Pengaruh Kadar Aspal Efektif dan Tebal Selimut Aspal Terhadap Proporsi Rongga pada Campuran Laston: Influence of Effective Asphalt Content and Film Thickness on Voids Proportion of Asphalt Concrete

In the mixing process between asphalt and aggregate, absorption of asphalt by the aggregate occurs through the pores of the aggregate. The volume of asphalt not absorbed by the aggregate can be defined as effective asphalt content which determines the percentage of airspaces in the compacted mix. The proportion of voids formed in the mixture contributes to the durability of the mixture against temperature and climate conditions. This study aims to examine the effect of effective asphalt content and the asphalt film thickness on the voids proportion in asphalt mixture. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the particle size distribution of the aggregate affects the total surface area of the aggregate in the mixture and the pores of the aggregate affect the effective percent of asphalt content. Aggregate with a small grain size produced a larger total surface area of aggregate. Meanwhile the use of aggregate with small pores produced a higher effective percent of asphalt content. The higher the effective asphalt content and the asphalt film thickness, the larger the voids in mineral aggregate and the voids filled with bitumen. In contrast, the voids in the mixture decreases with increase the effective asphalt content and the asphalt film thickness. In all the voids proportions analyzed, the effective asphalt content and the asphalt film thickness have a very significant effect

Persepsi Penderita terhadap Pengobatan dan Kesembuhan Penyakit Tuberkulosis Paru di Kota Pekanbaru

Tuberculosis ( TB ) is one of the world\u27s health problems. Indonesia is one of the countries with high TB incidence. There are 450,000 TB cases and 64,000 deaths per year or about 169 deaths per day. The TB case detection rate ( CDR ) in Indonesia is still below the national target. Low case detection rate of TB in Indonesia is influenced by several factors, which one of that is the perception of the patient to the treatment and recovery of TB disease. This research is qualitative by using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. By using the snowballing sampling technique obtained 12 samples from patients with pulmonary TB population and health care. The results obtained are the description of the informant\u27s perception of TB disease is largely lacking. There are the informants who do not know the exact cause of TB. Perceptions of informants to the treatment of TB disease is almost the same, it can be seen from all over the informants believed that the treatment provided by the health service will grant a recovery of TB disease than traditional treatments. Perceptions of informants to the recovery of TB disease is almost the same too, it can be seen from the statement of the entire informants feel confident and believe in doing the treatment at the health center can cure TB disease

PAR1- and PAR2-induced innate immune markers are negatively regulated by PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in oral keratinocytes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protease-Activated Receptors (PARs), members of G-protein-coupled receptors, are activated by proteolytic activity of various proteases. Activation of PAR1 and PAR2 triggers innate immune responses in human oral keratinocytes (HOKs), but the signaling pathways downstream of PAR activation in HOKs have not been clearly defined. In this study, we aimed to determine if PAR1- and PAR2-mediated signaling differs in the induction of innate immune markers CXCL3, CXCL5 and CCL20 via ERK, p38 and PI3K/Akt.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our data show the induction of innate immunity by PAR1 requires both p38 and ERK MAP kinases, while PAR2 prominently signals via p38. However, inhibition of PI3K enhances expression of innate immune markers predominantly via suppressing p38 phosphorylation signaled by PAR activation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data indicate that proteases mediating PAR1 and PAR2 activation differentially signal via MAP kinase cascades. In addition, the production of chemokines induced by PAR1 and PAR2 is suppressed by PI3K/Akt, thus keeping the innate immune responses of HOK in balance. The results of our study provide a novel insight into signaling pathways involved in PAR activation.</p

Classifying the unknown: discovering novel gravitational-wave detector glitches using similarity learning

The observation of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences by LIGO and Virgo has begun a new era in astronomy. A critical challenge in making detections is determining whether loud transient features in the data are caused by gravitational waves or by instrumental or environmental sources. The citizen-science project \emph{Gravity Spy} has been demonstrated as an efficient infrastructure for classifying known types of noise transients (glitches) through a combination of data analysis performed by both citizen volunteers and machine learning. We present the next iteration of this project, using similarity indices to empower citizen scientists to create large data sets of unknown transients, which can then be used to facilitate supervised machine-learning characterization. This new evolution aims to alleviate a persistent challenge that plagues both citizen-science and instrumental detector work: the ability to build large samples of relatively rare events. Using two families of transient noise that appeared unexpectedly during LIGO's second observing run (O2), we demonstrate the impact that the similarity indices could have had on finding these new glitch types in the Gravity Spy program

A novel homozygous variation in the PANK2 gene in two Persian siblings with atypical pantothenate kinase associated neurodegeneration

Pantothenate Kinase-associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN) is an autosomal recessive disorder that is caused by variation in pantothenate kinase-2 gene (PANK2) gene on chromosome 20. The common presentation of this disease includes progressive dystonia, Parkinsonism, retinopathy, cognitive impairment, and spasticity. The typical magnetic resonance imaging finding is eye of the tiger sign in globus pallidus and not pathogenic and not found in all patients. In the present study, we describe two siblings who have a novel variation of the PANK2 gene. These patients with the same genotype, have different ages at the onset of disease and also the various severity of the disease. The description of these cases helps to understand this disease, its symptoms, pathogenesis, and its treatment. © A.H. Habibi et al., 2019

Effects of Noise on Ecological Invasion Processes: Bacteriophage-mediated Competition in Bacteria

Pathogen-mediated competition, through which an invasive species carrying and transmitting a pathogen can be a superior competitor to a more vulnerable resident species, is one of the principle driving forces influencing biodiversity in nature. Using an experimental system of bacteriophage-mediated competition in bacterial populations and a deterministic model, we have shown in [Joo et al 2005] that the competitive advantage conferred by the phage depends only on the relative phage pathology and is independent of the initial phage concentration and other phage and host parameters such as the infection-causing contact rate, the spontaneous and infection-induced lysis rates, and the phage burst size. Here we investigate the effects of stochastic fluctuations on bacterial invasion facilitated by bacteriophage, and examine the validity of the deterministic approach. We use both numerical and analytical methods of stochastic processes to identify the source of noise and assess its magnitude. We show that the conclusions obtained from the deterministic model are robust against stochastic fluctuations, yet deviations become prominently large when the phage are more pathological to the invading bacterial strain.Comment: 39 pages, 7 figure

Global household energy model: a multivariate hierarchical approach to estimating trends in the use of polluting and clean fuels for cooking

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordIn 2017 an estimated 3 billion people used polluting fuels and technologies as their primary cooking solution, with 3.8 million deaths annually attributed to household exposure to the resulting fine particulate matter air pollution. Currently, health burdens are calculated using aggregations of fuel types, e.g. solid fuels, as country-level estimates of the use of specific fuel types, e.g. wood and charcoal, are unavailable. To expand the knowledge base about impacts of household air pollution on health, we develop and implement a Bayesian hierarchical model, based on Generalized Dirichlet Multinomial distributions, that jointly estimates non-linear trends in the use of eight key fuel types, overcoming several data-specific challenges including missing or combined fuel use values. We assess model fit using within-sample predictive analysis and an out-of-sample prediction experiment to evaluate the model's forecasting performance.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)World Health Organizatio

Detection of virulence genes in Malaysian Shigella species by multiplex PCR assay

BACKGROUND: In Malaysia, Shigella spp. was reported to be the third commonest bacterial agent responsible for childhood diarrhoea. Currently, isolation of the bacterium and confirmation of the disease by microbiological and biochemical methods remain as the "gold standard". This study aimed to detect the prevalence of four Shigella virulence genes present concurrently, in randomly selected Malaysian strains via a rapid multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay. METHODS: A mPCR assay was designed for the simultaneous detection of chromosomal- and plasmid-encoded virulence genes (set1A, set1B, ial and ipaH) in Shigella spp. One hundred and ten Malaysian strains (1997–2000) isolated from patients from various government hospitals were used. Reproducibility and sensitivity of the assay were also evaluated. Applicability of the mPCR in clinical settings was tested with spiked faeces following preincubation in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth. RESULTS: The ipaH sequence was present in all the strains, while each of the set1A, set1B and ial gene was present in 40% of the strains tested. Reproducibility of the mPCR assay was 100% and none of the non-Shigella pathogens tested in this study were amplified. The mPCR could detect 100 colony-forming units (cfu) of shigellae per reaction mixture in spiked faeces following preincubation. CONCLUSIONS: The mPCR system is reproducible, sensitive and is able to identify pathogenic strains of shigellae irrespective of the locality of the virulence genes. It can be easily performed with a high throughput to give a presumptive identification of the causal pathogen

Aedes larval population dynamics and risk for dengue epidemics in Malaysia

Early detection of a dengue outbreak is an important first step towards implementing effective dengue interventions resulting in reduced mortality and morbidity.A dengue mathematical model would be useful for the prediction of an outbreak and evaluation of control measures.However, such a model must be carefully parameterized and validated with epidemiological, ecological and entomological data.A field study was conducted to collect and analyse various parameters to model dengue transmission and outbreak.Dengue-prone areas in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Kedah and Johor were chosen for this study.Ovitraps were placed outdoor and used to determine the effects of meteorological parameters on vector breeding.Vector population in each area was monitored weekly for 87 weeks.Weather stations, consisting of a temperature and relative humidity data logger and an automated rain gauge, were installed at key locations in each study site.Correlation and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ADL) model were used to study the relationship among the variables. Previous week rainfall plays a significant role in increasing the mosquito population, followed by maximum humidity and temperature. The secondary data of rainfall, temperature and humidity provided by the meteorological department showed an insignificant relationship with the mosquito population compared to the primary data recorded by the researchers.A well fit model was obtained for each locality to be used as a predictive model to foretell possible outbreak

Tiger on the prowl: invasion history and spatio-temporal genetic structure of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse 1894) in the Indo-Pacific

Background: Within the last century, increases in human movement and globalization of trade have facilitated the establishment of several highly invasive mosquito species in new geographic locations with concurrent major environmental, economic and health consequences. The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is an extremely invasive and aggressive daytime-biting mosquito that is a major public health threat throughout its expanding range. Methodology/Principal findings: We used 13 nuclear microsatellite loci (on 911 individuals) and mitochondrial COI sequences to gain a better understanding of the historical and contemporary movements of Ae. albopictus in the Indo-Pacific region and to characterize its population structure. Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) was employed to test competing historical routes of invasion of Ae. albopictus within the Southeast (SE) Asian/Australasian region. Our ABC results show that Ae. albopictus was most likely introduced to New Guinea via mainland Southeast Asia, before colonizing the Solomon Islands via either Papua New Guinea or SE Asia. The analysis also supported that the recent incursion into northern Australia's Torres Strait Islands was seeded chiefly from Indonesia. For the first time documented in this invasive species, we provide evidence of a recently colonized population (the Torres Strait Islands) that has undergone rapid temporal changes in its genetic makeup, which could be the result of genetic drift or represent a secondary invasion from an unknown source. Conclusions/Significance: There appears to be high spatial genetic structure and high gene flow between some geographically distant populations. The species' genetic structure in the region tends to favour a dispersal pattern driven mostly by human movements. Importantly, this study provides a more widespread sampling distribution of the species' native range, revealing more spatial population structure than previously shown. Additionally, we present the most probable invasion history of this species in the Australasian region using ABC analysis