Population characteristics, length-weight and length-length relationships of Acetes vulgaris (decapoda: Sergestidae) of the Coastal waters of Pontian, Johore, Peninsular Malaysia

The population structure, length-weight and length-length relationships of Acetes vulgaris were examined based on 1141 specimens collected in the months of June and July 2006 from Pontian, Johor Bahru. The morphological characteristics of A. vulgaris were examined and the result was found to be similar when compared with the previous research. Mean length of males was 23.18 ± 2.95 mm while for females was 23.91 ± 3.53 mm. The range of total length for the males and females was 14.00-33.00 and 13.00-32.00 mm, respectively. The relationship between the total length and body weight of A. vulgaris was W = 0.0178L2.6368 (r2 = 0.829) for males and W = 0.0082L2.9144 (r2 = 0.902) for females. The carapace length and total length, relationship for males and females were CL = 4.1844TL + 2.3983 (r2 = 0.732) and CL = 4.0872TL + 1.8879 (r2 = 0.732), respectively. The sex ratio of female to male was found to be at 1: 3.27 with the number of males exceeded that of the females

Angle Shear Testing of 15.2 mm Seven Wire Cable Bolt

This paper focuses on the experimental study of shear testing of 15.2 mm, 25 t capacity seven wire cables at zero, 30° and 45° angles using two different shear testing facilities at the University of Wollongong (UOW) and the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba. A circular double-shear rig MK-IV was used for testing cable perpendicular to the sheared joint faces (zero angle of orientation), while testing the cable at 30° and 45° was carried out using a larger-size rectangular-shaped rig. Testing was carried out based on the double-shear testing methodology wherein cable bolts were fully encapsulated using Stratabinder HS inside of three concrete blocks representing host rocks. This study was part of the tri-universities-funded ACARP project C27040 awarded jointly to the University of New South Wales, University of Wollongong and University of Southern Queensland. The objective of the experimental testing programme was to provide the essential information for the development of numerical models that included not only the technical parameters, but also the behavioural outcomes from various tests with respect to the angles of testing and their effect on the nature of cable failure, be it pure shear, tensile shear or shear tensile, cable pretension and the credibility of the effectiveness of the Barrel and Wedge (B&W) anchorage system were evaluated. Laboratory facilities at both UOW and USQ were used in the study. The prepared double-shear samples were then positioned inside of compression testing machines and were subjected to shear testing. The values of shear load and displacement were recorded for various inclinations angles. It was found that increased angle of shear contributes to increased stiffness of the cable in shear with other parameters being equal. Subroutine codes were developed in UDEC and 3DEC to simulate shear behaviour of cable bolts installed in angles for different pretension loads. The numerical simulations indicated that UDEC and 3DEC can simulate the general shear behaviour of cable bolts reasonably well for various inclination angles and pretension values

Age-dependent changes in autophosphorylation of alpha calcium/calmodulin dependent kinase II in hippocampus and amygdala after contextual fear conditioning

The hippocampus and amygdala are essential brain regions responsible for contextual fear conditioning (CFC). The autophosphorylation of alpha calciumcalmodulin kinase II (αCaMKII) at threonine-286 (T286) is a critical step 3 implicated in long-term potentiation (LTP), learning and memory. However, the changes in αCaMKII levels with aging and training in associated brain regions are not fully understood. Here, we studied how aging and training affect the levels of phosphorylated (T286) and proportion of phosphorylated:total αCaMKII in the hippocampus and amygdala. Young and aged mice, naïve (untrained) and trained in CFC, were analysed by immunohistochemistry for the levels of total and phosphorylated αCaMKII in the hippocampus and amygdala. We found that two hours after CFC training, young mice exhibited a higher level of phosphorylated and increased ratio of phosphorylated:total αCaMKII in hippocampal CA3 stratum radiatum. Furthermore, aged untrained mice showed a higher ratio of phosphorylated:total αCaMKII in the CA3 region of the hippocampus when compared to the young untrained group. No effect of training or aging were seen in the central, lateral and basolateral amygdala regions, for both phosphorylated and ratio of phosphorylated:total αCaMKII. These results show that aging impairs the training-induced upregulation of autophosphorylated (T286) αCaMKII in the CA3 stratum radiatum of the hippocampus. This indicates that distinct age-related mechanisms underlie CFC that may rely more heavily on NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity in young age

Sunlight mediated enhanced removal of metoprolol using graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a photocatalyst that has recently been given a lot of attention due to its effectiveness in wastewater and environmental treatment, solar energy utilization, biomedical applications, etc. In this study, g-C3N4 was synthesized and characterized to carry out the degradation of metoprolol tartrate salt (MET), which is classified as an emerging contaminant. MET is one of the most commonly used pharmaceuticals to treat patients with cardiovascular diseases and disorders, a common disease in Malaysia. Recent discoveries of MET in surface waters and drinking water raise awareness and concerns. g-C3N4 was synthesized using solid urea by placing it in a muffle furnace of 550°C for 3 hours. The photocatalytic activities of g-C3N4 were investigated by photodegradation of MET, g-C3N4 of different dosages were added into MET-containing solution, and a dark reaction was carried out for 24 hours for complete adsorption equilibrium. Various physical and chemical analyses were conducted to elucidate the properties of g-C3N4, such as FESEM, FTIR and UV-Vis. The absorbance and reflectance graphs of g-C3N4 show that there will be higher absorption in the visible light spectra. The results show that the optimum dosage to treat 10 ppm of MET is by using 0.3 g of g-C3N4. Under sunlight irradiation of 4 hours, the degradation of MET achieved 54.6% of removal. Hence, it proves that g-C3N4 nanosheet can be applied to remove complex pollutants such as MET under sunlight irradiation. This path is an alternative removal method for MET in a sustainable approach

Single Particle and Fermi Liquid Properties of He-3/--He-4 Mixtures: A Microscopic Analysis

We calculate microscopically the properties of the dilute He-3 component in a He-3/--He-4 mixture. These depend on both, the dominant interaction between the impurity atom and the background, and the Fermi liquid contribution due to the interaction between the constituents of the He-3 component. We first calculate the dynamic structure function of a He-3 impurity atom moving in He-3. From that we obtain the excitation spectrum and the momentum dependent effective mass. The pole strength of this excitation mode is strongly reduced from the free particle value in agreement with experiments; part of the strength is distributed over high frequency excitations. Above k > 1.7$\AA$^{-1}$ the motion of the impurity is damped due to the decay into a roton and a low energy impurity mode. Next we determine the Fermi--Liquid interaction between He-4 atoms and calculate the pressure-- and concentration dependence of the effective mass, magnetic susceptibility, and the He-3--He-3 scattering phase shifts. The calculations are based on a dynamic theory that uses, as input, effective interactions provided by the Fermi hypernetted--chain theory. The relationship between both theories is discussed. Our theoretical effective masses agree well with recent measurements by Yorozu et al. (Phys. Rev. B 48, 9660 (1993)) as well as those by R. Simons and R. M. Mueller (Czekoslowak Journal of Physics Suppl. 46, 201 (1996)), but our analysis suggests a new extrapolation to the zero-concentration limit. With that effective mass we also find a good agreement with the measured Landau parameter F_0^a.Comment: 47 pages, 15 figure

Horizontal DNA transfer mechanisms of bacteria as weapons of intragenomic conflict

Horizontal DNA transfer (HDT) is a pervasive mechanism of diversification in many microbial species, but its primary evolutionary role remains controversial. Much recent research has emphasised the adaptive benefit of acquiring novel DNA, but here we argue instead that intragenomic conflict provides a coherent framework for understanding the evolutionary origins of HDT. To test this hypothesis, we developed a mathematical model of a clonally descended bacterial population undergoing HDT through transmission of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and genetic transformation. Including the known bias of transformation toward the acquisition of shorter alleles into the model suggested it could be an effective means of counteracting the spread of MGEs. Both constitutive and transient competence for transformation were found to provide an effective defence against parasitic MGEs; transient competence could also be effective at permitting the selective spread of MGEs conferring a benefit on their host bacterium. The coordination of transient competence with cell-cell killing, observed in multiple species, was found to result in synergistic blocking of MGE transmission through releasing genomic DNA for homologous recombination while simultaneously reducing horizontal MGE spread by lowering the local cell density. To evaluate the feasibility of the functions suggested by the modelling analysis, we analysed genomic data from longitudinal sampling of individuals carrying Streptococcus pneumoniae. This revealed the frequent within-host coexistence of clonally descended cells that differed in their MGE infection status, a necessary condition for the proposed mechanism to operate. Additionally, we found multiple examples of MGEs inhibiting transformation through integrative disruption of genes encoding the competence machinery across many species, providing evidence of an ongoing "arms race." Reduced rates of transformation have also been observed in cells infected by MGEs that reduce the concentration of extracellular DNA through secretion of DNases. Simulations predicted that either mechanism of limiting transformation would benefit individual MGEs, but also that this tactic's effectiveness was limited by competition with other MGEs coinfecting the same cell. A further observed behaviour we hypothesised to reduce elimination by transformation was MGE activation when cells become competent. Our model predicted that this response was effective at counteracting transformation independently of competing MGEs. Therefore, this framework is able to explain both common properties of MGEs, and the seemingly paradoxical bacterial behaviours of transformation and cell-cell killing within clonally related populations, as the consequences of intragenomic conflict between self-replicating chromosomes and parasitic MGEs. The antagonistic nature of the different mechanisms of HDT over short timescales means their contribution to bacterial evolution is likely to be substantially greater than previously appreciated

Interleukin 17 inhibits myogenic and promotes osteogenic differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts by activating ERK1,2

The present study evaluated the role of interleukin (IL) 17 in multilineage commitment of C2C12 myoblastic cells and investigated associated signaling pathways. The results concerning the effects on cell function showed that IL-17 inhibits the migration of C2C12 cells, while not affecting their proliferation. The data regarding the influence on differentiation demonstrated that IL-17 inhibits myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells by down-regulating the myogenin mRNA level, myosin heavy chain expression and myotube formation, but promotes their osteogenic differentiation by up-regulating the Runt-related transcription factor 2 mRNA level, cyclooxygenase-2 expression and alkaline phosphatase activity. IL-17 exerted these effects by activating ERK1,2 mitogen activated protein kinase signaling pathway, which in turn regulated the expression of relevant genes and proteins to inhibit myogenic differentiation and induce osteogenic differentiation. Additional analysis showed that the induction of osteogenic differentiation by IL-17 is independent of BMP signaling. The results obtained demonstrate the potential of IL-17 not only to inhibit the myogenic differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts but also to convert their differentiation pathway into that of osteoblast lineage providing new insight into the capacities of IL-17 to modulate the differentiation commitment

Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in e+e- Interactions at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV

A search for the lightest neutral scalar and neutral pseudoscalar Higgs bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is performed using 176.4 pb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by L3 at a center-of-mass energy of 189 GeV. No signal is observed, and the data are consistent with the expected Standard Model background. Lower limits on the masses of the lightest neutral scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons are given as a function of tan(beta). Lower mass limits for tan(beta)>1 are set at the 95% confidence level to be m_h > 77.1 GeV and m_A > 77.1 GeV