991 research outputs found
XMM-Newton observations of GB B1428+4217: confirmation of intrinsic soft X-ray absorption
We report the results of XMM-Newton observations of the X-ray bright,
radio-loud blazar GB B1428+4217 at a redshift of z=4.72. We confirm the
presence of soft X-ray spectral flattening at energies <0.7 keV as reported in
previous ROSAT and BeppoSAX observations. At hard X-ray energies the spectrum
is consistent with a power-law although we find the spectral slope varied
between both XMM-Newton observations and is also significantly different from
that reported previously. Whilst we cannot rule-out intrinsic cold absorption
to explain the spectral depression, we favour a dust-free warm absorber. Cold
absorption requires a column density ~1.4-1.6 x 10^22 cm^-2 whilst a warm
absorber could have up to ~10^23 cm^-2 and an ionization parameter ~10^2. The
spectrum of GB B1428+4217 shows remarkable parallels with that of the z=4.4
blazar PMN J0525-3343, in which the available evidence is also most consistent
with a warm absorber model.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS accepted. Minor changes to sections 3.1 and
Probability distribution of the maximum of a smooth temporal signal
We present an approximate calculation for the distribution of the maximum of
a smooth stationary temporal signal X(t). As an application, we compute the
persistence exponent associated to the probability that the process remains
below a non-zero level M. When X(t) is a Gaussian process, our results are
expressed explicitly in terms of the two-time correlation function,
f(t)=.Comment: Final version (1 major typo corrected; better introduction). Accepted
in Phys. Rev. Let
Income differences in food consumption in the 1995 Australian national nutrition survey
Objective: To assess the relationships between an index of per capita income and the intake of a variety of individual foods as well as groups of food for men and women in different age groups. Design: Cross-sectional national survey of free-living men and women. Subjects: A sample of 5053 males and 5701 females aged 18 y and over who completed the Australian National Nutrition Survey 1995. Methods: Information about the frequency of consumption of 88 food items was obtained. On the basis of scores on the Food Frequency Questionnaire, regular and irregular consumers of single foods were identified. The relationships between regularity of consumption of individual foods and per capita income were analysed via contingency tables. Food variety scores were derived by assigning individual foods to conventional food group taxonomies, and then summing up the dichotomised intake scores for individual foods within each food group. Two-way ANOVA (income age group) were performed on the food variety scores for males and females, respectively. Results: Per capita income was extensively related to the reported consumption of individual foods and to total and food group variety indices. Generally, both men and women in low income households had less varied diets than those in higher-income households. However, several traditional foods were consumed less often by young high-income respondents, especially young women. Conclusions: Major income differentials in food variety occur in Australia but they are moderated by age and gender. Younger high-income women, in particular, appear to have rejected a number of traditional foods, possibly on the basis of health beliefs. The findings also suggest that data aggregation has marked effects on income and food consumption relationships.<br /
Factors influencing fruit and vegetable intake among urban Fijians: A qualitative study.
Low fruit and vegetable intake is an important risk factor for micronutrient deficiencies and non-communicable diseases, but many people worldwide, including most Fijians, eat less than the World Health Organization recommended amount. The present qualitative study explores factors that influence fruit and vegetable intake among 57 urban Fijians (50 women, 7 men) of indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) and South Asian (Indian) descent. Eight focus group discussions were held in and around Suva, Fiji's capital and largest urban area, which explored motivation for eating fruit and vegetables, understandings of links to health and disease, availability and sources, determinants of product choice, and preferred ways of preparing and eating fruit and vegetables. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Regardless of ethnicity, participants indicated that they enjoyed and valued eating fruit and vegetables, were aware of the health benefits, and had confidence in their cooking skills. In both cultures, fruit and vegetables were essential components of traditional diets. However, increasing preferences for processed and imported foods, and inconsistent availability and affordability of high-quality, low-priced, fresh produce, were identified as important barriers. The findings indicate that efforts to improve fruit and vegetable intake in urban Fijians should target the stability of the domestic fruit and vegetable supply and access
Allogeneic Stem Cells Alter Gene Expression and Improve Healing of Distal Limb Wounds in Horses.
Distal extremity wounds are a significant clinical problem in horses and humans and may benefit from mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy. This study evaluated the effects of direct wound treatment with allogeneic stem cells, in terms of gross, histologic, and transcriptional features of healing. Three full-thickness cutaneous wounds were created on each distal forelimb in six healthy horses, for a total of six wounds per horse. Umbilical cord-blood derived equine MSCs were applied to each wound 1 day after wound creation, in one of four forms: (a) normoxic- or (b) hypoxic-preconditioned cells injected into wound margins, or (c) normoxic- or (d) hypoxic-preconditioned cells embedded in an autologous fibrin gel and applied topically to the wound bed. Controls were one blank (saline) injected wound and one blank fibrin gel-treated wound per horse. Data were collected weekly for 6 weeks and included wound surface area, thermography, gene expression, and histologic scoring. Results indicated that MSC treatment by either delivery method was safe and improved histologic outcomes and wound area. Hypoxic-preconditioning did not offer an advantage. MSC treatment by injection resulted in statistically significant increases in transforming growth factor beta and cyclooxygenase-2 expression at week 1. Histologically, significantly more MSC-treated wounds were categorized as pro-healing than pro-inflammatory. Wound area was significantly affected by treatment: MSC-injected wounds were consistently smaller than gel-treated or control wounds. In conclusion, MSC therapy shows promise for distal extremity wounds in horses, particularly when applied by direct injection into the wound margin. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2018;7:98-108
Bayesian Blocks, A New Method to Analyze Structure in Photon Counting Data
I describe a new time-domain algorithm for detecting localized structures
(bursts), revealing pulse shapes, and generally characterizing intensity
variations. The input is raw counting data, in any of three forms: time-tagged
photon events (TTE), binned counts, or time-to-spill (TTS) data. The output is
the most likely segmentation of the observation into time intervals during
which the photon arrival rate is perceptibly constant -- i.e. has a fixed
intensity without statistically significant variations. Since the analysis is
based on Bayesian statistics, I call the resulting structures Bayesian Blocks.
Unlike most, this method does not stipulate time bins -- instead the data
themselves determine a piecewise constant representation. Therefore the
analysis procedure itself does not impose a lower limit to the time scale on
which variability can be detected. Locations, amplitudes, and rise and decay
times of pulses within a time series can be estimated, independent of any
pulse-shape model -- but only if they do not overlap too much, as deconvolution
is not incorporated. The Bayesian Blocks method is demonstrated by analyzing
pulse structure in BATSE -ray data. The MatLab scripts and sample data
can be found on the WWW at: http://george.arc.nasa.gov/~scargle/papers.htmlComment: 42 pages, 2 figures; revision correcting mathematical errors;
clarifications; removed Cyg X-1 sectio
Frações de N do solo cultivado com milho e plantas de cobertura.
O milho Ă© uma cultura de relevância no paĂs e exige quantidades elevadas de nitrogĂŞnio (N) durante o seu crescimento. A sua disponibilidade para as plantas depende tanto do teor imediatamente disponĂvel no solo, representada pelas formas inorgânicas, quanto do N das formas orgânicas, mineralizáveis durante o seu ciclo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as alterações de frações do nitrogĂŞnio sob cultivo de plantas de cobertura na cultura do milho. O experimento está sendo conduzido há oito anos em Latossolo Vermelho sob milho cultivado em sistema plantio direto em sucessĂŁo Ă s seguintes plantas de cobertura: Urochloa ruziziensis, Canavalia brasiliensis, Cajanus cajan e Sorghum bicolor. O delineamento experimental foi de blocos ao acaso com parcelas subdivididas e trĂŞs repetições. Nas parcelas foram semeadas as plantas de cobertura e nas subparcelas foi feita a adubação fertilização nitrogenada em cobertura (com e sem N) na cultura do milho. Em Abril de 2013, apĂłs a colheita do milho foi realizada a coleta do solo nas profundidades de 0-10 e 10-20 cm. As plantas de cobertura apresentaram comportamento diferenciado em relação Ă s camadas de solo. O solo sob U. ruziziensis apresentou maior N total e particulado que aquele sob C. cajan
Data analysis of gravitational-wave signals from spinning neutron stars. III. Detection statistics and computational requirements
We develop the analytic and numerical tools for data analysis of the
gravitational-wave signals from spinning neutron stars for ground-based laser
interferometric detectors. We study in detail the statistical properties of the
optimum functional that need to be calculated in order to detect the
gravitational-wave signal from a spinning neutron star and estimate its
parameters. We derive formulae for false alarm and detection probabilities both
for the optimal and the suboptimal filters. We assess the computational
requirements needed to do the signal search. We compare a number of criteria to
build sufficiently accurate templates for our data analysis scheme. We verify
the validity of our concepts and formulae by means of the Monte Carlo
simulations. We present algorithms by which one can estimate the parameters of
the continuous signals accurately.Comment: LaTeX, 45 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Graphene oxide nanosheets modulate spinal glutamatergic transmission and modify locomotor behaviour in an in vivo zebrafish model
Graphene oxide (GO), an oxidised form of graphene, is widely used for biomedical applications, due to its dispersibility in water and simple surface chemistry tunability. In particular, small (less than 500 nm in lateral dimension) and thin (1-3 carbon monolayers) graphene oxide nanosheets (s-GO) have been shown to selectively inhibit glutamatergic transmission in neuronal cultures in vitro and in brain explants obtained from animals injected with the nanomaterial. This raises the exciting prospect that s-GO can be developed as a platform for novel nervous system therapeutics. It has not yet been investigated whether the interference of the nanomaterial with neurotransmission may have a downstream outcome in modulation of behaviour depending specifically on the activation of those synapses. To address this problem we use early stage zebrafish as an in vivo model to study the impact of s-GO on nervous system function. Microinjection of s-GO into the embryonic zebrafish spinal cord selectively reduces the excitatory synaptic transmission of the spinal network, monitored in vivo through patch clamp recordings, without affecting spinal cell survival. This effect is accompanied by a perturbation in the swimming activity of larvae, which is the locomotor behaviour generated by the neuronal network of the spinal cord. Such results indicate that the impact of s-GO on glutamate based neuronal transmission is preserved in vivo and can induce changes in animal behaviour. These findings pave the way for use of s-GO as a modulator of nervous system function
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