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Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces for Advanced Ionic Electronic Conducting Oxides
Surgery corrects asynchrony of ribcage secondary to extra-thoracic tumor but leads to expiratory dysfunction during exercise
BACKGROUND: The effect of chest wall tumours on chest wall mechanics is uncertain even less is known about the effects of resection and reconstruction. Our aim is to study how chest wall mechanics are altered in chest wall sarcoma and to determine the effect of chest wall reconstruction on chest wall kinetics. CASE PRESENTATION: Using Optoelectronic Plethysmography (OEP), total and regional chest wall volumes were measured in a patient with unilateral extra-thoracic chest wall sarcoma, before and 5 months after resection and reconstruction, during quiet breathing and exercise using cycle ergometry. During quiet breathing the unilateral tumour was associated with reduced in motion of the lower rib cage and abdominal compartments on both sides of the chest as well as asynchronous motion of the contralateral lower rib cage. Surgery corrected these abnormalities in quiet breathing. But during exercise there was a reduction in the upper rib cage motion compared to pre-operative measures from 0.43+/−0.06 to 0.36 +/− 0.02 L postoperatively (p <0.05). This impairment was characterised by a significant increase in the end expiratory volume on the operated side of the chest 5 months after surgery by 6.5 +/− 0.6 and 5.7 +/− 0.7 % during 50 and 100 % exercise respectively (p <0.0001) a finding that was not replicated in the non-operated side. CONCLUSION: This physiological study demonstrates the negative effect of chest wall tumours on global chest wall mechanics during quiet breathing and exercise and shows that surgery reverses this abnormality, but only at rest
Effect of maturity and harvest season on antioxidant activity, phenolic compounds and ascorbic acid of Morinda citrifolia L. (noni) grown in Mexico (with track change)
Antioxidant activity diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH), the ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP), nitric oxide (NO)], total polyphenols, phenolic compounds and ascorbic acid of Morinda citrifolia L. fruits were investigated as a function of maturity and three seasons patterns in Mexico. Maturity was evaluated in early, middle, sub-mature and mature stages (1 to 4) according to color and firmness. Significant differences were observed in the antioxidant activities and chemical composition of the fruits at different maturity and seasons. During February-March and May- June, fruits from middle and mature stages exhibited the highest antioxidant activities and total polyphenol content compared to other stages, while in November, ripe fruits reached the greatest antioxidant efficacy, total phenolic and ascorbic acid contents. Total polyphenols and ascorbic acid reached the highest amounts during May-June, although antioxidant activities were moderate compared to greater values in February-March or November depending upon maturity. The ability of M. citrifolia fruits to inhibit NO production by LPSactivated RAW 264.7 cells was quite comparable to or higher than N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (LNAME). This work shows that season and maturity stages have a profound effect on the antioxidant capacity, phenols and ascorbic acid of M. Citrifolia fruits.Keywords: Morinda citrifolia, diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, maturity, seasons, total polyphenol and phenolics compounds, reducing power, ascorbic acid, scavenging nitric oxide.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(29), pp. 4630-463
Leprosy Associated with Atypical Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Nicaragua and Honduras
In Central America, few cases of leprosy have been reported, but the disease may be unrecognized. Diagnosis is based on clinical criteria and histology. Preliminary field work in Nicaragua and Honduras found patients, including many children, with skin lesions clinically suggestive of atypical cutaneous leishmaniasis or indeterminate leprosy. Histology could not distinguish these diseases although acid-fast organisms were visible in a few biopsies. Lesions healed after standard antimicrobial therapy for leprosy. In the present study, patients, family members, and other community members were skin-tested and provided nasal swabs and blood samples. Biopsies were taken from a subgroup of patients with clinical signs of infection. Two laboratories analyzed samples, using local in-house techniques. Mycobacterium leprae, Leishmania spp. and Leishmania infantum were detected using polymerase chain reactions. Mycobacterium leprae DNA was detected in blood samples and nasal swabs, including some cases where leprosy was not clinically suspected. Leishmania spp. were also detected in blood and nasal swabs. Most biopsies contained Leishmania DNA and coinfection of Leishmania spp. with M. leprae occurred in 33% of cases. Mycobacterium leprae DNA was also detected and sequenced from Nicaraguan and Honduran environmental samples. In conclusion, leprosy and leishmaniasis are present in both regions, and leprosy appears to be widespread. The nature of any relationship between these two pathogens and the epidemiology of these infections need to be elucidated
Higgs decay with monophoton + MET signature from low scale supersymmetry breaking
We study the decay of a standard model-like Higgs boson into a gravitino and
a neutralino, which subsequently decays promptly into another gravitino and a
photon. Such a decay can be important in scenarios where the supersymmetry
breaking scale is of the order of a few TeV, and in the region of low
transverse momenta of the photon, it may provide the dominant contribution to
the final state with a photon and two gravitinos. We estimate the relevant
standard model backgrounds and the prospects for discovering this Higgs decay
through a photon and missing transverse energy signal at the LHC in terms of a
simplified model. We also give an explicit model with manifest, but
spontaneously broken, supersymmetry in which the usual MSSM soft terms are
promoted to supersymmetric operators involving a dynamical goldstino
supermultiplet. This model can give rise to a SM-like CP-even neutral Higgs
particle with a mass of 125 GeV, without requiring substantial radiative
corrections, and with couplings sufficiently large for a signal discovery
through the above mentioned Higgs decay channel with the upcoming data from the
LHC.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables; v2: updated to JHEP version,
references adde
NLSP Gluino Search at the Tevatron and early LHC
We investigate the collider phenomenology of gluino-bino co-annihilation
scenario both at the Tevatron and 7 TeV LHC. This scenario can be realized, for
example, in a class of realistic supersymmetric models with non-universal
gaugino masses and t-b-\tau Yukawa unification. The NLSP gluino and LSP bino
should be nearly degenerate in mass, so that the typical gluino search channels
involving leptons or hard jets are not available. Consequently, the gluino can
be lighter than various bounds on its mass from direct searches. We propose a
new search for NLSP gluino involving multi-b final states, arising from the
three-body decay \tilde{g}-> b\bar{b}\tilde{\chi}_1^0. We identify two
realistic models with gluino mass of around 300 GeV for which the three-body
decay is dominant, and show that a 4.5 \sigma observation sensitivity can be
achieved at the Tevatron with an integrated luminosity of 10 fb^{-1}. For the 7
TeV LHC with 50 pb^{-1} of integrated luminosity, the number of signal events
for the two models is O(10), to be compared with negligible SM background
event.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures and 3 tables, minor modifications made and
accepted for publication in JHE
Engaging with community researchers for exposure science: lessons learned from a pesticide biomonitoring study
A major challenge in biomonitoring studies with members of the general public is ensuring their continued involvement throughout the necessary length of the research. The paper presents evidence on the use of community researchers, recruited from local study areas, as a mechanism for ensuring effective recruitment and retention of farmer and resident participants for a pesticides biomonitoring study. The evidence presented suggests that community researchers' abilities to build and sustain trusting relationships with participants enhanced the rigour of the study as a result of their on-the-ground responsiveness and flexibility resulting in data collection beyond targets expected
Collider signatures of goldstini in gauge mediation
We investigate the collider signatures of the multiple goldstini scenario in
the framework of gauge mediation. This class of models is characterized by a
visible sector (e.g. the MSSM or any extension) coupled by gauge interactions
to more than one SUSY breaking sector. The spectrum consists of a light
gravitino LSP, behaving as a goldstino, and a number of neutral fermions (the
pseudo-goldstini) with a mass between that of the LSP and that of the lightest
particle of the observable sector (LOSP). We consider the two situations where
the LOSP is either a gaugino-like neutralino or a stau and we assume only one
pseudo-goldstino of a mass of O(100) GeV. The coupling of the LOSP to the
pseudo-goldstino can be enhanced with respect to those of the gravitino giving
rise to characteristic signatures. We show that the decay modes of the LOSP
into a SM particle and a pseudo-goldstino can be significant. For both LOSP
scenarios we analyze (pseudo)-goldstini production at colliders. Compared to
standard gauge mediation the final state spectrum is softer and more
structured.Comment: v2: analysis of the stau LOSP scenario added, sections rearranged,
and Introduction and Conclusions rewritten to include the added scenario.
Version to appear in JHE
Individual rules for trail pattern formation in Argentine ants (Linepithema humile)
We studied the formation of trail patterns by Argentine ants exploring an
empty arena. Using a novel imaging and analysis technique we estimated
pheromone concentrations at all spatial positions in the experimental arena and
at different times. Then we derived the response function of individual ants to
pheromone concentrations by looking at correlations between concentrations and
changes in speed or direction of the ants. Ants were found to turn in response
to local pheromone concentrations, while their speed was largely unaffected by
these concentrations. Ants did not integrate pheromone concentrations over
time, with the concentration of pheromone in a 1 cm radius in front of the ant
determining the turning angle. The response to pheromone was found to follow a
Weber's Law, such that the difference between quantities of pheromone on the
two sides of the ant divided by their sum determines the magnitude of the
turning angle. This proportional response is in apparent contradiction with the
well-established non-linear choice function used in the literature to model the
results of binary bridge experiments in ant colonies (Deneubourg et al. 1990).
However, agent based simulations implementing the Weber's Law response function
led to the formation of trails and reproduced results reported in the
literature. We show analytically that a sigmoidal response, analogous to that
in the classical Deneubourg model for collective decision making, can be
derived from the individual Weber-type response to pheromone concentrations
that we have established in our experiments when directional noise around the
preferred direction of movement of the ants is assumed.Comment: final version, 9 figures, submitted to Plos Computational Biology
(accepted
Prompt Decays of General Neutralino NLSPs at the Tevatron
Recent theoretical developments have shown that gauge mediation has a much
larger parameter space of possible spectra and mixings than previously
considered. Motivated by this, we explore the collider phenomenology of gauge
mediation models where a general neutralino is the lightest MSSM superpartner
(the NLSP), focusing on the potential reach from existing and future Tevatron
searches. Promptly decaying general neutralino NLSPs can give rise to final
states involving missing energy plus photons, Zs, Ws and/or Higgses. We survey
the final states and determine those where the Tevatron should have the most
sensitivity. We then estimate the reach of existing Tevatron searches in these
final states and discuss new searches (or optimizations of existing ones) that
should improve the reach. Finally we comment on the potential for discovery at
the LHC.Comment: 41 pages, minor changes, added refs and discussion of previous
literatur
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