Videofluorographic Evaluation of Mastication and Swallowing of Japanese Udon Noodles and White Rice

A videofluorographic (VF) swallowing study was performed on 22 healthy volunteers to observe the complete mastication and swallowing phases for Japanese udon noodles and white rice. The hardness, stickiness, and cohesiveness of food samples were measured using a food texture analyzing system. VF images were acquired using a versatile fluoroscopic unit and barium sulfate was used as a contrast medium. Udon noodles had a harder and smoother food texture than white rice. Fewer chewing movements and more stage 2 transport were seen during the consumption of udon noodles than for white rice

Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Spectroscopy of the O VI Resonance Doublet in Sand 2 (WO)

We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer spectroscopy of Sand 2, an LMC WO-type Wolf-Rayet star, revealing the O VI resonance P Cygni doublet at 1032-1038 Å. These data are combined with Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph ultraviolet and Mount Stromlo 2.3 m optical spectroscopy and analyzed using a spherical, non-LTE, line-blanketed code. Our study reveals exceptional stellar parameters: T* ~ 150,000 K, v∞ = 4100 km s-1, log(L/L☉) = 5.3, andimg1.gif = 1 × 10-5 M☉ yr-1, if we adopt a volume filling factor of 10%. Elemental abundances of C/He ~ 0.7 ± 0.2 and O/He ~ 0.15img2.gif by number qualitatively support previous recombination line studies. We confirm that Sand 2 is more chemically enriched in carbon than LMC WC stars and that it is expected to undergo a supernova explosion within the next 5 × 104 yr

The incredible years therapeutic dinosaur programme to build social and emotional competence in welsh primary schools: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>School interventions such as the Incredible Years <it>Classroom </it>Dinosaur Programme targets pupil behaviour across whole classrooms, yet for some children a more intense approach is needed. The Incredible Years <it>Therapeutic </it>Dinosaur Programme is effective for clinically referred children by enhancing social, problem-solving skills, and peer relationship-building skills when delivered in a clinical setting in small groups.</p> <p>The aim of this trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Therapeutic Programme, delivered with small groups of children at high-risk of developing conduct disorder, delivered in schools already implementing the Classroom Programme.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This is a pragmatic, parallel, randomised controlled trial.</p> <p>Two hundred and forty children (aged 4-8 years) rated by their teacher as above the 'borderline cut-off' for concern on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and their parents, will be recruited.</p> <p>Randomisation is by individual within blocks (schools); 1:1 ratio, intervention to waiting list control.</p> <p>Twenty schools will participate in two phases. Two teachers per school will deliver the programme to six intervention children for 2-hours/week for 18 weeks between baseline and first follow-up. The control children will receive the intervention after first follow up.</p> <p>Phase 1 comprises three data collection points - baseline and two follow-ups eight months apart. Phase 2 includes baseline and first follow-up.</p> <p>The Therapeutic Programme includes elements on; Learning school rules; understanding, identifying, and articulating feelings; problem solving; anger management; how to be friendly; how to do your best in school.</p> <p>Primary outcomes are; change in child social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Secondary outcomes are; teacher and parent mental wellbeing, child academic attainment, child and teacher school attendance. Intervention delivery will be assessed for fidelity.</p> <p>Intention to treat analyses will be conducted. ANCOVA, effect sizes, mediator and moderator analyses will be applied to establish differences between conditions, and for whom the intervention works best for and why.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This trial will provide information on the delivery and effectiveness of a child centred, school-based intervention delivered in small groups of children, at risk of developing more severe conduct problems. The effects on child behaviour in school and home environments, academic attainment, peer interactions, parent and teacher mental health will be assessed.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>UK Clinical Research Network UKCRNID8615</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN96803379">ISRCTN96803379</a></p

A Close Nuclear Black Hole Pair in the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3393

The current picture of galaxy evolution advocates co-evolution of galaxies and their nuclear massive black holes (MBHs), through accretion and merging. Quasar pairs (6,000-300,000 light-years separation) exemplify the first stages of this gravitational interaction. The final stages, through binary MBHs and final collapse with gravitational wave emission, are consistent with the sub-light-year separation MBHs inferred from optical spectra and light-variability of two quasars. The double active nuclei of few nearby galaxies with disrupted morphology and intense star formation (e.g., NGC 6240 and Mkn 463; ~2,400 and ~12,000 light-years separation respectively) demonstrate the importance of major mergers of equal mass spirals in this evolution, leading to an elliptical galaxy, as in the case of the double radio nucleus (~15 light-years separation) elliptical 0402+379. Minor mergers of galaxies with a smaller companion should be a more common occurrence, evolving into spiral galaxies with active MBH pairs, but have hitherto not been seen. Here we report the presence of two active MBHs, separated by ~430 light-years, in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3393. The regular spiral morphology and predominantly old circum-nuclear stellar population of this galaxy, and the closeness of the MBHs embedded in the bulge, suggest the result of minor merger evolution.Comment: Preprint (not final) version of a paper to appear in Natur

A mathematical model for the adenylosuccinate synthetase reaction involved in purine biosynthesis

BACKGROUND: Development of the mathematical models that adequately describe biochemical reactions and molecular-genetic mechanisms is one of the most important tasks in modern bioinformatics. Because the enzyme adenylosuccinate synthetase (AdSS) has long been extensively studied, a wealth of kinetic data has been accumulated. RESULTS: We describe a mathematical model for the reaction catalyzed by AdSS. The model's parameters were fitted to experimental data obtained from published literature. The advantage of our model is that it includes relationships between the reaction rate, the concentrations of three substrates (GTP, IMP and ASP), the effects of five inhibitors (GMP, GDP, AMP, ASUC and SUCC), and the influence of Mg(2+ )ions. CONCLUSION: Our model describes the reaction catalyzed by AdSS as a fully random process. The model structure implies that each of the inhibitors included in it is only competitive to one of the substrates. The model was tested for adequacy using experimental data published elsewhere. The values obtained for the parameters are as follows: V(max )= 1.35·10(-3 )mM/min, Km(GTP )= 0.023 mM, Km(IMP )= 0.02 mM, Km(ASP )= 0.3 mM, Ki(GMP )= 0.024 mM, Ki(GDP )= 8·10(-3 )mM, Ki(AMP )= 0.01 mM, Ki(ASUC )= 7.5·10(-3 )mM, Ki(SUCC )= 8 mM, Km(Mg )= 0.08 mM

High-mass X-ray binaries and OB-runaway stars

High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) represent an important phase in the evolution of massive binary systems. HMXBs provide unique diagnostics to test massive-star evolution, to probe the physics of radiation-driven winds, to study the process of mass accretion, and to measure fundamental parameters of compact objects. As a consequence of the supernova explosion that produced the neutron star (or black hole) in these systems, HMXBs have high space velocities and thus are runaways. Alternatively, OB-runaway stars can be ejected from a cluster through dynamical interactions. Observations obtained with the Hipparcos satellite indicate that both scenarios are at work. Only for a minority of the OB runaways (and HMXBs) a wind bow shock has been detected. This might be explained by the varying local conditions of the interstellar medium.Comment: 15 pages, latex (sty file included) with 5 embedded figures (one in jpg format), to appear in Proc. "Influence of binaries on stellar population studies", Eds. Vanbeveren, Van Rensberge

Predicting Impacts of Climate Change on Fasciola hepatica Risk

Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) is a physically and economically devastating parasitic trematode whose rise in recent years has been attributed to climate change. Climate has an impact on the free-living stages of the parasite and its intermediate host Lymnaea truncatula, with the interactions between rainfall and temperature having the greatest influence on transmission efficacy. There have been a number of short term climate driven forecasts developed to predict the following season's infection risk, with the Ollerenshaw index being the most widely used. Through the synthesis of a modified Ollerenshaw index with the UKCP09 fine scale climate projection data we have developed long term seasonal risk forecasts up to 2070 at a 25 km square resolution. Additionally UKCIP gridded datasets at 5 km square resolution from 1970-2006 were used to highlight the climate-driven increase to date. The maps show unprecedented levels of future fasciolosis risk in parts of the UK, with risk of serious epidemics in Wales by 2050. The seasonal risk maps demonstrate the possible change in the timing of disease outbreaks due to increased risk from overwintering larvae. Despite an overall long term increase in all regions of the UK, spatio-temporal variation in risk levels is expected. Infection risk will reduce in some areas and fluctuate greatly in others with a predicted decrease in summer infection for parts of the UK due to restricted water availability. This forecast is the first approximation of the potential impacts of climate change on fasciolosis risk in the UK. It can be used as a basis for indicating where active disease surveillance should be targeted and where the development of improved mitigation or adaptation measures is likely to bring the greatest benefits

In-Line estimation of the standard colour index of citrus fruits using a computer vision system developed for a mobile platform

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11947-012-1015-2A key aspect for the consumer when it comes to deciding on a particular product is the colour. In order to make fruit available to consumers as early as possible, the collection of oranges and mandarins begins before they ripen fully and reach their typical orange colour. As a result, they are therefore subjected to certain degreening treatments, depending on their standard colour citrus index at harvest. Recently, a mobile platform that incorporates a computer vision system capable of pre-sorting the fruit while it is being harvested has been developed as an aid in the harvesting task. However, due to the restrictions of working in the field, the computer vision system developed for this machine is limited in its technology and processing capacity compared to conventional systems. This work shows the optimised algorithms for estimating the colour of citrus in-line that were developed for this mobile platform and its performance is evaluated against that of a spectrophotometer used as a reference in the analysis of colour in food. The results obtained prove that our analysis system predicts the colour index of citrus with a good reliability (R2 = 0.925) working in real time. Findings also show that it is effective for classifying harvested fruits in the field according to their colour. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.This work was partially funded by the INIA through research project RTA2009-00118-C02-01 with the support of European FEDER funds, and by the project PAID-05-11-2745, Vicerectorat d'Investigacio, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Vidal, A.; Talens Oliag, P.; Prats-Montalbán, JM.; Cubero García, S.; Albert Gil, FE.; Blasco Ivars, J. (2013). 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Eta Carinae -- Physics of the Inner Ejecta

Eta Carinae's inner ejecta are dominated observationally by the bright Weigelt blobs and their famously rich spectra of nebular emission and absorption lines. They are dense (n_e ~ 10^7 to 10^8 cm^-3), warm (T_e ~ 6000 to 7000 K) and slow moving (~40 km/s) condensations of mostly neutral (H^0) gas. Located within 1000 AU of the central star, they contain heavily CNO-processed material that was ejected from the star about a century ago. Outside the blobs, the inner ejecta include absorption-line clouds with similar conditions, plus emission-line gas that has generally lower densities and a wider range of speeds (reaching a few hundred km/s) compared to the blobs. The blobs appear to contain a negligible amount of dust and have a nearly dust-free view of the central source, but our view across the inner ejecta is severely affected by uncertain amounts of dust having a patchy distribution in the foreground. Emission lines from the inner ejecta are powered by photoionization and fluorescent processes. The variable nature of this emission, occurring in a 5.54 yr event cycle, requires specific changes to the incident flux that hold important clues to the nature of the central object.Comment: This is Chapter 5 in a book entitled: Eta Carinae and the Supernova Impostors, Kris Davidson and Roberta M. Humphreys, editors Springe