Energy dissipation over large-scale roughness for both transition and uniform flow conditions

Rock chutes are natural river training structures and are efficient energy dissipaters too. From the hydraulic and environmental point of view, rock chutes have become important structures in the natural river morphology. A physical study was conducted and flow properties were measured over rough bed materials of a rock chute, which was assembled at the PITLAB center of the University of Pisa, Italy. Experiments were performed for slopes varying between 0.18≤ S ≤0.38, 0.03 < dc/H < 0.54 and for ramp lengths Lr between 1.17 m ≤Lr≤3.6 m. This paper presents the energy dissipation characteristics of the two-phase flows in the presence of two different base materials. In addition, the dissipative process was also analyzed in the presence of reinforcing boulders located on the base material. The findings showed that energy dissipation rate slightly increases with the boulder concentrations for the tested slopes and materials. The experiments were conducted for different rock chute lengths in order to understand its effect on the energy dissipation. An empirical expression is developed for determining the energy dissipation characteristics over different base materials in different ramp length conditions in twophase flows. Results have been compared with the results obtained for stepped chutes and found a similar decreasing trend of dissipation rate for dc/Lr ≤0.1

Induction of somatic embryogenesis and genetic fidelity of endangered medicinal herb Curculigo orchioides Gaertn

An efficient regeneration system, through somatic embryogenesis was developed for Curculigo orchioides Gaertn - an endangered medicinal herb. Somatic embryos weredeveloped on MS medium containing 8 - 15μM BA from leaf explants. The highest, 69 % leafexplants responded in terms of embryogenic calli with average 8 embryos on MS mediumcontaining 8μM BA. Regenerated plantlets were transferred to autoclaved mixture of soil:sand: compost (1:1:1; v/v/v) for hardening. Genetic fidelity of somatic embryogenesis derivedregenerant was assessed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Antibodies to Enteroviruses in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Acute Flaccid Myelitis.

Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has caused motor paralysis in &gt;560 children in the United States since 2014. The temporal association of enterovirus (EV) outbreaks with increases in AFM cases and reports of fever, respiratory, or gastrointestinal illness prior to AFM in &gt;90% of cases suggest a role for infectious agents. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 14 AFM and 5 non-AFM patients with central nervous system (CNS) diseases in 2018 were investigated by viral-capture high-throughput sequencing (VirCapSeq-VERT system). These CSF and serum samples, as well as multiple controls, were tested for antibodies to human EVs using peptide microarrays. EV RNA was confirmed in CSF from only 1 adult AFM case and 1 non-AFM case. In contrast, antibodies to EV peptides were present in CSF of 11 of 14 AFM patients (79%), significantly higher than controls, including non-AFM patients (1/5 [20%]), children with Kawasaki disease (0/10), and adults with non-AFM CNS diseases (2/11 [18%]) (P = 0.023, 0.0001, and 0.0028, respectively). Six of 14 CSF samples (43%) and 8 of 11 sera (73%) from AFM patients were immunoreactive to an EV-D68-specific peptide, whereas the three control groups were not immunoreactive in either CSF (0/5, 0/10, and 0/11; P = 0.008, 0.0003, and 0.035, respectively) or sera (0/2, 0/8, and 0/5; P = 0.139, 0.002, and 0.009, respectively).IMPORTANCE The presence in cerebrospinal fluid of antibodies to EV peptides at higher levels than non-AFM controls supports the plausibility of a link between EV infection and AFM that warrants further investigation and has the potential to lead to strategies for diagnosis and prevention of disease

Inhibition of Hsp90 Leads to Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Human Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

IntroductionHeat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is an abundant molecular chaperone that mediates the maturation and stability of a variety of proteins associated with the promotion of cell growth and survival. Inhibition of Hsp90 function leads to proteasomal degradation of its mis-folded client proteins. Recently, Hsp90 has emerged as being of prime importance to the growth and survival of cancer cells and its inhibitors have already been used in phase I and II clinical trials.MethodsWe investigated how 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG), a small molecule inhibitor of Hsp90, is implicated in human malignant pleural mesothelioma (MM).ResultsWe found that 17-AAG led to significant G1 or G2/M cell cycle arrest, inhibition of cell proliferation, and decrease of AKT, AKT1, and survivin expression in all human malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines examined. We also observed significant apoptosis induction in all MM cell lines treated with 17-AAG. Furthermore, 17-AAG induced apoptosis in freshly cultured primary MM cells and caused signaling changes identical to those in 17-AAG treated MM cell lines.ConclusionThese results suggest that Hsp90 is strongly associated with the growth and survival of MM and that inhibition of Hsp90 may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of MM

Dynamic CpG methylation delineates subregions within super-enhancers selectively decommissioned at the exit from naive pluripotency.

Clusters of enhancers, referred as to super-enhancers (SEs), control the expression of cell identity genes. The organisation of these clusters, and how they are remodelled upon developmental transitions remain poorly understood. Here, we report the existence of two types of enhancer units within SEs typified by distinctive CpG methylation dynamics in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). We find that these units are either prone for decommissioning or remain constitutively active in epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs), as further established in the peri-implantation epiblast in vivo. Mechanistically, we show a pivotal role for ESRRB in regulating the activity of ESC-specific enhancer units and propose that the developmentally regulated silencing of ESRRB triggers the selective inactivation of these units within SEs. Our study provides insights into the molecular events that follow the loss of ESRRB binding, and offers a mechanism by which the naive pluripotency transcriptional programme can be partially reset upon embryo implantation