WorldWideScience

Sample records for short isolated length

  1. Influence of day-length and isolates of Phytophthora infestans on field resistance to late blight of potato.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihovilovich, E; Munive, S; Bonierbale, M

    2010-04-01

    Main and interaction effects of day-length and pathogen isolate on the reaction and expression of field resistance to Phytophthora infestans were analyzed in a sample of standard clones for partial resistance to potato late blight, and in the BCT mapping population derived from a backcross of Solanum berthaultii to Solanum tuberosum. Detached leaves from plants grown in field plots exposed to short- and long day-length conditions were independently inoculated with two P. infestans isolates and incubated in chambers under short- and long photoperiods, respectively. Lesion growth rate (LGR) was used for resistance assessment. Analysis of variance revealed a significant contribution of genotype x isolate x day-length interaction to variation in LGR indicating that field resistance of genotypes to foliar late blight under a given day-length depended on the infecting isolate. An allele segregating from S. berthaultii with opposite effects on foliar resistance to late blight under long- and short day-lengths, respectively, was identified at a quantitative trait locus (QTL) that mapped on chromosome 1. This allele was associated with positive (decreased resistance) and negative (increased resistance) additive effects on LGR, under short- and long day-length conditions, respectively. Disease progress on whole plants inoculated with the same isolate under field conditions validated the direction of its effect in short day-length regimes. The present study suggests the occurrence of an isolate-specific QTL that displays interaction with isolate behavior under contrasting environments, such as those with different day-lengths. This study highlights the importance of exposing genotypes to a highly variable population of the pathogen under contrasting environments when stability to late blight resistance is to be assessed or marker-assisted selection is attempted for the manipulation of quantitative resistance to late blight.

  2. Short Rayleigh Length Free Electron Lasers

    CERN Document Server

    Crooker, P P; Armstead, R L; Blau, J

    2004-01-01

    Conventional free electron laser (FEL) oscillators minimize the optical mode volume around the electron beam in the undulator by making the resonator Rayleigh length about one third of the undulator length. This maximizes gain and beam-mode coupling. In compact configurations of high-power infrared FELs or moderate power UV FELs, the resulting optical intensity can damage the resonator mirrors. To increase the spot size and thereby reduce the optical intensity at the mirrors below the damage threshold, a shorter Rayleigh length can be used, but the FEL interaction is significantly altered. A new FEL interaction is described and analyzed with a Rayleigh length that is only one tenth the undulator length, or less. The effect of mirror vibration and positioning are more critical in the short Rayleigh length design, but we find that they are still within normal design tolerances.

  3. Radiation-enhanced short channel effects due to multi-dimensional influence from charge at trench isolation oxides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youk, G.U.; Khare, P.S.; Schrimpf, R.D.; Massengill, L.W.; Galloway, K.F.

    1999-01-01

    Radiation enhanced drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) was experimentally observed and verified by 3-D simulations for submicron devices with trench isolation oxides. Submicron MOSFETs with shallow trench isolation were exposed to total-ionizing-dose radiation. Prior to irradiation, the devices exhibited near-ideal current-voltage characteristics, with no significant short-channel effects for as-drawn gate lengths of 0.4 microm. Following irradiation, the off-state leakage current increased significantly for total doses above about 650 krad(SiO 2 ). In addition, the irradiated devices exhibited DIBL that increased the drain current by 5--10x for a gate length of 0.4 microm (the nominal minimum gate length for this process) and much more for slightly shorter devices (0.35 microm). The increase in the off-state leakage current and the accompanying DIBL are shown to be associated with a parasitic field-effect transistor that is present at the edge of the shallow trench. Three-dimensional simulations are used to illustrate the effect. Simulations show that trapped charge at the trench sidewalls enhance the DIBL by depleting the edges of the channel. Radiation-induced charge may decrease the effectiveness of short-channel engineering

  4. Genomic Relatedness of Chlamydia Isolates Determined by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Meijer, Adam; Morré, Servaas A.; Van Den Brule, Adriaan J. C.; Savelkoul, Paul H. M.; Ossewaarde, Jacobus M.

    1999-01-01

    The genomic relatedness of 19 Chlamydia pneumoniae isolates (17 from respiratory origin and 2 from atherosclerotic origin), 21 Chlamydia trachomatis isolates (all serovars from the human biovar, an isolate from the mouse biovar, and a porcine isolate), 6 Chlamydia psittaci isolates (5 avian isolates and 1 feline isolate), and 1 Chlamydia pecorum isolate was studied by analyzing genomic amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprints. The AFLP procedure was adapted from a previously...

  5. Short initial length quench on CICC of ITER TF coils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nicollet, S.; Ciazynski, D.; Duchateau, J.-L.; Lacroix, B. [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Bessette, D.; Rodriguez-Mateos, F. [ITER Organization, Route de Vinon sur Verdon, 13115 Saint Paul Lez Durance (France); Coatanea-Gouachet, M. [ELC Engineering, 350 chemin du Verladet, F-13290 Les Milles (France); Gauthier, F. [Soditech Ingenierie, 4 bis allée des Gabians, ZI La Frayère, 06150 Cannes (France)

    2014-01-29

    Previous quench studies performed for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Toroidal Field (TF) Coils have led to identify two extreme families of quench: first 'severe' quenches over long initial lengths in high magnetic field, and second smooth quenches over short initial lengths in low field region. Detailed analyses and results on smooth quench propagation and detectability on one TF Cable In Conduit Conductor (CICC) with a lower propagation velocity are presented here. The influence of the initial quench energy is shown and results of computations with either a Fast Discharge (FD) of the magnet or without (failure of the voltage quench detection system) are reported. The influence of the central spiral of the conductor on the propagation velocity is also detailed. In the cases of a regularly triggered FD, the hot spot temperature criterion of 150 K (with helium and jacket) is fulfilled for an initial quench length of 1 m, whereas this criterion is exceed (Tmax ≈ 200 K) for an extremely short length of 5 cm. These analyses were carried out using both the Supermagnet(trade mark, serif) and Venecia codes and the comparisons of the results are also discussed.

  6. Short initial length quench on CICC of ITER TF coils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nicollet, S.; Ciazynski, D.; Duchateau, J.-L.; Lacroix, B.; Bessette, D.; Rodriguez-Mateos, F.; Coatanea-Gouachet, M.; Gauthier, F.

    2014-01-01

    Previous quench studies performed for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Toroidal Field (TF) Coils have led to identify two extreme families of quench: first 'severe' quenches over long initial lengths in high magnetic field, and second smooth quenches over short initial lengths in low field region. Detailed analyses and results on smooth quench propagation and detectability on one TF Cable In Conduit Conductor (CICC) with a lower propagation velocity are presented here. The influence of the initial quench energy is shown and results of computations with either a Fast Discharge (FD) of the magnet or without (failure of the voltage quench detection system) are reported. The influence of the central spiral of the conductor on the propagation velocity is also detailed. In the cases of a regularly triggered FD, the hot spot temperature criterion of 150 K (with helium and jacket) is fulfilled for an initial quench length of 1 m, whereas this criterion is exceed (Tmax ≈ 200 K) for an extremely short length of 5 cm. These analyses were carried out using both the Supermagnet(trade mark, serif) and Venecia codes and the comparisons of the results are also discussed

  7. Data bank for short-length red oak lumber

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janice K. Wiedenbeck; Charles J. Gatchell; Elizabeth S. Walker

    1994-01-01

    This data bank for short-length lumber (less than 8 feet long) contains information on board outlines and defect size and quality for 426 414-inch-thick red oak boards. The Selects, 1 Common, 2A Common, and 3A Common grades are represented in the data bank. The data bank provides the kind of detailed lumber description that is required as input by computer programs...

  8. Short telomere length, lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 46,396 individuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rode, Line; Bojesen, Stig Egil; Weischer, Maren

    2013-01-01

    A previous case-control study of 100 individuals found that short telomere length was associated with a 28-fold increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).......A previous case-control study of 100 individuals found that short telomere length was associated with a 28-fold increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)....

  9. Non-universality of critical exponents in the paraconductivity of short-coherence-length superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gauzzi, A.

    1993-01-01

    The Aslamazov-Larkin paraconductivity term is calculated in the case of sufficiently small superconducting coherence length. It is found that the critical exponent of paraconductivity depends on the short-wavelength cut-off of the fluctuation spectrum in the whole Ginzburg-Landau mean-field region. Hence, it is predicted that the Aslamazov-Larkin universal relation between the critical exponent of paraconductivity and the dimensionality of the superconducting state is no longer valid in short-coherence-length superconductors. This prediction is confirmed by paraconductivity measurements on cuprate superconductors. (orig.)

  10. Strong and long: effects of word length on phonological binding in verbal short-term memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jefferies, Elizabeth; Frankish, Clive; Noble, Katie

    2011-02-01

    This study examined the effects of item length on the contribution of linguistic knowledge to immediate serial recall (ISR). Long words are typically recalled more poorly than short words, reflecting the greater demands that they place on phonological encoding, rehearsal, and production. However, reverse word length effects--that is, better recall of long than short words--can also occur in situations in which phonological maintenance is difficult, suggesting that long words derive greater support from long-term lexical knowledge. In this study, long and short words and nonwords (containing one vs. three syllables) were presented for immediate serial recall in (a) pure lists and (b) unpredictable mixed lists of words and nonwords. The mixed-list paradigm is known to disrupt the phonological stability of words, encouraging their phonemes to recombine with the elements of other list items. In this situation, standard length effects were seen for nonwords, while length effects for words were absent or reversed. A detailed error analysis revealed that long words were more robust to the mixed-list manipulation than short words: Their phonemes were less likely to be omitted and to recombine with phonemes from other list items. These findings support an interactive view of short-term memory, in which long words derive greater benefits from lexical knowledge than short words-especially when their phonological integrity is challenged by the inclusion of nonwords in mixed lists.

  11. The effect of word length in short-term memory: Is rehearsal necessary?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campoy, Guillermo

    2008-05-01

    Three experiments investigated the effect of word length on a serial recognition task when rehearsal was prevented by a high presentation rate with no delay between study and test lists. Results showed that lists of short four-phoneme words were better recognized than lists of long six-phoneme words. Moreover, this effect was equivalent to that observed in conditions in which there was a delay between lists, thereby making rehearsal possible in the interval. These findings imply that rehearsal does not play a central role in the origin of the word length effect. An alternative explanation based on differences in the degree of retroactive interference generated by long and short words is proposed.

  12. Modelling of the glass fiber length and the glass fiber length distribution in the compounding of short glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kloke, P.; Herken, T.; Schöppner, V.; Rudloff, J.; Kretschmer, K.; Heidemeyer, P.; Bastian, M.; Walther, Dridger, A.

    2014-05-01

    The use of short glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics for the production of highly stressed parts in the plastics processing industry has experienced an enormous boom in the last few years. The reasons for this are primarily the improvements to the stiffness and strength properties brought about by fiber reinforcement. These positive characteristics of glass fiber-reinforced polymers are governed predominantly by the mean glass fiber length and the glass fiber length distribution. It is not enough to describe the properties of a plastics component solely as a function of the mean glass fiber length [1]. For this reason, a mathematical-physical model has been developed for describing the glass fiber length distribution in compounding. With this model, it is possible on the one hand to optimize processes for the production of short glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, and, on the other, to obtain information on the final distribution, on the basis of which much more detailed statements can be made about the subsequent properties of the molded part. Based on experimental tests, it was shown that this model is able to accurately describe the change in glass fiber length distribution in compounding.

  13. Isolated Asymptomatic Short Sternum in a Healthy Young Girl

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Turturro

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Congenital sternal defects are rare deformities frequently associated with other anomalies of the chest wall and other organ systems. Although pectus excavatum, pectus carinatum, and cleft sternum can present as isolated deformity, in most cases they are associated with heart and inner organs anomalies and described as symptoms of syndromes like Marfan syndrome, Noonan syndrome, Poland anomaly, and Cantrell pentalogy. In contrast, the etiology of an isolated defect is not well understood. We observed a short sternum (dysmorphic manubrium, hypoplastic body, and complete absence of the xiphoid process in a completely asymptomatic 13-year-old woman. A comprehensive instrumental exams panel was performed to exclude associated anomalies of the heart and of the other organ systems. The patient was completely asymptomatic and she did not need any medical or surgical treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first case of isolated short sternum reported in literature.

  14. Thyristor based short circuit current injection in isolated grids

    OpenAIRE

    Hoff, Bjarte; Sharma, Pawan; Østrem, Trond

    2017-01-01

    This paper proposes a thyristor based short circuit current injector for providing short circuit current in isolated and weak grids, where sufficient fault current to trigger circuit breakers may not be available. This will allow the use of conventional miniature circuit breakers, which requires high fault current for instantaneous tripping. The method has been validated through experiments.

  15. Word-length effect in verbal short-term memory in individuals with Down's syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanno, K; Ikeda, Y

    2002-11-01

    Many studies have indicated that individuals with Down's syndrome (DS) show a specific deficit in short-term memory for verbal information. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of the length of words on verbal short-term memory in individuals with DS. Twenty-eight children with DS and 10 control participants matched for memory span were tested on verbal serial recall and speech rate, which are thought to involve rehearsal and output speed. Although a significant word-length effect was observed in both groups for the recall of a larger number of items with a shorter spoken duration than for those with a longer spoken duration, the number of correct recalls in the group with DS was reduced compared to the control subjects. The results demonstrating poor short-term memory in children with DS were irrelevant to speech rate. In addition, the proportion of repetition-gained errors in serial recall was higher in children with DS than in control subjects. The present findings suggest that poor access to long-term lexical knowledge, rather than overt articulation speed, constrains verbal short-term memory functions in individuals with DS.

  16. Dependence of adenine isolation efficiency on the chain length evidenced using paramagnetic particles and voltammetry measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huska, Dalibor; Adam, Vojtech; Trnkova, Libuse; Kizek, Rene

    2009-01-01

    The main aim of this work was to study the dependence of oligoadenine isolation efficiency on the chain length by using paramagnetic particles covered by homo-deoxythymidines ((dT)25) with subsequent detection by adsorptive transfer technique coupled with square wave voltammetry. For this purpose, the oligonucleotides of the length A5, A10, A15, A20, A25, A30, A35, A40 and poly(A) in various concentrations were chosen. We determined that the isolation efficiency defined as 'isolated oligonucleotide concentration'/'given oligonucleotide concentration' was about 55% on average. Sequence A25 demonstrated the best binding onto microparticles surface.

  17. Flexibility of short DNA helices with finite-length effect: From base pairs to tens of base pairs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Yuan-Yan; Bao, Lei; Zhang, Xi; Tan, Zhi-Jie

    2015-01-01

    Flexibility of short DNA helices is important for the biological functions such as nucleosome formation and DNA-protein recognition. Recent experiments suggest that short DNAs of tens of base pairs (bps) may have apparently higher flexibility than those of kilo bps, while there is still the debate on such high flexibility. In the present work, we have studied the flexibility of short DNAs with finite-length of 5–50 bps by the all-atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and Monte Carlo simulations with the worm-like chain model. Our microscopic analyses reveal that short DNAs have apparently high flexibility which is attributed to the significantly strong bending and stretching flexibilities of ∼6 bps at each helix end. Correspondingly, the apparent persistence length l p of short DNAs increases gradually from ∼29 nm to ∼45 nm as DNA length increases from 10 to 50 bps, in accordance with the available experimental data. Our further analyses show that the short DNAs with excluding ∼6 bps at each helix end have the similar flexibility with those of kilo bps and can be described by the worm-like chain model with l p ∼ 50 nm

  18. Response of phytoplankton assemblages isolated for short periods ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The response of phytoplankton assemblages isolated in enclosures for short periods of time was examined in hyper-eutrophic Lake Chivero (Harare, Zimbabwe), to determine the factors that influenced the structure of the phytoplankton community, after noticing a marked decline in the dominance of Microcystis aeruginosa ...

  19. Dependence of adenine isolation efficiency on the chain length evidenced using paramagnetic particles and voltammetry measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huska, Dalibor [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemedelska 1, CZ-613 00 Brno (Czech Republic); Adam, Vojtech [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemedelska 1, CZ-613 00 Brno (Czech Republic); Department of Animal Nutrition and Forage Production, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemedelska 1, CZ-613 00 Brno (Czech Republic); Trnkova, Libuse [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, CZ-625 00 Brno (Czech Republic); Kizek, Rene [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemedelska 1, CZ-613 00 Brno (Czech Republic)], E-mail: kizek@sci.muni.cz

    2009-05-15

    The main aim of this work was to study the dependence of oligoadenine isolation efficiency on the chain length by using paramagnetic particles covered by homo-deoxythymidines ((dT)25) with subsequent detection by adsorptive transfer technique coupled with square wave voltammetry. For this purpose, the oligonucleotides of the length A5, A10, A15, A20, A25, A30, A35, A40 and poly(A) in various concentrations were chosen. We determined that the isolation efficiency defined as 'isolated oligonucleotide concentration'/'given oligonucleotide concentration' was about 55% on average. Sequence A25 demonstrated the best binding onto microparticles surface.

  20. Shot Noise Suppression in a Quantum Point Contact with Short Channel Length

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Heejun

    2015-01-01

    An experimental study on the current shot noise of a quantum point contact with short channel length is reported. The experimentally measured maximum energy level spacing between the ground and the first excited state of the device reached up to 7.5 meV, probably due to the hard wall confinement by using shallow electron gas and sharp point contact geometry. The two-dimensional non-equilibrium shot noise contour map shows noise suppression characteristics in a wide range of bias voltage. Fano factor analysis indicates spin-polarized transport through a short quantum point contact. (paper)

  1. A Short Introduction to Model Selection, Kolmogorov Complexity and Minimum Description Length (MDL)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nannen, Volker

    2010-01-01

    The concept of overtting in model selection is explained and demon- strated. After providing some background information on information theory and Kolmogorov complexity, we provide a short explanation of Minimum Description Length and error minimization. We conclude with a discussion of the typical

  2. Tula hantavirus isolate with the full-length ORF for nonstructural protein NSs survives for more consequent passages in interferon-competent cells than the isolate having truncated NSs ORF.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jääskeläinen, Kirsi M; Plyusnina, Angelina; Lundkvist, Ake; Vaheri, Antti; Plyusnin, Alexander

    2008-01-11

    The competitiveness of two Tula hantavirus (TULV) isolates, TULV/Lodz and TULV/Moravia, was evaluated in interferon (IFN) -competent and IFN-deficient cells. The two isolates differ in the length of the open reading frame (ORF) encoding the nonstructural protein NSs, which has previously been shown to inhibit IFN response in infected cells. In IFN-deficient Vero E6 cells both TULV isolates survived equally well. In contrast, in IFN-competent MRC5 cells TULV/Lodz isolate, that possesses the NSs ORF for the full-length protein of 90 aa, survived for more consequent passages than TULV/Moravia isolate, which contains the ORF for truncated NSs protein (66-67 aa). Our data show that expression of a full-length NSs protein is beneficial for the virus survival and competitiveness in IFN-competent cells and not essential in IFN-deficient cells. These results suggest that the N-terminal aa residues are important for the full activity of the NSs protein.

  3. Construction of Short-length High-rates Ldpc Codes Using Difference Families

    OpenAIRE

    Deny Hamdani; Ery Safrianti

    2007-01-01

    Low-density parity-check (LDPC) code is linear-block error-correcting code defined by sparse parity-check matrix. It isdecoded using the massage-passing algorithm, and in many cases, capable of outperforming turbo code. This paperpresents a class of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes showing good performance with low encoding complexity.The code is constructed using difference families from combinatorial design. The resulting code, which is designed tohave short code length and high code r...

  4. Glycogen with short average chain length enhances bacterial durability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Liang; Wise, Michael J.

    2011-09-01

    Glycogen is conventionally viewed as an energy reserve that can be rapidly mobilized for ATP production in higher organisms. However, several studies have noted that glycogen with short average chain length in some bacteria is degraded very slowly. In addition, slow utilization of glycogen is correlated with bacterial viability, that is, the slower the glycogen breakdown rate, the longer the bacterial survival time in the external environment under starvation conditions. We call that a durable energy storage mechanism (DESM). In this review, evidence from microbiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology will be assembled to support the hypothesis of glycogen as a durable energy storage compound. One method for testing the DESM hypothesis is proposed.

  5. Genomic Sequence of a Ranavirus Isolated from Short-Finned Eel (Anguilla australis)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Subramaniam, Kuttichantran; Toffan, Anna; Cappellozza, Elisabetta

    2016-01-01

    The short-finned eel ranavirus (SERV) was isolated from short-finned eel imported to Italy from New Zealand. Phylogenomic analyses revealed that SERV is a unique member of the genus Ranavirus, family Iridoviridae, branching at the base of the tree near other fish ranaviruses....

  6. Recall of short word lists presented visually at fast rates: effects of phonological similarity and word length.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coltheart, V; Langdon, R

    1998-03-01

    Phonological similarity of visually presented list items impairs short-term serial recall. Lists of long words are also recalled less accurately than are lists of short words. These results have been attributed to phonological recoding and rehearsal. If subjects articulate irrelevant words during list presentation, both phonological similarity and word length effects are abolished. Experiments 1 and 2 examined effects of phonological similarity and recall instructions on recall of lists shown at fast rates (from one item per 0.114-0.50 sec), which might not permit phonological encoding and rehearsal. In Experiment 3, recall instructions and word length were manipulated using fast presentation rates. Both phonological similarity and word length effects were observed, and they were not dependent on recall instructions. Experiments 4 and 5 investigated the effects of irrelevant concurrent articulation on lists shown at fast rates. Both phonological similarity and word length effects were removed by concurrent articulation, as they were with slow presentation rates.

  7. Stability of a short Rayleigh length laser resonator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. P. Crooker

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Motivated by the prospect of constructing a short Rayleigh length free-electron laser in a high-vibration environment, we demonstrate the use of a collection of rays to study the effect of mirror vibration and distortion on the behavior of the fundamental optical mode of a cold-cavity resonator. We find that the ray collection accurately describes both on-axis and off-axis optical beams. We show that a tilt or transverse shift of a mirror causes the optical mode to rock about the original resonator axis, while a longitudinal mirror shift or a change in the mirror’s radius of curvature causes the beam diameter at a mirror to successively dilate and contract on the mirror. Results are in excellent agreement with analytic calculations and wave front propagation simulations as long as the mirrors remain large with respect to the beam diameter.

  8. Typing of Human Mycobacterium avium Isolates in Italy by IS1245-Based Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lari, Nicoletta; Cavallini, Michela; Rindi, Laura; Iona, Elisabetta; Fattorini, Lanfranco; Garzelli, Carlo

    1998-01-01

    All but 2 of 63 Mycobacterium avium isolates from distinct geographic areas of Italy exhibited markedly polymorphic, multibanded IS1245 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns; 2 isolates showed the low-number banding pattern typical of bird isolates. By computer analysis, 41 distinct IS1245 patterns and 10 clusters of essentially identical strains were detected; 40% of the 63 isolates showed genetic relatedness, suggesting the existence of a predominant AIDS-associated IS1245 RFLP pattern. PMID:9817900

  9. Comparative Analysis of Human and Canine Campylobacter upsaliensis Isolates by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damborg, Peter; Guardabassi, Luca; Pedersen, Karl

    2008-01-01

    Human (n = 33) and canine (n = 53) Campylobacter upsaliensis isolates from seven countries were genotyped by a new amplified fragment length polymorphism method. We observed 100% typeability and high overall diversity. The majority of human strains (23/33) clustered separately from canine strains...

  10. Molecular characterization of partial fusion gene and C-terminus extension length of haemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene of recently isolated Newcastle disease virus isolates in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Berhanu Ayalew

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Newcastle disease (ND, caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV, is a highly contagious disease of birds and has been one of the major causes of economic losses in the poultry industry. Despite routine vaccination programs, sporadic cases have occasionally occurred in the country and remain a constant threat to commercial poultry. Hence, the present study was aimed to characterize NDV isolates obtained from clinical cases in various locations of Malaysia between 2004 and 2007 based on sequence and phylogenetic analysis of partial F gene and C-terminus extension length of HN gene. Results The coding region of eleven NDV isolates fusion (F gene and carboxyl terminal region of haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN gene including extensions were amplified by reverse transcriptase PCR and directly sequenced. All the isolates have shown to have non-synonymous to synonymous base substitution rate ranging between 0.081 - 0.264 demonstrating presence of negative selection. Analysis based on F gene showed the characterized isolates possess three different types of protease cleavage site motifs; namely 112RRQKRF117, 112RRRKRF117 and 112GRQGRL117 and appear to show maximum identities with isolates in the region such as cockatoo/14698/90 (Indonesia, Ch/2000 (China, local isolate AF2240 indicating the high similarity of isolates circulating in the South East Asian countries. Meanwhile, one of the isolates resembles commonly used lentogenic vaccine strains. On further characterization of the HN gene, Malaysian isolates had C-terminus extensions of 0, 6 and 11 amino acids. Analysis of the phylogenetic tree revealed that the existence of three genetic groups; namely, genotype II, VII and VIII. Conclusions The study concluded that the occurrence of three types of NDV genotypes and presence of varied carboxyl terminus extension lengths among Malaysian isolates incriminated for sporadic cases.

  11. Molecular characterization of partial fusion gene and C-terminus extension length of haemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene of recently isolated Newcastle disease virus isolates in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berhanu, Ayalew; Ideris, Aini; Omar, Abdul R; Bejo, Mohd Hair

    2010-08-08

    Newcastle disease (ND), caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is a highly contagious disease of birds and has been one of the major causes of economic losses in the poultry industry. Despite routine vaccination programs, sporadic cases have occasionally occurred in the country and remain a constant threat to commercial poultry. Hence, the present study was aimed to characterize NDV isolates obtained from clinical cases in various locations of Malaysia between 2004 and 2007 based on sequence and phylogenetic analysis of partial F gene and C-terminus extension length of HN gene. The coding region of eleven NDV isolates fusion (F) gene and carboxyl terminal region of haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) gene including extensions were amplified by reverse transcriptase PCR and directly sequenced. All the isolates have shown to have non-synonymous to synonymous base substitution rate ranging between 0.081 - 0.264 demonstrating presence of negative selection. Analysis based on F gene showed the characterized isolates possess three different types of protease cleavage site motifs; namely 112RRQKRF117, 112RRRKRF117 and 112GRQGRL117 and appear to show maximum identities with isolates in the region such as cockatoo/14698/90 (Indonesia), Ch/2000 (China), local isolate AF2240 indicating the high similarity of isolates circulating in the South East Asian countries. Meanwhile, one of the isolates resembles commonly used lentogenic vaccine strains. On further characterization of the HN gene, Malaysian isolates had C-terminus extensions of 0, 6 and 11 amino acids. Analysis of the phylogenetic tree revealed that the existence of three genetic groups; namely, genotype II, VII and VIII. The study concluded that the occurrence of three types of NDV genotypes and presence of varied carboxyl terminus extension lengths among Malaysian isolates incriminated for sporadic cases.

  12. Modelling of multiple short-length-scale stall cells in an axial compressor using evolved GMDH neural networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amanifard, N.; Nariman-Zadeh, N.; Farahani, M.H.; Khalkhali, A.

    2008-01-01

    Over the past 15 years there have been several research efforts to capture the stall inception nature in axial flow compressors. However previous analytical models could not explain the formation of short-length-scale stall cells. This paper provides a new model based on evolved GMDH neural network for transient evolution of multiple short-length-scale stall cells in an axial compressor. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are also employed for optimal design of connectivity configuration of such GMDH-type neural networks. In this way, low-pass filter (LPF) pressure trace near the rotor leading edge is modelled with respect to the variation of pressure coefficient, flow rate coefficient, and number of rotor rotations which are defined as inputs

  13. Telomere length and depression

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wium-Andersen, Marie Kim; Ørsted, David Dynnes; Rode, Line

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Depression has been cross-sectionally associated with short telomeres as a measure of biological age. However, the direction and nature of the association is currently unclear. AIMS: We examined whether short telomere length is associated with depression cross-sectionally as well...... as prospectively and genetically. METHOD: Telomere length and three polymorphisms, TERT, TERC and OBFC1, were measured in 67 306 individuals aged 20-100 years from the Danish general population and associated with register-based attendance at hospital for depression and purchase of antidepressant medication....... RESULTS: Attendance at hospital for depression was associated with short telomere length cross-sectionally, but not prospectively. Further, purchase of antidepressant medication was not associated with short telomere length cross-sectionally or prospectively. Mean follow-up was 7.6 years (range 0...

  14. Screening and treatment for short cervical length in pregnancy: a physician survey in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martell, Bridget; DiBenedetti, Dana B; Weiss, Herman; Zhou, Xiaolei; Reynolds, Maria; Berghella, Vincenzo; Hassan, Sonia S

    2018-03-01

    To evaluate how physicians in the United States (US) screen for, define, and treat a short cervix to prevent preterm birth. This was a cross-sectional, web-based survey of 500 physicians treating pregnant patients with a short cervix in the US. Respondents' geographic region was monitored to ensure balance across the nine US Census divisions. Respondents were predominantly obstetrician/gynecologists (86%, 429/500; mean age 49 years). Physicians reported that a median of 90% of their pregnant patients undergo cervical length screening; 81% (407/500) use transvaginal ultrasound. Physicians consult multiple evidence sources to inform their patient care, most commonly clinical guidelines (83%; 413/500) and published research (70%; 349/500). Most physicians (98%; 490/500) reported treating pregnant patients with a short cervix; 95% (474/500) use synthetic and/or natural progestogen, alone or in combination with other treatment modalities. If reimbursement was not a concern, 47% of physicians (230/500) would choose vaginal progesterone as their preferred treatment to prevent preterm birth in all patients with a short cervix, and 45% (218/500) would choose a synthetic progestogen. US guidelines recommend transvaginal ultrasound for cervical length screening; 81% of physicians in this study reported using this method. Most physicians surveyed use progestogens to treat a short cervix, with approximately half choosing a synthetic progestin (45%) and half choosing natural progesterone (47%) as their preferred treatment, despite national guidelines recommending only vaginal natural progesterone for this indication. Additional physician education is required to implement current and best practices.

  15. Influence of channel length and layout on TID for 0.18 μm NMOS transistors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Xue; Wang Xin; Xi Shanbin; Lu Wu; Guo Qi; He Chengfa; Li Yudong; Sun Jing; Wen Lin

    2013-01-01

    Different channel lengths and layouts on 0.18 μm NMOS transistors are designed for investigating the dependence of short channel effects (SCEs) on the width of shallow trench isolation (STI) devices and designing in radiation hardness. Results show that, prior to irradiation, the devices exhibited near-ideal I-V characteristics, with no significant SCEs. Following irradiation, no noticeable shift of threshold voltage is observed, radiation-induced edge-leakage current, however, exhibits significant sensitivity on TID. Moreover, radiation-enhanced drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) and channel length modulation (CLM) effects are observed on short-channel NMOS transistors. Comparing to stripe-gate layout, enclosed-gate layout has excellent radiation tolerance. (authors)

  16. Investigation of the extraction of short diffusion lengths from simulated electron-beam induced current

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wee, D.; Parish, G.; Nener, B. [Microelectronics Research Group, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, 6009 Crawley (Perth) (Australia)

    2010-10-15

    This paper reports on the investigations via 2-D simulation into the accuracy of diffusion length extraction from scanning electron-beam induced current measurements when the diffusion length, L is very short. L is extracted by using the direct method proposed by Chan et al.[1] and later refined by Kurniawan and Ong[2] to take finite junction depth into account. The 2-D simulations were undertaken using Synopsys {sup registered} Sentaurus TCAD and a realistic electron-hole pair generation volume was created using CASINO v2.42[3], a Monte Carlo Scanning Electron Microscope interaction simulation software, and imported into Sentaurus. The voltage and diameter of the electron beam and diffusion length and surface recombination velocity of the semiconductor materials were varied in the simulations to determine the errors in the diffusion length extracted from the EBIC signals as a function of these parameters. The results of the simulation show that the accuracy of the method proposed in[1] is reasonably accurate and that the beam voltage and spot size do not have significant effects on the accuracy (copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

  17. Investigation of the extraction of short diffusion lengths from simulated electron-beam induced current

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wee, D.; Parish, G.; Nener, B.

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports on the investigations via 2-D simulation into the accuracy of diffusion length extraction from scanning electron-beam induced current measurements when the diffusion length, L is very short. L is extracted by using the direct method proposed by Chan et al.[1] and later refined by Kurniawan and Ong[2] to take finite junction depth into account. The 2-D simulations were undertaken using Synopsys registered Sentaurus TCAD and a realistic electron-hole pair generation volume was created using CASINO v2.42[3], a Monte Carlo Scanning Electron Microscope interaction simulation software, and imported into Sentaurus. The voltage and diameter of the electron beam and diffusion length and surface recombination velocity of the semiconductor materials were varied in the simulations to determine the errors in the diffusion length extracted from the EBIC signals as a function of these parameters. The results of the simulation show that the accuracy of the method proposed in[1] is reasonably accurate and that the beam voltage and spot size do not have significant effects on the accuracy (copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

  18. Retrospective cohort clinical investigation of a dental implant with a narrow diameter and short length for the partial rehabilitation of extremely atrophic jaws.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maló, Paulo S; de Araújo Nobre, Miguel A; Lopes, Armando V; Ferro, Ana S

    2017-01-01

    We investigated the short-term clinical outcomes of narrow-diameter short-length implants for the fixed-prosthetic partial rehabilitation of extremely resorbed jaws. Twenty-three patients requiring partial rehabilitations with narrow-platform short-length implants in any jaw were included in this study. In total, 30 implants 3.3 mm in diameter and 7 (n = 15 implants) or 8.5 (n = 15 implants) mm in length were inserted. The primary outcome measure was implant cumulative survival rate (CSR); the secondary outcome measures were marginal bone resorption at 1 and 3 years and the incidence of biologic and mechanical complications. Five patients (21.7%) with six implants (20%) were lost to follow-up. Two implants failed in two patients, yielding a CSR at 3 years of follow-up of 93.4%. The average (standard deviation) marginal bone resorption was 1.34 mm (0.95 mm) after the first year and 1.38 mm (0.78 mm) after the third year. Biologic complications occurred in three patients; mechanical complications occurred in three patients. Despite the limitations of the study, our findings show that the use of new narrow-diameter short-length implants for the rehabilitation of extremely atrophic regions is viable in the short-term, and can be considered a treatment alternative in extremely resorbed jaws.

  19. Short Rayleigh length free electron lasers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. B. Colson

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Conventional free electron laser (FEL oscillators minimize the optical mode volume around the electron beam in the undulator by making the resonator Rayleigh length about one third to one half of the undulator length. This maximizes gain and beam-mode coupling. In compact configurations of high-power infrared FELs or moderate power UV FELs, the resulting optical intensity can damage the resonator mirrors. To increase the spot size and thereby reduce the optical intensity at the mirrors below the damage threshold, a shorter Rayleigh length can be used, but the FEL interaction is significantly altered. We model this interaction using a coordinate system that expands with the rapidly diffracting optical mode from the ends of the undulator to the mirrors. Simulations show that the interaction of the strongly focused optical mode with a narrow electron beam inside the undulator distorts the optical wave front so it is no longer in the fundamental Gaussian mode. The simulations are used to study how mode distortion affects the single-pass gain in weak fields, and the steady-state extraction in strong fields.

  20. Application of fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism for comparison of human and animal isolates of Yersinia enterocolitica

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fearnley, C.; On, S.L.W.; Kokotovic, Branko

    2005-01-01

    An amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method, developed to genotype Yersinia enterocolitica, has been used to investigate 70 representative strains isolated from humans, pigs, sheep, and cattle in the United Kingdom. AFLP primarily distinguished Y enterocolitica strains according...

  1. Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated from Short Mackerels (Rastrelliger brachysoma) in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Chia W; Malcolm, Tan T H; Kuan, Chee H; Thung, Tze Y; Chang, Wei S; Loo, Yuet Y; Premarathne, Jayasekara M K J K; Ramzi, Othman B; Norshafawatie, Mohd F S; Yusralimuna, Nordin; Rukayadi, Yaya; Nakaguchi, Yoshitsugu; Nishibuchi, Mitsuaki; Radu, Son

    2017-01-01

    Numerous prevalence studies and outbreaks of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection have been extensively reported in shellfish and crustaceans. Information on the quantitative detection of V. parahaemolyticus in finfish species is limited. In this study, short mackerels ( Rastrelliger brachysoma ) obtained from different retail marketplaces were monitored with the presence of total and pathogenic strains of V. parahaemolyticus . Out of 130 short mackerel samples, 116 (89.2%) were detected with the presence of total V. parahaemolyticus and microbial loads of total V. parahaemolyticus ranging from 10 5 MPN/g. Prevalence of total V. parahaemolyticus was found highest in wet markets (95.2%) followed by minimarkets (89.1%) and hypermarkets (83.3%). Pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains ( tdh + and/or trh +) were detected in 16.2% (21 of 130) of short mackerel samples. The density of tdh + V. parahaemolyticus strains were examined ranging from 3.6 to >10 5 MPN/g and microbial loads of V. parahaemolyticus strains positive for both tdh and trh were found ranging from 300 to 740 MPN/g. On the other hand, antibiotic susceptibility profiles of V. parahaemolyticus strains isolated from short mackerels were determined through disc diffusion method in this study. Assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility profile of V. parahaemolyticus revealed majority of the isolates were highly susceptible to ampicillin sulbactam, meropenem, ceftazidime, and imipenem, but resistant to penicillin G and ampicillin. Two isolates (2.99%) exhibited the highest multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index value of 0.41 which shown resistance to 7 antibiotics. Results of the present study demonstrated that the occurrence of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains in short mackerels and multidrug resistance of V. parahaemolyticus isolates could be a potential public health concerns to the consumer. Furthermore, prevalence data attained from the current study can be further used to develop a microbial risk

  2. Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated from Short Mackerels (Rastrelliger brachysoma in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chia W. Tan

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Numerous prevalence studies and outbreaks of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection have been extensively reported in shellfish and crustaceans. Information on the quantitative detection of V. parahaemolyticus in finfish species is limited. In this study, short mackerels (Rastrelliger brachysoma obtained from different retail marketplaces were monitored with the presence of total and pathogenic strains of V. parahaemolyticus. Out of 130 short mackerel samples, 116 (89.2% were detected with the presence of total V. parahaemolyticus and microbial loads of total V. parahaemolyticus ranging from <3 to >105 MPN/g. Prevalence of total V. parahaemolyticus was found highest in wet markets (95.2% followed by minimarkets (89.1% and hypermarkets (83.3%. Pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains (tdh+ and/or trh+ were detected in 16.2% (21 of 130 of short mackerel samples. The density of tdh+ V. parahaemolyticus strains were examined ranging from 3.6 to >105 MPN/g and microbial loads of V. parahaemolyticus strains positive for both tdh and trh were found ranging from 300 to 740 MPN/g. On the other hand, antibiotic susceptibility profiles of V. parahaemolyticus strains isolated from short mackerels were determined through disc diffusion method in this study. Assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility profile of V. parahaemolyticus revealed majority of the isolates were highly susceptible to ampicillin sulbactam, meropenem, ceftazidime, and imipenem, but resistant to penicillin G and ampicillin. Two isolates (2.99% exhibited the highest multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR index value of 0.41 which shown resistance to 7 antibiotics. Results of the present study demonstrated that the occurrence of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains in short mackerels and multidrug resistance of V. parahaemolyticus isolates could be a potential public health concerns to the consumer. Furthermore, prevalence data attained from the current study can be further used to develop a

  3. Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated from Short Mackerels (Rastrelliger brachysoma) in Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Chia W.; Malcolm, Tan T. H.; Kuan, Chee H.; Thung, Tze Y.; Chang, Wei S.; Loo, Yuet Y.; Premarathne, Jayasekara M. K. J. K.; Ramzi, Othman B.; Norshafawatie, Mohd F. S.; Yusralimuna, Nordin; Rukayadi, Yaya; Nakaguchi, Yoshitsugu; Nishibuchi, Mitsuaki; Radu, Son

    2017-01-01

    Numerous prevalence studies and outbreaks of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection have been extensively reported in shellfish and crustaceans. Information on the quantitative detection of V. parahaemolyticus in finfish species is limited. In this study, short mackerels (Rastrelliger brachysoma) obtained from different retail marketplaces were monitored with the presence of total and pathogenic strains of V. parahaemolyticus. Out of 130 short mackerel samples, 116 (89.2%) were detected with the presence of total V. parahaemolyticus and microbial loads of total V. parahaemolyticus ranging from 105 MPN/g. Prevalence of total V. parahaemolyticus was found highest in wet markets (95.2%) followed by minimarkets (89.1%) and hypermarkets (83.3%). Pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains (tdh+ and/or trh+) were detected in 16.2% (21 of 130) of short mackerel samples. The density of tdh+ V. parahaemolyticus strains were examined ranging from 3.6 to >105 MPN/g and microbial loads of V. parahaemolyticus strains positive for both tdh and trh were found ranging from 300 to 740 MPN/g. On the other hand, antibiotic susceptibility profiles of V. parahaemolyticus strains isolated from short mackerels were determined through disc diffusion method in this study. Assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility profile of V. parahaemolyticus revealed majority of the isolates were highly susceptible to ampicillin sulbactam, meropenem, ceftazidime, and imipenem, but resistant to penicillin G and ampicillin. Two isolates (2.99%) exhibited the highest multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index value of 0.41 which shown resistance to 7 antibiotics. Results of the present study demonstrated that the occurrence of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains in short mackerels and multidrug resistance of V. parahaemolyticus isolates could be a potential public health concerns to the consumer. Furthermore, prevalence data attained from the current study can be further used to develop a microbial risk

  4. Construction of Short-Length High-Rates LDPC Codes Using Difference Families

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deny Hamdani

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Low-density parity-check (LDPC code is linear-block error-correcting code defined by sparse parity-check matrix. It is decoded using the massage-passing algorithm, and in many cases, capable of outperforming turbo code. This paper presents a class of low-density parity-check (LDPC codes showing good performance with low encoding complexity. The code is constructed using difference families from  combinatorial design. The resulting code, which is designed to have short code length and high code rate, can be encoded with low complexity due to its quasi-cyclic structure, and performs well when it is iteratively decoded with the sum-product algorithm. These properties of LDPC code are quite suitable for applications in future wireless local area network.

  5. Isolation of full-length putative rat lysophospholipase cDNA using improved methods for mRNA isolation and cDNA cloning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, J.H.; Stratowa, C.; Rutter, W.J.

    1987-01-01

    The authors have cloned a full-length putative rat pancreatic lysophospholipase cDNA by an improved mRNA isolation method and cDNA cloning strategy using [ 32 P]-labelled nucleotides. These new methods allow the construction of a cDNA library from the adult rat pancreas in which the majority of recombinant clones contained complete sequences for the corresponding mRNAs. A previously recognized but unidentified long and relatively rare cDNA clone containing the entire sequence from the cap site at the 5' end to the poly(A) tail at the 3' end of the mRNA was isolated by single-step screening of the library. The size, amino acid composition, and the activity of the protein expressed in heterologous cells strongly suggest this mRNA codes for lysophospholipase

  6. NMR transmit-receive system with short recovery time and effective isolation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurga, K.; Reynhardt, E. C.; Jurga, S.

    A transmit-receive system with a short recovery time and excellent isolation has been developed. The system operates in conjunction with an ENI Model 3200L broadband amplifier and a spin-lock NMR pulse spectrometer. The system has been tested in the frequency range 5.5 to 52 MHz and seems not to generate any background noise.

  7. PCR and magnetic bead-mediated target capture for the isolation of short interspersed nucleotide elements in fishes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Dong; Zhu, Guoli; Tang, Wenqiao; Yang, Jinquan; Guo, Hongyi

    2012-01-01

    Short interspersed nucleotide elements (SINEs), a type of retrotransposon, are widely distributed in various genomes with multiple copies arranged in different orientations, and cause changes to genes and genomes during evolutionary history. This can provide the basis for determining genome diversity, genetic variation and molecular phylogeny, etc. SINE DNA is transcribed into RNA by polymerase III from an internal promoter, which is composed of two conserved boxes, box A and box B. Here we present an approach to isolate novel SINEs based on these promoter elements. Box A of a SINE is obtained via PCR with only one primer identical to box B (B-PCR). Box B and its downstream sequence are acquired by PCR with one primer corresponding to box A (A-PCR). The SINE clone produced by A-PCR is selected as a template to label a probe with biotin. The full-length SINEs are isolated from the genomic pool through complex capture using the biotinylated probe bound to magnetic particles. Using this approach, a novel SINE family, Cn-SINE, from the genomes of Coilia nasus, was isolated. The members are 180-360 bp long. Sequence homology suggests that Cn-SINEs evolved from a leucine tRNA gene. This is the first report of a tRNA(Leu)-related SINE obtained without the use of a genomic library or inverse PCR. These results provide new insights into the origin of SINEs.

  8. PCR and Magnetic Bead-Mediated Target Capture for the Isolation of Short Interspersed Nucleotide Elements in Fishes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong Liu

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Short interspersed nucleotide elements (SINEs, a type of retrotransposon, are widely distributed in various genomes with multiple copies arranged in different orientations, and cause changes to genes and genomes during evolutionary history. This can provide the basis for determining genome diversity, genetic variation and molecular phylogeny, etc. SINE DNA is transcribed into RNA by polymerase III from an internal promoter, which is composed of two conserved boxes, box A and box B. Here we present an approach to isolate novel SINEs based on these promoter elements. Box A of a SINE is obtained via PCR with only one primer identical to box B (B-PCR. Box B and its downstream sequence are acquired by PCR with one primer corresponding to box A (A-PCR. The SINE clone produced by A-PCR is selected as a template to label a probe with biotin. The full-length SINEs are isolated from the genomic pool through complex capture using the biotinylated probe bound to magnetic particles. Using this approach, a novel SINE family, Cn-SINE, from the genomes of Coilia nasus, was isolated. The members are 180–360 bp long. Sequence homology suggests that Cn-SINEs evolved from a leucine tRNA gene. This is the first report of a tRNALeu-related SINE obtained without the use of a genomic library or inverse PCR. These results provide new insights into the origin of SINEs.

  9. The short mean length of stay of post-emergency geriatric units is associated with the rate of early readmission in frail elderly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Traissac, Thalie; Videau, Marie-Neige; Bourdil, Marie-José; Bourdel-Marchasson, Isabelle; Salles, Nathalie

    2011-06-01

    Specific postemergency short-stay geriatric units may decrease length of hospital stay, functional decline, and early readmission rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate risk factors of early rehospitalization in a shortstay geriatric unit. This study was a prospective observational study comprising over one year patients aged over 75 years, admitted to the post-emergency short-stay geriatric unit (Hôpital Saint André, Bordeaux, France) and discharged home. Socio-demographic data, length of hospital stay, and a standardized geriatric assessment were collected for all patients. One month after home discharge, patients were followed-up by phone, and the hospital readmission rate was calculated. descriptive, unvaried and multivariate analyses were carried out. A total of 476 patients were included in this study (mean age 86.5±6 yrs; 154 men, 322 women). Mean length of stay in the post-emergency short-stay geriatric unit was 6.3±2.7 days, and a total of 68 (14.3%) patients were readmitted within one month after home discharge. The readmission rate was associated with a diagnosis of delirium (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.9; 95% CI 1.1-3.3; p=0.02), mean length of stay exceeding 6 days (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.5; p=0.02), and decision of home discharge (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.4-4.1; p=0.002). Short mean lengths of stay were not considered as a risk factor for readmissions within one month, even in frail, dependent, hospitalized elderly persons.

  10. Load dependency in force-length relations in isolated single cardiomyocytes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iribe, Gentaro; Kaneko, Toshiyuki; Yamaguchi, Yohei; Naruse, Keiji

    2014-08-01

    The previously reported pressure-volume (PV) relationship in frog hearts shows that end-systolic PV relation (ESPVR) is load dependent, whereas ESPVR in canine hearts is load independent. To study intrinsic cardiac mechanics in detail, it is desirable to study mechanics in a single isolated cardiomyocyte that is free from interstitial connective tissue. Previous single cell mechanics studies used a pair of carbon fibers (CF) attached to the upper surface of opposite cell ends to stretch cells. These studies showed that end-systolic force-length (FL) relation (ESFLR) is load independent. However, the range of applicable mechanical load using the conventional technique is limited because of weak cell-CF attachment. Therefore, the behavior of ESFLR in single cells under physiologically possible conditions of greater load is not yet well known. To cover wider loading range, we contrived a new method to hold cell-ends more firmly using two pairs of CF attached to both upper and bottom surfaces of cells. The new method allowed stretching cells to 2.2 μm or more in end-diastolic sarcomere length. ESFLR virtually behaves in a load independent manner only with end-diastolic sarcomere length less than 1.95 μm. It exhibited clear load dependency with higher preload, especially with low afterload conditions. Instantaneous cellular elastance curves showed that decreasing afterload enhanced relaxation and slowed time to peak elastance, as previously reported. A simulation study of a mathematical model with detailed description of thin filament activation suggested that velocity dependent thin filament inactivation is crucial for the observed load dependent behaviors and previously reported afterload dependent change in Ca(2+) transient shape. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Reliability and short-term intra-individual variability of telomere length measurement using monochrome multiplexing quantitative PCR.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangmi Kim

    Full Text Available Studies examining the association between telomere length and cancer risk have often relied on measurement of telomere length from a single blood draw using a real-time PCR technique. We examined the reliability of telomere length measurement using sequential samples collected over a 9-month period.Relative telomere length in peripheral blood was estimated using a single tube monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR assay in blood DNA samples from 27 non-pregnant adult women (aged 35 to 74 years collected in 7 visits over a 9-month period. A linear mixed model was used to estimate the components of variance for telomere length measurements attributed to variation among women and variation between time points within women. Mean telomere length measurement at any single visit was not significantly different from the average of 7 visits. Plates had a significant systematic influence on telomere length measurements, although measurements between different plates were highly correlated. After controlling for plate effects, 64% of the remaining variance was estimated to be accounted for by variance due to subject. Variance explained by time of visit within a subject was minor, contributing 5% of the remaining variance.Our data demonstrate good short-term reliability of telomere length measurement using blood from a single draw. However, the existence of technical variability, particularly plate effects, reinforces the need for technical replicates and balancing of case and control samples across plates.

  12. Short stature caused by isolated SHOX gene haploinsufficiency: update on the diagnosis and treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jorge, Alexander A L; Funari, Mariana Fa; Nishi, Mirian Y; Mendonca, Berenice B

    2010-12-01

    Heterozygous SHOX defects are observed in about 50 to 90% of patients with Leri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD), a common dominant inherited skeletal dysplasia; and in 2 to 15% of children with idiopathic short stature (ISS), indicating that SHOX defects are the most important monogenetic cause of short stature. In addition, children selected by disproportionate idiopathic short stature had a higher frequency of SHOX mutations (22%). A careful clinical evaluation of family members with short stature is recommended since it usually revealed LWD patients in families first classified as having ISS or familial short stature. SHOX-molecular analysis is indicated in families with LWD and ISS children with disproportionate short stature. Treatment with recombinant human growth hormone is considered an accepted approach to treat short stature associated with isolated SHOX defect. Here we review clinical, molecular and therapeutic aspects of SHOX haploinsufficiency.

  13. Re-evaluation of lung to thorax transverse area ratio immediately before birth in predicting postnatal short-term outcomes of fetuses with isolated left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia: A single center analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kido, Saki; Hidaka, Nobuhiro; Sato, Yuka; Fujita, Yasuyuki; Miyoshi, Kina; Nagata, Kouji; Taguchi, Tomoaki; Kato, Kiyoko

    2018-05-01

    We aimed to investigate whether the lung-to-thorax transverse area ratio (LTR) immediately before birth is of diagnostic value for the prediction of postnatal short-term outcomes in cases of isolated left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). We retrospectively reviewed the cases of fetal isolated left-sided CDH managed at our institution between April 2008 and July 2016. We divided the patients into two groups based on LTR immediately before birth, using a cut-off value of 0.08. We compared the proportions of subjects within the two groups who survived until discharge using Fisher's exact test. Further, using Spearman's rank correlation, we assessed whether LTR was correlated with length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, and supplemental oxygen. Twenty-nine subjects were included (five with LTR < 0.08, and 24 with LTR ≥ 0.08). The proportion of subjects surviving until discharge was 40% (2/5) for patients with LTR < 0.08, as compared with 96% (23/24) for those with LTR ≥ 0.08. LTR measured immediately before birth was negatively correlated with the postnatal length of stay (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, rs = -0.486), and the duration of supplemental oxygen (rs = -0.537). Further, the duration of mechanical ventilation was longer in patients with a lower LTR value. LTR immediately before birth is useful for the prediction of postnatal short-term outcomes in fetuses with isolated left-sided CDH. In particular, patients with prenatal LTR value less than 0.08 are at increased risk of postnatal death. © 2017 Japanese Teratology Society.

  14. Rapid identification of Campylobacter, Arcobacter, and Helicobacter isolates by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the 16S rRNA gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, S M; Melito, P L; Woodward, D L; Johnson, W M; Rodgers, F G; Mulvey, M R

    1999-12-01

    A rapid two-step identification scheme based on PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the 16S rRNA gene was developed in order to differentiate isolates belonging to the Campylobacter, Arcobacter, and Helicobacter genera. For 158 isolates (26 reference cultures and 132 clinical isolates), specific RFLP patterns were obtained and species were successfully identified by this assay.

  15. Information, polarization and term length in democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Christian

    2008-01-01

    This paper considers term lengths in a representative democracy where the political issue divides the population on the left-right scale. Parties are ideologically different and better informed about the consequences of policies than voters are. A short term length makes the government more...... accountable, but the re-election incentive leads to policy-distortion as the government seeks to manipulate swing voters' beliefs to make its ideology more popular. This creates a trade-off: A short term length improves accountability but gives distortions. A short term length is best for swing voters when...

  16. Elasticity of short DNA molecules: theory and experiment for contour lengths of 0.6-7 microm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seol, Yeonee; Li, Jinyu; Nelson, Philip C; Perkins, Thomas T; Betterton, M D

    2007-12-15

    The wormlike chain (WLC) model currently provides the best description of double-stranded DNA elasticity for micron-sized molecules. This theory requires two intrinsic material parameters-the contour length L and the persistence length p. We measured and then analyzed the elasticity of double-stranded DNA as a function of L (632 nm-7.03 microm) using the classic solution to the WLC model. When the elasticity data were analyzed using this solution, the resulting fitted value for the persistence length p(wlc) depended on L; even for moderately long DNA molecules (L = 1300 nm), this apparent persistence length was 10% smaller than its limiting value for long DNA. Because p is a material parameter, and cannot depend on length, we sought a new solution to the WLC model, which we call the "finite wormlike chain (FWLC)," to account for effects not considered in the classic solution. Specifically we accounted for the finite chain length, the chain-end boundary conditions, and the bead rotational fluctuations inherent in optical trapping assays where beads are used to apply the force. After incorporating these corrections, we used our FWLC solution to generate force-extension curves, and then fit those curves with the classic WLC solution, as done in the standard experimental analysis. These results qualitatively reproduced the apparent dependence of p(wlc) on L seen in experimental data when analyzed with the classic WLC solution. Directly fitting experimental data to the FWLC solution reduces the apparent dependence of p(fwlc) on L by a factor of 3. Thus, the FWLC solution provides a significantly improved theoretical framework in which to analyze single-molecule experiments over a broad range of experimentally accessible DNA lengths, including both short (a few hundred nanometers in contour length) and very long (microns in contour length) molecules.

  17. Molecular characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Tehran, Iran by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and spoligotyping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seifu Gizaw Feyisa

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: INTRODUCTION Characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB isolates by DNA fingerprinting has contributed to tuberculosis (TB control. The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of MTB isolates from Tehran province in Iran. METHODS MTB isolates from 60 Iranian and 10 Afghan TB patients were fingerprinted by standard IS6110-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP analysis and spoligotyping. RESULTS The copy number of IS6110 ranged from 10-24 per isolate. The isolates were classified into 22 clusters showing ≥ 80% similarity by RFLP analysis. Fourteen multidrug-resistant (MDR isolates were grouped into 4 IS6110-RFLP clusters, with 10 isolates [71% (95% CI: 45-89%] in 1 cluster, suggesting a possible epidemiological linkage. Eighteen Iranian isolates showed ≥ 80% similarity with Afghan isolates. There were no strains with identical fingerprints. Spoligotyping of 70 isolates produced 23 distinct patterns. Sixty (85.7% isolates were grouped into 13 clusters, while the remaining 10 isolates (14.2% were not clustered. Ural (formerly Haarlem4 (n = 22, 31.4% was the most common family followed by Central Asian strain (CAS (n = 18, 25.7% and T (n = 9, 12.8% families. Only 1strain was characterized as having the Beijing genotype. Among 60 Iranian and 10 Afghan MTB isolates, 25% (95% CI: 16-37 and 70% (95% CI: 39-89 were categorized as Ural lineage, respectively. CONCLUSIONS A higher prevalence of Ural family MTB isolates among Afghan patients than among Iranian patients suggests the possible transmission of this lineage following the immigration of Afghans to Iran.

  18. Word length, set size, and lexical factors: Re-examining what causes the word length effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guitard, Dominic; Gabel, Andrew J; Saint-Aubin, Jean; Surprenant, Aimée M; Neath, Ian

    2018-04-19

    The word length effect, better recall of lists of short (fewer syllables) than long (more syllables) words has been termed a benchmark effect of working memory. Despite this, experiments on the word length effect can yield quite different results depending on set size and stimulus properties. Seven experiments are reported that address these 2 issues. Experiment 1 replicated the finding of a preserved word length effect under concurrent articulation for large stimulus sets, which contrasts with the abolition of the word length effect by concurrent articulation for small stimulus sets. Experiment 2, however, demonstrated that when the short and long words are equated on more dimensions, concurrent articulation abolishes the word length effect for large stimulus sets. Experiment 3 shows a standard word length effect when output time is equated, but Experiments 4-6 show no word length effect when short and long words are equated on increasingly more dimensions that previous demonstrations have overlooked. Finally, Experiment 7 compared recall of a small and large neighborhood words that were equated on all the dimensions used in Experiment 6 (except for those directly related to neighborhood size) and a neighborhood size effect was still observed. We conclude that lexical factors, rather than word length per se, are better predictors of when the word length effect will occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Short Length of Stay After Elective Transfemoral Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement is Not Associated With Increased Early or Late Readmission Risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sud, Maneesh; Qui, Feng; Austin, Peter C; Ko, Dennis T; Wood, David; Czarnecki, Andrew; Patel, Vaidehi; Lee, Douglas S; Wijeysundera, Harindra C

    2017-04-24

    Elderly patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are at risk of hospital readmission postprocedure. It is not known whether the index hospital length of stay and, specifically, early discharge post-TAVR is associated with an increased risk of readmission. We hypothesized a nonlinear relationship whereby both short and long lengths of stay were associated with increased readmission risk. We performed a retrospective multicenter cohort analysis of patients undergoing elective transfemoral TAVR and surviving to discharge between January 2007 and March 2014. The exposure variable was hospital length of stay measured from the procedure date to the date of discharge and modeled as a continuous variable in a multivariable cause-specific Cox regression. Main outcome measures were 30-day and 1-year all-cause readmissions. The study population consisted of 709 patients with a median length of stay of 6 days (interquartile range, 4-8). At 30-days and 1-year, 13.5% and 44.0% of patients were readmitted, respectively. Although post-TAVR length of stay was not associated with 30-day all-cause readmissions ( P =0.925), there existed a significant association with 1-year readmission ( P =0.010) after adjustment for baseline clinical variables. The association between post-TAVR length of stay and 1-year readmission was linear ( P =0.549 for nonlinearity) with no evidence supporting an increased readmission risk for shorter length of stays. Among elderly survivors of elective transfemoral TAVR, a short postprocedural length of stay was not associated with an increased risk readmission within 30 days or 1 year. However, the risk of 1-year readmission increased with longer post-TAVR lengths of stay. © 2017 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.

  20. Genetic Variation among Isolates of Sarcocystis neurona, the Agent of Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, as Revealed by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Markers

    OpenAIRE

    Elsheikha, H. M.; Schott, H. C.; Mansfield, L. S.

    2006-01-01

    Sarcocystis neurona causes serious neurological disease in horses and other vertebrates in the Americas. Based on epidemiological data, this parasite has recently emerged. Here, the genetic diversity of Sarcocystis neurona was evaluated using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method. Fifteen S. neurona taxa from different regions collected over the last 10 years were used; six isolates were from clinically diseased horses, eight isolates were from wild-caught opossums (Didelph...

  1. Adjustable, short focal length permanent-magnet quadrupole based electron beam final focus system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. K. Lim

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available Advanced high-brightness beam applications such as inverse-Compton scattering (ICS depend on achieving of ultrasmall spot sizes in high current beams. Modern injectors and compressors enable the production of high-brightness beams having needed short bunch lengths and small emittances. Along with these beam properties comes the need to produce tighter foci, using stronger, shorter focal length optics. An approach to creating such strong focusing systems using high-field, small-bore permanent-magnet quadrupoles (PMQs is reported here. A final-focus system employing three PMQs, each composed of 16 neodymium iron boride sectors in a Halbach geometry has been installed in the PLEIADES ICS experiment. The field gradient in these PMQs is 560   T/m, the highest ever reported in a magnetic optics system. As the magnets are of a fixed field strength, the focusing system is tuned by adjusting the position of the three magnets along the beam line axis, in analogy to familiar camera optics. This paper discusses the details of the focusing system, simulation, design, fabrication, and experimental procedure in creating ultrasmall beams at PLEIADES.

  2. Does length or neighborhood size cause the word length effect?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalbert, Annie; Neath, Ian; Surprenant, Aimée M

    2011-10-01

    Jalbert, Neath, Bireta, and Surprenant (2011) suggested that past demonstrations of the word length effect, the finding that words with fewer syllables are recalled better than words with more syllables, included a confound: The short words had more orthographic neighbors than the long words. The experiments reported here test two predictions that would follow if neighborhood size is a more important factor than word length. In Experiment 1, we found that concurrent articulation removed the effect of neighborhood size, just as it removes the effect of word length. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this pattern is also found with nonwords. For Experiment 3, we factorially manipulated length and neighborhood size, and found only effects of the latter. These results are problematic for any theory of memory that includes decay offset by rehearsal, but they are consistent with accounts that include a redintegrative stage that is susceptible to disruption by noise. The results also confirm the importance of lexical and linguistic factors on memory tasks thought to tap short-term memory.

  3. A comparison of computerized adaptive testing and fixed-length short forms for the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-MTM).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amtmann, Dagmar; Bamer, Alyssa M; Kim, Jiseon; Bocell, Fraser; Chung, Hyewon; Park, Ryoungsun; Salem, Rana; Hafner, Brian J

    2017-09-01

    New health status instruments can be administered by computerized adaptive test or short forms. The Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M TM ) is a self-report measure of mobility for prosthesis users with lower limb loss. This study used the PLUS-M to examine advantages and disadvantages of computerized adaptive test and short forms. To compare scores obtained from computerized adaptive test to scores obtained from fixed-length short forms (7-item and 12-item) in order to provide guidance to researchers and clinicians on how to select the best form of administration for different uses. Cross-sectional, observational study. Individuals with lower limb loss completed the PLUS-M by computerized adaptive test and short forms. Administration time, correlations between the scores, and standard errors were compared. Scores and standard errors from the computerized adaptive test, 7-item short form, and 12-item short form were highly correlated and all forms of administration were efficient. Computerized adaptive test required less time to administer than either paper or electronic short forms; however, time savings were minimal compared to the 7-item short form. Results indicate that the PLUS-M computerized adaptive test is most efficient, and differences in scores between administration methods are minimal. The main advantage of the computerized adaptive test was more reliable scores at higher levels of mobility compared to short forms. Clinical relevance Health-related item banks, like the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M TM ), can be administered by computerized adaptive testing (CAT) or as fixed-length short forms (SFs). Results of this study will help clinicians and researchers decide whether they should invest in a CAT administration system or whether SFs are more appropriate.

  4. Isolated grid electron gun and pulser system for long/short pulse operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koontz, R.F.; Feathers, L.; Kilbourne, C.; Leger, G.; McKinney, T.

    1984-04-01

    The new NPI gun at SLAC serves the dual functions of producing long pulse (up to 5 μsec, 180 pps) electron bursts for nuclear physics experiments, and also short (1 nsec) pulses for filling Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). This is accomplished by means of a newly designed, isolated grid gun, cathode pulsed with a solid state long pulse pulser, and grid pulsed with a fast recharging avalanche type short pulse (1 nsec) grid pulser. The grid pulser is bipolar so that a fast blackout notch can be placed in the long cathode pulse. This fast notch can be seen by Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) instrumentation and allows the long pulse beam to be computer controlled by SLC intensity and beam position monitors

  5. Comparative analysis of human cytomegalovirus a-sequence in multiple clinical isolates by using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism assays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaia, J A; Gallez-Hawkins, G; Churchill, M A; Morton-Blackshere, A; Pande, H; Adler, S P; Schmidt, G M; Forman, S J

    1990-01-01

    The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) a-sequence (a-seq) is located in the joining region between the long (L) and short (S) unique sequences of the virus (L-S junction), and this hypervariable junction has been used to differentiate HCMV strains. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are differences among strains of human cytomegalovirus which could be characterized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the a-seq of HCMV DNA and to compare a PCR method of strain differentiation with conventional restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methodology by using HCMV junction probes. Laboratory strains of HCMV and viral isolates from individuals with HCMV infection were characterized by using both RFLPs and PCR. The PCR assay amplified regions in the major immediate-early gene (IE-1), the 64/65-kDa matrix phosphoprotein (pp65), and the a-seq of the L-S junction region. HCMV laboratory strains Towne, AD169, and Davis were distinguishable, in terms of size of the amplified product, when analyzed by PCR with primers specific for the a-seq but were indistinguishable by using PCR targeted to IE-1 and pp65 sequences. When this technique was applied to a characterization of isolates from individuals with HCMV infection, selected isolates could be readily distinguished. In addition, when the a-seq PCR product was analyzed with restriction enzyme digestion for the presence of specific sequences, these DNA differences were confirmed. PCR analysis across the variable a-seq of HCMV demonstrated differences among strains which were confirmed by RFLP in 38 of 40 isolates analyzed. The most informative restriction enzyme sites in the a-seq for distinguishing HCMV isolates were those of MnlI and BssHII. This indicates that the a-seq of HCMV is heterogeneous among wild strains, and PCR of the a-seq of HCMV is a practical way to characterize differences in strains of HCMV. Images PMID:1980680

  6. Brain SPECT with short focal-length cone-beam collimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Mi-Ae; Moore, Stephen C.; Kijewski, Marie Foley

    2005-01-01

    Single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of deep brain structures is compromised by loss of photons due to attenuation. We have previously shown that a centrally peaked collimator sensitivity function can compensate for this phenomenon, increasing sensitivity over most of the brain. For dual-head instruments, parallel-hole collimators cannot provide variable sensitivity without simultaneously degrading spatial resolution near the center of the brain; this suggests the use of converging collimators. We have designed collimator pairs for dual-head SPECT systems to increase sensitivity, particularly in the center of the brain, and compared the new collimation approach to existing approaches on the basis of performance in estimating activity concentration of small structures at various locations in the brain. The collimator pairs we evaluated included a cone-beam collimator, for increased sensitivity, and a fan-beam collimator, for data sufficiency. We calculated projections of an ellipsoidal uniform background, with 0.9-cm-radius spherical lesions at several locations in the background. From these, we determined ideal signal-to-noise ratios (SNR CRB ) for estimation of activity concentration within the spheres, based on the Cramer-Rao lower bound on variance. We also reconstructed, by an ordered-subset expectation-maximization (OS-EM) procedure, images of this phantom, as well as of the Zubal brain phantom, to allow visual assessment and to ensure that they were free of artifacts. The best of the collimator pairs evaluated comprised a cone-beam collimator with 20 cm focal length, for which the focal point is inside the brain, and a fan-beam collimator with 40 cm focal length. This pair yielded increased SNR CRB , compared to the parallel-parallel pair, throughout the imaging volume. The factor by which SNR CRB increased ranged from 1.1 at the most axially extreme location to 3.5 at the center. The gains in SNR CRB were relatively robust to mismatches

  7. Molecular analysis of Leptospira spp. isolated from humans by restriction fragment length polymorphism, real-time PCR and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turk, Nenad; Milas, Zoran; Mojcec, Vesna; Ruzic-Sabljic, Eva; Staresina, Vilim; Stritof, Zrinka; Habus, Josipa; Postic, Daniele

    2009-11-01

    A total of 17 Leptospira clinical strains isolated from humans in Croatia were serologically and genetically analysed. For serovar identification, the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were used. To identify isolates on genomic species level, PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and real-time PCR were performed. MAT revealed the following serogroup affinities: Grippotyphosa (seven isolates), Icterohaemorrhagiae (eight isolates) and Javanica (two isolates). RFLP of PCR products from a 331-bp-long fragment of rrs (16S rRNA gene) digested with endonucleases MnlI and DdeI and real-time PCR revealed three Leptospira genomic species. Grippotyphosa isolates belonged to Leptospira kirschneri, Icterohaemorrhagiae isolates to Leptospira interrogans and Javanica isolates to Leptospira borgpetersenii. Genomic DNA from 17 leptospiral isolates was digested with NotI and SgrAI restriction enzymes and analysed by PFGE. Results showed that seven isolates have the same binding pattern to serovar Grippotyphosa, eight isolates to serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae and two isolates to serovar Poi. Results demonstrate the diversity of leptospires circulating in Croatia. We point out the usefulness of a combination of PFGE, RFLP and real-time PCR as appropriate molecular methods in molecular analysis of leptospires.

  8. The influence of length of relationship, gender and age on the relationship intention of short-term insurance clients: an exploratory study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Derik Steyn

    2011-09-01

    insurance industry completed self-administered questionnaires. Findings indicate that, for a group of high relationship-intention clients of a short-term insurance organisation, no practically significant discrimination exists on any of the relationship-intention constructs for clients’ length of relationship, gender or age.

  9. Molecular Characterization of Yeast Strains Isolated from Different Sources by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ali, M. S.; Latif, Z.

    2016-01-01

    Various molecular techniques like analysis of the amplified rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS), intragenic spacers and total ITS region analysis by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) has been introduced for yeast identification but there are limited databases to identify yeast species on the basis of 5.8S rDNA. In this study, twenty nine yeast strains from various sources including spoiled fruits, vegetables, foodstuffs, and concentrated juices were characterized by PCR-RFLP. PCR-RFLP has been used to characterize yeasts present in different spoiled food samples after isolation of the yeasts. By using this technique, the isolated yeast strains were characterized by direct 5.8S-ITS rDNA region amplification. RFLP analysis was applied to each of the amplification products (varied from 400bp to 800bp) detected, and the corresponding yeast identifications were made according to each specific restriction patterns obtained after treatment with two endonucleases TaqI and HaeIII which yielded a specific banding pattern for each species. For further confirmation amplified products of eleven selected isolates were sequenced and blast on NCBI. Both RFLP and sequence analyses of the strains with accession nos. KF472163, KF472164, KF472165, KF472166, KF472167, KF472168, KF472169, KF472170, KF472171, KF472172, KF472173 gave significantly similar results. The isolates were found to belong five different yeast species including; Candida spp., Pichia spp., Kluyveromyces spp., Clavispora spp. and Hanseniaspora spp. This method provides a fast, easy, reliable and authentic way for determining yeast population present in different type of samples, as compared to traditional characterization technique. (author)

  10. Rapid differentiation of closely related isolates of two plant viruses by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbara, D J; Morton, A; Spence, N J; Miller, A

    1995-09-01

    Immunocapture reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the product has been shown to be an effective procedure for discriminating serologically indistinguishable isolates of two plant viruses, raspberry bushy dwarf (RBDV) and zucchini yellow mosaic (ZYMV). For both viruses, only limited sequence information was available at the time of primer design, but most of the isolates which were tested could be amplified (the one exception being a serologically quite distinct isolate of ZYMV). Restriction endonucleases revealing diagnostic RFLPs were readily identified. Each of two isolates of ZYMV could be detected in the presence of the other and the relative proportions approximately quantified by visual estimation of the relative intensity of the appropriate bands. A range of isolates of different RBDV pathotypes were compared; isolates were grouped in ways that accorded with their known history. Computer analysis of the published sequence from which the primers had been derived showed the sequenced isolate to be identical with an isolate imported from the USSR. The PCR/RFLP procedure is rapid (it can be completed in less than 2 days), effective and will probably be generally applicable to distinguishing closely related virus isolates, even where little sequence information is available.

  11. Characterization of near full-length genomes of HIV type 1 strains in Denmark: Basis for a universal therapeutic vaccine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andresen, Betina S.; Vinner, Lasse; Tang, Sheila Tuyet

    2007-01-01

    We report here the near full-length sequence characterization of 17 Danish clinical HIV-1 strains isolated from HLA-A02 patients not in need of ART, with relatively low viral loads and normal CD4 cell counts. Sequencing was performed directly on DNA extracted from short-term cocultures of PBMCs...... of a universal immunotherapeutic vaccine construct based on these epitopes....

  12. An isolated grid electron gun and pulser system for long/short pulse operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koontz, R.F.; Feathers, L.; Kilbourne, C.; Leger, G.; McKinney, T.

    1984-01-01

    The new NPI gun at SLAC serves the dual functions of producing long pulse (up to 5 μsec, 180 pps) electron bursts for nuclear physics experiments, and also short ( 1 nsec) pulses for filling Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). This is accomplished by means of a newly designed, isolated grid gun, cathode pulsed with a solid state long pulse pulser, and grid pulsed with a fast recharging avalanche type short pulse (1 nsec) grid pulser. The grid pulser is bipolar so that a fast blackout notch can be placed in the long cathode pulse. This fast notch can be seen by Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) instrumentation and allows the long pulse beam to be computer controlled by SLC intensity and beam position monitors. (orig.)

  13. Word Length Effects in Long-Term Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tehan, Gerald; Tolan, Georgina Anne

    2007-01-01

    The word length effect has been a central feature of theorising about immediate memory. The notion that short-term memory traces rapidly decay unless refreshed by rehearsal is based primarily upon the finding that serial recall for short words is better than that for long words. The decay account of the word length effect has come under pressure…

  14. Telomere length analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canela, Andrés; Klatt, Peter; Blasco, María A

    2007-01-01

    Most somatic cells of long-lived species undergo telomere shortening throughout life. Critically short telomeres trigger loss of cell viability in tissues, which has been related to alteration of tissue function and loss of regenerative capabilities in aging and aging-related diseases. Hence, telomere length is an important biomarker for aging and can be used in the prognosis of aging diseases. These facts highlight the importance of developing methods for telomere length determination that can be employed to evaluate telomere length during the human aging process. Telomere length quantification methods have improved greatly in accuracy and sensitivity since the development of the conventional telomeric Southern blot. Here, we describe the different methodologies recently developed for telomere length quantification, as well as their potential applications for human aging studies.

  15. PCR-based isolation and identification of full-length low-molecular-weight glutenin subunit genes in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaofei; Liu, Dongcheng; Jiang, Wei; Guo, Xiaoli; Yang, Wenlong; Sun, Jiazhu; Ling, Hongqing; Zhang, Aimin

    2011-12-01

    Low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GSs) are encoded by a multi-gene family and are essential for determining the quality of wheat flour products, such as bread and noodles. However, the exact role or contribution of individual LMW-GS genes to wheat quality remains unclear. This is, at least in part, due to the difficulty in characterizing complete sequences of all LMW-GS gene family members in bread wheat. To identify full-length LMW-GS genes, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method was established, consisting of newly designed conserved primers and the previously developed LMW-GS gene molecular marker system. Using the PCR-based method, 17 LMW-GS genes were identified and characterized in Xiaoyan 54, of which 12 contained full-length sequences. Sequence alignments showed that 13 LMW-GS genes were identical to those found in Xiaoyan 54 using the genomic DNA library screening, and the other four full-length LMW-GS genes were first isolated from Xiaoyan 54. In Chinese Spring, 16 unique LMW-GS genes were isolated, and 13 of them contained full-length coding sequences. Additionally, 16 and 17 LMW-GS genes in Dongnong 101 and Lvhan 328 (chosen from the micro-core collections of Chinese germplasm), respectively, were also identified. Sequence alignments revealed that at least 15 LMW-GS genes were common in the four wheat varieties, and allelic variants of each gene shared high sequence identities (>95%) but exhibited length polymorphism in repetitive regions. This study provides a PCR-based method for efficiently identifying LMW-GS genes in bread wheat, which will improve the characterization of complex members of the LMW-GS gene family and facilitate the understanding of their contributions to wheat quality.

  16. Measurement of short bunches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, D.X.

    1996-01-01

    In recent years, there has been increasing interest in short electron bunches for different applications such as short wavelength FELs, linear colliders, and advanced accelerators such as laser or plasma wakefield accelerators. One would like to meet various requirements such as high peak current, low momentum spread, high luminosity, small ratio of bunch length to plasma wavelength, and accurate timing. Meanwhile, recent development and advances in RF photoinjectors and various bunching schemes make it possible to generate very short electron bunches. Measuring the longitudinal profile and monitoring bunch length are critical to understand the bunching process and longitudinal beam dynamics, and to commission and operate such short bunch machines. In this paper, several commonly used measurement techniques for subpicosecond bunches and their relative advantages and disadvantages are discussed. As examples, bunch length related measurements at Jefferson Lab are presented. At Jefferson Lab, bunch lengths as short as 84 fs have been systematically measured using a zero-phasing technique. A highly sensitive Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR) detector has been developed to noninvasively monitor bunch length for low charge bunches. Phase transfer function measurements provide a means of correcting RF phase drifts and reproducing RF phases to within a couple of tenths of a degree. The measurement results are in excellent agreement with simulations. A comprehensive bunch length control scheme is presented. (author)

  17. Measurement of short bunches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, D.X.

    1996-01-01

    In recent years, there has been increasing interest in short electron bunches for different applications such as short wavelength FELs, linear colliders, and advanced accelerators such as laser or plasma wakefield accelerators. One would like to meet various requirements such as high peak current, low momentum spread, high luminosity, small ratio of bunch length to plasma wavelength, and accurate timing. Meanwhile, recent development and advances in RF photoinjectors and various bunching schemes make it possible to generate very short electron bunches. Measuring the longitudinal profile and monitoring bunch length are critical to understand the bunching process and longitudinal beam dynamics, and to commission and operate such short bunch machines. In this paper, several commonly used measurement techniques for subpicosecond bunches and their relative advantages and disadvantages are discussed. As examples, bunch length related measurements at Jefferson lab are presented. At Jefferson Lab, bunch lengths s short as 84 fs have been systematically measured using a zero-phasing technique. A highly sensitive Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR) detector has been developed to noninvasively monitor bunch length for low charge bunches. Phase transfer function measurements provide a means of correcting RF phase drifts and reproducing RF phases to within a couple of tenths of a degree. The measurement results are in excellent agreement with simulations. A comprehensive bunch length control scheme is presented

  18. Production of exotic, short lived carbon isotopes in ISOL-type facilities

    CERN Document Server

    Franberg, Hanna; Köster, Ulli; Ammann, Markus

    2008-01-01

    The beam intensities of short-lived carbon isotopes at Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) facilities have been limited in the past for technical reasons. The production of radioactive ion beams of carbon isotopes is currently of high interest for fundamental nuclear physics research. To produce radioactive ions a target station consisting of a target in a container connected to an ion source via a transfer line is commonly used. The target is heated to vaporize the product for transport. Carbon in elementary form is a very reactive element and react strongly with hot metal surfaces. Due to the strong chemisorption interaction, in the target and ion source unit, the atoms undergo significant retention on their way from the target to the ion source. Due to this the short lived isotopes decays and are lost leading to low ion yields. A first approach to tackle these limitations consists of incorporating the carbon atoms into less reactive molecules and to use materials for the target housing and the transfer line ...

  19. Preoperative factors affecting cost and length of stay for isolated off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: hierarchical linear model analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinjo, Daisuke; Fushimi, Kiyohide

    2015-11-17

    To determine the effect of preoperative patient and hospital factors on resource use, cost and length of stay (LOS) among patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB). Observational retrospective study. Data from the Japanese Administrative Database. Patients who underwent isolated, elective OPCAB between April 2011 and March 2012. The primary outcomes of this study were inpatient cost and LOS associated with OPCAB. A two-level hierarchical linear model was used to examine the effects of patient and hospital characteristics on inpatient costs and LOS. The independent variables were patient and hospital factors. We identified 2491 patients who underwent OPCAB at 268 hospitals. The mean cost of OPCAB was $40 665 ±7774, and the mean LOS was 23.4±8.2 days. The study found that select patient factors and certain comorbidities were associated with a high cost and long LOS. A high hospital OPCAB volume was associated with a low cost (-6.6%; p=0.024) as well as a short LOS (-17.6%, pcost and LOS. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  20. Resistance to Reperfusion Injury Following Short Term Postischemic Administration of Natural Honey in Globally Ischemic Isolated Rat Heart

    OpenAIRE

    Haleh Vaez; Mehrban Samadzadeh; Fahimeh Zahednezhad; Moslem Najafi

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Results of our previous study revealed that preischemic perfusion of honey before zero flow global ischemia had cardioprotective effects in rat. The present study investigated potential resistance to reperfusion injury following short term postischemic administration of natural honey in globally ischemic isolated rat heart. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into five groups (n=10-13). The rat hearts were isolated, mounted on a Langendorff apparatus, allowed to equilibra...

  1. HAMSTRING ARCHITECTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL ADAPTATIONS FOLLOWING LONG VS. SHORT MUSCLE LENGTH ECCENTRIC TRAINING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenny Guex

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Most common preventive eccentric-based exercises, such as Nordic hamstring do not include any hip flexion. So, the elongation stress reached is lower than during the late swing phase of sprinting. The aim of this study was to assess the evolution of hamstring architectural (fascicle length and pennation angle and functional (concentric and eccentric optimum angles and concentric and eccentric peak torques parameters following a 3-week eccentric resistance program performed at long (LML versus short muscle length (SML. Both groups performed eight sessions of 3-5x8 slow maximal eccentric knee extensions on an isokinetic dynamometer: the SML group at 0° and the LML group at 80° of hip flexion. Architectural parameters were measured using ultrasound imaging and functional parameters using the isokinetic dynamometer. The fascicle length increased by 4.9% (p<0.01, medium effect size in the SML and by 9.3% (p<0.001, large effect size in the LML group. The pennation angle did not change (p=0.83 in the SML and tended to decrease by 0.7° (p=0.09, small effect size in the LML group. The concentric optimum angle tended to decrease by 8.8° (p=0.09, medium effect size in the SML and by 17.3° (p<0.01, large effect size in the LML group. The eccentric optimum angle did not change (p=0.19, small effect size in the SML and tended to decrease by 10.7° (p=0.06, medium effect size in the LML group. The concentric peak torque did not change in the SML (p=0.37 and the LML (p=0.23 groups, whereas eccentric peak torque increased by 12.9% (p<0.01, small effect size and 17.9% (p<0.001, small effect size in the SML and the LML group, respectively. No group-by-time interaction was found for any parameters. A correlation was found between the training-induced change in fascicle length and the change in concentric optimum angle (r=-0.57, p<0.01. These results suggest that performing eccentric exercises lead to several architectural and functional adaptations. However

  2. Short post-weaning social isolation induces long-term changes in the dopaminergic system and increases susceptibility to psychostimulants in female rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lampert, Carine; Arcego, Danusa Mar; de Sá Couto-Pereira, Natividade; Dos Santos Vieira, Aline; Toniazzo, Ana Paula; Krolow, Rachel; Garcia, Emily; Vendite, Deusa Aparecida; Calcagnotto, Maria Elisa; Dalmaz, Carla

    2017-10-01

    Childhood and adolescence are sensitive periods of development, marked by high brain maturation and plasticity. Exposure to early life stress, such as social isolation, is able to prompt changes in sensitive brain circuitries, essentially in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and increase the risk for addictive behaviors later in life. Post-weaning social isolation can stimulate the consumption of rewarding substances, like drugs of abuse and palatable foods. However, most studies analyze long periods of social isolation and very little is known about the effects of a brief social isolation in a sensitive period of development and its association with palatable food on the reward system sensitization. Furthermore, females are more susceptible to the reinforcing effect of drugs than males. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the effects of a short post-weaning social isolation combined with a free access to a chronic high sugar diet (HSD) on the dopaminergic system, oxidative status and behavioral response to an amphetamine-like drug in adulthood. We used female Wistar rats that were socially isolated from post-natal days (PD) 21 to 35 and received free access to a HSD until PD 60. On PD 65, animals were submitted to a challenge with diethylpropion (DEP), an amphetamine-like drug and different responses were analyzed: locomotor activity, immmunocontent of dopamine related proteins, and the oxidative status in the striatum, before and after the DEP challenge. We showed that a short post-weaning social isolation (SI) increased the locomotor response to DEP, when compared with previous saline administration. Social isolation also increased dopamine transporter, tyrosine hydroxylase, and decreased dopamine D2 receptor immunocontent. Additionally, SI increased the overall oxidative status parameters after the challenge with DEP. Interestingly, the exposure to a HSD prevented the SI effects on locomotor response, but did not interfere in the dopaminergic

  3. Isolated short stature as a presentation of celiac disease in Saudi children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asaad Mohamed Assiri

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of isolated short stature as a clinical presentation of celiac disease in Saudi Arab children and whether some of the routine labora-tory tests performed to determine the cause of short stature could suggest the diagnosis of celiac disease. A total of 91 children with short stature were included in the study. Extensive endocrine and biochemical assessments, including total protein, serum albumin, calcium phosphate and alkaline phosphatase assays; renal function tests; coagulation profile; anti-endomysial antibodies and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody, growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, free-thyroxin (FT4 assays; stool tests for giardiasis; bone age; and endoscopic intestinal biopsies, were done for all children. Ten of the 91 children had positive intestinal biopsies in the form of total villous atrophy, an increase in crypt height, and an increase in intra-epithelial lymphocyte (IEL numbers up to >40 IEL/100 EC (Type 3C according to the Oberhuber classification, confirming the diagnosis of celiac disease. Five children had mild villous atrophy according to this classification (Type 3A, and they were considered to have potential celiac disease. Seventy-six children had normal intestinal biopsies. Therefore, the prevalence of celiac disease among Saudi children with short stature was 10.9%, and 4.3% of the children were diagnosed as having potential celiac disease. After confirming the diagnosis of celiac disease, all children were kept on a gluten-free diet and all of them showed improvement in their growth rate. We concluded that celiac disease is a very important cause of short stature in children without gastrointestinal complaints in Saudi Arabia. We highly recommend anti-tissue transglutaminase and anti-endomysial antibody screening tests, and a small bowel biopsy to confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease irrespective of the results of the antibody assays, in children with

  4. Application of Fluorescent Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism for Comparison of Human and Animal Isolates of Yersinia enterocolitica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fearnley, Catherine; On, Stephen L. W.; Kokotovic, Branko; Manning, Georgina; Cheasty, Tom; Newell, Diane G.

    2005-01-01

    An amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method, developed to genotype Yersinia enterocolitica, has been used to investigate 70 representative strains isolated from humans, pigs, sheep, and cattle in the United Kingdom. AFLP primarily distinguished Y. enterocolitica strains according to their biotype, with strains dividing into two distinct clusters: cluster A, comprising largely the putatively pathogenic biotypes (BT2 to -4), and cluster B, comprising the putatively nonpathogenic biotype 1A strains and a single BT1B isolate. Within these two clusters, subclusters formed largely on the basis of serotype. However, AFLP profiles also allowed differentiation of strains within these serotype-related subclusters, indicating the high discriminatory power of the technique for Y. enterocolitica. Investigation of the relationship between strain AFLP profile and host confirmed that pigs are, and provides further proof that sheep may be, potential sources of human infection with putatively pathogenic strains. However, the results suggest that some strains causing human disease do not come from veterinary sources identifiable at this time. The distribution of some BT1A isolates within cluster A raises questions about the relationship between virulence potential and biotype. PMID:16151073

  5. Isolation of human simple repeat loci by hybridization selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, J A; Neumann, R; Gobert, S; Jeffreys, A J

    1994-04-01

    We have isolated short tandem repeat arrays from the human genome, using a rapid method involving filter hybridization to enrich for tri- or tetranucleotide tandem repeats. About 30% of clones from the enriched library cross-hybridize with probes containing trimeric or tetrameric tandem arrays, facilitating the rapid isolation of large numbers of clones. In an initial analysis of 54 clones, 46 different tandem arrays were identified. Analysis of these tandem repeat loci by PCR showed that 24 were polymorphic in length; substantially higher levels of polymorphism were displayed by the tetrameric repeat loci isolated than by the trimeric repeats. Primary mapping of these loci by linkage analysis showed that they derive from 17 chromosomes, including the X chromosome. We anticipate the use of this strategy for the efficient isolation of tandem repeats from other sources of genomic DNA, including DNA from flow-sorted chromosomes, and from other species.

  6. Short fetal leukocyte telomere length and preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramkumar Menon

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Rupture of the fetal membranes is a common harbinger of imminent labor and delivery. Telomere shortening is a surrogate for oxidative stress (OS and senescence. Fetal leukocyte and placental membrane DNA telomere lengths were evaluated to determine their association with preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes (pPROM or spontaneous preterm births with intact membranes (PTB, compared to term birth. METHODS: Telomere lengths were quantified in cord blood leukocytes (n = 133 from three major groups: 1 pPROM (n = 28, 2 PTB (n = 69 and 3 uncomplicated full term births (controls, n = 35, using real-time quantitative PCR. Placental membrane specimens (n = 18 were used to correlate fetal leukocyte and placental telomere lengths. Telomere length differences among the groups were analyzed by ANOVA. Pearson correlation coefficients determined relationships between leukocyte and placental membrane telomere lengths. RESULTS: In pregnancies with intact membranes, fetal leukocyte telomere length was inversely proportional to gestational age. The mean telomere length decreased as gestation progressed, with the shortest at term. pPROM had telomere lengths (9962 ± 3124 bp that were significantly shorter than gestational age-matched PTB (11546 ± 4348 bp, p = 0.04, but comparable to term births (9011 ± 2497 bp, p = 0.31. Secondary analyses revealed no effects of race (African American vs. Caucasian or intraamniotic infection on telomere length. A strong Pearson's correlation was noted between fetal leukocyte and placental membrane telomere lengths (ρ = 0.77; p<0.01. CONCLUSIONS: Fetal leukocyte telomere length is reduced in pPROM compared to PTB but is similar to term births. pPROM represents a placental membrane disease likely mediated by OS-induced senescence.

  7. Isolation and amino acid sequence of a short-chain neurotoxin from an Australian elapid snake, Pseudechis australis.

    OpenAIRE

    Takasaki, C; Tamiya, N

    1985-01-01

    A short-chain neurotoxin Pseudechis australis a (toxin Pa a) was isolated from the venom of an Australian elapid snake Pseudechis australis (king brown snake) by sequential chromatography on CM-cellulose, Sephadex G-50 and CM-cellulose columns. Toxin Pa a has an LD50 (intravenous) value of 76 micrograms/kg body wt. in mice and consists of 62 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of Pa a shows considerable homology with those of short-chain neurotoxins of elapid snakes, especially of tr...

  8. M protein typing of Thai group A streptococcal isolates by PCR-Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Good Michael F

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Group A streptococcal (GAS infections can lead to the development of severe post-infectious sequelae, such as rheumatic fever (RF and rheumatic heart disease (RHD. RF and RHD are a major health concern in developing countries, and in indigenous populations of developed nations. The majority of GAS isolates are M protein-nontypeable (MNT by standard serotyping. However, GAS typing is a necessary tool in the epidemiologically analysis of GAS and provides useful information for vaccine development. Although DNA sequencing is the most conclusive method for M protein typing, this is not a feasible approach especially in developing countries. To overcome this problem, we have developed a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP-based assay for molecular typing the M protein gene (emm of GAS. Results Using one pair of primers, 13 known GAS M types showed one to four bands of PCR products and after digestion with Alu I, they gave different RFLP patterns. Of 106 GAS isolates examined from the normal Thai population and from patients with GAS-associated complications including RHD, 95 isolates gave RFLP patterns that corresponded to the 13 known M types. Only 11 isolates gave RFLP patterns that differed from the 13 known M types. These were then analyzed by DNA sequencing and six additional M types were identified. In addition, we found that M93 GAS was the most common M type in the population studied, and is consistent with a previous study of Thai GAS isolates. Conclusion PCR-RFLP analysis has the potential for the rapid screening of different GAS M types and is therefore considerably advantageous as an alternative M typing approach in developing countries in which GAS is endemic.

  9. A geometric approach for fault detection and isolation of stator short circuit failure in a single asynchronous machine

    KAUST Repository

    Khelouat, Samir

    2012-06-01

    This paper deals with the problem of detection and isolation of stator short-circuit failure in a single asynchronous machine using a geometric approach. After recalling the basis of the geometric approach for fault detection and isolation in nonlinear systems, we will study some structural properties which are fault detectability and isolation fault filter existence. We will then design filters for residual generation. We will consider two approaches: a two-filters structure and a single filter structure, both aiming at generating residuals which are sensitive to one fault and insensitive to the other faults. Some numerical tests will be presented to illustrate the efficiency of the method.

  10. Mutations in COA3 cause isolated complex IV deficiency associated with neuropathy, exercise intolerance, obesity, and short stature

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ostergaard, Elsebet; Weraarpachai, Woranontee; Ravn, Kirstine Johanne Theresia

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: We investigated a subject with an isolated cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficiency presenting with an unusual phenotype characterised by neuropathy, exercise intolerance, obesity, and short stature. METHODS AND RESULTS: Blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE) analysis s...

  11. Short communication: β-Lactam resistance and vancomycin heteroresistance in Staphylococcus spp. isolated from bovine subclinical mastitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mello, Priscila Luiza; Pinheiro, Luiza; Martins, Lisiane de Almeida; Brito, Maria Aparecida Vasconcelos Paiva; Ribeiro de Souza da Cunha, Maria de Lourdes

    2017-08-01

    The use of antimicrobial agents has led to the emergence of resistant bacterial strains over a relatively short period. Furthermore, Staphylococcus spp. can produce β-lactamase, which explains the survival of these strains in a focus of infection despite the use of a β-lactam antibiotic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the resistance of Staphylococcus spp. isolated from bovine subclinical mastitis to oxacillin and vancomycin (by minimum inhibitory concentration) and to detect vancomycin heteroresistance by a screening method. We also evaluated β-lactamase production and resistance due to hyperproduction of this enzyme and investigated the mecA and mecC genes and performed staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec typing. For this purpose, 181 Staphylococcus spp. isolated from mastitis subclinical bovine were analyzed. Using the phenotypic method, 33 (18.2%) of Staphylococcus spp. were resistant to oxacillin. In contrast, all isolates were susceptible to vancomycin, and heteroresistance was detected by the screening method in 13 isolates. Production of β-lactamase was observed in 174 (96%) of the Staphylococcus spp. isolates. The mecA gene was detected in 8 isolates, all of them belonging to the species Staphylococcus epidermidis, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec typing revealed the presence of type I and type IV isolates. Copyright © 2017 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The isolation and localization of arbitrary restriction fragment length polymorphisms in Southern African populations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Conn, V.

    1987-01-01

    The main aim of this study was to contribute to the mapping of the human genome by searching for and characterizing a number of RFLPs (restriction fragment length polymorphisms) in the human genome. The more specific aims of this study were: 1. To isolate single-copy human DNA sequences from a human genomic library. 2. To use these single-copy sequences as DNA probes to search for polymorphic variation among Caucasoid individuals. 3. To show by means of family studies that the RFLPs were inherited in a co-dominant Mendelian fashion. 4. To determine the population frequencies of these RFLPs in Southern African Populations, namely the Bantu-speaking Negroids and the San. 5. To assign these RFLP-detecting DNA sequences to human chromosomes using somatic cell hybrid lines. In this study DNA was labelled with Phosphorus 32

  13. Genetic diversity of clinical and environmental isolates of Vibrio cholerae determined by amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, S C; Matte, M; Matte, G; Huq, A; Colwell, R R

    2000-01-01

    Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of major epidemics of diarrheal disease in Bangladesh, South America, Southeastern Asia, and Africa, was isolated from clinical samples and from aquatic environments during and between epidemics over the past 20 years. To determine the evolutionary relationships and molecular diversity of these strains, in order to understand sources, origin, and epidemiology, a novel DNA fingerprinting technique, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), was employed. Two sets of restriction enzyme-primer combinations were tested for fingerprinting of V. cholerae serogroup O1, O139, and non-O1, O139 isolates. Amplification of HindIII- and TaqI-digested genomic DNA produced 30 to 50 bands for each strain. However, this combination, although capable of separating environmental isolates of O1 and non-O1 strains, was unable to distinguish between O1 and O139 clinical strains. This result confirmed that clinical O1 and O139 strains are genetically closely related. On the other hand, AFLP analyses of restriction enzyme ApaI- and TaqI-digested genomic DNA yielded 20 to 30 bands for each strain, but were able to separate O1 from O139 strains. Of the 74 strains examined with the latter combination, 26 serogroup O1 strains showed identical banding patterns and were represented by the O1 El Tor strain of the seventh pandemic. A second group, represented by O139 Bengal, included 12 strains of O139 clinical isolates, with 7 from Thailand, 3 from Bangladesh, and 2 from India. Interestingly, an O1 clinical isolate from Africa also grouped with the O139 clinical isolates. Eight clinical O1 isolates from Mexico grouped separately from the O1 El Tor of the seventh pandemic, suggesting an independent origin of these isolates. Identical fingerprints were observed between an O1 environmental isolate from a river in Chile and an O1 clinical strain from Kenya, both isolated more than 10 years apart. Both strains were distinct from the O1 seventh pandemic strain

  14. Analyses of the radiation-caused characteristics change in SOI MOSFETs using field shield isolation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirano, Yuuichi; Maeda, Shigeru; Fernandez, Warren; Iwamatsu, Toshiaki; Yamaguchi, Yasuo; Maegawa, Shigeto; Nishimura, Tadashi

    1999-01-01

    Reliability against radiation ia an important issue in silicon on insulator metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (SOI MOSFETs) used in satellites and nuclear power plants and so forth which are severely exposed to radiation. Radiation-caused characteristic change related to the isolation-edge in an irradiated environment was analyzed on SOI MOSFETs. Moreover short channel effects for an irradiated environment were investigated by simulations. It was revealed that the leakage current which was observed in local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) isolated SOI MOSFETs was successfully suppressed by using field shield isolation. Simulated potential indicated that the potential rise at the LOCOS edge can not be seen in the case of field shield isolation edge which does not have physical isolation. Also it was found that the threshold voltage shift caused by radiation in short channel regime is severer than that in long regime channel. In transistors with a channel length of 0.18μm, a potential rise of the body region by radiation-induced trapped holes can be seen in comparison with that of 1.0μm. As a result, we must consider these effects for designing deep submicron devices used in an irradiated environment. (author)

  15. Generation and biological assessment of recombinant avian metapneumovirus subgroup C (aMPV-C) viruses containing different length of the G gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Qingzhong; Estevez, Carlos; Song, Minxun; Kapczynski, Darrell; Zsak, Laszlo

    2010-02-01

    Genetic variation in length of the G gene among different avian metapneumovirus subgroup C (aMPV-C) isolates has been reported. However, its biological significance in virus replication, pathogenicity and immunity is unknown. In this study, we developed a reverse genetics system for aMPV-C and generated two Colorado (CO) strain-based recombinant viruses containing either the full-length G gene derived from a Canadian goose isolate or a C-terminally truncated G gene of the CO strain. The truncated short G (sG) gene encoded 252 amino acids (aa), which is 333 aa shorter than the full-length G (585 aa). The biological properties of these two recombinant G variants were assessed in Vero cells and in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) turkeys. In Vero cells, the short G variant displayed a similar level of growth dynamics and virus titers as the parental aMPV-CO strain, whereas the full-length G variant replicated less efficiently than the sG variant during the first 72 h post-infection. Both of the G variants induced typical cytopathic effects (CPE) that were indistinguishable from those seen with the parental aMPV-CO infection. In SPF turkeys, both of the G variants were attenuated and caused little or no disease signs, but the full-length G variant appeared to grow more readily in tracheal tissue than the sG variant during the first 5 days post-infection. Both G variants were immunogenic and induced a slightly different level of antibody response. These results demonstrated that the large portion (333 aa) of the extracellular domain of the viral attachment protein is not essential for virus viability in vitro and in vivo, but may play a role in enhancing virus attachment specificity and immunity in a natural host. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Imprisonment length and post-prison employment prospects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ramakers, Anke; Apel, Robert; Nieuwbeerta, Paul; Dirkzwager, Anja; Van Wilsem, Johan

    2014-01-01

    This study considers the relationship between imprisonment length and employment outcomes. The data are a unique prospective, longitudinal study of Dutch pretrial detainees (N = 702). All subjects thus experience prison confinement of varying lengths, although the durations are relatively short

  17. Computational design of high efficiency release targets for use at ISOL facilities

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, Y

    1999-01-01

    This report describes efforts made at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to design high-efficiency-release targets that simultaneously incorporate the short diffusion lengths, high permeabilities, controllable temperatures, and heat-removal properties required for the generation of useful radioactive ion beam (RIB) intensities for nuclear physics and astrophysics research using the isotope separation on-line (ISOL) technique. Short diffusion lengths are achieved either by using thin fibrous target materials or by coating thin layers of selected target material onto low-density carbon fibers such as reticulated-vitreous-carbon fiber (RVCF) or carbon-bonded-carbon fiber (CBCF) to form highly permeable composite target matrices. Computational studies that simulate the generation and removal of primary beam deposited heat from target materials have been conducted to optimize the design of target/heat-sink systems for generating RIBs. The results derived from diffusion release-rate simulation studies for selected t...

  18. Does length of common limb influence remission of diabetes? Short-term results

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramraj V Nagendra Gupta

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Despite strict patient selection criteria, diabetes remission is not seen in all patients after gastric bypass. Can length of the common limb influence diabetes remission? Aim: To find if any correlation exists between the length of the common limb and remission of diabetes. Study Design: Prospective study. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five consecutive patients with Type II diabetes mellitus and a fasting C-peptide >1 ng/ml who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-y gastric bypass were included. All patients had standard limb lengths and length of the common limb was measured in all patients. Patients were followed up and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c was repeated at 6 months postoperatively. Pre- and postoperative HbA1c were then correlated with the lengths of common limb to look for any relation. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA. Results: Of the 25 patients, 15 were females and 10 were males. The mean age was 44.16 years and the mean body mass index (BMI was 43.96 kg/m 2 . Preoperative HbA1c varied from 5.8 to 12.3%. Length of the common limb varied from 210 to 790 cm (mean 470.4 cm. HbA1c at 6 months ranged from 4.8 to 7.7% (mean 5.81%. On comparison of preoperative and 6 months postoperative HbA1c and correlating with the length of common limb, we found that patients with a common limb of length 600 cm length (P = 0.004. Conclusion: A shorter common limb does appear to have better chances of resolution of Type II diabetes mellitus in our study, thus paving the way for further studies.

  19. Effects of fiber length on mechanical properties and fracture behavior of short carbon fiber reinforced geopolymer matrix composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin Tiesong; Jia Dechang; He Peigang; Wang Meirong; Liang Defu

    2008-01-01

    A kind of sheet-like carbon fiber preform was developed using short fibers (2, 7 and 12 mm, respectively) as starting materials and used to strengthen a geopolymer. Mechanical properties, fracture behavior, microstructure and toughening mechanisms of the as-prepared composites were investigated by three-point bending test, optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the short carbon fibers disperse uniformly in geopolymer matrix. The C f /geopolymer composites exhibit apparently improved mechanical properties and an obvious noncatastrophic failure behavior. The composite reinforced by the carbon fibers of 7 mm in length shows a maximum flexural strength as well as the highest work of facture, which are nearly 5 times and more than 2 orders higher than that of the geopolymer matrix, respectively. The predominant strengthening and toughening mechanisms are attributed to the apparent fiber bridging and pulling-out effect based on the weak fiber/matrix interface as well as the sheet-like carbon fiber preform

  20. Full-length genome sequences of five hepatitis C virus isolates representing subtypes 3g, 3h, 3i and 3k, and a unique genotype 3 variant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Ling; Li, Chunhua; Yuan, Jie; Lu, Teng; Okamoto, Hiroaki; Murphy, Donald G

    2013-03-01

    We characterized the full-length genomes of five distinct hepatitis C virus (HCV)-3 isolates. These represent the first complete genomes for subtypes 3g and 3h, the second such genomes for 3k and 3i, and of one novel variant presently not assigned to a subtype. Each genome was determined from 18-25 overlapping fragments. They had lengths of 9579-9660 nt and each contained a single ORF encoding 3020-3025 aa. They were isolated from five patients residing in Canada; four were of Asian origin and one was of Somali origin. Phylogenetic analysis using 64 partial NS5B sequences differentiated 10 assigned subtypes, 3a-3i and 3k, and two additional lineages within genotype 3. From the data of this study, HCV-3 full-length sequences are now available for six of the assigned subtypes and one unassigned. Our findings should add insights to HCV evolutionary studies and clinical applications.

  1. HYPERTHERMIC ISOLATED REGIONAL PERFUSION WITH CISPLATIN IN THE LOCAL TREATMENT OF SPONTANEOUS CANINE OSTEOSARCOMA - ASSESSMENT OF SHORT-TERM EFFECTS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    VANGINKEL, RJ; HOEKSTRA, HJ; MEUTSTEGE, FJ; OOSTERHUIS, JW; UGES, DRA; KOOPS, HS

    To increase the effect of cisplatin on locoregional osteosarcoma, the short-term effect of hyperthermic isolated regional perfusion (HIRP) with cisplatin (30 mg/L extremity volume) was studied in 28 dogs with spontaneous osteogenic sarcoma, using clinical, radiological, and histological parameters.

  2. Sixty-five radiation hybrids for the short arm of human chromosome 6: their value as a mapping panel and as a source for rapid isolation of new probes using repeat element-mediated PCR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zoghbi, H.Y.; McCall, A.E.; LeBorgne-Demarquoy, F.

    1991-01-01

    We have used an irradiation and fusion procedure to generate somatic cell hybrids that retain fragments of the short arm of human chromosome 6 (6p). To identify hybrids retaining human material, we performed repeat element-mediated PCR on crude lysates of cells from individual clones. Sixty-five hybrids were shown to contain human material and fifty of those contained one or more 6p-specific probes. Detailed characterization of these hybrids identified a subset that divides 6p into ten mapping intervals. Using repeat element-mediated PCR, we were able to isolate and map 61 new DNA fragments from specific regions of 6p. Fifteen of these fragments were used to screen for restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), and nine identified RFLPs with one or more enzymes. The radiation hybrids described in this study provide a valuable resource for high-resolution mapping of 6p and for the rapid isolation of region-specific markers

  3. Evaluation of short-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulation in Bacillus aryabhattai

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aneesh Balakrishna Pillai

    Full Text Available Abstract This study was focused on the polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB accumulation property of Bacillus aryabhattai isolated from environment. Twenty-four polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA producers were screened out from sixty-two environmental bacterial isolates based on Sudan Black B colony staining. Based on their PHA accumulation property, six promising isolates were further screened out. The most productive isolate PHB10 was identified as B. aryabhattai PHB10. The polymer production maxima were 3.264 g/L, 2.181 g/L, 1.47 g/L, 1.742 g/L and 1.786 g/L in glucose, fructose, maltose, starch and glycerol respectively. The bacterial culture reached its stationary and declining phases at 18 h and 21 h respectively and indicated growth-associated PHB production. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR spectra confirmed the material as PHB. The material has thermal stability between 30 and 140 °C, melting point at 170 °C and maximum thermal degradation at 287 °C. The molecular weight and poly dispersion index of the polymer were found as 199.7 kDa and 2.67 respectively. The bacterium B. aryabhattai accumulating PHB up to 75% of cell dry mass utilizing various carbon sources is a potential candidate for large scale production of bacterial polyhydroxybutyrate.

  4. Increasing Short-Stay Unplanned Hospital Admissions among Children in England; Time Trends Analysis ’97–‘06

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxena, Sonia; Bottle, Alex; Gilbert, Ruth; Sharland, Mike

    2009-01-01

    Background Timely care by general practitioners in the community keeps children out of hospital and provides better continuity of care. Yet in the UK, access to primary care has diminished since 2004 when changes in general practitioners' contracts enabled them to ‘opt out’ of providing out-of-hours care and since then unplanned pediatric hospital admission rates have escalated, particularly through emergency departments. We hypothesised that any increase in isolated short stay admissions for childhood illness might reflect failure to manage these cases in the community over a 10 year period spanning these changes. Methods and Findings We conducted a population based time trends study of major causes of hospital admission in children 2 days. By 2006, 67.3% of all unplanned admissions were isolated short stays <2 days. The increases in admission rates were greater for common non-infectious than infectious causes of admissions. Conclusions Short stay unplanned hospital admission rates in young children in England have increased substantially in recent years and are not accounted for by reductions in length of in-hospital stay. The majority are isolated short stay admissions for minor illness episodes that could be better managed by primary care in the community and may be evidence of a failure of primary care services. PMID:19829695

  5. Comparison of axial length, anterior chamber depth and intraocular lens power between IOLMaster and ultrasound in normal, long and short eyes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Jing; Zhang, Yaqin; Zhang, Haining; Jia, Zhijie; Zhang, Suhua; Wang, Xiaogang

    2018-01-01

    To compare the axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD) and intraocular lens power (IOLP) of IOLMaster and Ultrasound in normal, long and short eyes. Seventy-four normal eyes (≥ 22 mm and ≤ 25 mm), 74 long eyes (> 25 mm) and 78 short eyes (devices in the order of IOLMaster followed by Ultrasound. The IOLP were calculated using a free online LADAS IOL formula calculator. The difference in AL and IOLP between IOLMaster and Ultrasound was statistically significant when all three groups were combined. The difference in ACD between IOLMaster and Ultrasound was statistically significant in the normal group (Peye group (Peye group (P = 0.465). For the IOLP difference between IOLMaster and Ultrasound in the normal group, the percentage of IOLP differences eye group, they were 90.5%, 5.4%, 4.1% and 0%, respectively. For the short eye group, they were 61.5%, 23.1%, 10.3%, and 5.1%, respectively. IOLMaster and Ultrasound have statistically significant differences in AL measurements and IOLP (using LADAS formula) for normal, long eye and short eye. The two instruments agree regarding ACD measurements for the long eye group, but differ for the normal and short eye groups. Moreover, the high percentage of IOLP differences greater than |0.5|D in the short eye group is noteworthy.

  6. Cloning and sequencing of full-length cDNAs of RNA1 and RNA2 of a Tomato black ring virus isolate from Poland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jończyk, M; Le Gall, O; Pałucha, A; Borodynko, N; Pospieszny, H

    2004-04-01

    Full-length cDNA clones corresponding to the RNA1 and RNA2 of the Polish isolate MJ of Tomato black ring virus (TBRV, genus Nepovirus) were obtained using a direct recombination strategy in yeast, and their complete nucleotide sequences were established. RNA1 is 7358 nucleotides and RNA2 is 4633 nucleotides in length, excluding the poly(A) tails. Both RNAs contain a single open reading frame encoding polyproteins of 254 kDa and 149 kDa for RNA1 and RNA2 respectively. Putative cleavage sites were identified, and the relationships between TBRV and related nepoviruses were studied by sequence comparison.

  7. Does neighborhood size really cause the word length effect?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guitard, Dominic; Saint-Aubin, Jean; Tehan, Gerald; Tolan, Anne

    2018-02-01

    In short-term serial recall, it is well-known that short words are remembered better than long words. This word length effect has been the cornerstone of the working memory model and a benchmark effect that all models of immediate memory should account for. Currently, there is no consensus as to what determines the word length effect. Jalbert and colleagues (Jalbert, Neath, Bireta, & Surprenant, 2011a; Jalbert, Neath, & Surprenant, 2011b) suggested that neighborhood size is one causal factor. In six experiments we systematically examined their suggestion. In Experiment 1, with an immediate serial recall task, multiple word lengths, and a large pool of words controlled for neighborhood size, the typical word length effect was present. In Experiments 2 and 3, with an order reconstruction task and words with either many or few neighbors, we observed the typical word length effect. In Experiment 4 we tested the hypothesis that the previous abolition of the word length effect when neighborhood size was controlled was due to a confounded factor: frequency of orthographic structure. As predicted, we reversed the word length effect when using short words with less frequent orthographic structures than the long words, as was done in both of Jalbert et al.'s studies. In Experiments 5 and 6, we again observed the typical word length effect, even if we controlled for neighborhood size and frequency of orthographic structure. Overall, the results were not consistent with the predictions of Jalbert et al. and clearly showed a large and reliable word length effect after controlling for neighborhood size.

  8. Single Cystosorus Isolate Production and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Characterization of the Obligate Biotroph Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qu, Xinshun; Christ, Barbara J

    2006-10-01

    ABSTRACT Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea causes powdery scab in potatoes and is distributed worldwide. Genetic studies of this pathogen have been hampered due, in part, to its obligate parasitism and the lack of molecular markers for this pathogen. In this investigation, a single cystosorus inoculation technique was developed to produce large amounts of S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea plasmodia or zoosporangia in eastern black nightshade (Solanum ptycanthum) roots from which DNA was extracted. Cryopreservation of zoosporangia was used for long-term storage of the isolates. S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea-specific restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers were developed from randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fragments. Cystosori of S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea were used for RAPD assays and putative pathogen-specific RAPD fragments were cloned and sequenced. The fragments were screened for specificity by Southern hybridization and subsequent DNA sequence BLAST search. Four polymorphic S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea-specific probes containing repetitive elements, and one containing single copy DNA were identified. These RFLP probes were then used to analyze 24 single cystosorus isolates derived from eight geographic locations in the United States and Canada. Genetic variation was recorded among, but not within, geographic locations. Cluster analysis separated the isolates into two major groups: group I included isolates originating from western North America, with the exception of those from Colorado, and group II included isolates originating from eastern North America and from Colorado. The techniques developed in this study, i.e., production of single cystosorus isolates of S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea and development of RFLP markers for this pathogen, provide methods to further study the genetic structure of S. subterranea f. sp. subterranea.

  9. Minimal Length Scale Scenarios for Quantum Gravity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hossenfelder, Sabine

    2013-01-01

    We review the question of whether the fundamental laws of nature limit our ability to probe arbitrarily short distances. First, we examine what insights can be gained from thought experiments for probes of shortest distances, and summarize what can be learned from different approaches to a theory of quantum gravity. Then we discuss some models that have been developed to implement a minimal length scale in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. These models have entered the literature as the generalized uncertainty principle or the modified dispersion relation, and have allowed the study of the effects of a minimal length scale in quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, thermodynamics, black-hole physics and cosmology. Finally, we touch upon the question of ways to circumvent the manifestation of a minimal length scale in short-distance physics.

  10. Dependence of paracentric inversion rate on tract length

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    York, Thomas L; Durrett, Rick; Nielsen, Rasmus

    2007-01-01

    BACKGROUND: We develop a Bayesian method based on MCMC for estimating the relative rates of pericentric and paracentric inversions from marker data from two species. The method also allows estimation of the distribution of inversion tract lengths. RESULTS: We apply the method to data from...... Drosophila melanogaster and D. yakuba. We find that pericentric inversions occur at a much lower rate compared to paracentric inversions. The average paracentric inversion tract length is approx. 4.8 Mb with small inversions being more frequent than large inversions.If the two breakpoints defining...... a paracentric inversion tract are uniformly and independently distributed over chromosome arms there will be more short tract-length inversions than long; we find an even greater preponderance of short tract lengths than this would predict. Thus there appears to be a correlation between the positions...

  11. Role of Fiber Length on Phagocytosis & Inflammatory Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turkevich, Leonid; Stark, Carahline; Champion, Julie

    2014-03-01

    Asbestos fibers have long been associated with lung cancer death. The inability of immune cells (e.g. macrophages) to effectively remove asbestos leads to chronic inflammation and disease. This study examines the role of fiber length on toxicity at the cellular level using model glass fibers. A major challenge is obtaining single diameter fibers but differing in length. Samples of 1 micron diameter fibers with different length distributions were prepared: short fibers (less than 15 microns) by aggressive crushing, and long fibers (longer than 15 microns) by successive sedimentation. Time-lapse video microscopy monitored the interaction of MH-S murine alveolar macrophages with the fibers: short fibers were easily internalized by the macrophages, but long fibers resisted internalization over many hours. Production of TNF- α (tumor necrosis factor alpha), a general inflammatory secreted cytokine, and Cox-2 (cyclo-oxygenase-2), an enzyme that produces radicals, each exhibited a dose-dependence that was greater for long than for short fibers. These results corroborate the importance of fiber length in both physical and biochemical cell response and support epidemiological observations of higher toxicity for longer fibers.

  12. Length, Lexicality, and Articulatory Suppression in Immediate Recall: Evidence against the Articulatory Loop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romani, C.; McAlpine, S.; Olson, A.; Tsouknida, E.; Martin, R.

    2005-01-01

    Influential models of short-term memory have attributed the fact that short words are recalled better than longer words in serial recall (the length effect) to articulatory rehearsal. Crucial for this link is the finding that the length effect disappears under articulatory suppression. We show, instead, that, under suppression, the length effect…

  13. Telomere Length and the Cancer-Atherosclerosis Trade-Off.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rivka C Stone

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Modern humans, the longest-living terrestrial mammals, display short telomeres and repressed telomerase activity in somatic tissues compared with most short-living small mammals. The dual trait of short telomeres and repressed telomerase might render humans relatively resistant to cancer compared with short-living small mammals. However, the trade-off for cancer resistance is ostensibly increased age-related degenerative diseases, principally in the form of atherosclerosis. In this communication, we discuss (a the genetics of human telomere length, a highly heritable complex trait that is influenced by genetic ancestry, sex, and paternal age at conception, (b how cancer might have played a role in the evolution of telomere biology across mammals, (c evidence that in modern humans telomere length is a determinant (rather than only a biomarker of cancer and atherosclerosis, and (d the potential influence of relatively recent evolutionary forces in fashioning the variation in telomere length across and within populations, and their likely lasting impact on major diseases in humans. Finally, we propose venues for future research on human telomere genetics in the context of its potential role in shaping the modern human lifespan.

  14. Genetic variation among isolates of Sarcocystis neurona, the agent of protozoal myeloencephalitis, as revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphism markers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elsheikha, H M; Schott, H C; Mansfield, L S

    2006-06-01

    Sarcocystis neurona causes serious neurological disease in horses and other vertebrates in the Americas. Based on epidemiological data, this parasite has recently emerged. Here, the genetic diversity of Sarcocystis neurona was evaluated using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method. Fifteen S. neurona taxa from different regions collected over the last 10 years were used; six isolates were from clinically diseased horses, eight isolates were from wild-caught opossums (Didelphis virginiana), and one isolate was from a cowbird (Molothrus ater). Additionally, four outgroup taxa were also fingerprinted. Nine primer pairs were used to generate AFLP patterns, with a total number of amplified fragments ranging from 30 to 60, depending on the isolate and primers tested. Based on the presence/absence of amplified AFLP fragments and pairwise similarity values, all the S. neurona isolates tested were clustered in one monophyletic group. No significant correlation could be found between genomic similarity and host origin of the S. neurona isolates. AFLP revealed significant intraspecific genetic variations, and S. neurona appeared as a highly variable species. Furthermore, linkage disequilibrium analysis suggested that S. neurona populations within Michigan have an intermediate type of population structure that includes characteristics of both clonal and panamictic population structures. AFLP is a reliable molecular technique that has provided one of the most informative approaches to ascertain phylogenetic relationships in S. neurona and its closest relatives, allowing them to be clustered by relative similarity using band matching and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean analysis, which may be applicable to other related protozoal species.

  15. Short telomere length is associated with NOTCH1/SF3B1/TP53 aberrations and poor outcome in newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mansouri, Larry; Grabowski, Pawel; Degerman, Sofie

    2013-01-01

    Most previous studies on telomere length (TL) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are based on referral cohorts including a high proportion of aggressive cases. Here, the impact of TL was analyzed in a population-based cohort of newly diagnosed CLL (n = 265) and in relation to other prognostic ...... markers. Short telomeres were particularly associated with high-risk genetic markers, such as NOTCH1, SF3B1, or TP53 aberrations, and predicted a short time to treatment (TTT) and overall survival (OS) (both P...

  16. Characterisation of Toxoplasma gondii isolates using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the non-coding Toxoplasma gondii (TGR)-gene sequences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Høgdall, Estrid; Vuust, Jens; Lind, Peter

    2000-01-01

    of using TGR gene variants as markers to distinguish among T. gondii isolates from different animals and different geographical sources. Based on the band patterns obtained by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified TGR sequences, the T...

  17. PCR-based approach to SINE isolation: simple and complex SINEs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borodulina, Olga R; Kramerov, Dmitri A

    2005-04-11

    Highly repeated copies of short interspersed elements (SINEs) occur in eukaryotic genomes. The distribution of each SINE family is usually restricted to some genera, families, or orders. SINEs have an RNA polymerase III internal promoter, which is composed of boxes A and B. Here we propose a method for isolation of novel SINE families based on genomic DNA PCR with oligonucleotide identical to box A as a primer. Cloning of the size-heterogeneous PCR-products and sequencing of their terminal regions allow determination of SINE structure. Using this approach, two novel SINE families, Rhin-1 and Das-1, from the genomes of great horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), respectively, were isolated and studied. The distribution of Rhin-1 is restricted to two of six bat families tested. Copies of this SINE are characterized by frequent internal insertions and significant length (200-270 bp). Das-1 being only 90 bp in length is one of the shortest SINEs known. Most of Das-1 nucleotide sequences demonstrate significant similarity to alanine tRNA which appears to be an evolutionary progenitor of this SINE. Together with three other known SINEs (ID, Vic-1, and CYN), Das-1 constitutes a group of simple SINEs. Interestingly, three SINE families of this group are alanine tRNA-derived. Most probably, this tRNA gave rise to short and simple but successful SINEs several times during mammalian evolution.

  18. Preventing Preterm Birth with Progesterone in Women with a Short Cervical Length from a Low-Risk Population: A Multicenter Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Os, M.A.; van der Ven, A.J.; Kleinrouweler, C.E.; Schuit, E.; Kazemier, B.M.; Verhoeven, C.J.M.; de Miranda, E.; van Wassenaer-Leemhuis, A.G.; Sikkema, J.M.; Woiski, M.D.; Bossuyt, P.M.; Pajkrt, E.; de Groot, C.J.M.; Mol, B.W.J.; Haak, M.C.

    2015-01-01

    Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of vaginal progesterone in reducing adverse neonatal outcome due to preterm birth (PTB) in low-risk pregnant women with a short cervical length (CL). Study Design Women with a singleton pregnancy without a history of PTB

  19. Minimal Length Scale Scenarios for Quantum Gravity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabine Hossenfelder

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We review the question of whether the fundamental laws of nature limit our ability to probe arbitrarily short distances. First, we examine what insights can be gained from thought experiments for probes of shortest distances, and summarize what can be learned from different approaches to a theory of quantum gravity. Then we discuss some models that have been developed to implement a minimal length scale in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. These models have entered the literature as the generalized uncertainty principle or the modified dispersion relation, and have allowed the study of the effects of a minimal length scale in quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, thermodynamics, black-hole physics and cosmology. Finally, we touch upon the question of ways to circumvent the manifestation of a minimal length scale in short-distance physics.

  20. Influence of time to diagnosis of severe influenza on antibiotic use, length of stay, isolation precautions, and mortality: a retrospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akers, Isabel E; Weber, Rainer; Sax, Hugo; Böni, Jürg; Trkola, Alexandra; Kuster, Stefan P

    2017-07-01

    Timely diagnosis of influenza infection in patients might help reduce antibiotic use during influenza seasons and, consequently, antibiotic selection pressure. In this retrospective cohort study, we aimed to evaluate whether time to influenza diagnosis in patients with severe influenza is associated with the duration of antibiotic therapy. We retrospectively included all hospitalized patients >16 years who tested positive for influenza A or B by polymerase chain reaction during influenza seasons 2013/2014 or 2014/2015 at the University Hospital Zurich. The primary aim was to assess the association between timing of laboratory-confirmed influenza diagnosis and duration of antibiotic therapy. Secondary outcomes were length of hospital stay, duration of isolation precautions, and mortality. Early diagnosis was defined as laboratory confirmation on the day of or the day after hospital admission or symptom onset. A total of 126 patients were included (median age 57 years). Timing of influenza diagnosis was not associated with the duration of antibiotic treatment, the duration of isolation precautions, or mortality. Early influenza was associated with reduced length of hospital stay (median 7 vs 9 days [P=.014]) in patients with community-acquired influenza. Although the duration of antibiotic therapy and mortality were found unaffected by early influenza diagnosis, our data indicate that it is linked with a reduction in the length of hospitalization in patients with community-acquired influenza. This highlights a need to also fully understand the effect of time to diagnosis of bacterial pathogens on antibiotic prescribing patterns in order to exploit the potential of early influenza diagnosis in patient care. © 2017 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. History-dependence of muscle slack length following contraction and stretch in the human vastus lateralis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stubbs, Peter W; Walsh, Lee D; D'Souza, Arkiev; Héroux, Martin E; Bolsterlee, Bart; Gandevia, Simon C; Herbert, Robert D

    2018-06-01

    In reduced muscle preparations, the slack length and passive stiffness of muscle fibres have been shown to be influenced by previous muscle contraction or stretch. In human muscles, such behaviours have been inferred from measures of muscle force, joint stiffness and reflex magnitudes and latencies. Using ultrasound imaging, we directly observed that isometric contraction of the vastus lateralis muscle at short lengths reduces the slack lengths of the muscle-tendon unit and muscle fascicles. The effect is apparent 60 s after the contraction. These observations imply that muscle contraction at short lengths causes the formation of bonds which reduce the effective length of structures that generate passive tension in muscles. In reduced muscle preparations, stretch and muscle contraction change the properties of relaxed muscle fibres. In humans, effects of stretch and contraction on properties of relaxed muscles have been inferred from measurements of time taken to develop force, joint stiffness and reflex latencies. The current study used ultrasound imaging to directly observe the effects of stretch and contraction on muscle-tendon slack length and fascicle slack length of the human vastus lateralis muscle in vivo. The muscle was conditioned by (a) strong isometric contractions at long muscle-tendon lengths, (b) strong isometric contractions at short muscle-tendon lengths, (c) weak isometric contractions at long muscle-tendon lengths and (d) slow stretches. One minute after conditioning, ultrasound images were acquired from the relaxed muscle as it was slowly lengthened through its physiological range. The ultrasound image sequences were used to identify muscle-tendon slack angles and fascicle slack lengths. Contraction at short muscle-tendon lengths caused a mean 13.5 degree (95% CI 11.8-15.0 degree) shift in the muscle-tendon slack angle towards shorter muscle-tendon lengths, and a mean 5 mm (95% CI 2-8 mm) reduction in fascicle slack length, compared to the

  2. Immediate, short-, and long-term changes in tracheal stent diameter, length, and positioning after placement in dogs with tracheal collapse syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raske, Matthew; Weisse, Chick; Berent, Allyson C; McDougall, Renee; Lamb, Kenneth

    2018-03-01

    Intraluminal tracheal stenting is a minimally invasive procedure shown to have variable degrees of success in managing clinical signs associated with tracheal collapse syndrome (CTCS) in dogs. Identify immediate post-stent changes in tracheal diameter, determine the extent of stent migration, and stent shortening after stent placement in the immediate-, short-, and long-term periods, and evaluate inter-observer reliability of radiographic measurements. Fifty client-owned dogs. Retrospective study in which medical records were reviewed in dogs with CTCS treated with an intraluminal tracheal stent. Data collected included signalment, location, and type of collapse, stent diameter and length, and post-stent placement radiographic follow-up times. Radiographs were used to obtain pre-stent tracheal measurements and post-stent placement measurements. Immediate mean percentage change was 5.14%, 5.49%, and 21.64% for cervical, thoracic inlet, and intra-thoracic tracheal diameters, respectively. Ultimate mean follow-up time was 446 days, with mean percentage change of 2.55%, 15.09%, and 8.65% for cervical, thoracic inlet, and intra-thoracic tracheal diameters, respectively. Initial mean stent length was 26.72% higher than nominal length and ultimate long-term tracheal mean stent shortening was only 9.90%. No significant stent migration was identified in the immediate, short-, or long-term periods. Good inter-observer agreement of radiographic measurements was found among observers of variable experience level. Use of an intraluminal tracheal stent for CTCS is associated with minimal stent shortening with no clinically relevant stent migration after fluoroscopic placement. Precise stent sizing and placement techniques likely play important roles in avoiding these reported complications. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

  3. Draft Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus delbrueckii Strain #22 Isolated from a Patient with Short Bowel Syndrome and Previous d-Lactic Acidosis and Encephalopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domann, Eugen; Fischer, Florence; Glowatzki, Fabian; Fritzenwanker, Moritz; Hain, Torsten; Zechel-Gran, Silke; Giffhorn-Katz, Susanne; Neubauer, Bernd A

    2016-07-28

    d-Lactic acidosis with associated encephalopathy caused by overgrowth of intestinal lactic acid bacteria is a rarely diagnosed neurological complication of patients with short bowel syndrome. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus delbrueckii strain #22 isolated from a patient with short bowel syndrome and previous d-lactic acidosis/encephalopathy. Copyright © 2016 Domann et al.

  4. Effective length of short Fabry-Perot cavity formed by uniform fiber Bragg gratings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barmenkov, Yuri O; Zalvidea, Dobryna; Torres-Peiró, Salvador; Cruz, Jose L; Andrés, Miguel V

    2006-07-10

    In this paper, we describe the properties of Fabry-Perot fiber cavity formed by two fiber Bragg gratings in terms of the grating effective length. We show that the grating effective length is determined by the group delay of the grating, which depends on its diffraction efficiency and physical length. We present a simple analytical formula for calculation of the effective length of the uniform fiber Bragg grating and the frequency separation between consecutive resonances of a Fabry-Perot cavity. Experimental results on the cavity transmission spectra for different values of the gratings' reflectivity support the presented theory.

  5. Optic nerve size evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging in children with optic nerve hypoplasia, multiple pituitary hormone deficiency, isolated growth hormone deficiency, and idiopathic short stature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birkebaek, Niels Holtum; Patel, Leena; Wright, Neville Bryce; Grigg, John Russell; Sinha, Smeeta; Hall, Catherine Margaret; Price, David Anthony; Lloyd, Ian Christopher; Clayton, Peter Ellis

    2004-10-01

    To objectively define criteria for intracranial optic nerve (ON) size in ON hypoplasia (ONH) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Intracranial ON sizes from MRI were compared between 46 children with ONH diagnosed by ophthalmoscopy (group 1, isolated ONH, 8 children; and group 2, ONH associated with abnormalities of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and septum pellucidum, 38 children) and children with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (group 3, multiple pituitary hormone deficiency, 14 children), isolated growth hormone deficiency (group 4, isolated growth hormone deficiency, 15 children), and idiopathic short stature (group 5, idiopathic short stature, 10 children). Intracranial ON size was determined by the cross-sectional area, calculated as [pi x (1/2) height x (1/2) width]. Groups 1 and 2 had lower intracranial ON size than did groups 3, 4, and 5 (P imaging of the ONs with cross-sectional area short child more than 12 months of age, with or without hypothalamic-pituitary axis abnormalities, confirms the clinical diagnosis of ONH.

  6. Combination of short-length TiO_2 nanorod arrays and compact PbS quantum-dot thin films for efficient solid-state quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Zhengguo; Shi, Chengwu; Chen, Junjun; Xiao, Guannan; Li, Long

    2017-01-01

    Graphical abstract: The TiO_2 nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, the areal density of 500 μm"−"2 was successfully prepared. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film was firstly obtained on the TiO_2 nanorod array by spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film sensitized solar cells achieved 4.10% using spiro-OMeTAD as a hole transporting layer, while the PCE of the PbS quantum-dot sensitized solar cells was only 0.54%. - Highlights: • Preparation of TiO_2 nanorod arrays with the length of 600 nm, diameter of 20 nm. • The compact PbS QD thin film and short-length TiO_2 nanorod array were combined. • EDT addition improved PbS nanoparticle coverage and photovoltaic performance. • The compact PbS QD thin film sensitized solar cell achieved the PCE of 4.10%. - Abstract: Considering the balance of the hole diffusion length and the loading quantity of quantum-dots, the rutile TiO_2 nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, and the areal density of 500 μm"−"2 is successfully prepared by the hydrothermal method using the aqueous grown solution of 38 mM titanium isopropoxide and 6 M hydrochloric acid at 170 °C for 105 min. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO_2 nanorod array is firstly obtained by the spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT). The result reveals that the strong interaction between lead and EDT is very important to control the crystallite size of PbS quantum-dots and obtain the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO_2 nanorod array. The all solid-state sensitized solar cell with the combination of the short-length, high-density TiO_2 nanorod array and the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film achieves the photoelectric conversion efficiency of 4.10%, along with an open

  7. Superconductivity, charge orderings, magnetism, and their phase separations in the ground state of lattice models of superconductor with very short coherence length

    OpenAIRE

    Kapcia, Konrad Jerzy

    2015-01-01

    This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism. We present the ground state results for lattice models of superconductor (SC) with extremely short coherence length, which also involve the interplay with charge (CO) and (anti-)ferromagnetic orderings. Our preliminary results at zero-temperature (derived by means of the variational approach which treats the on-site interaction term exactly and the in...

  8. The prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in Turkish children, and geno typing of isolates by nested polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamer, Gulden S.; Turk, M.; Dagci, H.; Pektas, B.; Guruz, Adnan Y.; Uner, A.; Guy, E.C.

    2007-01-01

    Objective was to verify the incidence of cryptosporidiosis among Turkish elementary school students. The study was conducted in the Dept. of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Turkey during a 3-month period in 2006. We assessed the fecal samples of 707 children using modified acid-fast and phenol-auramine staining followed by modified Ritchie concentration method. All cryptosporidium species isolates were analysed by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) to differentiate genotypes of the isolates. After the coprological examination, 4 samples were found to be positive for cryptosporidium species oocysts. In the present study, all 4 oocysts were of zoonotic origin and belonged to cryptoporodium parvum genotype 2 indicating that in Turkey the potential sources of human cryptosporidiosis is from animals. The application of genotyping to clinical isolates of cryptosporidium has significantly increased our knowledge and understanding of the distribution and epidemiology of this parasite. The PCR and RFLP techniques represent a more rapid and simple method of genotyping to support epidemiological and clinical investigations than conventional analytical DNA techniques. (author)

  9. Intraflagellar transport particle size scales inversely with flagellar length: revisiting the balance-point length control model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engel, Benjamin D; Ludington, William B; Marshall, Wallace F

    2009-10-05

    The assembly and maintenance of eukaryotic flagella are regulated by intraflagellar transport (IFT), the bidirectional traffic of IFT particles (recently renamed IFT trains) within the flagellum. We previously proposed the balance-point length control model, which predicted that the frequency of train transport should decrease as a function of flagellar length, thus modulating the length-dependent flagellar assembly rate. However, this model was challenged by the differential interference contrast microscopy observation that IFT frequency is length independent. Using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to quantify protein traffic during the regeneration of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii flagella, we determined that anterograde IFT trains in short flagella are composed of more kinesin-associated protein and IFT27 proteins than trains in long flagella. This length-dependent remodeling of train size is consistent with the kinetics of flagellar regeneration and supports a revised balance-point model of flagellar length control in which the size of anterograde IFT trains tunes the rate of flagellar assembly.

  10. Association of Donor and Recipient Telomere Length with Clinical Outcomes following Lung Transplantation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Courtwright, Andrew M; Fried, Sabrina; Villalba, Julian A; Moniodis, Anna; Guleria, Indira; Wood, Isabelle; Milford, Edgar; Mallidi, Hari H; Hunninghake, Gary M; Raby, Benjamin A; Agarwal, Suneet; Camp, Philip C; Rosas, Ivan O; Goldberg, Hilary J; El-Chemaly, Souheil

    2016-01-01

    Patients with short telomere syndromes and pulmonary fibrosis have increased complications after lung transplant. However, the more general impact of donor and recipient telomere length in lung transplant has not been well characterized. This was an observational cohort study of patients who received lung transplant at a single center between January 1st 2012 and January 31st 2015. Relative donor lymphocyte telomere length was measured and classified into long (third tertile) and short (other tertiles). Relative recipient lung telomere length was measured and classified into short (first tertile) and long (other tertiles). Outcome data included survival, need for modification of immunosuppression, liver or kidney injury, cytomegalovirus reactivation, and acute rejection. Recipient lung tissue telomere lengths were measured for 54 of the 79 patients (68.3%) who underwent transplant during the study period. Donor lymphocyte telomeres were measured for 45 (83.3%) of these recipients. Neither long donor telomere length (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.58, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.12-2.85, p = 0.50) nor short recipient telomere length (HR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.50-2.05, p = 0.96) were associated with adjusted survival following lung transplant. Recipients with short telomeres were less likely to have acute cellular rejection (23.5% vs. 58.8%, p = 0.02) but were not more likely to have other organ dysfunction. In this small cohort, neither long donor lymphocyte telomeres nor short recipient lung tissue telomeres were associated with adjusted survival after lung transplantation. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.

  11. The effect of gate length on SOI-MOSFETS operation | Baedi ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The effect of gate length on the operation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET structure with a layer of buried silicon oxide added to isolate the device body has been simulated. Three transistors with gate lengths of 100, 200 and 500 nm were simulated. Simulations showed that with a fixed channel length, when the gate ...

  12. Genotypic lineages and restriction fragment length polymorphism of canine distemper virus isolates in Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radtanakatikanon, Araya; Keawcharoen, Juthatip; Charoenvisal, Na Taya; Poovorawan, Yong; Prompetchara, Eakachai; Yamaguchi, Ryoji; Techangamsuwan, Somporn

    2013-09-27

    Canine distemper virus (CDV) is known to cause multisystemic disease in all families of terrestrial carnivores. Attenuated live vaccines have been used to control CDV in a variety of species for many decades, yet a number of CDV infections in vaccinated dogs are still observed. The aims of this study were to investigate the genetic diversity of CDV lineages based on phosphoprotein (P), hemagglutinin (H) and fusion protein (F) genes and to develop the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) technique for effective differentiation among individual wild-type and vaccine lineages in Thailand. Four commercial vaccine products, thirteen conjunctival swabs and various tissues from 9 necropsied dogs suspected of having CDV infections were included. Virus isolation was performed using Vero cell expressing canine signaling lymphocyte activation molecules (Vero-DST cells). Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 3 gene regions from the dog derived specimens and the vaccines were carried out, then RFLP analysis upon F-gene amplified fragments was developed. Nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic analysis were compared with other CDV lineages in Genbank. Phylogenetic relationships revealed that CDV field isolates were separated from the vaccine lineage and could be divided into two clusters; one of which belonged to the Asia-1 lineage and another, not related to any previous recognized lineages was proposed as 'Asia-4'. RFLP patterns demonstrating concordance with phylogenetic trees of the distemper virus allowed for differentiation between the Asia-1, Asia-4 and vaccine lineages. Thus, RFLP technique is able to effectively distinguish individual wild-type canine distemper virus from vaccine lineages in Thailand. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Quantum discord length is enhanced while entanglement length is not by introducing disorder in a spin chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadhukhan, Debasis; Roy, Sudipto Singha; Rakshit, Debraj; Prabhu, R; Sen De, Aditi; Sen, Ujjwal

    2016-01-01

    Classical correlation functions of ground states typically decay exponentially and polynomially, respectively, for gapped and gapless short-range quantum spin systems. In such systems, entanglement decays exponentially even at the quantum critical points. However, quantum discord, an information-theoretic quantum correlation measure, survives long lattice distances. We investigate the effects of quenched disorder on quantum correlation lengths of quenched averaged entanglement and quantum discord, in the anisotropic XY and XYZ spin glass and random field chains. We find that there is virtually neither reduction nor enhancement in entanglement length while quantum discord length increases significantly with the introduction of the quenched disorder.

  14. Perception of Vowel Length by Japanese- and English-Learning Infants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mugitani, Ryoko; Pons, Ferran; Fais, Laurel; Dietrich, Christiane; Werker, Janet F.; Amano, Shigeaki

    2009-01-01

    This study investigated vowel length discrimination in infants from 2 language backgrounds, Japanese and English, in which vowel length is either phonemic or nonphonemic. Experiment 1 revealed that English 18-month-olds discriminate short and long vowels although vowel length is not phonemically contrastive in English. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed…

  15. Impedance of finite length resistive cylinder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Krinsky

    2004-11-01

    Full Text Available We determine the impedance of a cylindrical metal tube (resistor of radius a, length g, and conductivity σ attached at each end to perfect conductors of semi-infinite length. Our main interest is in the asymptotic behavior of the impedance at high frequency (k≫1/a. In the equilibrium regime, ka^{2}≪g, the impedance per unit length is accurately described by the well-known result for an infinite length tube with conductivity σ. In the transient regime, ka^{2}≫g, where the contribution of transition radiation arising from the discontinuity in conductivity is important, we derive an analytic expression for the impedance and compute the short-range wakefield. The analytic results are shown to agree with numerical evaluation of the impedance.

  16. Combination of short-length TiO{sub 2} nanorod arrays and compact PbS quantum-dot thin films for efficient solid-state quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Zhengguo [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 (China); School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beifang University of Nationalities, Yinchuan 750021 (China); Shi, Chengwu, E-mail: shicw506@foxmail.com [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 (China); Chen, Junjun; Xiao, Guannan; Li, Long [School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 (China)

    2017-07-15

    Graphical abstract: The TiO{sub 2} nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, the areal density of 500 μm{sup −2} was successfully prepared. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film was firstly obtained on the TiO{sub 2} nanorod array by spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film sensitized solar cells achieved 4.10% using spiro-OMeTAD as a hole transporting layer, while the PCE of the PbS quantum-dot sensitized solar cells was only 0.54%. - Highlights: • Preparation of TiO{sub 2} nanorod arrays with the length of 600 nm, diameter of 20 nm. • The compact PbS QD thin film and short-length TiO{sub 2} nanorod array were combined. • EDT addition improved PbS nanoparticle coverage and photovoltaic performance. • The compact PbS QD thin film sensitized solar cell achieved the PCE of 4.10%. - Abstract: Considering the balance of the hole diffusion length and the loading quantity of quantum-dots, the rutile TiO{sub 2} nanorod array with the length of 600 nm, the diameter of 20 nm, and the areal density of 500 μm{sup −2} is successfully prepared by the hydrothermal method using the aqueous grown solution of 38 mM titanium isopropoxide and 6 M hydrochloric acid at 170 °C for 105 min. The compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO{sub 2} nanorod array is firstly obtained by the spin-coating-assisted successive ionic layer absorption and reaction with using 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT). The result reveals that the strong interaction between lead and EDT is very important to control the crystallite size of PbS quantum-dots and obtain the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film on the TiO{sub 2} nanorod array. The all solid-state sensitized solar cell with the combination of the short-length, high-density TiO{sub 2} nanorod array and the compact PbS quantum-dot thin film achieves the photoelectric conversion

  17. Molecular identification and characterization of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) in a urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter sp. (UPTC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tasaki, E; Hirayama, J; Tazumi, A; Hayashi, K; Hara, Y; Ueno, H; Moore, J E; Millar, B C; Matsuda, M

    2012-02-01

    Novel clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) locus [7,500 base pairs (bp) in length] occurred in the urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter (UPTC) Japanese isolate, CF89-12. The 7,500 bp gene loci consisted of the 5'-methylaminomethyl-2-thiouridylate methyltransferase gene, putative (P) CRISPR associated (p-Cas), putative open reading frames, Cas1 and Cas2, leader sequence region (146 bp), 12 CRISPRs consensus sequence repeats (each 36 bp) separated by a non-repetitive unique spacer region of similar length (26-31 bp) and the phosphatidyl glycerophosphatase A gene. When the CRISPRs loci in the UPTC CF89-12 and five C. jejuni isolates were compared with one another, these six isolates contained p-Cas, Cas1 and Cas2 within the loci. Four to 12 CRISPRs consensus sequence repeats separated by a non-repetitive unique spacer region occurred in six isolates and the nucleotide sequences of those repeats gave approximately 92-100% similarity with each other. However, no sequence similarity occurred in the unique spacer regions among these isolates. The putative σ(70) transcriptional promoter and the hypothetical ρ-independent terminator structures for the CRISPRs and Cas were detected. No in vivo transcription of p-Cas, Cas1 and Cas2 was confirmed in the UPTC cells.

  18. Telomere Length Reprogramming in Embryos and Stem Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keri Kalmbach

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Telomeres protect and cap linear chromosome ends, yet these genomic buffers erode over an organism’s lifespan. Short telomeres have been associated with many age-related conditions in humans, and genetic mutations resulting in short telomeres in humans manifest as syndromes of precocious aging. In women, telomere length limits a fertilized egg’s capacity to develop into a healthy embryo. Thus, telomere length must be reset with each subsequent generation. Although telomerase is purportedly responsible for restoring telomere DNA, recent studies have elucidated the role of alternative telomeres lengthening mechanisms in the reprogramming of early embryos and stem cells, which we review here.

  19. Phonological short-term memory impairment and the word length effect in children with intellectual disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poloczek, Sebastian; Büttner, Gerhard; Hasselhorn, Marcus

    2014-02-01

    There is mounting evidence that children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) of nonspecific aetiology perform poorer on phonological short-term memory tasks than children matched for mental age indicating a structural deficit in a process contributing to short-term recall of verbal material. One explanation is that children with ID of nonspecific aetiology do not activate subvocal rehearsal to refresh degrading memory traces. However, existing research concerning this explanation is inconclusive since studies focussing on the word length effect (WLE) as indicator of rehearsal have revealed inconsistent results for samples with ID and because in several existing studies, it is unclear whether the WLE was caused by rehearsal or merely appeared during output of the responses. We assumed that in children with ID only output delays produce a small WLE while in typically developing 6- to 8-year-olds rehearsal and output contribute to the WLE. From this assumption we derived several predictions that were tested in an experiment including 34 children with mild or borderline ID and 34 typically developing children matched for mental age (MA). As predicted, results revealed a small but significant WLE for children with ID that was significantly smaller than the WLE in the control group. Additionally, for children with ID, a WLE was not found for the first word of each trial but the effect emerged only in later serial positions. The findings corroborate the notion that in children with ID subvocal rehearsal does not develop in line with their mental age and provide a potential explanation for the inconsistent results on the WLE in children with ID. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. QTL-mapping in mink (Neovison vison) shows evidence for QTL for guard hair thickness, guard hair length and skin length

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thirstrup, Janne Pia; Labouriau, Rodrigo; Guldbrandtsen, Bernt

    2011-01-01

    Fur quality in mink (Neovison vison) is a composite trait, consisting of e.g. guard hair length, guard hair thickness and density of wool. A genome wide QTL search was performed to detect QTL for fur quality traits in mink. Here we present the results of QTL analyses for guard hair length, guard...... hair thickness and density of wool. Data from an F2-cross was analysed across fourteen chromosomes using 100 microsatellites as markers with a spacing of approximately 20 cM. The two lines used for the F2-cross were Nordic wild mink and American short nap mink. In total 1,083 animals (21 wild type, 25...... short nap, 103 F1 and 934 F2) were marker typed and recorded for the three presented fur quality traits. For the QTL-analyses a regression analysis implemented in QTL Express software was used. Evidence was found for the existence of QTL for guard hair length, guard hair thickness and density of wool...

  1. Isolation and identification of gastrointestinal microbiota from the short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis brachyotis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel, Diane Sunira; Ng, Yau Kit; Chua, Ee Ley; Arumugam, Yogis; Wong, Wey Lim; Kumaran, Jayaraj Vijaya

    2013-10-01

    Studies on the microbial ecology of gut microbiota in bats are limited and such information is necessary in determining the ecological significance of these hosts. Short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus brachyotis brachyotis) are good candidates for microbiota studies given their close association with humans in urban areas. Thus, this study explores the gut microbiota of this species from Peninsular Malaysia by means of biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis. The estimation of viable bacteria present in the stomach and intestine of C. b. brachyotis ranged from 3.06×10(10) to 1.36×10(15)CFU/ml for stomach fluid and 1.92×10(10) to 6.10×10(15)CFU/ml for intestinal fluid. A total of 34 isolates from the stomach and intestine of seven C. b. brachyotis were retrieved. A total of 16 species of bacteria from eight genera (Bacillus, Enterobacter, Enterococcus, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Pantoea, Pseudomonas and Serratia) were identified, Enterobacteriaceae being the most prevalent, contributing 12 out of 16 species isolated. Most isolates from the Family Enterobacteriaceae have been reported as pathogens to humans and wildlife. With the possibility of human wildlife transmission, the findings of this study focus on the importance of bats as reservoirs of potential bacterial pathogens. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  2. Soliton scatterings by impurities in a short-length sine-Gordon chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dikande, A.M.; Kofane, T.C.

    1995-07-01

    The scattering of soliton by impurities at the frontiers of a finite-length region of an infinite sine-Gordon chain is analyzed. The impurities consist of two isotopic inhomogeneities installed at the boundaries of the finite-length region. The soliton solution in the region is found in term of snoidal sine-Gordon soliton which properly takes into account the effects of the boundaries. By contrast, the soliton solutions in the neighboring sides of the region are obtained in terms of the so-called large-amplitude, localized kinks with limiting spatial extensions at x → ± ∞, which is equal ±π. Using the continuity of these soliton solutions at the frontiers as well as appropriate boundary conditions, it is shown that the soliton may be either i) reflected by the incident impurity; ii) trapped (with oscillating motions) between the two impurities (i.e. inside the infinite region); or iii) transmitted by the second impurity into the third, infinitely extended region. The threshold velocities for the reflection and transmission into different regions are found and shown to vary exponentially as a function of the length of the bounded region. The frequency of soliton oscillations between the impurities has also been calculated in some acceptable limit. (author). 28 refs, 1 fig

  3. Relation of Stump Length with Various Gait Parameters in Trans-tibial Amputee

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koyel Majumdar

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is evaluating the impact of stump length of unilateral below knee amputees (BKA on different gait parameters. Nine unilateral BKA were chosen and divided into three groups comprising patients with short, medium, and long stump length. Each of them underwent gait analysis test by Computer Dynography (CDG system to measure the gait parameters. It was found that the ground reaction force is higher in the patients with medium stump length whereas the velocity, step length both for the prosthetic and sound limb and cadence were high in longer stump length. Statistical analysis shows a significant difference (p<0.05 between the gait parameters of BKA with medium and longer stump length. The patients with longer stump length were more efficient than medium and short stump patients as they consumed comparatively lesser energy while walking with self-selected velocity and conventional (Solid ankle cushioned heel SACH foot.

  4. CEBAF Upgrade Bunch Length Measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahmad, Mahmoud [Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)

    2016-05-01

    Many accelerators use short electron bunches and measuring the bunch length is important for efficient operations. CEBAF needs a suitable bunch length because bunches that are too long will result in beam interruption to the halls due to excessive energy spread and beam loss. In this work, bunch length is measured by invasive and non-invasive techniques at different beam energies. Two new measurement techniques have been commissioned; a harmonic cavity showed good results compared to expectations from simulation, and a real time interferometer is commissioned and first checkouts were performed. Three other techniques were used for measurements and comparison purposes without modifying the old procedures. Two of them can be used when the beam is not compressed longitudinally while the other one, the synchrotron light monitor, can be used with compressed or uncompressed beam.

  5. Typing of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis isolates from Newfoundland using fragment analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milka P Podder

    Full Text Available Short Sequence Repeat (SSR typing of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Map isolates is one of the most commonly used method for genotyping this pathogen. Currently used techniques have challenges in analyzing mononucleotide repeats >15 bp, which include some of the Map SSRs. Fragment analysis is a relatively simple technique, which can accurately measure the size of DNA fragments and can be used to calculate the repeat length of the target SSR loci. In the present study, fragment analysis was used to analyze 4 Map SSR loci known to provide sufficient discriminatory power to determine the relationship between Map isolates. Eighty-five Map isolates from 18 animals from the island of Newfoundland were successfully genotyped using fragment analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on Map SSR diversity from Newfoundland dairy farms. Previously unreported Map SSR-types or combinations were also identified during the course of the described work. In addition, multiple Map SSR-types were isolated from a single animal in many cases, which is not a common finding.

  6. High-Specificity Targeted Functional Profiling in Microbial Communities with ShortBRED.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Kaminski

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Profiling microbial community function from metagenomic sequencing data remains a computationally challenging problem. Mapping millions of DNA reads from such samples to reference protein databases requires long run-times, and short read lengths can result in spurious hits to unrelated proteins (loss of specificity. We developed ShortBRED (Short, Better Representative Extract Dataset to address these challenges, facilitating fast, accurate functional profiling of metagenomic samples. ShortBRED consists of two components: (i a method that reduces reference proteins of interest to short, highly representative amino acid sequences ("markers" and (ii a search step that maps reads to these markers to quantify the relative abundance of their associated proteins. After evaluating ShortBRED on synthetic data, we applied it to profile antibiotic resistance protein families in the gut microbiomes of individuals from the United States, China, Malawi, and Venezuela. Our results support antibiotic resistance as a core function in the human gut microbiome, with tetracycline-resistant ribosomal protection proteins and Class A beta-lactamases being the most widely distributed resistance mechanisms worldwide. ShortBRED markers are applicable to other homology-based search tasks, which we demonstrate here by identifying phylogenetic signatures of antibiotic resistance across more than 3,000 microbial isolate genomes. ShortBRED can be applied to profile a wide variety of protein families of interest; the software, source code, and documentation are available for download at http://huttenhower.sph.harvard.edu/shortbred.

  7. Length and elasticity of side reins affect rein tension at trot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clayton, Hilary M; Larson, Britt; Kaiser, LeeAnn J; Lavagnino, Michael

    2011-06-01

    This study investigated the horse's contribution to tension in the reins. The experimental hypotheses were that tension in side reins (1) increases biphasically in each trot stride, (2) changes inversely with rein length, and (3) changes with elasticity of the reins. Eight riding horses trotted in hand at consistent speed in a straight line wearing a bit and bridle and three types of side reins (inelastic, stiff elastic, compliant elastic) were evaluated in random order at long, neutral, and short lengths. Strain gauge transducers (240 Hz) measured minimal, maximal and mean rein tension, rate of loading and impulse. The effects of rein type and length were evaluated using ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests. Rein tension oscillated in a regular pattern with a peak during each diagonal stance phase. Within each rein type, minimal, maximal and mean tensions were higher with shorter reins. At neutral or short lengths, minimal tension increased and maximal tension decreased with elasticity of the reins. Short, inelastic reins had the highest maximal tension and rate of loading. Since the tension variables respond differently to rein elasticity at different lengths, it is recommended that a set of variables representing different aspects of rein tension should be reported. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Resorption of lateral incisors during canine eruption: two clinical cases with focus on root length and heredity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zargham, Mostafa; Kjær, Inger

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: It is well-known that pressure from orthodontic appliance can provoke root resorption in dentitions with short roots. The purpose of this case report is to demonstrate two clinical cases with focus on root length in dentitions exposed due to pressure from erupting teeth...... resorption on her lateral incisor roots, extremely short roots in the central incisors, and short roots. The intraoral photos demonstrated light crowding in the maxilla. The orthopantomogram of the girl’s mother demonstrated extremely short roots in general. Conclusion: This pilot study indicates that short...... root length in general and abnormal incisor morphology are phenotypic traits that were characteristic for both girls who presented with severe lateral incisor resorption due to erupting canines. Furthermore, short roots were also demonstrated in the mothers. Accordingly, short root length in general...

  9. Oligonucleotide Length-Dependent Formation of Virus-Like Particles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maassen, Stan J; de Ruiter, Mark V; Lindhoud, Saskia; Cornelissen, Jeroen J L M

    2018-05-23

    Understanding the assembly pathway of viruses can contribute to creating monodisperse virus-based materials. In this study, the cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) is used to determine the interactions between the capsid proteins of viruses and their cargo. The assembly of the capsid proteins in the presence of different lengths of short, single-stranded (ss) DNA is studied at neutral pH, at which the protein-protein interactions are weak. Chromatography, electrophoresis, microscopy, and light scattering data show that the assembly efficiency and speed of the particles increase with increasing length of oligonucleotides. The minimal length required for assembly under the conditions used herein is 14 nucleotides. Assembly of particles containing such short strands of ssDNA can take almost a month. This slow assembly process enabled the study of intermediate states, which confirmed a low cooperative assembly for CCMV and allowed for further expansion of current assembly theories. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Certain features of FELs with short bunches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lebedev, A.N.

    2006-01-01

    The report is devoted to physics of free electron lasers operating in the short-wave domain where the bunch length could be less than the undulator length in the proper frame. Then the current component of the signal is locked within the bunch as in a cavity, while the electromagnetic component propagates freely. In contrast with gyrotrons where this regime can be of interest only for wavelengths comparable with the bunch length, we consider short waves in a bunch of arbitrary profile. Both amplification of an external harmonic signal and SASE regime, i.e. selective amplification of proper noises, are investigated

  11. The impact of precise robotic lesion length measurement on stent length selection: ramifications for stent savings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Paul T; Kruse, Kevin R; Kroll, Christopher R; Patterson, Janet Y; Esposito, Michele J

    2015-09-01

    Coronary stent deployment outcomes can be negatively impacted by inaccurate lesion measurement and inappropriate stent length selection (SLS). We compared visual estimate of these parameters to those provided by the CorPath 200® Robotic PCI System. Sixty consecutive patients who underwent coronary stent placement utilizing the CorPath System were evaluated. The treating physician assessed orthogonal images and provided visual estimates of lesion length and SLS. The robotic system was then used for the same measures. SLS was considered to be accurate when visual estimate and robotic measures were in agreement. Visual estimate SLSs were considered to be "short" or "long" if they were below or above the robotic-selected stents, respectively. Only 35% (21/60) of visually estimated lesions resulted in accurate SLS, whereas 33% (20/60) and 32% (19/60) of the visually estimated SLSs were long and short, respectively. In 5 cases (8.3%), 1 less stent was placed based on the robotic lesion measurement being shorter than the visual estimate. Visual estimate assessment of lesion length and SLS is highly variable with 65% of the cases being inaccurately measured when compared to objective measures obtained from the robotic system. The 32% of the cases where lesions were visually estimated to be short represents cases that often require the use of extra stents after the full lesion is not covered by 1 stent [longitudinal geographic miss (LGM)]. Further, these data showed that the use of the robotic system prevented the use of extra stents in 8.3% of the cases. Measurement of lesions with robotic PCI may reduce measurement errors, need for extra stents, and LGM. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Comparative study of IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism and variable-number tandem-repeat typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in the Netherlands, based on a 5-year nationwide survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Beer, Jessica L.; van Ingen, Jakko; de Vries, Gerard; Erkens, Connie; Sebek, Maruschka; Mulder, Arnout; Sloot, Rosa; van den Brandt, Anne-Marie; Enaimi, Mimount; Kremer, Kristin; Supply, Philip; van Soolingen, Dick

    2013-01-01

    In order to switch from IS6110 and polymorphic GC-rich repetitive sequence (PGRS) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) to 24-locus variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates in the national tuberculosis control program in The Netherlands, a

  13. Comparative Study of IS6110 Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates in the Netherlands, Based on a 5-Year Nationwide Survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beer, J.L. de; Ingen, J. van; Vries, G. de; Erkens, C.; Sebek, M.; Mulder, A.; Sloot, R.; Brandt, A.M. van den; Enaimi, M.; Kremer, K.; Supply, P.; Soolingen, D. van

    2013-01-01

    In order to switch from IS6110 and polymorphic GC-rich repetitive sequence (PGRS) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) to 24-locus variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates in the national tuberculosis control program in The Netherlands, a

  14. Construction and characterisation of a full-length infectious molecular clone from a fast replicating, X4-tropic HIV-1 CRF02.AG primary isolate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tebit, Denis M.; Zekeng, Leopold; Kaptue, Lazare; Kraeusslich, Hans-Georg; Herchenroeder, Ottmar

    2003-01-01

    Based on our previous analysis of HIV-1 isolates from Cameroon, we constructed a full-length infectious molecular clone from a primary isolate belonging to the CRF02.AG group of recombinant viruses which dominate the HIV-epidemic in West and Central Africa. The virus derived by transfection of the proviral clone pBD6-15 replicated with similar efficiency compared to its parental isolate and used CXCR4 as coreceptor as well. Furthermore, HIV-1 BD6-15 exhibited similar replication properties and virus yield as the reference B-type HIV-1 strain NL4-3. Sequence analysis revealed open reading frames for all structural and accessory genes apart from vpr. Phylogenetic and bootscanning analyses confirmed that BD6-15 clusters with CRF02.AG recombinant strains from West and Central Africa with similar cross-over points as described for the CRF02.AG prototype strain lbNG. Thus, pBD6-15 represents the first non-subtype B infectious molecular clone of a fast replicating, high producer, X4-tropic primary HIV-1 isolate, which had only been briefly passaged in primary cells

  15. Molecular identification and characterization of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) gene cluster in Taylorella equigenitalis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hara, Yasushi; Hayashi, Kyohei; Nakajima, Takuya; Kagawa, Shizuko; Tazumi, Akihiro; Moore, John E; Matsuda, Motoo

    2013-09-01

    Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), of approximately 10,000 base pairs (bp) in length, were shown to occur in the Japanese Taylorella equigenitalis strain, EQ59. The locus was composed of the putative CRISPRs-associated with 5 (cas5), RAMP csd1, csd2, recB, cas1, a leader region, 13 CRISPR consensus sequence repeats (each 32 bp; 5'-TCAGCCACGTTCGCGTGGCTGTGTGTTTAAAG-3'). These were in turn separated by 12 non repetitive unique spacer regions of similar length. In addition, a leader region, a transposase/IS protein, a leader region, and cas3 were also seen. All seven putative open reading frames carry their ribosome binding sites. Promoter consensus sequences at the -35 and -10 regions and putative intrinsic ρ-independent transcription terminator regions also occurred. A possible long overlap of 170 bp in length occurred between the recB and cas1 loci. Positive reverse transcription PCR signals of cas5, RAMP csd1, csd2-recB/cas1, and cas3 were generated. A putative secondary structure of the CRISPR consensus repeats was constructed. Following this, CRISPR results of the T. equigenitalis EQ59 isolate were subsequently compared with those from the Taylorella asinigenitalis MCE3 isolate.

  16. Effect of stereochemistry, chain length and sequence pattern on antimicrobial properties of short synthetic β-sheet forming peptide amphiphiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ong, Zhan Yuin; Cheng, Junchi; Huang, Yuan; Xu, Kaijin; Ji, Zhongkang; Fan, Weimin; Yang, Yi Yan

    2014-01-01

    In the face of mounting global antibiotics resistance, the identification and development of membrane-active antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as an alternative class of antimicrobial agent have gained significant attention. The physical perturbation and disruption of microbial membranes by the AMPs have been proposed to be an effective means to overcome conventional mechanisms of drug resistance. Recently, we have reported the design of a series of short synthetic β-sheet folding peptide amphiphiles comprised of recurring (X1Y1X2Y2)n-NH2 sequences where X: hydrophobic amino acids, Y: cationic amino acids and n: number of repeat units. In efforts to investigate the effects of key parameters including stereochemistry, chain length and sequence pattern on antimicrobial effects, systematic d-amino acid substitutions of the lead peptides (IRIK)2-NH2 (IK8-all L) and (IRVK)3-NH2 (IK12-all L) were performed. It was found that the corresponding D-enantiomers exhibited stronger antimicrobial activities with minimal or no change in hemolytic activities, hence translating very high selectivity indices of 407.0 and >9.8 for IK8-all D and IK12-all D respectively. IK8-all D was also demonstrated to be stable to degradation by broad spectrum proteases trypsin and proteinase K. The membrane disrupting bactericidal properties of IK8-all D effectively prevented drug resistance development and inhibited the growth of various clinically isolated MRSA, VRE, Acinetobacter baumanni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Cryptococcus. neoformans and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Significant reduction in intracellular bacteria counts was also observed following treatment with IK8-all D in the Staphylococcus. aureus infected mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7 (P < 0.01). These results suggest that the d-amino acids substituted β-sheet forming peptide IK8-all D with its enhanced antimicrobial activities and improved protease stability, is a promising therapeutic candidate with potential to combat

  17. Isolated rib fractures in geriatric patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elmistekawy Elsayed

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The goal of this study was to investigate the short-term outcomes in patients older than 60 years with isolated rib fractures and admitted to emergency hospital. Materials and Methods: This study included patients who were 60 years old or more and sustained blunt chest injury and had isolated rib fractures. The following data were obtained from the medical records: age, gender, number of fracture ribs, side of fracture ribs, mechanism and nature of injury, preexisting medical conditions, complications, admission to intensive care unit (ICU, need for mechanical ventilation, length of ICU and hospital stay and mortality. Results: For the study, 39 patients who were 60 years old or more and admitted to the hospital because of isolated rib fractures were enrolled. There were 28 males (71.7% and 11 females (28.3% with mean age of (66.84 ± 4.7 years. No correlation was found between comorbidities and hospital outcomes except in those who were diabetic (P-value = 0.005 and those with chronic lung disease (P-value = 0.006. Pulmonary complications were the most frequent complications encountered in those patients. Pulmonary complications were: lung contusion in 8 patients (20.5% and pulmonary infection in 6 patients (15.8%. Conclusion: Elderly patients sustaining blunt chest trauma had significant morbidity and potential for mortality.

  18. Effects of epidural analgesia on labor length, instrumental delivery, and neonatal short-term outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasegawa, Junichi; Farina, Antonio; Turchi, Giovanni; Hasegawa, Yuko; Zanello, Margherita; Baroncini, Simonetta

    2013-02-01

    We aimed to clarify whether the short-term adverse neonatal outcomes associated with epidural analgesia are due to the epidural analgesia itself or to the instrumental delivery. A retrospective case-control study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between epidural analgesia, labor length, and perinatal outcomes. A total of 350 pregnant women at term who delivered under epidural analgesia (cases) were compared with 1400 patients without epidural analgesia (controls). Vacuum extraction (6.5 vs. 2.9 %) and cesarean section (19.9 vs. 11.1 %) were more frequently performed in the cases than controls (p neonatal variables stratified by mode of delivery were not different in cases and controls, except for a slightly lower umbilical arterial pH in spontaneous delivery for the cases group. However, the Apgar scores and umbilical arterial pH were significantly lower in the neonates delivered by vacuum extraction compared with those in the neonates delivered by spontaneous delivery or cesarean section, regardless of whether epidural analgesia was performed. A multivariable analysis showed that vacuum extraction much more consistently affected the arterial pH than the analgesia itself (the β coefficients were -0.036 for epidural analgesia vs. -0.050 for vacuum extraction). Epidural analgesia was associated with slowly progressing labor, thus resulting in an increased rate of instrumental delivery. This instrumental delivery appears to adversely affect the neonatal outcomes more strongly than the analgesia itself.

  19. Shorter leukocyte telomere length is associated with higher risk of infections

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helby, Jens; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Benfield, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    In the general population, older age is associated with short leukocyte telomere length and with high risk of infections. In a recent study of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for severe aplastic anemia, long donor leukocyte telomere length was associated with improved survival...

  20. Stimulated brillouin backscatter of a short-pulse laser

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hinkel, D.E.; Williams, E.A.; Berger, R.L.

    1994-01-01

    Stimulated Brillouin backscattering (SBBS) from a short-pulse laser, where the pulse length is short compared to the plasma length, is found to be qualitatively different than in the long pulse regime, where the pulse length is long compared to the plasma length. We find that after an initial transient of order the laser pulse length transit time, the instability reaches a steady state in the variables x' = x - V g t, t' = t, where V g is the pulse group velocity. In contrast, SBBS in a long pulse can be absolutely unstable and grows indefinitely, or until nonlinearities intervene. We find that the motion of the laser pulse induces Doppler related effects that substantially modify the backscattered spectrum at higher intensities, where the instability is strongly coupled (i.e. , has a growth rate large compared to the ion acoustic frequency)

  1. Effect of cAMP on short-circuit current in isolated human ciliary body.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ren-yi; Ma, Ning; Hu, Qian-qian

    2013-07-01

    Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) could activate chloride channels in bovine ciliary body and trigger an increase in the ionic current (short-circuit current, Isc) across the ciliary processes in pigs. The purpose of this study was to investigate how cAMP modulates Isc in isolated human ciliary processes and the possible involvement of chloride transport across the tissue in cAMP-induced Isc change. In an Ussing-type chamber system, the Isc changes induced by the cAMP analogue 8-bromo-cAMP and an adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin in isolated human ciliary processes were assessed. The involvement of Cl(-) component in the bath solution was investigated. The effect of Cl(-) channel (10 µmol/L niflumic acid and 1 mmol/L 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS)), K(+) channel (10 mmol/L tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA)), or Na(+) channel blockers (1 mmol/L amiloride) on 8-bromo-cAMP-induced Isc change was also studied. Dose-dependently, 8-bromo-cAMP (10 nmol/L-30 µmol/L) or forskolin (10 nmol/L-3 µmol/L) increased Isc across the ciliary processes with an increase in negative potential difference on the non-pigmented epithelium (NPE) side of the tissue. Isc increase induced by 8-bromo-cAMP was more pronounced when the drug was applied on the NPE side than on the pigmented epithelium side. When the tissue was bathed in low Cl(-) solutions, the Isc increase was significantly inhibited. Finally, niflumic acid and DIDS, but not TEA or amiloride, significantly prevented the Isc increase induced by 8-bromo-cAMP. cAMP stimulates stroma-to-aqueous anionic transport in isolated human ciliary processes. Chloride is likely to be among the ions, the transportation of which across the tissue is triggered by cAMP, suggesting the potential role of cAMP in the process of aqueous humor formation in human eyes.

  2. Zero-point length from string fluctuations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fontanini, Michele; Spallucci, Euro; Padmanabhan, T.

    2006-01-01

    One of the leading candidates for quantum gravity, viz. string theory, has the following features incorporated in it. (i) The full spacetime is higher-dimensional, with (possibly) compact extra-dimensions; (ii) there is a natural minimal length below which the concept of continuum spacetime needs to be modified by some deeper concept. On the other hand, the existence of a minimal length (zero-point length) in four-dimensional spacetime, with obvious implications as UV regulator, has been often conjectured as a natural aftermath of any correct quantum theory of gravity. We show that one can incorporate the apparently unrelated pieces of information-zero-point length, extra-dimensions, string T-duality-in a consistent framework. This is done in terms of a modified Kaluza-Klein theory that interpolates between (high-energy) string theory and (low-energy) quantum field theory. In this model, the zero-point length in four dimensions is a 'virtual memory' of the length scale of compact extra-dimensions. Such a scale turns out to be determined by T-duality inherited from the underlying fundamental string theory. From a low energy perspective short distance infinities are cutoff by a minimal length which is proportional to the square root of the string slope, i.e., α ' . Thus, we bridge the gap between the string theory domain and the low energy arena of point-particle quantum field theory

  3. Verbal Short-Term Memory Span in Speech-Disordered Children: Implications for Articulatory Coding in Short-Term Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raine, Adrian; And Others

    1991-01-01

    Children with speech disorders had lower short-term memory capacity and smaller word length effect than control children. Children with speech disorders also had reduced speech-motor activity during rehearsal. Results suggest that speech rate may be a causal determinant of verbal short-term memory capacity. (BC)

  4. Extreme telomere length dimorphism in the Tasmanian devil and related marsupials suggests parental control of telomere length.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah S Bender

    Full Text Available Telomeres, specialised structures that protect chromosome ends, play a critical role in preserving chromosome integrity. Telomere dynamics in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii are of particular interest in light of the emergence of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD, a transmissible malignancy that causes rapid mortality and threatens the species with extinction. We used fluorescent in situ hybridisation to investigate telomere length in DFTD cells, in healthy Tasmanian devils and in four closely related marsupial species. Here we report that animals in the Order Dasyuromorphia have chromosomes characterised by striking telomere length dimorphism between homologues. Findings in sex chromosomes suggest that telomere length dimorphism may be regulated by events in the parental germlines. Long telomeres on the Y chromosome imply that telomere lengthening occurs during spermatogenesis, whereas telomere diminution occurs during oogenesis. Although found in several somatic cell tissue types, telomere length dimorphism was not found in DFTD cancer cells, which are characterised by uniformly short telomeres. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of naturally occurring telomere length dimorphism in any species and suggests a novel strategy of telomere length control. Comparative studies in five distantly related marsupials and a monotreme indicate that telomere dimorphism evolved at least 50 million years ago.

  5. Fragment Length of Circulating Tumor DNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underhill, Hunter R; Kitzman, Jacob O; Hellwig, Sabine; Welker, Noah C; Daza, Riza; Baker, Daniel N; Gligorich, Keith M; Rostomily, Robert C; Bronner, Mary P; Shendure, Jay

    2016-07-01

    Malignant tumors shed DNA into the circulation. The transient half-life of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may afford the opportunity to diagnose, monitor recurrence, and evaluate response to therapy solely through a non-invasive blood draw. However, detecting ctDNA against the normally occurring background of cell-free DNA derived from healthy cells has proven challenging, particularly in non-metastatic solid tumors. In this study, distinct differences in fragment length size between ctDNAs and normal cell-free DNA are defined. Human ctDNA in rat plasma derived from human glioblastoma multiforme stem-like cells in the rat brain and human hepatocellular carcinoma in the rat flank were found to have a shorter principal fragment length than the background rat cell-free DNA (134-144 bp vs. 167 bp, respectively). Subsequently, a similar shift in the fragment length of ctDNA in humans with melanoma and lung cancer was identified compared to healthy controls. Comparison of fragment lengths from cell-free DNA between a melanoma patient and healthy controls found that the BRAF V600E mutant allele occurred more commonly at a shorter fragment length than the fragment length of the wild-type allele (132-145 bp vs. 165 bp, respectively). Moreover, size-selecting for shorter cell-free DNA fragment lengths substantially increased the EGFR T790M mutant allele frequency in human lung cancer. These findings provide compelling evidence that experimental or bioinformatic isolation of a specific subset of fragment lengths from cell-free DNA may improve detection of ctDNA.

  6. Quantifying Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffin Congener Groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yuan, Bo; Bogdal, Christian; Berger, Urs; MacLeod, Matthew; Gebbink, Wouter A.; Alsberg, Tomas; Wit, de Cynthia A.

    2017-01-01

    Accurate quantification of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) poses an exceptional challenge to analytical chemists. SCCPs are complex mixtures of chlorinated alkanes with variable chain length and chlorination level; congeners with a fixed chain length (n) and number of chlorines (m) are

  7. The Long and the Short of It: The Use of Short Films in the German Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundquist, John

    2010-01-01

    This article focuses on the benefits of using short film in the German classroom at the secondary or post-secondary level. The article addresses a number of characteristics of short films that lend themselves well to the classroom, including their abbreviated length, artistic innovation, and compact storytelling. In addition to discussing specific…

  8. Scale Length of the Galactic Thin Disk

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    tribpo

    thin disk density scale length, hR, is rather short (2.7 ± 0.1 kpc). Key words. ... The 2MASS near infrared data provide, for the first time, deep star counts on a ... peaks allows to adjust the spatial extinction law in the model. ... probability that fi.

  9. Does hair coat length affect flea infestation in naturally infested dogs?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Guilherme Araujo Collares da; Lins, Luciana Araujo; Irala, Márcio Josué Costa; Cárcamo, Marcial Corrêa; Ribeiro, Paulo Bretanha

    2016-01-01

    The Siphonaptera are parasitic insects of endothermic animals and Ctenocephalides felis and Pulex irritans are important parasites of dogs. This study evaluated the effect of hair coat length and time of year on the population size of C. felis and P. irritans in naturally infested dogs. Fleas were collected from 14 dogs on a monthly basis for a year (February 2015 to January 2016) at a rural property in Bagé, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The dogs were divided into two groups based on hair coat length: short coat (coat length coat (coat length > 5.0 cm, n= 7). In total, 2057 fleas were collected, 1541 of which were C. felis (74.91%) and 516 were P. irritans (25.08%). The number of C. felis and P. irritans individuals was significantly affected by hair coat length and time of year. The variation in flea numbers over the study months was higher in long-coated than in short-coated dogs for the two flea species and flea numbers increased with increasing mean monthly temperatures. The results provide a better understanding of behavioral aspects of flea communities in dogs and may help develop control strategies targeting these parasites.

  10. Is the word-length effect linked to subvocal rehearsal?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacquemot, Charlotte; Dupoux, Emmanuel; Bachoud-Lévi, Anne-Catherine

    2011-04-01

    Models of phonological short-term memory (pSTM) generally distinguish between two components: a phonological buffer and a subvocal rehearsal. Evidence for these two components comes, respectively, from the phonological similarity effect and the word-length effect which disappears under articulatory suppression. But alternative theories posit that subvocal rehearsal is only an optional component of the pSTM. According to them, the depletion of the length effect under articulatory suppression results from the interference of the self-produced speech rather than the disruption of subvocal rehearsal. In order to disentangle these two theories, we tested two patients with a short-term memory deficit. FA, who presents a pseudoword repetition deficit, and FL, who does not. FA's deficit allowed for the observance of an ecological case of subvocal rehearsal disruption without any articulatory suppression task. FA's performance in pSTM tasks reveals as controls a phonological similarity effect, and contrary to controls no word-length effect. In contrast, the second patient, FL, exhibits the same effects as control subjects. This result is in accordance with models of pSTM in which the word-length effect emerges from subvocal rehearsal and disappears when this latter is disrupted. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

  11. Molecular identification of Candida species isolated from cases of neonatal candidemia using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in a tertiary care hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akeela Fatima

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Context: Candida spp. is an emerging cause of bloodstream infections worldwide. Delay in speciation of Candida isolates by conventional methods and resistance to antifungal drugs in various Candida species are responsible for the increase in morbidity and mortality due to candidemia. Hence, the rapid identification of Candida isolates is very important for the proper management of patients with candidemia. Aims: The aim was to re-evaluate the identification of various Candida spp. by polymerase chain reaction (PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP and to evaluate the accuracy, speed, and cost of phenotypic methodology versus PCR-RFLP. Settings and Design: Hospital-based cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Ninety consecutive clinical isolates of seven Candida species, isolated from blood of neonates and identified by routine phenotypic methods, were re-evaluated using universal primers internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1 and ITS4 for PCR amplification and Msp I restriction enzyme for RFLP. Statistical Analysis Used: Kappa test for agreement. Results: The results of PCR-RFLP were 100% in agreement with those obtained using conventional phenotypic methods. Identification could be achieved within 3 work days by both the methods. Our routine methods proved to be cost effective than PCR-RFLP. Conclusions: We can continue with our routine phenotypic methods and PCR-RFLP can be used for periodic quality control or when conventional methods fail to identify a species.

  12. GINGER simulations of short-pulse effects in the LEUTL FEL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Z.; Fawley, W.M.

    2001-01-01

    While the long-pulse, coasting beam model is often used in analysis and simulation of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron lasers (FELs), many current SASE demonstration experiments employ relatively short electron bunches whose pulse length is on the order of the radiation slippage length. In particular, the low-energy undulator test line (LEUTL) FEL at the Advanced Photon Source has recently lased and nominally saturated in both visible and near-ultraviolet wavelength regions with a sub-ps pulse length that is somewhat shorter than the total slippage length in the 22-m undulator system. In this paper we explore several characteristics of the short pulse regime for SASE FELs with the multidimensional, time-dependent simulation code GINGER, concentrating on making a direct comparison with the experimental results from LEUTL. Items of interest include the radiation gain length, pulse energy, saturation position, and spectral bandwidth. We address the importance of short-pulse effects when scaling the LEUTL results to proposed x-ray FELs and also briefly discuss the possible importance of coherent spontaneous emission at startup

  13. All-optical, thermo-optical path length modulation based on the vanadium-doped fibers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matjasec, Ziga; Campelj, Stanislav; Donlagic, Denis

    2013-05-20

    This paper presents an all-fiber, fully-optically controlled, optical-path length modulator based on highly absorbing optical fiber. The modulator utilizes a high-power 980 nm pump diode and a short section of vanadium-co-doped single mode fiber that is heated through absorption and a non-radiative relaxation process. The achievable path length modulation range primarily depends on the pump's power and the convective heat-transfer coefficient of the surrounding gas, while the time response primarily depends on the heated fiber's diameter. An absolute optical length change in excess of 500 µm and a time-constant as short as 11 ms, were demonstrated experimentally. The all-fiber design allows for an electrically-passive and remote operation of the modulator. The presented modulator could find use within various fiber-optics systems that require optical (remote) path length control or modulation.

  14. Social isolation shortens telomeres in African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Aydinonat

    Full Text Available Telomeres, the caps of eukaryotic chromosomes, control chromosome stability and cellular senescence, but aging and exposure to chronic stress are suspected to cause attrition of telomere length. We investigated the effect of social isolation on telomere length in the highly social and intelligent African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus. Our study population consisted of single-housed (n = 26 and pair-housed (n = 19 captive individuals between 0.75 to 45 years of age. Relative telomere length of erythrocyte DNA was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. We found that telomere length declined with age (p<0.001, and socially isolated parrots had significantly shorter telomeres compared to pair-housed birds (p<0.001 - even among birds of similar ages. Our findings provide the first evidence that social isolation affects telomere length, which supports the hypothesis that telomeres provide a biomarker indicating exposure to chronic stress.

  15. Mature clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats RNA (crRNA) length is measured by a ruler mechanism anchored at the precursor processing site.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatoum-Aslan, Asma; Maniv, Inbal; Marraffini, Luciano A

    2011-12-27

    Precise RNA processing is fundamental to all small RNA-mediated interference pathways. In prokaryotes, clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) loci encode small CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) that protect against invasive genetic elements by antisense targeting. CRISPR loci are transcribed as a long precursor that is cleaved within repeat sequences by CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins. In many organisms, this primary processing generates crRNA intermediates that are subject to additional nucleolytic trimming to render mature crRNAs of specific lengths. The molecular mechanisms underlying this maturation event remain poorly understood. Here, we defined the genetic requirements for crRNA primary processing and maturation in Staphylococcus epidermidis. We show that changes in the position of the primary processing site result in extended or diminished maturation to generate mature crRNAs of constant length. These results indicate that crRNA maturation occurs by a ruler mechanism anchored at the primary processing site. We also show that maturation is mediated by specific cas genes distinct from those genes involved in primary processing, showing that this event is directed by CRISPR/Cas loci.

  16. Identification of cultured isolates of clinically important yeast species using fluorescent fragment length analysis of the amplified internally transcribed rRNA spacer 2 region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muylaert An

    2002-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The number of patients with yeast infection has increased during the last years. Also the variety of species of clinical importance has increased. Correct species identification is often important for efficient therapy, but is currently mostly based on phenotypic features and is sometimes time-consuming and depends largely on the expertise of technicians. Therefore, we evaluated the feasibility of PCR-based amplification of the internally transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2, followed by fragment size analysis on the ABI Prism 310 for the identification of clinically important yeasts. Results A rapid DNA-extraction method, based on simple boiling-freezing was introduced. Of the 26 species tested, 22 could be identified unambiguously by scoring the length of the ITS2-region. No distinction could be made between the species Trichosporon asteroides and T. inkin or between T. mucoides and T. ovoides. The two varieties of Cryptococcus neoformans (var. neoformans and var. gattii could be differentiated from each other due to a one bp length difference of the ITS2 fragment. The three Cryptococcus laurentii isolates were split into two groups according to their ITS2-fragment lengths, in correspondence with the phylogenetic groups described previously. Since the obtained fragment lengths compare well to those described previously and could be exchanged between two laboratories, an internationally usable library of ITS2 fragment lengths can be constructed. Conclusions The existing ITS2 size based library enables identification of most of the clinically important yeast species within 6 hours starting from a single colony and can be easily updated when new species are described. Data can be exchanged between laboratories.

  17. Length dependence of rectification in organic co-oligomer spin rectifiers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Gui-Chao; Zhang Zhao; Li Ying; Ren Jun-Feng; Wang Chuan-Kui

    2016-01-01

    The rectification ratio of organic magnetic co-oligomer diodes is investigated theoretically by changing the molecular length. The results reveal two distinct length dependences of the rectification ratio: for a short molecular diode, the charge-current rectification changes little with the increase of molecular length, while the spin-current rectification is weakened sharply by the length; for a long molecular diode, both the charge-current and spin-current rectification ratios increase quickly with the length. The two kinds of dependence switch at a specific length accompanied with an inversion of the rectifying direction. The molecular ortibals and spin-resolved transmission analysis indicate that the dominant mechanism of rectification suffers a change at this specific length, that is, from asymmetric shift of molecular eigenlevels to asymmetric spatial localization of wave functions upon the reversal of bias. This work demonstrates a feasible way to control the rectification in organic co-oligomer spin diodes by adjusting the molecular length. (paper)

  18. Enhanced ductility of Mg–3Al–1Zn alloy reinforced with short length multi-walled carbon nanotubes using a powder metallurgy method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Rashad

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Mg–3Al–1Zn–CNTs composites, with different weight fractions (0.25–1.0 wt% of carbon nanotubes (CNTs were successfully fabricated via a powder metallurgy method. The processing parameters were adopted in such a way to have uniform dispersion of short length CNTs without any damage, as well as refined and dissolved β phases structures throughout the composite matrix. The composite exhibited impressive increase in microhardness (about +23% and tensile failure strain value (about +98% without significant compromise in tensile strength, compared to the un-reinforced Mg–3Al–1Zn alloy. The synthesized composites can be used in automotive and aerospace industries due to their low density and high specific strength.

  19. Leg Length, Body Proportion, and Health: A Review with a Note on Beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogin, Barry; Varela-Silva, Maria Inês

    2010-01-01

    Decomposing stature into its major components is proving to be a useful strategy to assess the antecedents of disease, morbidity and death in adulthood. Human leg length (femur + tibia), sitting height (trunk length + head length) and their proportions, for example, (leg length/stature), or the sitting height ratio (sitting height/stature × 100), among others) are associated with epidemiological risk for overweight (fatness), coronary heart disease, diabetes, liver dysfunction and certain cancers. There is also wide support for the use of relative leg length as an indicator of the quality of the environment for growth during infancy, childhood and the juvenile years of development. Human beings follow a cephalo-caudal gradient of growth, the pattern of growth common to all mammals. A special feature of the human pattern is that between birth and puberty the legs grow relatively faster than other post-cranial body segments. For groups of children and youth, short stature due to relatively short legs (i.e., a high sitting height ratio) is generally a marker of an adverse environment. The development of human body proportions is the product of environmental x genomic interactions, although few if any specific genes are known. The HOXd and the short stature homeobox-containing gene (SHOX) are genomic regions that may be relevant to human body proportions. For example, one of the SHOX related disorders is Turner syndrome. However, research with non-pathological populations indicates that the environment is a more powerful force influencing leg length and body proportions than genes. Leg length and proportion are important in the perception of human beauty, which is often considered a sign of health and fertility. PMID:20617018

  20. Nutritive support in short Bowel syndrome (sbs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simić Dušica

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Short bowel syndrome most commonly result after bowel resection for necrosis of the bowel. It may be caused by arterial or venous thrombosis, volvolus and in children, necrotizing enterocolitis. The other causes are Crohn,s disease intestinal atresia. The factors influencing the risk on short bowel syndrome are the remaining length of the small bowel, the age of onset, the length of the colon, the presence or absence of the ileo-coecal valve and the time after resection. Besides nutritional deficiencies there some other consequences of extensive resections of the small intestine (gastric acid hypersecretion, d-lactic acidosis, nephrolithiasis, cholelithiasis, which must be diagnosed, treated, and if possible, prevented. With current therapy most patients with short bowel have normal body mass index and good quality of life.

  1. Metal halide arc discharge lamp having short arc length

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muzeroll, Martin E. (Inventor)

    1994-01-01

    A metal halide arc discharge lamp includes a sealed light-transmissive outer jacket, a light-transmissive shroud located within the outer jacket and an arc tube assembly located within the shroud. The arc tube assembly includes an arc tube, electrodes mounted within the arc tube and a fill material for supporting an arc discharge. The electrodes have a spacing such that an electric field in a range of about 60 to 95 volts per centimeter is established between the electrodes. The diameter of the arc tube and the spacing of the electrodes are selected to provide an arc having an arc diameter to arc length ratio in a range of about 1.6 to 1.8. The fill material includes mercury, sodium iodide, scandium tri-iodide and a rare gas, and may include lithium iodide. The lamp exhibits a high color rendering index, high lumen output and high color temperature.

  2. The loss of short-term visual representations over time: decay or temporal distinctiveness?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercer, Tom

    2014-12-01

    There has been much recent interest in the loss of visual short-term memories over the passage of time. According to decay theory, visual representations are gradually forgotten as time passes, reflecting a slow and steady distortion of the memory trace. However, this is controversial and decay effects can be explained in other ways. The present experiment aimed to reexamine the maintenance and loss of visual information over the short term. Decay and temporal distinctiveness models were tested using a delayed discrimination task, in which participants compared complex and novel objects over unfilled retention intervals of variable length. Experiment 1 found no significant change in the accuracy of visual memory from 2 to 6 s, but the gap separating trials reliably influenced task performance. Experiment 2 found evidence for information loss at a 10-s retention interval, but temporally separating trials restored the fidelity of visual memory, possibly because temporally isolated representations are distinct from older memory traces. In conclusion, visual representations lose accuracy at some point after 6 s, but only within temporally crowded contexts. These findings highlight the importance of temporal distinctiveness within visual short-term memory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  3. Rapid and reversible impairments of short- and long-term social recognition memory are caused by acute isolation of adult rats via distinct mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahar-Gold, Hadar; Gur, Rotem; Wagner, Shlomo

    2013-01-01

    Mammalian social organizations require the ability to recognize and remember individual conspecifics. This social recognition memory (SRM) can be examined in rodents using their innate tendency to investigate novel conspecifics more persistently than familiar ones. Here we used the SRM paradigm to examine the influence of housing conditions on the social memory of adult rats. We found that acute social isolation caused within few days a significant impairment in acquisition of short-term SRM of male and female rats. Moreover, SRM consolidation into long-term memory was blocked following only one day of social isolation. Both impairments were reversible, but with different time courses. Furthermore, only the impairment in SRM consolidation was reversed by systemic administration of arginine-vasopressin (AVP). In contrast to SRM, object recognition memory was not affected by social isolation. We conclude that acute social isolation rapidly induces reversible changes in the brain neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying SRM, which hamper its acquisition and completely block its consolidation. These changes occur via distinct, AVP sensitive and insensitive mechanisms. Thus, acute social isolation of rats swiftly causes changes in their brain and interferes with their normal social behavior.

  4. Rapid and reversible impairments of short- and long-term social recognition memory are caused by acute isolation of adult rats via distinct mechanisms.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hadar Shahar-Gold

    Full Text Available Mammalian social organizations require the ability to recognize and remember individual conspecifics. This social recognition memory (SRM can be examined in rodents using their innate tendency to investigate novel conspecifics more persistently than familiar ones. Here we used the SRM paradigm to examine the influence of housing conditions on the social memory of adult rats. We found that acute social isolation caused within few days a significant impairment in acquisition of short-term SRM of male and female rats. Moreover, SRM consolidation into long-term memory was blocked following only one day of social isolation. Both impairments were reversible, but with different time courses. Furthermore, only the impairment in SRM consolidation was reversed by systemic administration of arginine-vasopressin (AVP. In contrast to SRM, object recognition memory was not affected by social isolation. We conclude that acute social isolation rapidly induces reversible changes in the brain neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying SRM, which hamper its acquisition and completely block its consolidation. These changes occur via distinct, AVP sensitive and insensitive mechanisms. Thus, acute social isolation of rats swiftly causes changes in their brain and interferes with their normal social behavior.

  5. Short bunch length detector for ion beam with high bunch density

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tron, A.M.; Shako, V.V.

    1993-01-01

    The secondary electron rf monitors for short ion bunch phase distribution measurements are presented. Construction particularities of the monitors, influence of space charge of both the primary and the secondary electron beams on the phase resolution, thermal regime of the target during beam-target interaction are considered

  6. Increased Body Mass Index, Elevated C-reactive Protein, and Short Telomere Length

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rode, Line; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Weischer, Maren

    2014-01-01

    -reactive protein. SETTING AND DESIGN: We studied 45,069 individuals from the Copenhagen General Population Study with measurements of leukocyte telomere length, BMI, and C-reactive protein in a Mendelian randomization study. Using the three obesity-associated polymorphisms FTO rs9939609, MC4R rs17782313, and TMEM...

  7. The prevalence of isolated growth hormone deficiency among children of short stature in Jordan and its relationship with consanguinity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zayed, Ayman A; Mustafa Ali, Moaath K; Al-Ani, Mohammad A; Momani, Munther S; Yousef, Al-Motassem F

    2014-12-01

    The prevalence of isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) among short-statured children in Jordan, where consanguineous marriage (CM) is common, is unknown. No studies have investigated the relationship between degrees of consanguinity and IGHD. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of IGHD among short-statured children referred to a university hospital in Jordan and its relationship with different degrees of consanguinity. We conducted a 24-month cross-sectional observational trial at an outpatient tertiary care center in Amman, Jordan. We obtained detailed family histories, medical evaluations and laboratory tests for 94 short-statured children (50 boys and 44 girls aged 6-16 years). Complete and partial GHD were defined as peak GH responses of 5 and 7 μg/l (15 and 21 mIU/l) [IRMA/DiaSorin®], respectively, in both exercise and insulin tolerance tests. GHD was diagnosed in 69·1% of the short children, including 86% (43/50) of the children of consanguineous parents (83·3%, 93·8% and 81·8% of children of first cousins, first cousins once removed and second cousins, respectively) and 50% (20/44) of the children of nonconsanguineous parents (P = 0·039, 0·002 and 0·013, respectively). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of small pituitary MRI between GH-deficient children of consanguineous parents and those of nonconsanguineous parents (28·6% vs 13·6%, P = 0·3). The prevalence of IGHD among referred short children in Jordan was exceptionally high and significantly higher in the children of CM. In countries where CM is common, preconception counselling and rigorous surveillance for GHD in short children may be indicated. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Phylogenetic relationships of Chaetomium isolates based on the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Molecular characterization of 18 Chaetomium isolates collected from India based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rRNA gene sequences was done. Phylogenetic analysis of full length ITS region showed that Chaetomium globosum isolates, Cg1, Cg2, Cg6, Cg11 and Cg15, Chaetomium spp. isolates, ...

  9. Genotypic characterization of Salmonella by multilocus sequence typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and amplified fragment length polymorphism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Torpdahl, Mia; Skov, Marianne N.; Sandvang, Dorthe

    2005-01-01

    subspecies enterica isolates. A total of 25 serotypes were investigated that had been isolated from humans or veterinary sources in Denmark between 1995 and 2001. All isolates were genotyped by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and amplified fragment length...

  10. Isolation and characterization of a distinct duck-origin goose parvovirus causing an outbreak of duckling short beak and dwarfism syndrome in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shilong; Wang, Shao; Cheng, Xiaoxia; Xiao, Shifeng; Zhu, Xiaoli; Lin, Fengqiang; Wu, Nanyang; Wang, Jinxiang; Huang, Meiqing; Zheng, Min; Chen, Shaoying; Yu, Fusong

    2016-09-01

    Many mule duck and Cherry Valley duck flocks in different duck-producing regions of China have shown signs of an apparently new disease designated "short beak and dwarfism syndrome" (SBDS) since 2015. The disease is characterized by dyspraxia, weight loss, a protruding tongue, and high morbidity and low mortality rates. In order to characterize the etiological agent, a virus designated SBDSV M15 was isolated from allantoic fluid of dead embryos following serial passage in duck embryos. This virus causes a cytopathic effect in duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) cells. Using monoclonal antibody diagnostic assays, the SBDSV M15 isolate was positive for the antigen of goose parvovirus but not Muscovy duck parvovirus. A 348-bp (2604-2951) VP1gene fragment was amplified, and its sequence indicated that the virus was most closely related to a Hungarian GPV strain that was also isolated from mule ducks with SBDS disease. A similar disease was reproduced by inoculating birds with SBDSV M15. Together, these data indicate that SBDSV M15 is a GPV-related parvovirus causing SBDS disease and that it is divergent from classical GPV isolates.

  11. Electrostatic stiffening and induced persistence length for coassembled molecular bottlebrushes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Storm, Ingeborg M.; Stuart, Martien A.C.; Vries, de Renko; Leermakers, Frans A.M.

    2018-01-01

    A self-consistent field analysis for tunable contributions to the persistence length of isolated semiflexible polymer chains including electrostatically driven coassembled deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) bottlebrushes is presented. When a chain is charged, i.e., for polyelectrolytes, there is, in

  12. Integrated optical isolators using magnetic surface plasmon (Presentation Recording)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Hiromasa; Kaihara, Terunori; Umetsu, Saori; Hosoda, Masashi

    2015-09-01

    Optical isolators are one of the essential components to protect semiconductor laser diodes (LDs) from backward reflected light in integrated optics. In order to realize optical isolators, nonreciprocal propagation of light is necessary, which can be realized by magnetic materials. Semiconductor optical isolators have been strongly desired on Si and III/V waveguides. We have developed semiconductor optical isolators based on nonreciprocal loss owing to transverse magneto-optic Kerr effect, where the ferromagnetic metals are deposited on semiconductor optical waveguides1). Use of surface plasmon polariton at the interface of ferromagnetic metal and insulator leads to stronger optical confinement and magneto-optic effect. It is possible to modulate the optical confinement by changing the magnetic field direction, thus optical isolator operation is proposed2, 3). We have investigated surface plasmons at the interfaces between ferrimagnetic garnet/gold film, and applications to waveguide optical isolators. We assumed waveguides composed of Au/Si(38.63nm)/Ce:YIG(1700nm)/Si(220nm)/Si , and calculated the coupling lengths between Au/Si(38.63nm)/Ce:YIG plasmonic waveguide and Ce:YIG/Si(220nm)/Si waveguide for transversely magnetized Ce:YIG with forward and backward directions. The coupling length was calculated to 232.1um for backward propagating light. On the other hand, the coupling was not complete, and the length was calculated to 175.5um. The optical isolation by using the nonreciprocal coupling and propagation loss was calculated to be 43.7dB when the length of plasmonic waveguide is 700um. 1) H. Shimizu et al., J. Lightwave Technol. 24, 38 (2006). 2) V. Zayets et al., Materials, 5, 857-871 (2012). 3) J. Montoya, et al, J. Appl. Phys. 106, 023108, (2009).

  13. Amplified fragment length polymorphism and pulsed field gel electrophoresis for subspecies differentiation of Serpulina pilosicoli

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, Kristian; Jensen, Tim Kåre; Boye, Mette

    1999-01-01

    Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were compared for their ability to differentiate between 50 porcine Serpulina pilosicoli isolates. Both techniques were highly sensitive, dividing the isolates into 36 and 38 groups, respectively. Due...

  14. Measurement of the dechanneling length for high-energy negative pions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scandale, W.; Losito, R.; Bagli, E.; Bandiera, L.; Dalpiaz, P.; Fiorini, M.; Guidi, V.; Mazzolari, A.; Vincenzi, D.; Della Mea, G.; Vallazza, E.; Afonin, A.G.; Chesnokov, Yu.A.; Maisheev, V.A.; Yazynin, I.A.; Kovalenko, A.D.; Taratin, A.M.; Denisov, A.S.; Gavrikov, Yu.A.; Ivanov, Yu.M.

    2013-01-01

    We studied the dechanneling length of 150 GeV/cπ − interacting with a short bent silicon crystal. Dechanneling length measures the rate and the strength of incoherent interactions of channeled particles in a crystal. The mechanism of dechanneling of negatively charged particles has been elucidated through simulation and experiment. It was found that the dechanneling length for negative particles is comparable to the nuclear dechanneling length for positive charges. Indeed, dechanneling of negative particles occurs as a result of incoherent interactions with the nuclei because the trajectories of such particles always intersect atomic planes, explaining the lower channeling efficiency for such particles. Obtained results can be useful for the design of crystals for manipulating high-energy negative particle beams through channeling

  15. Racial/ethnic variations in perineal length and association with perineal lacerations: a prospective cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeaton-Massey, Amanda; Wong, Luchin; Sparks, Teresa N; Handler, Stephanie J; Meyer, Michelle R; Granados, Jesus M; Stasenko, Marina; Sit, Anita; Caughey, Aaron B

    2015-02-01

    To examine the association between race/ethnicity, perineal length and the risk of perineal laceration. This is a prospective cohort study of a diverse group of women with singleton gestations in the third trimester of pregnancy. Perineal length was measured and mean values calculated for several racial/ethnic groups. Chi-squared analyses were used to examine rates of severe perineal laceration (third or fourth degree laceration) by race/ethnicity among women considered to have a short perineal length. Further, subgroup analyses were performed comparing nulliparas to multiparas. Among 344 study participants, there was no statistically significant difference in mean perineal length by race/ethnicity (White 4.0 ± 1.1 cm, African-American 3.7 ± 1.0 cm, Latina 4.1 ± 1.1 cm, Asian 3.8 ± 1.0 cm, and other/unknown 4.0 ± 0.9 cm). Considering parity, more multiparous Asian and African-American women had a short perineal length (20.7 and 23.5%, respectively, p = 0.05). Finally, the rate of severe perineal lacerations in our cohort was 2.6% overall, but was 8.2% among Asian women (p = 0.04). We did not find a relationship between short perineal length and risk of severe perineal laceration with vaginal delivery, or a difference in mean perineal length by maternal race/ethnicity. However, we did find that women of different racial/ethnic groups have varying rates of severe perineal laceration, with Asian women comprising the highest proportion.

  16. Molecular comparisons of full length metapneumovirus (MPV genomes, including newly determined French AMPV-C and -D isolates, further supports possible subclassification within the MPV Genus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul A Brown

    Full Text Available Four avian metapneumovirus (AMPV subgroups (A-D have been reported previously based on genetic and antigenic differences. However, until now full length sequences of the only known isolates of European subgroup C and subgroup D viruses (duck and turkey origin, respectively have been unavailable. These full length sequences were determined and compared with other full length AMPV and human metapneumoviruses (HMPV sequences reported previously, using phylogenetics, comparisons of nucleic and amino acid sequences and study of codon usage bias. Results confirmed that subgroup C viruses were more closely related to HMPV than they were to the other AMPV subgroups in the study. This was consistent with previous findings using partial genome sequences. Closer relationships between AMPV-A, B and D were also evident throughout the majority of results. Three metapneumovirus "clusters" HMPV, AMPV-C and AMPV-A, B and D were further supported by codon bias and phylogenetics. The data presented here together with those of previous studies describing antigenic relationships also between AMPV-A, B and D and between AMPV-C and HMPV may call for a subclassification of metapneumoviruses similar to that used for avian paramyxoviruses, grouping AMPV-A, B and D as type I metapneumoviruses and AMPV-C and HMPV as type II.

  17. Newton's constant from a minimal length: additional models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sahlmann, Hanno

    2011-01-01

    We follow arguments of Verlinde (2010 arXiv:1001.0785 [hep-th]) and Klinkhamer (2010 arXiv:1006.2094 [hep-th]), and construct two models of the microscopic theory of a holographic screen that allow for the thermodynamical derivation of Newton's law, with Newton's constant expressed in terms of a minimal length scale l contained in the area spectrum of the microscopic theory. One of the models is loosely related to the quantum structure of surfaces and isolated horizons in loop quantum gravity. Our investigation shows that the conclusions reached by Klinkhamer regarding the new length scale l seem to be generic in all their qualitative aspects.

  18. Impact of patient-prosthesis mismatch following aortic valve replacement on short-term survival: a retrospective single center analysis of 632 consecutive patients with isolated stented biological aortic valve replacement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, Grischa; Ogbamicael, Selam Abraham; Jochens, Arne; Frank, Derk; Lutter, Georg; Cremer, Jochen; Petzina, Rainer

    2014-09-01

    The impact of patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) after aortic valve replacement (AVR) on short-term and long-term mortality remains controversial. The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence and severity of PPM and its impact on short-term survival in a large cohort of patients treated with isolated stented biological AVR in a single institution. We analyzed retrospectively data of 632 consecutive patients with aortic stenosis undergoing isolated stented biological AVR between January 2007 and February 2012 at our institution. PPM was defined as an indexed effective orifice area ≤ 0.85 cm(2)/m(2). Statistical analyses were performed to identify influencing variables on valve size implanted. Of the 632 patients investigated, 46% were females and mean age was 71.9 ± 10.4 years. PPM was observed in 93.8% (593 of 632 patients). In 71% of the patients, moderate (0.65-0.85 cm(2)/m(2)) PPM was present and in 22.8% severe (body mass index, and body surface area as simultaneous predictors of the valve size implanted (R(2)= 0.39). PPM had no discernable impact on short-term survival, although it was present in 93.8% of our patients following isolated stented biological AVR. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  19. Simple, Low-Cost Detection of Candida parapsilosis Complex Isolates and Molecular Fingerprinting of Candida orthopsilosis Strains in Kuwait by ITS Region Sequencing and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asadzadeh, Mohammad; Ahmad, Suhail; Hagen, Ferry; Meis, Jacques F; Al-Sweih, Noura; Khan, Ziauddin

    2015-01-01

    Candida parapsilosis has now emerged as the second or third most important cause of healthcare-associated Candida infections. Molecular studies have shown that phenotypically identified C. parapsilosis isolates represent a complex of three species, namely, C. parapsilosis, C. orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis. Lodderomyces elongisporus is another species phenotypically closely related to the C. parapsilosis-complex. The aim of this study was to develop a simple, low cost multiplex (m) PCR assay for species-specific identification of C. parapsilosis complex isolates and to study genetic relatedness of C. orthopsilosis isolates in Kuwait. Species-specific amplicons from C. parapsilosis (171 bp), C. orthopsilosis (109 bp), C. metapsilosis (217 bp) and L. elongisporus (258 bp) were obtained in mPCR. Clinical isolates identified as C. parapsilosis (n = 380) by Vitek2 in Kuwait and an international collection of 27 C. parapsilosis complex and L. elongisporus isolates previously characterized by rDNA sequencing were analyzed to evaluate mPCR. Species-specific PCR and DNA sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA were performed to validate the results of mPCR. Fingerprinting of 19 clinical C. orthopsilosis isolates (including 4 isolates from a previous study) was performed by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. Phenotypically identified C. parapsilosis isolates (n = 380) were identified as C. parapsilosis sensu stricto (n = 361), C. orthopsilosis (n = 15), C. metapsilosis (n = 1) and L. elongisporus (n = 3) by mPCR. The mPCR also accurately detected all epidemiologically unrelated C. parapsilosis complex and L. elongisporus isolates. The 19 C. orthopsilosis isolates obtained from 16 patients were divided into 3 haplotypes based on ITS region sequence data. Seven distinct genotypes were identified among the 19 C. orthopsilosis isolates by AFLP including a dominant genotype (AFLP1) comprising 11 isolates recovered from 10 patients. A

  20. Tandem Mass Spectrometry Detection of Quorum Sensing Activity in Multidrug Resistant Clinical Isolate Acinetobacter baumannii

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kok-Gan Chan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Many Proteobacteria communicate via production followed by response of quorum sensing molecules, namely, N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs. These molecules consist of a lactone moiety with N-acyl side chain with various chain lengths and degrees of saturation at C-3 position. AHL-dependent QS is often associated with regulation of diverse bacterial phenotypes including the expression of virulence factors. With the use of biosensor and high resolution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, the AHL production of clinical isolate A. baumannii 4KT was studied. Production of short chain AHL, namely, N-hexanoyl-homoserine lactone (C6-HSL and N-octanoyl-homoserine lactone (C8-HSL, was detected.

  1. Investment, Reprocurement and Franchise Contract Length in the British Railway Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Affuso, Luisa; Newbery, David M G

    2000-01-01

    This Paper studies the interaction between repeated auctions of rail franchises of different lengths, uncertainty, and incentives for investment in rolling stock, following the privatization of British Rail. Theoretical predictions are tested empirically using a unique panel of data. Theory suggests that short franchise lengths reduce incentives to invest in specific assets. Our empirical results suggest that competition and strategic behaviour at the re-procurement stage can create incentive...

  2. The word-length effect and disyllabic words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lovatt, P; Avons, S E; Masterson, J

    2000-02-01

    Three experiments compared immediate serial recall of disyllabic words that differed on spoken duration. Two sets of long- and short-duration words were selected, in each case maximizing duration differences but matching for frequency, familiarity, phonological similarity, and number of phonemes, and controlling for semantic associations. Serial recall measures were obtained using auditory and visual presentation and spoken and picture-pointing recall. In Experiments 1a and 1b, using the first set of items, long words were better recalled than short words. In Experiments 2a and 2b, using the second set of items, no difference was found between long and short disyllabic words. Experiment 3 confirmed the large advantage for short-duration words in the word set originally selected by Baddeley, Thomson, and Buchanan (1975). These findings suggest that there is no reliable advantage for short-duration disyllables in span tasks, and that previous accounts of a word-length effect in disyllables are based on accidental differences between list items. The failure to find an effect of word duration casts doubt on theories that propose that the capacity of memory span is determined by the duration of list items or the decay rate of phonological information in short-term memory.

  3. Morphological, chemical and molecular differentiation of Fusarium equiseti isolated from Norwegian cereals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosiak, Elzbieta Barbara; Holst-Jensen, Arne; Rundberget, Thomas; Gonzalez Jaen, Maria Teresa; Torp, Mona

    2005-03-15

    The morphological variation, secondary metabolite profiles and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of PCR amplified intergenic spacer (IGS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were studied in 27 isolates of Fusarium equiseti, 25 isolated from Norwegian cereals and 2 from soil obtained from the IBT culture collection (BioCentrum, Technical University of Denmark). All 27 isolates were tested for production of fusarochromanone (FUSCHR), zearalenone (ZEA) and the trichothecenes: 15-monoacetoxy-scirpentriol (MAS), diacetoxy-scirpenol (DAS), T-2 and HT-2 toxins, T2-triol, neosolaniol (NEO), deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV) and 4-acetylnivalenol (Fus-X). The trichothecenes were analysed by GC-MS in a selected ion monitoring mode, while FUSCHR was determined by ion pair HPLC with fluorometric detection and production of ZEA by TLC. For amplification of IGS rDNA primers CNL12 and CNS1 were applied. IGS rDNA was digested with the four restriction enzymes: AvaII, CfoI, EcoRI and Sau3A. In addition, we sequenced the IGS rDNA region of three of the Norwegian isolates. There were two morphological types among the Norwegian strains of F. equiseti, type I with short apical cells (dominating) and type II with long apical cells, with four haplotypes identified based on the RFLP data. Variation in secondary metabolite profiles within and between the morphological groups was observed and the levels of produced toxins were: FUSCHR 3000-42,500 and 25-30 ng/g, NIV 20-2500 and 120-700 ng/g, FUS-X 20-15,000 and 0 ng/g, DAS 30-7500 and 0-600 ng/g, and MAS 10-600 and 0-500 ng/g, for strains with short and long apical cells, respectively. NEO was detected in 16/27 strains tested (all morphotype I). All but four strains of type I (these four lacked a restriction site for EcoRI) had identical RFLP profiles. The isolates of type II had two haplotypes. The IGS sequence similarity data indicated differences between these morphotypes corresponding to two separate lineages apparently at the

  4. A phenomenological π-p scattering length from pionic hydrogen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ericson, T.E.O.; Loiseau, B.; Wycech, S.

    2004-01-01

    We derive a closed, model independent, expression for the electromagnetic correction factor to a phenomenological hadronic scattering length a h extracted from a hydrogenic atom. It is obtained in a non-relativistic approach and in the limit of a short ranged hadronic interaction to terms of order α 2 logα using an extended charge distribution. A hadronic πN scattering length a h π - p =0.0870(5)m π -1 is deduced leading to a πNN coupling constant from the GMO relation g c 2 /(4π)=14.04(17)

  5. Manipulating the stride length/stride velocity relationship of walking using a treadmill and rhythmic auditory cueing in non-disabled older individuals. A short-term feasibility study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eikema, D J A; Forrester, L W; Whitall, J

    2014-09-01

    One target for rehabilitating locomotor disorders in older adults is to increase mobility by improving walking velocity. Combining rhythmic auditory cueing (RAC) and treadmill training permits the study of the stride length/stride velocity ratio (SL/SV), often reduced in those with mobility deficits. We investigated the use of RAC to increase velocity by manipulating the SL/SV ratio in older adults. Nine participants (6 female; age: 61.1 ± 8.8 years) walked overground on a gait mat at preferred and fast speeds. After acclimatization to comfortable speed on a treadmill, participants adjusted their cadence to match the cue for 3 min at 115% of preferred speed by either (a) increasing stride length only or (b) increasing stride frequency only. Following training, participants walked across the gait mat at preferred velocity without, and then with, RAC. Group analysis determined no immediate overground velocity increase, but reintroducing RAC did produce an increase in velocity after both conditions. Group and single subject analysis determined that the SL/SV ratio changed in the intended direction only in the stride length condition. We conclude that RAC is a powerful organizer of gait parameters, evidenced by its induced after-effects following short duration training. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Foot length is a functional parameter for assessment of height.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishan, Kewal; Kanchan, Tanuj

    2013-03-01

    Stature estimation is considered as an important parameter in the examination of unknown human remains and during the analysis of evidence in crime scene investigations. During mass disasters isolated foot can be found enclosed in the shoes while footprints may be recovered at the crime scenes. Foot length and footprint length can provide valuable estimates of stature. The present communication makes a few pertinent observations on a recently published article in 'The Foot' entitled 'Foot length-a functional parameter for assessment of height, The Foot 2012, 22(1):31-34' and presents an insight into the literature available on the subject which is likely to be of value to future researchers in the field of Forensic Podiatry. The foot length and the footprint length of individuals differ from each other and hence, the research observations made in a study on foot prints cannot be applied to foot dimensions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. The screening length of interatomic potential in atomic collisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamura, Y.; Takeuchi, W.; Kawamura, T.

    1998-03-01

    In computer studies on the interaction of charged particle with solids, many authors treat the nuclear collision by the Thomas-Fermi screened Coulomb potential. For better agreement with experiment, the screening length is modified sometimes. We investigate the theoretical background for the correction factor of the screening length in the interatomic potential which can be deduced from two steps. The first step is to select the correction factor of an isolated atom so as to match the average radius of the Thomas-Fermi electron distribution with that of the Hartree-Fock electron distribution, where we use the Clementi and Roetti's table. The second step is to determine the correction factor of the screening length of the interatomic potential by using a combination rule. The correction factors obtained for the screening length are in good agreement with those determined by the computer analysis of the Impact Collision Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (ICISS) data. (author)

  8. Short telomere length is associated with impaired cognitive performance in European ancestry cohorts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hägg, S.; Zhan, Y.; Karlsson, Robert; Gerritsen, L.; Ploner, A.; Lee, J.S.; Broer, L.; Deelen, J.; Marioni, R.E.; Wong, A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/29867291X; Lundquist, A.; Zhu, G.; Hansell, N.K.; Sillanpää, E.; Fedko, I O; Amin, N.A.; Beekman, Jeffrey M.; de Craen, A.J.M.; Degerman, S.; Harris, S.E.; Kan, K.-J.; Martin-Ruiz, C.M.; Montgomery, Grant W.; Adolfsson, A.N.; Reynolds, Chandra A.; Samani, Nilesh J; Suchiman, H.E.D.; Viljanen, A.; Von Zglinicki, T.; Wright, M J; Hottenga, J.J.; Boomsma, Dorret I; Rantanen, T.; Kaprio, J.A.; Nyholt, D.R.; Martin, N.G.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/314123083; Nyberg, Lars; Adolfsson, R.; Kuh, D.; Starr, John M; Deary, Ian J; Slagboom, P Eline; Van Duijn, C.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/068368232; Codd, V.; Pedersen, Nancy L.

    2017-01-01

    The association between telomere length (TL) dynamics on cognitive performance over the life-course is not well understood. This study meta-analyses observational and causal associations between TL and six cognitive traits, with stratifications on APOE genotype, in a Mendelian Randomization (MR)

  9. Aminophylline increases seizure length during electroconvulsive therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stern, L; Dannon, P N; Hirschmann, S; Schriber, S; Amytal, D; Dolberg, O T; Grunhaus, L

    1999-12-01

    Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered to be one of the most effective treatments for patients with major depression and persistent psychosis. Seizure characteristics probably determine the therapeutic effect of ECT; as a consequence, short seizures are accepted as one of the factors of poor outcome. During most ECT courses seizure threshold increases and seizure duration decreases. Methylxanthine preparations, caffeine, and theophylline have been used to prolong seizure duration. The use of aminophylline, more readily available than caffeine, has not been well documented. The objective of this study was to test the effects of aminophylline on seizure length. Fourteen drug-free patients with diagnoses of affective disorder or psychotic episode receiving ECT participated in this study. Seizure length was assessed clinically and per EEG. Statistical comparisons were done using paired t tests. A significant increase (p < 0.04) in seizure length was achieved and maintained on three subsequent treatments with aminophylline. No adverse events were noted from the addition of aminophylline.

  10. Transcriptomic analysis of short-fruit 1 (sf1) reveals new insights into the variation of fruit-related traits in Cucumis sativus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lina; Cao, Chenxing; Zheng, Shuangshuang; Zhang, Haiyang; Liu, Panjing; Ge, Qian; Li, Jinrui; Ren, Zhonghai

    2017-06-07

    Fruit size is an important quality trait in different market classes of Cucumis sativus L., an economically important vegetable cultivated worldwide, but the genetic and molecular mechanisms that control fruit size are largely unknown. In this study, we isolated a natural cucumber mutant, short fruit 1 (sf1), caused by a single recessive Mendelian factor, from the North China-type inbred line CNS2. In addition to significantly decreased fruit length, other fruit-related phenotypic variations were also observed in sf1 compared to the wild-type (WT) phenotype, indicating that sf1 might have pleiotropic effects. Microscopic imaging showed that fruit cell size in sf1 was much larger than that in WT, suggesting that the short fruit phenotype in sf1 is caused by decreased cell number. Fine mapping revealed that sf1 was localized to a 174.3 kb region on chromosome 6. Similarly, SNP association analysis of bulked segregant RNA-Seq data showed increased SNP frequency in the same region of chromosome 6. In addition, transcriptomic analysis revealed that sf1 might control fruit length through the fine-tuning of cytokinin and auxin signalling, gibberellin biosynthesis and signal transduction in cucumber fruits. Overall, our results provide important information for further study of fruit length and other fruit-related features in cucumber.

  11. LPI Thresholds in Longer Scale Length Plasmas Driven by the Nike Laser*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, J.; Oh, J.; Phillips, L.; Afeyan, B.; Seely, J.; Kehne, D.; Brown, C.; Obenschain, S.; Serlin, V.; Schmitt, A. J.; Feldman, U.; Holland, G.; Lehmberg, R. H.; McLean, E.; Manka, C.

    2010-11-01

    The Krypton-Fluoride (KrF) laser is an attractive driver for inertial confinement fusion due to its short wavelength (248nm), large bandwidth (1-3 THz), and beam smoothing by induced spatial incoherence. Experiments with the Nike KrF laser have demonstrated intensity thresholds for laser plasma instabilities (LPI) higher than reported for other high power lasers operating at longer wavelengths (>=351 nm). The previous Nike experiments used short pulses (350 ps FWHM) and small spots (<260 μm FWHM) that created short density scale length plasmas (Ln˜50-70 μm) from planar CH targets and demonstrated the onset of two-plasmon decay (2φp) at laser intensities ˜2x10^15 W/cm^2. This talk will present an overview of the current campaign that uses longer pulses (0.5-4.0 ns) to achieve greater density scale lengths (Ln˜100-200 μm). X-rays, emission near ^1/2φo and ^3/2φo harmonics, and reflected laser light have been monitored for onset of 2φp. The longer density scale lengths will allow better comparison to results from other laser facilities. *Work supported by DoE/NNSA and ONR.

  12. Genetic characterization of human herpesvirus type 1: Full-length genome sequence of strain obtained from an encephalitis case from India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vijay P Bondre

    2016-01-01

    Interpretation & conclusions: Our results showed that the full-length genome sequence generated from an Indian HSV-1 isolate shared close genetic relationship with the American KOS and Chinese CR38 strains which belonged to the Asian genetic lineage. Recombination analysis of Indian isolate demonstrated multiple recombination crossover points throughout the genome. This full-length genome sequence amplified from the Indian isolate would be helpful to study HSV evolution, genetic basis of differential pathogenesis, host-virus interactions and viral factors contributing towards differential clinical outcome in human infections.

  13. Word-Length Correlations and Memory in Large Texts: A Visibility Network Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lev Guzmán-Vargas

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available We study the correlation properties of word lengths in large texts from 30 ebooks in the English language from the Gutenberg Project (www.gutenberg.org using the natural visibility graph method (NVG. NVG converts a time series into a graph and then analyzes its graph properties. First, the original sequence of words is transformed into a sequence of values containing the length of each word, and then, it is integrated. Next, we apply the NVG to the integrated word-length series and construct the network. We show that the degree distribution of that network follows a power law, P ( k ∼ k - γ , with two regimes, which are characterized by the exponents γ s ≈ 1 . 7 (at short degree scales and γ l ≈ 1 . 3 (at large degree scales. This suggests that word lengths are much more strongly correlated at large distances between words than at short distances between words. That finding is also supported by the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA and recurrence time distribution. These results provide new information about the universal characteristics of the structure of written texts beyond that given by word frequencies.

  14. Phenotypic analysis of newly isolated short-lifespan Neurospora crassa mutant deficient in a high mobility group box protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshihara, Ryouhei; Li, ZhengHao; Ishimori, Keisuke; Kuwabara, Kazuki; Hatakeyama, Shin; Tanaka, Shuuitsu

    2017-08-01

    To elucidate genetic mechanisms affecting the lifespan of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa, we attempted to identify a gene of which a defect causes a short-lifespan. By screening a Neurospora knockout library, provided by the Fungal Genetics Stock Center at Kansas State University, several KO strains with a short-lifespan were isolated. FGSC#11693 is one of these, which shows similar phenotypes to known Neurospora short-lifespan mutants as follows: 1) hyphal growth ceases after about 2weeks of cultivation, despite that of the wild-type continuing for over 2years, 2) viability of conidia is lower than that of the wild-type, and 3) high sensitivity to mutagens such as methyl methanesulfonate, ultraviolet radiation, and hydroxyl urea is exhibited. The NCU number of the knocked-out gene in the KO strain is NCU02695, and recovery from the short-lifespan and mutagen sensitivity was achieved by the introduction of this gene from the wild-type. The putative amino acid sequence of the knocked-out gene contains two high mobility group box domains and a mitochondrial localization signal is found at the N-terminal of this sequence. Upon analyzing the subcellular localization of the gene product fused with GFP, GFP signals were detected in mitochondria. From these observations, the gene and KO strain were named mitochondrial high mobility group box protein 1 (MHG1) and mhg1 KO strain, respectively. The amount of mtDNA relative to the nuclear amount was lower in the mhg1 KO strain than in the wild-type. mtDNA aberration was also observed in the mhg1 KO strain. These results suggest that the MHG1 protein plays an important role in the maintenance of mitochondrial DNA, and mitochondrial abnormality caused by mtDNA aberration is responsible for the short-lifespan of the mhg1 KO strain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. DNA Length Modulates the Affinity of Fragments of Genomic DNA for the Nuclear Matrix In Vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Vilchis, David; Aranda-Anzaldo, Armando

    2017-12-01

    Classical observations have shown that during the interphase the chromosomal DNA of metazoans is organized in supercoiled loops attached to a compartment known as the nuclear matrix (NM). Fragments of chromosomal DNA able to bind the isolated NM in vitro are known as matrix associated/attachment/addressed regions or MARs. No specific consensus sequence or motif has been found that may constitute a universal, defining feature of MARs. On the other hand, high-salt resistant DNA-NM interactions in situ define true DNA loop anchorage regions or LARs, that might correspond to a subset of the potential MARs but are not necessarily identical to MARs characterized in vitro, since there are several examples of MARs able to bind the NM in vitro but which are not actually bound to the NM in situ. In the present work we assayed the capacity of two LARs, as well as of shorter fragments within such LARs, for binding to the NM in vitro. Paradoxically the isolated (≈2 kb) LARs cannot bind to the NM in vitro while their shorter (≈300 pb) sub-fragments and other non-related but equally short DNA fragments, bind to the NM in a high-salt resistant fashion. Our results suggest that the ability of a given DNA fragment for binding to the NM in vitro primarily depends on the length of the fragment, suggesting that binding to the NM is modulated by the local topology of the DNA fragment in suspension that it is known to depend on the DNA length. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 4487-4497, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Subtyping Salmonella enterica serovar enteritidis isolates from different sources by using sequence typing based on virulence genes and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Fenyun; Kariyawasam, Subhashinie; Jayarao, Bhushan M; Barrangou, Rodolphe; Gerner-Smidt, Peter; Ribot, Efrain M; Knabel, Stephen J; Dudley, Edward G

    2011-07-01

    Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis is a major cause of food-borne salmonellosis in the United States. Two major food vehicles for S. Enteritidis are contaminated eggs and chicken meat. Improved subtyping methods are needed to accurately track specific strains of S. Enteritidis related to human salmonellosis throughout the chicken and egg food system. A sequence typing scheme based on virulence genes (fimH and sseL) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs)-CRISPR-including multi-virulence-locus sequence typing (designated CRISPR-MVLST)-was used to characterize 35 human clinical isolates, 46 chicken isolates, 24 egg isolates, and 63 hen house environment isolates of S. Enteritidis. A total of 27 sequence types (STs) were identified among the 167 isolates. CRISPR-MVLST identified three persistent and predominate STs circulating among U.S. human clinical isolates and chicken, egg, and hen house environmental isolates in Pennsylvania, and an ST that was found only in eggs and humans. It also identified a potential environment-specific sequence type. Moreover, cluster analysis based on fimH and sseL identified a number of clusters, of which several were found in more than one outbreak, as well as 11 singletons. Further research is needed to determine if CRISPR-MVLST might help identify the ecological origins of S. Enteritidis strains that contaminate chickens and eggs.

  17. Isolation and characterization of full-length cDNA clones coding for cholinesterase from fetal human tissues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prody, C.A.; Zevin-Sonkin, D.; Gnatt, A.; Goldberg, O.; Soreq, H.

    1987-01-01

    To study the primary structure and regulation of human cholinesterases, oligodeoxynucleotide probes were prepared according to a consensus peptide sequence present in the active site of both human serum pseudocholinesterase and Torpedo electric organ true acetylcholinesterase. Using these probes, the authors isolated several cDNA clones from λgt10 libraries of fetal brain and liver origins. These include 2.4-kilobase cDNA clones that code for a polypeptide containing a putative signal peptide and the N-terminal, active site, and C-terminal peptides of human BtChoEase, suggesting that they code either for BtChoEase itself or for a very similar but distinct fetal form of cholinesterase. In RNA blots of poly(A) + RNA from the cholinesterase-producing fetal brain and liver, these cDNAs hybridized with a single 2.5-kilobase band. Blot hybridization to human genomic DNA revealed that these fetal BtChoEase cDNA clones hybridize with DNA fragments of the total length of 17.5 kilobases, and signal intensities indicated that these sequences are not present in many copies. Both the cDNA-encoded protein and its nucleotide sequence display striking homology to parallel sequences published for Torpedo AcChoEase. These finding demonstrate extensive homologies between the fetal BtChoEase encoded by these clones and other cholinesterases of various forms and species

  18. Biotic and Abiotic factors governing nestling-period length in the ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eric Stodola; David Buehler; Daniel Kim; Kathleen Franzreb; Daniel Linder

    2010-01-01

    In many songbirds, the nesting period for a breeding attempt is extremely short, often lasting only a few weeks. Breeding adults can shorten this period by decreasing the number of eggs laid or reducing the length of the nestling period. Nestling-period length has received little attention in the literature but could have profound effects on annual fecundity, because...

  19. Resorption of Lateral Incisors during Canine Eruption: Two Clinical Cases with Focus on Root Lengths and Heredity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mostafa Zargham

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: It is well-known that pressure from orthodontic appliance can provoke root resorption in dentitions with short roots. The purpose of this case report is to demonstrate two clinical cases with focus on root length in dentitions exposed due to pressure from erupting teeth. This is a pilot study aimed to improve diagnostics for avoiding the resorption of lateral maxillary incisors by pressure from erupting canines. Case Report: The first reported case is of a girl who was 11 years and 7 months old when radiographs showed severe resorption of the lateral incisors, along with malformed central incisors and short roots. The intraoral photos demonstrated light crowding in the maxilla. The orthopantomogram of the girl’s mother demonstrated several short roots. The second reported case is of a girl who was 9 years and 5 months old when radiographs demonstrated nearly complete resorption on her lateral incisor roots, extremely short roots in the central incisors, and short roots. The intraoral photos demonstrated light crowding in the maxilla. The orthopantomogram of the girl’s mother demonstrated extremely short roots in general. Conclusion: This pilot study indicates that short root length in general and abnormal incisor morphology are phenotypic traits that were characteristic for both girls who presented with severe lateral incisor resorption due to erupting canines. Furthermore, short roots were also demonstrated in the mothers. Accordingly, short root length in general could be a phenotypic trait, which should be diagnosed early for preventing severe resorption of lateral incisors during canine eruption.

  20. Determining the influence of muscle operating length on muscle performance during frog swimming using a bio-robotic model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clemente, Christofer J; Richards, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    Frogs are capable of impressive feats of jumping and swimming. Recent work has shown that anuran hind limb muscles can operate at lengths longer than the ‘optimal length’. To address the implications of muscle operating length on muscle power output and swimming mechanics, we built a robotic frog hind limb model based upon Xenopus laevis. The model simulated the force–length and force–velocity properties of vertebrate muscle, within the skeletal environment. We tested three muscle starting lengths, representing long, optimal and short starting lengths. Increasing starting length increased maximum muscle power output by 27% from 98.1 W kg −1 when muscle begins shortening from the optimal length, to 125.1 W kg −1 when the muscle begins at longer initial lengths. Therefore, longer starting lengths generated greater hydrodynamic force for extended durations, enabling faster swimming speeds of the robotic frog. These swimming speeds increased from 0.15 m s −1 at short initial muscle lengths, to 0.39 m s −1 for the longest initial lengths. Longer starting lengths were able to increase power as the muscle's force–length curve was better synchronized with the muscle's activation profile. We further dissected the underlying components of muscle force, separating force–length versus force–velocity effects, showing a transition from force–length limitations to force–velocity limitations as starting length increased. (paper)

  1. Induced mutations of rice for short-culm selections in M{sub 2} generation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ree, J H [Yungnam Crop Experiment Station, Office of Rural Development, Milyang (Korea, Republic of)

    1970-03-01

    Seeds of a leading rice variety Palkweng, japonica, were treated with X-rays and thermal neutrons to obtain mutations having short culm, earliness, resistance to lodging and blast disease, and a high yielding ability. 507 plants were selected for short-culm length; on the average they were also shorter in panicle length, lighter in weight of panicles, less in 100-grain weight and earlier in days to heading. There was no strict correlation between culm length and panicle length. Some plants had longer panicles in spite of a distinct reduction in culm length, but the number of panicles, weight of panicle and days to heading were positively correlated with culm length in the selected plants. The length of each internode from the base of the panicle down to the basal internode was gradually reduced. The lodging index was lower than that of the original variety, and culm length was positively correlated with lodging index. (author)

  2. Molecular Comparisons of Full Length Metapneumovirus (MPV) Genomes, Including Newly Determined French AMPV-C and –D Isolates, Further Supports Possible Subclassification within the MPV Genus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Paul A.; Lemaitre, Evelyne; Briand, François-Xavier; Courtillon, Céline; Guionie, Olivier; Allée, Chantal; Toquin, Didier; Bayon-Auboyer, Marie-Hélène; Jestin, Véronique; Eterradossi, Nicolas

    2014-01-01

    Four avian metapneumovirus (AMPV) subgroups (A–D) have been reported previously based on genetic and antigenic differences. However, until now full length sequences of the only known isolates of European subgroup C and subgroup D viruses (duck and turkey origin, respectively) have been unavailable. These full length sequences were determined and compared with other full length AMPV and human metapneumoviruses (HMPV) sequences reported previously, using phylogenetics, comparisons of nucleic and amino acid sequences and study of codon usage bias. Results confirmed that subgroup C viruses were more closely related to HMPV than they were to the other AMPV subgroups in the study. This was consistent with previous findings using partial genome sequences. Closer relationships between AMPV-A, B and D were also evident throughout the majority of results. Three metapneumovirus “clusters” HMPV, AMPV-C and AMPV-A, B and D were further supported by codon bias and phylogenetics. The data presented here together with those of previous studies describing antigenic relationships also between AMPV-A, B and D and between AMPV-C and HMPV may call for a subclassification of metapneumoviruses similar to that used for avian paramyxoviruses, grouping AMPV-A, B and D as type I metapneumoviruses and AMPV-C and HMPV as type II. PMID:25036224

  3. A phenomenological $\\pi^{-}p$ scattering length from pionic hydrogen

    CERN Document Server

    Ericson, Torleif Eric Oskar; Wycech, S

    2004-01-01

    We derive a closed, model independent, expression for the electromagnetic correction factor to a phenomenological hadronic scattering length a/sup h/ extracted from a hydrogenic atom. It is obtained in a non-relativistic approach and in the limit of a short ranged hadronic interaction to terms of order alpha /sup 2/ log alpha using an extended charge distribution. A hadronic pi N scattering length a/sub pi -p//sup h/ = 0.0870(5)m/sub pi //sup -1/ is deduced leading to a pi NN coupling constant from the GMO relation g/sub c //sup 2//(4 pi ) = 14.04(17). (28 refs).

  4. Improvement of the Original Isolation Procedure for Hormone Studies in Short-Time Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mukadder Atmaca

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Earlier studies indicated that hormone responsiveness of cells and metabolic activity was lost during various of experimental procedure. In the light of this observation, I aimed to investigate to obtain optimal conditions for short time cultured hepatocytes and also to determine the type of test can be used to evaluate suitablity of hepatocytes for hormones studies. During the isolation period 50 IU/ml and 100 IU/ml collagenase were used. Adrenaline (10-6M was used to measure sensitivity of hepatocytes to hormones and glycogenolsis was measured at the end of 2hr incubation period. Adrenaline significantly increased gylcogenolysis (Control: 0.16±0.01 mg/2hr; Adrenaline: 0.30±0.01 mg/2hr only when the 50 IU/ml collagenase was used and the viability of the cells were over 95%. Viability tests were applied to hepatocytes that obtained by using 50 IU collagenase. Cellular glutathione, methylthiazoltetrazolium reduction, lactatedehdrogenase leakage, ATP level measured to determine viability following the attachment and incubation period. No differences were observed at the end of each period.Altogether, the present study indicated that membrane integrity and metabolic function of the hepatocytes can be improved by modifying slightly the original procedure of Reese and Byard.

  5. Longitudinal Diagnostics for Short Electron Beam Bunches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loos, H.; /SLAC

    2010-06-11

    Single-pass free electron lasers require high peak currents from ultra-short electron bunches to reach saturation and an accurate measurement of bunch length and longitudinal bunch profile is necessary to control the bunch compression process from low to high beam energy. The various state-of-the-art diagnostics methods from ps to fs time scales using coherent radiation detection, RF deflection, and other techniques are presented. The use of linear accelerators as drivers for free electron lasers (FEL) and the advent of single-pass (SASE) FELs has driven the development of a wide range of diagnostic techniques for measuring the length and longitudinal distribution of short and ultra-short electron bunches. For SASE FELs the radiation power and the length of the undulator needed to achieve saturation depend strongly on the charge density of the electron beam. In the case of X-ray FELs, this requires the accelerator to produce ultra-high brightness beams with micron size transverse normalized emittances and peak currents of several kA through several stages of magnetic bunch compression. Different longitudinal diagnostics are employed to measure the peak current and bunch profile along these stages. The measurement techniques can be distinguished into different classes. Coherent methods detect the light emitted from the beam by some coherent radiation process (spectroscopic measurement), or directly measure the Coulomb field traveling with the beam (electro-optic). Phase space manipulation techniques map the time coordinate onto a transverse dimension and then use conventional transverse beam diagnostics (transverse deflector, rf zero-phasing). Further methods measure the profile or duration of an incoherent light pulse emitted by the bunch at wavelengths much shorted than the bunch length (streak camera, fluctuation technique) or modulate the electron beam at an optical wavelength and then generate a narrow bandwidth radiation pulse with the longitudinal profile of

  6. Genetic diversity of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae assessed by amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokotovic, Branko; Angen, Øystein

    2007-01-01

    Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was evaluated as a method for genotypic characterization and subtyping within the bacterial species Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. A total of 155 isolates of A. pleuropneumoniae, representing the serotypic variation described to occur within...

  7. Length-dependent optical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naumov, Anton V.; Tsyboulski, Dmitri A.; Bachilo, Sergei M.; Weisman, R. Bruce

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Length-independent absorption per atom in single-walled carbon nanotubes. ► Reduced fluorescence quantum yield for short nanotubes. ► Exciton quenching at nanotube ends, sidewall defects probably limits quantum yield. - Abstract: Contradictory findings have been reported on the length dependence of optical absorption cross sections and fluorescence quantum yields in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). To clarify these points, studies have been made on bulk SWCNT dispersions subjected to length fractionation by electrophoretic separation or by ultrasonication-induced scission. Fractions ranged from ca. 120 to 760 nm in mean length. Samples prepared by shear-assisted dispersion were subsequently shortened by ultrasonic processing. After accounting for processing-induced changes in the surfactant absorption background, SWCNT absorption was found constant within ±11% as average nanotube length changed by a factor of 3.8. This indicates that the absorption cross-section per carbon atom is not length dependent. By contrast, in length fractions prepared by both methods, the bulk fluorescence efficiency or average quantum yield increased with SWCNT average length and approached an apparent asymptotic limit near 1 μm. This result is interpreted as reflecting the combined contributions of exciton quenching by sidewall defects and by the ends of shorter nanotubes

  8. Minimal length uncertainty relation and ultraviolet regularization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kempf, Achim; Mangano, Gianpiero

    1997-06-01

    Studies in string theory and quantum gravity suggest the existence of a finite lower limit Δx0 to the possible resolution of distances, at the latest on the scale of the Planck length of 10-35 m. Within the framework of the Euclidean path integral we explicitly show ultraviolet regularization in field theory through this short distance structure. Both rotation and translation invariance can be preserved. An example is studied in detail.

  9. Short bunch wake potentials for a chain of TESLA cavities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novokhatski, Alexander; Mosnier, Alban

    2014-01-01

    The modification of wake fields from a single cavity to a quasi-periodic structure of cavities is of great concern, especially for applications using very short bunches. We extend our former study (Novokhatski, 1997 [1]). A strong modification of wake fields along a train of cavities was clearly found for bunch lengths lower than 1 mm. In particular, the wakes induced by the bunch, as it proceeds down the successive cavities, decrease in amplitude and become more linear around the bunch center, with a profile very close to the integral of the charge density. The loss factor, decreasing also with the number of cells, becomes independent of bunch length for very short bunches and tends asymptotically to a finite value. This nice behavior of wake fields for short bunches presents good opportunity for application of very short bunches in Linear Colliders and X-ray Free Electron Lasers

  10. BAMBOO: Accelerating Closed Itemset Mining by Deeply Pushing the Length-Decreasing Support Constraint

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Wang, Jianyong; Karypis, George

    2003-01-01

    Previous study has shown that mining frequent patterns with length-decreasing support constraint is very helpful in removing some uninteresting patterns based on the observation that short patterns...

  11. Numerical study of the connection lengths for various magnetic configurations in Wendelstein 7-X to optimize the heat load on the divertor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sinha, Priyanjana; Hoelbe, Hauke; Sunn Pedersen, Thomas [Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, Greifswald (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    Fusion has the potential to play an important role as a future energy resource. It has the capacity to produce large-scale clean energy. The two main confinement concepts are the tokamak and the stellarator. The W7-X machine is based on stellarator principle and is using special form of coils to achieve steady-state plasma confinement. Divertors are used in tokamaks and stellarator to control the exhaust of waste gases and impurities from the machine. The divertor concept of W7-X is a so-called island divertor. The island chain isolates the confinement core from regions where the plasma-wall interaction takes place. The area of the divertor that receives the main part of the heat loads, the so-called wetted area, increases with the distance along the magnetic field from the outboard midplane to the divertor target. The connection length is relatively short in tokamaks with conventional divertors. In the stellarator island divertor, the connection length can be varied significantly, which should allow for optimization of the wetted area. We present here a numerical study of the achievable connection lengths in various W7-X configurations and discuss the possibilities for running dedicated experiments to understand the physics of what sets the wetted area.

  12. Anatomic and functional leg-length inequality: A review and recommendation for clinical decision-making. Part I, anatomic leg-length inequality: prevalence, magnitude, effects and clinical significance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Knutson Gary A

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Leg-length inequality is most often divided into two groups: anatomic and functional. Part I of this review analyses data collected on anatomic leg-length inequality relative to prevalence, magnitude, effects and clinical significance. Part II examines the functional "short leg" including anatomic-functional relationships, and provides an outline for clinical decision-making. Methods Online database – Medline, CINAHL and MANTIS – and library searches for the time frame of 1970–2005 were done using the term "leg-length inequality". Results and Discussion Using data on leg-length inequality obtained by accurate and reliable x-ray methods, the prevalence of anatomic inequality was found to be 90%, the mean magnitude of anatomic inequality was 5.2 mm (SD 4.1. The evidence suggests that, for most people, anatomic leg-length inequality does not appear to be clinically significant until the magnitude reaches ~ 20 mm (~3/4". Conclusion Anatomic leg-length inequality is near universal, but the average magnitude is small and not likely to be clinically significant.

  13. Choosing a proper working length can improve the lifespan of locked plates. A biomechanical study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmeier, Konrad L; Hofmann, Gunther O; Mückley, Thomas

    2011-05-01

    It is hypothesized that the working length influences the implants fatigue behavior. However, few studies addressing this issue came to contrary results. Therefore, we tested systematically the influence of working length and implant material on the plate's endurance. We used an artificial model providing the substantial angle and length conditions of a human femur. A fracture gap of 10mm was bridged with identical shaped plate implants made of stainless steel and grade-2 titanium. The fatigue strength was tested for a short, medium and long working length. Aiming at an implant failure within 80,000 loading cycles the upper load threshold was set to 265N for the titanium plates and to 420N for the steel plates. The lower load threshold was -20N for both plates. For the steel plates there was no correlation between fatigue strength and working length. The construct stiffness did not differ at short and medium working length and was reduced by 10% (P=0.047) at long working length. For the titanium plates the fatigue strength tends to increase with the working length but this correlation was not significant (τ=0.417, P=0.051). Further there was a negative correlation between working length and construct stiffness (τ=0.552; P=0.01). The working length has no appreciable effect on the endurance of the steel plates. Compared to the grade 2-titanium plates the stainless steel plates sustain a larger amount of cyclic load. However, for the titanium plates a larger working length tends to improve the endurance. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Molecular characterisation of the full-length genome of olive latent virus 1 isolated from tomato.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasiów-Jaroszewska, Beata; Borodynko, Natasza; Pospieszny, Henryk

    2011-05-01

    Olive latent virus 1 (OLV-1) is a species of the Necrovirus genus. So far, it has been reported to infect olive, citrus tree and tulip. Here, we determined and analysed the complete genomic sequence of an isolate designated as CM1, which was collected from tomato plant in the Wielkopolska region of Poland and represents the prevalent isolate of OLV-1. The CM1 genome consists of monopartite single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome sized 3,699 nt with five open reading frames (ORFs) and small inter-cistronic regions. ORF1 encodes a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 23 kDa and the read-through (RT) of its amber stop codon results in ORF1 RT that encodes the virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. ORF2 and ORF3 encode two peptides, with 8 kDa and 6 kDa, respectively, which appear to be involved in cell-to-cell movement. ORF4 is located in the 3' terminal and encodes a protein with 30 kDa identified as the viral coat protein (CP). The differences in CP region of four OLV-1 isolates whose sequences have been deposited in GenBank were observed. Nucleotide sequence identities of the CP of tomato CM1 isolate with those of olive, citrus and tulip isolates were 91.8%, 89.5% and 92.5%, respectively. In contrast to other OLV-1 isolates, CM1 induced necrotic spots on tomato plants and elicited necrotic local lesions on Nicotiana benthamiana, followed by systemic infection. This is the third complete genomic sequence of OLV-1 reported and the first one from tomato.

  15. Inertial Effects on Finite Length Pipe Seismic Response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virginia Corrado

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A seismic analysis for soil-pipe interaction which accounts for length and constraining conditions at the ends of a continuous pipe is developed. The Winkler model is used to schematize the soil-structure interaction. The approach is focused on axial strains, since bending strains in a buried pipe due to the wave propagation are typically a second-order effect. Unlike many works, the inertial terms are considered in solving equations. Accurate numerical simulations are carried out to show the influence of pipe length and constraint conditions on the pipe seismic strain. The obtained results are compared with results inferred from other models present in the literature. For free-end pipelines, inertial effects have significant influence only for short length. On the contrary, their influence is always important for pinned pipes. Numerical simulations show that a simple rigid model can be used for free-end pipes, whereas pinned pipes need more accurate models.

  16. High-throughput telomere length quantification by FISH and its application to human population studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canela, Andrés; Vera, Elsa; Klatt, Peter; Blasco, María A

    2007-03-27

    A major limitation of studies of the relevance of telomere length to cancer and age-related diseases in human populations and to the development of telomere-based therapies has been the lack of suitable high-throughput (HT) assays to measure telomere length. We have developed an automated HT quantitative telomere FISH platform, HT quantitative FISH (Q-FISH), which allows the quantification of telomere length as well as percentage of short telomeres in large human sample sets. We show here that this technique provides the accuracy and sensitivity to uncover associations between telomere length and human disease.

  17. Factors affecting the conversion of apple polyphenols to phenolic acids and fruit matrix to short-chain fatty acids by human faecal microbiota in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazzocco, Sarah; Mattila, Ismo; Guyot, Sylvain; Renard, Catherine M G C; Aura, Anna-Marja

    2008-12-01

    Proanthocyanidins (PAs) in apples are condensed tannins comprised mostly of (-)-epicatechin units with some terminal (+)-catechins. PAs, especially those having a long chain-length, are absorbed in the upper intestine only to a small extent and are passed to the colon. In the colon they are subjected to microbial metabolism by colonic microbiota. In the present article, the ability of human microbiota to ferment apple PAs is studied. Freeze-dried fruit preparations (apple, enzymatically digested apple, isolated cell-walls, isolated PAs or ciders) from two varieties, Marie Ménard and Avrolles, containing PAs of different chain lengths, were compared. Fermentation studies were performed in an in vitro colon model using human faecal microbiota as an inoculum. The maximal extent of conversion to known microbial metabolites, was observed at late time point for Marie Ménard cider, having short PAs. In this case, the initial dose also contributed to the extent of conversion. Long-chain PAs were able to inhibit the in vitro microbial metabolism of PAs shown as low maxima at early time points. Presence of isolated PAs also suppressed SCFA formation from carbohydrates as compared with that from apple cell wall or faecal suspension without substrates. The low maximal extents at early time points suggest that there is a competition between the inhibitory effect of the PAs on microbial activity, and the ability to convert PAs by the microbiota.

  18. Cut-To-Length Harvesting of Short Rotation Eucalyptus at Simpson Tehama Fiber Farm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruce R. Hartsough; David J. Cooper

    1999-01-01

    A system consisting of a cut-to-length harvester, forwarder, mobile chipper and chip screen was tested in a 7-year-old plantation. Three levels of debarking effort by the harvester (minimal, partial and full), and two levels of screening (with and without) were evaluated. The harvester had the lowest production rate and highest cost of the system elements. Harvester...

  19. Resistance to Reperfusion Injury Following Short Term Postischemic Administration of Natural Honey in Globally Ischemic Isolated Rat Heart

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaez, Haleh; Samadzadeh, Mehrban; Zahednezhad, Fahimeh; Najafi, Moslem

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Results of our previous study revealed that preischemic perfusion of honey before zero flow global ischemia had cardioprotective effects in rat. The present study investigated potential resistance to reperfusion injury following short term postischemic administration of natural honey in globally ischemic isolated rat heart. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into five groups (n=10-13). The rat hearts were isolated, mounted on a Langendorff apparatus, allowed to equilibrate for 30 min then subjected to 30 min global ischemia. In the control group, the hearts were reperfused with drug free normal Krebs-Henseleit (K/H) solution before ischemia and during 120 min reperfusion. In the treatment groups, reperfusion was initiated with K/H solution containing different concentration of honey (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2%) for 15 min and was resumed until the end of 120 min with normal K/H solution. Results: In the control group, VEBs number was 784±199, while in honey concentration of 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2%, it decreased to 83±23 (Phoney. In the control group, the infarct size was 54.1±7.8%, however; honey (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2%) markedly lowered the value to 12.4±2.4, 12.7±3.3, 11.3±2.6 and 7.9±1.7 (Phoney in global ischemia showed protective effects against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injuries in isolated rat heart. Antioxidant and radical scavenging activity, lipoperoxidation inhibition, reduction of necrotized tissue, presence of rich energy sources, various type of vitamins, minerals and enzymes and formation of NO-contain metabolites may probably involve in those cardioprotective effects. PMID:24312792

  20. Idiopathic short stature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlaški Jovan

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Growth is a complex process and the basic characteristic of child- hood growth monitoring provides insight into the physiological and pathological events in the body. Statistically, the short stature means departure from the values of height for age and sex (in a particular environment, which is below -2 standard deviation score, or less than -2 standard deviation, i.e. below the third percentile. Advances in molecular genetics have contributed to the improvement of diagnostics in endocrinology. Analysis of patients’ genotypes should not be performed before taking a classical history, detailed clinical examination and appropriate tests. In patients with idiopathic short stature specific causes are excluded, such as growth hormone deficiency, Turner syndrome, short stature due to low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, small for gestational age, dysmorphology syndromes and chronic childhood diseases. The exclusion of abovementioned conditions leaves a large number of children with short stature whose etiology includes patients with genetic short stature or familial short stature and those who are low in relation to genetic potential, and who could also have some unrecognized endocrine defect. Idiopathic short stature represents a short stature of unknown cause of heterogeneous etiology, and is characterized by a normal response of growth hormone during stimulation tests (>10 ng/ml or 20 mJ/l, without other disorders, of normal body mass and length at birth. In idiopathic short stature standard deviation score rates <-2.25 (-2 to -3 or <1.2 percentile. These are also criteria for the initiation of growth hormone therapy. In children with short stature there is also the presence of psychological and social suffering. Goals of treatment with growth hormone involve achieving normal height and normal growth rate during childhood.

  1. Intrinsic pinning in superconductors with extremely small coherence lengths

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schimmele, L.; Kronmueller, H.; Teichler, H.

    1988-01-01

    By means of a Ginsburg-Landau-type theory which takes into account the discrete lattice structure the variation of the energy ('Peierls potential') of an isolated flux line is calculated when shifted relatively to the crystal lattice. In particular, a primitive cubic lattice is considered with a straight flux line, aligned parallel to a cubic axis. The resulting Peierls potential may lead to intrinsic pinning if the coherence length is smaller than about two nearest neighbour distances. The coherence lengths at low temperatures determined for the recently discovered high T c superconductors of the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 class come very close to this value so that intrinsic pinning might possibly be relevant for these superconductors. (author)

  2. [Length of lactational amenorrhea in an urban population of Temuco, Chile].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdés, Patricio; Sierralta, Pablo; Ossa, Ximena; Barría, Angélica

    2002-01-01

    Studies done in Santiago, Chile show that menses return before the sixth month of puerperium in 50% of lactating women, even in those that continue with exclusive breast feeding. To study the length of lactational amenorrhea in a group of women living in Southern Chile. One hundred fourteen women giving exclusive breast feeding, were followed from the third postpartum month, to determine the length of lactational amenorrhea. Its relationship with general characteristics of the mothers and children and breast feeding pattern was also studied. Sixty six women (58%) recovered their menses before the 6th postpartum month and their length of lactational amenorrhea was 101 +/- 5 days. In the rest of the sample, the length was 277 +/- 10 days. No differences in characteristics of the mothers and children or breast feeding pattern, were observed between these two groups. A short lactational amenorrhea is common in the Chilean population. Clinical characteristics or pattern of breast feeding do not explain the length of LA in this population.

  3. Coffee-Ring Defined Short Channels for Inkjet-Printed Metal Oxide Thin-Film Transistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuzhi; Lan, Linfeng; Xiao, Peng; Sun, Sheng; Lin, Zhenguo; Song, Wei; Song, Erlong; Gao, Peixiong; Wu, Weijing; Peng, Junbiao

    2016-08-03

    Short-channel electronic devices several micrometers in length are difficult to implement by direct inkjet printing due to the limitation of position accuracy of the common inkjet printer system and the spread of functional ink on substrates. In this report, metal oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) with channel lengths of 3.5 ± 0.7 μm were successfully fabricated with a common inkjet printer without any photolithography steps. Hydrophobic CYTOP coffee stripes, made by inkjet-printing and plasma-treating processes, were utilized to define the channel area of TFTs with channel lengths as short as ∼3.5 μm by dewetting the inks of the source/drain (S/D) precursors. Furthermore, by introduction of an ultrathin layer of PVA to modify the S/D surfaces, the spreading of precursor ink of the InOx semiconductor layer was well-controlled. The inkjet-printed short-channel TFTs exhibited a maximum mobility of 4.9 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and an on/off ratio of larger than 10(9). This approach of fabricating short-channel TFTs by inkjet printing will promote the large-area fabrication of short-channel TFTs in a cost-effective manner.

  4. Optimum position of isolators within erbium-doped fibers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lumholt, Ole; Schüsler, Kim; Bjarklev, Anders Overgaard

    1992-01-01

    An isolator is used as an amplified spontaneous emission suppressing component within an erbium-doped fiber. The optimum isolator placement is both experimentally and theoretically determined and found to be slightly dependent upon pump power. Improvements of 4 dB in gain and 2 dB in noise figure...... are measured for the optimum isolator location at 25% of the fiber length when the fiber is pumped with 60 mW of pump power at 1.48 μm...

  5. Total hip arthroplasty using a short-stem prosthesis: restoration of hip anatomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amenabar, Tomas; Marimuthu, Kanniraj; Hawdon, Gabrielle; Gildone, Alessandro; McMahon, Stephen

    2015-04-01

    To evaluate hip parameters such as vertical centre of rotation (VCR), horizontal centre of rotation (HCR), femoral offset, and leg length after total hip arthroplasty (THA) using the Nanos short-stem prosthesis. Medical records of 73 men and 74 women aged 25 to 92 (mean, 63) years who underwent THA using the Nanos short-stem prosthesis by a single surgeon were reviewed. Prior to the surgery, the optimal cup and stem size, head length, and level of the neck osteotomy were determined using radiographs. Intra-operatively, the leg length and femoral offset were checked, and the level of neck resection and head length were adjusted. VCR, HCR, femoral offset, and leg length of the operated and contralateral sides were compared. Functional outcomes were assessed using the Harris Hip Score (HHS). Compared with the normal contralateral hips, the operated hips had a mean increase of 0.4 mm in VCR (p=0.032), a mean decrease of 1.4 mm in HCR (p=0.027), a mean increase of 0.6 mm in femoral offset (p=0.043), and a mean increase of 0.36 mm in leg length (p=0.035). For these respective parameters, the difference between the normal contralateral side and the operated side was within 5 mm in 89%, 80%, 71%, and 96% of patients. The HHS improved from a mean of 53 to 91 at one year (pNanos short-stem prosthesis enabled restoration of hip anatomy (VCR, HCR, femoral offset, and leg length).

  6. Sorting signed permutations by short operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galvão, Gustavo Rodrigues; Lee, Orlando; Dias, Zanoni

    2015-01-01

    During evolution, global mutations may alter the order and the orientation of the genes in a genome. Such mutations are referred to as rearrangement events, or simply operations. In unichromosomal genomes, the most common operations are reversals, which are responsible for reversing the order and orientation of a sequence of genes, and transpositions, which are responsible for switching the location of two contiguous portions of a genome. The problem of computing the minimum sequence of operations that transforms one genome into another - which is equivalent to the problem of sorting a permutation into the identity permutation - is a well-studied problem that finds application in comparative genomics. There are a number of works concerning this problem in the literature, but they generally do not take into account the length of the operations (i.e. the number of genes affected by the operations). Since it has been observed that short operations are prevalent in the evolution of some species, algorithms that efficiently solve this problem in the special case of short operations are of interest. In this paper, we investigate the problem of sorting a signed permutation by short operations. More precisely, we study four flavors of this problem: (i) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals of length at most 2; (ii) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals of length at most 3; (iii) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals and transpositions of length at most 2; and (iv) the problem of sorting a signed permutation by reversals and transpositions of length at most 3. We present polynomial-time solutions for problems (i) and (iii), a 5-approximation for problem (ii), and a 3-approximation for problem (iv). Moreover, we show that the expected approximation ratio of the 5-approximation algorithm is not greater than 3 for random signed permutations with more than 12 elements. Finally, we present experimental results that show

  7. A phenomenological {pi}{sup -}p scattering length from pionic hydrogen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ericson, T.E.O.; Loiseau, B.; Wycech, S

    2004-07-29

    We derive a closed, model independent, expression for the electromagnetic correction factor to a phenomenological hadronic scattering length a{sup h} extracted from a hydrogenic atom. It is obtained in a non-relativistic approach and in the limit of a short ranged hadronic interaction to terms of order {alpha}{sup 2}log{alpha} using an extended charge distribution. A hadronic {pi}N scattering length a{sup h}{sub {pi}{sup -}}{sub p}=0.0870(5)m{sub {pi}}{sup -1} is deduced leading to a {pi}NN coupling constant from the GMO relation g{sub c}{sup 2}/(4{pi})=14.04(17)

  8. Fundamental length and relativistic length

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strel'tsov, V.N.

    1988-01-01

    It si noted that the introduction of fundamental length contradicts the conventional representations concerning the contraction of the longitudinal size of fast-moving objects. The use of the concept of relativistic length and the following ''elongation formula'' permits one to solve this problem

  9. Early postnatal development of the mandible in children with isolated cleft palate and children with nonsyndromic Robin sequence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksen, J.; Hermann, N.V.; Darvann, Tron Andre

    2006-01-01

    Objective: Analysis of early postnatal mandibular size and growth velocity in children with untreated isolated cleft palate (ICP), nonsyndromic Robin sequence (RS), and a control group of children with unilateral incomplete cleft lip (UICL). Material: 114 children (66 isolated cleft palate, 7 Robin...... and mandibular growth velocity (mm/year) was calculated. Cleft width was measured on the casts at 2 months of age. Results: Mean mandibular length and posterior height were significantly smaller in isolated cleft palate and Robin sequence, compared with unilateral incomplete cleft lip. Mandibular length in Robin...... sequence was also significantly shorter, compared with isolated cleft palate. No significant difference was found between mean mandibular growth velocities in the three groups. No significant correlation was found between mandibular length and cleft width in either isolated cleft palate or Robin sequence...

  10. Field Optimization for short Period Undulators

    CERN Document Server

    Peiffer, P; Rossmanith, R; Schoerling, D

    2011-01-01

    Undulators dedicated to low energy electron beams, like Laser Wakefield Accelerators, require very short period lengths to achieve X-ray emission. However, at these short period length (LambdaU ~ 5 mm) it becomes difficult to reach magnetic field amplitudes that lead to a K parameter of >1, which is generally desired. Room temperature permanent magnets and even superconductive undulators using Nb-Ti as conductor material have proven insufficient to achieve the desired field amplitudes. The superconductor Nb$_{3}$Sn has the theoretical potential to achieve the desired fields. However, up to now it is limited by several technological challenges to much lower field values than theoretically predicted. An alternative idea for higher fields is to manufacture the poles of the undulator body from Holmium instead of iron or to use Nb-Ti wires with a higher superconductor/copper ratio. The advantages and challenges of the different options are compared in this contribution.

  11. Determination of Onramp Weaving Length for Resolving Merging Dilemma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiu Liu

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available It is physically known that onramp merging may turn out to be difficult if the onramp (weaving/merging length is too short because a driver under certain driving circumstances may find that either merging ahead or merging behind a neighboring vehicle on the adjacent highway lane cannot be completed. Various existing guidelines or design manuals provide no clear physical understanding and explanations to the design onramp weaving length but often based on evolved empirical experiences. By integrating human factors, vehicle dynamic characteristics, roadway surface condition, and the onramp weaving design into a single unified analytic framework, the onramp length required for a driver to merge into the highway traffic successfully is determined exactly with formulas and physical solutions to avoid the merging dilemma and enhance driving safety at highway interchanges. The design onramp weaving length is examined and evaluated with various foreseeable merging scenarios and physical examples. This analytic framework sheds light on the understanding of the onramp weaving the first time strictly on a physical human-vehicle-roadway interaction setting. Practitioners can easily apply these user friendly formulae and equations derived from the unified framework to calculate the onramp weaving length to resolve the merging dilemma and enhance driving safety for any highway interchanges.

  12. Corridor Length and Patch Colonization by a Butterfly Junonia coenia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nick Haddad

    2000-06-01

    Habitat corridors have been proposed to reduce patch isolation and increase population persistence in fragmented landscapes. This study tested whether patch colonization was increased by the presence and various length corridors. The specific butterfly species tested has been shown to use corridors, however, the results indicate that neither the distance between patches or the presence of a corridor influenced colonization.

  13. Administrative license suspension: Does length of suspension matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fell, James C; Scherer, Michael

    2017-08-18

    Administrative license revocation (ALR) laws, which provide that the license of a driver with a blood alcohol concentration at or over the illegal limit is subject to an immediate suspension by the state department of motor vehicles, are an example of a traffic law in which the sanction rapidly follows the offense. The power of ALR laws has been attributed to how swiftly the sanction is applied, but does the length of suspension matter? Our objectives were to (a) determine the relationship of the ALR suspension length to the prevalence of drinking drivers relative to sober drivers in fatal crashes and (b) estimate the extent to which the relationship is associated to the general deterrent effect compared to the specific deterrent effect of the law. Data comparing the impact of ALR law implementation and ALR law suspension periods were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques on the ratio of drinking drivers to nondrinking drivers in fatal crashes from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). States with an ALR law with a short suspension period (1-30 days) had a significantly lower drinking driver ratio than states with no ALR law. States with a suspension period of 91-180 days had significantly lower ratios than states with shorter suspension periods, while the three states with suspension lengths of 181 days or longer had significantly lower ratios than states with shorter suspension periods. The implementation of any ALR law was associated with a 13.1% decrease in the drinking/nondrinking driver fatal crash ratio but only a 1.8% decrease in the intoxicated/nonintoxicated fatal crash ratio. The ALR laws and suspension lengths had a significant general deterrent effect, but no specific deterrent effect. States might want to keep (or adopt) ALR laws for their general deterrent effects and pursue alternatives for specific deterrent effects. States with short ALR suspension periods should consider lengthening them to 91 days or longer.

  14. Optimum Discharge Burnup and Cycle Length for PWRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Secker, Jeffrey R.; Johansen, Baard J.; Stucker, David L.; Ozer, Odelli; Ivanov, Kostadin; Yilmaz, Serkan; Young, E.H.

    2005-01-01

    This paper discusses the results of a pressurized water reactor fuel management study determining the optimum discharge burnup and cycle length. A comprehensive study was performed considering 12-, 18-, and 24-month fuel cycles over a wide range of discharge burnups. A neutronic study was performed followed by an economic evaluation. The first phase of the study limited the fuel enrichments used in the study to 235 U consistent with constraints today. The second phase extended the range of discharge burnups for 18-month cycles by using fuel enriched in excess of 5 wt%. The neutronic study used state-of-the-art reactor physics methods to accurately determine enrichment requirements. Energy requirements were consistent with today's high capacity factors (>98%) and short (15-day) refueling outages. The economic evaluation method considers various component costs including uranium, conversion, enrichment, fabrication and spent-fuel storage costs as well as the effect of discounting of the revenue stream. The resulting fuel cycle costs as a function of cycle length and discharge burnup are presented and discussed. Fuel costs decline with increasing discharge burnup for all cycle lengths up to the maximum discharge burnup considered. The choice of optimum cycle length depends on assumptions for outage costs

  15. Sleep: a physiological "cerveau isolé" stage?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gottesmann, C; User, P; Gioanni, H

    1980-01-01

    Rapid or paradoxical sleep in the rat is usually preceded and often followed by a stage of short duration characterized by large spindles in the frontal cortex and theta rhythm in the hippocampus. The midbrain transection induces for hours the same electrophysiological patterns suggesting the existence in the rat of a short physiologically isolated, forebrain stage during sleep.

  16. The processing of spatial information in short-term memory: insights from eye tracking the path length effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guérard, Katherine; Tremblay, Sébastien; Saint-Aubin, Jean

    2009-10-01

    Serial memory for spatial locations increases as the distance between successive stimuli locations decreases. This effect, known as the path length effect [Parmentier, F. B. R., Elford, G., & Maybery, M. T. (2005). Transitional information in spatial serial memory: Path characteristics affect recall performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 31, 412-427], was investigated in a systematic manner using eye tracking and interference procedures to explore the mechanisms responsible for the processing of spatial information. In Experiment 1, eye movements were monitored during a spatial serial recall task--in which the participants have to remember the location of spatially and temporally separated dots on the screen. In the experimental conditions, eye movements were suppressed by requiring participants to incessantly move their eyes between irrelevant locations. Ocular suppression abolished the path length effect whether eye movements were prevented during item presentation or during a 7s retention interval. In Experiment 2, articulatory suppression was combined with a spatial serial recall task. Although articulatory suppression impaired performance, it did not alter the path length effect. Our results suggest that rehearsal plays a key role in serial memory for spatial information, though the effect of path length seems to involve other processes located at encoding, such as the time spent fixating each location and perceptual organization.

  17. Exploiting publicly available biological and biochemical information for the discovery of novel short linear motifs.

    KAUST Repository

    Sayadi, Ahmed; Briganti, Leonardo; Tramontano, Anna; Via, Allegra

    2011-01-01

    The function of proteins is often mediated by short linear segments of their amino acid sequence, called Short Linear Motifs or SLiMs, the identification of which can provide important information about a protein function. However, the short length

  18. Depressive and anxiety disorders and short leukocyte telomere length: mediating effects of metabolic stress and lifestyle factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Révész, D; Verhoeven, J E; Milaneschi, Y; Penninx, B W J H

    2016-08-01

    Depressive and anxiety disorders are associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL), an indicator of cellular aging. It is, however, unknown which pathways underlie this association. This study examined the extent to which lifestyle factors and physiological changes such as inflammatory or metabolic alterations mediate the relationship. We applied mediation analysis techniques to data from 2750 participants of the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. LTL was assessed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Independent variables were current depressive (30-item Inventory of Depressive Symptoms - Self Report) and anxiety (21-item Beck's Anxiety Inventory) symptoms and presence of a depressive or anxiety disorder diagnosis based on DSM-IV; mediator variables included physiological stress systems, metabolic syndrome components and lifestyle factors. Short LTL was associated with higher symptom severity (B = -2.4, p = 0.002) and current psychiatric diagnosis (B = -63.3, p = 0.024). C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, waist circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and cigarette smoking were significant mediators in the relationship between psychopathology and LTL. When all significant mediators were included in one model, the effect sizes of the relationships between LTL and symptom severity and current diagnosis were reduced by 36.7 and 32.7%, respectively, and the remaining direct effects were no longer significant. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, metabolic alterations and cigarette smoking are important mediators of the association between depressive and anxiety disorders and LTL. This calls for future research on intervention programs that take into account lifestyle changes in mental health care settings.

  19. Short-Term Study Abroad: Culture and the Path of Least Resistance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemmons, Kelly

    2015-01-01

    American universities are decreasing the length of study abroad programs in an effort to send more students abroad. Recent publications find that "short-term" programs struggle to increase participants' cultural understanding. However, these research findings fail to offer an explanation as to why shorter programs are falling short. This…

  20. Asymmetric reproductive isolation between two sympatric annual killifish with extremely short lifespans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matej Polačik

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Interspecific reproductive isolation is typically achieved by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic barriers. Behavioural isolating barriers between sympatric, closely related species are often of primary importance and frequently aided by extrinsic factors causing spatial and temporal interspecific separation. Study systems with a severely limited role of extrinsic factors on reproductive isolation may provide valuable insights into how reproductive isolation between sympatric species is maintained. We used no-choice experimental set-up to study reproductive barriers between two closely related sympatric African killifish species, Nothobranchius furzeri and Nothobranchius orthonotus. These fish live in small temporary savannah pools and have complete spatial and temporal overlap in reproductive activities and share a similar ecology. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that the two species display largely incomplete and asymmetric reproductive isolation. Mating between N. furzeri males and N. orthonotus females was absent under standard experimental conditions and eggs were not viable when fish were forced to mate in a modified experimental setup. In contrast, male N. orthonotus indiscriminately mated with N. furzeri females, the eggs were viable, and offspring successfully hatched. Most spawnings, however, were achieved by male coercion and egg production and embryo survival were low. Behavioural asymmetry was likely facilitated by mating coercion from larger males of N. orthonotus and at relatively low cost to females. Interestingly, the direction of asymmetry was positively associated with asymmetry in post-mating reproductive barriers. SIGNIFICANCE: We showed that, in fish species with a promiscuous mating system and multiple matings each day, selection for strong mate preferences was relaxed. This effect was likely due to the small proportion of resources allocated to each single mating and the high potential cost to females from

  1. AMPLIFIED FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISM ANALYSIS OF MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM COMPLEX ISOLATES RECOVERED FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fine-scale genotyping methods are necessary in order to identify possible sources of human exposure to opportunistic pathogens belonging to the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). In this study, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was evaluated for fingerprintin...

  2. The distribution pattern of critically short telomeres in human osteoarthritic knees

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harbo, Maria; Bendix, Laila; Bay-Jensen, Anne Christine

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Telomere shortening is associated with a number of common age-related diseases. A role of telomere shortening in osteoarthritis (OA) has been suggested, mainly based on the assessment of mean telomere length in ex vivo expanded chondrocytes. We addressed this role directly...... in vivo by using a newly developed assay, which measures specifically the load of ultra-short single telomeres (below 1,500 base pairs), that is, the telomere subpopulation believed to promote cellular senescence. METHODS: Samples were obtained from human OA knees at two distances from the central lesion...... site. Each sample was split into three: one was used for quantification of ultra-short single telomeres through the Universal single telomere length assay (STELA), one for histological Mankin grading of OA, and one for mean telomere length measurement through quantitative fluorescence in situ...

  3. Respiratory symptoms are more common among short sleepers independent of obesity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Björnsdóttir, Erla; Janson, Christer; Lindberg, Eva

    2017-01-01

    , marital status, exercise and smoking. Excluding BMI from the model covariates did not affect the results. Short sleep was related to 11 out of 16 respiratory and nasal symptoms among subjects with BMI ≥30 and 9 out of 16 symptoms among subjects with BMI sleep......INTRODUCTION: Sleep length has been associated with obesity and various adverse health outcomes. The possible association of sleep length and respiratory symptoms has not been previously described. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between sleep length and respiratory...... Health Survey III. The mean±SD age was 54.2±7.1 (age range 39-67 years). Information was collected on general and respiratory health and sleep characteristics. RESULTS: The mean reported nighttime sleep duration was 6.9±1.0 hours. Short sleepers (

  4. Short-length and high-density TiO2 nanorod arrays for the efficient charge separation interface in perovskite solar cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiao, Guannan; Shi, Chengwu; Zhang, Zhengguo; Li, Nannan; Li, Long

    2017-01-01

    O 2 nanorod arrays. • Preparation of over-500 nm-thickness CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3−x Br x absorber layer. • Combination of short-length TiO 2 nanorod array and high-thickness perovskite layer. • The best and average PCE with TiO 2 array of 15.93% and 13.41±2.52% at 50–54% RH.

  5. Construction and characterization of a full-length infectious cDNA clone of foot-and-mouth disease virus strain O/JPN/2010 isolated in Japan in 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishi, Tatsuya; Onozato, Hiroyuki; Ohashi, Seiichi; Fukai, Katsuhiko; Yamada, Manabu; Morioka, Kazuki; Kanno, Toru

    2016-06-01

    A full-length infectious cDNA clone of the genome of a foot-and-mouth disease virus isolated from the 2010 epidemic in Japan was constructed and designated pSVL-f02. Transfection of Cos-7 or IBRS-2 cells with this clone allowed the recovery of infectious virus. The recovered virus had the same in vitro characterization as the parental virus with regard to antigenicity in neutralization and indirect immunofluorescence tests, plaque size and one-step growth. Pigs were experimentally infected with the parental virus or the recombinant virus recovered from pSVL-f02 transfected cells. There were no significant differences in clinical signs or antibody responses between the two groups, and virus isolation and viral RNA detection from clinical samples were similar. Virus recovered from transfected cells therefore retained the in vitro characteristics and the in vivo pathogenicity of their parental strain. This cDNA clone should be a valuable tool to analyze determinants of pathogenicity and mechanisms of virus replication, and to develop genetically engineered vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease virus. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Isolation of the antibiotic pseudopyronine B and SAR evaluation of C3/C6 alkyl analogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouthillette, Leah M; Darcey, Catherine A; Handy, Tess E; Seaton, Sarah C; Wolfe, Amanda L

    2017-06-15

    Natural products are an abundant source of structurally diverse compounds with antibacterial activity that can be used to develop new and potent antibiotics. One such class of natural products is the pseudopyronines. Here we present the isolation of pseudopyronine B (2) from a Pseudomonas species found in garden soil in Western North Carolina, and SAR evaluation of C3 and C6 alkyl analogs of the natural product for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We found a direct relationship between antibacterial activity and C3/C6 alkyl chain length. For inhibition of Gram-positive bacteria, alkyl chain lengths between 6 and 7 carbons were found to be the most active (IC 50 =0.04-3.8µg/mL) whereas short alkyl chain analogs showed modest activity against Gram-negative bacteria (IC 50 =223-304µg/mL). This demonstrates the potential for this class of natural products to be optimized for selective activity against either Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Molecular identification of Trichuris vulpis and Trichuris suis isolated from different hosts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutillas, Cristina; de Rojas, Manuel; Ariza, Concepción; Ubeda, José Manuel; Guevara, Diego

    2007-01-01

    Trichuris suis was isolated from the cecum of two different hosts (Sus scrofa domestica -- swine and Sus scrofa scrofa -- wild boar) and Trichuris vulpis from dogs in Sevilla, Spain. Genomic DNA was isolated and internal transcribed spacers (ITS)1-5.8S-ITS2 segment from the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was amplified and sequenced using polymerase chain reaction techniques. The sequence of T. suis from both hosts was 1,396 bp in length while that of T. vulpis was 1,044 bp. ITS1 of both populations isolated of T. suis was 661 nucleotides in length, while the ITS2 was 534 nucleotides in length. Furthermore, the ITS1 of T. vulpis was 410 nucleotides in length, while the ITS2 was 433 nucleotides in length. One hundred fifty-four nucleotides were observed along the 5.8S gene of T. suis and T. vulpis. Intraindividual and intraspecific variations were detected in the rDNA of both species. The presence of microsatellites was observed in all the individuals assayed. Sequence analysis of the ITSs and the 5.8S gene has demonstrated no sequence differences between T. suis isolated from both hosts (S. scrofa domestica -- swine and S. scrofa scrofa -- wild boar). Nevertheless, clear differences were detected between the ITS1 and ITS2 of T. suis and T. vulpis. Furthermore, a comparative molecular analysis between both species and the previously published ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence data of Trichuris ovis, Trichuris leporis, Trichuris muris, Trichuris arvicolae, and Trichuris skrjabini was carried out. A common homology zone was detected in the ITS1 sequence of all species of trichurids.

  8. Variation in Ribosomal DNA among Isolates of the Mycorrhizal Fungus Cenococcum Geophilum FR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lobuglio, Katherine Frances

    1990-01-01

    Cenococcum geophilum Fr., a cosmopolitan mycorrhizal fungus, is well-known for its extremely wide host and habitat range. The ecological diversity of C. geophilum sharply contrasts its present taxonomic status as a monotypic form -genus. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was used to assess the degree of genetic variation among 72 isolates of C. geophilum. The probe used in this study was the rDNA repeat cloned from C. geophilum isolate A145 (pCG15). Length of the rDNA repeat was approximately 9 kb. The rDNA clone was mapped for 5 restriction endonucleases. Hybridization with cloned Saccharomyces cerevisiae rDNA (pSR118, and pSR125 containing the 18S, and 5.8-25S rRNA genes respectively), and alignment of restriction endonuclease sites conserved in the rDNA genes of other fungi, were used to position the corresponding rDNAs of C. geophilum. Southern hybridizations with EcoRI, HindIII, XhoI, and PstI digested DNAs indicated extensive variation among the C. geophilum isolates, greater than has been previously reported to occur within a fungal species. Most of the rDNA polymorphisms occurred in the IGS region. Restriction endonuclease site and length polymorphisms were also observed in the 5.8S-26S genic regions. Sixteen size categories of length mutations, 6 restriction endonuclease site additions, and 4 restriction endonuclease site deletions were determined using isolate A145 as a reference. The rDNA repeat length among the isolates varied from approximately 8.5 to 10.2 kb. RFLPs were also observed in the mitochondrial (mt) 24S rRNA gene and flanking regions of HindIII digested DNAs of C. geophilum isolates representing both geographically distinct and similar origins. Among the C. geophilum isolates analyzed there were fewer RFLPs in mt-DNA than in nuclear rDNA. EcoRI rDNA phenotypes between C. geophilum and Elaphomyces anthracinus, its proposed teleomorph or sexual state, did not correspond. In addition, the four

  9. The short-term effects of prescribed burning on biomass removal and the release of nitrogen and phosphorus in a treatment wetland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, J R; Gardner, L M; Sees, M; Corstanje, R

    2008-01-01

    Nutrient removal by constructed wetlands can decline over time due to the accumulation of organic matter. A prescribed burn is one of many management strategies used to remove detritus in macrophyte-dominated systems. We quantified the short-term effects on effluent water quality and the amount of aboveground detritus removed from a prescribed burn event. Surface water outflow concentrations were approximately three times higher for P and 1.5 times higher for total Kjeldhal nitrogen (TKN) following the burn event when compared to the control. The length of time over which the fire effect was significant (P burn, however, much of the live vegetation was converted to standing dead material. These results demonstrate that a prescribed burn can significantly decrease the amount of senescent organic matter in a constructed wetland. However, short-term nutrient releases following the burn could increase effluent nutrient concentrations. Therefore, management strategies should include hydraulically isolating the burned area immediately following the burn event to prevent nutrient export.

  10. Determination of the negatively charged pion-proton scattering length from pionic hydrogen

    CERN Document Server

    Ericson, Torleif Eric Oskar; Wycech, S

    2003-01-01

    We derive a closed, model independent, expression for the electromagnetic correction factor to the hadronic scattering length extracted from a hydrogenic atom with an extended charge and in the limit of a short ranged hadronic interaction to terms of order ((alpha)**2)(log(alpha)) in the limit of a non-relativistic approach. A hadronic negatively charged pion-proton scattering length of 0.0870(5), in units of inverse charged pion-mass, is deduced, leading to a pion-nucleon coupling constant from the GMO relation equals to 14.00(19).

  11. A phenomenological determination of the pion-nucleon scattering lengths from pionic hydrogen

    CERN Document Server

    Ericson, Torleif Eric Oskar; Wycech, S

    2005-01-01

    A model independent expression for the electromagnetic corrections to a phenomenological hadronic pion-nucleon scattering length, extracted from pionic hydrogen, is obtained. In a non-relativistic approach and using an extended charge distribution, these corrections are derived up to terms of order (alpha)**2 log(alpha) in the limit of a short-range hadronic interaction. We infer a charged pion-proton scattering length of 0.0870(5) in units of inverse pion mass, which gives for the charged pion-proton-neutron coupling, through the GMO relation, a value of 14.04(17).

  12. Direct observation of short-circuit diffusion during the formation of a single cupric oxide nanowire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng, C-L; Ma, Y-R; Chou, M H; Huang, C Y; Yeh, V; Wu, S Y

    2007-01-01

    Short-circuit diffusion was observed in a single CuO nanowire synthesized using a thermal oxidation method. The confocal Raman spectra of a single CuO nanowire permit direct observation of the nature of an individual CuO nanowire. The parameter order obtained from the inverse Raman B g 2 peak linewidth results in the length dependence of the linewidth and a short-circuit diffusion length of 3.3 μm. The observed structural information is also consistent with the energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopic mapping. The results confirm that the growth of CuO nanowires occurs through the short-circuit diffusion mechanism

  13. [Electric short-circuit incident observed with "Upsher" laryngoscopes].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tritsch, L; Vailly, B

    2006-01-01

    We observed an electrical short-circuit between a fasten screw of the printed circuit and the handle of an Upsher universal laryngoscope (serial number UQ1). The isolating Silicone layer was broken above the screw. This isolation defect was found all over our Upsher laryngoscopes of the UQ1 series. No doubt that if accumulators were used instead of batteries, emitted heat would be in largest amount and perhaps dangerous.

  14. Comparison of stethoscope bell and diaphragm, and of stethoscope tube length, for clinical blood pressure measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chengyu; Griffiths, Clive; Murray, Alan; Zheng, Dingchang

    2016-06-01

    This study investigated the effect of stethoscope side and tube length on auscultatory blood pressure (BP) measurement. Thirty-two healthy participants were studied. For each participant, four measurements with different combinations of stethoscope characteristics (bell or diaphragm side, standard or short tube length) were each recorded at two repeat sessions, and eight Korotkoff sound recordings were played twice on separate days to one experienced listener to determine the systolic and diastolic BPs (SBP and DBP). Analysis of variance was carried out to study the measurement repeatability between the two repeat sessions and between the two BP determinations on separate days, as well as the effects of stethoscope side and tube length. There was no significant paired difference between the repeat sessions and between the repeat determinations for both SBP and DBP (all P-values>0.10, except the repeat session for SBP using short tube and diaphragm). The key result was that there was a small but significantly higher DBP on using the bell in comparison with the diaphragm (0.66 mmHg, P=0.007), and a significantly higher SBP on using the short tube in comparison with the standard length (0.77 mmHg, P=0.008). This study shows that stethoscope characteristics have only a small, although statistically significant, influence on clinical BP measurement. Although this helps understand the measurement technique and resolves questions in the published literature, the influence is not clinically significant.

  15. Short communication: In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Mycoplasma agalactiae strains isolated from dairy goats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paterna, A; Sánchez, A; Gómez-Martín, A; Corrales, J C; De la Fe, C; Contreras, A; Amores, J

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the susceptibility to several antimicrobials of 28 isolates of Mycoplasma agalactiae obtained from goats in a region (southeastern Spain) where contagious agalactia is endemic. For each isolate, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against 12 antimicrobials of the quinolone, macrolide, aminoglycoside, and tetracycline families was determined. The antimicrobials with the lowest MIC were enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, tylosin, and doxycycline, all with MIC90 (concentration at which growth of 90% of the isolates is inhibited) <1 µg/mL. Norfloxacin (a quinolone) showed a wide MIC range (0.1-12.8 µg/mL), suggesting a resistance mechanism toward this antimicrobial that was not elicited by enrofloxacin or ciprofloxacin (the other quinolones tested). Erythromycin showed the highest MIC90 such that its use against Mycoplasma agalactiae is not recommended. Finally, Mycoplasma agalactiae isolates obtained from goat herds with clinical symptoms of contagious agalactia featured higher MIC90 and MIC50 (concentration at which growth of 50% of the isolates is inhibited) values for many of the antimicrobials compared with isolates from asymptomatic animals. The relationship between the extensive use of antimicrobials in herds with clinical contagious agalactia and variations in MIC requires further study. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Analysis of a new strain of Euphorbia mosaic virus with distinct replication specificity unveils a lineage of begomoviruses with short Rep sequences in the DNA-B intergenic region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Argüello-Astorga Gerardo R

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Euphorbia mosaic virus (EuMV is a member of the SLCV clade, a lineage of New World begomoviruses that display distinctive features in their replication-associated protein (Rep and virion-strand replication origin. The first entirely characterized EuMV isolate is native from Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico; subsequently, EuMV was detected in weeds and pepper plants from another region of Mexico, and partial DNA-A sequences revealed significant differences in their putative replication specificity determinants with respect to EuMV-YP. This study was aimed to investigate the replication compatibility between two EuMV isolates from the same country. Results A new isolate of EuMV was obtained from pepper plants collected at Jalisco, Mexico. Full-length clones of both genomic components of EuMV-Jal were biolistically inoculated into plants of three different species, which developed symptoms indistinguishable from those induced by EuMV-YP. Pseudorecombination experiments with EuMV-Jal and EuMV-YP genomic components demonstrated that these viruses do not form infectious reassortants in Nicotiana benthamiana, presumably because of Rep-iteron incompatibility. Sequence analysis of the EuMV-Jal DNA-B intergenic region (IR led to the unexpected discovery of a 35-nt-long sequence that is identical to a segment of the rep gene in the cognate viral DNA-A. Similar short rep sequences ranging from 35- to 51-nt in length were identified in all EuMV isolates and in three distinct viruses from South America related to EuMV. These short rep sequences in the DNA-B IR are positioned downstream to a ~160-nt non-coding domain highly similar to the CP promoter of begomoviruses belonging to the SLCV clade. Conclusions EuMV strains are not compatible in replication, indicating that this begomovirus species probably is not a replicating lineage in nature. The genomic analysis of EuMV-Jal led to the discovery of a subgroup of SLCV clade viruses that contain in

  17. The telomere length dynamic and methods of its assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Kah-Wai; Yan, Ju

    2005-01-01

    Human telomeres are composed of long repeating sequences of TTAGGG, associated with a variety of telomere-binding proteins. Its function as an end-protector of chromosomes prevents the chromosome from end-to-end fusion, recombination and degradation. Telomerase acts as reverse transcriptase in the elongation of telomeres, which prevent the loss of telomeres due to the end replication problems. However, telomerase activity is detected at low level in somatic cells and high level in embryonic stem cells and tumor cells. It confers immortality to embryonic stem cells and tumor cells. In most tumor cells, telomeres are extremely short and stable. Telomere length is an important indicator of the telomerase activity in tumor cells and it may be used in the prognosis of malignancy. Thus, the assessment of telomeres length is of great experimental and clinical significance. This review describes the role of telomere and telomerase in cancer pathogenesis and the dynamics of the telomeres length in different cell types. The various methods of measurement of telomeres length, i.e. southern blot, hybridization protection assay, fluorescence in situ hybridization, primed in situ, quantitative PCR and single telomere length analysis are discussed. The principle and comparative evaluation of these methods are reviewed. The detection of G-strand overhang by telomeric-oligonucleotide ligation assay, primer extension/nick translation assay and electron microscopy are briefly discussed.

  18. Isolation and functional characterization of Lycopene β-cyclase (CYC-B promoter from Solanum habrochaites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chinnusamy Viswanathan

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Carotenoids are a group of C40 isoprenoid molecules that play diverse biological and ecological roles in plants. Tomato is an important vegetable in human diet and provides the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. Genes encoding enzymes involved in carotenoid biosynthetic pathway have been cloned. However, regulation of genes involved in carotenoid biosynthetic pathway and accumulation of specific carotenoid in chromoplasts are not well understood. One of the approaches to understand regulation of carotenoid metabolism is to characterize the promoters of genes encoding proteins involved in carotenoid metabolism. Lycopene β-cyclase is one of the crucial enzymes in carotenoid biosynthesis pathway in plants. Its activity is required for synthesis of both α-and β-carotenes that are further converted into other carotenoids such as lutein, zeaxanthin, etc. This study describes the isolation and characterization of chromoplast-specific Lycopene β-cyclase (CYC-B promoter from a green fruited S. habrochaites genotype EC520061. Results A 908 bp region upstream to the initiation codon of the Lycopene β-cyclase gene was cloned and identified as full-length promoter. To identify promoter region necessary for regulating developmental expression of the ShCYC-B gene, the full-length promoter and its three different 5' truncated fragments were cloned upstream to the initiation codon of GUS reporter cDNA in binary vectors. These four plant transformation vectors were separately transformed in to Agrobacterium. Agrobacterium-mediated transient and stable expression systems were used to study the GUS expression driven by the full-length promoter and its 5' deletion fragments in tomato. The full-length promoter showed a basal level activity in leaves, and its expression was upregulated > 5-fold in flowers and fruits in transgenic tomato plants. Deletion of -908 to -577 bp 5' to ATG decreases the ShCYC-B promoter strength, while deletion of -908

  19. Short-term memory and electrical restitution in the canine transmural ventricle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Hong; Ueyama, Takeshi; Lin, Shien-Fong; Wang, Juan; Wu, Rui-Juan

    2011-01-01

    Cardiac short-term memory is an intrinsic property of paced myocardium that reflects the influence of pacing history. Using an optical mapping method to record membrane voltage and intracellular calcium (Ca 2+ i ), this study investigated the properties and mechanisms of short-term memory in isolated and perfused canine wedge preparations. In addition to the dynamic and S1S2 pacing protocols, a perturbed downsweep pacing protocol was used to get a complete overview of the restitution portrait. Abrupt changes in basic cycle length (BCL) were applied to investigate the accommodation process of action potential duration (APD). The results showed unobvious differences of memory among the epi-, mid- and endo-myocytes, implying an insignificant memory-induced transient heterogeneity in APD across the transmural canine hearts. With the decrease of pacing rate S1, memory gradually elevated and achieved a maximum around 400 ms, and then reduced as S1 decreased further, indicating a non-monotonic relationship between memory and the pacing rate. After suppressing the Ca 2+ i transient with ryanodine (3 µmol l −1 ), the accommodation process of APD to a new BCL significantly abbreviated (τ = 37.41 ± 4.42 stimuli before ryanodine, τ = 15.84 ± 4.74 stimuli after ryanodine, p < 0.01). Therefore, Ca 2+ i cycling was suggested to play an important role in memory during dynamic pacing

  20. Performance of the SRK/T formula using A-Scan ultrasound biometry after phacoemulsification in eyes with short and long axial lengths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karabela, Yunus; Eliacik, Mustafa; Kaya, Faruk

    2016-07-08

    with PE and IOL types, AL, K1, K2, IOL power, and attempted value, besides with MAE and AL, K1, K2, age, attempted, achieved value were found in both groups. The SRK/T formula performs well and shows good predictability in eyes with short and long axial lengths.

  1. Choked flow mechanism of HFC-134a flowing through short-tube orifices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nilpueng, Kitti; Wongwises, Somchai [Fluid Mechanics, Thermal Engineering and Multiphase Flow Research Lab (FUTURE), Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Mongkut' s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangmod, Bangkok (Thailand)

    2011-02-15

    This paper is a continuation of the author's previous work. New experimental data on the occurrence of choked flow phenomenon and mass flow rate of HFC-134a inside short-tube orifices under choked flow condition are presented. Short-tube orifices diameters ranging from 0.406 mm to 0.686 mm with lengths ranging from 1 mm to 3 mm which can be applied to a miniature vapour-compression refrigeration system are examined. The experimental results indicated that the occurrence of choked flow phenomena inside short-tube orifices is different from that obtained from short-tube orifice diameters of greater than 1 mm, which are typically used in air-conditioner. The beginning of choked flow is dependent on the downstream pressure, degree of subcooling, and length-to-diameter ratio. Under choked flow condition, the mass flow rate is greatly varied with the short-tube orifice dimension, but it is slightly affected by the operating conditions. A correlation of mass flow rate through short-tube orifices is proposed in terms of the dimensionless parameters. The predicted results show good agreement with experimental data with a mean deviation of 4.69%. (author) transfer coefficient was also proposed. (author)

  2. Magnetic resonance and the diagnosis of short stature of hypothalamic-hypophyseal origin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vannelli, S.; Avataneo, T.; Benso, L.; Potenzoni, F.; Cirillo, S.; Mostert, M.; Bona, G.

    1993-01-01

    Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 23 patients with short stature (7 had multiple pituitary hormone defect, 11 had isolated growth hormone deficiency and 5 had normal variant short stature) to investigate if there is a relation between magnetic resonance findings and results of endocrine tests. Magnetic resonance imaging of patients with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency or with serious isolated growth hormone deficiency (growth hormone 3μg/l) or with normal variant short stature, the technique revealed a normal or hypoplastic hypophysis. Magnetic resonance appears to be a useful second-level diagnostic tool in defining the type of alteration in growth defects of endocrine origin. 26 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs

  3. On the short distance behavior of string theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guida, R.; Konishi, K.; Provero, P.

    1991-01-01

    Short distance behavior of string theories is investigated by the use of the discretized path-integral formulation. In particular, the minimum physical length and the generalized uncertainty relation are re-derived from a set of Ward-Takahashi identities. In this paper several issues related to the form of the generalized uncertainty relation and to its implications are discussed. A consistent qualitative picture of short distance behavior of string theory seems to emerge from such a study

  4. Isolation and preliminary function analysis of a Na + /H + antiporter ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A full-length cDNA Na+/H+ antiporter gene (MzNHX1) was isolated from Malus zumi according to the homologous Na+/H+ antiporter gene region in plants. Sequence analysis indicated that the cDNA was 2062 bp in length, including an open reading frame (ORF) of 1629 bp, which encoded a predicted polypeptide of 542 ...

  5. Characterization of a Novel Subgroup of Extracellular Medium-Chain-Length Polyhydroxyalkanoate Depolymerases from Actinobacteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangoiti, Joana; Santos, Marta; Prieto, María Auxiliadora; de la Mata, Isabel; Llama, María J.

    2012-01-01

    Nineteen medium-chain-length (mcl) poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA)-degrading microorganisms were isolated from natural sources. From them, seven Gram-positive and three Gram-negative bacteria were identified. The ability of these microorganisms to hydrolyze other biodegradable plastics, such as short-chain-length (scl) PHA, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), poly(ethylene succinate) (PES), and poly(l-lactide) (PLA), has been studied. On the basis of the great ability to degrade different polyesters, Streptomyces roseolus SL3 was selected, and its extracellular depolymerase was biochemically characterized. The enzyme consisted of one polypeptide chain of 28 kDa with a pI value of 5.2. Its maximum activity was observed at pH 9.5 with chromogenic substrates. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed mcl PHA and PCL but not scl PHA, PES, and PLA. Moreover, the mcl PHA depolymerase can hydrolyze various substrates for esterases, such as tributyrin and p-nitrophenyl (pNP)-alkanoates, with its maximum activity being measured with pNP-octanoate. Interestingly, when poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate [11%]) was used as the substrate, the main hydrolysis product was the monomer (R)-3-hydroxyoctanoate. In addition, the genes of several Actinobacteria strains, including S. roseolus SL3, were identified on the basis of the peptide de novo sequencing of the Streptomyces venezuelae SO1 mcl PHA depolymerase by tandem mass spectrometry. These enzymes did not show significant similarity to mcl PHA depolymerases characterized previously. Our results suggest that these distinct enzymes might represent a new subgroup of mcl PHA depolymerases. PMID:22865072

  6. Lengths of Orthologous Prokaryotic Proteins Are Affected by Evolutionary Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana Tatarinova

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Proteins of the same functional family (for example, kinases may have significantly different lengths. It is an open question whether such variation in length is random or it appears as a response to some unknown evolutionary driving factors. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate existence of factors affecting prokaryotic gene lengths. We believe that the ranking of genomes according to lengths of their genes, followed by the calculation of coefficients of association between genome rank and genome property, is a reasonable approach in revealing such evolutionary driving factors. As we demonstrated earlier, our chosen approach, Bubble-sort, combines stability, accuracy, and computational efficiency as compared to other ranking methods. Application of Bubble Sort to the set of 1390 prokaryotic genomes confirmed that genes of Archaeal species are generally shorter than Bacterial ones. We observed that gene lengths are affected by various factors: within each domain, different phyla have preferences for short or long genes; thermophiles tend to have shorter genes than the soil-dwellers; halophiles tend to have longer genes. We also found that species with overrepresentation of cytosines and guanines in the third position of the codon (GC3 content tend to have longer genes than species with low GC3 content.

  7. Lengths of Orthologous Prokaryotic Proteins Are Affected by Evolutionary Factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tatarinova, Tatiana; Salih, Bilal; Dien Bard, Jennifer; Cohen, Irit; Bolshoy, Alexander

    2015-01-01

    Proteins of the same functional family (for example, kinases) may have significantly different lengths. It is an open question whether such variation in length is random or it appears as a response to some unknown evolutionary driving factors. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate existence of factors affecting prokaryotic gene lengths. We believe that the ranking of genomes according to lengths of their genes, followed by the calculation of coefficients of association between genome rank and genome property, is a reasonable approach in revealing such evolutionary driving factors. As we demonstrated earlier, our chosen approach, Bubble-sort, combines stability, accuracy, and computational efficiency as compared to other ranking methods. Application of Bubble Sort to the set of 1390 prokaryotic genomes confirmed that genes of Archaeal species are generally shorter than Bacterial ones. We observed that gene lengths are affected by various factors: within each domain, different phyla have preferences for short or long genes; thermophiles tend to have shorter genes than the soil-dwellers; halophiles tend to have longer genes. We also found that species with overrepresentation of cytosines and guanines in the third position of the codon (GC3 content) tend to have longer genes than species with low GC3 content.

  8. Genomic diversity among Danish field strains of Mycoplasma hyosynoviae assessed by amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokotovic, Branko; Friis, Niels F.; Nielsen, Elisabeth O.

    2002-01-01

    Genomic diversity among strains of Mycoplasma hyosynoviae isolated in Denmark was assessed by using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. Ninety-six strains, obtained from different specimens and geographical locations during 30 years and the type strain of M. hyosynoviae S16(T......) were concurrently examined for variance in BglII-MfeI and EcoRI-Csp6I-A AFLP markers. A total of 56 different genomic fingerprints having an overall similarity between 77 and 96% were detected. No correlation between AFLP variability and period of isolation or anatomical site of isolation could...

  9. Telomere length is associated with ACE I/D polymorphism in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fyhrquist, Frej; Eriksson, Anders; Saijonmaa, Outi

    2013-01-01

    INTRODUCTION: Short telomeres are often associated with cardiovascular risk factors and age-related diseases, while the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion polymorphism (DD, ID, II) has shown such associations less consistently. We hypothesized that telomere length...... and association of telomere length with cardiovascular risk is affected by ACE (I/D) genotype. METHODS: We measured leucocyte telomere length (LTL) by Southern blot and analysed ACE I/D genotypes in 1249 subjects with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). We examined interactions of ACE I...

  10. Dicer-independent processing of short hairpin RNAs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Liu, Ying Poi; Schopman, Nick C. T.; Berkhout, Ben

    2013-01-01

    Short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) are widely used to induce RNA interference (RNAi). We tested a variety of shRNAs that differed in stem length and terminal loop size and revealed strikingly different RNAi activities and shRNA-processing patterns. Interestingly, we identified a specific shRNA design that

  11. Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and telomere length predicts response to immunosuppressive therapy in pediatric aplastic anemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narita, Atsushi; Muramatsu, Hideki; Sekiya, Yuko; Okuno, Yusuke; Sakaguchi, Hirotoshi; Nishio, Nobuhiro; Yoshida, Nao; Wang, Xinan; Xu, Yinyan; Kawashima, Nozomu; Doisaki, Sayoko; Hama, Asahito; Takahashi, Yoshiyuki; Kudo, Kazuko; Moritake, Hiroshi; Kobayashi, Masao; Kobayashi, Ryoji; Ito, Etsuro; Yabe, Hiromasa; Ohga, Shouichi; Ohara, Akira; Kojima, Seiji

    2015-12-01

    Acquired aplastic anemia is an immune-mediated disease characterized by severe defects in stem cell number resulting in hypocellular marrow and peripheral blood cytopenias. Minor paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria populations and a short telomere length were identified as predictive biomarkers of immunosuppressive therapy responsiveness in aplastic anemia. We enrolled 113 aplastic anemia patients (63 boys and 50 girls) in this study to evaluate their response to immunosuppressive therapy. The paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria populations and telomere length were detected by flow cytometry. Forty-seven patients (42%) carried a minor paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria population. The median telomere length of aplastic anemia patients was -0.99 standard deviation (SD) (range -4.01-+3.01 SD). Overall, 60 patients (53%) responded to immunosuppressive therapy after six months. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the absence of a paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria population and a shorter telomere length as independent unfavorable predictors of immunosuppressive therapy response at six months. The cohort was stratified into a group of poor prognosis (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria negative and shorter telomere length; 37 patients) and good prognosis (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria positive and/or longer telomere length; 76 patients), respectively. The response rates of the poor prognosis and good prognosis groups at six months were 19% and 70%, respectively (P<0.001). The combined absence of a minor paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria population and a short telomere length is an efficient predictor of poor immunosuppressive therapy response, which should be considered while deciding treatment options: immunosuppressive therapy or first-line hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The trial was registered in www.umin.ac.jp with number UMIN000017972. Copyright© Ferrata Storti Foundation.

  12. Genotyping and genetic diversity of Arcobacter butzleri by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    On, Stephen L.W.; Atabay, H.I.; Amisu, K.O.

    2004-01-01

    Aims: To investigate the potential of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) profiling for genotyping Arcobacter butzleri and to obtain further data on the genetic diversity of this organism. Methods and Results: Seventy-three isolates of Danish, British, Turkish, Swedish, Nigerian and Nor...

  13. Influence of the gauge length on the accuracy of long-gauge sensors employed in monitoring of prismatic beams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glisic, Branko

    2011-01-01

    Depending on the geometric basis of measurement (gauge length), discrete strain sensors used in structural monitoring of civil engineering structures can be considered as short-gauge sensors or long-gauge sensors. Long-gauge sensors measure average strain over the gauge lengths and are used for global monitoring of structures, in particular, those built of inhomogeneous materials. However, the strain distribution along the sensor's gauge length may be nonlinear and the measured average strain value that is commonly attributed to the midpoint of the sensor may be different from the real value of strain at that point. Consequently, excessively long sensors may feature significant errors in measurement. However, short-gauge sensors are more susceptible to other types of measurement error, most notably, error caused by discontinuities (open cracks) distributed in the monitored material. Thus an optimum gauge length is to be found. The error in average strain measurement inherent to the sensor's gauge length introduced by the strain distribution and discontinuities in the monitored material is modelled for the most common applications met in civil engineering practice. The modelling takes into account the geometric properties of the monitored structure and various load cases. Guidelines for the selection of an appropriate gauge length are proposed, and tables for measurement error estimation are presented

  14. The School Short-Form Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory: Revised and Improved

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hills, Peter R.; Francis, Leslie J.; Jennings, Penelope

    2011-01-01

    The school short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory is a widely used measure of children's global self-esteem. Unlike the full-length scale, however, it has been generally understood that the short form does not allow differentiation between the major individual sources of self-esteem. The present study has examined the internal…

  15. Anomalous high photoconductivity in short channel indium-zinc-oxide photo-transistors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Hyun-Sik; Jeon, Sanghun

    2015-01-01

    Upon light exposure, an indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) presents higher photoconductivity by several orders of magnitude at the negative gate bias region. Among various device geometrical factors, scaling down the channel length of the photo-transistor results in an anomalous increase in photoconductivity. To probe the origin of this high photoconductivity in short-channel device, we measured transient current, current–voltage, and capacitance–voltage characteristics of IZO–TFTs with various channel lengths and widths before and after illumination. Under the illumination, the equilibrium potential region which lies far from front interface exists only in short-channel devices, forming the un-depleted conducting back channel. This region plays an important role in carrier transport under the illumination, leading to high photoconductivity in short-channel devices. Photon exposure coupled with gate-modulated band bending for short-channel devices leads to the accumulation of V o ++ at the front channel and screening negative gate bias, thereby generating high current flow in the un-depleted back-channel region

  16. Ultrashort Channel Length Black Phosphorus Field-Effect Transistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miao, Jinshui; Zhang, Suoming; Cai, Le; Scherr, Martin; Wang, Chuan

    2015-09-22

    This paper reports high-performance top-gated black phosphorus (BP) field-effect transistors with channel lengths down to 20 nm fabricated using a facile angle evaporation process. By controlling the evaporation angle, the channel length of the transistors can be reproducibly controlled to be anywhere between 20 and 70 nm. The as-fabricated 20 nm top-gated BP transistors exhibit respectable on-state current (174 μA/μm) and transconductance (70 μS/μm) at a VDS of 0.1 V. Due to the use of two-dimensional BP as the channel material, the transistors exhibit relatively small short channel effects, preserving a decent on-off current ratio of 10(2) even at an extremely small channel length of 20 nm. Additionally, unlike the unencapsulated BP devices, which are known to be chemically unstable in ambient conditions, the top-gated BP transistors passivated by the Al2O3 gate dielectric layer remain stable without noticeable degradation in device performance after being stored in ambient conditions for more than 1 week. This work demonstrates the great promise of atomically thin BP for applications in ultimately scaled transistors.

  17. Effects of Presentation Format and List Length on Children's False Memories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swannell, Ellen R.; Dewhurst, Stephen A.

    2013-01-01

    The effect of list length on children's false memories was investigated using list and story versions of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott procedure. Short (7 items) and long (14 items) sequences of semantic associates were presented to children aged 6, 8, and 10 years old either in lists or embedded within a story that emphasized the list theme.…

  18. Isolated rib fractures in geriatric patients

    OpenAIRE

    Elmistekawy, Elsayed M.; Hammad, Abd Almohsen M.

    2007-01-01

    Introduction: The goal of this study was to investigate the short-term outcomes in patients older than 60 years with isolated rib fractures and admitted to emergency hospital. Materials and Methods: This study included patients who were 60 years old or more and sustained blunt chest injury and had isolated rib fractures. The following data were obtained from the medical records: age, gender, number of fracture ribs, side of fracture ribs, mechanism and nature of injury, preexisting medical...

  19. Resistance to Reperfusion Injury Following Short Term Postischemic Administration of Natural Honey in Globally Ischemic Isolated Rat Heart

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haleh Vaez

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Results of our previous study revealed that preischemic perfusion of honey before zero flow global ischemia had cardioprotective effects in rat. The present study investigated potential resistance to reperfusion injury following short term postischemic administration of natural honey in globally ischemic isolated rat heart. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into five groups (n=10-13. The rat hearts were isolated, mounted on a Langendorff apparatus, allowed to equilibrate for 30 min then subjected to 30 min global ischemia. In the control group, the hearts were reperfused with drug free normal Krebs-Henseleit (K/H solution before ischemia and during 120 min reperfusion. In the treatment groups, reperfusion was initiated with K/H solution containing different concentration of honey (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2% for 15 min and was resumed until the end of 120 min with normal K/H solution. Results: In the control group, VEBs number was 784±199, while in honey concentration of 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2%, it decreased to 83±23 (P<0.001, 138±48 (P<0.01, 142±37 (P<0.001 and 157±40 (P<0.01, respectively. Number and duration of VT and time spent in reversible VF were also reduced by honey. In the control group, the infarct size was 54.1±7.8%, however; honey (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2% markedly lowered the value to 12.4±2.4, 12.7±3.3, 11.3±2.6 and 7.9±1.7 (P<0.001, respectively. Conclusion: Postischemic administration of natural honey in global ischemia showed protective effects against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R injuries in isolated rat heart. Antioxidant and radical scavenging activity, lipoperoxidation inhibition, reduction of necrotized tissue, presence of rich energy sources, various type of vitamins, minerals and enzymes and formation of NO-contain metabolites may probably involve in those cardioprotective effects.

  20. Effeciency of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in patients with plantar fasciitis and the relationship with subcalcaneal spur length

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serpil Tuna

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: ESWT is widely used in the treatment of plantar fascitis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of ESWT on heel pain and symptoms in the short and medium term. We also compared the subcalcaneal spur length and the heel pain severity and examined the effect of the subcalcaneal spur length on the efficiency of ESWT therapy. Methods: The efficiency of ESWT applied to 59 heel of 48 patients compared retrospectively . We used Visual Analog Scale (VAS and Wolgin scale to evaluate the treatment outcomes. We measure the subcalcaneal spurs length of the patients with foot x-ray . Correlation between the VAS scores and the length of subcalcaneal spur were also evaluated. Results: Improvement in VAS in the first week and 3 months after ESWT treatment was statistically significant. There was no correlation between subcalcaneal spur length and the severity of pain. The number of patients in the'' medium, bad'' group decreased while the number of patients in the '' good'' group incresed according to WDS after ESWT treatment. Conclusion: As a result of this study we concluded that ESWT is effective in the treatment of plantar fasciitis in the short and medium term.

  1. Tenofovir alafenamide demonstrates broad cross-genotype activity against wild-type HBV clinical isolates and maintains susceptibility to drug-resistant HBV isolates in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yang; Miller, Michael D; Kitrinos, Kathryn M

    2017-03-01

    Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) is a novel prodrug of tenofovir (TFV). This study evaluated the antiviral activity of TAF against wild-type genotype A-H HBV clinical isolates as well as adefovir-resistant, lamivudine-resistant, and entecavir-resistant HBV isolates. Full length HBV genomes or the polymerase/reverse transcriptase (pol/RT) region from treatment-naïve patients infected with HBV genotypes A-H were amplified and cloned into an expression vector under the control of a CMV promoter. In addition, 11 drug resistant HBV constructs were created by site-directed mutagenesis of a full length genotype D construct. Activity of TAF was measured by transfection of each construct into HepG2 cells and assessment of HBV DNA levels following treatment across a range of TAF concentrations. TAF activity in vitro was similar against wild-type genotype A-H HBV clinical isolates. All lamivudine- and entecavir-resistant isolates and 4/5 adefovir-resistant isolates were found to be sensitive to inhibition by TAF in vitro as compared to the wild-type isolate. The adefovir-resistant isolate rtA181V + rtN236T exhibited low-level reduced susceptibility to TAF. TAF is similarly active in vitro against wild-type genotype A-H HBV clinical isolates. The TAF sensitivity results for all drug-resistant isolates are consistent with what has been observed with the parent drug TFV. The in vitro cell-based HBV phenotyping assay results support the use of TAF in treatment of HBV infected subjects with diverse HBV genotypes, in both treatment-naive and treatment-experienced HBV infected patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. A population-based study on the association between educational length, prostate-specific antigen testing and use of prostate biopsies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordström, Tobias; Bratt, Ola; Örtegren, Joakim; Aly, Markus; Adolfsson, Jan; Grönberg, Henrik

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to determine whether educational length affects prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and the time to prostate biopsy for men with raised PSA values. Using register data on all men in Stockholm County in 2013 (n = 1,052,841), the limited-duration point prevalence of PSA testing and time between test and prostate biopsy or repeat testing were analysed. Patterns of follow-up were assessed using Kaplan-Meier product limit estimators and Cox proportional hazard models. Educational length was categorized as short (≤ 9 years), intermediate (10-12 years) or long (≥ 13 years). PSA testing increased with educational length in all age groups. Among men aged 50-69 years, 61% with long and 54% with short education had had a PSA test within the preceding 10 years (p prostate biopsy within 12 months. After adjusting for PSA level and age, educational length was still associated with the chance of having a prostate biopsy in men with PSA 4-10 ng/ml (hazard ratio 1.22, 95% CI 1.12-1.31), but not in men with higher PSA values. PSA testing increased with educational length. Men with long education were more likely to have a prostate biopsy after an increased PSA value below 10 ng/ml than men with short education. These differences may contribute to the worse prostate cancer outcomes observed among men with lower socioeconomic status.

  3. The effect of shape, length and diameter of implants on primary stability based on resonance frequency analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamidreza Barikani

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of shape, diameter and length of implants on their primary stability based on resonance frequency analysis. Materials and Methods: Replace select tapered and Branemark MK III implants were selected. Each of these two selected groups was divided into nine subgroups based on the implant length (IL (short, medium and long and the implant diameter (ID (narrow platform [NP], regular platform [RP] and wide platform [WP]. Five implants were assigned to each of the nine subgroups. Implants were placed in artificial bone blocks with bone quality similar to D3 bone. Immediately after the implant placement, its primary stability was measured using Osstell Mentor equipment. T-test and Tukey′s honest significant difference Post hoc were performed for data analysis. Statistical significance was defined at P < 0.05. Results: Replace select system showed significantly higher primary stability compared to the Branemark system, when using the short implants for all three diameters (P ≤ 0.004. However, in medium length implants there were no significant differences between the two implant systems (P ≥ 0.31. In long implants, only when the NP and RP implants were used, the Replace Select system showed significantly higher primary stability compared to the Branemark system (P = 0.000. In the replace select system, long implants had a significantly higher primary stability compared to medium and short length implants (P ≤ 0.003. In the NP and RP Branemark implants, short implants showed significantly lower primary stability compared to medium and long implants (P ≤ 0.002. However, in WP Branemark implants, primary stability increased significantly with increasing the IL from short to medium and from medium to long (P = 0.000. There were also significant differences between NP and the two other wider implants in both systems (P = 0.000. Conclusion: The use of tapered implants is

  4. Relevance of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats of Enterococcus faecalis strains isolated from retreatment root canals on periapical lesions, resistance to irrigants and biofilms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Zhongchun; Du, Yu; Ling, Junqi; Huang, Lijia; Ma, Jinglei

    2017-12-01

    A high prevalence of Enterococcus faecalis ( E. faecalis ) is observed in teeth with root canal treatment failures. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are widely distributed in prokaryotes that have adaptive immune systems against mobile elements, including pathogenic genes. The present study investigated the relevance of the CRISPR in E. faecalis strains isolated from retreated root canals on biofilms, periapical lesions and drug resistance. A total of 20 E. faecalis strains were extracted from the root canals of teeth referred for root canal retreatment. CRISPR-Cas loci were identified by two pairs of relevant primers and polymerase chain reaction. The susceptibility of the 20 isolated strains to intracanal irrigants was evaluated by 1- and 5-minute challenges with a mixture of a tetracycline isomer, an acid and a detergent (MTAD), 2% chlorhexidine (CHX) and 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). The microtiter plate assay and crystal violet staining were used to compare the biofilm formation of the E. faecalis isolate strains. Out of the 20 E. faecalis isolate strains, 5 strains that lacked CRISPR-cas determinants exhibited significant periapical lesions. Among the 15 strains containing CRISPR-cas determinants, 8 were isolated from root canals with inadequate fillings and 7 were isolated from root canals without any fillings. The five strains lacking CRISPR-cas loci were observed to be more resistant to MTAD and 2% CHX than the 15 strains that had CRISPR-cas loci. All of the strains exhibited the same susceptibility to 5.25% NaOCl. Furthermore, the 5 strains lacking CRISPR-cas determinants generated more biofilm than the other 15 strains. Thus, the results of the present study suggested that E. faecalis root canal isolates lacking CRISPR-cas exhibit higher resistance to intracanal irrigants, stronger biofilm formation and generate significant periapical lesions.

  5. Zen meditation, Length of Telomeres, and the Role of Experiential Avoidance and Compassion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alda, Marta; Puebla-Guedea, Marta; Rodero, Baltasar; Demarzo, Marcelo; Montero-Marin, Jesus; Roca, Miquel; Garcia-Campayo, Javier

    Mindfulness refers to an awareness that emerges by intentionally focusing on the present experience in a nonjudgmental or evaluative manner. Evidence regarding its efficacy has been increasing exponentially, and recent research suggests that the practice of meditation is associated with longer leukocyte telomere length. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this potential relationship are unknown. We examined the telomere lengths of a group of 20 Zen meditation experts and another 20 healthy matched comparison participants who had not previously meditated. We also measured multiple psychological variables related to meditation practice. Genomic DNA was extracted for telomere measurement using a Life Length proprietary program. High-throughput quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (HT-Q-FISH) was used to measure the telomere length distribution and the median telomere length (MTL). The meditators group had a longer MTL ( p  = 0.005) and a lower percentage of short telomeres in individual cells ( p  = 0.007) than those in the comparison group. To determine which of the psychological variables contributed more to telomere maintenance, two regression analyses were conducted. In the first model, which applied to the MTL, the following three factors were significant: age, absence of experiential avoidance, and Common Humanity subscale of the Self Compassion Scale. Similarly, in the model that examined the percentage of short telomeres, the same factors were significant: age, absence of experiential avoidance, and Common Humanity subscale of the Self Compassion Scale. Although limited by a small sample size, these results suggest that the absence of experiential avoidance of negative emotions and thoughts is integral to the connection between meditation and telomeres.

  6. Linear intra-bone geometry dependencies of the radius: Radius length determination by maximum distal width

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baumbach, S.F.; Krusche-Mandl, I.; Huf, W.; Mall, G.; Fialka, C.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate possible linear intra-bone geometry dependencies by determining the relation between the maximum radius length and maximum distal width in two independent populations and test for possible gender or age effects. A strong correlation can help develop more representative fracture models and osteosynthetic devices as well as aid gender and height estimation in anthropologic/forensic cases. Methods: First, maximum radius length and distal width of 100 consecutive patients, aged 20–70 years, were digitally measured on standard lower arm radiographs by two independent investigators. Second, the same measurements were performed ex vivo on a second cohort, 135 isolated, formalin fixed radii. Standard descriptive statistics as well as correlations were calculated and possible gender age influences tested for both populations separately. Results: The radiographic dataset resulted in a correlation of radius length and width of r = 0.753 (adj. R 2 = 0.563, p 2 = 0.592) and side no influence on the correlation. Radius length–width correlation for the isolated radii was r = 0.621 (adj. R 2 = 0.381, p 2 = 0.598). Conclusion: A relatively strong radius length–distal width correlation was found in two different populations, indicating that linear body proportions might not only apply to body height and axial length measurements of long bones but also to proportional dependency of bone shapes in general.

  7. Report of isolations of unusual lyssaviruses (rabies and Mokola virus identified retrospectively from Zimbabwe : short communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Bingham

    2001-07-01

    Full Text Available Rabies isolates that had been stored between 1983 and 1997 were examined with a panel of anti-lyssavirus nucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies. Out of 56 isolates from cats and various wild carnivore species, 1 isolate of Mokola virus and 5 other non-typical rabies viruses were identified. The Mokola virus isolate was diagnosed as rabies in 1993 from a cat. Genetic analysis of this isolate suggests that it falls in a distinct subgroup of the Mokola virus genotype. The 5 non-typical rabies viruses were isolated from honey badgers (Mellivora capensis, African civets (Civettictis civetta and an unidentified mongoose (Herpestidae. These isolates are representatives of rarely-reported wildlife-associated strains of rabies, probably maintained by the slender mongoose (Galerella sanguinea. These findings indicate that both Mokola virus and the mongoose-associated variant may be more common in Zimbabwe than is apparent from routine surveillance.

  8. Study of force induced melting of dsDNA as a function of length and conformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Danilowicz, Claudia; Hatch, Kristi; Conover, Alyson; Gunaratne, Ruwan; Coljee, Vincent; Prentiss, Mara; Ducas, Theodore

    2010-01-01

    We measure the constant force required to melt double-stranded (ds) DNA as a function of length for lengths from 12 to 100 000 base pairs, where the force is applied to the 3'3' or 5'5' ends of the dsDNA. Molecules with 32 base pairs or fewer melt before overstretching. For these short molecules, the melting force is independent of the ends to which the force is applied and the shear force as a function of length is well described by de Gennes theory with a de Gennes length of less than 10 bp. Molecules with lengths of 500 base pairs or more overstretch before melting. For these long molecules, the melting force depends on the ends to which the force is applied. The melting force as a function of length increases even when the length exceeds 1000 bp, where the length dependence is inconsistent with de Gennes theory. Finally, we expand de Gennes melting theory to 3'5' pulling and compare the predictions with experimental results.

  9. A Comparison of the Interest Accuracy of Two Short Forms of the WAIS-R.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cella, David F.; And Others

    1985-01-01

    Examined relative efficacy of two short forms of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) with respect to accurate subtest profile scatter (N=50). Subtest scores of both split-half Satz-Mogel short form and criterion referenced Modified WAIS-R (WAIS-RM) short form were found to differ significantly from full-length WAIS-R subtest scores.…

  10. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms of Virulence Plasmids in Rhodococcus equi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takai, Shinji; Shoda, Masato; Sasaki, Yukako; Tsubaki, Shiro; Fortier, Guillaume; Pronost, Stephane; Rahal, Karim; Becu, Teotimo; Begg, Angela; Browning, Glenn; Nicholson, Vivian M.; Prescott, John F.

    1999-01-01

    Virulent Rhodococcus equi, which is a well-known cause of pyogranulomatous pneumonia in foals, possesses a large plasmid encoding virulence-associated 15- to 17-kDa antigens. Foal and soil isolates from five countries—Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, and Japan—were investigated for the presence of 15- to 17-kDa antigens by colony blotting, using the monoclonal antibody 10G5, and the gene coding for 15- to 17-kDa antigens by PCR. Plasmid DNAs extracted from positive isolates were digested with restriction endonucleases BamHI, EcoRI, EcoT22I, and HindIII, and the digestion patterns that resulted divided the plasmids of virulent isolates into five closely related types. Three of the five types had already been reported in Canadian and Japanese isolates, and the two new types had been found in French and Japanese isolates. Therefore, we tentatively designated these five types 85-kb type I (pREAT701), 85-kb type II (a new type), 87-kb type I (EcoRI and BamHI type 2 [V. M. Nicholson and J. F. Prescott, J. Clin. Microbiol. 35:738–740, 1997]), 87-kb type II (a new type), and 90-kb (pREL1) plasmids. The 85-kb type I plasmid was found in isolates from Argentina, Australia, Canada, and France. Plasmid 87-kb type I was isolated in specimens from Argentina, Canada, and France. The 85-kb type II plasmid appeared in isolates from France. On the other hand, plasmids 87-kb type II and 90-kb were found only in isolates from Japan. These results revealed geographic differences in the distribution of the virulence plasmids found in the five countries and suggested that the restriction fragment length polymorphism of virulence plasmids might be useful to elucidate the molecular epidemiology of virulent R. equi in the world. PMID:10488224

  11. Influence of step length and landing pattern on patellofemoral joint kinetics during running.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willson, J D; Ratcliff, O M; Meardon, S A; Willy, R W

    2015-12-01

    Elevated patellofemoral joint kinetics during running may contribute to patellofemoral joint symptoms. The purpose of this study was to test for independent effects of foot strike pattern and step length on patellofemoral joint kinetics while running. Effects were tested relative to individual steps and also taking into account the number of steps required to run a kilometer with each step length. Patellofemoral joint reaction force and stress were estimated in 20 participants running at their preferred speed. Participants ran using a forefoot strike and rearfoot strike pattern during three different step length conditions: preferred step length, long (+10%) step length, and short (-10%) step length. Patellofemoral kinetics was estimated using a biomechanical model of the patellofemoral joint that accounted for cocontraction of the knee flexors and extensors. We observed independent effects of foot strike pattern and step length. Patellofemoral joint kinetics per step was 10-13% less during forefoot strike conditions and 15-20% less with a shortened step length. Patellofemoral joint kinetics per kilometer decreased 12-13% using a forefoot strike pattern and 9-12% with a shortened step length. To the extent that patellofemoral joint kinetics contribute to symptoms among runners, these running modifications may be advisable for runners with patellofemoral pain. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Short-Circuit Degradation of 10-kV 10-A SiC MOSFET

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eni, Emanuel-Petre; Beczkowski, Szymon; Munk-Nielsen, Stig

    2017-01-01

    The short-circuit behavior of power devices is highly relevant for converter design and fault protection. In this work, the degradation during short-circuit of a 10 kV 10 A 4H-SiC MOSFET is investigated at 6 kV DC-link voltage. The study aims to present the behavior of the device during short-circuit...... transients as it sustains increasing short-circuit pulses during its life-time. As the short-circuit pulse length increases, degradation of the device can be observed in periodically performed characterizations. The initial degradation seems to be associated with the channel region, and continuous stressing...

  13. Assessment of Virulence of Raffaelea quercus-mongolicae and Raffaelea spp. Isolates by Artificial Inoculation of Quercus mongolica Logs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Su-Yeon Son

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to evaluate the virulence of geographically different isolates of oak wilt pathogen, Raffaelea quercus-mongolicae and other Raffaelea species. In this study, mature trees of Quercus mongolica were inoculated with the various isolates of Raffaelea spp. and their virulence was evaluated by measuring the extent of sapwood discoloration resulting from the inoculation. The average length of discolored sapwood in a lateral direction was longest in the trees inoculated with the isolates from Korea (8.69 cm followed by R. quercivora (7.51 cm and the other Raffaelea spp. (3.35 cm. The lateral length of discolored sapwood caused by the inoculation with Korean strains varied from 4.71 to 14.90 cm indicating their differences in virulence. The area of discolored sapwood caused by the inoculation with Raffaelea spp. varied from 1.57 to 8.42 cm2 indicating their differences in virulence. Based on the length and area of the discolored sapwoods, isolated YY and wj43 appeared to have the highest virulence among all the Raffaelea isolates tested. Each of the two isolates was obtained from Gangwon Province and Jeonbuk Province, respectively.

  14. Phylogenetic Analysis of Apple scar skin viroid Isolates in Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kang Hee Cho

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available To identify genome sequences of Apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd isolates in Korea, the field survey was performed from ‘Hongro’ apple orchards located in eight sites in South Korea (Bongwha, Cheongsong, Dangjin, Gimchoen, Muju, Mungyeong, Suwon, and Yeongwol. ASSVd was detected by RT-PCR and PCR fragments were cloned into cloning vector. Full-length viral genomes of eight ASSVd isolates were sequenced and compared with 21 isolates reported previously from Korea, India, China, Japan and Greece. Eight isolates in this study showed 92.2-99.7% nucleotide sequence identities with those reported previously. Phylogenetic analysis showed that seven isolates reported in this study belong to the same group distinct from other groups.

  15. Genotyping of the fish rhabdovirus, viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus, by restriction fragment length polymorphisms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Einer-Jensen, Katja; Winton, J.; Lorenzen, Niels

    2005-01-01

    The aim of this study was to develop a standardized molecular assay that used limited resources and equipment for routine genotyping of isolates of the fish rhabdovirus, viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV). Computer generated restriction maps, based on 62 unique full-length (1524 nt....... Experimental evaluation of the method consisted of three steps: (i) RT-PCR amplification of the G-gene of VHSV isolates using purified viral RNA as template, (ii) digestion of the PCR products with a panel of restriction endonucleases and (iii) interpretation of the resulting RFLP profiles. The RFLP analysis...

  16. Changes in muscle force-length properties affect the early rise of force in vivo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blazevich, Anthony J; Cannavan, Dale; Horne, Sara

    2009-01-01

    Changes in contractile rate of force development (RFD), measured within a short time interval from contraction initiation, were measured after a period of strength training that led to increases in muscle fascicle length but no measurable change in neuromuscular activity. The relationship between...

  17. In situ detection of tandem DNA repeat length

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yaar, R.; Szafranski, P.; Cantor, C.R.; Smith, C.L. [Boston Univ., MA (United States)

    1996-11-01

    A simple method for scoring short tandem DNA repeats is presented. An oligonucleotide target, containing tandem repeats embedded in a unique sequence, was hybridized to a set of complementary probes, containing tandem repeats of known lengths. Single-stranded loop structures formed on duplexes containing a mismatched (different) number of tandem repeats. No loop structure formed on duplexes containing a matched (identical) number of tandem repeats. The matched and mismatched loop structures were enzymatically distinguished and differentially labeled by treatment with S1 nuclease and the Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase. 7 refs., 4 figs.

  18. SeqEntropy: genome-wide assessment of repeats for short read sequencing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsueh-Ting Chu

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent studies on genome assembly from short-read sequencing data reported the limitation of this technology to reconstruct the entire genome even at very high depth coverage. We investigated the limitation from the perspective of information theory to evaluate the effect of repeats on short-read genome assembly using idealized (error-free reads at different lengths. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We define a metric H(k to be the entropy of sequencing reads at a read length k and use the relative loss of entropy ΔH(k to measure the impact of repeats for the reconstruction of whole-genome from sequences of length k. In our experiments, we found that entropy loss correlates well with de-novo assembly coverage of a genome, and a score of ΔH(k>1% indicates a severe loss in genome reconstruction fidelity. The minimal read lengths to achieve ΔH(k<1% are different for various organisms and are independent of the genome size. For example, in order to meet the threshold of ΔH(k<1%, a read length of 60 bp is needed for the sequencing of human genome (3.2 10(9 bp and 320 bp for the sequencing of fruit fly (1.8×10(8 bp. We also calculated the ΔH(k scores for 2725 prokaryotic chromosomes and plasmids at several read lengths. Our results indicate that the levels of repeats in different genomes are diverse and the entropy of sequencing reads provides a measurement for the repeat structures. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The proposed entropy-based measurement, which can be calculated in seconds to minutes in most cases, provides a rapid quantitative evaluation on the limitation of idealized short-read genome sequencing. Moreover, the calculation can be parallelized to scale up to large euakryotic genomes. This approach may be useful to tune the sequencing parameters to achieve better genome assemblies when a closely related genome is already available.

  19. FIELD INVESTIGATIONS OF PILED-RAFT FOUNDATIONS WITH SHORT-LENGTH CONIC PILES IN BUILDING AREAS OF MINSK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Sernov

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent time piled foundations are extensively applied due to an increase of storeys in buildings constructed in Minsk and load increment on the soil. Preference is given to this approach even in the case when relatively firm soil occurs in the top part of the foundation bed. In this case maximum usage of the foundation bed bearing capacity and reduction of foundation cost are considered as top-priority tasks for designers. One of the ways to increase the bearing capacity of piled foundations is the necessity to take into account resistance of foundation bed soil located under raft bottom. The raft as well as a shallow foundation is capable to transfer a significant part of building load into the soil. Such approach makes it possible to reduce a number of piles in the foundation or shorten their length. Then it results in shortening of the construction period and significant reduction in zero cycle. However up to the present moment reliable calculation methods that permit to take into account soil resistance in the raft base. An analysis of previous investigations on the matter executed by various researchers and a number of field investigations have been carried out with the purpose to develop the proposed methods.The paper presents results of field investigations on foundations consisting of short stamped tapered piles which are joined together with the help of the raft fragment. Strength and deformation characteristics of the bases are increasing while making such foundations in the fill-up soil. In this case the filled-up ground layer becomes a bearing layer both for piles and rafts as well. Improvement of high-plastic clay-bearing soil properties is ensured by ramming dry concrete mix under pile foot. The paper describes an experience on application of the piled-raft foundation in complicated engineering and geological conditions while constructing the Orthodox Church in Minsk.

  20. Candida albicans: The Ability to Invade Epithelial Cells and Survive under Oxidative Stress Is Unlinked to Hyphal Length

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paloma K. Maza

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available In its hyphal form, Candida albicans invades epithelial and endothelial cells by two distinct mechanisms: active penetration and induced endocytosis. The latter is dependent on a reorganization of the host cytoskeleton (actin/cortactin recruitment, whilst active penetration does not rely on the host's cellular machinery. The first obstacle for the fungus to reach deep tissues is the epithelial barrier and this interaction is crucial for commensal growth, fungal pathogenicity and host defense. This study aimed to characterize in vitro epithelial HeLa cell invasion by four different isolates of C. albicans with distinct clinical backgrounds, including a C. albicans SC5314 reference strain. All isolates invaded HeLa cells, recruited actin and cortactin, and induced the phosphorylation of both Src-family kinases (SFK and cortactin. Curiously, L3881 isolated from blood culture of a patient exhibited the highest resistance to oxidative stress, although this isolate showed reduced hyphal length and displayed the lowest cell damage and invasion rates. Collectively, these data suggest that the ability of C. albicans to invade HeLa cells, and to reach and adapt to the host's blood, including resistance to oxidative stress, may be independent of hyphal length.

  1. CORRELATION BETWEEN PENIS LENGTH AND ANTHOPOMETRY OF 5 YEAR OLD CHILDREN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doddy Kurnia Indrawan

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Short penis still a problem for parents. Penis lenght is associated with  weight and considered abnormal in obese children. The purpose of this study was to find out the correlation between penis length and the anthropometry children aged 5 years. A cross sectional study was conducted, at the Division of Endocrinology, Department of Child Health, Medical Faculty of Udayana University, Sanglah Hospital Denpasar, during October 2010, at TK Sayang Ibu Sanglah Hospital. The calculation of the sample with a correlation coefficient of weight and  height obtained  9 people, taking in consecutive sampling and analyzed  with Pearson’s correlation. The mean body weight was 23.6 (SD 7.70 kg;  mean child height was 108.4 (SD 5.3 cm, and 47.1% were obese. The mean length of the penis was 4.7(SD1.30 cm. The correlation between weight and penis lenght was strong negative (r = -0.876; P = 0.000 and between penis length and height was r = -0.597; P = 0,011.There was a strong negative correlation between body weight and penis length and also negative correlation between penis length and height in kindergarten children. (MEDICINA 2012;43:19-22.

  2. A short leucocyte telomere length is associated with development of insulin resistance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Verhulst, Simon; Dalgård, Christine; Labat, Carlos

    2016-01-01

    AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: A number of studies have shown that leucocyte telomere length (LTL) is inversely associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of the present longitudinal cohort study, utilising a twin design, was to assess whether shorter LTL predicts insulin resistance...... and insulin resistance over an average of 12 years were performed in a subset of the Registry consisting of 338 (184 monozygotic and 154 dizygotic) same-sex twin pairs. RESULTS: Age at baseline examination was 37.4 ± 9.6 (mean ± SD) years. Baseline insulin resistance was not associated with age......-dependent changes in LTL (attrition) over the follow-up period, whereas baseline LTL was associated with changes in insulin resistance during this period. The shorter the LTL at baseline, the more pronounced was the increase in insulin resistance over the follow-up period (p 

  3. Practice of teaching in (microhistory and cinematographic language: the short-length movie as ‘another’ historical narrative in and at the place

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Humberto Perinelli Neto

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This article has the objective to rethink concepts, contents and objectives of themes connected with the area of History through the articulation between the use of audiovisual languages – in case, the cinema – the role of the narrative and the construction of practices of teaching, all based on the studies of micro-history. We do not want to discuss only the educational and empirical potential of the technological resources inside the classrooms, but, specially, we want to understand the possible and real ways of transformation of the students, when they turn into subjects who creates new knowledges, by making short-length movies. This pedagogic tool and technological can help us think about the PCN's prerogatives, like, the increase in value of the place and of the daily life (of the pupils, the respect to the diversity and plurality, the role of the subjects in History. The proposal here presented is a result of a project carried out at the Fundação Educacional de Fernandópolis between 2009 and 2010, as works of conclusion of course developed by pupils of the degree course in History.

  4. Genetic association of telomere length with hepatocellular carcinoma risk: A Mendelian randomization analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yue; Yu, Chengxiao; Huang, Mingtao; Du, Fangzhi; Song, Ci; Ma, Zijian; Zhai, Xiangjun; Yang, Yuan; Liu, Jibin; Bei, Jin-Xin; Jia, Weihua; Jin, Guangfu; Li, Shengping; Zhou, Weiping; Liu, Jianjun; Dai, Juncheng; Hu, Zhibin

    2017-10-01

    Observational studies show an association between telomere length and Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk, but the relationship is controversial. Particularly, it remains unclear whether the association is due to confounding or biases inherent in conventional epidemiological studies. Here, we applied Mendelian randomization approach to evaluate whether telomere length is causally associated with HCC risk. Individual-level data were from HBV-related HCC Genome-wide association studies (1,538 HBV positive HCC patients and 1,465 HBV positive controls). Genetic risk score, as proxy for actual measured telomere length, derived from nine telomere length-associated genetic variants was used to evaluate the effect of telomere length on HCC risk. We observed a significant risk signal between genetically increased telomere length and HBV-related HCC risk (OR=2.09, 95% CI 1.32-3.31, P=0.002). Furthermore, a U-shaped curve was fitted by the restricted cubic spline curve, which indicated that either short or long telomere length would increase HCC risk (P=0.0022 for non-linearity test). Subgroup analysis did not reveal significant heterogeneity between different age, gender, smoking status and drinking status groups. Our results indicated that a genetic background that favors longer or shorter telomere length may increase HBV-related HCC risk-a U-shaped association. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Analytic solution to variance optimization with no short positions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondor, Imre; Papp, Gábor; Caccioli, Fabio

    2017-12-01

    We consider the variance portfolio optimization problem with a ban on short selling. We provide an analytical solution by means of the replica method for the case of a portfolio of independent, but not identically distributed, assets. We study the behavior of the solution as a function of the ratio r between the number N of assets and the length T of the time series of returns used to estimate risk. The no-short-selling constraint acts as an asymmetric \

  6. Genetic diversity among brazilian isolates of beauveria bassiana: comparisons with non-brazilian isolates and other beauveria species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandes, E.K.K.; Moraes, A.M.L.; Pacheco, R.S.; Rangel, D.E.N.; Miller, M.P.; Bittencourt, V.R.E.P.; Roberts, D.W.

    2009-01-01

    Aims: The genetic diversity of Beauveria bassiana was investigated by comparing isolates of this species to each other (49 from different geographical regions of Brazil and 4 from USA) and to other Beauveria spp. Methods and Results: The isolates were examined by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), and rDNA sequencing. MLEE and AFLP revealed considerable genetic variability among B. bassiana isolates. Several isolates from South and Southeast Brazil had high similarity coefficients, providing evidence of at least one population with clonal structure. There were clear genomic differences between most Brazilian and USA B. bassiana isolates. A Mantel test using data generated by AFLP provided evidence that greater geographical distances were associated with higher genetic distances. AFLP and rDNA sequencing demonstrated notable genotypic variation between B. bassiana and other Beauveria spp. Conclusion: Geographical distance between populations apparently is an important factor influencing genotypic variability among B. bassiana populations in Brazil. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study characterized many B. bassiana isolates. The results indicate that certain Brazilian isolates are considerably different from others and possibly should be regarded as separate species from B. bassiana sensu latu. The information on genetic variation among the Brazilian isolates, therefore, will be important to comprehending the population structure of B. bassiana in Brazil. ?? 2009 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

  7. The effect of regular strength training on telomere length in human skeletal muscle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kadi, F.; Ponsot, Elodie; Piehl-Aulin, Karin

    2008-01-01

    PURPOSE: The length of DNA telomeres is an important parameter of the proliferative potential of tissues. A recent study has reported abnormally short telomeres in skeletal muscle of athletes with exercise-associated fatigue. This important report raises the question of whether long-term practice...... of sports might have deleterious effects on muscle telomeres. Therefore, we aimed to compare telomere length of a group of power lifters (PL; N = 7) who trained for 8 +/- 3 yr against that of a group of healthy, active subjects (C; N = 7) with no history of strength training. METHODS: Muscle biopsies were...

  8. A comparison of discriminant logistic regression and Item Response Theory Likelihood-Ratio Tests for Differential Item Functioning (IRTLRDIF) in polytomous short tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidalgo, María D; López-Martínez, María D; Gómez-Benito, Juana; Guilera, Georgina

    2016-01-01

    Short scales are typically used in the social, behavioural and health sciences. This is relevant since test length can influence whether items showing DIF are correctly flagged. This paper compares the relative effectiveness of discriminant logistic regression (DLR) and IRTLRDIF for detecting DIF in polytomous short tests. A simulation study was designed. Test length, sample size, DIF amount and item response categories number were manipulated. Type I error and power were evaluated. IRTLRDIF and DLR yielded Type I error rates close to nominal level in no-DIF conditions. Under DIF conditions, Type I error rates were affected by test length DIF amount, degree of test contamination, sample size and number of item response categories. DLR showed a higher Type I error rate than did IRTLRDIF. Power rates were affected by DIF amount and sample size, but not by test length. DLR achieved higher power rates than did IRTLRDIF in very short tests, although the high Type I error rate involved means that this result cannot be taken into account. Test length had an important impact on the Type I error rate. IRTLRDIF and DLR showed a low power rate in short tests and with small sample sizes.

  9. Characterising the large coherence length at diamond’s beamline I13L

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wagner, U. H., E-mail: ulrich.wagner@diamond.ac.uk; Parsons, A. [Diamond Light Source Ltd, Didcot, UK, OX11 0DE (United Kingdom); Rahomaki, J.; Vogt, U. [KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, SE-100 44 (Sweden); Rau, C. [Diamond Light Source Ltd, Didcot, UK, OX11 0DE (United Kingdom); Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611-3008 (United States)

    2016-07-27

    I13 is a 250 m long hard x-ray beamline (6 keV to 35 keV) at the Diamond Light Source. The beamline comprises of two independent experimental endstations: one for imaging in direct space using x-ray microscopy and one for imaging in reciprocal space using coherent diffraction based imaging techniques [1]. An outstanding feature of the coherence branch, due to its length and a new generation of ultra-stable beamline instrumentation [2], is its capability of delivering a very large coherence length well beyond 200 μm, providing opportunities for unique x-ray optical experiments. In this paper we discuss the challenges of measuring a large coherence length and present quantitative measurement based on analyzing diffraction patterns from a boron fiber [3]. We also discuss the limitations of this classical method in respect to detector performance, very short and long coherence lengths. Furthermore we demonstrate how a Ronchi grating setup [4] can be used to quickly establish if the beam is coherent over a large area.

  10. Characterising the large coherence length at diamond’s beamline I13L

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wagner, U. H.; Parsons, A.; Rahomaki, J.; Vogt, U.; Rau, C.

    2016-01-01

    I13 is a 250 m long hard x-ray beamline (6 keV to 35 keV) at the Diamond Light Source. The beamline comprises of two independent experimental endstations: one for imaging in direct space using x-ray microscopy and one for imaging in reciprocal space using coherent diffraction based imaging techniques [1]. An outstanding feature of the coherence branch, due to its length and a new generation of ultra-stable beamline instrumentation [2], is its capability of delivering a very large coherence length well beyond 200 μm, providing opportunities for unique x-ray optical experiments. In this paper we discuss the challenges of measuring a large coherence length and present quantitative measurement based on analyzing diffraction patterns from a boron fiber [3]. We also discuss the limitations of this classical method in respect to detector performance, very short and long coherence lengths. Furthermore we demonstrate how a Ronchi grating setup [4] can be used to quickly establish if the beam is coherent over a large area.

  11. Divergence of host range and biological properties between natural isolate and full-length infectious cDNA clone of the Beet mild yellowing virus 2ITB.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Elodie; Brault, Véronique; Klein, Delphine; Weyens, Guy; Lefèbvre, Marc; Ziegler-Graff, Véronique; Gilmer, David

    2014-01-01

    Plant infection by poleroviruses is restricted to phloem tissues, preventing any classical leaf rub inoculation with viral RNA or virions. Efficient virus inoculation to plants is achieved by viruliferous aphids that acquire the virus by feeding on infected plants. The use of promoter-driven infectious cDNA is an alternative means to infect plants and allows reverse genetic studies to be performed. Using Beet mild yellowing virus isolate 2ITB (BMYV-2ITB), we produced a full-length infectious cDNA clone of the virus (named BMYV-EK) placed under the control of the T7 RNA polymerase and the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoters. Infectivity of the engineered BMYV-EK virus was assayed in different plant species and compared with that of the original virus. We showed that in vitro- or in planta-derived transcripts were infectious in protoplasts and in whole plants. Importantly, the natural aphid vector Myzus persicae efficiently transmitted the viral progeny produced in infected plants. By comparing agroinoculation and aphid infection in a host range assay, we showed that the engineered BMYV-EK virus displayed a similar host range to BMYV-2ITB, except for Nicotiana benthamiana, which proved to be resistant to systemic infection with BMYV-EK. Finally, both the BMYV-EK P0 and the full-length clone were able to strongly interfere with post-transcriptional gene silencing. © 2013 BSPP AND JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD.

  12. Short-length and high-density TiO{sub 2} nanorod arrays for the efficient charge separation interface in perovskite solar cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiao, Guannan; Shi, Chengwu, E-mail: shicw506@foxmail.com; Zhang, Zhengguo; Li, Nannan; Li, Long

    2017-05-15

    Preparation of TiO{sub 2} nanorod array with length of 70 nm and density of 1000 µm{sup −2}. • Influence of annealing temperatures on the -OH content of TiO{sub 2} nanorod arrays. • Preparation of over-500 nm-thickness CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}PbI{sub 3−x}Br{sub x} absorber layer. • Combination of short-length TiO{sub 2} nanorod array and high-thickness perovskite layer. • The best and average PCE with TiO{sub 2} array of 15.93% and 13.41±2.52% at 50–54% RH.

  13. European freshwater VHSV genotype Ia isolates divide into two distinct subpopulations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kahns, Søren; Skall, Helle Frank; Kaas, Rolf Sommer

    2012-01-01

    Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS), caused by the novirhabdovirus VHSV, often leads to significant economic losses to European rainbow trout production. The virus isolates are divided into 4 distinct genotypes with additional subgroups including sublineage Ia, isolates of which are the main...... detected in Denmark since January 2009. Full-length G-genes of all Danish VHSV isolates that were submitted for diagnostic analyses in the period 2004−2009 were sequenced and analysed. All 58 Danish isolates from rainbow trout grouped with sublineage Ia isolates. Furthermore, VHSV isolates from infected...... Danish freshwater catchments appear to have evolved into a distinct clade within sublineage Ia, herein designated clade Ia-1, whereas trout isolates originating from other continental European countries cluster in another distinct clade, designated clade Ia-2. In addition, phylogenetic analyses indicate...

  14. Hibiscus latent Fort Pierce virus in Brazil and synthesis of its biologically active full-length cDNA clone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Ruimin; Niu, Shengniao; Dai, Weifang; Kitajima, Elliot; Wong, Sek-Man

    2016-10-01

    A Brazilian isolate of Hibiscus latent Fort Pierce virus (HLFPV-BR) was firstly found in a hibiscus plant in Limeira, SP, Brazil. RACE PCR was carried out to obtain the full-length sequences of HLFPV-BR which is 6453 nucleotides and has more than 99.15 % of complete genomic RNA nucleotide sequence identity with that of HLFPV Japanese isolate. The genomic structure of HLFPV-BR is similar to other tobamoviruses. It includes a 5' untranslated region (UTR), followed by open reading frames encoding for a 128-kDa protein and a 188-kDa readthrough protein, a 38-kDa movement protein, 18-kDa coat protein, and a 3' UTR. Interestingly, the unique feature of poly(A) tract is also found within its 3'-UTR. Furthermore, from the total RNA extracted from the local lesions of HLFPV-BR-infected Chenopodium quinoa leaves, a biologically active, full-length cDNA clone encompassing the genome of HLFPV-BR was amplified and placed adjacent to a T7 RNA polymerase promoter. The capped in vitro transcripts from the cloned cDNA were infectious when mechanically inoculated into C. quinoa and Nicotiana benthamiana plants. This is the first report of the presence of an isolate of HLFPV in Brazil and the successful synthesis of a biologically active HLFPV-BR full-length cDNA clone.

  15. The Impact of Video Length on Learning in a Middle-Level Flipped Science Setting: Implications for Diversity Inclusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slemmons, Krista; Anyanwu, Kele; Hames, Josh; Grabski, Dave; Mlsna, Jeffery; Simkins, Eric; Cook, Perry

    2018-05-01

    Popularity of videos for classroom instruction has increased over the years due to affordability and user-friendliness of today's digital video cameras. This prevalence has led to an increase in flipped, K-12 classrooms countrywide. However, quantitative data establishing the appropriate video length to foster authentic learning is limited, particularly in middle-level classrooms. We focus on this aspect of video technology in two flipped science classrooms at the middle school level to determine the optimal video length to enable learning, increase retention and support student motivation. Our results indicate that while assessments directly following short videos were slightly higher, these findings were not significantly different from scores following longer videos. While short-term retention of material did not seem to be influenced by video length, longer-term retention for males and students with learning disabilities was higher following short videos compared to long as assessed on summative assessments. Students self-report that they were more engaged, had enhanced focus, and had a perceived higher retention of content following shorter videos. This study has important implications for student learning, application of content, and the development of critical thinking skills. This is particularly paramount in an era where content knowledge is just a search engine away.

  16. A case of 45,X/47,XXX mosaic Turner syndrome with limb length discrepancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hishimura-Yonemaru, Nozomi; Okuhara, Koji; Takahashi, Nobuhiro; Tonoki, Hidefumi; Iizuka, Susumu; Tajima, Toshihiro

    2017-01-01

    Patients with Turner syndrome (TS) frequently show short stature and skeletal deformities, such as kyphosis and scoliosis. However, to the best of our knowledge, limb length discrepancy (LLD) has not yet been reported in patients with TS. The case of a 12-yr-old girl with 45,X/47,XXX mosaic TS showing LLD is herein presented. She was on GH therapy for short stature and was noted to have scoliosis in the standing position at a regular examination; however, the scoliosis became less evident in the supine position, which is indicative of LLD. The length of the left leg was 5.0 cm shorter than that of the right leg when measured. She was referred to orthopedics and underwent right distal femoral and right proximal tibial staple epiphysiodesis to shorten the abnormally long limb at 10 yr 6 mo of age. One year after the operation, the LLD decreased from 5.0 to 1.5 cm. During this period, GH was continued. LLD is a rare complication in TS, but when patients with TS show scoliosis in the standing position, re-evaluation for scoliosis in the supine position should be performed and the lengths of both legs should be measured.

  17. Leak Isolation in Pressurized Pipelines using an Interpolation Function to approximate the Fitting Losses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badillo-Olvera, A.; Begovich, O.; Peréz-González, A.

    2017-01-01

    The present paper is motivated by the purpose of detection and isolation of a single leak considering the Fault Model Approach (FMA) focused on pipelines with changes in their geometry. These changes generate a different pressure drop that those produced by the friction, this phenomenon is a common scenario in real pipeline systems. The problem arises, since the dynamical model of the fluid in a pipeline only considers straight geometries without fittings. In order to address this situation, several papers work with a virtual model of a pipeline that generates a equivalent straight length, thus, friction produced by the fittings is taking into account. However, when this method is applied, the leak is isolated in a virtual length, which for practical reasons does not represent a complete solution. This research proposes as a solution to the problem of leak isolation in a virtual length, the use of a polynomial interpolation function in order to approximate the conversion of the virtual position to a real-coordinates value. Experimental results in a real prototype are shown, concluding that the proposed methodology has a good performance.

  18. Read length and repeat resolution: Exploring prokaryote genomes using next-generation sequencing technologies

    KAUST Repository

    Cahill, Matt J.

    2010-07-12

    Background: There are a growing number of next-generation sequencing technologies. At present, the most cost-effective options also produce the shortest reads. However, even for prokaryotes, there is uncertainty concerning the utility of these technologies for the de novo assembly of complete genomes. This reflects an expectation that short reads will be unable to resolve small, but presumably abundant, repeats. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using a simple model of repeat assembly, we develop and test a technique that, for any read length, can estimate the occurrence of unresolvable repeats in a genome, and thus predict the number of gaps that would need to be closed to produce a complete sequence. We apply this technique to 818 prokaryote genome sequences. This provides a quantitative assessment of the relative performance of various lengths. Notably, unpaired reads of only 150nt can reconstruct approximately 50% of the analysed genomes with fewer than 96 repeat-induced gaps. Nonetheless, there is considerable variation amongst prokaryotes. Some genomes can be assembled to near contiguity using very short reads while others require much longer reads. Conclusions: Given the diversity of prokaryote genomes, a sequencing strategy should be tailored to the organism under study. Our results will provide researchers with a practical resource to guide the selection of the appropriate read length. 2010 Cahill et al.

  19. Read length and repeat resolution: exploring prokaryote genomes using next-generation sequencing technologies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matt J Cahill

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: There are a growing number of next-generation sequencing technologies. At present, the most cost-effective options also produce the shortest reads. However, even for prokaryotes, there is uncertainty concerning the utility of these technologies for the de novo assembly of complete genomes. This reflects an expectation that short reads will be unable to resolve small, but presumably abundant, repeats. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a simple model of repeat assembly, we develop and test a technique that, for any read length, can estimate the occurrence of unresolvable repeats in a genome, and thus predict the number of gaps that would need to be closed to produce a complete sequence. We apply this technique to 818 prokaryote genome sequences. This provides a quantitative assessment of the relative performance of various lengths. Notably, unpaired reads of only 150nt can reconstruct approximately 50% of the analysed genomes with fewer than 96 repeat-induced gaps. Nonetheless, there is considerable variation amongst prokaryotes. Some genomes can be assembled to near contiguity using very short reads while others require much longer reads. CONCLUSIONS: Given the diversity of prokaryote genomes, a sequencing strategy should be tailored to the organism under study. Our results will provide researchers with a practical resource to guide the selection of the appropriate read length.

  20. Read length and repeat resolution: Exploring prokaryote genomes using next-generation sequencing technologies

    KAUST Repository

    Cahill, Matt J.; Kö ser, Claudio U.; Ross, Nicholas E.; Archer, John A.C.

    2010-01-01

    Background: There are a growing number of next-generation sequencing technologies. At present, the most cost-effective options also produce the shortest reads. However, even for prokaryotes, there is uncertainty concerning the utility of these technologies for the de novo assembly of complete genomes. This reflects an expectation that short reads will be unable to resolve small, but presumably abundant, repeats. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using a simple model of repeat assembly, we develop and test a technique that, for any read length, can estimate the occurrence of unresolvable repeats in a genome, and thus predict the number of gaps that would need to be closed to produce a complete sequence. We apply this technique to 818 prokaryote genome sequences. This provides a quantitative assessment of the relative performance of various lengths. Notably, unpaired reads of only 150nt can reconstruct approximately 50% of the analysed genomes with fewer than 96 repeat-induced gaps. Nonetheless, there is considerable variation amongst prokaryotes. Some genomes can be assembled to near contiguity using very short reads while others require much longer reads. Conclusions: Given the diversity of prokaryote genomes, a sequencing strategy should be tailored to the organism under study. Our results will provide researchers with a practical resource to guide the selection of the appropriate read length. 2010 Cahill et al.

  1. Retrieval of long and short lists from long term memory: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study with human subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zysset, S; Müller, K; Lehmann, C; Thöne-Otto, A I; von Cramon, D Y

    2001-11-13

    Previous studies have shown that reaction time in an item-recognition task with both short and long lists is a quadratic function of list length. This suggests that either different memory retrieval processes are implied for short and long lists or an adaptive process is involved. An event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study with nine subjects and list lengths varying between 3 and 18 words was conducted to identify the underlying neuronal structures of retrieval from long and short lists. For the retrieval and processing of word-lists a single fronto-parietal network, including premotor, left prefrontal, left precuneal and left parietal regions, was activated. With increasing list length, no additional regions became involved in retrieving information from long-term memory, suggesting that not necessarily different, but highly adaptive retrieval processes are involved.

  2. Full reflector thickness and isolation thickness on neutron transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakai, Tomohiro; Naito, Yoshitaka; Komuro, Yuichi.

    1988-08-01

    A method to determine ''full reflector thickness'' and ''isolation thickness'', which is utilized for criticality safety evaluation on nuclear fuel facilities, was proposed in this paper. Firstly, a calculation was tryed to obtain the two kinds of thicknesses from the result of criticality calculations for a specific case. Then, two simple equations which calculates the two kinds of thicknesses were made from the relation between reflector (or isolator) thickness and k eff , and one-group diffusion theory. Finally, we proposed a new method to determine the thicknesses. From the method we proposed, ''full reflector thickness'' and ''isolation thickness'' can be obtain using the equations and migration length of the reflector (or isolator) and infinite and effective multiplication factor of the fuel. (author)

  3. Nanowire failure: long = brittle and short = ductile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zhaoxuan; Zhang, Yong-Wei; Jhon, Mark H; Gao, Huajian; Srolovitz, David J

    2012-02-08

    Experimental studies of the tensile behavior of metallic nanowires show a wide range of failure modes, ranging from ductile necking to brittle/localized shear failure-often in the same diameter wires. We performed large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of copper nanowires with a range of nanowire lengths and provide unequivocal evidence for a transition in nanowire failure mode with change in nanowire length. Short nanowires fail via a ductile mode with serrated stress-strain curves, while long wires exhibit extreme shear localization and abrupt failure. We developed a simple model for predicting the critical nanowire length for this failure mode transition and showed that it is in excellent agreement with both the simulation results and the extant experimental data. The present results provide a new paradigm for the design of nanoscale mechanical systems that demarcates graceful and catastrophic failure. © 2012 American Chemical Society

  4. The length-weight and length-length relationships of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766 from Samsun, middle Black Sea region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melek Özpiçak

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In this study, length-weight relationship (LWR and length-length relationship (LLR of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix were determined. A total of 125 specimens were sampled from Samsun, the middle Black Sea in 2014 fishing season. Bluefish specimens were monthly collected from commercial fishing boats from October to December 2014. All captured individuals (N=125 were measured to the nearest 0.1 cm for total, fork and standard lengths. The weight of each fish (W was recorded to the nearest 0.01 g. According to results of analyses, there were no statistically significant differences between sexes in term of length and weight (P˃0.05. The minimum and maximum total, fork and standard lengths of bluefish ranged between 13.5-23.6 cm, 12.50-21.80 cm and 10.60-20.10 cm, respectively. The equation of length-weight relationship were calculated as W=0.008TL3.12 (r2>0.962. Positive allometric growth was observed for bluefish (b>3. Length-length relationship was also highly significant (P<0.001 with coefficient of determination (r2 ranging from 0.916 to 0.988.

  5. Genetic Diversity of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliensis Isolated in Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong Hwan Lee

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The plant pathogenic bacterial genus Pectobacteirum consists of heterogeneous strains. The P. carotovorum species is a complex strain showing divergent characteristics, and a new subspecies named P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliensis has been identified recently. In this paper, we re-identified the P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliensis isolates from those classified under the subspecies carotovorum and newly isolated P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliensis strains. All isolates were able to produce plant cell-wall degrading enzymes such as pectate lyase, polygalacturonase, cellulase and protease. We used genetic and biochemical methods to examine the diversity of P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliensis isolates, and found genetic diversity within the brasiliensis subsp. isolates in Korea. The restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis based on the recA gene revealed a unique pattern for the brasiliensis subspecies. The Korean brasiliensis subsp. isolates were divided into four clades based on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. However, correlations between clades and isolated hosts or year could not be found, suggesting that diverse brasiliensis subsp. isolates existed.

  6. A Novel Roseosiphophage Isolated from the Oligotrophic South China Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunlan Yang

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The Roseobacter clade is abundant and widespread in marine environments and plays an important role in oceanic biogeochemical cycling. In this present study, a lytic siphophage (labeled vB_DshS-R5C infecting the strain type of Dinoroseobacter shibae named DFL12T, which is part of the Roseobacter clade, was isolated from the oligotrophic South China Sea. Phage R5C showed a narrow host range, short latent period and low burst size. The genome length of phage R5C was 77, 874 bp with a G+C content of 61.5%. Genomic comparisons detected no genome matches in the GenBank database and phylogenetic analysis based on DNA polymerase I revealed phylogenetic features that were distinct to other phages, suggesting the novelty of R5C. Several auxiliary metabolic genes (e.g., phoH gene, heat shock protein and queuosine biosynthesis genes were identified in the R5C genome that may be beneficial to the host and/or offer a competitive advantage for the phage. Among siphophages infecting the Roseobacter clade (roseosiphophages, four gene transfer agent-like genes were commonly located with close proximity to structural genes, suggesting that their function may be related to the tail of siphoviruses. The isolation and characterization of R5C demonstrated the high genomic and physiological diversity of roseophages as well as improved our understanding of host–phage interactions and the ecology of the marine Roseobacter.

  7. Isolation & characterization of Brucella melitensis isolated from patients suspected for human brucellosis in India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barua, Anita; Kumar, Ashu; Thavaselvam, Duraipandian; Mangalgi, Smita; Prakash, Archana; Tiwari, Sapana; Arora, Sonia; Sathyaseelan, Kannusamy

    2016-01-01

    Background & objectives: Brucellosis is endemic in the southern part of India. A combination of biochemical, serological and molecular methods is required for identification and biotyping of Brucella. The present study describes the isolation and biochemical, molecular characterization of Brucella melitensis from patients suspected for human brucellosis. Methods: The blood samples were collected from febrile patients suspected to have brucellosis. A total of 18 isolates were obtained from 102 blood samples subjected to culture. The characterization of these 18 isolates was done by growth on Brucella specific medium, biochemical reactions, CO2 requirement, H2S production, agglutination with A and M mono-specific antiserum, dye sensitivity to basic fuchsin and thionin. Further, molecular characterization of the isolates was done by amplification of B. melitensis species specific IS711 repetitive DNA fragment and 16S (rRNA) sequence analysis. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of omp2 locus and IS711 gene was also done for molecular characterization. Results: All 102 suspected samples were subjected to bacteria isolation and of these, 18 isolates could be recovered on blood culture. The biochemical, PCR and PCR-RFLP and 16s rRNA sequencing revealed that all isolates were of B. melitensis and matched exactly with reference strain B. melitensis 16M. Interpretation & conclusions: The present study showed an overall isolation rate of 17.64 per cent for B. melitensis. There is a need to establish facilities for isolation and characterization of Brucella species for effective clinical management of the disease among patients as well as surveillance and control of infection in domestic animals. Further studies are needed from different geographical areas of the country with different level of endemicity to plan and execute control strategies against human brucellosis. PMID:27488010

  8. Effects of age, gender, and stimulus presentation period on visual short-term memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunimi, Mitsunobu

    2016-01-01

    This study focused on age-related changes in visual short-term memory using visual stimuli that did not allow verbal encoding. Experiment 1 examined the effects of age and the length of the stimulus presentation period on visual short-term memory function. Experiment 2 examined the effects of age, gender, and the length of the stimulus presentation period on visual short-term memory function. The worst memory performance and the largest performance difference between the age groups were observed in the shortest stimulus presentation period conditions. The performance difference between the age groups became smaller as the stimulus presentation period became longer; however, it did not completely disappear. Although gender did not have a significant effect on d' regardless of the presentation period in the young group, a significant gender-based difference was observed for stimulus presentation periods of 500 ms and 1,000 ms in the older group. This study indicates that the decline in visual short-term memory observed in the older group is due to the interaction of several factors.

  9. Androgen receptor CAG repeats length polymorphism and the risk of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Singh Rajender

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS refers to an inheritable androgen excess disorder characterized by multiple small follicles located at the ovarian periphery. Hyperandrogenism in PCOS, and inverse correlation between androgen receptor (AR CAG numbers and AR function, led us to hypothesize that CAG length variations may affect PCOS risk. METHODS: CAG repeat region of 169 patients recruited following strictly defined Rotterdam (2003 inclusion criteria and that of 175 ethnically similar control samples, were analyzed. We also conducted a meta-analysis on the data taken from published studies, to generate a pooled estimate on 2194 cases and 2242 controls. RESULTS: CAG bi-allelic mean length was between 8.5 and 24.5 (mean = 17.43, SD = 2.43 repeats in the controls and between 11 and 24 (mean = 17.39, SD = 2.29 repeats in the cases, without any significant difference between the two groups. Further, comparison of bi-allelic mean and its frequency distribution in three categories (short, moderate and long alleles did not show any significant difference between controls and various case subgroups. Frequency distribution of bi-allelic mean in two categories (extreme and moderate alleles showed over-representation of extreme sized alleles in the cases with marginally significant value (50.3% vs. 61.5%, χ(2 = 4.41; P = 0.036, which turned insignificant upon applying Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. X-chromosome inactivation analysis showed no significant difference in the inactivation pattern of CAG alleles or in the comparison of weighed bi-allelic mean between cases and controls. Meta-analysis also showed no significant correlation between CAG length and PCOS risk, except a minor over-representation of short CAG alleles in the cases. CONCLUSION: CAG bi-allelic mean length did not differ between controls and cases/case sub-groups nor did the allele distribution. Over-representation of short

  10. Androgen receptor CAG repeats length polymorphism and the risk of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajender, Singh; Carlus, Silas Justin; Bansal, Sandeep Kumar; Negi, Mahendra Pal Singh; Negi, Mahendra Pratap Singh; Sadasivam, Nirmala; Sadasivam, Muthusamy Narayanan; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy

    2013-01-01

    Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) refers to an inheritable androgen excess disorder characterized by multiple small follicles located at the ovarian periphery. Hyperandrogenism in PCOS, and inverse correlation between androgen receptor (AR) CAG numbers and AR function, led us to hypothesize that CAG length variations may affect PCOS risk. CAG repeat region of 169 patients recruited following strictly defined Rotterdam (2003) inclusion criteria and that of 175 ethnically similar control samples, were analyzed. We also conducted a meta-analysis on the data taken from published studies, to generate a pooled estimate on 2194 cases and 2242 controls. CAG bi-allelic mean length was between 8.5 and 24.5 (mean = 17.43, SD = 2.43) repeats in the controls and between 11 and 24 (mean = 17.39, SD = 2.29) repeats in the cases, without any significant difference between the two groups. Further, comparison of bi-allelic mean and its frequency distribution in three categories (short, moderate and long alleles) did not show any significant difference between controls and various case subgroups. Frequency distribution of bi-allelic mean in two categories (extreme and moderate alleles) showed over-representation of extreme sized alleles in the cases with marginally significant value (50.3% vs. 61.5%, χ(2) = 4.41; P = 0.036), which turned insignificant upon applying Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. X-chromosome inactivation analysis showed no significant difference in the inactivation pattern of CAG alleles or in the comparison of weighed bi-allelic mean between cases and controls. Meta-analysis also showed no significant correlation between CAG length and PCOS risk, except a minor over-representation of short CAG alleles in the cases. CAG bi-allelic mean length did not differ between controls and cases/case sub-groups nor did the allele distribution. Over-representation of short/extreme-sized alleles in the cases may be a chance finding

  11. Length-scale and strain rate-dependent mechanism of defect formation and fracture in carbon nanotubes under tensile loading

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Javvaji, Brahmanandam [Indian Institute of Science, Department of Aerospace Engineering (India); Raha, S. [Indian Institute of Science, Department of Computational and Data Sciences (India); Mahapatra, D. Roy, E-mail: droymahapatra@aero.iisc.ernet.in [Indian Institute of Science, Department of Aerospace Engineering (India)

    2017-02-15

    Electromagnetic and thermo-mechanical forces play a major role in nanotube-based materials and devices. Under high-energy electron transport or high current densities, carbon nanotubes fail via sequential fracture. The failure sequence is governed by certain length scale and flow of current. We report a unified phenomenological model derived from molecular dynamic simulation data, which successfully captures the important physics of the complex failure process. Length-scale and strain rate-dependent defect nucleation, growth, and fracture in single-walled carbon nanotubes with diameters in the range of 0.47 to 2.03 nm and length which is about 6.17 to 26.45 nm are simulated. Nanotubes with long length and small diameter show brittle fracture, while those with short length and large diameter show transition from ductile to brittle fracture. In short nanotubes with small diameters, we observe several structural transitions like Stone-Wales defect initiation, its propagation to larger void nucleation, formation of multiple chains of atoms, conversion to monatomic chain of atoms, and finally complete fracture of the carbon nanotube. Hybridization state of carbon-carbon bonds near the end cap evolves, leading to the formation of monatomic chain in short nanotubes with small diameter. Transition from ductile to brittle fracture is also observed when strain rate exceeds a critical value. A generalized analytical model of failure is established, which correlates the defect energy during the formation of atomic chain with aspect ratio of the nanotube and strain rate. Variation in the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, tensile strength, and fracture strain with the size and strain rate shows important implications in mitigating force fields and ways to enhance the life of electronic devices and nanomaterial conversion via fracture in manufacturing.

  12. The Effects of Input Enhancement and Text Length on Adult L2 Readers' Comprehension and Intake in Second Language Acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leow, Ronald P.

    1997-01-01

    Investigated the effects of written input enhancement and text length on college students' second-language comprehension and intake. First-year Spanish students were exposed to one of four conditions with enhanced and non-enhanced short and long text. Exposing students to short authentic reading materials facilitated reading comprehension but not…

  13. Clustering of Beijing genotype Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from the Mekong delta in Vietnam on the basis of variable number of tandem repeat versus restriction fragment length polymorphism typing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huyen Mai NT

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In comparison to restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP typing, variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR typing is easier to perform, faster and yields results in a simple, numerical format. Therefore, this technique has gained recognition as the new international gold standard in typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, some reports indicated that VNTR typing may be less suitable for Beijing genotype isolates. We therefore compared the performance of internationally standardized RFLP and 24 loci VNTR typing to discriminate among 100 Beijing genotype isolates from the Southern Vietnam. Methods Hundred Beijing genotype strains defined by spoligotyping were randomly selected and typed by RFLP and VNTR typing. The discriminatory power of VNTR and RFLP typing was compared using the Bionumerics software. Results Among 95 Beijing strains available for analysis, 14 clusters were identified comprising 34 strains and 61 unique profiles in 24 loci VNTR typing ((Hunter Gaston Discrimination Index (HGDI = 0.994. 13 clusters containing 31 strains and 64 unique patterns in RFLP typing (HGDI = 0.994 were found. Nine RFLP clusters were subdivided by VNTR typing and 12 VNTR clusters were split by RFLP. Five isolates (5% revealing double alleles or no signal in two or more loci in VNTR typing could not be analyzed. Conclusions Overall, 24 loci VNTR typing and RFLP typing had similar high-level of discrimination among 95 Beijing strains from Southern Vietnam. However, loci VNTR 154, VNTR 2461 and VNTR 3171 had hardly added any value to the level of discrimination.

  14. Short bowel syndrome.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Donohoe, Claire L

    2012-02-01

    The short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a state of malabsorption following intestinal resection where there is less than 200 cm of intestinal length. The management of short bowel syndrome can be challenging and is best managed by a specialised multidisciplinary team. A good understanding of the pathophysiological consequences of resection of different portions of the small intestine is necessary to anticipate and prevent, where possible, consequences of SBS. Nutrient absorption and fluid and electrolyte management in the initial stages are critical to stabilisation of the patient and to facilitate the process of adaptation. Pharmacological adjuncts to promote adaptation are in the early stages of development. Primary restoration of bowel continuity, if possible, is the principle mode of surgical treatment. Surgical procedures to increase the surface area of the small intestine or improve its function may be of benefit in experienced hands, particularly in the paediatric population. Intestinal transplant is indicated at present for patients who have failed to tolerate long-term parenteral nutrition but with increasing experience, there may be a potentially expanded role for its use in the future.

  15. Isolation and partial characterization of two porcine spleen ferritin fractions with different electrophoretic mobility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C.M. Van Gelder (Carin); M.I.E. Huijskes-Heins (M. I E); D. Klepper (D.); W.L. van Noort (W.); M.I. Cleton-Soeteman (Maud); H.G. van Eijk (Henk)

    1996-01-01

    textabstractFerritin isolated from porcine spleen could routinely be separated in two fractions on nondenaturating gradient gels. Both fractions could be isolated with a purity of 96% when applied to two serially linked columns, each 200 cm in length, packed respectively with Sepharose 4B and

  16. Peripheral kisspeptin reverses short photoperiod-induced gonadal regression in Syrian hamsters by promoting GNRH release

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ansel, L; Bentsen, A H; Ancel, C

    2011-01-01

    In seasonal breeders, reproduction is synchronised by day length via the pineal hormone melatonin. In short winter days (short day, SD), the Syrian hamster displays a complete gonadal atrophy together with a marked reduction in expression of kisspeptins (Kp), a family of potent hypothalamic stimu...

  17. Evaluation of scaling invariance embedded in short time series.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xue Pan

    Full Text Available Scaling invariance of time series has been making great contributions in diverse research fields. But how to evaluate scaling exponent from a real-world series is still an open problem. Finite length of time series may induce unacceptable fluctuation and bias to statistical quantities and consequent invalidation of currently used standard methods. In this paper a new concept called correlation-dependent balanced estimation of diffusion entropy is developed to evaluate scale-invariance in very short time series with length ~10(2. Calculations with specified Hurst exponent values of 0.2,0.3,...,0.9 show that by using the standard central moving average de-trending procedure this method can evaluate the scaling exponents for short time series with ignorable bias (≤0.03 and sharp confidential interval (standard deviation ≤0.05. Considering the stride series from ten volunteers along an approximate oval path of a specified length, we observe that though the averages and deviations of scaling exponents are close, their evolutionary behaviors display rich patterns. It has potential use in analyzing physiological signals, detecting early warning signals, and so on. As an emphasis, the our core contribution is that by means of the proposed method one can estimate precisely shannon entropy from limited records.

  18. Evaluation of scaling invariance embedded in short time series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Xue; Hou, Lei; Stephen, Mutua; Yang, Huijie; Zhu, Chenping

    2014-01-01

    Scaling invariance of time series has been making great contributions in diverse research fields. But how to evaluate scaling exponent from a real-world series is still an open problem. Finite length of time series may induce unacceptable fluctuation and bias to statistical quantities and consequent invalidation of currently used standard methods. In this paper a new concept called correlation-dependent balanced estimation of diffusion entropy is developed to evaluate scale-invariance in very short time series with length ~10(2). Calculations with specified Hurst exponent values of 0.2,0.3,...,0.9 show that by using the standard central moving average de-trending procedure this method can evaluate the scaling exponents for short time series with ignorable bias (≤0.03) and sharp confidential interval (standard deviation ≤0.05). Considering the stride series from ten volunteers along an approximate oval path of a specified length, we observe that though the averages and deviations of scaling exponents are close, their evolutionary behaviors display rich patterns. It has potential use in analyzing physiological signals, detecting early warning signals, and so on. As an emphasis, the our core contribution is that by means of the proposed method one can estimate precisely shannon entropy from limited records.

  19. Cycle length dependence of the chronotropic effects of adrenaline, acetylcholine, Ca2+ and Mg2+ in the Guinea-pig sinoatrial node

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Opthof, T.; de Jonge, B.; Schade, B.; Jongsma, H. J.; Bouman, L. N.

    1984-01-01

    Ca (1.1-5.5 mM) has a positive chronotropic action on isolated right atria of the guinea-pig. The magnitude of the response depends on the cycle length. Magnitude and cycle length dependence of the Ca response are independent of beta-blockade by propranolol. Mg (0.6-6.0 mM) has a negative

  20. Empirical scaling of the length of the longest increasing subsequences of random walks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendonça, J. Ricardo G.

    2017-02-01

    We provide Monte Carlo estimates of the scaling of the length L n of the longest increasing subsequences of n-step random walks for several different distributions of step lengths, short and heavy-tailed. Our simulations indicate that, barring possible logarithmic corrections, {{L}n}∼ {{n}θ} with the leading scaling exponent 0.60≲ θ ≲ 0.69 for the heavy-tailed distributions of step lengths examined, with values increasing as the distribution becomes more heavy-tailed, and θ ≃ 0.57 for distributions of finite variance, irrespective of the particular distribution. The results are consistent with existing rigorous bounds for θ, although in a somewhat surprising manner. For random walks with step lengths of finite variance, we conjecture that the correct asymptotic behavior of L n is given by \\sqrt{n}\\ln n , and also propose the form for the subleading asymptotics. The distribution of L n was found to follow a simple scaling form with scaling functions that vary with θ. Accordingly, when the step lengths are of finite variance they seem to be universal. The nature of this scaling remains unclear, since we lack a working model, microscopic or hydrodynamic, for the behavior of the length of the longest increasing subsequences of random walks.

  1. Discrimination of Single-Copy IS6110 DNA Fingerprints of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates by High-Resolution Minisatellite-Based Typing

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Ann S. G.; Tang, Lynn L. H.; Lim, Irene H. K.; Bellamy, Richard; Wong, Sin-Yew

    2002-01-01

    Seven isoniazid-resistant isolates with mutations in the NADH dehydrogenase (ndh) gene were molecularly typed by IS6110-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. All seven isolates with the R268H mutation had identical 1.4-kb IS6110 fingerprints. High-resolution minisatellite-based typing discriminated five of these isolates; two isolates were identical.

  2. Discrimination of single-copy IS6110 DNA fingerprints of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates by high-resolution minisatellite-based typing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ann S G; Tang, Lynn L H; Lim, Irene H K; Bellamy, Richard; Wong, Sin-Yew

    2002-02-01

    Seven isoniazid-resistant isolates with mutations in the NADH dehydrogenase (ndh) gene were molecularly typed by IS6110-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. All seven isolates with the R268H mutation had identical 1.4-kb IS6110 fingerprints. High-resolution minisatellite-based typing discriminated five of these isolates; two isolates were identical.

  3. Short Carboxylic Acid–Carboxylate Hydrogen Bonds Can Have Fully Localized Protons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Jiusheng; Pozharski, Edwin; Wilson, Mark A.

    2017-01-17

    Short hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) have been proposed to play key functional roles in several proteins. The location of the proton in short H-bonds is of central importance, as proton delocalization is a defining feature of low-barrier hydrogen bonds (LBHBs). Experimentally determining proton location in H-bonds is challenging. Here, bond length analysis of atomic (1.15–0.98 Å) resolution X-ray crystal structures of the human protein DJ-1 and its bacterial homologue, YajL, was used to determine the protonation states of H-bonded carboxylic acids. DJ-1 contains a buried, dimer-spanning 2.49 Å H-bond between Glu15 and Asp24 that satisfies standard donor–acceptor distance criteria for a LBHB. Bond length analysis indicates that the proton is localized on Asp24, excluding a LBHB at this location. However, similar analysis of the Escherichia coli homologue YajL shows both residues may be protonated at the H-bonded oxygen atoms, potentially consistent with a LBHB. A Protein Data Bank-wide screen identifies candidate carboxylic acid H-bonds in approximately 14% of proteins, which are typically short [O–O> = 2.542(2) Å]. Chemically similar H-bonds between hydroxylated residues (Ser/Thr/Tyr) and carboxylates show a trend of lengthening O–O distance with increasing H-bond donor pKa. This trend suggests that conventional electronic effects provide an adequate explanation for short, charge-assisted carboxylic acid–carboxylate H-bonds in proteins, without the need to invoke LBHBs in general. This study demonstrates that bond length analysis of atomic resolution X-ray crystal structures provides a useful experimental test of certain candidate LBHBs.

  4. Lactobacillus hammesii sp. nov., isolated from French sourdough.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valcheva, Rosica; Korakli, Maher; Onno, Bernard; Prévost, Hervé; Ivanova, Iskra; Ehrmann, Matthias A; Dousset, Xavier; Gänzle, Michael G; Vogel, Rudi F

    2005-03-01

    Twenty morphologically different strains were chosen from French wheat sourdough isolates. Cells were Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, non-motile rods. The isolates were identified using amplified-fragment length polymorphism, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. All isolates were members of the genus Lactobacillus. They were identified as representing Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus paralimentarius, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis, Lactobacillus spicheri and Lactobacillus sakei. However, two isolates (LP38(T) and LP39) could be clearly discriminated from recognized Lactobacillus species on the basis of genotyping methods. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and DNA-DNA relatedness data indicate that the two strains belong to a novel Lactobacillus species, for which the name Lactobacillus hammesii is proposed. The type strain is LP38(T) (=DSM 16381(T)=CIP 108387(T)=TMW 1.1236(T)).

  5. Isolation of Cryptococcus gattii from a Castanopsis argyrophylla tree hollow (Mai-Kaw), Chiang Mai, Thailand

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Khayhan, Kantarawee; Hagen, Ferry; Norkaew, Treepradab; Puengchan, Tanpalang; Boekhout, Teun; Sriburee, Pojana

    2017-01-01

    The pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus gattii was isolated from a tree hollow of a Castanopsis argyrophylla King ex Hook.f. (Fagaceae) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Molecular characterization with amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis and multi-locus sequence typing showed that this isolate belonged

  6. Short-term memory predictions across the lifespan: monitoring span before and after conducting a task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertrand, Julie Marilyne; Moulin, Chris John Anthony; Souchay, Céline

    2017-05-01

    Our objective was to explore metamemory in short-term memory across the lifespan. Five age groups participated in this study: 3 groups of children (4-13 years old), and younger and older adults. We used a three-phase task: prediction-span-postdiction. For prediction and postdiction phases, participants reported with a Yes/No response if they could recall in order a series of images. For the span task, they had to actually recall such series. From 4 years old, children have some ability to monitor their short-term memory and are able to adjust their prediction after experiencing the task. However, accuracy still improves significantly until adolescence. Although the older adults had a lower span, they were as accurate as young adults in their evaluation, suggesting that metamemory is unimpaired for short-term memory tasks in older adults. •We investigate metamemory for short-term memory tasks across the lifespan. •We find younger children cannot accurately predict their span length. •Older adults are accurate in predicting their span length. •People's metamemory accuracy was related to their short-term memory span.

  7. Morphological and molecular characterization of a new isolate of entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema feltiae (Filipjev (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae from the Arasbaran forests, Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mostafa Nikdel

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Steinernema feltiae isolate IRAZ13 was recovered from one soil sample collected from the Arasbaran forests, Iran. The new isolate can be distinguished from other isolates by morphologic and morphometric data, and DNA sequences. The first generation male is characterized by spicule length 79 ± 5 (73–87 μm, SW ratio [(spicule length/anal body diameter*100] 160 ± 13 (137–177, GS ratio GS [(gubernaculum/spicule length*100] 79 ± 8 (62–87, genital papillae arrangement and the second generation male by a mucron 10 ± 1 (9–11 μm long. For the infective juvenile, the body is 883 ± 82 (754–975 μm long, lateral fields with eight equally developed ridges, head smooth, slightly offset, large gonad primordium cells, a long hyaline tail portion (equal to half of tail length, and pore-like phasmid at 41% of the tail length to the semicircle anus are the differentiation factors. Additionally, molecular studies obtained from the 28S-D2/D3 region and ITS1 rDNA sequence analyses and phylogenetic reconstruction further support this nematode as a different isolate.

  8. Computer game as a tool for training the identification of phonemic length.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pennala, Riitta; Richardson, Ulla; Ylinen, Sari; Lyytinen, Heikki; Martin, Maisa

    2014-12-01

    Computer-assisted training of Finnish phonemic length was conducted with 7-year-old Russian-speaking second-language learners of Finnish. Phonemic length plays a different role in these two languages. The training included game activities with two- and three-syllable word and pseudo-word minimal pairs with prototypical vowel durations. The lowest accuracy scores were recorded for two-syllable words. Accuracy scores were higher for the minimal pairs with larger rather than smaller differences in duration. Accuracy scores were lower for long duration than for short duration. The ability to identify quantity degree was generalized to stimuli used in the identification test in two of the children. Ideas for improving the game are introduced.

  9. Automatic measurement of axial length of human eye using three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Masaki; Kiryu, Tohru

    2011-01-01

    The measurement of axial length and the evaluation of three dimensional (3D) form of an eye are essential to evaluate the mechanism of myopia progression. We propose a method of automatic measurement of axial length including adjustment of the pulse sequence of short-term scan which could suppress influence of eyeblink, using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which acquires 3D images noninvasively. Acquiring T 2 -weighted images with 3.0 tesla MRI device and eight-channel phased-array head coil, we extracted left and right eye ball images, and then reconstructed 3D volume. The surface coordinates were calculated from 3D volume, fitting the ellipsoid model coordinates with the surface coordinates, and measured the axial length automatically. Measuring twenty one subjects, we compared the automatically measured values of axial length with the manually measured ones, then confirmed significant elongation in the axial length of myopia compared with that of emmetropia. Furthermore, there were no significant differences (P<0.05) between the means of automatic measurements and the manual ones. Accordingly, the automatic measurement process of axial length could be a tool for the elucidation of the mechanism of myopia progression, which would be suitable for evaluating the axial length easily and noninvasively. (author)

  10. Postsacral vertebral morphology in relation to tail length among primates and other mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russo, Gabrielle A

    2015-02-01

    Tail reduction/loss independently evolved in a number of mammalian lineages, including hominoid primates. One prerequisite to appropriately contextualizing its occurrence and understanding its significance is the ability to track evolutionary changes in tail length throughout the fossil record. However, to date, the bony correlates of tail length variation among living taxa have not been comprehensively examined. This study quantifies postsacral vertebral morphology among living primates and other mammals known to differ in relative tail length (RTL). Linear and angular measurements with known biomechanical significance were collected on the first, mid-, and transition proximal postsacral vertebrae, and their relationship with RTL was assessed using phylogenetic generalized least-squares regression methods. Compared to shorter-tailed primates, longer-tailed primates possess a greater number of postsacral vertebral features associated with increased proximal tail flexibility (e.g., craniocaudally longer vertebral bodies), increased intervertebral body joint range of motion (e.g., more circularly shaped cranial articular surfaces), and increased leverage of tail musculature (e.g., longer spinous processes). These observations are corroborated by the comparative mammalian sample, which shows that distantly related short-tailed (e.g., Phascolarctos, Lynx) and long-tailed (e.g., Dendrolagus, Acinonyx) nonprimate mammals morphologically converge with short-tailed (e.g., Macaca tonkeana) and long-tailed (e.g., Macaca fascicularis) primates, respectively. Multivariate models demonstrate that the variables examined account for 70% (all mammals) to 94% (only primates) of the variance in RTL. Results of this study may be used to infer the tail lengths of extinct primates and other mammals, thereby improving our understanding about the evolution of tail reduction/loss. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Automatic monitoring of isolation state in low-voltage distribution network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Людмила Олександрівна Добровольська

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the possibility of using the proposed functional isolation monitoring circuit with an additional high-frequency signal of 3500 Hz, introduced into the power network, which allows real-time detection of isolation leakage current not exceeding 8,5 mA. To check the isolation state it was decided to control leakage currents. To do this it is proposed to use the current control device developed by the authors that provides measurement of the currents in the lines and used by consumers. The device makes it possible to determine the magnitude and locations of the unauthorized taking away the power and to transmit the data to the control station wirelessly. It is proposed to extend the functionality of the device by automatically measuring leakage currents when monitoring the isolation state if current exceeds the permissible limits. This can be achieved by introducing a current control device of frequency-dependent selective amplifier of sinusoidal leakage currents that solves the problem of frequency separation and allows the isolation state control without disconnecting users from the network. Early detection and removal of defects of isolation before they become interfacial short circuits and dead ground short circuits will prevent the occurrence of dangerous situations, increase the reliability and service life of electrical networks and ensure uninterrupted power supply of consumers with electricity

  12. Antifungal activity of oligochitosans (short chain chitosans) against some Candida species and clinical isolates of Candida albicans: molecular weight-activity relationship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulikov, Sergey N; Lisovskaya, Svetlana A; Zelenikhin, Pavel V; Bezrodnykh, Evgeniya A; Shakirova, Diana R; Blagodatskikh, Inesa V; Tikhonov, Vladimir E

    2014-03-03

    A series of oligochitosans (short chain chitosans) prepared by acidic hydrolysis of chitosan and characterized by their molecular weight, polydispersity and degree of deacetylation were used to determine their anticandidal activities. This study has demonstrated that oligochitosans show a high fungistatic activity (MIC 8-512 μg/ml) against Candida species and clinical isolates of Candida albicans, which are resistant to a series of classic antibiotics. Flow cytometry analysis showed that oligochitosan possessed a high fungicidal activity as well. For the first time it was shown that even sub-MIC oligochitosan concentration suppressed the formation of C. albicans hyphal structures, cause severe cell wall alterations, and altered internal cell structure. These results indicate that oligochitosan should be considered as a possible alternative/additive to known anti-yeast agents in pharmaceutical compositions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  13. Optimal Combination of VNTR Typing for Discrimination of Isolated Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Korea

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Jihye; Kang, Heeyoon; Kim, Sarang; Yoo, Heekyung; Kim, Hee Jin; Park, Young Kil

    2014-01-01

    Background Variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) typing is a promising method to discriminate the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in molecular epidemiology. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal VNTR combinations for discriminating isolated M. tuberculosis strains in Korea. Methods A total of 317 clinical isolates collected throughout Korea were genotyped by using the IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), and then analysed for the number of VNTR copies fro...

  14. Cervical Length in Patients at Risk for Placenta Accreta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rac, Martha W F; McIntire, Donald D; Wells, C Edward; Moschos, Elysia; Twickler, Diane D

    2017-07-01

    To evaluate cervical length measurements in women with placenta accreta compared to women with a nonadherent low-lying placenta or placenta previa and evaluate this relationship in terms of vaginal bleeding, preterm labor, and preterm birth. We conducted a retrospective cohort study between 1997 and 2011 of gravidas with more than 1 prior cesarean delivery who had a transvaginal ultrasound examination between 24 and 34 weeks for a low-lying placenta or placenta previa. Cervical length was measured from archived images in accordance with national guidelines by a single investigator, who was blinded to outcomes and ultrasound reports. The diagnosis of placental accreta was based on histologic confirmation. For study purposes, preterm birth was defined as less than 36 weeks, and cervical lengths of 3 cm or less were considered short. Standard statistical analyses were used. A total of 125 patients met inclusion criteria. The cohort was divided into patients with (n = 43 [34%]) and without (n = 82 [66%]) placenta accreta and stratified by gestational age at the ultrasound examinations. Women with placenta accreta had shorter cervical length measurements during their 32- to 34-week ultrasound examinations (mean ± SD, 3.23 ± 0.98 versus 3.95 ± 1.0 cm; P accreta had shorter cervical lengths at 32 to 34 weeks than women with a nonadherent low-lying placenta or placenta previa, but this finding did not correlate with a higher risk of vaginal bleeding or preterm labor resulting in preterm birth before 36 weeks. © 2017 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

  15. Genetic diversity of Actinobacillus lignieresii isolates from different hosts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokotovic, Branko; Angen, Øystein; Bisgaard, Magne

    2011-01-01

    Genetic diversity detected by analysis of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) of 54 Actinobacilus lignieresii isolates from different hosts and geographic localities is described. On the basis of variances in AFLP profiles, the strains were grouped in two major clusters; one comprisin...

  16. Telomeres and replicative senescence: Is it only length that counts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Zglinicki, T

    2001-07-26

    Telomeres are well established as a major 'replicometer', counting the population doublings in primary human cell cultures and ultimately triggering replicative senescence. However, neither is the pace of this biological clock inert, nor is there a fixed threshold telomere length acting as the universal trigger of replicative senescence. The available data suggest that opening of the telomeric loop and unscheduled exposure of the single-stranded G-rich telomeric overhang might act like a semaphore to signal senescent cell cycle arrest. Short telomere length, telomeric single-strand breaks, low levels of loop-stabilizing proteins, or other factors may trigger this opening of the loop. Thus, both telomere shortening and the ultimate signalling into senescence are able to integrate different environmental and genetic factors, especially oxidative stress-mediated damage, which might otherwise become a thread to genomic stability.

  17. Scattering Length Scaling Laws for Ultracold Three-Body Collisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Incao, J.P.; Esry, B.D.

    2005-01-01

    We present a simple and unifying picture that provides the energy and scattering length dependence for all inelastic three-body collision rates in the ultracold regime for three-body systems with short-range two-body interactions. Here, we present the scaling laws for vibrational relaxation, three-body recombination, and collision-induced dissociation for systems that support s-wave two-body collisions. These systems include three identical bosons, two identical bosons, and two identical fermions. Our approach reproduces all previous results, predicts several others, and gives the general form of the scaling laws in all cases

  18. Foot length before and during insulin-like growth factor-I treatment of children with laron syndrome compared to human growth hormone treatment of children with isolated growth hormone deficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silbergeld, Aviva; Lilos, Pearl; Laron, Zvi

    2007-12-01

    To compare foot length deficits between patients with Laron syndrome (LS) (primary growth hormone [GH] insensitivity) and congenital isolated GH deficiency (IGHD) and their response to replacement therapy with insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and hGH, respectively. Data for the study were collected from the records of nine children with LS (3 M, 6 F) 7.8 +/- 4.8 years old (mean +/- SD), and nine children with IGHD (3 M, 6 F), 3.8 +/- 3.3 years old. Fifteen non-treated adult patients with LS were also included in the study. Measurements of foot length were recorded without treatment and monitored during 9 years of treatment in the children and in the untreated adult patients. For statistical analysis the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used. With almost similar basal values in growth deficit and pre-treatment growth velocities, the achievements towards norms after 9 years of treatment were greater in the patients with IGHD than in the patients with LS: foot length reached -1.4 +/- 0.8 vs. -3.3 +/- 1.0 SDS (mean +/- SD), and body height -2.2 +/- 1.0 vs. -3.9 +/- 0.5 SDS. The difference between the two groups could be due to the initiation of replacement therapy in the patients with IGHD at a younger age. Adult foot size of untreated patients with LS is small but less retarded than the height deficit. Both IGF-I and hGH are potent growth stimulating hormones of linear growth and acrae as exemplified by foot growth.

  19. Progress in ISOL target-ion source systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koester, U. [Institut Laue Langevin, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France); ISOLDE, CERN, CH-1211 Geneve 23 (Switzerland)], E-mail: koester@ill.fr; Arndt, O. [HGF VISTARS and Institut fuer Kernchemie, Johannes-Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz, D-55128 Mainz (Germany); Bouquerel, E.; Fedoseyev, V.N. [ISOLDE, CERN, CH-1211 Geneve 23 (Switzerland); Franberg, H. [ISOLDE, CERN, CH-1211 Geneve 23 (Switzerland); Laboratory for Radio- and Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland); Joinet, A. [ISOLDE, CERN, CH-1211 Geneve 23 (Switzerland); Centre d' Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 9 Av. du Colonel Roche, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France); Jost, C. [HGF VISTARS and Institut fuer Kernchemie, Johannes-Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz, D-55128 Mainz (Germany); Kerkines, I.S.K. [Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Chemistry, Zografou 157 71, GR (Greece); Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation and Department of Chemistry, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322 (United States); Kirchner, R. [Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung, Planckstr. 1, D-64291 Darmstadt (Germany)

    2008-10-15

    The heart of every ISOL (isotope separation on-line) facility is its target and ion source system. Its efficiency, selectivity and rapidity is decisive for the production of intense and pure ion beams of short-lived isotopes. Recent progress in ISOL target and ion source technology is discussed at the examples of radioactive ion beams of exotic zinc and tin isotopes that were purified by isothermal chromatography and molecular sideband separation respectively. An outlook is given to which other elements these purification methods are applicable.

  20. Progress in ISOL target-ion source systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koester, U.; Arndt, O.; Bouquerel, E.; Fedoseyev, V.N.; Franberg, H.; Joinet, A.; Jost, C.; Kerkines, I.S.K.; Kirchner, R.

    2008-01-01

    The heart of every ISOL (isotope separation on-line) facility is its target and ion source system. Its efficiency, selectivity and rapidity is decisive for the production of intense and pure ion beams of short-lived isotopes. Recent progress in ISOL target and ion source technology is discussed at the examples of radioactive ion beams of exotic zinc and tin isotopes that were purified by isothermal chromatography and molecular sideband separation respectively. An outlook is given to which other elements these purification methods are applicable.

  1. Modeling Timbre Similarity of Short Music Clips.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siedenburg, Kai; Müllensiefen, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    There is evidence from a number of recent studies that most listeners are able to extract information related to song identity, emotion, or genre from music excerpts with durations in the range of tenths of seconds. Because of these very short durations, timbre as a multifaceted auditory attribute appears as a plausible candidate for the type of features that listeners make use of when processing short music excerpts. However, the importance of timbre in listening tasks that involve short excerpts has not yet been demonstrated empirically. Hence, the goal of this study was to develop a method that allows to explore to what degree similarity judgments of short music clips can be modeled with low-level acoustic features related to timbre. We utilized the similarity data from two large samples of participants: Sample I was obtained via an online survey, used 16 clips of 400 ms length, and contained responses of 137,339 participants. Sample II was collected in a lab environment, used 16 clips of 800 ms length, and contained responses from 648 participants. Our model used two sets of audio features which included commonly used timbre descriptors and the well-known Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients as well as their temporal derivates. In order to predict pairwise similarities, the resulting distances between clips in terms of their audio features were used as predictor variables with partial least-squares regression. We found that a sparse selection of three to seven features from both descriptor sets-mainly encoding the coarse shape of the spectrum as well as spectrotemporal variability-best predicted similarities across the two sets of sounds. Notably, the inclusion of non-acoustic predictors of musical genre and record release date allowed much better generalization performance and explained up to 50% of shared variance ( R 2 ) between observations and model predictions. Overall, the results of this study empirically demonstrate that both acoustic features related

  2. Genotyping of Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical isolates reveals eight P1 subtypes within two genomic groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dorigo-Zetsma, J. W.; Dankert, J.; Zaat, S. A.

    2000-01-01

    Three methods for genotyping of Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical isolates were applied to 2 reference strains and 21 clinical isolates. By a modified restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of PCR products of the M. pneumoniae cytadhesin P1 gene, 5 subtypes were discriminated among 13

  3. Study on the crystallization of multiarm stars with a poly(ethyleneimine) core and poly(ϵ-caprolactone) arms of different length

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Díaz, Angélica; Bacaicoa, Anna; Casas, Maria Teresa; Franco, Lourdes [Departament d’Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal 647, Barcelona E-08028 (Spain); Serra, Angels [Departament de Química Analítica i Química Orgànica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili. C. Marcel.lí Domingo, s/n. Campus Sescelades, Tarragona 43007 (Spain); Puiggalí, Jordi, E-mail: Jordi.Puiggali@upc.edu [Departament d’Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal 647, Barcelona E-08028 (Spain)

    2015-05-10

    Highlights: • Isothermal crystallization kinetics of multiarm stars. • Influence of the length of poly(ϵ-caprolactone) arms on crystallization kinetics. • Influence of the length of poly(ϵ-caprolactone) arms on secondary nucleation constant. • Crystallization of mixtures of stars having different arm lengths. - Abstract: Crystallization of multiarm star systems constituted by a core of poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) and arms of poly(ϵ-caprolactone) (PCL) was studied by transmission electron microscopy, calorimetry and optical microscopy techniques. Three systems differing on the degree of polymerization of PCL were studied as well as binary mixtures constituted by systems differing on the length of PCL arms. Samples were able to crystallize from both diluted solutions and the melt state giving rise to well-formed lamellae and spherulites, respectively. Lamellae of samples with large PCL arms were highly regular and corresponded to elongated hexagonal crystals with an aspect ratio that decreased with the length of PCL arms. A significant decrease on equilibrium melting temperatures, degree of crystallinity and glass transition temperature was detected for samples having short PCL arms. Crystallization kinetics were also highly influenced by the length of PCL arms, being both nucleation density and secondary nucleation constant increased as the length of PCL arms decreased. Crystallization of star mixtures having different PCL lengths was determined by the larger arms since they initiated the process and subsequently shorter arms were progressively incorporated. A thermal nucleation was characteristic of multiarm star mixtures due to the different crystallization temperature ranges of samples with large and short PCL arms, whereas samples with a homogeneous arm length rendered an athermal nucleation.

  4. Short rest interval lengths between sets optimally enhance body composition and performance with 8 weeks of strength resistance training in older men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villanueva, Matthew G; Lane, Christianne Joy; Schroeder, E Todd

    2015-02-01

    To determine if 8 weeks of periodized strength resistance training (RT) utilizing relatively short rest interval lengths (RI) in between sets (SS) would induce greater improvements in body composition and muscular performance, compared to the same RT program utilizing extended RI (SL). 22 male volunteers (SS: n = 11, 65.6 ± 3.4 years; SL: n = 11, 70.3 ± 4.9 years) were assigned to one of two strength RT groups, following 4 weeks of periodized hypertrophic RT (PHRT): strength RT with 60-s RI (SS) or strength RT with 4-min RI (SL). Prior to randomization, all 22 study participants trained 3 days/week, for 4 weeks, targeting hypertrophy; from week 4 to week 12, SS and SL followed the same periodized strength RT program for 8 weeks, with RI the only difference in their RT prescription. Following PHRT, all study participants experienced increases in lean body mass (LBM) (p body strength (p body fat (p high-intensity strength RT with shortened RI induces significantly greater enhancements in body composition, muscular performance, and functional performance, compared to the same RT prescription with extended RI, in older men. Applied professionals may optimize certain RT-induced adaptations, by incorporating shortened RI.

  5. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Diversity in Cephalosporium maydis from Egypt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saleh, Amgad A; Zeller, Kurt A; Ismael, Abou-Serie M; Fahmy, Zeinab M; El-Assiuty, Elhamy M; Leslie, John F

    2003-07-01

    ABSTRACT Cephalosporium maydis, the causal agent of late wilt of maize, was first described in Egypt in the 1960s, where it can cause yield losses of up to 40% in susceptible plantings. We characterized 866 isolates of C. maydis collected from 14 governates in Egypt, 7 in the Nile River Delta and 7 in southern (Middle and Upper) Egypt, with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. The four AFLP primer-pair combinations generated 68 bands, 25 of which were polymorphic, resulting in 52 clonal haplotypes that clustered the 866 isolates into four phylogenetic lineages. Three lineages were found in both the Nile River Delta and southern Egypt. Lineage IV, the most diverse group (20 haplotypes), was recovered only from governates in the Nile River Delta. In some locations, one lineage dominated (up to 98% of the isolates recovered) and, from some fields, only a single haplotype was recovered. Under field conditions in Egypt, there is no evidence that C. maydis reproduces sexually. The nonuniform geographic distribution of the pathogen lineages within the country could be due to differences in climate or in the farming system, because host material differs in susceptibility and C. maydis lineages differ in pathogenicity.

  6. Hard probes of short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    J. Arrington, D. W. Higinbotham, G. Rosner, M. Sargsian

    2012-10-01

    The strong interaction of nucleons at short distances leads to a high-momentum component to the nuclear wave function, associated with short-range correlations between nucleons. These short-range, high-momentum structures in nuclei are one of the least well understood aspects of nuclear matter, relating to strength outside of the typical mean-field approaches to calculating the structure of nuclei. While it is difficult to study these short-range components, significant progress has been made over the last decade in determining how to cleanly isolate short-range correlations in nuclei. We have moved from asking if such structures exist, to mapping out their strength in nuclei and studying their microscopic structure. A combination of several different measurements, made possible by high-luminosity and high-energy accelerators, coupled with an improved understanding of the reaction mechanism issues involved in studying these structures, has led to significant progress, and provided significant new information on the nature of these small, highly-excited structures in nuclei. We review the general issues related to short-range correlations, survey recent experiments aimed at probing these short-range structures, and lay out future possibilities to further these studies.

  7. Murine protein H is comprised of 20 repeating units, 61 amino acids in length

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Torsten; Tack, B F

    1986-01-01

    A cDNA library constructed from size-selected (greater than 28 S) poly(A)+ RNA isolated from the livers of C57B10. WR mice was screened by using a 249-base-pair (bp) cDNA fragment encoding 83 amino acid residues of human protein H as a probe. Of 120,000 transformants screened, 30 hybridized......, 448 bp of 3'-untranslated sequence, and a polyadenylylated tail of undetermined length. Murine pre-protein H was deduced to consist of an 18-amino acid signal peptide and 1216 residues of H-protein sequence. Murine H was composed of 20 repetitive units, each about 61 amino acid residues in length...

  8. Wind direction variations in the natural wind – A new length scale

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansson, Jens; Christensen, Silas Sverre

    2018-01-01

    During an observation period of e.g. 10min, the wind direction will differ from its mean direction for short periods of time, and a body of air will pass by from that direction before the direction changes once again. The present paper introduces a new length scale which we have labeled the angular...... length scale. This length scale expresses the average size of the body of air passing by from any deviation of wind direction away from the mean direction. Using metrological observations from two different sites under varying conditions we have shown that the size of the body of air relative to the mean...... size decreases linearly with the deviation from the mean wind direction when the deviation is normalized with the standard deviation of the wind direction. It is shown that this linear variation is independent of the standard deviation of the wind direction, and that the two full-scale data sets follow...

  9. Influence of HPPMS pulse length and inert gas mixture on the properties of (Cr,Al)N coatings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bagcivan, N.; Bobzin, K. [Surface Engineering Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Kackertstr. 15, D-52072 Aachen (Germany); Grundmeier, G.; Wiesing, M.; Ozcan, O.; Kunze, C. [University of Paderborn, Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Warburger Str. 100, D-33098 Paderborn (Germany); Brugnara, R.H., E-mail: brugnara@iot.rwth-aachen.de [Surface Engineering Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Kackertstr. 15, D-52072 Aachen (Germany)

    2013-12-31

    During the production of plastic products by injection molding processes adhesion and abrasion wear as well as corrosion take place in the molding tools. Concerning this, (Cr,Al)N coatings deposited via physical vapor deposition (PVD) have a good potential to be used as protective coatings on injection tools. For an effective protection of coated tools a uniform layer of coating material is also required. In this regard, the HPPMS (high power pulse magnetron sputtering) technology offers possibilities to improve coating thickness uniformity as well as to adapt the chemical and mechanical properties. The present work deals with the investigation of influence of HPPMS pulse length and the argon/krypton ratio in the deposition process on (Cr,Al)N coating properties. For this reason, (Cr,Al)N coatings were deposited with HPPMS pulse length of 40, 80 and 200 μs at constant Ar/Kr ratio (120/80 sccm). The results were compared with a coating deposited with DC Magnetron Sputtering (DC-MS) with the same Ar/Kr ratio. Afterwards, a (Cr,Al)N coating was deposited with constant pulse length (200 μs) without Kr. The chemical composition, morphology and phase composition of the coatings were analyzed by means of EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and XRD (X-ray Diffraction), respectively. The composition of the surface near region in the samples was investigated by means of XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). Mechanical properties were measured by means of nanoindentation. Decreasing of pulse length at constant mean power leads to a considerable increase of cathode current. It could be observed that the deposition rate of the HPPMS process reduces with decreasing pulse length. Nevertheless, short HPPMS pulse lengths and high peak currents lead to an increase of hardness from 25 GPa to 32 GPa while the DC-MS coating displays a hardness of 18 GPa. The use of krypton within the sputter process leads to a marginal increase of the deposition

  10. Characterization of Erwinia amylovora strains from different host plants using repetitive-sequences PCR analysis, and restriction fragment length polymorphism and short-sequence DNA repeats of plasmid pEA29.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barionovi, D; Giorgi, S; Stoeger, A R; Ruppitsch, W; Scortichini, M

    2006-05-01

    The three main aims of the study were the assessment of the genetic relationship between a deviating Erwinia amylovora strain isolated from Amelanchier sp. (Maloideae) grown in Canada and other strains from Maloideae and Rosoideae, the investigation of the variability of the PstI fragment of the pEA29 plasmid using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and the determination of the number of short-sequence DNA repeats (SSR) by DNA sequence analysis in representative strains. Ninety-three strains obtained from 12 plant genera and different geographical locations were examined by repetitive-sequences PCR using Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus, BOX and Repetitive Extragenic Palindromic primer sets. Upon the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean analysis, a deviating strain from Amelanchier sp. was analysed using amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) analysis and the sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene. This strain showed 99% similarity to other E. amylovora strains in the 16S gene and the same banding pattern with ARDRA. The RFLP analysis of pEA29 plasmid using MspI and Sau3A restriction enzymes showed a higher variability than that previously observed and no clear-cut grouping of the strains was possible. The number of SSR units reiterated two to 12 times. The strains obtained from pear orchards showing for the first time symptoms of fire blight had a low number of SSR units. The strains from Maloideae exhibit a wider genetic variability than previously thought. The RFLP analysis of a fragment of the pEA29 plasmid would not seem a reliable method for typing E. amylovora strains. A low number of SSR units was observed with first epidemics of fire blight. The current detection techniques are mainly based on the genetic similarities observed within the strains from the cultivated tree-fruit crops. For a more reliable detection of the fire blight pathogen also in wild and ornamentals Rosaceous plants the genetic

  11. Short mandible - a possible risk factor for cleft palate with/without a cleft lip

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hermann, Nuno Vibe; Darvann, Tron Andre; Ersbøll, Bjarne Kjær

    2014-01-01

    Structured Abstract Objectives To estimate the influence of a short mandible on the risk of developing a cleft palate with/without a cleft lip (CP). Setting and sample population The retrospective sample consisted of 115 2-month-old Danish infants with CP, and 70 control infants with unilateral...... the risk of having a cleft palate. Results The mean mandibular length in the group with CP was about 4mm shorter than in the control group. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated to be 0.58 (95% confidence interval 0.48-0.68), implying that an individual's risk of cleft palate with/without a cleft lip increases...... about 50% per mm decrease in mandibular length. Conclusions A special facial type including a short mandible is a possible risk factor for cleft palate, and it was found that the risk of cleft palate increases 58% per mm decreases in mandibular length....

  12. Comparative evaluation of adequacy of final working length after using Raypex5 or radiography: An in vivo study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deepika Singh

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim: The aim of this clinical study was to compare the effect of working length (WL determination using electronic apex locator (EAL or WL radiograph on the length adequacy of final WL. Materials and Methods: A total of 153 patients with 153 teeth with single canal were randomized into two groups; in Group 1, the WL was determined by WL radiograph; whereas in Group 2, it was determined by the Raypex5 EAL (VDW, Munich, Germany. Length adequacy was assessed in each group for master cone and categorized into short, acceptable, and over cases. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were statistically analyzed using the Pearson chi-square test at a significance level of P < 0.05. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the rates of acceptable (Group 1 = 83.1% and Group 2 = 92.1% and short cases (Group 1 = 3.9% and Group 2 = 5.2%. Over cases in master cone radiography were significantly more in Group 1 (13.1% than Group 2 (2.6% (P = 0.017. Conclusion: The results of our study have shown that under clinical condition, success of Raypex5 was comparable to the radiographic WL determination technique in terms of acceptable and short cases. However, there were significantly lesser over cases in EAL group, showing that EALs can avoid the overestimation of WL.

  13. Learning From Short Text Streams With Topic Drifts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Peipei; He, Lu; Wang, Haiyan; Hu, Xuegang; Zhang, Yuhong; Li, Lei; Wu, Xindong

    2017-09-18

    Short text streams such as search snippets and micro blogs have been popular on the Web with the emergence of social media. Unlike traditional normal text streams, these data present the characteristics of short length, weak signal, high volume, high velocity, topic drift, etc. Short text stream classification is hence a very challenging and significant task. However, this challenge has received little attention from the research community. Therefore, a new feature extension approach is proposed for short text stream classification with the help of a large-scale semantic network obtained from a Web corpus. It is built on an incremental ensemble classification model for efficiency. First, more semantic contexts based on the senses of terms in short texts are introduced to make up of the data sparsity using the open semantic network, in which all terms are disambiguated by their semantics to reduce the noise impact. Second, a concept cluster-based topic drifting detection method is proposed to effectively track hidden topic drifts. Finally, extensive studies demonstrate that as compared to several well-known concept drifting detection methods in data stream, our approach can detect topic drifts effectively, and it enables handling short text streams effectively while maintaining the efficiency as compared to several state-of-the-art short text classification approaches.

  14. Pulse length of ultracold electron bunches extracted from a laser cooled gas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. G. H. Franssen

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available We present measurements of the pulse length of ultracold electron bunches generated by near-threshold two-photon photoionization of a laser-cooled gas. The pulse length has been measured using a resonant 3 GHz deflecting cavity in TM110 mode. We have measured the pulse length in three ionization regimes. The first is direct two-photon photoionization using only a 480 nm femtosecond laser pulse, which results in short (∼15 ps but hot (∼104 K electron bunches. The second regime is just-above-threshold femtosecond photoionization employing the combination of a continuous-wave 780 nm excitation laser and a tunable 480 nm femtosecond ionization laser which results in both ultracold (∼10 K and ultrafast (∼25 ps electron bunches. These pulses typically contain ∼103 electrons and have a root-mean-square normalized transverse beam emittance of 1.5 ± 0.1 nm rad. The measured pulse lengths are limited by the energy spread associated with the longitudinal size of the ionization volume, as expected. The third regime is just-below-threshold ionization which produces Rydberg states which slowly ionize on microsecond time scales.

  15. Characterization of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats sites in Streptococcus mutans isolated from early childhood caries patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jing; Li, Tiancheng; Zhou, Xuedong; Cheng, Lei; Huo, Yuanyuan; Zou, Jing; Li, Yuqing

    2017-11-01

    The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) sites in 45 clinical Streptococcus mutans strains and their relationship to the clinical manifestations of early childhood caries (ECC). Forty-five S. mutans strains were isolated from the plaque samples taken from sixty-three children. CRISPR sites were sequenced and BLAST was used to compare these sites to those in the CRISPRTarget database. The association between the distribution of CRISPR sites and the manifestation of caries was analyzed by Chi-Square test. Further, biofilm formation (by crystal violet staining) and the synthesis of polysaccharide (by anthrone-sulfuric method) of all clinical isolated S. mutans strains with both CRISPR sites and no CRISPR site were comapared. Finally, acidogenicity and acidurity of two typical strains were determined using pH drop and acid tolerance assays. Biofilm formation and EPS synthesis by two typical strains were compared by 3D CLSM (Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope) assays and the expression of gtf genes were evaluated using qPCR. We found that most of the spacers in the clinical S. mutans strains were derived from Streptococcus phages APCM01 and M102. The number of CRISPR sites in these strains was associated with the clinical manifestations of ECC. Moreover, we found that the biofilm formation and EPS synthesis ability of the S. mutans strains with both CRISPR sites was significant improved. An association was found between the distribution of CRISPR sites and the clinical manifestations of caries. The CRISPR sites might contribute to the cariogenic potential of S. mutans. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Effects of Increased Nitrogen Deposition and Rotation Length on Long-Term Productivity of Cunninghamia lanceolata Plantation in Southern China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Meifang; Xiang, Wenhua; Tian, Dalun; Deng, Xiangwen; Huang, Zhihong; Zhou, Xiaolu; Peng, Changhui

    2013-01-01

    Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook. has been widely planted in subtropical China to meet increasing timber demands, leading to short-rotation practices that deplete soil nutrients. However, increased nitrogen (N) deposition offsets soil N depletion. While long-term experimental data investigating the coupled effects related to short rotation practices and increasing N deposition are scarce, applying model simulations may yield insights. In this study, the CenW3.1 model was validated and parameterized using data from pure C. lanceolata plantations. The model was then used to simulate various changes in long-term productivity. Results indicated that responses of productivity of C. lanceolata plantation to increased N deposition were more related to stand age than N addition, depending on the proportion and age of growing forests. Our results have also shown a rapid peak in growth and N dynamics. The peak is reached sooner and is higher under higher level of N deposition. Short rotation lengths had a greater effect on productivity and N dynamics than high N deposition levels. Productivity and N dynamics decreased as the rotation length decreased. Total productivity levels suggest that a 30-year rotation length maximizes productivity at the 4.9 kg N ha−1 year−1 deposition level. For a specific rotation length, higher N deposition levels resulted in greater overall ecosystem C and N storage, but this positive correlation tendency gradually slowed down with increasing N deposition levels. More pronounced differences in N deposition levels occurred as rotation length decreased. To sustain C. lanceolata plantation productivity without offsite detrimental N effects, the appropriate rotation length is about 20–30 years for N deposition levels below 50 kg N ha−1 year−1 and about 15–20 years for N deposition levels above 50 kg N ha−1 year−1. These results highlight the importance of assessing N effects on carbon management and the long-term productivity of

  17. Impact of streamflow data assimilation and length of the verification period on the quality of short-term ensemble hydrologic forecasts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randrianasolo, A.; Thirel, G.; Ramos, M. H.; Martin, E.

    2014-11-01

    Data assimilation has gained wide recognition in hydrologic forecasting due mainly to its capacity to improve the quality of short-term forecasts. In this study, a comparative analysis is conducted to assess the impact of discharge data assimilation on the quality of streamflow forecasts issued by two different modeling conceptualizations of catchment response. The sensitivity of the performance metrics to the length of the verification period is also investigated. The hydrological modeling approaches are: the coupled physically-based hydro-meteorological model SAFRAN-ISBA-MODCOU, a distributed model with a data assimilation procedure that uses streamflow measurements to assess the initial state of soil water content that optimizes discharge simulations, and the lumped soil moisture-accounting type rainfall-runoff model GRP, which assimilates directly the last observed discharge to update the state of the routing store. The models are driven by the weather ensemble prediction system PEARP of Météo-France, which is based on the global spectral ARPEGE model zoomed over France. It runs 11 perturbed members for a forecast range of 60 h. Forecast and observed data are available for 86 catchments over a 17-month period (March 2005-July 2006) for both models and for 82 catchments over a 52-month period (April 2005-July 2009) for the GRP model. The first dataset is used to investigate the impact of streamflow data assimilation on forecast quality, while the second is used to evaluate the impact of the length of the verification period on the assessment of forecast quality. Forecasts are compared to daily observed discharges and scores are computed for lead times 24 h and 48 h. Results indicate an overall good performance of both hydrological models forced by the PEARP ensemble predictions when the models are run with their data assimilation procedures. In general, when data assimilation is performed, the quality of the forecasts increases: median differences between

  18. Developmental social isolation affects adult behavior, social interaction, and dopamine metabolite levels in zebrafish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shams, Soaleha; Amlani, Shahid; Buske, Christine; Chatterjee, Diptendu; Gerlai, Robert

    2018-01-01

    The zebrafish is a social vertebrate and an excellent translational model for a variety of human disorders. Abnormal social behavior is a hallmark of several human brain disorders. Social behavioral problems can arise as a result of adverse early social environment. Little is known about the effects of early social isolation in adult zebrafish. We compared zebrafish that were isolated for either short (7 days) or long duration (180 days) to socially housed zebrafish, testing their behavior across ontogenesis (ages 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 days), and shoal cohesion and whole-brain monoamines and their metabolites in adulthood. Long social isolation increased locomotion and decreased shoal cohesion and anxiety in the open-field in adult. Additionally, both short and long social isolation reduced dopamine metabolite levels in response to social stimuli. Thus, early social isolation has lasting effects in zebrafish, and may be employed to generate zebrafish models of human neuropsychiatric conditions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. High-resolution genomic fingerprinting of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli by analysis of amplified fragment length polymorphisms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokotovic, Branko; On, Stephen L.W.

    1999-01-01

    A method for high-resolution genomic fingerprinting of the enteric pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, based on the determination of amplified fragment length polymorphism, is described. The potential of this method for molecular epidemiological studies of these species...... is evaluated with 50 type, reference, and well-characterised field strains. Amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprints comprised over 60 bands detected in the size range 35-500 bp. Groups of outbreak strains, replicate subcultures, and 'genetically identical' strains from humans, poultry and cattle......, proved indistinguishable by amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting, but were differentiated fi-om unrelated isolates. Previously unknown relationships between three hippurate-negative C. jejuni strains, and two C. coil var, hyoilei strains, were identified. These relationships corresponded...

  20. Short communication: Characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from raw milk fresh cheese in Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera, Fanny C; García-López, María-Luisa; Santos, Jesús A

    2016-10-01

    The aim of this study was the characterization of a collection of 8 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates, obtained from samples of fresh cheese (Doble Crema) produced from raw cow milk in small dairies in Colombia. All the isolates harbored the mecA and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes, presented with SCCmec type IV, and belonged to multilocus sequence type 8 and spa type 024. Seven isolates presented 3 closely related pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profiles. Three of them carried the staphylococcal enterotoxin B gene. The isolates were resistant to cefoxitin, oxacillin, penicillin, and ampicillin and susceptible to all non-β-lactams antibiotics tested, with minimum inhibitory concentration values for oxacillin of 4 to 8mg/L. The isolates belonged to the community-acquired MRSA group, suggesting a human source of contamination. The risk of human infection by MRSA via contaminated foods is considered low, but contaminated food commodities can contribute to the worldwide dissemination of clones of community-acquired MRSA. Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Morphological variation between isolates of the nematode Haemonchus contortus from sheep and goat populations in Malaysia and Yemen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gharamah, A A; Rahman, W A; Siti Azizah, M N

    2014-03-01

    Haemonchus contortus is a highly pathogenic nematode parasite of sheep and goats. This work was conducted to investigate the population and host variations of the parasitic nematode H. contortus of sheep and goats from Malaysia and Yemen. Eight morphological characters were investigated, namely the total body length, cervical papillae, right spicule, left spicule, right barb, left barb, gubernaculum and cuticular ridge (synlophe) pattern. Statistical analysis showed the presence of morphological variation between populations of H. contortus from Malaysia and Yemen, with minor variation in the synlophe pattern of these isolates. Isolates from each country were grouped together in the scatterplots with no host isolation. Body, cervical papillae and spicule lengths were the most important characters that distinguished between populations of the two countries. This variation between Malaysia and Yemen may be attributed to geographical isolation and the possible presence of a different isolate of this worm in each country.

  2. Improved Short-Circuit Protection for Power Cells in Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Francis

    2008-01-01

    A scheme for protection against short circuits has been devised for series strings of lithium electrochemical cells that contain built-in short-circuit protection devices, which go into a high-resistance, current-limiting state when heated by excessive current. If cells are simply connected in a long series string to obtain a high voltage and a short circuit occurs, whichever short-circuit protection device trips first is exposed to nearly the full string voltage, which, typically, is large enough to damage the device. Depending on the specific cell design, the damage can defeat the protective function, cause a dangerous internal short circuit in the affected cell, and/or cascade to other cells. In the present scheme, reverse diodes rated at a suitably high current are connected across short series sub-strings, the lengths of which are chosen so that when a short-circuit protection device is tripped, the voltage across it does not exceed its rated voltage. This scheme preserves the resetting properties of the protective devices. It provides for bypassing of cells that fail open and limits cell reversal, though not as well as does the more-expensive scheme of connecting a diode across every cell.

  3. Lab-on-a-chip-based PCR-RFLP assay for the confirmed detection of short-length feline DNA in food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Md Eaqub; Al Amin, Md; Hamid, Sharifah Bee Abd; Hossain, M A Motalib; Mustafa, Shuhaimi

    2015-01-01

    Wider availability but lack of legal market trades has given feline meat a high potential for use as an adulterant in common meat and meat products. However, mixing of feline meat or its derivatives in food is a sensitive issue, since it is a taboo in most countries and prohibited in certain religions such as Islam and Judaism. Cat meat also has potential for contamination with of severe acute respiratory syndrome, anthrax and hepatitis, and its consumption might lead to an allergic reaction. We developed a very short-amplicon-length (69 bp) PCR assay, authenticated the amplified PCR products by AluI-restriction digestion followed by its separation and detection on a lab-on-a-chip-based automated electrophoretic system, and proved its superiority over the existing long-amplicon-based assays. Although it has been assumed that longer DNA targets are susceptible to breakdown under compromised states, scientific evidence for this hypothesis has been rarely documented. Strong evidence showed that shorter targets are more stable than the longer ones. We confirmed feline-specificity by cross-challenging the primers against 10 different species of terrestrial, aquatic and plant origins in the presence of a 141-bp site of an 18S rRNA gene as a universal eukaryotic control. RFLP analysis separated 43- and 26-bp fragments of AluI-digest in both the gel-image and electropherograms, confirming the original products. The tested detection limit was 0.01% (w/w) feline meat in binary and ternary admixed as well as meatball matrices. Shorter target, better stability and higher sensitivity mean such an assay would be valid for feline identification even in degraded specimens.

  4. Selection of Infective Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Isolates for Field Inoculation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisa Pellegrino

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM fungi play a key role in host plant growth and health, nutrient and water uptake, plant community diversity and dynamics. AM fungi differ in their symbiotic performance, which is the result of the interaction of two fungal characters, infectivity and efficiency. Infectivity is the ability of a fungal isolate to establish rapidly an extensive mycorrhizal symbiosis and is correlated with pre-symbiotic steps of fungal life cycle, such as spore germination and hyphal growth. Here, different AM fungal isolates were tested, with the aim of selecting infective endophytes for field inoculation. Greenhouse and microcosm experiments were performed in order to assess the ability of 12 AM fungal isolates to produce spores, colonize host roots and to perform initial steps of symbiosis establishment, such as spore germination and hyphal growth. AM fungal spore production and root colonization were significantly different among AM fungal isolates. Spore and sporocarp densities ranged from 0.8 to 7.4 and from 0.6 to 2.0 per gram of soil, respectively, whereas root colonization ranged from 2.9 to 72.2%. Percentage of spore or sporocarp germination ranged from 5.8 to 53.3% and hyphal length from 4.7 to 79.8 mm. The ordination analysis (Redundancy Analysis, RDA showed that environmental factors explained about 60% of the whole variance and their effect on fungal infectivity variables was significant (P = 0.002. The biplot clearly showed that variables which might be used to detect infective AM fungal isolates were hyphal length and root colonization. Such analysis may allow the detection of the best parameters to select efficient AM fungal isolates to be used in agriculture.

  5. [Length of stay in patients admitted for acute heart failure].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martín-Sánchez, Francisco Javier; Carbajosa, Virginia; Llorens, Pere; Herrero, Pablo; Jacob, Javier; Miró, Òscar; Fernández, Cristina; Bueno, Héctor; Calvo, Elpidio; Ribera Casado, José Manuel

    2016-01-01

    To identify the factors associated with prolonged length of hospital stay in patients admitted for acute heart failure. Multipurpose observational cohort study including patients from the EAHFE registry admitted for acute heart failure in 25 Spanish hospitals. Data were collected on demographic and clinical variables and on the day and place of admission. The primary outcome was length of hospital stay longer than the median. We included 2,400 patients with a mean age of 79.5 (9.9) years; of these, 1,334 (55.6%) were women. Five hundred and ninety (24.6%) were admitted to the short stay unit (SSU), 606 (25.2%) to cardiology, and 1,204 (50.2%) to internal medicine or gerontology. The mean length of hospital stay was 7.0 (RIC 4-11) days. Fifty-eight (2.4%) patients died and 562 (23.9%) were readmitted within 30 days after discharge. The factors associated with prolonged length of hospital stay were chronic pulmonary disease; being a device carrier; having an unknown or uncommon triggering factor; the presence of renal insufficiency, hyponatremia and anaemia in the emergency department; not being admitted to an SSU or the lack of this facility in the hospital; and being admitted on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. The factors associated with length of hospital stay≤7days were hypertension, having a hypertensive episode, or a lack of treatment adherence. The area under the curve of the mixed model adjusted to the center was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.76-0.80; p<0.001). A series of factors is associated with prolonged length of hospital stay and should be taken into account in the management of acute heart failure. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  6. The length-weight and length-length relationships of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766) from Samsun, middle Black Sea region

    OpenAIRE

    Özpiçak, Melek; Saygın, Semra; Polat, Nazmi

    2017-01-01

    In this study, length-weight relationship (LWR) and length-length relationship (LLR) of bluefish,Pomatomus saltatrix were determined. A total of 125 specimens were sampled from Samsun, themiddle Black Sea in 2014 fishing season. Bluefish specimens were monthly collected fromcommercial fishing boats from October to December 2014. All captured individuals (N=125) weremeasured to the nearest 0.1 cm for total, fork and standard lengths. The weight of each fish (W)was recorded to the nearest 0.01 ...

  7. Congenital short bowel syndrome as the presenting symptom in male patients with FLNA mutations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Werf, Christine S.; Sribudiani, Yunia; Verheij, Joke B. G. M.; Carroll, Matthew; O'Loughlin, Edward; Chen, Chien-Huan; Brooks, Alice S.; Liszewski, M. Kathryn; Atkinson, John P.; Hofstra, Robert M. W.

    Purpose: Autosomal recessive congenital short bowel syndrome is caused by mutations in CLMP. No mutations were found in the affected males of a family with presumed X-linked congenital short bowel syndrome or in an isolated male patient. Our aim was to identify the disease-causing mutation in these

  8. Length of migration and eating habits of Portuguese university students living in London, United Kingdom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilela, Sofia; Santos, Susana; Padrão, Patrícia; Caraher, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Several studies have pointed adverse effects of long term migration on eating habits. Research is needed to understand if this effect occurs also with a short length of migration, as is the case of international students. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of short and long term migration on eating habits of Portuguese university students. Participants were 46 English and 55 Portuguese students from universities in London, United Kingdom. The findings from this study highlight the difficulties that Portuguese students faced in maintaining a traditional Mediterranean diet after moving to a Northern European environment.

  9. Dividing the Force Concept Inventory into two equivalent half-length tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Han

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The Force Concept Inventory (FCI is a 30-question multiple-choice assessment that has been a building block for much of the physics education research done today. In practice, there are often concerns regarding the length of the test and possible test-retest effects. Since many studies in the literature use the mean score of the FCI as the primary variable, it would be useful then to have different shorter tests that can produce FCI-equivalent scores while providing the benefits of being quicker to administer and overcoming the test-retest effects. In this study, we divide the 1995 version of the FCI into two half-length tests; each contains a different subset of the original FCI questions. The two new tests are shorter, still cover the same set of concepts, and produce mean scores equivalent to those of the FCI. Using a large quantitative data set collected at a large midwestern university, we statistically compare the assessment features of the two half-length tests and the full-length FCI. The results show that the mean error of equivalent scores between any two of the three tests is within 3%. Scores from all tests are well correlated. Based on the analysis, it appears that the two half-length tests can be a viable option for score based assessment that need to administer tests quickly or need to measure short-term gains where using identical pre- and post-test questions is a concern.

  10. Coronal 2D MR cholangiography overestimates the length of the right hepatic duct in liver transplantation donors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Bohyun; Kim, Kyoung Won; Kim, So Yeon; Park, So Hyun; Lee, Jeongjin; Song, Gi Won; Jung, Dong-Hwan; Ha, Tae-Yong; Lee, Sung Gyu

    2017-01-01

    To compare the length of the right hepatic duct (RHD) measured on rotatory coronal 2D MR cholangiography (MRC), rotatory axial 2D MRC, and reconstructed 3D MRC. Sixty-seven donors underwent coronal and axial 2D projection MRC and 3D MRC. RHD length was measured and categorized as ultrashort (≤1 mm), short (>1-14 mm), and long (>14 mm). The measured length, frequency of overestimation, and the degree of underestimation between two 2D MRC sets were compared to 3D MRC. The length of the RHD from 3D MRC, coronal 2D MRC, and axial 2D MRC showed significant difference (p < 0.05). RHD was frequently overestimated on the coronal than on axial 2D MRC (61.2 % vs. 9 %; p <.0001). On coronal 2D MRC, four (6 %) with short RHD and one (1.5 %) with ultrashort RHD were over-categorized as long RHD. On axial 2D MRC, overestimation was mostly <1 mm (83.3 %), none exceeding 3 mm or over-categorized. The degree of underestimation between the two projection planes was comparable. Coronal 2D MRC overestimates the RHD in liver donors. We suggest adding axial 2D MRC to conventional coronal 2D MRC in the preoperative workup protocol for living liver donors to avoid unexpected confrontation with multiple ductal openings when harvesting the graft. (orig.)

  11. Coronal 2D MR cholangiography overestimates the length of the right hepatic duct in liver transplantation donors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Bohyun [University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Ajou University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Ajou University Medical Center, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Kyoung Won; Kim, So Yeon; Park, So Hyun [University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jeongjin [Soongsil University, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Song, Gi Won; Jung, Dong-Hwan; Ha, Tae-Yong; Lee, Sung Gyu [University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Division of Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplantation Surgery, Asan Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-05-15

    To compare the length of the right hepatic duct (RHD) measured on rotatory coronal 2D MR cholangiography (MRC), rotatory axial 2D MRC, and reconstructed 3D MRC. Sixty-seven donors underwent coronal and axial 2D projection MRC and 3D MRC. RHD length was measured and categorized as ultrashort (≤1 mm), short (>1-14 mm), and long (>14 mm). The measured length, frequency of overestimation, and the degree of underestimation between two 2D MRC sets were compared to 3D MRC. The length of the RHD from 3D MRC, coronal 2D MRC, and axial 2D MRC showed significant difference (p < 0.05). RHD was frequently overestimated on the coronal than on axial 2D MRC (61.2 % vs. 9 %; p <.0001). On coronal 2D MRC, four (6 %) with short RHD and one (1.5 %) with ultrashort RHD were over-categorized as long RHD. On axial 2D MRC, overestimation was mostly <1 mm (83.3 %), none exceeding 3 mm or over-categorized. The degree of underestimation between the two projection planes was comparable. Coronal 2D MRC overestimates the RHD in liver donors. We suggest adding axial 2D MRC to conventional coronal 2D MRC in the preoperative workup protocol for living liver donors to avoid unexpected confrontation with multiple ductal openings when harvesting the graft. (orig.)

  12. A Monte Carlo simulation method for assessing biotransformation effects on groundwater fuel hydrocarbon plume lengths

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McNab, W.W. Jr.

    2000-01-01

    Biotransformation of dissolved groundwater hydrocarbon plumes emanating from leaking underground fuel tanks should, in principle, result in plume length stabilization over relatively short distances, thus diminishing the environmental risk. However, because the behavior of hydrocarbon plumes is usually poorly constrained at most leaking underground fuel tank sites in terms of release history, groundwater velocity, dispersion, as well as the biotransformation rate, demonstrating such a limitation in plume length is problematic. Biotransformation signatures in the aquifer geochemistry, most notably elevated bicarbonate, may offer a means of constraining the relationship between plume length and the mean biotransformation rate. In this study, modeled plume lengths and spatial bicarbonate differences among a population of synthetic hydrocarbon plumes, generated through Monte Carlo simulation of an analytical solute transport model, are compared to field observations from six underground storage tank (UST) sites at military bases in California. Simulation results indicate that the relationship between plume length and the distribution of bicarbonate is best explained by biotransformation rates that are consistent with ranges commonly reported in the literature. This finding suggests that bicarbonate can indeed provide an independent means for evaluating limitations in hydrocarbon plume length resulting from biotransformation. (Author)

  13. Impact of assimilation window length on diurnal features in a Mars atmospheric analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongjing Zhao

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Effective simulation of diurnal variability is an important aspect of many geophysical data assimilation systems. For the Martian atmosphere, thermal tides are particularly prominent and contribute much to the Martian atmospheric circulation, dynamics and dust transport. To study the Mars diurnal variability and Mars thermal tides, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Mars Global Climate Model with the 4D-local ensemble transform Kalman filter (4D-LETKF is used to perform an analysis assimilating spacecraft temperature retrievals. We find that the use of a ‘traditional’ 6-hr assimilation cycle induces spurious forcing of a resonantly enhanced semi-diurnal Kelvin waves represented in both surface pressure and mid-level temperature by forming a wave 4 pattern in the diurnal averaged analysis increment that acts as a ‘topographic’ stationary forcing. Different assimilation window lengths in the 4D-LETKF are introduced to remove the artificially induced resonance. It is found that short assimilation window lengths not only remove the spurious resonance, but also push the migrating semi-diurnal temperature variation at 50 Pa closer to the estimated ‘true’ tides even in the absence of a radiatively active water ice cloud parameterisation. In order to compare the performance of different assimilation window lengths, short-term to mid-range forecasts based on the hour 00 and 12 assimilation are evaluated and compared. Results show that during Northern Hemisphere summer, it is not the assimilation window length, but the radiatively active water ice clouds that influence the model prediction. A ‘diurnal bias correction’ that includes bias correction fields dependent on the local time is shown to effectively reduce the forecast root mean square differences between forecasts and observations, compensate for the absence of water ice cloud parameterisation and enhance Martian atmosphere prediction. The implications of these results for

  14. Independent effects of step length and foot strike pattern on tibiofemoral joint forces during running.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowersock, Collin D; Willy, Richard W; DeVita, Paul; Willson, John D

    2017-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of step length and foot strike pattern along with their interaction on tibiofemoral joint (TFJ) and medial compartment TFJ kinetics during running. Nineteen participants ran with a rear foot strike pattern at their preferred speed using a short (-10%), preferred, and long (+10%) step length. These step length conditions were then repeated using a forefoot strike pattern. Regardless of foot strike pattern, a 10% shorter step length resulted in decreased peak contact force, force impulse per step, force impulse per kilometre, and average loading rate at the TFJ and medial compartment, while a 10% increased step length had the opposite effects (all P forefoot strike pattern significantly lowered TFJ and medial compartment TFJ average loading rates compared with a rear foot strike pattern (both forefoot strike pattern produced the greatest reduction in peak medial compartment contact force (P < 0.05). Knowledge of these running modification effects may be relevant to the management or prevention of TFJ injury or pathology among runners.

  15. PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism for Rapid, Low-Cost Identification of Isoniazid-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis▿

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caws, Maxine; Tho, Dau Quang; Duy, Phan Minh; Lan, Nguyen Thi Ngoc; Hoa, Dai Viet; Torok, Mili Estee; Chau, Tran Thi Hong; Van Vinh Chau, Nguyen; Chinh, Nguyen Tran; Farrar, Jeremy

    2007-01-01

    PCR-restriction fragment length poymorphism (PCR-RFLP) is a simple, robust technique for the rapid identification of isoniazid-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One hundred consecutive isolates from a Vietnamese tuberculosis hospital were tested by MspA1I PCR-RFLP for the detection of isoniazid-resistant katG_315 mutants. The test had a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 100% against conventional phenotypic drug susceptibility testing. The positive and negative predictive values were 1 and 0.86, respectively. None of the discrepant isolates had mutant katG_315 codons by sequencing. The test is cheap (less than $1.50 per test), specific, and suitable for the rapid identification of isoniazid resistance in regions with a high prevalence of katG_315 mutants among isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates. PMID:17428939

  16. Characterization and Complete Genome Sequences of Three N4-Like Roseobacter Phages Isolated from the South China Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Baolian; Zhang, Si; Long, Lijuan; Huang, Sijun

    2016-09-01

    Three bacteriophages (RD-1410W1-01, RD-1410Ws-07, and DS-1410Ws-06) were isolated from the surface water of Sanya Bay, northern South China Sea, on two marine bacteria type strains of the Roseobacter lineage. These phages have an isometric head and a short tail, morphologically belonging to the Podoviridae family. Two of these phages can infect four of seven marine roseobacter strains tested and the other one can infect three of them, showing relatively broader host ranges compared to known N4-like roseophages. One-step growth curves showed that these phages have similar short latent periods (1-2 h) but highly variable burst sizes (27-341 pfu cell(-1)). Their complete genomes show high level of similarities to known N4-like roseophages in terms of genome size, G + C content, gene content, and arrangement. The morphological and genomic features of these phages indicate that they belong to the N4likevirus genus. Moreover, comparative genomic analysis based on 43 N4-like phages (10 roseobacter phages and 33 phages infecting other lineages of bacteria) revealed a core genome of 18 genes shared by all the 43 phages and 38 genes shared by all the ten roseophages. The 38 core genes of N4-like roseophages nearly make up 70 % of each genome in length. Phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated core gene products showed that our phage isolates represent two new phyletic branches, suggesting the broad genetic diversity of marine N4-like roseophages remains.

  17. Sporocyst size of isolates of Sarcocystis shed by the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheadle, M A; Dame, J B; Greiner, E C

    2001-02-26

    The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is a definitive host for multiple Sarcocystis species including Sarcocystis neurona, one of the causative agents of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a severe, neuromuscular disease of horses. Size and morphologic characteristics of isolates of Sarcocystis shed by the opossum were examined to determine if differences were useful in discriminating between the isolates and/or species. Collections of sporocysts from 17 opossums were molecularly characterized and measured using an ocular micrometer. The mean sporocyst size of isolates of S. neurona was 10.7 microm x 7.0 microm, Sarcocystis falcatula 11.0 microm x 7.1 microm, Sarcocystis speeri 12.2 microm x 8.8 microm, 1085-like isolate 10.9 microm x 6.8 microm, and 3344-like isolate 19.4 microm x 10.5 microm. The length and width of S. speeri were statistically different (p < 0.05) from the sporocysts of other types. The length of S. neurona and S. falcatula sporocysts were statistically different (p < 0.05) from each other and the width of S. falcatula and 1085 differed (p < 0.05). The fifth sporocyst type (3344) was observed, but due to pronounced morphological characteristics, statistical analysis was not performed. There was no consistent difference between the taxa based on internal structure of the sporocyst.

  18. Short and inflamed cervix predicts spontaneous preterm birth (COLIBRI study).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raiche, Evelyne; Ouellet, Annie; Berthiaume, Maryse; Rousseau, Éric; Pasquier, Jean-Charles

    2014-07-01

    To develop a new strategy of predicting spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) by combination of transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) assessment and inflammatory proteins detection in vaginal secretions. Prospective study of 87 women referred for cervical length assessment with a standardized TVUS combined to vaginal secretions sampling. Samples were analyzed for presence of 10 cytokines. Main outcome was sPTB (women at a median gestational age of 35.6 weeks of gestation. Short cervix (women with a short inflamed cervix. COLIBRI study used a novel, single-step method of vaginal secretions sampling during TVUS and demonstrated that combination of short cervix and IL-8 in vaginal secretions is a promising sPTB predictive test.

  19. Radiation and propagation of short acoustical pulses from underground explosions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banister, J.R.

    1982-06-01

    Radiation and propagation of short acoustical pulses from underground nuclear explosions were analyzed. The cone of more intense radiation is defined by the ratio of sound speeds in the ground and air. The pressure history of the radiated pulse is a function of the vertical ground-motion history, the range, the burial depth, and the velocity of longitudinal seismic waves. The analysis of short-pulse propagation employed an N-wave model with and without enegy conservation. Short pulses with initial wave lengths less than 100 m are severely attenuated by the energy loss in shocks and viscous losses in the wave interior. The methods developed in this study should be useful for system analysis

  20. Characterization of Leishmania isolates from Nepalese patients with visceral leishmaniasis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandey, Kishor; Yanagi, Testuo; Pandey, Basu Dev; Mallik, Arun Kumar; Sherchand, Jeevan Bahadur; Kanbara, Hiroji

    2007-05-01

    In Nepal, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is endemic in 13 districts of the central and eastern regions. A total of 166 bone-marrow aspirates were obtained from patients with suspected VL. Ninety-seven were identified as positive by microscopy, and 29 of those were successfully isolated and cultured. We characterized these isolates by molecular analysis and by their ability to infect mice. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the mini-exon and the cysteine proteinase b gene showed that all isolates were Leishmania donovani, and the restriction pattern of the Nepalese isolates corresponded to the standard Indian strain of L. donovani but differed from that of the Kenyan strain. The single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer showed no genetic heterogeneity within Nepalese isolates. Intraperitoneal inoculation with the promastigotes of all isolates resulted in amastigote proliferation in the spleen of 20 nude mice, of which ten isolates were highly infective, and ten were moderately infective, including one BALB/c mouse. Of the 20 amastigotes isolated from the spleen of nude mice, only the ten highly infective isolates infected BALB/c mice, of which, two isolates were considered to have low infectivity, three isolates were considered to be moderately infective, and five isolates were considered to be highly infective.

  1. First molecular identification and characterization of classical swine fever virus isolates from Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Postel, Alexander; Jha, Vijay C; Schmeiser, Stefanie; Becher, Paul

    2013-01-01

    Classical swine fever (CSF) is a major constraint to pig production worldwide, and in many developing countries, the epidemiological status is unknown. Here, for the first time, molecular identification and characterization of CSFV isolates from two recent outbreaks in Nepal are presented. Analysis of full-length E2-encoding sequences revealed that these isolates belonged to CSFV subgenotype 2.2 and had highest genetic similarity to isolates from India. Hence, for CSFV, Nepal and India should be regarded as one epidemiological unit. Both Nepalese isolates exhibited significant sequence differences, excluding a direct epidemiological connection and suggesting that CSFV is endemic in that country.

  2. Differentiation of canine distemper virus isolates in fur animals from various vaccine strains by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism according to phylogenetic relations in china

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Jianjun

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In order to effectively identify the vaccine and field strains of Canine distemper virus (CDV, a new differential diagnostic test has been developed based on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP. We selected an 829 bp fragment of the nucleoprotein (N gene of CDV. By RFLP analysis using BamHI, field isolates were distinguishable from the vaccine strains. Two fragments were obtained from the vaccine strains by RT-PCR-RFLP analysis while three were observed in the field strains. An 829 nucleotide region of the CDV N gene was analyzed in 19 CDV field strains isolated from minks, raccoon dogs and foxes in China between 2005 and 2007. The results suggest this method is precise, accurate and efficient. It was also determined that three different genotypes exist in CDV field strains in fur animal herds of the north of China, most of which belong to Asian type. Mutated field strains, JSY06-R1, JSY06-R2 and JDH07-F1 also exist in Northern China, but are most closely related to the standard virulent strain A75/17, designated in Arctic and America-2 genetype in the present study, respectively.

  3. A novel ultra-short scanning nuclear microprobe: Design and preliminary results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lebed, S.; Butz, T.; Vogt, J.; Reinert, T.; Spemann, D.; Heitmann, J.; Stachura, Z.; Lekki, J.; Potempa, A.; Styczen, J.; Sulkio-Cleff, B.

    2001-01-01

    The paper describes an optimized scanning nuclear microprobe (MP) with a new ultra-short (total length of 1.85 m) probe forming system based on a divided Russian quadruplet (DRQ) of magnetic quadrupole lenses. Modern electrostatic accelerators have a comparatively high beam brightness of about 10-25 pA/μm 2 /mrad 2 /MeV. This allows the MP proposed to provide a high lateral resolution even with large (1%) parasitic (sextupole and octupole) pole tip field components in all lenses. The features of the design permit the MP operation in the high current and low current modes with a short working distance and inexpensive quadrupole lenses. A new quadrupole doublet design has been developed for the MP. In the present work the calculated features of the new MP are compared with preliminary experimental results obtained with a similar system (total length of 2.3 m) at the INP in Cracow. The new MP is promising for studies of solids or biological samples with high resolutions (0.08-2 μm) in both modes under ambient conditions. A vertical version of the ultra-short MP can be very useful for single ion bombardments of living cells

  4. Hydrolysis of short-chain phosphatidylcholines by bee venom phospholipase A2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raykova, D; Blagoev, B

    1986-01-01

    In order to find out the aggregation state of the substrate, preferred by bee venom phospholipase A2 (EC 3.1.1.4), its action on short-chain phosphatidylcholines with two identical (C6-C10) fatty acids has been tested. The rate of hydrolysis as a function of acyl chain length showed a maximum at dioctanoylphosphatidylcholine. The effects of alcohols, NaCl and Triton X-100, which affect the aggregation state of phospholipids in water, were also studied. The addition of n-alcohol led to a significant inhibition of the hydrolysis of the substrates present in micellar form and activated the hydrolysis of substrates which form liposomes. The inhibitory effect increased with increasing length of the aliphatic carbon chain of the alcohol. Triton X-100 at low Triton/phospholipid molar ratios enhanced enzyme activity. These results do not agree with the accepted idea that bee venom phospholipase A2 hydrolyzes short-chain lecithins in their molecularly dispersed form and that micelles cannot act as substrates. The data indicate that short-chain lecithins in the aggregated state are hydrolyzed and that the requirements of bee venom phospholipase A2 for the aggregation state of the substrate are not strict.

  5. Level shifts induced by a short-range potential

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karnakov, B.M.; Mur, V.D.

    1984-01-01

    Formulas are derived which express the shifts of levels with energies Esub(n)sup((0)) << rsub(c)sup(-2) in a field Vsub(f)(r) induced by a short-range potential U(r) of radius rsub(c) in terms of the low energy scattering parameters (scattering length and effective radius) with a moment l in the potential. If the interaction between the particle and center is nonresonant, the method developed is identical to perturbation theory on the scattering length. The theory is extended to systems with random degeneracy (Vsub(f) is the Coulomb potential). Formulas describing quasi-intersection of terms are obtained for the case of resonance interaction with the center in a partial wave with l not equal to 0 when energetically close levels are present in both U and Vsub(f). Some features of the level shift are mentioned for the case when the level possesses an anomalously small coupling energy and its coresponding wave function becomes delocalized with decrease of the coupling energy to zero. The problem is discussed of the level shift when the potential Vsub(f) is a potential well surrounded by a weaklyt penetrable barrier. Some applications of the theory to a particle in the field of two short-range potentials or in the field of a short-range and Coulomb centers are considered. Formulas are also obtained for the shifts and widths of the Landau levels and of the shallow level with an arbitrary moment which perturbs the Landau levels

  6. Analysis on fault current limiting and recovery characteristics of a flux-lock type SFCL with an isolated transformer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ko, Seckcheol; Lim, Sung-Hun; Han, Tae-Hee

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Countermeasure to reduce the power burden of HTSC element consisting of the flux-lock type SFCL was studied. ► The power burden of HTSC element could be decreased by using the isolated transformer. ► The SFCL designed with the additive polarity winding could be confirmed to cause less power burden of the HTSC element. -- Abstract: The flux-lock type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) can quickly limit the fault current shortly after the short circuit occurs and recover the superconducting state after the fault removes. However, the superconducting element comprising the flux-lock type SFCL can be destructed when the high fault current passes through the SFCL. Therefore, the countermeasure to control the fault current and protect the superconducting element is required. In this paper, the flux-lock type SFCL with an isolated transformer, which consists of two parallel connected coils on an iron core and the isolated transformer connected in series with one of two coils, was proposed and the short-circuit experimental device to analyze the fault current limiting and the recovery characteristics of the flux-lock type SFCL with the isolated transformer were constructed. Through the short-circuit tests, the flux-lock type SFCL with the isolated transformer was confirmed to perform more effective fault current limiting and recovery operation compared to the flux-lock type SFCL without the isolated transformer from the viewpoint of the quench occurrence and the recovery time of the SFCL

  7. LHC MD 1087: Controlled Longitudinal Emittance Blow-up with Short Bunches

    CERN Document Server

    Timko, Helga; Esteban Muller, Juan; Jaussi, Michael; Lasheen, Alexandre; Shaposhnikova, Elena; CERN. Geneva. ATS Department

    2017-01-01

    The aim of the MD was to study the controlled longitudinal emittance blow-up applied during the ramp with bunches that are slightly shorter than operational. Earlier MDs in 2015 have shown that with a short target bunch length, the blow-up is less controlled and a bifurcation of bunch lengths occurs. The presented measurements show that the bifurcation is independent of the presence of the bunch length feedback, pointing towards an intensity-dependent phenomenon, originating from a synchrotron frequency shift with intensity. Accurate measurements of synchrotron frequency shift with intensity are presented as well. The measurements took place between 22nd August 2016, 19:00 and 23rd August 2016, 04:00.

  8. Design of short Italian sentences to assess near vision performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calossi, Antonio; Boccardo, Laura; Fossetti, Alessandro; Radner, Wolfgang

    2014-01-01

    To develop and validate 28 short Italian sentences for the construction of the Italian version of the Radner Reading Chart to simultaneously measure near visual acuity and reading speed. 41 sentences were constructed in Italian language, following the procedure defined by Radner, to obtain "sentence optotypes" with comparable structure and with the same lexical and grammatical difficulty. Sentences were statistically selected and used in 211 normal, non-presbyopic, native Italian-speaking persons. The most equally matched sentences in terms of reading speed and number of reading errors were selected. To assess the validity of the reading speed results obtained with the 28 selected short sentences, we compared the reading speed and reading errors with the average obtained by reading two long 4th-grade paragraphs (97 and 90 words) under the same conditions. The overall mean reading speed of the tested persons was 189±26wpm. The 28 sentences more similar in terms of reading times were selected, achieving a coefficient of variation (the relative SD) of 2.2%. The reliability analyses yielded an overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.98. The correlation between the short sentences and the long paragraph was high (r=0.85, P<0.0001). The 28 short single Italian sentences optotypes were highly comparable in syntactical structure, number, position, and length of words, lexical difficulty, and reading length. The resulting Italian Radner Reading Chart is precise (high consistency) and practical (short sentences) and therefore useful for research and clinical practice to simultaneously measure near reading acuity and reading speed. Copyright © 2013 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  9. Interpreting potential markers of storage and rehearsal: Implications for studies of verbal short-term memory and neuropsychological cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaoli; Logie, Robert H; Jarrold, Christopher

    2016-08-01

    Neuropsychological studies of verbal short-term memory have often focused on two signature effects - phonological similarity and word length - the absence of which has been taken to indicate problems in phonological storage and rehearsal respectively. In the present study we present a possible alternative reading of such data, namely that the absence of these effects can follow as a consequence of an individual's poor level of recall. Data from a large normative sample of 251 adult participants were re-analyzed under the assumption that the size of phonological similarity and word length effects are proportional to an individual's overall level of recall. For both manipulations, when proportionalized effects were plotted against memory span, the same function fit the data in both auditory and visual presentation conditions. Furthermore, two additional sets of single-case data were broadly comparable to those that would be expected for an individual's level of verbal short-term memory performance albeit with some variation across tasks. These findings indicate that the absolute magnitude of phonological similarity and word length effects depends on overall levels of recall, and that these effects are necessarily eliminated at low levels of verbal short-term memory performance. This has implications for how one interprets any variation in the size of these effects, and raises serious questions about the causal direction of any relationship between impaired verbal short-term memory and the absence of phonological similarity or word length effects.

  10. Study of injection moulded long glass fibre-reinforced polypropylene and the effect on the fibre length and orientation distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parveeen, B.; Caton-Rose, P.; Costa, F.; Jin, X.; Hine, P.

    2014-05-01

    Long glass fibre (LGF) composites are extensively used in manufacturing to produce components with enhanced mechanical properties. Long fibres with length 12 to 25mm are added to a thermoplastic matrix. However severe fibre breakage can occur in the injection moulding process resulting in shorter fibre length distribution (FLD). The majority of this breakage occurs due to the melt experiencing extreme shear stress during the preparation and injection stage. Care should be taken to ensure that the longer fibres make it through the injection moulding process without their length being significantly degraded. This study is based on commercial 12 mm long glass-fibre reinforced polypropylene (PP) and short glass fibre Nylon. Due to the semi-flexiable behaviour of long glass fibres, the fibre orientation distribution (FOD) will differ from the orientation distribution of short glass fibre in an injection molded part. In order to investigate the effect the change in fibre length has on the fibre orientation distribution or vice versa, FOD data was measured using the 2D section image analyser. The overall purpose of the research is to show how the orientation distribution chnages in an injection moulded centre gated disc and end gated plaque geometry and to compare this data against fibre orientation predictions obtained from Autodesk Moldflow Simulation Insight.

  11. Optical design for increased interaction length in a high gradient dielectric laser accelerator

    OpenAIRE

    Cesar, D.; Maxson, J.; Musumeci, P.; Shen, X.; England, R. J.; Wootton, K. P.

    2018-01-01

    We present a methodology for designing and measuring pulse front tilt in an ultrafast laser for use in dielectric laser acceleration. Previous research into dielectric laser accelerating modules has focused on measuring high accelerating gradients in novel structures, but has done so only for short electron-laser coupling lengths. Here we demonstrate an optical design to extend the laser-electron interaction to 1mm.

  12. Isolation and molecular characterization of a urease-negative Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae mutant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Hiroya; Takahashi, Sayaka; Asai, Tetsuo; Tamura, Yutaka; Yamamoto, Koshi

    2018-01-01

    An atypical urease-negative mutant of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serovar 2 was isolated in Japan. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the urease gene cluster revealed that the insertion of a short DNA sequence into the cbiM gene was responsible for the urease-negative activity of the mutant. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories should be watchful for the presence of aberrant urease-negative A. pleuropneumoniae isolates.

  13. The effect of word length and other sublexical, lexical, and semantic variables on developmental reading deficits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Luca, Maria; Barca, Laura; Burani, Cristina; Zoccolotti, Pierluigi

    2008-12-01

    To examine the effect of word length and several sublexical, and lexico-semantic variables on the reading of Italian children with a developmental reading deficit. Previous studies indicated the role of word length in transparent orthographies. However, several factors that may interact with word length were not controlled for. Seventeen impaired and 34 skilled sixth-grade readers were presented words of different lengths, matched for initial phoneme, bigram frequency, word frequency, age of acquisition, and imageability. Participants were asked to read aloud, as quickly and as accurately as possible. Reaction times at the onset of pronunciation and mispronunciations were recorded. Impaired readers' reaction times indicated a marked effect of word length; in skilled readers, there was no length effect for short words but, rather, a monotonic increase from 6-letter words on. Regression analyses confirmed the role of word length and indicated the influence of word frequency (similar in impaired and skilled readers). No other variables predicted reading latencies. Word length differentially influenced word recognition in impaired versus skilled readers, irrespective of the action of (potentially interfering) sublexical, lexical, and semantic variables. It is proposed that the locus of the length effect is at a perceptual level of analysis. The independent influence of word frequency on the reading performance of both groups of participants indicates the sparing of lexical activation in impaired readers.

  14. Eye movements and word skipping during reading: Effects of word length and predictability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rayner, Keith; Slattery, Timothy J.; Drieghe, Denis; Liversedge, Simon P.

    2012-01-01

    The extent to which target words were predictable from prior context was varied: half of the target words were predictable and the other half were unpredictable. In addition, the length of the target word varied: the target words were short (4–6 letters), medium (7–9 letters), or long (10–12 letters). Length and predictability both yielded strong effects on the probability of skipping the target words and on the amount of time readers fixated the target words (when they were not skipped). However, there was no interaction in any of the measures examined for either skipping or fixation time. The results demonstrate that word predictability (due to contextual constraint) and word length have strong and independent influences on word skipping and fixation durations. Furthermore, since the long words extended beyond the word identification span, the data indicate that skipping can occur on the basis of partial information in relation to word identity. PMID:21463086

  15. Isolated vertigo and possibility of brain ischemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosarrezai, Arash; Toghae, Mansoureh; Majed, Masoud; Aloosh, Mehdi

    2012-08-01

    In cases of isolated vertigo, physicians are unable to definitely distinguish between central or peripheral vertigo by history and physical examination. Some central causes of isolated vertigo such as cerebellar stroke can be life-threatening and require intervention. Brain infarction can be detected shortly after the onset of clinical symptoms by using diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI). We have conducted this study to perform DWI on isolated vertigo patients with a higher probability of brain infarction. We enrolled 55 consecutive patients with isolated vertigo who had at least one cardiovascular risk factor. A questionnaire that consisted of cardiovascular risk factors was completed and DWI performed for each patient. We analyzed the association of cardiovascular risk factors with infarction as identified by DWI. Using DWI, 5 (9.1%) patients had an acute ischemic stroke. Among cardiovascular risk factors, analysis showed a significant relationship between diabetes mellitus (DM) and infarction. Isolated vertigo may occur due to the occlusion of a small artery in the area of brain circulated by the posterior inferior cerebellar artery. According to our results, DWI may be used in diabetic patients with isolated vertigo to locate a probable infarction.

  16. The efficacy of short (6 mm) dental implants with a novel thread design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bechara, Soheil; Nimčenko, Tatjana; Kubilius, Ričardas

    2017-01-01

    To assess efficacy of short (6 mm) implants with a novel macrostructure and thread design placed in a compromised bone situations of edentulous posterior regions of maxilla (3-4 mm of bone height under sinus floor) as compared to results of clinical situations treated with simultaneous maxillary sinus grafting and placement of long (≥10 mm) implants of the same company. Clinical cases of conducted clinical study. Patients with compromised bone height in edentulous posterior regions of maxilla were randomly divided into two groups. Short (6mm length) implant treatment conducted in the test group and simultaneous sinus lift with standard length implant placement treatment in the control group. In general implant stability quotient (ISQ) and marginal bone level (MBL) changes values in both groups were comparable. However, significant negative correlation was found between implant's diameter and MBL changes. Implant's length has little if none impact on initial implant anchorage, especially in greatly compromised residual bone situations. Results have confirmed that implant initial stability mainly depends on implant's macro-design and further its development on implant's micro-design: namely, implant diameter rather than length, tapered shape and improved thread design determines primarily acquired mechanical anchorage, while bioactive surface treatment ensures development of biological stability.

  17. Generation of an infectious clone of a new Korean isolate of apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV) driven by dual 35S and T7 promoters in a versatile binary vector

    Science.gov (United States)

    The full-length sequence of a new isolate of Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV) from Korea was divergent, but most closely related to the Japanese isolate A4, at 84% nucleotide identity. The full-length cDNA of the Korean isolate of ACLSV was cloned into a binary vector downstream of the bacter...

  18. Leaf storage conditions and genomic DNA isolation efficiency in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SERVER

    2008-03-04

    Mar 4, 2008 ... Full Length Research Paper. Leaf storage ... 2006; Chen and Yang, 2004; Nan et al., 2003; Ipek and. Madison, 2001 ... the same function of pure DNA isolation. These are .... eppendorf tube and then dropped in liquid nitrogen for 2 min. The weighed ..... the solubility of polysaccharides in ethanol, effectively.

  19. The Effects of Cannabis on Inpatient Agitation, Aggression, and Length of Stay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Joseph M; Wu, Chris Y; Winder, Gerald Scott; Casher, Michael I; Marshall, Vincent D; Bostwick, Jolene R

    2016-01-01

    This study examines the association between cannabis use and the hospital course of patients admitted to the psychiatric inpatient unit with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder. Many confounding variables potentially contribute to the clinical presentation of hospitalized patients in the psychiatric unit. Illicit drug use, in particular, has been associated with acute agitation, and questions can be raised as to what lasting effects drug use prior to admission may have throughout a patient's hospital stay. Subjects with a discharge diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or psychosis not otherwise specified (N = 201) were retrospectively identified, and those with positive results of urine drug screen for cannabis on admission were compared to negative counterparts. Agitation and aggression were measured using an adaptation of the Excited Component of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-EC). These markers were also quantified by comparing charted episodes of restraint and seclusion and administration of as needed medications, such as benzodiazepines and antipsychotics. Positive urine drug screen results for cannabis was correlated with young (p = .001) males (p = .003) with bipolar disorder (p = .009) exhibiting active manic symptoms (p = .003) at the time of admission. Cannabis use was further associated with a shorter length of stay (p = .008), agitation triggering adapted PANSS-EC nursing assessments (p = .029), and oral medications as needed (p = .002) for agitation. Cannabis use, as defined by positive urine drug screen results, was more common in patients with bipolar disorder and was accompanied by a higher incidence of inpatient agitation. Although these patients also had short hospital lengths of stay, there was no clear relationship between level of agitation and length of stay across all patient groups. One possible explanation for patients with bipolar disorder

  20. Isolation and characterization of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii from calves and piglets.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla Foditsch

    Full Text Available The goal of our study was to isolate and characterize Faecalibacterium prausnitzii from fecal samples of healthy calves and piglets, in order to develop a novel probiotic for livestock animals. We identified 203 isolates of Faecalibacterium sp., which were clustered in 40 genetically distinct groups. One representative isolate from each cluster was selected for further characterization. The concentrations of the short chain fatty acids (SCFA acetate, butyrate, propionate and isobutyrate in the culture media were measured by gas chromatography. We observed reduction in the concentration of acetate followed by concomitant increase in the concentration of butyrate, suggesting that the isolates were consuming acetate present in the media and producing butyrate. Butyrate production correlated positively with bacterial growth. Since butyrate has many benefits to the colonic epithelial cells, the selection of strains that produce higher amounts of butyrate is extremely important for the development of this potential probiotic. The effect of pH and concentration of bile salts on bacterial growth was also evaluated in order to mimic the conditions encountered by F. prausnitzii in vivo. The optimal pH for growth ranged between 5.5 and 6.7, while most isolates were inhibited by of the lowest concentration of bile salts tested (0.1%. Antimicrobial resistance profile showed that most isolates of Faecalibacterium sp. were resistant against ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. More than 50% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline, amikacin, cefepime and cefoxitin. A total of 19 different combinations of multidrug resistance were observed among the isolates. Our results provide new insights into the cultural and physiological characteristics of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii illustrating large variability in short chain fatty acid production, in vitro growth, sensitivity to bile salts, and antibiotic resistance and suggesting that future

  1. Prototheca zopfii genotypes isolated from cow barns and bovine mastitis in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osumi, Takafumi; Kishimoto, Yuji; Kano, Rui; Maruyama, Haruhiko; Onozaki, Masanobu; Makimura, Koichi; Ito, Takaaki; Matsubara, Kiyoshi; Hasegawa, Atsuhiko

    2008-10-15

    This study is the first investigation on Japanese isolates of Prototheca zopfii from bovine mastitis and the cow-barn surroundings by molecular characterization to clarify routes of infection for bovine protothecal mastitis. We performed isolation of Prototheca from cow-barn surroundings (drinking water, sewage and feces) and milk samples from cases of bovine mastitis. Genotypes of the 32 isolates of P. zopfii from cow-barn surroundings and 67 isolates from mastitis were analyzed by genotype-specific PCR assays and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays. All mastitis isolates were identified as P. zopfii genotype 2. Conversely, 29 isolates from cow-barn surroundings were identified as P. zopfii genotypes 1 and 3 isolates as genotype 2, respectively. Given these results, both genotypes of P. zopfii could exist in cow-barn surroundings, but no sites were identified as frequent sources of P. zopfii genotype 2. P. zopfii isolates should thus be further explored with regard to genotype to clarify the reservoir of etiological agents in bovine Prototheca mastitis.

  2. Study on Short-term Variability of Ship Responses in Waves

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Ulrik Dam; Iseki, Toshio

    2015-01-01

    Short-term variability of ship responses is investigated by cross-spectrum analysis. In a steady state condition, it is well known that a certain length of sampled data is required for stable results of the spectral analysis. However, the phase lag between responses, in terms of the phase angle o...

  3. Study on Short-term Variability of Ship Responses in Waves

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iseki, Toshio; Nielsen, Ulrik Dam

    2014-01-01

    Short-term variability of ship responses is investigated from the view point of cross-spectrum analysis. In a steady state condition, it is well known that a certain length of sampled data are required for stable spectral analysis. However, the phase angle of the cross-spectra has not been discus...

  4. Isolation of Cryptococcus gattii from a Castanopsis argyrophylla tree hollow (Mai-Kaw), Chiang Mai, Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khayhan, Kantarawee; Hagen, Ferry; Norkaew, Treepradab; Puengchan, Tanpalang; Boekhout, Teun; Sriburee, Pojana

    2017-04-01

    The pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus gattii was isolated from a tree hollow of a Castanopsis argyrophylla King ex Hook.f. (Fagaceae) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Molecular characterization with amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis and multi-locus sequence typing showed that this isolate belonged to genotype AFLP4/VGI representing C. gattii sensu stricto. Subsequent comparison of the environmental isolate with those from clinical samples from Thailand showed that they grouped closely together in a single cluster.

  5. Analysis of the bacterial diversity existing on animal hide and wool: development of a preliminary PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprint database for identifying isolates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yu; Gao, Hongwei; Zhang, Yanming; Deng, Mingjun; Wu, Zhenxing; Zhu, Laihua; Duan, Qing; Xu, Biao; Liang, Chengzhu; Yue, Zhiqin; Xiao, Xizhi

    2012-01-01

    Twenty-one bacterial strains were isolated from imported cattle hide and rabbit wool using two types of media, nutrient broth, and nutrient broth with serum. The bacteria identified were Brevibacillus laterosporus, Leclercia adecarboxylata, Peptococcus niger, Bacillus circulans, Raoultella ornithinolytica, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thermobacillus, Bacillus choshinensis, Bacillus sphaericus, Acinetobacter haemolyticus, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Staphylococcus intermedius, Mycobacteria, Moraxella, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Ralstonia pickettii, Staphylococcus chromogenes, Comamonas testosteroni, and Cupriavidus pauculus. The 16s rDNA gene of each bacterium was amplified using the universal primers 27f and 1492r. The amplicons were digested with AvaI, BamHI, BgII, DraI, EcoRI, EcoRV, HindIII, HinfI, HpaI, PstI, SmaI, TaqII, XbaI, XmaI, AluI, XhoI, and PvuI individually. A specific fingerprint from the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method based on 16s rDNA was obtained for each bacterium. The results showed that the method developed was useful not only for bacterial identification but also for the etiological investigation of pathogens in imported animal hair and wool.

  6. Generation of recombinant avian metapneumovirus subgroup C (aMPV-C) viruses containing different length of the G gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genetic variation in length of the G gene among different avian metapneumovirus subgroup C isolates has been reported. However, its biological significance in virus replication, pathogenicity and immunity is unknown. In this study, we developed a reverse genetics system for avian metapneumovirus C a...

  7. From brief gaps to very long pauses: temporal isolation does not benefit serial recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nimmo, Lisa M; Lewandowsky, Stephan

    2005-12-01

    Theoretical explanations of short-term memory for serial order can be classified on the basis of whether or not they invoke time as a causal variable. According to time-based accounts, such as temporal distinctiveness theories, there is an intimate link between time and memory. Event-based theories, by contrast, postulate processes such as interference or rehearsal to account for seemingly temporal phenomena in short-term memory. We report an experiment that examined whether extended temporal isolation benefits serial recall performance. Regardless of whether the participants were quiet or performed articulatory suppression during list presentation, temporal isolation did not benefit memory even if items were separated from their neighbors by up to 7 sec. These findings challenge time-based theories of short-term memory.

  8. PSPICE simulation of bipolar pulse converter based on short-circuited coaxial transmission line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shi Lei; Fan Yajun

    2010-01-01

    The operating principle of the bipolar pulse converter based on short-circuited coaxial transmission line type is given. The output bipolar pulses are simulated by using PSPICE program on condition of different electric length and different impedance of the short-circuited coaxial transmission line. The bipolar pulses are generated by using unipolar pulse with pulse width of 2 ns in experiment, the experimental result fit well with the simulation result. (authors)

  9. Short-term isolation increases social interactions of male rats: A parametric analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Niesink, R.J.M.; Ree, J.M. van

    1982-01-01

    Frequencies of social interactions were higher in pairs of short-term individually housed male Wistar rats as compared to group-housed animals. This was most pronounced when an individually housed rat and a group-housed conspecific were tested together in the morning under red light conditions.

  10. Q-FISH measurement of hepatocyte telomere lengths in donor liver and graft after pediatric living-donor liver transplantation: donor age affects telomere length sustainability.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Youichi Kawano

    Full Text Available Along with the increasing need for living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT, the issue of organ shortage has become a serious problem. Therefore, the use of organs from elderly donors has been increasing. While the short-term results of LDLT have greatly improved, problems affecting the long-term outcome of transplant patients remain unsolved. Furthermore, since contradictory data have been reported with regard to the relationship between donor age and LT/LDLT outcome, the question of whether the use of elderly donors influences the long-term outcome of a graft after LT/LDLT remains unsettled. To address whether hepatocyte telomere length reflects the outcome of LDLT, we analyzed the telomere lengths of hepatocytes in informative biopsy samples from 12 paired donors and recipients (grafts of pediatric LDLT more than 5 years after adult-to-child LDLT because of primary biliary atresia, using quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH. The telomere lengths in the paired samples showed a robust relationship between the donor and grafted hepatocytes (r = 0.765, p = 0.0038, demonstrating the feasibility of our Q-FISH method for cell-specific evaluation. While 8 pairs showed no significant difference between the telomere lengths for the donor and the recipient, the other 4 pairs showed significantly shorter telomeres in the recipient than in the donor. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the donors in the latter group were older than those in the former (p = 0.001. Despite the small number of subjects, this pilot study indicates that donor age is a crucial factor affecting telomere length sustainability in hepatocytes after pediatric LDLT, and that the telomeres in grafted livers may be elongated somewhat longer when the grafts are immunologically well controlled.

  11. Expression of full-length and splice forms of FoxP3 in rheumatoid arthritis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ryder, L R; Woetmann, A; Madsen, H O

    2010-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to compare the presence of full-length and alternative splice forms of FoxP3 mRNA in CD4 cells from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy controls. METHODS: A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) method was used to measure...... the amount of FoxP3 mRNA full-length and splice forms. CD4-positive T cells were isolated from peripheral blood from 50 RA patients by immunomagnetic separation, and the FoxP3 mRNA expression was compared with the results from 10 healthy controls. RESULTS: We observed an increased expression of full......-length FoxP3 mRNA in RA patients when compared to healthy controls, as well as an increase in CD25 mRNA expression, but no corresponding increase in CTLA-4 mRNA expression. The presence of an alternative splice form of FoxP3 lacking exon 2 was confirmed in both RA patients and healthy controls...

  12. The relationship between telomere length and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jee Lee

    Full Text Available Some have suggested that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD is a disease of accelerated aging. Aging is characterized by shortening of telomeres. The relationship of telomere length to important clinical outcomes such as mortality, disease progression and cancer in COPD is unknown. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR, we measured telomere length of peripheral leukocytes in 4,271 subjects with mild to moderate COPD who participated in the Lung Health Study (LHS. The subjects were followed for approximately 7.5 years during which time their vital status, FEV(1 and smoking status were ascertained. Using multiple regression methods, we determined the relationship of telomere length to cancer and total mortality in these subjects. We also measured telomere length in healthy "mid-life" volunteers and patients with more severe COPD. The LHS subjects had significantly shorter telomeres than those of healthy "mid-life" volunteers (p<.001. Compared to individuals in the 4(th quartile of relative telomere length (i.e. longest telomere group, the remaining participants had significantly higher risk of cancer mortality (Hazard ratio, HR, 1.48; p = 0.0324 and total mortality (HR, 1.29; p = 0.0425. Smoking status did not make a significant difference in peripheral blood cells telomere length. In conclusion, COPD patients have short leukocyte telomeres, which are in turn associated increased risk of total and cancer mortality. Accelerated aging is of particular relevance to cancer mortality in COPD.

  13. Adsorption of short-chain fluids at solid substrates from density functional theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bryk, P.; Bucior, K.; Sokolowski, S.; Zukocinski, G.

    2005-01-01

    We use microscopic density functional theory to investigate the adsorption of short-chains at solid surfaces. The fluid is modeled as freely-jointed tangent spheres that interact via a short-ranged attractive potential. Within the framework of fundamental measure theory we study how the structure and surface phase behaviour of adsorbed fluid changes when the chain length is increased. We observe that the wetting temperature rescaled by the bulk critical temperature decreases with an increase of the chain length. For longer chains this temperature reaches a plateau. For the surface critical temperature an inverse effect is observed, i.e. the surface critical temperature increases with the chain length and then attains a plateau. Furthermore, we analyze how the layering transitions change with the change of the chain length and with relative strength of the fluid-solid interaction. The critical temperature of the first layering transition, rescaled by the bulk critical temperature increases slightly with an increase of the chain length. We have found that for longer chains the layering transitions within consecutive layers are shifted towards very low temperatures and that their sequence is finally replaced by a single transition. Finally we investigate capillary condensation of chain fluid in slit-like pores. We find that for a fluid of chains consisting of a larger number of segments we observe an inversion effect. Namely, the critical temperature of capillary condensation decreases with increasing pore width for a certain interval of values of the pore width. This anomalous behavior is also influenced by the interaction between molecules and pore walls. (author)

  14. The effect of self-reported habitual sleep quality and sleep length on autobiographical memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murre, Jaap M J; Kristo, Gert; Janssen, Steve M J

    2014-01-01

    A large number of studies have recently shown effects of sleep on memory consolidation. In this study the effects of the sleep quality and sleep length on the retention of autobiographical memories are examined, using an Internet-based diary technique (Kristo, Janssen, & Murre, 2009). Each of over 600 participants recorded one recent personal event and was contacted after a retention interval that ranged from 2 to 46 days. Recall of the content, time, and details of the event were scored and related to sleep quality and sleep length as measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that poor sleep quality, but not short sleep length, was associated with significantly lower recall at the longer retention periods (30-46 days), but not at the shorter ones (2-15 days), although the difference in recall between good and poor sleepers was small.

  15. Epidemiology and Drug Susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains isolated from Patients admitted to Zabol hospitals: Short Communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Forough Heydari

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important causative agents of nosocomial infections that threatens many lives .. Regarding the innate and adaptive ability of the bacteria species to become resistant to many antimicrobial agents, recognition of different antibiotic resistance patterns is extremely significant in assessing the validity of the monitoring programs. Also, the pattern of genetic isolates is essential in the management of infections caused by these bacteria. The purpose of this study was to determine genetic diversity and patterns of antimicrobial resistance of P. aeruginosa isolates using RAPD-PCR. Materials and Methods: The present study aimed at assessing the genetic diversity and antibiotic resistant pattern of P. aeruginosa isolates in the educational Zabol hospitals. Thus, antibiotic susceptibility of 100 isolates was determined applying Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Results: RAPD-PCR data revealed  a high level of polymorphism among the isolates of P. aeruginosa in Sistan. But, no association was observed between antibiotic susceptibility and genetic diversity pattern. Conclusion: In the present study, we RAPD-PCR technique was found to be a useful means for the investigation of the genetic variation and epidemiological study among P. aeruginosa isolates collected from Sistan region.

  16. Equid herpesvirus 9 (EHV-9) isolates from zebras in Ontario, Canada, 1989 to 2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rebelo, Ana Rita; Carman, Susy; Shapiro, Jan; van Dreumel, Tony; Hazlett, Murray; Nagy, Éva

    2015-04-01

    The objective of this study was to identify and partially characterize 3 equid herpesviruses that were isolated postmortem from zebras in Ontario, Canada in 1989, 2002, and 2007. These 3 virus isolates were characterized by plaque morphology, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of their genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, and sequence analyses of the full length of the glycoprotein G (gG) gene (ORF70) and a portion of the DNA polymerase gene (ORF30). The isolates were also compared to 3 reference strains of equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1). Using rabbit kidney cells, the plaques for the isolates from the zebras were found to be much larger in size than the EHV-1 reference strains. The RFLP patterns of the zebra viruses differed among each other and from those of the EHV-1 reference strains. Real-time PCR and sequence analysis of a portion of the DNA polymerase gene determined that the herpesvirus isolates from the zebras contained a G at nucleotide 2254 and a corresponding N at amino acid position 752, which suggested that they could be neuropathogenic EHV-1 strains. However, subsequent phylogenetic analysis of the gG gene suggested that they were EHV-9 and not EHV-1.

  17. Length-weight and length-length relationships of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in the middle and southern Iraq provinces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-jebory, Taymaa A.; Das, Simon K.; Usup, Gires; Bakar, Y.; Al-saadi, Ali H.

    2018-04-01

    In this study, length-weight and length-length relationships of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in the middle and southern Iraq provinces were determined. Fish specimens were procured from seven provinces from July to December, 2015. A negative and positive allometric growth pattern was obtained, where the total length (TL) ranged from 25.60 cm to 33.53 cm, and body weight (BW) ranged from 700 g to 1423 g. Meanwhile, the lowest of 1.03 and highest of 3.54 in "b" value was recorded in group F and group C, respectively. Therefore, Fulton condition factor (K) range from 2.57 to 4.94. While, relative condition factor (Kn) was in the ranged of 0.95 to 1.01. A linear relationship between total length (TL) and standard length (SL) among the provinces for fish groups was obtained. The variances in "b" value ranged from 0.10 to 0.93 with correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.02 to 0.97. This research could be used as a guide to study the ecology and biology of common Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in the middle and southern Iraq provinces.

  18. Diversity of thermophilic archaeal isolates from hot springs in Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itoh, Takashi; Yoshikawa, Naoto; Takashina, Tomonori

    2005-09-01

    In the light of the significance of extremophiles as model organisms to access possible extraterrestiral life, we provide a short review of the systematics of thermophilic Archaea, and introduce our exploratory research of novel thermophilic Archaea from hot springs in Japan. Up to date, we have isolated 162 strains of the thermophilic Archaea from hot springs in Japan by the enrichment method or the most probable number/PCR method, and the 16S rRNA gene sequences were determined to reveal their phylogenetic diversity. The sequence comparison illustrated that the isolates belonged to the orders Sulfolobales (117 isolates) , Thermoproteales (29 isolates), Desulfurococcales (8 isolates) and Thermoplasmatales (8 isolates), and there were six separate lineages representing new genera, and at least seven new species as predicted by the phylogenetic distance to known species. The collection of isolates not only included novel taxa but would give some implication for a necessity to reevaluate the current taxonomy of the thermophilic Archaea.

  19. Quantifying Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffin Congener Groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Bo; Bogdal, Christian; Berger, Urs; MacLeod, Matthew; Gebbink, Wouter A; Alsberg, Tomas; de Wit, Cynthia A

    2017-09-19

    Accurate quantification of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) poses an exceptional challenge to analytical chemists. SCCPs are complex mixtures of chlorinated alkanes with variable chain length and chlorination level; congeners with a fixed chain length (n) and number of chlorines (m) are referred to as a "congener group" C n Cl m . Recently, we resolved individual C n Cl m by mathematically deconvolving soft ionization high-resolution mass spectra of SCCP mixtures. Here we extend the method to quantifying C n Cl m by introducing C n Cl m specific response factors (RFs) that are calculated from 17 SCCP chain-length standards with a single carbon chain length and variable chlorination level. The signal pattern of each standard is measured on APCI-QTOF-MS. RFs of each C n Cl m are obtained by pairwise optimization of the normal distribution's fit to the signal patterns of the 17 chain-length standards. The method was verified by quantifying SCCP technical mixtures and spiked environmental samples with accuracies of 82-123% and 76-109%, respectively. The absolute differences between calculated and manufacturer-reported chlorination degrees were -0.9 to 1.0%Cl for SCCP mixtures of 49-71%Cl. The quantification method has been replicated with ECNI magnetic sector MS and ECNI-Q-Orbitrap-MS. C n Cl m concentrations determined with the three instruments were highly correlated (R 2 > 0.90) with each other.

  20. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant transuranic wastes experimental characterization program: executive summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Molecke, M.A.

    1978-11-01

    A general overview of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant transuranic wastes experimental characterization program is presented. Objectives and outstanding concerns of this program are discussed. Characteristics of transuranic wastes are also described. Concerns for the terminal isolation of such wastes in a deep bedded salt facility are divided into two phases, those during the short-term operational phase of the facility, and those potentially occurring in the long-term, after decommissioning of the repository. An inclusive summary covering individual studies, their importance to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, investigators, general milestones, and comments are presented

  1. Aggregation properties of a short peptide that mediates amyloid fibril ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Short peptides have been identified from amyloidogenic proteins that form amyloid fibrils in isolation. The ... proteins. These peptide fibrils have the conformational features of β-structure that .... water and immediately deposited on freshly cleaved surface of mica .... with the peptide via electrostatic interactions. NaCl would.

  2. Etiology and pathogenicity of two different isolates of Colletotrichum spp. obtained from physic nut seeds

    OpenAIRE

    Santos,Gil Rodrigues dos; Tozze Júnior,Hugo José; Sá,Danila Alves Corrêa de; Furtado,Gleiber Quintão; Massola Júnior,Nelson Sidnei

    2013-01-01

    The species known as physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) has become important as one of main sources of feedstock for biodiesel production. The aims of this study were characterizing two different isolates of Colletotrichum spp. obtained from seeds of this species, through morphological, cultural, and molecular analyses; as well as assessing pathogenicity of both isolates on leaves and fruit of this plant species. For morphological analysis, length and width of 30 spores of each isolate, produced...

  3. Production of carbonaceous materials with various lengths in small spheroidal fullerenes and long CNTs by tunable multi-walled carbon nanotube cutting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Seung Hoi; Shin, Ueon Sang [Dankook University, Cheonan (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    Tunable cutting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using high pressure homogenizer and/or HNO{sub 3}/H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} solution was accomplished, resulting in the production of short CNTs with minimum length of 35 nm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Zeta sizer analysis showed significant reduction of CNT length from this tunable cutting (e.g. from long and entangled pristine CNTs at about 20 μm to ≥1000 nm, ⁓400 nm, ⁓200 nm, and ⁓100 nm via high pressure jet-spraying cutting within 5 h, while chemical cutting process using greatly longer hours (48 h) showed a reduction only to about 1000 nm). When CNT sample of average 1000 nm length previously shortened by HNO{sub 3}/H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} was subjected to the high pressure jet-spraying cutting process, the reduction progressed faster (≤1 h), producing ≥35 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectra and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated restricted formation of hydrophilic functional groups such as carboxylic group and hydroxyl group in the high pressure jet-spraying cutting, whereas an intensive formation of hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of shortened CNT samples was found after chemical cutting. Such short CNT samples would fulfill the requirements for carbonaceous materials with various lengths in small spheroidal fullerenes and long CNTs. The short CNTs produced are promising for scientific and technological applications in many fields such as electronics, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, and environmental or energy industries.

  4. Association of Leukocyte Telomere Length with Fatigue in Nondisabled Older Adults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bendix, Laila; Thinggaard, Mikael; Kimura, Masayuki

    2014-01-01

    Introduction. Fatigue is often present in older adults with no identified underlying cause. The accruing burden of oxidative stress and inflammation might be underlying factors of fatigue. We therefore hypothesized that leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is relatively short in older adults who...... experience fatigue. Materials and Methods. We assessed 439 older nondisabled Danish twins. LTL was measured using Southern blots of terminal restriction fragments. Fatigue was measured by the Mob-T Scale based on questions on whether the respondents felt fatigued after performing six mobility items. Results...

  5. Certificateless short sequential and broadcast multisignature schemes using elliptic curve bilinear pairings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SK Hafizul Islam

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Several certificateless short signature and multisignature schemes based on traditional public key infrastructure (PKI or identity-based cryptosystem (IBC have been proposed in the literature; however, no certificateless short sequential (or serial multisignature (CL-SSMS or short broadcast (or parallel multisignature (CL-SBMS schemes have been proposed. In this paper, we propose two such new CL-SSMS and CL-SBMS schemes based on elliptic curve bilinear pairing. Like any certificateless public key cryptosystem (CL-PKC, the proposed schemes are free from the public key certificate management burden and the private key escrow problem as found in PKI- and IBC-based cryptosystems, respectively. In addition, the requirements of the expected security level and the fixed length signature with constant verification time have been achieved in our schemes. The schemes are communication efficient as the length of the multisignature is equivalent to a single elliptic curve point and thus become the shortest possible multisignature scheme. The proposed schemes are then suitable for communication systems having resource constrained devices such as PDAs, mobile phones, RFID chips, and sensors where the communication bandwidth, battery life, computing power and storage space are limited.

  6. Length quantization of DNA partially expelled from heads of a bacteriophage T3 mutant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Serwer, Philip, E-mail: serwer@uthscsa.edu [Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Health Science Center, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900 (United States); Wright, Elena T. [Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Health Science Center, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900 (United States); Liu, Zheng; Jiang, Wen [Markey Center for Structural Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)

    2014-05-15

    DNA packaging of phages phi29, T3 and T7 sometimes produces incompletely packaged DNA with quantized lengths, based on gel electrophoretic band formation. We discover here a packaging ATPase-free, in vitro model for packaged DNA length quantization. We use directed evolution to isolate a five-site T3 point mutant that hyper-produces tail-free capsids with mature DNA (heads). Three tail gene mutations, but no head gene mutations, are present. A variable-length DNA segment leaks from some mutant heads, based on DNase I-protection assay and electron microscopy. The protected DNA segment has quantized lengths, based on restriction endonuclease analysis: six sharp bands of DNA missing 3.7–12.3% of the last end packaged. Native gel electrophoresis confirms quantized DNA expulsion and, after removal of external DNA, provides evidence that capsid radius is the quantization-ruler. Capsid-based DNA length quantization possibly evolved via selection for stalling that provides time for feedback control during DNA packaging and injection. - Graphical abstract: Highlights: • We implement directed evolution- and DNA-sequencing-based phage assembly genetics. • We purify stable, mutant phage heads with a partially leaked mature DNA molecule. • Native gels and DNase-protection show leaked DNA segments to have quantized lengths. • Native gels after DNase I-removal of leaked DNA reveal the capsids to vary in radius. • Thus, we hypothesize leaked DNA quantization via variably quantized capsid radius.

  7. Potential of bisbenzimidazole-analogs toward metronidazole-resistant Trichomonas vaginalis isolates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korosh, Travis; Bujans, Emmanuel; Morada, Mary; Karaalioglu, Canan; Vanden Eynde, Jean Jacques; Mayence, Annie; Huang, Tien L; Yarlett, Nigel

    2017-10-01

    A bisoxyphenylene-bisbenzimidazole series with increasing aliphatic chain length (CH 2 to C 10 H 20 ) containing a meta- (m) or para (p)-benzimidazole linkage to the phenylene ring was tested for ability to inhibit the growth of metronidazole-susceptible (C1) and metronidazole-refractory (085) Trichomonas vaginalis isolates under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Compound 3m, 2,2'-[α,ω-propanediylbis(oxy-1,3-phenylene)]bis-1H-benzimidazole, displayed a 5.5-fold lower minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) toward T. vaginalis isolate 085 than metronidazole under aerobic growth conditions, (26 μm compared to 145 μm). A dose of 25 mg/kg per day for four days of compound 3m cured a subcutaneous mouse model infection using T. vaginalis isolates 286 (metronidazole susceptible) and 085 (metronidazole refractory). Compound 3m was weakly reduced by pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase, but unlike metronidazole was not dependent upon added ferredoxin. It is concluded from structure-activity relationships that there was no obvious trend based on the length of the central aliphatic chain, or the steric position of the bisbenzimidazole enabling prediction of biological activity. The compounds generally fulfill Lipinski's rile of five, indicating their potential as drug leads. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  8. Genotyping of Campylobacter jejuni from broiler carcasses and slaughterhouse environment by amplified fragment length polymorphism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnsen, G; Kruse, H; Hofshagen, M

    2006-12-01

    We examined the occurrence and diversity of Campylobacter jejuni on broiler carcasses during slaughter of an infected flock and in the slaughterhouse environment during slaughter and postdisinfection before a new production run. During the slaughter of a known C. jejuni infected broiler flock, samples were taken from broiler carcasses at 7 different stages during the process. Thirty-seven sites in the slaughterhouse environment were sampled both during process and postdisinfection. The samples were analyzed for C. jejuni, and genetic fingerprinting was performed using amplified fragment length polymorphism. All carcass samples were positive. Of the environmental samples collected during slaughter, 89% were positive; 100% of those from the arrival, stunning, scalding, defeathering, and evisceration facilities and 67% of those from the cooling and sorting facilities. Postdisinfection, 41% of the samples were positive; 71% of those from the arrival and stunning area, 60% of those from the scalding and defeathering area, and 20% of those from the evisceration, cooling, and sorting area. The C. jejuni isolates (n = 60) recovered were grouped into 4 different amplified fragment length polymorphism clones with a similarity index of 95% or greater. All isolates obtained from the flock and 94% of the isolates obtained from the environment during slaughtering belonged to clone A, whereas 1 environmental isolate belonged to each of the clones B and C. Isolates from clones A, B, and D were present postdisinfection. Only clone B was detected on flocks slaughtered during the previous week. The high level and continuous presence of Campylobacter in the environment constitutes a risk for transmission to negative carcasses. In Norway, where above 96% of the broiler flocks are Campylobacter-negative, this aspect is of special importance. The ability of Campylobacter to remain in the slaughterhouse environment through washing and disinfection is associated with constructional

  9. Full-length genome sequence analysis of four subgroup J avian leukosis virus strains isolated from chickens with clinical hemangioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Lulu; Wang, Peikun; Yang, Yongli; Li, Haijuan; Huang, Teng; Wei, Ping

    2017-12-01

    Since 2014, cases of hemangioma associated with avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) have been emerging in commercial chickens in Guangxi. In this study, four strains of the subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV-J), named GX14HG01, GX14HG04, GX14LT07, and GX14ZS14, were isolated from chickens with clinical hemangioma in 2014 by DF-1 cell culture and then identified with ELISA detection of ALV group specific antigen p27, the detection of subtype specific PCR and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with ALV-J specific monoclonal antibody. The complete genomes of the isolates were sequenced and it was found that the gag and pol were relatively conservative, while env was variable especially the gp85 gene. Homology analysis of the env gene sequences showed that the env gene of all the four isolates had higher similarities with the hemangioma (HE)-type reference strains than that of the myeloid leukosis (ML)-type strains, and moreover, the HE-type strains' specific deletion of 205-bp sequence covering the rTM and DR1 in 3'UTR fragment was also found in the four isolates. Further analysis on the sequences of subunits of env gene revealed an interesting finding: the gp85 of isolates GX14ZS14 and GX14HG04 had a higher similarity with HPRS-103 and much lower similarity with the HE-type reference strains resulting in GX14ZS14, GX14HG04, and HPRS-103 being clustered in the same branch, while gp37 had higher similarities with the HE-type reference strains when compared to that of HPRS-103, resulted in GX14ZS14, GX14HG04, and HE-type reference strains being clustered in the same branch. The results suggested that isolates GX14ZS14 and GX14HG04 may be the recombinant strains of the foreign strain HPRS-103 with the local epidemic HE-type strains of ALV-J.

  10. Short Is Beautiful: Dimensionality and Measurement Invariance in Two Length of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mårten Eriksson

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Self-determination theory proposes that all humans have three intrinsic psychological needs: the needs for Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. These needs take different forms in different areas of life. The present study examines the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work (BPNS-W scale. The fit of 10-factor structures previously suggested for related versions of the scale were compared. Cross-sectional data from 1,200 participants were examined in a confirmatory factor analysis framework. Both the original 21-item version and a reduced 12-item version of the BPNS-W were examined. The General Health Questionnaire was used for validation. The results supported a three-factor solution with correlated error variances for the reversed items. Invariance testing of the long and short scales gave best support to the short scale, for which partial scalar invariance was achieved. The external validity of the short scale was supported by a hierarchical regression analysis in which each need made a unique contribution in predicting psychological well-being. In conclusion, the results corroborate a three-factor structure of BPNS-W. Although not perfect the short scale should, it is argued, be preferred over the long version. Directions for the future development of the scale are discussed.

  11. Vapor-liquid equilibrium and critical asymmetry of square well and short square well chain fluids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liyan; Sun, Fangfang; Chen, Zhitong; Wang, Long; Cai, Jun

    2014-08-07

    The critical behavior of square well fluids with variable interaction ranges and of short square well chain fluids have been investigated by grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. The critical temperatures and densities were estimated by a finite-size scaling analysis with the help of histogram reweighting technique. The vapor-liquid coexistence curve in the near-critical region was determined using hyper-parallel tempering Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation results for coexistence diameters show that the contribution of |t|(1-α) to the coexistence diameter dominates the singular behavior in all systems investigated. The contribution of |t|(2β) to the coexistence diameter is larger for the system with a smaller interaction range λ. While for short square well chain fluids, longer the chain length, larger the contribution of |t|(2β). The molecular configuration greatly influences the critical asymmetry: a short soft chain fluid shows weaker critical asymmetry than a stiff chain fluid with same chain length.

  12. Mapping of the human APOB gene to chromosome 2p and demonstration of a two-allele restriction fragment length polymorphism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, L.; Miller, D.A.; Bruns, G.A.P.; Breslow, J.L.

    1986-01-01

    ApoB is a large glycoprotein with an apparent molecular mass of 550 kDa on NaDodSO 4 /PAGE. Recently, apoB cDNA clones have been isolated from an expression library made with mRNA from a human hepatoma cell line. These clones, which were all 1.5-1.6 kilobases (kb) long and corresponded to the 3' end of apoB mRNA, were used to demonstrate that hepatic apoB mRNA is ≅ 22 kb long. In the current report, a probe derived from one of these cDNA clones, pB8, was used for in situ hybridization experiments to map the human gene for apoB, APOB, to the distal half of the short arm of chromosome 2. This probe was also used to analyze somatic cell hybrids and, in agreement with the in situ hybridization studies, concordancy was demonstrated with chromosome 2. In addition, two hybrids with chromosome 2 translocations that contain only the short arm reacted with the pB8 probe. A third hybrid with a complex rearrangement of chromosome 2, which deleted an interstitial region and the tip of the short arm of chromosome 2, did not react. These data indicate that APOB maps to either 2p21-p23 or 2p24-pter. In further studies, DNA from normal individuals, digested with the restriction endonuclease EcoRI and subjected to Southern blot analysis with the pB8 probe, revealed a two-allele restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The mapping studies provide the means for understanding the relationship of the APOB locus to others in the human genome, whereas the demonstration of an APOB RFLP increases their ability to assess the role of this locus in determining plasma lipoprotein levels

  13. Value of 18FDG PET-CT in defining the length of esophageal cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuan Shuanghu; Yu Jinming; Yu Yonghua; Yang Xinhua; Chen Shaoqing; Fu Zheng; Yang Guoren; Guo Hongbo; Wang Xiaohang; Zhou Yingzhi

    2006-01-01

    Objective: To assess the value of 18-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission-CT (FDG PET-CT) in defining the length of primary esophageal cancer. Methods: Thirty-two patients had undergone esophagoscopy, esophagography and FDG PET-CT scans one week before esophagectomy. There was one tumor located in the upper thoracic esophagus, 22 in the middle thoracic esophagus, and 9 in the lower thoracic esophagus. The location and length of primary lesion of the tumor was determined by esophagoscopy, esophagography, and FDG PET-CT. The length of the abnormality seen on the CT portion of the PET-CT scan was determined separately and independently by two radiologists. All results were compared with the resected specimen. Results: According to esophagography, CT and PET-CT, all lesion lengths were compared with that of the resected specimen. It was found that the tumor location determined by esophagoscopy was not in accordance with the resected specimen in 2 patients. The mean length of the primary tumor, being from short to long, were (3.8±1.4),(4.1±1.5),(4.4±1.6),(5.3±1.9) and (4.7±1.7) cm, as determined by esophagoscopy, esophagography, CT, actral length of the resected specimen and PET-CT. Compared with the resected specimen,there was obvious difference (P=0.000, 0.007, 0.025, 0.001). Considering that there might be some kind of shrinkage in the resected specimen (about 83.59%, as reported by Ma et al), we rectified the length of resected specimen and compared with other findings again. It was found that insignificant difference existed between PET-CT and rectified length value of the resected specimen (P=0.082). Conclusions: FDG PET-CT is effective in the length determination of primary esophageal cancer. It may be used to determine the length of esophagus to be resected for patients indicated for esophagectomy. It may also be used to accurately delineate the gross tumor volume for patients eligible for radiotherapy. (authors)

  14. Isolated pharmacomechanical thrombolysis using the Trellis system

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    O’Sullivan, GJ

    2010-01-01

    While anticoagulation remains the current gold standard for treating acute deep vein thrombosis,1 there is a growing body of evidence that rapid thrombus removal results in better short- and long-term outcomes.2–5 This is a practical guide to achieve rapid thrombus removal with isolated pharmacomechanical thrombolysis using the Trellis® peripheral infusion system.\\r\

  15. Transient isolated lesion of the splenium associated with clinically mild influenza encephalitis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ganapathy, Srinivas; Ey, Elizabeth H.; Wolfson, Barbara J.; Khan, Nadir

    2008-01-01

    Transient isolated lesions of the splenium with restricted diffusion are rare in the pediatric population. We report two such cases with influenza-associated encephalitis/encephalopathy (IAEE). These reversible isolated central splenial lesions are not specific for IAEE, but the notable feature associated with this specific presentation is a comparatively milder form of encephalitis that resolves clinically and radiologically within a short time. (orig.)

  16. Telomere Length and Mortality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kimura, Masayuki; Hjelmborg, Jacob V B; Gardner, Jeffrey P

    2008-01-01

    Leukocyte telomere length, representing the mean length of all telomeres in leukocytes, is ostensibly a bioindicator of human aging. The authors hypothesized that shorter telomeres might forecast imminent mortality in elderly people better than leukocyte telomere length. They performed mortality...

  17. Electron Cloud Cyclotron Resonances in the Presence of a Short-bunch-length Relativistic Beam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Celata, Christine; Celata, C.M.; Furman, Miguel A.; Vay, J.-L.; Wu, Jennifer W.

    2008-01-01

    Computer simulations using the 2D code 'POSINST' were used to study the formation of the electron cloud in the wiggler section of the positron damping ring of the International Linear Collider. In order to simulate an x-y slice of the wiggler (i.e., a slice perpendicular to the beam velocity), each simulation assumed a constant vertical magnetic field. At values of the magnetic field where the cyclotron frequency was an integral multiple of the bunch frequency, and where the field strength was less than approximately 0.6 T, equilibrium average electron densities were up to three times the density found at other neighboring field values. Effects of this resonance between the bunch and cyclotron frequency are expected to be non-negligible when the beam bunch length is much less than the product of the electron cyclotron period and the beam

  18. Construction of a flash-photolysis apparatus having a short discharge time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Devillers, C.

    1964-01-01

    Flash photolysis aims at reaching directly the primary mechanisms resulting from the action of light on an absorbent matter. This makes it necessary to produce a flash as short and as bright as possible. Our main effort was directed towards reducing the duration of the flash by decreasing the self-inductance of the discharge circuit. A description of this circuit and study of the characteristics of the apparatus are followed by a short description of the two analytical methods: flash spectrography and absorption spectrophotometry at a given wave-length. (author) [fr

  19. Effects of Surface Dipole Lengths on Evaporation of Tiny Water Aggregation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Shen; Wan Rongzheng; Fang Haiping; Tu Yusong

    2013-01-01

    Using molecular dynamics simulation, we compared evaporation behavior of a tiny amount of water molecules adsorbed on solid surfaces with different dipole lengths, including surface dipole lengths of 1 fold, 2 folds, 4 folds, 6 folds and 8 folds of 0.14 nm and different charges from 0.1e to 0.9e. Surfaces with short dipole lengths (1-fold system) can always maintain hydrophobic character and the evaporation speeds are not influenced, whether the surface charges are enhanced or weakened; but when surface dipole lengths get to 8 folds, surfaces become more hydrophilic as the surface charge increases, and the evaporation speeds increase gradually and monotonically. By tuning dipole lengths from 1-fold to 8-fold systems, we confirmed non-monotonic variation of the evaporation flux (first increases, then decreases) in 4 fold system with charges (0.1e–0.7e), reported in our previous paper [S. Wang, et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 116 (2012) 13863], and also show the process from the enhancement of this unexpected non-monotonic variation to its vanishment with surface dipole lengths increasing. Herein, we demonstrated two key factors to influence the evaporation flux of a tiny amount of water molecules adsorbed on solid surfaces: the exposed surficial area of water aggregation from where the water molecules can evaporate directly and the attraction potential from the substrate hindering the evaporation. In addition, more interestingly, we showed extra steric effect of surface dipoles on further increase of evaporation flux for 2-folds, 4-folds, 6-folds and 8-folds systems with charges around larger than 0.7e. (The steric effect is first reported by parts of our authors [C. Wang, et al., Sci. Rep. 2 (2012) 358]). This study presents a complete physical picture of the influence of surface dipole lengths on the evaporation behavior of the adsorbed tiny amount of water. (condensed matter: structural, mechanical, and thermal properties)

  20. Atypical myxomatosis--virus isolation, experimental infection of rabbits and restriction endonuclease analysis of the isolate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Psikal, I; Smíd, B; Rodák, L; Valícek, L; Bendová, J

    2003-08-01

    Atypical form of myxomatosis, which caused non-lethal and clinically mild disease in domestic rabbits 1 month after immunization with a commercially available vaccine MXT, is described. The isolated myxoma virus designated as Litovel 2 (Li-2) did not induce systemic disease following subcutaneous and intradermal applications in susceptible experimental rabbits but led to the immune response demonstrated by ELISA. No severe disease was induced in those Li-2 inoculated rabbits by challenge with the virulent strains Lausanne (Lu) or Sanar (SA), while the control animals showed nodular form of myxomatosis with lethal course of the illness. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of genomic DNA with KpnI and BamHI endonucleases was used for genetic characterization of the Li-2 isolate, the vaccine strain MXT and both virulent strains Lu and SA, respectively. In general, RFLP analysis has shown to be informative for inferring genetic relatedness between myxoma viruses. Based on restriction endonuclease DNA fragment size distribution, it was evident that the pathogenic strain SA is genetically related to the reference strain Lu and the isolate Li-2 is more related, but not identical, to the vaccination strain MXT.

  1. Synthesis and Electronic Properties of Length-Defined 9,10-Anthrylene-Butadiynylene Oligomers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagaoka, Maiko; Tsurumaki, Eiji; Nishiuchi, Mai; Iwanaga, Tetsuo; Toyota, Shinji

    2018-05-18

    Linear π-conjugated oligomers consisting of anthracene and diacetylene units were readily synthesized by a one-pot process that involved desilylation and oxidative coupling from appropriate building units. We were able to isolate length-defined oligomers ranging from 2-mer to 6-mer as stable and soluble solids. The bathochromic shifts in the UV-vis spectra suggested that the π-conjugation was extended with elongation of the linear chain. Cyclic voltammetric measurements showed characteristic reversible oxidation waves that were dependent on the number of anthracene units.

  2. Assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems: a short description of the AEGIS approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silviera, D.J.; Harwell, M.A.; Napier, B.A.; Zellmer, J.T.; Benson, G.L.

    1980-09-01

    To meet licensing criteria and protection standards for HLW disposal, research programs are in progress to determine acceptable waste forms, canisters, backfill materials for the repository, and geological formations. Methods must be developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the total system. To meet this need, methods are being developed to assess the long-term effectiveness of isolating nuclear wastes in geologic formations. This work was started in 1976 in the Waste Isolation Safety Assessment Program (WISAP) and continues in the Assessment of Effectiveness of Geologic Isolation Systems (AEGIS) Program. The evaluation of this long-term effectiveness involves a number of distinct steps. AEGIS currently has the methods for performing these evaluation steps. These methods are continuously being improved to meet the inreasing level of sophistication which will be required. AEGIS develops a conceptual description of the geologic systems and uses computer models to simulate the existing ground-water pathways. AEGIS also uses a team of consulting experts, with the assistance of a computer model of the geologic processes, to develop and evaluate plausible release scenarios. Then other AEGIS computer models are used to simulate the transport of radionuclides to the surface and the resultant radiation doses to individuals and populations

  3. Effect analysis of geometric parameters of floating raft on isolation performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LI Shangda

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available [Objectives] This paper focuses on the effects of the geometric parameters of a floating raft on isolation performance.[Methods] Based on the idea that the weight of a floating raft remains constant, a parametric finite element model is established using geometric parameters, and the effects of the geometric parameters when isolation performance is measured by vibration level difference are discussed.[Results] The effects of the geometric parameters of a floating raft on isolation performance are mainly reflected in the middle and high frequency areas. The most important geometric parameters which have an impact on isolation performance are the raft's height, length to width ratio and number of ribs. Adjusting the geometric parameters of the raft is one effective way to avoid the vibration frequency of mechanical equipment.[Conclusions] This paper has some practical value for the engineering design of floating raft isolation systems.

  4. Simulation Assisted Analysis of the Intrinsic Stiffness for Short DNA Molecules Imaged with Scanning Atomic Force Microscopy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haowei Wang

    Full Text Available Studying the mechanical properties of short segments of dsDNA can provide insight into various biophysical phenomena, from DNA looping to the organization of nucleosomes. Scanning atomic force microscopy (AFM is able to acquire images of single DNA molecules with near-basepair resolution. From many images, one may use equilibrium statistical mechanics to quantify the intrinsic stiffness (or persistence length of the DNA. However, this approach is highly dependent upon both the correct microscopic polymer model and a correct image analysis of DNA contours. These complications have led to significant debate over the flexibility of dsDNA at short length scales. We first show how to extract accurate measures of DNA contour lengths by calibrating to DNA traces of simulated AFM data. After this calibration, we show that DNA adsorbed on an aminopropyl-mica surface behaves as a worm-like chain (WLC for contour lengths as small as ~20 nm. We also show that a DNA binding protein can modify the mechanics of the DNA from that of a WLC.

  5. On the total number of genes and their length distribution in complete microbial genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skovgaard, M; Jensen, L J; Brunak, S

    2001-01-01

    In sequenced microbial genomes, some of the annotated genes are actually not protein-coding genes, but rather open reading frames that occur by chance. Therefore, the number of annotated genes is higher than the actual number of genes for most of these microbes. Comparison of the length distribut......In sequenced microbial genomes, some of the annotated genes are actually not protein-coding genes, but rather open reading frames that occur by chance. Therefore, the number of annotated genes is higher than the actual number of genes for most of these microbes. Comparison of the length...... distribution of the annotated genes with the length distribution of those matching a known protein reveals that too many short genes are annotated in many genomes. Here we estimate the true number of protein-coding genes for sequenced genomes. Although it is often claimed that Escherichia coli has about 4300...... genes, we show that it probably has only approximately 3800 genes, and that a similar discrepancy exists for almost all published genomes....

  6. An optimized method for mouse liver sinusoidal endothelial cell isolation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meyer, Jeremy, E-mail: jeremy.meyer@hcuge.ch [Division of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211 Genève 14 (Switzerland); Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Lacotte, Stéphanie, E-mail: stephanie.lacotte@unige.ch [Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Morel, Philippe, E-mail: philippe.morel@hcuge.ch [Division of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211 Genève 14 (Switzerland); Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Gonelle-Gispert, Carmen, E-mail: carmen.gonelle@unige.ch [Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Bühler, Léo, E-mail: leo.buhler@hcuge.ch [Division of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211 Genève 14 (Switzerland); Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland)

    2016-12-10

    The objective of the present study was to develop an accurate and reproducible method for liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) isolation in mice. Non-parenchymal cells were isolated using a modified two-step collagenase digestion combined with Optiprep density gradient centrifugation. LSEC were further purified using two prevalent methods, short-term selective adherence and CD146+ magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS), and compared in terms of cell yield, viability and purity to our purification technique using CD11b cell depletion combined with long-term selective adherence. LSEC purification using our technique allowed to obtain 7.07±3.80 million LSEC per liver, while CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence yielded 2.94±1.28 and 0.99±0.66 million LSEC, respectively. Purity of the final cell preparation reached 95.10±2.58% when using our method. In contrast, CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence gave purities of 86.75±3.26% and 47.95±9.82%, respectively. Similarly, contamination by non-LSEC was the lowest when purification was performed using our technique, with a proportion of contaminating macrophages of only 1.87±0.77%. Further, isolated cells analysed by scanning electron microscopy presented typical LSEC fenestrations organized in sieve plates, demonstrating that the technique allowed to isolate bona fide LSEC. In conclusion, we described a reliable and reproducible technique for the isolation of high yields of pure LSEC in mice. This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare LSEC for studying their biological functions. - Highlights: • This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare primary mouse LSEC for studying their biological functions. • The liver cell dispersion step was improved by performing a retrograde cannulation of the liver. • The cell yield and the purity obtained were higher than comparative techniques in mice. • Contaminating macrophages were removed by introducing a CD11b- magnetic

  7. An optimized method for mouse liver sinusoidal endothelial cell isolation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer, Jeremy; Lacotte, Stéphanie; Morel, Philippe; Gonelle-Gispert, Carmen; Bühler, Léo

    2016-01-01

    The objective of the present study was to develop an accurate and reproducible method for liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) isolation in mice. Non-parenchymal cells were isolated using a modified two-step collagenase digestion combined with Optiprep density gradient centrifugation. LSEC were further purified using two prevalent methods, short-term selective adherence and CD146+ magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS), and compared in terms of cell yield, viability and purity to our purification technique using CD11b cell depletion combined with long-term selective adherence. LSEC purification using our technique allowed to obtain 7.07±3.80 million LSEC per liver, while CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence yielded 2.94±1.28 and 0.99±0.66 million LSEC, respectively. Purity of the final cell preparation reached 95.10±2.58% when using our method. In contrast, CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence gave purities of 86.75±3.26% and 47.95±9.82%, respectively. Similarly, contamination by non-LSEC was the lowest when purification was performed using our technique, with a proportion of contaminating macrophages of only 1.87±0.77%. Further, isolated cells analysed by scanning electron microscopy presented typical LSEC fenestrations organized in sieve plates, demonstrating that the technique allowed to isolate bona fide LSEC. In conclusion, we described a reliable and reproducible technique for the isolation of high yields of pure LSEC in mice. This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare LSEC for studying their biological functions. - Highlights: • This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare primary mouse LSEC for studying their biological functions. • The liver cell dispersion step was improved by performing a retrograde cannulation of the liver. • The cell yield and the purity obtained were higher than comparative techniques in mice. • Contaminating macrophages were removed by introducing a CD11b- magnetic

  8. Non-classical polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor with embedded block-oxide for suppressing the short channel effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Jyi-Tsong; Huang, Kuo-Dong; Hu, Shu-Fen

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, a polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) thin-film transistor with a block oxide enclosing body, BTFT, is fabricated and investigated. By utilizing the block-oxide structure of thin-film transistors, the BTFT is shown to suppress the short channel effect. This proposed structure is formed by burying self-aligned oxide spacers along the sidewalls of the source and drain junctions, which reduces the P–N junction area, thereby reducing the junction capacitance and leakage current. Measurements demonstrate that the BTFT eliminates the punch-through effect even down to gate lengths of 1.5 µm, whereas the conventional TFT suffers serious short channel effects at this gate length

  9. Concreteness effects in short-term memory: a test of the item-order hypothesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roche, Jaclynn; Tolan, G Anne; Tehan, Gerald

    2011-12-01

    The following experiments explore word length and concreteness effects in short-term memory within an item-order processing framework. This framework asserts order memory is better for those items that are relatively easy to process at the item level. However, words that are difficult to process benefit at the item level for increased attention/resources being applied. The prediction of the model is that differential item and order processing can be detected in episodic tasks that differ in the degree to which item or order memory are required by the task. The item-order account has been applied to the word length effect such that there is a short word advantage in serial recall but a long word advantage in item recognition. The current experiment considered the possibility that concreteness effects might be explained within the same framework. In two experiments, word length (Experiment 1) and concreteness (Experiment 2) are examined using forward serial recall, backward serial recall, and item recognition. These results for word length replicate previous studies showing the dissociation in item and order tasks. The same was not true for the concreteness effect. In all three tasks concrete words were better remembered than abstract words. The concreteness effect cannot be explained in terms of an item-order trade off. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

  10. Loss factor for short bunches in azimuthally symmetric tapered structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Blednykh

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available We use the program ECHO to study numerically the loss factor of axisymmetric cavities and collimators with and without tapering. We consider a Gaussian driving bunch of length σ, and structures with inner radius b, outer radius d, cavity gap (or collimator inner length g, and taper length L. In all cases we consider a short bunch with σ≪b. For the untapered structures (L=0, in certain regimes, we describe our numerical results using the known expressions for a step transition and for the diffraction model. In addition, we identify new regimes where gb, we present a phenomenological formula which accurately describes the dependence of the loss factor on the parameters σ, b, d, and L. This formula also holds for a tapered cavity with g>d^{2}/σ and d-b>b.

  11. Complete Genome Sequences of Four Isolates of Plutella xylostella Granulovirus

    OpenAIRE

    Spence, Robert J.; Noune, Christopher; Hauxwell, Caroline

    2016-01-01

    Granuloviruses are widespread pathogens of Plutella xylostella L. (diamondback moth) and potential biopesticides for control of this global insect pest. We report the complete genomes of four Plutella xylostella granulovirus isolates from China, Malaysia, and Taiwan exhibiting pairs of noncoding, homologous repeat regions with significant sequence variation but equivalent length.

  12. Using short silicon crystals for beam extraction and collimation at U-70 proton synchrotron

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Afonin, A.G.; Baranov, V.T.; Biryukov, V.M.; Kotov, V.I.; Maisheev, V.A.; Terekhov, V.I.; Troyanov, E.F.; Fedotov, Yu.S.; Chepegin, V.N.; Chesnonkov, Yu.A.

    2002-01-01

    Results of investigations into escape and collimation of proton beams at the IHEP U-70 synchrotron with the application of short flexed silicon monocrystals in length 2 - 4 mm are demonstrated. Good agreement between the measured and calculated efficiency of the flexed crystal is available. Lowering efficiency with the decreasing proton energy is explained by growth of root-mean-square angle of the multiple Coulomb scattering and drop of dechanneling length [ru

  13. Isolation and Pharmacological Characterization of α-Elapitoxin-Ot1a, a Short-Chain Postsynaptic Neurotoxin from the Venom of the Western Desert Taipan, Oxyuranus temporalis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmel M. Barber

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Taipans (Oxyuranus spp. are elapids with highly potent venoms containing presynaptic (β and postsynaptic (α neurotoxins. O. temporalis (Western Desert taipan, a newly discovered member of this genus, has been shown to possess venom which displays marked in vitro neurotoxicity. No components have been isolated from this venom. We describe the characterization of α-elapitoxin-Ot1a (α-EPTX-Ot1a; 6712 Da, a short-chain postsynaptic neurotoxin, which accounts for approximately 30% of O. temporalis venom. α-Elapitoxin-Ot1a (0.1–1 µM produced concentration-dependent inhibition of indirect-twitches, and abolished contractile responses to exogenous acetylcholine and carbachol, in the chick biventer cervicis nerve-muscle preparation. The inhibition of indirect twitches by α-elapitoxin-Ot1a (1 µM was not reversed by washing the tissue. Prior addition of taipan antivenom (10 U/mL delayed the neurotoxic effects of α-elapitoxin-Ot1a (1 µM and markedly attenuated the neurotoxic effects of α-elapitoxin-Ot1a (0.1 µM. α-Elapitoxin-Ot1a displayed pseudo-irreversible antagonism of concentration-response curves to carbachol with a pA2 value of 8.02 ± 0.05. De novo sequencing revealed the main sequence of the short-chain postsynaptic neurotoxin (i.e., α-elapitoxin-Ot1a as well as three other isoforms found in O. temporalis venom. α-Elapitoxin-Ot1a shows high sequence similarity (i.e., >87% with other taipan short-chain postsynaptic neurotoxins.

  14. libgapmis: extending short-read alignments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alachiotis, Nikolaos; Berger, Simon; Flouri, Tomáš; Pissis, Solon P; Stamatakis, Alexandros

    2013-01-01

    A wide variety of short-read alignment programmes have been published recently to tackle the problem of mapping millions of short reads to a reference genome, focusing on different aspects of the procedure such as time and memory efficiency, sensitivity, and accuracy. These tools allow for a small number of mismatches in the alignment; however, their ability to allow for gaps varies greatly, with many performing poorly or not allowing them at all. The seed-and-extend strategy is applied in most short-read alignment programmes. After aligning a substring of the reference sequence against the high-quality prefix of a short read--the seed--an important problem is to find the best possible alignment between a substring of the reference sequence succeeding and the remaining suffix of low quality of the read--extend. The fact that the reads are rather short and that the gap occurrence frequency observed in various studies is rather low suggest that aligning (parts of) those reads with a single gap is in fact desirable. In this article, we present libgapmis, a library for extending pairwise short-read alignments. Apart from the standard CPU version, it includes ultrafast SSE- and GPU-based implementations. libgapmis is based on an algorithm computing a modified version of the traditional dynamic-programming matrix for sequence alignment. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the functions of the CPU version provided in this library accelerate the computations by a factor of 20 compared to other programmes. The analogous SSE- and GPU-based implementations accelerate the computations by a factor of 6 and 11, respectively, compared to the CPU version. The library also provides the user the flexibility to split the read into fragments, based on the observed gap occurrence frequency and the length of the read, thereby allowing for a variable, but bounded, number of gaps in the alignment. We present libgapmis, a library for extending pairwise short-read alignments. We

  15. Remembering over the short-term: the case against the standard model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nairne, James S

    2002-01-01

    Psychologists often assume that short-term storage is synonymous with activation, a mnemonic property that keeps information in an immediately accessible form. Permanent knowledge is activated, as a result of on-line cognitive processing, and an activity trace is established "in" short-term (or working) memory. Activation is assumed to decay spontaneously with the passage of time, so a refreshing process-rehearsal-is needed to maintain availability. Most of the phenomena of immediate retention, such as capacity limitations and word length effects, are assumed to arise from trade-offs between rehearsal and decay. This "standard model" of how we remember over the short-term still enjoys considerable popularity, although recent research questions most of its main assumptions. In this chapter I review the recent research and identify the empirical and conceptual problems that plague traditional conceptions of short-term memory. Increasingly, researchers are recognizing that short-term retention is cue driven, much like long-term memory, and that neither rehearsal nor decay is likely to explain the particulars of short-term forgetting.

  16. Short forms of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fergus, Thomas A; Valentiner, David P; McGrath, Patrick B; Gier-Lonsway, Stephanie L; Kim, Hyun-Soo

    2012-01-01

    Mattick and Clarke's (1998) Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS) are commonly used self-report measures that assess 2 dimensions of social anxiety. Given the need for short, readable measures, this research proposes short forms of both scales. Item-level analyses of readability characteristics of the SIAS and SPS items led to the selection of 6 items from each scale for use in the short forms. The SIAS and SPS short forms had reading levels at approximately the 6th and 5th grade level, respectively. Results using nonclinical (Study 1: N = 469) and clinical (Study 2: N = 145) samples identified these short forms as being factorially sound, possessing adequate internal consistency, and having strong convergence with their full-length counterparts. Moreover, these short forms showed convergence with other measures of social anxiety, showed divergence from measures assessing related constructs, and predicted concurrent interpersonal functioning. Recommendations for the use of these short forms are discussed.

  17. Short communication. Genotyping and phylogenetic analysis of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV isolates in Kosovo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Izedin Goga

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Three serum samples positive in Antigen ELISA BVDV have been tested to characterise genetic diversity of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV in Kosovo. Samples were obtained in 2011 from heifers and were amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, sequenced and analysed by computer-assisted phylogenetic analysis. Amplified products and nucleotide sequence showed that all 3 isolates belonged to BVDV 1 genotype and 1b sub genotype. These results enrich the extant knowledge of BVDV and represent the first documented data about Kosovo BVDV isolates.

  18. Effects of size at birth, childhood growth patterns and growth hormone treatment on leukocyte telomere length.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina C J Smeets

    Full Text Available Small size at birth and rapid growth in early life are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease in later life. Short children born small for gestational age (SGA are treated with growth hormone (GH, inducing catch-up in length. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL is a marker of biological age and shorter LTL is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.To investigate whether LTL is influenced by birth size, childhood growth and long-term GH treatment.We analyzed LTL in 545 young adults with differences in birth size and childhood growth patterns. Previously GH-treated young adults born SGA (SGA-GH were compared to untreated short SGA (SGA-S, SGA with spontaneous catch-up to a normal body size (SGA-CU, and appropriate for gestational age with a normal body size (AGA-NS. LTL was measured using a quantitative PCR assay.We found a positive association between birth length and LTL (p = 0.04, and a trend towards a positive association between birth weight and LTL (p = 0.08, after adjustments for gender, age, gestational age and adult body size. Weight gain during infancy and childhood and fat mass percentage were not associated with LTL. Female gender and gestational age were positively associated with LTL, and smoking negatively. After adjustments for gender, age and gestational age, SGA-GH had a similar LTL as SGA-S (p = 0.11, SGA-CU (p = 0.80, and AGA-NS (p = 0.30.Larger size at birth is positively associated with LTL in young adulthood. Growth patterns during infancy and childhood are not associated with LTL. Previously GH-treated young adults born SGA have similar LTL as untreated short SGA, SGA with spontaneous catch-up and AGA born controls, indicating no adverse effects of GH-induced catch-up in height on LTL.

  19. Productivity, disturbance and ecosystem size have no influence on food chain length in seasonally connected rivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warfe, Danielle M; Jardine, Timothy D; Pettit, Neil E; Hamilton, Stephen K; Pusey, Bradley J; Bunn, Stuart E; Davies, Peter M; Douglas, Michael M

    2013-01-01

    The food web is one of the oldest and most central organising concepts in ecology and for decades, food chain length has been hypothesised to be controlled by productivity, disturbance, and/or ecosystem size; each of which may be mediated by the functional trophic role of the top predator. We characterised aquatic food webs using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from 66 river and floodplain sites across the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia to determine the relative importance of productivity (indicated by nutrient concentrations), disturbance (indicated by hydrological isolation) and ecosystem size, and how they may be affected by food web architecture. We show that variation in food chain length was unrelated to these classic environmental determinants, and unrelated to the trophic role of the top predator. This finding is a striking exception to the literature and is the first published example of food chain length being unaffected by any of these determinants. We suggest the distinctive seasonal hydrology of northern Australia allows the movement of fish predators, linking isolated food webs and potentially creating a regional food web that overrides local effects of productivity, disturbance and ecosystem size. This finding supports ecological theory suggesting that mobile consumers promote more stable food webs. It also illustrates how food webs, and energy transfer, may function in the absence of the human modifications to landscape hydrological connectivity that are ubiquitous in more populated regions.

  20. Productivity, disturbance and ecosystem size have no influence on food chain length in seasonally connected rivers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle M Warfe

    Full Text Available The food web is one of the oldest and most central organising concepts in ecology and for decades, food chain length has been hypothesised to be controlled by productivity, disturbance, and/or ecosystem size; each of which may be mediated by the functional trophic role of the top predator. We characterised aquatic food webs using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from 66 river and floodplain sites across the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia to determine the relative importance of productivity (indicated by nutrient concentrations, disturbance (indicated by hydrological isolation and ecosystem size, and how they may be affected by food web architecture. We show that variation in food chain length was unrelated to these classic environmental determinants, and unrelated to the trophic role of the top predator. This finding is a striking exception to the literature and is the first published example of food chain length being unaffected by any of these determinants. We suggest the distinctive seasonal hydrology of northern Australia allows the movement of fish predators, linking isolated food webs and potentially creating a regional food web that overrides local effects of productivity, disturbance and ecosystem size. This finding supports ecological theory suggesting that mobile consumers promote more stable food webs. It also illustrates how food webs, and energy transfer, may function in the absence of the human modifications to landscape hydrological connectivity that are ubiquitous in more populated regions.