Exploitation of Host Polyubiquitination Machinery through Molecular Mimicry by Eukaryotic-Like Bacterial F-Box Effectors

Microbial pathogens have evolved exquisite mechanisms to interfere and intercept host biological processes, often through molecular mimicry of specific host proteins. Ubiquitination is a highly conserved eukaryotic post-translational modification essential in determining protein fate, and is often hijacked by pathogenic bacteria. The conserved SKP1/CUL1/F-box (SCF) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex plays a key role in ubiquitination of proteins in eukaryotic cells. The F-box protein component of the SCF complex provides specificity to ubiquitination by binding to specific cellular proteins, targeting them to be ubiquitinated by the SCF complex. The bacterial pathogens. Legionella pneumophila, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and Ralstonia solanacearum utilize type III or IV translocation systems to inject into the host cell eukaryotic-like F-box effectors that interact with the host SKP1 component of the SCF complex to trigger ubiquitination of specific host cells targets, which is essential to promote proliferation of these pathogens. Our bioinformatic analyses have identified at least 74 genes encoding putative F-box proteins belonging to 22 other bacterial species, including human pathogens, plant pathogens, and amebal endosymbionts. Therefore, subversion of the host ubiquitination machinery by bacterial F-box proteins may be a widespread strategy amongst pathogenic bacteria. The findings that bacterial F-box proteins harbor Ankyrin repeats as protein–protein interaction domains, which are present in F-box proteins of primitive but not higher eukaryotes, suggest acquisition of many bacterial F-box proteins from primitive eukaryotic hosts rather than the mammalian host

Electric Transport Theory of Dirac Fermions in Graphene

Using the self-consistent Born approximation to the Dirac fermions under finite-range impurity scatterings, we show that the current-current correlation function is determined by four-coupled integral equations. This is very different from the case for impurities with short-range potentials. As a test of the present approach, we calculate the electric conductivity in graphene for charged impurities with screened Coulomb potentials. The obtained conductivity at zero temperature varies linearly with the carrier concentration, and the minimum conductivity at zero doping is larger than the existing theoretical predictions, but still smaller than that of the experimental measurement. The overall behavior of the conductivity obtained by the present calculation at room temperature is similar to that at zero temperature except the minimum conductivity is slightly larger.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Severe Pneumomediastinum Complicating EBUS-TBNA

Pneumomediastinum infrequently complicates diagnostic bronchoscopy. Increased airway or alveolar pressure results in air leaks to the mediastinum through existing or induced defects. Excessive cough, recurrent episodes of increased abdominal pressure, vomiting, or sneezing can all induce spontaneous pneumomediastinum. Less commonly it has been documented with lung or neck infections, esophageal or tracheal tears, and rapid increases in altitude such as during plane flights or scuba diving, with mechanical ventilation, substance abuse, and after bronchoscopy. Pneumomediastinum may be, but is not always, associated with pneumothorax

Novel Pharmacological Interventions to Maintain Sinus Rhythm after DC Cardioversion

Despite the availability of potentially curative interventions for atrial fibrillation, there remains an important role for conventional anti-arrhythmic therapy and anti-coagulation combined with direct current cardioversion. Unfortunately, the latter approach is disturbed by high recurrence rates of atrial fibrillation. In recent years, several adjunctive therapies have emerged which may facilitate the maintenance of sinus rhythm. These novel therapies and their potential mechanisms of action are reviewed in this article

The Coincidence Problem in Holographic f(R) Gravity

It is well-known that $f(R)$ gravity models formulated in Einstein conformal frame are equivalent to Einstein gravity together with a minimally coupled scalar field. In this case, the scalar field couples with the matter sector and the coupling term is given by the conformal factor. We apply the holographic principle to such interacting models. In a spatially flat universe, we show that the Einstein frame representation of $f(R)$ models leads to a constant ratio of energy densities of dark matter to dark energy.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Knowledge, attitude and opinion of drug misuse and abuse by pharmacy students: a cross-sectional study in Jordan

Purpose: To assess the knowledge, attitude and opinion of final-year undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy students regarding inappropriate drug use in a university campus, Amman, Jordan.Methods: A cross-sectional survey using a self-completed validated anonymous questionnaire that consisted of two parts was adopted. The first part of the questionnaire pertained to respondents’ demographic details, education level and any experience they might have had with drug misuse or abuse. The second part described students' knowledge, attitude and practice regarding the identification, prevention and management of drug misuse and abuse.Results: A total number of 198 pharmacy students filled the questionnaire (N = 131 undergraduate, and N = 67 postgraduate students). A majority of the students strongly agreed/agreed that all pharmacy staff must be trained on recognizing drug abusers (92.0 %), informed of the kinds of drugs abused in the local area of the pharmacy (93.4 %) and trained on methods of dealing with drug abusers (92.6 %).Conclusion: There is a need to implement a well-structured training on the identification, prevention and management of prescription and OTC drug misuse and abuse in undergraduate pharmacy curricula in Jordan. Modules should be updated regularly and tailored to meet the needs of pharmacy practice

Voice performance analysis using voice codec by packet fragmentation and contention free periods in wireless networks

The admission control is required to maintain the established route between the source and the destination in the wireless network. To maintain the stability of the route, the wireless channel parameters has to be adopted appropriately. Thus, this study analyzes the wireless access medium parameter through direct coordination (DCF) and point-to-point coordination method. The packets are fragmented in DCF and contention free period interval are adjusted to study the QoS parameters for various VOIP codec using OPNET simulation tool. The result shows that packet fragmentation to 256 bytes and contention free period for 20 ms improves QoS for G.729 for Voice traffic

СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ КУРОРТНЫЕ ГОСТИНЦЫ СИРИИ: ХАРАКТЕР АРХИТЕКТУРЫ И ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ ДЛЯ ИННОВАЦИОННОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ

The paper explores conditions and possibilities for innovation activity in the field of architecture of Syrian hotels. A concept of “innovation” applied to architectural activity has been analyzed in the paper. Hitherto there is no unequivocal interpretation of effects due to innovation activity not only in respect of hotel architecture but also in respect of architecture as a whole and it concerns urban planning, climatic and socioeconomic conditions of Syria. Factors determining innovative development represent natural, industrial, scientific and technical, technological and other resources. An effort to avoid outof-date design solutions, requirements in development and growth of economic and social living standards can be considered as a driving force for qualitative development of hotel architecture in the resort areas of Syria. Prior to outbreak hostilities in the country the economic and social living standards have been achieved commonly due to high tourist activity. Naturalclimatic and historical potential of Syria contribute to an increase of tourist flows and quantitative composition of hotels. So the purpose of the paper is to reveal the possibilities for qualitative development of new architecture in respect of resort hotels, as the most required hotels by tourists in Syria. It is an obvious fact that architecture of hotels should not only reflect traditions and culture of the region, but it must be also technically modern in order to satisfy a global principle of sustainable development.В статье исследуется вопрос оценки условий и возможностей для инновационной деятельности в архитектурных решениях гостиниц Сирии. Проведен анализ понятия «инновация» применительно к архитектурной деятельности. До настоящего времени для градостроительных, климатических и социально-экономических условий Сирии нет однозначного толкования эффекта от инновационной деятельности не только применительно к архитектуре гостиниц, но и к архитектуре в целом. Факторы, определяющие инновационное развитие, – это, прежде всего, природные, производственные, научно-технические, технологические и другие ресурсы. Побудителем качественного развития архитектуры гостиниц в курортных зонах Сирии можно считать попытку уйти от устаревших проектных решений, потребность в развитии и росте экономического и социального уровня жизни, который до начала военных действий в стране достигался зачастую благодаря высокой туристической активности. Природно-климатический и исторический потенциал Сирии располагает к увеличению туристического потока и количественного состава гостиниц. Поэтому на данном этапе автор преследует цель выявить возможности для качественного развития новой архитектуры курортных гостиниц как наиболее востребованных среди туристов в Сирии. Несомненно, архитектура гостиниц должна не только отражать традиции и культуру региона, но и быть технически современной, чтобы удовлетворять мировому принципу устойчивого развития

Development of a double-pole double-throw radio frequency micro electro-mechanical systems switch using an ‘S’ shaped pivot

This paper investigates the design of a novel pivot for a seesaw, RF MEMS, double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switch, which has been developed to operate within mobile communication systems and devices. The pivot employs a unique ‘S’ structure at the nano scale, in the form of a, which helps to keep von-Mises stresses below 21 MPa. The pivot requires less pulling force than similar designs due to its flexibility which allows the beam and contacts a greater space of separation while the switch is off. This in turn results in improved contact isolation of greater than −77 dB at 5 GHz. The RF MEMS switch is an improvement over the previously published paper (Al-Amin et al. in International symposium on microelectronics, vol 2013, no 1, pp 000831–000835, 2013. doi:10.1109/ECS.2014.6892558), since the pulling force of the electrostatic plates can be generated with a voltage which is greatly reduced from 14 to 8 V using the same electrostatic plate area size. The switch is a progression from SPST and DPDT seesaw switching since it provides improved flexibility over the previously described devices. With the redesign of the pivot the switch attains a greater ‘air-gap’ between the contacts when open-circuited which therefore allows for improved isolation during the off-state

Poultry and Beef Meat as Potential Seedbeds for Antimicrobial Resistant Enterotoxigenic Bacillus Species: A Materializing Epidemiological and Potential Severe Health Hazard

Although Bacillus cereus is of particular concern in food safety and public health, the role of other Bacillus species was overlooked. Therefore, we investigated the presence of eight enterotoxigenic genes, a hemolytic gene and phenotypic antibiotic resistance profiles of Bacillusspecies in retail meat samples. From 255 samples, 124 Bacillus isolates were recovered, 27 belonged to B. cereusand 97 were non-B. cereus species. Interestingly, the non-B. cereus isolates carried the virulence genes and exhibited phenotypic virulence characteristics as the B. cereus. However, correlation matrix analysis revealed the B. cereus group positively correlates with the presence of the genes hblA, hblC, and plc, and the detection of hemolysis (p \u3c 0.05), while the other Bacillus sp. groups are negatively correlated. Tests for antimicrobial resistance against ten antibiotics revealed extensive drug and multi-drug resistant isolates. Statistical analyses didn’t support a correlation of antibiotic resistance to tested virulence factors suggesting independence of these phenotypic markers and virulence genes. Of special interest was the isolation of Paenibacillus alvei and Geobacillus stearothermophilus from the imported meat samples being the first recorded. The isolation of non-B. cereus species carrying enterotoxigenic genes in meat within Egypt, suggests their impact on food safety and public health and should therefore not be minimised, posing an area that requires further research