An Introduction: Quantification of the Hippocampal BDNF Content of Maternally Separated Rats Using a Western Blot Protocol

Among industrialized nations, the United States has the worst incidence of child maltreatment with 3 million cases per year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Studies have shown that individuals who were maltreated when they were young are more susceptible to drug abuse such as alcohol, cocaine, and nicotine (Maddahian, Newcomb, & Bentle, 1988). Early life stress (ELS) causes hyperactivation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary- Adrenal (HPA) Axis (Heim et al., 2000; Plotsky et al., 2005). The dysregulation of the HPA axis causes the secretion of glucocorticoid stress hormones by large amounts, which in return attenuates hippocampal Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (Smith, Makino, Kvetnansky, & Post, 1995). BDNF is a neurotrophin that helps the growth, maintenance, and survival of neurons and is also involved in neuronal plasticity. To mimic ELS, maternal separation is used as an animal model. Studies have shown that adult maternally separated rats have decreased hippocampal mature BDNF (Lippman et al., 2007). Exercise alters some of the effects of ELS by protecting hippocampal BDNF from the down-regulation caused by the hyperactivation of HPA axis (Maniam & Morris, 2010; Neeper et al., 1996). The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of ELS and exercise on behaviors related to substance abuse and hippocampal BDNF content. When we attempted to measure hippocampal BDNF by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we did not observe the previously-published down-regulation of BDNF in the hippocampi of maternally separated animals (Dold, 2013). Thus, a western blot protocol was developed for the quantification of BDNF in the same protein samples that were previously quantified using ELISA. Western blot is more specific in targeting protein due to SDS-page capability to separate protein components in accordance to their size. BDNF undergoes post-translational processing, such that both pro- BDNF (the 32 kD precursor) and mature BDNF (14 kD) are present and biologically active in rat brain tissue. Thus, western blot will allow us to distinguish between these BDNF proteins, which is important in our study since we are primarily interested in mature BDNF. We expect maternal separation (MS) to attenuate the hippocampal mature BDNF content. Furthermore, we expect that the mature BDNF content will positively correlate with the total running activity

Determination of heavy metals in corn (Zea Mays L.) using silver nanoparticles/graphene/nafion modified glassy carbon electrode

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP)/graphene/Nafion modified glassy carbon electrodes were fabricated for the determination of trace amounts of cadmium (Cd2+) and lead (Pb2+) via anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The electrode modifiers and the ASV parameters were optimized. The fabricated electrode was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. A linear relationship between anodic peak current and heavy metal concentration was obtained in the range of 25 parts per billion (ppb) to 250 ppb. The limit of detection of the modified electrode is 25 ppb for both Cd2+ and Pb2+, while the limits of quantitation are 155.7 ppb for Cd2+ and 159.5 ppb for Pb2+. Real sample analysis using corn plant and soil samples was performed to show the utility of the fabricated electrode in sensing applications. Trace amounts of Cd2+ and Pb2+ were found in the said samples

Impact of Implementing Delirium Precautions on Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Interventions in a Veteran Inpatient Hospice Population

Retrospective Study from July 2017 thru January 2019 on United States veteran admitted to Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Medical Center\u27s inpatient hospice unit who developed terminal delirium on their last days of life

Elimination of Threshold Singularities in the Relation Between On-Shell and Pole Widths

In a previous communication by two of us, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1373 (1998), the gauge-dependent deviations of the on-shell mass and total decay width from their gauge-independent pole counterparts were investigated at leading order for the Higgs boson of the Standard Model. In the case of the widths, the deviation was found to diverge at unphysical thresholds, m_H = 2 root{xi_V} m_V (V = W,Z), in the R_xi gauge. In this Brief Report, we demonstrate that these unphysical threshold singularities are properly eliminated if a recently proposed definition of wave-function renormalization for unstable particles is invoked.Comment: 8 pages (Latex), 1 figure (Postscript

Associated Production of Heavy Quarkonia and Electroweak Bosons at Present and Future Colliders

We investigate the associated production of heavy quarkonia, with angular-momentum quantum numbers ^{2S+1}L_J = ^1S_0, ^3S_1, ^1P_1, ^3P_J (J = 0, 1, 2), and photons, Z bosons, and W bosons in photon-photon, photon-hadron, and hadron-hadron collisions within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics providing all contributing partonic cross sections in analytic form. In the case of photoproduction, we also include the resolved-photon contributions. We present numerical results for the processes involving J/psi and chi_{cJ} mesons appropriate for the Fermilab Tevatron, CERN LHC, DESY TESLA, operated in the e^+ e^- and gamma gamma modes, and DESY THERA.Comment: 41 pages (Latex), 10 figures (Postscript

Associated Production of Bottomonia and Higgs Bosons at Hadron Colliders

We study the associated production of bottomonia and Higgs bosons at hadron colliders within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics providing all contributing partonic cross sections in analytic form. While such processes tend to be suppressed in the standard model, they may have interesting cross sections in its minimal supersymmetric extension, especially at large values of tan(beta), where the bottom Yukawa couplings are enhanced. We present numerical results for the processes involving the lighter CP-even h^0 boson and the CP-odd A^0 boson appropriate for the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, Latex, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Determination of heavy metals in herbal food supplements using bismuth/multi-walled carbon nanotubes/Nafion modified graphite electrodes sourced from waste batteries

An electrochemical sensor based on graphite electrode extracted from waste zinc-carbon battery is developed. The graphite electrode was modified with bismuth nanoparticles (BiNP), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and Nafion via the drop coating method. The bare and modified graphite electrodes were used as the working electrode in anodic stripping voltammetry for the determination of trace amounts of cadmium (Cd2+) and lead (Pb2+). The modified electrode exhibited excellent electroanalytical performance for heavy metal detection in comparison with the bare graphite electrode. The linear concentration range from 5 parts per billion (ppb) to 1000 ppb (R2 = 0.996), as well as detection limits of 1.06 ppb for Cd2+ and 0.72 ppb for Pb2+ were obtained at optimized experimental conditions and parameters. The sensor was successfully utilized for the quantification of Cd2+ and Pb2+ in herbal food supplement samples with good agreement to the results obtained by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Thus, the BiNP/MWCNT/Nafion modified graphite electrode is a cost-effective and environment-friendly sensor for monitoring heavy metal contamination. © 2019, The Author(s)

Panuring pampanitikan (PanPam): A sentence syntax and semantic based grammar checker for Filipino

In today content, people use the computer to type articles Filipino articles. Instead of manually checking for errors, a system can check it. One application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) is grammar checking. The general notion is that grammar checkers, by virtue of their name, attempt to locate errors, mark the portion of the text as dubious or erroneous, and give feedback to the users. In connection with this, this research developed a Filipino sentence syntax and semantic checker that was integrated in an open-source word processing tool. Panuring Pampanitikan is a plug-in to OpenOffice.org. Write that enables the said word processor to check for Filipino morphology, syntax and semantics. Testing of syntax checking yielded a recall of 90.47% and precision of 73.07% using 81 sentences. Testing of the spell checking using 350 misspelled words showed that the spell checker can suggest the expected word from misspelled words with one edit distance 99.33% of the time, and 42% of the time for words with two edit distances 350 misspelled words were used in spell check testing. 99% of the 150% misspelled words with one edit distance had the expected word suggestion, while 42% of the 200 misspelled words with two edit distances had the expected word suggestion. Semantic checking has an accuracy score of 80%

Highly sensitive determination of heavy metals in upland and lowland rice using AgNP/BiNP/MWCNT/Nafion modified glassy carbon electrode via anodic stripping voltammetry

It is of prime importance to determine the presence of trace heavy metals, especially cadmium (Cd2+) and lead (Pb2+) in rice to ensure food safety as it is the staple source of the daily caloric intake of Asians. This work utilized anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) for the determination of heavy metals due to its portability for in situ measurements. A glassy electrode modified with silver nanoparticles (AgNP), bismuth nanoparticles (BiNP), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and Nafion was fabricated to serve as the working electrode. The morphology of the fabricated electrode was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, its elemental composition was determined by energy dispersive spectroscopy, its chemical bonds were identified using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and its electrochemical behavior was measured via cyclic voltammetry. The electrode showed high stability at 50 continuous scans. The optimal deposition time, accumulation time and scan rate were determined to be 80 s, 60 s and 100 mV s-1, respectively. The detection limit for Cd2+ and Pb2+ were determined to be 25.12 ppb and 20.55 ppb, respectively. Rice samples were analyzed and the transfer factor of the heavy metals were determined at each isolated part. The ASV results were validated with atomic absorption spectroscopy. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd