Synergistic hemolysis-inhibition titers associated with caseous lymphadenitis in a slaughterhouse survey of goats and sheep in Northeastern Brazil.

Abstract: A survey of caseous lymphadenitis was conducted at a goat and sheep slaughterhouse in Northeastern Brazil One hundred and fifty-eight goats and 43 sheep were examined for the presence of abscesses, with bacterial culturing of purulent material to define the etiological agent. Blood was collected simultaneously for determination of serological titer via the synergistic hemolysis-inhibition test which measures antibodies to an exotoxin of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Thirteen and nine-tenths percent of the goats had abscesses, with a high proportion having mediastinal or pulmonary lesions (9.5%). Two sheep had abscesses, both with internal organ involvement. Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis was the most frequently isolated organism. Of 22 goats with abscesses, 20 were positive via the synergistic hemolysis-inhibition test. Both of the sheep with abscesses had positive synergistic hemolysis-inhibition titers. The proportion of serological reactors was greater than the proportion of animals with abscesses. The synergistic hemolysis-inhibition test may be detecting subclinically infected animals

Anomalous-diffusion Model of Ionic Transport in Oxide Glasses

The power-law frequency dependence of both the conductivity, (), and permittivity, (), of ion-conducting materials suggests that self-similar or scale-invariant behavior influences the transport of ions at high frequencies. Using an anomalous-diffusion model, we derive relevant power-law expressions for () and () and compare these with measurements performed on LiPO3 glass. Superior fits to the measured data are obtained compared to the commonly used Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) description of the electrical modulus, most particularly in the notorious high-frequency regime. Evaluation of our results in terms of an anomalous-diffusion model suggests the dominance of interaction-based constraints to diffusion. © 1995 The American Physical Society

Scaling Parallels in the Non-Debye Dielectric Relaxation of Ionic Glasses and Dipolar Supercooled Liquids

We compare the dielectric response of ionic glasses and dipolar liquids near the glass transition. Our work is divided into two parts. In the first section we examine ionic glasses and the two prominent approaches to analyzing the dielectric response. The conductivity of ion-conducting glasses displays a power law dispersion σ(ω)∞ωn, where n≈0.67, but frequently the dielectric response is analyzed using the electrical modulus M*(ω) = 1/ε*(ω), where ε*(ω) = ε(ω) - iσ(ω)/ω is the complex permittivity. We reexamine two specific examples where the shape of M*(ω) changes in response to changes in (a) temperature and (b) ion concentration, to suggest fundamental changes in ion dynamics are occurring. We show, however, that these changes in the shape of M*(ω) occur in the absence of changes in the scaling properties of σ(ω), for which n remains constant. In the second part, we examine the dielectric relaxation found in dipolar liquids, for which ε*(ω) likewise exhibits changes in shape on approach to the glass transition. Guided by similarities of M*(ω) in ionic glasses and ε*(ω) in dipolar liquids, we demonstrate that a recent scaling approach proposed by Dixon and co-workers for ε*(ω) of dipolar relaxation also appears valid for M*(ω) in the ionic case. While this suggests that the Dixon scaling approach is more universal than previously recognized, we demonstrate how the dielectric response can be scaled in a linear manner using an alternative data representation

Specific Heat and Transport “Anomalies” in Mixed Alkali Glasses

We show that changes in the relative mole fractions of Li2O and Na2O in alkali metaphosphate glasses lead to “anomalies” in the specific heat and structural relaxations. The heat capacity change between the liquid and glassy states, Δcp(Tg), at the calorimetric glass transition temperature, Tg, exhibits a minimum when the mole fractions of Li2O and Na2O are comparable. Moreover, systematic changes in the temperature dependence of the viscosity, η, i.e., changes in the “fragility” of the system, accompany these changes in mole fraction. This observed dependence of the “fragility” on the mixed alkali ion composition occurs in the absence of apparent changes in the covalent network connectivity which normally accounts for this behavior in glasses

Two Contributions to the Ac Conductivity of Alkali Oxide Glasses

Although the frequency dependent conductivity of ion-containing glasses often displays scale invariant power law dispersion at high temperatures, the exponent increases to unity at lower temperatures. We report measurements of the conductivity of a series of alkali metaphosphate glasses including a mixed alkali composition and demonstrate that this temperature dependence results from the superposition of two power law dispersions originating from separate mechanism, and does not indicate any intrinsic change in scaling of the process which dominates at high temperatures. © 1995 The American Physical Society

Regarding the Correlation of Nuclear Spin Relaxation and Electrical Conductivity Relaxation in Ionic Glasses

Much attention has been focused recently on the apparent differences between ion dynamics in ion-containing glasses as probed by electrical conductivity relaxation (ECR) and by nuclear spin relaxation (NSR) techniques. In both relaxation processes, a power law frequency dependence is observed. Based upon fluctuation-dissipation arguments, the power law exponents should be equivalent. However, experimentally, it appears that the conductivity exponent is generally smaller than the NSR exponent. While an explanation for this discrepancy based upon fundamental differences in the correlation functions probed by the two techniques has been proffered, we show how this discrepancy may simply arise from differing analyses of the ac conductivity. We review several cases taken from the literature in which the conductivity exponent was obtained from analysis of the electrical modulus. We demonstrate how this analysis approach generally underestimates the conductivity exponent. When we instead determine the exponent directly from the ac conductivity, we find near equivalence between the NSR and ECR exponents

First Measurement of 72Ge(n,γ) at n_TOF

9th European Summer School on Experimental Nuclear AstrophysicsThe slow neutron capture process (s-process) is responsible for producing about half of the elemental abundances heavier than iron in the universo

Complex lithium ion dynamics in simulated LiPO3 glass studied by means of multi-time correlation functions

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the lithium jumps in LiPO3 glass. In particular, we calculate higher-order correlation functions that probe the positions of single lithium ions at several times. Three-time correlation functions show that the non-exponential relaxation of the lithium ions results from both correlated back-and-forth jumps and the existence of dynamical heterogeneities, i.e., the presence of a broad distribution of jump rates. A quantitative analysis yields that the contribution of the dynamical heterogeneities to the non-exponential depopulation of the lithium sites increases upon cooling. Further, correlated back-and-forth jumps between neighboring sites are observed for the fast ions of the distribution, but not for the slow ions and, hence, the back-jump probability depends on the dynamical state. Four-time correlation functions indicate that an exchange between fast and slow ions takes place on the timescale of the jumps themselves, i.e., the dynamical heterogeneities are short-lived. Hence, sites featuring fast and slow lithium dynamics, respectively, are intimately mixed. In addition, a backward correlation beyond the first neighbor shell for highly mobile ions and the presence of long-range dynamical heterogeneities suggest that fast ion migration occurs along preferential pathways in the glassy matrix. In the melt, we find no evidence for correlated back-and-forth motions and dynamical heterogeneities on the length scale of the next-neighbor distance.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Novel sol–gel preparation of (P2O5)0.4–(CaO)0.25–(Na2O)X–(TiO2)(0.35−X) bioresorbable glasses (X = 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15)

Quaternary phosphate-based glasses in the P2O5–CaO–Na2O–TiO2 system with a fixed P2O5 and CaO content of 40 and 25 mol% respectively have been successfully synthesised via sol–gel method and bulk, transparent samples were obtained. The structure, elemental proportion, and thermal properties of stabilised sol–gel glasses have been characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (31P NMR), titanium K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The XRD results confirmed the amorphous nature for all stabilized sol–gel derived glasses. The EDX result shows the relatively low loss of phosphorus during the sol–gel process and Ti K-edge XANES confirmed titanium in the glass structure is in mainly six-fold coordination environment. The 31P NMR and FTIR results revealed that the glass structure consist of mainly Q1 and Q2 phosphate units and the Ti4+ cation was acting as a cross-linking between phosphate units. In addition DTA results confirmed a decrease in the glass transition and crystallisation temperature with increasing Na2O content. Ion release studies also demonstrated a decrease in degradation rates with increasing TiO2 content therefore supporting the use of these glasses for biomedical applications that require a degree of control over glass degradation. These sol–gel glasses also offer the potential to incorporate proactive molecules for drug delivery application due to the low synthesis temperature employed