752 research outputs found
Transmission of the South African strain of dourine to laboratory animals
These results show that the South African strain of dourine like the
chronic form of the disease in other countries is not readily transmitted to
laboratory animals. But where the invasive power of the strain has been
boosted by serial blood passage in equines it is easily transmitted to rabbit
testicles and to white rats provided the rats are splenectomised.
The rabbit-adapted parasite remains localised and shows little tendency
to enter the blood stream. In the splenectomised white rat, the parasites
rapidly increase in virulence and are soon adapted to normal white rats.
The strain has been passaged over 50 times in normal white rats. Guinea
pigs and rabbits, are resistant. The strain differs in this respect from our
imported one which is virulent for these animals. What part bartonellosis
plays in rendering splenectomised rats susceptible to the disease is not known.
Both the rabbit-testicle and rat-adapted parasites were indistinguishable
morphologically from the original strain, and from our imported strain. An
antigen prepared from the rat strain gave the same results as our routine
antigen when tested against sera from normal and dourine infected horses.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi.
Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format
Constraining the period of the ringed secondary companion to the young star J1407 with photographic plates
Context. The 16 Myr old star 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 (V1400 Cen) underwent
a series of complex eclipses in May 2007, interpreted as the transit of a giant
Hill sphere filling debris ring system around a secondary companion, J1407b. No
other eclipses have since been detected, although other measurements have
constrained but not uniquely determined the orbital period of J1407b. Finding
another eclipse towards J1407 will help determine the orbital period of the
system, the geometry of the proposed ring system and enable planning of further
observations to characterize the material within these putative rings. Aims. We
carry out a search for other eclipses in photometric data of J1407 with the aim
of constraining the orbital period of J1407b. Methods. We present photometry
from archival photographic plates from the Harvard DASCH survey, and Bamberg
and Sonneberg Observatories, in order to place additional constraints on the
orbital period of J1407b by searching for other dimming and eclipse events.
Using a visual inspection of all 387 plates and a period-folding algorithm we
performed a search for other eclipses in these data sets. Results. We find no
other deep eclipses in the data spanning from 1890 to 1990, nor in recent
time-series photometry from 2012-2018. Conclusions. We rule out a large
fraction of putative orbital periods for J1407b from 5 to 20 years. These
limits are still marginally consistent with a large Hill sphere filling ring
system surrounding a brown dwarf companion in a bound elliptical orbit about
J1407. Issues with the stability of any rings combined with the lack of
detection of another eclipse, suggests that J1407b may not be bound to J1407.Comment: 8 pages, 3 tables, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. LaTeX
files of the paper, scripts for the figures, and a minimal working FPA can be
found under https://github.com/robinmentel/Constraining-Period
Phenotypic plasticity as a clue for the invasion success of the submerged aquatic plant Elodea nuttallii
Two closely related alien submerged aquatic plants were introduced into Europe. The
new invader (Elodea nuttallii) gradually displaced E. canadensis even at sites where the
latter was well established. The aim of the study was to evaluate the combined effects
of environmental factors on several phenotypic characteristics of the two Elodea species, and to relate these phenotypic characteristics to the invasion success of E. nuttallii
over E. canadensis. In a factorial design, Elodea plants were grown in aquaria containing five different nitrogen concentrations and incubated at five different light intensities. We used six functional traits (apical shoot RGR), total shoot RGR, relative elongation, root length, lateral
spread, branching degree) to measure the environmental response of the species. We
calculated plasticity indices to express the phenotypic differences between species. Light and nitrogen jointly triggered the development of phenotypic characteristics that
make E. nuttallii a more successful invader in eutrophic waters than E. canadensis. The
stronger invader showed a wider range of phenotypic plasticity. The apical elongation
was the main difference between the two species, with E. nuttallii being more than two
times longer than E. canadensis. E. canadensis formed dense side shoots even under
high shade and low nitrogen levels, whereas E. nuttallii required higher light and
nitrogen levels. We found that under more eutrophic conditions, E. nuttallii reach the water surface
sooner than E. canadensis and through intensive branching outcompetes all other
plants including E. canadensis. Our findings support the theory that more successful
invaders have wider phenotypic plasticit
Decision by sampling
We present a theory of decision by sampling (DbS) in which, in contrast with traditional models, there are no underlying psychoeconomic scales. Instead, we assume that an attributeâs subjective value is constructed from a series of binary, ordinal comparisons to a sample of attribute values drawn from memory and is its rank within the sample. We assume that the sample reflects both the immediate distribution of attribute values from the current decisionâs context and also the background, real-world distribution of attribute values. DbS accounts for concave utility functions; losses looming larger than gains; hyperbolic temporal discounting; and the overestimation of small probabilities and the underestimation of large probabilities
Expression of insulin-like growth factor I by activated hepatic stellate cells reduces fibrogenesis and enhances regeneration after liver injury
BACKGROUND/AIM: Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) express alpha-smooth muscle actin (alphaSMA) and acquire a profibrogenic phenotype upon activation by noxious stimuli. Insulin-like growth I (IGF-I) has been shown to stimulate HSCs proliferation in vitro, but it has been reported to reduce liver damage and fibrogenesis when given to cirrhotic rats.
METHODS: The authors used transgenic mice (SMP8-IGF-I) expressing IGF-I under control of alphaSMA promoter to study the influence of IGF-I synthesised by activated HSCs on the recovery from liver injury.
RESULTS: The transgene was expressed by HSCs from SMP8-IGF-I mice upon activation in culture and in the livers of these animals after CCl4 challenge. Twenty four hours after administration of CCl4 both transgenic and wild type mice showed similar extensive necrosis and increased levels of serum transaminases. However at 72 hours SMP8-IGF-I mice exhibited lower serum transaminases, reduced hepatic expression of alphaSMA, and improved liver morphology compared with wild type littermates. Remarkably, at this time all eight CCl4 treated wild type mice manifested histological signs of liver necrosis that was severe in six of them, while six out of eight transgenic animals had virtually no necrosis. In SMP8-IGF-I mice robust DNA synthesis occurred earlier than in wild type animals and this was associated with enhanced production of HGF and lower TGFbeta1 mRNA expression in the SMP8-IGF-I group. Moreover, Colalpha1(I) mRNA abundance at 72 hours was reduced in SMP8-IGF-I mice compared with wild type controls.
CONCLUSIONS: Targeted overexpression of IGF-I by activated HSCs restricts their activation, attenuates fibrogenesis, and accelerates liver regeneration. These effects appear to be mediated in part by upregulation of HGF and downregulation of TGFbeta1. The data indicate that IGF-I can modulate the cytokine response to liver injury facilitating regeneration and reducing fibrosis
Kepler-22b: A 2.4 Earth-radius Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Sun-like Star
A search of the time-series photometry from NASA's Kepler spacecraft reveals
a transiting planet candidate orbiting the 11th magnitude G5 dwarf KIC 10593626
with a period of 290 days. The characteristics of the host star are well
constrained by high-resolution spectroscopy combined with an asteroseismic
analysis of the Kepler photometry, leading to an estimated mass and radius of
0.970 +/- 0.060 MSun and 0.979 +/- 0.020 RSun. The depth of 492 +/- 10ppm for
the three observed transits yields a radius of 2.38 +/- 0.13 REarth for the
planet. The system passes a battery of tests for false positives, including
reconnaissance spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and centroid motion. A
full BLENDER analysis provides further validation of the planet interpretation
by showing that contamination of the target by an eclipsing system would rarely
mimic the observed shape of the transits. The final validation of the planet is
provided by 16 radial velocities obtained with HIRES on Keck 1 over a one year
span. Although the velocities do not lead to a reliable orbit and mass
determination, they are able to constrain the mass to a 3{\sigma} upper limit
of 124 MEarth, safely in the regime of planetary masses, thus earning the
designation Kepler-22b. The radiative equilibrium temperature is 262K for a
planet in Kepler-22b's orbit. Although there is no evidence that Kepler-22b is
a rocky planet, it is the first confirmed planet with a measured radius to
orbit in the Habitable Zone of any star other than the Sun.Comment: Accepted to Ap
Recommended from our members
Ultrafast X-ray Studies of Structural Dynamics at SLAC
The melting dynamics of laser excited InSb have been studied with femtosecond x-ray diffraction. These measurements demonstrate that the initial stage of crystal disordering results from inertial motion on a laser softened potential energy surface. These inertial dynamics dominate for the first half picosecond following laser excitation, indicating that interatomic forces minimally influence atomic excursions from the equilibrium lattice positions, even for motions in excess of an {angstrom}. This also indicates that the atoms disorder initially without losing memory of their lattice reference
The Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age in Chesapeake Bay and the North Atlantic Ocean
This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 297 (2010): 299-310, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.08.009.A new 2400-year paleoclimate reconstruction from Chesapeake Bay (CB) (eastern US) was compared to other paleoclimate records in the North Atlantic region to evaluate climate variability during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). Using Mg/Ca ratios from ostracodes and oxygen isotopes from benthic foraminifera as proxies for temperature and precipitation-driven estuarine hydrography, results show that warmest temperatures in CB reached 16â17 °C between 600 and 950 CE (Common Era), centuries before the classic European Medieval Warm Period (950â1100 CE) and peak warming in the Nordic Seas (1000â1400 CE). A series of centennial warm/cool cycles began about 1000 CE with temperature minima of ~ 8 to 9 °C about 1150, 1350, and 1650â1800 CE, and intervening warm periods (14â15 °C) centered at 1200, 1400, 1500 and 1600 CE. Precipitation variability in the eastern US included multiple dry intervals from 600 to 1200 CE, which contrasts with wet medieval conditions in the Caribbean. The eastern US experienced a wet LIA between 1650 and 1800 CE when the Caribbean was relatively dry. Comparison of the CB record with other records shows that the MCA and LIA were characterized by regionally asynchronous warming and complex spatial patterns of precipitation, possibly related to oceanâatmosphere processes
Cross-domain interference costs during concurrent verbal and spatial serial memory tasks are asymmetric
Some evidence suggests that memory for serial order is domain-general. Evidence also points to asymmetries in interference between verbal and visual-spatial tasks. We confirm that concurrently remembering verbal and spatial serial lists provokes substantial interference compared with remembering a single list, but we further investigate the impact of this interference throughout the serial position curve, where asymmetries are indeed apparent. A concurrent verbal order memory task affects spatial memory performance throughout the serial positions of the list, but performing a spatial order task affects memory for the verbal serial list only for early list items; in the verbal task only, the final items are unaffected by a concurrent task. Adding suffixes eliminates this asymmetry, resulting in impairment throughout the list for both tasks. These results suggest that domain-general working memory resources may be supplemented with resources specific to the verbal domain, but perhaps not with equivalent spatial resources
Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and
W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and
the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto
the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions
f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV
and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw
> 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour,
are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017
+/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second
include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables,
revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio
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