Remote probing of inhomogeneous media using parameter optimization techniques

Remote probing of inhomogeneous media using parameter optimization technique

Effect of licorice root hydroalcoholic extract to improve the quality of fertility in hyperandrogenism- induced polycystic ovary syndrome by letrozole in mice.

زمینه و هدف: سندرم تخمدان پلی­کیستیک (PCOS) شایع­ترین اختلال غدد درون­ریز در زنان می­باشد. این سندرم با علایم افزایش هورمون­های آندروژنی، عدم تخمک­گذاری، ناباروری و چاقی مشخص می­گردد. مهم­ترین نشانه برای وجود تخمدان پلی­سیستیک، افزایش آندروژن­های خونی می­باشد. هدف از این تحقیق بررسی اثر عصاره هیدروالکلی ریشه شیرین بیان بر عوارض هایپرآندروژنیسم ایجاد شده توسط تخمدان پلی کیستیک تجربی بر توان باروری موش­های سوری ماده می­باشد. روش بررسی: در این بررسی، 84 قطعه موش سوری به 6 گروه تقسیم شدند: گروه­های کنترل، هایپرآندروژن، تیمار 1 mg/kg)150 (، تیمار 2 mg/kg)300 (، تیمار 3 mg/kg)450 ( و تجویز شیرین­بیان تنها با دوز mg/kg450 صورت گرفت. گروه­های هایپرآندروژن و تیمار 21 روز متوالی لتروزول با دوز mg/kg 2 لتروزول از طریق خوراکی دریافت کردند. گروه­های تیماری دو ساعت بعد عصاره شیرین­بیان با دوزهای یاد شده از طریق خوراکی دریافت کردند. بعد از پایان دوره درمان از هر گروه 10 قطعه موش به طور تصادفی برای انجام فرایند لقاح داخل آزمایشگاهی انتخاب شدند. در روند لقاح داخل آزمایشگاهی درصد اووسیت­ها، میزان لقاح و رویان و بلاستوسیست و توقف آن­ها بین گروه­های مختلف مقایسه شد. یافته ها: مقایسه نتایج در گروه­های مختلف نشان داد که در گروه هایپرآندروژن عوامل باروری موش­ها به شدت افت کرده و عصاره شیرین بیان توانسته اثرات محافظتی نسبی داشته باشد. این اثرات در گروه تیمار 2 بیشتر بود. نتیجه­گیری: نهایتاً می­توان نتیجه گرفت که اثرات سوء استفاده از لتروزول، پتانسیل کاهش توان باروری در جنس ماده را داشته و استفاده از عصاره هیدروالکلی شیرین­بیان با دوز مناسب، بعنوان یک آنتی­اکسیدانت تا حدودی می­تواند اثرات سوء هایپرآندروژنیسم ناشی از سندروم تخمدان پلی­کیستیک بر توان باروری موش ماده را بهبود بخشد

Size Control in the Nanoprecipitation Process of Stable Iodine (127I) Using Microchannel Reactor—Optimization by Artificial Neural Networks

In this study, nanosuspension of stable iodine (127I) was prepared by nanoprecipitation process in microfluidic devices. Then, size of particles was optimized using artificial neural networks (ANNs) modeling. The size of prepared particles was evaluated by dynamic light scattering. The response surfaces obtained from ANNs model illustrated the determining effect of input variables (solvent and antisolvent flow rate, surfactant concentration, and solvent temperature) on the output variable (nanoparticle size). Comparing the 3D graphs revealed that solvent and antisolvent flow rate had reverse relation with size of nanoparticles. Also, those graphs indicated that the solvent temperature at low values had an indirect relation with size of stable iodine (127I) nanoparticles, while at the high values, a direct relation was observed. In addition, it was found that the effect of surfactant concentration on particle size in the nanosuspension of stable iodine (127I) was depended on the solvent temperature. © 2015, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

Frameworks for Systemic and Structural Analysis of Financial Innovations in Infrastructure

Financial innovations have emerged globally to close the gap between the rising global demand for infrastructures and the availability of financing sources offered by traditional financing mechanisms such as fuel taxation, tax-exempt bonds, and federal and state funds. The key to sustainable innovative financing mechanisms is effective policymaking. This paper discusses the theoretical framework of a research study whose objective is to structurally and systemically assess financial innovations in global infrastructures. The research aims to create analysis frameworks, taxonomies and constructs, and simulation models pertaining to the dynamics of the innovation process to be used in policy analysis. Structural assessment of innovative financing focuses on the typologies and loci of innovations and evaluates the performance of different types of innovative financing mechanisms. Systemic analysis of innovative financing explores the determinants of the innovation process using the System of Innovation approach. The final deliverables of the research include propositions pertaining to the constituents of System of Innovation for infrastructure finance which include the players, institutions, activities, and networks. These static constructs are used to develop a hybrid Agent-Based/System Dynamics simulation model to derive propositions regarding the emergent dynamics of the system. The initial outcomes of the research study are presented in this paper and include: (a) an archetype for mapping innovative financing mechanisms, (b) a System of Systems-based analysis framework to identify the dimensions of Systems of Innovation analyses, and (c) initial observations regarding the players, institutions, activities, and networks of the System of Innovation in the context of the U.S. transportation infrastructure financing

Cloning and expression of codon-optimized recombinant darbepoetin alfa in Leishmania tarentolae T7-TR

Darbepoetin alfa is an engineered and hyperglycosylated analog of recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) which is used as a drug in treating anemia in patients with chronic kidney failure and cancer. This study desribes the secretory expression of a codon-optimized recombinant form of darbepoetin alfa in Leishmania tarentolae T7-TR. Synthetic codon-optimized gene was amplified by PCR and cloned into the pLEXSY-I-blecherry3 vector. The resultant expression vector, pLEXSYDarbo, was purified, digested, and electroporated into the L. tarentolae. Expression of recombinant darbepoetin alfa was evaluated by ELISA, reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR), Western blotting, and biological activity. After codon optimization, codon adaptation index (CAI) of the gene raised from 0.50 to 0.99 and its GC content changed from 56 to 58. Expression analysis confirmed the presence of a protein band at 40 kDa. Furthermore, reticulocyte experiment results revealed that the activity of expressed darbepoetin alfa was similar to that of its equivalent expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. These data suggested that the codon optimization and expression in L. tarentolae host provided an efficient approach for high level expression of darbepoetin alfa. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Response study of canola (Brassica napus L.) cultivars to multi-environments using genotype plus genotype environment interaction (GGE) biplot method in Iran

To study the interaction of genotype and environment in canola crop, a study was carried out in 2010. Ten genotypes (Modena, Okapi, Hyola 401, Licord, Opera, Zarfam, RGS 003, SLM046, Sarigol, and Hyola 308) of canola were studied under normal conditions of irrigation in four locations (Karaj, Birjand, Shiraz, and Kashmar) using randomized complete block design with three replications. Using GGE biplot method, grain yield was investigated for each cultivar. According to analysis of variance, there was a very significant difference among the regions. According to the yield average and genotype stability, Licord, Hyola 308, Modena and Zarfam were the best cultivars. The graphs obtained from GGE biplot software indicated that Hyola 401, Opera, and Sarigol were better than the rest of the genotypes based on stability and yield performance. At location Shiraz, none of the genotype had appropriate stability or yield. Four locations were divided into three mega-environments including Karaj, Kashmar (first mega-environment), Birjand (second mega-environment), and Shiraz (third mega-environment). Moreover, Karaj was recognized as the best region of the classification and ranking of genotypes. The study indicated that the highest and lowest genotypic reaction rates belonged to Licord and SLM 046 cultivars, respectively.Keywords: Canola, genotype environment interaction, grain yield, GGE biplot

Towards building a semantic formalization of (small) historical centres

Historical small urban centres are of increasing interest to different interacting fields such as architectural heritage protection and conservation, urban planning, disaster response, sustainable development and tourism. They are defined at different levels (international, national, regional), by various organizations and standards, incorporate numerous aspects (natural and built environment, infrastructures and open spaces, social, economic, and cultural processes, tangible and intangible heritage) and face various challenges (urbanization, globalization, mass tourism, climate change, etc.). However, their current specification within large-scale geospatial databases is similar to those of urban areas in a broad sense resulting in the loss of many aspects forming this multifaceted concept. The present study considers the available ontologies and data models, coming from various domains and having different granularities and levels of detail, to represent historical small urban centres information. The aim is to define the needs for extension and integration of them in order to develop a multidisciplinary, integrated semantic representation. Relevant conventions and other legislation documents, ontologies and standards for cultural heritage (CIDOC-CRM, CRMgeo, Getty Vocabularies), 3D city models (CityGML), building information models (IFC) and regional landscape plans are analysed to identify concepts, relations, and semantic features that could form a holistic semantic model of historical small urban centres

Influence of microstructure on synchrotron X-ray diffraction lattice strain measurement uncertainty

Accurate residual lattice strain measurements are highly dependent upon the precision of the diffraction peak location and the underlying microstructure suitability. The suitability of the microstructure is related to the requirement for valid powder diffraction sampling statistics and the associated number of appropriately orientated illuminated. In this work, these two sources of uncertainty are separated, and a method given for both the quantification of errors associated with insufficient grain sampling statistics and minimization of the total lattice strain measurement uncertainty. It is possible to reduce the total lattice strain measurement uncertainty by leveraging diffraction peak measurements made at multiple azimuthal angles. Lattice strain measurement data acquired during eight synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments, monochromatic and energy dispersive, has been assessed as per this approach, with microstructural suitability being seen to dominate total measurement uncertainty when the number of illuminated grains was <106. More than half of the studied experimental data fell into this category, with a severe underestimation of total strain measurement uncertainty being possible when microstructural suitability is not considered. To achieve a strain measurement uncertainty under 10−4, approximately 3×105 grains must be within the sampled gauge volume, with this value varying with the multiplicity of the family of lattice planes under study. Where additional azimuthally arrayed data are available an in-plane lattice strain tensor can be extracted. This improves overall strain measurement accuracy and an uncertainty under 10−4 can then be achieved with just 4×104 grains

Long Term Follow-up of Morbidity and Quality of Life Associated with Isolated Gastroschisis

Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which an opening in the abdominal wall allows herniation of the viscera. Prenatal counseling regarding gastroschisis typically discusses that, although these infants often endure a difficult neonatal course, they experience few long-term complications. However, information regarding long-term outcomes is based on limited studies that lack specificity. Therefore, we aimed to study the long-term morbidity and quality of life in children born with gastroschisis in a large and diverse population drawn from the Texas Birth Defects Registry (TBDR). Study packets with informed consent, a questionnaire, and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Generic Core Scale 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0) in English and Spanish were mailed to 1,112 parents of children born with isolated gastroschisis in Texas between 1999 and 2008 via the TBDR. Information was abstracted from the TBDR for 58 mothers of children with gastroschisis who returned study materials. Three hundred fifty five packets were returned to sender, giving a response rate of 7.7%. Children born with gastroschisis had quality of life scores that were not significantly different than expected (p = 0.981). However, factors such as having a learning disability (p = 0.001) and missing school due to gastrointestinal issues (p = 0.020) were found to significantly decrease quality of life. Overall, children with gastroschisis had a significantly increased risk for learning disabilities regardless of whether they were preterm (p = 0.021) or full term (p = 0.021). Additionally, there appeared to be an increased risk for auditory impairment in Caucasian children (p \u3c 0.0005). Therefore, while overall long-term quality of life is not significantly altered for children born with gastroschisis, the previously unreported increased risk for learning disabilities and possible association with hearing impairment are important findings that should be conveyed to prospective parents

Potential of Iranian wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum) in breeding for drought tolerance

The vast genetic resources of wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum, hereafter WB) may hold unique assets for improving barley (H. vulgare ssp. vulgare) cultivars for drought stress. To evaluate genetic potential and characterization of variation among a diverse collection of barley and WB genotypes, mostly originated from Iran, a field experiment was performed under three moisture environments (control, mild and intense drought stress) during two years (2012–2014). Considerable variation was observed among the wild and cultivated genotypes for drought tolerance and agronomic traits. Principal component analysis (PCA) grouped genotypes studied into three groups (WB, two-row barley and sixrow barley groups). However, Iranian and foreign WB genotypes were not completely separated, showing a high variation within both gene pools. The high significance of genotype by environment interaction, confirms importance of using accurate target environments for drought stress breeding. A number of WB genotypes with the highest values of the number of tillers, number of seed per spike, seed weight, grain yield and yield stability index under stressed environments were identified as superior genotypes. Most of these genotypes originate from Iran, highlighting the importance of this germplasm in barley breeding