The caudo-ventral pallium is a novel pallial domain expressing Gdf10 and generating Ebf3-positive neurons of the medial amygdala

In rodents, the medial nucleus of the amygdala receives direct inputs from the accessory olfactory bulbs and is mainly implicated in pheromone-mediated reproductive and defensive behaviors. The principal neurons of the medial amygdala are GABAergic neurons generated principally in the caudo-ventral medial ganglionic eminence and preoptic area. Beside GABAergic neurons, the medial amygdala also contains glutamatergic Otp-expressing neurons cells generated in the lateral hypothalamic neuroepithelium and a non-well characterized Pax6-positive population. In the present work, we describe a novel glutamatergic Ebf3-expressing neuronal subpopulation distributed within the periphery of the postero-ventral medial amygdala. These neurons are generated in a pallial domain characterized by high expression of Gdf10. This territory is topologically the most caudal tier of the ventral pallium and accordingly, we named it Caudo-Ventral Pallium (CVP). In the absence of Pax6, the CVP is disrupted and Ebf3-expressing neurons fail to be generated. Overall, this work proposes a novel model of the neuronal composition of the medial amygdala and unravels for the first time a new novel pallial subpopulation originating from the CVP and expressing the transcription factor Ebf3.This work was supported by Grants of the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche; ANR) [ANR-13-BSV4-0011] and by the French Government through the ‘Investments for the Future’ LABEX SIGNALIFE [ANR-11-LABX-0028-01] to M.S., by the Spanish Government (BFU2007-60263 and BFU2010-17305) to A.F, and by the Medical Research Council (MR/K013750/1) to T.T. N.R.-R. is funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Ville de Nice, France (“Aide Individuelle aux Jeunes Chercheurs 2016”).Peer reviewe

Diagnosis and serotyping of dengue using cost-effective high-resolution melting curve based real time PCR

Dengue virus (DENV) is classified into four serotypes: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4 which are genetically-related but antigenically distinct types. Although primary infection with a serotype of DENV gives lifelong immunity to that serotype, the secondary infection with other serotype leads to the development of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Serological tests that can detect NS1 antigen on the day one of illness is nonspecific and less sensitive to diagnose dengue in the first week of illness. IgM and IgG antibody detection may not be positive until the later part of first week. Hence it is necessary to develop a nucleic acid-based test kit for detection of DENV in the early phase of the disease such that the complications can be prevented. Simultaneous detection of serotype of DENV helps in understanding the epidemiology of the disease. In the present study, a single primer pair was designed to 3′ untranslated region of DENV genome. After amplification, the melting temperature (Tm) for DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4 was found to be 83.96 ± 0.58 ˚C, 81.99± 0.26 ˚C, 84.54± 0.15 ˚C, and 83.28 ± 0.12 ˚C, respectively.  &nbsp

Measurement of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome of an Agricultural Tractor Steering Wheel using Machine Vision System

The structure of an agricultural tractor is a structure without a suspension system to limit the vibrations generated by its engine. It exposed the entire body of an agricultural tractor operator to vibration. Thus, the body of the driver, constantly exposed to the vibration, becomes fatigued. This fatigue becomes a factor in the driver's inattention. The driver’s body has transmitted to vibration through the tractor's seat, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, and steering wheel. Quantifying seat, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, and steering wheel vibrations is one of the most important factors in determining the cause of vibration and correcting it. The ISO 5349 standard lays down a guideline for the measurement and assessment of vibrations transmitted by the human hand. To meet the ISO 5349 standard, assess human exposure to hand-transmitted vibration and meet the human subjective comfort level. It must keep the vibration within a specified range. This study attempts to measure steering wheel vibrations through a new machine vision system using up-sampled cross correlation and a Discrete Finite Transform algorithm. In this study, it was impossible to calculate vibration in three axes from the video images recorded by the camera. According to ISO 5349-2, the vibration obtained on two axes multiplied by 1 to 1.7 to calculate the equivalent measurement for the vibration on the third axis. The results show that when the vibration is high; the errors are less and when the vibration is low, near zero, the errors range from 30 % to 50 %. But this study suggests that very low-level vibrations are unnecessary for vibration analysis. This study is not suitable for Nano-vibration measurement methods that measure fine vibrations

Synthesis of Silver-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanocomposite by Pulse Mode Ultrasonication and Its Characterization Studies

The synthesis of silver-doped zinc oxide (Ag:ZnO) nanocomposite material was achieved using a simple chemical coprecipitation method, in which 0.2 M zinc chloride and 0.001 M silver nitrate coprecipitated with 25% ammonia solution by pulse mode dispersion using ultrasonicator. The obtained silvery white precipitate was dried overnight at 110°C in hot air oven, and the powder was collected. The resulted Ag:ZnO nanocomposite was structurally and optically characterized using various techniques. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern clearly showed the presence of crystalline Ag:ZnO particles. Further, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) results showed the presence of Ag:ZnO nanocomposite at specific wavelengths. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirm that the synthesized Ag:ZnO nanocomposite material was truncated nanorod in shape and has 48 to 226 nm size in diameter