Poisoning by Marsdenia hilariana and Marsdenia megalantha (Apocynaceae) in ruminants

AbstractNeurological signs were observed in cattle consuming the roots of Marsdenia hilariana and sheep consuming leaves of Marsdenia megalantha. Similar nervous signs to those observed in spontaneous poisoning were induced experimentally by the administration of roots of M. hilariana to goats, and by the administration of leaves and roots of M. megalantha to sheep. No lesions were observed at necropsies and on histological examination of the nervous system and other tissues

Increased accuracy in climate impact studies by incorporating forest management practices within a process-based regional ecosystem modelling framework

Process-based simulation models of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics are increasingly being applied as practical tools in forest management. Regional applications of such models are, however, very limited to date. This study presents and tests the performance of a process-based regional ecosystem modelling framework, LPJ-GUESS, which incorporates forest management practices. The model is driven by historical climate data and applied on a grid across Sweden to simulate the influence of recent historical management practices on the forest structure and its productivity. The study focuses on species-level interactions and investigates how stem wood volume increment has changed during the historical time period. The performance of the model is evaluated by comparing the simulated forest composition and growth with the observed forest inventory data from Swedish forest regions. The model estimates tend to be somewhat low in the southern and high in the northern part of the country, but generally comparable with observations in all regions of Sweden. Our results emphasize the potential that models like LPJ-GUESS offers to support forestry practice, especially with regard to the choice of species and management regime in a changing environment

Cerebellar Cortical Degeneration in Cattle Poisoned With Solanum spp. in South America: An Epidemiological, Clinicopathological, Pathological, and Toxicological Review

Cattle that consume Solanum bonariense L (= Solanum fastigiatum Willd.) or Solanum paniculatum L. develop a typical cerebellar cortical degeneration characterized by periodic episodes of ataxia, hypermetria, hyperesthesia, head and thoracic limb extension, opisthotonus, nystagmus, and falling to the side or backward. Histological lesions include vacuolation, degeneration, and loss of Purkinje cells. Axonal spheroids, microcavitations, and other changes of Wallerian degeneration in cerebellar granular layer and white matter are also observed. Neurotoxic compounds in Solanum spp. causing neurologic dysfunction in ruminants were not definitively elucidated. The same Solanaceae species are extensively used with culinary purposes or for the treatment of liver and gastrointestinal disorders as hangovers in humans. In the present paper, we review the epidemiology, clinical signs, and pathological hallmarks of poisoning by Solanum —S. bonariense L. (=S. fastigiatum Willd.) and S. paniculatum—with emphasis in histopathology, ultrastructural, and lectin- and immuno-histochemical changes in spontaneous and experimentally poisoned cattle in South America. The current knowledge of the pathogenesis of these bovine cerebellar cortical degenerations is discussed, and some advances in botanical and toxicological aspects of these Solanaceae species are presented, taking into account the potential risk of human poisoning.Fil: Verdes, Jose M.. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Riet Correa, Franklin. Federal University of Campina Grande; BrasilFil: Medeiros, Rosane M.T.. Federal University of Campina Grande; BrasilFil: Moraña, Antonio. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Battes, Daniel. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Dehl, Virginia. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Borteiro, Claudio. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Gimeno, Eduardo Juan. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Sant’Ana, Fabiano J.F.. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Barros, Claudio S.L.. Federal University of Santa Maria; BrasilFil: Barros, Servero S.. Federal University of Santa Maria; Brasi

Carbon Nanotubes as Nanoelectromechanical Systems

We theoretically study the interplay between electrical and mechanical properties of suspended, doubly clamped carbon nanotubes in which charging effects dominate. In this geometry, the capacitance between the nanotube and the gate(s) depends on the distance between them. This dependence modifies the usual Coulomb models and we show that it needs to be incorporated to capture the physics of the problem correctly. We find that the tube position changes in discrete steps every time an electron tunnels onto it. Edges of Coulomb diamonds acquire a (small) curvature. We also show that bistability in the tube position occurs and that tunneling of an electron onto the tube drastically modifies the quantized eigenmodes of the tube. Experimental verification of these predictions is possible in suspended tubes of sub-micron length.Comment: 8 pages, 5 eps figures included. Major changes; new material adde

Poisoning by Poiretia punctata in cattle and sheep

Poiretia punctata (Willd.) Desv. was associated with cattle and sheep poisoning on nine farms in the State of Sergipe, northeastern Brazil. The animals were found dead or died later after showing clinical signs for up to 18 hours. Two sheep that ingested 40g/kg body weight (g/kg) of fresh P. punctata died three and eight hours after ingestion, respectively. Another sheep that ingested 40g/kg five days after plant collection showed mild clinical signs and recovered after 24 hours. Two sheep that received 20g/kg and another that ingested three daily doses of 20g/kg showed clinical signs, but recovered. Two cattle that ingested 20g/kg of the fresh plant exhibited clinical signs and recovered. The clinical observations of poisoning were depression, ataxia, loss of equilibrium, broad-based stance, head down, falls, mandibular trismus, opisthotonous, nystagmus, and recumbence. Significant gross and histologic lesions were not observed. Samples of P. punctata were analyzed for nitrates, cyanogenic glycosides, and sodium monofluouracetate with negative results. It is concluded that P. punctata is a toxic plant that caused death in cattle and sheep in the State of Sergipe

Nasal high flow in room air for hypoxemic bronchiolitis infants

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most common reason for hospital admission in infants, with one third requiring oxygen therapy due to hypoxemia. It is unknown what proportion of hypoxemic infants with bronchiolitis can be managed with nasal high-flow in room air and their resulting outcomes. Objectives and Settings: To assess the effect of nasal high-flow in room air in a subgroup of infants with bronchiolitis allocated to high-flow therapy in a recent multicenter randomized controlled trial. Patients and Interventions: Infants allocated to the high-flow arm of the trial were initially treated with room air high-flow if saturations were ≥85%. Subsequently, if oxygen saturations did not increase to ≥92%, oxygen was added and FiO2 was titrated to increase the oxygen saturations. In this planned sub-study, infants treated during their entire hospital stay with high-flow room air only were compared to infants receiving either standard-oxygen or high-flow with oxygen. Baseline characteristics, hospital length of stay and length of oxygen therapy were compared. Findings: In the per protocol analysis 64 (10%) of 630 infants commenced on high-flow room air remained in room air only during the entire stay in hospital. These infants on high-flow room air were on average older and presented with moderate hypoxemia at presentation to hospital. Their length of respiratory support and length of stay was also significantly shorter. No pre-enrolment factors could be identified in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: In a small sub-group of hypoxemic infants with bronchiolitis hypoxemia can be reversed with the application of high-flow in room air only

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

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

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