Disruption of female reproductive function by endotoxins

Endotoxemia can be caused by obesity, environmental chemical exposure, abiotic stressors, and bacterial infection. Circumstances that deleteriously impact intestinal barrier integrity can induce endotoxemia and controlled experiments have identified negative impacts of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; an endotoxin mimetic) on folliculogenesis, puberty onset, estrus behavior, ovulation, meiotic competence, luteal function and ovarian steroidogenesis. In addition, neonatal LPS exposures have transgenerational female reproductive impacts, raising concern about early life contacts to this endogenous reproductive toxicant. Aims of this review are to identify physiological stressors causing endotoxemia, to highlight potential mechanism(s) by which LPS compromises female reproduction, and identify knowledge gaps regarding how acute and/or metabolic endotoxemia influence(s) female reproduction

On the correlation function of the characteristic polynomials of the hermitian Wigner ensemble

We consider the asymptotics of the correlation functions of the characteristic polynomials of the hermitian Wigner matrices $H_n=n^{-1/2}W_n$. We show that for the correlation function of any even order the asymptotic coincides with this for the GUE up to a factor, depending only on the forth moment of the common probability law $Q$ of entries $\Im W_{jk}$, $\Re W_{jk}$, i.e. that the higher moments of $Q$ do not contribute to the above limit.Comment: 20

The Role of Government in Corporate Governance

Numerous corporate scandals in the past several years have fueled widespread debate over proposals for government action. The central challenge for government is how to restore corporate integrity and market confidence without overreacting and stifling the dynamism that underlies a strong economy. To examine this challenge, the Center for Business and Government\u27s Regulatory Policy Program organized a conference in May 2004 on The Role of Government in Corporate Governance. The conference brought together government officials, business leaders, and academic researchers to discuss three fundamental public policy issues raised by recent corporate abuses. First, who should regulate corporate management - government agencies or self-regulatory organizations? Second, how should regulatory commands be designed, either as detailed rules or broad principles? Finally, how should regulations be enforced? This report synthesizes the conference dialogue organized around these three questions and explores conditions under which different configurations of regulatory institutions, standards, and enforcement practices can further both corporate integrity and productivity

Primary Beam Shape Calibration from Mosaicked, Interferometric Observations

Image quality in mosaicked observations from interferometric radio telescopes is strongly dependent on the accuracy with which the antenna primary beam is calibrated. The next generation of radio telescope arrays such as the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) have key science goals that involve making large mosaicked observations filled with bright point sources. We present a new method for calibrating the shape of the telescope's mean primary beam that uses the multiple redundant observations of these bright sources in the mosaic. The method has an analytical solution for simple Gaussian beam shapes but can also be applied to more complex beam shapes through $\chi^2$ minimization. One major benefit of this simple, conceptually clean method is that it makes use of the science data for calibration purposes, thus saving telescope time and improving accuracy through simultaneous calibration and observation. We apply the method both to 1.43 GHz data taken during the ATA Twenty Centimeter Survey (ATATS) and to 3.14 GHz data taken during the ATA's Pi Gigahertz Sky Survey (PiGSS). We find that the beam's calculated full width at half maximum (FWHM) values are consistent with the theoretical values, the values measured by several independent methods, and the values from the simulation we use to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on data from future telescopes such as the expanded ATA and the SKA. These results are preliminary, and can be expanded upon by fitting more complex beam shapes. We also investigate, by way of a simulation, the dependence of the accuracy of the telescope's FWHM on antenna number. We find that the uncertainty returned by our fitting method is inversely proportional to the number of antennas in the array.Comment: Accepted by PASP. 8 pages, 8 figure

Europe as a multilevel federation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Identification of measures predictive of age of puberty onset in gilts

A potential indicator of female lifetime productivity in swine is age of puberty, when a gilt achieves her first behavioral estrus. Follicular activity, as determined by tertiary follicle development, in prepubertal gilts begins during postnatal day (PND) 75-115. The central hypothesis of this study is that gilts demonstrating tertiary follicle development earlier in life, assessed using vulva size as a proxy, achieve puberty earlier in life compared to counterparts of a similar age and weight that lack tertiary follicle development. The objectives of this project were to identify a developmental time point when variation in ovarian development exists and to determine if a relationship between the age prepubertal ovarian development and the age at onset of puberty exists. To accomplish this, 155 gilts of similar age (± 2 days) were weighed and vulva size measured on PND 75, 85, 95, 105 and 115. Vulva measures, including vulva width (VW), length (VL) and area (VA) were utilized as developmental proxies for follicular activity. At each time point, gilts (n = 10) were sacrificed and ovarian follicular activity recorded. In a subset of gilts (n = 105), estrus detection was conducted daily on PND days 126 to 200. Mean vulva area (VA) on PND 75, 85, 95, 105 and 115 was 596 ± 206, 683 ± 190, 864 ± 212, 1014 ± 228 and 1265 ± 252 mm2, respectively. Of the gilts demonstrating behavioral estrus, 28 were within PND 140-160, 36 between PND 161-180, 15 between PND 181-200, and 26 did not demonstrate estrus behavior within 200 days of age. All gilts euthanized at PND 75 lacked follicular activity as defined by having a minimum of two antral follicles per ovary, while 60%, 80%, 90% and 100% demonstrated follicular activity on PND 85, 95, 105, and 115, respectively. Body weight at PND 75 and VW at PND 115 were correlated to age at first estrus (P \u3c 0.05). Of the gilts whose VA was less than one standard deviation from the mean on PND 95 (i.e. \u3c 652 mm2), 31% and 50% demonstrated their first behavioral estrus by PND 180 and 200, respectively. However, of gilts whose VA was within or greater than one standard deviation of the mean (i.e. ≥ 652 mm2), 66% and 79% exhibited estrus prior to PND 180 and 200, respectively. These data support utilization of VA changes between 95 and 115 days of age as a useful tool to identify replacement gilts prior to puberty for inclusion into the sow herd

Physiotherapy students and clinical educators perceive several ways in which incorporating peer-assisted learning could improve clinical placements: a qualitative study

AbstractQuestion: What are the experiences of students and clinical educators in a paired student placement model incorporating facilitated peer-assisted learning (PAL) activities, compared to a traditional paired teaching approach? Design: Qualitative study utilising focus groups. Participants: Twenty-four physiotherapy students and 12 clinical educators. Intervention: Participants in this study had experienced two models of physiotherapy clinical undergraduate education: a traditional paired model (usual clinical supervision and learning activities led by clinical educators supervising pairs of students) and a PAL model (a standardised series of learning activities undertaken by student pairs and clinical educators to facilitate peer interaction using guided strategies). Results: Peer-assisted learning appears to reduce the students’ anxiety, enhance their sense of safety in the learning environment, reduce educator burden, maximise the use of downtime, and build professional skills including collaboration and feedback. While PAL adds to the clinical learning experience, it is not considered to be a substitute for observation of the clinical educator, expert feedback and guidance, or hands-on immersive learning activities. Cohesion of the student-student relationship was seen as an enabler of successful PAL. Conclusion: Students and educators perceive that PAL can help to position students as active learners through reduced dependence on the clinical educator, heightened roles in observing practice, and making and communicating evaluative judgments about quality of practice. The role of the clinical educator is not diminished with PAL, but rather is central in designing flexible and meaningful peer-based experiences and in balancing PAL with independent learning opportunities. Registration: ACTRN12610000859088. [Sevenhuysen S, Farlie MK, Keating JL, Haines TP, Molloy E (2015) Physiotherapy students and clinical educators perceive several ways in which incorporating peer-assisted learning could improve clinical placements: a qualitative study. Journal of Physiotherapy 61: 87–92

Applications and generalizations of Fisher-Hartwig asymptotics

Fisher-Hartwig asymptotics refers to the large $n$ form of a class of Toeplitz determinants with singular generating functions. This class of Toeplitz determinants occurs in the study of the spin-spin correlations for the two-dimensional Ising model, and the ground state density matrix of the impenetrable Bose gas, amongst other problems in mathematical physics. We give a new application of the original Fisher-Hartwig formula to the asymptotic decay of the Ising correlations above $T_c$, while the study of the Bose gas density matrix leads us to generalize the Fisher-Hartwig formula to the asymptotic form of random matrix averages over the classical groups and the Gaussian and Laguerre unitary matrix ensembles. Another viewpoint of our generalizations is that they extend to Hankel determinants the Fisher-Hartwig asymptotic form known for Toeplitz determinants.Comment: 25 page

Leaky Gut’s Contribution to Inefficient Nutrient Utilization

There are a variety of situations in an animal’s life when nutrient utilization is reprioritized from productive towards agriculturally unproductive purposes. Two well-known examples that markedly reduce production are heat stress and ketosis. Decreased feed intake, experienced during both disorders, is unable to fully explain production losses. Additionally, both disorders are characterized by negative energy balance, body weight loss, inflammation, and liver fat accumulation. While the metabolism of ketosis and heat stress has been thoroughly studied for the last 40 years, the initial insult in the cascade of events ultimately reducing productivity in both heat-stressed and ketotic cows has not been identified. To that end, we have generated preliminary data strongly implicating a metabolic disruptor, endotoxin, as the underlying cause in each case