1,358 research outputs found
Evaluation of positive G sub Z tolerance following simulated weightlessness (bedrest)
The magnitude of physiologic changes which are known to occur in human subjects exposed to varying levels of + G sub Z acceleration following bed rest simulation of weightlessness was studied. Bed rest effects were documented by fluid and electrolyte balance studies, maximal exercise capability, 70 deg passive tilt and lower body negative pressure tests and the ability to endure randomly prescribed acceleration profiles of +2G sub Z, +3G sub Z, and +4G sub Z. Six healthy male volunteers were studied during two weeks of bed rest after adequate control observations, followed by two weeks of recovery, followed by a second two-week period of bed rest at which time an Air Force cutaway anti-G suit was used to determine its effectiveness as a countermeasure for observed cardiovascular changes during acceleration. Results showed uniform and significant changes in all measured parameters as a consequence of bed rest including a reduced ability to tolerate +G sub Z acceleration. The use of anti-G suits significantly improved subject tolerance to all G exposures and returned measured parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure towards or to pre-bed-rest (control) values in four of the six cases
Prevention of bone mineral changes induced by bed rest: Modification by static compression simulating weight bearing, combined supplementation of oral calcium and phosphate, calcitonin injections, oscillating compression, the oral diophosphonatedisodium etidronate, and lower body negative pressure
The phenomenon of calcium loss during bed rest was found to be analogous to the loss of bone material which occurs in the hypogravic environment of space flight. Ways of preventing this occurrence are investigated. A group of healthy adult males underwent 24-30 weeks of continuous bed rest. Some of them were given an exercise program designed to resemble normal ambulatory activity; another subgroup was fed supplemental potassium phosphate. The results from a 12-week period of treatment were compared with those untreated bed rest periods. The potassium phosphate supplements prevented the hypercalciuria of bed rest, but fecal calcium tended to increase. The exercise program did not diminish the negative calcium balance. Neither treatment affected the heavy loss of mineral from the calcaneus. Several additional studies are developed to examine the problem further
New Measurements of Fine-Scale CMB Polarization Power Spectra from CAPMAP at Both 40 and 90 GHz
We present new measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
polarization from the final season of the Cosmic Anisotropy Polarization MAPper
(CAPMAP). The data set was obtained in winter 2004-2005 with the 7 m antenna in
Crawford Hill, New Jersey, from 12 W-band (84-100 GHz) and 4 Q-band (36-45 GHz)
correlation polarimeters with 3.3' and 6.5' beamsizes, respectively. After
selection criteria were applied, 956 (939) hours of data survived for analysis
of W-band (Q-band) data. Two independent and complementary pipelines produced
results in excellent agreement with each other. A broad suite of null tests as
well as extensive simulations showed that systematic errors were minimal, and a
comparison of the W-band and Q-band sky maps revealed no contamination from
galactic foregrounds. We report the E-mode and B-mode power spectra in 7 bands
in the range 200 < l < 3000, extending the range of previous measurements to
higher l. The E-mode spectrum, which is detected at 11 sigma significance, is
in agreement with cosmological predictions and with previous work at other
frequencies and angular resolutions. The BB power spectrum provides one of the
best limits to date on B-mode power at 4.8 uK^2 (95% confidence).Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Ap
Effects of PepSoyGen processing method on nursery pig growth performance
Swine Industry Day, 2014 is known as Swine Day, 2014A total of 292 weanling pigs (PIC 327 × 1050; 13.3 ± 2.4 lb BW and 21 d of age) were
used in a 31-d experiment evaluating the effects of alternative PepSoyGen processing
methods for nursery pig diets. There were 11 replicate pens per treatment and 6 or 7 pigs
per pen. At weaning, pigs were allotted to pens by initial weight to 1 of 4 treatments in
a completely randomized design. A 3-phase diet series was used with treatment diets fed
during Phase 1 (d 0 to 7) and Phase 2 (d 7 to 21), with a common diet fed from d 21 to
31. Diets were: (1) negative control (corn, soybean meal, and dried whey), (2) positive
control (4% DPS 50 + 1% PepSoyGen), (3) PepSoyGen processing method 1 (PSG1;
5%), and (4) PepSoyGen processing method 2 (PSG2; 5%). The alternative PepSoyGen
processing methods incorporated increasing levels of a proprietary additive post-fermentation
(PSG2 > PSG1) aimed at further breakdown of anti-nutritional factors associated
with soybean meal. Nutrient analyses generally matched formulated levels for negative
and positive control diets, but for both PSG1 and PSG2, CP and amino acid concentrations
were lower than formulated, with PSG1 generally 10% lower than PSG2.
In Phase 1, pigs fed the positive control diet had improved (P < 0.01) ADG and
feed efficiency compared with pigs fed the negative control, whereas pigs fed PSG1
and PSG2 diets were intermediate for feed efficiency but tended (P < 0.07) to have
increased ADG compared with those fed the negative control. For Phase 2, there were
no significant differences in growth performance between treatment diets. For the overall
experimental period (d 0 to 21), pigs fed the positive control diet and PSG2 diet had
improved ADG (P < 0.05), whereas pigs fed the positive control, PSG1, and PSG2 diets
had improved feed efficiency (P < 0.05) compared with pigs fed the negative control
diet. Also, pigs fed PSG1 tended (P < 0.06) to have lower ADG compared with pigs fed
the positive control diet. During the Phase 3 common period, no difference in growth
performance was observed. Overall (d 0 to 31), ADG was greater (P < 0.01) for pigs fed
the positive control diet and tended to be greater (P < 0.07) for pigs fed diets containing
PSG2 than the negative control diet, with pigs fed PSG1 intermediate.
In conclusion, pigs fed the PSG1 or PSG2 diets had similar performance to pigs fed the
positive control diet. Numerically, the PSG2 diet elicited greater performance than the
PSG1 diet, but it is unclear whether this response is reflective of the reduced CP and
amino acid content in the PSG1 diet or if the differences in processing method affected
growth response
Thermal treatment for radioactive waste minimisation
Safe management of radioactive waste is challenging to waste producers and waste management organisations. Deployment of thermal treatment technologies can provide significant improvements: volume reduction, waste passivation, organics destruction, safety demonstration facilitation, etc. The EC-funded THERAMIN project enables an EU-wide strategic review and assessment of the value of thermal treatment technologies applicable to Low and Intermediate Level waste streams (ion exchange media, soft operational waste, sludges, organic waste, and liquids). THERAMIN compiles an EU-wide database of wastes, which could be treated by thermal technologies and documents available thermal technologies. Applicability and benefits of technologies to the identified waste streams will be evaluated through full-scale demonstration tests by project partners. Safety case implications will also be assessed through the study of the disposability of thermally treated waste products. This paper will communicate the strategic aims of the ongoing project and highlight some key findings and results achieved to date
Deeply sequenced metagenome and metatranscriptome of a biogas-producing microbial community from an agricultural production-scale biogas plant
Bremges A, Maus I, Belmann P, et al. Deeply sequenced metagenome and metatranscriptome of a biogas-producing microbial community from an agricultural production-scale biogas plant. GigaScience. 2015;4(1): 33.Background
The production of biogas takes place under anaerobic conditions and involves microbial decomposition of organic matter. Most of the participating microbes are still unknown and non-cultivable. Accordingly, shotgun metagenome sequencing currently is the method of choice to obtain insights into community composition and the genetic repertoire.
Findings
Here, we report on the deeply sequenced metagenome and metatranscriptome of a complex biogas-producing microbial community from an agricultural production-scale biogas plant. We assembled the metagenome and, as an example application, show that we reconstructed most genes involved in the methane metabolism, a key pathway involving methanogenesis performed by methanogenic Archaea. This result indicates that there is sufficient sequencing coverage for most downstream analyses.
Conclusions
Sequenced at least one order of magnitude deeper than previous studies, our metagenome data will enable new insights into community composition and the genetic potential of important community members. Moreover, mapping of transcripts to reconstructed genome sequences will enable the identification of active metabolic pathways in target organisms
Rhodium(II)-catalyzed stereocontrolled synthesis of dihydrofuran-3-imines from 1-Tosyl-1,2,3-triazoles
Rhodium(II) acetate catalyzes the denitrogenative transformation of 5-substituted and 4,5-disubstituted 1-sulfonyl-1,2,3-triazoles with pendent allyl and propargyl ether motifs to oxonium ylides that undergo [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement to give substituted dihydrofuran-3-imines in high yield and diastereoselectivity
Branch Mode Selection during Early Lung Development
Many organs of higher organisms, such as the vascular system, lung, kidney,
pancreas, liver and glands, are heavily branched structures. The branching
process during lung development has been studied in great detail and is
remarkably stereotyped. The branched tree is generated by the sequential,
non-random use of three geometrically simple modes of branching (domain
branching, planar and orthogonal bifurcation). While many regulatory components
and local interactions have been defined an integrated understanding of the
regulatory network that controls the branching process is lacking. We have
developed a deterministic, spatio-temporal differential-equation based model of
the core signaling network that governs lung branching morphogenesis. The model
focuses on the two key signaling factors that have been identified in
experiments, fibroblast growth factor (FGF10) and sonic hedgehog (SHH) as well
as the SHH receptor patched (Ptc). We show that the reported biochemical
interactions give rise to a Schnakenberg-type Turing patterning mechanisms that
allows us to reproduce experimental observations in wildtype and mutant mice.
The kinetic parameters as well as the domain shape are based on experimental
data where available. The developed model is robust to small absolute and large
relative changes in the parameter values. At the same time there is a strong
regulatory potential in that the switching between branching modes can be
achieved by targeted changes in the parameter values. We note that the sequence
of different branching events may also be the result of different growth
speeds: fast growth triggers lateral branching while slow growth favours
bifurcations in our model. We conclude that the FGF10-SHH-Ptc1 module is
sufficient to generate pattern that correspond to the observed branching modesComment: Initially published at PLoS Comput Bio
First measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation at small angular scales from CAPMAP
Polarization results from the Cosmic Anisotropy Polarization MAPper (CAPMAP)
experiment are reported. These are based upon 433 hours, after cuts, observing
a 2 square degree patch around the North Celestial Pole (NCP) with four 90 GHz
correlation polarimeters coupled to optics defining 4\arcmin beams. The
E-mode flat bandpower anisotropy within is measured as
66K; the 95% Confidence level upper limit for B-mode
power within is measured as 38 K.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; corrected formatting and comments of second
version, identical in substance. In the first version the wrong concordance
model was used, results (fit to multiplier to concordance model) and figures
have been updated to the proper one. In the first version the central 68%
regions were quoted, while now the 68% confidence intervals of highest
posterior density are give
CMB Polarimetry using Correlation Receivers with the PIQUE and CAPMAP Experiments
The Princeton IQU Experiment (PIQUE) and the Cosmic Anisotropy Polarization
MAPper (CAPMAP) are experiments designed to measure the polarization of the
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) on sub-degree scales in an area within 1
degree of the North Celestial Pole using heterodyne correlation polarimeters
and off-axis telescopes located in central New Jersey. PIQUE produced the
tightest limit on the CMB polarization prior to its detection by DASI, while
CAPMAP has recently detected polarization at l~1000. The experimental methods
and instrumentation for these two projects are described in detail with
emphasis on the particular challenges involved in measuring the tiny polarized
component of the CMB.Comment: 70 pages, 13 tables, 18 figures. Accepted by ApJS; tentative
publication ApJS July 2005, v159
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