β-N-methylamino-L-alanine Enhances Neurotoxicity Through Multiple Mechanisms

The idea that the environmental toxin β-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA) is involved in neurodegenerative diseases on Guam has risen and fallen over the years. The theory has gained greater interest with recent reports that BMAA is biomagnified, is widely distributed around the planet, and is present in the brains of Alzheimer\u27s patients in Canada. We provide two important new findings. First, we show that BMAA at concentrations as low as 10 μM can potentiate neuronal injury induced by other insults. This is the first evidence that BMAA at concentrations below the mM range can enhance death of cortical neurons and illustrates potential synergistic effects of environmental toxins with underlying neurological conditions. Second, we show that the mechanism of BMAA toxicity is threefold: it is an agonist for NMDA and mGluR5 receptors, and induces oxidative stress. The results provide further support for the hypothesis that BMAA plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases

Antifungal synergic activity of essential olive oil and alcoholic turmeric extracts against isolates from the dried grapes raisins

Fungi are responsible for a wide variety of harm to humans, including food spoilage and infections. Using chemicals to restrict fungal development or infections has negative repercussions, such as human health dangers from the chemical applications and rising antifungal-drug resistance, so this study aimed to use medicinal plants and their extracts as an alternative method to restrict fungal growth. Ten isolates of the genus Aspergillus were identified from the fruits of dried grapes (raisins) of all kinds (Iraqi black raisins, Iranian yellow raisins, and brown raisins) at the species level using three – differential media: Czapek Yeast Extract Agar( CYA), Malt Extract Agar( MEA), and 25% Glycerol nitrate agar (G25N) incubated in 5, 25 and 37 ºC. Aspergillus niger was the most common isolated species. The number of A. niger isolates reached seven from all types of dried grapes, while A. flavus recorded three isolates from black raisins and brown raisins. Aspergillus Flavus Parasiticus Agar (AFPA) was used to detect the ability of A. flavus isolates to produce aflatoxin at 25-30 ºC for one week. Alcoholic extract of turmeric showed a significant inhibitory effect on the colony diameter of both A. flavus and A. niger isolated from the fruit of Iraqi black raisins with an inhibition rate of 86.6% and 68.8 %, respectively, at 4 mg/ ml concentration. The mixture of turmeric and essential olive oil gave a distinct inhibitory effect, reaching a 100% inhibition rate from the lowest to highest concentration for both A. niger and A. flavus

Sensitive Cloud Point Extraction Methodology for Separation Preconcentration of Co(II) Followed by Spectrophotometric Determination in Different Samples

With application CPE methodology to separation preconcentration and extraction Co2+ion used 2-[4-antybyren zolylazo]-1,2-dihydroxy-9,10-anthracene-dione (AADAD) as complexing agent to form ion pair complex as well as used non-ionic surfactant 1% Tritonx-100 at PH=8 , also this research involved limitation optimum conditions as well as thermodynamic study , Synergism effect and spectrophotometric determination of Co(II) in different samples with detection limit(D.L) =(1.6559×10-5µg.mL-1) and Sandell’s sensitivity =(7.99×10-5mg.cm-2) and ε =(7374.12L.mol-1.cm-1 )and RSD% =(%0.0065). Keywords:Cobalt(II) , Cloud point layer ,TritonX-100

Common evolutionary origin of planktonic and benthic nitrogen-fixing oscillatoriacean cyanobacteria from tropical oceans

The filamentous cyanobacteria belonging to the genus Hydrocoleum (Blennothrix) are among the most common mat-forming cyanobacteria in tropical oceans. We present here the evidence that these benthic cyanobacteria are morphologically and phylogenetically very close to the planktonic species of Trichodesmium. Genetic relationship was established independently with regard to sequences of the 16S rRNA gene, nifH gene, and phycocyanin and phycoerythrin intergenic spacers. The species of both genera formed a common distinct branch in phylogenetically reconstructed cyanobacterial trees, suggesting that the main constituents of cyanobacterial benthos and plankton have an early common origin and both represent major contributors to nitrogen budget of tropical oceans today as in the distant geological past

Non-linear optical and electrical properties of ZnO doped Ni Thin Films obtained using spray ultrasonic technique

In the present study zinc oxide doped Nickel thin films (ZnO:Ni) were deposited on glass substrates using a chemical spray ultrasonic technique. The effect of Ni concentration on the structural, electrical, optical, and non-linear optical (NLO) properties of the ZnO:Ni thin films was investigated. The films were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), profilometry and optical transmittance. A polycrystalline structure with a preferential growth along the ZnO (002) plane was found, the optical transmittance was found to be higher than 80% and the band gap (E(g)) varied from 3.19 to 3.27 eV. The value of the electrical conductivity was found. Moreover, the effective non-linear quadratic and cubic electronic susceptibilities of thin film samples were determined by the SHG and THG techniques, working at 1064 nm. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

On random coincidence points and random best approximation in p-normed spaces

In this paper random coincidence point results are proved for pair of commuting mapping defined on weakly compact separable subset of complete p-normed space. And then , use them to study the random best approximation in p-normed space with separablity condition.Keywords : p-normed space ,random coincidence point ,random best approximation

A comparative study of Forming Limit Diagrams predicted by two different plasticity theories involving vertex effects

The main objective of this contribution is to compare the Forming Limit Diagrams (FLDs) predicted by the use of two different vertex theories. The first theory is micromechanical and is based on the use of the Schmid law, within the framework of crystal plasticity coupled with the Taylor scale-transition scheme. The second theory is phenomenological and is based on the deformation theory of plasticity. For both theories, the mechanical behavior is formulated in the finite strain framework and is assumed to be isotropic and rate-independent. The theoretical framework of these approaches will be presented in details. In the micro-macro modeling, the isotropy is ensured by considering an isotropic initial texture. In the phenomenological modeling, the material parameters are identified on the basis of micro-macro simulations of tensile tests

Design and Investigation of LTE 3GPP Baseband Transceiver Based Fourier Signals for Different Channel Estimation Algorithms in SUI Channels

3GPP LTE is the evolution of the UMTS in response to ever?increasing demands for high quality multimedia services according to users’ expectations. These technologies have been selected for LTE 3GPP. Pilot?assisted channel estimation is a method in which known signals, called pilots, are transmitted along with data to obtain channel knowledge for proper decoding of received signals. This paper refers to channel estimation based on time-domain channel statistics. Using a general  channels model for Stanford University Interim (SUI) Channel Models, the aim of the paper is to find out the most suitable channel estimation algorithms for the existing LTE 3GPP Baseband Transceiver and modified the bit error rate for this system. Starting with the analysis of channel estimation algorithms, we present the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE (and Least Square (LS (estimators and compromising between performances under different SUI channel scenarios. Performance of these algorithms has been measured in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER). The bit error rate for a 16-QAM system is presented by methods of Matlab simulation results. Keywords: LTE 3GPP, MMSE, LS, OFDM, SUI

Generalized β\beta-conformal change and special Finsler spaces

In this paper, we investigate the change of Finslr metrics $$L(x,y) \to\bar{L}(x,y) = f(e^{\sigma(x)}L(x,y),\beta(x,y)),$$ which we refer to as a generalized $\beta$-conformal change. Under this change, we study some special Finsler spaces, namely, quasi C-reducible, semi C-reducible, C-reducible, $C_2$-like, $S_3$-like and $S_4$-like Finsler spaces. We also obtain the transformation of the T-tensor under this change and study some interesting special cases. We then impose a certain condition on the generalized $\beta$-conformal change, which we call the b-condition, and investigate the geometric consequences of such condition. Finally, we give the conditions under which a generalized $\beta$-conformal change is projective and generalize some known results in the literature.Comment: References added, some modifications are performed, LateX file, 24 page