Bioinformatics analysis to assess potential risks of allergenicity and toxicity of HRAP and PFLP proteins in genetically modified bananas resistant to Xanthomonas wilt disease

Article purchased; Published online:19 August 2017Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease threatens banana production and food security throughout East Africa. Natural resistance is lacking among common cultivars. Genetically modified (GM) bananas resistant to BXW disease were developed by inserting the hypersensitive response-assisting protein (Hrap) or/and the plant ferredoxin-like protein (Pflp) gene(s) from sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum). Several of these GM banana events showed 100% resistance to BXW disease under field conditions in Uganda. The current study evaluated the potential allergenicity and toxicity of the expressed proteins HRAP and PFLP based on evaluation of published information on the history of safe use of the natural source of the proteins as well as established bioinformatics sequence comparison methods to known allergens (www.AllergenOnline.org and NCBI Protein) and toxins (NCBI Protein). The results did not identify potential risks of allergy and toxicity to either HRAP or PFLP proteins expressed in the GM bananas that might suggest potential health risks to humans. We recognize that additional tests including stability of these proteins in pepsin assay, nutrient analysis and possibly an acute rodent toxicity assay may be required by national regulatory authorities

MODELING OF STATIC MINING SUBSIDENCE IN A NONLINEAR MEDIUM

Applications of the conventional finite element method to problems of mining subsidence can result in excessive expense, particularly when nonlinear constitutive stress/strain relations are used for the geological medium. An alternative finite element method is proposed which captures the essential characteristics of subsidence observed both in more sophisticated finite element programs and in the field. The alternative method treats the overburden with classical beam theory with the inclusion of shearing deformation. The nonlinear axial response of the pillars as well as the nonlinear response of any backfill that may be present is also modelled. Flexural and bending modes of deformation are included for the pillar and backfill media with classical beam theory. Shearing deflections are also included for these structural members. The development of the constitutive relations, the implementation of the constitutive relations in the computer program and the numerical algorithm for the problem solution are presented. An example problem in subsidence is presented to illustrate the potential of the computer program. Computer cost for the example problem clearly demonstrates that the alternative method for analysis of subsidence problems deserves consideration

Controlling banana xanthomonas wilt disease in east Africa

Published online: 18 Aug 202

Mass-losing accretion discs around supermassive black holes

We study the effects of outflow/wind on the gravitational stability of accretion discs around supermassive black holes using a set of analytical steady-state solutions. Mass-loss rate by the outflow from the disc is assumed to be a power-law of the radial distance and the amount of the energy and the angular momentum which are carried away by the wind are parameterized phenomenologically. We show that the mass of the first clumps at the self-gravitating radius linearly decreases with the total mass-loss rate of the outflow. Except for the case of small viscosity and high accretion rate, generally, the self-gravitating radius increases as the amount of mass-loss by the outflow increases. Our solutions show that as more angular momentum is lost by the outflow, then reduction to the mass of the first clumps is more significant.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Latent class analysis variable selection

We propose a method for selecting variables in latent class analysis, which is the most common model-based clustering method for discrete data. The method assesses a variable's usefulness for clustering by comparing two models, given the clustering variables already selected. In one model the variable contributes information about cluster allocation beyond that contained in the already selected variables, and in the other model it does not. A headlong search algorithm is used to explore the model space and select clustering variables. In simulated datasets we found that the method selected the correct clustering variables, and also led to improvements in classification performance and in accuracy of the choice of the number of classes. In two real datasets, our method discovered the same group structure with fewer variables. In a dataset from the International HapMap Project consisting of 639 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 210 members of different groups, our method discovered the same group structure with a much smaller number of SNP

The effect of vehicle on the tissue distribution profiles of radioiodinated cholesterol esters in the rat

Several groups have examined the possible use of radioiodinated cholesterol esters to achieve selective uptake of radioactivity in the adrenal cortex and have obtained variable results. This study indicates that the tissue distribution profile varies not only with the type of ester, but also with the vehicle employed for administration. Radioiodinated 19-iodocholesteryl (125-IC), iodocholesteryl palmitate (125-ICP)and iodocholesteryl oleate (125-ICO) were dissolved in either tween vehicle (saline containing 1.6% tween 80 and 10% ethanol) or myristate vehicle (isopropyl myristate-ethanol, 1:5 v/v) and administered i.v. to rats. Irrespective of the agent, considerably more radioactivity appeared in the target organs when the tween vehicle was employed. When the myristate vehicle was used, higher levels of radioactivity appeared in the lung. This finding suggests precipitation of the agents from the myristate vehicle occurred upon administration. In the tween vehicle, 125-ICO showed almost three times greater predilection for adrenal cortex than 125-ICP with levels of activity approaching those seen for 125-IC. Adrenal activity and adrenal to non-target ratios were sufficient for visualization of the adrenals at 5 days after injection of 125-ICO in the tween vehicle. Lipid extraction and TLC analysis of tissue radioactivity revealed that radioactivity in the adrenal and ovary was predominantly in an esterified form. Further analysis of the esters present after injection of 125-ICP showed these to be a mixture of mono and polyunsaturated esters. The site of hydrolysis and subsequent reesterification is an interesting biochemical aspect that remains to be elucidated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24488/1/0000764.pd

Developmental course of psychopathology in youths with and without intellectual disabilities

Background: We aimed to describe similarities and differences in the developmental course of psychopathology between children with and without intellectual disabilities (ID). Method: Multilevel growth curve analysis was used to analyse the developmental course of psychopathology, using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), in two longitudinal multiple-birth-cohort samples of 6- to 18-year-old children with ID (N=978) and without ID (N=2,047) using three repeated measurements across a 6-year period. Results: Children with ID showed a higher level of problem behaviours across all ages compared to children without ID. A significant difference between the samples in the developmental courses was found for Aggressive Behaviour and Attention Problems, where children with ID showed a significantly larger decrease. Gender differences in the development of psychopathology were similar in both samples, except for Social Problems where males with ID showed a larger decrease in problem behaviour across time than females with ID and males and females without ID. Conclusion: Results indicate that children with ID continue to show a greater risk for psychopathology compared to typically developing children, although this higher risk is less pronounced at age 18 than it is at age 6 for Aggressive Behaviour. Contrary to our expectations, the developmental course of psychopathology in children with ID was quite similar from age 6 to 18 compared to children without ID. The normative developmental trajectories of psychopathology in children with ID, presented here, can serve as a yardstick against which development of childhood psychopathology can be detected as deviant. © 2007 The Authors Journal compilation © 2007 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

The Nakayama automorphism of the almost Calabi-Yau algebras associated to SU(3) modular invariants

We determine the Nakayama automorphism of the almost Calabi-Yau algebra A associated to the braided subfactors or nimrep graphs associated to each SU(3) modular invariant. We use this to determine a resolution of A as an A-A bimodule, which will yield a projective resolution of A.Comment: 46 pages which constitutes the published version, plus an Appendix detailing some long calculations. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1110.454

Hydrodynamic Limit of the Boltzmann Equation with Contact Discontinuities

The hydrodynamic limit for the Boltzmann equation is studied in the case when the limit system, that is, the system of Euler equations contains contact discontinuities. When suitable initial data is chosen to avoid the initial layer, we prove that there exists a unique solution to the Boltzmann equation globally in time for any given Knudsen number. And this family of solutions converge to the local Maxwellian defined by the contact discontinuity of the Euler equations uniformly away from the discontinuity as the Knudsen number $\varepsilon$ tends to zero. The proof is obtained by an appropriately chosen scaling and the energy method through the micro-macro decomposition.Comment: 34 pages. submitte

Complement Split Product C5a Mediates the Lipopolysaccharide‐Induced Mobilization of Cfu‐S and Haemopoietic Progenitor Cells, But Not the Mobilization Induced By Proteolytic Enzymes

Abstract. Intravenous (i.v.) injection of mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the proteolytic enzymes trypsin and proteinase, mobilizes pluripotent haemopoietic stem cells (CFU‐s) as well as granulocyte‐macrophage progenitor cells (GM‐CFU) and the early progenitors of the erythroid lineage (E‐BFU) from the haemopoietic tissues into the peripheral blood. We investigated the involvement of the complement (C) system in this process. It appeared that the early mobilization induced by LPS and other activators of the alternative complement pathway, such as Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) and zymosan, but not that induced by the proteolytic enzymes, was absent in C5‐deficient mice. the mobilization by C activators in these mice could be restored by injection of C5‐sufficient serum, suggesting a critical role for C5. The manner in which C5 was involved in the C activation‐mediated stem cell mobilization was studied using a serum transfer system. C5‐sufficient serum, activated in vitro by incubation with Lm and subsequently liberated from the bacteria, caused mobilization in both C5‐sufficient and C5‐deficient mice. C5‐deficient serum was not able to do so. the resistance of the mobilizing principle to heat treatment (56°C, 30 min) strongly suggests that it is identical with the C5 split product C5a, or an in vivo derivative of C5a. This conclusion was reinforced by the observation that a single injection of purified rat C5a into C5‐deficient mice also induced mobilization of CFU‐s. Copyrigh