Designing an Aspect-Oriented Persistence Layer Supporting Object-Oriented Query Using the .NET Framework 3.5

In this article, we discuss aspect persistence, how it can be implemented in the .NET framework, and how to use the .NET framework to provide object-oriented queries for aspect-oriented persistence layers. The manner in which aspect-orientation can be available in the .NET framework is investigated in the first part of this article. Then the procedure through which adding persistence concepts to the .NET framework as aspects will be explained. In the next step, providing object-oriented querying is discussed, which is the main part of this article. Having object-oriented querying ability helps processes query in the same object-oriented domain in which objects are defined (not in the relation entities' domain). Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is used to provide the ability of querying in an object-oriented manner. Then, the translation of queries from the real objects' domain to the storage-objects' domain is explained. After such translation, the queries can be run by using the existing LINQ providers (for example LINQ to SQL). Finally, translating the result of queries back into the real objects' domain is discussed

Effects of Soluble Soybean Polysaccharides on Properties of Kefir Produced from Cow and Buffalo Milks

 Background and objective: Fermented dairy products are considerably known due to several benefits including high nutritional values, immunity stimulations, antimicrobial and cancer suppressing effects. Kefir is a fermented dairy product with acidic-alcoholic flavors made from various sources of milk with various characteristics. The aim of this study was to investigate impact of soluble soybean polysaccharides on properties of kefir produced from cow and buffalo milk.Materials and methods: Soluble soybean polysaccharides at concentrations of 0 (control), 0.5, 1 and 1.5% (w v-1) were added to kefir samples produced from cow and buffalo milks and the physicochemical, sensory and microbiological characteristics as well as fatty acid profile analysis of the kefir samples were compared during one month of cold storage.Results and conclusion: Results showed that soluble soybean polysaccharides (P≤0.05) had significant effects on kefir properties. By increasing concentration of soluble soybean polysaccharides and storage time of the kefir, some properties including acidity, viscosity, sensory score and counts of the lactic acid bacteria and yeasts were increased. The fatty acid analysis revealed that unsaturated fatty acids of cow and buffalo kefirs were more than cow and buffalo milks while these were reverse for saturated fatty acids. The best microbial and sensory properties of kefir were observed by adding 0.5 to 2% (w v-1) soluble soybean polysaccharides on day 30 of storage.Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

Pharmaco-fMRI Challenges before and after short-term Treatment of Major Depression with Escitalopram, Mirtazapine, Agomelatine or Placebo and the Relation to the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal-Axis Activity

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a chronic stress related disorder characterized by depressed mood, by vegetative and cognitive symptoms. Imaging biomarkers may help to predict the impaired processing and regulation of emotions related to MDD and to antidepressant treatment response. Pharmaco neuroimaging and behavioral studies have shown that antidepressants can affect emotional processing very early after starting the treatment and independently from changes in subjective mood. Moreover, normalization of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation, which is usually disturbed in MDD, is often associated with successful recovery from depression. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between neural activation before and after short term treatment with antidepressants and HPA axis activity in relation to clinical outcome in MDD patients. Methods: We investigated 33 in-patients admitted to the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, for the treatment of MDD. Firstly, we considered the evidence for a cognitive neuropsychological model of antidepressant drug action by employing pharmaco-fMRI (3T) in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled design to investigate the effect of short-term treatment with escitalopram, mirtazapine, agomelatine or placebo on the BOLD signal change in predefined brain regions associated with a visual facial emotional and neutral stimulation task. Additionally, all patients received the same amount of psychotherapeutic support. Results: After one week of short-term treatment we detected a statistically significant reduction in the BOLD % signal change in the bilateral amygdala, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right fusiform gyrus during the presentation of facial emotional and neutral expressions. In a second evaluation, we compared medicated patients with unmedicated (placebo treated) patients. Here we could see significant effects in the described regions but could not detect significant differences between verum and placebo groups. After that, each treatment group was investigated separately and compared together. The results showed again statistically significant effects in the above described regions, but no significant differences between the treatment groups. The clinical outcome after one week of treatment showed a partial recovery of the patients with reduced scores in the Hamilton rating scale for depression together with and correlated with BOLD % signal change in some specific regions. Moreover, the activity of the HPA axis was reduced slightly. In addition, this reduction showed significant correlations with the BOLD % signal change in some of the regions of interest. Discussion: The purpose of this study was to provide a better understanding of the interface between neural systems during antidepressant treatment, the short term effects of antidepressants on emotional processing, to bridge the gap between defined brain regions (amygdala, DLPFC, fusiform gyrus, hippocampus and insula) the fMRI BOLD signal, HPA axis hyperactivity, and the clinical status of major depressed patients. We could show that bilateral amygdala hyperactivities in depressed patients were reduced even after short term treatment. A trend to reduce and normalize also the activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and in the right fusiform gyrus was consistent also with other fMRI studies. In addition, we could demonstrate a probable association between the HPA axis regulation and the activity in the brain regions of interest investigated in our study. We could demonstrate the onset of a normalization of the HPA axis activity, as well as the onset of clinical improvement after one week of treatment, but our study lacked statistic power to differentiate between our four treatment groups. In addition, it is possible that unspecific effects of counseling and the in-patient treatment regimen outweigh any specific pharmacological treatment effects after only one week of antidepressant treatment

Nutritional indices and food utilization of tomato fruit worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on ten tomato cultivars

Nutritional performance of the larval stages (fourth, fifth, and sixth instars) of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on unripe green fruit of ten tomato cultivars, including ‘Aras’, ‘Atrak’, ‘Korall’, ‘Mobil’, ‘Rio Grande Hed’, ‘Sivand’, ‘Super Chief’, ‘Super Mobil’, ‘Super Queen’ and ‘Super Urbana’, was studied at 26±1°C, 60±10% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 L:D. Approximate digestibility values of the fourth instar larvae were highest (98.239±0.026%) and lowest (95.733±0.056%) on ‘Atrak’ and ‘Super Chief’, respectively. Fifth instar larvae fed on ‘Mobil’ showed the highest relative growth rate (RGR) and relative consumption rate (RCR) (0.316±0.038% and 7.369±0.669%, respectively). Approximate digestibility (AD) values of the sixth instar larvae were highest (96.264±0.114%) and lowest (92.349±0.120%) on ‘Super Chief’ and ‘Super Queen’, respectively. The highest ECI and ECD values of total larval instars (4th, 5th and 6th instars) was observed on ‘Rio Grande Hed’ (4.364±0.093% and 4.593±0.105%, respectively) and the lowest of both values was on ‘Super Urbana’ (3.034±0.021% and 3.187±0.022%, respectively).  The results of nutritional indices and the cluster analysis indicated that ‘Sivand’ and ‘Super Queen’ were unsuitable hosts for feeding of H. armigera among tested cultivars

Effect of different tomato cultivars on some biological characteristics of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) under lab conditions

Development, body weight and reproduction of the tomato fruit worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), were studied at 26 ± 1°C; 60 ± 10 % RH and a light: dark cycle of 16:8 h on ten tomato cultivars: ‘Aras’, ‘Atrak’, ‘Korall’, ‘Mobil’, ‘Rio Grande Hed’, ‘Sivand’, ‘Super Chief’, ‘Super Mobil’, ‘Super Queen’ and ‘Super Urbana’ in the laboratory. The shortest larval duration was recorded on ‘Super Chief’ (18.98 ± 0.94 days) while the longest was seen on ‘Super Queen’(22.07 ± 0.32 days). The developmental time of immature stages ranged from 37.62 ± 0.24 days on ‘Super Chief’ to 42.69 ± 0.48 days on ‘Super Queen’. Pupal period ranged from 11.60 ± 0.32 days to 13.19 ± 0.15 days on ‘Aras’ and ‘Super Queen’, respectively.  Maximum pupal weight was 323.67 ± 4.56 mg on ‘Aras’ and was minimum on ‘Super Queen’ (200.83 ± 3.03 mg). The maximum and minimum female longevity was observed on ‘Atrak’ (14.78 ± 0.39 days) and ‘Super Queen’ (12.77 ± 0.86 days), respectively. The life time of males ranged from 7.20 ± 0.20 days on ‘Super Mobil’ to 9.22 ± 0.17 days on ‘Mobil’. The mean number of eggs deposited on different cultivars varied with 360.25 ± 21.15 eggs on ‘Korall’ in 8.83 ± 0.43 days and 160.68 ± 22.37 eggs on ‘Super Queen’ in 8.35 ± 0.44 days. It could be concluded that ‘Korall’, followed by ‘Aras’ and ‘Super Chief’ were suitable and ‘Super Queen’ and ‘Super Urbana’ were unsuitable cultivars for growth and development of H. armigera larvae

On the distance spectrum and distance energy of complement of subgroup graphs of dihedral group

Let G is a connected simple graph and V(G) = {v1, v2, ..., vp} is vertex set of G. The distance matrix of G is a matrix D(G) = [d ij ] of order p where [d ij ] = d(v i , v j ) is distance between v i and v j in G. The set of all eigenvalues of matrix D(G) together with their corresponding multiplicities is named the distance spectrum of G and denoted by spec D (G). The distance energy of G is ${E}_{D}(G)={\sum }_{i=1}^{p}|{\lambda }_{i}|$, where λi are eigenvalues of D(G). In the recent paper, the distance spectrum and distance energy of complement of subgroup graphs of dihedral group are determined