Nectar-related vs human-related volatiles: behavioural response and choice by female and male Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae) between emergence and first feeding

The close association of Anopheles gambiae Giles with humans and its females’ ability to live on human blood alone suggest that females may ignore sources of sugar in favour of human blood as a source of energy. They have limited energy reserves at emergence, and at 27°C both sexes generally die if they do not feed during night 1, 24–36 h after emergence. Food preferences during this critical period were tested by measuring responses to volatiles from honey and soiled socks, which served as surrogates for nectar-related and human-related volatiles in a wind-tunnel olfactometer. Both sexes responded more strongly to honey than to human volatiles, and given a choice, preferred honey over human volatiles. After 5 days of sugar access and maturation, males continued to prefer honey volatiles, whereas females changed behaviour, responding almost exclusively to human volatiles. Night 1 experiments also demonstrated that: (i) females previously having had sugar during the night of emergence responded more strongly to human volatiles; (ii) large-bodied mosquitoes of both sexes responded more strongly to honey than small-bodied ones; and (iii) females were equally responsive to honey in both early and late scotophase but were slightly more responsive to human volatiles in late scotophase. These results indicate that for a female’s first meal, sugar is a viable option and is preferred when nectar-related stimuli are strong. This supports field evidence that sugar-feeding is a significant component of A. gambiae female behaviour

Measurement of Fluorescence Phenomena from Yttrium and Gadolinium Oxysulfide Phosphors using a 45-MeV Proton Beam

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Splitting of the Dipole and Spin-Dipole Resonances

Cross sections for the 90,92,94Zr(p,n) reactions were measured at energies of 79.2 and 119.4 MeV. A phenomenological model was developed to describe the variation with bombarding energy of the position of the L=1 peak observed in these and other (p,n) reactions. The model yields the splitting between the giant dipole and giant spin dipole resonances. Values of these splittings are obtained for isotopes of Zr and Sn and for 208Pb.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Changes in the ceIl membrane of Lactobacillus bulgaricus during storage following freeze-drying

The mechanism of inactivation of freeze-dried Lactobacillus bulgaricus during storage in maltodextrin under controlled humidity was investigated. Evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that membrane damage occurs during storage. A study on the lipid composition of the cells by gas chromatography showed a decrease in the unsaturated and saturated fatty acid content of the cell. Further evidence indicating membrane damage includes a decrease in membrane bound proton-translocating ATPase activity

Using an internet intervention to support self-management of low back pain in primary care:Findings from a randomised controlled feasibility trial (SupportBack)

Introduction Low back pain (LBP) is a prevalent and costly condition. The majority of patients experiencing LBP are managed in primary care, where first-line care recommendations consist of advice to self-manage and remain active. Internet interventions present a potential means of providing patients with tailored self-management advice and evidence-based support for increasing physical activity.Methods/analysis This protocol describes a single-blind, randomised controlled feasibility trial of an internet intervention developed to support the self-management of LBP in primary care. Patients are being randomised to 1 of 3 groups receiving either usual primary care, usual primary care with the addition of an internet intervention or an internet intervention with physiotherapist telephone support. Patients are followed up at 3 months. Primary outcomes are the feasibility of (1) the trial design/methods, (2) the delivery of the internet intervention and (3) the provision of telephone support by physiotherapists. Secondary outcomes will include exploratory analysis of estimates and variation in clinical outcomes of pain and disability, in order to inform a future main trial.Ethics/dissemination This feasibility trial has undergone ethical scrutiny and been approved by the National Health Service (NHS) Research Ethics Committee, REC Reference 13/SC/0202. The feasibility findings will be disseminated to the research community through presentations at conferences and publication in peer review journals. Broader dissemination will come following a definitive trial

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters