Analysis of genetic diversity and estimation of inbreeding coefficient within Caspian horse population using microsatellite markers

The present study was undertaken to genetically evaluate Caspian horses for genetic diversity and to asses whether they have experienced recent population bottlenecks. A total of 100 individuals were characterized for within breed diversity using 16 microsatellite markers. The estimated mean number of alleles was 8.69 per locus, with a total of 139 alleles in the genotyped sample. The mean effective number of alleles in the Caspian horse population was 5.86, ranging from 3.49 to 8.49. The average observed heterozygosity in the present study (0.52) was lower than to the expected heterozygosity (0.82), which may reflect the narrow genetic base of the current population of this breed. All marker lociemployed in this study were very informative with an average of 0.80. The Chi-square and likelihood ratio tests performed to examine population for HWE showed some highly significant deviations from HWE. Estimated values of Wright’s fixation index, FIS (0.367) indicates a certain level of heterozygote deficiency. A significant heterozygote excess on the basis of different models, as revealed from Sign and Wilcoxon rank test suggested that Caspian horse population is not in mutation-drift equilibrium.But, the Mode-shift indicator test showed a normal ‘L’ shaped distribution for allelic class and proportion of alleles, thus indicating the absence of bottleneck events in the recent history of this breed. The present work is a contribution to the knowledge of population structure and to theassessment of genetic diversity that may be helpful to horse breeders in designing and managing breeding or conservation strategies for the Caspian horse breed

Research in Information Technology Service Management (ITSM): Theoretical Foundation and Research Topic Perspectives

In information systems (IS), Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) has become a popular research area among IS and management researchers as a result of industry push and the development and advancement of research in service sciences. From academic perspective, a growing number of papers have been published addressing many aspects of ITSM issues. This paper presents the results based on a study of comprehensive review of publications in ITSM over the past decade (from 2000 to 2010) with the objective of answering the following research question: what is the current state of research in ITSM, from theoretical foundation and research topic perspectives. Our findings suggest that 1) there is generally a lack of theoretically driven researches; 2) the field is still developing with a growing number of published papers dealing with the development of concepts, constructs, models, methods and implementations for theory development; 3) ITSM performance issues, justifications, and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) topics are among the most popular topics of research

Improvement of the properties of novel bioplastics through reactive compatibilization

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonBioplastics are emerging as most promising materials to replace oil based thermoplastics particularly in packaging. Bioplastics can mitigate and address concerns about the negative role of plastics in the environment creating pollution and depleting resources hence bioplastics can enable an innovative approach toward addressing these issues. However, manufacturing of bioplastic is still costly and their mechanical and thermal properties require extensive development. Therefore there has been substantial interest to improve processing and properties of bioplastics to diminish the environmental impacts caused by continuous use of synthetic polymers of petroleum origin. In this research, Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) or PHBV and Polybutylene succinate (PBS) composites and blends were developed to improve the properties of PHBV as the matrix polymer and hence produce a novel formulation for product development. Three approaches were studied in this work: The effect of talcum powder as a nucleating agent and reinforcing filler. The effect of oligomer chain extenders on miscibility, crystallinity, thermal and thermomechanical, mechanical and morphological properties of PHBV/PBS blends. The effect of acrylic core-shell impact modifier on crystallinity, thermal and thermomechanical, mechanical and morphological properties of PHBV were also evaluated. All the above scientific approaches have been studied. It was noticed that talc can change the sluggish crystallinity of PHBV. Talc enhances nucleation of PHBV in the composites which leads to a faster crystallization rate. The heat distortion temperature, crystallinity and the modulus of PHBV/talc composite were also increased. In the presence of the chain extender (CE) the miscibility conditions of PHBV/PBS blends were changed. The results were supported by calculation of the activation energies. The elongation at break and tensile strength of PHBV/PBS/Chain extender blends increased indicating miscibility change. The possible reaction mechanism between PHBV, PBS and CE are proposed and the results supported by using FTIR. Immiscibility results of the PHBV/PBS blends are supported by SEM images. Addition of the impact modifier to PHBV reduced the crystallization rate and prolonged crystallization time. It has been found that the shell of impact modifier (PMMA) is partially miscible with PHBV. The absorbed impact energy is improved by the impact modifier but the improvement was not as satisfactory as results noted for PLA. The SEM images showed the average fine dispersion of different sized particles inside the matrix

The efficacy of psycho training on improvement of organizational behavior and mental health

Introduction: One of the most important issues of organizations in the modern age is to maximize their efficiency via improvement of organizational behavior. Organizational behavior is directly linked to mental health and recent studies have shown the major role of religion in maintaining mental health of people. The aim of the study was to investigate the efficacy of psycho-religious training on improvement of the organizational behavior and mental health.Method: A group of 120 white collar personnel (60 females and 60 males) chosen by cluster sampling & divided randomly into two equal experimental and control groups (n=60; 30 female & 30 male). The experimental trial was the administration of the psycho-religious training for three weeks, which consisted of twelve 120-minute discussion-group sessions during 12 weeks. In order to assess the mental health, GHQ-28 was administered as pre-test and post-test in both groups.Findings: The results of the independent and dependent t-test indicate the positive effect of psycho-religious training on the mental health of the participants in the experimental group in indices of anxiety/insomnia, severe depression, and total health (p<.05). There were no significant gender differences.Discussion and conclusion: These findings suggest that incorporation of religious training within the usual modalities of psychological interventions would be beneficial and increase the levels of mental health and organizational behavior. Implications and suggestions are discussed.Keywords: Psycho-religious education, psychoeducation, religion, organizational behavior, mental health, white collar, labor forc

Recent Advances in Development of Natural Cellulosic Non-Woven Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

In recent years, tissue engineering researchers have exploited a variety of biomaterials that can potentially mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) for tissue regeneration. Natural cellulose, mainly obtained from bacterial (BC) and plant-based (PC) sources, can serve as a high-potential scaffold material for different regenerative purposes. Natural cellulose has drawn the attention of researchers due to its advantages over synthetic cellulose including its availability, cost effectiveness, perfusability, biocompatibility, negligible toxicity, mild immune response, and imitation of native tissues. In this article, we review recent in vivo and in vitro studies which aimed to assess the potential of natural cellulose for the purpose of soft (skin, heart, vein, nerve, etc.) and hard (bone and tooth) tissue engineering. Based on the current research progress report, it is sensible to conclude that this emerging field of study is yet to satisfy the clinical translation criteria, though reaching that level of application does not seem far-fetched

Characterization of a branchial epithelial calcium channel (ECaC) in freshwater rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

The entry of calcium (Ca2+) through an apical membrane epithelial calcium channel (ECaC) is thought to a key step in piscine branchial Ca2+ uptake. In mammals, ECaC is a member of the transient receptor potential (TRP) gene family of which two sub-families have been identified, TRPV5 and TPRV6. In the present study we have identified a single rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) ECaC (rtECaC) that is similar to the mammalian TRPV5 and TRPV6. Phylogenetic analysis of the protein sequence suggests that an ancestral form of the mammalian genes diverged from those in the lower vertebrates prior to the gene duplication event that gave rise to TRPV5 and TRPV6. The putative model for Ca2+ uptake in fish proposes that the mitochondria-rich cell (also termed ionocyte or chloride cell) is the predominant or exclusive site of transcellular Ca2+ movements owing to preferential localisation of ECaC to the apical membrane of these cells. However, the results of real-time PCR performed on enriched gill cell populations as well as immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridisation analysis of enriched cells, cell cultures and whole gill sections strongly suggest that ECaC is not exclusive to mitochondria-rich cells but that it is also found in pavement cells. Not only was ECaC protein localized to areas of the gill normally having few mitochondria-rich cells, but there was also no consistent co-localization of ECaC- and Na+/K+-ATPase-positive (a marker of mitochondria rich cells) cells. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that although ECaC (mRNA and protein) does exist in trout gill, its cellular distribution is more extensive than previously thought, thus suggesting that Ca2+ uptake may not be restricted to mitochondria-rich cells as was proposed in previous models

Crossing Phylums: Butterfly Wing as a Natural Perfusable Three-Dimensional (3D) Bioconstruct for Bone Tissue Engineering

Despite the advent of promising technologies in tissue engineering, finding a biomimetic 3D bio-construct capable of enhancing cell attachment, maintenance, and function is still a challenge in producing tailorable scaffolds for bone regeneration. Here, osteostimulatory effects of the butterfly wings as a naturally porous and non-toxic chitinous scaffold on mesenchymal stromal cells are assessed. The topographical characterization of the butterfly wings implied their ability to mimic bone tissue microenvironment, whereas their regenerative potential was validated after a 14-day cell culture. In vivo analysis showed that the scaffold induced no major inflammatory response in Wistar rats. Topographical features of the bioconstruct upregulated the osteogenic genes, including COL1A1, ALP, BGLAP, SPP1, SP7, and AML3 in differentiated cells compared to the cells cultured in the culture plate. However, butterfly wings were shown to provide a biomimetic microstructure and proper bone regenerative capacity through a unique combination of various structural and material properties. Therefore, this novel platform can be confidently recommended for bone tissue engineering applications