The Role of Confinement on Stress-Driven Grain Boundary Motion in Nanocrystalline Aluminum Thin Films

3D molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the role of microstructural confinement on room temperature stress-driven grain boundary (GB) motion for a general population of GBs in nanocrystalline Al thin films. Detailed analysis and comparison with experimental results reveal how coupled GB migration and GB sliding are manifested in realistic nanoscale networks of GBs. The proximity of free surfaces to GBs plays a significant role in their mobility and results in unique surface topography evolution. We highlight the effects of microstructural features, such as triple junctions, as constraints to otherwise uninhibited GB motion. We also study the pinning effects of impurities segregated to GBs that hinder their motion. Finally, the implications of GB motion as a deformation mechanism governing the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline materials are discussed

Diagnosis of leukemia disease based on enhanced virtual neural network

White Blood Cell (WBC) cancer or leukemia is one of the serious cancers that threaten the existence of human beings. In spite of its prevalence and serious consequences, it is mostly diagnosed through manual practices. The risks of inappropriate, sub-standard and wrong or biased diagnosis are high in manual methods. So, there is a need exists for automatic diagnosis and classification method that can replace the manual process. Leukemia is mainly classified into acute and chronic types. The current research work proposed a computer-based application to classify the disease. In the feature extraction stage, we use excellent physical properties to improve the diagnostic system’s accuracy, based on Enhanced Color Co-Occurrence Matrix. The study is aimed at identification and classification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia using microscopic images of WBCs based on Enhanced Virtual Neural Network (EVNN) classification. The proposed method achieved optimum accuracy in detection and classification of leukemia from WBC images. Thus, the study results establish the superiority of the proposed method in automated diagnosis of leukemia. The values achieved by the proposed method in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and error rate were 97.8%, 89.9%, 76.6%, and 2.2%, respectively. Furthermore, the system could predict the disease in prior through images, and the probabilities of disease detection are also highly optimistic

Set of Classical PCRs for Detection of Mutations in Candida glabrata FKS Genes Linked with Echinocandin Resistance

Clinical echinocandin resistance among Candida glabrata strains is increasing, especially in the United States. Antifungal susceptibility testing is considered mandatory to guide therapeutic decisions. However, these methodologies are not routinely performed in the hospital setting due to their complexity and the time needed to obtain reliable results. Echinocandin failure in C. glabrata is linked exclusively to Fks1p and Fks2p amino acid substitutions, and detection of such substitutions would serve as a surrogate marker to identify resistant isolates. In this work, we report an inexpensive, simple, and quick classical PCR set able to objectively detect the most common mechanisms of echinocandin resistance in C. glabrata within 4 h. The usefulness of this assay was assessed using a blind collection of 50 C. glabrata strains, including 16 FKS1 and/or FKS2 mutants.Fil: Dudiuk, Catiana Beatriz. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Gamarra, Maria Soledad. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Leonardelli, Florencia. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Jimenez Ortigoza, Cristina. State University of New Jersey; Estados UnidosFil: Vitale, Roxana Gabriela. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos ; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Afeltra, Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Perlin, David S.. State University of New Jersey; Estados UnidosFil: Garcia, Guillermo Manuel. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentin

Are My Dry Cows Heat-Stressed? A Novel Approach to Assess Heat Stress of Dry Cows in Commercial Dairy Herds

Heat stress during the dry period causes major economic losses to the dairy industry. However, limited research exists regarding responses of dry cows exposed to various temperature and relative humidity gradients. In addition, no validated methods are currently available to assess heat stress in dry cows. The goals of this study were to describe core body temperature (CBT) responses of dry cows according to a variety of temperature-humidity index (THI) values, and develop and validate a practical method to assess heat stress in dry cows in commercial dairy herds. This study was comprised of 2 parts. In the first part of the study, vaginal temperature of dry cows (n = 346) with 250 to 260 days of gestation from 5 herds was assessed for 4 to 7 consecutive days in 5-minute intervals. Within dairy and parity group, cows were classified as having high (HT) or low CBT (LT). By design, CBT was greater for HT compared with LT cows (102.3 ± 0.01 vs. 101.8 ± 0.01°F). Cows classified as having HT had shorter gestation length compared with their LT counterparts (272.5 ± 0.2 vs. 275.1 ± 0.2 days). The second part of the study consisted of evaluating and validating a practical assessment method of heat stress and investigating CBT threshold values. Vaginal temperature of 1,540 dry cows with 236 to 250 days of gestation from 3 commercial dairy herds was assessed a single time using a digital thermometer. Average CBT of HT cows at each THI (data from the first part of the study) was used as a threshold value to classify cows as heat-susceptible or heat-tolerant. Cows with higher or lower CBT than the threshold defined for a given THI were classified as heat-susceptible or tolerant, respectively. Cows classified as heat-susceptible had shorter gestation length (272.5 ± 0.2 vs. 275.0 ± 0.2 days) and were more likely to have twins (11.0 vs. 3.8%) than heat-tolerant cows. In conclusion, assessment of heat stress in dry cows based on defined CBT thresholds is a useful method to identify cows expected to have shorter gestation length and more likely to have twins

Effects of Two Commercial Supplemental Fat Products on Body Condition Score and Cow- and Herd-Level Milk Yield and Composition in a Commercial Dairy Herd in Kansas

Feeding fat supplements to lactating dairy cows is an effective strategy to increase energy density of rations and increase milk yield. However, it is not clear whether supplementing a specific fat supplement for the entire lactating herd provides better results than others in commercial dairy herds. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of fat supplementation with two commercial products on changes in body condition score (BCS) and cow- and herd-level milk production and composition in a large commercial dairy herd. The study was conducted in a herd milking approximately 1,500 Holstein cows. One of two treatments was assigned to the herd in a singlesubject crossover design with 4 periods. Treatments were inclusion of 0.24 lb/cow per day of a supplement rich in saturated fats (Propel; Propel Energy Plus) or 0.22 lb/cow per day of a supplement containing calcium salts of long-chain fatty acids (Control). Treatments were applied to all lactating cows during four consecutive weeks. Milk yield recorded during the last week of each period was used for statistical analyses. In addition, milk samples were collected in the last week of each period to determine test-day milk protein, fat, somatic cell count, and urea nitrogen concentrations. At the beginning and at the end of each experimental period, BCS was assessed from a subset of cows to evaluate BCS change. Herd-level milk fat, protein, and somatic cell count were recorded daily by the milk cooperative. Bulk tank milk fat and protein contents on the fourth week of fat supplementation were similar between Control and Propel treatments. Average milk yield during the fourth week of fat supplementation (yield recorded daily in the last week of the experimental period) was greater for Control than Propel supplementation (83.4 vs. 82.1 ± 1.7 lb/day). In the analyses that used test-day data, milk yield did not differ between Control and Propel treatments. Supplementation with Propel resulted in greater milk fat (4.50 vs. 4.29 ± 0.12%) and reduced milk protein content (3.12 vs. 3.14 ± 0.03%) compared with Control. In addition, milk urea nitrogen was reduced for Control vs. Propel cows (12.5 vs. 13.1 ± 0.04 mg/dL). Supplementation with Propel increased energy-corrected milk (93.9 vs. 91.7 ± 3.1 lb/ day) and fat-corrected milk (96.3 vs. 93.5 ± 3.3 lb/day) yields compared with Control supplementation. Proportion of cows that lost BCS during the fat supplementation periods did not differ between treatments; however, BCS change tended to be more pronounced during supplementation with Propel than Control treatment (-0.03 vs. 0.02 ± 0.04). In conclusion, fat supplementation using the Propel treatment resulted in greater milk fat content, energy-corrected milk, and fat-corrected milk compared with fat supplementation with Control. Our findings suggest that the type of market to which milk is sold should be considered in the choice of fat supplements

Nuove applicazioni per le unità abitative in emergenza: tecnologie e tecniche della tradizione costruttiva andina amazonica

This work reports the result of a research activity conducted in Bolivia in the year 2020, in synergy between Bolivian Polytechnic University School "Josè Maria Nunez del Prado", University of Naples Federico II and Pegaso Telematic University. In particular, the research had as its object the study of a housing unit suitable for coping with the floods that frequently afflict some Bolivian peasant populations. During the research, much attention was initially paid to the historical, political, socio-economic aspects and to the cultural and traditional characteristics of the ethnic groups that make up the population of Bolivia; subsequently, the morphology and hydrography of the Bolivian territory were examined, as well as the climate, the trend of rainfall and the El Niño and La Niña phenomena that often cause floods with serious risks for the populations, especially rural ones. Having completed these first two phases of the research, the authors moved on to the study of the traditional construction characteristics of rural architecture, paying particular attention to the basic construction materials used in the peasant areas of Bolivia, in particular to raw earth and bamboo, as well as the principles and rules that regulate the construction of rural housing in Bolivia. For rural architecture, the traditional Pawichi house and the traditional dwellings of the indigenous Chiquitana population were examined in detail. Only after having acquired all these important aspects, the research became interested in the design of a new rural house which, respecting Bolivian cultural traditions, would be able to cope with floods and reduce the risks associated with them. In the design of this new emergency housing unit, the authors focused their attention not only on the compositional and functional aspects of the housing unit, but also on the constructive aspects by designing new structural elements such as the pillars made with five bamboo canes suitably linked together. with knots of the Andean construction tradition. The composition of the housing unit proposed by the authors is governed by a basic 4x4 module that can be full, or delimited by infill and window frames, or empty, or without surrounding infill elements to allow the creation of the traditional place for socialization, the Punilla. Never as in this case have, I been particularly happy with the invitation formulated by the authors, and in particular by the young researchers, Francesca Volpe and Emanuele La Mantia, to present their work. In fact, I was able to see the procedural quality of the research and the intelligent design procedure that led to the definition of a housing prototype of great interest for the Andean populations

Taxonomic revalidation and potential distribution of Armatocereus brevispinus Madsen (Cactaceae)

Se reporta el primer registro confirmado para el norte de Perú de Armatocereus brevispinus Madsen, una especie de cactácea considerada como endémica de la provincia de Loja, en la región sur del Ecuador. El registro corresponde a una localidad situada en el km 18 de la vía a Ayabaca (04º 42’ 21.0” S y 79º 48’ 51.0” W), en el distrito de Ayabaca, dentro de la provincia de Ayabaca, en el Departamento de Piura. Este registro representa una ampliación del rango distributivo conocido para esta especie en Ecuador. Se analiza la taxonomía, distribución y el estado de conservación y se comenta sobre su biogeografía en la región andina.We report the first confirmed record for northern Peru of Armatocereus brevispinus Madsen, a species of cactus regarded as endemic to the province of Loja, in the southern region of Ecuador. The record corresponds to a locality placed near the km 18 of the route to Ayabaca (04º42’21.0”S and 79º48’51.0”W), in the district of Ayabaca, within the province of Ayabaca, in the Department of Piura. This records represents an extension of the distributional range known for this species in Ecuador. We analyze its taxonomy and the distribution and conservation status and comments on its biogeography in the Andean region

5-Aminolaevulinic Acid (ALA) for the Fluorescence Detection of Bronchial Tumors

At the moment only early detection of lung cancer offers a good prognosis for the patients. Conventional white light endoscopy is mostly insufficient for early diagnosis. Therefore we developed a system of fluorescence diagnosis using 5-aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) exogeneously applied. As precursor of the heme synthesis it is metabolized to protoporphyrin IX – a red fluorescent substance. Therefore protoporphyrin IX accumulates in tumorous and premalignant tissue, and can be directly visualized by fluorescence bronchoscopy. Excitation with blue light (380–435 nm) causes a red fluorescence, which can be detected after filtering most of the blue component with the naked eye or a camera system. After earlier work with laser systems and cold light sources we now use the system D-Light AF for the fluorescence diagnosis using ALA-induced protoporphyrin IX fluorescence