Effects of date palm fruit extracts on skin mucosal immunity, immune related genes expression and growth performance of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) fry

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of date palm fruit extracts (DPFE) on skin mucosal immunity, immune related genes expression and growth performance of fry common carp (Cyprinus carpio). One hundred and twenty specimens (4.06 ± 0.13 g) were supplied and allocated into six aquaria; specimens in three aquaria were fed non-supplemented diet (control) while the fish in the other 3 aquaria were fed with DPFE at 200 ml kg-1. At the end of feeding trial (8 weeks) skin mucus immune parameters (total immunoglobulins, lysozyme, protease and alkaline phosphatase activity) and immune related gene expression (tumor necrosis factor α [tnfa], lysozyme [ly] and interleukin-1-beta, [il1b]) in the head-kidney were studied. The results revealed that feeding carp fry with 200 ml kg-1 DPFE remarkably elevated the three skin mucus immune parameters tested (P 0.05) compared to control fish (fed control diet). Furthermore, growth performance parameters were significantly improved in fry fed DPFE (P < 0.05). More studies are needed to understand different aspects of DPFE administration in fry mucosal immunity. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd

Structural optimization of 3D masonry buildings

In the design of buildings, structural analysis is traditionally performed after the aesthetic design has been determined and has little influence on the overall form. In contrast, this paper presents an approach to guide the form towards a shape that is more structurally sound. Our work is centered on the study of how variations of the geometry might improve structural stability. We define a new measure of structural soundness for masonry buildings as well as cables, and derive its closed-form derivative with respect to the displacement of all the vertices describing the geometry. We start with a gradient descent tool which displaces each vertex along the gradient. We then introduce displacement operators, imposing constraints such as the preservation of orientation or thickness; or setting additional objectives such as volume minimization.Shell Oil CompanyNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (PGS Program)Samsung Scholarship Foundatio

High-temperature oxidation of nickel-based alloys and estimation of the adhesion strength of resulting oxide layers

The kinetics of isothermal oxidation (1100°C) of commercial nickel-based alloys with different content of sulfur (0.22–3.2 wt ppm) is studied. The adhesion strength in a metal/oxide system is estimated as a function of sulfur content and duration of high-temperature exposure. The scratch-test technique is proposed to quantitatively estimate the work of adhesion of resulting oxide films. It is found that the film microstructure is composed of an inner α-Al2O3 layer and an outer NiAl2O4 spinel layer, which are separated by discrete inclusions of TiO2. Residual stresses in the oxide film are experimentally determined by X-ray diffraction. spinel layer, which are separated by discrete inclusions of TiO2. Residual stresses in the oxide film are experimentally determined by X-ray diffractio

Discrete wavelet transform based freezing of gait detection in Parkinson's disease

Wearable on body sensors have been employed in many applications including ambulatory monitoring and pervasive computing systems. In this work, a wearable assistant has been created for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD), specifically with the Freezing of Gait (FoG) symptom. Wearable accelerometers were placed on the person’s body and used for movement measure. When FoG is detected, a rhythmic audio signal was given from the wearable assistant to motivate the wearer to continue walking. Long term monitoring results in collecting huge amounts of complex raw data; therefore, data analysis becomes impractical or infeasible resulting in the need for data reduction. In the present study, Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) has been used to extract the main features inherent in the key movement indicators for FoG detection. The discrimination capacities of these features were assessed using, i) Support Vector Machine (SVM) using a linear kernel function, and ii) Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with a two-layer feed-forward with hidden layer of 20 neurons that trained with conjugate gradient back- propagation. Using these two different machine learning techniques, we were capable of detecting FoG with an accuracy of 87.50% and 93.8%, respectively. Additionally, the comparison between the extracted features from DWT coefficients with those using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) established accuracies of 93.8% and 81.3%, respectively. Finally, the discriminative features extracted from DWT yield to a robust multidimensional classification model compared to models in the literature based on a single feature. The work presented paves the way for reliable, real-time wearable sensors to aid people with PD

Identification of RPS14 as a 5q- syndrome gene by RNA interference screen

Somatic chromosomal deletions in cancer are thought to indicate the location of tumor suppressor genes, whereby complete loss of gene function occurs through biallelic deletion, point mutation, or epigenetic silencing, thus fulfilling Knudson's two-hit hypothesis.1 In many recurrent deletions, however, such biallelic inactivation has not been found. One prominent example is the 5q- syndrome, a subtype of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) characterized by a defect in erythroid differentiation.2 Here, we describe an RNA interference (RNAi)-based approach to discovery of the 5q- disease gene. We find that partial loss of function of the ribosomal protein RPS14 phenocopies the disease in normal hematopoietic progenitor cells, and moreover that forced expression of RPS14 rescues the disease phenotype in patient-derived bone marrow cells. In addition, we identified a block in the processing of pre-rRNA in RPS14 deficient cells that is highly analogous to the functional defect in Diamond Blackfan Anemia, linking the molecular pathophysiology of the 5q- syndrome to a congenital bone marrow failure syndrome. These results indicate that the 5q- syndrome is caused by a defect in ribosomal protein function, and suggests that RNAi screening is an effective strategy for identifying causal haploinsufficiency disease genes

Особенности принятия управленческих решенийв финансовой деятельности

PURPOSE: To test the ability of a new IGF-IR tyrosine kinase inhibitor BMS-536924 to reverse the ability of constitutively active IGF-IR (CD8-IGF-IR) to transform MCF10A cells, and to examine the effect of the inhibitor on a range of human breast cancer cell lines. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: CD8-IGF-IR-MCF10A cells were grown in monolayer culture, three-dimensional (3D) culture, and as xenografts, and treated with BMS-536924. Proliferation, cell-cycle, polarity, and apoptosis were measured. Twenty three human breast cancer cell lines were treated in monolayer culture with BMS-536924 and cell viability was measured. MCF7, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-435 were treated with BMS-536924 in monolayer and 3D culture and proliferation, migration, polarity, and apoptosis were measured. RESULTS: Treatment of CD8-IGF-IR-MCF10A cells grown in 3D culture with BMS-536924 caused a blockade of proliferation, restoration of apical-basal polarity, and enhanced apoptosis, resulting in a partial phenotypic reversion to normal acini. In monolayer culture, BMS-536924 induced a dose-dependent inhibition of proliferation, with an accumulation of cells in G(0)/G(1,) and completely blocked CD8-IGF-IR-induced migration, invasion, and anchorage-independent growth. CD8-IGF-IR-MCF10A xenografts treated with BMS-536924 (100mg/kg/day) showed a 76% reduction in xenograft volume. In a series of twenty three human breast cancer cell lines, BMS-536924 inhibited monolayer proliferation of sixteen cell lines. Most strikingly, treatment of MCF7 cells grown in 3D culture with BMS-536924 caused blockade of proliferation, and resulted in the formation of hollow polarized lumen. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that the new small molecule BMS-536924 is an effective inhibitor of IGF-IR, causing a reversion of an IGF-IR-mediated transformed phenotype

How the other half lives: CRISPR-Cas's influence on bacteriophages

CRISPR-Cas is a genetic adaptive immune system unique to prokaryotic cells used to combat phage and plasmid threats. The host cell adapts by incorporating DNA sequences from invading phages or plasmids into its CRISPR locus as spacers. These spacers are expressed as mobile surveillance RNAs that direct CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins to protect against subsequent attack by the same phages or plasmids. The threat from mobile genetic elements inevitably shapes the CRISPR loci of archaea and bacteria, and simultaneously the CRISPR-Cas immune system drives evolution of these invaders. Here we highlight our recent work, as well as that of others, that seeks to understand phage mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas evasion and conditions for population coexistence of phages with CRISPR-protected prokaryotes.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Damage Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures with Substandard Detailing

The goal of this study is to investigate seismic behaviour of existing R/C buildings designed and constructed in accordance with standards that do not meet current seismic code requirements. In these structures, not only flexure, but also shear and bond-slip deformation mechanisms need to be considered, both separately and in combination. To serve this goal, a finite element model is developed for inelastic seismic analysis of complete planar R/C frames. The proposed finite element is able to capture gradual spread of inelastic flexural and shear deformations as well as their interaction in the end regions of R/C members. Additionally, it is capable of predicting shear failures caused by degradation of shear strength in the plastic hinges of R/C elements, as well as pullout failures caused by inadequate anchorage of the reinforcement in the joint regions. The finite element is fully implemented in the general inelastic finite element code IDARC2D and it is verified against experimental results involving individual column and plane frame specimens with nonductile detailing. It is shown that, in all cases, satisfactory correlation is established between the model predictions and the experimental evidence. Finally, parametric studies are conducted to illustrate the significance of each deformation mechanism on the seismic response of the specimens under investigation. It is concluded, that all deformation mechanisms, as well as their interaction, should be taken into consideration in order to predict reliably seismic damage of R/C structures with substandard detailing

Direct Observation of the Transition-State Region in the Photodissociation of CH3I by Femtosecond Extreme Ultraviolet Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

Femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses produced by high harmonic generation are used to probe the transition-state region in the 266 nm photodissociation of CH3I by the real-time evolution of core-to-valence transitions near the iodine N-edge at 45-60 eV. During C-I bond breaking, new core-to-valence electronic states appear in the spectra, which decay concomitantly with the rise of the atomic iodine resonances of I((2)P3/2) and I*((2)P1/2). The short-lived features are assigned to repulsive valence-excited transition-state regions of (3)Q0 and (1)Q1, which can connect to transient core-excited states via promotion of 4d(I) core electrons. A simplified one-electron transition picture is described that accurately predicts the relative energies of the transient states observed. The transition-state resonances reach a maximum at ∼40 fs and decay to complete C-I dissociation in ∼90 fs, representing the shortest-lived chemical transition state observed by core-level, XUV, or X-ray spectroscopy