A newly discovered Bordetella species carries a transcriptionally active CRISPR-Cas with a small Cas9 endonuclease.

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanov, Yury V; Shariat, Nikki; Register, Karen B; Linz, Bodo; Rivera, Israel; Hu, Kai; Dudley, Edward G; Harvill, Eric T

2015-10-26

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated genes (cas) are widely distributed among bacteria. These systems provide adaptive immunity against mobile genetic elements specified by the spacer sequences stored within the CRISPR. The CRISPR-Cas system has been identified using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) against other sequenced and annotated genomes and confirmed via CRISPRfinder program. Using Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) and Sanger DNA sequencing, we discovered CRISPRs in additional bacterial isolates of the same species of Bordetella. Transcriptional activity and processing of the CRISPR have been assessed via RT-PCR. Here we describe a novel Type II-C CRISPR and its associated genes-cas1, cas2, and cas9-in several isolates of a newly discovered Bordetella species. The CRISPR-cas locus, which is absent in all other Bordetella species, has a significantly lower GC-content than the genome-wide average, suggesting acquisition of this locus via horizontal gene transfer from a currently unknown source. The CRISPR array is transcribed and processed into mature CRISPR RNAs (crRNA), some of which have homology to prophages found in closely related species B. hinzii. Expression of the CRISPR-Cas system and processing of crRNAs with perfect homology to prophages present in closely related species, but absent in that containing this CRISPR-Cas system, suggest it provides protection against phage predation. The 3,117-bp cas9 endonuclease gene from this novel CRISPR-Cas system is 990 bp smaller than that of Streptococcus pyogenes, the 4,017-bp allele currently used for genome editing, and which may make it a useful tool in various CRISPR-Cas technologies.

Tuppiap Qeqertaa (Tobias Island): a newly discovered island off northeast Greenland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bennike, O.; Mikkelsen, N.; Forsberg, René

2006-01-01

The small island of Tuppiap Qeqertaa, formerly known as Tobias circle divide or Tobias Island, is situated 80 km off the northeast Greenland coast. The island was discovered in 1993 and is approximately 2 km long and 1.5 km wide. Most of the island is covered by an ice cap that rises to 35 in abo...

Understanding the spectral and timing behaviour of a newly discovered transient X-ray pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124

Science.gov (United States)

Jaisawal, Gaurava K.; Naik, Sachindra; Chenevez, Jérôme

2018-03-01

We present the results obtained from timing and spectral studies of the newly discovered accreting X-ray binary pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 using Nuclear Spectroscopy Telescope Array observation in 2017 October at a flux level of ˜280 mCrab. Pulsations at 9.854 23(5) s were detected in the X-ray light curves of the pulsar. Pulse profiles of the pulsar were found to be strongly energy dependent. A broad profile at lower energies was found to evolve into a double-peaked profile in ≥ 30 keV. The 3-79 keV continuum spectrum of the pulsar was well described with a negative and positive exponential cutoff or high-energy cutoff power-law models modified with a hot blackbody at ˜3 keV. An iron emission line was also detected at 6.4 keV in the source spectrum. We did not find any signature of cyclotron absorption line in our study. Results obtained from phase-resolved and time-resolved spectroscopy are discussed in the paper.

Newly Discovered Items of the Zoomorphic Style from the Left Bank of the Lower Dniester

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Sinika Vitalij S.

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article presents an overview of items corresponding to the Scythian zoomorphic style discovered at barbaric and ancient sites of the Northwestern Black Sea Region, and a publication of two new findings. They were discovered on the left bank of the Lower Dniester. The first item discovered at Parkany-II settlement is a fragment of a bronze horse plaque (its lower part crafted in the shape of a "rooster"-hippocampus. The other artifact discovered near Tokmazeya village also represents a horse plaque with an image of a cat predator's head. Presently, there are no counterparts of the images on these findings in the Northwestern Black Sea Region, which is the westmost periphery of the Scythian steppe culture. These fragments of horse apparel broaden our knowledge of the Scythian "bestiary" in the region. Besides, apart from the other items of material culture, the published findings confirm the presence of Scythian population at settlement sites, which contradicts the generally accepted opinion on the exclusively nomadic cattle breeding lifestyle of the Scythians in 5th –4th centuries B.C.

Value of a newly sequenced bacterial genome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barbosa, Eudes; Aburjaile, Flavia F; Ramos, Rommel Tj

2014-01-01

and annotation will not be undertaken. It is important to know what is lost when we settle for a draft genome and to determine the "scientific value" of a newly sequenced genome. This review addresses the expected impact of newly sequenced genomes on antibacterial discovery and vaccinology. Also, it discusses...... heightened expectations that NGS would boost antibacterial discovery and vaccine development. Although many possible drug and vaccine targets have been discovered, the success rate of genome-based analysis has remained below expectations. Furthermore, NGS has had consequences for genome quality, resulting...

Phylogeography and genetic identification of the newly-discovered populations of torrent salamanders (Rhyacotriton cascade and R. variegatus) in the central Cascades (USA)

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, R.S.; Miller, Mark P.; Haig, Susan M.

2006-01-01

Newly discovered populations of Rhyacotritonidae were investigated for taxonomic identity, hybridization, and sympatry. Species in the genus Rhyacotriton have been historically difficult to identify using morphological characters. Mitochondrial (mtDNA) 16S ribosomal RNA sequences (491 bp) and allozymes (6 loci) were used to identify the distribution of populations occurring intermediate between the previously described ranges of R. variegatus and R. cascadae in the central Cascade Mountain region of Oregon. Allozyme and mitochondrial sequence data both indicated the presence of two distinct evolutionary lineages, with each lineage corresponding to the allopatric distribution of R. cascadae and R. variegatus. Results suggest the Willamette River acts as a phylogeographic barrier limiting the distribution of both species, although we cannot exclude the possibility that reproductive isolation also exists that reinforces species' distributions. This study extends the previously described geographical ranges of both R. cascadae and R. variegatus and defines an eastern range limit for R. variegatus conservation efforts.

Kanyawara Virus: A Novel Rhabdovirus Infecting Newly Discovered Nycteribiid Bat Flies Infesting Previously Unknown Pteropodid Bats in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Tony L; Bennett, Andrew J; Kityo, Robert; Kuhn, Jens H; Chapman, Colin A

2017-07-13

Bats are natural reservoir hosts of highly virulent pathogens such as Marburg virus, Nipah virus, and SARS coronavirus. However, little is known about the role of bat ectoparasites in transmitting and maintaining such viruses. The intricate relationship between bats and their ectoparasites suggests that ectoparasites might serve as viral vectors, but evidence to date is scant. Bat flies, in particular, are highly specialized obligate hematophagous ectoparasites that incidentally bite humans. Using next-generation sequencing, we discovered a novel ledantevirus (mononegaviral family Rhabdoviridae, genus Ledantevirus) in nycteribiid bat flies infesting pteropodid bats in western Uganda. Mitochondrial DNA analyses revealed that both the bat flies and their bat hosts belong to putative new species. The coding-complete genome of the new virus, named Kanyawara virus (KYAV), is only distantly related to that of its closest known relative, Mount Elgon bat virus, and was found at high titers in bat flies but not in blood or on mucosal surfaces of host bats. Viral genome analysis indicates unusually low CpG dinucleotide depletion in KYAV compared to other ledanteviruses and rhabdovirus groups, with KYAV displaying values similar to rhabdoviruses of arthropods. Our findings highlight the possibility of a yet-to-be-discovered diversity of potentially pathogenic viruses in bat ectoparasites.

CDC91L1 (PIG-U) is a newly discovered oncogene in human bladder cancer.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guo, Z.; Linn, J.F.; Wu, G.; Anzick, S.L.; Eisenberger, C.F.; Halachmi, S.; Cohen, Y.; Fomenkov, A.; Hoque, M.O.; Okami, K.; Steiner, G.; Engles, J.M.; Osada, M.; Moon, C.; Ratovitski, E.; Trent, J.M.; Meltzer, P.S.; Westra, W.H.; Kiemeney, L.A.L.M.; Schoenberg, M.P.; Sidransky, D.; Trink, B.

2004-01-01

Genomic amplification at 20q11-13 is a common event in human cancers. We isolated a germline translocation breakpoint at 20q11 from a bladder cancer patient. We identified CDC91L1, the gene encoding CDC91L1 (also called phosphatidylinositol glycan class U (PIG-U), a transamidase complex unit in the

Denying humanness to others: a newly discovered mechanism by which violent video games increase aggressive behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Greitemeyer, Tobias; McLatchie, Neil

2011-05-01

Past research has provided abundant evidence that playing violent video games increases aggressive behavior. So far, these effects have been explained mainly as the result of priming existing knowledge structures. The research reported here examined the role of denying humanness to other people in accounting for the effect that playing a violent video game has on aggressive behavior. In two experiments, we found that playing violent video games increased dehumanization, which in turn evoked aggressive behavior. Thus, it appears that video-game-induced aggressive behavior is triggered when victimizers perceive the victim to be less human.

Preparing for TESS: Precision Ground-based Light-curves of Newly Discovered Transiting Exoplanets

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Li, Yiting; Stefansson, Gudmundur; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Monson, Andy; Hebb, Leslie; Wisniewski, John; Huehnerhoff, Joseph

2018-01-01

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), to be launched in early 2018, is expected to catalog a myriad of transiting exoplanet candidates ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, orbiting a diverse range of stellar types in the solar neighborhood. In particular, TESS will find small planets orbiting the closest and brightest stars, and will enable detailed atmospheric characterizations of planets with current and future telescopes. In the TESS era, ground-based follow-up resources will play a critical role in validating and confirming the planetary nature of the candidates TESS will discover. Along with confirming the planetary nature of exoplanet transits, high precision ground-based transit observations allow us to put further constraints on exoplanet orbital parameters and transit timing variations. In this talk, we present new observations of transiting exoplanets recently discovered by the K2 mission, using the optical diffuser on the 3.5m ARC Telescope at Apache Point Observatory. These include observations of the mini-Neptunes K2-28b and K2-104b orbiting early-to-mid M-dwarfs. In addition, other recent transit observations performed using the robotic 30cm telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile will be presented.

The role of infections and coinfections with newly identified and emerging respiratory viruses in children

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Debiaggi Maurizia

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Acute respiratory infections are a major cause of morbidity in children both in developed and developing countries. A wide range of respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, influenza A and B viruses, parainfluenza viruses (PIVs, adenovirus, rhinovirus (HRV, have repeatedly been detected in acute lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI in children in the past decades. However, in the last ten years thanks to progress in molecular technologies, newly discovered viruses have been identified including human Metapneumovirus (hMPV, coronaviruses NL63 (HcoV-NL63 and HKU1 (HcoV-HKU1, human Bocavirus (HBoV, new enterovirus (HEV, parechovirus (HpeV and rhinovirus (HRV strains, polyomaviruses WU (WUPyV and KI (KIPyV and the pandemic H1N1v influenza A virus. These discoveries have heavily modified previous knowledge on respiratory infections mainly highlighting that pediatric population is exposed to a variety of viruses with similar seasonal patterns. In this context establishing a causal link between a newly identified virus and the disease as well as an association between mixed infections and an increase in disease severity can be challenging. This review will present an overview of newly recognized as well as the main emerging respiratory viruses and seek to focus on the their contribution to infection and co-infection in LRTIs in childhood.

Human interleukin for DA cells or leukemia inhibitory factor is released by Vero cells in human embryo coculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Papaxanthos-Roche, A; Taupin, J L; Mayer, G; Daniel, J Y; Moreau, J F

1994-09-01

In the light of the newly discovered implications of human interleukin for DA cells and leukemia inhibitory factor in embryology, we searched for the presence of this soluble cytokine in the supernatant of Vero cell coculture systems. Using a bioassay as well as a specific ELISA, we demonstrated that Vero cells are able to release large quantities of human interleukin for DA cells and leukemia inhibitory factor in the embryo-growing medium of such cocultures.

Diverse Regulators of Human Ribosome Biogenesis Discovered by Changes in Nucleolar Number

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Katherine I. Farley-Barnes

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Ribosome biogenesis is a highly regulated, essential cellular process. Although studies in yeast have established some of the biological principles of ribosome biogenesis, many of the intricacies of its regulation in higher eukaryotes remain unknown. To understand how ribosome biogenesis is globally integrated in human cells, we conducted a genome-wide siRNA screen for regulators of nucleolar number. We found 139 proteins whose depletion changed the number of nucleoli per nucleus from 2–3 to only 1 in human MCF10A cells. Follow-up analyses on 20 hits found many (90% to be essential for the nucleolar functions of rDNA transcription (7, pre-ribosomal RNA (pre-rRNA processing (16, and/or global protein synthesis (14. This genome-wide analysis exploits the relationship between nucleolar number and function to discover diverse cellular pathways that regulate the making of ribosomes and paves the way for further exploration of the links between ribosome biogenesis and human disease.

Prediction of Human Activity by Discovering Temporal Sequence Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Kang; Fu, Yun

2014-08-01

Early prediction of ongoing human activity has become more valuable in a large variety of time-critical applications. To build an effective representation for prediction, human activities can be characterized by a complex temporal composition of constituent simple actions and interacting objects. Different from early detection on short-duration simple actions, we propose a novel framework for long -duration complex activity prediction by discovering three key aspects of activity: Causality, Context-cue, and Predictability. The major contributions of our work include: (1) a general framework is proposed to systematically address the problem of complex activity prediction by mining temporal sequence patterns; (2) probabilistic suffix tree (PST) is introduced to model causal relationships between constituent actions, where both large and small order Markov dependencies between action units are captured; (3) the context-cue, especially interactive objects information, is modeled through sequential pattern mining (SPM), where a series of action and object co-occurrence are encoded as a complex symbolic sequence; (4) we also present a predictive accumulative function (PAF) to depict the predictability of each kind of activity. The effectiveness of our approach is evaluated on two experimental scenarios with two data sets for each: action-only prediction and context-aware prediction. Our method achieves superior performance for predicting global activity classes and local action units.

Newly Discovered Documents Help to Reconstruct the Purchase of a Lost Princely Wardrobe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thepaut-Cabasset, Corinne

2015-01-01

Passports issued for shipments made to Bavaria between 1680 and 1687 represent an exceptional case study, in which we can envisage the reconstruction of a lost 17th centurywardrobe, sent from Paris to Munich. It helps also to learn about the process and the actors who were creating and activating...... fashion business at that time. This short essay aims to demonstrate how important the research in archives enables dress historians to discover new patterns of knowledge to build the history of Ancien Regime clothing culture....

Practical guide to electronic resources in the humanities

CERN Document Server

Dubnjakovic, Ana

2010-01-01

From full-text article databases to digitized collections of primary source materials, newly emerging electronic resources have radically impacted how research in the humanities is conducted and discovered. This book, covering high-quality, up-to-date electronic resources for the humanities, is an easy-to-use annotated guide for the librarian, student, and scholar alike. It covers online databases, indexes, archives, and many other critical tools in key humanities disciplines including philosophy, religion, languages and literature, and performing and visual arts. Succinct overviews of key eme

Description of a newly discovered Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae Foci in Ibipeba, State of Bahia, Brazil

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Renato Freitas Araújo

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction Chagas disease transmitted by the Triatoma infestans was eradicated from Brazil in 2006. However, reports of triatomine foci threaten the control of Chagas disease. The goal of this study was to determine T. infestans foci in the City of Ibipeba, State of Bahia. Methods Triatominae specimens were collected in Ibipeba and entomologic indicators were calculated using indices of domiciliary infestation, density, and colonization. Results T. infestans foci was discovery in Ibipeba, State of Bahia. Approximately 95% of the specimens were discovered inside dwellings, of which 34% were T. infestans. This species was also discovered forming a colony in tree bark in the peridomicile. Conclusions Triatoma infestans foci in peridomestic ecotopes in Ibipeba, BA, indicate increased the risk of transmission Chagas disease.

The newly-discovered epigraphic monuments from Sočanica - Kosovo

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Milin Milena L.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available In the autumn of 2000 the Roman site of Municipium Dardanorum yielded several funerary stelae bearing epitaphs. Most had been deliberately broken along the longer or shorter axis and built into the bases of the columns forming a colonnade on the forum. In addition, the basilica holds an ara (No 10 and a fragment of an inscription (No 9 discovered by E. Čerškov (Cat. nos 26 and 38. I wish to express my gratitude to a colleague of mine, the archaeologist G. Kovaljov, for notifying me about this find and kindly conceding the publication of the inscriptions to me. The stelae were poorly carved and all alike in appearance, showing a large rosette in the pediment (upper field and an epitaph (unusually tall letters, 5 to 7 cm within the simple-bordered lower field. All the persons mentioned in the epitaphs come from lower social layers – slaves, vernae, liberti (with the exception of one Roman citizen, a M. Ulpius Apollinaris, No 3. Their names are often Greek, such as Eutychus (Nos 1 and 7, T(heofas, or Alexander (No 8, while Trite (No 2 is likely to be native. Ravius (gentile ? here occurs for the first time in Upper Moesia (No 5. To judge by the gentile names and formulas (h.s.e., f.c most inscriptions date from the second century AD.

Nonsecreted cytoplasmic alpha-fetoprotein: a newly discovered role in intracellular signaling and regulation. An update and commentary.

Science.gov (United States)

Mizejewski, G J

2015-12-01

The concept of a non-secreted cytoplasmic-bound form of alpha-fetoprotein is not a new notion in AFP biological activities. Cytoplasmic AFP (CyAFP) is a long known but forgotten protein in search of a function other than a histochemical biomarker. In this report, CyAFP is presented as an "old" protein with a newly described intracellular function. In 1976, CyAFP was shown to be a product of hepatoma cells utilizing 14Cleucine incorporation and demonstrated by autoradiographic procedures. The synthesis of CyAFP without secretion was demonstrated to occur in both malignant and non-malignant cells encompassing hepatomas, ascite fluid cells, immature rodent uterus, MCF-7 breast cancers, and cytosols from human breast cancer patients. Using computer protein matching and alignments in AFP versus members of the nuclear receptor superfamily, a consecutive series of leucine zipper (heptad) repeats in AFP was previously reported, suggesting the possibility for protein-to-protein interactions. The potential for heptad heterodimerization between protein-binding partners provided the rationale for proposing that CyAFP might have the capability to form molecular hetero-complexes with cytoplasmic based transcription factors. More recent investigations have now provided experimental evidence that CyAFP is capable of colocalizing and interacting with transcription-associated factors. Such proteins can modulate intracellular signaling leading to regulation of transcription factors and initiation of growth in human cancer cells. Although circulating serum AFP is known as a growth-enhancing factor during development, cytoplasmic AFP has a lethal role in the oncogenesis, growth, and metastasis of adult liver cancer.

Near-Earth Asteroids: Destinations for Human Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Barbee, Brent W.

2014-01-01

The Near-Earth Object Human Space Flight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) is a system that monitors the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population to identify NEAs whose orbital characteristics may make them potential destinations for future round-trip human space flight missions. To accomplish this monitoring, Brent Barbee (GSFC) developed and automated a system that applies specialized trajectory processing to the orbits of newly discovered NEAs, and those for which we have updated orbit knowledge, obtained from the JPL Small Bodies Database (SBDB). This automated process executes daily and the results are distributed to the general public and the astronomy community. This aids in prioritizing telescope radar time allocations for obtaining crucial follow-up observations of highly accessible NEAs during the critical, because it is often fleeting, time period surrounding the time at which the NEAs are initially discovered.

Organic, Gas, and Element Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Fluids of the Newly Discovered Extensive Hydrothermal Area in the Wallis and Futuna Region (SW Pacific

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C. Konn

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Two newly discovered hydrothermal vent fields of the Wallis and Futuna region, Kulo Lasi and Fatu Kapa, were sampled for fluid geochemistry. A great geochemical diversity was observed and assigned to the diversity of lithologies as well as the occurrence of various processes. Kulo Lasi fluids likely formed by interaction with fresh volcanic rocks, phase separation, and mixing with magmatic fluid. Conversely, the geochemistry of the Fatu Kapa fluids would be mostly due to water/felsic lavas reactions. In terms of organic geochemistry, fluids from both fields were found to be enriched in formate, acetate, and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs: n-alkanes, n-fatty acids, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs. Concentrations of SVOCs reached a few ppb at most. The distribution patterns of SVOCs indicated that several processes and sources, at once of biogenic, thermogenic, and abiogenic types, likely controlled organic geochemistry. Although the contribution of each process remains unknown, the mere presence of organics at the μM level has strong implications for metal dispersion (cycles, deposition (ore-forming, and bioavailability (ecosystems, especially as our fluxes estimations suggest that back-arc hosted vent fields could contribute as much as MOR to the global ocean heat and mass budget.

The environmental impacts on the star formation main sequence: An Hα study of the newly discovered rich cluster at z = 1.52

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koyama, Yusei; Kodama, Tadayuki; Tadaki, Ken-ichi; Hayashi, Masao [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan); Tanaka, Ichi [Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 North A' ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States); Shimakawa, Rhythm, E-mail: koyama.yusei@nao.ac.jp [Department of Astronomical Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)

2014-07-01

We report the discovery of a strong over-density of galaxies in the field of a radio galaxy at z = 1.52 (4C 65.22) based on our broadband and narrow-band (Hα) photometry with the Subaru Telescope. We find that Hα emitters are located in the outskirts of the density peak (cluster core) dominated by passive red-sequence galaxies. This resembles the situation in lower-redshift clusters, suggesting that the newly discovered structure is a well-evolved rich galaxy cluster at z = 1.5. Our data suggest that the color-density and stellar mass-density relations are already in place at z ∼ 1.5, mostly driven by the passive red massive galaxies residing within r{sub c} ≲ 200 kpc from the cluster core. These environmental trends almost disappear when we consider only star-forming (SF) galaxies. We do not find SFR-density or SSFR-density relations amongst SF galaxies, and the location of the SF main sequence does not significantly change with environment. Nevertheless, we find a tentative hint that star-bursting galaxies (up-scattered objects from the main sequence) are preferentially located in a small group at ∼1 Mpc away from the main body of the cluster. We also argue that the scatter of the SF main sequence could be dependent on the distance to the nearest neighboring galaxy.

Discovering a Reliable Heat-Shock Factor-1 Inhibitor to Treat Human Cancers: Potential Opportunity for Phytochemists

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Murugesan Velayutham

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Heat-shock factor-1 (HSF-1 is an important transcription factor that regulates pathogenesis of many human diseases through its extensive transcriptional regulation. Especially, it shows pleiotropic effects in human cancer, and hence it has recently received increased attention of cancer researchers. After myriad investigations on HSF-1, the field has advanced to the phase where there is consensus that finding a potent and selective pharmacological inhibitor for this transcription factor will be a major break-through in the treatment of various human cancers. Presently, all reported inhibitors have their limitations, made evident at different stages of clinical trials. This brief account summarizes the advances with tested natural products as HSF-1 inhibitors and highlights the necessity of phytochemistry in this endeavor of discovering a potent pharmacological HSF-1 inhibitor.

High pH microbial ecosystems in a newly discovered, ephemeral, serpentinizing fluid seep at Yanartaş (Chimera), Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer-Dombard, D'Arcy R; Woycheese, Kristin M; Yargıçoğlu, Erin N; Cardace, Dawn; Shock, Everett L; Güleçal-Pektas, Yasemin; Temel, Mustafa

2014-01-01

Gas seeps emanating from Yanartaş (Chimera), Turkey, have been documented for thousands of years. Active serpentinization produces hydrogen and a range of carbon gases that may provide fuel for life. Here we report a newly discovered, ephemeral fluid seep emanating from a small gas vent at Yanartaş. Fluids and biofilms were sampled at the source and points downstream. We describe site conditions, and provide microbiological data in the form of enrichment cultures, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of solids, and PCR screens of nitrogen cycle genes. Source fluids are pH 11.95, with a Ca:Mg of ~200, and sediments under the ignited gas seep measure 60°C. Collectively, these data suggest the fluid is the product of active serpentinization at depth. Source sediments are primarily calcite and alteration products (chlorite and montmorillonite). Downstream, biofilms are mixed with montmorillonite. SEM shows biofilms distributed homogeneously with carbonates. Organic carbon accounts for 60% of the total carbon at the source, decreasing downstream to <15% as inorganic carbon precipitates. δ(13)C ratios of the organic carbon fraction of solids are depleted (-25 to -28‰) relative to the carbonates (-11 to -20‰). We conclude that heterotrophic processes are dominant throughout the surface ecosystem, and carbon fixation may be key down channel. δ(15)N ratios ~3‰, and absence of nifH in extracted DNA suggest that nitrogen fixation is not occurring in sediments. However, the presence of narG and nirS at most locations and in enrichments indicates genomic potential for nitrate and nitrite reduction. This small seep with shallow run-off is likely ephemeral, but abundant preserved microterracettes in the outflow and the surrounding area suggest it has been present for some time. This site and others like it present an opportunity for investigations of preserved deep biosphere signatures, and subsurface-surface interactions.

High pH microbial ecosystems in a newly discovered, ephemeral, serpentinizing fluid seep at Yanartaş (Chimaera, Turkey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D'Arcy Renee Meyer-Dombard

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Gas seeps emanating from ophiolites at Yanartaş (Chimaera, Turkey, have been documented for thousands of years. Active serpentinization produces hydrogen and a range of carbon gases that may provide fuel for life. Here we report a newly discovered, ephemeral fluid seep emanating from a small gas vent at Yanartaş. Fluids and biofilms were sampled at the source and points downstream. We describe site conditions, and provide microbiological data in the form of enrichment cultures, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of solids, and PCR screens of nitrogen cycle genes. Source fluids are pH 11.95, with a Ca:Mg of ~200, and sediments under the ignited gas seep measure 60°C. Collectively, these data suggest the fluid is the product of active serpentinization at depth. Source sediments are primarily calcite and alteration products (chlorite and montmorillonite. Downstream, biofilms are mixed with montmorillonite. SEM shows biofilms distributed homogeneously with carbonates. Organic carbon accounts for 60% of the total carbon at the source, decreasing downstream to <15% as inorganic carbon precipitates. δ13C ratios of the organic carbon fraction of solids are depleted (−25 to −28 ‰ relative to the carbonates (−11 to −20‰. We conclude that heterotrophic processes are dominant throughout the surface ecosystem, and carbon fixation may be key down channel. δ15N ratios ~ 3‰, and absence of nifH in extracted DNA suggest that nitrogen fixation is not occurring in sediments. However, the presence of narG and nirS at most locations and in enrichments indicates genomic potential for nitrate and nitrite reduction. This small seep with shallow run-off is likely ephemeral, but abundant preserved microterracettes in the outflow and the surrounding area suggest it has been present for some time. This site and others like it present an opportunity for investigations of preserved deep biosphere signatures, and

Orbits of the Asteroids Discovered at the Molėtai Observatory in 2000–2004

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Černis K.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper presents statistics of the asteroids observed and discovered at the Molėtai Observatory, Lithuania in 2000–2004 within the project for astrometric observations of the near-Earth objects (NEOs, the main belt asteroids and comets. CCD observations of asteroids were obtained with the 35/51 cm Maksutov-type meniscus telescope and the 1.65 m Ritchey-Chretien reflector. In the Minor Planet Circulars and the Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (2000–2004 we published 6629 astrometric positions of 1114 asteroids. Among them 78 were newly discovered asteroids at Molėtai, a few NEOs were found by our team independently. For the 67 asteroids discovered at Molėtai the precise orbits were calculated. Because of small number of observations, a few asteroids have low-precision orbits and some asteroids have been lost. For seven objects we present their ephemerides for 2015.

CD4+ T cell count, HIV-1 viral loads and demographic variables of newly identified patients with HIV infection in Wuhan, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Man-Qing; Tang, Li; Kong, Wen-Hua; Zhu, Ze-Rong; Peng, Jin-Song; Wang, Xia; Yao, Zhong-Zhao; Schilling, Robert; Zhou, Wang

2013-10-01

In China, the rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing is increasing among men who have sex with men. The purpose of the present study was to describe HIV-related biomarkers and selected demographic variables of persons with newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS, among men who have sex with men in particular, in Wuhan China. Demographic indicators, and CD4+ T cell counts and HIV-1 viral load were collected from individuals newly identified as HIV-1 antibody positive during 2011. Of 176 enrolled patients, 132 (75.0%) were men who have sex with men. This group was significantly younger and had higher CD4+ T cell counts than patients who were likely infected through heterosexual contact. Most men who have sex with men (56.6%) were discovered by initiative investigation. Among heterosexual patients CD4+ T cell counts and HIV-1 viral load were significantly correlated; among the group of men who have sex with men, no such association was found. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genome-wide scan of healthy human connectome discovers SPON1 gene variant influencing dementia severity

Science.gov (United States)

Jahanshad, Neda; Rajagopalan, Priya; Hua, Xue; Hibar, Derrek P.; Nir, Talia M.; Toga, Arthur W.; Jack, Clifford R.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Green, Robert C.; Weiner, Michael W.; Medland, Sarah E.; Montgomery, Grant W.; Hansell, Narelle K.; McMahon, Katie L.; de Zubicaray, Greig I.; Martin, Nicholas G.; Wright, Margaret J.; Thompson, Paul M.; Weiner, Michael; Aisen, Paul; Weiner, Michael; Aisen, Paul; Petersen, Ronald; Jack, Clifford R.; Jagust, William; Trojanowski, John Q.; Toga, Arthur W.; Beckett, Laurel; Green, Robert C.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Morris, John; Liu, Enchi; Green, Robert C.; Montine, Tom; Petersen, Ronald; Aisen, Paul; Gamst, Anthony; Thomas, Ronald G.; Donohue, Michael; Walter, Sarah; Gessert, Devon; Sather, Tamie; Beckett, Laurel; Harvey, Danielle; Gamst, Anthony; Donohue, Michael; Kornak, John; Jack, Clifford R.; Dale, Anders; Bernstein, Matthew; Felmlee, Joel; Fox, Nick; Thompson, Paul; Schuff, Norbert; Alexander, Gene; DeCarli, Charles; Jagust, William; Bandy, Dan; Koeppe, Robert A.; Foster, Norm; Reiman, Eric M.; Chen, Kewei; Mathis, Chet; Morris, John; Cairns, Nigel J.; Taylor-Reinwald, Lisa; Trojanowki, J.Q.; Shaw, Les; Lee, Virginia M.Y.; Korecka, Magdalena; Toga, Arthur W.; Crawford, Karen; Neu, Scott; Saykin, Andrew J.; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Potkin, Steven; Shen, Li; Khachaturian, Zaven; Frank, Richard; Snyder, Peter J.; Molchan, Susan; Kaye, Jeffrey; Quinn, Joseph; Lind, Betty; Dolen, Sara; Schneider, Lon S.; Pawluczyk, Sonia; Spann, Bryan M.; Brewer, James; Vanderswag, Helen; Heidebrink, Judith L.; Lord, Joanne L.; Petersen, Ronald; Johnson, Kris; Doody, Rachelle S.; Villanueva-Meyer, Javier; Chowdhury, Munir; Stern, Yaakov; Honig, Lawrence S.; Bell, Karen L.; Morris, John C.; Ances, Beau; Carroll, Maria; Leon, Sue; Mintun, Mark A.; Schneider, Stacy; Marson, Daniel; Griffith, Randall; Clark, David; Grossman, Hillel; Mitsis, Effie; Romirowsky, Aliza; deToledo-Morrell, Leyla; Shah, Raj C.; Duara, Ranjan; Varon, Daniel; Roberts, Peggy; Albert, Marilyn; Onyike, Chiadi; Kielb, Stephanie; Rusinek, Henry; de Leon, Mony J.; Glodzik, Lidia; De Santi, Susan; Doraiswamy, P. Murali; Petrella, Jeffrey R.; Coleman, R. Edward; Arnold, Steven E.; Karlawish, Jason H.; Wolk, David; Smith, Charles D.; Jicha, Greg; Hardy, Peter; Lopez, Oscar L.; Oakley, MaryAnn; Simpson, Donna M.; Porsteinsson, Anton P.; Goldstein, Bonnie S.; Martin, Kim; Makino, Kelly M.; Ismail, M. Saleem; Brand, Connie; Mulnard, Ruth A.; Thai, Gaby; Mc-Adams-Ortiz, Catherine; Womack, Kyle; Mathews, Dana; Quiceno, Mary; Diaz-Arrastia, Ramon; King, Richard; Weiner, Myron; Martin-Cook, Kristen; DeVous, Michael; Levey, Allan I.; Lah, James J.; Cellar, Janet S.; Burns, Jeffrey M.; Anderson, Heather S.; Swerdlow, Russell H.; Apostolova, Liana; Lu, Po H.; Bartzokis, George; Silverman, Daniel H.S.; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Parfitt, Francine; Johnson, Heather; Farlow, Martin R.; Hake, Ann Marie; Matthews, Brandy R.; Herring, Scott; van Dyck, Christopher H.; Carson, Richard E.; MacAvoy, Martha G.; Chertkow, Howard; Bergman, Howard; Hosein, Chris; Black, Sandra; Stefanovic, Bojana; Caldwell, Curtis; Hsiung, Ging-Yuek Robin; Feldman, Howard; Mudge, Benita; Assaly, Michele; Kertesz, Andrew; Rogers, John; Trost, Dick; Bernick, Charles; Munic, Donna; Kerwin, Diana; Mesulam, Marek-Marsel; Lipowski, Kristina; Wu, Chuang-Kuo; Johnson, Nancy; Sadowsky, Carl; Martinez, Walter; Villena, Teresa; Turner, Raymond Scott; Johnson, Kathleen; Reynolds, Brigid; Sperling, Reisa A.; Johnson, Keith A.; Marshall, Gad; Frey, Meghan; Yesavage, Jerome; Taylor, Joy L.; Lane, Barton; Rosen, Allyson; Tinklenberg, Jared; Sabbagh, Marwan; Belden, Christine; Jacobson, Sandra; Kowall, Neil; Killiany, Ronald; Budson, Andrew E.; Norbash, Alexander; Johnson, Patricia Lynn; Obisesan, Thomas O.; Wolday, Saba; Bwayo, Salome K.; Lerner, Alan; Hudson, Leon; Ogrocki, Paula; Fletcher, Evan; Carmichael, Owen; Olichney, John; DeCarli, Charles; Kittur, Smita; Borrie, Michael; Lee, T.-Y.; Bartha, Rob; Johnson, Sterling; Asthana, Sanjay; Carlsson, Cynthia M.; Potkin, Steven G.; Preda, Adrian; Nguyen, Dana; Tariot, Pierre; Fleisher, Adam; Reeder, Stephanie; Bates, Vernice; Capote, Horacio; Rainka, Michelle; Scharre, Douglas W.; Kataki, Maria; Zimmerman, Earl A.; Celmins, Dzintra; Brown, Alice D.; Pearlson, Godfrey D.; Blank, Karen; Anderson, Karen; Saykin, Andrew J.; Santulli, Robert B.; Schwartz, Eben S.; Sink, Kaycee M.; Williamson, Jeff D.; Garg, Pradeep; Watkins, Franklin; Ott, Brian R.; Querfurth, Henry; Tremont, Geoffrey; Salloway, Stephen; Malloy, Paul; Correia, Stephen; Rosen, Howard J.; Miller, Bruce L.; Mintzer, Jacobo; Longmire, Crystal Flynn; Spicer, Kenneth; Finger, Elizabeth; Rachinsky, Irina; Rogers, John; Kertesz, Andrew; Drost, Dick

2013-01-01

Aberrant connectivity is implicated in many neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. However, other than a few disease-associated candidate genes, we know little about the degree to which genetics play a role in the brain networks; we know even less about specific genes that influence brain connections. Twin and family-based studies can generate estimates of overall genetic influences on a trait, but genome-wide association scans (GWASs) can screen the genome for specific variants influencing the brain or risk for disease. To identify the heritability of various brain connections, we scanned healthy young adult twins with high-field, high-angular resolution diffusion MRI. We adapted GWASs to screen the brain’s connectivity pattern, allowing us to discover genetic variants that affect the human brain’s wiring. The association of connectivity with the SPON1 variant at rs2618516 on chromosome 11 (11p15.2) reached connectome-wide, genome-wide significance after stringent statistical corrections were enforced, and it was replicated in an independent subsample. rs2618516 was shown to affect brain structure in an elderly population with varying degrees of dementia. Older people who carried the connectivity variant had significantly milder clinical dementia scores and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. As a posthoc analysis, we conducted GWASs on several organizational and topological network measures derived from the matrices to discover variants in and around genes associated with autism (MACROD2), development (NEDD4), and mental retardation (UBE2A) significantly associated with connectivity. Connectome-wide, genome-wide screening offers substantial promise to discover genes affecting brain connectivity and risk for brain diseases. PMID:23471985

Evaluation of Two Commercial Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Kits for the Detection of Human Circulating Metrnl.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Si-Li; Li, Zhi-Yong; Zhang, Zheng; Wang, Dong-Sheng; Xu, Jian; Miao, Chao-Yu

2018-04-01

Metrnl is a newly discovered secreted protein with neurotrophic activity and metabolic effect, while in earlier studies its circulating level in human was not explored. We evaluated two commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (DY7867-05, R&D Systems and SK00478-02, Aviscera Bioscience) for the detection of human circulating Metrnl. The DY7867-05 kit showed superiority over the SK00478-02 kit since it generated better curve fitting degree, smaller variation among tests, higher inter-assay reproducibility and better specificity, and could effectively detect human Metrnl in six types of blood samples. Subsequent analysis was performed using the DY7867-05 kit. Sample storage conditions were investigated. No gender difference in circulating Metrnl levels was found, while people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) had significantly lower Metrnl levels compared to the healthy controls.

Human vaginal fluid contains exosomes that have an inhibitory effect on an early step of the HIV-1 life cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Johanna A; Daniel, Rene

2016-11-13

Vaginal transmission is crucial to the spread of HIV-1 around the world. It is not yet clear what type (s) of innate defenses against HIV-1 infection are present in the vagina. Here, we aimed to determine whether human vaginal fluid contains exosomes that may possess anti-HIV-1 activity. The exosomal fraction was isolated from samples of vaginal fluids. The presence of exosomes was confirmed by flow cytometry and western blotting. The newly discovered exosomes were tested for their ability to block early steps of HIV-1 infection in vitro using established cell culture systems and real time PCR-based methods. Vaginal fluid contains exosomes expressing CD9, CD63, and CD81 exosomal markers. The exosomal fraction of the fluid-reduced transmission of HIV-1 vectors by 60%, the efficiency of reverse transcription step by 58.4%, and the efficiency of integration by 47%. Exosomes had no effect on the entry of HIV-1 vectors. Human vaginal fluid exosomes are newly discovered female innate defenses that may protect women against HIV-1 infection.

Circulating zonulin levels in newly diagnosed Chinese type 2 diabetes patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, D; Zhang, L; Zheng, Y; Yue, F; Russell, R D; Zeng, Y

2014-11-01

Studies suggest that type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with increased gut permeability. Human zonulin is the only physiological mediator discovered to date that is known to regulate gut permeability reversibly by disassembling intestinal tight junctions. However, the relationship between zonulin and type 2 diabetes remains to be defined, and no Chinese population-based data were reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between serum zonulin levels and type 2 diabetes in a Chinese Han population. 143 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients, 124 patients with impaired glucose tolerance and 121 subjects with normal glucose tolerance were enrolled in this study. Serum zonulin was measured by ELISA. Patients with type 2 diabetes had higher serum zonulin levels than impaired or normal glucose tolerant subjects. Serum zonulin correlated with body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-C, fasting plasma glucose, 2h plasma glucose, HbA1c, tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin 6, HOMA-IR and QUICK index using correlation analysis (p zonulin levels were independently associated with insulin resistance (β = 0.024, p = 0.005). In logistic regression analysis, zonulin levels were an independent predictor of type 2 diabetes (OR = 1.080, p = 0.037). Serum zonulin levels are significantly elevated in newly diagnosed Chinese Type 2 diabetes patients, and are associated with dyslipidemia, inflammation and insulin resistance, indicating a potential role of zonulin in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes in Chinese. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

New variable stars discovered in the fields of three Galactic open clusters using the VVV survey

Science.gov (United States)

Palma, T.; Minniti, D.; Dékány, I.; Clariá, J. J.; Alonso-García, J.; Gramajo, L. V.; Ramírez Alegría, S.; Bonatto, C.

2016-11-01

This project is a massive near-infrared (NIR) search for variable stars in highly reddened and obscured open cluster (OC) fields projected on regions of the Galactic bulge and disk. The search is performed using photometric NIR data in the J-, H- and Ks- bands obtained from the Vista Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey. We performed in each cluster field a variability search using Stetson's variability statistics to select the variable candidates. Later, those candidates were subjected to a frequency analysis using the Generalized Lomb-Scargle and the Phase Dispersion Minimization algorithms. The number of independent observations range between 63 and 73. The newly discovered variables in this study, 157 in total in three different known OCs, are classified based on their light curve shapes, periods, amplitudes and their location in the corresponding color-magnitude (J -Ks ,Ks) and color-color (H -Ks , J - H) diagrams. We found 5 possible Cepheid stars which, based on the period-luminosity relation, are very likely type II Cepheids located behind the bulge. Among the newly discovered variables, there are eclipsing binaries, δ Scuti, as well as background RR Lyrae stars. Using the new version of the Wilson & Devinney code as well as the "Physics Of Eclipsing Binaries" (PHOEBE) code, we analyzed some of the best eclipsing binaries we discovered. Our results show that these studied systems turn out to be ranging from detached to double-contact binaries, with low eccentricities and high inclinations of approximately 80°. Their surface temperatures range between 3500 K and 8000 K.

Prevalence and predictors of chronic kidney disease in newly diagnosed human immunodeficiency virus patients in Owerri, Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E N Anyabolu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV infection is a common cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims at identifying the prevalence and predictors of CKD in newly diagnosed HIV patients in Owerri, South East Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study consisting of 393 newly diagnosed HIV-seropositive subjects and 136 age- and sex-matched seronegative subjects as controls. CKD was defined as 24-hour urine protein (24-HUP ≥0.3 g and/or glomerular filtration rate (GFR < 60 ml/min. Subjects were recruited from the HIV clinic and the Medical Outpatient Department of Federal Medical Centre, Owerri. Clinical and anthropometric data were collected. Relevant investigations were performed, including HIV screening and relevant urine and blood investigations. The mean age of the HIV subjects was 38.84 ± 10.65 years. CKD was present in 86 (22.9% HIV subjects and 11 (8.l % controls. Low waist circumference (WC, high serum creatinine, high spot urine protein/creatinine ratio (SUPCR, high 24-HUP/creatinine Ratio (24-HUPCR, high 24-HUP/osmolality Ratio (24-HUPOR predicted CKD in HIV subjects. CKD prevalence is high (22.9% among newly diagnosed HIV patients in South East Nigeria. The predictors of CKD included WC, serum creatinine, SUPCR, 24-HUPCR, and 24-HUPOR.

Spin period evolution of the newly identified ULX pulsar (NGC 300 ULX1) associated with the supernova impostor SN2010da

Science.gov (United States)

Vasilopoulos, G.; Haberl, F.; Carpano, S.; Maitra, C.

2018-01-01

Following the discovery of the newly discovered ULX pulsar in NGC 300 (ATel #11158) we searched the available X-ray data for the evolution of the spin period of the neutron star and the X-ray luminosity.

Merkel Cell Polyomavirus: Molecular Insights into the Most Recently Discovered Human Tumour Virus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stakaitytė, Gabrielė; Wood, Jennifer J.; Knight, Laura M.; Abdul-Sada, Hussein; Adzahar, Noor Suhana; Nwogu, Nnenna; Macdonald, Andrew; Whitehouse, Adrian

2014-01-01

A fifth of worldwide cancer cases have an infectious origin, with viral infection being the foremost. One such cancer is Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare but aggressive skin malignancy. In 2008, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) was discovered as the causative agent of MCC. It is found clonally integrated into the majority of MCC tumours, which require MCPyV oncoproteins to survive. Since its discovery, research has begun to reveal the molecular virology of MCPyV, as well as how it induces tumourigenesis. It is thought to be a common skin commensal, found at low levels in healthy individuals. Upon loss of immunosurveillance, MCPyV reactivates, and a heavy viral load is associated with MCC pathogenesis. Although MCPyV is in many ways similar to classical oncogenic polyomaviruses, such as SV40, subtle differences are beginning to emerge. These unique features highlight the singular position MCPyV has as the only human oncogenic polyomavirus, and open up new avenues for therapies against MCC

Merkel Cell Polyomavirus: Molecular Insights into the Most Recently Discovered Human Tumour Virus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stakaitytė, Gabrielė; Wood, Jennifer J.; Knight, Laura M.; Abdul-Sada, Hussein; Adzahar, Noor Suhana; Nwogu, Nnenna; Macdonald, Andrew; Whitehouse, Adrian, E-mail: A.Whitehouse@leeds.ac.uk [School of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Astbury Centre of Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT (United Kingdom)

2014-06-27

A fifth of worldwide cancer cases have an infectious origin, with viral infection being the foremost. One such cancer is Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare but aggressive skin malignancy. In 2008, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) was discovered as the causative agent of MCC. It is found clonally integrated into the majority of MCC tumours, which require MCPyV oncoproteins to survive. Since its discovery, research has begun to reveal the molecular virology of MCPyV, as well as how it induces tumourigenesis. It is thought to be a common skin commensal, found at low levels in healthy individuals. Upon loss of immunosurveillance, MCPyV reactivates, and a heavy viral load is associated with MCC pathogenesis. Although MCPyV is in many ways similar to classical oncogenic polyomaviruses, such as SV40, subtle differences are beginning to emerge. These unique features highlight the singular position MCPyV has as the only human oncogenic polyomavirus, and open up new avenues for therapies against MCC.

New background quasars in the vicinity of the Andromeda Galaxy discovered with the Guoshoujing Telescope (LAMOST)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huo Zhiying; Liu Xiaowei; Yuan Haibo; Zhang Huihua; Zhang Huawei; Zhao Yongheng; Chen Jianjun; Bai Zhongrui; Zhang Haotong; Yan Hongliang; Ren Juanjuan; Sun Shiwei; GarcIa-Benito, Ruben; Xiang Maosheng; Zhang Yong; Li Yeping; Lu Qishuai; Wang You; Ni Jijun; Wang Hai

2010-01-01

We present preliminary analyses of spectra of quasar candidates in two Guoshoujing Telescope (GSJT, formerly named the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope - LAMOST) test fields near M 31 where one is close to the optical center of the disk and the other is towards the northeastern outskirts of the halo, obtained during the early stage of the GSJT commissioning in the last season of 2009. Both fields contain background low-redshift quasar candidates selected from the SDSS photometry. In total, 14 new quasars with redshifts up to 2 and i magnitudes between 16.7 and 19.2, are discovered, including 7 within the 2.5 0 central region of M 31. We briefly discuss the potential applications of these newly discovered bright quasars. (editor's recommendation)

The Volatile Composition of newly-discovered C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) before its dissolutionas revealed by iSHELL at NASA/IRTF

Science.gov (United States)

Faggi, Sara; Villanueva, Geronimo Luis; Mumma, Michael J.; Paganini, Lucas

2017-10-01

In April 2017, we acquired comprehensive high-resolution spectra of newly-discovered comet C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) as it approached perihelion, and before its disintegration. We detected many cometary emission lines across 4 customized instrument settings (L1-b, L3, Lp1-b and M1) in the (1 - 5) μm range, using iSHELL - the new near-IR high resolution immersion echelle spectrograph on NASA/IRTF (Mauna Kea, Hawaii).In M1, near 5μm, we detected multiple ro-vibrational lines of H2O, CO and the (X-X) system of CN; the latter data constitute a complete survey of CN at these wavelengths. We derived quantitative abundances for CN and addressed its origin by comparing with quantitative production rates for HCN. The ability to quantify both primary and product species eliminates systematic error that may be introduced when measurements are acquired with different astronomical techniques and instruments.In L1, around 3 μm, we detected fluorescence emission from HCN, C2H2, and water, prompt emission from OH, and many other features. Methane, ethane and methanol were detected both in L3 and Lp1 settings. These species are relevant to astrobiology, owing to questions regarding the origin of pre-biotic organics and water on terrestrial planets.The many water emission lines detected in L1-b (and M1) provided an opportunity to retrieve independent measures of rotational temperature for ortho- and para-H2O, thereby reducing systematic uncertainty in the derived ortho-para ratio and nuclear spin temperature. Deuterated species were also sought and results will be presented.The bright Oort cloud comet E4 Lovejoy combined with the new capabilities of iSHELL provided unique results. The individual iSHELL settings cover very wide spectral range with very high accuracy, eliminating many sources of systematic errors when retrieving molecular abundances; future comparisons amongst comets will clarify the nature and meaning of cosmogonic indicators based on composition.Acknowledgments NASA�

Elevated circulating lipasin/betatrophin in human type 2 diabetes and obesity

OpenAIRE

Zhiyao Fu; Feven Berhane; Alemu Fite; Berhane Seyoum; Abdul B. Abou-Samra; Ren Zhang

2014-01-01

Lipasin (also known as C19ORF80, RIFL, ANGPTL8 and betatrophin) is a newly discovered circulating factor that regulates lipid metabolism and promotes pancreatic ?-cell proliferation. Whether circulating levels of lipasin in humans are altered in a) type 2 diabetes; b) obesity and c) the postprandial state, however, is unknown. The current study aimed to compare serum lipasin levels in those who were a) non-diabetic (N = 15) or diabetic (BMI- and age-matched; N = 14); b) lean or obese (N = 53 ...

A Survey for Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Around M31. II. The Newly Discovered Dwarf Andromeda VI

OpenAIRE

Armandroff, Taft E.; Jacoby, George H.; Davies, James E.

1999-01-01

We present B-, V-, and I-band images, as well as an H alpha image, of And VI. This is the second newly identified dwarf spheroidal (dSph) companion to M31 found using a digital filtering technique applied to the second Palomar Sky Survey for which 1550 square degrees now have been surveyed. And VI was confirmed to be a nearby dSph galaxy when it resolved into stars easily with a short 4-m V-band exposure. Sub-arcsec images taken at the Kitt Peak WIYN 3.5-m telescope provided (I,V-I) and (V,B-...

Insights into methane dynamics from analysis of authigenic carbonates and chemosynthetic mussels at newly-discovered Atlantic Margin seeps

Science.gov (United States)

Prouty, Nancy G.; Sahy, Diana; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Roark, E. Brendan; Condon, Dan; Brooke, Sandra; Ross, Steve W.; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.

2016-01-01

The recent discovery of active methane venting along the US northern and mid-Atlantic margin represents a new source of global methane not previously accounted for in carbon budgets from this region. However, uncertainty remains as to the origin and history of methane seepage along this tectonically inactive passive margin. Here we present the first isotopic analyses of authigenic carbonates and methanotrophic deep-sea mussels, Bathymodiolus   sp., and the first direct constraints on the timing of past methane emission, based on samples collected at the upper slope Baltimore Canyon (∼385 m water depth) and deepwater Norfolk (∼1600 m) seep fields within the area of newly-discovered venting. The authigenic carbonates at both sites were dominated by aragonite, with an average  signature of −47‰, a value consistent with microbially driven anaerobic oxidation of methane-rich fluids occurring at or near the sediment–water interface. Authigenic carbonate U and Sr isotope data further support the inference of carbonate precipitation from seawater-derived fluids rather than from formation fluids from deep aquifers. Carbonate stable and radiocarbon ( and ) isotope values from living Bathymodiolus   sp. specimens are lighter than those of seawater dissolved inorganic carbon, highlighting the influence of fossil carbon from methane on carbonate precipitation. U–Th dates on authigenic carbonates suggest seepage at Baltimore Canyon between 14.7±0.6 ka to 15.7±1.6 ka, and at the Norfolk seep field between 1.0±0.7 ka to 3.3±1.3 ka, providing constraint on the longevity of methane efflux at these sites. The age of the brecciated authigenic carbonates and the occurrence of pockmarks at the Baltimore Canyon upper slope could suggest a link between sediment delivery during Pleistocene sea-level lowstand, accumulation of pore fluid overpressure from sediment compaction, and release of overpressure through subsequent venting. Calculations show that

On the paleoenvironmental potential of 253 newly discovered pine stumps from Zurich, Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Reinig, Frederick; Nievergelt, Daniel; Esper, Jan; Friedrich, Michael; Helle, Gerhard; Hellmann, Lena; Kromer, Bernd; Morganti, Sandro; Pauly, Maren; Sookdeo, Adam; Tegel, Willy; Treydte, Kerstin; Wacker, Lukas; Büntgen, Ulf

2017-04-01

The transition from the last Ice Age to the early Holocene 15'000-10'000 BP represents a close natural analog to the ongoing and predicted rates of anthropogenic climate change. A reduced quality and quantity of high-resolution proxy archives during this period, however, limits our understanding of the magnitude and pace of Late Glacial (LG) environmental variability. Here, we present the world's best preserved, most replicated and oldest forest remains: A total of 253 subfossil pine stumps were recently discovered in Zurich. The combined approach of tree-ring and radiocarbon (14C) measurements results in an absolutely dated Preboreal Swiss tree-ring width chronology and eight floating chronologies. With tree ages ranging between 41 and 506 years, often including pith and bark, and a mean segment length of 163 years, this exceptional find is distributed over nearly 2'000 years between the Allerød and the Preboreal. Together with 200 previously collected LG pines from the greater Zurich region, this study sets a benchmark in terms of sample replication and dating precision for stable more dynamic climatic periods such as the Laacher See eruption, the Older and Younger Dryas. The paleoenvironmental significance would even increase when annually resolved 14C-measurements help fixing a major, Northern Hemispheric gap in the absolutely dated dendro time series during the Younger Dryas. While overcoming this interlude, our results further emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research on these striking LG climatic shifts to better understand and assess their ecological and environmental impact.

Human metapneumovirus and respiratory syncytial virus in hospitalized danish children with acute respiratory tract infection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

von Linstow, Marie-Louise; Henrik Larsen, Hans; Koch, Anders

2004-01-01

The newly discovered human metapneumovirus (hMPV) has been shown to be associated with respiratory illness. We determined the frequencies and clinical features of hMPV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in 374 Danish children with 383 episodes of acute respiratory tract infection...... children 1-6 months of age. Asthmatic bronchitis was diagnosed in 66.7% of hMPV and 10.6% of RSV-infected children (p respiratory support. hMPV is present in young...

Zonulin, a newly discovered modulator of intestinal permeability, and its expression in coeliac disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Fasano, A; Not, T; Wang, W; Uzzau, S; Berti, I; Tommasini, A; Goldblum, S E

2000-04-29

We identified zonulin, a novel human protein analogue to the Vibrio cholerae derived Zonula occludens toxin, which induces tight junction disassembly and a subsequent increase in intestinal permeability in non-human primate intestinal epithelia. Zonulin expression was raised in intestinal tissues during the acute phase of coeliac disease, a clinical condition in which tight junctions are opened and permeability is increased.

The Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Immuno-suppression by Human Type 1 Regulatory T cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia eGregori

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The immuno-regulatory mechanisms of IL-10-producing type 1 regulatory T (Tr1 cells have been widely studied over the years. However, several recent discoveries have shed new light on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that human Tr1 cells use to control immune responses and induce tolerance. In this review we outline the well-known and newly discovered regulatory properties of human Tr1 cells and provide an in-depth comparison of the known suppressor mechanisms of Tr1 cells with FOXP3+ Treg. We also highlight the role that Tr1 cells play in promoting and maintaining tolerance in autoimmunity, allergy, and transplantation.

Surface ultrastuctures of the human laryngeal mucosa - observation by an newly developed technique of SEM cinematography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohyama, M.; Ohno, I.; Fujita, T.; Adachi, K.

1981-01-01

With the newly-developed techniques of SEM cinematography, surface ultrastructures of the human normal and pathological laryngeal mucosa were demonstrated. The high specialization of the laryngeal mucosa with its marked regional differences stresses the fact that even the squamous epithelium and nonciliated epithelium may play a role of utmost importance. All specimens were obtained after laryngectomy from 10 patients affected by laryngeal cancer which had been treated with or without preoperative irradiation of Lineac in total doses of 3,500-4,500 rad. Special attention was paid to the occurrence of microvilli and microplicae in the normal and pathological mucosa of the larynx, and their morphological and physiological significances were discussed briefly. (Auth.)

In Vitro and In Vivo Models for the Study of Human Polyomavirus Infection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heidi Barth

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Developments of genome amplification techniques have rapidly expanded the family of human polyomaviruses (PyV. Following infection early in life, PyV persist in their hosts and are generally of no clinical consequence. High-level replication of PyV can occur in patients under immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory therapy and causes severe clinical entities, such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, polyomavirus-associated nephropathy or Merkel cell carcinoma. The characterization of known and newly-discovered human PyV, their relationship to human health, and the mechanisms underlying pathogenesis remain to be elucidated. Here, we summarize the most widely-used in vitro and in vivo models to study the PyV-host interaction, pathogenesis and anti-viral drug screening. We discuss the strengths and limitations of the different models and the lessons learned.

Using internet images to gather distributional data for a newly discovered Caloptilia species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) specializing on Chinese tallow in North America

Science.gov (United States)

Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera (L.), Euphorbiaceae) is a noxious and highly invasive species that was deliberately introduced to GA in 1772. In early 2009, an unfamiliar caterpillar was independently discovered feeding on T. sebifera trees in Gainesville, FL and Slidell, LA. Adult moths were...

A highly abundant bacteriophage discovered in the unknown sequences of human faecal metagenomes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dutilh, Bas E; Cassman, Noriko; McNair, Katelyn; Sanchez, Savannah E; Silva, Genivaldo G Z; Boling, Lance; Barr, Jeremy J; Speth, Daan R; Seguritan, Victor; Aziz, Ramy K; Felts, Ben; Dinsdale, Elizabeth A; Mokili, John L; Edwards, Robert A

2014-01-01

Metagenomics, or sequencing of the genetic material from a complete microbial community, is a promising tool to discover novel microbes and viruses. Viral metagenomes typically contain many unknown sequences. Here we describe the discovery of a previously unidentified bacteriophage present in the

Glucosamine-Based Supramolecular Nanotubes for Human Mesenchymal Cell Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Talloj, Satish Kumar; Cheng, Bill; Weng, Jen-Po; Lin, Hsin-Chieh

2018-04-23

Herein, we demonstrate an example of glucosamine-based supramolecular hydrogels that can be used for human mesenchymal cell therapy. We designed and synthesized a series of amino acid derivatives based on a strategy of capping d-glucosamine moiety at the C-terminus and fluorinated benzyl group at the N-terminus. From a systematic study on chemical structures, we discovered that the glucosamine-based supramolecular hydrogel [pentafluorobenzyl (PFB)-F-Glu] self-assembled with one-dimensional nanotubular structures at physiological pH. The self-assembly of a newly discovered PFB-F-Glu motif is attributed to the synergistic effect of π-π stacking and extensive intermolecular hydrogen bonding network in aqueous medium. Notably, PFB-F-Glu nanotubes are proven to be nontoxic to human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and have been shown to enhance hMSC proliferation while maintaining their pluripotency. Retaining of pluripotency capabilities provides potentially unlimited source of undifferentiated cells for the treatment of future cell therapies. Furthermore, hMSCs cultured on PFB-F-Glu are able to secrete paracrine factors that downregulate profibrotic gene expression in lipopolysaccharide-treated human skin fibroblasts, which demonstrates that PFB-F-Glu nanotubes have the potential to be used for wound healing applications. Overall, this article addresses the importance of chemical design to generate supramolecular biomaterials for stem cell therapy.

Small-bodied humans from Palau, Micronesia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee R Berger

Full Text Available UNLABELLED: Newly discovered fossil assemblages of small bodied Homo sapiens from Palau, Micronesia possess characters thought to be taxonomically primitive for the genus Homo. BACKGROUND: Recent surface collection and test excavation in limestone caves in the rock islands of Palau, Micronesia, has produced a sizeable sample of human skeletal remains dating roughly between 940-2890 cal ybp. PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: Preliminary analysis indicates that this material is important for two reasons. First, individuals from the older time horizons are small in body size even relative to "pygmoid" populations from Southeast Asia and Indonesia, and thus may represent a marked case of human insular dwarfism. Second, while possessing a number of derived features that align them with Homo sapiens, the human remains from Palau also exhibit several skeletal traits that are considered to be primitive for the genus Homo. SIGNIFICANCE: These features may be previously unrecognized developmental correlates of small body size and, if so, they may have important implications for interpreting the taxonomic affinities of fossil specimens of Homo.

E/V Nautilus Detection of Isolated Features in the Eastern Pacific Ocean: Newly Discovered Calderas and Methane Seeps

Science.gov (United States)

Raineault, N.; Irish, O.; Lubetkin, M.

2016-02-01

The E/V Nautilus mapped over 80,000 km2 of the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Pacific Ocean during its 2015 expedition. The Nautilus used its Kongsberg EM302 multibeam system to map the seafloor prior to remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives, both for scientific purposes (site selection) and navigational safety. The Nautilus also routinely maps during transits to identify previously un-mapped or unresolved seafloor features. During its transit from the Galapagos Islands to the California Borderland, the Nautilus mapped 44,695 km2 of seafloor. Isolated features on the seafloor and in the water-column, such as calderas and methane seeps, were detected during this data collection effort. Operating at a frequency of 30 kHz in waters ranging from 1000-5500 m, we discovered caldera features off the coast of Central America. Since seamounts are known hotspots of biodiversity, locating new ones may enrich our understanding of seamounts as "stepping stones" for species distribution and ocean current pathways. Satellite altimetry datasets prior to this data either did not discern these calderas or recognized the presence of a bathymetric high without great detail. This new multibeam bathymetry data, gridded at 50 m, gives a precise look at these seamounts that range in elevation from 350 to 1400 m from abyssal depth. The largest of the calderas is circular in shape and is 10,000 m in length and 5,000 m in width, with a distinct circular depression at the center of its highest point, 1,400 m above the surrounding abyssal depth. In the California Borderland region, located between San Diego and Los Angeles, four new seeps were discovered in water depths from 400-1,020 m. ROV exploration of these seeps revealed vent communities. Altogether, these discoveries reinforce how little we know about the global ocean, indicate the presence of isolated deep-sea ecosystems that support biologically diverse communities, and will impact our understanding of seafloor habitat.

Effect of fertilizer amendments on phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soil by a newly discovered hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei Shuhe; Li Yunmeng; Zhou Qixing; Srivastava, Mrittunjai; Chiu Siuwai; Zhan Jie; Wu Zhijie; Sun Tieheng

2010-01-01

Phytoremediation is a cost-effective, simple and sustainable beneficiary technique to purify the polluted environment. Solanum nigrum L., a newly found cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulator, has shown the potential to remediate Cd-contaminated soils. Present study investigated the effects of fertilizer amendments on the Cd uptake by S. nigrum. Chicken manure and urea are usual agricultural fertilizers and more environmental friendly. The results showed that Cd concentrations in shoots of S. nigrum were significantly decreased (p -1 ) in shoot biomass of S. nigrum were significantly increased (p < 0.05) due to increased shoot biomass. In addition, available Cd concentration in soil significantly decreased due to addition of chicken manure. Thus, urea might be a better fertilizer for strengthening phytoextraction rate of S. nigrum to Cd, and chicken manure may be a better fertilizer for phytostabilization.

More Far-Side Deep Moonquake Nests Discovered

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, Y.; Jackson, John A.; Jackson, Katherine G.

2004-01-01

As reported last year, we started to reanalyze the seismic data acquired from 1969 to 1977 with a network of stations established on the Moon during the Apollo mission. The reason for the reanalysis was because recent advances in computer technology make it possible to employ much more sophisticated analysis techniques than was possible previously. The primary objective of the reanalysis was to search for deep moonquakes on the far side of the Moon and, if found, to use them to infer the structure of the Moon's deep interior, including a possible central core. The first step was to identify any new deep moonquakes that escaped our earlier search by applying a combination of waveform cross-correlation and single-link cluster analysis, and then to see if any of them are from previously unknown nests of deep moonquakes. We positively identified 7245 deep moonquakes, more than a five-fold increase from the previous 1360. We also found at least 88 previously unknown deep-moonquake nests. The question was whether any of these newly discovered nets were on the far side of the Moon, and we now report that our analysis of the data indicates that some of them are indeed on the far side.

Medicinal benefits of marine invertebrates: sources for discovering natural drug candidates.

Science.gov (United States)

De Zoysa, Mahanama

2012-01-01

Marine invertebrates are one of the major groups of organisms, which could be diversified under the major taxonomic groups of Porifera, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, and many other minor phyla. To date, range of medicinal benefits and a significant number of marine natural products (MNPs) have been discovered from marine invertebrates. Seafood diet from edible marine invertebrates such as mollusks and crustaceans has been linked with various medicinal benefits to improve human health. Among marine invertebrates, spongers from phylum Porifera is the most dominant group responsible for discovering large number of MNPs, which have been used as template to develop therapeutic drugs. MNPs isolated from invertebrates have shown wide range of therapeutic properties including antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihypertensive, anticoagulant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, wound healing and immune modulator, and other medicinal effects. Therefore, marine invertebrates are rich sources of chemical diversity and health benefits for developing drug candidates, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and molecular probes that can be supported to increase the healthy life span of human. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Crystallization of a newly discovered histidine acid phosphatase from Francisella tularensis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Felts, Richard L. [Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211 (United States); Reilly, Thomas J. [Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65212 (United States); Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65212 (United States); Calcutt, Michael J. [Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65212 (United States); Tanner, John J., E-mail: tannerjj@missouri.edu [Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211 (United States); Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211 (United States)

2006-01-01

A histidine acid phosphatase from the CDC Category A pathogen F. tularensis has been crystallized in space group P4{sub 1}2{sub 1}2, with unit-cell parameters a = 61.96, c = 210.78 Å. A 1.75 Å resolution data set was collected at Advanced Light Source beamline 4.2.2. Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen that is considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be a potential bioterrorism weapon. Here, the crystallization of a 37.2 kDa phosphatase encoded by the genome of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica live vaccine strain is reported. This enzyme shares 41% amino-acid sequence identity with Legionella pneumophila major acid phosphatase and contains the RHGXRXP motif that is characteristic of the histidine acid phosphatase family. Large diffraction-quality crystals were grown in the presence of Tacsimate, HEPES and PEG 3350. The crystals belong to space group P4{sub 1}2{sub 1}2, with unit-cell parameters a = 61.96, c = 210.78 Å. The asymmetric unit is predicted to contain one protein molecule, with a solvent content of 53%. A 1.75 Å resolution native data set was recorded at beamline 4.2.2 of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Advanced Light Source. Molecular-replacement trials using the human prostatic acid phosphatase structure as the search model (28% amino-acid sequence identity) did not produce a satisfactory solution. Therefore, the structure of F. tularensis histidine acid phosphatase will be determined by multiwavelength anomalous dispersion phasing using a selenomethionyl derivative.

Crystallization of a newly discovered histidine acid phosphatase from Francisella tularensis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Felts, Richard L.; Reilly, Thomas J.; Calcutt, Michael J.; Tanner, John J.

2005-01-01

A histidine acid phosphatase from the CDC Category A pathogen F. tularensis has been crystallized in space group P4 1 2 1 2, with unit-cell parameters a = 61.96, c = 210.78 Å. A 1.75 Å resolution data set was collected at Advanced Light Source beamline 4.2.2. Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen that is considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be a potential bioterrorism weapon. Here, the crystallization of a 37.2 kDa phosphatase encoded by the genome of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica live vaccine strain is reported. This enzyme shares 41% amino-acid sequence identity with Legionella pneumophila major acid phosphatase and contains the RHGXRXP motif that is characteristic of the histidine acid phosphatase family. Large diffraction-quality crystals were grown in the presence of Tacsimate, HEPES and PEG 3350. The crystals belong to space group P4 1 2 1 2, with unit-cell parameters a = 61.96, c = 210.78 Å. The asymmetric unit is predicted to contain one protein molecule, with a solvent content of 53%. A 1.75 Å resolution native data set was recorded at beamline 4.2.2 of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Advanced Light Source. Molecular-replacement trials using the human prostatic acid phosphatase structure as the search model (28% amino-acid sequence identity) did not produce a satisfactory solution. Therefore, the structure of F. tularensis histidine acid phosphatase will be determined by multiwavelength anomalous dispersion phasing using a selenomethionyl derivative

Fluorescent and radiolabelling of pepsin-digested human glomerular basement membrane with a newly developed hydroxy-coumarin derivative (CASE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rand-Weaver, M.; Abuknesha, R.A.; Price, R.G.

1985-01-01

The labelling of pepsin-digested human glomerular basement membrane (pHGBM) with a newly developed fluorescent iodine acceptor 7-hydroxy-coumarin-3-acetic acid N-hydroxysucciniimydyl ester (CASE) is described. The binding of a monoclonal antibody to pHGBM was assessed by radiobinding assays, and when directly iodinated pHGBM was used there was no apparent binding. When CASE was conjugated to pHGBM prior to iodination 11% binding was achieved. CASE acting as an iodine acceptor may be useful for proteins containing few or inaccessible tyrosine residues or which are destroyed by introduction of 125 I. Since CASE is fluorescent, small amounts of material can be detected during isolation prior to iodination. (orig.)

Sulfonamide inhibition studies of the β-carbonic anhydrase from the newly discovered bacterium Enterobacter sp. B13.

Science.gov (United States)

Eminoğlu, Ayşenur; Vullo, Daniela; Aşık, Aycan; Çolak, Dilşat Nigar; Çanakçı, Sabriye; Beldüz, Ali Osman; Supuran, Claudiu T

2016-04-01

The genome of the newly identified bacterium Enterobacter sp. B13 encodes for a β-class carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1), EspCA. This enzyme was recently cloned, and characterized kinetically by this group (J. Enzyme Inhib. Med. Chem. 2016, 31). Here we report an inhibition study with sulfonamides and sulfamates of this enzyme. The best EspCA inhibitors were some sulfanylated sulfonamides with elongated molecules, metanilamide, 4-aminoalkyl-benzenesulfonamides, acetazolamide, and deacetylated methazolamide (KIs in the range of 58.7-96.5nM). Clinically used agents such as methazolamide, ethoxzolamide, dorzolamide, brinzolamide, benzolamide, zonisamide, sulthiame, sulpiride, topiramate and valdecoxib were slightly less effective inhibitors (KIs in the range of 103-138nM). Saccharin, celecoxib, dichlorophenamide and many simple benzenesulfonamides were even less effective as EspCA inhibitors, with KIs in the range of 384-938nM. Identification of effective inhibitors of this bacterial enzyme may lead to pharmacological tools useful for understanding the physiological role(s) of the β-class CAs in bacterial pathogenicity/virulence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GraphTeams: a method for discovering spatial gene clusters in Hi-C sequencing data.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, Tizian; Stoye, Jens; Doerr, Daniel

2018-05-08

Hi-C sequencing offers novel, cost-effective means to study the spatial conformation of chromosomes. We use data obtained from Hi-C experiments to provide new evidence for the existence of spatial gene clusters. These are sets of genes with associated functionality that exhibit close proximity to each other in the spatial conformation of chromosomes across several related species. We present the first gene cluster model capable of handling spatial data. Our model generalizes a popular computational model for gene cluster prediction, called δ-teams, from sequences to graphs. Following previous lines of research, we subsequently extend our model to allow for several vertices being associated with the same label. The model, called δ-teams with families, is particular suitable for our application as it enables handling of gene duplicates. We develop algorithmic solutions for both models. We implemented the algorithm for discovering δ-teams with families and integrated it into a fully automated workflow for discovering gene clusters in Hi-C data, called GraphTeams. We applied it to human and mouse data to find intra- and interchromosomal gene cluster candidates. The results include intrachromosomal clusters that seem to exhibit a closer proximity in space than on their chromosomal DNA sequence. We further discovered interchromosomal gene clusters that contain genes from different chromosomes within the human genome, but are located on a single chromosome in mouse. By identifying δ-teams with families, we provide a flexible model to discover gene cluster candidates in Hi-C data. Our analysis of Hi-C data from human and mouse reveals several known gene clusters (thus validating our approach), but also few sparsely studied or possibly unknown gene cluster candidates that could be the source of further experimental investigations.

Newly Discovered Silicate Features in the Spectra of Young Warm Debris Disks: Probing Terrestrial Regions of Planetary Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ballering, N.; Rieke, G.

2014-03-01

vary. The total mass of dust in each belt was expressed through the coefficients C2 and C3. The dust was assumed to consist of amorphous olivine (MgFeSiO4). Model Fν = C1•Bν(Tstar) + C2•Fν,belt(rin1,rout1,rexp1,amin1) + C3•Fν,belt(rin2,rout2,rexp2,amin2) We found previously undiscovered emission features in the spectra of several targets, listed below. Our model fits to these systems confirmed that these spectral signatures can arise from realistic disk models, and that this dust is located in the terrestrial regions of these systems. This is a subset of the full sample of warm disks with newly discovered spectral features to be published in Ballering et al. (2014). • HIP 26966 (HD 38206), a 30 Myr old A0 star. • HIP 41081 (HD 71043), a 30 Myr old A0 star. • HIP 2578 (HD 3003), a 30 Myr old A0 star. • HIP 66068 (HD 117665), a 20 Myr old A1/A2 star. • HIP 78641 (HD 143675), a 20 Myr old A5 star. • HIP 26395 (HD 37306), a 10 Myr old A2 star. • HIP 71271 (HD 127750), a 20 Myr old A0 star. • HIP 58220 (HD 103703), a 20 Myr old F3 star.

Nitroproteins in Human Astrocytomas Discovered by Gel Electrophoresis and Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Fang; Li, Jianglin; Guo, Tianyao; Yang, Haiyan; Li, Maoyu; Sang, Shushan; Li, Xuejun; Desiderio, Dominic M.; Zhan, Xianquan

2015-12-01

Protein tyrosine nitration is involved in the pathogenesis of highly fatal astrocytomas, a type of brain cancer. To understand the molecular mechanisms of astrocytomas and to discover new biomarkers/therapeutic targets, we sought to identify nitroproteins in human astrocytoma tissue. Anti-nitrotyrosine immunoreaction-positive proteins from a high-grade astrocytoma tissue were detected with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE)-based nitrotyrosine immunoblots, and identified with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Fifty-seven nitrotyrosine immunopositive protein spots were detected. A total of 870 proteins (nitrated and non-nitrated) in nitrotyrosine-immunopositive 2D gel spots were identified, and 18 nitroproteins and their 20 nitrotyrosine sites were identified with MS/MS analysis. These nitroproteins participate in multiple processes, including drug-resistance, signal transduction, cytoskeleton, transcription and translation, cell proliferation and apoptosis, immune response, phenotypic dedifferentiation, cell migration, and metastasis. Among those nitroproteins that might play a role in astrocytomas was nitro-sorcin, which is involved in drug resistance and metastasis and might play a role in the spread and treatment of an astrocytoma. Semiquantitative immune-based measurements of different sorcin expressions were found among different grades of astrocytomas relative to controls, and a semiquantitative increased nitration level in high-grade astrocytoma relative to control. Nitro-β-tubulin functions in cytoskeleton and cell migration. Semiquantitative immunoreactivity of β-tubulin showed increased expression among different grades of astrocytomas relative to controls and semiquantitatively increased nitration level in high-grade astrocytoma relative to control. Each nitroprotein was rationalized and related to the corresponding functional system to provide new insights into tyrosine nitration and its potential role in the

The Role of Circulating Slit2, the One of the Newly Batokines, in Human Diabetes Mellitus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yea Eun Kang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available BackgroundSlit2 is a new secreted protein from adipose tissue that improves glucose hemostasis in mice; however, there is no study about the serum levels and precise role of Slit2 in human. The aim of this study is to explore the serum level of Slit2 in human, and to identify the role of Slit2 in diabetes mellitus (DM.MethodsThe participants of this study consist of 38 subjects with newly diagnosed DM, and 75 healthy subjects as a control group. Serum Slit2 levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Relationship between circulating Slit2 and diabetic related factors was investigated in diabetic group compared with non-diabetic group. Additionally, the correlations between the serum level of Slit2 and diverse metabolic parameters were analyzed.ResultsCirculating Slit2 level was more decreased in diabetic group than in control group, but there was no significant difference statistically. Interestingly, serum levels of Slit2 were significantly negatively correlated to the serum concentrations of fasting glucose (coefficient r=–0.246, P=0.008, the serum concentrations of postprandial glucose (coefficient r=–0.233, P=0.017, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c; coefficient r=–0.357, P<0.001.ConclusionFrom our study, the first report of circulating Slit2 levels in human, circulating Slit2 level significantly negatively correlated with serum glucose and HbA1c. Our results suggest that the circulating Slit2 may play a role in maintainence of glucose homeostasis in human, even though exact contribution and mechanism are not yet known.

Discovering Hands - México

OpenAIRE

Salamanca Cárdenas, Daniela; Castelblanco Domínguez, Junio Andrés; Aguilar Ardila, Laura Andrea

2016-01-01

El modelo de Discovering Hands ha sido reconocido internacionalmente como un proyecto innovador que se ha expandido por diferentes países del mundo, como Austria, y se ha empezado a estudiar la propuesta en países como República Checa, India y Colombia. (Discovering Hands, 2016). Esto se debe a que no solo mejora el tratamiento de cáncer de mama, sino que también reduce los costos totales de tratamiento de la enfermedad y aumenta la fuerza laborar de los países donde esté presente. Al represe...

Effect of fertilizer amendments on phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soil by a newly discovered hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei Shuhe, E-mail: shuhewei@yahoo.com.cn [Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); Li Yunmeng [Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039 (China); Zhou Qixing, E-mail: zhouqx523@yahoo.com.cn [Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China); Srivastava, Mrittunjai [North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Quincy, FL 32351-5677 (United States); Chiu Siuwai [Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. (Hong Kong); Zhan Jie [Department of Biotechnology, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang 110101 (China); Wu Zhijie; Sun Tieheng [Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 (China)

2010-04-15

Phytoremediation is a cost-effective, simple and sustainable beneficiary technique to purify the polluted environment. Solanum nigrum L., a newly found cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulator, has shown the potential to remediate Cd-contaminated soils. Present study investigated the effects of fertilizer amendments on the Cd uptake by S. nigrum. Chicken manure and urea are usual agricultural fertilizers and more environmental friendly. The results showed that Cd concentrations in shoots of S. nigrum were significantly decreased (p < 0.05) by 28.2-34.6%, as compared to that of without the addition of chicken manure, but not the case for urea treatment. However, Cd extraction capacities ({mu}g pot{sup -1}) in shoot biomass of S. nigrum were significantly increased (p < 0.05) due to increased shoot biomass. In addition, available Cd concentration in soil significantly decreased due to addition of chicken manure. Thus, urea might be a better fertilizer for strengthening phytoextraction rate of S. nigrum to Cd, and chicken manure may be a better fertilizer for phytostabilization.

Clinical epidemiology of bocavirus, rhinovirus, two polyomaviruses and four coronaviruses in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected South African children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nunes, Marta C.; Kuschner, Zachary; Rabede, Zelda; Madimabe, Richard; Van Niekerk, Nadia; Moloi, Jackie; Kuwanda, Locadiah; Rossen, John W.; Klugman, Keith P.; Adrian, Peter V.; Madhi, Shabir A.

2014-01-01

Background: Advances in molecular diagnostics have implicated newly-discovered respiratory viruses in the pathogenesis of pneumonia. We aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of human bocavirus (hBoV), human rhinovirus (hRV), polyomavirus-WU (WUPyV) and -KI (KIPyV) and human

Discovering genes underlying QTL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vanavichit, Apichart [Kasetsart University, Kamphaengsaen, Nakorn Pathom (Thailand)

2002-02-01

A map-based approach has allowed scientists to discover few genes at a time. In addition, the reproductive barrier between cultivated rice and wild relatives has prevented us from utilizing the germ plasm by a map-based approach. Most genetic traits important to agriculture or human diseases are manifested as observable, quantitative phenotypes called Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL). In many instances, the complexity of the phenotype/genotype interaction and the general lack of clearly identifiable gene products render the direct molecular cloning approach ineffective, thus additional strategies like genome mapping are required to identify the QTL in question. Genome mapping requires no prior knowledge of the gene function, but utilizes statistical methods to identify the most likely gene location. To completely characterize genes of interest, the initially mapped region of a gene location will have to be narrowed down to a size that is suitable for cloning and sequencing. Strategies for gene identification within the critical region have to be applied after the sequencing of a potentially large clone or set of clones that contains this gene(s). Tremendous success of positional cloning has been shown for cloning many genes responsible for human diseases, including cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy as well as plant disease resistance genes. Genome and QTL mapping, positional cloning: the pre-genomics era, comparative approaches to gene identification, and positional cloning: the genomics era are discussed in the report. (M. Suetake)

Mi-DISCOVERER: A bioinformatics tool for the detection of mi-RNA in human genome.

Science.gov (United States)

Arshad, Saadia; Mumtaz, Asia; Ahmad, Freed; Liaquat, Sadia; Nadeem, Shahid; Mehboob, Shahid; Afzal, Muhammad

2010-11-27

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 22 nucleotides non-coding RNAs that play pivotal regulatory roles in diverse organisms including the humans and are difficult to be identified due to lack of either sequence features or robust algorithms to efficiently identify. Therefore, we made a tool that is Mi-Discoverer for the detection of miRNAs in human genome. The tools used for the development of software are Microsoft Office Access 2003, the JDK version 1.6.0, BioJava version 1.0, and the NetBeans IDE version 6.0. All already made miRNAs softwares were web based; so the advantage of our project was to make a desktop facility to the user for sequence alignment search with already identified miRNAs of human genome present in the database. The user can also insert and update the newly discovered human miRNA in the database. Mi-Discoverer, a bioinformatics tool successfully identifies human miRNAs based on multiple sequence alignment searches. It's a non redundant database containing a large collection of publicly available human miRNAs.

SEVEN NEW BINARIES DISCOVERED IN THE KEPLER LIGHT CURVES THROUGH THE BEER METHOD CONFIRMED BY RADIAL-VELOCITY OBSERVATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faigler, S.; Mazeh, T.; Tal-Or, L.; Quinn, S. N.; Latham, D. W.

2012-01-01

We present seven newly discovered non-eclipsing short-period binary systems with low-mass companions, identified by the recently introduced BEER algorithm, applied to the publicly available 138-day photometric light curves obtained by the Kepler mission. The detection is based on the beaming effect (sometimes called Doppler boosting), which increases (decreases) the brightness of any light source approaching (receding from) the observer, enabling a prediction of the stellar Doppler radial-velocity (RV) modulation from its precise photometry. The BEER algorithm identifies the BEaming periodic modulation, with a combination of the well-known Ellipsoidal and Reflection/heating periodic effects, induced by short-period companions. The seven detections were confirmed by spectroscopic RV follow-up observations, indicating minimum secondary masses in the range 0.07-0.4 M ☉ . The binaries discovered establish for the first time the feasibility of the BEER algorithm as a new detection method for short-period non-eclipsing binaries, with the potential to detect in the near future non-transiting brown-dwarf secondaries, or even massive planets.

Authigenic carbonates from newly discovered active cold seeps on the northwestern slope of the South China Sea: Constraints on fluid sources, formation environments, and seepage dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Qianyong; Hu, Yu; Feng, Dong; Peckmann, Jörn; Chen, Linying; Yang, Shengxiong; Liang, Jinqiang; Tao, Jun; Chen, Duofu

2017-06-01

Authigenic carbonates recovered from two newly discovered active cold seeps on the northwestern slope of the South China Sea have been studied using petrography, mineralogy, stable carbon and oxygen isotopic, as well as trace element compositions, together with AMS 14C ages of shells of seep-dwelling bivalves to unravel fluid sources, formation conditions, and seepage dynamics. The two seeps (ROV1 and ROV2), referred to as 'Haima seeps' herein, are approximately 7 kilometers apart, and are typified by abundant carbonate rocks represented bycrusts and nodules. Aragonite and high-Mg calcite are the main carbonate minerals. Based on low δ13Ccarbonate values ranging from -43.0‰ to -27.5‰ (V-PDB) methane is apparently the predominant carbon source of seep carbonates. The corresponding δ18O values, varying from 2.5‰ to 5.8‰ (V-PDB), mostly are higher than calculated values representing precipitation in equilibrium with seawater (2.5‰ to 3.8‰), which probably reflects past destabilization of locally abundant gas hydrates. In addition, we found that carbonates with bivalve shells are generally aragonite-dominated, and bear no barium enrichment but uranium enrichments, reflecting shallow formation depths close to the seafloor. In contrast, carbonate crusts without bivalve shells and nodules contain more calcite, and are characterized by major molybdenum enrichment and different degrees of barium enrichment, agreeing with precipitation at greater depth under strictly anoxic conditions. AMS 14C ages suggest that a major episode of carbonate precipitation occurred between 6.1 ka and 5.1 ka BP at the Haima seeps, followed by a possibly subordinate episode from approximately 3.9 ka to 2.9 ka BP. The common occurrence of dead bivalves at both sites indicates that chemosynthesis-based communities flourished to a greater extent in the past, probably reflecting a decline of seepage activity in recent times. Overall, these results confirm that authigenic carbonates from

Elevated circulating lipasin/betatrophin in human type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Zhiyao; Berhane, Feven; Fite, Alemu; Seyoum, Berhane; Abou-Samra, Abdul B; Zhang, Ren

2014-05-23

Lipasin (also known as C19ORF80, RIFL, ANGPTL8 and betatrophin) is a newly discovered circulating factor that regulates lipid metabolism and promotes pancreatic β-cell proliferation. Whether circulating levels of lipasin in humans are altered in a) type 2 diabetes; b) obesity and c) the postprandial state, however, is unknown. The current study aimed to compare serum lipasin levels in those who were a) non-diabetic (N=15) or diabetic (BMI- and age-matched; N=14); b) lean or obese (N=53 totally) and c) fasting and 2 hours following a defined meal (N=12). Serum lipasin levels were determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Lipasin levels [mean±SEM] were increased by more than two fold (Plipasin levels were positively correlated with BMI (rho=0.49, Plipasin/betatrophin is nutritionally-regulated hepatokine that is increased in human type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Did the ancient egyptians discover Algol?

Science.gov (United States)

Jetsu, L.; Porceddu, S.; Porceddu, S.; Lyytinen, J.; Kajatkari, P.; Markkanen, T.; Toivari-Viitala, J.

2013-02-01

Fabritius discovered the first variable star, Mira, in 1596. Holwarda determined the 11 months period of Mira in 1638. Montanari discovered the next variable star, Algol, in 1669. Its period, 2.867 days, was determined by Goodricke (178). Algol was associated with demon-like creatures, "Gorgon" in ancient Greek and "ghoul" in ancient Arab mythology. This indicates that its variability was discovered much before 1669 (Wilk 1996), but this mythological evidence is ambiguous (Davis 1975). For thousands of years, the Ancient Egyptian Scribes (AES) observed stars for timekeeping in a region, where there are nearly 300 clear nights a year. We discovered a significant periodicity of 2.850 days in their calendar for lucky and unlucky days dated to 1224 BC, "the Cairo Calendar". Several astrophysical and astronomical tests supported our conclusion that this was the period of Algol three millennia ago. The "ghoulish habits" of Algol could explain this 0.017 days period increase (Battersby 2012).

[Characteristics of exosomes andmicroparticles discovered in human tears].

Science.gov (United States)

Grigor'eva, A E; Tamkovich, S N; Eremina, A V; Tupikin, A E; Kabilov, M R; Chernykh, V V; Vlassov, V V; Laktionov, P P; Ryabchikova, E I

2016-01-01

Exosomes represent a sort of extracellular vesicles, which transfer molecular signals in organism and possess markers of producing cells. Our study was aimed at search of exosomes in the tears of healthy humans, confirmation of their nature and examination of exosome morphological and molecular-biological characteristics. The tears (110-340 ml) were collected from 24 healthy donors (aged 46-60 years); individual probes were centrifuged at 20000 g for 15 min to pellet cell debris. The supernatants were examined in electron microscope using negative staining; and they were also used for isolation and purification of the exosomes by filtration (100 nm pore-size) and double ultracentrifugation (90 min at 100000 g, 4°C). The "pellets" were subjected to electron microscopy, immunolabeling. The RNA and DNA were isolated from the samples, and their sizes were evaluated by capillary electrophoresis, the concentration and localization of nucleic acids were determined. Sequencing of DNA was performed using MiSeq ("Illumina", USA), data were analyzed using CLC GW 7.5 ("Qiagen", USA). Sequences were mapped on human genome (hg19). Electron microscopy revealed in supernatants of the tears cell debris, spherical microparticles (20-40 nm), membrane vesicles and macromolecular aggregates. The "pellets" obtained after ultracentrifugation, contained microparticles (17%), spherical and cup-shaped EVs (40-100 nm, 83%), which were positive for CD63, CD9 and CD24 receptors (specific markers of exosomes). Our study showed presence of high amount of exosomes in human tears, and relation of the exosomes with RNA (size less than 200 nt) and DNA (size was 3-9 kb). Sequencing of the DNA showed that about 92% of the reads mapped to human genome.

Integrating common and rare genetic variation in diverse human populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Altshuler, David M; Gibbs, Richard A; Peltonen, Leena; Altshuler, David M; Gibbs, Richard A; Peltonen, Leena; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Schaffner, Stephen F; Yu, Fuli; Peltonen, Leena; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Bonnen, Penelope E; Altshuler, David M; Gibbs, Richard A; de Bakker, Paul I W; Deloukas, Panos; Gabriel, Stacey B; Gwilliam, Rhian; Hunt, Sarah; Inouye, Michael; Jia, Xiaoming; Palotie, Aarno; Parkin, Melissa; Whittaker, Pamela; Yu, Fuli; Chang, Kyle; Hawes, Alicia; Lewis, Lora R; Ren, Yanru; Wheeler, David; Gibbs, Richard A; Muzny, Donna Marie; Barnes, Chris; Darvishi, Katayoon; Hurles, Matthew; Korn, Joshua M; Kristiansson, Kati; Lee, Charles; McCarrol, Steven A; Nemesh, James; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Keinan, Alon; Montgomery, Stephen B; Pollack, Samuela; Price, Alkes L; Soranzo, Nicole; Bonnen, Penelope E; Gibbs, Richard A; Gonzaga-Jauregui, Claudia; Keinan, Alon; Price, Alkes L; Yu, Fuli; Anttila, Verneri; Brodeur, Wendy; Daly, Mark J; Leslie, Stephen; McVean, Gil; Moutsianas, Loukas; Nguyen, Huy; Schaffner, Stephen F; Zhang, Qingrun; Ghori, Mohammed J R; McGinnis, Ralph; McLaren, William; Pollack, Samuela; Price, Alkes L; Schaffner, Stephen F; Takeuchi, Fumihiko; Grossman, Sharon R; Shlyakhter, Ilya; Hostetter, Elizabeth B; Sabeti, Pardis C; Adebamowo, Clement A; Foster, Morris W; Gordon, Deborah R; Licinio, Julio; Manca, Maria Cristina; Marshall, Patricia A; Matsuda, Ichiro; Ngare, Duncan; Wang, Vivian Ota; Reddy, Deepa; Rotimi, Charles N; Royal, Charmaine D; Sharp, Richard R; Zeng, Changqing; Brooks, Lisa D; McEwen, Jean E

2010-09-02

Despite great progress in identifying genetic variants that influence human disease, most inherited risk remains unexplained. A more complete understanding requires genome-wide studies that fully examine less common alleles in populations with a wide range of ancestry. To inform the design and interpretation of such studies, we genotyped 1.6 million common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,184 reference individuals from 11 global populations, and sequenced ten 100-kilobase regions in 692 of these individuals. This integrated data set of common and rare alleles, called 'HapMap 3', includes both SNPs and copy number polymorphisms (CNPs). We characterized population-specific differences among low-frequency variants, measured the improvement in imputation accuracy afforded by the larger reference panel, especially in imputing SNPs with a minor allele frequency of newly discovered CNPs and SNPs. This expanded public resource of genome variants in global populations supports deeper interrogation of genomic variation and its role in human disease, and serves as a step towards a high-resolution map of the landscape of human genetic variation.

Human tuberculosis predates domestication in ancient Syria.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Oussama; Lee, Oona Y-C; Wu, Houdini H T; Besra, Gurdyal S; Minnikin, David E; Llewellyn, Gareth; Williams, Christopher M; Maixner, Frank; O'Sullivan, Niall; Zink, Albert; Chamel, Bérénice; Khawam, Rima; Coqueugniot, Eric; Helmer, Daniel; Le Mort, Françoise; Perrin, Pascale; Gourichon, Lionel; Dutailly, Bruno; Pálfi, György; Coqueugniot, Hélène; Dutour, Olivier

2015-06-01

The question of pre-neolithic tuberculosis is still open in paleopathological perspective. One of the major interests is to explore what type of infection could have existed around the early stage of animal domestication. Paleopathological lesions evoking skeletal TB were observed on five human skeletons coming from two PPNB sites in Syria, which belongs to the geographical cradle of agriculture. These sites represent respectively pre-domestication phase (Dja'de el Mughara, Northern Syria, 8800-8300 BCE cal.) and early domestication phase (Tell Aswad, Southern Syria, 8200-7600 BCE cal.). MicroCT scan analyses were performed on two specimens (one per site) and revealed microscopic changes in favor of TB infection. Detection of lipid biomarkers is positive for two specimens (one per site). Initial molecular analysis further indicates the presence of TB in one individual from Dja'de. Interestingly, no morphological evidence of TB was observed on animal remains of wild and newly domesticated species, discovered in these sites. These observations strongly suggest the presence of human tuberculosis before domestication and at its early stages. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Search strategy has influenced the discovery rate of human viruses.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenberg, Ronald; Johansson, Michael A; Powers, Ann M; Miller, Barry R

2013-08-20

A widely held concern is that the pace of infectious disease emergence has been increasing. We have analyzed the rate of discovery of pathogenic viruses, the preeminent source of newly discovered causes of human disease, from 1897 through 2010. The rate was highest during 1950-1969, after which it moderated. This general picture masks two distinct trends: for arthropod-borne viruses, which comprised 39% of pathogenic viruses, the discovery rate peaked at three per year during 1960-1969, but subsequently fell nearly to zero by 1980; however, the rate of discovery of nonarboviruses remained stable at about two per year from 1950 through 2010. The period of highest arbovirus discovery coincided with a comprehensive program supported by The Rockefeller Foundation of isolating viruses from humans, animals, and arthropod vectors at field stations in Latin America, Africa, and India. The productivity of this strategy illustrates the importance of location, approach, long-term commitment, and sponsorship in the discovery of emerging pathogens.

Discovering the Solar System

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Barrie W.

1999-04-01

Discovering the Solar System Barrie W. Jones The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK Discovering the Solar System is a comprehensive, up-to-date account of the Solar System and of the ways in which the various bodies have been investigated and modelled. The approach is thematic, with sequences of chapters on the interiors of planetary bodies, on their surfaces, and on their atmospheres. Within each sequence there is a chapter on general principles and processes followed by one or two chapters on specific bodies. There is also an introductory chapter, a chapter on the origin of the Solar System, and a chapter on asteroids, comets and meteorites. Liberally illustrated with diagrams, black and white photographs and colour plates, Discovering the Solar System also features: * tables of essential data * question and answers within the text * end of section review questions with answers and comments Discovering the Solar System is essential reading for all undergraduate students for whom astronomy or planetary science are components of their degrees, and for those at a more advanced level approaching the subject for the first time. It will also be of great interest to non-specialists with a keen interest in astronomy. A small amount of scientific knowledge is assumed plus familiarity with basic algebra and graphs. There is no calculus. Praise for this book includes: ".certainly qualifies as an authoritative text. The author clearly has an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject." Meteorics and Planetary Science ".liberally doused with relevant graphs, tables, and black and white figures of good quality." EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union ".one of the best books on the Solar System I have seen. The general accuracy and quality of the content is excellent." Journal of the British Astronomical Association

WiFi-Based Real-Time Calibration-Free Passive Human Motion Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liangyi Gong

2015-12-01

Full Text Available With the rapid development of WLAN technology, wireless device-free passive human detection becomes a newly-developing technique and holds more potential to worldwide and ubiquitous smart applications. Recently, indoor fine-grained device-free passive human motion detection based on the PHY layer information is rapidly developed. Previous wireless device-free passive human detection systems either rely on deploying specialized systems with dense transmitter-receiver links or elaborate off-line training process, which blocks rapid deployment and weakens system robustness. In the paper, we explore to research a novel fine-grained real-time calibration-free device-free passive human motion via physical layer information, which is independent of indoor scenarios and needs no prior-calibration and normal profile. We investigate sensitivities of amplitude and phase to human motion, and discover that phase feature is more sensitive to human motion, especially to slow human motion. Aiming at lightweight and robust device-free passive human motion detection, we develop two novel and practical schemes: short-term averaged variance ratio (SVR and long-term averaged variance ratio (LVR. We realize system design with commercial WiFi devices and evaluate it in typical multipath-rich indoor scenarios. As demonstrated in the experiments, our approach can achieve a high detection rate and low false positive rate.

WiFi-Based Real-Time Calibration-Free Passive Human Motion Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Liangyi; Yang, Wu; Man, Dapeng; Dong, Guozhong; Yu, Miao; Lv, Jiguang

2015-12-21

With the rapid development of WLAN technology, wireless device-free passive human detection becomes a newly-developing technique and holds more potential to worldwide and ubiquitous smart applications. Recently, indoor fine-grained device-free passive human motion detection based on the PHY layer information is rapidly developed. Previous wireless device-free passive human detection systems either rely on deploying specialized systems with dense transmitter-receiver links or elaborate off-line training process, which blocks rapid deployment and weakens system robustness. In the paper, we explore to research a novel fine-grained real-time calibration-free device-free passive human motion via physical layer information, which is independent of indoor scenarios and needs no prior-calibration and normal profile. We investigate sensitivities of amplitude and phase to human motion, and discover that phase feature is more sensitive to human motion, especially to slow human motion. Aiming at lightweight and robust device-free passive human motion detection, we develop two novel and practical schemes: short-term averaged variance ratio (SVR) and long-term averaged variance ratio (LVR). We realize system design with commercial WiFi devices and evaluate it in typical multipath-rich indoor scenarios. As demonstrated in the experiments, our approach can achieve a high detection rate and low false positive rate.

Young Debris Disks With Newly Discovered Emission Features

Science.gov (United States)

Ballering, N.

2014-04-01

We analyzed the Spitzer/IRS spectra of young A and F stars that host debris disks with previously unidentified silicate emission features. Such features probe small, warm dust grains in the inner regions of these young systems where terrestrial planet formation may be proceeding (Lisse et al. 2009). For most systems, these regions are too near their host star to be directly seen with high-contrast imaging and too warm to be imaged with submillimeter interferometers. Mid-infrared excess spectra - originating from the thermal emission of the debris disk dust - remain the best data to constrain the properties of the debris in these regions. For each target, we fit physically-motivated model spectra to the data. Typical spectra of unresolved debris disks are featureless and suffer severe degeneracies between the dust location and the grain properties; however, spectra with solid-state emission features provide significantly more information, allowing for a more accurate determination of the dust size, composition, and location (e.g. Chen et al. 2006; Olofsson et al. 2012). Our results shed light on the dynamic properties occurring in the terrestrial regions of these systems. For instance, the sizes of the smallest grains and the nature of the grain size distribution reveal whether the dust originates from steady-state collisional cascades or from stochastic collisions. The properties of the dust grains - such as their crystalline or amorphous structure - can inform us of grain processing mechanisms in the disk. The location of this debris illuminates where terrestrial planet forming activity is occurring. We used results from the Beta Pictoris - which has a well-resolved debris disk with emission features (Li et al. 2012) - to place our results in context. References: Chen et al. 2006, ApJS, 166, 351 Li et al. 2012, ApJ, 759, 81 Lisse et al. 2009, ApJ, 701, 2019 Olofsson et al. 2012, A&A, 542, A90

Lipids in newly discovered subclinical and clinical hypothyroidism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marinković Snežana

2016-01-01

Full Text Available There is a positive correlation between the levels of TSH and cholesterol levels, while levels between TSH levels triglicrerida negative correlation with the clinical and subclinical form of reduced thyroid function.

Newly Discovered Orangutan Species Requires Urgent Habitat Protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Sloan, Sean; Supriatna, Jatna; Campbell, Mason J; Alamgir, Mohammed; Laurance, William F

2018-05-03

Nater, et al.[1] recently identified a new orangutan species (Pongo tapanuliensis) in northern Sumatra, Indonesia-just the seventh described species of living great ape. The population of this critically-endangered species is perilously small, at only ∼800 individuals [1], ranking it among the planet's rarest fauna. We assert that P. tapanuliensis is highly vulnerable to extinction because its remaining habitat is small, fragmented, and poorly protected. While road incursions within its habitat are modest-road density is only one-eighth that of northern Sumatra-over one-fifth of its habitat is zoned for agricultural conversion or is comprised of mosaic agricultural and regrowth/degraded forest. Additionally, a further 8% will be affected by flooding and infrastructure development for a hydroelectric project. We recommend urgent steps to increase the chance that P. tapanuliensis will persist in the wild. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Newly discovered young CORE-SINEs in marsupial genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Munemasa, Maruo; Nikaido, Masato; Nishihara, Hidenori; Donnellan, Stephen; Austin, Christopher C; Okada, Norihiro

2008-01-15

Although recent mammalian genome projects have uncovered a large part of genomic component of various groups, several repetitive sequences still remain to be characterized and classified for particular groups. The short interspersed repetitive elements (SINEs) distributed among marsupial genomes are one example. We have identified and characterized two new SINEs from marsupial genomes that belong to the CORE-SINE family, characterized by a highly conserved "CORE" domain. PCR and genomic dot blot analyses revealed that the distribution of each SINE shows distinct patterns among the marsupial genomes, implying different timing of their retroposition during the evolution of marsupials. The members of Mar3 (Marsupialia 3) SINE are distributed throughout the genomes of all marsupials, whereas the Mac1 (Macropodoidea 1) SINE is distributed specifically in the genomes of kangaroos. Sequence alignment of the Mar3 SINEs revealed that they can be further divided into four subgroups, each of which has diagnostic nucleotides. The insertion patterns of each SINE at particular genomic loci, together with the distribution patterns of each SINE, suggest that the Mar3 SINEs have intensively amplified after the radiation of diprotodontians, whereas the Mac1 SINE has amplified only slightly after the divergence of hypsiprimnodons from other macropods. By compiling the information of CORE-SINEs characterized to date, we propose a comprehensive picture of how SINE evolution occurred in the genomes of marsupials.

Human-centred Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bason, Christian

2017-01-01

Design approaches are now being applied all over the world as a powerful approach to innovating public policies and services. Christian Bason, author of Leading public design: Discovering human-centred governance, argues that by bringing design methods into play, public managers can lead change...... with citizens at the centre, and discover a new model for steering public organisations: human-centred governance....

Production of Multiple Growth Factors by a Newly Established Human Thyroid Carcinoma Cell Line

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Yataro; Ohashi, Kensaku; Sano, Emiko; Kobayashi, Hisataka; Endo, Keigo; Naruto, Masanobu; Nakamura, Toru

1992-01-01

A multiple growth factor‐producing tumor cell line (NIM‐1) was newly established from a patient with thyroid cancer and remarkable neutrophilia. NIM‐1 cells also caused severe neutrophilia in nude mice bearing tumors. NIM‐1‐conditioned medium (NIM‐1CM) contained activities that supported not only granulocyte, macrophage and eosinophil colony formation of human bone marrow cells but also the growth of colony‐stimulating factor (CSF)‐dependent cell lines, NFS60‐KX and TF‐1. Northern blot hybridization analysis revealed the constitutive expression of granulocyte‐CSF (G‐CSF), granulocyte/macrophage‐CSF (GM‐CSF) and interleukin(IL)‐6 mRNAs in NIM‐1 cells. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) using NIM‐1CM also confirmed the production of IL‐la and a small amount of IL‐1β besides G‐CSF, GM‐CSF and IL‐6 in NIM‐1 cells. In addition, unexpected production of IL‐11 in NIM‐1 cells was detected by northern blot hybridization analysis and by bioassay using an IL‐11‐dependent cell line. Therefore, NIM‐1 cell line is shown to produce multiple cytokines including potentially megakaryopoietic growth factors such as GM‐CSF, IL‐6 and IL‐11. PMID:1372885

Analysis of Metabolic Pathways and Fluxes in a Newly Discovered Thermophilic and Ethanol-Tolerant Geobacillus Strain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, Yinjie J.; Sapra, Rajat; Joyner, Dominique; Hazen, Terry C.; Myers, Samuel; Reichmuth, David; Blanch, Harvey; Keasling, Jay D.

2009-01-20

A recently discovered thermophilic bacterium, Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius M10EXG, ferments a range of C5 (e.g., xylose) and C6 sugars (e.g., glucose) and istolerant to high ethanol concentrations (10percent, v/v). We have investigated the central metabolism of this bacterium using both in vitro enzyme assays and 13C-based flux analysis to provide insights into the physiological properties of this extremophile and explore its metabolism for bio-ethanol or other bioprocess applications. Our findings show that glucose metabolism in G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG proceeds via glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the TCA cycle; the Entner?Doudoroff pathway and transhydrogenase activity were not detected. Anaplerotic reactions (including the glyoxylate shunt, pyruvate carboxylase, and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase) were active, but fluxes through those pathways could not be accuratelydetermined using amino acid labeling. When growth conditions were switched from aerobic to micro-aerobic conditions, fluxes (based on a normalized glucose uptake rate of 100 units (g DCW)-1 h-1) through the TCA cycle and oxidative pentose phosphate pathway were reduced from 64+-3 to 25+-2 and from 30+-2 to 19+-2, respectively. The carbon flux under micro-aerobic growth was directed formate. Under fully anerobic conditions, G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG used a mixed acid fermentation process and exhibited a maximum ethanol yield of 0.38+-0.07 mol mol-1 glucose. In silico flux balance modeling demonstrates that lactate and acetate production from G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG reduces the maximum ethanol yieldby approximately threefold, thus indicating that both pathways should be modified to maximize ethanol production.

Size and frequency of gaps in newly synthesized DNA of xeroderma pigmentosum human cells irradiated with ultraviolet light

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meneghini, R.; Cordeiro-Stone, M.; Schumacher, R.I.

1981-01-01

Native newly synthesized DNA from human cells (xeroderma pigmentosum type) irradiated with ultraviolet light releases short pieces of DNA (L-DNA) when incubated with the single-strand specific S 1 nuclease. This is not observed in the case of unirradiated cells. Previous experiments had shown that the L-DNA resulted from the action of S 1 nuclease upon gaps, i.e., single-stranded DNA discontinuities in larger pieces of double-stranded DNA. We verified that the duplex L-DNA, that arises from the inter-gap regions upon S 1 nuclease treatment, has a size which approximates the distance between two pyrimidine dimers on the same strand. A method was devised to measure the size of the gaps. These parameters have been considered in the proposition of a model for DNA synthesis on a template containing pyrimidine dimers

The Human Nuclear Exosome Targeting Complex Is Loaded onto Newly Synthesized RNA to Direct Early Ribonucleolysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Lubas

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The RNA exosome complex constitutes the major nuclear eukaryotic 3′-5′ exonuclease. Outside of nucleoli, the human nucleoplasmic exosome is directed to some of its substrates by the nuclear exosome targeting (NEXT complex. How NEXT targets RNA has remained elusive. Using an in vivo crosslinking approach, we report global RNA binding sites of RBM7, a key component of NEXT. RBM7 associates broadly with RNA polymerase II-derived RNA, including pre-mRNA and short-lived exosome substrates such as promoter upstream transcripts (PROMPTs, enhancer RNAs (eRNAs, and 3′-extended products from snRNA and replication-dependent histone genes. Within pre-mRNA, RBM7 accumulates at the 3′ ends of introns, and pulse-labeling experiments demonstrate that RBM7/NEXT defines an early exosome-targeting pathway for 3′-extended snoRNAs derived from such introns. We propose that RBM7 is generally loaded onto newly synthesized RNA to accommodate exosome action in case of available unprotected RNA 3′ ends.

New insights into the catalytic mechanism of human glycine N-acyltransferase.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Sluis, Rencia; Ungerer, Vida; Nortje, Carla; A van Dijk, Alberdina; Erasmus, Elardus

2017-11-01

Even though the glycine conjugation pathway was one of the first metabolic pathways to be discovered, this pathway remains very poorly characterized. The bi-substrate kinetic parameters of a recombinant human glycine N-acyltransferase (GLYAT, E.C. 2.3.1.13) were determined using the traditional colorimetric method and a newly developed HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method. Previous studies analyzing the kinetic parameters of GLYAT, indicated a random Bi-Bi and/or ping-pong mechanism. In this study, the hippuric acid concentrations produced by the GLYAT enzyme reaction were analyzed using the allosteric sigmoidal enzyme kinetic module. Analyses of the initial rate (v) against substrate concentration plots, produced a sigmoidal curve (substrate activation) when the benzoyl-CoA concentrations was kept constant, whereas the plot with glycine concentrations kept constant, passed through a maximum (substrate inhibition). Thus, human GLYAT exhibits mechanistic kinetic cooperativity as described by the Ferdinand enzyme mechanism rather than the previously assumed Michaelis-Menten reaction mechanism. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

WiFi-Based Real-Time Calibration-Free Passive Human Motion Detection †

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Liangyi; Yang, Wu; Man, Dapeng; Dong, Guozhong; Yu, Miao; Lv, Jiguang

2015-01-01

With the rapid development of WLAN technology, wireless device-free passive human detection becomes a newly-developing technique and holds more potential to worldwide and ubiquitous smart applications. Recently, indoor fine-grained device-free passive human motion detection based on the PHY layer information is rapidly developed. Previous wireless device-free passive human detection systems either rely on deploying specialized systems with dense transmitter-receiver links or elaborate off-line training process, which blocks rapid deployment and weakens system robustness. In the paper, we explore to research a novel fine-grained real-time calibration-free device-free passive human motion via physical layer information, which is independent of indoor scenarios and needs no prior-calibration and normal profile. We investigate sensitivities of amplitude and phase to human motion, and discover that phase feature is more sensitive to human motion, especially to slow human motion. Aiming at lightweight and robust device-free passive human motion detection, we develop two novel and practical schemes: short-term averaged variance ratio (SVR) and long-term averaged variance ratio (LVR). We realize system design with commercial WiFi devices and evaluate it in typical multipath-rich indoor scenarios. As demonstrated in the experiments, our approach can achieve a high detection rate and low false positive rate. PMID:26703612

A newly isolated probiotic Enterococcus faecalis strain from vagina microbiota enhances apoptosis of human cancer cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Nami, Y; Abdullah, N; Haghshenas, B; Radiah, D; Rosli, R; Yari Khosroushahi, A

2014-08-01

This study aimed to describe probiotic properties and bio-therapeutic effects of newly isolated Enterococcus faecalis from the human vaginal tract. The Enterococcus faecalis strain was originally isolated from the vaginal microbiota of Iranian women and was molecularly identified using 16SrDNA gene sequencing. Some biochemical methodologies were preliminarily used to characterize the probiotic potential of Ent. faecalis, including antibiotic susceptibility, antimicrobial activity, as well as acid and bile resistance. The bio-therapeutic effects of this strain's secreted metabolites on four human cancer cell lines (AGS, HeLa, MCF-7 and HT-29) and one normal cell line (HUVEC) were evaluated by cytotoxicity assay and apoptosis scrutiny. The characterization results demonstrated into the isolated bacteria strain revealed probiotic properties, such as antibiotic susceptibility, antimicrobial activity and resistance under conditions similar to those in the gastrointestinal tract. Results of bio-therapeutic efficacy assessments illustrated acceptable apoptotic effects on four human cancer cell lines and negligible side effects on assayed normal cell line. Our findings revealed that the apoptotic effect of secreted metabolites mainly depended on proteins secreted by Ent. faecalis on different cancer cells. These proteins can induce the apoptosis of cancer cells. The metabolites produced by this vaginal Ent. faecalis strain can be used as alternative pharmaceutical compounds with promising therapeutic indices because they are not cytotoxic to normal mammalian cells. Accordingly, the physicochemical, structural and functional properties of the secreted anticancer substances should be further investigated before using them as anticancer therapeutics. This study aim to screen total bacterial secreted metabolites as a wealthy source to find the new active compounds to introduce as anticancer therapeutics in the future. © 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Plasmodium knowlesi from archival blood films: Further evidence that human infections are widely distributed and not newly emergent in Malaysian Borneo

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kim-Sung; Cox-Singh, Janet; Brooke, George; Matusop, Asmad; Singh, Balbir

2009-01-01

Human infections with Plasmodium knowlesi have been misdiagnosed by microscopy as Plasmodium malariae due to their morphological similarities. Although microscopy-identified P. malariae cases have been reported in the state of Sarawak (Malaysian Borno) as early as 1952, recent epidemiological studies suggest the absence of indigenous P. malariae infections. The present study aimed to determine the past incidence and distribution of P. knowlesi infections in the state of Sarawak based on archival blood films from patients diagnosed by microscopy as having P. malariae infections. Nested PCR assays were used to identify Plasmodium species in DNA extracted from 47 thick blood films collected in 1996 from patients in seven different divisions throughout the state of Sarawak. Plasmodium knowlesi DNA was detected in 35 (97.2%) of 36 blood films that were positive for Plasmodium DNA, with patients originating from all seven divisions. Only one sample was positive for P. malariae DNA. This study provides further evidence of the widespread distribution of human infections with P. knowlesi in Sarawak and its past occurrence. Taken together with data from previous studies, our findings suggest that P. knowlesi malaria is not a newly emergent disease in humans. PMID:19358848

Practicing on Newly Dead

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jewel Abraham

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A newly dead cadaver simulation is practiced on the physical remains of the dead before the onset of rigor mortis. This technique has potential benefits for providing real-life in-situ experience for novice providers in health care practices. Evolving ethical views in health care brings into question some of the ethical aspects associated with newly dead cadaver simulation in terms of justification for practice, autonomy, consent, and the need of disclosure. A clear statement of policies and procedures on newly dead cadaver simulation has yet to be implemented. Although there are benefits and disadvantages to an in-situ cadaver simulation, such practices should not be carried out in secrecy as there is no compelling evidence that suggests such training as imperative. Secrecy in these practices is a violation of honor code of nursing ethics. As health care providers, practitioners are obliged to be ethically honest and trustworthy to their patients. The author explores the ethical aspects of using newly dead cadaver simulation in training novice nursing providers to gain competency in various lifesaving skills, which otherwise cannot be practiced on a living individual. The author explores multiple views on cadaver simulation in relation to ethical theories and practices such as consent and disclosure to family.

Discovering workflow nets using integer linear programming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Zelst, S.J.; van Dongen, B.F.; van der Aalst, W.M.P.; Verbeek, H.M.W.

Process mining is concerned with the analysis, understanding and improvement of business processes. Process discovery, i.e. discovering a process model based on an event log, is considered the most challenging process mining task. State-of-the-art process discovery algorithms only discover local

Discovering Diabetes Complications: an Ontology Based Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Daghistani, Tahani; Shammari, Riyad Al; Razzak, Muhammad Imran

2015-12-01

Diabetes is a serious disease that spread in the world dramatically. The diabetes patient has an average of risk to experience complications. Take advantage of recorded information to build ontology as information technology solution will help to predict patients who have average of risk level with certain complication. It is helpful to search and present patient's history regarding different risk factors. Discovering diabetes complications could be useful to prevent or delay the complications. We designed ontology based model, using adult diabetes patients' data, to discover the rules of diabetes with its complications in disease to disease relationship. Various rules between different risk factors of diabetes Patients and certain complications generated. Furthermore, new complications (diseases) might be discovered as new finding of this study, discovering diabetes complications could be useful to prevent or delay the complications. The system can identify the patients who are suffering from certain risk factors such as high body mass index (obesity) and starting controlling and maintaining plan.

Detection of Human Bocavirus DNA by Multiplex PCR Analysis: Postmortem Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nihan Ziyade

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Human bocavirus (HBoV is a virus belonging to the Parvoviridae family, which has been newly discovered to be associated with respiratory tract infections in children. There are many reports worldwide on the endemicity of this virus. Since it is relatively new, it is not routinely detected in clinical laboratory investigations. Case Report: We demonstrated that HBoV infection caused the death of a 5-month-old girl with a history of high fever and wheezing. Human bocavirus (HBoV 1/2/3/4 was found in a nasopharyngeal swab, paraffin-embedded lung tissue and stool samples by multiplex PCR methods using postmortem microbiological analysis. Conclusion: This case suggests that lower respiratory tract infections due to HBoV may cause severe and life-threatening diseases. Postmortem microbiology is useful in both clinical and forensic autopsies, and allows a suspected infection to be confirmed. To our knowledge, this report is the first document of a HBoV postmortem case in Turkey.

Detection of driver metabolites in the human liver metabolic network using structural controllability analysis

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Abnormal states in human liver metabolism are major causes of human liver diseases ranging from hepatitis to hepatic tumor. The accumulation in relevant data makes it feasible to derive a large-scale human liver metabolic network (HLMN) and to discover important biological principles or drug-targets based on network analysis. Some studies have shown that interesting biological phenomenon and drug-targets could be discovered by applying structural controllability analysis (which is a newly prevailed concept in networks) to biological networks. The exploration on the connections between structural controllability theory and the HLMN could be used to uncover valuable information on the human liver metabolism from a fresh perspective. Results We applied structural controllability analysis to the HLMN and detected driver metabolites. The driver metabolites tend to have strong ability to influence the states of other metabolites and weak susceptibility to be influenced by the states of others. In addition, the metabolites were classified into three classes: critical, high-frequency and low-frequency driver metabolites. Among the identified 36 critical driver metabolites, 27 metabolites were found to be essential; the high-frequency driver metabolites tend to participate in different metabolic pathways, which are important in regulating the whole metabolic systems. Moreover, we explored some other possible connections between the structural controllability theory and the HLMN, and find that transport reactions and the environment play important roles in the human liver metabolism. Conclusion There are interesting connections between the structural controllability theory and the human liver metabolism: driver metabolites have essential biological functions; the crucial role of extracellular metabolites and transport reactions in controlling the HLMN highlights the importance of the environment in the health of human liver metabolism. PMID:24885538

Genome characterisation of the newly discovered avian influenza A H5N7 virus subtype combination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bragstad, K.; Jørgensen, Poul Henrik; Handberg, K.J.

2007-01-01

In Denmark, in 2003, a previously unknown subtype combination of avian influenza A virus, H5N7 (A/Mallard/Denmark/64650/03), was isolated from a flock of 12,000 mallards. The H5N7 subtype combination might be a reassortant between recent European avian influenza A H5, H7, and a third subtype......) and the human-fatal A/Netherlands/219/03 (H7N7), respectively. The basic polymerase 1 and 2 genes were phylogenetically equidistant to both A/Duck/Denmark/65047/04 (H5N2) and A/Chicken/Netherlands/1/03 (H7N7). The nucleoprotein and matrix gene had highest nucleotide sequence similarity to the H6 subtypes A....../Duck/Hong Kong/3096/99 (H6N2) and A/WDk/ST/1737/2000 (H6N8), respectively. All genes of the H5N7 strain were of avian origin, and no further evidence of pathogenicity to humans has been found....

Phenomenological Modeling of Newly Discovered Eclipsing Binary 2MASS J18024395 + 4003309 = VSX J180243.9+400331

Science.gov (United States)

Andronov, Ivan L.; Kim, Yonggi; Kim, Young-Hee; Yoon, Joh-Na; Chinarova, Lidia L.; Tkachenko, Mariia G.

2015-06-01

We present a by-product of our long term photometric monitoring of cataclysmic variables. 2MASS J18024395 +4003309 = VSX J180243.9 +400331 was discovered in the field of the intermediate polar V1323 Her observed using the Korean 1-m telescope located at Mt. Lemmon, USA. An analysis of the two-color VR CCD observations of this variable covers all the phase intervals for the first time. The light curves show this object can be classified as an Algol-type variable with tidally distorted components, and an asymmetry of the maxima (the O'Connell effect). The periodogram analysis confirms the cycle numbering of Andronov et al. (2012) and for the initial approximation, the ephemeris is used as follows: Min I. BJD = 2456074.4904+0.3348837E . For phenomenological modeling, we used the trigonometric polynomial approximation of statistically optimal degree, and a recent method "NAV" ("New Algol Variable") using local specific shapes for the eclipse. Methodological aspects and estimates of the physical parameters based on analysis of phenomenological parameters are presented. As results of our phenomenological model, we obtained for the inclination i=90°, M1=0.745M⊙, M2=0.854M⊙, M=M1+M2=1.599M⊙, the orbital separation a=1.65°109m=2.37R⊙ and relative radii r1=R1/a=0.314 and r2=R2/a=0.360. These estimates may be used as preliminary starting values for further modeling using extended physical models based on the Wilson & Devinney (1971) code and it's extensions

Discovering Wavelets

CERN Document Server

Aboufadel, Edward

1999-01-01

An accessible and practical introduction to wavelets. With applications in image processing, audio restoration, seismology, and elsewhere, wavelets have been the subject of growing excitement and interest over the past several years. Unfortunately, most books on wavelets are accessible primarily to research mathematicians. Discovering Wavelets presents basic and advanced concepts of wavelets in a way that is accessible to anyone with only a fundamental knowledge of linear algebra. The basic concepts of wavelet theory are introduced in the context of an explanation of how the FBI uses wavelets

Newly introduced sample preparation techniques: towards miniaturization.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Rosaria

2014-01-01

Sampling and sample preparation are of crucial importance in an analytical procedure, representing quite often a source of errors. The technique chosen for the isolation of analytes greatly affects the success of a chemical determination. On the other hand, growing concerns about environmental and human safety, along with the introduction of international regulations for quality control, have moved the interest of scientists towards specific needs. Newly introduced sample preparation techniques are challenged to meet new criteria: (i) miniaturization, (ii) higher sensitivity and selectivity, and (iii) automation. In this survey, the most recent techniques introduced in the field of sample preparation will be described and discussed, along with many examples of applications.

Newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voldbjerg, Siri Lygum; Grønkjaer, Mette; Sørensen, Erik Elgaard

2016-01-01

AIM: To advance evidence on newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources. BACKGROUND: Clinical decisions need to be evidence-based and understanding the knowledge sources that newly graduated nurses use will inform both education and practice. Qualitative studies on newly graduated nurses' use...... underscoring progression in knowledge use and perception of competence and confidence among newly graduated nurses. CONCLUSION: The transition phase, feeling of confidence and ability to use critical thinking and reflection, has a great impact on knowledge sources incorporated in clinical decisions....... The synthesis accentuates that for use of newly graduated nurses' qualifications and skills in evidence-based practice, clinical practice needs to provide a supportive environment which nurtures critical thinking and questions and articulates use of multiple knowledge sources....

Structure homology and interaction redundancy for discovering virus–host protein interactions

Science.gov (United States)

de Chassey, Benoît; Meyniel-Schicklin, Laurène; Aublin-Gex, Anne; Navratil, Vincent; Chantier, Thibaut; André, Patrice; Lotteau, Vincent

2013-01-01

Virus–host interactomes are instrumental to understand global perturbations of cellular functions induced by infection and discover new therapies. The construction of such interactomes is, however, technically challenging and time consuming. Here we describe an original method for the prediction of high-confidence interactions between viral and human proteins through a combination of structure and high-quality interactome data. Validation was performed for the NS1 protein of the influenza virus, which led to the identification of new host factors that control viral replication. PMID:24008843

Structure homology and interaction redundancy for discovering virus-host protein interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

de Chassey, Benoît; Meyniel-Schicklin, Laurène; Aublin-Gex, Anne; Navratil, Vincent; Chantier, Thibaut; André, Patrice; Lotteau, Vincent

2013-10-01

Virus-host interactomes are instrumental to understand global perturbations of cellular functions induced by infection and discover new therapies. The construction of such interactomes is, however, technically challenging and time consuming. Here we describe an original method for the prediction of high-confidence interactions between viral and human proteins through a combination of structure and high-quality interactome data. Validation was performed for the NS1 protein of the influenza virus, which led to the identification of new host factors that control viral replication.

Prognostic values of tumor endothelial markers in patients with colorectal cancer

OpenAIRE

Rmali, KA; Puntis, MCA; Jiang, WG

2005-01-01

AIM: Tumor endothelial markers (TEMs) are a newly discovered family of endothelial markers associated with tumor specific angiogenesis. This study sought to examine the levels of expression (qualitatively and quantitatively) for TEMs in human colon cancer.

Characterization of a Newly Discovered Symbiont of the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

Science.gov (United States)

Bing, Xiao-Li; Yang, Jiao; Zchori-Fein, Einat; Wang, Xiao-Wei

2013-01-01

Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a species complex containing >28 cryptic species, some of which are important crop pests worldwide. Like many other sap-sucking insects, whiteflies harbor an obligatory symbiont, “Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum,” and a number of secondary symbionts. So far, six genera of secondary symbionts have been identified in B. tabaci. In this study, we report and describe the finding of an additional bacterium in the indigenous B. tabaci cryptic species China 1 (formerly known as B. tabaci biotype ZHJ3). Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA and gltA genes showed that the bacterium belongs to the Alphaproteobacteria subdivision of the Proteobacteria and has a close relationship with human pathogens of the genus Orientia. Consequently, we temporarily named it Orientia-like organism (OLO). OLO was found in six of eight wild populations of B. tabaci China 1, with the infection rate ranging from 46.2% to 76.8%. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of B. tabaci China 1 in nymphs and adults revealed that OLOs are confined to the bacteriome and co-occur with “Ca. Portiera aleyrodidarum.” The vertical transmission of OLO was demonstrated by detection of OLO at the anterior pole end of the oocytes through FISH. Quantitative PCR analysis of population dynamics suggested a complex interaction between “Ca. Portiera aleyrodidarum” and OLO. Based on these results, we propose “Candidatus Hemipteriphilus asiaticus” for the classification of this symbiont from B. tabaci. PMID:23144129

CLIP-seq analysis of multi-mapped reads discovers novel functional RNA regulatory sites in the human transcriptome.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zijun; Xing, Yi

2017-09-19

Crosslinking or RNA immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (CLIP-seq or RIP-seq) allows transcriptome-wide discovery of RNA regulatory sites. As CLIP-seq/RIP-seq reads are short, existing computational tools focus on uniquely mapped reads, while reads mapped to multiple loci are discarded. We present CLAM (CLIP-seq Analysis of Multi-mapped reads). CLAM uses an expectation-maximization algorithm to assign multi-mapped reads and calls peaks combining uniquely and multi-mapped reads. To demonstrate the utility of CLAM, we applied it to a wide range of public CLIP-seq/RIP-seq datasets involving numerous splicing factors, microRNAs and m6A RNA methylation. CLAM recovered a large number of novel RNA regulatory sites inaccessible by uniquely mapped reads. The functional significance of these sites was demonstrated by consensus motif patterns and association with alternative splicing (splicing factors), transcript abundance (AGO2) and mRNA half-life (m6A). CLAM provides a useful tool to discover novel protein-RNA interactions and RNA modification sites from CLIP-seq and RIP-seq data, and reveals the significant contribution of repetitive elements to the RNA regulatory landscape of the human transcriptome. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Phenomenological Modeling of Newly Discovered Eclipsing Binary 2MASS J18024395 + 4003309 = VSX J180243.9+400331

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan L. Andronov

2015-06-01

Full Text Available We present a by-product of our long term photometric monitoring of cataclysmic variables. 2MASS J18024395 +4003309 = VSX J180243.9 +400331 was discovered in the field of the intermediate polar V1323 Her observed using the Korean 1-m telescope located at Mt. Lemmon, USA. An analysis of the two-color VR CCD observations of this variable covers all the phase intervals for the first time. The light curves show this object can be classified as an Algol-type variable with tidally distorted components, and an asymmetry of the maxima (the O’Connell effect. The periodogram analysis confirms the cycle numbering of Andronov et al. (2012 and for the initial approximation, the ephemeris is used as follows: Min I. BJD = 2456074.4904+0.3348837E . For phenomenological modeling, we used the trigonometric polynomial approximation of statistically optimal degree, and a recent method “NAV” (“New Algol Variable” using local specific shapes for the eclipse. Methodological aspects and estimates of the physical parameters based on analysis of phenomenological parameters are presented. As results of our phenomenological model, we obtained for the inclination i=90°, M1=0.745M◉, M2=0.854M◉, M=M1+M2=1.599M◉, the orbital separation a=1.65·109m=2.37R◉ and relative radii r1=R1/a=0.314 and r2=R2/a=0.360. These estimates may be used as preliminary starting values for further modeling using extended physical models based on the Wilson & Devinney (1971 code and it's extensions

Comparison of pharmacokinetics of newly discovered aromatase inhibitors by a cassette microdosing approach in healthy Japanese subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Kusuhara, Hiroyuki; Takashima, Tadayuki; Fujii, Hisako; Takashima, Tsutomu; Tanaka, Masaaki; Ishii, Akira; Tazawa, Shusaku; Takahashi, Kazuhiro; Takahashi, Kayo; Tokai, Hidekichi; Yano, Tsuneo; Kataoka, Makoto; Inano, Akihiro; Yoshida, Suguru; Hosoya, Takamitsu; Sugiyama, Yuichi; Yamashita, Shinji; Hojo, Taisuke; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi

2017-12-01

The aim of the present study is to investigate the pharmacokinetics of our newly developed aromatase inhibitors (cetrozole and TMD-322) in healthy subjects by a cassette microdose strategy. A cocktail of cetrozole and TMD-322 was administered intravenously or orally (1.98 μg for each drug) to six healthy volunteers in a crossover fashion. Anastrozole (1.98 μg) was also included in the oral cocktail. Total body clearance and bioavailability were 12.1 ± 7.1 mL/min/kg and 34.9 ± 32.3% for cetrozole, and 16.8 ± 3.5 mL/min/kg and 18.4 ± 12.2% for TMD-322, respectively. The area under the plasma concentration-time curves of cetrozole and TMD-322 after oral administration was markedly lower than that of anastrozole because of their high hepatic clearance. Two subjects out of six exhibited 4- and 17-fold larger exposure of cetrozole than the others following intravenous and oral administration, respectively. Such variation was not observed for TMD-322 and anastrozole. Extensive metabolism of cetrozole and TMD-322 was observed in the CYP2C19 expression system among the test CYP isoforms (CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4). We report the first clinical investigation of our aromatase inhibitors by a cassette microdose strategy in healthy Japanese subjects. This strategy offers an optional approach for candidate selection as a phase zero study in drug development. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The potential of the ILC for discovering new particles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujii, Keisuke [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Ibaraki (Japan); Grojean, Christophe [DESY, Hamburg (Germany); Humboldt-Univ., Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik; ICREA, Barcelona (Spain); Peskin, Michael E. [Stanford Univ., Menlo Park, CA (United States). SLAC; Collaboration: LCC Physics Working Group; and others

2017-02-15

This paper addresses the question of whether the International Linear Collider has the capability of discovering new particles that have not already been discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We summarize the various paths to discovery offered by the ILC, and discuss them in the context of three different scenarios: 1. LHC does not discover any new particles, 2. LHC discovers some new low mass states and 3. LHC discovers new heavy particles. We will show that in each case, ILC plays a critical role in discovery of new phenomena and in pushing forward the frontiers of high-energy physics as well as our understanding of the universe in a manner which is highly complementary to that of LHC. For the busy reader, a two-page executive summary is provided at the beginning of the document.

The potential of the ILC for discovering new particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujii, Keisuke; Grojean, Christophe; Peskin, Michael E.

2017-02-01

This paper addresses the question of whether the International Linear Collider has the capability of discovering new particles that have not already been discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We summarize the various paths to discovery offered by the ILC, and discuss them in the context of three different scenarios: 1. LHC does not discover any new particles, 2. LHC discovers some new low mass states and 3. LHC discovers new heavy particles. We will show that in each case, ILC plays a critical role in discovery of new phenomena and in pushing forward the frontiers of high-energy physics as well as our understanding of the universe in a manner which is highly complementary to that of LHC. For the busy reader, a two-page executive summary is provided at the beginning of the document.

Noble Gas geochemistry of the newly discovered hydrothermal fields in the Gulf of California: preliminary He-isotope ratios from the Alarcon Rise and Pescadero basin vent sites

Science.gov (United States)

Spelz, R. M.; Lupton, J. E.; Evans, L. J.; Zierenberg, R. A.; Clague, D. A.; Neumann, F.; Paduan, J. B.

2015-12-01

Numerous submarine deep-sea hydrothermal vents related to volcanic activity of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) are situated along the Pacific margins of Mexico. Until recently, active hydrothermal venting was unknown between the Guaymas Basin and 21°N on the EPR. MBARI's recent oceanographic surveys have added 7 new active vent sites. In this study, we aimed to sample the high-temperature hydrothermal fluids emanating from two distinct vent sites, named Meyibo and Auka, located in the Alarcon Rise and Pescadero Basin, respectively. Mantle-derived He have long been identified in hydrothermal fluid releases. The presence of He in aqueous fluids with 3He/4He ratios greater than in-situ production values (~0.05 RA, where RA = air He or 1.4 x 10-6) indicates the presence of mantle-derived melts. Preliminary analyses of He-isotope ratios derived from the newly discovered Meyibo and Auka hydrothermal fields show high 3He/4He ratios (~8RA), typical of MORB's. Auka vent field, characterized by chimneys composed of light carbonate minerals and oil-like hydrocarbons, and temperatures between 250-290oC, show average values of ~7.87RA. In contrast, the black-smokers at the Meyibo field, composed of dark sulfide minerals and temperatures over 350oC, yielded a higher He ratio of ~8.24RA. Recently, it has become clear that regional maximum mantle He values correlate with the velocity structure in the mantle, therefore, He has the potential to map regions of the underlying mantle that are undergoing partial melting. Seismic records could then be compared with the geochemical He ratio signal and supply information regarding tectonics and other processes involved in the generation of these gases. The data presented here will be completing a totally new inventory of He results from hydrothermal vents in the EPR and fault-termination basins distributed along the P-NA plate boundary in the Gulf of California. The results will be further coupled with the analysis of other geochemical

Discovering Multimodal Behavior in Ms. Pac-Man through Evolution of Modular Neural Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Schrum, Jacob; Miikkulainen, Risto

2016-03-12

Ms. Pac-Man is a challenging video game in which multiple modes of behavior are required: Ms. Pac-Man must escape ghosts when they are threats and catch them when they are edible, in addition to eating all pills in each level. Past approaches to learning behavior in Ms. Pac-Man have treated the game as a single task to be learned using monolithic policy representations. In contrast, this paper uses a framework called Modular Multi-objective NEAT (MM-NEAT) to evolve modular neural networks. Each module defines a separate behavior. The modules are used at different times according to a policy that can be human-designed (i.e. Multitask) or discovered automatically by evolution. The appropriate number of modules can be fixed or discovered using a genetic operator called Module Mutation. Several versions of Module Mutation are evaluated in this paper. Both fixed modular networks and Module Mutation networks outperform monolithic networks and Multitask networks. Interestingly, the best networks dedicate modules to critical behaviors (such as escaping when surrounded after luring ghosts near a power pill) that do not follow the customary division of the game into chasing edible and escaping threat ghosts. The results demonstrate that MM-NEAT can discover interesting and effective behavior for agents in challenging games.

Tick-borne pathogen – Reversed and conventional discovery of disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ellen eTijsse Klasen

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Molecular methods have increased the number of known microorganisms associated with ticks significantly. Some of these newly identified microorganisms are readily linked to human disease while others are yet unknown to cause human disease. The face of tick-borne disease discovery has changed with more diseases now being discovered in a ‘reversed way’, detecting disease cases only years after the tick-borne microorganism was first discovered. Compared to the conventional discovery of infectious diseases, this order of discoveries presents researchers with new challenges. Especially estimating public health risks of such agents is challenging, as case definitions and diagnostic procedures may initially be missing. We discuss the advantages and shortcomings of molecular methods, serology, epidemiological studies that might be used to study some fundamental questions regarding newly identified tick-borne diseases. With increased tick-exposure and improved detection methods, more tick-borne microorganisms will be added to the list of pathogens causing disease in humans in future.

The newly-discovered Late Cretaceous igneous rocks in the Nuocang district: Products of ancient crust melting trigged by Neo-Tethyan slab rollback in the western Gangdese

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jun-Sheng; Zheng, You-Ye; Gao, Shun-Bao; Zhang, Yong-Chao; Huang, Jian; Liu, Jun; Wu, Song; Xu, Jing; Huang, Liang-Liang

2018-05-01

The newly discovered polymetallic Nuocang Pb-Zn skarn deposit is located in the southern Lhasa subterrane, western Gangdese, Tibet. The orebodies occur primarily at the contact zone between the Angjie Formation and the Linzizong volcanic rocks of Dianzhong Formation (LDF) that are dominated by basaltic andesitic tuff and rhyolite. Zircon U-Pb dating for two granite porphyries yield ages of 72.4 ± 0.2 Ma and 73.4 ± 0.9 Ma, which are different from the ages ( 69-60 Ma) of the LDF in the eastern Gangdese. The basaltic andesite tuff at Nuocang exhibits enrichment of MgO, TiO2, LILE, and LREE, with a relative depletion of SiO2, K2O, HFSE, and HREE, low Sr/Y ratios (32.9-38.0), and weak negative Eu anomalies (mean 0.86). They have 87Sr/86Sr(i) from 0.70695 to 0.70807 and εNd(t) values between -4.3 and -5.9. These features are similar to the Linzizong volcanic rocks of Dianzhong Formation in the Linzhou basin, indicating that they were associated with partial melting of mantle wedge mixing with 25-35% ancient Lhasa terrane basement. The rhyolite and granite porphyry show high SiO2 and K2O, and low Sr/Y ratio (1.2-9.9), enrichment of LILE and LREE and strong depletion of the HFSEs. They have pronounced negative Eu anomalies (mean 0.46), and εHf (t) values of the granite porphyry zircons range from -22.0 to -6.0. All these features suggest that they are the product of anatexis of ancient crustal materials heated by mantle-derived magma, the latter derived from Neo-Tethyan slab dehydration mechanisms. Combined with the previous geochronological and geochemical data, we proposed that the Nuocang district of western Gangdese in the southern Lhasa subterrane contains an ancient block, and the igneous rocks here were triggered by the Neo-Tethyan slab rollback starting at 82 Ma. The western Gangdese contains more ancient continental crustal materials and Late Cretaceous-Eocene Linzizong volcanic rocks and coeval intrusions than in the eastern Gangdese. Thus the western

DISCOVER-AQ: an innovative approach to study the vertical distribution of air quality constituents in the Earth's atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Wisthaler, Armin; Crawford, James H.; Müller, Markus; Mikoviny, Tomas; Cady-Pereira, Karen E.

2014-05-01

DISCOVER-AQ (Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality) is a multi-year NASA research project to improve remote sensing of air quality from space. Satellite-based measurements of air pollutants typically provide information integrated over the total atmospheric column while it is the lowermost part of the atmosphere that is of interest from a public health perspective. DISCOVER-AQ has implemented a new field observation strategy to collect a comprehensive dataset on the vertical distribution of air pollutants in the atmosphere. In situ measurements from the NASA P-3B Airborne Science Laboratory generate profile information of air quality constituents over a set of selected ground monitoring sites. Ground and profile information is tied to column information collected by active and passive remote sensors looking downward from a second King Air aircraft flying higher in the atmosphere above the P-3B. Vertical profiles of air pollutants are measured repetitively during different times of the day and under different meteorological conditions occurring in the timeframe of 1-month field campaigns. Targeted regions in the U.S. affected by poor air quality include the Washington/Baltimore metropolitan area (June/July 2011), the San Joaquin Valley in California (January/February 2013), the Houston metropolitan area (September 2013) and the Northern Front Range area in Colorado (June/July 2014). Herein, we will present the DISCOVER-AQ project to the European community and show preliminary analyses of the obtained data. The latter will focus on non-methane hydrocarbons and ammonia, being the species measured by our newly developed airborne PTR-ToF-MS instrument (see session AS4.17). In situ ammonia data collected over the San Joaquin Valley are in promising agreement with satellite data obtained from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES). Web site: http://discover-aq.larc.nasa.gov/ Funding

The magnapinnidae, a newly discovered family of oceanic Squid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A peculiar squid paralarva from Hawaiian waters was described by Young (1991, Bull. mar. Sci. 49(1–2): 162–185), but it could not be assigned to any known family. Two larger juvenile specimens have now been obtained, one collected near the surface in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the other rehydrated from a dried ...

Newly discovered IRAS QSO close to the Galactic plane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strauss, M.A.; Kirhakos, S.D.; Yahil, A.

1988-01-01

CCD observations of the IRAS QSO candidate I09149-6206 performed at CTIO during December 1987 are reported, including 564-806-nm spectroscopy obtained with the 1.5-m telescope and direct UVBRI imaging obtained with the 0.91-m telescope. The data are presented in tables and graphs and characterized in detail. It is found that the source is surrounded by a faint fuzz with low surface brightness and strong forbidden O III lines. Parameters determined include redshift z = 0.0571, Galactic latitude -9.2 deg, V magnitude 13.55, Galactic reddening E(B-V) = about 0.23, and absolute V magnitude about -24.87. 33 references

Verification of the anatomy and newly discovered histology of the G-spot complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrzenski, A; Krajewski, P; Ganjei-Azar, P; Wasiutynski, A J; Scheinberg, M N; Tarka, S; Fudalej, M

2014-10-01

To expand the anatomical investigations of the G-spot and to assess the G-spot's characteristic histological and immunohistochemical features. An observational study. International multicentre. Eight consecutive fresh human female cadavers. Anterior vaginal wall dissections were executed and G-spot microdissections were performed. All specimens were stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The tissues of two women were selected at random for immunohistochemical staining. The primary outcome measure was to document the anatomy of the G-spot. The secondary outcome measures were to identify the histology of the G-spot and to determine whether histological samples stained with H&E are sufficient to identify the G-spot. The anatomical existence of the G-spot was identified in all women and was in a diagonal plane. In seven (87.5%) and one (12.5%) of the women the G-spot complex was found on the left or right side, respectively. The G-spot was intimately fused with vessels, creating a complex. A large tangled vein-like vascular structure resembled an arteriovenous malformation and there were a few smaller feeding arteries. A band-like structure protruded from the tail of the G-spot. The size of the G-spot varied. Histologically, the G-spot was determined as a neurovascular complex structure. The neural component contained abundant peripheral nerve bundles and a nerve ganglion. The vascular component comprised large vein-like vessels and smaller feeding arteries. Circular and longitudinal muscles covered the G-complex. The anatomy of the G-spot complex was confirmed. The histology of the G-spot presents as neurovascular tissues with a nerve ganglion. H&E staining is sufficient for the identification of the G-spot complex. © 2014 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Rapid forest clearing in a Myanmar proposed national park threatens two newly discovered species of geckos (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grant M Connette

Full Text Available Myanmar's recent transition from military rule towards a more democratic government has largely ended decades of political and economic isolation. Although Myanmar remains heavily forested, increased development in recent years has been accompanied by exceptionally high rates of forest loss. In this study, we document the rapid progression of deforestation in and around the proposed Lenya National Park, which includes some of the largest remaining areas of lowland evergreen rainforest in mainland Southeast Asia. The globally unique forests in this area are rich in biodiversity and remain a critical stronghold for many threatened and endangered species, including large charismatic fauna such as tiger and Asian elephant. We also conducted a rapid assessment survey of the herpetofauna of the proposed national park, which resulted in the discovery of two new species of bent-toed geckos, genus Cyrtodactylus. We describe these new species, C. lenya sp. nov. and C. payarhtanensis sp. nov., which were found in association with karst (i.e., limestone rock formations within mature lowland wet evergreen forest. The two species were discovered less than 35 km apart and are each known from only a single locality. Because of the isolated nature of the karst formations in the proposed Lenya National Park, these geckos likely have geographical ranges restricted to the proposed protected area and are threatened by approaching deforestation. Although lowland evergreen rainforest has vanished from most of continental Southeast Asia, Myanmar can still take decisive action to preserve one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.

Rapid forest clearing in a Myanmar proposed national park threatens two newly discovered species of geckos (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus).

Science.gov (United States)

Connette, Grant M; Oswald, Patrick; Thura, Myint Kyaw; LaJeunesse Connette, Katherine J; Grindley, Mark E; Songer, Melissa; Zug, George R; Mulcahy, Daniel G

2017-01-01

Myanmar's recent transition from military rule towards a more democratic government has largely ended decades of political and economic isolation. Although Myanmar remains heavily forested, increased development in recent years has been accompanied by exceptionally high rates of forest loss. In this study, we document the rapid progression of deforestation in and around the proposed Lenya National Park, which includes some of the largest remaining areas of lowland evergreen rainforest in mainland Southeast Asia. The globally unique forests in this area are rich in biodiversity and remain a critical stronghold for many threatened and endangered species, including large charismatic fauna such as tiger and Asian elephant. We also conducted a rapid assessment survey of the herpetofauna of the proposed national park, which resulted in the discovery of two new species of bent-toed geckos, genus Cyrtodactylus. We describe these new species, C. lenya sp. nov. and C. payarhtanensis sp. nov., which were found in association with karst (i.e., limestone) rock formations within mature lowland wet evergreen forest. The two species were discovered less than 35 km apart and are each known from only a single locality. Because of the isolated nature of the karst formations in the proposed Lenya National Park, these geckos likely have geographical ranges restricted to the proposed protected area and are threatened by approaching deforestation. Although lowland evergreen rainforest has vanished from most of continental Southeast Asia, Myanmar can still take decisive action to preserve one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.

Cross-Linking Mast Cell Specific Gangliosides Stimulates the Release of Newly Formed Lipid Mediators and Newly Synthesized Cytokines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edismauro Garcia Freitas Filho

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Mast cells are immunoregulatory cells that participate in inflammatory processes. Cross-linking mast cell specific GD1b derived gangliosides by mAbAA4 results in partial activation of mast cells without the release of preformed mediators. The present study examines the release of newly formed and newly synthesized mediators following ganglioside cross-linking. Cross-linking the gangliosides with mAbAA4 released the newly formed lipid mediators, prostaglandins D2 and E2, without release of leukotrienes B4 and C4. The effect of cross-linking these gangliosides on the activation of enzymes in the arachidonate cascade was then investigated. Ganglioside cross-linking resulted in phosphorylation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 and increased expression of cyclooxygenase-2. Translocation of 5-lipoxygenase from the cytosol to the nucleus was not induced by ganglioside cross-linking. Cross-linking of GD1b derived gangliosides also resulted in the release of the newly synthesized mediators, interleukin-4, interleukin-6, and TNF-α. The effect of cross-linking the gangliosides on the MAP kinase pathway was then investigated. Cross-linking the gangliosides induced the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK1/2, and p38 as well as activating both NFκB and NFAT in a Syk-dependent manner. Therefore, cross-linking the mast cell specific GD1b derived gangliosides results in the activation of signaling pathways that culminate with the release of newly formed and newly synthesized mediators.

Newly Homeless Youth Typically Return Home

OpenAIRE

Milburn, Norweeta G.; Rosenthal, Doreen; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane; Mallett, Shelley; Batterham, Philip; Rice, Eric; Solorio, Rosa

2007-01-01

165 newly homeless adolescents from Melbourne, Australia and 261 from Los Angeles, United States were surveyed and followed for two years. Most newly homeless adolescents returned home (70% U.S., 47% Australia) for significant amounts of time (39% U.S., 17% Australia more than 12 months) within two years of becoming homeless.

Nano-Medicine as a Newly Emerging Approach to Combat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Science.gov (United States)

Saravanan, Muthupandian; Asmalash, Tsehaye; Gebrekidan, Atsebaha; Gebreegziabiher, Dawit; Araya, Tadele; Hilekiros, Haftamu; Barabadi, Hamed; Ramanathan, Kumaresan

2018-01-01

Human Immuno deficiency Virus (HIV) infection has attained pandemic level due to its complexity on both the HIV infection cycle and on the targets for drug delivery. This limits medication and consequently requires prominent and promising drug delivery systems to be invented. Notably, various nanomaterial have been studied to enhance effective delivery of the antiretroviral drugs for HIV prevention, diagnosis and cure. Some of these nanomaterials are liposomes, dendrimers, inorganic nanoparticles (NPs), polymeric micelles, natural and synthetic polymers. The present study aimed to review the recent progress in nanomedicine as a newly emerging approach to combat HIV. The scientific data bases reviewed carefully to find both in vitro and in vivo studies representing the role of nonomedicine to combat HIV. Impressively, nanomedicine drug delivery systems have been commendable in various models ranging from in vitro to in vivo. It gives notion about the application of nano-carrier systems for the delivery of anti-retroviral drugs which ideally should provide better distribution to surpass Blood- Brain Barrier (BBB) and other tissue or to overcome innate barriers such as mucus. Considerably, nanomaterials such as dendrimers and many other inorganic NPs such as silver, gold, iron, and zinc can be used for HIV treatment by interfering in varying stages of HIV life cycle. Furthermore, NPs could best act as adjuvants, convoys during vaccine delivery, as intra-vaginal microbicides and for the early detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen. Nanomedicine may be a proper approach in HIV/AIDS therapy by means of offering lower dosage and side effect, better patient-to-patient consistency, bioavailability, target specificity and improved sensitivity of HIV diagnosis. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Discover Patterns and Mobility of Twitter Users—A Study of Four US College Cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yue Li

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Geo-tagged tweets provide useful implications for studies in human geography, urban science, location-based services, targeted advertising, and social network. This research aims to discover the patterns and mobility of Twitter users by analyzing the spatial and temporal dynamics in their tweets. Geo-tagged tweets are collected over a period of six months for four US Midwestern college cities: (1 West Lafayette, IN; (2 Bloomington, IN; (3 Ann Arbor, MI; (4 Columbus, OH. Various analytical and statistical methods are used to reveal the spatial and temporal patterns of tweets, and the tweeting behaviors of Twitter users. It is discovered that Twitter users are most active between 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm. In smaller cities, tweets aggregate at campuses and apartment complexes, while tweets in residential areas of bigger cities make up the majority of tweets. We also found that most Twitter users have two to four places of frequent visits. The mean mobility range of frequent Twitter users is linearly correlated to the size of the city, specifically, about 40% of the city radius. The research therefore confirms the feasibility and promising future for using geo-tagged microblogging services such as Twitter to understand human behavior patterns and carry out other geo-social related studies.

The impact of human capital development in employment ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It was discovered that the level of human capital was not sufficient to stimulate employment or reduce unemployment in Nigeria. Besides, it was discovered that population growth is really not the challenge for employment in Nigeria especially if human capital can be harnessed productively, and channelled towards viable ...

Human metapneumovirus and respiratory syncytial virus in hospitalized danish children with acute respiratory tract infection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

von Linstow, Marie-Louise; Larsen, Hans Henrik; Eugen-Olsen, Jesper

2004-01-01

The newly discovered human metapneumovirus (hMPV) has been shown to be associated with respiratory illness. We determined the frequencies and clinical features of hMPV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in 374 Danish children with 383 episodes of acute respiratory tract infection...... children 1-6 months of age. Asthmatic bronchitis was diagnosed in 66.7% of hMPV and 10.6% of RSV-infected children (p infected children required respiratory support. hMPV is present in young.......6%) ARTI episodes by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using primers targeting the hMPV N gene and the RSV L gene. Two children were co-infected with hMPV and RSV. They were excluded from statistical analysis. Hospitalization for ARTI caused by hMPV was restricted to very young...

Comprehensive human transcription factor binding site map for combinatory binding motifs discovery.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arnoldo J Müller-Molina

Full Text Available To know the map between transcription factors (TFs and their binding sites is essential to reverse engineer the regulation process. Only about 10%-20% of the transcription factor binding motifs (TFBMs have been reported. This lack of data hinders understanding gene regulation. To address this drawback, we propose a computational method that exploits never used TF properties to discover the missing TFBMs and their sites in all human gene promoters. The method starts by predicting a dictionary of regulatory "DNA words." From this dictionary, it distills 4098 novel predictions. To disclose the crosstalk between motifs, an additional algorithm extracts TF combinatorial binding patterns creating a collection of TF regulatory syntactic rules. Using these rules, we narrowed down a list of 504 novel motifs that appear frequently in syntax patterns. We tested the predictions against 509 known motifs confirming that our system can reliably predict ab initio motifs with an accuracy of 81%-far higher than previous approaches. We found that on average, 90% of the discovered combinatorial binding patterns target at least 10 genes, suggesting that to control in an independent manner smaller gene sets, supplementary regulatory mechanisms are required. Additionally, we discovered that the new TFBMs and their combinatorial patterns convey biological meaning, targeting TFs and genes related to developmental functions. Thus, among all the possible available targets in the genome, the TFs tend to regulate other TFs and genes involved in developmental functions. We provide a comprehensive resource for regulation analysis that includes a dictionary of "DNA words," newly predicted motifs and their corresponding combinatorial patterns. Combinatorial patterns are a useful filter to discover TFBMs that play a major role in orchestrating other factors and thus, are likely to lock/unlock cellular functional clusters.

Immunoparesis in newly diagnosed Multiple Myeloma patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sorrig, Rasmus; Klausen, Tobias W.; Salomo, Morten

2017-01-01

Immunoparesis (hypogammaglobulinemia) is associated to an unfavorable prognosis in newly diagnosed Multiple myeloma (MM) patients. However, this finding has not been validated in an unselected population-based cohort. We analyzed 2558 newly diagnosed MM patients in the Danish Multiple Myeloma...

Selenium hyperaccumulation - Astragalus bisulcatus, Cardamine hupingshanensis and Stanleya pinnata - may be useful for agromining selenium-rich soils

Science.gov (United States)

Selenium hyperaccumulator plants like Stanleya pinnata, Astragalus bisulcatus and the newly discovered Se-accumulator Cardamine hupingshanensis may play an important role in the Se cycle from soil to plant to human in China. Se-hyperaccumulators can be used for agromining or for phytoremediation of ...

Towards precision medicine: discovering novel gynecological cancer biomarkers and pathways using linked data.

Science.gov (United States)

Jha, Alokkumar; Khan, Yasar; Mehdi, Muntazir; Karim, Md Rezaul; Mehmood, Qaiser; Zappa, Achille; Rebholz-Schuhmann, Dietrich; Sahay, Ratnesh

2017-09-19

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is playing a key role in therapeutic decision making for the cancer prognosis and treatment. The NGS technologies are producing a massive amount of sequencing datasets. Often, these datasets are published from the isolated and different sequencing facilities. Consequently, the process of sharing and aggregating multisite sequencing datasets are thwarted by issues such as the need to discover relevant data from different sources, built scalable repositories, the automation of data linkage, the volume of the data, efficient querying mechanism, and information rich intuitive visualisation. We present an approach to link and query different sequencing datasets (TCGA, COSMIC, REACTOME, KEGG and GO) to indicate risks for four cancer types - Ovarian Serous Cystadenocarcinoma (OV), Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma (UCEC), Uterine Carcinosarcoma (UCS), Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Endocervical Adenocarcinoma (CESC) - covering the 16 healthy tissue-specific genes from Illumina Human Body Map 2.0. The differentially expressed genes from Illumina Human Body Map 2.0 are analysed together with the gene expressions reported in COSMIC and TCGA repositories leading to the discover of potential biomarkers for a tissue-specific cancer. We analyse the tissue expression of genes, copy number variation (CNV), somatic mutation, and promoter methylation to identify associated pathways and find novel biomarkers. We discovered twenty (20) mutated genes and three (3) potential pathways causing promoter changes in different gynaecological cancer types. We propose a data-interlinked platform called BIOOPENER that glues together heterogeneous cancer and biomedical repositories. The key approach is to find correspondences (or data links) among genetic, cellular and molecular features across isolated cancer datasets giving insight into cancer progression from normal to diseased tissues. The proposed BIOOPENER platform enriches mutations by filling in

Caffeine enhanced measurement of mutagenesis by low levels of [gamma]-irradiation in human lymphocytes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puck, T.P.; Johnson, R.; Waldren, C.A. (Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research, Denver, CO (United States)); Morse, H. (Univ. of Colorado Cancer Center, Denver, CO (United States))

1993-09-01

The well-known action of caffeine in synergizing mutagenesis (including chromosome aberrations) of agents like ionizing radiation by inhibition of cellular repair processes has been incorporated into a rapid procedure for detection of mutagenicity with high sensitivity. Effects of 5-10 rads of [gamma]-irradiation, which approximate the human lifetime dose accumulation from background radiation, can be detected in a two-day procedure using an immortalized human WBC culture. Chromosomally visible lesions are scored on cells incubated for 2 h after irradiation in the presence and absence of 1.0 mg/ml of caffeine. An eightfold amplification of scorable lesions is achieved over the action of radiation alone. This approach provides a closer approximation to absolute mutagenicity unmitigated by repair processes, which can vary in different situations. It is proposed that mutagenesis testing of this kind, using caffiene or other repair-inhibitory agents, be employed to identify mutagens in their effective concentrations to which human populations may be exposed; to detect agents such as caffeine that may synergize mutagenic actions and pose epidemiologic threats; and to discover effective anti-mutagens. Information derived from the use of such procedures may help prevent cancer and newly acquired genetic disease.

Generational differences among newly licensed registered nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Keepnews, David M; Brewer, Carol S; Kovner, Christine T; Shin, Juh Hyun

2010-01-01

Responses of 2369 newly licensed registered nurses from 3 generational cohorts-Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y-were studied to identify differences in their characteristics, work-related experiences, and attitudes. These responses revealed significant differences among generations in: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work motivation, work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, distributive justice, promotional opportunities, supervisory support, mentor support, procedural justice, and perceptions of local job opportunities. Health organizations and their leaders need to anticipate intergenerational differences among newly licensed nurses and should provide for supportive working environments that recognize those differences. Orientation and residency programs for newly licensed nurses should be tailored to the varying needs of different generations. Future research should focus on evaluating the effectiveness of orientation and residency programs with regard to different generations so that these programs can be tailored to meet the varying needs of newly licensed nurses at the start of their careers. Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Network Biology Approach to Discover the Molecular Biomarker Associated with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liwei Zhuang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, high throughput technologies such as microarray platform have provided a new avenue for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC investigation. Traditionally, gene sets enrichment analysis of survival related genes is commonly used to reveal the underlying functional mechanisms. However, this approach usually produces too many candidate genes and cannot discover detailed signaling transduction cascades, which greatly limits their clinical application such as biomarker development. In this study, we have proposed a network biology approach to discover novel biomarkers from multidimensional omics data. This approach effectively combines clinical survival data with topological characteristics of human protein interaction networks and patients expression profiling data. It can produce novel network based biomarkers together with biological understanding of molecular mechanism. We have analyzed eighty HCC expression profiling arrays and identified that extracellular matrix and programmed cell death are the main themes related to HCC progression. Compared with traditional enrichment analysis, this approach can provide concrete and testable hypothesis on functional mechanism. Furthermore, the identified subnetworks can potentially be used as suitable targets for therapeutic intervention in HCC.

"Sebocytes' makeup": novel mechanisms and concepts in the physiology of the human sebaceous glands.

Science.gov (United States)

Tóth, Balázs I; Oláh, Attila; Szöllosi, Attila G; Czifra, Gabriella; Bíró, Tamás

2011-06-01

The pilosebaceous unit of the human skin consists of the hair follicle and the sebaceous gland. Within this "mini-organ", the sebaceous gland has been neglected by the researchers of the field for several decades. Actually, it was labeled as a reminiscence of human development ("a living fossil with a past but no future"), and was thought to solely act as a producer of sebum, a lipid-enriched oily substance which protects our skin (and hence the body) against various insults. However, due to emerging research activities of the past two decades, it has now become evident that the sebaceous gland is not only a "passive" cutaneous "relic" to establish the physico-chemical barrier function of the skin against constant environmental challenges, but it rather functions as an "active" neuro-immuno-endocrine cutaneous organ. This review summarizes recent findings of sebaceous gland research by mainly focusing on newly discovered physiological functions, novel regulatory mechanisms, key events in the pathology of the gland, and future directions in both experimental and clinical dermatology.

A review of human factors challenges of complex adaptive systems: discovering and understanding chaos in human performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Karwowski, Waldemar

2012-12-01

In this paper, the author explores a need for a greater understanding of the true nature of human-system interactions from the perspective of the theory of complex adaptive systems, including the essence of complexity, emergent properties of system behavior, nonlinear systems dynamics, and deterministic chaos. Human performance, more often than not, constitutes complex adaptive phenomena with emergent properties that exhibit nonlinear dynamical (chaotic) behaviors. The complexity challenges in the design and management of contemporary work systems, including service systems, are explored. Examples of selected applications of the concepts of nonlinear dynamics to the study of human physical performance are provided. Understanding and applications of the concepts of theory of complex adaptive and dynamical systems should significantly improve the effectiveness of human-centered design efforts of a large system of systems. Performance of many contemporary work systems and environments may be sensitive to the initial conditions and may exhibit dynamic nonlinear properties and chaotic system behaviors. Human-centered design of emergent human-system interactions requires application of the theories of nonlinear dynamics and complex adaptive system. The success of future human-systems integration efforts requires the fusion of paradigms, knowledge, design principles, and methodologies of human factors and ergonomics with those of the science of complex adaptive systems as well as modern systems engineering.

Identification of a novel human deoxynivalenol metabolite enhancing proliferation of intestinal and urinary bladder cells

Science.gov (United States)

Warth, Benedikt; Del Favero, Giorgia; Wiesenberger, Gerlinde; Puntscher, Hannes; Woelflingseder, Lydia; Fruhmann, Philipp; Sarkanj, Bojan; Krska, Rudolf; Schuhmacher, Rainer; Adam, Gerhard; Marko, Doris

2016-09-01

The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is an abundant contaminant of cereal based food and a severe issue for global food safety. We report the discovery of DON-3-sulfate as a novel human metabolite and potential new biomarker of DON exposure. The conjugate was detectable in 70% of urine samples obtained from pregnant women in Croatia. For the measurement of urinary metabolites, a highly sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated. The method was also used to investigate samples from a duplicate diet survey for studying the toxicokinetics of DON-3-sulfate. To get a preliminary insight into the biological relevance of the newly discovered DON-sulfates, in vitroexperiments were performed. In contrast to DON, sulfate conjugates lacked potency to suppress protein translation. However, surprisingly we found that DON-sulfates enhanced proliferation of human HT-29 colon carcinoma cells, primary human colon epithelial cells (HCEC-1CT) and, to some extent, also T24 bladder cancer cells. A proliferative stimulus, especially in tumorigenic cells raises concern on the potential impact of DON-sulfates on consumer health. Thus, a further characterization of their toxicological relevance should be of high priority.

Prevalence of Chronic Diabetic Complications in Newly Diagnosed versus Known Type 2 Diabetic Subjects in a Sample of Alexandria Population, Egypt.

Science.gov (United States)

Khalil, Samir Assaad; Megallaa, Magdy Helmy; Rohoma, Kamel Hemida; Guindy, Myriam AbouSeif; Zaki, Adel; Hassanein, Mohamed; Malaty, Amin Helmy; Ismael, Hanaa Mohamed; Kharboush, Ibrahim Fahmy; El Kafash, Dalal Nasr-Eldein; Sallam, Hassan Nooman; Desouky, Iman Abdelkareem

2018-01-24

In Egypt, data on the prevalence of chronic diabetic complications, which are essential for the adjustment of policies and practices related to diabetes care, are scarce. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the frequency of chronic complications of diabetes; namely neuropathy, diabetic kidney disease (DKD), retinopathy and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in newly-diagnosed versus known type 2 diabetic patients. This is a cross-sectional study that is based on a previous household survey conducted on a representative sample of the population of Alexandria, Egypt. This study included 506 consecutive subjects with type 2 diabetes; 323 patients with previously known T2DM and 183 patients with newly diagnosed T2DM (discovered during the survey). For each participant, a focused history was taken. Comprehensive clinical examination was done including fundus examination, foot examination and assessment of ankle brachial index. Laboratory tests included HbAlc, lipids profile, serum creatinine and urinary albumin creatinine ratio (UACR). Peripheral neuropathy was detected in 20% of the studied patients; 29.4% of known patients and 3.3% of newly diagnosed patients (pDiabetic kidney disease was detected in 33.2% of the studied patients; 46.1% of known patients and 10.4% of newly diagnosed patients (pDiabetic retinopathy was detected in 34.6% of the studied patients; 48.3% of known patients and 10.4% of newly diagnosed patients (pdiabetes, the presence of any of the studied complications (neuropathy, diabetic kidney disease, retinopathy or PAD) was significantly associated with the presence of all other complications (pdiabetes, the presence of diabetic kidney disease was significantly associated with the presence of retinopathy (pdiabetes at the time of diagnosis. Finally, these results should be considered as a call for action for the health care planners and providers in our region to plan for early screening for diabetes and its complications to reduce the

Establishment probability in newly founded populations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gusset Markus

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Establishment success in newly founded populations relies on reaching the established phase, which is defined by characteristic fluctuations of the population’s state variables. Stochastic population models can be used to quantify the establishment probability of newly founded populations; however, so far no simple but robust method for doing so existed. To determine a critical initial number of individuals that need to be released to reach the established phase, we used a novel application of the “Wissel plot”, where –ln(1 – P0(t is plotted against time t. This plot is based on the equation P0t=1–c1e–ω1t, which relates the probability of extinction by time t, P0(t, to two constants: c1 describes the probability of a newly founded population to reach the established phase, whereas ω1 describes the population’s probability of extinction per short time interval once established. Results For illustration, we applied the method to a previously developed stochastic population model of the endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus. A newly founded population reaches the established phase if the intercept of the (extrapolated linear parts of the “Wissel plot” with the y-axis, which is –ln(c1, is negative. For wild dogs in our model, this is the case if a critical initial number of four packs, consisting of eight individuals each, are released. Conclusions The method we present to quantify the establishment probability of newly founded populations is generic and inferences thus are transferable to other systems across the field of conservation biology. In contrast to other methods, our approach disaggregates the components of a population’s viability by distinguishing establishment from persistence.

Human heart disease : lessons from human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Giacomelli, E.; Mummery, C.L.; Bellin, M.

2017-01-01

Technical advances in generating and phenotyping cardiomyocytes from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC-CMs) are now driving their wider acceptance as in vitro models to understand human heart disease and discover therapeutic targets that may lead to new compounds for clinical use. Current

Hydrothermal vent fields discovered in the southern Gulf of California clarify role of habitat in augmenting regional diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Goffredi, Shana K; Johnson, Shannon; Tunnicliffe, Verena; Caress, David; Clague, David; Escobar, Elva; Lundsten, Lonny; Paduan, Jennifer B; Rouse, Greg; Salcedo, Diana L; Soto, Luis A; Spelz-Madero, Ronald; Zierenberg, Robert; Vrijenhoek, Robert

2017-07-26

Hydrothermal vent communities are distributed along mid-ocean spreading ridges as isolated patches. While distance is a key factor influencing connectivity among sites, habitat characteristics are also critical. The Pescadero Basin (PB) and Alarcón Rise (AR) vent fields, recently discovered in the southern Gulf of California, are bounded by previously known vent localities (e.g. Guaymas Basin and 21° N East Pacific Rise); yet, the newly discovered vents differ markedly in substrata and vent fluid attributes. Out of 116 macrofaunal species observed or collected, only three species are shared among all four vent fields, while 73 occur at only one locality. Foundation species at basalt-hosted sulfide chimneys on the AR differ from the functional equivalents inhabiting sediment-hosted carbonate chimneys in the PB, only 75 km away. The dominant species of symbiont-hosting tubeworms and clams, and peripheral suspension-feeding taxa, differ between the sites. Notably, the PB vents host a limited and specialized fauna in which 17 of 26 species are unknown at other regional vents and many are new species. Rare sightings and captured larvae of the 'missing' species revealed that dispersal limitation is not responsible for differences in community composition at the neighbouring vent localities. Instead, larval recruitment-limiting habitat suitability probably favours species differentially. As scenarios develop to design conservation strategies around mining of seafloor sulfide deposits, these results illustrate that models encompassing habitat characteristics are needed to predict metacommunity structure. © 2017 The Authors.

Decision mining revisited - Discovering overlapping rules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mannhardt, Felix; De Leoni, Massimiliano; Reijers, Hajo A.; Van Der Aalst, Wil M P

2016-01-01

Decision mining enriches process models with rules underlying decisions in processes using historical process execution data. Choices between multiple activities are specified through rules defined over process data. Existing decision mining methods focus on discovering mutually-exclusive rules,

Decision Mining Revisited - Discovering Overlapping Rules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mannhardt, F.; De Leoni, M.; Reijers, H.A.; van der Aalst, W.M.P.; Nurcan, S.; Soffer, P.; Bajec, M.; Eder, J.

2016-01-01

Decision mining enriches process models with rules underlying decisions in processes using historical process execution data. Choices between multiple activities are specified through rules defined over process data. Existing decision mining methods focus on discovering mutually-exclusive rules,

Newly Identified CYP2C93 Is a Functional Enzyme in Rhesus Monkey, but Not in Cynomolgus Monkey

OpenAIRE

Uno, Yasuhiro; Uehara, Shotaro; Kohara, Sakae; Iwasaki, Kazuhide; Nagata, Ryoichi; Fukuzaki, Koichiro; Utoh, Masahiro; Murayama, Norie; Yamazaki, Hiroshi

2011-01-01

Cynomolgus monkey and rhesus monkey are used in drug metabolism studies due to their evolutionary closeness and physiological resemblance to human. In cynomolgus monkey, we previously identified cytochrome P450 (P450 or CYP) 2C76 that does not have a human ortholog and is partly responsible for species differences in drug metabolism between cynomolgus monkey and human. In this study, we report characterization of CYP2C93 cDNA newly identified in cynomolgus monkey and rhesus monkey. The CYP2C9...

Role of C-type natriuretic peptide in the function of normal human sperm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Xia

2016-01-01

Full Text Available C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP is a newly discovered type of local regulatory factor that mediates its biological effects through the specific, membrane-bound natriuretic peptide receptor-B (NPR-B. Recent studies have established that CNP is closely related to male reproductive function. The aims of this study were to determine the distribution of CNP/NPR-B in human ejaculated spermatozoa through different methods (such as immunolocalization, real time polymerase chain reaction and Western Blot, and then to evaluate the influence of CNP on sperm function i n vitro, such as motility and acrosome reaction. Human semen samples were collected from consenting donors who met the criteria of the World Health Organization for normozoospermia. Our results show that the specific receptor NPR-B of CNP is localized in the acrosomal region of the head and the membrane of the front-end tail of the sperm, and there is no signal of CNP in human sperm. Compared with the control, CNP can induce a significant dose-dependent increase in spermatozoa motility and acrosome reaction. In summary, CNP/NPR-B can affect sperm motility and acrosome reaction, thus regulating the reproductive function of males. CNP may be a new key factor in regulating sperm function.

[Situation and reasons for missed follow-up services among newly reported HIV/AIDS cases transmitted by homosexual behavior in China, 2008-2015].

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, J; Han, J; Tang, H L; Li, J; Zang, C P; Mao, Y R

2018-04-10

Objective: To determine the prevalence and relative factors on those who missed the follow-up service among newly reported HIV/AIDS cases that were infected by homosexual behavior. Methods: Data were extracted from both HIV/AIDS case-reporting and follow-up cards on HIV/AIDS in the Comprehensive Response Information Management System, between December 2008 and December 2015. Data was analyzed, using the generalized estimating equations (GEE) to explore the relative factors of influence. Results: Among the newly reported HIV infection among MSM, the proportion of those who missed the follow-up services was 5.06% (6 037/119 358), and decreased dramatically, from 37.57% (1 261/3 356) to 0.84% (267/31 935) (trend χ (2)=103.43, P discovered MSM HIV cases declined dramatically. Among the MSM HIV cases, those having the following characteristics as: younger than 50-year old, with less school education, with unspecified occupation or unemployment, working in commercial service, being student, having history of incarceration, recruited from special investigation, and floating population were prone to miss the follow-up program, suggesting that the follow-up service should be targeting on these patients.

Did Viking discover life on Mars?

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, H. P.

1999-01-01

A major argument in the claim that life had been discovered during the Viking mission to Mars is that the results obtained in the Labeled Release (LR) experiment are analogous to those observed with terrestrial microorganisms. This assertion is critically examined and found to be implausible.

The discovered preference hypothesis - an empirical test

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundhede, Thomas; Ladenburg, Jacob; Olsen, Søren Bøye

Using stated preference methods for valuation of non-market goods is known to be vulnerable to a range of biases. Some authors claim that these so-called anomalies in effect render the methods useless for the purpose. However, the Discovered Preference Hypothesis, as put forth by Plott [31], offers...... an nterpretation and explanation of biases which entails that the stated preference methods need not to be completely written off. In this paper we conduct a test for the validity and relevance of the DPH interpretation of biases. In a choice experiment concerning preferences for protection of Danish nature areas...... as respondents evaluate more and more choice sets. This finding supports the Discovered Preference Hypothesis interpretation and explanation of starting point bias....

Astronomers Discover Fastest-Spinning Pulsar

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope have discovered the fastest-spinning neutron star ever found, a 20-mile-diameter superdense pulsar whirling faster than the blades of a kitchen blender. Their work yields important new information about the nature of one of the most exotic forms of matter known in the Universe. Pulsar Graphic Pulsars Are Spinning Neutron Stars CREDIT: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF (Click on image for larger version) "We believe that the matter in neutron stars is denser than an atomic nucleus, but it is unclear by how much. Our observations of such a rapidly rotating star set a hard upper limit on its size, and hence on how dense the star can be.," said Jason Hessels, a graduate student at McGill University in Montreal. Hessels and his colleagues presented their findings to the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Washington, DC. Pulsars are spinning neutron stars that sling "lighthouse beams" of radio waves or light around as they spin. A neutron star is what is left after a massive star explodes at the end of its "normal" life. With no nuclear fuel left to produce energy to offset the stellar remnant's weight, its material is compressed to extreme densities. The pressure squeezes together most of its protons and electrons to form neutrons; hence, the name "neutron star." "Neutron stars are incredible laboratories for learning about the physics of the fundamental particles of nature, and this pulsar has given us an important new limit," explained Scott Ransom, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and one of Hessels' collaborators on this work. The scientists discovered the pulsar, named PSR J1748-2446ad, in a globular cluster of stars called Terzan 5, located some 28,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The newly-discovered pulsar is spinning 716 times per second, or at 716 Hertz (Hz), readily beating the previous record of 642 Hz from a pulsar

Alterations in the Spectrum of Spontaneous Rifampicin-Resistance Mutations in the Bacillus subtilis rpoB Gene after Cultivation in the Human Spaceflight Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Fajardo-Cavazos, Patricia; Leehan, Joshua D; Nicholson, Wayne L

2018-01-01

The effect of Bacillus subtilis exposure to the human spaceflight environment on growth, mutagenic frequency, and spectrum of mutations to rifampicin resistance (Rif R ) was investigated. B. subtilis cells were cultivated in Biological Research in Canister-Petri Dish Fixation Units (BRIC-PDFUs) on two separate missions to the International Space Station (ISS), dubbed BRIC-18 and BRIC-21, with matching asynchronous ground controls. No statistically significant difference in either growth or in the frequency of mutation to Rif R was found in either experiment. However, nucleotide sequencing of the Rif R regions of the rpoB gene from Rif R mutants revealed dramatic differences in the spectrum of mutations between flight (FL) and ground control (GC) samples, including two newly discovered rpoB alleles in the FL samples (Q137R and L489S). The results strengthen the idea that exposure to the human spaceflight environment causes unique stresses on bacteria, leading to alterations in their mutagenic potential.

Alterations in the Spectrum of Spontaneous Rifampicin-Resistance Mutations in the Bacillus subtilis rpoB Gene after Cultivation in the Human Spaceflight Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Fajardo-Cavazos

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The effect of Bacillus subtilis exposure to the human spaceflight environment on growth, mutagenic frequency, and spectrum of mutations to rifampicin resistance (RifR was investigated. B. subtilis cells were cultivated in Biological Research in Canister-Petri Dish Fixation Units (BRIC-PDFUs on two separate missions to the International Space Station (ISS, dubbed BRIC-18 and BRIC-21, with matching asynchronous ground controls. No statistically significant difference in either growth or in the frequency of mutation to RifR was found in either experiment. However, nucleotide sequencing of the RifR regions of the rpoB gene from RifR mutants revealed dramatic differences in the spectrum of mutations between flight (FL and ground control (GC samples, including two newly discovered rpoB alleles in the FL samples (Q137R and L489S. The results strengthen the idea that exposure to the human spaceflight environment causes unique stresses on bacteria, leading to alterations in their mutagenic potential.

SDSS J013127.34–032100.1: A NEWLY DISCOVERED RADIO-LOUD QUASAR AT z = 5.18 WITH EXTREMELY HIGH LUMINOSITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yi, Wei-Min; Bai, Jin-Ming; Zhang, Ju-jia; Wang, Fang; Wang, Jian-Guo; Fan, Yu-Feng; Chang, Liang; Wang, Chuan-Jun; Lun, Bao-Li [Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011 (China); Wang, Feige; Wu, Xue-Bing; Yang, Jinyi; Ho, Luis C.; Zuo, Wenwen; Yang, Qian; Ai, Yanli [Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Fan, Xiaohui [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States); Brandt, William N. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Kim, Minjin [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Wang, Ran [Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); and others

2014-11-10

Very few of the z > 5 quasars discovered to date have been radio-loud, with radio-to-optical flux ratios (radio-loudness parameters) higher than 10. Here we report the discovery of an optically luminous radio-loud quasar, SDSS J013127.34–032100.1 (J0131–0321 in short), at z = 5.18 ± 0.01 using the Lijiang 2.4 m and Magellan telescopes. J0131–0321 has a spectral energy distribution consistent with that of radio-loud quasars. With an i-band magnitude of 18.47 and a radio flux density of 33 mJy, its radio-loudness parameter is ∼100. The optical and near-infrared spectra taken by Magellan enable us to estimate its bolometric luminosity to be L {sub bol} ∼ 1.1 × 10{sup 48} erg s{sup –1}, approximately 4.5 times greater than that of the most distant quasar known to date. The black hole mass of J0131–0321 is estimated to be 2.7 × 10{sup 9} M {sub ☉}, with an uncertainty up to 0.4 dex. Detailed physical properties of this high-redshift, radio-loud, potentially super-Eddington quasar can be probed in the future with more dedicated and intensive follow-up observations using multi-wavelength facilities.

Rare and common regulatory variation in population-scale sequenced human genomes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen B Montgomery

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Population-scale genome sequencing allows the characterization of functional effects of a broad spectrum of genetic variants underlying human phenotypic variation. Here, we investigate the influence of rare and common genetic variants on gene expression patterns, using variants identified from sequencing data from the 1000 genomes project in an African and European population sample and gene expression data from lymphoblastoid cell lines. We detect comparable numbers of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs when compared to genotypes obtained from HapMap 3, but as many as 80% of the top expression quantitative trait variants (eQTVs discovered from 1000 genomes data are novel. The properties of the newly discovered variants suggest that mapping common causal regulatory variants is challenging even with full resequencing data; however, we observe significant enrichment of regulatory effects in splice-site and nonsense variants. Using RNA sequencing data, we show that 46.2% of nonsynonymous variants are differentially expressed in at least one individual in our sample, creating widespread potential for interactions between functional protein-coding and regulatory variants. We also use allele-specific expression to identify putative rare causal regulatory variants. Furthermore, we demonstrate that outlier expression values can be due to rare variant effects, and we approximate the number of such effects harboured in an individual by effect size. Our results demonstrate that integration of genomic and RNA sequencing analyses allows for the joint assessment of genome sequence and genome function.

The impact of bevacizumab treatment on survival and quality of life in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Hans Skovgaard; Urup, Thomas; Michaelsen, Signe Regner

2014-01-01

in newly diagnosed GBM patients have been performed during recent years to test the hypothesis that newly diagnosed GBM patients should be treated with standard multimodality treatment, in combination with bevacizumab, in order to prolong life and maintain or improve quality of life. The results...... treatment is therefore to prolong life, with a maintenance or improvement of quality of life. GBM is a highly vascular tumor and overexpresses the vascular endothelial growth factor A, which promotes angiogenesis. Preclinical data have suggested that anti-angiogenic treatment efficiently inhibits tumor...... growth. Bevacizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor A, and treatment has shown impressive response rates in recurrent GBM. In addition, it has been shown that response is correlated to prolonged survival and improved quality of life. Several investigations...

Draft Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus salivarius L28 Isolated from Ground Beef.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayala, Diana I; Cook, Peter W; Campos, David L; Brashears, Mindy M; den Bakker, Henk; Nightingale, Kendra K

2017-09-28

In this report, we describe the draft genome sequence of a newly discovered probiotic strain, Lactobacillus salivarius L28. L. salivarius L28 demonstrates antagonistic effects against human foodborne pathogens, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes , in coculture experiments and food matrices. Copyright © 2017 Ayala et al.

Spatial predictions of Rhodesian Human African Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness prevalence in Kaberamaido and Dokolo, two newly affected districts of Uganda.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola A Batchelor

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The continued northwards spread of Rhodesian sleeping sickness or Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT within Uganda is raising concerns of overlap with the Gambian form of the disease. Disease convergence would result in compromised diagnosis and treatment for HAT. Spatial determinants for HAT are poorly understood across small areas. This study examines the relationships between Rhodesian HAT and several environmental, climatic and social factors in two newly affected districts, Kaberamaido and Dokolo. A one-step logistic regression analysis of HAT prevalence and a two-step logistic regression method permitted separate analysis of both HAT occurrence and HAT prevalence. Both the occurrence and prevalence of HAT were negatively correlated with distance to the closest livestock market in all models. The significance of distance to the closest livestock market strongly indicates that HAT may have been introduced to this previously unaffected area via the movement of infected, untreated livestock from endemic areas. This illustrates the importance of the animal reservoir in disease transmission, and highlights the need for trypanosomiasis control in livestock and the stringent implementation of regulations requiring the treatment of cattle prior to sale at livestock markets to prevent any further spread of Rhodesian HAT within Uganda.

Discovering Technicolor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

R. Andersen, J.; Antipin, O.; Azuelos, G.

2011-01-01

We provide a pedagogical introduction to extensions of the Standard Model in which the Higgs is composite. These extensions are known as models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking or, in brief, Technicolor. Material covered includes: motivations for Technicolor, the construction of underly...... the relevant experimental benchmarks for Vanilla, Running, Walking, and Custodial Technicolor, and a natural fourth family of leptons, by laying out the framework to discover these models at the Large Hadron Collider....... of underlying gauge theories leading to minimal models of Technicolor, the comparison with electroweak precision data, the low energy effective theory, the spectrum of the states common to most of the Technicolor models, the decays of the composite particles and the experimental signals at the Large Hadron...... Collider. The level of the presentation is aimed at readers familiar with the Standard Model but who have little or no prior exposure to Technicolor. Several extensions of the Standard Model featuring a composite Higgs can be reduced to the effective Lagrangian introduced in the text. We establish...

Multi-dimensional SAR tomography for monitoring the deformation of newly built concrete buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Peifeng; Lin, Hui; Lan, Hengxing; Chen, Fulong

2015-08-01

Deformation often occurs in buildings at early ages, and the constant inspection of deformation is of significant importance to discover possible cracking and avoid wall failure. This paper exploits the multi-dimensional SAR tomography technique to monitor the deformation performances of two newly built buildings (B1 and B2) with a special focus on the effects of concrete creep and shrinkage. To separate the nonlinear thermal expansion from total deformations, the extended 4-D SAR technique is exploited. The thermal map estimated from 44 TerraSAR-X images demonstrates that the derived thermal amplitude is highly related to the building height due to the upward accumulative effect of thermal expansion. The linear deformation velocity map reveals that B1 is subject to settlement during the construction period, in addition, the creep and shrinkage of B1 lead to wall shortening that is a height-dependent movement in the downward direction, and the asymmetrical creep of B2 triggers wall deflection that is a height-dependent movement in the deflection direction. It is also validated that the extended 4-D SAR can rectify the bias of estimated wall shortening and wall deflection by 4-D SAR.

Confidence in leadership among the newly qualified.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayliss-Pratt, Lisa; Morley, Mary; Bagley, Liz; Alderson, Steven

2013-10-23

The Francis report highlighted the importance of strong leadership from health professionals but it is unclear how prepared those who are newly qualified feel to take on a leadership role. We aimed to assess the confidence of newly qualified health professionals working in the West Midlands in the different competencies of the NHS Leadership Framework. Most respondents felt confident in their abilities to demonstrate personal qualities and work with others, but less so at managing or improving services or setting direction.

Discovering English with the Sketch Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, James

2014-01-01

"Discovering English with the Sketch Engine" is the title of a new book (Thomas, 2014) which introduces the use of corpora in language study, teaching, writing and translating. It focuses on using the Sketch Engine to identify patterns of normal usage in many aspects of English ranging from morphology to discourse and pragmatics. This…

What if Fleming had not discovered penicillin?

Science.gov (United States)

Alharbi, Sulaiman Ali; Wainwright, Milton; Alahmadi, Tahani Awad; Salleeh, Hashim Bin; Faden, Asmaa A; Chinnathambi, Arunachalam

2014-09-01

What would have happened had Alexander Fleming not discovered penicillin in 1928? Perhaps the obvious answer is that, someone else would have discovered penicillin during 1930s and the Oxford group, would still have purified it sometime in the early 1940s. Here, however, in this counterfactual account of the penicillin story, it is argued that without Fleming, penicillin might still be undiscovered and the antibiotic age would never have dawned. As a result, many of the recent developments in medicine, such as organ transplantation, might have been delayed or, at best, made more hazardous. Penicillin might have come onto the scene a few years later but, had Fleming overlooked the discovery, it seems certain that penicillin would not have saved countless Allied lives, during and after D-Day. Instead of having enjoyed fifty and more years of the antibiotic age, it is argued here, that we would have had to rely upon highly developed sulphonamides, so-called "supasulfas", and other chemically-derived antibacterial drugs. Indeed, it might be the case that, even well into this new millennium, the antibiotic age has yet to dawn, and medicine is still waiting for someone to chance upon penicillin. Here we discuss what might have happened had Fleming not discovered penicillin and come to the conclusion that the medical armoury available today would have been far different and might have relied solely upon highly developed varieties of sulphonamides or similar, synthetic, non-antibiotic antibacterial agents.

The Universe for all to discover

Science.gov (United States)

Ortiz-Gil, A.; Ballesteros, F.; Espinós, H.; Fernández-Soto, A.; Lanzara, M.; Moya, M. J.; Navarro, J.

2015-05-01

In the title of this paper, we have changed the slogan of the International Year of Astronomy, ``The Universe yours to discover" to ``The Universe for all to discover" in order to emphasize the need to think about broader audiences when we plan astronomical activities at school or during outreach events. The strategy we propose follows what is known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL allows to reach to the general public as well as to audiences which might be regarded as ``special" because they have some disability. It has been shown that everybody has a preferred style of learning (some remember better what they see, others what they hear or what they touch) and therefore, everybody is more or less able under the different styles of learning. Through this talk I am going to outline some of the principles of the UDL that can be applied in the teaching and communication of Astronomy, along with an example of its implementation in the project ``A Touch of the Universe".

Discovering context-aware conditional functional dependencies

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yuefeng DU; Derong SHEN; Tiezheng NIE; Yue KOU; Ge YU

2017-01-01

Conditional functional dependencies(CFDs) are important techniques for data consistency.However,CFDs are limited to 1) provide the reasonable values for consistency repairing and 2) detect potential errors.This paper presents context-aware conditional functional dependencies(CCFDs) which contribute to provide reasonable values and detect potential errors.Especially,we focus on automatically discovering minimal CCFDs.In this paper,we present context relativity to measure the relationship of CFDs.The overlap of the related CFDs can provide reasonable values which result in more accuracy consistency repairing,and some related CFDs are combined into CCFDs.Moreover,we prove that discovering minimal CCFDs is NP-complete and we design the precise method and the heuristic method.We also present the dominating value to facilitate the process in both the precise method and the heuristic method.Additionally,the context relativity of the CFDs affects the cleaning results.We will give an approximate threshold of context relativity according to data distribution for suggestion.The repairing results are approved more accuracy,even evidenced by our empirical evaluation.

A knowledge-based integrated approach for discovering and repairing declare maps

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maggi, F.M.; Jagadeesh Chandra Bose, R.P.; Aalst, van der W.M.P.; Salinesi, C.; Norrie, M.C.; Pastor, O.

2013-01-01

Process mining techniques can be used to discover process models from event data. Often the resulting models are complex due to the variability of the underlying process. Therefore, we aim at discovering declarative process models that can deal with such variability. However, for real-life event

Decision Mining Revisited – Discovering Overlapping Rules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mannhardt, F.; de Leoni, M.; Reijers, H.A.; van der Aalst, W.M.P.

2016-01-01

Decision mining enriches process models with rules underlying decisions in processes using historical process execution data. Choices between multiple activities are specified through rules defined over process data. Existing decision mining methods focus on discovering mutually-exclusive rules,

Utilizing NASA DISCOVER-AQ Data to Examine Spatial Gradients in Complex Emission Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Buzanowicz, M. E.; Moore, W.; Crawford, J. H.; Schroeder, J.

2017-12-01

Although many regulations have been enacted with the goal of improving air quality, many parts of the US are still classified as `non-attainment areas' because they frequently violate federal air quality standards. Adequately monitoring the spatial distribution of pollutants both within and outside of non-attainment areas has been an ongoing challenge for regulators. Observations of near-surface pollution from space-based platforms would provide an unprecedented view of the spatial distribution of pollution, but this goal has not yet been realized due to fundamental limitations of satellites, specifically because the footprint size of satellite measurements may not be sufficiently small enough to capture true gradients in pollution, and rather represents an average over a large area. NASA's DISCOVER-AQ was a multi-year field campaign aimed at improving our understanding of the role that remote sensing, including satellite-based remote sensing, could play in air quality monitoring systems. DISCOVER-AQ data will be utilized to create a metric to examine spatial gradients and how satellites can capture those gradients in areas with complex emission environments. Examining horizontal variability within a vertical column is critical to understanding mixing within the atmosphere. Aircraft spirals conducted during DISCOVER-AQ were divided into octants, and averages of a given a species were calculated, with certain points receiving a flag. These flags were determined by calculating gradients between subsequent octants. Initial calculations have shown that over areas with large point source emissions, such as Platteville and Denver-La Casa in Colorado, and Essex, Maryland, satellite retrievals may not adequately capture spatial variability in the atmosphere, thus complicating satellite inversion techniques and limiting our ability to understand human exposure on sub-grid scales. Further calculations at other locations and for other trace gases are necessary to determine

Flight distance of mosquitoes (Culicidae): A metadata analysis to support the management of barrier zones around rewetted and newly constructed wetlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verdonschot, P.F.M.; Besse-Lototskaya, A.A.

2013-01-01

Society responds to changes in climate and land use via mitigation measures, including rainwater retention and storage in rewetted and newly constructed wetlands. Humans living close to these wetlands express concerns about future mosquito nuisance situations, and request the necessary distance

Einstein@Home discovers a radio-quiet gamma-ray millisecond pulsar.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Colin J; Pletsch, Holger J; Wu, Jason; Guillemot, Lucas; Kerr, Matthew; Johnson, Tyrel J; Camilo, Fernando; Salvetti, David; Allen, Bruce; Anderson, David; Aulbert, Carsten; Beer, Christian; Bock, Oliver; Cuéllar, Andres; Eggenstein, Heinz-Bernd; Fehrmann, Henning; Kramer, Michael; Kwang, Shawn A; Machenschalk, Bernd; Nieder, Lars; Ackermann, Markus; Ajello, Marco; Baldini, Luca; Ballet, Jean; Barbiellini, Guido; Bastieri, Denis; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bissaldi, Elisabetta; Blandford, Roger D; Bloom, Elliott D; Bonino, Raffaella; Bottacini, Eugenio; Brandt, Terri J; Bregeon, Johan; Bruel, Philippe; Buehler, Rolf; Burnett, Toby H; Buson, Sara; Cameron, Rob A; Caputo, Regina; Caraveo, Patrizia A; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Cecchi, Claudia; Charles, Eric; Chekhtman, Alexandre; Ciprini, Stefano; Cominsky, Lynn R; Costantin, Denise; Cutini, Sara; D'Ammando, Filippo; De Luca, Andrea; Desiante, Rachele; Di Venere, Leonardo; Di Mauro, Mattia; Di Lalla, Niccolò; Digel, Seth W; Favuzzi, Cecilia; Ferrara, Elizabeth C; Franckowiak, Anna; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Funk, Stefan; Fusco, Piergiorgio; Gargano, Fabio; Gasparrini, Dario; Giglietto, Nico; Giordano, Francesco; Giroletti, Marcello; Gomez-Vargas, Germán A; Green, David; Grenier, Isabelle A; Guiriec, Sylvain; Harding, Alice K; Hewitt, John W; Horan, Deirdre; Jóhannesson, Guðlaugur; Kensei, Shiki; Kuss, Michael; La Mura, Giovanni; Larsson, Stefan; Latronico, Luca; Li, Jian; Longo, Francesco; Loparco, Francesco; Lovellette, Michael N; Lubrano, Pasquale; Magill, Jeffrey D; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Mazziotta, Mario N; McEnery, Julie E; Michelson, Peter F; Mirabal, Nestor; Mitthumsiri, Warit; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Monzani, Maria Elena; Morselli, Aldo; Moskalenko, Igor V; Nuss, Eric; Ohsugi, Takashi; Omodei, Nicola; Orienti, Monica; Orlando, Elena; Palatiello, Michele; Paliya, Vaidehi S; de Palma, Francesco; Paneque, David; Perkins, Jeremy S; Persic, Massimo; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Porter, Troy A; Principe, Giacomo; Rainò, Silvia; Rando, Riccardo; Ray, Paul S; Razzano, Massimiliano; Reimer, Anita; Reimer, Olaf; Romani, Roger W; Saz Parkinson, Pablo M; Sgrò, Carmelo; Siskind, Eric J; Smith, David A; Spada, Francesca; Spandre, Gloria; Spinelli, Paolo; Thayer, Jana B; Thompson, David J; Torres, Diego F; Troja, Eleonora; Vianello, Giacomo; Wood, Kent; Wood, Matthew

2018-02-01

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and appear to pulsate as their emission beams cross our line of sight. To date, radio pulsations have been detected from all rotation-powered MSPs. In an attempt to discover radio-quiet gamma-ray MSPs, we used the aggregated power from the computers of tens of thousands of volunteers participating in the Einstein@Home distributed computing project to search for pulsations from unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope data. This survey discovered two isolated MSPs, one of which is the only known rotation-powered MSP to remain undetected in radio observations. These gamma-ray MSPs were discovered in completely blind searches without prior constraints from other observations, raising hopes for detecting MSPs from a predicted Galactic bulge population.

Discovering Science through Art-Based Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Alberts, Rebecca

2010-01-01

Art and science are intrinsically linked; the essence of art and science is discovery. Both artists and scientists work in a systematic but creative way--knowledge and understanding are built up through pieces of art or a series of labs. In the classroom, integrating science and visual art can provide students with the latitude to think, discover,…

Lack of an association of miR-938 SNP in IDDM10 with human type 1 diabetes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mi Xiaofan

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs are a newly discovered type of small non-protein coding RNA that function in the inhibition of effective mRNA translation, and may serve as susceptibility genes for various disease developments. The SNP rs12416605, located in human type 1 diabetes IDDM10 locus, changes the seeding sequence (UGU[G/A]CCC of miRNA miR-938 and potentially alters miR-938 targets, including IL-16 and IL-17A. In an attempt to test whether miR-938 may be a susceptibility gene for IDDM10, we assessed the possible association of the miR-938 SNP with T1D in an American Caucasian cohort of 622 patients and 723 healthy controls by TaqMan assay. Our current data do not support the association between the SNP in miR-938 and type 1 diabetes.

Problems faced by newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus patients at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Diabetes mellitus can be a frightening experience for newly diagnosed patients. The aim of this study was to determine and describe the problems faced by newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus patients at primary healthcare facilities at Mopani district, Limpopo Province. A qualitative, descriptive and contextual research ...

Cadmium tolerant characteristic of a newly isolated Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Yao; Wang, Ying; Yang, Xuan; Zhang, Boyang; He, Xiaoyun; Xu, Wentao; Huang, Kunlun

2016-12-01

Environmental contamination caused by heavy metals poses a major threat to the wildlife and human health for their toxicity and intrinsically persistent nature. Some specific food grade bacteria have properties that enable them to eliminate heavy metals from food and water. Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, newly isolated from pickles, is a cadmium (Cd) tolerant bacteria. Cd resistant properties of the lactis was evaluated under different Cd stresses. Cd accumulation in different cellular parts was determined by ICP-MS and cell morphology changes were measured by SEM-EDS and TEM-EDS. In addition, functional groups associated with Cd resistance were detected by infrared spectroscopic analysis. The results indicated that Cd mainly accumulated in the cell surface structures including cytoderm and cytomembrane. Functional groups such as OH and NH 2 in the cell surface played essential roles in Cd biosorption. The elements of O, P, S, and N of polysaccharide, membrane protein and phosphatidate in the cell surface structures might be responsible for Cd biosorption for their strong electronegativity. This study indicated that ultrastructural analysis can be a supplemental method to study heavy metal resistance mechanism of microorganism and the newly isolated lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis has great potential to be applied to decontamination of heavy metals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources in clinical decision-making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voldbjerg, Siri Lygum; Grønkjaer, Mette; Wiechula, Rick

2017-01-01

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore which knowledge sources newly graduated nurses' use in clinical decision-making and why and how they are used. BACKGROUND: In spite of an increased educational focus on skills and competencies within evidence based practice newly graduated nurses' ability to use...... approaches to strengthen the knowledgebase used in clinical decision-making. DESIGN AND METHODS: Ethnographic study using participant-observation and individual semi-structured interviews of nine Danish newly graduated nurses in medical and surgical hospital settings. RESULTS: Newly graduates use...... in clinical decision-making. If newly graduates are to be supported in an articulate and reflective use of a variety of sources, they have to be allocated to experienced nurses who model a reflective, articulate and balanced use of knowledge sources. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved....

Discovering Phonemes of Bidayuh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jecky Misieng

2012-07-01

Full Text Available There are generally three views of the notion of a phoneme. The structuralist view of the phoneme focuses on this language phenomenon as a phonetic reality. In discovering phonemes of a language, phonologists who hold this view will look for minimal contrasting pairs as a way to determine contrasting sounds of that language. They will also look for allophones or two sounds of the same phoneme which may appear in complementary distribution. This paper will discuss the possible application of the structuralist approach to analyzing the phonemes of a dialect of Bidayuh, one of the Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the northern region of Borneo.

Discovering Patterns in Brain Signals Using Decision Trees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Narusci S. Bastos

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Even with emerging technologies, such as Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI systems, understanding how our brains work is a very difficult challenge. So we propose to use a data mining technique to help us in this task. As a case of study, we analyzed the brain’s behaviour of blind people and sighted people in a spatial activity. There is a common belief that blind people compensate their lack of vision using the other senses. If an object is given to sighted people and we asked them to identify this object, probably the sense of vision will be the most determinant one. If the same experiment was repeated with blind people, they will have to use other senses to identify the object. In this work, we propose a methodology that uses decision trees (DT to investigate the difference of how the brains of blind people and people with vision react against a spatial problem. We choose the DT algorithm because it can discover patterns in the brain signal, and its presentation is human interpretable. Our results show that using DT to analyze brain signals can help us to understand the brain’s behaviour.

Einstein@Home discovers a radio-quiet gamma-ray millisecond pulsar

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Colin J.; Pletsch, Holger J.; Wu, Jason; Guillemot, Lucas; Kerr, Matthew; Johnson, Tyrel J.; Camilo, Fernando; Salvetti, David; Allen, Bruce; Anderson, David; Aulbert, Carsten; Beer, Christian; Bock, Oliver; Cuéllar, Andres; Eggenstein, Heinz-Bernd; Fehrmann, Henning; Kramer, Michael; Kwang, Shawn A.; Machenschalk, Bernd; Nieder, Lars; Ackermann, Markus; Ajello, Marco; Baldini, Luca; Ballet, Jean; Barbiellini, Guido; Bastieri, Denis; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Bissaldi, Elisabetta; Blandford, Roger D.; Bloom, Elliott D.; Bonino, Raffaella; Bottacini, Eugenio; Brandt, Terri J.; Bregeon, Johan; Bruel, Philippe; Buehler, Rolf; Burnett, Toby H.; Buson, Sara; Cameron, Rob A.; Caputo, Regina; Caraveo, Patrizia A.; Cavazzuti, Elisabetta; Cecchi, Claudia; Charles, Eric; Chekhtman, Alexandre; Ciprini, Stefano; Cominsky, Lynn R.; Costantin, Denise; Cutini, Sara; D’Ammando, Filippo; De Luca, Andrea; Desiante, Rachele; Di Venere, Leonardo; Di Mauro, Mattia; Di Lalla, Niccolò; Digel, Seth W.; Favuzzi, Cecilia; Ferrara, Elizabeth C.; Franckowiak, Anna; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Funk, Stefan; Fusco, Piergiorgio; Gargano, Fabio; Gasparrini, Dario; Giglietto, Nico; Giordano, Francesco; Giroletti, Marcello; Gomez-Vargas, Germán A.; Green, David; Grenier, Isabelle A.; Guiriec, Sylvain; Harding, Alice K.; Hewitt, John W.; Horan, Deirdre; Jóhannesson, Guðlaugur; Kensei, Shiki; Kuss, Michael; La Mura, Giovanni; Larsson, Stefan; Latronico, Luca; Li, Jian; Longo, Francesco; Loparco, Francesco; Lovellette, Michael N.; Lubrano, Pasquale; Magill, Jeffrey D.; Maldera, Simone; Manfreda, Alberto; Mazziotta, Mario N.; McEnery, Julie E.; Michelson, Peter F.; Mirabal, Nestor; Mitthumsiri, Warit; Mizuno, Tsunefumi; Monzani, Maria Elena; Morselli, Aldo; Moskalenko, Igor V.; Nuss, Eric; Ohsugi, Takashi; Omodei, Nicola; Orienti, Monica; Orlando, Elena; Palatiello, Michele; Paliya, Vaidehi S.; de Palma, Francesco; Paneque, David; Perkins, Jeremy S.; Persic, Massimo; Pesce-Rollins, Melissa; Porter, Troy A.; Principe, Giacomo; Rainò, Silvia; Rando, Riccardo; Ray, Paul S.; Razzano, Massimiliano; Reimer, Anita; Reimer, Olaf; Romani, Roger W.; Saz Parkinson, Pablo M.; Sgrò, Carmelo; Siskind, Eric J.; Smith, David A.; Spada, Francesca; Spandre, Gloria; Spinelli, Paolo; Thayer, Jana B.; Thompson, David J.; Torres, Diego F.; Troja, Eleonora; Vianello, Giacomo; Wood, Kent; Wood, Matthew

2018-01-01

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and appear to pulsate as their emission beams cross our line of sight. To date, radio pulsations have been detected from all rotation-powered MSPs. In an attempt to discover radio-quiet gamma-ray MSPs, we used the aggregated power from the computers of tens of thousands of volunteers participating in the Einstein@Home distributed computing project to search for pulsations from unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope data. This survey discovered two isolated MSPs, one of which is the only known rotation-powered MSP to remain undetected in radio observations. These gamma-ray MSPs were discovered in completely blind searches without prior constraints from other observations, raising hopes for detecting MSPs from a predicted Galactic bulge population. PMID:29503868

Longitudinal trends and subgroup analysis in publication patterns for preclinical data of newly approved drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Köster, Ursula; Nolte, Ingo; Michel, Martin C

2016-02-01

Having observed a large variation in the number and type of original preclinical publications for newly registered drugs, we have explored whether longitudinal trends and/or factors specific for certain drugs or their manufacturers may explain such variation. Our analysis is based on 1954 articles related to 170 newly approved drugs. The number of preclinical publications per compound declined from a median of 10.5 in 1991 to 3 in 2011. A similar trend was observed for the number of in vivo studies in general, but not in the subset of in vivo studies in animal models of disease. The percentage of compounds with studies using isolated human cells or cell lines almost doubled over time from 37 to 72%. Number of publications did not exhibit major differences between compounds intended for human versus veterinary use, therapeutic areas, small molecules versus biologicals, or innovator versus follow-up compounds; however, some companies may publish fewer studies per compound than others. However, there were qualitative differences in the types of models being used depending on the therapeutic area; specifically, compounds for use in oncology very often used isolated cells and cell lines, often from human origin. We conclude that the large variation in number and type of reported preclinical data is not easily explained. We propose that pharmaceutical companies should consistently provide a comprehensive documentation of the preclinical data they generate as part of their development programs in the public domain to enable a better understanding of the drugs they intend to market.

DeBi: Discovering Differentially Expressed Biclusters using a Frequent Itemset Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vingron Martin

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The analysis of massive high throughput data via clustering algorithms is very important for elucidating gene functions in biological systems. However, traditional clustering methods have several drawbacks. Biclustering overcomes these limitations by grouping genes and samples simultaneously. It discovers subsets of genes that are co-expressed in certain samples. Recent studies showed that biclustering has a great potential in detecting marker genes that are associated with certain tissues or diseases. Several biclustering algorithms have been proposed. However, it is still a challenge to find biclusters that are significant based on biological validation measures. Besides that, there is a need for a biclustering algorithm that is capable of analyzing very large datasets in reasonable time. Results Here we present a fast biclustering algorithm called DeBi (Differentially Expressed BIclusters. The algorithm is based on a well known data mining approach called frequent itemset. It discovers maximum size homogeneous biclusters in which each gene is strongly associated with a subset of samples. We evaluate the performance of DeBi on a yeast dataset, on synthetic datasets and on human datasets. Conclusions We demonstrate that the DeBi algorithm provides functionally more coherent gene sets compared to standard clustering or biclustering algorithms using biological validation measures such as Gene Ontology term and Transcription Factor Binding Site enrichment. We show that DeBi is a computationally efficient and powerful tool in analyzing large datasets. The method is also applicable on multiple gene expression datasets coming from different labs or platforms.

Challenges in service mining : record, check, discover

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aalst, van der W.M.P.; Daniel, F.; Dolog, P.; Li, Q.

2013-01-01

Process mining aims to discover, monitor and improve real processes by extracting knowledge from event logs abundantly available in today’s information systems. Although process mining has been applied in hundreds of organizations and process mining techniques have been embedded in a variety of

Carboniferous and Permian evolutionary records for the Paleo-Tethys Ocean constrained by newly discovered Xiangtaohu ophiolites from central Qiangtang, central Tibet

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiu-Zheng; Dong, Yong-Sheng; Wang, Qiang; Dan, Wei; Zhang, Chunfu; Deng, Ming-Rong; Xu, Wang; Xia, Xiao-Ping; Zeng, Ji-Peng; Liang, He

2016-07-01

Reconstructing the evolutionary history of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean remains at the center of debates over the linkage between Gondwana dispersion and Asian accretion. Identifying the remnants of oceanic lithosphere (ophiolites) has very important implications for identifying suture zones, unveiling the evolutionary history of fossil oceans, and reconstructing the amalgamation history between different blocks. Here we report newly documented ophiolite suites from the Longmu Co-Shuanghu Suture zone (LSSZ) in the Xiangtaohu area, central Qiangtang block, Tibet. Detailed geological investigations and zircon U-Pb dating reveal that the Xiangtaohu ophiolites are composed of a suite of Permian (281-275 Ma) ophiolites with a nearly complete Penrose sequence and a suite of Early Carboniferous (circa 350 Ma) ophiolite remnants containing only part of the lower oceanic crust. Geochemical and Sr-Nd-O isotopic data show that the Permian and Carboniferous ophiolites in this study were derived from an N-mid-ocean ridge basalts-like mantle source with varied suprasubduction-zone (SSZ) signatures and were characterized by crystallization sequences from wet magmas, suggesting typical SSZ-affinity ophiolites. Permian and Carboniferous SSZ ophiolites in the central Qiangtang provide robust evidence for the existence and evolution of an ancient ocean basin. Combining with previous studies on high-pressure metamorphic rocks and pelagic radiolarian cherts, and with tectonostratigraphic and paleontological data, we support the LSSZ as representing the main suture of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean which probably existed and evolved from Devonian to Triassic. The opening and demise of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean dominated the formation of the major framework for the East and/or Southeast Asia.

From Neandertals to modern humans: New data on the Uluzzian.

Science.gov (United States)

Villa, Paola; Pollarolo, Luca; Conforti, Jacopo; Marra, Fabrizio; Biagioni, Cristian; Degano, Ilaria; Lucejko, Jeannette J; Tozzi, Carlo; Pennacchioni, Massimo; Zanchetta, Giovanni; Nicosia, Cristiano; Martini, Marco; Sibilia, Emanuela; Panzeri, Laura

2018-01-01

Having thrived in Eurasia for 350,000 years Neandertals disappeared from the record around 40,000-37,000 years ago, after modern humans entered Europe. It was a complex process of population interactions that included cultural exchanges and admixture between Neandertals and dispersing groups of modern humans. In Europe Neandertals are always associated with the Mousterian while the Aurignacian is associated with modern humans only. The onset of the Aurignacian is preceded by "transitional" industries which show some similarities with the Mousterian but also contain modern tool forms. Information on these industries is often incomplete or disputed and this is true of the Uluzzian. We present the results of taphonomic, typological and technological analyses of two Uluzzian sites, Grotta La Fabbrica (Tuscany) and the newly discovered site of Colle Rotondo (Latium). Comparisons with Castelcivita and Grotta del Cavallo show that the Uluzzian is a coherent cultural unit lasting about five millennia, replaced by the Protoaurignacian before the eruption of the Campanian Ignimbrite. The lack of skeletal remains at our two sites and the controversy surrounding the stratigraphic position of modern human teeth at Cavallo makes it difficult to reach agreement about authorship of the Uluzzian, for which alternative hypotheses have been proposed. Pending the discovery of DNA or further human remains, these hypotheses can only be evaluated by archaeological arguments, i.e. evidence of continuities and discontinuities between the Uluzzian and the preceding and succeeding culture units in Italy. However, in the context of "transitional" industries with disputed dates for the arrival of modern humans in Europe, and considering the case of the Châtelperronian, an Upper Paleolithic industry made by Neandertals, typo-technology used as an indicator of hominin authorship has limited predictive value. We corroborate previous suggestions that the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition

The Magic of Mathematics Discovering the Spell of Mathematics

CERN Document Server

Pappas, Theoni

2011-01-01

Delves into the world of ideas, explores the spell mathematics casts on our lives, and helps you discover mathematics where you least expect it. Be spellbound by the mathematical designs found in nature. Learn how knots may untie the mysteries of life. Be mesmerized by the computer revolution. Discover how the hidden forces of mathematics hold architectural structures together connect your telephone calls help airplanes get off the ground solve the mysteries of the living cell. See how some artists use a mathematical palette in their works and how many writers draw upon the wealth of its ideas

Squamoid cystosis of pancreatic ducts: a variant of a newly-described cystic lesion, with evidence for an obstructive etiology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wai Chin Foo

2014-09-01

Full Text Available We describe a 40-year-old man who was found to have a cystic mass in the pancreatic tail during workup for weight loss and abdominal discomfort. Although computed tomography scan showed a single cyst associated with dilatation of the main pancreatic duct, gross and histologic examination of the distal pancreatectomy specimen actually revealed a central cyst that was surrounded by multiple smaller cystic spaces. This distinctive appearance was formed from extensive cystic dilatation and squamous metaplasia of the native pancreatic duct system. Further, a traumatic neuroma was discovered near the junction between normal and abnormal parenchyma. We believe that this case represents a variant of the newly-described squamoid cyst of panreatic ducts which we term squamoid cystosis of pancreatic ducts. The presence of chronic pancreatitis and a traumatic neuroma supports the hypothesis that squamoid cysts are non-neoplastic lesions arising from prior duct obstruction.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease in newly diagnosed patients with Human immunodeficiency virus in Ilorin, Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayokunle, Dada Samuel; Olusegun, Olanrewaju Timothy; Ademola, Aderibigbe; Adindu, Chijioke; Olaitan, Rafiu Mojeed; Oladimeji, Ajayi Akande

2015-01-01

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) the causative agent of Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an important cause of renal diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. There is paucity of studies on the burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among patients with HIV/AIDS in the North-Central zone of Nigeria. This is a cross-sectional study of 227 newly-diagnosed, antiretroviral naïve patients with HIV/AIDS seen at the HIV clinic of the Medical Out-patient Department (MOPD) of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH). They were matched with 108 control group. Laboratory investigations were performed for the participants. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 30 mg/g. There were 100 (44%) males among the patients and 47 (43.5%) among the control group. The mean ages of the patients and controls were 40.3 ± 10.3 years and 41.8 ± 9.5 years respectively. CKD was observed in 108 (47.6%) among the patients and 18 (16.7%) of the controls (p = 0.01). The median CD4 T-cell count was significantly lower in patients with CKD. Ninety-three (41.0%) of the patients had dipstick proteinuria of > 2 +. The median albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) was significantly higher among the HIV-positive patients (272.3 mg/g) compared with the HIV-negative controls (27.22 mg/g) p = 0.01. The CD4 T-cell count correlates positively with eGFR (r = 0.463, p = 0.001) and negatively with ACR (r = -0.806, p = 0.001). CKD is very common among patients with HIV/AIDS in Ilorin. Screening and early intervention for CKD should be part of the protocols in the management of these patients.

A 9,000-year-old caribou hunting structure beneath Lake Huron

OpenAIRE

O’Shea, John M.; Lemke, Ashley K.; Sonnenburg, Elizabeth P.; Reynolds, Robert G.; Abbott, Brian D.

2014-01-01

Some of the most pivotal questions in human history necessitate the investigation of archaeological sites that are now under water. These contexts have unique potentials for preserving ancient sites without disturbance from later human occupation. The Alpena-Amberley Ridge beneath modern Lake Huron in the Great Lakes offers unique evidence of prehistoric caribou hunters for a time period that is very poorly known on land. The newly discovered Drop 45 Drive Lane and associated artifacts presen...

Newly Generated Liquid Waste Processing Alternatives Study, Volume 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landman, William Henry; Bates, Steven Odum; Bonnema, Bruce Edward; Palmer, Stanley Leland; Podgorney, Anna Kristine; Walsh, Stephanie

2002-09-01

This report identifies and evaluates three options for treating newly generated liquid waste at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The three options are: (a) treat the waste using processing facilities designed for treating sodium-bearing waste, (b) treat the waste using subcontractor-supplied mobile systems, or (c) treat the waste using a special facility designed and constructed for that purpose. In studying these options, engineers concluded that the best approach is to store the newly generated liquid waste until a sodium-bearing waste treatment facility is available and then to co-process the stored inventory of the newly generated waste with the sodium-bearing waste. After the sodium-bearing waste facility completes its mission, two paths are available. The newly generated liquid waste could be treated using the subcontractor-supplied system or the sodium-bearing waste facility or a portion of it. The final decision depends on the design of the sodium-bearing waste treatment facility, which will be completed in coming years.

Lyman-alpha spectral properties of five newly discovered Lyman continuum emitters

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Verhamme, A.; Orlitová, Ivana; Schaerer, D.; Izotov, Y.I.; Worseck, G.; Thuan, T.X.; Guseva, N.G.

2017-01-01

Roč. 597, January (2017), A13/1-A13/13 E-ISSN 1432-0746 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GP14-20666P Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : radiative transfer * dark ages * reionization Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy , Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 5.014, year: 2016

Newly discovered failure mode in high energy density, energy storage capacitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boicourt, G.P.; Kemp, E.L.

1978-07-01

High energy density pulse capacitors, typified by the 10-kV, 170-μF unit, have become widely used in recent years. These units primarily were designed for lower cost and higher energy per unit volume. The life characteristics of these units have never been determined fully, but they have already been shown capable of lives much longer than originally expected. The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory is now conducting an extended program to determine the long-term capabilities of these capacitors. This program is aimed not only at finding the statistical parameters of the failure distribution but also at determining the physical failure modes characteristic of such units. Recently, a new failure mode was found. This failure mode has prevented test samples of polypropylene-paper-dioctyl phthalate units from actually reaching the true potential life of the insulation. In this report, the new failure mechanism is examined and suggestions are made that could eliminate the failure mode

Newly discovered hydrothermal system on the Alarcón Rise, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Paduan, J. B.; Clague, D. A.; Caress, D. W.; Lundsten, L.; Martin, J. F.; Nieves-Cardoso, C.

2012-12-01

The Alarcón Rise lies at the mouth of the Gulf of California, and is the last segment of the East Pacific Rise before the plate boundary redirects into the gulf. As part of MBARI's expedition to the gulf in 2012, the neovolcanic zone of the entire ridge segment was mapped by MBARI's mapping AUV. 110 potential hydrothermal chimneys were identified in the new high resolution maps, and 70 were visited with the ROV Doc Ricketts, after having been sought in vain without the maps on an expedition in 2003. Two active vent fields were found, and have been named Meyibó and Ja sít from local native languages. They lie 2.5km apart at ~2300m depth, and are associated with a large, young sheet flow 1/3 of the way along the ridge from the south, on the most inflated part of the ridge. The southern field, Meyibó, contains 14 active chimneys (confirmed with ROV observations) nestled in grabens of several highly fractured cones surrounded by the sheet flow, and generally aligned with its discontinuous, 8km-long fissure system. The northern field, Ja sít, is a broad cluster of 8 active chimneys (also confirmed) rising above the sheet flow's channel system, more than 150m from the fissure. The chimneys stand as tall as 18 m. The most vigorous vent "black smoke" (mineral-rich fluid) >300°C and others are bathed in "white smoke". The active chimneys are populated with bacterial mat and dense clumps of Riftia pachyptila with tubes as long as 1.5m. Abundant limpets, Bythograea thermydron and galatheid crabs, and the pink vent fish Thermarces cerberus were on and near the giant tube worms. Alvinellid worms were observed at 2 chimneys. Some cracks in nearby lava flows vented clear fluid and were populated with tubeworms or Calyptogena magnifica clams. Several chimneys exhibited signs of waning activity: dead tubeworms were still attached and only a minor portion of the edifice supported bacterial mat and live tubeworms. Inactive chimneys are more numerous (48 were confirmed with ROV observations; 40 more were not visited but are presumed inactive, as turbid bottom waters were only observed in the vicinity of the active vents). Most are almost 10km NE of the Ja sít active field in a ridge-parallel array stretching 2.3km. These were deeper (to 2392m) and associated with older flows. Some had only recently ceased venting, as clam shell fragments and relatively fragile vent orifices were still present. Inactive chimneys are also intermingled with the active chimneys. Some of the recovered samples have abundant chalcopyrite, but most are predominantly zinc and iron sulfide. Inactive chimneys stand tall in the AUV maps but as they are no longer venting, would not be detected by traditional water-column surveys. Elsewhere, however, sulfide-bearing sediments were also recovered, evidence of prior hydrothermal activity that would not be detected in the AUV maps. Features that could be mistaken for sulfide chimneys also appear in the maps, but morphology distinguishes them as lava pillars along margins of collapsed flows, fault blocks, pressure ridges, or steep summits of pillow mounds.

Wootz Crucible Steel: A Newly Discovered Production Site in South India

OpenAIRE

Sharad Srinivasan

1994-01-01

During the course of field investigations of copper mining and smelting in South India, the author of this paper came across a previously unrecorded archaeometallurgical site in Mel-siruvalur, South Arcot district, Tamil Nadu, which investigations have confinned was a production centre for wootz crucible steel in the Deccan. The find of this production centre supports the idea that wootz steel production was relatiYely widespread in South India, and extends the known horizons of this technolo...

Investigation and comparison of creating or discovering the meaning of life in the views of Kierkegaard and Sartre

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jafar Shanazari

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Numerous studies that have recently been done about the important issue of life indicates that this problem is including various dimensions, in a way that it has been studied in both philosophy of religion which concerns the purposeful dimension of life and ethical themes which discusses about volubility of life also it evaluates the performance and advantage of life, the aspect which concerns the purposefulness if life is the most important one. In the present research and in discussing about the creation or the discovering of the meaning we are mostly confronted with the aim and purpose in the discussion about meaning, sometimes aim is attributed to a creature that has knowledge and freedom and sometimes it is related to a creature that has none of these factors. A creature that has knowledge and freedom in all of itsactsis considered a destination that is called purpose or aim. If the aim is concealed in itself and in the free-willed creature, it is called self- structured aim but if it is out of the creature and is related to other creatures is external aim and it is not self-structured.By comparing human and the world, we can find that life in its nature has not self- structured aim because the aim must be seek in a factor out of that is owner of knowledge and freedom. But this is not correct about human because human has knowledge and freedom, so it has self- structured aim. Answer to these questions is related to view of accosted person in a way that a secular person cannot realize the perpetual creator and his responses are physical. Also divine person responded in another way and by considering a hypothesis that has a good life. Only difference between a divine and a physical person is that final factor to physical person is nature, but divine person considered nature as a part of a larger factor as supra nature. Regarding to these backgrounds, a question is indicated that: is life meaning discoverable or fake able? Answer to

Discovering Alzheimer Genetic Biomarkers Using Bayesian Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fayroz F. Sherif

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs contribute most of the genetic variation to the human genome. SNPs associate with many complex and common diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD. Discovering SNP biomarkers at different loci can improve early diagnosis and treatment of these diseases. Bayesian network provides a comprehensible and modular framework for representing interactions between genes or single SNPs. Here, different Bayesian network structure learning algorithms have been applied in whole genome sequencing (WGS data for detecting the causal AD SNPs and gene-SNP interactions. We focused on polymorphisms in the top ten genes associated with AD and identified by genome-wide association (GWA studies. New SNP biomarkers were observed to be significantly associated with Alzheimer’s disease. These SNPs are rs7530069, rs113464261, rs114506298, rs73504429, rs7929589, rs76306710, and rs668134. The obtained results demonstrated the effectiveness of using BN for identifying AD causal SNPs with acceptable accuracy. The results guarantee that the SNP set detected by Markov blanket based methods has a strong association with AD disease and achieves better performance than both naïve Bayes and tree augmented naïve Bayes. Minimal augmented Markov blanket reaches accuracy of 66.13% and sensitivity of 88.87% versus 61.58% and 59.43% in naïve Bayes, respectively.

New Ancient Egyptian Human Mummies from the Valley of the Kings, Luxor: Anthropological, Radiological, and Egyptological Investigations.

Science.gov (United States)

Rühli, Frank; Ikram, Salima; Bickel, Susanne

2015-01-01

The Valley of the Kings (arab. Wadi al Muluk; KV) situated on the West Bank near Luxor (Egypt) was the site for royal and elite burials during the New Kingdom (ca. 1500-1100 BC), with many tombs being reused in subsequent periods. In 2009, the scientific project "The University of Basel Kings' Valley Project" was launched. The main purpose of this transdisciplinary project is the clearance and documentation of nonroyal tombs in the surrounding of the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmosis III (ca. 1479-1424 BC; KV 34). This paper reports on newly discovered ancient Egyptian human mummified remains originating from the field seasons 2010-2012. Besides macroscopic assessments, the remains were conventionally X-rayed by a portable X-ray unit in situ inside KV 31. These image data serve as basis for individual sex and age determination and for the study of probable pathologies and embalming techniques. A total of five human individuals have been examined so far and set into an Egyptological context. This project highlights the importance of ongoing excavation and science efforts even in well-studied areas of Egypt such as the Kings' Valley.

New Ancient Egyptian Human Mummies from the Valley of the Kings, Luxor: Anthropological, Radiological, and Egyptological Investigations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frank Rühli

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The Valley of the Kings (arab. Wadi al Muluk; KV situated on the West Bank near Luxor (Egypt was the site for royal and elite burials during the New Kingdom (ca. 1500–1100 BC, with many tombs being reused in subsequent periods. In 2009, the scientific project “The University of Basel Kings’ Valley Project” was launched. The main purpose of this transdisciplinary project is the clearance and documentation of nonroyal tombs in the surrounding of the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmosis III (ca. 1479–1424 BC; KV 34. This paper reports on newly discovered ancient Egyptian human mummified remains originating from the field seasons 2010–2012. Besides macroscopic assessments, the remains were conventionally X-rayed by a portable X-ray unit in situ inside KV 31. These image data serve as basis for individual sex and age determination and for the study of probable pathologies and embalming techniques. A total of five human individuals have been examined so far and set into an Egyptological context. This project highlights the importance of ongoing excavation and science efforts even in well-studied areas of Egypt such as the Kings’ Valley.

New Ancient Egyptian Human Mummies from the Valley of the Kings, Luxor: Anthropological, Radiological, and Egyptological Investigations

Science.gov (United States)

Rühli, Frank; Ikram, Salima

2015-01-01

The Valley of the Kings (arab. Wadi al Muluk; KV) situated on the West Bank near Luxor (Egypt) was the site for royal and elite burials during the New Kingdom (ca. 1500–1100 BC), with many tombs being reused in subsequent periods. In 2009, the scientific project “The University of Basel Kings' Valley Project” was launched. The main purpose of this transdisciplinary project is the clearance and documentation of nonroyal tombs in the surrounding of the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmosis III (ca. 1479–1424 BC; KV 34). This paper reports on newly discovered ancient Egyptian human mummified remains originating from the field seasons 2010–2012. Besides macroscopic assessments, the remains were conventionally X-rayed by a portable X-ray unit in situ inside KV 31. These image data serve as basis for individual sex and age determination and for the study of probable pathologies and embalming techniques. A total of five human individuals have been examined so far and set into an Egyptological context. This project highlights the importance of ongoing excavation and science efforts even in well-studied areas of Egypt such as the Kings' Valley. PMID:26347313

Discovering approximate-associated sequence patterns for protein-DNA interactions

KAUST Repository

Chan, Tak Ming

2010-12-30

Motivation: The bindings between transcription factors (TFs) and transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) are fundamental protein-DNA interactions in transcriptional regulation. Extensive efforts have been made to better understand the protein-DNA interactions. Recent mining on exact TF-TFBS-associated sequence patterns (rules) has shown great potentials and achieved very promising results. However, exact rules cannot handle variations in real data, resulting in limited informative rules. In this article, we generalize the exact rules to approximate ones for both TFs and TFBSs, which are essential for biological variations. Results: A progressive approach is proposed to address the approximation to alleviate the computational requirements. Firstly, similar TFBSs are grouped from the available TF-TFBS data (TRANSFAC database). Secondly, approximate and highly conserved binding cores are discovered from TF sequences corresponding to each TFBS group. A customized algorithm is developed for the specific objective. We discover the approximate TF-TFBS rules by associating the grouped TFBS consensuses and TF cores. The rules discovered are evaluated by matching (verifying with) the actual protein-DNA binding pairs from Protein Data Bank (PDB) 3D structures. The approximate results exhibit many more verified rules and up to 300% better verification ratios than the exact ones. The customized algorithm achieves over 73% better verification ratios than traditional methods. Approximate rules (64-79%) are shown statistically significant. Detailed variation analysis and conservation verification on NCBI records demonstrate that the approximate rules reveal both the flexible and specific protein-DNA interactions accurately. The approximate TF-TFBS rules discovered show great generalized capability of exploring more informative binding rules. © The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Observation of the bone mineral density of newly formed bone using rabbits. Compared with newly formed bone around implants and cortical bone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakada, Hiroshi; Numata, Yasuko; Sakae, Toshiro; Tamaki, Hiroyuki; Kato, Takao

2009-01-01

There have been many studies reporting that newly formed bone around implants is spongy bone. However, although the morphology is reported as being like spongy bone, it is difficult to discriminate whether the bone quality of newly formed bone appears similar to osteoid or cortical bone; therefore, evaluation of bone quality is required. The aims of this study were to measure the bone mineral density (BMD) values of newly formed bone around implants after 4, 8, 16, 24 and 48 weeks, to represent these values on three-dimensional color mapping (3Dmap), and to evaluate the change in bone quality associated with newly formed bone around implants. The animal experimental protocol of this study was approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Experiments of our University. This experiment used 20 surface treatment implants (Ti-6Al-4V alloy: 3.1 mm in diameter and 30.0 mm in length) by grit-blasting. They were embedded into surgically created flaws in femurs of 20 New Zealand white rabbits (16 weeks old, male). The rabbits were sacrificed with an ear intravenous overdose of pentobarbital sodium under general anesthesia each period, and the femurs were resected. We measured BMD of newly formed bone around implants and cortical bone using Micro-CT, and the BMD distribution map of 3Dmap (TRI/3D Bon BMD, Ratoc System Engineering). The BMD of cortical bone was 1,026.3±44.3 mg/cm 3 at 4 weeks, 1,023.8±40.9 mg/cm 3 at 8 weeks, 1,048.2±45.6 mg/cm 3 at 16 weeks, 1,067.2±60.2 mg/cm 3 at 24 weeks, and 1,069.3±50.7 mg/cm 3 at 48 weeks after implantation, showing a non-significant increase each period. The BMD of newly formed bone around implants was 296.8±25.6 mg/cm 3 at 4 weeks, 525.0±72.4 mg/cm 3 at 8 weeks, 691.2±26.0 mg/cm 3 at 16 weeks, 776.9±27.7 mg/cm 3 at 24 weeks, and 845.2±23.1 mg/cm 3 at 48 weeks after implantation, showing a significant increase after each period. It was revealed that the color scale of newly formed bone was Low level at 4 weeks, and then it

MICRO-STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF SOME ARTIFACTS DISCOVERED AT POROLISSUM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MUNTEANU Mihai

2014-09-01

Full Text Available the paper presents the investigation of two fragments of roman bronze artefacts, discovered during archaeological works performed at Porolissum, an important military and economical point on the northern limes of Dacia Province. One of the analyzed fragments (Mi1 was taken from a consistent fragment of a Roman bronze statue, while the second (Mi2 was among a lot of small metal pieces, discovered in the same investigated area. Using highly sophisticated micro-structural analysing techniques – X-Ray diffraction, the paper investigates the possibility that the Mi2 fragment may have belonged to the same statue from which the sample Mi1 was taken

The practical skills of newly qualified nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Danbjørg, Dorthe Boe; Birkelund, Regner

2011-02-01

This paper reports the findings from a study of newly qualified nurses and which subjects the nurses regarded as the most important in order to be able to live up to the requirements of clinical practice, and how they experience their potential for developing practical and moral skills, after the decrease in practical training. A qualitative approach guided the research process and the analysis of the data. The data was collected by participant observation and qualitative interviews with four nurses as informants. The conclusions made in this study are based on the statements and the observations of the newly qualified nurses. Our findings are discussed in relation to the Aristotelian concept and other relevant literature. The main message is that the newly qualified nurses did not feel equipped when they finished their training. This could be interpreted as a direct consequence of the decrease in practical training. Our study also underlines that the way nursing theory is perceived and taught is problematic. The interviews revealed that the nurses think that nursing theories should be applied directly in practice. This misunderstanding is probably also applicable to the teachers of the theories. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources: a meta-ethnography.

Science.gov (United States)

Voldbjerg, Siri Lygum; Grønkjaer, Mette; Sørensen, Erik Elgaard; Hall, Elisabeth O C

2016-08-01

To advance evidence on newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources. Clinical decisions need to be evidence-based and understanding the knowledge sources that newly graduated nurses use will inform both education and practice. Qualitative studies on newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources are increasing though generated from scattered healthcare contexts. Therefore, a metasynthesis of qualitative research on what knowledge sources new graduates use in decision-making was conducted. Meta-ethnography. Nineteen reports, representing 17 studies, published from 2000-2014 were identified from iterative searches in relevant databases from May 2013-May 2014. Included reports were appraised for quality and Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnography guided the interpretation and synthesis of data. Newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources during their first 2-year postgraduation were interpreted in the main theme 'self and others as knowledge sources,' with two subthemes 'doing and following' and 'knowing and doing,' each with several elucidating categories. The metasynthesis revealed a line of argument among the report findings underscoring progression in knowledge use and perception of competence and confidence among newly graduated nurses. The transition phase, feeling of confidence and ability to use critical thinking and reflection, has a great impact on knowledge sources incorporated in clinical decisions. The synthesis accentuates that for use of newly graduated nurses' qualifications and skills in evidence-based practice, clinical practice needs to provide a supportive environment which nurtures critical thinking and questions and articulates use of multiple knowledge sources. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A strategy to discover new organizers identifies a putative heart organizer.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Claire; Khan, Mohsin A F; Wong, Frances; Solovieva, Tatiana; Oliveira, Nidia M M; Baldock, Richard A; Tickle, Cheryll; Burt, Dave W; Stern, Claudio D

2016-08-25

Organizers are regions of the embryo that can both induce new fates and impart pattern on other regions. So far, surprisingly few organizers have been discovered, considering the number of patterned tissue types generated during development. This may be because their discovery has relied on transplantation and ablation experiments. Here we describe a new approach, using chick embryos, to discover organizers based on a common gene expression signature, and use it to uncover the anterior intestinal portal (AIP) endoderm as a putative heart organizer. We show that the AIP can induce cardiac identity from non-cardiac mesoderm and that it can pattern this by specifying ventricular and suppressing atrial regional identity. We also uncover some of the signals responsible. The method holds promise as a tool to discover other novel organizers acting during development.

Discovering Alaska's Salmon: A Children's Activity Book.

Science.gov (United States)

Devaney, Laurel

This children's activity book helps students discover Alaska's salmon. Information is provided about salmon and where they live. The salmon life cycle and food chains are also discussed. Different kinds of salmon such as Chum Salmon, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and Pink Salmon are introduced, and various activities on salmon are…

On a New Technique for Discovering Variable Stars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mironov A. V.

2003-12-01

Full Text Available A technique for discovering variable stars based on the calculation of the correlation coefficients is proposed. Applications of the technique are shown on the results of numerical experiments and on the Hipparcos photometric data.

The impact of organisational culture on the adaptation of newly ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Usually newly employed nurses find adjusting to a work setting a challenging experience. Their successful adaptation to their work situation is greatly influenced by the socialisation process inherent in the organisational culture. The newly employed nurse often finds that the norms are unclear, confusing and restrictive.

How to Discover the Rogers–Ramanujan Identities

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the. Rogers–Ramanujan identities, by discussing an approach to discover them. When you see that they appear from a very simple generalization of the simplest possible in- finite continued fraction, that in turn is related to the celebrated Fibonacci sequence, perhaps you may ...

Human Genome Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Block, S. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Cornwall, J. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Dally, W. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Dyson, F. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Fortson, N. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Joyce, G. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Kimble, H. J. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Lewis, N. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Max, C. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Prince, T. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Schwitters, R. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Weinberger, P. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office; Woodin, W. H. [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (US). JASON Program Office

1998-01-04

The study reviews Department of Energy supported aspects of the United States Human Genome Project, the joint National Institutes of Health/Department of Energy program to characterize all human genetic material, to discover the set of human genes, and to render them accessible for further biological study. The study concentrates on issues of technology, quality assurance/control, and informatics relevant to current effort on the genome project and needs beyond it. Recommendations are presented on areas of the genome program that are of particular interest to and supported by the Department of Energy.

Assessment for markers of nephropathy in newly diagnosed type 2 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objective: To assess for markers of nephropathy in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics, using blood pressure levels, endogenous creatinine clearance and urinary protein excretion as markers of renal disease. Study design: Ninety newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics were studied within 6 weeks of diagnosis. They were in ...

Discovering frequently recurring movement sequences in team-sport athlete spatiotemporal data.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweeting, Alice J; Aughey, Robert J; Cormack, Stuart J; Morgan, Stuart

2017-12-01

Athlete external load is typically analysed from predetermined movement thresholds. The combination of movement sequences and differences in these movements between playing positions is also currently unknown. This study developed a method to discover the frequently recurring movement sequences across playing position during matches. The external load of 12 international female netball athletes was collected by a local positioning system during four national-level matches. Velocity, acceleration and angular velocity were calculated from positional (X, Y) data, clustered via one-dimensional k-means and assigned a unique alphabetic label. Combinations of velocity, acceleration and angular velocity movement were compared using the Levenshtein distance and similarities computed by the longest common substring problem. The contribution of each movement sequence, according to playing position and relative to the wider data set, was then calculated via the Minkowski distance. A total of 10 frequently recurring combinations of movement were discovered, regardless of playing position. Only the wing attack, goal attack and goal defence playing positions are closely related. We developed a technique to discover the movement sequences, according to playing position, performed by elite netballers. This methodology can be extended to discover the frequently recurring movements within other team sports and across levels of competition.

14 CFR 26.39 - Newly produced airplanes: Fuel tank flammability.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Newly produced airplanes: Fuel tank... Tank Flammability § 26.39 Newly produced airplanes: Fuel tank flammability. (a) Applicability: This... Series 767 Series (b) Any fuel tank meeting all of the criteria stated in paragraphs (b)(1), (b)(2) and...

A new screening method for discovering antibacterial agents from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A new screening method for discovering antibacterial agents from filamentous fungi. ... African Journal of Biotechnology ... Keywords: Drug-resistant bacterial pathogens, novel antibiotics; screening method, filamentous fungi products ...

Chrysosplenium japonicum (Saxifragaceae, Newly Recorded from Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian-Chuan Hsu

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Chrysosplenium japonicum (Maxim. Makino (Saxifragaceae is newly recorded from northeastern Taiwan. Description, color photos and a key to the Chrysosplenium species in Taiwan are provided.

Centriolar satellites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tollenaere, Maxim A X; Mailand, Niels; Bekker-Jensen, Simon

2015-01-01

Centriolar satellites are small, microscopically visible granules that cluster around centrosomes. These structures, which contain numerous proteins directly involved in centrosome maintenance, ciliogenesis, and neurogenesis, have traditionally been viewed as vehicles for protein trafficking...... highlight newly discovered regulatory mechanisms targeting centriolar satellites and their functional status, and we discuss how defects in centriolar satellite components are intimately linked to a wide spectrum of human diseases....

Being a team leader: newly registered nurses relate their experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekström, Louise; Idvall, Ewa

2015-01-01

This paper presents a study that explores how newly qualified registered nurses experience their leadership role in the ward-based nursing care team. A nurse's clinical leadership affects the quality of care provided. Newly qualified nurses experience difficulties during the transition period from student to qualified professional and find it challenging to lead nursing care. Twelve nurses were interviewed and the transcribed texts analysed using qualitative content analysis to assess both manifest and latent content. Five themes were identified: feeling stranded; forming well-functioning teams; learning to lead; having the courage, strength, and desire to lead; and ensuring appropriate care. The findings indicate that many factors limit nurses' leadership but some circumstances are supportive. The leadership prerequisites for newly registered nurses need to improve, emphasizing different ways to create a supportive atmosphere that promotes professional development and job satisfaction. To increase nurse retention and promote quality of care, nurse managers need to clarify expectations and guide and support newly qualified nurses in a planned way. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Scientists discover planetary system similar to our own

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

'An international team of scientists has discovered a planet and star that may share the same relationship as Jupiter and our Sun, the closest comparison that researchers have found since they began their search for extra-solar planets nearly a decade ago' (1 page).

People newly in love are more responsive to positive feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Cassandra L; Beninger, Richard J

2012-06-01

Passionate love is associated with increased activity in dopamine-rich regions of the brain. Increased dopamine in these regions is associated with a greater tendency to learn from reward in trial-and-error learning tasks. This study examined the prediction that individuals who were newly in love would be better at responding to reward (positive feedback). In test trials, people who were newly in love selected positive outcomes significantly more often than their single (not in love) counterparts but were no better at the task overall. This suggests that people who are newly in love show a bias toward responding to positive feedback, which may reflect a general bias towards reward-seeking.

Scientists discover how deadly fungal microbes enter host cells

OpenAIRE

Whyte, Barry James

2010-01-01

A research team led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech has discovered a fundamental entry mechanism that allows dangerous fungal microbes to infect plants and cause disease.

A newly development RIA for thyroid hormone autoantibodies (THAAb)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Fengying; Gu Liqiong; Chen Xiayin; Jin Yan; Chen Shuxian; Zhang Qun; Qiu Hongxia; Yang Jingren; Zhao Yongju; Chen Mingdao

2004-01-01

Objective: To report a newly developed RIA for THAAb from this laboratory. Methods: The tested serum samples were cultured with labelled thyroid hormone analogous ( 125 I T 3 , 125 I T 4 ) for 16 hours. Antigen-antibody complex was precipitated with anti-human IgG (immune precipitation method) and radio-activity determined. Results: The mean positive rate of THAAb in healthy euthyroid controls (n=186) was only 1.07%. The mean positive rate in patients with thyroid disorders was 14.4% (mean rate 13.5% in hyperthyroid subjects, n=118 and mean rate 15.2% in hypothyroid subjects, n=72). The serum THAAb titer could be markedly lowered after adding non-labelled thyroid hormones (P 3 and FT 4 would be significantly lowered (P 3 , FT 4 levels. In patients with positive THAAb (about 14.4% in patients with all thyroid disorders), the FT 3 , FT 4 levels were best determined after PEG precipitation. (authors)

Risk of newly detected infections and cervical abnormalities in women seropositive for naturally acquired human papillomavirus type 16/18 antibodies: analysis of the control arm of PATRICIA.

Science.gov (United States)

Castellsagué, Xavier; Naud, Paulo; Chow, Song-Nan; Wheeler, Cosette M; Germar, Maria Julieta V; Lehtinen, Matti; Paavonen, Jorma; Jaisamrarn, Unnop; Garland, Suzanne M; Salmerón, Jorge; Apter, Dan; Kitchener, Henry; Teixeira, Julio C; Skinner, S Rachel; Limson, Genara; Szarewski, Anne; Romanowski, Barbara; Aoki, Fred Y; Schwarz, Tino F; Poppe, Willy A J; Bosch, F Xavier; de Carvalho, Newton S; Peters, Klaus; Tjalma, Wiebren A A; Safaeian, Mahboobeh; Raillard, Alice; Descamps, Dominique; Struyf, Frank; Dubin, Gary; Rosillon, Dominique; Baril, Laurence

2014-08-15

We examined risk of newly detected human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical abnormalities in relation to HPV type 16/18 antibody levels at enrollment in PATRICIA (Papilloma Trial Against Cancer in Young Adults; NCT00122681). Using Poisson regression, we compared risk of newly detected infection and cervical abnormalities associated with HPV-16/18 between seronegative vs seropositive women (15-25 years) in the control arm (DNA negative at baseline for the corresponding HPV type [HPV-16: n = 8193; HPV-18: n = 8463]). High titers of naturally acquired HPV-16 antibodies and/or linear trend for increasing antibody levels were significantly associated with lower risk of incident and persistent infection, atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or greater (ASCUS+), and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grades 1/2 or greater (CIN1+, CIN2+). For HPV-18, although seropositivity was associated with lower risk of ASCUS+ and CIN1+, no association between naturally acquired antibodies and infection was demonstrated. Naturally acquired HPV-16 antibody levels of 371 (95% confidence interval [CI], 242-794), 204 (95% CI, 129-480), and 480 (95% CI, 250-5756) EU/mL were associated with 90% reduction of incident infection, 6-month persistent infection, and ASCUS+, respectively. Naturally acquired antibodies to HPV-16, and to a lesser extent HPV-18, are associated with some reduced risk of subsequent infection and cervical abnormalities associated with the same HPV type. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Workplace Violence and Job Outcomes of Newly Licensed Nurses

OpenAIRE

Chang, Hyoung Eun; Cho, Sung-Hyun

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of workplace violence toward newly licensed nurses and the relationship between workplace violence and job outcomes. Methods: An online survey was conducted of newly licensed registered nurses who had obtained their license in 2012 or 2013 in South Korea and had been working for 5–12 months after first being employed. The sample consisted of 312 nurses working in hospitals or clinics. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire...

EIGHT γ-RAY PULSARS DISCOVERED IN BLIND FREQUENCY SEARCHES OF FERMI LAT DATA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saz Parkinson, P. M.; Dormody, M.; Ziegler, M.; Belfiore, A.; Johnson, R. P.; Ray, P. S.; Abdo, A. A.; Grove, J. E.; Gwon, C.; Ballet, J.; Baring, M. G.; Burnett, T. H.; Caliandro, G. A.; Camilo, F.; Caraveo, P. A.; De Luca, A.; Ferrara, E. C.; Harding, A. K.; Johnson, T. J.; Freire, P. C. C.

2010-01-01

We report the discovery of eight γ-ray pulsars in blind frequency searches of ∼650 source positions using the Large Area Telescope (LAT), on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We present the timing models, light curves, and detailed spectral parameters of the new pulsars. PSRs J1023-5746, J1044-5737, J1413-5205, J1429-5911, and J1954+2836 are young (τ c 10 36 erg s -1 ), and located within the Galactic plane (|b| 0 ). The remaining three pulsars, PSRs J1846+0919, J1957+5033, and J2055+25, are less energetic, and located off the plane. Five pulsars are associated with sources included in the Fermi-LAT bright γ-ray source list, but only one, PSR J1413-6205, is clearly associated with an EGRET source. PSR J1023-5746 has the smallest characteristic age (τ c = 4.6 kyr) and is the most energetic ( E-dot = 1.1x10 37 erg s -1 ) of all γ-ray pulsars discovered so far in blind searches. By analyzing >100 ks of publicly available archival Chandra X-ray data, we have identified the likely counterpart of PSR J1023-5746 as a faint, highly absorbed source, CXOU J102302.8-574606. The large X-ray absorption indicates that this could be among the most distant γ-ray pulsars detected so far. PSR J1023-5746 is positionally coincident with the TeV source HESS J1023-575, located near the young stellar cluster Westerlund 2, while PSR J1954+2836 is coincident with a 4.3σ excess reported by Milagro at a median energy of 35 TeV. PSRs J1957+5033 and J2055+25 have the largest characteristic ages (τ c ∼ 1 Myr) and are the least energetic ( E-dot ∼5x10 33 erg s -1 ) of the newly discovered pulsars. We used recent XMM observations to identify the counterpart of PSR J2055+25 as XMMU J205549.4+253959. Deep radio follow-up observations of the eight pulsars resulted in no detections of pulsations and upper limits comparable to the faintest known radio pulsars, indicating that these pulsars can be included among the growing population of radio-quiet pulsars in our Galaxy being

Top quark discovered

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1995-01-01

Nine months after a careful announcement of tentative evidence for the long-awaited sixth 'top' quark, physicists from the CDF and DO experiments at Fermilab's Tevatron proton-antiproton collider declared on 2 March that they had finally discovered the top quark. Last year (June 1994, page 1), the CDF experiment at the Tevatron reported a dozen candidate top events. These, said CDF, had all the characteristics expected of top, but the difficulties of extracting the tiny signal from a trillion proton-antiproton collisions made them shy of claiming a discovery. For its part, the companion DO Tevatron experiment reported a few similar events but were even more guarded about their interpretation as top quarks. Just after these hesitant announcements, performance at the Tevatron improved dramatically last summer. After the commissioning of a new linear accelerator and a magnet realignment, the machine reached a new world record proton-antiproton collision luminosity of 1.28 x 10 31 per sq cm per s, ten times that originally planned. Data began to pour in at an unprecedented rate and the data sample grew to six trillion collisions. Luminosity has subsequently climbed to 1.7 x 10 31 . The top quark is the final letter in the alphabet of Standard Model particles. According to this picture, all matter is composed of six stronglyinteracting subnuclear particles, the quarks, and six weakly interacting particles, the leptons. Both sextets are neatly arranged as three pairs in order of increasing mass. The fifth quark, the 'beauty' or 'b' quark, was also discovered at Fermilab, back in 1977. Since then physicists have been eagerly waiting for the top to turn up, but have been frustrated by its heaviness - the top is some 40 times the mass of its 'beautiful' partner. Not only is the top quark the heaviest by far, but it is the only quark which has been actively hunted. After the quarry was glimpsed last year, the net has now been

Understanding 3D human torso shape via manifold clustering

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Sheng; Li, Peng; Fu, Yun

2013-05-01

Discovering the variations in human torso shape plays a key role in many design-oriented applications, such as suit designing. With recent advances in 3D surface imaging technologies, people can obtain 3D human torso data that provide more information than traditional measurements. However, how to find different human shapes from 3D torso data is still an open problem. In this paper, we propose to use spectral clustering approach on torso manifold to address this problem. We first represent high-dimensional torso data in a low-dimensional space using manifold learning algorithm. Then the spectral clustering method is performed to get several disjoint clusters. Experimental results show that the clusters discovered by our approach can describe the discrepancies in both genders and human shapes, and our approach achieves better performance than the compared clustering method.

Fast Ss-Ilm a Computationally Efficient Algorithm to Discover Socially Important Locations

Science.gov (United States)

Dokuz, A. S.; Celik, M.

2017-11-01

Socially important locations are places which are frequently visited by social media users in their social media lifetime. Discovering socially important locations provide several valuable information about user behaviours on social media networking sites. However, discovering socially important locations are challenging due to data volume and dimensions, spatial and temporal calculations, location sparseness in social media datasets, and inefficiency of current algorithms. In the literature, several studies are conducted to discover important locations, however, the proposed approaches do not work in computationally efficient manner. In this study, we propose Fast SS-ILM algorithm by modifying the algorithm of SS-ILM to mine socially important locations efficiently. Experimental results show that proposed Fast SS-ILM algorithm decreases execution time of socially important locations discovery process up to 20 %.

FAST SS-ILM: A COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT ALGORITHM TO DISCOVER SOCIALLY IMPORTANT LOCATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. S. Dokuz

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Socially important locations are places which are frequently visited by social media users in their social media lifetime. Discovering socially important locations provide several valuable information about user behaviours on social media networking sites. However, discovering socially important locations are challenging due to data volume and dimensions, spatial and temporal calculations, location sparseness in social media datasets, and inefficiency of current algorithms. In the literature, several studies are conducted to discover important locations, however, the proposed approaches do not work in computationally efficient manner. In this study, we propose Fast SS-ILM algorithm by modifying the algorithm of SS-ILM to mine socially important locations efficiently. Experimental results show that proposed Fast SS-ILM algorithm decreases execution time of socially important locations discovery process up to 20 %.

Starlight detectives how astronomers, inventors, and eccentrics discovered the modern universe

CERN Document Server

Hirshfeld, Alan

2014-01-01

NBC News “Top Science and Tech Books of the Year" selectionScientific American/FSG “Favorite Science Books of the Year" selectionNature.com “Top Reads of the Year" selectionKirkus Reviews “Best Books of the Year" selectionDiscover magazine “Top 5 Summer Read"“A masterful balance of science, history and rich narrative." —Discover magazine“Hirshfeld tells this climactic discovery of the expanding universe with great verve and sweep, as befits a story whose scope, characters and import leave

Metabolome analysis for discovering biomarkers of gastroenterological cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Makoto; Nishiumi, Shin; Matsubara, Atsuki; Azuma, Takeshi; Yoshida, Masaru

2014-09-01

Improvements in analytical technologies have made it possible to rapidly determine the concentrations of thousands of metabolites in any biological sample, which has resulted in metabolome analysis being applied to various types of research, such as clinical, cell biology, and plant/food science studies. The metabolome represents all of the end products and by-products of the numerous complex metabolic pathways operating in a biological system. Thus, metabolome analysis allows one to survey the global changes in an organism's metabolic profile and gain a holistic understanding of the changes that occur in organisms during various biological processes, e.g., during disease development. In clinical metabolomic studies, there is a strong possibility that differences in the metabolic profiles of human specimens reflect disease-specific states. Recently, metabolome analysis of biofluids, e.g., blood, urine, or saliva, has been increasingly used for biomarker discovery and disease diagnosis. Mass spectrometry-based techniques have been extensively used for metabolome analysis because they exhibit high selectivity and sensitivity during the identification and quantification of metabolites. Here, we describe metabolome analysis using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the findings of studies that attempted to discover biomarkers of gastroenterological cancer are also outlined. Finally, we discuss metabolome analysis-based disease diagnosis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exercise recommendations in patients with newly diagnosed fibromyalgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Brad; Spencer, Horace; Kortebein, Patrick

2012-04-01

To evaluate exercise recommendations in patients newly diagnosed with fibromyalgia. A retrospective chart review. A public university rheumatology clinic. Patients newly diagnosed with fibromyalgia (N = 122). Frequency and type of exercise recommendations. The mean (standard deviation) age of these patients with fibromyalgia was 45 ± 12 years; 91% were women. Exercise was recommended as part of the documented treatment plan in 47% of these patients (57/122); only 3 patients had a documented contraindication for exercise. Aquatic exercise was most frequently recommended (56% [32/57]), followed by combined aquatic-aerobic exercise (26% [15/57]), and, infrequently, aerobic exercise only (5% [3/57]); only 7% of these patients (4/57) were referred for physical therapy. The primary method of communication was verbal discussion (94% [54/57]). Although there is well-documented evidence that exercise is beneficial for patients with fibromyalgia, we found that less than half of patients with newly diagnosed fibromyalgia in our study were provided recommendations to initiate an exercise program as part of their treatment plan. Further investigation of these findings are warranted, including evaluation of other university and community rheumatology practices as well as that of other physicians caring for patients with fibromyalgia. However, our findings indicate that there appears to be an opportunity to provide more specific and practical education regarding the implementation of an exercise regimen for patients with newly diagnosed fibromyalgia. Physiatrists may be particularly well suited to manage the exercise component of patients with fibromyalgia because of their specialized training in exercise prescription. Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of PET/CT in treatment response evaluation and recurrence prediction in patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ying; Liu, Junru; Huang, Beihui; Chen, Meilan; Diao, Xiangwen; Li, Juan

2017-04-11

Multiple myeloma (MM) causes osteolytic lesions which can be detected by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/Computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT). We prospectively involve 96 Newly diagnosed MM to take PET/CT scan at scheduled treatment time (figure 1), and 18F-FDG uptake of lesion was measured by SUVmax and T/Mmax. All MM patients took bortezomib based chemotherapy as induction and received ASCT and maintenance. All clinical features were analyzed with the PET/CT image changes, and some relationships between treatment response and FDG uptakes changes were found: Osteolytic lesions of MM uptakes higher FDG than healthy volunteers, and this trend is more obvious in extramedullary lesions. Compared to X-ray, PET/CT was more sensitive both in discoering bone as well as extramedullary lesions. In newly diagnosed MM, several adverse clinical factors were related to high FDG uptakes of bone lesions. Bone lesion FDG uptakes of MM with P53 mutation or with hypodiploidy and complex karyotype were also higher than those without such changes. In treatment response, PET/CT showed higher sensitivity in detecting tumor residual disease than immunofixation electrophoresis. But in relapse prediction, it might show false positive disease recurrences and the imaging changes might be influenced by infections and hemoglobulin levels. PET/CT is sensitive in discovering meduallary and extrameduallary lesions of MM, and the 18F-FDG uptake of lesions are related with clinical indictors and biological features of plasma cells. In evaluating treatment response and survival, PET/CT showed its superiority. But in predicting relapse or refractory, it may show false positive results.

The nucleoprotein of newly emerged H7N9 influenza A virus harbors a unique motif conferring resistance to antiviral human MxA.

Science.gov (United States)

Riegger, David; Hai, Rong; Dornfeld, Dominik; Mänz, Benjamin; Leyva-Grado, Victor; Sánchez-Aparicio, Maria T; Albrecht, Randy A; Palese, Peter; Haller, Otto; Schwemmle, Martin; García-Sastre, Adolfo; Kochs, Georg; Schmolke, Mirco

2015-02-01

Interferon-induced Mx proteins show strong antiviral activity against influenza A viruses (IAVs). We recently demonstrated that the viral nucleoprotein (NP) determines resistance of seasonal and pandemic human influenza viruses to Mx, while avian isolates retain Mx sensitivity. We identified a surface-exposed cluster of amino acids in NP of pandemic A/BM/1/1918 (H1N1), comprising isoleucine-100, proline-283, and tyrosine-313, that is essential for reduced Mx sensitivity in cell culture and in vivo. This cluster has been maintained in all descendant seasonal strains, including A/PR/8/34 (PR/8). Accordingly, two substitutions in the NP of PR/8 [PR/8(mut)] to the Mx-sensitive amino acids (P283L and Y313F) led to attenuation in Mx1-positive mice. Serial lung passages of PR/8(mut) in Mx1 mice resulted in a single exchange of tyrosine to asparagine at position 52 in NP (in close proximity to the amino acid cluster at positions 100, 283, and 313), which partially compensates loss of Mx resistance in PR/8(mut). Intriguingly, the NP of the newly emerged avian-origin H7N9 virus also contains an asparagine at position 52 and shows reduced Mx sensitivity. N52Y substitution in NP results in increased sensitivity of the H7N9 virus to human Mx, indicating that this residue is a determinant of Mx resistance in mammals. Our data strengthen the hypothesis that the human Mx protein represents a potent barrier against zoonotic transmission of avian influenza viruses. However, the H7N9 viruses overcome this restriction by harboring an NP that is less sensitive to Mx-mediated host defense. This might contribute to zoonotic transmission of H7N9 and to the severe to fatal outcome of H7N9 infections in humans. The natural host of influenza A viruses (IAVs) are aquatic birds. Occasionally, these viruses cross the species barrier, as in early 2013 when an avian H7N9 virus infected humans in China. Since then, multiple transmissions of H7N9 viruses to humans have occurred, leaving experts

Nilotinib versus imatinib for newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saglio, Giuseppe; Kim, Dong-Wook; Issaragrisil, Surapol

2010-01-01

Nilotinib has been shown to be a more potent inhibitor of BCR-ABL than imatinib. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of nilotinib, as compared with imatinib, in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase.......Nilotinib has been shown to be a more potent inhibitor of BCR-ABL than imatinib. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of nilotinib, as compared with imatinib, in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase....

Transformation of organic N newly added to red soil treated with different cultural practices

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZhangQin－Zheng; YeQing－Fu; 等

1998-01-01

By using 15N tracer method,transformation of organic N,which wqas newly added to red soil treated with different cultural practices,was studied under thelaboratory incubation condition.The experimental results showed that the transformation of N from newly added organic matter and soil native pool during incubation was influenced by cultural practice treatment beforeincubation.Fallow was favorable to the mineralization of newly added organic N and soil N compared with the planting wheat treatment.Planting wheat greatly increased the loss of soil N.Application of fertilizers stimulated the mineralization of newly added organic N and application of organic matter reduced the mineralization,but stimulated microbialtransformation of newly adde4d organic N.

Computational identification of epitopes in the glycoproteins of novel bunyavirus (SFTS virus) recognized by a human monoclonal antibody (MAb 4-5)

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenshuai; Zeng, Xiaoyan; Zhang, Li; Peng, Haiyan; Jiao, Yongjun; Zeng, Jun; Treutlein, Herbert R.

2013-06-01

In this work, we have developed a new approach to predict the epitopes of antigens that are recognized by a specific antibody. Our method is based on the "multiple copy simultaneous search" (MCSS) approach which identifies optimal locations of small chemical functional groups on the surfaces of the antibody, and identifying sequence patterns of peptides that can bind to the surface of the antibody. The identified sequence patterns are then used to search the amino-acid sequence of the antigen protein. The approach was validated by reproducing the binding epitope of HIV gp120 envelop glycoprotein for the human neutralizing antibody as revealed in the available crystal structure. Our method was then applied to predict the epitopes of two glycoproteins of a newly discovered bunyavirus recognized by an antibody named MAb 4-5. These predicted epitopes can be verified by experimental methods. We also discuss the involvement of different amino acids in the antigen-antibody recognition based on the distributions of MCSS minima of different functional groups.

Re-discovering indigenous knowledge – Ulwazi Lwemveli for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Therefore, the imperative to re-discover and re-store IK cannot be underestimated since building on this knowledge is particularly effective in helping to reach those living in rural communities. This knowledge is often the main asset they control, and certainly one with which they are more familiar. The case studies discussed ...

Discovering disease-associated genes in weighted protein-protein interaction networks

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Ying; Cai, Meng; Stanley, H. Eugene

2018-04-01

Although there have been many network-based attempts to discover disease-associated genes, most of them have not taken edge weight - which quantifies their relative strength - into consideration. We use connection weights in a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to locate disease-related genes. We analyze the topological properties of both weighted and unweighted PPI networks and design an improved random forest classifier to distinguish disease genes from non-disease genes. We use a cross-validation test to confirm that weighted networks are better able to discover disease-associated genes than unweighted networks, which indicates that including link weight in the analysis of network properties provides a better model of complex genotype-phenotype associations.

Agent based simulation on the process of human flesh search-From perspective of knowledge and emotion

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Hou; Hu, Bin

2017-03-01

Human flesh search as a new net crowed behavior, on the one hand can help us to find some special information, on the other hand may lead to privacy leaking and offending human right. In order to study the mechanism of human flesh search, this paper proposes a simulation model based on agent-based model and complex networks. The computational experiments show some useful results. Discovered information quantity and involved personal ratio are highly correlated, and most of net citizens will take part in the human flesh search or will not take part in the human flesh search. Knowledge quantity does not influence involved personal ratio, but influences whether HFS can find out the target human. When the knowledge concentrates on hub nodes, the discovered information quantity is either perfect or almost zero. Emotion of net citizens influences both discovered information quantity and involved personal ratio. Concretely, when net citizens are calm to face the search topic, it will be hardly to find out the target; But when net citizens are agitated, the target will be found out easily.

From Neandertals to modern humans: New data on the Uluzzian.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paola Villa

Full Text Available Having thrived in Eurasia for 350,000 years Neandertals disappeared from the record around 40,000-37,000 years ago, after modern humans entered Europe. It was a complex process of population interactions that included cultural exchanges and admixture between Neandertals and dispersing groups of modern humans. In Europe Neandertals are always associated with the Mousterian while the Aurignacian is associated with modern humans only. The onset of the Aurignacian is preceded by "transitional" industries which show some similarities with the Mousterian but also contain modern tool forms. Information on these industries is often incomplete or disputed and this is true of the Uluzzian. We present the results of taphonomic, typological and technological analyses of two Uluzzian sites, Grotta La Fabbrica (Tuscany and the newly discovered site of Colle Rotondo (Latium. Comparisons with Castelcivita and Grotta del Cavallo show that the Uluzzian is a coherent cultural unit lasting about five millennia, replaced by the Protoaurignacian before the eruption of the Campanian Ignimbrite. The lack of skeletal remains at our two sites and the controversy surrounding the stratigraphic position of modern human teeth at Cavallo makes it difficult to reach agreement about authorship of the Uluzzian, for which alternative hypotheses have been proposed. Pending the discovery of DNA or further human remains, these hypotheses can only be evaluated by archaeological arguments, i.e. evidence of continuities and discontinuities between the Uluzzian and the preceding and succeeding culture units in Italy. However, in the context of "transitional" industries with disputed dates for the arrival of modern humans in Europe, and considering the case of the Châtelperronian, an Upper Paleolithic industry made by Neandertals, typo-technology used as an indicator of hominin authorship has limited predictive value. We corroborate previous suggestions that the Middle

The Science of Human Interaction and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Yano, Kazuo

2013-01-01

There is a missing link between our understanding of teaching as high-level social phenomenon and teaching as a physiological phenomenon of brain activity. We suggest that the science of human interaction is the missing link. Using over one-million days of human-behavior data, we have discovered that "collective activenes" (CA), which indicates…

Oral Cancer Knowledge Assessment: Newly Graduated versus Senior Dental Clinicians

Science.gov (United States)

Salgado de Souza, Ricardo; Gallego Arias Pecorari, Vanessa; Lauria Dib, Luciano

2018-01-01

The present study assessed the level of dentists' knowledge regarding oral cancer in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A questionnaire was used to compare the level of knowledge among newly graduated and senior clinicians. A total of 20,154 e-mails were correctly delivered to the dentists registered in the database of the Regional Dentistry Council of São Paulo, and 477 (2.36%) responses were received. This sample consisted of 84 newly graduated clinicians and 105 senior clinicians. For the statistical analysis, the chi-square test and the logistic regression analysis were performed with α = 0.05, and the results were described herein. According to their knowledge level, the results were statistically different between the groups, since 19% of the newly graduated clinicians were evaluated with knowledge grade A (excellent) in comparison to 6.7% of the senior clinicians. In spite of the results indicated that newly graduated clinicians' knowledge regarding oral cancer was 2.1 times higher, 34.5% of the professionals in this group had regular or poor knowledge on the subject, and several questions relating to clinical characteristics and risk factors indicated that there still exist some knowledge gaps, demonstrating that there is a need for further studies and information activities addressing oral cancer. PMID:29666649

Career Motivation in Newly Licensed Registered Nurses: What Makes Them Remain

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Zarata Mann; Bailey, Jessica H.

2010-01-01

Despite vast research on newly licensed registered nurses (RNs), we don't know why some newly licensed registered nurses remain in their current jobs and others leave the nursing profession early in their career. Job satisfaction, the most significant factor emerging from the literature, plays a significant role in nurses' decisions to remain in…

Meeting and activating the newly unemployed

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rotger, Gabriel Pons

-demanding activity. As intensive activation is usually accompanied by intensive search monitoring, it is important to disentangling the contribution of the costly activation programs from that of caseworker meetings. Using Danish data for the period 2010-13, the paper shows that requiring newly unemployed intensive...... activation, contrary to job search meetings, reduces employment and increases sickness benefit claims....

Universe, human immortality and future human evaluation

CERN Document Server

Bolonkin, Alexander

2011-01-01

This book debates the universe, the development of new technologies in the 21st century and the future of the human race. Dr Bolonkin shows that a human soul is only the information in a person's head. He offers a new unique method for re-writing the main brain information in chips without any damage to the human brain. This is the scientific prediction of the non-biological (electronic) civilization and immortality of the human being. Such a prognosis is predicated upon a new law, discovered by the author, for the development of complex systems. According to this law, every self-copying system tends to be more complex than the previous system, provided that all external conditions remain the same. The consequences are disastrous: humanity will be replaced by a new civilization created by intellectual robots (which Dr Bolonkin refers to as "E-humans" and "E-beings"). These creatures, whose intellectual and mechanical abilities will far exceed those of man, will require neither food nor oxygen to sustain their...

Competence of newly qualified registered nurses from a nursing college

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BG Morolong

2005-09-01

Full Text Available The South African education and training system, through its policy of outcomesbased education and training, has made competency a national priority. In compliance to this national requirement of producing competent learners, the South African Nursing Council ( 1999 B require that the beginner professional nurse practitioners and midwives have the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and values which will enable them to render efficient professional service. The health care system also demands competent nurse practitioners to ensure quality in health care. In the light of competency being a national priority and a statutory demand, the research question that emerges is, how competent are the newly qualified registered nurses from a specific nursing college in clinical nursing education? A quantitative, non-experimental contextual design was used to evaluate the competence of newly qualified registered nurses from a specific nursing college. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase dealt with the development of an instrument together with its manual through the conceptualisation process. The second phase focused on the evaluation of the competency of newly qualified nurses using the instrument based on the steps of the nursing process. A pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility of the items of the instrument. During the evaluation phase, a sample of twenty-six newly qualified nurses was selected by simple random sampling from a target population of thirty-six newly qualified registered nurses. However, six participants withdrew from the study. Data was collected in two general hospitals where the newly qualified registered nurses were working. Observation and questioning were used as data collection techniques in accordance with the developed instrument. Measures were taken to ensure internal validity and reliability of the results. To protect the rights of the participants, the researcher adhered to DENOSA’S (1998

32 CFR 644.533 - Contamination discovered after return of land to owner, or sale.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Contamination discovered after return of land to owner, or sale. 644.533 Section 644.533 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF... Other Contamination from Proposed Excess Land and Improvements § 644.533 Contamination discovered after...

Clinical heterogeneity in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Post, Bart; Speelman, Johannes D.; de Haan, Rob J.

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To determine clinical heterogeneity in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease using cluster analysis and to describe the subgroups in terms of impairment, disability, perceived quality of life, and use of dopaminergic therapy. METHODS: We conducted a k-means cluster analysis in a prospective

Strontium-90 Error Discovered in Subcontract Laboratory Spreadsheet. Topical Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, D.D.; Nagel, A.S.

1999-07-01

West Valley Demonstration Project health physicists and environment scientists discovered a series of errors in a subcontractor's spreadsheet being used to reduce data as part of their strontium-90 analytical process

Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Raes, Jeroen; Pelletier, Eric

2011-01-01

Our knowledge of species and functional composition of the human gut microbiome is rapidly increasing, but it is still based on very few cohorts and little is known about variation across the world. By combining 22 newly sequenced faecal metagenomes of individuals from four countries with previou......Our knowledge of species and functional composition of the human gut microbiome is rapidly increasing, but it is still based on very few cohorts and little is known about variation across the world. By combining 22 newly sequenced faecal metagenomes of individuals from four countries....... This indicates further the existence of a limited number of well-balanced host-microbial symbiotic states that might respond differently to diet and drug intake. The enterotypes are mostly driven by species composition, but abundant molecular functions are not necessarily provided by abundant species...

Discovering More Accurate Frequent Web Usage Patterns

OpenAIRE

Bayir, Murat Ali; Toroslu, Ismail Hakki; Cosar, Ahmet; Fidan, Guven

2008-01-01

Web usage mining is a type of web mining, which exploits data mining techniques to discover valuable information from navigation behavior of World Wide Web users. As in classical data mining, data preparation and pattern discovery are the main issues in web usage mining. The first phase of web usage mining is the data processing phase, which includes the session reconstruction operation from server logs. Session reconstruction success directly affects the quality of the frequent patterns disc...

[Principles of nutrition in patients with newly appointed stoma].

Science.gov (United States)

Pachocka, Lucyna Małgorzata; Urbanik, Anna

2016-01-01

The treatment of intestinal stoma is often a difficult experience for patients and results in numerous problems in the physical, psychological and social aspects. Therefore, post-operative care of the patient with the newly appointed stoma should be taken by therapeutic team consisting of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians, psychologists and social workers. Appropriate nutritional education of patients aims to improve their quality of life and to prevent from unpleasant ailments formed after the operation. The specific type of stoma may decide about certain dietary recommendations. The presented work provides a practical dietary recommendations for patients with newly appointed stoma.

Materials and Techniques between the Humanities and Science : Introduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dupré, Sven

2017-01-01

Collaborations and conflicts between the sciences and the humanities are central to disciplines from digital humanities to archaeology. The exploration of these tensions and synergies in the newly emerging field of technical art history is the focus of this forum. This is also a first step toward

Newly-formed emotional memories guide selective attention processes: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Science.gov (United States)

Schupp, Harald T; Kirmse, Ursula; Schmälzle, Ralf; Flaisch, Tobias; Renner, Britta

2016-06-20

Emotional cues can guide selective attention processes. However, emotional stimuli can both activate long-term memory representations reflecting general world knowledge and engage newly formed memory representations representing specific knowledge from the immediate past. Here, the self-completion feature of associative memory was utilized to assess the regulation of attention processes by newly-formed emotional memory. First, new memory representations were formed by presenting pictures depicting a person either in an erotic pose or as a portrait. Afterwards, to activate newly-built memory traces, edited pictures were presented showing only the head region of the person. ERP recordings revealed the emotional regulation of attention by newly-formed memories. Specifically, edited pictures from the erotic compared to the portrait category elicited an early posterior negativity and late positive potential, similar to the findings observed for the original pictures. A control condition showed that the effect was dependent on newly-formed memory traces. Given the large number of new memories formed each day, they presumably make an important contribution to the regulation of attention in everyday life.

Newly-formed emotional memories guide selective attention processes: Evidence from event-related potentials

Science.gov (United States)

Schupp, Harald T.; Kirmse, Ursula; Schmälzle, Ralf; Flaisch, Tobias; Renner, Britta

2016-01-01

Emotional cues can guide selective attention processes. However, emotional stimuli can both activate long-term memory representations reflecting general world knowledge and engage newly formed memory representations representing specific knowledge from the immediate past. Here, the self-completion feature of associative memory was utilized to assess the regulation of attention processes by newly-formed emotional memory. First, new memory representations were formed by presenting pictures depicting a person either in an erotic pose or as a portrait. Afterwards, to activate newly-built memory traces, edited pictures were presented showing only the head region of the person. ERP recordings revealed the emotional regulation of attention by newly-formed memories. Specifically, edited pictures from the erotic compared to the portrait category elicited an early posterior negativity and late positive potential, similar to the findings observed for the original pictures. A control condition showed that the effect was dependent on newly-formed memory traces. Given the large number of new memories formed each day, they presumably make an important contribution to the regulation of attention in everyday life. PMID:27321471

Big earth-observation data analytics for modelling pan-tropical land-use change trajectories for newly deforested areas

Science.gov (United States)

Coca Castro, Alejandro; Reymondin, Louis; Rebetez, Julien; Fabio Satizabal Mejia, Hector; Perez-Uribe, Andres; Mulligan, Mark; Smith, Thomas; Hyman, Glenn

2017-04-01

Global land use monitoring is important to the the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The latest advances in storage and manipulation of big earth-observation data have been key to developing multiple operational forest monitoring initiatives such as FORMA, Terra-i and Global Forest Change. Although the data provided by these systems are useful for identifying and estimating newly deforested areas (from 2000), they do not provide details about the land use to which these deforested areas are transitioned. This information is critical to understand the biodiversity and ecosystem services impact of deforestation and the resulting impacts on human wellbeing, locally and downstream. With the aim of contributing to current forest monitoring initiatives, this research presents a set of experimental case studies in Latin America which integrate existing land-change information derived from remote sensing image and aerial photography/ground datasets, high-temporal resolution MODIS data, advanced machine learning (i.e deep learning) and big data technologies (i.e. Hadoop and Spark) to assess land-use change trajectories in newly deforested areas in near real time.

The Use of a Performance Assessment for Identifying Gifted Lebanese Students: Is DISCOVER Effective?

Science.gov (United States)

Sarouphim, Ketty M.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of DISCOVER, a performance- based assessment in identifying gifted Lebanese students. The sample consisted of 248 students (121 boys, 127 girls) from Grades 3-5 at two private schools in Beirut, Lebanon. Students were administered DISCOVER and the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices…

Screening individual hybridomas by microengraving to discover monoclonal antibodies

Science.gov (United States)

Ogunniyi, Adebola O; Story, Craig M; Papa, Eliseo; Guillen, Eduardo; Love, J Christopher

2014-01-01

The demand for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in biomedical research is significant, but the current methodologies used to discover them are both lengthy and costly. Consequently, the diversity of antibodies available for any particular antigen remains limited. Microengraving is a soft lithographic technique that provides a rapid and efficient alternative for discovering new mAbs. This protocol describes how to use microengraving to screen mouse hybridomas to establish new cell lines producing unique mAbs. Single cells from a polyclonal population are isolated into an array of microscale wells (~105 cells per screen). The array is then used to print a protein microarray, where each element contains the antibodies captured from individual wells. The antibodies on the microarray are screened with antigens of interest, and mapped to the corresponding cells, which are then recovered from their microwells by micromanipulation. Screening and retrieval require approximately 1–3 d (9–12 d including the steps for preparing arrays of microwells). PMID:19528952

Pollen parameters estimates of genetic variability among newly ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pollen parameters estimates of genetic variability among newly selected Nigerian roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) genotypes. ... Estimates of some pollen parameters where used to assess the genetic diversity among ... HOW TO USE AJOL.

Selective destruction of mouse islet beta cells by human T lymphocytes in a newly-established humanized type 1 diabetic model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhao, Yong, E-mail: yongzhao@uic.edu [Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Guo, Chengshan; Hwang, David; Lin, Brian; Dingeldein, Michael; Mihailescu, Dan; Sam, Susan; Sidhwani, Seema [Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Zhang, Yongkang [Department of Pharmacology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Jain, Sumit [Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Skidgel, Randal A. [Department of Pharmacology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Prabhakar, Bellur S. [Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Mazzone, Theodore [Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States); Holterman, Mark J. [Department of Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612 (United States)

2010-09-03

Research highlights: {yields} Establish a human immune-mediated type 1 diabetic model in NOD-scid IL2r{gamma}{sup null} mice. {yields} Using the irradiated diabetic NOD mouse spleen mononuclear cells as trigger. {yields} The islet {beta} cells were selectively destroyed by infiltrated human T cells. {yields} The model can facilitate translational research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. -- Abstract: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is caused by a T cell-mediated autoimmune response that leads to the loss of insulin-producing {beta} cells. The optimal preclinical testing of promising therapies would be aided by a humanized immune-mediated T1D model. We develop this model in NOD-scid IL2r{gamma}{sup null} mice. The selective destruction of pancreatic islet {beta} cells was mediated by human T lymphocytes after an initial trigger was supplied by the injection of irradiated spleen mononuclear cells (SMC) from diabetic nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. This resulted in severe insulitis, a marked loss of total {beta}-cell mass, and other related phenotypes of T1D. The migration of human T cells to pancreatic islets was controlled by the {beta} cell-produced highly conserved chemokine stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) and its receptor C-X-C chemokine receptor (CXCR) 4, as demonstrated by in vivo blocking experiments using antibody to CXCR4. The specificity of humanized T cell-mediated immune responses against islet {beta} cells was generated by the local inflammatory microenvironment in pancreatic islets including human CD4{sup +} T cell infiltration and clonal expansion, and the mouse islet {beta}-cell-derived CD1d-mediated human iNKT activation. The selective destruction of mouse islet {beta} cells by a human T cell-mediated immune response in this humanized T1D model can mimic those observed in T1D patients. This model can provide a valuable tool for translational research into T1D.

Tricks of the trade: time management tips for newly qualified doctors.

Science.gov (United States)

Offiah, Gozie; Doherty, Eva

2018-03-01

The transition from medical student to doctor is an important milestone. The discovery that their time is no longer their own and that the demands of their job are greater than the time they have available is extremely challenging. At a recent surgical boot camp training programme, 60 first-year surgical trainees who had just completed their internship were invited to reflect on the lessons learnt regarding effective time management and to recommend tips for their newly qualified colleagues. They were asked to identify clinical duties that were considered urgent and important using the time management matrix and the common time traps encountered by newly qualified doctors. The surgical trainees identified several practical tips that ranged from writing a priority list to working on relationships within the team. These tips are generic and so applicable to all newly qualified medial doctors. We hope that awareness of these tips from the outset as against learning them through experience will greatly assist newly qualified doctors. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Discovering the secrets of the Olifants sediments

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Petersen, C

2012-07-01

Full Text Available is an important component of an aquatic ecosystem in that it provides habitat, feed- ing and spawning areas for aquatic fauna such as fish and benthic Discovering the secrets of THE OLIFANTS SEDIMENTS The polluted Upper Olifants River, in Mpumalanga, has... the distribution of bed material sizes. This allows for the determination ? Top right: The Koffie- spruit, a tributary of the Upper Olifants River. Middle right: Bank erosion was evident throughout the Koffiespruit study reach. This section of river...

Chest Radiographic Findings in Newly Diagnosed Pulmonary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Five hundred newly diagnosed cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis were treated with directly observed short-course treatment and 100 of them had chest radiographic examination done. The various chest radiographic patterns in the 100 subjects were studied and included: Fluffy exudative changes 80(80%), fibrosis 70(70%) ...

Metagenomic approach for discovering new pathogens in infection disease outbreaks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emanuela Giombini

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Viruses represent the most abundant biological components on earth.They can be found in every environment, from deep layers of oceans to animal bodies.Although several viruses have been isolated and sequenced, in each environment there are millions of different types of viruses that have not been identified yet.The advent of nextgeneration sequencing technologies with their high throughput capabilities make possible to study in a single experiment all the community of microorganisms present in a particular sample “microbioma”.They made more feasible the application of the metagenomic approach, by which it is also possible to discover and identify new pathogens, that may pose a threat to public health.This paper summarizes the most recent applications of nextgeneration sequencing to discover new viral pathogens during the occurrence of infection disease outbreaks.

Newly graduated nurses' empowerment regarding professional competence and other work-related factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuokkanen, Liisa; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Numminen, Olivia; Isoaho, Hannu; Flinkman, Mervi; Meretoja, Riitta

2016-01-01

Although both nurse empowerment and competence are fundamental concepts of describing newly graduated nurses' professional development and job satisfaction, only few studies exist on the relationship between these concepts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine how newly graduated nurses assess their empowerment and to clarify professional competence compared to other work-related factors. A descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational design was applied. The sample comprised newly graduated nurses (n = 318) in Finland. Empowerment was measured using the 19-item Qualities of an Empowered Nurse scale and the Nurse Competence Scale measured nurses' self-assessed generic competence. In addition to demographic data, the background data included employment sector (public/private), job satisfaction, intent to change/leave job, work schedule (shifts/business hours) and assessments of the quality of care in the workplace. The data were analysed statistically by using Spearman's correlation coefficient as well as the One-Way and Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to estimate the internal consistency. Newly graduated nurses perceived their level of empowerment and competence fairly high. The association between nurse empowerment and professional competence was statistically significant. Other variables correlating positively to empowerment included employment sector, age, job satisfaction, intent to change job, work schedule, and satisfaction with the quality of care in the work unit. The study indicates competence had the strongest effect on newly graduated nurses' empowerment. New graduates need support and career opportunities. In the future, nurses' further education and nurse managers' resources for supporting and empowering nurses should respond to the newly graduated nurses' requisites for attractive and meaningful work.

Molecular and Morphological Characterization of Fasciola spp. Isolated from Different Host Species in a Newly Emerging Focus of Human Fascioliasis in Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Shafiei, Reza; Sarkari, Bahador; Sadjjadi, Seyed Mahmuod; Mowlavi, Gholam Reza; Moshfe, Abdolali

2014-01-01

The current study aimed to find out the morphometric and genotypic divergences of the flukes isolated from different hosts in a newly emerging focus of human fascioliasis in Iran. Adult Fasciola spp. were collected from 34 cattle, 13 sheep, and 11 goats from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, southwest of Iran. Genomic DNA was extracted from the flukes and PCR-RFLP was used to characterize the isolates. The ITS1, ITS2, and mitochondrial genes (mtDNA) of NDI and COI from individual liver flukes were amplified and the amplicons were sequenced. Genetic variation within and between the species was evaluated by comparing the sequences. Moreover, morphometric characteristics of flukes were measured through a computer image analysis system. Based on RFLP profile, from the total of 58 isolates, 41 isolates (from cattle, sheep, and goat) were identified as Fasciola hepatica, while 17 isolates from cattle were identified as Fasciola gigantica. Comparison of the ITS1 and ITS2 sequences showed six and seven single-base substitutions, resulting in segregation of the specimens into two different genotypes. The sequences of COI markers showed seven DNA polymorphic sites for F. hepatica and 35 DNA polymorphic sites for F. gigantica. Morphological diversity of the two species was observed in linear, ratios, and areas measurements. The findings have implications for studying the population genetics, epidemiology, and control of the disease. PMID:25018891

Molecular and Morphological Characterization of Fasciola spp. Isolated from Different Host Species in a Newly Emerging Focus of Human Fascioliasis in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reza Shafiei

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The current study aimed to find out the morphometric and genotypic divergences of the flukes isolated from different hosts in a newly emerging focus of human fascioliasis in Iran. Adult Fasciola spp. were collected from 34 cattle, 13 sheep, and 11 goats from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, southwest of Iran. Genomic DNA was extracted from the flukes and PCR-RFLP was used to characterize the isolates. The ITS1, ITS2, and mitochondrial genes (mtDNA of NDI and COI from individual liver flukes were amplified and the amplicons were sequenced. Genetic variation within and between the species was evaluated by comparing the sequences. Moreover, morphometric characteristics of flukes were measured through a computer image analysis system. Based on RFLP profile, from the total of 58 isolates, 41 isolates (from cattle, sheep, and goat were identified as Fasciola hepatica, while 17 isolates from cattle were identified as Fasciola gigantica. Comparison of the ITS1 and ITS2 sequences showed six and seven single-base substitutions, resulting in segregation of the specimens into two different genotypes. The sequences of COI markers showed seven DNA polymorphic sites for F. hepatica and 35 DNA polymorphic sites for F. gigantica. Morphological diversity of the two species was observed in linear, ratios, and areas measurements. The findings have implications for studying the population genetics, epidemiology, and control of the disease.

Dopamine and the Brainstem Locomotor Networks: From Lamprey to Human

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitri Ryczko

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In vertebrates, dopamine neurons are classically known to modulate locomotion via their ascending projections to the basal ganglia that project to brainstem locomotor networks. An increased dopaminergic tone is associated with increase in locomotor activity. In pathological conditions where dopamine cells are lost, such as in Parkinson's disease, locomotor deficits are traditionally associated with the reduced ascending dopaminergic input to the basal ganglia. However, a descending dopaminergic pathway originating from the substantia nigra pars compacta was recently discovered. It innervates the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR from basal vertebrates to mammals. This pathway was shown to increase locomotor output in lampreys, and could very well play an important role in mammals. Here, we provide a detailed account on the newly found dopaminergic pathway in lamprey, salamander, rat, monkey, and human. In lampreys and salamanders, dopamine release in the MLR is associated with the activation of reticulospinal neurons that carry the locomotor command to the spinal cord. Dopamine release in the MLR potentiates locomotor movements through a D1-receptor mechanism in lampreys. In rats, stimulation of the substantia nigra pars compacta elicited dopamine release in the pedunculopontine nucleus, a known part of the MLR. In a monkey model of Parkinson's disease, a reduced dopaminergic innervation of the brainstem locomotor networks was reported. Dopaminergic fibers are also present in human pedunculopontine nucleus. We discuss the conserved locomotor role of this pathway from lamprey to mammals, and the hypothesis that this pathway could play a role in the locomotor deficits reported in Parkinson's disease.

Nitroglycerine and sodium trioxodinitrate: from the discovery to the preconditioning effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Pagliaro, Pasquale; Gattullo, Donatella; Penna, Claudia

2013-10-01

The history began in the 19th century with Ascanio Sobrero (1812-1888), the discoverer of glycerol trinitrate (nitroglycerine, NTG), and with Angelo Angeli (1864-1931), the discoverer of sodium trioxodinitrate (Angeli's salt). It is likely that Angeli and Sobrero never met, but their two histories will join each other more than a century later. In fact, it has been discovered that both NTG and Angeli's salt are able to induce a preconditioning effect. As NTG has a long history as an antianginal drug its newly discovered property as a preconditioning agent has also been tested in humans. Angeli's salt properties as a preconditioning and inotropic agent have only been tested in animals so far.

Diabetes education and self-management for ongoing and newly diagnosed (DESMOND)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skinner, T. Chas; Carey, Marian E.; Cradock, Sue

2006-01-01

diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes changes key illness beliefs and that these changes predict quality of life and metabolic control at 3-month follow-up. Practice implications: Newly diagnosed individuals are open to attending self-management programs and, if the program is theoretically driven, can......Objective: To determine the effects of a structured education program on illness beliefs, quality of life and physical activity in people newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Methods: Individuals attending a diabetes education and self-management for ongoing and newly diagnosed (DESMOND) program...... in 12 Primary Care Trusts completed questionnaire booklets assessing illness beliefs and quality of life at baseline and 3-month follow-up, metabolic control being assessed through assay of HbA1c. Results: Two hundred and thirty-six individuals attended the structured self-management education sessions...

The impact of bevacizumab treatment on survival and quality of life in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poulsen, Hans Skovgaard; Urup, Thomas; Michaelsen, Signe Regner; Staberg, Mikkel; Villingshøj, Mette; Lassen, Ulrik

2014-01-01

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains one of the most devastating tumors, and patients have a median survival of 15 months despite aggressive local and systemic therapy, including maximal surgical resection, radiation therapy, and concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide. The purpose of antineoplastic treatment is therefore to prolong life, with a maintenance or improvement of quality of life. GBM is a highly vascular tumor and overexpresses the vascular endothelial growth factor A, which promotes angiogenesis. Preclinical data have suggested that anti-angiogenic treatment efficiently inhibits tumor growth. Bevacizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor A, and treatment has shown impressive response rates in recurrent GBM. In addition, it has been shown that response is correlated to prolonged survival and improved quality of life. Several investigations in newly diagnosed GBM patients have been performed during recent years to test the hypothesis that newly diagnosed GBM patients should be treated with standard multimodality treatment, in combination with bevacizumab, in order to prolong life and maintain or improve quality of life. The results of these studies along with relevant preclinical data will be described, and pitfalls in clinical and paraclinical endpoints will be discussed

Flagellation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in newly divided cells

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Kun; Lee, Calvin; Anda, Jaime; Wong, Gerard

2015-03-01

For monotrichous bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, after cell division, one daughter cell inherits the old flagellum from its mother cell, and the other grows a new flagellum during or after cell division. It had been shown that the new flagellum grows at the distal pole of the dividing cell when the two daughter cells haven't completely separated. However, for those daughter cells who grow new flagella after division, it still remains unknown at which pole the new flagellum will grow. Here, by combining our newly developed bacteria family tree tracking techniques with genetic manipulation method, we showed that for the daughter cell who did not inherit the old flagellum, a new flagellum has about 90% chances to grow at the newly formed pole. We proposed a model for flagellation of P. aeruginosa.

Bug breakfast in the bulletin: human papilloma virus.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Cate; Weisberg, Edith; McCaffery, Kirsten

2007-01-01

The Bug Breakfast topic for October was Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The presenters covered the epidemiology of HPV, the newly introduced HPV vaccine and social and psychological issues relating to HPV vaccination.

Yes, Aboriginal Australians can and did discover the variability of Betelgeuse

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, Bradley E.

2018-04-01

Recently, a widely publicized claim has been made that the Aboriginal Australians discovered the variability of the red star Betelgeuse in the modern Orion, plus the variability of two other prominent red stars: Aldebaran and Antares. This result has excited the usual healthy skepticism, with questions about whether any untrained peoples can discover the variability and whether such a discovery is likely to be placed into lore and transmitted for long periods of time. Here, I am offering an independent evaluation, based on broad experience with naked-eye sky viewing and astro-history. I find that it is easy for inexperienced observers to detect the variability of Betelgeuse over its range in brightness from V = 0.0 to V = 1.3, for example in noticing from season-to-season that the star varies from significantly brighter than Procyon to being greatly fainter than Procyon. Further, indigenous peoples in the Southern Hemisphere inevitably kept watch on the prominent red star, so it is inevitable that the variability of Betelgeuse was discovered many times over during the last 65 millennia. The processes of placing this discovery into a cultural context (in this case, put into morality stories) and the faithful transmission for many millennia is confidently known for the Aboriginal Australians in particular. So this shows that the whole claim for a changing Betelgeuse in the Aboriginal Australian lore is both plausible and likely. Given that the discovery and transmission is easily possible, the real proof is that the Aboriginal lore gives an unambiguous statement that these stars do indeed vary in brightness, as collected by many ethnographers over a century ago from many Aboriginal groups. So I strongly conclude that the Aboriginal Australians could and did discover the variability of Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, and Antares.

Perceptions of the clinical competence of newly registered nurses in the North West province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.R. Moeti

2004-09-01

Full Text Available The clinical competence of newly registered nurses relating to the care of individual Clients, depends on their ability to correlate theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom with practice and the development of clinical skills. Its foundation lies in the ability to identify and solve problems that emanate from critical thinking, analytical reasoning and reflective practice. It is clear that the quality of clinical exposure plays a leading role in the development of nursing professionals. Nursing skills alone cannot ensure quality care of clients without the application of theory. Facilitation of this theory to practice therefore remains an essential component of nursing education. This study was aimed at identifying areas of incompetence of newly registered nurses (1998- 2001 in the clinical area by determining the newly registered nurses1 and professional nurses1 perceptions of the competence of the newly registered nurses. A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive survey was used to collect the data regarding the clinical competence of newly registered nurses (1998-2001.

'Practising under your own Pin'- a description of the transition experiences of newly qualified midwives.

Science.gov (United States)

Avis, Mark; Mallik, Maggie; Fraser, Diane M

2013-11-01

Transition experiences of newly qualified midwives were examined in depth during the third phase of a UK evaluation study of midwifery education. The fitness to practise and the retention of newly qualified nursing and midwifery graduates are pressing concerns for health care managers. The advantages of preceptorship are reported in the literature but the content and timing of schemes remain unclear. A semi-structured diary was kept for up to 6 months by 35 newly qualified midwives in 18 work sites covering all countries in the UK. The preceptor and supervisor of midwives for each newly qualified midwife completed short questionnaires about their preceptee's performance, and a further sub-sample of newly qualified midwives and preceptors participated in a semi-structured interview. Data were analysed to elicit aspects of newly qualified midwives transition experiences. Findings confirm that structured preceptorship schemes are not widely available. Newly qualified midwives primarily obtained transition support from members of the midwifery team. Although perceived as competent, there is no demarcation point in becoming confident to practise as a registered practitioner. Implications for managers include the importance of a supportive culture within clinical teams for successful transition and the introduction of structured preceptorship schemes facilitated by appropriate rotation patterns. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Combustion, performance and emissions characteristics of a newly ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

of a newly developed CRDI single cylinder diesel engine. AVINASH ... In case of unit injector and unit pump systems, fuel injection pressure depends on ... nozzle hole diameters were effective in reducing smoke and PM emissions. However ...

Yield and Adaptability Evaluation of Newly Introduced Tomato ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

High yield is a major ambition to tomato plant breeders and farmers. The purpose of the ... Tabora Region on the growth and yield of newly introduced tomato varieties. The tested ..... (1985). Evaluation of some American tomatocultivars grown.

Mentorship for newly appointed physicians: a strategy for enhancing patient safety?

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Reema; McClean, Serwaa; Lawton, Rebecca; Wright, John; Kay, Clive

2014-09-01

Mentorship is an increasingly popular innovation from business and industry that is being applied in health-care contexts. This paper explores the concept of mentorship for newly appointed physicians in their first substantive senior post, and specifically its utilization to enhance patient safety. Semi-structured face to face and telephone interviews with Medical Directors (n = 5), Deputy Medical Directors (n = 4), and Clinical Directors (n = 6) from 9 acute NHS Trusts in the Yorkshire and Humber region in the north of England. A focused thematic analysis was used. A number of beneficial outcomes were associated with mentorship for newly appointed physicians including greater personal and professional support, organizational commitment, and general well-being. Providing newly appointed senior physicians with support through mentorship was considered to enhance the safety of patient care. Mentorship may prevent or reduce active failures, be used to identify threats in the local working environment, and in the longer term, address latent threats to safety within the organization by encouraging a healthier safety culture. Offering mentorship to all newly appointed physicians in their first substantive post in health care may be a useful strategy to support the development of their clinical, professional, and personal skills in this transitional period that may also enhance the safety of patient care.

Newly elected IAEA Board of Governors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The document gives information about the election of 11 Member States to the IAEA Board of Governors, the 35-member policy-making body, during the 44th regular session of the IAEA's General Conference (18 - 22 September 2000, Austria Center, Vienna). The newly elected Member States are: Argentina, Egypt, Ghana, Ireland, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine. The other 24 Member States of the Board are also given

Microgenetic experiment in developmental psychology: A new approach to discover cognitive change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matija Svetina

2002-02-01

Full Text Available Microgenetic experiment is relatively new tool in a developmental psychology research. It is primarily used in discovering broad range of cognitive processes such as the development of logical operations, memory and attention as well as beliefs or school adaptation. Designed as an extension of simple longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches it is convinient to research mental processes in all developmental stages of human being, from infancy to the old age. Microgenetic approach is characterised with repeated observations of behaviour. Observations are carried out in a relatively short period of time and yet they cover the whole interval between first appearance and stabilisation of a process in a subject. The microgenetic approach offers a good insight into the nature and development of the change. The article presents the general steps in both forming and performing of a microgenetic experiment, as well as the approaches used in the data analyses. On more general level, the article presents major practical and theoretical advantages and disadvantages of a microgenetic approach to be considered in the future.

A newly developed snack effective for enhancing bone volume

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hayashi Hidetaka

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The incidence of primary osteoporosis is higher in Japan than in USA and European countries. Recently, the importance of preventive medicine has been gradually recognized in the field of orthopaedic surgery with a concept that peak bone mass should be increased in childhood as much as possible for the prevention of osteoporosis. Under such background, we have developed a new bean snack with an aim to improve bone volume loss. In this study, we examined the effects of a newly developed snack on bone volume and density in osteoporosis model mice. Methods Orchiectomy (ORX and ovariectomy (OVX were performed for C57BL/6J mice of twelve-week-old (Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbar, ME, USA were used in this experiment. We prepared and given three types of powder diet e.g.: normal calcium diet (NCD, Ca: 0.9%, Clea Japan Co., Tokyo, Japan, low calcium diet (LCD, Ca: 0.63%, Clea Japan Co., and special diet (SCD, Ca: 0.9%. Eighteen weeks after surgery, all the animals were sacrified and prepared for histomorphometric analysis to quantify bone density and bone mineral content. Results As a result of histomorphometric examination, SCD was revealed to enhance bone volume irrespective of age and sex. The bone density was increased significantly in osteoporosis model mice fed the newly developmental snack as compared with the control mice. The bone mineral content was also enhanced significantly. These phenomena were revealed in both sexes. Conclusion It is shown that the newly developed bean snack is highly effective for the improvement of bone volume loss irrespective of sex. We demonstrated that newly developmental snack supplements may be a useful preventive measure for Japanese whose bone mineral density values are less than the ideal condition.

Clinical evaluation of a newly designed orthodontic tooth brush - A clinical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C S Saimbi

2009-01-01

In this study, the newly designed orthodontic tooth brush is compared with an ordinary tooth brush. Results of this study show that the newly designed orthodontic tooth brush is superior in its cleaning efficiency as compared to the ordinary tooth brush. The results show that plaque removing capacity of orthodontic tooth brush is nearly 95-99%.

Newly qualified teachers´ possibilities to get foothold in a lifelong career course

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krøjgaard, Frede; Frederiksen, Lisbeth Angela Lunde

Keyword: Induction program, newly qualified teachers, NQT, retention, professional development In Contrary to many other countries in Europe Denmark does not have any kind of national program regarding teacher induction program (TIP) or support in general to newly qualified teachers what so ever...

"Non-Vocalization": A Phonological Error Process in the Speech of Severely and Profoundly Hearing Impaired Adults, from the Point of View of the Theory of Phonology as Human Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Halpern, Orly; Tobin, Yishai

2008-01-01

"Non-vocalization" (N-V) is a newly described phonological error process in hearing impaired speakers. In N-V the hearing impaired person actually articulates the phoneme but without producing a voice. The result is an error process looking as if it is produced but sounding as if it is omitted. N-V was discovered by video recording the speech of…

"The molecular basis of aging": the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds 95th International Titisee Conference.

Science.gov (United States)

Garinis, George A; Patil, Christopher K; Schumacher, Björn

2007-01-01

Nearly 20 years ago, researchers discovered that lifespan can be extended by single-gene mutations in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Further studies revealed that the mechanisms governing aging in the smallest organisms have been evolutionarily conserved and may operate in human beings. Since then, the field of biogerontology has expanded considerably, learning from - and contributing to - such disparate fields as cell signaling, metabolism, endocrinology, and a wide range of human diseases including cancer. To date, newly discovered connections and novel interdisciplinary approaches gradually unify what once seemed unrelated observations between seemingly disparate research areas. While this unification is far from complete, several overlapping themes have clearly emerged. At the 95th International Titisee Conference, devoted to "The Molecular Basis of Aging," 60 of the world's pre-eminent biogerontologists shared their most recent findings in the biology of aging, and discussed interdisciplinary connections between diverse fields.

Nuclear fission discovered fifty years ago

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weis, M.

1988-01-01

Fifty years ago, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann discovered the process of nuclear fission which, more than other scientific discoveries to date, profoundly has changed the world and continues to influence our life significantly: This discovery made the up to then incontestable physicists' view of the atom as an inseparable whole suddenly shatter to pieces. It has brought about the invaluable advantages of a peaceful utilization of nuclear energy, and at the same time put scientists in the position to build the most terrible weapon ever, threatening mankind and earth with complete destruction. All this certainly is reason enough to recall the scientists, their work and the spirit of the time. (orig.) [de

Discovering network behind infectious disease outbreak

Science.gov (United States)

Maeno, Yoshiharu

2010-11-01

Stochasticity and spatial heterogeneity are of great interest recently in studying the spread of an infectious disease. The presented method solves an inverse problem to discover the effectively decisive topology of a heterogeneous network and reveal the transmission parameters which govern the stochastic spreads over the network from a dataset on an infectious disease outbreak in the early growth phase. Populations in a combination of epidemiological compartment models and a meta-population network model are described by stochastic differential equations. Probability density functions are derived from the equations and used for the maximal likelihood estimation of the topology and parameters. The method is tested with computationally synthesized datasets and the WHO dataset on the SARS outbreak.

Learning Faster by Discovering and Exploiting Object Similarities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tadej Janež

2013-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper we explore the question: “Is it possible to speed up the learning process of an autonomous agent by performing experiments in a more complex environment (i.e., an environment with a greater number of different objects?” To this end, we use a simple robotic domain, where the robot has to learn a qualitative model predicting the change in the robot's distance to an object. To quantify the environment's complexity, we defined cardinal complexity as the number of objects in the robot's world, and behavioural complexity as the number of objects' distinct behaviours. We propose Error reduction merging (ERM, a new learning method that automatically discovers similarities in the structure of the agent's environment. ERM identifies different types of objects solely from the data measured and merges the observations of objects that behave in the same or similar way in order to speed up the agent's learning. We performed a series of experiments in worlds of increasing complexity. The results in our simple domain indicate that ERM was capable of discovering structural similarities in the data which indeed made the learning faster, clearly superior to conventional learning. This observed trend occurred with various machine learning algorithms used inside the ERM method.

Discovering objects in a blood recipient information system.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, D; Junghans, G; Marquardt, K; Kroll, H; Mueller-Eckhardt, C; Dudeck, J

1995-01-01

Application of object-oriented (OO) methodologies has been generally considered as a solution to the problem of improving the software development process and managing the so-called software crisis. Among them, object-oriented analysis (OOA) is the most essential and is a vital prerequisite for the successful use of other OO methodologies. Though there are already a good deal of OOA methods published, the most important aspect common to all these methods: discovering objects classes truly relevant to the given problem domain, has remained a subject to be intensively researched. In this paper, using the successful development of a blood recipient information system as an example, we present our approach which is based on the conceptual framework of responsibility-driven OOA. In the discussion, we also suggest that it may be inadequate to simply attribute the software crisis to the waterfall model of the software development life-cycle. We are convinced that the real causes for the failure of some software and information systems should be sought in the methodologies used in some crucial phases of the software development process. Furthermore, a software system can also fail if object classes essential to the problem domain are not discovered, implemented and visualized, so that the real-world situation cannot be faithfully traced by it.

Critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses

Science.gov (United States)

Wangensteen, Sigrid; Johansson, Inger S; Björkström, Monica E; Nordström, Gun

2010-01-01

wangensteen s., johansson i.s., björkström m.e. & nordström g. (2010) Critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing66(10), 2170–2181. Aim The aim of the study was to describe critical thinking dispositions among newly graduated nurses in Norway, and to study whether background data had any impact on critical thinking dispositions. Background Competence in critical thinking is one of the expectations of nursing education. Critical thinkers are described as well-informed, inquisitive, open-minded and orderly in complex matters. Critical thinking competence has thus been designated as an outcome for judging the quality of nursing education programmes and for the development of clinical judgement. The ability to think critically is also described as reducing the research–practice gap and fostering evidence-based nursing. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed. The data were collected between October 2006 and April 2007 using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. The response rate was 33% (n= 618). Pearson’s chi-square tests were used to analyse the data. Results Nearly 80% of the respondents reported a positive disposition towards critical thinking. The highest mean score was on the Inquisitiveness subscale and the lowest on the Truth-seeking subscale. A statistically significant higher proportion of nurses with high critical thinking scores were found among those older than 30 years, those with university education prior to nursing education, and those working in community health care. Conclusion Nurse leaders and nurse teachers should encourage and nurture critical thinking among newly graduated nurses and nursing students. The low Truth-seeking scores found may be a result of traditional teaching strategies in nursing education and might indicate a need for more student-active learning models. PMID:20384637

ISLSCP II IGBP DISCover and SiB Land Cover, 1992-1993

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set describes the geographic distributions of 17 classes of land cover based on the International Geosphere-Biosphere DISCover land cover legend (Loveland...

Discovering and explaining work-family strategies of parents in Luxembourg

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhelyazkova, Nevena

2014-01-01

The presented analysis discovers and explains typical patterns of work-family reconciliation for parents who had a child in the same period (2003) and in the same country (Luxembourg), thus facing the same macroeconomic and institutional conditions. Work-family trajectories are reconstructed as

Newly elected IAEA Board of Governors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The document gives information about the election of 11 Member States to the IAEA Board of Governors, the 35-member policy-making body, during the 45th regular session of the IAEA's General Conference (17-21 September 2001, Austria Center, Vienna). The newly elected Member States are: Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Morocco, Philippines, Romania, Spain, and Turkey. The other 24 Member States of the Board are also given

Health problems of newly arrived migrants and refugees in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Pavli, Androula; Maltezou, Helena

2017-07-01

The number of migrants and refugees in Europe in the past few years has increased dramatically due to war, violence or prosecutions in their homeland. Migration may affect physical, mental and social health. The objective of this article is to assess migrants and refugees' health problems, and to recommend appropriate interventions. A PubMed search of published articles on health problems of newly arrived migrants and refugees was conducted from 2003 through 2016, focusing on the current refugee crisis in Europe. In addition to communicable diseases, such as respiratory, gastrointestinal and dermatologic infections, non-communicable diseases, including chronic conditions, mental and social problems, account for a significant morbidity burden in newly arrived migrants and refugees. Vaccine-preventable diseases are also of outmost importance. The appropriate management of newly arrived refugees and migrants' health problems is affected by barriers to access to health care including legal, communication, cultural and bureaucratic difficulties. There is diversity and lack of integration regarding health care provision across Europe due to policy differences between health care systems and social services. There is a notable burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases among newly arrived migrants and refugees. Provision of health care at reception and temporary centres should be integrated and provided by a multidisciplinary team Appropriate health care of migrants and refugees could greatly enhance their health and social status which will benefit also the host countries at large. © International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Unique biological properties of catalytic domain directed human anti-CAIX antibodies discovered through phage-display technology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Xu

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX, gene G250/MN-encoded transmembrane protein is highly expressed in various human epithelial tumors such as renal clear cell carcinoma (RCC, but absent from the corresponding normal tissues. Besides the CA signal transduction activity, CAIX may serve as a biomarker in early stages of oncogenesis and also as a reliable marker of hypoxia, which is associated with tumor resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Although results from preclinical and clinical studies have shown CAIX as a promising target for detection and therapy for RCC, only a limited number of murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs and one humanized mAb are available for clinical testing and development. In this study, paramagnetic proteoliposomes of CAIX (CAIX-PMPLs were constructed and used for anti-CAIX antibody selection from our 27 billion human single-chain antibody (scFv phage display libraries. A panel of thirteen human scFvs that specifically recognize CAIX expressed on cell surface was identified, epitope mapped primarily to the CA domain, and affinity-binding constants (KD determined. These human anti-CAIX mAbs are diverse in their functions including induction of surface CAIX internalization into endosomes and inhibition of the carbonic anhydrase activity, the latter being a unique feature that has not been previously reported for anti-CAIX antibodies. These human anti-CAIX antibodies are important reagents for development of new immunotherapies and diagnostic tools for RCC treatment as well as extending our knowledge on the basic structure-function relationships of the CAIX molecule.

The beginnings of human palaeontology: prehistory, craniometry and the 'fossil human races'.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrum, Matthew R

2016-09-01

Since the nineteenth century, hominid palaeontology has offered critical information about prehistoric humans and evidence for human evolution. Human fossils discovered at a time when there was growing agreement that humans existed during the Ice Age became especially significant but also controversial. This paper argues that the techniques used to study human fossils from the 1850s to the 1870s and the way that these specimens were interpreted owed much to the anthropological examination of Stone, Bronze, and Iron Age skeletons retrieved by archaeologists from prehistoric tombs throughout Europe. What emerged was the idea that a succession of distinct human races, which were identified using techniques such as craniometry, had occupied and migrated into Europe beginning in the Ice Age and continuing into the historic period. This marks a phase in the history of human palaeontology that gradually gave way to a science of palaeoanthropology that viewed hominid fossils more from the perspective of evolutionary theory and hominid phylogeny.

Nodule worm infection in humans and wild primates in Uganda: cryptic species in a newly identified region of human transmission.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ria R Ghai

Full Text Available Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs are a major health concern in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Oesophagostomum infection is considered endemic to West Africa but has also been identified in Uganda, East Africa, among primates (including humans. However, the taxonomy and ecology of Oesophagostomum in Uganda have not been studied, except for in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes, which are infected by both O. bifurcum and O. stephanostomum.We studied Oesophagostomum in Uganda in a community of non-human primates that live in close proximity to humans. Prevalence estimates based on microscopy were lower than those based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR, indicating greater sensitivity of PCR. Prevalence varied among host species, with humans and red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus infected at lowest prevalence (25% and 41% by PCR, respectively, and chimpanzees, olive baboons (Papio anubis, and l'hoest monkeys (Cercopithecus lhoesti infected at highest prevalence (100% by PCR in all three species. Phylogenetic regression showed that primates travelling further and in smaller groups are at greatest risk of infection. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed three cryptic clades of Oesophagostomum that were not distinguishable based on morphological characteristics of their eggs. Of these, the clade with the greatest host range had not previously been described genetically. This novel clade infects humans, as well as five other species of primates.Multiple cryptic forms of Oesophagostomum circulate in the people and primates of western Uganda, and parasite clades differ in host range and cross-species transmission potential. Our results expand knowledge about human Oesophagostomum infection beyond the West African countries of Togo and Ghana, where the parasite is a known public health concern. Oesophagostomum infection in humans may be common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, and the transmission of this neglected STH among primates, including zoonotic

LW-214, a newly synthesized flavonoid, induces intrinsic apoptosis pathway by down-regulating Trx-1 in MCF-7 human breast cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Di; Li, Wei; Miao, Hanchi; Yao, Jing; Li, Zhiyu; Wei, Libin; Zhao, Li; Guo, Qinglong

2014-02-15

In this study, the anticancer effect of LW-214, a newly synthesized flavonoid, against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells and the underlying mechanisms were investigated. LW-214 triggered the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by increasing Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and caspase-9 activation, degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), cytochrome c (Cyt c) release and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) transposition. Further research revealed that both the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the apoptosis signal regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) activation by LW-214 were induced by down-regulating the thioredoxin-1 (Trx-1) expression. The ROS elevation and ASK1 activation induced a sustained phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), while SP600125, as known as JNK inhibitor, almost reversed LW-214-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Overexpression of Trx-1 in MCF-7 cells attenuated LW-214-mediated apoptosis as well as the JNK activation and reversed the expression of mitochondrial apoptosis-related protein. Accordingly, the in vivo study showed that LW-214 exhibited a potential antitumor effect in BALB/c species mice inoculated MCF-7 tumor with low systemic toxicity, and the mechanism was the same as in vitro study. Taken together, these findings indicated that LW-214 may down-regulated Trx-1 function, causing intracellular ROS generation and releasing the ASK1, and lead to JNK activation, which consequently induced the mitochondrial apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Archaic admixture in human history.

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, Jeffrey D; Yoshihara Caldeira Brandt, Debora

2016-12-01

Modern humans evolved in Southern or Eastern Africa, and spread from there across the rest of the world. As they expanded across Africa and Eurasia, they encountered other hominin groups. The extent to which modern and 'archaic' human groups interbred is an area of active research, and while we know that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans, there is not yet agreement on how many admixture events there were or on how much Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA can be found in contemporary genomes. Here we review what is known about archaic admixture in human history, with a focus on what has been discovered in the past 2 years. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

US NSF: scientists discover planetary system similar to our own

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

An international team of scientists has discovered a planet and star that may share the same relationship as Jupiter and our Sun, the closest comparison that researchers have found since they began their search for extra-solar planets nearly a decade ago (1 page).

A Molecular Sensor To Characterize Arenavirus Envelope Glycoprotein Cleavage by Subtilisin Kexin Isozyme 1/Site 1 Protease

Science.gov (United States)

Oppliger, Joel; da Palma, Joel Ramos; Burri, Dominique J.; Khatib, Abdel-Majid; Spiropoulou, Christina F.

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Arenaviruses are emerging viruses including several causative agents of severe hemorrhagic fevers in humans. The advent of next-generation sequencing technology has greatly accelerated the discovery of novel arenavirus species. However, for many of these viruses, only genetic information is available, and their zoonotic disease potential remains unknown. During the arenavirus life cycle, processing of the viral envelope glycoprotein precursor (GPC) by the cellular subtilisin kexin isozyme 1 (SKI-1)/site 1 protease (S1P) is crucial for productive infection. The ability of newly emerging arenaviruses to hijack human SKI-1/S1P appears, therefore, to be a requirement for efficient zoonotic transmission and human disease potential. Here we implement a newly developed cell-based molecular sensor for SKI-1/S1P to characterize the processing of arenavirus GPC-derived target sequences by human SKI-1/S1P in a quantitative manner. We show that only nine amino acids flanking the putative cleavage site are necessary and sufficient to accurately recapitulate the efficiency and subcellular location of arenavirus GPC processing. In a proof of concept, our sensor correctly predicts efficient processing of the GPC of the newly emergent pathogenic Lujo virus by human SKI-1/S1P and defines the exact cleavage site. Lastly, we employed our sensor to show efficient GPC processing of a panel of pathogenic and nonpathogenic New World arenaviruses, suggesting that GPC cleavage represents no barrier for zoonotic transmission of these pathogens. Our SKI-1/S1P sensor thus represents a rapid and robust test system for assessment of the processing of putative cleavage sites derived from the GPCs of newly discovered arenavirus by the SKI-1/S1P of humans or any other species, based solely on sequence information. IMPORTANCE Arenaviruses are important emerging human pathogens that can cause severe hemorrhagic fevers with high mortality in humans. A crucial step in productive arenavirus

Heart research advances using database search engines, Human Protein Atlas and the Sydney Heart Bank.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Amy; Estigoy, Colleen; Raftery, Mark; Cameron, Darryl; Odeberg, Jacob; Pontén, Fredrik; Lal, Sean; Dos Remedios, Cristobal G

2013-10-01

This Methodological Review is intended as a guide for research students who may have just discovered a human "novel" cardiac protein, but it may also help hard-pressed reviewers of journal submissions on a "novel" protein reported in an animal model of human heart failure. Whether you are an expert or not, you may know little or nothing about this particular protein of interest. In this review we provide a strategic guide on how to proceed. We ask: How do you discover what has been published (even in an abstract or research report) about this protein? Everyone knows how to undertake literature searches using PubMed and Medline but these are usually encyclopaedic, often producing long lists of papers, most of which are either irrelevant or only vaguely relevant to your query. Relatively few will be aware of more advanced search engines such as Google Scholar and even fewer will know about Quertle. Next, we provide a strategy for discovering if your "novel" protein is expressed in the normal, healthy human heart, and if it is, we show you how to investigate its subcellular location. This can usually be achieved by visiting the website "Human Protein Atlas" without doing a single experiment. Finally, we provide a pathway to discovering if your protein of interest changes its expression level with heart failure/disease or with ageing. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Critical epitopes in the nucleocapsid protein of SFTS virus recognized by a panel of SFTS patients derived human monoclonal antibodies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Yu

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: SFTS virus (SFTSV is a newly discovered pathogen to cause severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS in human. Successful control of SFTSV epidemic requires better understanding of the antigen target in humoral immune responses to the new bunyavirus infection. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have generated a combinatorial Fab antibody phage library from two SFTS patients recovered from SFTSV infection. To date, 94 unique human antibodies have been generated and characterized from over 1200 Fab antibody clones obtained by screening the library with SFTS purified virions. All those monoclonal antibodies (MAbs recognized the nucleocapsid (N protein of SFTSV while none of them were reactive to the viral glycoproteins Gn or Gc. Furthermore, over screening 1000 mouse monoclonal antibody clones derived from SFTSV virions immunization, 462 clones reacted with N protein, while only 16 clones were reactive to glycoprotein. Furthermore, epitope mapping of SFTSV N protein was performed through molecular simulation, site mutation and competitive ELISA, and we found that at least 4 distinct antigenic epitopes within N protein were recognized by those human and mouse MAbs, in particular mutation of Glu10 to Ala10 abolished or significantly reduced the binding activity of nearly most SFTS patients derived MAbs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The large number of human recombinant MAbs derived from SFTS patients recognized the viral N protein indicated the important role of the N protein in humoral responses to SFTSV infection, and the critical epitopes we defined in this study provided molecular basis for detection and diagnosis of SFTSV infection.

Radiation therapy of newly diagnosed, advanced prostatic cancer and hormonally relapsed prostatic cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Minoru; Fujiwara, Kazuhisa; Hayakawa, Katsumi; Hida, Shuichi

1994-01-01

Ten patients with newly diagnosed, advanced prostatic cancer were treated with radiotherapy and hormone therapy to improve tumor control and survival. Eight patients with hormonally relapsed prostatic cancer were treated with radiotherapy to improve their quality of life. Local control of the tumor was achieved in 9 of 10 patients with newly diagnosed, advanced prostatic cancer. Five of eight patients with hormonally relapsed prostatic cancer obtained improved quality of life. Combined radiotherapy and hormone therapy were effective in the treatment of newly diagnosed, advanced prostatic cancer, and radiotherapy was useful for improving the quality of life of patients with hormonally relapsed prostatic cancer. (author)

Three Newly Naturalized Plants in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Jer Jung

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Three newly naturalized plants are reported in this paper. Hypochaeris microcephala (Sch. Bip. Cabrera var. albiflora (Kuntze Cabrera (Asteraceae is naturalized in urban areas of northern Taiwan. Indigofera pseudo-tinctoria Matsum. (Leguminosae is naturalized in low elevations of northern and southern Taiwan and in middle elevations of central Taiwan. Lamium purpureum L. (Laminaceae has become naturalized locally in middle elevations of central Taiwan. Descriptions, illustrations and color photos of these plants are provided.

A strategy to discover genes that carry multi-allelic or mono-allelic risk for common diseases: A cohort allelic sums test (CAST)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgenthaler, Stephan; Thilly, William G.

2007-01-01

A method is described to discover if a gene carries one or more allelic mutations that confer risk for any specified common disease. The method does not depend upon genetic linkage of risk-conferring mutations to high frequency genetic markers such as single nucleotide polymorphisms. Instead, the sums of allelic mutation frequencies in case and control cohorts are determined and a statistical test is applied to discover if the difference in these sums is greater than would be expected by chance. A statistical model is presented that defines the ability of such tests to detect significant gene-disease relationships as a function of case and control cohort sizes and key confounding variables: zygosity and genicity, environmental risk factors, errors in diagnosis, limits to mutant detection, linkage of neutral and risk-conferring mutations, ethnic diversity in the general population and the expectation that among all exonic mutants in the human genome greater than 90% will be neutral with regard to any effect on disease risk. Means to test the null hypothesis for, and determine the statistical power of, each test are provided. For this 'cohort allelic sums test' or 'CAST', the statistical model and test are provided as an Excel (TM) program, CASTAT (C) at http://epidemiology.mit.edu. Based on genetics, technology and statistics, a strategy of enumerating the mutant alleles carried in the exons and splice sites of the estimated ∼25,000 human genes in case cohort samples of 10,000 persons for each of 100 common diseases is proposed and evaluated: A wide range of possible conditions of multi-allelic or mono-allelic and monogenic, multigenic or polygenic (including epistatic) risk are found to be detectable using the statistical criteria of 1 or 10 ''false positive'' gene associations per 25,000 gene-disease pair-wise trials and a statistical power of >0.8. Using estimates of the distribution of both neutral and gene-inactivating nondeleterious mutations in humans and

Discovering Multidimensional Structure in Relational Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Mikael Rune; Holmgren, Thomas; Pedersen, Torben Bach

2004-01-01

On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) systems based on multidimensional databases are essential elements of decision support. However, most existing data is stored in “ordinary” relational OLTP databases, i.e., data has to be (re-) modeled as multidimensional cubes before the advantages of OLAP to...... algorithms for discovering multidimensional schemas from relational databases. The algorithms take a wide range of available metadata into account in the discovery process, including functional and inclusion dependencies, and key and cardinality information....... tools are available. In this paper we present an approach for the automatic construction of multidimensional OLAP database schemas from existing relational OLTP databases, enabling easy OLAP design and analysis for most existing data sources. This is achieved through a set of practical and effective...

Discovering the Library with Google Earth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michaela Brenner

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Libraries need to provide attractive and exciting discovery tools to draw patrons to the valuable resources in their catalogs. The authors conducted a pilot project to explore the free version of Google Earth as such a discover tool for Portland State Library’s digital collection of urban planning documents. They created eye-catching placemarks with links to parts of this collection, as well as to other pertinent materials like books, images, and historical background information. The detailed how-to-do part of this article is preceded by a discussion about discovery of library materials and followed by possible applications of this Google Earth project.

The facts and doubts about beginning of the human life and personality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asim Kurjak

2004-02-01

Full Text Available “What a piece of work is a man!” William Shakespeare, Hamlet“To those of average curiosity about the wonders of nature, it is likely that two great mysteries have stirred the imagination; and each concerns a birth. Who has not gazed into the heavens on the starlit night and wondered about the birth of the universe? And who has not been stimulated by the sight of the newly born baby to the marvel at the unseen events within the mother’s uterus that have led to the birth of such a perfect creation?”(1 These words written by the Professor Sir Graham (Mont Liggins open Pandora’s box of questions, dilemmas, doubts and controversies about human life and its beginning offering everybody lifelong challenge to solve mystery of life.Entering this filed scientists have been remiss in failing to translate science into the terms that allow mankind to share their excitement of discovering life before birth. Regardless to remarkable scientific development, curiosity, and speculations dating back to Hippocrates, life before birth still remains a big secret. Different kinds of intellectuals involved themselves trying to contribute to the solution of human life puzzle. They are led by the idea that each newborn child will only reach its full potential if its development in uterus is free from any adverse influence, providing the best possible environment for the embryo/foetus. Considering embryo/foetus, it should be always kept in mind amazing aspect of these parts of human life in which the mother and the embryo/foetus, although locked in the most intimate relationships, are at ALL TIMES two separate people. Accepting embryo/foetus as the person opened new set of questions about its personality and human rights. Today, synthesis between scientific data and hypotheses, philosophical thought, and issues in the humanities, has become pressing necessity in order to deal with ethical, juridical and social problems arising from man’s interference

Thymolipoma combined with hyperthyroidism discovered by neurological symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Hidenobu; Harada, Masahiko; Kimura, Masakazu; Kato, Harubumi

2007-04-01

Thymolipomas are rare slow-growing mediastinal thymic neoplasms. Most cases are asymptomatic and are sometimes discovered as a huge mass on chest x-ray films. A few cases have been discovered during examinations for other diseases. We report the second case of thymolipoma combined with hyperthyroidism in the English language literature. Neurological symptoms suddenly appeared in a 45-year-old woman. Central nervous system disorder was suggested but no significant abnormalities were found on brain MR nor were there any neurological signs. Several months later, neurological and systemic examinations on admission revealed hyperthyroidism and an anterior mediastinal tumor, 9.0x5.0x3.0 cm in size on chest CT films. Despite treatment of hyperthyroidism by medication, her neurological symptoms remained. Neurologists recommended resection of the mediastinal tumor. Malignancy could not be ruled out because of the irregularity of the tumor appearance on contrast-enhanced chest CT. Furthermore, the tumor appeared to be attached to the ascending aorta, so cytological and/or pathological diagnosis by CT-guided needle biopsy before operation were contraindicated. Extended thymectomy was performed in May 2005. The pathological diagnosis was benign thymolipoma consisting of mature fatty tissue and thymic tissue structures with Hassall's corpuscles. Her neurological symptoms seemed slightly but not markedly improved. The relationship between thymolipoma and hyperthyroidism is still unknown.

Identifying selected regions from heterozygosity and divergence using a light-coverage genomic dataset from two human populations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taras K Oleksyk

2008-03-01

Full Text Available When a selective sweep occurs in the chromosomal region around a target gene in two populations that have recently separated, it produces three dramatic genomic consequences: 1 decreased multi-locus heterozygosity in the region; 2 elevated or diminished genetic divergence (F(ST of multiple polymorphic variants adjacent to the selected locus between the divergent populations, due to the alternative fixation of alleles; and 3 a consequent regional increase in the variance of F(ST (S(2F(ST for the same clustered variants, due to the increased alternative fixation of alleles in the loci surrounding the selection target. In the first part of our study, to search for potential targets of directional selection, we developed and validated a resampling-based computational approach; we then scanned an array of 31 different-sized moving windows of SNP variants (5-65 SNPs across the human genome in a set of European and African American population samples with 183,997 SNP loci after correcting for the recombination rate variation. The analysis revealed 180 regions of recent selection with very strong evidence in either population or both. In the second part of our study, we compared the newly discovered putative regions to those sites previously postulated in the literature, using methods based on inspecting patterns of linkage disequilibrium, population divergence and other methodologies. The newly found regions were cross-validated with those found in nine other studies that have searched for selection signals. Our study was replicated especially well in those regions confirmed by three or more studies. These validated regions were independently verified, using a combination of different methods and different databases in other studies, and should include fewer false positives. The main strength of our analysis method compared to others is that it does not require dense genotyping and therefore can be used with data from population-based genome SNP scans

Validation of mentorship model for newly qualified professional ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Newly qualified professional nurses (NQPNs) allocated to community health care services require the use of validated model to practice independently. Validation was done to adapt and assess if the model is understood and could be implemented by NQPNs and mentors employed in community health care services.

Discovering and Exploring State-based Models for Multi-perspective Processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Eck, M.L.; Sidorova, N.; van der Aalst, W.M.P.; La Rosa, M.; Loos, P.; Pastor, O.

2016-01-01

Process mining provides fact-based insights into process behaviour captured in event data. In this work we aim to discover models for processes where different facets, or perspectives, of the process can be identified. Instead of focussing on the events or activities that are executed in the context

Expression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in naturally infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells: comparison of a standard co-culture technique with a newly developed microculture method.

Science.gov (United States)

Eberlein, B; Baur, A; Neundorfer, M; Jahn, G

1991-05-01

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 29 patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were cultured by two different methods. One was the standard co-culture technique, the other a newly developed microculture method. In this assay 10(6) PBMCs were cultivated in 250 microliters medium, no activating agents or allogeneic cells were present. P24 antigen production measured by this method was found in 7 out of 11 PBMC cultures of patients in the Walter Reed (WR) stage 1 or 2, whereas only 4 samples were positive by the co-culture procedure. Cultures from patients in the later stages of the disease (WR 5/6) showed a higher p24 production by the co-culture method than by the microculture assay. It is assumed that rapidly growing HIV strains can be better assessed by the co-culture method which may select for these strains. P24 expression can be more easily obtained by the microculture technique even in cases where slowly replicating strains may be present. In conclusion, results from the microculture procedure described may be a useful supplementation to findings observed by the co-culture method.

E6-associated transcription patterns in human papilloma virus 16-positive cervical tissues.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Kezhi; Lu, Xulian; Chen, Jun; Zou, Ruanmin; Zhang, Lifang; Xue, Xiangyang

2015-01-01

The change in transcription pattern induced by post-transcriptional RNA splicing is an important mechanism in the regulation of the early gene expression of human papilloma virus (HPV). The present study was conducted to establish a method to specifically amplify HPV-16 E6-associated transcripts. The E6-related transcripts from 63 HPV-16-positive cervical tumor tissue samples were amplified, consisting of eight cases of low-risk intraepithelial lesions, 38 cases of high-risk intraepithelial lesions and 17 cases of cervical cancer (CxCa). The appropriate amplified segments were recovered following agarose gel electrophoresis, and subjected to further sequencing and sequence alignment analysis. Six groups of E6 transcription patterns were identified from HPV-16-positive cervical tumor tissue, including five newly-discovered transcripts. Different HPV-16 E6-associated transcription patterns were detected during the development of CxCa. Over the course of the progression of the low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions to CxCa, the specific HPV-16 E6-associated transcription patterns and the dominant transcripts were all different. As indicated by this study, the transcription pattern of the E6 early gene of HPV-16 was closely associated with the stages of cervical carcinogenesis, and may also be involved in the development of CxCa.

Discovering Greatness

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Muhammad

2012-01-01

People are confronting the most pressing challenge facing every family, school, and community--raising respectful children in a toxic world. In simpler societies, raising children was a shared task of the whole community, as adults and youth worked in harmony and mutual respect. Today, humans are the only species in creation living out of balance.…

Cross-Genome Comparisons of Newly Identified Domains in Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Domain Architectures with Other Mycoplasma species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chandra Sekhar Reddy Chilamakuri

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Accurate functional annotation of protein sequences is hampered by important factors such as the failure of sequence search methods to identify relationships and the inherent diversity in function of proteins related at low sequence similarities. Earlier, we had employed intermediate sequence search approach to establish new domain relationships in the unassigned regions of gene products at the whole genome level by taking Mycoplasma gallisepticum as a specific example and established new domain relationships. In this paper, we report a detailed comparison of the conservation status of the domain and domain architectures of the gene products that bear our newly predicted domains amongst 14 other Mycoplasma genomes and reported the probable implications for the organisms. Some of the domain associations, observed in Mycoplasma that afflict humans and other non-human primates, are involved in regulation of solute transport and DNA binding suggesting specific modes of host-pathogen interactions.

Tools and strategies for discovering novel enzymes and metabolic pathways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John A. Gerlt

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The number of entries in the sequence databases continues to increase exponentially – the UniProt database is increasing with a doubling time of ∼4 years (2% increase/month. Approximately 50% of the entries have uncertain, unknown, or incorrect function annotations because these are made by automated methods based on sequence homology. If the potential in complete genome sequences is to be realized, strategies and tools must be developed to facilitate experimental assignment of functions to uncharacterized proteins discovered in genome projects. The Enzyme Function Initiative (EFI; previously supported by U54GM093342 from the National Institutes of Health, now supported by P01GM118303 developed web tools for visualizing and analyzing (1 sequence and function space in protein families (EFI-EST and (2 genome neighbourhoods in microbial and fungal genomes (EFI-GNT to assist the design of experimental strategies for discovering the in vitro activities and in vivo metabolic functions of uncharacterized enzymes. The EFI developed an experimental platform for large-scale production of the solute binding proteins (SBPs for ABC, TRAP, and TCT transport systems and their screening with a physical ligand library to identify the identities of the ligands for these transport systems. Because the genes that encode transport systems are often co-located with the genes that encode the catabolic pathways for the transported solutes, the identity of the SBP ligand together with the EFI-EST and EFI-GNT web tools can be used to discover new enzyme functions and new metabolic pathways. This approach is demonstrated with the characterization of a novel pathway for ethanolamine catabolism.

Auditor human capital and audit firm survival - The Dutch audit industry in 1930-1992

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brocheler, [No Value; Maijoor, S; van Witteloostuijn, A; Bröcheler, V.

2004-01-01

This paper studies the relationship between auditor human capital and audit firm survival. Specifically, the effects are investigated of the human capital of auditors on the survival chances of newly established audit firms. Human capital is analyzed both at the time of entry of a new audit firm and

Newly divided eosinophils limit ozone-induced airway hyperreactivity in nonsensitized guinea pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Wicher, Sarah A; Jacoby, David B; Fryer, Allison D

2017-06-01

Ozone causes vagally mediated airway hyperreactivity and recruits inflammatory cells, including eosinophils, to lungs, where they mediate ozone-induced hyperreactivity 1 day after exposure but are paradoxically protective 3 days later. We aimed to test the role of newly divided eosinophils in ozone-induced airway hyperreactivity in sensitized and nonsensitized guinea pigs. Nonsensitized and sensitized guinea pigs were treated with 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) to label newly divided cells and were exposed to air or ozone for 4 h. Later (1 or 3 days later), vagally induced bronchoconstriction was measured, and inflammatory cells were harvested from bone marrow, blood, and bronchoalveolar lavage. Ozone induced eosinophil hematopoiesis. One day after ozone, mature eosinophils dominate the inflammatory response and potentiate vagally induced bronchoconstriction. However, by 3 days, newly divided eosinophils have reached the lungs, where they inhibit ozone-induced airway hyperreactivity because depleting them with antibody to IL-5 or a TNF-α antagonist worsened vagally induced bronchoconstriction. In sensitized guinea pigs, both ozone-induced eosinophil hematopoiesis and subsequent recruitment of newly divided eosinophils to lungs 3 days later failed to occur. Thus mature eosinophils dominated the ozone-induced inflammatory response in sensitized guinea pigs. Depleting these mature eosinophils prevented ozone-induced airway hyperreactivity in sensitized animals. Ozone induces eosinophil hematopoiesis and recruitment to lungs, where 3 days later, newly divided eosinophils attenuate vagally mediated hyperreactivity. Ozone-induced hematopoiesis of beneficial eosinophils is blocked by a TNF-α antagonist or by prior sensitization. In these animals, mature eosinophils are associated with hyperreactivity. Thus interventions targeting eosinophils, although beneficial in atopic individuals, may delay resolution of airway hyperreactivity in nonatopic individuals. Copyright �

Dynamical modeling validation of parent bodies associated with newly discovered CMN meteor showers

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Šegon, D.; Vaubaillon, J.; Gural, P.S.; Vida, D.; Andreić, Z.; Korlević, K.; Skokić, Ivica

2017-01-01

Roč. 598, February (2017), A15/1-A15/13 E-ISSN 1432-0746 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : meteorites * meteors * meteoroids Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy , Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 5.014, year: 2016

Newly discovered deep-branching marine plastid lineages are numerically rare but globally distributed

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Choi, C.J.; Bachy, C.; Jaeger, G.S.; Poirier, C.; Sudek, L.; Sarma, V.V.S.S.; Mahadevan, A; Giovannoni, S.J.; Worden, A

Ocean surface warming is resulting in an expansion of stratified, low-nutrient environments, a process referred to as ocean desertification [1]. A challenge for assessing the impact of these changes is the lack of robust baseline information...

Discover 4-H Clubs: The Essential Resource for 4-H

Science.gov (United States)

MacArthur, Stacey; Nelson, Cindy; Brower, Naomi; Memmott, Margie; Peterson, Gaelynn

2016-01-01

Obstacles facing new 4-H volunteers include time constraints and difficulty finding project-specific information, resources, and opportunities available for club members. As a solution to these obstacles and an aid for assisting volunteers in becoming confident in delivering information to youth, content experts produced Discover 4-H Clubs, a…

REVIEW: Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows ANDY FIELD (2000)

OpenAIRE

SHARMA, Reviewed By Ashok

2015-01-01

The book "Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows" is exactly that! Since it calculates amazingly fast, in the recent years, the computer has become the most useful and helpful tool for the researchers in almost every field of knowledge - be it open and distance education, psychology, sociology, management or else.

Neuropsychological and psychological interventions for people with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Cerian F; Makin, Selina M; Baker, Gus A

2015-07-22

Many people with epilepsy report experiencing psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression and neuropsychological deficits including memory problems. Research has shown that these difficulties are often present not only for people with chronic epilepsy but also for people with newly diagnosed epilepsy. Despite this, there are very few published interventions that detail means to help people with newly diagnosed epilepsy manage these problems. To identify and assess possible psychological and neuropsychological interventions for adults with newly diagnosed epilepsy. We searched the following databases on 30 June 2015: the Cochrane Epilepsy Group Specialized Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE (Ovid), SCOPUS, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). This review includes all randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised controlled trials, prospective cohort controlled studies, and prospective before and after studies which include psychological or neuropsychological interventions for people with newly diagnosed epilepsy. We excluded studies that included people with epilepsy and any other psychological disorder or neurological condition. We excluded studies carried out which recruited only children. We used the standard methodological procedure expected by The Cochrane Collaboration. Two authors independently completed data extraction and risk of bias analysis. The results of this were cross-checked and third author resolved any discrepancies. In the event of missing data, we contacted the study authors. Meta-analysis was not completed due to differences in the intervention and outcomes reported in the two studies. We included two randomised controlled trials assessing psychological interventions for people with newly diagnosed epilepsy. One study assessed a cognitive behavioural intervention (CBI) in an adolescent

Simultaneously Discovering and Localizing Common Objects in Wild Images.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenzhen; Yuan, Junsong

2018-09-01

Motivated by the recent success of supervised and weakly supervised common object discovery, in this paper, we move forward one step further to tackle common object discovery in a fully unsupervised way. Generally, object co-localization aims at simultaneously localizing objects of the same class across a group of images. Traditional object localization/detection usually trains specific object detectors which require bounding box annotations of object instances, or at least image-level labels to indicate the presence/absence of objects in an image. Given a collection of images without any annotations, our proposed fully unsupervised method is to simultaneously discover images that contain common objects and also localize common objects in corresponding images. Without requiring to know the total number of common objects, we formulate this unsupervised object discovery as a sub-graph mining problem from a weighted graph of object proposals, where nodes correspond to object proposals, and edges represent the similarities between neighbouring proposals. The positive images and common objects are jointly discovered by finding sub-graphs of strongly connected nodes, with each sub-graph capturing one object pattern. The optimization problem can be efficiently solved by our proposed maximal-flow-based algorithm. Instead of assuming that each image contains only one common object, our proposed solution can better address wild images where each image may contain multiple common objects or even no common object. Moreover, our proposed method can be easily tailored to the task of image retrieval in which the nodes correspond to the similarity between query and reference images. Extensive experiments on PASCAL VOC 2007 and Object Discovery data sets demonstrate that even without any supervision, our approach can discover/localize common objects of various classes in the presence of scale, view point, appearance variation, and partial occlusions. We also conduct broad

A case series of clinically undiagnosed hematopoietic neoplasms discovered at autopsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Podduturi, Varsha; Guileyardo, Joseph M; Soto, Luis R; Krause, John R

2015-06-01

In the United States, autopsy rates have diminished to less than 5% during the last half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century for a multitude of reasons. Many believe this results in unrecognized malignancies that could have explained a patient's death. We describe six deaths in which hematopoietic neoplasms were identified at autopsy but were not diagnosed clinically. The six undiagnosed hematopoietic malignancy cases discovered at autopsy include four men and two women ranging from 50 to 78 years of age. One patient was African American and five patients were white, all with multiple comorbidities. The tumors included diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, activated B-cell type, intravascular large B-cell lymphoma, ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma arising in a setting of human immunodeficiency virus, and a myeloid sarcoma. These cases illustrate the importance of the traditional postmortem examination in not only confirming clinical diagnoses but also identifying previously unknown diagnoses. Hematologic malignancies may present with nonspecific clinical manifestations, and this series of cases also emphasizes the necessity for widening the differential diagnosis in patients with unexplained lactic acidosis and hepatic failure to include hematopoietic malignancies since prompt treatment may be lifesaving. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

Evolution of life history and behavior in Hominidae: towards phylogenetic reconstruction of the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor.

Science.gov (United States)

Duda, Pavel; Zrzavý, Jan

2013-10-01

The origin of the fundamental behavioral differences between humans and our closest living relatives is one of the central issues of evolutionary anthropology. The prominent, chimpanzee-based referential model of early hominin behavior has recently been challenged on the basis of broad multispecies comparisons and newly discovered fossil evidence. Here, we argue that while behavioral data on extant great apes are extremely relevant for reconstruction of ancestral behaviors, these behaviors should be reconstructed trait by trait using formal phylogenetic methods. Using the widely accepted hominoid phylogenetic tree, we perform a series of character optimization analyses using 65 selected life-history and behavioral characters for all extant hominid species. This analysis allows us to reconstruct the character states of the last common ancestors of Hominoidea, Hominidae, and the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor. Our analyses demonstrate that many fundamental behavioral and life-history attributes of hominids (including humans) are evidently ancient and likely inherited from the common ancestor of all hominids. However, numerous behaviors present in extant great apes represent their own terminal autapomorphies (both uniquely derived and homoplastic). Any evolutionary model that uses a single extant species to explain behavioral evolution of early hominins is therefore of limited use. In contrast, phylogenetic reconstruction of ancestral states is able to provide a detailed suite of behavioral, ecological and life-history characters for each hypothetical ancestor. The living great apes therefore play an important role for the confident identification of the traits found in the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor, some of which are likely to represent behaviors of the fossil hominins. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hope, emotion regulation, and psychosocial well-being in patients newly diagnosed with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Peh, Chao Xu; Kua, Ee Heok; Mahendran, Rathi

2016-05-01

Patients newly diagnosed with cancer are often confronted with feelings of uncertainty and life threat. A significant proportion may report impairments in psychosocial well-being. Previous studies examining protective psychological factors such as hope and emotion regulation (ER) have yet to investigate these processes concurrently within a common self-regulation framework and/or focus on newly diagnosed patients. The present study aimed to examine how hope and ER may relate to psychosocial outcomes of patients newly diagnosed with cancer. The present study used a cross-sectional design with self-report questionnaires. Participants were newly diagnosed patients (N = 101) recruited from three cancer therapy clinics in a hospital. Patients completed measures of hope, ER (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), and psychosocial well-being (life satisfaction and negative affectivity). Findings showed that (1) hope and reappraisal, but not suppression, were associated with well-being and (2) the interaction between hope and reappraisal was associated with well-being; reappraisal was not associated with well-being in high hope patients, while high reappraisal was associated with better well-being in low hope patients. Individual differences in hope and reappraisal appeared to be associated with psychosocial outcomes in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Hopeful thinking appeared to benefit patients' psychosocial well-being. In addition, an interaction effect between hope and reappraisal suggested that reappraisal as an ER strategy may be particularly adaptive for patients with low hope.

Pancreatic sarcoidosis discovered during Whipple procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Jonathan; Spees, Tanner; Telefus, Phillip; Ranaudo, Jeffrey M; Carryl, Stephen; Xiao, Philip

2013-04-04

Pancreatic sarcoidosis is a rare variant of systemic sarcoidosis, with cases described in literature as recently as January 2010. We present here a case of pancreatic involvement with non-caseating granulomas discovered on laparotomy in a patient with a preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. Computer tomography scan without contrast revealed a well-marginated smooth-shaped tumor in the head of the pancreas morphologically consistent with malignancy. During Whipple procedure, the mass was found to be a large lymph node that contained numerous non-caseating granulomas. Radiologically and clinically, non-caseating granulomas of the pancreas are often misdiagnosed as malignant tumor. Special attention given to this differential diagnosis by surgeons, pathologists and clinicians can avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. Published by Oxford University Press and JSCR Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. © The Author 2013.

Clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of human bocavirus in Danish infants: results from a prospective birth cohort study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

von Linstow, Marie-Louise; Høgh, Mette; Høgh, Birthe

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a recently discovered parvovirus that has been detected in respiratory samples from children with acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) and in feces from children with gastroenteritis. However, its role as a causative agent of respiratory disease is not de......BACKGROUND: Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a recently discovered parvovirus that has been detected in respiratory samples from children with acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) and in feces from children with gastroenteritis. However, its role as a causative agent of respiratory disease...

Two Herbig-Haro objects discovered by narrow-band CCD imagery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogura, Katsuo

1990-01-01

Two new Herbig-Haro objects, HH 132 and HH 133, have been discovered by CCD imagery behind interference filters on and just off the forbidden S II lines in the red. They are located in Puppis R2 and in Vela R2. Possible locations of their exciting sources are discussed. 12 refs

Selection of unadapted, pathogenic SHIVs encoding newly transmitted HIV-1 envelope proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Del Prete, Gregory Q; Ailers, Braiden; Moldt, Brian; Keele, Brandon F; Estes, Jacob D; Rodriguez, Anthony; Sampias, Marissa; Oswald, Kelli; Fast, Randy; Trubey, Charles M; Chertova, Elena; Smedley, Jeremy; LaBranche, Celia C; Montefiori, David C; Burton, Dennis R; Shaw, George M; Markowitz, Marty; Piatak, Michael; KewalRamani, Vineet N; Bieniasz, Paul D; Lifson, Jeffrey D; Hatziioannou, Theodora

2014-09-10

Infection of macaques with chimeric viruses based on SIVMAC but expressing the HIV-1 envelope (Env) glycoproteins (SHIVs) remains the most powerful model for evaluating prevention and therapeutic strategies against AIDS. Unfortunately, only a few SHIVs are currently available. Furthermore, their generation has required extensive adaptation of the HIV-1 Env sequences in macaques so they may not accurately represent HIV-1 Env proteins circulating in humans, potentially limiting their translational utility. We developed a strategy for generating large numbers of SHIV constructs expressing Env proteins from newly transmitted HIV-1 strains. By inoculating macaques with cocktails of multiple SHIV variants, we selected SHIVs that can replicate and cause AIDS-like disease in immunologically intact rhesus macaques without requiring animal-to-animal passage. One of these SHIVs could be transmitted mucosally. We demonstrate the utility of the SHIVs generated by this method for evaluating neutralizing antibody administration as a protection against mucosal SHIV challenge. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DISABILITIES OF HANDS, FEET AND EYES IN NEWLY-DIAGNOSED LEPROSY PATIENTS IN EASTERN NEPAL

NARCIS (Netherlands)

SCHIPPER, A; LUBBERS, WJ; HOGEWEG, M; DESOLDENHOFF, R

The objective of the study was to determine the magnitude of hand/feet/eye disabilities in newly diagnosed leprosy patients by examining all newly diagnosed leprosy patients who presented at the Eastern Leprosy Control Project (supported by The Netherlands Leprosy Relief Association), made up of a

Delivering the diabetes education and self management for ongoing and newly diagnosed (DESMOND) programme for people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gillett, M.; Dallosso, H. M.; Dixon, S.

2010-01-01

intervention is £82 (-£831 to £1010) and the mean incremental cost per QALY gained is £2092. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the likelihood that the DESMOND programme is cost effective at a threshold of £20 000 per QALY is 66% using trial based intervention costs and 70% using "real world......Objectives: To assess the long term clinical and cost effectiveness of the diabetes education and self management for ongoing and newly diagnosed (DESMOND) intervention compared with usual care in people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Design: We undertook a cost-utility analysis that used...... data from a 12 month, multicentre, cluster randomised controlled trial and, using the Sheffield type 2 diabetes model, modelled long term outcomes in terms of use of therapies, incidence of complications, mortality, and associated effect on costs and health related quality of life. A further cost...

Newly-graduated midwives transcending barriers: a grounded theory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Barry, Michele J; Hauck, Yvonne L; O'Donoghue, Thomas; Clarke, Simon

2013-12-01

Midwifery has developed its own philosophy to formalise its unique identity as a profession. Newly-graduated midwives are taught, and ideally embrace, this philosophy during their education. However, embarking in their career within a predominantly institutionalised and the medically focused health-care model may challenge this application. The research question guiding this study was as follows: 'How do newly graduated midwives deal with applying the philosophy of midwifery in their first six months of practice?' The aim was to generate a grounded theory around this social process. This Western Australian grounded theory study is conceptualised within the social theory of symbolic interactionism. Data were collected by means of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 11 recent midwifery graduates. Participant and interviewer's journals provided supplementary data. The 'constant comparison' approach was used for data analysis. The substantive theory of transcending barriers was generated. Three stages in transcending barriers were identified: Addressing personal attributes, Understanding the 'bigger picture', and finally, 'Evaluating, planning and acting' to provide woman-centred care. An overview of these three stages provides the focus of this article. The theory of transcending barriers provides a new perspective on how newly-graduated midwives deal with applying the philosophy of midwifery in their first six months of practice. A number of implications for pre and post registration midwifery education and policy development are suggested, as well as recommendations for future research. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chandra Discovers Cosmic Cannonball

Science.gov (United States)

2007-11-01

One of the fastest moving stars ever seen has been discovered with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This cosmic cannonball is challenging theories to explain its blistering speed. Astronomers used Chandra to observe a neutron star, known as RX J0822-4300, over a period of about five years. During that span, three Chandra observations clearly show the neutron star moving away from the center of the Puppis A supernova remnant. This remnant is the stellar debris field created during the same explosion in which the neutron star was created about 3700 years ago. Chandra X-ray Image of RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A Chandra X-ray Image of RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A By combining how far it has moved across the sky with its distance from Earth, astronomers determined the neutron star is moving at over 3 million miles per hour. At this rate, RX J0822-4300 is destined to escape from the Milky Way after millions of years, even though it has only traveled about 20 light years so far. "This star is moving at 3 million miles an hour, but it's so far away that the apparent motion we see in five years is less than the height of the numerals in the date on a penny, seen from the length of a football field," said Frank Winkler of Middlebury College in Vermont. "It's remarkable, and a real testament to the power of Chandra, that such a tiny motion can be measured." Labeled Image of RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A Labeled Image of RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A "Just after it was born, this neutron star got a one-way ticket out of the Galaxy," said co-author Robert Petre of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Astronomers have seen other stars being flung out of the Milky Way, but few as fast as this." So-called hypervelocity stars have been previously discovered shooting out of the Milky Way with speeds around one million miles per hour. One key difference between RX J0822-4300 and these other reported galactic escapees is the source of their speed. The hypervelocity stars are

Discovering the quantum universe the role of particle colliders

CERN Document Server

2006-01-01

What does "Quantum Universe" mean? To discover what the universe is made of and how it works is the challenge of particle physics. "Quantum Universe" defines the quest to explain the universe in terms of quantum physics, which governs the behavior of the microscopic, subatomic world. It describes a revolution in particle physics and a quantum leap in our understanding of the mystery and beauty of the universe.

Statistically based splicing detection reveals neural enrichment and tissue-specific induction of circular RNA during human fetal development.

Science.gov (United States)

Szabo, Linda; Morey, Robert; Palpant, Nathan J; Wang, Peter L; Afari, Nastaran; Jiang, Chuan; Parast, Mana M; Murry, Charles E; Laurent, Louise C; Salzman, Julia

2015-06-16

The pervasive expression of circular RNA is a recently discovered feature of gene expression in highly diverged eukaryotes, but the functions of most circular RNAs are still unknown. Computational methods to discover and quantify circular RNA are essential. Moreover, discovering biological contexts where circular RNAs are regulated will shed light on potential functional roles they may play. We present a new algorithm that increases the sensitivity and specificity of circular RNA detection by discovering and quantifying circular and linear RNA splicing events at both annotated and un-annotated exon boundaries, including intergenic regions of the genome, with high statistical confidence. Unlike approaches that rely on read count and exon homology to determine confidence in prediction of circular RNA expression, our algorithm uses a statistical approach. Using our algorithm, we unveiled striking induction of general and tissue-specific circular RNAs, including in the heart and lung, during human fetal development. We discover regions of the human fetal brain, such as the frontal cortex, with marked enrichment for genes where circular RNA isoforms are dominant. The vast majority of circular RNA production occurs at major spliceosome splice sites; however, we find the first examples of developmentally induced circular RNAs processed by the minor spliceosome, and an enriched propensity of minor spliceosome donors to splice into circular RNA at un-annotated, rather than annotated, exons. Together, these results suggest a potentially significant role for circular RNA in human development.

Discovering the cosmos with small spacecraft the American explorer program

CERN Document Server

Harvey, Brian

2018-01-01

Explorer was the original American space program and Explorer 1 its first satellite, launched in 1958. Sixty years later, it is the longest continuously running space program in the world, demonstrating to the world how we can explore the cosmos with small spacecraft. Almost a hundred Explorers have already been launched.  Explorers have made some of the fundamental discoveries of the Space Age.Explorer 1 discovered Earth’s radiation belts. Later Explorers surveyed the Sun, the X-ray and ultraviolet universes, black holes, magnetars and gamma ray bursts. An Explorer found the remnant of the Big Bang. One Explorer chased and was the first to intercept a comet. The program went through a period of few launches during the crisis of funding for space science in the 1980s. However, with the era of ‘faster, cheaper, better,’ the program was reinvented, and new exiting missions began to take shape, like Swift and the asteroid hunter WISE.  Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft gives an account of ...

Specific expression of the human voltage-gated proton channel Hv1 in highly metastatic breast cancer cells, promotes tumor progression and metastasis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Yifan; Li, Shu Jie; Pan, Juncheng; Che, Yongzhe; Yin, Jian; Zhao, Qing

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Hv1 is specifically expressed in highly metastatic human breast tumor tissues. → Hv1 regulates breast cancer cytosolic pH. → Hv1 acidifies extracellular milieu. → Hv1 exacerbates the migratory ability of metastatic cells. -- Abstract: The newly discovered human voltage-gated proton channel Hv1 is essential for proton transfer, which contains a voltage sensor domain (VSD) without a pore domain. We report here for the first time that Hv1 is specifically expressed in the highly metastatic human breast tumor tissues, but not in poorly metastatic breast cancer tissues, detected by immunohistochemistry. Meanwhile, real-time RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry showed that the expression levels of Hv1 have significant differences among breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-453, T-47D and SK-BR-3, in which Hv1 is expressed at a high level in highly metastatic human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231, but at a very low level in poorly metastatic human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Inhibition of Hv1 expression in the highly metastatic MDA-MB-231 cells by small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly decreases the invasion and migration of the cells. The intracellular pH of MDA-MB-231 cells down-regulated Hv1 expression by siRNA is obviously decreased compared with MDA-MB-231 with the scrambled siRNA. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and gelatinase activity in MDA-MB-231 cells suppressed Hv1 by siRNA were reduced. Our results strongly suggest that Hv1 regulates breast cancer intracellular pH and exacerbates the migratory ability of metastatic cells.

Gas Velocities Reveal Newly Born Planets in a Disk

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2018-06-01

, which can be reproduced by the presence of a 2-Jupiter-mass planet at 260 AU. [Pinte et al. 2018]Watching Gas MoveIn two papers published today in ApJL one led by Richard Teague (University of Michigan) and the other led by Christophe Pinte (Monash University in Australia and Grenoble Alpes University in France) astronomers have announced the detection of distinctive signs of planets in the gas motion of the disk surrounding HD 163296. This young star, located about 330 light-years away, is only 4 million years old.Unlike studies that hinge on observations of a disks dust which only makes up 1% of the disks mass! both studies here took a new approach: they used detailed ALMA observations revealing the dynamics of the disks carbon monoxide gas. By studying the gass motion, the teams found deviations from the Keplerian velocity that would be expected if there were no planets present. The authors then ran simulations to demonstrate that the deviations are consistent with local pressure perturbations caused by the passage of giant planets.Rotational velocity deviations due to changes in the local pressure, caused in this simulation by the presence of planets. [Teague et al. 2018]Giants FoundWhat did they find? Teague and collaborators, whose technique to identify velocity variations is best suited to explore the inner regions of the disk, discovered evidence for two separate Jupiter-mass planets orbiting at distances of 83 AU and 137 AU in the disk. Pinte and collaborators, whose velocity-measurement technique better explores the outer regions of the disk, found evidence for a two-Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at 260 AU.These results will rely on additional imaging in the coming years to confirm the presence of these newly born planets and a detection of point sources at these radii remains a hopeful goal for the future. Nonetheless, the new techniques explored here by Teague, Pinte, and collaborators are a promising route for young exoplanet discovery and characterization

Discovering Communicable Scientific Knowledge from Spatio-Temporal Data

Science.gov (United States)

Schwabacher, Mark; Langley, Pat; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This paper describes how we used regression rules to improve upon a result previously published in the Earth science literature. In such a scientific application of machine learning, it is crucially important for the learned models to be understandable and communicable. We recount how we selected a learning algorithm to maximize communicability, and then describe two visualization techniques that we developed to aid in understanding the model by exploiting the spatial nature of the data. We also report how evaluating the learned models across time let us discover an error in the data.

Interactive Gaussian Graphical Models for Discovering Depth Trends in ChemCam Data

Science.gov (United States)

Oyen, D. A.; Komurlu, C.; Lanza, N. L.

2018-04-01

Interactive Gaussian graphical models discover surface compositional features on rocks in ChemCam targets. Our approach visualizes shot-to-shot relationships among LIBS observations, and identifies the wavelengths involved in the trend.

Exploring selection and recruitment processes for newly qualified nurses: a sequential-explanatory mixed-method study.

Science.gov (United States)

Newton, Paul; Chandler, Val; Morris-Thomson, Trish; Sayer, Jane; Burke, Linda

2015-01-01

To map current selection and recruitment processes for newly qualified nurses and to explore the advantages and limitations of current selection and recruitment processes. The need to improve current selection and recruitment practices for newly qualified nurses is highlighted in health policy internationally. A cross-sectional, sequential-explanatory mixed-method design with 4 components: (1) Literature review of selection and recruitment of newly qualified nurses; and (2) Literature review of a public sector professions' selection and recruitment processes; (3) Survey mapping existing selection and recruitment processes for newly qualified nurses; and (4) Qualitative study about recruiters' selection and recruitment processes. Literature searches on the selection and recruitment of newly qualified candidates in teaching and nursing (2005-2013) were conducted. Cross-sectional, mixed-method data were collected from thirty-one (n = 31) individuals in health providers in London who had responsibility for the selection and recruitment of newly qualified nurses using a survey instrument. Of these providers who took part, six (n = 6) purposively selected to be interviewed qualitatively. Issues of supply and demand in the workforce, rather than selection and recruitment tools, predominated in the literature reviews. Examples of tools to measure values, attitudes and skills were found in the nursing literature. The mapping exercise found that providers used many selection and recruitment tools, some providers combined tools to streamline process and assure quality of candidates. Most providers had processes which addressed the issue of quality in the selection and recruitment of newly qualified nurses. The 'assessment centre model', which providers were adopting, allowed for multiple levels of assessment and streamlined recruitment. There is a need to validate the efficacy of the selection tools. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Newly graduated nurses' occupational commitment and its associations with professional competence and work-related factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Numminen, Olivia; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Isoaho, Hannu; Meretoja, Riitta

2016-01-01

To explore newly graduated nurses' occupational commitment and its associations with their self-assessed professional competence and other work-related factors. As a factor affecting nurse turnover, newly graduated nurses' occupational commitment and its associations with work-related factors needs exploring to retain adequate workforce. Nurses' commitment has mainly been studied as organisational commitment, but newly graduated nurses' occupational commitment and its association with work-related factors needs further studying. This study used descriptive, cross-sectional, correlation design. A convenience sample of 318 newly graduated nurses in Finland participated responding to an electronic questionnaire. Statistical software, NCSS version 9, was used in data analysis. Frequencies, percentages, ranges, means and standard deviations summarised the data. Multivariate Analyses of Variance estimated associations between occupational commitment and work-related variables. IBM SPSS Amos version 22 estimated the model fit of Occupational Commitment Scale and Nurse Competence Scale. Newly graduated nurses' occupational commitment was good, affective commitment reaching the highest mean score. There was a significant difference between the nurse groups in favour of nurses at higher competence levels in all subscales except in limited alternatives occupational commitment. Multivariate analyses revealed significant associations between subscales of commitment and competence, turnover intentions, job satisfaction, earlier professional education and work sector, competence counting only through affective dimension. The association between occupational commitment and low turnover intentions and satisfaction with nursing occupation was strong. Higher general competence indicated higher overall occupational commitment. Managers' recognition of the influence of all dimensions of occupational commitment in newly graduated nurses' professional development is important. Follow

Newly-formed emotional memories guide selective attention processes: Evidence from event-related potentials

OpenAIRE

Harald T. Schupp; Ursula Kirmse; Ralf Schmälzle; Tobias Flaisch; Britta Renner

2016-01-01

Emotional cues can guide selective attention processes. However, emotional stimuli can both activate long-term memory representations reflecting general world knowledge and engage newly formed memory representations representing specific knowledge from the immediate past. Here, the self-completion feature of associative memory was utilized to assess the regulation of attention processes by newly-formed emotional memory. First, new memory representations were formed by presenting pictures depi...

Culturing the Unculturable: Human Coronavirus HKU1 Infects, Replicates, and Produces Progeny Virions in Human Ciliated Airway Epithelial Cell Cultures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pyrc, Krzysztof; Sims, Amy C.; Dijkman, Ronald; Jebbink, Maarten; Long, Casey; Deming, Damon; Donaldson, Eric; Vabret, Astrid; Baric, Ralph; van der Hoek, Lia; Pickles, Raymond

2010-01-01

Culturing newly identified human lung pathogens from clinical sample isolates can represent a daunting task, with problems ranging from low levels of pathogens to the presence of growth suppressive factors in the specimens, compounded by the lack of a suitable tissue culture system. However, it is

Discovering Sentinel Rules for Business Intelligence

Science.gov (United States)

Middelfart, Morten; Pedersen, Torben Bach

This paper proposes the concept of sentinel rules for multi-dimensional data that warns users when measure data concerning the external environment changes. For instance, a surge in negative blogging about a company could trigger a sentinel rule warning that revenue will decrease within two months, so a new course of action can be taken. Hereby, we expand the window of opportunity for organizations and facilitate successful navigation even though the world behaves chaotically. Since sentinel rules are at the schema level as opposed to the data level, and operate on data changes as opposed to absolute data values, we are able to discover strong and useful sentinel rules that would otherwise be hidden when using sequential pattern mining or correlation techniques. We present a method for sentinel rule discovery and an implementation of this method that scales linearly on large data volumes.

Preventing animal-to-human pandemics in Sri Lanka | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2013-03-05

Mar 5, 2013 ... More than 200 global health researchers gathered in Ottawa to discuss research ... on the connections between animal and human health, and the impact on public health. ... “If there is a problem, they will discover it early on.

Discovering and Promoting Commodity Health Attributes: Programs and Issues

OpenAIRE

Carman, Hoy F.

2007-01-01

There is a growing consumer segment demanding healthy foods and diets, health and nutrition messages can expand food demand, and governments in the U.S. and EU, faced with increasing obesity and associated health outcomes, want consumers to have reliable information to choose healthy diets. California commodity organizations, charged with expanding the demand for almonds, avocados, strawberries and walnuts, are funding health and nutrition research as a means to discover a unique selling prop...

Engineering fluorescent proteins towards ultimate performances: lessons from the newly developed cyan variants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mérola, Fabienne; Erard, Marie; Fredj, Asma; Pasquier, Hélène

2016-01-01

New fluorescent proteins (FPs) are constantly discovered from natural sources, and submitted to intensive engineering based on random mutagenesis and directed evolution. However, most of these newly developed FPs fail to achieve all the performances required for their bioimaging applications. The design of highly optimised FP-based reporters, simultaneously displaying appropriate colour, multimeric state, chromophore maturation, brightness, photostability and environmental sensitivity will require a better understanding of the structural and dynamic determinants of FP photophysics. The recent development of cyan fluorescent proteins (CFPs) like mCerulean3, mTurquoise2 and Aquamarine brings a different view on these questions, as in this particular case, a step by step evaluation of critical mutations has been performed within a family of spectrally identical and evolutionary close variants. These efforts have led to CFPs with quantum yields close to unity, near single exponential emission decays, high photostability and complete insensitivity to pH, making them ideal choices as energy transfer donors in FRET and FLIM imaging applications. During this process, it was found that a proper amino-acid choice at only two positions (148 and 65) is sufficient to transform the performances of CFPs: with the help of structural and theoretical investigations, we rationalise here how these two positions critically control the CFP photophysics, in the context of FPs derived from the Aequorea victoria species. Today, these results provide a useful toolbox for upgrading the different CFP donors carried by FRET biosensors. They also trace the route towards the de novo design of FP-based optogenetic devices that will be perfectly tailored to dedicated imaging and sensing applications. (topical review)

Identifying Malnutrition: Nutritional Status in Newly Diagnosed Patients With Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnasamy, Karthikayini; Li Yoong, Tang; Mei Chan, Chong; Peng Choong, Lau; Chinna, Karuthan

2017-02-01

Malnutrition is common among patients with cancer, but little attention is given to its risks and consequences. The aim of this study is to assess the nutritional status and identify the factors associated with malnutrition among newly diagnosed patients with cancer. Patients admitted with newly diagnosed cancer at a teaching hospital in Malaysia were recruited from January to April 2015. Nutritional status was assessed before treatment initiation, and patients were classified into three categories. A total of 132 pretreatment patients were recruited into the study. About half were severely malnourished. Patients with stage III cancer had the highest prevalence of severe malnourishment. Clinical parameters and disease characteristics were significantly associated with nutritional status. Demographic variables were also statistically significantly associated with severe nutritional status.

Discover Earth: an earth system science program for libraries and their communities

Science.gov (United States)

Dusenbery, P.

2011-12-01

The view from space has deepened our understanding of Earth as a global, dynamic system. Instruments on satellites and spacecraft, coupled with advances in ground-based research, have provided us with astonishing new perspectives of our planet. Now more than ever, enhancing the public's understanding of Earth's physical and biological systems is vital to helping citizens make informed policy decisions especially when they are faced with the consequences of global climate change. While the focus for education reform is on school improvement, there is considerable research that supports the role that out-of-school experiences can play in student achievement. Libraries provide an untapped resource for engaging underserved youth and their families in fostering an appreciation and deeper understanding of science and technology topics. The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) have received funding from NSF to develop a national project called the STAR Library Education Network: a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities (or STAR-Net for short). STAR stands for Science-Technology, Activities and Resources. STAR-Net includes two exhibitions: Discover Earth and Discover Tech. The Discover Earth exhibition will focus on local earth science topics-such as weather, water cycle, and ecosystem changes-as well as a global view of our changing planet. The main take-away message (or Big Idea) for this exhibition is that the global environment changes - and is changed by - the host community's local environment. The project team is testing whether this approach will be a good strategy for engaging the public, especially in rural America. This presentation will provide an overview of the Discover Earth project and how it is integrating climate change ideas into the exhibit

Assessment of metal retention in newly constructed highway embankments.

Science.gov (United States)

Werkenthin, Moritz; Kluge, Björn; Wessolek, Gerd

2016-12-01

Newly constructed embankments should provide both a specific bearing capacity to enable trafficability in emergency cases and a sufficient pollutant retention capacity to protect the groundwater. A number of lysimeters were installed along the A115 highway to determine total and dissolved metal concentrations in road runoff and in the soil solution of newly constructed embankments. Dissolved concentrations in soil solution of the embankments did not exceed the trigger values of the German legislation. Depending on the metal, total concentrations in soil solution were more than twice as high as dissolved concentrations. The high infiltration rates lead to increased groundwater recharge beneath the embankments (up to 4100 mm a -1 ). Although metal concentrations were not problematic from the legislators' point of view, the elevated infiltration rates beside the road facilitated the transfer of high metal loads into deeper soil layers and potentially into the groundwater as well.

DENTAL PULP STEM CELLS AND HUMAN PERIAPICAL CYST MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS IN BONE TISSUE REGENERATION: COMPARISON OF BASAL AND OSTEOGENIC DIFFERENTIATED GENE EXPRESSION OF A NEWLY DISCOVERED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL LINEAGE.

Science.gov (United States)

Tatullo, M; Falisi, G; Amantea, M; Rastelli, C; Paduano, F; Marrelli, M

2015-01-01

Bone regeneration is an interesting field of biomedicine. The most recent studies are aimed to achieve a bone regeneration using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) taken from more accessible sites: oral and dental tissues have been widely investigated as a rich accessible source of MSCs. Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs) and human Periapical Cysts Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hPCy-MSCs) represent the new generation MSCs. The aim of this study is to compare the gene expression of these two innovative cell types to highlight the advantages of their use in bone regeneration. The harvesting, culturing and differentiating of cells isolated from dental pulp as well as from periapical cystic tissue were carried out as described in previously published reports. qRT-PCR analyses were performed on osteogenic genes in undifferentiated and osteogenic differentiated cells of DPSC and hPCy-MSC lineage. Real-time RT-PCR data suggested that both DPSCs and hPCy-MSCs cultured in osteogenic media are able to differentiate into osteoblast/odontoblast-like cells: however, some differences indicated that DPSCs seem to be directed more towards dentinogenesis, while hPCy-MSCs seem to be directed more towards osteogenesis.

Steps toward broad-spectrum therapeutics: discovering virulence-associated genes present in diverse human pathogens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

de Rochefort Anna

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background New and improved antimicrobial countermeasures are urgently needed to counteract increased resistance to existing antimicrobial treatments and to combat currently untreatable or new emerging infectious diseases. We demonstrate that computational comparative genomics, together with experimental screening, can identify potential generic (i.e., conserved across multiple pathogen species and novel virulence-associated genes that may serve as targets for broad-spectrum countermeasures. Results Using phylogenetic profiles of protein clusters from completed microbial genome sequences, we identified seventeen protein candidates that are common to diverse human pathogens and absent or uncommon in non-pathogens. Mutants of 13 of these candidates were successfully generated in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and the potential role of the proteins in virulence was assayed in an animal model. Six candidate proteins are suggested to be involved in the virulence of Y. pseudotuberculosis, none of which have previously been implicated in the virulence of Y. pseudotuberculosis and three have no record of involvement in the virulence of any bacteria. Conclusion This work demonstrates a strategy for the identification of potential virulence factors that are conserved across a number of human pathogenic bacterial species, confirming the usefulness of this tool.

Sizing Performance of the Newly Developed Eddy Current System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Chan Hee; Lee, Hee Jong; Yoo, Hyun Ju; Moon, Gyoon Young; Lee, Tae Hoon [Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

This paper describes the comparison results of sizing performance for two systems. The KHNP developed a new eddy current testing system for the inspection of steam generator tubing in domestic nuclear power plants. The equivalency assessment of the newly developed system with the EPRI-qualified system was already carried out. In this paper, the comparisons of depth-sizing performance for the artificial flaws between two systems were performed. The results show that the newly developed system is in good agreement with the qualified system. Therefore, it is expected that the newly developed eddy current system can be used for the inspection of steam generator tubing in nuclear power plants. There are some non-destructive examination (NDE) methods for the inspection of components in nuclear power plants, such as ultrasonic, radiographic, eddy current testing, etc. The eddy current testing is widely used for the inspection of steam generator (SG) tubing because it offers a relatively low cost approach for high speed, large scale testing of metallic materials in high pressure and temperature engineering systems. The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (KHNP) developed an eddy current testing system for the inspection of steam generator tubing in nuclear power plants. This system includes not only hardware but software such as the frequency generator and data acquisition-analysis program. The foreign eddy current system developed by ZETEC is currently used for the inspection of steam generator tubing in domestic nuclear power plants. The equivalency assessment between two systems was already carried out in accordance with the EPRI steam generator examination guidelines.

Workplace Violence and Job Outcomes of Newly Licensed Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Hyoung Eun; Cho, Sung-Hyun

2016-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of workplace violence toward newly licensed nurses and the relationship between workplace violence and job outcomes. An online survey was conducted of newly licensed registered nurses who had obtained their license in 2012 or 2013 in South Korea and had been working for 5-12 months after first being employed. The sample consisted of 312 nurses working in hospitals or clinics. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II was used to measure violence and nurse job outcomes. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between violence and job outcomes. Verbal abuse was most prevalent (59.6%), followed by threats of violence (36.9%), physical violence (27.6%), bullying (25.6%), and sexual harassment (22.4%). Approximately three quarters of the nurses had experienced at least one type of violence. The main perpetrators were patients and nurse colleagues, although the distribution of perpetrators varied depending on the type of violence. Bullying had a significant relationship with all four job outcomes (job satisfaction, burnout, commitment to the workplace, and intent to leave), while verbal abuse was associated with all job outcomes except for intent to leave. Violence perpetrated by nurse colleagues had a significant relationship with all four job outcomes, while violence by physicians had a significant inverse relationship with job satisfaction. Workplace violence is experienced by a high percentage of newly licensed nurses, and is associated with their job outcomes. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Retrovirus XMRV Is Inhibited by Host Proteins and Anti-HIV Drugs AZT, Tenofovir, and Raltegravir | Center for Cancer Research

Science.gov (United States)

A newly discovered retrovirus, XMRV, isolated from prostate cancer tissues for the first time in 2006, has recently been reported in patients with this cancer, as well as in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). However, five subsequent studies could not validate these reports. Since XMRV was isolated from the T and B cells of CFS patients, Vinay Pathak and his colleagues in the HIV Drug Resistance Program sought to determine how XMRV was countering intracellular defense mechanisms that inhibit retroviral replication in human cells.

CWI cryptanalyst discovers new cryptographic attack variant in Flame spy malware

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.M.J. Stevens (Marc); R.J.F. Cramer (Ronald)

2012-01-01

htmlabstractCryptanalyst Marc Stevens from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam, known for breaking the https security in 2008 using a cryptanalytic attack on MD5, analyzed the recent Flame virus this week. He discovered that for this spy malware an as yet unknown cryptographic

A non-parametric hierarchical model to discover behavior dynamics from tracks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooij, J.F.P.; Englebienne, G.; Gavrila, D.M.

2012-01-01

We present a novel non-parametric Bayesian model to jointly discover the dynamics of low-level actions and high-level behaviors of tracked people in open environments. Our model represents behaviors as Markov chains of actions which capture high-level temporal dynamics. Actions may be shared by

Regulation of hTERT Expression and Function in Newly Immortalized p53(+) Human Mammary Epithelial Cell Lines

Science.gov (United States)

2007-06-01

human mammary epithelial cell types by human papilloma virus 16 e6 or e7. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 1995; 92:3687-91. 54. Shay JW, Pereira-Smith OM, Wright...Liu X-L, Chu Q, Gao Q, Band V. Immortalization of distinct human mammary epithelial cell types by human papilloma virus 16 e6 or e7. Proc Nat Acad

Chenodeoxycholic acid reduces intestinal permeability in newly weaned piglets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meer, van der Y.; Gerrits, W.J.J.; Bosch, van den M.; Holst, J.J.; Moreto, M.; Buurman, W.A.; Kulik, W.; Kempen, van T.A.T.G.

2012-01-01

Piglets are highly susceptible to gut health-related problems. Intravenously administered chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) affects gut health mediated through glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2). To test whether CDCA is a suitable feed additive for improving gut health, a trial was performed with newly

SU-E-T-571: Newly Emerging Integrated Transmission Detector Systems Provide Online Quality Assurance of External Beam Radiation Therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, D; Chung, E; Hess, C; Stern, R; Benedict, S

2015-01-01

Purpose: Two newly emerging transmission detectors positioned upstream from the patient have been evaluated for online quality assurance of external beam radiotherapy. The prototype for the Integral Quality Monitor (IQM), developed by iRT Systems GmbH (Koblenz, Germany) is a large-area ion chamber mounted on the linac accessory tray to monitor photon fluence, energy, beam shape, and gantry position during treatment. The ion chamber utilizes a thickness gradient which records variable response dependent on beam position. The prototype of Delta4 Discover™, developed by ScandiDos (Uppsala, Sweden) is a linac accessory tray mounted 4040 diode array that measures photon fluence during patient treatment. Both systems are employable for patient specific QA prior to treatment delivery. Methods: Our institution evaluated the reproducibility of measurements using various beam types, including VMAT treatment plans with both the IQM ion chamber and the Delta4 Discover diode array. Additionally, the IQM’s effect on photon fluence, dose response, simulated beam error detection, and the accuracy of the integrated barometer, thermometer, and inclinometer were characterized. The evaluated photon beam errors are based on the annual tolerances specified in AAPM TG-142. Results: Repeated VMAT treatments were measured with 0.16% reproducibility by the IQM and 0.55% reproducibility by the Delta4 Discover. The IQM attenuated 6, 10, and 15 MV photon beams by 5.43±0.02%, 4.60±0.02%, and 4.21±0.03% respectively. Photon beam profiles were affected <1.5% in the non-penumbra regions. The IQM’s ion chamber’s dose response was linear and the thermometer, barometer, and inclinometer agreed with other calibrated devices. The device detected variations in monitor units delivered (1%), field position (3mm), single MLC leaf positions (13mm), and photon energy. Conclusion: We have characterized two new transmissions detector systems designed to provide in-vivo like measurements upstream

SU-E-T-571: Newly Emerging Integrated Transmission Detector Systems Provide Online Quality Assurance of External Beam Radiation Therapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffman, D; Chung, E; Hess, C; Stern, R; Benedict, S [UC Davis Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA (United States)

2015-06-15

Purpose: Two newly emerging transmission detectors positioned upstream from the patient have been evaluated for online quality assurance of external beam radiotherapy. The prototype for the Integral Quality Monitor (IQM), developed by iRT Systems GmbH (Koblenz, Germany) is a large-area ion chamber mounted on the linac accessory tray to monitor photon fluence, energy, beam shape, and gantry position during treatment. The ion chamber utilizes a thickness gradient which records variable response dependent on beam position. The prototype of Delta4 Discover™, developed by ScandiDos (Uppsala, Sweden) is a linac accessory tray mounted 4040 diode array that measures photon fluence during patient treatment. Both systems are employable for patient specific QA prior to treatment delivery. Methods: Our institution evaluated the reproducibility of measurements using various beam types, including VMAT treatment plans with both the IQM ion chamber and the Delta4 Discover diode array. Additionally, the IQM’s effect on photon fluence, dose response, simulated beam error detection, and the accuracy of the integrated barometer, thermometer, and inclinometer were characterized. The evaluated photon beam errors are based on the annual tolerances specified in AAPM TG-142. Results: Repeated VMAT treatments were measured with 0.16% reproducibility by the IQM and 0.55% reproducibility by the Delta4 Discover. The IQM attenuated 6, 10, and 15 MV photon beams by 5.43±0.02%, 4.60±0.02%, and 4.21±0.03% respectively. Photon beam profiles were affected <1.5% in the non-penumbra regions. The IQM’s ion chamber’s dose response was linear and the thermometer, barometer, and inclinometer agreed with other calibrated devices. The device detected variations in monitor units delivered (1%), field position (3mm), single MLC leaf positions (13mm), and photon energy. Conclusion: We have characterized two new transmissions detector systems designed to provide in-vivo like measurements upstream

Timing of revenue streams from newly recruited faculty: implications for faculty retention.

Science.gov (United States)

Joiner, Keith A; Hiteman, Sarah; Wormsley, Steven; St Germain, Patricia

2007-12-01

To determine the timing and magnitude of revenues generated by newly recruited faculty, to facilitate configuration of recruitment packages appropriately matched to expected financial returns. The aggregate of all positive cash flows to central college of medicine administration -- from research, clinical care, tuition, philanthropy, and royalties and patents, from all faculty newly recruited to the University of Arizona College of Medicine between 1998 and 2004 -- was quantified using the net present value (npv) methodology, which incorporates the time value of money. Tenure-track faculty and, in particular, those with laboratory research programs, generated the highest positive central cash flows. The npv for positive cash flows (npv[+]) during 6 and 10 years for newly recruited assistant professors with laboratory research programs were $118,600 and $255,400, respectively, and, for professors with laboratory research programs, $172,600 and $298,000, respectively (associate professors were not analyzed because of limited numbers). Faculty whose appointments at the University of Arizona College of Medicine exceeded 15 years in duration were the most productive in central revenue generation, far in excess of their numbers proportionate to the total. The results emphasize the critical importance of faculty retention, because even those newly recruited faculty who are most successful in central revenue generation (tenure track with laboratory research programs) must be retained for periods well in excess of 10 years to recoup the initial central investment required for their recruitment.

Discovering new information in bibliographic databases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emil Hudomalj

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Databases contain information that can usually not be revealed by standard query systems. For that purpose, the methods for knowledge discovery from databases can be applied, which enable the user to browse aggregated data, discover trends, produce online reports, explore possible new associations within the data etc. Such methods are successfully employed in various fields, such as banking, insurance and telecommunications, while they are seldom used in libraries. The article reviews the development of query systems for bibliographic databases, including some early attempts to apply modern knowledge discovery methods. Analytical databases are described in more detail, since they usually serve as the basis for knowledge discovery. Data mining approaches are presented, since they are a central step in the knowledge discovery process. The key role of librarians who can play a key part in developing systems for finding new information in existing bibliographic databases is stressed.

Scandinavian exceptionalism? Civic integration and labour market activation for newly arrived immigrants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breidahl, Karen Nielsen

2017-01-01

models have been resilient: Based on an in-depth historical and comparative analysis of labour market activation policies targeting newly arrived immigrants in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark since the early 1990s, the article contributes to the overall question: To what extent do the institutional pathways...... of the Scandinavian welfare states prevail when confronted with newcomers? Activation policies targeting newly arrived immigrants exemplifies how the ambition of states to promote functional, individual autonomy is also an important, ongoing process in diverse policy areas of the welfare state and not restricted...

Distinguishing Newly Born Strange Stars from Neutron Stars with g-Mode Oscillations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu Weijie; Wei Haiqing; Liu Yuxin

2008-01-01

The gravity-mode (g-mode) eigenfrequencies of newly born strange quark stars (SQSs) and neutron stars (NSs) are studied. It is found that the eigenfrequencies in SQSs are much lower than those in NSs by almost 1 order of magnitude, since the components of a SQS are all extremely relativistic particles while nucleons in a NS are nonrelativistic. We therefore propose that newly born SQSs can be distinguished from the NSs by detecting the eigenfrequencies of the g-mode pulsations of supernovae cores through gravitational radiation by LIGO-class detectors

Minimizing Human Risk: Human Performance Models in the Space Human Factors and Habitability and Behavioral Health and Performance Elements

Science.gov (United States)

Gore, Brian F.

2016-01-01

Human space exploration has never been more exciting than it is today. Human presence to outer worlds is becoming a reality as humans are leveraging much of our prior knowledge to the new mission of going to Mars. Exploring the solar system at greater distances from Earth than ever before will possess some unique challenges, which can be overcome thanks to the advances in modeling and simulation technologies. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is at the forefront of exploring our solar system. NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) focuses on discovering the best methods and technologies that support safe and productive human space travel in the extreme and harsh space environment. HRP uses various methods and approaches to answer questions about the impact of long duration missions on the human in space including: gravity's impact on the human body, isolation and confinement on the human, hostile environments impact on the human, space radiation, and how the distance is likely to impact the human. Predictive models are included in the HRP research portfolio as these models provide valuable insights into human-system operations. This paper will provide an overview of NASA's HRP and will present a number of projects that have used modeling and simulation to provide insights into human-system issues (e.g. automation, habitat design, schedules) in anticipation of space exploration.

Newly democratic Mongolia offering exploration contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penttila, W.C.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that Mongolia, formerly the Mongolian People's Republic, is working to open its exploration prospects to international operators as it emerges as the world's 15th largest independent nation. The country, about the same size as Alaska with a population of 2 million, held its first free election in July 1990. The newly elected government drafted a constitution that took effect Feb. 12, 1992. The document modifies the previous government's structures to eliminate bureaucracy and allows for political pluralism. At the same time, the government is formulating energy policies, state oil company structure, and resource development philosophy

Very Bright CV discovered by MASTER-ICATE (Argentina)

Science.gov (United States)

Saffe, C.; Levato, H.; Mallamaci, C.; Lopez, C.; Lipunov, F. Podest V.; Denisenko, D.; Gorbovskoy, E.; Tiurina, N.; Balanutsa, P.; Kornilov, V.; Belinski, A.; Shatskiy, N.; Chazov, V.; Kuznetsov, A.; Yecheistov, V.; Yurkov, V.; Sergienko, Y.; Varda, D.; Sinyakov, E.; Gabovich, A.; Ivanov, K.; Yazev, S.; Budnev, N.; Konstantinov, E.; Chuvalaev, O.; Poleshchuk, V.; Gress, O.; Frolova, A.; Krushinsky, V.; Zalozhnih, I.; Popov, A.; Bourdanov, A.; Parkhomenko, A.; Tlatov, A.; Dormidontov, D.; Senik, V.; Podvorotny, P.; Shumkov, V.; Shurpakov, S.

2013-06-01

MASTER-ICATE very wide-field camera (d=72mm f/1.2 lens + 11 Mpix CCD) located near San Juan, Argentina has discovered OT source at (RA, Dec) = 14h 20m 23.5s -48d 55m 40s on the combined image (exposure 275 sec) taken on 2013-06-08.048 UT. The OT unfiltered magnitude is 12.1m (limit 13.1m). There is no minor planet at this place. The OT is seen in more than 10 images starting from 2013-06-02.967 UT (275 sec exposure) when it was first detected at 12.4m.

Medicine as combining natural and human science.

Science.gov (United States)

Dreyfus, Hubert L

2011-08-01

Medicine is unique in being a combination of natural science and human science in which both are essential. Therefore, in order to make sense of medical practice, we need to begin by drawing a clear distinction between the natural and the human sciences. In this paper, I try to bring the old distinction between the Geistes and Naturwissenschaften up to date by defending the essential difference between a realist explanatory theoretical study of nature including the body in which the scientist discovers the causal properties of natural kinds and the interpretive understanding of human beings as embodied agents which, as Charles Taylor has convincingly argued, requires a hermeneutic account of self-interpreting human practices.

"Discovering the Cell": An Educational Game about Cell and Molecular Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Spiegel, Carolina N.; Alves, Gutemberg G.; Cardona, Tania da S.; Melim, Leandra M. C.; Luz, Mauricio R. M. P.; Araujo-Jorge, Tania C.; Henriques-Pons, Andrea

2008-01-01

The role of games within education becomes clearer as students become more active and are able to take decisions, solve problems and react to the results of those decisions. The educational board game "Discovering the Cell" ("Celula Adentro"), is based on problem-solving learning. This investigative game attempts to stimulate…

Duplex ultrasound: Indications and findings in a newly created ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Duplex ultrasound: Indications and findings in a newly created facility at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. ... It is recommended that timely referrals be made, and mobile Doppler units be acquired to save more lives and limbs in the developing world. Keywords: Calabar, deep venous thrombosis, duplex ...

Decision Tree Approach to Discovering Fraud in Leasing Agreements

OpenAIRE

Horvat Ivan; Pejić Bach Mirjana; Merkač Skok Marjana

2014-01-01

Background: Fraud attempts create large losses for financing subjects in modern economies. At the same time, leasing agreements have become more and more popular as a means of financing objects such as machinery and vehicles, but are more vulnerable to fraud attempts. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to estimate the usability of the data mining approach in discovering fraud in leasing agreements. Methods/Approach: Real-world data from one Croatian leasing firm was used for creating tow mo...

Mapping subsurface in proximity to newly-developed sinkhole along roadway.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-01

MS&T acquired electrical resistivity tomography profiles in immediate proximity to a newly-developed sinkhole in Nixa Missouri : The sinkhole has closed a well-traveled municipal roadway and threatens proximal infrastructure. The intent of this inves...

Prevalence of human cosavirus and saffold virus with an emergence of saffold virus genotype 6 in patients hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2014-2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Menage, Lucy; Yodmeeklin, Arpaporn; Khamrin, Pattara; Kumthip, Kattareeya; Maneekarn, Niwat

2017-09-01

Human cosavirus and saffold virus are both newly discovered members of the Picornaviridae family. It has been suggested that these viruses may be the causative agents of acute gastroenteritis. In this study, 1093 stool samples collected from patients with acute gastroenteritis between January 2014 and December 2016, were screened for cosavirus and saffold virus using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The viral genotypes were then established via nucleotide sequencing. Here, cosavirus was detected in 16 of 1093 stool samples (1.5%) and saffold virus was detected in 18 of 1093 stool samples (1.6%). The saffold virus genotypes 1 (16.7%), 2 (50%) and 6 (33.3%), and the cosavirus genetic groups A (87.5%), C (6.25%) and D (6.25%), were all identified across the three-year study period. Interestingly, saffold virus genotype 6 has now been detected for the first time in Thailand. The present study provides the prevalence of cosavirus and saffold virus with the emergence of saffold virus genotype 6 in Thailand. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

VLA Discovers Giant Rings Around Galaxy Cluster

Science.gov (United States)

2006-11-01

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope have discovered giant, ring-like structures around a cluster of galaxies. The discovery provides tantalizing new information about how such galaxy clusters are assembled, about magnetic fields in the vast spaces between galaxy clusters, and possibly about the origin of cosmic rays. Radio-Optical Image of Cluster Galaxy Cluster Abell 3376 (Radio/Optical) CREDIT: Joydeep Bagchi, IUCAA, NRAO/AUI/NSF Above, a combined radio/optical image shows the galaxy cluster Abell 3376 in visible light (blue) and radio (red) images. The giant radio arcs surrounding the cluster were discovered using the Very Large Array. The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky survey. Below, an X-ray image of Abell 3376 made using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope shows a spectacular, bullet-shaped region of X-rays coming from gas heated to 60 million degrees Kelvin. The bullet shape results from the supersonic collision of a smaller smaller galaxy subcluster with the main body of the larger cluster. Click on images for larger version. X-Ray Image of Cluster Galaxy Cluster Abell 3376 (X-Ray) CREDIT: Joydeep Bagchi, IUCAA, ESA "These giant, radio-emitting rings probably are the result of shock waves caused by violent collisions of smaller groups of galaxies within the cluster," said Joydeep Bagchi, of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, India, who led an international research team. The scientists reported their findings in the November 3 edition of the journal Science. The newly-discovered ring segments, some 6 million light-years across, surround a galaxy cluster called Abell 3376, more than 600 million light-years from Earth. They were revealed because fast-moving electrons emitted radio waves as they spiraled around magnetic field lines in intergalactic space. "Even from this large distance, the feeble radio waves were easily picked up by the VLA

Mathematical Analysis of a Model for Human Immunodeficiency ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ADOWIE PERE

ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to present a mathematical model formulated to investigate the dynamics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disease free equilibrium of the model was found to be locally and globally asymptotically stable. The endemic equilibrium point exists and it was discovered that the ...

Caught in the act: discovering secreted proteins from fungi and oomycetes in action

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roth, Doris; Grell, Morten Nedergaard; Jensen, Annette Bruun

Host-microbe relationships largely rely on secreted proteins like enzymes, virulence factors and antimicrobial peptides. To discover proteins secreted by microbe and host during the interaction with each other, we produced dual-organism cDNA libraries from three different fungus- or oomycete-infe......, by applying a similar strategy with a fungus-only library. As a result, we will show that our approach is widely applicable and allows us to deepen the understanding a variety of different host-microbe systems.......Host-microbe relationships largely rely on secreted proteins like enzymes, virulence factors and antimicrobial peptides. To discover proteins secreted by microbe and host during the interaction with each other, we produced dual-organism cDNA libraries from three different fungus- or oomycete...

Discovering Pediatric Asthma Phenotypes on the Basis of Response to Controller Medication Using Machine Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Mindy K; Yoon, Jinsung; van der Schaar, Auke; van der Schaar, Mihaela

2018-01-01

Pediatric asthma has variable underlying inflammation and symptom control. Approaches to addressing this heterogeneity, such as clustering methods to find phenotypes and predict outcomes, have been investigated. However, clustering based on the relationship between treatment and clinical outcome has not been performed, and machine learning approaches for long-term outcome prediction in pediatric asthma have not been studied in depth. Our objectives were to use our novel machine learning algorithm, predictor pursuit (PP), to discover pediatric asthma phenotypes on the basis of asthma control in response to controller medications, to predict longitudinal asthma control among children with asthma, and to identify features associated with asthma control within each discovered pediatric phenotype. We applied PP to the Childhood Asthma Management Program study data (n = 1,019) to discover phenotypes on the basis of asthma control between assigned controller therapy groups (budesonide vs. nedocromil). We confirmed PP's ability to discover phenotypes using the Asthma Clinical Research Network/Childhood Asthma Research and Education network data. We next predicted children's asthma control over time and compared PP's performance with that of traditional prediction methods. Last, we identified clinical features most correlated with asthma control in the discovered phenotypes. Four phenotypes were discovered in both datasets: allergic not obese (A + /O - ), obese not allergic (A - /O + ), allergic and obese (A + /O + ), and not allergic not obese (A - /O - ). Of the children with well-controlled asthma in the Childhood Asthma Management Program dataset, we found more nonobese children treated with budesonide than with nedocromil (P = 0.015) and more obese children treated with nedocromil than with budesonide (P = 0.008). Within the obese group, more A + /O + children's asthma was well controlled with nedocromil than with budesonide (P = 0.022) or with placebo

[Psycho-social factors of sexual failure among newly married Uyghur young males].

Science.gov (United States)

Erkin, Ashim; Hamrajan, Memtili; Kadirjan, Mijit; Adil, Eli; Elijan, Abdureshit; Ibrahim, Ubul; Abdulla, Tursun; Hasanjan, Abdurehim; Turgun, Hekim; Eli, Ablet; Eset, Metmusa

2016-08-01

To study the psycho-social risk factors of sexual failure among newly married young males in the Uyghur population. We conducted a paired case control study of 186 newly married Uyghur young males (aged 17－30 ［23.4±2.9］ yr) with sexual failure and another 186 (aged 18－34 ［24.0±3.1］ yr) with no such problem as controls. We performed a logistic regression analysis on the possible psycho-social risk factors of this condition. Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors of sexual failure among the newly married men included personality (OR=0.271, 95% CI 0.176－0.420), income (OR=0.391, 95% CI 0.264－0.580), history of masturbation (OR=0.824, 95% CI 0.710－0.956), premarital sex (OR=0.757, 95% CI 0.677－0.847), sense of obligation (OR=1.756, 95% CI 1.157－2.693), equality of the social status (OR=0.574, 95% CI 0.435－0.756), degree of mutual care (OR=1.605, 95% CI 1.268－2.032), female's psychological obstacle (OR=2.832, 95% CI 1.221－6.569), and religion (OR=0.643, 95% CI 0.472－0.967). There was a statistical significance in the correlation between these factors and sexual failure in the newly married males (all Ppsycho-social factors, which necessitates sexual education among young males and particularly pre-marriage sexual education and psychological guide among both males and females.

Irisin levels increase after treatment in patients with newly diagnosed Hashimoto thyroiditis.

Science.gov (United States)

Uc, Z A; Gorar, S; Mizrak, S; Gullu, S

2018-05-18

Irisin is a newly identified myokine secreted by skeletal muscle and has significant effects on body metabolism. Thyroidal functional state has a profound influence on the metabolism of human body. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible changes in serum irisin concentrations before and after treatment in hypothyroid subjects. The study included 26 patients with overt hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto thyroiditis and 19 healthy subjects. Baseline serum thyroid function tests and presence of thyroid autoantibodies and levels of creatine kinase (CK) and irisin were measured in both groups. All measurements in the hypothyroid group were repeated after euthyroidism was achieved. Serum irisin levels were significantly lower in the hypothyroid groups than the control group (p treatment (p hypothyroid patients were treated to achieve euthyroidism. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study providing insight that low serum irisin levels significantly increased following treatment to euthyroid state in overt hypothyroid patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis. Larger scale studies are needed to confirm these results and to ensure irisin as a possible biomarker of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Discovering, Indexing and Interlinking Information Resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Celli, Fabrizio; Keizer, Johannes; Jaques, Yves; Konstantopoulos, Stasinos; Vudragović, Dušan

2015-01-01

The social media revolution is having a dramatic effect on the world of scientific publication. Scientists now publish their research interests, theories and outcomes across numerous channels, including personal blogs and other thematic web spaces where ideas, activities and partial results are discussed. Accordingly, information systems that facilitate access to scientific literature must learn to cope with this valuable and varied data, evolving to make this research easily discoverable and available to end users. In this paper we describe the incremental process of discovering web resources in the domain of agricultural science and technology. Making use of Linked Open Data methodologies, we interlink a wide array of custom-crawled resources with the AGRIS bibliographic database in order to enrich the user experience of the AGRIS website. We also discuss the SemaGrow Stack, a query federation and data integration infrastructure used to estimate the semantic distance between crawled web resources and AGRIS.

Three newly recorded Linyphiid spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae from Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sue Yeon Lee

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Three Linyphiid spiders, Caviphantes pseudosaxetorum Wunderlich, 1979, Erigone edentata Saito and Ono, 2001, and Savignia kawachiensis Oi, 1960, are reported for the first time from Korea with taxonomic illustrations and redescription. In this study, the genus Caviphantes Oi, 1960 is also newly recorded to Korean spider fauna.

[Impact of Increased Supply of Newly Licensed Nurses on Hospital Nurse Staffing and Policy Implications].

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yunmi; You, Sunju; Kim, Jinhyun

2017-12-01

This study aimed to analyze the impact of increasing the supply of newly licensed nurses on improving the hospital nurse staffing grades for the period of 2009~2014. Using public administrative data, we analyzed the effect of newly licensed nurses on staffing in 1,594 hospitals using Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) ordered logistic regression, and of supply variation on improving staffing grades in 1,042 hospitals using GEE logistic regression. An increase of one newly licensed nurse per 100 beds in general units had significantly lower odds of improving staffing grades (grades 6~0 vs. 7) (odds ratio=0.95, p=.005). The supply of newly licensed nurses increased by 32% from 2009 to 2014, and proportion of hospitals whose staffing grade had improved, not changed, and worsened was 19.1%, 70.1%, and 10.8% respectively. Compared to 2009, the supply variation of newly licensed nurses in 2014 was not significantly related to the increased odds of improving staffing grades in the region (OR=1.02, p=.870). To achieve a balance in the regional supply and demand for hospital nurses, compliance with nurse staffing legislation and revisions in the nursing fee differentiation policy are needed. Rather than relying on increasing nurse supply, retention policies for new graduate nurses are required to build and sustain competent nurse workforce in the future. © 2017 Korean Society of Nursing Science

Improving the Interpretability of Classification Rules Discovered by an Ant Colony Algorithm: Extended Results.

Science.gov (United States)

Otero, Fernando E B; Freitas, Alex A

2016-01-01

Most ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms for inducing classification rules use a ACO-based procedure to create a rule in a one-at-a-time fashion. An improved search strategy has been proposed in the cAnt-Miner[Formula: see text] algorithm, where an ACO-based procedure is used to create a complete list of rules (ordered rules), i.e., the ACO search is guided by the quality of a list of rules instead of an individual rule. In this paper we propose an extension of the cAnt-Miner[Formula: see text] algorithm to discover a set of rules (unordered rules). The main motivations for this work are to improve the interpretation of individual rules by discovering a set of rules and to evaluate the impact on the predictive accuracy of the algorithm. We also propose a new measure to evaluate the interpretability of the discovered rules to mitigate the fact that the commonly used model size measure ignores how the rules are used to make a class prediction. Comparisons with state-of-the-art rule induction algorithms, support vector machines, and the cAnt-Miner[Formula: see text] producing ordered rules are also presented.

Hope in newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Duggleby, Wendy; Ghosh, Sunita; Cooper, Dan; Dwernychuk, Lynne

2013-11-01

Hope is important to cancer patients as it helps them deal with their diagnosis. Little is known about hope in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Based on the Transcending Possibilities conceptual model of hope, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of hope with pain, energy, and psychological and demographic characteristics in newly diagnosed adult oncology outpatients. Data from 310 New Patient Assessment Forms from cancer outpatients' health records were collected. Health records from the first six months of 2009 were reviewed and data were collected on hope, energy, pain, depression, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, and demographic variables. A generalized linear modeling approach was used to study the relationship of hope scores with these variables. Hypothesized variables and variables that were significant at the P = 0.01 level from the univariate analysis were entered into the multivariate model, with hope scores as the dependent variable. Hope scores were significantly negatively related to age (P = 0.02). More specifically, oncology patients who were 65 years of age or older had significantly less hope than those under the age of 65 years (P = 0.01). Gender (P = 0.009) also was a significant factor, with men having higher hope scores than women. No other variables were significant. Older adults comprise the majority of persons in Canada with cancer. The lower hope scores found in this age group compared with their younger counterparts underscore the importance of further research. This study provides a foundation for future research in this important area for oncology patients. Copyright © 2013 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Different Pathophysiological Phenotypes among Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stidsen, Jacob

2013-01-01

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) can be considered a syndrome with several different pathophysiological mechanisms leading to hyperglycemia. Nonetheless, T2D is treated according to algorithms as if it was one disease entity. Methods: We investigated the prevalence of different pathophysiological phenotypes...... or secondary diabetes), classic obesity-associated insulin resistant diabetes ( f-P-C-peptide >= 568 pmol/l) and a normoinsulinopenic group (333 age of our new T2D patients was 61 years (range 21-95 years), 57% were men. We found that 3.0% newly diagnosed T2D patients...... suffered from LADA, 3.9% from secondary diabetes, 6.0% from steroid induced diabetes 5.9% had insulinopenic diabetes, whereas 56.7% presented the classic obesity-associated insulin-resistant phenotype. 24.6% was classified as normoinsulinopenic patients. Conclusion: We conclude that newly diagnosed T2D...

Face recognition in newly hatched chicks at the onset of vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Samantha M W; Wood, Justin N

2015-04-01

How does face recognition emerge in the newborn brain? To address this question, we used an automated controlled-rearing method with a newborn animal model: the domestic chick (Gallus gallus). This automated method allowed us to examine chicks' face recognition abilities at the onset of both face experience and object experience. In the first week of life, newly hatched chicks were raised in controlled-rearing chambers that contained no objects other than a single virtual human face. In the second week of life, we used an automated forced-choice testing procedure to examine whether chicks could distinguish that familiar face from a variety of unfamiliar faces. Chicks successfully distinguished the familiar face from most of the unfamiliar faces-for example, chicks were sensitive to changes in the face's age, gender, and orientation (upright vs. inverted). Thus, chicks can build an accurate representation of the first face they see in their life. These results show that the initial state of face recognition is surprisingly powerful: Newborn visual systems can begin encoding and recognizing faces at the onset of vision. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Met receptor inhibitor SU11274 localizes in the endoplasmic reticulum.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiest, Edwin J; Smith, Heather Jensen; Hollingsworth, Michael A

2018-07-02

We discovered that SU11274, a class I c-Met inhibitor, fluoresces when excited by 488 nm laser light and showed rapid specific accumulation in distinct subcellular compartments. Given that SU11274 reduces cancer cell viability, we exploited these newly identified spectral properties to determine SU11274 intracellular distribution and accumulation in human pancreatic cancer cells. The aim of the studies reported here was to identify organelle(s) to which SU11274 is trafficked. We conclude that SU11274 rapidly and predominantly accumulates in the endoplasmic reticulum. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Providing a New Model for Discovering Cloud Services Based on Ontology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Heydari

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Due to its efficient, flexible, and dynamic substructure in information technology and service quality parameters estimation, cloud computing has become one of the most important issues in computer world. Discovering cloud services has been posed as a fundamental issue in reaching out high efficiency. In order to do one’s own operations in cloud space, any user needs to request several various services either simultaneously or according to a working routine. These services can be presented by different cloud producers or different decision-making policies. Therefore, service management is one of the important and challenging issues in cloud computing. With the advent of semantic web and practical services accordingly in cloud computing space, access to different kinds of applications has become possible. Ontology is the core of semantic web and can be used to ease the process of discovering services. A new model based on ontology has been proposed in this paper. The results indicate that the proposed model has explored cloud services based on user search results in lesser time compared to other models.

Polyamine Metabolites Profiling for Characterization of Lung and Liver Cancer Using an LC-Tandem MS Method with Multiple Statistical Data Mining Strategies: Discovering Potential Cancer Biomarkers in Human Plasma and Urine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huarong Xu

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Polyamines, one of the most important kind of biomarkers in cancer research, were investigated in order to characterize different cancer types. An integrative approach which combined ultra-high performance liquid chromatography—tandem mass spectrometry detection and multiple statistical data processing strategies including outlier elimination, binary logistic regression analysis and cluster analysis had been developed to discover the characteristic biomarkers of lung and liver cancer. The concentrations of 14 polyamine metabolites in biosamples from lung (n = 50 and liver cancer patients (n = 50 were detected by a validated UHPLC-MS/MS method. Then the concentrations were converted into independent variables to characterize patients of lung and liver cancer by binary logic regression analysis. Significant independent variables were regarded as the potential biomarkers. Cluster analysis was engaged for further verifying. As a result, two values was discovered to identify lung and liver cancer, which were the product of the plasma concentration of putrescine and spermidine; and the ratio of the urine concentration of S-adenosyl-l-methionine and N-acetylspermidine. Results indicated that the established advanced method could be successfully applied to characterize lung and liver cancer, and may also enable a new way of discovering cancer biomarkers and characterizing other types of cancer.

U1 Adaptor Oligonucleotides Targeting BCL2 and GRM1 Suppress Growth of Human Melanoma Xenografts In Vivo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafal Goraczniak

2013-01-01

Full Text Available U1 Adaptor is a recently discovered oligonucleotide-based gene-silencing technology with a unique mechanism of action that targets nuclear pre-mRNA processing. U1 Adaptors have two distinct functional domains, both of which must be present on the same oligonucleotide to exert their gene-silencing function. Here, we present the first in vivo use of U1 Adaptors by targeting two different human genes implicated in melanomagenesis, B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2 and metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (GRM1, in a human melanoma cell xenograft mouse model system. Using a newly developed dendrimer delivery system, anti-BCL2 U1 Adaptors were very potent and suppressed tumor growth at doses as low as 34 µg/kg with twice weekly intravenous (iv administration. Anti-GRM1 U1 Adaptors suppressed tumor xenograft growth with similar potency. Mechanism of action was demonstrated by showing target gene suppression in tumors and by observing that negative control U1 Adaptors with just one functional domain show no tumor suppression activity. The anti-BCL2 and anti-GRM1 treatments were equally effective against cell lines harboring either wild-type or a mutant V600E B-RAF allele, the most common mutation in melanoma. Treatment of normal immune-competent mice (C57BL6 indicated no organ toxicity or immune stimulation. These proof-of-concept studies represent an in-depth (over 800 mice in ~108 treatment groups validation that U1 Adaptors are a highly potent gene-silencing therapeutic and open the way for their further development to treat other human diseases.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

The newly added Robot Scouts exhibit at the KSC Visitor Complex is situated next to the Rocket Garden. Part of the $13 million expansion to the Visitor Complex, the exhibit helps describe for visitors the accomplishments of unsung space heroes - space probes - and their role in space exploration. It also includes a display of how data from robotic probes might be used to build a human habitat for Mars. Visitors can witness a simulated Martian sunset. Other additions include a new foyer, films, and an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

A Newly Developed Nested PCR Assay for the Detection of Helicobacter pylori in the Oral Cavity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Hawazen; Morgan, Claire; Griffiths, Paul; Williams, John; Jenkins, Gareth

2016-01-01

To develop a new nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for identifying Helicobacter pylori DNA from dental plaque. H. pylori is one of the most common chronic bacterial pathogens in humans. The accurate detection of this organism is essential for proper patient management and for the eradication of the bacteria following treatment. Forty-nine patients (24 males and 25 females; mean age: 51; range, 19 to 94 y) were investigated for the presence of H. pylori in dental plaque by single-step PCR and nested PCR and in the stomach by single-step PCR, nested PCR, and histologic examination. The newly developed nested PCR assay identified H. pylori DNA in gastric biopsies of 18 patients who were histologically classified as H. pylori-positive and 2 additional biopsies of patients who were H. pylori-negative by histologic examination (20/49; 40.8%). Dental plaque samples collected before and after endoscopy from the 49 patients revealed that single-step PCR did not detect H. pylori but nested PCR was able to detect H. pylori DNA in 40.8% (20/49) patients. Nested PCR gave a higher detection rate (40.8%, 20/49) than that of histology (36.7%, 18/49) and single-step PCR. When nested PCR results were compared with histology results there was no significant difference between the 2 methods. Our newly developed nested PCR assay is at least as sensitive as histology and may be useful for H. pylori detection in patients unfit for endoscopic examination.

Knots and surfaces a guide to discovering mathematics

CERN Document Server

Farmer, David W

1995-01-01

In most mathematics textbooks, the most exciting part of mathematics-the process of invention and discovery-is completely hidden from the reader. The aim of Knots and Surfaces is to change all that. By means of a series of carefully selected tasks, this book leads readers to discover some real mathematics. There are no formulas to memorize; no procedures to follow. The book is a guide: its job is to start you in the right direction and to bring you back if you stray too far. Discovery is left to you. Suitable for a one-semester course at the beginning undergraduate level, there are no prerequi

Higher incidence of hip fracture in newly diagnosed schizophrenic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Higher incidence of hip fracture in newly diagnosed schizophrenic patients in Taiwan. Hip fracture is a major public health concern due to its poor outcome and serious socioeconomic burden in older people (1). Evidence has shown that many factors are related to increased risk of hip fracture, but psychiatric diseases are ...

Death Concerns among Individuals Newly Diagnosed with Lung Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Lehto, Rebecca; Therrien, Barbara

2010-01-01

Confronting the reality of death is an important challenge for individuals facing life-threatening illness such as lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death. Few studies, however, document the nature of death-related concerns in individuals newly diagnosed with lung cancer. The aims of this exploratory study were to examine unsolicited…

Patients with newly diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis are at increased risk of Diabetes Mellitus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Emamifar, Amir; Levin, Klaus; Jensen Hansen, Inger Marie

2018-01-01

-C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) at the time of diagnosis and after 4 months (±1-2 months) of treatment initiation were extracted from Danbio Registry. To reveal the presence of DM, patients' electronic medical records were reviewed. The prevalence of DM in our patients was compared (using an age- and gender......-matched analysis) with that expected from Danish population. RESULTS: of 439 included patients, 60.1% were female, mean of age 64.6±15.0 years and RA disease duration 2.6±1.7 years. Prevalence of DM was 57/439 (12.9%), herein type II DM 52 (91.2%) and type I DM 5 (8.8%). Except for two patients, diagnosis of DM......AIMS: To reveal the prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in patients with newly diagnosed Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and evaluate the association between clinical characteristics of RA and DM as well as treatment response in newly diagnosed RA patients with DM. METHODS: Newly diagnosed, adult, RA...

Changes in immunological status among newly-diagnosed HIV-infected in Denmark 1995-2005

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoegh, S.; Lohse, N.; Hansen, A.B.

2008-01-01

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of new HIV diagnoses in Denmark has remained stable since 1991, but it has increased among the subgroup of homosexual men in recent years. This may reflect an actual increase in newly infected, e.g. as a result of increased risk behaviour, or it may reflect increased HIV....... MATERIALS AND METHODS: Observational study based on the Danish HIV Cohort Study, which includes all adults seen at Danish HIV clinics since 1995. RESULTS: From 2000 to 2004 the number of newly-infected homosexual men increased (from 69 to 123), particularly in persons under 30 years (from 5 to 42......). The median CD4 cell count at the time of diagnosis increased in this group (median 19.1 cells/microL per year [95% CI: 3.7-11.3]), while it remained stable among heterosexually infected. The number of newly-diagnosed homosexually infected under 30 years with a CD4 cell count over 400 cells/microL increased...

Research projects lead by the USDA Cranberry Entomology Laboratory (CEL)

Science.gov (United States)

1. Newly discovered native nematode species represent bio-insecticides (grad student project) a. Problems being addressed: Issues over flea beetle control; unresolved questions over pesticide use during bloom. b. Discoveries: at least two native nematodes species new to science have been discovered ...

Detection of human bocavirus from children and adults with acute respiratory tract illness in Guangzhou, southern China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Wen-Kuan

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Human bocavirus (HBoV is a newly discovered parvovirus associated with acute respiratory tract illness (ARTI and gastrointestinal illness. Our study is the first to analyze the characteristics of HBoV-positive samples from ARTI patients with a wide age distribution from Guangzhou, southern China. Methods Throat swabs (n=2811 were collected and analyzed from children and adults with ARTI over a 13-month period. The HBoV complete genome from a 60 year-old female patient isolate was also determined. Results HBoV DNA was detected in 65/2811 (2.3% samples, of which 61/1797 were from children (Mycoplasma pneumoniae had the highest frequency of 16.9% (11/65. Upper and lower respiratory tract illness were common symptoms, with 19/65 (29.2% patients diagnosed with pneumonia by chest radiography. All four adult patients had systemic influenza-like symptoms. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete genome revealed a close relationship with other HBoVs, and a more distant relationship with HBoV2 and HBoV3. Conclusions HBoV was detected from children and adults with ARTI from Guangzhou, southern China. Elderly people were also susceptive to HBoV. A single lineage of HBoV was detected among a wide age distribution of patients with ARTI.

Discovering the Art of Mathematics: Using String Art to Investigate Calculus

Science.gov (United States)

von Renesse, Christine; Ecke, Volker

2016-01-01

One goal of our Discovering the Art of Mathematics project is to empower students in the liberal arts to become confident creators of art and imaginative creators of mathematics. In this paper, we describe our experience with using string art to guide liberal arts students in exploring ideas of calculus. We provide excerpts from our inquiry-based…

Use of a newly developed active thermal neutron detector for in-phantom measurements in a medical LINAC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bodogni, R.; Sanchez-Doblado, F.; Pola, A.; Gentile, A.; Esposito, A.; Gomez-ros, J. M.; Pressello, M. C.; Lagares, J. I.; Terron, J. A.; Gomez, F.

2013-07-01

In this work a newly developed active thermal neutron detector, based on a solid state analog device, was used to determine the thermal neutron fluence in selected positions of a simplified human phantom undergoing radiotherapy with a 15 MV LINAC. The results are compared with TLD, the predictions from a Monte Carlo simulation and with measurements indirectly performed with a digital device, located far from the phantom, inside the treatment room. In this work only TLD comparison is presented. Since active neutron instruments are usually affected by systematic deviations when used in a pulsed field with large photon background, the new detector offered in this work may represent an innovative and useful tool for neutron evaluations in accelerator-based radiotherapy. (Author)

Cognitive functions in newly diagnosed patients with HIV infection in a tertiary health facility: Assessment using community screening interview for dementia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.A. Sumonu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Neurocognitive dysfunction is a detrimental complication of HIV infection. In this study we attempt to characterize the pattern of cognitive dysfunction in a sample of Nigerian patients with newly diagnosed HIV infection. Methods: We conducted a prospective study in which 50 patients with newly diagnosed HIV infection were studied along with 50 normal control subjects. The participants were evaluated with the medical history, general, physical and neurological examination. Laboratory evaluation and chest X-Ray were done for all patients. The Community Screening Interview for Dementia (CSID questionnaire was administered to all the study participants. Results: About 70% of the patients were in advanced disease stage. The mean age (SD of the patients and controls in years were 36.44±8.22 and 35.40±11.53 respectively. More than half (56% of the patients had secondary level of education (12years of education. About 20% of the patients had severe neurocognitive impairment while 48% had minor neurocognitive disorder. The patients with HIV infection performed poorly in the domains of language, memory, orientation, attention/calculation and praxis relative to controls (p0.05 but the presence of opportunistic infections had negative impact on the performances on orientation and total CSID scores in the patients with HIV infection (p<0.05. Conclusion: Patients with newly diagnosed HIV infection have poor cognitive functions when compared to normal controls and some presence of opportunistic infections in the patient is a significant risk factor for cognitive impairment. Keywords: Human immunodeficiency virus infection, Cognitive functions, Dementia, Nigeria

Study on mid and long-term strategic plan formulation for newly-constructed NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Lin

2014-01-01

Mid and Long-term strategic plan plays a key role for the management of a newly constructed nuclear power company. Among others, process, goals, and risk management, are the primary concerns during plan preparing. The article analyzed these three areas for Fuqing NPP, including the formulating process for the plan, the mid and long-term goal setting of the company, the major risk analysis and countermeasure selection therefore. Through that solutions and suggestions for strategic plan formulation were concluded for newly-constructed NPP. (author)

Genetic Differences Between Humans and Great Apes -- Implications for the Evolution of Humans

Science.gov (United States)

Varki, Ajit

2004-06-01

At the level of individual protein sequences, humans are 97-100% identical to the great apes, our closest evolutionary relatives. The evolution of humans (and of human intelligence) from a common ancestor with the chimpanzee and bonobo involved many steps, influenced by interactions amongst factors of genetic, developmental, ecological, microbial, climatic, behavioral, cultural and social origin. The genetic factors can be approached by direct comparisons of human and great ape genomes, genes and gene products, and by elucidating biochemical and biological consequences of any differences found. We have discovered multiple genetic and biochemical differences between humans and great apes, particularly with respect to a family of cell surface molecules called sialic acids, as well as in the metabolism of thyroid hormones. The hormone differences have potential consequences for human brain development. The differences in sialic acid biology have multiple implications for the human condition, ranging from susceptibility or resistance to microbial pathogens, effects on endogenous receptors in the immune system, and potential effects on placental signaling, expression of oncofetal antigens in cancers, consequences of dietary intake of animal foods, and development of the mammalian brain.

Maintaining Professional Commitment as a Newly Credentialed Athletic Trainer in the Secondary School Setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazerolle, Stephanie M; Myers, Sarah L; Walker, Stacy E; Kirby, Jessica

2018-03-01

  Professional commitment, or one's affinity and loyalty to a career, has become a topic of interest in athletic training. The expanding research on the topic, however, has omitted newly credentialed athletic trainers (ATs). For an impressionable group of practitioners, transitioning to clinical practice can be stressful.   To explore the professional commitment of newly credentialed ATs in the secondary school setting.   Secondary school.   Qualitative study.   A total of 31 newly credentialed ATs (6 men, 25 women; mean age = 24 ± 3 years) participated. Of these, 17 ATs (4 men, 13 women; mean age = 25 ± 4 years) were employed full time in the secondary school setting, and 14 ATs (2 men, 12 women; mean age = 23.0 ± 2.0 years) were graduate assistant students in the secondary school setting.   All participants completed semistructured interviews, which focused on their experiences in the secondary school setting and transitioning into the role and setting. Transcripts were analyzed using the phenomenologic approach. Creditability was established by peer review, member checks, and researcher triangulation.   Four main findings related to the professional commitment of newly credentialed ATs in the secondary school setting were identified. Work-life balance, professional relationships formed with the student-athletes, enjoyment gained from working in the secondary school setting, and professional responsibility emerged as factors facilitating commitment.   Affective commitment is a primary facilitator of professional commitment. Newly credentialed ATs who enjoy their jobs and have time to engage in nonwork roles are able to maintain a positive professional commitment. Our findings align with the previous literature and help strengthen our understanding that rejuvenation and passion are important to professional commitment.

Los Alamos Plutonium Facility newly generated TRU waste certification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruetzmacher, K.; Montoya, A.; Sinkule, B.; Maez, M.

1997-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the activities being planned and implemented to certify newly generated contact handled transuranic (TRU) waste produced by Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL's) Plutonium Facility. Certifying waste at the point of generation is the most important cost and labor saving step in the WIPP certification process. The pedigree of a waste item is best known by the originator of the waste and frees a site from expensive characterization activities such as those associated with legacy waste. Through a cooperative agreement with LANLs Waste Management Facility and under the umbrella of LANLs WIPP-related certification and quality assurance documents, the Plutonium Facility will be certifying its own newly generated waste. Some of the challenges faced by the Plutonium Facility in preparing to certify TRU waste include the modification and addition of procedures to meet WIPP requirements, standardizing packaging for TRU waste, collecting processing documentation from operations which produce TRU waste, and developing ways to modify waste streams which are not certifiable in their present form

Newly velocity field of Sulawesi Island from GPS observation

Science.gov (United States)

Sarsito, D. A.; Susilo, Simons, W. J. F.; Abidin, H. Z.; Sapiie, B.; Triyoso, W.; Andreas, H.

2017-07-01

Sulawesi microplate Island is located at famous triple junction area of the Eurasian, India-Australian, and Philippine Sea plates. Under the influence of the northward moving Australian plate and the westward motion of the Philippine plate, the island at Eastern part of Indonesia is collide and with the Eurasian plate and Sunda Block. Those recent microplate tectonic motions can be quantitatively determine by GNSS-GPS measurement. We use combine GNSS-GPS observation types (campaign type and continuous type) from 1997 to 2015 to derive newly velocity field of the area. Several strategies are applied and tested to get the optimum result, and finally we choose regional strategy to reduce error propagation contribution from global multi baseline processing using GAMIT/GLOBK 10.5. Velocity field are analyzed in global reference frame ITRF 2008 and local reference frame by fixing with respect alternatively to Eurasian plate - Sunda block, India-Australian plate and Philippine Sea plates. Newly results show dense distribution of velocity field. This information is useful for tectonic deformation studying in geospatial era.

Degradation of dibenzofuran via multiple dioxygenation by a newly isolated Agrobacterium sp. PH-08.

Science.gov (United States)

Le, T T; Murugesan, K; Nam, I-H; Jeon, J-R; Chang, Y-S

2014-03-01

To demonstrate the biodegradation of dibenzofuran (DF) and its structural analogs by a newly isolated Agrobacterium sp. PH-08. To assess the biodegradation potential of newly isolated Agrobacterium sp. PH-08, various substrates were evaluated as sole carbon sources in growth and biotransformation experiments. ESI LC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of angular degrading by-products as well as lateral dioxygenation metabolites in the upper pathway. The metabolites in the lower pathway also were detected. In addition, the cometabolically degraded daughter compounds of DF-related compounds such as BP and dibenzothiophene (DBT) in dual substrate degradation were observed. Strain PH-08 exhibited the evidence of meta-cleavage pathway as confirmed by the activity and gene expression of catechol-2,3-dioxygenase. Newly isolated bacterial strain, Agrobacterium sp. PH-08, grew well with and degraded DF via both angular and lateral dioxygenation as demonstrated by metabolites identified through ESI LC-MS/MS and GC-MS analyses. The other heterocyclic pollutants were also cometabolically degraded. Few reports have described the complete degradation of DF by a cometabolic lateral pathway. Our study demonstrates the novel results that the newly isolated strain utilized the DF as a sole carbon source and mineralized it via multiple dioxygenation. © 2013 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Swift follow-up of the newly discovered burster millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bozzo, E.; Ferrigno, C.; Kuulkers, E.

2009-01-01

Following the discovery of the new hard X-ray transient IGR J17511-3057 by INTEGRAL (Atel #2196) and its classification as a millisecond pulsar by RXTE (Atel #2197), a Swift ToO was performed. Swift/XRT observed IGR J17511-3057 on 2009-09-13 at 19:53:31 for a total exposure time of 4 ks. The first...

Human Factors in Web-Authentication

Science.gov (United States)

2009-02-06

questions is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle ( MITM ) attacks [113, 144]. Since these attacks exploit similar human tendencies as attacks against...researchers have discovered a “Universal Man-in-the-Middle Phishing Kit” [75], a hacker toolkit which enables a phisher to easily set up a MITM ...the-middle ( MITM ) attacker spoofing the login page of the target Web site [113, 144]. 1 When a user attempts to login 1Challenge questions also have

Discovering and explaining work-family strategies of parents in Luxembourg

OpenAIRE

Zhelyazkova, Nevena

2014-01-01

The presented analysis discovers and explains typical patterns of work-family reconciliation for parents who had a child in the same period (2003) and in the same country (Luxembourg), thus facing the same macroeconomic and institutional conditions. Work-family trajectories are reconstructed as sequences of states using administrative records, so that working hours and use of leave provisions or other social security benefits are taken into account. Next, a clustering algorithm is applied to ...

Discovering Social Circles in Ego Networks (Author’s Manuscript)

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-10

refer to as social cir- cles. Practically all major social networks provide such functionality, for example, ‘circles’ on Google+, and ‘lists’ on Facebook ...Discovering Social Circles in Ego Networks Julian McAuley and Jure Leskovec Stanford jmcauley@cs.stanford.edu, jure@cs.stanford.edu January 11, 2013...Abstract People’s personal social networks are big and cluttered, and currently there is no good way to automatically organize them. Social networking

Newly graduated nurses use of knowledge sources in clinical decison-making - a qualitative study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voldbjerg, Siri

of clinical decisions, based on transparent, articulate and reflective use of knowledge sources. Furthermore, it is implied that nurses are able to retrieve, asses, implement and evaluate research evidence. To meet these requirements, nursing educations around the world have organised curricula to educate...... graduated nurses do not work within a framework of evidence-based practice. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore which knowledge sources newly graduated nurses’ use in their clinical decision-making and why they use them in order to understand why newly graduated nurses use research and components...... within evidence-based practice to a limited extent. The thesis is based on a synthesis of findings from two studies. The aim of the first study was to explore which knowledge sources newly graduated nurses use in clinical decision making as reported within international qualitative research. The purpose...

Characterization of newly isolated lytic bacteriophages active against Acinetobacter baumannii.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maia Merabishvili

Full Text Available Based on genotyping and host range, two newly isolated lytic bacteriophages, myovirus vB_AbaM_Acibel004 and podovirus vB_AbaP_Acibel007, active against Acinetobacter baumannii clinical strains, were selected from a new phage library for further characterization. The complete genomes of the two phages were analyzed. Both phages are characterized by broad host range and essential features of potential therapeutic phages, such as short latent period (27 and 21 min, respectively, high burst size (125 and 145, respectively, stability of activity in liquid culture and low frequency of occurrence of phage-resistant mutant bacterial cells. Genomic analysis showed that while Acibel004 represents a novel bacteriophage with resemblance to some unclassified Pseudomonas aeruginosa phages, Acibel007 belongs to the well-characterized genus of the Phikmvlikevirus. The newly isolated phages can serve as potential candidates for phage cocktails to control A. baumannii infections.

[Bioethical analysis of the use of newly dead patients in medical learning].

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes, Andréia Patrícia; Rego, Sergio; Palácios, Marisa; Siqueira-Batista, Rodrigo

2010-01-01

The purpose of this article is to carry out, a discussion on the subject of bioethics and cadavers based upon a critic review of literature. A review of literature, was made with a survey of articles between 1977 and 2007 in the sites 'Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde', PubMed and SciElo, utilizing the keywords: newly deceased patients, newly dead patients, simulators,. This was complemented by a critical evaluation of books published in the area of ethics and bioethics. The possibility to develop learning without orientation by a supervisor is doubtful.. The utilization of newly dead for learning invasive procedures is very frequent and seldom admitted. These procedures, are usually, carried out secretly, without the knowledge and consent of the family. The ethical aspects of these practices are not discussed in the practical medical education. It essential that the ethics of use of recent deceased become a necessary content of graduate education. Performance of these procedures by students should always be authorized by family members. The simulators meet the requirements of training. Discussions about the ethical and bioethical aspects cannot be separated from practical considerations during the students learning time.

A Topic Space Oriented User Group Discovering Scheme in Social Network: A Trust Chain Based Interest Measuring Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Dong

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, user group has become an effective platform for information sharing and communicating among users in social network sites. In present work, we propose a single topic user group discovering scheme, which includes three phases: topic impact evaluation, interest degree measurement, and trust chain based discovering, to enable selecting influential topic and discovering users into a topic oriented group. Our main works include (1 an overview of proposed scheme and its related definitions; (2 topic space construction method based on topic relatedness clustering and its impact (influence degree and popularity degree evaluation; (3 a trust chain model to take user relation network topological information into account with a strength classification perspective; (4 an interest degree (user explicit and implicit interest degree evaluation method based on trust chain among users; and (5 a topic space oriented user group discovering method to group core users according to their explicit interest degrees and to predict ordinary users under implicit interest and user trust chain. Finally, experimental results are given to explain effectiveness and feasibility of our scheme.

Using Appreciative Inquiry to Discover and Deliver Change for Surgical Technology Students

Science.gov (United States)

Cabai, Katherine A.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine efficacious teaching-learning strategies that community college stakeholders employ that enhance surgical technology student outcomes. Knowles's adult learning theory, constructivist theory, and appreciative inquiry served as the theoretical foundation for this study. Discovering effective aspects and…

Epidemiology of Classic and Novel Human Astrovirus: Gastroenteritis and Beyond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diem-Lan Vu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Since they were identified in 1975, human astroviruses have been considered one of the most important agents of viral acute gastroenteritis in children. However, highly divergent astroviruses infecting humans have been recently discovered and associated with extra-intestinal infections. The report of cases of fatal meningitis and encephalitis, especially in immunocompromised individuals, has broadened their disease spectrum. Although zoonotic transmission among animal and human astroviruses has not been clearly recognized, the genetic similarity between some human and animal viruses makes it likely to occur. This review provides an update on the epidemiology of both classic and novel human astroviruses, and a comprehensive view on confirmed or potential association between astrovirus and human disease.

Prospects for Ground-Based Detection and Follow-up of TESS-Discovered Exoplanets

Science.gov (United States)

Varakian, Matthew; Deming, Drake

2018-01-01

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will monitor over 200,000 main sequence dwarf stars for exoplanetary transits, with the goal of discovering small planets orbiting stars that are bright enough for follow-up observations. We here evaluate the prospects for ground-based transit detection and follow-up of the TESS-discovered planets. We focus particularly on the TESS planets that only transit once during each 27.4 day TESS observing window per region, and we calculate to what extent ground-based recovery of additional transits will be possible. Using simulated exoplanet systems from Sullivan et al. and assuming the use of a 60-cm telescope at a high quality observing site, we project the S/N ratios for transits of such planets. We use Phoenix stellar models for stars with surface temperatures from 2500K to 12000K, and we account for limb darkening, red atmospheric noise, and missed transits due to the day-night cycle and poor weather.

Sponge cell culture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schippers, K.J.

2013-01-01

Marine sponges are a rich source of bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical potential and are the most prolific source of newly discovered bioactive compounds with more than 7,000 novel molecules discovered in 40 years. Despite its enormous potential, only a few sponge-derived bioactive

Discovering Land Cover Web Map Services from the Deep Web with JavaScript Invocation Rules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongyang Hou

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Automatic discovery of isolated land cover web map services (LCWMSs can potentially help in sharing land cover data. Currently, various search engine-based and crawler-based approaches have been developed for finding services dispersed throughout the surface web. In fact, with the prevalence of geospatial web applications, a considerable number of LCWMSs are hidden in JavaScript code, which belongs to the deep web. However, discovering LCWMSs from JavaScript code remains an open challenge. This paper aims to solve this challenge by proposing a focused deep web crawler for finding more LCWMSs from deep web JavaScript code and the surface web. First, the names of a group of JavaScript links are abstracted as initial judgements. Through name matching, these judgements are utilized to judge whether or not the fetched webpages contain predefined JavaScript links that may prompt JavaScript code to invoke WMSs. Secondly, some JavaScript invocation functions and URL formats for WMS are summarized as JavaScript invocation rules from prior knowledge of how WMSs are employed and coded in JavaScript. These invocation rules are used to identify the JavaScript code for extracting candidate WMSs through rule matching. The above two operations are incorporated into a traditional focused crawling strategy situated between the tasks of fetching webpages and parsing webpages. Thirdly, LCWMSs are selected by matching services with a set of land cover keywords. Moreover, a search engine for LCWMSs is implemented that uses the focused deep web crawler to retrieve and integrate the LCWMSs it discovers. In the first experiment, eight online geospatial web applications serve as seed URLs (Uniform Resource Locators and crawling scopes; the proposed crawler addresses only the JavaScript code in these eight applications. All 32 available WMSs hidden in JavaScript code were found using the proposed crawler, while not one WMS was discovered through the focused crawler

Assessment of Knowledge and Attitudes of Newly-Qualified Doctors Towards AIDS Infection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomais Kalogirou

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Health-care professionals are at a high risk of AIDS infection, among hospitalized HIV infectedpatients. Proper training and knowledge accompanied by necessary preventive measures are by all means, the mostsignificant factors which ensure low accident rates and furthermore lower contamination rates of the health-carepersonnel.Objective: Screening and assessment of knowledge and attitudes of newly-qualified doctors towards AIDSinfection.Methodology: We conducted a cohort study with a screening questionnaire, which included demographic data and16 questions associated with AIDS infection. 51 forms were filled in by specializing and rural doctors. Thestatistical analysis was conducted using the statistical program SPSS 13.Results: 25,5% (n=13 of the participants in this reserch have treated at least one patient for HIV infection, 19%(n=10, of them would willingly specialize in intense care of HIV patients and lastly 90.2%(n=46 believe that weshould preserve the medical confidential for HIV patients. 96.1% (n=49 of the participants doctors knew thatAIDS disease is caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV, 88.2%(n=45 is aware that HIV virus damagesthe immune system and finally 92% (n=47 recognize HIV symptomatology.The vast majority of the doctors(98%,n=50 is aware that HIV infection is spread through sexual intercourse, blood contact and by sharing needlesor syringes. Nevertheless, a percentage of 13.7% (n=7 believe that HIV transmission is feasible through kissingand 7.8% (n=15 through insects’ bites. At last 85-98% of the personnel refer that it’s familiar with the generalpreventive measures, which are usually applied to all HIV positive inpatients.Conclusions: Knowledge and attitude of new doctors towards AIDS infection is, in general terms satisfactory.Nevertheless, it’s imperative that we constantly inform and update newly-qualified doctors about AIDS infection,in order to minimize their inhibitions and compensate for the

Bone histomorphometry in children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuw, JA; Koudstaal, J; Wiersema-Buist, J; Kamps, WA; Timens, W

2003-01-01

The objective of this study was to obtain insight into bone formation and resorption in children with newly diagnosed untreated acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In 23 consecutive children with ALL, a bone biopsy was taken from the crista iliaca posterior under ketamine anesthesia, together with

Cultural characters of a newly recognized group of hospital staphylococci.

Science.gov (United States)

Jevons, M P; John, M; Parker, M T

1966-07-01

Members of a newly recognized group of hospital staphylococci, which are believed to have arisen from 83A staphylococci by lysogenization, differ from them in several cultural characters. Some but not all of these characters appear to be determined by the carriage of phage.

TLR4, NOD1 and NOD2 mediate immune recognition of putative newly identified periodontal pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchesan, Julie; Jiao, Yizu; Schaff, Riley A; Hao, Jie; Morelli, Thiago; Kinney, Janet S; Gerow, Elizabeth; Sheridan, Rachel; Rodrigues, Vinicius; Paster, Bruce J; Inohara, Naohiro; Giannobile, William V

2016-06-01

Periodontitis is a polymicrobial inflammatory disease that results from the interaction between the oral microbiota and the host immunity. Although the innate immune response is important for disease initiation and progression, the innate immune receptors that recognize both classical and putative periodontal pathogens that elicit an immune response have not been elucidated. By using the Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray (HOMIM), we identified multiple predominant oral bacterial species in human plaque biofilm that strongly associate with severe periodontitis. Ten of the identified species were evaluated in greater depth, six being classical pathogens and four putative novel pathogens. Using human peripheral blood monocytes (HPBM) and murine bone-marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) from wild-type (WT) and Toll-like receptor (TLR)-specific and MyD88 knockouts (KOs), we demonstrated that heat-killed Campylobacter concisus, Campylobacter rectus, Selenomonas infelix, Porphyromonas endodontalis, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Tannerella forsythia mediate high immunostimulatory activity. Campylobacter concisus, C. rectus, and S. infelix exhibited robust TLR4 stimulatory activity. Studies using mesothelial cells from WT and NOD1-specific KOs and NOD2-expressing human embryonic kidney cells demonstrated that Eubacterium saphenum, Eubacterium nodatum and Filifactor alocis exhibit robust NOD1 stimulatory activity, and that Porphyromonas endodontalis and Parvimonas micra have the highest NOD2 stimulatory activity. These studies allowed us to provide important evidence on newly identified putative pathogens in periodontal disease pathogenesis showing that these bacteria exhibit different immunostimulatory activity via TLR4, NOD1, and NOD2 (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01154855). © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

TLR4, NOD1 and NOD2 Mediate Immune Recognition of Putative Newly-Identified Periodontal Pathogens

Science.gov (United States)

Schaff, Riley A.; Hao, Jie; Morelli, Thiago; Kinney, Janet S.; Gerow, Elizabeth; Sheridan, Rachel; Rodrigues, Vinicius; Paster, Bruce J.; Inohara, Naohiro; Giannobile, William V.

2015-01-01

SUMMARY Periodontitis is a polymicrobial inflammatory disease that results from the interaction between the oral microbiota and the host immunity. While the innate immune response is important for disease initiation and progression, the innate immune receptors that recognize both classical and putative periodontal pathogens that elicit an immune response have not been elucidated. By using the Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray (HOMIM), we identified multiple predominant oral bacterial species in human plaque biofilm that strongly associate with severe periodontitis. Ten of the identified species were evaluated in greater depth, 6 being classical pathogens and 4 putative novel pathogens. Using human peripheral blood monocytes (HPBM) and murine bone marrow–derived macrophages (BMDM) from wild-type (WT) and toll-like receptor (TLR)-specific and MyD88 knockouts (KOs), we demonstrated that heat-killed Campylobacter concisus, Campylobacter rectus, Selenomonas infelix, Porphyromonas endodontalis, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Tannerella forsythia mediate high immunostimulatory activity. C. concisus, C. rectus, and S. infelix exhibited robust TLR4 stimulatory activity. Studies using mesothelial cells from WT and NOD1-specific KOs and NOD2-expressing human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells demonstrated that Eubacterium saphenum, Eubacterium nodatum and Filifactor alocis exhibit robust NOD1 stimulatory activity, and that Porphyromonas endodontalis and Parvimonas micra have the highest NOD2-stimulatory activity. These studies allowed us to provide important evidence on newly-identified putative pathogens in periodontal disease pathogenesis showing that these bacteria exhibit different immunostimulatory activity via TLR4, NOD1, and NOD2 (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01154855). PMID:26177212

The effect of preceptor role effectiveness on newly licensed registered nurses' perceived psychological empowerment and professional autonomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Watkins, Chanell; Hart, Patricia L; Mareno, Nicole

2016-03-01

The first year turnover rate for newly licensed registered nurses is roughly 30% and increases to about 57% in the second year (Twibell et al., 2012). An effective preceptorship has been shown to better facilitate the first year transition (Hodges et al., 2008) and increase retention rates (Pine and Tart, 2007). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between newly licensed registered nurses' perceived preceptor role effectiveness, psychological empowerment and professional autonomy. A prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive research design was used. Sixty-nine newly licensed registered nurses were recruited and surveyed. Newly licensed registered nurses were found to have moderately high levels of perceived preceptor role effectiveness, psychological empowerment, and professional autonomy. Preceptor role effectiveness had significant, moderately, positive relationships with professional autonomy and psychological empowerment. There was also a significant relationship found between professional autonomy and psychological empowerment. Results show that preceptor role effectiveness is linked to increased professional autonomy and psychological empowerment. Therefore, effective preceptorships are necessary in easing the newly licensed registered nurse's transition to practice. Strategies to ensure effective preceptorships and enhance the NRLN's transition to practice are proposed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

User Location Identification for Cooperative Human-Centric Sensing (HCS) Scenario

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mihovska, Albena Dimitrova

– Human-Centric Sensing (HCS) is a newly emerged concept in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the active and assisted living (AAL) scenario. HCS connectivity, also referred to as “smart connectivity” enables applications that are highly personalized and often time...

Human Factors Engineering: Current Practices and Development Needs in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savioja, Paula; Norros, Leena; Liinasuo, Marja; Laarni, Jari [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland (Finland)

2011-08-15

This paper describes initial findings from a study concerning the practices and development needs of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) in Finland. HFE is increasing in importance as the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority Finland (STUK) is renewing the regulatory guidelines and the intention is to include requirements concerning HFE. The motivation for the paper is to discover how HFE is conducted currently in order to envision what should be aimed at when modifying requirements for design practices. In an interview with STUK it was discovered that current HFE practices encompass mainly activities related to control room modifications and as such namely verification and validation of new designs. The adoption of the entire HFE process in design and modification projects requires changes that include better integration of technical and Human Factors Engineering approaches. Boundary objects that mediate between different design disciplines are needed in order to enforce the stronger integration. Concept of operations (CONOPS) is suggested as a such boundary object.

Management of Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation in an Outpatient Clinic Setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thrysoee, Lars; Strömberg, Anna; Brandes, Axel

2018-01-01

fibrillation is not a fatal disease in itself was very important for patients. At the same time, visiting the clinic was overwhelming, information was difficult to understand, and patients found it difficult to be involved in decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that patients were uncertain......AIMS: To gain in-depth knowledge of patients' experiences of the consultation processes at a multidisciplinary atrial fibrillation outpatient clinic in a university hospital in Denmark. BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia associated with morbidity and mortality...... if not diagnosed and treated as recommended. Patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation preferably should be managed in an outpatient setting which includes medical examination, patient education and decision making on medical therapy. DESIGN: This is a qualitative study of 14 patients newly diagnosed...

A systematic framework to discover pattern for web spam classification

OpenAIRE

Jelodar, Hamed; Wang, Yongli; Yuan, Chi; Jiang, Xiaohui

2017-01-01

Web spam is a big problem for search engine users in World Wide Web. They use deceptive techniques to achieve high rankings. Although many researchers have presented the different approach for classification and web spam detection still it is an open issue in computer science. Analyzing and evaluating these websites can be an effective step for discovering and categorizing the features of these websites. There are several methods and algorithms for detecting those websites, such as decision t...

Analysing human genomes at different scales

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Siyang

The thriving of the Next-Generation sequencing (NGS) technologies in the past decade has dramatically revolutionized the field of human genetics. We are experiencing a wave of several large-scale whole genome sequencing studies of humans in the world. Those studies vary greatly regarding cohort...... will be reflected by the analysis of real data. This thesis covers studies in two human genome sequencing projects that distinctly differ in terms of studied population, sample size and sequencing depth. In the first project, we sequenced 150 Danish individuals from 50 trio families to 78x coverage....... The sophisticated experimental design enables high-quality de novo assembly of the genomes and provides a good opportunity for mapping the structural variations in the human population. We developed the AsmVar approach to discover, genotype and characterize the structural variations from the assemblies. Our...

The Creation of a Multi-Human, Multi-Robot Interactive Jam Session

OpenAIRE

Weinberg, Gil; Blosser, Brian; Mallikarjuna, Trishul; Raman, Aparna

2009-01-01

This paper presents an interactive and improvisational jam session, including human players and two robotic musicians. The project was developed in an effort to create novel and inspiring music through human-robot collaboration. The jam session incorporates Shimon, a newly-developed socially-interactive robotic marimba player, and Haile, a perceptual robotic percussionist developed in previous work. The paper gives an overview of the musical perception modules, adaptive improvisation modes an...

Incidentally found and unexpected tumors discovered by MRI examination for temporomandibular joint arthrosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagi, Yoshinobu; Asaumi, Jun-ichi; Maki, Yuu; Murakami, Jun; Hisatomi, Miki; Matsuzaki, Hidenobu; Konouchi, Hironobu; Honda, Yosutoshi; Kishi, Kanji

2003-01-01

We examined the frequency of incidentally found or unexpected tumors discovered at the time of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) region for patients with suspicion of TMJ arthrosis. Five MR images (T1-weighted transverse scout image and proton density and T2-weighted oblique sagittal images at the open and closed mouth) were acquired. In 2776 MRI examinations of TMJ arthrosis, two tumors were discovered. They consisted of an adenoid cystic carcinoma in the deep portion of the parotid gland, and a malignant tumor extending from the infratemporal fossa to the parapharyngeal space. The rate of incidentally founded or unexpected tumors in TMJ examinations was low (0.072%), but the two tumors found were malignant tumors, and therefore, scout image should be carefully examined, not only used for positing the slice

Incidentally found and unexpected tumors discovered by MRI examination for temporomandibular joint arthrosis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yanagi, Yoshinobu; Asaumi, Jun-ichi E-mail: asaumi@md.okayama-u.ac.jp; Maki, Yuu; Murakami, Jun; Hisatomi, Miki; Matsuzaki, Hidenobu; Konouchi, Hironobu; Honda, Yosutoshi; Kishi, Kanji

2003-07-01

We examined the frequency of incidentally found or unexpected tumors discovered at the time of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) region for patients with suspicion of TMJ arthrosis. Five MR images (T1-weighted transverse scout image and proton density and T2-weighted oblique sagittal images at the open and closed mouth) were acquired. In 2776 MRI examinations of TMJ arthrosis, two tumors were discovered. They consisted of an adenoid cystic carcinoma in the deep portion of the parotid gland, and a malignant tumor extending from the infratemporal fossa to the parapharyngeal space. The rate of incidentally founded or unexpected tumors in TMJ examinations was low (0.072%), but the two tumors found were malignant tumors, and therefore, scout image should be carefully examined, not only used for positing the slice.

Importance of circulating tumor cells in newly diagnosed colorectal cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dalum, Guus; Stam, Gerrit-Jan; Scholten, Loes F.A.; Mastboom, Walter J.B.; Vermes, I.; Tibbe, Arjan G.J.; De Groot, Marco R.; Terstappen, Leonardus Wendelinus Mathias Marie

2015-01-01

Presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC) is associated with poor prognosis in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). The present study was conducted to determine if the presence of CTC prior to surgery and during follow‑up in patients with newly diagnosed non-metastatic CRC can identify

Physiological evaluation of a newly designed lever mechanism for wheelchairs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Woude, L H; Veeger, DirkJan (H. E. J.); de Boer, Y; Rozendal, R H

1993-01-01

Lever-propelled wheelchairs have been described as more efficient and less physically demanding than hand-rim-propelled wheelchairs. To evaluate a newly designed lever mechanism (MARC) in both one- and two-arm use, a series of wheelchair exercise tests were performed on a motor-driven treadmill.

EYE DISEASE IN NEWLY-DIAGNOSED LEPROSY PATIENTS IN EASTERN NEPAL

NARCIS (Netherlands)

LUBBERS, WJ; SCHIPPER, A; HOGEWEG, M; DESOLDENHOFF, R

To determine the magnitude of eye lesions in newly diagnosed leprosy patients we examined their eyes. The Eastern Leprosy Control Project was supported by The Netherlands Leprosy Relief Association; we used the regional clinic in Biratnagar and 5 mobile clinics in surrounding districts as our survey

Discover Earth: An earth system science program for libraries and their communities

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, L.; Dusenbery, P.

2010-12-01

The view from space has deepened our understanding of Earth as a global, dynamic system. Instruments on satellites and spacecraft, coupled with advances in ground-based research, have provided us with astonishing new perspectives of our planet. Now more than ever, enhancing the public’s understanding of Earth’s physical and biological systems is vital to helping citizens make informed policy decisions especially when they are faced with the consequences of global climate change. In spite of this relevance, there are many obstacles to achieving broad public understanding of key earth system science (ESS) concepts. Strategies for addressing climate change can only succeed with the full engagement of the general public. As reported by U.S. News and World Report in 2010, small towns in rural America are emerging as the front line in the climate change debate in the country. The Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) have received funding from NSF to develop a national project called the STAR Library Education Network: a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities (or STAR-Net for short). STAR stands for Science-Technology, Activities and Resources. There are two distinct components of STAR-Net: Discover Earth and Discover Tech. While the focus for education reform is on school improvement, there is considerable research that supports the role that out-of-school experiences can play in student achievement. Libraries provide an untapped resource for engaging underserved youth and their families in fostering an appreciation and deeper understanding of science and technology topics. The overarching goal of the project is to reach underserved youth and their families with informal STEM learning experiences. The Discover Earth part of STAR_Net will produce ESS

Parental influences on sperm banking attempts among adolescent males newly diagnosed with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Klosky, James L; Flynn, Jessica S; Lehmann, Vicky; Russell, Kathryn M; Wang, Fang; Hardin, Robin N; Eddinger, Jasmine R; Zhang, Hui; Schenck, Lauren A-M; Schover, Leslie R

2017-12-01

To investigate the influence of parental sociodemographic, communication, and psychological factors on sperm collection attempts among at-risk adolescent males newly diagnosed with cancer. Prospective, single group, observational study design. Pediatric oncology centers. Parents (N = 144) of 122 newly diagnosed adolescent males at increased risk for infertility secondary to cancer therapy. Survey-based assessment of parent factors associated with adolescent collection attempts. Attempt of manual collection of sperm. Parental recommendation to bank sperm (odds ratio [OR] 3.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.18-11.76) and perceived self-efficacy to facilitate banking (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.02-1.41) were associated with an increased likelihood of making a collection attempt. Parental recommendation to bank is a critical influence for sperm banking among adolescent males newly diagnosed with cancer. These findings highlight the importance of effective communication between parents, patients, and health-care teams when discussing preservation options. Parent perceptions of their ability to facilitate sperm banking at the time of diagnosis should also be targeted in future interventions. NCT01152268. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Scale-dependence of the correlation between human population and the species richness of stream macro-invertebrates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pecher, C.; Fritz, Susanne; Marini, L.

2010-01-01

. This is surprising as EPT are bio-indicators of stream pollution and most local studies report higher species richness of these macro-invertebrates where human influences on water quality are lower. Using a newly collated taxonomic dataset, we studied whether the species richness of EPT is related to human...

Quality of life of elderly persons with newly diagnosed cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esbensen, B A; Osterlind, K; Roer, O

2004-01-01

The aim was to investigate quality of life (QoL) in elderly persons newly diagnosed with cancer (65+ years) in relation to age, contact with the health-care system, ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL), hope, social network and support, and to identify which factors were associated...... with low QoL. The sample consisted of 101 patients (75 women and 26 men) newly diagnosed with cancer. EORTC QLQ-C30, Nowotny's Hope Scale, Katz ADL and the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI) were used. The analysis was carried out in four age groups and revealed no significant differences...... in QoL. Compared with the other age groups, those of a high age (80+ years) more often lived alone, used more home-help service and had a smaller social network. Factors associated with low QoL were 'no other incomes than retirement pension', 'low level of hope' and 'lung cancer'. In addition, 'being...

Uncovering the mystery of opposite circadian rhythms between mouse and human leukocytes in humanized mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yue; Liu, Min; Chan, Xue Ying; Tan, Sue Yee; Subramaniam, Sharrada; Fan, Yong; Loh, Eva; Chang, Kenneth Tou En; Tan, Thiam Chye; Chen, Qingfeng

2017-11-02

Many immune parameters show circadian rhythms during the 24-hour day in mammals. The most striking circadian oscillation is the number of circulating immune cells that display an opposite rhythm between humans and mice. The physiological roles and mechanisms of circadian variations in mouse leukocytes are well studied, whereas for humans they remain unclear because of the lack of a proper model. In this study, we found that consistent with their natural host species, mouse and human circulating leukocytes exhibited opposite circadian oscillations in humanized mice. This cyclic pattern of trafficking correlated well with the diurnal expression levels of C-X-C chemokine receptor 4, which were controlled by the intracellular hypoxia-inducible factor 1α/aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like heterodimer. Furthermore, we also discovered that p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases/mitogen-activated 2 had opposite effects between mice and humans in generating intracellular reactive oxygen species, which subsequently regulated HIF-1α expression. In conclusion, we propose humanized mice as a robust model for human circadian studies and reveal insights on a novel molecular clock network in the human circadian rhythm. © 2017 by The American Society of Hematology.

Chemical Abundance Measurements of Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies Discovered by the Dark Energy Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Nagasawa, Daniel; Marshall, Jennifer L.; Simon, Joshua D.; Hansen, Terese; Li, Ting; Bernstein, Rebecca; Balbinot, Eduardo; Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Pace, Andrew; Strigari, Louis; Pellegrino, Craig; DePoy, Darren L.; Suntzeff, Nicholas; Bechtol, Keith; Dark Energy Suvey

2018-01-01

We present chemical abundance analysis results derived from high-resolution spectroscopy of ultra-faint dwarfs discovered by the Dark Energy Survey. Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies preserve a fossil record of the chemical abundance patterns imprinted by the first stars in the Universe. High-resolution spectroscopic observations of member stars in several recently discovered Milky Way satellites reveal a range of abundance patterns among ultra-faint dwarfs suggesting that star formation processes in the early Universe were quite diverse. The chemical content provides a glimpse not only of the varied nucleosynthetic processes and chemical history of the dwarfs themselves, but also the environment in which they were formed. We present the chemical abundance analysis of these objects and discuss possible explanations for the observed abundance patterns.

Quality of life of elderly persons with newly diagnosed cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esbensen, B A; Osterlind, K; Roer, O

2004-01-01

The aim was to investigate quality of life (QoL) in elderly persons newly diagnosed with cancer (65+ years) in relation to age, contact with the health-care system, ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL), hope, social network and support, and to identify which factors were associated...

Breeding of newly licensed wheat variety Huapei 8 and improved ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ajl yemi

2011-12-28

Dec 28, 2011 ... Full Length Research Paper. Breeding of newly licensed wheat variety Huapei 8 and improved breeding strategy by anther culture ... more efficient in pure line selection rather than the hete- .... Regional and productivity tests showed that Huapei 8 had .... Large-scale production of wheat and triticale double.

Who Is Doing Well? A Typology of Newly Homeless Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Milburn, Norweeta; Liang, Li-Jung; Lee, Sung-Jae; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane; Rosenthal, Doreen; Mallett, Shelley; Lightfoot, Marguerita; Lester, Patricia

2009-01-01

There is growing evidence to support developing new typologies for homeless adolescents. Current typologies focus on the risks associated with being homeless, with less consideration of the positive attributes of homeless adolescents. The authors examined both risk and protective factors in a sample of newly homeless adolescents. Using cluster…

Clinical Prediction Model for Time in Therapeutic Range While on Warfarin in Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Brent A; Evans, Michael A; Honushefsky, Ashley M; Berger, Peter B

2017-10-12

Though warfarin has historically been the primary oral anticoagulant for stroke prevention in newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF), several new direct oral anticoagulants may be preferred when anticoagulation control with warfarin is expected to be poor. This study developed a prediction model for time in therapeutic range (TTR) among newly diagnosed AF patients on newly initiated warfarin as a tool to assist decision making between warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants. This electronic medical record-based, retrospective study included newly diagnosed, nonvalvular AF patients with no recent warfarin exposure receiving primary care services through a large healthcare system in rural Pennsylvania. TTR was estimated as the percentage of time international normalized ratio measurements were between 2.0 and 3.0 during the first year following warfarin initiation. Candidate predictors of TTR were chosen from data elements collected during usual clinical care. A TTR prediction model was developed and temporally validated and its predictive performance was compared with the SAMe-TT 2 R 2 score (sex, age, medical history, treatment, tobacco, race) using R 2 and c-statistics. A total of 7877 newly diagnosed AF patients met study inclusion criteria. Median (interquartile range) TTR within the first year of starting warfarin was 51% (32, 67). Of 85 candidate predictors evaluated, 15 were included in the final validated model with an R 2 of 15.4%. The proposed model showed better predictive performance than the SAMe-TT 2 R 2 score ( R 2 =3.0%). The proposed prediction model may assist decision making on the proper mode of oral anticoagulant among newly diagnosed AF patients. However, predicting TTR on warfarin remains challenging. © 2017 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.

Inverse Association of Plasma Chromium Levels with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes: A Case-Control Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sijing Chen

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Chromium has long been known as an enhancer of insulin action. However, the role of chromium in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM in humans remains controversial. The current study aimed to examine the associations of plasma chromium levels with T2DM and pre-diabetes mellitus (pre-DM. We conducted a case-control study involving 1471 patients with newly diagnosed T2DM, 682 individuals with newly diagnosed pre-DM, and 2290 individuals with normal glucose tolerance in a Chinese population from 2009 to 2014. Plasma chromium was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Plasma chromium levels were lower in the T2DM and pre-DM groups than in the control group (median: 3.68 μg/L, 3.61 μg/L, 3.97 μg/L, respectively, p < 0.001. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval for T2DM across increasing quartiles of plasma chromium levels were 1 (referent, 0.67 (0.55–0.83, 0.64 (0.51–0.79, and 0.58 (0.46–0.73, respectively (p for trend <0.001. The corresponding odds ratios (95% confidence interval for pre-DM were 1 (referent, 0.70 (0.54–0.91, 0.67 (0.52–0.88, and 0.58 (0.43–0.78, respectively (p for trend < 0.001. Our results indicated that plasma chromium concentrations were inversely associated with T2DM and pre-DM in Chinese adults.

Discovering Authentication Credentials in Volatile Memory of Android Mobile Devices

OpenAIRE

Apostolopoulos , Dimitris; Marinakis , Giannis; Ntantogian , Christoforos; Xenakis , Christos

2013-01-01

Part 5: Adoption Issues in e/m-Services; International audience; This paper investigates whether authentication credentials in the volatile memory of Android mobile devices can be discovered using freely available tools. The experiments that we carried out for each application included two different sets: In the first set, our goal was to check if we could recover our own submitted credentials from the memory dump of the mobile device. In the second set of experiments, the goal was to find pa...

Use of the Culture Care Theory and ethnonursing method to discover how nursing faculty teach culture care.

Science.gov (United States)

Mixer, Sandra J

2008-04-01

As the world becomes increasingly multicultural, transcultural nursing education is critical to ensuring a culturally competent workforce. This paper presents a comprehensive review of literature and results of an ethnonursing pilot study using the Culture Care Theory (CCT) to discover how nursing faculty teach culture care. The literature revealed that despite 50 years of transcultural nursing knowledge development through theory, research and practice, there remains a lack of formal, integrated culture education in nursing. The importance of faculty providing generic and professional care to nursing students and using an organising framework to teach culture care was discovered. Additionally, care was essential for faculty health and well-being to enable faculty to teach culture care. This unique use of the theory and method demonstrates its usefulness in discovering and describing the complex nature of teaching culture care. Larger scale studies are predicted to further substantiate the CCT, building the discipline of nursing.

Preliminary Human Reliability Issues in Reviewing SMART PSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Chang Ju; Sheen, Cheol

2010-01-01

Human reliability analysis (HRA) identifies the human failure events (HFEs) that can negatively impact normal or emergency plant operations, and systematically estimates probabilities of HFEs using data (when available), models, or expert judgment. In case of newly-conceptualized reactors like SMART (System-integrated Modular Advanced Reactor), HRA results must be provided by first evaluating the applicability of a set of human errors that has been typically applied in PSAs for existing PWRs. Additional human errors should also be identified reflecting its unique design and operational features. The objective of this paper is double-folded: to discuss a direction of HRA used in confirming risk level of SAMRT-type reactors; and to extract preliminarily considerable points or issues for regulatory verification, referred to available safety guides

Antibody responses in humans infected with newly emerging strains of West Nile Virus in Europe.

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Stefan Chabierski

Full Text Available Infection with West Nile Virus (WNV affects an increasing number of countries worldwide. Although most human infections result in no or mild flu-like symptoms, the elderly and those with a weakened immune system are at higher risk for developing severe neurological disease. Since its introduction into North America in 1999, WNV has spread across the continental United States and caused annual outbreaks with a total of 36,000 documented clinical cases and ∼1,500 deaths. In recent years, outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease also have been reported in Europe. The WNV strains isolated during these outbreaks differ from those in North America, as sequencing has revealed that distinct phylogenetic lineages of WNV concurrently circulate in Europe, which has potential implications for the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic tests. Here, we studied the human antibody response to European WNV strains responsible for outbreaks in Italy and Greece in 2010, caused by lineage 1 and 2 strains, respectively. The WNV structural proteins were expressed as a series of overlapping fragments fused to a carrier-protein, and binding of IgG in sera from infected persons was analyzed. The results demonstrate that, although the humoral immune response to WNV in humans is heterogeneous, several dominant peptides are recognized.

Regulation of mitosis by the NIMA kinase involves TINA and its newly discovered partner, An-WDR8, at spindle pole bodies

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Kuo-Fang; Osmani, Stephen A.

2013-01-01

The NIMA kinase is required for mitotic nuclear pore complex disassembly and potentially controls other mitotic-specific events. To investigate this possibility, we imaged NIMA–green fluorescent protein (GFP) using four-dimensional spinning disk confocal microscopy. At mitosis NIMA-GFP locates to spindle pole bodies (SPBs), which contain Cdk1/cyclin B, followed by Aurora, TINA, and the BimC kinesin. NIMA promotes NPC disassembly in a spatially regulated manner starting near SPBs. NIMA is also required for TINA, a NIMA-interacting protein, to locate to SPBs during initiation of mitosis, and TINA is then necessary for locating NIMA back to SPBs during mitotic progression. To help expand the NIMA-TINA pathway, we affinity purified TINA and found it to uniquely copurify with An-WDR8, a WD40-domain protein conserved from humans to plants. Like TINA, An-WDR8 accumulates within nuclei during G2 but disperses from nuclei before locating to mitotic SPBs. Without An-WDR8, TINA levels are greatly reduced, whereas TINA is necessary for mitotic targeting of An-WDR8. Finally, we show that TINA is required to anchor mitotic microtubules to SPBs and, in combination with An-WDR8, for successful mitosis. The findings provide new insights into SPB targeting and indicate that the mitotic microtubule-anchoring system at SPBs involves WDR8 in complex with TINA. PMID:24152731

33 CFR 150.515 - What are the requirements for weight testing of newly installed or relocated craft?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... weight testing of newly installed or relocated craft? 150.515 Section 150.515 Navigation and Navigable... testing of newly installed or relocated craft? (a) The operator must perform installation weight testing... (a) of this section, when survival crafts are relocated to another deepwater port. ...

18 CFR 347.1 - Material to support request for newly established or changed property account depreciation studies.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... request for newly established or changed property account depreciation studies. 347.1 Section 347.1... REGULATIONS UNDER THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT OIL PIPELINE DEPRECIATION STUDIES § 347.1 Material to support request for newly established or changed property account depreciation studies. (a) Means of filing...

Further obsrvations on a newly located prawn fishery off Saurashtra coast

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gopalan, U.K.

The abundance of prawns in a newly located ground off Saurashtra has been described Catch omposition showed that Metapenaeus affinis formed the bulk of the catches Previously this species was thought to be of not much commercial importance...

PRDM14 is expressed in germ cell tumors with constitutive overexpression altering human germline differentiation and proliferation

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Joanna J. Gell

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Germ cell tumors (GCTs are a heterogeneous group of tumors occurring in gonadal and extragonadal locations. GCTs are hypothesized to arise from primordial germ cells (PGCs, which fail to differentiate. One recently identified susceptibility loci for human GCT is PR (PRDI-BF1 and RIZ domain proteins 14 (PRDM14. PRDM14 is expressed in early primate PGCs and is repressed as PGCs differentiate. To examine PRDM14 in human GCTs we profiled human GCT cell lines and patient samples and discovered that PRDM14 is expressed in embryonal carcinoma cell lines, embryonal carcinomas, seminomas, intracranial germinomas and yolk sac tumors, but is not expressed in teratomas. To model constitutive overexpression in human PGCs, we generated PGC-like cells (PGCLCs from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs and discovered that elevated expression of PRDM14 does not block early PGC formation. Instead, we show that elevated PRDM14 in PGCLCs causes proliferation and differentiation defects in the germline. Keywords: Germ cell tumor, PRDM14, Cell differentiation, Primordial germ cell, Proliferation

Hope pictured in drawings by women newly diagnosed with gynecological cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hammer, Kristianna; Hall, Elisabeth; Mogensen, Ole

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND:: In mysterious ways, hope makes life meaningful even in chaotic and uncontrolled situations. When a woman is newly diagnosed with gynecologic cancer, hope is ineffable and needs exploring. Drawings help express ineffable phenomena. OBJECTIVE:: The aim of the study was to explore how...... women newly diagnosed with gynecologic cancer express the meaning of hope in drawings. METHOD:: Participants were 15 women who on the same day had received the diagnosis of gynecologic cancer. They were between 24 and 87 years (median, 52 years) with a variety of gynecologic cancer diagnoses. Data from...... 15 drawings and postdrawing interviews with the women were analyzed using visual and hermeneutic phenomenology. RESULTS:: Three themes emerged: hope as a spirit to move on, hope as energy through nature, and hope as a communion with families. CONCLUSION:: Hope as pictured in drawings often appears...

Clinical and immunological status of a newly diagnosed HIV positive ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and the immune status of newly HIV diagnosed patients, in Marrakech city and its neighboring area, in Morocco. Methods: We performed a retrospective study on 235 patients who have been previously confirmed for HIV infection, and underwent a CD4 T cells using flow cytometry ...

At the Bridging Point: Tutoring Newly Arrived Students in Sweden

Science.gov (United States)

Avery, Helen

2017-01-01

In Sweden, tutoring in the mother tongue is a special support measure primarily intended for newly arrived students to facilitate their transition into the Swedish school system. Tutoring is premised on the collaboration between the class teacher, responsible for subject-related expertise, and the tutor, who contributes with knowledge of the…

Mouse Models for Investigating the Developmental Bases of Human Birth Defects

OpenAIRE

MOON, ANNE M.

2006-01-01

Clinicians and basic scientists share an interest in discovering how genetic or environmental factors interact to perturb normal development and cause birth defects and human disease. Given the complexity of such interactions, it is not surprising that 4% of human infants are born with a congenital malformation, and cardiovascular defects occur in nearly 1%. Our research is based on the fundamental hypothesis that an understanding of normal and abnormal development will permit us to generate ...

Factors Associated with Newly Diagnosed Children with Diabetic Ketoacidosis

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Raheleh Mirsadraee

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Background Diabetes mellitus type 1 is one of the most prevalent endocrine diseases in pediatrics. Diabetic ketoacidosis is considered as one of the most threatening clinical pictures of DM1, especially if occurred as the first presentation of DM1 in children. Objectives The current study aimed to identify factors which may play a role in DKA onset in children. Methods This case-control study included all patients under 18 years old who referred to department of pediatrics endocrinology at Mashhad University Hospital (Imam Reza from January 2013 to December 2015 as newly diagnosed patients with DM1. Patients who fulfilled DKA criteria at diagnosis were considered as DKA group and those who referred with other presentations were considered as control group (non-DKA group. Data were analyzed by SPSS software ver. 16. Results During the study period, 97 (39.2% male newly diagnosed patients were included as DKA group. Accordingly 97 gender- and age-matched patients were added as non-DKA group. The most prevalent symptoms in both groups were polyuria (91.88% and polydipsia (88.66%. Fever and cold symptoms were significantly higher in the DKA group (P < 0.001 and P =0.005, respectively. Hemoglobin A1c level was significantly higher in the DKA group (P = 0.001, while body mass index was significantly lower in the DKA group (P = 0.045. Fever and father’s education level were the most important risk and protective factors in the DKA onset in newly diagnosed patients with DM1 (adjusted OR = 10.1, 95% CI = 2.9-35.3; P < 0.001 and adjusted OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.3 - 0.9 and P = 0.019, respectively. Conclusions In conclusion, a recent febrile illness was found as the strongest risk factor and father’s education level as the main protective factor in the DKA to diagnose children with DM1. The study findings suggested that DKA is a severe form of DM1 instead of a neglected or misdiagnosed disease.

Ethical climate and nurse competence - newly graduated nurses' perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Numminen, Olivia; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Isoaho, Hannu; Meretoja, Riitta

2015-12-01

Nursing practice takes place in a social framework, in which environmental elements and interpersonal relations interact. Ethical climate of the work unit is an important element affecting nurses' professional and ethical practice. Nevertheless, whatever the environmental circumstances, nurses are expected to be professionally competent providing high-quality care ethically and clinically. This study examined newly graduated nurses' perception of the ethical climate of their work environment and its association with their self-assessed professional competence, turnover intentions and job satisfaction. Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational research design was applied. Participants consisted of 318 newly graduated nurses. Data were collected electronically and analysed statistically. Ethical approval and permissions to use instruments and conduct the study were obtained according to required procedures. Data were rendered anonymous to protect participant confidentiality. Completing the questionnaire was interpreted as consent to participate. Nurses' overall perception of the ethical climate was positive. More positive perceptions related to peers, patients and physicians, and less positive to hospitals and managers. Strong associations were found between perceived ethical climate and self-assessed competence, turnover intentions in terms of changing job, and job satisfaction in terms of quality of care. Nurses at a higher competence level with positive views of job satisfaction and low turnover intentions perceived the climate significantly more positively. Nursing management responsible for and having the power to implement changes should understand their contribution in ethical leadership, as well as the multidimensional nature of nurses' work environment and the interaction between work-related factors in planning developmental measures. Future research should focus on issues in nurse managers' ethical leadership in creating ethical work environments. There

Unifying Human Centered Design and Systems Engineering for Human Systems Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Boy, Guy A.; McGovernNarkevicius, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Despite the holistic approach of systems engineering (SE), systems still fail, and sometimes spectacularly. Requirements, solutions and the world constantly evolve and are very difficult to keep current. SE requires more flexibility and new approaches to SE have to be developed to include creativity as an integral part and where the functions of people and technology are appropriately allocated within our highly interconnected complex organizations. Instead of disregarding complexity because it is too difficult to handle, we should take advantage of it, discovering behavioral attractors and the emerging properties that it generates. Human-centered design (HCD) provides the creativity factor that SE lacks. It promotes modeling and simulation from the early stages of design and throughout the life cycle of a product. Unifying HCD and SE will shape appropriate human-systems integration (HSI) and produce successful systems.

High acceptability of a newly developed urological practical skills training program.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vries, A.H. de; Luijk, S.J. van; Scherpbier, A.J.J.A.; Hendrikx, A.J.M.; Koldewijn, E.L.; Wagner, C.; Schout, B.M.A.

2015-01-01

Background: Benefits of simulation training are widely recognized, but its structural implementation into urological curricula remains challenging. This study aims to gain insight into current and ideal urological practical skills training and presents the outline of a newly developed skills

High acceptability of a newly developed urological practical skills training program

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Vries, A.H.; van Luijk, S.J.; Scherpbier, A.J.J.A.; Hendrikx, A.J.M.; Koldewijn, E.L.; Wagner, C.; Schout, B.M.A.

2015-01-01

Background: Benefits of simulation training are widely recognized, but its structural implementation into urological curricula remains challenging. This study aims to gain insight into current and ideal urological practical skills training and presents the outline of a newly developed skills

Evolving antithrombotic treatment patterns for patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Camm, A.J.; Accetta, G.; Ambrosio, G.; Atar, D.; Bassand, J.P.; Berge, E. van de; Cools, F.; Fitzmaurice, D.A.; Goldhaber, S.Z.; Goto, S.; Haas, S.; Kayani, G.; Koretsune, Y.; Mantovani, L.G.; Misselwitz, F.; Oh, S.; Turpie, A.G.G.; Verheugt, F.W.A.; Kakkar, A.K.

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVE: We studied evolving antithrombotic therapy patterns in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) and >/=1 additional stroke risk factor between 2010 and 2015. METHODS: 39 670 patients were prospectively enrolled in four sequential cohorts in the Global

Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry and Organocatalysis with Thiosemicarbazones and Organocatalysts for Hydrazone and Oxime Bioconjugations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Dennis

new types of catalysts were discovered: The 2-aminophenols and the 2-(aminomethyl)benzimidazoles. With aldehyde substrates none of the newly discovered catalysts were as effective as a previously discovered benzenephosphonic acid, but with aromatic ketones, an otherwise challenging class of substrates......, the 2-(aminomethyl)benzimidazoles showed promising efficacies, reaching an hitherto unseen 5-fold rate enhancement for hydrazone formation on model acetophenone at pH 7.4....

A Newly Naturalized Species in Taiwan: Phytolacca icosandra L. (Phytolaccaceae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Szu-I Hsieh

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Phytolacca icosandra L. (Phytolaccaceae, native to the South America has been found recently in central Taiwan. This newly naturalized species is distinguished by its erect spike-like racemes and 12–20 stamens. This paper describes the morphology of the species and provides line drawing and photographs for identification.

Viral etiology of bronchiolitis among pediatric inpatients in northern Taiwan with emphasis on newly identified respiratory viruses.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yu-Wen; Huang, Yhu-Chering; Ho, Tai-Hua; Huang, Chung-Guei; Tsao, Kuo-Chien; Lin, Tzou-Yien

2014-04-01

Viral etiology of bronchiolitis in children in Taiwan has been fragmentary. We conducted a prospective study to figure out the viral epidemiology of bronchiolitis in Taiwan. From January 2009 to March 2011, a total of 113 children with bronchiolitis, aged culture, antigen test, and polymerase chain reaction. A total of 120 viruses were detected from 113 children. Positive viral etiology was identified in 86 (76%) children. Mixed viral pathogens were found in 28 cases (25%). Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was the most common pathogen and was identified in 43.4% of the cases. Human bocavirus (hBoV) was the second most common identified virus (in 19.5%), followed by human metapneumovirus (hMPV), rhinovirus, influenza viruses, and coronavirus OC43. In terms of clinical characteristics, no significant difference was found among the children with bronchiolitis either caused by different single or mixed viral infection. RSV was the most common etiologic agent for children with bronchiolitis in Taiwan. Newly identified viruses, including hMPV and hBoV, were also among the common causative agents. Clinical characteristics were not significantly different among the children with bronchiolitis caused by different viruses. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Discovery of global genomic re-organization based on comparison of two newly sequenced rice mitochondrial genomes with cytoplasmic male sterility-related genes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yamada Mari

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Plant mitochondrial genomes are known for their complexity, and there is abundant evidence demonstrating that this organelle is important for plant sexual reproduction. Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS is a phenomenon caused by incompatibility between the nucleus and mitochondria that has been discovered in various plant species. As the exact sequence of steps leading to CMS has not yet been revealed, efforts should be made to elucidate the factors underlying the mechanism of this important trait for crop breeding. Results Two CMS mitochondrial genomes, LD-CMS, derived from Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica (434,735 bp, and CW-CMS, derived from Oryza rufipogon Griff. (559,045 bp, were newly sequenced in this study. Compared to the previously sequenced Nipponbare (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica mitochondrial genome, the presence of 54 out of 56 protein-encoding genes (including pseudo-genes, 22 tRNA genes (including pseudo-tRNAs, and three rRNA genes was conserved. Two other genes were not present in the CW-CMS mitochondrial genome, and one of them was present as part of the newly identified chimeric ORF, CW-orf307. At least 12 genomic recombination events were predicted between the LD-CMS mitochondrial genome and Nipponbare, and 15 between the CW-CMS genome and Nipponbare, and novel genetic structures were formed by these genomic rearrangements in the two CMS lines. At least one of the genomic rearrangements was completely unique to each CMS line and not present in 69 rice cultivars or 9 accessions of O. rufipogon. Conclusion Our results demonstrate novel mitochondrial genomic rearrangements that are unique in CMS cytoplasm, and one of the genes that is unique in the CW mitochondrial genome, CW-orf307, appeared to be the candidate most likely responsible for the CW-CMS event. Genomic rearrangements were dynamic in the CMS lines in comparison with those of rice cultivars, suggesting that 'death' and possible 'birth' processes of the

The impact of female genital cutting on health of newly married women.

Science.gov (United States)

Elnashar, A; Abdelhady, R

2007-06-01

To detect the rate of female genital cutting among a sample of newly married women in Benha city, and make a comparison between circumcised and non-circumcised women regarding long-term health problems. Randomly selected (264) newly married women were the subjects of this work. Circumcised group constitutes 75.8% of the sample. All non-circumcised women were living in an urban area. Dysmenorrhea was more common among circumcised rather than non-circumcised, with statistically significant difference (Pwomen. Obstetric problems such as tears, episiotomy and consequently distressed babies were more events among circumcised mothers with statistical significance. Circumcised females had significant mental problems such as somatization, anxiety and phobia (Pwomen's life particularly the time of consummation of marriage and the time of childbirth.

Depression and cognitive impairment among newly admitted nursing home residents in the USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Ulbricht, Christine M; Rothschild, Anthony J; Hunnicutt, Jacob N; Lapane, Kate L

2017-11-01

The objective of this study is to describe the prevalence of depression and cognitive impairment among newly admitted nursing home residents in the USA and to describe the treatment of depression by level of cognitive impairment. We identified 1,088,619 newly admitted older residents between 2011 and 2013 with an active diagnosis of depression documented on the Minimum Data Set 3.0. The prevalence of receiving psychiatric treatment was estimated by cognitive impairment status and depression symptoms. Binary logistic regression using generalized estimating equations provided adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between level of cognitive impairment and receipt of psychiatric treatment, adjusted for clustering of residents within nursing homes and resident characteristics. Twenty-six percent of newly admitted residents had depression; 47% of these residents also had cognitive impairment. Of those who had staff assessments of depression, anhedonia, impaired concentration, psychomotor disturbances, and irritability were more commonly experienced by residents with cognitive impairment than residents without cognitive impairment. Forty-eight percent of all residents with depression did not receive any psychiatric treatment. Approximately one-fifth of residents received a combination of treatment. Residents with severe cognitive impairment were less likely than those with intact cognition to receive psychiatric treatment (adjusted odds ratio = 0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.93-0.98). Many newly admitted residents with an active diagnosis of depression are untreated, potentially missing an important window to improve symptoms. The extent of comorbid cognitive impairment and depression and lack of treatment suggest opportunities for improved quality of care in this increasingly important healthcare setting. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Regulatory perspectives on human factors validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harrison, F.; Staples, L.

2001-01-01

Validation is an important avenue for controlling the genesis of human error, and thus managing loss, in a human-machine system. Since there are many ways in which error may intrude upon system operation, it is necessary to consider the performance-shaping factors that could introduce error and compromise system effectiveness. Validation works to this end by examining, through objective testing and measurement, the newly developed system, procedure or staffing level, in order to identify and eliminate those factors which may negatively influence human performance. It is essential that validation be done in a high-fidelity setting, in an objective and systematic manner, using appropriate measures, if meaningful results are to be obtained, In addition, inclusion of validation work in any design process can be seen as contributing to a good safety culture, since such activity allows licensees to eliminate elements which may negatively impact on human behaviour. (author)

Fitness, daily activity and body composition in children with newly diagnosed, untreated asthma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vahlkvist, S; Pedersen, S

2009-01-01

Background: Information about how the asthma disease affects the life style and health in children is sparse. Aim: To measure fitness, daily physical activity and body composition in children with newly diagnosed, untreated asthma and healthy controls, and to assess the association between...... the level of asthma control and these parameters. Methods: Daily physical activity measured using accelerometry, cardiovascular fitness and body composition (per cent fat, per cent lean tissue and bone mineral density) were measured in 57 children with newly diagnosed, untreated asthma and in 157 healthy...... fitness and daytime spent in intensive activity. Overweight children are physically less active than normal weight children....

Newly formed skeletal muscle fibers are prone to false positive immunostaining by rabbit antibodies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ditte C; Kliem, Anette; Schrøder, Henrik Daa

2011-01-01

rely on controls that reveal non-specific binding by the secondary antibody and neglect that the primary rabbit antibody itself may cause false positive staining of the muscle. We suggest that reliable immuno-based protein detection in newly formed muscle fibers at least requires a nonsense rabbit......Reports on muscle biology and regeneration often implicate immuno(cyto/histo)chemical protein characterization using rabbit polyclonal antibodies. In this study we demonstrate that newly formed myofibers are especially prone to false positive staining by rabbit antibodies and this unwanted staining...