267 research outputs found
Fundamental and clinical evaluation of "SCC RIABEAD" kit for immuno radiometric assay of squamous cell carcinoma related antigen.
Classic vector control strategies target mosquitoes indoors as the main transmitters of malaria are indoor-biting and –resting mosquitoes. However, the intensive use of insecticide-treated bed-nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying have put selective pressure on mosquitoes to adapt in order to obtain human blood meals. Thus, early-evening and outdoor vector activity is becoming an increasing concern. This study assessed the effect of a deltamethrin-treated net (100 mg/m2) attached to a one-meter high fence around outdoor cattle enclosures on the number of mosquitoes landing on humans. Mosquitoes were collected from four cattle enclosures: Pen A – with cattle and no net; B – with cattle and protected by an untreated net; C – with cattle and protected by a deltamethrin-treated net; D – no cattle and no net. A total of 3217 culicines and 1017 anophelines were collected, of which 388 were Anopheles gambiae and 629 An. ziemanni. In the absence of cattle nearly 3 times more An. gambiae (p<0.0001) landed on humans. The deltamethrin-treated net significantly reduced (nearly three-fold, p<0.0001) culicine landings inside enclosures. The sporozoite rate of the zoophilic An. ziemanni, known to be a secondary malaria vector, was as high as that of the most competent vector An. gambiae; raising the potential of zoophilic species as secondary malaria vectors. After deployment of the ITNs a deltamethrin persistence of 9 months was observed despite exposure to African weather conditions. The outdoor use of ITNs resulted in a significant reduction of host-seeking culicines inside enclosures. Further studies investigating the effectiveness and spatial repellence of ITNs around other outdoor sites, such as bars and cooking areas, as well as their direct effect on vector-borne disease transmission are needed to evaluate its potential as an appropriate outdoor vector control tool for rural Africa
Manipulating textures of rotating superfluid 3 He- A phase in a single narrow cylinder
We investigated order parameter textures of the rotating superfluid 3 He-A phase in a single narrow cylinder with
a diameter of about 10 times the dipole coherence length by the cw-NMR method. It is theoretically proposed
that in such a narrow cylinder, a few special textures will appear due to the confinement in a cylindrical geometry.
We observed three types of NMR spectra in the A phase. The NMR spectra of the textures were identified by
a comparison with the spin waves excited in the NMR potential using their numerically calculated resonance
frequencies and relative intensities. We have established a method to selectively generate each one of the textures
by controlling the conditions when the A phase was formed, such as the applied magnetic field, rotation angular
velocity, and temperature
NMR in Superfluid A-like Phase of He Confined in Globally Deformed Aerogel in Tilted Magnetic Field
NMR spectra in superfluid A-like phases confined in axially deformed aerogel
in presence of a magnetic field inclined with respect to deformation axis is
considered. The characteristic features of dipole frequency shift in axially
compressed and axially stretched cases are compared. In particular, it is shown
that in axially stretched aerogel environment the stability region of
coherently spin precessing mode is rather narrow due to the U(1)LIM effect.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Vortex core transitions in superfluid 3He in globally anisotropic aerogels
Core structures of a single vortex in A-like and B-like phases of superfluid
3He in uniaxially compressed and stretched aerogels are studied by numerically
solving Ginzburg-Landau equations derived microscopically. It is found that,
although any uniaxial deformation leads to a wider A-like phase with the axial
pairing in the pressure-temperature phase diagram, the vortex core states in
the two phases in aerogel depend highly on the type of deformation. In a
compressed aerogel, the first-order vortex core transition (VCT) previously
seen in the bulk B phase appears at any pressure in the B-like phase while no
strange vortex core is expected in the corresponding A-like phase. By contrast,
in a stretched aerogel, the VCT in the B-like phase is lost while another VCT
is expected to occur between a nonunitary core and a polar one in the A-like
phase. Experimental search for these results is hoped to understand correlation
between superfluid 3He and aerogel structure.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures Text was changed. Resubmitted versio
Soliton-like Spin State in the A-like Phase of 3He in Anisotropic Aerogel
We have found a new stable spin state in the A-like phase of superfluid 3He
confined to intrinsically anisotropic aerogel. The state can be formed by
radiofrequency excitation applied while cooling through the superfluid
transition temperature and its NMR properties are different from the standard
A-like phase obtained in the limit of very small excitation. It is possible
that this new state is formed by textural domain walls pinned by aerogel.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to J. of Low Tem. Phys. (QFS2007
Proceedings
Superfluid He in globally isotropic random media
Recent theoretical and experimental studies of superfluid He in aerogels
with a global anisotropy, e.g., due to an external stress, have definitely
shown that the A-like phase with an equal spin pairing (ESP) in such aerogel
samples is in the ABM (or, axial) pairing state. In this paper, the A-like
phase of superfluid He in globally {\it isotropic} aerogel is studied in
details by assuming a weakly disordered system in which singular topological
defects are absent. Through calculation of the free energy, a disordered ABM
state is found to be the best candidate of the pairing state of the globally
isotropic A-like phase. Further, it is found through a one-loop renormalization
group calculation that the coreless continuous vortices (or, vortex-skyrmions)
are irrelevant to the long-distance behavior of the disorder-induced textures,
and that the superfluidity is maintained in spite of lack of the conventional
off-diagonal long range order. Therefore, the globally isotropic A-like phase
at weak disorder is, like in the case with a global stretched anisotropy, a
superfluid glass with the ABM pairing.Comment: Revised version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
New femoral remains of Nacholapithecus kerioi: Implications for intraspecific variation and Miocene hominoid evolution
The middle Miocene stem kenyapithecine Nacholapithecus kerioi (16–15 Ma; Nachola, Kenya) is represented by a large number of isolated fossil remains and one of the most complete skeletons in the hominoid fossil record (KNM-BG 35250). Multiple fieldwork seasons performed by Japanese–Kenyan teams during the last part of the 20th century resulted in the discovery of a large sample of Nacholapithecus fossils. Here, we describe the new femoral remains of Nacholapithecus. In well-preserved specimens, we evaluate sex differences and within-species variation using both qualitative and quantitative traits. We use these data to determine whether these specimens are morphologically similar to the species holotype KNM-BG 35250 (which shows some plastic deformation) and to compare Nacholapithecus with other Miocene hominoids and extant anthropoids to evaluate the distinctiveness of its femur. The new fossil evidence reaffirms previously reported descriptions of some distal femoral traits, namely the morphology of the patellar groove. However, results also show that relative femoral head size in Nacholapithecus is smaller, relative neck length is longer, and neck–shaft angle is lower than previously reported for KNM-BG 35250. These traits have a strong functional signal related to the hip joint kinematics, suggesting that the morphology of the proximal femur in Nacholapithecus might be functionally related to quadrupedal-like behaviors instead of more derived antipronograde locomotor modes. Results further demonstrate that other African Miocene apes (with the exception of Turkanapithecus kalakolensis) generally fall within the Nacholapithecus range of variation, whose overall femoral shape resembles that of Ekembo spp. and Equatorius africanus. Our results accord with the previously inferred locomotor repertoire of Nacholapithecus, indicating a combination of generalized arboreal quadrupedalism combined with other antipronograde behaviors (e.g., vertical climbing)
Effects of rTMS of pre-supplementary motor area on fronto basal ganglia network activity during stop-signal task
Stop-signal task (SST) has been a key paradigm for probing human brain mechanisms underlying response inhibition, and the inhibition observed in SST is now considered to largely depend on a fronto basal ganglia network consisting mainly of right inferior frontal cortex, pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and basal ganglia, including subthalamic nucleus, striatum (STR), and globus pallidus pars interna (GPi). However, causal relationships between these frontal regions and basal ganglia are not fully understood in humans. Here, we partly examined these causal links by measuring human fMRI activity during SST before and after excitatory/inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of pre-SMA. We first confirmed that the behavioral performance of SST was improved by excitatory rTMS and impaired by inhibitory rTMS. Afterward, we found that these behavioral changes were well predicted by rTMS-induced modulation of brain activity in pre-SMA, STR, and GPi during SST. Moreover, by examining the effects of the rTMS on resting-state functional connectivity between these three regions, we showed that the magnetic stimulation of pre-SMA significantly affected intrinsic connectivity between pre-SMA and STR, and between STR and GPi. Furthermore, the magnitudes of changes in resting-state connectivity were also correlated with the behavioral changes seen in SST. These results suggest a causal relationship between pre-SMA and GPi via STR during response inhibition, and add direct evidence that the fronto basal ganglia network for response inhibition consists of multiple top-down regulation pathways in humans
Development of portable NMR polarimeter system for polarized HD target
A portable NMR polarimeter system has been developed to measure the
polarization of a polarized Hydrogen-Deuteride (HD) target for hadron
photoproduction experiments at SPring-8. The polarized HD target is produced at
the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka university and is
transported to SPring-8. The HD polarization should be monitored at both
places. We have constructed the portable NMR polarimeter system by replacing
the devices in the conventional system with the software system with PCI
eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI). The weight of the NMR system is downsized
from 80 kg to 7 kg, and the cost is reduced to 25%. We check the performance of
the portable NMR polarimeter system. The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the NMR
signal for the portable system is about 50% of that for the conventional NMR
system. This performance of the portable NMR system is proved to be compatible
with the conventional NMR system for the polarization measurement.Comment: 6 page, 8 figures, 2011/Mar/9 Replace Author
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