This experiment evaluated pregnancy losses from day 30 of gestation to calving in Bos indicus females, and evaluated if serum haptoglobin concentrations during early gestation impacts subsequent ...pregnancy losses. A total of 4926 Nelore females were used, being 1802 nulliparous heifers inseminated as yearlings (precocious heifers), 1356 nulliparous heifers inseminated at 24 months of age (conventional heifers), 887 suckling primiparous cows, and 881 suckling multiparous cows. Cows were assigned to an ovulation synchronization + fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) protocol from day -11 to 0 of the experiment. Pregnancy status was verified using transrectal ultrasonography on days 30 and 60 after FTAI, via transrectal palpation on day 150 after FTAI, and according to calf birth. Blood samples were collected from all animals diagnosed pregnant on day 30 after FTAI, and analyzed for serum concentrations of haptoglobin and pregnancy associated glycoproteins (PAG). Pregnancy loss was greater (P < 0.01) from day 60-150 of gestation (10.2 %) compared with day 30-60 of gestation (6.0 %) and with day 150 of gestation to calving (7.4 %), and differed (P = 0.04) between these latter two periods. Pregnancy loss from day 30-60 of gestation did not differ (P = 0.26) among parities, whereas total pregnancy losses (day 30 to calving) were greater (P < 0.01) in precocious (28.4 %) and conventional (27.1 %) heifers compared with primiparous (16.4 %) and multiparous (13.0 %) cows. Serum PAG concentrations on day 30 after FTAI were less (P ≤ 0.03) in cows that lost the pregnancy (5.63 ng/mL) from day 30-60 of gestation, as well as those that lost the pregnancy from day 30 to calving (8.59 ng/mL) compared with cohorts that maintained the pregnancy (9.39 and 9.32 ng/mL, respectively). No differences in serum PAG concentrations on day 30 after FTAI were noted (P ≥ 0.23) according to pregnancy losses from day 60 to calving. Serum haptoglobin concentration on day 30 after FTAI also did not differ (P ≥ 0.48) between cows that maintained or lost the pregnancy. This experiment provides novel information about pregnancy losses after day 30 of gestation in B. indicus cattle, with most losses occurring as fetal mortality and not affected by systemic inflammation during early gestation. Pregnancy losses were nearly doubled in precocious and conventional heifers compared with parous cows, demonstrating the relevance of this reproductive failure to B. indicus replacement heifers.
In traumatology, we encounter several clinical challenges that involve extensive bone loss primarily related to trauma, conditions that can be treated with autologous grafts. A good alternative is ...the use of synthetic biomaterials as substitutes. These polymers provide a suitable environment for the growth of new bone and vascular tissue, which are essential for repair. Collagen/hydroxyapatite composites have proven to be biocompatible and to behave mechanically. Furthermore, the addition of chitosan contributes to the formation of a three-dimensional structure that permits cell adhesion and proliferation, thus improving osteogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate bone formation during the repair of bone defects experimentally induced in the skull of rats and grafted with a polymer blend consisting of bovine tendon collagen and chitosan combined with hydroxyapatite. Thirty animals were used for the creation of a defect in the left parietal bone and were divided into three groups of 10 animals each: a control group without biomaterial implantation, a group receiving the blend of collagen and chitosan, and a group receiving this blend combined with hydroxyapatite. Each group was subdivided and the animals were sacrificed 3 or 8 weeks after surgery. After sacrifice, the skulls were removed for macroscopic photodocumentation and radiographic examination. The samples were processed for histological evaluation of new bone formation at the surgical site. Macroscopic and radiographic analysis demonstrated the biocompatibility of the blends. Histologically, the formation of new bone occurred in continuity with the edges of the defect, with the observation of higher volumes in the grafted groups compared to control. Mineralization of sponges did not stimulate bone neoformation, with bone repair being incomplete over the experimental period. In conclusion, mineralization by the addition of hydroxyapatite should be better studied. However, the collagen/chitosan sponges used in this study are suitable to stimulate osteogenesis in cranial defects, although this process is slow and not sufficient to achieve complete bone regeneration over a short period of time.
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Open and hidden heavy-flavor physics in high-energy nuclear collisions are entering a new and exciting stage towards reaching a clearer understanding of the new experimental results with the ...possibility to link them directly to the advancement in lattice Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD). Recent results from experiments and theoretical developments regarding open and hidden heavy-flavor dynamics have been debated at the Lorentz Workshop
Tomography of the Quark-Gluon Plasma with Heavy Quarks
, which was held in October 2016 in Leiden, The Netherlands. In this contribution, we summarize identified common understandings and developed strategies for the upcoming five years, which aim at achieving a profound knowledge of the dynamical properties of the quark-gluon plasma.
There are three basic steps to activated carbon fibers (ACF) manufacturing, from PAN fiber: oxidation/stabilization, carbonization and activation. Carbon material, specially ACF is a very attractive ...material to be used as supercapacitor electrode. The literature describes carbon material surface chemistry importance for supercapacitors application, mainly nitrogen groups by N-doping. Oxidation/stabilization is an important non-explored factor that influence the surface chemical functionality. This work describes the influence of oxidation/stabilization process on ACF production, from textile PAN fiber, and the non-doping nitrogen surface chemistry characteristic caused by the oxidation process design. Its textural, structural and surface was evaluated for supercapacitor electrode. The results show that the oxidation degree can be used as a mechanism of textural and surface chemistry control. The surface chemistry is the key of this work, different oxidation conditions can produce nitrogen compounds that help to increase specific capacitance. The tests showed an increase in capacitance higher than 100% in comparison to the standard oxidation.
Abstract
Neutrons can be detected indirectly through a nuclear reaction where the products are ionizing radiation. Due to the shortage of
3
He, several studies are searching for alternatives, where ...the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector using a layer of
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B as a neutron converter is a very promising option. The GEM detectors are a type of Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGD), widely used in particle tracking systems, as the Time Projection Chamber of the ALICE experiment in the LHC-CERN, and proposed for many other applications, including neutron detection. A common strategy to simulate this kind of detector is based on two frameworks: Geant4 and Garfield++. Given the high ionizing power of these nuclear reaction products, a full simulation is very time consuming then a fast simulator was developed using a parameterization strategy based on these two frameworks that allowed to generate enough data to study an optimized version of this detector. In this proceeding, it is shown the optimization that improves the position resolution by changing the gas mixture and/or its pressure.
Here, transverse momentum (pT) spectra of pions, kaons, and protons up to pT = 20GeV/c have been measured in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76TeV using the ALICE detector for six different centrality ...classes covering 0%–80%. The proton-to-pion and the kaon-to-pion ratios both show a distinct peak at pT ≈ 3GeV/c in central Pb-Pb collisions that decreases for more peripheral collisions. For pT > 10GeV/c, the nuclear modification factor is found to be the same for all three particle species in each centrality interval within systematic uncertainties of 10%–20%. This suggests there is no direct interplay between the energy loss in the medium and the particle species composition in the hard core of the quenched jet. For pT < 10GeV/c, the data provide important constraints for models aimed at describing the transition from soft to hard physics.
The azimuthal anisotropy coefficient v2 of prompt D0, D+, D∗+, and Ds+ mesons was measured in midcentral (30%-50% centrality class) Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair ...sNN=5.02 TeV, with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decays at midrapidity, |y|
We report the measurements of correlations between event-by-event fluctuations of amplitudes of anisotropic flow harmonics in nucleus-nucleus collisions, obtained for the first time using a new ...analysis method based on multiparticle cumulants in mixed harmonics. This novel method is robust against systematic biases originating from nonflow effects and by construction any dependence on symmetry planes is eliminated. We demonstrate that correlations of flow harmonics exhibit a better sensitivity to medium properties than the individual flow harmonics. The new measurements are performed in Pb-Pb collisions at the center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of √ s N N = 2.76 TeV by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The centrality dependence of correlation between event-by-event fluctuations of the elliptic v2 and quadrangular v4 flow harmonics, as well as of anticorrelation between v2 and triangular v3 flow harmonics are presented. The results cover two different regimes of the initial state configurations: geometry dominated (in midcentral collisions) and fluctuation dominated (in the most central collisions). Comparisons are made to predictions from Monte Carlo Glauber, viscous hydrodynamics, ampt, and hijing models. Together with the existing measurements of the individual flow harmonics the presented results provide further constraints on the initial conditions and the transport properties of the system produced in heavy-ion collisions.
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