Molecular detection of Edwardsiella tarda with gyrB gene isolated from pirarucu, Arapaima gigas which is exhibited in an indoor private commercial aquarium

The pirarucu, Arapaima gigas, which was displayed in commercial aquarium was found dead and was submitted for diagnostic examination. Bacteria from different organs of the fish were characterized using Vitek System®2 and showed 98% probability to Edwardsiella tarda. Polymerase chain reaction(PCR) result showed positive for E. tarda gyrB gene. The 16S rRNA gene was identical and exhibited 99% sequence similarity with the other known isolates of E. tarda available in the GenBank. This paper reports the isolation and detection of E. tarda with the gyrB gene in pirarucu, A. gigas, which was exhibited in an indoor private commercial aquarium in Seoul, South Korea.Key words: Arapaima gigas, commercial aquarium, Edwardsiella tarda, gyrB gene, pirarucu

Predicting the Next Best View for 3D Mesh Refinement

3D reconstruction is a core task in many applications such as robot navigation or sites inspections. Finding the best poses to capture part of the scene is one of the most challenging topic that goes under the name of Next Best View. Recently, many volumetric methods have been proposed; they choose the Next Best View by reasoning over a 3D voxelized space and by finding which pose minimizes the uncertainty decoded into the voxels. Such methods are effective, but they do not scale well since the underlaying representation requires a huge amount of memory. In this paper we propose a novel mesh-based approach which focuses on the worst reconstructed region of the environment mesh. We define a photo-consistent index to evaluate the 3D mesh accuracy, and an energy function over the worst regions of the mesh which takes into account the mutual parallax with respect to the previous cameras, the angle of incidence of the viewing ray to the surface and the visibility of the region. We test our approach over a well known dataset and achieve state-of-the-art results.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to be published in IAS-1

Identification and “in silico” Structural Analysis of the Glutamine-rich Protein Qrp (YheA) in Staphylococcus Aureus

Background: YlbF and YmcA are two essential proteins for the formation of biofilm, sporulation, and competence in Bacillus subtilis. In these two proteins, a new protein domain called com_ylbF was recently discovered, but its role and protein function has not yet been established. Objective: In this study, we identified and performed an “in silico” structural analysis of the YheA protein, another com_ylbF-containing protein, in the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Methods: The search of the yheA gene was performed using BLAST-P and tBLASn algorithms. The three-dimensional (3D) models of YheA, as well as YlbF and YmcA proteins, were built using the I-TASSER and Quark programs. The identification of the native YheA in Staphylococcus aureus was carried out through chromatography using the FPLC system. Results: We found that YheA protein is more widely distributed in Gram-positive bacteria than YlbF and YmcA. Two new and important characteristics for YheA and other com_ylbF-containing proteins were found: a highly conserved 3D structure and the presence of a putative conserved motif located in the central region of the domain, which could be involved in its function. Additionally, we established that Staphylococcus aureus expresses YheA protein in both planktonic growth and biofilm. Finally, we suggest renaming YheA as glutamine-rich protein (Qrp) in S. aureus. Conclusion: The Grp (YheA), YlbF, and YmcA proteins adopt a highly conserved three-dimensional structure, harboring a protein-specific putative motif within the com_ylbF domain, which possibly favors the interaction with their substrates. Finally, Staphylococcus aureus expresses the Grp (YheA) protein in both planktonic and biofilm growth. </jats:sec

Testing Yukawa-unified SUSY during year 1 of LHC: the role of multiple b-jets, dileptons and missing E_T

We examine the prospects for testing SO(10) Yukawa-unified supersymmetric models during the first year of LHC running at \sqrt{s}= 7 TeV, assuming integrated luminosity values of 0.1 to 1 fb^-1. We consider two cases: the Higgs splitting (HS) and the D-term splitting (DR3) models. Each generically predicts light gluinos and heavy squarks, with an inverted scalar mass hierarchy. We hence expect large rates for gluino pair production followed by decays to final states with large b-jet multiplicity. For 0.2 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity, we find a 5 sigma discovery reach of m(gluino) ~ 400 GeV even if missing transverse energy, E_T^miss, is not a viable cut variable, by examining the multi-b-jet final state. A corroborating signal should stand out in the opposite-sign (OS) dimuon channel in the case of the HS model; the DR3 model will require higher integrated luminosity to yield a signal in the OS dimuon channel. This region may also be probed by the Tevatron with 5-10 fb^-1 of data, if a corresponding search in the multi-b+ E_T^miss channel is performed. With higher integrated luminosities of ~1 fb^-1, using E_T^miss plus a large multiplicity of b-jets, LHC should be able to discover Yukawa-unified SUSY with m(gluino) up to about 630 GeV. Thus, the year 1 LHC reach for Yukawa-unified SUSY should be enough to either claim a discovery of the gluino, or to very nearly rule out this class of models, since higher values of m(gluino) lead to rather poor Yukawa unification.Comment: 32 pages including 31 EPS figure

Safeguarding children in dentistry: 1. Child protection training, experience and practice of dental professionals with an interest in paediatric dentistry

* Few dental professionals with child protection training have experience of making referrals. * There is a wide gap in practice between recognising signs of child abuse and neglect and responding effectively. * This may indicate missed opportunities to save children from continuing abuse. * There is a need for improved child protection information, support and training for dental professionals. Abstract Following several highly publicised inquiries into the deaths of children from abuse and neglect, there has been much recent interest in the role and responsibility of all health professionals to protect children at risk of maltreatment. The findings of a postal questionnaire, sent in March 2005 to 789 dentists and dental care professionals with an interest in paediatric dentistry working in varied settings in the UK, are presented in a two-part report and discussed in the context of current multi-agency good practice in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This first part explores reported child protection training, experience and practice. There was a significant gap between recognising signs of abuse and responding effectively: 67% of respondents had suspected abuse or neglect of a child patient at some time in their career but only 29% had ever made a child protection referral. The dental profession is alerted to the need to ensure necessary appropriate action to safeguard children is always taken when child abuse or neglect are suspected

Mechanical properties of freely suspended semiconducting graphene-like layers based on MoS2

We fabricate freely suspended nanosheets of molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) which are characterized by quantitative optical microscopy and high-resolution friction force microscopy. We study the elastic deformation of freely suspended nanosheets of MoS2 using an atomic force microscope. The Young's modulus and the initial pre-tension of the nanosheets are determined by performing a nanoscopic version of a bending test experiment. MoS2 sheets show high elasticity and an extremely high Young's modulus (0.30 TPa, 50% larger than steel). These results make them a potential alternative to graphene in applications requiring flexible semiconductor materials

Kahler Moduli Inflation Revisited

We perform a detailed numerical analysis of inflationary solutions in Kahler moduli of type IIB flux compactifications. We show that there are inflationary solutions even when all the fields play an important role in the overall shape of the scalar potential. Moreover, there exists a direction of attraction for the inflationary trajectories that correspond to the constant volume direction. This basin of attraction enables the system to have an island of stability in the set of initial conditions. We provide explicit examples of these trajectories, compute the corresponding tilt of the density perturbations power spectrum and show that they provide a robust prediction of n_s approximately 0.96 for 60 e-folds of inflation.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figure

Deletion of parasite immune modulatory sequences combined with immune activating signals enhances vaccine mediated protection against filarial nematodes

&lt;p&gt;Background: Filarial nematodes are tissue-dwelling parasites that can be killed by Th2-driven immune effectors, but that have evolved to withstand immune attack and establish chronic infections by suppressing host immunity. As a consequence, the efficacy of a vaccine against filariasis may depend on its capacity to counter parasite-driven immunomodulation.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Methodology and Principal Findings: We immunised mice with DNA plasmids expressing functionally-inactivated forms of two immunomodulatory molecules expressed by the filarial parasite Litomosoides sigmodontis: the abundant larval transcript-1 (LsALT) and cysteine protease inhibitor-2 (LsCPI). The mutant proteins enhanced antibody and cytokine responses to live parasite challenge, and led to more leukocyte recruitment to the site of infection than their native forms. The immune response was further enhanced when the antigens were targeted to dendritic cells using a single chain Fv-αDEC205 antibody and co-administered with plasmids that enhance T helper 2 immunity (IL-4) and antigen-presenting cell recruitment (Flt3L, MIP-1α). Mice immunised simultaneously against the mutated forms of LsALT and LsCPI eliminated adult parasites faster and consistently reduced peripheral microfilaraemia. A multifactorial analysis of the immune response revealed that protection was strongly correlated with the production of parasite-specific IgG1 and with the numbers of leukocytes present at the site of infection.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Conclusions: We have developed a successful strategy for DNA vaccination against a nematode infection that specifically targets parasite-driven immunosuppression while simultaneously enhancing Th2 immune responses and parasite antigen presentation by dendritic cells.&lt;/p&gt

Perfluoroaryl‐elemental sulfur SNAr chemistry in covalent triazine frameworks with high sulfur contents for lithium–sulfur batteries

In order to address the challenges associated with lithium–sulfur batteries with high energy densities, various approaches, including advanced designs of sulfur composites, electrolyte engineering, and functional separators, are lately introduced. However, most approaches are effective for sulfur cathodes with limited sulfur contents, i.e., <80 wt%, imposing a significant barrier in realizing high energy densities in practical cell settings. Here, elemental sulfur-mediated synthesis of a perfluorinated covalent triazine framework (CTF) and its simultaneous chemical impregnation with elemental sulfur via SNAr chemistry are demonstrated. SNAr chemistry facilitates the dehalogenation and nucleophilic addition reactions of perfluoroaryl units with nucleophilic sulfur chains, achieving a high sulfur content of 86 wt% in the resulting CTF. The given sulfur-impregnated CTF, named SF-CTF, exhibits a specific capacity of 1138.2 mAh g−1 at 0.05C, initial Coulombic efficiency of 93.1%, and capacity retention of 81.6% after 300 cycles, by utilizing homogeneously distributed sulfur within the micropores and nitrogen atoms of triazine units offering high binding affinity toward lithium polysulfides