Toxicological Effects of Ricinus communis Seed Oil on Hepatic and Ovarian Architecture of Female Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) Broodstock

This study focuses to evaluate the toxicological effects of phytochemical constituents of seed oil extract of Ricinus communis on Nile tilapia. Phytochemical constituents of oil extracted from the seed of mature Ricinus communis plants were screened. Sexually mature female Nile tilapia were oral gavage the seed oil at sub-lethal doses of 1,000mg/kg, 1250mg/kg and 1,500mg/kg body weight and observed for 72 hours post-treatment. Each treatment group was replicated three times. Histological microtome sectioning and staining was carried out to aid microscopic examination of hepatic and ovarian tissues. Increase in the number of rodlet cells and distortion of the vein walls in the fish hepatic tissues were observed with increase in the sublethal concentrations of the seed oil extract, while mild to severe necrosis and granulation of the interstitial tissues were observed in the ovarian tissues as the concentration of the seed oil extract increased from 1000 to 1,500mg/kg. Changes in the liver’s histology revealed mild sub-lethal toxicity effect of R. communis seed oil at moderate level of inclusions. Severe alterations in the ovarian architecture probably denote the antifertility potency of R. communis seed oil linked to the presence of steroids

Antibacterial activities of ethanol leaf and bark extracts of Terminalia avicennioides against methicillin resistant Staphyloccocus aureus

The study was undertaken with the aim to determine the Antibacterial activities of ethanol leaf and bark extracts of Terminalia avicennioides against Methicillin resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (MRSA). Air-dried leaves and barks of Terminalia avicennioides, were powdered and each extracted with 70% ethanol by cold maceration method. Each extract was screened for the presence of some secondary metabolites using qualitative methods. MRSA clinical isolates from infected wounds of patients were reconfirmed using standard microbiological methods. The antibacterial activities of extracts against bacteria were determined by agar well diffusion and broth dilution methods. The results of phytochemical screening of extracts revealed the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, triterpens, glycosides and phenols. All the extracts exhibited significant inhibitory effects (P < 0.05) against isolates of bacteria at varied concentrations of 100, 50, 25 and 12.5 and 6.25mg/mL and the activity of each extract was found to be concentration dependent. The mean zone of inhibition of the leaf extract against bacteria ranged between 12.52 ± 1.86 mm -17.12 ± 1.89 mm while the mean zone of inhibition of the bark extract ranged between 10.26 ± 1.37 mm - 14.45 ± 1.47 mm. The leaf extract was more effective with MIC and MBC of 6.25mg/mL and 25mg/mL. The results of this study show that the leaf and bark extracts of T. avicennioides contain compounds with antibacterial activities against MRSA which provide basis for further studies to isolate, identify and standardize the active compounds for drug developmen

Development and preliminary testing of the Dutch version of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®)

The content of interventions targeting social behavior is sensitive to cultural differences in etiquette and societal customs. Here we describe (1) the process of linguistic and cultural adaptation of the PEERS® social skills program to the Dutch language and culture, and (2) the results from a preliminary adaptation test among 32 adolescents (12–18 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although some important cultural adaptations were made, the similarities in effective social behaviors across cultures were most striking. At post-test, autistic adolescents significantly improved their social skills knowledge. In addition, parent-reported and self-reported social engagement (hosted get-togethers) increased. Also, social skill impairment decreased according to parent-reports. Of the 32 adolescents who completed the program, 31% (n = 10) achieved a clinically significant change on the SRS-2 (ΔSRS-2 > 11.12). Future research examining the effectiveness of the Dutch version of PEERS® should include a larger randomized controlled trial, for which we provide several methodological considerations

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for black holes and other new phenomena in high-multiplicity final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for high-mass diphoton resonances in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV and combination with 8 TeV search

Peer reviewe

Search for heavy resonances decaying into a vector boson and a Higgs boson in final states with charged leptons, neutrinos, and b quarks

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons in PbPb collisions at √S^{S}NN = 5.02 TeV

The second-order Fourier coefficients (υ$_{2}$) characterizing the azimuthal distributions of Υ(1S) and Υ(2S) mesons produced in PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are studied. The Υmesons are reconstructed in their dimuon decay channel, as measured by the CMS detector. The collected data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb$^{-1}$. The scalar product method is used to extract the υ$_{2}$ coefficients of the azimuthal distributions. Results are reported for the rapidity range |y| < 2.4, in the transverse momentum interval 0 < p$_{T}$ < 50 GeV/c, and in three centrality ranges of 10–30%, 30–50% and 50–90%. In contrast to the J/ψ mesons, the measured υ$_{2}$ values for the Υ mesons are found to be consistent with zero

Performance of reconstruction and identification of τ leptons decaying to hadrons and vτ in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV

The algorithm developed by the CMS Collaboration to reconstruct and identify τ leptons produced in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 and 8 TeV, via their decays to hadrons and a neutrino, has been significantly improved. The changes include a revised reconstruction of π⁰ candidates, and improvements in multivariate discriminants to separate τ leptons from jets and electrons. The algorithm is extended to reconstruct τ leptons in highly Lorentz-boosted pair production, and in the high-level trigger. The performance of the algorithm is studied using proton-proton collisions recorded during 2016 at √s=13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb¯¹. The performance is evaluated in terms of the efficiency for a genuine τ lepton to pass the identification criteria and of the probabilities for jets, electrons, and muons to be misidentified as τ leptons. The results are found to be very close to those expected from Monte Carlo simulation