Glycyrrhizic Acid Reduces Heart Rate and Blood Pressure by a Dual Mechanism

published_or_final_versio

Customer Empowerment in Healthcare Organisations Through CRM 2.0: Survey Results from Brunei Tracking a Future Path in E-Health Research

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with the Web technology provides healthcare organizations the ability to broaden services beyond its usual practices, and thus provides a particular advantageous environment to achieve complex e-health goals. This paper discusses and demonstrates how a new approach in CRM based on Web 2.0 namely CRM 2.0 will help customers to have greater control in the sense of controlling the process of interaction (empowerment) between healthcare organizations with its customers, and among customers themselves. A survey was conducted to gather preliminary requirements and expectations on empowerment in Brunei. The survey revealed that there is a high demand for empowering customers in Brunei through the Web. Regardless of the limitations of the survey, the general public has responded with a great support for the capabilities of empowerment listed from the questionnaires. The data were analyzed to provide initial ideas and recommendation to a future direction on research for customers' empowerment in e-health services.Comment: ASEAS -- Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studie

Consequences of making the inactive active through changes in antisense oligonucleotide chemistries

Antisense oligonucleotides are short, single-stranded nucleic acid analogues that can interfere with pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) processing and induce excision of a targeted exon from the mature transcript. When developing a panel of antisense oligonucleotides to skip every dystrophin exon, we found great variation in splice switching efficiencies, with some antisense oligonucleotides ineffective, even when directed to canonical splice sites and transfected into cells at high concentrations. In this study, we re-evaluated some of these ineffective antisense oligonucleotide sequences after incorporation of locked nucleic acid residues to increase annealing potential. Antisense oligonucleotides targeting exons 16, 23, and 51 of human DMD transcripts were synthesized as two different chemistries, 2 '-O-methyl modified bases on a phosphorothioate backbone or mixmers containing several locked nucleic acid residues, which were then transfected into primary human myotubes, and DMD transcripts were analyzed for exon skipping. The ineffective 2 '-O-methyl modified antisense oligonucleotides induced no detectable exon skipping, while all corresponding mixmers did induce excision of the targeted exons. Interestingly, the mixmer targeting exon 51 induced two unexpected transcripts arising from partial skipping of exon 51 with retention of 95 or 188 bases from the 5 ' region of exon 51. These results indicated that locked nucleic acid/2 '-O-methyl mixmers are more effective at inducing exon skipping, however, this improvement may come at the cost of activating alternative cryptic splice sites and off-target effects on gene expression

Micro-crystalline inclusions analysis by PIXE and RBS

A characteristic feature of the nuclear microprobe using a 3 MeV proton beam is the long range of particles (around 70 \mu m in light matrices). The PIXE method, with EDS analysis and using the multilayer approach for treating the X-ray spectrum allows the chemistry of an intra-crystalline inclusion to be measured, provided the inclusion roof and thickness at the impact point of the beam (Z and e, respectively) are known (the depth of the inclusion floor is Z + e). The parameter Z of an inclusion in a mineral can be measured with a precision of around 1 \mu m using a motorized microscope. However, this value may significantly depart from Z if the analyzed inclusion has a complex shape. The parameter e can hardly be measured optically. By using combined RBS and PIXE measurements, it is possible to obtain the geometrical information needed for quantitative elemental analysis. This paper will present measurements on synthetic samples to investigate the advantages of the technique, and also on natural solid and fluid inclusions in quartz. The influence of the geometrical parameters will be discussed with regard to the concentration determination by PIXE. In particular, accuracy of monazite micro-inclusion dating by coupled PIXE-RBS will be presented

Design of a structurally optimized bioinspired structural arrangement of carbon composite fuselage of unmanned aerial vehicle based on parametric modeling

Currently, the industry of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is actively developing. They perform a wide range of different civilian and military tasks. Depending on the task, stringent requirements are imposed on the design, but the key ones are low weight, high strength and survivability. Satisfying these requirements will increase the payload mass and extend the life of the product. This can be ensured by the use of polymer composite materials (PCM) based on carbon fibers and new structural arrangement. This is especially true for the main element of the UAV frame –the fuselage. The work is devoted to an urgent task –the development of a new UAV composite structural layout. Structural-optimized structures are considered: bioinspired, auxetic, grid structures. A comparison of the developed options with the classical structure of the frame is carried out. A variant that exceeds the classical layout in terms of mass and strength up to 25% is selected. Main layout parameters are determined

Characteristics of Livestock Husbandry and Management Practice in the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar

The central dry zone of Myanmar is the area with the highest density of small-scale livestock farmers under harsh environmental condition. In this study, we describe and quantify ownership patterns for various livestock species and characterised management and husbandry practices of small-scale farmers. In addition, we identify the husbandry factors associated with selected outcome indicators, ‘herd or flock size’ and ‘purpose of rearing’. A total of 613 livestock farmers in 40 villages were interviewed. Multispecies rearing was common with 51.7% of farmers rearing more than one livestock species. Rearing animals to be sold as adults for slaughter (meat production) was more common for small ruminants (98.1%) and chickens (99.8%) compared to cattle (69.8%). Larger cattle herds were more likely to practice grazing (p < 0.001) and to employ labour from outside the household to manage cattle than medium or small herds (p = 0.03). Patterns of grazing differed significantly between seasons (p < 0.01) for cattle, but not for small ruminants and village chicken. Overall, multispecies rearing and species-specific husbandry practices are used to raise livestock under harsh environmental conditions. Our results reveal that herd/flock size and purpose of rearing across different livestock species were significantly associated with feeding and housing practices and experience of farmers

The Megamaser Cosmology Project. III. Accurate Masses of Seven Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galaxies with Circumnuclear Megamaser Disks

Observations of H$_2$O masers from circumnuclear disks in active galaxies for the Megamaser Cosmology Project allow accurate measurement of the mass of supermassive black holes (BH) in these galaxies. We present the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) images and kinematics of water maser emission in six active galaxies: NGC~1194, NGC~2273, NGC~2960 (Mrk~1419), NGC~4388, NGC~6264 and NGC~6323. We use the Keplerian rotation curves of these six megamaser galaxies, plus a seventh previously published, to determine accurate enclosed masses within the central $\sim0.3$ pc of these galaxies, smaller than the radius of the sphere of influence of the central mass in all cases. We also set lower limits to the central mass densities of between 0.12 and 60 $\times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$~pc$^{-3}$. For six of the seven disks, the high central densities rule out clusters of stars or stellar remnants as the central objects, and this result further supports our assumption that the enclosed mass can be attributed predominantly to a supermassive black hole. The seven BHs have masses ranging between 0.76 and 6.5$\times$10$^7 M_{\odot}$. The BH mass errors are $\approx11$\%, dominated by the uncertainty of the Hubble constant. We compare the megamaser BH mass determination with other BH mass measurement techniques. The BH mass based on virial estimation in four galaxies is consistent with the megamaser BH mass given the latest empirical value of $\langle f \rangle$, but the virial mass uncertainty is much greater. MCP observations continue and we expect to obtain more maser BH masses in the future.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. This paper has been submitted to ApJ. An updated version of this paper will be posted when it gets accepte

Fluid inclusion study of the Penjom, Tersang, and Selinsing orogenic gold deposits, Peninsular Malaysia

Ore-forming fluids in the auriferous district of the Central gold belt in Peninsular Malaysia were studied for their temperature, salinity, and relationship to the surrounding geology. Microthermometric analysis carried out showed homogenisation temperatures range from 210 to 348 °C (Tersang), between 194 and 348 °C (Selinsing), and from 221 to 346 °C (Penjom). Salinities range from 2.41 to 8.95 wt % NaCl equiv (Tersang), between 1.23 and 9.98 wt % NaCl equiv (Selinsing), and from 4.34 to 9.34 wt % NaCl equiv (Penjom). Laser Raman studies indicated that at the Tersang gold deposit, most inclusions are either pure or nearly pure CO2-rich (87–100 mol %), except for one inclusion, which contains CH4 gas (13 mol %). In addition, at Selinsing, most inclusions are CO2-rich (100 mol %). However, an inclusion was found containing CO2 (90 mol %), with minor N2 and CH4. Additionally, at the Penjom gold deposit, most fluid inclusions are CO2-rich (91–100 mol %), whereas one fluid inclusion is N2-rich (100 mol %) and another one has minor N2 and CH4. At a basin scale, homogenisation temperatures against salinity suggests an isothermal mixing of fluids. Most fluids are CO2-rich and are interpreted to be of metamorphic origin. The evidence further indicates involvement of magmatic fluids that is supported by the association of sandstone and carbonaceous black shales with magmatic rocks, such as rhyolite, rhyolite-dacite, and trachyte-andesite at the Tersang and Penjom orogenic gold deposits

Induction of cryptic pre-mRNA splice-switching by antisense oligonucleotides

Antisense oligomers (AOs) are increasingly being used to modulate RNA splicing in live cells, both for research and for the development of therapeutics. While the most common intended effect of these AOs is to induce skipping of whole exons, rare examples are emerging of AOs that induce skipping of only part of an exon, through activation of an internal cryptic splice site. In this report, we examined seven AO-induced cryptic splice sites in six genes. Five of these cryptic splice sites were discovered through our own experiments, and two originated from other published reports. We modelled the predicted effects of AO binding on the secondary structure of each of the RNA targets, and how these alterations would in turn affect the accessibility of the RNA to splice factors. We observed that a common predicted effect of AO binding was disruption of the exon definition signal within the exon’s excluded segment

Pathogenesis and Treatment of Usher Syndrome Type IIA

Usher syndrome (USH) is the most common form of deaf-blindness, with an estimated prevalence of 4.4 to 16.6 per 100,000 people worldwide. The most common form of USH is type IIA (USH2A), which is caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the USH2A gene and accounts for around half of all USH cases. USH2A patients show moderate to severe hearing loss from birth, with diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa in the second decade of life and variable vestibular involvement. Although hearing aids or cochlear implants can provide some mitigation of hearing deficits, there are currently no treatments aimed at preventing or restoring vision loss in USH2A patients. In this review, we first provide an overview of the molecular biology of the USH2A gene and its protein isoforms, which include a transmembrane protein (TM usherin) and an extracellular protein (EC usherin). The role of these proteins in the inner ear and retina and their impact on the pathogenesis of USH2A is discussed. We review animal cell-derived and patient cell-derived models currently used in USH2A research and conclude with an overview of potential treatment strategies currently in preclinical development and clinical trials