Effect of Milk Productive Seasons on Prolactin Hormone, Milk Composition and Metabolites in the Blood of Local Cows

أجريت الدراسة في حقول أهلية في محافظة كربلاء المقدسة، لدراسة تأثير مواسم إنتاج الحليب في هرمون الحليب (Prolactin) ومكونات الحليب والمواد الأيضية في الدم للابقار المحلية. شملت الدراسة 24 بقرة حلوب في مواسم الحلب الثاني والثالث والرابع. أظهرت النتائج ان لموسم الحليب تأثيراً معنوياً (p<0.05) في تركيز هرمون الحليب وفي دهن ولاكتوز والمواد الصلبة للحليب . عدم وجود تأثير معنوي لموسم الحليب في تراكيز المواد الأيضية (الكلوكوز والكوليستيرول الكلي والبروتين الكلي). بينت نتائج الدراسة إرتباطاً موجباً وعالي المعنوية (p<0.01) بين هرمون الحليب واللاكتوز وبين اللاكتوز والمواد الصلبة وإرتباطاً موجباً ومعنوياً (p<0.05) بين هرمون الحليب ودهن الحليب والمواد الصلبة اللادهنية . ولوحظ ايضاً إرتباط موجب وعالي المعنوية (p<0.01) بين هرمون الحليب والكوليستيرول الكُلي وإرتباط معنوي  (p<0.05) بين موسم الحليب وهرمون الحليب . نستنتج من هذه الدراسة تأثير موسم الحليب في هرمون الحليب  ووجود إرتباط بين هرمون الحليب ومكونات الحليب والمواد الأيضية في الدمproductive  seasons  on  Prolactin hormone , milk composition and metabolites in the blood of  local cows. The study included 24 dairy cows during the second, third and fourth milk seasons . The results showed that the milk season was a significant effect (p<0.05) on the concentration of the prolactin hormone, fat , lactose and non- fat solids (SNF) of  milk . There was non significant effect of the milk season in metabolic concentrations (glucose, total cholesterol and total protein).               The  results of the study showed a positive correlation between prolactin hormone, lactose and SNF and a significant positive correlation (p<0.01) between prolactin hormone and fat and SNF of milk  and high correlation (p<0.01)  between the milk season and prolactin and significant correlation (p<0.05) between prolactin hormone and total cholesterol. We conclude from this study that the milk season has an effect on milk hormone and a link between milk hormone, milk components and metabolic substances in the blood.                                                                                                       &nbsp

Recent progress on nanomaterial-based membranes for water treatment

Nanomaterials have emerged as the new future generation materials for high-performance water treatment membranes with potential for solving the worldwide water pollution issue. The incorporation of nanomaterials in membranes increases water permeability, mechanical strength, separation efficiency, and reduces fouling of the membrane. Thus, the nanomaterials pave a new pathway for ultra-fast and extremely selective water purification membranes. Membrane enhancements after the inclusion of many nanomaterials, including nanoparticles (NPs), two-dimensional (2-D) layer materials, nanofibers, nanosheets, and other nanocomposite structural materials, are discussed in this review. Furthermore, the applications of these membranes with nanomaterials in water treatment applications, that are vast in number, are highlighted. The goal is to demonstrate the significance of nanomaterials in the membrane industry for water treatment applications. It was found that nanomaterials and nanotechnology offer great potential for the advancement of sustainable water and wastewater treatment.Internal Qatar University grant QUCG-CENG-21/22-4 and Qatar National Research Fund grant NPRP12S-0306-190247.Scopu

Imaging Characteristics of Children With Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

To identify and define the imaging characteristics of children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD)

Coordinated Microanalyses of Seven Particles of Probable Interstellar Origin from the Stardust Mission

Stardust, a NASA Discovery-class mission, was the first sample-return mission to return solid samples from beyond the Moon. Stardust was effectively two missions in one spacecraft: it returned the first materials from a known primitive solar system body, the Jupiter-family comet Wild 2; Stardust also returned a collector that was exposed to the contemporary interstellar dust stream for 200 days during the interplanetary cruise. Both collections present severe technical challenges in sample preparation and in analysis. By far the largest collection is the cometary one: approximately 300 micro g of material was returned from Wild 2, mostly consisting of approx. 1 ng particles embedded in aerogel or captured as residues in craters on aluminum foils. Because of their relatively large size, identification of the impacts of cometary particles in the collection media is straightforward. Reliable techniques have been developed for the extraction of these particles from aerogel. Coordinated analyses are also relatively straightforward, often beginning with synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence (S-XRF), X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectoscopy (XANES) and x-ray diffraction (S-XRD) analyses of particles while still embedded in small extracted wedges of aerogel called ``keystones'', followed by ultramicrotomy and TEM, Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM) and ion microprobe analyses (e.g., Ogliore et al., 2010). Impacts in foils can be readily analyzed by SEM-EDX, and TEM analysis after FIB liftout sample preparation. In contrast, the interstellar dust collection is vastly more challenging. The sample size is approximately six orders of magnitude smaller in total mass. The largest particles are only a few pg in mass, of which there may be only approx.10 in the entire collection. The technical challenges, however, are matched by the scientific importance of the collection. We formed a consortium carry out the Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) to carry out an assessment of this collection, partly in order to characterize the collection in sufficient detail so that future investigators could make well-informed sample requests. The ISPE is the sixth PE on extraterrestrial collections carried out with NASA support. Some of the basic questions that we asked were: how many impacts are there in the collector, and what fraction of them have characteristics consistent with extraterrestrial materials? What is the elemental composition of the rock-forming elements? Is there crystalline material? Are there organics? Here we present coordinated microanalyses of particles captured in aerogel, using S-FTIR, S-XRF, STXM, S-XRD; and coordinated microanalyses of residues in aluminum foil, using SEMEDX, Auger spectroscopy, STEM, and ion microprobe. We discuss a novel approach that we employed for identification of tracks in aerogel, and new sample preparation techniques developed during the ISPE. We have identified seven particles - three in aerogel and four in foils - that are most consistent with an interstellar origin. The seven particles exhibit a large diversity in elemental composition. Dynamical evidence, supported supported by laboratory simulations of interstellar dust impacts in aerogel and foils, and numerical modeling of interstellar dust propagation in the heliosphere, suggests that at least some of the particles have high optical cross-section, perhaps due to an aggregate structure. However, the observations are most consistent with a variety of morphologie

Acoustic emission signal processing framework to identify fracture in aluminum alloys

Acoustic emission (AE) is a common nondestructive evaluation tool that has been used to monitor fracture in materials and structures. The direct connection between AE events and their source, however, is difficult because of material, geometry and sensor contributions to the recorded signals. Moreover, the recorded AE activity is affected by several noise sources which further complicate the identification process. This article uses a combination of in situ experiments inside the scanning electron microscope to observe fracture in an aluminum alloy at the time and scale it occurs and a novel AE signal processing framework to identify characteristics that correlate with fracture events. Specifically, a signal processing method is designed to cluster AE activity based on the selection of a subset of features objectively identified by examining their correlation and variance. The identified clusters are then compared to both mechanical and in situ observed microstructural damage. Results from a set of nanoindentation tests as well as a carefully designed computational model are also presented to validate the conclusions drawn from signal processing

Final Reports of the Stardust ISPE: Seven Probable Interstellar Dust Particles

The Stardust spacecraft carried the first spaceborne collector specifically designed to capture and return a sample of contemporary interstellar dust to terrestrial laboratories for analysis [1]. The collector was exposed to the interstellar dust stream in two periods in 2000 and 2002 with a total exposure of approximately 1.8 10(exp 6) square meters sec. Approximately 85% of the collector consisted of aerogel, and the remainder consisted of Al foils. The Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) was a consortiumbased effort to characterize the collection in sufficient detail to enable future investigators to make informed sample requests. Among the questions to be answered were these: How many impacts are consistent in their characteristics with interstellar dust, with interplanetary dust, and with secondary ejecta from impacts on the spacecraft? Are the materials amorphous or crystalline? Are organics detectable? An additional goal of the ISPE was to develop or refine the techniques for preparation, analysis, and curation of these tiny samples, expected to be approximately 1 picogram or smaller, roughly three orders of magnitude smaller in mass than the samples in other small particle collections in NASA's collections - the cometary samples returned by Stardust, and the collection of Interplanetary Dust Particles collected in the stratosphere

Sexual Plasticity and Self-Fertilization in the Sea Anemone Aiptasia diaphana

Traits that influence reproductive success and contribute to reproductive isolation in animal and plant populations are a central focus of evolutionary biology. In the present study we used an experimental approach to demonstrate the occurrence of environmental effects on sexual and asexual reproduction, and provide evidence for sexual plasticity and inter-clonal fertilization in laboratory-cultured lines of the sea anemone Aiptasia diaphana. We showed that in A. diaphana, both asexual reproduction by pedal laceration, and sexual reproduction have seasonal components. The rate of pedal laceration was ten-fold higher under summer photoperiod and water temperature conditions than under winter conditions. The onset of gametogenesis coincided with the rising water temperatures occurring in spring, and spawning occurred under parameters that emulated summer photoperiod and temperature conditions. In addition, we showed that under laboratory conditions, asexually produced clones derived from a single founder individual exhibit sexual plasticity, resulting in the development of both male and female individuals. Moreover, a single female founder produced not only males and females but also hermaphrodite individuals. We further demonstrated that A. diaphana can fertilize within and between clone lines, producing swimming planula larvae. These diverse reproductive strategies may explain the species success as invader of artificial marine substrates. We suggest that these diverse reproductive strategies, together with their unique evolutionary position, make Aiptasia diaphana an excellent model for studying the evolution of sex

Location-Specific Responses to Thermal Stress in Larvae of the Reef-Building Coral Montastraea faveolata

The potential to adapt to a changing climate depends in part upon the standing genetic variation present in wild populations. In corals, the dispersive larval phase is particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental stress. Larval survival and response to stress during dispersal and settlement will play a key role in the persistence of coral populations.To test the hypothesis that larval transcription profiles reflect location-specific responses to thermal stress, symbiont-free gametes from three to four colonies of the scleractinian coral Montastraea faveolata were collected from Florida and Mexico, fertilized, and raised under mean and elevated (up 1 to 2 degrees C above summer mean) temperatures. These locations have been shown to exchange larvae frequently enough to prevent significant differentiation of neutral loci. Differences among 1,310 unigenes were simultaneously characterized using custom cDNA microarrays, allowing investigation of gene expression patterns among larvae generated from wild populations under stress. Results show both conserved and location-specific variation in key processes including apoptosis, cell structuring, adhesion and development, energy and protein metabolism, and response to stress, in embryos of a reef-building coral.These results provide first insights into location-specific variation in gene expression in the face of gene flow, and support the hypothesis that coral host genomes may house adaptive potential needed to deal with changing environmental conditions