Differences of the oral colonization by Streptococcus of the mutans group in children and adolescents with Down syndrome, mental retardation and normal controls

Objective: to compare the concentration and serotype of Streptococcus mutans in saliva of Down syndrome (DS), mental retarded (MR) and healthy control (C) individuals of the Región Metropolitana Sur of Santiago of Chile. Design of the study: Hundred and seventy nine male and females children and adolescents, aged between 5 to 19 years, 59 DS, 60 MR and 60 C were studied. Saliva samples were cultured in TYCSB agar for quantification, biochemical and serological tests. ANOVA and Chi-square for homogeneity tests were applied. Results: C, DS and MR presented Streptococcus mutans (serotypes c, e, f) and Streptococcus sobrinus (d, g, h), but only among DS and MR non-typifiable (No-tip) Streptococcus mutans were found. MR and DS showed higher bacteria concentration scores than C (P=0.001). Serotypes showed a significant heterogeneity of concentration scores: d, g, h showed the highest and No-tip the lowest one (P = 0.037). Conclusions: No-tip bacteria were absent in C and present in MR and DS; this result indicates different immune and ecological conditions among these human groups. The score of Streptococcus mutans in saliva was higher in DS and MR than in C

Quantitative interactions between Candida albicans and the mutans streptococci in patients with Down Syndrome

Abstract Background: Oral microorganisms produce damage through the transfer to bloodstream, colonizing other tissues or direct damage in the oral cavity. Aim to study the quantitative interactions between C. albicans and the mutans streptococci and ms serotypes in the saliva of the oral cavity of patients with Down syndrome (DS). Material and Methods: Included 120 patients of both genders, 60 patients with Down syndrome (DS) and 60 patients as a control group (CG). Samples of saliva were taken, and bacteria and fungi were grown on TYCSB and Saboureaud agar. Microbiological, serological and quantitative analyses were performed to determine the kind of isolated of microorganisms corresponding to the ms c, e, f and k for species S. mutans and d and g for S. sobrinus and C. albicans. Electronic scanning microscopy was employed to visualize and confirm the colonies under study. Statistics analysis included t-test proofs for matched data test, Scheffé and ANOVA

PYTHIA 6.4 Physics and Manual

The PYTHIA program can be used to generate high-energy-physics `events', i.e. sets of outgoing particles produced in the interactions between two incoming particles. The objective is to provide as accurate as possible a representation of event properties in a wide range of reactions, within and beyond the Standard Model, with emphasis on those where strong interactions play a role, directly or indirectly, and therefore multihadronic final states are produced. The physics is then not understood well enough to give an exact description; instead the program has to be based on a combination of analytical results and various QCD-based models. This physics input is summarized here, for areas such as hard subprocesses, initial- and final-state parton showers, underlying events and beam remnants, fragmentation and decays, and much more. Furthermore, extensive information is provided on all program elements: subroutines and functions, switches and parameters, and particle and process data. This should allow the user to tailor the generation task to the topics of interest.Comment: 576 pages, no figures, uses JHEP3.cls. The code and further information may be found on the PYTHIA web page: http://www.thep.lu.se/~torbjorn/Pythia.html Changes in version 2: Mistakenly deleted section heading for "Physics Processes" reinserted, affecting section numbering. Minor updates to take into account referee comments and new colour reconnection option

Hadron Energy Reconstruction for the ATLAS Calorimetry in the Framework of the Non-parametrical Method

This paper discusses hadron energy reconstruction for the ATLAS barrel prototype combined calorimeter (consisting of a lead-liquid argon electromagnetic part and an iron-scintillator hadronic part) in the framework of the non-parametrical method. The non-parametrical method utilizes only the known $e/h$ ratios and the electron calibration constants and does not require the determination of any parameters by a minimization technique. Thus, this technique lends itself to an easy use in a first level trigger. The reconstructed mean values of the hadron energies are within $\pm 1$ of the true values and the fractional energy resolution is $[(58\pm3)/\sqrt{E}+(2.5\pm0.3)$. The value of the $e/h$ ratio obtained for the electromagnetic compartment of the combined calorimeter is $1.74\pm0.04$ and agrees with the prediction that $e/h > 1.7$ for this electromagnetic calorimeter. Results of a study of the longitudinal hadronic shower development are also presented. The data have been taken in the H8 beam line of the CERN SPS using pions of energies from 10 to 300 GeV.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, Will be published in NIM

No effect of glutamine supplementation and hyperoxia on oxidative metabolism and performance during high-intensity exercise.

addresses: Health and Biology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK. [email protected]: Comparative Study; Journal ArticleThis is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journal of Sports Sciences, 2008, Vol. 26, Issue 10, pp. 1081 – 1090 © 2008 copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640410801930200Glutamine enhances the exercise-induced expansion of the tricarboxylic acid intermediate pool. The aim of the present study was to determine whether oral glutamine, alone or in combination with hyperoxia, influenced oxidative metabolism and cycle time-trial performance. Eight participants consumed either placebo or 0.125 g kg body mass(-1) of glutamine in 5 ml kg body mass(-1) placebo 1 h before exercise in normoxic (control and glutamine respectively) or hyperoxic (FiO(2) = 50%; hyperoxia and hyperoxia + glutamine respectively) conditions. Participants then cycled for 6 min at 70% maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2max)) immediately before completing a brief high-intensity time-trial (approximately 4 min) during which a pre-determined volume of work was completed as fast as possible. The increment in pulmonary oxygen uptake during the performance test (DeltaVO(2max), P = 0.02) and exercise performance (control: 243 s, s(x) = 7; glutamine: 242 s, s(x) = 3; hyperoxia: 231 s, s(x) = 3; hyperoxia + glutamine: 228 s, s(x) = 5; P < 0.01) were significantly improved in hyperoxic conditions. There was some evidence that glutamine ingestion increased DeltaVO(2max) in normoxia, but not hyperoxia (interaction drink/FiO(2), P = 0.04), but there was no main effect or impact on performance. Overall, the data show no effect of glutamine ingestion either alone or in combination with hyperoxia, and thus no limiting effect of the tricarboxylic acid intermediate pool size, on oxidative metabolism and performance during maximal exercise

Construction and test of a fine-grained liquid argon preshower prototype

A separate liquid argon preshower detector consisting of two layers featuring a fine granularity of 2.5~10$^{\mathrm{-3}}$ was studied by the RD3 collaboration. A prototype covering approximately 0.8 in pseudo-rapidity and 9 degrees in azimuth was built and tested at CERN in July 94. CMOS and GaAs VLSI preamplifiers were designed and tested for this occasion. The combined response of this detector and an accordion electromagnetic calorimeter prototype to muons, electrons and photons is presented. For minimum ionizing tracks a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.5 per preshower layer was measured. Above 150~GeV the space resolution for electrons is better than 250~$\mu$m in both directions. The precision on the electromagnetic shower direction, determined together with the calorimeter, is better than 4 mrad above 50~GeV. It is concluded that the preshower detector would adequately fulfil its role for future operation at CERN Large Hadron Collider

Construction and test of a fine-grained liquid argon preshower prototype

A separate liquid argon preshower detector consisting of two layers featuring a fine granularity of 2.5~10$^{\mathrm{-3}}$ was studied by the RD3 collaboration. A prototype covering approximately 0.8 in pseudo-rapidity and 9 degrees in azimuth was built and tested at CERN in July 94. CMOS and GaAs VLSI preamplifiers were designed and tested for this occasion. The combined response of this detector and an accordion electromagnetic calorimeter prototype to muons, electrons and photons is presented. For minimum ionizing tracks a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.5 per preshower layer was measured. Above 150~GeV the space resolution for electrons is better than 250~$\mu$m in both directions. The precision on the electromagnetic shower direction, determined together with the calorimeter, is better than 4 mrad above 50~GeV. It is concluded that the preshower detector would adequately fulfil its role for future operation at CERN Large Hadron Collider

Test beam results of a stereo preshower integrated in the liquid argon accordion calorimeter

This paper describes the construction of an integrated preshower within the RD3 liquid argon accordion calorimeter. It has a stereo view which enables the measurement of two transverse coordinates. The prototype was tested at CERN with electrons, photons and muons to validate its capability to work at LHC ( Energy resolution, impact point resolution, angular resolution, $\pi^o$/$\gamma$ rejection )