9,431 research outputs found
A real-time PCR method for quantification of the total and major variant strains of the Deformed wing virus
Funding: ELB was supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) EASTBIO Doctoral Training Partnership (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk) [grant number BB/J01446X/1] and an Eastern Association Regional Studentship (EARS) and The Morley Agricultural Foundation awarded to ASB. CRC was supported by a KTN BBSRC CASE studentship (BB/M503526/1) (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk), part-funded by the Scottish Beekeeping Association (https://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/) and the Animal Health - Disease Prevention, Scottish Government awarded to ASB CRC. This project received funding from the European Unionâs Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613960 (SMARTBEES) (http://www.smartbees-fp7.eu/) awarded to ASB. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Mr W. Thrale, Mr Z. Blackmore, Mr J. Quinlan, and Mr J. Palombo for sample collection from the South East of England and Margie Ramsey for Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve sample collection.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Further Characterization of the Mitigation of Radiation Lethality by Protective Wounding
There continues to be a major effort in the United States to develop mitigators for the treatment of mass casualties that received high-intensity acute ionizing radiation exposures from the detonation of an improvised nuclear device during a radiological terrorist attack. The ideal countermeasure should be effective when administered after exposure, and over a wide range of absorbed doses. We have previously shown that the administration of a subcutaneous incision of a defined length, if administered within minutes after irradiation, protected young adult female C57BL/6 mice against radiation-induced lethality, and increased survival after total-body exposure to an LD50/30 X-ray dose from 50% to over 90%. We refer to this approach as "protective wounding". In this article, we report on our efforts to further optimize, characterize and demonstrate the validity of the protective wounding response by comparing the response of female and male mice, varying the radiation dose, the size of the wound, and the timing of wounding with respect to administration of the radiation dose. Both male and female mice that received a subcutaneous incision after irradiation were significantly protected from radiation lethality. We observed that the extent of protection against lethality after an LD50/30 X-ray dose was independent of the size of the subcutaneous cut, and that a 3 mm subcutaneous incision is effective at enhancing the survival of mice exposed to a broad range of radiation doses (LD15-LD100). Over the range of 6.2-6.7 Gy, the increase in survival observed in mice that received an incision was associated with an enhanced recovery of hematopoiesis. The enhanced rate of recovery of hematopoiesis was preceded by an increase in the production of a select group of cytokines. Thus, a thorough knowledge of the timing of the cytokine cascade after wounding could aid in the development of novel pharmacological radiation countermeasures that can be administered several days after the actual radiation exposure
Themed section
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109995/1/bph13028.pd
Quantum-jump vs stochastic Schrödinger dynamics for Gaussian states with quadratic Hamiltonians and linear Lindbladians
The dynamics of Gaussian states for open quantum systems described by Lindblad equations can be solved analytically for systems with quadratic Hamiltonians and linear Lindbladians, showing the familiar phenomena of dissipation and decoherence. It is well known that the Lindblad dynamics can be expressed as an ensemble average over stochastic pure-state dynamics, which can be interpreted as individual experimental implementations, where the form of the stochastic dynamics depends on the measurement setup. Here we consider quantum-jump and stochastic Schrödinger dynamics for initially Gaussian states. While both unravellings converge to the same Lindblad dynamics when averaged, the individual dynamics can differ qualitatively. For the stochastic Schrödinger equation, Gaussian states remain Gaussian during the evolution, with stochastic differential equations governing the evolution of the phase-space centre and a deterministic evolution of the covariance matrix. In contrast to this, individual pure-state dynamics arising from the quantum-jump evolution do not remain Gaussian in general. Applying results developed in the non-Hermitian context for Hagedorn wavepackets, we formulate a method to generate quantum-jump trajectories that is described entirely in terms of the evolution of an underlying Gaussian state. To illustrate the behaviours of the different unravellings in comparison to the Lindblad dynamics, we consider two examples in detail, which can be largely treated analytically, a harmonic oscillator subject to position measurement and a damped harmonic oscillator. In both cases, we highlight the differences as well as the similarities of the stochastic Schrödinger and the quantum-jump dynamics
What factors influence healthcare professionals to refer children and families to paediatric psychology?
Objectives:
This study aimed to investigate factors influencing referral of children with physical illness to paediatric psychology. Due to high rates of mental health problems within this population, studies have shown that referral to paediatric psychology should be increased. However, few studies have examined factors shaping healthcare professionalsâ referral behaviour.
Methods:
The current study used the theory of planned behaviour to develop a questionnaire which explores factors influencing the referral of children and families to paediatric psychology. Psychometric properties of the questionnaire were examined.
Results:
The questionnaire was found to have good reliability and validity. The main constructs of the theory of planned behaviour were useful in predicting intention to refer to paediatric psychology. Specific beliefs about referral were shown to influence intention to refer.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest that individual attitudes and beliefs can impact healthcare professionalsâ referral behaviour, indicating that multidisciplinary interventions and inter-professional education relating to the psychological aspects of illness are required
Structural characteristics of positionally-disordered lattices: relation to the first sharp diffraction peak in glasses
Positional disorder has been introduced into the atomic structure of certain
crystalline lattices, and the orientationally-averaged structure factor S(k)
and pair-correlation function g(r) of these disordered lattices have been
studied. Analytical expressions for S(k) and g(r) for Gaussian positional
disorder in 2D and 3D are confirmed with precise numerical simulations. These
analytic results also have a bearing on the unsolved Gauss circle problem in
mathematics. As the positional disorder increases, high-k peaks in S(k) are
destroyed first, eventually leaving a single peak, that with the lowest-k
value. The pair-correlation function for lattices with such high levels of
positional disorder exhibits damped oscillations, with a period equal to the
separation between the furthest-separated (lowest-k) lattice planes. The last
surviving peak in S(k) is, for example for silicon and silica, at a wavevector
nearly identical to that of the experimentally-observed first sharp diffraction
peak (FSDP) in the amorphous phases of those materials. Thus, for these
amorphous materials at least, the FSDP can be regarded as arising from
scattering from atomic configurations equivalent to the single family of
positionally-disordered local Bragg planes having the furthest separation.Comment: v2: changes in response to referees' comments: Figure 2 made more
readable, improved discussion of height of peaks in S(k), other minor changes
4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Development and Validation of a Daily Habit Scale
Habits are defined as automatic behaviours triggered by cues and performed without awareness. They are difficult to control and mentally efficient, which contrasts with goal-directed behaviour, which is characterised by active thought, high computational effort, and the ability to modify this behaviour in response to a changing environment and contextual demands. Habits are not only defined by the frequency with which a behaviour is performed but represent a complex construct that also includes the strength and automaticity of the habitual behaviour. We report here the development and validation of a Daily Habit Scale (DHS) to assess the frequency, automaticity, and strength of daily habits in healthy individuals. Item reduction based on factor analysis resulted in a scale with 38 items grouped into eight factors explaining 52.91% of the variance. The DHS showed very good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.738) and test-retest reliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.892, p<0.001) as well as convergent and divergent reliability compared to other scales measuring habits. We found a significant effect of age, gender, anxiety, and depression on the DHS. Considering certain limitations of the DHS, such as not considering the context of performance of habits, and the absence of certain items, such as transportation use, the results of this study suggest that DHS is a reliable and valid measure of daily habits that can be used by both clinicians and researchers as a measure of daily habits
Modelling the atomic structure of very high-density amorphous ice
The structure of very high-density amorphous (VHDA) ice has been modelled by
positionally disordering three crystalline phases, namely ice IV, VI and XII.
These phases were chosen because only they are stable or metastable in the
region of the ice phase diagram where VHDA ice is formed, and their densities
are comparable to that of VHDA ice. An excellent fit to the medium range of the
experimentally observed pair-correlation function g(r) of VHDA ice was obtained
by introducing disorder into the positions of the H2O molecules, as well as
small amounts of molecular rotational disorder, disorder in the O--H bond
lengths and disorder in the H--O--H bond angles. The low-k behaviour of the
experimental structure factor, S(k), is also very well reproduced by this
disordered-crystal model. The fraction of each phase present in the best-fit
disordered model is very close to that observed in the probable crystallization
products of VHDA ice. In particular, only negligible amounts of ice IV are
predicted, in accordance with experimental observation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, v2: changes made in response to
referees' comments, the justification for using certain ice phases is
improved, and ice IV is now disordered as wel
Broad Area Cooler Concepts for Cryogenic Propellant Tanks
Numerous studies and ground tests have shown that broad area cooling (also known as distributed cooling) can reduce or eliminate cryogenic propellant boil-off and enable long duration storage in space. Various combinations of cryocoolers, circulators, heat exchangers and other hardware could be used to build the system. In this study, several configurations of broad area cooling systems were compared by weighing hardware combinations, input power requirements, component availability, and Technical Readiness Level (TRL). The preferred system has a high TRL and can be scaled up to provide cooling capacities on the order of 150W at 90
The effect of vegetation height and biomass on the sediment budget of a European saltmarsh
Sediment retention in saltmarshes is often attributed to the presence of vegetation, which enhances accretion by slowing water flow, reduces erosion by attenuating wave energy and increases surface stability through the presence of organic matter. Saltmarsh vegetation morphology varies considerably on a range of spatial and temporal scales, but the effect of different above ground morphologies on sediment retention is not well characterised. Understanding the biophysical interaction between the canopy and sediment trapping in situ is important for improving numerical shoreline models. In a novel field flume study, we measured the effect of vegetation height and biomass on sediment trapping using a mass balance approach. Suspended sediment profilers were placed at both openings of a field flume built across-shore on the seaward boundary of an intertidal saltmarsh in the Dengie Peninsula, UK. Sequential removal of plant material from within the flume resulted in incremental loss of vegetation height and biomass. The difference between the concentration of suspended sediment measured at each profiler was used to determine the sediment budget within the flume. Deposition of material on the plant/soil surfaces within the flume occurred during flood tides, while ebb flow resulted in erosion (to a lesser degree) from the flume area, with a positive sediment budget of on average 6.5 g m-2 tide-1 with no significant relationship between sediment trapping efficiency and canopy morphology. Deposition (and erosion) rates were positively correlated to maximum inundation depth. Our results suggest that during periods of calm conditions, changes to canopy morphology do not result in significant changes in sediment budgets in marshes
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