1,538 research outputs found
Anti-trypanosomal antibodies in sequentially collected sera of N'Dama cattle under natural trypanosomiasis risk in The Gambia
Investigates the time of appearance and the persistence of antibodies in N'Dama cattle bitten by infected tsetse flies under controlled conditions, the serology of village animals exposed to natural trypanosomiasis risk and the time of appearance and duration of anti-trypanosomal antibodies through the monthly collection of serum samples from calves following birth
Comparative evaluation of a Technicon SMAC2/RA1000 System with an American Monitor Parallel during normal service work
Hadamard Regularization
Motivated by the problem of the dynamics of point-particles in high
post-Newtonian (e.g. 3PN) approximations of general relativity, we consider a
certain class of functions which are smooth except at some isolated points
around which they admit a power-like singular expansion. We review the concepts
of (i) Hadamard ``partie finie'' of such functions at the location of singular
points, (ii) the partie finie of their divergent integral. We present and
investigate different expressions, useful in applications, for the latter
partie finie. To each singular function, we associate a partie-finie (Pf)
pseudo-function. The multiplication of pseudo-functions is defined by the
ordinary (pointwise) product. We construct a delta-pseudo-function on the class
of singular functions, which reduces to the usual notion of Dirac distribution
when applied on smooth functions with compact support. We introduce and analyse
a new derivative operator acting on pseudo-functions, and generalizing, in this
context, the Schwartz distributional derivative. This operator is uniquely
defined up to an arbitrary numerical constant. Time derivatives and partial
derivatives with respect to the singular points are also investigated. In the
course of the paper, all the formulas needed in the application to the physical
problem are derived.Comment: 50 pages, to appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic
Ecology of Phlebotomine Sand Flies in the Rural Community of Mont Rolland (Thiès Region, Senegal): Area of Transmission of Canine Leishmaniasis
BACKGROUND: Different epidemiological studies previously indicated that canine leishmaniasis is present in the region of Thiès (Senegal). However, the risks to human health, the transmission cycle and particularly the implicated vectors are unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To improve our knowledge on the population of phlebotomine sand flies and the potential vectors of canine leishmaniasis, sand flies were collected using sticky traps, light traps and indoor spraying method using pyrethroid insecticides in 16 villages of the rural community of Mont Rolland (Thiès region) between March and July 2005. The 3788 phlebotomine sand flies we collected (2044 males, 1744 females) were distributed among 9 species of which 2 belonged to the genus Phlebotomus: P. duboscqi (vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Senegal) and P. rodhaini. The other species belonged to the genus Sergentomyia: S. adleri, S. clydei, S. antennata, S. buxtoni, S. dubia, S. schwetzi and S. magna. The number of individuals and the species composition differed according to the type of trap, suggesting variable, species-related degrees of endophily or exophily. The two species of the genus Phlebotomus were markedly under-represented in comparison to the species of the genus Sergentomyia. This study also shows a heterogeneous spatial distribution within the rural community that could be explained by the different ecosystems and particularly the soil characteristics of this community. Finally, the presence of the S. dubia species appeared to be significantly associated with canine leishmaniasis seroprevalence in dogs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data allow us to hypothesize that the species of the genus Sergentomyia and particularly the species S. dubia and S. schwetzi might be capable of transmitting canine leishmaniasis. These results challenge the dogma that leishmaniasis is exclusively transmitted by species of the genus Phlebotomus in the Old World. This hypothesis should be more thoroughly evaluated
Canonical formulation of self-gravitating spinning-object systems
Based on the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) canonical formulation of general
relativity, a canonical formulation of gravitationally interacting classical
spinning-object systems is given to linear order in spin. The constructed
position, linear momentum and spin variables fulfill standard Poisson bracket
relations. A spatially symmetric time gauge for the tetrad field is introduced.
The achieved formulation is of fully reduced form without unresolved
constraints, supplementary, gauge, or coordinate conditions. The canonical
field momentum is not related to the extrinsic curvature of spacelike
hypersurfaces in standard ADM form. A new reduction of the tetrad degrees of
freedom to the Einstein form of the metric field is suggested.Comment: 6 pages. v2: extended version; identical to the published one. v3:
corrected misprints in (24) and (39); improved notation; added note regarding
a further reference
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