Comparative Study on Liver Enzymes Activity and Blood Group Variations

The aim of this study is to determine the activities of some selected liver enzymes amongst apparently healthy subjects of different blood groups. The study involved 95 apparently healthy students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria, between the ages of 18-30, and distributed as follows; blood group O (30), group AB (18), group A (22) and blood group B (25). Blood samples were collected from the antecubital vein and separated to obtain serum. The activities of Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Aspartate amino transferase (AST) and Alanine amino transferase (ALT) in the serum were determined using the spectrophometric method and the results were compared using SPSS (version 15). The results showed that the activities of AST and ALT were not significantly different (p>0.05) among the blood groups. However, the activity of ALP was significantly different (p<0.05) from those of blood group A, AB and O. Based on the findings of this study therefore, ABO blood group variations may have an influence on some liver enzymes activity.Keywords: ABO Blood Groups, Liver enzymes, Liver functio

Coherent Parton Showers with Local Recoils

We outline a new formalism for dipole-type parton showers which maintain exact energy-momentum conservation at each step of the evolution. Particular emphasis is put on the coherence properties, the level at which recoil effects do enter and the role of transverse momentum generation from initial state radiation. The formulated algorithm is shown to correctly incorporate coherence for soft gluon radiation. Furthermore, it is well suited for easing matching to next-to-leading order calculations.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Bounds and optimisation of orbital angular momentum bandwidths within parametric down-conversion systems

The measurement of high-dimensional entangled states of orbital angular momentum prepared by spontaneous parametric down-conversion can be considered in two separate stages: a generation stage and a detection stage. Given a certain number of generated modes, the number of measured modes is determined by the measurement apparatus. We derive a simple relationship between the generation and detection parameters and the number of measured entangled modes.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Standard Model Higgs boson production in association with a top anti-top pair at NLO with parton showering

We present predictions for the production cross section of a Standard Model Higgs boson in association with a top-antitop pair at next-to-leading order accuracy using matrix elements obtained from the HELAC-Oneloop package. The NLO prediction was interfaced to the PYTHIA and HERWIG shower Monte Carlo programs with the help of POWHEG-Box, allowing for decays of massive particles, showering and hadronization, thus leading to final results at the hadron level.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Variation of size-segregated particle number concentrations in wintertime Beijing

The spatial and temporal variability of the number size distribution of aerosol particles is an indicator of the dynamic behavior of Beijing's atmospheric pollution cocktail. This variation reflects the strength of different primary and secondary sources, such as traffic and new particle formation, as well as the main processes affecting the particle population. In this paper, we report size-segregated particle number concentrations observed at a newly developed Beijing station during the winter of 2018. Our measurements covered particle number size distributions over the diameter range of 1.5 nm-1 mu m (cluster mode, nucleation mode, Aitken mode and accumulation mode), thus being descriptive of a major fraction of the processes taking place in the atmosphere of Beijing. Here we focus on explaining the concentration variations in the observed particle modes, by relating them to the potential aerosol sources and sinks, and on understanding the connections between these modes. We considered haze days and new particle formation event days separately. Our results show that during the new particle formation (NPF) event days increases in cluster mode particle number concentration were observed, whereas during the haze days high concentrations of accumulation mode particles were present. There was a tight connection between the cluster mode and nucleation mode on both NPF event and haze days. In addition, we correlated the particle number concentrations in different modes with concentrations of trace gases and other parameters measured at our station. Our results show that the particle number concentration in all the modes correlated with NOx, which reflects the contribution of traffic to the whole submicron size range. We also estimated the contribution of ion-induced nucleation in Beijing, and we found this contribution to be negligible.Peer reviewe

Stakeholder perceptions of the benefits and barriers of implementing environmental management systems in the Nigerian construction industry

© 2016 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press. This study investigates stakeholder opinions of the major benefits and barriers of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) to the Nigerian construction industry, and the perceived issues to EMS adoption among organisations in the industry. The study highlights the environment as an important stakeholder in the industry because it affects and is affected by construction activities on a regular basis. It identifies the importance of ISO 14001 in ensuring adequate consideration for the environment is maintained on construction projects. The research adopts a quantitative approach by analysing responses from an online survey among construction industry professionals in Nigeria. The questions on the survey were drawn from a similar study carried out in Asia and the results were analysed using the Weighted Average and Standard Deviation statistical approach. Results reveal that the major benefits of EMS to the Nigerian construction industry were improved efficiency in waste management and environmental protection, as well as an overall increase in employee motivation due to better opportunities for training and development. Lack of technological support in organisations and the high cost of implementing EMS were viewed as the major barriers towards its uptake in construction companies. The findings also indicate that a feasible EMS implementation strategy must not ignore the unique nature of the Nigerian construction industry, which comprises mostly small and medium enterprises. The study concludes by recommending the use of a waste management plan based on the Reuse-Reduce-Recycle-Recover model and an employee training plan to ensure continuous improvement in the organisation’s environmental management strategy

Atmospheric gaseous hydrochloric and hydrobromic acid in urban Beijing, China : detection, source identification and potential atmospheric impacts

Gaseous hydrochloric (HCl) and hydrobromic acid (HBr) are vital halogen species that play essential roles in tropospheric physicochemical processes. Yet, the majority of the current studies on these halogen species were conducted in marine or coastal areas. Detection and source identification of HCl and HBr in inland urban areas remain scarce, thus limiting the full understanding of halogen chemistry and potential atmospheric impacts in the environments with limited influence from the marine sources. Here, both gaseous HCl and HBr were concurrently measured in urban Beijing, China, during winter and early spring of 2019. We observed significant HCl and HBr concentrations ranging from a minimum value at 1 x 10(8) molecules cm(-3) (4 ppt) and 4 x 10(7) molecules cm 3 (1 ppt) up to 6 x 10(9) molecules cm(-3) (222 ppt) and 1 x 10(9) molecules cm(-3) (37 ppt), respectively. The HCl and HBr concentrations are enhanced along with the increase of atmospheric temperature, UVB and levels of gaseous HNO3. Based on the air mass analysis and high correlations of HCl and HBr with the burning indicators (HCN and HCNO), gaseous HCl and HBr are found to be related to anthropogenic burning aerosols. The gas-particle partitioning may also play a dominant role in the elevated daytime HCl and HBr. During the daytime, the reactions of HCl and HBr with OH radicals lead to significant production of atomic Cl and Br, up to 2 x 10(4) molecules cm(-3) s(-1) and 8 x 10(4) molecules cm(-3) s(-1), respectively. The production rate of atomic Br (via HBr + OH) is 2-3 times higher than that of atomic Cl (via HCl + OH), highlighting the potential importance of bromine chemistry in the urban area. On polluted days, the production rates of atomic Cl and Br are faster than those on clean days. Furthermore, our observations of elevated HCl and HBr may suggest an important recycling pathway of halogen species in inland megacities and may provide a plausible explanation for the widespread halogen chemistry, which could affect the atmospheric oxidation in China.Peer reviewe

Vertical and horizontal distribution of regional new particle formation events in Madrid

The vertical profile of new particle formation (NPF) events was studied by comparing the aerosol size number distributions measured aloft and at surface level in a suburban environment in Madrid, Spain, using airborne instruments. The horizontal distribution and regional impact of the NPF events was investigated with data from three urban, urban background, and suburban stations in the Madrid metropolitan area. Intensive regional NPF episodes followed by particle growth were simultaneously recorded at three stations in and around Madrid during a field campaign in July 2016. The urban stations presented larger formation rates compared to the suburban station. Condensation and coagulation sinks followed a similar evolution at all stations, with higher values at urban stations. However, the total number concentration of particles larger than 2.5 nm was lower at the urban station and peaked around noon, when black carbon (BC) levels are at a minimum. The vertical soundings demonstrated that ultrafine particles (UFPs) are formed exclusively inside the mixed layer. As convection becomes more effective and the mixed layer grows, UFPs are detected at higher levels. The morning soundings revealed the presence of a residual layer in the upper levels in which aged particles (nucleated and grown on previous days) prevail. The particles in this layer also grow in size, with growth rates significantly smaller than those inside the mixed layer. Under conditions with strong enough convection, the soundings revealed homogeneous number size distributions and growth rates at all altitudes, which follow the same evolution at the other stations considered in this study. This indicates that UFPs are detected quasi-homogenously in an area spanning at least 17 km horizontally. The NPF events extend over the full vertical extension of the mixed layer, which can reach as high as 3000 m in the area, according to previous studies. On some days a marked decline in particle size (shrinkage) was observed in the afternoon, associated with a change in air masses. Additionally, a few nocturnal nucleation-mode bursts were observed at the urban stations, for which further research is needed to elucidate their origin.Peer reviewe

Higher order QCD predictions for associated Higgs production with anomalous couplings to gauge bosons

We present predictions for the associated production of a Higgs boson at NLO+PS accuracy, including the effect of anomalous interactions between the Higgs and gauge bosons. We present our results in different frameworks, one in which the interaction vertex between the Higgs boson and Standard Model W and Z bosons is parameterized in terms of general Lorentz structures, and one in which Electroweak symmetry breaking is manifestly linear and the resulting operators arise through a six-dimensional effective field theory framework. We present analytic calculations of the Standard Model and Beyond the Standard Model contributions, and discuss the phenomenological impact of the higher order pieces. Our results are implemented in the NLO Monte Carlo program MCFM, and interfaced to shower Monte Carlos through the Powheg box framework

Molecular epidemiology of pneumococci obtained from Gambian children aged 2–29 months with invasive pneumococcal disease during a trial of a 9-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

BACKGROUND: The study describes the molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive disease in Gambian children METHODS: One hundred and thirty-two S. pneumoniae isolates were recovered from children aged 2-29 months during the course of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine trial conducted in The Gambia of which 131 were characterized by serotyping, antibiotic susceptibility, BOX-PCR and MLST. RESULTS: Twenty-nine different serotypes were identified; serotypes 14, 19A, 12F, 5, 23F, and 1 were common and accounted for 58.3% of all serotypes overall. MLST analysis showed 72 sequence types (STs) of which 46 are novel. eBURST analysis using the stringent 6/7 identical loci definition, grouped the isolates into 17 clonal complexes and 32 singletons. The population structure of the 8 serotype 1 isolates obtained from 4 vaccinated and 2 unvaccinated children were the same (ST 618) except that one (ST3336) of the isolates from an unvaccinated child had a novel ST which is a single locus variant of ST 618. CONCLUSION: We provide the first background data on the genetic structure of S. pneumoniae causing IPD prior to PC7V use in The Gambia. This data will be important for assessing the impact of PC7V in post-vaccine surveillance from The Gambia