Comparative study of lipids in mature seeds of six Cordia species (family boraginaceae) collected in different regions of Brazil

The oil content, FA, and lipid class composition of the mature seeds of six Cordia species were analyzed. Mature seeds of each species were collected in their natural habitat from 2002 to 2004. The total lipid content varied from 1.9% to 13.2%, there beings significant differences between the results found in different years for each species and between the species analyzed. The contents of FFA varied from 2.0% to 7.9% of total lipids. Neutral lipids (NL) were the largest class, making up between 89.6% and 96.4% of the total lipids; the phospholipids (PL) were the second largest class (3.0% to 8.9% of the toal lipids), and the glycolipids (GL) were the smallest class (0.6 to 3.4%). The presence of GLA was determined in each class of lipids; it is predominant in the NL. Levels of GLA ranged from 1.2% to 6.8% of total seed FA. This is, to our knowledge the first study of lipid composition in seeds of species of Cordia from Brazil.     

A Round Robin characterisation of the hydrogen sorption properties of a carbon based material

A Round Robin exercise has been carried out in the frame of the European project NESSHY (Novel and Efficient Solid State HYdrogen storage systems) to evaluate the hydrogen physisorption on a commercial microporous carbon material. Fourteen laboratories have measured pressure–composition–isotherms at 77 K and ambient temperature following a test protocol. The dispersion of isotherms increases with pressure. Four similar isotherms measured by different methods from different laboratories are proposed as standard hydrogen sorption behaviour. The hydrogen capacities are 1.40(±0.1) and 0.07(±0.01) wt.% for 1 MPa hydrogen pressure at 77 K and ambient temperature, respectively. A statistical evaluation of the results is applied in order to point out laboratories that might need a corrective action. Tentative recommendations for optimising the acquisition of physisorption isotherm data and a check list for data reporting are proposed. The authors advise this carbon material as being suitable for benchmarking of laboratories in this field.     

Physical aggression in a community sample of at-risk young couples: Gender comparisons for high frequency, injury, and fear.

The associations of frequent physical aggression, injury, and fear were examined for a community-based sample of at-risk young couples who were dating, cohabiting, or married. It was hypothesized that frequent physical aggression toward a partner, in the range of shelter samples, is largely caused by antisocial behavior and mutual couple conflict and, thus, that there would be greater similarity across genders in such behavior than has previously been supposed. It was also predicted that levels of injury and fear would be higher in women but that some men would experience these impacts. Findings indicated similarity across genders both in the prevalence of frequent aggression and in its association with antisocial behavior. Furthermore, such aggression was likely to be bidirectional in couples. Contrary to the hypothesis of the study, rates of injury and fear for the women were not significantly higher than for the men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk-informed inservice inspection program

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has developed draft guidance for power reactor licenses on acceptable methods for using probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) information and insights in support of plant-specific applications to change the current licensing basis (CLB) for inservice inspection (ISI) of piping. This process is also known as risk-informed inservice inspection programs (RI-ISI). The risk-informed inservice inspection process for operating nuclear power plants provides an alternative method for selecting and categorizing piping components that are inspected for the purposes of meeting the requirements of ASME Section XI. A RI-ISI approach will incorporate probabilistic techniques to help define the scope, type and frequency of inservice inspection. The risk-informed process may support a decrease in the number of inspection and inspection intervals but will also identify areas where increased resources should be allocated to enhance safety. The approach discussed in this paper follows the method developed by NRC staff.     

Technical description of the CENBG nanobeam line

Two years ago, the CENBG has commissioned the AIFIRA (Application Interdisciplinaire des Faisceaux d’Ions en Aquitaine) facility for the development of an interdisciplinary research program based on a 3.5 MV Singletron^? accelerator (HVEE, The Netherlands). In addition to the existing beam lines, this facility is being equipped with a high demagnification focused beam line allowing the focusing of protons, deuterons and alpha particles down to a sub-micrometer resolution. This so-called “nanobeam line”, based on a long working distance doublet–triplet of Oxford Microbeams Ltd., OM-50^? quadrupoles, is at its final stage of development. The chosen layout of the beam line has been computed in details using the GEANT4 simulation toolkit. In the simulations, experimental measurements of the beam emittance at the entrance slits have been used to obtain more realistic beam distributions and intensities along the full beam line. According to these simulations, a beam resolution of about 300 nm in high current mode and below 100 nm in STIM mode is expected. The components of the beam line have been mounted at the 0° output of the Singletron^? switching magnet and the fine alignment will be performed using the ion beam in the coming weeks.In the present paper, all the major components of the CENBG nanobeam line are described in details.     

To shrink or not to shrink: Hotelling's T2 chart based on shrunken covariance estimates

Several authors have studied the effect of parameter estimation on the performance of Phase II control charts and shown that large in‐control reference samples are necessary for the Phase II control charts to perform as desired. For higher dimensional data, even larger reference samples are required to achieve stable estimation of the in‐control parameters. Shrinkage estimation has been widely studied as a method to achieve stable estimation of the covariance matrix for high‐dimensional data. We investigate the average run length (ARL) distribution of the Hotelling T² chart when using a shrunken covariance matrix. Specifically, we explore the following questions: (1) Does the use of a shrinkage estimator of the covariance matrix result in reduced variability in the ARL performance of the T² chart? (2) Does the use of a shrinkage estimator of the covariance matrix result in a reduced occurrence of “strictly multivariate” false alarms on the T²chart? (3) How does shrinkage of the covariance matrix affect the out‐of‐control performance of the T² chart? We use a simulation study to investigate the use of shrinkage estimation with the Hotelling T² chart in Phase II. Our results indicate that, while shrinkage estimation affects the ARL performance of the T² chart, the benefits are small and occur in fairly specific circumstances. The benefits of shrinking may not justify the use of more advanced techniques.     

Potential of Aqueous Humor as a Liquid Biopsy for Uveal Melanoma

Tumor biopsy can identify prognostic biomarkers for metastatic uveal melanoma (UM), however aqueous humor (AH) liquid biopsy may serve as an adjunct. This study investigated whether the AH of UM eyes has sufficient circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to perform genetic analysis. This is a case series of 37 AH samples, taken before or after radiation, and one tumor wash sample, from 12 choroidal and 8 ciliary body (CB) melanoma eyes. AH was analyzed for nucleic acid concentrations. AH DNA and one tumor wash sample underwent shallow whole-genome sequencing followed by Illumina sequencing to detect somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs). Four post-radiation AH underwent targeted sequencing of BAP1 and GNAQ genes. Post-radiation AH had significantly higher DNA and miRNA concentrations than paired pre-radiation samples. Highly recurrent UM SCNAs were identified in 0/11 post-radiation choroidal and 6/8 post-radiation CB AH. SCNAs were highly concordant in a CB post-radiation AH with its matched tumor (r = 0.978). BAP1 or GNAQ variants were detected in 3/4 post-radiation AH samples. AH is a source of ctDNA in UM eyes, particularly in post-radiation CB eyes. For the first time, UM SCNAs and mutations were identified in AH-derived ctDNA. Suggesting that AH can serve as a liquid biopsy for UM.     

Differences in Charge Distribution in Leishmania tarentolae Leishmanolysin Result in a Reduced Enzymatic Activity

Leishmania tarentolae is a non-pathogenic trypanosomatid isolated from lizards widely used for heterologous protein expression and extensively studied to understand the pathogenic mechanisms of leishmaniasis. The repertoire of leishmanolysin genes was reported to be expanded in L. tarentolae genome, but no proteolytic activity was detected. Here, we analyzed L. tarentolae leishmanolysin proteins from the genome to the structural levels and evaluated the enzymatic activity of the wild-type and overexpressing mutants of leishmanolysin. A total of 61 leishmanolysin sequences were retrieved from the L. tarentolae genome. Five of them were selected for phylogenetic analysis, and for three of them, we built 3D models based on the crystallographic structure of L. major ortholog. Molecular dynamics simulations of these models disclosed a less negative electrostatic potential compared to the template. Subsequently, L. major LmjF.10.0460 and L. tarentolae LtaP10.0650 leishmanolysins were cloned in a pLEXSY expression system into L. tarentolae. Proteins from the wild-type and the overexpressing parasites were submitted to enzymatic analysis. Our results revealed that L. tarentolae leishmanolysins harbor a weak enzymatic activity about three times less abundant than L. major leishmanolysin. Our findings strongly suggest that the less negative electrostatic potential of L. tarentolae leishmanolysin can be the reason for the reduced proteolytic activity detected in this parasite.     

Stress responses and coping propensity among paranoid and nonparanoid, episodic, and remitted schizophrenics.

28 remitted and 28 episodic paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics performed a "coping task" consisting of a simple tapping response purported to affect the duration of stressing loud sounds. Cognitive appraisals of the effectiveness of the available response, and task-performance measures of propensity (vis-à-vis reticence) to engage in the response were monitored. Results indicate both paranoid and nonparanoid Ss appraised the available coping response as being less effective than did controls; behavioral measures indicated generally lower propensity to cope among the nonparanoid Ss; the paranoid Ss were similar to controls on selected coping-propensity measures. These differences remained constant across episodic and remitted stages of illness. Psychophysiological evidence of stress arousal (heart-rate acceleration) indicated elevated responsivity specifically among the episodic patients. Results were discussed in terms of current formulations concerning vulnerability to schizophrenic episodes and efforts to cope with environmental stressors. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)