3,903 research outputs found
Effect of immunostimulant on enhancement of the immune response of kuruma shrimp Marsupenaeus japonicus and its resistance against White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV)
An experiment of 45 days duration to test the efficacy of the Vibrio alginolyticus as an immunostimulant
was conducted in Marsupenaeus japonicus against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection, considered
as one of the serious pathogens of shrimps. The shrimps were fed with the experimental diets coated with
different concentrations of bacteria of 17 ml / kg feed and 10 % of animal body wt. They were challenged
with WSSV to assess the increase in survival rate and growth if any due to immune enhancement. Another
group of shrimp was used for drawing the haemolymph to estimate the increase in the level of prophenoloxidase
activity. Samplings for the above said analysis were carried out at 15 days interval for a period of 45 days.
The highest prophenoloxidase activity (39.78 with sand substrate-T1) and the highest survival rate (66.66 %
with sand substrate-T1) and highest growth rate (7.04 % in 17ml/kg- with sand substrate-T1) were recorded
in experimental diet (17 ml / kg feed). Hence the 17 ml / kg feed of Vibrio alginolyticus formalin killed added
to the diet could be an eco-friendly and economically viable immunostimulant for penaeid shrimps
Structure in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory
We show that requiring sixteen supersymmetries in quantum mechanical gauge
theory implies the existence of a web of constrained interactions. Contrary to
conventional wisdom, these constraints extend to arbitrary orders in the
momentum expansion.Comment: 22 pages, LaTe
A Barren Landscape?
We consider the generation of a non-perturbative superpotential in F-theory
compactifications with flux. We derive a necessary condition for the generation
of such a superpotential in F-theory. For models with a single volume modulus,
we show that the volume modulus is never stabilized by either abelian
instantons or gaugino condensation. We then comment on how our analysis extends
to a larger class of compactifications. From our results, it appears that among
large volume string compactifications, metastable de Sitter vacua (should any
exist) are non-generic.Comment: 14 pages, comments adde
DLCQ of Fivebranes, Large N Screening, and L^2 Harmonic Forms on Calabi Manifolds
We find one explicit L^2 harmonic form for every Calabi manifold. Calabi
manifolds are known to arise in low energy dynamics of solitons in Yang-Mills
theories, and the L^2 harmonic form corresponds to the supersymmetric ground
state. As the normalizable ground state of a single U(N) instanton, it is
related to the bound state of a single D0 to multiple coincident D4's in the
non-commutative setting, or equivalently a unit Kaluza-Klein mode in DLCQ of
fivebrane worldvolume theory. As the ground state of nonabelian massless
monopoles realized around a monopole-``anti''-monopole pair, it shows how the
long range force between the pair is screened in a manner reminiscent of large
N behavior of quark-anti-quark potential found in AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: LaTeX, 23 page
Prediction and management of natural disasters through indigenous Technical Knowledge, with special reference to fisheries
Traditional Indigenous knowledge has over the years played a significant role in solving several major social-ecological problems including those related to climate change and variability. People living close to nature often observe the circumstances around them and are the often the first to identify and adapt to any changes. The appearance of certain birds, mating of certain animals and flowering of certain plants are all seen as important signals of change with respect to timing and seasonality of natural phenomena that are well understood in traditional knowledge systems. Indigenous and local peoples have relied on
biodiversity as a buffer against environmental variation, change and catastrophe
Is there an association between vitamin D and risk of stroke?: a North Indian study
Background: Vitamin D deficiency is present in India in epidemic proportions despite plenty of sunshine. Reduced plasma 25(OH) D concentrations as a diagnostic marker of vitamin D deficiency have been in past decade associated with several well-established risk factors for ischaemic stroke, such as arterial hypertension, thrombosis, atherosclerosis. The aims and objectives of this study was to compare the serum 25(OH) D levels between the first ever acute stroke patients and healthy controls.Methods: A cross-sectional, case control study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi situated in north India. Serum 25‑hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D) levels in 85 patients of ischemic stroke, presenting within 7 days of onset of stroke was measured and was compared with 70 age and gender matched controls.Results: The mean age was 61.02±11.58 years and 58.63±11.28 years in cases and controls respectively. Females constituted 37.6% of the total number of cases and 43.4% of the controls. The age and gender-distribution were comparable between the cases and controls. The median value (IQR) of serum 25(OH) vitamin D level was 7.94 ng/mL (4.59-14.00) in the cases and it was 8.82 ng/mL (5.59-14.70) in the controls. The difference between the serum 25(OH) vitamin D levels of the two groups was not found to be statistically significant.Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of biochemical hypo-vitaminosis D in apparently healthy Indians of all age and sex groups despite adequate sunshine. There is no association between low vitamin D levels and stroke
Linear Sigma Models with Torsion
Gauged linear sigma models with (0,2) supersymmetry allow a larger choice of
couplings than models with (2,2) supersymmetry. We use this freedom to find a
fully linear construction of torsional heterotic compactifications, including
models with branes. As a non-compact example, we describe a family of metrics
which correspond to deformations of the heterotic conifold by turning on
H-flux. We then describe compact models which are gauge-invariant only at the
quantum level. Our construction gives a generalization of symplectic reduction.
The resulting spaces are non-Kahler analogues of familiar toric spaces like
complex projective space. Perturbatively conformal models can be constructed by
considering intersections.Comment: 40 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure; references added; a new section on
supersymmetry added; quantization condition revisite
Go-6976 reverses hyperglycemia-induced insulin resistance independently of cPKC inhibition in adipocytes.
This paper was originally published in PLOS ONE (Robinson KA, Hegyi K, Hannun YA, Buse MG, Sethi JK, PLoS ONE 2014, 9(10): e108963. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108963).Chronic hyperglycemia induces insulin resistance by mechanisms that are incompletely understood. One model of hyperglycemia-induced insulin resistance involves chronic preincubation of adipocytes in the presence of high glucose and low insulin concentrations. We have previously shown that the mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) plays a partial role in the development of insulin resistance in this model. Here, we demonstrate that treatment with Go-6976, a widely used "specific" inhibitor of cPKCs, alleviates hyperglycemia-induced insulin resistance. However, the effects of mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin and Go-6976 were not additive and only rapamycin restored impaired insulin-stimulated AKT activation. Although, PKCα, (but not -β) was abundantly expressed in these adipocytes, our studies indicate cPKCs do not play a major role in causing insulin-resistance in this model. There was no evidence of changes in the expression or phosphorylation of PKCα, and PKCα knock-down did not prevent the reduction of insulin-stimulated glucose transport. This was also consistent with lack of IRS-1 phosphorylation on Ser-24 in hyperglycemia-induced insulin-resistant adipocytes. Treatment with Go-6976 did inhibit a component of the mTORC1 pathway, as evidenced by decreased phosphorylation of S6 ribosomal protein. Raptor knock-down enhanced the effect of insulin on glucose transport in insulin resistant adipocytes. Go-6976 had the same effect in control cells, but was ineffective in cells with Raptor knock-down. Taken together these findings suggest that Go-6976 exerts its effect in alleviating hyperglycemia-induced insulin-resistance independently of cPKC inhibition and may target components of the mTORC1 signaling pathway.This work was supported by grants from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (David Phillips Fellowship, JF16994), Diabetes UK (BDA:RD06/0003237) and British Heart Foundation (PG/10/38/28359) to J.K. Sethi and also from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK-02001) to M.G. Buse
Factors influencing the likelihood of acceptance of postpartum intrauterine devices across four countries: India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the factors that positively influenced the likelihood of accepting provision of postpartum intrauterine devices (PPIUDs) across four countries: Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tanzania, and India. METHODS: Healthcare providers were trained across 24 facilities in counselling and insertion of PPIUDs as part of a large multicountry study. Women delivered were asked to take part in a 15-minute face-to-face structured interview conducted by in-country data collection officers prior to discharge. Univariate analysis was performed to investigate factors associated with acceptance. RESULTS: From January 2016 to November 2017, 6477 health providers were trained, 239 033 deliveries occurred, and 219 242 interviews were conducted. Of those interviewed, 68% were counselled on family planning and 56% on PPIUD, with 20% consenting to PPIUD. Multiple counselling sessions was the only factor resulting in higher consent rates (OR 1.30-1.39) across all countries. Odds ratios for women's age, parity, and cadre of provider counselling varied between countries. CONCLUSION: Consent for contraception, specifically PPIUD, is such a culturally specific topic and generalization across countries is not possible. When planning contraceptive policy changes, it is important to have an understanding of the sociocultural factors at play
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