Biofilter aquaponic system for nutrients removal from fresh market wastewater

Aquaponics is a significant wastewater treatment system which refers to the combination of conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic organism) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. This system has a high ability in removing nutrients compared to conventional methods because it is a natural and environmentally friendly system (aquaponics). The current chapter aimed to review the possible application of aquaponics system to treat fresh market wastewater with the intention to highlight the mechanism of phytoremediation occurs in aquaponic system. The literature revealed that aquaponic system was able to remove nutrients in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus

Cell cycle regulation by the Wee1 Inhibitor PD0166285, Pyrido [2,3-d] pyimidine, in the B16 mouse melanoma cell line

BACKGROUND: Wee1 kinase plays a critical role in maintaining G2 arrest through its inhibitory phosphorylation of cdc2. In previous reports, a pyridopyrimidine molecule PD0166285 was identified to inhibit Wee1 activity at nanomolar concentrations. This G2 checkpoint abrogation by PD0166285 was demonstrated to kill cancer cells, there at a toxic highest dose of 0.5 μM in some cell lines for exposure periods of no longer than 6 hours. The deregulated cell cycle progression may have ultimately damaged the cancer cells. We herein report one of the mechanism by which PD0166285 leads to cell death in the B16 mouse melanoma cell line. METHODS: Tumor cell proliferation was determined by counting cell numbers. Cell cycle distribution was determined by flow cytometry. Morphogenesis analysis such as microtubule stabilization, Wee1 distribution, and cyclin B location were observed by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. An immunoblot analysis of cdc2-Tyr15, cyclin D, E, p16, 21, 27, and Rb. A real-time PCR of the mRNA of cyclin D were completed. RESULTS: In our experiment, B16 cells also dramatically abrogated the G2 checkpoint and were found to arrest in the early G1 phase by treatment with 0.5 μM for 4 hours observed by flow cytometry. Cyclin D mRNA decreased within 4 hours observed by Real-time PCR. Rb was dephosphrylated for 24 hours. However, B16 cells did not undergo cell death after 0.5 μM treatment for 24 hours. Immnofluoscence microscopy showed that the cells become round and small in the morphogenesis. More interesting phenomena were that microtubule stabilization was blocked, and Wee1 distribution was restricted after treatment for 4 hours. CONCLUSION: We analyzed the effect of Wee1 inhibitor PD0166285 described first by Wang in the G2 transition in the B16 melanoma cell line. The inhibitor PD0166285 abrogated G2/M checkpoint inducing early cell division. Moreover, we found that the treatment of cells with the inhibitor is related to microtubule stabilization and decrease in cyclin D transcription. These effects together suggest that Wee1 inhibitor may thus be a potentially useful anti-cancer therapy

Uncovering Suitable Reference Proteins for Expression Studies in Human Adipose Tissue with Relevance to Obesity

Protein expression studies based on the two major intra-abdominal human fat depots, the subcutaneous and the omental fat, can shed light into the mechanisms involved in obesity and its co-morbidities. Here we address, for the first time, the identification and validation of reference proteins for data standardization, which are essential for accurate comparison of protein levels in expression studies based on fat from obese and non-obese individuals.To uncover adipose tissue proteins equally expressed either in omental and subcutaneous fat depots (study 1) or in omental fat from non-obese and obese individuals (study 2), we have reanalyzed our previously published data based on two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis. Twenty-four proteins (12 in study 1 and 12 in study 2) with similar expression levels in all conditions tested were selected and identified by mass spectrometry. Immunoblotting analysis was used to confirm in adipose tissue the expression pattern of the potential reference proteins and three proteins were validated: PARK7, ENOA and FAA. Western Blot analysis was also used to test customary loading control proteins. ENOA, PARK7 and the customary loading control protein Beta-actin showed steady expression profiles in fat from non-obese and obese individuals, whilst FAA maintained steady expression levels across paired omental and subcutaneous fat samples.ENOA, PARK7 and Beta-actin are proper reference standards in obesity studies based on omental fat, whilst FAA is the best loading control for the comparative analysis of omental and subcutaneous adipose tissues either in obese and non-obese subjects. Neither customary loading control proteins GAPDH and TBB5 nor CALX are adequate standards in differential expression studies on adipose tissue. The use of the proposed reference proteins will facilitate the adequate analysis of proteins differentially expressed in the context of obesity, an aim difficult to achieve before this study

Light-emitting diodes by band-structure engineering in van der Waals heterostructures

The advent of graphene and related 2D materials has recently led to a new technology: heterostructures based on these atomically thin crystals.The paradigm proved itself extremely versatile and led to rapid demonstration of tunnelling diodes with negative di�erential resistance tunnelling transistors photovoltaic devices and so on. Here, we take the complexity and functionality of such van der Waals heterostructures to the next level by introducing quantum wells (QWs) engineered with one atomic plane precision. We describe light-emitting diodes (LEDs) made by stacking metallic graphene, insulating hexagonal boron nitride and various semiconducting monolayers into complex but carefully designed sequences. Our first devices already exhibit an extrinsic quantum e�ciency of nearly 10% and the emission can be tuned over a wide range of frequencies by appropriately choosing and combining 2D semiconductors (monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides). By preparing the heterostructures on elastic and transparent substrates, we show that they can also provide the basis for flexible and semi-transparent electronics. The range of functionalities for the demonstrated heterostructures is expected to grow further on increasing the number of available 2D crystals and improving their electronic quality

A Measurement of Rb using a Double Tagging Method

The fraction of Z to bbbar events in hadronic Z decays has been measured by the OPAL experiment using the data collected at LEP between 1992 and 1995. The Z to bbbar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices, and high momentum electrons and muons. Systematic uncertainties were reduced by measuring the b-tagging efficiency using a double tagging technique. Efficiency correlations between opposite hemispheres of an event are small, and are well understood through comparisons between real and simulated data samples. A value of Rb = 0.2178 +- 0.0011 +- 0.0013 was obtained, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The uncertainty on Rc, the fraction of Z to ccbar events in hadronic Z decays, is not included in the errors. The dependence on Rc is Delta(Rb)/Rb = -0.056*Delta(Rc)/Rc where Delta(Rc) is the deviation of Rc from the value 0.172 predicted by the Standard Model. The result for Rb agrees with the value of 0.2155 +- 0.0003 predicted by the Standard Model.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX, 14 eps figures included, submitted to European Physical Journal

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eμ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σtt¯) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σtt¯ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented

Search for TeV-scale gravity signatures in high-mass final states with leptons and jets with the ATLAS detector at sqrt [ s ] = 13TeV

A search for physics beyond the Standard Model, in final states with at least one high transverse momentum charged lepton (electron or muon) and two additional high transverse momentum leptons or jets, is performed using 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 at √s = 13 TeV. The upper end of the distribution of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of leptons and jets is sensitive to the production of high-mass objects. No excess of events beyond Standard Model predictions is observed. Exclusion limits are set for models of microscopic black holes with two to six extra dimensions