410 research outputs found
Aquaporin 1 (Aqp1) expression in healthy dog tears
Aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of thirteen membrane proteins that play an essential role in
the transport of fluids across the cell plasma membrane. Recently, the expression of AQPs in dierent
ocular tissues and their involvement in the pathophysiology of eye diseases, have garnered attention.
Considering that literature on AQP expression in the lacrimal glands and their secretion is scarce,
we aimed to characterise AQP1 expression in the tears of healthy dogs using two tear collection
methods (Schirmer tear strips (STS) and ophthalmic sponges (OS)). Fifteen healthy dogs, free of
ophthalmic diseases, were included in the study. Tear collection was performed by using STS in one
eye and OS in the other. After the extraction of proteins from the tears, the expression of AQP1 was
analysed by Western blotting. AQP1 was expressed as a band of 28 kDa. In addition, dierences
were observed in the expression of AQP1 and in the correlation between tear volume and protein
concentration, in tears collected by the two dierent methods. Our results suggest that AQP1 has a
specific role in tear secretion; further research is required to assess its particular role in the function of
the ocular surface in eye physiology and pathology
Rotation in galaxy clusters from MUSIC simulations with the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
We propose in this work its application for the detection of possible coherent rotational motions in the hot intra-cluster medium. We select a sample of massive, relaxed and rotating galaxy clusters from Marenostrum-mUltidark SImulations of galaxy Clusters (MUSIC), and we produce mock maps of the temperature distortion produced by the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect by exploring six different lines of sight, in the best observational condition. These maps are compared with the expected signal computed from a suitable theoretical model in two cases: (i) focusing only on the contribution from the rotation, and (ii) accounting also for the cluster bulk motion. We find that the parameters of the model assumed for the radial profile of the rotational velocity, averaged over the considered lines of sight, are in agreement within two standard deviations at most with independent estimates from the simulation data, without being significantly affected by the presence of the cluster bulk term. The amplitude of the rotational signal is, on average, of the order of 23 per cent of the total signal accounting also for the cluster bulk motion, and its values are consistent with the literature. The projected bulk velocity of the cluster is also recovered at the different lines of sight, with values in agreement with the simulation dataASB acknowledges funding from Sapienza Università di Roma - Progetti per Avvio alla Ricerca Anno 2017, prot. AR11715C82402BC
Lateral patellar luxation in nine small breed dogs
The objective of this paper was to describe the clinical features, the management and the outcome of nine small breed dogs affected with lateral patella luxation referred during the period between January 2010 and December 2014. Patellar luxations were classified according to: breed, age, sex, weight, and grade of patellar luxation, as well as if unilateral or bilateral, and concurrent cranial cruciate ligament lesion. In affected dogs, surgical correction consisted in the combination of tibial tuberosity transposition and soft tissue procedure. Adjunctive condroplasty or trochleoplasty was performed as needing. The outcome was found positive after surgical management with low complication rate and complications have been easily managed with high success rate
Traumatic lumbosacral joint dislocation in 3 dogs: Clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment and short-term follow-up
Traumatic lumbosacral joint dislocation (TLSJD) without L7 vertebral body fracture is a rare injury in dogs. This report describes clinical presentation, therapy and outcome in 3 dogs. Three crossbreed dogs with non-ambulatory paraparesis and lumbar pain were referred. Radiographs confirmed TLSJD and dorso-ventral displacement (DVD) was measured pre and postoperatively. Case 1 was treated by percutaneous transilial pinning. Cases 2 and 3 were treated by internal fixation with pins and PMMA. Within 72h after surgery all dogs were able to stand and walk, and faecal incontinence resolved. To the author's knowledge this is the first description of a case series of TLSJD in the dog. The biomechanics of TLSJD in animals have not been investigated. It is likely that a single trauma severely hyper-extends L7-S1 causing disruption of the supra and inter-spinous ligaments with simultaneous shear and compression forces that cause ventral slipping of the sacrum. Pins and PMMA compared to percutaneous transilial pinning, provided more strength and stability. In conclusion, TLSJD requires appropriate surgical reduction and stabilization to allow fibrous healing of the L7-S1 junction, resulting in satisfactory neurological recovery
Congenital deformity of the distal extremities in three dogs
Congenital limb deformities are very rare conditions and the knowledge about etiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation and treatment is still poor. Moreover, many defects are still not reported in veterinary literature. This report documents clinical and radiographic findings in three dogs with congenital deformity involving the distal extremities. Case 1 was affected with bilateral aphalangia of the pedes, case 2 presented a combination of brachydactyly and syndactyly, whereas in case 3 a unilateral ectrodactyly was observed. To the authors’ knowledge, brachydactyly, as well as aphalangia, are very uncommon anomalies and have been rarely documented. Moreover, association between syndactyly and brachydactyly has still not been reported
Multi-mode TES bolometer optimization for the LSPE-SWIPE instrument
In this paper we explore the possibility of using transition edge sensor
(TES) detectors in multi-mode configuration in the focal plane of the Short
Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer (SWIPE) of the
balloon-borne polarimeter Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE) for the
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization. This study is motivated by the
fact that maximizing the sensitivity of TES bolometers, under the augmented
background due to the multi-mode design, requires a non trivial choice of
detector parameters. We evaluate the best parameter combination taking into
account scanning strategy, noise constraints, saturation power and operating
temperature of the cryostat during the flight.Comment: in Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 05 January 201
Selective laser melting process of Al–based pyramidal horns for the w-band: fabrication and testing
In the context of exploring the possibility of using Al-powder Selective Laser Meltingto fabricate horn antennas for astronomical applications at millimeter wavelengths,we describe the design, the fabrication, the mechanical characterization, and theelectromagnetic performance of additive manufactured horn antennas for the W-band. Our aim, in particular, is to evaluate the performance impact of two basickinds of surface post-processing (manual grinding and sand-blasting) to deal withthe well-known issue of high surface roughness in 3D printed devices. We performedcomparative tests of co-polar and cross-polar angular response across the whole W-band, assuming a commercially available rectangular horn antenna as a reference.Based on gain and directivity measurements of the manufactured samples, we finddecibel-level detectable deviations from the behavior of the reference horn antenna,and marginal evidence of performance degradation at the top edge of the W-band.We conclude that both kinds of post-processing allow achieving good performancefor the W-band, but the higher reliability and uniformity of the sand-blasting post-process encourage exploring similar techniques for further development of aluminumdevices at these frequencies
Cosmic Microwave Background Temperature at Galaxy Clusters
We have deduced the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature in the Coma
cluster (A1656, ), and in A2163 () from spectral
measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect over four passbands at radio
and microwave frequencies. The resulting temperatures at these redshifts are
K and K, respectively. These values confirm the expected
relation , where K is the value
measured by the COBE/FIRAS experiment. Alternative scaling relations that are
conjectured in non-standard cosmologies can be constrained by the data; for
example, if or , then
and (at 95% confidence). We
briefly discuss future prospects for more precise SZ measurements of at
higher redshifts.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, ApJL accepted for publicatio
Rotation in galaxy clusters from MUSIC simulations with the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in galaxy clusters is a unique probe for studying astrophysics and cosmology. We propose in this work its application for the detection of possible coherent rotational motions in the hot intra-cluster medium. We select a sample of massive, relaxed and rotating galaxy clusters from Marenostrum-mUltidark SImulations of galaxy Clusters (MUSIC), and we produce mock maps of the temperature distortion produced by the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect by exploring six different lines of sight, in the best observational condition. These maps are compared with the expected signal computed from a suitable theoretical model in two cases: (i) focusing only on the contribution from the rotation, and (ii) accounting also for the cluster bulk motion. We find that the parameters of the model assumed for the radial profile of the rotational velocity, averaged over the considered lines of sight, are in agreement within two standard deviations at most with independent estimates from the simulation data, without being significantly affected by the presence of the cluster bulk term. The amplitude of the rotational signal is, on average, of the order of 23 per cent of the total signal accounting also for the cluster bulk motion, and its values are consistent with the literature. The projected bulk velocity of the cluster is also recovered at the different lines of sight, with values in agreement with the simulation data
Bayesian Probabilistic Modelling for Four-Tops at the LHC
Monte Carlo (MC) generators are crucial for analyzing data at hadron
colliders, however, even a small mismatch between the MC simulations and the
experimental data can undermine the interpretation of LHC searches in the SM
and beyond. The jet multiplicity distributions used in four-top searches, one
of the ultimate rare processes in the SM currently being explored at the LHC,
makes an ideal testing ground to explore for new ways
to reduce the impact of MC mismodelling on such observables. In this Letter, we
propose a novel weakly-supervised method capable of disentangling the signal from the dominant background, while partially correcting for
possible MC imperfections. A mixture of multinomial distributions is used to
model the light-jet and -jet multiplicities under the assumption that these
are conditionally independent given a categorical latent variable. The signal
and background distributions generated from a deliberately untuned MC simulator
are used as model priors. The posterior distributions, as well as the signal
fraction, are then learned from the data using Bayesian inference. We
demonstrate that our method can mitigate the effects of large MC mismodellings
using a realistic search in the same-sign dilepton channel,
leading to corrected posterior distributions that better approximate the
underlying truth-level spectra.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, with supplementary material at
https://github.com/ManuelSzewc/bayes-4top
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