The effect of geographic location on circannual adrenocorticotropic hormone plasma concentrations in horses in Australia

Background: Longitudinal evaluation of plasma endogenous ACTH concentration in clinically normal horses has not been investigated in the Southern Hemisphere. Objectives: To longitudinally determine monthly upper reference limits for plasma ACTH in 2 disparate Australian geographic locations and to examine whether location affected the circannual rhythm of endogenous ACTH in the 2 groups of horses over a 12-month period. Animals: Clinically normal horses <20 years of age from 4 properties (institutional herd and client owned animals) in Perth (n = 40) and Townsville (n = 41) were included in the study. Methods: A prospective longitudinal descriptive study to determine the upper reference limit and confidence intervals for plasma ACTH in each geographic location using the ASVCP reference interval (RI) guidelines, for individual months and monthly groupings for 12 consecutive months. Results: Plasma endogenous ACTH concentrations demonstrated a circannual rhythm. The increase in endogenous ACTH was not confined to the autumnal months but was associated with changes in photoperiod. During the quiescent period, plasma ACTH concentrations were lower, ≤43 pg/mL (upper limit of the 90% confidence interval (CI)) in horses from Perth and ≤67 pg/mL (upper limit of the 90% CI) in horses from Townsville, than at the acrophase, ≤94 pg/mL (upper limit of the 90% CI) in horses from Perth, ≤101 pg/mL (upper limit of the 90% CI) in horses from Townsville. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Circannual rhythms of endogenous ACTH concentrations vary between geographic locations, this could be due to changes in photoperiod or other unknown factors, and upper reference limits should be determined for specific locations

Anisotropic scattering and quantum magnetoresistivities of a periodically modulated 2D electron gas

We calculate the longitudinal conductivities of a two-dimensional noninteracting electron gas in a uniform magnetic field and a lateral electric or magnetic periodic modulation in one spatial direction, in the quantum regime. We consider the effects of the electron-impurity scattering anisotropy through the vertex corrections on the Kubo formula, which are calculated with the Bethe-Salpeter equation, in the self-consistent Born approximation. We find that due to the scattering anisotropy the band conductivity increases, and the scattering conductivities decrease and become anisotropic. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Tomato: a crop species amenable to improvement by cellular and molecular methods

Tomato is a crop plant with a relatively small DNA content per haploid genome and a well developed genetics. Plant regeneration from explants and protoplasts is feasable which led to the development of efficient transformation procedures. In view of the current data, the isolation of useful mutants at the cellular level probably will be of limited value in the genetic improvement of tomato. Protoplast fusion may lead to novel combinations of organelle and nuclear DNA (cybrids), whereas this technique also provides a means of introducing genetic information from alien species into tomato. Important developments have come from molecular approaches. Following the construction of an RFLP map, these RFLP markers can be used in tomato to tag quantitative traits bred in from related species. Both RFLP's and transposons are in the process of being used to clone desired genes for which no gene products are known. Cloned genes can be introduced and potentially improve specific properties of tomato especially those controlled by single genes. Recent results suggest that, in principle, phenotypic mutants can be created for cloned and characterized genes and will prove their value in further improving the cultivated tomato.

Search for the Rare Decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e, J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e, and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e-

We report on a search for the decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c., J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c., and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e- + c.c. in a sample of 5.8 * 10^7 J/Psi events collected with the BESII detector at the BEPC. No excess of signal above background is observed, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are set: B(J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c.)<4.8*10^-5, B(J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c.) D0bar e+ e- + c.c.)<1.1*10^-5Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Study of J/psi decays to Lambda Lambdabar and Sigma0 Sigma0bar

The branching ratios and Angular distributions for J/psi decays to Lambda Lambdabar and Sigma0 Sigma0bar are measured using BESII 58 million J/psi.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Understanding pore formation and the effect on mechanical properties of high speed sintered polyamide-12 parts: A focus on energy input

High Speed Sintering is a novel powder-bed fusion Additive Manufacturing technique that uses an infrared lamp to provide intensive thermal energy to sinter polymer powders. The amount of thermal energy is critical to particle coalescence related defects such as porosity. This study investigates the effect of energy input on porosity and the resulting mechanical properties of polyamide-12 parts. Samples were produced at different lamp speeds, generating varying amount of energy input from a low to a high level. They were then scanned using X-ray Computed Tomography technique, following which they were subject to tensile testing. A strong correlation between energy input, porosity and mechanical properties was found, whereby pore formation was fundamentally caused by insufficient energy input. A greater amount of energy input resulted in a reduced porosity level, which in turn led to improved mechanical properties. The porosity, ultimate tensile strength and elongation achieved were 0.58%, 42.4 MPa and 10.0%, respectively, by using the standard parameters. Further increasing the energy input resulted in the lowest porosity of 0.14% and the highest ultimate tensile strength and elongation of 44.4 MPa and 13.5%, respectively. Pore morphology, volume, number density and spatial distribution were investigated, which were found to be closely linked with energy input and mechanical properties

Delinquency and reputational orientations of adolescent at-risk and not-at-risk males and females

This research investigated differences in delinquent activities and the reputational orientations of at-risk and not-at-risk male and female adolescents. Initially, we sought to establish that adolescent males and females differed in these respects. This was found to be the case: males (n = 722) scored significantly higher than females (n = 738) on seven self-reported delinquency variables and on eight reputation enhancement variables pertaining to social deviance, non-conforming reputation, and power/evaluation private identity. When a sample of 31 at-risk females was subsequently pair-wise age matched with 31 not-at-risk females, at-risk females scored significantly higher on all delinquency variables other than school misdemeanors. These at-risk females also scored significantly higher on four reputation enhancement variables relating to social deviance and non-conformity. Given that at-risk females did not differ from their not-at-risk counterparts in level of involvement in school misdemeanors, we sought to determine whether this was also the case for at-risk and not-at-risk males. An age-matched sample of 91 pairs revealed that at-risk males reported significantly higher involvement than not-at-risk males in all aspects of delinquency, including school misdemeanors. They also sought a more non-conforming reputation. To explore the relationships between delinquency and reputation enhancement, a canonical correlation analysis was performed. All findings are discussed in the light of reputation enhancement theory. © 2008 Taylor & Franci

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters