New Orientia tsutsugamushi strain from scrub typhus in Australia.

In a recent case of scrub typhus in Australia, Orientia tsutsugamushi isolated from the patient's blood was tested by sequence analysis of the 16S rDNA gene. The sequence showed a strain of O. tsutsugamushi that was quite different from the classic Karp, Kato, and Gilliam strains. The new strain has been designated Litchfield

grc4f v1.0: a Four-fermion Event Generator for e+e- Collisions

grc4f is a Monte-Carlo package for generating e+e- to 4-fermion processes in the standard model. All of the 76 LEP-2 allowed fermionic final state processes evaluated at tree level are included in version 1.0. grc4f addresses event simulation requirements at e+e- colliders such as LEP and up-coming linear colliders. Most of the attractive aspects of grc4f come from its link to the GRACE system: a Feynman diagram automatic computation system. The GRACE system has been used to produce the computational code for all final states, giving a higher level of confidence in the calculation correctness. Based on the helicity amplitude calculation technique, all fermion masses can be kept finite and helicity information can be propagated down to the final state particles. The phase space integration of the matrix element gives the total and differential cross sections, then unweighted events are Generated. Initial state radiation (ISR) corrections are implemented in two ways, one is based on the electron structure function formalism and the second uses the parton shower algorithm called QEDPS. The latter can also be applied for final state radiation (FSR) though the interference with the ISR is not yet taken into account. Parton shower and hadronization of the final quarks are performed through an interface to JETSET. Coulomb correction between two intermediate W's, anomalous coupling as well as gluon contributions in the hadronic processes are also included.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX, 5 pages postscript figures, uuencode

A study of the nuclear medium influence on transverse momentum of hadrons produced in deep inelastic neutrino scattering

The influence of nuclear effects on the transverse momentum $(p_T)$ distributions of neutrinoproduced hadrons is investigated using the data obtained with SKAT propane-freon bubble chamber irradiated in the neutrino beam (with $E_{\nu}$ = 3-30 GeV) at Serpukhov accelerator. Dependences of $$on the kinematical variables of inclusive deep-inelastic scattering and of the produced hadrons are measured. It has been observed, that the nuclear effects cause an enhancement of$$ of hadrons (more pronounced for the positively charged ones) produced in the target fragmentation region at low invariant mass of the hadronic system (2 $< W <$ 4 GeV) or at low energies transferred to the current quark (2 $< \nu < 9$ GeV). At higher $W$ or $\nu$, no influence of nuclear effects on $$ is observed. Measurement results are compared with predictions of a simple model, incorporating secondary intranuclear interactions of hadrons (with a formation length extracted from the Lund fragmentation model), which qualitatively reproduces the main features of the data.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure

QCD event generators with next-to-leading order matrix-elements and parton showers

A new method to construct event-generators based on next-to-leading order QCD matrix-elements and leading-logarithmic parton showers is proposed. Matrix elements of loop diagram as well as those of a tree level can be generated using an automatic system. A soft/collinear singularity is treated using a leading-log subtraction method. Higher order re-summation of the soft/collinear correction by the parton shower method is combined with the NLO matrix-element without any double-counting in this method. An example of the event generator for Drell-Yan process is given for demonstrating a validity of this method.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, version 2: update reference [13

What research agenda could be generated from the European General Practice Research Network concept of Multimorbidity in Family Practice?

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity is an intuitively appealing, yet challenging, concept for Family Medicine (FM). An EGPRN working group has published a comprehensive definition of the concept based on a systematic review of the literature which is closely linked to patient complexity and to the biopsychosocial model. This concept was identified by European Family Physicians (FPs) throughout Europe using 13 qualitative surveys. To further our understanding of the issues around multimorbidity, we needed to do innovative research to clarify this concept. The research question for this survey was: what research agenda could be generated for Family Medicine from the EGPRN concept of Multimorbidity? METHODS: Nominal group design with a purposive panel of experts in the field of multimorbidity. The nominal group worked through four phases: ideas generation phase, ideas recording phase, evaluation and analysis phase and a prioritization phase. RESULTS: Fifteen international experts participated. A research agenda was established, featuring 6 topics and 11 themes with their corresponding study designs. The highest priorities were given to the following topics: measuring multimorbidity and the impact of multimorbidity. In addition the experts stressed that the concept should be simplified. This would be best achieved by working in reverse: starting with the outcomes and working back to find the useful variables within the concept. CONCLUSION: The highest priority for future research on multimorbidity should be given to measuring multimorbidity and to simplifying the EGPRN model, using a pragmatic approach to determine the useful variables within the concept from its outcomes.The study had a Grant of 8000 Euros from the EGPRN

QCD Event Generators

This report is a survey on QCD Event Generator issues of relevance for LEP 2. It contains four main sections: a summary of experience from LEP 1, extrapolations to LEP 2 energies, Monte Carlo descriptions and standardization issues.Comment: 84 pages, LaTeX2e, eps figures included in file using filecontents environments, gzipped, uuencoded, to appear in the proceedings of the LEP 2 Worksho

Precision Physics at LEP

1 - Introduction 2 - Small-Angle Bhabha Scattering and the Luminosity Measurement 3 - Z^0 Physics 4 - Fits to Precision Data 5 - Physics at LEP2 6 - ConclusionsComment: Review paper to appear in the RIVISTA DEL NUOVO CIMENTO; 160 pages, LateX, 70 eps figures include

A DNMT3B Alternatively Spliced Exon and Encoded Peptide Are Novel Biomarkers of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

A major obstacle in human stem cell research is the limited number of reagents capable of distinguishing pluripotent stem cells from partially differentiated or incompletely reprogrammed derivatives. Although human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) express numerous alternatively spliced transcripts, little attention has been directed at developing splice variant-encoded protein isoforms as reagents for stem cell research. In this study, several genes encoding proteins involved in important signaling pathways were screened to detect alternatively spliced transcripts that exhibited differential expression in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) relative to spontaneously differentiated cells (SDCs). Transcripts containing the alternatively spliced exon 10 of the de novo DNA methyltransferase gene, DNMT3B, were identified that are expressed in PSCs. To demonstrate the utility and superiority of splice variant specific reagents for stem cell research, a peptide encoded by DNMT3B exon 10 was used to generate an antibody, SG1. The SG1 antibody detects a single DNMT3B protein isoform that is expressed only in PSCs but not in SDCs. The SG1 antibody is also demonstrably superior to other antibodies at distinguishing PSCs from SDCs in mixed cultures containing both pluripotent stem cells and partially differentiated derivatives. The tightly controlled down regulation of DNMT3B exon 10 containing transcripts (and exon 10 encoded peptide) upon spontaneous differentiation of PSCs suggests that this DNMT3B splice isoform is characteristic of the pluripotent state. Alternatively spliced exons, and the proteins they encode, represent a vast untapped reservoir of novel biomarkers that can be used to develop superior reagents for stem cell research and to gain further insight into mechanisms controlling stem cell pluripotency

BioNoMo. The biodiversity network of Mozambique

Mozambique biodiversity richness plays a pivotal role to achieve the sustainable development of the country. However, Mozambique's flora and fauna diversity still remains broadly unknown and poorly documented. To properly address this issue, one of the strategic needs expressed by the Mozambican institutions was the development of a national biodiversity data repository to aggregate, manage and make data available online. Thus, a sustainable infrastructure for the standardisation, aggregation, organisation and sharing of primary biodiversity data was developed. Named the "Biodiversity Network of Mozambique" (BioNoMo), such a tool serves as a national repository of biodiversity data and aggregates occurrence records of plants and animals in the country obtained from floristic and faunistic observations and from specimens of biological collections. In this paper, the authors present the structure and data of BioNoMO, including software details, the process of data gathering and aggregation, the taxonomic coverage and the WebGIS development. Currently, aggregating a total of 273,172 records, including 85,092 occurrence records of plants and 188,080 occurrence records of animals (41.2% terrestrial, 58,8% aquatic), BioNoMo represents the largest aggregator of primary biodiversity data in Mozambique and it is planned to grow further by aggregating new datasets