6,800 research outputs found

    Brief communication: Changes to cow behaviour when transitioning from twice a day to a 3-in-2 milking schedule

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    The objective of this study was to assess changes to cow behaviour when decreasing milking frequency from twice a day (TAD) to three milkings in two days (3-in-2). CowManager SensOor™ ear tags were attached to cows (n=29) for 15 days before, and 30 days after, transitioning to 3-in-2. To investigate general trends, paired t-tests were used to compare means between activity types (time spent active, highly active, not active, eating or ruminating) and milking frequency. After transitioning to 3-in-2 milking, the total time active was greater (+32.3 mins/cow/day; SEM 6.46), whilst the time spent eating (-16.2 mins/cow/day; SEM 7.57) and ruminating (-12.7 mins/cow/day; SEM 3.59) decreased. These differences were inconsistent between daylight and dark hours. These results indicate that the extra time spent in the paddock by the cows due to a 3-in-2 milking schedule was spent active, potentially due to social interaction and feed-searching behaviours, with a decrease in rumination and eating behaviours

    Tear Lactoferrin and Lysozyme as Clinically Relevant Biomarkers of Mucosal Immune Competence

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    Tears have attracted interest as a minimally-invasive biological fluid from which to assess biomarkers. Lactoferrin (Lf) and lysozyme (Lys) are abundant in the tear fluid and have antimicrobial properties. Since the eye is a portal for infection transmission, assessment of immune status at the ocular surface may be clinically relevant. Therefore, the aim of this series of studies was to investigate the tear fluid antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) Lf and Lys as biomarkers of mucosal immune status. To be considered biomarkers of interest, we would expect tear AMPs to respond to stressors known to perturb immunity but be robust to confounding variables, and to be lower in participants with heightened risk or incidence of illness. We investigated the relationship between tear AMPs and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI; study 1) as well as the response of tear AMPs to prolonged treadmill exercise (study 2) and dehydration (study 3). Study 1 was a prospective cohort study conducted during the common cold season whereas studies 2 and 3 used repeated-measures crossover designs. In study 1, tear Lys concentration (C) as well as tear AMP secretion rates (SRs) were lower in individuals who reported pathogen-confirmed URTI (n = 9) throughout the observation period than in healthy, pathogen-free controls (n = 17; Lys-C, P = 0.002, d = 0.85; Lys-SR, P < 0.001, d = 1.00; Lf-SR, P = 0.018, d = 0.66). Tear AMP secretion rates were also lower in contact lens wearers. In study 2, tear AMP SRs were 42-49% lower at 30 min-1 h post-exercise vs. pre-exercise (P < 0.001, d = 0.80-0.93). Finally, in study 3, tear AMPs were not influenced by dehydration, although tear AMP concentrations (but not secretion rates) displayed diurnal variation. We conclude that Lf and Lys have potential as biomarkers of mucosal immune competence; in particular, whether these markers are lower in infection-prone individuals warrants further investigation

    Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin Gauge Transformations for the Propagator and Vertex in QED and QED<sub>2</sub>

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    Abstract The non-perturbative Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin (LKF) transformations describe how Green functions in quantum field theory transform under a change in the photon field’s linear covariant gauge parameter (denoted ξ). The transformations are framed most simply in coordinate space where they are multiplicative. They imply that information on gauge-dependent contributions from higher order diagrams in the perturbative series is contained in lower order contributions, which is useful in multi-loop calculations. We study the LKF transformations for the propagator and the vertex in both scalar and spinor QED, in some particular dimensions. A novelty of our work is to derive momentum-space integral representations of these transformations; our expressions are also applicable to the longitudinal and transverse parts of the vertex. Applying these transformations to the tree-level Green functions, we show that the one-loop terms obtained from the LKF transformation agree with the gauge dependent parts obtained from perturbation theory. Our results will be presented in more comprehensive form elsewhere.</jats:p

    Beyond LLM in M-theory

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    The Lin, Lunin, Maldacena (LLM) ansatz in D = 11 supports two independent Killing directions when a general Killing spinor ansatz is considered. Here we show that these directions always commute, identify when the Killing spinors are charged, and show that both their inner product and resulting geometry are governed by two fundamental constants. In particular, setting one constant to zero leads to AdS7 x S4, setting the other to zero gives AdS4 x S7, while flat spacetime is recovered when both these constants are zero. Furthermore, when the constants are equal, the spacetime is either LLM, or it corresponds to the Kowalski-Glikman solution where the constants are simply the mass parameter.Comment: 1+30 pages, footnote adde

    A diversity combining antenna array for land mobile satellite communications

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    A unified approach to adaptive antenna array design and transceiver signal processing architectures is proposed for the user segment of the land mobile satellite communication service. This technique is described in its conceptual form, and compared with steered antenna array configurations currently favored for this class communication system. The proposed system uses established diversity combining techniques previously developed for mobile terrestrial radio. It is suggested that a diversity-based receiver architecture would allow the coherent recombination of the multipath signal energy present at the mobile terminal site, and thereby enhance system performance for a given link budget. The cophasing of the multipath signals can be implemented using a FFSR (feedforward signal regeneration) signal-processing architecture, which uses the presence of a pilot-tone within the communications channel. On transmit, a retrodirective beam is formed towards the active satellite. The economic viability of such a transceiver is also considered

    The revision partial knee classification system: understanding the causative pathology and magnitude of further surgery following partial knee arthroplasty.

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    AIMS: Joint registries classify all further arthroplasty procedures to a knee with an existing partial arthroplasty as revision surgery, regardless of the actual procedure performed. Relatively minor procedures, including bearing exchanges, are classified in the same way as major operations requiring augments and stems. A new classification system is proposed to acknowledge and describe the detail of these procedures, which has implications for risk, recovery, and health economics. METHODS: Classification categories were proposed by a surgical consensus group, then ranked by patients, according to perceived invasiveness and implications for recovery. In round one, 26 revision cases were classified by the consensus group. Results were tested for inter-rater reliability. In round two, four additional cases were added for clarity. Round three repeated the survey one month later, subject to inter- and intrarater reliability testing. In round four, five additional expert partial knee arthroplasty surgeons were asked to classify the 30 cases according to the proposed revision partial knee classification (RPKC) system. RESULTS: Four classes were proposed: PR1, where no bone-implant interfaces are affected; PR2, where surgery does not include conversion to total knee arthroplasty, for example, a second partial arthroplasty to a native compartment; PR3, when a standard primary total knee prosthesis is used; and PR4 when revision components are necessary. Round one resulted in 92% inter-rater agreement (Kendall's W 0.97; p < 0.005), rising to 93% in round two (Kendall's W 0.98; p < 0.001). Round three demonstrated 97% agreement (Kendall's W 0.98; p < 0.001), with high intra-rater reliability (interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.99; 95% confidence interval 0.98 to 0.99). Round four resulted in 80% agreement (Kendall's W 0.92; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The RPKC system accounts for all procedures which may be appropriate following partial knee arthroplasty. It has been shown to be reliable, repeatable and pragmatic. The implications for patient care and health economics are discussed. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2021;2(8):638-645

    Anxiety and perceived psychological stress play an important role in the immune response after exercise

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    There are common pathways by which psychological stress and exercise stress alter immunity. However, it remains unknown whether psychological stress plays a role in the in vivo immune response to exercise. We examined the relationship between anxiety and perceived psychological stress reported before exercise and in vivo immunity after exercise using skin sensitisation with Diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP). In a randomised design, sixty four, thoroughly familiarised, males completed widely used psychological instruments to assess state-anxiety and perceived psychological stress before exercise, and ran either 30 minutes at 60% (30MI) or 80% (30HI) V . O2peak, 120 minutes at 60% (120MI) V . O2peak or rested (CON) before DPCP sensitisation. Cutaneous recall to DPCP was measured as the dermal thickening response to a low-dose series DPCP challenge 4-weeks after sensitisation. After accounting for exercise (R2 = 0.20; P < 0.01), multiple-regression showed that pre-exercise state-anxiety (STAI-S; DeltaR2 = 0.19; P < 0.01) and perceived psychological stress (DeltaR2 = 0.13; P < 0.05) were moderately associated with the DPCP response after exercise. The STAI-S scores before exercise were considered low-to-moderate in these familiarised individuals (median split; mean STAI-S of low 25 and moderate 34). Further examination showed that the DPCP response after exercise (30MI, 30HI or 120MI) was 62% lower in those reporting low vs. moderate state-anxiety before exercise (mean difference in dermal thickening: -2.6 mm; 95% CI: -0.8 to -4.4 mm; P < 0.01). As such, the results indicate a beneficial effect of moderate (vs. low) state-anxiety and perceived psychological stress on in vivo immunity after exercise. Moreover, correlations were of comparable strength for the relationship between physiological stress (heart rate training impulse) and the summed dermal response to DPCP (r = -0.37; 95% CI: -0.05 to -0.62; P = 0.01), and state-anxiety and the summed dermal response to DPCP (r = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.63; P < 0.01). In conclusion, state-anxiety and perceived psychological stress levels before exercise play animportant role in determining the strength of the in vivo immune response after exercise. These findings indicate a similar strength relationship for the level of state-anxiety prior to exercise and the level of physiological stress during exercise with the in vivo immune response after exercise. Future research is required to investigate exercise-immune responses in athletes, military personnel and others in physically demanding occupations experiencing higher levels of psychological stress than those reported in this study e.g. related to important competition, military operations and major life events. Nevertheless, the present findings support the recommendation that exercise scientists should account for anxiety and psychological stress when examining the immune response to exercise

    Resummation of background-collinear corrections in strong field QED

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    Scattering processes in laser backgrounds are degenerate to the emission of unobservable photons collinear with the laser. We identify processes and observables for which such degeneracies factorise and exponentiate, obtaining the leading-order intensity dependence of these inclusive observables at high laser intensity, correct to all orders in the fine-structure constant (all loops, all emissions). The results show an exponential intensity dependence distinct from that predicted by the Narozhny-Ritus conjecture on the high-intensity behaviour of quantum electrodynamics in strong fields.Comment: V2: 14 pages, 6 PDF figures, matches published versio

    Effect of Fat and CHO Meals on Intermittent Exercise in Soccer Players

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    Pre-exercise meals containing carbohydrates (CHO) are recommended to athletes, although there is evidence to suggest that a high fat meal prior to exercise increases utilisation of fats yet may not adversely affect performance. This study investigated the effect of a high fat and high CHO pre-exercise meal prior to high intensity intermittent exercise. Ten male recreational soccer players performed a soccer specific protocol followed by a 1 km time trial 3 ½ h after ingesting one of 2 test meals, high fat meal (HFM) or a high CHO meal (HCM). Blood glucose, fatty acids (FA), glycerol, β-hydroxybutyrate, lactate and insulin were assessed prior to the meal, pre-exercise, halftime, and post-exercise, whilst rates of CHO and fat oxidation were determined at 4 time points during the exercise as well as heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Significant increases in FA, glycerol, β-hydroxybutyrate and fat oxidation after the HFM were observed, while CHO oxidation was significantly higher following the HCM (P < 0.05). No performance effect was found for the 1 km time trial (HFM: 228.6+14.4 s; HCM: 229.4+26.5 s) (mean+SD). These findings suggest that the type of meal ingested prior to soccer simulated exercise has an impact on metabolism, but not on the subsequent performance as determined in the present study
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