927 research outputs found
Malagan ritual art on Tabar, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Malagan ritual art traditions of New Ireland have long been of interest to Western anthropologists, but have not before been considered in terms relevant to the New Irelanders themselves. This thesis documents the malagan ritual art traditions of Tabar, a group of three islands off the coast of New Ireland which is acknowledged as the traditional source of malagan, and analyses malagan through the terms of reference which were specified by the Tabar Islanders as part of condition for undertaking fieldwork. Two series of ritual ceremonies are described, a mortuary series and a commemorative series. Over 450 malagan descriptions within twenty two subtraditions have been recorded and are documented in an accompanying appendix. The social and cultural connections of malagan are described and analysed, then the indigenous taxonomic structure malagan is described and analysed. A new understanding of the nature of these subtraditions has resulted from this study
Understanding the interface between the Mental Capacity Actâs Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (MCA-DoLS) and the Mental Health Act (MHA)
Cosmic homogeneity demonstrated with luminous red galaxies
We test the homogeneity of the Universe at with the Luminous Red
Galaxy (LRG) spectroscopic sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. First, the
mean number of LRGs within completely surveyed LRG-centered spheres of
comoving radius is shown to be proportional to at radii greater than
. The test has the virtue that it does not rely
on the assumption that the LRG sample has a finite mean density; its results
show, however, that there \emph{is} such a mean density. Secondly, the survey
sky area is divided into 10 disjoint solid angular regions and the fractional
rms density variations of the LRG sample in the redshift range
among these () regions is found to be 7
percent of the mean density. This variance is consistent with typical biased
\lcdm models and puts very strong constraints on the quality of SDSS
photometric calibration.Comment: submitted to Ap
Medical Research and Incompetent Adults
The spectre of Nazi medical experimentation during the Second World War undoubtedly hangs over any discussion of medical research and incompetent adults. The concentration camp experiments denied the rights of people who would have been able to give or withhold consent but were, of course, not asked. The fears raised by the nature of these experiments has given rise to a real, understandable and genuine concern that research participants, particularly those who are vulnerable, may be abused through their participation. For example, Professors Kennedy and Grubb take the view that nontherapeutic research on incompetent adults is prohibited and go on to say that âgiven the history of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s which culminated in the Nuremberg Trials ... it is entirely understandable that some European countries would hold the view that an absolute prohibition was the only defensible [position].â The question that arises is whether prohibition is always the correct approach, or whether some forms of research should be permissible, recognising that strict protections will be necessary. We reflect upon the rigidity of the distinction between therapeutic and non-therapeutic research in the context of a research project that we undertook
Decreased NADPH oxidase expression and antioxidant activity in cachectic skeletal muscle
Background - Cancer cachexia is the progressive loss of skeletal muscle protein that contributes significantly to cancer morbidity and mortality. Evidence of antioxidant attenuation and the presence of oxidised proteins in patients with cancer cachexia indicate a role for oxidative stress. The level of oxidative stress in tissues is determined by an imbalance between reactive oxygen species production and antioxidant activity. This study aimed to investigate the superoxide generating NADPH oxidase (NOX) enzyme and antioxidant enzyme systems in murine adenocarcinoma tumour-bearing cachectic mice. Methods - Superoxide levels, mRNA levels of NOX enzyme subunits and the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidise (GPx) and catalase was measured in the skeletal muscle of mice with cancer and cancer cachexia. Protein expression levels of NOX enzyme subunits and antioxidant enzyme activity was also measured in the same muscle samples. Results - Superoxide levels increased 1.4-fold in the muscle of mice with cancer cachexia, and this was associated with a decrease in mRNA of NOX enzyme subunits, NOX2, p40phox and p67phox along with the antioxidant enzymes SOD1, SOD2 and GPx. Cancer cachexia was also associated with a 1.3-fold decrease in SOD1 and 2.0-fold decrease in GPx enzyme activity. Conclusion - Despite increased superoxide levels in cachectic skeletal muscle, NOX enzyme subunits, NOX2, p40phox and p67phox, were downregulated along with the expression and activity of the antioxidant enzymes. Therefore, the increased superoxide levels in cachectic skeletal muscle may be attributed to the reduction in the activity of endogenous antioxidant enzymes
Selection and photometric properties of K+A galaxies
Two different simple measurements of galaxy star formation rate with
different timescales are compared empirically on fiber spectra of
galaxies with mag taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the
redshift range : a ratio \Aamp / \Kamp found by fitting a linear
sum of an average old stellar poplulation spectrum (\Kamp) and average A-star
spectrum (\Aamp) to the galaxy spectrum, and the equivalent width (EW) of the
\Halpha emission line. The two measures are strongly correlated, but there is
a small clearly separated population of outliers from the median correlation
that display excess \Aamp /\Kamp relative to \Halpha EW. These ``K+A'' (or
``E+A'') galaxies must have dramatically decreased their star-formation rates
over the last Gyr. The K+A luminosity distribution is very similar to
that of the total galaxy population. The K+A population appears to be
bulge-dominated, but bluer and higher surface-brightness than normal
bulge-dominated galaxies; it appears that K+A galaxies will fade with time into
normal bulge-dominated galaxies. The inferred rate density for K+A galaxy
formation is at redshift .
These events are taking place in the field; K+A galaxies don't primarily lie in
the high-density environments or clusters typical of bulge-dominated
populations.Comment: submitted to Ap
NYU-VAGC: a galaxy catalog based on new public surveys
Here we present the New York University Value-Added Galaxy Catalog
(NYU-VAGC), a catalog of local galaxies (mostly below a redshift of about 0.3)
based on a set of publicly-released surveys (including the 2dFGRS, 2MASS, PSCz,
FIRST, and RC3) matched to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 2.
Excluding areas masked by bright stars, the photometric sample covers 3514
square degrees and the spectroscopic sample covers 2627 square degrees (with
about 85% completeness). Earlier, proprietary versions of this catalog have
formed the basis of many SDSS investigations of the power spectrum, correlation
function, and luminosity function of galaxies. We calculate and compile derived
quantities (for example, K-corrections and structural parameters for galaxies).
The SDSS catalog presented here is photometrically recalibrated, reducing
systematic calibration errors across the sky from about 2% to about 1%. We
include an explicit description of the geometry of the catalog, including all
imaging and targeting information as a function of sky position. Finally, we
have performed eyeball quality checks on a large number of objects in the
catalog in order to flag deblending and other errors. This catalog is
complementary to the SDSS Archive Servers, in that NYU-VAGC's calibration,
geometrical description, and conveniently small size are specifically designed
for studying galaxy properties and large-scale structure statistics using the
SDSS spectroscopic catalog.Comment: accepted by AJ; full resolution version available at
http://sdss.physics.nyu.edu/vagc/va_paper.ps; data files available at
http://sdss.physics.nyu.edu/vagc
E. coli O157 on Scottish cattle farms: evidence of local spread and persistence using repeat cross-sectional data
<b>Background</b><p></p>
Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157 is a virulent zoonotic strain of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. In Scotland (1998-2008) the annual reported rate of human infection is 4.4 per 100,000 population which is consistently higher than other regions of the UK and abroad. Cattle are the primary reservoir. Thus understanding infection dynamics in cattle is paramount to reducing human infections.<p></p>
A large database was created for farms sampled in two cross-sectional surveys carried out in Scotland (1998 - 2004). A statistical model was generated to identify risk factors for the presence of E. coli O157 on farms. Specific hypotheses were tested regarding the presence of E. coli O157 on local farms and the farms previous status. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles were further examined to ascertain whether local spread or persistence of strains could be inferred.<p></p>
<b>Results</b><p></p>
The presence of an E. coli O157 positive local farm (average distance: 5.96km) in the Highlands, North East and South West, farm size and the number of cattle moved onto the farm 8 weeks prior to sampling were significant risk factors for the presence of E. coli O157 on farms. Previous status of a farm was not a significant predictor of current status (p = 0.398). Farms within the same sampling cluster were significantly more likely to be the same PFGE type (p < 0.001), implicating spread of strains between local farms. Isolates with identical PFGE types were observed to persist across the two surveys, including 3 that were identified on the same farm, suggesting an environmental reservoir. PFGE types that were persistent were more likely to have been observed in human clinical infections in Scotland (p < 0.001) from the same time frame.<p></p>
<b>Conclusions</b><p></p>
The results of this study demonstrate the spread of E. coli O157 between local farms and highlight the potential link between persistent cattle strains and human clinical infections in Scotland. This novel insight into the epidemiology of Scottish E. coli O157 paves the way for future research into the mechanisms of transmission which should help with the design of control measures to reduce E. coli O157 from livestock-related sources
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