El diagnóstico serológico de la leishmaniosis canina en la comarca del Priorat (Tarragona)

Se investiga la presencia de anticuerpos anti-Leishmania mediante una técnica de «Dot-ELISA» en 1.328 muestras de sangre procedentes de 902 perros de la comarca del Priorat (Cataluña), importante foco de leishmaniosis canina. El umbral de positividad para la mencionada técnica (11800) se establece a partir de los datos obtenidos al realizar en paralelo cultivo y serología. Los resultados serológicos obtenidos permiten observar una tasa de prevalencia de la infección de 10,2%. Tan sólo el 49,8 % de los sueros estudiados son totalmente negativos. Al 40 % restante se le detecta anticuerpos anti-Leishmania a títulos inferiores al umbral establecido cuyo posible significado se discute.The presence of anti-Leishmania antibodies is studied in 1328 blood samples from 902 dogs from the Priorat region (Catalonia), an important focus of canine leúhmaniosú, by a Dot-ELISA technique. The cut-off (1/800)is established through the data obtained by serology and culture in parallel. The prevalence of seropositives observed was 10,2 %. Only 49,8 % of sera were completely negative. The remaining 40% had anti-Leishmania antibodies at titres below the cut- off, the possible significance of which is discused

ANALISIS KANDUNGAN KIMIA DAN FISIK PADA IRISAN BUAH PISANG (Musa paradisiaca) SETELAH DISIMPAN PADA SUHU RENDAH

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik kimia dan organoleptik pada irisan buah Pisang yang disimpan disuhu rendah dan dilakukan di Laboratorirum Pengolahan Pangan dan Laboratorium Kimia Ilmu dan Teknologi Pangan. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Rancangan Acak Lengkap yaitu, waktu penyimpanan yang terdiri dari 3 taraf (hari ke-0, hari ke-3 dan hari ke-6) dan dilakukan sebanyak 3 kali pengulangan. Tahapan penelitian meliputi pengampilan sampel danpreparasi sampel, pengujian (vitamin C, TAT, TPT, pH, Organoleptik). Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakuakan menunjukan bahwa kandungan vitamin C, TAT dan pH tertinggi terdapat pada perlakuan penyimpanan selama 0 hari dengan nilai secara berturu-turut 3,54 mg/100gr, 0,9% dan 5,400. Sedangkan terendah terdapat pada perlakuan penyimpanan selama6hari dengan nilai secara berturuturut 0,85 mg/100gr, 0,6% dan 5,561. Pada TPT mengalami kenaikan selama penyimpanan disuhu rendah, dimana nilai tertinggi terdapat pada hari ke 6 yaitu 20% dan terendah terdapat pada hari ke 0 yaitu 10%. Seangkan pada organoleptik warna, rasa, aroma, dan penampakan mengalami penurunan selama penyimpanan berlangsung

Architecture and First Characterization of the Microstrip Silicon Detector Data Acquisition of the FOOT experiment

Oncological hadrontherapy is a novel technique for cancer treatment that improves over conventional radiotherapy by having higher effectiveness and spatial selectivity. The FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) experiment studies the nuclear fragmentation caused by the interactions of charged particle beams with patient tissues in Charged Particle Therapy. Among the several FOOT detectors, the silicon Microstrip Detector is part of the charged-ions-tracking magnetic spectrometer. The detector consists of three x-y planes of two silicon microstrip detectors arranged orthogonally between each other to enable tracking capabilities. Ten analog buffer chips and fi ve ADCs read out each detector. A Field-Programmable Gate Array collects the output of the ADCs of an x-y plane, possibly processes the data, and forms a packet to be sent to the experiment central data acquisition. This data acquisition system shall withstand the trigger rate and detector’s throughput at any time. In this work, we discuss the architecture of the data acquisition system—in particular of the silicon microstrip detector one—and the fi rst results obtained from the x-y plane’s prototype

Reduced Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling Restores Germ Cell Immortality to Caenorhabditis elegans Piwi Mutants

Defects in the Piwi/piRNA pathway lead to transposon desilencing and immediate sterility in many organisms. We found that the C. elegans Piwi mutant prg-1 became sterile after growth for many generations. This phenotype did not occur for RNA interference mutants with strong transposon silencing defects and was separable from the role of PRG-1 in transgene silencing. Brief periods of starvation extended the transgenerational lifespan of prg-1 mutants by stimulating the DAF-16/FOXO longevity transcription factor. Constitutive activation of DAF-16 via reduced daf-2 insulin/IGF-1 signaling immortalized prg-1 strains via RNA interference proteins and histone H3 lysine 4 demethylases. In late-generation prg-1 mutants, desilencing of repetitive segments of the genome occurred, and silencing of repetitive loci was restored in prg-1; daf-2 mutants. This study reveals an unexpected interface between aging and transgenerational maintenance of germ cells, where somatic longevity is coupled to a genome silencing pathway that promotes germ cell immortality in parallel to the Piwi/piRNA system

Advanced Virgo: A second-generation interferometric gravitational wave detector

Advanced Virgo is the project to upgrade the Virgo interferometric detector of gravitational waves, with the aim of increasing the number of observable galaxies (and thus the detection rate) by three orders of magnitude. The project is now in an advanced construction phase and the assembly and integration will be completed by the end of 2015. Advanced Virgo will be part of a network, alongside the two Advanced LIGO detectors in the US and GEO HF in Germany, with the goal of contributing to the early detections of gravitational waves and to the opening a new window of observation on the universe. In this paper we describe the main features of the Advanced Virgo detector and outline the status of the construction

Mirror system of the RICH detector of the NA62 experiment

A large RICH detector is used in NA62 to suppress the muon contamination in the charged pion selection by a factor 100 in the momentum range between 15 and 35 GeV/c. The detector consists of a 17 m long tank (vessel), filled with neon gas at atmospheric pressure. Cherenkov light is reflected by a mosaic of 20 spherical mirrors with 17 m focal length, placed at the downstream end, and collected by 1952 photomultipliers (PMTs) placed at the upstream end. In this paper the characterization of the mirrors before installation and the mirror support system are described. The mirror installation procedure and the laser alignment are also illustrated

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Fucose-Containing Sulfated Polysaccharides from Brown Seaweeds Inhibit Proliferation of Melanoma Cells and Induce Apoptosis by Activation of Caspase-3 in Vitro

Fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides (FCSPs) extracted from seaweeds, especially brown macro-algae, are known to possess essential bioactive properties, notably growth inhibitory effects on tumor cells. In this work, we conducted a series of in vitro studies to examine the influence of FCSPs products from Sargassum henslowianum C. Agardh (FSAR) and Fucus vesiculosus (FVES), respectively, on proliferation of melanoma B16 cells and to investigate the underlying apoptosis promoting mechanisms. Cell viability analysis showed that both FCSPs products, i.e., FSAR and FVES, decreased the proliferation of the melanoma cells in a dose-response fashion, with FSAR being more potent at lower dosages, and FVES being relatively more anti-proliferative than FSAR at higher dosages. Flow cytometric analysis by Annexin V staining of the melanoma cells exposed to the FCSPs products confirmed that both FSAR and FVES induced apoptosis. The FCSPs-induced apoptosis was evidenced by loss of plasma membrane asymmetry and translocation of the cell membrane phospholipids and was accompanied by the activation of caspase-3. The FCSPs bioactivity is proposed to be attributable to distinct structural features of the FCSPs, particularly the presence of sulfated galactofucans (notably in S. henslowianum) and sulfated fucans (notably in F. vesiculosus). This study thus indicates that unfractionated FCSPs may exert bioactive effects on skin cancer cells via induction of apoptosis through cascades of reactions that involve activation of caspase-3

Performance and Operation of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The operation and general performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter using cosmic-ray muons are described. These muons were recorded after the closure of the CMS detector in late 2008. The calorimeter is made of lead tungstate crystals and the overall status of the 75848 channels corresponding to the barrel and endcap detectors is reported. The stability of crucial operational parameters, such as high voltage, temperature and electronic noise, is summarised and the performance of the light monitoring system is presented