Function-oriented display system: background and first prototypes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andresen, Gisle; Friberg, Maarten; Teigen, Arild; Pirus, Dominique

2004-04-01

The objective of the function-oriented displays and alarm project is to design, implement and evaluate Human System Interfaces (HSI) based on a function-oriented design philosophy. Function-oriented design is an approach for designing HSIs where the plant's functions, identified through a function analysis, are used for determining the content, organisation, and management of displays. The project has used the 'FITNESS approach', originally developed by EDF in France, as a starting point. FITNESS provides an integrated display system consisting of process operating displays, operating procedures, alarms and trend displays - all based on a functional decomposition of the plant. So far, two prototypes have been implemented on the FRESH PWR simulator in HAMMLAB. The first prototype focused on the condensate pumps. Three process operating displays representing functions at different levels of the functional hierarchy were implemented. Computerised startup and shutdown procedures for the condensate pumps function were also implemented. In the second prototype, the scope was increased to cover the main feedwater system. The displays of the first prototype were redesigned and additional displays were created. In conclusion, the first phase of the project has been completed successfully, and we are now ready to enter the second phase. In the second phase, the scope of the prototype will be increased further to include the steam-generators and function-oriented disturbance operating procedures. The prototype will be evaluated in a user test conducted later in 2004. (Author)

Mutation of Gly717Phe in human topoisomerase 1B has an effect on enzymatic function, reactivity to the camptothecin anticancer drug and on the linker domain orientation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Zhenxing; D'Annessa, Ilda; Tesauro, Cinzia

2015-01-01

–DNA covalent adduct. In this work the role of the Gly717 residue, located in a α-helix structure bridging the active site and the linker domain, has been investigated mutating it in Phe. The mutation gives rise to drug resistance in vivo as observed through a viability assay of yeast cells. In vitro activity...... assays show that the mutant is characterized by a fast religation rate, only partially reduced by the presence of the drug. Comparative molecular dynamics simulations of the native and mutant proteins indicate that the mutation of Gly717 affects the motion orientation of the linker domain, changing its...... interaction with the DNA substrate, likely affecting the strand rotation and religation rate. The mutation also causes a slight rearrangement of the active site and of the drug binding site, providing an additional explanation for the lowered effect of camptothecin toward the mutant....

[Perinatal clomiphene citrate treatment changes sexual orientations of male mice].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Feng-Qin; Zhang, Heng-Rui

2013-10-01

Perinatal period and adolescence are critical for brain development, which is the biological basis of an individual's sexual orientation and sexual behavior. In this study, animals were divided into two groups and their sexual orientations were observed: one group experienced drug treatments during the perinatal period, and the other group was castrated at puberty. The results showed that estradiol treatment had no effect on mature male offspring's sexual orientations, but 9 days and 14 days of clomiphene citrate treatment significantly increased the chance of homosexuality and effeminized behavior. In addition, the sexual orientation of mature normal male offspring, which were castrated when they were 21 days old,was not significant different from the control animals. These findings suggest that the inhibition of perinatal estrogen activities could suppress individual male-typical responses, enhance female-typical responses and induce homosexual orientations. Moreover, the masculinizing effects of estrogen were more obvious during perinatal period than adolescence.

ESARDA approach to facility oriented safeguards problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, R.

1979-01-01

The paper outlines the brief history of a Working Group composed of nuclear fuel plant operators, safeguards research workers and safeguards inspectors who are examining facility orientated problems of nuclear materials control and verification activities. The working program is reviewed together with some examples of various problems and the way the group is collaborating to develop solutions by pooling resources and effort. Work in European low enriched uranium fabrication plants from UF 6 to finished fuel is discussed in connection with mesurement practices, real time accounting, error propagation and analysis, verification and surveillance

Cytotoxicity of 18 Cameroonian medicinal plants against drug sensitive and multi-factorial drug resistant cancer cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Mbaveng, Armelle T; Manekeng, Hermione T; Nguenang, Gaelle S; Dzotam, Joachim K; Kuete, Victor; Efferth, Thomas

2018-08-10

Recommendations have been made stating that ethnopharmacological usages such as immune and skin disorders, inflammatory, infectious, parasitic and viral diseases should be taken into account if selecting plants for anticancer screening, since these reflect disease states bearing relevance to cancer or cancer-like symptoms. Cameroonian medicinal plants investigated in this work are traditionally used to treat cancer or ailments with relevance to cancer or cancer-like symptoms. In this study, 21 methanol extracts from 18 Cameroonian medicinal plants were tested in leukemia CCRF-CEM cells, and the best extracts were further tested on a panel of human cancer cell lines, including various multi-drug-resistant (MDR) phenotypes. Mechanistic studies were performed with the three best extracts. Resazurin reduction assay was used to evaluate cytotoxicity and ferroptotic effects of methanol extracts from different plants. Flow cytometry was used to analyze cell cycle, apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) of extracts from Curcuma longa rhizomes (CLR), Lycopersicon esculentum leaves (LEL), and Psidium guajava bark (PGB). In a pre-screening of all extracts, 13 out of 21 (61.9%) had IC 50 values below 80 µg/mL. Six of these active extracts displayed IC 50 values below 30 µg/mL: Cola pachycarpa leaves (CPL), Curcuma longa rhizomes (CLR), Lycopersicon esculentum leaves, Persea americana bark (PAB), Physalis peruviana twigs (PPT) and Psidium guajava bark (PGB). The best extracts displayed IC 50 values from 6.25 µg/mL (against HCT116 p53 -/- ) to 10.29 µg/mL (towards breast adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-231-BCRP cells) for CLR, from 9.64 µg/mL (against breast adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-231 cells) to 57.74 µg/mL (against HepG2 cells) for LEL and from 1.29 µg/mL (towards CEM/ADR5000 cells) to 62.64 µg/mL (towards MDA-MB-231 cells) for PGB. CLR and PGB induced apoptosis in CCRF-CEM cells via caspases activation, MMP depletion

Atmospheric transformation of plant volatiles disrupts host plant finding

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Tao; Blande, James D.; Holopainen, Jarmo K.

2016-09-01

Plant-emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play important roles in plant-insect interactions. Atmospheric pollutants such as ozone (O3) can react with VOCs and affect the dynamics and fidelity of these interactions. However, the effects of atmospheric degradation of plant VOCs on plant-insect interactions remains understudied. We used a system comprising Brassica oleracea subsp. capitata (cabbage) and the specialist herbivore Plutella xylostella to test whether O3-triggered VOC degradation disturbs larval host orientation, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Larvae oriented towards both constitutive and larva-induced cabbage VOC blends, the latter being the more attractive. Such behaviour was, however, dramatically reduced in O3-polluted environments. Mechanistically, O3 rapidly degraded VOCs with the magnitude of degradation increasing with O3 levels. Furthermore, we used Teflon filters to collect VOCs and their reaction products, which were used as odour sources in behavioural tests. Larvae avoided filters exposed to O3-transformed VOCs and spent less time searching on them compared to filters exposed to original VOCs, which suggests that some degradation products may have repellent properties. Our study clearly demonstrates that oxidizing pollutants in the atmosphere can interfere with insect host location, and highlights the need to address their broader impacts when evaluating the ecological significance of VOC-mediated interactions.

[How to adapt to the requirements of "clinical value-oriented drug innovation" for pharmaceutical research in application process of new traditional Chinese medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Fang

2017-05-01

On August 9, 2015, the State Council promulgated the "Opinions of the State Council on the reform of drug and medical device review and approval system" (Guofa 2015 No. 44), and established the "clinical value-oriented drug innovation" model to encourage the research and development of new drugs. Following that, China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) promulgated the "Notice on several policies for drug registration review and approval" (2015 No. 230 ) on November 11, 2015, clearly specifying that CFDA would "implement one-time approval for clinical trials application of the new drugs, and no longer take a phased declaration, review and approval system; for the new drugs that apply for clinical trials, mainly review the scientific natureof the clinical protocols and the risk control of the new drugs to guarantee the safety of subjects". Accordingly, the evaluation ideas and forms of new drug registration have also been adjusted greatly. For example, issues like the rationality of the drug manufacturing process, whether the scale can reflect the stability of the process, whether the preparation process is sufficient, and whether the choice of dosage form is reasonable are no longer the focus of evaluation before clinical trials. Issues regarding whether the preparation process design is reasonable, whether the effective components can be transferred to the preparation to a maximum extent, whether the process parameters determined in small and middle pilot trials can adapt to the requirements of mass production, no longer act as the reasons for refusing the clinical trials. The corresponding risks shall be borne by the applicant as the subject of liability. The focus in registration evaluation is mainly transferred to how to ensure the consistence of quality between clinical trial samples and the samples already available on market by guaranteeing stable sources of drug raw materials and stable quality of medicines as well as control of the whole preparation

Pathways linking family stress to youth delinquency and substance use: Exploring the mediating roles of self-efficacy and future orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Voisin, Dexter R; Kim, Dong Ha; Bassett, Sarah M; Marotta, Phillip L

2018-03-01

African American adolescents in poorer neighborhoods experience significant sanctions related to drug use and delinquency. Parental stress (i.e. substance use, mental distress, and incarceration) is associated with youth drug use and delinquency. We examined whether high self-esteem and positive future orientation mediated parental stress and youth substance use and delinquency. Demographic, family stress, future orientation, self-esteem, and drug use data were collected from 578 youths. Major findings indicated that self-esteem mediated the relationship between family stress and both drug use and delinquency. Future mediated the relationship between family stress and delinquency. Resiliency factors may promote positive development for low-income youth.

Plant odour plumes as mediators of plant-insect interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Beyaert, Ivo; Hilker, Monika

2014-02-01

Insect olfactory orientation along odour plumes has been studied intensively with respect to pheromonal communication, whereas little knowledge is available on how plant odour plumes (POPs) affect olfactory searching by an insect for its host plants. The primary objective of this review is to examine the role of POPs in the attraction of insects. First, we consider parameters of an odour source and the environment which determine the size, shape and structure of an odour plume, and we apply that knowledge to POPs. Second, we compare characteristics of insect pheromonal plumes and POPs. We propose a 'POP concept' for the olfactory orientation of insects to plants. We suggest that: (i) an insect recognises a POP by means of plant volatile components that are encountered in concentrations higher than a threshold detection limit and that occur in a qualitative and quantitative blend indicating a resource; (ii) perception of the fine structure of a POP enables an insect to distinguish a POP from an unspecific odorous background and other interfering plumes; and (iii) an insect can follow several POPs to their sources, and may leave the track of one POP and switch to another one if this conveys a signal with higher reliability or indicates a more suitable resource. The POP concept proposed here may be a useful tool for research in olfactory-mediated plant-insect interactions. © 2013 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2013 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

An application of object-oriented programming to process simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, J.T.; Otaduy, P.J.

1988-01-01

This paper discusses the application of object-oriented programming to dynamic simulation of continuous processes. Processes may be modeled using this technique as a collection of objects which communicate with each other via message passing. Arriving messages invoke methods that describe the state and/or dynamic behavior of the receiving object. The objects fall into four broad categories actual plant components such as pumps, pipes, and tanks, abstract objects such as heat sources and conductors, plant systems such as flow loops, and simulation control and interface objects. This technique differs from traditional approaches to process simulation, in which the process is represented by either a system of differential equations or a block diagram of mathematical operators. The use of objects minimizes the representational gap between the model and actual process. From the users point of view, construction of a simulation model becomes equivalent to drawing a plant schematic. As an example application, a package developed for the simulation of nuclear power plants is described. The package allows users to build simulation models by selecting iconic representations of plant components from a menu and connecting them with a mouse. Objects for generating a mathematical model of the system and for controlling the simulation are automatically generated, freeing the user to concentrate on describing his process. This example illustrates the use of object-oriented programming to create a highly interactive and automated simulation environment. 2 figs

Seaweed: Promising plant of the millennium

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Dhargalkar, V.K.; Pereira, N.

Seaweeds, one of the important marine living resources could be termed as the futuristically promising plants. These plants have been a source of food, feed and medicine in the orient as well as in the west, since ancient times. Although, seaweeds...

Multi-image screening technique applied to a general orientation training program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hajek, B.K.; Campbell, T.O.; Evans, A.D.; Hickey, J.M.

1979-01-01

A general orientation and training program is a prerequisite for personnel to have unescorted access to various site locations at a nuclear power plant. A new general orientation and training program is being developed for the Toledo Edison Company to be used at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. The program is presented in a multi-image and stereo sound format that has the unique capability to present the magnitude and scale of the plant, to arouse and maintain the interest of the viewer, and to instill in him a feeling of importance and pride about his job. Satisfactory completion of the program by individuals is assessed and certified by a machine scored test that is administered as an integral part of the presentation

Proteomic Contributions to Medicinal Plant Research: From Plant Metabolism to Pharmacological Action

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akiko Hashiguchi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Herbal medicine is a clinical practice of utilizing medicinal plant derivatives for therapeutic purposes. It has an enduring history worldwide and plays a significant role in the fight against various diseases. Herbal drug combinations often exhibit synergistic therapeutic action compared with single-constituent dosage, and can also enhance the cytotoxicity induced by chemotherapeutic drugs. To explore the mechanism underlying the pharmacological action of herbs, proteomic approaches have been applied to the physiology of medicinal plants and its effects on animals. This review article focuses on the existing proteomics-based medicinal plant research and discusses the following topics: (i plant metabolic pathways that synthesize an array of bioactive compounds; (ii pharmacological action of plants tested using in vivo and in vitro studies; and (iii the application of proteomic approaches to indigenous plants with scarce sequence information. The accumulation of proteomic information in a biological or medicinal context may help in formulating the effective use of medicinal plants.

Radiation treatment of crude drugs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stock, A.; Gebhardt, G.; Helle, N.; Schuettler, C.; Boegl, K.W.

1992-01-01

It may be necessary to reduce microbiological contamination of crude drugs (medicinal plants or their parts like roots, leaves, flowers). This can be done by treating the drugs with ionizing radiation. Meethods for detection of such an irradiation were developed. It could be pointed out that measurements of luminescence, viscosity and electron spin resonance were suitable for specific drugs, but not for all drugs. (orig.) [de

Qualitative PIXE analysis of mineral elements in some phytopharmaceutic drugs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preoteasa, E.A.; Harangus, Livia; Gugiu, M; Iordan, Andreea; Ciortea, C.

2002-01-01

A large number of phytopharmaceutic drugs are being developed, due to positive effects in various diseases and to high tolerance by the organism. While their medicinally active compounds have been identified, little attention has been paid to their mineral micro- and trace elements. The mineral elements in the drug may have therapeutic or toxic effects which should be properly assessed. Nuclear and atomic methods allow sensitive multielement detection and we previously performed nuclear activation analysis of some Romanian drugs made by plants. Despite this method's high sensitivity, its use is limited by the availability of a nuclear reactor. Particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) provides an alternative, and here we examined its potential for the analysis of mineral elements in three commercial phytopharmaceutical preparations, namely, Liv52, Mentat, and Geriforte. The PIXE measurements were performed with 3 MeV protons at the 8.5 MV NIPNE-HH tandem accelerator, using a hyper pure Ge detector, normally oriented and connected to a multichannel analyzer and to a computer; the drug pills were fixed at 45 angle with respect to the beam. In all drugs PIXE detected mineral elements with Z > 16 down to trace levels. Major elements included K, Ca, Fe, Cu, and Zn, and minor/trace amounts of S, Cl, Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Ga, Br, Rb, Sr, Hg, and As/Pb were detected. Some differences were seen between the three drugs. Although at trace levels Ga, As, Hg and Pb are not toxic, one should consider that their accumulation might be harmful and caution seems recommendable on long-term cure. Most of the other elements are known to exert a positive biological role, and both in major and trace levels they may contribute to the therapeutic action. Thus PIXE analysis of mineral elements in phytopharmaceutic drugs, even qualitative, is useful for evaluating the benefits and risks in the therapy. (authors)

Illicit drugs in Canadian municipal wastewater and estimates of community drug use

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Metcalfe, Chris, E-mail: cmetcalfe@trentu.c [Worsfold Water Quality Centre, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8 (Canada); Tindale, Kathryn [Worsfold Water Quality Centre, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8 (Canada); Li, Hongxia, E-mail: lihongxia@trentu.c [Worsfold Water Quality Centre, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8 (Canada); Rodayan, Angela [Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University St., Montreal, QC, H3A 2B2 (Canada); Yargeau, Viviane, E-mail: viviane.yargeau@mcgill.c [Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University St., Montreal, QC, H3A 2B2 (Canada)

2010-10-15

In this study of wastewater treatment plants in three Canadian cities, selected illicit drugs, including cocaine and its major metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BE), amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy (i.e. MDMA) were detected in untreated wastewater. Cocaine was the most widely used illicit drug at a median level for the 3 cities of 15.7 doses per day per 1000 people. For the other drugs, the median doses per day per 1000 people were 1.8 for amphetamine, 4.5 for methamphetamine and 0.4 for ecstasy. Methamphetamine use was highest in the largest city and cocaine use was lowest in the smallest city. Removal of the illicit drugs by wastewater treatment was generally >50%, except in a WWTP that uses primary treatment. The community consumption estimate for ecstasy in the present study is far below published estimates of the prevalence of ecstasy use among the Canadian population, which may be due to only occasional use of ecstasy. - Cocaine and amphetamines were detected in untreated and treated sewage in the wastewater treatment plants of three Canadian cities, and community consumption patterns estimated from the concentrations of the drugs in untreated wastewater were consistent with estimates of the use of illicit drugs in Canada.

Illicit drugs in Canadian municipal wastewater and estimates of community drug use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metcalfe, Chris; Tindale, Kathryn; Li, Hongxia; Rodayan, Angela; Yargeau, Viviane

2010-01-01

In this study of wastewater treatment plants in three Canadian cities, selected illicit drugs, including cocaine and its major metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BE), amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy (i.e. MDMA) were detected in untreated wastewater. Cocaine was the most widely used illicit drug at a median level for the 3 cities of 15.7 doses per day per 1000 people. For the other drugs, the median doses per day per 1000 people were 1.8 for amphetamine, 4.5 for methamphetamine and 0.4 for ecstasy. Methamphetamine use was highest in the largest city and cocaine use was lowest in the smallest city. Removal of the illicit drugs by wastewater treatment was generally >50%, except in a WWTP that uses primary treatment. The community consumption estimate for ecstasy in the present study is far below published estimates of the prevalence of ecstasy use among the Canadian population, which may be due to only occasional use of ecstasy. - Cocaine and amphetamines were detected in untreated and treated sewage in the wastewater treatment plants of three Canadian cities, and community consumption patterns estimated from the concentrations of the drugs in untreated wastewater were consistent with estimates of the use of illicit drugs in Canada.

Process-oriented dose assessment model for 14C due to releases during normal operation of a nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aquilonius, Karin; Hallberg, Bengt

2005-01-01

Swedish nuclear utility companies are required to assess doses due to releases of radionuclides during normal operation. In 2001, calculation methods used earlier were updated due to new authority regulations. The isotope 14 C is of special interest in dose assessments due to the role of carbon in the metabolism of all life forms. Earlier, factors expressing the ratio between concentration of 14 C in air and in various plants were used. In order to extend the possibility to take local conditions into account, a process-oriented assessment model for uptake of carbon and doses from releases of 14 C to air was developed (POM 14 C). The model uses part of Daisy which has been developed to model the turnover of carbon in crops. [Hansen, S., Jensen, H.E., Nielsen, N.E., Svendsen, H., 1993. Description of the Soil Plant System Model DAISY, Basic Principles and Modelling Approach. Simulation Model for Transformation and Transport of Energy and Matter in the Soil Plant Atmosphere System. Jordbruksfoerlaget, The Royal Veterianary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark]. The main objectives were to test model performance of the former method, and to investigate if taking site specific parameters into account to a greater degree would lead to major differences in the results. Several exposure pathways were considered: direct consumption of locally grown cereals, vegetables, and root vegetables, as well as consumption of milk and meat from cows having eaten fodder cereals and green fodder from the area around the nuclear plant. The total dose of the earlier model was compared with that of POM 14 C. The result of the former was shown to be slightly higher than the latter, but POM 14 C confirmed that the earlier results were of a reasonable magnitude. When full account of local conditions was taken, e.g. as regards solar radiation, temperature, and concentration of 14 C in air at various places in the surroundings of each nuclear plant, a difference in dose between

Design of plant safety model in plant enterprise engineering environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabbar, Hossam A.; Suzuki, Kazuhiko; Shimada, Yukiyasu

2001-01-01

Plant enterprise engineering environment (PEEE) is an approach aiming to manage the plant through its lifecycle. In such environment, safety is considered as the common objective for all activities throughout the plant lifecycle. One approach to achieve plant safety is to embed safety aspects within each function and activity within such environment. One ideal way to enable safety aspects within each automated function is through modeling. This paper proposes a theoretical approach to design plant safety model as integrated with the plant lifecycle model within such environment. Object-oriented modeling approach is used to construct the plant safety model using OO CASE tool on the basis of unified modeling language (UML). Multiple views are defined for plant objects to express static, dynamic, and functional semantics of these objects. Process safety aspects are mapped to each model element and inherited from design to operation stage, as it is naturally embedded within plant's objects. By developing and realizing the plant safety model, safer plant operation can be achieved and plant safety can be assured

Plants as antimalarial agents in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Chinsembu, Kazhila C

2015-12-01

Although the burden of malaria is decreasing, parasite resistance to current antimalarial drugs and resistance to insecticides by vector mosquitoes threaten the prospects of malaria elimination in endemic areas. Corollary, there is a scientific departure to discover new antimalarial agents from nature. Because the two antimalarial drugs quinine and artemisinin were discovered through improved understanding of the indigenous knowledge of plants, bioprospecting Sub-Saharan Africa's enormous plant biodiversity may be a source of new and better drugs to treat malaria. This review analyses the medicinal plants used to manage malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. Chemical compounds with antiplasmodial activity are described. In the Sub-Saharan African countries cited in this review, hundreds of plants are used as antimalarial remedies. While the number of plant species is not exhaustive, plants used in more than one country probably indicate better antimalarial efficacy and safety. The antiplasmodial data suggest an opportunity for inventing new antimalarial drugs from Sub-Saharan-African flora. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Some wild-growing plant species from Serbia and Montenegro as the potential sources of drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Aljancić, I S; Vajs, V E; Tesević, V V; Milosavljević, S M

2008-01-01

The results of phytochemical investigation, over the last decade, of some wild-growing plant species from Serbia and Montenegro belonging to the families Asteraceae, Guttiferae and Gentianaceae are reported. Most of the investigated species are endemites and the emphasis in this report is on those exhibiting biological activities that could be regarded as the potential sources of drugs. This review comprises 154 compounds, e.g. sesquiterpene lactones and flavonoids (Asteraceae), xanthones, secoiridoids and C-glucoflavonoids (Gentanaceae) and prenylated phloroglucinols (Guttiferae) as well as some other secondary metabolites, produced by the above families, which could be of pharmacological interest.

Salvia divinorum: from Mazatec medicinal and hallucinogenic plant to emerging recreational drug.

Science.gov (United States)

Zawilska, Jolanta B; Wojcieszak, Jakub

2013-09-01

Salvia divinorum is a sage endemic to a small region of Mexico and has been traditionally used by the Mazatec Indians for divination and spiritual healing. Recently, it has gained increased popularity as a recreational drug, used by adolescents and young adults as an alternative to marijuana and LSD. Salvinorin A, the major active ingredient of the plant, is considered to be the most potent known hallucinogen of natural origin. This review surveys the current state of knowledge on the neurochemical, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacological properties of salvinorin A, the trends and motivation behind S. divinorum use, and the health problems among users of the plant's products. S. divinorum induces intense, but short-lived, psychedelic-like changes in mood and perception, with concomitant hallucinations and disorientation. Many websites have misinterpreted the limited existing research-based information on the side effects of salvia as evidence for its safety. However, data accumulated over the last few years indicate that potential health risks are associated with the use of S. divinorum, especially by teenagers, users of other substances of abuse, and individuals with underlying psychotic disturbances. Taken together, the data presented in this review point to the need for further basic and clinical studies to create a basis for the development of well-addressed prevention and treatment strategies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A History of Drug Advertising: The Evolving Roles of Consumers and Consumer Protection

Science.gov (United States)

Donohue, Julie

2006-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs in the United States is controversial. Underlying the debate are disagreements over the role of consumers in medical decision making, the appropriateness of consumers engaging in self-diagnosis, and the ethics of an industry promoting potentially dangerous drugs. Drug advertising and federal policy governing drug advertising have both responded to and reinforced changes in the consumer's role in health care and in the doctor-patient relationship over time. This article discusses the history of DTCA in the context of social movements to secure rights for health care patients and consumers, the modern trend toward consumer-oriented medicine, and the implications of DTCA and consumer-oriented medicine for contemporary health policy debates about improving the health care system. PMID:17096638

A history of drug advertising: the evolving roles of consumers and consumer protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Donohue, Julie

2006-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs in the United States is controversial. Underlying the debate are disagreements over the role of consumers in medical decision making, the appropriateness of consumers engaging in self-diagnosis, and the ethics of an industry promoting potentially dangerous drugs. Drug advertising and federal policy governing drug advertising have both responded to and reinforced changes in the consumer's role in health care and in the doctor-patient relationship over time. This article discusses the history of DTCA in the context of social movements to secure rights for health care patients and consumers, the modern trend toward consumer-oriented medicine, and the implications of DTCA and consumer-oriented medicine for contemporary health policy debates about improving the health care system.

An object oriented framework of EPICS for MicroTCA based control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geng, Z.

2012-01-01

EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) is a distributed control system platform which has been widely used for large scientific devices control like particle accelerators and fusion plant. EPICS has introduced object oriented (C ++ ) interfaces to most of the core services. But the major part of EPICS, the run-time database, only provides C interfaces, which is hard to involve the EPICS record concerned data and routines in the object oriented architecture of the software. This paper presents an object oriented framework which contains some abstract classes to encapsulate the EPICS record concerned data and routines in C ++ classes so that full OOA (Objected Oriented Analysis) and OOD (Object Oriented Design) methodologies can be used for EPICS IOC design. We also present a dynamic device management scheme for the hot swap capability of the MicroTCA based control system. (authors)

The analysis of the market success of FDA approvals by probing top 100 bestselling drugs

Science.gov (United States)

Polanski, Jaroslaw; Bogocz, Jacek; Tkocz, Aleksandra

2016-05-01

Target-oriented drug discovery is the main research paradigm of contemporary drug discovery. In target-oriented approaches, we attempt to maximize in vitro drug potency by finding the optimal fit to the target. This can result in a higher molecular complexity, in particular, the higher molecular weight (MW) of the drugs. However, a comparison of the successful developments of pharmaceuticals with the general trends that can be observed in medicinal chemistry resulted in the conclusion that the so-called molecular obesity is an important reason for the attrition rate of drugs. When analyzing the list of top 100 drug bestsellers versus all of the FDA approvals, we discovered that on average lower-complexity (MW, ADMET score) drugs are winners of the top 100 list in terms of numbers but that, especially, up to some optimal MW value, a higher molecular complexity can pay off with higher incomes. This indicates that slim drugs are doing better but that fat drugs are bigger fishes to catch.

Significant inhibitory impact of dibenzyl trisulfide and extracts of Petiveria alliacea on the activities of major drug-metabolizing enzymes in vitro: An assessment of the potential for medicinal plant-drug interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, J; Picking, D; Lamm, A; McKenzie, J; Hartley, S; Watson, C; Williams, L; Lowe, H; Delgoda, R

2016-06-01

Dibenzyl trisulfide (DTS) is the major active ingredient expressed in Petiveria alliacea L., a shrub widely used for a range of conditions, such as, arthritis, asthma and cancer. Given its use alone and concomitantly with prescription medicines, we undertook to investigate its impact on the activities of important drug metabolizing enzymes, the cytochromes P450 (CYP), a key family of enzymes involved in many adverse drug reactions. DTS and seven standardized extracts from the plant were assessed for their impact on the activities of CYPs 1A2, 2C19, 2C9, 2D6 and 3A4 on a fluorometric assay. DTS revealed significant impact against the activities of CYPs 1A2, 2C19 and 3A4 with IC50 values of 1.9, 4.0 and 3.2μM, respectively, which are equivalent to known standard inhibitors of these enzymes (furafylline, and tranylcypromine), and the most potent interaction with CYP1A2 displayed irreversible enzyme kinetics. The root extract, drawn with 96% ethanol (containing 2.4% DTS), displayed IC50 values of 5.6, 3.9 and 4.2μg/mL respectively, against the same isoforms, CYPs 1A2, 2C19 and 3A4. These investigations identify DTS as a valuable CYP inhibitor and P. alliacea as a candidate plant worthy of clinical trials to confirm the conclusions that extracts yielding high DTS may lead to clinically relevant drug interactions, whilst extracts yielding low levels of DTS, such as aqueous extracts, are unlikely to cause adverse herb-drug interactions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and competitive environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Hans Eibe; Cadogan, John W.

This study sheds light on the role that the competitive environment plays in determining how elements of market orientation and elements of entrepreneurial orientation interact to influence business success. We develop a model in which we postulate that market orientation, entrepreneurial...... orientation, and competitive environment shape business performance via a three-way interaction. We test the model using primary data from the CEOs of 270 CEO of manufacturing firms, together with secondary data on these firms' profit performance. An assessment of the results indicates that customer...... orientation moderates the positive relationships between the competitiveness element of entrepreneurial orientation and market share and return on assets (ROA): the positive relationships between competitiveness and market share and competitiveness and ROA become stronger the greater the firms' customer...

Intelligent power plant simulator for educational purposes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seifi, A.; Seifi, H.; Ansari, M. R.; Parsa Moghaddam, M.

2001-01-01

An Intelligent Tutoring System can be effectively employed for a power plant simulator so that the need for instructor in minimized. In this paper using the above concept as well as object oriented programming and SIMULINK Toolbox of MATLAB, an intelligent tutoring power plant simulator is proposed. Its successful application on a typical 11 MW power plant is demonstrated

Study of split-ring resonators for use on a pharmaceutical drug capsule for microwave activated drug release

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jónasson, Sævar Þór; Jensen, Brian Sveistrup; Johansen, Tom Keinicke

2012-01-01

In this paper, a novel method for externally activating a pharmaceutical drug capsule by use of split-ring resonators (SRR) is introduced. To this end, the effect of the orientation of the SRRs on the ability to activate the capsules is examined. A coplanar waveguide is used to excite an identical...... pair of SRRs fabricated on a substrate, representing an enlarged lid for a pharmaceutical drug capsule. Orientations where the electric field component of a quasi-TEM wave lies across the gap of the SRRs provides the largest response. The optimal case is when the electric field component lies across...... the gap simultaneously with the magnetic field component normal to the SRRs. Furthermore, an analysis of the optimal conductivity and relative permittivity for enhanced temperature rise in the lid is performed. Conductivity of 0.09 S/m and relative permittivity of 12 shows the highest temperature rise....

Application of plant cell and tissue culture for the production of phytochemicals in medicinal plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Pant, Bijaya

2014-01-01

Approximately 80% of the world inhabitants depend on the medicinal plants in the form of traditional formulations for their primary health care system well as in the treatment of a number of diseases since the ancient time. Many commercially used drugs have come from the information of indigenous knowledge of plants and their folk uses. Linking of the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants to modern research activities provides a new reliable approach, for the discovery of novel drugs much more effectively than with random collection. Increase in population and increasing demand of plant products along with illegal trade are causing depletion of medicinal plants and many are threatened in natural habitat. Plant tissue culture technique has proved potential alternative for the production of desirable bioactive components from plants, to produce the enough amounts of plant material that is needed and for the conservation of threatened species. Different plant tissue culture systems have been extensively studied to improve and enhance the production of plant chemicals in various medicinal plants.

Fabrication, characterization and in vitro drug release behavior of electrospun PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meng, Z.X.; Zheng, W.; Li, L. [Center for Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Zheng, Y.F., E-mail: yfzheng@pku.edu.cn [Center for Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Department of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)

2011-02-15

Graphical abstract: The fenbufen loaded PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning. The hydrophilicity of nanofibrous scaffold was enhanced with the increase of chitosan content. The drug release also is accelerated with chitosan increasing because the higher hydrophilicity makes drug diffusing from scaffold more easily. Research highlights: {yields} The average diameter increased with the increase of chitosan content and then decreased. {yields} The release rate of fenbufen increased with the increase of chitosan. {yields} The aligned nanofibrous scaffold exhibits lower drug release rate. {yields} The drug release could be controlled by crosslinking in glutaraldehyde vapor. - Abstract: In this study both aligned and randomly oriented poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold have been prepared by electrospinning. The ratio of PLGA to chitosan was adjusted to get smooth nanofiber surface. Morphological characterization using scanning electron microscopy showed that the aligned nanofiber diameter distribution obtained by electrospinning of polymer blend increased with the increase of chitosan content which was similar to that of randomly oriented nanofibers. The release characteristic of model drug fenbufen (FBF) from the FBF-loaded aligned and randomly oriented PLGA and PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffolds was investigated. The drug release rate increased with the increase of chitosan content because the addition of chitosan enhanced the hydrophilicity of the PLGA/chitosan composite scaffold. Moreover, for the aligned PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold the release rate was lower than that of randomly oriented PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold, which indicated that the nanofiber arrangement would influence the release behavior. In addition, crosslinking in glutaraldehyde vapor would decrease the burst release of FBF from FBF-loaded PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold with a PLGA/chitosan ratio less than 9/1, which

Fabrication, characterization and in vitro drug release behavior of electrospun PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meng, Z.X.; Zheng, W.; Li, L.; Zheng, Y.F.

2011-01-01

Graphical abstract: The fenbufen loaded PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning. The hydrophilicity of nanofibrous scaffold was enhanced with the increase of chitosan content. The drug release also is accelerated with chitosan increasing because the higher hydrophilicity makes drug diffusing from scaffold more easily. Research highlights: → The average diameter increased with the increase of chitosan content and then decreased. → The release rate of fenbufen increased with the increase of chitosan. → The aligned nanofibrous scaffold exhibits lower drug release rate. → The drug release could be controlled by crosslinking in glutaraldehyde vapor. - Abstract: In this study both aligned and randomly oriented poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold have been prepared by electrospinning. The ratio of PLGA to chitosan was adjusted to get smooth nanofiber surface. Morphological characterization using scanning electron microscopy showed that the aligned nanofiber diameter distribution obtained by electrospinning of polymer blend increased with the increase of chitosan content which was similar to that of randomly oriented nanofibers. The release characteristic of model drug fenbufen (FBF) from the FBF-loaded aligned and randomly oriented PLGA and PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffolds was investigated. The drug release rate increased with the increase of chitosan content because the addition of chitosan enhanced the hydrophilicity of the PLGA/chitosan composite scaffold. Moreover, for the aligned PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold the release rate was lower than that of randomly oriented PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold, which indicated that the nanofiber arrangement would influence the release behavior. In addition, crosslinking in glutaraldehyde vapor would decrease the burst release of FBF from FBF-loaded PLGA/chitosan nanofibrous scaffold with a PLGA/chitosan ratio less than 9/1, which would be beneficial

Development and application of emergency operating procedures for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin Chengge

1990-01-01

The development and application of emergency operating procedures (EOPs) is an important measure to assure the operational safety for nuclear power plants. Event-oriented, symptom-, function- and state-oriented EOPs with their structures, interfaces, development procedures and practical application are described. The ideas and approach can be available for the preparation of EOPs for nuclear power plants which are going to be in service

Localization and Orientation of Xanthophylls in a Lipid Bilayer.

Science.gov (United States)

Grudzinski, Wojciech; Nierzwicki, Lukasz; Welc, Renata; Reszczynska, Emilia; Luchowski, Rafal; Czub, Jacek; Gruszecki, Wieslaw I

2017-08-29

Xanthophylls (polar carotenoids) play diverse biological roles, among which are modulation of the physical properties of lipid membranes and protection of biomembranes against oxidative damage. Molecular mechanisms underlying these functions are intimately related to the localization and orientation of xanthophyll molecules in lipid membranes. In the present work, we address the problem of localization and orientation of two xanthophylls present in the photosynthetic apparatus of plants and in the retina of the human eye, zeaxanthin and lutein, in a single lipid bilayer membrane formed with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine. By using fluorescence microscopic analysis and Raman imaging of giant unilamellar vesicles, as well as molecular dynamics simulations, we show that lutein and zeaxanthin adopt a very similar transmembrane orientation within a lipid membrane. In experimental and computational approach, the average tilt angle of xanthophylls relative to the membrane normal is independently found to be ~40 deg, and results from hydrophobic mismatch between the membrane thickness and the distance between the terminal hydroxyl groups of the xanthophylls. Consequences of such a localization and orientation for biological activity of xanthophylls are discussed.

Pharmaceutical orientation at hospital discharge of transplant patients: strategy for patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Lima, Lívia Falcão; Martins, Bruna Cristina Cardoso; Oliveira, Francisco Roberto Pereira de; Cavalcante, Rafaela Michele de Andrade; Magalhães, Vanessa Pinto; Firmino, Paulo Yuri Milen; Adriano, Liana Silveira; Silva, Adriano Monteiro da; Flor, Maria Jose Nascimento; Néri, Eugenie Desirée Rabelo

2016-01-01

To describe and analyze the pharmaceutical orientation given at hospital discharge of transplant patients. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and retrospective study that used records of orientation given by the clinical pharmacist in the inpatients unit of the Kidney and Liver Transplant Department, at Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio, in the city of Fortaleza (CE), Brazil, from January to July, 2014. The following variables recorded at the Clinical Pharmacy Database were analyzed according to their significance and clinical outcomes: pharmaceutical orientation at hospital discharge, drug-related problems and negative outcomes associated with medication, and pharmaceutical interventions performed. The first post-transplant hospital discharge involved the entire multidisciplinary team and the pharmacist was responsible for orienting about drug therapy. The mean hospital discharges/month with pharmaceutical orientation during the study period was 10.6±1.3, totaling 74 orientations. The prescribed drug therapy had a mean of 9.1±2.7 medications per patient. Fifty-nine drug-related problems were identified, in which 67.8% were related to non-prescription of medication needed, resulting in 89.8% of risk of negative outcomes associated with medications due to untreated health problems. The request for inclusion of drugs (66.1%) was the main intervention, and 49.2% of the medications had some action in the digestive tract or metabolism. All interventions were classified as appropriate, and 86.4% of them we able to prevent negative outcomes. Upon discharge of a transplanted patient, the orientation given by the clinical pharmacist together with the multidisciplinary team is important to avoid negative outcomes associated with drug therapy, assuring medication reconciliation and patient safety. Descrever e analisar a orientação farmacêutica oferecida na alta de pacientes transplantados. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, descritivo e retrospectivo, que

Plant lectins as carriers for oral drugs: Is wheat germ agglutinin a suitable candidate?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalla Pellegrina, Chiara; Rizzi, Corrado; Mosconi, Silvia; Zoccatelli, Gianni; Peruffo, Angelo; Chignola, Roberto

2005-01-01

Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) is a plant protein that binds specifically to sugars expressed also by gastrointestinal epithelial cells. WGA is currently investigated as an anti-tumor drug and as a carrier for oral drugs. Information on whether it can cross the gastrointestinal epithelium and on its possible effects on the integrity of the epithelial layer is however scanty or lacking, and herein we address these issues. Differentiated Caco2 cells have been used as a model of polarized intestinal epithelium. WGA concentration at both the apical and the basolateral side of the epithelium has been quantified using a sensitive ELISA assay (sensitivity threshold 0.84 nM). Trans epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) has been measured to evaluate the integrity of the epithelium upon treatments with WGA. 3 H-Mannitol (182.2 Da) and FITC-dextran (3000 Da) have been used to measure the permeability of the epithelium. Cell viability has been measured by the MTT, by 7-AAD uptake, and Annexin-V binding assays. Up to a concentration of 5.6 μM, ∼0.1% of intact WGA molecules only could cross the epithelial layer. WGA perturbed the integrity of the epithelium and increased the permeability of the tissue in a dose- and time-dependent manner. WGA did not induce cell death but increased the permeability of individual cells to 7-AAD which is normally not uptaken by viable cells. These data allowed us to define a toxicity threshold for WGA on epithelial cells. WGA suitability as a carrier for oral drugs can therefore be evaluated on a rational basis

Perceived neighborhood illicit drug selling, peer illicit drug disapproval and illicit drug use among U.S. high school seniors

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background This study examined associations between perceived neighborhood illicit drug selling, peer illicit drug disapproval and illicit drug use among a large nationally representative sample of U.S. high school seniors. Methods Data come from Monitoring the Future (2007–2011), an annual cross-sectional survey of U.S. high school seniors. Students reported neighborhood illicit drug selling, friend drug disapproval towards marijuana and cocaine use, and past 12-month and past 30-day illicit drug use (N = 10,050). Multinomial logistic regression models were fit to explain use of 1) just marijuana, 2) one illicit drug other than marijuana, and 3) more than one illicit drug other than marijuana, compared to “no use”. Results Report of neighborhood illicit drug selling was associated with lower friend disapproval of marijuana and cocaine; e.g., those who reported seeing neighborhood sales “almost every day” were less likely to report their friends strongly disapproved of marijuana (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.29, 0.49) compared to those who reported never seeing neighborhood drug selling and reported no disapproval. Perception of neighborhood illicit drug selling was also associated with past-year drug use and past-month drug use; e.g., those who reported seeing neighborhood sales “almost every day” were more likely to report 30-day use of more than one illicit drug (AOR = 11.11, 95% CI: 7.47, 16.52) compared to those who reported never seeing neighborhood drug selling and reported no 30-day use of illicit drugs. Conclusions Perceived neighborhood drug selling was associated with lower peer disapproval and more illicit drug use among a population-based nationally representative sample of U.S. high school seniors. Policy interventions to reduce “open” (visible) neighborhood drug selling (e.g., problem-oriented policing and modifications to the physical environment such as installing and monitoring surveillance cameras) may

Derivatization reactions in the gas—liquid chromatographic analysis of drugs in biological fluids

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hulshoff, A.; Lingeman, H.

1984-01-01

Alkylation, acylation, silylation and other derivatization reactions applied to the gas chromatographic analysis of drugs in biological matrices are reviewed. Reaction conditions are discussed in relation to reaction mechanisms. Detector-oriented labelling of drugs, and derivatization with chiral

Orientations of the Bronze Age Villa Complex at Vathypetro in Crete

Science.gov (United States)

Blomberg, M.; Henriksson, G.

We present the results of our archaeoastronomical study of the villa and the tripartite shrine at Vathypetro. We found orientations to three major celestial events (counting the equinoxes as one): to sunrise at the equinoxes and the winter solstice in the case of the villa and to sunset at the summer solstice in the case of the tripartite stone. The axis of symmetry of the major room of the villa was oriented to sunrise of the 22nd of October in the Late Minoan period. This was also the orientation of the axis of symmetry of the main cult room in the west wing of the palace at Malia. We propose that this orientation marked the time for planting and thus the beginning of the agricultural year. It is unusual that archaeoastronomical studies make contributions to historical debates. However certain orientations dating after Late Minoan I seem to reflect the Mycenaean presence in Crete. The orientation of the tripartite shrine to sunset at the summer solstice is the same as the orientations of the small shrines at Malia and Agia Triada, all of which we argue to have been built for Mycenaeans. We propose that there are two types of orientations in the island: those to the east within the limits for sunrise - made by Minoans, and some to the west - made by (or for) Mycenaeans.

Survey of Mathematics and Science Requirements for Production-Oriented Agronomy Majors.

Science.gov (United States)

Aide, Michael; Terry, Danny

1996-01-01

Analyzes course requirements to determine the amount of required mathematics and science for production-oriented agronomy majors. Reports that mathematics requirements center around college algebra and statistics; science requirements generally include chemistry, biology, plant physiology, and genetics; and land-grant institutions have a…

Dose-dependent effect of homoeopathic drug Zinc sulphate on plant growth using Bacopa monnieri as model system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vivek Kumar Gupta

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Zinc is one of the essential micronutrients in plants required in very low quantity for plant growth and development. In higher concentration, it is known to to reduce the rate of photosynthesis, So homoeopathic preparations tested to see it role on plan growth. Objective: To analyse the effect of homoeopathic preparation of Zinc sulphate on plants through in-vitro assay using Bacopa monnieri as a model plant system. Materials and Methods: Six homoeopathic potencies (1X to 6X of Zinc sulphate were used on a decimal scale along with the control (MS basal agar medium. The samples were evaluated by adding fixed amount (100 μl in the media as well as by dipping the explants in the test sample overnight. At the completion of the incubation period (14 days the fresh and dry weight, number and length of the roots, number and length of the shoots and the number of leaves were analysed. Results: It was observed that Zinc sulphate showed growth inhibition at potencies from 1X to 5X, whereas at potency 6X, it exhibited growth promotion effect, when compared with the control. Conclusion: Homoeopathic drug (Zinc sulphate exhibited growth promotion at higher potency (6X and growth inhibition at lower potencies (1X to 5X on Bacopa monneiri.

Behavior of sartans (antihypertensive drugs) in wastewater treatment plants, their occurrence and risk for the aquatic environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayer, Anne; Asner, Robert; Schüssler, Walter; Kopf, Willi; Weiß, Klaus; Sengl, Manfred; Letzel, Marion

2014-09-01

Pharmaceuticals and other anthropogenic trace contaminants reach wastewaters and are often not satisfactorily eliminated in sewage treatment plants. These contaminants and/or their degradation products may reach surface waters, thus influencing aquatic life. In this study, the behavior of five different antihypertonic pharmaceuticals from the sartan group (candesartan, eprosartan, irbesartan, olmesartan and valsartan) is investigated in lab-scale sewage plants. The elimination of the substances with related structures varied broadly from 17 % for olmesartan up to 96 % for valsartan. Monitoring data for these drugs in wastewater effluents of six different sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Bavaria, and at eight rivers, showed median concentrations for, e.g. valsartan of 1.1 and 0.13 μg L(-1), respectively. Predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) were calculated and are mostly consistent with the measured environmental concentrations (MEC). The selected sartans and the mixture of the five sartans showed no ecotoxic effects on aquatic organisms in relevant concentrations. Nevertheless, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment should be reduced to minimize the risk of their distribution in surface waters, ground waters and bank filtrates used for drinking water.

Plants under continuous light

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Velez Ramirez, A.I.; Ieperen, van W.; Vreugdenhill, D.; Millenaar, F.F.

2011-01-01

Continuous light is an essential tool for understanding the plant circadian clock. Additionally, continuous light might increase greenhouse food production. However, using continuous light in research and practice has its challenges. For instance, most of the circadian clock-oriented experiments

Critical analysis of India's National Mission on Medicinal Plants (NMMP in providing access to quality botanical drugs to improve public health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahi Jain

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Drugs play an important role in improving health of the population. Medicinal plants help in addressing the health issues of a large section of the population – especially the low and middle-income people. However, there are some concerns about the supply, efficacy and safety in using them. This study reviews India's major initiative toward medicinal plants namely, the National Mission on Medicinal Plants to meet medicinal plants challenges. The study analyzed the mission's probable shortcomings due to its design and operational details. This study used “content analysis” approach for analysis of mission's publicly available documents, viz. “Operational guidelines” and its two amendments. The study identified prevalent 28 shortcomings in the original document related to clarity of the document; accountability, transparency and stakeholders' representation. These challenges were partially addressed in two amendments, which indicate persistence of shortcomings in design and operational details. The mission can help in improving and strengthening the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy program by addressing those shortcomings.

Strategically oriented project management of the decommissioning of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kemmeter, Sascha; Woempener, Andreas

2013-01-01

Due to the politically induced change of the energy sector in Germany, the operators of nuclear power plants had to react and to deal with completely new conditions concerning the decommissioning of their plants on short notice. Therefore the operators have to devise new strategies for controlling their decommissioning and dismantling projects in a short amount of time and most often similarly for several plants. Two fundamental procedures are possible for the successful controlling of these dismantling projects: a centralized or a decentralized management organization. How these project control processes can be realized in an optimal way, is, next to other economic specifications of the dismantling of nuclear power plants, the topic of a new research project of the Chair of Management Accounting at the University Duisburg-Essen. In that process, results and experiences from other research and practical projects concerning general large-scale projects are being used. Selected findings have been compiled and are being discussed in this paper. (orig.)

Botanical drugs in Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaiswal, Yogini; Liang, Zhitao; Zhao, Zhongzhen

2016-12-24

China and India have a long history in the therapeutic application of botanical drugs in traditional medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda are considered as two of the most ancient systems of medicine, with history of more than two millennia. Medicinal plants are the principal medicinal materials used in both these systems. This review discusses about the histories of Ayurveda and TCM, the common medicinal plants species, the drug processing strategies used, and the current statuses of these traditional systems of medicine (TSM). Through the views presented in this article, we aim to provide a new perspective to herbal drug researchers for expanding and improving the utilization of botanical drugs and their therapeutic applications. A bibliographic investigation of Chinese and Indian pharmacopoeias, monographs and official websites was performed. Furthermore, information was obtained from scientific databases on ethnobotany and ethno medicines. The review of Ayurveda and TCM ethno medicine indicates that both these systems have many medicinal materials in common. The studies carried out by the authors for comparison of plants from same genus from both these TSM's have been discussed to further bring focus to the utilization of "qualitatively" similar species which can be utilized and substituted for endangered or economically valued species. The overview of ancient literature and scientific findings for drugs in both these systems suggests that, the botanical drugs used in common and their processing methods can be explored further for extensive utilization in traditional medicine. This review describes the histories, common medicinal plant species, their processing methods and therapeutic applications in Ayurveda and TCM. The insights provided through this article may be used by herbal drug researchers and pharmacologists for further exploration of botanical drugs from these two traditional systems of medicine. Copyright © 2016. Published by

Development of A Plant Navigation System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuta, Tomihiko; Nakagawa, Tsuneo; Kubota, Ryuji; Ikeda, Kouji

1998-01-01

A 'Plant Navigation System (PNS)' is under development to assist nuclear power plant (NPP) operators by automatically displaying the plant situation and plant operational procedures on a CRT screen when abnormalities occur. The operation procedures given in a symptom-oriented manual are expressed in a tree - type flowchart (modified PAD). The optimum operation procedure for an NPP is selected automatically using built-in diagnostic logics based on the current status of the NPP. Concerning the plant situation, the PNS displays important information only on the current status of the NPP. A prototype PNS system is being constructed. (authors)

Plants flex their skeletons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foster, Randy; Mattsson, Ole; Mundy, John

2003-01-01

Recent work on the fragile fiber mutants of Arabidopsis has identified microtubule-associated proteins that affect the orientation of cellulose microfibrils in cell walls, a major determinant of plant elongation growth. These same proteins are implicated in responses to gibberellin, provoking fresh...

The use of NPAR [Nuclear Plant Aging Research] results in plant inspection activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunther, W.; Taylor, J.

1989-01-01

The US NRC's Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program is a hardware oriented research program which has produced a large data base of equipment and system operating, maintenance, and testing information. Equipment and systems which have a propensity for age related degradation are identified, and methods for detecting and mitigating aging effects have been evaluated. As plants age, it becomes increasingly important that NRC inspectors be cognizant of plant aging phenomena. This paper describes the NPAR information which can enhance inspection activities, and provides a mechanism for making pertinent research available to the inspectors. 7 refs., 2 figs

Assessment of Difference in Dimensions of Sexual Orientation: Implications for Substance Use Research in a College-Age Population*

Science.gov (United States)

McCABE, SEAN ESTEBAN; HUGHES, TONDA L.; BOSTWICK, WENDY; BOYD, CAROL J.

2011-01-01

Objective The present research examines the associations between three distinct dimensions of sexual orientation and substance use in a random sample of undergraduate students. Method A Web-based survey was administered to students attending a large, midwestern research university in the spring of 2003. The sample consisted of 9,161 undergraduate students: 56% female, 68% white, 13% Asian, 6% black, 4% Hispanic and 9% other racial categories. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, several measures of alcohol and other drug use were compared across three dimensions of sexual orientation: sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual behavior. Results All three dimensions of sexual orientation were associated with substance use, including heavy episodic drinking, cigarette smoking and illicit drug use. Consistent with results of several other recent studies, “nonheterosexual” identity, attraction or behavior was associated with a more pronounced and consistent risk of substance use in women than in men. Conclusions Study findings suggest substantial variability in substance use across the three dimensions of sexual orientation and reinforce the importance of stratifying by gender and using multiple measures to assess sexual orientation. Study results have implications for future research and for interventions aimed at reducing substance use among college students. PMID:16331847

Occurrence and environmental implications of the presence of drugs of abuse in wastewater treatment plants of Valencia (Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Picó, Yolanda; Andres-Costa, M. Jesus; Andreu, Vicente

2014-05-01

Drugs of abuse are continuously discharged into wastewaters due to human excretion as parent compounds and/or secondary metabolites after consumption or accidental disposal into the toilets. (Boles and Wells,2010). Incomplete removal of these compounds during wastewater treatment results in their release to the environment. Pollution by illicit drug residues at very low concentrations is generalized in populated areas, with potential risks for human health and the environment. The impact of treated wastewater effluent on the quality of receiving waters can be evaluated performing an investigated performing an ecotoxicological risk assessment calculating the risk quotient (RQ) of the drugs of abuse level observed. In addition, back-calculation from the concentration of illicit drug in the influents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) provides an important tool for estimating its local consumption (Daughton 2001). Sampling campaigns were in three years, 2011 (March 9th to 15th), 2012 (April 17th to May 1st) and 2013 (March 6th to 12th) in influents and effluents from 3 Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs), Pinedo I, Pinedo II and Quart-Benàger, that treats most of the wastewater of Valencia City and its surrounding towns. Cocaine (COC), amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (MAMP), ecstasy (MDMA) and ketamine (KET), Benzoylecgonine (BE), 6-acethylmorphine (6-MAM), and 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH) were analyzed using mass spectrometry techniques such as liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-QqQ-MS/MS) Illicit drugs were extracted using solid phase extraction (SPE) and determined by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in positive ionization with an electrospray ionization source (ESI). The determination of drugs of abuse in the influent of the selected WWTP shows that all compounds were detected in 100% of influents from Pinedo I, Pinedo II and Quart-Benàger in samples analyzed during three years

Antiviral Drug Research Proposal Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisa Injaian

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The development of antiviral drugs provides an excellent example of how basic and clinical research must be used together in order to achieve the final goal of treating disease. A Research Oriented Learning Activity was designed to help students to better understand how basic and clinical research can be combined toward a common goal. Through this project students gained a better understanding of the process of scientific research and increased their information literacy in the field of virology. The students worked as teams to research the many aspects involved in the antiviral drug design process, with each student becoming an "expert" in one aspect of the project. The Antiviral Drug Research Proposal (ADRP culminated with students presenting their proposals to their peers and local virologists in a poster session. Assessment data showed increased student awareness and knowledge of the research process and the steps involved in the development of antiviral drugs as a result of this activity.

Investigating Nature's Mysteries for Drug Development

Science.gov (United States)

More than half of the drugs approved to treat cancer come from a natural product or a natural product prototype. Scientists in NCI-Frederick's Natural Products Branch are exploring ways to harness chemicals produced by marine invertebrates, other animals, plants, and microbes for cancer drug discovery.

Limited Bacterial Diversity within a Treatment Plant Receiving Antibiotic-Containing Waste from Bulk Drug Production

Science.gov (United States)

Shouche, Yogesh S.; Larsson, D. G. Joakim

2016-01-01

Biological treatment of waste water from bulk drug production, contaminated with high levels of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, can lead to massive enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resistance genes and associated mobile elements, as previously shown. Such strong selection may be boosted by the use of activated sludge (AS) technology, where microbes that are able to thrive on the chemicals within the wastewater are reintroduced at an earlier stage of the process to further enhance degradation of incoming chemicals. The microbial community structure within such a treatment plant is, however, largely unclear. In this study, Illumina-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the bacterial communities of different stages from an Indian treatment plant operated by Patancheru Environment Technology Limited (PETL) in Hyderabad, India. The plant receives waste water with high levels of fluoroquinolones and applies AS technology. A total of 1,019,400 sequences from samples of different stages of the treatment process were analyzed. In total 202, 303, 732, 652, 947 and 864 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained at 3% distance cutoff in the equilibrator, aeration tanks 1 and 2, settling tank, secondary sludge and old sludge samples from PETL, respectively. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phyla in all samples with Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria being the dominant classes. Alcaligenaceae and Pseudomonadaceae, bacterial families from PETL previously reported to be highly multidrug resistant, were the dominant families in aeration tank samples. Despite regular addition of human sewage (approximately 20%) to uphold microbial activity, the bacterial diversity within aeration tanks from PETL was considerably lower than corresponding samples from seven, regular municipal waste water treatment plants. The strong selection pressure from antibiotics present may be one important factor in structuring the microbial community in PETL

Limited Bacterial Diversity within a Treatment Plant Receiving Antibiotic-Containing Waste from Bulk Drug Production.

Science.gov (United States)

Marathe, Nachiket P; Shetty, Sudarshan A; Shouche, Yogesh S; Larsson, D G Joakim

2016-01-01

Biological treatment of waste water from bulk drug production, contaminated with high levels of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, can lead to massive enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resistance genes and associated mobile elements, as previously shown. Such strong selection may be boosted by the use of activated sludge (AS) technology, where microbes that are able to thrive on the chemicals within the wastewater are reintroduced at an earlier stage of the process to further enhance degradation of incoming chemicals. The microbial community structure within such a treatment plant is, however, largely unclear. In this study, Illumina-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the bacterial communities of different stages from an Indian treatment plant operated by Patancheru Environment Technology Limited (PETL) in Hyderabad, India. The plant receives waste water with high levels of fluoroquinolones and applies AS technology. A total of 1,019,400 sequences from samples of different stages of the treatment process were analyzed. In total 202, 303, 732, 652, 947 and 864 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained at 3% distance cutoff in the equilibrator, aeration tanks 1 and 2, settling tank, secondary sludge and old sludge samples from PETL, respectively. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phyla in all samples with Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria being the dominant classes. Alcaligenaceae and Pseudomonadaceae, bacterial families from PETL previously reported to be highly multidrug resistant, were the dominant families in aeration tank samples. Despite regular addition of human sewage (approximately 20%) to uphold microbial activity, the bacterial diversity within aeration tanks from PETL was considerably lower than corresponding samples from seven, regular municipal waste water treatment plants. The strong selection pressure from antibiotics present may be one important factor in structuring the microbial community in PETL

Limited Bacterial Diversity within a Treatment Plant Receiving Antibiotic-Containing Waste from Bulk Drug Production.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nachiket P Marathe

Full Text Available Biological treatment of waste water from bulk drug production, contaminated with high levels of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, can lead to massive enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resistance genes and associated mobile elements, as previously shown. Such strong selection may be boosted by the use of activated sludge (AS technology, where microbes that are able to thrive on the chemicals within the wastewater are reintroduced at an earlier stage of the process to further enhance degradation of incoming chemicals. The microbial community structure within such a treatment plant is, however, largely unclear. In this study, Illumina-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the bacterial communities of different stages from an Indian treatment plant operated by Patancheru Environment Technology Limited (PETL in Hyderabad, India. The plant receives waste water with high levels of fluoroquinolones and applies AS technology. A total of 1,019,400 sequences from samples of different stages of the treatment process were analyzed. In total 202, 303, 732, 652, 947 and 864 operational taxonomic units (OTUs were obtained at 3% distance cutoff in the equilibrator, aeration tanks 1 and 2, settling tank, secondary sludge and old sludge samples from PETL, respectively. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phyla in all samples with Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria being the dominant classes. Alcaligenaceae and Pseudomonadaceae, bacterial families from PETL previously reported to be highly multidrug resistant, were the dominant families in aeration tank samples. Despite regular addition of human sewage (approximately 20% to uphold microbial activity, the bacterial diversity within aeration tanks from PETL was considerably lower than corresponding samples from seven, regular municipal waste water treatment plants. The strong selection pressure from antibiotics present may be one important factor in structuring the microbial

Influence of Hydrothermal Treatment on Physicochemical Properties and Drug Release of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs of Intercalated Layered Double Hydroxide Nanoparticles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zi Gu

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The synthesis method of layered double hydroxides (LDHs determines nanoparticles’ performance in biomedical applications. In this study, hydrothermal treatment as an important synthesis technique has been examined for its influence on the physicochemical properties and the drug release rate from drug-containing LDHs. We synthesised MgAl–LDHs intercalated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (i.e., naproxen, diclofenac and ibuprofen using a co-precipitation method with or without hydrothermal treatment (150 °C, 4 h. After being hydrothermally treated, LDH–drug crystallites increased in particle size and crystallinity, but did not change in the interlayer anion orientation, gallery height and chemical composition. The drug release patterns of all studied LDH–drug hybrids were biphasic and sustained. LDHs loaded with diclofenac had a quicker drug release rate compared with those with naproxen and ibuprofen, and the drug release from the hydrothermally-treated LDH–drug was slower than the freshly precipitated LDH–drug. These results suggest that the drug release of LDH–drugs is influenced by the crystallite size of LDHs, which can be controlled by hydrothermal treatment, as well as by the drug molecular physicochemical properties.

APE (state-oriented approach) centralized control procedures; Procedures de conduite APE (Approche Par Etats)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Astier, D. [FRAMATOME ANP, 92 - Paris-La-Defence (France); Depont, G. [Electricite de France (EDF/DPN), 93 - Saint-Denis (France); Van Dermarliere, Y. [Electricite de France (EDF/SEPTEN), 69 - Villeurbanne (France)

2004-07-01

This article presents the progressive implementation of the state-oriented approach (APE) for centralized control procedures in French nuclear power plants. The implementation began in the years 1982-83 and it concerned only the circuits involved in engineered safeguard systems such IS (safety injection), EAS (containment spray system) and GMPP (reactor coolant pump set). In 2003 the last PWR unit switched from the event oriented approach to APE for post-accidental situations.

Modelling the encapsulation of the anticancer drug cisplatin into carbon nanotubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilder, Tamsyn A; Hill, James M

2007-01-01

The proposed use of nanocapsules in drug delivery systems promises many advantages over current procedures. The major advantage is the potential for patients to have significantly reduced side effects from taking the drug, especially for highly toxic drugs such as those used for cancer treatments. Nanotubes have been suggested as one such carrier to deliver a drug to a specific site, giving rise to the notion of the 'magic bullet'. The aim of this paper is to determine whether a particular nanotube would accept a particular drug, and to determine the radius of the nanotube that provides the maximum uptake of the drug molecule. In particular, this paper looks at the drug cisplatin, a platinum based anticancer drug widely used in the treatment of tumours. Three orientations of cisplatin, a polar molecule, are investigated as it enters the nanotube. It is shown that, for all three orientations of cisplatin to be accepted into the carbon nanotube, the minimum radius must be at least 4.785 A, which is slightly smaller than a (9, 5) nanotube and that the maximum suction energy occurs when the carbon nanotube radius is approximately 5.3 A, which is approximately equivalent to a (11, 4) nanotube. This paper presents for the first time a calculation of this nature, and although the model represents only a first approximation, it constitutes a necessary preliminary calculation which might provide medical scientists with some overall guidelines

Sexual Orientation, Drug Use Preference during Sex, and HIV Risk Practices and Preferences among Men Who Specifically Seek Unprotected Sex Partners via the Internet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hugh Klein

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The present study entailed conducting a content analysis of 1,434 ads/profiles posted on one of the most popular “Men who have Sex with Men” (MSM websites that specifically fosters unprotected sex. Ads/profiles were selected randomly based on the American ZIP code of residence (n = 1,316, with a randomly-drawn oversampling of profiles of men who self-identified as heterosexual or ���curious” rather than gay or bisexual (n = 118. Data were collected between September 2006 and September 2007. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the conjoint effects of self-identified sexual orientation and preference for having/not having sex while high, on men’s sought-after sexual risk. Analytical comparisons of the four groups showed that, on most measures, the combination of sexual orientation and drug use preference during sex differentiated the men. Generally speaking, gay/bisexual men who advertised online for partners with whom they could have sex while high expressed the greatest interest in risky sexual behaviors (e.g., felching, unprotected oral sex, unprotected anal sex and various risk-related preferences (e.g., multiple partner sex, anonymous sex, eroticizing ejaculatory fluids. This is especially true when they are compared to their heterosexual/“curious” counterparts whose online profiles were not as likely to indicate a desire for having sex while high.

Prescriptive Oriented Drug Analysis of Multiple Sclerosis Disease by LC-UV in Whole Human Blood.

Science.gov (United States)

Suneetha, A; Rajeswari, Raja K

2016-02-01

As a polytherapy treatment, multiple sclerosis disease demands prescriptions with more than one drug. Polytherapy is sometimes rational for drug combinations chosen to minimize adverse effects. Estimation of drugs that are concomitantly administered in polytherapy is acceptable as it shortens the analytical timepoints and also the usage of biological matrices. In clinical phase trials, the withdrawal of biofluids is a critical issue for each analysis. Estimating all the coadminsitered drugs in a single shot will be more effective and economical for pharmaceuticals. A single, simple, rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography assay method has been developed with UV detection and fully validated for the quantification of 14 drugs (at random combinations) used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis disease. The set of combinations was based on prescriptions to patients. Separations were achieved on an X-Terra MS C18 (100 × 3.9 mm, 5 µm) column. The analytes were extracted from 50 µL aliquots of whole human blood with protein precipitation using acetonitrile. All the drugs were sufficiently stable during storage for 24 h at room temperature and for 23 days at 2-8°C. The percentage recoveries of all drugs were between 90 and 115%, with RSD values <10.6%. This method has been shown to be reproducible and sensitive and can be applied to clinical samples from pharmacokinetic studies and also a useful tool in studying the drug interaction studies. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Antioxidant Potential of Different Medicinal Plants

OpenAIRE

Vasanthi P; Parameswari CS

2015-01-01

Medicinal plants are the resource of new drug. Most of the modern medicines are produced indirectly from medicinal plants. Plants are directly used as medicines by a majority of cultures around the world. Studying medicinal plants helps to understand plant toxicity and protect human and animals from natural poisons. Medicinal plants are the important sources for pharmaceutical manufacturing. In developing countries, herbal medicines are considered to be readily available, accessible, affordab...

Understanding voter orientation in the context of political market orientation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ormrod, Robert P.; Henneberg, Stephan C.

2010-01-01

This article develops a conceptual framework and measurement model of political market orientation. The relationships between different behavioural aspects of political market orientation and the attitudinal influences of such behaviour are analysed, and the study includes structural equation...... modelling to test several hypotheses. While the results show that political parties focus on several different aspects of market-oriented behaviour, especially using an internal and societal orientation as cultural antecedents, a more surprising result is the inconclusive effect of a voter orientation...... on political market orientation. This lends support to the argument of 'looking beyond the customer' in political marketing research and practice. The article discusses the findings in the context of the existing literature on political marketing and commercial market orientation....

How do researchers categorize drugs, and how do drug users categorize them?

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Juliet P; Antin, Tamar M J

2012-01-01

This paper considers drug classifications and terms widely used in US survey research, and compares these to classifications and terms used by drug users. We begin with a critical review of drug classification systems, including those oriented to public policy and health services as well as survey research. We then consider the results of a pile sort exercise we conducted with 76 respondents within a mixed method study of Southeast Asian American adolescent and young adult drug users in urban Northern California, USA. We included the pile sort to clarify how respondents handled specific terms which we understood to be related to Ecstasy and methamphetamines. Results of the pile sort were analyzed using graphic layout algorithms as well as content analysis of pile labels. Similar to the national surveys, our respondents consistently differentiated Ecstasy terms from methamphetamine terms. We found high agreement between some specific local terms ( thizz , crystal ) and popular drug terms, while other terms thought to be mainstream ( crank , speed ) were reported as unknown by many respondents. In labeling piles, respondents created taxonomies based on consumption method (in particular, pill ) as well as the social contexts of use. We conclude by proposing that divergences between drug terms utilized in survey research and those used by drug users may reflect two opposing tendencies: the tendency of survey researchers to utilize standardized language that constructs persons and experiences as relatively homogeneous, varying only within measurable degrees, and the tendency of drug users to utilize specialized language (argot) that reflects their understandings of their experiences as hybrid and diverse. The findings problematize the validity of drug terms and categories used in survey research.

A retrospective of an unconventionally trained plant pathologist: plant diseases to molecular plant pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouchi, Seiji

2006-01-01

Plant pathology evolved from its mycology-oriented origins into a science dealing with biochemical mechanisms of diseases, along with enhanced crop production through disease control. This retrospective describes first my personal experience from my introduction to plant pathology, to the establishment of the concept of accessibility as a model pertaining to genetically defined basic compatibility induced by pathogens. I then refer to the development of molecular plant pathology from physiological and biochemical plant pathology fostered by the growth in recombinant technology in the second half of the past century. This progress was best reflected by the U.S.-Japan Seminar Series held at 4-5-year intervals from 1966 to 2003 and documented by publications in major journals of our discipline. These seminars emphasized that progress in science has always been supported by the invention of novel techniques and that knowledge integrated from modern genomics and subsequent proteomics should contribute to the progress of basic life sciences and, more importantly, to the elaboration of rational measures for disease control.

Ondansetron and granisetron binding orientation in the 5-HT(3) receptor determined by unnatural amino acid mutagenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Noah H; Lester, Henry A; Dougherty, Dennis A

2012-10-19

The serotonin type 3 receptor (5-HT(3)R) is a ligand-gated ion channel found in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The 5-HT(3)R is a therapeutic target, and the clinically available drugs ondansetron and granisetron inhibit receptor activity. Their inhibitory action is through competitive binding to the native ligand binding site, although the binding orientation of the drugs at the receptor has been a matter of debate. Here we heterologously express mouse 5-HT(3)A receptors in Xenopus oocytes and use unnatural amino acid mutagenesis to establish a cation-π interaction for both ondansetron and granisetron to tryptophan 183 in the ligand binding pocket. This cation-π interaction establishes a binding orientation for both ondansetron and granisetron within the binding pocket.

Drug interactions in African herbal remedies.

Science.gov (United States)

Cordier, Werner; Steenkamp, Vanessa

2011-01-01

Herbal usage remains popular as an alternative or complementary form of treatment, especially in Africa. However, the misconception that herbal remedies are safe due to their "natural" origins jeopardizes human safety, as many different interactions can occur with concomitant use with other pharmaceuticals on top of potential inherent toxicity. Cytochrome P450 enzymes are highly polymorphic, and pose a problem for pharmaceutical drug tailoring to meet an individual's specific metabolic activity. The influence of herbal remedies further complicates this. The plants included in this review have been mainly researched for determining their effect on cytochrome P450 enzymes and P-glycoprotein drug transporters. Usage of herbal remedies, such as Hypoxis hemerocallidea, Sutherlandia frutescens and Harpagophytum procumbensis popular in Africa. The literature suggests that there is a potential for drug-herb interactions, which could occur through alterations in metabolism and transportation of drugs. Research has primarily been conducted in vitro, whereas in vivo data are lacking. Research concerning the effect of African herbals on drug metabolism should also be approached, as specific plants are especially popular in conjunction with certain treatments. Although these interactions can be beneficial, the harm they pose is just as great.

Ashtawarga plants - Suffering a triple standardization syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Virk, Jaswinder Kaur; Gupta, Vikas; Kumar, Sanjiv; Singh, Ranjit; Bansal, Parveen

2017-10-01

Ayurveda is one of the oldest known holistic health care systems recommending diverse medicinal uses of plants for prevention and cure of diseases and illness. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the holistic system is gaining more popularity due to its easy availability, low cost, congeniality, better accessibility and higher safety than allopathic medicine. Demand of herbal drugs is increasing day-by-day because of increasing popularity of herbal drugs; however market fails to meet this supply due to numerous factors, one of the important factors being the extinction of these plants from local flora. About 560 herbal species of India have been included in the Red List of Threatened species. Hence to overcome problem of non-availability of endangered species, Department of AYUSH, Govt. of India has permitted the substitution of rare herbal drugs with available substitutes on the basis of Ayurvedic concepts. Due to this, herbal drug industry has started exploiting the situation and now Ayurvedic products are suffering from a serious problem of adulteration with addition of spoiled, inferior, spurious drugs that are inferior in therapeutic/chemical properties and used to enhance profits. Adulteration with other plants degrades the quality and credibility of Ayurvedic medicine. Ashtawarga plants being an important part of many Ayurvedic formulations are also available in a very limited amount and likely to be substituted by cheap adulterants. Keeping in view the above situation, a metadata analysis has been conducted to find out types of adulteration/substitutions malpractices going on for Ashtawarga plants.

POTENCY OF THE INDONESIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS AS ANTIMALARIAL DRUGS

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Subeki Subeki

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The Indonesian traditional herbal medicine has been practiced for many centuries in Indonesia to treat malaria diseases. Although modern medicine is becoming increasingly important, herbal medicine is still very popular. In order to select raw material for preparation of safety herbal medicines, forty five medicinal plants have been tested for acute toxicity in mouse at a dose 715 mg/kg body weight. The extracts of Asclepias curassavica leave, Alstonia scholaris leave, Decospermum fruticosum leave, Elaocarpus petiolatus bark, Elaocarpus parvifolius bark, Eurycoma longifolia root, Garcinia rigida bark, Nephelium lappaceum bark, Pentaspodan motleyi leave, Picrasma javanica leave, Phyllanthus niruri whole, Quassia indica leave, Syzygium pycnanthum bark, Tetrasera scandens leave, Cratoxylum glaucum bark, Sandoricum emarginatum bark, Mallotus paniculatus leave, Microcos ovatolanceolata bark, Poikilospermum suaveolens leave, Fibraurea chloroleuea leave, Tetrasera scandens root, and Timonius billitonensis bark showed toxicity with mortality level of 20-100%. The remaining 32 plant extracts were not toxic at dose tested. The toxic plant species should be considered in the preparation of herbal medicines. Of the safety extracts were tested for their antimalarial activity against Plasmodium berghei in vivo at a dose 715 mg/kg body weight. Extract of Carica papaya leave was most active than other plant extracts with parasitemia 1.13%, while control showed 17.21%. More research is needed to scientifically prove efficacy and to identity antimalarial constituents in the plant extracts. Key words: Indonesian medicinal plant, jamu, toxicity, antimalarial activity, Plasmodium berghei.

The first object oriented monitor for intravenous anesthesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Cantraine, F R; Coussaert, E J

2000-01-01

To describe the design and implementation of "INFUSION TOOLBOX," a software tool to control and monitor multiple intravenous drug infusions simultaneously using pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles. INFUSION TOOLBOX has been designed to present a graphical interface. Object Oriented design was used and the software was implemented using Smalltalk, to run on a PC. Basic tools are available to manage patient, drugs, pumps and reports. These tools are the PatientPanel, the DrugPanel, the PumpPanel and the HistoryPanel. The screen is built dynamically. The panels may be collapsed or closed to avoid a crowded display. We also built control panels such as the Target ControlPanel which calculates the best infusion sequence to bring the drug concentration in the plasma compartment to a preset value. Before drug delivery, the user enters the patient's data, selects a drug, enters its dilution factor and chooses a pharmacokinetic model. The calculated plasma concentration is continually displayed and updated. The anesthetist may ask for the history of the delivery to obtain a graphic report or to add events to the logbook. A panel targeting the effect is used when a pharmacodynamic model is known. Data files for drugs, pumps and surgery are upgradable. By creating a resizeable ControlPanel we enable the anesthetist to display the information he wishes, when he wishes it. The available panels are diverse enough to meet the anesthetist needs; they may be adapted to the drug used, pumps used and surgery. It is the anesthetist who builds dynamically its different control screens. By adopting an evolutionary solution model we have achieved considerable success in building our drug delivery monitor. In addition we have gained valuable insight into the anesthesia information domain that will allow us to further enhance and expand the system.

Quality improvement of oriental melon and watermelon using bioceramics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, H.K.; Lee, K.J.; Ryou, Y.S.

1996-01-01

Oriental melon and watermelon plants were cultivated in the soil treated with bioceramics in a greenhouse during summer season from June 1st to August 20th, 1995. Two application methods were employed, one was a mixed treatment of soil and bioceramics, and the other was a spray treatment of bioceramic solution on the stems and leaves. And two types of bioceramics were also stopped by five levels. In order to analyze the bioceramic effect on oriental melon and watermelon, the growth rate of stems, leaves and fruits were measured in the greenhouse. After harvest, the sweetness of fruits was measured and the freshness of fruits based on the storage period was tested by human taste and smell sense. The results are summarized as follows. 1. The growth rates of stems, leaves and fruits of oriental melon and watermelon were the largest in the bioceramic treatment of No. 3. 2. The density of oriental melon and watermelon was the largest in the bioceramic treatment of No. 3 and No. 2 respectively. 3. The Brix number of watermelon was 10.6 in non-bioceramic treatment and 11.5 in the bioceramic treatment of No. 2, and that of oriental melon was 8.6 in non-bioceramic treatment and 12.3 in the bioceramic treatment of No. 2. 4. The storage duration of watermelon treated with bioceramics was about 50 days in the condition of the ambient temperature of 25∼30°C. (author)

[Clinical orientation and thought on several problems in post-marketed reassessment of traditional Chinese medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xin; Su, Xia; Yu, Jie; Xie, Yanming; Wang, Yongyan

2011-10-01

The post-marketed reassessment is an important link to ensure the safety and effectiveness of traditional chinese medicine. It is also the expansion and stretch of new drug evaluation. Through the systematic, standard, rigorous post-marketed reassessment, the enterprise can full access to drugs after listing the efficacy and safety information, evaluate the interests and risk of the drug and provide the scientific basis for the drug use. It can also provide timely, scientific technology basis for government health decisions, the enterprise marketing decision and public health security. This paper mainly discussed the thought on clinical orientation of traditional chinese medicine in the post-marketed reassessment and how to reach the goal through systematic consideration and overall plan.

Antimicrobial Properties of Plant Essential Oils against Human Pathogens and Their Mode of Action: An Updated Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mallappa Kumara Swamy

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A wide range of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs have been explored for their essential oils in the past few decades. Essential oils are complex volatile compounds, synthesized naturally in different plant parts during the process of secondary metabolism. Essential oils have great potential in the field of biomedicine as they effectively destroy several bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens. The presence of different types of aldehydes, phenolics, terpenes, and other antimicrobial compounds means that the essential oils are effective against a diverse range of pathogens. The reactivity of essential oil depends upon the nature, composition, and orientation of its functional groups. The aim of this article is to review the antimicrobial potential of essential oils secreted from MAPs and their possible mechanisms of action against human pathogens. This comprehensive review will benefit researchers who wish to explore the potential of essential oils in the development of novel broad-spectrum key molecules against a broad range of drug-resistant pathogenic microbes.

Antimicrobial Properties of Plant Essential Oils against Human Pathogens and Their Mode of Action: An Updated Review

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

A wide range of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) have been explored for their essential oils in the past few decades. Essential oils are complex volatile compounds, synthesized naturally in different plant parts during the process of secondary metabolism. Essential oils have great potential in the field of biomedicine as they effectively destroy several bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens. The presence of different types of aldehydes, phenolics, terpenes, and other antimicrobial compounds means that the essential oils are effective against a diverse range of pathogens. The reactivity of essential oil depends upon the nature, composition, and orientation of its functional groups. The aim of this article is to review the antimicrobial potential of essential oils secreted from MAPs and their possible mechanisms of action against human pathogens. This comprehensive review will benefit researchers who wish to explore the potential of essential oils in the development of novel broad-spectrum key molecules against a broad range of drug-resistant pathogenic microbes. PMID:28090211

Relationships Between Future Orientation, Impulsive Sensation Seeking, and Risk Behavior Among Adjudicated Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Reuben N.; Bryan, Angela

2004-01-01

Because of high levels of risk behavior, adjudicated adolescents are at high risk for negative health outcomes such as nicotine and drug addiction and sexually transmitted diseases. The goal of this article is to examine relationships between future orientation and impulsive-sensation-seeking personality constructs to risk behaviors among 300…

Ethnobotany and ethnopharmacy--their role for anti-cancer drug development.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinrich, Michael; Bremner, Paul

2006-03-01

Local and traditional knowledge has been the starting point for many successful drug development projects over the last decades. Here we discuss some examples of anti-cancer drugs which have had enormous impact as anti-cancer agents (camptothecan, taxol and derivatives) and a few examples of drugs currently under various stages of preclinical development. Ethnobotanists investigate the relationship between humans and plants in all its complexity, and such research is generally based on a detailed observation and study of the use a society makes of plants. The requirements of modern research on natural products as, for example, outlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio Convention) and the overall approach in ethnobotanical research are also discussed. Selected phytochemical-pharmacological studies based on traditional plant use are used to highlight the potential of ethnobotany driven anti-cancer research. The link between traditionally used plants and targets of the NF-kappaB pathway is discussed using on an EU-funded, multidisciplinary project as an example. Lastly the potential of chemopreventive agents derived from traditional food plants is briefly addressed.

Antimicrobial activity of Nigerian medicinal plants

Science.gov (United States)

Anyanwu, Madubuike Umunna; Okoye, Rosemary Chinazam

2017-01-01

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is currently one of the major threats facing mankind. The emergence and rapid spread of multi- and pan-drug-resistant organisms (such as vancomycin-, methicillin-, extended-spectrum β-lactam-, carbapenem- and colistin-resistant organisms) has put the world in a dilemma. The health and economic burden associated with AMR on a global scale are dreadful. Available antimicrobials have been misused and are almost ineffective with some of these drugs associated with dangerous side effects in some individuals. Development of new, effective, and safe antimicrobials is one of the ways by which AMR burden can be reduced. The rate at which microorganisms develop AMR mechanisms outpaces the rate at which new antimicrobials are being developed. Medicinal plants are potential sources of new antimicrobial molecules. There is renewed interest in antimicrobial activities of phytochemicals. Nigeria boasts of a huge heritage of medicinal plants and there is avalanche of researches that have been undertaken to screen antimicrobial activities of these plants. Scientific compilation of these studies could provide useful information on the antimicrobial properties of the plants. This information can be useful in the development of new antimicrobial drugs. This paper reviews antimicrobial researches that have been undertaken on Nigerian medicinal plants. PMID:28512606

Liposome-Based Delivery Systems in Plant Polysaccharides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meiwan, C.; Yitao, W.; Yanfang, Z.; Xinsheng, P.; Jingjing, H.; Ping, Z.

2012-01-01

Plant polysaccharides consist of many monosaccharide by α or β glycosidic bond which can be extracted by the water, alcohol, lipophile liquid from a variety of plants including Cordyceps sinensis, astragalus, and mushrooms. Recently, many evidences illustrate that natural plant polysaccharides possess various biological activities including strengthening immunity, lowering blood sugar, regulating lipid metabolism, anti oxidation, anti aging, and antitumour. Plant polysaccharides have been widely used in the medical field due to their special features and low toxicity. As an important drug delivery system, liposomes can not only encapsulate small-molecule compound but also big-molecule drug; therefore, they present great promise for the application of plant polysaccharides with unique physical and chemical properties and make remarkable successes. This paper summarized the current progress in plant polysaccharides liposomes, gave an overview on their experiment design method, preparation, and formulation, characterization and quality control, as well as in vivo and in vitro studies. Moreover, the potential application of plant polysaccharides liposomes was prospected as well.

Flipped Phenyl Ring Orientations of Dopamine Binding with Human and Drosophila Dopamine Transporters: Remarkable Role of Three Nonconserved Residues.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Yaxia; Zhu, Jun; Zhan, Chang-Guo

2018-03-09

Molecular modeling and molecular dynamics simulations were performed in the present study to examine the modes of dopamine binding with human and Drosophila dopamine transporters (hDAT and dDAT). The computational data revealed flipped binding orientations of dopamine in hDAT and dDAT due to the major differences in three key residues (S149, G153, and A423 of hDAT vs A117, D121, and S422 of dDAT) in the binding pocket. These three residues dictate the binding orientation of dopamine in the binding pocket, as the aromatic ring of dopamine tends to take an orientation with both the para- and meta-hydroxyl groups being close to polar residues and away from nonpolar residues of the protein. The flipped binding orientations of dopamine in hDAT and dDAT clearly demonstrate a generally valuable insight concerning how the species difference could drastically affect the protein-ligand binding modes, demonstrating that the species difference, which is a factor rarely considered in early drug design stage, must be accounted for throughout the ligand/drug design and discovery processes in general.

Drug Partitioning in Micellar Media and Its Implications in Rational Drug Design: Insights with Streptomycin.

Science.gov (United States)

Judy, Eva; Pagariya, Darshna; Kishore, Nand

2018-03-20

Oral bioavailability of a drug molecule requires its effective delivery to the target site. In general, majority of synthetically developed molecular entities have high hydrophobic nature as well as low bioavailability, therefore the need for suitable delivery vehicles arises. Self-assembled structures such as micelles, niosomes, and liposomes have been used as effective delivery vehicles and studied extensively. However, the information available in literature is mostly qualitative in nature. We have quantitatively investigated the partitioning of antibiotic drug streptomycin into cationic, nonionic, and a mixture of cationic and nonionic surfactant micelles and its interaction with the transport protein serum albumin upon subsequent delivery. A combination of calorimetry and spectroscopy has been used to obtain the thermodynamic signatures associated with partitioning and interaction with the protein and the resulting conformational changes in the latter. The results have been correlated with other class of drugs of different nature to understand the role of molecular features in the partitioning process. These studies are oriented toward understanding the physical chemistry of partitioning of a variety of drug molecules into suitable delivery vehicles and hence establishing structure-property-energetics relationships. Such studies provide general guidelines toward a broader goal of rational drug design.

Code for plant identification (KKS) key in PC version

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pannenbaecker, K.

1991-01-01

The plant identification system (KKS) as a common development of german plant operators, erection firms and also power plant oriented organisations have decisively influenced the technical-organizing activities of planning and erections as operations and maintenance of all kind of power plants. Fundamentals are three key parts, operation, armatures and function keys. Their management and application is executed by a plantidentification-key code in a PC version, which is briefly described in this report. (orig.) [de

[Action-oriented versus state-oriented reactions to experimenter-induced failures].

Science.gov (United States)

Brunstein, J C

1989-01-01

The present study assessed different effects of action-oriented versus state-oriented styles of coping with failure on achievement-related performance and cognition. In a learned helplessness experiment, students were exposed to an academic failure situation and were then tested on a series of problem-solving tasks, either immediately after the pretreatment or after a delay of 24 hours. Performance and cognitive concomitants were measured during both experimental periods. Results demonstrated that action orientation was associated with self-immunizing cognitions during helplessness training. Action-oriented participants improved their performance level even after repeated failure feedbacks. Moreover, action-oriented students assigned to the delayed test condition responded with increased striving for success and showed performance increments, even in comparison with control subjects. In contrast, state-oriented participants developed symptoms of helplessness and showed impaired performance during failure inductions. In later tests on problem-solving tasks, state-oriented groups responded with increased fear of failure. Independent of immediate or delayed test conditions, they soon lapsed into new performance decrements.

Gravity response mechanisms of lateral organs and the control of plant architecture in Arabidopsis

Science.gov (United States)

Mullen, J.; Hangarter, R.

Most research on gravity responses in plants has focused on primary roots and shoots, which typically grow in a vertical orientation. However, the patterns of lateral organ formation and their growth orientation, which typically are not vertical, govern plant architecture. For example, in Arabidopsis, when lateral roots emerge from the primary root, they grow at a nearly horizontal orientation. As they elongate, the roots slowly curve until they eventually reach a vertical orientation. The regulation of this lateral root orientation is an important component affecting the overall root system architecture. We have found that this change in orientation is not simply due to the onset of gravitropic competence, as non-vertical lateral roots are capable of both positive and negative gravitropism. Thus, the horizontal growth of the new lateral roots is determined by what is called the gravitropic set-point angle (GSA). In Arabidopsis shoots, rosette leaves and inflorescence branches also display GSA-dependent developmental changes in their orientation. The developmental control of the GSA of lateral organs in Arabidopsis provides us with a useful system for investigating the components involved in regulating directionality of tropistic responses. We have identified several Arabidopsis mutants that have either altered lateral root orientations, altered orientation of lateral organs in the shoot, or both, but maintain normal primary organ orientation. The mgsa ({m}odified {g}ravitropic {s}et-point {a}ngle) mutants with both altered lateral root and shoot orientation show that there are common components in the regulation of growth orientation in the different organs. Rosette leaves and lateral roots also have in common a regulation of positioning by red light. Further molecular and physiological analyses of the GSA mutants will provide insight into the basis of GSA regulation and, thus, a better understanding of how gravity controls plant architecture. [This work was

Ondansetron and Granisetron Binding Orientation in the 5-HT3 Receptor Determined by Unnatural Amino Acid Mutagenesis

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Noah H.; Lester, Henry A.; Dougherty, Dennis A.

2012-01-01

The serotonin type 3 receptor (5-HT3R) is a ligand-gated ion channel that mediates fast synaptic transmission in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The 5-HT3R is a therapeutic target, and the clinically available drugs ondansetron and granisetron inhibit receptor activity. Their inhibitory action is through competitive binding to the native ligand binding site, although the binding orientation of the drugs at the receptor has been a matter of debate. Here we heterologously express mouse 5-HT3A receptors in Xenopus oocytes and use unnatural amino acid mutagenesis to establish a cation-π interaction for both ondansetron and granisetron to tryptophan 183 in the ligand binding pocket. This cation-π interaction establishes a binding orientation for both ondansetron and granisetron within the binding pocket. PMID:22873819

Inventory of cassava plant protection and development projects in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A total of 303 cassava protection and development projects were identified of which about half are plant protection-oriented. Most activities on cassava protection have been centred on biological control and host plant resistance. The least activity has been on chemical control. The applicability of the collected database is ...

Sustainable drugs and global health care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geoffrey A. Cordell

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Each day, Earth's finite resources are being depleted for energy, for material goods, for transportation, for housing, and for drugs. As we evolve scientifically and technologically, and as the population of the world rapidly approaches 7 billion and beyond, among the many issues with which we are faced is the continued availability of drugs for future global health care. Medicinal agents are primarily derived from two sources, synthetic and natural, or in some cases, as semi-synthetic compounds, a mixture of the two. For the developed world, efforts have been initiated to make drug production "greener", with milder reagents, shorter reaction times, and more efficient processing, thereby using less energy, and reactions which are more atom efficient, and generate fewer by-products. However, most of the world's population uses plants, in either crude or extract form, for their primary health care. There is relatively little discussion as yet, about the long term effects of the current, non-sustainable harvesting methods for medicinal plants from the wild, which are depleting these critical resources without concurrent initiatives to commercialize their cultivation. To meet future public health care needs, a paradigm shift is required in order to adopt new approaches using contemporary technology which will result in drugs being regarded as a sustainable commodity, irrespective of their source. In this presentation, several approaches to enhancing and sustaining the availability of drugs, both synthetic and natural, will be discussed, including the use of vegetables as chemical reagents, and the deployment of integrated strategies involving information systems, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and detection techniques for the development of medicinal plants with enhanced levels of bioactive agents.

A treatment plant receiving waste water from multiple bulk drug manufacturers is a reservoir for highly multi-drug resistant integron-bearing bacteria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nachiket P Marathe

Full Text Available The arenas and detailed mechanisms for transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between environmental bacteria and pathogens are largely unclear. Selection pressures from antibiotics in situations where environmental bacteria and human pathogens meet are expected to increase the risks for such gene transfer events. We hypothesize that waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs serving antibiotic manufacturing industries may provide such spawning grounds, given the high bacterial densities present there together with exceptionally strong and persistent selection pressures from the antibiotic-contaminated waste. Previous analyses of effluent from an Indian industrial WWTP that processes waste from bulk drug production revealed the presence of a range of drugs, including broad spectrum antibiotics at extremely high concentrations (mg/L range. In this study, we have characterized the antibiotic resistance profiles of 93 bacterial strains sampled at different stages of the treatment process from the WWTP against 39 antibiotics belonging to 12 different classes. A large majority (86% of the strains were resistant to 20 or more antibiotics. Although there were no classically-recognized human pathogens among the 93 isolated strains, opportunistic pathogens such as Ochrobactrum intermedium, Providencia rettgeri, vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE, Aerococcus sp. and Citrobacter freundii were found to be highly resistant. One of the O. intermedium strains (ER1 was resistant to 36 antibiotics, while P. rettgeri (OSR3 was resistant to 35 antibiotics. Class 1 and 2 integrons were detected in 74/93 (80% strains each, and 88/93 (95% strains harbored at least one type of integron. The qPCR analysis of community DNA also showed an unprecedented high prevalence of integrons, suggesting that the bacteria living under such high selective pressure have an appreciable potential for genetic exchange of resistance genes via mobile gene cassettes. The present study provides

Chromosome segregation in plant meiosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linda eZamariola

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Faithful chromosome segregation in meiosis is essential for ploidy stability over sexual life cycles. In plants, defective chromosome segregation caused by gene mutations or other factors leads to the formation of unbalanced or unreduced gametes creating aneuploid or polyploid progeny, respectively. Accurate segregation requires the coordinated execution of conserved processes occurring throughout the two meiotic cell divisions. Synapsis and recombination ensure the establishment of chiasmata that hold homologous chromosomes together allowing their correct segregation in the first meiotic division, which is also tightly regulated by cell-cycle dependent release of cohesin and monopolar attachment of sister kinetochores to microtubules. In meiosis II, bi-orientation of sister kinetochores and proper spindle orientation correctly segregate chromosomes in four haploid cells. Checkpoint mechanisms acting at kinetochores control the accuracy of kinetochore-microtubule attachment, thus ensuring the completion of segregation. Here we review the current knowledge on the processes taking place during chromosome segregation in plant meiosis, focusing on the characterization of the molecular factors involved.

Herb-drug interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Fugh-Berman, A

2000-01-08

Concurrent use of herbs may mimic, magnify, or oppose the effect of drugs. Plausible cases of herb-drug interactions include: bleeding when warfarin is combined with ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), garlic (Allium sativum), dong quai (Angelica sinensis), or danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza); mild serotonin syndrome in patients who mix St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) with serotonin-reuptake inhibitors; decreased bioavailability of digoxin, theophylline, cyclosporin, and phenprocoumon when these drugs are combined with St John's wort; induction of mania in depressed patients who mix antidepressants and Panax ginseng; exacerbation of extrapyramidal effects with neuroleptic drugs and betel nut (Areca catechu); increased risk of hypertension when tricyclic antidepressants are combined with yohimbine (Pausinystalia yohimbe); potentiation of oral and topical corticosteroids by liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra); decreased blood concentrations of prednisolone when taken with the Chinese herbal product xaio chai hu tang (sho-salko-to); and decreased concentrations of phenytoin when combined with the Ayurvedic syrup shankhapushpi. Anthranoid-containing plants (including senna [Cassia senna] and cascara [Rhamnus purshiana]) and soluble fibres (including guar gum and psyllium) can decrease the absorption of drugs. Many reports of herb-drug interactions are sketchy and lack laboratory analysis of suspect preparations. Health-care practitioners should caution patients against mixing herbs and pharmaceutical drugs.

Transmission and distribution of information in power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinkernell, H.

1978-01-01

Operation of modern large-site power plants is no longer imaginable without facilities for automatic control. Brown-Boveri Company has developed a promising control system for power plants called Procontrol k. An essential piece of the system is DATRAS k, a digital bus-oriented data transport system for transmitting and distributing signals in power plants. DATRAS will save a large amount of cables and reduce the constructional effect. It offers opportunities for diagnosis and service and by means of continuous monitoring of all system components it will essentially improve plant availability. (orig.) [de

Market Orientation Capabilities: A Study of Learning Processes in Market-Oriented Companies

OpenAIRE

Silkoset, Ragnhild

2009-01-01

The literature operates with three perspectives on market orientation. These include market orientation as behavior (Kohli and Jaworski 1990; Narver and Slater 1990), market orientation as a unique resource (Hunt and Morgan 1995) and market orientation as a dynamic learning capability (Sinkula 1994; Day 1994b). A company's level of market orientation will vary with regard to the perspectives, including factors affecting a company’s degree of market orientation and the effect...

Impact of sampling resolution on estimation of community-wide daily illicit drug use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ramin, Pedram; Baz Lomba, J. A.; Reid, M.

It is a common approach to report daily community-wide drug consumption, based on single daily measurements of the influent from a treatment plant. This article suggests that neglecting diurnal variations of loads and flow can result in misestimating daily drug consumption.......It is a common approach to report daily community-wide drug consumption, based on single daily measurements of the influent from a treatment plant. This article suggests that neglecting diurnal variations of loads and flow can result in misestimating daily drug consumption....

An equation oriented approach to steady state flowsheeting of methanol synthesis loop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fathikalajahi, J.; Baniadam, M.; Rahimpour, M.R.

2008-01-01

An equation-oriented approach was developed for steady state flowsheeting of a commercial methanol plant. The loop consists of fixed bed reactor, flash separator, preheater, coolers, and compressor. For steady sate flowsheeting of the plant mathematical model of reactor and other units are needed. Reactor used in loop is a Lurgi type and its configuration is rather complex. Previously reactor and flash separator are modeled as two important units of plant. The model is based on mass and energy balances in each equipment and utilizing some auxiliary equations such as rate of reaction and thermodynamics model for activity coefficients of liquid. In order to validate the mathematical model for the synthesis loop, some simulation data were performed using operating conditions and characteristics of the commercial plant. The good agreement between the steady state simulation results and the plant data shows the validity of the model

[Development of Plant Metabolomics and Medicinal Plant Genomics].

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Kazuki

2018-01-01

 A variety of chemicals produced by plants, often referred to as 'phytochemicals', have been used as medicines, food, fuels and industrial raw materials. Recent advances in the study of genomics and metabolomics in plant science have accelerated our understanding of the mechanisms, regulation and evolution of the biosynthesis of specialized plant products. We can now address such questions as how the metabolomic diversity of plants is originated at the levels of genome, and how we should apply this knowledge to drug discovery, industry and agriculture. Our research group has focused on metabolomics-based functional genomics over the last 15 years and we have developed a new research area called 'Phytochemical Genomics'. In this review, the development of a research platform for plant metabolomics is discussed first, to provide a better understanding of the chemical diversity of plants. Then, representative applications of metabolomics to functional genomics in a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, are described. The extension of integrated multi-omics analyses to non-model specialized plants, e.g., medicinal plants, is presented, including the identification of novel genes, metabolites and networks for the biosynthesis of flavonoids, alkaloids, sulfur-containing metabolites and terpenoids. Further, functional genomics studies on a variety of medicinal plants is presented. I also discuss future trends in pharmacognosy and related sciences.

Sexual Orientation (For Parents)

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Sexual Orientation KidsHealth / For Parents / Sexual Orientation What's in this ... orientation is part of that process. What Is Sexual Orientation? The term sexual orientation refers to the gender ( ...

Abnormal spindle orientation during microsporogenesis in an interspecific Brachiaria (Gramineae hybrid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andréa Beatriz Mendes-Bonato

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports a case of abnormal spindle orientation during microsporogenesis in an interspecific hybrid of the tropical grass Brachiaria. In the affected plant, prophase I was normal. In metaphase I, bivalents were regularly co-oriented but distantly positioned and spread over the equatorial plate. In anaphase I, chromosomes failed to converge into focused poles due to parallel spindle fibers. As a consequence, in telophase I, an elongated nucleus or several micronuclei were observed in each pole. In the second division, the behavior was the same, leading to polyads with several micronuclei. A total of 40% of meiotic products were affected. The use of this hybrid in production systems needing good-quality seeds is discussed.

Technically-oriented operation management systems in conjunction with commercial DB systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lex, M.; Heselmann, B. [GiS mbH, Erlangen (Germany); Eschbach, P. [BASF Consult GmbH, Muenchen (Germany)

2001-07-01

Due to the liberalization of the electricity market, the efficiency and competitiveness of a power plant is increasingly measured at the cost per amount of energy generated. Thus, aspects of market-orientation and clearly cheaper electricity generation are in the foreground. Technically-oriented DP systems are necessary to save operating cost. These systems have structures differing from the mere business-oriented systems, because of the different frame conditions and operators' desire to stand out against rivalling competitors by technical and organizational measures. (orig.) [German] Die Effektivitaet und damit Konkurrenzfaehigkeit eines Kraftwerkes wird mit der Liberalisierung des Strommarktes verstaerkt an den Kosten je erzeugter Energieeinheit gemessen. Fuer den Betrieb ruecken damit Aspekte einer marktgerechten und somit deutlich kostenguenstigeren Stromerzeugung verstaerkt in den Vordergrund. Wer Betriebskosten sparen will, braucht technisch orientierte DV-Systeme, die aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Rahmenbedingungen und des Wunsches aller Anlagenbetreiber, sich durch technisch-organisatorische Massnahmen vom Wettbewerb vorteilhaft abzuheben, voellig andere Strukturen aufweisen als die betriebswirtschaftlich orientierten Systeme. (orig.)

Subcortical orientation biases explain orientation selectivity of visual cortical cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Vidyasagar, Trichur R; Jayakumar, Jaikishan; Lloyd, Errol; Levichkina, Ekaterina V

2015-04-01

The primary visual cortex of carnivores and primates shows an orderly progression of domains of neurons that are selective to a particular orientation of visual stimuli such as bars and gratings. We recorded from single-thalamic afferent fibers that terminate in these domains to address the issue whether the orientation sensitivity of these fibers could form the basis of the remarkable orientation selectivity exhibited by most cortical cells. We first performed optical imaging of intrinsic signals to obtain a map of orientation domains on the dorsal aspect of the anaesthetized cat's area 17. After confirming using electrophysiological recordings the orientation preferences of single neurons within one or two domains in each animal, we pharmacologically silenced the cortex to leave only the afferent terminals active. The inactivation of cortical neurons was achieved by the superfusion of either kainic acid or muscimol. Responses of single geniculate afferents were then recorded by the use of high impedance electrodes. We found that the orientation preferences of the afferents matched closely with those of the cells in the orientation domains that they terminated in (Pearson's r = 0.633, n = 22, P = 0.002). This suggests a possible subcortical origin for cortical orientation selectivity. © 2015 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

Sexual Orientation and First-Year College Students' Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drugs

Science.gov (United States)

Shadick, Richard; Dagirmanjian, Faedra Backus; Trub, Leora; Dawson, Heather

2016-01-01

Objective: To examine differences between heterosexual and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning students' nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD). Participants: First-year university students between October 2009 and October 2013 who self-identified as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning. Methods: Students completed…

Risk Behaviors Among HIV-Positive Gay and Bisexual Men at Party-Oriented Vacations

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Michael P.; Ramchand, Rajeev; Bana, Sarah; Iguchi, Martin Y.

2013-01-01

Objective: This study examined substance use (intended and actual), unprotected sex, and HIV disclosure practices (disclosure and questioning) among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) at two party-oriented vacations, where substance use and sexual risk may be heightened. Method: A random sample of 489 MSM attending one of two party-oriented vacations participated in PartyIntents, a short-term longitudinal survey. Nearly half (47%) completed a follow-up assessment at the event or online for up to 2 weeks after the event. We examined rates of baseline intentions to use substances, actual substance use, and unprotected intercourse among HIV-positive men in attendance.Rates among HIV-negative men were estimated for comparison. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the impact of illegal drug use and HIV status on unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). Results: HIV-positive attendees (17%) were significantly more likely than HIV-negative attendees to use nitrite inhalants (or “poppers”) (24.3% vs. 10.7%). HIV-positive attendees were also significantly more likely to have insertive UAI (64.3% vs. 34.1%) and receptive UAI (68.8% vs. 22.2%). Multivariate models showed associations between HIV status and illegal drug use with UAI (for HIV status, odds ratio [OR] = 4.5, p = .001; for any illegal drug use, OR = 16.4, p < .001). There was no evidence that the influence of drug use moderated risk by HIV status. Rates of HIV disclosure and questioning did not differ by HIV status. Conclusions: HIV-positive men attending these events engaged in higher rates of illegal drug use and sexual risk than HIV-negative men. Prevention campaigns targeting MSM at high-risk events should include messages geared toward HIV-positive men. PMID:23200162

Distribution of acidic and neutral drugs in surface waters near sewage treatment plants in the lower Great Lakes, Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Metcalfe, Chris D; Miao, Xiu-Sheng; Koenig, Brenda G; Struger, John

2003-12-01

Prescription and nonprescription drugs have been detected in rivers and streams in Europe and the United States. Sewage treatment plants (STPs) are an important source of these contaminants, but few data exist on the spatial distribution of drugs in surface waters near STPs. Samples of surface water were collected in the summer and fall of 2000 at open-water sites in the lower Great Lakes (Lake Ontario and Lake Erie), at sites near the two STPs for the city of Windsor (ON, Canada), and at sites in Hamilton Harbour (ON, Canada), an embayment of western Lake Ontario that receives discharges from several STPs. In a follow-up study in the summer of 2002, samples of surface water and final effluent from adjacent STPs were collected from sites in Hamilton Harbour and Windsor. In addition, surface water and STP effluent samples were collected in Peterborough (ON, Canada). All samples of surface water and STP effluents were analyzed for selected acidic and neutral drugs. In the survey of Hamilton Harbour and Windsor conducted in 2000, acidic drugs and the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine were detected at ng/L concentrations at sites that were up to 500 m away from the STP, but the hydrological conditions of the receiving waters strongly influenced the spatial distribution of these compounds. Drugs were not detected at open-water locations in western Lake Erie or in the Niagara River near the municipality of Niagara-on-the-Lake (ON, Canada). However, clofibric acid, ketoprofen, fenoprofen, and carbamazepine were detected in samples collected in the summer of 2000 at sites in Lake Ontario and at a site in the Niagara River (Fort Erie, ON, Canada) that were relatively remote from STP discharges. Follow-up studies in the summer of 2002 indicated that concentrations of acidic and neutral drugs in surface waters near the point of sewage discharge into the Little River (ON, Canada) STP were approximately equal to the concentrations in the final effluent from the STP. Caffeine and

The relationships between market orientation and alternative strategic orientations : A meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grinstein, A.

2008-01-01

Purpose - One of the strongest convictions in marketing is that market orientation contributes to firms' performance substantially more than alternative strategic orientations such as innovation and entrepreneurial orientations. Still, some studies show that alternative orientations can also

A logic flowgraph-based concept for decision support and management of nuclear plant operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guarro, S.B.

1988-01-01

The architecture of an automated decision support system for nuclear plant operators is presented and discussed. The system is based on the use of 'logic flowgraph' process models and is designed in a hierarchical fashion. Its functionality spans from 'function oriented' plant status and alternative success path information displayed to the plant operators at its higher access levels to 'process oriented' diagnostic and recovery information deduced and displayed at its lowest. The design basis for this architecture is the 'defense in depth' plant safety concept. The decision support system goal is to provide plant operators, in the presence of an unforeseen transient, with the best and safest alternative between plant stabilization after shutdown and recovery of normal operation based on early diagnosis. Examples of the system capability to interpret and diagnose abnormal plant conditions and of the information that it can supply to the operators at its three access levels are presented and discussed. (author)

Strong orientational coordinates and orientational order parameters for symmetric objects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haji-Akbari, Amir; Glotzer, Sharon C

2015-01-01

Recent advancements in the synthesis of anisotropic macromolecules and nanoparticles have spurred an immense interest in theoretical and computational studies of self-assembly. The cornerstone of such studies is the role of shape in self-assembly and in inducing complex order. The problem of identifying different types of order that can emerge in such systems can, however, be challenging. Here, we revisit the problem of quantifying orientational order in systems of building blocks with non-trivial rotational symmetries. We first propose a systematic way of constructing orientational coordinates for such symmetric building blocks. We call the arising tensorial coordinates strong orientational coordinates (SOCs) as they fully and exclusively specify the orientation of a symmetric object. We then use SOCs to describe and quantify local and global orientational order, and spatiotemporal orientational correlations in systems of symmetric building blocks. The SOCs and the orientational order parameters developed in this work are not only useful in performing and analyzing computer simulations of symmetric molecules or particles, but can also be utilized for the efficient storage of rotational information in long trajectories of evolving many-body systems. (paper)

Synthetic biology for pharmaceutical drug discovery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trosset JY

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Jean-Yves Trosset,1 Pablo Carbonell2,3 1Bioinformation Research Laboratory, Sup’Biotech, Villejuif, France; 2Faculty of Life Sciences, SYNBIOCHEM Centre, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; 3Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS, Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF, Barcelona, Spain Abstract: Synthetic biology (SB is an emerging discipline, which is slowly reorienting the field of drug discovery. For thousands of years, living organisms such as plants were the major source of human medicines. The difficulty in resynthesizing natural products, however, often turned pharmaceutical industries away from this rich source for human medicine. More recently, progress on transformation through genetic manipulation of biosynthetic units in microorganisms has opened the possibility of in-depth exploration of the large chemical space of natural products derivatives. Success of SB in drug synthesis culminated with the bioproduction of artemisinin by microorganisms, a tour de force in protein and metabolic engineering. Today, synthetic cells are not only used as biofactories but also used as cell-based screening platforms for both target-based and phenotypic-based approaches. Engineered genetic circuits in synthetic cells are also used to decipher disease mechanisms or drug mechanism of actions and to study cell–cell communication within bacteria consortia. This review presents latest developments of SB in the field of drug discovery, including some challenging issues such as drug resistance and drug toxicity. Keywords: metabolic engineering, plant synthetic biology, natural products, synthetic quorum sensing, drug resistance

System safety and reliability using object-oriented programming techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patterson-Hine, F.A.; Koen, B.V.

1987-01-01

Direct evaluation fault tree codes have been written in recursive, list-processing computer languages such as PL/1 (PATREC-I) and LISP (PATREC-L). The pattern-matching strategy implemented in these codes has been used extensively in France to evaluate system reliability. Recent reviews of the risk management process suggest that a data base containing plant-specific information be integrated with a package of codes used for probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) to alleviate some of the difficulties that make a PRA so costly and time-intensive. A new programming paradigm, object-oriented programming, is uniquely suited for the development of such a software system. A knowledge base and fault tree evaluation algorithm, based on previous experience with PATREC-L, have been implemented using object-oriented techniques, resulting in a reliability assessment environment that is easy to develop, modify, and extend

The Service Orientation and Employee’s Customer Orientation in Public Services Organizations

OpenAIRE

Andrada Iacob

2015-01-01

This paper explores the relationships between service orientation and employees’ customer orientation in public services organizations. First, we will review the relevant literature on service orientation and employee’s customer orientation. Based on this theory, the research hypothesis is formulated. The research results will be followed by conclusions, limitations and future directions. At the construct level, we found positive direct relationships between service orientation and employees’...

Ancient-modern concordance in Ayurvedic plants: some examples.

Science.gov (United States)

Dev, S

1999-10-01

Ayurveda is the ancient (before 2500 b.c.) Indian system of health care and longevity. It involves a holistic view of man, his health, and illness. Ayurvedic treatment of a disease consists of salubrious use of drugs, diets, and certain practices. Medicinal preparations are invariably complex mixtures, based mostly on plant products. Around 1,250 plants are currently used in various Ayurvedic preparations. Many Indian medicinal plants have come under scientific scrutiny since the middle of the nineteenth century, although in a sporadic fashion. The first significant contribution from Ayurvedic materia medica came with the isolation of the hypertensive alkaloid from the sarpagandha plant (Rouwolfia serpentina), valued in Ayurveda for the treatment of hypertension, insomnia, and insanity. This was the first important ancient-modern concordance in Ayurvedic plants. With the gradual coming of age of chemistry and biology, disciplines central to the study of biologic activities of natural products, many Ayurvedic plants have been reinvestigated. Our work on Commiphora wightti gum-resin, valued in Ayurveda for correcting lipid disorders, has been described in some detail; based on these investigations, a modern antihyperlipoproteinemic drug is on the market in India and some other countries. There has also been concordance for a few other Ayurvedic crude drugs such as Asparagus racemosus, Cedrus deodara, and Psoralea corylifolia.

Non-Host Plant Volatiles Disrupt Sex Pheromone Communication in a Specialist Herbivore.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fumin; Deng, Jianyu; Schal, Coby; Lou, Yonggen; Zhou, Guoxin; Ye, Bingbing; Yin, Xiaohui; Xu, Zhihong; Shen, Lize

2016-09-02

The ecological effects of plant volatiles on herbivores are manifold. Little is known, however, about the impacts of non-host plant volatiles on intersexual pheromonal communication in specialist herbivores. We tested the effects of several prominent constitutive terpenoids released by conifers and Eucalyptus trees on electrophysiological and behavioral responses of an oligophagous species, Plutella xylostella, which feeds on Brassicaceae. The non-host plant volatile terpenoids adversely affected the calling behavior (pheromone emission) of adult females, and the orientation responses of adult males to sex pheromone were also significantly inhibited by these terpenoids in a wind tunnel and in the field. We suggest that disruption of both pheromone emission and orientation to sex pheromone may explain, at least in part, an observed reduction in herbivore attack in polyculture compared with monoculture plantings. We also propose that mating disruption of both male and female moths with non-host plant volatiles may be a promising alternative pest management strategy.

Non-Host Plant Volatiles Disrupt Sex Pheromone Communication in a Specialist Herbivore

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fumin; Deng, Jianyu; Schal, Coby; Lou, Yonggen; Zhou, Guoxin; Ye, Bingbing; Yin, Xiaohui; Xu, Zhihong; Shen, Lize

2016-01-01

The ecological effects of plant volatiles on herbivores are manifold. Little is known, however, about the impacts of non-host plant volatiles on intersexual pheromonal communication in specialist herbivores. We tested the effects of several prominent constitutive terpenoids released by conifers and Eucalyptus trees on electrophysiological and behavioral responses of an oligophagous species, Plutella xylostella, which feeds on Brassicaceae. The non-host plant volatile terpenoids adversely affected the calling behavior (pheromone emission) of adult females, and the orientation responses of adult males to sex pheromone were also significantly inhibited by these terpenoids in a wind tunnel and in the field. We suggest that disruption of both pheromone emission and orientation to sex pheromone may explain, at least in part, an observed reduction in herbivore attack in polyculture compared with monoculture plantings. We also propose that mating disruption of both male and female moths with non-host plant volatiles may be a promising alternative pest management strategy. PMID:27585907

A shared computer-based problem-oriented patient record for the primary care team.

Science.gov (United States)

Linnarsson, R; Nordgren, K

1995-01-01

1. INTRODUCTION. A computer-based patient record (CPR) system, Swedestar, has been developed for use in primary health care. The principal aim of the system is to support continuous quality improvement through improved information handling, improved decision-making, and improved procedures for quality assurance. The Swedestar system has evolved during a ten-year period beginning in 1984. 2. SYSTEM DESIGN. The design philosophy is based on the following key factors: a shared, problem-oriented patient record; structured data entry based on an extensive controlled vocabulary; advanced search and query functions, where the query language has the most important role; integrated decision support for drug prescribing and care protocols and guidelines; integrated procedures for quality assurance. 3. A SHARED PROBLEM-ORIENTED PATIENT RECORD. The core of the CPR system is the problem-oriented patient record. All problems of one patient, recorded by different members of the care team, are displayed on the problem list. Starting from this list, a problem follow-up can be made, one problem at a time or for several problems simultaneously. Thus, it is possible to get an integrated view, across provider categories, of those problems of one patient that belong together. This shared problem-oriented patient record provides an important basis for the primary care team work. 4. INTEGRATED DECISION SUPPORT. The decision support of the system includes a drug prescribing module and a care protocol module. The drug prescribing module is integrated with the patient records and includes an on-line check of the patient's medication list for potential interactions and data-driven reminders concerning major drug problems. Care protocols have been developed for the most common chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension. The patient records can be automatically checked according to the care protocols. 5. PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. The Swedestar system has been implemented in a

A defense in depth approach for nuclear power plant accident management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chih-Yao Hsieh; Hwai-Pwu Chou [Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, TW (China)

2015-07-01

An initiating event may lead to a severe accident if the plant safety functions have been challenged or operators do not follow the appropriate accident management procedures. Beyond design basis accidents are those corresponding to events of very low occurrence probability but such an accident may lead to significant consequences. The defense in depth approach is important to assure nuclear safety even in a severe accident. Plant Damage States (PDS) can be defined by the combination of the possible values for each of the PDS parameters which are showed on the nuclear power plant simulator. PDS is used to identify what the initiating event is, and can also give the information of safety system's status whether they are bypassed, inoperable or not. Initiating event and safety system's status are used in the construction of Containment Event Tree (CET) to determine containment failure modes by using probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) technique. Different initiating events will correspond to different CETs. With these CETs, the core melt frequency of an initiating event can be found. The use of Plant Damage States (PDS) is a symptom-oriented approach. On the other hand, the use of Containment Event Tree (CET) is an event-oriented approach. In this study, the Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plants, the Lungmen nuclear power station (LNPS), which is an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) with fully digitized instrumentation and control (I and C) system is chosen as the target plant. The LNPS full scope engineering simulator is used to generate the testing data for method development. The following common initiating events are considered in this study: loss of coolant accidents (LOCA), total loss of feedwater (TLOFW), loss of offsite power (LOOP), station blackout (SBO). Studies have indicated that the combination of the symptom-oriented approach and the event-oriented approach can be helpful to find mitigation strategies and is useful for the accident

Change of floral orientation within an inflorescence affects pollinator behavior and pollination efficiency in a bee-pollinated plant, Corydalis sheareri.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Wang

Full Text Available Vertical raceme or spike inflorescences that are bee-pollinated tend to present their flowers horizontally. Horizontal presentation of flowers is hypothesized to enhance pollinator recognition and pollination precision, and it may also ensure greater consistency of pollinator movement on inflorescences. We tested the hypotheses using bee-pollinated Corydalis sheareri which has erect inflorescences consisting of flowers with horizontal orientation. We altered the orientation of individual flowers and prepared three types of inflorescences: (i unmanipulated inflorescences with horizontal-facing flowers, (ii inflorescences with flowers turned upward, and (iii inflorescences with flowers turned downward. We compared number of inflorescences approached and visited, number of successive probes within an inflorescence, the direction percentage of vertical movement on inflorescences, efficiency of pollen removal and seed production per inflorescence. Deviation from horizontal orientation decreased both approaches and visits by leafcutter bees and bumble bees to inflorescences. Changes in floral orientation increased the proportion of downward movements by leafcutter bees and decreased the consistency of pollinator movement on inflorescences. In addition, pollen removal per visit and seed production per inflorescence also declined with changes of floral orientation. In conclusion, floral orientation seems more or less optimal as regards bee behavior and pollen transfer for Corydalis sheareri. A horizontal orientation may be under selection of pollinators and co-adapt with other aspects of the inflorescence and floral traits.

Introduction to the Plant World, Science (Experimental): 5311.11.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Leonard O.

This unit of instruction was designed as a laboratory-oriented course for very low achievers to show how plants are involved in every aspect of their lives. Detailed practical experience in handling and investigating plants, and the use of films, models, and field trips are combined with basic minimal research to guide the student to a better…

Indigenous plant medicines for health care: treatment of Diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Parikh, Nisha H; Parikh, Palak K; Kothari, Charmy

2014-05-01

Medicinal plants have played an important role in treating and preventing a variety of diseases throughout the world. Metabolic syndrome had become a global epidemic, defined as a cluster of three of five criteria: insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, abdominal obesity, hypertension, low high-density cholesterol, and hypertriglyceridemia. The current review focuses on Indian medicinal plant drugs and plants used in the treatment of diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Though there are various approaches to reduce the ill-effects of diabetes and hyperlipidemia and its secondary complications, plant-based drugs are preferred due to lesser side effects and low cost. The current review focuses on twenty-three medicinal plants used in the treatment of Diabetes mellitus and nine medicinal plants used in the treatment of hyperlipidemia. The wealth of knowledge on medicinal plants points to a great potential for research and the discovery of new drugs to fight diseases, including diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Copyright © 2014 China Pharmaceutical University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

German Orientalism

OpenAIRE

Margaret Olin

2011-01-01

Review of: Suzanne L. Marchand, German Orientalism in the Age of Empire: Religion, Race and Scholarship, Cambridge and Washington, D.C.: Cambridge University Press, 2009. This analysis of Suzanne L. Marchand’s German Orientalism in the Age of Empire: Religion, Race and Scholarship reads her contribution in part against the background of Edward Said’s path breaking book Orientalism. Differences lie in her more expansive understanding of the term ‘Oriental’ to include the Far East and her conce...

In silico identification of anti-cancer compounds and plants from traditional Chinese medicine database

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Shao-Xing; Li, Wen-Xing; Han, Fei-Fei; Guo, Yi-Cheng; Zheng, Jun-Juan; Liu, Jia-Qian; Wang, Qian; Gao, Yue-Dong; Li, Gong-Hua; Huang, Jing-Fei

2016-05-01

There is a constant demand to develop new, effective, and affordable anti-cancer drugs. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a valuable and alternative resource for identifying novel anti-cancer agents. In this study, we aim to identify the anti-cancer compounds and plants from the TCM database by using cheminformatics. We first predicted 5278 anti-cancer compounds from TCM database. The top 346 compounds were highly potent active in the 60 cell lines test. Similarity analysis revealed that 75% of the 5278 compounds are highly similar to the approved anti-cancer drugs. Based on the predicted anti-cancer compounds, we identified 57 anti-cancer plants by activity enrichment. The identified plants are widely distributed in 46 genera and 28 families, which broadens the scope of the anti-cancer drug screening. Finally, we constructed a network of predicted anti-cancer plants and approved drugs based on the above results. The network highlighted the supportive role of the predicted plant in the development of anti-cancer drug and suggested different molecular anti-cancer mechanisms of the plants. Our study suggests that the predicted compounds and plants from TCM database offer an attractive starting point and a broader scope to mine for potential anti-cancer agents.

[Risk behaviour in association with addictive drugs - data and insights on treatment].

Science.gov (United States)

Böning, J

2004-02-01

About one third of the economical costs, which are due to death, sickness and life quality deficits in higher developed industrial countries, are caused by pollutants such as nicotine, alcohol and false eating habits. Within a period of one year 183,000 people in Germany die on tobacco associated sickness effects, 73,000 on direct or indirect aftermath of alcohol usage and a proportional amount of mostly adipoptic people on the hereoff resulting sickness effects. These risk trias, decided by every person mainly for himself by his own behaviour or mis-behaviour, are even aggravated by the free enterprise sanctioned drug politics of the highly profitable mega markets of the tobacco-, alcohol- and fast-food-industry. Health orientated drug politic, which is based on independence and solidarity and an exhaustive primary prevention within the scope of early nationalization authorities can therefore only have a limited effect. Even though, standardized, therapeutic short interventions used by hazardous alcohol- and drug usage, the qualified detoxification on addiction illness and an way to little used meanwhile time- and cost optimized withdrawal treatment have been proven to be quite effective. Exhaustive established ambulant smoking-withdrawal treatment programs are of special importance, because with continuously sinking of first contact, nicotine is know to be the "gate way drug" with the strongest addiction potential among all legalized and non-legalized drugs. In canon of mean while worldwide (except for Germany) started drug-control politics one will be able to start a health orientated drug politic in the future, which is including especially the drug economic aspects for the benefit of all as well as for the national budgets.

Medicinal Plants: A Source of Anti-Parasitic Secondary Metabolites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Wink

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This review summarizes human infections caused by endoparasites, including protozoa, nematodes, trematodes, and cestodes, which affect more than 30% of the human population, and medicinal plants of potential use in their treatment. Because vaccinations do not work in most instances and the parasites have sometimes become resistant to the available synthetic therapeutics, it is important to search for alternative sources of anti-parasitic drugs. Plants produce a high diversity of secondary metabolites with interesting biological activities, such as cytotoxic, anti-parasitic and anti-microbial properties. These drugs often interfere with central targets in parasites, such as DNA (intercalation, alkylation, membrane integrity, microtubules and neuronal signal transduction. Plant extracts and isolated secondary metabolites which can inhibit protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Trichomonas and intestinal worms are discussed. The identified plants and compounds offer a chance to develop new drugs against parasitic diseases. Most of them need to be tested in more detail, especially in animal models and if successful, in clinical trials.

Applications of the rotating orientation XRD method to oriented materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Zhenqi; Li Fei; Jin Li; Bai Yu

2009-01-01

The rotating orientation x-ray diffraction (RO-XRD) method, based on conventional XRD instruments by a modification of the sample stage, was introduced to investigate the orientation-related issues of such materials. In this paper, we show its applications including the determination of single crystal orientation, assistance in crystal cutting and evaluation of crystal quality. The interpretation of scanning patterns by RO-XRD on polycrystals with large grains, bulk material with several grains and oriented thin film is also presented. These results will hopefully expand the applications of the RO-XRD method and also benefit the conventional XRD techniques. (fast track communication)

Understanding political market orientation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ormrod, Robert P.; Henneberg, Stephan C.

influences of such behavior. The study includes structural equation modeling to investigate several propositions. While the results show that political parties need to focus on several different aspects of market-oriented behavior, especially using an internal and external orientation as cultural antecedents......This article develops a conceptual framework and measurement model of political market orientation that consists of attitudinal and behavioural constructs. The article reports on perceived relationships among different behavioral aspects of political market orientation and the attitudinal......, a more surprising result is the inconclusive effect of a voter orientation on market-oriented behaviours. The article discusses the findings in the context of the existing literature in political marketing and commercial market orientation....

Orientation of Germ Tubes of Puccinia hordei on the Hordeum chilense Leaf Surface

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vaz Patto, M.C.; Niks, R.E.

2000-01-01

The directional growth of urediospores germ tubes along the transverse axis of a cereal's leaf is considered to be a response to stimuli from the plant surface. In order to find out if the germ tube growth is directed towards stomata, and if the cuticular wax layer plays a role in this orientated

A logic flowgraph based concept for decision support and management of nuclear plant operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guarro, S.B.

1987-01-01

In the US the evolution of automated decision support tools for plant operators has spanned from ''event-oriented'' diagnostic systems to ''symptom-oriented'' computer-based emergency operating procedures. A problem common to both kind of systems is in the initial level of effort required for development of the associated models and software. In the following we will discuss some of the general issues that arise in the development and application of these decision-support systems. We will also propose and discuss an approach founded on the application of an event diagnosis and plant stabilization philosophy. This approach is based on the use of logic flowgraph process-oriented models - arranged in a modular architecture and developed with the aid of an expert-system model builder - as a possible means of achieving the development of an automated and integrated plant management system. This approach should allow the developer to achieve a high process recovery and management capability with a focused and controlled expenditure of development time and resources

In-plant reliability data system (IPRDS) - a utility-oriented data base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borkowski, R.J.; Kahl, W.K.

1983-01-01

Currently, there are data from six operating units comprising four nuclear power plants in the data base. There are an additional seven units (4 plants) that are ready for data collection and encoding. Overall, approximately 120,000 maintenance records have been reviewed and 24,000 records of corrective maintenance actions have been extracted. The components for which data encoding has been completed include pumps and valves. The pump data base contains 1468 pumps and 3100 maintenance records on these pumps spanning almost 24 reactor-years of commercial operation. An additional 900 pump maintenance records for years prior to commercial operation have also been entered. The valve data base contains 24,825 valve population records and approximately 5800 valve maintenance records

Medicinal Plants Used by Various Tribes of Bangladesh for Treatment of Malaria

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Mohammed Rahmatullah

2012-01-01

Full Text Available It has been estimated that 300–500 million malaria infections occur on an annual basis and causes fatality to millions of human beings. Most of the drugs used for treatment of malaria have developed drug-resistant parasites or have serious side effects. Plant kingdom has throughout the centuries proved to be efficient source of efficacious malarial drugs like quinine and artemisinin. Since these drugs have already developed or in the process of developing drug resistance, it is important to continuously search the plant kingdom for more effective antimalarial drugs. In this aspect, the medicinal practices of indigenous communities can play a major role in identification of antimalarial plants. Bangladesh has a number of indigenous communities or tribes, who because of their living within or in close proximity to mosquito-infested forest regions, have high incidences of malaria. Over the centuries, the tribal medicinal practitioners have treated malaria with various plant-based formulations. The objective of the present study was to conduct an ethnomedicinal survey among various tribes of Bangladesh to identify the plants that they use for treatment of the disease. Surveys were conducted among seven tribes, namely, Bawm, Chak, Chakma, Garo, Marma, Murong, and Tripura, who inhabit the southeastern or northcentral forested regions of Bangladesh. Interviews conducted with the various tribal medicinal practitioners indicated that a total of eleven plants distributed into 10 families were used for treatment of malaria and accompanying symptoms like fever, anemia, ache, vomiting, and chills. Leaves constituted 35.7% of total uses followed by roots at 21.4%. Other plant parts used for treatment included barks, seeds, fruits, and flowers. A review of the published scientific literature showed that a number of plants used by the tribal medicinal practitioners have been scientifically validated in their uses. Taken together, the plants merit further

An Expanding Role For Purine Uptake Permease (PUP -like Transporters In Plant Secondary Metabolism.

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John G. Jelesko

2012-05-01

Full Text Available For the past decade, our understanding of the plant purine uptake permease (PUP transporter family of was primarily oriented on purine nucleobase substrates and their tissue-specific expression patterns in Arabidopsis. However, a tobacco PUP-like homolog demonstrating nicotine uptake permease (NUP activity was recently shown to affect both nicotine metabolism and root cell growth. These new findings expand the physiological role for PUP-like transporters to include plant secondary metabolism. Molecular evolution analyses of PUP-like transporters indicate they are distinct group within an ancient super family of drug and metabolite transporters (DMTs. The PUP-like family originated during terrestrial plant evolution sometime between the bryophytes and the lycophytes. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that the PUP-like transporters were likely were derived from a pre-existing nucleotide sugar transporter family within the DMT super family. Within the lycophyte Selaginella, there are three paralogous groups of PUP-like transporters. One of the three PUP-like paralogous groups showed an extensive pattern of gene duplication and diversification within the angiosperm lineage, whereas the other two more ancestral PUP-like paralogous groups did not. Biochemical characterization of four closely-related PUP-like paralogs together with model-based phylogenetic analyses indicate both subfunctionalization and neofunctionalization during the molecular evolution of angiosperm PUP-like transporters. These findings suggest that members of the PUP-like family of DMT transporters are likely involved in diverse primary and secondary plant metabolic pathways.

Some medicinal plants as natural anticancer agents

OpenAIRE

Govind Pandey; S Madhuri

2009-01-01

India is the largest producer of medicinal plants and is rightly called the "Botanical garden of the World". The medicinal plants, besides having natural therapeutic values against various diseases, also provide high quality of food and raw materials for livelihood. Considerable works have been done on these plants to treat cancer, and some plant products have been marketed as anticancer drugs, based on the traditional uses and scientific reports. These plants may promote host resistance agai...

Immobilised histidine tagged β2-adrenoceptor oriented by a diazonium salt reaction and its application in exploring drug-protein interaction using ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as probes.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Qian; Bian, Liujiao; Zhao, Xinfeng; Gao, Xiaokang; Zheng, Jianbin; Li, Zijian; Zhang, Youyi; Jiang, Ru; Zheng, Xiaohui

2014-01-01

A new oriented method using a diazonium salt reaction was developed for linking β2-adrenoceptor (β2-AR) on the surface of macroporous silica gel. Stationary phase containing the immobilised receptor was used to investigate the interaction between β2-AR and ephedrine plus pseudoephedrine by zonal elution. The isotherms of the two drugs best fit the Langmuir model. Only one type of binding site was found for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine targeting β2-AR. At 37 °C, the association constants during the binding were (5.94±0.05)×103/M for ephedrine and (3.80±0.02) ×103/M for pseudoephedrine, with the binding sites of (8.92±0.06) ×10-4 M. Thermodynamic studies showed that the binding of the two compounds to β2-AR was a spontaneous reaction with exothermal processes. The ΔGθ, ΔHθ and ΔSθ for the interaction between ephedrine and β2-AR were -(22.33±0.04) kJ/mol, -(6.51±0.69) kJ/mol and 50.94±0.31 J/mol·K, respectively. For the binding of pseudoephedrine to the receptor, these values were -(21.17±0.02) kJ/mol, -(7.48±0.56) kJ/mol and 44.13±0.01 J/mol·K. Electrostatic interaction proved to be the driving force during the binding of the two drugs to β2-AR. The proposed immobilised method will have great potential for attaching protein to solid substrates and realizing the interactions between proteins and drugs.

Immobilised histidine tagged β2-adrenoceptor oriented by a diazonium salt reaction and its application in exploring drug-protein interaction using ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as probes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qian Li

Full Text Available A new oriented method using a diazonium salt reaction was developed for linking β2-adrenoceptor (β2-AR on the surface of macroporous silica gel. Stationary phase containing the immobilised receptor was used to investigate the interaction between β2-AR and ephedrine plus pseudoephedrine by zonal elution. The isotherms of the two drugs best fit the Langmuir model. Only one type of binding site was found for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine targeting β2-AR. At 37 °C, the association constants during the binding were (5.94±0.05×103/M for ephedrine and (3.80±0.02 ×103/M for pseudoephedrine, with the binding sites of (8.92±0.06 ×10-4 M. Thermodynamic studies showed that the binding of the two compounds to β2-AR was a spontaneous reaction with exothermal processes. The ΔGθ, ΔHθ and ΔSθ for the interaction between ephedrine and β2-AR were -(22.33±0.04 kJ/mol, -(6.51±0.69 kJ/mol and 50.94±0.31 J/mol·K, respectively. For the binding of pseudoephedrine to the receptor, these values were -(21.17±0.02 kJ/mol, -(7.48±0.56 kJ/mol and 44.13±0.01 J/mol·K. Electrostatic interaction proved to be the driving force during the binding of the two drugs to β2-AR. The proposed immobilised method will have great potential for attaching protein to solid substrates and realizing the interactions between proteins and drugs.

Contamination profiles and mass loadings of macrolide antibiotics and illicit drugs from a small urban wastewater treatment plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Loganathan, Bommanna; Phillips, Malia; Mowery, Holly; Jones-Lepp, Tammy L

2009-03-01

Information is limited regarding sources, distribution, environmental behavior, and fate of prescribed and illicit drugs. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents can be one of the sources of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP) into streams, rivers and lakes. The objective of this study was to determine the contamination profiles and mass loadings of urobilin (a chemical marker of human waste), macrolide antibiotics (azithromycin, clarithromycin, roxithromycin), and two drugs of abuse (methamphetamine and ecstasy), from a small (antibiotics analyzed, azithromycin was consistently detected in influent and effluent samples. In general, influent samples contained relatively higher concentrations of the analytes than the effluents. Based on the daily flow rates and an average concentration of 17.5 ng L(-1) in the effluent, the estimated discharge of azithromycin was 200 mg day(-1) (range 63-400 mg day(-1)). Removal efficiency of the detected analytes from this WWTP were in the following order: urobilin>methamphetamine>azithromycin with percentages of removal of 99.9%, 54.5% and 47%, respectively, indicating that the azithromycin and methamphetamine are relatively more recalcitrant than others and have potential for entering receiving waters.

Synthesis of deuterium-labeled plant sterols and analysis of their side-chain mobility by solid state deuterium NMR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marsan, M.P.; Muller, I.; Milon, A.

1996-01-01

Sitosterol and stigmasterol, plant sterols, were deuterated at specific positions. Orientation and mobility of the deuterated sitosterol and stigmasterol (and two of their diasteromers) on oriented lipid bilayers were analyzed by deuterium NMR spectroscopy. Orientation and mobility of the side chains was revealed by these studies

An intelligent tutoring system for a power plant simulator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seifi, H.; Seifi, A.R. [Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran (Iran). Faculty of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineers

2002-07-28

An intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is proposed for a power plant simulator. With a well designed ITS, the need for an instructor is minimized and the operator may readily and efficiently take, in real-time, the control of simulator with appropriate messages he(she) gets from the tutoring system. Using SIMULINK and based on object oriented programming (OOP) and C programming language, a fossil-fuelled power plant simulator with an ITS is proposed. Promising results are demonstrated for a typical power plant.

Medicinal plants in Brazil: Pharmacological studies, drug discovery, challenges and perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutra, Rafael C; Campos, Maria M; Santos, Adair R S; Calixto, João B

2016-10-01

This review article focuses on pre-clinical and clinical studies with some selected Brazilian medicinal plants in different areas of interest, conducted by research groups in Brazil and abroad. It also highlights the Brazilian market of herbal products and the efforts of Brazilian scientists to develop new phytomedicines. This review is divided into three sections. The section I describes the Brazilian large biodiversity and some attempts of Brazilian scientists to assess the pharmacological profile of most plant extracts or isolated active principles. Of note, Brazilian scientists have made a great effort to study the Brazilian biodiversity, especially among the higher plants. In fact, more than 10,000 papers were published on plants in international scientific journals between 2011 and 2013. This first part also discussed the main efforts to develop new medicines from plants, highlighting the Brazilian phytomedicines market. Despite the large Brazilian biodiversity, notably with the higher plants, which comprise over 45,000 species (20-22% of the total worldwide), and the substantial number of scientific publications on medicinal plants, only one phytomedicine is found in the top 20 market products. Indeed, this market is still only worth about 261 million American dollars. This represents less than 5% of the global Brazilian medicine market. The section II of this review focus on the use of Brazilian plant extract and/or active principles for some selected diseases, namely: central nervous systems disorders, pain, immune response and inflammation, respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal tract and metabolic diseases. Finally, section III discusses in more details some selected Brazilian medicinal plants including: Cordia verbenacea, Euphorbia tirucalli, Mandevilla velutina, Phyllanthus spp., Euterpe oleracea, Vitis labrusca, Hypericum caprifoliatum and Hypericum polyanthemum, Maytenus ilicifolia, Protium kleinii and Protium heptaphylium and Trichilia catigua. Most

Semantic Web Ontology and Data Integration: a Case Study in Aiding Psychiatric Drug Repurposing.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Chen; Sun, Jingchun; Tao, Cui

2015-01-01

There remain significant difficulties selecting probable candidate drugs from existing databases. We describe an ontology-oriented approach to represent the nexus between genes, drugs, phenotypes, symptoms, and diseases from multiple information sources. We also report a case study in which we attempted to explore candidate drugs effective for bipolar disorder and epilepsy. We constructed an ontology incorporating knowledge between the two diseases and performed semantic reasoning tasks with the ontology. The results suggested 48 candidate drugs that hold promise for further breakthrough. The evaluation demonstrated the validity our approach. Our approach prioritizes the candidate drugs that have potential associations among genes, phenotypes and symptoms, and thus facilitates the data integration and drug repurposing in psychiatric disorders.

Phytochemical Analysis of Some Indigenous Plants Potent Against Endoparasite

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prashant Yadav

2010-07-01

Full Text Available A study has been done with indigenous plants to explore their phytochemcial constituents. About 7 indigenous plants collected from Agra–Mathura Region. The collected plants under gone extraction followed by evaporation. The prepared plant extract goes through phytochemical investigation to explore active constituents which are very significant drug development.

Route to three-dimensional fragments using diversity-oriented synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, Alvin W; Ramek, Alex; Wang, Yikai; Kaya, Taner; Wilson, J Anthony; Clemons, Paul A; Young, Damian W

2011-04-26

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has proven to be an effective means of producing high-quality chemical ligands as starting points for drug-discovery pursuits. The increasing number of clinical candidate drugs developed using FBDD approaches is a testament of the efficacy of this approach. The success of fragment-based methods is highly dependent on the identity of the fragment library used for screening. The vast majority of FBDD has centered on the use of sp(2)-rich aromatic compounds. An expanded set of fragments that possess more 3D character would provide access to a larger chemical space of fragments than those currently used. Diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) aims to efficiently generate a set of molecules diverse in skeletal and stereochemical properties. Molecules derived from DOS have also displayed significant success in the modulation of function of various "difficult" targets. Herein, we describe the application of DOS toward the construction of a unique set of fragments containing highly sp(3)-rich skeletons for fragment-based screening. Using cheminformatic analysis, we quantified the shapes and physical properties of the new 3D fragments and compared them with a database containing known fragment-like molecules.

Plants traditionally used in age-related brain disorders (dementia): an ethanopharmacological survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Natarajan, Suganthy; Shunmugiah, Karutha Pandian; Kasi, Pandima Devi

2013-04-01

Epidemiological studies have shown that despite mortality due to communicable diseases, poverty and human conflicts, the incidence of dementia increases in the developing world in tandem with the ageing population. Although some FDA approved drugs are available for the treatment of dementia, the outcomes are often unsatisfactory. In traditional practices of medicine, numerous plants have been used to treat cognitive disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other memory-related disorders. In western medicine most of the drugs used for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders are derived from plant sources. This article reviews plants and their active constituents that have been used for their reputed cognitive-enhancing and antidementia effects. A literature survey in Science Direct, Pubmed, and Google Scholar was performed to gather information regarding drug discovery from plants sources for the treatment of congnitive disorders and dementia. More than forty herbal remedies were identified with cholinesterase inhibitory, anti-inflammatory, or antioxidant activities. Bioactive compounds include alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, terpenoids, and essential oils. About eleven herbal plants with multipotent activity against AD are discussed. Literature surveys show that most of the research has been conducted on herbal remedies effect on cholinesterase inhibitory and antioxidant activities. Studies regarding the effect of herbal drugs on β-secretase inhibitory activity and antiaggregation property are lacking. This review provides leads for identifying potential new drugs from plant sources for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

Drug membrane interaction and the importance for drug transport, distribution, accumulation, efficacy and resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Seydel, J K; Coats, E A; Cordes, H P; Wiese, M

1994-10-01

Some aspects of drug membrane interaction and its influence on drug transport, accumulation, efficacy and resistance have been discussed. The interactions manifest themselves macroscopically in changes in the physical and thermodynamic properties of "pure membranes" or bilayers. As various amounts of foreign molecules enter the membrane, in particular the main gel to liquid crystalline phase transition can be dramatically changed. This may change permeability, cell-fusion, cell resistance and may also lead to changes in conformation of the embedded receptor proteins. Furthermore, specific interactions with lipids may lead to drug accumulation in membranes and thus to much larger concentrations at the active site than present in the surrounding water phase. The lipid environment may also lead to changes in the preferred conformation of drug molecules. These events are directly related to drug efficacy. The determination of essential molecular criteria for the interaction could be used to design new and more selective therapeutics. This excursion in some aspects of drug membrane interaction underlines the importance of lipids and their interaction with drug molecules for our understanding of drug action, but this is not really a new thought but has been formulated in 1884 by THUDICUM: "Phospholipids are the centre, life and chemical soul of all bioplasm whatsoever, that of plants as well as of animals".

Prospecting for bioactive constituents from traditional medicinal plants through ethnobotanical approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Ronghui; Wang, Yuehu; Long, Bo; Kennelly, Edward; Wu, Shibiao; Liu, Bo; Li, Ping; Long, Chunlin

2014-01-01

Pharmacologically active constituents from traditional medicinal plants have received great attention as sources of novel agents, pharmaceutical intermediates, and chemical entities for synthetic or semisynthetic drugs due to their potent pharmacological activities, low toxicity, and economic viability. Numerous components have been isolated from traditional medicinal plants, including alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids, and clinical and experimental studies suggested that these components have useful pharmacological properties such as antiinfectious, antioxidative, and antiinflammatory effects. In this review, modern ethnobotanical approaches to explore folk medicinal plants as candidates for drug discovery with the greatest possibility of success are discussed. Determining the bioactive mechanisms and tracing structure-activity relationships will promote the discovery of new drugs and pharmacological agents.

Integrated approach to knowledge acquisition and safety management of complex plants with emphasis on human factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosmowski, K.T.

1998-01-01

In this paper an integrated approach to the knowledge acquisition and safety management of complex industrial plants is proposed and outlined. The plant is considered within a man-technology-environment (MTE) system. The knowledge acquisition is aimed at the consequent reliability evaluation of human factor and probabilistic modeling of the plant. Properly structured initial knowledge is updated in life-time of the plant. The data and knowledge concerning the topology of safety related systems and their functions are created in a graphical CAD system and are object oriented. Safety oriented monitoring of the plant includes abnormal situations due to external and internal disturbances, failures of hard/software components and failures of human factor. The operation and safety related evidence is accumulated in special data bases. Data/knowledge bases are designed in such a way to support effectively the reliability and safety management of the plant. (author)

Successful Training Development and Implementation in Plant Modernization Projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuhn, A.; Schoenfelder, C.

2012-01-01

In plant modernization projects, for life extension or power update, the competence development (in particular, job and needs oriented training) of the plant staff plays an important role for ensuring the highest standard of nuclear safety, and for facilitating an economic operation of the plant. This paper describes challenges, methodology, activities, and results obtained so far from an on-going project in Sweden. - - As conclusion, critical factors for a successful staff training in plant modernization projects include a systematic approach to training, a dedicated training management team, and good interfaces between supplier's engineering teams, experienced training providers, and equipment suppliers.

Virtual medical plant modeling based on L-system | Ding | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... aid of graphics and PlantVR, we implemented the plant shape and 3-D structure's reconstruction. Conclusion: Three-dimensional structure virtual plant growth model based on time- controlled L-system has been successfully established. Keywords: Drug R&D, toxicity, medical plants, fractals; L-system; quasi binary-trees.

Drug policy constellations: A Habermasian approach for understanding English drug policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Alex; Zampini, Giulia Federica

2018-07-01

It is increasingly accepted that a view of policy as a rational process of fitting evidence-based means to rationally justified ends is inadequate for understanding the actual processes of drug policy making. We aim to provide a better description and explanation of recent English drug policy decisions. We develop the policy constellation concept from the work of Habermas, in dialogue with data from two contemporary debates in English policy; on decriminalisation of drug possession and on recovery in drug treatment. We collect data on these debates through long-term participant observation, stakeholder interviews (n = 15) and documentary analysis. We show the importance of social asymmetries in power in enabling structurally advantaged groups to achieve the institutionalisation of their moral preferences as well as the reproduction of their social and economic power through the deployment of policies that reflect their material interests and normative beliefs. The most influential actors in English drug policy come together in a 'medico-penal constellation', in which the aims and practices of public health and social control overlap. Formal decriminalisation of possession has not occurred, despite the efforts of members of a challenging constellation which supports it. Recovery was put forward as the aim of drug treatment by members of a more powerfully connected constellation. It has been absorbed into the practice of 'recovery-oriented' drug treatment in a way that maintains the power of public health professionals to determine the form of treatment. Actors who share interests and norms come together in policy constellations. Strategic action within and between constellations creates policies that may not take the form that was intended by any individual actor. These policies do not result from purely rational deliberation, but are produced through 'systematically distorted communication'. They enable the most structurally favoured actors to institutionalise

Analysis of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions and Its Clinical Manifestation of Pediatric Prescription on 2 Pharmacies in Bandung

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melisa I. Barliana

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The potential of Drug-Drug Interactions (DDI in prescription have high incidence around the world, including Indonesia. However, scientific evidence regarding DDI in Indonesia is not available. Therefore, in this study we have conducted survey in 2 pharmacies in Bandung against pediatric prescription given by pediatrician. These prescriptions then analyzed the potential for DDI contained in the prescription and clinical manifestation. The analysis showed that in pharmacy A, there are 33 prescriptions (from a total of 155 prescriptions that have potential DDI, or approximately 21.19% (2 prescriptions have the potential DDI major categories, 23 prescriptions categorized as moderate, and 8 prescriptions as minor. In Pharmacy B, there are 6 prescriptions (from a total of 40 prescriptions or 15% of potential DDI (4 prescriptions categorized as moderate and 2 prescriptions as minor. This result showed that potential DDI happened less than 50% in pediatric prescription from both pharmacies. However, this should get attention because DDI should not happen in a prescription considering its clinical manifestations caused by DDI. Moreover, current pharmaceutical care refers to patient oriented than product oriented. In addition, further study for the pediatric prescription on DDI incidence in large scale need to be investigated.

Optimal Anti-cancer Drug Profiles for Effective Penetration of the Anti-cancer Drug Market by Generic Drugs in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Shibata, Shoyo; Matsushita, Maiko; Saito, Yoshimasa; Suzuki, Takeshi

2017-01-01

The increased use of generic drugs is a good indicator of the need to reduce the increasing costs of prescription drugs. Since there are more expensive drugs compared with other therapeutic areas, "oncology" is an important one for generic drugs. The primary objective of this article was to quantify the extent to which generic drugs in Japan occupy each level of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. The dataset used in this study was created from publicly available information obtained from the IMS Japan Pharmaceutical Market database. Data on the total amount of sales and number of prescriptions for anti-cancer drugs between 2010 and 2016 in Japan were selected. The data were categorized according to the third level of the ATC classification system. All categories of the ATC classification system had increased market shares in Japan between 2010 and 2016. The barriers to market entry were relatively low in L01F (platinum anti-neoplastics), L01C (plant-based neoplastics), L02B (cytostatic hormone antagonists), and L01D (anti-neoplastic antibiotics) but were high in L02A (cytostatic hormones), L01H (protein kinase inhibitors), and L01B (anti-metabolites). Generic cancer drugs could bring savings to Japanese health care systems. Therefore, their development should be directed toward niche markets, such as L02A, L01H, and L01B, and not competitive markets.

INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL ORIENTATION ON PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY CLIMATE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF TWO STEEL PLANTS IN MALAYSIA

OpenAIRE

Hazman Shah Abdullah; Razmi Chik; Rahman Deen

2006-01-01

The study explores the relationship between cultural values and perceptions of the creativity climate. Asian culture is allegedly inimical to creativity and innovation in organizations. High power distance, high femininity, and greater orientation towards collectivity are discordant with the cultural underpinnings of the flatter, fluid, less formal, and networked organization. One hundred and seventy executives and nonexecutives of two steel mills were tested for the value orientation using a...

Orienteering injuries

OpenAIRE

Folan, Jean M.

1982-01-01

At the Irish National Orienteering Championships in 1981 a survey of the injuries occurring over the two days of competition was carried out. Of 285 individual competitors there was a percentage injury rate of 5.26%. The article discusses the injuries and aspects of safety in orienteering.

Orienteering club

CERN Multimedia

Club d'orientation

2015-01-01

Course d'orientation La reprise des courses d’orientation était attendue dans la région puisque près de 150 coureurs ont participé à la première épreuve automnale organisée par le club d’orientation du CERN sur le site de La Faucille. Les circuits ont été remportés par Yann Locatelli du club d’Orientation Coeur de Savoie avec 56 secondes d’avance sur Damien Berguerre du club SOS Sallanches pour le parcours technique long, Marie Vuitton du club CO CERN (membre également de l’Equipe de France Jeune) pour le parcours technique moyen avec presque 4 minutes d’avance sur Jeremy Wichoud du club Lausanne-Jorat, Victor Dannecker pour le circuit technique court devant Alina Niggli, Elliot Dannecker pour le facile moyen et Alice Merat sur le facile court, tous membres du club O’Jura. Les résultats comp...

Pharmacological synergism of bee venom and melittin with antibiotics and plant secondary metabolites against multi-drug resistant microbial pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Ani, Issam; Zimmermann, Stefan; Reichling, Jürgen; Wink, Michael

2015-02-15

The goal of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of bee venom and its main component, melittin, alone or in two-drug and three-drug combinations with antibiotics (vancomycin, oxacillin, and amikacin) or antimicrobial plant secondary metabolites (carvacrol, benzyl isothiocyanate, the alkaloids sanguinarine and berberine) against drug-sensitive and antibiotic-resistant microbial pathogens. The secondary metabolites were selected corresponding to the molecular targets to which they are directed, being different from those of melittin and the antibiotics. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) were evaluated by the standard broth microdilution method, while synergistic or additive interactions were assessed by checkerboard dilution and time-kill curve assays. Bee venom and melittin exhibited a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity against 51 strains of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with strong anti-MRSA and anti-VRE activity (MIC values between 6 and 800 µg/ml). Moreover, bee venom and melittin showed significant antifungal activity (MIC values between 30 and 100 µg/ml). Carvacrol displayed bactericidal activity, while BITC exhibited bacteriostatic activity against all MRSA and VRE strains tested (reference strains and clinical isolates), both compounds showed a remarkable fungicidal activity with minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) values between 30 and 200 µg/ml. The DNA intercalating alkaloid sanguinarine showed bactericidal activity against MRSA NCTC 10442 (MBC 20 µg/ml), while berberine exhibited bacteriostatic activity against MRSA NCTC 10442 (MIC 40 µg/ml). Checkerboard dilution tests mostly revealed synergism of two-drug combinations against all the tested microorganisms with FIC indexes between 0.24 and 0.50, except for rapidly growing mycobacteria in which combinations exerted an additive effect (FICI = 0.75-1). In time-kill assays all three-drug

Process data validation according VDI 2048 in conventional and nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langenstein, M.; Laipple, B.; Schmid, F.

2004-01-01

Process data validation according VDI 2048 in conventional and nuclear power plants is required for acceptance testing, process and component monitoring, and status-oriented maintenance. Once a validation system like VALI III has been certified according to VDI 2048, power plant owners can use the data obtained for efficiency increase. Further, all control variables can be adjusted so as to ensure maximum plant efficiency. (orig.)

Transformation Strategies between Block-Oriented and Graph-Oriented Process Modelling Languages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mendling, Jan; Lassen, Kristian Bisgaard; Zdun, Uwe

2006-01-01

Much recent research work discusses the transformation between different process modelling languages. This work, however, is mainly focussed on specific process modelling languages, and thus the general reusability of the applied transformation concepts is rather limited. In this paper, we aim...... to abstract from concrete transformation strategies by distinguishing two major paradigms for representing control flow in process modelling languages: block-oriented languages (such as BPEL and BPML) and graph-oriented languages (such as EPCs and YAWL). The contribution of this paper are generic strategies...... for transforming from block-oriented process languages to graph-oriented languages, and vice versa....

Transformation Strategies between Block-Oriented and Graph-Oriented Process Modelling Languages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mendling, Jan; Lassen, Kristian Bisgaard; Zdun, Uwe

to abstract from concrete transformationstrategies by distinguishing two major paradigms for process modelling languages:block-oriented languages (such as BPEL and BPML) and graph-oriented languages(such as EPCs and YAWL). The contribution of this paper are generic strategiesfor transforming from block......Much recent research work discusses the transformation between differentprocess modelling languages. This work, however, is mainly focussed on specific processmodelling languages, and thus the general reusability of the applied transformationconcepts is rather limited. In this paper, we aim......-oriented process languages to graph-oriented languages,and vice versa. We also present two case studies of applying our strategies....

Drug loading to lipid-based cationic nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cavalcanti, Leide P.; Konovalov, Oleg; Torriani, Iris L.; Haas, Heinrich

2005-01-01

Lipid-based cationic nanoparticles are a new promising option for tumor therapy, because they display enhanced binding and uptake at the neo-angiogenic endothelial cells, which a tumor needs for its nutrition and growth. By loading suitable cytotoxic compounds to the cationic carrier, the tumor endothelial and consequently also the tumor itself can be destroyed. For the development of such novel anti-tumor agents, the control of drug loading and drug release from the carrier matrix is essential. We have studied the incorporation of the hydrophobic anti-cancer agent Paclitaxel (PXL) into a variety of lipid matrices by X-Ray reflectivity measurements. Liposome suspensions from cationic and zwitterionic lipids, comprising different molar fractions of Paclitaxel, were deposited on planar glass substrates. After drying at controlled humidity, well ordered, oriented multilayer stacks were obtained, as proven by the presence of bilayer Bragg peaks to several orders in the reflectivity curves. The presence of the drug induced a decrease of the lipid bilayer spacing, and with an excess of drug, also Bragg peaks of drug crystals could be observed. From the results, insight into the solubility of Paclitaxel in the model membranes was obtained and a structural model of the organization of the drug in the membrane was derived. Results from subsequent pressure/area-isotherm and grazing incidence diffraction (GID) measurements performed with drug/lipid Langmuir monolayers were in accordance with these conjectures

Export orientation and domestic electricity generation: Effects on energy efficiency innovation in select sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urpelainen, Johannes

2011-01-01

Why are some countries developing many energy efficiency innovations, while others are lagging behind? I argue that export orientation and electricity at low variable cost from nuclear and hydropower plants have an interactive effect on energy efficiency innovation. Export-oriented countries have strong incentives to invest in energy efficiency innovation, as they are in a position to export these technology innovations for global markets. But if inexpensive electricity is supplied in a country, the domestic demand for energy efficiency innovation is missing, and so the home market cannot serve as a springboard for international commercialization. I test this theory against international patent data on energy efficiency innovation in insulation, heating, and lighting for 22 OECD countries, 1991-2007. The statistical analysis indicates that export orientation has large positive effects on energy efficiency innovation in countries that do not rely on nuclear and hydroelectricity. - Highlights: → Export-oriented countries produce energy efficiency innovations. → Nuclear and hydropower reduce energy efficiency innovation. → Data on international patents from industrialized countries support the argument.

Use of Plant and Herb Derived Medicine for Therapeutic Usage in Cardiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Koo, Ye Eun; Song, Jiwon; Bae, Soochan

2018-04-22

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become prominent in mortality and morbidity rates. Prevalent cardiovascular conditions, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis and oxidative stress, are increasing at an alarming rate. Conventional drugs have been associated with adverse effects, suggesting a need for an alternative measure to ameliorate CVD. A number of plant- and herb-derived preventative food and therapeutic drugs for cardiovascular conditions are progressively used for their various benefits. Naturally derived food and drugs have fewer side effects because they come from natural elements; preventative food, such as grape seed, inhibits changes of histopathology and biomarkers in vital organs whereas therapeutic drugs, for instance Xanthone, improve heart functions by suppressing oxidative stress of myocyte. This review closely examines the various plant- and herb-derived drugs that have assumed an essential role in treating inflammation and oxidative stress for prevalent cardiovascular conditions. Furthermore, the use of plant-derived medicine with other synthetic particles, such as nanoparticles, for targeted therapy is investigated for its effective clinical use in the future.

[Psychoactive plant species--actual list of plants prohibited in Poland].

Science.gov (United States)

Simonienko, Katarzyna; Waszkiewicz, Napoleon; Szulc, Agata

2013-01-01

According to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction (20-th of March, 2009, Dz. U. Nr 63 poz. 520.) the list of federally prohibited plants in Poland was expanded to include 16 new species. Until that time the only illegal plant materials were cannabis, papaver, coca and most of their products. The actual list of herbal narcotics includes species which significantly influence on the central nervous system work but which are rarely described in the national literature. The plants usually come from distant places, where--among primeval cultures--are used for ritual purposes. In our civilization the plants are usually used experimentally, recreationally or to gain particular narcotic effects. The results of the consumption vary: they can be specific or less typical, imitate other substances intake, mental disorders or different pathological states. The plant active substances can interact with other medicaments, be toxic to internal organs, cause serious threat to health or even death. This article describes the sixteen plant species, which are now prohibited in Poland, their biochemical ingredients and their influence on the human organism.

Oriented Poly(dialkylstannane)s

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choffat, Fabien; Fornera, Sara; Smith, Paul

2008-01-01

The inorganic (or 'organometallic') polymers poly(dibutylstannane), poly(dioctylstannane), and poly(didodecylstannane) have been oriented by shear forces, the tensile drawing of blends with polyethylene, and deposition from solution onto glass slides coated with all oriented, friction-deposited p......The inorganic (or 'organometallic') polymers poly(dibutylstannane), poly(dioctylstannane), and poly(didodecylstannane) have been oriented by shear forces, the tensile drawing of blends with polyethylene, and deposition from solution onto glass slides coated with all oriented, friction......-deposited poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) layer. Orientation of the polystannanes has been examined by polarization microscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy with polarized light, and X-ray diffraction and their direction is found to depend on the length of the alkyl side groups and the method of orientation. Remarkably...

Behavior of pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) using combined conventional and ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (UF/RO) treatments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boleda, Ma Rosa [AGBAR-Aiguees de Barcelona, Gral Batet 5-7, 08028 Barcelona (Spain); Galceran, Ma Teresa [University of Barcelona, Department Analytical Chemistry, Av. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona (Spain); Ventura, Francesc, E-mail: fventura@agbar.es [AGBAR-Aiguees de Barcelona, Gral Batet 5-7, 08028 Barcelona (Spain)

2011-06-15

The behavior along the potabilization process of 29 pharmaceuticals and 12 drugs of abuse identified from a total of 81 compounds at the intake of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) has been studied. The DWTP has a common treatment consisting of dioxychlorination, coagulation/flocculation and sand filtration and then water is splitted in two parallel treatment lines: conventional (ozonation and carbon filtration) and advanced (ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis) to be further blended, chlorinated and distributed. Full removals were reached for most of the compounds. Iopromide (up to 17.2 ng/L), nicotine (13.7 ng/L), benzoylecgonine (1.9 ng/L), cotinine (3.6 ng/L), acetaminophen (15.6 ng/L), erythromycin (2.0 ng/L) and caffeine (6.0 ng/L) with elimination efficiencies {>=}94%, were the sole compounds found in the treated water. The advanced treatment process showed a slightly better efficiency than the conventional treatment to eliminate pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse. - Highlights: > The presence of pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in surface water was demonstrated. > Elimination in both potabilization processes reached levels >99% for most compounds. > Four pharmaceuticals and three drugs of abuse survived the potabilization process. - The efficiency of potabilization processes to eliminate or transform pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs is evaluated.

Behavior of pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) using combined conventional and ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (UF/RO) treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boleda, Ma Rosa; Galceran, Ma Teresa; Ventura, Francesc

2011-01-01

The behavior along the potabilization process of 29 pharmaceuticals and 12 drugs of abuse identified from a total of 81 compounds at the intake of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) has been studied. The DWTP has a common treatment consisting of dioxychlorination, coagulation/flocculation and sand filtration and then water is splitted in two parallel treatment lines: conventional (ozonation and carbon filtration) and advanced (ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis) to be further blended, chlorinated and distributed. Full removals were reached for most of the compounds. Iopromide (up to 17.2 ng/L), nicotine (13.7 ng/L), benzoylecgonine (1.9 ng/L), cotinine (3.6 ng/L), acetaminophen (15.6 ng/L), erythromycin (2.0 ng/L) and caffeine (6.0 ng/L) with elimination efficiencies ≥94%, were the sole compounds found in the treated water. The advanced treatment process showed a slightly better efficiency than the conventional treatment to eliminate pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse. - Highlights: → The presence of pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in surface water was demonstrated. → Elimination in both potabilization processes reached levels >99% for most compounds. → Four pharmaceuticals and three drugs of abuse survived the potabilization process. - The efficiency of potabilization processes to eliminate or transform pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs is evaluated.

Saudi anti-human cancer plants database (SACPD): A collection of plants with anti-human cancer activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Zahrani, Ateeq Ahmed

2018-01-30

Several anticancer drugs have been developed from natural products such as plants. Successful experiments in inhibiting the growth of human cancer cell lines using Saudi plants were published over the last three decades. Up to date, there is no Saudi anticancer plants database as a comprehensive source for the interesting data generated from these experiments. Therefore, there was a need for creating a database to collect, organize, search and retrieve such data. As a result, the current paper describes the generation of the Saudi anti-human cancer plants database (SACPD). The database contains most of the reported information about the naturally growing Saudi anticancer plants. SACPD comprises the scientific and local names of 91 plant species that grow naturally in Saudi Arabia. These species belong to 38 different taxonomic families. In Addition, 18 species that represent16 family of medicinal plants and are intensively sold in the local markets in Saudi Arabia were added to the database. The website provides interesting details, including plant part containing the anticancer bioactive compounds, plants locations and cancer/cell type against which they exhibit their anticancer activity. Our survey revealed that breast, liver and leukemia were the most studied cancer cell lines in Saudi Arabia with percentages of 27%, 19% and 15%, respectively. The current SACPD represents a nucleus around which more development efforts can expand to accommodate all future submissions about new Saudi plant species with anticancer activities. SACPD will provide an excellent starting point for researchers and pharmaceutical companies who are interested in developing new anticancer drugs. SACPD is available online at https://teeqrani1.wixsite.com/sapd.

21 CFR 1210.14 - Sanitary inspection of plants.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Sanitary inspection of plants. 1210.14 Section... FEDERAL IMPORT MILK ACT Inspection and Testing § 1210.14 Sanitary inspection of plants. The sanitary conditions of any plant handling milk or cream any part of which is to be shipped or transported into the...

Illicit drugs in wastewater of the city of Zagreb (Croatia) - Estimation of drug abuse in a transition country

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terzic, Senka; Senta, Ivan; Ahel, Marijan

2010-01-01

A comprehensive study of various psychoactive substances and their metabolites was performed in the wastewater treatment plant of the city of Zagreb (780 000 inhabitants) using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). The estimation of drug abuse for five different illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamine and ecstasy, was made on the basis of their representative excretion rates, which were determined over a period of 8 months. Marijuana (1000 kg/year), heroin (75 kg/year) and cocaine (47 kg/year) were found to be the most frequently consumed illicit drugs, while the consumption of amphetamine-type drugs was much lower (1-3 kg/year). A comparison with other reports indicated that drug abuse profiles in transition countries might be different from those reported for Western Europe, in particular with respect to the comparatively increased consumption of heroin. Enhanced consumption of stimulating drugs (cocaine and ectasy) was systematically detected during weekends. - Wastewater analysis is a promising complementary tool to assess drug abuse patterns.

Illicit drugs in wastewater of the city of Zagreb (Croatia) - Estimation of drug abuse in a transition country

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terzic, Senka, E-mail: terzic@irb.h [Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia); Senta, Ivan; Ahel, Marijan [Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia)

2010-08-15

A comprehensive study of various psychoactive substances and their metabolites was performed in the wastewater treatment plant of the city of Zagreb (780 000 inhabitants) using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). The estimation of drug abuse for five different illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamine and ecstasy, was made on the basis of their representative excretion rates, which were determined over a period of 8 months. Marijuana (1000 kg/year), heroin (75 kg/year) and cocaine (47 kg/year) were found to be the most frequently consumed illicit drugs, while the consumption of amphetamine-type drugs was much lower (1-3 kg/year). A comparison with other reports indicated that drug abuse profiles in transition countries might be different from those reported for Western Europe, in particular with respect to the comparatively increased consumption of heroin. Enhanced consumption of stimulating drugs (cocaine and ectasy) was systematically detected during weekends. - Wastewater analysis is a promising complementary tool to assess drug abuse patterns.

A review of over-the-counter drug therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Esmay, J B; Wertheimer, A I

1979-01-01

The authors review the extent of the use of nonprescription drugs as well as possible variables influencing such consumption. Various studies indicate that age, sex, personality characteristics, perceptions of health status, socioeconomic factors, parental example, and pharmacists all play parts in determining over-the-counter (OTC) drug utilization. Several sources express concern about the inaccessibility of accurate OTC drug information to the consumer. Indeed, even the FDA has occasional difficulty obtaining reliable facts on both the numbers and formulae of such products. Several studies indicate that consumers acquire information about their home remedies through advertising, friends and relatives, physicians, pharmacists, and product labels. By far the most influential of these is advertising, and much concern has been voiced over consumers' unquestioning faith in drug ads. Examples are cited of deceptive, inaccurate, and unfair advertising practices used by some OTC drug manufacturers. The pros and cons of the "drug-oriented society" theory are discussed, including an analysis of its underlying origins. Testing of the safety and efficacy of nonrescription remedies has proved to be controversial, especially when considering the ramifications of the placebo effect. Different surveys report widespread misuse of OTC's by consumers through overuse, taking several drugs concurrently, and using home remedies to treat potentially serious diseases.

Practical experience with phaseout-oriented execution of law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hellenschmidt, J.G.

1991-01-01

The result of two years of experience with phaseout-oriented execution of law is that the original political target of the new head of the authorities - abandonment of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in Schleswig-Holstein within 2 years on the basis of the law in force - was unachievable despite considerable efforts. This interim result can be seen as positive for the operators of nuclear power plants in Schleswig-Holstein, because despite the stringency of the nuclear supervisory authorities, which could hardly be more severe, no deficits in safety, which would have warranted decommissioning, have appeared to become obvious. (orig./HSCH) [de

Phytochemistry and pharmacology of anti-depressant medicinal plants: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, Jeanette; S, Brijesh

2018-05-16

Stress renders an individual to experience mental pressure and exhaustion which brings about feelings of anxiety, depression, anger and/or other negative emotions. Depression affects a person's state of mind, behaviour, health and is often associated with suicide. The use of anti-depressant drugs as therapeutic agents is associated with symptoms such as, delayed onset of action, side-effects, drug-drug and dietary interactions, sexual dysfunction, cardiac toxicity, etc. Thus, there is need to target these issues and improve current treatment options. Medicinal plants have long been used in discovering novel treatment strategies and compounds with promising roles in treating various disease conditions. There has been an increase, worldwide, in the use of medicinal plants and herbs for developing nutraceuticals for treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders. Medicinal plants in their natural forms are valuable as they are rich in various phytochemical compounds. These phytochemical compounds have pharmacological roles in treating various diseases conditions; apart from being widely available in nature and commercially beneficial. The phytochemical compounds in plants are constantly being explored through various experimental studies to determine the molecular basis of how medicinal plants work in relation to drugs and diseases and to develop neutraceuticals for improving conditions. This review summarizes 110 medicinal plants and their phytochemical constituents that have been shown to possess anti-depressant activity. This review also highlights the various mechanisms of anti-depressant action of some of these plants and their plant parts like roots, stem, leaves, flowers, fruit or whole plant; phytochemical compounds showing anti-depressant activity such flavanoids, steroids, saponins, sugars, lectins, alkaloids, etc.; and various anti-depressant screening models used such as tail suspension test, forced swim test, chronic unpredictable stress test

Orientalism/Occidentalism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Minca, C.; Ong, C.E.

2017-01-01

Orientalism and Occidentalism are interrelated concepts. Orientalism is defined in three keys ways: (i) as a study of “the Orient”; (ii) as a cultural and aesthetic concern with “the Orient”; and (iii) as a critical approach to understanding the construction of “the Orient” by European and American

Antiartherosclerotic Effects of Plant Flavonoids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shamala Salvamani

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Atherosclerosis is the process of hardening and narrowing the arteries. Atherosclerosis is generally associated with cardiovascular diseases such as strokes, heart attacks, and peripheral vascular diseases. Since the usage of the synthetic drug, statins, leads to various side effects, the plants flavonoids with antiartherosclerotic activity gained much attention and were proven to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis in vitro and in vivo based on different animal models. The flavonoids compounds also exhibit lipid lowering effects and anti-inflammatory and antiatherogenic properties. The future development of flavonoids-based drugs is believed to provide significant effects on atherosclerosis and its related diseases. This paper discusses the antiatherosclerotic effects of selected plant flavonoids such as quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, rutin, naringenin, catechin, fisetin, and gossypetin.

Old Yet New--Pharmaceuticals from Plants

Science.gov (United States)

Houghton, Peter J.

2001-02-01

Plants or their crude extracts have been used since prehistory to treat human ailments. Plants are still used in this way in many parts of the world, but Western scientific medicine has tended to isolate active compounds, or make derivatives of them, for use as drugs. Compounds produced by the plant have been important pharmaceuticals since the isolation of morphine almost two hundred years ago and new naturally occurring compounds such as paclitaxel are continually being introduced commercially. Bioactive molecules may also be produced from chemicals found in plants by chemical modification using synthetic chemistry or microorganisms (as in the production of steroids). A third major contribution of plant chemicals to drugs is their utilization as templates for the design of new compounds made by synthesis (e.g. the discovery of aspirin and related compounds from substances in willow bark). New pharmaceuticals from plants are being discovered by examining traditional medicines and by large-scale bioassay screening processes. In addition, the chemical survival systems of plants that exist in hostile environments are receiving increasing attention as leads to discover active compounds. The knowledge of botanical relationships helps find new sources of known compounds of interest and novel compounds with similar structures from related species. Future prospects for the discovery of new compounds from plants are broadened by the new technologies of gene manipulation, tissue culture, and combinatorial chemistry, so it is very likely that natural products from plants will continue to play an important role in the fight against disease.

An attention-based effective neural model for drug-drug interactions extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Wei; Lin, Hongfei; Luo, Ling; Zhao, Zhehuan; Li, Zhengguang; Zhang, Yijia; Yang, Zhihao; Wang, Jian

2017-10-10

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) often bring unexpected side effects. The clinical recognition of DDIs is a crucial issue for both patient safety and healthcare cost control. However, although text-mining-based systems explore various methods to classify DDIs, the classification performance with regard to DDIs in long and complex sentences is still unsatisfactory. In this study, we propose an effective model that classifies DDIs from the literature by combining an attention mechanism and a recurrent neural network with long short-term memory (LSTM) units. In our approach, first, a candidate-drug-oriented input attention acting on word-embedding vectors automatically learns which words are more influential for a given drug pair. Next, the inputs merging the position- and POS-embedding vectors are passed to a bidirectional LSTM layer whose outputs at the last time step represent the high-level semantic information of the whole sentence. Finally, a softmax layer performs DDI classification. Experimental results from the DDIExtraction 2013 corpus show that our system performs the best with respect to detection and classification (84.0% and 77.3%, respectively) compared with other state-of-the-art methods. In particular, for the Medline-2013 dataset with long and complex sentences, our F-score far exceeds those of top-ranking systems by 12.6%. Our approach effectively improves the performance of DDI classification tasks. Experimental analysis demonstrates that our model performs better with respect to recognizing not only close-range but also long-range patterns among words, especially for long, complex and compound sentences.

Trace element pharmacognostical study on diuretic drugs by neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanias, G.D.; Loukis, A.; Philianos, S.M.

1979-01-01

Some pharmacological properties and especially diuretic action of medicinal plants are attributed to their elemental content. The elements chlorine, manganese, potassium and sodium are determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis in the dry samples of the following drugs: stigmata of Zea mays, leaves of Uva ursi, rhizome of Cynodon dactylon, whole plant of Ceterach officinarum as well as in infusions, decoction of the same drugs and in the water used for these preparations. It has been found that manganese and potassium are transferred partially into prepared solutions. Sodium is not transferred into solutions from any of these drugs while only chlorine is transferred partially into infusion of Zea mays. From these results it is concluded that the diuretic action of the examined drugs should not be attributed exclusively to the presence of their potassium and chlorine content but also to other constituents. (author)

Plant actin cytoskeleton re-modeling by plant parasitic nematodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Engler, Janice de Almeida; Rodiuc, Natalia; Smertenko, Andrei; Abad, Pierre

2010-03-01

The cytoskeleton is an important component of the plant's defense mechanism against the attack of pathogenic organisms. Plants however, are defenseless against parasitic root-knot and cyst nematodes and respond to the invasion by the development of a special feeding site that supplies the parasite with nutrients required for the completion of its life cycle. Recent studies of nematode invasion under treatment with cytoskeletal drugs and in mutant plants where normal functions of the cytoskeleton have been affected, demonstrate the importance of the cytoskeleton in the establishment of a feeding site and successful nematode reproduction. It appears that in the case of microfilaments, nematodes hijack the intracellular machinery that regulates actin dynamics and modulate the organization and properties of the actin filament network. Intervening with this process reduces the nematode infection efficiency and inhibits its life cycle. This discovery uncovers a new pathway that can be exploited for the protection of plants against nematodes.

Object-orientated DBMS techniques for time-oriented medical record.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinciroli, F; Combi, C; Pozzi, G

1992-01-01

In implementing time-orientated medical record (TOMR) management systems, use of a relational model played a big role. Many applications have been developed to extend query and data manipulation languages to temporal aspects of information. Our experience in developing TOMR revealed some deficiencies inside the relational model, such as: (a) abstract data type definition; (b) unified view of data, at a programming level; (c) management of temporal data; (d) management of signals and images. We identified some first topics to face by an object-orientated approach to database design. This paper describes the first steps in designing and implementing a TOMR by an object-orientated DBMS.

Development of a gastroretentive pulsatile drug delivery platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Thitinan, Sumalee; McConville, Jason T

2012-04-01

To develop a novel gastroretentive pulsatile drug delivery platform by combining the advantages of floating dosage forms for the stomach and pulsatile drug delivery systems. A gastric fluid impermeable capsule body was used as a vessel to contain one or more drug layer(s) as well as one or more lag-time controlling layer(s). A controlled amount of air was sealed in the innermost portion of the capsule body to reduce the overall density of the drug delivery platform, enabling gastric floatation. An optimal mass fill inside the gastric fluid impermeable capsule body enabled buoyancy in a vertical orientation to provide a constant surface area for controlled erosion of the lag-time controlling layer. The lag-time controlling layer consisted of a swellable polymer, which rapidly formed a gel to seal the mouth of capsule body and act as a barrier to gastric fluid ingress. By varying the composition of the lag-time controlling layer, it was possible to selectively program the onset of the pulsatile delivery of a drug. This new delivery platform offers a new method of delivery for a variety of suitable drugs targeted in chronopharmaceutical therapy. This strategy could ultimately improve drug efficacy and patient compliance, and reduce harmful side effects by scaling back doses of drug administered. © 2012 The Authors. JPP © 2012 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Who takes more sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial actions? The role of entrepreneurs' values, beliefs and orientations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jahanshahi, Asghar Afshar; Brem, Alexander; Bhattacharjee, Amitab

2017-01-01

We examine the relationships between entrepreneurs' values, beliefs and orientations with their firms' engagement in sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial actions, using a sample of 352 newly established businesses from two Asian countries (Bangladesh and Iran). Our results reveal a dual role o...... of sustainable entrepreneurship, by providing answers for recent calls for better understanding which entrepreneurial ventures engage more in sustainability-oriented actions.......We examine the relationships between entrepreneurs' values, beliefs and orientations with their firms' engagement in sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial actions, using a sample of 352 newly established businesses from two Asian countries (Bangladesh and Iran). Our results reveal a dual role...... of entrepreneurs' values, beliefs and orientations when taking sustainability-oriented actions. We confirm that individual differences in the set of values, beliefs and orientations can foster or hinder the sustainability-oriented actions across organizations. Our paper contributes to the growing literature...

On several computer-oriented studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Ryoichi

1982-01-01

To utilize fully digital techniques for solving various difficult problems, nuclear engineers have recourse to computer-oriented approaches. The current trend, in such fields as optimization theory, control system theory and computational fluid dynamics reflect the ability to use computers to obtain numerical solutions to complex problems. Special purpose computers will be used as the integral part of the solving system to process a large amount of data, to implement a control law and even to produce a decision-making. Many problem-solving systems designed in the future will incorporate special-purpose computers as system component. The optimum use of computer system is discussed: why are energy model, energy data base and a big computer used; why will the economic process-computer be allocated to nuclear plants in the future; why should the super-computer be demonstrated at once. (Mori, K.)

NpPDR1, a pleiotropic drug resistance-type ATP-binding cassette transporter from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, plays a major role in plant pathogen defense.

Science.gov (United States)

Stukkens, Yvan; Bultreys, Alain; Grec, Sébastien; Trombik, Tomasz; Vanham, Delphine; Boutry, Marc

2005-09-01

Nicotiana plumbaginifolia NpPDR1, a plasma membrane pleiotropic drug resistance-type ATP-binding cassette transporter formerly named NpABC1, has been suggested to transport the diterpene sclareol, an antifungal compound. However, direct evidence for a role of pleiotropic drug resistance transporters in the plant defense is still lacking. In situ immunolocalization and histochemical analysis using the gusA reporter gene showed that NpPDR1 was constitutively expressed in the whole root, in the leaf glandular trichomes, and in the flower petals. However, NpPDR1 expression was induced in the whole leaf following infection with the fungus Botrytis cinerea, and the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Pseudomonas marginalis pv marginalis, which do not induce a hypersensitive response in N. plumbaginifolia, whereas a weaker response was observed using P. syringae pv syringae, which does induce a hypersensitive response. Induced NpPDR1 expression was more associated with the jasmonic acid than the salicylic acid signaling pathway. These data suggest that NpPDR1 is involved in both constitutive and jasmonic acid-dependent induced defense. Transgenic plants in which NpPDR1 expression was prevented by RNA interference showed increased sensitivity to sclareol and reduced resistance to B. cinerea. These data show that NpPDR1 is involved in pathogen resistance and thus demonstrate a new role for the ATP-binding cassette transporter family.

Adaxial/abaxial specification in the regulation of photosynthesis and stomatal opening with respect to light orientation and growth with CO2 enrichment in the C4 species Paspalum dilatatum.

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Ana Sofia; Driscoll, Simon P; Olmos, Enrique; Harbinson, Jeremy; Arrabaça, Maria Celeste; Foyer, Christine H

2008-01-01

Whole-plant morphology, leaf structure and composition were studied together with the effects of light orientation on the dorso-ventral regulation of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance in Paspalum dilatatum cv. Raki plants grown for 6 wk at either 350 or 700 microl l(-1) CO(2). Plant biomass was doubled as a result of growth at high CO(2) and the shoot:root ratio was decreased. Stomatal density was increased in the leaves of the high CO(2)-grown plants, which had greater numbers of smaller stomata and more epidermal cells on the abaxial surface. An asymmetric surface-specific regulation of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance was observed with respect to light orientation. This was not caused by dorso-ventral variations in leaf structure, the distribution of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) proteins or light absorptance, transmittance or reflectance. Adaxial/abaxial specification in the regulation of photosynthesis results from differential sensitivity of stomatal opening to light orientation and fixed gradients of enzyme activation across the leaf.

Time-sequential observation of spindle and phragmoplast orientation in BY-2 cells with altered cortical actin microfilament patterning.

Science.gov (United States)

Kojo, Kei H; Yasuhara, Hiroki; Hasezawa, Seiichiro

2014-01-01

Precise division plane determination is essential for plant development. At metaphase, a dense actin microfilament meshwork appears on both sides of the cell center, forming a characteristic cortical actin microfilament twin peak pattern in BY-2 cells. We previously reported a strong correlation between altered cortical actin microfilament patterning and an oblique mitotic spindle orientation, implying that these actin microfilament twin peaks play a role in the regulation of mitotic spindle orientation. In the present study, time-sequential observation was used to reveal the progression from oblique phragmoplast to oblique cell plate orientation in cells with altered cortical actin microfilament patterning. In contrast to cells with normal actin microfilament twin peaks, oblique phragmoplast reorientation was rarely observed in cells with altered cortical actin microfilament patterning. These results support the important roles of cortical actin microfilament patterning in division plane orientation.

Strategy-oriented display concept to assist severe accident management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Kwangsub; Ha, Jaejoo

2000-01-01

The Critical Function Monitoring System (CFMS) is a typical Safety Parameter Display System (SPDS) to assist the operation of Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants during normal and emergency operation, and SPDS for severe accident is being developed in Korea. When the existing CFMS is used under a severe accident situation, some problems are expected from: (1) different design basis, i.e. prevention of core melt vs. protection of radiation release to environment, (2) different parameters for decision-making, and (3) different domain and depth of information to restore the plant. To resolve the above problems, a concept, 'Strategy-Oriented Information Display' concept, for displaying information for severe accident management is developed in this paper. Whereas the existing SPDS structure is based on the critical safety function, the developed concept is based on the severe accident management strategy. The display for each strategy includes the plant parameters to check the status of plant and component with the logical or graphical views necessary for executing the strategy. As the application of the proposed concept, KAERI is developing a display system, the prototype severe accident SPDS, Severe Accident Management Display System (SAMDIS), to assist plant personnel for executing Korean Severe Accident Management Guidelines. CFMS is developed for a general display suitable to all situations with various displays. On the contrary, SAMDIS provides all the relevant information on one screen based on the proposed concept. The SAMDIS screen shows more extensive area than CFMS and thus plant personnel can recognize the overall plant status at a glance. This concept is quite effective when used with severe accident management guidelines because of the relatively macroscopic characteristics of a severe accident management strategy. (author)

Plants and Medicinal Chemistry--2

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, D.

1977-01-01

Second of a two part article on the influence of plants on medicinal chemistry. This part considers how drugs work, the attempts to develop anaesthetics safer than cocaine, and useful poisons. (Author/SL)

Sustainability Orientation and Entrepreneurship Orientation: Is There a Tradeoff Relationship between Them?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Soo Sung

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sustainability and entrepreneurship are often regarded as binary concepts that have a tradeoff relationship, meaning that the higher the social and environmental consideration, the lower the private and economic benefits. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of individual sustainability orientation on opportunity recognition and sustainable entrepreneurship intention, and examine whether it has a tradeoff relationship with entrepreneurship orientation. The result of this study shows that sustainability orientation has a positive relationship with opportunity recognition and entrepreneurship intention related to sustainability. Analysis of the moderating effects of entrepreneurship orientation reveals the positive effect with sustainability orientation but negative effect with opportunity recognition on sustainable entrepreneurship intention. This study would suggest implications to entrepreneurs on how to balance sustainability and entrepreneurship and promote sustainability entrepreneurship.

[Interactions between herbal medicines and drugs].

Science.gov (United States)

Tůmová, L

2000-07-01

At present the use of medicaments of plant origin is on the increase. It is therefore necessary to take into consideration that there exist known as well as potential interactions between the medicament of the medicinal plant. The problematic plants include Echinacea, Allium cepa, Gingko biloba, Panax ginseng, as well as Hypericum perforatum, Valeriana officinalis, or Glycyrrhiza glabra. Its use should be limited, or completely excluded in the cases of simultaneous therapy with, e.g., warfarin, hepatotoxically acting medicaments, MAOI inhibitors, phenelzin sulphate, or phenytoin, as they may decrease of completely eliminate the therapeutic effect of the administered drugs, or they may cause a toxic damage to the organism.

Modeling and implementing a database on drugs into a hospital intranet.

Science.gov (United States)

François, M; Joubert, M; Fieschi, D; Fieschi, M

1998-09-01

Our objective was to develop a drug information service, implementing a database on drugs in our university hospitals information system. Thériaque is a database, maintained by a group of pharmacists and physicians, on all the drugs available in France. Before its implementation we modeled its content (chemical classes, active components, excipients, indications, contra-indications, side effects, and so on) according to an object-oriented method. Then we designed HTML pages whose appearance translates the structure of classes of objects of the model. Fields in pages are dynamically fulfilled by the results of queries to a relational database in which information on drugs is stored. This allowed a fast implementation and did not imply to port a client application on the thousands of workstations over the network. The interface provides end-users with an easy-to-use and natural way to access information related to drugs in an internet environment.

The Impact of Drug Trafficking on Informal Security Actors in Kenya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moritz Schuberth

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Kenyan state is currently under pressure from two sides: First, numerous non-state armed groups have taken over the provision of security in areas where the state is practically absent. Second, drug-trafficking organizations are gaining ground as the country is increasingly being used as a major transit hub for narcotics. This article investigates the relationship between drug trafficking and informal security provision in Kenya and draws analogies from comparable experiences in Latin America and West Africa. Field research in Kenya has demonstrated that profit-oriented, informal security actors in Mombasa work for drug lords, while their counterparts in Nairobi are more likely to be hired by politicians. Moreover, faith-based vigilante groups in both cities appear to be less susceptible to external manipulation by drug traffickers. The article concludes by considering the potential consequences of an expansion of the drug trade in Kenya.

Treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts in Singapore 1977-1982.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, B C

1984-01-01

In Singapore, the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts consist of detoxification, recuperation and orientation, indoctrination, physical training and work programme. This is followed by a Day Release Scheme to bridge the gap between the strict disciplinary regime and the free environment of the outside world. The addicts are given the opportunities to pursue academic studies. Two review committees monitor their progress. There has been a significant decrease in the total number of admission from 7084 in 1977 to 2043 in 1982. Over this period, there appears to be a drop in the number of youths recruited into drug abuse. At the same time, more and more of those who have been previously treated are coming into the drug scene.

Customer Orientation vs. Customer Orientation Perception : Case J & J Lakkapää Oy Tornio

OpenAIRE

Angeria, Heli

2011-01-01

Heli, Angeria 2011. Customer Orientation vs. Customer Orientation Perception. Case: J & J Lakkapää Oy Tornio. Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences. Business and Culture. Pages 51. Appendices 5. The objective of this thesis is to study customer orientation with the help of a widely adapted Selling-Orientation-Customer Orientation (SOCO) scale, in order to find out what is the extent to which J & J Lakkapää Oy Tornio and its consumer customers agree or disagree about the company’s cus...

Evolution and applications of plant pathway resources and databases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sucaet, Yves; Deva, Taru

2011-01-01

Plants are important sources of food and plant products are essential for modern human life. Plants are increasingly gaining importance as drug and fuel resources, bioremediation tools and as tools for recombinant technology. Considering these applications, database infrastructure for plant model...... systems deserves much more attention. Study of plant biological pathways, the interconnection between these pathways and plant systems biology on the whole has in general lagged behind human systems biology. In this article we review plant pathway databases and the resources that are currently available...

Metabolism of diclofenac in plants--hydroxylation is followed by glucose conjugation.

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, Christian; Bartha, Bernadett; Schröder, Peter

2012-12-01

Pharmaceuticals from human or veterinary medication form a new class of micropollutants that poses a serious threat to our aquatic environment and its organisms. The intensively used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac is found in the environment worldwide due to its poor elimination during waste water treatment processes. In order to test phytoremediation as a tool for the removal of this drug from waste water, the uptake of the compound into plant tissues and its metabolic pathway was addressed using Hordeum vulgare (barley) and a hairy root cell culture of Armoracia rusticana (horse radish) as model species. Diclofenac is taken up by plants and undergoes rapid metabolization; already after 3h of exposure the drug and its metabolites could be detected in the plant tissues. Similar to its fate in mammalian cells the drug is activated in a phase I reaction resulting in the hydroxylated metabolite 4'OH-diclofenac which is conjugated subsequently in phase II to a glucopyranoside, a typical plant specific metabolite. After exposure to 10 and 100 μM diclofenac a concentration dependent formation of the hydroxylated metabolite was observed, while the formation of the phase II metabolite OH-diclofenac glucopyranoside was not positively affected by the higher concentration. To our knowledge this is the first time these two human painkiller metabolites are shown to occur in plant tissues. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling control of eye orientation in three dimensions. I. Role of muscle pulleys in determining saccadic trajectory.

Science.gov (United States)

Raphan, T

1998-05-01

This study evaluates the effects of muscle axis shifts on the performance of a vector velocity-position integrator in the CNS. Earlier models of the oculomotor plant assumed that the muscle axes remained fixed relative to the head as the eye rotated into secondary and tertiary eye positions. Under this assumption, the vector integrator model generates torsional transients as the eye moves from secondary to tertiary positions of fixation. The torsional transient represents an eye movement response to a spatial mismatch between the torque axes that remain fixed in the head and the displacement plane that changes by half the angle of the change in eye orientation. When muscle axis shifts were incorporated into the model, the torque axes were closer to the displacement plane at each eye orientation throughout the trajectory, and torsional transients were reduced dramatically. Their size and dynamics were close to reported data. It was also shown that when the muscle torque axes were rotated by 50% of the eye rotation, there was no torsional transient and Listing's law was perfectly obeyed. When muscle torque axes rotated >50%, torsional transients reversed direction compared with what occurred for muscle axis shifts of law is implemented by the oculomotor plant subject to a two-dimensional command signal that is confined to the pitch-yaw plane, having zero torsion. Saccades that bring the eye to orientations outside Listing's plane could easily be corrected by a roll pulse that resets the roll state of the velocity-position integrator to zero. This would be a simple implementation of the corrective controller suggested by Van Opstal and colleagues. The model further indicates that muscle axis shifts together with the torque orientation relationship for tissue surrounding the eye and Newton's laws of motion form a sufficient plant model to explain saccadic trajectories and periods of fixation when driven by a vector command confined to the pitch-yaw plane. This implies

A modern concept for status oriented vibration monitoring of big turbogenerators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herz, F.; Theodor, P.

1997-01-01

The investigation of mechanical vibrations is an excellent method of showing the current condition of a machine. This paper deals with the vibrations monitoring of large turbo-generators. First the general aspects of monitoring, as well as diagnostic strategies and impact on the operation of the installation is discussed. An example of a condition-oriented vibration monitoring is the description of the 'Vibroview' system recently developed and installed in the Leibstadt nuclear power plant. (author) 16 figs., tabs., refs

A review study on medicinal plants affecting amnesia through cholinergic system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baradaran Azar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Neurotransmitter modification is an important method for the treatment of memory loss or amnesia. Cholinomimetic drugs, particularly, acetylcholine esterase inhibitors are the mainstream in pharmacotherapy of amnesia. Donepezil, tacrine, galantamine, and rivastigmine are cholinesterase inhibitors which are widely used in the treatment of amnesia, however, their therapeutic effects are not significant. Therefore, other possibilities including herbal medicine sources have been considered for memory loss therapy. There are some Medicinal plants with cholinomimetic property which mostly possess antioxidant activity, too. These plants may not only ameliorate amnesia but also can be a good source for drug discovery. In this paper other than introducing the medicinal plants and their components affective on cholinergic system and effective on memory loss, their probable advantages over synthetic drugs are discussed.

Spatiotemporal relationships between growth and microtubule orientation as revealed in living root cells of Arabidopsis thaliana transformed with green-fluorescent-protein gene construct GFP-MBD

Science.gov (United States)

Granger, C. L.; Cyr, R. J.

2001-01-01

Arabidopsis thaliana plants were transformed with GFP-MBD (J. Marc et al., Plant Cell 10: 1927-1939, 1998) under the control of a constitutive (35S) or copper-inducible promoter. GFP-specific fluorescence distributions, levels, and persistence were determined and found to vary with age, tissue type, transgenic line, and individual plant. With the exception of an increased frequency of abnormal roots of 35S GFP-MBD plants grown on kanamycin-containing media, expression of GFP-MBD does not appear to affect plant phenotype. The number of leaves, branches, bolts, and siliques as well as overall height, leaf size, and seed set are similar between wild-type and transgenic plants as is the rate of root growth. Thus, we conclude that the transgenic plants can serve as a living model system in which the dynamic behavior of microtubules can be visualized. Confocal microscopy was used to simultaneously monitor growth and microtubule behavior within individual cells as they passed through the elongation zone of the Arabidopsis root. Generally, microtubules reoriented from transverse to oblique or longitudinal orientations as growth declined. Microtubule reorientation initiated at the ends of the cell did not necessarily occur simultaneously in adjacent neighboring cells and did not involve complete disintegration and repolymerization of microtubule arrays. Although growth rates correlated with microtubule reorientation, the two processes were not tightly coupled in terms of their temporal relationships, suggesting that other factor(s) may be involved in regulating both events. Additionally, microtubule orientation was more defined in cells whose growth was accelerating and less stringent in cells whose growth was decelerating, indicating that microtubule-orienting factor(s) may be sensitive to growth acceleration, rather than growth per se.

Feasibility study for objective oriented design of system thermal hydraulic analysis program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Bub Dong; Jeong, Jae Jun; Hwang, Moon Kyu

2008-01-01

The system safety analysis code, such as RELAP5, TRAC, CATHARE etc. have been developed based on Fortran language during the past few decades. Refactoring of conventional codes has been also performed to improve code readability and maintenance. However the programming paradigm in software technology has been changed to use objects oriented programming (OOP), which is based on several techniques, including encapsulation, modularity, polymorphism, and inheritance. In this work, objective oriented program for system safety analysis code has been tried utilizing modernized C language. The analysis, design, implementation and verification steps for OOP system code development are described with some implementation examples. The system code SYSTF based on three-fluid thermal hydraulic solver has been developed by OOP design. The verifications of feasibility are performed with simple fundamental problems and plant models. (author)

Low-temperature nuclear orientation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stone, N.J.; Postma, H.

1986-01-01

This book comprehensively surveys the many aspects of the low temperature nuclear orientation method. The angular distribution of radioactive emissions from nuclei oriented by hyperfine interactions in solids, is treated experimentally and theoretically. A general introductory chapter is followed by formal development of the theory of the orientation process and the anisotropic emission of decay products from oriented nuclei, applied to radioactive decay and to reactions. Five chapters on applications to nuclear physics cover experimental studies of alpha, beta and gamma emission, nuclear moment measurement and level structure information. Nuclear orientation studies of parity non-conservation and time reversal asymmetry are fully described. Seven chapters cover aspects of hyperfine interactions, magnetic and electric, in metals, alloys and insulating crystals, including ordered systems. Relaxation phenomena and the combined technique of NMR detection using oriented nuclei are treated at length. Chapters on the major recent development of on-line facilities, giving access to short lived nuclei far from stability, on the use of nuclear orientation for thermometry below 1 Kelvin and on technical aspects of the method complete the main text. Extensive appendices, table of relevant parameters and over 1000 references are included to assist the design of future experiments. (Auth.)

Re-orienting crop improvement for the changing climatic conditions of the 21st century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mba Chikelu

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract A 70% increase in food production is required over the next four decades to feed an ever-increasing population. The inherent difficulties in achieving this unprecedented increase are exacerbated by the yield-depressing consequences of climate change and variations and by the pressures on food supply by other competing demographic and socioeconomic demands. With the dwindling or stagnant agricultural land and water resources, the sought-after increases will therefore be attained mainly through the enhancement of crop productivity under eco-efficient crop production systems. ‘Smart’ crop varieties that yield more with fewer inputs will be pivotal to success. Plant breeding must be re-oriented in order to generate these ‘smart’ crop varieties. This paper highlights some of the scientific and technological tools that ought to be the staple of all breeding programs. We also make the case that plant breeding must be enabled by adequate policies, including those that spur innovation and investments. To arrest and reverse the worrisome trend of declining capacities for crop improvement, a new generation of plant breeders must also be trained. Equally important, winning partnerships, including public-private sector synergies, are needed for 21st century plant breeding to bear fruits. We also urge the adoption of the continuum approach to the management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture as means to improved cohesion of the components of its value chain. Compellingly also, the National Agricultural Research and Extension System of developing countries require comprehensive overhauling and strengthening as crop improvement and other interventions require a sustained platform to be effective. The development of a suite of actionable policy interventions to be packaged for assisting countries in developing result-oriented breeding programs is also called for.

Substance Use and Sexual Orientation Among East and Southeast Asian Adolescents in Canada

OpenAIRE

Homma, Yuko; Chen, Weihong; Poon, Colleen S.; Saewyc, Elizabeth M.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between substance use and sexual orientation among Asian adolescents in Canada. We analyzed an East and Southeast Asian subsample of a province-wide, school-based survey (weighted N = 51,349). Compared to heterosexual adolescents of the same gender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and mostly heterosexual adolescents were more likely to use alcohol, marijuana, or other illicit drugs. Particularly, sexual minority girls were at increased risk fo...

Inhibition of Th1 and Th17 Cells by Medicinal Plants and Their Derivatives: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Asadi-Samani, Majid; Bagheri, Nader; Rafieian-Kopaei, Mahmoud; Shirzad, Hedayatollah

2017-08-01

Searching for new natural drugs that are capable of targeting Th1 and Th17 may lead to development of more effective treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Most of the natural drugs can be derived from plants that are used in traditional medicine and folk medicine. The aim of this systematic review is to identify and introduce plants or plant derivatives that are effective on inflammatory diseases by inhibiting Th1 and Th17 responses. To achieve this purpose, the search terms herb, herbal medicine, herbal drug, medicinal plant, phytochemical, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, natural compound, inflammation, inflammatory diseases, Th1, Th17, T helper 1 or T helper 17 were used separately in Title/Keywords/Abstract in Web of Science and PubMed databases. In articles investigating the effect of the medicinal plants and their derivatives in inhibiting Th1 and Th17 cells, the effects of eight extracts of the medicinal plants, 21 plant-based compounds and some of their derivatives, and eight drugs derived from the medicinal plants' compounds in inhibiting Th1 and Th17 cells were reviewed. The results showed that medicinal plants and their derivates are able to suppress Th17 and Th1 T cell functions as well as cytokine secretion and differentiation. The results can be used to produce herbal drugs that suppress Th, especially Th17, responses. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Seasonal changes in antibiotics, antidepressants/psychiatric drugs, antihistamines and lipid regulators in a wastewater treatment plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Golovko, Oksana; Kumar, Vimal; Fedorova, Ganna; Randak, Tomas; Grabic, Roman

2014-09-01

Seasonal changes in the concentration of 21 pharmaceuticals in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in České Budějovice were investigated over 12months. The target compounds were 10 antibiotics, 4 antidepressants, 3 psychiatric drugs, 2 antihistamines and 2 lipid regulators. 272 Wastewater samples (136 influents and 136 effluents) were collected from March 2011 to February 2012 and analyzed using two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. All studied pharmaceuticals were frequently detected in both the influent and the effluent wastewater samples, except for meclozine, which was only found in the influent. The mean concentration of pharmaceuticals varied from 0.006μgL(-1) to 1.48μgL(-1) in the influent and from 0.003μgL(-1) to 0.93μgL(-1) in the effluent. The concentration of most pharmaceuticals was higher during winter. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of trauma service orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Schott, Eric

2010-02-01

Orientation of residents to clinical services may be criticized as cumbersome, dull, and simplytoo much information. With the mandated resident-hour restrictions, the question arose: Do residents perceive the orientation to our trauma service as worthwhile? Residents attend a standardized orientation lecture on the first day of the rotation. Three weeks later, an eight-item, five-point Likert-scale survey is distributed to assess the residents' perceptions of the value of the orientation. Responses to each item were examined. Fifty-four (92%) of the residents completed the questionnaire between September 2005 and August 2006. Most indicated that orientation was helpful (85%), the Trauma Resuscitation DVD was informative (82%), the review of procedures was helpful (82%), and the instructor's knowledge was adequate (94%). Most (92%) disagreed with the statement that orientation should not be offered. Careful attention to orientation content and format is important to the perception that the orientation is worthwhile.

Review on research of suppression male fertility and male contraceptive drug development by natural products.

Science.gov (United States)

Bajaj, Vijay Kumar; Gupta, Radhey S

2013-08-01

Male contraceptive development in the present scenario is most viable aspect of research due to uncontrolled population growth in the world. In this respect investigators are busy to find out a safe male contraceptive drug. Researchers have started their finding for a suitable drug from natural sources because these are safe and easily acceptable for common man, most of natural sources are plants and their products. In this review 137 plants and their effects on reproduction and reproductive physiology are summarized. Some of them have intense effect on male reproductive system and do not produce any side effects. Reproductive toxicological studies are also important aspects of these kinds of researches, so it is important that drugs are safe and widely acceptable. An ideal male contraceptive can influence semen, testes, hormone level, accessory reproductive organs and general physiology of animals and produced some alterations. Many plants in this review are showing antifertility as well as antispermatogenic effects, so these may be used for further study for contraceptives development but it is important to find out the mechanism of reaction and further laboratory and clinical research on some plants are needed for final male contraceptive drug development. In conclusion this review will help for finding suitable plant products for male contraceptive clinical and laboratory studies.

Topical problems of preparation of electric power engineers for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marko, S.; Darula, I.; Simunek, P.

1981-01-01

The principles are discussed of university-level education of future specialists for nuclear power plants. It is based on the unity of practice-oriented education and research. The individual jobs in a nuclear power plant are viewed as a complex man-technology system in which ergonomy as science of the human factor in homotechnical systems is maximally employed. The importance is emphasized of cooperation of universities and colleges with nuclear power plants. (author)

The Significance of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Syal; Dobos, Gustav J.; Rampp, Thomas

2016-01-01

Traditional Indian medicine (ayurveda) is becoming increasingly popular, with many chronic conditions responding to it well. Most patients begin to take conventional medications as soon as their diagnoses are made, so ayurvedic treatments are usually undergone alongside and/or after conventional medical approaches. A detailed knowledge of the action of food, spices, and medicinal plants is needed in order to understand their potential influence fully. While societal use of ayurvedic plants and Indian spices is commonplace, without ill effect, the use of more concentrated products made from single plants, often in the form of teas or tablets, is of more concern. The mechanisms by which polyherbal drugs and their extracts act differ in many respects from the actions of single substances or synthetic drugs. Despite the fact that ayurvedic medicines are based on natural herbal materials, their safety depends on their method of administration, taking into account individuals’ needs and their specific disease conditions. PMID:27707902

The Observed Longitudinal Relationship between Future Orientation and Substance Use Among a Cohort of Youth with Serious Criminal Offenses.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Merrian; Miller, Elizabeth; Abebe, Kaleab; Mulvey, Edward

2018-03-06

Future orientation (FO), an essential construct in youth development, encompassing goals, expectations for life, and ability to plan for the future. This study uses a multidimensional measure of future orientation to assess the relationship between change in future orientation and change in substance use over time. Data were from the Pathways to Desistence study. Justice involved youth (n = 1,354), ages 14 to 18 at time of recruitment, completed interviews every six months for three years. Multiple measures were chosen a priori as elements of future orientation. After evaluating the psychometrics of a new measure for future orientation, we ran mixed effects cross-lagged panel models to assess the relationship between changes in future orientation and substance use (tobacco, marijuana, hard drugs, and alcohol). There was a significant bidirectional relationship between future orientation and all substance use outcomes. Adjusted models accounted for different sites, sex, age, ethnicity, parental education, and proportion of time spent in a facility. In adjusted models, higher levels of future orientation resulted in smaller increases in substance use at future time points. Future orientation and substance use influence each other in this sample of adolescent offenders. Treating substance use disorders is also likely to increase future orientation, promoting positive youth development more generally. This study expands our understanding of the longitudinal relationship between changes in future orientation and changes in levels of substance use in a sample of justice involved youth with high levels of substance use, a group of considerable clinical and policy interest.

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Internationalisation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Decker, Arnim; Rollnik-Sadowska, Ewa; Servais, Per

Entrepreneurial orientation is a multidimensional construct that determines the strategic posture of a firm. In this study we investigate a sample of six manufacturing firms which are located both in a remote area and in a transition economy. Through interpreting the construct of entrepreneurial...... orientation as an attitude held by principals we investigate how entrepreneurial orientation affected the behaviour of these firms, specifically in terms of their internationalisation. Despite the fact that all firms have identical roots we find that entrepreneurial orientation held by their principals affect...

Alternative drugs of abuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Sutter, M E; Chenoweth, J; Albertson, T E

2014-02-01

The incidence of drug abuse with alternative agents is increasing. The term "alternative drugs of abuse" is a catch-all term for abused chemicals that do not fit into one of the classic categories of drugs of abuse. The most common age group abusing these agents range from 17 to 25 years old and are often associated with group settings. Due to their diverse pharmacological nature, legislative efforts to classify these chemicals as a schedule I drug have lagged behind the development of new alternative agents. The potential reason for abuse of these agents is their hallucinogenic, dissociative, stimulant, anti-muscarinic, or sedative properties. Some of these drugs are easily obtainable such as Datura stramonium (Jimson Weed) or Lophophora williamsii (Peyote) because they are natural plants indigenous to certain regions. The diverse pharmacology and clinical effects of these agents are so broad that they do not produce a universal constellation of signs and symptoms. Detailed physical exams are essential for identifying clues leading one to suspect an alternative drug of abuse. Testing for the presence of these agents is often limited, and even when available, the results do not return in a timely fashion. Intoxications from these agents pose unique challenges for health care providers. Physician knowledge of the physiological effects of these alternative agents and the local patterns of drug of abuse are important for the accurate diagnosis and optimal care of poisoned patients. This review summarizes the current knowledge of alternative drugs of abuse and highlights their clinical presentations.

Phytotherapy of hypertension and diabetes in oriental Morocco.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziyyat, A; Legssyer, A; Mekhfi, H; Dassouli, A; Serhrouchni, M; Benjelloun, W

1997-09-01

In order to select the main medicinal plants used in folk medicine to treat arterial hypertension and/or diabetes, a survey was undertaken in different areas of oriental Morocco. The patients (370 women and 256 men) were divided into three groups: diabetics (61%), hypertensives (23%) and hypertensive diabetic persons (16%). On average, 67.51% of patients regularly use medicinal plants. This proportion is perceptibly the same in all groups and does not depend on sex, age and socio-cultural level. This result shows that phytotherapy is widely adopted in northeastern Morocco. For diabetes, 41 plants were cited, of which the most used were Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (Leguminosae), Globularia alypum L. (Globulariaceae), Artemisia herba-alba Asso. (Compositae), Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. (Cucurbitaceae) and Tetraclinis articulata Benth. (Cupressaceae). In the hypertension's therapy 18 vegetal species were reported, of which the most used were Allium sativum L. (Liliaceae), Olea europea L. (Oleaceae), Arbutus unedo L. (Ericaceae), Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae) and Petroselinum crispum A.W. Hill (Apiaceae). Among the 18 species used for hypertension, 14 were also employed for diabetes. Moreover, these two diseases were associated in 41% of hypertensives. These findings suggest that hypertension observed in this region would be in a large part related to diabetes.

Orientation-crowding within contours.

Science.gov (United States)

Glen, James C; Dakin, Steven C

2013-07-15

We examined how crowding (the breakdown of object recognition in the periphery caused by interference from "clutter") depends on the global arrangement of target and distracting flanker elements. Specifically we probed orientation discrimination using a near-vertical target Gabor flanked by two vertical distractor Gabors (one above and one below the target). By applying variable (opposite-sign) horizontal offsets to the positions of the two flankers we arranged the elements so that on some trials they formed contours with the target and on others they did not. While the presence of flankers generally elevated orientation discrimination thresholds for the target we observe maximal crowding not when flanker and targets were co-aligned but when a small spatial offset was applied to flanker location, so that contours formed between flanker and targets only when the target orientation was cued. We also report that observers' orientation judgments are biased, with target orientation appearing either attracted or repulsed by the global/contour orientation. A second experiment reveals that the sign of this effect is dependent both on observer and on eccentricity. In general, the magnitude of repulsion is reduced with eccentricity but whether this becomes attraction (of element orientation to contour orientation) is dependent on observer. We note however that across observers and eccentricities, the magnitude of repulsion correlates positively with the amount of release from crowding observed with co-aligned targets and flankers, supporting the notion of fluctuating bias as the basis for elevated crowding within contours.

Phytochemical and antibacterial activity of some unexplored medicinal plants of cholistan desert

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustafa, G.; Ahmed, S.; Jamil, A.; Ahmed, N.

2016-01-01

Ethnobotanical survey plays a vital role for the discovery of novel crude drugs from reported medicinal plants. In folklore traditions the plant extracts or decoctions have been used to treat different diseases representing a basis of chemical entities but without knowledge of their nature. The present study was planned to conduct biochemical profiling of five indigenous medicinal plants of Cholistan desert of Pakistan to be used as potential chief constituents in the drug discovery practice. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of these plants confirmed the presence of various important secondary metabolites viz isoflavones, sesquiterpene lactones, phenolics, flavonoids and non-alkaloids. Methanolic extracts of Suaeda fruticosa and Solanum surattense showed significant antibacterial activities with mean halo diameters of 19.5 ± 0.3 mm and 14.8 ± 0.5 mm respectively, and inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli. Biochemical profiling of selected plants is reported for the first time. The methanolic extracts of Fagonia indica and S. fruticosa were found to have maximum numbers of phytochemicals. The occurrence of various bioactive compounds confirmed the studied plants against various diseases as local people of Cholistan desert still have a solid belief on herbal remedies for their elementary healthcare issues. Isolation of individual active constituents from each plant reported here may proceed to find some novel natural drugs. (author)

Drugs and natural products: From plants and livestock to human therapeutics

Science.gov (United States)

Plants toxic to livestock species have a significantly negative impact on agriculture but can be an important source of bioactive molecules for use in medicine. The initial research on plant toxicity is focused on the response to the poisoning and the specific livestock species impacted by the toxic...

Australian governments' spending on preventing and responding to drug abuse should target the main sources of drug-related harm and the most cost-effective interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, David

2011-01-01

A notable feature of Australian drug policy is the limited public and professional attention given to the financial costs of drug abuse and to the levels and patterns of government expenditures incurred in preventing and responding to this. Since 1991, Collins and Lapsley have published scholarly reports documenting the social costs of drug abuse in Australia and their reports also contain estimates of governments' drug budgets: revenue and expenditures. They show that, in 2004-2005, Australian governments expended at least $5288 million on drug abuse, with 50% of the expenditure directed to preventing and dealing with alcohol-related problems, 45% to illicit drugs and just 5% to tobacco. Some 60% of the expenditure was directed at drug crime and 37% at health interventions. This pattern of resource allocation does not adequately reflect an evidence-informed policy orientation in that it largely fails to focus on the drug types that are the sources of the most harm (tobacco and alcohol rather than illicit drugs), and the sectors for which we have the strongest evidence of the cost-effectiveness of the available interventions (treatment and harm reduction rather than legislation and law enforcement). The 2010-2014 phase of Australia's National Drug Strategy should include incremental changes to the resource allocation mix, and not simply maintain the historical resource allocation formulae. © 2010 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Pathogenic microorganisms of medicinal herbal drugs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stević Tatjana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available All the parts of plants (root, leaf, flower naturally have a high level of microorganisms, bacteria and fungi, especially molds. Microbial contamination could be a result of inappropriate harvesting, cleaning of the raw plant material, unhygienic processing of the plants, unsuitable transport and storage. After examination of over 40 dried medicinal plant species, the lowest microbial quality was determined for Maydis stigma, Mentha leaf and herb, Equisetum herb, Calendula flower, Urtica leaf, Melissa leaf, Serpylli herb, Chamomilla flower etc. Although mixed infections are recorded with different types of fungus, Fusarium was observed as the most dominant genus in most of the tested drugs, followed by Aspergillus and Alternaria. In addition to these fungi species from the following genera were identified: Phoma, Cephalosporium, Nigrospora, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Gliocladium, Myrothecium, Cercospora, Phomopsis, Verticillium, Dreschlera (=Bipolaris, Rhizoctonia, Septoria, Trichoderma, Curvularia, Stachybotrys, Trichothecium, Puccinia, Botrytis, Mucor and Rhizopus sp., depending on plant species.

Medicinal plants and phytochemicals with anti-obesogenic potentials: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Mopuri, Ramgopal; Islam, Md Shahidul

2017-05-01

Human mortality has been significantly increased in last few decades due to the increased prevalence of obesity and associated chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis. Apart from genetic and medicine or drug related side effects, nearly 90-95% people became obese due to the imbalanced calorie intake and lack of nutritional knowledge. The anti-obesogenic drugs, Orlistat and Sibutramine, which have been duly approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA, work very well on diet-induced obesity however they are not getting popular to the people with overweight/obesity due to the higher cost and severe side effects. In contrast, plant based drugs have been considered as a better alternative due to their lower cost and negligible side effects. A number of medicinal plants and their bioactive constituents have received attention from scientists not only for their anti-obesity activity in vitro and in vivo but also in clinical trials. However, there is no systematic review of data available in the scientific domain in order to guide researchers to conduct further in depth research. In our present review, we differentiated the anti-obesogenic effects of various medicinal plant extracts, fractions and their bioactive compounds at in vitro, in vivo and clinical conditions. During our review, we could also identify the most effective plants with strong anti-obesogenic effects at in vitro or in vivo studies with lack of clinical trials when no one tried to isolate pure bioactive compounds from these plants. Hence, scientific community, government agencies/pharmaceutical industries should work together not only to isolate pure bioactive compounds but also to conduct clinical trials including toxicity to develop better alternative anti-obesity drugs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A cross-media content analysis of motivational themes in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

Science.gov (United States)

Sumpradit, Nithima; Ascione, Frank J; Bagozzi, Richard P

2004-01-01

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is a widely discussed issue in health care. However, little is known about the characteristics of the motivational themes used in this type of advertising. The aim of this study was to investigate the concurrent presentation of motivational themes in DTC print and television advertisements. The content analyses focused on advertisements of 2 targeted drug classes (cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme inhibitors and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) in magazines and on television. Targeted print advertisements (for celecoxib, rofecoxib, atorvastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin) from September to December 2001 and targeted television advertisements (for celecoxib, rofecoxib, and simvastatin) from November 2001 were investigated. The motivational themes were assessed using a theoretical framework based on self-regulatory focus theory and cultural orientation. Self-regulatory focus was examined in terms of goal orientation (promotion vs prevention) and emotional aspects, (e.g., cheerfulness, dejection, quiescence, agitation). The cultural orientation was examined in terms of individualism versus collectivism. The visual-verbal match was categorized as direct if the audio and visual information was semantically redundant, as partial if it was partially related, and as no match at all if it was different or conflicting. Twelve print advertisements in 10 magazines and 4 television advertisements on 4 television networks were examined; the interrater reliability scores from 3 independent, trained judges ranged from 0.93 to 0.99. The score was low (0.57) in the visual-verbal match measurement for television advertisements. Products in the same category appeared to be promoted using different self-regulatory foci. For example, celecoxib and atorvastatin advertisements tended to be promotion oriented, whereas pravastatin advertisements tended to be prevention oriented. Motivational themes were found

COBRA, an Arabidopsis extracellular glycosyl-phosphatidyl inositol-anchored protein, specifically controls highly anisotropic expansion through its involvement in cellulose microfibril orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Roudier, François; Fernandez, Anita G; Fujita, Miki; Himmelspach, Regina; Borner, Georg H H; Schindelman, Gary; Song, Shuang; Baskin, Tobias I; Dupree, Paul; Wasteneys, Geoffrey O; Benfey, Philip N

2005-06-01

The orientation of cell expansion is a process at the heart of plant morphogenesis. Cellulose microfibrils are the primary anisotropic material in the cell wall and thus are likely to be the main determinant of the orientation of cell expansion. COBRA (COB) has been identified previously as a potential regulator of cellulose biogenesis. In this study, characterization of a null allele, cob-4, establishes the key role of COB in controlling anisotropic expansion in most developing organs. Quantitative polarized-light and field-emission scanning electron microscopy reveal that loss of anisotropic expansion in cob mutants is accompanied by disorganization of the orientation of cellulose microfibrils and subsequent reduction of crystalline cellulose. Analyses of the conditional cob-1 allele suggested that COB is primarily implicated in microfibril deposition during rapid elongation. Immunodetection analysis in elongating root cells revealed that, in agreement with its substitution by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor, COB was polarly targeted to both the plasma membrane and the longitudinal cell walls and was distributed in a banding pattern perpendicular to the longitudinal axis via a microtubule-dependent mechanism. Our observations suggest that COB, through its involvement in cellulose microfibril orientation, is an essential factor in highly anisotropic expansion during plant morphogenesis.

Developing Agent-Oriented Video Surveillance System through Agent-Oriented Methodology (AOM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheah Wai Shiang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Agent-oriented methodology (AOM is a comprehensive and unified agent methodology for agent-oriented software development. Although AOM is claimed to be able to cope with a complex system development, it is still not yet determined up to what extent this may be true. Therefore, it is vital to conduct an investigation to validate this methodology. This paper presents the adoption of AOM in developing an agent-oriented video surveillance system (VSS. An intruder handling scenario is designed and implemented through AOM. AOM provides an alternative method to engineer a distributed security system in a systematic manner. It presents the security system at a holistic view; provides a better conceptualization of agent-oriented security system and supports rapid prototyping as well as simulation of video surveillance system.

The use of NPAR results in plant inspection activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunther, W.; Taylor, J.

1990-01-01

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program is a hardware oriented research program which has produced a large data base of equipment and system operating, maintenance, and testing information. Equipment and systems which have a propensity for age related degradation are identified, and methods for detecting and mitigating aging effects have been evaluated. As plants age, it becomes increasingly important that NRC inspectors be cognizant of plant aging phenomena. This paper describes the NPAR information which can enhance inspection activities, and provides a mechanism for making pertinent research available to the inspectors

Probabilistic safety assessment model in consideration of human factors based on object-oriented bayesian networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Zhongbao; Zhou Jinglun; Sun Quan

2007-01-01

Effect of Human factors on system safety is increasingly serious, which is often ignored in traditional probabilistic safety assessment methods however. A new probabilistic safety assessment model based on object-oriented Bayesian networks is proposed in this paper. Human factors are integrated into the existed event sequence diagrams. Then the classes of the object-oriented Bayesian networks are constructed which are converted to latent Bayesian networks for inference. Finally, the inference results are integrated into event sequence diagrams for probabilistic safety assessment. The new method is applied to the accident of loss of coolant in a nuclear power plant. the results show that the model is not only applicable to real-time situation assessment, but also applicable to situation assessment based certain amount of information. The modeling complexity is kept down and the new method is appropriate to large complex systems due to the thoughts of object-oriented. (authors)

Evaluation of the toxic effects of four anti-cancer drugs in plant bioassays and its potency for screening in the context of waste water reuse for irrigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lutterbeck, Carlos Alexandre; Kern, Deivid Ismael; Machado, Ênio Leandro; Kümmerer, Klaus

2015-09-01

Anti-cancer drugs are compounds that are of high environmental relevance because of their lack of specific mode of action. They can be extremely harmful to living organisms even at low concentrations. The present study evaluated the toxic effects of four frequently used anti-cancer drugs against plant seedlings, namely Cyclophosphamide (CP), Methotrexate (MTX), 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and Imatinib (IM). The phytotoxicity experiments were performed with Lactuca sativa seedlings whereas cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity investigations were performed with the well-established Allium cepa assays. MTX was the most phytotoxic compound, followed by 5-FU, CP and IM. Significant differences in the Mitotic Indexes (MI) were observed in three of the studied compounds (MTX, 5-FU and CP), indicating potential cytotoxic activity of these substances. Chromosome aberrations were registered in cells that were exposed to 5-FU, CP and IM. All the four compounds caused the formation of micronucleated cells indicating mutagenic potential. Besides, the assays performed with MTX samples presented a high number of cell apoptosis (cell death). Although it is unlikely that the pharmaceuticals concentrations measured in the environment could cause lethal effects in plants, the obtained results indicate that these compounds may affect the growth and normal development of these plants. So, both tests can constitute important tools for a fast screening of environmental contamination e.g. in the context of the reuse of treated wastewater and biosolids of agricultural purpose. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NpPDR1, a Pleiotropic Drug Resistance-Type ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, Plays a Major Role in Plant Pathogen Defense1

Science.gov (United States)

Stukkens, Yvan; Bultreys, Alain; Grec, Sébastien; Trombik, Tomasz; Vanham, Delphine; Boutry, Marc

2005-01-01

Nicotiana plumbaginifolia NpPDR1, a plasma membrane pleiotropic drug resistance-type ATP-binding cassette transporter formerly named NpABC1, has been suggested to transport the diterpene sclareol, an antifungal compound. However, direct evidence for a role of pleiotropic drug resistance transporters in the plant defense is still lacking. In situ immunolocalization and histochemical analysis using the gusA reporter gene showed that NpPDR1 was constitutively expressed in the whole root, in the leaf glandular trichomes, and in the flower petals. However, NpPDR1 expression was induced in the whole leaf following infection with the fungus Botrytis cinerea, and the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Pseudomonas marginalis pv marginalis, which do not induce a hypersensitive response in N. plumbaginifolia, whereas a weaker response was observed using P. syringae pv syringae, which does induce a hypersensitive response. Induced NpPDR1 expression was more associated with the jasmonic acid than the salicylic acid signaling pathway. These data suggest that NpPDR1 is involved in both constitutive and jasmonic acid-dependent induced defense. Transgenic plants in which NpPDR1 expression was prevented by RNA interference showed increased sensitivity to sclareol and reduced resistance to B. cinerea. These data show that NpPDR1 is involved in pathogen resistance and thus demonstrate a new role for the ATP-binding cassette transporter family. PMID:16126865

Customizable Time-Oriented Visualizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuhail, Mohammad Amin; Pantazos, Kostas; Lauesen, Søren

2012-01-01

Most commercial visualization tools support an easy and quick creation of conventional time-oriented visualizations such as line charts, but customization is limited. In contrast, some academic visualization tools and programming languages support the creation of some customizable time......-oriented visualizations but it is time consuming and hard. To combine efficiency, the effort required to develop a visualization, and customizability, the ability to tailor a visualization, we developed time-oriented building blocks that address the specifics of time (e.g. linear vs. cyclic or point-based vs. interval......-based) and consist of inner customizable parts (e.g. ticks). A combination of the time-oriented and other primitive graphical building blocks allowed the creation of several customizable advanced time-oriented visualizations. The appearance and behavior of the blocks are specified using spreadsheet-like formulas. We...

Implementation of a database on drugs into a university hospital Intranet.

Science.gov (United States)

François, M; Joubert, M; Fieschi, D; Fieschi, M

1998-01-01

Several databases on drugs have been developed worldwide for drug information functions whose sources are now electronically available. Our objective was to implement one of them in our University hospitals information system. Thériaque is a database which contains information on all the drugs available in France. Before its implementation we modeled its content (chemical classes, active components, excipients, indications, contra-indications, side effects, and so on) following an object-oriented method. From this model we designed dynamic HTML pages according to the Microsoft's Internet Database Connector (IDC) technics. This allowed a fast implementation and does not imply to port a client application on the thousands of workstations over the network of the University hospitals. This interface provides end-users with an easy-to-use and natural way to access information related to drugs in an Intranet environment.

Investigation on Physicochemical Characteristics of a Nanoliposome-Based System for Dual Drug Delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, Jae Hyun; Kim, So-Yeon; Seong, Hasoo

2018-04-01

Synergistic effects of multiple drugs with different modes of action are utilized for combinatorial chemotherapy of intractable cancers. Translation of in vitro synergistic effects into the clinic can be realized using an efficient delivery system of the drugs. Despite a few studies on nano-sized liposomes containing erlotinib (ERL) and doxorubicin (DOX) in a single liposome vesicle, reliable and reproducible preparation methods as well as physicochemical characteristics of a non-PEGylated nanoliposome co-encapsulated with ERL and DOX have not been yet elucidated. In this study, ERL-encapsulated nanoliposomes were prepared using the lipid film-hydration method. By ultrasonication using a probe sonicator, the liposome diameter was reduced to less than 200 nm. DOX was loaded into the ERL-encapsulated nanoliposomes using ammonium sulfate (AS)-gradient or pH-gradient method. Effects of DOX-loading conditions on encapsulation efficiency (EE) of the DOX were investigated to determine an efficient drug-loading method. In the EE of DOX, AS-gradient method was more effective than pH gradient. The dual drug-encapsulated nanoliposomes had more than 90% EE of DOX and 30% EE of ERL, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction analyses of the dual drug-encapsulated nanoliposomes verified the highly oriented DOX-sulfate crystals inside the liposome as well as the less oriented small crystals of ERL in the outermost region of the nanoliposome. The nanoliposomes were stable at different temperatures without an increase of the nanoliposome diameter. The dual drug-encapsulated nanoliposomes showed a time-differential release of ERL and DOX, implying proper sequential releases for their synergism. The preparation methods and the physicochemical characteristics of the dual drug delivery system contribute to the development of the optimal process and more advanced systems for translational researches.

VALUES-ORIENTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Олександр Михайлович ВОЗНИЙ

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The value-oriented approach to project management of renewable energy based on classification stage of the life cycle of products of the projects, adapted to the goals and objectives of information modeling, which allowed to formulate stricter requirements information models used at different stages of the power plant is proposed. A classification of the alternative energy projects, which highlighting areas for activities is proposed. The list of stakeholders that have an impact on alternative energy projects and presented their classification is defined. The value of alternative energy projects considered from the standpoint of a utilitarian approach, using the concept of utility and on the basis of this concept proposed classification values of alternative energy projects. Criteria values as indicators for assessing the value of alternative energy projects and their weights determined by pairwise comparison. To take into account the changes of the value criteria over time proposed to use the key control points value, assessed value criteria in various key points of control, defined indicator of the total value of alternative energy projects. The classification of risks and tools for value-oriented risk management in alternative energy projects is proposed. Further study authors plan to link the development of mechanisms for harmonization value alternative energy projects for their stakeholders.

DSNP: a new approach to simulate nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saphier, D.

1977-01-01

The DSNP (Dynamic Simulator for Nuclear Power-plants) is a special purpose block oriented simulation language. It provides for simulations of a large variety of nuclear power plants or various parts of the power plant in a simple straightforward manner. The system is composed of five basic elements, namely, the DSNP language, the precompiler-or the DSNP language translator, the components library, the document generator, and the system data files. The DSNP library of modules includes the selfcontained models of components or physical processes found in a nuclear power plant, and various auxiliary modules such as material properties, control modules, integration schemes, various basic transfer functions etc. In its final form DSNP will have four libraries

Highly oriented poly(di-n-alkylsilylene) films on oriented PTFE substrates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frey, H.H.; Frey, Holger; Sheiko, Sergej; Sheiko, S.; Moller, M.; Möller, Martin; Wittmann, Jean-Claude; Lot, Bernard

1993-01-01

Highly oriented polysilylene layers have potential applications in electrophotography, nonlinear optics, display fabrication, and microlithography. The preparation of such layers by crystallization on a highly oriented PTFE substrate is reported, and their assessment by optical birefringence,

Host-guest chemistry of dendrimer-drug complexes. 6. Fully acetylated dendrimers as biocompatible drug vehicles using dexamethasone 21-phosphate as a model drug.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kun; Weng, Liang; Cheng, Yiyun; Zhang, Hongfeng; Zhang, Jiahai; Wu, Qinglin; Xu, Tongwen

2011-03-17

Fully acetylated poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer was proposed as a biocompatible drug vehicle using dexamethasone 21-phosphate (Dp21) as a model drug. NMR techniques including (1)H NMR and 2D NOE NMR were used to characterize the host-guest chemistry of acetylated dendrimer/Dp21 and cationic dendrimer/Dp21 complexes. The pH-dependent micellization, complexation, and inclusion behaviors of Dp21 were observed in the presence of acetylated and cationic PAMAM dendrimers. Acetylated dendrimer only encapsulates Dp21 at acidic conditions, while cationic dendrimer can host Dp21 at both acidic and neutral conditions. The orientation of Dp21 molecules in the dendrimer cavities depends on the quaternization degree of tertiary amine groups of dendrimer and the protonation ratio of phosphate group of Dp21. A distinctive pH-dependent release behavior of Dp21 from the acetylated and nonacetylated dendritic matrix was observed: Dp21 exhibits a much slower release rate from acetylated dendrimer at lower pH conditions and a much faster release rate from nonacetylated dendrimer with decreasing pH values. Cytotoxicity studies further confirmed the biocompatibility of acetylated dendrimers, which are much safer in the delivery of therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases than nonacetylated dendrimers. The dendrimer-drug binding and release mechanisms provide a new insight for the design and optimization of biocompatible dendrimer-based drug delivery systems. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Selection of Wild Plant Species from Organic Rice Field in Sumberngepoh Village in Malang as Attractant of Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wahyu Kusumayanti Putri

2014-09-01

Full Text Available One of the actions in biological control is the use of parasitoid. Some wild plant species can attract those parasitoid. By the fact, the objective of this research are to select some of wild plant species attracting Trichogramma spp. These wild plant were belong to Asteraceae (Eupatorium odoratum, Bidens pilosa, Crassocephalum crepidioides and Mimosaceae (Parkia speciosa, Leucaena glauca, Mimosa pudica. Mass rearing of trichogramma spp. was prepared for those purpose. The selection were conducted by using four armed olfactometer. The percentage of the tested Trichogramma spp. attracted to the wild plant species was noted as well as their orientation duration to select the plant species. The difference of the mean of their orientation duration was analyzed statistically by T-Test. Both of plant familia can attract the parasitoid. This were the plant species that attracted Trichogramma spp. From the most attractive to the lowest one : B. pilosa 22 %, E. odoratum 18.6 %, M. pudica 18.2 %, C. crepidioides 13.8 %, P. speciosa 13.6 %, and L. glauca 13.6 %. For the orientation duration, this are the plant species that can attract the parasitoid from the fastest one to the slowest one : P. speciosa 45.5 seconds, C. crepidioides 46.2 seconds, L. glauca 49 seconds, E. odoratum 50.6 seconds , B. pilosa 53.4 seconds, and M. pudica 55.2 seconds. Keywords : Asteraceae, Mimosaceae, Trichogramma spp.

Seeing through the public health smoke-screen in drug policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Csete, Joanne; Wolfe, Daniel

2017-05-01

In deliberations on drug policy in United Nations fora, a consensus has emerged that drug use and drug dependence should be treated primarily as public health concerns rather than as crimes. But what some member states mean by "public health approach" merits scrutiny. Some governments that espouse treating people who use drugs as "patients, not criminals" still subject them to prison-like detention in the name of drug-dependence treatment or otherwise do not take measures to provide scientifically sound treatment and humane social support to those who need them. Even drug treatment courts, which the U.S. and other countries hold up as examples of a public health approach to drug dependence, can serve rather to tighten the hold of the criminal justice sector on concerns that should be addressed in the health sector. The political popularity of demonisation of drugs and visibly repressive approaches is an obvious challenge to leadership for truly health-oriented drug control. This commentary offers some thoughts for judging whether a public health approach is worthy of the name and cautions drug policy reformers not to rely on facile commitments to health approaches that are largely rhetorical or that mask policies and activities not in keeping with good public health practise. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Monitoring Location and Angular Orientation of a Pill

Science.gov (United States)

Schipper, John F.

2012-01-01

A mobile pill transmitter system moves through, or adjacent to, one or more organs in an animal or human body, while transmitting signals from its present location and/or present angular orientation. The system also provides signals from which the present roll angle of the pill, about a selected axis, can be determined. When the location coordinates angular orientation and the roll angle of the pill are within selected ranges, an aperture on the pill container releases a selected chemical into, or onto, the body. Optionally, the pill, as it moves, provides a sequence of visually perceptible images. The times for image formation may correspond to times at which the pill transmitter system location or image satisfies one of at least four criteria. This invention provides and supplies an algorithm for exact determination of location coordinates and angular orientation coordinates for a mobile pill transmitter (PT), or other similar device that is introduced into, and moves within, a GI tract of a human or animal body. A set of as many as eight nonlinear equations has been developed and applied, relating propagation of a wireless signal between either two, three, or more transmitting antennas located on the PT, to four or more non-coplanar receiving antennas located on a signal receiver appliance worn by the user. The equations are solved exactly, without approximations or iterations, and are applied in several environments: (1) association of a visual image, transmitted by the PT at each of a second sequence of times, with a PT location and PT angular orientation at that time; (2) determination of a position within the body at which a drug or chemical substance or other treatment is to be delivered to a selected portion of the body; (3) monitoring, after delivery, of the effect(s) of administration of the treatment; and (4) determination of one or more positions within the body where provision and examination of a finer-scale image is warranted.

Postdictive modulation of visual orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawabe, Takahiro

2012-01-01

The present study investigated how visual orientation is modulated by subsequent orientation inputs. Observers were presented a near-vertical Gabor patch as a target, followed by a left- or right-tilted second Gabor patch as a distracter in the spatial vicinity of the target. The task of the observers was to judge whether the target was right- or left-tilted (Experiment 1) or whether the target was vertical or not (Supplementary experiment). The judgment was biased toward the orientation of the distracter (the postdictive modulation of visual orientation). The judgment bias peaked when the target and distracter were temporally separated by 100 ms, indicating a specific temporal mechanism for this phenomenon. However, when the visibility of the distracter was reduced via backward masking, the judgment bias disappeared. On the other hand, the low-visibility distracter could still cause a simultaneous orientation contrast, indicating that the distracter orientation is still processed in the visual system (Experiment 2). Our results suggest that the postdictive modulation of visual orientation stems from spatiotemporal integration of visual orientation on the basis of a slow feature matching process.

Comparison of Strategies to Overcome Drug Resistance: Learning from Various Kingdoms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiroshi Ogawara

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Drug resistance, especially antibiotic resistance, is a growing threat to human health. To overcome this problem, it is significant to know precisely the mechanisms of drug resistance and/or self-resistance in various kingdoms, from bacteria through plants to animals, once more. This review compares the molecular mechanisms of the resistance against phycotoxins, toxins from marine and terrestrial animals, plants and fungi, and antibiotics. The results reveal that each kingdom possesses the characteristic features. The main mechanisms in each kingdom are transporters/efflux pumps in phycotoxins, mutation and modification of targets and sequestration in marine and terrestrial animal toxins, ABC transporters and sequestration in plant toxins, transporters in fungal toxins, and various or mixed mechanisms in antibiotics. Antibiotic producers in particular make tremendous efforts for avoiding suicide, and are more flexible and adaptable to the changes of environments. With these features in mind, potential alternative strategies to overcome these resistance problems are discussed. This paper will provide clues for solving the issues of drug resistance.

Sexual orientation, minority stress, social norms, and substance use among racially diverse adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Mereish, Ethan H; Goldbach, Jeremy T; Burgess, Claire; DiBello, Angelo M

2017-09-01

Sexual minority adolescents are more likely than their heterosexual peers to use substances. This study tested factors that contribute to sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially and ethnically diverse adolescents. Specifically, we examined how both minority stress (i.e., homophobic bullying) and social norms (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms) may account for sexual orientation disparities in recent and lifetime use of four substances: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs. A probability sample of middle and high school students (N=3012; aged 11-18 years old; 71.2% racial and ethnic minorities) using random cluster methods was obtained in a mid-size school district in the Southeastern United States. Sexual minority adolescents were more likely than heterosexual adolescents to use substances, experience homophobic bullying, and report higher descriptive norms for close friends and more permissive injunctive norms for friends and parents. While accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, multiple mediation models concurrently testing all mediators indicated that higher descriptive and more permissive injunctive norms were significant mediators of the associations between sexual orientation and recent and lifetime use of the four substances, whereas homophobic bullying was not a significant mediator of the associations between sexual orientation and recent and lifetime use of any of the substances. Descriptive and injunctive norms, in conjunction with minority stress, are important to consider in explaining sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially diverse adolescents. These results have implications for substance use interventions among sexual minority adolescents. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Crystal orientation dependent thermoelectric properties of highly oriented aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.; Sarath Kumar, S. R.; Alshareef, Husam N.

2013-01-01

We demonstrate that the thermoelectric properties of highly oriented Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films can be improved by controlling their crystal orientation. The crystal orientation of the AZO films was changed by changing the temperature

Column-oriented database management systems

OpenAIRE

Možina, David

2013-01-01

In the following thesis I will present column-oriented database. Among other things, I will answer on a question why there is a need for a column-oriented database. In recent years there have been a lot of attention regarding a column-oriented database, even if the existence of a columnar database management systems dates back in the early seventies of the last century. I will compare both systems for a database management – a colum-oriented database system and a row-oriented database system ...

Diversity-Oriented Synthesis as a Strategy for Fragment Evolution against GSK3β

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

Traditional fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) relies heavily on structural analysis of the hits bound to their targets. Herein, we present a complementary approach based on diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS). A DOS-based fragment collection was able to produce initial hit compounds against the target GSK3β, allow the systematic synthesis of related fragment analogues to explore fragment-level structure–activity relationship, and finally lead to the synthesis of a more potent compound. PMID:27660690

Nematode parasites of animals are more prone to develop xenobiotic resistance than nematode parasites of plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvestre A.

2004-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we concentrate on a comparison of plant and animal-parasitic nematodes, to gain insight into the factors that influence the acquisition of the drug resistance by nematodes. Comparing nematode parasite of domestic animals and cultivated plants, it appears that drug resistance threatens only domestic animal production. Does the paucity of report on nematicide field resistance reflect reality or, is nematicide resistance bypassed by other management practices, specific to cultivated plants (i.e. agricultural control ? First, it seems that selection pressure by treatments in plants is not as efficient as selection pressure in ruminants. Agronomic practices (i.e. sanitation, early planting, usage of nematodes resistant cultivar and crop rotation are frequently used to control parasitic-plant nematodes. Although the efficiency of such measures is generally moderate to high, integrated approaches are developing successfully in parasitic-plant nematode models. Secondly, the majority of anthelmintic resistance cases recorded in animal-parasitic nematodes concern drug families that are not used in plant-parasitic nematodes control (i.e. benzimidazoles, avermectines and levamisole. Thirdly, particular life traits of parasitic-plant nematodes (low to moderate fecundity and reproductive strategy are expected to reduce probability of appearance and transmission of drug resistance genes. It has been demonstrated that, for a large number of nematodes such as Meloidogyne spp., the mode of reproduction by mitotic parthenogenesis reduced genetic diversity of populations which may prevent a rapid drug resistance development. In conclusion, anthelmintic resistance develops in nematode parasite of animals as a consequence of an efficient selection pressure. Early detection of anthelmintic resistance is then crucial : it is not possible to avoid it, but only to delay its development in farm animal industry.

Plants and Medicinal Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, D.

1977-01-01

This is the first of two articles showing how plants that have been used in folk medicine for many centuries are guiding scientists in the design and preparation of new and potent drugs. Opium and its chemical derivatives are examined at length in this article. (Author/MA)

Differentiating drugs by harm potential: the rational versus the feasible.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalant, H

1999-01-01

In an ideal harm reduction model, drugs would be ranked according to their potential to cause harm, with varying implications for control policies and interventions. In such a public health oriented approach, the maximum protection of the public from harm would be balanced with the least possible restriction of freedom. In reality, however, the accuracy and completeness of the necessary information for such a ranking is highly limited. Many other factors not readily incorporated in a rational model, such as values, beliefs, and traditions, also affect drug policy decisions. Thus, rather than relying on acquisition of the necessary knowledge, it may be preferable to focus efforts on developing effective nonlegal measures to reduce drug use and harm. [Translations are provided in the International Abstracts Section of this issue.

Operating strategies for biogas plants - conflict of objectives between advantageous grid and economically oriented operation; Betriebsstrategien fuer Biogasanlagen - Zielkonflikt zwischen netzdienlichem und wirtschaftlich orientiertem Betrieb

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Skau, Katharina [Hochschule Neubrandenburg (Germany). FB Agrarwirtschaft und Lebensmittelwissenschaft; Bettinger, Carola [Univ. Lueneburg (Germany). Inst. fuer Bank,- Finanz- und Rechnungswesen; Schild, Vernea [TU Clausthal (Germany). Inst. fuer Energietechnik und Energiesysteme; Fuchs, Clemens; Beck, Hans-Peter

2015-07-01

In an intelligent energy system, ''smart grid'' and ''smart market'' must go hand in hand (Aichele et al., 2014). Changes to the legal framework, especially the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG), aim at bringing in line the requirement for increased generation of renewable energy with the market and system integration of renewable energies (see Schwarz, 2014). This determines whether the operation of a modern renewable energy plant has both the maximisation of profits (smart market) as well as the easing of the higher-order grid (smart grid) as its goal or whether it is only geared towards one aspect. The agricultural biogas producer is the focus of this interdisciplinary paper. He can either use the electrical energy generated by his plant himself in an economically orientated way or design the supply to the upstream grid in a way that is advantageous for the grid through the increased flexibility of generation and consumption. Through a two-stage simulation of the impact on the grid and the operational performance, the differences with regards to the strain on the grid and the financial losses to the farmer are quantified. If is clearly shown that none of the legislative and regulatory incentive schemes favour a mode of operation that is advantageous for the grid.

Safety and security aspects in design of digital safety I and C in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Yongjian; Waedt, Karl

2016-01-01

The paper describes a safety objective oriented systematic design approach of digital (computerized) safety I and C in modern nuclear power plants which considers the plant safety requirements as well as cybersecurity needs. The defence in depth philosophy is applied by using different defence lines in the I and C architecture and protection zones in the plant IT environment.

Safety and security aspects in design of digital safety I and C in nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ding, Yongjian [University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Magdeburg (Germany). Inst. of Electrical Engineering; Waedt, Karl [Areva GmbH, Erlangen (Germany). PEAS-G

2016-05-15

The paper describes a safety objective oriented systematic design approach of digital (computerized) safety I and C in modern nuclear power plants which considers the plant safety requirements as well as cybersecurity needs. The defence in depth philosophy is applied by using different defence lines in the I and C architecture and protection zones in the plant IT environment.

Organic Photovoltaic Devices Based on Oriented n-Type Molecular Films Deposited on Oriented Polythiophene Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Mizokuro, Toshiko; Tanigaki, Nobutaka; Miyadera, Tetsuhiko; Shibata, Yousei; Koganezawa, Tomoyuki

2018-04-01

The molecular orientation of π-conjugated molecules has been reported to significantly affect the performance of organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) based on molecular films. Hence, the control of molecular orientation is a key issue toward the improvement of OPV performance. In this research, oriented thin films of an n-type molecule, 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic Bisbenzimida-zole (PTCBI), were formed by deposition on in-plane oriented polythiophene (PT) films. Orientation of the PTCBI films was evaluated by polarized UV-vis spectroscopy and 2D-Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. Results indicated that PTCBI molecules on PT film exhibit nearly edge-on and in-plane orientation (with molecular long axis along the substrate), whereas PTCBI molecules without PT film exhibit neither. OPVs composed of PTCBI molecular film with and without PT were fabricated and evaluated for correlation of orientation with performance. The OPVs composed of PTCBI film with PT showed higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) than that of film without PT. The experiment indicated that in-plane orientation of PTCBI molecules absorbs incident light more efficiently, leading to increase in PCE.

Code for plant identification (KKS) key in PC version. KKS-Schluessel-Programm in PC-Version

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pannenbaecker, K. (GABO Gesellschaft fuer Ablauforganisation und Informationsverarbeitung mbH, Erlangen (Germany) GABO Gesellschaft fuer Ablauforganisation und Informationsverarbeitung mbH, Muenchen (Germany))

1991-11-01

The plant identification system (KKS) as a common development of german plant operators, erection firms and also power plant oriented organisations have decisively influenced the technical-organizing activities of planning and erections as operations and maintenance of all kind of power plants. Fundamentals are three key parts, operation, armatures and function keys. Their management and application is executed by a plantidentification-key code in a PC version, which is briefly described in this report. (orig.).

Wildlife value orientations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamborg, Christian; Jensen, Frank Søndergaard

2016-01-01

This article examined value orientations toward wildlife among the adult general Danish public in relation to age, sex, past and present residence, education, and income, using a U.S. survey instrument on Wildlife Value Orientations (WVO). The study used an Internet-based questionnaire sent...

Flavonoids as modulators of metabolic enzymes and drug transporters.

Science.gov (United States)

Miron, Anca; Aprotosoaie, Ana Clara; Trifan, Adriana; Xiao, Jianbo

2017-06-01

Flavonoids, natural compounds found in plants and in plant-derived foods and beverages, have been extensively studied with regard to their capacity to modulate metabolic enzymes and drug transporters. In vitro, flavonoids predominantly inhibit the major phase I drug-metabolizing enzyme CYP450 3A4 and the enzymes responsible for the bioactivation of procarcinogens (CYP1 enzymes) and upregulate the enzymes involved in carcinogen detoxification (UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, glutathione S-transferases (GSTs)). Flavonoids have been reported to inhibit ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (multidrug resistance (MDR)-associated proteins, breast cancer-resistance protein) that contribute to the development of MDR. P-glycoprotein, an ABC transporter that limits drug bioavailability and also induces MDR, was differently modulated by flavonoids. Flavonoids and their phase II metabolites (sulfates, glucuronides) inhibit organic anion transporters involved in the tubular uptake of nephrotoxic compounds. In vivo studies have partially confirmed in vitro findings, suggesting that the mechanisms underlying the modulatory effects of flavonoids are complex and difficult to predict in vivo. Data summarized in this review strongly support the view that flavonoids are promising candidates for the enhancement of oral drug bioavailability, chemoprevention, and reversal of MDR. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

Activities of selected medicinal plants against multi-drug resistant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

106 CFU/mL) prepared in MHB was then added. The turbidity .... seeds of this plant contain reducing sugars, phenols, alkaloids and .... Regional Soil Conservation ... Some Bio- chemical studies on the leaves and fruits of Persea ameri- cana.

Antiproliferation effects of selected Tanzania plants | Choi | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Plants still remain a prime source of drugs for the treatment of cancer and can provide leads for the development of novel anticancer agents. Our screening of indigenous medicinal plants from Tanzania has led to the identification of the number of anticancer activity. Material and methods: The current study ...

Influence of gender, sexual orientation, and need on treatment utilization for substance use and mental disorders: Findings from the California Quality of Life Survey

OpenAIRE

Mays Vickie M; Greenwell Lisa; Grella Christine E; Cochran Susan D

2009-01-01

Abstract Background Prior research has shown a higher prevalence of substance use and mental disorders among sexual minorities, however, the influence of sexual orientation on treatment seeking has not been widely studied. We use a model of help-seeking for vulnerable populations to investigate factors related to treatment for alcohol or drug use disorders and mental health disorders, focusing on the contributions of gender, sexual orientation, and need. Methods Survey data were obtained from...

Oriented Onion Sowing by a Forked-Roller Sowing Unit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandr G.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The existing sowing machines do not provide a single feeding of the bulbs with a planting (sowing unit that leads to a violation of the agrotechnical requirements of planting bulbs. It is necessary to search new solutions to preserve the position of the bulbs in the furrow with the bottom down and their regularly spaced distribution. Materials and Methods: The article presents the design for a prototype for a planting machine equipped with a forked-roller sowing unit for orienting the onion-sowing into a furrow. Testing the forked-roller sowing unit were carried out on a flat area where the physical and mechanical properties of the soil were determined on the days of sowing, and the indices of the quality of the onion-sowing were determined. The study of the effect of the sowing machine speed on the quality of the onion-seed bulb landing was determined by the change in the translational speed of the sowing unit in the range of 0.8 m/s to 1.2 m/s with a variation interval of 0.1 m/s. The indicators of the quality of the planting of the bulbs were determined by the opening of the closed furrow. The results of laboratory-field studies of the planting machine prototype are presented. Results: The results of laboratory-field studies of a planting machine equipped with a forked-roller sowing unit for planting onion bulbs are presented. The optimal technological parameters are determined experimentally. It was determined the number of bulbs that are for up is 51 % and the regularity of planting by the forked-roller sowing unit – 79 %. These figures are provided at the forward speed of the planting machine VM = 0.9–1.0 m/s, the height of the fall of the bulb HA = 0.12 m, and the rotation frequency of the landing drum nБ = 0.47 c-1. Discussion and Conclusions: The use of a forked-roller sowing unit makes it possible to increase the proportion of onions planted by bottom down by 200 %, and the uniformity of planting bulbs by 19 %, in

Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) program plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-06-01

A comprehensive Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program was implemented by the US NRC office of Nuclear Regulatory Research in 1985 to identify and resolve technical safety issues related to the aging of systems, structures, and components in operating nuclear power plants. This is Revision 2 to the Nuclear Plant Aging Research Program Plant. This planes defines the goals of the program the current status of research, and summarizes utilization of the research results in the regulatory process. The plan also describes major milestones and schedules for coordinating research within the agency and with organizations and institutions outside the agency, both domestic and foreign. Currently the NPAR Program comprises seven major areas: (1) hardware-oriented engineering research involving components and structures; (2) system-oriented aging interaction studies; (3) development of technical bases for license renewal rulemaking; (4) determining risk significance of aging phenomena; (5) development of technical bases for resolving generic safety issues; (6) recommendations for field inspection and maintenance addressing aging concerns; (7) and residual lifetime evaluations of major LWR components and structures. The NPAR technical database comprises approximately 100 NUREG/CR reports by June 1991, plus numerous published papers and proceedings that offer regulators and industry important insights to aging characteristics and aging management of safety-related equipment. Regulatory applications include revisions to and development of regulatory guides and technical specifications; support to resolve generic safety issues; development of codes and standards; evaluation of diagnostic techniques; (e.g., for cables and valves); and technical support for development of the license renewal rule. 80 refs., 25 figs., 10 tabs

Machine Learning and Infrared Thermography for Fiber Orientation Assessment on Randomly-Oriented Strands Parts.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandes, Henrique; Zhang, Hai; Figueiredo, Alisson; Malheiros, Fernando; Ignacio, Luis Henrique; Sfarra, Stefano; Ibarra-Castanedo, Clemente; Guimaraes, Gilmar; Maldague, Xavier

2018-01-19

The use of fiber reinforced materials such as randomly-oriented strands has grown in recent years, especially for manufacturing of aerospace composite structures. This growth is mainly due to their advantageous properties: they are lighter and more resistant to corrosion when compared to metals and are more easily shaped than continuous fiber composites. The resistance and stiffness of these materials are directly related to their fiber orientation. Thus, efficient approaches to assess their fiber orientation are in demand. In this paper, a non-destructive evaluation method is applied to assess the fiber orientation on laminates reinforced with randomly-oriented strands. More specifically, a method called pulsed thermal ellipsometry combined with an artificial neural network, a machine learning technique, is used in order to estimate the fiber orientation on the surface of inspected parts. Results showed that the method can be potentially used to inspect large areas with good accuracy and speed.

Postdictive modulation of visual orientation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takahiro Kawabe

Full Text Available The present study investigated how visual orientation is modulated by subsequent orientation inputs. Observers were presented a near-vertical Gabor patch as a target, followed by a left- or right-tilted second Gabor patch as a distracter in the spatial vicinity of the target. The task of the observers was to judge whether the target was right- or left-tilted (Experiment 1 or whether the target was vertical or not (Supplementary experiment. The judgment was biased toward the orientation of the distracter (the postdictive modulation of visual orientation. The judgment bias peaked when the target and distracter were temporally separated by 100 ms, indicating a specific temporal mechanism for this phenomenon. However, when the visibility of the distracter was reduced via backward masking, the judgment bias disappeared. On the other hand, the low-visibility distracter could still cause a simultaneous orientation contrast, indicating that the distracter orientation is still processed in the visual system (Experiment 2. Our results suggest that the postdictive modulation of visual orientation stems from spatiotemporal integration of visual orientation on the basis of a slow feature matching process.

Medicinal Plants of the Family Lamiaceae in Pain Therapy: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina M. Uritu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, numerous side effects of synthetic drugs have lead to using medicinal plants as a reliable source of new therapy. Pain is a global public health problem with a high impact on life quality and a huge economic implication, becoming one of the most important enemies in modern medicine. The medicinal use of plants as analgesic or antinociceptive drugs in traditional therapy is estimated to be about 80% of the world population. The Lamiaceae family, one of the most important herbal families, incorporates a wide variety of plants with biological and medical applications. In this study, the analgesic activity, possible active compounds of Lamiaceae genus, and also the possible mechanism of actions of these plants are presented. The data highlighted in this review paper provide valuable scientific information for the specific implications of Lamiaceae plants in pain modulation that might be used for isolation of potentially active compounds from some of these medicinal plants in future and formulation of commercial therapeutic agents.

Cancer preventive and curative attributes of plants of the Cactaceae family: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Harlev, Eli; Nevo, Eviatar; Solowey, Elaine; Bishayee, Anupam

2013-06-01

The ever-increasing occurrence of cancer and the severe side effects and limited efficacy of current cancer chemotherapy based on chemical drugs shift the attention toward drugs of plant origin. The Cactaceae family comprises more than 1500 species, but until recently only a few of them have been tested for their chemopreventive and anticancer attributes, leaving a wide unexplored area still waiting for researchers to investigate. Considering this fact, and also the promising results obtained with the relatively few plants of this family already tested, it should justly be expected that some plants of the Cactaceae family yet unexplored might possess outstanding anticancer attributes, exceeding those displayed by the plants already tested. This review presents in vitro and in vivo experimental evidence on cancer chemopreventive and therapeutic potential of bioactive phytoconstituents and extracts derived from cactus plants. It also examines the underlying biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved in the antineoplastic effects of plants of the Cactaceae family. Current limitation and future directions of research towards effective use of cacti to develop efficient and side effect-free future cancer-preventive and anticancer drugs are also discussed. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Power plant conceptual studies in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maisonnier, D.; Campbell, D.; Cook, I.; Pace, L. Di; Giancarli, L.; Hayward, J.; Puma, A. Li; Medrano, M.; Norajitra, P.; Roccella, M.; Sardain, P.; Tran, M.Q.; Ward, D.

2007-01-01

The European fusion programme is 'reactor oriented' and it is aimed at the successive demonstration of the scientific, the technological and the economic feasibility of fusion power. The European Power Plant Conceptual Study (PPCS) has been a study of conceptual designs of five commercial fusion power plants and the main emphasis was on system integration. It focused on five power plant models which are illustrative of a wider spectrum of possibilities. They are all based on the tokamak concept and they have approximately the same net electrical power output, 1500 MWe. These span a range from relatively near-term, based on limited technology and plasma physics extrapolations, to an advanced conception. The PPCS allows one to clarify the concept of DEMO, the device that will bridge the gap between ITER and the first-of-a-kind fusion power plant. An assessment of the PPCS models with limited extrapolations highlighted a number of issues that must be addressed to establish the DEMO physics and technological basis

The individual-oriented and social-oriented Chinese bicultural self: testing the theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Luo

2008-06-01

The author proposes a bicultural self theory for contemporary Chinese individuals, encompassing 2 main components: the individual-oriented self and the social-oriented self. The social orientation is rooted in traditional Chinese conceptualization of the self, whereas the individual orientation has evolved and developed under Western influences along with recent societal modernization. The author conducted a series of 5 studies to test the theory and relate the model to important issues in current personality and social psychological research, such as cultural individualism-collectivism, self-construals, motivation, cognition, emotion, and well-being. A total of 977 university students in Taiwan participated. The author found that contrasting self-aspects were differentially associated with the aforementioned constructs, as theoretically predicted. This evidence thus generally supported the bicultural self model.

Orientation decoding: Sense in spirals?

Science.gov (United States)

Clifford, Colin W G; Mannion, Damien J

2015-04-15

The orientation of a visual stimulus can be successfully decoded from the multivariate pattern of fMRI activity in human visual cortex. Whether this capacity requires coarse-scale orientation biases is controversial. We and others have advocated the use of spiral stimuli to eliminate a potential coarse-scale bias-the radial bias toward local orientations that are collinear with the centre of gaze-and hence narrow down the potential coarse-scale biases that could contribute to orientation decoding. The usefulness of this strategy is challenged by the computational simulations of Carlson (2014), who reported the ability to successfully decode spirals of opposite sense (opening clockwise or counter-clockwise) from the pooled output of purportedly unbiased orientation filters. Here, we elaborate the mathematical relationship between spirals of opposite sense to confirm that they cannot be discriminated on the basis of the pooled output of unbiased or radially biased orientation filters. We then demonstrate that Carlson's (2014) reported decoding ability is consistent with the presence of inadvertent biases in the set of orientation filters; biases introduced by their digital implementation and unrelated to the brain's processing of orientation. These analyses demonstrate that spirals must be processed with an orientation bias other than the radial bias for successful decoding of spiral sense. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Carbohydrates in diversity-oriented synthesis: challenges and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenci, E; Menchi, G; Trabocchi, A

2016-01-21

Over the last decade, Diversity-Oriented Synthesis (DOS) has become a new paradigm for developing large collections of structurally diverse small molecules as probes to investigate biological pathways, and to provide a larger array of the chemical space. Drug discovery and chemical biology are taking advantage of DOS approaches to exploit highly-diverse and complex molecular platforms, producing advances in both target and ligand discovery. In this view, carbohydrates are attractive building blocks for DOS libraries, due to their stereochemical diversity and high density of polar functional groups, thus offering many possibilities for chemical manipulation and scaffold decoration. This review will discuss research contributions and perspectives on the application of carbohydrate chemistry to explore the accessible chemical space through appendage, stereochemical and scaffold diversity.

Crystal orientation dependent thermoelectric properties of highly oriented aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films

KAUST Repository

Abutaha, Anas I.

2013-02-06

We demonstrate that the thermoelectric properties of highly oriented Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films can be improved by controlling their crystal orientation. The crystal orientation of the AZO films was changed by changing the temperature of the laser deposition process on LaAlO3 (100) substrates. The change in surface termination of the LaAlO3 substrate with temperature induces a change in AZO film orientation. The anisotropic nature of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the AZO films showed a favored thermoelectric performance in c-axis oriented films. These films gave the highest power factor of 0.26 W m−1 K−1 at 740 K.

Activities of selected medicinal plants against multi-drug resistant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The present work was designed to assess the in vitro antibacterial activities of some Cameroonian medicinal plants including Entada abyssinica, Entada africana, Pentaclethra macrophylla, Allexis cauliflora, Anthocleista leibrechtsiana, Carapa procera, Carica papaya and Persea americana against Gram-negative bacteria ...

Why competitors matter for market orientation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Hans Eibe

2009-01-01

  Purpose - This paper investigates whether it is meaningful to decompose market orientation into customer orientation and competitor orientation and what possible implications this decomposition may have for researchers and business practitioners.   Design - Through a review of existing market...... orientation research, two of its salient dimensions, customer orientation and competitor orientation, are theoretically investigated. Then, two symmetric component measures are developed and tested on 308 manufacturing firms in a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, supplemented with census data.   Findings...... - Empirical evidence reveals that, while competitor orientation is positively related to a firm's market share, a customer orientation is detrimental to a firm's return on assets for firms in less competitive environments.   Research implications and limitations - The study advocates moving beyond ‘global...

Why competitors matter for market orientation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Hans Eibe

2009-01-01

and empirically tests two novel symmetric component measures of customer orientation and competitor orientation. Academicians are provided with insights with respect to the content and symmetry of component measures of the market orientation construct and their relation to firm performance. Furthermore, business......  Purpose - This paper investigates whether it is meaningful to decompose market orientation into customer orientation and competitor orientation and what possible implications this decomposition may have for researchers and business practitioners.   Design - Through a review of existing market...... - Empirical evidence reveals that, while competitor orientation is positively related to a firm's market share, a customer orientation is detrimental to a firm's return on assets for firms in less competitive environments.   Research implications and limitations - The study advocates moving beyond ‘global...

Effects of microgravity on growth hormone concentration and distribution in plants

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze, Aga; Jensen, Philip; Desrosiers, Mark; Bandurski, Robert S.

1989-01-01

On earth, gravity affects the distribution of the plant growth hormone, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), in a manner such that the plant grows into a normal vertical orientation (shoots up, roots down). How the plant controls the amount and distribution of IAA is only partially understood and is currently under investigation in this laboratory. The question to be answered in the flight experiment concerns the effect of gravity on the concentration, turn over, and distribution of the growth hormone. The answer to this question will aid in understanding the mechanism by which plants control the amount and distribution of growth hormone. Such knowledge of a plant's hormonal metabolism may aid in the growth of plants in space and will lead to agronomic advances.

Ethnobotany of medicinal plants in the Thar Desert (Sindh) of Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yaseen, Ghulam; Ahmad, Mushtaq; Sultana, Shazia; Suleiman Alharrasi, Ahmed; Hussain, Javid; Zafar, Muhammad; Shafiq-Ur-Rehman

2015-04-02

The traditional use of medicinal plants in health-care practices among the rural communities provides the basis for natural drug discovery development. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantitative ethnobotanical investigation on the use of medicinal plants in the Thar Desert (Sindh) of Pakistan. In total, 530 local informants and traditional healers were interviewed, using semistructured interviews. Various quantitative indices such as relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), relative importance (RI), and the Jaccard Index (JI) were applied to the documented data. The traditional medical uses of 87 plant species belonging to 32 families were reported on. Amaranthaceae was the most-frequently cited (nine species), followed by Cucurbitaceae and Euphorbiaceae (six species each). The most dominant life form was herbs (73.56%). The most-used plant parts were leaves, with 65 reports (28.88%), followed by seeds (16%). The common mode of preparation reported was powder (25.75%), with 74% herbal medicines obtained from fresh plant materials. The ethnobotanical result documented in this study provides practical evidence about the use of medicinal plants among the inhabitants of the Thar Desert. Further, the findings revealed that the medicinal plants of the area are a major source of herbal drugs for primary health care used among the rural communities. This survey can be used as baseline information for further scientific investigation to develop new plant-based commercial drugs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

On-line surveillance system for Borssele nuclear power plant monitoring and diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tuerkcan, E.; Ciftcioglu, Oe.

1993-08-01

An operating on-line surveillance and diagnostic system is described where information processing for monitoring and fault diagnosis and plant maintenance are addressed. The surveillance system by means of its realtime multiprocessing, multitasking execution capabilities can perform plant-wide and wide-range monitoring for enhanced plant safety and operational reliability as well as enhanced maintenance. At the same time the system provides the possibilities for goal-oriented research and development such as estimation, filtering, verification and validation and neural networks. (orig./HP)

Interdisciplinary researches for potential developments of drugs and natural products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arunrat Chaveerach

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Developments of drugs or natural products from plants are possibly made, simple to use and lower cost than modern drugs. The development processes can be started with studying local wisdom and literature reviews to choose the plants which have long been used in diverse areas, such as foods, traditional medicine, fragrances and seasonings. Then those data will be associated with scientific researches, namely plant collection and identification, phytochemical screening by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, pharmacological study/review for their functions, and finally safety and efficiency tests in human. For safety testing, in vitro cell toxicity by cell viability assessment and in vitro testing of DNA breaks by the comet assay in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells can be performed. When active chemicals and functions containing plants were chosen with safety and efficacy for human uses, then, the potential medicinal natural products will be produced. Based on these procedures, the producing cost will be cheaper and the products can be evaluated for their clinical properties. Thus, the best and lowest-priced medicines and natural products can be distributed worldwide.

Interdisciplinary researches for potential developments of drugs and natural products

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Arunrat Chaveerach; Runglawan Sudmoon; Tawatchai Tanee

2017-01-01

Developments of drugs or natural products from plants are possibly made,simple to use and lower cost than modern drugs.The development processes can be started with studying local wisdom and literature reviews to choose the plants which have long been used in diverse areas,such as foods,traditional medicine,fragrances and seasonings.Then those data will be associated with scientific researches,namely plant collection and identification,phytochemical screening by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry,pharmacological study/review for their functions,and finally safety and efficiency tests in human.For safety testing,in vitro cell toxicity by cell viability assessment and in vitro testing of DNA breaks by the comet assay in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells can be performed.When active chemicals and functions containing plants were chosen with safety and efficacy for human uses,then,the potential medicinal natural products will be produced.Based on these procedures,the producing cost will be cheaper and the products can be evaluated for their clinical properties.Thus,the best and lowest-priced medicines and natural products can be distributed worldwide.

Pharmacogenetics-Oriented Therapeutic drug monitoring of Digoxin in critically ill patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ebid, Abdel-Hameed I.; Mokhtar, Mohammed Sherif; Abdel-Shafi, Sana'a; El-Feky, Gina Samy

2006-01-01

This study was performed to outline the different MDR-1 (Multi-Drug Resistance-1) genotypes in a sample of 37 Egyptian patients, suffering from atrial fibrillation (AF) and/or congestive heart failure (CHF) and is using digoxin, to assess the role of MDR-1 genotypes polymorphism in affecting steady state serum digoxin therapeutic levels, and studying the consequences on patient's clinical outcome. Two venous blood samples were drawn from each patient; the 1st sample was taken, on admission, for DNA extraction and genotyping and the 2nd was taken, 6 hours post dose after reaching steady state concentration, for serum digoxin assay. Serum digoxin levels were assayed using EMIT 2000 analyzer, and MDR-1 genotyping was done using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. Twenty patients (54.1%) showed serum digoxin levels within the therapeutic range, 12 patients (32.4%) showed serum digoxin levels under the minimum effective concentration ( 2 ng/ml), with P value of 0.0001 among three groups. MDR-1 genotyping revealed ten patients (27%) carrying the homozygous mutant TT genotype, 27 patients (73%) carrying the heterozygous mutant CT genotype, with no patient showing the wild CC genotype Allelic distribution showed 42% for the wild type C allele while 58% for the homozygous mutant C allele. Patients carrying the homozygous mutant TT genotype showed significantly lower serum digoxin levels compared with those carrying the heterozygous mutant CT genotype (P value: 0.009). Patients with significant improvement carried the CT genotype and had serum digoxin levels within the therapeutic range. In conclusion, patients with different MDR-1 genotypes had variations in their serum digoxin levels and identification of MDR-1 variations was found useful in predicting therapy outcome. We recommend further extensive work on large samples to study the important role of MDR-1 gene in affecting the disposition of different substrates, to

Aspect-Oriented Programming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bergmans, Lodewijk; Videira Lopes, Cristina; Moreira, Ana; Demeyer, Serge

1999-01-01

Aspect-oriented programming is a promising idea that can improve the quality of software by reduce the problem of code tangling and improving the separation of concerns. At ECOOP'97, the first AOP workshop brought together a number of researchers interested in aspect-orientation. At ECOOP'98, during

Drug repurposing based on drug-drug interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Bin; Wang, Rong; Wu, Ping; Kong, De-Xin

2015-02-01

Given the high risk and lengthy procedure of traditional drug development, drug repurposing is gaining more and more attention. Although many types of drug information have been used to repurpose drugs, drug-drug interaction data, which imply possible physiological effects or targets of drugs, remain unexploited. In this work, similarity of drug interaction was employed to infer similarity of the physiological effects or targets for the drugs. We collected 10,835 drug-drug interactions concerning 1074 drugs, and for 700 of them, drug similarity scores based on drug interaction profiles were computed and rendered using a drug association network with 589 nodes (drugs) and 2375 edges (drug similarity scores). The 589 drugs were clustered into 98 groups with Markov Clustering Algorithm, most of which were significantly correlated with certain drug functions. This indicates that the network can be used to infer the physiological effects of drugs. Furthermore, we evaluated the ability of this drug association network to predict drug targets. The results show that the method is effective for 317 of 561 drugs that have known targets. Comparison of this method with the structure-based approach shows that they are complementary. In summary, this study demonstrates the feasibility of drug repurposing based on drug-drug interaction data. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Machine Learning and Infrared Thermography for Fiber Orientation Assessment on Randomly-Oriented Strands Parts

Science.gov (United States)

Maldague, Xavier

2018-01-01

The use of fiber reinforced materials such as randomly-oriented strands has grown in recent years, especially for manufacturing of aerospace composite structures. This growth is mainly due to their advantageous properties: they are lighter and more resistant to corrosion when compared to metals and are more easily shaped than continuous fiber composites. The resistance and stiffness of these materials are directly related to their fiber orientation. Thus, efficient approaches to assess their fiber orientation are in demand. In this paper, a non-destructive evaluation method is applied to assess the fiber orientation on laminates reinforced with randomly-oriented strands. More specifically, a method called pulsed thermal ellipsometry combined with an artificial neural network, a machine learning technique, is used in order to estimate the fiber orientation on the surface of inspected parts. Results showed that the method can be potentially used to inspect large areas with good accuracy and speed. PMID:29351240

OOAspectZ and aspect-oriented UML class diagrams for Aspect-oriented software modelling (AOSM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian Vidal Silva

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Regarding modularised software development, Aspect-oriented programming (AOP identifies and represents individually crosscutting concerns during the software development cycle’s programming stage. This article proposes and applies OOAspectZ to formal Aspect-oriented requirement specifications for prior stages of the software development cycle. It particularly concerns requirement specification and the structural design of data and behaviour, along with describing and applying Aspect-oriented UML class diagrams to designing classes, aspects and associations among classes and aspects during Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD.OOAspectZ is a language integrating both Object-Z and AspectZ formal languages whereas Aspect-oriented UML class diagrams represent AOP code, object class and crosscutting concern class structure by means of stereotypes. This article shows and applies the main OOAspectZ and AO UML class diagram characteristics to Aspect-oriented software modelling (AOSM using a classic example of AOP. Ideas for future work concerning an actual AOP version are also indicated.

A guide to medicinal plants of Appalachia

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold Krochmal; Russell S. Walters; Richard M. Doughty

1969-01-01

The Medicinal or therapeutic uses of the plants described in this guide are not to be construed in any way as a recommendation by the authors or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some of the dried crude drugs, which must be modified considerably before commercial use, can be extremely poisonous when not used properly. Readers are cautioned against using these plant...

Antidiabetic effects of the medicinal plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waleska C. Dornas

Full Text Available Diabetes mellitus (DM is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemy that has a significant impact for their patients. Its incidence is raising leading to an increase in the cost of the cares of the disease and of its complications. The treatment involves, besides dietary control and physical activity, the use of drugs that cause side effects to reach wanted pharmacological actions. However, products of plants are, frequently, considered less poisonous and with fewer side effects than synthetic drugs and widely used by the population. In this paper, several species of plants, used experimentally or in the popular medicine, acting by different ways to control glycemia and/or to inhibit symptoms and characteristic complications of the diabetes, they will be reviewed for evaluation of their supposed therapeutic effects.

Depoliticising the political: Market solutions and the retreat of Swedish institutional drug treatment from state management.

Science.gov (United States)

Edman, Johan

2016-06-01

This article examines developments in the Swedish drug treatment services in 1982-2000 and explores the ways in which political initiatives and the state administration's management have contributed to the major privatisations of institutional drug treatment during this period. The empirical basis for the textual analysis lies in official reports, parliamentary material and archived records from the Stockholm County Administrative Board's management of treatment facilities. The major privatisations of drug treatment services in the 1980s were both unintentional and unwanted and mainly arose from a lack of bureaucratic control and ideological anchorage. The privatisations were, however, reinforced by ideologically driven NPM-oriented political initiatives in the 1990s. The market-oriented treatment services have failed to fulfil the needs for diversity and availability within a publicly financed sector, which deals with unevenly informed and often socio-economically weak citizens. New management models in this field must ensure that ideological considerations are taken into account to meet politically decided goals and means. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

fMRI orientation decoding in V1 does not require global maps or globally coherent orientation stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Alink, Arjen; Krugliak, Alexandra; Walther, Alexander; Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus

2013-01-01

The orientation of a large grating can be decoded from V1 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, even at low resolution (3-mm isotropic voxels). This finding has suggested that columnar-level neuronal information might be accessible to fMRI at 3T. However, orientation decodability might alternatively arise from global orientation-preference maps. Such global maps across V1 could result from bottom-up processing, if the preferences of V1 neurons were biased toward particular orientations (e.g., radial from fixation, or cardinal, i.e., vertical or horizontal). Global maps could also arise from local recurrent or top-down processing, reflecting pre-attentive perceptual grouping, attention spreading, or predictive coding of global form. Here we investigate whether fMRI orientation decoding with 2-mm voxels requires (a) globally coherent orientation stimuli and/or (b) global-scale patterns of V1 activity. We used opposite-orientation gratings (balanced about the cardinal orientations) and spirals (balanced about the radial orientation), along with novel patch-swapped variants of these stimuli. The two stimuli of a patch-swapped pair have opposite orientations everywhere (like their globally coherent parent stimuli). However, the two stimuli appear globally similar, a patchwork of opposite orientations. We find that all stimulus pairs are robustly decodable, demonstrating that fMRI orientation decoding does not require globally coherent orientation stimuli. Furthermore, decoding remained robust after spatial high-pass filtering for all stimuli, showing that fine-grained components of the fMRI patterns reflect visual orientations. Consistent with previous studies, we found evidence for global radial and vertical preference maps in V1. However, these were weak or absent for patch-swapped stimuli, suggesting that global preference maps depend on globally coherent orientations and might arise through recurrent or top-down processes related to the perception of

Nuclear power plant decommissioning: state-of-the-art review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, D.H.

1984-01-01

A brief orientation to the state-of-the-art of nuclear power plant decommissioning discusses the related areas of experience, tools and techniques, and planning. There have been 68 nuclear reactor decommissionings to date, including 9 power plants, some of which were mothballed. The picture suggests that the term art may be misapplied since decommissioning is now more of a mature commercial industrial than a research and development endeavor. It also suggests that the nuclear industry has shown foresight by preparing for it before a crisis situation developed. Some of this has already influenced operators of coal power plants, especially where hazardous materials may be involved. 33 references, 1 table

Southeast Asian Medicinal Plants as a Potential Source of Antituberculosis Agent

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuaibu Babaji Sanusi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Despite all of the control strategies, tuberculosis (TB is still a major cause of death globally and one-third of the world’s population is infected with TB. The drugs used for TB treatment have drawbacks of causing adverse side effects and emergence of resistance strains. Plant-derived medicines have since been used in traditional medical system for the treatment of numerous ailments worldwide. There were nine major review publications on antimycobacteria from plants in the last 17 years. However, none is focused on Southeast Asian medicinal plants. Hence, this review is aimed at highlighting the medicinal plants of Southeast Asian origin evaluated for anti-TB. This review is based on literatures published in various electronic database. A total of 132 plants species representing 45 families and 107 genera were reviewed; 27 species representing 20.5% exhibited most significant in vitro anti-TB activity (crude extracts and/or bioactive compounds 0–<10 µg/ml. The findings may motivate various scientists to undertake the project that may result in the development of crude extract that will be consumed as complementary or alternative TB drug or as potential bioactive compounds for the development of novel anti-TB drug.

Utility experience using THERMAC for plant thermal performance analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, P.K.; Doran, K.J.

1993-01-01

THERMAC is a state-of-the-art software package designed to assist those responsible for monitoring and evaluating the thermal performance of fossil and nuclear power plants. It is an integrated program, available on PCs and selected workstations, that combines strong analytical capabilities with a graphical user interface and object-oriented database. The software accurately analyses all of the components of a power plant from first principles. The graphical user interface is employed to build plant specific models; it can also be used to create custom screen displays. THERMAC is able to read plant measurements and statistically account for any missing or erroneous plant data; it does not require any additional plant instrumentation. THERMAC can be used to archive historical data, generate customized trending plots and periodic performance reports. open-quotes What-if close-quote studies can be conducted to predict the impact of corrective actions on thermal performance

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Among U.S. Veterans: Comparing Associations with Intimate Partner Substance Abuse and Veteran Psychopathology

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Mark W.; Reardon, Annemarie F.; Wolf, Erika J.; Prince, Lauren B.; Hein, Christina L.

2013-01-01

This study examined the relative influences of PTSD, other psychopathology, and intimate partner alcohol and drug use on substance-related problems in U.S. veterans (242 couples, N = 484). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that partner alcohol and drug use severity explained more variance in veteran alcohol use and drug use (20% and 13%, respectively) than did veteran PTSD, adult antisocial behavior, or depression symptoms combined (6% for veteran alcohol use; 7% for veteran drug use). Findings shed new light on the influence of relationship factors on veteran alcohol and drug use and underscore the importance of couples-oriented approaches to treating veterans with comorbid PTSD and substance abuse. PMID:23325433

Deconstructing sexual orientation: understanding the phenomena of sexual orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, T S

1997-01-01

The very terms of a debate about whether or not sexual orientation is primarily a biological phenomenon fail to consider the complex origins of the phenomenon. Deconstruction of the term "homosexuality" shows that it refers to multiple factors which cannot be studied as or subsumed under a unitary concept. Adequate understanding of sexual orientation must consider the developmental, interpersonal, experiential, and cultural dimensions of sexuality, as well as any biological contributions to sexual attraction, behavior, and identity.

Some aspects of configuration management at Nuclear Power Plant Krsko

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heruc, Z.; Podhraski, M.

2000-01-01

Configuration Management (CM) objectives at Neck are to ensure consistency between Design Requirements, Physical Plant Configuration and Configuration Information. Software applications, supporting Design Change, Work Control and Document Control Processes, are integrated in one module-oriented Management Information System (MIS). From configuration management perspective, Master Equipment Component List (MECL) database is the central MIS module. Through a combination of a centralized database and process migrated activities (modifications, plant operation, maintenance, document control etc.), it is encored that the CM principles and requirements (accurate, current design dana matching plant's physical configuration while complying to applicable requirements), are followed and fulfilled. (author)

Beyond 'Doing Gender': Incorporating Race, Class, Place, and Life Transitions into Feminist Drug Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Jody; Carbone-Lopez, Kristin

2015-05-01

This essay draws from our research with US rural women methamphetamine users in 2009 to offer strategies for "revisioning" the drug use(r) field to better understand the impact of gender on drug use and drug market participation. We highlight the insights and limitations of a popular strategy in feminist research that conceptualizes gender as performance- commonly referred to as "doing gender"-using illustrations from our research. We encourage scholars to move beyond a primarily normative orientation in studying gender, and investigate gendered organizational features of social life including their intersections with other aspects of social inequality such as those of race, class, and place. In addition, we suggest that feminist scholars can integrate gender in a rigorous way into theoretical perspectives that are typically inattentive to its import, as a means of challenging, enriching, and refining research on drug use, drug users, and drug market participation.

The effects of market orientation

OpenAIRE

Sandvik, Kåre

1998-01-01

This research is designed to accomplish three goals. The first goal is to revisit the market orientation construct in order to define the different facets of it. A review of the market orientation literature is made to assess and synthesize the stock of accumulated knowledge regarding the market orientation construct. The second goal of the research is to develop a theory of the effects ofmarket orientation. Using the literature concerning resource-based theory and organization...

Online drug information platform for the public in Hong Kong-Review of local drug information use and needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, F W T; So, S W K; Fung, B W T; Hung, W H; Lee, V W Y

2018-06-01

In view of the popularity of Internet usage in Hong Kong, an interactive web-based drug information platform entitled "Ask My Pharmacist - Online University Led drug Enquiry Platform" (AMPOULE) was launched in 2009 to better serve the needs of drug information in Hong Kong. This paper aimed to evaluate the utility of AMPOULE in improving drug-related knowledge among the public and to reassess the needs of the general public in Hong Kong. All enquiries sent via AMPOULE were reviewed. Demographic data, nature of questions and types of drug class covered were analyzed. The workload of pharmacists was examined with respect to the preparation time needed for the enquiry, the lag days to reply and also the timing of enquiry recipient. 2122 enquiries were received from 2009 to 2017. Most enquirers were from Hong Kong (56.6%) and female gender (49.2%). 13% of the concerned subjects were aged over 61-year-old. The most frequent types of questions and medications covered were "Drug Ingredients and Indications" (28.0%) and Adverse Drug Reactions (26.8%) and "Cardiovascular Medication" (21.9%) respectively but these varied in different age groups or enquirer groups. The median time for preparation was 40.0 min (IQR: 25-65 min) while the median time lag was found to be 2.5 days (IQR: 1.0-5.0 days). The number of enquiries received was evenly distributed throughout the day except during 1:00 am to 9:00 am and 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. AMPOULE has demonstrated that an online platform providing patient-oriented drug information service through the Internet is promising and further promotion is warranted. Current data suggested that the need of different age groups and enquirer groups are different and should therefore be individualized. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of a RESTful web information system for drug prescription and administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchi, Lorenzo; Paganelli, Federica; Pettenati, Maria Chiara; Turchi, Stefano; Ciofi, Lucia; Iadanza, Ernesto; Giuli, Dino

2014-05-01

Drug prescription and administration processes strongly impact on the occurrence of risks in medical settings for they can be sources of adverse drug events (ADEs). A properly engineered use of information and communication technologies has proven to be a promising approach to reduce these risks. In this study, we propose PHARMA, a web information system which supports healthcare staff in the secure cooperative execution of drug prescription, transcription and registration tasks. PHARMA allows the easy sharing and management of documents containing drug-related information (i.e., drug prescriptions, medical reports, screening), which is often inconsistent and scattered across different information systems and heterogeneous organization domains (e.g., departments, other hospital facilities). PHARMA enables users to access such information in a consistent and secure way, through the adoption of REST and web-oriented design paradigms and protocols. We describe the implementation of the PHARMA prototype, and we discuss the results of the usability evaluation that we carried out with the staff of a hospital in Florence, Italy.

Meta-analysis Number of Plants Drugs Used by Characteristics Socioeconomic Factors, Environmental and Geographic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Febiola Diah Pratiwi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Ethnobotany is the study of public relations with the use of plants. Use of plants by people influenced by several factors, such as social, cultural, socioeconomic, and geographic. Most of the ethnicities in Indonesia has a high dependence on plants medicine for survival. However, the factors that influence the use of medicinal plants by people in Indonesia have not been studied, so that research is needed to optimize the use of medicinal plants to sustainability benefits. The purpose of this study is to analyze the number of species of plants medicine used by the influence of socio-economic, environmental, and geographic factors using principal component analysis and analyzing patterns of use of plants medicine. The results showed that the economy and infrastructure components (access to electricity, means of education, income level, health facilities, distance from the highway, remoteness, and the fastest time toward the road and the number of people graduating from elementary school affect the number of medicinal plant species used. Based on the results of the study of literature and field observations, the pattern of use of plants medicine in addition to be used as medicine, the plant is used for food, building materials, plant ornamental, ceremonial, wood, wicker and crafts, coloring agents, animal feed, ingredients aromatic, and pesticide. The usage patterns in each region or village has the distinction of which is influenced by the remoteness factor due to the differences in the social, economic, environmental, and geographic.  Keywords: ethnobotany, plants medicine, principal component analysis

MARS, 600 MWth NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cumo, M.; Naviglio, A.; Sorabella, L.

2004-01-01

MARS (Multipurpose Advanced Reactor, inherently Safe) is a 600 MWth, single loop, pressurized light water reactor (PWR), developed at the Dept. of Nuclear Engineering and Energy Conversion of the University of Rome ''La Sapienza''. The design was focused to a multipurpose reactor to be used in high population density areas also for industrial heat production and, in particular, for water desalting. Using the well-proven technology and the operation experience of PWRs, the project introduces a lot of innovative features hugely improving the safety performance while keeping the cost of KWh competitive with traditional large power plants. Extensive use of passive safety, in depth plant simplification and decommissioning oriented design were the guidelines along the design development. The latest development in the plant design, in the decommissioning aspects and in the experimental activities supporting the project are shown in this paper

Development of radiation indicator plants by molecular breeding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Jang-Ryol; Min, Sung-Ran; Jeong, Won-Joong; Kwak, Sang-Soo; Lee, Haeng-Soon; Kwon, Seok-Yoon; Pai, Hyun-Sook; Cho, Hye-Sun; In, Dong-Su; Oh, Seung-Chol; Park, Sang- Gyu; Woo, Je-Wook; Kin, Tae-Hwan; Park, Ju-Hyun; Kim, Chang-Sook [Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Taejeon (Korea)

2001-04-01

To develop the transgenic plants with low level of antioxidant enzyme, transgenic tobacco plants (157 plants) using 8 different plant expression vectors which have APX genes in sense or antisense orientation under the control of CaMV 35S promoter or stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter were developed. The insertion of transgene in transgenic plants was confirmed by PCR analysis. The total APX activities of transgenic plants were enhanced or reduced by introduction of APX gene in plants. To clone the radiation-responsive genes and their promoter from plants, the NeIF2Bb, one of radiation-responsive genes from tobacco plant was characterized using molecular and cell biological tools. Promoter of GST6, a radiation-responsive gene, was cloned using RT-PCR. The GST6 promoter sequence was analyzed, and known sequence motif was searched. To develop the remediation technology of radioactively contaminated soil using transgenic plants uranium reductase and radiation resistance genes have been introduced in tobacco and indian mustard plans. The uranium reductase and radiation resistance (RecA) genes were confirmed in transgenic tobacco and indian mustard plants by PCR analysis. Also, Gene expression of uranium reductase and radiation resistance were confirmed in transgenic indian mustard plants by northern blot analysis. 42 refs., 12 figs. (Author)

Orienteering Club

CERN Multimedia

Club d'orientation

2013-01-01

Courses d’orientation ce printemps Le Club d’orientation du CERN vous invite à venir découvrir la course d’orientation et vous propose, en partenariat avec d’autres clubs de la région, une dizaine de courses populaires. Celles-ci ont lieu les samedis après-midi, elles sont ouvertes à tous, quel que soit le niveau, du débutant au sportif confirmé, en famille ou en individuel, en promenade ou en course. Si vous êtes débutant vous pouvez profiter d’une petite initiation offerte par l’organisateur avant de vous lancer sur un parcours. Divers types de parcours sont à votre choix lors de chaque épreuve : facile court (2-3 km), facile moyen (3-5 km), technique court (3-4 km), technique moyen (4-5 km) et technique long (5-7 km). Les dates à retenir sont les suivantes : Samedi 23 mars: Pully (Vd) Samedi 13 avril: Pougny...

Transgênicos - Plantas Produtoras de Fármacos (PPF Trangenics - Plant-Based Drugs (PBD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniele Rachidi da Rocha

2011-07-01

Full Text Available As Plantas Produtoras de Fármacos (PPF representam a 4ª onda de vegetais geneticamente modificados. Neste caso, com a tecnologia sendo empregada para desenvolver e produzir vacinas e/ou produtos farmacêuticos, a partir de plantas transgênicas. Esta tecnologia, como todas as inovações científicas, vem acompanhada de riscos. Porém, o conhecimento atual disponível sobre seu uso não permite ainda conclusões definitivas sobre o caráter dos riscos, sua significância e sua probabilidade de causar, ou não, sérios danos. A análise de risco deve servir de base para a implementação de inovações tecnocientíficas. Os parâmetros devem ser avaliados, precauções especiais devem ser tomadas, a pesquisa deve ser conduzida de forma detalhada e também precisa ter amplo alcance quanto aos riscos potenciais por ser uma inovação. O presente artigo revisou a aplicabilidade desta nova tecnologia com relação ao gerenciamento do risco e a uma contenção que vise a segurança de uso, a manipulação e o comércio para os seres humanos.Plant-Based Drugs - PBD - represent the 4th generation of genetically-modified plants and in this case the technology is used to develop and produce pharmaceuticals vaccines and/or products from transgenic seeds. This technology, like all scientific innovations, has inherent risks. However, the current knowledge available about the use of this technology means that no firm conclusions can be drawn about the nature of the risks involved, as well as their significance and the likelihood of causing serious damage or not. Risk analysis should be the starting premise prior to any implementation of techno-scientific innovations. The parameters must be evaluated and precautions taken and research must be conducted in a detailed and broad-ranging manner with respect to the potential risks of any innovation. This article analyzed the applicability of this new technology, as well as risk management and containment in order

Single Plant Derived Nanotechnology for Synergistic Antibacterial Therapies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jhansi R Kalluri

Full Text Available Multiple new approaches to tackle multidrug resistant infections are urgently needed and under evaluation. One nanotechnology-based approach to delivering new relevant therapeutics involves silicon accumulator plants serving as a viable silicon source in green routes for the fabrication of the nanoscale drug delivery carrier porous silicon (pSi. If the selected plant leaf components contain medicinally-active species as well, then a single substance can provide not only the nanoscale high surface area drug delivery carrier, but the drug itself. With this idea in mind, porous silicon was fabricated from joints of the silicon accumulator plant Bambuseae (Tabasheer and loaded with an antibacterial extract originating from leaves of the same type of plant (Bambuseae arundinacea. Preparation of porous silicon from Tabasheer includes extraction of biogenic silica from the ground plant by calcination, followed by reduction with magnesium in the presence of sodium chloride, thereby acting as a thermal moderator that helps to retain the mesoporous structure of the feedstock. The purified product was characterized by a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX, X-ray diffraction (XRD, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM, and low temperature nitrogen gas adsorption measurements. Antimicrobial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration of a leaf extract of Bambuseae arundinacea was tested against the bacteria Escherichia Coli (E. Coli and Staphylococcus aureus (S. Aureus, along with the fungus Candida albicans (C. Albicans. A S. aureus active ethanolic leaf extract was loaded into the above Tabasheer-derived porous silicon. Initial studies indicate sustained in vitro antibacterial activity of the extract-loaded plant derived pSi (25 wt %, TGA, as measured by disk diffusion inhibitory zone assays. Subsequent chromatographic separation of this extract revealed that the active antimicrobial

Kinetics of oriented crystallization of polymers in the linear stress-orientation range in the series expansion approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Jarecki

2018-04-01

Full Text Available An analytical formula is derived for the oriented crystallization coefficient governing kinetics of oriented crystallization under uniaxial amorphous orientation in the entire temperature range. A series expansion approach is applied to the free energy of crystallization in the Hoffman-Lauritzen kinetic model of crystallization at accounting for the entropy of orientation of the amorphous chains. The series expansion coefficients are calculated for systems of Gaussian chains in linear stress-orientation range. Oriented crystallization rate functions are determined basing on the ‘proportional expansion’ approach proposed by Ziabicki in the steady-state limit. Crystallization kinetics controlled by separate predetermined and sporadic primary nucleation is considered, as well as the kinetics involving both nucleation mechanisms potentially present in oriented systems. The involvement of sporadic nucleation in the transformation kinetics is predicted to increase with increasing amorphous orientation. Example computations illustrate the dependence of the calculated functions on temperature and amorphous orientation, as well as qualitative agreement of the calculations with experimental results.

Tasks of a power engineer in future thermal power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freymeyer, P.; Scherschmidt, F.

1982-01-01

Today already the power plants provide plenty of tasks and problems to the electrical engineer in the fields of power and conductive engineering. A completely new orientation of power engineering leads to larger, more complex system and even to systems unknown so far. In conductive engineering entirely new solutions have come in view. There are a lot of interesting topics for the electrical engineer in the rearrangement and advance into virgin territory of thermal power plants. (orig.) [de

The licensing procedure for construction and operation of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salvatore, J.E.L.

1980-03-01

The licensing procedure for the construction and operation of the nuclear power plants in Brazil is analysed, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency orientation. The risks related to the nuclear energy is also emphasized. (A.L.) [pt

The mycobiota of herbal drug plants in Oman and possible decontamination by gamma radiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.E. Elshafie

2003-08-01

Full Text Available The mycobiota of seven herbal plant species were surveyed: Nigella sativa, Zataria multiflora, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Rhazya stricta (seeds and leaves, Haplophyllum tuberculatum, Aristolochia bracteolata and Teucrium muscatense. A total of 24 species of fungi were isolated from the plants (seeds, leaves, flowers and/or stems. No significant differences were found between the mycobiota of the herbal plant species or between the six samples of each plant. Aspergillus niger and Penicillium sp. were the most common species, followed by A. flavus and Rhizopus spp. A. flavus was found in all herbal plants except R. stricta (leaves and Z. multiflora. Aflatoxins were extracted from a number of herbal plants. Some strains of A. flavus isolated from the plants were aflatoxigenic. Gamma radiation at 905.4 Gy showed an average percent inhibition of fungi on some herbal plants between 88.6 and 99.1%. Complete inhibition was obtained at 1836 Gy.

Personality Patterns of Physicians in Person-Oriented and Technique-Oriented Specialties

Science.gov (United States)

Borges, Nicole J.; Gibson, Denise D.

2005-01-01

This study investigated differences in personality patterns between person-oriented and technique-oriented physicians. It tested an integrative framework by converting the scores on the Personality Research Form (PRF) to the Big-Five factors and built a predictive model of group membership in clinical specialty area. PRF scores from 238 physicians…

Legal Drugs Are Good Drugs And Illegal Drugs Are Bad Drugs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dina Indrati

2011-07-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT : Labelling drugs are important issue nowadays in a modern society. Although it is generally believed that legal drugs are good drugs and illegal drugs are bad drugs, it is evident that some people do not aware about the side effects of drugs used. Therefore, a key contention of this philosophical essay is that explores harms minimisation policy, discuss whether legal drugs are good drugs and illegal drugs are bad drugs and explores relation of drugs misuse in a psychiatric nursing setting and dual diagnosis.Key words: Legal, good drugs, illegal, bad drugs.

Characterization of the crystal orientation in mono-oriented films of HDPE/LLDPE blends by IR dichroism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Canevarolo, Sebastião V., E-mail: caneva@ufscar.br; Ravazzi, Camila; Silva, Jorge, E-mail: jorge.silva@ufscar.br [Departamento de Engenharia de Materiais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos Rod. Washington Luiz Km 235, 13565-905, SãoCarlos, SP - Brazil (Brazil); Elias, Marcelo [Motechfilm Produtos Plásticos, Estrada Municipal do Bonfim, 100, Pinhal, Cabreúva, SP - Brazil (Brazil)

2016-03-09

Polyethylene films are a common packaging material. The level and type of chain orientation in these films are a very important property which is of great care and concern of the converter personnel during the conformation process. Usually bi-orientation is the conventional procedure but when easy tear in one direction is needed mono-orientation is sought. This paper deal with the characterization of the crystalline orientation in films of polyethylene blends (HDPE/LLDPE) which have being oriented in two steps: initially the polymer was bi-oriented via extrusion-blown, cooled, and then in a second process hot stretched along the machine direction in order to produce mono-oriented films. In order to evaluate the orientation of the film, the polarization of the FT-IR beam was rotated 360° in steps of 5° by rotating the polarizer. In each step the absorbance spectrum was recorded and the corresponding dichroic ratio (DR) calculated after subtracting the baseline. With differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was possible to infer about the changes in the morphology caused by the stretching.

Modelling energy consumption in a manufacturing plant using productivity KPIs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallachoir, Brian O.; Cahill, Caiman (Sustainable Energy Research Group, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. College Cork (Ireland))

2009-07-01

Energy efficiency initiatives in industrial plants are often focused on getting energy-consuming utilities and devices to operate more efficiently, or on conserving energy. While such device-oriented energy efficiency measures can achieve considerable savings, greater energy efficiency improvement may be achieved by improving the overall productivity and quality of manufacturing processes. The paper highlights the observed relationship between productivity and energy efficiency using aggregated data on unit consumption and production index data for Irish industry. Past studies have developed simple top-down models of final energy consumption in manufacturing plants using energy consumption and production output figures, but these models do not help identify opportunities for energy savings that could achieved through increased productivity. This paper proposes an improved and innovative method of modelling plant final energy demand that introduces standard productivity Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) into the model. The model demonstrates the relationship between energy consumption and productivity, and uses standard productivity metrics to identify the areas of manufacturing activity that offer the most potential for improved energy efficiency. The model provides a means of comparing the effect of device-oriented energy efficiency measures with the potential for improved energy efficiency through increased productivity.

AI-based alarm processing for a nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Na, N.J.; Kim, I.S.; Hwang, I.K.; Lee, D.Y.; Ham, C.S.

1996-01-01

A real-time expert system is implemented using artificial intelligence and object-oriented technology for alarm processing and presentation in a nuclear power plant. The knowledge base is constructed based on some schemes to process and display alarms to the plant operators. The activated alarms are dynamically prioritized by the reasoning rules, and then, presented on the process mimic overview and by some other means. To demonstrate the proposed system, the alarm processing and presentation is carried out in a simulated environment of the TMI-2 accident

Community Orientation and Media Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuwirth, Kurt; And Others

1989-01-01

Examines the relationship among media use, participation in local shopping and leisure activities, and orientation toward the local community. Reexamines Robert Merton's Cosmopolitan scale, finding it to have both localite (exclusively local orientation) and cosmopolite (orientation to events outside the local community) dimensions. (MM)

Knowledge-Centric Technical Support Organization (TSO) Using Process Oriented Knowledge Management Approach