On the Digital Holographic Interferometry of Fibrous Material, I. Optical Properties of Polymer and Optical Fibers

The digital holographic interferometry (DHI) was utilized for investigating the optical properties of polymer and optical fibers. The samples investigated here were polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer fiber and graded-index (GRIN) optical fiber. The phase shifting Mach-Zehnder interferometer was used to obtain five phase-shifted holograms, in which the phase difference between two successive holograms is pi/2, for each fiber sample. These holograms were recorded using a CCD camera and were combined to gain a complex wavefield, which was numerically reconstructed using the convolution approach into amplitude and phase distributions. The reconstructed phase distribution was used to determine the refractive index, birefringence and refractive index profile of the studied samples. The mean refractive index has been measured with accuracy up to 4 {\times} 10-4. The main advantage of DHI is to overcome the manual focusing limitations by means of the numerical focusing. The results showed accurate measurements of the optical properties of fibers.Comment: abstract, reference

Detection of Candida albicans anti-mannan antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for diagnosis of invasive candidiasis in human and cattle

Invasive candidiasis (IC) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in human and animals, early diagnosis and management are a challenge. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the usefulness of Candida albicans anti-mannan antibodies testing by using ELISA in diagnosis of invasive candidiasis in human and cattle. Sixty-nine serum samples (45 from immunocompromised patients and 24 from diseased cattle suspected to suffer from systemic candidiasis) were examined by indirect ELISA to detect anti-mannan IgG and compared with the routine culture techniques. Mycological examination of different human and cattle biological samples (n=177) was performed while, C. albicans was detected in 69 % and 83 % of human and cattle respectively. The results of ELISA were 10 (22.2%) positive, 5 (11%) equivocal cases in human patients and 15 (62.5%) positive in diseased cattle. A positive serum IgG response for mannan antigens discriminated IC from exclusively candida positive cultures. In addition, the sequential observation of anti-mannan antibodies could contribute to early diagnosis of invasive candidiasis in human and cattle. In this way, more efficient management of IC and earlier initiation of antifungal therapy can be achieved

Factors Affecting Virulence of E. coli Isolates from Diarrheic Sheep and Goats

This study was carried out to investigate factors affecting virulence of E. coli in sheep and goats; parameters measured were, incidence of E. coli, effect of age, haemolytic activity serotyping of the pathogenic E. coli, detection of enterotoxin, astA and verotoxin genes of E. coli isolates using Polymerase chain reaction And antibiogram to the E. coli isolates. E. coli was isolated at highest percentage from diarrheic sheep at age ranged from 1 to 6 month, highest percentage from diarrheic goats aged from 7 to 12 month. E. coli isolated from diarrheic sheep gave alpha, beta and gamma hemolysis at percentage of 66.7 %, 18.2 % and 15.1%, respectively. Moreover, E. coli isolated from diarrheic goats gave alpha, beta and gamma hemolysis at percentage of 55%, 30% and 15 %, respectively. The results revealed that serotype O26 was the most E. coli serotype (31.4% ) that gave a positive Congo red followed by E. coli serotype O78 (22.9%) and E. coli serotype O86 (17.1%). Results of detection of verotoxin 2 gene of E. coli isolated from diarrheic sheep and goats revealed that the gene could not be detected in all examined E. coli isolates (7 isolates). On the other hand, results of detection STa gene in E. coli isolated from diarrheic sheep and goats revealed that 5 out of 7 E. coli isolates (71.4 %) were detected. astA gene of E. coli isolated from diarrhoeic sheep and goats was detected in all the examined isolates (7 isolates). It could be concluded that E. coli isolated from diarrhoeic sheep and goats was pathogenic and producer for enterotoxin and astA. Moreover, PCR is a simple and rapid method for detection of STa , astA and VT2 genes of E. coliKeywords: E. coli isolates; virulence; sheep; goats; PC

Reduction in left supplementary motor area grey matter in adult female fibromyalgia sufferers with marked fatigue and without affective disorder : a pilot controlled 3-T magnetic resonance imaging voxel-based morphometry study

Original article can be found at : http://www.jimronline.net/default.asp Copyright Field House Publishing [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]This study aimed to test the hypothesis that structural grey matter brain changes might occur in the chronic intractable pain disorder fibromyalgia when this is associated with marked fatigue in the absence of a DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revision) diagnosis of affective disorder. High-resolution 3-T cerebral magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired in 10 female, right-handed, non-smoking, white Caucasian subjects: five patients with fibromyalgia associated with marked fatigue and five age-matched healthy women. Voxel-wise generalized linear modelling of the processed neuroanatomical data using permutation-based non-parametric testing, forming clusters at t > 2.3 and testing clusters for significance at P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons across space, revealed significantly lower grey matter density in the patients with fibromyalgia and marked fatigue in the left supplementary motor area. This brain region plays an important role in cognitive or executive control and in the translation of painful cognition; these functions are impaired in fibromyalgia associated with marked fatigue.Peer reviewe

Online Investigation of Optical Properties and Craze Propagation of Drawn Polypropylene Fiber by Using Interferometric Image Analysis

En este trabajo se realiza un análisis de consumo energético en dos Cluster de GPU y una MultiGPU utilizando como caso de estudio el problema de los N Cuerpos. Se describen las soluciones implementadas con MPI+CUDA para las arquitecturas usadas. Se muestran los resultados y un análisis de performance y consumo energético.Universidad Nacional de La Plat

Regional grey and white matter volumetric changes in myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome): a voxel-based morphometry 3 T MRI study

Objective: It is not established whether myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is associated with structural brain changes. The aim of this study was to investigate this by conducting the largest voxel-based morphometry study to date in CFS.Methods: High-resolution structural 3 T cerebral MRI scanning was carried out in 26 patients with CFS and 26 age-and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Voxel-wise generalised linear modelling was applied to the processed MR data using permutation-based non-parametric testing, forming clusters at t>2.3 and testing clusters for significance at p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons across space.Results: Significant voxels (p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) depicting reduced grey matter volume in the CFS group were noted in the occipital lobes (right and left occipital poles; left lateral occipital cortex, superior division; and left supracalcrine cortex), the right angular gyrus and the posterior division of the left parahippocampal gyrus. Significant voxels (p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) depicting reduced white matter volume in the CFS group were also noted in the left occipital lobe.Conclusion: These data support the hypothesis that significant neuroanatomical changes occur in CFS, and are consistent with the complaint of impaired memory that is common in this illness; they also suggest that subtle abnormalities in visual processing, and discrepancies between intended actions and consequent movements, may occur in CFS