127 research outputs found

    АДМИНИСТРАТИВНАЯ ПРЕЮДИЦИЯ КАК УСЛОВИЕ УГОЛОВНОЙ ОТВЕТСТВЕННОСТИ В НЕКОТОРЫХ СЛУЧАЯХ ПРИНУЖДЕНИЯ К ВЫПОЛНЕНИЮ ОБЯЗАТЕЛЬСТВ

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    Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a class ofheuristic search algorithms that have beensuccessfully applied to solving combinationaloptimization (CO) problems. The traveling salesmanproblem (TSP) is among the most importantcombinatorial problems. ACO has very good searchcapability for optimization problems. But it still hassome drawbacks such as stagnation behavior, longcomputational time, and premature convergenceproblem of the basic ACO algorithm on TSP. Thoseproblems will be more obvious when the complexitiesof the considered problems increase. The proposedsystem based on basic ACO algorithm based on wellpositionedthe ants on the initiation and informationentropy which is applied to tuning of the algorithm’sparameters. Then, ACO for TSP has been improvedby incorporating local optimization heuristic.Therefore, the proposed system intends to reachsuperior search performance over traditional ACOalgorithms do

    Myanmar traditional medicine formulations and their antioxidant, antiglycation and alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activities: Potentials for antidiabetes complications

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    Myanmar Traditional Medicine (MTM) has been used since ancient times to treat life-threatening diseases like diabetes. In this study, various in vitro assays were used to prove that four MTM formulations were effective at treating diabetes. Antioxidant activities were determined using in vitro DPPH, nitric oxide (NO), and superoxide (SO) radical scavenging assays. The Folin-Ciocalteu method was used to quantify the total phenolic content, while the BSA-fluorescent antiglycation and α-glucosidase inhibitory assays were utilized to determine the antidiabetic activity of MTMs. Among the tested samples, MTM3 showed the best activities for almost all the biological assays tested in this experiment with the % inhibition of 82.89 ± 1.64 for NO and 65.02 ± 2.82 for SO radical scavenging activity, 92.12 ± 1.18 for α-glucosidase inhibitory activity and IC50 of 180.29 ± 1.6 µg/ml for the antiglycation activity. It also possessed the highest total phenolic content of 149.41 ± 3.7 mg GAE/g of extract/l among the tested samples. Therefore, the findings suggested that MTM could help diabetic patients improve their quality of life through antioxidant activity against several free radicals and their antiglycation and α-glucosidase inhibitory characteristics

    Lifestyle Risk Behaviours and Nutritional Status Associated with Mental Health Problems among Myanmar Adolescents: Secondary Analysis of a Nationwide 2016 School Survey

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    Engaging in unhealthy lifestyles may be considered a risk factor for mental health problems, but there is limited evidence. This study aimed to identify the relationship between unhealthy lifestyles and mental health problems among Myanmar school-going adolescents. Global School Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) data from 2838 school-going adolescents from Myanmar were analysed. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied. After adjusting for confounding variables, adolescents who were seated for more than three hours per day had higher odds of loneliness, anxiety-induced sleep disturbance, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts compared to others. Moreover, students who ate fruit less than one time per day were more likely to experience anxiety-induced sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation. Being a current drinker was significantly associated with suicidal ideation and attempt. Obese students were more likely to feel lonely compared to normal weight students. Our study indicates there is a strong association between unhealthy lifestyle behaviours and mental health problems among school adolescents in Myanmar

    Biocontrol of larval mosquitoes by Acilius sulcatus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae)

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Problems associated with resistant mosquitoes and the effects on non-target species by chemicals, evoke a reason to find alternative methods to control mosquitoes, like the use of natural predators. In this regard, aquatic coleopterans have been explored less compared to other insect predators. In the present study, an evaluation of the role of the larvae of <it>Acilius sulcatus </it>Linnaeus 1758 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) as predator of mosquito immatures was made in the laboratory. Its efficacy under field condition was also determined to emphasize its potential as bio-control agent of mosquitoes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the laboratory, the predation potential of the larvae of <it>A. sulcatus </it>was assessed using the larvae of <it>Culex quinquefasciatus </it>Say 1823 (Diptera: Culicidae) as prey at varying predator and prey densities and available space. Under field conditions, the effectiveness of the larvae of <it>A. sulcatus </it>was evaluated through augmentative release in ten cemented tanks hosting immatures of different mosquito species at varying density. The dip density changes in the mosquito immatures were used as indicator for the effectiveness of <it>A. sulcatus </it>larvae.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A single larva of <it>A. sulcatus </it>consumed on an average 34 IV instar larvae of <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>in a 24 h period. It was observed that feeding rate of <it>A. sulcatus </it>did not differ between the light-on (6 a.m. – 6 p.m.), and dark (6 p.m. – 6 a.m.) phases, but decreased with the volume of water i.e., space availability. The prey consumption of the larvae of <it>A. sulcatus </it>differed significantly (P < 0.05) with different prey, predator and volume combinations, revealed through univariate ANOVA. The field study revealed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in larval density of different species of mosquitoes after 30 days from the introduction of <it>A. sulcatus </it>larvae, while with the withdrawal, a significant increase (p < 0.05) in larval density was noted indicating the efficacy of <it>A. sulcatus </it>in regulating mosquito immatures. In the control tanks, mean larval density did not differ (p > 0.05) throughout the study period.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>the larvae of the dytiscid beetle <it>A. sulcatus </it>proved to be an efficient predator of mosquito immatures and may be useful in biocontrol of medically important mosquitoes.</p

    Decolorization and partial mineralization of a polyazo dye by Bacillus firmus immobilized within tubular polymeric gel

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    The degradation of C.I. Direct red 80, a polyazo dye, was investigated using Bacillus firmus immobilized by entrapment in tubular polymeric gel. This bacterial strain was able to completely decolorize 50 mg/L of C.I. Direct red 80 under anoxic conditions within 12 h and also degrade the reaction intermediates (aromatic amines) during the subsequent 12 h under aerobic conditions. The tubular gel harboring the immobilized cells consisted of anoxic and aerobic regions integrated in a single unit which was ideal for azo dye degradation studies. Results obtained show that effective dye decolorization (97.8%), chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction (91.7%) and total aromatic amines removal were obtained in 15 h with the immobilized bacterial cell system whereas for the free cells, a hydraulic residence time of 24 h was required for an equivalent performance in a sequential anoxic and aerobic process. Repeated-batch experiments indicate the immobilized cells could decolorize C.I. Direct red 80 and reduce medium COD in five successive batch runs with enhanced activity obtained after each consecutive run, thus suggesting its stability and potential for repeated use in wastewater treatment. UV–visible spectrophotometry and HPLC analysis were used to confirm the partial mineralization of the dye. Data from this study could be used as a reference for the development of effective industrial scale biotechnological process for the removal of dyes and their metabolites in textile wastewater

    Evolutionary consequences of habitat loss for Pacific anadromous salmonids

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    Large portions of anadromous salmonid habitat in the western United States has been lost because of dams and other blockages. This loss has the potential to affect salmonid evolution through natural selection if the loss is biased, affecting certain types of habitat differentially, and if phenotypic traits correlated with those habitat types are heritable. Habitat loss can also affect salmonid evolution indirectly, by reducing genetic variation and changing its distribution within and among populations. In this paper, we compare the characteristics of lost habitats with currently accessible habitats and review the heritability of traits which show correlations with habitat/environmental gradients. We find that although there is some regional variation, inaccessible habitats tend to be higher in elevation, wetter and both warmer in the summer and colder in the winter than habitats currently available to anadromous salmonids. We present several case studies that demonstrate either a change in phenotypic or life history expression or an apparent reduction in genetic variation associated with habitat blockages. These results suggest that loss of habitat will alter evolutionary trajectories in salmonid populations and Evolutionarily Significant Units. Changes in both selective regime and standing genetic diversity might affect the ability of these taxa to respond to subsequent environmental perturbations. Both natural and anthropogenic and should be considered seriously in developing management and conservation strategies

    DNA Barcode Sequence Identification Incorporating Taxonomic Hierarchy and within Taxon Variability

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    For DNA barcoding to succeed as a scientific endeavor an accurate and expeditious query sequence identification method is needed. Although a global multiple–sequence alignment can be generated for some barcoding markers (e.g. COI, rbcL), not all barcoding markers are as structurally conserved (e.g. matK). Thus, algorithms that depend on global multiple–sequence alignments are not universally applicable. Some sequence identification methods that use local pairwise alignments (e.g. BLAST) are unable to accurately differentiate between highly similar sequences and are not designed to cope with hierarchic phylogenetic relationships or within taxon variability. Here, I present a novel alignment–free sequence identification algorithm–BRONX–that accounts for observed within taxon variability and hierarchic relationships among taxa. BRONX identifies short variable segments and corresponding invariant flanking regions in reference sequences. These flanking regions are used to score variable regions in the query sequence without the production of a global multiple–sequence alignment. By incorporating observed within taxon variability into the scoring procedure, misidentifications arising from shared alleles/haplotypes are minimized. An explicit treatment of more inclusive terminals allows for separate identifications to be made for each taxonomic level and/or for user–defined terminals. BRONX performs better than all other methods when there is imperfect overlap between query and reference sequences (e.g. mini–barcode queries against a full–length barcode database). BRONX consistently produced better identifications at the genus–level for all query types
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