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Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of N-Alkoxyphenyl-3-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxanilides
Get PDFA series of fifteen new N-alkoxyphenylanilides of 3-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxylic acid was prepared and characterized. Primary in vitro screening of the synthesized compounds was performed against Staphylococcus aureus, three methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains, Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra and M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Some of the tested compounds showed antibacterial and antimycobacterial activity against the tested strains comparable with or higher than that of the standards ampicillin or rifampicin. 3-Hydroxy-N-(2-propoxyphenyl)naphthalene-2-carboxamide and N-[2-(but-2-yloxy)-phenyl]-3-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxamide had MIC = 12 µM against all methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains; thus their activity is 4-fold higher than that of ampicillin. The second mentioned compound as well as 3-hydroxy-N-[3-(prop-2-yloxy)phenyl]-naphthalene-2-carboxamide had MICs = 23 µM and 24 µM against M. tuberculosis respectively. N-[2-(But-2-yloxy)phenyl]-3-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxamide demonstrated higher activity against M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis than rifampicin. Screening of the cytotoxicity of the most effective antimycobacterial compounds was performed using THP-1 cells, and no significant lethal effect was observed for the most potent compounds. The compounds were additionally tested for their activity related to inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport (PET) in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts. N-(3-Ethoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxamide (IC50 = 4.5 µM) was the most active PET inhibitor. The structure-activity relationships are discussed
Functional Screening of the Cronobacter sakazakii BAA-894 Genome reveals a role for ProP (ESA_02131) in carnitine uptake
Get PDFCronobacter sakazakii is a neonatal pathogen responsible for up to 80% of fatalities in infected infants. Low birth weight infants and neonates infected with C. sakazakii suffer necrotizing enterocolitis, bacteraemia and meningitis. The mode of transmission most often associated with infection is powdered infant formula (PIF) which, with an aw of ∼0.2, is too low to allow most microorganisms to persist. Survival of C. sakazakii in environments subject to extreme hyperosmotic stress has previously been attributed to the uptake of compatible solutes including proline and betaine. Herein, we report the construction and screening of a C. sakazakii genome bank and the identification of ProP (ESA_02131) as a carnitine uptake system
Irish GMS cost projections and its implications between 2016 and 2026
Get PDFIntroduction: Ireland had one of the highest pharmaceutical spends per capita in the EU in 2012. The General Medical Services (GMS) scheme is the largest community drug scheme in Ireland with approximately 40% of the population eligible for free drugs and appliances in 2012. The total cost of GMS prescriptions increased by 414% between 1998 and 2012. This paper projects Irish GMS cost from 2016 to 2026 and examines the implications of the estimated impact on GMS expenditure.
Method: Central Statistics Office (CSO) population projections (2013) and HSE-PCRS GMS population prescription data (2012) were used to develop four variables; population, GMS coverage, average cost per claimant and claims rate. A Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) model simulated the effect of these four variables on GMS costs, by health board region, age cohort and sex.
Results: Irish population is projected to grow by approximately 10% between 2012 and 2026. The over 70s population is estimated to grow by 64% with the proportion of males growing by 72%. GMS expenditure is estimated to increase by 64%, from €1.1 billion in 2016 to €1.8 billion by 2026. Age is a key driver of GMS expenditure, specifically those aged under 11 and over 70. The MCS results project that males, the Mid-Western and South- Eastern regions are driving GMS costs in the under 11s. Females, Midlands and Southern regions are driving GMS costs in the over 70s.
Conclusion: Population growth coupled with an aging population will impact future GMS costs. Targeted GMS policy changes such as co-payment charges, reference pricing, and generic substitution can help to contain future GMS expenditure
A tail of two phages: genomic and functional analysis of Listeria monocytogenes phages vB_LmoS_188 and vB_LmoS_293 reveal the receptor-binding proteins involved in host specificity
Get PDFThe physical characteristics of bacteriophages establish them as viable candidates for downstream development of pathogen detection assays and biocontrol measures. To utilize phages for such purposes, a detailed knowledge of their host interaction mechanisms is a prerequisite. There is currently a wealth of knowledge available concerning Gram-negative phage-host interaction, but little by comparison for Gram-positive phages and Listeria phages in particular. In this research, the lytic spectrum of two recently isolated Listeria monocytogenes phages (vB_LmoS_188 and vB_LmoS_293) was determined, and the genomic basis for their observed serotype 4b/4e host-specificity was investigated using comparative genomics. The late tail genes of these phages were identified to be highly conserved when compared to other serovar 4-specific Listeria phages. Spontaneous mutants of each of these phages with broadened host specificities were generated. Their late tail gene sequences were compared with their wild-type counterparts resulting in the putative identification of the products of ORF 19 of vB_LmoS_188 and ORF 20 of vB_LmoS_293 as the receptor binding proteins of these phages. The research findings also indicate that conserved baseplate architectures and host interaction mechanisms exist for Listeria siphoviruses with differing host-specificities, and further contribute to the current knowledge of phage-host interactions with regard to Listeria phages
Metagenomic Identification of a Novel Salt Tolerance Gene from the Human Gut Microbiome Which Encodes a Membrane Protein with Homology to a brp/blh-Family beta-Carotene 15,15\u27-Monooxygenase
Get PDFThe human gut microbiome consists of at least 3 million non-redundant genes, 150 times that of the core human genome. Herein, we report the identification and characterisation of a novel stress tolerance gene from the human gut metagenome. The locus, assigned brpA, encodes a membrane protein with homology to a brp/blh-family β-carotene monooxygenase. Cloning and heterologous expression of brpA in Escherichia coli confers a significant salt tolerance phenotype. Furthermore, when cultured in the presence of exogenous β-carotene, cell pellets adopt a red/orange pigmentation indicating the incorporation of carotenoids in the cell membrane
Designing Museums for Participation, Collaboration and Social Interaction
Get PDFThis thesis documents the design and development of novel interactive experiences that explored concepts aimed to enhance the visitor experience to Cork Butter Museum, Cork, Ireland.
The context to the work is that in recent years, museums and cultural institutions are increasingly motivated to apply creative strategies to engage visitors who come for recreational, social and sometimes educative purposes. Novel museum exhibits designed to cater for such needs often involves the integration of new media technologies in response to rising expectations visitors have with regards to being actively engaged during their visit. This often requires a higher level of participation than reading text or looking at artefacts from a controlled distance.
Researchers have explored transforming the visitor experience through a wide range of projects in the fields of embodied interaction and experience design, which might be regarded as emerging subfields of research practice in HCI. Recent approaches to the design of public exhibition spaces have often made use of widely available input/output sensing technologies which support alternative strategies for the creation of novel interfaces and delivery of dynamic content.
In light of such developments, the aim of this work was to explore the design of engaging experiences that would facilitate participation, collaboration and social interaction in a museum through the creation of technologically augmented artefacts. From the outset, a principle of the research was to ensure that any interventions were sensitive to and respected the natural aesthetic of the museum environment.
Aims and objectives that were suitable for the research were first identified through design research, out of which a set of design principles that were specific to the museum emerged.Authentic artefacts which were suitable for the creation of novel experiences were identified and transformed over the course of an iterative design and development cycle. They were then brought into the museum for a case study, and their effects were analysed and discussed. The process, methods, and findings that were uncovered over the course of the research will be described in the thesis
Constraints on very high energy emission from grb 130427a
Get PDFPrompt emission from the very fluent and nearby (z = 0.34) gamma-ray burst GRB 130427A was detected by several orbiting telescopes and by ground-based, wide-field-of-view optical transient monitors. Apart from the intensity and proximity of this GRB, it is exceptional due to the extremely long-lived high-energy (100 MeV to 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission, which was detected by the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for ~70 ks after the initial burst. The persistent, hard-spectrum, high-energy emission suggests that the highest-energy gamma rays may have been produced via synchrotron self-Compton processes though there is also evidence that the high-energy emission may instead be an extension of the synchrotron spectrum. VERITAS, a ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array, began follow-up observations of GRB 130427A ~71 ks (~20 hr) after the onset of the burst. The GRB was not detected with VERITAS; however, the high elevation of the observations, coupled with the low redshift of the GRB, make VERITAS a very sensitive probe of the emission from GRB 130427A for E \u3e 100 GeV. The non-detection and consequent upper limit derived place constraints on the synchrotron self-Compton model of high-energy gamma-ray emission from this burst
A Three-Year Multi-Wavelength Study Of The Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Blazar 1es 0229+200
Get PDFThe high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object 1ES 0229+200 is a relatively distant (z = 0.1396), hard-spectrum (Γ ~ 2.5), very-high-energy (VHE; E \u3e 100 GeV) emitting γ-ray blazar. VHE measurements of this active galactic nucleus have been used to place constraints on the intensity of the extragalactic background light and the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF). A multi-wavelength study of this object centered around VHE observations by Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is presented. This study obtained, over a period of three years, an 11.7 standard deviation detection and an average integral flux F(E \u3e 300 GeV) = (23.3 ± 2.8stat ± 5.8sys) × 10–9 photons m–2 s–1, or 1.7% of the Crab Nebula\u27s flux (assuming the Crab Nebula spectrum measured by H.E.S.S). Supporting observations from Swift and RXTE are analyzed. The Swift observations are combined with previously published Fermi observations and the VHE measurements to produce an overall spectral energy distribution which is then modeled assuming one-zone synchrotron-self-Compton emission. The χ2 probability of the TeV flux being constant is 1.6%. This, when considered in combination with measured variability in the X-ray band, and the demonstrated variability of many TeV blazars, suggests that the use of blazars such as 1ES 0229+200 for IGMF studies may not be straightforward and challenges models that attribute hard TeV spectra to secondary γ-ray production along the line of sight
An Empirical Investigation of the Development of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems Education for Third-level Business Students
Get PDFThis study is an empirical investigation of the development of Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) education for Business students. It uses Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) as its case study to determine the benefits of practical ERP education, the challenges faced by third-level institutions and how ERP education should be provided to Business students. The researcher used observation, review of documentation, and semi-structured interviews of fifteen academics as the research techniques.
As well as being beneficial for students, employers and ERP vendors, this study finds that the provision of practical ERP education has reciprocal benefits for the third-level institution. By improving graduates skills, enhancing their employability and ensuring students are always up-to-date with new technology, the profile of the college enhanced and important links are built with industry.
The challenges facing the institution are personnel issues (such as inadequate training on ERP and inexperience in teaching in a lab setting), programme structure issues (such as the need to rewrite module descriptors and lack of space on the programme) and organisational issues (such as a lack of computer laboratories, cost of running laboratories and need for more technical assistance). However, all of these challenges should be weighed against the benefits that practical ERP education has to offer. This study suggests that in-house training of staff, inclusion of ERP education in the module descriptors, the provision of a dedicated technician, better links with other colleges and industry would all improve the provision of practical ERP education in third-level colleges.
The benefits of ERP education can be maximised if it is provided in a mix of theoretical and laboratory settings in a cross-modular fashion in the penultimate year of the degree programme. There is a lot of work to be done in maximising the utilisation of the University Alliance Programme (UAP), small steps have been taken in CIT, but it still has a long way to go. Other third-level institutions can learn from the steps CIT have taken and is taking
Still Sparkling the Phenomenon of Bottled Water—An Irish Context
Get PDFWhy choose to buy one brand of bottled water over another, when, as consumers, we are effectively just buying water — H2O — a colourless, odourless product? This study investigates the power of branding in the bottle water market—a billion euro industry that has been created to sell a product with little or no distinguishable features. Sales of bottled water continue to increase year on year globally, and in Ireland. Ballygowan and Volvic have the largest market share of the water market in Ireland, and, interestingly, they also invest the most in their marketing. One of the aims of this study is to find out why Irish consumers chose to buy bottled water in the first instance? Why do they decide to pay for a premium priced bottled product of which they have a relatively free supply at home? Is a clever marketing strategy the key to this market in aiding decision-making for consumers of bottled water? During the early stages of this study, and to inform the direction of the research, a ‘taste test’ pilot study was undertaken. In total, 31 people took part in this taste test. Of those, just 3 people were able to differentiate between the top three selling bottled water brands in Ireland, and tap water. From these results, the researcher’s interest was piqued by whether or not marketing plays an integral part in the purchase decision of consumers when buying bottled water? To determine the answers to the research questions developed after the initial pilot testing, a quantitative methodology was applied in an effort to gather relevant data directly from the Irish market. In total, 223 people responded to the survey. The results of the study found that people purchase bottled water for three main reasons: a) they believe it tastes better than tap water; b) it is a convenient option; and c) it is a healthier alternative to other drinks on the market. This research also indicates that when consumers purchase bottled water they are often buying a brand name and not the product itself—water. This study has also found that Irish water brands such as Glenpatrick, Purely Irish, and Royal Mystic who are not as active in the marketing arena as Ballygown or Volvic have a much lower visibility in the market place. Marketing is vital for bottled water companies to gain market share in Ireland, and one of the findings from this study indicates that vigorous marketing was an important factor in influencing brand choice in the context of bottled water. This study will be of benefit to those involved in the bottled water industry and those interested in the concepts and impact of branding in general