On the Limitations of Neutrino Emissivity Formula of Iwamoto

The neutrino emissivity from two and three flavour quark matter is numerically calculated and compared with Iwamoto's formula. We find that the calculated emissivity is smaller than Iwamoto's result by orders of magnitude when $p_{f}(u)+p_{f}(e)-p_{f}(d(s))$ is comparable with the temperature. We attribute it to the severe restriction imposed by momentum conservation on the phase space integral. We obtain an alternate formula for the neutrino emissivity which is valid when the quarks and electrons are degenerate and $p_{f}(u)~+~p_{f}(e)~-~p_{f}(d(s))$ is large compared to the temperature.Comment: Latex Version 2.09, 15 pages, 5 postscript figures available upon request, preprint No. IP/BBSR/93-6

A flow cytometry based method for studying embryogenesis and immune reactivity to embryogenic stages in filarial parasites

BACKGROUND: In the absence of intermediate animal hosts, the process of embryogenesis leading to fecundity of adult female filarial worms is very critical for persistence of these obligate parasites in human communities. Embryogenesis in adult female filarial parasites involves fertilization of eggs or oocytes by sperms and their subsequent development into motile microfilariae inside the uterine cavity of worms. Development of assays for monitoring embryogenesis in adult female worms is a critical requirement in filariasis research – filarial worms are known to harbour endosymbionts such as Wolbachia which play a significant role in fecundity. Tetracycline or doxycycline treatment of the infected hosts effectively eliminates the endosymbionts resulting in inhibition of embryogenesis in female worms. Currently, inhibition of embryogenesis in adult filarial worms can be monitored only by microscopic examination of in vitro harvested intrauterine stages. METHODS: Adult female filarial worms of bovine filarial parasites, Setaria digitata were collected from the peritoneum of infected animals and intrauterine stages were harvested in culture medium and were analyzed for forward and side scatter by flowcytometry using a BD FACS Calibur. Different populations were gated, sorted and identified by phase microscopy. Binding of biotinylated lectins to intra uterine stages was monitored using FITC labeled Avidin and monitored by flow cytometry of gated populations. Similarly, binding of antibodies in human filarial sera to intrauterine stages was monitored using FITC labeled anti-human immunoglobulins. RESULTS: The forward and side scatter for intrauterine stages delineated 3 distinct populations labeled as R1, R2 and R3. The three populations were sorted and identified to be a) fully stretched microfilariae, b) early and c) late developmental stages of eggs respectively. Lectins such as Wheat Germ agglutinin or Concanavalin-A were found to bind strongly to egg stages and less prominently to intra-uterine microfilariae. Similarly the binding of antibodies in filarial sera to the three intra-uterine stages could also be precisely quantified. CONCLUSION: The manuscript reports a novel flow cytometry based method to monitor progression of embryogenesis in adult filarial worms. Apart from relative quantification of different intra uterine developmental stages, the assay allows quantitative binding of lectins and antibodies to each of the intrauterine stages. It may now be possible to quantify levels of antibodies in infected and immune hosts to monitor anti-fecundity immunity in filariasis – the assay can thus be used as a powerful tool for drug development and in immunological studies in human and experimental filariasis

Quark Hadron Phase Transition and Hybrid Stars

We investigate the properties of hybrid stars consisting of quark matter in the core and hadron matter in outer region. The hadronic and quark matter equations of state are calculated by using nonlinear Walecka model and chiral colour dielectric (CCD) model respectively. We find that the phase transition from hadron to quark matter is possible in a narrow range of the parameters of nonlinear Walecka and CCD models. The transition is strong or weak first order depending on the parameters used. The EOS thus obtained, is used to study the properties of hybrid stars. We find that the calculated hybrid star properties are similar to those of pure neutron stars.Comment: 25 pages in LaTex and 9 figures available on request, IP/BBSR/94-3

Quark Stars in Chiral Colour Dielectric Model

The nonlinear chiral extension of colour dielectric model has been used in the present work to study the properties of quark stars. Assuming that the square of meson fields develop nonzero expectation value, the thermodynamic potential for charge neutral interacting two and three flavour quark matter, in beta equilibrium, has been calculated up to second order in quark gluon interaction term in the Lagrangian. The equation of state has been found to be softer for higher quark masses and interaction strength. The quark stars properties are found to be dependent on EOS. The mass, radius, moment of inertia and gravitational red shift decrease as the equation of state becomes more soft.Comment: 12 pages+ 6 figures available upon request, Tex, IP/BBSR/92-6