Keragaman Genetik pada Kukang (Nycticebus Coucang) Berdasarkan pada Gen 12S RRNA Mitokondria

Genetic Diversity of Slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) based on Mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene. The research on genetic diversity of slow loris Nycticebus coucang (kukang) was carried out. The samples are 12 individuals from three locations (Sumedang and Jember in Java, and Lampung in Sumatera). Total DNA was extracted from blood and tissue. The mitochondrial 12S rRNA nucleotide sequences were determined to investigate genetic diversity of this species. This region was amplified by using L1091 and H 1478 primers by PCR. As a result of the analysis for 386 bp nucleotide sequence, five haplotypes were found, two from Java and three from Sumatra, respectively

Pengaruh Pasteurisasi terhadap Kualitas Jus Jeruk Pacitan

Jeruk Pacitan adalah salah satu hasil perkebunan asli Indonesia dan menjadi hasil unggulan daerah Pacitan. Jeruk Pacitan mempunyai rasa yang manis, kandungan air yang banyak, dan memiliki kandungan vitamin C yang tinggi sehingga dapat dikonsumsi oleh masyarakat terutama anak– anak. Jeruk dapat dikonsumsi dalam bentuk jus. Pada pembuatan jus jeruk dalam kemasan terlebih dahulu dilakukan pasteurisasi sebelum dikemas untuk mematikan mikroba dan menginaktifkan enzim–enzim yang menyebabkan reaksi pencoklatan. Tujuan penelitian ini yaitu mempelajari pengaruh suhu dan waktu pemanasan pada proses pasteurisasi jus jeruk Pacitan serta menentukan kondisi terbaik agar didapatkan jus jeruk dengan jumlah mikroba sesuai SNI

Design and Implementation of Distributed Identity and Access Management Framework for Internet of Things (IoT) Enabled Distribution Automation

The smart grid and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies play vital roles in improving the quality of services offered in traditional electrical grid. They open a room for the introduction of new services like distribution automation (DA) that has a significant advantage to both utility companies and final consumers. DA integrates sensors, actuators, intelligent electrical devices (IED) and information and communication technologies to monitor and control electrical grid. However, the integration of these technologies poses security threats to the electrical grid like Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, false data injection attacks, and masquerading attacks like system node impersonation that can transmit wrong readings, resulting in false alarm reports and hence leading to incorrect node actuation. To overcome these challenges, researchers have proposed a centralized public key infrastructure (PKI) with bridged certificate authority (CA) which is prone to DoS attacks. Moreover, the proposed blockchain based distributed identity and access management (DIAM) in IoT domain at the global scale is adding communicational and computational overheads. Also. It is imposing new security threats to the DA system by integrating it with online services like IoTEX and IoTA. For those reasons, this study proposes a DIAM security scheme to secure IoT-enabled distribution automation. The scheme divides areas into clusters and each cluster has a device registry and a registry controller. The registry controller is a command line tool to access and manage a device registry. The results show that the scheme can prevent impersonated and non-legitimate system nodes and users from accessing the system by imposing role-based access control (RBAC) at the cluster level. Keywords: Distributed Identity and Access Management; Electrical Secondary Distribution Network; Internet of Things; IoT Enabled Distribution Automation; Smart Grid Securit

Prevalence and predictors of HIV-related disability among people living with HIV in Nigeria

Background: People living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) live longer, but experience human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related comorbidities and disabilities that lower their quality of life. Understanding the prevalence, risk factors, and disability patterns is crucial for tailored interventions. Objectives: To explore the prevalence and predictors of HIV-related disability among PLWH in Nigeria. Method: This cross-sectional survey involved 385 PLWH, exploring demographic data, HIV history, recent symptoms, disability (measured by the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule–WHODAS 2.0). Descriptive statistics summarised the data, all variables were entered into univariate and multivariate regression models. IBM SPSS 25® was used for all analyses at a 95% confidence level. Results: The prevalence of disability among PLWH was 39.5%, the mean age was 42.2 ± 10.43 years, and 73% of the participants were females. Factors significantly associated with disability were marital status (p = 0.009) and level of education (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The study reveals a prevalence of disability (39.5%) among PLWH on antiretroviral therapy (ART), emphasising the need for tailored interventions considering socio-demographic factors. Continuous screening, risk identification, and effective management strategies are imperative, recognising disability as an indicator of health and quality of life. Clinical implications: With PLWH experiencing increased life expectancy, the study underscores the need for an informed patient-centred approach to care, recognising the specific challenges faced by PLWH in Nigeria and guiding the development of targeted interventions to enhance both functional outcomes and overall well-being

Effect of combined water drinking test and dark room provocative testing in Caucasian eyes with narrow angles

Purpose: To assess the usefulness of water drinking test and dark room provocative testing (WDT + DRPT) in current clinical practice by evaluating input parameters from Swept-source Optical Coherence Tomography (SS-OCT) images, and to determine if clinical factors like axial length, central endothelial cell count (CECC) and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) thickness are associated with a positive WDT + DRPT. Methods: SS-OCT examination was performed in consecutive subjects presenting as new patients in the outpatient clinic aged > 40 years. If at least one eye met the inclusion criteria (anterior chamber angles <20° and anterior chamber depth < 2.5 mm on SS-OCT), subjects were included in this study and WDT + DRPT was carried out. The eye with the smallest angle was analysed. The difference in parameters between eyes with a positive (≥8 mmHg) and negative (<8 mmHg) increase in intraocular pressure (IOP) after WDT + DRPT were statistically analysed. Second, the correlation between IOP increase after WDT + DRPT and anterior chamber angle parameters (RNFL thickness, CECC and axial length) was studied. Results: A total of 95 subjects with a mean age of 64 years were included. There was an association between IOP increase after WDT + DRPT and anterior chamber angle characteristics, however this was not of clinical significance. No positive results after WDT + DRPT were found in patients with anterior chamber angles ≥ 20°. Conclusions: The present findings indicate that this combined provocative test has no definite correlative or predictive value in angle closure disease. Further, the test is not useful in predicting early diagnosis or possible CECC or RNFL loss

IL-2, IL-5, TNF-α and IFN-γ mRNA expression in epidermal keratinocytes of systemic lupus erythematosus skin lesions

OBJECTIVE: To analyze cytokine gene expression in keratinocytes from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). INTRODUCTION: Keratinocytes represent 95% of epidermal cells and can secrete several cytokines. METHODS: Keratinocytes were obtained by laser microdissection from 21 patients with SLE (10 discoid and 11 acute lesions) at involved and uninvolved sites. All patients were receiving a low/moderate prednisone dose and 18 were receiving chloroquine diphosphate. IL-2, IL-5, TNF-α and IFN-γ gene expression was evaluated by real-time PCR and expressed as the ratio (R) to a pool of skin samples from 12 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: Heterogeneity in cytokine gene expression was found among patients with SLE. Eighteen of 38 valid SLE samples (47%) presented overexpression (R>1) of at least one cytokine. Lesional skin samples tended to show higher cytokine expression than samples from uninvolved skin (p = 0.06). IL-5 and IFN-γ were the most commonly overexpressed cytokines. Samples with cytokine overexpression corresponded to more extensive and severe lesions. Prednisone dose did not differ between samples without cytokine overexpression (15.71±3.45 mg/day) and those with overexpressed cytokines (12.68±5.41 mg/day) (p = 0.216). Samples from all patients not receiving diphosphate chloroquine had at least one overexpressed cytokine. CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneous keratinocyte cytokine gene expression reflects the complex immunological and inflammatory background in SLE. Patients with severe/extensive skin lesions showed a higher frequency of cytokine gene overexpression. Increased IFN-γ and IL-5 expression suggests that Th1 and Th2 cells are involved in SLE skin inflammation. The possibility that prednisone and antimalarial drugs may have contributed to low cytokine gene expression in some samples cannot be ruled out.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Brazilian Society of RheumatologyUniversidade Federal do ParáUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Rheumatology DivisionFleury Medicine and Health Research and Development InstituteCâncer HospitalUNIFESP, Rheumatology DivisionFAPESP: 02/2446-1SciEL