486 research outputs found
Liver-based infant complementary food
Abstract- Weaning of infants involves the gradual introduction of solid foods and fluids along with the usual milk fed in their diet. After around six month of age, it becomes difficult to meet the nutritional requirements from the breast milk alone. This study developed beef liver based infant food as a complementary food for infants and determined its nutrient composition and sensory quality. Addition of liver to the vegetable base-formulation significantly improved the nutrient composition (P < 0.05) and consumer acceptance (P < 0.05) ofthe infant food compared to the treatments formulated with vegetables alone. The results of this study supports the importance of incorporating beef liver in to infant complementary food
Human olfactory mesenchymal stromal cell transplants promote remyelination and earlier improvement in gait co-ordination after spinal cord injury
Autologous cell transplantation is a promising strategy for repair of the injured spinal cord. Here we have studied the repair potential of mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from the human olfactory mucosa after transplantation into a rodent model of incomplete spinal cord injury. Investigation of peripheral type remyelination at the injury site using immunocytochemistry for P0, showed a more extensive distribution in transplanted compared with control animals. In addition to the typical distribution in the dorsal columns (common to all animals), in transplanted animals only, P0 immunolabelling was consistently detected in white matter lateral and ventral to the injury site. Transplanted animals also showed reduced cavitation. Several functional outcome measures including end-point electrophysiological testing of dorsal column conduction and weekly behavioural testing of BBB, weight bearing and pain, showed no difference between transplanted and control animals. However, gait analysis revealed an earlier recovery of co-ordination between forelimb and hindlimb stepping in transplanted animals. This improvement in gait may be associated with the enhanced myelination in ventral and lateral white matter, where fibre tracts important for locomotion reside. Autologous transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells from the olfactory mucosa may therefore be therapeutically beneficial in the treatment of spinal cord injury
Enterprise Architecture Analysis with XML
This paper shows how XML can be used for static and
dynamic analysis of architectures. Our analysis is based
on the distinction between symbolic and semantic models of
architectures. The core of a symbolic model consists of its
signature that specifies symbolically its structural elements
and their relationships. A semantic model is defined as a
formal interpretation of the symbolic model. This provides
a formal approach to the design of architectural description
languages and a general mathematical foundation for
the use of formal methods in enterprise architectures. For
dynamic analysis we define transformations of models of architectures,
modeled in XML, and for this purpose the XML
vocabulary for an architecture is extended with a few constructs
defined in the Rule Markup Language (RML). There
are RML tools available that perform the desired transformations.
1. Introductio
Parasites of South African wildlife. IX. Helminths of kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, in the eastern Cape Province
The helminths of 25 kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, from 3 localities in the eastern Cape Province were collected, counted and identified. The majority of kudu harboured no worms, and the burdens of those infected were small. A race of Cooperia rotundispiculum, a Dictyocaulus sp., a Haemonchus sp., Nematodirus helvetianus and Ostertagia ostertagi were recovered. Two parasites, Nematodirus helvetianus and Ostertagia ostertagi can be added to the list of helminth parasites of kudu in South Africa.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi.
Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.South African Nature Foundation. Foundation for Research Development.mn201
The Future Evolution of White Dwarf Stars Through Baryon Decay and Time Varying Gravitational Constant
Motivated by the possibility that the fundamental ``constants'' of nature
could vary with time, this paper considers the long term evolution of white
dwarf stars under the combined action of proton decay and variations in the
gravitational constant. White dwarfs are thus used as a theoretical laboratory
to study the effects of possible time variations, especially their implications
for the future history of the universe. More specifically, we consider the
gravitational constant to vary according to the parametric relation , where the time scale is the same order as
the proton lifetime. We then study the long term fate and evolution of white
dwarf stars. This treatment begins when proton decay dominates the stellar
luminosity, and ends when the star becomes optically thin to its internal
radiation.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted to Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Serotonin receptor inhibitor is associated with falls independent of frailty in older adults
Objectives: To evaluate whether fall risk in older adults is associated with the use of selective serotonin receptor inhibitor (SSRI) monotherapy among geriatric outpatients, and whether this association is moderated by the presence of depressive disorder and/or frailty. Methods: Prospective cohort study with a 12-month follow-up and including 811 community-dwelling adults aged 60 or older from a university-based Geriatric Outpatient Unit. Major depressive disorder (MDD) was diagnosed according to DSM-5 criteria; subsyndromal depression as not meeting MDD criteria, but a Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item score ? 6 points. Frailty was evaluated with the FRAIL questionnaire. The association between SSRI use, depression, or both as well as the association between SSRI use, frailty, or both with falls were estimated through a generalized estimating equation (GEE) adjusted for relevant confounders. Results: At baseline, 297 patients (36.6%) used a SSRI (82 without remitted depression) and 306 (37.7%) were classified as physically frail. Frailty was more prevalent among SSRI users (44.8% versus 33.7%, p =.004). After 12 months, 179 participants had at least one fall (22.1%). SSRI use, depression as well as frailty were all independently associated with falls during follow-up. Nonetheless, patients with concurrent of SSRI usage and non-remitted depression had no higher risk compared to either remitted SSRI users or depressed patients without SSRIs. In contrast, concurrence of SSRI use and frailty increases the risk of falling substantially above those by SSRI usage or frailty alone. Conclusion: SSRI usage was independently associated with falls. Especially in frail-depressed patients, treatment strategies for depression other than SSRIs should be considered
The Spatial Properties of L- and M-Cone Inputs to Electroretinograms That Reflect Different Types of Post-Receptoral Processing
yesWe studied the spatial arrangement of L- and M-cone driven electroretinograms (ERGs) reflecting
the activity of magno- and parvocellular pathways. L- and M-cone isolating sine
wave stimuli were created with a four primary LED stimulator using triple silent substitution
paradigms. Temporal frequencies were 8 and 12 Hz, to reflect cone opponent activity, and
30, 36 and 48 Hz to reflect luminance activity. The responses were measured for full-field
stimuli and for different circular and annular stimuli. The ERG data confirm the presence of
two different mechanisms at intermediate and high temporal frequencies. The responses
measured at high temporal frequencies strongly depended upon spatial stimulus configuration.
In the full-field conditions, the L-cone driven responses were substantially larger than
the full-field M-cone driven responses and also than the L-cone driven responses with
smaller stimuli. The M-cone driven responses at full-field and with 70° diameter stimuli displayed
similar amplitudes. The L- and M-cone driven responses measured at 8 and 12 Hz
were of similar amplitude and approximately in counter-phase. The amplitudes were constant
for most stimulus configurations. The results indicate that, when the ERG reflects luminance
activity, it is positively correlated with stimulus size. Beyond 35° retinal eccentricity,
the retina mainly contains L-cones. Small stimuli are sufficient to obtain maximal ERGs at
low temporal frequencies where the ERGs are also sensitive to cone-opponent processin
Quantum noise in current biased Josephson junction
Quantum fluctuations in a current biased Josephson junction, described in
terms of the RCSJ-model, are considered. The fluctuations of the voltage and
phase across the junction are assumed to be initiated by equilibrium current
fluctuations in the shunting resistor. This corresponds to low enough
temperatures, when fluctuations of the normal current in the junction itself
can be neglected. We used the quantum Langevin equation in terms of random
variables related to the limit cycle of the nonlinear Josephson oscillator.
This allows to go beyond the perturbation theory and calculate the widths of
the Josephson radiation lines
In Liquid Plasma for Surface Engineering of Cu Electrodes with Incorporated SiO2 Nanoparticles From Micro to Nano
A robust and efficient route to modify the chemical and physical properties of polycrystalline copper Cu wires via versatile plasma electrolysis is presented. Silica SiO2 nanoparticles 11 nm are introduced during the electrolysis to tailor the surface structure of the Cu electrode. The influence of these SiO2 nanoparticles on the structure of the Cu electrodes during plasma electrolysis over a wide array of applied voltages and processing time is investigated systematically. Homogeneously distributed 3D coral like microstructures are observed by scanning electron microscopy on the Cu surface after the in liquid plasma treatment. These 3D microstructures grow with increasing plasma processing time. Interestingly, the microstructured copper electrode is composed of CuO as a thin outer layer and a significant amount of inner Cu2O. Furthermore, the oxide film thickness between 1 and 70 m , the surface morphology, and the chemical composition can be tuned by controlling the plasma parameters. Remarkably, the fabricated microstructures can be transformed to nanospheres assembled in coral like microstructures by a simple electrochemical treatmen
Dynamic modulation of activity in cerebellar nuclei neurons during pavlovian eyeblink conditioning in mice
While research on the cerebellar cortex is crystallizing our understanding of its function in learning behavior, many questions surrounding its downstream targets remain. Here, we evaluate the dynamics of cerebellar interpositus nucleus (IpN) neurons over the course of Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning. A diverse range of learning-induced neuronal responses was observed, including increases and decreases in activity during the generation of conditioned blinks. Trial-bytrial correlational analysis and optogenetic manipulation demonstrate that facilitation in the IpN drives the eyelid movements. Adaptive facilitatory responses are often preceded by acquired transient inhibition of IpN activity that, based on latency and effect, appear to be driven by complex spikes in cerebellar cortical Purkinje cells. Likewise, during reflexive blinks to periocular stimulation, IpN cells show excitation-suppression patterns that suggest a contribution of climbing fibers and their collaterals. These findings highlight the integrative properties of subcortical neurons at the cerebellar output stage mediating conditioned behavior
- …