Review of James Alfred Loader, Proverbs 1–9: historical commentary on the Old Testament, Leuven: Peeters, 2014.

In Hommes, Nusse, and Simonovits (1990) the dynamics of a simple economic model was studied. Although this piecewise linear model is quite simple, its dynamics shows different kinds of behavior such as periodic, quasiperiodic, and chaotic behavior. In particular, a new kind of bifurcation, namely a period three to period two bifurcation, was observed numerically. This paper deals with this new bifurcation phenomenon and we show that the “period three to period two” bifurcation occurs and is a structurally stable phenomenon in a class of two-dimensional continuous, piecewise linear systems. In particular, the “period three to period two” bifurcation is a structurally stable phenomenon in economic models with Hicksian nonlinearitie

Prediction of superhard carbon allotropes from the segment combination method

Many superhard allotropes of carbon have been proposed in recent years for the purpose of explaining the superhard carbon phases observed in the processes of cold compressing graphite and carbon nanotubes. In this paper, we have reviewed recent advances in searching for superhard phases of carbon from a segment combination view and found that they can be divided into two groups: (i) combinations of segments from cubic diamond and hexagonal diamond with 5-6-7 carbon rings and (ii) combinations of segments from hexagonal diamond and mutated hexagonal diamond with 4-6-8 carbon rings. Finally, an additional example of extending these allotropes of carbon to their corresponding boron nitride counterparts has been discussed.В останні роки було запропоновано безліч надтвердих алотропів вуглецю для пояснення його надтвердих фаз, які спостерігають в процесах холодного стиснення графіту і вуглецевих нанотрубок. У даній статті розглянуто останні досягнення в пошуках надтвердих фаз вуглецю з погляду методу комбінації структурних сегментів і виявлено, що вони можуть бути розділені на дві групи: 1) сполучення сегментів кубічного алмазу і гексагонального алмазу з 5-6-7-членними кільцями вуглецю і 2) сполучення сегментів гексагонального і мутованого гексагонального алмазу з 4-6-8-членними вуглецевими кільцями. Нарешті, розглядається відповідність алотропів вуглецю можливим структурам нітриду бору.В последние годы было предложены много сверхтвердых аллотропов углерода для объяснения его сверхтвердых фаз, наблюдаемых в процессах холодного сжатия графита и углеродных нанотрубок. В данной статье рассмотрены последние достижения в поиске сверхтвердых фаз углерода с точки зрения метода комбинации структурных сегментов и обнаружено, что они могут быть разделены на две группы: 1) сочетания сегментов кубического и гексагонального алмаза с 5-6-7-членными кольцами углерода и 2) сочетания сегментов гексагонального и мутированного гексагональног

Structural Simplification of Bedaquiline: the Discovery of 3-(4-(N,N-dimethylaminomethyl)phenyl)quinoline Derived Antitubercular Lead Compounds

Bedaquiline (BDQ) is a novel and highly potent last-line antituberculosis drug that was approved by the US FDA in 2013. Owing to its stereo-structural complexity, chemical synthesis and compound optimization are rather difficult and expensive. This study describes the structural simplification of bedaquiline while preserving antitubercular activity. The compound's structure was split into fragments and reassembled in various combinations while replacing the two chiral carbon atoms with an achiral linkage instead. Four series of analogues were designed; these candidates retained their potent antitubercular activity at sub-microgram per mL concentrations against both sensitive and multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. Six out of the top nine MIC-ranked candidates were found to inhibit mycobacterial ATP synthesis activity with IC50 values between 20 and 40 μm, one had IC50>66 μm, and two showed no inhibition, despite their antitubercular activity. These results provide a basis for the development of chemically less complex, lower-cost bedaquiline derivatives and describe the identification of two derivatives with antitubercular activity against non-ATP synthase related targets

Human COQ9 Rescues a coq9 Yeast Mutant by Enhancing Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis from 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid and Stabilizing the CoQ-Synthome

Coq9 is required for the stability of a mitochondrial multi-subunit complex, termed the CoQ-synthome, and the deamination step of Q intermediates that derive from para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA) in yeast. In human, mutations in the COQ9 gene cause neonatal-onset primary Q10 deficiency. In this study, we determined whether expression of human COQ9 could complement yeast coq9 point or null mutants. We found that expression of human COQ9 rescues the growth of the temperature-sensitive yeast mutant, coq9-ts19, on a non-fermentable carbon source and increases the content of Q6, by enhancing Q biosynthesis from 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4HB). To study the mechanism for the rescue by human COQ9, we determined the steady-state levels of yeast Coq polypeptides in the mitochondria of the temperature-sensitive yeast coq9 mutant expressing human COQ9. We show that the expression of human COQ9 significantly increased steady-state levels of yeast Coq4, Coq6, Coq7, and Coq9 at permissive temperature. Human COQ9 polypeptide levels persisted at non-permissive temperature. A small amount of the human COQ9 co-purified with tagged Coq6, Coq6-CNAP, indicating that human COQ9 interacts with the yeast Q-biosynthetic complex. These findings suggest that human COQ9 rescues the yeast coq9 temperature-sensitive mutant by stabilizing the CoQ-synthome and increasing Q biosynthesis from 4HB. This finding provides a powerful approach to studying the function of human COQ9 using yeast as a model

Salt content of instant noodles in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study

Objective To determine the salt content in instant noodles sold in Malaysia. Study design A cross-sectional survey was done involving 707 different flavours and packaging of instant noodles sold in six hypermarkets and retailer chains in Malaysia and the corresponding brand's official websites in 2017. Methods The salt content (gram per serving and per 100 g) was collected from the product packaging and corresponding brand's official website. Results Of the 707 different packaging and flavours of instant noodles, only 62.1% (n=439) provided the salt content in their food label. The mean (±SD) salt per 100 g of instant noodles was 4.3±1.5 g and is nearly four times higher than the salt content of food classified in Malaysia as a high salt content (>1.2 g salt per 100 g). The salt content for instant noodle per packaging ranged from 0.7 to 8.5 g. 61.7% of the instant noodles exceeded the Pacific Salt Reduction Target, 11.8% exceeded the WHO recommended daily salt intake of <5.0 per day and 5.50% exceeded Malaysia Salt Action Target. 98% of instant noodles will be considered as high salt food according to the Malaysia Guidelines. The probability of the instant noodles without mixed flavour (n=324) exceeding the Pacific Salt Reduction Target was tested on univariate and multivariate analysis. Instant noodles with soup, Tom Yam flavour, pork flavour and other flavours were found to be predictors of instant noodles with the tendency to exceed Pacific Salt Reduction Target when compared with instant noodles without mixed flavours (p<0.05). Conclusion Only 62% of instant noodles displayed the salt content on their food label. Salt content in instant noodles is very high, with 90% exceeding the daily salt intake recommended by WHO. Prompt action from regulatory and health authorities is needed to reduce the salt content in instant noodles. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ

Gabriel Triangulations and Angle-Monotone Graphs: Local Routing and Recognition

A geometric graph is angle-monotone if every pair of vertices has a path between them that---after some rotation---is $x$- and $y$-monotone. Angle-monotone graphs are $\sqrt 2$-spanners and they are increasing-chord graphs. Dehkordi, Frati, and Gudmundsson introduced angle-monotone graphs in 2014 and proved that Gabriel triangulations are angle-monotone graphs. We give a polynomial time algorithm to recognize angle-monotone geometric graphs. We prove that every point set has a plane geometric graph that is generalized angle-monotone---specifically, we prove that the half-$\theta_6$-graph is generalized angle-monotone. We give a local routing algorithm for Gabriel triangulations that finds a path from any vertex $s$ to any vertex $t$ whose length is within $1 + \sqrt 2$ times the Euclidean distance from $s$ to $t$. Finally, we prove some lower bounds and limits on local routing algorithms on Gabriel triangulations.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016

Fast Ensemble Smoothing

Smoothing is essential to many oceanographic, meteorological and hydrological applications. The interval smoothing problem updates all desired states within a time interval using all available observations. The fixed-lag smoothing problem updates only a fixed number of states prior to the observation at current time. The fixed-lag smoothing problem is, in general, thought to be computationally faster than a fixed-interval smoother, and can be an appropriate approximation for long interval-smoothing problems. In this paper, we use an ensemble-based approach to fixed-interval and fixed-lag smoothing, and synthesize two algorithms. The first algorithm produces a linear time solution to the interval smoothing problem with a fixed factor, and the second one produces a fixed-lag solution that is independent of the lag length. Identical-twin experiments conducted with the Lorenz-95 model show that for lag lengths approximately equal to the error doubling time, or for long intervals the proposed methods can provide significant computational savings. These results suggest that ensemble methods yield both fixed-interval and fixed-lag smoothing solutions that cost little additional effort over filtering and model propagation, in the sense that in practical ensemble application the additional increment is a small fraction of either filtering or model propagation costs. We also show that fixed-interval smoothing can perform as fast as fixed-lag smoothing and may be advantageous when memory is not an issue

Transplanted Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Reduce Retinal Degeneration in Royal College of Surgeons Rats

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of genetic disorders and a slow loss of vision that is caused by a cascade of retinal degenerative events. We examined whether these retinal degenerative events were reduced after cultured mixtures of adult olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and olfactory nerve fibroblasts (ONFs) were transplanted into the subretinal space of 1-month-old RCS rat, a classic model of RP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The changes in retinal photoreceptors and Müller cells of RCS rats after cell transplantation were observed by the expression of recoverin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), counting peanut agglutinin (PNA)-positive cone outer segments and calculating the relative apoptotic area. The retinal function was also evaluated by Flash electroretinography (ERG). To further investigate the mechanisms, by which OECs/ONFs play important roles in the transplanted retinas, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) secretion of the cultured cells were analyzed by ELISA. The ability of OECs/ONFs to ingest porcine retinal outer segments and the amount of phagocytosis were compared with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. RESULTS: Our research showed that the transplantation of OECs/ONFs mixtures restored recoverin expression, protected retinal outer segments, increased PNA-positive cone outer segments, reduced caspase-positive apoptotic figures, downregulated GFAP, and maintained the b-wave of the ERG. Cultured OECs/ONFs expressed and secreted NGF, BDNF, and bFGF which made contributions to assist survival of the photoreceptors. An in vitro phagocytosis assay showed that OECs, but not ONFs, phagocytosed porcine retinal outer segments, and the phagocytic ability of OECs was even superior to that of RPE cells. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that transplantation of OECs/ONFs cleaned up the accumulated debris in subretinal space, and provided an intrinsic continuous supply of neurotrophic factors. It suggested that transplantation of OECs/ONFs might be a possible future route for protection of the retina and reducing retinal degeneration in RP