Preliminary evaluation of equine respiratory disease in a region of New Zealand

Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) is one of the most widespread conditions affecting horses world-wide. Over-crowding, stabling conditions and exposure to irritants (such as bedding dust) have been thought to contribute to the development of IAD. Since the majority of sport horses in New Zealand are kept at pasture for prolonged periods, differing from intensive stabling conditions seen in other countries, variations in the type and frequency of respiratory pathologies might exist. In order to investigate this possibility, and determine the most common respiratory conditions affecting horses requiring endoscopic examination, this preliminary epidemiologic study was conducted. A retrospective analysis of 145 respiratory endoscopies was conducted including examinations made at 2 veterinary clinics from June 2010 to October 2012. Respiratory endoscopies results were initially classified as normal or abnormal. Abnormal results were further classified as: IAD, anatomical abnormalities, intermittent airway obstruction, trauma, miscellaneous abnormalities. Presence of tracheal secretions of any kind and quantity warranted classification as (IAD). Overall, 76.5% of the animals requiring a respiratory endoscopy demonstrated abnormalities which justified the examination: the majority of horses (42.7%) displayed some degree of IAD. Other common findings included intermittent dorsal displacement of the soft palate (6.9%); bleeding in the upper respiratory tract (3.45%), and laryngeal hemiplegia (15.2%). Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) is one of the most widespread conditions affecting horses world-wide and it is also prevalent in the population studied, despite different housing and managing practices observed in New Zealand in comparison to other countries. Further studies are needed to investigate subclinical abnormalities and the causes of the IAD in horses kept at pasture

Using multifractal analysis of ultra-weak photon emission from germinating wheat seedlings to differentiate between two grades of intoxication with potassium dichromate

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to test whether the multifractal properties of ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) from germinating wheat seedlings (Triticum aestivum) change when the seedlings are treated with different concentrations of the toxin potassium dichromate (PD). To this end, UPE was measured (50 seedlings in one Petri dish, duration: approx. 16.6–28 h) from samples of three groups: (i) control (group C, N = 9), (ii) treated with 25 ppm of PD (group G25, N = 32), and (iii) treated with 150 ppm of PD (group G150, N = 23). For the multifractal analysis, the following steps where performed: (i) each UPE time series was trimmed to a final length of 1000 min; (ii) each UPE time series was filtered, linear detrended and normalized; (iii) the multifractal spectrum (f(α)) was calculated for every UPE time series using the backward multifractal detrended moving average (MFDMA) method; (iv) each multifractal spectrum was characterized by calculating the mode (αmode) of the spectrum and the degree of multifractality (Δα); (v) for every UPE time series its mean, skewness and kurtosis were also calculated; finally (vi) all obtained parameters where analyzed to determine their ability to differentiate between the three groups. This was based on Fisher’s discriminant ratio (FDR), which was calculated for each parameter combination. Additionally, a non-parametric test was used to test whether the parameter values are significantly different or not. The analysis showed that when comparing all the three groups, FDR had the highest values for the multifractal parameters (αmode, Δα). Furthermore, the differences in these parameters between the groups were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The classical parameters (mean, skewness and kurtosis) had lower FDR values than the multifractal parameters in all cases and showed no significant difference between the groups (except for the skewness between group C and G150). In conclusion, multifractal analysis enables changes in UPE time series to be detected even when they are hidden for normal linear signal analysis methods. The analysis of changes in the multifractal properties might be a basis to design a classification system enabling the intoxication of cell cultures to be quantified based on UPE measurements

Fatores físicos e microbiológicos do solo, nutricionais e vegetais correlacionados com a produção de grãos de feijoeiro (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Foram realizados quatro experimentos, um para cada tipo de terra, com o intuito de encontrar o fator ou o grupo de fatores que melhor se correlacionam com a produção de feijoeiro em dois solos representativos

CVcat: an interactive database on cataclysmic variables

CVcat is a database that contains published data on cataclysmic variables and related objects. Unlike in the existing online sources, the users are allowed to add data to the catalogue. The concept of an ``open catalogue'' approach is reviewed together with the experience from one year of public usage of CVcat. New concepts to be included in the upcoming AstroCat framework and the next CVcat implementation are presented. CVcat can be found at http://www.cvcat.org.Comment: 5 pages A&A Latex, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Análise multivariada da resistência genética de acessos de arroz à Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).

O objetivo deste estudo foi conhecer a divergência genética de acessos de arroz quanto ao ataque da broca- do-colmo Diatraea saccharalis

Conteúdo de n-alcanos em gramíneas nativas do bioma Pampa.

SIEPE

Measurements and analysis of the upper critical field Hc2H_{c2} on an underdoped and overdoped La2−xSrxCuO4La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 compounds

The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ is one of the many non conventional properties of high-$T_c$ cuprates. It is possible that the $H_{c2}(T)$ anomalies are due to the presence of inhomogeneities in the local charge carrier density $\rho$ of the $CuO_2$ planes. In order to study this point, we have prepared good quality samples of polycrystalline $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_{4}$ using the wet-chemical method, which has demonstrated to produce samples with a better cation distribution. In particular, we have studied the temperature dependence of the second critical field, $H_{c2}(T)$, through the magnetization measurements on two samples with opposite average carrier concentration ($\rho_m=x$) and nearly the same critical temperature, namely $\rho_m = 0.08$ (underdoped) and $\rho_m = 0.25$ (overdoped). The results close to $T_c$ do not follow the usual Ginzburg-Landau theory and are interpreted by a theory which takes into account the influence of the inhomogeneities.Comment: Published versio

Far-ultraviolet imaging of the Hubble Deep Field-North: Star formation in normal galaxies at z < 1

We present far-ultraviolet (FUV) imaging of the Hubble Deep Field-North (HDF-N) taken with the Solar Blind Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS SBC) and the FUV MAMA detector of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The full WFPC2 deep field has been observed at 1600 Å. We detect 134 galaxies and one star down to a limit of FUV_(AB) ~ 29. All sources have counterparts in the WFPC2 image. Redshifts (spectroscopic or photometric) for the detected sources are in the range 0 < z < 1. We find that the FUV galaxy number counts are higher than those reported by GALEX, which we attribute at least in part to cosmic variance in the small HDF-N field of view. Six of the 13 Chandra sources at z < 0.85 in the HDF-N are detected in the FUV, and those are consistent with starbursts rather than active galactic nuclei. Cross-correlating with Spitzer sources in the field, we find that the FUV detections show general agreement with the expected L_(IR)/L_(UV) versus β relationship. We infer star formation rates (SFRs), corrected for extinction using the UV slope, and find a median value of 0.3 M_☉ yr^(-1) for FUV-detected galaxies, with 75% of detected sources having SFR < 1 M_☉ yr^(-1). Examining the morphological distribution of sources, we find that about half of all FUV-detected sources are identified as spiral galaxies. Half of morphologically selected spheroid galaxies at z < 0.85 are detected in the FUV, suggesting that such sources have had significant ongoing star formation in the epoch since z ~ 1