185 research outputs found
The Sunyaev-Zeldovich MITO Project
Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background radiation by electrons
in the hot gas in clusters of galaxies - the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect - has
long been recognized as a uniquely important feature, rich in cosmological and
astrophysical information. We briefly describe the effect, and emphasize the
need for detailed S-Z and X-ray measurements of nearby clusters in order to use
the effect as a precise cosmological probe. This is the goal of the MITO
project, whose first stage consisted of observations of the S-Z effect in the
Coma cluster. We report the results of these observations.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of `Understanding our Universe at the close
of XXth century', School held Apr 25 - May 6 2000, Cargese, 16 pages LaTeX, 2
figures ps (using elsart.sty & elsart.cls), text minor revisio
Endoscopic and Surgical Removal of Gastrointestinal Foreign Bodies in Dogs: An Analysis of 72 Cases
In emergency veterinary practice, gastrointestinal foreign body (GFB) removal is a common procedure that is performed with different techniques, such as endoscopy or surgery. The aims of this retrospective, multicentre, clinical study were to report the common locations and types of objects recovered and to investigate clinical factors and outcomes in dogs after surgical or endoscopic treatment for GFB removal. Records of dogs with a GFB diagnosis referred to the Teaching Veterinary Hospital or treated in three different veterinary hospitals from September 2017 to September 2019 were examined. The data obtained from each case included breed, age, clinical signs at presentation, duration of clinical signs, type and location of the GFB, treatment, length of hospitalisation and outcome. Seventy-two dogs were enrolled in the study. There were 42 males (58%) and 30 females (42%). The median age was 36 months (range: 3 months to 8 years). Endoscopic retrieval was performed in 56% of GFBs (located in the stomach or duodenum), whereas 44% of dogs underwent surgery. The type of FB detected varied greatly: kid toy (14%), metallic object/coin (13%), cloth (13%), sock (8%), ball (8%), plastic material (8%), peach stone (7%), fishhook (6%), sewing needle (4%), hair tie (4%), pacifier (3%), plant materials (3%) and others (9%). Moreover, the FBs were classified as sharp (13%, n = 9), pointed (33%, n = 24), blunt (26%, n = 19), or linear (28%, n = 20). In this study, 68% of FBs were localised in the stomach, 25% in the intestinal tract (50% duodenum, 28% jejunum, and 22% ileum), and 7% in both the stomach and small intestine. The type of GFB was not significantly associated with age, site or breed. There was a significant association between the type of GFB and sex: if the dog was male, there was a 38% probability of ingesting linear GFBs. The dog survival rate was 100% in cases treated by gastric endoscopic or surgical removal, 94% in cases treated with enterotomy and 33% in cases in which enterectomy was necessary. Enterectomy and multiple surgical sites were associated with a poor outcome. The presence of vomiting for more than 24 h was significantly associated with death
A polarization modulator unit for the mid- and high-frequency telescopes of the LiteBIRD mission
The LiteBIRD mission is a JAXA strategic L-class mission for all sky CMB surveys which will be launched in the 2020s. The main target of the mission is the detection of primordial gravitational waves with a sensitivity of the tensor-to-scalar ratio δr<0.001. The polarization modulator unit (PMU) represents a critical and powerful component to suppress 1/f noise contribution and mitigate systematic uncertainties induced by detector gain drift, both for the high-frequency telescope (HFT) and for the mid-frequency telescope (MFT). Each PMU is based on a continuously-rotating transmissive half-wave plate (HWP) held by a superconducting magnetic bearing in a 5K environment. In this contribution we will present the design and expected performance of the LiteBIRD PMUs and testing performed on every PMU subsystem with a room-temperature rotating disk used as a stand-in for the cryogenic HWP rotor
Clinical efficacy of Curcuvet and Boswellic acid combined with conventional nutraceutical product: An aid to canine osteoarthritis
Introduction
Osteoarthritis is a progressive degenerative joint disease which is high prevalent in dogs. In
the late stage of the disease, it determines chronic neuropathic pain which leads to reduced
quality-of-life in affected patients. To date it has not yet been identified a specific treatment,
but it has been proved that nutraceutical and dietary supplements may play an important
role in controlling inflammation and pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate, by the use of
force plate gait analysis, the clinical efficacy of Boswellia and Curcuvet® combined with conventional nutraceutical therapy compared with conventional nutraceutical alone in dogs
affected by osteoarthritis.
Materials and methods
Twenty client-owned dogs, over 12 months old and 20 kg of body-weight, with a confirmed
diagnosis of Osteoarthritis, were included in this randomized, double-blinded study. The
dogs were randomly divided into two groups: the first group (A) received a conventional
nutraceutical (consisted in a preparation of glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, fish-oil containing 80% of omega 3-fatty acid, vitamin C and E, saccharomyces Cerevisiae) with a combination of acid boswellic and Curcuvet®, while the second group (B) received a conventional
nutraceutical. All the enrolled dogs underwent a washout period before starting the treatment with nutraceuticals products which were the only admitted treatment over the study
period. A full orthopaedic and neurologic examination, and force plate gait analysis were
performed before starting the treatment, at 45, 90, and 60 days post-treatment. Ground
reaction forces were recorded and analyzed.
Results
Twenty dogs were enrolled in the study. In both groups there was an increasing values of
ground reaction forces. These results might indicate that both nutraceutical products determined a better condition in terms of pain feeling but that effect is much more visible
after 60 days from the end of the administration in treated group.
Discussion
In conclusion Curcuvet in combination with Boswellic acid could be considered a valid aid in
a multimodal treatment for canine osteoarthritis
Far infrared polarimeter with very low instrumental polarization
After a short analysis of the main problems involved in the construction of a
Far Infrared polarimeter with very low instrumental noise, we describe the
instrument that will be employed at MITO telescope to search for calibration
sources and investigate polarization near the CMB anisotropy peaks in the next
campaign (Winter 2002-03).Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to appear in SPIE conference proceedings
"Astronomical telescopes and instrumentation
MITO measurements of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect in the Coma cluster of galaxies
We have measured the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect towards the Coma cluster
(A1656) with the MITO experiment, a 2.6-m telescope equipped with a 4-channel
17 arcminute (FWHM) photometer. Measurements at frequency bands 143+/-15,
214+/-15, 272+/-16 and 353+/-13 GHz, were made during 120 drift scans of Coma.
We describe the observations and data analysis that involved extraction of the
S-Z signal by employing a spatial and spectral de-correlation scheme to remove
a dominant atmospheric component. The deduced values of the thermal S-Z effect
in the first three bands are DT_{0} = -179+/-38,-33+/-81,170+/-35 microKelvin
in the cluster center. The corresponding optical depth, tau=(4.1+/-0.9)
10^{-3}, is consistent (within errors) with both the value from a previous low
frequency S-Z measurement, and the value predicted from the X-ray deduced gas
parameters.Comment: Ap.J.Letters accepted, 4 pages, 2 figure
SWIPE: a bolometric polarimeter for the Large-Scale Polarization Explorer
The balloon-borne LSPE mission is optimized to measure the linear
polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background at large angular scales. The
Short Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer (SWIPE) is composed
of 3 arrays of multi-mode bolometers cooled at 0.3K, with optical components
and filters cryogenically cooled below 4K to reduce the background on the
detectors. Polarimetry is achieved by means of large rotating half-wave plates
and wire-grid polarizers in front of the arrays. The polarization modulator is
the first component of the optical chain, reducing significantly the effect of
instrumental polarization. In SWIPE we trade angular resolution for
sensitivity. The diameter of the entrance pupil of the refractive telescope is
45 cm, while the field optics is optimized to collect tens of modes for each
detector, thus boosting the absorbed power. This approach results in a FWHM
resolution of 1.8, 1.5, 1.2 degrees at 95, 145, 245 GHz respectively. The
expected performance of the three channels is limited by photon noise,
resulting in a final sensitivity around 0.1-0.2 uK per beam, for a 13 days
survey covering 25% of the sky.Comment: In press. Copyright 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation
Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only.
Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this
paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of
the paper are prohibite
Geographical information system analysis on road accidents involving wandering dogs in the urban area of Naples
In this study, the spatial distribution of road accidents involving wandering dogs on urban roads of Naples was assessed using kernel density estimation (KDE). The study included 423 dogs victim of road collisions in the period 2012-2015 collected from the medical records of Interdepartmental Centre of Veterinary Radiology, of Pathological Anatomy Service, of Veterinary Teaching Hospital, "Federico II" University of Naples, and of Veterinary Hospital Attendance of the Local Public Health Unit Napoli1. There were a significant prevalence of young male dogs and the KDE demonstrated the presence of five hotspots in five city neighbourhoods. All areas with the highest KDE were found to be peripheral zones in which wide green areas, uncultivated or cultivated, merged with built areas and crossed by large straight roads with a lot of intersections. Wandering dogs as other animals represent a mounting problem on urban roads in Italy, despite of the effort to reduce these populations. Better knowledge of this phenomenon is important with reference to taking countermeasures and improve road safety. It is also important with reference to One Health and the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011- 2020 of the United Nations
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