Quantum phases of bosons in double-well optical lattices

We study the superfluid to Mott insulator transition of bosons in a two-legged ladder optical lattice, of a type accessible in current experiments on double-well optical lattices. The zero-temperature phase diagram is mapped out, with a focus on its dependence upon interchain hopping and the tilt between double wells. We find that the unit-filling Mott phase exhibits a non-monotonic behavior as a function of the tilt parameter, producing a reentrant phase transition between Mott insulator and superfluid phases.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Mergers of binary stars: The ultimate heavy-ion experience

The mergers of black hole-neutron star binaries are calcuated using a pseudo-general relativistic potential that incorporates ${\mathcal O}(v^2/c^2)^3$ post-Newtonian corrections. Both normal matter neutron stars and self-bound strange quark matter stars are considered as black hole partners. As long as the neutron stars are not too massive relative to the black hole mass, orbital decay terminates in stable mass transfer rather than an actual merger. For a normal neutron star, mass transfer results in a widening of the orbit but the stable transfer ends before the minimum neutron star mass is reached. For a strange star, mass transfer does not result in an appreciable enlargement of the orbital separation, and the stable transfer continues until the strange star essentially disappears. These differences might be observable through their respective gravitational wave signatures.Comment: Contribution to QM04 proceedings. Submitted to Journal of Physics

In vitro study on inhibition of glycosylation of methanolic leaf extract of Hibiscus cannabinus

The inhibitory properties of Methanolic leaf extract of Hibiscus cannabinus (Malvaceae family) on glycosylation formation, was investigated in haemoglobin using Gallic acid as Standard. The periodic glycosylation of haemoglobin at varying concentration of glucose shows a decrease in haemoglobin concentration indicating the glycosylation of haemoglobin. While the subsequent administration of Hibiscus cannabinus Methanolic leaf extract inhibit haemoglobin glycosylation, where a concentration of 20 mg/ml of theextract gave a significant inhibition by yielding haemoglobin concentration of 1.877±0.40 ìg/ml for test extract as against 0.032±0.013 ìg/ml for the standard. This suggests that the plant extract inhibits the binding of glucose to hemoglobin, since at higher concentration of glucose the concentration was found to be high

Antioxidant potential of Habiscus cannabinus methanolic leaf extract

The antioxidant properties of Methanolic leaf extract of Hibiscus cannabinus (Malvaceae family), was investigated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) assay method, reducing power and hydrogen peroxide scavenging effect assays. The Methanolic leaf extract, exhibited significant scavenging effect on DPPH free radical and hydrogen peroxide production at a lower concentration of the extract when compared with ascorbic acids and á- tocopherol standard antioxidants. The highest free-radical scavenging and percentage scavenging effect of hydrogen peroxide by the Methanolic leaf extract was observed at concentrations 31.25 and 250ìg/ml respectively; with 76.03% and 62.26% inhibition/scavenging effect respectively. However,  reducing power showed low activity for the leaf extract.Keywords: DPPH, Ascorbic acid, á-tocopherol, Hibiscus cannabinus, flavonoid, hydrogen peroxide, free-radical

Impaired interferon-γ responses, increased interleukin-17 expression, and a tumor necrosis factor–α transcriptional program in invasive aspergillosis

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website. Copyright @ 2009 Oxford University Press.Background - Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is the most common cause of death associated with fungal infection in the developed world. Historically, susceptibility to IA has been associated with prolonged neutropenia; however, IA has now become a major problem in patients on calcineurin inhibitors and allogenic hematopoetic stem cell transplant patients following engraftment. These observations suggest complex cellular mechanisms govern immunity to IA. Methods - To characterize the key early events that govern outcome from infection with Aspergillus fumigatus we performed a comparative immunochip microarray analysis of the pulmonary transcriptional response to IA between cyclophosphamide-treated mice and immunocompetent mice at 24 h after infection. Results - We demonstrate that death due to infection is associated with a failure to generate an incremental interferon-γ response, increased levels of interleukin-5 and interleukin-17a transcript, coordinated expression of a network of tumor necrosis factor–α-related genes, and increased levels of tumor necrosis factor–α. In contrast, clearance of infection is associated with increased expression of a number genes encoding proteins involved in innate pathogen clearance, as well as apoptosis and control of inflammation. Conclusion - This first organ-level immune response transcriptional analysis for IA has enabled us to gain new insights into the mechanisms that govern fungal immunity in the lung.The BBSRC, CGD Research Trust, and the MRC

Investigating five key predictive text entry with combined distance and keystroke modelling

This paper investigates text entry on mobile devices using only five-keys. Primarily to support text entry on smaller devices than mobile phones, this method can also be used to maximise screen space on mobile phones. Reported combined Fitt's law and keystroke modelling predicts similar performance with bigram prediction using a five-key keypad as is currently achieved on standard mobile phones using unigram prediction. User studies reported here show similar user performance on five-key pads as found elsewhere for novice nine-key pad users

Nutritive value and phytochemical composition of processed Solanum incanum (Bitter garden egg)

No Abstract

Biochemical response of normal albino rats to the addition of aqueous leaves extract of Hibiscus cannabinus and Murraya koenigii in rats drinking water

Experiments were conducted to determine the biochemical effect of Hibiscus cannabinus and Murraya koenigii extracts on normal albino rats  using standard methods. Analyses carried out indicated that the aqueousleaf extract of H. cannabinus and M. koenigii exhibited significant  hypolipideamic activity in normal rats. Results of phytochemical studies showed that flavonoids and glycosides are the major chemical constituent of the leaf extract. Overall results indicate a significant (P<0.05) reduction of serum cholesterol, triglycerol at both concentration of 5 and 10 mg/Kg b.wt. No significant effect is seen in the hematological indices, serum glucose,  Aspartate transaminase (AST) and Alanine transaminase (ALT). The  significance of this study is thus discussed.Key words: Hibiscus cannabinus, Murraya koenigii, flavonoid, Hypolipidemi

Transportin 3 Promotes a Nuclear Maturation Step Required for Efficient HIV-1 Integration

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a major global health threat and understanding the detailed molecular mechanisms of HIV replication is critical for the development of novel therapeutics. To replicate, HIV-1 must access the nucleus of infected cells and integrate into host chromosomes, however little is known about the events occurring post-nuclear entry but before integration. Here we show that the karyopherin Transportin 3 (Tnp3) promotes HIV-1 integration in different cell types. Furthermore Tnp3 binds the viral capsid proteins and tRNAs incorporated into viral particles. Interaction between Tnp3, capsid and tRNAs is stronger in the presence of RanGTP, consistent with the possibility that Tnp3 is an export factor for these substrates. In agreement with this interpretation, we found that Tnp3 exports from the nuclei viral tRNAs in a RanGTP-dependent way. Tnp3 also binds and exports from the nuclei some species of cellular tRNAs with a defective 3'CCA end. Depletion of Tnp3 results in a re-distribution of HIV-1 capsid proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm however HIV-1 bearing the N74D mutation in capsid, which is insensitive to Tnp3 depletion, does not show nucleocytoplasmic redistribution of capsid proteins. We propose that Tnp3 promotes HIV-1 infection by displacing any capsid and tRNA that remain bound to the pre-integration complex after nuclear entry to facilitate integration. The results also provide evidence for a novel tRNA nucleocytoplasmic trafficking pathway in human cells

Patients' Satisfaction with the Healthcare Services at a North Central Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

BACKGROUND: This study sought to determine the level of satisfaction of patients with the healthcare services at Federal Medical Centre, Bida (FMCB) Nigeria and the factors associated with patients' satisfaction.METHODS: The study utilized exit interview of 480 patients, sampled at the 9 service points of the Centre. The questions covered socio-demographic factors and the 3 core elements of healthcare service deliverynamely quality, access and interpersonal issues. The evaluation of satisfaction on the 5 point Likert scale were categorized into dissatisfied {very dissatisfied, dissatisfied and Neutral}and satisfied {satisfied andvery satisfied}, setting the threshold for satisfaction at a relatively higher level.RESULTS: On the overall, 78.5% of them were satisfied with the hospital services and 78.3% had their expectations met. Satisfaction was lowest (72.7%) at the revenue section and highest (96.1%) at the maternity section. Nine of every 10 respondents (91.7%) would recommend the facility to a friend. The patients' satisfaction had significant positive correlation with promptness of staff, communication level of staff, staffrelationship with patients, environmental cleanliness and comfort facilities. Cost of services and delay in obtaining services had negative but relatively weak correlation with satisfaction.CONCLUSION: The observed level of patients' satisfaction at FMC Bida is high. This can be maintained and enhanced by improvement in waitingtime, sustenance of the satisfactory hospital ambiance and staff attitude/aptitude. However, enlightenment of the hospital patients on the status of the hospital and the nature of services offered is necessary.KEYWORDS: patient satisfaction; quality of healthcare; tertiary hospital; Nigeri