476 research outputs found
Effect of some environmental factors on the acute toxicity of deltamethrin to common carp: a laboratory study under aerobic condition
The toxicity of xenobiotic in aquatic ecosystems is influenced by many factors such as ambient temperature, water hardness, pond soil type, etc. In the present study, it was observed that air temperature, water hardness and soil sediment have profound influence on the toxicity of deltamethrin to common carp fry (ay. length 3.5 ± 0.5 cm, ay. weight 0.58 ± 0.25 g); 96h LC(sub)50 values for common carp at 38.07 ± 2.20°C maximum and 27.86 ± 1.22°C minimum air temperature in soft and very hard water were 0.102 and 0.495 µg lˉ¹, respectively. This value had increased significantly to 2.37 and 3.02 µg at 30.55 ± 1.21°C maximum and 26.04 ± 0.61°C minimum air temperature, respectively. When sediment was included, 96h LC(sub)50 at 38.07°C maximum temperature in very hard water was 1.808 µg 1ˉ¹ and this had increased to 8.073 µg 1ˉ¹ when tested at 30.55°C maximum temperature. Due to the 7.5°C increase in maximum and 1.7°C in minimum temperature, toxicity increased significantly. Lower toxicity in very hard water in comparison to soft water may be due to the lower solubility of deltarnethrin and high level of calcium. Adsorption reaction of deltamethrin with clay, humus, FeOOH, MnOOH and particulate organic carbon, and complexation reaction with dissolved organic carbon were responsible for the lowered toxicity in the experiment with sediment. Exposure time had no significant effect on acute toxicity of deltamethrin
Effect of gestational age at birth on neonatal outcomes in gastroschisis.
Induced birth of fetuses with gastroschisis from 34weeks gestational age (GA) has been proposed to reduce bowel damage. We aimed to determine the effect of birth timing on time to full enteral feeds (ENT), length of hospital stay (LOS), and sepsis.
A retrospective analysis (2000-2014) of gastroschisis born at ≥34weeks GA was performed. Associations between birth timing and outcomes were analyzed by Mann-Whitney test, Cox regression, and Fisher's exact test.
217 patients were analyzed. Although there was no difference in ENT between those born at 34-36+6weeks GA (median 28 range [6-639] days) compared with ≥37weeks GA (27 [8-349] days) when analyzed by Mann-Whitney test (p=0.5), Cox regression analysis revealed that lower birth GA significantly prolonged ENT (p=0.001). LOS was significantly longer in those born at 34-36+6weeks GA (42 [8-346] days) compared with ≥37weeks GA 34 [11-349] days by both Mann-Whitney (p=0.02) and Cox regression analysis (p<0.0005). Incidence of sepsis was higher in infants born at 34-36+6weeks (32%) vs. infants born at ≥37weeks (17%; p=0.02).
Early birth of fetuses with gastroschisis was associated with delay in reaching full enteral feeds, prolonged hospitalization, and a higher incidence of sepsis
Integration of genetics into a systems model of electrocardiographic traits using humanCVD BeadChip
<p>Background—Electrocardiographic traits are important, substantially heritable determinants of risk of arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.</p>
<p>Methods and Results—In this study, 3 population-based cohorts (n=10 526) genotyped with the Illumina HumanCVD Beadchip and 4 quantitative electrocardiographic traits (PR interval, QRS axis, QRS duration, and QTc interval) were evaluated for single-nucleotide polymorphism associations. Six gene regions contained single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with these traits at P<10−6, including SCN5A (PR interval and QRS duration), CAV1-CAV2 locus (PR interval), CDKN1A (QRS duration), NOS1AP, KCNH2, and KCNQ1 (QTc interval). Expression quantitative trait loci analyses of top associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms were undertaken in human heart and aortic tissues. NOS1AP, SCN5A, IGFBP3, CYP2C9, and CAV1 showed evidence of differential allelic expression. We modeled the effects of ion channel activity on electrocardiographic parameters, estimating the change in gene expression that would account for our observed associations, thus relating epidemiological observations and expression quantitative trait loci data to a systems model of the ECG.</p>
<p>Conclusions—These association results replicate and refine the mapping of previous genome-wide association study findings for electrocardiographic traits, while the expression analysis and modeling approaches offer supporting evidence for a functional role of some of these loci in cardiac excitation/conduction.</p>
Vacancy-assisted domain-growth in asymmetric binary alloys: a Monte Carlo study
A Monte Carlo simulation study of the vacancy-assisted domain-growth in
asymmetric binary alloys is presented. The system is modeled using a
three-state ABV Hamiltonian which includes an asymmetry term, not considered in
previous works. Our simulated system is a stoichiometric two-dimensional binary
alloy with a single vacancy which evolves according to the vacancy-atom
exchange mechanism. We obtain that, compared to the symmetric case, the
ordering process slows down dramatically. Concerning the asymptotic behavior it
is algebraic and characterized by the Allen-Cahn growth exponent x=1/2. The
late stages of the evolution are preceded by a transient regime strongly
affected by both the temperature and the degree of asymmetry of the alloy. The
results are discussed and compared to those obtained for the symmetric case.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
An Exact Algorithm for Side-Chain Placement in Protein Design
Computational protein design aims at constructing novel or improved functions
on the structure of a given protein backbone and has important applications in
the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industry. The underlying combinatorial
side-chain placement problem consists of choosing a side-chain placement for
each residue position such that the resulting overall energy is minimum. The
choice of the side-chain then also determines the amino acid for this position.
Many algorithms for this NP-hard problem have been proposed in the context of
homology modeling, which, however, reach their limits when faced with large
protein design instances.
In this paper, we propose a new exact method for the side-chain placement
problem that works well even for large instance sizes as they appear in protein
design. Our main contribution is a dedicated branch-and-bound algorithm that
combines tight upper and lower bounds resulting from a novel Lagrangian
relaxation approach for side-chain placement. Our experimental results show
that our method outperforms alternative state-of-the art exact approaches and
makes it possible to optimally solve large protein design instances routinely
Prelamin A mediates myocardial inflammation in dilated and HIV-associated cardiomyopathies
Cardiomyopathies are complex heart muscle diseases that can be inherited or acquired. Dilated cardiomyopathy can result from mutations in LMNA, encoding the nuclear intermediate filament proteins lamin A/C. Some LMNA mutations lead to accumulation of the lamin A precursor, prelamin A, which is disease causing in a number of tissues, yet its impact upon the heart is unknown. Here, we discovered myocardial prelamin A accumulation occurred in a case of dilated cardiomyopathy, and we show that a potentially novel mouse model of cardiac-specific prelamin A accumulation exhibited a phenotype consistent with inflammatory cardiomyopathy, which we observed to be similar to HIV-associated cardiomyopathy, an acquired disease state. Numerous HIV protease therapies are known to inhibit ZMPSTE24, the enzyme responsible for prelamin A processing, and we confirmed that accumulation of prelamin A occurred in HIV+ patient cardiac biopsies. These findings (a) confirm a unifying pathological role for prelamin A common to genetic and acquired cardiomyopathies; (b) have implications for the management of HIV patients with cardiac disease, suggesting protease inhibitors should be replaced with alternative therapies (i.e., nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors); and (c) suggest that targeting inflammation may be a useful treatment strategy for certain forms of inherited cardiomyopathy
Classical approach in quantum physics
The application of a classical approach to various quantum problems - the
secular perturbation approach to quantization of a hydrogen atom in external
fields and a helium atom, the adiabatic switching method for calculation of a
semiclassical spectrum of hydrogen atom in crossed electric and magnetic
fields, a spontaneous decay of excited states of a hydrogen atom, Gutzwiller's
approach to Stark problem, long-lived excited states of a helium atom recently
discovered with the help of Poincar section, inelastic
transitions in slow and fast electron-atom and ion-atom collisions - is
reviewed. Further, a classical representation in quantum theory is discussed.
In this representation the quantum states are treating as an ensemble of
classical states. This approach opens the way to an accurate description of the
initial and final states in classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) method and
a purely classical explanation of tunneling phenomenon. The general aspects of
the structure of the semiclassical series such as renormgroup symmetry,
criterion of accuracy and so on are reviewed as well. In conclusion, the
relation between quantum theory, classical physics and measurement is
discussed.Comment: This review paper was rejected from J.Phys.A with referee's comment
"The author has made many worthwhile contributions to semiclassical physics,
but this article does not meet the standard for a topical review"
Optical symmetries and anisotropic transport in high-Tc superconductors
A simple symmetry analysis of in-plane and out-of-plane transport in a family
of high temperature superconductors is presented. It is shown that generalized
scaling relations exist between the low frequency electronic Raman response and
the low frequency in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities in both the normal
and superconducting states of the cuprates. Specifically, for both the normal
and superconducting state, the temperature dependence of the low frequency
Raman slope scales with the axis conductivity, while the
Raman slope scales with the in-plane conductivity. Comparison with experiments
in the normal state of Bi-2212 and Y-123 imply that the nodal transport is
largely doping independent and metallic, while transport near the BZ axes is
governed by a quantum critical point near doping holes per
CuO plaquette. Important differences for La-214 are discussed. It is also
shown that the axis conductivity rise for is a consequence of
partial conservation of in-plane momentum for out-of-plane transport.Comment: 16 pages, 8 Figures (3 pages added, new discussion on pseudogap and
charge ordering in La214
Aldose Reductase Genotypes and Cardiorenal Complications: An 8-year prospective analysis of 1,074 type 2 diabetic patients
OBJECTIVE—We report the independent risk association of type 2 diabetic nephropathy with the z−2 allele of the 5′-(CA)n microsatellite and C-106T promoter polymorphisms of the aldose reductase gene (ALR2) using a case-control design. In this expanded cohort, we examined their predictive roles on new onset of cardiorenal complications using a prospective design
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