Metabolism of formycin B by Leishmania amastigotes in vitro. Comparative metabolism in infected and uninfected human macrophages.

Formycin B is metabolized by cutaneous Leishmania amastigotes within cultured human macrophages to give formycin B 5'-monophosphate and formycin A 5'-mono-, di-, and triphosphates. Formycin A is also incorporated into RNA. The activity of formycin B against amastigotes was correlated with the levels of formycin A metabolites formed in the parasites. Uninfected macrophages also convert formycin B into the same products, but the levels are markedly lower than those seen in infected macrophages. The results suggest that a sufficient therapeutic index exists to warrant consideration of formycin B as an anti-leishmanial drug in humans

Pengaruh Asam Humat Terhadap Pertumbuhan Bibit Kakao (Theobroma Cacao) Dan Populasi Mikroorganisme Di Dalam Tanah Humic Dystrudept

. Humic acid is a natural organic material relatively abundant and potentially be used to improve plant growth. The role of humic acid in improving nutrient content of cocoa seedlings and in improving the growth of soil bacteria and fungi, as well as improving chemical properties of sandy Humic Dystrudept were the main foci of this research. This research was carried out at Indonesian Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioindustry in 2014. Population of Azotobacter beijerinckii and Aspergillus Niger in the soil were evaluated in the laboratory. Treatments were the addition of 0; 2.5; 5.0; 7.5; 10.0; and 12.5 mL humic acid into 10 kg of sterile soil. The greenhouse experiment to determine the effects of humic acid on the growth of cocoa (Theobroma cacao) seedlings was arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications and twelve treatments: 25; 50; 75; 100 % dosages of NPK fertilizer; 3.75; 7.5; 11.25; and 15 mL humic acid; 100% NPK + 7.5 mL humic acid; 50% NPK + 7.5 mL humic acid; 25% NPK + 7.5 mL humic acid into 10 kg of soil; and blank (without fertilizer and humic acid). The results of these research showed that humic acid have a positive correlation in increasing soil microbial population and nutrient uptake. The most abundant population of A. beijerinckii and A. Niger were under the addition of the 7.5-12.5 mL of humic acid. The addition of humic acid and its combination with NPK fertilizer increased N content 5.7%, P content 21.4%, and K contents 17.2% in cocoa seedling leaves and seedling dry weight 5.4 - 41.7%

Pemanfaatan Biochar Asal Cangkang Kelapa Sawit Untuk Meningkatkan Serapan Hara Dan Sekuestrasi Karbon Pada Media Tanah Lithic Hapludults Di Pembibitan Kelapa Sawit

. The potential of biochar derived from oil palm kernel shell to be used as a soil amendment seems promising for sustaining oil palm plantation in marginal land. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of three biochar dosages (50; 100; and 150 gram) in combination with 75% NPK-Mg dosages per seedling on the growth of oil palm seedling, nutrient uptake and carbon sequestration in the nursery stage. A field experiment was conducted at PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, Central Kalimantan in March 2015- April 2016. Experiment was arranged in a completely randomized block design (CRBD) with five treatments and twenty replications i.e: (i) 100% standard dosage NPK-Mg per seed (control); (ii) 75% standard dosage NPK-Mg per seed; (iii) 75% standard dosage NPK-Mg + 50 g biochar per seed; (iv) 75% standard dosage NPK-Mg + 100 g biochar per seed; and (v) 75% standard dosage NPK-Mg + 150 g biochar per seed. The best vegetative growth performance of oil palm seedlings in Lithic Hapludults soil was shown by the application of 75% standard dosage of NPK-Mg fertilizers in combination with 150 gram biochar per seed. This treatment increased height (33.9%); leaf number (36.2%); stem diameter (28.9%); length and width of the leaf (22.6 and 33.3%), dry weight of oil palm seedlings, especially roots (65.2%), CEC (17.2%), and organic C (26.9%). This treatment also showed the highest absorption of N in leaves of oil palm seedlings, but no differences were observed for P and K uptakes compared to the treatment of 100% dosage of NPK-Mg fertilizer. On the basis of these results, the 75% dosage of NPK-Mg combined with 150 g of biochar per seed can be recommended for use on oil palm seedlings

Phase diagram of softly repulsive systems: The Gaussian and inverse-power-law potentials

We redraw, using state-of-the-art methods for free-energy calculations, the phase diagrams of two reference models for the liquid state: the Gaussian and inverse-power-law repulsive potentials. Notwithstanding the different behavior of the two potentials for vanishing interparticle distances, their thermodynamic properties are similar in a range of densities and temperatures, being ruled by the competition between the body-centered-cubic (BCC) and face-centered-cubic (FCC) crystalline structures and the fluid phase. We confirm the existence of a reentrant BCC phase in the phase diagram of the Gaussian-core model, just above the triple point. We also trace the BCC-FCC coexistence line of the inverse-power-law model as a function of the power exponent $n$ and relate the common features in the phase diagrams of such systems to the softness degree of the interaction.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

ROI Based Quality Access Control of Compressed Color Image using DWT via Lifting

Region-of-Interest (ROI) in an image or video signal contains important information and may be used for access control at various qualities using multiresolution analysis (MRA). This paper proposes a novel quality access control method of compressed color image by modulating the coefficients of ROI at various levels. Data modulation causes visual degradation in the original image and plays the key role in access control through reversible process. The modulation information, in the form of a secret key, is embedded in non-ROI part of the chrominance blue (Cb) channel of the color image using quantization index modulation (QIM). Lifting based DWT, rather than conventional DWT, is used to decompose the original image in order to achieve two-fold advantages, namely (1) better flexibility and low loss in image quality due to QIM and (2) better decoding reliability that leads to better access control. Only the authorized users having the full knowledge of the secret key restore the full quality of ROI. Simulation results duly support this claims