Review of Fredric Jameson, The Modernist Papers.

Fredric Jameson, The Modernist Papers. New York: Verso, 2007. 160 pp. ISBN 9781844670963

Review of Fredric Jameson, The Modernist Papers.

Fredric Jameson, The Modernist Papers. New York: Verso, 2007. 160 pp. ISBN 9781844670963

Development of low alcoholic naturally carbonated fermented debittered beverage from grapefruit (Citrus paradisi)

A pure yeast Clavispora lusitaniae, isolated from whey beverage, phenotypically characterized and molecularly characterized by sequencing of D1/D2 domain of 26S rRNA and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region was used to produce low alcoholic naturally carbonated fermented debittered beverage from Grapefruit. C. lusitaniae produces enzyme naringinase. This enzyme is a mixture of ?-L-rhamnosidase and ?-D-glucosidase. The bitter component in citrus fruit, naringin can be hydrolyzed by ?-L-rhamnosidase to rhamnose and prunin then by ?-glucosidase to glucose and naringenin. The freshly prepared fermented Grapefruit beverage had TSS 14 °B, pH 4.7, acidity 0.26%, brix acid ratio 53.85, total sugars 11.6%, reducing sugars 3.34%, ascorbic acid 21.9 mg/100 ml, naringin 643.2 ppm, alcohol 0.00% (v/v), CO2 0.00 bar and total yeast count 5.83 (Log no.of cells/ml). Physico-chemical changes recorded after three months of storage at refrigerated temperature revealed TSS 12.0 °B, pH 4.2, acidity 0.54%, brix acid ratio 22.22, total sugars 8.97%, reducing sugars 1.94%, ascorbic acid 18.45 mg/100 ml, naringin 365.2 ppm, alcohol 0.76 % (v/v), CO2 1.35 bar and total yeast count 8.54 (Log no.of cells/ml). Naturally produced CO2 by C. lusitaniae during fermentation adds effervescence, sparkle, tangy taste to the beverage in addition to its antimicrobial properties. Thus bio-enzymatic debittering by C. lusitaniae may become the new direction of citrus juice processing in the future, due to its economical viability with strong ability to remove the bitter taste from citrus juice beverage

Using intervention mapping to develop a culturally appropriate intervention to prevent childhood obesity: the HAPPY (Healthy and Active Parenting Programme for Early Years) study.

INTRODUCTION: Interventions that make extensive use of theory tend to have larger effects on behaviour. The Intervention Mapping (IM) framework incorporates theory into intervention design, implementation and evaluation, and was applied to the development of a community-based childhood obesity prevention intervention for a multi-ethnic population. METHODS: IM was applied as follows: 1) Needs assessment of the community and culture; consideration of evidence-base, policy and practice; 2) Identification of desired outcomes and change objectives following identification of barriers to behaviour change mapped alongside psychological determinants (e.g. knowledge, self-efficacy, intention); 3) Selection of theory-based methods and practical applications to address barriers to behaviour change (e.g., strategies for responsive feeding); 4) Design of the intervention by developing evidence-based interactive activities and resources (e.g., visual aids to show babies stomach size). The activities were integrated into an existing parenting programme; 5) Adoption and implementation: parenting practitioners were trained by healthcare professionals to deliver the programme within Children Centres. RESULTS: HAPPY (Healthy and Active Parenting Programme for Early Years) is aimed at overweight and obese pregnant women (BMI > 25); consists of 12 × 2.5 hr. sessions (6 ante-natal from 24 weeks; 6 postnatal up to 9 months); it addresses mother's diet and physical activity, breast or bottle feeding, infant diet and parental feeding practices, and infant physical activity. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that IM is a feasible and helpful method for providing an evidence based and theoretical structure to a complex health behaviour change intervention. The next stage will be to assess the impact of the intervention on behaviour change and clinical factors associated with childhood obesity. The HAPPY programme is currently being tested as part of a randomised controlled feasibility trial

Manipulations of egg-gallery length to vary brood density in spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae): Effects on brood survival and quality

Different brood densities were produced under a constant bark surface area of the spruce host, by excising egg-producing female <i>Dendroctonus rufipennis</i> from the host material after they had excavated galleries of specified lengths. This procedure allowed a constant attack density. The numbers of adult progeny produced/cm of egg-gallery were significantly greater from bark slabs with short galleries and low densities: the sizes (pronotal widths) of adult progeny of both sexes were also significantly greater from low than from high densities; and the distribution patterns of chromatin differed significantly among high, medium and low densities

Photoinduced Superconductivity Reconsidered: The Role of Photoconductivity Profile Distortion

We discuss a systematic uncertainty in time-resolved optical conductivity measurements that becomes important at high pump intensities. We show that common optical nonlinearities can distort the photoconductivity depth profile, and by extension distort the photoconductivity spectrum. We show evidence that this distortion is present in existing measurements on K$_{3}$C$_{60}$, and describe how it may create the appearance of photoinduced superconductivity where none exists. Similar errors may emerge in other pump-probe spectroscopy measurements, and we discuss how to correct for them.Comment: Some acknowledgments removed upon reques

Feedback from the heart: emotional learning and memory is controlled by cardiac cycle, interoceptive accuracy and personality

Feedback processing is critical to trial-and-error learning. Here, we examined whether interoceptive signals concerning the state of cardiovascular arousal influence the processing of reinforcing feedback during the learning of ‘emotional’ face-name pairs, with subsequent effects on retrieval. Participants (N = 29) engaged in a learning task of face-name pairs (fearful, neutral, happy faces). Correct and incorrect learning decisions were reinforced by auditory feedback, which was delivered either at cardiac systole (on the heartbeat, when baroreceptors signal the contraction of the heart to the brain), or at diastole (between heartbeats during baroreceptor quiescence). We discovered a cardiac influence on feedback processing that enhanced the learning of fearful faces in people with heightened interoceptive ability. Individuals with enhanced accuracy on a heartbeat counting task learned fearful face-name pairs better when feedback was given at systole than at diastole. This effect was not present for neutral and happy faces. At retrieval, we also observed related effects of personality: First, individuals scoring higher for extraversion showed poorer retrieval accuracy. These individuals additionally manifested lower resting heart rate and lower state anxiety, suggesting that attenuated levels of cardiovascular arousal in extraverts underlies poorer performance. Second, higher extraversion scores predicted higher emotional intensity ratings of fearful faces reinforced at systole. Third, individuals scoring higher for neuroticism showed higher retrieval confidence for fearful faces reinforced at diastole. Our results show that cardiac signals shape feedback processing to influence learning of fearful faces, an effect underpinned by personality differences linked to psychophysiological arousal

Epidemiological surveillance, virulence and public health significance of Listeria spp. from drinking water

Epidemiological surveillance of drinking water from Punjab, India reported occurrence of Listeria spp. in 58.67% of Municipal Corporation (MC), 51.38% submersible pump and 12.5% hand pumps and Escherichia coli in 53.71% of MC, 29.16% submersible pump and none of samples from hand pumps. There was no positive correlation between the simultaneous occurrence of Listeria spp. and E. coli (P < 0.005; R2 = 0.89). Isolates were identified serologically and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using specific primers targeting a 1200 bp fragment of the 16S rRNA gene. All isolates of Listeria spp. were haemolytic on 5% sheep blood agar and positive for congo dye uptake and showed multiple drug resistance, multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) indices of 0.86 (> 0.2). One isolate of Listeria spp. was molecularly identified by sequencing of 16S rRNA gene, and its gene sequence was submitted to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) under accession no. JF798637. Using this isolate, histopathological studies were carried out and It caused significant histopathological and ultrastructural alterations in experimentally infected BALB/c mice. The conventional methods cannot predict the presence of these potentially enteropathogenic microorganisms in drinking water and hence represents a serious public health concern.Key words: Epidemiological, Listeria spp., haemolytic, serologically histopathological, multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR)

Manipulations of egg-gallery length to vary brood density in spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae): Effects on brood survival and quality

Different brood densities were produced under a constant bark surface area of the spruce host, by excising egg-producing female Dendroctonus rufipennis from the host material after they had excavated galleries of specified lengths. This procedure allowed a constant attack density. The numbers of adult progeny produced/cm of egg-gallery were significantly greater from bark slabs with short galleries and low densities: the sizes (pronotal widths) of adult progeny of both sexes were also significantly greater from low than from high densities; and the distribution patterns of chromatin differed significantly among high, medium and low densities

Plum modulates Myoglianin and regulates synaptic function in D. melanogaster

Alterations in the neuromuscular system underlie several neuromuscular diseases and play critical roles in the development of sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function. Mammalian Myostatin (MST) and GDF11, members of the TGF-β superfamily of growth factors, are powerful regulators of muscle size in both model organisms and humans. Myoglianin (MYO), the Drosophila homologue of MST and GDF11, is a strong inhibitor of synaptic function and structure at the neuromuscular junction in flies. Here, we identified Plum, a transmembrane cell surface protein, as a modulator of MYO function in the larval neuromuscular system. Reduction of Plum in the larval body-wall muscles abolishes the previously demonstrated positive effect of attenuated MYO signalling on both muscle size and neuromuscular junction structure and function. In addition, downregulation of Plum on its own results in decreased synaptic strength and body weight, classifying Plum as a (novel) regulator of neuromuscular function and body (muscle) size. These findings offer new insights into possible regulatory mechanisms behind ageing- and disease-related neuromuscular dysfunctions in humans and identify potential targets for therapeutic interventions