3,154 research outputs found
Fundamental and clinical evaluation of "SCC RIABEAD" kit for immuno radiometric assay of squamous cell carcinoma related antigen.
Classic vector control strategies target mosquitoes indoors as the main transmitters of malaria are indoor-biting and –resting mosquitoes. However, the intensive use of insecticide-treated bed-nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying have put selective pressure on mosquitoes to adapt in order to obtain human blood meals. Thus, early-evening and outdoor vector activity is becoming an increasing concern. This study assessed the effect of a deltamethrin-treated net (100 mg/m2) attached to a one-meter high fence around outdoor cattle enclosures on the number of mosquitoes landing on humans. Mosquitoes were collected from four cattle enclosures: Pen A – with cattle and no net; B – with cattle and protected by an untreated net; C – with cattle and protected by a deltamethrin-treated net; D – no cattle and no net. A total of 3217 culicines and 1017 anophelines were collected, of which 388 were Anopheles gambiae and 629 An. ziemanni. In the absence of cattle nearly 3 times more An. gambiae (p<0.0001) landed on humans. The deltamethrin-treated net significantly reduced (nearly three-fold, p<0.0001) culicine landings inside enclosures. The sporozoite rate of the zoophilic An. ziemanni, known to be a secondary malaria vector, was as high as that of the most competent vector An. gambiae; raising the potential of zoophilic species as secondary malaria vectors. After deployment of the ITNs a deltamethrin persistence of 9 months was observed despite exposure to African weather conditions. The outdoor use of ITNs resulted in a significant reduction of host-seeking culicines inside enclosures. Further studies investigating the effectiveness and spatial repellence of ITNs around other outdoor sites, such as bars and cooking areas, as well as their direct effect on vector-borne disease transmission are needed to evaluate its potential as an appropriate outdoor vector control tool for rural Africa
Structure of Metastable States in Phase Transitions with High-Spin Low-Spin Degree of Freedom
Difference of degeneracy of the low-spin (LS) and high-spin (HS) states
causes interesting entropy effects on spin-crossover phase transitions and
charge transfer phase transitions in materials composed of the spin-crossover
atoms. Mechanisms of the spin-crossover (SC) phase transitions have been
studied by using Wajnflasz model, where the degeneracy of the spin states (HS
or LS) is taken into account and cooperative natures of the spin-crossover
phase transitions have been well described. Recently, a charge transfer (CT)
phase transition due to electron hopping between LS and HS sites has been
studied by using a generalized Wajnflasz model. In the both systems of SC and
CT, the systems have a high temperature structure (HT) and a low temperature
structure (LT), and the change between them can be a smooth crossover or a
discontinuous first order phase transition depending on the parameters of the
systems. Although apparently the standard SC system and the CT system are very
different, it is shown that both models are equivalent under a certain
transformation of variables. In both systems, the structure of metastable state
at low temperatures is a matter of interest. We study temperature dependence of
fraction of HT systematically in a unified model, and find several structures
of equilibrium and metastable states of the model as functions of system
parameters. In particular, we find a reentrant type metastable branch of HT in
a low temperature region, which would play an important role to study the
photo-irradiated processes of related materials.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure
Self-Organized Bottleneck in Energy Relaxation
We study an energy relaxation process after many degrees of freedom are
excited in a Hamiltonian system with a large number of degrees of freedom.
Bottlenecks of relaxation, where relaxations of the excited elements are
drastically slowed down, are discovered. By defining an internal state for the
excited degrees of freedom, it is shown that the drastic slowing down occurs
when the internal state is in a critical state. The relaxation dynamics brings
the internal state into the critical state, and the critical bottleneck of
relaxation is self-organized. Relevance of our result to relaxation phenomena
in condensed matters or large molecules is briefly discussed.Comment: 4pages, 5 figure
Increase in Plasma Density by Suppression of Electrostatic Coupling and its Application to Inductive RF Negative Ion Sources
Peierls Mechanism of the Metal-Insulator Transition in Ferromagnetic Hollandite K2Cr8O16
Synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiment shows that the metal-insulator
transition occurring in a ferromagnetic state of a hollandite
KCrO is accompanied by a structural distortion from the
tetragonal to monoclinic phase with a
supercell. Detailed electronic structure
calculations demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is caused by a
Peierls instability in the quasi-one-dimensional column structure made of four
coupled Cr-O chains running in the -direction, leading to the formation of
tetramers of Cr ions below the transition temperature. This furnishes a rare
example of the Peierls transition of fully spin-polarized electron systems.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett., in press, 5 pages, 3 figure
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