Resilien usahawan makanan tradisi skala mikro di Beaufort-Membakut sepanjang tempoh Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP)

Keusahawanan makanan tradisi di Beaufort-Membakut adalah berasaskan makanan suku kaumnya seperti produk makanan tuhau, jeruk bambangan, ambuyat, kuih jala dan kuih sapit. Sejak negara dilanda pandemik COVID-19, pelbagai sektor ekonomi kian merudum sekali gus merencatkan ekonomi skala mikro di daerah ini. Penjualan serta permintaan terhadap produk makanan tradisi kian terjejas memberikan cabaran kepada pengusaha untuk terus bertahan, apatah lagi selepas pelaksanaan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) oleh kerajaan Malaysia. Justeru, timbul persoalan terhadap sejauh manakah pengusaha di daerah ini resilien sepanjang tempoh PKP dilaksanakan. Makalah ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti resilien usahawan makanan tradisi skala mikro di Beaufort-Membakut dalam meningkatkan permintaan produk sepanjang tempoh Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) dilaksanakan. Reka bentuk kajian yang digunakan ialah pendekatan penerokaan dengan mengaplikasikan kaedah kualitatif sebagai kaedah utama penyelidikan. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan ialah temu bual secara mendalam dengan menggunakan panduan soalan temu bual, temu bual secara tidak langsung dan pemerhatian. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan resilien usahawan makanan tradisi skala mikro sepanjang tempoh PKP adalah (i) berjimat-cermat dalam perbelanjaan, (ii) mengubah norma strategi pemasaran, (iii) tidak membuat pinjaman wang, (iv) menghadkan pengeluaran produk. Sebagai rumusan, usahawan makanan tradisi mempunyai peranan yang signifikan dalam meningkatkan taraf hidup penduduk luar bandar dan melestarikan makanan tradisi suku kaum di negeri Sabah. Secara tidak langsung ia berupaya meningkatkan sumbangan golongan usahawan makanan tradisi kepada ekonomi rumahtangga, kepada komuniti setempat dan akhirnya kepada pembangunan keusahawanan makanan tradisi di peringkat tempatan dan kebangsaan

Raman spectra observation of silver nanoparticles in porous silicon fabricated by ion implantation

© 2015, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Porous silicon layers fabricated by the low-energy high-dose Ag+-ion implantation of crystalline silicon with doses from 7.5 × 1016 to 1.5 × 1017 ion/cm2 are studied by Raman spectroscopy. Pores with sizes from ∼100–180 nm formed on irradiated silicon surface are controlled by scanning electron microcopy. Synthesized silver nanoparticles are observed in the structure of porous silicon. The sizes of pour and nanoparticles are increased with an increase in implantation dose. Acoustic vibrations generated by laser irradiation in silver nanoparticles of various sizes are registered by low-temperature Raman spectra of composite material

A diffraction grating created in diamond substrate by boron ion implantation

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.This work is devoted to new method of manufacturing of diffractive optical elements (gratings). A grating was formed in a diamond substrate by implantation with boron ions through a mask. Ion implantation led to the graphitization of diamond in unmasked regions and resulted in swelling of the irradiated layer. The formation of periodic graphitized surface microstructures on the diamond substrate was confirmed by optical, electron, and atomic force microscopy. The efficiency of operation of the obtained diffractive optical element was demonstrated by probing with He–Ne laser radiation

Methylviologen mediated electrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles in the solution bulk

© 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Electrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNp) was carried out by methylviologen mediated reduction of Au(i) at potentials of the MV2+/MV+ redox couple in water/0.1 M NaCl medium, in the absence and in the presence of stabilizers. In all the cases, AuNp are formed in the solution bulk and are not deposited on the cathode. In the absence of stabilizers, AuNp (14-100 nm) coalesce to give aggregates of various shapes that eventually form a deposit. Sonication reversibly destructs the deposit into nanoparticles. In the presence of alkylamino-modified silicate nanoparticles (SiO2-NHR, 120-160 nm), spherical AuNp (≤20 nm) are bound as inclusions in the SiO2-NHR surface layer. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (40 000 D) stabilizes spherical AuNp with a mean diameter of 5-14 nm. All the particles were characterized by electron microscopy methods (SEM, STEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD)

Spatial patterns and cell surface clusters in perineuronal nets

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.Perineuronal nets (PNN) ensheath GABAergic and glutamatergic synapses on neuronal cell surface in the central nervous system (CNS), have neuroprotective effect in animal models of Alzheimer disease and regulate synaptic plasticity during development and regeneration. Crucial insights were obtained recently concerning molecular composition and physiological importance of PNN but the microstructure of the network remains largely unstudied. Here we used histochemistry, fluorescent microscopy and quantitative image analysis to study the PNN structure in adult mouse and rat neurons from layers IV and VI of the somatosensory cortex. Vast majority of meshes have quadrangle, pentagon or hexagon shape with mean mesh area of 1.29 µm2 in mouse and 1.44 µm2 in rat neurons. We demonstrate two distinct patterns of chondroitin sulfate distribution within a single mesh – with uniform (nonpolar) and node-enriched (polar) distribution of the Wisteria floribunda agglutinin-positive signal. Vertices of the node-enriched pattern match better with local maxima of chondroitin sulfate density as compared to the uniform pattern. PNN is organized into clusters of meshes with distinct morphologies on the neuronal cell surface. Our findings suggest the role for the PNN microstructure in the synaptic transduction and plasticity

Integrative analyses identify modulators of response to neoadjuvant aromatase inhibitors in patients with early breast cancer

Introduction Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are a vital component of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer treatment. De novo and acquired resistance, however, is common. The aims of this study were to relate patterns of copy number aberrations to molecular and proliferative response to AIs, to study differences in the patterns of copy number aberrations between breast cancer samples pre- and post-AI neoadjuvant therapy, and to identify putative biomarkers for resistance to neoadjuvant AI therapy using an integrative analysis approach. Methods Samples from 84 patients derived from two neoadjuvant AI therapy trials were subjected to copy number profiling by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridisation (aCGH, n = 84), gene expression profiling (n = 47), matched pre- and post-AI aCGH (n = 19 pairs) and Ki67-based AI-response analysis (n = 39). Results Integrative analysis of these datasets identified a set of nine genes that, when amplified, were associated with a poor response to AIs, and were significantly overexpressed when amplified, including CHKA, LRP5 and SAPS3. Functional validation in vitro, using cell lines with and without amplification of these genes (SUM44, MDA-MB134-VI, T47D and MCF7) and a model of acquired AI-resistance (MCF7-LTED) identified CHKA as a gene that when amplified modulates estrogen receptor (ER)-driven proliferation, ER/estrogen response element (ERE) transactivation, expression of ER-regulated genes and phosphorylation of V-AKT murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (AKT1). Conclusions These data provide a rationale for investigation of the role of CHKA in further models of de novo and acquired resistance to AIs, and provide proof of concept that integrative genomic analyses can identify biologically relevant modulators of AI response

Effective-Range Expansion of the Neutron-Deuteron Scattering Studied by a Quark-Model Nonlocal Gaussian Potential

The S-wave effective range parameters of the neutron-deuteron (nd) scattering are derived in the Faddeev formalism, using a nonlocal Gaussian potential based on the quark-model baryon-baryon interaction fss2. The spin-doublet low-energy eigenphase shift is sufficiently attractive to reproduce predictions by the AV18 plus Urbana three-nucleon force, yielding the observed value of the doublet scattering length and the correct differential cross sections below the deuteron breakup threshold. This conclusion is consistent with the previous result for the triton binding energy, which is nearly reproduced by fss2 without reinforcing it with the three-nucleon force.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures and 6 tables, submitted to Prog. Theor. Phy

BCL10 is rarely mutated in human prostate carcinoma, small-cell lung cancer, head and neck tumours, renal carcinoma and sarcomas

We have used single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis to screen for mutations in the BCL 10 gene in 81 primary prostate carcinomas, 20 squamous cell cancers of the head and neck, 15 small-cell lung cancer cell lines, 24 renal carcinoma cell lines and 13 sarcoma cell lines. We failed to find evidence of somatically acquired mutations of the BCL10 gene suggesting that BCL 10 does not play a major role in the development of these malignancies

Intraspecific Differentiation of <i>Francisella tularensis</i> Strains Using Multilocus Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

The aim of the study was to develop a method for intraspecific differentiation of the tularemia microbe: subspecies tularensis (subpopulations AI and AII), holarctica (biovars japonica, EryS/R), mediasiatica, and novicida using multilocus real-time PCR. Materials and methods. We used 48 strains of F. tularensis of various subspecies, biovars, and subpopulations. Intraspecific appurtenance of the strains was carried out on the basis of the analysis of the RD-1 region variability applying PCR, the sdhA gene by Sanger fragment sequencing and by the disk diffusion method using disks with erythromycin. The selection of primers and probes was performed using the software available at www.genscript.com and GeneRunner 6.5.52. Sequence homology was assessed using the BLAST algorithm and the GenBank NCBI database. Results and discussion. New data on the structure and occurrence of the differentiation regions RD-8, RD-12, RD-28 of FTT1122c gene and its homologous sequences in strains of tularemia microbe of various subspecies have been obtained. Novel RDhm 346 bp in size, characteristic of strains of the subsp. mediasiatica, holarctica, which is deleted in subsp. tularensis and absent in subsp. novicida has been detected. Based on the detection of the FTT1670, FTT1122с, FTT1067, FTW_2084 loci, a multilocus real-time PCR has been developed – “F. tularensis 4c”, providing for identification of all subspecies of the tularemia microbe, separately for the biovar japonica of the Holarctic subspecies and subpopulations AI, AII of the subspecies tularensis. The PCR specificity was confirmed in the study of strains of tularemia microbe from the fund of the “State Collection of Pathogenic Bacteria” at the premises of the Russian Reserarch Anti-Plague Institute “Microbe”. The results obtained expand the concept of intraspecific genetic heterogeneity of tularemia microbe and possibilities of identifying the causative agent of tularemia using molecular-genetic methods. They are important for understanding the processes of adaptation of the pathogen to circulation in the host organism and environmental objects, the course of evolution and formation of new species of Francisella