Value of periodic transcutaneous daytime Carbon dioxide monitoring in screening for Respiratory failure in patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

There is no single test currently available, which can predict respiratory failure in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with high sensitivity and specificity. This study explores the potential use of transcutaneous carbon dioxide (PtcCO2) monitoring in early detection of respiratory failure in ALS

Improvement in performance of corroding concrete structures using health monitoring systems

Predicting future condition and reliability of the deteriorating structures is vital for their effective management. Probabilistic models have been developed to estimate and predict the extent of deterioration in concrete structures but their input parameters are fraught with uncertainties, hence limiting the effective use of the models for long term predictions. On the other hand, continuous innovations in the sensing and measurement technology have lead to the development of monitoring instruments that can provide continuous (or almost continuous) real time information regarding structural performance. Thus, powerful decisionsupport tools may be developed by combining information obtained through structural health monitoring with probabilistic performance prediction models. The potential benefits of improving performance prediction using health monitoring systems and their implications on the management of deterioration prone structures are presented in this paper. A typical structural element of a bridge (eg slab, beam or a cross beam etc) subjected to chloride induced deterioration is considered. It is shown that the confidence in predicted performance can be improved considerably through the use of health monitoring methods and hence, the management activities such as inspections, repair and maintenance etc can be adjusted whilst keeping consistent target performance levels. A comparison of various probabilistic models for the input parameters (eg exposure conditions, threshold chloride concentration etc) indicates that the effects of uncertainty can be minimised through the inservice health monitoring systems

Study of Certain Factors which Influence Phosphatase Reactivation in Milk

Dairyin

Mechanisms facilitating coexistence between leopards (Panthera pardus) and their competitors in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Large carnivores provide key ecological services to ecosystems, and full species assemblages are thought to be important in maintaining full ecosystem function. The African large carnivore guild represents one of the last functionally intact guilds of large carnivores on Earth, but relatively little is known of the mechanisms facilitating coexistence between some of its members. As such, I investigate coexistence mechanisms between leopards (Panthera pardus) and their competitors and present four pieces of original research on leopard ecology and monitoring, primarily within the framework of carnivore interactions. To this end, I focus on sympatric populations of wild, but habituated, lions (Panthera leo), leopards, African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in northern Botswana. Data were primarily collected through a combination of field-based observations, high-resolution GPS radio collars, and tourist-contributed photographs. I found that at both broad- and fine- scales, leopards were largely resilient to the effects of intraguild competition. Specifically, I found little evidence that spatio-temporal niches were driven by predator avoidance and found limited impacts of competitor encounters on leopard behaviours and movements. In the context of intraspecific competition, my thesis also informs on the optimal scent marking strategies used by leopards to communicate with conspecifics, presumably, in part, to facilitate territory maintenance. Specifically, leopards invested more in maintaining scent marks at home range boundaries and scent marked at higher frequencies on roads. My thesis results also highlight the potential of using tourist photographs to monitor large carnivore densities within protected areas. In sum, my findings provide key insights into the coexistence mechanisms between leopards and their competitors and provide a framework for sustainable citizen-driven wildlife monitoring programs

Advances and challenges in umbilical cord blood and tissue bioprocessing: procurement and storage

Umbilical cord tissue and blood is banked to complement the rapidly advancing field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for both autologous and allogeneic therapeutic applications. Whilst many problems concerning the use of the hematopoietic and multipotential mesenchymal stromal cells contained therein may be addressed through the future development of GMP-compliant manufacturing strategies, collection and bioprocessing of these tissues can be optimised in the present to maximise clinical outcomes. In this review, we describe current procurement, processing and storage approaches for umbilical cord blood and tissue; current challenges and how these may be met to augment translation and use of therapeutics harnessing their derivatives

Inflammatory Serine Proteases Play a Critical Role in the Early Pathogenesis of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is characterized by structural and functional alterations that can lead to heart failure. Several mechanisms are known to be involved in the pathogenesis of DCM, however, the molecular mechanism that links inflammation to DCM is incompletely understood. To learn about this mechanism, we investigated the role of inflammatory serine proteases (ISPs) during the development of DCM. METHODS: Eight weeks old mice with deletion of dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI), an enzyme involved in the maturation of major ISPs, and wild type (WT) mice controls were injected with streptozotocin (50 mg/kg for 5 days intraperitoneally) and studied after 4, 8, 16, and 20 week after induction of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Induction of diabetes was followed by echocardiographic measurements, glycemic and hemoglobulin A1c profiling, immunoblot, qPCR, enzyme activity assays, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of DPPI, ISPs, and inflammatory markers. Fibrosis was determined from left ventricular heart by Serius Red staining and qPCR. Apoptosis was determined by TUNEL assay and immunoblot analysis. RESULTS: In the diabetic WT mice, DPPI expression increased along with ISP activation, and DPPI accumulated abundantly in the left ventricle mainly from infiltrating neutrophils. In diabetic DPPI-knockout (DPPI-KO) mice, significantly decreased activation of ISPs, myocyte apoptosis, fibrosis, and cardiac function was improved compared to diabetic WT mice. In addition, DPPI-KO mice showed a decrease in overall inflammatory status mediated by diabetes induction which was manifested by decreased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6. CONCLUSION: This study elucidates a novel role of ISPs in potentiating the immunological responses that lead to the pathogenesis of DCM in T1DM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report that DPPI expression and activation promotes the inflammation that enhances myocyte apoptosis and contributes to the adverse cardiac remodeling that subsequently leads to DCM

Does the institutional quality matter for renewable energy promotion in the OECD economies?

This study examines the effect of institutional quality on renewable energy promotion in the OECD economies. The study employs annual data from 1980 to 2014 on 18 OECD economies. The robust panel unit root tests show that all the considered variables have a similar order of integration, indicating that they are nonstationary at their levels but stationary at the first-order differences. The panel cointegration test with structural breaks and cross-section dependence confirms a long-run equilibrium association between institutional quality, renewable energy consumption, and control variables. The analysis of long-run estimations displays that better institutional quality makes a unique and substantial contribution to promoting renewable energy consumption. Overall, the study findings offer important policy implications highlighting the importance of institutional quality for the growth of renewable energy and a sustainable world

Internal Marketing: Using Marketing-Like Approaches To Build Business Competencies And Improve Performance In Large Malaysian Corporations

This study was conducted to make substantial progress in building theory about customer-focused organisations and its impact on business competencies and performance. To date, it is the first empirical attempt to gain knowledge on internal marketing (IM) implementation using a 'marketing-like' approach. The results of the study suggest that this approach is imperative to create organisational competencies and business performance. This study therefore serves to develop and test a conceptual model linking IM mix components, competencies and business performance that adds knowledge to the IM implementation framework in particular and other organisational development theories in general