Catalysis by Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfotransferase

ABSTRACT: Cholestero

Semantic argument frequency-based Multi-Document Summarization

Semantic Role Labeling (SRL) aims to identify the constituents of a sentence, together with their roles with respect to the sentence predicates. In this paper, we introduce and assess the idea of using SRL on generic Multi-Document Summarization (MDS). We score sentences according to their inclusion of frequent semantic phrases and form the summary using the top-scored sentences. We compare this method with a term-based sentence scoring approach to investigate the effects of using semantic units instead of single words for sentence scoring. We also integrate our scoring metric as an auxiliary feature to a cutting edge summarizer with the intention of examining its effects on the performance. The experiments using datasets from the Document Understanding Conference (DUC) 2004 show that the SRL-based summarization outperforms the term-based approach as well as most of the DUC participants. © 2009 IEEE

Cardamine Occulta: A New Weed and Alien Plant Species in Banana Production Greenhouses in Türkiye

Banana is a cash crop in Mediterranean Region of Türkiye, which is grown mainly in greenhouses and open fields. In weed flora surveys carried out in 2021 and 2022, an Eastern Asian plant, Cardamine occulta Hornem. (Brassicaceae), was determined first time in 60% of banana greenhouses in Türkiye. The species had been recorded in Europe in the second half of the 20th century, and then spread especially in urban areas of many European countries and Mediterranean Basin, which implies many habitats in Türkiye under the threat of C. occulta . The main diagnostic morphological features and an identification key are presented in comparison with those for allied C. flexuosa With. and C. hirsuta L. An eradication program is suggested because it is not scattered but limited with banana greenhouses in Türkiye

A Performance Analysis on Pressure Loss and Airflow Diffusion in a Chamber with Perforated V-Profile Diffuser Designed for Air Handling Units (AHUs)

Outlet cross-sectional area of fans used in air handling units is smaller than cross-sectional area of chambers which are located next to the fan. In order to ensure efficiently operating of the air handling units, it is required that the air flows through a perforated diffuser to create a uniform air diffusion from fan outlet to following chamber with a minimum pressure loss and uniform velocity distribution. In this concept, numerical simulations and experiments were performed for the chamber with perforated V-profile diffuser, which is often used in air handling units because of its simple geometry and easy manufacturing. Pressure losses were firstly obtained experimentally for different air velocities in the chamber. Then a performance analysis on the air flow diffusion and pressure losses inside chamber with perforated V-profile diffuser for different geometric parameters such as entry length, apex angle, geometry and pattern of hole, plate thickness, porosity and surface roughness has been carried out numerically. It is seen that the experimental results validated with the numerical turbulence model results

Patterns in Age-Seroprevalence Consistent with Acquired Immunity against Trypanosoma brucei in Serengeti Lions

Trypanosomes cause disease in humans and livestock throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Although various species show evidence of clinical tolerance to trypanosomes, until now there has been no evidence of acquired immunity to natural infections. We discovered a distinct peak and decrease in age prevalence of T. brucei s.l. infection in wild African lions that is consistent with being driven by an exposure-dependent increase in cross-immunity following infections with the more genetically diverse species, T. congolense sensu latu. The causative agent of human sleeping sickness, T. brucei rhodesiense, disappears by 6 years of age apparently in response to cross-immunity from other trypanosomes, including the non-pathogenic subspecies, T. brucei brucei. These findings may suggest novel pathways for vaccinations against trypanosomiasis despite the notoriously complex antigenic surface proteins in these parasites

Daptomycin versus vancomycin plus gentamicin for treatment of bacteraemia and endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus: subset analysis of patients infected with methicillin-resistant isolates

Objectives: In a prospective, randomized trial, daptomycin was non-inferior to standard therapy for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and right-sided endocarditis. Since rates of infection due to methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infection are increasing and treatment outcomes for bacteraemia caused by MRSA are generally worse than those observed with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteraemia, clinical characteristics and treatment results in the trial’s pre-specified subset of patients with MRSA were analysed. Methods: Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients receiving daptomycin were compared with those receiving vancomycin plus low-dose gentamicin. Success was defined as clinical improvement with clearance of bacteraemia among patients who completed adequate therapy, received no potentially effective non-study antibiotics and had negative blood cultures 6 weeks after end of therapy. Results: Twenty of the 45 (44.4%) daptomycin patients and 14 of the 43 (32.6%) vancomycin/gentamicin patients were successfully treated (difference 11.9%; confidence interval −8.3 to 32.1). Success rates for daptomycin versus vancomycin/gentamicin were 45% versus 27% in complicated bacteraemia, 60% versus 45% in uncomplicated bacteraemia and 50% versus 50% in right-sided MRSA endocarditis. Cure rates in patients with septic emboli and in patients who received pre-enrolment vancomycin were similar between treatment groups. However, in both treatment groups, success rates were lower in the elderly (≥75 years). Persisting or relapsing bacteraemia occurred in 27% of daptomycin and 21% of vancomycin/gentamicin patients; among these patients, MICs of ≥2 mg/L occurred in five daptomycin and four vancomycin/gentamicin patients. The clinical course of several patients may have been influenced by lack of surgical intervention. Conclusions: Daptomycin was an effective alternative to vancomycin/gentamicin for MRSA bacteraemia or right-sided endocarditis

Infections with Immunogenic Trypanosomes Reduce Tsetse Reproductive Fitness: Potential Impact of Different Parasite Strains on Vector Population Structure

The parasite Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and its insect vector Glossina morsitans morsitans were used to evaluate the effect of parasite clearance (resistance) as well as the cost of midgut infections on tsetse host fitness. Tsetse flies are viviparous and have a low reproductive capacity, giving birth to only 6–8 progeny during their lifetime. Thus, small perturbations to their reproductive fitness can have a major impact on population densities. We measured the fecundity (number of larval progeny deposited) and mortality in parasite-resistant tsetse females and untreated controls and found no differences. There was, however, a typanosome-specific impact on midgut infections. Infections with an immunogenic parasite line that resulted in prolonged activation of the tsetse immune system delayed intrauterine larval development resulting in the production of fewer progeny over the fly's lifetime. In contrast, parasitism with a second line that failed to activate the immune system did not impose a fecundity cost. Coinfections favored the establishment of the immunogenic parasites in the midgut. We show that a decrease in the synthesis of Glossina Milk gland protein (GmmMgp), a major female accessory gland protein associated with larvagenesis, likely contributed to the reproductive lag observed in infected flies. Mathematical analysis of our empirical results indicated that infection with the immunogenic trypanosomes reduced tsetse fecundity by 30% relative to infections with the non-immunogenic strain. We estimate that a moderate infection prevalence of about 26% with immunogenic parasites has the potential to reduce tsetse populations. Potential repercussions for vector population growth, parasite–host coevolution, and disease prevalence are discussed