Effects of replacing soybean meal with xylose-treated soybean meal on performance of nursing Awassi ewes and fattening lambs

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing soybean meal with xylose-treated soybean meal (soypass meal; SPM) on performance of nursing Awassi ewes and fattening lambs. In Experiment 1, lasting for eight weeks, 39 Awassi ewes and their lambs were randomly assigned to three diets. Diets were formulated by replacing soybean meal from the basal diet (CON-SBM; n=13) with 50% (50% SPM; n=13) and 100% (100% SPM; n=13) SPM. Initial and final weights of the ewes were not different (P>0.55) among diets. Total gain and average daily gain (ADG) of lambs were similar (P=0.44) among diets. Ewes fed the CON-SBM diet tended (P<0.09) to have lower milk yields than those fed the 50% SPM and 100% SPM diets. No differences (P>0.38) in milk component percentages among diets were observed. In Experiment 2, lasting for 63 days, twenty weaned lambs were used to determine the effects of replacing soybean meal with SPM on growth performance. Diets were either soybean meal (SBM; n=10) or SPM (SPM; n=10). Nutrient intake and digestibility were not different between diets. However, rumen undegradable protein intake was greater (P<0.05) for the SPM diet than for the SBM diet. Final body weight, ADG and the feed conversion ratio were similar (P>0.05) between the diets. Results suggest that replacement of soybean meal with soypass meal is not likely to produce any production benefits in nursing Awassi ewes and fattening lambs except for the slight improvement of milk yield

Evaluación urodinámica y comparativa de la calidad de vida en pacientes con trastorno de vaciamiento vesical sometidos a terapia InterStim, Medtronic®

ResumenAntecedentesDesde 1980 la terapia de neuroestimulación sacra ha demostrado ser una terapia válida y alternativa en el manejo de los trastornos miccionales por patología del tracto urinario bajo, siendo sus principales indicaciones la retención urinaria idiopática, la incontinencia de urgencia y la incontinencia fecal. En nuestro país sigue siendo una terapia novedosa y no se cuenta aún con estudios que evalúen esta eficacia en términos de calidad de vida o con parámetros cuantitativos.Objetivo del estudioEstablecer la eficacia de la terapia de neuroestimulación sacra tipo InterStim, Medtronic®, en el manejo de los pacientes con trastornos de vaciamiento vesical, efectuando un análisis urodinámico y de la calidad de vida comparativo previo y posterior al tratamiento, determinando los volúmenes miccionales, los períodos de incontinencia, la satisfacción del paciente y la calidad de vida.Material y métodosDesde enero de 2010 hasta junio de 2013, en el Hospital Central Militar se realizó evaluación urodinámica y comparativa de la calidad de vida mediante el empleo del instrumento SF-36 v2 (versión mexicana) e ICIQSF, en los pacientes que presentaron trastorno de vaciamiento vesical de etiología no obstructiva y que fueron refractarios a tratamiento médico.ResultadosSe incluyeron 10 pacientes en el estudio, bajo los siguientes diagnósticos: disinergia detrusor-esfínter, vejiga hiperactiva y retención urinaria no obstructiva, ubicados por género (2 masculinos y 8 femeninos). En la totalidad de los pacientes se presentó mejoría del 50% o superior durante la fase de prueba de la terapia de neuroestimulación, y se colocó fase definitiva con los siguientes resultados: se obtuvieron resultados equivalentes al 50-65% de mejoría en los parámetros cualitativos de función física, función social y rol emocional, así como en las variables cuantitativas de volumen de vaciamiento, eficacia de vaciamiento y disminución de los períodos de incontinencia.DiscusiónComo se ha establecido a nivel de la literatura mundial, nuestros resultados fueron similares en el efecto benéfico y la eficacia en la calidad de vida e incontinencia urinaria, respectivamente, y se reportan porcentajes de éxito mayores al 50% en el cese total de los episodios de incontinencia.ConclusionesLa neuromodulación mediante la estimulación del nervio sacro es una forma exitosa de tratamiento en los trastornos de vaciamiento vesical de etiología no obstructiva y refractaria al tratamiento médico, es segura, mínimamente invasiva y de fácil aplicación, y mejora la calidad de vida de los pacientes. Sin embargo, es necesario realizar estudios aleatorizados y que consideren parámetros objetivos (urodinámicos), así como las complicaciones posibles a mediano y largo plazo en este tipo de terapia.AbstractBackgroundSince 1980, sacral neuromodulation therapy has been shown to be a valid alternative therapy in the management of urinary disorders due to lower urinary tract pathology, and its primary indications are: idiopathic urinary retention, urge incontinence, and fecal incontinence. It is still considered a novel therapy in Mexico and there are no studies using quantitative parameters that evaluate its efficacy in terms of quality of life.AimsTo establish the efficacy of the Medtronic InterStim® sacral neuromodulation therapy in the management of patients with bladder voiding disorders through urodynamic and quality of life analyses before and after treatment. Urine volume, periods of incontinence, patient satisfaction, and quality of life were determined.MethodsA comparative urodynamic and quality of life evaluation was carried out using the SF-36 v2 (Mexican version) and the ICIQSF instruments on patients presenting with nonobstructive bladder voiding disorders that were refractory to medical treatment.ResultsTen patients with the following diagnoses were included in the study: detrusor sphincter dyssynergia, overactive bladder, and nonobstructive urinary retention. Two of the patients were men and 8 were women. There was a 50% or greater improvement in all 10 patients during the test phase of the neuromodulation therapy and the definitive placement phase produced the following results: a 50-65% improvement in the qualitative parameters of physical function, social function, and emotional role, as well as in the quantitative variables of voiding volume, voiding efficacy, and reduced periods of incontinence.DiscussionOur results were similar to those established in the international literature in relation to the beneficial effect on quality of life and efficacy in urinary incontinence management; the literature reports success percentages in the complete cessation of incontinence episodes at above 50%.ConclusionsNeuromodulation through sacral nerve stimulation is a successful form of treatment of nonobstructive and medical treatment-refractory bladder voiding disorders. It is safe, minimally invasive, and easy to apply and it improves patient quality of life. Nevertheless, further randomized studies on this type of therapy need to be conducted that take into account objective parameters (urodynamics) and possible medium and long-term complications

Boost operators in Coulomb-gauge QCD: the pion form factor and Fock expansions in phi radiative decays

In this article we rederive the Boost operators in Coulomb-Gauge Yang-Mills theory employing the path-integral formalism and write down the complete operators for QCD. We immediately apply them to note that what are usually called the pion square, quartic... charge radii, defined from derivatives of the pion form factor at zero squared momentum transfer, are completely blurred out by relativistic and interaction corrections, so that it is not clear at all how to interpret these quantities in terms of the pion charge distribution. The form factor therefore measures matrix elements of powers of the QCD boost and Moeller operators, weighted by the charge density in the target's rest frame. In addition we remark that the decomposition of the eta' wavefunction in quarkonium, gluonium, ... components attempted by the KLOE collaboration combining data from phi radiative decays, requires corrections due to the velocity of the final state meson recoiling against a photon. This will be especially important if such decompositions are to be attempted with data from J/psi decays.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

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

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO