1,698 research outputs found
Evidence for the vertical transmission of Sunshine virus
Sunshine virus is a paramyxovirus of pythons associated with neurorespiratory disease and mortalities. This report provides evidence for its vertical transmission. In a collection of over 200 Australian pythons, a dam and a sire, both carpet pythons (Morelia spilota), were PCR-positive for Sunshine virus at a time when the dam was likely to have been gravid. A clutch of 21 eggs was laid and three non-viable eggs were tested for the presence of Sunshine virus by PCR. One egg had been incubating for 34 days while the other two had been incubating for 49 days. The surface of all three eggs was negative for Sunshine virus but swabs of the allantois and amnion were positive in all three eggs. Embryo tissue samples were tested from the two 49 day old eggs. From one embryo, a sample of brain and a pooled sample of lung, liver, kidney and intestine were positive, while for the other embryo, a pooled sample of lung, liver, kidney, intestine and brain was positive. Fourteen of the 21 eggs hatched and all hatchlings were tested by PCR at least once between the ages of 53 and 229 days old. All hatchlings were PCR-negative for Sunshine virus
Alpha Backgrounds for HPGe Detectors in Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiments
The Majorana Experiment will use arrays of enriched HPGe detectors to search
for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge. Such a decay, if found, would
show lepton-number violation and confirm the Majorana nature of the neutrino.
Searches for such rare events are hindered by obscuring backgrounds which must
be understood and mitigated as much as possible. A potentially important
background contribution to this and other double-beta decay experiments could
come from decays of alpha-emitting isotopes in the 232Th and 238U decay chains
on or near the surfaces of the detectors. An alpha particle emitted external to
an HPGe crystal can lose energy before entering the active region of the
detector, either in some external-bulk material or within the dead region of
the crystal. The measured energy of the event will only correspond to a partial
amount of the total kinetic energy of the alpha and might obscure the signal
from neutrinoless double-beta decay. A test stand was built and measurements
were performed to quantitatively assess this background. We present results
from these measurements and compare them to simulations using Geant4. These
results are then used to measure the alpha backgrounds in an underground
detector in situ. We also make estimates of surface contamination tolerances
for double-beta decay experiments using solid-state detectors.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, submitted to NIM
Undirected Graphs of Entanglement Two
Entanglement is a complexity measure of directed graphs that origins in fixed
point theory. This measure has shown its use in designing efficient algorithms
to verify logical properties of transition systems. We are interested in the
problem of deciding whether a graph has entanglement at most k. As this measure
is defined by means of games, game theoretic ideas naturally lead to design
polynomial algorithms that, for fixed k, decide the problem. Known
characterizations of directed graphs of entanglement at most 1 lead, for k = 1,
to design even faster algorithms. In this paper we present an explicit
characterization of undirected graphs of entanglement at most 2. With such a
characterization at hand, we devise a linear time algorithm to decide whether
an undirected graph has this property
Frameworks for logically classifying polynomial-time optimisation problems.
We show that a logical framework, based around a fragment of existential second-order logic formerly proposed by others so as to capture the class of polynomially-bounded P-optimisation problems, cannot hope to do so, under the assumption that P ≠NP. We do this by exhibiting polynomially-bounded maximisation and minimisation problems that can be expressed in the framework but whose decision versions are NP-complete. We propose an alternative logical framework, based around inflationary fixed-point logic, and show that we can capture the above classes of optimisation problems. We use the inductive depth of an inflationary fixed-point as a means to describe the objective functions of the instances of our optimisation problems
Mitigation of electroencephalographic and cardiovascular responses to castration in Bos indicus bulls following the administration of either lidocaine or meloxicam
Objective
To investigate the mitigating effects of administration of local or systemic meloxicam on the electroencephalographic (EEG) and cardiovascular responses during surgical castration of Bos indicus bull calves.
Study design
Prospective, randomized, experimental study.
Animals
Thirty-six 6–8 month-old Bos indicus bull calves, with a mean ± standard deviation weight of 237 ± 19 kg.
Methods
Animals were randomly allocated to three groups of 12 (group L, 260 mg of 2% lidocaine subcutaneously and intratesticularly 5 minutes prior to castration; group M, 0.5 mg kg−1 of meloxicam subcutaneously 30 minutes prior to castration; group C, no pre-operative analgesia administered). Anaesthesia was induced and maintained with halothane (0.9–1.1%) in oxygen. Electroencephalogram, heart rate (HR) and mean blood pressure (MAP) were recorded for 300 seconds prior to (baseline, B) and from the start of surgery (first testicle incision, T1). HR and MAP were compared at 10 second intervals for 90 seconds from the start of T1. Median frequency (F50), spectral edge frequency (F95) and total power of the EEG (Ptot) were analysed using area under the curve comparing T1 to B.
Results
All EEG variables were significantly different between B and T1 (p ≤ 0.0001). No differences in F50 were found between groups during T1 (p = 0.6491). F95 and Ptot were significantly different between group L and groups C and M during T1 (p = 0.0005 and 0.0163, respectively). There were transient significant changes in HR and MAP in groups L and M compared to group C during the 20–50 second periods.
Conclusions
The EEG changes indicate nociceptive responses in all three groups during surgical castration, greater in group L compared to groups C and M. Both analgesics attenuated the peracute cardiovascular response. Lidocaine and meloxicam administered prior to castration attenuated these responses in Bos indicus bull calves.
Clinical relevance
These findings provide support for the pre-operative administration of lidocaine and potentially meloxicam for castration in Bos indicus bull calves
International, collaborative assessment of 146 000 prenatal karyotypes: expected limitations if only chromosome-specific probes and fluorescent in-situ hybridization are used
The development of chromosome-specific probes (CSP) and fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) has allowed for very rapid identification of selected numerical abnormalities. We attempt here to determine, in principle, what percentage of abnormalities would be detectable if only CSP-FISH were performed without karyotype for prenatal diagnosis. A total of 146 128 consecutive karyotypes for prenatal diagnosis from eight centres in four countries for 5 years were compared with predicted detection if probes for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y were used, and assuming 100% detection efficiency. A total of 4163 abnormalities (2.85%) were found including 2889 (69.4%) (trisomy 21, trisomy 18, trisomy 13, numerical sex chromosome abnormalities, and triploidies) which were considered detectable by FISH. Of these, 1274 were mosaics, translocations, deletions, inversions, rings, and markers which would not be considered detectable. CSP-FISH is a useful adjunct to karyotype for high risk situations, and may be appropriate in low risk screening, but should not be seen as a replacement for karyotype as too many structural chromosome abnormalities will be misse
On slip pulses at a sheared frictional viscoelastic/ non deformable interface
We study the possibility for a semi-infinite block of linear viscoelastic
material, in homogeneous frictional contact with a non-deformable one, to slide
under shear via a periodic set of ``self-healing pulses'', i.e. a set of
drifting slip regions separated by stick ones. We show that, contrary to
existing experimental indications, such a mode of frictional sliding is
impossible for an interface obeying a simple local Coulomb law of solid
friction. We then discuss possible physical improvements of the friction model
which might open the possibility of such dynamics, among which slip weakening
of the friction coefficient, and stress the interest of developing systematic
experimental investigations of this question.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures. submitted to PR
The role of CopA in Streptococcus pyogenes copper homeostasis and virulence
Available online 6 January 2023Maintenance of intracellular metal homeostasis during interaction with host niches is critical to the success of bacterial pathogens. To prevent infection, the mammalian innate immune response employs metal-withholding and metal-intoxication mechanisms to limit bacterial propagation. The first-row transition metal ion copper serves critical roles at the host-pathogen interface and has been associated with antimicrobial activity since antiquity. Despite lacking any known copper-utilizing proteins, streptococci have been reported to accumulate significant levels of copper. Here, we report that loss of CopA, a copper-specific exporter, confers increased sensitivity to copper in Streptococcus pyogenes strain HSC5, with prolonged exposure to physiological levels of copper resulting in reduced viability during stationary phase cultivation. This defect in stationary phase survival was rescued by supplementation with exogeneous amino acids, indicating the pathogen had altered nutritional requirements during exposure to copper stress. Furthermore, S. pyogenes HSC5 ΔcopA was substantially attenuated during murine soft-tissue infection, demonstrating the importance of copper efflux at the host-pathogen interface. Collectively, these data indicate that copper can severely reduce the viability of stationary phase S. pyogenes and that active efflux mechanisms are required to survive copper stress in vitro and during infection.Tina H. Dao, Amy Iverson, Stephanie L. Neville, Michael D.L. Johnson, Christopher A. McDevitt, Jason W. Rosc
Equivalence of the Calogero-Sutherland Model to Free Harmonic Oscillators
A similarity transformation is constructed through which a system of
particles interacting with inverse-square two-body and harmonic potentials in
one dimension, can be mapped identically, to a set of free harmonic
oscillators. This equivalence provides a straightforward method to find the
complete set of eigenfunctions, the exact constants of motion and a linear
algebra associated with this model. It is also demonstrated that
a large class of models with long-range interactions, both in one and higher
dimensions can be made equivalent to decoupled oscillators.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX, Completely revised, few new equations and references
are adde
Radiation-induced oscillatory magnetoresistance as a sensitive probe of the zero-field spin splitting in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs devices
We suggest an approach for characterizing the zero-field spin splitting of
high mobility two-dimensional electron systems, when beats are not readily
observable in the Shubnikov-de Haas effect. The zero-field spin splitting and
the effective magnetic field seen in the reference frame of the electron is
evaluated from a quantitative study of beats observed in radiation-induced
magnetoresistance oscillations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 color figure
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