1,205 research outputs found
The influence of certain nutrients on the prevention of dermatitis in turkey poults
Due to the wide disagreement which exists among the present research workers concerning the factor or factors influencing the occurrence of dermatitis turkey poults, it seemed advisable that further work be done in an effort to clarify this controversy.
Two definite objectives were set up at the beginning of this experiment:
1. The first objective was to use a practical ration which was reported to have produced a high incidence of dermatitis in turkey poults.
2. The second objective was to supplement this ration with crystalline vitamins and to determine their value in preventing this dermatitis
Neighbourhood, Route and Workplace-Related Environmental Characteristics Predict Adults' Mode of Travel to Work
Commuting provides opportunities for regular physical activity which can reduce the risk of chronic disease. Commuters' mode of travel may be shaped by their environment, but understanding of which specific environmental characteristics are most important and might form targets for intervention is limited. This study investigated associations between mode choice and a range of objectively assessed environmental characteristics.Participants in the Commuting and Health in Cambridge study reported where they lived and worked, their usual mode of travel to work and a variety of socio-demographic characteristics. Using geographic information system (GIS) software, 30 exposure variables were produced capturing characteristics of areas around participants' homes and workplaces and their shortest modelled routes to work. Associations between usual mode of travel to work and personal and environmental characteristics were investigated using multinomial logistic regression.Of the 1124 respondents, 50% reported cycling or walking as their usual mode of travel to work. In adjusted analyses, home-work distance was strongly associated with mode choice, particularly for walking. Lower odds of walking or cycling rather than driving were associated with a less frequent bus service (highest versus lowest tertile: walking OR 0.61 [95% CI 0.20–1.85]; cycling OR 0.43 [95% CI 0.23–0.83]), low street connectivity (OR 0.22, [0.07–0.67]; OR 0.48 [0.26–0.90]) and free car parking at work (OR 0.24 [0.10–0.59]; OR 0.55 [0.32–0.95]). Participants were less likely to cycle if they had access to fewer destinations (leisure facilities, shops and schools) close to work (OR 0.36 [0.21–0.62]) and a railway station further from home (OR 0.53 [0.30–0.93]). Covariates strongly predicted travel mode (pseudo r-squared 0.74).Potentially modifiable environmental characteristics, including workplace car parking, street connectivity and access to public transport, are associated with travel mode choice, and could be addressed as part of transport policy and infrastructural interventions to promote active commuting
The optical system of the H.E.S.S. imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Part II: mirror alignment and point spread function
Mirror facets of the H.E.S.S. imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes are
aligned using stars imaged onto the closed lid of the PMT camera, viewed by a
CCD camera. The alignment procedure works reliably and includes the automatic
analysis of CCD images and control of the facet alignment actuators. On-axis,
80% of the reflected light is contained in a circle of less than 1 mrad
diameter. The spot widens with increasing angle to the telescope axis. In
accordance with simulations, the spot size has roughly doubled at an angle of
1.4 degr. from the axis. The expected variation of spot size with elevation due
to deformations of the support structure is visible, but is completely
non-critical over the usual working range. Overall, the optical quality of the
telescope exceeds the specifications.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
Identifying phase synchronization clusters in spatially extended dynamical systems
We investigate two recently proposed multivariate time series analysis
techniques that aim at detecting phase synchronization clusters in spatially
extended, nonstationary systems with regard to field applications. The starting
point of both techniques is a matrix whose entries are the mean phase coherence
values measured between pairs of time series. The first method is a mean field
approach which allows to define the strength of participation of a subsystem in
a single synchronization cluster. The second method is based on an eigenvalue
decomposition from which a participation index is derived that characterizes
the degree of involvement of a subsystem within multiple synchronization
clusters. Simulating multiple clusters within a lattice of coupled Lorenz
oscillators we explore the limitations and pitfalls of both methods and
demonstrate (a) that the mean field approach is relatively robust even in
configurations where the single cluster assumption is not entirely fulfilled,
and (b) that the eigenvalue decomposition approach correctly identifies the
simulated clusters even for low coupling strengths. Using the eigenvalue
decomposition approach we studied spatiotemporal synchronization clusters in
long-lasting multichannel EEG recordings from epilepsy patients and obtained
results that fully confirm findings from well established neurophysiological
examination techniques. Multivariate time series analysis methods such as
synchronization cluster analysis that account for nonlinearities in the data
are expected to provide complementary information which allows to gain deeper
insights into the collective dynamics of spatially extended complex systems
Magnitude and Sign Correlations in Heartbeat Fluctuations
We propose an approach for analyzing signals with long-range correlations by
decomposing the signal increment series into magnitude and sign series and
analyzing their scaling properties. We show that signals with identical
long-range correlations can exhibit different time organization for the
magnitude and sign. We find that the magnitude series relates to the nonlinear
properties of the original time series, while the sign series relates to the
linear properties. We apply our approach to the heartbeat interval series and
find that the magnitude series is long-range correlated, while the sign series
is anticorrelated and that both magnitude and sign series may have clinical
applications.Comment: 4 pages,late
Transcriptomics-Based Network Medicine Approach Identifies Metformin as a Repurposable Drug for Atrial Fibrillation
Effective drugs for atrial fibrillation (AF) are lacking, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. This study demonstrates that network proximity analysis of differentially expressed genes from atrial tissue to drug tar-gets can help prioritize repurposed drugs for AF. Using enrichment analysis of drug-gene signatures and functional testing in human inducible pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived atrial-like cardiomyocytes, we identify metformin as a top repurposed drug candidate for AF. Using the active compactor, a new design analysis of large-scale longitudinal electronic health record (EHR) data, we determine that metformin use is significantly associated with a reduced risk of AF (odds ratio = 0.48, 95%, confidence interval [CI] 0.36- 0.64, p \u3c 0.001) compared with standard treatments for diabetes. This study utilizes network medicine meth-odologies to identify repurposed drugs for AF treatment and identifies metformin as a candidate drug
Simultaneous X-Ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Observations of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421 during February and May 2000
In this paper we present the results of simultaneous observations of the TeV
blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) at X-ray and TeV Gamma-ray energies with the
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the stereoscopic Cherenkov Telescope
system of the HEGRA (High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy) experiment, respectively.
The source was monitored from February 2nd to February 16th and from May 3rd to
May 8th, 2000. We discuss in detail the temporal and spectral properties of the
source. Remarkably, the TeV observations of February 7th/8th showed
statistically significant evidence for substantial TeV flux variability on 30
min time scale. We show the results of modeling the data with a time dependent
homogeneous Synchrotron Self-Compton (SSC) model. The X-ray and TeV gamma-ray
emission strengths and energy spectra together with the rapid flux variability
strongly suggest that the emission volume is approaching the observer with a
Doppler factor of 50 or higher. The different flux variability time scales
observed at X-rays and TeV Gamma-rays indicate that a more detailed analysis
will require inhomogeneous models with several emission zones.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ, 21 Pages, 5 Figure
Rejection of the hypothesis that Markarian 501 TeV photons are pure Bose-Einstein condensates
The energy spectrum of the Blazar type galaxy Markarian 501 (Mrk 501) as
measured by the High-Energy-Gamma-Ray Astronomy (HEGRA) air Cerenkov telescopes
extends beyond 16 TeV and constitutes the most energetic photons observed from
an extragalactic object. A fraction of the emitted spectrum is possibly
absorbed in interactions with low energy photons of the diffuse extragalactic
infrared radiation, which in turn offers the unique possibility to measure the
diffuse infrared radiation density by TeV spectroscopy. The upper limit on the
density of the extragalactic infrared radiation derived from the TeV
observations imposes constraints on models of galaxy formation and stellar
evolution. One of the recently published ideas to overcome severe absorption of
TeV photons is based upon the assumption that sources like Mrk 501 could
produce Bose-Einstein condensates of coherent photons. The condensates would
have a higher survival probability during the transport in the diffuse
radiation field and could mimic TeV air shower events. The powerful
stereoscopic technique of the HEGRA air Cerenkov telescopes allows to test this
hypothesis by reconstructing the penetration depths of TeV air shower events:
Air showers initiated by Bose-Einstein condensates are expected to reach the
maximum of the shower development in the atmosphere earlier than single photon
events. By comparing the energy-dependent penetration depths of TeV photons
from Mrk 501 with those from the TeV standard-candle Crab Nebula and simulated
air shower events, we can reject the hypothesis that TeV photons from Mrk 501
are pure Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, published by ApJ Letters, revised version
(simulation results added
Comparing six evolutionary population synthesis models through spectral synthesis on galaxies
We compare six popularly used evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) models
(BC03, CB07, Ma05, GALEV, GRASIL, Vazdekis/Miles) through fitting the full
optical spectra of six representative types of galaxies (star-forming and
composite galaxies, Seyfert 2s, LINERs, E+A and early-type galaxies), which are
taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Throughout our paper, we use
the simple stellar populations (SSPs) from each EPS model and the software
STARLIGHT to do our fits. Our main results are: Using different EPS models the
resulted numerical values of contributed light fractions change obviously, even
though the dominant populations are consistent. The stellar population
synthesis does depend on the selection of age and metallicity, while it does
not depend on the stellar evolution track much. The importance of young
populations decreases from star-forming, composite, Seyfert 2, LINER to
early-type galaxies, and E+A galaxies lie between composite galaxies and
Seyfert 2s in most cases. We conclude that different EPS models do derive
different stellar populations, so that it is not reasonable to directly compare
stellar populations estimated from different EPS models. To get reliable
results, we should use the same EPS model for the compared samples.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The TeV Energy Spectrum of Mkn 501 Measured with the Stereoscopic Telescope System of HEGRA during 1998 and 1999
During 1997, the BL Lac object Mkn 501 went into an extraordinary state of
high X-ray and TeV gamma-ray activity, lasting more than 6 months. In this
paper we report on the TeV emission characteristics of the source in the
subsequent years of 1998 and 1999 as measured with the Stereoscopic Cherenkov
Telescope System of HEGRA (La Palma, Canary Islands). Our observations reveal a
1998-1999 mean emission level at 1 TeV of 1/3 of the flux of the Crab Nebula, a
factor of 10 lower than during the year of 1997. A dataset of 122 observations
hours with the HEGRA telescope system makes it possible to assess for the first
time the Mkn 501 TeV energy spectrum for a mean flux level substantially below
that of the Crab Nebula with reasonable statistical accuracy. Excluding the
data of a strong flare, we find evidence that the 1998--1999 low-flux spectrum
is substantially softer (by 0.44+-0.1(stat) in spectral index) than the 1997
time averaged spectrum. The 500 GeV to 10 TeV energy spectrum can well be
described by a power law model with exponential cutoff: dN/dE ~ E^(-alpha)
exp(-E/E0) with alpha=2.31+-0.22(stat), and E0=5.1 (-2.3+7.8)(stat) TeV. Within
statistical accuracy, also a pure power law model gives an acceptable fit to
the data: dN/dE ~ E^(-Gamma) with Gamma=2.76+-0.08(stat). After presenting the
1998-1999 TeV characteristics of the source we discuss the implications of the
results.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, on
August 4th, 200
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