Levamisole promotes an adjuvant effect on the immunity of pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) when immunized with Aeromonas hydrophila, even when provided in the diet

AbstractDietary immunomodulators can help to defend against disease, but their dosage and time of administration are not always clear in aquaculture. In this study, we analyzed the amount of dietary levamisole required to induce an adjuvant effect. Because immunostimulants and immunization can improve the fish immune system, this study evaluated the effects of dietary levamisole administration (at 0, 125, 250 and 500mg/kg diet) and immunization with A. hydrophila (1×109 CFU) on the acquired and innate immune systems of pacu (mean initial weight 176.03±15.73g). The results showed that levamisole can act as an adjuvant for vaccination, even when administered through the diet. Immunization and levamisole administration increased the antibody titer, serum bactericidal activity, and hematocrit as well as the numbers of red blood cells, leukocytes and thrombocytes in pacu (P<0.05). However, the lysozyme activity; leukocyte respiratory activity; total protein, albumin, and globulin levels; A:G index; corpuscular hemoglobin volume; and other white blood cells showed no differences when compared with the control fish. As the immunostimulant improved, certain parameters of the acquired and innate immune systems of pacu increased, and the administration of levamisole in the diet (125 or 250mg/kg) for seven days may be used to promote adjuvant effects during immunization with A. hydrophila and thus constitutes a feed protocol strategy to be used prior to immunization

An Effective Search Method for Gravitational Ringing of Black Holes

We develop a search method for gravitational ringing of black holes. The gravitational ringing is due to complex frequency modes called the quasi-normal modes that are excited when a black hole geometry is perturbed. The detection of it will be a direct confirmation of the existence of a black hole. Assuming that the ringdown waves are dominated by the fundamental mode with least imaginary part, we consider matched filtering and develop an optimal method to search for the ringdown waves that have damped sinusoidal wave forms. When we use the matched filtering method, the data analysis with a lot of templates required. Here we have to ensure a proper match between the filter as a template and the real wave. It is necessary to keep the detection efficiency as high as possible under limited computational costs. First, we consider the white noise case for which the matched filtering can be studied analytically. We construct an efficient method for tiling the template space. Then, using a fitting curve of the TAMA300 DT6 noise spectrum, we numerically consider the case of colored noise. We find our tiling method developed for the white noise case is still valid even if the noise is colored.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to Phys. Rev. D, Note correction to Eq. (3-25), A few comments added and minor typos correcte

Graviton Mass from Close White Dwarf Binaries Detectable with LISA

The arrival times of gravitational waves and optical light from orbiting binaries provide a mechanism to understand the propagation speed of gravity when compared to that of light or electromagnetic radiation. This is achieved with a measurement of any offset between optically derived orbital phase related to that derived from gravitational wave data, at a specified location of one binary component with respect to the other. Using a sample of close white dwarf binaries (CWDBs) detectable with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and optical light curve data related to binary eclipses from meter-class telescopes for the same sample, we determine the accuracy to which orbital phase differences can be extracted. We consider an application of these measurements involving a variation to the speed of gravity, when compared to the speed of light, due to a massive graviton. For a subsample of $\sim$ 400 CWDBs with high signal-to-noise gravitational wave and optical data with magnitudes brighter than 25, the combined upper limit on the graviton mass is at the level of $\sim 6 \times 10^{-24}$ eV. This limit is two orders of magnitude better than the present limit derived by Yukawa-correction arguments related to the Newtonian potential and applied to the Solar-system.Comment: revised version, 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in PR

Measurement of the Charged Multiplicities in b, c and Light Quark Events from Z0 Decays

Average charged multiplicities have been measured separately in $b$, $c$ and light quark ($u,d,s$) events from $Z^0$ decays measured in the SLD experiment. Impact parameters of charged tracks were used to select enriched samples of $b$ and light quark events, and reconstructed charmed mesons were used to select $c$ quark events. We measured the charged multiplicities: $\bar{n}_{uds} = 20.21 \pm 0.10 (\rm{stat.})\pm 0.22(\rm{syst.})$, $\bar{n}_{c} = 21.28 \pm 0.46(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.41}_{-0.36}(\rm{syst.})$ $\bar{n}_{b} = 23.14 \pm 0.10(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.38}_{-0.37}(\rm{syst.})$, from which we derived the differences between the total average charged multiplicities of $c$ or $b$ quark events and light quark events: $\Delta \bar{n}_c = 1.07 \pm 0.47(\rm{stat.})^{+0.36}_{-0.30}(\rm{syst.})$ and $\Delta \bar{n}_b = 2.93 \pm 0.14(\rm{stat.})^{+0.30}_{-0.29}(\rm{syst.})$. We compared these measurements with those at lower center-of-mass energies and with perturbative QCD predictions. These combined results are in agreement with the QCD expectations and disfavor the hypothesis of flavor-independent fragmentation.Comment: 19 pages LaTex, 4 EPS figures, to appear in Physics Letters

Search for the Electric Dipole Moment of the tau Lepton

We have searched for a CP violation signature arising from an electric dipole moment (d_tau) of the tau lepton in the e+e- -> tau+tau- reaction. Using an optimal observable method and 29.5 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB collider at sqrt{s} = 10.58 GeV, we find Re(d_tau) = (1.15 +- 1.70) x 10^{-17} ecm and Im(d_tau) = (-0.83 +- 0.86) x 10^{-17} ecm and set the 95% confidence level limits -2.2 < Re(d_tau) < 4.5 (10^{-17}ecm) and -2.5 < Im(d_tau) < 0.8 (10^{-17}ecm).Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, 21 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Quantitative real-time PCR detection of a harmful unarmoured dinoflagellate, Karlodinium australe (Dinophyceae)

We investigated a harmful algal bloom (HAB) associated with the massive fish kills in Johor Strait, Malaysia, which recurred a year after the first incident in 2014. This incident has urged for the need to have a rapid and precise method in HAB monitoring. In this study, we develop a SYBR green-based realtime PCR (qPCR) to detect the culpable dinoflagellate species, Karlodinium australe. Species-specific qPCR primers were designed in the gene region of the second internal transcribed spacer of the ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA). The species specificity of the primers designed was evaluated by screening on the non-target species (Karlodinium veneficum, Takayama spp., and Karenia spp.) and no cross-detection was observed. The extractable gene copies per cell of K. australe determined in this study were 19 998 � 505 (P < 0.0001). Estimation of cell densities by qPCR in the experimental spiked samples showed high correlation with data determined microscopically (R2 = 0.93). Using the qPCR assay developed in this study, we successfully detected the 2015 bloom species as K. australe. Single-cell PCR and rDNA sequencing from the field samples further confirmed the finding. With the sensitivity as low as five cells, the qPCR assay developed in this study could effectively and rapidly detect cells of K. australe in the environmental samples for monitoring purpose

Demonstration of the temporal matter-wave Talbot effect for trapped matter waves

We demonstrate the temporal Talbot effect for trapped matter waves using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We investigate the phase evolution of an array of essentially non-interacting matter waves and observe matter-wave collapse and revival in the form of a Talbot interference pattern. By using long expansion times, we image momentum space with sub-recoil resolution, allowing us to observe fractional Talbot fringes up to 10th order.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Measurement of the Branching Fraction for B->eta' K and Search for B->eta'pi+

We report measurements for two-body charmless B decays with an eta' meson in the final state. Using 11.1X10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector, we find BF(B^+ ->eta'K^+)=(79^+12_-11 +-9)x10^-6 and BF(B^0 -> eta'K^0)=(55^+19_-16 +-8)x10^-6, where the first and second errors are statistical and systematic, respectively. No signal is observed in the mode B^+ -> eta' pi^+, and we set a 90% confidence level upper limit of BF(B^+-> eta'pi^+) eta'K^+- decays is investigated and a limit at 90% confidence level of -0.20<Acp<0.32 is obtained.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters