recurrence of hepatitis c virus infection during pityriasis rosea

n/

Reproduction Efficiency and Health Traits in Dorper, White Dorper, and Tsigai Sheep Breeds under Temperate European Conditions

The objective of the current pilot study was to evaluate the reproductive performance and health indicators in Dorper, White Dorper, and Tsigai breed ewes managed semi-intensively under European temperate conditions. A total of 544 ewe-year units were observed, with ewes (ranging from 1.5 to 8 years of age) managed under identical rearing conditions for a period of two consecutive production cycles (2012 through 2013 and 2013 through 2014). In general, significant (p≤0.001) genotype-related disparities were found in occurrence rates for all health parameters taken into study. Clinical mastitis incidence was significantly lower (p≤0.05) in Dorper (9.4%) and White Dorper (10.8%) breeds compared to that of Tsigai ewes (17.4%). Significant differences (p≤0.05) for lameness were found between Dorper and Tsigai breeds, with occurrence rates of 8.0% and 2.9%, respectively. Incidence for pneumonia and abortion was not influenced (p>0.05) by the ewes’ genotype. Litter size was significantly lower (p≤0.05) in White Dorper breed than for Dorper and Tsigai ewes, of 1.21, 1.40, and 1.45, respectively. Conception rates and lambs survival were not affected (p>0.05) by genotype. Results suggest that South African Dorper and White Dorper sheep breeds have adapted well to the specific rearing conditions

Practical computational toolkits for dendrimers and dendrons structure design

Dendrimers and dendrons offer an excellent platform for developing novel drug delivery systems and medicines. The rational design and further development of these repetitively branched systems are restricted by difficulties in scalable synthesis and structural determination, which can be overcome by judicious use of molecular modelling and molecular simulations. A major difficulty to utilise in silico studies to design dendrimers lies in the laborious generation of their structures. Current modelling tools utilise automated assembly of simpler dendrimers or the inefficient manual assembly of monomer precursors to generate more complicated dendrimer structures. Herein we describe two novel graphical user interface (GUI) toolkits written in Python that provide an improved degree of automation for rapid assembly of dendrimers and generation of their 2D and 3D structures. Our first toolkit uses the RDkit library, SMILES nomenclature of monomers and SMARTS reaction nomenclature to generate SMILES and mol files of dendrimers without 3D coordinates. These files are used for simple graphical representations and storing their structures in databases. The second toolkit assembles complex topology dendrimers from monomers to construct 3D dendrimer structures to be used as starting points for simulation using existing and widely available software and force fields. Both tools were validated for ease-of-use to prototype dendrimer structure and the second toolkit was especially relevant for dendrimers of high complexity and size.Peer reviewe

Morphological and Structural Aspects of the Extremely Halophilic Archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi

Ultrathin square cell Haloquadratum walsbyi from the Archaea domain are the most abundant microorganisms in the hypersaline water of coastal salterns and continental salt lakes. In this work, we explore the cell surface of these microorganisms using amplitude-modulation atomic-force microscopy in nearly physiological conditions. We demonstrate the presence of a regular corrugation with a periodicity of 16–20 nm attributed to the surface layer (S-layer) protein lattice, striped domains asymmetrically distributed on the cell faces and peculiar bulges correlated with the presence of intracellular granules. Besides, subsequent images of cell evolution during the drying process indicate the presence of an external capsule that might correspond to the giant protein halomucin, predicted by the genome but never before observed by other microscopy studies

Cyanobacteria of the thermal spring at Pancharevo, Sofia, Bulgaria

Eight taxa of cyanobacteria were identified in the thermal spring at Pancharevo (in the Sofia basin, Bulgaria). As well as the widespread Lyngbya thermalis, Phormidesmis molle (syn. Phormidium molle), Phormidium papyraceum, Phormidium corium and Mastigocladus laminosus, four species were identified for the first time in Bulgaria: Calothrix thermalis, Gloeocapsa gelatinosa, Leibleinia epiphytica and Symploca thermalis

IRIS: methodological assessment of psychopathological disease in a cohort of hirsute women.

Hirsutism in females can be a source of considerable psychological distress and a threat to female identity. The aim of our study was to evaluate a possible relationship between facial, total body hair involvement and physical, mental and social well--being during 12 months of follow--up and treatment. Both objective and subjective methods of evaluating hirsutism were used: the Ferriman-Gallwey scoring method and the questionnaires GHQ--12, PCOSQ and SF--12. The total of 469 female patients (mean age 27.61±7.63 years) was enrolled in 27 Italian centres participating in this study. Higher total body score was correlated to significant emotional discomfort. The correlation between the FG total body score, the facial score and physical/mental health was found to be significant in all the patients assessed by SF--12 questionnaire. The ongoing reduction of GHQ--12 score was found for the facial FG score at the first follow--up (T0--T1 period) and at the second one (T0--T2). No relationship was found between T1 and T2. At both six (T1) and twelve months (T2) follow--up an increase of PCOSQ score (psychological improvement) was accompanied by a concomitant reduction of the FG score (reduction of hirsutism). Physical health assessed by SF--12 questionnaire does not change at both six and twelve months' follow--up, but mental health decreased at both T1 and T2. The clinical improvement was achieved at six months regardless on treatment used and it was maintained for the next six--month's follow--up. The clinical outcome could be assessed both by Ferriman--Gallwey score both through questionnaires administrated to each patient with hirsutism. For the evaluation of psychopathological discomfort the most appropriate questionnaire was GHQ--12, because of it major sensitivity to identify the psychological discomfort in the hirsutism

Is there a common water-activity limit for the three domains of life?

Archaea and Bacteria constitute a majority of life systems on Earth but have long been considered inferior to Eukarya in terms of solute tolerance. Whereas the most halophilic prokaryotes are known for an ability to multiply at saturated NaCl (water activity (a w) 0.755) some xerophilic fungi can germinate, usually at high-sugar concentrations, at values as low as 0.650-0.605 a w. Here, we present evidence that halophilic prokayotes can grow down to water activities of <0.755 for Halanaerobium lacusrosei (0.748), Halobacterium strain 004.1 (0.728), Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 and Halococcus morrhuae (0.717), Haloquadratum walsbyi (0.709), Halococcus salifodinae (0.693), Halobacterium noricense (0.687), Natrinema pallidum (0.681) and haloarchaeal strains GN-2 and GN-5 (0.635 a w). Furthermore, extrapolation of growth curves (prone to giving conservative estimates) indicated theoretical minima down to 0.611 a w for extreme, obligately halophilic Archaea and Bacteria. These were compared with minima for the most solute-tolerant Bacteria in high-sugar (or other non-saline) media (Mycobacterium spp., Tetragenococcus halophilus, Saccharibacter floricola, Staphylococcus aureus and so on) and eukaryotic microbes in saline (Wallemia spp., Basipetospora halophila, Dunaliella spp. and so on) and high-sugar substrates (for example, Xeromyces bisporus, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, Aspergillus and Eurotium spp.). We also manipulated the balance of chaotropic and kosmotropic stressors for the extreme, xerophilic fungi Aspergillus penicilloides and X. bisporus and, via this approach, their established water-activity limits for mycelial growth (∼0.65) were reduced to 0.640. Furthermore, extrapolations indicated theoretical limits of 0.632 and 0.636 a w for A. penicilloides and X. bisporus, respectively. Collectively, these findings suggest that there is a common water-activity limit that is determined by physicochemical constraints for the three domains of life