In vitro shoot multiplication of Ziziphus spina-christi by shoot tip culture

In vitro shoot multiplications were obtained successfully from shoot tips of Ziziphus spina-christi by placing explants into solidified medium (MS medium) supplemented with 0.01 mg/l NAA and 0.1 mg/l BA or 0.1 mg/l IAA and 1.0 mg/l kinetin. It was concluded that lower concentrations of all cytokinin studied were better for lateral bud proliferation and that BA and 2IP were better than kinetin in the production of lateral branches. No growth regulators were required for shoot growth and elongation. The shoots rooted best on MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/l IBA. Plantlet survival after transfer to soil was more than 90%. The shoot proliferation method described could be used for the mass clonal propagation of selected genotype cv Noaf variety. The variety is in a great demand due to its attractive fruit characteristics such as flavour, sweetness and fruit yield

Prevalence and clinical significance of anti-C1q antibodies in cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus

Autoantibodies against C1q are strongly linked to immune-complex disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Although anti-C1q antibodies have received much interest in the recent years, their biological functions remain unclear. Anti-C1q antibodies are strongly associated with lupus nephritis. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of anti-C1q antibodies in Egyptian lupus patients as well as to evaluate the associations between anti C1q antibodies and clinical and serologic parameters of patients with cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus. Fifty-eight patients of lupus erythematosus were recruited in the study, and they were divided into 3 groups according to their clinical presentations and laboratory investigations; group (1) consists of 20 patients with musculoskeletal manifestations, mainly arthritis (34.5%), group (2) consists of 12 patients with lupus nephritis (20%), and group (3) consists of 26 patients with cutaneous lupus (44.8%). Fourteen age and sex matched healthy subjects served as controls. Complete blood picture, kidney function tests, liver function tests and anti-double stranded DNA were done for all the studied patients. Anti-C1q antibodies were determined by immunometric enzyme immunoassay for all the studied subjects. Anti-C1q antibodies were positive in (63.8%) of lupus erythematosus (LE) patients and (0%) of controls. Moreover, the serum anti-C1q antibodies titers were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in all lupus erythematosus patients (both systemic and cutaneous) when compared to healthy controls. Surprisingly, serum anti-C1q antibodies were significantly higher in patients with cutaneous lupus than those with lupus nephritis (P <0.001). Anti-C1q titers were significantly correlated with levels of anti–double stranded DNA (P <0.001), as well as with proteinuria (<0.05) in lupus nephritis patients. It was concluded that anti C1q antibodies might play a pathogenic role in the pathogenesis of cutaneous lupus and could positively be associated with evolution to SLE. Moreover, it could predict patients who subsequently develop nephritis, thus early use of immune modulators in cutaneous lupus could improve patients’ prognosis by decreasing the possibility of evolution to systemic lupus complications, mainly nephritis.Keywords: Anti-C1q; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Cutaneous lupus erythematosus; Lupus nephritis; Complement; Proteinuri

The flow of plasma in the solar terrestrial environment

The overall goal of our NASA Theory Program was to study the coupling, time delays, and feedback mechanisms between the various regions of the solar-terrestrial system in a self-consistent, quantitative manner. To accomplish this goal, it will eventually be necessary to have time-dependent macroscopic models of the different regions of the solar-terrestrial system and we are continually working toward this goal. However, with the funding from this NASA program, we concentrated on the near-earth plasma environment, including the ionosphere, the plasmasphere, and the polar wind. In this area, we developed unique global models that allowed us to study the coupling between the different regions. These results are highlighted in the next section. Another important aspect of our NASA Theory Program concerned the effect that localized 'structure' had on the macroscopic flow in the ionosphere, plasmasphere, thermosphere, and polar wind. The localized structure can be created by structured magnetospheric inputs (i.e., structured plasma convection, particle precipitation or Birkland current patterns) or time variations in these input due to storms and substorms. Also, some of the plasma flows that we predicted with our macroscopic models could be unstable, and another one of our goals was to examine the stability of our predicted flows. Because time-dependent, three-dimensional numerical models of the solar-terrestrial environment generally require extensive computer resources, they are usually based on relatively simple mathematical formulations (i.e., simple MHD or hydrodynamic formulations). Therefore, another goal of our NASA Theory Program was to study the conditions under which various mathematical formulations can be applied to specific solar-terrestrial regions. This could involve a detailed comparison of kinetic, semi-kinetic, and hydrodynamic predictions for a given polar wind scenario or it could involve the comparison of a small-scale particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of a plasma expansion event with a similar macroscopic expansion event. The different mathematical formulations have different strengths and weaknesses and a careful comparison of model predictions for similar geophysical situations provides insight into when the various models can be used with confidence

Effect of advanced catalysts on tire waste pyrolysis oil

This study aims to examine the effect of various advanced catalysts on tire waste pyrolysis oil using a small pilot-scale pyrolysis reactor with a capacity of 20 L. The catalytic pyrolysis with activated alumina catalyst produced maximum liquid oil (32 wt.%) followed by activated calcium hydroxide (26 wt.%), natural zeolite (22 wt.%) and synthetic zeolite (20 wt.%) catalysts, whereas liquid oil yield of 40% was obtained without catalyst. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results confirmed the pyrolysis liquid oil produced without catalyst consist of up to 93.3% of mixed aromatic compounds. The use of catalysts decreased the concentration of aromatic compounds in liquid oil down to 60.9% with activated calcium hydroxide, 71.0% with natural zeolite, 84.6% with activated alumina, except for synthetic zeolite producing 93.7% aromatic compounds. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy data revealed that the mixture of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon compounds were found in all liquid oil samples, which further confirmed the gas chromatography results. The characteristics of pyrolysis liquid oil had viscosity (1.9 cSt), density (0.9 g/cm3), pour point (–2 °C) and flash point (27 °C), similar to conventional diesel. The liquid oil had higher heating values, key feature of a fuel, in the range of 42–43.5 MJ/kg that is same to conventional diesel (42.7 MJ/kg). However, liquid oil requires post-treatments, including refining and blending with conventional diesel to be used as a transport fuel, source of energy and value-added chemicals

The Klein-Gordon equation with the Kratzer potential in d dimensions

We apply the Asymptotic Iteration Method to obtain the bound-state energy spectrum for the d-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation with scalar S(r) and vector potentials V(r). When S(r) and V(r) are both Coulombic, we obtain all the exact solutions; when the potentials are both of Kratzer type, we obtain all the exact solutions for S(r)=V(r); if S(r) > V(r) we obtain exact solutions under certain constraints on the potential parameters: in this case, a possible general solution is found in terms of a monic polynomial, whose coefficients form a set of elementary symmetric polynomials.Comment: 13 page

A Comparative Study of Single and Multi-Stage Forecasting Algorithms for the Prediction of Electricity Consumption Using a UK-National Health Service (NHS) Hospital Dataset

Data Availability Statement: Restrictions apply to the availability of the electricity consumption data. The data belong to Medway NHS Foundation Trust but were collected using systems provided by EnergyLogix. Data, however, can be made available with the approval of the corresponding author (A.T.), Medway NHS Foundation Trust, and EnergyLogix. As for the weather data, they were obtained from [24].Copyright © 2023 by the authors. Accurately looking into the future was a significantly major challenge prior to the era of big data, but with rapid advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the data availability around us, this has become relatively easier. Nevertheless, in order to ensure high-accuracy forecasting, it is crucial to consider suitable algorithms and the impact of the extracted features. This paper presents a framework to evaluate a total of nine forecasting algorithms categorised into single and multistage models, constructed from the Prophet, Support Vector Regression (SVR), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) approaches, applied to an electricity demand dataset from an NHS hospital. The aim is to see such techniques widely used in accurately predicting energy consumption, limiting the negative impacts of future waste on energy, and making a contribution towards the 2050 net zero carbon target. The proposed method accounts for patterns in demand and temperature to accurately forecast consumption. The Coefficient of Determination (R2), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the algorithms’ performance. The results show the superiority of the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model and the multistage Facebook Prophet model, with R2 values of 87.20% and 68.06%, respectively.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grants, EP/T517896/1

Dynamics of Mechanical Signal Transmission through Prestressed Stress Fibers

Transmission of mechanical stimuli through the actin cytoskeleton has been proposed as a mechanism for rapid long-distance mechanotransduction in cells; however, a quantitative understanding of the dynamics of this transmission and the physical factors governing it remains lacking. Two key features of the actin cytoskeleton are its viscoelastic nature and the presence of prestress due to actomyosin motor activity. We develop a model of mechanical signal transmission through prestressed viscoelastic actin stress fibers that directly connect the cell surface to the nucleus. The analysis considers both temporally stationary and oscillatory mechanical signals and accounts for cytosolic drag on the stress fibers. To elucidate the physical parameters that govern mechanical signal transmission, we initially focus on the highly simplified case of a single stress fiber. The results demonstrate that the dynamics of mechanical signal transmission depend on whether the applied force leads to transverse or axial motion of the stress fiber. For transverse motion, mechanical signal transmission is dominated by prestress while fiber elasticity has a negligible effect. Conversely, signal transmission for axial motion is mediated uniquely by elasticity due to the absence of a prestress restoring force. Mechanical signal transmission is significantly delayed by stress fiber material viscosity, while cytosolic damping becomes important only for longer stress fibers. Only transverse motion yields the rapid and long-distance mechanical signal transmission dynamics observed experimentally. For simple networks of stress fibers, mechanical signals are transmitted rapidly to the nucleus when the fibers are oriented largely orthogonal to the applied force, whereas the presence of fibers parallel to the applied force slows down mechanical signal transmission significantly. The present results suggest that cytoskeletal prestress mediates rapid mechanical signal transmission and allows temporally oscillatory signals in the physiological frequency range to travel a long distance without significant decay due to material viscosity and/or cytosolic drag

Comparison of next generation sequencing technologies for transcriptome characterization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have developed a simulation approach to help determine the optimal mixture of sequencing methods for most complete and cost effective transcriptome sequencing. We compared simulation results for traditional capillary sequencing with "Next Generation" (NG) ultra high-throughput technologies. The simulation model was parameterized using mappings of 130,000 cDNA sequence reads to the <it>Arabidopsis </it>genome (NCBI Accession SRA008180.19). We also generated 454-GS20 sequences and <it>de novo </it>assemblies for the basal eudicot California poppy (<it>Eschscholzia californica</it>) and the magnoliid avocado (<it>Persea americana</it>) using a variety of methods for cDNA synthesis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The <it>Arabidopsis </it>reads tagged more than 15,000 genes, including new splice variants and extended UTR regions. Of the total 134,791 reads (13.8 MB), 119,518 (88.7%) mapped exactly to known exons, while 1,117 (0.8%) mapped to introns, 11,524 (8.6%) spanned annotated intron/exon boundaries, and 3,066 (2.3%) extended beyond the end of annotated UTRs. Sequence-based inference of relative gene expression levels correlated significantly with microarray data. As expected, NG sequencing of normalized libraries tagged more genes than non-normalized libraries, although non-normalized libraries yielded more full-length cDNA sequences. The <it>Arabidopsis </it>data were used to simulate additional rounds of NG and traditional EST sequencing, and various combinations of each. Our simulations suggest a combination of FLX and Solexa sequencing for optimal transcriptome coverage at modest cost. We have also developed ESTcalc <url>http://fgp.huck.psu.edu/NG_Sims/ngsim.pl</url>, an online webtool, which allows users to explore the results of this study by specifying individualized costs and sequencing characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>NG sequencing technologies are a highly flexible set of platforms that can be scaled to suit different project goals. In terms of sequence coverage alone, the NG sequencing is a dramatic advance over capillary-based sequencing, but NG sequencing also presents significant challenges in assembly and sequence accuracy due to short read lengths, method-specific sequencing errors, and the absence of physical clones. These problems may be overcome by hybrid sequencing strategies using a mixture of sequencing methodologies, by new assemblers, and by sequencing more deeply. Sequencing and microarray outcomes from multiple experiments suggest that our simulator will be useful for guiding NG transcriptome sequencing projects in a wide range of organisms.</p

Triangular and prism-shaped gold-zinc oxide plasmonic nanostructures: in situ reduction, assembly and full-range photocatalytic performance

Gold-based nanocatalysts have been traditionally selected for multiple homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions of interest involving redox processes. Likewise, greener routes involving more efficient reactors and the use of inexpensive and nature-mimicking excitation sources have boosted the research on photocatalysts able to drive these chemical reactions upon excitation with multiple wavelength sources beyond the UV range. In the present work we report on a multi-step synthesis approach that implies the in situ generation of triangular and prism-shaped gold nanostructures with a localized surface plasmon resonance effect and their direct assembly onto a ZnO nanostructured semiconductor support. Different LED excitation sources in the whole UV-Vis-NIR range have been systematically selected to activate these hybrid materials in the selective reduction of p-nitrophenol (4-NP), a wellknown contaminant by-product. While ZnO becomes preferentially active in the UV window, the anisotropic shape of these gold plasmonic nanostructures helps to broaden the photocatalytic response of ZnO towards the visible and NIR range, being especially active under 460 nm blue light irradiation and expanding their potential application in multiple solar-driven catalytic processes of interest for decontamination and upgrading of toxic chemicals

Role of oesophageal cooling in the prevention of oesophageal injury in atrial fibrillation catheter ablation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy of oesophageal cooling in the prevention of oesophageal injury in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases through April 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the role of oesophageal cooling compared with control in the prevention of oesophageal injury during AF catheter ablation. The study primary outcome was the incidence of any oesophageal injury. The meta-analysis included 4 RCTs with a total of 294 patients. There was no difference in the incidence of any oesophageal injury between oesophageal cooling and control [15% vs. 19%; relative risk (RR) 0.86; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31-2.41]. Compared with control, oesophageal cooling showed lower risk of severe oesophageal injury (1.5% vs. 9%; RR 0.21; 95% CI 0.05-0.80). There were no significant differences among the two groups in mild to moderate oesophageal injury (13.6% vs. 12.1%; RR 1.09; 95% CI 0.28-4.23), procedure duration [standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.03; 95% CI -0.36-0.30], posterior wall radiofrequency (RF) time (SMD 0.27; 95% CI -0.04-0.58), total RF time (SMD -0.50; 95% CI -1.15-0.16), acute reconnection incidence (RR 0.93; 95% CI 0.02-36.34), and ablation index (SMD 0.16; 95% CI -0.33-0.66). CONCLUSION: Among patients undergoing AF catheter ablation, oesophageal cooling did not reduce the overall risk of any oesophageal injury compared with control. Oesophageal cooling might shift the severity of oesophageal injuries to less severe injuries. Further studies should evaluate the long-term effects after oesophageal cooling during AF catheter ablation