Determination of transition frequencies in a single 138^{138}Ba+^{+} ion

Transition frequencies between low-lying energy levels in a single trapped $^{138}$Ba$^{+}$ ion have been measured with laser spectroscopy referenced to an optical frequency comb. By extracting the frequencies of one-photon and two-photon components of the line shape using an eight-level optical Bloch model, we achieved 0.1 MHz accuracy for the 5d $^{2}$D$_{3/2}$ - 6p $^{2}$P$_{1/2}$ and 6s $^{2}$S$_{1/2}$ - 5d $^{2}$D$_{3/2}$ transition frequencies, and 0.2 MHz for the 6s $^{2}$S$_{1/2}$ - 6p $^{2}$P$_{1/2}$ transition frequency.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Developing a decomposable measure of profit efficiency using DEA

In for-profit organizations efficiency measurement with reference to the potential for profit augmentation is particularly important as is its decomposition into technical, and allocative components. Different profit efficiency approaches can be found in the literature to measure and decompose overall profit efficiency. In this paper, we highlight some problems within existing approaches and propose a new measure of profit efficiency based on a geometric mean of input/output adjustments needed for maximizing profits. Overall profit efficiency is calculated through this efficiency measure and is decomposed into its technical and allocative components. Technical efficiency is calculated based on a non-oriented geometric distance function (GDF) that is able to incorporate all the sources of inefficiency, while allocative efficiency is retrieved residually. We also define a measure of profitability efficiency which complements profit efficiency in that it makes it possible to retrieve the scale efficiency of a unit as a component of its profitability efficiency. In addition, the measure of profitability efficiency allows for a dual profitability interpretation of the GDF measure of technical efficiency. The concepts introduced in the paper are illustrated using a numerical example

A subaliança Fraxino angustifoliae-Ulmenion minoris em Portugal continental.

A subaliança Fraxino angustifoliae-Ulmenion minoris (Populion albae, Populet alia albae, Salici purpureaePopuletea nigrae) reúne os bosques climácicos tempori higrófilos das zonas mais elevadas das margens dos rios - raramente inundadas - bem como de cabeceiras de linhas de água - onde o caudal não chega a ser permanente. Com base em inventários realizados desde 2004, são propostos dois novos sintáxones no âmbito desta subaliança : Hedero hibernicae Fraxinetum angustifoliae omphalodetosum nitidae e Clematido campanifloraeCeltidetum australis. Por fim, apresenta-se uma análise de agrupamento (cluster analysis) com todas as comunidades pertencentes a esta subaliança, com presença reconhecida em Portugal continental. Tal análise revelou que a sintaxonomia - actual e proposta - é consistente, discriminando claramente os sintáxones em causa

Atividade ovicida e larvicida in vitro do óleo essencial de Eucalyptus globulus sobre Haemonchus contortus.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do óleo essencial de Eucalyptus globulus (OEEG) sobre a eclosão e desenvolvimento de larvas de Haemonchus contortus. A determinação da composição química do OEEG foi feita por meio de cromatografia gasosa acoplada à espectrometria de massa. No teste de eclosão de ovos (TEO), utilizaram-se as concentrações 21,75; 17,4; 8,7; 5,43 e 2,71 mg.mL?1; e no de desenvolvimento larvar (TDL) as concentrações foram 43,5; 21,75; 10,87; 5,43 e 2,71 mg.mL?1. Cada ensaio foi acompanhado por um controle positivo, 0,02 mg.mL?1 tiabendazol, no TEO e 0,008 mg.mL?1 ivermectina no TDL, e por um controle negativo com o diluente Tween 80 (3%). A eficácia máxima obtida pelo OEEG sobre ovos foi de 99,3% na concentração de 21,75 mg.mL?1 e, sobre larvas, 98,7% na concentração de 43,5 mg.mL?1. A concentração do OEEG, que inviabilizou 50% dos ovos e das larvas do parasito, foi de 8,3 e 6,92 mg.mL?1, respectivamente. A análise química do óleo identificou como principal componente o monoterpeno 1,8-cineol. O OEEG apresentou atividade ovicida e larvicida in vitro sobre H. contortus, determinando um bom potencial para utilização no controle de nematóides gastrintestinais de ovinos e caprinos

Condições ambientais e geográficas associadas à conservação genética do louro-pardo.

Resumo

Influenza nucleoprotein delivered with aluminium salts protects mice from an influenza virus that expresses an altered nucleoprotein sequence

Influenza virus poses a difficult challenge for protective immunity. This virus is adept at altering its surface proteins, the proteins that are the targets of neutralizing antibody. Consequently, each year a new vaccine must be developed to combat the current recirculating strains. A universal influenza vaccine that primes specific memory cells that recognise conserved parts of the virus could prove to be effective against both annual influenza variants and newly emergent potentially pandemic strains. Such a vaccine will have to contain a safe and effective adjuvant that can be used in individuals of all ages. We examine protection from viral challenge in mice vaccinated with the nucleoprotein from the PR8 strain of influenza A, a protein that is highly conserved across viral subtypes. Vaccination with nucleoprotein delivered with a universally used and safe adjuvant, composed of insoluble aluminium salts, provides protection against viruses that either express the same or an altered version of nucleoprotein. This protection correlated with the presence of nucleoprotein specific CD8 T cells in the lungs of infected animals at early time points after infection. In contrast, immunization with NP delivered with alum and the detoxified LPS adjuvant, monophosphoryl lipid A, provided some protection to the homologous viral strain but no protection against infection by influenza expressing a variant nucleoprotein. Together, these data point towards a vaccine solution for all influenza A subtypes

Diterpenos em cafés Coffea canephora híbridos naturais cultivados em Rondônia.

O estado de Rondônia tem se destacado nos últimos anos no cenário da cafeicultura nacional em função de melhorias na produtividade das lavouras e qualidade da bebida dos Coffea canephora produzidos. Devido as suas condições edafoclimáticas, Rondônia produz as duas variedades comerciais de C. canephora, Conilon e Robusta, o que permitiu a hibridização natural a campo entre variedades. Na literatura há pouca disponibilidade de dados de diterpenos em café torrado, notadamente para C. canephora. O objetivo do estudo foi caracterizar cafés C. canephora híbridos naturais de Conilon e Robusta quanto aos teores de diterpenos. Três genótipos (clones 03, 08 e 25) provenientes de dois locais de cultivo (Cacoal e Ouro Preto) foram estudados. Os cafés torrados foram avaliados quanto aos teores de cafestol, caveol e 16-O-metilcafestol por CLUE. Os resultados foram analisados por ANOVA e teste de Tukey (p ≤ 0,05). Os teores de cafestol e 16-O- metilcafestol variaram de 224 a 381 mg 100 g-1 e de 258 a 356 mg 100 g-1, respectivamente. Para caveol observou-se desde ausência até 30,4 mg 100 g-1. O teor de diterpenos sofreu influência da genética e local de cultivo, e verificou-se interação entre genótipo e ambiente. Entre os diterpenos avaliados, caveol apresentou a maior variabilidade. O clone 25 apresentou presença dos três diterpenos nos dois locais de cultivo estudados, destacando-se pelos maiores teores de caveol. No geral, os híbridos apresentaram altos teores de diterpenos, notadamente 16-O-metilcafestol, em comparação ao relatado na literatura para as variedades Conilon e Robusta da espécie C. canephora

Stres na radu i zdravlje medicinskih sestara u jedinicama intenzivne njege u Srbiji

The aim of this study was to identify and analyse professional stressors, evaluate the level of stress in nurses in Intensive Care Units (ICU), and assess the correlation between the perception of stress and psychological and somatic symptoms or diseases shown by nurses. The research, designed as a crosssectional study, was carried out in the Intensive Care Units (ICU), in health centres in Serbia. The sample population encompassed 1000 nurses. Expanded Nursing Stress Scale (ENSS) was used as the research instrument. ENSS revealed a valid metric characteristic within our sample population. Nurses from ICUs rated situations involving physical and psychological working environments as the most stressful ones, whereas situations related to social working environment were described as less stressful; however, the differences in the perception of stressfulness of these environments were minor. Socio-demographic determinants of the participants (age, marital status and education level) significantly affected the perception of stress at work. Significant differences in the perception of stressfulness of particular stress factors were observed among nurses with respect to psychological and somatic symptoms (such as headache, insomnia, fatigue, despair, lower back pain, mood swings etc.) and certain diseases (such as hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes mellitus etc). In view of permanent escalation of professional stressors, creating a supportive working environment is essential for positive health outcomes, prevention of job-related diseases and better protection of already ill nurses.Cilj je ovoga rada bio identifi cirati i analizirati profesionalne stresore, procijeniti razinu stresa kod medicinskih sestara u jedinicama intenzivne njege te procijeniti korelaciju između percepcije stresa i prisutnosti psiholoških i somatskih simptoma ili bolesti kod medicinskih sestara. Istraživanje je provedeno u obliku studije presjeka u Jedinicama intenzivne njege u zdravstvenim centrima u Srbiji. Uzorak se sastojao od 1000 medicinskih sestara-tehničara. Za procjenu i analizu profesionalnih stresora korišten je upitnik Expanded Nursing Stress Scale (ENSS), koji je pokazao validne metrijske karakteristike na našoj ispitanoj populaciji. Medicinske sestre u Jedinicama intenzivne njege ocijenile su situacije iz fizičkoga i psihološkoga radnog okruženja kao izrazito opterećujuće, a situacije iz socijalnoga radnog okruženja kao manje opterećujuće. Razlika u percepciji stresogenosti navedenih radnih okruženja nije bila statistički značajna. Sociodemografske determinante ispitanika (dob, bračno stanje i stupanj obrazovanja) značajno utječu na percepciju stresa na radnom mjestu. Utvrđena je statistički značajna razlika u opažanju stresogenosti pojedinih stresnih situacija na radnom mjestu između medicinskih sestara u odnosu na postojanje psihosomatskih simptoma (kao što su glavobolja, nesanica, umor, očaj, bol u leđima, česte promjene raspoloženja) ili određenih bolesti (kao što su povišena hipertenzija, infarkt miokarda, cerebrovaskularni inzult, šećerna bolest). Zbog sve izraženije prisutnosti profesionalnih stresora nužno je poduzeti određene strateške mjere kod medicinskih sestara u Jedinicama intenzivne njege. Strateške mjere podrazumijevaju unaprjeđenje psihosocijalne radne klime, što bi unaprijedilo njihovo zdravlje i spriječilo nastanak bolesti u svezi s radom, ali i omogućilo bolju zaštitu već oboljelim medicinskim sestrama

Health-related quality of life and utilities in gastric premalignant conditions and malignant lesions: a multicentre study in a high prevalence country

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A recent review of economic studies relating to gastric cancer revealed that authors use different tests to estimate utilities in patients with and without gastric cancer. Our aim was to determine the utilities of gastric premalignant conditions and adenocarcinoma with a single standardized health measure instrument. METHODS: Cross-sectional nationwide study of patients undergoing upper endoscopy (n=1,434) using the EQ-5D-5L quality of life (QoL) questionnaire. RESULTS: According to EQ-5D-5L, utilities in individuals without gastric lesions were 0.78 (95% confidence interval: 0.76-0.80), with gastric premalignant conditions 0.79 (0.77-0.81), previously treated for gastric cancer 0.77 (0.73-0.81) and with present cancer 0.68 (0.55-0.81). Self-reported QoL according to the visual analogue scale (VAS) for the same groups were 0.67 (0.66-0.69), 0.67 (0.66-0.69), 0.62 (0.59-0.65) and 0.62 (0.54-0.70) respectively. Utilities were consistently lower in women versus men (no lesions 0.71 vs. 0.78; premalignant conditions 0.70 vs. 0.82; treated for cancer 0.72 vs. 0.78 and present cancer 0.66 vs. 0.70). CONCLUSION: The health-related QoL utilities of patients with premalignant conditions are similar to those without gastric diseases whereas patients with present cancer show decreased utilities. Moreover, women had consistently lower utilities than men. These results confirm that the use of a single standardized instrument such as the EQ-5D-5L for all stages of the gastric carcinogenesis cascade is feasible and that it captures differences between conditions and gender dissimilarities, being relevant information for authors pretending to conduct further cost-utility analysis