79 research outputs found
Development and Validation of a Seismic Index for Assessing the Vulnerability of Low-Rise RC Buildings
No full textThis research develops a comprehensive framework for evaluating the seismic vulnerability of Afghanistan's low-rise reinforced concrete (RC) structures, aiming to enhance urban resilience and mitigate seismic risks. The primary objective is to improve structural safety and reduce economic losses and casualties during devastating earthquakes. Utilizing a database of low-rise RC buildings constructed between 2001 and 2022 by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MUDH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE), the study analyzes structures with varying materials, architectural styles, construction years, and number of stories. The methodology integrates a modified Japanese Is Index, refined using statistical techniques to incorporate local seismic data and building characteristics across diverse seismic zones. Advanced analyses, including the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM) and dynamic analysis using STERA 3D software, support the development of the Afghanistan Seismic Index (ASI). Findings confirm ASI's reliability by comparing it to existing seismic assessment methods, demonstrating its suitability for region-specific evaluations. The research proposes a novel, tailored seismic index (ASI) for assessing seismic vulnerability and addressing gaps in Afghanistan's building code (ABC) and standards. This framework enhances structural performance and informs future policy, providing a foundation for safer urban environments and sustainable infrastructure development in earthquake-prone regions. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2025-011-03-016 Full Text: PD
Rational deployment of antimalarial drugs in Africa: should first-line combination drugs be reserved for paediatric malaria cases?
No full textArtemisinin-based combination therapy is exerting novel selective pressure upon populations of Plasmodium falciparum across Africa. Levels of resistance to non-artemisinin partner drugs differ among parasite populations, and so the artemisinins are not uniformly protected from developing resistance, already present in South East Asia. Here, we consider strategies for prolonging the period of high level efficacy of combination therapy for two particular endemicities common in Africa. Under high intensity transmission, two alternating first-line combinations, ideally with antagonistic selective effects on the parasite genome, are advocated for paediatric malaria cases. This leaves second-line and other therapies for adult cases, and for intermittent preventive therapy. The drug portfolio would be selected to protect the 'premier' combination regimen from selection for resistance, while maximising impact on severe disease and mortality in children. In endemic areas subject to low, seasonal transmission of Plasmodium falciparum, such a strategy may deliver little benefit, as children represent a minority of cases. Nevertheless, the deployment of other drug-based interventions in low transmission and highly seasonal areas, such as mass drug administration aimed to interrupt malaria transmission, or intermittent preventive therapy, does provide an opportunity to diversify drug pressure. We thus propose an integrated approach to drug deployment, which minimises direct selective pressure on parasite populations from any one drug component. This approach is suitable for qualitatively and quantitatively different burdens of malaria, and should be supported by a programme of routine surveillance for emerging resistanc
Draft genome of the filarial nematode parasite Brugia malayi
No full textParasitic nematodes that cause elephantiasis and river blindness threaten hundreds of millions of people in the developing world. We have sequenced the approximately 90 megabase (Mb) genome of the human filarial parasite Brugia malayi and predict approximately 11,500 protein coding genes in 71 Mb of robustly assembled sequence. Comparative analysis with the free-living, model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans revealed that, despite these genes having maintained little conservation of local synteny during approximately 350 million years of evolution, they largely remain in linkage on chromosomal units. More than 100 conserved operons were identified. Analysis of the predicted proteome provides evidence for adaptations of B. malayi to niches in its human and vector hosts and insights into the molecular basis of a mutualistic relationship with its Wolbachia endosymbiont. These findings offer a foundation for rational drug design
Joint opportunistic beam and spectrum selection schemes for spectrum sharing systems with limited feedback
No full textSpectrum sharing systems have been introduced to alleviate the problem of spectrum scarcity by allowing an unlicensed secondary user (SU) to share the spectrum with a licensed primary user (PU) under acceptable interference levels to the primary receiver (PU-Rx). In this paper, we consider a secondary link composed of a secondary transmitter (SU-Tx) equipped with multiple antennas and a single-antenna secondary receiver (SU-Rx). The secondary link is allowed to share the spectrum with a primary network composed of multiple PUs communicating over distinct frequency spectra with a primary base station. We develop a transmission scheme where the SU-Tx initially broadcasts a set of random beams over all the available primary spectra for which the PU-Rx sends back the index of the spectrum with the minimum interference level, as well as information that describes the interference value, for each beam. Based on the feedback information on the PU-Rx, the SU-Tx adapts the transmitted beams and then resends the new beams over the best primary spectrum for each beam to the SU-Rx. The SU-Rx selects the beam that maximizes the received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) to be used in transmission over the next frame. We consider three cases for the level of feedback information describing the interference level. In the first case, the interference level is described by both its magnitude and phase; in the second case, only the magnitude is considered; and in the third case, we focus on a q-bit description of its magnitude. In the latter case, we propose a technique to find the optimal quantizer thresholds in a mean-square-error sense. We also develop a statistical analysis for the SINR statistics and the capacity and bit error rate of the secondary link and present numerical results that study the impact of the different system parameters.This work was made possible by NPRP grant # [5-250-2-087] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author[s]
The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases
No full textThe SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article
The Effect of Pomegranate Juice Supplementation on Oxidative Stress in Young Healthy Males
No full textBackground & Objectives: The intake of antioxidant supplementations can have key role in
prevention of oxidative stress in healthy individuals. Pomegranate has antioxidant effects and
may play a role in reduction of oxidative stress in healthy males. Therefore, this study
examined the effect of pomegranate juice supplementation on oxidative stress in young
healthy males.
Methods: In semi-experimental study, 14 healthy students living in Dormitories of Ardabil
University of Medical Sciences were included. Subjects were given one cup of pomegranate
juice supplementation per day for two weeks. Fasting blood samples were taken both at the
start and the end of 2-week period to measure the antioxidant enzyme activities such as
superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, paraoxonase-1, aryl esterase, and the values of
serum total antioxidant capacity, glutathione, and lipid profiles. Data were analyzed using
descriptive and paired t-tests.
Results: The level of serum total antioxidant capacity and activities of enzymes such as
superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, arylesterase, and standardized arylesterase
activity were significantly increased at the end of two weeks (p<0.05). The serum level of
malondialdehyde was significantly decreased after intervention (p<0.05). Changes were not
significant, although the serum levels of glutathione and HDL-cholesterol increased and LDLcholesterol
decreased at the end of two weeks period.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the pomegranate juice supplementation had
beneficial effects in helping body's antioxidant defense system and reduction of oxidative
stress in young healthy males. This study suggests that the pomegranate juice
supplementation can be useful against oxidative stress included in dietaries of young healthy
males
Signatures of adaptation to plant parasitism in nematode genomes
No full textEach author is, or was, at the time of the work, a paid employee of their affiliated organization. The James Hutton Institute receives funding from the Scottish Government. TK is funded by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 20353659 and 23248024 Date of Acceptance: 27/11/2013Plant-parasitic nematodes cause considerable damage to global agriculture. The ability to parasitize plants is a derived character that appears to have independently emerged several times in the phylum Nematoda. Morphological convergence to feeding style has been observed, but whether this is emergent from molecular convergence is less obvious. To address this, we assess whether genomic signatures can be associated with plant parasitism by nematodes. In this review, we report genomic features and characteristics that appear to be common in plant-parasitic nematodes while absent or rare in animal parasites, predators or free-living species. Candidate horizontal acquisitions of parasitism genes have systematically been found in all plant-parasitic species investigated at the sequence level. Presence of peptides that mimic plant hormones also appears to be a trait of plant-parasitic species. Annotations of the few genomes of plant-parasitic nematodes available to date have revealed a set of apparently species-specific genes on every occasion. Effector genes, important for parasitism are frequently found among those species-specific genes, indicating poor overlap. Overall, nematodes appear to have developed convergent genomic solutions to adapt to plant parasitism.Peer reviewe
Erratum to: Regulatory variants at KLF14 influence type 2 diabetes risk via a female-specific effect on adipocyte size and body composition (Nature Genetics, (2018), 50, 4, (572-580), 10.1038/s41588-018-0088-x)
No full text\ua9 2018, The Author(s).In the version of this article originally published, minus signs were missing from the three β-values for BMI given in Table 1. The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article
Correction: Epidemiology and outcomes of early-onset AKI in COVID-19-related ARDS in comparison with non-COVID-19-related ARDS: insights from two prospective global cohort studies (Critical Care, (2023), 27, 1, (3), 10.1186/s13054-022-04294-5)
No full textFollowing publication of the original article [1], the authors identified that the collaborating authors part of the collaborating author group CCCC Consortium was missing. The collaborating author group is available and included as Additional file 1 in this article
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