The effect of L-arginine on contralateral testes following 7200 Torsion - Detorsion of the Ipsilateral testes.

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of torsion-detorsion on ipsilateral testes at 7200 and at time intervals, on the histology of contralateral testes. 20 male rats (130-200g) were involved in the study and allowed to acclimatize for three weeks. They were fed with commercial livestock feeds and tap water ad-libitum, and grouped into seven groups (A-G) of three rats each. In groups A-F, unilateral testicular torsion lasting for 15, 30, and 45 minutes was created. Alternate groups (A, C, and E) were treated intraperitoneally with 150mg/kg/body weight of  Larginine for 1 hour after detorsion, while the remaining groups (B,D,F) were untreated with L-arginine but still allowed to undergo 1 hour detorsion. Group G served as the control. The results showed that group A presented normal seminiferous tubules with intact sertoli cells, and germ cells at various stages of development. The untreated group B presented atrophic seminiferous tubules with loss of germs cells and no luminal spermatozoon, while group D presented normal features except for interstitial hemorrhage. Normal features were observed for groups E (treated) and F (untreated). Thus, L-arginine tends to reduce oxidative stress in the contralateral testes thereby preventing interstitial oedema and preserving the spermatogenic series.Keywords: Torsion-detorsion, Ipsilateral, Contralateral, L-arginine, Ischemia, Reperfusion

Effect of L-Arginine on testicular histology following 7200 torsion - detorsion

This study evaluates the effect L- arginine on testicular histology following 7200 torsion-detorsion at different time intervals. Twenty male rats (130- 200g) were used. They were grouped into seven groups of three rats each (A-G) with group G as control. With an atraumatic silk suture through the tunica albuginea, unilateral testicular torsion was created in groups A-F by rotating the left testicles in the clockwise direction along the longitudinal axis for 15, 30, and 45 minutes respectively. Alternate groups (A,C,E) were treated intraperitoneally with 150mg/kg body weight of L- arginine for 1 hour after detorsion, while the remaining groups (B,D,F) were untreated. The results showed that the control tissue sections presented normal features while group B (untreated) presented atrophic seminiferous tubules with no luminal spermatozoon. Similarly, group C (treated) presented severe oedema, atrophic seminiferous tubules with hyperplasia of germ cells, and reduction in size and thickness of lining cells of the seminiferous tubules. The untreated group E however, showed mild oedema but normal seminiferous tubules with luminal spermatozoa and germ cells in various stages of development, while group F showed severe interstitial oedema as well as loss of germ cells. Comparatively therefore, there was an improvement in the treated group E as compared with that of the untreated group F. Our results suggest therefore, that L- arginine tends to reduce oxidative stress in torsioned  testes and helps maintain the seminiferous epithelium, thereby preserving the cells of the spermatogenic seriesKey words: Testicular torsion, L-arginine, Ischemia-reperfusion, Rotation, Spermatic cor

Methods for specifying the target difference in a randomised controlled trial : the Difference ELicitation in TriAls (DELTA) systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Improved chromosome-level genome assembly of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) integrating Pacific Biosciences long reads and a high-density linkage map

Background The Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome-level assembly of the butterfly's genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses. Results The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO indicates that the genome contains 92-94% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,810 genes using the MAKER pipeline and manually curated 1,232 of these gene models. Conclusions The genome and its annotated gene models are a valuable resource for future comparative genomics, molecular biology, transcriptome, and genetics studies on this species.Peer reviewe

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE