Systematic effects in the extraction of the 'WMAP haze'

The extraction of a 'haze' from the WMAP microwave skymaps is based on subtraction of known foregrounds, viz. free-free (bremsstrahlung), thermal dust and synchrotron, each traced by other skymaps. While the 408 MHz all-sky survey is used for the synchrotron template, the WMAP bands are at tens of GHz where the spatial distribution of the radiating cosmic ray electrons ought to be quite different because of the energy-dependence of their diffusion in the Galaxy. The systematic uncertainty this introduces in the residual skymap is comparable to the claimed haze and can, for certain source distributions, have a very similar spectrum and latitudinal profile and even a somewhat similar morphology. Hence caution must be exercised in interpreting the 'haze' as a physical signature of, e.g., dark matter annihilation in the Galactic centre.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures; improved diffusion model; extended discussion of spectral index maps; clarifying comments, figures and references added; to appear in JCA

Synthesis and tomographic characterization of the displaced Fock state of light

Displaced Fock states of the electromagnetic field have been synthesized by overlapping the pulsed optical single-photon Fock state |1> with coherent states on a high-reflection beamsplitter and completely characterized by means of quantum homodyne tomography. The reconstruction reveals highly non-classical properties of displaced Fock states, such as negativity of the Wigner function and photon number oscillations. This is the first time complete tomographic reconstruction has been performed on a highly non-classical optical state

Allergenicity reduction of cow's milk proteins using latex peptidases

The present study evaluated four laticifer fluids as a novel source of peptidases capable of hydrolyzing proteins in cow’s milk. The latex peptidases from Calotropis procera (CpLP), Cryptostegia grandiflora (CgLP), and Carica papaya (CapLP) were able to perform total hydrolysis of caseins after 30 min at pH 6.5, as confirmed by a significant reduction in the residual antigenicity. Casein hydrolysis by Plumeria rubra latex peptidases (PrLP) was negligible. Moreover, whey proteins were more resistant to proteolysis by latex peptidases; however, heat pretreatment of the whey proteins enhanced the degree of hydrolysis and reduced the residual antigenicity of the hydrolysates. The in vivo assays show that the cow’s milk proteins hydrolysed by CgLP and CapLP exhibited no immune reactions in mice allergic to cow’s milk, similar to a commercial partially hydrolysed formula. Thus, these peptidases are promising enzymes for the development of novel hypoallergenic formulas for children with a milk allergy.Instituto de Estudios Inmunológicos y Fisiopatológico

ISOLAMENTO DO Ureaplasma diversum EM MUCO VULVOVAGINAL DE VACAS LEITEIRAS REPETIDORAS DE ESTRO NO ESTADO DE ALAGOAS BRASIL

Ureaplasma diversum is an opportunistic bacteria of the bovine genital tract and an important agent in granular vulvovaginitis, abortion, low fertility herd rate and respiratory problems in calves. The aim of this work was to study the relationship between positive cultures for Ureaplasma diversum and the extension and severity of the lesions in the vaginal mucosa of repeat breeders dairy cows in Alagoas State, Brazil. Visual evaluation were performed in 93 cows to evaluate the vaginal lesion score (VLS), classified according the lesion severity and extension (0 to 4, with 0= no lesions, 4= severe inflammation and local necrosis). The VLS 1 was the most frequent (51,61%). VLS 0 was present in 17,2% of the females, while 29,03% and 2,16% showed VLS 2 and 3, respectively. None of the cows showed VLS 4. Vaginal swab samples were obtained from 24 females (25%). Of them, 41,7% were positive for U. diversum. The presence of U. diversum was associated positively to VLS, especially to those cows showing vaginal lesion score 1. The present results indicated that Ureaplasma diversum should be considered responsible for low reproductive efficiency, carrying out to repeat breeding, probably because of embryo mortality.O Ureaplasma diversum é um patógeno oportunista do trato genital dos bovinos que causa surtos de vulvovaginite granular, seguidos de abortamento e redução da eficiência reprodutiva do rebanho. O presente estudo foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de avaliar a relação entre a extensão e a gravidade das lesões de vulvovaginite observadas com o isolamento de Ureaplasma diversum em amostras colhidas diretamente da mucosa vulvovaginal, em fêmeas de aptidão leiteira repetidoras de estro no estado de Alagoas, Brasil. A avaliação da extensão e severidade das lesões foi feita em 93 vacas com histórico de repetição regular de estro após três ou mais inseminações artificiais, seguindo-se a seguinte metodologia de classificação: graus de 0 a 4, sendo 0=sem lesões; 4=lesões severas, com hemorragia e necrose. Dos 93 animais avaliados, 17,2% apresentavam lesão grau 0; 51,61% grau 1; 29,03% grau 2; 2,16% grau 3 e nenhum animal mostrou lesão de grau 4. Foi colhido muco vulvovaginal de 24 vacas, escolhidas aleatoriamente, para processamento bacteriológico, encontrando-se 41,67% das amostras positivas para Ureaplasma diversum. O isolamento do agente esteve positivamente relacionado à presença de lesões na mucosa vulvovaginal, especialmente àquelas de grau 1. Os resultados deste estudo indicam que o Ureaplasma diversum deve ser considerado como agente responsável por queda na eficiência reprodutiva, promovendo retorno ao estro, provavelmente em conseqüência de mortalidade embrionária

INFUSÃO UTERINA COM BIGUANIDA POLIMÉRICA SOBRE A COLONIZAÇÃO BACTERIANA DO ÚTERO DE VACAS COM INFECÇÃO PUERPERAL APÓS RETENÇÃO DE ENVOLTÓRIOS FETAIS

This study was carried out with the aim to verify the utilization viability of polymeric biguanide solutions for the topic treatment of puerperal uterine infections in bovine females after premature parturition. Twenty Girolando cows of a dairy farm, with placenta retention and metritis were randomly distributed in two groups. Group 1, constituted of cows that received three uterine infusions of a polymeric biguanide solution, and Group 2, with animals that were not submitted to any treatment. There were taken uterine content samples at the first, third and fifth post partum weeks for bacteriological cultures, that means, before the first infusion, 14 and 28 days after treatment. The founds of bacteriological cultures in the two groups demonstrated that the solution of polymeric biguanide was not effective to reduce uterine bacteriological colonization in cows with post partum infections.Com o objetivo de estudar a viabilidade da utilização de biguanida polimérica, no tratamento tópico de infecções puerperais em fêmeas bovinas após o parto prematuro, 20 fêmeas Girolando pertencentes a um sistema de produção leiteira, que apresentaram retenção de envoltórios fetais e conseqüentemente endometrite puerperal, foram distribuídas aleatoriamente em dois grupos. O Grupo I, foi constituído de animais que receberam três infusões uterinas de biguanida polimérica; e o Grupo 2, animais não tratados. Foram realizadas colheitas de conteúdo uterino na primeira, terceira e quinta semanas pós-parto para realização de cultivos bacteriológicos, ou seja, antes da infusão, aos 14 e 28 dias após tratamento medicamentoso. O resultado dos cultivos bacteriológicos nos dois grupos demonstrou que a utilização da biguanida polimérica não reduziu a colonização bacteriana no útero dos animais tratados, em comparação àqueles não tratados

Evidence for geometry-dependent universal fluctuations of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interfaces in liquid-crystal turbulence

We provide a comprehensive report on scale-invariant fluctuations of growing interfaces in liquid-crystal turbulence, for which we recently found evidence that they belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class for 1+1 dimensions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 230601 (2010); Sci. Rep. 1, 34 (2011)]. Here we investigate both circular and flat interfaces and report their statistics in detail. First we demonstrate that their fluctuations show not only the KPZ scaling exponents but beyond: they asymptotically share even the precise forms of the distribution function and the spatial correlation function in common with solvable models of the KPZ class, demonstrating also an intimate relation to random matrix theory. We then determine other statistical properties for which no exact theoretical predictions were made, in particular the temporal correlation function and the persistence probabilities. Experimental results on finite-time effects and extreme-value statistics are also presented. Throughout the paper, emphasis is put on how the universal statistical properties depend on the global geometry of the interfaces, i.e., whether the interfaces are circular or flat. We thereby corroborate the powerful yet geometry-dependent universality of the KPZ class, which governs growing interfaces driven out of equilibrium.Comment: 31 pages, 21 figures, 1 table; references updated (v2,v3); Fig.19 updated & minor changes in text (v3); final version (v4); J. Stat. Phys. Online First (2012

Coupling effects in the elastic scattering of 6^{6}He on 12^{12}C

To study the effect of the weak binding energy on the interaction potential between a light exotic nucleus and a target, elastic scattering of 6He at 38.3 MeV/nucleon on a 12C target was measured at Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL). The 6He beam was produced by fragmentation. The detection of the scattered particles was performed by the GANIL spectrometer. The energy resolution was good enough to separate elastic from inelastic scattering contributions. The measured elastic data have been analyzed within the optical model, with the real part of the optical potential calculated in the double-folding model using a realistic density-dependent nucleon-nucleon interaction and the imaginary part taken in the conventional Woods-Saxon (WS) form. A failure of the "bare" real folded potential to reproduce the measured angular distribution over the whole angular range suggests quite a strong coupling of the higher-order breakup channels to the elastic channel. To estimate the strength of the breakup effects, a complex surface potential with a repulsive real part (designed to simulate the polarization effects caused by the projectile breakup) was added to the real folded and imaginary WS potentials. A realistic estimate of the polarization potential caused by the breakup of the weakly bound 6He was made based on a parallel study of 6He+12C and 6Li+12C optical potentials at about the same energies