Aloe vera: A Multipurpose Healer and Bacterial Eradicator

The Aloe vera plant is a succulent known for its rich content in vitamins and minerals, thus gaining popularity over the years in healthcare products. With advancements in alternative medicine, it has been recently found useful in dentistry due to properties such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial actions that contribute to wound healing. The purpose of this study was to examine and discover how Aloe vera can be used as an alternative therapy in the dental field. The PubMed, Google Scholar and Dentistry & Oral Sciences (DOSS) databases were utilized to find current scientific evidence on the effects of Aloe vera. Relevant articles were summarized to write a review of findings. In this study, 21 articles published from 2015 to present were reviewed. From the studies, there is strong evidence to support that Aloe vera exhibits beneficial effects in prevention of carious lesions, non-surgical scaling and root planing in patients with chronic periodontitis, and oral wounds. Furthermore, it is cost effective and easily accessible. This review’s findings indicate that dental health care providers could recommend Aloe vera as a preventive and an alternative treatment option to improve patients’ oral health status.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/denh_student/1005/thumbnail.jp

Evidence of novel type of ribosome in eukaryotic intermediate flatworm

In all organisms, messenger-directed protein synthesis is catalyzed by ribonucleoprotein particles called ribosomes. A ribosome is typically composed of one small and one large subunit which contain one short (18S) and one long (28S) rRNAs, respectively. Surprisingly, in this study, three similar size rRNAs (18-21S) were revealed in the electrophoresis profile of the total RNAs of tapeworm _Spirometra erinaceiuropaei_. Northern blot analysis shows that one of the three bands belongs to 18S rRNA, and the other two bands are of 28S rRNAs, implying structurally distinct ribosomes in this intermediate animal. Furthermore, similar, but not identical profiles were observed in two other tapeworms _Diphyllobothrium hottai_ and _Diphyllobothrium Nipponkaiizeme_. Relevant to this finding, in flatworm _Paragonimus westermani_, 18S rRNAs were found much more numerous than 28S rRNAs. Moreover, consistent with this biochemical finding, transmission electron microscopy examinations show that the ribosomes isolated from _Spirometra erinaceiuropaei_ are composed of either one ball or two similar size subunits (balls), while the structure of ribosomes isolated from control liver tissue exactly match the conventional large and small subunit ribosome model. Our study provides direct biochemical and biophysical evidence of structurally distinct novel type of ribosomes in intermediate eukaryotic flatworms. These finding may be important for re-recognition of biological protein synthesis and evolutionary process of living things

ON DOUBLE SIGNAL NUMBER OF A GRAPH

A set $S$ of vertices in a connected graph $G=(V,E)$ is called a signal set if every vertex not in $S$ lies on a signal path between two vertices from $S$. A set $S$ is called a double signal set of $G$ if $S$ if for each pair of vertices $x,y \in G$ there exist $u,v \in S$ such that $x,y \in L[u,v]$. The double signal number $\mathrm{dsn}\,(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum cardinality of a double signal set. Any double signal set of cardinality $\mathrm{dsn}\,(G)$ is called $\mathrm{dsn}$-set of $G$. In this paper we introduce and initiate some properties on double signal number of a graph. We have also given relation between geodetic number, signal number and double signal number for some classes of graphs

Homeostatic maintenance of pathogen-containing vacuoles requires TBK1-dependent regulation of aquaporin-1

Membranes are an integral component of many cellular functions and serve as a barrier to keep pathogenic bacteria from entering the nutrient-rich host cytosol. TANK-binding-kinase-1 (TBK1), a kinase of the IκB kinase family, is required for maintaining integrity of pathogen-containing vacuoles (PCV) upon bacterial invasion of host cells. Here we investigate how vacuolar integrity is maintained during bacterial infection, even in the presence of bacterial membrane damaging agents. We found that Aquaporin-1 (AQP1), a water channel that regulates swelling of secretory vesicles, associated with PCV. AQP1 levels were elevated in TBK1-deficient cells, and overexpression of AQP1 in wild-type cells led to PCV destabilization, similar to that observed in tbk1 −/ − cells. Inhibition of physiological levels of AQP1 in multiple cell types also led to increased instability of PCV, demonstrating a need for tightly regulated AQP1 function to maintain vacuole homeostasis during bacterial infection. AQP1-dependent modulation of PCV was triggered by bacterially induced membrane damage and ion flux. These results highlight the contribution of water channels to promoting PCV membrane integrity, and reveal an unexpected role for TBK1 and AQP1 in restricting bacterial pathogens to the vacuolar compartment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72109/1/j.1462-5822.2008.01199.x.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72109/2/CMI_1199_sm_Figs_S1-S3_and_Table_S1.pd

Multivariate spatio-temporal visualization of over-pumping the High Plains aquifer and impacts on the Arkansas River in western Kansas

This presentation was given as part of the GIS Day@KU symposium on November 15, 2017. For more information about GIS Day@KU activities, please see http://gis.ku.edu/gisday/2017/PLATINUM SPONSORS: KU Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science KU Institute for Policy & Social Research GOLD SPONSORS: KU Libraries State of Kansas Data Access & Support Center (DASC) SILVER SPONSORS: Bartlett & West Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program KU Center for Global and International Studies BRONZE SPONSORS: Boundles

Caspase-2 mediates a Brucella abortus RB51-induced hybrid cell death having features of apoptosis and pyroptosis

Programmed cell death (PCD) can play a crucial role in tuning the immune response to microbial infection. Although PCD can occur in different forms, all are mediated by a family of proteases called caspases. Caspase-2 is the most conserved caspase, however, its function in cell death is ill-defined. Previously we demonstrated that live attenuated cattle vaccine strain Brucella abortus RB51 induces caspase-2-mediated and caspase-1-independent PCD of infected macrophages. We also discovered that rough attenuated B. suis strain VTRS1 induces a caspase-2-mediated and caspase-1-independent proinflammatory cell death in infected macrophages, which was tentatively coined “caspase-2-mediated pyroptosis”. However, the mechanism of caspase-2-mediated cell death pathway remained unclear. In this study, we found that caspase-2 mediated proinflammatory cell death of RB51-infected macrophages and regulated many genes in different PCD pathways. We show that the activation of proapoptotic caspases-3 and -8 was dependent upon caspase-2. Caspase-2 regulated mitochondrial cytochrome c release and TNFα production, both of which are known to activate caspase-3 and caspase-8, respectively. In addition to TNFα, RB51-induced caspase-1 and IL-1β production was also driven by caspase-2-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction. Interestingly, pore formation, a phenomenon commonly associated with caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis, occurred; however, unlike its role in S. typhimurium-induced pyroptosis, pore formation did not contribute to RB51-induced proinflammatory cell death. Our data suggest that caspase-2 acts as an initiator caspase that mediates a novel RB51-induced hybrid cell death that simulates but differs from typical non-proinflammatory apoptosis and caspase-1-mediated proinflammatory pyroptosis. The initiator role of the caspase-2-mediated cell death was also conserved in cellular stress-induced cell death of macrophages treated with etoposide, naphthalene, or anti-Fas. Caspase-2 also regulated caspase-3 and -8 activation, as well as cell death in macrophages treated with each of the three reagents. Taken together, our data has demonstrated that caspase-2 can play an important role in mediating a proinflammatory response and a hybrid cell death that demonstrates features of both apoptosis and pyroptosis

Complex I dysfunction underlies the glycolytic switch in pulmonary hypertensive smooth muscle cells.

ATP is essential for cellular function and is usually produced through oxidative phosphorylation. However, mitochondrial dysfunction is now being recognized as an important contributing factor in the development cardiovascular diseases, such as pulmonary hypertension (PH). In PH there is a metabolic change from oxidative phosphorylation to mainly glycolysis for energy production. However, the mechanisms underlying this glycolytic switch are only poorly understood. In particular the role of the respiratory Complexes in the mitochondrial dysfunction associated with PH is unresolved and was the focus of our investigations. We report that smooth muscle cells isolated from the pulmonary vessels of rats with PH (PH-PASMC), induced by a single injection of monocrotaline, have attenuated mitochondrial function and enhanced glycolysis. Further, utilizing a novel live cell assay, we were able to demonstrate that the mitochondrial dysfunction in PH-PASMC correlates with deficiencies in the activities of Complexes I-III. Further, we observed that there was an increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation and mitochondrial membrane potential in the PASMC isolated from rats with PH. We further found that the defect in Complex I activity was due to a loss of Complex I assembly, although the assembly of Complexes II and III were both maintained. Thus, we conclude that loss of Complex I assembly may be involved in the switch of energy metabolism in smooth muscle cells to glycolysis and that maintaining Complex I activity may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of PH

Profiling heteroscedasticity in linear regression models

Diagnostics for heteroscedasticity in linear regression models have been intensively investigated in the literature. However, limited attention has been paid on how to identify covariates associated with heteroscedastic error variances. This problem is critical in correctly modelling the variance structure in weighted least squares estimation, which leads to improved estimation efficiency. We propose covariate‐specific statistics based on information ratios formed as comparisons between the model‐based and sandwich variance estimators. A two‐step diagnostic procedure is established, first to detect heteroscedasticity in error variances, and then to identify covariates the error variance structure might depend on. This proposed method is generalized to accommodate practical complications, such as when covariates associated with the heteroscedastic variances might not be associated with the mean structure of the response variable, or when strong correlation is present amongst covariates. The performance of the proposed method is assessed via a simulation study and is illustrated through a data analysis in which we show the importance of correct identification of covariates associated with the variance structure in estimation and inference. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 43: 358–377; 2015 © 2015 Statistical Society of CanadaRésuméLes outils de diagnostic pour l'hétéroscédasticité dans les modèles de régression linéaire sont largement étudiés dans la littérature. Toutefois, l'identification des covariables associées aux variances hétéroscédastiques n'a suscité que peu d'intérêt. Ce problème joue pourtant un rôle clé pour l'estimation par les moindres carrés pondérés, puisque la modélisation correcte de la structure de variance accroî t l'efficacité de l'estimation. Les auteurs proposent des statistiques spécifiques aux covariables fondées sur un ratio d'information comparant l'estimateur de la variance basé sur le modèle à l'estimateur sandwich de la variance. Ils développent une procédure diagnostique en deux étapes, détectant d'abord l'hétéroscédasticité et identifiant ensuite les covariables dont peut dépendre la structure de variance. Ils généralisent la méthode proposée afin d'accommoder des complications pratiques telles que l'absence de lien entre la structure de la moyenne et une covariable associée avec l'hétéroscédasticité, ou la forte corrélation des covariables. Les auteurs évaluent la performance de la méthode proposée à l'aide d'une étude de simulation et l'illustrent en analysant un jeu de données montrant l'importance d'identifier correctement les covariables associées avec la structure de variance pour l'estimation et l'inférence. La revue canadienne de statistique xx: 1–20; 2015 © 2015 Société statistique du CanadaPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113149/1/cjs11252.pd

The one-sided inverse along an element in semigroups and rings

The concept of the inverse along an element was introduced by Mary in 2011. Later, Zhu et al. introduced the one-sided inverse along an element. In this paper, we first give a new existence criterion for the one-sided inverse along a product and characterize the existence of Moore–Penrose inverse by means of one-sided invertibility of certain element in a ring. In addition, we show that a∈ S † ⋂ S # if and only if (a∗a)k is invertible along a if and only if (aa∗)k is invertible along a in a ∗ -monoid S, where k is an arbitrary given positive integer. Finally, we prove that the inverse of a along aa ∗ coincides with the core inverse of a under the condition a∈ S { 1 , 4 } in a ∗ -monoid S.FCT - Fuel Cell Technologies Program(CXLX13-072)This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11371089), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20120092110020), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20141327) and the Foundation of Graduate Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (No. KYZZ15-0049).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The inverse along a product and its applications

In this paper, we study the recently defined notion of the inverse along an element. An existence criterion for the inverse along a product is given in a ring. As applications, we present the equivalent conditions for the existence and expressions of the inverse along a matrix.The authors are highly grateful to the referee for valuable comments which led to improvements of the paper. In particular, Remarks 3.2 and 3.4 were suggested to the authors by the referee. The first author is grateful to China Scholarship Council for supporting him to purse his further study in University of Minho, Portugal. Pedro Patr´ıcio and Yulin Zhang were financed by the Research Centre of Mathematics of the University of Minho with the Portuguese Funds from the “Funda¸c˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia”, through the Project PEst-OE/MAT/UI0013/2014. Jianlong Chen and Huihui Zhu were supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11201063 and No. 11371089), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20120092110020), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20141327), the Foundation of Graduate Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province(No. CXLX13-072), the Scientific Research Foundation of Graduate School of Southeast University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 22420135011)