Defense secretion of Prorhinotermes simplex: Toxicity to insecticide susceptible and resistant house fly

(E)-1-Nitropentadec-1-ene (NPE), the main component of the defense secretion of Prorhinotermes simplex soldiers, is toxic to both insecticide-susceptible (S) as well as to insecticide-resistant (R) strains of the house fly, Musca domestica. The LD50 is 11.7 mu g/female fly for the S strain and 9.7 mu g for the R strain. The same efficacy of NPE on R and S strains indicates a different mechanism of action compared to conventional chlorinated, organophosphorus, and pyrethroid insecticides. Termite nestmates are protected against NPE by a specific detoxification mechanism, 1-Nitropentadecane, the detoxification product of NPE is nearly nontoxic to house flies, and doses up to 160 mu g/fly caused only very low mortality

Double-exponential decay of orientational correlations in semiflexible polyelectrolytes

In this paper we revisited the problem of persistence length of polyelectrolytes. We performed a series of Molecular Dynamics simulations using the Debye-Hückel approximation for electrostatics to test several equations which go beyond the classical description of Odijk, Skolnick and Fixman (OSF). The data confirm earlier observations that in the limit of large contour separations the decay of orientational correlations can be described by a single-exponential function and the decay length can be described by the OSF relation. However, at short countour separations the behaviour is more complex. Recent equations which introduce more complicated expressions and an additional length scale could describe the results very well on both the short and the long length scale. The equation of Manghi and Netz when used without adjustable parameters could capture the qualitative trend but deviated in a quantitative comparison. Better quantitative agreement within the estimated error could be obtained using three equations with one adjustable parameter: 1) the equation of Manghi and Netz; 2) the equation proposed by us in this paper; 3) the equation proposed by Cannavacciuolo and Pedersen. Two characteristic length scales can be identified in the data: the intrinsic or bare persistence length and the electrostatic persistence length. All three equations use a single parameter to describe a smooth crossover from the short-range behaviour dominated by the intrinsic stiffness of the chain to the long-range OSF-like behaviour

Risk factors for prostate cancer : a case-control study investigating selected key exposures and their interactions with predisposition genes

Prostate cancer is the UK number one male cancer. Evidence from epidemiological studies suggests only age, race and family history as established risk factors. Other factors such as low dose diagnostic radiations and surrogate hormone markers such as baldness, finger length pattern and acne are hypothesized to have a potential role in the aetiology of prostate cancer. It is evident that genetics plays an important role in prostate cancer aetiology. This thesis focuses both environmental and genetic factors. The environmental factors include selected surrogate hormone markers, medical diagnostic radiation procedures and family history of prostate cancer. The genetic part explores genetic polymorphisms that could have implications for interactions with exposures studied. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) involved in mechanistic pathways related to DNA repair genes and potential hormone marker genes were the main targets.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Double-exponential decay of orientational correlations in semiflexible polyelectrolytes

In this paper we revisited the problem of persistence length of polyelectrolytes. We performed a series of Molecular Dynamics simulations using the Debye-Hückel approximation for electrostatics to test several equations which go beyond the classical description of Odijk, Skolnick and Fixman (OSF). The data confirm earlier observations that in the limit of large contour separations the decay of orientational correlations can be described by a single-exponential function and the decay length can be described by the OSF relation. However, at short countour separations the behaviour is more complex. Recent equations which introduce more complicated expressions and an additional length scale could describe the results very well on both the short and the long length scale. The equation of Manghi and Netz when used without adjustable parameters could capture the qualitative trend but deviated in a quantitative comparison. Better quantitative agreement within the estimated error could be obtained using three equations with one adjustable parameter: 1) the equation of Manghi and Netz; 2) the equation proposed by us in this paper; 3) the equation proposed by Cannavacciuolo and Pedersen. Two characteristic length scales can be identified in the data: the intrinsic or bare persistence length and the electrostatic persistence length. All three equations use a single parameter to describe a smooth crossover from the short-range behaviour dominated by the intrinsic stiffness of the chain to the long-range OSF-like behaviour

Improvement of luminescence properties of n-GaN using TEGa precursor

The aim of this work is to compare and improve optical and structural properties of GaN layers prepared using TMGa or TEGa precursors. MOVPE grown GaN buffer layers on sapphire substrates are usually grown from TMGa precursor at the temperatures above 1000 degrees C. These layers contain deep and shallow acceptor levels which are responsible for blue and yellow defect bands in luminescent spectra. Both defect bands are detrimental for all major nitride device applications. Especially n-doped GaN layers suffer from strong yellow defect bands. In this work, it is shown that yellow band photoluminescence intensity can be suppressed by using TEGa precursor during the growth of n-doped GaN layers. Different kinds of growth parameters, such as growth temperature or growth rate, have been studied. It is also shown that the change of carrier gas (H-2 or N-2) has very strong influence on the layer quality. H-2 carrier gas increased intensity of yellow band in sample grown from TEGa precursor while N-2 carrier gas had the same effect for sample grown from TMGa precursor. Variable energy positron annihilation spectroscopy showed creation of single V-Ga in H-2 atmosphere and clustering of V-Ga to big complexes ((V-Ga)(3)(V-N)(n)) in N-2 atmosphere

(E,E)-α-farnesene, an alarm pheromone of the termite Prorhinotermes canalifrons

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe