Melon Cultivation in Sand and Hardwood Sawdust

The growth and productivity of melons, cultivar 'Polidor', were assessed in 2, 4 and 8 litres of sand and hardwood sawdust irrigated to excess with a complete nutrient solution. The plants were grown in a glasshouse set at day/ night temperatures of lS'C/15'C with venting at 26'C. Mean total stem and leaf dry matter after the lmits were harvested were not significantly different between treatments. Mean limit yield (number and weight) was not affected l7y substrate volume but was significantly (P<O.Ol) higher from plants grown in sand. Similarly, mean harvest date for the first lmit was significantly (P<O.Ol) earlier from plants grown in sand compared with sawdus

Effect of growth pressure on coalescence thickness and crystal quality of GaN deposited on 4H-SiC

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The influence of growth pressure on the coalescence thickness and the crystal quality of GaN deposited on 4H-SiC by low pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy was studied. It was shown that growth pressure has an impact on the surface roughness of epilayers and their crystal quality. GaN coalescence thicknesses were determined for the investigated growth pressures. The GaN layers were characterized by AFM and HRXRD measurements. HEMT structures were also fabricated and characterized. Among the growth pressures studied, 50, 125 and 200 mbar, 200 mbar was found to be most suitable for GaN/SiC epitaxy. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Zmiany histopatologiczne w biopsji mięśnia u 31 chorych z mutacjami w genie kodującym kalpainę 3

Background and purpose At present, more than 20 different forms of limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs) are known (at least 7 autosomal dominant and 14 autosomal recessive). Although these different forms show some typical phenotypic characteristics, the existing clinical overlap makes their differential diagnosis difficult. Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2 (LGMD2A) is the most prevalent LGMD in many European as well as Brazilian communities and is caused by mutations in the gene CAPN3. Laboratory testing, such as calpain immunohistochemistry and Western-blot analysis, is not totally reliable, since up to 20% of molecularly confirmed LGMD2A show normal content of calpain 3 and a third of LGMD2A biopsies have normal calpain 3 proteolytic activity in the muscle. Thus, genetic testing is considered as the only reliable diagnostic criterion in LGMD2A. Material and methods In an attempt to find a correlation between genotype and muscle pathology in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 2A we performed histopathological investigation of a group of 31 patients subdivided according to the type of pathologic CAPN3 gene mutation. Results In all biopsies typical features of muscular dystrophy such as fiber necrosis and regeneration, variation in fiber size and fibrosis were noted. Lobulated fibers were often encountered in the muscle biopsies of LGMD2A patients. Such fibers were more frequent in patients with 550delA mutation. Conclusions These findings may be helpful in establishing diagnostic strategies in LGMD.Wstęp i cel pracy Dotychczas opisano ponad 20 różnych form dystrofii obręczowo-kończynowej (limb girdle muscular dystrophy – LGMD) (co najmniej 7 rodzajów o dziedziczeniu autosomalnym dominującym oraz 14 o dziedziczeniu autosomalnym recesywnym). Pomimo że część z tych chorób można różnicować na podstawie obrazu klinicznego, diagnostykę utrudnia często podobieństwo objawów. Dystrofia obręczowo–kończynowa typu 2A (limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2 – LGMD2A), najczęstsza dystrofia mięśniowa w wielu społecznościach (np. w Europie i Brazylii), spowodowana jest przez mutacje w genie kalpainy 3 (CAPN3). Badanie immunohisto-chemiczne kalpainy czy też metodą Western blot nie są wystarczające do ustalenia właściwego rozpoznania (w odpowiednio 1/3 i 20% potwierdzonych genetycznie LGMD2A badania te wypadają prawidłowo). Podstawę rozpoznania tej miopatii stanowi badanie genetyczne. Materiał i metody W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badania zależności między genotypem a analizą histopatologiczną biopsji mięśnia u 31 chorych na LGMD2A. Chorzy podzieleni zostali na grupy według wyników badania genetycznego genu CAPN3 odpowiedzialnego za tę chorobę. Wyniki We wszystkich badanych biopsjach stwierdzano typowe zmiany dystroficzne, takie jak obecność włókien martwiczych i regenerujących, zróżnicowaną wielkość włókien oraz włóknienie. Włókna o nierównomiernym rozkładzie barwień na enzymy oddechowe (lobulated fibers) były często obserwowane w biopsjach chorych z LGMD2A. Tego typu włókna szczególnie często występowały u chorych z mutacją 550delA. Wnioski Wyniki pracy wnoszą nowe informacje ułatwiające diagnostykę LGMD

Peripheral nerve involvement in myotonic dystrophy type 2 – similar or different than in myotonic dystrophy type 1?

Introduction Multisystem manifestations of myotonic dystrophies type 1 (DM1) and 2 (DM2) are well known. Peripheral nerve involvement has been reported in DM1 but not in genetically confirmed DM2. The aim of our study was to assess peripheral nerve involvement in DM2 using nerve conduction studies and to compare these results with findings in DM1. Methods We prospectively studied patients with genetically confirmed DM2 (n=30) and DM1 (n=32). All patients underwent detailed neurological examination and nerve conduction studies. Results Abnormalities in electrophysiological studies were found in 26.67% of patients with DM2 and in 28.13% of patients with DM1 but the criteria of polyneuropathy were fulfilled in only 13.33% of patients with DM2 and 12.5% of patients with DM1. The polyneuropathy was subclinical, and no correlation was found between its presence and patient age or disease duration. Conclusions Peripheral nerves are quite frequently involved in DM2, but abnormalities meeting the criteria of polyneuropathy are rarely found. The incidence of peripheral nerve involvement is similar in both types of myotonic dystrophy

The influence of substrate surface preparation on LP MOVPE GaN epitaxy on differently oriented 4H-SiC substrates

The influence of surface preparation and off-cut of 4H-SiC substrates on morphological and structural properties of GaN grown by low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy was studied. Substrate etching has an impact on the surface roughness of epilayers and improves its crystal quality. The GaN layers were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HRXRD) measurements. It was observed that on-axis 4H-SiC is most suitable for GaN epitaxy and that substrate etching improves the surface morphology of epilayer. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

An intuitionistic approach to scoring DNA sequences against transcription factor binding site motifs

Background: Transcription factors (TFs) control transcription by binding to specific regions of DNA called transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs). The identification of TFBSs is a crucial problem in computational biology and includes the subtask of predicting the location of known TFBS motifs in a given DNA sequence. It has previously been shown that, when scoring matches to known TFBS motifs, interdependencies between positions within a motif should be taken into account. However, this remains a challenging task owing to the fact that sequences similar to those of known TFBSs can occur by chance with a relatively high frequency. Here we present a new method for matching sequences to TFBS motifs based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS) theory, an approach that has been shown to be particularly appropriate for tackling problems that embody a high degree of uncertainty. Results: We propose SCintuit, a new scoring method for measuring sequence-motif affinity based on IFS theory. Unlike existing methods that consider dependencies between positions, SCintuit is designed to prevent overestimation of less conserved positions of TFBSs. For a given pair of bases, SCintuit is computed not only as a function of their combined probability of occurrence, but also taking into account the individual importance of each single base at its corresponding position. We used SCintuit to identify known TFBSs in DNA sequences. Our method provides excellent results when dealing with both synthetic and real data, outperforming the sensitivity and the specificity of two existing methods in all the experiments we performed. Conclusions: The results show that SCintuit improves the prediction quality for TFs of the existing approaches without compromising sensitivity. In addition, we show how SCintuit can be successfully applied to real research problems. In this study the reliability of the IFS theory for motif discovery tasks is proven

Effect of growth pressure on coalescence thickness and crystal quality of GaN deposited on 4H-SiC

The influence of growth pressure on the coalescence thickness and the crystal quality of GaN deposited on 4HSiC by low pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy was studied. It was shown that growth pressure has an impact on the surface roughness of epilayers and their crystal quality. GaN coalescence thicknesses were determined for the investigated growth pressures. The GaN layers were characterized by AFM and HRXRD measurements. HEMT structures were also fabricated and characterized. Among the growth pressures studied, 50, 125 and 200 mbar, 200 mbar was found to be most suitable for GaN/SiC epitaxy. © 2010 Elsevier B.V

Estimating unknown values in reciprocal intuitionistic preference relations via asymmetric fuzzy preference relations

Intuitionistic preference relations are becoming increasingly important in the field of group decision making since they present a flexible and simple way to the experts to provide their preference relations, while at the same time allowing them to accommodate a certain degree of hesitation inherent to all decision making processes. In this contribution, we prove the mathematical equivalence between the set of asymmetric fuzzy preference relations and the set of reciprocal intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations. This result is exploited to tackle the presence of incomplete reciprocal intuitionistic fuzzy preference relation in decision making by developing a consistency driven estimation procedure via the corresponding equivalent incomplete asymmetric fuzzy preference relation

Ostertagia spp., rumen fluke and liver fluke single- and poly-infections in cattle: an abattoir study of prevalence and production impacts in England and Wales

This study aims at investigating the occurrence, risk factors and production impacts on beef carcassparameters of three of the most important cattle helminth infections in England and Wales. Abomasa, reticulorumens and livers from healthy cattle were collected and examined post-mortem quarterly over a one year period in an abattoir in South-West England. Specific viscera from 974 cattle were collected,examined and scored for Ostertagia spp., adult rumen fluke and liver fluke lesions/presence. A total of89%, 25% and 29% of the carcasses had lesions/presence of Ostertagia spp., rumen fluke and liver fluke, respectively, and 39% had presence of helminth co-infection. Animal demographic and carcass parameters associated with helminth infections were investigated using multi level multinomial and multilevel linear mixed models respectively. After adjusting for other factors, significant differences in the distribution of helminth infections were observed among cattle by type of breed, animal category (cow, heifer, steer and young bull), age, season and concurrent helminth infections. Compared to carcasses free of helminths, carcasses presenting solely Ostertagia Spp. lesions or adult rumen fluke had significantly lower cold carcass weight (coef.: −30.58 [−50.92;−10.24] and −50.34 [−88.50;−12.18]) and fat cover-age (coef.: −3.28 [−5.56;−1.00] and −5.49 [−10.28;−0.69]) and carcasses presenting solely liver flukelesions had significantly lower conformation grade (coef.: −3.65 [−6.98;−0.32]). Presence of helminth poly-infections was negatively associated with cold carcass weight