Alpha‐Lipoic Acid Protects against Indomethacin‐Induced Gastric Oxidative Toxicity by Modulating Antioxidant System

Abstract: Gastroprotective effects of α‐lipoic acid (ALA) against oxidative gastric damage induced by indomethacin (IND) have been investigated. All doses (50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 300 mg/kg body weight) of ALA reduced the ulcer index with 88.2% to 96.1% inhibition ratio. In biochemical analyses of stomach tissues, ALA administration decreased the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and activities of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and catalase (CAT) in gastric tissues, which were increased after IND application. ALA also increased the level of glutathione (GSH) and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione S‐transferase (GST) that were decreased in gastric damaged stomach tissues. In conclusion, the gastroprotective effect of ALA could be attributed to its ameliorating effect on the antioxidant defense systems.     

The effect of academic inbreeding on scientific effectiveness

In academia, the term “inbreeding” refers to a situation wherein PhDs are employed in the very same institution that trained them during their doctoral studies. Academic inbreeding has a negative perception on the account that it damages both scientific effectiveness and productivity. In this article, the effect of inbreeding on scientific effectiveness is investigated through a case study. This problem is addressed by utilizing Hirsch index as a reliable metric of an academic’s scientific productivity. Utilizing the dataset, constructed with academic performance indicators of individuals from the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Departments, of the Turkish Technical Universities, we demonstrate that academic inbreeding has a negative impact on apparent scientific effectiveness through a negative binomial model. This model appears to be the most suitable one for the dataset which is a type of count data. We report chi-square statistics and likelihood ratio test for the parameter alpha. According to the chi-square statistics the model is significant as a whole. The incidence rate ratio for the variable “inbreeding” is estimated to be 0.11 and this ratio tells that, holding all the other factors constant, for the inbred faculty, the h-index is about 89% lower when compared to the non-inbred faculty. Furthermore, there exists negative and statistically significant correlation with an individual’s productivity and the percentage of inbred faculty members at the very same department. Excessive practice of inbreeding adversely affects the overall productivity. Decision makers are urged to limit this practice to a minimum in order to foster a vibrant research environment. Furthermore, it is also found that scientific productivity of an individual decreases towards the end of his scientific career.     

Estimation of bearing capacity of basalts at the Atasu dam site,Turkey

This paper describes the results of the engineering geological investigations and bearing capacity studies carried out at the proposed site of the rock fill Atasu Dam, to be constructed on basalts and pyroclastics. Rock mass strength and modulus of elasticity of the rock mass were determined using the Hoek–Brown empirical strength criterion. Rock mass classifications for the dam rock foundation were undertaken following the RMR, Q and GSI systems and the stress distributions using the finite element technique. To estimate the bearing capacity of the basalts, different empirical equations were used and compared.      

Pilot study on lower nitrosamine smokeless tobacco products compared with medicinal nicotine.

Smokeless tobacco (ST) products have the potential to be used as a harm reduction method for cigarette smokers. These products can deliver significantly less toxicants than cigarettes, although they are not toxicant free nor harmless. It is important to examine potential health risks and benefits of these products. These two small pilot studies examined the effects of two different ST products (Exalt and Ariva) compared with medicinal nicotine, another potential harm reduction product. Dependent, healthy adult cigarette smokers, who were motivated to quit smoking, underwent 1 week of baseline smoking measurement. They were then asked to quit smoking and were randomly assigned to use either an ST product or a medicinal nicotine lozenge (MNL, Commit) for 2 weeks, then crossed over to use the other product for 2 weeks. In the last week, following the sampling phase, subjects could choose the product they wished to use. Assessments were made repeatedly during baseline cigarette use and throughout the 5 weeks of treatment. Outcome measures included biomarkers for tobacco exposure and subjective, physiological, and behavioral responses. Tobacco-specific carcinogen uptake was greater from Exalt than from the MNL, and was comparable between the MNL and Ariva. Physiological effects and subjective effects on withdrawal and craving were comparable among Exalt, Ariva, and the MNL. Ariva was preferred over the MNL, which was preferred over Exalt. With the exception of medicinal nicotine products, low-nitrosamine ST products have the greatest potential to result in reduced toxicant exposure compared with other combustible reduced exposure products and have promise for reducing individual risk for disease. However, the population effect of marketing of such products as reduced exposure/reduced risk is unknown. The need for further research in this area and regulation of tobacco products is evident.     

Characterization of the Grinding Behavior of Binary Mixtures of Clinker and Colemanite

The purpose of this study is to determine the grindability and kinetic behavior of clinker and colemanite in cement production when they are ground separately and together. Bond and Hardgrove grindability methods were employed to determine grindability properties clinker and colemanite by varying proportions. Bond work index (BWI) values of clinker and colemanite are 18.89 kWh/t and 12.33 kWh/t, respectively. BWI value of mixture decreases by added colemanite and the experimental BWI values of mixtures were lower than those of calculated, considering their proportions. Hardgrove grindability index (HGI) values of clinker and colemanite are 51.81 and 99.62, and Blaine fineness values are 920 cm²/g and 2430 cm²/g, respectively. As colemanite addition increases HGI and Blaine fineness values also increase. Experimental Blaine fineness values are greater than calculated values meaning that during intergrinding different ingredients do not show the same behavior as in the case of separate grinding. These findings explain that clinker particles have an abrasion effect thus an extra grinding effect on colemanite particles. The specific rates of breakage were determined through kinetic experiments to understand the grinding mechanisms of colemanite, clinker and their mixtures. The model parameters of S_i, a_T, and α were established in kinetic experiments.     

Online video scene clustering by competitive incremental NMF

Efficient clustering and categorizing of video are becoming more and more vital in various applications including video summarization, content-based representation and so on. The large volume of video data is the biggest challenge that this task presents, for most the clustering techniques suffer from high dimensional data in terms of both accuracy and efficiency. In addition to this, most video applications require online processing; therefore, clustering should also be done online for such tasks. This paper presents an online video scene clustering/segmentation method that is based on incremental nonnegative matrix factorization (INMF), which has been shown to be a powerful content representation tool for high dimensional data. The proposed algorithm (Comp-INMF) enables online representation of video content and increases efficiency significantly by integrating a competitive learning scheme into INMF. It brings a systematic solution to the issue of rank selection in nonnegative matrix factorization, which is equivalent to specifying the number of clusters. The clustering performance is evaluated by tests on TRECVID video sequences, and a performance comparison to baseline methods including Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) is provided in order to demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed video clustering scheme. Clustering performance reported in terms of recall, precision and F1 measures shows that the labeling accuracy of the algorithm is notable, especially at edit effect regions that constitute a challenging point in video analysis.     

Regulating the interpersonal self: Strategic self-regulation for coping with rejection sensitivity.

People high in rejection sensitivity (RS) anxiously expect rejection and are at risk for interpersonal and personal distress. Two studies examined the role of self-regulation through strategic attention deployment in moderating the link between RS and maladaptive outcomes. Self-regulation was assessed by the delay of gratification (DG) paradigm in childhood. In Study 1, preschoolers from the Stanford University community who participated in the DG paradigm were assessed 20 years later. Study 2 assessed low-income, minority middle school children on comparable measures. DG ability buffered high-RS people from interpersonal difficulties (aggression, peer rejection) and diminished well-being (e.g., low self-worth, higher drug use). The protective effect of DG ability on high-RS children's self-worth is explained by reduced interpersonal problems. Attentional mechanisms underlying the interaction between RS and strategic self-regulation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Formation of black glass to be used in solar collectors as absorbent and CuO and Fe2O3's effect on this glass

Solar energy has the highest potential among novel and renewable energies. In order for solar energy to be used it should first be collected. In this study, a black glass was formed by doping silicate glass with Co₃O₄ at a high concentration to be used as absorbent, and in addition, this black glass was also doped with CuO and Fe₂O₃. Optical absorptions, electrical conductivities, thermal diffusion coefficients, SEM images and EDX spectra of all glasses were obtained and effects of transition metal oxides on glass were examined.     

Original Fuel‐Cell Membranes from Crosslinked Terpolymers via a “Sol–gel” Strategy

Hybrid organic/inorganic membranes that include a functionalized (‐SO₃H), interconnected silica network, a non‐porogenic organic matrix, and a ‐SO₃H‐functionalized terpolymer are synthesized through a sol–gel‐based strategy. The use of a novel crosslinkable poly(vinylidene fluoride‐ter‐perfluoro(4‐methyl‐3,6‐dioxaoct‐7‐ene sulfonyl fluoride)‐ter‐vinyltriethoxysilane) (poly(VDF‐ter‐PFSVE‐ter‐VTEOS)) terpolymer allows a multiple tuning of the different interfaces to produce original hybrid membranes with improved properties. The synthesized terpolymer and the composite membranes are characterized, and the proton conductivity of a hybrid membrane in the absence of the terpolymer is promising, since 8 mS cm^?1 is reached at room temperature, immersed in water, with an experimental ion‐exchange‐capacity (IEC_exp) value of 0.4 meq g^?1. Furthermore, when the composite membranes contain the interfaced terpolymer, they exhibit both a higher proton conductivity (43 mS cm^?1 at 65 °C under 100% relative humidity) and better stability than the standard hybrid membrane, arising from the occurrence of a better interface between the inorganic silica and the poly[(vinylidene fluoride)‐co‐hexafluoropropylene] (poly(VDF‐co‐HFP)) copolymer network. Accordingly, the hybrid SiO₂‐SO₃H/terpolymer/poly(VDF‐co‐HFP) copolymer membrane has potential use as an electrolyte in a polymer‐electrolyte‐membrane fuel cell operating at intermediate temperatures.     

Cluster based wireless sensor network routing using artificial bee colony algorithm

Due to recent advances in wireless communication technologies, there has been a rapid growth in wireless sensor networks research during the past few decades. Many novel architectures, protocols, algorithms, and applications have been proposed and implemented. The efficiency of these networks is highly dependent on routing protocols directly affecting the network life-time. Clustering is one of the most popular techniques preferred in routing operations. In this paper, a novel energy efficient clustering mechanism, based on artificial bee colony algorithm, is presented to prolong the network life-time. Artificial bee colony algorithm, simulating the intelligent foraging behavior of honey bee swarms, has been successfully used in clustering techniques. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with protocols based on LEACH and particle swarm optimization, which are studied in several routing applications. The results of the experiments show that the artificial bee colony algorithm based clustering can successfully be applied to WSN routing protocols.