Normalization And Matching Of Chemical Compound Names

We have developed ChemHits (http://sabio.h-its.org/chemHits/), an application which detects and matches synonymic names of chemical compounds. The tool is based on natural language processing (NLP) methods and applies rules to systematically normalize chemical compound names. Subsequently, matching of synonymous names is achieved by comparison of the normalized name forms. The tool is capable of normalizing a given name of a chemical compound and matching it against names in (bio-)chemical databases, like SABIO-RK, PubChem, ChEBI or KEGG, even when there is no exact name-to-name-match

The consequences of compromising the EU's free movement of persons principle on Swiss research: how to survive constrained access to regional funding

Between 2014 and 2016, Switzerland's access to some of the EU funding was limited after a referendum against mass immigration was accepted and the country refused to sign the free movement accord to the EU's newest member, Croatia. It is well documented that Switzerland has suffered from a drop in participation, funding and a decrease in consortium lead positions. However, there is no account of the consequences on institutional level. We therefore aimed at describing the immediate- and longer-term impact of the partial association status to the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and to identify key strategies for minimizing institutional damage during a limited access period to a key regional funding source. A quantitative analysis of the institute's grants database, from 2007 to 2019, did not show any clear trends related to the partial association status of Switzerland for funding and projects awarded. The qualitative outcomes changed along the timeline assessed; whereas in 2014 a range of negative effects were stated by Swiss TPH researchers, a survey conducted in 2019 with Swiss TPH applicants and project partners to Horizon 2020, revealed that most project leaders felt that the partial association did neither affect their external partners' willingness to collaborate nor Swiss TPH's role in the proposal or consortium. On the other hand, the institutional strategic goal of taking on consortia leads was delayed by several years as a direct consequence of the partial association. Also, the exclusion from European research networks and the lack of consultation of expertise by the European partner institutions was widely seen as damaging. A policy of favouring long-term partnerships over ad-hoc collaborations, along with constant and trustful communication, as immediate mitigation measure, helped averting some of the reputational and access damage. Moreover, the Swiss TPH business model based on a three-way strategy of research, education and services has proven highly viable allowing to build a large pool of potential funding sources internationally, resulting in relative resilience in terms of income lost

Discovery of Infection Associated Metabolic Markers in Human African Trypanosomiasis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Some Slaughter and Carcass Traits of the Lambs of Dalmatian Pramenka Reared in Three Different Fattening Systems

In order to determine the impact of different fattening system (I - milk, pasture; II - indoors, milk, grains, III - milk, pasture, concentrate) on slaughter value and carcass quality of the lambs of Dalmatian Pramenka, 18 lambs (100 ± 5 days old), 6 in each group, were slaughtered. Lambs of one group were from the same flock and selected by birth weight (2.00 ± 0.20 kg). After slaughtering and cutting the carcasses into halves, in order to determine the share of legs and shoulders as well as certain tissues in the halves, the legs and shoulders were separated from the halves and total dissection was made. The significant differences (P<0.05) of slaughter weight (I - 21.17 kg, II - 23.25 kg, III - 26.25 kg) and hot carcass weight (I - 9.98 kg, II - 11.92 kg, III - 12.92 kg) among three groups were found. The legs II (1.65 kg) and III (1.71 kg) were significantly heavier (P<0.001) than legs I (1.32 kg), as well as shoulders (I - 0.52 kg, II - 0.65 kg, III - 0.69 kg; P<0.01). Total dissection of the halves established these tissues ratio: muscle 51.25 %, fat 10.18 %, connective 13.93%, bone 23.04% and other tissues 2.32%. The biggest quantity of muscle tissue was found in halves III (3.27 kg) what was more (P<0.05) than in halves II (2.83 kg) and I (2.50 kg). However, the biggest quantity of fat was found in halves II (0.85 kg) what was more (P<0.01) than in halves I (0.33 kg) and III (0.52 kg). Therefore, the addition of concentrate in pasture fattening system (III) increased the muscularity, without significantly increasing the amount of fat in the lamb carcass

Efecto del injerto en las propiedades antioxidantes del tomate (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

The use of grafted plants in vegetable crop production is now being expanded greatly. However, few data are available on the nutritional composition of grafted vegetables with emphasis on antioxidant properties. Therefore, the major objective of this study was to evaluate antioxidant components of tomatoes influenced by grafting technique. The tomato plants were grown in a greenhouse located at Kriz˘evci, Croatia. The cultivars ‘Efialto’, ‘Heman’, and ‘Maxifort’ were used as rootstocks, while ‘Tamaris’ was used as scion. Grafting resulted in increase of number of marketable fruits per plant by 30%. Content of total vitamin C and total phenolics significantly decreased after grafting. The concentration of total extractable phenolics in tomatoes ranged from 287.1 to 977.4 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) kg–1 fresh weight, whereas lycopene content ranged from 11.44 to 60.99 mg kg–1 fresh weight. Antioxidant activities determined by 1,1-diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method of grafts were significantly different compared to their respective rootstocks. The overall results showed that tomato grafting on suitable rootstocks has positive effects on the cultivation performance, but decreases nutritional quality of tomatoes. En la producci&oacute;n de cultivos hort&iacute;colas se est&aacute; expandiendo actualmente de forma considerable el uso de plantas injertadas. Sin embargo, hay pocos datos disponibles sobre la composici&oacute;n nutricional de las hort&iacute;colas injertadas, especialmente sobre sus propiedades antioxidantes. El principal objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar los componentes antioxidantes de tomates influenciados por la t&eacute;cnica de injerto. Se cultivaron plantas de tomate en un invernadero de Kriz˘evcii, Croacia. Se utilizaron como portainjertos los cultivares &lsquo;Efialto&rsquo;, &lsquo;Heman&rsquo;, y &lsquo;Maxifort&rsquo;, mientras que &lsquo;Tamaris&rsquo; fue utilizado como injerto. El resultado del injerto fue un aumento del 30% en el n&uacute;mero de frutos comerciales por planta, mientras que el contenido de vitamina C y de fenoles totales disminuy&oacute; significativamente. La concentraci&oacute;n del total de fenoles extra&iacute;bles en los tomates vari&oacute; entre 287,1 y 977,4 mg de equivalentes de &aacute;cido g&aacute;lico (GAE) por kilo sobre la base de peso fresco, mientras que el contenido de licopeno vari&oacute; desde 11,44 hasta 60,99 mg kg&ndash;1 de peso fresco. Las actividades antioxidantes determinadas por el m&eacute;todo DPPH (2,2-difenil-1-picrilhidrazilo) de los injertos fueron significativamente diferentes respecto de sus respectivos patrones. Los resultados globales muestran que el injerto de tomate sobre patrones adecuados tiene efectos positivos sobre el rendimiento de cultivo, pero la calidad nutricional de los frutos disminuye

The Effect of Acoustic Forcing on Instabilities and Breakdown in Swept-Wing Flow over a Backward-Facing Step

Instability interaction and breakdown were experimentally investigated in the flow over a swept backward-facing step. Acoustic forcing was used to excite the Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) instability and to acquire phase-locked results. The phase-averaged results illustrate the complex nature of the interaction between the TS and stationary cross flow instabilities. The weak stationary cross flow disturbance causes a distortion of the TS wavefront. The breakdown process is characterized by large positive and negative spikes in velocity. The positive spikes occur near the same time and location as the positive part of the TS wave. Higher-order spectral analysis was used to further investigate the nonlinear interactions between the TS instability and the traveling cross flow disturbances. The results reveal that a likely cause for the generation of the spikes corresponds to nonlinear interactions between the TS, traveling cross flow, and stationary cross flow disturbances. The spikes begin at low amplitudes of the unsteady and steady disturbances (2-4% U (sub e) (i.e. boundary layer edge velocity)) but can achieve very large amplitudes (20-30 percent U (sub e) (i.e. boundary layer edge velocity)) that initiate an early, though highly intermittent, breakdown to turbulence

Consumer perception on purchase decision factors and health indicators related to the quality and safety of meat sold in dibiteries in Dakar, Senegal

Accelerated socio-economic and demographic changes have led to the transformation of eating habits in sub-Saharan African cities including Dakar, Senegal. The result is the proliferation of informal fast-food establishments, such as the 'dibiteries' serving braised sheep meat. However, owing to poor hygiene practices, consumption of dibiterie meat poses a public health concern. It was unclear how the dibiterie meat quality and safety were perceived among customers who define their own purchasing social norms. A total of 165 meat consumers were randomly selected and interviewed, from 165 dibiteries sampled by convenience in the Dakar region using a structured questionnaire. Results showed that purchase decisions were guided by trust in the salesperson's expertise, the taste of the product, perceived risk of meat contamination, tenderness, price, the nutritional value, the smell and the colour and freshness of the meat. The perceived quality and safety of dibiterie meat was expressed by the 'organoleptic quality', 'environment and service' and 'price and trust of the product's safety' factors. The majority of consumers (61%) were 'less concerned' about the safety of dibiterie meat, and the acceptable price range of the product was between $5.08 and$7.62. As this food product is gaining popularity in Dakar and the majority of our participating consumers do not show high levels of concern, we suggest stricter standards

Measurements in a Transitioning Cone Boundary Layer at Freestream Mach 3.5

An experimental study was conducted in the Supersonic Low-Disturbance Tunnel to investigate naturally-occurring instabilities in a supersonic boundary layer on a 7 deg half- angle cone. All tests were conducted with a nominal freestream Mach number of M(sub infinity) = 3:5, total temperature of T(sub 0) = 299:8 K, and unit Reynolds numbers of Re(sub infinity) x 10(exp -6) = 9:89, 13.85, 21.77, and 25.73 m(exp -1). Instability measurements were acquired under noisy- ow and quiet- ow conditions. Measurements were made to document the freestream and the boundary-layer edge environment, to document the cone baseline flow, and to establish the stability characteristics of the transitioning flow. Pitot pressure and hot-wire boundary- layer measurements were obtained using a model-integrated traverse system. All hot- wire results were single-point measurements and were acquired with a sensor calibrated to mass ux. For the noisy-flow conditions, excellent agreement for the growth rates and mode shapes was achieved between the measured results and linear stability theory (LST). The corresponding N factor at transition from LST is N 3:9. The stability measurements for the quiet-flow conditions were limited to the aft end of the cone. The most unstable first-mode instabilities as predicted by LST were successfully measured, but this unstable first mode was not the dominant instability measured in the boundary layer. Instead, the dominant instabilities were found to be the less-amplified, low-frequency disturbances predicted by linear stability theory, and these instabilities grew according to linear theory. These low-frequency unstable disturbances were initiated by freestream acoustic disturbances through a receptivity process that is believed to occur near the branch I locations of the cone. Under quiet-flow conditions, the boundary layer remained laminar up to the last measurement station for the largest Re1, implying a transition N factor of N greater than 8:5

Arousal Modulation in Females with Fragile X or Turner Syndrome

The present study was carried out to examine physiological arousal modulation (heart activity and skin conductance, across baseline and cognitive tasks, in females with fragile X or Turner syndrome and a comparison group of females with neither syndrome. Relative to the comparison group, for whom a greater increase in skin conductance was associated with poor arithmetic performance and less risk taking behavior, females with fragile X displayed a minimal increase in heart activity that was nevertheless associated with poor performance on mental arithmetic. In contrast, no arousal–cognitive performance relationship emerged for the group with Turner syndrome. Taken together, our findings suggest that distinct profiles of arousal modulation might be associated with cognitive deficits in these syndrome populations