39 research outputs found
The Effect of nano particles of TiO2-Al2O3 on the Mechanical properties of epoxy Hybrid nanocomposites
No full textPreparation of epoxy/ TiO2 and epoxy/ Al2O3 nanocomposites is studed and investigated in this paper. The nano composites are processed by different nano fillers concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.02 ,0.03, 0.04 ,0.05 ,0.07 and 0.1 wt%). The particles sized of TiO2,Al2O3 are about 20–50 nm.Epoxy resin and nano composites containing different shape nano fillers of (TiO2:Al2O3 composites),are shear mixing with ratio 1 to 1,with different nano hybrid fillers concentrations( 0.025 ,0.0 5 ,0.15 ,0.2, and 0.25 wt%) to Preparation of epoxy/ TiO2- Al2O3 hybrid composites. The mechanical properties of nanocomposites such as bending ,wearing, and fatigue are investigated as mechanical properties
Characterization of water and wildlife strains as a subgroup of Campylobacter jejuni using DNA microarrays.
No full textCampylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, but source attribution of the organism is difficult. Previously, DNA microarrays were used to investigate isolate source, which suggested a non-livestock source of infection. In this study we analysed the genome content of 162 clinical, livestock and water and wildlife (WW) associated isolates combined with the previous study. Isolates were grouped by genotypes into nine clusters (C1 to C9). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data demonstrated that livestock associated clonal complexes dominated clusters C1-C6. The majority of WW isolates were present in the C9 cluster. Analysis of previously reported genomic variable regions demonstrated that these regions were linked to specific clusters. Two novel variable regions were identified. A six gene multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay, designed to effectively differentiated strains into clusters, was validated with 30 isolates. A further five WW isolates were tested by mPCR and were assigned to the C7-C9 group of clusters. The predictive mPCR test could be used to indicate if a clinical case has come from domesticated or WW sources. Our findings provide further evidence that WW C. jejuni subtypes show niche adaptation and may be important in causing human infection
Significant geographical differences in prevalence of mutations associated with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax drug resistance in two regions from Papua New Guinea
No full textDrug resistance remains a major obstacle to malaria treatment and control. It can arise and spread rapidly, and vary substantially even at sub-national level. National malaria programmes require cost-effective and timely ways of characterizing drug-resistance at multiple sites within their countries.; An improved multiplexed post-PCR ligase detection reaction-fluorescent microsphere assay (LDR-FMA) was used to simultaneously determine the presence of mutations in chloroquine resistance transporter (crt), multidrug resistance 1 (mdr1), dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) and dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) genes in Plasmodium falciparum (n = 727) and Plasmodium vivax (n = 574) isolates collected in 2006 from cross-sectional community population surveys in two geographically distinct regions (Madang and East Sepik) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) where strong regional differences in in vivo aminoquinoline and antifolate therapeutic efficacy had previously been observed. Data were compared to those of a follow-up survey conducted in 2010.; Despite some very low parasite densities, the assay successfully amplified all P. falciparum and P. vivax loci in 77 and 69 % of samples, respectively. In 2006, prevalences of pfdhfr (59R-108 N) double mutation/wild type pfdhps haplotype, pfcrt SVMNT haplotype (72S-76T double mutation), and 86Y pfmdr1 mutation all exceeded 90 %. For P. vivax, 65 % carried at least two pvdhfr mutations, 97 % the 647P pvdhps mutation and 54 % the 976F pvmdr1 mutation. Prevalence of mutant haplotypes was higher in Madang than East Sepik for pfcrt SVMNT (97.4 vs 83.3 %, p = 0.001), pfdhfr (59R-108 N) (100 vs 90.6 %, p = 0.001), pvdhfr haplotypes (75.8 vs 47.6 %, p = 0.001) and pvmdr1 976F (71.2 vs 26.2 %, p < 0.001). Data from a subsequent Madang survey in 2010 showed that the prevalence of pfdhps mutations increased significantly from <5 % to >30 % (p < 0.001) as did the prevalence of pvdhfr mutant haplotypes (from 75.8 to 97.4 %, p = 0.012).; This LDR-FMA multiplex platform shows feasibility for low-cost, high-throughput, rapid characterization of a broad range of drug-resistance markers in low parasitaemia infections. Significant geographical differences in mutation prevalence correlate with previous genotyping surveys and in vivo trials and may reflect variable drug pressure and differences in health-care access in these two PNG populations
Preclinical evaluation of lime juice as a topical microbicide candidate
No full textBackground: The continued growth of the global HIV epidemic highlights the urgent need to develop novel prevention strategies to reduce HIV transmission. The development of topical microbicides is likely to take a number of years before such a product would be widely available.
This has resulted in a call for the rapid introduction of simpler vaginal intervention strategies in the interim period. One suggested practice would be vaginal douching with natural products including lime or lemon juice. Here we present a comprehensive preclinical evaluation of lime juice (LiJ) as a potential intervention strategy against HIV.
Results: Pre-treatment of HIV with LiJ demonstrated direct virucidal activity, with 10% juice inactivating the virus within 5 minutes. However, this activity was significantly reduced in the presence of seminal plasma, where inactivation required maintaining a 1:1 mixture of neat LiJ and seminal plasma for more than 5 minutes. Additionally, LiJ demonstrated both time and dosedependent
toxicity towards cervicovaginal epithelium, where exposure to 50% juice caused 75–90% toxicity within 5 minutes increasing to 95% by 30 minutes. Cervicovaginal epithelial cell monolayers were more susceptible to the effects of LiJ with 8.8% juice causing 50% toxicity after 5
minutes. Reconstructed stratified cervicovaginal epithelium appeared more resilient to LiJ toxicity with 30 minutes exposure to 50% LiJ having little effect on viability. However viability was reduced by 75% and 90% following 60 and 120 minutes exposure. Furthermore, repeat application (several times daily) of 25% LiJ caused 80–90% reduction in viability.
Conclusion: These data demonstrate that the virucidal activity of LiJ is severely compromised in the presence of seminal plasma. Potentially, to be effective against HIV in vivo, women would need to apply a volume of neat LiJ equal to that of an ejaculate, and maintain this ratio vaginally for 5–30 minutes after ejaculation. Data presented here suggest that this would have significant adverse
effects on the genital mucosa. These data raise serious questions about the plausibility and safety of such a prevention approach
The plight of women in Egyptian cinema (1940s 1960s)
No full textIt has been suggested that the period between the 1940s and the 1960s was 'the golden age' of Egyptian cinema -a period of growth, innovation and popularity. The aim of this research is to focus on the plight of Egyptian women in selected long feature films of this period, and how this -was realistically represented on the screen. It was a daunting task for the present researcher to embark on such controversial gender issues, especially from a westerner's perspective on a Muslim Arab society. But the researcher's determination and sense of duty to investigate and expose the hardships of Egyptian womenfolk through films, managed to overcome that feeling of trepidation, together with the tremendous support of her advisor Dr. Zahia Salhi.
This study begins by tracing the historical development of Egyptian cinema and the important role played by female pioneers in the newly emergent film industry, whereby an assessment of the role of these pioneers is also considered. This leads to an analysis of the status of the Egyptian woman within her socio-historical and cultural contexts that are essential for the identification of gender based representational strategies in these films. The research reviews major film theories related to representation, communication and gender issues, and how films as products of their creators, are connected to the social, economic, political and cultural backgrounds of a given time and place. In addition to these film theories,
the study recommends a textual variation approach for film analysis, for those films based on literary texts that have been adapted to the screen. The textual variation
approach looks for the ways in which the film director modifies the original text when it is adapted into a film. The aim behind the textual variation approach is tounderstand the function of the dominant theme in both literary text and film, and scrutinise its visible or latent realistic meanings vis ii vis the structures of thought which dominated the Egyptian society of the 1940s to the 1960s. It is these structures of thought that impose on the film-makers the textual variations from novel to film. The difference in the time period when the novel was written is compared with the period when the film was produced in order to assess the present social dominant ideologies or the shifting values. Thus, the time dimension factor, together with the film-makers' own views, help us determine the internal expectations of the Egyptian society and the realistic plight of its womenfolk. To bring the concept of textual variation into application, three film case studies are considered, th e findings of which demonstrate that when textual variations or total
adherence to the novel were involved, dominant ideologies were either reaffirmed, shifted or evolved according to the era of the film production
Genetic association study of QT interval highlights role for calcium signaling pathways in myocardial repolarization.
No full textThe QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, is a heritable trait. QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and could indicate the presence of the potentially lethal mendelian long-QT syndrome (LQTS). Using a genome-wide association and replication study in up to 100,000 individuals, we identified 35 common variant loci associated with QT interval that collectively explain ∼8-10% of QT-interval variation and highlight the importance of calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization. Rare variant analysis of 6 new QT interval-associated loci in 298 unrelated probands with LQTS identified coding variants not found in controls but of uncertain causality and therefore requiring validation. Several newly identified loci encode proteins that physically interact with other recognized repolarization proteins. Our integration of common variant association, expression and orthogonal protein-protein interaction screens provides new insights into cardiac electrophysiology and identifies new candidate genes for ventricular arrhythmias, LQTS and SCD
Microbiomes of Thalassia testudinum throughout the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico are influenced by site and region while maintaining a core microbiome
No full textPlant microbiomes are known to serve several important functions for their host, and it is therefore important to understand their composition as well as the factors that may influence these microbial communities. The microbiome of Thalassia testudinum has only recently been explored, and studies to-date have primarily focused on characterizing the microbiome of plants in a single region. Here, we present the first characterization of the composition of the microbial communities of T. testudinum across a wide geographical range spanning three distinct regions with varying physicochemical conditions. We collected samples of leaves, roots, sediment, and water from six sites throughout the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. We then analyzed these samples using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found that site and region can influence the microbial communities of T. testudinum, while maintaining a plant-associated core microbiome. A comprehensive comparison of available microbial community data from T. testudinum studies determined a core microbiome composed of 14 ASVs that consisted mostly of the family Rhodobacteraceae. The most abundant genera in the microbial communities included organisms with possible plant-beneficial functions, like plant-growth promoting taxa, disease suppressing taxa, and nitrogen fixers.The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (OCE-1737247 to JC, AA, and VP, OCE-2019022 to JC, OCE-1737144 to KH, and OCE-1737116 to JD).Peer reviewe
Termination of DNA replication at Tus-ter barriers results in under-replication of template DNA
No full textData availability:
Data not included in the manuscript or supporting information can be obtained on request by contacting the corresponding author (Michelle Hawkins: [email protected]).Copyright © 2021 The Authors. The complete and accurate duplication of genomic information is vital to maintain genome stability in all domains of life. In Escherichia coli, replication termination, the final stage of the duplication process, is confined to the ‘replication fork trap’ region by multiple unidirectional fork barriers formed by the binding of Tus protein to genomic ter sites. Termination typically occurs away from Tus-ter complexes, but they become part of the fork fusion process when a delay to one replisome allows the second replisome to travel more than halfway around the chromosome. In this instance, replisome progression is blocked at the non-permissive interface of the Tus-ter complex, termination then occurs when a converging replisome meets the permissive interface. To investigate the consequences of replication fork fusion at Tus-ter complexes, we established a plasmid-based replication system where we could mimic the termination process at Tus-ter complexes in vitro. We developed a termination mapping assay to measure leading strand replication fork progression and demonstrate that the DNA template is under-replicated by 15−24 bases when replication forks fuse at Tus-ter complexes. This gap could not be closed by the addition of lagging strand processing enzymes or by the inclusion of several helicases that promote DNA replication. Our results indicate that accurate fork fusion at Tus-ter barriers requires further enzymatic processing, highlighting large gaps that still exist in our understanding of the final stages of chromosome duplication and the evolutionary advantage of having a replication fork trap.The work was supported by Research Grant BB/N014995/1 and BB/N014863/1 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to C. J. R. and M. H respectively
Indo-European vocabulary in Old Chinese : a new thesis on the emergence of Chinese language and civilization in the late Neolithic age
No full textThis study is a much expanded version of the paper I read at the XXXII International Congress for Asian and North African Studies on August 28, 1986 in Hamburg (Germany). Contents 1. Recent developments in the field of historical linguistics 2. Monosyllabic structure of Chinese words and Indo-European stems 3. Tonal accents of Middle Chinese 4. Preliminaries on the comparison of consonants and vowels 5. Some IE stems corresponding to Chinese words of entering tone 6. Middle Chinese tones and final consonants of IE stems 7. Some IE stems corresponding to Chinese words of rising tone 8. Some IE stems corresponding to Chinese words of vanishing tone 9. Some IE stems corresponding to Chinese words of level tone 10. Reconstruction of Middle Chinese vocalism according to Yün-ching 11. Old Chinese vocalism 12. Vocalic correspondences between Chinese and IE 13. Initials of Old Chinese 14. Initial consonant clusters in Old Chinese as seen from IE-stems 15. Proximity of Chinese to Germanic 16. Relation of Old Chinese to neighboring languages 17. Emergence of Chinese Empire and language in the middle of the third millennium B.C. Appendix * Abbrevations * Bibliography * Rhyme Tables of Early Middle Chinese (600) * Rhyme Tables of Early Mandarin (1300) * Word Index o English o Pinyin In 1786, just over two hundred years ago, comparative historical linguistics was born, when Sir William Jones (1746-1794) discovered the relationship between Old-Indian Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Since then, the emerging Indo-European philology has thrown much light on the early history of mankind in Eurasia. During the past two hundred years, many suggestions were also made in regard to relationships of Indo-European to other languages such as Semitic, Altaic, Austronesian, Korean etc., but Indo-Europeanists commonly rejected such attempts for want of convincing evidence. As to Chinese, Joseph Edkins was the first to advance the thesis of its proximity to Indo-European. In his work China's Place in Philology. An Attempt to show that the Language of Europe and Asia have a Common Origin (1871) he presented a number of Chinese words similar to those of Indo-European. In his time, Edkins' thesis seemed bold and extravagant. But today, more than a hundred years later, we are in a much better position to carry out a comprehensive and well-founded comparative study. Since the end of the nineteenth century, many Sinologists have been engaged in reconstruction of the mediaeval and archaic readings of Chinese characters. Among them, Karlgren (1889-1978) was the most successful, and in 1940 he published a comprehensive phonological and etymological dictionary entitled Grammata Serica. In the meantime, the Indo-Europeanists Alois Walde (1869-1924) and Julius Pokorny (1887-1970) were devoting themselves to the compilation of a useful etymological dictionary. The result was the Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch by Pokorny (1959) which provides a solid basis for our lexical comparisons. Soon thereafter, some Sinologists made use of the two dictionaries by Karlgren and Pokorny to compare Chinese and Indo-European words. In 1967, an unaffiliated German scholar, Jan Ulenbrook, published an article "Einige Übereinstirnrnungen zwischen dem Chinesischen und dem Indogermanischen", in which he claimed that 57 words are related. Shortly afterwards, Tor Ulving of the University of Goteborg, Sweden, wrote a review of this article framing the title as a question: "Indo-European elements in Chinese?" While working on his thesis on word families in Chinese, Ulving compiled for his own use two dictionaries: "Archaic Chinese - English" and "English - Archaic Chinese", and discovered thereby 238 Chinese words similar to Indo-European roots. In spite of this considerable number of word equivalents, however, Mr. Ulving became discouraged and, as he told me in his letter of April, 1986, has given up his researches in this field. The skepticism, common among Indo-Europeanists in regard to comparative studies with other languages, is largely based on the dogmatic opinion that only morphology is relevant but not vocabulary. Since the typology of Chinese seems to preclude a cognate relation to Indo-European, they are inclined to discard any lexical correspondences as merely accidental or onomatopoetic. Besides, prehistorical contacts and mixtures between these languages seem not conceivable, as the Indo-Europeans are supposed to have originated in Northern Europe or at best in the Central Asian steppe, thousands of miles away from East Asia. Hence, any research into a relationship between Old Chinese and Indo-European languages would be but futile from the outset. Yet there are also opposing views among Indo-Europeanists. Investigations into Germanic languages and the oldest Indo-European language, Hittite, led some of them to a critical revision of the prevailing conception about a Proto-Indo-European. Hermann Hirt (1934) for instance states: "Inflexion of Indo-European languages is due to a relatively late development, and its correct comprehension can be achieved only by proceeding from the time of non-inflexion." And Carl Karstien (1936) holds the opinion that "Chinese corresponds most ideally to the hypothetic prototype of Indo-European." Regarding vocabulary, there are striking similarities in the monosyllabic structure of the basic words. In modern German and English, all the words of everyday speech are monosyllabic and their stereotypical structure is: initial consonant(s) + vowel(s) + final consonant(s). The same word structure is valid for Chinese as well. It is fundamentally different from the disyllabic structure of Altaic words and from the triconsonantal-disyllabic structure of Semitic words. Characteristic of the monosyllabic word structure is, besides, the complexity of the syllable nucleus, which consists of different vowels and vowel clusters in contrast to the monophthongal vocalism of polysyllabic words. Another objection raised to comparisons between Chinese and Indo-European is the existence of tonal accents in Chinese. Since most modern Indo-European languages have only expiratory accents, Chinese is considered to be a highly exotic language. Yet, even in Chinese, the use of tonal accents as a means of lexical differentiation is a result of comparatively recent development in the long history of Chinese language, the earliest monuments of which date back to 1300 B.C. (cf. Chang 1970, p.21). Unknown to Old Chinese, the existence of tonal accents was for the first time mentioned in the 5th century by Shen Yüeh (441-513). In Middle Chinese (Mch.) there were four tone categories: A P'ing-sheng 平 a level tone (which developed into Mandarin tone 1 or 2). B Shang-sheng 上 a rising tone (Mandarin tone 3). C Ch'u-sheng 去 a vanishing, i.e. falling tone (Mandarin tone 4). D Ju-sheng 入 an entering tone with a staccato effect, the word being abruptly stopped by a final consonant -p, -t, -k. (In Early Mandarin the words of this tone lost their final consonant and were distributed among the tones 2, 3 and 4, respectively according to the phonation of initials). In Middle Chinese, words of the entering tone were the only group which still preserved the final stops and therefore a close syllabic structure. So they are most appropriate for convincing comparisons with monosyllabic Indo-European word stems. The final stops -p, -t, -k of the entering tone are nowadays still extant in daily speech of several dialects in South China as well as in Chinese borrowings in Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean. As a speaker of a Taiwan dialect of Minnan origin, I could immediately identify some Indo-European stems with corresponding Chinese words. Besides, the command of Japanese and German was also a great help for this study. In the following lists I have chosen a number of Indo-European stems which are phonetically and semantically equivalent to Chinese words. Correspondences in initial and final consonants refer to the points of articulation, thus we have equations: IE labials = Old Chinese labials, IE dentals = dentals, IE l, r = dentals (cf. p. 31); Ø, i (final and medial) IE velars = velars and laryngeals, and occasionally (the so-called "satem"-forms) IE velars = dental sibilants and affricates. Regarding the manner of articulation, there are no regular correspondences between Indo-European and Chinese consonants like Grimm's law which is valid among Indo-European dialects to a certain extent. But this is not astonishing, since in Old Chinese the alternation of initials in voicing was a conventional means of creating new words from one basic form. The rules of vocalic correpondences among Indo-European dialects are quite complex. Vowels permanently change their qualities from one language to another, and from time to time within one language also, as is well known from the history of English pronunciations. Generally, the vocalism of Old Greek is taken as the standard for Proto-Indo-European. Old Chinese vowels corresponds nearly (cf. p. 30), but the details about the reconstruction of Middle and Old Chinese vocalism will be treated later (pp. 26-30). For the moment, it is necessary to notice in advance that the stem of ablauting Germanic verbs is the form of preterite or noun, rather than that of infinitive as assumed hitherto. Therefore, in some cases I must slightly modify the basic vowel of verbal stems given in Pokorny, in order to get better basis for comparison. As Old Chinese verbs were non-flexional, they might probably have preserved the original vowel the best
Meta-analysis identifies 13 new loci associated with waist-hip ratio and reveals sexual dimorphism in the genetic basis of fat distribution
No full textWaist-hip ratio (WHR) is a measure of body fat distribution and a predictor of metabolic consequences independent of overall adiposity. WHR is heritable, but few genetic variants influencing this trait have been identified. We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies for WHR adjusted for body mass index (comprising up to 77,167 participants), following up 16 loci in an additional 29 studies (comprising up to 113,636 subjects). We identified 13 new loci in or near RSPO3, VEGFA, TBX15-WARS2, NFE2L3, GRB14, DNM3-PIGC, ITPR2-SSPN, LY86, HOXC13, ADAMTS9, ZNRF3-KREMEN1, NISCH-STAB1 and CPEB4 (P = 1.9 × 10⁻⁹ to P = 1.8 × 10⁻⁴⁰) and the known signal at LYPLAL1. Seven of these loci exhibited marked sexual dimorphism, all with a stronger effect on WHR in women than men (P for sex difference = 1.9 × 10⁻³ to P = 1.2 × 10⁻¹³). These findings provide evidence for multiple loci that modulate body fat distribution independent of overall adiposity and reveal strong gene-by-sex interactions
