Linguistic Landscape of Religious Signboards in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria: Culture, Identity and Globalisation

This paper focuses on the linguistic landscape (LL) of religious signboards in select areas of Ado Ekiti, Nigeria with a view of establishing the relationship between the languages used on these signboards and the implication for identity, globalisation and culture. Fifty-three LL items were photographed for the study. The areas selected were based on activity level and the number of religious signboards they featured. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed the dominance and the pervasiveness of the English language over and across the other languages in the public space. The use of Yoruba texts across the items revealed religio-cultural and loyalist reasons while the use of Arabic confirmed the inherent attachment of the language to Islamic religion, and fostered a religion-based collective identity between the sign writer and the sign reader

Natural Language Processing in-and-for Design Research

We review the scholarly contributions that utilise Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods to support the design process. Using a heuristic approach, we collected 223 articles published in 32 journals and within the period 1991-present. We present state-of-the-art NLP in-and-for design research by reviewing these articles according to the type of natural language text sources: internal reports, design concepts, discourse transcripts, technical publications, consumer opinions, and others. Upon summarizing and identifying the gaps in these contributions, we utilise an existing design innovation framework to identify the applications that are currently being supported by NLP. We then propose a few methodological and theoretical directions for future NLP in-and-for design research

MRSA decolonization failure - are biofilms the missing link?

Background: Device-associated infections due to biofilm-producing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have been recently associated with the failure of antibiotic treatment and decolonization measures. The goal of our study was to evaluate the extent to which the formation of biofilms influenced the efficacy of topical decolonization agents or disinfectants such as mupirocin (MUP), octenidine (OCT), chlorhexidine (CHG), polyhexanide (POL), and chloroxylenol (CLO). Methods: Bacterial killing in biofilms by the disinfectants and MUP was determined as the reduction [%] in metabolic activity determined by a biofilm viability assay that uses kinetic analysis of metabolic activity. The test substances were diluted in water with standardized hardness (WSH) at 25 °C at the standard concentration as well as half the standard concentration to demonstrate the dilution effects in a practical setting. The tested concentrations were: CHG 1%, 2%; OCT 0.1%, 0.05%; PH 0.04%, 0.02%; and CLO 0.12%, 0.24%. A test organism suspension, 1 mL containing ~1 × 109 bacterial cells/mL, and 1 mL of sterile WSH were mixed and incubated for six different exposure times (15 s, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 min) after the test substance was added. Additionally, the bactericidal effects of all substances were tested on planktonic bacteria and measured as the log10 reduction. Results: The disinfectants OCT and CHG showed good efficacy in inhibiting MRSA in biofilms with reduction rates of 94 ± 1% and 91 ± 1%, respectively. POL, on the other hand, had a maximum efficacy of only 81 ± 7%. Compared to the tested disinfectants, MUP showed a significantly lower efficacy with <20% inhibition (p < .05). Bactericidal effects were the greatest for CHG (log10 reduction of 9.0), followed by OCT (7.7), POL (5.1), and CLO (6.8). MUP, however, showed a very low bactericidal effect of only 2.1. Even when the exposure time was increased to 24 h, 2% MUP did not show sufficient bactericidal effect. Conclusions: Our data provide evidence that OCT and CHG are effective components for disinfection of MRSA-biofilms. On the other hand, exposure to MUP at the standard concentrations in topical preparations did not effectively inhibit MRSA-biofilms and also did not show adequate bactericidal effects. Combining an MUP-based decolonization regimen with a disinfectant such as OCT or CHG could decrease decolonization failure

Health Service Providers\u27 Preferences in ICT Use for Health Service Delivery in Namibia

Health service providers (HSP) in both the private and public health service institutions in Namibia have adopted information and communication technologies (ICT) for health service delivery (HSD). The extent to which ICT are currently being used is, however, not yet fully known. Also unknown are the preferences of the HSPs in the use of different types of ICT applications and hardware. Lastly, the perception of HSPs on various issues on the use of ICT for health service delivery is also unknown. Without a clear understanding of these issues, it is difficult for government to formulate strategies and policies to promote the effective adoption of ICT in the healthcare sector. Patients are also likely to make a sub-optimal use of the available ICT to improve their access to health services in Namibia. A study was conducted to address these unknown points. The study highlights the importance of ICT use by HSPs and the imperative to align the ICT use expectations, needs and requirements of patients with those of HSPs in Namibia to ensure effective use. The results of the experiment are reported in this paper

The β-blocker Nebivolol Is a GRK/β-arrestin Biased Agonist

Nebivolol, a third generation β-adrenoceptor (β-AR) antagonist (β-blocker), causes vasodilation by inducing nitric oxide (NO) production. The mechanism via which nebivolol induces NO production remains unknown, resulting in the genesis of much of the controversy regarding the pharmacological action of nebivolol. Carvedilol is another β-blocker that induces NO production. A prominent pharmacological mechanism of carvedilol is biased agonism that is independent of Gαs and involves G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK)/β-arrestin signaling with downstream activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Due to the pharmacological similarities between nebivolol and carvedilol, we hypothesized that nebivolol is also a GRK/β-arrestin biased agonist. We tested this hypothesis utilizing mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) that solely express β2-ARs, and HL-1 cardiac myocytes that express β1- and β2-ARs and no detectable β3-ARs. We confirmed previous reports that nebivolol does not significantly alter cAMP levels and thus is not a classical agonist. Moreover, in both cell types, nebivolol induced rapid internalization of β-ARs indicating that nebivolol is also not a classical β-blocker. Furthermore, nebivolol treatment resulted in a time-dependent phosphorylation of ERK that was indistinguishable from carvedilol and similar in duration, but not amplitude, to isoproterenol. Nebivolol-mediated phosphorylation of ERK was sensitive to propranolol (non-selective β-AR-blocker), AG1478 (EGFR inhibitor), indicating that the signaling emanates from β-ARs and involves the EGFR. Furthermore, in MEFs, nebivolol-mediated phosphorylation of ERK was sensitive to pharmacological inhibition of GRK2 as well as siRNA knockdown of β-arrestin 1/2. Additionally, nebivolol induced redistribution of β-arrestin 2 from a diffuse staining pattern into more intense punctate spots. We conclude that nebivolol is a β2-AR, and likely β1-AR, GRK/β-arrestin biased agonist, which suggests that some of the unique clinically beneficial effects of nebivolol may be due to biased agonism at β1- and/or β2-ARs. © 2013 Erickson et al

(4S,5S)-2,2-Dimethyl-4,5-bis­(3-methyl-2-thioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-imidazol-1-yl­meth­yl)-1,3-dioxolane

In the chiral title compound, C15H22N4O2S2, there are two mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit with distinctly different conformations, as quanti­fied by torsion angles. The dihedral angles between the thio­imidazole rings are 81.59 (5) and 67.04 (4)°. One mol­ecule exhibits local twofold rotation symmetry, while the other displays no local symmetry. Inter­molecular C—H⋯O and C—H⋯S inter­actions are observed

Malate as a key carbon source of leaf dark-respired CO2 across different environmental conditions in potato plants

Dissimilation of carbon sources during plant respiration in support of metabolic processes results in the continuous release of CO(2). The carbon isotopic composition of leaf dark-respired CO(2) (i.e. δ (13) C (R)) shows daily enrichments up to 14.8‰ under different environmental conditions. However, the reasons for this (13)C enrichment in leaf dark-respired CO(2) are not fully understood, since daily changes in δ(13)C of putative leaf respiratory carbon sources (δ (13) C (RS)) are not yet clear. Thus, we exposed potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) to different temperature and soil moisture treatments. We determined δ (13) C (R) with an in-tube incubation technique and δ (13) C (RS) with compound-specific isotope analysis during a daily cycle. The highest δ (13) C (RS) values were found in the organic acid malate under different environmental conditions, showing less negative values compared to δ (13) C (R) (up to 5.2‰) and compared to δ (13) C (RS) of soluble carbohydrates, citrate and starch (up to 8.8‰). Moreover, linear relationships between δ (13) C (R) and δ (13) C (RS) among different putative carbon sources were strongest for malate during daytime (r(2)=0.69, P≤0.001) and nighttime (r(2)=0.36, P≤0.001) under all environmental conditions. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed δ (13) C (RS) of malate as the most important carbon source influencing δ (13) C (R). Thus, our results strongly indicate malate as a key carbon source of (13)C enriched dark-respired CO(2) in potato plants, probably driven by an anapleurotic flux replenishing intermediates of the Krebs cycle

Tris(ethyl carbazate-κ2 N,O)nickel(II) dinitrate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Ni(C3H8N2O2)3](NO3)2, contains two independent cations, each built up around a fac-NiN3O3 octa­hedron, and four nitrate anions. Numerous cation-to-anion N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, some of which are bifurcated, help to establish the packing