Relationship Between Cognitive Deficits and Duration of Illness in Early-Phase Schizophrenia

poster abstractSchizophrenia is a chronic and disabling illness in which the etiology is unknown and there is no cure; approximately 1% of people have this disorder that costs an estimated $60 billion annually. The cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia are a major facet of the disease and attribute to dysfunction in areas of attention, memory, and language. The inconsistencies and scarcity of literature examining the relationship between these cognitive deficits and duration of illness indicate need for this type of research. The primary aim of this study is to determine the correlation between cognitive deficits and duration of illness in early-phase schizophrenia. It is hypothesized that cognition and duration are indirectly related; this hypothesis will be tested using baseline cognitive data from A Double-Blind Trial of Adjunctive Valacyclovir to Improve Cognition in Early Phase Schizophrenia. These correlations can ultimately lead to the next step in discovering the cure for schizophrenia

Brain Activation Patterns during Visual Scene Encoding and Recognition fMRI Tasks in Early Phase Psychosis

poster abstractSchizophrenia is a chronic and disabling illness that is associated with significant impairments in areas such as independent living, social functioning, and vocational functioning. Cognitive dysfunction is a core facet of schizophrenia with deficits occurring in areas of abstraction, attention, language, and memory. Episodic memory (EM) is a cognitive domain that has been shown to be impaired in schizophrenia. EM combines event-specific autobiographical experiences and information regarding the context in which events took place. Patients with schizophrenia may exhibit broad impairments in EM, with deficits occurring during encoding and retrieval with both visual and verbal tasks. There are a number of inconsistencies in the EM fMRI literature and indicating a need for first episode psychosis (FEP) versus chronic phase schizophrenia research. FEP have fewer and less severe medical comorbidities, shorter durations of antipsychotic treatment exposure, and lower severity of illness, all of which can impact data interpretation. In this study, brain activation patterns were assessed during performance of visual scene encoding and recognition fMRI tasks in FEP patients and healthy control subjects. It is hypothesized that FEP patients would demonstrate decreased activation during encoding and recognition in the main areas that mediate EM function, namely the hippocampus, prefrontal, and parietal cortices. Within the FEP group correlations can be determined by comparing brain activation patterns with cognition (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia [BACS]) and symptom (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale [PANSS]) outcome measures. Results indicate that during the encoding task FEP exhibited significantly lower activation in the hippocampus and fusiform gyrus when compared to controls. During the recognition task FEP showed a significantly weaker cortical response in the posterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus, and the left middle temporal cortex when compared to controls. These results demonstrate a pattern of alteration in hippocampal, parietal, and temporal activity during EM processes in FEP. Altered hippocampal response in FEP may reflect dysfunctional binding mechanisms and less efficient encoding

Relationships of barley biomass and grain yields to soil properties within a field in the arid region: Use of factor analysis

Understanding the variability of soil properties and their effects on crop yield is a critical component of site-specific management systems. The objective of this study was to employ factor and multiple regression analyses to determine major soil physical and chemical properties that influence barely biomass and grain yield within a field in the arid region of northern Iran. For this purpose, soil samples and crop-yield data were collected from 108 sites, at regular intervals (20 30 m) in a 5.6 ha field. Soil samples were analysed for total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (Pava), available potassium (Kava), cation-exchange capacity(CEC), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), water-stable aggregates (WSA), field capacity volumetric (FC), available water-holding capacity (AWHC), bulk density (BD), and calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE). Results of the factor analysis, followed by regression of biomass and grain yield of barley with soil properties, showed that the regression equations developed accounted for 78 and 73% of the total variance in biomass and grain yield, respectively. Study of covariance analysis among soil variables using factor analysis indicated that some of the variation measured could be grouped to indicate a number of underlying common factors influencing barley biomass and grain yields. These common factors were salinity and sodicity, soil fertility, and water availability. The most effective soil variables to barley production in the study area identified as EC, SAR, pH, TN, Pava, AWHC, and FC. In this study, factor analysis was effective to identify the groups of correlated soil variables that were significantly correlated with the within field variability in the yield of the barley crop. Our results also suggest that the approach can be applied to other crops under similar soil and agroclimatic conditions

The hRPC62 subunit of human RNA polymerase III displays helicase activity.

In Eukaryotes, tRNAs, 5S RNA and U6 RNA are transcribed by RNA polymerase (Pol) III. Human Pol III is composed of 17 subunits. Three specific Pol III subunits form a stable ternary subcomplex (RPC62-RPC39-RPC32α/β) being involved in pre-initiation complex formation. No paralogues for subunits of this subcomplex subunits have been found in Pols I or II, but hRPC62 was shown to be structurally related to the general Pol II transcription factor hTFIIEα. Here we show that these structural homologies extend to functional similarities. hRPC62 as well as hTFIIEα possess intrinsic ATP-dependent 3'-5' DNA unwinding activity. The ATPase activities of both proteins are stimulated by single-stranded DNA. Moreover, the eWH domain of hTFIIEα can replace the first eWH (eWH1) domain of hRPC62 in ATPase and DNA unwinding assays. Our results identify intrinsic enzymatic activities in hRPC62 and hTFIIEα

Contribution à la dépollution des eaux usées de textile par électrocoagulation et par adsorption sur des composés à base de fer et d’aluminium

Les ressources hydriques au monde sont rares et la demande en eau connaît une croissance continue en liaison avec l’évolution démographique et les activités consommatrices en eau, notamment les industries de textiles se voient dans l’obligation de recycler les eaux résiduaires et en particulier celles colorées. Dans ce travail, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’étude de l’élimination des matières organiques et colorantes de deux rejets provenant des industries de textile, un de teinture du tissu de polyester à pH acide et l’autre de teinture du tissu de coton à pH basique. Ces rejets ont été traités de deux manières. La première est par électrocoagulation en utilisant des plaques de fer et/ou d’aluminium. La deuxième est par adsorption sur des composés synthétiques à base de fer et d’aluminium préparés par électrocoagulation. Dans le cas du traitement par le procédé d’électrocoagulation, nous avons constaté que le rendement d’élimination en demande chimique en oxygène (DCO) du rejet de polyester atteint un rendement de DCO de 60% pour un temps de 7 min de réaction. Pour le rejet de coton, le rendement d’élimination, par les plaques de fer/aluminium et l’élimination des matières colorantes, atteint une valeur de 45% en terme de DCO, et ceci en utilisant des plaques d’aluminium seul et de fer/aluminium pour un temps de 12 et 15 min respectivement. Dans le cas du traitement par ajout des coagulants synthétiques préparés au laboratoire, nous pouvons observer que le meilleur rendement d’élimination en DCO du rejet de polyester est obtenu pour une valeur de 48%, pour la faible granulométrie avec une concentration de 5 g/l du composé à base de fer /aluminium. Le rendement d’élimination en DCO du rejet de coton augmente jusqu'à une valeur de 60% avec une concentration de 5 g/l de coagulants appliqués à base d’aluminium seul. Les résultats de la dépollution de ces rejets, ont montré que le rendement d'élimination des matières organiques et colorantes par le procédé d'électrocoagulation est important, et la durée de traitement est courte, mais l'inconvénient de ce procédé c'est la saleté des plaques après chaque utilisation et la fabrication d'une grande quantité des boues par rapport à l’adsorption sur des composés à base de fer /aluminium où on utilise des poudres peu solubles et stables avec un bon rendement d’élimination et faibles quantités de fer et d'aluminium dans le surnageant traité.Keywords: Colorant textile, électrocoagulation, adsorption, dépollution, fer, aluminiu

Assessing Impacts of Land Use Change on Soil Quality Indicators in a Loessial Soil in Golestan Province, Iran

A study was conducted to determine suitable soil properties as soil quality indicators, using factor analysis in order to evaluate the effects of land use change on loessial hillslope soils of the Shastkola District in Golestan Province, northern Iran. To this end, forty surface soil (0-30 cm) samples were collected from four adjacent sites with the following land uses systems: (1) natural forest, (2) cultivated land, (3) land reforested with olive, and (4) land reforested with Cupressus. Fourteen soil chemical, physical, and biological properties were measured. Factor analysis (FA) revealed that mean weight diameter (MWD), water stable aggregates (WSA), soil organic matter (SOM), and total nitrogen (TN) were suitable for assessing the soil quality in the given ecosystem for monitoring the land use change effects. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean comparison showed that there were significant (P< 0.01) differences among the four treatments with regard to SOM, MWD, and sand content. Clearing of the hardwood forest and tillage practices during 40 years led to a decrease in SOM by 71.5%. Cultivation of the deforested land decreased MWD by 52% and increased sand by 252%. The reforestation of degraded land with olive and Cupressus increased SOM by about 49% and 72%, respectively, compared to the cultivated control soil. Reforestation with olive increased MWD by 81% and reforestation with Cupressus increased MWD by 83.6%. The study showed that forest clearing followed by cultivation of the loessial hilly slopes resulted in the decline of the soil quality attributes, while reforestation improved them in the study area

Fear of falling, falls, and gait variability in older community-dwelling individuals: is there an association?

International audienc

Nuclear charge radius of 26m^{26m}Al and its implication for Vud_{ud} in the quark-mixing matrix

Collinear laser spectroscopy was performed on the isomer of the aluminium isotope $^{26m}$Al. The measured isotope shift to $^{27}$Al in the 3s^{2}3p\;^{2}\!P^\circ_{3/2} \rightarrow 3s^{2}4s\;^{2}\!S_{1/2} atomic transition enabled the first experimental determination of the nuclear charge radius of $^{26m}$Al, resulting in $R_c$=\qty{3.130\pm.015}{\femto\meter}. This differs by 4.5 standard deviations from the extrapolated value used to calculate the isospin-symmetry breaking corrections in the superallowed $\beta$ decay of $^{26m}$Al. Its corrected $\mathcal{F}t$ value, important for the estimation of $V_{ud}$ in the CKM matrix, is thus shifted by one standard deviation to \qty{3071.4\pm1.0}{\second}.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

One-pot bio-synthesis: N-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid production by a powerful engineered whole-cell catalyst

Whole cell biocatalysis is an important tool for pharmaceutical intermediates synthesis, although it is hindered by some shortcomings, such as high cost and toxicity of inducer, mass transfer resistance caused by cell membrane and side reactions. Whole-cell catalysis using N-acetyl-d-glucosamine 2-epimerase (EC 5.1.3.8) and N-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) aldolase (EC 4.1.3.3) is a promising approach for the production of Neu5Ac, a potential precursor of many anti-viral drugs. A powerful catalyst was developed by packaging the enzymes in an engineered bacterium and using a safe temperature-induced vector. Since the mass transfer resistance and the side reactions were substantially reduced, a high Neu5Ac amount (191 mM) was achieved. An efficient method was also presented, which allows one-pot synthesis of Neu5Ac with a safe and economic manner. The results highlight the promise of large-scale Neu5Ac synthesis and point at a potential of our approach as a general strategy to improve whole-cell biocatalysis

Evidence of the role of tick subolesin in gene expression

Background: Subolesin is an evolutionary conserved protein that was discovered recently in Ixodes scapularis as a tick protective antigen and has a role in tick blood digestion, reproduction and development. In other organisms, subolesin orthologs may be involved in the control of developmental processes. Because of the profound effect of subolesin knockdown in ticks and other organisms, we hypothesized that subolesin plays a role in gene expression, and therefore affects multiple cellular processes. The objective of this study was to provide evidence for the role of subolesin in gene expression.Results: Two subolesin-interacting proteins were identified and characterized by yeast two-hybrid screen, co-affinity purification and RNA interference (RNAi). The effect of subolesin knockdown on the tick gene expression pattern was characterized by microarray analysis and demonstrated that subolesin RNAi affects the expression of genes involved in multiple cellular pathways. The analysis of subolesin and interacting protein sequences identified regulatory motifs and predicted the presence of conserved protein kinase C (PKC) phosphorylation sites.Conclusion: Collectively, these results provide evidence that subolesin plays a role in gene expression in ticks.Peer reviewedVeterinary PathobiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biolog