Severity of delayed (“secondary”) cerebral energy failure after acute hypoxia-ischemia is related to the time integral of acute ATP depletion

The aim of this study was to reproduce the delayed (secondary) cerebral energy failure previously described in birth-asphyxiated newborn infants and to investigate relationships between primary insult severity and the extent of the delayed energy failure. Phosphorus (³¹P) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 7 T was used to study the brains of 12 newborn piglets during an acute, reversible, cerebral hypoxic-ischemic episode which continued until nucleotide triphosphates (NTP) were depleted. After reperfusion and reoxygenation, spectroscopy was continued for 48 h. High-energy metabolite concentrations returned to near normal levels after the insult, but later they fell as delayed energy failure developed. The time integral of NTP depletion in the primary insult correlated strongly with the minimum [phosphocreatine (PCr)]/[inorganic orthophosphate (P_i)] observed 24–48 h after the insult. (Linear regression analysis gave slope –8.04 h^–1; ordinate intercept=1.23;r=0.92;P<0.0001.) This model is currently being used to investigate the therapeutic potential of various cerebroprotective strategies including hypothermia.     

A novel medical image compression using Ripplet transform

In spite of great advancements in multimedia data storage and communication technologies, compression of medical data remains challenging. This paper presents a novel compression method for the compression of medical images. The proposed method uses Ripplet transform to represent singularities along arbitrarily shaped curves and Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees encoder to encode the significant coefficients. The main objective of the proposed method is to provide high quality compressed images by representing images at different scales and directions and to achieve high compression ratio. Experimental results obtained on a set of medical images demonstrate that besides providing multiresolution and high directionality, the proposed method attains high Peak Signal to Noise Ratio and significant compression ratio as compared with conventional and state-of-art compression methods.     

Growth and physiochemical characterization studies on 4-chloro-2-nitroaniline nonlinear optical single crystals

The non-centrosymmetric space group organic nonlinear optical single crystal of 4-chloro-2-nitroaniline (4Cl2NA) was developed by slow evaporation method at 40 °C. Grown 4Cl2NA was monoclinic structure with Pc space group which was recognized by single-crystal XRD analysis. An intermolecular contact of 4Cl2NA was visually analysed by Hirshfeld surface analysis. Active functional groups and their respective vibrations were identified by FTIR and FT-Raman spectral analysis. Optical properties were evaluated by UV–Visible spectral analysis. Thermal TG/DTA thermogram analysis and mechanical Vickers hardness analysis revealed that the synthesis material was thermally stable up to 115 °C and mechanical work hardness coefficient (n?=?2.98) confirmed the grown crystal was soft material. Laser beam-irradiated LDT analysis expressed the laser utility limitation of the 4Cl2NA crystal. The NLO second harmonic generation efficiency was tested by Kurtz Perry powder method.

     

Changes to herbaceous plant communities on a regulated desert river

Riparian plant communities are shaped by gradients of disturbance intensity and frequency and resource availability. Reservoir operation can alter the composition and abundance of riparian vegetation by changing the flood regime and by trapping fine sediments and associated nutrients within the reservoir system. We examined differences in herbaceous species richness, abundance and composition in Populus‐Salix stands along an unregulated and regulated reach of a river in semi‐arid Arizona, contrasted flood inundation frequency and edaphic conditions (soil moisture, nutrients and texture) between the reaches, and interpreted the vegetation differences in light of observed differences in environmental conditions. Flooding frequency was similar between reaches, but the proportion of fine textured soils in the unregulated reach was nearly double that of the regulated reach and soil nutrient levels were up to three times higher in the unregulated reach. Herbaceous cover and richness were consistently lower in the regulated reach, with between‐reach differences greatest during dry seasons. These patterns suggest that an edaphic‐based change in resource availability is the principal pathway by which river damming is altering herbaceous vegetation in this system. Our results demonstrate that sediment transport within riparian corridors is important for maintenance of herbaceous communities and that restoration of flow regimes alone may be insufficient to restore herbaceous flora on some regulated reaches. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comprehensive analysis of retroreflection in Papilio crino Fabricius, 1792 wings

Multilayer thin‐film structures in the wings of a butterfly; Papilio crino produce a colourful iridescence from reflected light. In this investigation, scanning electron microscope images show both the concave cover scales and pigmented air‐chamber ground scales. The microstructures with the concavities retroreflect incident light, thus causing the double reflection. This gives rise to both the colour mixing and polarisation conversion clearly depicted in the optical images. The result of the numerical and theoretical analysis via the CIELAB, and optical reflection and transmission of light through the multilayer stacks with the use of transfer method show that the emerging colouration on the Papilio crino is structural and is due to the combination of colours caused by multiple bounces within the concavities. The butterfly wing structure can be used as the template for designing the photonic device.Inspec keywords: bio‐optics, scanning electron microscopy, photodiodes, optical sensors, optical images, light reflection, reflectivity, colour, optical links, multilayers, optical multilayers, light polarisationOther keywords: pigmented air‐chamber ground scales, concavities, incident light, double reflection, colour mixing, polarisation conversion, optical images, numerical analysis, theoretical analysis, optical reflection, multilayer stacks, emerging colouration, butterfly wing structure, papilio crino fabricius, thin‐film structures, colourful iridescence, reflected light, electron microscope images, concave cover scales     

High‐throughput microbial bioassays to screen potential New Zealand functional food ingredients intended to manage the growth of probiotic and pathogenic gut bacteria

A spectrophotometric bioassay was used to screen selected food ingredients intended for development of functional foods designed to influence the growth of gut bacteria. Dose–response profiles displaying Δ_growth, the magnitude of deviation from growth of controls, were generated for probiotics Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium lactis and pathogens Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus. Ingredients were manuka honey UMF?20+(dose‐dependently increased probiotics and decreased pathogens); bee pollen (biphasic growth effects against all); Rosehips and BroccoSprouts^® (increased all dose‐dependently); blackcurrant oil (little effect) and propolis (inhibited all strains). Ingredients were also bioassayed in pairs to assess desirable or undesirable synergistic interactions. Observed synergies included manuka honey (predominantly desirable); rosehips or BroccoSprouts® (desirable and undesirable); blackcurrant oil (desirable) and propolis (tended towards synergies reinforcing its antimicrobial effects), collectively revealing a complex web of interactions which varied by ingredient and bacterial strain. Manuka honey was particularly effective at influencing gut bacteria. The surprising frequency of undesirable synergistic interactions illustrates the importance of pre‐testing potential ingredient combinations intended for use in functional foods.     

Role of symmetry in the mirror-image confusions of preschoolers.

64 children between 3 and 5 yrs old were given a location copying task both with a standard and comparison display side by side (horizontally aligned) and with displays aligned along their diagonals. Displays were pegboards of 3 levels of complexity: 2-by-2, 4-by-4, and 6-by-6 holes. Left–right reversals were the predominant errors and were frequent for horizontally aligned displays; left–right reversals were less frequent and performance more accurate for diagonally aligned displays. Only for interior positions on the 6-by-6 hole array were errors other than left–right reversals frequent; and for these positions only, alignment did not influence accuracy. Results fail to support P. Bryant's (1973, 1974) hypothesis that mirror-image confusions are no more frequent than other in-line (in-row) errors and that these errors result from dependence on an in-line comparison strategy. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)