Factors affecting the development of laryngeal chondritis in sheep.

Historic data (from 2005 to 2011) were collected and analysed from four flocks of pedigree Texel sheep in Ceredigion, West Wales and were used to investigate a range of factors associated with death due to laryngeal chondritis (n=82) relative to all animals (n=2826) removed from the flocks, either due to death from other causes or as part of routine animal husbandry (e.g. sale of livestock to other farms, or for meat). Deaths from laryngeal chondritis were observed in both sexes, but males had a higher incidence, particularly early in life. Cases were reported throughout the year, with examples observed in all months of the year, although there was a pattern of seasonal variation associated with age/sex of affected animals. Generally males tended to be affected throughout the year, with little variation in numbers on a month-to-month basis, whilst females were more likely to be affected either later in the year around the time coinciding with puberty (in the case of ewe lambs) or in the second quarter of the year, shortly after weaning (in the case of adult ewes). Animals with laryngeal chondritis had a heavier ultrasound scanning weight at around 20 weeks, although the weight of animals at other times had no effect. It was also noted that the depth of muscle and fat depth at 20 weeks had no effect on susceptibility. Maternal and/or nursing effects were observed. Ewes with affected lambs had a statistically higher mean pre-tupping body condition score than the others ewes in the flock, meaning that there may be some form of epigenetic role played in predisposing an animal to developing the condition later in life. The number of littermates had no effect, with no significant difference between those born as singletons, twins or triplets. However the rearing status of animals did have an effect, with animals reared as singletons having a higher incidence rate than those reared as pairs

Paying for treatments? Influences on negotiating clinical need and decision-making for dental implant treatment

Background The aim of this study is to examine how clinicians and patients negotiate clinical need and treatment decisions within a context of finite resources. Dental implant treatment is an effective treatment for missing teeth, but is only available via the NHS in some specific clinical circumstances. The majority of people who receive this treatment therefore pay privately, often at substantial cost to themselves. People are used to paying towards dental treatment costs. However, dental implant treatment is much more expensive than existing treatments – such as removable dentures. We know very little about how dentists make decisions about whether to offer such treatments, or what patients consider when deciding whether or not to pay for them. Methods/Design Mixed methods will be employed to provide insight and understanding into how clinical need is determined, and what influences people's decision making processes when deciding whether or not to pursue a dental implant treatment. Phase 1 will use a structured scoping questionnaire with all the General dental practitioners (GDPs) in three Primary Care Trust areas (n = 300) to provide base-line data about existing practice in relation to dental implant treatment, and to provide data to develop a systematic sampling procedure for Phase 2. Phases 2 (GDPs) and 3 (patients) use qualitative focused one to one interviews with a sample of these practitioners (up to 30) and their patients (up to 60) to examine their views and experiences of decision making in relation to dental implant treatment. Purposive sampling for phases 2 and 3 will be carried out to ensure participants represent a range of socio-economic circumstances, and choices made. Discussion Most dental implant treatment is conducted in primary care. Very little information was available prior to this study about the quantity and type of treatment carried out privately. It became apparent during phase 2 that ISOD treatment was an unusual treatment in primary care. We thus extended our sample criteria for Phase 3 to include people who had had other implant supported restorations, although not single tooth replacements

Embryonic dormancy in seeds of Bactris gasipaes Kunth (peach-palm)

Bactris gasipaes is a domesticated palm whose fruits are of great importance for the Amazonian people and whose heart of palm is also receiving economic interest in other brazilian and Latin America regions. The aim of this study was verify embryonic dormancy and its correlation with first cataphyll emergence in B. gasipaes seeds collected from four plants at Manaus city and four others at Coari city, both in the Amazonas state, Brazil. After extraction and cleaning, some of the seeds (4 replications of 25 per plant) were sown in a seedbed with a sawdust and sand mixture as substrate, and embryos (4 replications of 10 per plant), after extraction, were inoculated into half strength Murashige and Skoog cultures. Were used 100 seeds and 40 embryo per treatment. Whole seed and embryo germination varied between the different source plants and locations, with the greatest difference observed for the emergence of first cataphyll from seeds in the seedbed. For the most part of variables, results of seed and embryo were positively associated, namely, as one went up the other also, and vice versa. These results suggesting that, at least in part, seed dormancy in Bactris gasipaes is associated with embryonic dormancy. © 2017, Associacao Brasileira de Tecnologia de Sementes. All rights reserved

Three-Charge Supertubes in a Rotating Black Hole Background

The low velocity scattering of a D0-F1 supertube in the background of a BMPV black hole has been investigated in the moduli space approximation by Marolf and Virmani. Here we extend the analysis to the case of the D0-D4-F1 supertube of Bena and Kraus. We find that, similarly to the two-charge case, there is a critical value of the supertube circumferential angular momentum; above this value an adiabatic merger with the black hole cannot occur. By reconsidering the calculation of supertube angular momentum in the transverse direction, correspondence between the worldvolume and supergravity descriptions is established. We also examine dynamical mergers and discuss their implications.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures. New discussion of moduli space approximation vs. exact DBI action, references adde

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Kaon Production and Kaon to Pion Ratio in Au+Au Collisions at \snn=130 GeV

Mid-rapidity transverse mass spectra and multiplicity densities of charged and neutral kaons are reported for Au+Au collisions at \snn=130 GeV at RHIC. The spectra are exponential in transverse mass, with an inverse slope of about 280 MeV in central collisions. The multiplicity densities for these particles scale with the negative hadron pseudo-rapidity density. The charged kaon to pion ratios are $K^+/\pi^- = 0.161 \pm 0.002 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.024 {\rm (syst)}$ and $K^-/\pi^- = 0.146 \pm 0.002 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.022 {\rm (syst)}$ for the most central collisions. The $K^+/\pi^-$ ratio is lower than the same ratio observed at the SPS while the $K^-/\pi^-$ is higher than the SPS result. Both ratios are enhanced by about 50% relative to p+p and $\bar{\rm p}$+p collision data at similar energies.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV

We present the first measurement of directed flow ($v_1$) at RHIC. $v_1$ is found to be consistent with zero at pseudorapidities $\eta$ from -1.2 to 1.2, then rises to the level of a couple of percent over the range $2.4 < |\eta| < 4$. The latter observation is similar to data from NA49 if the SPS rapidities are shifted by the difference in beam rapidity between RHIC and SPS. Back-to-back jets emitted out-of-plane are found to be suppressed more if compared to those emitted in-plane, which is consistent with {\it jet quenching}. Using the scalar product method, we systematically compared azimuthal correlations from p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions. Flow and non-flow from these three different collision systems are discussed.Comment: Quark Matter 2004 proceeding, 4 pages, 3 figure

Azimuthal anisotropy: the higher harmonics

We report the first observations of the fourth harmonic (v_4) in the azimuthal distribution of particles at RHIC. The measurement was done taking advantage of the large elliptic flow generated at RHIC. The integrated v_4 is about a factor of 10 smaller than v_2. For the sixth (v_6) and eighth (v_8) harmonics upper limits on the magnitudes are reported.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, contribution to the Quark Matter 2004 proceeding