A critical analysis of the new urbanism

After suburbia, the new urbanism offers a fresh start to designing human settlements in North America. The movement returns to the traditional American models of human settlements to design the suburbs, to create new communities. The new urbanism seems to use the traditional town model without questioning any of its potentially negative aspects. In this thesis, the author questions several aspects of the new urbanism movement. The criticism focuses on town location and town pattern. Some influential examples of automobile-age U.S. suburbs, which the movement ignores, are analyzed with new urbanist examples to point out that there may be better ways to shape the suburbs than the traditional American town model. As a conclusion of this thesis, an alternative proposal is presented for Kentlands, Maryland, a mostly completed example of the movement. Unlike the new urbanist developments, this proposal is developed within a regional strategy

Melhora do efeito de estresse salino em morango por adição de ácido salicílico

Strawberry is considered as a salinity sensitive species and is adversely affected in response to the salt stress in terms of growth and yield. Pot experiments were conducted to determine the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) application on physiology, growth, chlorophyll and mineral content of strawberry grown under salt stress and greenhouse conditions. Strawberry plants were treated with SA at different concentrations (0.0, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 mM). Salinity treatments were established by adding 0 and 35 mM of NaCl to a base complete nutrient solution. Salt stress negatively affected the growth, chlorophyll content and mineral uptake of strawberry plants. However, plants treated with SA often had greater shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight and root dry weight as well as higher chlorophyll content under salt stress. The greatest values were obtained with 1.00 mM SA treatment in both saline and non-saline conditions. Leaf water relative content (LWRC) was reduced in response to salt stress while electrolyte leakage was raised. SA treatments induced increases in LWRC and decreases in electrolyte leakage compared to the control under salt stress. With respect to the nutrient content, SA treatments increased almost contents of all nutrients in leaves and roots of strawberry plants under salt stress. The greatest values were often obtained by the 1.00 mM SA treatment. These findings suggest that the SA treatments can ameliorate the negative effect of salinity on the growth of strawberries.O morango é considerado uma espécie sensível à salinidade e é negativamente afetado por estresse salino, em termos de crescimento e produção. Por meio de experimentos em vaso foi determinado o efeito de ácido salicílico exógeno (SA) na fisiologia, crescimento, conteúdos de clorofila e de minerais, em morangueiros cultivados em estufa sob estresse salino. As concentrações de SA foram 0.0, 0.25, 0.50 e 1.00 mM. O estresse salino foi verificado pela adição de 0 e 35 mM de NaCl à uma solução nutritiva completa. O estresse salino afetou negativamente o crescimento, o conteúdo de clorofila e a absorção dos nutrientes minerais. Entretanto, plantas tratadas com SA muitas vezes apresentam maiores pesos frescos e secos, além de maior concentração de clorofila, sob condições de estresse salino. O conteúdo relativo de água das folhas (LWRC) foi reduzido em resposta ao estresse salino, enquanto o extravasamento de eletrólitos aumentou. Os tratamentos com SA induziram a aumentos em LWRC e diminuições no extravassamento de eletrólitos, em comparação com os controles sob estresse salino. Com respeito aos conteúdos de nutrientes, houve aumento para quase todos os nutrientes com adição de SA nas folhas e raízes sob estresse salino. Os maiores valores forma geralmente obtidos para 1.00 mM SA. Estes resultados sugerem que os tratamentos com SA podem atenuar os efeitos negativos da salinidade no crescimento do morangueiro

Bacteriophage therapy of bacterial infections: The rediscovered frontier

Antibiotic-resistant infections present a serious health concern worldwide. It is estimated that there are 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections and 35,000 deaths in the United States every year. Such microorganisms include Acinetobacter, Enterobacterioceae, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus and Mycobacterium. Alternative treatment methods are, thus, necessary to treat such infections. Bacteriophages are viruses of bacteria. In a lytic infection, the newly formed phage particles lyse the bacterium and continue to infect other bacteria. In the early 20th century, d’Herelle, Bruynoghe and Maisin used bacterium-specific phages to treat bacterial infections. Bacteriophages are being identified, purified and developed as pharmaceutically acceptable macromolecular “drugs,” undergoing strict quality control. Phages can be applied topically or delivered by inhalation, orally or parenterally. Some of the major drug-resistant infections that are potential targets of pharmaceutically prepared phages are Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Acinetobacter baumannii

The Effect of Elasticity of Gelatin Nanoparticles on the Interaction with Macrophages

Gelatin is a biocompatible, biodegradable, cheap, and nontoxic material, which is already used for pharmaceutical applications. Nanoparticles from gelatin (GNPs) are considered a promising delivery system for hydrophilic and macromolecular drugs. Mechanical properties of particles are recognized as an important parameter affecting drug carrier interaction with biological systems. GNPs offer the preparation of particles with different stiffness. GNPs were loaded with Fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled 150 kDa dextran (FITC-dextran) yielding also different elastic properties. GNPs were visualized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), and force–distance curves from the center of the particles were evaluated for Young’s modulus calculation. The prepared GNPs have Young’s moduli from 4.12 MPa for soft to 9.8 MPa for stiff particles. Furthermore, cytokine release (IL-6 and TNF-α), cell viability, and cell uptake were determined on macrophage cell lines from mouse (RAW 264.7) and human (dTHP-1 cells, differentiated human monocytic THP-1 cells) origin for soft and stiff GNPs. Both particle types showed good cell compatibility and did not induce IL-6 and TNF-α release from RAW 264.7 and dTHP-1 cells. Stiffer GNPs were internalized into cells faster and to a larger extent

Kernel Hardness and its Relation to Certain Quality Characters of Common Wheat

Agronomy (Field Crops

Validity of demirjian and nolla methods for dental age estimation for Northeastern Turkish children aged 5?16 years old

Objective: To evaluate the applicability of Demirjian and Nolla methods for northeastern Turkish population. Material and Method: A retrospective study was performed on panoramic radiographs of 673 subjects aged 5?15.9 years. The mean dental age (DA) according to the Demirjian and Nolla methods were compared to the mean chronological age (CA). Results: The mean CA of the study sample was 10.37±2.90 and 10.03±2.81 years for females and males, respectively. Using the Demirjian method, the mean estimated DA was 11.26±3.02 years for females and 10.87±2.96 years for males. For Nolla method, the mean estimated DA was 9.80±3.41 and 9.53±3.14 years for females and males, respectively. The mean differences between the CA and DA according to the Demirjian and Nolla methods were 0.86 and -0.54 years for total study sample. Conclusion: Nolla method was found to be a more accurate method for estimating DA in northeastern Turkish population

Drought stress amelioration in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seedlings by biostimulant as regenerative agent

Drought adversely affects many physiological and biochemical events of crops. This research was conducted to investigate the possible effects of biostimulants containing plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on plant growth parameters, chlorophyll content, membrane permeability (MP), leaf relative water content (LRWC), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), hormone content, and antioxidant enzymes (catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) activity of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seedlings under different irrigation levels. This study was carried out under controlled greenhouse conditions with two irrigation levels (D0: 100% of field capacity and D1: 50% of field capacity) and three biostimulant doses (B0: 0, B1: 4 L ha-1, and B2: 6 L ha-1). The results of the study show that drought stress negatively influenced the growth and physiological characteristics of tomato seedlings while biostimulant applications ameliorated these parameters. Water deficit conditions (50% of field capacity) caused decrease in indole acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA), salicylic acid (SA), cytokine, zeatin, and jasmonic acid content of tomato seedlings by ratios of 83%, 93%, 82%, 89%, 50%, and 57%, respectively, and shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area decreased by 43%, 19%, 39%, 29%, 20%, 18%, and 50%, respectively, compared to the control (B0D0). In addition, 21%, 16%, 21%, and 17% reductions occurred in LRWC, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll contents with drought compared to the control, respectively. Biostimulant applications restored the plant growth, and the most effective dose was 4 L ha-1 under drought condition. Amendment of biostimulant into the soil also enhanced organic matter and the total N, P, Ca, and Cu content of the experiment soil. In conclusion, 4 L ha-1 biostimulant amendment might be a promising approach to mitigate the adverse effects of drought stress on tomato