Avarol effectively inhibits bacillus cereus growth

This work extends in vitro screening of antibacterial activity of avarol on four selected pathogenic bacteria associated with psoriasis (Bacillus cereus, Clostridium sporogenes, Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus). Avarol exhibited a moderate activity with minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentrations ranged from 0.78-1.56 and 3.12-18.75 μg/mL, respectively. It proved to be more effective against B. cereus in comparison to the both positive controls applied, gentamycin and ampicillin. According to the experimental data, this marine natural product may inspire development of new antibiotics with an enhanced therapeutic index, at first place those targeting B. cereus

Investigating Open-World Person Re-identification Using a Drone

Abstract. Person re-identification is now one of the most topical and intensively studied problems in computer vision due to its challenging na-ture and its critical role in underpinning many multi-camera surveillance tasks. A fundamental assumption in almost all existing re-identification research is that cameras are in fixed emplacements, allowing the explicit modelling of camera and inter-camera properties in order to improve re-identification. In this paper, we present an introductory study push-ing re-identification in a different direction: re-identification on a mobile platform, such as a drone. We formalise some variants of the standard formulation for re-identification that are more relevant for mobile re-identification. We introduce the first dataset for mobile re-identification, and we use this to elucidate the unique challenges of mobile re-identification. Finally, we re-evaluate some conventional wisdom about re-id models in the light of these challenges and suggest future avenues for research in this area.

The effect of long-term feeding of conjugated linoleic acid on fertility in Japanese quail

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the long-term feeding of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on laying hen performance, egg fertility and hatchability of fertile eggs of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). One hundred and sixty 7-day old Japanese quail chicks were randomly assigned to four groups (40 birds per group) and fed for five weeks on a commercial diet supplemented with either 0.5% hazelnut (Group A), 0.5% sunflower oil (Group B), 0.25% CLA (Group C) or 0.5% CLA (Group D). The birds received water and feed ad libitum during the study. At the end of the five weeks the birds were sexed, and 21 females and seven males from each group were selected. For a further six weeks these selected birds were fed a layer diet supplemented with their respective sources of oil. Eggs were collected daily and incubated weekly. The fertility rate was determined by visual inspection at the end of the incubation period. Dietary CLA at the inclusion level of 0.5%, but not at 0.25%, caused a significant decrease in percentage hatchability of the fertile eggs compared to Groups A and B. Hatchability of fertile eggs from Groups A, B, C and D was 74, 80, 72 and 70, respectively. Fertility rates between Groups A, B, C and D did not differ significantly, and were 64.4, 56.4, 66.0 and 62.8%, respectively. Hen-day egg production of Groups A, C and D were similar, but in weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6, hens in Group B had a significantly lower hen-day egg production (%) compared to Group A. Also, in weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6, egg size in Group B was significantly lower than that in the other groups. From this study it is concluded that dietary CLA at inclusion levels of 0.25% or 0.5% did not influence egg fertility, egg weight and egg production in Japanese quail. South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 36(2) 2006: 99-10

The Effect of Sr2+ and Fe3+ Cations and the Stirring Speed on The Precipitation of Barium Sulfate in a Batch System

The batch system investigation explored the effect of Sr2+ and Fe3+ cations and the stirring speed on the characteristics of precipitated barium sulfate. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the rate of barium sulfate precipitation in laboratory equipment from brines containing barium ions (3500 ppm) and varying amounts of Sr2+ and Fe3+ ions (10 and 20 ppm). Kinetic analysis was also performed to explore how stirring speeds (240 and 480 rpm) affect barium sulfate scales' crystallization by increasing the stirring speed and promoting Sr2+ and Fe3+-cation solubility while decreasing the precipitation rate. All solid crystals obtained were mostly pure barite, as the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method confirmed. The SEM micrograph of barite morphology revealed particles with tablet-shaped crystals 2 to 5 nm in size. With the presence of Sr2+ and Fe3+-cation, the shape of barium sulfate was modified into spherical tablets or flower-like clusters of tablets. Meanwhile, the morphological changes could result from increased stirring rates. Moreover, the kinetic results yielded a general reaction rate equation that might be used to estimate barium sulfate deposition in pipelines for various brine, supersaturation, and mixing time durations

Selective Sirt2 inhibition by ligand-induced rearrangement of the active site.

Sirtuins are a highly conserved class of NAD(+)-dependent lysine deacylases. The human isotype Sirt2 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer, inflammation and neurodegeneration, which makes the modulation of Sirt2 activity a promising strategy for pharmaceutical intervention. A rational basis for the development of optimized Sirt2 inhibitors is lacking so far. Here we present high-resolution structures of human Sirt2 in complex with highly selective drug-like inhibitors that show a unique inhibitory mechanism. Potency and the unprecedented Sirt2 selectivity are based on a ligand-induced structural rearrangement of the active site unveiling a yet-unexploited binding pocket. Application of the most potent Sirtuin-rearranging ligand, termed SirReal2, leads to tubulin hyperacetylation in HeLa cells and induces destabilization of the checkpoint protein BubR1, consistent with Sirt2 inhibition in vivo. Our structural insights into this unique mechanism of selective sirtuin inhibition provide the basis for further inhibitor development and selective tools for sirtuin biology

Response to radiation in renal medullary carcinoma

Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy arising from the renal medulla and found mostly in patients with sickle cell trait. RMC usually presents with widely metastatic disease. We describe a young man diagnosed with metastatic RMC who sustained a complete response to systemic chemotherapy but developed brain metastases with leptomeningeal involvement and subsequently had a partial response to brain irradiation. The use of radiation in the management of RMC is reviewed. Due to the apparent propensity for RMC to spread to the central nervous system, prophylactic treatment such as craniospinal irradiation should be considered along with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic RMC to potentially improve the progression-free interval

A Framework for Evaluating Video Object Segmentation Algorithms

Segmentation of moving objects in image sequences plays an important role in video processing and analysis. Evaluating the quality of segmentation results is necessary to allow the appropriate selection of segmentation algorithms and to tune their parameters for optimal performance. Many segmentation algorithms have been proposed along with a number of evaluation criteria. Nevertheless, no psychophysical experiments evaluating the quality of different video object segmentation results have been conducted. In this paper, a generic framework for segmentation quality evaluation is presented. A perceptually driven automatic method for segmentation evaluation is proposed and compared against an existing approach. Moreover, on the basis of subjective results, perceptual factors are introduced into the novel objective metric to meet the specificity of different segmentation applications such as video compression. Experimental results confirm the efficiency of the proposed evaluation criteria

Anisotropic photoconductivity in graphene

We investigate the photoconductivity of graphene within the relaxation time approximation. In presence of the inter-band transitions induced by the linearly polarized light the photoconductivity turns out to be highly anisotropic due to the pseudospin selection rule for Dirac-like carriers. The effect can be observed in clean undoped graphene samples and be utilized for light polarization detection.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure