1,802 research outputs found
High folic acid consumption leads to pseudo-MTHFR deficiency, altered lipid metabolism, and liver injury in mice.
Increased consumption of folic acid is prevalent, leading to concerns about negative consequences. The effects of folic acid on the liver, the primary organ for folate metabolism, are largely unknown. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) provides methyl donors for S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) synthesis and methylation reactions
The liminality of trajectory shifts in institutional entrepreneurship
In this paper, we develop a process model of trajectory shifts in institutional entrepreneurship. We focus on the liminal periods experienced by institutional entrepreneurs when they, unlike the rest of the organization, recognize limits in the present and seek to shift a familiar past into an unfamiliar and uncertain future. Such periods involve a situation where the new possible future, not yet fully formed, exists side-by-side with established innovation trajectories. Trajectory shifts are moments of truth for institutional entrepreneurs, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms of how entrepreneurs reflectively deal with liminality to conceive and bring forth new innovation trajectories. Our in-depth case study research at CarCorp traces three such mechanisms (reflective dissension, imaginative projection, and eliminatory exploration) and builds the basis for understanding the liminality of trajectory shifts. The paper offers theoretical implications for the institutional entrepreneurship literature
Cell-permeable lanthanide-platinum(iv) anti-cancer prodrugs
Platinum compounds are a vital part of our anti-cancer arsenal, and determining the location and speciation of platinum compounds is crucial. We have synthesised a lanthanide complex bearing a salicylic group (Ln = Gd, Eu) which demonstrates excellent cellular accumulation and minimal cytotoxicity. Derivatisation enabled access to bimetallic lanthanide–platinum(II) and lanthanide–platinum(IV) complexes. Luminescence from the europium–platinum(IV) system was quenched, and reduction to platinum(II) with ascorbic acid resulted in a “switch-on” luminescence enhancement. We used diffusion-based 1H NMR spectroscopic methods to quantify cellular accumulation. The gadolinium–platinum(II) and gadolinium–platinum(IV) complexes demonstrated appreciable cytotoxicity. A longer delay following incubation before cytotoxicity was observed for the gadolinium–platinum(IV) compared to the gadolinium–platinum(II) complex. Functionalisation with octanoate ligands resulted in enhanced cellular accumulation and an even greater latency in cytotoxicity
Application of ecosystem-specific reference databases for increased taxonomic resolution in soil microbial profiling
Intensive agriculture systems have paved the way for a growing human population. However, the abundant use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides may negatively impact nutrient cycles and biodiversity. One potential alternative is to harness beneficial relationships between plants and plant-associated rhizobacteria to increase nutrient-use efficiency and provide pathogen resistance. Plant-associated microbiota profiling can be achieved using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. However, interrogation of these data is limited by confident taxonomic classifications at high taxonomic resolution (genus- or species level) with the commonly applied universal reference databases. High-throughput full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing combined with automated taxonomy assignment (AutoTax) can be used to create amplicon sequence variant resolved ecosystems-specific reference databases that are superior to the traditional universal reference databases. This approach was used here to create a custom reference database for bacteria and archaea based on 987,353 full-length 16S rRNA genes from Askov and Cologne soils. We evaluated the performance of the database using short-read amplicon data and found that it resulted in the increased genus- and species-level classification compared to commonly use universal reference databases. The custom database was utilized to evaluate the ecosystem-specific primer bias and taxonomic resolution of amplicon primers targeting the V5–V7 region of the 16S rRNA gene commonly used within the plant microbiome field. Finally, we demonstrate the benefits of custom ecosystem-specific databases through the analysis of V5–V7 amplicon data to identify new plant-associated microbes for two legumes and two cereal species
Competition-based model of pheromone component ratio detection in the moth
For some moth species, especially those closely interrelated and sympatric, recognizing a specific pheromone component concentration ratio is essential for males to successfully locate conspecific females. We propose and determine the properties of a minimalist competition-based feed-forward neuronal model capable of detecting a certain ratio of pheromone components independently of overall concentration. This model represents an elementary recognition unit for the ratio of binary mixtures which we propose is entirely contained in the macroglomerular complex (MGC) of the male moth. A set of such units, along with projection neurons (PNs), can provide the input to higher brain centres. We found that (1) accuracy is mainly achieved by maintaining a certain ratio of connection strengths between olfactory receptor neurons (ORN) and local neurons (LN), much less by properties of the interconnections between the competing LNs proper. An exception to this rule is that it is beneficial if connections between generalist LNs (i.e. excited by either pheromone component) and specialist LNs (i.e. excited by one component only) have the same strength as the reciprocal specialist to generalist connections. (2) successful ratio recognition is achieved using latency-to-first-spike in the LN populations which, in contrast to expectations with a population rate code, leads to a broadening of responses for higher overall concentrations consistent with experimental observations. (3) when longer durations of the competition between LNs were observed it did not lead to higher recognition accuracy
Modeling Eridani and asteroseismic tests of element diffusion
Taking into account the helium and metal diffusion, we explore the possible
evolutionary status and perform seismic analysis of MOST target: the star
Eridani. We adopt the different input parameters to construct the
models by fitting the available observational constraints: e.g., ,
, , . From computation, we obtain the average large spacings of
Eridani about Hz. The age of the diffused models has
been found to be about 1 Gyr, which is younger than one determined previously
by models without diffusion. We found that the effect of pure helium diffusion
on the internal structure of the young low-mass star is slight, but the metal
diffusion influence is obvious. The metal diffusion leads the models to have
much higher temperature in the radiation interior, correspondingly the higher
sound speed in the interior of the model, thereby the larger frequency and
spacings.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ChjA
Competing magnetic fluctuations and orders in a multiorbital model of doped SrCoAs
We revisit the intriguing magnetic behavior of the paradigmatic itinerant
frustrated magnet , which shows strong and competing
magnetic fluctuations yet does not develop long-range magnetic order. By
calculating the static spin susceptibility within a
realistic sixteen orbital Hubbard-Hund model, we determine the leading
instability to be ferromagnetic (FM). We then explore the effect of doping and
calculate the critical Hubbard interaction strength that is required for
the development of magnetic order. We find that decreases under electron
doping and with increasing Hund's coupling , but increases rapidly under
hole doping. This suggests that magnetic order could possibly emerge under
electron doping but not under hole doping, which agrees with experimental
findings. We map out the leading magnetic instability as a function of doping
and Hund's coupling and find several antiferromagnetic phases in addition to
FM. We also quantify the degree of itinerant frustration in the model and
resolve the contributions of different orbitals to the magnetic susceptibility.
Finally, we discuss the dynamic spin susceptibility, , at finite frequencies, where we recover the anisotropy of the peaks
at and observed by inelastic neutron
scattering that is associated with the phenomenon of itinerant magnetic
frustration. By comparing results between theory and experiment, we conclude
that the essential experimental features of doped SrCoAs are well
captured by a Hubbard-Hund multiorbital model if one considers a small shift of
the chemical potential towards hole doping.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
Ultrasonic Flaw Classification — An Expert System Approach
An expert system, FLEX, for classifying isolated flaws as either crack-like or volumetric has been under development at the Center for NDE, Iowa State University. Previously, we have described the overall design of the system [1], which is composed of two cooperating systems FEAP and FLAP. The feature processing (FEAP) system is designed to extract fundamental features in the ultrasonic signals that are indicative of cracks or volumetric flaws. The flaw processing (FLAP) system then uses the existence (or non-existence) of these features to classify the flaw. FLAP is structured as a classical rule-based expert system and has also been described previously [2]. Here, we will present the major elements of FEAP and the design philosophy that has gone into its construction. A more detailed account of FEAP is given in the thesis of Christensen [3].</p
Diabetes is a Risk Factor for Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Case-Control Study from Mwanza, Tanzania.
Diabetes and TB are associated, and diabetes is increasingly common in low-income countries where tuberculosis (TB) is highly endemic. However, the role of diabetes for TB has not been assessed in populations where HIV is prevalent. A case-control study was conducted in an urban population in Tanzania among culture-confirmed pulmonary TB patients and non-TB neighbourhood controls. Participants were tested for diabetes according to WHO guidelines and serum concentrations of acute phase reactants were measured. The association between diabetes and TB, and the role of HIV as an effect modifier, were examined using logistic regression. Since blood glucose levels increase during the acute phase response, we adjusted for elevated serum acute phase reactants. Among 803 cases and 350 controls the mean (SD) age was 34.8 (11.9) and 33.8 (12.0) years, and the prevalence of diabetes was 16.7% (95% CI: 14.2; 19.4) and 9.4% (6.6; 13.0), respectively. Diabetes was associated with TB (OR 2.2, 95% CI: 1.5; 3.4, p<0.001). However, the association depended on HIV status (interaction, p = 0.01) due to a stronger association among HIV uninfected (OR 4.2, 95% CI: 1.5; 11.6, p = 0.01) compared to HIV infected (OR 0.1, 95% CI: 0.01; 1.8, p = 0.13) after adjusting for age, sex, demographic factors and elevated serum acute phase reactants. Diabetes is a risk factor for TB in HIV uninfected, whereas the association in HIV infected patients needs further study. The increasing diabetes prevalence may be a threat to TB control
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