Adhesion Properties Of Bifidobacterium Pseudocatenulatum G4 To Ht-29 Epithelium Cell Line

Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum G4 has been recently identified as a safe probiotic for incorporation into functional food for human consumption. Preliminary investigations showed that the probiotic candidate B. pseudocatenulatum G4 strain possesses the required criteria for a being successful probiotic microorganism. Further enhancement of these criteria was undertaken by studying the adherence and inhibition properties potential of this probiotic candidate. Human colon carcinoma epithelium cell line HT-29 was used to evaluate the adherence of B. pseudocatenulatum G4, in simulated environmental factors of the colon, namely pH, calcium ions, and cholic acid. The effect of this strain on enhancing intestinal tract resistance to pathogenic Escherichia coli and Clostridium infections was examined. Three different assays were used in order to differentiate between the competition, exclusion, and displacement of the pathogens by B. pseudocatenulatum G4. The adherence ability of B. pseudocatenulatum G4 to HT-29 cell line was investigated as in vitro model. In addition the morphology observation of the organism was done by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of human colon environmental factors on the adhesion quality was studied. The results showed that the highest adhesion was in the ascending and transverse acidic regions of the colon. Calcium was shown to increase, while cholic acid was shown to decrease the adhesion of B. pseudocatenulatum G4 to HT-29. The inhibitory effect of B. pseudocatenulatum G4 on the adherence of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Clostridium scindens and Clostridium hiranonis was demonstrated. A decrease in the number of adhering pathogens was observed

Investigation of Lethal And Sub-Lethal Effects of Common Insecticides, Fipronil and Imidacloprid, on Juvenile Brown Shrimp, Farfantepenaeus aztecus, and White Shrimp, Litopenaeus setiferus

Chemical pesticides are widely used around the world, but at the same time, they may pose direct or indirect risks to many non-target organisms. Recent increased use of insecticides in coastal areas to control invasive species raises concern that insecticides may affect ecologically and/or commercially important species found in estuaries. In this study, a series of laboratory experiments was conducted to evaluate short-term (lethal) and long-term (sub-lethal) effects of fipronil and imidacloprid on juveniles of brown shrimp and white shrimp. Various concentrations of fipronil and imidacloprid in each experiment were used. The concentrations were determined based on previously observed concentrations in the aquatic environment by other researchers. In the first experiment, five nominal concentrations of fipronil (0.1, 1.0, 3.0, 6.4, and 10.0 μg/L) were used; whereas, in the second and third experiments, lower concentrations of fipronil (0.005, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, and 3.0 μg/L) and five nominal concentrations of imidacloprid (0.5, 1.0, 15.0, 34.5, 320.0 μg/L) were used. The endpoints of the studies were survivorship, the nominal median lethal concentration (LC50), the nominal median lethal time (LT50), development (weight gain and inter-molt intervals), behavioral and physical changes, and whole-body chemical composition. The main results were as following: (1) Both insecticides affected brown shrimp and white shrimp growth, survival, body composition, body color, and behavior in a concentration-dependent manner; (2) Brown shrimp juveniles were more sensitive to fipronil exposure than white shrimp, with 96-hour LC50 = 0.12 μg/L, which makes brown shrimp one of the most sensitive invertebrates to fipronil studied so far; (3) Under their environmental concentrations, fipronil showed higher impact on juvenile brown shrimp compared with imidacloprid; (4) Fipronil and imidacloprid caused noticeable sub-lethal effects to brown shrimp and white shrimp at concentrations lower than their chronic levels in the aquatic life benchmark of the U.S. EPA. Our results suggest that monitoring of fipronil and imidacloprid should be recommended in estuaries and other areas along the coast near the locations where either fipronil or imidacloprid is used. In addition, it is of importance to reduce the usage of these insecticides especially during the seasons of penaeid shrimp migration to inshore annual nursery areas. Revising the acute and chronic levels of the U.S. EPA aquatic life benchmarks for fipronil and imidacloprid is also recommended to improve the health of estuaries and increase the abundance of shrimp populations in the Gulf of Mexico region

A model for developing dependable system using component-based software development approach / Hasan Kahtan Khalaf Al-Ani

Component-based software development (CBSD) is an emerging technology that focuses on building systems by integrating existing software components. The software industry has adopted CBSD to rapidly build and deploy large and complex software systems with enormous savings despite minimal engineering effort, cost, and time. CBSD provides several benefits, such as improved ability to reuse existing codes, reduced development costs of high-quality systems, and shorter development time. However, CBSD encounter issues in terms of security trust mainly in dependability attributes. A system is considered dependable when it can be depended on to produce the consequences for which it was designed, with no adverse effect in its intended environment. Dependability comprises several attributes that imply availability, confidentiality, integrity, reliability, safety, and maintainability. Embedding dependability attributes in CBSD is essential for developing dependable component software

Is pain ever acceptable? : A qualitative exploration concerning adult perceptions of chronic pain

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not- for-profit sectors. Patrice Forget received speaker/advi-sory board fees from Grunenthal, Oncomfort and GE Healthcare.Peer reviewe

EVALUATION OF INNOVATIVE CO-PROCESSED ADDITIVE FOR DIRECT COMPRESSION TABLETS USING ATORVASTATIN AND DIAZEPAM AS MODEL DRUGS

Objective: The aim of the present study is to prepare and evaluate a co-processed excipient from commercially available Avecil PH102 and silicon dioxide colloidal (SDC) using direct compression technique for preparation of tablets.Methods: The effect of the ratio of the two components on the properties of the prepared co-processed excipient has been investigated. In addition, it was evaluated for flowability, compressibility, and compatibility utilizing Fourier transforms Infrared (FTIR) and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Tablets were produced by direct compression utilizing the co-processed additive with diazepam or atorvastatin calcium as model drugs in addition to magnesium stearate and talc as a lubricant. The addition of super disintegrant croscarmellose sodium or tablets preparation by wet granulation was utilized for comparison regarding the properties of prepared tablets. The prepared tablets were characterized for the drug content, hardness, friability, disintegration, dissolution, and stability.Results: Optimal physicochemical properties of the excipient from a manufacturing perspective were obtained using a co-processed Avecil PH102-with SDC (2% w/w) to get a mixture. The FTIR and DSC analysis showed no chemical interaction. The properties of tablets made using co-processed excipient showed good hardness, friability, acceptable tablet disintegration time, dissolution rate, and stability comparable to that obtained by the multistep method of wet granulation. Although the addition of super disintegrant more shorten the disintegration time but the obtained value without croscarmellose sodium is still satisfied the requirement.Conclusion: The Avecil PH102-SDC co-processed excipient produced was found to be promising as a valuable industrial, pharmaceutical excipient for the production of compressed tablets with good physical properties and fast dissolution.Â

Personalized pain assessment : What does ‘acceptable pain’ mean to you?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

"Speak American"! or language, power and education in Dearborn, Michigan: a case study of Arabic heritage learners and their community

This study examines the history and development of the “Arabic as a foreign language” (AFL) programme in Dearborn Public Schools (in Michigan, the United States) in its socio-cultural and political context. More specifically, this study examines the significance of Arabic to the Arab immigrant and ethnic community in Dearborn in particular, but with reference to meanings generated and associated to Arabic by non- Arabs in the same locale. Although this study addresses questions similar to research conducted on Arab Americans in light of anthropological and sociological theoretical constructs, it is, however, unique in examining education and Arabic pedagogy in Dearborn from an Arab American studies and an educational multi-cultural perspective, predicated on/and drawing from Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, Paulo Freire’s ideas about education, and Henry Giroux’s concern with critical pedagogy. In the American mindscape, the "East" has been the theatre of the exotic, the setting of the Other from colonial times to the present. The Arab and Muslim East have been constructed to represent an opposite of American culture, values and life. Through the agency of conflation, Arab (and Muslim) Americans are accordingly lumped together with people from abroad, making for their status as permanent outsiders. Thus, if the American Self represents an ideal, the inhabitants of this oppositional world of Arabs and Islam (an Anti-world) represent an Anti-self. A source of fear and object of hate and prejudice, this Anti-self is the object of derision and anything connected with it (e.g. language, customs, religion, etc.) becomes suspect and is devalued by association. This document has two objectives: First, to present an historical account of this context, and, secondly, to shed light on how and why things that are associated with Arab Americans in Dearborn are devalued. This is achieved by addressing the developments of meanings (of actions and symbols) in their American context, and how they have shaped (and still shape) the local culture's depiction of and understanding of Arab (and Muslim) Americans. Therefore, Arab American issues of language, culture and societal interactions should be understood as constituting a stream of American life, which represent a dimension of the total American experience, past and present, that is best understood through the paradigm of American studies. Viewing this experience as a cultural whole rather than as a series of unrelated fragments (e.g. immigration waves and settlement patterns, religious and state affiliations, assimilation and preservation debates), Arab American culture and issues begin to shine through as an organic and holistic experience whose characteristics are shared with other groups, suggesting research on this community is equally generalisable to others. ii As an academic work, this document promotes an understanding of the Arab American experience from an interdisciplinary point of view through focusing on the phenomenon of language in the community with emphasis placed on the AFL experience at school. Therefore, it is a broadly-framed outlook that permits, in an introductory way, a view of the richness of the Arab American experience, particularly in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of the American experience. Data were collected using two surveys, one for AFL students at a high school, and another was administered to adults in the community—in Dearborn. In addition, an action-research-based effort, individual personal interviews and focus groups were conducted with stakeholders in the community: parents/community members, teachers/school personnel and students, utilising personal involvement in understanding and analysing the data. Also, the study referred to archival and documentary evidence available in the school system. Four hypotheses regarding importance/significance and utility of Arabic were offered and tested by means of qualitative, interpretive analysis. Findings included: (1) Arab Americans valued Arabic as an emblem of their community in Dearborn, suggesting its employment as an indicator of political empowerment. (2) Conversely, in the non-Arab community Arabic was observed as a mark of the Other, and an artefact of ethnic retrenchment and rejection of assimilation. (3) Interestingly, however, development of English language competence emerged as a major concern in the community, outweighing Arabic language preservation. (4) While, language maintenance efforts in the community were observed as minimal, especially at the organisational level, and support for such programmes was marginal to nil. (5) Additionally, Arabic, while not the object of a desire to master as a medium of communication, was observed to signify a special symbol of heritage for Arab American youth in the Dearborn community, who may have rejected their parents’ ideas about learning Arabic, but had developed their own. (6) What is more, Arab American youth were observed developing a viable hybridised identity, whose mainstay is being “Arabic”, despite the dominance of English and Euro-Anglo cultural norms. (7) At the institutional level, Arabic was observed devalued in the school setting due to its association with Arabs, Islam, Arab Americans, and immigration. (8) Moreover, relations between Arab Americans and non-Arab Americans in the school system seems to have been equally impacted by this process of devaluation, furthering the cause of stigmatisation, prejudice and racism

Comparative Study of Prepared Bromelain Gel Formulations and their Evaluation by HPLC Determination

Bromelain powder (proteolytic enzyme) was formulated as a gel for topical medical application by using two preparations method; Carbople 940 was used in the first formulation and Lutrol F 127 in the second.             The physical and pharmaceutical properties of the gel formulations including the diffusion rates through the skin in vitro were evaluated.             The best permeability of Bromelain was obtained with the 22% Lutrol F 127 gel formulation. In addition, a simple and rapid reversed-phase HPLC method was developed to monitor the quantitative analysis during the study. The used column was C18, 5µm (25 cm length), the mobile phase consisted of 70% methanol in 0.1 M dibasic potassium phosphate. The retention time of Bromelain was 7.3 minutes and the method proved precision as the straight line relationship of peaks areas and concentrations was with a correlation coefficient 0.998, and the RSD value for five successive determinations for same sample solution was 1.2%

On a continued fraction of order twelve

We present some new relations between a continued fraction U(q) of order 12 (established by M. S. M. Naika et al.) and U(q n) for n = 7, 9, 11, 13.Наведено деякі нові співвідношення між ланцюговим дробом U(q) дванадцятого порядку (який описано М. С. М. Найка та іншими авторами) і U(qn) для n=7,9,11та13