Boni In Chinese Sources From The Tenth To The Eighteenth Century

The present national history of the Sultanate of Brunei includes a fabricated history of official Brunei-China relations that extends as far back as the sixth century AD. The present paper treats the subject of Boni, a place well documented by pre-modern Chinese sources starting from the tenth century. It attempts to address some major issues in the use of these sources to establish Boni as a precursor of modern Brunei. Since the late 1970s writers within Brunei, foremost among them Robert Nicholl, have contributed to the project of a long history of pre-modern Brunei by interpreting the available Chinese sources very narrowly. Based on a close reading of the original texts, this essay argues that the majority of the texts until the Ming dynasty quote from the first extant source in the tenth century. Hence, official Chinese perception of Boni did not increase over time, but in fact did stagnate. Consequently, identification with a specific location in Borneo, as Nicholl and C. Brown suggested, is impossible. What the essay suggests is that with the extant official pre-modern Chinese texts Boni cannot be established as Brunei, but that more likely, Boni under different dynasties referred to various places on the north coast of Borne

The relative concentration of visible and dark matter in clusters of galaxies

[Abridged] We consider two clusters (A496 and Coma) that are representative of the two classes of cool-core and non-cool-core clusters. We first refer to a two-component dynamical model that ignores the contribution from the galaxy density distribution and study the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium for the hot intracluster medium (ICM) under the assumption of spherical symmetry, in the presence of dark matter. We model the ICM density distribution in terms of a standard $\beta$-model with $\beta=2/3$, i.e. with a distribution similar to that of a regular isothermal sphere (RIS), and fit the observed X-ray brightness profiles. With the explicit purpose of ignoring cosmological arguments, we na\"ively assume that dark matter, if present, has an analogous density distribution, with the freedom of two different density and length scales. The relative distribution of visible and dark matter is then derived by fitting the temperature data for the ICM under conditions of hydrostatic equilibrium. For both clusters, we find that dark matter is more concentrated with respect to visible matter. We then test whether the conclusion changes significantly when dark matter is taken to be distributed according to cosmologically favored density profiles and when the contribution of the mass contained in galaxies is taken into account. Although the qualitative conclusions remain unchanged, we find that the contribution of galaxies to the mass budget is more important than generally assumed. We also show that, without resorting to additional information on the small scale, it is not possible to tell whether a density cusp is present or absent in these systems. [Abridged]Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Il Nuovo Cimento

The Role of the Tumor Suppressor Gene Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Gamma in Cancer

Members of the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (PTPs) family are associated with growth regulation and cancer development. Acting as natural counterpart of tyrosine kinases (TKs), mainly involved in crucial signaling pathways such as regulation of cell cycle, proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis, they represent key parts of complex physiological homeostatic mechanisms. Protein tyrosine phosphatase gamma (PTPRG) is classified as a R5 of the receptor type (RPTPs) subfamily and is broadly expressed in various isoforms in different tissues. PTPRG is considered a tumor-suppressor gene (TSG) mapped on chromosome 3p14-21, a region frequently subject to loss of heterozygosity in various tumors. However, reported mechanisms of PTPRG downregulation include missense mutations, ncRNA gene regulation and epigenetic silencing by hypermethylation of CpG sites on promoter region causing loss of function of the gene product. Inactive forms or total loss of PTPRG protein have been described in sporadic and Lynch syndrome colorectal cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, ovarian, breast, and lung cancers, gastric cancer or diseases affecting the hematopoietic compartment as Lymphoma and Leukemia. Noteworthy, in Central Nervous System (CNS) PTPRZ/PTPRG appears to be crucial in maintaining glioblastoma cell-related neuronal stemness, carving out a pathological functional role also in this tissue. In this review, we will summarize the current knowledge on the role of PTPRG in various human cancers

Development of "Boni-Protect" - a yeast preparation for use in the control of postharvest diseases of apples

Postharvest pathogens cause major losses in apple production. Gloeosporium album (Pezicula alba) and Gloeosporium perennans (Pezicula malicorticis) are the main pathogens in organic fruit growing. There are several microorganisms with an antagonistic efficency against these fungi. Out of these organisms two yeast isolates have been chosen to develop the plant strengthener Boni-Protect. Boni-Protect reduced the symp-tom development of P. malicorticis, B. cinerea and P. expansum after artificial inoculation of apple wounds. In several field trials preharvest applications of Boni-Protect led to reduced disease development during stor-age

Pacific bonito management information document

Management of Pacific bonito in California is examined in this Management Information Document by a State-Federal team of scientists. Abundance of Pacific bonito in southern California has fallen dramatically between the 1963-1969 period and the 1974-1977 period. Since 1976 the commercia1 fleet has found few large fish in southern California, and has caught fish in the size range of 15 to 57 cm (1.2 to 4.7 pounds). This fact, coupled with the low abundance indices, point out the need for a more active management regime. To develop management measures for the California bonito fishery both a surplus yield analysis and a yield-per-recruit analysis were performed. A maximum sustained yield of 10,000 short tons was estimated for the fishery in southern California, while the whole fishery, including Baja California, has an estimated MSY of 13,000 tons. In order to achieve this level of catch, however, the stock abundance must be increased by a factor of five. Yield-per-recruit considerations suggest that a minimum size limit in the commercial fishery has two important effects. A three-pound size limit could result in a slight increase in yield-per-recruit. If the size limit is increased to 5 or 7.5 lbs, the yield-per-recruit would fall significantly. Offsetting the effect on yield-per-recruit, however, would be a substantial increase in average amount of spawning per recruit which should result in a proportional increase in recruitment. With the current depressed stock abundance both a reduced annual take and a minimum size limit on commercial catch would confer substantial benefits in the form of an increase in the future stock size. After considering seven different types of management measures, the team finds that three types -- an annual commercial catch quota, a commercial size limit, and a recreational bag limit -- appear desirable. Re-establishment of the stock in southern California was the major consideration in this evaluation because the stock is currently depressed. All segments of the fishery will benefit from a more abundant resource. The difficult issues for policy, however, concern the rate of rebuilding, the degree of risk that is acceptable, and the distribution of benefits among user groups. By judicious choice among the options discussed here, a variety of positions can be established with respect to these issues. The greater the size limit, for instance, the more benefit is provided the recreational sector while difficulties are imposed upon commercial fishermen. The higher the quotas adopted, the slower the stock rebuilding and the greater the risk of continued stock depletion. A final reconciliation of the management options involves social, political and legal considerations which must be thoroughly incorporated by decision-makers before adoption of a management plan. (93pp.

Prevention of chemotherapy-induced menopause by temporary ovarian suppression with goserelin in young, early breast cancer patients.

open9Background: Standard methods to prevent chemotherapy-induced early menopause in young, breast cancer patients are unavailable to date. Preclinical data has suggested that luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analogs given during treatment can decrease the gonado-toxicity induced by chemotherapy. This phase II study aimed to assess the activity of such a method in young, breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and methods: Premenopausal patients received the LH-RH analog goserelin 3.6 mg every 4 weeks before and during chemotherapy. According to two-stage optimal phase II Simon design, treatment was considered clinically interesting if it was able to prevent menopause in 19 out of 29 patients of the study population. The resumption of ovarian function was defined by a resumption of menstrual activity or by a follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) value £40 IU/l within 12 months after the last cycle of chemotherapy. Results: Thirty patients were enrolled and 29 were evaluable. Median age was 38 years (range 29–47). All but one patient received CEF regimen (cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, 5-fluorouracil). Resumption of menstrual activity was observed in 21 patients (72%; 95% CI 52% to 87%) and a FSH value £40 IU/l in 24 patients (83%; 95% CI 63% to 93%). Menses resumption was observed in 16 out of 17 patients (94%) with age <40 years and in five out of 12 patients (42%) with age ‡40 years. Conclusion: Goserelin given before and during chemotherapy may prevent premature menopause in the majority of patients. The different success rate by age, however, indicates the need of a prospective evidence of the efficacy of such a strategyopenDEL MASTRO L; CATZEDDU T; BONI L; BELL C; M. SERTOLI; BIGHIN C; CLAVAREZZA M; TESTA D; VENTURINI M.DEL MASTRO, L; Catzeddu, T; Boni, L; Bell, C; Sertoli, MARIO ROBERTO; Bighin, C; Clavarezza, M; Testa, D; Venturini, M

Visualizing the Boni dialects with Historical Glottometry

This paper deals with the historical relations between dialects of Boni, a Cushitic language of Kenya and Somalia. Boni forms the subject of Volume 10 of the Language and Dialect Atlas of Kenya (Heine & Möhlig 1982). Heine presents evidence for three subgroups within Boni, as well as several areas of convergence between dialects belonging to different proposed subgroups. In reviewing his evidence, I find that two of the three splits are not supported by the data, and therefore his conclusions on convergence must also be reinterpreted. Given the presence of numerous intersecting isoglosses, the tree diagram is an inappropriate model for describing the relations between Boni dialects, and I turn to Historical Glottometry (Kalyan & François 2018) to provide a visualization of the data

CAROTENOIDS CONTENT OF COMMERCIAL SEAWEED IN BALI

In Bali there are several types of seaweed that has long been used as a source of food by people. These seaweed local name are Bulung Boni (Caulerpa spp.) and Bulung Sangu (Gracilaria spp.). However the study of total carotenoids content and types of carotenoids of these seaweed are very limited, therefore need to be further sudy. The types of carotenoids in this study identified based on the retention of value (Rf) on thin layer chromatography. This research concluded that total carotenoids of Bulung Boni (Caulerpa spp.) higher than Bulung Sangu (Gracilaria spp.). Total carotenoids were 57.734 mg / 100 g in Bulung Boni, and 1.776 mg /100 g in Bulung Sangu. The separation of carotenoids Bulung Boni and Bulung Sangu on thin layer chromatography obtained several types of carotenoids. Based on the calculation Rf values on Bulung Boni found as many as nine types of carotenoids such as neoxanthin, astaxanthin free, antheraxanthin ,canthaxanthin ,astaxanthin monoester, fucoxanthin, chlorophyll b, astaxanthin diester, and beta carotene In Bulung Sangu found eight types of carotenoids, such as neoxanthin, violaxanthin, astaxanthin free, antheraxanthin, lutein, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a, and beta caroten