Enzyme activity in terrestrial soil in relation to exploration of the Martian surface Semiannual progress report, 1 Jul. - 31 Dec. 1967

Enzyme behavior in nonclassical systems, surface pH estimation in soils, and enzymatic activities in stored and geologically preserved soil

Enzyme Activity in Terrestrial Soil in Relation to Exploration of the Martian Surface Third Semiannual Progress Report, 1 Jul. - 31 Dec. 1965

Qualitative and quantitative test for enzyme activities in terrestrial soil adapted to Mars probe telemetry procedure

Enzyme activity in terrestrial soil in relation to exploration of the Martian surface Semiannual progress report, 1 Jan. - 30 Jun. 1969

Enzymatic activity retention in soils subjected to partial or total sterilizatio

Equipment specification for a space rated radar altimeter Final technical report

Equipment specifications for GEOS C mission altimeter

Elucidating the Ramularia eucalypti species complex

The genus Ramularia includes numerous phytopathogenic species, several of which are economically important. Ramularia eucalypti is currently the only species of this genus known to infect Eucalyptus by causing severe leaf-spotting symptoms on this host. However, several isolates identified as R. eucalypti based on morphology and on nrDNA sequence data of the ITS region have recently been isolated from other plant hosts, from environmental samples and also from human clinical specimens. Identification of closely related species based on morphology is often difficult and the ITS region has previously been shown to be unreliable for species level identification in several genera. In this study we aimed to resolve this species-complex by applying a polyphasic approach involving morphology, multi-gene phylogeny and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Six partial genes (ITS, ACT, TEF1-α, HIS3, GAPDH and RPB2) were amplified and sequenced for a total of 44 isolates representing R. eucalypti s.lat. and closely related species. A multi-gene Bayesian phylogenetic analysis and parsimony analysis were performed, and both the resulting trees showed significant support for separation of seven species in R. eucalypti s.lat., including two previously described (R. eucalypti and R. miae), four novel species here described (R. haroldporteri, R. glennii, R. mali and R. plurivora) and one undescribed Ramularia species (sterile). Additionally, Mycosphaerella nyssicola is newly combined in Ramularia as R. nyssicola. Main mass spectra (MSPs) of several R. eucalypti s.lat. strains were generated using MALDI-TOF MS and were compared through a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) dendogram. The PCA dendrogram supported three clades containing R. plurivora, R. glenni /R. mali and R. eucalypti /R. miae. Although the dendrogram separation of species differed from the phylogenetic analysis, the clinically relevant strains were successfully identified by MALDI-TOF MS.The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through an endowment of the FES programme ‘Making the tree of life work’. This publication was also made possible by NPRP grant 5-298-3-086 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation) to Teun Boekhout and Anna Kolecka.http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/pimjam201

Comparison of positive tone versus negative tone resist pattern collapse behavior

© 2010 American Vacuum Society. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Vacuum Society. The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3518136In this work, e-beam lithography patterns have been specifically designed and fabricated which provide the opportunity to probe the collapse behavior of both positive and negative tone systems. The pattern layout includes adjacent parallel line structures that both vary in the line size and also in the distance by which they are separated by the space between them. This type of structure allows for the control and modulation of the capillary forces, and ultimately the stresses, experienced by the photoresist line pairs during the final rinse and drying steps of the development process. Using such structures, it is possible to determine the critical stress, i.e., the maximum stress experienced by the photoresist lines before collapse, as a function of a variety of parameters including: material type, substrate preparation conditions, resist film thickness, and resist feature width. In this article, such a modular approach has been used to compare the pattern collapse behavior of a prototypical positive tone resist formulated using a protected hydroxystyrene-based copolymer and a prototypical negative tone epoxide-based molecular photoresist (4-EP). It was found that the critical stress at the point of pattern collapse decreased both as the thickness and the feature width of the resist lines decreased, though this trend was observed to a much lesser extent in the negative tone 4-EP material. It is observed that the negative tone resist, whose imaging mechanism involves cross-linking, shows far superior pattern collapse performance as compared to the positive tone deprotection based resist and is in general able to achieve significantly higher aspect ratio patterning at equivalent feature linewidths. (C) 2010 American Vacuum Society

Clinico-pathological profile of sinonasal masses: an experience in national ear care center Kaduna, Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The presence of a mass in the nose and paranasal sinuses may seem to be a simple problem; however it raises many questions about the differential diagnosis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinico-pathological profile of sinonasal masses in our environment</p> <p>This is a retrospective analytical review of all the patients with sinonasal masses that presented to the national ear care center, Kaduna over a six year (2003-2008) period. Their biodata, clinical profile and histological diagnoses were analyzed.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A total of 76 patients were analyzed, age range 5 to 64 yrs with a mean age of 33.3 yr median and modal age of 35.00 (SD = 13.1 ± 1.5). Majority of the patients were in the age groups 21-50 yrs. There were 34 male and 42 female with M: F ratio of 1:1.2. The main presenting symptoms are nasal blockage 97.4% and rhinorrhea 94.7%. It was bilateral in 34 (44.7%), left side in 24(31.6%) and right side in 18(23.7%) patients. The commonest clinical diagnoses were simple nasal polyp 47(61.8%) and antrochoanal polyp 10(13.2%). About 59 (77.6%) were benign, 2 (2.6%) were malignant and 15 (19.7%) were lost to follow up. The commonest histological diagnosis is simple inflammatory nasal polyp in 28 (36.8%) patients and the least was nasal capillary hemangioma 2 (2.6%). About 55(72.4%) patients had surgical treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea are the commonest symptoms of presentation, simple inflammatory nasal polyp is still the commonest histological pattern seen in our environment, and surgery is still the best modality of treatment for benign tumor thus the need for advocacy for early recognition and referral to the ENT surgeon.</p

Academic Impact of a Public Electronic Health Database: Bibliometric Analysis of Studies Using the General Practice Research Database

BACKGROUND: Studies that use electronic health databases as research material are getting popular but the influence of a single electronic health database had not been well investigated yet. The United Kingdom's General Practice Research Database (GPRD) is one of the few electronic health databases publicly available to academic researchers. This study analyzed studies that used GPRD to demonstrate the scientific production and academic impact by a single public health database. METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS: A total of 749 studies published between 1995 and 2009 with 'General Practice Research Database' as their topics, defined as GPRD studies, were extracted from Web of Science. By the end of 2009, the GPRD had attracted 1251 authors from 22 countries and been used extensively in 749 studies published in 193 journals across 58 study fields. Each GPRD study was cited 2.7 times by successive studies. Moreover, the total number of GPRD studies increased rapidly, and it is expected to reach 1500 by 2015, twice the number accumulated till the end of 2009. Since 17 of the most prolific authors (1.4% of all authors) contributed nearly half (47.9%) of GPRD studies, success in conducting GPRD studies may accumulate. The GPRD was used mainly in, but not limited to, the three study fields of "Pharmacology and Pharmacy", "General and Internal Medicine", and "Public, Environmental and Occupational Health". The UK and United States were the two most active regions of GPRD studies. One-third of GRPD studies were internationally co-authored. CONCLUSIONS: A public electronic health database such as the GPRD will promote scientific production in many ways. Data owners of electronic health databases at a national level should consider how to reduce access barriers and to make data more available for research