Haemato biochemical alterations in goats infected with coccidiosis

Coccidiosis is an important disease which account for anaemia and associated problems like poor growth rate, suppressed resistance and high mortality in kids. While considering the various etiological factors resulting in anaemia among goats of Kerala, coccidiosis account for about 8 per cent, indicating the significance of adopting proper prevention and control measures against this disease. The present study reveals the severity and depth of anaemic changes induced by coccidia in goats. All the haematological parameters, serum biochemical parameters and serum levels of iron, copper and zinc of coccidiosis infected animals are evaluated statistically by comparing with healthy control animals

Public transport: a large scale fomite of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Background: The role of public transport as reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci was determined.Methods: 200 swabs were collected from 50 public buses (urban and rural) circulating in Davangere, Karnataka. Swabs collected were inoculated on Blood agar, Mannitol salt agar and MacConkey agar plates. After incubation for 24-48 hours, plates were examined for the growth of Staphylococcus aureus. Anti-microbial susceptibility test was performed using oxacillin 1ug disc to detect methicillin resistance as per CSLI guidelines.Results: Out of 40 Staphylococcus aureus isolated 35 isolates were resistant to more than two classes of antibiotics, hence multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Out of 35 MDR isolates, 18 were resistant to oxacillin and cefoxitin. Minimum inhibitory concentration test revealed that out of 35 MDR isolates, 18 isolates had MIC value of ≥ 4µg/ml.Conclusions: The recovery methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from public transport system implies a potential risk for transmission of these bacteria in community

Heavy Flavour Baryons in Hyper Central Model

Heavy flavor baryons containing single and double charm (beauty) quarks with light flavor combinations are studied using the hyper central description of the three-body problem. The confinement potential is assumed as hyper central coulomb plus power potential with power index $\upsilon$. The ground state masses of the heavy flavor, $J^P={1/2}^+$ and ${3/2}^+$ baryons are computed for different power index, $\nu$ starting from 0.5 to 2.0. The predicted masses are found to attain a saturated value in each case of quark combinations beyond the power index $\nu=1.0$.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Repercussion of biofilm and antibiotic resistance in ventilator associated pneumonia

Background: Ventilator associated pneumonia contributes nearly half of all cases of hospital-acquired pneumonia. Drug resistance among ventilator associated pneumonia has obligation of device withdrawal in order to achieve clinical and microbiological cure. Aim of the study was to determine the relationship between antibiotic resistance of Endotracheal tube biofilm and pulmonary pathogens in ventilator-associated pneumonia.Methods: A descriptive analytical study of 100 clinically suspected VAP patients was done. Patients were divided into group-I and Group-II based on intubation duration for 1-5 days and 6-10 days respectively. Endotracheal aspirate (ETA) was collected from clinically diagnosed cases and processed as per standard microbiological techniques. Bacterial counts ≥106 CFU/ml for quantitative cultures was considered significant. Biofilm production was detected by tissue culture plate, tube method and Congo red method. Multi-variant analysis was done to find out the association of the various factors.Results: Klebsiella pneumoniae was the predominant bacteria isolated followed by Acinetobacter baumannii. 45% of Gram negative bacteria were β lactamase producers. In Biofilm production by tissue culture method, 72% of the isolates showed either strong or moderate biofilm formation. Multivariate analysis revealed that bacteria isolated from VAP occurring after 5 days of mechanical ventilation among prior antibiotic-treated patients were resistant to all the antibiotics tested.Conclusions: Bacterial aetiology, biofilm formation and drug resistance has ramification on outcome of ventilator associated pneumonia. Hence, advised that it is crucial to remove ET tube in regular interval to prevent biofilm formation and sequential cultures to obtain the microbiological information which enables better patient care.

Sub-barrier capture with quantum diffusion approach: actinide-based reactions

With the quantum diffusion approach the behavior of capture cross sections and mean-square angular momenta of captured systems are revealed in the reactions with deformed nuclei at subbarrier energies. The calculated results are in a good agreement with existing experimental data. With decreasing bombarding energy under the barrier the external turning point of the nucleusnucleus potential leaves the region of short-range nuclear interaction and action of friction. Because of this change of the regime of interaction, an unexpected enhancement of the capture cross section is expected at bombarding energies far below the Coulomb barrier. This effect is shown its worth in the dependence of mean-square angular momentum of captured system on the bombarding energy. From the comparison of calculated and experimental capture cross sections, the importance of quasifission near the entrance channel is shown for the actinide-based reactions leading to superheavy nuclei.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figures, Regular Articl

Search for low lying dipole strength in the neutron rich nucleus 26^{26}Ne

Coulomb excitation of the exotic neutron-rich nucleus $^{26}$Ne on a $^{nat}$Pb target was measured at 58 A.MeV in order to search for low-lying E1 strength above the neutron emission threshold. Data were also taken on an $^{nat}$Al target to estimate the nuclear contribution. The radioactive beam was produced by fragmentation of a 95 A.MeV $^{40}$Ar beam delivered by the RIKEN Research Facility. The set-up included a NaI gamma-ray array, a charged fragment hodoscope and a neutron wall. Using the invariant mass method in the $^{25}$Ne+n channel, we observe a sizable amount of E1 strength between 6 and 10 MeV. The reconstructed $^{26}$Ne angular distribution confirms its E1 nature. A reduced dipole transition probability of B(E1)=0.49$\pm$0.16 $e^2fm^2$ is deduced. For the first time, the decay pattern of low-lying strength in a neutron-rich nucleus is obtained. The results are discussed in terms of a pygmy resonance centered around 9 MeV

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration, Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic

Decay Pattern of Pygmy States Observed in Neutron-Rich 26 Ne

Coulomb excitation of the exotic neutron-rich nucleus Ne26 on a Pb208 target was measured at 58 MeV/u in order to search for low-lying E1 strength above the neutron emission threshold. This radioactive beam experiment was carried out at the RIKEN Accelerator Research Facility. Using the invariant mass method in the Ne25+n channel, we observe a sizable amount of E1 strength between 6 and 10 MeV excitation energy. By performing a multipole decomposition of the differential cross section, a reduced dipole transition probability of B(E1)=0.49+-0.16e2fm2 is deduced, corresponding to 4.9+-1.6% of the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule. For the first time, the decay pattern of low-lying strength in a neutron-rich nucleus is measured. The extracted decay pattern is not consistent with several mean-field theory descriptions of the pygmy states.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0705.175

Properties of QQˉQ\bar{Q} (Qϵb,c)(Q \epsilon b, c) mesons in Coulomb plus Power potential

The decay rates and spectroscopy of the $Q \bar Q$ $(Q \in c, b)$ mesons are computed in non-relativistic phenomenological quark antiquark potential of the type $V(r)=-\frac{\alpha_c}{r}+A r^{\nu}$, (CPP$_{\nu}$) with different choices $\nu$. Numerical solution of the schrodinger equation has been used to obtain the spectroscopy of $Q\bar{Q}$ mesons. The spin hyperfine, spin-orbit and tensor components of the one gluon exchange interaction are employed to compute the spectroscopy of the few lower $S$ and orbital excited states. The numerically obtained radial solutions are employed to obtain the decay constant, di-gamma and di-leptonic decay widths. The decay widths are determined with and without radiative corrections. Present results are compared with other potential model predictions as well as with the known experimental values.Comment: 22 Pages, 1 Figur