Validation of Orchestia gammarellus enzymatic activities in several sites of Tangier’s bay (Morocco

Marine biodiversity is increasingly at risk because of coastal contamination. Biomarkers of pollutant exposure can be very useful for marine biodiversity conservation. The aim of this research was to validate the enzymatic activities (catalase, esterase, á-amylase and acetylcholinesterase) of Orchestia gammarellus in several sites of Tangier’s bay to improve predictive performance of responses to coastal environmental pollutants. Our results showed a significant increase of catalase (e.g. there was an augment from 0.6 ± 0.2 ìmol/min/ìg of proteins in individuals sampled from Mnar to 5.0 ± 0.7 ìmol/min/ìg of proteins in those taken from Port). Esterase activity was significantly decreased (e.g. there was a decrease from 8.2 ± 1.5 nmol of formed -naphthol/min/mg of proteins in individuals sampled from Mnar to 2.6 ± 0.9 nmol of formed â-naphthol/min/mg of proteins in those taken from Port). Acetylcholinesterase activity’s level exhibited a significant difference between individuals taken from Mnar (7.6 ± 1.4 ìmol/min/mg of proteins) and those taken from Port (3.1 ± 0.6 ìmol/min/mg of proteins). There was a significant difference in the proteins level between individuals taken from Mnar (1.2 ± 0.3 ìg/mg of fresh weight) and those collected from Port (0.3 ± 0.1 ìg/mg of fresh weight). The level of consumed starch showed a significant difference between individuals taken from Mnar (9.8 ±0.4 ìg/min/fresh weight) and those taken from Port (8.5 ± 0.4 ìg/min/fresh weight)

Insecticidal activity of four medicinal plant extracts against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Methanol extracts from four medicinal plants, Peganum harmala (Zygophyllaceae), Ajuga iva (Labiateae), Aristolochia baetica (Aristolochiaceae) and Raphanus raphanistrum (Brassicaceae) werestudied for their insecticidal effects on the stored grain pest Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). Response varied with plant species. Larvae growth was significantly inhibited when they were fed with extracts incorporated into the diet. Good insecticidal activity against T. castaneum larvae and adults wasachieved with extract of P. harmala seeds, followed by extract of A. iva, Ari. baetica and R. raphanistrum aerial parts. The extracts of the four plants disrupted the developmental cycle of the insect. Extracts of P. harmala, A. iva and Ari. baetica inhibited F1 progeny production. These naturally occurring plant extracts could be useful for managing populations of T. castaneu

Effects of plant hormones and 20-hydroxyecdysone on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) seed germination and seedlings growth

20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) is the major phytoecdysteroid of about 6% of plants. Its role in plant physiology has not been fully elucidated. In this work we studied the effects of 20E application on somemorphological and biochemical parameters of tomato, Lycopersicum esculentum, seed during germination and seedling development (5 d). We compared the 20E effects with the action of phytohormones: gibberellic acid (GA3), naftalen acetic acid (NAA), benzyl amino purine (BAP). NAA treatment resulted in marked reduction in shoot length. GA3 treatment promoted maximal shoot elongation. BAP affected negatively shoot length only at late stages, while 20E application stimulated shoot elongation at early stages and reduced it on the fifth day; NAA inhibited root elongation all along the test period. GA3 treatment had no effect on root length, whereas BAP showed strong inhibition on root elongation. On the other hand, 20E showed a weak inhibition of root elongation on the fifth day. As compared to control and to other treatments, NAA and 20E provoked a drastic decrease in protein contents during seedling growth, whereas a high increase was observed under BAP treatment. Electrophoresis revealed that protein bands were not degraded and mobilized after NAA treatmentwhile in control or after 20E and others phytohormones applications, protein patters displayed weak band intensities and some of them were not detected. NAA, GA3 and BAP provoked a decrease inproline content during seedlings, while the effect of 20E on proline levels varied during germination and plantlet development. This work showed that 20E like phytohormones fulfil some bioactive actionsduring germination and seedlings growth in tomato

Product assurance technology for custom LSI/VLSI electronics

The technology for obtaining custom integrated circuits from CMOS-bulk silicon foundries using a universal set of layout rules is presented. The technical efforts were guided by the requirement to develop a 3 micron CMOS test chip for the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES). This chip contains both analog and digital circuits. The development employed all the elements required to obtain custom circuits from silicon foundries, including circuit design, foundry interfacing, circuit test, and circuit qualification

Repeated games for eikonal equations, integral curvature flows and non-linear parabolic integro-differential equations

The main purpose of this paper is to approximate several non-local evolution equations by zero-sum repeated games in the spirit of the previous works of Kohn and the second author (2006 and 2009): general fully non-linear parabolic integro-differential equations on the one hand, and the integral curvature flow of an interface (Imbert, 2008) on the other hand. In order to do so, we start by constructing such a game for eikonal equations whose speed has a non-constant sign. This provides a (discrete) deterministic control interpretation of these evolution equations. In all our games, two players choose positions successively, and their final payoff is determined by their positions and additional parameters of choice. Because of the non-locality of the problems approximated, by contrast with local problems, their choices have to "collect" information far from their current position. For integral curvature flows, players choose hypersurfaces in the whole space and positions on these hypersurfaces. For parabolic integro-differential equations, players choose smooth functions on the whole space

Challenges and Opportunities: What Can We Learn from Patients Living with Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions, Health Professionals and Carers about the Concept of Health Literacy Using Qualitative Methods of Inquiry?

The field of health literacy continues to evolve and concern public health researchers and yet remains a largely overlooked concept elsewhere in the healthcare system. We conducted focus group discussions in England UK, about the concept of health literacy with older patients with chronic musculoskeletal conditions (mean age = 73.4 years), carers and health professionals. Our research posed methodological, intellectual and practical challenges. Gaps in conceptualisation and expectations were revealed, reiterating deficiencies in predominant models for understanding health literacy and methodological shortcomings of using focus groups in qualitative research for this topic. Building on this unique insight into what the concept of health literacy meant to participants, we present analysis of our findings on factors perceived to foster and inhibit health literacy and on the issue of responsibility in health literacy. Patients saw health literacy as a result of an inconsistent interactive process and the implications as wide ranging; healthcare professionals had more heterogeneous views. All focus group discussants agreed that health literacy most benefited from good inter-personal communication and partnership. By proposing a needs-based approach to health literacy we offer an alternative way of conceptualising health literacy to help improve the health of older people with chronic conditions

Conformational adaptation of Asian macaque TRIMCyp directs lineage specific antiviral activity

TRIMCyps are anti-retroviral proteins that have arisen independently in New World and Old World primates. All TRIMCyps comprise a CypA domain fused to the tripartite domains of TRIM5α but they have distinct lentiviral specificities, conferring HIV-1 restriction in New World owl monkeys and HIV-2 restriction in Old World rhesus macaques. Here we provide evidence that Asian macaque TRIMCyps have acquired changes that switch restriction specificity between different lentiviral lineages, resulting in species-specific alleles that target different viruses. Structural, thermodynamic and viral restriction analysis suggests that a single mutation in the Cyp domain, R69H, occurred early in macaque TRIMCyp evolution, expanding restriction specificity to the lentiviral lineages found in African green monkeys, sooty mangabeys and chimpanzees. Subsequent mutations have enhanced restriction to particular viruses but at the cost of broad specificity. We reveal how specificity is altered by a scaffold mutation, E143K, that modifies surface electrostatics and propagates conformational changes into the active site. Our results suggest that lentiviruses may have been important pathogens in Asian macaques despite the fact that there are no reported lentiviral infections in current macaque populations

The association of health literacy with adherence in older 2 adults, and its role in interventions: a systematic meta-review

Background: Low health literacy is a common problem among older adults. It is often suggested to be associated with poor adherence. This suggested association implies a need for effective adherence interventions in low health literate people. However, previous reviews show mixed results on the association between low health literacy and poor adherence. A systematic meta-review of systematic reviews was conducted to study the association between health literacy and adherence in adults above the age of 50. Evidence for the effectiveness of adherence interventions among adults in this older age group with low health literacy was also explored. Methods: Eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, ERIC, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, DARE, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Knowledge) were searched using a variety of keywords regarding health literacy and adherence. Additionally, references of identified articles were checked. Systematic reviews were included if they assessed the association between health literacy and adherence or evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to improve adherence in adults with low health literacy. The AMSTAR tool was used to assess the quality of the included reviews. The selection procedure, data-extraction, and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Seventeen reviews were selected for inclusion. Results: Reviews varied widely in quality. Both reviews of high and low quality found only weak or mixed associations between health literacy and adherence among older adults. Reviews report on seven studies that assess the effectiveness of adherence interventions among low health literate older adults. The results suggest that some adherence interventions are effective for this group. The interventions described in the reviews focused mainly on education and on lowering the health literacy demands of adherence instructions. No conclusions could be drawn about which type of intervention could be most beneficial for this population. Conclusions: Evidence on the association between health literacy and adherence in older adults is relatively weak. Adherence interventions are potentially effective for the vulnerable population of older adults with low levels of health literacy, but the evidence on this topic is limited. Further research is needed on the association between health literacy and general health behavior, and on the effectiveness of interventions

Cyclophilin A interacts with diverse lentiviral capsids

BACKGROUND: The capsid (CA) protein of HIV-1 binds with high affinity to the host protein cyclophilin A (CypA). This binding positively affects some early stage of the viral life-cycle because prevention of binding either by drugs that occupy that active site of cyclophilin A, by mutation in HIV-1 CA, or RNAi that knocks down intracellular CypA level diminishes viral infectivity. The closely related lentivirus, SIVcpz also binds CypA, but it was thought that this interaction was limited to the HIV-1/SIVcpz lineage because other retroviruses failed to interact with CypA in a yeast two-hybrid assay. RESULTS: We find that diverse lentiviruses, FIV and SIVagmTAN also bind to CypA. Mutagenesis of FIV CA showed that an amino acid that is in a homologous position to the proline at amino acid 90 of HIV-1 CA is essential for FIV interactions with CypA. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that CypA binding to lentiviruses is more widespread than previously thought and suggest that this interaction is evolutionarily important for lentiviral infection