The Influence of Fermentation TIME in the Physical and Chemical Composition of Fermented Soybean Husk by Using Aspergillus Niger on the Quality of Raw Feed Materials

Soybean husk (Glycine max L. Merrill) a soybean processing waste as raw material for tempe obtained after the process of boiling and soaking soybeans. The main problem in the use of soybean husk (Glycine max L. Merrill) as feed material is its crude fiber content which is fairly high. This study aimed to observe the fermented soybean husk using Aspergillus Niger to improve the quality of the raw feed materials. This was conducted by using completely randomized design (CRD) analysis and repeated three times; the time optimization of Aspergillus Niger in 2, 4, and 6 days based on chemical analyses (moisture, protein, fat, ash, crude fiber and feed containing carbohydrates (NFE) and physical assessment fermentation (smell, texture, moisture and hyphae) were analyzed descriptive qualitatively. The results showed that 4 days fermentation of soybean husk using A. Niger is successful gives the highest score based on physical characteristics texture, aroma, moisture, and the formed hyphae and the most effective treatment for decrease in crude fiber is 13% and increase in NFE contained in the largest on 4 days fermented soybean husk by Aspergillus Niger with a long time 4 days

Dried Skeletonema Costatum in Feed Formulation for the Growth of Vaname Shrimp (Litopenaeus Vannamei)

The aim of this study was to determine the effect and the best dosage used by the Skeletonema costatum in feed formulation on the growth of Vaname shrimp. This experiment used Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four treatments and three replications. Treatment was given by using dried S. costatum in feed formula (iso protein 37% and iso energy 3.6 kkal/g feed). Feed treatment was the substitution of fish meal protein A = 0%, B = 2.5%, C = 5% and D = 7.5% with dried S. costatum protein. The observed parameters include Survival Rate (SR), Survival Growth Rate (SGR), Feed Efficiency Ratio (FER), and Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER). The results showed that the use of dried S. costatum in feeding are effective in increasing the specific growth rate, feed efficiency ratio and the ratio of protein efficiency than controls. The best dosage in feeding formula is ranged from 4.39% to 4.75%

Chaetoceros Ceratosporum Diatomae in Feed Formula to Increase Growth and Post Larvae Immunity of Tiger Shrimp (Penaeus Monodon Fab.) to Vibrio Harveyi Infection

This experiment aims to determine the effect and the best dose of Chaetoceros ceratosporum diatomae utilization in feed formula for post larvae of tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon Fab.) growth and immunity to Vibrio harveyi infection. This research applied Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 treatments and 3 replications. The treatment use Chaetoceros ceratosporum diatomae in feed formula (iso protein 39.02% and iso energy 3.58 kcal/g diet) in different doses, i.e. treatment A = 0 %; B = 3.04 %; C = 6.0 8%; D = 9.12 %. Observed parameters were Survival Rate, Growth Rate, Food Conversion Ratio (FCR) and Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER). Result showed that Chaetoceros ceratosporum diatomae utilization in feed formula affect the increase of growth and immunity of post larvae of tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon Fab.) to Vibrio harveyi infection. The best dose in feed formula ranged from 5,75% – 5,95%

An Integrated Model for User Attribute Discovery: A Case Study on Political Affiliation Identification

Discovering user demographic attributes from social media is a problem of considerable interest. The problem setting can be generalized to include three components - users, topics and behaviors. In recent studies on this problem, however, the behavior between users and topics are not effectively incorporated. In our work, we proposed an integrated unsupervised model which takes into consideration all the three components integral to the task. Furthermore, our model incorporates collaborative filtering with probabilistic matrix factorization to solve the data sparsity problem, a computational challenge common to all such tasks. We evaluated our method on a case study of user political affiliation identification, and compared against state-of-the-art baselines. Our model achieved an accuracy of 70.1% for user party detection task. ? 2014 Springer International Publishing.EI

Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 2: clinical, biological and genotype/phenotype correlation study of a cohort of 90 patients

Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 2 (AOA2) is an autosomal recessive disease due to mutations in the senataxin gene, causing progressive cerebellar ataxia with peripheral neuropathy, cerebellar atrophy, occasional oculomotor apraxia and elevated alpha-feto-protein (AFP) serum level. We compiled a series of 67 previously reported and 58 novel ataxic patients who underwent senataxin gene sequencing because of suspected AOA2. An AOA2 diagnosis was established for 90 patients, originating from 15 countries worldwide, and 25 new senataxin gene mutations were found. In patients with AOA2, median AFP serum level was 31.0 mu g/l at diagnosis, which was higher than the median AFP level of AOA2 negative patients: 13.8 mu g/l, P = 0.0004; itself higher than the normal level (3.4 mu g/l, range from 0.5 to 17.2 mu g/l) because elevated AFP was one of the possible selection criteria. Polyneuropathy was found in 97.5% of AOA2 patients, cerebellar atrophy in 96%, occasional oculomotor apraxia in 51%, pyramidal signs in 20.5%, head tremor in 14%, dystonia in 13.5%, strabismus in 12.3% and chorea in 9.5%. No patient was lacking both peripheral neuropathy and cerebellar atrophy. The age at onset and presence of occasional oculomotor apraxia were negatively correlated to the progression rate of the disease (P = 0.03 and P = 0.009, respectively), whereas strabismus was positively correlated to the progression rate (P = 0.03). An increased AFP level as well as cerebellar atrophy seem to be stable in the course of the disease and to occur mostly at or before the onset of the disease. One of the two patients with a normal AFP level at diagnosis had high AFP levels 4 years later, while the other had borderline levels. The probability of missing AOA2 diagnosis, in case of sequencing senataxin gene only in non-Friedreich ataxia non-ataxia-telangiectasia ataxic patients with AFP level >= 7 mu g/l, is 0.23% and the probability for a non-Friedreich ataxia non-ataxia-telangiectasia ataxic patient to be affected with AOA2 with AFP levels >= 7 mu g/l is 46%. Therefore, selection of patients with an AFP level above 7 mu g/l for senataxin gene sequencing is a good strategy for AOA2 diagnosis. Pyramidal signs and dystonia were more frequent and disease was less severe with missense mutations in the helicase domain of senataxin gene than with missense mutations out of helicase domain and deletion and nonsense mutations (P = 0.001, P = 0.008 and P = 0.01, respectively). The lack of pyramidal signs in most patients may be explained by masking due to severe motor neuropathy

Autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia: Novel mutations in the REEP1 gene (SPG31)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mutations in the <it>SPG4 </it>gene (spastin) and in the <it>SPG3A </it>gene (atlastin) account for the majority of 'pure' autosomal dominant form of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). Recently, mutations in the <it>REEP1 </it>gene were identified to cause autosomal dominant HSP type SPG31. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of <it>REEP1 </it>mutations in a cohort of 162 unrelated Caucasian index patients with 'pure' HSP and a positive family history (at least two persons per family presented symptoms).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>162 patients were screened for mutations by, both, DHPLC and direct sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten mutations were identified in the <it>REEP1 </it>gene, these included eight novel mutations comprising small insertions/deletions causing frame shifts and subsequently premature stop codons, one nonsense mutation and one splice site mutation as well as two missense mutations. Both missense mutations and the splice site mutation were not identified in 170 control subjects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our HSP cohort we found pathogenic mutations in 4.3% of cases with autosomal dominant inheritance. Our results confirm the previously observed mutation range of 3% to 6.5%, respectively, and they widen the spectrum of <it>REEP1 </it>mutations.</p

Genomic NGFB variation and multiple sclerosis in a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nerve growth factor β (NGFB) is involved in cell proliferation and survival, and it is a mediator of the immune response. ProNGF, the precursor protein of NGFB, has been shown to induce cell death via interaction with the p75 neurotrophin receptor. In addition, this neurotrophin is differentially expressed in males and females. Hence NGFB is a good candidate to influence the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), much like in the murine model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in the <it>NGFB </it>gene in up to 1120 unrelated MS patients and 869 controls. Expression analyses were performed for selected MS patients in order to elucidate the possible functional relevance of the SNPs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant association of NGFB variations with MS is evident for two SNPs. <it>NGFB </it>mRNA seems to be expressed in sex- and disease progression-related manner in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>NGFB variation and expression levels appear as modulating factors in the development of MS.</p

Technologies for the global energy transition

The availability of reliable, affordable and mature technologies is at the basis of an effective decarbonization strategy, that should be in turn supported by timely and accurate policies. Due to the large differences across sectors and countries, there is no silver bullet to support decarbonization, but a combination of multiple technologies will be required to reach the challenging goal of decarbonizing the energy sector. This chapter presents a focus on the current technological solutions that are available in four main sectors: power generation, industry, transport and buildings. The aim of this work is to highlight the main strengths and weaknesses of the current technologies, to help the reader in understanding which are the main opportunities and challenges related to the development and deployment of each of them, as well as their potential contribution to the decarbonization targets. The chapter also provides strategies and policy recommendations from a technology point of view on how to decarbonize the global energy systems by mid-century and of the necessity to take a systems approach