Protein Feeds for the War Period

The shortage of high-protein feeds and protein supplements for livestock is becoming more acute every day. Supplies of animal protein are not large enough to meet present needs mainly because of the increased demand for them due to (1) greater use of protein feeds by livestock producers in order to provide more milk, meat, and eggs, and (2) the need for larger amounts of casein and other animal proteins, as well as certain vegetable proteins, in war industries. It has been estimated that the shortage of protein concentrates in the United States will exceed 1,810,000 tons for 1943.\u27 Because of this shortage it is very important to the war effort that every livestock producer-farmer, rancher, and livestock feeder-do everything within his power to use existing supplies efficiently and to produce more protein feeds. He can use them best by avoiding overfeeding and other waste of feed, culling out low-producing animals and selling them, and using methods approved by authorities to control diseases and maintain sanitation

Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on four research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 1 P01 GM-14940-02)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 TO1 GM-01555-02

Mutator Dynamics on a Smooth Evolutionary Landscape

We investigate a model of evolutionary dynamics on a smooth landscape which features a ``mutator'' allele whose effect is to increase the mutation rate. We show that the expected proportion of mutators far from equilibrium, when the fitness is steadily increasing in time, is governed solely by the transition rates into and out of the mutator state. This results is a much faster rate of fitness increase than would be the case without the mutator allele. Near the fitness equilibrium, however, the mutators are severely suppressed, due to the detrimental effects of a large mutation rate near the fitness maximum. We discuss the results of a recent experiment on natural selection of E. coli in the light of our model.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Surfaces roughness effects on the transmission of Gaussian beams by anisotropic parallel plates

Influence of the plate surfaces roughness in precise ellipsometry experiments is studied. The realistic case of a Gaussian laser beam crossing a uniaxial platelet is considered. Expression for the transmittance is determined using the first order perturbation theory. In this frame, it is shown that interference takes place between the specular transmitted beam and the scattered field. This effect is due to the angular distribution of the Gaussian beam and is of first order in the roughness over wavelength ratio. As an application, a numerical simulation of the effects of quartz roughness surfaces at normal incidence is provided. The interference term is found to be strongly connected to the random nature of the surface roughness.Comment: 18 pages, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, volume 36, issue 21, pages 2697 - 270

Broad Conditions Favor the Evolution of Phase-Variable Loci

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) tracts produce stochastic on-off switching, or phase variation, in the expression of a panoply of surface molecules in many bacterial commensals and pathogens. A change to the number of repeats in a tract may alter the phase of the translational reading frame, which toggles the on-off state of the switch. Here, we construct an in silico SSR locus with mutational dynamics calibrated to those of the Haemophilus influenzae mod locus. We simulate its evolution in a regimen of two alternating environments, simultaneously varying the selection coefficient, s, and the epoch length, T. Some recent work in a simpler (two-locus) model suggested that stochastic switching in a regimen of two alternating environments may be evolutionarily favored only if the selection coefficients in the two environments are nearly equal ("symmetric") or selection is very strong. This finding was puzzling, as it greatly restricted the conditions under which stochastic switching might evolve. Instead, we find agreement with other recent theoretical work, observing selective utility for stochastic switching if the product sT is large enough for the favored state to nearly fix in both environments. Symmetry is required neither in s nor in sT. Because we simulate finite populations and use a detailed model of the SSR locus, we are also able to examine the impact of population size and of several SSR locus parameters. Our results indicate that conditions favoring evolution and maintenance of SSR loci in bacteria are quite broad. IMPORTANCE: Bacteria experience frequent changes of environment during the infection cycle. One means to rapidly adapt is stochastic switching: a bacterial lineage will stochastically produce a variety of genotypes, so that some descendants will survive if the environment changes. Stochastic switching mediated by simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci is widespread among bacterial commensals and pathogens and influences critical interactions with host surfaces or immune effectors, thereby affecting host persistence, transmission, and virulence. Here, we use the most detailed in silico model of an SSR locus to date, with its phase variation calibrated to match the mod locus of Haemophilus influenzae. The type III restriction-modification system encoded by mod participates in the regulation of multiple other genes; thus, SSR-mediated phase variation of mod has far-reaching cis-regulatory effects. This coupling of phase-variable switching to complex phenotypic effects has been described as the "phasevarion" and is central to understanding the infection cycle of bacterial commensals and pathogens

Neutron capture cross section measurements for 197Au from 3.5 to 84 keV at GELINA

Cross section measurements have been performed at the time-of-flight facility GELINA to determine the average capture cross section for 197Au in the energy region between 3.5 keV and 84 keV. Prompt gamma-rays, originating from neutron induced capture events, were detected by two C6D6 liquid scintillators. The sample was placed at about 13 m distance from the neutron source. The total energy detection principle in combination with the pulse height weighting technique was applied. The energy dependence of the neutron flux was measured with a double Frisch-gridded ionization chamber based on the 10B(n,alpha)reaction. The data have been normalized to the well-isolated and saturated 197Au resonance at 4.9 eV. Special care was taken to reduce bias effects due to the weighting function, normalization, dead time and background corrections. The total uncertainty due to normalization, neutron flux and weighting function is 1.0%. An additional uncertainty of 0.5% results from the correction for self-shielding and multiple interaction events. Fluctuations due to resonance structures have been studied by complementary measurements at a 30 m flight path station. The results reported in this work deviate systematically by more than 5% from the cross section that is recommended as a reference for astrophysical applications. They are about 2% lower compared to an evaluation of the 197Au(n,gamma) cross section, which was based on a least squares fit of experimental data available in the literature prior to this work. The average capture cross section as a function of neutron energy has been parameterized in terms of average resonance parameters. Maxwellian average cross sections at different temperatures have been calculated.JRC.D.4-Standards for Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguard

Treatment of neonatal infections: a multi-country analysis of health system bottlenecks and potential solutions.

BACKGROUND: Around one-third of the world's 2.8 million neonatal deaths are caused by infections. Most of these deaths are preventable, but occur due to delays in care-seeking, and access to effective antibiotic treatment with supportive care. Understanding variation in health system bottlenecks to scale-up of case management of neonatal infections and identifying solutions is essential to reduce mortality, and also morbidity. METHODS: A standardised bottleneck analysis tool was applied in 12 countries in Africa and Asia as part of the development of the Every Newborn Action Plan. Country workshops involved technical experts to complete a survey tool, to grade health system "bottlenecks" hindering scale up of maternal-newborn intervention packages. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the data, combined with literature review, to present priority bottlenecks and synthesise actions to improve case management of newborn infections. RESULTS: For neonatal infections, the health system building blocks most frequently graded as major or significant bottlenecks, irrespective of mortality context and geographical region, were health workforce (11 out of 12 countries), and community ownership and partnership (11 out of 12 countries). Lack of data to inform decision making, and limited funding to increase access to quality neonatal care were also major challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid recognition of possible serious bacterial infection and access to care is essential. Inpatient hospital care remains the first line of treatment for neonatal infections. In situations where referral is not possible, the use of simplified antibiotic regimens for outpatient management for non-critically ill young infants has recently been reported in large clinical trials; WHO is developing a guideline to treat this group of young infants. Improving quality of care through more investment in the health workforce at all levels of care is critical, in addition to ensuring development and dissemination of national guidelines. Improved information systems are needed to track coverage and adequately manage drug supply logistics for improved health outcomes. It is important to increase community ownership and partnership, for example through involvement of community groups

Proteomic analysis of embryonic Fasciola hepatica: Characterization and antigenic potential of a developmentally regulated heat shock protein

Fasciola hepatica is responsible for human disease and economic livestock loss on a global scale. We report the first post-genomic investigation of cellular proteins expressed by embryonic F. hepatica via two-dimensional electrophoresis, image analysis and tandem mass spectrometry. Antioxidant proteins and protein chaperones are prominently expressed by embryonic F. hepatica. Molecular differences between the egg and other characterized F. hepatica lifecycle stages were noted. Furthermore, proteins expressed within liver fluke eggs differ to those isolated from the well-characterized eggs of the human blood flatworm Schistosoma mansoni were revealed. Plasticity in expression of major proteins, particularly a prominently expressed 65 kDa protein cluster was seen between natural populations of embryonating F. hepatica eggs suggesting that liver fluke embryogenisis is a plastic process. Immunoblotting revealed that the abundant 65 kDa protein cluster is recognised by infection sera from three F. hepatica challenged host species. Mass spectrometry and BLAST analyses demonstrated that the 65 kDa antigen shows homology to egg antigens of other flatworm parasites, and is represented in a F. hepatica EST database constructed from adult fluke transcripts. EST clones encoding the egg antigen were re-sequenced, predicting two forms of the protein. Four clones predict a 312 aa polypeptide, three clones encode a putative 110 amino acid extension at the N-terminus which may be involved in protein secretion, although this extension was not expressed by natively extracted proteins. Consistent expression of alpha crystallin domains confirmed the protein to be a member of the alpha crystallin containing small heat shock protein (AC/sHSP) superfamily. AC/sHSPs are ubiquitous in nature, however, this is the first time a member of this protein superfamily has been described from F. hepatica. The antigenic AC/sHSP was named Fh-HSP35α based on predictions of molecular weight. Production of recombinant Fh-HSP35α reveals considerable mass discrepancy between native and recombinant proteins, although descriptions of other characterized flatworm AC/sHSPs, suggest that the native form is a dimer. Immunoblot analyses confirm that the recombinant protein is recognised by F. hepatica challenged hosts, but does not react with sera from non-infected animals. We discuss the potential of recombinant Fh-HSP35α as an egg-based diagnostic marker for liver fluke infection

Fully relativistic three-dimensional Cauchy-characteristic matching

A fully relativistic three-dimensional Cauchy-characteristic matching (CCM) algorithm is implemented in a numerical relativity code SpECTRE. The method is free of approximations and can be applied to any physical system. We test the algorithm with various scenarios, including the propagation of Teukolsky waves within a flat background, the perturbation of a Kerr black hole with a Teukolsky wave, and the injection of a gravitational-wave pulse from the characteristic grid. Our investigations reveal no numerical instabilities in the simulations. In addition, the tests indicate that the CCM algorithm effectively directs characteristic information into the inner Cauchy system, yielding higher precision in waveforms and smaller violations of Bondi-gauge constraints, especially when the outer boundary of the Cauchy evolution is at a smaller radius

Numerical relativity surrogate model with memory effects and post-Newtonian hybridization

Numerical relativity simulations provide the most precise templates for the gravitational waves produced by binary black hole mergers. However, many of these simulations use an incomplete waveform extraction technique -- extrapolation -- that fails to capture important physics, such as gravitational memory effects. Cauchy-characteristic evolution (CCE), by contrast, is a much more physically accurate extraction procedure that fully evolves Einstein's equations to future null infinity and accurately captures the expected physics. In this work, we present a new surrogate model, NRHybSur3dq8$\_$CCE, built from CCE waveforms that have been mapped to the post-Newtonian (PN) BMS frame and then hybridized with PN and effective one-body (EOB) waveforms. This model is trained on 102 waveforms with mass ratios $q\leq8$ and aligned spins $\chi_{1z}, \, \chi_{2z} \in \left[-0.8, 0.8\right]$. The model spans the entire LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) frequency band (with $f_{\text{low}}=20\text{Hz}$) for total masses $M\gtrsim2.25M_{\odot}$ and includes the $\ell\leq4$ and $(\ell,m)=(5,5)$ spin-weight $-2$ spherical harmonic modes, but not the $(3,1)$, $(4,2)$ or $(4,1)$ modes. We find that NRHybSur3dq8$\_$CCE can accurately reproduce the training waveforms with mismatches $\lesssim2\times10^{-4}$ for total masses $2.25M_{\odot}\leq M\leq300M_{\odot}$ and can, for a modest degree of extrapolation, capably model outside of its training region. Most importantly, unlike previous waveform models, the new surrogate model successfully captures memory effects.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in PR