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Biotechnological induction of shikimate-based antioxidant accumulation in Phyla dulcis
No full textBackground: Medicinal phytochemicals have been used as dietary supplements in Asia and Africa for thousands of years. Biologically active antioxidants are very diverse and low in their chemical compositions thereby limiting their efficacies. The present study focuses on the enhanced accumulation of closely related dietary antioxidants: shikimate, quinate, salicylate and tocopherol in Phyla dulcis, the Central American herb known for its anti-inflammatory medicinal properties; but its polyphenolic antioxidants had not been studied. Methods: Phyla dulcis stem cuttings were planted in the greenhouse, and in field plots and treated with solutions of stoichiometric mixes of mineral salts known to double crop biomass and yield. Controls were treated with water. At maturity, P. dulcis shoots and flowers were harvested per treatment, immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen, and submitted to metabolomic analyses by gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Results: Field plot P. dulcis treated with KKS-mineral salts combination induced increased shikimate accumulation of 1.59 g per 100 g from the 0.799 g per 100 g in the untreated control. Similarly salicylate, quinate, and tocopherols increased in accumulation by many orders of magnitude in the stoichiometric mixes of mineral salts-treated P. dulcis compared with the untreated controls. Conclusion: The accumulated polyphenolic antioxidants permitted the deduction of the unique biosynthetic pathway of the shikimate, with a massive inhibition at the enzyme steps of dehydroquinate dehydratase and shikimate dehydrogenase
Religious fundamentalism, religiosity, and priming: effects on attitudes, perceptions, and mock jurors’ decisions in an insanity defense case
No full textJurors are asked to use their personal knowledge and experience to make verdict decisions; thus, it is no surprise that their religious beliefs might influence their decisions. During legal insanity trials, jurors might also be exposed to religious stimuli (e.g. crucifix, prayer, Bible, etc.), which could evoke (prime) religious beliefs and thus influence decisions. Two studies examined whether dimensions of religiosity and religious beliefs relate to attitudes and decisions concerning mental health defenses, testing social identity theory against Allport and Ross’s religiosity hypothesis. In Study 1 (attitudes survey) and Study 2 (mock juror decision-making paradigm), religious fundamentalist beliefs consistently predicted punitive attitudes and decisions related to mental health defenses and verdicts, and this was moderated by intrinsic religiosity, such that religious fundamentalist beliefs only predicted punitiveness for individuals low in intrinsic religiosity. Also, priming fundamentalist beliefs increased punitiveness in both verdict and sentencing decisions. Combined, these results suggest that religious beliefs play a role in jurors’ verdict decisions in an insanity case, and that priming fundamentalist beliefs increases jurors’ punitiveness. Allport and Ross’s religiosity hypothesis was supported, but social identity theory was not
Comparison on in vitro degradation of polycaprolactone and polycaprolactone/gelatin nanofibrous scaffold
No full textTissue engineering has emerged to provide a new medical therapy in helping tissue regrowth and regeneration by employing scaffold as an artificial supporting structure for cellular growth. Many polymers have been utilized in the fabrication of these artificial scaffolds, but there is still a need to fabricate hydrophilic nanofibrous scaffold with appropriate degradation rate. In this study, polycaprolactone (PCL) and polycaprolactone/gelatin (PCL/Ge) 70:30 nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated using electrospinning technique and compared on in vitro degradation rate to determine a more suitable scaffold for skin tissue engineering application. In vitro degradation was evaluated by morphological changes, water uptake, and chemical bonding until 12 weeks. Result shows that both PCL and PCL/Ge (70:30) nanofibrous scaffolds were degraded after 8th week. However, the degradation rate of PCL nanofibrous scaffold is slower and does not has obvious morphological changes. PCL/Ge (70:30) nanofibrous scaffold with faster degradation rate have the potential for skin tissue engineering application
Testis specific histone 2B is associated with sperm chromatin dynamics and bull fertility-a pilot study
No full textBackground: Bull fertility is the degree of sperm\u27s ability to fertilize and activate the egg and support embryo development, and this is critical for herd reproductive performance. We used the bull as a unique model organism for the study of male fertility because cattle genetics and physiology is similar to those of other mammals including humans. Moreover, reliable fertility data along with well-established in vitro systems are available for bovine. The objective of this original study was to ascertain evolutionary diversification and expression dynamics of Testis Specific Histone 2B (TH2B) in sperm from Holstein bulls with different fertility scores. Methods: The intensity of TH2B was determined by using flow cytometry in sperm from 13 high and 13 low fertility bulls. Expression levels of TH2B were measured using immunofluorescence and Western blotting in sperm from five high and five low fertility bulls. Sequence identity, evolutionary distance and interactome of TH2B were evaluated by dotmatcher, STRING and Cytoscape. Data were analyzed using linear mixed effects model and regression plots were drawn. Results: The intensity of TH2B as measured by flow cytometry was significantly affected by an interaction between fertility group and fertility score (P = 0.0182). The intensity of TH2B in sperm from the high fertility group decreased (P = 0.0055) as fertility increased. TH2B was constantly detectable in sperm and expression levels of TH2B decreased in relation to fertility in sperm from the high fertility group (P = 0.018). TH2B biological functions include male gamete generation, chromosome organization, DNA packaging, DNA conformation change, chromatin organization, nucleosome organization, chromatin disassembly, spermatid nucleus elongation, spermatid nucleus differentiation, sperm motility, chromatin organization, chromatin condensation, chromatin silencing, nucleus organization, and chromatin remodeling (P \u3c 0.05). Conclusions: We elucidated the cellular localization and molecular physiology of TH2B using both computational and cell biology approaches. In addition to advancing the fundamental science of mammalian male gamete, the present findings can be potentially used to evaluate semen quality and predict male fertility in the future. Trial registration: This study did not involve any live animals. We did not perform any anesthesia, euthanasia, or any kind of animal sacrifice. The cryopreserved semen samples were obtained from Alta Genetics, Inc., Watertown, WI, USA. All samples were preserved in liquid nitrogen
Proteomic analysis of seminal plasma from locally-adapted “Curraleiro Pé-Duro bulls” (Bos taurus): identifying biomarkers involved in sperm physiology in endangered animals for conservation of biodiversity
No full textThe present study was aimed at evaluating the seminal plasma proteins and sperm parameters of Curraleiro Pé-Duro bulls. Semen was collected from 10 bulls by electroejaculation, and sperm parameters were evaluated in fresh and frozen-thawed semen. Seminal plasma proteins were analyzed by 2-D SDS-PAGE and mass spectrophotometry. Tools in computational biology were used to generate bioinformatic knowledge and evaluate gene ontology, protein–protein interactions, phylogenetic trees and multiple sequence alignments. Sperm motility in fresh and frozen-thawed semen was 78.8 ± 1.8% and 21.2 ± 1.6%, respectively. Pearson\u27s correlations were evaluated (p \u3c 0.05). Sperm motility and vigor in fresh semen were correlated with clusterin, TIMP2 and cathepsin S (r = 0.64–0.71) and sperm defects were related to inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase and BSP 5 (r = 0.78–0.80). Clusterin, BSP 5, alpha-enolase, creatine kinase M-type, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, BSP 3, albumin, and 5′-nucleotidase and legumain were correlated with acrosome intact live sperm (r = 0.80–0.64). Associations were detected between sperm vigor and spermadhesin 1 (r = −0.89), and between sperm defects in fresh semen and spermadhesin 1 and clusterin (r = −0.81). Sperm motility in frozen-thawed semen was associated with BSP 1, spermadhesin 1, clusterin and spermadhesin Z13 (r = 0.64–0.85). The percent of motile sperm after freeze-thawing was negatively correlated (r = −0.64) with the amount of spermadhesin 1 in the seminal plasma. Based on in silico analysis, TIMP2 interacted with BSP1, BSP3, BSP5 and metalloproteinases. Molecular functions of proteins associated with sperm parameters were binding, catalytic activity and enzymatic regulation. Amino acid sequences of spermadhesin 1 and BSP 1 from Bos taurus, and other domestic species were similar. Phylogenetic tree analysis demonstrated that clusterin from Bos taurus was related to Ovis aries and domains of clusterin, spermadhesin 1, BSP 1 and inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase were conserved as well. In summary, specific seminal proteins are associated with sperm parameters of locally-adapted bulls. Use of the endangered mammalian as a model may assist in understanding aspects of evolutionary adaptations and could improve assisted reproductive biotechnologies
Cloud-assisted tracking medical mobile robot for indoor elderly
No full textRecently, research related to medical robots received considerable attention due to an increase in aging population. However, most of the existing approaches for designing medical robots have drawbacks in terms of lacking mobility, real-time monitoring of health conditions and emotional response. In this paper, we present a design for a cloud-assisted medical robot with mobility, which can remotely monitor and collect the parameters of human body. Moreover, the robot can upload this information to cloud and distribute it to a smart terminal in real-time. We construct the control and communication systems based on the main controller STM32 and WIFI, respectively. Further, user-friendly APPs are designed and a prototype of the mobile robot is built. Our proposed design approach can ensure the safety of elderly, reduce the burden of taking care of the elderly, and deal with emergency situations
Numerical solution of fractional integro-differential equations with nonlocal conditions
Get PDFIn this paper, we present a numerical method for solving fractional integro-differential equations with nonlocal boundary conditions using Bernstein polynomials. Some theoretical considerations regarding fractional order derivatives of Bernstein polynomials are discussed. The error analysis is carried out and supported with some numerical examples. It is shown that the method is simple and accurate for the given problem
4-Prime cordiality of some cycle related graphs
Get PDFRecently three prime cordial labeling behavior of path, cycle, complete graph, wheel, comb, subdivison of a star, bistar, double comb, corona of tree with a vertex, crown, olive tree and other standard graphs were studied. Also four prime cordial labeling behavior of complete graph, book, flower were studied. In this paper, we investigate the four prime cordial labeling behavior of corona of wheel, gear, double cone, helm, closed helm, butterfly graph, and friendship graph
Frechet Differentiable Norm and Locally Uniformly Rotund Renormings
Get PDFIn this paper, we study briefly the role played by the locally uniformly rotund (LUR) norm and Frechet differentiability of a norm on the Banach space theory. Our old outstanding open Problem 3.8 mentioned below is the main object of this paper. We study nearly about it and find some additional assumptions on the space attached with this problem to obtain its positive or negative answer. We investigate different results related to these norms and their duals on different settings. In particular, we introduce reflexive spaces, Banach spaces with unconditional basis, weakly locally uniformly rotund (WLUR) norm, Almost locally uniformly rotund (ALUR) norm, strongly exposed point, sub-differentiability and ϵ-sub-differentiability, σ–slicely continuity, weakly compactly generated (WCG) Banach spaces with ck –smooth norms, Symulian’s Theorem, and some technical lemmas