2,256 research outputs found
Flowering of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) is reduced by long photoperiods
Mature kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa âHaywardâ) vines grown under standard orchard management were exposed to 16-h photoperiods from the longest day in summer until after leaf fall in autumn. Photoperiod extension was achieved with tungsten halogen lamps that produced 2â8 ”mols mâ2 sâ1 photosynthetically active radiation. Long day treatments did not affect fruit dry matter or fruit weight at harvest during the growing season that the treatments were applied or during the following growing season. However, flowering was reduced by 22% during the spring following treatment application. As this reduction in flowering was not accompanied by a decrease in budbreak, the long day effect is not consistent with a delay in the onset of winter chilling. It is suggested therefore, that the observed reduction in flowering may be because of a diminution of floral evocation
Characterizing photonic crystal waveguides with an expanded k-space evanescent coupling technique
We demonstrate a direct, single measurement technique for characterizing the dispersion of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCWG) using a tapered fiber evanescent coupling method. A highly curved fiber taper is used to probe the Fabry-Pérot spectrum of a closed PCWG over a broad k-space range, and from this measurement the dispersive properties of the waveguide can be found. Waveguide propagation losses can also be estimated from measurements of closed waveguides with different lengths. The validity of this method is demonstrated by comparing the results obtained on a 'W1' PCWG in chalcogenide glass with numerical simulation. © 2008 Optical Society of America
The Distances of the Magellanic Clouds
The present status of our knowledge of the distances to the Magellanic Clouds
is evaluated from a post-Hipparcos perspective. After a brief summary of the
effects of structure, reddening, age and metallicity, the primary distance
indicators for the Large Magellanic Cloud are reviewed: The SN 1987A ring,
Cepheids, RR Lyraes, Mira variables, and Eclipsing Binaries. Distances derived
via these methods are weighted and combined to produce final "best" estimates
for the Magellanic Clouds distance moduli.Comment: Invited review article to appear in ``Post Hipparcos Cosmic
Candles'', F. Caputo & A. Heck (Eds.), Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, in
pres
Survey of the quality of experimental design, statistical analysis and reporting of research using animals
For scientific, ethical and economic reasons, experiments involving animals should be appropriately designed, correctly analysed and transparently reported. This increases the scientific validity of the results, and maximises the knowledge gained from each experiment. A minimum amount of relevant information must be included in scientific publications to ensure that the methods and results of a study can be reviewed, analysed and repeated. Omitting essential information can raise scientific and ethical concerns. We report the findings of a systematic survey of reporting, experimental design and statistical analysis in published biomedical research using laboratory animals. Medline and EMBASE were searched for studies reporting research on live rats, mice and non-human primates carried out in UK and US publicly funded research establishments. Detailed information was collected from 271 publications, about the objective or hypothesis of the study, the number, sex, age and/or weight of animals used, and experimental and statistical methods. Only 59% of the studies stated the hypothesis or objective of the study and the number and characteristics of the animals used. Appropriate and efficient experimental design is a critical component of high-quality science. Most of the papers surveyed did not use randomisation (87%) or blinding (86%), to reduce bias in animal selection and outcome assessment. Only 70% of the publications that used statistical methods described their methods and presented the results with a measure of error or variability. This survey has identified a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to improve experimental design and reporting in publications describing research using animals. Scientific publication is a powerful and important source of information; the authors of scientific publications therefore have a responsibility to describe their methods and results comprehensively, accurately and transparently, and peer reviewers and journal editors share the responsibility to ensure that published studies fulfil these criteria
Comparative study of nonlinear properties of EEG signals of a normal person and an epileptic patient
Background: Investigation of the functioning of the brain in living systems
has been a major effort amongst scientists and medical practitioners. Amongst
the various disorder of the brain, epilepsy has drawn the most attention
because this disorder can affect the quality of life of a person. In this paper
we have reinvestigated the EEGs for normal and epileptic patients using
surrogate analysis, probability distribution function and Hurst exponent.
Results: Using random shuffled surrogate analysis, we have obtained some of
the nonlinear features that was obtained by Andrzejak \textit{et al.} [Phys Rev
E 2001, 64:061907], for the epileptic patients during seizure. Probability
distribution function shows that the activity of an epileptic brain is
nongaussian in nature. Hurst exponent has been shown to be useful to
characterize a normal and an epileptic brain and it shows that the epileptic
brain is long term anticorrelated whereas, the normal brain is more or less
stochastic. Among all the techniques, used here, Hurst exponent is found very
useful for characterization different cases.
Conclusions: In this article, differences in characteristics for normal
subjects with eyes open and closed, epileptic subjects during seizure and
seizure free intervals have been shown mainly using Hurst exponent. The H shows
that the brain activity of a normal man is uncorrelated in nature whereas,
epileptic brain activity shows long range anticorrelation.Comment: Keywords:EEG, epilepsy, Correlation dimension, Surrogate analysis,
Hurst exponent. 9 page
Serotonin tranporter methylation and response to cognitive behaviour therapy in children with anxiety disorders
Anxiety disorders that are the most commonly occurring psychiatric disorders in childhood, are associated with a range of social and educational impairments and often continue into adulthood. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment option for the majority of cases, although up to 35-45% of children do not achieve remission. Recent research suggests that some genetic variants may be associated with a more beneficial response to psychological therapy. Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation work at the interface between genetic and environmental influences. Furthermore, epigenetic alterations at the serotonin transporter (SERT) promoter region have been associated with environmental influences such as stressful life experiences. In this study, we measured DNA methylation upstream of SERT in 116 children with an anxiety disorder, before and after receiving CBT. Change during treatment in percentage DNA methylation was significantly different in treatment responders vs nonresponders. This effect was driven by one CpG site in particular, at which responders increased in methylation, whereas nonresponders showed a decrease in DNA methylation. This is the first study to demonstrate differences in SERT methylation change in association with response to a purely psychological therapy. These findings confirm that biological changes occur alongside changes in symptomatology following a psychological therapy such as CBT
Co-evolution of density and topology in a simple model of city formation
We study the influence that population density and the road network have on
each others' growth and evolution. We use a simple model of formation and
evolution of city roads which reproduces the most important empirical features
of street networks in cities. Within this framework, we explicitely introduce
the topology of the road network and analyze how it evolves and interact with
the evolution of population density. We show that accessibility issues -pushing
individuals to get closer to high centrality nodes- lead to high density
regions and the appearance of densely populated centers. In particular, this
model reproduces the empirical fact that the density profile decreases
exponentially from a core district. In this simplified model, the size of the
core district depends on the relative importance of transportation and rent
costs.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure
Influence of Interferon beta treatment on quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients
BACKGROUND: Interferon-beta (IFN-ÎČ) shows beneficial effect on the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), nevertheless its route and frequency of administration and side effects might impact negatively the quality of life (QoL) of MS patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of IFN-ÎČ on QoL in MS patients. METHODS: Seventy-seven disease modifying treatment (DMT) free and 41 IFN-ÎČ treated MS patients were evaluated. QoL, assessed by MSQoL-54, was related to IFN-ÎČ treatment and to clinical and demographic parameters at baseline and after two years. Multivariate hierarchical linear model for repeated measurements was used. RESULTS: Treated patients showed a younger age, a lower disease duration and a higher relapse rate in the two years preceding study entry. At inclusion time treated and untreated patients did not differ in relapse rate, expanded disability status scale (EDSS), fatigue, depression, physical and mental QoL. IFN-ÎČ did not influence QoL at inclusion time, but when QoL was evaluated after two years, treatment negatively affected mental QoL. Depression and fatigue negatively influenced physical and mental QoL both at baseline and after two years. EDSS correlated with a poor physical QoL only at baseline. CONCLUSION: IFN-ÎČ had a negative impact on QoL over the time in MS patients, influencing mainly mental QoL. The impairment of QoL in MS was strongly associated with increasing fatigue and depression, whereas clinical disability had a minor unfavourable role
Two chemically similar stellar overdensities on opposite sides of the plane of the Galaxy
Our Galaxy is thought to have undergone an active evolutionary history
dominated by star formation, the accretion of cold gas, and, in particular,
mergers up to 10 gigayear ago. The stellar halo reveals rich fossil evidence of
these interactions in the form of stellar streams, substructures, and
chemically distinct stellar components. The impact of dwarf galaxy mergers on
the content and morphology of the Galactic disk is still being explored. Recent
studies have identified kinematically distinct stellar substructures and moving
groups, which may have extragalactic origin. However, there is mounting
evidence that stellar overdensities at the outer disk/halo interface could have
been caused by the interaction of a dwarf galaxy with the disk. Here we report
detailed spectroscopic analysis of 14 stars drawn from two stellar
overdensities, each lying about 5 kiloparsecs above and below the Galactic
plane - locations suggestive of association with the stellar halo. However, we
find that the chemical compositions of these stars are almost identical, both
within and between these groups, and closely match the abundance patterns of
the Milky Way disk stars. This study hence provides compelling evidence that
these stars originate from the disk and the overdensities they are part of were
created by tidal interactions of the disk with passing or merging dwarf
galaxies.Comment: accepted for publication in Natur
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