To evaluate the effect of processing on the safety and quality of retail shell eggs, a storage study was conducted with unwashed and commercially washed eggs. This work demonstrated that commercial ...processing decreased microbial contamination of eggshells. To know which species persisted during storage on washed or unwashed eggs, Enterobacteriaceae isolates were selected and identified biochemically. For each of three replications, shell eggs were purchased from a commercial processing plant, transported back to the laboratory, and stored at 4°C. Once a week for 6 weeks, 12 eggs for each treatment (washed and unwashed control) were rinsed in sterile phosphate-buffered saline. A 1-ml aliquot of each sample was plated onto violet red bile glucose agar with overlay and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. Following incubation, plates were observed for colonies characteristic of the family Enterobacteriaceae. A maximum of 10 isolates per positive sample were streaked for isolation before being identified to the genus or species level using commercially available biochemical strips. Although most of the isolates from the unwashed control eggs belonged to the genera Escherichia or Enterobacter, many other genera and species were identified. These included Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Kluyvera, Pantoea, Providencia, Rahnella, Salmonella, Serratia, and Yersinia. Non-Enterobacteriaceae also recovered from the unwashed egg samples included Xanthomonas and Flavimonas. Very few washed egg samples were contaminated with any of these bacteria. These data provide useful information on the effectiveness of processing in removing microorganisms from commercial shell eggs.
Previous studies on neutrophils in patients with the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) have indicated deficiencies in the contents of primary and secondary granules. However, the granule membrane ...remains virtually unstudied despite its essential role in the dynamic function of the cytoplasmic granules. In this study, we examined the membrane glycoproteins of primary and secondary granules of peripheral blood and/or bone marrow neutrophils using the monoclonal antibody
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H36
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to CD15 glycoproteins. In addition, myeloperoxidase activity and antigen, elastase and lactoferrin were also studied using cytochemical and immunocytochemical stains. A total of 216 patients were included. Deficiencies of granule membrane glycoproteins were the most common, detected in 49%, followed by myeloperoxidase activity (17%), elastase (16%), myeloperoxidase antigen (9%), and lactoferrin (8%). Multiple deficiencies always included granule membrane deficiency. We conclude that granule membrane defects are common in MDS, may provide a common mechanism for multiple granule deficiencies, and may prove to be an additional abnormality associated with granulocyte dysfunction.
Here we report that bis(7)-tacrine, a novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, exerts neuroprotective effects by inhibition of nitric oxide synthase. In cortical neurons at 12 days in vitro, ...bis(7)-tacrine concentration-dependently reduced cell death induced by glutamate, beta-amyloid and L-arginine, but not by nitric sodium nitroprusside. N-monomethyl-L-arginine, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, also prevented the former three types but not the last type of the cytotoxicity; however, nitric oxide scavengers blocked all of these insults, indicating that nitric oxide mediated these neuronal injuries. Furthermore, with nitric oxide synthase activity assays, it was found that bis(7)-tacrine not only suppressed the activation of nitric oxide synthase caused by glutamate in cortical neurons, but also directly inhibited the activity of nitric oxide synthase in vitro.
With the full BABAR data sample of 465 x 10(6) B(over)B pairs, we observe the decays B+/- -->phiK_(1)(1270) +/- and B +/- -->phiK*_(2)(1430)+/-. We measure the branching fractions (6.1+/-1.6+/-1.1) x ...10(-6) and (8.4+/-1.8+/-1.0) x 10(-6) and the fractions of longitudinal polarization 0.46 (+0.12+0.06) _(-0.13-0.07) and 0.80(+0.09)_(-0.10)+/-0.03, respectively. We also report on the B+/- -->phiK*_(0)(1430)+/- decay branching fraction of (7.0+/-1.3+/-0.9) x 10(-6) and several parameters sensitive to CP violation and interference in the above three decays. Upper limits are placed on the B+/- decay rates to final states with phi and K_1(1400)+/-, K*(1410)+/-, K2(1770)+/-, or K_2(1820)+/-. Understanding the observed polarization pattern requires amplitude contributions from an uncertain source.
We report a measurement of the branching fractions of B-->D**(l) nu(l), decays based on 417 fb(-1) of data collected at the Y(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- storage rings. ...Events are selected by full reconstructing one of the B mesons in a hadronic decay mode. A fit to the invariant mass differences m(D(*) pi)- m(D(*)) is performed to extract the signal yields of the different D** states. We observe the B-->D**l(-1)nu(l) decay modes corresponding to the four D states predicted by heavy quark symmetry with a significance greater than 5 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties.
We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries using LIGO and Virgo observations between July 7, 2009, and October 20, 2010. We searched for signals from binaries with ...total mass between 2 and 25M sub(middot in circle); this includes binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and binaries consisting of a black hole and neutron star. The detectors were sensitive to systems up to 40 Mpc distant for binary neutron stars, and further for higher mass systems. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total mass, including the results from previous LIGO and Virgo observations. The cumulative 90% confidence rate upper limits of the binary coalescence of binary neutron star, neutron star-black hole, and binary black hole systems are 1.3 x 10 super(-4), 3.1 x 10 super(-5), and 6.4 x 10 super(-6) Mpc super(-3) yr super(-1), respectively. These upper limits are up to a factor 1.4 lower than previously derived limits. We also report on results from a blind injection challenge.
BACKGROUND Anatomic studies of boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have detected decreased volumes in total and frontal brain, basal ganglia, and cerebellar vermis. We tested ...these findings in a sample of girls with ADHD. METHODS Anatomic brain magnetic resonance images from 50 girls with ADHD, of severity comparable with that in previously studied boys, and 50 healthy female control subjects, aged 5 to 15 years, were obtained with a 1.5-T scanner with contiguous 2-mm coronal slices and 1.5-mm axial slices. We measured volumes of total cerebrum, frontal lobes, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, cerebellum, and cerebellar vermis. Behavioral measures included structured psychiatric interviews, parent and teacher ratings, and the Wechsler vocabulary and block design subtests. RESULTS Total brain volume was smaller in girls with ADHD than in control subjects (effect size, 0.40; P =.05). As in our previous study in boys with ADHD, girls with ADHD had significantly smaller volumes in the posterior-inferior cerebellar vermis (lobules VIII-X; effect size, 0.54; P =.04), even when adjusted for total cerebral volume and vocabulary score. Patients and controls did not differ in asymmetry in any region. Morphometric differences correlated significantly with several ratings of ADHD severity and were not predicted by past or present stimulant drug exposure. CONCLUSIONS These results confirm previous findings for boys in the posterior-inferior lobules of the cerebellar vermis. The influence of the cerebellar vermis on prefrontal and striatal circuitry should be explored.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001;58:289-295-->
Among the factors that contribute the most for increasing maize cultivated area and grain yield in Southern Brazil are the crop genetic selection, soil, crop and water management and recent advances ...in crop remote monitoring techniques. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) obtained with remote sensing techniques may be used to provide historical and real-time evaluation characteristics of a particular crop, such as density and vigor without neither field visits, nor interfering directly or indirectly in crop growth and development. This procedure may substantially reduce monitoring or control costs. In this paper, a temporal profile series of NDVI was generated during the maize crop growth period with the objective of evaluating the crop phenology of seven irrigated areas under center pivots. Eight images from LANDSAT5/TM satellite, of the 222/80 and 223/80 path/row were used. The quantitative intervals of NDVI mean values were evaluated from the temporal profile series based on the crop sowing and harvest dates. The NDVI values varied from: 0.18-0.53for initial crop stage; 0.54-0.80for rapid crop growth; 0.20-0.74 for mid-season; and 0.28-0.41for late season. The use of NDVI allows a good differentiation among the maize crop stages of irrigated areas. There has been a drop in NDVI values in the R1 stage, at 54 days after sowing (DAS), due to detasseling. Maximum NDVI value (0.80) was observed at 63DAS, with maize phenology between R2-R5 stages. NDVI values decreased from R6 growth stage till harvest (134 DAS) due to crop maturity and senescence. During this period the average NDVI value was 0.40.
We present the results of searches for B decays to charmless final states involving varphi, f_{0}(980), and charged or neutral rho mesons. The data sample corresponds to 384x10;{6} BBover pairs ...collected with the BABAR detector operating at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e;{+}e;{-} collider at SLAC. We find no significant signals and determine the following 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions, including systematic uncertainties: B(B;{0}-->varphivarphi)<2.0x10;{-7}, B(B;{+}-->varphirho;{+})<30x10;{-7}, B(B;{0}-->varphirho;{0})<3.3x10;{-7}, BB;{0}-->varphif_{0}(980)xBf_{0}(980)-->pi;{+}pi;{-}<3.8x10;{-7}, and BB;{0}-->f_{0}(980)f_{0}(980)xBf_{0}(980)-->pi;{+}pi;{-}xBf_{0}(980)-->K;{+}K;{-}<2.3x10;{-7}.
We report the results of a search for the bottomonium ground state etab(1S) in the photon energy spectrum with a sample of (109+/-1) million of Upsilon(3S) recorded at the Upsilon(3S) energy with the ...BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory at SLAC. We observe a peak in the photon energy spectrum at Egamma=921.2(-2.8)+2.1(stat)+/-2.4(syst) MeV with a significance of 10 standard deviations. We interpret the observed peak as being due to monochromatic photons from the radiative transition Upsilon(3S)-->gammaetab(1S). This photon energy corresponds to an etab(1S) mass of 9388.9(-2.3)+3.1(stat)+/-2.7(syst) MeV/c2. The hyperfine Upsilon(1S)-etab(1S) mass splitting is 71.4(-3.1)+2.3(stat)+/-2.7(syst) MeV/c2. The branching fraction for this radiative Upsilon(3S) decay is estimated to be 4.8+/-0.5(stat)+/-1.2(syst)x10(-4).
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