Humoral and cytokine response elicited during immunisation with recombinant Immune Mapped protein-1 (EtIMP-1) and oocysts of Eimeria tenella

Eimeria tenella, the causative agent of caecal coccidiosis, is a pathogenic gut dwelling protozoan which can cause severe morbidity and mortality in farmed chickens. Immune mapped protein-1 (IMP-1) has been identified as an anticoccidial vaccine candidate; in the present study allelic polymorphism was assessed across the IMP-1 coding sequence in E. tenella isolates from four countries and compared with the UK reference Houghton strain. Nucleotide diversity was low, limited to expansion/contraction of a CAG triplet repeat and five substitutions, three of which were non-synonymous. The EtIMP-1 coding sequence from a cloned Indian E. tenella isolate was expressed in E. coli and purified as a His-tagged thioredoxin fusion protein. An in-vivo vaccination and challenge trial was conducted to test the vaccine potential of recombinant EtIMP-1 (rEtIMP-1) and to compare post-vaccination immune responses of chickens to those stimulated by live oocyst infection. Following challenge, parasite replication measured using quantitative PCR was significantly reduced in chickens that had been vaccinated with rEtIMP-1 (rIC group; 67% reduction compared to UC or unimmunised controls; 79% reduction compared to rTC group or recombinant thioredoxin mock-immunised controls, p < 0.05), or the birds vaccinated by infection with oocysts (OC group, 90% compared to unimmunised controls). Chickens vaccinated with oocysts (OC) had significantly higher levels of interferon gamma in their serum post-challenge, compared to rEtIMP-1 vaccinated birds (rIC). Conversely rEtIMP-1 (rIC) vaccinated birds had significantly higher antigen specific serum IgY responses, correlating with higher serum IL-4 (both p < 0.05)

Motion of falling object

A simple setup was assembled to study the motion of an object while it falls. The setup was used to determine the instantaneous velocity, terminal velocity and acceleration due to gravity. Also, since the whole project was done within $20 it can easily be popularized.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figur

Top Yukawa coupling measurement with indefinite CP Higgs in e+e−→ttˉΦe^+e^-\to t\bar{t}\Phi

We consider the issue of the top quark Yukawa coupling measurement in a model in dependent and general case with the inclusion of CP-violation in the coupling. Arguably the best process to study this coupling is the associa ted production of Higgs boson along with a $t\bar t$ pair in a machine like the International Linear Collider (ILC). While detailed analyses of the sensitivity of the measurement assuming a Standard Model (SM) - like coupling are available in the context of ILC, conclude that th e coupling could be pinned down at about 10\% level with modest luminosity, our investigations show that the scenario could be different in case of a more general coupling. The modified Lorentz structure resulting in a changed functional dependence of the cross section on the couplin g, along with the difference in the cross section itself leads to considerable deviation in the sensitivity. Our studies with an ILC of center of mass energies of 500 GeV, 800 GeV and 1000 GeV show that moderate CP-mixing in the Higgs sector could change the sensitivity to about 20\ %, while it could be worsened to 75\% in cases which could accommodate more dramatic changes in the coupling. While detailed considerations of the decay distributions point to a need for a relook at the analysis strategy followed for the case of SM such as for a model independent analysis of the top quark Yukawa coupling measurement. This study strongly suggests that, a joint analysis of the CP properties and the Yukawa coupling measurement would be the way forward at the ILC and that caution must be excercised in the measurem ent of the Yukawa couplings and the conclusions drawn from it.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, uses revte

Early outcome in Madelung’s and Madelung like deformity of wrist in adolescent group

Background: Madelung deformity is the result of bony and ligamentous dysplasia at the wrist that produces characteristic deformity and is usually recognized in late adolescence. Madelung like deformity can occur following trauma, infection or neoplasm. This esthetic deformity is encountered rarely in orthopaedic practice, when surgeon faces the challenging task to correct it using the best available technique. This study has been conducted to analyze the presentation, interventional procedures and their end result.Methods: We retrospectively analyze the clinical records, radiographs and functional outcome of patients who presented with Madelung and Madelung like deformity. Radiographic and clinical assessment was done.  Surgery was considered for patients fitting into the inclusion criteria. Dorsolateral close wedge and palmar open wedge osteotomy of radius were done with or without ulnar procedure. Postoperative protocol was followed and periodic assessment was done. Mayo modified wrist score has been used to evaluate the pre-operative and post-operative scores.Results: The study enrolled sixteen affected wrists. Average age in our study was 14 years with an average follow-up of 12 months. Statistically significant increase in range of motion of wrist was achieved for in surgically treated patients. Significant change in pain score, grip strength, RAU° and carpal slip was noted. Postoperative wrist score was also significantly improved.Conclusions: Our study concludes that there is a definitive role of surgical intervention to improve the range of motion of wrist, grip strength and reduces pain which brings the patient back into the main stream of a functionally independent being.

Spin Tunneling in Magnetic Molecules: Quasisingular Perturbations and Discontinuous SU(2) Instantons

Spin coherent state path integrals with discontinuous semiclassical paths are investigated with special reference to a realistic model for the magnetic degrees of freedom in the Fe8 molecular solid. It is shown that such paths are essential to a proper understanding of the phenomenon of quenched spin tunneling in these molecules. In the Fe8 problem, such paths are shown to arise as soon as a fourth order anisotropy term in the energy is turned on, making this term a singular perturbation from the semiclassical point of view. The instanton approximation is shown to quantitatively explain the magnetic field dependence of the tunnel splitting, as well as agree with general rules for the number of quenching points allowed for a given value of spin. An accurate approximate formula for the spacing between quenching points is derived

Evaluation of CNN-based Single-Image Depth Estimation Methods

While an increasing interest in deep models for single-image depth estimation methods can be observed, established schemes for their evaluation are still limited. We propose a set of novel quality criteria, allowing for a more detailed analysis by focusing on specific characteristics of depth maps. In particular, we address the preservation of edges and planar regions, depth consistency, and absolute distance accuracy. In order to employ these metrics to evaluate and compare state-of-the-art single-image depth estimation approaches, we provide a new high-quality RGB-D dataset. We used a DSLR camera together with a laser scanner to acquire high-resolution images and highly accurate depth maps. Experimental results show the validity of our proposed evaluation protocol