10,662 research outputs found
Treatment of dogs with compensated myxomatous mitral valve disease with spironolactone-a pilot study
Spironolactone improves outcome in dogs with advanced myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). Its efficacy in preclinical MMVD is unknown. The hypothesis was the administration of spironolactone to dogs with compensated MMVD demonstrating risk factors for poorer prognosis will decrease the rate of disease progression. The aim was to provide pilot data to evaluate preliminary effects and sample size calculation for a definitive clinical trial
Relationship Between Jump Capacity and Performance in BMX Cycling
The objective of this study is to assess the relationship between the results obtained on different vertical jump tests and the top score recorded during a BMX (Bicycle Moto-Cross) test and the rider''s performance. To do so, 10 BMX pilots participated in this study; 5 regarded as the elite group (EG) (age: 18.8 +/- 3.7, weight: 68.4 +/- 8.5 kg, height: 174 +/- 9 cm and previous BMX experience: 8 +/- 3.8 years) and 5 regarded as the recreational group (RG) (age: 19.8 +/- 4.8, weight: 69.2 +/- 11.7 kg, height: 170 +/- 9 cm, previous BMX experience: 4.2 +/- 1.3 years). Vertical jump capacity was obtained using the Bosco protocol, i.e. vertical squat jump (SJ), vertical countermovement jump (CMJ), drop jump (DJ) and repetitive jump (RJ), and time in race in a BMX circuit was determined. The results indicate a direct relationship between the time used to complete the circuit and the height of the jump reached in SJ (r: -.801; p:.017), CMJ (r : -.798; p :.018) and DJ (r : -.782; p:.022). This all suggests that assessing jump capacity using the Bosco test may be a useful tool for assessing BMX performance
A study of the photometric variability of the peculiar magnetic white dwarf WD1953-011
We present and interpret simultaneous new photometric and spectroscopic
observations of the peculiar magnetic white dwarf WD1953-011. The flux in the
V-band filter and intensity of the Balmer spectral lines demonstrate
variability with the rotation period of about 1.45 days. According to previous
studies, this variability can be explained by the presence of a dark spot
having a magnetic nature, analogous to a sunspot. Motivated by this idea, we
examine possible physical relationships between the suggested dark spot and the
strong-field magnetic structure (magnetic "spot", or "tube") recently
identified on the surface of this star. Comparing the rotationally-modulated
flux with the variable spectral observables related to the magnetic "spot" we
establish their correlation, and therefore their physical relationship.
Modeling the variable photometric flux assuming that it is associated with
temperature variations in the stellar photosphere, we argue that the
strong-field area and dark, low-temperature spot are comparable in size and
located at the same latitudes, essentially overlapping each other with a
possible slight longitudinal shift. In this paper we also present a new,
improved value of the star's rotational period and constrain the
characteristics of the thermal inhomogeneity over the degenerate's surface.Comment: accepted to the Ap
Experimental aspects of SU(5)xU(1) supergravity
We study various aspects of supergravity as they relate to
the experimental verification or falsification of this model. We consider two
string-inspired, universal, one-parameter, no-scale soft-supersymmetry-breaking
scenarios, driven by the -terms of the moduli and dilaton fields. The model
is described in terms of the supersymmetry mass scale (\ie, the chargino mass
), , and the top-quark mass. We first determine the
combined effect on the parameter space of all presently available direct and
indirect experimental constraints, including the LEP lower bounds on sparticle
and Higgs-boson masses, the rate, the anomalous magnetic moment
of the muon, the high-precision electroweak parameters
(which imply m_t\lsim180\GeV), and the muon fluxes in underground detectors
(neutrino telescopes). For the still-allowed points in
parameter space, we re-evaluate the experimental
situation at the Tevatron, LEPII, and HERA. In the 1994 run, the Tevatron could
probe chargino masses as high as 100 GeV. At LEPII the parameter space could be
explored with probes of different resolutions: Higgs boson searches, selectron
searches, and chargino searches. Moreover, for m_t\lsim150\GeV, these
Higgs-boson searches could explore all of the allowed parameter space with
\sqrt{s}\lsim210\GeV.Comment: latex, 36 pages, 25 figures (not included). Figures are available via
anonymous ftp from hplaa02.cern.ch (/pub/lopez) as either 33 ps files
(Easpects*.ps, 8.1MB) or one uuencoded file (AllFigures.uu, 3.7MB
Anti-biofilm multi drug-loaded 3D printed hearing aids
Over 5% of the world's population has disabling hearing loss, which affects approximately one third of individuals over 65 years. Hearing aids are commonly used in this population group, but prolonged use of these devices may cause ear infections. We describe for the first time, the use of 3D printing to fabricate hearing aids loaded with two antibiotics, ciprofloxacin and fluocinolone acetonide. Digital light processing 3D printing was employed to manufacture hearing aids from two polymer resins, ENG hard and Flexible. The inclusion of the antibiotics did not affect the mechanical properties of the hearing aids. All multi-drug-loaded devices exhibited a hydrophilic surface, excellent blood compatibility and anti-biofilm activity against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Hearing aids loaded with ciprofloxacin (6% w/w) and fluocinolone acetonide (0.5% w/w) sustained drug release for more than two weeks and inhibited biofilm formation on the surface of the devices and bacteria growth in the surrounding medium. In summary, this work highlights the potential of vat photopolymerization 3D printing as a versatile manufacturing approach to fabricate high-fidelity patient-specific medical devices with anti-bacterial properties
String Consistency for Unified Model Building
We explore the use of real fermionization as a test case for understanding
how specific features of phenomenological interest in the low-energy effective
superpotential are realized in exact solutions to heterotic superstring theory.
We present pedagogic examples of models which realize SO(10) as a level two
current algebra on the world-sheet, and discuss in general how higher level
current algebras can be realized in the tensor product of simple constituent
conformal field theories. We describe formal developments necessary to compute
couplings in models built using real fermionization. This allows us to isolate
cases of spin structures where the standard prescription for real
fermionization may break down.Comment: harvmac (available from xxx.lanl.gov), 30 pages (reduced format), if
you are using harvmac for the first time, make sure to adjust the "site
dependent options" at the beginning of the harvmac file. Shortened
introduction and added table 3, listing the complete massless spectrum with
U(1) charges of Model A. Version to appear in journa
Anomaly-Free Gauged R-Symmetry
We review the gauging of an R-symmetry in local and global susy. We then
construct the first anomaly-free models. We break the R-symmetry and susy at
the Planck scale and discuss the low-energy effects. We include a solution to
the mu-problem, and the prediction of observable effects at HERA. The models
also nicely allow for GUT-scale baryogenesis and R-parity violation without the
sphaleron interactions erasing the baryon-asymmetry.Comment: 6 pages, latex, no figures. Talk presented at SUSY-95. Work done in
collaboration with A. Chamseddin
Wind-induced Cross-Strait Sea Level Variability in the Strait of Gibraltar using Coastal Altimetry and In-Situ Measurements
In this work, we retracked altimeter waveforms of ESA satellites. ERS2 RA and
Envisat RA2 from descending track 0360 over the eastern side of the Strait of
Gibraltar using the Adaptive Leading Edge Subwaveform ALES retracker
Filtering Out Signals of Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking: Can We Always Eliminate Conventional Supersymmetric Effects ?
We investigate the signal + missing energy in a high-energy
linear collider, with a view to differentiating between gauge-mediated
supersymmetry breaking and the conventional supersymmetric models. Prima facie,
there is considerable chance of confusion between the two scenarios if the
assumption of gaugino mass unification is relaxed. We show that the use of
polarized electron beams enables one to distinguish between the two schemes in
most cases. There are some regions in the parameter space where this idea does
not work, and we suggest some additional methods of distinction. We also
perform an analysis of some signals in the gauge-mediated model, coming from
the pair production of the second-lightest neutralino.Comment: LaTex, 23 pages including 5 figures. Revised version to be publishd
in Physical Review D. Some minor changes were mad
Radiative Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and the Infrared Fixed Point of the Top Quark Mass
The infrared quasi fixed point solution for the top quark mass in the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model explains in a natural way large values of the top
quark mass and appears as a prediction in many interesting theoretical schemes.
Moreover, as has been recently pointed out, for moderate values of ,
in order to achieve gauge and bottom-tau Yukawa coupling unification, the top
quark mass must be within of its fixed point value. In this work we
show that the convergence of the top quark mass to its fixed point value has
relevant consequences for the (assumed) universal soft supersymmetry breaking
parameters at the grand unification scale. In particular, we show that the low
energy parameters do not depend on and but on the combination
. Hence, there is a reduction in the number of
independent parameters. Most interesting, the radiative
breaking condition implies strong correlations between the supersymmetric mass
parameter and the supersymmetry breaking parameters and
or . These correlations, which become stronger for , may have some fundamental origin, which would imply the need of a
reformulation of the naive fine tuning criteria.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, CERN-TH.7060/9
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