Alterations in T1 of normal and reperfused infarcted myocardium after Gd-BOPTA versus GD-DTPA on inversion recovery EPI.

This study tested whether Gd-BOPTA/Dimeg or Gd-DTPA exerts greater relaxation enhancement for blood and reperfused infarcted myocardium. Relaxivity of Gd-BOPTA is increased by weak binding to serum albumin. Thirty-six rats were subjected to reperfused infarction before contrast (doses = 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 mmol/kg). delta R1 was repeatedly measured over 30 min. Gd-BOPTA caused greater delta R1 for blood and myocardium than did Gd-DTPA; clearance of both agents from normal- and infarcted myocardium was similar to blood clearance; plots of delta R1 myocardium/delta R1 blood showed equilibrium phase contrast distribution. Fractional contrast agent distribution volumes were approximately 0.24 for both agents in normal myocardium, 0.98 and 1.6 for Gd-DTPA and Gd-BOPTA, respectively, in reperfused infarction. The high value for Gd-BOPTPA was ascribed to greater relaxivity in infarction versus blood. It was concluded that Gd-BOPTA/Dimeg causes a greater delta R1 than Gd-DTPA in regions which contain serum albumin

Perfectionism, achievement motives, and attribution of success and failure in female soccer players

While some researchers have identified adaptive perfectionism as a key characteristic to achieving elite performance in sport, others see perfectionism as a maladaptive characteristic that undermines, rather than helps, athletic performance. Arguing that perfectionism in sport contains both adaptive and maladaptive facets, the present article presents a study of N 5 74 female soccer players investigating how two facets of perfectionism—perfectionistic strivings and negative reactions to imperfection (Stoeber, Otto, Pescheck, Becker, & Stoll, 2007)—are related to achievement motives and attributions of success and failure. Results show that striving for perfection was related to hope of success and self-serving attributions (internal attribution of success). Moreover, once overlap between the two facets of perfectionism was controlled for, striving for perfection was inversely related to fear of failure and self-depreciating attributions (internal attribution of failure). In contrast, negative reactions to imperfection were positively related to fear of failure and self-depreciating attributions (external attribution of success) and inversely related to self-serving attributions (internal attribution of success and external attribution of failure). It is concluded that striving for perfection in sport is associated with an adaptive pattern of positive motivational orientations and self-serving attributions of success and failure, which may help athletic performance. In contrast, negative reactions to imperfection are associated with a maladaptive pattern of negative motivational orientations and self-depreciating attributions, which is likely to undermine athletic performance. Consequently, perfectionism in sport may be adaptive in those athletes who strive for perfection, but can control their negative reactions when performance is less than perfect

Twistfield Perturbations of Vertex Operators in the Z_2-Orbifold Model

We apply Kadanoff's theory of marginal deformations of conformal field theories to twistfield deformations of Z_2 orbifold models in K3 moduli space. These deformations lead away from the Z_2 orbifold sub-moduli-space and hence help to explore conformal field theories which have not yet been understood. In particular, we calculate the deformation of the conformal dimensions of vertex operators for p^2<1 in second order perturbation theory.Comment: Latex2e, 19 pages, 1 figur

Numerical Ricci-flat metrics on K3

We develop numerical algorithms for solving the Einstein equation on Calabi-Yau manifolds at arbitrary values of their complex structure and Kahler parameters. We show that Kahler geometry can be exploited for significant gains in computational efficiency. As a proof of principle, we apply our methods to a one-parameter family of K3 surfaces constructed as blow-ups of the T^4/Z_2 orbifold with many discrete symmetries. High-resolution metrics may be obtained on a time scale of days using a desktop computer. We compute various geometric and spectral quantities from our numerical metrics. Using similar resources we expect our methods to practically extend to Calabi-Yau three-folds with a high degree of discrete symmetry, although we expect the general three-fold to remain a challenge due to memory requirements.Comment: 38 pages, 10 figures; program code and animations of figures downloadable from http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~wiseman/K3/ ; v2 minor corrections, references adde

Novas raças de Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. phaseoli identificadas em Goiás e Minas Gerais, Brasil.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a variabilidade patogênica de isolados de Fop oriundos de 53 amostras coletadas em municípios de Minas Gerais e Goiás.Pôster - graduação

A coleção de Pseudocercospora griseola e sua importância para a pesquisa do feijoeiro comum.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi à obtenção, caracterização e manutenção de novos isolados de Pseudocercospora griseola para uso no programa de melhoramento genético da Embrapa.Pôster - graduação

Novel Data Acquisition System for Silicon Tracking Detectors

We have developed a novel data acquisition system for measuring tracking parameters of a silicon detector in a particle beam. The system is based on a commercial Analog-to-Digital VME module and a PC Linux based Data Acquisition System. This DAQ is realized with C++ code using object-oriented techniques. Track parameters for the beam particles were reconstructed using off-line analysis code and automatic detector position alignment algorithm. The new DAQ was used to test novel Czochralski type silicon detectors. The important silicon detector parameters, including signal size distributions and signal to noise distributions, were successfully extracted from the detector under study. The efficiency of the detector was measured to be 95 %, the resolution about 10 micrometers, and the signal to noise ratio about 10.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 6 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures. PSN TUGP00

A coleção de culturas de microrganismos fitopatogênicos: importante fonte de informação para a pesquisa do feijoeiro comum.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi agrupar os diversos dados relativos à coleção de culturas de microrganismos patogênicos ao feijão da Embrapa Arroz e Feijão, visando ressaltar sua complexidade e importância para o desenvolvimento de plantas resistentes a doenças.CONAFE