901 research outputs found
Parental Care in Sphaerium Striatinum Lamarck: Evidence for Retention of Competent Offspring
The timing of offspring release is a fundamental turning point in the life history of any organism. It represents the end to many of the most costly forms of parental care (e.g., provisioning of nutrients for developing eggs and zygotes) and the beginning of an independent life for the offspring. Generally temporal variation in this event is attributed to a variety of physiological and evolutionary trade-offs. Here we examine the retention of offspring in the freshwater clam Sphaerium striatinum Lamarck. Brooded offspring are typically not released into the environment until they are 4.0 mm shell length (SL). We provide evidence that offspring as small as 2.0 mm SL are competent to process particles and produce both fecal and pseudofecal material. Furthermore, such small clams are shown to experience higher mortality than larger individuals once they are removed from brood pouches. Hence, the retention of competent offspring within brood pouches represents a form of extended parental care
Influence of Spin Wave Excitations on the Ferromagnetic Phase Diagram in the Hubbard-Model
The subject of the present paper is the theoretical description of collective
electronic excitations, i.e. spin waves, in the Hubbard-model. Starting with
the widely used Random-Phase-Approximation, which combines Hartree-Fock theory
with the summation of the two-particle ladder, we extend the theory to a more
sophisticated single particle approximation, namely the
Spectral-Density-Ansatz. Doing so we have to introduce a `screened`
Coulomb-interaction rather than the bare Hubbard-interaction in order to obtain
physically reasonable spinwave dispersions. The discussion following the
technical procedure shows that comparison of standard RPA with our new
approximation reduces the occurrence of a ferromagnetic phase further with
respect to the phase-diagrams delivered by the single particle theories.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, RevTex4, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
On the polarization properties of the charmed baryon Lambda^+_c in the Lambda^+_c -> p + K^- + pi^+ + pi^0 decay
The polarization properties of the charmed Lambda^+_c baryon are investigated
in weak non-leptonic four-body Lambda^+_c -> p + K^- + pi^+ + pi^0 decay. The
probability of this decay and the angular distribution of the probability are
calculated in the effective quark model with chiral U(3)XU(3) symmetry
incorporating Heavy Quark Effective theory (HQET) and the extended
Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with a linear realization of chiral U(3)XU(3)
symmetry. The theoretical value of the probability of the decay Lambda^+_c -> p
+ K^- + pi^+ + pi^0 relative to the probability of the decay Lambda^+_c -> p +
K^- + pi^+ does not contain free parameters and fits well experimental data.
The application of the obtained results to the analysis of the polarization of
the Lambda^+_c produced in the processes of photo and hadroproduction is
discussed.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, Late
Psychiatric co-morbidity is associated with increased risk of surgery in Crohn's disease
Psychiatric co-morbidity, in particular major depression and anxiety, is common in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Prior studies examining this may be confounded by the co-existence of functional bowel symptoms. Limited data exist examining an association between depression or anxiety and disease-specific endpoints such as bowel surgery.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH U54-LM008748)American Gastroenterological AssociationNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH K08 AR060257)Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center (Katherine Swan Ginsburg Fund)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH R01-AR056768)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH U01-GM092691)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH R01-AR059648)Burroughs Wellcome Fund (Career Award for Medical Scientists)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH K24 AR052403)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH P60 AR047782)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH R01 AR049880
Hyperon weak radiative decays in chiral perturbation theory
We investigate the leading-order amplitudes for weak radiative decays of
hyperons in chiral perturbation theory. We consistently include contributions
from the next-to-leading order weak-interaction Lagrangian. It is shown that
due to these terms Hara's theorem is violated. The data for the decays of
charged hyperons can be easily accounted for. However, at this order in the
chiral expansion, the four amplitudes for the decays of neutral hyperons
satisfy relations which are in disagreement with the data. The asymmetry
parameters for all the decays can not be accounted for without higher-order
terms. We shortly comment on the effect of the 27-plet part of the weak
interaction.Comment: 8 pages of REVTeX and using macro-package "feynman.tex" (available at
http://xxx.lanl.gov/ftp/hep-ph/papers/macros) for the 2 figure
Comparison of the ‘Denver regimen’ against acute tuberculosis in the mouse and guinea pig
Objectives: In this study, we sought to compare the sterilizing activity of human-equivalent doses of the ‘Denver regimen ’ against acute tuberculosis (TB) infection in the standard mouse model and in the guinea pig. Methods: Pharmacokinetic studies in guinea pigs were used to establish human-equivalent doses for rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide. Guinea pigs and mice were aerosol-infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDC1551 and treatment was started 2 weeks later with rifampicin/isoniazid/pyrazinamide for up to 6 months. For the first 2 weeks of therapy, the dosing frequency was 5 days/week, and for the remaining period, twice weekly. Treatment was discontinued in groups of 30 mice and 10 guinea pigs at 5 months and at 6 months, and these animals were held for a further 3 months in order to assess relapse rates. Results: Guinea pig lungs became culture-negative after 3 months of predominantly twice-weekly treatment and relapse rates were 0 % (0/10) both after 5 months and after 6 months of treatment. In contrast, all mice remained culture-positive despite 6 months of the same treatment, and 93 % (28/30) and 69 % (20/29) of mice relapsed after treatment for 5 and 6 months, respectively. Conclusions: Treatment with rifampicin/isoniazid/pyrazinamide administered at human-equivalent doses is much more potent against acute TB infection in guinea pigs than in mice. Our findings have importan
Levels and enantiomeric signatures of methyl sulfonyl PCB and DDE metabolites in livers of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the southern North Sea
The concentration of 26 methyl sulfonyl metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls (MeSO2-PCBs) and of p,p'-DDE (MeSO2-DDE) were determined in 19 liver samples from harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranded between 1997 and 2000 on the Belgian and French North Sea Coasts. The total concentration of MeSO2-PCBs ranged from 39 to 4221 ng/g lipid weight (lw) and were generally higher in adults (age >2 yr, range 969-4221 ng/g lw) than in juveniles (age 0.73 or EF < 0.23) for the measured chiral MeSO2-PCB congeners was found in all samples. This result may suggest that one atropisomer may be preferentially formed in harbor porpoises or that the atropisomers are retained in a highly selective manner.Peer reviewe
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