Social media usage in academic research

Recently researchers have used “conversation prism” and “social media prisma”, to consolidate social medias with respect to their use. Although both identified 25 types, having average five examples each, they did not identify contribution of each type in academic research. Moreover some of mentioned social services had been suspended or changed. In this paper we attempt to access each social media mentioned in conversation prism in order to first, identify services that are operational to date, services which have suspended and those which have changed during course of time. Second, we compare number of publications associated with each social media, in order to identify which social media has contributed most to academic research. Third, we attempt to find correlation between number of publications and development tools provided by respective social applications. Fourth, social medias are ranked with respect to number of times other social medias share content with respective social application. It was found that out of 168 social applications, 10% changed their service objective while 13% were suspended. Among all social application, AMAZON had highest i.e. 147,000 number of citations on Google scholar whereas 90.7% of total citations were contributed by top 30 social medias. For developers, 22 out of top 30 social medias provided developer options in form of either application programming interface (API) or software development kits (SDK) and Facebook was found to be most cross referred social media based on content sharing. Finally conclusion and future work of study is presented

Investigation on the effect of phase segregation on the mechanical properties of polymer modified bitumen using analytical and morphological tools

The mechanical strength of polymer modified bituminous mix which is evaluated in terms of stiffness reflects the deformation behaviour of bituminous mixture. The stiffness of the binder strongly depends on its chemical composition besides aggregate structure of the bituminous mixture. Compatibility of polymer with the base bitumen is considered as major strength enhancing factor in the case of polymer modified bituminous mix. To relate the factors affecting the mechanical strength of the binder a new approach in this research study was adopted in order to relate the compatibility of 80/100 pen bitumen with polymer Polypropylene (PP) using analytical and morphological tools. Morphological tools like Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) were used to study the changes due to the difference in compatibility of polymer with bitumen. It was observed that the presence of phase segregated layer as observed by AFM surface morphology was considered as the main strength enhancing factor of the bituminous mix. While the presence of lamella as observed in TEM scanned images of PP PMB revealed that addition of polymer forms localized network in the phase segregated layer which induces the stiffening effect in PMB. From the chromatographic method (SARA) analytical analysis Saturate, Aromatics, Resin and Asphaltene fractionate were determined in the blend. It was observed that chemical composition of the blend also has a profound effect on the rheological properties and on the morphology of polymer modified bituminous (PMB) blend. It was concluded that PP PMB gets benefited by phase segregated layer in the blend when the polymer concentration was kept below 3% as it sufficiently enhances the mechanical strength of the PMB binder as observed by dynamic creep results

Evaluation of Water Infiltration Equations on Fadama Soils of Jos – North, Plateau State, Nigeria

The main purpose of this study is to obtain water infiltration parameters of the Fadama Soils on the Jos Plateau. Estimation of water infiltration on a soil is a major constraint due to its variability depending on local soil characteristics. This could be used in simulating infiltration for the Fadama soils when designing agricultural projects. Field measurement of infiltration were made using the double ring infiltrometer at the three locations (Rizek, Kerker and Shen – du) on the Jos Plateau. Readings were taken at intervals of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 65,70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100,105,  110, 115 and 120minutes. A set of field measured cumulative infiltration depths were used for the estimation of the model parameters for the five models, while the other set was used in simulating the infiltration equations. At Rizek, Horton and NCRS model performed better (0.997) followed by Philip’s model (0.973) while Kostiakov and modified Kostiakov’s model have the least value of 0.923 each. Philip’s model has the best fit (1.00) followed by the NCRS’s model (0.999) at Kerker while the Kostiakov and modifiedKostiakov’smodel had 0.997 each and Horton with the least value (0.986). At Shen – du, Kostiakov and modified Kostiakov performed better (0.997), then, Horton with (0.986), NCRS has 0.993 with Philip’s model having the least value (0.991).The study indicate that Kostiakov, Philip, Horton, NCRS and Modified Kostiakov’s models were capable of simulating infiltration for the Fadama soils (Rizek, Kerker and Shen – du) on the Jos, Plateau. Keywords: Infiltration Equations, Fadama Soils, Kostiakov Equation, Infiltartion Model

Pyrolysis of azetidinone derivatives: a versatile route towards electron-rich alkenes, C-1 allylation and/or homologation of aldehydes

Pyrolysis of beta-lactams and beta-thiolactams led essentially to stereoselective synthesis of the high energy electron-rich Z-alkenes. Extension of this methodology to the pyrolysis of 3-allyloxy derivatives gave a simple direct route to the synthetically important 4-pentenal. These pyrolytic transformations convert aldehydes to aryloxyalkenes (a protected homologation) and 4-pentenal (a C-1 allylation and homologation). The starting 3-aryloxy and 3-allyloxy-beta-lactams were synthesized by the standard Staudinger ketene-imine [2 + 2] cycloaddition. The corresponding beta-thiolactams have readily been obtained in good yields by thiation of beta-lactams with Lawesson's reagent.University of Kuwait/SC 02/11GF-S/GS01/01, GS02/01, GS01/03, GS01/0

Diabetes mellitus in Egypt: glycaemic control and microvascular and neuropathic complications

We performed a cross-sectional, population-based survey of persons 20 years of age and older living in Cairo and surrounding rural villages. The purpose was to describe glycaemic control and the prevalence of microvascular and neuropathic complications among Egyptians with diagnosed diabetes, previously undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and normal glucose tolerance. A total of 6052 households were surveyed. The response rate was 76 % for the household survey and 72 % for the medical examination. Among people with previously diagnosed diabetes, mean haemoglobin A 1c was 9.0 %. Forty-two per cent had retinopathy, 21 % albuminuria, and 22 % neuropathy. Legal blindness was prevalent (5 %) but clinical nephropathy (7 %) and foot ulcers (1 %) were uncommon in persons with diagnosed diabetes. Among people with diagnosed diabetes, microvascular and neuropathic complications were associated with hyperglycaemia. Retinopathy was also associated with duration of diabetes; albuminuria with hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia; and neuropathy with age, female sex, and hypercholesterolaemia. Albuminuria was as common in people with previously undiagnosed diabetes (22 %) as those with diagnosed disease (21 %). Mean haemoglobin A 1c was lower (7.8 %) and retinopathy (16 %) and neuropathy (14 %) were less prevalent in people with previously undiagnosed disease. Ocular conditions, blindness, and neuropathy were prevalent in the non-diabetic population. The microvascular and neuropathic complications of diabetes are a major clinical and public health problem in Egypt. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34940/1/696_ftp.pd

Vascular endothelial growth factor-A165b prevents diabetic neuropathic pain and sensory neuronal degeneration

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy affects up to half of diabetic patients. This neuronal damage leads to sensory disturbances, including allodynia and hyperalgesia. Many growth factors have been suggested as useful treatments for prevention of neurodegeneration, including the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family. VEGF-A is generated as two alternative splice variant families. The most widely studied isoform, VEGF-A165a is both pro-angiogenic and neuroprotective, but pro-nociceptive and increases vascular permeability in animal models. Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats develop both hyperglycaemia and many of the resulting diabetic complications seen in patients, including peripheral neuropathy. In the present study, we show that the anti-angiogenic VEGF-A splice variant, VEGF-A165b, is also a potential therapeutic for diabetic neuropathy. Seven weeks of VEGF-A165b treatment in diabetic rats reversed enhanced pain behaviour in multiple behavioural paradigms and was neuroprotective, reducing hyperglycaemia-induced activated caspase 3 (AC3) levels in sensory neuronal subsets, epidermal sensory nerve fibre loss and aberrant sciatic nerve morphology. Furthermore, VEGF-A165b inhibited a STZ-induced increase in Evans Blue extravasation in dorsal root ganglia (DRG), saphenous nerve and plantar skin of the hind paw. Increased transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel activity is associated with the onset of diabetic neuropathy. VEGF-A165b also prevented hyperglycaemia-enhanced TRPA1 activity in an in vitro sensory neuronal cell line indicating a novel direct neuronal mechanism that could underlie the anti-nociceptive effect observed in vivo. These results demonstrate that in a model of Type I diabetes VEGF-A165b attenuates altered pain behaviour and prevents neuronal stress, possibly through an effect on TRPA1 activity

EMQN best practice guidelines for the molecular genetic testing and reporting of chromosome 11p15 imprinting disorders: Silver–Russell and Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome

Molecular genetic testing for the 11p15-associated imprinting disorders Silver–Russell and Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome (SRS, BWS) is challenging because of the molecular heterogeneity and complexity of the affected imprinted regions. With the growing knowledge on the molecular basis of these disorders and the demand for molecular testing, it turned out that there is an urgent need for a standardized molecular diagnostic testing and reporting strategy. Based on the results from the first external pilot quality assessment schemes organized by the European Molecular Quality Network (EMQN) in 2014 and in context with activities of the European Network of Imprinting Disorders (EUCID.net) towards a consensus in diagnostics and management of SRS and BWS, best practice guidelines have now been developed. Members of institutions working in the field of SRS and BWS diagnostics were invited to comment, and in the light of their feedback amendments were made. The final document was ratified in the course of an EMQN best practice guideline meeting and is in accordance with the general SRS and BWS consensus guidelines, which are in preparation. These guidelines are based on the knowledge acquired from peer-reviewed and published data, as well as observations of the authors in their practice. However, these guidelines can only provide a snapshot of current knowledge at the time of manuscript submission and readers are advised to keep up with the literature

Imprinting disorders: a group of congenital disorders with overlapping patterns of molecular changes affecting imprinted loci.

Congenital imprinting disorders (IDs) are characterised by molecular changes affecting imprinted chromosomal regions and genes, i.e. genes that are expressed in a parent-of-origin specific manner. Recent years have seen a great expansion in the range of alterations in regulation, dosage or DNA sequence shown to disturb imprinted gene expression, and the correspondingly broad range of resultant clinical syndromes. At the same time, however, it has become clear that this diversity of IDs has common underlying principles, not only in shared molecular mechanisms, but also in interrelated clinical impacts upon growth, development and metabolism. Thus, detailed and systematic analysis of IDs can not only identify unifying principles of molecular epigenetics in health and disease, but also support personalisation of diagnosis and management for individual patients and families.All authors are members of the EUCID.net network, funded by COST (BM1208). TE is funded by the German Ministry of research and education (01GM1513B). GPdN is funded by I3SNS Program of the Spanish Ministry of Health (CP03/0064; SIVI 1395/09), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/00467) and Basque Department of Health (GV2014/111017).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13148-015-0143-