4,273 research outputs found
Genetic engineering, breeding and biodiversity. Summary
Will the use of genetic breeding techniques finally destroy the remaining agricultural diversity of varieties, or can modern biotechnology actually help in the conservation and use of global biodiversity? What strategies are being discussed for the long-term protection of biodiversity, what role can international agreements play in this? And what political possibilities or necessities for action result from this? These are the guiding questions of this study commissioned by the German Bundestag. On the basis of an overview of the situation of biological diversity in Germany and worldwide, as well as of the status and perspectives of plant breeding, the authors describe chains of effects that can emanate from the use of new plant varieties in agriculture. In particular, they ask whether the use of genetic engineering methods will exert qualitatively new influences compared to conventional breeding approaches. Based on this technology-centred perspective, the need for action with regard to the conservation of agricultural diversity as a whole is discussed, with concepts of comprehensive coordination and integration at the spatial, content-related, institutional and political levels forming the core of the proposals
Gluon propagator in diffractive scattering
In this work, we perform a comparison of the employ of distinct gluon
propagators with the experimental data in diffractive processes, elastic
scattering and light meson photo-production. The gluon propagators are
calculated through non-perturbative methods, being justified their use in this
class of events, due to the smallness of the momentum transfer. Our results are
not able to select the best choice for the modified gluon propagator among the
analyzed ones, showing that the application of this procedure in this class of
high energy processes, although giving a reasonable fit to the experimental
data, should be taken with same caution.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A
(uses ws-ijmpa.cls). Authors correcte
Cooperative fluorescence effects for dipole-dipole interacting systems with experimentally relevant level configurations
The mutual dipole-dipole interaction of atoms in a trap can affect their
fluorescence. Extremely large effects were reported for double jumps between
different intensity periods in experiments with two and three Ba^+ ions for
distances in the range of about ten wave lengths of the strong transition while
no effects were observed for Hg^+ at 15 wave lengths. In this theoretical paper
we study this question for configurations with three and four levels which
model those of Hg^+ and Ba^+, respectively. For two systems in the Hg^+
configuration we find cooperative effects of up to 30% for distances around one
or two wave lengths, about 5% around ten wave lengths, and, for larger
distances in agreement with experiments, practically none. This is similar for
two V systems. However, for two four-level configurations, which model two Ba^+
ions, cooperative effects are practically absent, and this latter result is at
odds with the experimental findings for Ba^+.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX4, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Breast cancer biomarkers predict weight loss after gastric bypass surgery
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obesity has long been associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk and more recently with premenopausal breast cancer risk. We previously observed that nipple aspirate fluid (n) levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) were associated with obesity. Serum (s) levels of adiponectin are lower in women with higher body mass index (BMI) and with breast cancer. We conducted a prospective study of obese women who underwent gastric bypass surgery to determine: 1) change in n- and s-adiponectin and nPSA after surgery and 2) if biomarker change is related to change in BMI. Samples (30-s, 28-n) and BMI were obtained from women 0, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>There was a significant increase after surgery in pre- but not postmenopausal women at all time points in s-adiponectin and at 3 and 6 months in n-adiponectin. Low n-PSA and high s-adiponectin values were highly correlated with decrease in BMI from baseline.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Adiponectin increases locally in the breast and systemically in premenopausal women after gastric bypass. s-adiponectin in pre- and nPSA in postmenopausal women correlated with greater weight loss. This study provides preliminary evidence for biologic markers to predict weight loss after gastric bypass surgery.</p
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