments. However, most major salmon farming areas have observed resistance to common chemotherapeutants. In terrestrial environments, many strategies employed to manage the evolution of resistance involve the use of refugia, where a portion of the population is left untreated to maintain susceptibility. While refugia have not been deliberately used in Atlantic salmon farming, wild salmon populations that migrate close to salmon farms may act as natural refugia. In this paper we describe an agent-based model that explores the influence of different sizes of wild salmon populations on resistance evolution in sea lice on a salmon farm. Using the model, we demonstrate that wild salmon populations can act as refugia that limit the evolution of resistance in the sea louse populations. Additionally, we demonstrate that an increase in the size of the population of wild salmon results in an increased effect in slowing the evolution of resistance. We explore the effect of a population fitness cost associated with resistance, finding that in some cases it substantially reduces the speed of evolution to chemical treatments
Star Formation, Radio Sources, Cooling X-ray Gas, and Galaxy Interactions in the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in 2A0335+096
We present deep emission-line imaging taken with the SOAR Optical Imaging
Camera of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the nearby (z=0.035) X-ray
cluster 2A0335+096. We analyze long-slit optical spectroscopy, archival VLA,
Chandra X-ray, and XMM UV data. 2A0335+096 is a bright, cool-core X-ray
cluster, once known as a cooling flow. Within the highly disturbed core
revealed by Chandra X-ray observations, 2A0335+096 hosts a highly structured
optical emission-line system. The redshift of the companion is within 100 km/s
of the BCG and has certainly interacted with the BCG, and is likely bound to
it. The comparison of optical and radio images shows curved filaments in
H-alpha emission surrounding the resolved radio source. The velocity structure
of the emission-line bar between the BCG nucleus and the companion galaxy
provides strong evidence for an interaction between the two in the last ~50
Myrs. The age of the radio source is similar to the interaction time, so this
interaction may have provoked an episode of radio activity. We estimate a star
formation rate of >7 solar mass/yr based on the Halpha and archival UV data, a
rate similar to, but somewhat lower than, the revised X-ray cooling rate of
10-30 solar masses/year estimated from XMM spectra by Peterson & workers. The
Halpha nebula is limited to a region of high X-ray surface brightness and cool
X-ray temperature. The detailed structures of H-alpha and X-ray gas differ. The
peak of the X-ray emission is not the peak of H-alpha emission, nor does it lie
in the BCG. The estimated age of the radio lobes and their interaction with the
optical emission-line gas, the estimated timescale for depletion and
accumulation of cold gas, and the dynamical time in the system are all similar,
suggesting a common trigger mechanism.Comment: Accepted AJ, July 2007 publication. Vol 134, p. 14-2
Evolution of the Lyman-alpha Halos around High-Redshift Radio Galaxies
We have obtained the first constraints on extended Ly-alpha emission at z ~ 1
in a sample of five radio galaxies. We detect Ly-alpha emission from four of
the five galaxies. The Ly-alpha luminosities range from 0.1 - 4 times 10^43
erg/s and are much smaller than those observed for halos around higher redshift
radio galaxies. If the z ~ 1 radio galaxies are the descendents the z >~ 2
radio galaxies, then their Ly-alpha luminosities evolve strongly with redshift
as ~(1+z)^5. There do not appear to be strong correlations between other
parameters, such as radio power, suggesting that this observed evolution is
real and not an observational artifact or secondary correlation. We speculate
that this evolution of luminous halos may be due to gas depletion (as gas
cools, settles, and forms stars) accompanied by an overall rise in the mean gas
temperature and a decrease in specific star-formation rate in and around these
massive galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, published in ApJ Letters, 694, L31-35 March 20
200
The Extended Blue Continuum and Line Emission around the Central Radio Galaxy in Abell 2597
We present results from detailed imaging of the centrally dominant radio
elliptical galaxy in the cooling flow cluster Abell 2597, using data obtained
with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST). This object is one of the archetypal "blue-lobed" cooling flow
radio elliptical galaxies, also displaying a luminous emission-line nebula, a
compact radio source, and a significant dust lane and evidence of molecular gas
in its center. We show that the radio source is surrounded by a complex network
of emission-line filaments, some of which display a close spatial association
with the outer boundary of the radio lobes. We present a detailed analysis of
the physical properties of ionized and neutral gas associated with the radio
lobes, and show that their properties are strongly suggestive of direct
interactions between the radio plasma and ambient gas. We resolve the blue
continuum emission into a series of knots and clumps, and present evidence that
these are most likely due to regions of recent star formation. We investigate
several possible triggering mechanisms for the star formation, including direct
interactions with the radio source, filaments condensing from the cooling flow,
or the result of an interaction with a gas-rich galaxy, which may also have
been responsible for fueling the active nucleus. We propose that the properties
of the source are plausibly explained in terms of accretion of gas by the cD
during an interaction with a gas-rich galaxy, which combined with the fact that
this object is located at the center of a dense, high-pressure ICM can account
for the high rates of star formation and the strong confinement of the radio
source.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, in press, 34 pages, includes 6 PostScript
figures. Latex format, uses aaspp4.sty and epsf.sty file
A Deep Look at the Emission-Line Nebula in Abell 2597
The close correlation between cooling flows and emission-line nebulae in
clusters of galaxies has been recognized for over a decade and a half, but the
physical reason for this connection remains unclear. Here we present deep
optical spectra of the nebula in Abell 2597, one of the nearest strong
cooling-flow clusters. These spectra reveal the density, temperature, and metal
abundances of the line-emitting gas. The abundances are roughly half-solar, and
dust produces an extinction of at least a magnitude in V. The absence of [O
III] 4363 emission rules out shocks as a major ionizing mechanism, and the
weakness of He II 4686 rules out a hard ionizing source, such as an active
galactic nucleus or cooling intracluster gas. Hot stars are therefore the best
candidate for producing the ionization. However, even the hottest O stars
cannot power a nebula as hot as the one we see. Some other nonionizing source
of heat appears to contribute a comparable amount of power. We show that the
energy flux from a confining medium can become important when the ionization
level of a nebula drops to the low levels seen in cooling-flow nebulae. We
suggest that this kind of phenomenon, in which energy fluxes from the
surrounding medium augment photoelectric heating, might be the common feature
underlying the diverse group of objects classified as LINERS.Comment: 33 Latex pages, including 16 Postscript figures, to appear in 1997
September 1 Astrophysical Journa
Spherically symmetric relativistic stellar structures
We investigate relativistic spherically symmetric static perfect fluid models
in the framework of the theory of dynamical systems. The field equations are
recast into a regular dynamical system on a 3-dimensional compact state space,
thereby avoiding the non-regularity problems associated with the
Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation. The global picture of the solution space
thus obtained is used to derive qualitative features and to prove theorems
about mass-radius properties. The perfect fluids we discuss are described by
barotropic equations of state that are asymptotically polytropic at low
pressures and, for certain applications, asymptotically linear at high
pressures. We employ dimensionless variables that are asymptotically homology
invariant in the low pressure regime, and thus we generalize standard work on
Newtonian polytropes to a relativistic setting and to a much larger class of
equations of state. Our dynamical systems framework is particularly suited for
numerical computations, as illustrated by several numerical examples, e.g., the
ideal neutron gas and examples that involve phase transitions.Comment: 23 pages, 25 figures (compressed), LaTe
XMMU J0541.8-6659, a new supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud
The high sensitivity of the XMM-Newton instrumentation offers the opportunity
to study faint and extended sources in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies such
as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in detail. The ROSAT PSPC survey of the LMC
has revealed more than 700 X-ray sources, among which there are 46 supernova
remnants (SNRs) and candidates. We have observed the field around one of the
most promising SNR candidates in the ROSAT PSPC catalogue, labelled [HP99] 456
with XMM-Newton, to determine its nature. We investigated the XMM-Newton data
along with new radio-continuum, near infrared and optical data. In particular,
spectral and morphological studies of the X-ray and radio data were performed.
The X-ray images obtained in different energy bands reveal two different
structures. Below 1.0 keV the X-ray emission shows the shell-like morphology of
an SNR with a diameter of ~73 pc, one of the largest known in the LMC. For its
thermal spectrum we estimate an electron temperature of (0.49 +/- 0.12)keV
assuming non-equilibrium ionisation. The X-ray images above 1.0 keV reveal a
less extended source within the SNR emission, located ~1' west of the centre of
the SNR and coincident with bright point sources detected in radio-continuum.
This hard component has an extent of 0.9' (i.e. ~13 pc at a distance of ~50
kpc) and a non-thermal spectrum. The hard source coincides in position with the
ROSAT source [HP99] 456 and shows an indication for substructure. We firmly
identify a new SNR in the LMC with a shell-like morphology and a thermal
spectrum. Assuming the SNR to be in the Sedov phase yields an age of ~23 kyr.
We explore possible associations of the hard non-thermal emitting component
with a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) or background active galactic nuclei (AGN).Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
NF-M is an essential target for the myelin-directed “outside-in” signaling cascade that mediates radial axonal growth
Neurofilaments are essential for acquisition of normal axonal calibers. Several lines of evidence have suggested that neurofilament-dependent structuring of axoplasm arises through an “outside-in” signaling cascade originating from myelinating cells. Implicated as targets in this cascade are the highly phosphorylated KSP domains of neurofilament subunits NF-H and NF-M. These are nearly stoichiometrically phosphorylated in myelinated internodes where radial axonal growth takes place, but not in the smaller, unmyelinated nodes. Gene replacement has now been used to produce mice expressing normal levels of the three neurofilament subunits, but which are deleted in the known phosphorylation sites within either NF-M or within both NF-M and NF-H. This has revealed that the tail domain of NF-M, with seven KSP motifs, is an essential target for the myelination-dependent outside-in signaling cascade that determines axonal caliber and conduction velocity of motor axons
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