Research Notes : United States : An improved greenhouse method of evaluation for inheritance of resistance to race 4 of soybean cyst nematode

Studies to determine mode of inheritance of resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, could be influenced by the methods of evaluation in use. Any improvement in growing conditions of the host and pathogen, superior inoculation techniques, inducement of desirable infection in the host with minimum genetic variability in the SCN population could result in optimum expression of full complement of genes conferring resistance to SCN races. Our objective was to determine the mode of inheritance of resistance in Soybean Plant Introduction PI 88.788 for SCN race 4 reaction, using the improved techniques of evaluation

Experimental evaluation of anticonvulsant effect of human placental extract in pentylenetetrazole induced convulsions in mice

Background: Human placental extract (HPE) is used in different clinical conditions. Human placental extract (HPE), a folklore medicine, prepared from fresh, healthy human placenta has been in use, as single dose therapy in the treatment of epilepsy in some parts of India. Hence, present study was carried out to explore anticonvulsant property of Human placental extract (HPE) in Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced convulsions in albino mice.Methods: Effects of human placental extract (HPE) (1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 ml / 100 gm body weight) as test drug, sodium valproate (150 mg / kg body weight) as standard and distilled water as control were studied in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced convulsions in albino mouse model. Failure to observe even a single episode of tonic spasm for 5 sec. duration for 1 hour was taken as index of anticonvulsant activity. Onset, duration, complete recovery from convulsion and percent protection was calculated and statistical analysis was carried out using student ‘t’ test.Results: Pretreatment with human placental extract (HPE) administered in the dose of 1.0 ml / 100 gm body weight provided 33.33% and in the doses of 1.2 and 1.4 ml / 100 gm body weight and sodium valproate provided 100% protection from convulsions induced by Pentylenetetrazole in albino mice.Conclusion: Human placental extract (HPE) has shown promising anticonvulsant effect on Pentylenetetrazole induced mouse model

Magnetic Field Modulation of Recombination Processes in Organic Photovoltaics

Polymer:fullerene photovoltaics have potential in small-scale power production but low open-circuit voltages limit their efficiency. Understanding the processes affecting the charge recombination rate is key to increasing device efficiency through optimizing open-circuit voltage. Most polymer-fullerene systems have an intramolecular triplet exciton state lower in energy than the interfacial charge-transfer state, and its formation can provide a terminal recombination pathway that may limit device performance. We used magnetic fields to modulate intersystem crossing in a prototypical system, and monitored the effect on the open-circuit voltage to infer changes in the steady-state carrier density and hence in the net recombination rate constant. We analyzed these effects using density-matrix modeling, and quantified the various recombination rate constants for a working device

Are preoperative CT variables associated with the success or failure of subsequent ventral hernia repair: nested case-control study

OBJECTIVES: Systematic review of CT measurements to predict the success or failure of subsequent ventral hernia repair has found limited data available in the indexed literature. To rectify this, we investigated multiple preoperative CT metrics to identify if any were associated with postoperative reherniation. METHODS: Following ethical permission, we identified patients who had undergone ventral hernia repair and had preoperative CT scanning available. Two radiologists made multiple measurements of the hernia and abdominal musculature from these scans, including loss of domain. Patients were divided subsequently into two groups, defined by hernia recurrence at 1-year subsequent to surgery. Hypothesis testing investigated any differences between CT measurements from each group. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-eight patients (95 male) were identified, 34 (18%) whose hernia had recurred by 1-year. Only three of 34 CT measurements were significantly different when patients whose hernia had recurred were compared to those who had not; these significant findings were assumed contingent on multiple testing. In particular, preoperative hernia volume (recurrence 155.3 cc [IQR 355.65] vs. no recurrence 78.2 [IQR 303.52], p = 0.26) nor loss of domain, whether calculated using the Tanaka (recurrence 0.02 [0.04] vs. no recurrence 0.009 [0.04], p = 0.33) or Sabbagh (recurrence 0.019 [0.05] vs. no recurrence 0.009 [0.04], p = 0.25) methods, differed between significantly between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative CT measurements of ventral hernia morphology, including loss of domain, appear unrelated to postoperative recurrence. It is likely that the importance of such measurements to predict recurrence is outweighed by other patient factors and surgical reconstruction technique. KEY POINTS: • Preoperative CT scanning is often performed for ventral hernia but systematic review revealed little data regarding whether CT variables predict postoperative reherniation. • We found that the large majority of CT measurements, including loss of domain, did not differ significantly between patients whose hernia did and did not recur. • It is likely that the importance of CT measurements to predict recurrence is outweighed by other patient factors and surgical reconstruction technique

Korean Honorific Expressions: Immediate Indication of One’s Social Relationship with Others

Language and communication are representative of native speaker’s cultures. Use of language for communication is largely contextual, following socio-cultural norms and linguistic rules. A notable communicative feature of Korean is its well-developed honorific patterns. Western languages, e.g. English, lack power distinctions while Korean sentences shouldn\u27t be formed without speaker knowledge of their social relationship to the addressee in terms of age, social status, kinship, and subgroups. Complex social stratifications between speaker-addressee and speaker-third person referents are encoded within the linguistic structure of Korean. Korean honorifics involve two dimensions: addressee-honorifics and reference-honorifics. Addressee-honorifics express the speaker’s regard for the addressee, reference-honorifics reflect the speaker’s regard for a referent. In Elementary Korean II, students learn that a predicate’s form is dependent upon relationships, the most common reference-honorific forms are introduced, and expanding patterns of speaker-addressee honorifics are practiced. Learning multi-dimensional honorific patterns builds Korean language skills and understanding of Korean culture dynamics. This presentation will include; (1) an overview of Korean’s main features, emphasising honorific patterns; (2) how students in Elementary Korean II employ honorific patterns in their writings to introduce themselves, relations, and acquaintances, and (3) students’ reflections displaying understanding of Korean honorific patterns and social dynamics

Rheological, In Situ Printability and Cell Viability Analysis of Hydrogels for Muscle Tissue Regeneration

Advancements in additive manufacturing have made it possible to fabricate biologically relevant architectures from a wide variety of materials. Hydrogels have garnered increased attention for the fabrication of muscle tissue engineering constructs due to their resemblance to living tissue and ability to function as cell carriers. However, there is a lack of systematic approaches to screen bioinks based on their inherent properties, such as rheology, printability and cell viability. Furthermore, this study takes the critical first-step for connecting in-process sensor data with construct quality by studying the influence of printing parameters. Alginate-chitosan hydrogels were synthesized and subjected to a systematic rheological analysis. In situ print layer photography was utilized to identify the optimum printing parameters and also characterize the fabricated three-dimensional structures. Additionally, the scaffolds were seeded with C2C12 mouse myoblasts to test the suitability of the scaffolds for muscle tissue engineering. The results from the rheological analysis and print layer photography led to the development of a set of optimum processing conditions that produced a quality deposit while the cell viability tests indicated the suitability of the hydrogel for muscle tissue engineering applications

Wasm SpecTec: Engineering a Formal Language Standard

WebAssembly (Wasm) is a low-level bytecode language and virtual machine, intended as a compilation target for a wide range of programming languages, which is seeing increasing adoption across diverse ecosystems. As a young technology, Wasm continues to evolve -- it reached version 2.0 last year and another major update is expected soon. For a new feature to be standardised in Wasm, four key artefacts must be presented: a formal (mathematical) specification of the feature, an accompanying prose pseudocode description, an implementation in the official reference interpreter, and a suite of unit tests. This rigorous process helps to avoid errors in the design and implementation of new Wasm features, and Wasm's distinctive formal specification in particular has facilitated machine-checked proofs of various correctness properties for the language. However, manually crafting all of these artefacts requires expert knowledge combined with repetitive and tedious labor, which is a burden on the language's standardization process and authoring of the specification. This paper presents Wasm SpecTec, a technology to express the formal specification of Wasm through a domain-specific language. This DSL allows all of Wasm's currently handwritten specification artefacts to be error-checked and generated automatically from a single source of truth, and is designed to be easy to write, read, compare, and review. We believe that Wasm SpecTec's automation and meta-level error checking will significantly ease the current burden of the language's specification authors. We demonstrate the current capabilities of Wasm SpecTec by showcasing its proficiency in generating various artefacts, and describe our work towards replacing the manually written official Wasm specification document with specifications generated by Wasm SpecTec.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Axillary silicone lymphadenopathy presenting with a lump and altered sensation in the breast: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Silicone lymphadenopathy is a rare but recognised complication of procedures involving the use of silicone. It has a poorly understood mechanism but is thought to occur following the transportation of silicone particles from silicone-containing prostheses to lymph nodes by macrophages.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report of a case involving a 35-year-old woman who presented to the breast clinic with a breast lump and altered sensation below her left nipple 5 years after bilateral cosmetic breast augmentations. A small lump was detected inferior to the nipple but clinical examination and initial ultrasound investigation showed both implants to be intact. However, mammography and magnetic resonance imaging of both breasts revealed both intracapsular and extracapsular rupture of the left breast prosthesis. The patient went on to develop a flu-like illness and tender lumps in the left axilla and right mastoid regions. An excision biopsy of the left axillary lesion and replacement of the ruptured implant was performed. Subsequent histological analysis showed that the axillary lump was a lymph node containing large amounts of silicone.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The exclusion of malignancy remains the priority when dealing with lumps in the breast or axilla. Silicone lymphadenopathy should however be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients in whom silicone prostheses are present.</p