Energy yield potentials from the anaerobic digestion of common animal manure in Bangladesh

This study provides previously unavailable field data relating to the biogas and methane yields from supervised authentic anaerobic digesters using the most common animal manure in Bangladesh: cow dung, poultry litter and town cattle market straw which are found to produce biogas yields of 0.034, 0.030 and 0.142 m3/kg respectively, with methane concentrations of 60% and 62% and 74% respectively and total solids of 19, 23 and 45 respectively. It also reports indications that in unsupervised plant issues with underfeeding, improper water mixing and irregular feeding are very common – all of which can significantly reduce yields. The figures above should thus be treated as maximum, optimum field values. These results provide reliable data for use in scaling up for national energy and investment planning, as they related directly to common scenarios of family smallholdings, common sized poultry farms and town cattle markets in Bangladesh where there is a reliance on combustion of local wood and dung biomass for cooking, creating air pollution, health and environmental degradation issues

In silico approach to screen compounds active against parasitic nematodes of major socio-economic importance

Infections due to parasitic nematodes are common causes of morbidity and fatality around the world especially in developing nations. At present however, there are only three major classes of drugs for treating human nematode infections. Additionally the scientific knowledge on the mechanism of action and the reason for the resistance to these drugs is poorly understood. Commercial incentives to design drugs that are endemic to developing countries are limited therefore, virtual screening in academic settings can play a vital role is discovering novel drugs useful against neglected diseases. In this study we propose to build robust machine learning model to classify and screen compounds active against parasitic nematodes.A set of compounds active against parasitic nematodes were collated from various literature sources including PubChem while the inactive set was derived from DrugBank database. The support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was used for model development, and stratified ten-fold cross validation was used to evaluate the performance of each classifier. The best results were obtained using the radial basis function kernel. The SVM method achieved an accuracy of 81.79% on an independent test set. Using the model developed above, we were able to indentify novel compounds with potential anthelmintic activity.In this study, we successfully present the SVM approach for predicting compounds active against parasitic nematodes which suggests the effectiveness of computational approaches for antiparasitic drug discovery. Although, the accuracy obtained is lower than the previously reported in a similar study but we believe that our model is more robust because we intentionally employed stringent criteria to select inactive dataset thus making it difficult for the model to classify compounds. The method presents an alternative approach to the existing traditional methods and may be useful for predicting hitherto novel anthelmintic compounds.12 page(s

Advice or exercise for chronic whiplash disorders? Design of a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Whiplash-associated disorder (or "whiplash") is a common condition incurring considerable expense in social and economic terms. A lack of research on effective therapy for patients with chronic whiplash associated disorders prompted the design of the current study. The primary aim of this randomised controlled trial is to determine the effects of a physical activity program for people with chronic (symptoms of > 3 months duration) whiplash. A secondary aim is to determine if pain severity, level of disability and fear of movement/(re)injury predict response to a physical activity program. METHODS / DESIGN: This paper presents the rationale and design of a randomised controlled trial examining the effects of advice and individualized sub-maximal exercise programs in the treatment of whiplash associated disorders. DISCUSSION: This paper highlights the design, methods and operational aspects of a significant clinical trial in the area of whiplash and chronic pain

Seasonality of birth in children with central nervous system tumours in Denmark, 1970–2003

We investigated possible seasonal variation of births among children <20 years with a central nervous system tumour in Denmark (N=1640), comparing them with 2 582 714 children born between 1970 and 2003. No such variation was seen overall, but ependymoma showed seasonal variation

Eculizumab treatment: stochastic occurrence of C3 binding to individual PNH erythrocytes

C5 blockade by eculizumab prevents complement-mediated intravascular hemolysis in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). However, C3-bound PNH red blood cells (RBCs), arising in almost all treated patients, may undergo extravascular hemolysis reducing clinical benefits. Despite the uniform deficiency of CD55 and of CD59, there are always two distinct populations of PNH RBCs, with (C3+) and without (C3-) C3 binding

Homogeneous low-molecular-weight heparins with reversible anticoagulant activity

Low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) are carbohydrate-based anticoagulants clinically used to treat thrombotic disorders, but impurities, structural heterogeneity or functional irreversibility can limit treatment options. We report a series of synthetic LMWHs prepared by cost-effective chemoenzymatic methods. The high activity of one defined synthetic LMWH against human factor Xa (FXa) was reversible in vitro and in vivo using protamine, demonstrating that synthetically accessible constructs can have a critical role in the next generation of LMWHs

Bilobalide modulates serotonin-controlled behaviors in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dysfunctions in the serotonergic system have been implicated in several neurological disorders such as depression. Elderly individuals who have been diagnosed with clinical depression show elevated cases of neurodegenerative diseases. This has led to suggestions that modulating the serotonin (5-HT) system could provide an alternative method to current therapies for alleviating these pathologies. The neuroprotective effects of bilobalide <it>in vitro </it>have been documented. We aim to determine whether bilobalide affects the 5-HT system in the nematode <it>C. elegans</it>. The wild type worms, as well as well-characterized 5-HT mutants, were fed with bilobalide in a range of concentrations, and several 5-HT controlled behaviors were tested.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed that bilobalide significantly inhibited 5-HT-controlled egg-laying behavior in a dose-dependent manner, which was blocked in the 5-HT receptor mutants (<it>ser-4, mod-1</it>), but not in the 5-HT transporter (<it>mod-5</it>) or synthesis (<it>tph-1</it>) mutants. Bilobalide also potentiated a 5-HT-controlled, experience-dependent locomotory behavior, termed the enhanced slowing response in the wild type animals. However, this effect was fully blocked in 5-HT receptor <it>mod-1 </it>and dopamine defective <it>cat-2 </it>mutants, but only partially blocked in <it>ser-4 </it>mutants. We also demonstrated that acetylcholine transmission was inhibited in a transgenic <it>C. elegans </it>strain that constitutively expresses Aβ, and bilobalide did not significantly affect this inhibition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that bilobalide may modulate specific 5-HT receptor subtypes, which involves interplay with dopamine transmission. Additional studies for the function of bilobalide in neurotransmitter systems could aid in our understanding of its neuroprotective properties.</p

The Terneuzen Birth Cohort. Longer exclusive breastfeeding duration is associated with leaner body mass and a healthier diet in young adulthood

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Breastfeeding (BF) is protective against overweight and is associated with dietary behaviour. The aims of our study were to assess the relationship between exclusive BF duration and BMI, waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) at adulthood, and to study whether dietary behaviour could explain the relationship between BF duration and the proxies of fat mass.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 2004-2005, 822 subjects from the Terneuzen Birth Cohort (n = 2,604), aged 18-28 years, filled in postal questionnaires including sociodemographic factors and aspects of dietary behaviour (dietary pattern, and consumption of fruit and vegetables, snacks, sweetened beverages and alcohol); 737 subjects also underwent anthropometric measurements of weight, height, and waist and hip circumference. The relationship between exclusive BF duration and dietary outcomes was investigated by logistic regression analysis. The relationships of BF duration with the anthropometric measures were investigated by linear regression analyses. All results were corrected for age, gender and possible confounders. Finally, regression analyses were performed to investigate if diet factors had a mediating effect on the relationship between BF duration and fat mass.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant inverse dose-response relationship of BF duration was found for BMI (β-0.13, SE 0.06), WC (β-0.39, SE 0.18) and WHR (β-0.003, SE 0.001), after correction for age, gender and confounders. The odds ratio (OR) of exclusive BF duration in months for a breakfast frequency of at least 5 times a week was 1.16 (95%CI 1.06-1.27), and for snack consumption of less than twice a week was 1.15 (95%CI 1.06-1.25). Both ORs were corrected for age, gender and confounders. For other dietary outcomes, the results point in the same direction, i.e. a positive relationship with BF duration, but these were not statistically significant. A mediating effect of the diet factors on the association between BF and anthropometric outcomes was not shown.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Exclusive BF duration had a significant inverse dose-response relationship with BMI, WC and WHR at young adulthood. BF duration was positively related to a healthier diet at adulthood, but this did not explain the protective effect of BF against body fat. Our results underline the recommendation of the WHO to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months or longer.</p

Conceptual comparison of constructs as first step in data harmonization: Parental sensitivity, child temperament, and social support as illustrations

This article presents a strategy for the initial step of data harmonization in Individual Participant Data syntheses, i.e., making decisions as to which measures operationalize the constructs of interest - and which do not. This step is vital in the process of data harmonization, because a study can only be as good as its measures. If the construct validity of the measures is in question, study results are questionable as well. Our proposed strategy for data harmonization consists of three steps. First, a unitary construct is defined based on the existing literature, preferably on the theoretical framework surrounding the construct. Second, the various instruments used to measure the construct are evaluated as operationalizations of this construct, and retained or excluded based on this evaluation. Third, the scores of the included measures are recoded on the same metric. We illustrate the use of this method with three example constructs focal to the Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis (CATS) study: parental sensitivity, child temperament, and social support. This process description may aid researchers in their data pooling studies, filling a gap in the literature on the first step of data harmonization. • Data harmonization in studies using combined datasets is of vital importance for the validity of the study results. • We have developed and illustrated a strategy on how to define a unitary construct and evaluate whether instruments are operationalizations of this construct as the initial step in the harmonization process. • This strategy is a transferable and reproducible method to apply to the data harmonization process