Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities Show Distinct Recovery Patterns during Forest Ecosystem Restoration.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Shan; Li, Song; Avera, Bethany N; Strahm, Brian D; Badgley, Brian D

2017-07-15

Bacteria and fungi are important mediators of biogeochemical processes and play essential roles in the establishment of plant communities, which makes knowledge about their recovery after extreme disturbances valuable for understanding ecosystem development. However, broad ecological differences between bacterial and fungal organisms, such as growth rates, stress tolerance, and substrate utilization, suggest they could follow distinct trajectories and show contrasting dynamics during recovery. In this study, we analyzed both the intra-annual variability and decade-scale recovery of bacterial and fungal communities in a chronosequence of reclaimed mined soils using next-generation sequencing to quantify their abundance, richness, β-diversity, taxonomic composition, and cooccurrence network properties. Bacterial communities shifted gradually, with overlapping β-diversity patterns across chronosequence ages, while shifts in fungal communities were more distinct among different ages. In addition, the magnitude of intra-annual variability in bacterial β-diversity was comparable to the changes across decades of chronosequence age, while fungal communities changed minimally across months. Finally, the complexity of bacterial cooccurrence networks increased with chronosequence age, while fungal networks did not show clear age-related trends. We hypothesize that these contrasting dynamics of bacteria and fungi in the chronosequence result from (i) higher growth rates for bacteria, leading to higher intra-annual variability; (ii) higher tolerance to environmental changes for fungi; and (iii) stronger influence of vegetation on fungal communities. IMPORTANCE Both bacteria and fungi play essential roles in ecosystem functions, and information about their recovery after extreme disturbances is important for understanding whole-ecosystem development. Given their many differences in phenotype, phylogeny, and life history, a comparison of different bacterial and fungal recovery

The decreasing effect of exogenous SOD on damage of mice irradiated with 5 Gy 60Co-γ rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Fenju; Jiang Jiagui; Yi Jian

1999-01-01

The author presents a report on the activity of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and the content of LPO measured in tissue of Liver, heart and brain of mice irradiated by 60 Co-γ rays 5 Gy 1, 3, 5 and 8 days after irradiation respectively. After radiation exogenous SOD was immediately i.p. injected into mice. The variation of LPO content in the above mentioned three kinds of tissue has been observed. The result of the measurement shows that after radiation at a dose of 5 Gy 60 Co-γ rays, the LPO content and SOD activity of mice organs varied with radiation time. The LPO content varied earliest in liver, while the variation of LPO content in heart and cerebrum took place 8 days after radiation, meanwhile the activity of SOD in the tissues significantly decreased in comparison with that the control group (P<0.01). After injection with SOD, the LPO content and SOD activity of the organs irradiated for different time significantly decreased and increased in comparison with that in the control group. This shows that the enzyme of SOD is of significant anti-radiation effect

Continuous firefly algorithm applied to PWR core pattern enhancement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poursalehi, N.; Zolfaghari, A.; Minuchehr, A.; Moghaddam, H.K.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Numerical results indicate the reliability of CFA for the nuclear reactor LPO. ► The major advantages of CFA are its light computational cost and fast convergence. ► Our experiments demonstrate the ability of CFA to obtain the near optimal loading pattern. -- Abstract: In this research, the new meta-heuristic optimization strategy, firefly algorithm, is developed for the nuclear reactor loading pattern optimization problem. Two main goals in reactor core fuel management optimization are maximizing the core multiplication factor (K eff ) in order to extract the maximum cycle energy and minimizing the power peaking factor due to safety constraints. In this work, we define a multi-objective fitness function according to above goals for the core fuel arrangement enhancement. In order to evaluate and demonstrate the ability of continuous firefly algorithm (CFA) to find the near optimal loading pattern, we developed CFA nodal expansion code (CFANEC) for the fuel management operation. This code consists of two main modules including CFA optimization program and a developed core analysis code implementing nodal expansion method to calculate with coarse meshes by dimensions of fuel assemblies. At first, CFA is applied for the Foxholes test case with continuous variables in order to validate CFA and then for KWU PWR using a decoding strategy for discrete variables. Results indicate the efficiency and relatively fast convergence of CFA in obtaining near optimal loading pattern with respect to considered fitness function. At last, our experience with the CFA confirms that the CFA is easy to implement and reliable

Continuous firefly algorithm applied to PWR core pattern enhancement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poursalehi, N., E-mail: npsalehi@yahoo.com [Engineering Department, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., P.O. Box 1983963113, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Zolfaghari, A.; Minuchehr, A.; Moghaddam, H.K. [Engineering Department, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., P.O. Box 1983963113, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2013-05-15

Highlights: ► Numerical results indicate the reliability of CFA for the nuclear reactor LPO. ► The major advantages of CFA are its light computational cost and fast convergence. ► Our experiments demonstrate the ability of CFA to obtain the near optimal loading pattern. -- Abstract: In this research, the new meta-heuristic optimization strategy, firefly algorithm, is developed for the nuclear reactor loading pattern optimization problem. Two main goals in reactor core fuel management optimization are maximizing the core multiplication factor (K{sub eff}) in order to extract the maximum cycle energy and minimizing the power peaking factor due to safety constraints. In this work, we define a multi-objective fitness function according to above goals for the core fuel arrangement enhancement. In order to evaluate and demonstrate the ability of continuous firefly algorithm (CFA) to find the near optimal loading pattern, we developed CFA nodal expansion code (CFANEC) for the fuel management operation. This code consists of two main modules including CFA optimization program and a developed core analysis code implementing nodal expansion method to calculate with coarse meshes by dimensions of fuel assemblies. At first, CFA is applied for the Foxholes test case with continuous variables in order to validate CFA and then for KWU PWR using a decoding strategy for discrete variables. Results indicate the efficiency and relatively fast convergence of CFA in obtaining near optimal loading pattern with respect to considered fitness function. At last, our experience with the CFA confirms that the CFA is easy to implement and reliable.

Lipid peroxidation in microsomes of murine bone marrow after low-dose γ-irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwenke, K.; Coslar, S.; Muehlensiepen, H.; Altman, K.I.; Feinendegen, L.E.

1994-01-01

The principal aim of the study was to investigate the effect of low-dose γ-irradiation on lipid peroxidation (LPO) in murine bone marrow. To this end, the degree of LPO in suspensions of microsomes of murine bone marrow cells (BMC) was determined in terms of malondialdehyde (MDA) formation after whole-body or in vitro exposure to various doses of γ-radiation. These effects were compared to some extent with similar effects in liver and spleen preparations. As to the effect of γ-irradiation on LPO in BMC, the response depends on the dose level and on whether whole-body or in vitro exposures are involved. Whole-body irradiation did not result in an increase in LPO in BMC microsomes, even at such high doses as 15 Gy, although hepatic microsomes showed a marked increase. In contrast, in vitro irradiation of BMC microsomes with 0.1, 10 and 50 Gy brought about an increase in LPO. This increase was already significant (P < 0.05) at 0.1 Gy following a post-irradiation incubation and substantial at 50 Gy, even without subsequent incubation. The results show that low doses of γ-irradiation are able to induce an elevation of LPO in murine BMC microsomes, but only after in vitro irradiation. In the case of whole-body irradiation cellular radical scavengers and other metabolic reactions may prevent a measurable increase in LPO. This is partly illustrated by the case of vitamin-E deficiency, where a substantial increase in LPO in BMC microsomes is observed even without γ-irradiation in comparison with euvitaminotic mice because normally occurring radicals are not scavenged sufficiently. (orig.)

Gastric cancers of Western European and African patients show different patterns of genomic instability

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Mulder Chris JJ

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Infection with H. pylori is important in the etiology of gastric cancer. Gastric cancer is infrequent in Africa, despite high frequencies of H. pylori infection, referred to as the African enigma. Variation in environmental and host factors influencing gastric cancer risk between different populations have been reported but little is known about the biological differences between gastric cancers from different geographic locations. We aim to study genomic instability patterns of gastric cancers obtained from patients from United Kingdom (UK and South Africa (SA, in an attempt to support the African enigma hypothesis at the biological level. Methods DNA was isolated from 67 gastric adenocarcinomas, 33 UK patients, 9 Caucasian SA patients and 25 native SA patients. Microsatellite instability and chromosomal instability were analyzed by PCR and microarray comparative genomic hybridization, respectively. Data was analyzed by supervised univariate and multivariate analyses as well as unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis. Results Tumors from Caucasian and native SA patients showed significantly more microsatellite instable tumors (p Conclusions Gastric cancers from SA and UK patients show differences in genetic instability patterns, indicating possible different biological mechanisms in patients from different geographical origin. This is of future clinical relevance for stratification of gastric cancer therapy.

DNA damage and oxidative stress in marine gastropod Morula granulata exposed to phenanthrene

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Bhagat, J.; Sarkar, A.; Ingole, B.S.

oxidative stress was assessed using a battery of biomarkers such as glutathione-S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), and lipid peroxidation (LPO). Our data showed concentration-dependent increase in percentage DNA in tail (TDNA), LPO, and GST activity...

Clinical Symptoms in Fibromyalgia Are Better Associated to Lipid Peroxidation Levels in Blood Mononuclear Cells Rather than in Plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Cano-García, Francisco J.; De Miguel, Manuel; Carrión, Angel M.; Navas, Plácido; Sánchez Alcázar, José A.

2011-01-01

Background We examined lipid peroxidation (LPO) in blood mononuclear cells (BMCs) and plasma, as a marker of oxidative damage, and its association to clinical symptoms in Fibromyalgia (FM) patients. Methods We conducted a case–control and correlational study comparing 65 patients and 45 healthy controls. Clinical parameters were evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), visual analogues scales (VAS), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Oxidative stress was determined by measuring LPO in BMCs and plasma. Results We found increased LPO levels in BMCs and plasma from FM patients as compared to normal control (P<0.001). A significant correlation between LPO in BMCs and clinical parameters was observed (r = 0.584, P<0.001 for VAS; r = 0.823, P<0.001 for FIQ total score; and r = 0.875, P<0.01 for depression in the BDI). We also found a positive correlation between LPO in plasma and clinical symptoms (r = 0.452, P<0.001 for VAS; r = 0.578, P<0.001 for FIQ total score; and r = 0.579, P<0.001 for depression in the BDI). Partial correlation analysis controlling for age and BMI, and sex, showed that both LPO in cells and plasma were independently associated to clinical symptoms. However, LPO in cells, but not LPO in plasma, was independently associated to clinical symptoms when controlling for depression (BDI scores). Discussion The results of this study suggest a role for oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia and that LPO in BMCs rather than LPO in plasma is better associated to clinical symptoms in FM. PMID:22046409

Clinical symptoms in fibromyalgia are better associated to lipid peroxidation levels in blood mononuclear cells rather than in plasma.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario D Cordero

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We examined lipid peroxidation (LPO in blood mononuclear cells (BMCs and plasma, as a marker of oxidative damage, and its association to clinical symptoms in Fibromyalgia (FM patients. METHODS: We conducted a case-control and correlational study comparing 65 patients and 45 healthy controls. Clinical parameters were evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ, visual analogues scales (VAS, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI. Oxidative stress was determined by measuring LPO in BMCs and plasma. RESULTS: We found increased LPO levels in BMCs and plasma from FM patients as compared to normal control (P<0.001. A significant correlation between LPO in BMCs and clinical parameters was observed (r = 0.584, P<0.001 for VAS; r = 0.823, P<0.001 for FIQ total score; and r = 0.875, P<0.01 for depression in the BDI. We also found a positive correlation between LPO in plasma and clinical symptoms (r = 0.452, P<0.001 for VAS; r = 0.578, P<0.001 for FIQ total score; and r = 0.579, P<0.001 for depression in the BDI. Partial correlation analysis controlling for age and BMI, and sex, showed that both LPO in cells and plasma were independently associated to clinical symptoms. However, LPO in cells, but not LPO in plasma, was independently associated to clinical symptoms when controlling for depression (BDI scores. DISCUSSION: The results of this study suggest a role for oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia and that LPO in BMCs rather than LPO in plasma is better associated to clinical symptoms in FM.

Lateral Preoptic Control of the Lateral Habenula through Convergent Glutamate and GABA Transmission

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David J. Barker

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Summary: The lateral habenula (LHb is a brain structure that participates in cognitive and emotional processing and has been implicated in several mental disorders. Although one of the largest inputs to the LHb originates in the lateral preoptic area (LPO, little is known about how the LPO participates in the regulation of LHb function. Here, we provide evidence that the LPO exerts bivalent control over the LHb through the convergent transmission of LPO glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA onto single LHb neurons. In vivo, both LPO-glutamatergic and LPO-GABAergic inputs to the LHb are activated by aversive stimuli, and their predictive cues yet produce opposing behaviors when stimulated independently. These results support a model wherein the balanced response of converging LPO-glutamate and LPO-GABA are necessary for a normal response to noxious stimuli, and an imbalance in LPO→LHb glutamate or GABA results in the type of aberrant processing that may underlie mental disorders. : Barker et al. show that distinct populations of lateral preoptic area glutamate and GABA neurons synapse together on single lateral habenula neurons and find that this “convergent neurotransmission” allows preoptic area neurons to exert bivalent control over single lateral habenula neurons and drive opposing motivational states. Keywords: preoptic, habenula, reward, aversion, synapse, glutamate, GABA, stress, calcium imaging, optogenetics, electron microscopy

Characterization of GmENOD40, a gene showing novel patterns of cell-specific expression during soybean nodule development.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yang, W.C.; Katinakis, P.; Hendriks, P.; Smolders, A.; Vries, de F.; Spee, J.; Kammen, van A.; Bisseling, T.; Franssen, H.

1993-01-01

In this paper, the soybean 'early nodulin' clone pGmENOD40 is characterized. The GmENOD40 encoded protein does not contain methionine and does not show homology to proteins identified so far. In situ hybridizations showed that this gene has a complex expression pattern during development of

Pattern of neural responses to verbal fluency shows diagnostic specificity for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

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Walshe Muriel

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Impairments in executive function and language processing are characteristic of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Their functional neuroanatomy demonstrate features that are shared as well as specific to each disorder. Determining the distinct pattern of neural responses in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may provide biomarkers for their diagnoses. Methods 104 participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI scans while performing a phonological verbal fluency task. Subjects were 32 patients with schizophrenia in remission, 32 patients with bipolar disorder in an euthymic state, and 40 healthy volunteers. Neural responses to verbal fluency were examined in each group, and the diagnostic potential of the pattern of the neural responses was assessed with machine learning analysis. Results During the verbal fluency task, both patient groups showed increased activation in the anterior cingulate, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right putamen as compared to healthy controls, as well as reduced deactivation of precuneus and posterior cingulate. The magnitude of activation was greatest in patients with schizophrenia, followed by patients with bipolar disorder and then healthy individuals. Additional recruitment in the right inferior frontal and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices was observed in schizophrenia relative to both bipolar disorder and healthy subjects. The pattern of neural responses correctly identified individual patients with schizophrenia with an accuracy of 92%, and those with bipolar disorder with an accuracy of 79% in which mis-classification was typically of bipolar subjects as healthy controls. Conclusions In summary, both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are associated with altered function in prefrontal, striatal and default mode networks, but the magnitude of this dysfunction is particularly marked in schizophrenia. The pattern of response to verbal fluency is highly

Traumatic ulcerative granuloma with stromal eosinophilia of the palate showing an angiocentric/angiodestructive growth pattern

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Bernardo Ferreira Brasileiro

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Traumatic ulcerative granuloma with stromal eosinophilia (TUGSE is a benign, self-limiting lesion of the oral mucosa with unknown pathogenesis. A 65-year-old male patient presented with an ulcerative palate lesion, which on microscopic examination exhibited an exuberant polymorphic lymphoid proliferation, numerous eosinophils, and extensive vascular destruction. The atypical lymphoid cells infiltrating the medium-sized vessels showed positivity for CD3, CD30, and granzyme B, implicating an activated cytotoxic T-cell phenotype. The lesion diagnosed as TUGSE achieved complete resolution within 3 months. This unusual presentation has expanded the spectrum of oral CD30+ T-cell atypical infiltrates and must be distinguished from lymphomas showing angiocentric/angiodestructive growth pattern.

Intraspecific Arabidopsis hybrids show different patterns of heterosis despite the close relatedness of the parental genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Groszmann, Michael; Gonzalez-Bayon, Rebeca; Greaves, Ian K; Wang, Li; Huen, Amanda K; Peacock, W James; Dennis, Elizabeth S

2014-09-01

Heterosis is important for agriculture; however, little is known about the mechanisms driving hybrid vigor. Ultimately, heterosis depends on the interactions of specific alleles and epialleles provided by the parents, which is why hybrids can exhibit different levels of heterosis, even within the same species. We characterize the development of several intraspecific Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) F1 hybrids that show different levels of heterosis at maturity. We identify several phases of heterosis beginning during embryogenesis and culminating in a final phase of vegetative maturity and seed production. During each phase, the hybrids show different levels and patterns of growth, despite the close relatedness of the parents. For instance, during the vegetative phases, the hybrids develop larger leaves than the parents to varied extents, and they do so by exploiting increases in cell size and cell numbers in different ratios. Consistent with this finding, we observed changes in the expression of genes known to regulate leaf size in developing rosettes of the hybrids, with the patterns of altered expression differing between combinations. The data show that heterosis is dependent on changes in development throughout the growth cycle of the hybrid, with the traits of mature vegetative biomass and reproductive yield as cumulative outcomes of heterosis at different levels, tissues, and times of development. © 2014 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Improving the refueling cycle of a WWER-1000 using cuckoo search method and thermal-neutronic coupling of PARCS v2.7, COBRA-EN and WIMSD-5B codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yarizadeh-Beneh, M.; Mazaheri-Beni, H.; Poursalehi, N., E-mail: n_poursalehi@sbu.ac.ir

2016-12-15

Highlights: • The cuckoo search algorithm is applied to the loading pattern optimization of a nuclear reactor core. • Calculations during the cycle show a good agreement between results and reference for the original LP. • Results indicate the efficient performance of cuckoo search approach coupled with thermal-neutronic solvers. • Neutronic parameters of proposed core pattern are improved relative to original core pattern. - Abstract: The fuel loading pattern optimization is an important process in the refueling design of a nuclear reactor core. Also the analysis of reactor core performance during the operation cycle can be a significant step in the core loading pattern optimization (LPO). In this work, for the first time, a new method i.e. cuckoo search algorithm (CS) has been applied to the fuel loading pattern design of Bushehr WWER-1000 core. In this regard, two objectives have been chosen for finding the best configuration including the improvement of operation cycle length associated with flattening the radial power distribution of fuel assemblies. The core pattern optimization has been performed by coupling the CS algorithm to thermal-neutronic codes including PARCS v2.7, COBRA-EN and WIMSD-5B for earning desired parameters along the operation cycle. The calculations have been done for the beginning of cycle (BOC) to the end of cycle (EOC) states. According to numerical results, the longer operation cycle for the semi-optimized loading pattern has been achieved along with less power peaking factor (PPF) in comparison to the original core pattern of Bushehr WWER-1000. Gained results confirm the efficient and suitable performance of the developed program and also the introduced CS method in the LPO of a nuclear WWER type.

Professional Prestige in the Indian LPO Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Swethaa Ballakrishnen

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The impact of Western influences in shaping global attitudes and preferences has been studied in a range of contexts. This paper extends that literature to the labor market context to illustrate how cultural processes and identities of people and institutions alike are continuously shaped and resisted by globalized influences. Using field data from the Indian legal outsourcing industry (collected as part of the HLS PLP Study on LPOs as well as a detailed content analysis of newspaper reports over time, this paper shows attempts to trace the ways in which association to the West has emerged as a marker of prestige transforming seemingly routine work into valued “global” labor. Universality of professional prestige has traditionally not taken into consideration the effect of globalization as a prestige factor in and off itself. I offer here that in addition to the traditional markers used (for e.g., level of skill, monetary rewards, etc, and especially while trying to understand the emerging-industrialized world, an approach more reflective of the “halo” effect of the West is crucial. El impacto de la influencia occidental sobre la formación de actitudes y preferencias globales se ha estudiado desde diferentes puntos de vista. Este artículo adopta la literatura sobre el contexto del mercado laboral, para ilustrar cómo se conforman y resisten los procesos culturales e identidades de las personas e instituciones por igual, como consecuencia de las influencias globalizadas. Utilizando datos de campo de la industria india de subcontratación legal (recogidas en el marco del estudio del Programa sobre Abogacía de la Facultad de Derecho de Harvard, sobre subcontratación de servicios legales, así como un análisis detallado de los reportajes periodísticos a lo largo del tiempo, este artículo muestra los intentos de trazar de qué manera la asociación con occidente ha dotado de prestigio un trabajo aparentemente rutinario, transform

The Effects of Long-Term Feeding of Rodent Food Bars on Lipid Peroxidation And Antioxidant Enzyme Levels In Fisher Rats

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez, Joel; Zirkle-Yoshida, M.; Piert, S.; Barrett, J.; Yul, D.; Dalton, B.; Girten, B.

2001-01-01

A specialized rodent food bar diet has been developed and utilized successfully for short-duration shuttle missions. Recent tests conducted in preparation for experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) indicated that long-term food bar feeding for three months induced hyperlipidemia in rats. This study examined oxidative stress status in livers of these same animals. Spectrophotometric analysis of 79 Fischer rat livers (40 female and 39 male) for lipid peroxidation (LPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was conducted using Bioxytech LPO-587(TM) assay kit and SOD-525(Tm) assay kit, respectively. The treatment groups consisted of 20 male CHOW and 19 male FOOD BAR rats and 20 female CHOW and 20 female FOOD BAR rats. Statistical analysis to compare differences between groups was performed by standard analysis of variance procedures. The male FOOD BAR group LPO mean (3.6 +/- 0.2 mmol/g) was significantly (p less than or equal to 0.05) greater than that of the male CHOW group (2.1 +/-0.1 mmol/g). Moreover the female FOOD BAR group LPO mean (2.9 +/-0.1 mmol/g) was also significantly greater than the female CHOW group mean (2.2 +/-0.1 mmol/g). The mean values for SOD in both male and female groups showed no significant differences between CHOW and FOOD BAR groups. These results show that LPO levels were significantly higher in both the male and female FOOD BAR groups compared to CHOW groups and that there was no concomitant increase in SOD levels across the group. In addition, males showed a greater difference than females in terms of LPO levels. These findings suggest a need for further investigation into the use of the current food bar formulation for long-term experiments such as those planned for the ISS.

Oxidative damage following cerebral ischemia depends on reperfusion - a biochemical study in rat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nita, D A; Nita, V; Spulber, S

2002-01-01

of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and both enzymatic (superoxide dismutase - SOD, catalase - CAT, glutathione peroxidase - GPx) and non-enzymatic antioxidants activity (glutathione - GSH); and second, to try to find out how the pattern of reperfusion may influence the balance between free radical production...

Adolescents with current major depressive disorder show dissimilar patterns of age-related differences in ACC and thalamus

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Cindy C. Hagan

2015-01-01

Conclusions: The depressed adolescent brain shows dissimilar age-related and symptom-sensitive patterns of GMV differences compared with controls. The thalamus and ACC may comprise neural markers for detecting these effects in youth. Further investigations therefore need to take both age and level of current symptoms into account when disaggregating antecedent neural vulnerabilities for MDD from the effects of MDD on the developing brain.

Food pattern modeling shows that the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for sodium and potassium cannot be met simultaneously

Science.gov (United States)

Maillot, Matthieu; Monsivais, Pablo; Drewnowski, Adam

2013-01-01

The 2010 US Dietary Guidelines recommended limiting intake of sodium to 1500 mg/d for people older than 50 years, African Americans, and those suffering from chronic disease. The guidelines recommended that all other people consume less than 2300 mg sodium and 4700 mg of potassium per day. The theoretical feasibility of meeting the sodium and potassium guidelines while simultaneously maintaining nutritional adequacy of the diet was tested using food pattern modeling based on linear programming. Dietary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2002 were used to create optimized food patterns for 6 age-sex groups. Linear programming models determined the boundary conditions for the potassium and sodium content of the modeled food patterns that would also be compatible with other nutrient goals. Linear programming models also sought to determine the amounts of sodium and potassium that both would be consistent with the ratio of Na to K of 0.49 and would cause the least deviation from the existing food habits. The 6 sets of food patterns were created before and after an across-the-board 10% reduction in sodium content of all foods in the Food and Nutrition Database for Dietary Studies. Modeling analyses showed that the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for sodium were incompatible with potassium guidelines and with nutritionally adequate diets, even after reducing the sodium content of all US foods by 10%. Feasibility studies should precede or accompany the issuing of dietary guidelines to the public. PMID:23507224

Lipid peroxidation inhibition and antiradical activities of some leaf fractions of Mangifera indica.

Science.gov (United States)

Badmus, Jelili A; Adedosu, Temitope O; Fatoki, John O; Adegbite, Victor A; Adaramoye, Oluwatosin A; Odunola, Oyeronke A

2011-01-01

This study was undertaken to assess in vitro lipid peroxidation inhibitions and anti-radical activities of methanolic, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water fractions of Mangifera indica leaf. Inhibition of Fe(2+)-induced lipid peroxidation (LPO) in egg, brain, and liver homogenates, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and hydroxyl (OH-) radical scavenging activities were evaluated. Total phenol was assessed in all fractions, and the reducing power of methanolic fraction was compared to gallic acid and ascorbic acid. The results showed that Fe2+ induced significant lipid peroxidation (LPO) in all the homogenates. Ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest percentage inhibition of LPO in both egg yolk (68.3%) and brain (66.3%), while the aqueous fraction exerted the highest inhibition in liver homogenate (89.1%) at a concentration of 10 microg/mL. These observed inhibitions of LPO by these fractions were higher than that of ascorbic acid used as a standard. The DPPH radical scavenging ability exhibited by ethyl acetate fraction was found to be the highest with IC50 value of 1.5 microg/mL. The ethyl acetate and methanolic fractions had the highest OH- radical scavenging ability with the same IC50 value of 5 microg/mL. The total phenol content of ethyl acetate fraction was the highest with 0.127 microg/mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE). The reductive potential of methanolic fraction showed a concentration-dependent increase. This study showed that inhibition of LPO and the DPPH and OH- radicals scavenging abilities of Mangifera indica leaf could be related to the presence of phenolic compounds. Therefore, the ethyl acetate fraction of the leaf may be a good source of natural antioxidative agent.

Assessment of persistent organic pollutants accumulation and lipid peroxidation in two reproductive stages of wild silverside (Odontesthes bonariensis).

Science.gov (United States)

Barni, María Florencia Silva; Gonzalez, Mariana; Miglioranza, Karina S B

2014-01-01

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in streamwater can sometimes exceed the guidelines values reported for biota and human protection in watersheds with intensive agriculture. Oxidative stress and cytotoxicity are some of the markers of exposure to POPs in fish. Accumulation of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) as well as lipid peroxidation (LPO) was assessed in wild silverside (Odontesthes bonariensis) from maturation and pre-spawning stages sampled in a typical soybean growing area. Pollutants were quantified by gas chromatography with electron capture detection and LPO by the method of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. Concentrations of POPs were in the following order: OCPs>PCBs>PBDEs in all organs and stages. Liver, gills and gonads had the highest OCP concentrations in both sexes and stages with a predominance of endosulfan in all samples. Matured individuals, sampled after endosulfan application period, showed higher endosulfan concentrations than pre-spawning individuals. The predominance of endosulfan sulfate could be due to direct uptake from diet and water column, as well as to the metabolism of the parent compounds in fish. The prevalence of p,p'-DDE in liver would also reflect both the direct uptake and the metabolic transformation of p,p'-DDT to p,p'-DDE by fish. The highest levels of PBDEs and PCBs were found in gills and brain of both stages of growth. The pattern BDE-47>BDE-100 in all samples corresponds to pentaBDE exposure. In the case of PCBs, penta (#101 and 110) and hexa-CB congeners (#153 and 138) dominated in the maturation stages and tri (#18) and tetra-CB (#44 and 52) in pre-spawning stages, suggesting biotransformation or preferential accumulation of heavier congeners during gonadal development. Differences in LPO levels in ovaries were associated with growth dilution and reproductive stage. Differences in LPO levels in gills were related with pesticide

Satellite III non-coding RNAs show distinct and stress-specific patterns of induction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sengupta, Sonali; Parihar, Rashmi; Ganesh, Subramaniam

2009-01-01

The heat shock response in human cells is associated with the transcription of satellite III repeats (SatIII) located in the 9q12 locus. Upon induction, the SatIII transcripts remain associated with the locus and recruit several transcription and splicing factors to form the nuclear stress bodies (nSBs). The nSBs are thought to modulate epigenetic changes during the heat shock response. We demonstrate here that the nSBs are induced by a variety of stressors and show stress-specific patterns of induction. While the transcription factor HSF1 is required for the induction of SatIII locus by the stressors tested, its specific role in the transcriptional process appears to be stress dependent. Our results suggest the existence of multiple transcriptional loci for the SatIII transcripts and that their activation might depend upon the type of stressors. Thus, induction of SatIII transcripts appears to be a generic response to a variety of stress conditions.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis versus exogenous lipoid pneumonia showing crazy-paving pattern: Comparison of their clinical features and high-resolution CT findings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Hei Kyung; Park, Chang Min; Goo, Jin Mo; Lee, Hyun Ju (Dept. of Radiology, Seoul National Univ. College of Medicine, and Inst. of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National Univ. Medical Research Center, Seoul (Korea)), e-mail: cmpark@radiol.snu.ac.kr

2010-05-15

Background: Although pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) and exogenous lipoid pneumonia (ELP) require different treatment strategies, both manifest as a crazy-paving pattern on CT and often have similar clinical manifestations and radiologic features. Purpose: To investigate the clinical features and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings of PAP and ELP showing the crazy-paving pattern. Material and Methods: The clinical features and HRCT findings of eight patients with pathologically proven PAP and six patients with pathologically proven ELP showing the crazy-paving pattern were retrospectively evaluated. Two radiologists analyzed the HRCT findings of PAP and ELP in consensus in terms of the presence, severity, and extent of illdefined centrilobular nodules, consolidations, ground-glass opacities (GGOs), reticulations, and the crazy-paving pattern. Results: With respect to the clinical features of these two diseases, all patients with ELP were retrospectively found to have a history of oil ingestion. In terms of the HRCT findings, ill-defined centrilobular nodules were seen in five of six patients (83%) with ELP, whereas they were not present in any patient with PAP (P=0.003). Consolidation was also more frequently present in patients with ELP (83%) than in those with PAP (11%), which was statistically different (P=0.0265). In terms of the severity and extent, the crazy-paving pattern and reticulations on HRCT were significantly more extensive and severe in patients with PAP than in those with ELP. Conclusion: PAP and ELP with the crazy-paving pattern have several distinctive characteristics with respect to their HRCT findings as well as history of oil ingestion, and can therefore be distinguished from one another

Neighborhood diversity of large trees shows independent species patterns in a mixed dipterocarp forest in Sri Lanka.

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Punchi-Manage, Ruwan; Wiegand, Thorsten; Wiegand, Kerstin; Getzin, Stephan; Huth, Andreas; Gunatilleke, C V Savitri; Gunatilleke, I A U Nimal

2015-07-01

Interactions among neighboring individuals influence plant performance and should create spatial patterns in local community structure. In order to assess the role of large trees in generating spatial patterns in local species richness, we used the individual species-area relationship (ISAR) to evaluate the species richness of trees of different size classes (and dead trees) in circular neighborhoods with varying radius around large trees of different focal species. To reveal signals of species interactions, we compared the ISAR function of the individuals of focal species with that of randomly selected nearby locations. We expected that large trees should strongly affect the community structure of smaller trees in their neighborhood, but that these effects should fade away with increasing size class. Unexpectedly, we found that only few focal species showed signals of species interactions with trees of the different size classes and that this was less likely for less abundant focal species. However, the few and relatively weak departures from independence were consistent with expectations of the effect of competition for space and the dispersal syndrome on spatial patterns. A noisy signal of competition for space found for large trees built up gradually with increasing life stage; it was not yet present for large saplings but detectable for intermediates. Additionally, focal species with animal-dispersed seeds showed higher species richness in their neighborhood than those with gravity- and gyration-dispersed seeds. Our analysis across the entire ontogeny from recruits to large trees supports the hypothesis that stochastic effects dilute deterministic species interactions in highly diverse communities. Stochastic dilution is a consequence of the stochastic geometry of biodiversity in species-rich communities where the identities of the nearest neighbors of a given plant are largely unpredictable. While the outcome of local species interactions is governed for each

Bilateral versus ipsilesional cortico-subcortical activity patterns in stroke show hemispheric dependence.

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Vidal, Ana C; Banca, Paula; Pascoal, Augusto G; Cordeiro, Gustavo; Sargento-Freitas, João; Gouveia, Ana; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

2018-01-01

Background Understanding of interhemispheric interactions in stroke patients during motor control is an important clinical neuroscience quest that may provide important clues for neurorehabilitation. In stroke patients bilateral overactivation in both hemispheres has been interpreted as a poor prognostic indicator of functional recovery. In contrast, ipsilesional patterns have been linked with better motor outcomes. Aim We investigated the pathophysiology of hemispheric interactions during limb movement without and with contralateral restraint, to mimic the effects of constraint-induced movement therapy. We used neuroimaging to probe brain activity with such a movement-dependent interhemispheric modulation paradigm. Methods We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging block design during which the plegic/paretic upper limb was recruited/mobilized to perform unilateral arm elevation, as a function of presence versus absence of contralateral limb restriction (n = 20, with balanced left/right lesion sites). Results Analysis of 10 right hemispheric stroke participants yielded bilateral sensorimotor cortex activation in all movement phases in contrast with the unilateral dominance seen in the 10 left hemispheric stroke participants. Superimposition of contralateral restriction led to a prominent shift from activation to deactivation response patterns, in particular in cortical and basal ganglia motor areas in right hemispheric stroke. Left hemispheric stroke was, in general, characterized by reduced activation patterns, even in the absence of restriction, which induced additional cortical silencing. Conclusion The observed hemispheric-dependent activation/deactivation shifts is novel and these pathophysiological observations suggest short-term neuroplasticity that may be useful for hemisphere-tailored neurorehabilitation.

Lipid peroxide levels of serum lipoprotein fractions of diabetic patients with angiopathy and 60Co-irradiated rabbit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsunekawa, Hiroshi

1982-01-01

For a better understanding of the relationship between lipid peroxide (LPO) and vascular diseases, the author determined LPO levels and lipid contents of serum lipoprotein fractions of diabetics with angiopathy. The LPO level in high density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction of diabetic serum was significantly higher than that of normal serum whereas no significant increase was observed in the levels of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) fractions of diabetic serum. As to the ratios of LPO to total lipids in these lipoprotein fractions, it was found that the ratio in HDL fraction of the diabetics was markedly higher than that of the normals. These results suggest that the increase in LPO levels in the sera of diabetic patiens is due to that in HDL fraction. To study further this problem, the author employed 60 Co-irradiated rabbit as a model, since it was already reported that radiation affects lipid metabolism and LPO formation, and that it induces the development of atherosclerosis. Upon irradiation with 60 Co ranging from 100R to 700R, serum LPO level of rabbit was significantly increased. Although elevation of LPO level was found in each serum lipoprotein fraction of VLDL, LDL and HDL, LPO level per lipid content was significantly increased only in HDL fraction. In the irradiated rabbit, significant elevation of the level of LPO was also observed in the liver, while no significant increase was found in the kidney and spleen. These results indicate that high level of LPO observed in the serum of irradiated rabbit would be the reflection of the increased LPO in the liver. (J.P.N.)

Lipid peroxide levels of serum lipoprotein fractions of diabetic patients with angiopathy and /sup 60/Co-irradiated rabbit

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Tsunekawa, Hiroshi [Nagoya Univ. (Japan). Faculty of Medicine

1982-09-01

For a better understanding of the relationship between lipid peroxide (LPO) and vascular diseases, the author determined LPO levels and lipid contents of serum lipoprotein fractions of diabetics with angiopathy. The LPO level in high density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction of diabetic serum was significantly higher than that of normal serum whereas no significant increase was observed in the levels of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) fractions of diabetic serum. As to the ratios of LPO to total lipids in these lipoprotein fractions, it was found that the ratio in HDL fraction of the diabetics was markedly higher than that of the normals. These results suggest that the increase in LPO levels in the sera of diabetic patients is due to that in HDL fraction. To study further this problem, the author employed /sup 60/Co-irradiated rabbit as a model, since it was already reported that radiation affects lipid metabolism and LPO formation, and that it induces the development of atherosclerosis. Upon irradiation with /sup 60/Co ranging from 100R to 700R, serum LPO level of rabbit was significantly increased. Although elevation of LPO level was found in each serum lipoprotein fraction of VLDL, LDL and HDL, LPO level per lipid content was significantly increased only in HDL fraction. In the irradiated rabbit, significant elevation of the level of LPO was also observed in the liver, while no significant increase was found in the kidney and spleen. These results indicate that high level of LPO observed in the serum of irradiated rabbit would be the reflection of the increased LPO in the liver.

Co-residence patterns in hunter-gatherer societies show unique human social structure.

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Hill, Kim R; Walker, Robert S; Bozicević, Miran; Eder, James; Headland, Thomas; Hewlett, Barry; Hurtado, A Magdalena; Marlowe, Frank; Wiessner, Polly; Wood, Brian

2011-03-11

Contemporary humans exhibit spectacular biological success derived from cumulative culture and cooperation. The origins of these traits may be related to our ancestral group structure. Because humans lived as foragers for 95% of our species' history, we analyzed co-residence patterns among 32 present-day foraging societies (total n = 5067 individuals, mean experienced band size = 28.2 adults). We found that hunter-gatherers display a unique social structure where (i) either sex may disperse or remain in their natal group, (ii) adult brothers and sisters often co-reside, and (iii) most individuals in residential groups are genetically unrelated. These patterns produce large interaction networks of unrelated adults and suggest that inclusive fitness cannot explain extensive cooperation in hunter-gatherer bands. However, large social networks may help to explain why humans evolved capacities for social learning that resulted in cumulative culture.

Human microRNA oncogenes and tumor suppressors show significantly different biological patterns: from functions to targets.

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Dong Wang

Full Text Available MicroRNAs (miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs which play essential roles in many important biological processes. Therefore, their dysfunction is associated with a variety of human diseases, including cancer. Increasing evidence shows that miRNAs can act as oncogenes or tumor suppressors, and although there is great interest in research into these cancer-associated miRNAs, little is known about them. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of putative human miRNA oncogenes and tumor suppressors. We found that miRNA oncogenes and tumor suppressors clearly show different patterns in function, evolutionary rate, expression, chromosome distribution, molecule size, free energy, transcription factors, and targets. For example, miRNA oncogenes are located mainly in the amplified regions in human cancers, whereas miRNA tumor suppressors are located mainly in the deleted regions. miRNA oncogenes tend to cleave target mRNAs more frequently than miRNA tumor suppressors. These results indicate that these two types of cancer-associated miRNAs play different roles in cancer formation and development. Moreover, the patterns identified here can discriminate novel miRNA oncogenes and tumor suppressors with a high degree of accuracy. This study represents the first large-scale bioinformatic analysis of human miRNA oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Our findings provide help for not only understanding of miRNAs in cancer but also for the specific identification of novel miRNAs as miRNA oncogenes and tumor suppressors. In addition, the data presented in this study will be valuable for the study of both miRNAs and cancer.

A novel optimization method, Effective Discrete Firefly Algorithm, for fuel reload design of nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poursalehi, N.; Zolfaghari, A.; Minuchehr, A.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • An advanced version of firefly algorithm, EDFA, is proposed for the core pattern optimization problem. • The movement of each firefly toward the best firefly with a dynamic probability is the major improvement of EDFA. • LPO results represent the faster convergence and better performance of EDFA in comparison to CFA and DFA. - Abstract: Inspired by fireflies behavior in nature, a firefly algorithm has been developed for solving optimization problems. In this approach, each firefly movement is based on absorption of the other one. For enhancing the performance of firefly algorithm in the optimization process of nuclear reactor loading pattern optimization (LPO), we introduce a new variant of firefly algorithm, i.e. Effective Discrete Firefly Algorithm (EDFA). In EDFA, a new behavior is the movement of fireflies to current global best position with a dynamic probability, i.e. the movement of each firefly can be determined to be toward the brighter or brightest firefly’s position in any iteration of the algorithm. In this paper, our optimization objectives for the LPO are the maximization of K eff along with the minimization of the power peaking factor (PPF). In order to represent the increase of convergence speed of EDFA, basic firefly algorithms including the continuous firefly algorithm (CFA) and the discrete firefly algorithm (DFA) also have been implemented. Loading pattern optimization results of two well-known problems confirm better performance of EDFA in obtaining nearly optimized fuel arrangements in comparison to CFA and DFA. All in all, we can suggest applying the EDFA to other optimization problems of nuclear engineering field in order to investigate its performance in gaining considered objectives

Agave tequilana MADS genes show novel expression patterns in meristems, developing bulbils and floral organs.

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Delgado Sandoval, Silvia del Carmen; Abraham Juárez, María Jazmín; Simpson, June

2012-03-01

Agave tequilana is a monocarpic perennial species that flowers after 5-8 years of vegetative growth signaling the end of the plant's life cycle. When fertilization is unsuccessful, vegetative bulbils are induced on the umbels of the inflorescence near the bracteoles from newly formed meristems. Although the regulation of inflorescence and flower development has been described in detail for monocarpic annuals and polycarpic species, little is known at the molecular level for these processes in monocarpic perennials, and few studies have been carried out on bulbils. Histological samples revealed the early induction of umbel meristems soon after the initiation of the vegetative to inflorescence transition in A. tequilana. To identify candidate genes involved in the regulation of floral induction, a search for MADS-box transcription factor ESTs was conducted using an A. tequilana transcriptome database. Seven different MIKC MADS genes classified into 6 different types were identified based on previously characterized A. thaliana and O. sativa MADS genes and sequences from non-grass monocotyledons. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of the seven candidate MADS genes in vegetative, inflorescence, bulbil and floral tissues uncovered novel patterns of expression for some of the genes in comparison with orthologous genes characterized in other species. In situ hybridization studies using two different genes showed expression in specific tissues of vegetative meristems and floral buds. Distinct MADS gene regulatory patterns in A. tequilana may be related to the specific reproductive strategies employed by this species.

DNA methylation patterns in tissues from mid-gestation bovine foetuses produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer show subtle abnormalities in nuclear reprogramming

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Lee Rita SF

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cloning of cattle by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT is associated with a high incidence of pregnancy failure characterized by abnormal placental and foetal development. These abnormalities are thought to be due, in part, to incomplete re-setting of the epigenetic state of DNA in the donor somatic cell nucleus to a state that is capable of driving embryonic and foetal development to completion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that DNA methylation patterns were not appropriately established during nuclear reprogramming following SCNT. A panel of imprinted, non-imprinted genes and satellite repeat sequences was examined in tissues collected from viable and failing mid-gestation SCNT foetuses and compared with similar tissues from gestation-matched normal foetuses generated by artificial insemination (AI. Results Most of the genomic regions examined in tissues from viable and failing SCNT foetuses had DNA methylation patterns similar to those in comparable tissues from AI controls. However, statistically significant differences were found between SCNT and AI at specific CpG sites in some regions of the genome, particularly those associated with SNRPN and KCNQ1OT1, which tended to be hypomethylated in SCNT tissues. There was a high degree of variation between individuals in methylation levels at almost every CpG site in these two regions, even in AI controls. In other genomic regions, methylation levels at specific CpG sites were tightly controlled with little variation between individuals. Only one site (HAND1 showed a tissue-specific pattern of DNA methylation. Overall, DNA methylation patterns in tissues of failing foetuses were similar to apparently viable SCNT foetuses, although there were individuals showing extreme deviant patterns. Conclusion These results show that SCNT foetuses that had developed to mid-gestation had largely undergone nuclear reprogramming and that the epigenetic signature at this stage was not a

Neuromolecular Imaging Shows Temporal Synchrony Patterns between Serotonin and Movement within Neuronal Motor Circuits in the Brain

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Patricia A. Broderick

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The present discourse links the electrical and chemical properties of the brain with neurotransmitters and movement behaviors to further elucidate strategies to diagnose and treat brain disease. Neuromolecular imaging (NMI, based on electrochemical principles, is used to detect serotonin in nerve terminals (dorsal and ventral striata and somatodendrites (ventral tegmentum of reward/motor mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal brain circuits. Neuronal release of serotonin is detected at the same time and in the same animal, freely moving and unrestrained, while open-field behaviors are monitored via infrared photobeams. The purpose is to emphasize the unique ability of NMI and the BRODERICK PROBE® biosensors to empirically image a pattern of temporal synchrony, previously reported, for example, in Aplysia using central pattern generators (CPGs, serotonin and cerebral peptide-2. Temporal synchrony is reviewed within the context of the literature on central pattern generators, neurotransmitters and movement disorders. Specifically, temporal synchrony data are derived from studies on psychostimulant behavior with and without cocaine while at the same time and continuously, serotonin release in motor neurons within basal ganglia, is detected. The results show that temporal synchrony between the neurotransmitter, serotonin and natural movement occurs when the brain is NOT injured via, e.g., trauma, addictive drugs or psychiatric illness. In striking contrast, in the case of serotonin and cocaine-induced psychostimulant behavior, a different form of synchrony and also asynchrony can occur. Thus, the known dysfunctional movement behavior produced by cocaine may well be related to the loss of temporal synchrony, the loss of the ability to match serotonin in brain with motor activity. The empirical study of temporal synchrony patterns in humans and animals may be more relevant to the dynamics of motor circuits and movement behaviors than are studies of

Neuromolecular Imaging Shows Temporal Synchrony Patterns between Serotonin and Movement within Neuronal Motor Circuits in the Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Broderick, Patricia A

2013-06-21

The present discourse links the electrical and chemical properties of the brain with neurotransmitters and movement behaviors to further elucidate strategies to diagnose and treat brain disease. Neuromolecular imaging (NMI), based on electrochemical principles, is used to detect serotonin in nerve terminals (dorsal and ventral striata) and somatodendrites (ventral tegmentum) of reward/motor mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal brain circuits. Neuronal release of serotonin is detected at the same time and in the same animal, freely moving and unrestrained, while open-field behaviors are monitored via infrared photobeams. The purpose is to emphasize the unique ability of NMI and the BRODERICK PROBE® biosensors to empirically image a pattern of temporal synchrony, previously reported, for example, in Aplysia using central pattern generators (CPGs), serotonin and cerebral peptide-2. Temporal synchrony is reviewed within the context of the literature on central pattern generators, neurotransmitters and movement disorders. Specifically, temporal synchrony data are derived from studies on psychostimulant behavior with and without cocaine while at the same time and continuously, serotonin release in motor neurons within basal ganglia, is detected. The results show that temporal synchrony between the neurotransmitter, serotonin and natural movement occurs when the brain is NOT injured via, e.g., trauma, addictive drugs or psychiatric illness. In striking contrast, in the case of serotonin and cocaine-induced psychostimulant behavior, a different form of synchrony and also asynchrony can occur. Thus, the known dysfunctional movement behavior produced by cocaine may well be related to the loss of temporal synchrony, the loss of the ability to match serotonin in brain with motor activity. The empirical study of temporal synchrony patterns in humans and animals may be more relevant to the dynamics of motor circuits and movement behaviors than are studies of static parameters

Alteration of hepatocellular antioxidant gene expression pattern and biomarkers of oxidative damage in diazinon-induced acute toxicity in Wistar rat: A time-course mechanistic study.

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Hassani, Shokoufeh; Maqbool, Faheem; Salek-Maghsoudi, Armin; Rahmani, Soheila; Shadboorestan, Amir; Nili-Ahmadabadi, Amir; Amini, Mohsen; Norouzi, Parviz; Abdollahi, Mohammad

2018-01-01

In the present survey, the plasma level of diazinon after acute exposure was measured by HPLC method at a time-course manner. In addition, the impact of diazinon on the expression of the key genes responsible for hepatocellular antioxidative defense, including PON1, GPx and CAT were investigated. The increase in oxidative damages in treated rats was determined by measuring LPO, protein carbonyl content and total antioxidant power in plasma. After administration of 85 mg/kg diazinon in ten groups of male Wistar rats at different time points between 0-24 hours, the activity of AChE enzyme was inhibited to about 77.94 %. Significant increases in carbonyl groups and LPO after 0.75 and 1 hours were also observed while the plasma antioxidant power was significantly decreased. Despite the dramatic reduction of GP X and PON1 gene expression, CAT gene was significantly upregulated in mRNA level by 1.1 fold after 4 hours and 1.5-fold after 24 hours due to diazinon exposure, compared to control group. Furthermore, no significant changes in diazinon plasma levels were found after 4 hours in the treated rats. The limits of detection and quantification were 137.42 and 416.52 ng/mL, respectively. The average percentage recoveries from plasma were between 90.62 % and 95.72 %. In conclusion, acute exposure to diazinon increased oxidative stress markers in a time-dependent manner and the changes were consistent with effects on hepatic antioxidant gene expression pattern. The effect of diazinon even as a non-lethal dose was induced on the gene expression of antioxidant enzymes. The change in antioxidant defense system occurs prior to diazinon plasma peak time. These results provide biochemical and molecular evidence supporting potential acute toxicity of diazinon and is beneficial in the evaluation of acute toxicity of other organophosphorus pesticides as well.

Seizures and Sleep in the Thalamus: Focal Limbic Seizures Show Divergent Activity Patterns in Different Thalamic Nuclei.

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Feng, Li; Motelow, Joshua E; Ma, Chanthia; Biche, William; McCafferty, Cian; Smith, Nicholas; Liu, Mengran; Zhan, Qiong; Jia, Ruonan; Xiao, Bo; Duque, Alvaro; Blumenfeld, Hal

2017-11-22

The thalamus plays diverse roles in cortical-subcortical brain activity patterns. Recent work suggests that focal temporal lobe seizures depress subcortical arousal systems and convert cortical activity into a pattern resembling slow-wave sleep. The potential simultaneous and paradoxical role of the thalamus in both limbic seizure propagation, and in sleep-like cortical rhythms has not been investigated. We recorded neuronal activity from the central lateral (CL), anterior (ANT), and ventral posteromedial (VPM) nuclei of the thalamus in an established female rat model of focal limbic seizures. We found that population firing of neurons in CL decreased during seizures while the cortex exhibited slow waves. In contrast, ANT showed a trend toward increased neuronal firing compatible with polyspike seizure discharges seen in the hippocampus. Meanwhile, VPM exhibited a remarkable increase in sleep spindles during focal seizures. Single-unit juxtacellular recordings from CL demonstrated reduced overall firing rates, but a switch in firing pattern from single spikes to burst firing during seizures. These findings suggest that different thalamic nuclei play very different roles in focal limbic seizures. While limbic nuclei, such as ANT, appear to participate directly in seizure propagation, arousal nuclei, such as CL, may contribute to depressed cortical function, whereas sleep spindles in relay nuclei, such as VPM, may interrupt thalamocortical information flow. These combined effects could be critical for controlling both seizure severity and impairment of consciousness. Further understanding of differential effects of seizures on different thalamocortical networks may lead to improved treatments directly targeting these modes of impaired function. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Temporal lobe epilepsy has a major negative impact on quality of life. Previous work suggests that the thalamus plays a critical role in thalamocortical network modulation and subcortical arousal

Evaluation of optimization strategies and the effect of initial conditions on IMAT optimization using a leaf position optimization algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliver, Mike; Jensen, Michael; Chen, Jeff; Wong, Eugene

2009-01-01

Intensity-modulated arc therapy (IMAT) is a rotational variant of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) that can be implemented with or without angular dose rate variation. The purpose of this study is to assess optimization strategies and initial conditions using a leaf position optimization (LPO) algorithm altered for variable dose rate IMAT. A concave planning target volume (PTV) with a central cylindrical organ at risk (OAR) was used in this study. The initial IMAT arcs were approximated by multiple static beams at 5 deg. angular increments where multi-leaf collimator (MLC) leaf positions were determined from the beam's eye view to irradiate the PTV but avoid the OAR. For the optimization strategy, two arcs with arc ranges of 280 deg. and 150 deg. were employed and plans were created using LPO alone, variable dose rate optimization (VDRO) alone, simultaneous LPO and VDRO and sequential combinations of these strategies. To assess the MLC initialization effect, three single 360 deg. arc plans with different initial MLC configurations were generated using the simultaneous LPO and VDRO. The effect of changing optimization degrees of freedom was investigated by employing 3 deg., 5 deg. and 10 deg. angular sampling intervals for the two 280 deg., two 150 deg. and single arc plans using LPO and VDRO. The objective function value, a conformity index, a dose homogeneity index, mean dose to OAR and normal tissues were computed and used to evaluate the treatment plans. This study shows that the best optimization strategy for a concave target is to use simultaneous MLC LPO and VDRO. We found that the optimization result is sensitive to the choice of initial MLC aperture shapes suggesting that an LPO-based IMAT plan may not be able to overcome local minima for this geometry. In conclusion, simultaneous MLC leaf position and VDRO are needed with the most appropriate initial conditions (MLC positions, arc ranges and number of arcs) for IMAT.

Fabrics produced mimetically during static metamorphism in retrogressed eclogites from the Zermatt-Saas zone, Western Italian Alps

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McNamara, D. D.; Wheeler, J.; Pearce, M.; Prior, D. J.

2012-11-01

Lattice preferred orientations (LPOs) are commonly interpreted to form by dislocation creep. Consequently they are used to infer deformation at the metamorphic grade at which the minerals were stable, especially if those minerals show a shape fabric. Here we show that LPOs can occur through mimicry of a pre-existing LPO, so they formed statically, not during deformation. Omphacite and glaucophane LPOs occur in eclogite facies rocks from the Zermatt-Saas Unit of the Northwest Italian Alps. Barroisite grew during greenschist facies retrogression and has an LPO controlled significantly by the eclogite facies omphacite and glaucophane LPOs, rather than directly by deformation. Using spatially resolved lattice orientation data from the three key minerals, collected using electron backscatter diffraction, we deploy a new technique of interphase misorientation distribution analysis to prove this. Barroisite LPO develops by mimicry of omphacite (via a particular lattice orientation relationship) and by direct topotactic and epitactic replacement of glaucophane. LPO in turn influenced anisotropic grain growth, resulting in a barroisite grain shape fabric. Thus regional retrogression during exhumation of the Zermatt-Saas high-pressure rocks was, in large part, static, rather than dynamic as previously interpreted. In general the possibility of mimetic fabrics forming during metamorphic reactions must be borne in mind when interpreting direct structural observations and seismic anisotropy data in terms of deformation, in both crust and mantle.

Correlation of phthalate exposures with semen quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pant, Niraj; Shukla, Manju; Kumar Patel, Devendra; Shukla, Yogeshwar; Mathur, Neeraj; Kumar Gupta, Yogendra; Saxena, Daya Krishna

2008-01-01

Phthalates are widely used man-made chemical released in the environment and human exposure is mainly through diet. As the phthalate plasticizers are not covalently bound to PVC, they can leach, migrate or evaporate into the environment and as a result have become ubiquitously contaminants. The present study investigates the correlation, if any, between the phthalate esters (DEP, DEHP, DBP, DMP, DOP) and sperm mitochondrial status, ROS, LPO, SCSA, and sperm quality. The study was conducted in the urban/rural population of Lucknow visiting Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, CSMMU, Lucknow. Semen analysis was performed according to the WHO guidelines while phthalate analysis by HPLC and LPO by spectrophotometer and the sperm mitochondrial status, ROS, SCSA using flow cytometry. The questionnaire data showed no significant difference in the demographic characteristics among the groups. In general, urban population was found to have statistically significant higher levels of phthalate esters than the rural. Further, infertile men showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) higher levels of pollutants in the semen than fertile men. A negative correlation between semen phthalate level viz DEHP and sperm quality and positive association with depolarized mitochondria, elevation in ROS production and LPO, DNA fragmentation was established. The findings are suggestive that phthalates might be one among the contributing factors associated with the deterioration in semen quality and these adverse effects might be ROS, LPO and mitochondrial dysfunction mediated

Intraoperative Inducibility of Atrial Fibrillation Does Not Predict Early Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation.

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Lanters, Eva A H; Teuwen, Christophe P; Yaksh, Ameeta; Kik, Charles; van der Does, Lisette J M E; Mouws, Elisabeth M J P; Knops, Paul; van Groningen, Nicole J; Hokken, Thijmen; Bogers, Ad J J C; de Groot, Natasja M S

2018-03-10

Early postoperative atrial fibrillation (EPoAF) is associated with thromboembolic events, prolonged hospitalization, and development of late PoAF (LPoAF). It is, however, unknown if EPoAF can be predicted by intraoperative AF inducibility. The aims of this study are therefore to explore (1) the value of intraoperative inducibility of AF for development of both EPoAF and LPoAF and (2) the predictive value of de novo EPoAF for recurrence of LPoAF. Patients (N=496, 75% male) undergoing cardiothoracic surgery for coronary and/or valvular heart disease were included. AF induction was attempted by atrial pacing, before extracorporeal circulation. All patients were on continuous rhythm monitoring until discharge to detect EPoAF. During a follow-up period of 2 years, LPoAF was detected by ECGs and Holter recordings. Sustained AF was inducible in 56% of patients. There was no difference in patients with or without AF before surgery ( P =0.159), or between different types of surgery ( P =0.687). In patients without a history of AF, incidence of EPoAF and LPoAF was 37% and 2%, respectively. EPoAF recurred in 58% patients with preoperative AF, 53% developed LPoAF. There were no correlations between intraoperative inducibility and EPoAF or LPoAF ( P >0.05). EPoAF was not correlated with LPoAF in patients without a history of AF ( P =0.116), in contrast to patients with AF before surgery ( P <0.001). Intraoperative AF inducibility does not predict development of either EPoAF or LPoAF. In patients with AF before surgery, EPoAF is correlated with LPoAF recurrences. This correlation is absent in patients without AF before surgery. © 2018 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.

TKA patients with unsatisfying knee function show changes in neuromotor synergy pattern but not joint biomechanics.

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Ardestani, Marzieh M; Malloy, Philip; Nam, Denis; Rosenberg, Aaron G; Wimmer, Markus A

2017-12-01

Nearly 20% of patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (TKA) report persistent poor knee function. This study explores the idea that, despite similar knee joint biomechanics, the neuro-motor synergies may be different between high-functional and low-functional TKA patients. We hypothesized that (1) high-functional TKA recruit a more complex neuro-motor synergy pattern compared to low-functional TKA and (2) high-functional TKA patients demonstrate more stride-to-stride variability (flexibility) in their synergies. Gait and electromyography (EMG) data were collected during level walking for three groups of participants: (i) high-functional TKA patients (n=13); (ii) low-functional TKA patients (n=13) and (iii) non-operative controls (n=18). Synergies were extracted from EMG data using non-negative matrix factorization. Analysis of variance and Spearman correlation analyses were used to investigate between-group differences in gait and neuro-motor synergies. Results showed that synergy patterns were different among the three groups. Control subjects used 5-6 independent neural commands to execute a gait cycle. High functional TKA patients used 4-5 independent neural commands while low-functional TKA patients relied on only 2-3 independent neural commands to execute a gait cycle. Furthermore, stride-to-stride variability of muscles' response to the neural commands was reduced up to 15% in low-functional TKAs compared to the other two groups. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-Eosinophilic Nasal Polyps Shows Increased Epithelial Proliferation and Localized Disease Pattern in the Early Stage.

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Dong-Kyu Kim

Full Text Available Non-eosinophilic nasal polyps (NPs show less inflammatory changes and are less commonly associated with lower airway inflammatory disorders such as asthma, compared with eosinophilic NPs. However, the development of non-eosinophilic NPs which is a predominant subtype in Asian population still remains unclear.A total of 81 patients (45 with non-eosinophilic NPs and 36 with eosinophilic NPs were enrolled. Clinical information and computed tomography (CT, endoscopic, and histological findings were investigated. Tissue samples were analyzed for total IgE levels and for mRNA expression levels of interleukin (IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, interferon (IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α, IL-17A, IL-22, IL-23p19, transforming growth factor (TGF-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-β3, and periostin. Immunostaining assessment of Ki-67 as a proliferation marker was performed.We found that epithelial in-growing patterns such as pseudocysts were more frequently observed in histological and endoscopic evaluations of non-eosinophilic NPs, which was linked to increase epithelial staining of Ki-67, a proliferating marker. Eosinophilic NPs were characterized by high infiltration of inflammatory cells, compared with non-eosinophilic NPs. To investigate the developmental course of each subtype, CT was analyzed according to CT scores and subtypes. Non-eosinophilic NPs showed more localized pattern and maxillary sinus involvement, but lesser olfactory involvement in early stage whereas eosinophilic NPs were characterized by diffuse ethmoidal and olfactory involvement. In addition, high ethmoidal/maxillary (E/M CT scores, indicating ethmoidal dominant involvement, were one of surrogate markers for eosinophilic NP. E/M CT scores was positively correlated with levels of TH2 inflammatory markers, including IL-4, IL-5, periostin mRNA expression and total IgE levels in NPs, whereas levels of the TH1 cytokine, IFN- γ were inversely correlated. Moreover, if the combinatorial algorithm meet the three

Post-secretory fate of host defence components in mucus.

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Salathe, Matthias; Forteza, Rosanna; Conner, Gregory E

2002-01-01

Airway mucus is a complex mixture of secretory products that provide a multifaceted defence against infection. Among many antimicrobial substances, mucus contains a peroxidase identical to milk lactoperoxidase (LPO) that is produced by goblet cells and submucosal glands. Airway secretions contain the substrates for LPO, namely thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide, at concentrations sufficient for production of the biocidal compound hypothiocyanite, a fact confirmed by us in vitro. In vivo, inhibition of airway LPO in sheep significantly inhibits bacterial clearance, suggesting that the LPO system is a major contributor to host defences. Since secretory products including LPO are believed to be steadily removed by mucociliary clearance, their amount and availability on the surface is thought to be controlled solely by secretion. In contrast to this paradigm, new data suggest that LPO and other substances are retained at the ciliary border of the airway epithelium by binding to surface-associated hyaluronan, thereby providing an apical, fully active enzyme pool. Thus, hyaluronan, secreted from submucosal gland cells, plays a previously unrecognized pivotal role in mucosal host defence by retaining LPO and possibly other substances important for first line host defence at the apical surface 'ready for use' and protected from ciliary clearance.

Akinetic-rigid and tremor-dominant Parkinson's disease patients show different patterns of intrinsic brain activity.

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Zhang, Jiuquan; Wei, Luqing; Hu, Xiaofei; Xie, Bing; Zhang, Yanling; Wu, Guo-Rong; Wang, Jian

2015-01-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a surprisingly heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder. It is well established that different subtypes of PD present with different clinical courses and prognoses. However, the neural mechanism underlying these disparate presentations is uncertain. Here we used resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) and the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method to determine neural activity patterns in the two main clinical subgroups of PD (akinetic-rigid and tremor-dominant). Compared with healthy controls, akinetic-rigid (AR) subjects had increased ReHo mainly in right amygdala, left putamen, bilateral angular gyrus, bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and decreased ReHo in left post cingulate gyrus/precuneus (PCC/PCu) and bilateral thalamus. In contrast, tremor-dominant (TD) patients showed higher ReHo mostly in bilateral angular gyrus, left PCC, cerebellum_crus1, and cerebellum_6, while ReHo was decreased in right putamen, primary sensory cortex (S1), vermis_3, and cerebellum_4_5. These results indicate that AR and TD subgroups both represent altered spontaneous neural activity in default-mode regions and striatum, and AR subjects exhibit more changed neural activity in the mesolimbic cortex (amygdala) but TD in the cerebellar regions. Of note, direct comparison of the two subgroups revealed a distinct ReHo pattern primarily located in the striatal-thalamo-cortical (STC) and cerebello-thalamo-cortical (CTC) loops. Overall, our findings highlight the involvement of default mode network (DMN) and STC circuit both in AR and TD subtypes, but also underscore the importance of integrating mesolimbic-striatal and CTC loops in understanding neural systems of akinesia and rigidity, as well as resting tremor in PD. This study provides improved understanding of the pathophysiological models of different subtypes of PD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beverage consumption patterns among 4-19 y old children in 2009-14 NHANES show that the milk and 100% juice pattern is associated with better diets.

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Maillot, Matthieu; Rehm, Colin D; Vieux, Florent; Rose, Chelsea M; Drewnowski, Adam

2018-05-24

Patterns of beverage consumption among children and adolescents can be indicative of food choices and total diet quality. Analyses of beverage consumption patterns among 8119 children aged 4-19 y were based on the first 24-h recall of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2009-14 NHANES). Four pre-defined beverage patterns were: 1) milk pattern; 2) 100% juice pattern; 3) milk and 100% juice pattern; and 4) other caloric beverages. Food- and nutrient-based diet quality measures included the Healthy Eating Index 2010. Most children drank other caloric beverages, as opposed to milk (17.8%), 100% juice (5.6%), or milk and 100% juice (13.5%). Drinkers of milk and 100% juice had diets that did not differ from each other in total calories, total and added sugars, fiber, or vitamin E. Milk drinkers consumed more dairy and had higher intakes of calcium, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin D as compared to all other patterns. Juice drinkers consumed more total fruit, same amounts of whole fruit, and had higher intakes of vitamin C as compared to the other consumption patterns. Drinkers of both milk and 100% juice had the highest HEI 2010 scores of all the consumption patterns. Beverage consumption patterns built around milk and/or 100% juice were relatively uncommon. Promoting the drinking of milk and 100% juice, in preference to other caloric beverages, may be an effective strategy to improve children's diet quality. Restricting milk and 100% juice consumption may encourage the selection of other caloric beverages.

The prediction of the level of personality organization on reduction of psychiatric symptoms and improvement of work ability in short- versus long-term psychotherapies during a 5-year follow-up.

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Knekt, Paul; Lindfors, Olavi; Keinänen, Matti; Heinonen, Erkki; Virtala, Esa; Härkänen, Tommi

2017-09-01

How level of personality organization (LPO) predicts psychiatric symptoms and work ability in short- versus long-term psychotherapies is poorly known. We investigated the importance of the LPO on the benefits of short-term versus long-term psychotherapies. A cohort study based on 326 outpatients with mood or anxiety disorder was allocated to long-term (LPP) and short-term (SPP) psychodynamic psychotherapy, and solution-focused therapy (SFT). The LPO was assessed by interview at baseline and categorized into neuroses and higher level borderline. Outcome was assessed at baseline and 4-9 times during a 5-year follow-up, using self-report and interview-based measures of symptoms and work ability. For patients receiving SPP, improvement in work ability, symptom reduction, and the remission rate were more considerable in patients with neuroses than in higher level borderline patients, whereas LPP or SFT showed no notable differences in effectiveness in the two LPO groups. In patients with neuroses, improvement was more considerable in the short-term therapy groups during the first year of follow-up, and in higher level borderline patients LPP was more effective after 3 years of follow-up. The remission rate, defined as both symptom reduction and lack of auxiliary treatment, was higher in LPP than in SPP for both the LPO groups considered. In neuroses, short-term psychotherapy was associated with a more rapid reduction of symptoms and increase in work ability, whereas LPP was more effective for longer follow-ups in both LPO groups. Further large-scale studies are needed. Level of personality organization is relevant for selection between short- and long-term psychotherapies. Short-term therapy gives faster benefits for neurotic patients but not for patients with higher level borderline personality organization. Sustained remission from symptoms is more probable after long-term than short-term therapy. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Bark and Ambrosia Beetles Show Different Invasion Patterns in the USA.

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Davide Rassati

Full Text Available Non-native bark and ambrosia beetles represent a threat to forests worldwide. Their invasion patterns are, however, still unclear. Here we investigated first, if the spread of non-native bark and ambrosia beetles is a gradual or a discontinuous process; second, which are the main correlates of their community structure; third, whether those correlates correspond to those of native species. We used data on species distribution of non-native and native scolytines in the continental 48 USA states. These data were analyzed through a beta-diversity index, partitioned into species richness differences and species replacement, using Mantel correlograms and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS ordination for identifying spatial patterns, and regression on distance matrices to test the association of climate (temperature, rainfall, forest (cover area, composition, geographical (distance, and human-related (import variables with β-diversity components. For both non-native bark and ambrosia beetles, β-diversity was mainly composed of species richness difference than species replacement. For non-native bark beetles, a discontinuous invasion process composed of long distance jumps or multiple introduction events was apparent. Species richness differences were primarily correlated with differences in import values while temperature was the main correlate of species replacement. For non-native ambrosia beetles, a more continuous invasion process was apparent, with the pool of non-native species arriving in the coastal areas that tended to be filtered as they spread to interior portions of the continental USA. Species richness differences were mainly correlated with differences in rainfall among states, while rainfall and temperature were the main correlates of species replacement. Our study suggests that the different ecology of bark and ambrosia beetles influences their invasion process in new environments. The lower dependency that bark beetles have

Peanut sensitization pattern in Norwegian children and adults with specific IgE to peanut show age related differences.

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Namork, Ellen; Stensby, Berit A

2015-01-01

Peanuts contain potent food allergens and the prevalence of allergy is reported to increase, especially in children. Since peanut sensitization may differ between different geographical regions, we wanted to investigate the sensitization pattern to the individual peanut allergens in a Norwegian population. Cases reported to the Norwegian Food Allergy Register with sera positive to peanut extract were analyzed for specific IgE (sIgE) to the recombinant peanut allergens Ara h 1, Ara h 2, Ara h 3, Ara h 8 and Ara h 9 and to birch pollen extract. Serum samples negative to the above allergens were analyzed for sIgE to Ara h 6, and sIgE to Pru p 3 in peach were analyzed in sera positive to the cross-reactive allergen Ara h 9. Highest frequency of sIgE to Ara h 2, often co-sensitized to Ara h 1 and 3, were found in the small children up to 6 years of age. From the age of 6 years, sensitization to Ara h 8 was predominant. The sIgE levels to the storage proteins Ara h 1, 2 and 3 were strongly correlated, as was the sIgE levels to Ara h 8 and birch pollen extract. A low sensitization rate of sIgE to Ara h 9 in young adults was observed, which sIgE levels were very strongly correlated to Pru p 3. The sensitization to peanut allergens in a Norwegian population shows a clear age dependent pattern. The results add to the previously published research on the sensitization patterns of peanut sensitized patients in different geographical areas.

Exact Cross-Validation for kNN and applications to passive and active learning in classification

OpenAIRE

Célisse, Alain; Mary-Huard, Tristan

2011-01-01

In the binary classification framework, a closed form expression of the cross-validation Leave-p-Out (LpO) risk estimator for the k Nearest Neighbor algorithm (kNN) is derived. It is first used to study the LpO risk minimization strategy for choosing k in the passive learning setting. The impact of p on the choice of k and the LpO estimation of the risk are inferred. In the active learning setting, a procedure is proposed that selects new examples using a LpO committee of kNN classifiers. The...

Arabidopsis roots and shoots show distinct temporal adaptation patterns toward nitrogen starvation.

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Krapp, Anne; Berthomé, Richard; Orsel, Mathilde; Mercey-Boutet, Stéphanie; Yu, Agnes; Castaings, Loren; Elftieh, Samira; Major, Hilary; Renou, Jean-Pierre; Daniel-Vedele, Françoise

2011-11-01

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for plants. N levels in soil vary widely, and plants have developed strategies to cope with N deficiency. However, the regulation of these adaptive responses and the coordinating signals that underlie them are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to characterize N starvation in adult Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants in a spatiotemporal manner by an integrative, multilevel global approach analyzing growth, metabolites, enzyme activities, and transcript levels. We determined that the remobilization of N and carbon compounds to the growing roots occurred long before the internal N stores became depleted. A global metabolite analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed organ-specific differences in the metabolic adaptation to complete N starvation, for example, for several tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, but also for carbohydrates, secondary products, and phosphate. The activities of central N metabolism enzymes and the capacity for nitrate uptake adapted to N starvation by favoring N remobilization and by increasing the high-affinity nitrate uptake capacity after long-term starvation. Changes in the transcriptome confirmed earlier studies and added a new dimension by revealing specific spatiotemporal patterns and several unknown N starvation-regulated genes, including new predicted small RNA genes. No global correlation between metabolites, enzyme activities, and transcripts was evident. However, this multilevel spatiotemporal global study revealed numerous new patterns of adaptation mechanisms to N starvation. In the context of a sustainable agriculture, this work will give new insight for the production of crops with increased N use efficiency.

Interspecific variability of endocrine disruption and oxidative stress in two bivalve species from the Ria Formosa Lagoon (south coast of Portugal

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Catarina Pereira

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Estuaries are highly productive ecosystems that have been increasingly affected by anthropogenic activities. In this study, the presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs and their relation to oxidative stress were assessed in two bivalve species (mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis and clams Ruditapes decussatus from the Ria Formosa Lagoon (south Portugal. We applied the alkali-labile phosphate (ALP assay to determine vitellogenin-like protein levels, and the lipid peroxidation (LPO method to assess oxidative damage. Mussels and clams exhibited the same pattern of ALP concentrations, with no differences between genders and higher levels in winter. R. decussatus showed higher ALP values than M. galloprovincialis, possibly associated with a stronger responsiveness of clams to EDCs or due to the influence of the reproductive cycle. Mussels exhibited a more evident seasonal effect for LPO, indicating that these organisms are more influenced by seasonal fluctuations in the water column compared to the sediment-associated clams. Both species appear to be under the influence of EDC exposure (which could induce Vg-like protein synthesis and oxidative stressors (leading to lipid peroxidation in the Ria Formosa Lagoon, particularly in winter, reflecting the presence of different contaminants in Ria Formosa and environmental changes, as well as complex interactions between them.

A comparative study on the iodine-labeled methods of protein and polypeptide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Huaifen; Niu Huisheng; Yuan Mingyue; Yu Jinghua

1994-01-01

There are three methods: chloramine-T, Iodogen and lactoperoxidase(LPO). 125 I-ACTH, 125 I-insulin and 125 I-HSA are prepared by these techniques. The results show that lactoperoxidase is isolated and purified from fresh milk, meanwhile, the enzyme is used in experiments of 125 I-labeled protein, peptide hormone and mono-clone antibody, etc. LPO is a very successful method for it's mild, complete reaction, controllable, high labelling yield, higher purity of iodine-labeled compound and so on. It remains biological activation and stable character more than other two techniques

Detection of lipid peroxidation in frozen-thawed avian spermatozoa using C(11)-BODIPY(581/591).

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Partyka, Agnieszka; Lukaszewicz, Ewa; Niżański, Wojciech; Twardoń, Jan

2011-06-01

, where such oxidation is caused by cryopreservation. This study shows that avian spermatozoa are vulnerable to radicals and frozenthawed sperm have higher level of LPO than fresh sperm. According to our observation, fowl semen is more susceptible to LPO than geese semen. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Turtle Flexion Reflex Motor Patterns Show Windup, Mediated Partly by L-type Calcium Channels

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Keith P. Johnson

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Windup is a form of multisecond temporal summation in which identical stimuli, delivered seconds apart, trigger increasingly strong neuronal responses. L-type Ca2+ channels have been shown to play an important role in the production of windup of spinal cord neuronal responses, initially in studies of turtle spinal cord and later in studies of mammalian spinal cord. L-type Ca2+ channels have also been shown to contribute to windup of limb withdrawal reflex (flexion reflex in rats, but flexion reflex windup has not previously been described in turtles and its cellular mechanisms have not been studied. We studied windup of flexion reflex motor patterns, evoked with weak mechanical and electrical stimulation of the dorsal hindlimb foot skin and assessed via a hip flexor (HF nerve recording, in spinal cord-transected and immobilized turtles in vivo. We found that an L-type Ca2+ channel antagonist, nifedipine, applied at concentrations of 50 μM or 100 μM to the hindlimb enlargement spinal cord, significantly reduced windup of flexion reflex motor patterns, while lower concentrations of nifedipine had no such effect. Nifedipine similarly reduced the amplitude of an individual flexion reflex motor pattern evoked by a stronger mechanical stimulus, in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that L-type Ca2+ channels contribute to each flexion reflex as well as to multisecond summation of flexion reflex responses in turtles. We also found that we could elicit flexion reflex windup consistently using a 4-g von Frey filament, which is not usually considered a nociceptive stimulus. Thus, it may be that windup can be evoked by a wide range of tactile stimuli and that L-type calcium channels contribute to multisecond temporal summation of diverse tactile stimuli across vertebrates.

The mechanism of combination with hemocoagulase and pantoprazole in upper gastrointestinal bleeding

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Ming-Ke Yan

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: Through the combination with hemocoagulase and pantoprazole on gastrointestinal bleeding, to observe the changes of serum BUN (blood urea nitrogen, LPO (LPO, NO (nitric oxide, TNF-α(TNF alpha, hs-CRP (high sensitivity C reactive protein and cortisol levels, and to explore the mechanism of combination. Methods: 110 cases of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in our hospital from January 2015 to September 2016 were selected and divided into the control group and the observation group, 55 cases for each group. Patients were treated with bed rest, fasting, intravenous nutrition, oxygen, and according to the individual situation actively supplement blood capacity, and the control group were treated with 40 mg intravenous pantoprazole treatment, 2 times/d; the patients in the observation group were treated with 2 kU hemocoagulase injection based on the treatment of control group, 2 times of intravenous injection per day, and all patients were treated for 3 d, and then the BUN, LPO, NO, TNF-α, hs-CRP and cortisol were detected. Results: (1 There were no significantly differences of the serum levels of BUN, LPO, and NO of the two groups before treatment (P>0.05. After treatment, the serum levels the two groups were significantly lower than before treatment, and LPO, BUN, and NO levels in the observation group were significantly better than the control group (P0.05. After treatment, the serum levels in the two groups were significantly lower than before treatment, and TNF-α, hs-CRP, and cortisol levels in the observation group were significantly better than the control group (P<0.05. Conclusions: The treatment of patients with combined use of hemocoagulase and pantoprazole on gastrointestinal bleeding, can significantly improve the serum levels of BUN, LPO, NO, TNF-α, hs-CRP and cortisol levels, and further illustrates the synergistic effect of the combination, also shows that the combination of two drugs for patients with upper

Continuous thermal degradation of pyrolytic oil in a bench scale CSTR reaction system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Kyong Hwan; Nam, Ki Yun [Climate Change Technology Research Division, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 102 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-343 (Korea)

2010-05-15

Continuous thermal degradation of two pyrolytic oils with low (LPO) and high boiling point distribution (HPO) was conducted in a constant stirrer tank reactor (CSTR) with bench scale. Raw pyrolytic oil as a reactant was obtained from the commercial rotary kiln pyrolysis plant for municipal plastic waste. The degradation experiment was conducted by temperature programming with 10 C/min of heating rate up to 450 C and then maintained with long lapse time at 450 C. Liquid product was sampled at initial reaction time with different degradation temperatures up to 450 C and then constant interval lapse time at 450 C. The product characteristics over two pyrolytic oils were compared by using a continuous reaction system. As a reactant, heavy pyrolytic oil (HPO) showed higher boiling point distribution than that of diesel and also light pyrolytic oil (LPO) was mainly consisting of a mixture of gasoline and kerosene range components. In the continuous reaction, LPO showed higher yield of liquid product and lower residue than those of HPO. The characteristics of liquid products were influenced by the type of raw pyrolytic oil. Also, the result obtained under degradation temperature programming was described. (author)

Herbarium specimens show patterns of fruiting phenology in native and invasive plant species across New England.

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Gallinat, Amanda S; Russo, Luca; Melaas, Eli K; Willis, Charles G; Primack, Richard B

2018-01-01

Patterns of fruiting phenology in temperate ecosystems are poorly understood, despite the ecological importance of fruiting for animal nutrition and seed dispersal. Herbarium specimens represent an under-utilized resource for investigating geographical and climatic factors affecting fruiting times within species, patterns in fruiting times among species, and differences between native and non-native invasive species. We examined over 15,000 herbarium specimens, collected and housed across New England, and found 3159 specimens with ripe fruits, collected from 1849-2013. We examined patterns in fruiting phenology among 37 native and 18 invasive woody plant species common to New England. We compared fruiting dates between native and invasive species, and analyzed how fruiting phenology varies with temperature, space, and time. Spring temperature and year explained a small but significant amount of the variation in fruiting dates. Accounting for the moderate phylogenetic signal in fruiting phenology, invasive species fruited 26 days later on average than native species, with significantly greater standard deviations. Herbarium specimens can be used to detect patterns in fruiting times among species. However, the amount of intraspecific variation in fruiting times explained by temporal, geographic, and climatic predictors is small, due to a combination of low temporal resolution of fruiting specimens and the protracted nature of fruiting. Later fruiting times in invasive species, combined with delays in autumn bird migrations in New England, may increase the likelihood that migratory birds will consume and disperse invasive seeds in New England later into the year. © 2018 Botanical Society of America.

A comparative study on the iodine-labeled methods of protein and polypeptide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huaifen, Li; Huisheng, Niu; Mingyue, Yuan; Jinghua, Yu [Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Tianjin (China). Inst. of Radiation Medicine

1994-02-01

There are three methods: chloramine-T, Iodogen and lactoperoxidase(LPO). [sup 125]I-ACTH, [sup 125]I-insulin and [sup 125]I-HSA are prepared by these techniques. The results show that lactoperoxidase is isolated and purified from fresh milk, meanwhile, the enzyme is used in experiments of [sup 125]I-labeled protein, peptide hormone and mono-clone antibody, etc. LPO is a very successful method for it's mild, complete reaction, controllable, high labelling yield, higher purity of iodine-labeled compound and so on. It remains biological activation and stable character more than other two techniques.

The effects of oxidative stress in urinary tract infection during pregnancy.

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Ciragil, Pinar; Kurutas, Ergul Belge; Gul, Mustafa; Kilinc, Metin; Aral, Murat; Guven, Alanur

2005-10-24

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of urinary tract infection (UTI) on antioxidant systems and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels during pregnancy. We also investigated if these antioxidant systems and LPO levels differed in each trimester. One hundred forty-three nonpregnant women, as a control group, and 77 pregnant women were included in the study. Urine cultures were performed according to standard techniques. Catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and LPO levels were measured using a spectrophotometer. UTI was observed in 14 of 77 pregnant women and the isolated microorganisms were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. CAT, SOD, and LPO levels were increased in pregnant women compared with nonpregnant women (Ppregnancy without UTI. However, CAT and SOD activities were decreased, LPO levels were increased from the first trimester to the third trimester in pregnancy with UTI (PPregnancy causes oxidative stress and also UTI during pregnancy may aggravate oxidative stress.

Radioiodine remnant ablation of differentiated thyroid cancer does not further increase oxidative damage to membrane lipids - early effect

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Makarewicz Jacek

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Radioiodine (131I therapy is widely accepted as an essential part of therapeutic regimens in many cases of differentiated thyroid cancer. Radiation-induced oxidative damage to macromolecules is a well known phenomenon. Frequently examined process to evaluate oxidative damage to macromolecules is lipid peroxidation (LPO, resulting from oxidative damage to membrane lipids. The aim of the study was to examine serum LPO level in hypothyroid (after total thyroidectomy cancer patients subjected to ablative activities of 131I. Materials and methods The study was carried out in 21 patients (18 females and 3 males, average age 52.4 ± 16.5 years after total thyroidectomy for papillary (17 patients or follicular (4 patients thyroid carcinoma. Hypothyroidism was confirmed by increased TSH blood concentration (BRAHMS, Germany, measured before 131I therapy. Activity of 2.8 - 6.9 GBq of 131I was administered to the patients orally as sodium iodide (OBRI, Poland. Concentrations of malondialdehyde + 4-hydroxyalkenals (MDA + 4-HDA, as an index of LPO (LPO-586 kit, Calbiochem, USA, were measured in blood serum just before 131I administration (day "0" and on the days 1-4 after 131I therapy. Sera from 23 euthyroid patients served as controls. Correlations between LPO and TSH or 131I activity were calculated. Results Expectedly, serum LPO level, when measured before 131I therapy, was several times higher (p 131I therapy. LPO did not correlate with TSH concentration. In turn, negative correlation was found between 131I activity and LPO level on the day "2" after radioiodine treatment. Conclusions Radioiodine remnant ablation of differentiated thyroid cancer does not further increase oxidative damage to membrane lipids, at least early, after therapy.

Physical processes in thin-film electroluminescent structures based on ZnS:Mn showing self-organized patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuccaro, S.; Raker, Th.; Niedernostheide, F.-J.; Kuhn, T.; Purwins, H.-G.

2003-01-01

Physical processes in thin ZnS:Mn films and their relation to the formation of dynamical patterns in the electroluminescence of AC driven films are investigated. The technique of photo-depolarization-spectroscopy is used to investigate defect states in these films and it is shown that specific features in the spectra correlate with the observed self-organized patterns. Furthermore, the time dependence of the dissipative current is measured at the same samples and compared with current waveforms obtained from numerical simulations of a drift-diffusion model. The results are used to discuss the origin of the self-organized processes in ZnS:Mn-films

Effects of bovine milk lactoperoxidase system on some bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Cankaya, M; Sişecioğlu, M; Bariş, O; Güllüce, M; Ozdemir, H

2010-01-01

Bovine lactoperoxidase (LPO) was purified from skimmed milk using amberlite CG-50-H+ resin, CM sephadex C-50 ion-exchange chromatography, and sephadex G-100 gel filtration chromatography. Lactoperoxidase was purified 20.45-fold with a yield of 28.8%. Purity of enzyme checked by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis method and a single band was observed. Km was 0.25 mM at 20 degrees C, Vmax value was 7.95 micromol/ml min at 20 degrees C (pH 6.0). Antibacterial study was done by disk diffusion method of Kir-by-Bauer using Mueller-Hinton agar medium with slight modification. Bovine LPO showed high antibacterial activity in 100 mM thiocyanate-100 mM H2O2 medium for some bacteria (Brevibacillus centrosaurus, B. choshinensis, B. lyticum, Cedecea davisae, Chryseobacterium indoltheticum, Clavibacter michiganense pv. insidiosum, Kocuria erythromyxa, K. kristinae, K. rosea, K. varians, Paenibacillus validus, Pseudomonas syringae pv. populans, Ralstonia pickettii, Rhodococcus wratislaviensis, Serratia fonticola, Streptomyces violaceusniger, Vibrio cholerae-nonO1) respectively, and compared with well known antibacterial substances (levofloxacin, netilmicin). LPO system has inhibition effects on all type bacteria and concentration is really important such as LPO-100 mM thiocyanate-100 mM H2O2 system was proposed as an effective agent against many factors causing several diseases.

A comparative study of radioprotective effect of several antioxidants on human blood lymphocytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Mingsuo; Zhu Gengbai; Gu Xuandi

1992-01-01

By means of improved fluorometric method with 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) as the fluorometric agent, radioprotective effects of four kinds of antioxidants on 60 Co γ-ray induced lipid peroxidation (LPO) level, i.e. Malondialdehyde (MDA) content changes in human blood lymphocytes were in human blood lymphocytes were compared by using relative protective efficiency (RPE) as an indicator. The LPO level in human lymphocytes which had been treated with an antioxidant at an concentration of 5 x 10 -3 g/L for 1 hr was measured 2 hr after exposure to 4 Gy of γ-rays, and the RPE values of antioxidants were calculated under these conditions: SOD, 38.23; VE, 23.75:VC, 19.32 and Se +4 , 18.27, thus the anticipation that the compounds, superoxide dismutase (SOD), 2-tocopherols (VE), ascorbic acid (VC) and Na 2 SeO 3 (Se +4 ) had radioprotective effects was confirmed. It was found that the radioprotective beneficial sequences of four kinds of antioxidants were arranged as SOD>VE>VC,Se +4 . The results show that radioprotective effects of exogenous antioxidants on radiation induced LPO damage are dependent not only on irradiation dosage, but also especially on property of antioxidants, drug concentration, pretreatment and monitoring time, etc. The mechanism of these antioxidants effecting as radioprotectants on human lymphocytes is discussed in connection with LPO damage and radioprotection

Bird diversity and dissimilarity show contrasting patterns along heavy metal pollution gradients in the Urals, Russia.

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Belskii, Eugen A; Mikryukov, Vladimir S

2018-05-07

The effects of industrial pollution on bird diversity have been widely studied using traditional diversity measures, which assume all species to be equivalent. We compared species richness and Shannon index with distance-based measures of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity (the abundance-weighted mean nearest taxon distances), which describe within-community dissimilarity at terminal branches. Analysis of dissimilarity can shed light on the processes underlying community assembly, i.e., environmental filtering decreases dissimilarity whereas competitive exclusion increases it. In the 2-year study near Karabash and Revda copper smelters in Russia, point counts of nesting birds and habitat descriptions were taken at 10 sites (40 plots) along each pollution gradient. The abundance and diversity of birds showed good repeatability in both regions. The total density of birds, number of species per plot, and Shannon diversity decreased at high toxic load in both regions. The taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic nearest taxon distances showed the same pattern within regions. Species dissimilarity within communities increased with pollution in Karabash (due to loss of functionally similar species), but did not change in Revda (due to mass replacement of forest species by species of open habitats). Pollution-induced changes in bird communities near Karabash were greater due to the stronger deterioration of the forest ecosystems and less favorable natural conditions (more arid climate, lower diversity and vitality of the tree stand and understorey) compared to Revda. This study emphasizes the need for a multi-level approach to the analysis of bird communities using traditional indices of diversity, functional, taxonomic, or phylogenetic distances between species and environmental variables.

The Effects of Oxidative Stress in Urinary Tract Infection During Pregnancy

OpenAIRE

Ciragil, Pinar; Belge Kurutas, Ergul; Gul, Mustafa; Kilinc, Metin; Aral, Murat; Guven, Alanur

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of urinary tract infection (UTI) on antioxidant systems and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels during pregnancy. We also investigated if these antioxidant systems and LPO levels differed in each trimester. One hundred forty-three nonpregnant women, as a control group, and 77 pregnant women were included in the study. Urine cultures were performed according to standard techniques. Catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and LPO levels were...

Maxillary and Mandibular First Premolars Showing Three-Cusp Pattern: An Unusual Presentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramakant Nayak

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Dental anatomy is the study of morphology of various teeth in human dentitions. The application of dental anatomy in clinical practice is important, and dentist should have a thorough knowledge regarding the morphology of the teeth. At times as a result of genetic variation, environmental factors, diet of an individual and race, variations in the morphology of the teeth can be observed. These variations have been extensively studied by the researcher in the field of anthropology to define a particular race. The most commonly observed changes include peg-shaped laterals, shovel-shaped incisors, and extra cusp on molar. Common variations documented with regard to maxillary and mandibular first premolars are the variation in the number of roots. But the variations with respect to crown morphology are few. We report a first documented unusual presentation of maxillary and mandibular first premolars with three-cusps pattern in a female patient.

"Inhibitory Effect of Tannic Acid from Nutgall on Iron-Dextran Augmented 7,12-Dimethyl Benz(AAnthracene-Initiated and Croton Oil-Promoted Skin Carcinogenesis "

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abbas Delazar

2003-08-01

Full Text Available Tannic acid (TA is naturally occurring polyphenols present in fruits and vegetables. In this study, inhibition of the carcinogenic potential of croton oil in normal and iron overloaded mice skin by TA is reported. Albino Swiss mice were given iron-dextran for two weeks and were pretreated with a single topical application of tannic acid. After one hour tumors were initiated by a single dose of 7,12- dimethylbenz(aanthracene (DMBA the promoting agent croton oil was applied twice a week for 30 weeks. The appearance, number and percent tumor incidences were recorded. When compared to control groups, the pretreated groups showed a significant high inhibition of tumors incidences. Biochemical studies in mice skin tissues were based on the measurement of lipid peroxidation (LPO. TA diminished cutaneous LPO level in mice skin as compared to the untreated groups. This study showed that TA inhibits the augmentation potentials of croton oil and iron dextran significantly. A depletion in LPO levels in TA pretreated groups indicates that excessive generated oxidants in the mice skin tissues may be quenched by TA because of chelation of redox active iron and its faster elimination from the body. It is supposed that inhibition of iron mediated oxidative stress by TA may be responsible for diminishment of cutaneous tumorigenesis.

Shear response of Fe-bearing MgSiO3 post-perovskite at lower mantle pressures

Science.gov (United States)

METSUE, Arnaud; TSUCHIYA, Taku

2013-01-01

We investigate the shear response of possible slip systems activated in pure and Fe-bearing MgSiO3 post-perovskite (PPv) through ab initio generalized stacking fault (GSF) energy calculations. Here we show that the [100](001) slip system has the easiest response to plastic shear among ten possible slip systems investigated. Incorporation of Fe2+ decreases the strength of all slip systems but does not change the plastic anisotropy style. Therefore, pure and Fe-bearing MgSiO3 PPv should demonstrate similar LPO patterns with a strong signature of the [100](001) slip system. An aggregate with this deformation texture is expected to produce a VSH > VSV type polarization anisotropy, being consistent with seismological observations. PMID:23318681

Giant cell tumor with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst shows heterogeneous metabolic pattern on {sup 18}F-FDG PET.CT: A case reort

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Hee Jeong; Kwon, Seong Young; Yoon, Yeon Hong [Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Huasun (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Sang Geon; Kim, Jahae; Song, Ho Chun; Kim, Sung Sun; Park, Jin Gyoon [Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2016-12-15

Giant cell tumor (GCT) is a generally benign bone tumor accounting for approximately 5 % of all primary bone neoplasms. Cystic components in GCTs that indicate secondary aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are reported in 14 % of GCTs. Although both of them have been described separately in previous reports that may show considerable fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake despite their benign nature, the findings of GCT with secondary ABC on 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) have not been well-known. We report a case of GCT with secondary ABC in a 26-year-old woman. 18F-FDG PET/CT revealed a heterogeneous hypermetabolic lesion in the left proximal femur with the maximum standardized uptake value of 4.7. The solid components of the tumor showed higher FDG uptake than the cystic components. These observations suggest that the ABC components in GCTs show heterogeneous metabolic patterns on {sup 18}F-FDG PET/CT.

Giant cell tumor with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst shows heterogeneous metabolic pattern on "1"8F-FDG PET.CT: A case reort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Hee Jeong; Kwon, Seong Young; Yoon, Yeon Hong; Cho, Sang Geon; Kim, Jahae; Song, Ho Chun; Kim, Sung Sun; Park, Jin Gyoon

2016-01-01

Giant cell tumor (GCT) is a generally benign bone tumor accounting for approximately 5 % of all primary bone neoplasms. Cystic components in GCTs that indicate secondary aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) are reported in 14 % of GCTs. Although both of them have been described separately in previous reports that may show considerable fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake despite their benign nature, the findings of GCT with secondary ABC on 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) have not been well-known. We report a case of GCT with secondary ABC in a 26-year-old woman. 18F-FDG PET/CT revealed a heterogeneous hypermetabolic lesion in the left proximal femur with the maximum standardized uptake value of 4.7. The solid components of the tumor showed higher FDG uptake than the cystic components. These observations suggest that the ABC components in GCTs show heterogeneous metabolic patterns on "1"8F-FDG PET/CT

Melatonin reverses the enhanced oxidative damage to membrane lipids and improves skin biophysical characteristics in former-smokers - A study in postmenopausal women.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagan, Dorota; Stepniak, Jan; Gesing, Adam; Lewinski, Andrzej; Karbownik-Lewinska, Malgorzata

2017-12-23

Protective antioxidative effects of melatonin have been repeatedly documented in experimental and clinical studies. One of the most spectacular exogenous prooxidative agents is cigarette smoking. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of oxidative damage to membrane lipids (lipid peroxidation; LPO) in blood serum, and in epidermis exfoliated during microdermabrasion collected from former-smokers who were treated with melatonin. The study was performed in postmenopausal women. Ninety (90) female volunteers, aged 46-67 years, were enrolled. Two major groups, i.e. never-smokers (n=44) and former-smokers (n=46), were divided into: Control, melatonin topical skin application, Restructurer (containing antioxidants) topical skin application, and melatonin oral treatment. Microdermabrasion was performed at point '0', after 2 weeks, and after 4 weeks of treatment. The following parameters were measured: LPO in blood serum, LPO in epidermis exfoliated during microdermabrasion, and skin biophysical characteristics, such as sebum, moisture, elasticity, and pigmentation. Malondialdehyde+4-hydroxyalkenals level (LPO index) was measured spectrophotometrically. Melatonin oral treatment significantly reversed the increased serum LPO level in former-smokers already after 2 weeks of treatment. In a univariate regression model, LPO blood level constituted the only independent factor negatively associated with melatonin oral treatment. After 4 weeks of treatment, melatonin given orally increased skin sebum, moisture and elasticity levels, and melatonin applied topically increased sebum level. Exogenous melatonin reverses the enhanced oxidative damage to membrane lipids and improves skin biophysical characteristics in former-smokers.

A novel method for radiolabeling antigen-binding receptors of lymphocytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Y.S.; Lee, M.S.; Rosenspire, A.J.

1983-01-01

Antigen-binding receptor (ABR) molecules have been selectively radiolabeled and isolated from immunized chicken spleen cells. The specific radiolabeling of the receptors has been accomplished by utilizing a novel technique employing lactoperoxidase (LPO) covalently linked to antigen (Ag) for which human gammaglobulin was used. The cell surface ABRs were first bound to the Ag-LPO conjugates through specific recognition sites on the Ag portion of the conjugates. The bound LPO portions were then allowed to catalyze the radioiodination of the ABRs. After radiolabeling, cells were solubilized with detergents, ABRs still bound to Ag-LPO conjugates were directly isolated from the lysates via immunoaffinity chromatography utilizing an immunoaffinity reagent directed toward the antigen portion of the ABR-Ag-LPO complex. The radioactive materials were then analyzed via SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions. Most of the specifically-labeled and isolated materials were immunoglobulin (Ig). Both the membrane-bound form of the heavy chain as well as the secreted form were detected, along with the light chain. An additional polypeptide was also selectively labeled and isolated along with the Ig. This may be a molecule closely associated with the membrane immunoglobulin on the B-cell surface. (author)

Tannins and Tannin-Related Derivatives Enhance the (Pseudo-)Halogenating Activity of Lactoperoxidase.

Science.gov (United States)

Gau, Jana; Prévost, Martine; Van Antwerpen, Pierre; Sarosi, Menyhárt-Botond; Rodewald, Steffen; Arnhold, Jürgen; Flemmig, Jörg

2017-05-26

Several hydrolyzable tannins, proanthocyanidins, tannin derivatives, and a tannin-rich plant extract of tormentil rhizome were tested for their potential to regenerate the (pseudo-)halogenating activity, i.e., the oxidation of SCN - to hypothiocyanite - OSCN, of lactoperoxidase (LPO) after hydrogen peroxide-mediated enzyme inactivation. Measurements were performed using 5-thio-2-nitrobenzoic acid in the presence of tannins and related substances in order to determine kinetic parameters and to trace the LPO-mediated - OSCN formation. The results were combined with docking studies and molecular orbital analysis. The - OSCN-regenerating effect of tannin derivatives relates well with their binding properties toward LPO as well as their occupied molecular orbitals. Especially simple compounds like ellagic acid or methyl gallate and the complex plant extract were found as potent enzyme-regenerating compounds. As the (pseudo-)halogenating activity of LPO contributes to the maintenance of oral bacterial homeostasis, the results provide new insights into the antibacterial mode of action of tannins and related compounds. Furthermore, chemical properties of the tested compounds that are important for efficient enzyme-substrate interaction and regeneration of the - OSCN formation by LPO were identified.

{sup 125}I Labelling of Protein Using Immobilized Enzyme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jae Rok; Park, Kyung Bae; Awh, Ok Doo [Korea Advanced Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

1984-03-15

For an effective solid-phase labelling of protein with {sup 125}I, studies on the immobilization of lactoperoxidase (LPO) on the inner wall of polystyrene tubes were carried out. Labelling of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and insulin was also practiced using the LPO immobilized tubes. The immobilized enzyme of about 2.5 mu g/tube was sufficient for small scale labelling since the results of radio-paper chromatography of the labelling mixture of insulin indicated that the yields were sufficiently high (80%) even in the reactions conducted at room temperature for 60 sec. The results of the Sephadex column chromatography indicated that the labelled products were not contaminated with LPO-{sup 125}I, and the radiochemical purity of the products was more than 90%. In considering the general trend that the {sup 125}I labelled protein obtained by using LPO maintains its intactness better than those obtained by using chloramine-T, together with the tendency of yield enhancing with increase of reactants-concentration, the LPO immobilized tube method is estimated to be one of the simple methods of labelling. The product might be applicable without further purification.

Subcellular partitioning kinetics, metallothionein response and oxidative damage in the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis exposed to cadmium-based quantum dots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rocha, Thiago Lopes [CIMA, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal); Gomes, Tânia [CIMA, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal); Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalléen 21, NO-0349 Oslo (Norway); Durigon, Emerson Giuliani [CIMA, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal); Bebianno, Maria João, E-mail: mbebian@ualg.pt [CIMA, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal)

2016-06-01

The environmental health impact of metal-based nanomaterials is of emerging concern, but their metabolism and detoxification pathways in marine bioindicator species remain unclear. This study investigated the role of subcellular partitioning kinetics, metallothioneins (MTs) response and oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation – LPO) in the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis exposed to CdTe quantum dots (QDs) in comparison with its dissolved counterpart. Mussels were exposed to QDs and dissolved Cd for 21 days at 10 μg Cd L{sup −1} followed by a 50 days depuration. Higher Cd concentrations were detected in fractions containing mitochondria, nucleus and lysosomes, suggesting potential subcellular targets of QDs toxicity in mussel tissues. Tissue specific metabolism patterns were observed in mussels exposed to both Cd forms. Although MT levels were directly associated with Cd in both forms, QDs subcellular partitioning is linked to biologically active metal (BAM), but no increase in LPO occurred, while in the case of dissolved Cd levels are in the biologically detoxified metal (BDM) form, indicating nano-specific effects. Mussel gills showed lower detoxification capability of QDs, while the digestive gland is the major tissue for storage and detoxification of both Cd forms. Both mussel tissues were unable to completely eliminate the Cd accumulated in the QDs form (estimated half-life time > 50 days), highlighting the potential source of Cd and QDs toxicity for human and environmental health. Results indicate tissue specific metabolism patterns and nano-specific effects in marine mussel exposed to QDs. - Highlights: • Subcellular partitioning and MT response are Cd form, tissue and time dependent. • Tissue specific metabolism of Cd-based quantum dots (QDs) in marine mussels. • QDs are slower biologically detoxified when compared to dissolved Cd. • Subcellular partitioning and biomarker responses indicate nano-specific effects. • Subcellular

Improved detection of chronic myocardial infarction with Fourier amplitude and phase imaging in two projections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akins, E.W.; Scott, E.A.; Williams, C.M.

1987-01-01

Twenty-seven patients with 33 chronic myocaridal infarctions underwent MR imaging and radionuclide ventriculography at rest. The radionuclide ventriculographs, in left anterior oblique (LAO) and left posterior oblique (LPO) projections, were analyzed by two independent observers by visual inspection and combined Fourier-transformed amplitude and phase imaging. Only 15 (45%) of the 33 infarctions were detected by visual inspection, but 21 (64%) were detected on the LAO Fourier-transformed images along. Thirty (91%) were detected by using both LAO and LPO Fourier-transformed images. On MR imaging, 28 (85%) of the myocardial infarctions appeared as areas of focal wall thinning. Combined Fourier-transformed amplitude and phase imaging in both LAO and LPO views discloses more myocardial infarctions than visual inspection or LAO Fourier-transformed images alone because inferior infarctions, which are frequently missed in the LAO view, are easily seen in the LPO view

Grain Boundary Sliding (GBS) as a Plastic Instability Leading to Coeval Pseudotachylyte Development in Mylonites: an EBSD Study of the Seismic Cycle in Brittle-Ductile Transition Rocks of the South Mountains Core Complex, Arizona, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, E.; Stewart, C.

2017-12-01

Exposures of coeval pseudotachylytes and mylonites are relatively rare, but are crucial for understanding the seismic cycle in the vicinity of the brittle-ductile transition (BDT). We use both field observations and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis to investigate the coeval pseudotachylytes and granodiorite mylonites exposed in the footwall of the South Mountains core complex, Arizona, to evaluate how strain is localized both prior to and during pseudotachylyte development at the BDT. In the field, we observe numerous pseudotachylyte veins oriented parallel to mylonitic foliation; the veins have synthetic shear sense with adjacent mylonites, and are < 2 cm thick, laterally discontinuous, and confined to a few m in structural thickness. EBSD analysis reveals that deformation is strongly partitioned into quartz in mylonites, where quartz shows subgrain rotation overprinted by bulging recrystallization microstructures and lattice preferred orientation (LPO) patterns indicative of dislocation creep. Foliation-parallel zones of finely recrystallized, (< 5 μm diameter) bulge-nucleated grains in the mylonites show four-grain junctions and randomized LPO patterns consistent with grain boundary sliding (GBS). Pseudotachylyte veins have elongate polycrystalline quartz survivor clasts that also exhibit GBS traits, suggesting that pseudotachylytes form within GBS zones in mylonites. We interpret the onset of GBS as a triggering mechanism for coeval pseudotachylyte development, where the accompanying decrease in effective viscosity and increase in strain rate initiated seismic slip and pseudotachylyte formation within GBS zones. Strain became localized within the pseudotachylyte until crystallization of melt impeded flow, inducing pseudotachylyte development in other GBS zones. We associate the pseudotachylyte veins and host mylonites with the coseismic and interseismic parts of the seismic cycle, respectively, where the abundance and lateral discontinuity of

Antioxidant status in oral subchronic toxicity of fipronil and fluoride co-exposure in buffalo calves.

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Kamalpreet Kaur; Dumka, Vinod Kumar

2016-02-01

The effects of fipronil and fluoride co-exposure were investigated on antioxidant status of buffalo calves. A total of 24 healthy male buffalo calves divided into 4 groups were treated for 98 consecutive days. Group I, receiving no treatment, served as the control. Animals of groups II and III were orally administered with fipronil at the dosage of 0.5 mg/kg/day and sodium fluoride (NaF) at the dosage of 6.67 mg/kg/day, respectively, for 98 days. Group IV was coadministered with fipronil and NaF at the same dosages as groups II and III. Administration of fipronil alone produced significant elevation in lipid peroxidation (LPO) and decrease in the levels of nonenzymatic antioxidant glutathione (GSH). However, it did not produce any significant effect on the activities of enzymatic antioxidants including glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). NaF exposure led to enhanced oxidative stress as shown by significant increase in the LPO and SOD activities while GPx and CAT activities and GSH levels were significantly decreased. Co-exposure to fipronil and NaF showed additive effects on LPO, GPx activity, and GSH levels. © The Author(s) 2013.

Otyłość jako czynnik ryzyka uszkodzeń oksydacyjnych lipidów błon komórkowych u kobiet w okresie pomenopauzalnym

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janusz Szosland

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Obesity does constitute one of the most common modifiable risk factors for cancer, with further increase in the risk in postmenopausal women. In turn, the process of cancerogenesis is associated with the enhanced oxidative stress. Lipid peroxidation (LPO, resulting from oxidative damage to membrane lipids, is the most frequently examined process to evaluate oxidative damage to macromolecules. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to evaluate the LPO level in overweight and obese postmenopausal women. Materials and methods: Forty two postmenopausal women, i.e. 35 overweight or obese with a body mass index (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, and 7 with BMI < 25 kg/m2 (Controls, well matched for age, were enrolled in the study. Concentration of malondialdehyde + 4-hydroxyalkenals (MDA + 4-HDA, as an index of LPO, was measured in the serum. Clinical and laboratory parameters, which are frequently affected by obesity, were also measured in the study. Results: The LPO level increased in overweight and obese postmenopausal women and its further increase was observed with the increasing BMI. Additionally, the LPO level correlated positively with body mass, BMI, waist or hip circumference and waist: hip ratio (WHR. Body weight was the only independent positive predictor for increased oxidative stress. In turn, the LPO level was the only independent positive determinant for obesity. Conclusions: Increased body mass does contribute directly to enhanced oxidative damage to membrane lipids in postmenopausal women, a phenomenon which may constitute one of the mechanisms of an increased cancer risk.

Influence of separate and combined impact both of radiation and chemical factors on state of lipid peroxide oxidation system and antioxidant protection at pregnant rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danil'chik, V.S.; Spivak, L.V.; Kolb, V.G.; Zubovskaya, E.T.; Rogov, Yu.I.

2000-01-01

Influence of low dozed ionizing irradiation and chemical toxicant was studied both under separate and combined action in the process of pregnancy. The lipid peroxidation (LPO) indices and antioxidant protection (AOP) parameters of females rats were studied. The result received proved that irradiation during pregnancy induced activation both of lipids free radical oxidation and of antioxidant protection in female rats. Chemical toxicants introduction resulted in shifts on the LPO-AOP system the hydrogen peroxide blood level increasing and the antioxidants ones reducing. Combined action of both factors led to development of a new level of LPO-AOP

Prevalência de Candida spp e xerostomia em pacientes com líquen plano oral. Um estudo grupo-controle

OpenAIRE

Gabriela Artico

2011-01-01

Enquanto lesões cutâneas do líquen plano (LP) são autolimitantes, suas manifestações orais (LPO) têm comportamento crônico, raramente apresentam remissão espontânea, e podem sofrer transformação maligna, embora subsista controvérsia sobre esta ultima questão. A este respeito, alguns autores têm dado ênfase ao envolvimento da Candida spp. na malignização LPO devido à capacidade deste fungo em produzir enzima carcinogênica N-nitrobenzilmetilamina e sua relativa freqüência em lesões LPO. Adicion...

Radioprotective effect of antioxidants on human blood lymphocytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Mingsuo; Gu Xuandi; Zhu Genbo; Feng Jixing; Su Liaoyuan

1991-09-01

By using an improved fluorometric method with 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) as fluorometric agent, the antiradiation effects of four kinds of antioxidants on 60 Co γ-ray irradiation inducing final products of lipid peroxides (LPO), i.e. malodialdehyde (MDA) content changes in human blood lymphocytes, were investigated with LPO value as an indicator. The results of the experiment were as following: (1)The radioprotective effect of exogenous antioxidants added to human blood lymphocytes on radiation-induced LPO damage of cellular membrane were remarkable; (2)The radioprotective beneficial sequences of four kinds of antioxidants were arranged like this: SOD > VE >VC, Se 4+ ; (3)Radioprotective effects of antioxidants on radiation-induced damage varied especially with the property of antioxidants, drug concentration, and pretreatment and monitoring time, etc., as well as irradiated dosage and various kinds of incubated cells. In addition, the mechanism of these antioxidants as radioprotectants on human blood lymphocytes is discussed in connection with LPO damage and radioprotection

Determination of antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Eremurus spectabilis Bieb.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burak Bircan

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In this study, in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the E. spectabilis Bieb., which is consumed as a vegetable among people, was investigated and Kluyveromyces lactis’s antioxidant activies in anaerobic cultural environment is researched. This purpose; 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH radical scavenging activity, flavonoid, resveratrol, sugar contents, lipid peroxidation (LPO levels, fatty acid level, lipophilic vitamin values, protein and glutathione amounts were measured. In the FeCl group in which FeCl2+ H2O2 is applied, when compared with LPO level control group (K, it was observed that it increase in high amount (p<0.05. LPO level decreases in certain proportions in treatment groups. It is suggested that the lowering effect of the LPO of E. spectabilis extracts are arise from phytochemical like flavonoids that it includes. As a result of the antibacterial activity studies, it was observed that E. spectabilis have different proportional antimicrobial activities against E. coli, S. aureus, Epidermophyton spp. and C. albicans.

Specific genes involved in synthesis and editing of heparan sulfate proteoglycans show altered expression patterns in breast cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernández-Vega, Iván; García, Olivia; Crespo, Ainara; Castañón, Sonia; Menéndez, Primitiva; Astudillo, Aurora; Quirós, Luis M

2013-01-01

, experienced a strong deregulation in all patients analyzed. IDCs show alterations in the expression of HSPG genes; principally the expression and localization of proteoglycans and the sulfation patterns of glycosaminoglycan chains, depending on the metastatic nature of the tumor. In addition, the anti-proliferative molecule heparanase 2 experiences strong deregulation, thus highlighting it as a potentially interesting diagnostic factor

[Changes of blood fatty acid in women with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus].

Science.gov (United States)

Mikaelyan, N P; Terentev, A A; Nguen, K H; Mikaelyan, A V; Novikova, S A

2015-01-01

Obesity and type 2 diabetes (DM2) in women are accompanied by atherogenic dyslipidemia, with the activation of lipid peroxidation (LPO), as well as disturbances in the antioxidant defense system (ADS). DM2 due to imbalance in LPO-ADS is accompanied by a high concentration of LPO products, decreased parameters of antioxidant systems and timpaired utilization of glucose by cells. The results obtained in this study suggest an important role of fatty acids and their metabolites in the pathogenesis of obesity and DM2, which should be taken into consideration during design and selection of appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures aimed at prevention or elimination of the violations.

The effect of short-term coenzyme Q10 supplementation and pre-cooling strategy on cardiac damage markers in elite swimmers.

Science.gov (United States)

Emami, Ali; Tofighi, Asghar; Asri-Rezaei, Siamak; Bazargani-Gilani, Behnaz

2018-02-01

Strenuous physical exercise and hyperthermia may paradoxically induce oxidative stress and adverse effects on myocardial function. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 14-d coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation and pre-cooling on serum creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), cardiac Troponin I (cTnI), myoglobin (Mb), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and CoQ10 concentration in elite swimmers. In total, thirty-six healthy males (mean age 17 (sd 1) years) were randomly selected and divided into four groups of supplementation, supplementation with pre-cooling, pre-cooling and control. During an eighteen-session protocol in the morning and evening, subjects attended speed and endurance swimming training sessions for 5 km in each session. Blood sampling was done before (two stages) and after (two stages) administration of CoQ10 and pre-cooling. ANCOVA and repeated measurement tests with Bonferroni post hoc test were used for the statistical analysis of the data. There was no significant statistical difference among groups for the levels of CK-MB, cTnI, Mb, LD, TAC, LPO and CoQ10 at the presampling (stages 1 and 2) (P>0·05). However, pre-cooling and control groups show a significant increase in the levels of CK-MB, cTnI, Mb, LD and LPO compared with the supplementation and supplementation with pre-cooling groups in the post-sampling (stages 1 and 2) (Pcompetition phase. Meanwhile, the pre-cooling strategy individually has no desired effect on the levels of CK-MB, cTnI, Mb, LD, LPO, TAC and CoQ10.

MicroRNAs show mutually exclusive expression patterns in the brain of adult male rats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Line; Klausen, Mikkel; Helboe, Lone

2009-01-01

BACKGROUND: The brain is a major site of microRNA (miRNA) gene expression, but the spatial expression patterns of miRNAs within the brain have not yet been fully covered. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have characterized the regional expression profiles of miRNAs in five distinct regions...... of the adult rat brain: amygdala, cerebellum, hippocampus, hypothalamus and substantia nigra. Microarray profiling uncovered 48 miRNAs displaying more than three-fold enrichment between two or more brain regions. Notably, we found reciprocal expression profiles for a subset of the miRNAs predominantly found...... (> ten times) in either the cerebellum (miR-206 and miR-497) or the forebrain regions (miR-132, miR-212, miR-221 and miR-222). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results indicate that some miRNAs could be important for area-specific functions in the brain. Our data, combined with previous studies in mice...

Functional food quality of Curcuma caesia, Curcuma zedoaria and Curcuma aeruginosa endemic to Northeastern India.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yunbao; Roy, Subhra Saikat; Nebie, Roger H C; Zhang, Yanjun; Nair, Muraleedharan G

2013-03-01

Curcuma spp. (Zingiberaceae) is one of the significant ingredients in food and traditional medicines. The current study was to investigate health-benefits of the rhizomes of endemic Curcuma caesia, Curcuma zedoaria and Curcuma aeruginosa using in vitro antioxidant, antiinflammatory and human tumor cell proliferation inhibitory activities. Among these, C. caesia (black turmeric) showed the best overall biological activities based on [3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT) and lipid peroxidation (LPO), cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and -2) enzymes, and tumor cell growth inhibitory assays. The hexane and methanolic extracts of C. caesia (CCH and CCM) showed LPO inhibition by 31 and 43 %, and COX-2 enzyme by 29 and 38 %, respectively, at 100 μg/ml. Eleven terpenoids were isolated and identified. The MTT antioxidant assay revealed that the extracts of three Curcuma spp. at 250 μg/ml and isolates at 5 μg/ml demonstrated activity comparable to positive controls vitamin C and t-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) at 25 μg/ml. The extracts inhibited LPO by 40 % at 250 μg/ml whereas pure isolates 1-11 by about 20 %. The extracts and isolates inhibited COX-1 and -2 enzymes between the ranges of 3-56 and 5-30 %, respectively. The in vitro biological activity exhibited by the extracts and isolates of C. caesia rhizome further supported its use in traditional medicine.

Melatonin protects against lead-induced hepatic and renal toxicity in male rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Sokkary, Gamal H.; Abdel-Rahman, Gamal H.; Kamel, Esam S.

2005-01-01

The present study was designed to investigate the potential protective effect of melatonin against the hepatic and renal toxicity of lead in male rats. Three groups of animals were used in this study (control, lead acetate-treated (100 mg/kg), and lead acetate plus melatonin (10 mg/kg) for 30 days. Levels of lipid peroxidation (LPO) products, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, total glutathione (GSH), histopathological changes in the liver and kidneys were investigated. In addition, nuclear area (NA), nuclear volume (NV) and the ratio of nuclear volume/cellular volume (N/C) were measured in the liver. The results revealed increased LPO and decreased SOD, GSH, NA, NV and N/C in the studied organs of lead-treated rats. Histopathological observations showed severe damage in the liver and kidneys. Melatonin co-treatment to the lead-administered rats attenuated the increase of LPO and restored the activity of SOD and levels of GSH as well as the mean values of NA, NV and N/C. Also, the morphological damage in the liver and kidneys was reduced and the tissues appeared like those of controls. The present study suggests that melatonin may be useful in combating free radical-induced damage due to lead toxicity

Effects of ICRF-187 and L-Carnitine on bleomycin-induced lung toxicity in rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shouman, Samia A.; Abdel-Hamid, M.A.; Hassan, Zeinab A.; Mansour, Heba H.

2002-01-01

The possible modulatory effects of ICRF-187 and L-carnitine against bleomycin-induced pulmonary toxicity in male rats were investigated. Repeated administration of bleomycin (10 mg/kg, twice weekly for 6 consecutive weeks) produced significant lung toxicity. The toxicity was manifested by significant increase in normal contents of lipid peroxide (LPO, 91.7%) reduced glutathione (GSH, 73.2%) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG, 135.4%) as well as the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD, 222.7%). Thirty minutes prior to bleomycin treatment, other groups of rats received either ICRF-187 (95 mg/kg) or L-carnitine (500 mg/kg) adopting the same schedule of treatment as in bleomycin-treated group. L-carnitine decreased bleomycin-induced elevations in SOD activity, GSH and GSSG contents, however, it failed to suppress the increase in LPO level. On the other hand, treatment with ICRF-187 returned back all the elevated biochemical parameters induced by bleomycin to nearly normal levels. In conclusion, the results of this study showed a potential capability of ICRF-187 to mitigate the bleomycin-induced lung injury. Moreover, despite the inability of L-carnitine to change the elevated LPO content, it was able however, to decrease the elevated endogenous antioxidant parameters. (author)

DNA damage by lipid peroxidation products: implications in cancer, inflammation and autoimmunity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabrizio Gentile

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation (LPO induced by inflammation, excess metal storage and excess caloric intake cause generalized DNA damage, producing genotoxic and mutagenic effects. The consequent deregulation of cell homeostasis is implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of malignancies and degenerative diseases. Reactive aldehydes produced by LPO, such as malondialdehyde, acrolein, crotonaldehyde and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, react with DNA bases, generating promutagenic exocyclic DNA adducts, which likely contribute to the mutagenic and carcinogenic effects associated with oxidative stress-induced LPO. However, reactive aldehydes, when added to tumor cells, can exert an anticancerous effect. They act, analogously to other chemotherapeutic drugs, by forming DNA adducts and, in this way, they drive the tumor cells toward apoptosis. The aldehyde-DNA adducts, which can be observed during inflammation, play an important role by inducing epigenetic changes which, in turn, can modulate the inflammatory process. The pathogenic role of the adducts formed by the products of LPO with biological macromolecules in the breaking of immunological tolerance to self antigens and in the development of autoimmunity has been supported by a wealth of evidence. The instrumental role of the adducts of reactive LPO products with self protein antigens in the sensitization of autoreactive cells to the respective unmodified proteins and in the intermolecular spreading of the autoimmune responses to aldehyde-modified and native DNA is well documented. In contrast, further investigation is required in order to establish whether the formation of adducts of LPO products with DNA might incite substantial immune responsivity and might be instrumental for the spreading of the immunological responses from aldehyde-modified DNA to native DNA and similarly modified, unmodified and/or structurally analogous self protein antigens, thus leading to autoimmunity.

Self-adaptive global best harmony search algorithm applied to reactor core fuel management optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poursalehi, N.; Zolfaghari, A.; Minuchehr, A.; Valavi, K.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • SGHS enhanced the convergence rate of LPO using some improvements in comparison to basic HS and GHS. • SGHS optimization algorithm obtained averagely better fitness relative to basic HS and GHS algorithms. • Upshot of the SGHS implementation in the LPO reveals its flexibility, efficiency and reliability. - Abstract: The aim of this work is to apply the new developed optimization algorithm, Self-adaptive Global best Harmony Search (SGHS), for PWRs fuel management optimization. SGHS algorithm has some modifications in comparison with basic Harmony Search (HS) and Global-best Harmony Search (GHS) algorithms such as dynamically change of parameters. For the demonstration of SGHS ability to find an optimal configuration of fuel assemblies, basic Harmony Search (HS) and Global-best Harmony Search (GHS) algorithms also have been developed and investigated. For this purpose, Self-adaptive Global best Harmony Search Nodal Expansion package (SGHSNE) has been developed implementing HS, GHS and SGHS optimization algorithms for the fuel management operation of nuclear reactor cores. This package uses developed average current nodal expansion code which solves the multi group diffusion equation by employment of first and second orders of Nodal Expansion Method (NEM) for two dimensional, hexagonal and rectangular geometries, respectively, by one node per a FA. Loading pattern optimization was performed using SGHSNE package for some test cases to present the SGHS algorithm capability in converging to near optimal loading pattern. Results indicate that the convergence rate and reliability of the SGHS method are quite promising and practically, SGHS improves the quality of loading pattern optimization results relative to HS and GHS algorithms. As a result, it has the potential to be used in the other nuclear engineering optimization problems

Researches on radioprotective effects of dendrobium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Chongdao; Qiang Yizhong; Cui Fengmei

2004-01-01

Effects of Dendrobium on the LPO content in the mouse tissues, the white blood cells and platelets in the mouse peripheral blood after whole-body γ-ray irradiation exposure were studied. Besides, the 30-day survival rates of irradiated mice treated with three different doses of Dendrobium were observed. The results show that Dendrobium was effective in reducing the LPO contents in the tissues (p<0.01); and could increase the platelets in the peripheral blood of irradiated mice; and white blood cells had a tendency toward rising; different doses of Dendrobium could raise the survival rates of irradiated mice and prolong the survival duration. The above-mentioned findings suggest that Dendrobium has the radioprotective effect and its mechanism probably relates to scavenging of free radicals and restoration of haematopoiesis. (authors)

Geodesic patterns

KAUST Repository

Pottmann, Helmut; Huang, Qixing; Deng, Bailin; Schiftner, Alexander; Kilian, Martin; Guibas, Leonidas J.; Wallner, Johannes

2010-01-01

Geodesic curves in surfaces are not only minimizers of distance, but they are also the curves of zero geodesic (sideways) curvature. It turns out that this property makes patterns of geodesics the basic geometric entity when dealing with the cladding of a freeform surface with wooden panels which do not bend sideways. Likewise a geodesic is the favored shape of timber support elements in freeform architecture, for reasons of manufacturing and statics. Both problem areas are fundamental in freeform architecture, but so far only experimental solutions have been available. This paper provides a systematic treatment and shows how to design geodesic patterns in different ways: The evolution of geodesic curves is good for local studies and simple patterns; the level set formulation can deal with the global layout of multiple patterns of geodesics; finally geodesic vector fields allow us to interactively model geodesic patterns and perform surface segmentation into panelizable parts. © 2010 ACM.

Geodesic patterns

KAUST Repository

Pottmann, Helmut

2010-07-26

Geodesic curves in surfaces are not only minimizers of distance, but they are also the curves of zero geodesic (sideways) curvature. It turns out that this property makes patterns of geodesics the basic geometric entity when dealing with the cladding of a freeform surface with wooden panels which do not bend sideways. Likewise a geodesic is the favored shape of timber support elements in freeform architecture, for reasons of manufacturing and statics. Both problem areas are fundamental in freeform architecture, but so far only experimental solutions have been available. This paper provides a systematic treatment and shows how to design geodesic patterns in different ways: The evolution of geodesic curves is good for local studies and simple patterns; the level set formulation can deal with the global layout of multiple patterns of geodesics; finally geodesic vector fields allow us to interactively model geodesic patterns and perform surface segmentation into panelizable parts. © 2010 ACM.

Entrenamiento Aeróbico: Efecto Sobre el Estado Oxidativo Hepático. [Aerobic Training: Effect on Liver Oxidative Stress].

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nyurky Josefina Matheus

2016-07-01

concentration was determined in blood, liver and the concentration of conjugated diene, malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione (GSH was measured and histopathological study. The results show that animals made EE showed a marked increase in hepatic lipid peroxidation (LPO compared with the control group and the EA. Regarding the antioxidant response, the concentration of GSH increased animals decreased in EA and EE and albumin was lower in animals who exercised. The GSH / LPO ratio was greater in animals EA, indicating a decrease in LPO in relation given by the GSH antioxidant response. No liver histopathological changes were observed. The results of this study show that despite an increase in hepatic lipid peroxidation occurs during exercise , this oxidation does not alter the histological structure of the organ and depending on the type of exercise, the body adapts by producing increased antioxidant defense based this training.

Spitzenkorper, exocyst, and polarisome components in Candida albicans hyphae show different patterns of localization and have distinct dynamic properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Laura A; Sudbery, Peter E

2010-10-01

During the extreme polarized growth of fungal hyphae, secretory vesicles are thought to accumulate in a subapical region called the Spitzenkörper. The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans can grow in a budding yeast or hyphal form. When it grows as hyphae, Mlc1 accumulates in a subapical spot suggestive of a Spitzenkörper-like structure, while the polarisome components Spa2 and Bud6 localize to a surface crescent. Here we show that the vesicle-associated protein Sec4 also localizes to a spot, confirming that secretory vesicles accumulate in the putative C. albicans Spitzenkörper. In contrast, exocyst components localize to a surface crescent. Using a combination of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and fluorescence loss in photobleaching (FLIP) experiments and cytochalasin A to disrupt actin cables, we showed that Spitzenkörper-located proteins are highly dynamic. In contrast, exocyst and polarisome components are stably located at the cell surface. It is thought that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae exocyst components are transported to the cell surface on secretory vesicles along actin cables. If each vesicle carried its own complement of exocyst components, then it would be expected that exocyst components would be as dynamic as Sec4 and would have the same pattern of localization. This is not what we observe in C. albicans. We propose a model in which a stream of vesicles arrives at the tip and accumulates in the Spitzenkörper before onward delivery to the plasma membrane mediated by exocyst and polarisome components that are more stable residents of the cell surface.

SU-F-T-197: Investigating Optimal Oblique-Beam Arrangement for Bilateral Metallic Prosthesis Prostate Cancer in Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rana, S; Tesfamicael, B; Park, S [McLaren Proton Therapy Center, Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren-Flint, Flint, MI (United States); Zheng, Y; Singh, H; Twyford, T [Procure Proton Therapy Center, Oklahoma City, OK (United States); Cheng, C [Vantage Oncology, West Hills, CA (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate the optimum oblique-beam arrangement for bilateral metallic prosthesis prostate cancer treatment in pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy. Methods: A computed tomography dataset of bilateral metallic prosthesis prostate cancer case was selected for this retrospective study. A total of four beams (rightanterior- oblique [RAO], left-anterior-oblique [LAO], left-posterior-oblique [LPO], and right-posterior-oblique [RPO]) were selected for treatment planning. PBS plans were generated using multi-field-optimization technique for a total dose of 79.2 Gy[RBE] to be delivered in 44 fractions. Specifically, five different PBS plans were generated based on 2.5% ± 2 mm range uncertainty using five different beam arrangements (i)LAO+RAO+LPO+RPO, (ii)LAO+RAO, (iii)LPO+RPO, (iv)RAO+LPO, and (v)LAO+RPO. Each PBS plan was optimized by applying identical dose-volume constraints to the PTV, rectum, and bladder. Treatment plans were then compared based on the dose-volume histograms results. Results: The PTV coverage was found to be greater than 99% in all five plans. The homogeneity index (HI) was found to be almost identical (range, 0.03–0.04). The PTV mean dose was found to be comparable (range, 81.0–81.1 Gy[RBE]). For the rectum, the lowest mean dose (8.0 Gy[RBE]) and highest mean dose (31.1 Gy[RBE]) were found in RAO+LAO plan and LPO+RPO plan, respectively. LAO+RAO plan produced the most favorable dosimetric results of the rectum in the medium-dose region (V50) and high-dose region (V70). For the bladder, the lowest (5.0 Gy[RBE]) and highest mean dose (10.3 Gy[RBE]) were found in LPO+RPO plan and RAO+LAO plan, respectively. Other dosimetric results (V50 and V70) of the bladder were slightly better in LPO+RPO plan than in other plans. Conclusion: Dosimetric findings from this study suggest that two anterior-oblique proton beams arrangement (LAO+RAO) is a more favorable option with the possibility of reducing rectal

Metal contamination as a possible etiology of fibropapillomatosis in juvenile female green sea turtles Chelonia mydas from the southern Atlantic Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva, Cinthia Carneiro; Klein, Roberta Daniele; Barcarolli, Indianara Fernanda; Bianchini, Adalto

2016-01-01

Environmental contaminants have been suggested as a possible cause of fibropapillomatosis (FP) in green sea turtles. In turn, a reduced concentration of serum cholesterol has been indicated as a reliable biomarker of malignancy in vertebrates, including marine turtles. In the present study, metal (Ag, Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn) concentrations, oxidative stress parameters [antioxidant capacity against peroxyl radicals (ACAP), protein carbonyls (PC), lipid peroxidation (LPO), frequency of micronucleated cells (FMC)], water content, cholesterol concentration and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) activity were analyzed in the blood/serum of juvenile (29.3-59.5cm) female green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) with FP (n=14) and without FP (n=13) sampled at Ubatuba coast (São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil). Green sea turtles were grouped and analyzed according to the severity of tumors. Individuals heavily afflicted with FP showed significantly higher blood Cu, Pb and Fe concentrations, blood LPO levels, as well as significantly lower serum cholesterol concentrations and HMGR activity than turtles without FP. Significant and positive correlations were observed between HMGR activity and cholesterol concentrations, as well as LPO levels and Fe and Pb concentrations. In turn, Cu and Pb concentrations were significantly and negatively correlated with HMGR activity and cholesterol concentration. Furthermore, Cu, Fe and Pb were positively correlated with each other. Therefore, the reduced concentration of serum cholesterol observed in green sea turtles heavily afflicted with FP is related to a Cu- and Pb-induced inhibition of HMGR activity paralleled by a higher LPO rate induced by increased Fe and Pb concentrations. As oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of viral infections, our findings support the idea that metal contamination, especially by Cu, Fe and Pb, may be implicated in the etiology of FP in green sea turtles through oxidative stress

Pattern graph rewrite systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleks Kissinger

2014-03-01

Full Text Available String diagrams are a powerful tool for reasoning about physical processes, logic circuits, tensor networks, and many other compositional structures. Dixon, Duncan and Kissinger introduced string graphs, which are a combinatoric representations of string diagrams, amenable to automated reasoning about diagrammatic theories via graph rewrite systems. In this extended abstract, we show how the power of such rewrite systems can be greatly extended by introducing pattern graphs, which provide a means of expressing infinite families of rewrite rules where certain marked subgraphs, called !-boxes ("bang boxes", on both sides of a rule can be copied any number of times or removed. After reviewing the string graph formalism, we show how string graphs can be extended to pattern graphs and how pattern graphs and pattern rewrite rules can be instantiated to concrete string graphs and rewrite rules. We then provide examples demonstrating the expressive power of pattern graphs and how they can be applied to study interacting algebraic structures that are central to categorical quantum mechanics.

Deregulated power prices: comparison of diurnal patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ying Li; Flynn, P.C.

2004-01-01

We examine electrical power price, and in particular its daily and average weekday vs. weekend pattern of change, for 14 deregulated markets. Power price in deregulated markets shows fundamentally different patterns. North American markets show a monotonic diurnal weekday price pattern, while all other markets studied show more than one price peak. Deregulated power markets differ in maximum vs. minimum daily average price and in average weekday to weekend price, in turn creating a different incentive for a consumer to time shift power consuming activities. Markets differ in the extent to which a small fraction of the days shapes the average diurnal pattern and value of price. Deregulated markets show a wide variation in the correlation between load and price. Some deregulated markets, most notably Britain and Spain, show patterns that are predictable and consistent, and hence that can encourage a customer to shape consumption behaviors. Other markets, for example South Australia, have patterns that are inconsistent and irregular, and hence are hard for a customer to interpret; a customer in such a market will have a higher incentive to escape risk through hedging mechanisms. (Author)

Deregulated power prices: comparison of diurnal patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Ying; Flynn, Peter C.

2004-01-01

We examine electrical power price, and in particular its daily and average weekday vs. weekend pattern of change, for 14 deregulated markets. Power price in deregulated markets shows fundamentally different patterns. North American markets show a monotonic diurnal weekday price pattern, while all other markets studied show more than one price peak. Deregulated power markets differ in maximum vs. minimum daily average price and in average weekday to weekend price, in turn creating a different incentive for a consumer to time shift power consuming activities. Markets differ in the extent to which a small fraction of the days shapes the average diurnal pattern and value of price. Deregulated markets show a wide variation in the correlation between load and price. Some deregulated markets, most notably Britain and Spain, show patterns that are predictable and consistent, and hence that can encourage a customer to shape consumption behaviors. Other markets, for example South Australia, have patterns that are inconsistent and irregular, and hence are hard for a customer to interpret; a customer in such a market will have a higher incentive to escape risk through hedging mechanisms

Domain knowledge patterns in pedagogical diagnostics

Science.gov (United States)

Miarka, Rostislav

2017-07-01

This paper shows a proposal of representation of knowledge patterns in RDF(S) language. Knowledge patterns are used for reuse of knowledge. They can be divided into two groups - Top-level knowledge patterns and Domain knowledge patterns. Pedagogical diagnostics is aimed at testing of knowledge of students at primary and secondary school. An example of domain knowledge pattern from pedagogical diagnostics is part of this paper.

Using pattern analysis methods to do fast detection of manufacturing pattern failures

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Evan; Wang, Jessie; Sun, Mason; Wang, Jeff; Zhang, Yifan; Sweis, Jason; Lai, Ya-Chieh; Ding, Hua

2016-03-01

At the advanced technology node, logic design has become extremely complex and is getting more challenging as the pattern geometry size decreases. The small sizes of layout patterns are becoming very sensitive to process variations. Meanwhile, the high pressure of yield ramp is always there due to time-to-market competition. The company that achieves patterning maturity earlier than others will have a great advantage and a better chance to realize maximum profit margins. For debugging silicon failures, DFT diagnostics can identify which nets or cells caused the yield loss. But normally, a long time period is needed with many resources to identify which failures are due to one common layout pattern or structure. This paper will present a new yield diagnostic flow, based on preliminary EFA results, to show how pattern analysis can more efficiently detect pattern related systematic defects. Increased visibility on design pattern related failures also allows more precise yield loss estimation.

Professional ASPNET Design Patterns

CERN Document Server

Millett, Scott

2010-01-01

Professional ASP.NET Design Patterns will show you how to implement design patterns in real ASP.NET applications by introducing you to the basic OOP skills needed to understand and interpret design patterns. A sample application used throughout the book is an enterprise level ASP.NET website with multi-tiered, SOA design techniques that can be applied to your future ASP.NET projects. Read about each design pattern in detail, including how to interpret the UML design, how to implement it in ASP.NET, its importance for ASP.NET development, and how it's integrated into the final project.

Higher lipid peroxidation in former-smokers vs. never-smokers - study in postmenopausal women.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagan, Dorota; Stępniak, Jan; Gesing, Adam; Lewinski, Andrzej; Karbownik-Lewinska, Malgorzata

2015-12-01

One of the most spectacular exogenous prooxidative agents is cigarette smoking, constituting a well documented risk factor for several diseases. In turn it is suggested that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women can contribute to oxidative status. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of oxidative damage to membrane lipids in blood serum collected from never-smokers and former-smokers. The study was performed in postmenopausal women, who were or were not HRT users. Ninety (90) female volunteers, aged from 46 to 67 years, were enrolled. Two major groups were considered, i.e. never-smokers (n=44) and formersmokers (n=46), which were additionally subgrouped to HRT users (HRT+) and HRT non-users (HRT-). Anthropometric parameters related to obesity were also calculated. The main groups were well matched at baseline in terms of age. The level of malondialdehyde+4-hydroxyalkenals (MDA+4-HDA), as the index of LPO, was measured spectrophotometrically. The level of LPO was higher in former-smokers than in never-smokers, regardless of HRT use. The level of LPO did constitute the only independent factor associated with past smoking in the entire examined group, as well as after stratification to HRT users and HRT non-users. LPO level was not associated with HRT treatment. No positive correlations were found between LPO level and anthropometric parameters. Past smoking is independently associated with the increased damage to membrane lipids regardless of the use of HRT in postmenopausal women. Smoking cessation is not always associated with complete reversion of excessive oxidative damage to all biological macromolecules.

ASD Is Not DLI: Individuals With Autism and Individuals With Syntactic DLI Show Similar Performance Level in Syntactic Tasks, but Different Error Patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nufar Sukenik

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Do individuals with autism have a developmental syntactic impairment, DLI (formerly known as SLI? In this study we directly compared the performance of 18 individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD aged 9;0–18;0 years with that of 93 individuals with Syntactic-Developmental Language Impairment (SyDLI aged 8;8–14;6 (and with 166 typically-developing children aged 5;2–18;1. We tested them using three syntactic tests assessing the comprehension and production of syntactic structures that are known to be sensitive to syntactic impairment: elicitation of subject and object relative clauses, reading and paraphrasing of object relatives, and repetition of complex syntactic structures including Wh questions, relative clauses, topicalized sentences, sentences with verb movement, sentences with A-movement, and embedded sentences. The results were consistent across the three tasks: the overall rate of correct performance on the syntactic tasks is similar for the children with ASD and those with SyDLI. However, once we look closer, they are very different. The types of errors of the ASD group differ from those of the SyDLI group—the children with ASD provide various types of pragmatically infelicitous responses that are not evinced in the SyDLI or in the age equivalent typically-developing groups. The two groups (ASD and SyDLI also differ in the pattern of performance—the children with SyDLI show a syntactically-principled pattern of impairment, with selective difficulty in specific sentence types (such as sentences derived by movement of the object across the subject, and normal performance on other structures (such as simple sentences. In contrast, the ASD participants showed generalized low performance on the various sentence structures. Syntactic performance was far from consistent within the ASD group. Whereas all ASD participants had errors that can originate in pragmatic/discourse difficulties, seven of them had completely normal syntax

ASD Is Not DLI: Individuals With Autism and Individuals With Syntactic DLI Show Similar Performance Level in Syntactic Tasks, but Different Error Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Sukenik, Nufar; Friedmann, Naama

2018-01-01

Do individuals with autism have a developmental syntactic impairment, DLI (formerly known as SLI)? In this study we directly compared the performance of 18 individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) aged 9;0-18;0 years with that of 93 individuals with Syntactic-Developmental Language Impairment (SyDLI) aged 8;8-14;6 (and with 166 typically-developing children aged 5;2-18;1). We tested them using three syntactic tests assessing the comprehension and production of syntactic structures that are known to be sensitive to syntactic impairment: elicitation of subject and object relative clauses, reading and paraphrasing of object relatives, and repetition of complex syntactic structures including Wh questions, relative clauses, topicalized sentences, sentences with verb movement, sentences with A-movement, and embedded sentences. The results were consistent across the three tasks: the overall rate of correct performance on the syntactic tasks is similar for the children with ASD and those with SyDLI. However, once we look closer, they are very different. The types of errors of the ASD group differ from those of the SyDLI group-the children with ASD provide various types of pragmatically infelicitous responses that are not evinced in the SyDLI or in the age equivalent typically-developing groups. The two groups (ASD and SyDLI) also differ in the pattern of performance-the children with SyDLI show a syntactically-principled pattern of impairment, with selective difficulty in specific sentence types (such as sentences derived by movement of the object across the subject), and normal performance on other structures (such as simple sentences). In contrast, the ASD participants showed generalized low performance on the various sentence structures. Syntactic performance was far from consistent within the ASD group. Whereas all ASD participants had errors that can originate in pragmatic/discourse difficulties, seven of them had completely normal syntax in the structures we

Effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on sperm quality of normozoospermic men.

Science.gov (United States)

Safari, Hassan; Khanlarkhani, Neda; Sobhani, Aligholi; Najafi, Atefeh; Amidi, Fardin

2017-07-05

The neurotrophin family of proteins and their receptors act as important proliferative and pro-survival factors in differentiation of nerve cells and are thought to play key roles in the development of reproductive tissues and normal function of spermatozoa. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) on the sperm viability and motility, lipid peroxidation (LPO), mitochondrial activity and concentration of leptin, nitric oxide (NO) and insulin in normozoospermic men. Semen samples from 20 normozoospermic men were divided into three groups: (i) control, (ii) BDNF and (iii) BDNF + K252a. BDNF and K252a were added in the dose of 0.133 and 0.1 nM, respectively. Viability was assessed by eosin-nigrosin staining technique, and motility was observed by microscopy. NO concentration and mitochondrial activity were measured with flow cytometry, and LPO was analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Results showed that exogenous BDNF at 0.133 nM could significantly (p < 0.05) influence viability, motility, NO concentration, mitochondrial activity and LPO content. Secretions of insulin and leptin by human sperm were increased in cells exposed to the exogenous BDNF, whereas viability, mitochondrial activity and insulin and leptin secretions were decreased in cells exposed to the K252.

O⁶-carboxymethylguanine DNA adduct formation and lipid peroxidation upon in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of haem-rich meat.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanden Bussche, Julie; Hemeryck, Lieselot Y; Van Hecke, Thomas; Kuhnle, Gunter G C; Pasmans, Frank; Moore, Sharon A; Van de Wiele, Tom; De Smet, Stefaan; Vanhaecke, Lynn

2014-09-01

Epidemiological and clinical studies have demonstrated that the consumption of red haem-rich meat may contribute to the risk of colorectal cancer. Two hypotheses have been put forward to explain this causal relationship, i.e. N-nitroso compound (NOC) formation and lipid peroxidation (LPO). In this study, the NOC-derived DNA adduct O(6)-carboxymethylguanine (O(6)-CMG) and the LPO product malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured in individual in vitro gastrointestinal digestions of meat types varying in haem content (beef, pork, chicken). While MDA formation peaked during the in vitro small intestinal digestion, alkylation and concomitant DNA adduct formation was observed in seven (out of 15) individual colonic digestions using separate faecal inocula. From those, two haem-rich meat digestions demonstrated a significantly higher O(6)-CMG formation (p meat. The addition of myoglobin, a haem-containing protein, to the digestive simulation showed a dose-response association with O(6)-CMG (p = 0.004) and MDA (p = 0.008) formation. The results suggest the haem-iron involvement for both the LPO and NOC pathway during meat digestion. Moreover, results unambiguously demonstrate that DNA adduct formation is very prone to inter-individual variation, suggesting a person-dependent susceptibility to colorectal cancer development following haem-rich meat consumption. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Do North Atlantic eels show parallel patterns of spatially varying selection?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulrik, Malene G.; Pujolar, Jose Martin; Ferchaud, Anne-Laure

2014-01-01

was used to genotype European eel individuals (glass eels) from 8 sampling locations across the species distribution. We tested for single-generation signatures of spatially varying selection in European eel by searching for elevated genetic differentiation using F-ST-based outlier tests and by testing...... for significant associations between allele frequencies and environmental variables. Results: We found signatures of possible selection at a total of 11 coding-gene SNPs. Candidate genes for local selection constituted mainly genes with a major role in metabolism as well as defense genes. Contrary to what has...... been found for American eel, only 2 SNPs in our study correlated with differences in temperature, which suggests that other explanatory variables may play a role. None of the genes found to be associated with explanatory variables in European eel showed any correlations with environmental factors...

Some peculiarities of lipides peroxide oxidation and anti oxidation therapy of duodenal peptic ulcer in the persons who stayed in the zone of the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babak, O.Ya.; Chernyak, A.M.; Goncharova, L.Yi.; Pasyijeshvyilyi, L.M.

1994-01-01

The authors have studied the links of lipides peroxide oxidation (LPO) in the blood plasma, i.e. the level of antioxidant protection at duodenal peptic ulcer (DPU) in the persons who stayed in the zone of the accident at Chernobyl Atomic Power Station. LPO intensification takes place at the expense of the primary stages (spontaneous and hydrogen peroxide induced chemo luminescence) in the liquidators with DPU, when compared with the patients having DPU who did not stay in the zone of the accident. It suggests of exhaustion of cell membranes anti-oxidate protection level which provides atypical course of inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract mucous membrane. The peculiarities of blood plasma LPO changes suggest that it would be reasonable to include antioxidants (Unithiolum) to the complex treatment of the liquidators

An eye tracking study of bloodstain pattern analysts during pattern classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Arthur, R M; Hoogenboom, J; Green, R D; Taylor, M C; de Bruin, K G

2018-05-01

Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is the forensic discipline concerned with the classification and interpretation of bloodstains and bloodstain patterns at the crime scene. At present, it is unclear exactly which stain or pattern properties and their associated values are most relevant to analysts when classifying a bloodstain pattern. Eye tracking technology has been widely used to investigate human perception and cognition. Its application to forensics, however, is limited. This is the first study to use eye tracking as a tool for gaining access to the mindset of the bloodstain pattern expert. An eye tracking method was used to follow the gaze of 24 bloodstain pattern analysts during an assigned task of classifying a laboratory-generated test bloodstain pattern. With the aid of an automated image-processing methodology, the properties of selected features of the pattern were quantified leading to the delineation of areas of interest (AOIs). Eye tracking data were collected for each AOI and combined with verbal statements made by analysts after the classification task to determine the critical range of values for relevant diagnostic features. Eye-tracking data indicated that there were four main regions of the pattern that analysts were most interested in. Within each region, individual elements or groups of elements that exhibited features associated with directionality, size, colour and shape appeared to capture the most interest of analysts during the classification task. The study showed that the eye movements of trained bloodstain pattern experts and their verbal descriptions of a pattern were well correlated.

Thermodynamics of complexity and pattern manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Garner, Andrew J. P.; Thompson, Jayne; Vedral, Vlatko; Gu, Mile

2017-04-01

Many organisms capitalize on their ability to predict the environment to maximize available free energy and reinvest this energy to create new complex structures. This functionality relies on the manipulation of patterns—temporally ordered sequences of data. Here, we propose a framework to describe pattern manipulators—devices that convert thermodynamic work to patterns or vice versa—and use them to build a "pattern engine" that facilitates a thermodynamic cycle of pattern creation and consumption. We show that the least heat dissipation is achieved by the provably simplest devices, the ones that exhibit desired operational behavior while maintaining the least internal memory. We derive the ultimate limits of this heat dissipation and show that it is generally nonzero and connected with the pattern's intrinsic crypticity—a complexity theoretic quantity that captures the puzzling difference between the amount of information the pattern's past behavior reveals about its future and the amount one needs to communicate about this past to optimally predict the future.

A Comprehensive Curation Shows the Dynamic Evolutionary Patterns of Prokaryotic CRISPRs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guoqin Mai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Motivation. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR is a genetic element with active regulation roles for foreign invasive genes in the prokaryotic genomes and has been engineered to work with the CRISPR-associated sequence (Cas gene Cas9 as one of the modern genome editing technologies. Due to inconsistent definitions, the existing CRISPR detection programs seem to have missed some weak CRISPR signals. Results. This study manually curates all the currently annotated CRISPR elements in the prokaryotic genomes and proposes 95 updates to the annotations. A new definition is proposed to cover all the CRISPRs. The comprehensive comparison of CRISPR numbers on the taxonomic levels of both domains and genus shows high variations for closely related species even in the same genus. The detailed investigation of how CRISPRs are evolutionarily manipulated in the 8 completely sequenced species in the genus Thermoanaerobacter demonstrates that transposons act as a frequent tool for splitting long CRISPRs into shorter ones along a long evolutionary history.

p,p'-DDT induces testicular oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in adult rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Marouani, Neila; Hallegue, Dorsaf; Sakly, Mohsen; Benkhalifa, Moncef; Ben Rhouma, Khémais; Tebourbi, Olfa

2017-05-26

The 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (p,p'-DDT) is a known persistent organic pollutant and male reproductive toxicant. The present study is designed to test the hypothesis that oxidative stress mediates p,p'-DDT-induced apoptosis in testis. Male Wistar rats received an intraperitoneal (ip) injection of the pesticide at doses of 50 and 100mg/kg for 10 consecutive days. The oxidative stress was evaluated by biomarkers such lipid peroxidation (LPO) and metallothioneins (MTs) levels. Antioxidant enzymes activities was assessed by determination of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production. In addition, glutathione-dependent enzymes and reducing power in testis was evaluated by glutathione peroxidase (Gpx), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities and reduced and oxidized glutathione (GSH - GSSG) levels. Apoptosis was evaluated by DNA fragmentation detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. Germinal cells apoptosis and the apoptotic index was assessed through the TUNEL assay. After 10 days of treatment, an increase in LPO level and H 2 O 2 production occurred, while MTs level, SOD and CAT activities were decreased. Also, the Gpx, GR, GST, and GSH activities were decreased, whereas GSSG activity was increased. Testicular tissues of treated rats showed pronounced degradation of the DNA into oligonucleotides as seen in the typical electrophoretic DNA ladder pattern. Intense apoptosis was observed in germinal cells of DDT-exposed rats. In addition, the apoptotic index was significantly increased in testis of DDT-treated rats. These results clearly suggest that DDT sub-acute treatment causes oxidative stress in rat testis leading to apoptosis.

Using biochemical and isotope geochemistry to understand the environmental and public health implications of lead pollution in the lower Guadiana River, Iberia: A freshwater bivalve study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Company, R. [CIMA, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal)], E-mail: rcompany@ualg.pt; Serafim, A.; Lopes, B.; Cravo, A. [CIMA, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal); Shepherd, T.J.; Pearson, G. [Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Science Labs., Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Bebianno, M.J. [CIMA, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro (Portugal)], E-mail: mbebian@ualg.pt

2008-11-01

Lead is a natural component of aquatic ecosystems with no known biological role and is highly toxic. Its toxicity stems from its ability to mimic biologically important metals and to produce membrane damage through lipid peroxidation (LPO). Most lead poisoning symptoms are thought to occur by interfering with an essential enzyme, {delta}-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), the activity of which is markedly inhibited by lead. The purpose of this work was to study the levels and effects of lead pollution (responses of ALAD and oxidative stress biomarker LPO) in the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea along the lower Guadiana River (Portugal and Spain); a major river system impacted by historic mining pollution and more recent anthropogenic inputs. The results show that the enzymatic activity of ALAD is negatively correlated with the total Pb concentration of the whole tissue suggesting that ALAD has considerable potential as a biomarker of lead exposure in C. fluminea. To identify the sources of lead to which bivalves have been exposed, high precision {sup 206}Pb/{sup 204}Pb, {sup 207}Pb/{sup 204}Pb, {sup 208}Pb/{sup 204}/Pb ratios for C. fluminea confirm that historical mining activities in the Iberian Pyrite Belt are the dominant source of lead pollution in the lower Guadiana River. The isotope patterns however exhibit marked seasonal and geographic variation in response to rainfall and river water management. Locally, other anthropogenic sources of lead have been detected in C. fluminea close to population centres, thus adding to its versatility as a freshwater bio-indicator. Overall, the study highlights the value of natural ecosystems as monitors of water quality and their importance for public health assessment and surveillance.

Using biochemical and isotope geochemistry to understand the environmental and public health implications of lead pollution in the lower Guadiana River, Iberia: a freshwater bivalve study.

Science.gov (United States)

Company, R; Serafim, A; Lopes, B; Cravo, A; Shepherd, T J; Pearson, G; Bebianno, M J

2008-11-01

Lead is a natural component of aquatic ecosystems with no known biological role and is highly toxic. Its toxicity stems from its ability to mimic biologically important metals and to produce membrane damage through lipid peroxidation (LPO). Most lead poisoning symptoms are thought to occur by interfering with an essential enzyme, delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), the activity of which is markedly inhibited by lead. The purpose of this work was to study the levels and effects of lead pollution (responses of ALAD and oxidative stress biomarker LPO) in the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea along the lower Guadiana River (Portugal and Spain); a major river system impacted by historic mining pollution and more recent anthropogenic inputs. The results show that the enzymatic activity of ALAD is negatively correlated with the total Pb concentration of the whole tissue suggesting that ALAD has considerable potential as a biomarker of lead exposure in C. fluminea. To identify the sources of lead to which bivalves have been exposed, high precision (206)Pb/(204)Pb, (207)Pb/(204)Pb, (208)Pb/(204)/Pb ratios for C. fluminea confirm that historical mining activities in the Iberian Pyrite Belt are the dominant source of lead pollution in the lower Guadiana River. The isotope patterns however exhibit marked seasonal and geographic variation in response to rainfall and river water management. Locally, other anthropogenic sources of lead have been detected in C. fluminea close to population centres, thus adding to its versatility as a freshwater bio-indicator. Overall, the study highlights the value of natural ecosystems as monitors of water quality and their importance for public health assessment and surveillance.

Using biochemical and isotope geochemistry to understand the environmental and public health implications of lead pollution in the lower Guadiana River, Iberia: A freshwater bivalve study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Company, R.; Serafim, A.; Lopes, B.; Cravo, A.; Shepherd, T.J.; Pearson, G.; Bebianno, M.J.

2008-01-01

Lead is a natural component of aquatic ecosystems with no known biological role and is highly toxic. Its toxicity stems from its ability to mimic biologically important metals and to produce membrane damage through lipid peroxidation (LPO). Most lead poisoning symptoms are thought to occur by interfering with an essential enzyme, δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), the activity of which is markedly inhibited by lead. The purpose of this work was to study the levels and effects of lead pollution (responses of ALAD and oxidative stress biomarker LPO) in the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea along the lower Guadiana River (Portugal and Spain); a major river system impacted by historic mining pollution and more recent anthropogenic inputs. The results show that the enzymatic activity of ALAD is negatively correlated with the total Pb concentration of the whole tissue suggesting that ALAD has considerable potential as a biomarker of lead exposure in C. fluminea. To identify the sources of lead to which bivalves have been exposed, high precision 206 Pb/ 204 Pb, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb, 208 Pb/ 204 /Pb ratios for C. fluminea confirm that historical mining activities in the Iberian Pyrite Belt are the dominant source of lead pollution in the lower Guadiana River. The isotope patterns however exhibit marked seasonal and geographic variation in response to rainfall and river water management. Locally, other anthropogenic sources of lead have been detected in C. fluminea close to population centres, thus adding to its versatility as a freshwater bio-indicator. Overall, the study highlights the value of natural ecosystems as monitors of water quality and their importance for public health assessment and surveillance

Análise histopatológica comparativa entre líquen plano oral e cutâneo Comparative histopathological analysis between oral and cutaneous lichen planus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Elena Navas-Alfaro

2003-01-01

ência rara no LPO. Acantose em dente de serra é achado pouco freqüente no LPO, porém vacuolização basal está sempre presente associada a infiltrado linfocitário em faixa; plasmócitos podem acompanhar linfócitos no LPO, mas estão ausentes do LPC.BACKGROUND: Lichen planus is a relatively common chronic inflammatory disease affecting skin and mucous membranes, separately or together. It frequently involves the oral cavity, with or without concomitant cutaneous compromise. Microscopically, while skin presents well characteristic aspects, oral mucosa can present variations related to local characteristics of the mucosa in the oral cavity. OBJECTIVES: To compare histopathological alterations of oral lichen planus and cutaneous lichen planus with the study of the inflammatory infiltrate components. METHODS: 59 biopsies (29 of OLP and 30 of CLP, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded were studied. Semi-quantitative analysis of both epidermal and dermal alterations was performed using the hematoxylin-eosin and periodic acid-Schiff stains. RESULTS: For CLP the classic aspects of orthokeratosis, wedge shaped hypergranulosis and saw tooth rete ridges were observed. Such aspects differ from those of OLP in which orthokeratosis and thickened granular layer happen less frequently; instead, acquisition of those layers is observed in places where they are usually absent. Basal cell vacuolar alteration and effacement of the epithelium-conjunctive limit prevailed in both locations (skin and oral mucosa and lymphocytes and histiocytes were the inflammatory cells present in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: Classic alterations as compact orthokeratosis, wedge shaped hypergranulosis, saw tooth rete ridges acanthosis and basal cell vacuolar alteration associates to lymphocytes in superficial band-like pattern are diagnostic of CLP. However, for OLP, the particular own characteristics of oral mucosa in the biopsied place should be considered; also, subtler alterations of horny (light orthokeratosis and

Methyl-parathion decreases sperm function and fertilization capacity after targeting spermatocytes and maturing spermatozoa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pina-Guzman, Belem; Sanchez-Gutierrez, M.; Marchetti, Francesco; Hernandez-Ochoa, I.; Solis-Heredia, M.J .; Quintanilla-Vega, B.

2009-05-03

Paternal germline exposure to organophosphorous pesticides (OP) has been associated with reproductive failures and adverse effects in the offspring. Methyl parathion (Me-Pa), a worldwide-used OP, has reproductive adverse effects and is genotoxic to sperm. Oxidative damage has been involved in the genotoxic and reproductive effects of OP. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Me-Pa on spermatozoa function and ability to fertilize. Male mice were exposed to Me-Pa (20 mg/kg bw, i.p.) and spermatozoa from epididymis-vas deferens were collected at 7 or 28 days post-treatment (dpt) to assess the effects on maturing spermatozoa and spermatocytes, respectively. DNA damage was evaluated by nick translation (NT-positive cells) and SCSA (percentDFI); lipoperoxidation (LPO) by malondialdehyde production; sperm function by spontaneous- and induced-acrosome reactions (AR); mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) by using the JC-1 flurochrome; and, fertilization ability by an in vitro assay and in vivo mating. Results showed alterations in DNA integrity (percentDFI and NT-positive cells) at 7 and 28 dpt, in addition to decreased sperm quality and a decrease in induced-AR; reduced MMP and LPO was observed only at 7 dpt. We found negative correlations between LPO and all sperm alterations. Altered sperm functional parameters were associated with reduced fertilization rates at both times, evaluated either in vitro or in vivo. These results show that Me-Pa exposure of maturing spermatozoa and spermatocytes affects many sperm functional parameters that result in a decreased fertilizing capacity. Oxidative stress seems to be a likely mechanism ofthe detrimental effects of Me-Pa in male germ cells.

Compositional symbol grounding for motor patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Greco, Alberto; Caneva, Claudio

2010-01-01

We developed a new experimental and simulative paradigm to study the establishing of compositional grounded representations for motor patterns. Participants learned to associate non-sense arm motor patterns, performed in three different hand postures, with non-sense words. There were two group conditions: in the first (compositional), each pattern was associated with a two-word (verb-adverb) sentence; in the second (holistic), each same pattern was associated with a unique word. Two experiments were performed. In the first, motor pattern recognition and naming were tested in the two conditions. Results showed that verbal compositionality had no role in recognition and that the main source of confusability in this task came from discriminating hand postures. As the naming task resulted too difficult, some changes in the learning procedure were implemented in the second experiment. In this experiment, the compositional group achieved better results in naming motor patterns especially for patterns where hand postures discrimination was relevant. In order to ascertain the differential effect, upon this result, of memory load and of systematic grounding, neural network simulations were also made. After a basic simulation that worked as a good model of subjects performance, in following simulations the number of stimuli (motor patterns and words) was increased and the systematic association between words and patterns was disrupted, while keeping the same number of words and syntax. Results showed that in both conditions the advantage for the compositional condition significantly increased. These simulations showed that the advantage for this condition may be more related to the systematicity rather than to the mere informational gain. All results are discussed in connection to the possible support of the hypothesis of a compositional motor representation and toward a more precise explanation of the factors that make compositional representations working.

Compositional symbol grounding for motor patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto eGreco

2010-11-01

Full Text Available We developed a new experimental and simulative paradigm to study the establishing of compositional grounded representations for motor patterns. Participants learned to associate nonsense arm motor patterns, performed in three different hand postures, with nonsense words. There were two group conditions: in the first (compositional, each pattern was associated with a two-word (verb-adverb sentence; in the second (holistic, each same pattern was associated with a unique word. Two experiments were performed. In the first, motor pattern recognition and naming were tested in the two conditions. Results showed that verbal compositionality had no role in recognition and that the main source of confusability in this task came from discriminating hand postures. As the naming task resulted too difficult, some changes in the learning procedure were implemented in the second experiment. In this experiment, the compositional group achieved better results in naming motor patterns especially for patterns where hand postures discrimination was relevant. In order to ascertain the differential effect, upon this result, of memory load and of systematic grounding, neural network simulations were also made. After a basic simulation that worked as a good model of subjects performance, in following simulations the number of stimuli (motor patterns and words was increased and the systematic association between words and patterns was disrupted, while keeping the same number of words and syntax. Results showed that in both conditions the advantage for the compositional condition significantly increased. These simulations showed that the advantage for this condition may be more related to the systematicity rather than to the mere informational gain. All results are discussed in connection to the possible support of the hypothesis of a compositional motor representation and towards a more precise explanation of the factors that make compositional representations working.

Sperm DNA damage in relation to lipid peroxidation following freezing-thawing of boar semen

OpenAIRE

Fraser, L.; Strzeżek, J.; Wasilewska, K.; Pareek, C.S.

2017-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between lipid peroxidation (LPO) and sperm DNA damage following freezing-thawing of boar semen in different extenders. The comet assay was used to measure the extent of sperm DNA damage in a cryoprotectant-free extender or in cryoprotectant-based extenders after single and repeated freezing and thawing. As well as an analysis of sperm motion characteristics, mitochondrial function, membrane integrity, and lipid peroxidation (LPO) were assessed simulta...

Hepatitis B, C, and D virus infection showing distinct patterns between injection drug users and the general population.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Fei; Zhang, Jian; Guo, Fengfan; Wen, Bo; Luo, Shan; Yuan, Dongping; Lin, Yingbiao; Ou, Wensheng; Tang, Ping; Dai, Guozhi; Li, Fangfang; Liu, Wenpei; Qu, Xiaowang

2017-02-01

Hepatitis B, C, and D virus (HBV, HCV, and HDV) infections are known to be prevalent in injection drug users (IDUs); however, the relationship between the molecular epidemiologic features of hepatitis virus infection in high-risk individuals and the general population has not yet been established. In total, 1049 IDUs and 672 individuals who underwent physical examinations at Chenzhou hospital, Hunan Province, China, were enrolled. HBV, HCV, and HDV infections were screened with serologic tests in both populations. HBsAg-positive, anti-HCV IgG-positive, and anti-HDV IgG-positive samples were further confirmed by polymerase chain reaction, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and DNA sequencing. Significantly higher HBV (21.54 vs 16.52%, P = 0.01), HCV (45.95% vs 1.34%, P infections were detected in IDUs compared with the general population. The dual infection of HBV/HCV or HBV/HDV was also significantly higher in IDUs than in the general population. HBV genotype B and HDV genotype II were dominants in both populations. HCV infection showed genotype 6a (49.52%) dominant in IDUs, but genotype 1b accounted for 50% infection, which was followed by genotype 6a (33.33%) in the general population. Higher viral loads were associated with HBV genotype B and HCV genotype 6a compared with non-dominant genotypic infections. HBV and HDV infections shared similar patterns by IDUs and the general populations, and HCV infection exhibited distinct features between two populations. Our results suggest different molecular epidemiologic characteristics of HBV, HCV, and HDV infection in two populations. © 2016 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Isolation and identification of phenolic compounds from rum aged in oak barrels by high-speed countercurrent chromatography/high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and screening for antioxidant activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Regalado, Erik L; Tolle, Sebastian; Pino, Jorge A; Winterhalter, Peter; Menendez, Roberto; Morales, Ana R; Rodríguez, José L

2011-10-14

Beverages, especially wines are well-known to contain a variety of health-beneficial bioactive substances, mainly of phenolic nature which frequently exhibit antioxidant activity. Significant information is available about the separation and identification of polyphenols from some beverages by chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, but considerably poor is chemical data related to the polyphenolic content in rums. In this paper, a method involving the all-liquid chromatographic technique of high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS(n)) has been successfully applied for separation and identification of phenolic compounds in an aged rum. Besides, the phenolic fraction (PF) was assayed for its antioxidant effects using three different free radical in vitro assays (DPPH·, RO(2)· and spontaneous lipid peroxidation (LPO) on brain homogenates) and on ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Results showed that PF potently scavenged DPPH and strongly scavenged peroxyl radicals compared to ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT); and almost equally inhibited LPO on brain homogenates subjected to spontaneous LPO when compared to quercetin. Moreover, PF also exhibited strong reducing power. This chemical analysis illustrates the rich array of phenols in the aged rum and represents a rapid and suitable method for the isolation and identification of phenolic compounds from mixtures of considerable complexity, achieving high purity and reproducibility with the use of two separation steps. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biomarkers of metabolism disturbance in bivalve molluscs induced by environmental pollution with processed by-products of oil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. V. Sukharenko

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Processed by-products of oil are the most common pollutants in all river and sea water. The increase in oxidative stress in bivalve molluscs was studied in both tissues of the hepatopancreas and the gill. The model for artificial treatment with processed by-products of oil was performed in a laboratory experiment with the river mollusc Dreissena polymorpha Pallas, 1771. The exposure of the molluscs over 28 days to mazut 50 mg/l induced significant increase of both final product of lipid peroxidation (LPO and antioxidant enzime activity. A significant increase in LPO was observed in the hepatopancreas and gill of D. polymorpha treated with mazut compared to the control group. Antioxidant enzyme activity of cartalase, supeoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase and glutathione-S-transferase showed a greater increase (by almost 1.5 times in the hepatopancreas than in the gill of D. polymorpha. A similar LPO growth and modulation of antioxidant enzyme activity were determined in the hepatopancreas and gill of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1879 collected in an area polluted with resins, hydrocarbons and asphaltenes, Donuzlav lake in the Kerch gulf. Varied cellular reactivation of the antioxidant enzyme system in the hepatopancreas rather than the gill was observed in both kinds of mollusc Dreissena and Mytilus. The obtained results are evidence of the higher sensitivity of the hepatopancreas cells of bivalve molluscs to organic pollutants compared to the gill cells.

Electron paramagnetic resonance evidence of hydroxyl radical generation and oxidative damage induced by tetrabromobisphenol A in Carassius auratus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shi Huahong [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)]. E-mail: huahongshi@tom.com; Wang Xiaorong [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Luo Yi [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Su Yan [State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)

2005-09-30

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is one of the most widely used brominated flame retardants (BFRs). To confirm its putative oxidative stress-inducing activity, freshwater fish Carassius auratus were injected intraperitoneally with TBBPA. One experiment lasted 3 h to 28 days after a single injection of 100 mg/kg TBBPA, and the other lasted 24 h after a single injection of 0-300 mg/kg TBBPA. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were trapped by phenyl-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN) and detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Protein carbonyl (PCO) and lipid peroxidation product (LPO) content were also determined. A six-line EPR spectrum was detected in the sample prepared in air, and a multiple one was obtained in nitrogen. The observed spectrum in nitrogen fits the simulation one with PBN/{center_dot}OCH{sub 3} and PBN/{center_dot}CH{sub 3} quite well. As compared to the control group, TBBPA significantly induced ROS production marked by the intensity of the prominent spectra in liver and bile. TBBPA (100 mg/kg) also significantly increased PCO content in liver starting 24 h and LPO content 3 days after injection. Either PCO or LPO content showed significant relation with ROS production. Based on the hyperfine constants and shape of the spectrum, ROS induced by TBBPA was determined as {center_dot}OH. The results clearly indicated that TBBPA could induce {center_dot}OH generation and result in oxidative damage in liver of C. auratus.

Radioprotective effect of Panax ginseng on the phosphatases and lipid peroxidation level in testes of Swiss albino mice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumar M.; Sharma M.K.; Saxena P.S.; Kumar A. [Rajasthan Univ., Jaipur (India)

2003-03-01

The Panax ginseng has been used as traditional medicine for past several years among oriental people. The present investigation has been made to assess the radioprotective efficacy of ginseng root extract in the testicular enzymes of Swiss albino mice. The Swiss albino mice were divided into different groups. Ginseng treated group: The animals were administered 10 mg/kg body weight ginseng root extract intraperitoneal (i.p.). Radiation treated group: The animals were exposed to 8 Gy gamma radiation at the dose rate of 1.69 Gy/min at the distance of 80 cm. Combination group: Animals were administered ginseng extract continuously for 4 d and on 4th day they were irradiated to 8 Gy gamma radiation after 30 min of extract administration. The animals from above groups were autopsied on day 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30. Biochemical estimations of acid and alkaline phosphatases and Lipid peroxidation (LPO) in testes were done. In ginseng treated group acid and alkaline phosphatases activity and LPO level did not show any significant alteration. In irradiated animals there was a significant increase in acid phosphatase activity and LPO level. However, significant decline in alkaline phosphatase activity was observed. The treatment of ginseng before irradiation causes significant decrease in acid phosphatase and LPO level and significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity. One of the cause of radiation damage is lipid peroxidation. Due to lipid peroxidation, lysosomal membrane permeability alters and thus results in release of hydrolytic enzymes. So, an increase in acid phosphatase was noticed after radiation treatment. The alkaline phosphatase activity is associated with membrane permeability and different stages of spermatogenesis. Due to membrane damage and depletion of germ cells of testes after irradiation the enzyme activity was decreased. Ginseng markedly inhibits lipid peroxidation. It acts in indirect fashion to protect radical processes by inhibition of initiation of

Antioxidant activity stimulated by ultraviolet radiation in the nervous system of a crustacean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollmann, Gabriela; Ferreira, Gabrielle de Jesus; Geihs, Márcio Alberto; Vargas, Marcelo Alves

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Ultraviolet (UV) radiation produces biological damage, principally oxidative stress. • We analyzed oxidative stress in the central nervous system (CNS) of a crab. • The damage was evaluated using biochemical tests and immunohistochemistry. • We verified the occurrence of apoptosis in the brain of the UV-exposed crabs. • Environmental doses of UV can cause oxidative damage to CNS, including apoptosis. - Abstract: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation can produce biological damage, principally oxidative stress, by increasing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This study evaluated biochemical impairments related to the oxidative stress induced by UVA, UVB and UVA + UVB (solar simulator-SIM) in environmental doses, during five consecutive days of exposure, in the brain and eyestalk of the crab Ucides cordatus. We evaluated these regions by sampling on the 1st, 3rd and 5th days of UV exposure for lipid peroxidation (LPO), antioxidant capacity against the peroxyl radical (ACAP), and the activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST). Immunohistochemical and immunoblotting assays were performed for anti-activated-caspase 3 in the brains. After the first day of exposure, LPO increased in the eyestalks and brains of the UV-exposed animals; ACAP, and CAT, GPX and GST activities also increased in the brains. On the third day, the LPO values in the eyestalk remained high in the UV-exposed groups, while ACAP decreased in the brain and eyestalk and CAT activity remained high in all irradiated groups in both regions. On the fifth day, LPO decreased in the eyestalk and brain of the UV-exposed groups. These results may have been a consequence of the antioxidant defense system (ADS) activity, since CAT activity was high in both regions, ACAP was high in the eyestalks of the SIM group, and GPX activity remained high in the eyestalks of the UVA and UVB groups. Immunohistochemical assays and immunoblotting

Antioxidant activity stimulated by ultraviolet radiation in the nervous system of a crustacean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hollmann, Gabriela, E-mail: gabrielahollmann@biof.ufrj.br [Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciências Biológicas-Fisiologia, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro-UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-590 (Brazil); Ferreira, Gabrielle de Jesus, E-mail: gabi_ferreiira@hotmail.com [Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciências Biológicas-Fisiologia, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro-UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-590 (Brazil); Geihs, Márcio Alberto, E-mail: geihs@hotmail.com [Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas-Fisiologia Animal Comparada. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande-FURG, Rio Grande, RS 96201-900 (Brazil); Vargas, Marcelo Alves, E-mail: biovargas@gmail.com [Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciências Fisiológicas-Fisiologia Animal Comparada. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande-FURG, Rio Grande, RS 96201-900 (Brazil); and others

2015-03-15

Highlights: • Ultraviolet (UV) radiation produces biological damage, principally oxidative stress. • We analyzed oxidative stress in the central nervous system (CNS) of a crab. • The damage was evaluated using biochemical tests and immunohistochemistry. • We verified the occurrence of apoptosis in the brain of the UV-exposed crabs. • Environmental doses of UV can cause oxidative damage to CNS, including apoptosis. - Abstract: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation can produce biological damage, principally oxidative stress, by increasing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This study evaluated biochemical impairments related to the oxidative stress induced by UVA, UVB and UVA + UVB (solar simulator-SIM) in environmental doses, during five consecutive days of exposure, in the brain and eyestalk of the crab Ucides cordatus. We evaluated these regions by sampling on the 1st, 3rd and 5th days of UV exposure for lipid peroxidation (LPO), antioxidant capacity against the peroxyl radical (ACAP), and the activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST). Immunohistochemical and immunoblotting assays were performed for anti-activated-caspase 3 in the brains. After the first day of exposure, LPO increased in the eyestalks and brains of the UV-exposed animals; ACAP, and CAT, GPX and GST activities also increased in the brains. On the third day, the LPO values in the eyestalk remained high in the UV-exposed groups, while ACAP decreased in the brain and eyestalk and CAT activity remained high in all irradiated groups in both regions. On the fifth day, LPO decreased in the eyestalk and brain of the UV-exposed groups. These results may have been a consequence of the antioxidant defense system (ADS) activity, since CAT activity was high in both regions, ACAP was high in the eyestalks of the SIM group, and GPX activity remained high in the eyestalks of the UVA and UVB groups. Immunohistochemical assays and immunoblotting

Radioprotective effect of Panax ginseng on the phosphatases and lipid peroxidation level in testes of Swiss albino mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, M.; Sharma, M.K.; Saxena, P.S.; Kumar, A.

2003-01-01

The Panax ginseng has been used as traditional medicine for past several years among oriental people. The present investigation has been made to assess the radioprotective efficacy of ginseng root extract in the testicular enzymes of Swiss albino mice. The Swiss albino mice were divided into different groups. Ginseng treated group: The animals were administered 10 mg/kg body weight ginseng root extract intraperitoneal (i.p.). Radiation treated group: The animals were exposed to 8 Gy gamma radiation at the dose rate of 1.69 Gy/min at the distance of 80 cm. Combination group: Animals were administered ginseng extract continuously for 4 d and on 4th day they were irradiated to 8 Gy gamma radiation after 30 min of extract administration. The animals from above groups were autopsied on day 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30. Biochemical estimations of acid and alkaline phosphatases and Lipid peroxidation (LPO) in testes were done. In ginseng treated group acid and alkaline phosphatases activity and LPO level did not show any significant alteration. In irradiated animals there was a significant increase in acid phosphatase activity and LPO level. However, significant decline in alkaline phosphatase activity was observed. The treatment of ginseng before irradiation causes significant decrease in acid phosphatase and LPO level and significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity. One of the cause of radiation damage is lipid peroxidation. Due to lipid peroxidation, lysosomal membrane permeability alters and thus results in release of hydrolytic enzymes. So, an increase in acid phosphatase was noticed after radiation treatment. The alkaline phosphatase activity is associated with membrane permeability and different stages of spermatogenesis. Due to membrane damage and depletion of germ cells of testes after irradiation the enzyme activity was decreased. Ginseng markedly inhibits lipid peroxidation. It acts in indirect fashion to protect radical processes by inhibition of initiation of

Vegetation pattern formation in a fog-dependent ecosystem.

Science.gov (United States)

Borthagaray, Ana I; Fuentes, Miguel A; Marquet, Pablo A

2010-07-07

Vegetation pattern formation is a striking characteristic of several water-limited ecosystems around the world. Typically, they have been described on runoff-based ecosystems emphasizing local interactions between water, biomass interception, growth and dispersal. Here, we show that this situation is by no means general, as banded patterns in vegetation can emerge in areas without rainfall and in plants without functional root (the Bromeliad Tillandsia landbeckii) and where fog is the principal source of moisture. We show that a simple model based on the advection of fog-water by wind and its interception by the vegetation can reproduce banded patterns which agree with empirical patterns observed in the Coastal Atacama Desert. Our model predicts how the parameters may affect the conditions to form the banded pattern, showing a transition from a uniform vegetated state, at high water input or terrain slope to a desert state throughout intermediate banded states. Moreover, the model predicts that the pattern wavelength is a decreasing non-linear function of fog-water input and slope, and an increasing function of plant loss and fog-water flow speed. Finally, we show that the vegetation density is increased by the formation of the regular pattern compared to the density expected by the spatially homogeneous model emphasizing the importance of self-organization in arid ecosystems. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antinuclear antibodies: clinical significance of fluorescence patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cordeiro, S.L.; Habermann, F.; Franco, M.F.

1981-01-01

Fifty-four patients with 212 sera positive for antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were studied to: 1) determine the immunofluorescent nuclear staining patterns using Burnham's technique and simplified classification; 2) note the specificity of fluorescence patterns among the various connective tissue diseases; 3) study comparatively the fluorescence paterns employing 5 different antigen substrates; 4) correlate ANA titers and fluorescence patterns with renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It was observed: 1) most of the sera gave nonparticulate fluorescent patterns: peripheral, homogeneous, or peripheral-homogeneneous; 2) 55,5% of the patients had LE and most of those sera showed nonparticulate fluorescent patterns; 3) the sera displayed no specificity for any of the following antigen substrates: imprints of human normal spleen, frozen rat liver and kidney sections, frozen mouse kidney sections and perypheral human blood smears; 4) imprints of normal human spleen were the best substrate for accurate identification of fluorescent patterns; 5) sera from SLE patients with renal involvement showed higher ANA titers in relation to patients without renal involvement; both groups of sera gave similar ANA fluorescent patterns. (Author) [pt

Pattern Driven Stress Localization

Science.gov (United States)

Croll, Andrew; Crosby, Alfred

2010-03-01

The self-assembly of patterns from isotropic initial states is a major driver of modern soft-matter research. This avenue of study is directed by the desire to understand the complex physics of the varied structures found in Nature, and by technological interest in functional materials that may be derived through biomimicry. In this work we show how a simple striped phase can respond with significant complexity to an appropriately chosen perturbation. In particular, we show how a buckled elastic plate transitions into a state of stress localization using a simple, self-assembled variation in surface topography. The collection of topographic boundaries act in concert to change the state from isotropic sinusoidal wrinkles, to sharp folds or creases separated by relatively flat regions. By varying the size of the imposed topographic pattern or the wavelength of the wrinkles, we construct a state diagram of the system. The localized state has implications for both biological systems, and for the control of non-linear pattern formation.

Quantifying seismic anisotropy induced by small-scale chemical heterogeneities

Science.gov (United States)

Alder, C.; Bodin, T.; Ricard, Y.; Capdeville, Y.; Debayle, E.; Montagner, J. P.

2017-12-01

Observations of seismic anisotropy are usually used as a proxy for lattice-preferred orientation (LPO) of anisotropic minerals in the Earth's mantle. In this way, seismic anisotropy observed in tomographic models provides important constraints on the geometry of mantle deformation associated with thermal convection and plate tectonics. However, in addition to LPO, small-scale heterogeneities that cannot be resolved by long-period seismic waves may also produce anisotropy. The observed (i.e. apparent) anisotropy is then a combination of an intrinsic and an extrinsic component. Assuming the Earth's mantle exhibits petrological inhomogeneities at all scales, tomographic models built from long-period seismic waves may thus display extrinsic anisotropy. In this paper, we investigate the relation between the amplitude of seismic heterogeneities and the level of induced S-wave radial anisotropy as seen by long-period seismic waves. We generate some simple 1-D and 2-D isotropic models that exhibit a power spectrum of heterogeneities as what is expected for the Earth's mantle, that is, varying as 1/k, with k the wavenumber of these heterogeneities. The 1-D toy models correspond to simple layered media. In the 2-D case, our models depict marble-cake patterns in which an anomaly in shear wave velocity has been advected within convective cells. The long-wavelength equivalents of these models are computed using upscaling relations that link properties of a rapidly varying elastic medium to properties of the effective, that is, apparent, medium as seen by long-period waves. The resulting homogenized media exhibit extrinsic anisotropy and represent what would be observed in tomography. In the 1-D case, we analytically show that the level of anisotropy increases with the square of the amplitude of heterogeneities. This relation is numerically verified for both 1-D and 2-D media. In addition, we predict that 10 per cent of chemical heterogeneities in 2-D marble-cake models can

Evidence for a Significant Level of Extrinsic Anisotropy Due to Heterogeneities in the Mantle.

Science.gov (United States)

Alder, C.; Bodin, T.; Ricard, Y. R.; Capdeville, Y.; Debayle, E.; Montagner, J. P.

2017-12-01

Observations of seismic anisotropy are used as a proxy for lattice-preferred orientation (LPO) of anisotropic minerals in the Earth's mantle. In this way, it provides important constraints on the geometry of mantle deformation. However, in addition to LPO, small-scale heterogeneities that cannot be resolved by long-period seismic waves may also produce anisotropy. The observed (i.e. apparent) anisotropy is then a combination of an intrinsic and an extrinsic component. Assuming the Earth's mantle exhibits petrological inhomogeneities at all scales, tomographic models built from long-period seismic waves may thus display extrinsic anisotropy. Here, we investigate the relation between the amplitude of seismic heterogeneities and the level of induced S-wave radial anisotropy as seen by long-period seismic waves. We generate some simple 1D and 2D isotropic models that exhibit a power spectrum of heterogeneities as what is expected for the Earth's mantle, i.e. varying as 1/k, with k the wavenumber of these heterogeneities. The 1D toy models correspond to simple layered media. In the 2D case, our models depict marble-cake patterns in which an anomaly in S-wave velocity has been advected within convective cells. The long-wavelength equivalents of these models are computed using upscaling relations that link properties of a rapidly varying elastic medium to properties of the effective, i.e. apparent, medium as seen by long-period waves. The resulting homogenized media exhibit extrinsic anisotropy and represent what would be observed in tomography. In the 1D case, we analytically show that the level of anisotropy increases with the square of the amplitude of heterogeneities. This relation is numerically verified for both 1D and 2D media. In addition, we predict that 10 % of chemical heterogeneities in 2D marble-cake models can induce more than 3.9 % of extrinsic radial S-wave anisotropy. We thus predict that a non-negligible part of the observed anisotropy in tomographic

Pattern Laser Annealing by a Pulsed Laser

Science.gov (United States)

Komiya, Yoshio; Hoh, Koichiro; Murakami, Koichi; Takahashi, Tetsuo; Tarui, Yasuo

1981-10-01

Preliminary experiments with contact-type pattern laser annealing were made for local polycrystallization of a-Si, local evaporation of a-Si and local formation of Ni-Si alloy. These experiments showed that the mask patterns can be replicated as annealed regions with a resolution of a few microns on substrates. To overcome shortcomings due to the contact type pattern annealing, a projection type reduction pattern laser annealing system is proposed for resistless low temperature pattern forming processes.

Personal continuous route pattern mining

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Qian YE; Ling CHEN; Gen-cai CHEN

2009-01-01

In the daily life, people often repeat regular routes in certain periods. In this paper, a mining system is developed to find the continuous route patterns of personal past trips. In order to count the diversity of personal moving status, the mining system employs the adaptive GPS data recording and five data filters to guarantee the clean trips data. The mining system uses a client/server architecture to protect personal privacy and to reduce the computational load. The server conducts the main mining procedure but with insufficient information to recover real personal routes. In order to improve the scalability of sequential pattern mining, a novel pattern mining algorithm, continuous route pattern mining (CRPM), is proposed. This algorithm can tolerate the different disturbances in real routes and extract the frequent patterns. Experimental results based on nine persons' trips show that CRPM can extract more than two times longer route patterns than the traditional route pattern mining algorithms.

oxLDL induces endothelial cell proliferation via Rho/ROCK/Akt/p27kip1 signaling: opposite effects of oxLDL and cholesterol loading.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chongxu; Adamos, Crystal; Oh, Myung-Jin; Baruah, Jugajyoti; Ayee, Manuela A A; Mehta, Dolly; Wary, Kishore K; Levitan, Irena

2017-09-01

Oxidized modifications of LDL (oxLDL) play a key role in the development of endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. However, the underlying mechanisms of oxLDL-mediated cellular behavior are not completely understood. Here, we compared the effects of two major types of oxLDL, copper-oxidized LDL (Cu 2+ -oxLDL) and lipoxygenase-oxidized LDL (LPO-oxLDL), on proliferation of human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). Cu 2+ -oxLDL enhanced HAECs' proliferation in a dose- and degree of oxidation-dependent manner. Similarly, LPO-oxLDL also enhanced HAEC proliferation. Mechanistically, both Cu 2+ -oxLDL and LPO-oxLDL enhance HAEC proliferation via activation of Rho, Akt phosphorylation, and a decrease in the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1B (p27 kip1 ). Both Cu 2+ -oxLDL or LPO-oxLDL significantly increased Akt phosphorylation, whereas an Akt inhibitor, MK2206, blocked oxLDL-induced increase in HAEC proliferation. Blocking Rho with C3 or its downstream target ROCK with Y27632 significantly inhibited oxLDL-induced Akt phosphorylation and proliferation mediated by both Cu 2+ - and LPO-oxLDL. Activation of RhoA was blocked by Rho-GDI-1, which also abrogated oxLDL-induced Akt phosphorylation and HAEC proliferation. In contrast, blocking Rac1 in these cells had no effect on oxLDL-induced Akt phosphorylation or cell proliferation. Moreover, oxLDL-induced Rho/Akt signaling downregulated cell cycle inhibitor p27 kip1 Preloading these cells with cholesterol, however, prevented oxLDL-induced Akt phosphorylation and HAEC proliferation. These findings provide a new understanding of the effects of oxLDL on endothelial proliferation, which is essential for developing new treatments against neovascularization and progression of atherosclerosis. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Aqueous Extract of Phyllanthus niruri Leaves Displays In Vitro Antioxidant Activity and Prevents the Elevation of Oxidative Stress in the Kidney of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Male Rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelli Giribabu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available P. niruri has been reported to possess antidiabetic and kidney protective effects. In the present study, the phytochemical constituents and in vitro antioxidant activity of P. niruri leaf aqueous extract were investigated together with its effect on oxidative stress and antioxidant enzymes levels in diabetic rat kidney. Results. Treatment of diabetic male rats with P. niruri leaf aqueous extract (200 and 400 mg/kg for 28 consecutive days prevents the increase in the amount of lipid peroxidation (LPO product, malondialdehyde (MDA, and the diminution of superoxide dismutase (SOD, catalase (CAT, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx activity levels in the kidney of diabetic rats. The amount of LPO showed strong negative correlation with SOD, CAT, and GPx activity levels. P. niruri leaf aqueous extract exhibits in vitro antioxidant activity with IC50 slightly lower than ascorbic acid. Phytochemical screening of plant extract indicates the presence of polyphenols. Conclusion. P. niruri leaf extract protects the kidney from oxidative stress induced by diabetes.

A comparison of the accuracy of patterns processed from an inlay casting wax, an auto-polymerized resin and a light-cured resin pattern material.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajagopal, Praveen; Chitre, Vidya; Aras, Meena A

2012-01-01

Traditionally, inlay casting waxes have been used to fabricate patterns for castings. Newer resin pattern materials offer greater rigidity and strength, allowing easier laboratory and intraoral adjustment without the fear of pattern damage. They also claim to possess a greater dimensional stability when compared to inlay wax. This study attempted to determine and compare the marginal accuracy of patterns fabricated from an inlay casting wax, an autopolymerized pattern resin and a light polymerized pattern resin on storage off the die for varying time intervals. Ten patterns each were fabricated from an inlay casting wax (GC Corp., Tokyo, Japan), an autopolymerized resin pattern material (Pattern resin, GC Corp, Tokyo, Japan) and a light-cured resin pattern material (Palavit GLC, Hereaus Kulzer GmbH, Germany). The completed patterns were stored off the die at room temperature. Marginal gaps were evaluated by reseating the patterns on their respective dies and observing it under a stereomicroscope at 1, 12, and 24 h intervals after pattern fabrication. The results revealed that the inlay wax showed a significantly greater marginal discrepancy at the 12 and 24 h intervals. The autopolymerized resin showed an initial (at 1 h) marginal discrepancy slightly greater than inlay wax, but showed a significantly less marginal gap (as compared to inlay wax) at the other two time intervals. The light-cured resin proved to be significantly more dimensionally stable, and showed minimal change during the storage period. The resin pattern materials studied, undergo a significantly less dimensional change than the inlay waxes on prolonged storage. They would possibly be a better alternative to inlay wax in situations requiring high precision or when delayed investment (more than 1 h) of patterns can be expected.

Auditory Pattern Memory and Group Signal Detection

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sorkin, Robert

1997-01-01

.... The experiments with temporally-coded auditory patterns showed how listeners' attention is influenced by the position and the amount of information carried by different segments of the pattern...

Effects of experimentally induced maternal hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism on the development of rat offspring: II-the developmental pattern of neurons in relation to oxidative stress and antioxidant defense system.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, O M; Ahmed, R G; El-Gareib, A W; El-Bakry, A M; Abd El-Tawab, S M

2012-10-01

Excessive concentrations of free radicals in the developing brain may lead to neurons maldevelopment and neurons damage and death. Thyroid hormones (THs) states play an important role in affecting the modulation of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense system. Thus, the objective of this study was to clarify the effect of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism in rat dams on the neurons development of different brain regions of their offspring at several postnatal weeks in relation to changes in the oxidative stress and antioxidant defense system. The adult female rats were administered methimazole (MMI) in drinking water (0.02% w/v) from gestation day 1 to lactation day 21 to induce hypothyroidism and exogenous thyroxine (T4) in drinking water (0.002% w/v) beside intragastric incubation of 50--200 T4 μg/kg body weight (b. wt.) to induce hyperthyroidism. In normal female rats, the sera total thyroxine (TT4) and total triiodothyronine (TT3) levels were detectably increased at day 10 post-partum than those at day 10 of pregnancy. Free thyroxine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), thyrotropin (TSH) and growth hormone (GH) concentrations in normal offspring were elevated at first, second and third postnatal weeks in an age-dependent manner. In hypothyroid group, a marked depression was observed in sera of dam TT3 and TT4 as well as offspring FT3, FT4 and GH, while there was a significant increase in TSH level with the age progress. The reverse pattern to latter state was recorded in hyperthyroid group. Concomitantly, in control offspring, the rate of neuron development in both cerebellar and cerebral cortex was increased in its density and complexity with age progress. This development may depend, largely, on THs state. Both maternal hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism caused severe growth retardation in neurons of these regions of their offspring from the first to third weeks. Additionally, in normal offspring, seven antioxidant enzymes, four non-enzymatic antioxidants

Quantum pattern recognition with multi-neuron interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Fard, E. Rezaei; Aghayar, K.; Amniat-Talab, M.

2018-03-01

We present a quantum neural network with multi-neuron interactions for pattern recognition tasks by a combination of extended classic Hopfield network and adiabatic quantum computation. This scheme can be used as an associative memory to retrieve partial patterns with any number of unknown bits. Also, we propose a preprocessing approach to classifying the pattern space S to suppress spurious patterns. The results of pattern clustering show that for pattern association, the number of weights (η ) should equal the numbers of unknown bits in the input pattern ( d). It is also remarkable that associative memory function depends on the location of unknown bits apart from the d and load parameter α.

Pathophysiology of mitochondrial lipid oxidation: Role of 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) and other bioactive lipids in mitochondria.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Mengqing; Zhong, Huiqin; Xia, Lin; Tao, Yongzhen; Yin, Huiyong

2017-10-01

Mitochondrial lipids are essential for maintaining the integrity of mitochondrial membranes and the proper functions of mitochondria. As the "powerhouse" of a cell, mitochondria are also the major cellular source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative stress occurs when the antioxidant system is overwhelmed by overproduction of ROS. Polyunsaturated fatty acids in mitochondrial membranes are primary targets for ROS attack, which may lead to lipid peroxidation (LPO) and generation of reactive lipids, such as 4-hydroxynonenal. When mitochondrial lipids are oxidized, the integrity and function of mitochondria may be compromised and this may eventually lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, which has been associated with many human diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. How mitochondrial lipids are oxidized and the underlying molecular mechanisms and pathophysiological consequences associated with mitochondrial LPO remain poorly defined. Oxidation of the mitochondria-specific phospholipid cardiolipin and generation of bioactive lipids through mitochondrial LPO has been increasingly recognized as an important event orchestrating apoptosis, metabolic reprogramming of energy production, mitophagy, and immune responses. In this review, we focus on the current understanding of how mitochondrial LPO and generation of bioactive lipid mediators in mitochondria are involved in the modulation of mitochondrial functions in the context of relevant human diseases associated with oxidative stress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patterns - "A crime solver".

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasupriya, A; Dhanapal, Raghu; Reena, K; Saraswathi, Tr; Ramachandran, Cr

2011-01-01

This study is intended to analyze the predominant pattern of lip and finger prints in males and females and to correlate lip print and finger print for gender identity. The study sample comprised of 200 students of Vishnu Dental College, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, 100 males and 100 females aged between 18 to 27 years. Brown/pink colored lip stick was applied on the lips and the subject was asked to spread it uniformly over the lips. Lip prints were traced in the normal rest position of the lips with the help of cellophane tape. The imprint of the left thumb was taken on a white chart sheet and visualized using magnifying lens. While three main types of finger prints are identified, the classification of lip prints is simplified into branched, reticular, and vertical types. Association between lip prints and finger prints was statistically tested using Chi-square test. This study showed that lip and finger patterns did not reveal statistically significant results within the gender. The correlation between lip and finger patterns for gender identification, was statistically significant. In males, branched type of lip pattern associated with arch, loop, and whorl type of finger pattern was most significant. In females, vertical lip pattern associated with arch finger pattern and reticular lip pattern associated with whorl finger patterns were most significant. We conclude that a correlative study between the lip print and finger print will be very useful in forensic science for gender identification.

How to Preserve the Benefits of Design Patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agerbo, Ellen; Cornils, Aino

1998-01-01

The rapid evolution of Design Patterns has hampered the benefits gained from using Design Patterns. The increase in the number of Design Patterns makes a common vocabulary unmanageable, and the tracing problem obscures the documentation that should be enhanced by using Design Patterns. We present...... an analysis of Design Patterns that will strongly reduce the number of Fundamental Design Patterns and show how strong language abstractions can solve the tracing problem and thereby enhance the documentation....

Transcriptome analysis reveals novel patterning and pigmentation genes underlying Heliconius butterfly wing pattern variation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hines Heather M

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Heliconius butterfly wing pattern diversity offers a unique opportunity to investigate how natural genetic variation can drive the evolution of complex adaptive phenotypes. Positional cloning and candidate gene studies have identified a handful of regulatory and pigmentation genes implicated in Heliconius wing pattern variation, but little is known about the greater developmental networks within which these genes interact to pattern a wing. Here we took a large-scale transcriptomic approach to identify the network of genes involved in Heliconius wing pattern development and variation. This included applying over 140 transcriptome microarrays to assay gene expression in dissected wing pattern elements across a range of developmental stages and wing pattern morphs of Heliconius erato. Results We identified a number of putative early prepattern genes with color-pattern related expression domains. We also identified 51 genes differentially expressed in association with natural color pattern variation. Of these, the previously identified color pattern “switch gene” optix was recovered as the first transcript to show color-specific differential expression. Most differentially expressed genes were transcribed late in pupal development and have roles in cuticle formation or pigment synthesis. These include previously undescribed transporter genes associated with ommochrome pigmentation. Furthermore, we observed upregulation of melanin-repressing genes such as ebony and Dat1 in non-melanic patterns. Conclusions This study identifies many new genes implicated in butterfly wing pattern development and provides a glimpse into the number and types of genes affected by variation in genes that drive color pattern evolution.

Extreme ultraviolet patterning of tin-oxo cages

Science.gov (United States)

Haitjema, Jarich; Zhang, Yu; Vockenhuber, Michaela; Kazazis, Dimitrios; Ekinci, Yasin; Brouwer, Albert M.

2017-07-01

We report on the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) patterning performance of tin-oxo cages. These cage molecules were already known to function as a negative tone photoresist for EUV radiation, but in this work, we significantly optimized their performance. Our results show that sensitivity and resolution are only meaningful photoresist parameters if the process conditions are optimized. We focus on contrast curves of the materials using large area EUV exposures and patterning of the cages using EUV interference lithography. It is shown that baking steps, such as postexposure baking, can significantly affect both the sensitivity and contrast in the open-frame experiments as well as the patterning experiments. A layer thickness increase reduced the necessary dose to induce a solubility change but decreased the patterning quality. The patterning experiments were affected by minor changes in processing conditions such as an increased rinsing time. In addition, we show that the anions of the cage can influence the sensitivity and quality of the patterning, probably through their effect on physical properties of the materials.

A Case of Porokeratosis Showing Different Clinical Patterns of the Disease with Anogenital Involvement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Özlem Karabudak

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Porokeratosis (PK is a group of cutaneous entities characterized by marginate scaling lesions, histologically showing a column of parakeratotic keratinocytes (cornoid lamella. Various forms are recognized such as porokeratosis of Mibelli (PM, linear porokeratosis, disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis, punctate parakeratosis. PM should be treated because of the possibility of developing malignant epithelial tumors. We are presenting a 21 year old male patient suffering from PM on the back of the hands, foot, scrotum, oral mucosa and anal region. The histological biopsy specimens showed the characteristic features of porokeratosis. We destroyed the lesions by cryotherapy sessions. Here, we present a case of PM since it is rarely seen as multiple lesions with oral, anal and scrotal involvements altogether. (Turkderm 2008; 42: 97-9

Learning alternative movement coordination patterns using reinforcement feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Tzu-Hsiang; Denomme, Amber; Ranganathan, Rajiv

2018-05-01

One of the characteristic features of the human motor system is redundancy-i.e., the ability to achieve a given task outcome using multiple coordination patterns. However, once participants settle on using a specific coordination pattern, the process of learning to use a new alternative coordination pattern to perform the same task is still poorly understood. Here, using two experiments, we examined this process of how participants shift from one coordination pattern to another using different reinforcement schedules. Participants performed a virtual reaching task, where they moved a cursor to different targets positioned on the screen. Our goal was to make participants use a coordination pattern with greater trunk motion, and to this end, we provided reinforcement by making the cursor disappear if the trunk motion during the reach did not cross a specified threshold value. In Experiment 1, we compared two reinforcement schedules in two groups of participants-an abrupt group, where the threshold was introduced immediately at the beginning of practice; and a gradual group, where the threshold was introduced gradually with practice. Results showed that both abrupt and gradual groups were effective in shifting their coordination patterns to involve greater trunk motion, but the abrupt group showed greater retention when the reinforcement was removed. In Experiment 2, we examined the basis of this advantage in the abrupt group using two additional control groups. Results showed that the advantage of the abrupt group was because of a greater number of practice trials with the desired coordination pattern. Overall, these results show that reinforcement can be successfully used to shift coordination patterns, which has potential in the rehabilitation of movement disorders.

Effect of Mucuna pruriens (Linn.) on mitochondrial dysfunction and DNA damage in epididymal sperm of streptozotocin induced diabetic rat.

Science.gov (United States)

Suresh, Sekar; Prithiviraj, Elumalai; Lakshmi, Nagella Venkata; Ganesh, Mohanraj Karthik; Ganesh, Lakshmanan; Prakash, Seppan

2013-01-09

Mucuna pruriens Linn. (M. pruriens) is a leguminous plant that has been recognized as an herbal medicine for improving fertility and related disorders in the Indian traditional system of medicine, however without proper scientific validations. To study the effect of ethanolic seed extract of M. pruriens on mitochondrial dysfunction and the DNA damage in hyperglycemic rat epididymal spermatozoa. Male Wistar albino rats were divided as control (Sham), diabetes induced [streptozotocin 60 mg/kg of body weight (b.w.) in 0.1M citrate buffer] (STZ), diabetic rats administered with 200mg/kg b.w. of extract (STZ+MP) and normal rats administered with 200mg/kg b.w. of extract (Sham+MP). M. pruriens was administered (gavage) once daily for a period of 60 days. On 60th day animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation sperm were collected from epididymis and subjected various analysis like antioxidants, ROS, lipid peroxidation (LPO), DNA damage, chromosomal integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Significant reduction in the sperm count, motility, viability and significant increase in the number of abnormal sperm in STZ compared to sham was noticed. STZ rat sperm showed significant increase in LPO and DNA damage. Both the enzymic and non-enzymic were decreased; MMP and the mitochondrial functions were severely affected in STZ group. The diabetic rats supplemented with M. pruriens showed a remarkable recovery in antioxidant levels and reduced LPO with well preserved sperm DNA. MMP and mitochondrial function test were also preserved in STZ+MP rat sperm. The present study has clearly demonstrated the potency of M. pruriens to reduce the diabetic induced sperm damage induced by oxidative stress (OS). These observations are encouraging to perform similar studies in human. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multivariate pattern dependence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Anzellotti

2017-11-01

Full Text Available When we perform a cognitive task, multiple brain regions are engaged. Understanding how these regions interact is a fundamental step to uncover the neural bases of behavior. Most research on the interactions between brain regions has focused on the univariate responses in the regions. However, fine grained patterns of response encode important information, as shown by multivariate pattern analysis. In the present article, we introduce and apply multivariate pattern dependence (MVPD: a technique to study the statistical dependence between brain regions in humans in terms of the multivariate relations between their patterns of responses. MVPD characterizes the responses in each brain region as trajectories in region-specific multidimensional spaces, and models the multivariate relationship between these trajectories. We applied MVPD to the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS and to the fusiform face area (FFA, using a searchlight approach to reveal interactions between these seed regions and the rest of the brain. Across two different experiments, MVPD identified significant statistical dependence not detected by standard functional connectivity. Additionally, MVPD outperformed univariate connectivity in its ability to explain independent variance in the responses of individual voxels. In the end, MVPD uncovered different connectivity profiles associated with different representational subspaces of FFA: the first principal component of FFA shows differential connectivity with occipital and parietal regions implicated in the processing of low-level properties of faces, while the second and third components show differential connectivity with anterior temporal regions implicated in the processing of invariant representations of face identity.

Electronic and Structural Parameters of Phosphorus-Oxygen Bonds in Inorganic Phosphate Crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Atuchin, V. V.; Kesler, V. G.; Pervukhina, N. V.

Wide set of experimental results on binding energy of photoelectrons emitted from P 2p, P 2s, and O 1s core levels has been observed for inorganic phosphate crystals and the parameters were compared using energy differences Δ(O 1s - P 2p) and Δ (O 1s - P 2s) as most robust characteristics. Linear dependence of the binding energy difference on mean chemical bond length L(P-O) between phosphorus and oxygen atoms has been found. The functions are of the forms: Δ (O 1s - P 2p) (eV) = 375.54 + 0.146 · L(P-O) (pm) and Δ (O 1s - P 2s) (eV) = 320.77 + 0.129 · L(P-O) (pm). The dependencies are general for inorganic phosphates and may be used in quantitative component analysis of X-ray photoemission spectra of complex oxide compounds including functional groups with different coordination of P and O atoms.

Evaluation of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status on fenvalerate, nitrate and their co-exposure in Bubalus bubalis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Kamalpreet Kaur; Sandhu, Harpal Singh; Kaur, Rajdeep

2015-09-01

The toxic effects of pesticides and minerals have been explored in different species, but still there is paucity of information regarding their combined toxicological effects. The present investigation reports oxidative stress induced by oral subacute exposure to fenvalerate (1 mg/kg) and sodium nitrate (20 mg/kg) alone, as well as in combination daily for 21 days in buffalo calves. Fenvalerate exposure produced significant elevation in lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), while it produced significant decline in blood glutathione (GSH) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). No significant alteration was evidenced in nitric oxide (NOx) levels. Oral exposure to sodium nitrate produced significant inclination in LPO and NOx, while on the other hand significant depreciation in SOD and CAT with no significant change in GPx activity. Combined exposure to fenvalerate and sodium nitrate produced severe effects with an appreciably more prominent elevation in extent of LPO and decline in blood GSH levels. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nitric oxide and oxidative stress is associated with severity of diabetic retinopathy and retinal structural alterations.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Shashi; Saxena, Sandeep; Srivastav, Khushboo; Shukla, Rajendra K; Mishra, Nibha; Meyer, Carsten H; Kruzliak, Peter; Khanna, Vinay K

2015-07-01

The aim of the study was to determine plasma nitric oxide (NO) and lipid peroxide (LPO) levels in diabetic retinopathy and its association with severity of disease. Prospective observational study. A total of 60 consecutive cases and 20 healthy controls were included. Severity of retinopathy was graded according to early treatment diabetic retinopathy study (ETDRS) classification. Photoreceptor inner segment ellipsoid band (ISel) disruption and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) alteration were graded using spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Data were statistically analyzed. Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, NO assay and reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured using standard protocol. Increased severity of diabetic retinopathy was significantly associated with increase in plasma levels of LPO (P diabetic retinopathy. For the first time, it has been demonstrated that increased plasma LPO, NO and decreased GSH levels are associated with in vivo structural changes in inner segment ellipsoid and RPE. © 2015 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.

Quantification of variability in trichome patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bettina eGreese

2014-11-01

Full Text Available While pattern formation is studied in various areas of biology, little is known about the intrinsic noise leading to variations between individual realizations of the pattern. One prominent example for de novo pattern formation in plants is the patterning of trichomes on Arabidopsis leaves, which involves genetic regulation and cell-to-cell communication. These processes are potentially variable due to , e.g., the abundance of cell components or environmental conditions. To elevate the understanding of the regulatory processes underlying the pattern formation it is crucial to quantitatively analyze the variability in naturally occurring patterns. Here, we review recent approaches towards characterization of noise on trichome initiation. We present methods for the quantification of spatial patterns, which are the basis for data-driven mathematical modeling and enable the analysis of noise from different sources. Besides the insight gained on trichome formation, the examination of observed trichome patterns also shows that highly regulated biological processes can be substantially affected by variability.

Evaluating the Applicability of Data-Driven Dietary Patterns to Independent Samples with a Focus on Measurement Tools for Pattern Similarity.

Science.gov (United States)

Castelló, Adela; Buijsse, Brian; Martín, Miguel; Ruiz, Amparo; Casas, Ana M; Baena-Cañada, Jose M; Pastor-Barriuso, Roberto; Antolín, Silvia; Ramos, Manuel; Muñoz, Monserrat; Lluch, Ana; de Juan-Ferré, Ana; Jara, Carlos; Lope, Virginia; Jimeno, María A; Arriola-Arellano, Esperanza; Díaz, Elena; Guillem, Vicente; Carrasco, Eva; Pérez-Gómez, Beatriz; Vioque, Jesús; Pollán, Marina

2016-12-01

Diet is a key modifiable risk for many chronic diseases, but it remains unclear whether dietary patterns from one study sample are generalizable to other independent populations. The primary objective of this study was to assess whether data-driven dietary patterns from one study sample are applicable to other populations. The secondary objective was to assess the validity of two criteria of pattern similarity. Six dietary patterns-Western (n=3), Mediterranean, Prudent, and Healthy- from three published studies on breast cancer were reconstructed in a case-control study of 973 breast cancer patients and 973 controls. Three more internal patterns (Western, Prudent, and Mediterranean) were derived from this case-control study's own data. Applicability was assessed by comparing the six reconstructed patterns with the three internal dietary patterns, using the congruence coefficient (CC) between pattern loadings. In cases where any pair met either of two commonly used criteria for declaring patterns similar (CC ≥0.85 or a statistically significant [Pdietary patterns was double-checked by comparing their associations to risk for breast cancer, to assess whether those two criteria of similarity are actually reliable. Five of the six reconstructed dietary patterns showed high congruence (CC >0.9) to their corresponding dietary pattern derived from the case-control study's data. Similar associations with risk for breast cancer were found in all pairs of dietary patterns that had high CC but not in all pairs of dietary patterns with statistically significant correlations. Similar dietary patterns can be found in independent samples. The P value of a correlation coefficient is less reliable than the CC as a criterion for declaring two dietary patterns similar. This study shows that diet scores based on a particular study are generalizable to other populations. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multicenter study to assess potential hazards from exposure to lipid peroxidation products in soya bean oil from Trilucent breast implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, G M; Caldwell, J; Armstrong, D; Bartsch, H; Bevan, R; Browne, R W; Chipman, J K; Iatropoulos, M J; Jeffrey, A M; Lunec, J; Nair, J; Page, D L; Reeves, B C; Richardson, A; Silverstein, B; Williams, D F

2009-03-01

progenitors of breast carcinoma (BCa) and the location of the implants precludes LPO products reaching the mammary epithelial cells which are progenitors of BCa. Blood levels of LPO products were not increased in TBI patients compared to REBI patients and did not change with explantation. In TBI patients, white blood cells did not show evidence of increased levels of LPO-related aldehyde DNA adducts. In conclusion, based on a number of measured parameters, there was no evident effect that would contribute to breast or systemic cancer risk in the TBI patients, and the recommended treatment of TBI patients involving explantation was judged appropriate.

Transcription of the var genes from a freshly-obtained field isolate of Plasmodium falciparum shows more variable switching patterns than long laboratory-adapted isolates.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Run; Zhang, Dongmei; Chen, Biaobang; Zhu, Yongqiang; Zhang, Yilong; Wang, Shengyue; Pan, Weiqing

2015-02-07

Antigenic variation in Plasmodium falciparum involves switching among multicopy var gene family and is responsible for immune evasion and the maintenance of chronic infections. Current understanding of var gene expression and switching patterns comes from experiments conducted on long laboratory-adapted strains, with little known about their wild counterparts. Genome sequencing was used to obtain 50 var genes from a parasite isolated from the China-Myanmar border. Four clones with different dominant var genes were cultured in vitro in replicates for 50 generations. Transcription of the individual var gene was detected by real-time PCR and then the switching process was analysed. The expression of multicopy var genes is mutually exclusive in clones of a wild P. falciparum isolate. The activation of distinct primary dominant var genes leads to different and favoured switching patterns in the four clones. The on/off rates of individual var genes are variable and the choice of subsequent dominant var genes are random, which results in the different switching patterns among replicates of each clonal wild P. falciparum isolate with near identical initial transcription profiles. This study suggests that the switching patterns of var genes are abundant, which consist of both conserved and random parts.

Radioprotective effects of Grewia asiatica in vivo: studies in Swiss albino mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, K.V.; Ahaskar, Muktika; Singh, Smita; Sisodia, Rashmi

2007-01-01

Full text: Increasing use of nuclear radiation for human welfare necessitates a new, safe and cost effective radio protector not only for personnel's charged with responsibility of testing or with radiations in laboratories, but also for the general public. Keeping this view, this study has been undertaken to find out the possible radio protective potential of the Grewia asiatica fruit pulp extract (GAE), Grewia asiatica has a high content of antioxidants like Vitamin C, anthocyanin and folate that may play a possible role in radioprotection. For experimental study, healthy Swiss Albino mice were selected from an inbred colony and divided into four groups. Group I (normal) did not receive any treatment. Group II was orally supplemented (GAE) once daily at the dose of 700 mg/Kg. b.wt/day for fifteen consecutive days. Group III (control) received distilled water orally equivalent to GAE for fifteen days than exposed to 5 Gy of gamma radiation. Group IV (experimental) was administered orally (GAE) for 15 consecutive days once daily after exposure to single dose of 5Gy of gamma radiation. Mice were sacrificed at different autopsy intervals viz. 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days and liver was removed for various biochemical estimations viz. glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation (LPO). Irradiation resulted an elevation in lipid peroxidation (LPO) and a decline in glutathione (GSH) level in liver. On the other hand, treatment of animals with GAE extract after irradiation caused a significant decrease in LPO and a marked elevation in GSH. This finding showed that post treatment of GAE is more effective than its pretreatment

Maternal Dietary Patterns and Pregnancy Outcome

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xuyang; Zhao, Diqi; Mao, Xun; Xia, Yinyin; Baker, Philip N.; Zhang, Hua

2016-01-01

Maternal nutritional status during pregnancy will affect the outcomes for the mother and the baby. Many analyses of the relationship between diet and outcome are often based on a single or a few food items or nutrients. However, foods are not consumed in isolation and dietary patterns can be used to assess the whole diet consumed. The use of dietary pattern analysis to understand nutritional intake and pregnancy outcome is becoming more and more popular. Many published studies have showed the association between maternal dietary patterns and pregnancy outcome. This review examined articles about the relationship between maternal dietary patterns and pregnancy outcome. As a modifiable factor, dietary patterns may be more applicable to clinical and pregnant health interventions. PMID:27338455

Oxidative Stress and Methods for Its Correction in Patients with Acute Coronary Circulatory Disorders During Perioperative Direct Myocardial Revascularization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. V. Chumakov

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: to study the effect of the antioxidant and cardioprotector mexicor on oxidative stress in patients with acute coronary circulatory disorders (ACCD during perioperative direct myocardial revascularization. Subjects and methods. The study included 33 patients with ACCD who had undergone coronary bypass surgery. Two groups (a study group and a control one were formed. Prior to surgery, all the patients received the maximum doses of antianginal and antihypertensive drugs. The study group patients additionally took mexicor. All patients were operated on under extracorporeal circulation and moderate hypothermia. Lipid peroxidation (LPO indices were estimated via measurements of the serum levels of dienic conjugates, malonic dialdehyde, and the degree of serum lipid oxidability. The serum antioxidative system (AOS was judged from the concentration of а-tocopherol and cerulo-plasmin. The oxidative stress coefficient K, an integral index, was calculated to evaluate LPO-AOS imbalance. Results. High oxidative stress was found to be detectable in patients with ACCD. Mexicor lowers oxidative stress, diminishes LPO-AOS imbalance, improves oxygen balance and cardiac contractility, and reduces the number of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Conclusion. Mexicor diminishes oxidative stress in patients with ACCD in the perioperative period of coronary bypass surgery. Mexicor-induced stabilization of LPO positively affects better oxygen balance and cardiac contractility, thus reducing the number of perioperative complications. Key words: oxidative stress, dienic conjugates, malonic dialdehyde, а-tocopherol, ceruloplasmin, coronary bypass, acute coronary circulatory disorder, hemodynamics.

In-Vitro Inhibition of Pythium ultimum, Fusarium graminearum, and Rhizoctonia solani by a Stabilized Lactoperoxidase System alone and in Combination with Synthetic Fungicides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zachariah R. Hansen

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Advances in enzyme stabilization and immobilization make the use of enzymes for industrial applications increasingly feasible. The lactoperoxidase (LPO system is a naturally occurring enzyme system with known antimicrobial activity. Stabilized LPO and glucose oxidase (GOx enzymes were combined with glucose, potassium iodide, and ammonium thiocyanate to create an anti-fungal formulation, which inhibited in-vitro growth of the plant pathogenic oomycete Pythium ultimum, and the plant pathogenic fungi Fusarium graminearum and Rhizoctonia solani. Pythium ultimum was more sensitive than F. graminearum and R. solani, and was killed at LPO and GOx concentrations of 20 nM and 26 nM, respectively. Rhizoctonia solani and F. graminearum were 70% to 80% inhibited by LPO and GOx concentrations of 242 nM and 315 nM, respectively. The enzyme system was tested for compatibility with five commercial fungicides as co-treatments. The majority of enzyme + fungicide co-treatments resulted in additive activity. Synergism ranging from 7% to 36% above the expected additive activity was observed when P. ultimum was exposed to the enzyme system combined with Daconil® (active ingredient (AI: chlorothalonil 29.6%, GardenTech, Lexington, KY, USA, tea tree oil, and mancozeb at select fungicide concentrations. Antagonism was observed when the enzyme system was combined with Tilt® (AI: propiconazole 41.8%, Syngenta, Basel, Switzerland at one fungicide concentration, resulting in activity 24% below the expected additive activity at that concentration.

Transcriptome profiling in conifers and the PiceaGenExpress database show patterns of diversification within gene families and interspecific conservation in vascular gene expression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raherison Elie

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Conifers have very large genomes (13 to 30 Gigabases that are mostly uncharacterized although extensive cDNA resources have recently become available. This report presents a global overview of transcriptome variation in a conifer tree and documents conservation and diversity of gene expression patterns among major vegetative tissues. Results An oligonucleotide microarray was developed from Picea glauca and P. sitchensis cDNA datasets. It represents 23,853 unique genes and was shown to be suitable for transcriptome profiling in several species. A comparison of secondary xylem and phelloderm tissues showed that preferential expression in these vascular tissues was highly conserved among Picea spp. RNA-Sequencing strongly confirmed tissue preferential expression and provided a robust validation of the microarray design. A small database of transcription profiles called PiceaGenExpress was developed from over 150 hybridizations spanning eight major tissue types. In total, transcripts were detected for 92% of the genes on the microarray, in at least one tissue. Non-annotated genes were predominantly expressed at low levels in fewer tissues than genes of known or predicted function. Diversity of expression within gene families may be rapidly assessed from PiceaGenExpress. In conifer trees, dehydrins and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA osmotic regulation proteins occur in large gene families compared to angiosperms. Strong contrasts and low diversity was observed in the dehydrin family, while diverse patterns suggested a greater degree of diversification among LEAs. Conclusion Together, the oligonucleotide microarray and the PiceaGenExpress database represent the first resource of this kind for gymnosperm plants. The spruce transcriptome analysis reported here is expected to accelerate genetic studies in the large and important group comprised of conifer trees.

Heat indicators of oxidative stress, inflammation and metal transport show dependence of cadmium pollution history in the liver of female zebrafish.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Qing-Ling; Guo, Sai-Nan; Yuan, Shuang-Shuang; Lv, Zhen-Ming; Zheng, Jia-Lang; Xia, Hu

2017-10-01

Environmental stressors such as high temperature and metal exposure may occur sequentially, simultaneously, previously in aquatic ecosystems. However, information about whether responses to high temperature depend on Cd exposure history is still unknown in fish. Zebrafish were exposed to 0 (group 1), 2.5 (group 2) and 5μg/L (group 3) cadmium (Cd) for 10 weeks, and then each group was subjected to Cd-free water maintained at 26°C and 32°C for 7days respectively. 26 indicators were used to compare differences between 26°C and 32°C in the liver of female zebrafish, including 5 biochemical indicators (activity of Cu/Zn-SOD, CAT and iNOS; LPO; MT protein), 8 molecular indicators of oxidative stress (mRNA levels of Nrf2, Cu/Zn-SOD, CAT, HSF1, HSF2, HSP70, MTF-1 and MT), 5 molecular indicators of inflammation (mRNA levels of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, iNOS and NF-κB), 8 molecular indicators of metal transport (mRNA levels of, ZnT1, ZnT5, ZIP8, ZIP10, ATP7A, ATP7B and CTR1). All biochemical indicators were unchanged in group 1 and changed in group 2 and 3. Contrarily, differences were observed in almost all of molecular indicators of inflammation and metal transport in group 1, about half in group 2, and few in group 3. We also found that all molecular indicators of oxidative stress in group 2 and fewer in group 1 and 3 were significantly affected by heat. Our data indicated that heat indicators of oxidative stress, inflammation and metal transport showed dependence of previous cadmium exposure in the liver of zebrafish, emphasizing metal pollution history should be carefully considered when evaluating heat stress in fish. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A pattern-based methodology for optimizing stitches in double-patterning technology

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lynn T.; Madhavan, Sriram; Dai, Vito; Capodieci, Luigi

2015-03-01

A pattern-based methodology for optimizing stitches is developed based on identifying stitch topologies and replacing them with pre-characterized fixing solutions in decomposed layouts. A topology-based library of stitches with predetermined fixing solutions is built. A pattern-based engine searches for matching topologies in the decomposed layouts. When a match is found, the engine opportunistically replaces the predetermined fixing solution: only a design rule check error-free replacement is preserved. The methodology is demonstrated on a 20nm layout design that contains over 67 million, first metal layer stitches. Results show that a small library containing 3 stitch topologies improves the stitch area regularity by 4x.

Acoustic Pattern Recognition on Android Devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Maiken Bjerg; Gaarsdal, Jesper; Steen, Kim Arild

2013-01-01

an Android application developed for acoustic pattern recognition of bird species. The acoustic data is recorded using a built-in microphone, and pattern recognition is performed on the device, requiring no network connection. The algorithm is implemented in C++ as a native Android module and the Open......CV library is used for signal processing. We conclude that the approach presented here is a viable solution to pattern recognition problems. Since it requires no network connection, it shows promise in fields such as wildlife research....

A simple identification method for spore-forming bacteria showing high resistance against γ-rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koshikawa, Tomihiko; Sone, Koji; Kobayashi, Toshikazu

1993-01-01

A simple identification method was developed for spore-forming bacteria which are highly resistant against γ-rays. Among 23 species of Bacillus studied, the spores of Bacillus megaterium, B. cereus, B. thuringiensis, B. pumilus and B. aneurinolyticus showed high resistance against γ-rays as compared with other spores of Bacillus species. Combination of the seven kinds of biochemical tests, namely, the citrate utilization test, nitrate reduction test, starch hydrolysis test, Voges-Proskauer reaction test, gelatine hydrolysis test, mannitol utilization test and xylose utilization test showed a characteristic pattern for each species of Bacillus. The combination pattern of each the above tests with a few supplementary test, if necessary, was useful to identify Bacillus species showing high radiation resistance against γ-rays. The method is specific for B. megaterium, B. thuringiensis and B. pumilus, and highly selective for B. aneurinolyticus and B. cereus. (author)

Effect of Lenient Steam Injection (LSI) heat treatment of bovine milk on the activities of some enzymes, the milk fat globule and pH

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dickow, Jonatan A.; Nielsen, Martin Thorup; Hammershøj, Marianne

2012-01-01

This study investigated the effects of Lenient Steam Injection (LSI) treatment at temperatures 70–150 C on the enzymatic activities of the indigenous milk enzymes alkaline phosphatase, lactoperoxidase (LPO), xanthine oxidase (XO), lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and plasmin in comparison with two...... reference heat treatments of 63 C for 30 s and of 72 C for 15 s by indirect heating. Milk fat globule (MFG) size distributions and pH were also monitored. Alkaline phosphatase, LPO, XO and LPL activities decreased with increasing LSI temperature. Plasmin activity was increased at temperatures

Ripple/Carcinoid pattern sebaceoma with apocrine differentiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Misago, Noriyuki; Narisawa, Yutaka

2011-02-01

Sebaceoma is a benign sebaceous neoplasm, which has been reported to show characteristic growth patterns, such as, ripple, labyrinthine/sinusoidal, and carcinoid-like patterns. Another recent finding regarding in sebaceoma is the observation of apocrine differentiation within the sebaceoma lesion. This report describes a case of carcinoid (a partial ripple and labyrinthine) pattern sebaceoma with apocrine differentiation with a literature review and immunohistochemical studies. The various characteristic growth patterns in sebaceoma were suggested to simply be variations of the same growth pattern arranged in cords, namely, a unified term "ripple/carcinoid pattern." The primitive sebaceous germinative cells in sebaceoma may still have the ability to undergo apocrine differentiation. Most of the reports so far on sebaceoma with apocrine differentiation, including the present case, describe a ripple/carcinoid pattern, thus suggesting that ripple/carcinoid pattern sebaceoma is composed of more primitive sebaceous germinative cells than conventional sebaceoma.

Mogul-Patterned Elastomeric Substrate for Stretchable Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Han-Byeol; Bae, Chan-Wool; Duy, Le Thai; Sohn, Il-Yung; Kim, Do-Il; Song, You-Joon; Kim, Youn-Jea; Lee, Nae-Eung

2016-04-01

A mogul-patterned stretchable substrate with multidirectional stretchability and minimal fracture of layers under high stretching is fabricated by double photolithography and soft lithography. Au layers and a reduced graphene oxide chemiresistor on a mogul-patterned poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrate are stable and durable under various stretching conditions. The newly designed mogul-patterned stretchable substrate shows great promise for stretchable electronics. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Surface magnetization and the role of pattern defects in various types of ripple patterned films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colino, Jose M; Arranz, Miguel A; Barbero, Antonio J; Bollero, A; Camarero, J

2016-01-01

We present a detailed study of the magnetic properties of cobalt films with wide-area nanoscale ripple patterns, either on their surface only, or on both the film surface and substrate interface. Angular dependence vectorial-resolved magnetometry measurements and magnetic force microscopy with in situ magnetic field have been used to determine the magnetization reversal processes to correlate them to the different patterned nanostructures. All the samples show well-defined uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the anisotropy axis lying along the ripple direction. Atomic force microscopy of the different types of pattern reveals various pattern defects: height corrugation and breaks of continuity along the ripple direction, and overlapping ripples and Y-shaped defects (pattern dislocation) across the pattern. In spite of the existence of such customary defects of erosive-regime patterns, the type of low-amplitude, surface-patterned films remarkably behave as a macrospin over almost the whole in-plane angular range (340°), with negligible spread of anisotropy axis or energy. In turn, it is found that high-amplitude surface-patterned films develop an angular distribution of anisotropy axes, probably related to the large distribution of amplitudes in a pattern of short ripples, and a significant distribution of anisotropy fields ΔH k /H k up to 15%. On the other hand, films grow on pre-patterned silicon with a significantly longer mean ripple length, and develop a larger anisotropy energy with H k up to 110 mT, probably because of the double interface effect. The switching fields close to the magnetization easy axis of all types of ripple pattern are not well reproduced by the macrospin approximation, but the observed pattern defects seem to be not responsible for the domain wall pinning that occurs with the field applied along the ripple direction. (paper)

A pattern theory of self.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallagher, Shaun

2013-01-01

I argue for a pattern theory of self as a useful way to organize an interdisciplinary approach to discussions of what constitutes a self. According to the pattern theory, a self is constituted by a number of characteristic features or aspects that may include minimal embodied, minimal experiential, affective, intersubjective, psychological/cognitive, narrative, extended, and situated aspects. A pattern theory of self helps to clarify various interpretations of self as compatible or commensurable instead of thinking them in opposition, and it helps to show how various aspects of self may be related across certain dimensions. I also suggest that a pattern theory of self can help to adjudicate (or at least map the differences) between the idea that the self correlates to self-referential processing in the cortical midline structures of the brain and other narrower or wider conceptions of self.

Dietary patterns and colorectal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Tayyem, Reema F; Bawadi, Hiba A; Shehadah, Ihab; Agraib, Lana M; AbuMweis, Suhad S; Al-Jaberi, Tareq; Al-Nusairr, Majed; Bani-Hani, Kamal E; Heath, Dennis D

2017-06-01

Dietary pattern and lifestyle have been reported to be important risk factors in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the mechanism of action of dietary factors in CRC disease is unclear. The aim of this study is the examination of several dietary choices and their potential association with the risk of developing CRC. Dietary data was collected from 220 subjects who were previously diagnosed with CRC, and 281 control subjects (matched by age, gender, occupation and marital status). The data was collected between January 2010 and December 2012, using interview-based questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between dietary choices and risk of developing colorectal cancer. Factor analysis revealed three major dietary patterns. The first pattern we identified as the "Healthy Pattern", the second was identified as "High Sugar/High Tea Pattern" and the third as "Western Pattern". In the Healthy Pattern group we found a 10.54% variation in food intake, while the intake variation was 11.64% in the Western Pattern. After adjusting for confounding factors, the Western Pattern food choice was found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of developing CRC (OR = 1.88; 95% CI = 1.12-3.16). The results for the Healthy and High-Sugar/High Tea Patterns showed a decrease, but the statistic was not significant for the risk of CRC development. The Western Pattern of dietary choice was directly associated with CRC. The association between the dietary food choice in the Healthy and High-Sugar/High Tea Patterns and colorectal cancer needs further study in our Jordanian population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

The protective role of Aegle marmelos on aspirin-induced gastro-duodenal ulceration in albino rat model: a possible involvement of antioxidants.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Shyamal K; Roy, Chandan

2012-01-01

Gastro duodenal ulcer is a common disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Several Indian medicinal plants have been traditionally and extensively used to prevent different diseases. In the present research studies, Bael fruit (Aegle marmelos (AM), family: Rutaceae) which are also called as Bilva in ancient Sanskrit was used as a herbal drug and its antioxidative role in aspirin- induced gastroduodenal ulceration in albino rat was evaluated using essential biochemical parameters. Mucosal thickness (MT), ulcer index (UI), different biochemical parameters, such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH), and lipid peroxidation (LPO) were measured in all the groups, to study the possible involvement of antioxidants with gastroduodenal protection. A significant decrease in MT, SOD and CAT activities and GSH level and a significant increase in UI, AST, ALT, and ALP activities and LPO level were observed in aspirin treated stomach and duodenum of albino rats. Pretreatment with AM fruit pulp extract for 14 consecutive days showed the reverse effects of aspirin suggesting gastro-duodenal protective and anti- ulcerogenic properties of AM through its antioxidant mechanism.

Effects of the pharmaceuticals gemfibrozil and diclofenac on the marine mussel (Mytilus spp.) and their comparison with standardized toxicity tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Wiebke; O'Rourke, Kathleen; Hernan, Robert; Quinn, Brian

2011-07-01

Human pharmaceuticals, like the lipid lowering agent gemfibrozil and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac are causing environmental concern. In this study, the marine mussel (Mytilus spp.) was exposed by injection to environmentally relevant and elevated (1 μg/L and 1000 μg/L) concentrations of both compounds and biomarker expression was observed. Gemfibrozil exposure induced biomarkers of stress (glutathione S-transferase and metallothionein) at both concentrations 24h and 96 h after exposure, respectively. Biomarkers of damage (lipid peroxidation (LPO) and DNA damage) were significantly affected, as well as the biomarker for reproduction, alkali-labile phosphate assay, indicating the potential oxidative stress and endocrine disrupting effect of gemfibrozil. Diclofenac significantly induced LPO after 96 h indicating tissue damage. Additionally standard toxicity tests using the marine species Vibrio fischeri, Skeletonema costatum and Tisbe battagliai showed differences in sensitivity to both drugs in the mg/L range. Results indicate a suite of tests should be used to give accurate information for regulation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementing GoF Design Patterns in BETA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agerbo, Ellen; Cornils, Aino

1998-01-01

In this paper it is investigated how well the Beta supports the Design Patterns presented in [GoF 95]. We go through the language constructs in Beta to show which prove especially useful when implementing these Design Patterns. It is a fact that several of the Design Patterns found in [GoF 95] can...... be implemented in a simpler and more straightforward way in Beta than in ordinary OO-languages. This leads us to consider whether it is true that the more advanced OO-language one uses, the more of these Design Patterns are included directly in the language constructs....

Miliary pattern in neonatal pneumonia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flores, J.A.M.

1988-01-01

We have seen 10 newborn babies who developed respiratory distress and whose chest radiographs showed a miliary nodular pattern of disease. Of these infants only 3 had blood cultures that were positive for staphylococcus aureus. Of the remaining 7, 2 had conjunctivitis from which staphylococcus aureus was cultured, 4 had negative cultures and 1 did not have a blood culture done. All patients were diagnosed as having bacterial pneumonia and appeared to respond favourably to antibiotic therapy. The pulmonary abnormalities resolved. The children were clinically well in less than 3 weeks. The author suggests that the miliary pattern is one of the radiological patterns of neonatal pneumonia possibly produced by hematogenous bacterial dissemination. (orig.)

Microbiological and environmental issues in show caves.

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Saiz-Jimenez, Cesareo

2012-07-01

Cultural tourism expanded in the last half of the twentieth century, and the interest of visitors has come to include caves containing archaeological remains. Some show caves attracted mass tourism, and economical interests prevailed over conservation, which led to a deterioration of the subterranean environment and the rock art. The presence and the role of microorganisms in caves is a topic that is often ignored in cave management. Knowledge of the colonisation patterns, the dispersion mechanisms, and the effect on human health and, when present, over rock art paintings of these microorganisms is of the utmost importance. In this review the most recent advances in the study of microorganisms in caves are presented, together with the environmental implications of the findings.

Acute toxicity and cholinesterase inhibition of the nematicide ethoprophos in larvae of gar Atractosteus tropicus (Semionotiformes: Lepisosteidae

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Freylan Mena Torres

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Biomarkers are a widely applied approach in environmental studies. Analyses of cholinesterase (ChE, glutathione S-transferase (GST and lipid peroxidation (LPO are biomarkers that can provide information regarding early effects of pollutants at different biochemical levels on an organism. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomarker approach on a Costa Rican native and relevant species. For this, larvae of gar (Atractosteus tropicus were exposed to the organophosphorus nematicide, ethoprophos. Acute (96hr exposure was conducted with pesticide concentrations ranging from 0.1μg/L to 1 500μg/L. The 96hr LC50 calculated was 859.7μg/L. After exposure, three biomarkers (ChE, GST and LPO were analyzed in fish that survived the acute test. The lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC regarding ChE activity inhibition was 50μg/L. This concentration produced a significant inhibition (p0.05 in GST activity and LPO were observed in A. tropicus larvae after exposure to ethoprophos.

Diallyl tetrasulfide improves cadmium induced alterations of acetylcholinesterase, ATPases and oxidative stress in brain of rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pari, Leelavinothan; Murugavel, Ponnusamy

2007-01-01

Cadmium (Cd) is a neurotoxic metal, which induces oxidative stress and membrane disturbances in nerve system. The garlic compound diallyl tetrasulfide (DTS) has the cytoprotective and antioxidant activity against Cd induced toxicity. The present study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of DTS in protecting the Cd induced changes in the activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), membrane bound enzymes, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and antioxidant status in the brain of rats. In rats exposed to Cd (3 mg/kg/day subcutaneously) for 3 weeks, a significant (P + K + -ATPase, Mg 2+ -ATPase and Ca 2+ -ATPase) were observed in brain tissue. Oral administration of DTS (40 mg/kg/day) with Cd significantly (P < 0.05) diminished the levels of LPO and protein carbonyls and significantly (P < 0.05) increased the activities of ATPases, antioxidant enzymes, GSH and TSH in brain. These results indicate that DTS attenuate the LPO and alteration of antioxidant and membrane bound enzymes in Cd exposed rats, which suggest that DTS protects the brain function from toxic effects of Cd

Impact of Oxidative Stress on Hemorheological Parameters in Patients with Acute Poisonings by Psychopharmacological Agents

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M. V. Belova

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: to evaluate the impact of oxidative stress intensity on hemorheological parameters in acute poisonings by psychopharmacological agents. Subjects and methods. The blood values of lipid peroxidation (LPO and the antioxidant system (AOS, and hemorheological parameters were determined in 196 patients with acute poisoning by psychopharmacological agents. Results. Mild poisoning was accompanied by a moderate rise in peroxidation processes, by compensated antioxidant activity, and by a decrease in hemorheological parameters. In moderate poisoning, and severe one in particular, there was an increase in the LPO/AOS imbalance attended by increases in the viscosity characteristics of blood and plasma and in the aggregation activity of platelets and red blood cells. Conclusion. As the intensity of oxidative stress increases, there are more severe impairments in blood viscosity and aggregation properties, the leading mechanism of which is damage to blood cells due to higher stiffness of their membranes and to plasma release of large-disperse molecules under the action of an excess of LPO products. Key words: oxidative stress, acute poisonings, hemorheology.

Germinated Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan): a novel diet for lowering oxidative stress and hyperglycemia.

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Uchegbu, Nneka N; Ishiwu, Charles N

2016-09-01

This work studied the antioxidant activity of extract of germinated pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Germination was carried out in a dark chamber under room temperature (28°C). The total phenolic, 1,1,diphenyl-2-picrylhy-drazyl free radical (DPPH) scavenging, the inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase were done in vitro and blood glucose levels of the animal were investigated. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were analyzed spectrophotometrically. The total phenolic and DPPH scavenging activity increased by 30% and 63%, respectively, after germinating pigeon pea. Also after germination there was an increase in the inhibitory potential of pigeon pea extract against α-glucosidase compared with the nongerminated pigeon pea extract. There was a significant increase (P pigeon pea extract gave rise to a reduced fasting blood glucose level in diabetic rats. On administration of germinated pigeon pea extract, LPO reduced drastically but there was an increase in the level of GSH. This study concluded that intake of germinated pigeon pea is a good dietary supplement for controlling hyperglycemia and LPO.

Deformation fabrics of the Cima di Gagnone peridotite massif, Central Alps, Switzerland: evidence of deformation at low temperatures in the presence of water

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Skemer, Philip; Katayama, Ikuo; Karato, Shun-Ichiro

2006-07-01

We report a new observation of the olivine B-type lattice-preferred orientation (LPO), from the garnet peridotite at Cima di Gagnone, Switzerland. The olivine B-type fabric forms at low temperatures and/or high stress in the presence of water, and is of particular interest because it may be used to explain the trench-parallel shear-wave splitting that is often observed at subduction zones. In conjunction with the olivine B-type fabric, we have found strong orthopyroxene LPO that is identical to those formed under water-free conditions. This suggests that water may not have a significant effect on orthopyroxene fabric. From the olivine microstructure, we determine that a stress of 22 ± 8 MPa was applied during the deformation event that formed the olivine LPO. Using an olivine flow-law, and assuming geological strain-rates, we determine the temperature of deformation to be 800 ± 175°C. This does not preclude an ultra-deep origin for the ultramafic rocks at Cima di Gagnone, but indicates that much of the deformation recorded in the microstructure occurred at modest temperatures.

Primary observation on the effect of APBMV on tumor weight and general physical condition of hepatoma 22-bearing mice after radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kong Tianhan; Wei Ling; Han Xuefei; Dong Weihua

2000-01-01

Objective: To observe the effect of antineoplastic polypeptide from buthus martensii venom (APBMV) combined with radiotherapy on hepatoma-bearing mouse. Methods: Hundreds H22-bearing mice were used in this experiment. The tumor growth inhibiting rate (IR%), WBC count, hemoglobin content, activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), level of lipid peroxide (LPO) and spleens index (SI) were used as the parameters. After radiotherapy (RT) or after administration of different dosage of APBMV combined with RT, the changes of these parameters were observed. Results: On the 6th and 9th day after radiotherapy, the tumor weights decreased after administrating APBMV combined with RT, in which IR were 78.29% and 70.45%, respectively (comparing with RT and APBMV group, P 0.05) among all groups. SOD activity was the lowest and LPO level was the highest in RT group (comparing with the control group, P 22 -bearing mice, SOD activity increased and LPO level decreased evidently (comparing with RT group, P 22 was stronger than radiation or APBMV alone. APBMV can also antagonize radiation injury on H 22 -bearing mice

Study of palatal rugae pattern in gender identification

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Pooja Balgi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: The aim was to determine the gender differences in rugae pattern with regards to the length, number, and shape. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients (25 males, 25 females aged 30-50 years were randomly selected from the routine outpatient department at Sinhgad Dental College and Hospital. Maxillary impressions were made using alginate hydrocolloid and cast in dental stone. Palatal rugae pattern were then evaluated under the parameters such as length, number, and shape. Results: The association of rugae pattern (length, number, shape and the gender was analyzed using Chi-square test for qualitative variable and t-test for quantitative variable. The average length of the rugae was greater in males than in females. The average numbers of rugae were same in both males and females. Straight pattern was commonly seen in females than in males. Analysis showed significant difference with parameters like length and shape (straight pattern in both the males and females. Conclusion: As the analysis showed significant difference with the length and shape of rugae patterns in both males and females, rugoscopy, thereby could be an important tool for gender identification. The study will be continued with larger sample size to expand knowledge about gender differences in palatal rugae patterns.

Imaging patterns in elastofibroma dorsi

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battaglia, M.; Vanel, D.; Pollastri, P.; Balladelli, A.; Alberghini, M.; Staals, E.L.; Monti, C.; Galletti, S.

2009-01-01

Introduction: Elastofibroma dorsi is a rare pseudotumor of the soft tissues. Its clinico-radiologic characteristics lead to a correct diagnosis. Material and methods: We followed 43 patients with elastofibroma dorsi with a confirmed histological diagnosis or on the basis of typical imaging pattern (ultrasound, CT, MR) confirmed by evolution. Results: Elastofibroma is prevalent in females, its onset occurs around 60 years of age and is most frequently localized in the deep subscapular region (93%), bilateral in 54% of cases. In 7% it was found in an atypical isolated suprascapular region, in 7% it was synchronous to that in the subscapular region. Four ultrasound patterns were detected: Type I (54%) inhomogeneous fasciculated, Type II (22%) inhomogeneous aspecific, Type III (15%) hyperechogeneous, Type IV (9%) hypoechogeneous. Three patterns were detected at CT and MR: Type A (84%) inhomogeneous fasciculated corresponding to Types I and III and partially to Type II ultrasound pattern, Type B (8%) inhomogeneous aspecific corresponding to Type II ultrasound pattern; Type C (8%) homogeneous isodense or isointense to the muscle corresponding to Type IV ultrasound pattern. Conclusion: A solid, slow-growing lesion, in the deep periscapular region in females aged between 50 and 60 years, with a typical fasciculated pattern is pathognomonic of elastofibroma dorsi and bilateral location convalidates diagnosis. Ultrasound is sufficient to orientate diagnosis. CT and/or MR are reserved only for non-fasciculated ultrasound patterns, when site is atypical or in candidates for surgery. Biopsy is reserved only in cases where integrated imaging shows a non-fasciculated pattern to differentiate it from other malignant lesions.

Patterns - “A crime solver”

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasupriya, A; Dhanapal, Raghu; Reena, K; Saraswathi, TR; Ramachandran, CR

2011-01-01

Objective: This study is intended to analyze the predominant pattern of lip and finger prints in males and females and to correlate lip print and finger print for gender identity. Materials and Methods: The study sample comprised of 200 students of Vishnu Dental College, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, 100 males and 100 females aged between 18 to 27 years. Brown/pink colored lip stick was applied on the lips and the subject was asked to spread it uniformly over the lips. Lip prints were traced in the normal rest position of the lips with the help of cellophane tape. The imprint of the left thumb was taken on a white chart sheet and visualized using magnifying lens. While three main types of finger prints are identified, the classification of lip prints is simplified into branched, reticular, and vertical types. Association between lip prints and finger prints was statistically tested using Chi-square test. Results: This study showed that lip and finger patterns did not reveal statistically significant results within the gender. The correlation between lip and finger patterns for gender identification, was statistically significant. In males, branched type of lip pattern associated with arch, loop, and whorl type of finger pattern was most significant. In females, vertical lip pattern associated with arch finger pattern and reticular lip pattern associated with whorl finger patterns were most significant. Conclusion: We conclude that a correlative study between the lip print and finger print will be very useful in forensic science for gender identification. PMID:22022131

Imaging patterns in elastofibroma dorsi

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Battaglia, M. [Diagnostic Ultrasound, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via Pupilli 1, 40136 Bologna (Italy)], E-mail: milva.battaglia@ior.it; Vanel, D. [Bone Tumor Center, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna (Italy); Pollastri, P. [Diagnostic Ultrasound, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via Pupilli 1, 40136 Bologna (Italy); Balladelli, A. [Laboratory of Oncologic Research, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna (Italy); Alberghini, M. [Surgical Pathology, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna (Italy); Staals, E.L. [5th Orthopaedic Division, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna (Italy); Monti, C. [Radiology Department ' Casa Cura Madre Fortunata Toniolo' , Bologna (Italy); Galletti, S. [Diagnostic Ultrasound, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via Pupilli 1, 40136 Bologna (Italy)

2009-10-15

Introduction: Elastofibroma dorsi is a rare pseudotumor of the soft tissues. Its clinico-radiologic characteristics lead to a correct diagnosis. Material and methods: We followed 43 patients with elastofibroma dorsi with a confirmed histological diagnosis or on the basis of typical imaging pattern (ultrasound, CT, MR) confirmed by evolution. Results: Elastofibroma is prevalent in females, its onset occurs around 60 years of age and is most frequently localized in the deep subscapular region (93%), bilateral in 54% of cases. In 7% it was found in an atypical isolated suprascapular region, in 7% it was synchronous to that in the subscapular region. Four ultrasound patterns were detected: Type I (54%) inhomogeneous fasciculated, Type II (22%) inhomogeneous aspecific, Type III (15%) hyperechogeneous, Type IV (9%) hypoechogeneous. Three patterns were detected at CT and MR: Type A (84%) inhomogeneous fasciculated corresponding to Types I and III and partially to Type II ultrasound pattern, Type B (8%) inhomogeneous aspecific corresponding to Type II ultrasound pattern; Type C (8%) homogeneous isodense or isointense to the muscle corresponding to Type IV ultrasound pattern. Conclusion: A solid, slow-growing lesion, in the deep periscapular region in females aged between 50 and 60 years, with a typical fasciculated pattern is pathognomonic of elastofibroma dorsi and bilateral location convalidates diagnosis. Ultrasound is sufficient to orientate diagnosis. CT and/or MR are reserved only for non-fasciculated ultrasound patterns, when site is atypical or in candidates for surgery. Biopsy is reserved only in cases where integrated imaging shows a non-fasciculated pattern to differentiate it from other malignant lesions.

Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma of the lung showing mosaic pattern of inhomogeneous attenuation on thin-section CT: a case report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, In Jae; Kim, Sung Hwan; Koo, Soo Hyun; Kim, Hyun Beom; Hwang, Dae Hyun; Lee, Kwan Seop; Lee, Yul; Jang, Kee Taek; Kim, Duck Hwan

2000-01-01

The authors present a case of histologically proven bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma of the lung in a patient with primary Sjogren's syndrome that manifested on thin-section CT scan as a mosaic pattern of inhomogeneous attenuation due to mixed small airway and infiltrative abnormalities

A pattern theory of self

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Shaun eGallagher

2013-08-01

Full Text Available I argue for a pattern theory of self as a useful way to organize an interdisciplinary approach to discussions of what constitutes a self. According to the pattern theory, a self is constituted by a number of characteristic features or aspects that may include minimal embodied, minimal experiential, affective, intersubjective, psychological/cognitive, narrative, extended and situated aspects. A pattern theory of self helps to clarify various interpretations of self as compatible or commensurable instead of thinking them in opposition, and it helps to show how various aspects of self may be related across certain dimensions. I also suggest that a pattern theory of self can help to adjudicate (or at least map the differences between the idea that the self correlates to self-referential processing in the cortical midline structures of the brain and other narrower or wider conceptions of self.

Strain Pattern in Supercooled Liquids

Science.gov (United States)

Illing, Bernd; Fritschi, Sebastian; Hajnal, David; Klix, Christian; Keim, Peter; Fuchs, Matthias

2016-11-01

Investigations of strain correlations at the glass transition reveal unexpected phenomena. The shear strain fluctuations show an Eshelby-strain pattern [˜cos (4 θ ) /r2 ], characteristic of elastic response, even in liquids, at long times. We address this using a mode-coupling theory for the strain fluctuations in supercooled liquids and data from both video microscopy of a two-dimensional colloidal glass former and simulations of Brownian hard disks. We show that the long-ranged and long-lived strain signatures follow a scaling law valid close to the glass transition. For large enough viscosities, the Eshelby-strain pattern is visible even on time scales longer than the structural relaxation time τ and after the shear modulus has relaxed to zero.

[Dietary patterns in college freshmen and its relation to bone mineral density].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sufang; Mu, Min; Zhao, Yan; Wang, Xiaoqin; Shu, Long; Li, Qingyan; Li, Yingchun

2012-07-01

In order to investigate the bone density of freshmen, and to analyze the association between dietary pattern and bone mineral density (BMD). A questionnaire survey on the situation of dietary pattern was conducted in 1414 freshmen. Effective dietary survey questionnaires and bone mineral density measurements were completed for 1319 participants. Bone mass was assessed by using an Ultrasound Bone Densitometer on the right calcaneus (CM-200, Furuno Electric Corporation, Japan), and the speed of sound (SOS, m/s) was used as an indicator for bone density. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the dietary patterns. After adjusting for confounders, covariance with Bonferroni's was used to further examine the associations between dietary patterns and bone mineral density (BMD). (1) Four major dietary patterns were noticed. Western food pattern (high consumption in hamburger, fried food, nuts, biscuit, chocolate, cola, coffee, sugars). Animal protein pattern (high consumption in pork, mutton, beef, poultry meat, animal liver). Calcium pattern (high consumption in fresh fruits, eggs, fish and shrimps, kelp laver and sea fish, milk and dairy products, beans and bean products). Traditional Chinese pattern (high consumption in rice and grain, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, pork). (2) No association was observed between the western food pattern and bone mineral density. High animal protein pattern showed lower SOS value compared with low animal protein pattern. High calcium pattern showed higher SOS value compared with low calcium pattern. High traditional Chinese pattern showed higher SOS value compared with the low traditional Chinese pattern. Dietary patterns are closely related with bone mineral density (BMD) of freshmen.

Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma of the lung showing mosaic pattern of inhomogeneous attenuation on thin-section CT: a case report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, In Jae; Kim, Sung Hwan; Koo, Soo Hyun; Kim, Hyun Beom; Hwang, Dae Hyun; Lee, Kwan Seop; Lee, Yul; Jang, Kee Taek; Kim, Duck Hwan [Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang (Korea, Republic of)

2000-09-01

The authors present a case of histologically proven bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma of the lung in a patient with primary Sjogren's syndrome that manifested on thin-section CT scan as a mosaic pattern of inhomogeneous attenuation due to mixed small airway and infiltrative abnormalities.

Medicinal values of fruit peels from Citrus sinensis, Punica granatum, and Musa paradisiaca with respect to alterations in tissue lipid peroxidation and serum concentration of glucose, insulin, and thyroid hormones.

Science.gov (United States)

Parmar, Hamendra Singh; Kar, Anand

2008-06-01

Peel extracts from Citrus sinensis, Punica granatum, and Musa paradisiaca were investigated for their effects on tissue lipid peroxidation (LPO) and on the concentration of thyroid hormones, insulin, and glucose in male rats. In vitro inhibition of H(2)O(2)-induced LPO in red blood cells of rats by 0.25, 0.50, 1.0, and 2.0 microg/mL C. sinensis, P. granatum, and M. paradisiaca peel extracts was observed in a dose-specific manner. Maximum inhibition was observed at 0.50 microg/mL C. sinensis, 2.0 microg/mL P. granatum, and 1.0 microg/mL M. paradisiaca. In the in vivo investigation, out of four different concentrations of each peel extract, 25, 200, and 100 mg/kg C. sinensis, P. granatum, and M. paradisiaca, respectively, were found to maximally inhibit hepatic LPO. The most effective doses were further evaluated for effects on serum triiodothyronine (T(3)), thyroxine (T(4)), insulin, and glucose concentrations. C. sinensis exhibited antithyroidal, hypoglycemic, and insulin stimulatory activities, in addition to inhibition of LPO, as it significantly decreased the serum T(4) (P paradisiaca strongly inhibited the serum level of thyroid hormones (P < .01 for both T(3) and T(4)) but increased the level of glucose (P < .05). These findings reveal the hitherto unknown potential of the tested peel extracts in the regulation of thyroid function and glucose metabolism. Besides antiperoxidative activity, C. sinensis extract has antithyroidal, hypoglycemic, and insulin stimulatory properties, which suggest its potential to ameliorate both hyperthyroidism and diabetes mellitus.

Effect of altered arterial perfusion pressure on vascular conductance and muscle blood flow dynamic response during exercise in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Villar, Rodrigo; Hughson, Richard L

2013-03-01

Changes in vascular conductance (VC) are required to counter changes in muscle perfusion pressure (MPP) to maintain muscle blood flow (MBF) during exercise. We investigated the recruitment of VC as a function of peak VC measured in three body positions at two different work rates to test the hypothesis that adaptations in VC compensated changes in MPP at low-power output (LPO), but not at high-power output (HPO). Eleven healthy volunteers exercised at LPO and HPO (repeated plantar flexion contractions at 20-30% maximal voluntary contraction, respectively) in horizontal (HOR), 35° head-down tilt (HDT), and 45° head-up tilt (HUT). Muscle blood flow velocity and popliteal diameter were measured by ultrasound to determine MBF, and VC was estimated by dividing MBF flow by MPP. Peak VC was unaffected by body position. The rates of increase in MBF and VC were significantly faster in HUT and slower in HDT than HOR, and rates were faster in LPO than HPO. During LPO exercise, the increase in, and steady-state values of, MBF were less for HUT and HDT than HOR; the increase in VC was less in HUT than HOR and HDT. During HPO exercise, MBF in the HDT was reduced compared with HOR and HUT, even though VC reached 92% VC peak, which was greater than HOR, which was, in turn, greater than HUT. Reduced MBF during HPO HDT exercise had the functional consequence of a significant increase in muscle electromyographic index, revealing the effects of MPP on O2 delivery during exercise.

Procedural generation of aesthetic patterns from dynamics and iteration processes

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Gdawiec Krzysztof

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Aesthetic patterns are widely used nowadays, e.g., in jewellery design, carpet design, as textures and patterns on wallpapers, etc. Most of the work during the design stage is carried out by a designer manually. Therefore, it is highly useful to develop methods for aesthetic pattern generation. In this paper, we present methods for generating aesthetic patterns using the dynamics of a discrete dynamical system. The presented methods are based on the use of various iteration processes from fixed point theory (Mann, S, Noor, etc. and the application of an affine combination of these iterations. Moreover, we propose new convergence tests that enrich the obtained patterns. The proposed methods generate patterns in a procedural way and can be easily implemented on the GPU. The presented examples show that using the proposed methods we are able to obtain a variety of interesting patterns. Moreover, the numerical examples show that the use of the GPU implementation with shaders allows the generation of patterns in real time and the speed-up (compared with a CPU implementation ranges from about 1000 to 2500 times.

Involvement of apoptosis and autophagy in the death of RPMI 8226 multiple myeloma cells by two enantiomeric sigma receptor ligands.

Science.gov (United States)

Korpis, Katharina; Weber, Frauke; Brune, Stefanie; Wünsch, Bernhard; Bednarski, Patrick J

2014-01-01

Over-expression of σ receptors by many tumor cell lines makes ligands for these receptors attractive as potential chemotherapeutic drugs. Enantiomeric piperazines (S)-4 and (R)-4 were prepared as potential σ-receptor ligands in a chiral pool synthesis starting from (S)- and (R)-aspartate. Both compounds showed high affinities for the σ₁ and σ₂ receptors. In the human multiple myeloma cell line RPMI 8226, a line expressing high levels of σ receptors, both compounds inhibited cell proliferation with IC₅₀ values in the low μM range. No chiral differentiation between either the σ receptor binding affinity or the cytotoxicity of the two enantiomers was observed. Both compounds induced apoptosis, which was evidenced by nuclear condensation, binding of annexin-V to phosphatidylserine in the outer leaf of the cell membrane, cleavage products of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and caspase-8 as well as the expression of bcl₂ family members bax, bad and bid. However, apoptosis appeared to be caspase independent. Increased levels of the phosphorylated form of the microtubule associated protein light chain 3-II (LC3-II), an autophagosome marker, gave evidence that both compounds induced autophagy. However, further data (e.g., treatment with wortmannin) indicate that autophagy is incomplete and not cytoprotective. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) was observed in RPMI 8226 cells treated with the two compounds, and the lipid antioxidant α-tocopherol attenuated LPO. Interestingly, α-tocopherol reduced significantly both apoptosis and autophagy induced by the compounds. These results provide evidence that, by initiating LPO and changes in mitochondrial membrane potential, both compounds induce apoptosis and autophagy in RPMI 8226 cells. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methyl-parathion decreases sperm function and fertilization capacity after targeting spermatocytes and maturing spermatozoa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pina-Guzman, B.; Sanchez-Gutierrez, M.; Marchetti, F.; Hernandez-Ochoa, I.; Solis-Heredia, M.J.; Quintanilla-Vega, B.

2009-01-01

Paternal germline exposure to organophosphorous pesticides (OP) has been associated with reproductive failures and adverse effects in the offspring. Methyl-parathion (Me-Pa), a worldwide-used OP, has reproductive adverse effects and is genotoxic to sperm, possibly via oxidative damage. This study investigated the stages of spermatogenesis susceptible to be targeted by Me-Pa exposure that impact on spermatozoa function and their ability to fertilize. Male mice were exposed to Me-Pa (20 mg/kg bw, i.p.) and spermatozoa from epididymis-vas deferens were collected at 7 or 28 days post-treatment (dpt) to assess the effects on maturing spermatozoa and spermatocytes, respectively. Spermatozoa were examined for DNA damage by nick translation (NT-positive cells) and SCSA (%DFI), lipoperoxidation (LPO) by malondialdehyde production, sperm function by spontaneous- and induced-acrosome reactions (AR), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) by using the JC-1 fluorochrome, and fertilization ability by an in vitro assay and in vivo mating. Alterations on DNA integrity (%DFI and NT-positive cells) in spermatozoa collected at 7 and 28 dpt, and decreases in sperm quality and induced-AR were observed; reduced MMP and LPO were observed at 7 dpt only. Negative correlations between LPO and sperm alterations were found. Altered sperm functional parameters evaluated either in vitro or in vivo were associated with reduced fertilization rates at both times. These results show that Me-Pa exposure of maturing spermatozoa and spermatocytes affects many sperm functional parameters that result in a decreased fertilizing capacity. Oxidative stress seems to be a likely mechanism of the detrimental effects of Me-Pa exposure in male germ cells.

Histopathological and biochemical evidence of hepatopancreatic toxicity caused by cadmium in white shrimp, Palaemonetes argentinus.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiodi Boudet, L N; Polizzi, P; Romero, M B; Robles, A; Marcovecchio, J E; Gerpe, M S

2015-03-01

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most common pollutants in the environment and induces a range of tissue changes or damages and organ dysfunction. The histopathological effects of Cd and lipid peroxidation (LPO) on hepatopancreas of the freshwater shrimp, Palaemonetes argentinus, were studied. Shrimp were obtained from two lagoons with contrasting environmental quality, De los Padres (LP, impacted site) and Nahuel Rucá (NR, reference site), and were exposed to 3.06 and 12.24µgCdL(-1) for 3, 7, 10 and 15 days. The health status of both populations was also evaluated by histological analysis of control individuals. After exposure, shrimp were transferred to clean water for 28 days to evaluate the recuperation capacity of hepatopancreas. Control shrimp from NR exhibited a normal hepatopancreas structure; unlike control shrimp from LP which showed several alterations. These results were attributed to the different environmental quality of lagoons. The exposure to Cd resulted in several alterations in the histological structure of the hepatopancreas of both populations. The observed alterations included haemocytic and connective infiltrations in the intertubular space, erosioned microvilli, ripple of basal lamina, atrophied epithelium and necrosis, however, the latter was only observed in shrimp from LP. The exposure also caused an increase of LPO levels in both populations. P. argentinus was able to repair the hepatopancreas structure from the damage caused by Cd, evidenced by the histopathological results and LPO levels. Obtained results are indicating that the histological analysis of the hepatopancreas proved to be a highly sensitive method for evaluating water quality, in both environmental and laboratory conditions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the clouds to the ground - snow precipitation patterns vs. snow accumulation patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Gerber, Franziska; Besic, Nikola; Mott, Rebecca; Gabella, Marco; Germann, Urs; Bühler, Yves; Marty, Mauro; Berne, Alexis; Lehning, Michael

2017-04-01

patterns show a snowfall gradient consistent with the prevailing wind direction. Deriving snow accumulation based on radar data is challenging as the close-ground precipitation patters cannot be resolved by the radar due to shielding and ground clutter in highly complex terrain. Nonetheless, radar measurements show distinct patterns of snowfall and accumulation, which may be the result of orographic enhancement. Station-based snow accumulation measurements are in reasonable agreement with the estimated large-scale radar snow accumulation. The ADS-based snow accumulation maps feature much smaller scale snow accumulation patterns likely due to close-ground wind effects and snow redistribution on top of an altitudinal gradient. To evaluate microphysical processes and patterns influenced by the topography we run a hydrometeor classification on the radar data. The relative importance of topographically induced effects on snow accumulation patterns is investigated based on vertical cross sections of hydrometeor data and corresponding snow accumulation.

Liver histological changes and lipid peroxidation in the amphibian Ambystoma mexicanum induced by sediment elutriates from the Lake Xochimilco.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortiz-Ordoñez, Esperanza; López-López, Eugenia; Sedeño-Díaz, Jacinto Elías; Uría, Esther; Morales, Ignacio Andrés; Pérez, María Estela; Shibayama, Mineko

2016-08-01

Lacustrine sediments accumulate pollutants that input from the lake watershed and can be released to the water column by sediment resuspension; thus, pollutants can change their bioavailability and exert adverse effects to aquatic biota. Shallow-urban lakes are particularly susceptible to receive pollutants from urban discharges and sediment resuspension. Lake Xochimilco, in Mexico City, an urban-shallow lake, faces multiple problems: urban sprawl, overexploitation of aquifers, drying of springs, discharge of wastewater from treatment plants, and sediment resuspension. The aquatic biota living in this ecosystem is continuously exposed to the release of pollutants from the sediments. We assessed the risk that pollutants released from sediments from Lake Xochimilco, Touristic (TZ) and Agriculture zone (AZ), can exert on a native amphibian species of the lake (Ambystoma mexicanum) through exposure bioassays to sediment elutriates. We evaluate alterations in the amphibian by three approaches: biochemical (level of lipid peroxidation, LPO), cellular (ultrastructure) and the liver histology of A. mexicanum and we compare them with a batch control. Additionally, we assessed heavy metals (Pb, Cd and Hg) in elutriates. Elutriates from TZ showed the highest concentrations of the metals assessed. Organisms exposed to sediment elutriates from either study sites showed higher LPO values than control organisms (pXochimilco. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Faraday instability on patterned surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Jie; Rubinstein, Gregory; Jacobi, Ian; Stone, Howard

2013-11-01

We show how micro-scale surface patterning can be used to control the onset of the Faraday instability in thin liquid films. It is well known that when a liquid film on a planar substrate is subject to sufficient vibrational accelerations, the free surface destabilizes, exhibiting a family of non-linear standing waves. This instability remains a canonical problem in the study of spontaneous pattern formation, but also has practical uses. For example, the surface waves induced by the Faraday instability have been studied as a means of enhanced damping for mechanical vibrations (Genevaux et al. 2009). Also the streaming within the unstable layer has been used as a method for distributing heterogeneous cell cultures on growth medium (Takagi et al. 2002). In each of these applications, the roughness of the substrate significantly affects the unstable flow field. We consider the effect of patterned substrates on the onset and behavior of the Faraday instability over a range of pattern geometries and feature heights where the liquid layer is thicker than the pattern height. Also, we describe a physical model for the influence of patterned roughness on the destabilization of a liquid layer in order to improve the design of practical systems which exploit the Faraday instability.

Nonlinear effects on Turing patterns: Time oscillations and chaos

KAUST Repository

Aragón, J. L.

2012-08-08

We show that a model reaction-diffusion system with two species in a monostable regime and over a large region of parameter space produces Turing patterns coexisting with a limit cycle which cannot be discerned from the linear analysis. As a consequence, the patterns oscillate in time. When varying a single parameter, a series of bifurcations leads to period doubling, quasiperiodic, and chaotic oscillations without modifying the underlying Turing pattern. A Ruelle-Takens-Newhouse route to chaos is identified. We also examine the Turing conditions for obtaining a diffusion-driven instability and show that the patterns obtained are not necessarily stationary for certain values of the diffusion coefficients. These results demonstrate the limitations of the linear analysis for reaction-diffusion systems. © 2012 American Physical Society.

G ∘ F Patterns

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2017-01-01

The book of design patterns known as Gang of Four has been a kind of Bible for all the developers of my generation. Its main pro has been giving us a common vocabulary: when a programmer says “here I used a strategy pattern” all colleagues know of what he is speaking about. Nevertheless the biggest issue with this is that almost all patterns listed in that book, especially the behavioural ones, are a only workaround for a missing abstraction: higher order functions. The introduction of lambda expressions in Java 8 finally allows all Java developers to remove this no longer necessary and cumbersome object oriented infrastructure from their code. The purpose of this talk is showing, through a series of live coding examples, how the most common GoF patterns can be rethought and reimplemented in a simpler and more concise functional way leveraging Java 8 lambdas.

Faune-Aquitaine : portail collaboratif sur la biodiversité régionale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jérémiah Liger

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Le site www.faune-aquitaine.org fait partie du projet national Visionature (www.ornitho.fr. Ce site est géré par la Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux en Aquitaine (LPO-Aquitaine, une association à but non-lucratif dédiée à la protection de la biodiversité et particulièrement des oiseaux dans la région Aquitaine. Elle est le représentant régional de la LPO nationale et de BirdLife International. Faune-Aquitaine est un site de collecte et de diffusion des observations d’oiseaux, de mammifères (...

Prevalence and Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Panton-Valentine ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec typing by two standard multiplex PCR assay, revealed an uncharacterized resistance element. Overall antibiotic susceptibility pattern showed relatively high degree of susceptibility,however 1 isolate demostrated multidrug resistant pattern, 37(74.0%)resistant to only penicillin, 5 to ...

Tumor regression patterns in retinoblastoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zafar, S.N.; Siddique, S.N.; Zaheer, N.

2016-01-01

To observe the types of tumor regression after treatment, and identify the common pattern of regression in our patients. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from October 2011 to October 2014. Methodology: Children with unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma were included in the study. Patients were referred to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, for chemotherapy. After every cycle of chemotherapy, dilated funds examination under anesthesia was performed to record response of the treatment. Regression patterns were recorded on RetCam II. Results: Seventy-four tumors were included in the study. Out of 74 tumors, 3 were ICRB group A tumors, 43 were ICRB group B tumors, 14 tumors belonged to ICRB group C, and remaining 14 were ICRB group D tumors. Type IV regression was seen in 39.1% (n=29) tumors, type II in 29.7% (n=22), type III in 25.6% (n=19), and type I in 5.4% (n=4). All group A tumors (100%) showed type IV regression. Seventeen (39.5%) group B tumors showed type IV regression. In group C, 5 tumors (35.7%) showed type II regression and 5 tumors (35.7%) showed type IV regression. In group D, 6 tumors (42.9%) regressed to type II non-calcified remnants. Conclusion: The response and success of the focal and systemic treatment, as judged by the appearance of different patterns of tumor regression, varies with the ICRB grouping of the tumor. (author)

MRI enhancing patterns of non-meningioma meningeal lesions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tao Xiaofeng; Ding Juan; Xiao Xiangsheng; Shi Zengru; Yu Hong; Gu Qian

2004-01-01

Objective: To analyze the MRI appearances of meningeal diseases and to study MRI diagnostic value of enhancing patterns in different meningeal processes. Methods: Sixty-one patients with integrated clinical data, including 27 infectious meningitis, 4 inflammatory meningitis (2 eosinophilic granuloma, 1 Wegener granuloma, and 1 unknown etiological factor), 12 meningeal metastasis, 2 meningeal lymphoma, 8 cerebrovascular disease, and 8 postoperative changes, were reviewed retrospectively. All patients were examined on MRI before and after contrast administration. Results: (1) MR plain scan: positive findings of plain scan were revealed in only 3 cases, including 1 linear meningeal thickening pattern and 2 nodular pattern. (2) MR enhancement: All cases showed 3 kinds of enhancing patterns: 19 dural-arachnoid pattern, 32 pia-arachnoid pattern, and 10 total meninges pattern, respectively. Conclusion: Different meningeal diseases have different MR imaging manifestations. Creating the enhancement patterns of various diseases can have great clinical significance. (authors)

Pattern dynamics of the reaction-diffusion immune system.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Qianqian; Shen, Jianwei; Wang, Zhijie

2018-01-01

In this paper, we will investigate the effect of diffusion, which is ubiquitous in nature, on the immune system using a reaction-diffusion model in order to understand the dynamical behavior of complex patterns and control the dynamics of different patterns. Through control theory and linear stability analysis of local equilibrium, we obtain the optimal condition under which the system loses stability and a Turing pattern occurs. By combining mathematical analysis and numerical simulation, we show the possible patterns and how these patterns evolve. In addition, we establish a bridge between the complex patterns and the biological mechanism using the results from a previous study in Nature Cell Biology. The results in this paper can help us better understand the biological significance of the immune system.

Temporal sleep patterns in adults using actigraph

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lia Matuzaki

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to characterize the temporal patterns of sleep and wakefulness in a sample of the adult subjects from São Paulo city. All subjects filled the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ and wore an actigraph for at least three consecutive days. A total of 359 subjects were considered for the analyses. The mean age was 43±14 years, the mean body mass index was 26.7±5.7 kg/m2, and 60% were female. The mean MEQ score was 58.0±10.7. The sleep pattern evaluated by the actigraphic analyses showed that 92% had a monophasic sleep pattern, 7% biphasic, and 1% polyphasic sleep pattern. Cluster analysis, based on time to sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, and total sleep time, was able to identify three different groups denominated: morning type, evening type, and undefined type. Morning type subjects were more frequent, older, and had higher MEQ scores than evening type subjects. Our results showed that the actigraph objectively assessed the sleep-wake cycle and was able to discriminate between morning and evening type individuals. These findings suggest that the actigraph could be a valuable tool for assessing temporal sleep patterns, including the circadian preferences.

Tracking code patterns over multiple software versions with Herodotos

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palix, Nicolas Jean-Michel; Lawall, Julia; Muller, Gilles

2010-01-01

An important element of understanding a software code base is to identify the repetitive patterns of code it contains and how these evolve over time. Some patterns are useful to the software, and may be modularized. Others are detrimental to the software, such as patterns that represent defects...... pattern occurrences over multiple versions of a software project, independent of other changes in the source files. Guided by a user-provided configuration file, Herodotos builds various graphs showing the evolution of the pattern occurrences and computes some statistics. We have evaluated this approach...

The show cave of Diros vs. wild caves of Peloponnese, Greece - distribution patterns of Cyanobacteria

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Vasiliki Lamprinou

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The karst cave ‘Vlychada’of Diros, one of the oldest show caves in Peloponnese, sustains extended phototrophic biofilms on various substrata – on rocks inside the cave including speleothems, and especially near the artificial lighting installation (‘Lampenflora’. After a survey of the main abiotic parameters (Photosynthetically Active Radiation -PAR, Temperature -T, Relative Humidity -RH, Carbon Dioxide -CO2 three clusters of sampling sites were revealed according to Principal Component Analysis (PCA: i the water gallery section predominately influenced by CO2, ii the dry passages influenced by RH and PAR, and iii the area by the cave exit at the dry section influenced by temperature. The collected samples from the water gallery section and the dry passages of the cave revealed a total of 43 taxa of Cyanobacteria, with the unicellular/colonial forms being the most abundant. The applied non-metric Multi-dimensional Scaling Ordination (nMDS of the cumulative species composition showed a clear distinction between the water gallery section and the dry passages of the cave. Further comparison with previous data from other wild caves of Peloponnese (‘Kastria’, ‘Francthi’, and ‘Selinitsa’ was conducted revealing a distinction between the show cave and the wild ones. Apart from the human impact on cave ecosystems – through aesthetic alteration (‘greening’ of cave decorations by the ‘Lampenflora’, and by the cleaning treatments and restoration projects on the speleothems – identification of the organisms constituting the ‘Lampenflora’ might provide taxonomically and ecologically significant taxa.

Socio-economic status and ethnicity are independently associated with dietary patterns: the HELIUS-Dietary Patterns study

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Louise H. Dekker

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Differences in dietary patterns between ethnic groups have often been observed. These differences may partially be a reflection of differences in socio-economic status (SES or may be the result of differences in the direction and strength of the association between SES and diet. Objective: We aimed to examine ethnic differences in dietary patterns and the role of socio-economic indicators on dietary patterns within a multi-ethnic population. Design: Cross-sectional multi-ethnic population-based study. Setting: Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Subjects: Principal component analysis was used to identify dietary patterns among Dutch (n=1,254, South Asian Surinamese (n=425, and African Surinamese (n=784 participants. Levels of education and occupation were used to indicate SES. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between ethnicity and dietary pattern scores first and then between socio-economic indicators and dietary patterns within and between ethnic groups. Results: ‘Noodle/rice dishes and white meat’, ‘red meat, snacks, and sweets’ and ‘vegetables, fruit and nuts’ patterns were identified. Compared to the Dutch origin participants, Surinamese more closely adhered to the ‘noodle/rice dishes and white meat’ pattern which was characterized by foods consumed in a ‘traditional Surinamese diet’. Closer adherence to the other two patterns was observed among Dutch compared to Surinamese origin participants. Ethnic differences in dietary patterns persisted within strata of education and occupation. Surinamese showed greater adherence to a ‘traditional’ pattern independent of SES. Among Dutch participants, a clear socio-economic gradient in all dietary patterns was observed. Such a gradient was only present among Surinamese dietary oatterns to the ‘vegetables, fruit and nuts’ pattern. Conclusions: We found a selective change in the adherence to dietary patterns among Surinamese origin

Fringe pattern denoising via image decomposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Shujun; Zhang, Caiming

2012-02-01

Filtering off noise from a fringe pattern is one of the key tasks in optical interferometry. In this Letter, using some suitable function spaces to model different components of a fringe pattern, we propose a new fringe pattern denoising method based on image decomposition. In our method, a fringe image is divided into three parts: low-frequency fringe, high-frequency fringe, and noise, which are processed in different spaces. An adaptive threshold in wavelet shrinkage involved in this algorithm improves its denoising performance. Simulation and experimental results show that our algorithm obtains smooth and clean fringes with different frequencies while preserving fringe features effectively.

Random walk-based similarity measure method for patterns in complex object

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Shihu

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the similarity of the patterns in complex objects. The complex object is composed both of the attribute information of patterns and the relational information between patterns. Bearing in mind the specificity of complex object, a random walk-based similarity measurement method for patterns is constructed. In this method, the reachability of any two patterns with respect to the relational information is fully studied, and in the case of similarity of patterns with respect to the relational information can be calculated. On this bases, an integrated similarity measurement method is proposed, and algorithms 1 and 2 show the performed calculation procedure. One can find that this method makes full use of the attribute information and relational information. Finally, a synthetic example shows that our proposed similarity measurement method is validated.

Patterning pentacene surfaces by local oxidation nanolithography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Losilla, N.S.; Martinez, J.; Bystrenova, E.; Greco, P.; Biscarini, F.; Garcia, R.

2010-01-01

Sequential and parallel local oxidation nanolithographies have been applied to pattern pentacene samples by creating a variety of nanostructures. The sequential local oxidation process is performed with an atomic force microscope and requires the application of a sequence of voltage pulses of 36 V for 1 ms. The parallel local oxidation process is performed by using a conductive and patterned stamp. Then, a voltage pulse is applied between the stamp and the pentacene surface. Patterns formed by arrays of parallel lines covering 1 mm 2 regions and with a periodicity of less than 1 μm have been generated in a few seconds. We also show that the patterns can be used as templates for the deposition of antibodies.

Large-Scale Patterns in a Minimal Cognitive Flocking Model: Incidental Leaders, Nematic Patterns, and Aggregates

Science.gov (United States)

Barberis, Lucas; Peruani, Fernando

2016-12-01

We study a minimal cognitive flocking model, which assumes that the moving entities navigate using the available instantaneous visual information exclusively. The model consists of active particles, with no memory, that interact by a short-ranged, position-based, attractive force, which acts inside a vision cone (VC), and lack velocity-velocity alignment. We show that this active system can exhibit—due to the VC that breaks Newton's third law—various complex, large-scale, self-organized patterns. Depending on parameter values, we observe the emergence of aggregates or millinglike patterns, the formation of moving—locally polar—files with particles at the front of these structures acting as effective leaders, and the self-organization of particles into macroscopic nematic structures leading to long-ranged nematic order. Combining simulations and nonlinear field equations, we show that position-based active models, as the one analyzed here, represent a new class of active systems fundamentally different from other active systems, including velocity-alignment-based flocking systems. The reported results are of prime importance in the study, interpretation, and modeling of collective motion patterns in living and nonliving active systems.

Children with dyslexia show cortical hyperactivation in response to increasing literacy processing demands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frøydis eMorken

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This fMRI study aimed to examine how differences in literacy processing demands may affect cortical activation patterns in 11- to 12-year-old children with dyslexia as compared to children with typical reading skills. 11 children with and 18 without dyslexia were assessed using a reading paradigm based on different stages of literacy development. In the analyses, six regions showed an interaction effect between group and condition in a factorial ANOVA. These regions were selected as regions of interest for further analyses. Overall, the dyslexia group showed cortical hyperactivation compared to the typical group. The difference between the groups tended to increase with increasing processing demands. Differences in cortical activation were not reflected in in-scanner reading performance. The six regions further grouped into three patterns, which are discussed in terms of processing demands, compensatory mechanisms, orthography and contextual facilitation. We conclude that the observed hyperactivation is chiefly a result of compensatory activity, modulated by other factors.

Three-dimensional recurring patterns in excitable media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biton, Y.; Rabinovitch, A.; Braunstein, D.; Friedman, M.; Aviram, I.

2011-01-01

A new method to create three-dimensional periodic patterns in excitable media is presented. The method is demonstrated and the patterns are obtained with the help of two types of 3D 'spiral pairs' generators, which are respectively based on a 'corner effect' and a 'unidirectional propagation' processes. The results portray time-repeating patterns resembling fruits or potteries. The method is easy to implement and can be used to form other types of 3D patterns in excitable media. The question of periodicity of the patterns thus obtained is resolved by calculating the singular lines (filaments) around which they evolve and showing their unique reattachment property. Actual realizations could be conceived e.g. in chemical reactions such as Belousov-Zhabotinsky. Possible severe cardiac arrhythmias following the appearance of such patterns in the action potential of the heart are considered. -- Highlights: → New method to create three-dimensional periodic patterns in excitable media. → Singular lines (filaments) for the corner effect are presented. → Filaments are shown to exhibit periodic behavior.

Concept of a data base for signal patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olma, B.

1985-01-01

The many requirements made on the storage, administration and handling of signal patterns of stationary random signal patterns and multi-channel transient signal patterns are discussed. For the field of loose part detection, the concept of a data base is presented for structure-borne noise burst patterns. Chapter 2 describes the measuring principle of structure-borne noise monitoring. Chapter 3 gives a summary of the requirements made on the automation of measured data recording; chapter 4 compiles requirements made on the data base. Chapter 5 describes the concept developed for a burst pattern data base; chapter 6 shows the organization of the data base, and chapter 7 reflects the present state of application. (orig./HP) [de

Running Improves Pattern Separation during Novel Object Recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolz, Leoni; Heigele, Stefanie; Bischofberger, Josef

2015-10-09

Running increases adult neurogenesis and improves pattern separation in various memory tasks including context fear conditioning or touch-screen based spatial learning. However, it is unknown whether pattern separation is improved in spontaneous behavior, not emotionally biased by positive or negative reinforcement. Here we investigated the effect of voluntary running on pattern separation during novel object recognition in mice using relatively similar or substantially different objects.We show that running increases hippocampal neurogenesis but does not affect object recognition memory with 1.5 h delay after sample phase. By contrast, at 24 h delay, running significantly improves recognition memory for similar objects, whereas highly different objects can be distinguished by both, running and sedentary mice. These data show that physical exercise improves pattern separation, independent of negative or positive reinforcement. In sedentary mice there is a pronounced temporal gradient for remembering object details. In running mice, however, increased neurogenesis improves hippocampal coding and temporally preserves distinction of novel objects from familiar ones.

A proposed heuristic methodology for searching reloading pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, K. Y.; Yoon, Y. K.

1993-01-01

A new heuristic method for loading pattern search has been developed to overcome shortcomings of the algorithmic approach. To reduce the size of vast solution space, general shuffling rules, a regionwise shuffling method, and a pattern grouping method were introduced. The entropy theory was applied to classify possible loading patterns into groups with similarity between them. The pattern search program was implemented with use of the PROLOG language. A two-group nodal code MEDIUM-2D was used for analysis of power distribution in the core. The above mentioned methodology has been tested to show effectiveness in reducing of solution space down to a few hundred pattern groups. Burnable poison rods were then arranged in each pattern group in accordance with burnable poison distribution rules, which led to further reduction of the solution space to several scores of acceptable pattern groups. The method of maximizing cycle length (MCL) and minimizing power-peaking factor (MPF) were applied to search for specific useful loading patterns from the acceptable pattern groups. Thus, several specific loading patterns that have low power-peaking factor and large cycle length were successfully searched from the selected pattern groups. (Author)

Pattern formation in superdiffusion Oregonator model

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Fan; Yan, Jia; Liu, Fu-Cheng; He, Ya-Feng

2016-10-01

Pattern formations in an Oregonator model with superdiffusion are studied in two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulations. Stability analyses are performed by applying Fourier and Laplace transforms to the space fractional reaction-diffusion systems. Antispiral, stable turing patterns, and travelling patterns are observed by changing the diffusion index of the activator. Analyses of Floquet multipliers show that the limit cycle solution loses stability at the wave number of the primitive vector of the travelling hexagonal pattern. We also observed a transition between antispiral and spiral by changing the diffusion index of the inhibitor. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11205044 and 11405042), the Research Foundation of Education Bureau of Hebei Province, China (Grant Nos. Y2012009 and ZD2015025), the Program for Young Principal Investigators of Hebei Province, China, and the Midwest Universities Comprehensive Strength Promotion Project.

Analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in the genus Rhizobium.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xinxin; Wu, Liang; Zhou, Ping; Zhu, Shengfeng; An, Wei; Chen, Yu; Zhao, Lin

2013-11-01

The codon usage patterns of rhizobia have received increasing attention. However, little information is available regarding the conserved features of the codon usage patterns in a typical rhizobial genus. The codon usage patterns of six completely sequenced strains belonging to the genus Rhizobium were analysed as model rhizobia in the present study. The relative neutrality plot showed that selection pressure played a role in codon usage in the genus Rhizobium. Spearman's rank correlation analysis combined with correspondence analysis (COA) showed that the codon adaptation index and the effective number of codons (ENC) had strong correlation with the first axis of the COA, which indicated the important role of gene expression level and the ENC in the codon usage patterns in this genus. The relative synonymous codon usage of Cys codons had the strongest correlation with the second axis of the COA. Accordingly, the usage of Cys codons was another important factor that shaped the codon usage patterns in Rhizobium genomes and was a conserved feature of the genus. Moreover, the comparison of codon usage between highly and lowly expressed genes showed that 20 unique preferred codons were shared among Rhizobium genomes, revealing another conserved feature of the genus. This is the first report of the codon usage patterns in the genus Rhizobium.

Capacitance enhancement via electrode patterning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ho, Tuan A.; Striolo, Alberto

2013-01-01

The necessity of increasing the energy density in electric double layer capacitors to meet current demand is fueling fundamental and applied research alike. We report here molecular dynamics simulation results for aqueous electrolytes near model electrodes. Particular focus is on the effect of electrode patterning on the structure of interfacial electrolytes, and on the potential drop between the solid electrodes and the bulk electrolytes. The latter is estimated by numerically integrating the Poisson equation using the charge densities due to water and ions accumulated near the interface as input. We considered uniform and patterned electrodes, both positively and negatively charged. The uniformly charged electrodes are modeled as graphite. The patterned ones are obtained by removing carbon atoms from the top-most graphene layer, yielding nanoscopic squares and stripes patterns. For simplicity, the patterned electrodes are effectively simulated as insulators (the charge remains localized on the top-most layer of carbon atoms). Our simulations show that the patterns alter the structure of water and the accumulation of ions at the liquid-solid interfaces. Using aqueous NaCl solutions, we found that while the capacitance calculated for three positively charged electrodes did not change much, that calculated for the negatively charged electrodes significantly increased upon patterning. We find that both water structure and orientation, as well as ion accumulation affect the capacitance. As electrode patterning affects differently water structure and ion accumulation, it might be possible to observe ion-specific effects. These results could be useful for advancing our understanding of electric double layer capacitors, capacitive desalination processes, as well as of fundamental interfacial electrolytes properties

Work-related behaviour and experience patterns of physicians compared to other professions.

Science.gov (United States)

Voltmer, Edgar; Kieschke, Ulf; Spahn, Claudia

2007-08-11

To identify health risk factors and resources of physicians in comparison with other professions. Data of cross-sectional mail surveys conducted among German physicians (n = 344), teachers (n = 5169), policemen (n = 851), prison officers (n = 3653), and starting entrepreneurs (n = 632) were analysed regarding eleven health-relevant dimensions and four behaviour patterns examined by the questionnaire "Work-Related Behaviour and Experience Pattern (AVEM)". Only 17% of the physicians showed healthy behaviour and experience patterns. With 43%, they scored highest in terms of reduced working motivation. Together with the teachers, they also had the highest scores for resignation and burnout (27%). Satisfaction with life and work as well as social support showed medium scores. Starting entrepreneurs showed the healthiest patterns (45%), but also the highest risk pattern for overexertion (38%). It was possible to identify clear risk patterns for profession-related psychosocial symptoms and impairments. The high scores for reduced working motivation demonstrate the need for interventions to improve organisation of health care and individual coping strategies.

Food expenditure patterns in the Canadian Arctic show cause for concern for obesity and chronic disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Pakseresht, Mohammadreza; Lang, Rosalyn; Rittmueller, Stacey; Roache, Cindy; Sheehy, Tony; Batal, Malek; Corriveau, Andre; Sharma, Sangita

2014-04-17

Little is understood about the economic factors that have influenced the nutrition transition from traditional to store-bought foods that are typically high in fat and sugar amongst people living in the Canadian Arctic. This study aims to determine the pattern of household food expenditure in the Canadian Arctic. Local food prices were collected over 12 months in six communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Dietary intake data were collected from 441 adults using a validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Money spent on six food groups was calculated along with the cost of energy and selected nutrients per person. Participants spent approximately 10% of total food expenditure on each of the food groups of fruit/vegetables, grains and potatoes, and dairy, 17% on traditional meats (e.g. caribou, goose, char, and seal liver), and 20% on non-traditional meats (e.g. beef, pork, chicken, fish, and processed meats). Non-nutrient-dense foods (NNDF) accounted for 34% of food expenditure. Younger participants (<30 years) spent more on NNDF and less on traditional meats compared with the older age groups. Participants with higher levels of formal education spent more on fruit and vegetables and less on traditional meats, when compared with participants with lower levels of formal education. Participants spent most household income on NNDF, a possible consequence of generation discrepancy between younger and older participants. The tendency toward NNDF, particularly among youth, should be addressed with an assessment of predictive factors and the development of targeted approaches to population-based interventions.

Patterns of 11C-PIB cerebral retention in mild cognitive impairment patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Banzo, I; Jiménez-Bonilla, J F; Martínez-Rodríguez, I; Quirce, R; de Arcocha-Torres, M; Bravo-Ferrer, Z; Lavado-Pérez, C; Sánchez-Juan, P; Rodríguez, E; Jiménez-Alonso, M; López-Defilló, J; Carril, J M

2016-01-01

To evaluate the patterns of cerebral cortical distribution of (11)C-PIB in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The study included 69 patients (37 male, age range 42-79 years) with MCI, sub-classified as 53 with amnestic-MCI (A-MCI), and 16 with non-amnestic-MCI (NA-MCI). Patients underwent (11)C-PIB PET/CT scan 60min after intravenous injection of the radiotracer. A visual analysis of the images was performed by 2 experienced physicians. (11)C-PIB-positive studies were considered when gray matter uptake was equal to or greater than white matter. According to the regions involved, (11)C-PIB-positive studies were classified into A-pattern (predominant retention in frontal, anterior cingulate, lateral temporal, and basal ganglia) and B-pattern (generalized retention). Thirty-nine of the 69 (56%) patients with MCI showed (11)C-PIB retention. Of the 53 A-MCI patients, 36 (68%) showed (11)C-PIB retention. Eleven out of 36 (30%) positive scans in A-MCI patients showed A-pattern, and 25 out of 36 (70%) patients had a B-pattern. Positive (11)C-PIB was observed in 3 out of 16 (19%) patients with NA-MCI. Regional distribution in these 3 patients showed A-pattern in 1, and B-pattern in 2 patients. Cortical retention of (11)C-PIB was more frequent in A-MCI than in NA-MCI patients, and also B-pattern than A-pattern in the (11)C-PIB positive group. The recognition of (11)C-PIB distribution patterns allows MCI patients to be classified, and the A-pattern may offer a therapeutic window for potential future treatments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and SEMNIM. All rights reserved.

Distance-dependent pattern blending can camouflage salient aposematic signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, James B; Cuthill, Innes C; Scott-Samuel, Nicholas E

2017-07-12

The effect of viewing distance on the perception of visual texture is well known: spatial frequencies higher than the resolution limit of an observer's visual system will be summed and perceived as a single combined colour. In animal defensive colour patterns, distance-dependent pattern blending may allow aposematic patterns, salient at close range, to match the background to distant observers. Indeed, recent research has indicated that reducing the distance from which a salient signal can be detected can increase survival over camouflage or conspicuous aposematism alone. We investigated whether the spatial frequency of conspicuous and cryptically coloured stripes affects the rate of avian predation. Our results are consistent with pattern blending acting to camouflage salient aposematic signals effectively at a distance. Experiments into the relative rate of avian predation on edible model caterpillars found that increasing spatial frequency (thinner stripes) increased survival. Similarly, visual modelling of avian predators showed that pattern blending increased the similarity between caterpillar and background. These results show how a colour pattern can be tuned to reveal or conceal different information at different distances, and produce tangible survival benefits. © 2017 The Author(s).

Pattern optimizing verification of self-align quadruple patterning

Science.gov (United States)

Yamato, Masatoshi; Yamada, Kazuki; Oyama, Kenichi; Hara, Arisa; Natori, Sakurako; Yamauchi, Shouhei; Koike, Kyohei; Yaegashi, Hidetami

2017-03-01

Lithographic scaling continues to advance by extending the life of 193nm immersion technology, and spacer-type multi-patterning is undeniably the driving force behind this trend. Multi-patterning techniques such as self-aligned double patterning (SADP) and self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) have come to be used in memory devices, and they have also been adopted in logic devices to create constituent patterns in the formation of 1D layout designs. Multi-patterning has consequently become an indispensible technology in the fabrication of all advanced devices. In general, items that must be managed when using multi-patterning include critical dimension uniformity (CDU), line edge roughness (LER), and line width roughness (LWR). Recently, moreover, there has been increasing focus on judging and managing pattern resolution performance from a more detailed perspective and on making a right/wrong judgment from the perspective of edge placement error (EPE). To begin with, pattern resolution performance in spacer-type multi-patterning is affected by the process accuracy of the core (mandrel) pattern. Improving the controllability of CD and LER of the mandrel is most important, and to reduce LER, an appropriate smoothing technique should be carefully selected. In addition, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique is generally used to meet the need for high accuracy in forming the spacer film. Advances in scaling are accompanied by stricter requirements in the controllability of fine processing. In this paper, we first describe our efforts in improving controllability by selecting the most appropriate materials for the mandrel pattern and spacer film. Then, based on the materials selected, we present experimental results on a technique for improving etching selectivity.

Survey on Road-Tyre Contact Patch Pattern and Wear Related Aspects

OpenAIRE

Azodo Adinife Patrick

2017-01-01

Motor vehicle end-users approaches to tyre safety issues in automobiles translate to a number of tyre failure risk factors. This study basically assessed tread wear pattern of tyres in passenger cars used on Nigeria roads. The result obtained showed that 75.4% of the assessed tyres showed uneven wear pattern resulting from incorrect tyre-road contact effects. This observed high proportion of uneven tyre tread wear pattern implies high rate of inconsequential regard for tyre safety.

Specialization Patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Lawall, Julia Laetitia; Consel, Charles

2000-01-01

Design patterns offer many advantages for software development, but can introduce inefficiency into the final program. Program specialization can eliminate such overheads, but is most effective when targeted by the user to specific bottlenecks. Consequently, we propose that these concepts...... are complementary. Program specialization can optimize programs written using design patterns, and design patterns provide information about the program structure that can guide specialization. Concretely, we propose specialization patterns, which describe how to apply program specialization to optimize uses...... of design patterns. In this paper, we analyze the specialization opportunities provided by specific uses of design patterns. Based on the analysis of each design pattern, we define the associated specialization pattern. These specialization opportunities can be declared using the specialization classes...

Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy Further Reduces Normal Tissue Exposure During Definitive Therapy for Locally Advanced Distal Esophageal Tumors: A Dosimetric Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Welsh, James, E-mail: jwelsh@mdanderson.org [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Gomez, Daniel; Palmer, Matthew B.; Riley, Beverly A.; Mayankkumar, Amin V.; Komaki, Ritsuko [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Dong, Lei; Zhu, X. Ronald [Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Likhacheva, Anna; Liao, Zhongxing [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Hofstetter, Wayne L. [Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Ajani, Jaffer A. [Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Cox, James D. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States)

2011-12-01

Purpose: We have previously found that {<=} 75% of treatment failures after chemoradiotherapy for unresectable esophageal cancer appear within the gross tumor volume and that intensity-modulated (photon) radiotherapy (IMRT) might allow dose escalation to the tumor without increasing normal tissue toxicity. Proton therapy might allow additional dose escalation, with even lower normal tissue toxicity. In the present study, we compared the dosimetric parameters for photon IMRT with that for intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) for unresectable, locally advanced, distal esophageal cancer. Patients and Methods: Four plans were created for each of 10 patients. IMPT was delivered using anteroposterior (AP)/posteroanterior beams, left posterior oblique/right posterior oblique (LPO/RPO) beams, or AP/LPO/RPO beams. IMRT was delivered with a concomitant boost to the gross tumor volume. The dose was 65.8 Gy to the gross tumor volume and 50.4 Gy to the planning target volume in 28 fractions. Results: Relative to IMRT, the IMPT (AP/posteroanterior) plan led to considerable reductions in the mean lung dose (3.18 vs. 8.27 Gy, p < .0001) and the percentage of lung volume receiving 5, 10, and 20 Gy (p {<=} .0006) but did not reduce the cardiac dose. The IMPT LPO/RPO plan also reduced the mean lung dose (4.9 Gy vs. 8.2 Gy, p < .001), the heart dose (mean cardiac dose and percentage of the cardiac volume receiving 10, 20, and 30 Gy, p {<=} .02), and the liver dose (mean hepatic dose 5 Gy vs. 14.9 Gy, p < .0001). The IMPT AP/LPO/RPO plan led to considerable reductions in the dose to the lung (p {<=} .005), heart (p {<=} .003), and liver (p {<=} .04). Conclusions: Compared with IMRT, IMPT for distal esophageal cancer lowered the dose to the heart, lung, and liver. The AP/LPO/RPO beam arrangement was optimal for sparing all three organs. The dosimetric benefits of protons will need to be tailored to each patient according to their specific cardiac and pulmonary risks. IMPT for

Comparison of detection pattern of HCC by ferumoxide-enhanced MRI and intratumoral blood flow pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Itou, Naoki; Kotake, Fumio; Saitou, Kazuhiro; Abe, Kimihiko

2000-01-01

We compared the detection rate and pattern of ferumoxide-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (Fe-MRI) with the intratumoral blood flow pattern determined by CT angiography (CTA) and CT portography (CTAP) in 124 nodes (34 cases) diagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or borderline HCC, based on the clinical course. Sequences to obtain a T1-weighted images (T1W), proton density-weighted images (PDW), T2-weighted images (T2W), T2*-weighted images (T2*W) were used in Fe-MRI. In nodes shown to be hypervascular on CTA, the detection rate by Fe-MRI was 69.7%. In nodes shown to be avascular by CTAP, the detection rate by Fe-MRI was 67.3%. These rates were higher than with other flow patterns. In nodes showing high signal intensity (HSI) on any sequences, arterial blood flow was increased and portal blood flow decreased in comparison with nodes without high signal intensity. All nodes showing HSI, both on Fe-MRI T2W and T2*W, were hypervascular on CTA, and portal blood flow was absent on CTAP. Nodes showing HSI on both T2*W and T2W were considered to have greater arterial blood flow and decreased portal blood flow compared with nodes appearing as HSI on T2*W, but only as iso- or low signal intensity on T2W (Mann-Whitney U-test; p<0.05). (author)

Implementing gait pattern control and transition for legged locomotion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Zhijun; Karamanoglu, Mehmet; Rocha, Marlon V; França, Felipe M G; Lima, Priscila M V

2014-01-01

In this work, a generalised central pattern generator (CPG) model is formulated to generate a full range of gait patterns for a hexapod insect. To this end, a recurrent neuronal network module, as the building block for rhythmic patterns, is proposed to extend the concept of oscillatory building blocks (OBB) for constructing a CPG model. The model is able to make transitions between different gait patterns by simply adjusting one model parameter. Simulation results are further presented to show the effectiveness and performance of the CPG network

[Biochemical characterization of fractionated rat liver chromatin in experimental D-hypovitaminosis and after administration of steroidal drugs].

Science.gov (United States)

Levitskiĭ, E L; Kholodova, Iu D; Gubskiĭ, Iu I; Primak, R G; Chabannyĭ, V N; Kindruk, N L; Mozzhukhina, T G; Lenchevskaia, L K; Mironova, V N; Saad, L M

1993-01-01

Marked changes in the structural and functional characteristics of liver nuclear chromatin fractions are observed under experimental D-hypovitaminosis, which differ in the degree of transcriptional activity. DNA-polymerase activity and activity of the fraction, enriched with RNA-polymerase I, increases in the active fraction. Free radical LPO reactions are modified in the chromatin fraction with low activity and to the less degree in the active one. Disturbances of chromatine structural properties are caused with the change in the protein and lipid components of chromatin. Administration of ecdysterone preparations (separately and together with vitamin D3) has a partial corrective effect on structural and functional organization of nuclear chromatine. At the action of ecdysterone normalization of LPO reactions modified by pathological changes is observed in the chromatin fraction with low activity and to the less degree in the active one. This kind of influence corrects to the less degree chromatin functional activity and quantitative and qualitative modifications of its protein component. Simultaneous influence of ecdysterone and vitamin D3 leads to the partial normalization of the biochemical indices studied (except for those which characterize LPO reactions) mainly in the active chromatin fraction.

Effects of acute and chronic administration of methylprednisolone on oxidative stress in rat lungs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronaldo Lopes Torres

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: To determine the effects of acute and chronic administration of methylprednisolone on oxidative stress, as quantified by measuring lipid peroxidation (LPO and total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP, in rat lungs. Methods: Forty Wistar rats were divided into four groups: acute treatment, comprising rats receiving a single injection of methylprednisolone (50 mg/kg i.p.; acute control, comprising rats i.p. injected with saline; chronic treatment, comprising rats receiving methylprednisolone in drinking water (6 mg/kg per day for 30 days; and chronic control, comprising rats receiving normal drinking water. Results: The levels of TRAP were significantly higher in the acute treatment group rats than in the acute control rats, suggesting an improvement in the pulmonary defenses of the former. The levels of lung LPO were significantly higher in the chronic treatment group rats than in the chronic control rats, indicating oxidative damage in the lung tissue of the former. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the acute use of corticosteroids is beneficial to lung tissue, whereas their chronic use is not. The chronic use of methylprednisolone appears to increase lung LPO levels.

Oxidative stress biomarkers in different tissues of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss exposed to Disinfectant-CIP formulated with peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide

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Tkachenko Halyna

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of study was to determine the effects of exposure to the product DEZYNFEKTANT-CIP (Eng. - Disinfectant-CIP, which is formulated with peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, on oxidative stress biomarkers (lipid peroxidation (LPO levels and the carbonyl content of oxidatively modified proteins and antioxidant defenses (superoxide dismutase (SOD, catalase (CAT, glutathione reductase (GR, glutathione peroxidase (GPx, total antioxidant capacity in muscle, gill, hepatic, and cardiac tissues of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum. LPO and carbonyl contents changed with tissue type. Exposure to Disinfectant-CIP led to a significant decrease in LPO in muscle tissues and carbonyl content in muscle and gill tissues. The inhibition of SOD and CAT activity in muscle, hepatic, and cardiac tissues was observed probably because of increased oxidative stress during disinfection; however, hepatic and cardiac GPx activity increased in an attempt to counteract oxidative stress. We suggest that oxidative stress during the oxidation of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide could be counteracted by the antioxidant system in trout tissues. Correlative analysis between oxidative stress biomarkers and antioxidant defense confirms the pivotal role of SOD and CAT against CIP-induced oxidative stress

Evaporative lithographic patterning of binary colloidal films.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Daniel J; Conrad, Jacinta C; Lewis, Jennifer A

2009-12-28

Evaporative lithography offers a promising new route for patterning a broad array of soft materials. In this approach, a mask is placed above a drying film to create regions of free and hindered evaporation, which drive fluid convection and entrained particles to regions of highest evaporative flux. We show that binary colloidal films exhibit remarkable pattern formation when subjected to a periodic evaporative landscape during drying.

Survey on Road-Tyre Contact Patch Pattern and Wear Related Aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azodo Adinife Patrick

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Motor vehicle end-users approaches to tyre safety issues in automobiles translate to a number of tyre failure risk factors. This study basically assessed tread wear pattern of tyres in passenger cars used on Nigeria roads. The result obtained showed that 75.4% of the assessed tyres showed uneven wear pattern resulting from incorrect tyre-road contact effects. This observed high proportion of uneven tyre tread wear pattern implies high rate of inconsequential regard for tyre safety.

Patterns of Childhood Abuse and Neglect in a Representative German Population Sample.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph Schilling

Full Text Available Different types of childhood maltreatment, like emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect and sexual abuse are interrelated because of their co-occurrence. Different patterns of childhood abuse and neglect are associated with the degree of severity of mental disorders in adulthood. The purpose of this study was (a to identify different patterns of childhood maltreatment in a representative German community sample, (b to replicate the patterns of childhood neglect and abuse recently found in a clinical German sample, (c to examine whether participants reporting exposure to specific patterns of child maltreatment would report different levels of psychological distress, and (d to compare the results of the typological approach and the results of a cumulative risk model based on our data set.In a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010, a representative random sample of 2504 German participants aged between 14 and 92 years completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ. General anxiety and depression were assessed by standardized questionnaires (GAD-2, PHQ-2. Cluster analysis was conducted with the CTQ-subscales to identify different patterns of childhood maltreatment.Three different patterns of childhood abuse and neglect could be identified by cluster analysis. Cluster one showed low values on all CTQ-scales. Cluster two showed high values in emotional and physical neglect. Only cluster three showed high values in physical and sexual abuse. The three patterns of childhood maltreatment showed different degrees of depression (PHQ-2 and anxiety (GAD-2. Cluster one showed lowest levels of psychological distress, cluster three showed highest levels of mental distress.The results show that different types of childhood maltreatment are interrelated and can be grouped into specific patterns of childhood abuse and neglect, which are associated with differing severity of psychological distress in adulthood. The results

Patterns of Childhood Abuse and Neglect in a Representative German Population Sample

Science.gov (United States)

Schilling, Christoph; Weidner, Kerstin; Brähler, Elmar; Glaesmer, Heide; Häuser, Winfried; Pöhlmann, Karin

2016-01-01

Background Different types of childhood maltreatment, like emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect and sexual abuse are interrelated because of their co-occurrence. Different patterns of childhood abuse and neglect are associated with the degree of severity of mental disorders in adulthood. The purpose of this study was (a) to identify different patterns of childhood maltreatment in a representative German community sample, (b) to replicate the patterns of childhood neglect and abuse recently found in a clinical German sample, (c) to examine whether participants reporting exposure to specific patterns of child maltreatment would report different levels of psychological distress, and (d) to compare the results of the typological approach and the results of a cumulative risk model based on our data set. Methods In a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010, a representative random sample of 2504 German participants aged between 14 and 92 years completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). General anxiety and depression were assessed by standardized questionnaires (GAD-2, PHQ-2). Cluster analysis was conducted with the CTQ-subscales to identify different patterns of childhood maltreatment. Results Three different patterns of childhood abuse and neglect could be identified by cluster analysis. Cluster one showed low values on all CTQ-scales. Cluster two showed high values in emotional and physical neglect. Only cluster three showed high values in physical and sexual abuse. The three patterns of childhood maltreatment showed different degrees of depression (PHQ-2) and anxiety (GAD-2). Cluster one showed lowest levels of psychological distress, cluster three showed highest levels of mental distress. Conclusion The results show that different types of childhood maltreatment are interrelated and can be grouped into specific patterns of childhood abuse and neglect, which are associated with differing severity of psychological distress in

Separation vortices and pattern formation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Anders Peter; Bohr, Tomas; Schnipper, Teis

2010-01-01

In this paper examples are given of the importance of flow separation for fluid patterns at moderate Reynolds numbers—both in the stationary and in the time-dependent domain. In the case of circular hydraulic jumps, it has been shown recently that it is possible to generalise the Prandtl–Kármán–P...... results for the vortex patterns behind a flapping foil in a flowing soap film, which shows the interaction and competition between the vortices shed from the round leading edge (like the von Kármán vortex street) and those created at the sharp trailing edge....

A system for learning statistical motion patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Weiming; Xiao, Xuejuan; Fu, Zhouyu; Xie, Dan; Tan, Tieniu; Maybank, Steve

2006-09-01

Analysis of motion patterns is an effective approach for anomaly detection and behavior prediction. Current approaches for the analysis of motion patterns depend on known scenes, where objects move in predefined ways. It is highly desirable to automatically construct object motion patterns which reflect the knowledge of the scene. In this paper, we present a system for automatically learning motion patterns for anomaly detection and behavior prediction based on a proposed algorithm for robustly tracking multiple objects. In the tracking algorithm, foreground pixels are clustered using a fast accurate fuzzy K-means algorithm. Growing and prediction of the cluster centroids of foreground pixels ensure that each cluster centroid is associated with a moving object in the scene. In the algorithm for learning motion patterns, trajectories are clustered hierarchically using spatial and temporal information and then each motion pattern is represented with a chain of Gaussian distributions. Based on the learned statistical motion patterns, statistical methods are used to detect anomalies and predict behaviors. Our system is tested using image sequences acquired, respectively, from a crowded real traffic scene and a model traffic scene. Experimental results show the robustness of the tracking algorithm, the efficiency of the algorithm for learning motion patterns, and the encouraging performance of algorithms for anomaly detection and behavior prediction.

The wild tomato species Solanum chilense shows variation in pathogen resistance between geographically distinct populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Stam, Remco; Scheikl, Daniela; Tellier, Aurélien

2017-01-01

Wild tomatoes are a valuable source of disease resistance germplasm for tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) breeders. Many species are known to possess a certain degree of resistance against certain pathogens; however, evolution of resistance traits is yet poorly understood. For some species, like Solanum chilense , both differences in habitat and within species genetic diversity are very large. Here we aim to investigate the occurrence of spatially heterogeneous coevolutionary pressures between populations of S. chilense . We investigate the phenotypic differences in disease resistance within S. chilense against three common tomato pathogens ( Alternaria solani , Phytophthora infestans and a Fusarium sp .) and confirm high degrees of variability in resistance properties between selected populations. Using generalised linear mixed models, we show that disease resistance does not follow the known demographic patterns of the species. Models with up to five available climatic and geographic variables are required to best describe resistance differences, confirming the complexity of factors involved in local resistance variation. We confirm that within S. chilense , resistance properties against various pathogens show a mosaic pattern and do not follow environmental patterns, indicating the strength of local pathogen pressures. Our study can form the basis for further investigations of the genetic traits involved.

Men and women show similar survival outcome in stage IV breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, San-Gang; Zhang, Wen-Wen; Liao, Xu-Lin; Sun, Jia-Yuan; Li, Feng-Yan; Su, Jing-Jun; He, Zhen-Yu

2017-08-01

To evaluate the clinicopathological features, patterns of distant metastases, and survival outcome between stage IV male breast cancer (MBC) and female breast cancer (FBC). Patients diagnosed with stage IV MBC and FBC between 2010 and 2013 were included using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to analyze risk factors for overall survival (OS). A total of 4997 patients were identified, including 60 MBC and 4937 FBC. Compared with FBC, patients with MBC were associated with a significantly higher rate of estrogen receptor-positive, progesterone receptor-positive, unmarried, lung metastases, and a lower frequency of liver metastases. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed no significant difference in OS between MBC and FBC. In the propensity score-matched population, there was also no difference in survival between MBC and FBC. Multivariate analysis of MBC showed that OS was longer for patients aged 50-69 years and with estrogen receptor-positive disease. There was no significant difference in survival outcome between stage IV MBC and FBC, but significant differences in clinicopathological features and patterns of metastases between the genders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Macroscopic quantum effects in nonlinear optical patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gatti, A.; Lugiato, L.A.; Oppo, G.L.; Barnett, S.M.; Marzoli, I.

1998-01-01

We display the results of the numerical simulations of a set of Langevin equations, which describe the dynamics of a degenerate optical parametric oscillator in the Wigner representation. The scan of the threshold region shows the gradual transformation of a quantum image into a classical roll pattern. Thus the quantum image behaves as a precursor of the roll pattern which appear above threshold. In the fax field, suitable spatial correlation functions of intensity and field quadratures show unambiguously the quantum nature of fluctuations that generate the image, leading to effects of quantum noise reduction below the shot noise level and to the formulation of an EPR paradox. (author)

Traumatic ulcerative granuloma with stromal eosinophilia of the palate showing an angiocentric/angiodestructive growth pattern

OpenAIRE

Brasileiro, Bernardo Ferreira; Alves, Daniel Berretta; Andrade, Bruno Augusto Benevenuto; Vargas, Pablo Agustin; León, Jorge Esquiche; Almeida, Oslei Paes De

2012-01-01

Traumatic ulcerative granuloma with stromal eosinophilia (TUGSE) is a benign, self-limiting lesion of the oral mucosa with unknown pathogenesis. A 65-year-old male patient presented with an ulcerative palate lesion, which on microscopic examination exhibited an exuberant polymorphic lymphoid proliferation, numerous eosinophils, and extensive vascular destruction. The atypical lymphoid cells infiltrating the medium-sized vessels showed positivity for CD3, CD30, and granzyme B, implicating an a...

Genome-Wide Association Shows that Pigmentation Genes Play a Role in Skin Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Matthew H; Medland, Sarah E; Zhu, Gu; Yazar, Seyhan; Viñuela, Ana; Wallace, Leanne; Shekar, Sri Niranjan; Duffy, David L; Bataille, Veronique; Glass, Dan; Spector, Tim D; Wood, Diane; Gordon, Scott D; Barbour, Julie M; Henders, Anjali K; Hewitt, Alex W; Montgomery, Grant W; Sturm, Richard A; Mackey, David A; Green, Adèle C; Martin, Nicholas G; MacGregor, Stuart

2017-09-01

Loss of fine skin patterning is a sign of both aging and photoaging. Studies investigating the genetic contribution to skin patterning offer an opportunity to better understand a trait that influences both physical appearance and risk of keratinocyte skin cancer. We undertook a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of a measure of skin pattern (microtopography score) damage in 1,671 twin pairs and 1,745 singletons (N = 5,087) drawn from three independent cohorts. We identified that rs185146 near SLC45A2 is associated with a skin aging trait at genome-wide significance (P = 4.1 × 10 -9 ); to our knowledge this is previously unreported. We also confirm previously identified loci, rs12203592 near IRF4 (P = 8.8 × 10 -13 ) and rs4268748 near MC1R (P = 1.2 × 10 -15 ). At all three loci we highlight putative functionally relevant SNPs. There are a number of red hair/low pigmentation alleles of MC1R; we found that together these MC1R alleles explained 4.1% of variance in skin pattern damage. We also show that skin aging and reported experience of sunburns was proportional to the degree of penetrance for red hair of alleles of MC1R. Our work has uncovered genetic contributions to skin aging and confirmed previous findings, showing that pigmentation is a critical determinant of skin aging. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An image-processing methodology for extracting bloodstain pattern features.

Science.gov (United States)

Arthur, Ravishka M; Humburg, Philomena J; Hoogenboom, Jerry; Baiker, Martin; Taylor, Michael C; de Bruin, Karla G

2017-08-01

There is a growing trend in forensic science to develop methods to make forensic pattern comparison tasks more objective. This has generally involved the application of suitable image-processing methods to provide numerical data for identification or comparison. This paper outlines a unique image-processing methodology that can be utilised by analysts to generate reliable pattern data that will assist them in forming objective conclusions about a pattern. A range of features were defined and extracted from a laboratory-generated impact spatter pattern. These features were based in part on bloodstain properties commonly used in the analysis of spatter bloodstain patterns. The values of these features were consistent with properties reported qualitatively for such patterns. The image-processing method developed shows considerable promise as a way to establish measurable discriminating pattern criteria that are lacking in current bloodstain pattern taxonomies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enabling complex nanoscale pattern customization using directed self-assembly.

Science.gov (United States)

Doerk, Gregory S; Cheng, Joy Y; Singh, Gurpreet; Rettner, Charles T; Pitera, Jed W; Balakrishnan, Srinivasan; Arellano, Noel; Sanders, Daniel P

2014-12-16

Block copolymer directed self-assembly is an attractive method to fabricate highly uniform nanoscale features for various technological applications, but the dense periodicity of block copolymer features limits the complexity of the resulting patterns and their potential utility. Therefore, customizability of nanoscale patterns has been a long-standing goal for using directed self-assembly in device fabrication. Here we show that a hybrid organic/inorganic chemical pattern serves as a guiding pattern for self-assembly as well as a self-aligned mask for pattern customization through cotransfer of aligned block copolymer features and an inorganic prepattern. As informed by a phenomenological model, deliberate process engineering is implemented to maintain global alignment of block copolymer features over arbitrarily shaped, 'masking' features incorporated into the chemical patterns. These hybrid chemical patterns with embedded customization information enable deterministic, complex two-dimensional nanoscale pattern customization through directed self-assembly.

Oxidative Stress Correlates with Headache Symptoms in Fibromyalgia: Coenzyme Q10 Effect on Clinical Improvement

Science.gov (United States)

Cordero, Mario D.; Cano-García, Francisco Javier; Alcocer-Gómez, Elísabet; De Miguel, Manuel; Sánchez-Alcázar, José Antonio

2012-01-01

Background Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome with unknown etiology and a wide spectrum of symptoms such as allodynia, debilitating fatigue, joint stiffness and migraine. Recent studies have shown some evidences demonstrating that oxidative stress is associated to clinical symptoms in FM of fibromyalgia. We examined oxidative stress and bioenergetic status in blood mononuclear cells (BMCs) and its association to headache symptoms in FM patients. The effects of oral coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation on biochemical markers and clinical improvement were also evaluated. Methods We studied 20 FM patients and 15 healthy controls. Clinical parameters were evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), visual analogues scales (VAS), and the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6). Oxidative stress was determined by measuring CoQ10, catalase and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels in BMCs. Bioenergetic status was assessed by measuring ATP levels in BMCs. Results We found decreased CoQ10, catalase and ATP levels in BMCs from FM patients as compared to normal control (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively) We also found increased level of LPO in BMCs from FM patients as compared to normal control (P<0.001). Significant negative correlations between CoQ10 or catalase levels in BMCs and headache parameters were observed (r = −0.59, P<0.05; r = −0.68, P<0.05, respectively). Furthermore, LPO levels showed a significant positive correlation with HIT-6 (r = 0.33, P<0.05). Oral CoQ10 supplementation restored biochemical parameters and induced a significant improvement in clinical and headache symptoms (P<0.001). Discussion The results of this study suggest a role for mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the headache symptoms associated with FM. CoQ10 supplementation should be examined in a larger placebo controlled trial as a possible treatment in FM. PMID:22532869

Gastro-protective effect of methanol extract of Vernonia amygdalina (del. leaf on aspirin-induced gastric ulcer in Wistar rats

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Modinat A. Adefisayo

Full Text Available This study investigated the protective effects of methanol extract of Vernonia amygdalina leaf (MEVA on aspirin induced gastric ulcer in rats. Thirty Wistar rats, 150–200 g were divided into six groups as follows: Group 1 (control rats received 2 mL/kg of propylene glycol for 28 consecutive days. Group 2 (Ulcer Control received 150 mg/kg/day of aspirin suspended in 3 mL of 1% carboxymethylcellulose in water orally for 3 consecutive days during which the rats were fasted for the induction of ulcer. Group 3 received cimetidine at 100 mg/kg/day orally for 28 consecutive days and thereafter treated as group 2. Groups 4, 5 and 6 received MEVA orally at 200, 300 and 400 mg/kg/day respectively for 28 consecutive days and thereafter were treated with aspirin as group 2. All the animals were sacrifice at the end of the study to determine the gastric pH, gastric acidity, gastric ulcer score, haematological indices, superoxide dismutase (SOD activity, reduced glutathione (GSH and Lipid peroxidation (LPO levels. The result showed that aspirin significantly (p < 0.05 increased gastric ulcer score and index, decreased gastric pH, gastric acidity, SOD activity, GSH level as well as increased LPO level. It induced significant necrosis of the stomach tissue. Administration of MEVA significantly (p < 0.05 increased gastric pH, but decreased gastric acid secretion and reversed alteration of haematological parameters. It also significantly (p < 0.05 increased SOD activity, GSH level and decreased LPO level. The results suggest that Vernonia amygdalina possesses gastro-protective properties against aspirin-induced gastric ulcer. Keywords: Vernonia amygdalina, Aspirin, Gastric ulcer, Antioxidant, Rat

Role of chrysin on expression of insulin signaling molecules

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Kottireddy Satyanarayana

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Currently available drugs are unsuccessful for the treatment of tye-2 diabetes due to their adverseside-effects. Hence, a search for novel drugs, especially ofplant origin, continues. Chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone is a flavonoid, natural component of traditional medicinal herbs, present in honey, propolis and many plant extracts that hasbeen used in traditional medicine around the world to treat numerous ailments. Objective: The present study was aimed to identify the protective role of chrysin on the expression of insulin-signaling molecules in the skeletal muscle of high fat and sucrose-induced type-2 diabetic adult male rats. Materials and Methods: The oral effective dose of chrysin (100 mg/kg body weight was given once a day until the end of the study (30 days post-induction of diabetes to high fat diet-induced diabetic rats.At the end of the experimental period, fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance, serum lipid profile, lipid peroxidation (LPO and free radical generation, as well as the levels of insulin signaling molecules and tissue glycogen in the gastrocnemius muscle were assessed. Results: Diabetic rats showed impaired glucose tolerance and impairment in insulin signaling molecules (IR, IRS-1, p-IRS-1Tyr 632 , p- Akt Thr308 , glucose transporter subtype 4 [GLUT4] proteins and glycogen concentration. Serum insulin, lipid profile, LPO and free radical generation were found to be increased in diabetic control rats.The treatment with chrysin normalized the altered levels of blood glucose, serum insulin, lipid profile, LPO and insulin signaling molecules as well as GLUT4 proteins. Conclusion: Our present findings indicate that chrysin improves glycemic control through activation of insulin signal transduction in the gastrocnemius muscle of high fat and sucrose-induced type-2 diabetic male rats.

The 5'-AMP-Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK Is Involved in the Augmentation of Antioxidant Defenses in Cryopreserved Chicken Sperm.

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Thi Mong Diep Nguyen

Full Text Available Semen cryopreservation is a unique tool for the management of animal genetic diversity. However, the freeze-thaw process causes biochemical and physical alterations which make difficult the restoration of sperm energy-dependent functions needed for fertilization. 5'-AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK is a key sensor and regulator of intracellular energy metabolism. Mitochondria functions are known to be severely affected during sperm cryopreservation with deleterious oxidative and peroxidative effects leading to cell integrity and functions damages. The aim of this study was thus to examine the role of AMPK on the peroxidation/antioxidant enzymes defense system in frozen-thawed sperm and its consequences on sperm functions. Chicken semen was diluted in media supplemented with or without AMPK activators (AICAR or Metformin [MET] or inhibitor (Compound C [CC] and then cryopreserved. AMPKα phosphorylation, antioxidant enzymes activities, mitochondrial potential, ATP, citrate, viability, acrosome reaction ability (AR and various motility parameters were negatively affected by the freeze-thaw process while reactive oxygen species (ROS production, lipid peroxidation (LPO and lactate concentration were dramatically increased. AICAR partially restored superoxide dismutase (SOD, Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx and Glutathione Reductase (GR, increased ATP, citrate, and lactate concentration and subsequently decreased the ROS and LPO (malondialdehyde in frozen-thawed semen. Motility parameters were increased (i.e., + 23% for motility, + 34% for rapid sperm as well as AR (+ 100%. MET had similar effects as AICAR except that catalase activity was restored and that ATP and mitochondrial potential were further decreased. CC showed effects opposite to AICAR on SOD, ROS, LPO and AR and motility parameters. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that, upon freeze-thaw process, AMPK stimulated intracellular anti-oxidative defense enzymes through ATP regulation

Effect of Mucuna pruriens on oxidative stress mediated damage in aged rat sperm.

Science.gov (United States)

Suresh, Sekar; Prithiviraj, Elumalai; Prakash, Seppan

2010-02-01

Mucuna pruriens Linn., a leguminous plant, has been recognized as an aphrodisiac and spermatogenic agent. Protective efficacy of M. pruriens on reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced pathophysiological alterations in structural and functional integrity of epididymal sperm in aged Wister albino rat was analysed. Animals were grouped as groups I, II, III and IV, i.e. young (control), aged, aged treated with ethanolic extract (200 mg/kg b.w.) of M. pruriens and young rats treated with M. pruriens, respectively. At the end of the experimental period, i.e. after 60 days animals were sacrificed, epididymal sperm were collected and subjected to count, viability, motility, morphology and morphometric analysis. Enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, ROS, lipid peroxidation (LPO), DNA damage, chromosomal integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential were estimated. Results obtained from the aged animals showed significant reduction in sperm count, viability and motility, increased morphological damage and an increase in the number of sperm with cytoplasmic remnant, and these alterations were significantly reversed in M. pruriens treated group. Significant increase in LPO, HO and H(2)O(2) production and significant decline in the levels of the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were observed in the aged animals. Supplementation of M. pruriens significantly reduced ROS and LPO production and significant increase in both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant levels. There were significant DNA damage, loss of chromosomal integrity and increase in mitochondrial membrane permeability in aged rat sperm. This was significantly reduced in group III. Present observation indicates the antioxidant enhancing property, free radical quenching ability and spermatogenic efficacy of the M. pruriens. Collectively, sperm damage in ageing was significantly reduced by quenching ROS, improving antioxidant defence system and mitochondrial function.

Melatonin and schistosomal antigens ameliorate the anti-oxidative and biochemical response to Schistosoma mansoni infection in hamster

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omema SALAH

2009-04-01

Full Text Available The present study was designed to investigate the potential protective effect of melatonin as an antioxidant separately or in combination with antigens (cercarial; CAP or soluble worm; SWAP against Schistosoma mansoni infection in hamsters. Each hamster was sensitized with an initial immunization of 0.6 ml of the extracted antigen (30 μg protein/mL. After four days, a second injection of 0.4 mL was given (20 μg protein/mL. Then, each hamster was exposed to 260 ± 20 S.mansoni cercariae followed with melatonin treatment (3.5 mg/kg for thirty days from the 1st day of post infection. Levels of lipid peroxidation (LPO products, catalase (CAT activity, hepatic glutathione (GSH and biochemical changes in the liver and kidneys functions were investigated. The results revealed a high significant increasing of LPO and decreasing of CAT and GSH in liver of infected hamsters. Biochemical observations showed severe damage in the liver enzyme activities and increasing cholesterol level in infected animals. Melatonin co-treatment with antigen to the infected-hamster attenuated the increase of LPO and restored the activity of CAT and levels of hepatic GSH. Also, the biochemical damages in the liver and kidneys functions were reduced. The present study suggests that melatonin may be useful in combating free radical-induced damage due to infection toxicity. The immunization with previous antigens resulted in a remarkable improvement on the liver enzyme activities, which were increased after infection. Thus, vaccination of hamsters with antigens (both CAP and SWAP and melatonin treatment has more potent effect on the enhancement of antioxidant and biochemical of S. mansoni infected-hamster than each treatment separately. Immunization of the hamster with SWAP followed by melatonin was the best way among the other regime treatments to improve the biochemical and antioxidant parameters of the infected-hamsters

Oxidative stress correlates with headache symptoms in fibromyalgia: coenzyme Q₁₀ effect on clinical improvement.

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Mario D Cordero

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia (FM is a chronic pain syndrome with unknown etiology and a wide spectrum of symptoms such as allodynia, debilitating fatigue, joint stiffness and migraine. Recent studies have shown some evidences demonstrating that oxidative stress is associated to clinical symptoms in FM of fibromyalgia. We examined oxidative stress and bioenergetic status in blood mononuclear cells (BMCs and its association to headache symptoms in FM patients. The effects of oral coenzyme Q(10 (CoQ(10 supplementation on biochemical markers and clinical improvement were also evaluated. METHODS: We studied 20 FM patients and 15 healthy controls. Clinical parameters were evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ, visual analogues scales (VAS, and the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6. Oxidative stress was determined by measuring CoQ(10, catalase and lipid peroxidation (LPO levels in BMCs. Bioenergetic status was assessed by measuring ATP levels in BMCs. RESULTS: We found decreased CoQ(10, catalase and ATP levels in BMCs from FM patients as compared to normal control (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively We also found increased level of LPO in BMCs from FM patients as compared to normal control (P < 0.001. Significant negative correlations between CoQ(10 or catalase levels in BMCs and headache parameters were observed (r  = -0.59, P < 0.05; r  =  -0.68, P < 0.05, respectively. Furthermore, LPO levels showed a significant positive correlation with HIT-6 (r = 0.33, P<0.05. Oral CoQ(10 supplementation restored biochemical parameters and induced a significant improvement in clinical and headache symptoms (P < 0.001. DISCUSSION: The results of this study suggest a role for mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the headache symptoms associated with FM. CoQ10 supplementation should be examined in a larger placebo controlled trial as a possible treatment in FM.

Protein patterns of yeast during sporulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Litske Petersen, J.G.; Kielland-Brandt, M.C.; Nilsson-Tillgren, T.

1979-01-01

High resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to study protein synthesis during synchronous meiosis and ascospore formation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The stained protein patterns of samples harvested at any stage between meiotic prophase and the four-spore stage in two sporulating strains showed the same approximately 250 polypeptides. Of these only a few seemed to increase or decrease in concentration during sporulation. The characteristic pattern of sporulating yeast was identical to the pattern of glucose-grown staitonary yeast cells adapted to respiration. The latter type of cells readily initiates meiosis when transferred to sporulation medium. This pattern differed from the protein patterns of exponentially growing cells in glucose or acetate presporulation medium. Five major proteins in stationary and sporulating yeast cells were not detected in either type of exponential culture. Two-dimensional autoradiograms of [ 35 S]methionine-labelled yeast proteins revealed that some proteins were preferentially labelled during sporulation, while other proteins were labelled at later stages. These patterns differed from the auroradiograms of exponentially growing yeast cells in glucose presporulation medium in a number of spots. No differences were observed when stained gels or autoradiograms of sporulating cultures and non-sporulating strains in sporulation medium were compared. (author)

De Novo Transcriptome Analysis Shows That SAV-3 Infection Upregulates Pattern Recognition Receptors of the Endosomal Toll-Like and RIG-I-Like Receptor Signaling Pathways in Macrophage/Dendritic Like TO-Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Xu

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A fundamental step in cellular defense mechanisms is the recognition of “danger signals” made of conserved pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs expressed by invading pathogens, by host cell germ line coded pattern recognition receptors (PRRs. In this study, we used RNA-seq and the Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG to identify PRRs together with the network pathway of differentially expressed genes (DEGs that recognize salmonid alphavirus subtype 3 (SAV-3 infection in macrophage/dendritic like TO-cells derived from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L headkidney leukocytes. Our findings show that recognition of SAV-3 in TO-cells was restricted to endosomal Toll-like receptors (TLRs 3 and 8 together with RIG-I-like receptors (RLRs and not the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors NOD-like receptor (NLRs genes. Among the RLRs, upregulated genes included the retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I, melanoma differentiation association 5 (MDA5 and laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 (LGP2. The study points to possible involvement of the tripartite motif containing 25 (TRIM25 and mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS in modulating RIG-I signaling being the first report that links these genes to the RLR pathway in SAV-3 infection in TO-cells. Downstream signaling suggests that both the TLR and RLR pathways use interferon (IFN regulatory factors (IRFs 3 and 7 to produce IFN-a2. The validity of RNA-seq data generated in this study was confirmed by quantitative real time qRT-PCR showing that genes up- or downregulated by RNA-seq were also up- or downregulated by RT-PCR. Overall, this study shows that de novo transcriptome assembly identify key receptors of the TLR and RLR sensors engaged in host pathogen interaction at cellular level. We envisage that data presented here can open a road map for future intervention strategies in SAV infection of salmon.

Polyhedral patterns

KAUST Repository

Jiang, Caigui

2015-10-27

We study the design and optimization of polyhedral patterns, which are patterns of planar polygonal faces on freeform surfaces. Working with polyhedral patterns is desirable in architectural geometry and industrial design. However, the classical tiling patterns on the plane must take on various shapes in order to faithfully and feasibly approximate curved surfaces. We define and analyze the deformations these tiles must undertake to account for curvature, and discover the symmetries that remain invariant under such deformations. We propose a novel method to regularize polyhedral patterns while maintaining these symmetries into a plethora of aesthetic and feasible patterns.

Low Carbon-Economy Development: China's Pattern and Policy Selection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dou, Xiangsheng

2013-01-01

For a developing country such as China, it is important to select a fair pattern that is suitable for China's national conditions for low carbon-economy development, as it has a direct impact on the success (or not) of low carbon-economy development. This research shows that, under the real-life conditions of China's development, different development patterns should be practised depending on specific socioeconomic conditions. Among them, one of the most critical issues is how to make full use of natural forces, and thus the nature-oriented development pattern should be practised in full. At the same time, China should still practise either the single regional differential or the multi-regional linkage development pattern under different conditions and either the imposed or the induced development pattern at the different stages of development. - Highlights: • It is particularly important to select a suitable development pattern. • Nature-oriented development pattern should be selected. • Single regional differentiation-typed or multi-regional linkage-typed pattern should be selected. • Either the imposed pattern or the induced pattern of development will be selected

Gallbladder wall thickening: MR imaging and pathologic correlation with emphasis on layered pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, S.E.; Lee, J.M.; Hahn, S.T.; Lee, K.; Rha, S.E.; Choi, B.G.; Kim, E.K.

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to correlate MR findings of gallbladder wall thickening with pathologic findings on the basis of the layered pattern and to evaluate the diagnostic value of MR imaging in gallbladder disease. We retrospectively evaluated the source images of HASTE sequences for MR cholangiography in 144 patients with gallbladder wall thickening. The layered pattern of thickened wall was classified into four patterns. Type 1 shows two layers with a thin hypointense inner layer and thick hyperintense outer layer. Type 2 has two layers of ill-defined margin. Type 3 shows multiple hyperintense cystic spaces in the wall. Type 4 shows diffuse nodular thickening without layering. MR findings of a layered pattern of thickened gallbladder were well correlated with histopathology. Chronic cholecystitis matched to type 1, acute cholecystitis corresponded to type 2, adenomyomatosis showed type 3, and the gallbladder carcinomas showed type 4. All four layered patterns were associated with PPV of 73% or greater, sensitivity of 92% or greater and specificity of 95% or greater. Our results indicate that MR findings of gallbladder wall thickening are characteristic in each entity and correlate well with pathologic findings. The classification of the layered pattern may be valuable for interpreting thickened gallbladder wall. (orig.)

Seasonal and size-related variation of subcellular biomarkers in quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis) inhabiting sites affected by moderate contamination with complex mixtures of pollutants.

Science.gov (United States)

Ács, A; Vehovszky, Á; Győri, J; Farkas, A

2016-07-01

The size-related differences in subcellular biomarker responses were assessed in Dreissena bugensis mussels inhabiting harbours moderately affected by pollution with complex mixtures of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Adult D. bugensis samples were collected from three harbours of Lake Balaton (Hungary) characterized by moderate shipping activity, and as reference site, from a highly protected remote area of the lake. Biomarkers of exposure (metallothioneins (MTs), ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase (EROD)), oxidative stress (lipid peroxidation (LPO), DNA strand breaks (DNAsb)) and possible endocrine disruption (vitellogenin-like proteins (VTG)) were analysed in whole-tissue homogenates of differently sized groups of mussels in relation to environmental parameters and priority pollutants (heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Integrated biomarker response (IBR) indices were calculated for biomarker responses gained through in situ measurements to signalize critical sites and to better distinguish natural tendencies from biological effects of contaminants. Biomarker responses showed close positive correlation in case of MT, EROD, LPO, and DNAsb and negative correlation with VTG levels with mussel shell length in autumn, when higher levels of biomarkers appeared, possibly due to natural lifecycle changes of animals.

Curcuma longa and Curcuma mangga leaves exhibit functional food property.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yunbao; Nair, Muraleedharan G

2012-11-15

Although leaves of Curcuma mangga and Curcuma longa are used in food preparations, the bioactive components in it are not known. In this study, antioxidant, antiinflammatory and anticancer activities of leave extracts and its isolates were investigated using established bioassay procedures in our laboratory. The leaf extracts of both plants gave similar bioassay and chromatographic profiles. The methanolic and water extracts of C. mangga (CMM and CMW) and C. longa (CLM and CLW), at 100 μg/mL, inhibited lipid peroxidation (LPO) by 78%, 63%, 81% and 43%, cyclooxygenase enzymes COX-1 by 55%, 33%, 43% and 24% and COX-2 by 65%, 55%, 77% and 69%, respectively. At same concentration, CMM, CMW, CLM and CLW showed growth inhibition of human tumour cell lines by 0-46%. Therefore, a bioassay-guided isolation of water and methanolic extracts of C. longa was carried out and afforded nine isolates. At 25 μg/mL, these compounds inhibited LPO by 11-87%, COX-1 and -2 enzymes by 0-35% and 0-82% and growth of human tumour cells by 0-36%, respectively. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Macroecology of unicellular organisms - patterns and processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Soininen, Janne

2012-02-01

Macroecology examines the relationship between organisms and their environment at large spatial (and temporal) scales. Typically, macroecologists explain the large-scale patterns of abundance, distribution and diversity. Despite the difficulties in sampling and characterizing microbial diversity, macroecologists have recently also been interested in unicellular organisms. Here, I review the current advances made in microbial macroecology, as well as discuss related ecosystem functions. Overall, it seems that microorganisms suit surprisingly well to known species abundance distributions and show positive relationship between distribution and adundance. Microbial species-area and distance-decay relationships tend to be weaker than for macroorganisms, but nonetheless significant. Few findings on altitudinal gradients in unicellular taxa seem to differ greatly from corresponding findings for larger taxa, whereas latitudinal gradients among microorganisms have either been clearly evident or absent depending on the context. Literature also strongly emphasizes the role of spatial scale for the patterns of diversity and suggests that patterns are affected by species traits as well as ecosystem characteristics. Finally, I discuss the large role of local biotic and abiotic variables driving the community assembly in unicellular taxa and eventually dictating how multiple ecosystem processes are performed. Present review highlights the fact that most microorganisms may not differ fundamentally from larger taxa in their large-scale distribution patterns. Yet, review also shows that many aspects of microbial macroecology are still relatively poorly understood and specific patterns depend on focal taxa and ecosystem concerned. © 2011 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Attenuation of stress induced memory deficits by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in rats: Role of antioxidant enzymes.

Science.gov (United States)

Emad, Shaista; Qadeer, Sara; Sadaf, Sana; Batool, Zehra; Haider, Saida; Perveen, Tahira

2017-04-01

Repeated stress paradigms have been shown to cause devastating alterations on memory functions. Stress is linked with inflammation. Psychological and certain physical stressors could lead to neuroinflammation. Inflammatory process may occur by release of mediators and stimulate the production of prostaglandins through cyclooxygenase (COX). Treatment with COX inhibitors, which restrain prostaglandin production, has enhanced memory in a number of neuroinflammatory states showing a potential function for raised prostaglandins in these memory shortfalls. In the present study, potential therapeutic effects of indomethacin and diclofenac sodium on memory in both unrestraint and restraint rats were observed. Two components, long term memory and short term memory were examined by Morris water maze (MWM) and elevated plus maze (EPM) respectively. The present study also demonstrated the effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on lipid peroxidation (LPO) and activities of antioxidant enzymes along with the activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Results of MWM and EPM showed significant effects of drugs in both unrestraint and restraint rats as escape latency and transfer latency, in respective behavioral models were decreased as compared to that of control. This study also showed NSAIDs administration decreased LPO and increased antioxidant enzymes activity and decreased AChE activity in rats exposed to repeated stress. In conclusion this study suggests a therapeutic potential of indomethacin and diclofenac against repeated stress-induced memory deficits. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o.

dietary patterns and nutrient intakes of a south african population ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Alan Jackson

1Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, College of Science, Kwame ... The pattern of diet is an important determinant of overall pattern of nutrient intake, ..... fibre. For the staple-based, dietary score showed significant positive linear ...

Pattern formation induced by cross-diffusion in a predator–prey system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Guiquan; Jin Zhen; Liu Quanxing; Li Li

2008-01-01

This paper considers the Holling–Tanner model for predator–prey with self and cross-diffusion. From the Turing theory, it is believed that there is no Turing pattern formation for the equal self-diffusion coefficients. However, combined with cross-diffusion, it shows that the system will exhibit spotted pattern by both mathematical analysis and numerical simulations. Furthermore, asynchrony of the predator and the prey in the space. The obtained results show that cross-diffusion plays an important role on the pattern formation of the predator–prey system. (general)

Network patterns in exponentially growing two-dimensional biofilms

Science.gov (United States)

Zachreson, Cameron; Yap, Xinhui; Gloag, Erin S.; Shimoni, Raz; Whitchurch, Cynthia B.; Toth, Milos

2017-10-01

Anisotropic collective patterns occur frequently in the morphogenesis of two-dimensional biofilms. These patterns are often attributed to growth regulation mechanisms and differentiation based on gradients of diffusing nutrients and signaling molecules. Here, we employ a model of bacterial growth dynamics to show that even in the absence of growth regulation or differentiation, confinement by an enclosing medium such as agar can itself lead to stable pattern formation over time scales that are employed in experiments. The underlying mechanism relies on path formation through physical deformation of the enclosing environment.

Patterned control of human locomotion

Science.gov (United States)

Lacquaniti, Francesco; Ivanenko, Yuri P; Zago, Myrka

2012-01-01

There is much experimental evidence for the existence of biomechanical constraints which simplify the problem of control of multi-segment movements. In addition, it has been hypothesized that movements are controlled using a small set of basic temporal components or activation patterns, shared by several different muscles and reflecting global kinematic and kinetic goals. Here we review recent studies on human locomotion showing that muscle activity is accounted for by a combination of few basic patterns, each one timed at a different phase of the gait cycle. Similar patterns are involved in walking and running at different speeds, walking forwards or backwards, and walking under different loading conditions. The corresponding weights of distribution to different muscles may change as a function of the condition, allowing highly flexible control. Biomechanical correlates of each activation pattern have been described, leading to the hypothesis that the co-ordination of limb and body segments arises from the coupling of neural oscillators between each other and with limb mechanical oscillators. Muscle activations need only intervene during limited time epochs to force intrinsic oscillations of the system when energy is lost. PMID:22411012

Patterned control of human locomotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lacquaniti, Francesco; Ivanenko, Yuri P; Zago, Myrka

2012-05-15

There is much experimental evidence for the existence of biomechanical constraints which simplify the problem of control of multi-segment movements. In addition, it has been hypothesized that movements are controlled using a small set of basic temporal components or activation patterns, shared by several different muscles and reflecting global kinematic and kinetic goals. Here we review recent studies on human locomotion showing that muscle activity is accounted for by a combination of few basic patterns, each one timed at a different phase of the gait cycle. Similar patterns are involved in walking and running at different speeds, walking forwards or backwards, and walking under different loading conditions. The corresponding weights of distribution to different muscles may change as a function of the condition, allowing highly flexible control. Biomechanical correlates of each activation pattern have been described, leading to the hypothesis that the co-ordination of limb and body segments arises from the coupling of neural oscillators between each other and with limb mechanical oscillators. Muscle activations need only intervene during limited time epochs to force intrinsic oscillations of the system when energy is lost.

Rare-earth elements in granites: concentration and distribution pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galindo, A.C.

1983-01-01

The geochemistry of rare earth elements in granites is studied. The rare earth element (REE) distribution pattern in granites is characterized by a smooth curve with decreasing concentrations from La to Lu, and frequently a marked Eu negative anomaly. It seems to exist relationship between granite genesis and its REE pattern, in that bodies of primary (magmatic differentiation) origin always show this negative Eu anomaly, while those bodies generated by crustal anatexis do not show this anomaly. (E.G.) [pt

Is There a Weekly Pattern for Health Searches on Wikipedia and Is the Pattern Unique to Health Topics?

Science.gov (United States)

Gabarron, Elia; Lau, Annie Y S; Wynn, Rolf

2015-12-22

Online health information-seeking behaviors have been reported to be more common at the beginning of the workweek. This behavior pattern has been interpreted as a kind of "healthy new start" or "fresh start" due to regrets or attempts to compensate for unhealthy behavior or poor choices made during the weekend. However, the observations regarding the most common health information-seeking day were based only on the analyses of users' behaviors with websites on health or on online health-related searches. We wanted to confirm if this pattern could be found in searches of Wikipedia on health-related topics and also if this search pattern was unique to health-related topics or if it could represent a more general pattern of online information searching--which could be of relevance even beyond the health sector. The aim was to examine the degree to which the search pattern described previously was specific to health-related information seeking or whether similar patterns could be found in other types of information-seeking behavior. We extracted the number of searches performed on Wikipedia in the Norwegian language for 911 days for the most common sexually transmitted diseases (chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], and acquired immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS]), other health-related topics (influenza, diabetes, and menopause), and 2 nonhealth-related topics (footballer Lionel Messi and pop singer Justin Bieber). The search dates were classified according to the day of the week and ANOVA tests were used to compare the average number of hits per day of the week. The ANOVA tests showed that the sexually transmitted disease queries had their highest peaks on Tuesdays (PJustin Bieber had the most hits on Tuesdays. Both these tracked search queries also showed significantly lower numbers on Saturdays (P<.001). Our study supports prior studies finding an increase in health information searching at the beginning of the workweek. However, we also

DNA methylation patterns in tissues from mid-gestation bovine foetuses produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer show subtle abnormalities in nuclear reprogramming

OpenAIRE

Lee Rita SF; Couldrey Christine

2010-01-01

Abstract Background Cloning of cattle by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is associated with a high incidence of pregnancy failure characterized by abnormal placental and foetal development. These abnormalities are thought to be due, in part, to incomplete re-setting of the epigenetic state of DNA in the donor somatic cell nucleus to a state that is capable of driving embryonic and foetal development to completion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that DNA methylation patterns were not appr...

Dietary patterns associated with overweight among Brazilian adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Borges, Camila Aparecida; Marchioni, Dirce Maria Lobo; Levy, Renata Bertazzi; Slater, Betzabeth

2018-04-01

The present study aims to identify the dietary patterns of adolescents and associate these patterns with overweight. We analyzed food-consumption data from 6784 adolescents in the age group 10-18 years old collected in the Household Budget Survey 2008-2009. Dietary patterns were assessed through exploratory factor analysis. Logistic regression models were used in order to associate dietary patterns with overweight. Four dietary patterns were recorded: Traditional Brazilian Pattern, Snacks Pattern, Fast Food Pattern, and the Milk, Fruit and Cereal Breakfast Pattern. Results were adjusted according to the sociodemographic variables and showed that the higher the adherence to Snacks (OR: 1.50 fifth quintile vs first (95% CI: 1.13, 1.99) p linear trend <0.001) and Fast Food patterns (OR: 1.55 fifth quintile vs first (95% CI = 1.12, 2.12) p linear trend <0.001), the higher the chances of becoming overweight. These data indicate that the local public health and nutrition policies focused on adolescents should be more attentive to the eating habits of this population in Brazil, since the current research related regular poor nutritional quality dietary patterns to increased overweight among adolescents. In addition, understanding adolescents' eating habits according to their dietary patterns may guide the development of healthy dietary recommendations based on the combination between food and food groups, rather than only on nutrients or nutritional adequacy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-demographic and lifestyle determinants of dietary patterns in French-speaking Switzerland, 2009-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques-Vidal, Pedro; Waeber, Gérard; Vollenweider, Peter; Guessous, Idris

2018-01-12

Food intake is a complex behaviour which can be assessed using dietary patterns. Our aim was to characterize dietary patterns and associated factors in French-speaking Switzerland. Cross-sectional study conducted between 2009 and 2012 in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, including 4372 participants (54% women, 57.3 ± 10.3 years). Food consumption was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns were assessed by principal components analysis. Three patterns were identified: "Meat & fries"; "Fruits & Vegetables" and "Fatty & sugary". The "Meat & fries" pattern showed the strongest correlations with total and animal protein and cholesterol carbohydrates, dietary fibre and calcium. The "Fruits & Vegetables" pattern showed the strongest correlations with dietary fibre, carotene and vitamin D. The "Fatty & sugary" pattern showed the strongest correlations with total energy and saturated fat. On multivariate analysis, male gender, low educational level and sedentary status were positively associated with the "Meat & fries" and the "Fatty & sugary" patterns, and negatively associated with the "Fruits & Vegetables" pattern. Increasing age was inversely associated with the "Meat & fries" pattern; smoking status was inversely associated with the "Fruits & Vegetables" pattern. Being born in Portugal or Spain was positively associated with the "Meat & fries" and the "Fruits & Vegetables" patterns. Increasing body mass index was positively associated with the "Meat & fries" pattern and inversely associated with the "Fatty & sugary" pattern. Three dietary patterns, one healthy and two unhealthy, were identified in the Swiss population. Several associated modifiable behaviours were identified; the information on socio- demographic determinants allows targeting of the most vulnerable groups in the context of public health interventions.

Algorithms for adaptive nonlinear pattern recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Schmalz, Mark S.; Ritter, Gerhard X.; Hayden, Eric; Key, Gary

2011-09-01

remote sensing and target recognition applications. The authors' recent research in the development of adaptive TNE and adaptive LAMs is overviewed, with experimental results that show utility for a wide variety of pattern classification applications. Performance results are presented in terms of measured computational cost, noise tolerance, and classification accuracy.

Recent Trends and Patterns of Gasoline Consumption in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article analyses recent trends and spatial patterns of gasoline consumption in Nigeria. In particular, it shows that the volume of gasoline consumption in the country fluctuates with changes in economic growth. The pattern of distribution of gasoline consumption indicates that the largest consumption centres are in the ...

Preliminary analysis of the nestedness patterns of Montane forest ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Results show that the species ordering is significantly non-random. The discussion and conclusions focus on the nested subset patterns exhibited by 14 species and, to a lesser extent, 'idiosyncratic' species and islands. Factors that may have contributed to this pattern include selective extinction and colonisation; however, ...

Exploring dietary patterns by using the treelet transform

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gorst-Rasmussen, Anders; Dahm, Christina Catherine; Dethlefsen, Claus

2011-01-01

Principal component analysis (PCA) has been used extensively in the field of nutritional epidemiology to derive patterns that summarize food and nutrient intake, but interpreting it can be difficult. The authors propose the use of a new statistical technique, the treelet transform (TT...... as the first 7 patterns derived with PCA, for which interpretation was less clear. When the authors used multivariate Cox regression models to estimate relative risk of myocardial infarction, the significant risk factors were comparable whether the model was based on PCA or TT factors. The present study shows......), as an alternative to PCA. TT combines the quantitative pattern extraction capabilities of PCA with the interpretational advantages of cluster analysis and produces patterns involving only naturally grouped subsets of the original variables. The authors compared patterns derived using TT with those derived using PCA...

Automated Fringe Pattern Acquisition for Portable Laser Shearography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khairiah Yazid; Mohd Yusnisyam Yusof; Wan Saffiey Wan Abdullah

2013-01-01

In shearography system one of the most important tasks is the automatic, fast, reliable processing of the fringe patterns to allow real time inspection. Development of digital CCD cameras, the PC (fast and small data acquisition), high power lasers have led to dramatic performance improvements in shearography instruments and systems. This paper concentrates on development of fringe pattern acquisition using digital CCD camera for portable laser shearography system. A new program for fringe pattern processing which incorporates rapid methods for automatic fringe pattern acquisition and filtering has been developed. The algorithm is written using MATLAB. A graphical user interface with several functions was developed to ensure an easy adaptation in custom applications and providing a flexible way for additional functions. The preliminary results show that the developed algorithm can be used to generate good contrast and reliable fringe pattern. (author)

Actors with Multi-Headed Message Receive Patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sulzmann, Martin; Lam, Edmund Soon Lee; Van Weert, Peter

2008-01-01

style actors with receive clauses containing multi-headed message patterns. Patterns may be non-linear and constrained by guards. We provide a number of examples to show the usefulness of the extension. We also explore the design space for multi-headed message matching semantics, for example first-match......The actor model provides high-level concurrency abstractions to coordinate simultaneous computations by message passing. Languages implementing the actor model such as Erlang commonly only support single-headed pattern matching over received messages. We propose and design an extension of Erlang...... and rule priority-match semantics. The various semantics are inspired by the multi-set constraint matching semantics found in Constraint Handling Rules. This provides us with a formal model to study actors with multi-headed message receive patterns. The system can be implemented efficiently and we have...

The wild tomato species Solanum chilense shows variation in pathogen resistance between geographically distinct populations

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Remco Stam

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Wild tomatoes are a valuable source of disease resistance germplasm for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum breeders. Many species are known to possess a certain degree of resistance against certain pathogens; however, evolution of resistance traits is yet poorly understood. For some species, like Solanum chilense, both differences in habitat and within species genetic diversity are very large. Here we aim to investigate the occurrence of spatially heterogeneous coevolutionary pressures between populations of S. chilense. We investigate the phenotypic differences in disease resistance within S. chilense against three common tomato pathogens (Alternaria solani, Phytophthora infestans and a Fusarium sp. and confirm high degrees of variability in resistance properties between selected populations. Using generalised linear mixed models, we show that disease resistance does not follow the known demographic patterns of the species. Models with up to five available climatic and geographic variables are required to best describe resistance differences, confirming the complexity of factors involved in local resistance variation. We confirm that within S. chilense, resistance properties against various pathogens show a mosaic pattern and do not follow environmental patterns, indicating the strength of local pathogen pressures. Our study can form the basis for further investigations of the genetic traits involved.

The wild tomato species Solanum chilense shows variation in pathogen resistance between geographically distinct populations

Science.gov (United States)

Scheikl, Daniela; Tellier, Aurélien

2017-01-01

Wild tomatoes are a valuable source of disease resistance germplasm for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) breeders. Many species are known to possess a certain degree of resistance against certain pathogens; however, evolution of resistance traits is yet poorly understood. For some species, like Solanum chilense, both differences in habitat and within species genetic diversity are very large. Here we aim to investigate the occurrence of spatially heterogeneous coevolutionary pressures between populations of S. chilense. We investigate the phenotypic differences in disease resistance within S. chilense against three common tomato pathogens (Alternaria solani, Phytophthora infestans and a Fusarium sp.) and confirm high degrees of variability in resistance properties between selected populations. Using generalised linear mixed models, we show that disease resistance does not follow the known demographic patterns of the species. Models with up to five available climatic and geographic variables are required to best describe resistance differences, confirming the complexity of factors involved in local resistance variation. We confirm that within S. chilense, resistance properties against various pathogens show a mosaic pattern and do not follow environmental patterns, indicating the strength of local pathogen pressures. Our study can form the basis for further investigations of the genetic traits involved. PMID:28133579

Study of lipid profile and parieto-temporal lipid peroxidation in AlCl3 mediated neurotoxicity. modulatory effect of fenugreek seeds

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Belaïd-Nouira Yosra

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Peroxidation of lipid (LPO membrane and cholesterol metabolism have been involved in the physiopathology of many diseases of aging brain. Therefore, this prospective animal study was carried firstly to find out the correlation between LPO in posterior brain and plasmatic cholesterol along with lipoprotein levels after chronic intoxication by aluminium chloride (AlCl3. Chronic aluminum-induced neurotoxicity has been in fact related to enhanced brain lipid peroxidation together with hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia, despite its controversial etiological role in neurodegenerative diseases. Secondly an evaluation of the effectiveness of fenugreek seeds in alleviating the engendered toxicity through these biochemical parameters was made. Results Oral administration of AlCl3 to rats during 5 months (500 mg/kg bw i.g for one month then 1600 ppm via the drinking water enhanced the levels of LPO in posterior brain, liver and plasma together with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH activities, total cholesterol (TC, triglycerides (TG and LDL-C (Low Density Lipoproteins levels. All these parameters were decreased following fenugreek seeds supplementation either as fenugreek seed powder (FSP or fenugreek seed extract (FSE. A notable significant correlation was observed between LPObrain and LDL-C on one hand and LDHliver on the other hand. This latter was found to correlate positively with TC, TG and LDL-C. Furthermore, high significant correlations were observed between LDHbrain and TC, TG, LDL-C, LPObrain as well as LDHliver. Conclusion Aluminium-induced LPO in brain could arise from alteration of lipid metabolism particularly altered lipoprotein metabolism rather than a direct effect of cholesterol oxidation. Fenugreek seeds could play an anti-peroxidative role in brain which may be attributed in part to its modulatory effect on plasmatic lipid metabolism.

Extracellular Redox Regulation of Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Generation, Mitochondrial Function and Lipid Turnover in Cultured Human Adipocytes.

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Albert R Jones

Full Text Available Many tissues play an important role in metabolic homeostasis and the development of diabetes and obesity. We hypothesized that the circulating redox metabolome is a master metabolic regulatory system that impacts all organs and modulates reactive oxygen species (ROS production, lipid peroxidation, energy production and changes in lipid turnover in many cells including adipocytes.Differentiated human preadipocytes were exposed to the redox couples, lactate (L and pyruvate (P, β-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB and acetoacetate (Acoc, and the thiol-disulfides cysteine/ cystine (Cys/CySS and GSH/GSSG for 1.5-4 hours. ROS measurements were done with CM-H2DCFDA. Lipid peroxidation (LPO was assessed by a modification of the thiobarbituric acid method. Lipolysis was measured as glycerol release. Lipid synthesis was measured as 14C-glucose incorporated into lipid. Respiration was assessed using the SeaHorse XF24 analyzer and the proton leak was determined from the difference in respiration with oligomycin and antimycin A.Metabolites with increasing oxidation potentials (GSSG, CySS, Acoc increased adipocyte ROS. In contrast, P caused a decrease in ROS compared with L. Acoc also induced a significant increase in both LPO and lipid synthesis. L and Acoc increased lipolysis. βOHB increased respiration, mainly due to an increased proton leak. GSSG, when present throughout 14 days of differentiation significantly increased fat accumulation, but not when added later.We demonstrated that in human adipocytes changes in the external redox state impacted ROS production, LPO, energy efficiency, lipid handling, and differentiation. A more oxidized state generally led to increased ROS, LPO and lipid turnover and more reduction led to increased respiration and a proton leak. However, not all of the redox couples were the same suggesting compartmentalization. These data are consistent with the concept of the circulating redox metabolome as a master metabolic regulatory system.

Protective effect of Korean Red Ginseng extract against Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric inflammation in Mongolian gerbils

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Minkyung Bae

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric inflammation includes induction of inflammatory mediators interleukin (IL-8 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS, which are mediated by oxidant-sensitive transcription factor NF-κB. High levels of lipid peroxide (LPO and increased activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO, a biomarker of neutrophil infiltration, are observed in H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa. Panax ginseng Meyer, a Korean herb medicine, is widely used in Asian countries for its biological activities including anti-inflammatory efficacy. The present study aims to investigate whether Korean Red Ginseng extract (RGE inhibits H. pylori-induced gastric inflammation in Mongolian gerbils. One wk after intragastric inoculation with H. pylori, Mongolian gerbils were fed with either the control diet or the diet containing RGE (200 mg RGE/gerbil for 6 wk. The following were determined in gastric mucosa: the number of viable H. pylori in stomach; MPO activity; LPO level; mRNA and protein levels of keratinocyte chemoattractant factor (KC, a rodent IL-8 homolog, IL-1β, and iNOS; protein level of phospho-IκBα (which reflects the activation of NF-κB; and histology. As a result, RGE suppressed H. pylori-induced mRNA and protein levels of KC, IL-1β, and iNOS in gastric mucosa. RGE also inhibited H. pylori-induced phosphorylation of IκBα and increases in LPO level and MPO activity of gastric mucosa. RGE did not affect viable H. pylori colonization in the stomach, but improved the histological grade of infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils, intestinal metaplasia, and hyperplasia. In conclusion, RGE inhibits H. pylori-induced gastric inflammation by suppressing induction of inflammatory mediators (KC, IL-1β, iNOS, MPO activity, and LPO level in H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa.

Efeitos do alopurinol sobre a lipoperoxidação de membranas celulares renais na síndrome da isquemia e reperfusão: estudo experimental em ratos

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Rhoden Ernani Luís

1998-01-01

Full Text Available Objetivo: Vários estudos têm demonstrado que Radicais Livres de Oxigênio (RLO contribuem para o dano celular decorrente da isquemia e reperfusão. Este estudo foi desenvolvido como o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos da isquemia e reperfusão renal em ratos, tratados ou não com alopurinol, sobre a lipoperoxidação (LPO das membranas celulares renais. Método: Foram usados ratos Wistar distribuídos em 4 grupos e submetidos a períodos de isquemia e reperfusão renal ou não, dependendo do grupo. Também foram submetidos ou não a tratamento com alopurinol na dose de 50 e 150 mg/Kg por via intraperitoneal, 5 e 1 horas antes do procedimento. Na avaliação da lipoperoxidação utilizou-se os métodos do TBARS e QL. Resultados: Os resultados demonstraram aumento da LPO nos animais submetidos a isquemia e reperfusão renal. No entanto, estes efeitos deletérios foram reduzidos com o pré-tratamento com alopurinol (p<0,05. Conclusão: O dano causado em animais submetidos a isquemia e reperfusão renal pode ser demonstrado e quantificado pela LPO. Além disso, o alopurinol demonstrou proteção renal contra o dano decorrente desta síndrome, diminuindo a LPO nestes animais. Estes resultados sugerem que a via da xantina oxidase é uma das mais importantes rotas metabólicas envolvidas na geração de RLO, estes responsáveis em parte pelos danos funcionais do rim na síndrome da isquemia e reperfusão deste órgão.

Rotation-invariant neural pattern recognition system with application to coin recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukumi, M; Omatu, S; Takeda, F; Kosaka, T

1992-01-01

In pattern recognition, it is often necessary to deal with problems to classify a transformed pattern. A neural pattern recognition system which is insensitive to rotation of input pattern by various degrees is proposed. The system consists of a fixed invariance network with many slabs and a trainable multilayered network. The system was used in a rotation-invariant coin recognition problem to distinguish between a 500 yen coin and a 500 won coin. The results show that the approach works well for variable rotation pattern recognition.

[Interactive patterns detection in family communication with adolescents].

Science.gov (United States)

Gimeno Collado, Adelina; Anguera Argilaga, M Teresa; Berzosa Sanz, Amparo; Ramírez Ramírez, Luis

2006-11-01

Interactive patterns detection in family communication with adolescents. Nondistant communication is a relevant indicator for family functionality valuation. The goal of this study is to analyze this communication in order to identify specific kinds of leadership, interaction patterns and the relation between verbal and nonverbal elements in communication. The observational design exposed is an idiographic one, punctual and multidimensional, which uses field format as observation instrument. Participants were seven standardized families made up of both ancestors and an adolescent son or daughter. According to the family models analyzed, results show a predominantly democratic communication style in adults with recurrent support expressions. The sequential analysis incorporates only categories from the emitter point of view, and detects relevant sequences which show symmetric interaction between all three family members. Verbal and nonverbal channels provide complementary information. Depending on adolescents' gender different patterns in behaviour can be identified as well.

Nanotoxicity of natural minerals: an emerging area of nanotoxicology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Iqbal

2011-02-01

Nanotoxicity of two natural minerals, talc and silica were evaluated in vitro studying their effects on cell viability, LDH leakage, LPO induction, ROS production, GSH depletion, modulation of GR and GPx activities. Both mineral particles mediated their toxicity through oxidative stress. Differently, silica nanoparticles showed insignificant effect on GSH depletion. Talc nanoparticles significantly enhanced transcription and translation of TNF-alpha which was mediated by both ERK1/2 and P38. This aspect of study on silica nanoparticles is in progress.

An investigation on thermal patterns in Iran based on spatial autocorrelation

Science.gov (United States)

Fallah Ghalhari, Gholamabbas; Dadashi Roudbari, Abbasali

2018-02-01

The present study aimed at investigating temporal-spatial patterns and monthly patterns of temperature in Iran using new spatial statistical methods such as cluster and outlier analysis, and hotspot analysis. To do so, climatic parameters, monthly average temperature of 122 synoptic stations, were assessed. Statistical analysis showed that January with 120.75% had the most fluctuation among the studied months. Global Moran's Index revealed that yearly changes of temperature in Iran followed a strong spatially clustered pattern. Findings showed that the biggest thermal cluster pattern in Iran, 0.975388, occurred in May. Cluster and outlier analyses showed that thermal homogeneity in Iran decreases in cold months, while it increases in warm months. This is due to the radiation angle and synoptic systems which strongly influence thermal order in Iran. The elevations, however, have the most notable part proved by Geographically weighted regression model. Iran's thermal analysis through hotspot showed that hot thermal patterns (very hot, hot, and semi-hot) were dominant in the South, covering an area of 33.5% (about 552,145.3 km2). Regions such as mountain foot and low lands lack any significant spatial autocorrelation, 25.2% covering about 415,345.1 km2. The last is the cold thermal area (very cold, cold, and semi-cold) with about 25.2% covering about 552,145.3 km2 of the whole area of Iran.

Polyhedral patterns

KAUST Repository

Jiang, Caigui; Tang, Chengcheng; Vaxman, Amir; Wonka, Peter; Pottmann, Helmut

2015-01-01

We study the design and optimization of polyhedral patterns, which are patterns of planar polygonal faces on freeform surfaces. Working with polyhedral patterns is desirable in architectural geometry and industrial design. However, the classical

Pattern-Guided k-Anonymity

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Rolf Niedermeier

2013-10-01

Full Text Available We suggest a user-oriented approach to combinatorial data anonymization. A data matrix is called k-anonymous if every row appears at least k times—the goal of the NP-hard k-ANONYMITY problem then is to make a given matrix k-anonymous by suppressing (blanking out as few entries as possible. Building on previous work and coping with corresponding deficiencies, we describe an enhanced k-anonymization problem called PATTERN-GUIDED k-ANONYMITY, where the users specify in which combinations suppressions may occur. In this way, the user of the anonymized data can express the differing importance of various data features. We show that PATTERN-GUIDED k-ANONYMITY is NP-hard. We complement this by a fixed-parameter tractability result based on a “data-driven parameterization” and, based on this, develop an exact integer linear program (ILP-based solution method, as well as a simple, but very effective, greedy heuristic. Experiments on several real-world datasets show that our heuristic easily matches up to the established “Mondrian” algorithm for k-ANONYMITY in terms of the quality of the anonymization and outperforms it in terms of running time.

A study of ion channeling patterns at minor axes in silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motapothula, M.; Dang, Z.Y.; Venkatesan, T.; Breese, M.B.H.

2014-01-01

We present a comprehensive study of channeling patterns showing the angular distributions of 2 MeV protons which are transmitted through a 55 nm thick [0 0 1] silicon membrane along, and close to major and minor axes. The use of such ultra-thin membranes allows the relationship between aligned and tilted patterns to be clearly observed and a correlation made between lattice geometry and pattern distribution across many axes. We study the effect of minor planes {1 1 n} (n odd) at axes which they intersect, where their changing lattice geometry results in a variety of effects. The origin of these patterns is studied with Monte Carlo simulations and we show how one may interpret aspects of the observed patterns to determine the corresponding lattice arrangement. At axes which have a single spacing between atom rows produce the well-known ‘doughnut’ distribution at small axial tilts. In comparison, axes which incorporate atom rows with a different spacing or geometry produce more complex channeling patterns which exhibit a secondary, inner feature produced by beam incident on these rows

Show-Bix &

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2014-01-01

The anti-reenactment 'Show-Bix &' consists of 5 dias projectors, a dial phone, quintophonic sound, and interactive elements. A responsive interface will enable the Dias projectors to show copies of original dias slides from the Show-Bix piece ”March på Stedet”, 265 images in total. The copies are...

Scalable patterning using laser-induced shock waves

Science.gov (United States)

Ilhom, Saidjafarzoda; Kholikov, Khomidkhodza; Li, Peizhen; Ottman, Claire; Sanford, Dylan; Thomas, Zachary; San, Omer; Karaca, Haluk E.; Er, Ali O.

2018-04-01

An advanced direct imprinting method with low cost, quick, and minimal environmental impact to create a thermally controllable surface pattern using the laser pulses is reported. Patterned microindents were generated on Ni50Ti50 shape memory alloys and aluminum using an Nd: YAG laser operating at 1064 nm combined with a suitable transparent overlay, a sacrificial layer of graphite, and copper grid. Laser pulses at different energy densities, which generate pressure pulses up to a few GPa on the surface, were focused through the confinement medium, ablating the copper grid to create plasma and transferring the grid pattern onto the surface. Scanning electron microscope and optical microscope images show that various patterns were obtained on the surface with high fidelity. One-dimensional profile analysis indicates that the depth of the patterned sample initially increases with the laser energy and later levels off. Our simulations of laser irradiation process also confirm that high temperature and high pressure could be generated when the laser energy density of 2 J/cm2 is used.

The Pattern Across the Continental United States of Evapotranspiration Variability Associated with Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

Koster, Randal D.; Salvucci, Guido D.; Rigden, Angela J.; Jung, Martin; Collatz, G. James; Schubert, Siegfried D.

2015-01-01

The spatial pattern across the continental United States of the interannual variance of warm season water-dependent evapotranspiration, a pattern of relevance to land-atmosphere feedback, cannot be measured directly. Alternative and indirect approaches to estimating the pattern, however, do exist, and given the uncertainty of each, we use several such approaches here. We first quantify the water dependent evapotranspiration variance pattern inherent in two derived evapotranspiration datasets available from the literature. We then search for the pattern in proxy geophysical variables (air temperature, stream flow, and NDVI) known to have strong ties to evapotranspiration. The variances inherent in all of the different (and mostly independent) data sources show some differences but are generally strongly consistent they all show a large variance signal down the center of the U.S., with lower variances toward the east and (for the most part) toward the west. The robustness of the pattern across the datasets suggests that it indeed represents the pattern operating in nature. Using Budykos hydroclimatic framework, we show that the pattern can largely be explained by the relative strength of water and energy controls on evapotranspiration across the continent.

Efficient discovery of risk patterns in medical data.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jiuyong; Fu, Ada Wai-chee; Fahey, Paul

2009-01-01

This paper studies a problem of efficiently discovering risk patterns in medical data. Risk patterns are defined by a statistical metric, relative risk, which has been widely used in epidemiological research. To avoid fruitless search in the complete exploration of risk patterns, we define optimal risk pattern set to exclude superfluous patterns, i.e. complicated patterns with lower relative risk than their corresponding simpler form patterns. We prove that mining optimal risk pattern sets conforms an anti-monotone property that supports an efficient mining algorithm. We propose an efficient algorithm for mining optimal risk pattern sets based on this property. We also propose a hierarchical structure to present discovered patterns for the easy perusal by domain experts. The proposed approach is compared with two well-known rule discovery methods, decision tree and association rule mining approaches on benchmark data sets and applied to a real world application. The proposed method discovers more and better quality risk patterns than a decision tree approach. The decision tree method is not designed for such applications and is inadequate for pattern exploring. The proposed method does not discover a large number of uninteresting superfluous patterns as an association mining approach does. The proposed method is more efficient than an association rule mining method. A real world case study shows that the method reveals some interesting risk patterns to medical practitioners. The proposed method is an efficient approach to explore risk patterns. It quickly identifies cohorts of patients that are vulnerable to a risk outcome from a large data set. The proposed method is useful for exploratory study on large medical data to generate and refine hypotheses. The method is also useful for designing medical surveillance systems.

Adaptively evolved yeast mutants on galactose show trade-offs in carbon utilization on glucose

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hong, Kuk-Ki; Nielsen, Jens

2013-01-01

the molecular mechanisms. In this study, adaptively evolved yeast mutants with improved galactose utilization ability showed impaired glucose utilization. The molecular genetic basis of this trade-off was investigated using a systems biology approach. Transcriptional and metabolic changes resulting from...... the improvement of galactose utilization were found maintained during growth on glucose. Moreover, glucose repression related genes showed conserved expression patterns during growth on both sugars. Mutations in the RAS2 gene that were identified as beneficial for galactose utilization in evolved mutants...

Read/write characteristics of a new type of bit-patterned-media using nano-patterned glassy alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takenaka, Kana; Saidoh, Noriko; Nishiyama, Nobuyuki; Ishimaru, Manabu; Futamoto, Masaaki; Inoue, Akihisa

2012-01-01

The paper reports a feasibility study of new type bit-patterned-media using a nano-patterned glassy alloy template for ultra-high density hard disk applications. The prototype bit-patterned-media was prepared using a nano-hole array pattern fabricated on a Pd-based glassy alloy thin film and a Co/Pd multilayered film filled in the nano-holes. The prepared prototype bit-patterned-media had a smooth surface and isolated Co/Pd multilayer magnetic dots, where the average dot diameter, the average dot pitch and the average dot height were 30, 60 and 19 nm, respectively. MFM (magnetic force microscope) observation revealed that each dot was magnetized in a perpendicular direction and the magnetization could reverse when an opposite magnetic field was applied. Static read/write tester measurements showed that repeated writing and reading on isolated magnetic dots were possible in combination with conventional magnetic heads and high-accuracy positioning technologies. The present study indicates that the new type of bit-patterned-media composed of nano-hole arrays fabricated on glassy alloy film template and Co/Pd multilayer magnetic dots are promising for applications to next generation ultra-high density hard disk drives. - Highlights: ► Prototype BPM using a nano-hole array pattern of imprinted Pd-based glassy alloy thin film and Co/Pd multilayered film was set. ► The prototype BPM has smooth surface and isolated Co/Pd multilayer magnetic dots with an average dot diameter of 30 nm. ► Dots acted as perpendicular magnetic dot and were able to read, erase and write in a row by a usual perpendicular magnetic head.

Finger vein recognition using local line binary pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Shing, Chai Wuh; Suandi, Shahrel Azmin

2011-01-01

In this paper, a personal verification method using finger vein is presented. Finger vein can be considered more secured compared to other hands based biometric traits such as fingerprint and palm print because the features are inside the human body. In the proposed method, a new texture descriptor called local line binary pattern (LLBP) is utilized as feature extraction technique. The neighbourhood shape in LLBP is a straight line, unlike in local binary pattern (LBP) which is a square shape. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LLBP has better performance than the previous methods using LBP and local derivative pattern (LDP).

Externally controlled anisotropy in pattern-forming reaction-diffusion systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Escala, Dario M; Guiu-Souto, Jacobo; Muñuzuri, Alberto P

2015-06-01

The effect of centrifugal forces is analyzed in a pattern-forming reaction-diffusion system. Numerical simulations conducted on the appropriate extension of the Oregonator model for the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction show a great variety of dynamical behaviors in such a system. In general, the system exhibits an anisotropy that results in new types of patterns or in a global displacement of the previous one. We consider the effect of both constant and periodically modulated centrifugal forces on the different types of patterns that the system may exhibit. A detailed analysis of the patterns and behaviors observed for the different parameter values considered is presented here.

Dietary pattern and asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lv N

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Nan Lv,1 Lan Xiao,1 Jun Ma1,2 1Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, 2Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Background: The literature on the relationship between diet and asthma has largely focused on individual nutrients, with conflicting results. People consume a combination of foods from various groups that form a dietary pattern. Studying the role of dietary patterns in asthma is an emerging area of research. The purpose of this study was to systematically review dietary patterns and asthma outcomes in adults and children, to review maternal diet and child asthma, and to conduct a meta-analysis on the association between asthma prevalence and dietary patterns in adults. Methods: We searched Medline, Scopus, and ISI Web of Knowledge up to January 2014. Two researchers independently reviewed studies meeting the inclusion criteria using the American Dietetic Association quality criteria. A linear mixed model was used to derive the pooled effect size (95% confidence interval for each of three dietary pattern categories (healthy, unhealthy, and neutral. Results: Thirty-one studies were identified (16 cross-sectional, one case-control, 13 cohort, and one randomized controlled trial, including 12 in adults, 13 in children, five in pregnant woman–child pairs, and one in both children and pregnant woman–child pairs. Six of the 12 adult studies reported significant associations between dietary patterns and asthma outcomes (eg, ever asthma and forced expiratory volume in one second. Seven of ten studies examining the Mediterranean diet showed protective effects on child asthma and/or wheeze. Four of the six studies in mother-child pairs showed that maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy were not associated with child asthma or wheeze. The meta-analysis including six adult studies, the primary outcome of which was the prevalence of current or ever asthma, showed no association with healthy

Feeding and defaecation patterns in Triatoma sordida

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LB Crocco

1996-08-01

Full Text Available Triatoma sordida is a peridomestic Triatominae that could play an important role in the transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, although its vectorial competence is not well known. The aim of this work was to evaluate two aspects of the vectorial competence: the feeding behaviour and defaecation patterns, and to compare them with T. infestans. The feeding and defaecation patterns were studied in adults and fifth instar nymphs of T. sordida fed ad libitum on a restrained pigeon. The results showed how the blood meal size controls excretion behaviour. Blood intake and time to first defaecation showed a significant negative correlation. Adults and nymphs frequently defaecated during the blood meal, reaching the maximum frequency within the first 10 minutes.

Glutathione system participation in thoracic aneurysms from patients with Marfan syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Zúñiga-Muñoz, Alejandra María; Pérez-Torres, Israel; Guarner-Lans, Verónica; Núñez-Garrido, Elías; Velázquez Espejel, Rodrigo; Huesca-Gómez, Claudia; Gamboa-Ávila, Ricardo; Soto, María Elena

2017-05-01

Aortic dilatation in Marfan syndrome (MFS) is progressive. It is associated with oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction that contribute to the early acute dissection of the vessel and can result in rupture of the aorta and sudden death. We evaluated the participation of the glutathione (GSH) system, which could be involved in the mechanisms that promote the formation and progression of the aortic aneurysms in MFS patients. Aortic aneurysm tissue was obtained during chest surgery from eight control subjects and 14 MFS patients. Spectrophotometrical determination of activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), lipid peroxidation (LPO) index, carbonylation, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and concentration of reduced and oxidized glutathione (GSH and GSSG respectively), was performed in the homogenate from aortic aneurysm tissue. LPO index, carbonylation, TGF-β1, and GR activity were increased in MFS patients (p < 0.04), while TAC, GSH/GSSG ratio, GPx, and GST activity were significantly decreased (p < 0.04). The depletion of GSH, in spite of the elevated activity of GR, not only diminished the activity of GSH-depend GST and GPx, but increased LPO, carbonylation and decreased TAC. These changes could promote the structural and functional alterations in the thoracic aorta of MFS patients.

Etheno-DNA adduct formation in rats gavaged with linoleic acid, oleic acid and coconut oil is organ- and gender specific

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Qingming; Nair, Jagadeesan; Sun Xin; Hadjiolov, Dimiter; Bartsch, Helmut

2007-01-01

Intake of linoleic acid (LA) increased etheno-DNA adducts induced by lipid peroxidation (LPO) in white blood cells (WBC) of female but not of male volunteers [J. Nair, C.E. Vaca, I. Velic, M. Mutanen, L.M. Valsta, H. Bartsch, High dietary ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids drastically increase the formation of etheno-DNA adducts in white blood cells of female subjects, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 6 (1997) 597-601]. Etheno-adducts were measured in rats gavaged with LA, oleic acid (OA) and saturated fatty acid rich coconut oil for 30 days. DNA from organs and total WBC was analyzed for 1, N 6 -ethenodeoxyadenosine (εdA) and 3, N 4 -ethenodeoxycytidine (εdC) by immunoaffinity/ 32 P-postlabeling. Colon was the most affected target with LA-treatment, where etheno-adducts were significantly elevated in both sexes. In WBC both adducts were elevated only in LA-treated females. Unexpectedly, OA treatment enhanced etheno-adduct levels in prostate 3-9 fold. Our results in rodents confirm the gender-specific increase of etheno-adducts in WBC-DNA, likely due to LPO induced by redox-cycling of 4-hydroxyestradiol. Colon was a target for LPO-derived DNA-adducts in both LA-treated male and female rats, supporting their role in ω-6 PUFA induced colon carcinogenesis

Numerical evaluation of lactoperoxidase inactivation during continuous pulsed electric field processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckow, Roman; Semrau, Julius; Sui, Qian; Wan, Jason; Knoerzer, Kai

2012-01-01

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model describing the flow, electric field and temperature distribution of a laboratory-scale pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment chamber with co-field electrode configuration was developed. The predicted temperature increase was validated by means of integral temperature studies using thermocouples at the outlet of each flow cell for grape juice and salt solutions. Simulations of PEF treatments revealed intensity peaks of the electric field and laminar flow conditions in the treatment chamber causing local temperature hot spots near the chamber walls. Furthermore, thermal inactivation kinetics of lactoperoxidase (LPO) dissolved in simulated milk ultrafiltrate were determined with a glass capillary method at temperatures ranging from 65 to 80 °C. Temperature dependence of first order inactivation rate constants was accurately described by the Arrhenius equation yielding an activation energy of 597.1 kJ mol(-1). The thermal impact of different PEF processes on LPO activity was estimated by coupling the derived Arrhenius model with the CFD model and the predicted enzyme inactivation was compared to experimental measurements. Results indicated that LPO inactivation during combined PEF/thermal treatments was largely due to thermal effects, but 5-12% enzyme inactivation may be related to other electro-chemical effects occurring during PEF treatments. Copyright © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Lexicalization patterns in Brazilian Portuguese

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Dorival Gonçalves Santos Filho

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Neolatin languages belong to a lexicalization pattern in which the verbal root expresses semantic primitives of MOVE and PATH, leaving MANNER or CAUSE to be expressed by an adverb or the gerund form. In German origin languages, on the contrary, verbs lexicalize the semantic primitives of MOVE, MANNER or CAUSE; as for the PATH, it is expressed by a grammatical element that is associated to the verb. Taking into consideration some of the concepts of event of move, guided by Cognitive Semantics, and an analysis of examples extracted from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings’ books, the present study aims at showing, at least, three lexicalization patterns in which Brazilian Portuguese fits in.

Dictionary Indexing of Electron Channeling Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Saransh; De Graef, Marc

2017-02-01

The dictionary-based approach to the indexing of diffraction patterns is applied to electron channeling patterns (ECPs). The main ingredients of the dictionary method are introduced, including the generalized forward projector (GFP), the relevant detector model, and a scheme to uniformly sample orientation space using the "cubochoric" representation. The GFP is used to compute an ECP "master" pattern. Derivative free optimization algorithms, including the Nelder-Mead simplex and the bound optimization by quadratic approximation are used to determine the correct detector parameters and to refine the orientation obtained from the dictionary approach. The indexing method is applied to poly-silicon and shows excellent agreement with the calibrated values. Finally, it is shown that the method results in a mean disorientation error of 1.0° with 0.5° SD for a range of detector parameters.

Identification system by eye retinal pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sunagawa, Takahisa; Shibata, Susumu

1987-01-01

Identification system by eye retinal pattern is introduced from the view-point of history of R and D, measurement, apparatus, evaluation tests, safety and application. According to our evaluation tests, enrolling time is approximately less than 1 min, verification time is a few seconds and false accept rate is 0 %. Evaluation tests at Sandia National Laboratories in USA show the comparison data of false accept rates such as 0 % for eye retinal pattern, 10.5 % for finger-print, 5.8 % for signature dynamics and 17.7 % for speaker voice. The identification system by eye retinal pattern has only three applications in Japan, but there has been a number of experience in USA. This fact suggests that the system will become an important means for physical protections not only in nuclear field but also in other industrial fields in Japan. (author)

Horizontal and vertical combination of multi-tenancy patterns in service-oriented applications

Science.gov (United States)

Mietzner, Ralph; Leymann, Frank; Unger, Tobias

2011-02-01

Software as a service (SaaS) providers exploit economies of scale by offering the same instance of an application to multiple customers typically in a single-instance multi-tenant architecture model. Therefore the applications must be scalable, multi-tenant aware and configurable. In this article, we show how the services in a service-oriented SaaS application can be deployed using different multi-tenancy patterns. We describe how services in different multi-tenancy patterns can be composed on the application level. In addition to that, we also describe how these multi-tenancy patterns can be applied to middleware and hardware components. We then show with some real world examples how the different multi-tenancy patterns can be combined.

A node linkage approach for sequential pattern mining.

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Osvaldo Navarro

Full Text Available Sequential Pattern Mining is a widely addressed problem in data mining, with applications such as analyzing Web usage, examining purchase behavior, and text mining, among others. Nevertheless, with the dramatic increase in data volume, the current approaches prove inefficient when dealing with large input datasets, a large number of different symbols and low minimum supports. In this paper, we propose a new sequential pattern mining algorithm, which follows a pattern-growth scheme to discover sequential patterns. Unlike most pattern growth algorithms, our approach does not build a data structure to represent the input dataset, but instead accesses the required sequences through pseudo-projection databases, achieving better runtime and reducing memory requirements. Our algorithm traverses the search space in a depth-first fashion and only preserves in memory a pattern node linkage and the pseudo-projections required for the branch being explored at the time. Experimental results show that our new approach, the Node Linkage Depth-First Traversal algorithm (NLDFT, has better performance and scalability in comparison with state of the art algorithms.

Influence of Continuous Table Motion on Patient Breathing Patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilbert, Juergen; Baier, Kurt; Richter, Anne; Herrmann, Christian; Ma Lei; Flentje, Michael; Guckenberger, Matthias

2010-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the influence of continuous table motion on patient breathing patterns for compensation of moving targets by a robotic treatment couch. Methods and Materials: Fifteen volunteers were placed on a robotic treatment couch, and the couch was moved on different breathing-correlated and -uncorrelated trajectories. External abdominal breathing motion of the patients was measured using an infrared camera system. The influence of table motion on breathing range and pattern was analyzed. Results: Continuous table motion was tolerated well by all test persons. Volunteers reacted differently to table motion. Four test persons showed no change of breathing range and pattern. Increased irregular breathing was observed in 4 patients; however, irregularity was not correlated with table motion. Only 4 test persons showed an increase in mean breathing amplitude of more than 2mm during motion of the couch. The mean cycle period decreased by more than 1 s for 2 test persons only. No abrupt changes in amplitude or cycle period could be observed. Conclusions: The observed small changes in breathing patterns support the application of motion compensation by a robotic treatment couch.

Are food patterns associated with prostate cancer in Jamaican men: a preliminary report.

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Jackson, Maria; Walker, Susan; Simpson, Candace; McFarlane-Anderson, Norma; Bennett, Franklyn

2009-02-10

Morbidity and mortality data highlight prostate cancer as the most commonly diagnosed neoplasm in Jamaican males. This report examines the association between dietary patterns and risk of prostate cancer in Jamaican men. Case-control study of 204 histologically confirmed newly diagnosed prostate cancer cases and 204 individually matched urology clinic controls in Jamaica, 2004 - 2007. Diet was assessed by food frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis yielded four dietary patterns: (i) a "healthy" pattern of vegetables, fruits and peas and beans, (ii) a "carbohydrate" pattern with high loadings for white bread and refined cereals, (iii) "sugary foods and sweet baked products" pattern and (iv) a "organ meat and fast food pattern" with high loadings for high fat dessert, organ meat, fast food and salty snacks.Logistic regressions with the individual dietary patterns controlling for potential confounders showed no association between any of the food patterns and risk of prostate cancer. The healthy pattern showed an inverse non-significant association, whereas the carbohydrate pattern was positively and insignificantly related to prostate cancer. Analysis of all food patterns adjusting for each other revealed no association between food patterns and the risk of prostate cancer. Dietary patterns identified in our sample were not associated with risk of prostate cancer. Further investigations that better define cancer-free subjects and dietary measurements are needed to examine diet and prostate cancer outcomes.

Privacy transparency patterns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Siljee B.I.J.

2015-01-01

This paper describes two privacy patterns for creating privacy transparency: the Personal Data Table pattern and the Privacy Policy Icons pattern, as well as a full overview of privacy transparency patterns. It is a first step in creating a full set of privacy design patterns, which will aid

Neuron-Enriched Gene Expression Patterns are Regionally Anti-Correlated with Oligodendrocyte-Enriched Patterns in the Adult Mouse and Human Brain.

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Tan, Powell Patrick Cheng; French, Leon; Pavlidis, Paul

2013-01-01

An important goal in neuroscience is to understand gene expression patterns in the brain. The recent availability of comprehensive and detailed expression atlases for mouse and human creates opportunities to discover global patterns and perform cross-species comparisons. Recently we reported that the major source of variation in gene transcript expression in the adult normal mouse brain can be parsimoniously explained as reflecting regional variation in glia to neuron ratios, and is correlated with degree of connectivity and location in the brain along the anterior-posterior axis. Here we extend this investigation to two gene expression assays of adult normal human brains that consisted of over 300 brain region samples, and perform comparative analyses of brain-wide expression patterns to the mouse. We performed principal components analysis (PCA) on the regional gene expression of the adult human brain to identify the expression pattern that has the largest variance. As in the mouse, we observed that the first principal component is composed of two anti-correlated patterns enriched in oligodendrocyte and neuron markers respectively. However, we also observed interesting discordant patterns between the two species. For example, a few mouse neuron markers show expression patterns that are more correlated with the human oligodendrocyte-enriched pattern and vice-versa. In conclusion, our work provides insights into human brain function and evolution by probing global relationships between regional cell type marker expression patterns in the human and mouse brain.

Advanced morphological analysis of patterns of thin anodic porous alumina

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toccafondi, C. [Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Department of Nanophysics, Via Morego 30, Genova I 16163 (Italy); Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Department of Nanostructures, Via Morego 30, Genova I 16163 (Italy); Stępniowski, W.J. [Department of Advanced Materials and Technologies, Faculty of Advanced Technologies and Chemistry, Military University of Technology, 2 Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warszawa (Poland); Leoncini, M. [Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Department of Nanostructures, Via Morego 30, Genova I 16163 (Italy); Salerno, M., E-mail: marco.salerno@iit.it [Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Department of Nanophysics, Via Morego 30, Genova I 16163 (Italy)

2014-08-15

Different conditions of fabrication of thin anodic porous alumina on glass substrates have been explored, obtaining two sets of samples with varying pore density and porosity, respectively. The patterns of pores have been imaged by high resolution scanning electron microscopy and analyzed by innovative methods. The regularity ratio has been extracted from radial profiles of the fast Fourier transforms of the images. Additionally, the Minkowski measures have been calculated. It was first observed that the regularity ratio averaged across all directions is properly corrected by the coefficient previously determined in the literature. Furthermore, the angularly averaged regularity ratio for the thin porous alumina made during short single-step anodizations is lower than that of hexagonal patterns of pores as for thick porous alumina from aluminum electropolishing and two-step anodization. Therefore, the regularity ratio represents a reliable measure of pattern order. At the same time, the lower angular spread of the regularity ratio shows that disordered porous alumina is more isotropic. Within each set, when changing either pore density or porosity, both regularity and isotropy remain rather constant, showing consistent fabrication quality of the experimental patterns. Minor deviations are tentatively discussed with the aid of the Minkowski measures, and the slight decrease in both regularity and isotropy for the final data-points of the porosity set is ascribed to excess pore opening and consequent pore merging. - Highlights: • Thin porous alumina is partly self-ordered and pattern analysis is required. • Regularity ratio is often misused: we fix the averaging and consider its spread. • We also apply the mathematical tool of Minkowski measures, new in this field. • Regularity ratio shows pattern isotropy and Minkowski helps in assessment. • General agreement with perfect artificial patterns confirms the good manufacturing.

Organ involvement in Argentinian systemic sclerosis patients with "late" pattern as compared to patients with "early/active" pattern by nailfold capillaroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino Claverie, Lucila; Knobel, Elizabeth; Takashima, Lorena; Techera, Lorena; Oliver, Marina; Gonzalez, Paula; Romanini, Félix E; Fonseca, María L; Mamani, Marta N

2013-06-01

Changes in nailfold capillaroscopy in systemic sclerosis patients could be related to the disease severity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with "late" scleroderma (SD) pattern have more organ involvement than patients with "early/active" SD pattern. Forty-six Argentinian patients (44 women and 2 men), with a diagnosis of systemic sclerosis, were distributed in two groups based on the presence of late and early/active patterns. Organ involvement was assessed as follows: pulmonary function by chest radiography, high-resolution chest tomography (HRCT), lung volume tests, and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO); esophageal involvement by manometry; and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) by Doppler echocardiography and six-minute walk test. Honeycombing of the lungs evaluated by HRCT was more frequently present in patients with late pattern compared with early/active patients (p = 0.01). We also found statistically significant differences in lung volume tests (p = 0.03) and DLCO (p = 0.02) between the two SD pattern groups. Esophageal manometry showed a significantly higher frequency of motility disorders in the group with late pattern (p = 0.0024). In this study, patients with late pattern had higher frequency of pulmonary and esophageal involvement compared with patients with early/active pattern.

Structural pattern matching of nonribosomal peptides

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Leclère Valérie

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Nonribosomal peptides (NRPs, bioactive secondary metabolites produced by many microorganisms, show a broad range of important biological activities (e.g. antibiotics, immunosuppressants, antitumor agents. NRPs are mainly composed of amino acids but their primary structure is not always linear and can contain cycles or branchings. Furthermore, there are several hundred different monomers that can be incorporated into NRPs. The NORINE database, the first resource entirely dedicated to NRPs, currently stores more than 700 NRPs annotated with their monomeric peptide structure encoded by undirected labeled graphs. This opens a way to a systematic analysis of structural patterns occurring in NRPs. Such studies can investigate the functional role of some monomeric chains, or analyse NRPs that have been computationally predicted from the synthetase protein sequence. A basic operation in such analyses is the search for a given structural pattern in the database. Results We developed an efficient method that allows for a quick search for a structural pattern in the NORINE database. The method identifies all peptides containing a pattern substructure of a given size. This amounts to solving a variant of the maximum common subgraph problem on pattern and peptide graphs, which is done by computing cliques in an appropriate compatibility graph. Conclusion The method has been incorporated into the NORINE database, available at http://bioinfo.lifl.fr/norine. Less than one second is needed to search for a pattern in the entire database.

Influencia de la fuerza muscular isométrica de las extremidades superiores en el estrés oxidativo en niños. (Influence of handgrip strength in oxidative stress in children.

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Manuel Guillén-del Castillo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available ResumenEl ejercicio físico puede producir estrés oxidativo en el individuo lo que pueden condicionar el riesgo cardiovascular en niños y adolescentes. Este estudio pretende analizar el estrés oxidativo según la fuerza muscular isométrica de las extremidades superiores en la edad pediátrica. Se estudiaron 70 niños sanos con edades entre 10 y 14 años, y se analizaron en saliva los lipoperóxidos (LPO, el glutatión reducido (GSH, la ratio GSH/LPO y la catalasa, como marcadores de estrés oxidativo. La muestra se dividió en dos grupos según una condición física superior o inferior medida a través de dinamometría manual (TKK 5110; se diferenció la serie en sujetos prepuberales y puberales. Se encontraron niveles significativamente inferiores de GSH y GSH/LPO en el grupo de niños con fuerza superior, y en los puberales con la mismas características; estos resultados podrían indicar la existencia de un mayor estrés oxidativo en esta situación. En conclusión, los mayores niveles de fuerza músculo esquelética, medida a través de dinamometría manual, posiblemente pueden estar asociados a un mayor estrés oxidativo en niños púberes con condición física musculoesquelética superior.AbstractPhysical exercise can produce oxidative stress, this situation could contribute cardiovascular risk in children and adolescents. The following study tries to evaluate the oxidative stress produced according to the handgrip strength in infancy. 70 healthy male subjects, ages 10 to 14 years, were studied. In the saliva samples, lipoperoxides (LPO, reduced glutathione (GSH, glutathione/lipoperoxides ratio and catalase were analyzed as biomarkers of oxidative stress. Children were divided into two groups according to their handgrip strength (high or low measured by handgrip strength (TKK 5110. The groups were also divided into prepubertal and pubertal subjects. We found GSH’s significantly low levels and of GSH/LPO in pubertal group with high

A Repeated Signal Difference for Recognising Patterns

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Kieran Greer

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a new mechanism that might help with defining pattern sequences, by the fact that it can produce an upper bound on the ensemble value that can persistently oscillate with the actual values produced from each pattern. With every firing event, a node also receives an on/off feedback switch. If the node fires then it sends a feedback result depending on the input signal strength. If the input signal is positive or larger, it can store an ‘on’ switch feedback for the next iteration. If the signal is negative or smaller it can store an ‘off’ switch feedback for the next iteration. If the node does not fire, then it does not affect the current feedback situation and receives the switch command produced by the last active pattern event for the same neuron. The upper bound therefore also represents the largest or most enclosing pattern set and the lower value is for the actual set of firing patterns. If the pattern sequence repeats, it will oscillate between the two values, allowing them to be recognised and measured more easily, over time. Tests show that changing the sequence ordering produces different value sets, which can also be measured.

Gaming Device Usage Patterns Predict Internet Gaming Disorder: Comparison across Different Gaming Device Usage Patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Hyun; Chun, Ji-Won; Jeong, Jo-Eun; Kim, Dai-Jin

2017-01-01

Gaming behaviors have been significantly influenced by smartphones. This study was designed to explore gaming behaviors and clinical characteristics across different gaming device usage patterns and the role of the patterns on Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Responders of an online survey regarding smartphone and online game usage were classified by different gaming device usage patterns: (1) individuals who played only computer games; (2) individuals who played computer games more than smartphone games; (3) individuals who played computer and smartphone games evenly; (4) individuals who played smartphone games more than computer games; (5) individuals who played only smartphone games. Data on demographics, gaming-related behaviors, and scales for Internet and smartphone addiction, depression, anxiety disorder, and substance use were collected. Combined users, especially those who played computer and smartphone games evenly, had higher prevalence of IGD, depression, anxiety disorder, and substance use disorder. These subjects were more prone to develop IGD than reference group (computer only gamers) (B = 0.457, odds ratio = 1.579). Smartphone only gamers had the lowest prevalence of IGD, spent the least time and money on gaming, and showed lowest scores of Internet and smartphone addiction. Our findings suggest that gaming device usage patterns may be associated with the occurrence, course, and prognosis of IGD. PMID:29206183

Gaming Device Usage Patterns Predict Internet Gaming Disorder: Comparison across Different Gaming Device Usage Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Paik, Soo-Hyun; Cho, Hyun; Chun, Ji-Won; Jeong, Jo-Eun; Kim, Dai-Jin

2017-12-05

Gaming behaviors have been significantly influenced by smartphones. This study was designed to explore gaming behaviors and clinical characteristics across different gaming device usage patterns and the role of the patterns on Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Responders of an online survey regarding smartphone and online game usage were classified by different gaming device usage patterns: (1) individuals who played only computer games; (2) individuals who played computer games more than smartphone games; (3) individuals who played computer and smartphone games evenly; (4) individuals who played smartphone games more than computer games; (5) individuals who played only smartphone games. Data on demographics, gaming-related behaviors, and scales for Internet and smartphone addiction, depression, anxiety disorder, and substance use were collected. Combined users, especially those who played computer and smartphone games evenly, had higher prevalence of IGD, depression, anxiety disorder, and substance use disorder. These subjects were more prone to develop IGD than reference group (computer only gamers) (B = 0.457, odds ratio = 1.579). Smartphone only gamers had the lowest prevalence of IGD, spent the least time and money on gaming, and showed lowest scores of Internet and smartphone addiction. Our findings suggest that gaming device usage patterns may be associated with the occurrence, course, and prognosis of IGD.

Gaming Device Usage Patterns Predict Internet Gaming Disorder: Comparison across Different Gaming Device Usage Patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soo-Hyun Paik

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Gaming behaviors have been significantly influenced by smartphones. This study was designed to explore gaming behaviors and clinical characteristics across different gaming device usage patterns and the role of the patterns on Internet gaming disorder (IGD. Responders of an online survey regarding smartphone and online game usage were classified by different gaming device usage patterns: (1 individuals who played only computer games; (2 individuals who played computer games more than smartphone games; (3 individuals who played computer and smartphone games evenly; (4 individuals who played smartphone games more than computer games; (5 individuals who played only smartphone games. Data on demographics, gaming-related behaviors, and scales for Internet and smartphone addiction, depression, anxiety disorder, and substance use were collected. Combined users, especially those who played computer and smartphone games evenly, had higher prevalence of IGD, depression, anxiety disorder, and substance use disorder. These subjects were more prone to develop IGD than reference group (computer only gamers (B = 0.457, odds ratio = 1.579. Smartphone only gamers had the lowest prevalence of IGD, spent the least time and money on gaming, and showed lowest scores of Internet and smartphone addiction. Our findings suggest that gaming device usage patterns may be associated with the occurrence, course, and prognosis of IGD.

Research on feature extraction techniques of Hainan Li brocade pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yuping; Chen, Fuqiang; Zhou, Yuhua

2016-03-01

Hainan Li brocade skills has been listed as world non-material cultural heritage preservation, therefore, the research on Hainan Li brocade patterns plays an important role in Li brocade culture inheritance. The meaning of Li brocade patterns was analyzed and the shape feature extraction techniques to original Li brocade patterns were advanced in this paper, based on the contour tracking algorithm. First, edge detection was made on the design patterns, and then the morphological closing operation was used to smooth the image, and finally contour tracking was used to extract the outer contours of Li brocade patterns. The extracted contour features were processed by means of morphology, and digital characteristics of contours are obtained by invariant moments. At last, different patterns of Li brocade design are briefly analyzed according to the digital characteristics. The results showed that the pattern extraction method to Li brocade pattern shapes is feasible and effective according to above method.

Design Patterns Application in the ERP Systems Improvements

Science.gov (United States)

Jovičić, Bojan; Vlajić, Siniša

Design patterns application have long been present in software engineering. The same is true for ERP systems in business software. Is it possible that ERP systems do not have a good maintenance score? We have found out that there is room for maintenance improvement and that it is possible to improve ERP systems using design patterns. We have conducted comparative analysis of ease of maintenance of the ERP systems. The results show that the average score for our questions is 64%, with most answers for ERP systems like SAP, Oracle EBS, Dynamics AX. We found that 59% of ERP system developer users are not familiar with design patterns. Based on this research, we have chosen Dynamics AX as the ERP system for examination of design patterns improvement possibilities. We used software metrics to measure improvement possibility. We found that we could increase the Conditional Complexity score 17-fold by introducing design patterns.

Current evidence on dietary pattern and cognitive function.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Bernice H K; Ho, Ivan C H; Chan, Ruth S M; Sea, Mandy M M; Woo, Jean

2014-01-01

With global aging population, age-related cognitive decline becomes epidemic. Lifestyle-related factor is one of the key preventative measures. Dietary pattern analysis which considers dietary complexity has recently used to examine the linkage between nutrition and cognitive function. A priori approach defines dietary pattern based on existing knowledge. Results of several dietary pattern scores were summarized. The heterogeneity of assessment methods and outcome measurements lead to inconsistent results. Posteriori approach derives a dietary pattern independently of the existing nutrition-disease knowledge. It showed a dietary pattern abundant with plant-based food, oily fish, lower consumption of processed food, saturated fat, and simple sugar which appears to be beneficial to cognitive health. Despite inconclusive evidence from both approaches, diet and exercise, beneficial for other diseases, remains to be the two key modifiable factors for cognitive function. Large-scale prospective studies in multiethics population are required to provide stronger evidence in the future. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Conjugated polymer dots for ultra-stable full-color fluorescence patterning.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Kaiwen; Liu, Zhihe; Chen, Haobin; Sheng, Lan; Zhang, Sean Xiao-An; Chiu, Daniel T; Yin, Shengyan; Wu, Changfeng; Qin, Weiping

2014-11-12

Stable full-color fluorescence patterning are achieved by multicolor polymer-dot inks. The fluorescent patterns show extraordinary stability upon various treatments, offering a superior combination of bright fluorescence, excellent photostability, chemical resistance, and eco-friendship. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Modeling and inferring cleavage patterns in proliferating epithelia.

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Ankit B Patel

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The regulation of cleavage plane orientation is one of the key mechanisms driving epithelial morphogenesis. Still, many aspects of the relationship between local cleavage patterns and tissue-level properties remain poorly understood. Here we develop a topological model that simulates the dynamics of a 2D proliferating epithelium from generation to generation, enabling the exploration of a wide variety of biologically plausible cleavage patterns. We investigate a spectrum of models that incorporate the spatial impact of neighboring cells and the temporal influence of parent cells on the choice of cleavage plane. Our findings show that cleavage patterns generate "signature" equilibrium distributions of polygonal cell shapes. These signatures enable the inference of local cleavage parameters such as neighbor impact, maternal influence, and division symmetry from global observations of the distribution of cell shape. Applying these insights to the proliferating epithelia of five diverse organisms, we find that strong division symmetry and moderate neighbor/maternal influence are required to reproduce the predominance of hexagonal cells and low variability in cell shape seen empirically. Furthermore, we present two distinct cleavage pattern models, one stochastic and one deterministic, that can reproduce the empirical distribution of cell shapes. Although the proliferating epithelia of the five diverse organisms show a highly conserved cell shape distribution, there are multiple plausible cleavage patterns that can generate this distribution, and experimental evidence suggests that indeed plants and fruitflies use distinct division mechanisms.

[Study on feeding behavior patterns of rats on cariogenic diet].

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Y

1989-03-01

The feeding behavior patterns of Jcl:Wistar rats fed on commercial stock diet and cariogenic diet (Diet #2000) were investigated with the newly developed autorecording system. They were caged separately under a regular light-dark cycle (L:D = 12:12). The results and conclusion were as follows. All rats have a circadian feeding rhythm, and 70-85% of feeding frequency were observed during the dark period. The group on the commercial stock diet showed a dual-peak pattern of feeding at 20:30 and 4:00. On the other hand, the cariogenic diet groups showed a more frequent feeding pattern during the dark period. The feeding frequency increased from 1:00 to 3:00 in the high sucrose diet group and more frequent feeding was observed. From these results, it was suggested that dental caries in the rats was caused by not only the local effect of sucrose in the mouth but also by the changing patterns of feeding behavior with cariogenic diet.

Perceived beauty of random texture patterns: A preference for complexity.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedenberg, Jay; Liby, Bruce

2016-07-01

We report two experiments on the perceived aesthetic quality of random density texture patterns. In each experiment a square grid was filled with a progressively larger number of elements. Grid size in Experiment 1 was 10×10 with elements added to create a variety of textures ranging from 10%-100% fill levels. Participants rated the beauty of the patterns. Average judgments across all observers showed an inverted U-shaped function that peaked near middle densities. In Experiment 2 grid size was increased to 15×15 to see if observers preferred patterns with a fixed density or a fixed number of elements. The results of the second experiment were nearly identical to that of the first showing a preference for density over fixed element number. Ratings in both studies correlated positively with a GIF compression metric of complexity and with edge length. Within the range of stimuli used, observers judge more complex patterns to be more beautiful. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rethinking pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems

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Halatek, J.; Frey, E.

2018-05-01

The present theoretical framework for the analysis of pattern formation in complex systems is mostly limited to the vicinity of fixed (global) equilibria. Here we present a new theoretical approach to characterize dynamical states arbitrarily far from (global) equilibrium. We show that reaction-diffusion systems that are driven by locally mass-conserving interactions can be understood in terms of local equilibria of diffusively coupled compartments. Diffusive coupling generically induces lateral redistribution of the globally conserved quantities, and the variable local amounts of these quantities determine the local equilibria in each compartment. We find that, even far from global equilibrium, the system is well characterized by its moving local equilibria. We apply this framework to in vitro Min protein pattern formation, a paradigmatic model for biological pattern formation. Within our framework we can predict and explain transitions between chemical turbulence and order arbitrarily far from global equilibrium. Our results reveal conceptually new principles of self-organized pattern formation that may well govern diverse dynamical systems.

The compass rose pattern in electricity prices.

Science.gov (United States)

Batten, Jonathan A; Hamada, Mahmoud

2009-12-01

The "compass rose pattern" is known to appear in the phase portraits, or scatter diagrams, of the high-frequency returns of financial series. We first show that this pattern is also present in the returns of spot electricity prices. Early researchers investigating these phenomena hoped that these patterns signaled the presence of rich dynamics, possibly chaotic or fractal in nature. Although there is a definite autoregressive and conditional heteroscedasticity structure in electricity returns, we find that after simple filtering no pattern remains. While the series is non-normal in terms of their distribution and statistical tests fail to identify significant chaos, there is evidence of fractal structures in periodic price returns when measured over the trading day. The phase diagram of the filtered returns provides a useful visual check on independence, a property necessary for pricing and trading derivatives and portfolio construction, as well as providing useful insights into the market dynamics.

Automating pattern quantification: new tools for analysing anisotropy and inhomogeneity of 2d patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Gerik, A.; Kruhl, J. H.

2006-12-01

The quantitative analysis of patterns as a geometric arrangement of material domains with specific geometric or crystallographic properties such as shape, size or crystallographic orientation has been shown to be a valuable tool with a wide field of applications in geo- and material sciences. Pattern quantification allows an unbiased comparison of experimentally generated or theoretical patterns with patterns of natural origin. In addition to this, the application of different methods can also provide information about different pattern forming processes. This information includes the distribution of crystals in a matrix - to analyze i.e. the nature and orientation of flow within a melt - or the governing shear strain regime at the point of time the pattern was formed as well as nature of fracture patterns of different scales, all of which are of great interest not only in structural and engineering geology, but also in material sciences. Different approaches to this problem have been discussed over the past fifteen years, yet only few of the methods were applied successfully at least to single examples (i.e. Velde et al., 1990; Harris et al., 1991; Peternell et al., 2003; Volland &Kruhl, 2004). One of the reasons for this has been the high expenditure of time that was necessary to prepare and analyse the samples. To overcome this problem, a first selection of promising methods have been implemented into a growing collection of software tools: (1) The modifications that Harris et al. (1991) have suggested for the Cantor's dust method (Velde et al., 1990) and which have been applied by Volland &Kruhl (2004) to show the anisotropy in a breccia sample. (2) A map-counting method that uses local box-counting dimensions to map the inhomogeneity of a crystal distribution pattern. Peternell et al. (2003) have used this method to analyze the distribution of phenocrysts in a porphyric granite. (3) A modified perimeter method that relates the directional dependence of the

Applying machine learning to pattern analysis for automated in-design layout optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Cain, Jason P.; Fakhry, Moutaz; Pathak, Piyush; Sweis, Jason; Gennari, Frank; Lai, Ya-Chieh

2018-04-01

Building on previous work for cataloging unique topological patterns in an integrated circuit physical design, a new process is defined in which a risk scoring methodology is used to rank patterns based on manufacturing risk. Patterns with high risk are then mapped to functionally equivalent patterns with lower risk. The higher risk patterns are then replaced in the design with their lower risk equivalents. The pattern selection and replacement is fully automated and suitable for use for full-chip designs. Results from 14nm product designs show that the approach can identify and replace risk patterns with quantifiable positive impact on the risk score distribution after replacement.

Pattern recognition

CERN Document Server

Theodoridis, Sergios

2003-01-01

Pattern recognition is a scientific discipline that is becoming increasingly important in the age of automation and information handling and retrieval. Patter Recognition, 2e covers the entire spectrum of pattern recognition applications, from image analysis to speech recognition and communications. This book presents cutting-edge material on neural networks, - a set of linked microprocessors that can form associations and uses pattern recognition to ""learn"" -and enhances student motivation by approaching pattern recognition from the designer's point of view. A direct result of more than 10

Study on the deposition patterns of aerosol inhalation scintigraphy, 1; Comparison of the deposition patterns of aerosol inhalation scintigraphy with lung function tests in pulmonary diseases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watanabe, Hiroyuki [Nara Medical Univ., Kashihara (Japan)

1989-06-01

The deposition patterns of aerosol inhalation scintigraphies and lung function tests were studied in 102 cases; 64 cases of obstructive pulmonary diseases (19 pulmonary emphysema, 27 diffuse panbronchiolitis, 18 chronic bronchitis) and 38 restrictive pulmonary disease (15 idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, 16 pulmonary asbestosis, 7 interstitial pneumonia due to collagen vascular disease). The deposition patterns were classified into 5 patterns (Type A:normal homogenous distribution; Type B: mildly unhomogenous distribution; Type C: severely unhomogenous distribution mingled with hot spots; Type D: non-hilar hot spots; and Type E: hilar hot spots). The deposition patterns of restrictive pulmonary diseases were markedly abnormal as well as obstructive pulmonary diseases. The deposition patterns showed mainly Types C, D and E in obstructive pulmonary diseases, Type B in restrictive pulmonary diseases. The deposition patterns showed mainly Type E in pulmonary emphysema, Types C and D in diffuse panbronchiolitis, Types A, B and C in chronic bronchitis, Type B in idiopathic interstitial pneumonia interstitial pneumonia due to collagen vascular disease, Types B and C in pulmonary asbestosis. The deposition patterns correlated well with %FEV{sub 1.0} which was a good indicator of the severity of obstructive pulmonary diseases and restrictive pulmonary diseases. Furthermore, the mean %FEV{sub 1.0} in obstructive pulmonary diseases was nearly equal to the mean %FEV{sub 1.0} in restrictive pulmonary diseases in each type of the deposition patterns. (J.P.N.).

Preliminary Results on Uncertainty Quantification for Pattern Analytics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stracuzzi, David John [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Brost, Randolph [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Chen, Maximillian Gene [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Malinas, Rebecca [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Peterson, Matthew Gregor [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Phillips, Cynthia A. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Robinson, David G. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Woodbridge, Diane [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-09-01

This report summarizes preliminary research into uncertainty quantification for pattern ana- lytics within the context of the Pattern Analytics to Support High-Performance Exploitation and Reasoning (PANTHER) project. The primary focus of PANTHER was to make large quantities of remote sensing data searchable by analysts. The work described in this re- port adds nuance to both the initial data preparation steps and the search process. Search queries are transformed from does the specified pattern exist in the data? to how certain is the system that the returned results match the query? We show example results for both data processing and search, and discuss a number of possible improvements for each.

Finger Vein Recognition Using Local Line Binary Pattern

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Bakhtiar Affendi Rosdi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a personal verification method using finger vein is presented. Finger vein can be considered more secured compared to other hands based biometric traits such as fingerprint and palm print because the features are inside the human body. In the proposed method, a new texture descriptor called local line binary pattern (LLBP is utilized as feature extraction technique. The neighbourhood shape in LLBP is a straight line, unlike in local binary pattern (LBP which is a square shape. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LLBP has better performance than the previous methods using LBP and local derivative pattern (LDP.

Finger Vein Recognition Using Local Line Binary Pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdi, Bakhtiar Affendi; Shing, Chai Wuh; Suandi, Shahrel Azmin

2011-01-01

In this paper, a personal verification method using finger vein is presented. Finger vein can be considered more secured compared to other hands based biometric traits such as fingerprint and palm print because the features are inside the human body. In the proposed method, a new texture descriptor called local line binary pattern (LLBP) is utilized as feature extraction technique. The neighbourhood shape in LLBP is a straight line, unlike in local binary pattern (LBP) which is a square shape. Experimental results show that the proposed method using LLBP has better performance than the previous methods using LBP and local derivative pattern (LDP). PMID:22247670

Completed Local Ternary Pattern for Rotation Invariant Texture Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taha H. Rassem

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Despite the fact that the two texture descriptors, the completed modeling of Local Binary Pattern (CLBP and the Completed Local Binary Count (CLBC, have achieved a remarkable accuracy for invariant rotation texture classification, they inherit some Local Binary Pattern (LBP drawbacks. The LBP is sensitive to noise, and different patterns of LBP may be classified into the same class that reduces its discriminating property. Although, the Local Ternary Pattern (LTP is proposed to be more robust to noise than LBP, however, the latter’s weakness may appear with the LTP as well as with LBP. In this paper, a novel completed modeling of the Local Ternary Pattern (LTP operator is proposed to overcome both LBP drawbacks, and an associated completed Local Ternary Pattern (CLTP scheme is developed for rotation invariant texture classification. The experimental results using four different texture databases show that the proposed CLTP achieved an impressive classification accuracy as compared to the CLBP and CLBC descriptors.

Pattern centric design based sensitive patterns and process monitor in manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiang, Chingyun; Cheng, Guojie; Wu, Kechih

2017-03-01

When design rule is mitigating to smaller dimension, process variation requirement is tighter than ever and challenges the limits of device yield. Masks, lithography, etching and other processes have to meet very tight specifications in order to keep defect and CD within the margins of the process window. Conventionally, Inspection and metrology equipments are utilized to monitor and control wafer quality in-line. In high throughput optical inspection, nuisance and review-classification become a tedious labor intensive job in manufacturing. Certain high-resolution SEM images are taken to validate defects after optical inspection. These high resolution SEM images catch not only optical inspection highlighted point, also its surrounding patterns. However, this pattern information is not well utilized in conventional quality control method. Using this complementary design based pattern monitor not only monitors and analyzes the variation of patterns sensitivity but also reduce nuisance and highlight defective patterns or killer defects. After grouping in either single or multiple layers, systematic defects can be identified quickly in this flow. In this paper, we applied design based pattern monitor in different layers to monitor process variation impacts on all kinds of patterns. First, the contour of high resolutions SEM image is extracted and aligned to design with offset adjustment and fine alignment [1]. Second, specified pattern rules can be applied on design clip area, the same size as SEM image, and form POI (pattern of interest) areas. Third, the discrepancy of contour and design measurement at different pattern types in measurement blocks. Fourth, defective patterns are reported by discrepancy detection criteria and pattern grouping [4]. Meanwhile, reported pattern defects are ranked by number and severity by discrepancy. In this step, process sensitive high repeatable systematic defects can be identified quickly Through this design based process pattern

Spatial pattern of Baccharis platypoda shrub as determined by sex and life stages

Science.gov (United States)

Fonseca, Darliana da Costa; de Oliveira, Marcio Leles Romarco; Pereira, Israel Marinho; Gonzaga, Anne Priscila Dias; de Moura, Cristiane Coelho; Machado, Evandro Luiz Mendonça

2017-11-01

Spatial patterns of dioecious species can be determined by their nutritional requirements and intraspecific competition, apart from being a response to environmental heterogeneity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the spatial pattern of populations of a dioecious shrub reporting to sex and reproductive stage patterns of individuals. Sampling was carried out in three areas located in the meridional portion of Serra do Espinhaço, where in individuals of the studied species were mapped. The spatial pattern was determined through O-ring analysis and Ripley's K-function and the distribution of individuals' frequencies was verified through x2 test. Populations in two areas showed an aggregate spatial pattern tending towards random or uniform according to the observed scale. Male and female adults presented an aggregate pattern at smaller scales, while random and uniform patterns were verified above 20 m for individuals of both sexes of the areas A2 and A3. Young individuals presented an aggregate pattern in all areas and spatial independence in relation to adult individuals, especially female plants. The interactions between individuals of both genders presented spatial independence with respect to spatial distribution. Baccharis platypoda showed characteristics in accordance with the spatial distribution of savannic and dioecious species, whereas the population was aggregated tending towards random at greater spatial scales. Young individuals showed an aggregated pattern at different scales compared to adults, without positive association between them. Female and male adult individuals presented similar characteristics, confirming that adult individuals at greater scales are randomly distributed despite their distinct preferences for environments with moisture variation.

Genomic analysis of codon usage shows influence of mutation pressure, natural selection, and host features on Marburg virus evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Nasrullah, Izza; Butt, Azeem M; Tahir, Shifa; Idrees, Muhammad; Tong, Yigang

2015-08-26

The Marburg virus (MARV) has a negative-sense single-stranded RNA genome, belongs to the family Filoviridae, and is responsible for several outbreaks of highly fatal hemorrhagic fever. Codon usage patterns of viruses reflect a series of evolutionary changes that enable viruses to shape their survival rates and fitness toward the external environment and, most importantly, their hosts. To understand the evolution of MARV at the codon level, we report a comprehensive analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in MARV genomes. Multiple codon analysis approaches and statistical methods were performed to determine overall codon usage patterns, biases in codon usage, and influence of various factors, including mutation pressure, natural selection, and its two hosts, Homo sapiens and Rousettus aegyptiacus. Nucleotide composition and relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) analysis revealed that MARV shows mutation bias and prefers U- and A-ended codons to code amino acids. Effective number of codons analysis indicated that overall codon usage among MARV genomes is slightly biased. The Parity Rule 2 plot analysis showed that GC and AU nucleotides were not used proportionally which accounts for the presence of natural selection. Codon usage patterns of MARV were also found to be influenced by its hosts. This indicates that MARV have evolved codon usage patterns that are specific to both of its hosts. Moreover, selection pressure from R. aegyptiacus on the MARV RSCU patterns was found to be dominant compared with that from H. sapiens. Overall, mutation pressure was found to be the most important and dominant force that shapes codon usage patterns in MARV. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed codon usage analysis of MARV and extends our understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to codon usage and evolution of MARV.

Radioprotective effects of bacterial superoxide dismutase on mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Tianxi

1992-01-01

The radioprotective effects of bacterial superoxide dismutase (b-SOD) on the mice irradiated by 8 Gy γ-ray were investigated. The results showed that when b-SOD was injected before and after irradiation, the survival fraction of mice is increased 50% and 30% respectively. The former treatment could increase the DNA synthesis of the myeloid cells and spleen's lymphocytes, decrease the LPO of tissue homogenates and the hemolysis of erythrocytes significantly. The mechanism that b-SOD can drop the radiation injury of the mice was discussed

Liver-cell patterning lab chip: mimicking the morphology of liver lobule tissue.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Chen-Ta; Lin, Ruei-Zeng; Chen, Rong-Jhe; Chin, Chung-Kuang; Gong, Song-En; Chang, Hwan-You; Peng, Hwei-Ling; Hsu, Long; Yew, Tri-Rung; Chang, Shau-Feng; Liu, Cheng-Hsien

2013-09-21

A lobule-mimetic cell-patterning technique for on-chip reconstruction of centimetre-scale liver tissue of heterogeneous hepatic and endothelial cells via an enhanced field-induced dielectrophoresis (DEP) trap is demonstrated and reported. By mimicking the basic morphology of liver tissue, the classic hepatic lobule, the lobule-mimetic-stellate-electrodes array was designed for cell patterning. Through DEP manipulation, well-defined and enhanced spatial electric field gradients were created for in-parallel manipulation of massive individual cells. With this liver-cell patterning labchip design, the original randomly distributed hepatic and endothelial cells inside the microfluidic chamber can be manipulated separately and aligned into the desired pattern that mimicks the morphology of liver lobule tissue. Experimental results showed that both hepatic and endothelial cells were orderly guided, snared, and aligned along the field-induced orientation to form the lobule-mimetic pattern. About 95% cell viability of hepatic and endothelial cells was also observed after cell-patterning demonstration via a fluorescent assay technique. The liver function of CYP450-1A1 enzyme activity showed an 80% enhancement for our engineered liver tissue (HepG2+HUVECs) compared to the non-patterned pure HepG2 for two-day culturing.

Heterogeneous patterns enhancing static and dynamic texture classification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, Núbia Rosa da; Martinez Bruno, Odemir

2013-01-01

Some mixtures, such as colloids like milk, blood, and gelatin, have homogeneous appearance when viewed with the naked eye, however, to observe them at the nanoscale is possible to understand the heterogeneity of its components. The same phenomenon can occur in pattern recognition in which it is possible to see heterogeneous patterns in texture images. However, current methods of texture analysis can not adequately describe such heterogeneous patterns. Common methods used by researchers analyse the image information in a global way, taking all its features in an integrated manner. Furthermore, multi-scale analysis verifies the patterns at different scales, but still preserving the homogeneous analysis. On the other hand various methods use textons to represent the texture, breaking texture down into its smallest unit. To tackle this problem, we propose a method to identify texture patterns not small as textons at distinct scales enhancing the separability among different types of texture. We find sub patterns of texture according to the scale and then group similar patterns for a more refined analysis. Tests were performed in four static texture databases and one dynamical one. Results show that our method provide better classification rate compared with conventional approaches both in static and in dynamic texture.

Amelioration effects against N-nitrosodiethylamine and CCl(4)-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in Swiss albino rats by whole plant extract of Achyranthes aspera.

Science.gov (United States)

Kartik, R; Rao, Ch V; Trivedi, S P; Pushpangadan, P; Reddy, G D

2010-12-01

The prevalence of oxidative stress may be implicated in the etiology of many pathological conditions. Protective antioxidant action imparted by many plant extracts and plant products make them a promising therapeutic drug for free-radical-induced pathologies. In this study, we assessed the antioxidant potential and suppressive effects of Achyranthes aspera by evaluating the hepatic diagnostic markers on chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis. The in vivo model of hepatocarcinogenesis was studied in Swiss albino rats. Experimental rats were divided into five groups: control, positive control (NDEA and CCl(4)), A. aspera treated (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg b.w.). At 20 weeks after the administration of NDEA and CCl(4), treated rats received A. aspera extract (AAE) at a dose of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg once daily route. At the end of 24 weeks, the liver and relative liver weight and body weight were estimated. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and reduced glutathione (GSH) were assayed. The hepatic diagnostic markers namely serum glutamic oxaloacetic transminase (AST), serum glutamic pyruvate transminase (ALT), serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), and bilirubin (BL) were also assayed, and the histopathological studies were investigated in control, positive control, and experimental groups. The extract did not show acute toxicity and the per se effect of the extract showed decrease in LPO, demonstrating antioxidant potential and furthermore no change in the hepatic diagnosis markers was observed. Administration of AAE suppressed hepatic diagnostic and oxidative stress markers as revealed by decrease in NDEA and CCl(4) -induced elevated levels of SGPT, SGOT, SALP, GGT, bilirubin, and LPO. There was also a significant elevation in the levels of SOD, CAT, GPx, GST, and GSH as observed after AAE treatment. The liver and relative liver weight were

Viscoelasticity and pattern formations in stock market indices

Science.gov (United States)

Gündüz, Güngör; Gündüz, Aydın

2017-06-01

The viscoelastic and thermodynamic properties of four stock indices, namely, DJI, Nasdaq-100, Nasdaq-Composite, and S&P were analyzed for a period of 30 years from 1986 to 2015. The asset values (or index) can be placed into Aristotelian `potentiality-actuality' framework by using scattering diagram. Thus, the index values can be transformed into vectorial forms in a scattering diagram, and each vector can be split into its horizontal and vertical components. According to viscoelastic theory, the horizontal component represents the conservative, and the vertical component represents the dissipative behavior. The related storage and the loss modulus of these components are determined and then work-like and heat-like terms are calculated. It is found that the change of storage and loss modulus with Wiener noise (W) exhibit interesting patterns. The loss modulus shows a featherlike pattern, whereas the storage modulus shows figurative man-like pattern. These patterns are formed due to branchings in the system and imply that stock indices do have a kind of `fine-order' which can be detected when the change of modulus values are plotted with respect to Wiener noise. In theoretical calculations it is shown that the tips of the featherlike patterns stay at negative W values, but get closer to W = 0 as the drift in the system increases. The shift of the tip point from W = 0 indicates that the price change involves higher number of positive Wiener number corrections than the negative Wiener. The work-like and heat-like terms also exhibit patterns but with different appearance than modulus patterns. The decisional changes of people are reflected as the arrows in the scattering diagram and the propagation path of these vectors resemble the path of crack propagation. The distribution of the angle between two subsequent vectors shows a peak at 90°, indicating that the path mostly obeys the crack path occurring in hard objects. Entropy mimics the Wiener noise in the evolution

COELIAC TRUNK BRANCHING PATTERN AND VARIATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jude Jose Thomson

2017-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Anatomical variations involving the visceral arteries are common. However, variations in coeliac trunk are usually asymptomatic, they may become important in patients undergoing diagnostic angiography for gastrointestinal bleeding or prior to an operative procedure. This study was useful for knowing the possible morphological variations before an upper abdominal surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a descriptive study done by cadaveric dissection, conducted on thirty cadavers. The coeliac trunk being examined for its origin, branching pattern, distribution, and variations. Results were statistically analysed and compared with the previous studies. RESULTS In our study, 60% of the coeliac trunk shows variations and 40% have normal branching pattern. A complete absence of coeliac trunk was observed in one case. In the present study the Right inferior phrenic artery arising from coeliac trunk in 2 cases (6.6% and left inferior phrenic artery arising from coeliac trunk in 3 cases (9.9%. Both inferior phrenic arteries are arising from coeliac trunk in 2 cases (6.6%. The common hepatomesenteric trunk and gastro splenic trunk was found in 1 case (3.3%. Hepatosplenic trunk was found in 2 cases (6.6%. In another 2 cases (6.6% gastric and hepatic artery originate from coeliac trunk but splenic artery has a separate origin from abdominal aorta. An absent trunk was also found in 1 case (3.3%. In 5 cases (16.7% showed trifurcation with variation in the branching pattern. CONCLUSION The branching pattern and extreme degree variability in coeliac trunk as brought out in the observations of the present study make it obvious that the present study almost falls in description with previous studies.

Gender and Patterns of Sexual Risk Taking in College Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Poppen, Paul J.

1995-01-01

Determined the role gender plays in influencing the prevalence and patterns of sexual risk taking. Responses from 245 undergraduate students show gender differences in risk-taking patterns. For females, potentially risky behavior in the partner domain was negatively related to risky behavior in the sexual practice domain, whereas for males, the…

New DRIE-Patterned Electrets for Vibration Energy Harvesting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chaillout J.-J.

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper is about a new manufacturing process aimed at developing stable SiO2/Si3N4 patterned electrets using a Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE step for an application in electret-based Vibration Energy Harvesters (e-VEH. This process consists in forming continuous layers of SiO2/Si3N4 electrets in order to limit surface conduction phenomena and is a new way to see the problem of electret patterning. Experimental results prove that patterned electrets charged by a positive corona discharge show excellent stability with high surface charge densities that may reach 5mC/m2 on 1.1μm-thick layers, even with fine patterning and harsh temperature conditions (up to 250°C. This paves the way to new e-VEH designs and manufacturing processes.

DEPTracker – Sleep Pattern Tracking with Accelerometer Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grode, Jesper Nicolai Riis; Havn, Ib; Svane Hansen, Lars

2015-01-01

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep pattern changes are known to be an early indicator of effective medical treatment of patients with a depression diagnosis. Existing methods to detect REM sleep pattern changes are known to be inaccurate, costly, or otherwise inadequate in normal settings...... of this patient group. In this paper, we demonstrate DEPTracker, a system capable of detecting sleep patterns, and in particular REM sleep. We show that DEPTracker is an accurate, cost-effective and suitable approach for sleep pattern detection in general. Details of the technology used, combining accelerometer...... technology with digital signal analysis is given and illustrates that the system is able to successfully detect REM sleep. The project demonstrates that accelerometers can be mounted on an eye lid and eye movements can be detected, sampled and stored in a database for online real-time analysis or post-sleep...

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MODULATED LUMINANCE PATTERNS AND RANDOM-DOT PATTERNS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

CORNELISSEN, FW; KOOIJMAN, AC

1994-01-01

It has been suggested that density modulated random-dot patterns can be used to study higher order pattern vision [Van Meeteren and Barlow (1981) Vision Research, 21, 765-777]. The high contrast dots of which the pattern is composed, are assumed to be reliably transduced-and transmitted by the lower

Pattern formation in plastic liquid films on elastomers by ratcheting.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jiangshui; Yang, Jiawei; Jin, Lihua; Clarke, David R; Suo, Zhigang

2016-04-20

Plastic liquids, also known as Bingham liquids, retain their shape when loads are small, but flow when loads exceed a threshold. We discovered that plastic liquid films coated on elastomers develop wavy patterns under cyclic loads. As the number of cycles increases, the wavelength of the patterns remains unchanged, but the amplitude of the patterns increases and then saturates. Because the patterns develop progressively under cyclic loads, we call this phenomenon as "patterning by ratcheting". We observe the phenomenon in plastic liquids of several kinds, and studied the effects of thickness, the cyclic frequency of the stretch, and the range of the stretch. Finite element simulations show that the ratcheting phenomenon can occur in materials described by a commonly used model of elastic-plastic deformation.

The beneficial effects of l-cysteine on brain antioxidants of rats affected by sodium valproate.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamza, R Z; El-Shenawy, N S

2017-11-01

Oxidative stress caused by sodium valproate (SV) is known to play a key role in the pathogenesis of brain tissue. The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of l-cysteine (LC) on the antioxidants of brain tissue of rats. The animals were divided into six groups: control group 1 was treated with saline as vehicle, groups 2 and 3 were treated with low and high doses of SV (100 and 500 mg/kg, respectively), group 4 was treated with LC (100 mg/kg), and groups 5 and 6 were treated with low-dose SV + LC and high-dose SV + LC, respectively. All the groups were treated orally by gastric tube for 30 successive days. Some antioxidant parameters were determined. Brain tissue (cerebral cortex) of SV-treated animals showed an increase in lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduction in activity of enzymatic antioxidant and total antioxidant levels. Histopathological examination of cerebral cortex of SV rats showed astrocytic swelling, inflammation, and necrosis. After 4 weeks of the combination treatment of SV and LC daily, results showed significant improvement in the activity of cathepsin marker enzymes and restored the structure of the brain. LC was able to ameliorate oxidative stress deficits observed in SV rats. LC decreased LPO level and was also able to restore the activity of antioxidant enzymes as well as structural deficits observed in the brain of SV animals. The protective effect of LC in SV-treated rats is mediated through attenuation of oxidative stress, suggesting a therapeutic role for LC in individuals treated with SV.

The memory template in Drosophila pattern vision at the flight simulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Ernst, R; Heisenberg, M

1999-11-01

Pattern recognition is studied in flight orientation of fixed flying Drosophila melanogaster controlling the horizontal rotations of an arena. Earlier experiments had suggested a simple mechanism of pattern recognition in which a memory template and the actual image are retinotopically matched. In contrast, we now show that Drosophila extracts at least two and probably four pattern parameters: size, vertical position of the center of gravity and, presumably horizontal/vertical extent as well as vertical separatedness of pattern elements. Moreover, the fly treats isolated pattern elements as a compound figure. Retinal transfer is possible between training and test if the centers of gravity of the compound figures are retained.

Late-replicating X-chromosome: replication patterns in mammalian females

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tunin Karen

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The GTG-banding and 5-BrdU incorporation patterns of the late-replicating X-chromosome were studied in female dogs and cattle, and compared to human female patterns. The replication patterns of the short arm of the X-chromosomes did not show any difference between human, dog and cattle females. As to the long arm, some bands showed differences among the three studied species regarding the replication kinetics pattern. These differences were observed in a restricted region of the X-chromosome, delimited by Xq11 -> q25 in humans, by Xq1 -> q8 in dogs, and by Xq12 -> q32 in cattle. In an attempt to find out if these differences in the replication kinetics could be a reflection of differences in the localization of genes in that region of the X-chromosome, we used the probe for the human androgen receptor gene (AR localized at Xq12, which is in the region where we observed differences among the three studied species. We did not, however, observe hybridization signals. Our study goes on, using other human probes for genes located in the region Xq11 -> Xq25.

Soliton patterns and breakup thresholds in hydrogen-bonded chains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tchakoutio Nguetcho, A.S.; Kofane, T.C.

2006-12-01

We study the dynamics of protons in hydrogen-bonded quasi one-dimensional networks in terms of a diatomic lattice model of protons and heavy ions, with a phi-four on-site substrate potential. We show that the model with linear and nonlinear coupling between lattice sites of the quartic type for the protons admits a richer dynamics that cannot be found with linear coupling. Depending on the two types of physical boundary conditions namely, the drop and condensate types of boundary conditions, and on conditions that require the presence of linear and nonlinear dispersion terms, soliton patterns that are represented by soliton with compact support, peak, drop, bell, cusp, shock, kink, bubble and loop solitons, are derived within a continuum approximation. The phase trajectories, as well as an analytical analysis, provide information on an disintegration of soliton patterns upon reaching some critical values of the lattice parameters. The total energies of soliton patterns are exactly calculated in the displacive limit. We also show that when the phonon anharmonism is taken into account, the width and the energy of soliton patterns are in qualitative agreement with experimental data. (author)

Turing patterns and long-time behavior in a three-species food-chain model

KAUST Repository

Parshad, Rana D.

2014-08-01

We consider a spatially explicit three-species food chain model, describing generalist top predator-specialist middle predator-prey dynamics. We investigate the long-time dynamics of the model and show the existence of a finite dimensional global attractor in the product space, L2(Ω). We perform linear stability analysis and show that the model exhibits the phenomenon of Turing instability, as well as diffusion induced chaos. Various Turing patterns such as stripe patterns, mesh patterns, spot patterns, labyrinth patterns and weaving patterns are obtained, via numerical simulations in 1d as well as in 2d. The Turing and non-Turing space, in terms of model parameters, is also explored. Finally, we use methods from nonlinear time series analysis to reconstruct a low dimensional chaotic attractor of the model, and estimate its fractal dimension. This provides a lower bound, for the fractal dimension of the attractor, of the spatially explicit model. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

Meteorological Aspects of the Eastern North American Pattern with Impacts on Long Island Sound Salinity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Justin A. Schulte

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The eastern North American sea level pressure dipole (ENA pattern is a recently identified teleconnection pattern that has been shown to influence mid-Atlantic United States (U.S streamflow variability. Because the pattern was only recently identified, its impacts on U.S. precipitation and estuaries on daily to seasonal timescales is unknown. Thus, this paper presents the first seasonal investigation of ENA relationships with global atmospheric fields, U.S. precipitation, and mid-Atlantic estuarine salinity. We show that the ENA pattern explains up to 25–36% of precipitation variability across Texas and the western U.S. We also show that, for the Northeast U.S, the ENA pattern explains up to 65% of precipitation variability, contrasting with previous work showing how well-known climate indices can only explain a modest amount of precipitation variability. The strongest ENA-precipitation relationships are in the spring and fall. The relationships between the ENA pattern and precipitation across remote regions reflect the upper-atmospheric Rossby wave pattern associated with the ENA pattern that varies seasonally. The El-Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO is related to the spring ENA pattern, indicating that extended outlooks of the ENA pattern may be possible. We also show that the ENA index is strongly correlated with salinity and vertical haline stratification across coastal portions of the mid-Atlantic Bight so that hypoxia forecasts based on the ENA index may be possible. Statistical connections between vertical salinity gradient and ENSO were identified at lags of up two years, further highlighting the potential for extended hypoxia outlooks. The strong connection between anomalies for precipitation and mid-Atlantic Bight salinity suggests that the ENA pattern may be useful at an interdisciplinary level for better understanding historical regional climate variability and future impacts of climate change on regional precipitation and the

Dietary Patterns and Fractures Risk in the Elderly

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmela Colica

2017-12-01

Full Text Available PurposeAlthough the role of dietary factors in the prevention of bone loss and fractures has been investigated in many studies, few studies have examined the association between dietary patterns and total body bone density. Our aim was to determine the relations between dietary patterns and whole-body bone mineral density (WB-BMD and the association between dietary patterns, fractures, and multiple fractures in the elderly.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 177 individuals aged ≥65 years. A dual X-ray absorptiometry scan was performed to measure BMD. Dietary patterns were ascertained by a combination of dietary intake assessment and principal components analysis.ResultsOnly three dietary patterns correlated with whole-body bone density. The multivariate-adjusted mean bone density across tertiles of these dietary patterns showed that the highest tertile of both the patterns 1 and 2 had a significantly higher bone density than the lowest tertile (pattern 1: 1.021 ± 0.01 and 1.070 ± 0.01 g/cm2 for T1 and T3, respectively; p = 0.043; pattern 2: 1.023 ± 0.01, and 1.081 ± 0.01 g/cm2 for T1 and T3, respectively; p = 0.003. We also find significant gender difference in these results. The highest adherence to the dietary pattern 5 was associated with decreased odds of having fractures (OR = 0.20, p = 0.009, and adherence to the pattern 1 was negatively associated with multiple fractures.ConclusionA high adherence to the dietary pattern 1 (high intake of grains, fish and olive oil was associated with a high BMD and a low number of fractures. The highest adherence to the dietary pattern 5 (legumes and wine was associated with decreased odds of having fractures. Our finding would suggest a potential bone-preserving properties of specific dietary patterns in the elderly.

Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metzler, Dominik; Uppireddi, Kishore; Bruce, Robert L.; Miyazoe, Hiroyuki; Zhu, Yu; Price, William; Sikorski, Ed S.; Engelmann, Sebastian U.; Joseph, Eric A.; Li, Chen; Oehrlein, Gottlieb S.

2016-01-01

With increasing demands on device patterning to achieve smaller critical dimensions and pitches for the 5 nm node and beyond, the need for atomic layer etching (ALE) is steadily increasing. In this work, a cyclic fluorocarbon/Ar plasma is successfully used for ALE patterning in a manufacturing scale reactor. Self-limited etching of silicon oxide is observed. The impact of various process parameters on the etch performance is established. The substrate temperature has been shown to play an especially significant role, with lower temperatures leading to higher selectivity and lower etch rates, but worse pattern fidelity. The cyclic ALE approach established with this work is shown to have great potential for small scale device patterning, showing self-limited etching, improved uniformity and resist mask performance

Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Metzler, Dominik, E-mail: dmetzler@umd.edu [IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598 and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740 (United States); Uppireddi, Kishore; Bruce, Robert L.; Miyazoe, Hiroyuki; Zhu, Yu; Price, William; Sikorski, Ed S.; Engelmann, Sebastian U.; Joseph, Eric A. [IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598 (United States); Li, Chen [Department of Physics, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740 (United States); Oehrlein, Gottlieb S. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740 (United States)

2016-01-15

With increasing demands on device patterning to achieve smaller critical dimensions and pitches for the 5 nm node and beyond, the need for atomic layer etching (ALE) is steadily increasing. In this work, a cyclic fluorocarbon/Ar plasma is successfully used for ALE patterning in a manufacturing scale reactor. Self-limited etching of silicon oxide is observed. The impact of various process parameters on the etch performance is established. The substrate temperature has been shown to play an especially significant role, with lower temperatures leading to higher selectivity and lower etch rates, but worse pattern fidelity. The cyclic ALE approach established with this work is shown to have great potential for small scale device patterning, showing self-limited etching, improved uniformity and resist mask performance.

The spectrum of dermatoscopic patterns in blue nevi.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Cesare, Antonella; Sera, Francesco; Gulia, Andrea; Coletti, Gino; Micantonio, Tamara; Fargnoli, Maria Concetta; Peris, Ketty

2012-08-01

Blue nevi are congenital or acquired, dermal dendritic melanocytic proliferations that can simulate melanocytic and nonmelanocytic lesions including melanoma, cutaneous metastasis of melanoma, Spitz/Reed nevi, and basal cell carcinoma. We sought to investigate global and local dermatoscopic patterns of blue nevi compared with melanomas and basal cell carcinomas. We retrospectively analyzed global and local features in 95 dermatoscopic images of blue nevi and in 190 melanomas and basal cell carcinomas that were selected as control lesions on the basis of similar pigmentation. Lesion pigmentation was classified as monochromatic, dichromatic, or multichromatic. A global pattern characterized by homogeneous pigmentation was observed in all of 95 (100%) blue nevi. Eighty of 95 (84.2%) blue nevi presented a homogeneous pattern consisting of one color (blue, black, or brown) or two colors (blue-brown, blue-gray, or blue-black). Fifteen of 95 (15.8%) blue nevi had a multichromatic (blue, gray, black, brown, and/or red) pigmentation. In all, 47 of 95 (49.5%) blue nevi were characterized by pigmentation in the absence of pigment network or any other local dermatoscopic features. And 48 of 95 (50.5%) blue nevi showed local dermatoscopic patterns including whitish scarlike depigmentation, dots/globules, vascular pattern, streaks, and networklike pattern. The study was retrospective and involved only Caucasian people of Italian origin. The characteristic feature of blue nevi is a homogeneous pigmentation that is blue, blue-gray, blue-brown, or blue-black. We showed that a wide spectrum of local dermatoscopic features (whitish scarlike depigmentation, dots/globules, peripheral streaks or vessels) may also be present. In such cases, clinical and dermatoscopic distinction from melanoma or nonmelanocytic lesions may be difficult or impossible, and surgical excision is necessary. Copyright © 2011 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Fringe patterns generated by micro-optical sensors for pattern recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamee, Kreangsak; Chaiwong, Khomyuth; Yothapakdee, Kriengsak; Yupapin, Preecha P

2015-01-01

We present a new result of pattern recognition generation scheme using a small-scale optical muscle sensing system, which consisted of an optical add-drop filter incorporating two nonlinear optical side ring resonators. When light from laser source enters into the system, the device is stimulated by an external physical parameter that introduces a change in the phase of light propagation within the sensing device, which can be formed by the interference fringe patterns. Results obtained have shown that the fringe patterns can be used to form the relationship between signal patterns and fringe pattern recognitions.

Modeling activity patterns of wildlife using time-series analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jindong; Hull, Vanessa; Ouyang, Zhiyun; He, Liang; Connor, Thomas; Yang, Hongbo; Huang, Jinyan; Zhou, Shiqiang; Zhang, Zejun; Zhou, Caiquan; Zhang, Hemin; Liu, Jianguo

2017-04-01

The study of wildlife activity patterns is an effective approach to understanding fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes. However, traditional statistical approaches used to conduct quantitative analysis have thus far had limited success in revealing underlying mechanisms driving activity patterns. Here, we combine wavelet analysis, a type of frequency-based time-series analysis, with high-resolution activity data from accelerometers embedded in GPS collars to explore the effects of internal states (e.g., pregnancy) and external factors (e.g., seasonal dynamics of resources and weather) on activity patterns of the endangered giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ). Giant pandas exhibited higher frequency cycles during the winter when resources (e.g., water and forage) were relatively poor, as well as during spring, which includes the giant panda's mating season. During the summer and autumn when resources were abundant, pandas exhibited a regular activity pattern with activity peaks every 24 hr. A pregnant individual showed distinct differences in her activity pattern from other giant pandas for several months following parturition. These results indicate that animals adjust activity cycles to adapt to seasonal variation of the resources and unique physiological periods. Wavelet coherency analysis also verified the synchronization of giant panda activity level with air temperature and solar radiation at the 24-hr band. Our study also shows that wavelet analysis is an effective tool for analyzing high-resolution activity pattern data and its relationship to internal and external states, an approach that has the potential to inform wildlife conservation and management across species.

Diet and bone mineral density study in postmenopausal women from the TwinsUK registry shows a negative association with a traditional English dietary pattern and a positive association with wine.

Science.gov (United States)

Fairweather-Tait, Susan J; Skinner, Jane; Guile, Geoffrey R; Cassidy, Aedín; Spector, Tim D; MacGregor, Alex J

2011-11-01

The effect of diet on bone mineral density (BMD) remains controversial, mainly because of difficulties in isolating dietary factors from the confounding influences of age, lifestyle, and genetic factors. The aim of this study was to use a novel method to examine the relation between BMD and diet. A co-twin control study design with linear regression modeling was used to test for associations between BMD and habitual intakes of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and alcohol plus 5 previously identified dietary patterns in postmenopausal women from the TwinsUK registry. This approach exploited the unique matching of twins to provide an estimate of an association that was not confounded by age, genetic background, or shared lifestyle. In >2000 postmenopausal women (BMD data on 1019, 1218, and 1232 twin pairs at the hip neck, hip, and spine, respectively), we observed a positive association between alcohol intake (from wine but not from beer or spirits) and spine BMD (P = 0.01) and a negative association with a traditional 20th-century English diet at the hip neck (P = 0.01). Both associations remained borderline significant after adjustment for mean twin-pair intakes (P = 0.04 and P = 0.055, respectively). Other dietary patterns and intakes of calcium, vitamin D, and protein were unrelated to BMD. Our results showed that diet has an independent but subtle effect on BMD; wine intake was positively associated with spine BMD, whereas a traditional (20th-century) English diet had a negative association with hip BMD.

[Dietary patterns and its influencing factors among freshmen students in college].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Su-fang; Mu, Min; Zhao, Yan; Li, Hu-zhong; Fang, Yan-fu; Wang, Hai-lin; Li, Li; Hu, Chuan-lai

2011-09-01

To investigate the dietary pattern in college freshmen students and to analyze the influencing factors on their dietary patterns. A questionnaire survey on situation of dietary pattern and influencing factors was conducted among 1319 freshmen students. Four major dietary patterns were noticed and they were: I, high consumption in hamburger, fried food, nuts, biscuit, chocolate, cola, coffee, sugars, II, high consumption in pork, mutton, beef, poultry meat, animal liver, III, high consumption in fresh fruits, eggs, fish and shrimps, kelp laver and sea fish, milk and dairy products, beans and bean products, IV, high consumption in rice and grain, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, pork. Risk factors on dietary pattern were presented as follows: (1) boys:having the food pattern I and II showed a strong positive association with the place where they live (OR = 1.67, 95%CI: 0.87 - 3.19; OR = 1.51, 95%CI: 0.79 - 2.88), eating place (OR = 1.63, 95%CI: 1.03 - 2.59;OR = 1.83, 95%CI: 1.04 - 3.23), level of mother's education (OR = 2.52, 95%CI: 1.07 - 5.95; OR = 3.38, 95%CI: 1.50 - 7.63), family income (OR = 2.24, 95%CI: 1.30 - 3.88; OR = 3.06, 95%CI: 1.77 - 5.29) and the status of passive smoking (OR = 1.80, 95%CI: 0.70 - 4.59; OR = 1.83, 95%CI: 0.75 - 4.45). Inverse correlations was found on the level of mother's education (OR = 0.56, 95%CI: 0.17 - 1.79). The food pattern IV showed a strong positive association with place of eating (OR = 1.83, 95%CI: 1.04 - 3.23) but having an inverse correlation with the level of mother's education (OR = 0.56, 95%CI: 0.17 - 1.79). (2) girls when compared with boys, the food pattern I showed minor association with the places of living and eating; while the food pattern II and III had minor association with the status of passive smoking. Socio-demographic factors and lifestyle had influenced on the dietary patterns among college freshmen students who should be guided to have a reasonable, balanced diet in the college.

Modeling how shark and dolphin skin patterns control transitional wall-turbulence vorticity patterns using spatiotemporal phase reset mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Bandyopadhyay, Promode R; Hellum, Aren M

2014-10-23

Many slow-moving biological systems like seashells and zebrafish that do not contend with wall turbulence have somewhat organized pigmentation patterns flush with their outer surfaces that are formed by underlying autonomous reaction-diffusion (RD) mechanisms. In contrast, sharks and dolphins contend with wall turbulence, are fast swimmers, and have more organized skin patterns that are proud and sometimes vibrate. A nonlinear spatiotemporal analytical model is not available that explains the mechanism underlying control of flow with such proud patterns, despite the fact that shark and dolphin skins are major targets of reverse engineering mechanisms of drag and noise reduction. Comparable to RD, a minimal self-regulation model is given for wall turbulence regeneration in the transitional regime--laterally coupled, diffusively--which, although restricted to pre-breakdown durations and to a plane close and parallel to the wall, correctly reproduces many experimentally observed spatiotemporal organizations of vorticity in both laminar-to-turbulence transitioning and very low Reynolds number but turbulent regions. We further show that the onset of vorticity disorganization is delayed if the skin organization is treated as a spatiotemporal template of olivo-cerebellar phase reset mechanism. The model shows that the adaptation mechanisms of sharks and dolphins to their fluid environment have much in common.

Transcriptome-wide patterns of divergence during allopatric evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Ricardo J; Barreto, Felipe S; Pierce, N Tessa; Carneiro, Miguel; Burton, Ronald S

2016-04-01

Recent studies have revealed repeated patterns of genomic divergence associated with species formation. Such patterns suggest that natural selection tends to target a set of available genes, but is also indicative that closely related taxa share evolutionary constraints that limit genetic variability. Studying patterns of genomic divergence among populations within the same species may shed light on the underlying evolutionary processes. Here, we examine transcriptome-wide divergence and polymorphism in the marine copepod Tigriopus californicus, a species where allopatric evolution has led to replicate sets of populations with varying degrees of divergence and hybrid incompatibility. Our analyses suggest that relatively small effective population sizes have resulted in an exponential decline of shared polymorphisms during population divergence and also facilitated the fixation of slightly deleterious mutations within allopatric populations. Five interpopulation comparisons at three different stages of divergence show that nonsynonymous mutations tend to accumulate in a specific set of proteins. These include proteins with central roles in cellular metabolism, such as those encoded in mtDNA, but also include an additional set of proteins that repeatedly show signatures of positive selection during allopatric divergence. Although our results are consistent with a contribution of nonadaptive processes, such as genetic drift and gene expression levels, generating repeatable patterns of genomic divergence in closely related taxa, they also indicate that adaptive evolution targeting a specific set of genes contributes to this pattern. Our results yield insights into the predictability of evolution at the gene level. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Analysis of antenal sensilla patterns of Rhodnius prolixus from Colombia and Venezuela

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lyda Esteban

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Antennal sensilla patterns were used to analyze population variation of domestic Rhodnius prolixus from six departments and states representing three biogeographical regions of Colombia and Venezuela. Discriminant analysis of the patterns of mechanoreceptors and of three types of chemoreceptors on the pedicel and flagellar segments showed clear differentiation between R. prolixus populations east and west of the Andean Cordillera. The distribution of thick and thin-walled trichoids on the second flagellar segment also showed correlation with latitude, but this was not seen in the patterns of other sensilla. The results of the sensilla patterns appear to be reflecting biogeographic features or population isolation rather than characters associated with different habitats and lend support to the idea that domestic R. prolixus originated in the eastern region of the Andes.

Optical Pattern Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Francis T. S.; Jutamulia, Suganda

2008-10-01

Contributors; Preface; 1. Pattern recognition with optics Francis T. S. Yu and Don A. Gregory; 2. Hybrid neural networks for nonlinear pattern recognition Taiwei Lu; 3. Wavelets, optics, and pattern recognition Yao Li and Yunglong Sheng; 4. Applications of the fractional Fourier transform to optical pattern recognition David Mendlovic, Zeev Zalesky and Haldum M. Oxaktas; 5. Optical implementation of mathematical morphology Tien-Hsin Chao; 6. Nonlinear optical correlators with improved discrimination capability for object location and recognition Leonid P. Yaroslavsky; 7. Distortion-invariant quadratic filters Gregory Gheen; 8. Composite filter synthesis as applied to pattern recognition Shizhou Yin and Guowen Lu; 9. Iterative procedures in electro-optical pattern recognition Joseph Shamir; 10. Optoelectronic hybrid system for three-dimensional object pattern recognition Guoguang Mu, Mingzhe Lu and Ying Sun; 11. Applications of photrefractive devices in optical pattern recognition Ziangyang Yang; 12. Optical pattern recognition with microlasers Eung-Gi Paek; 13. Optical properties and applications of bacteriorhodopsin Q. Wang Song and Yu-He Zhang; 14. Liquid-crystal spatial light modulators Aris Tanone and Suganda Jutamulia; 15. Representations of fully complex functions on real-time spatial light modulators Robert W. Cohn and Laurence G. Hassbrook; Index.

Turing patterns in a modified Lotka-Volterra model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGehee, Edward A.; Peacock-Lopez, Enrique

2005-01-01

In this Letter we consider a modified Lotka-Volterra model widely known as the Bazykin model, which is the MacArthur-Rosenzweig (MR) model that includes a prey-dependent response function and is modified with the inclusion of intraspecies interactions. We show that a quadratic intra-prey interaction term, which is the most realistic nonlinearity, yields sufficient conditions for Turing patterns. For the Bazykin model we find the Turing region in parameter space and Turing patterns in one dimension

In-Storage Embedded Accelerator for Sparse Pattern Processing

OpenAIRE

Jun, Sang-Woo; Nguyen, Huy T.; Gadepally, Vijay N.; Arvind

2016-01-01

We present a novel architecture for sparse pattern processing, using flash storage with embedded accelerators. Sparse pattern processing on large data sets is the essence of applications such as document search, natural language processing, bioinformatics, subgraph matching, machine learning, and graph processing. One slice of our prototype accelerator is capable of handling up to 1TB of data, and experiments show that it can outperform C/C++ software solutions on a 16-core system at a fracti...

Short communication Sperm DNA damage in relation to lipid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Leyland Fraser

Short communication. Sperm DNA ... (Received 21 January 2017; Accepted 28 February2017; First published online 8 March 2017) ... This study investigated the relationships between lipid peroxidation (LPO) and sperm DNA damage.

Patterns of muscle activity underlying object-specific grasp by the macaque monkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Brochier, T; Spinks, R L; Umilta, M A; Lemon, R N

2004-09-01

During object grasp, a coordinated activation of distal muscles is required to shape the hand in relation to the physical properties of the object. Despite the fundamental importance of the grasping action, little is known of the muscular activation patterns that allow objects of different sizes and shapes to be grasped. In a study of two adult macaque monkeys, we investigated whether we could distinguish between EMG activation patterns associated with grasp of 12 differently shaped objects, chosen to evoke a wide range of grasping postures. Each object was mounted on a horizontal shuttle held by a weak spring (load force 1-2 N). Objects were located in separate sectors of a "carousel," and inter-trial rotation of the carousel allowed sequential presentation of the objects in pseudorandom order. EMG activity from 10 to 12 digit, hand, and arm muscles was recorded using chronically implanted electrodes. We show that the grasp of different objects was characterized by complex but distinctive patterns of EMG activation. Cluster analysis shows that these object-related EMG patterns were specific and consistent enough to identify the object unequivocally from the EMG recordings alone. EMG-based object identification required a minimum of six EMGs from simultaneously recorded muscles. EMG patterns were consistent across recording sessions in a given monkey but showed some differences between animals. These results identify the specific patterns of activity required to achieve distinct hand postures for grasping, and they open the way to our understanding of how these patterns are generated by the central motor network.

Dietary Management of Obesity: Cornerstones of Healthy Eating Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Smethers, Alissa D; Rolls, Barbara J

2018-01-01

Several dietary patterns, both macronutrient and food based, can lead to weight loss. A key strategy for weight management that can be applied across dietary patterns is to reduce energy density. Clinical trials show that reducing energy density is effective for weight loss and weight loss maintenance. A variety of practical strategies and tools can help facilitate successful weight management by reducing energy density, providing portion control, and improving diet quality. The flexibility of energy density gives patients options to tailor and personalize their dietary pattern to reduce energy intake for sustainable weight loss. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cerebellar infarct patterns: The SMART-Medea study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurens J.L. De Cocker, MD

2015-01-01

Conclusions: Small cerebellar infarcts proved to be much more common than larger infarcts, and preferentially involved the cortex. Small cortical infarcts predominantly involved the posterior lobes, showed sparing of subcortical white matter and occurred in characteristic topographic patterns.

Oxidative stress biomarkers in Senegal sole, Solea senegalensis, to assess the impact of heavy metal pollution in a Huelva estuary (SW Spain): seasonal and spatial variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliva, Milagrosa; José Vicente, Juan; Gravato, Carlos; Guilhermino, Lucia; Dolores Galindo-Riaño, María

2012-01-01

The response of wild fish to heavy metals was studied in sole (Solea senegalensis) collected in 2004, 2005 and 2006 at three sampling sites from Huelva estuary (SW Spain), in the vicinity of a petrochemical and mining industry. Heavy metals As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn were analyzed in samples collected from sediment, water and tissue (liver) to examine their bioconcentration and effects in fish such as lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase (CAT; EC 1.11.1.6), glutathione peroxidase (GPx; EC 1.8.1.7), glutathione S-transferase (GST; EC 2.5.1.18) and glutathione reductase (GR; EC 1.11.1.6) were also analyzed in the fish liver. The results showed different effects in sole from diverse locations with varying degrees of pollution. Significant differences in LPO, CAT and GR activities between control fish and fish from sampling sites were observed as well as seasonal differences for biomarkers. Significant correlations were established between some biomarkers and heavy metals concentrations in liver, sediment and water. This study indicates the usefulness of integrating a set of biomarkers to assess the effects of pollutants in aquatic environments under complex mix of pollutants and chronic pollution situation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biomarkers study in rainbow trout exposed to industrially contaminated groundwater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadjet Benchalgo

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The spill of liquid industrial waste from chemical and petrochemical industries in Mercier lagoons located 20 km south of Montreal, Quebec, caused a major groundwater contamination by industrial contaminants. The aim of this study was to investigate the toxic effects of Mercier groundwater, following 4 and 14 days of exposure to graded concentrations from three wells at increasing distances 1.2, 2.7 and 5.4 km from the source of contamination. Rainbow trout were examined for several biomarkers of defense [ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD and gluthatione S-transferase (GST activities] and those of tissue damage [lipid peroxidation (LPO and DNA strand breaks]. The results showed that EROD activity was significantly enhanced in hepatic tissue at 1.2 and 5.4 km, whereas inhibition in activity was observed in group at 2.7 km. Therefore, GST activity was significantly increased at 3.1% concentration for the 2.7 km well. No change in LPO was observed. However, a significant induction of DNA strand breaks in liver was obtained at each distance. In conclusion, the data suggest that the release of these contaminants in groundwater leads to increased biotransformation for coplanar aromatic hydrocarbons and DNA damage in groundwater.

Therapeutic efficacy of inosine against radiation-induced damage at cellular, biochemical and chromosomal levels in swiss albino mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Shamy, E.; Sallam, M. H.

2010-01-01

Inosine has been used for treatment of various diseases and disorders in medicine. Modulator effect of inosine against γ radiation-induced histological alterations in testis, reduced glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation (LPO), acid and alkaline phosphatases activities (AP and ALP) and chromosomal aberrations (CA) in mice was studied at various experimental intervals between 1 and 30 days. Mice exposed to 8 Gy γ-rays showed acute radiation sickness including marked testis histological changes and chromosomal aberrations (CA) in bone marrow cells with 100 % mortality within 22 days. When inosine was given orally at a dose of 80 mg/ kg body wt for 15 consecutive days after exposure to γ-rays, death in radiation + inosine group was reduced to 70 % at 30 days. The radiation - dose reduction factor (DRF) was 1.43. There was significantly lesser degree of damage to testis tissue architecture and various cell populations including spermatogonia, spermatids and leydig cells. Correspondingly, a significant decrease in the LPO and increase in the GSH levels were observed in testis of radiation + inosine group. Similarly, a significant decrease in level of AP and increase in level of ALP were observed. Inosine treatment significantly prevented γ-rays-induced CA frequency in bone marrow cells.

Antioxidant activity of piper betel leaf extract and its constituents.

Science.gov (United States)

Rathee, Jitesh S; Patro, Birija S; Mula, Soumyaditya; Gamre, Sunita; Chattopadhyay, Subrata

2006-11-29

The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay of the ethanol extracts of three varieties (Bangla, sweet, and Mysore) of Piper betel (pan) revealed the Bangla variety to possess the best antioxidant activity that can be correlated with the total phenolic content and reducing powers of the respective extracts. Column chromatography of the extract of the Bangla variety led to the isolation of chevibetol (CHV), allylpyrocatechol (APC), and their respective glucosides. The HPTLC analyses of the extracts revealed similar chemical profiles in all three P. betel varieties, although the concentrations of CHV and APC were significantly less in the sweet and Mysore varieties. Among the isolated compounds, APC showed the best results in all the in vitro experiments. It could prevent Fe(II)-induced lipid peroxidation (LPO) of liposomes and rat brain homogenates as well as gamma-ray-induced damage of pBR322 plasmid DNA more efficiently than CHV. The superior anti-LPO and radioprotective activities of APC vis-à-vis those of CHV could not be explained by their respective Fe(II) chelation and .OH radical scavenging capacities. The better ability of APC to scavenge O2-. radicals and H2O2 might account for the results.

Therapeutic effect of bee pollens on acute radiation sickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Mingsuo; Huang Chaoqun; Chen Zhen; Huang Meiying; Jiang Ying; Wang Tao

1997-09-01

The therapeutic effect of bee pollens on acute radiation sickness were evaluated by observing the changes in the peripheral white blood cell (PWBC) count, the total activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the levels of lipid peroxides (LPO) in sera of the irradiated rats following P.O. administration of bee pollens. It was found that bee pollens could remarkably help irradiated rats recover from radiation-induced injury. The functions of bee pollens might be summarized as follows: (1) Stimulating Proliferation of PWBC. The PWBC count of the bee pollens group showed no significant difference as compared with the normal control group on the 30 th day postirradiation. (2) Enhancing antioxidative effect of clearing free radicals. The total activity of serum SOD in the bee pollens group increased by 6.48% as compared with the normal control group on the 30 th day after irradiation, and the LPO levels i.e. MDA and POV in sera of the irradiated rats decreased by 54.73% and 21.60% respectively. The result suggests that using bee pollens as antiradiation and health-promoting agents in clinical treatment of acute radiation sickness and during radiotherapy of patients with tumors may has certain practical value. (12 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.)

Gastroprotective effects of several H2RAs on ibuprofen-induced gastric ulcer in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jing; Sun, Dan; He, Jinfeng; Yang, Chengli; Hu, Tingting; Zhang, Lijing; Cao, Hua; Tong, Ai-Ping; Song, Xiangrong; Xie, Yongmei; He, Gu; Guo, Gang; Luo, Youfu; Cheng, Ping; Zheng, Yu

2016-03-15

Ibuprofen is the first line of treatment for osteoarthritis and arthritis. The main side effects of ibuprofen especially in long-term treatment include gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer and indigestion etc. Therefore, screening drugs with effective gastric protective effects and low toxicity for combination therapy with ibuprofen is necessary. The mechanism of gastric damage induced by ibuprofen is still unclear, however, cell damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is considered as the main reason. Preliminary screening of literature with the criteria of low toxicity led to four histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs): nizatidine, famotidine, lafutidine, and roxatidine acetate, which were selected for further investigation. These drugs were evaluated systemically by examining the gastric ulcer index, lipid peroxidation (LPO), membrane permeability, toxicity to main organs, and the influence on the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and myeloperoxidase (MPO). Nizatidine was found to be the best gastric protective agent. It exhibited excellent protective effect by increasing antioxidant enzyme activity, decreasing MPO activity, reducing LPO, and membrane permeability. Combination treatment with nizatidine and ibuprofen did not show any significant toxicity. Nizatidine was considered as a good option for combination therapy with ibuprofen especially for diseases that require long-term treatment such as arthritis and osteoarthritis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Big Data Challenges of High-Dimensional Continuous-Time Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection and a Remedy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Mei Choi; Pun, Chi Seng; Wong, Hoi Ying

2017-08-01

Investors interested in the global financial market must analyze financial securities internationally. Making an optimal global investment decision involves processing a huge amount of data for a high-dimensional portfolio. This article investigates the big data challenges of two mean-variance optimal portfolios: continuous-time precommitment and constant-rebalancing strategies. We show that both optimized portfolios implemented with the traditional sample estimates converge to the worst performing portfolio when the portfolio size becomes large. The crux of the problem is the estimation error accumulated from the huge dimension of stock data. We then propose a linear programming optimal (LPO) portfolio framework, which applies a constrained ℓ 1 minimization to the theoretical optimal control to mitigate the risk associated with the dimensionality issue. The resulting portfolio becomes a sparse portfolio that selects stocks with a data-driven procedure and hence offers a stable mean-variance portfolio in practice. When the number of observations becomes large, the LPO portfolio converges to the oracle optimal portfolio, which is free of estimation error, even though the number of stocks grows faster than the number of observations. Our numerical and empirical studies demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Sexual Arousal Patterns of Autogynephilic Male Cross-Dressers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Kevin J; Rosenthal, A M; Miller, David I; Bailey, J Michael

2017-01-01

Men's sexual arousal patterns have been an important window into the nature of their erotic interests. Autogynephilia is a natal male's paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of being a woman. Autogynephilic arousal per se is difficult to assess objectively, because it is inwardly focused. However, assessing sexual arousal patterns of autogynephilic males in response to external stimuli is also potentially useful. For example, there is substantial association between autogynephilia and gynandromorphophilia (GAMP), or sexual attraction to gynandromorphs (GAMs), colloquially "she-males." GAMP men's sexual arousal patterns in response to GAM, female, and male stimuli have recently been characterized. In the present study, we extended this understanding by comparing the sexual arousal patterns of autogynephilic male cross-dressers, GAMP men, heterosexual men, and homosexual men. Erotic stimuli included sexually explicit videos of men, women, and GAMs. Autogynephilic men were much more similar in their arousal patterns to heterosexual and GAMP men than to homosexual men. However, similar to GAMP men, autogynephilic men showed increased arousal by GAM stimuli relative to female stimuli compared with heterosexual men.

Foam patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Chaudhry, Anil R; Dzugan, Robert; Harrington, Richard M; Neece, Faurice D; Singh, Nipendra P; Westendorf, Travis

2013-11-26

A method of creating a foam pattern comprises mixing a polyol component and an isocyanate component to form a liquid mixture. The method further comprises placing a temporary core having a shape corresponding to a desired internal feature in a cavity of a mold and inserting the mixture into the cavity of the mold so that the mixture surrounds a portion of the temporary core. The method optionally further comprises using supporting pins made of foam to support the core in the mold cavity, with such pins becoming integral part of the pattern material simplifying subsequent processing. The method further comprises waiting for a predetermined time sufficient for a reaction from the mixture to form a foam pattern structure corresponding to the cavity of the mold, wherein the foam pattern structure encloses a portion of the temporary core and removing the temporary core from the pattern independent of chemical leaching.

Immobilization of biomolecules onto surfaces according to ultraviolet light diffraction patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjoern Petersen, Steffen; Kold di Gennaro, Ane; Neves-Petersen, Maria Teresa; Skovsen, Esben; Parracino, Antonietta

2010-01-01

We developed a method for immobilization of biomolecules onto thiol functionalized surfaces according to UV diffraction patterns. UV light-assisted molecular immobilization proceeds through the formation of free, reactive thiol groups that can bind covalently to thiol reactive surfaces. We demonstrate that, by shaping the pattern of the UV light used to induce molecular immobilization, one can control the pattern of immobilized molecules onto the surface. Using a single-aperture spatial mask, combined with the Fourier transforming property of a focusing lens, we show that submicrometer (0.7 μm) resolved patterns of immobilized prostate-specific antigen biomolecules can be created. If a dual-aperture spatial mask is used, the results differ from the expected Fourier transform pattern of the mask. It appears as a superposition of two diffraction patterns produced by the two apertures, with a fine structured interference pattern superimposed.

The Role of Binocular Disparity in Rapid Scene and Pattern Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo Valsecchi

2013-04-01

Full Text Available We investigated the contribution of binocular disparity to the rapid recognition of scenes and simpler spatial patterns using a paradigm combining backward masked stimulus presentation and short-term match-to-sample recognition. First, we showed that binocular disparity did not contribute significantly to the recognition of briefly presented natural and artificial scenes, even when the availability of monocular cues was reduced. Subsequently, using dense random dot stereograms as stimuli, we showed that observers were in principle able to extract spatial patterns defined only by disparity under brief, masked presentations. Comparing our results with the predictions from a cue-summation model, we showed that combining disparity with luminance did not per se disrupt the processing of disparity. Our results suggest that the rapid recognition of scenes is mediated mostly by a monocular comparison of the images, although we can rely on stereo in fast pattern recognition.

Cell patterning on poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)-patterned fluoropolymer substrate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Wan-Joong [Advanced Radiation Technology Institute, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do 580-185 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Chungnam National University, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Chang-Hee; Hwang, In-Tae [Advanced Radiation Technology Institute, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do 580-185 (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Chan-Hee, E-mail: jch@kaeri.re.kr [Advanced Radiation Technology Institute, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do 580-185 (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Jae-Hak, E-mail: jaehakchoi@cnu.ac.kr [Advanced Radiation Technology Institute, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do 580-185 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Chungnam National University, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of); Hong, Sung-Kwon [Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Chungnam National University, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

Highlights: •PFA films were functionalized by ion-beam induced surface graft polymerization. •Poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)-patterned PFA films were prepared. •Well-organized cell patterns were obtained on PSS-patterned PFA films. •This method is useful to fabricate bio-platforms for cell-based biodevices. -- Abstract: The surface functionalization of bio-inert fluoropolymer films through ion beam-induced surface graft polymerization was investigated to control the cellular behavior. The surface of poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-perfluoropropl vinyl ether) (PFA) films was selectively activated by 150 keV H{sup +} ion implantation in the presence of a pattern mask and sodium 4-styrenesulfonate (SS) was then graft polymerized onto the implanted PFA films to form hydrophilic poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)-patterned PFA films. The surface of the resulting PSS-patterned PFA films was investigated in terms of the degree of graft polymerization, chemical structure, chemical composition, wettability, and morphology. The analytical results revealed that PSS was selectively grafted onto the implanted regions of the PFA films. Furthermore, in vitro cell culture on the PSS-patterned PFA films exhibited a preferential adhesion and growth of cells onto the PSS-grafted regions, resulting in well-organized 100 μm cell patterns.

Cell patterning on poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)-patterned fluoropolymer substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Wan-Joong; Jung, Chang-Hee; Hwang, In-Tae; Jung, Chan-Hee; Choi, Jae-Hak; Hong, Sung-Kwon

2013-01-01

Highlights: •PFA films were functionalized by ion-beam induced surface graft polymerization. •Poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)-patterned PFA films were prepared. •Well-organized cell patterns were obtained on PSS-patterned PFA films. •This method is useful to fabricate bio-platforms for cell-based biodevices. -- Abstract: The surface functionalization of bio-inert fluoropolymer films through ion beam-induced surface graft polymerization was investigated to control the cellular behavior. The surface of poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-perfluoropropl vinyl ether) (PFA) films was selectively activated by 150 keV H + ion implantation in the presence of a pattern mask and sodium 4-styrenesulfonate (SS) was then graft polymerized onto the implanted PFA films to form hydrophilic poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)-patterned PFA films. The surface of the resulting PSS-patterned PFA films was investigated in terms of the degree of graft polymerization, chemical structure, chemical composition, wettability, and morphology. The analytical results revealed that PSS was selectively grafted onto the implanted regions of the PFA films. Furthermore, in vitro cell culture on the PSS-patterned PFA films exhibited a preferential adhesion and growth of cells onto the PSS-grafted regions, resulting in well-organized 100 μm cell patterns

Long-term exposure of the isopod Porcellionides pruinosus to nickel: Costs in the energy budget and detoxification enzymes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Nuno G C; Cardoso, Diogo N; Morgado, Rui; Soares, Amadeu M V M; Loureiro, Susana

2015-09-01

Terrestrial isopods from the species Porcellionides pruinosus were exposed to the maximum allowed nickel concentration in the Canadian framework guideline (50 mg Ni/kg soil) and to 5× this concentration (250 mg Ni/kg soil). The exposure lasted for 28 days and was followed by a recovery period of 14 days where organisms were changed to clean soil. Organisms were sampled after 24 h, 48 h, 96 h, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days of exposure, and at days 35 and 42 during the recovery period. For each sampling time the acetylcholinesterase (AChE), glutathione-S-transferases (GST), catalase (CAT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities were determined as well as lipid peroxidation rate (LPO) along with lipids, carbohydrates, proteins content, energy available (Ea), energy consumption (Ec) and cellular energy allocation (CEA). The integrated biomarker response (IBR) was calculated for each sampling time as well as for each one of the above parameters. In addition, mortality was also recorded throughout the assay. The results obtained showed that nickel induced oxidative stress, evidenced by results on GST, GPx, CAT or LPO, but also on changes in the energy reserves content of these organisms. In addition, this study showed that these organisms possess a specific strategy to handle nickel toxicity. In this case, biomarkers were associated with costs in the energy budget, and the increase of energy reserves has a compensation for that cost. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electroencephalogram, cognitive state, psychological disorders, clinical symptom, and oxidative stress in horticulture farmers exposed to organophosphate pesticides.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayrami, Mansour; Hashemi, Touraj; Malekirad, Ali Akbar; Ashayeri, Hassan; Faraji, Fardin; Abdollahi, Mohammad

2012-02-01

The aim of this paper was to study the toxicity of organophosphate (OP) pesticides in exposed farmers for electroencephalography, cognitive state, psychological disorders, clinical symptom, oxidative stress, acetylcholinesterase, and DNA damage. A comparative cross-sectional analysis was carried out in 40 horticulture farmers who were exposed to OPs in comparison to a control group containing 40 healthy subjects with the same age and sex and education level. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase, DNA damage, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total thiol molecules, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity were measured in the blood of subjects. Clinical examination and complete blood test were undertaken in order to record any abnormal sign or symptoms. Cognitive function, psychological symptoms, and psychological distress were examined and recorded. Comparing with controls, the farmers showed higher blood levels of SOD and LPO while their TAC decreased. Farmers showed clinical symptoms such as eczema, breathing muscle weakness, nausea, and saliva secretion. Regarding cognitive function, the orientation, registration, attention and calculation, recall, and language were not significantly different in farmers and controls. Among examinations for psychological distress, only labeled somatization was significantly higher in farmers. The present findings indicate that oxidative stress and inhibition of AChE can be seen in chronically OP-exposed people but incidence of neuropsychological disorders seems a complex multivariate phenomenon that might be seen in long-term high-dose exposure situations. Use of supplementary antioxidants would be useful in the treatment of farmers.

The protective role of pomegranate juice against carbon tetrachloride-induced oxidative stress in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Pirinççioğlu, Mihdiye; Kızıl, Göksel; Kızıl, Murat; Kanay, Zeki; Ketani, Aydın

2014-11-01

Most pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn., Punicaceae) fruit parts are known to possess enormous antioxidant activity. The present study was carried out to determine the phenolic and flavonoid contents of Derik pomegranate juice and determine its effect against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced toxicity in rats. Animals were divided into four groups (n = 6): group I: control, group II: CCl4 (1 ml/kg), group III: CCl4 + pomegranate juice and group IV: CCl4 + ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Treatment duration was 4 weeks, and the dose of CCl4 was administered once a week to groups II, III and IV during the experimental period. CCl4-treated rats caused a significant increase in serum enzyme levels, such as aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and total bilirubin, and decrease in albumin, when compared with control. Administration of CCl4 along with pomegranate juice or UDCA significantly reduces these changes. Analysis of lipid peroxide (LPO) levels by thiobarbutiric acid reaction showed a significant increase in liver, kidney and brain tissues of CCl4-treated rats. However, both pomegranate juice and UDCA prevented the increase in LPO level. Histopathological reports also revealed that there is a regenerative activity in the liver and kidney cells. Derik pomegranate juice showed to be hepatoprotective against CCl4-induced hepatic injury. In conclusion, present study reveals a biological evidence that supports the use of pomegranate juice in the treatment of chemical-induced hepatotoxicity. © The Author(s) 2012.

User Identification Using Gait Patterns on UbiFloorII

Science.gov (United States)

Yun, Jaeseok

2011-01-01

This paper presents a system of identifying individuals by their gait patterns. We take into account various distinguishable features that can be extracted from a user’s gait and then divide them into two classes: walking pattern and stepping pattern. The conditions we assume are that our target environments are domestic areas, the number of users is smaller than 10, and all users ambulate with bare feet considering the everyday lifestyle of the Korean home. Under these conditions, we have developed a system that identifies individuals’ gait patterns using our biometric sensor, UbiFloorII. We have created UbiFloorII to collect walking samples and created software modules to extract the user’s gait pattern. To identify the users based on the gait patterns extracted from walking samples over UbiFloorII, we have deployed multilayer perceptron network, a feedforward artificial neural network model. The results show that both walking pattern and stepping pattern extracted from users’ gait over the UbiFloorII are distinguishable enough to identify the users and that fusing two classifiers at the matching score level improves the recognition accuracy. Therefore, our proposed system may provide unobtrusive and automatic user identification methods in ubiquitous computing environments, particularly in domestic areas. PMID:22163758

Polytypic pattern matching

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jeuring, J.T.

1995-01-01

The pattern matching problem can be informally specified as follows: given a pattern and a text, find all occurrences of the pattern in the text. The pattern and the text may both be lists, or they may both be trees, or they may both be multi-dimensional arrays, etc. This paper describes a general

Petaloid-pattern pigmentary retinopathy: a novel case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Padhi, Tapas Ranjan; Jalali, Subhadra; Panda, Krushna Gopal; Mukherjee, Sujoy; Mohan, Neha; Agroiya, Pushpalata; Das, Taraprasad

2014-10-01

We report the case of a 6-year-old girl with an unusual petaloid-pattern pigmentary retinopathy associated with nyctalopia and reduction of vision which had been invariably static over the past 5 years. We performed a comprehensive ophthalmic examination including fundoscopy, autofluorescent imaging, electroretinography and optical coherence tomography. There were diffuse retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) washout areas with blotches of pigment distributed in the pattern of a petal with marked chorioretinal atrophy and scar at the fovea. The arterial caliber was normal. Investigations ruled out intrauterine and neonatal infection. Systemically, she was healthy with normal intellect but with 3-month delayed milestones of development. She had used valproic acid for seizure disorder (without any organic central nervous system lesion) from 2-5 years of age. Electroretinography showed extinguished scotopic responses with slight reduction in cone responses. Optical coherence tomography showed a scar with attenuated RPE-choriocapillary complex at the macula. Her clinical profile did not fully match with any previously described pigmentary retinopathies except rod-cone dystrophy and choroidal dystrophy to a certain extent. The pigmentary retinopathy reported here is a combination of a petaloid pattern of pigmentary disturbance, stationary reduction of vision, nyctalopia, normal intellect and marginal delayed milestones. In the absence of such a description in the literature we named this disorder as petaloid-pattern pigmentary retinopathy.

Kinematic characteristics of motor patterns in rope skipping

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Luiz Henrique da Silva

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Rope skipping seems to be an easy task to be performed. However, careful analysis of this motor skill shows how complex the execution of this task is. The objective of this study was to examine kinematic variables of jump patterns as a function of skipping frequency. Eight male university students performed a sequence of 30 rope jumps using two jump patterns (alternating support of the feet and simultaneous support of the feet at three skipping frequencies (1.5, 1.7,1.9 Hz. Frequencies were determined with a digital metronome and the rope was turned by the student himself. Rope jumping performance was recorded with two digital cameras for 3Danalysis. Passive markers were attached to the rope and to the ankle, knee and hip joints forcollection of the following dependent variables: continuous relative phase, time interval betweenthe loss of contact of the feet with the ground and cross of the rope under the feet of the volunteer,jump height, and rope height. ANOVA showed that for the pattern with alternating support ofthe feet the jump is executed at a lower height. In addition, analysis of the time interval revealeda delay in the withdrawal of the feet for crossing the rope in the case of the jump pattern with simultaneous support of the feet.

Approach for a Pattern-Based Development of Frugal Innovations

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Anne-Christin Lehner

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Emerging markets have become increasingly interesting for companies from industrialized countries, but the requirements in these markets differ dramatically from those in the companies’ traditional markets. New products and services are demanded – so-called frugal innovations. Since the challenges for the development of frugal innovations are often quite similar – for example, low income of the target customer, poor infrastructure, etc. – the hypothesis appears that the solutions will also be similar. In our earlier TIM Review article (Lehner & Gausemeier, 2016, we showed how solution patterns for frugal innovations can be derived. The article at hand summarizes those findings and supplements an innovation process for frugal innovation using the solution patterns. The validation based on the example of telemedical assistant systems shows the benefit of the pattern-based development of frugal innovations. The article addresses managers and engineers who plan to introduce frugal innovations, as well as university-based researchers interested in the development of frugal innovations.

Consequences of elastic anisotropy in patterned substrate heteroepitaxy.

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Dixit, Gopal Krishna; Ranganathan, Madhav

2018-06-13

The role of elastic anisotropy on quantum dot formation and evolution on a pre-patterned substrate is evaluated within the framework of a continuum model. We first extend the formulation for surface evolution to take elastic anisotropy into account. Using a small slope approximation, we derive the evolution equation and show how it can be numerically implemented up to linear and second order for stripe and egg-carton patterned substrates using an accurate and efficient procedure. The semi--infinite nature of the substrate is used to solve the elasticity problem subject to other boundary conditions at the free surface and at the film--substrate interface. The positioning of the quantum dots with respect to the peaks and valleys of the pattern is explained by a competition between the length scale of the pattern and the wavelength of the Asaro--Tiller--Grinfeld instability, which is also affected by the elastic anisotropy. The alignment of dots is affected by a competition between the elastic anisotropy of the film and the pattern orientation. A domain of pattern inversion, wherein the quantum dots form exclusively in the valleys of the patterns is identified as a function of the average film thickness and the elastic anisotropy, and the time--scale for this inversion as function of height is analyzed. © 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Different attention bias patterns in anorexia nervosa restricting and binge/purge types.

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Gilon Mann, Tal; Hamdan, Sami; Bar-Haim, Yair; Lazarov, Amit; Enoch-Levy, Adi; Dubnov-Raz, Gal; Treasure, Janet; Stein, Daniel

2018-04-03

Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) have been shown to display both elevated anxiety and attentional biases in threat processing. In this study, we compared threat-related attention patterns of patients with AN restricting type (AN-R; n = 32), AN binge/purge type (AN-B/P; n = 23), and healthy controls (n = 19). A dot-probe task with either eating disorder-related or general and social anxiety-related words was used to measure attention patterns. Severity of eating disorder symptoms, depression, anxiety, and stress were also assessed. Patients with AN-R showed vigilance to both types of threat words, whereas patients with AN-B/P showed avoidance of both threat types. Healthy control participants did not show any attention bias. Attention bias was not associated with any of the demographic, clinical, and psychometric parameters introduced. These findings suggest that there are differential patterns of attention allocation in patients with AN-R and AN-B/P. More research is needed to identify what causes/underlies these differential patterns. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Dietary pattern and colonic diverticulosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tursi, Antonio

2017-09-01

To assess the role of dietary pattern on the occurrence of colonic diverticulosis, diverticular disease and acute diverticulitis. High-fiber diet does not prevent diverticulosis occurrence, and results about prevention/treatment of diverticular disease and acute diverticulitis are still conflicting.No association was seen between nut, corn or popcorn consumption and occurrence of diverticulosis, diverticular disease and acute diverticulitis.It seems to be a mild association between high alcohol intake and diverticulosis occurrence, whereas alcohol dependence seems to show lower risk of in-hospital mortality due to acute diverticulitis.Higher red-meat consumption shows mild increased risk of acute diverticulitis, especially when consumed as unprocessed red meat (defined as consumption of 'beef or lamb as main dish', 'pork as main dish', 'hamburger' and 'beef, pork or lamb as a sandwich or mixed dish'); higher consumption of poultry (viz. white meat) was not associated with risk of acute diverticulitis.Finally, higher fish intake was associated with reduced risk of diverticulitis in age-adjusted model, but not after further adjustment for other potential confounders. Current literature data about the role of dietary pattern on the occurrence of colonic diverticulosis, diverticular disease and acute diverticulitis are still too conflicting.

Specialization Patterns

OpenAIRE

Schultz , Ulrik Pagh; Lawall , Julia ,; Consel , Charles

1999-01-01

Design patterns offer numerous advantages for software development, but can introduce inefficiency into the finished program. Program specialization can eliminate such overheads, but is most effective when targeted by the user to specific bottlenecks. Consequently, we propose to consider program specialization and design patterns as complementary concepts. On the one hand, program specialization can optimize object-oriented programs written using design patterns. On the other hand, design pat...

Regularities, Natural Patterns and Laws of Nature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stathis Psillos

2014-02-01

Full Text Available  The goal of this paper is to sketch an empiricist metaphysics of laws of nature. The key idea is that there are regularities without regularity-enforcers. Differently put, there are natural laws without law-makers of a distinct metaphysical kind. This sketch will rely on the concept of a natural pattern and more significantly on the existence of a network of natural patterns in nature. The relation between a regularity and a pattern will be analysed in terms of mereology.  Here is the road map. In section 2, I will briefly discuss the relation between empiricism and metaphysics, aiming to show that an empiricist metaphysics is possible. In section 3, I will offer arguments against stronger metaphysical views of laws. Then, in section 4 I will motivate nomic objectivism. In section 5, I will address the question ‘what is a regularity?’ and will develop a novel answer to it, based on the notion of a natural pattern. In section 6, I will raise the question: ‘what is a law of nature?’, the answer to which will be: a law of nature is a regularity that is characterised by the unity of a natural pattern.

Hidden patterns of reciprocity.

Science.gov (United States)

Syi

2014-03-21

Reciprocity can help the evolution of cooperation. To model both types of reciprocity, we need the concept of strategy. In the case of direct reciprocity there are four second-order action rules (Simple Tit-for-tat, Contrite Tit-for-tat, Pavlov, and Grim Trigger), which are able to promote cooperation. In the case of indirect reciprocity the key component of cooperation is the assessment rule. There are, again, four elementary second-order assessment rules (Image Scoring, Simple Standing, Stern Judging, and Shunning). The eight concepts can be formalized in an ontologically thin way we need only an action predicate and a value function, two agent concepts, and the constant of goodness. The formalism helps us to discover that the action and assessment rules can be paired, and that they show the same patterns. The logic of these patterns can be interpreted with the concept of punishment that has an inherent paradoxical nature. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Surface-immobilized hydrogel patterns on length scales from micrometer to nanometer

Science.gov (United States)

Zeira, Assaf

The present work concentrates on the study of pattern generation and transfer processes of monolayer covered surfaces, deriving from the basic working concept of Constructive Lithography. As an advancement of constructive lithography, we developed a direct, one-step printing (contact electrochemical printing, CEP) and replication (contact electrochemical replication, CER) of hydrophilic organic monolayer patterns surrounded by a hydrophobic monolayer background. In addition, we present a process of transfer of metal between two contacting solid surfaces to predefined monolayer template pattern sites (contact electrochemical transfer, CET). This thesis shows that CEP, CER, and CET may be implemented under a variety of different experimental conditions, regardless of whether the initial "master" pattern was created by a parallel (fast) or serial (slow) patterning process. CEP and CER also posses the unique attractive property that each replica may equally function as master stamp in the fabrication of additional replicas. Moreover, due to a mechanism of selfcorrection patterned surfaces produced these process are often free of defects that the initial "master" stamp may had. We finally show that the electrochemical patterning of OTS monolayers on silicon can be further extended to flexible polymeric substrate materials as well as to a variety of chemical manipulations, allowing the fabrication of tridimensional (3D) composite structures made on the basis of readily available OTS compound. The results obtained suggest that such contact electrochemical processes could be used to rapidly generate multiple copies of surface patterns spanning variable length scales, this basic approach being applicable to rigid as well as flexible substrate materials.

Modelling of Patterns in Space and Time

CERN Document Server

Murray, James

1984-01-01

This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the work­ shop "Modelling of Patterns in Space and Time", organized by the 80nderforschungsbereich 123, "8tochastische Mathematische Modelle", in Heidelberg, July 4-8, 1983. The main aim of this workshop was to bring together physicists, chemists, biologists and mathematicians for an exchange of ideas and results in modelling patterns. Since the mathe­ matical problems arising depend only partially on the particular field of applications the interdisciplinary cooperation proved very useful. The workshop mainly treated phenomena showing spatial structures. The special areas covered were morphogenesis, growth in cell cultures, competition systems, structured populations, chemotaxis, chemical precipitation, space-time oscillations in chemical reactors, patterns in flames and fluids and mathematical methods. The discussions between experimentalists and theoreticians were especially interesting and effective. The editors hope that these proceedings reflect ...

Position-dependent patterning of spontaneous action potentials in immature cochlear inner hair cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Stuart L; Eckrich, Tobias; Kuhn, Stephanie; Zampini, Valeria; Franz, Christoph; Ranatunga, Kishani M; Roberts, Terri P; Masetto, Sergio; Knipper, Marlies; Kros, Corné J; Marcotti, Walter

2011-06-01

Spontaneous action potential activity is crucial for mammalian sensory system development. In the auditory system, patterned firing activity has been observed in immature spiral ganglion and brain-stem neurons and is likely to depend on cochlear inner hair cell (IHC) action potentials. It remains uncertain whether spiking activity is intrinsic to developing IHCs and whether it shows patterning. We found that action potentials were intrinsically generated by immature IHCs of altricial rodents and that apical IHCs showed bursting activity as opposed to more sustained firing in basal cells. We show that the efferent neurotransmitter acetylcholine fine-tunes the IHC's resting membrane potential (V(m)), and as such is crucial for the bursting pattern in apical cells. Endogenous extracellular ATP also contributes to the V(m) of apical and basal IHCs by triggering small-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (SK2) channels. We propose that the difference in firing pattern along the cochlea instructs the tonotopic differentiation of IHCs and auditory pathway.

Leveraging workflow control patterns in the domain of clinical practice guidelines.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, Katharina; Marcos, Mar

2016-02-10

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) include recommendations describing appropriate care for the management of patients with a specific clinical condition. A number of representation languages have been developed to support executable CPGs, with associated authoring/editing tools. Even with tool assistance, authoring of CPG models is a labor-intensive task. We aim at facilitating the early stages of CPG modeling task. In this context, we propose to support the authoring of CPG models based on a set of suitable procedural patterns described in an implementation-independent notation that can be then semi-automatically transformed into one of the alternative executable CPG languages. We have started with the workflow control patterns which have been identified in the fields of workflow systems and business process management. We have analyzed the suitability of these patterns by means of a qualitative analysis of CPG texts. Following our analysis we have implemented a selection of workflow patterns in the Asbru and PROforma CPG languages. As implementation-independent notation for the description of patterns we have chosen BPMN 2.0. Finally, we have developed XSLT transformations to convert the BPMN 2.0 version of the patterns into the Asbru and PROforma languages. We showed that although a significant number of workflow control patterns are suitable to describe CPG procedural knowledge, not all of them are applicable in the context of CPGs due to their focus on single-patient care. Moreover, CPGs may require additional patterns not included in the set of workflow control patterns. We also showed that nearly all the CPG-suitable patterns can be conveniently implemented in the Asbru and PROforma languages. Finally, we demonstrated that individual patterns can be semi-automatically transformed from a process specification in BPMN 2.0 to executable implementations in these languages. We propose a pattern and transformation-based approach for the development of CPG models

Task activation and functional connectivity show concordant memory laterality in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Sideman, Noah; Chaitanya, Ganne; He, Xiaosong; Doucet, Gaelle; Kim, Na Young; Sperling, Michael R; Sharan, Ashwini D; Tracy, Joseph I

2018-04-01

In epilepsy, asymmetries in the organization of mesial temporal lobe (MTL) functions help determine the cognitive risk associated with procedures such as anterior temporal lobectomy. Past studies have investigated the change/shift in a visual episodic memory laterality index (LI) in mesial temporal lobe structures through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task activations. Here, we examine whether underlying task-related functional connectivity (FC) is concordant with such standard fMRI laterality measures. A total of 56 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) (Left TLE [LTLE]: 31; Right TLE [RTLE]: 25) and 34 matched healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI scanning during performance of a scene encoding task (SET). We assessed an activation-based LI of the hippocampal gyrus (HG) and parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) during the SET and its correspondence with task-related FC measures. Analyses involving the HG and PHG showed that the patients with LTLE had a consistently higher LI (right-lateralized) than that of the HC and group with RTLE, indicating functional reorganization. The patients with RTLE did not display a reliable contralateral shift away from the pathology, with the mesial structures showing quite distinct laterality patterns (HG, no laterality bias; PHG, no evidence of LI shift). The FC data for the group with LTLE provided confirmation of reorganization effects, revealing that a rightward task LI may be based on underlying connections between several left-sided regions (middle/superior occipital and left medial frontal gyri) and the right PHG. The FCs between the right HG and left anterior cingulate/medial frontal gyri were also observed in LTLE. Importantly, the data demonstrate that the areas involved in the LTLE task activation shift to the right hemisphere showed a corresponding increase in task-related FCs between the hemispheres. Altered laterality patterns based on mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) pathology manifest as several

Microwave radiation (2.45 GHz)-induced oxidative stress: Whole-body exposure effect on histopathology of Wistar rats.

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Chauhan, Parul; Verma, H N; Sisodia, Rashmi; Kesari, Kavindra Kumar

2017-01-01

Man-made microwave and radiofrequency (RF) radiation technologies have been steadily increasing with the growing demand of electronic appliances such as microwave oven and cell phones. These appliances affect biological systems by increasing free radicals, thus leading to oxidative damage. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of 2.45 GHz microwave radiation on histology and the level of lipid peroxide (LPO) in Wistar rats. Sixty-day-old male Wistar rats with 180 ± 10 g body weight were used for this study. Animals were divided into two groups: sham exposed (control) and microwave exposed. These animals were exposed for 2 h a day for 35 d to 2.45 GHz microwave radiation (power density, 0.2 mW/cm 2 ). The whole-body specific absorption rate (SAR) was estimated to be 0.14 W/kg. After completion of the exposure period, rats were sacrificed, and brain, liver, kidney, testis and spleen were stored/preserved for determination of LPO and histological parameters. Significantly high level of LPO was observed in the liver (p body microwave exposure, compared to the control group. Based on the results obtained in this study, we conclude that exposure to microwave radiation 2 h a day for 35 d can potentially cause histopathology and oxidative changes in Wistar rats. These results indicate possible implications of such exposure on human health.

Etheno-DNA adduct formation in rats gavaged with linoleic acid, oleic acid and coconut oil is organ- and gender specific

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fang Qingming [Division of Toxicology and Cancer Risk Factors, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280 69120 Heidelberg (Germany); Nair, Jagadeesan [Division of Toxicology and Cancer Risk Factors, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)], E-mail: j.nair@dkfz.de; Sun Xin [Division of Toxicology and Cancer Risk Factors, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280 69120 Heidelberg (Germany); Hadjiolov, Dimiter [National Oncological Centre, Sofia (Bulgaria); Bartsch, Helmut [Division of Toxicology and Cancer Risk Factors, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

2007-11-01

Intake of linoleic acid (LA) increased etheno-DNA adducts induced by lipid peroxidation (LPO) in white blood cells (WBC) of female but not of male volunteers [J. Nair, C.E. Vaca, I. Velic, M. Mutanen, L.M. Valsta, H. Bartsch, High dietary {omega}-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids drastically increase the formation of etheno-DNA adducts in white blood cells of female subjects, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 6 (1997) 597-601]. Etheno-adducts were measured in rats gavaged with LA, oleic acid (OA) and saturated fatty acid rich coconut oil for 30 days. DNA from organs and total WBC was analyzed for 1, N{sup 6}-ethenodeoxyadenosine ({epsilon}dA) and 3, N{sup 4}-ethenodeoxycytidine ({epsilon}dC) by immunoaffinity/{sup 32}P-postlabeling. Colon was the most affected target with LA-treatment, where etheno-adducts were significantly elevated in both sexes. In WBC both adducts were elevated only in LA-treated females. Unexpectedly, OA treatment enhanced etheno-adduct levels in prostate 3-9 fold. Our results in rodents confirm the gender-specific increase of etheno-adducts in WBC-DNA, likely due to LPO induced by redox-cycling of 4-hydroxyestradiol. Colon was a target for LPO-derived DNA-adducts in both LA-treated male and female rats, supporting their role in {omega}-6 PUFA induced colon carcinogenesis.

Comparison of oxidative stress in preeclampsia, normal pregnancy and non-pregnant women

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A. Ghazavi

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific condition characterized by hypertension and proteinuria. Preeclampsia remains a disease of theories as its real etiology has remained elusive. Endothelial cell dysfunction may play a role in the pathobiology of preeclampsia. There is some evidence to suggest that endothelial cell damage result from oxidative stress. The aim of the study was to measure oxidative stress markers in preeclampsia. Material and Methods: Total antioxidant capacity (TAC, lipid peroxidation (LPO and thiol groups was measured in 20 women with preeclampsia, 20 normal pregnant women and 20 nonpregnant women. All three women groups were matched with respect to age, BMI, parity and gestational age. Oxidative stress markers were measured by spectrophotometer methods. Results: Serum concentration of LPO was significantly higher in preeclampsia (17.7 + 3.8 nmol/ml as compared with nonpregnant women (10.4 + 0.48 nmol/ml, p< 0.0001. TAC in preeclamptic women was lower than those in normal pregnant and non-pregnant women, but not statistically significantly. There was no significant difference between the mean concentrations of thiol groups in the women groups. Conclusion: Increased levels of LPO products may cause peroxidative damage of vascular endothelium and result in clinical symptoms of preeclampsia. However, further experimental and clinical studies are necessary to clarify the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Cardiotoxicity induced by dietary oxidized sunflower oil in rats: pro- and antioxidant effects of α-tocopherol.

Science.gov (United States)

Rouaki, Fayrouz; Mazari, Azzedine; Kanane, Amel; Errahmani, Mohamed Brahim; Ammouche, Ali

2013-01-01

This study highlighted the pro-oxidative functions of α-tocopherol (αT) on the heart antioxidant system and tissue histopathology of oxidized sunflower oil (OSO)-exposed rats.Four groups of male Wistar rats were fed with different diets: 1) control diet containing FSO (fresh sunflower oil); 2) diet containing 5 % OSO; 3) diet containing 5 % OSO, supplemented with 600 mg αT kg-1; and 4) diet containing 5 % OSO, supplemented with 1200 mg αT kg-1. The hearts were then isolated, and the antioxidant enzymatic activities were assessed. Body weight and catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities significantly decreased in groups fed with OSO, while the lipid peroxidation (LPO) level significantly increased. Administration of OSO with αT (600 mg · kg-1) returned the body weight values and LPO levels to similar values as the control group. The CAT and GPx activities increased but remained significantly lower compared to the control group. In the OSO group with αT (1200 mg · kg-1), the CAT and GPx activities also decreased, while LPO significantly increased. Heart tissue sections obtained from the groups revealed the presence of large areas of necrosis. This study suggested that OSO induced oxidative stress and that administration of a moderate dose of αT restored the antioxidant balance, but that high levels of αT supplementation result in a pro-oxidant effect.

FERMENTABILITY AND RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF LACTOPEROXIDASE ACTIVATED BUFFALO MILK YOGHURT

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Aijaz H. Soomro

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Present study was planned to produce and evaluate the coagulum from buffalo milk preserved with the activation of its lactoperoxidase system (LPO-system. A total of 10 trials were conducted and in each trial milk base was equally divided into three parts, two of which were treated with 20 mg/L (A and 30 mg/L (B solution of Sodium thiocyanate + Hydrogen peroxide and third part was kept as control (C. All the samples were analyzed for fermentability trend, pH, acidity, viscosity, specific gravity, syneresis and organoleptic properties. The decreasing trend in pH during fermentation period was comparatively slow in LPO-system activated milk A and B (4h and 5h as compared to control yoghurt (3h. The titratable acidity (% lactic acid of A, B and C yoghurt was 0.86±0.022, 0.85±0.025 and 0.89±0.024, respectively. The viscosity and specific gravity of control yoghurt was significantly (P0.05 were observed in the total solids, fat, ash, lactose and protein contents among the control, A and B yoghurt. Two week stored samples of control yoghurt received lower sensory score for appearance, flavor, body/texture and overall acceptability as compared to fresh control yoghurt. Simultaneously, LPO-system treated A and B yoghurt received high score during storage period than the control yoghurt.

Effects of IGFS on blood lipid metabolism in experimental hyperlipidemia rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Yanwei; Tianjin Medical College of Chinese People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin; Yu Xiaofeng; Xu Huali; Qu Shaochun; Sui Dayuan

2005-01-01

Objective: To observe the effects of injection of ginseng fruit saponins (IGFS) on total cholesterol (TC), lipoprotein cholesterol metabolism and antioxidative activity in experimental hyperlipidemia rats. Methods: The TC, lipoprotein cholesterol and lipidperoxidation (LPO) contents, prostacycline (PGI 2 ) and thromboxane (TXA 2 ) levels, superoxidedismutase (SOD) activity and blood viscosity were measured respectively in hyperlipidemia rats which had been given IGFS 10, 20 and 40 mg·kg -1 ·d - '1 ip, respectively, for fifteen days. In addition, fat accumulation in liver was observed. Results: The triglyceride (TG), TC, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) in serum, TXA 2 in plasma, LPO in serum and liver and blood viscosity were decreased significantly, and PGI 2 in plasma and SOD in serum and liver were significantly increased after administration with IGFS (20 and 40 mg·kg -1 ·d -1 ) in experimental hyperlipidemia rats. Moreover, IGFS decreased ratios of TC/HDL-c and LDL-c/HDL-c, increased the ratio of PGI 2 /TXA 2 and inhibit fat accumulation in liver. The content of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) in serum were significantly increased after administration IGFS (40 mg·kg -1 · -1 ) in experimental hyperlipidemia rats. Conclusions: IGFS can inhibit arterioscleros by improving cholesterol and lipoprotein cholesterol metabolism, suppressing LPO and increasing antioxidation. (authors)

Environmental drivers of phototrophic biofilms in an Alpine show cave (SW-Italian Alps)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piano, E.; Bona, F.; Falasco, E.; La Morgia, V.; Badino, G.; Isaia, M.

2015-01-01

The proliferation of lampenflora is a major threat for the conservation of show caves, since phototrophic organisms cause physical, chemical and aesthetic damage to speleothems. In this paper we examine the environmental factors influencing the presence and the growth of the three main photosynthetic groups composing phototrophic biofilms in the Bossea show cave (SW-Italian Alps). The presence and the primary production of cyanobacteria, diatoms and green algae were detected with BenthoTorch®, an instrument for in situ measurement of chlorophyll a concentration that has never been used before in caves. By means of different techniques of regression analysis, we highlighted the response of the three photosynthetic groups to different environmental factors. Illuminance proved to be the main factor influencing positively both the probability of the presence and the productivity of the three groups. The presence of seeping water on the substrate and the distance from the cave entrance proved to play an important role in determining patterns of colonization. By means of GIS techniques, we provide thematic maps of the cave, providing a representation of pattern of the density of the three examined photosynthetic groups within different areas of the cave. The same approach may apply to other show caves, aiming at providing suggestions for the cave management (i.e. cleaning of the cave walls and positioning of artificial lights) and reduce impact caused by tourism. - Highlights: • We used a PAM fluorimeter on autotrophic biofilms in a show cave for the first time. • We modelled the environmental factors influencing phototrophic biofilms. • Illuminance, moisture and distance from the entrance proved to be significant. • We produced thematic maps illustrating our results. • We provide suggestions for cave management

Environmental drivers of phototrophic biofilms in an Alpine show cave (SW-Italian Alps)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Piano, E., E-mail: elena.piano@unito.it [Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin (Italy); Bona, F.; Falasco, E. [Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin (Italy); La Morgia, V. [ISPRA, via Ca' Fornacetta, 9, 40064 Ozzano dell' Emilia (Italy); Badino, G. [Department of Physics, University of Turin, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Turin (Italy); Isaia, M. [Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin (Italy)

2015-12-01

The proliferation of lampenflora is a major threat for the conservation of show caves, since phototrophic organisms cause physical, chemical and aesthetic damage to speleothems. In this paper we examine the environmental factors influencing the presence and the growth of the three main photosynthetic groups composing phototrophic biofilms in the Bossea show cave (SW-Italian Alps). The presence and the primary production of cyanobacteria, diatoms and green algae were detected with BenthoTorch®, an instrument for in situ measurement of chlorophyll a concentration that has never been used before in caves. By means of different techniques of regression analysis, we highlighted the response of the three photosynthetic groups to different environmental factors. Illuminance proved to be the main factor influencing positively both the probability of the presence and the productivity of the three groups. The presence of seeping water on the substrate and the distance from the cave entrance proved to play an important role in determining patterns of colonization. By means of GIS techniques, we provide thematic maps of the cave, providing a representation of pattern of the density of the three examined photosynthetic groups within different areas of the cave. The same approach may apply to other show caves, aiming at providing suggestions for the cave management (i.e. cleaning of the cave walls and positioning of artificial lights) and reduce impact caused by tourism. - Highlights: • We used a PAM fluorimeter on autotrophic biofilms in a show cave for the first time. • We modelled the environmental factors influencing phototrophic biofilms. • Illuminance, moisture and distance from the entrance proved to be significant. • We produced thematic maps illustrating our results. • We provide suggestions for cave management.

Generative models versus underlying symmetries to explain biological pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, S A

2014-06-01

Mathematical models play an increasingly important role in the interpretation of biological experiments. Studies often present a model that generates the observations, connecting hypothesized process to an observed pattern. Such generative models confirm the plausibility of an explanation and make testable hypotheses for further experiments. However, studies rarely consider the broad family of alternative models that match the same observed pattern. The symmetries that define the broad class of matching models are in fact the only aspects of information truly revealed by observed pattern. Commonly observed patterns derive from simple underlying symmetries. This article illustrates the problem by showing the symmetry associated with the observed rate of increase in fitness in a constant environment. That underlying symmetry reveals how each particular generative model defines a single example within the broad class of matching models. Further progress on the relation between pattern and process requires deeper consideration of the underlying symmetries. © 2014 The Author. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2014 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Experimental inoculation of calves with atypical Hobi-like pestivirus shows pattern similar to BVDV-1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larska, Magdalena; Polak, Mirosław P.; Uttenthal, Åse

of experimental inoculation of European cattle with atypical pestivirus. The experiment included 4 groups of 5 calves each inoculated with: BVDV-1 (Ho916), Hobi-like pestivirus (Th/04_KhonKaen), a mixture of both viruses or EaglesMEM (control animals). Th/04_KhonKaen induced milder clinical signs than observed......, lymphocytes and granulocytes in blood on PID 2 correlated to the onset of viraemia. Animals started to seroconvert on PID 14, however the level of anti- Th/04_KhonKaen antibodies was significantly lower that the level of anti-BVDV-1 antibodies, probably due to the specificity of the test used. The experiment...... studies show that the viruses which were thought to be restricted to South America and Southeast Asia, may have reached other continents, including Europe. The pathogenesis of the infection with Hobi-like viruses has not yet been fully elucidated. The purpose of our study was to investigate the course...

Preservation of a traditional Korean dietary pattern and emergence of a fruit and dairy dietary pattern among adults in South Korea: secular transitions in dietary patterns of a prospective study from 1998 to 2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Hyunjung; Kim, Sang Yeun; Wang, Youfa; Lee, Sun Ju; Oh, Kyungwon; Sohn, Chun Young; Moon, Young Myoung; Jee, Sun Ha

2014-09-01

Transitions in nutrition patterns tend to emerge through industrialization and economic development. We hypothesized that the dietary patterns among South Korean adults who were 20 years or older have changed significantly from 1998 to 2010. Herein, a repeated cross-sectional analysis of data was followed for 140601 adults. We noted changes in consumption, after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and exercise, and tested the trends across the study period. Factor and cluster analyses were used to derive dietary patterns. A decrease in traditional Korean food consumption, including cereals, vegetables (252-176 g), and Kimchi (127-82 g), occurred, whereas fruit (172-252 g), egg, and fried food intakes increased (P dietary patterns: "Korean" diet (rice, vegetables, and Kimchi), "Western" diet (soda, eggs, and oil), and "New" diet (low sugar and high fruit and dairy product intakes). Compared to 1998, approximately 40% of participants still followed a Korean diet in 2010. Interestingly, the popularity of the Western diet fell by approximately 20%, whereas the new diet pattern increased 2-fold over the study period. Overall, these data show secular trends in dietary patterns that included a preservation of the traditional Korean diet and the emergence of a new diet pattern, and it demonstrated a unique transition in food and nutrient intakes in Korea. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ethnic Differences in the Food Intake Patterns and Its Associated Factors of Adolescents in Kelantan, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullah, Nurul-Fadhilah; Teo, Pey Sze; Foo, Leng Huat

2016-01-01

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify the ethnic differences in dietary patterns and its association with socio-economic, dietary and lifestyle practices among adolescents in Kelantan, Malaysia. Methods: A population-based study of 454 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years was included. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary patterns and three dietary patterns were identified based on the principal component analysis method. Results: Malay adolescents had significantly higher scores for the Western-based food pattern and local-based food pattern, whereas Chinese adolescents showed higher scores for the healthy-based food pattern. Multivariate analyses show that age and physical activity (PA) levels were positively associated with healthy-based food pattern in Malay (All, p obesity and metabolic-related disorders during these critical years of growth. PMID:27626444

Electricity deregulation, spot price patterns and demand-side management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Y.; Flynn, P.C.

2006-01-01

This paper examines extensive hourly or half-hourly power price data from 14 deregulated power markets. It analyzes average diurnal patterns, relationship to system load, volatility, and consistency over time. Diurnal patterns indicate the average price spread between off-peak and on-peak and weekend vs. weekday power consumption. Volatility is measured by price velocity: the average normalized hourly change in power price, calculated daily. The calculated price velocity is broken down into an expected component that arises from the diurnal pattern and an unexpected component that arises from unknown factors. The analysis reveals significant differences among markets, suggesting that demand-side management (DSM) of power consumption is far more difficult in some markets than in others. At one extreme, Spain, Britain and Scandinavia show consistent diurnal price patterns, a stable relationship between price and system load, and a low unexplained component of price volatility. A power consumer in these markets could form a reasonable expectation of a reward for DSM of elective power consumption. At the other extreme, two markets in Australia show erratic diurnal price patterns from year to year, low correlation between price and system load, and a high amount of unexpected price velocity. A power consumer in these markets would have far greater difficulty in realizing a benefit from DSM. Markets that experienced one period of very high prices without a clear external cause, such as California and Alberta, appear to have a significant longer-term erosion of public support for deregulation. (author)

The Patterns of Unemployment and the Geography of Social Housing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alves, Sonia

2012-01-01

. Although statistics of unemployment have already demonstrated the unequal incidence of the phenomenon in social groups, the issue of uneven territorial impact on the phenomenon at intra-urban level remains relatively unknown. The purpose of this article is to show and to interpret the spatial patterns...... of unemployment in the city of Porto using GIS (Geographic Information System - GIS) technology. Under this analysis the overlap of the spatial patterns of unemployment with the spatial distribution of social housing, allows the discussion of the relationship that occurs between these patterns and the reasons...

Aesthetic Surgery Reality Television Shows: Do they Influence Public Perception of the Scope of Plastic Surgery?

Science.gov (United States)

Denadai, Rafael; Araujo, Karin Milleni; Samartine Junior, Hugo; Denadai, Rodrigo; Raposo-Amaral, Cassio Eduardo

2015-12-01

The purpose of this survey was to assess the influence of aesthetic surgery "reality television" shows viewing on the public's perception of the scope of plastic surgery practice. Perceptions of the scope of plastic surgery (33 scenarios), aesthetic surgery "reality television" viewing patterns ("high," "moderate," or "low" familiarity, similarity, confidence, and influence viewers), sociodemographic data, and previous plastic surgery interaction were collected from 2148 members of the public. Response patterns were created and bivariate and multivariate analyses were applied to assess the possible determinants of overall public choice of plastic surgeons as experts in the plastic surgery-related scenarios. Both "plastic surgeons" and "plastic surgeons alone" were the main response patterns (all p television" viewing negatively influences the public perception of the broad scope of plastic surgery. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

Machine-Learning-Based No Show Prediction in Outpatient Visits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Elvira

2018-03-01

Full Text Available A recurring problem in healthcare is the high percentage of patients who miss their appointment, be it a consultation or a hospital test. The present study seeks patient’s behavioural patterns that allow predicting the probability of no- shows. We explore the convenience of using Big Data Machine Learning models to accomplish this task. To begin with, a predictive model based only on variables associated with the target appointment is built. Then the model is improved by considering the patient’s history of appointments. In both cases, the Gradient Boosting algorithm was the predictor of choice. Our numerical results are considered promising given the small amount of information available. However, there seems to be plenty of room to improve the model if we manage to collect additional data for both patients and appointments.

Focal Atrichia: A Diagnostic Clue in Female Pattern Hair Loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Elise A; Whiting, David A

2017-10-07

Focal atrichia is a common clinical finding in female pattern hair loss whose specificity and histologic findings need further clarification. To determine the frequency of focal atrichia in various types of hair loss and its histologic characteristics in female pattern hair loss. Part 1: Review of 250 consecutive female patients seen with hair loss for the presence of focal atrichia and Part 2: paired biopsies of haired areas vs focal atrichia in 18 subjects with female pattern hair loss RESULTS: Focal atrichia was seen in 46/104 (44%) of women with female pattern hair loss, including 67% of late onset vs 15% of early onset, compared to 3/146 (2%) of those with other hair disorders Biopsy findings of focal atrichia in female pattern hair loss showed primarily a more progressive miniaturization process than that of haired areas of the scalp. Some women with female pattern hair loss may have had concomitant chronic telogen effluvium CONCLUSIONS: When present, focal atrichia is a clinical clue to the diagnosis of female pattern hair loss, particularly late onset subtype. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Dietary patterns among 13-y-old Portuguese adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, Joana; Teixeira, Joana; Gaio, A Rita; Lopes, Carla; Ramos, Elisabete

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to identify dietary patterns in 13-y-old adolescents and to evaluate their association with socioeconomic and behavioral factors. Data from 1489 adolescents born in 1990 and enrolled in schools of Porto, Portugal, in 2003-2004 (EPITeen study) were analyzed, after excluding those without information on the food frequency questionnaire and the outliers. The questionnaire items were grouped into 14 food groups and dietary patterns were identified by cluster analysis (k-means). Their association with participants' characteristics was computed using multinomial logistic regression. Four dietary patterns were identified. The pattern healthier (16.1%) was characterized by the highest consumption of seafood, soup, vegetables/legumes, fruit, and added fats. The dairy products pattern (29.7%) showed the highest consumption of dairies. The pattern fast food and sweets (14.2%) presented the highest intake of fast food, sweets and pastry, soft drinks and coffee or tea. The lower intake pattern (40%) was characterized by a lower consumption of the majority of food groups. A higher odds of belonging to the fast food and sweets pattern, compared with the lower intake pattern was found among adolescents spending more time watching TV on the weekends (>360 min: odds ratio [OR], 2.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23-3.57) and among those consuming four to seven fried meals per week (OR, 3.96; 95% CI, 2.27-6.90). Adolescents with highly educated parents were less likely to belong to the fast food and sweets group. Unhealthier behaviors and lower socioeconomic position were the main factors associated with the unhealthier dietary pattern (fast food and sweets). This information should be considered in the development of health-promotion interventions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patterning of high mobility electron gases at complex oxide interfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trier, Felix; Prawiroatmodjo, G. E. D. K.; von Soosten, Merlin

2015-01-01

Oxide interfaces provide an opportunity for electronics. However, patterning of electron gases at complex oxide interfaces is challenging. In particular, patterning of complex oxides while preserving a high electron mobility remains underexplored and inhibits the study of quantum mechanical effects...... of amorphous-LSM (a-LSM) thin films, which acts as a hard mask during subsequent depositions. Strikingly, the patterned modulation-doped interface shows electron mobilities up to ∼8 700 cm2/V s at 2 K, which is among the highest reported values for patterned conducting complex oxide interfaces that usually...... where extended electron mean free paths are paramount. This letter presents an effective patterning strategy of both the amorphous-LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (a-LAO/STO) and modulation-doped amorphous-LaAlO3/La7/8Sr1/8MnO3/SrTiO3 (a-LAO/LSM/STO) oxide interfaces. Our patterning is based on selective wet etching...

E6D25E, HPV16 Asian variant shows specific proteomic pattern correlating in cells transformation and suppressive innate immune response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chopjitt, Peechanika; Pientong, Chamsai; Sunthamala, Nuchsupha; Kongyingyoes, Bunkerd; Haonon, Ornuma; Boonmars, Thidarut; Kikawa, Satomi; Nakahara, Tomomi; Kiyono, Tohru; Ekalaksananan, Tipaya

2016-01-01

HPV16 Asian variant (HPV16As) containing E6D25E oncogene, is commonly associated with cervical cancers of Asian populations. To explore a mechanism of E6D25E oncoprotein in carcinogenesis, we compared protein profiles in human keratinocytes expressing E6D25E with E6 of HPV16 prototype (E6Pro). A human cervical keratinocyte cell line, HCK1T, was transduced with retroviruses containing E6D25E or E6Pro genes. Biological properties of E6D25E or E6Pro transduced HCK1T cells were characterized. Protein profiles of the transduced HCK1T cells were analyzed using 2D-PAGE and characterized by mass spectrometry and western blotting. Reactomes of modulated proteins were analyzed by using the Reactome Knowledgebase. The E6D25E and E6Pro oncoproteins were comparable for their abilities to degrade p53 and suppress the induction of p21, and induce cell proliferation. Interestingly, the protein profiles of the HCK1T cells transduced with E6D25E showed specific proteomic patterns different from those with E6Pro. Among altered proteins, more than 1.5-fold up- or down- regulation was observed in E6D25E-expressing cells for gp96 and keratin7 which involved in activation of TLR signaling and transformation of squamocolumnar junction cells, respectively. This report describes new cellular proteins specifically targeted by E6D25E oncoprotein that may contribute to impair immune response against viral infection and cell transformation associated with oncogenic property of HPV16As variant. - Highlights: • E6D25E HPV16 specifically modulates protein profile of human keratinocytes. • E6D25E HPV16 modulates protein profile which involves in TLR signalling and transformation of squamocolumnar junction cells. • E6D25E oncoprotein may correlate to impair of immune response against viral infection and cells transformation.