An efficient of Sansevieriatrifasciataplantas biosorbent for the treatment of metal contaminated industrial effluents

Sansevieriatrifasciata was studied as a potential biosorbent for chromium, copper and nickel removal in batch process from electroplating and tannery effluents. Different parameters influencing the biosorption process such as pH, contact time, and amount of biosorbent were optimized while using the 80 mm sized particles of the biosorbent. As high as 91.3 % Ni and 92.7 % Cu were removed at pH of 6 and 4.5 respectively, while optimum Cr removal of 91.34 % from electroplating and 94.6 % from tannery effluents was found at pH 6.0 and 4.0 respectively. Pseudo second order model was found to best fit the kinetic data for all the metals as evidenced by their greater R2 values. FTIR characterization of biosorbent revealed the presence of carboxyl and hydroxyl groups on its surface that were responsible for metal uptake. The data for Cr removal from both the effluents was best explained by Langmuir model, while data for Ni and Cu removal was best fitted to Freundlich isotherm. Moreover, 84% biosorbent was recovered on desorptio

Understanding Port Efficiency: A CPEC Perspective

This paper aims to provide an insight into the efficacious use and development of Pakistani ports located along the ChinaPakistan Economic corridor. The main objective of this paper is to understand how the physical infrastructure, logistics suprastructure and value-added services contribute in the enhancing port efficiency in the wake of CPEC operationalization. A sample of 15 well-experienced respondents from the domains of supply chain management, logistics, trade and public sector were selected. The study concluded that physical infrastructure, logistics suprastructure and logistics services at a port play a vital role in improving port efficiency. The study further pointed out that adequate port structure and value-added services would significantly contribute to port efficiency and facilitate the smooth clearance of CPEC cargo

Reading Medieval Religious Disputation: The 1240 "Debate" Between Rabbi Yehiel of Paris and Friar Nicholas Donin.

This dissertation takes as its subject the Latin and Hebrew accounts of a much-studied event: the Jewish-Christian Disputation of 1240. In medieval Europe's first formal religious debate, Friar Nicholas Donin challenged Rabbi Yeḥiel of Paris over the legitimacy of the Talmud. After the disputation, Donin and Yeḥiel wrote individual accounts of their experiences. This dissertation concentrates on the texts of the two disputants and suggests a new approach to reading these texts. Based on the records of the 1240 Debate, this dissertation demonstrates that the authors' goals in writing polemic were not necessarily or exclusively to offer a response to their antagonists. Read as a historical narrative, Yeḥiel's document reveals that it is less an account of the debate than a manual for future Jewish disputants. Moreover, because Yeḥiel's intended audience consisted of learned Jews, he was able to write in melitza, a pastiche of biblical verses in rhymed prose which is impenetrable to the uninitiated. Both explicitly and subtextually, Yeḥiel provided words of encouragement to his readers, as well as subtle anti-Christian invective. Donin's Latin record addressed a Christian, clerical audience, as this was the population with both the ability and the interest in reading such literature. As such, Donin's account must be understood as addressing ecclesiastical concerns, notably the development of unmonitored texts. In an increasingly text-oriented environment, unmonitored texts such as the Talmud were feared as potential catalysts for heretical or offensive ideas. This dissertation places the debate in a Christian context of increasingly tight systems of religious control over books. This dissertation concludes with a comparison of cultural developments in the Jewish and Christian world such as the rise of textual communities, questions of anthropomorphism, heresy, and the structure of academic institutions. Through cognizance of the milieu and audiences of the authors, both Jewish and Christian, we can come to a more nuanced understanding of religious, cultural, and intellectual currents of thirteenth-century northern France.Ph.D.HistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60741/1/seisenbe_1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60741/2/seisenbe_2.pd

Bilateral systematised epidermolytic epidermal nevus: A case report

Verrucous epidermal nevi (VEN) are benign congenital hamartomas consisting of keratinocytes. Histological examination mostly exhibits hyperkeratosis, acanthosis, papillomatosis and, rarely, the features of epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (EHK). We report a case of a 6-year-old boy who presented at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan with bilaterally symmetrical linear epidermal nevi following Blaschko\u27s lines and showing epidermolytic hyperkeratosis on histology. The patient was treated with topical keratolytics and emolients which led to considerable improvement. To the best of the authors\u27 knowledge, this is the first report of VEN from Pakistan

Segmentation of Endothelial Cell Boundaries of Rabbit Aortic Images Using a Machine Learning Approach

This paper presents an automatic detection method for thin boundaries of silver-stained endothelial cells (ECs) imaged using light microscopy of endothelium mono-layers from rabbit aortas. To achieve this, a segmentation technique was developed, which relies on a rich feature space to describe the spatial neighbourhood of each pixel and employs a Support Vector Machine (SVM) as a classifier. This segmentation approach is compared, using hand-labelled data, to a number of standard segmentation/thresholding methods commonly applied in microscopy. The importance of different features is also assessed using the method of minimum Redundancy, Maximum Relevance (mRMR), and the effect of different SVM kernels is also considered. The results show that the approach suggested in this paper attains much greater accuracy than standard techniques; in our comparisons with manually labelled data, our proposed technique is able to identify boundary pixels to an accuracy of 93%. More significantly, out of a set of 56 regions of image data, 43 regions were binarised to a useful level of accuracy. The results obtained from the image segmentation technique developed here may be used for the study of shape and alignment of ECs, and hence patterns of blood flow, around arterial branches

Validated Spectrofluorimetric Determination of Gemifloxacin in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Spiked Human Plasma

 A simple, sensitive and rapid spectrofluorimetric method was developed and validated for the determination of Gemifloxacin mesylate (GFX), in bulk powder, pharmaceutical preparations and biological fluids. The proposed method was based on complexation of GFX with AlCl3 as complexing agent then measuring the fluorescence of the resulted complex after enhancement with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in borate buffer (pH 8) at emission wavelength of 401 nm after excitation at 264 nm. Different experimental parameters affecting the fluorescence intensity were carefully studied and optimized to obtain the maximum fluorescence intensity. The developed method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonisation guidelines in terms of specificity, linearity, lower limit of quantification (LOQ) 0.54 ng.ml-1, lower limit of detection (LOD) 0.18 ng.ml-1, accuracy and precision. The proposed method was found to be rectilinear over the concentration range of 1-20 ng.ml-1with recovery percentage of 99.85±0.84. The proposed method was applied successfully for the determination of GFX in pharmaceutical preparations and spiked human plasma with recovery percentage of 99.97±0.79 and 99.96±1.73 respectively. The results were statistically analyzed and compared with a reference method and no significance difference was found between both methods

Séroprévalence de Mycoplasma gallisepticum et de Mycoplasma synoviae dans les élevages reproducteurs type poulet de chair au Maroc de 1983 au 2005

Les mycoplasmoses aviaires, particulièrement Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) et Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) sont des infections insidieuses respiratoires, génitales ou articulaires, entraînant de lourdes pertes économiques dans les différents types d’élevage avicole.L’objectif de cette étude est de tracer l’évolution des infections mycoplasmiques aviaires dues à MG et MS à partir d’une synthèse des enquêtes sérologiques réalisées au Maroc et d’évaluer les retombées de la nouvelle loi sanitaire. Ces enquêtes ont concerné 12, 13 et 15 élevages de poules reproductrices situés dans différentes régions, notamment les principaux axes de productions avicoles réalisées respectivement en 1983, 2002 et 2005. Les sérums recueillis ont été testés par Agglutination Rapide sur Lame (ARL) afin d’identifier les élevages positifs. Les résultats sérologiques ont révélé la présence des anticorps contre MG et MS avec des taux d’infection variables en fonction de l’année d’étude et du germe. En effet, Les prévalences obtenues sont très importantes surtout pour MS qui dépassent les 50% ; un pic a été noté en 2002 (MG:30,76%) et (MS:76,92%), avec une légère régression en 2005 (MG:26,67%) et (MS:66,67 %).Ces taux d’infections non négligeables incitent à l’amélioration des normes d’hygiène et de biosécurité avec un accompagnement vétérinaire rigoureux conformément aux directives de la loi

mTORC2 signaling drives the development and progression of pancreatic cancer

mTOR signaling controls several critical cellular functions and is deregulated in many cancers, including pancreatic cancer. To date, most efforts have focused on inhibiting the mTORC1 complex. However, clinical trials of mTORC1 inhibitors in pancreatic cancer have failed, raising questions about this therapeutic approach. We employed a genetic approach to delete the obligate mTORC2 subunit Rictor and identified the critical times during which tumorigenesis requires mTORC2 signaling. Rictor deletion resulted in profoundly delayed tumorigenesis. Whereas previous studies showed most pancreatic tumors were insensitive to rapamycin, treatment with a dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor strongly suppressed tumorigenesis. In late-stage tumor-bearing mice, combined mTORC1/2 and PI3K inhibition significantly increased survival. Thus, targeting mTOR may be a potential therapeutic strategy in pancreatic cancer

Leptin fails to blunt the lipopolysaccharide-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in rats

Copyright @ 2013 The authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.Obesity is a risk factor for sepsis morbidity and mortality, whereas the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a protective role in the body's defence against sepsis. Sepsis induces a profound systemic immune response and cytokines serve as excellent markers for sepsis as they act as mediators of the immune response. Evidence suggests that the adipokine leptin may play a pathogenic role in sepsis. Mouse endotoxaemic models present with elevated leptin levels and exogenously added leptin increased mortality whereas human septic patients have elevated circulating levels of the soluble leptin receptor (Ob-Re). Evidence suggests that leptin can inhibit the regulation of the HPA axis. Thus, leptin may suppress the HPA axis, impairing its protective role in sepsis.We hypothesised that leptin would attenuate the HPA axis response to sepsis.We investigated the direct effects of an i.p. injection of 2 mg/kg leptin on the HPA axis response to intraperitoneally injected 25 μg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the male Wistar rat. We found that LPS potently activated the HPA axis, as shown by significantly increased plasma stress hormones, ACTH and corticosterone, and increased plasma interleukin 1β (IL1β) levels, 2 h after administration. Pre-treatment with leptin, 2 h before LPS administration, did not influence the HPA axis response to LPS. In turn, LPS did not affect plasma leptin levels. Our findings suggest that leptin does not influence HPA function or IL1b secretion in a rat model of LPS-induced sepsis, and thus that leptin is unlikely to be involved in the acute-phase endocrine response to bacterial infection in rats.The section is funded by grants from the MRC, BBSRC, NIHR and an Integrative Mammalian Biology (IMB) Capacity Building Award, and by a FP7-HEALTH-2009-241592 EuroCHIP grant and is supported by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre Funding Scheme. This work is supported by a BBSRC Doctoral Training-Strategic Skills Award grant (BB/F017340/1)

Mutant p53R270H drives altered metabolism and increased invasion in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by nearly universal activating mutations in KRAS. Among other somatic mutations, TP53 is mutated in more than 75% of human pancreatic tumors. Genetically engineered mice have proven instrumental in studies of the contribution of individual genes to carcinogenesis. Oncogenic Kras mutations occur early during pancreatic carcinogenesis and are considered an initiating event. In contrast, mutations in p53 occur later during tumor progression. In our model, we recapitulated the order of mutations of the human disease, with p53 mutation following expression of oncogenic Kras. Further, using an inducible and reversible expression allele for mutant p53, we inactivated its expression at different stages of carcinogenesis. Notably, the function of mutant p53 changes at different stages of carcinogenesis. Our work establishes a requirement for mutant p53 for the formation and maintenance of pancreatic cancer precursor lesions. In tumors, mutant p53 becomes dispensable for growth. However, it maintains the altered metabolism that characterizes pancreatic cancer and mediates its malignant potential. Further, mutant p53 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer cell invasion. This work generates new mouse models that mimic human pancreatic cancer and expands our understanding of the role of p53 mutation, common in the majority of human malignancies