Targeted anthelmintic treatment of parasitic gastroenteritis in first grazing season dairy calves using daily live weight gain as an indicator

Control of parasitic gastroenteritis in cattle is typically based on group treatments with anthelmintics, complemented by grazing management, where feasible. However, the almost inevitable evolution of resistance in parasitic nematodes to anthelmintics over time necessitates a reappraisal of their use in order to reduce selection pressure. One such approach is targeted selective treatment (TST), in which only individual animals that will most benefit are treated, rather than whole groups of at-risk cattle. This study was designed to assess the feasibility of implementing TST on three commercial farms, two of which were organic. A total of 104 first-grazing season (FGS), weaned dairy calves were enrolled in the study; each was weighed at monthly intervals from the start of the grazing season using scales or weigh-bands. At the same time dung and blood samples were collected in order to measure faecal egg counts (FEC) and plasma pepsinogen, respectively. A pre-determined threshhold weight gain of 0.75 kg/day was used to determine those animals that would be treated; the anthelmintic used was eprinomectin. No individual animal received more than one treatment during the grazing season and all treatments were given in July or August; five animals were not treated at all because their growth rates consistently exceeded the threshold. Mean daily live weight gain over the entire grazing season ranged between 0.69 and 0.82 kg/day on the three farms. Neither FEC nor pepsinogen values were significantly associated with live weight gain. Implementation of TST at farm level requires regular (monthly) handling of the animals and the use of weigh scales or tape, but can be integrated into farm management practices. This study has shown that acceptable growth rates can be achieved in FGS cattle with modest levels of treatment and correspondingly less exposure of their nematode populations to anthelmintics, which should mitigate selection pressure for resistance by increasing the size of the refugia in both hosts and pasture

Light Heavy MSSM Higgs Bosons at Large tan_beta

The region of MSSM Higgs parameter space currently excluded by the CDF Collaboration, based on an analysis of ~1 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity, is less than the expected sensitivity. We analyze the potential implications of the persistence of this discrepancy within the MSSM, assuming that the soft supersymmetry-breaking contributions to scalar masses are universal, apart from those to the Higgs masses (the NUHM model). We find that a light heavy MSSM Higgs signal in the unexcluded part of the sensitive region could indeed be accommodated in this simple model, even after taking into account other constraints from cold dark matter, electroweak precision observables and B physics observables. In this case the NUHM suggests that supersymmetric signatures should also be detectable in the near future in some other measurements such as BR(B_s -> mu+ mu-), BR(b -> s gamma) and (g-2)_mu, and M_h would have to be very close to the LEP exclusion limit. In addition, the dark matter candidate associated with this model should be on the verge of detection in direct detection experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

A note on second-order perturbations of non-canonical scalar fields

We study second-order perturbations for a general non-canonical scalar field, minimally coupled to gravity, on the unperturbed FRW background, where metric fluctuations are neglected a priori. By employing different approaches to cosmological perturbation theory, we show that, even in this simplified set-up, the second-order perturbations to the stress tensor, the energy density and the pressure display potential instabilities, which are not present at linear order. The conditions on the Lagrangian under which these instabilities take place are provided. We also discuss briefly the significance of our analysis in light of the possible linearization instability of these fields about the FRW background.Comment: 8 page, Revtex 4. Clarifications added, results unchanged; [v3] 10 pages, matches with the published version, Discussion for specific cases expanded and preliminary results including the metric perturbations discusse

Regular black holes and black universes

We give a comparative description of different types of regular static, spherically symmetric black holes (BHs) and discuss in more detail their particular type, which we suggest to call black universes. The latter have a Schwarzschild-like causal structure, but inside the horizon there is an expanding Kantowski-Sachs universe and a de Sitter infinity instead of a singularity. Thus a hypothetic BH explorer gets a chance to survive. Solutions of this kind are naturally obtained if one considers static, spherically symmetric distributions of various (but not all) kinds of phantom matter whose existence is favoured by cosmological observations. It also looks possible that our Universe has originated from phantom-dominated collapse in another universe and underwent isotropization after crossing the horizon. An explicit example of a black-universe solution with positive Schwarzschild mass is discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure. 6 referenses and some discussion added, misprints correcte

Exponential-Potential Scalar Field Universes I: The Bianchi I Models

We obtain a general exact solution of the Einstein field equations for the anisotropic Bianchi type I universes filled with an exponential-potential scalar field and study their dynamics. It is shown, in agreement with previous studies, that for a wide range of initial conditions the late-time behaviour of the models is that of a power-law inflating FRW universe. This property, does not hold, in contrast, when some degree of inhomogeneity is introduced, as discussed in our following paper II.Comment: 16 pages, Plain LaTeX, 1 Figure to be sent on request, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Today's View on Strangeness

There are several different experimental indications, such as the pion-nucleon sigma term and polarized deep-inelastic scattering, which suggest that the nucleon wave function contains a hidden s bar s component. This is expected in chiral soliton models, which also predicted the existence of new exotic baryons that may recently have been observed. Another hint of hidden strangeness in the nucleon is provided by copious phi production in various N bar N annihilation channels, which may be due to evasions of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule. One way to probe the possible polarization of hidden s bar s pairs in the nucleon may be via Lambda polarization in deep-inelastic scattering.Comment: 8 pages LaTeX, 10 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Parity Violation and Hadronic Structure, Grenoble, June 200

Possible wormholes in a brane world

The condition R=0, where R is the four-dimensional scalar curvature, is used for obtaining a large class (with an arbitrary function of r) of static, spherically symmetric Lorentzian wormhole metrics. The wormholes are globally regular and traversable, can have throats of arbitrary size and can be both symmetric and asymmetric. These metrics may be treated as possible wormhole solutions in a brane world since they satisfy the vacuum Einstein equations on the brane where effective stress-energy is induced by interaction with the bulk gravitational field. Some particular examples are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, revtex4. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Supersymmetric Benchmarks with Non-Universal Scalar Masses or Gravitino Dark Matter

We propose and examine a new set of benchmark supersymmetric scenarios, some of which have non-universal Higgs scalar masses (NUHM) and others have gravitino dark matter (GDM). The scalar masses in these models are either considerably larger or smaller than the narrow range allowed for the same gaugino mass m_{1/2} in the constrained MSSM (CMSSM) with universal scalar masses m_0 and neutralino dark matter. The NUHM and GDM models with larger m_0 may have large branching ratios for Higgs and/or $Z$ production in the cascade decays of heavier sparticles, whose detection we discuss. The phenomenology of the GDM models depends on the nature of the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP), which has a lifetime exceeding 10^4 seconds in the proposed benchmark scenarios. In one GDM scenario the NLSP is the lightest neutralino \chi, and the supersymmetric collider signatures are similar to those in previous CMSSM benchmarks, but with a distinctive spectrum. In the other GDM scenarios based on minimal supergravity (mSUGRA), the NLSP is the lighter stau slepton {\tilde \tau}_1, with a lifetime between ~ 10^4 and 3 X 10^6 seconds. Every supersymmetric cascade would end in a {\tilde \tau}_1, which would have a distinctive time-of-flight signature. Slow-moving {\tilde \tau}_1's might be trapped in a collider detector or outside it, and the preferred detection strategy would depend on the {\tilde \tau}_1 lifetime. We discuss the extent to which these mSUGRA GDM scenarios could be distinguished from gauge-mediated models.Comment: 52 pages LaTeX, 13 figure

What Drives Using Antibiotic without Prescriptions? A Qualitative Interview Study of University Students in United Arab Emirates

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is considered as natural phenomenon that occurs over the time due to genetic changes. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is significantly increasing in the UAE. Self-medication with antibiotics has been identified as a major factor for the development of antibiotic resistance, which is significantly increasing in the UAE.The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that contribute to the use of antibiotics without prescriptions among first year healthcare university students in UAE.Based on the findings of an earlier survey study, a qualitative interview study was designed to explore common themes related to student's knowledge, awareness, attitude, views, and perceptions. Data were analyzed thematically for the identification of themes and subthemes within the data through the use of coding.The interview study identified four main themes with multiple subthemes related to the use of antibiotics without a physician's prescription by first-year healthcare students. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed four main themes; medication habits and practices; reasons for self-medication; access to antibiotics without a prescription and gaps in students' knowledge regarding antibiotic resistance.Healthcare students in UAE are influenced by several factors including parents and friends influence, successful previous experience and investment of time and money to visit a physician. Our sample of healthcare students has a misconception about the use of antibiotics. The current interview study identified six new reasons for using antibiotics without prescriptions as compared to our earlier survey study. There is a need of multifaceted strategies to decrease unnecessary antibiotic use in our population sample

Colliders and Cosmology

Dark matter in variations of constrained minimal supersymmetric standard models will be discussed. Particular attention will be given to the comparison between accelerator and direct detection constraints.Comment: Submitted for the SUSY07 proceedings, 15 pages, LaTex, 26 eps figure