Enzyme activity and electrophoretic pattern of isoenzymes of amylase, catalase and peroxidase in photo- and gibberellin-induced plants of Impatiens balsamina L. var. rose

Floral buds were induced either by 8 h photoperiods or by the application of GA3 and GA13 in Impatiens balsamina. Total enzyme activity was not directly related to floral morphogenesis although some interesting qualitative correlations existed. Thus, the presence of a new isoenzyme of amylase (RF 0·05) may be related to flower formation since it was present only in the induced plants and not in the vegetative ones, regardless of whether the flowering was caused by inductive photoperiods or by gibberellin treatment. Catalase activity, as well as its isoenzyme forms, could not be detected in the stem and the isoenzyme profile in leaves did not alter with photoperiodic or gibberellin treatment. Treatment with gibberellins induced the synthesis of new isoenzymes of peroxidase but inductive photoperiods did not. The enzyme profiles in relation to photoperiod and gibberellin application are discussed

Are patients admitted to emergency departments with regular supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) treated appropriately?

Regular supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is frequently encountered in clinical practice. Guidelines are available from the National Service Framework (NSF) for the treatment of patients attending emergency departments (ED) with SVT. These recommend a thyroid-function test (TFT) and arrhythmia electrocardiography (ECG), and referral to a heart-rhythm specialist on discharge. Hospital admission is rarely required. In our multicentre study, we examined the implementation of these guidelines among patients attending the ED with SVT. Only 34% of patients had specialist referrals, with an average wait of 50.3 days (the majority of delays resulted from referral requests from general practitioners). A history of previous SVT, the mode of tachycardia termination, patient age and/or comorbidities were similar for the 27 (23.5%) patients who were admitted overnight. Of these, 15 (13%) of the total 115 patients who attended ED with regular SVT were referred for Holter monitoring despite having ECGs demonstrating arrhythmia. Low referral rates, unnecessary investigations and admissions indicate a need for improvement for better patient care and to minimise healthcare costs. We have formulated a standard operating procedure, which will be available via the College of Emergency Medicine website

Slow local movements of collagen fibers by fibroblasts drive the rapid global self-organization of collagen gels

Aclassic model for tissue morphogenesis is the formation of ligament-like straps between explants of fibroblasts placed in collagen gels. The patterns arise from mechanical forces exerted by cells on their substrates (Harris et al., 1981). However, where do such straps come from, and how are slow local movements of cells transduced into dramatic long-distance redistributions of collagen? We embedded primary mouse skin and human periodontal ligament fibroblasts in collagen gels and measured the time course of patterning by using a novel computer algorithm to calculate anisotropy, and by tracking glass beads dispersed in the gel. As fibroblasts began to spread into their immediate environments, a coordinated rearrangement of collagen commenced throughout the gel, producing a strap on a time scale of minutes. Killing of cells afterwards resulted in a partial relaxation of the matrix strain. Surprisingly, relatively small movements of collagen molecules on the tensile axis between two pulling explants induced a much larger concomitant compression of the gel perpendicular to the axis, organizing and aligning fibers into a strap. We propose that this amplification is due to the geometry of the collagen matrix, and that analogous amplified movements may drive morphological changes in other biological meshes, both outside and inside the cell

Lost and Found : Unusual location of a urinary tract calculus

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Stiffness Characteristics of Fibre-reinforced Composite Shaft Embedded with Shape Memory Alloy Wires

Frequent coast up/coast down operations of rotating shafts in the power and aerospace industry expose the flexible rotors to the risk of fatigue failures. Resonant vibrations during passage through critical speeds induce large stresses that may lead to failures. In this paper, the use of nitinol [shape memory alloy (SMA)] wires in the fibre-reinforced composite shaft, for the purpose ofmodifying shaft stiffness properties to avoid such failures, is discussed. A setup has been developed to fabricate the composite shaft (made of fibre glass and epoxy resin) embedded with pre-stressed SMA wires. Experiments have been carried out on the shaft to estimate the changes in the natural frequency of the composite shaft due to activation and deactivation ofSMA wires. The comparisonofthe experimental results with the established analytical results indicates feasibility ofvibration control using the special properties of SMA wires

Teaching Junior Medical Students About the Current Health Care System

No abstract available

Effectiveness of a Walking Program for Children and Their Families

Please refer to the pdf version of the abstract located adjacent to the title

Proteomic analysis of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) pollen

In flowering plants, pollen grains are produced in the anther and released to the external environment with the primary function of delivering sperm cells to the female gametophyte. This study was conducted to identify proteins in tomato pollen and to analyse their roles in relation to pollen function. Tomato is an important crop which is grown worldwide and is an excellent experimental system. Proteins were extracted from pollen, separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and peptide mass fingerprinting. Of the 960 spots observed on Colloidal Coomassie Blue (CCB)-stained 2-DE gels, 190 were selected for analysis. Of these, 158 spots, representing 133 distinct proteins, were identified by searching the NCBInr and Expressed Sequence Tag databases. The identified proteins were classified based on designated functions and the majority included those involved in defence mechanisms, energy conversions, protein synthesis and processing, cytoskeleton formation, Ca(2+) signalling, and as allergens. A number of proteins in tomato pollen were similar to those reported in the pollen of other species; however, several additional proteins with roles in defence mechanisms, metabolic processes, and hormone signalling were identified. The potential roles of the identified proteins in the survival strategy of the small, independent, two-celled pollen grain of tomato, and subsequently in pollen germination and tube growth are discussed

Влияет ли корпоративная социальная ответственность на финансовые показатели? Данные по индийским компаниям

The sceptical attitude towards linking corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) forms the basis of this study. The available literature concentrates only on the positive side of CSR activities and benefits derived from them. The Companies Act, 2013, has made it mandatory for Indian companies of a certain turnover and profit to use 2% of their profits from the past three years on CSR activities. Given this background, this study examines the impact of CSR on the financial performance of the business itself. The economic legitimacy of CSR is also probed, that is, does CSR have a positive economic impact? For this examination, the Pearson Fixed effects panel regression analysis was performed on Nifty 50 companies during the period 2010–2018. Data regarding financial performance variables was obtained from Prowess IQ database. The CSR data was collected from the companies’ annual reports and content analysis was done using NVIVO software. The results of the study provide insights into the corporate response to the mandatory requirement of CSR activities and their impact on the company’s financial performance. The results of the study conclude that there is no significant influence of CSR on the financial performance of Indian companies.Скептическое отношение к взаимосвязи корпоративной социальной ответственности (КСО) и корпоративных финансовых показателей (КФП) составляет основу данного исследования. Существующая литература сосредоточена только на положительной стороне деятельности КСО и выгодах, получаемых от нее. В соответствии с Законом о компаниях 2013 г. индийские компании с определенным оборотом и прибылью за последние три года обязаны использовать 2% от своей прибыли для осуществления деятельности в области КСО. Учитывая этот факт, цель данного исследование — определить влияние КСО на финансовые показатели самого бизнеса. Также исследуется экономическая легитимность КСО, т.е. имеет ли КСО положительный экономический эффект. Для этого был проведен панельный регрессионный анализ Пирсона с фиксированными эффектами на примере компаний Nifty 50 за период 2010–2018 гг. Данные о переменных финансовых показателях получены из базы данных Prowess IQ. Данные о КСО собраны из годовых отчетов компаний, а контент-анализ проводился с помощью программного обеспечения NVIVO. Результаты исследования дают представление о реакции корпораций на обязательные требования о проведении мероприятий КСО и их влиянии на финансовые показатели компании. Результаты исследования показывают отсутствие существенного влияния КСО на финансовые показатели индийских компаний