Evaluation of metabolic and biochemical blood parameters in lactating cows with Cystic Ovarian Disease

The aim of the study was to determine and evaluate different blood parameters associated to energetic, protein, mineral and liver metabolic processes together with productive and reproductive parameters in dairy cows of Santa Fe province (Argentina) that were diagnosed with cystic ovarian disease (COD). Lactating Argentine Holstein cows from five dairy herds with spontaneous COD (n= 80) diagnosed by ultrasound and control cows (n= 124) were included in the study. Blood samples were obtained from all cows to determine serum concentrations of: growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), insulin, aspartate aminotransferase, alkalin phosphatase, gamma glutamiltransferase, albumin, total proteins, albumin: globulin ratio, total and direct bilirrubin, ?-hidroxibutirate, colesterol, glucose, urea, creatinin, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. Serum concentrations of insulin and IGF-1 were lower (P<0.05) in COD than control cows. No significant differences among groups were observed in any other variables studied, however, the calving to conception interval was higher in cows with COD compared to controls. These results allowed us to conclude that there would be an association between blood concentrations of IGF-1 and insulin and COD that, ultimately, compromise the reproductive performance of the cow.Fil: Cattaneo, L. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Cátedra de Teriogenología. Santa Fe, ArgentinaFil: Barberis, F.C. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Cátedra de Teriogenología. Santa Fe, ArgentinaFil: Stangaferro, M.L. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Cátedra de Teriogenología. Santa Fe, ArgentinaFil: Signorini, M.L. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela. ArgentinaFil: Signorini, M.L. CONICET. ArgentinaFil: Ruiz, M.F. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Hospital de Salud Animal. Santa Fe, ArgentinaFil: Zimmermann, R. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Hospital de Salud Animal. Santa Fe, ArgentinaFil: Bo, G.A. Instituto de Reproducción Animal Córdoba (IRAC). ArgentinaFil: Hein, G.J. CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral (ICiVet-Litoral). Esperanza, ArgentinaFil: Ortega, H.H. CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral (ICiVet-Litoral). Esperanza, ArgentinaEl objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar y evaluar indicadores bioquímicos sanguíneos asociados a procesos metabólicos energéticos, proteicos, minerales y de funcionalidad hepática, junto con parámetros productivos y reproductivos en vacas lecheras que fueron diagnosticadas con enfermedad quística ovárica (COD) y controles. Se emplearon vacas Holando Argentino en lactancia de 5 rebaños de la provincia de Santa Fe (Argentina) que presentaban COD (n= 80) diagnosticada mediante ultrasonografía y controles clínicamente sanas (n= 124). De las vacas se obtuvo sangre coccígea para determinar las concentraciones séricas de las hormonas de crecimiento (GH), factor de crecimiento similar a la insulina-1 (IGF-1) e insulina, la actividad sérica de AST, FA, GGT y las concentraciones séricas de albúmina, proteínas totales, relación albúmina: globulinas, bilirrubina total y directa, ?-hidroxibutirato, colesterol, glucosa, urea, creatinina, calcio, fósforo y magnesio. Las concentraciones séricas de insulina e IGF-1 fueron menores (P<0,05) en las vacas con COD que en las controles. No se observaron diferencias significativas (P>0,05) entre ambos grupos en las demás variables séricas y productivas evaluadas, sin embargo, el intervalo parto-concepción fue mayor en vacas que presentaron COD. Los resultados nos permitieron concluir que habría una asociación entre los valores séricos de IGF-1 e insulina y la COD, y que ésta comprometería el futuro reproductivo de las vacas

Polarized interacting exciton gas in quantum wells and bulk semiconductors

We develop a theory to calculate exciton binding energies of both two- and three-dimensional spin polarized exciton gases within a mean field approach. Our method allows the analysis of recent experiments showing the importance of the polarization and intensity of the excitation light on the exciton luminescence of GaAs quantum wells. We study the breaking of the spin degeneracy observed at high exciton density $(5 \ \ 10^{10} cm ^2)$. Energy level splitting betwen spin +1 and spin -1 is shown to be due to many-body inter-excitonic exchange while the spin relaxation time is controlled by intra-exciton exchange.Comment: Revtex, 4 figures sent by fax upon request by e-mai

Ionization degree of the electron-hole plasma in semiconductor quantum wells

The degree of ionization of a nondegenerate two-dimensional electron-hole plasma is calculated using the modified law of mass action, which takes into account all bound and unbound states in a screened Coulomb potential. Application of the variable phase method to this potential allows us to treat scattering and bound states on the same footing. Inclusion of the scattering states leads to a strong deviation from the standard law of mass action. A qualitative difference between mid- and wide-gap semiconductors is demonstrated. For wide-gap semiconductors at room temperature, when the bare exciton binding energy is of the order of T, the equilibrium consists of an almost equal mixture of correlated electron-hole pairs and uncorrelated free carriers.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02