Molecular modeling and mutational mapping of the GPR119 binding site

GPR119 receptor’s biological role in regulating glucose homeostasis has been studied extensively. Results in the scientific literature indicate that, when activated, GPR119 releases insulin in a glucose dependent manner. Currently the 3D structure of GPR119 has not been resolved. The goal of this research is to use a combination of homology modeling and ligand docking studies to predict the binding mode of GPR119 ligands. Amino acids implicated to have direct interactions with docked ligands will further be assessed experimentally for their roll in binding and activation of GPR119. Our results indicate that residues W2656.48 and R813.28 are likely to be directly involved in ligand binding and activation of the GPR119 receptor. In addition, the R2627.36 mutant did not show any involvement in receptor binding or activation. Understanding how GPR119 interacts with its ligands can lead to the development of more effective and selective drugs that are used to treat T2D

Agricultural Transformation, Economic Growth, and Poverty in Indonesia

This paper explores the link between agricultural transformation, economic growth and poverty in Indonesia. Based on descriptive analysis, it shows that the Indonesia's economic growth and poverty reduction performance are more influenced by the service sector than the agriculture sector. The two major challenges to implement agricultural transformation in Indonesia are the limited availability of land and agricultural contract issue. To address these challenges, a gradual change is the best solution. The fixed rent scheme should be introduced properly to the society so as to increase the agricultural production, while support from the government is needed to help the smallholder's farmers to avoid povert

Patterns of Using Masks in Prevention of Covid-19 Transmission in Makassar, Indonesia

The case of Covid-19 infection rate in Makassar, Indonesia is still high. Recently, the government is still implementing community activity restriction to reduce the rate of the pandemic. However, this is not enough, the policy needs to be accompanied by increasing the effectiveness of other intervention measures, including masks. This study aims to provide an overview of the behavioral pattern of using masks in the public area in Makassar. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data in taking appropriate steps in increasing efforts to prevent the transmission of Covid-19 in Makassar. The results of the study showed that public awareness in using masks is quite high, the motivation to use masks mostly comes from intrinsic motivation, and dominantly of the subject has been able to adapt to the behavior of wearing masks. However, some behaviors of wearing masks still need to be improved with health education, including frequently put on and take off behavior when using masks, the length of time using masks replacing with new or clean ones, management of masks that have been used so those masks are disposed of in a closed container as much as possible. To maintain the behavior of wearing masks in the public, it is necessary to conduct further research on the proper technique of wearing masks to reduce the feeling of shortness of breath and discomfort that mask users complain about and the prevention of condensation on glasses users when wearing masks.

Solutions to a system of Yang-Baxter matrix equations

In this article, we take a system, $XAX=BXB$, $XBX=AXA$, of Yang-Baxter type matrix equations that ``generalizes" the matrix Yang-Baxter equation. We completely characterize the case when $A,B$ are orthogonal idempotents

Two-dimensional tellurium-based diodes for RF applications

The research of two-dimensional (2D) Tellurium (Te) or tellurene is thriving to address current challenges in emerging thin-film electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the study of 2D-Te-based devices for high-frequency applications is still lacking in the literature. This work presents a comprehensive study of two types of radio frequency (RF) diodes based on 2D-Te flakes and exploits their distinct properties in two RF applications. First, a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure is employed as a nonlinear device in a passive RF mixer, where the achieved conversion loss at 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz is as low as 24 dB and 29 dB, respectively. Then, a metal-semiconductor (MS) diode is tested as a zero-bias millimeter-wave power detector and reaches an outstanding linear-in-dB dynamic range over 40 dB, while having voltage responsivities as high as 257 V ⋅ W−1 at 1 GHz (up to 1 V detected output voltage) and 47 V ⋅ W−1 at 2.5 GHz (up to 0.26 V detected output voltage). These results show superior performance compared to other 2D material-based devices in a much more mature technological phase. Thus, the authors believe that this work demonstrates the potential of 2D-Te as a promising material for devices in emerging high-frequency electronics.MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTRGerman Research Foundation (DFG) under the projects GLECS2 (No. 653408)MOSTFLEX (653414),The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) (RGPIN-2017-05810 and ALLRP 577611-22)The European Commission under the Horizon 2020 projects Graphene Flagship (No. 785219 and 881603)PAIDI 2020 and European Social Fund Operational Programme 2014-2020 no. 20804Ministerio de UniversidadesGrant no. CAS21/ 00483Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF)Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD)Simon Fraser Universit

THE RELATION OF LENGTH OF USE THE INJECTED CONTRACEPTION WITH SEXUALITY ON FERTILE WOMEN IN COVERAGE AREA OF PUSKESMAS CAILE, BULUKUMBA, INDONESIA

Side effects caused by contraception include menstrual cycle disorders, changes in body weight, acne, breast pain, nausea, bleeding, vaginal discharge, liver dysfunction, changes in libido, and others side effect. Some researches of hormonal contraception still difficult to systematically explore how these methods influence sexual functioning. This study aims to evaluate the relation of the length of use the injected contraception with sexuality on fertile women. This study is descriptive-analytic observational using a cross-sectional design. The population of this study was all registered acceptors of family planning program using injected contraception in the coverage area of Puskesmas Caile in District Bulukumba. The population of this study was 72 acceptors. There were 41 subjects of research selected by simple random sampling participated in this study after signing the form of informed consent. Data collected by self-administered questionnaire was developed by the researcher based on the referred theory. Data analyzed using SPSS for Windows. The results showed that 70,7% of subject experienced declining in sexual passion. 48,3% of them had used injected contraception for at least one year and 51,7% of them had used for 2 years and more. This study proved there was no significant relationship between the length of use of injected contraception with sexuality (p=0,497>0,05), but this study found that acceptors using injected contraception tend to experience declines in sexual passion even using it for at least one year. Declining in sexual passion in long-term occurred due to hormonal changes, resulting in drying in the vagina which causes pain during intercourse and ultimately decreases sexual passion. This study suggests exploring more detailed about the effect of injected contraception on sexual passion on fertile women

The origin of the first neutron star -- neutron star merger

The first neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS) merger was discovered on August 17, 2017 through gravitational waves (GW170817) and followed with electromagnetic observations. This merger was detected in an old elliptical galaxy with no recent star formation. We perform a suite of numerical calculations to understand the formation mechanism of this merger. We probe three leading formation mechanisms of double compact objects: classical isolated binary star evolution, dynamical evolution in globular clusters and nuclear cluster formation to test whether they are likely to produce NS-NS mergers in old host galaxies. Our simulations with optimistic assumptions show current NS-NS merger rates at the level of 10^-2 yr^-1 from binary stars, 5 x 10^-5 yr^-1 from globular clusters and 10^-5 yr^-1 from nuclear clusters for all local elliptical galaxies (within 100 Mpc^3). These models are thus in tension with the detection of GW170817 with an observed rate 1.5 yr^-1 (per 100 Mpc^3; LIGO/Virgo estimate). Our results imply that either (i) the detection of GW170817 by LIGO/Virgo at their current sensitivity in an elliptical galaxy is a statistical coincidence; or that (ii) physics in at least one of our three models is incomplete in the context of the evolution of stars that can form NS-NS mergers; or that (iii) another very efficient (unknown) formation channel with a long delay time between star formation and merger is at play.Comment: A&A: accepte