An investigation of combustion instability in aircraft-engine reheat systems

The principal objective of this study was to examine experimentally the effects of upstream temperature, velocity, gutter blockage, tailpipe length, and main and pilot fuel flows, on the form of combustion instability encountered in aircraft reheat systems which is sometimes referred to as 'buzz'. Tests were carried out at atmospheric pressure for upstream temperatures of between 200 and 500°C, and upstream velocities ranging from 140 to 200 ft/sec. Three values of stabilizer blockage were employed, namely 25, 30 and 35%. The tailpipe length was varied between 9 and 45 inches. Auto-correlation techniques were used in the frequency analysis of the buzz waveforms. It was found that a certain minimum tailpipe length is necessary in order to produce buzz which is then strengthened as the tailpipe length is increased. Buzz also becomes more pronounced with an increase in gas velocity but stabilizer blockage appears to have no discernible effect … [cont.]

Acetylation of the HIV-1 Tat protein by p300 is important for its transcriptional activity.

AbstractThe human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) Tat protein activates transcriptional elongation by recruiting the positive transcription elongation factor (pTEFb) complex to the TAR RNA element, which is located at the 5′ extremity of all viral transcripts [1–3]. Tat also associates in vitro and in vivo with the transcriptional coactivator p300/CBP [4–6]. This association has been proposed to recruit the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity of p300 to the integrated HIV-1 promoter. We have observed that the purified p300 HAT domain acetylates recombinant Tat proteins in vitro and that Tat is acetylated in vivo. The major targets of acetylation by p300 are lysine residues (Lys50 and Lys51) in the arginine-rich motif (ARM) used by Tat to bind RNA and for nuclear import. Mutation of these residues in full-length recombinant Tat blocked its acetylation in vitro. Furthermore, mutation of these lysine residues to arginine markedly decreased the synergistic activation of he HIV promoter by Tat and p300 or by Tat and cyclin T1. These results demonstrate that acetylation of Tat by p300/CBP is important for its transcriptional activation of the HIV promoter

Jardins clonais de café Conilon no Estado do Espírito Santo.

Este trabalho objetiva informar a respeito da metodologia utilizada no Estado do Espírito Santo para viabilizar o acesso dos cafeicultores às novas variedades clonais de café conilon obtidas e recomendadas para cultivo no Estado. Descreve os principais aspectos relacionados à implantação e à correta utilização dos jardins clonais para a produção de mudas das variedades melhoradas de conilon do Incaper. Há atualmente implantados e em operação no estado, conduzidos segundo as recomendações técnicas pertinentes, 99 jardins clonais de café conilon, em 45 municípios, produzindo mudas de variedades clonais melhoradas pelo Incaper. A existência desses jardins clonais distribuídos nas principais regiões produtoras do Espírito Santo garante a possibilidade de produção de mudas das diferentes variedades melhoradas de café conilon aos interessados na renovação do parque cafeeiro da espécie numa taxa superior a 15% ao ano

Cultivo de Coffea Canephora conduzido com arqueamento de plantas jovens em condição de sequeiro e irrigado.

A cafeicultura constitui-se no sustentáculo econômico de 80% dos municípios do Estado do Espírito Santo e responde por 43% do valor bruto da produção agrícola capixaba. O sistema de manejo das lavouras de café conilon vem sendo aprimorados constantemente no Estado. Experiências preliminares realizadas indicam que o arqueamento de plantas jovens mostra comportamento diferenciado quando aplicado a diferentes variedades, em diferentes ambientes, e em lavouras irrigadas e não irrigadas e em plantio em diferentes épocas. Este trabalho objetivou estudar a influencia do sistema de condução de plantas com arqueamento no desempenho produtivo de diferentes genótipos de café conilon (Coffea canephora) cultivados em condição de sequeiro e irrigado. Foram conduzidos quatro experimentos na Fazenda Experimental de Sooretama, implantados em novembro de 2008 no delineamento de blocos ao acaso com treze tratamentos, três repetições e parcelas de 10 plantas, denominados de Arqueado Irrigado, Não Arqueado Irrigado, Arqueado Sequeiro e Não Arqueado Sequeiro. O arqueamento das plantas jovens foi realizado cerca de 60 dias após o plantio em campo. Após a emissão e seleção das novas brotações, as plantas foram conduzidas com quatro hastes ortotrópicas distribuídas em torno do caule. Resultados das analises estatísticas individuas dos quatro experimentos nas quatro colheitas, mostraram não ter havido diferenças significativas entre os genótipos estudados na primeira safra para a característica produtividade de grãos em quaisquer dos sistemas de condução. A partir da segunda colheita, contudo, os genótipos se distribuíram em vários e distintos grupos quanto a produção obtida. Com base na média dos sistemas, verificou-se maior produtividade no sistema arqueado irrigado, seguido do não arqueado irrigado, arqueado sequeiro e não arqueado sequeiro. Os dados conjuntos evidenciaram que a resposta do cafeeiro conilon submetido ao arqueamento das plantas jovens é influenciada pelo material genético e pelo fato da lavoura ser ou não irrigada, sendo que somente alguns poucos genótipos não apresentam comportamento diferenciado. As maiores produtividades médias foram alcançadas em lavouras conduzidas arqueadas e em cultivo irrigado

Coupling models of cattle and farms with models of badgers for predicting the dynamics of bovine tuberculosis (TB)

Bovine TB is a major problem for the agricultural industry in several countries. TB can be contracted and spread by species other than cattle and this can cause a problem for disease control. In the UK and Ireland, badgers are a recognised reservoir of infection and there has been substantial discussion about potential control strategies. We present a coupling of individual based models of bovine TB in badgers and cattle, which aims to capture the key details of the natural history of the disease and of both species at approximately county scale. The model is spatially explicit it follows a very large number of cattle and badgers on a different grid size for each species and includes also winter housing. We show that the model can replicate the reported dynamics of both cattle and badger populations as well as the increasing prevalence of the disease in cattle. Parameter space used as input in simulations was swept out using Latin hypercube sampling and sensitivity analysis to model outputs was conducted using mixed effect models. By exploring a large and computationally intensive parameter space we show that of the available control strategies it is the frequency of TB testing and whether or not winter housing is practised that have the most significant effects on the number of infected cattle, with the effect of winter housing becoming stronger as farm size increases. Whether badgers were culled or not explained about 5%, while the accuracy of the test employed to detect infected cattle explained less than 3% of the variance in the number of infected cattle

Ketone Ester Treatment Improves Cardiac Function and Reduces Pathologic Remodeling in Preclinical Models of Heart Failure

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence suggests that the failing heart reprograms fuel metabolism toward increased utilization of ketone bodies and that increasing cardiac ketone delivery ameliorates cardiac dysfunction. As an initial step toward development of ketone therapies, we investigated the effect of chronic oral ketone ester (KE) supplementation as a prevention or treatment strategy in rodent heart failure models. METHODS: Two independent rodent heart failure models were used for the studies: transverse aortic constriction/myocardial infarction (MI) in mice and post-MI remodeling in rats. Seventy-five mice underwent a prevention treatment strategy with a KE comprised of hexanoyl-hexyl-3-hydroxybutyrate KE (KE-1) diet, and 77 rats were treated in either a prevention or treatment regimen using a commercially available β-hydroxybutyrate-(R)-1,3-butanediol monoester (DeltaG; KE-2) diet. RESULTS: The KE-1 diet in mice elevated β-hydroxybutyrate levels during nocturnal feeding, whereas the KE-2 diet in rats induced ketonemia throughout a 24-hour period. The KE-1 diet preventive strategy attenuated development of left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling post-transverse aortic constriction/MI (left ventricular ejection fraction±SD, 36±8 in vehicle versus 45±11 in KE-1; P=0.016). The KE-2 diet therapeutic approach also attenuated left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling post-MI (left ventricular ejection fraction, 41±11 in MI-vehicle versus 61±7 in MI-KE-2; P<0.001). In addition, ventricular weight, cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area, and the expression of ANP (atrial natriuretic peptide) were significantly attenuated in the KE-2-treated MI group. However, treatment with KE-2 did not influence cardiac fibrosis post-MI. The myocardial expression of the ketone transporter and 2 ketolytic enzymes was significantly increased in rats fed KE-2 diet along with normalization of myocardial ATP levels to sham values. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic oral supplementation with KE was effective in both prevention and treatment of heart failure in 2 preclinical animal models. In addition, our results indicate that treatment with KE reprogrammed the expression of genes involved in ketone body utilization and normalized myocardial ATP production following MI, consistent with provision of an auxiliary fuel. These findings provide rationale for the assessment of KEs as a treatment for patients with heart failure

Histone deacetylases as new therapy targets for platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer

Introduction: In developed countries, ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. Due to the nonspecific symptomatology associated with the disease many patients with ovarian cancer are diagnosed late, which leads to significantly poorer prognosis. Apart from surgery and radiotherapy, a substantial number of ovarian cancer patients will undergo chemotherapy and platinum based agents are the mainstream first-line therapy for this disease. Despite the initial efficacy of these therapies, many women relapse; therefore, strategies for second-line therapies are required. Regulation of DNA transcription is crucial for tumour progression, metastasis and chemoresistance which offers potential for novel drug targets. Methods: We have reviewed the existing literature on the role of histone deacetylases, nuclear enzymes regulating gene transcription. Results and conclusion: Analysis of available data suggests that a signifant proportion of drug resistance stems from abberant gene expression, therefore HDAC inhibitors are amongst the most promising therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Together with genetic testing, they may have a potential to serve as base for patient-adapted therapies

Repressive LTR Nucleosome Positioning by the BAF Complex Is Required for HIV Latency

The SWI/SNF BAF chromatin remodeling complex generates a repressive nucleosome structure at the HIV LTR conducive to establishment and maintenance of HIV latency, while PBAF augments HIV transcription

'ES8161 Goytacá': porta-enxerto clonal de café conilon resistente a nematoide-das-galhas.

O Instituto Capixaba de Pesquisa, Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (Incaper), em parceria com a Embrapa e outras Instituições de Pesquisa, vêm desde 2008 realizando estudos que visam identificar novas cultivares resistentes para atender aos cafeicultores de Conilon que possuem em sua propriedade solos infestados com nematoide-das-galhas

Continuous fungal treatment of non-sterile veterinary hospital effluent: pharmaceuticals removal and microbial community assessment

Source point treatment of effluents with a high load of pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs), such as hospital wastewater, is a matter of discussion among the scientific community. Fungal treatments have been reported to be successful in degrading this type of pollutants and, therefore, the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor was applied for the removal of PhACs from veterinary hospital wastewater. Sixty-six percent removal was achieved in a non-sterile batch bioreactor inoculated with T. versicolor pellets. On the other hand, the study of microbial communities by means of DGGE and phylogenetic analyses led us to identify some microbial interactions and helped us moving to a continuous process. PhAC removal efficiency achieved in the fungal treatment operated in non-sterile continuous mode was 44 % after adjusting the C/N ratio with respect to the previously calculated one for sterile treatments. Fungal and bacterial communities in the continuous bioreactors were monitored as well.Authors want to acknowledge the UAB veterinary hospital staff for their kind permission and help for the samplings. This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER (projects CTM2013-48545-C2 and AIB2010PT-00169) and supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups 2014-SGR-476 and 2014-SGR-291). The Department of Chemical Engineering of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) is a member of the Xarxa de Referencia en Biotecnologia de la Generalitat de Catalunya. M. Badia-Fabregat and D. Lucas acknowledge the predoctoral grants from UAB and from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (AP-2010-4926), respectively. The authors also thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013, Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462 co-funded by Operational Competitiveness Programme, FEDER, and Project "BioEnv-Biotechnology and Bioengineering for a sustainable world," REF. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000048, co-funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER