EKSTRAKSI, PURIFIKASI PARSIAL DAN KARAKTERISASI ALKALIN PROTEASE DARI LIMBAH KULIT BUAH NAGA MERAH

Red dragon fruit is one of famous fruits in Indonesia. High level of red dragon fruit consumption is followed by the high amount of the fruit peel waste. Red dragon fruit peel contains many important compounds, one of them is alkaline protease. Therefore, red dragon fruit peel can be used as an alternative to get an alkaline protease. This research has some purposes, i.e. to characterize the best pH and temperature for the alkaline protease, to determine the most efficient purification process for the protease and to determine the molecular size of alkaline protease. This research began with obtaining the crude extract of alkaline protease from red dragon fruit peel,  followed by pH and temperature characterization, partial purification, i.e. ammonium sulfate precipitation 20%-80%, dialysis and Ion Exchange Chromatography using Biorex Cation Exchange Resins, and finally SDS PAGE. The result showed that the optimum temperature for alkaline protease activity was 60°C and the optimum pH for alkaline protease activity was 8. In the final step of purification, namely ion exchange chromatography (IEC), the specific activity value was 6,2 x 10-4 µmol/µg.min, indicating a 3,29 fold purification of the initial crude extract. In this research, the alkaline protease showed a  molecular mass of 23 kDa

PULSE-SHAPE DISCRIMINATION OF LIQUID SCINTILLATORS

In this paper we describe the results of different techniques applied to characterize experimentally the pulse shape discrimination capability of liquid scintillators. A detailed comparison of the results obtained with each method is reported, together with the description of an optimization strategy which can be adopted to obtain the best exploitation of the intrinsic PSD feature of the scintillator samples

Deep Learning for Predicting Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is one of the most debilitating cardiac disorders. It is a costly disease in terms of both lives and financial outlays, given the high rate of hospital re-admissions and mortality. Heart failure (HF) is notoriously difficult to identify on time, and is frequently accompanied by additional comorbidities that further complicate diagnosis. Many decision support systems (DSS) have been developed to facilitate diagnosis and to raise the standard of screening and monitoring operations, even for non-expert staff. This is confirmed in the literature by records of highly performing diagnosis-aid systems, which are unfortunately not very relevant to expert cardiologists. In order to assist cardiologists in predicting the trajectory of HF, we propose a deep learning-based system which predicts severity of disease progression by employing medical patient history. We tested the accuracy of four models on a labeled dataset, composed of 1037 records, to predict CHF severity and progression, achieving results comparable to studies based on much larger datasets, none of which used longitudinal multi-class prediction. The main contribution of this work is that it demonstrates that a fairly complicated approach can achieve good results on a medium size dataset, providing a reasonably accurate means of determining the evolution of CHF well in advance. This potentially constitutes a significant aid for healthcare managers and expert cardiologists in designing different therapies for medication, healthy lifestyle changes and quality of life (QoL) management, while also promoting allocation of resources with an evidence-based approach. © 2022 by the authors

Lean-ing method in an emergency department of the italian epicenter of the covid-19 outbreak: When the algorithm makes difference

The Lean method entails a set of standardized processes intending to optimize resources, reduce waste, and improve results. Lean has been proposed as an operative model for the Covid-19 outbreak. Herein, we summarized data resulted from the Lean model adoption in an Emergency Department of the Lombardy region, the Italian epicenter of the pandemic, to critically appraise its effectiveness and feasibility. The Lean algorithm was applied in the Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital, Milan, north of Italy. At admission, patients underwent outdoor pre-triage for fe-ver, respiratory, and gastrointestinal symptoms, with a focus on SpO2. Based on these data, they were directed to the most appropriate area for the Covid-19 first-level screening. High-risk patients were assisted by trained staff for second-level screening and planning of treatment. Out of 7.778 patients, 21.9% were suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mortality was 21.9% and the infection rate in health workers was 4.8%. The lean model has proved to be effective in optimizing the overall management of Covid-19 patients in an emergency setting. It allowed for screening of a large volume of patients, while also limiting the health workers’ infection rate. Further studies are necessary to validate the suggested approach

Le nouveau cirque américain

On peut dire que depuis ses débuts, vers les 1870, le cirque américain a connu des périodes où il aspirait au grand art et où il empruntait au théâtre des artistes, des techniques et la dramaturgie. Ce n’est qu’en 1975, lorsque des artistes ont abandonné l’idéal américain de la grandeur pour adopter le modèle européen de la piste simple que ce mouvement a connu son véritable essor. Le Big Apple Circus, le Pickle Family Circus, le Cirque du Soleil et Circus Flora ont réussi à théâtralisé le cirque américain. Même le géant du cirque à trois pistes, le Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, a commencé à donner à ses spectacles une allure plus théâtrale. Le Midnight Circus, Circus Sarasota ainsi que Barnum’s Kaleidoscape, entre autres, ont continué à trouver de nouvelles façons d’allier le cirque et le théâtre. Des écoles de cirque ont été fondées afin de fournir aux nouveaux cirques des artistes formés aux nouvelles techniques. Tous visent à faire évoluer le cirque vers la forme d’art à laquelle il a toujours aspiré.Almost from its very beginning, in the 1870's, the American circus has gone through periods when it aspired to high art and borrowed artists, techniques and dramaturgy from the theatre. It was not until 1975, when certain artists abandoned the all-American ideal that bigger was always better and opted, instead, to model their new circuses after the European model of the one ring circus, that this movement began to gain momentum. The Big Apple Circus, The Pickle Family Circus, Cirque du Soleil, and Circus Flora were leaders in the movement to theatricalize the American circus. Eventually even the three-ring giant, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, began to refashion its performance in a more theatrical manner. These early circuses were followed by the Midnight Circus, Circus Sarasota and Barnum's Kaleidoscape, among others, which continued to find new ways of melding circus and theatre. To provide performing artists for these new circuses, new circus schools had to be founded to train the artists in the new style and technique demanded by the new circuses. Together the artists and the various circuses are seeking to have the circus evolve into the unique art form it has always hoped to be

Postambulatory Hand Swelling (Big Hand Syndrome): Prevalence, Demographics, and Association with Dog Walking

Introduction. Postambulatory hand swelling (PAHS) seems to be common in the general population. There are few mention in the medical literature. The objective were (1) to identify prevalence; (2) to compare gender and age groups; (3) to determine if dog owners and walkers are more or less prone. Materials and Methods. 1009 semirandomly surveys were completed from walkers. Age, gender, and dog ownership were assessed. We discussed, among dog owners, whether or not they walk their dog regularly, whether or not they notice swollen hands after walking, and, if so, if the swelling resolves over 24 hours or persists. Results. 699 females and 410 males, among whom, 28.9% of females but only 16.3% of males reported PAHS (P < 0.001). Surprisingly, those with swelling were statistically younger than those without (49.2 versus 52.8 years, P = 0.003), and dog owners were more likely than nonowners to report swelling (28.1% versus 21.7%; P = 0.015). In terms of persistent swelling, this was observed in twice the percentage of females as males (13.3 versus 6.5%) and tended to involve older subjects (54.0 versus 48.8 years), but with no statistical difference significance. Conclusions. PAHS is a relatively common phenomenon, seemingly more common in females

INVESTMENT CLIMATE OF SWITZERLAND

Актуальні питання розвитку науки та забезпечення якості освіти у ХХІ столітті : тези доповідей XLІІІ Міжнародної наукової студентської конференції за підсумками науково-дослідних робіт студентів за 2019 рік (м. Полтава, 07–08 квітня 2020 р.) : у 2 ч., ч. 1. – Полтава : ПУЕТ, 2020. – 255 с. – Текст укр., рос., англ., нім. мовами

Biological Control Efforts of Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solm) on Kainji Lake, Nigeria

Biological control of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solm) was monitored on Kainji Lake between 1995 and 1999. The two most important host specific natural enemies of water hyacinth (Neochetina eichhorniae and N. bruchi) were used and impacts of the weevils on water hyacinth were monitored on tri-monthly basis. The manual control initiated by the National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research (NIFFR) encouraged the fishermen to physically remove water hyacinth from their shores and open water. The lake hydrology, most especially during the drawdown period when the water volume is reduced tremendously, allows water hyacinth plants to be stranded by the bank of the lake thereby leading to massive destruction of the weed population and consequently the weevils population stability. The floristic composition of macrophyte intimately mixed with the water hyacinth was also monitored during the low and high water regimes. Among the prominent plant species found with water hyacinth included Echinochloa stagnina, Mimosa pigra, Polygonium senegalensis Polygonium lanigarium. Sesbania dalzelli, and Vosia cuspidata were found competing with the much favoured Echinochloa spp which serves as forage to livestock around the lake; However, no incidence of weevil attack was observed on any of the vegetation mixed with water hyacinth. Keywords: Biocontol, Kainji Lake, Water hyacinth, Weevils

The Borexino Thermal Monitoring & Management System and simulations of the fluid-dynamics of the Borexino detector under asymmetrical, changing boundary conditions

A comprehensive monitoring system for the thermal environment inside the Borexino neutrino detector was developed and installed in order to reduce uncertainties in determining temperatures throughout the detector. A complementary thermal management system limits undesirable thermal couplings between the environment and Borexino's active sections. This strategy is bringing improved radioactive background conditions to the region of interest for the physics signal thanks to reduced fluid mixing induced in the liquid scintillator. Although fluid-dynamical equilibrium has not yet been fully reached, and thermal fine-tuning is possible, the system has proven extremely effective at stabilizing the detector's thermal conditions while offering precise insights into its mechanisms of internal thermal transport. Furthermore, a Computational Fluid-Dynamics analysis has been performed, based on the empirical measurements provided by the thermal monitoring system, and providing information into present and future thermal trends. A two-dimensional modeling approach was implemented in order to achieve a proper understanding of the thermal and fluid-dynamics in Borexino. It was optimized for different regions and periods of interest, focusing on the most critical effects that were identified as influencing background concentrations. Literature experimental case studies were reproduced to benchmark the method and settings, and a Borexino-specific benchmark was implemented in order to validate the modeling approach for thermal transport. Finally, fully-convective models were applied to understand general and specific fluid motions impacting the detector's Active Volume.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1705.09078, arXiv:1705.0965