Kappa-casein gene polymorphism in Holstein and Iranian native cattle by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)

Caseins amount to nearly 80% of the protein output in cow milk. Caseins are biologically important proteins and they are also a raw material for the cheese making industry. The aim of this study was to identify kappa-casein genotype in Holstein and Iranian native cattle. DNA was extracted from 457 blood samples of 247 Holstein and 210 native cattle for identification and genotyping of kappa-casein gene by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay using HindIII and TaqI restriction endonucleases. The PCR product of the specific primer K-F and K-R gives the 379 bp specific band. Digestion of 379 bp fragment by restriction endonuclease HindIII generated two fragments of 156 and 223 bp. Result of the cut with this enzyme indicate there genotypes AA, AB and BB in the samples. Also, the amplified DNA (379 bp) from the samples remained undigested by TaqI restriction enzyme. These findings suggest that BB genotype could be a good factor for increase of fat and protein content of milk.Key words: Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), kappa-casein gene, genotyping, Holstein, native cattle

Data Access In Disruption Tolerant Networks Using Cooperative Caching

Disruption tolerant networks (DTNs) consist of mobile devices that call each other opportunistically.Due to the low node density and impulsive nodemobility, only broken network connectivity exists in DTNs, and the ensuing obscurity of maintaining end-to end communication links makes it obligatory to use “carry and-forward” methods for data transmission. Models ofsuch networks consist of groups of individuals moving in adversity mending areas, military battlefields, or urbansensing applications. In such networks, node mobilityis subjugated to let mobile nodes take data as communicate and forward data opportunistically when contacting others. The input difficulty is, consequently, how to decide the suitable communicate assortment plan

First report of asthma prevalence in Afghanistan using international standardized methods Premier rapport sur l�asthme en Afghanistan utilisant des méthodes internationales normalisées

No data on the prevalence of asthma in Afghanistan have been published before. In a school-based survey in 2010�2011 the wheezing section of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire was completed by a random sample of 1500 children aged 6�7 years and 1500 adolescents aged 13�14 years old. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma was 12.5 in 6�7-year-olds and 17.3 in 13�14-year-olds (P = 0.002). The prevalence of wheeze in the last 12 months was similar in children and adolescents (19.2 and 21.7 respectively). The prevalence of ever wheezing, night attacks, speech-limiting wheeze and exercise-induced wheeze was 23.1, 4.8, 12.2 and 9.6 respectively in children and 30.5, 4.4, 13.0 and 13.6 respectively in adolescents. These rates are higher than those in neighbouring countries. This first epidemiological survey of asthma in Afghanistan shows that asthma and wheezing are common in Kabul students. © 2015, World Health Organization. All Rights Reserved

A Data-driven Deep Learning Approach for Bitcoin Price Forecasting

Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency has been one of the most important digital coins and the first decentralized digital currency. Deep neural networks, on the other hand, has shown promising results recently; however, we require huge amount of high-quality data to leverage their power. There are some techniques such as augmentation that can help us with increasing the dataset size, but we cannot exploit them on historical bitcoin data. As a result, we propose a shallow Bidirectional-LSTM (Bi-LSTM) model, fed with feature engineered data using our proposed method to forecast bitcoin closing prices in a daily time frame. We compare the performance with that of other forecasting methods, and show that with the help of the proposed feature engineering method, a shallow deep neural network outperforms other popular price forecasting models

STUDY ON ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE PATTERN IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL – AN OBSERVATIONAL RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Objective: The aim of the study was to monitor the magnitude and trends in antimicrobial resistance through surveillance programs and bacteriological diagnostic methods. Methods: The study research has performed a retrospective observational study for period of 6 months (Dec 2019–June 2020) to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern on cultures of various specimens at Vivekanandha Medical Care Hospital. The resultant data were computed in Microsoft Excel. Analyses were expressed as the total number, frequencies, and percentage. Results: A total of 110 culture and sensitivity reports were collected from microbiology departments. Among the culture report, 84% accounted for gram-negative and 16% for Gram-positive organisms. Out of eight specimens, 15 different bacteria were identified and the most common bacteria were Klebsiella pneumonia (25%), E. coli (14%), Staphylococcus aureus (13%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12%). Conclusion: The interferences from the present study can help in bridging the gap in future educations, training, and adequate decision-making

Sex-specific normal values and determinants of infrarenal abdominal aortic diameter among non-aneurysmal elderly population

To establish age- and sex-specific distribution of the infrarenal abdominal aortic diameters (IAD) among non-aneurysmal elderly population and to investigate the associations between traditional cardiovascular risk factors and IAD in men and women. We included 4032 participants (mean age 67.2 years; 60.4% women) from the population-based Rotterdam Study, free of cardiovascular disease, who underwent IAD ultrasound assessment between 2009–2014. Linear regression analysis was used to identify determinants of IAD. The medians (inter-quartile range) of absolute IAD and body surface area (BSA)-adjusted IAD were 17.0 (15.0–18.0) mm and 9.3 (8.5–10.2) mm for women and 19.0 (18.0–21.0) mm and 9.4 (8.6–10.3) mm for men, respectively. There was a non-linear relationship between age and IAD. IAD increased steeply with advancing age and up to 70 years. After around 75 years of age, the diameter values reached a plateau. Waist circumference and diastolic blood pressure were associated with larger diameters in both sexes. Body mass index [Effect estimate (95% CI): 0.04 (0.00 to 0.08)], systolic blood pressure [− 0.01(− 0.02 to 0.00)], current smoking [0.35 (0.06 to 0.65)], total cholesterol levels [− 0.21 (− 0.31 to − 0.11)], and lipid-lowering medication [− 0.43 (− 0.67 to − 0.19)] were significantly associated with IAD in women. Sex differences in IAD values diminished after taking BSA into account. The increase in diameters was attenuated after 70 years. Differences were observed in the associations of several cardiovascular risk factors with IAD among men and women.</p

Sex-specific normal values and determinants of infrarenal abdominal aortic diameter among non-aneurysmal elderly population

To establish age- and sex-specific distribution of the infrarenal abdominal aortic diameters (IAD) among non-aneurysmal elderly population and to investigate the associations between traditional cardiovascular risk factors and IAD in men and women. We included 4032 participants (mean age 67.2 years; 60.4% women) from the population-based Rotterdam Study, free of cardiovascular disease, who underwent IAD ultrasound assessment between 2009–2014. Linear regression analysis was used to identify determinants of IAD. The medians (inter-quartile range) of absolute IAD and body surface area (BSA)-adjusted IAD were 17.0 (15.0–18.0) mm and 9.3 (8.5–10.2) mm for women and 19.0 (18.0–21.0) mm and 9.4 (8.6–10.3) mm for men, respectively. There was a non-linear relationship between age and IAD. IAD increased steeply with advancing age and up to 70 years. After around 75 years of age, the diameter values reached a plateau. Waist circumference and diastolic blood pressure were associated with larger diameters in both sexes. Body mass index [Effect estimate (95% CI): 0.04 (0.00 to 0.08)], systolic blood pressure [− 0.01(− 0.02 to 0.00)], current smoking [0.35 (0.06 to 0.65)], total cholesterol levels [− 0.21 (− 0.31 to − 0.11)], and lipid-lowering medication [− 0.43 (− 0.67 to − 0.19)] were significantly associated with IAD in women. Sex differences in IAD values diminished after taking BSA into account. The increase in diameters was attenuated after 70 years. Differences were observed in the associations of several cardiovascular risk factors with IAD among men and women.</p

Modelling of monopile-footing foundation system for offshore structures

While monopiles have proven to be an economically sound foundation solution for wind turbines, especially in relatively shallow water, their installation in deeper water and in hard ground may require a more complex foundation design in order to satisfy the loading conditions. One approach is that foundation systems are developed which combine several foundation elements to create a ‘hybrid’ system. In this way it is possible to develop a foundation system which is more efficient for the combination of vertical and lateral loads associated with wind turbines while maintaining the efficiency and simplicity of the design. Previous studies have reported the results of single gravity tests of the hybrid system where the benefits of adding the footing to the pile are illustrated. This paper presents experimental results on the performance of skirted and unskirted monopile-footings. A simplified design approach based on conventional lateral pile analysis is presented

A Finite Element Analysis of foot with hammer toe deformity during walking

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the International Society of Biomechanics via the link in this recordA three-dimensional finite element model of a diabetic neuropathic foot with hammer toe deformity was constructed. The geometry of the FE model was formed based on segmentation and reconstruction of MRI images. A multi-body musculoskeletal simulation based on 3D gait analysis was carried out for predicting six muscle forces. Validation of the derived muscle forces were performed using EMG. FE simulations were run at five stages of stance phase of gait. The derived muscle forces and measured GRFs during gait were added to the model as boundary conditions. The validation of FE results indicated a good agreement between simulated plantar pressures (PP) against the measured values from pressure plate. The analyses showed that the presence of hammer toe causes stress concentration on metatarsals. However, the stress concentration seems to shift from the 5th metatarsal to the 3rd metatarsal as the gait progresses from early stance to toe-off