1,012 research outputs found
Understory influence on leafroller pupunations in Hawke's bay organic apple orchard
Leafrollers (Tortricidae) were collected from apple foliage and understorey vegetation in six commercial organic apple orchards in Hawke’s Bay over one season. Assessments were made of plant species present in the understorey at the time of collection. All leafroller larvae were reared to adults on artificial diet to identify leafroller species and parasitoids. Nearly half (47%) of all leafrollers collected in these orchards were located in the understorey, highlighting the importance of understorey and its management for the control of leafroller. Dock, clover and dandeliontype plants contributed 25% to the overall understorey, yet hosted 75% of the leafrollers collected from the understorey. Dolichogenidea sp. was the most abundant parasitoid (79%) attacking leafrollers found amongst the apple foliage, whereas Glyptapanteles demeter was dominant in the understorey (61%). Generally the number of leafrollers in an orchard was proportional to the abundance of broadleaf weeds and inversely proportional to parasitis
Evolution of semi-quantitative whole joint assessment of knee OA: MOAKS (MRI Osteoarthritis Knee Score)
SummaryObjectiveIn an effort to evolve semi-quantitative scoring methods based upon limitations identified in existing tools, integrating expert readers’ experience with all available scoring tools and the published data comparing the different scoring systems, we iteratively developed the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Osteoarthritis Knee Score (MOAKS). The purpose of this report is to describe the instrument and its reliability.MethodsThe MOAKS instrument refines the scoring of bone marrow lesions (BMLs) (providing regional delineation and scoring across regions), cartilage (sub-regional assessment), and refines the elements of meniscal morphology (adding meniscal hypertrophy, partial maceration and progressive partial maceration) scoring. After a training and calibration session two expert readers read MRIs of 20 knees separately. In addition, one reader re-read the same 20 MRIs 4 weeks later presented in random order to assess intra-rater reliability. The analyses presented here are for both intra- and inter-rater reliability (calculated using the linear weighted kappa and overall percent agreement).ResultsWith the exception of inter-rater reliability for tibial cartilage area (kappa=0.36) and tibial osteophytes (kappa=0.49); and intra-rater reliability for tibial BML number of lesions (kappa=0.54), Hoffa-synovitis (kappa=0.42) all measures of reliability using kappa statistics were very good (0.61–0.8) or reached near-perfect agreement (0.81–1.0). Only intra-rater reliability for Hoffa-synovitis, and inter-rater reliability for tibial and patellar osteophytes showed overall percent agreement <75%.ConclusionMOAKS scoring shows very good to excellent reliability for the large majority of features assessed. Further iterative development and research will include assessment of its validation and responsiveness
Tests of the random phase approximation for transition strengths
We investigate the reliability of transition strengths computed in the
random-phase approximation (RPA), comparing with exact results from
diagonalization in full shell-model spaces. The RPA and
shell-model results are in reasonable agreement for most transitions; however
some very low-lying collective transitions, such as isoscalar quadrupole, are
in serious disagreement. We suggest the failure lies with incomplete
restoration of broken symmetries in the RPA. Furthermore we prove, analytically
and numerically, that standard statements regarding the energy-weighted sum
rule in the RPA do not hold if an exact symmetry is broken.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; Appendix added with new proof regarding
violation of energy-weighted sum rul
Ground state of a polydisperse electrorheological solid: Beyond the dipole approximation
The ground state of an electrorheological (ER) fluid has been studied based
on our recently proposed dipole-induced dipole (DID) model. We obtained an
analytic expression of the interaction between chains of particles which are of
the same or different dielectric constants. The effects of dielectric constants
on the structure formation in monodisperse and polydisperse electrorheological
fluids are studied in a wide range of dielectric contrasts between the
particles and the base fluid. Our results showed that the established
body-centered tetragonal ground state in monodisperse ER fluids may become
unstable due to a polydispersity in the particle dielectric constants. While
our results agree with that of the fully multipole theory, the DID model is
much simpler, which offers a basis for computer simulations in polydisperse ER
fluids.Comment: Accepted for publications by Phys. Rev.
Differential expression of ADAMTS -1, -4, -5 and TIMP -3 in rat spinal cord at different stages of acute experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an animal model of inflammatory demyelination, a pathological event common to multiple sclerosis (MS). During CNS inflammation there are alterations in the extracellular matrix (ECM). A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with Thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS) -1, -4 and -5 are proteases present in the CNS, which are able to cleave the aggregating chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans, aggrecan, phosphacan, neurocan and brevican. It is therefore important to investigate changes in their expression in different stages of EAE induction. We have investigated expression of ADAMTS-1, -4, -5 and Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) -3, by real-time RT-PCR. We have also examined protein expression of ADAMTS-1, -4 and -5 by western blotting and immunocytochemistry in spinal cord from animals at different stages of disease progression. Our study demonstrated a decrease in ADAMTS-4 mRNA and protein expression. TIMP-3 was decreased at the mRNA level although protein levels were increased in diseased animals compared to controls. Our study identifies changes in ADAMTS expression during the course of CNS inflammation which may contribute to ECM degradation and disease progression.</p
Experimental demonstration of intermodal dispersion in a two-core optical fiber
The recent prediction that intermodal dispersion can play a significant role in pulse evolution in a two-core optical fiber was confirmed experimentally. A picosecond pulse at 1.548µm launched into one core of a meters-long two-core fiber was found to come out of either core of the fiber as two temporally separate pulses. By measuring the time delay between these two pulses, the intermodal dispersion in the fiber was estimated to be 1.13ps/m, in good agreement with theory
Genes for tesin, villin and desmin are linked on mouse Chromosome 1
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47016/1/335_2004_Article_BF00354299.pd
Recognition and management of anthrax [3] (multiple letters)
To the Editor:
In his timely review of anthrax, Swartz
(Nov. 29 issue)
1
states that “incision or débridement of
such early [cutaneous] lesions should be avoided, since this
may increase the possibility of bacteremia.” We believe that
this prohibition does not apply to diagnostic skin biopsies
Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider
This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)
- …