235 research outputs found
Erbium-doped fiber amplifier elements for structural analysis sensors
The use of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) in optical fiber sensor systems for structural analysis is described. EDFA's were developed for primary applications as periodic regenerator amplifiers in long-distance fiber-based communication systems. Their in-line amplification performance also makes them attractive for optical fiber sensor systems which require long effective lengths or the synthesis of special length-dependent signal processing functions. Sensor geometries incorporating EDFA's in recirculating and multiple loop sensors are discussed. Noise and polarization birefringence are also considered, and the experimental development of system components is discussed
Structural and chemical embrittlement of grain boundaries by impurities: a general theory and first principles calculations for copper
First principles calculations of the Sigma 5 (310)[001] symmetric tilt grain
boundary in Cu with Bi, Na, and Ag substitutional impurities provide evidence
that in the phenomenon of Bi embrittlement of Cu grain boundaries electronic
effects do not play a major role; on the contrary, the embrittlement is mostly
a structural or "size" effect. Na is predicted to be nearly as good an
embrittler as Bi, whereas Ag does not embrittle the boundary in agreement with
experiment. While we reject the prevailing view that "electronic" effects
(i.e., charge transfer) are responsible for embrittlement, we do not exclude
the role of chemistry. However numerical results show a striking equivalence
between the alkali metal Na and the semi metal Bi, small differences being
accounted for by their contrasting "size" and "softness" (defined here). In
order to separate structural and chemical effects unambiguously if not
uniquely, we model the embrittlement process by taking the system of grain
boundary and free surfaces through a sequence of precisely defined gedanken
processes; each of these representing a putative mechanism. We thereby identify
three mechanisms of embrittlement by substitutional impurities, two of which
survive in the case of embrittlement or cohesion enhancement by interstitials.
Two of the three are purely structural and the third contains both structural
and chemical elements that by their very nature cannot be further unravelled.
We are able to take the systems we study through each of these stages by
explicit computer simulations and assess the contribution of each to the nett
reduction in intergranular cohesion. The conclusion we reach is that
embrittlement by both Bi and Na is almost exclusively structural in origin;
that is, the embrittlement is a size effect.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures; Accepted in Phys. Rev.
Investigation of the influence of copper welding electrodes on Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V and Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo with respect to solid metal induced embrittlement
Fatty acid desaturase-2 (ahFAD2) mutant alleles in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) pre-breeding lines: an insight into the source, features, discourse, and selection of novel pre-breeding lines
High oleic peanuts and derived food
products offer longer shelf life benefits to the food
processing industry in addition to multiple health
benefits to the consumers. The two mutant alleles,
ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B control composition of oleic,
linoleic and palmitic acid content in peanut. A total of
563 peanut pre-breeding lines were tested for the
presence ahFAD2A and ahFAD2B mutant alleles
using allele specific markers. The ahFAD2A mutant
allele was present in 82 lines, while none of these lines
had ahFAD2B mutant allele. Among botanical types,
ahFAD2A mutant allele was more frequent in lines
with Virginia growth habit than Spanish bunch
although no correlation of ahFAD2A mutant allele
with high oleic acid content and growth habit could be
established. Oleic and linoleic acid content in 82 prebreeding
lines ranged from 39.70 to 62.70% and 17.76 to 31.95%, respectively, with maximum oleic to
linoleic acid ratio of 4. Oleic acid was found to be
negatively correlated with linoleic and palmitic acid.
Further, pre-breeding lines with ahFAD2A mutant
allele, high oleic content and high oleic to linoleic
ratio were investigated and novel lines were identified
for resistance to late leaf spot, short duration, higher
pod yield and other yield related traits. These novel
pre-breeding lines can be used as a potential donor in
peanut improvement programme and to diversify the
primary gene pool including initiating further research
on induction of fresh ahFAD2B mutant allele
A multicenter prospective randomized controlled trial of cardiac resynchronization therapy guided by invasive dP/dt
Background: No periprocedural metric has demonstrated improved cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) outcomes in a multicenter setting. Objective: We sought to determine if left ventricular (LV) lead placement targeted to the coronary sinus (CS) branch generating the best acute hemodynamic response (AHR) results in improved outcomes at 6 months. Methods: In this multicenter randomized controlled trial, patients were randomized to guided CRT or conventional CRT. Patients in the guided arm had LV dP/dtmax measured during biventricular (BIV) pacing. Target CS branches were identified and the final LV lead position was the branch with the best AHR and acceptable threshold values. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with a reduction in LV end-systolic volume (LVESV) of ≥15% at 6 months. Results: A total of 281 patients were recruited across 12 centers. Mean age was 70.8 ± 10.9 years and 54% had ischemic etiology. Seventy-three percent of patients in the guided arm demonstrated a reduction in LVESV of ≥15% at 6 months vs 60% in the conventional arm (P = .02). Patients with AHR ≥ 10% were more likely to demonstrate a reduction of ESV ≥ 15% (84% of patients with an AHR ≥10% vs 28% with an AHR <10%; P < 0.001). Procedure duration and fluoroscopy times were longer in the pressure wire-guided arm (104 ± 39 minutes vs 142 ± 39 minutes; P < .001 and 20 ±16 minutes vs 28 ± 15 minutes; P = .002). Conclusions: AHR determined by invasively measuring LV dP/dtmax during BIV pacing predicts reverse remodeling 6 months after CRT. Patients in whom LV dP/dtmax was used to guide LV lead placement demonstrated better rates of reverse remodeling
The novel mu-opioid antagonist, GSK1521498, reduces ethanol consumption in C57BL/6J mice.
RATIONALE
Using the drinking-in-the-dark (DID) model, we compared the effects of a novel mu-opioid receptor antagonist, GSK1521498, with naltrexone, a licensed treatment of alcohol dependence, on ethanol consumption in mice.
OBJECTIVE
We test the ability of GSK1521498 to reduce alcohol consumption and compare its intrinsic efficacy to that of naltrexone by comparing the two drugs at doses matched for equivalent receptor occupancy.
METHODS
Thirty-six C57BL/6J mice were tested in a DID procedure. In 2-day cycles, animals experienced one baseline, injection-free session, and one test session when they received two injections, one of test drug and one placebo. All animals received GSK1521498 (0, 0.1, 1 and 3Â mg/kg, i.p., 30Â min pre-treatment) and naltrexone (0, 0.1, 1 and 3Â mg/kg, s.c. 10Â min pre-treatment) in a cross-over design. Receptor occupancies following the same doses were determined ex vivo in separate groups by autoradiography, using [3H]DAMGO. Binding in the region of interest was measured integrally by computer-assisted microdensitometry and corrected for non-specific binding.
RESULTS
Both GSK1521498 and naltrexone dose-dependently decreased ethanol consumption. When drug doses were matched for 70-75Â % receptor occupancy, GSK1521498 3Â mg/kg, i.p., caused a 2.5-fold greater reduction in alcohol consumption than naltrexone 0.1Â mg/kg, s.c. Both GSK1521498 and naltrexone significantly reduced sucrose consumption at a dose of 1Â mg/kg but not 0.1Â mg/kg. In a test of conditioned taste aversion, GSK1521498 (3Â mg/kg) reduced sucrose consumption 24Â h following exposure to a conditioning injection.
CONCLUSIONS
Both opioid receptor antagonists reduced alcohol consumption but GK1521498 has higher intrinsic efficacy than naltrexone
The Reactome pathway knowledgebase
Reactome (http://www.reactome.org) is a manually curated open-source open-data resource of human pathways and reactions. The current version 46 describes 7088 human proteins (34% of the predicted human proteome), participating in 6744 reactions based on data extracted from 15 107 research publications with PubMed links. The Reactome Web site and analysis tool set have been completely redesigned to increase speed, flexibility and user friendliness. The data model has been extended to support annotation of disease processes due to infectious agents and to mutation
Improving oil quality by altering levels of fatty acids through marker-assisted selection of ahfad2 alleles in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)
Peanut plays a key role to the livelihood of millions in the world especially in Arid and Semi-Arid regions. Peanut with high oleic acid content aids to increase shelf-life of peanut oil as well as food products and extends major health benefits to the consumers. In peanut, ahFAD2 gene controls quantity of two major fatty acids viz, oleic and linoleic acids. These two fatty acids together with palmitic acid constitute 90% fat composition in peanut and regulate the quality of peanut oil. Here, two ahfad2 alleles from SunOleic 95R were introgressed into ICGV 05141 using marker-assisted selection. Marker-assisted breeding effectively increased oleic acid and oleic to linoleic acid ratio in recombinant lines up to 44% and 30%, respectively as compared to ICGV 05141. In addition to improved oil quality, the recombinant lines also had superiority in pod yield together with desired pod/seed attributes. Realizing the health benefits and ever increasing demand in domestic and international market, the high oleic peanut recombinant lines will certainly boost the economical benefits to the Indian farmers in addition to ensuring availability of high oleic peanuts to the traders and industry
Acute immune signatures and their legacies in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infected cancer patients
Given the immune system’s importance for cancer surveillance and treatment, we have investigated how it
may be affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection of cancer patients. Across some heterogeneity in tumor type,
stage, and treatment, virus-exposed solid cancer patients display a dominant impact of SARS-CoV-2,
apparent from the resemblance of their immune signatures to those for COVID-19+ non-cancer patients.
This is not the case for hematological malignancies, with virus-exposed patients collectively displaying heterogeneous humoral responses, an exhausted T cell phenotype and a high prevalence of prolonged virus
shedding. Furthermore, while recovered solid cancer patients’ immunophenotypes resemble those of nonvirus-exposed cancer patients, recovered hematological cancer patients display distinct, lingering immunological legacies. Thus, while solid cancer patients, including those with advanced disease, seem no more at
risk of SARS-CoV-2-associated immune dysregulation than the general population, hematological cancer
patients show complex immunological consequences of SARS-CoV-2 exposure that might usefully inform
their care
The association of DNA-dependent protein kinase activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes with prognosis of cancer
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