Varicella-zoster virus ORF57, unlike its pseudorabies virus UL3.5 homolog, is dispensable for viral replication in cell culture

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of percutaneous minocycline hydrochloride sclerotherapy in symptomatic hepatic cysts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From November 1992 to June 1994, seven of eight consecutive adults with large symptomatic hepatic cysts (diameter, 55-130 mm) were treated with a single intracystic injection of minocycline hydrochloride in an ambulatory procedure. Five patients had a solitary cyst, and two had polycystic liver disease. The target cyst was punctured under ultrasound guidance and local anesthesia with a 22-gauge Chiba needle. Half of the cyst content was aspirated before injection of 100-500 mg of minocycline hydrochloride diluted in 5-25 mL of saline. The minocycline hydrochloride was left in the cyst at the end of the procedure. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 28 months (range, 24-42 months), all five patients with solitary cysts were asymptomatic and four had documented complete cyst regression; the two patients with multiple hepatic cysts showed only transient clinical improvement. CONCLUSION: Single-shot injection of minocycline hydrochloride is an effective treatment for symptomatic solitary hepatic cysts but is less effective in polycystic liver disease.     

Numerical Investigations on the Advantage of Nanofluids under DDMC in a Lid‐Driven Cavity

Double diffusive mixed convection in a lid‐driven cavity filled with Cu–water nanofluid is studied in detail. Various numerical experiments are conducted under horizontal thermal and concentration gradients. Flow equations were solved in velocity vorticity form using Galerkin's weighted residual finite element method. The Maxwell‐Garnett model and Brinkman models are applied to predict the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid, respectively. The effectiveness of a nanofluid on heat transfer enhancement with respect to change in Richardson number has been studied at different Reynolds numbers for variation in particle volume fraction from 0 to 0.05. Similarly, the effect of buoyancy ratio on heat and mass transfer is presented for buoyancy ratio in the range of ?25 to 25. Detailed contour plots comparing the streamlines, temperature, concentration with and without nanoparticles were presented for all the range of parameters considered. The role of particle concentration and change in type of nanofluid has been reported. The average Nusselt number has increased in all the cases where as the Sherwood number slightly decreased with an increase in particle volume fraction. The Ag–water nanofluid showed better improvement in heat transfer characteristics compared to other nanofluids for all Reynolds numbers and particle volume fractions.     

Analysis of Multi-Component Non-Stationary Signals Using Fourier-Bessel Series and Wigner-Hough Transform

We presented a novel Fourier-Bessel (FB) series and Wigner-Hough transform (WHT) method for the analysis of multi-component non-stationary signals. The FB series decomposed multi-component non-stationary signals into mono-component signals. The Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) was applied to each mono-component signal to analyze its time-frequency distribution (TFD). Summing up the WVDs of the individual components resulted in TFDs of the multi-component signals, where the cross terms and noise were significantly reduced. The Hough transform (HT) was applied on the TFD of the multi-component signal (obtained from FB-WVD). The HT provides an important tool for mapping the signals onto a parameter space where the detection and estimation problems are made easier. This mapping can be used in the detection and parameter estimation of signals which are unknown and embedded in noise.     

Toxic effects of disyston and furadan on the bimodal pattern of oxygen consumption in the climbing perch, Anabas testudineus (Bloch)

A significant change was noted in the aquatic (vO₂), aerial (VO₂) and total [(v + V)O₂] consumption of Anabas testudineus (Bloch) exposed to 4.0 and 10.5 mg l⁻¹ disyston and 0.56 and 1.56 mg l⁻¹ furadan. After 1 h of exposure to all the concentrations significant decreases were noticed in the (v + V)O₂. Though significant increases were noted in all the measures of respiration after 3 h of exposure in both the pesticides, their effects vary from one exposure period to another. The fish held in 4.0 mg l⁻¹ disyston and 0.56 mg l⁻¹ furadan concentrations resumed normal pattern of bimodal respiration after 120 and 96 h respectively. Further the pattern of changes in (v + V)O₂ closely followed the changes observed in VO₂ rather than vO₂ indicating that the fish held in pesticide medium predominantly relied on aerial respiration. A direct correlation was noticed between the VO₂ consumption and the surfacing frequency of the fish exposed to disyston and furadan. Relatively furadan is more toxic than disyston to Anabas testudineus if their effects on O₂ consumption are taken into consideration.     

The beta protein of phage lambda binds preferentially to an intermediate in DNA renaturation

Phage lambda encodes two recombination proteins that are required for homologous recombination in a recA- host strain. Of these two recombination proteins, one is an exonuclease whose action on double-stranded DNA produces 3' single-stranded ends; the other, called beta protein, is a DNA binding protein that promotes the renaturation of complementary single strands. The enzymes of phage lambda provide a model for understanding a recombination pathway called "single-strand annealing". Further investigation of the binding of beta protein to DNA has revealed a new mechanism of renaturation. As reported before, beta protein binds directly to single-stranded DNA, but not to double-stranded DNA. However, in the experiments reported here, we observed that beta protein bound more strongly to a presumed intermediate in the renaturation reaction that beta itself catalyzed, and beta thereby protected all of a renatured duplex 83-mer oligonucleotide from nuclease digestion.     

Diospyros assimilis root extract assisted biosynthesised silver nanoparticles and their evaluation of antimicrobial activity

The current research study focuses on biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) for the first time from silver acetate employing methanolic root extract of Diospyros assimilis. The UV–Vis absorption spectrum of biologically synthesised nanoparticles displayed a surface plasmon peak at 428 nm indicating the formation of Ag NPs. The influence of metal ion concentration, reaction time and amount of root extract in forming Ag NPs by microscopic and spectral analysis was thoroughly investigated. Structural analysis from transmission electron microscopy confirmed the nature of metallic silver as face‐centered cubic (FCC) crystalline with an average diameter of 17 nm, which correlates with an average crystallite size (19 nm) calculated from X‐ray diffraction analysis. Further, the work was extended for the preliminary examination of antimicrobial activity of biologically synthesised Ag NPs that displayed promising activity against all the tested pathogenic strains.Inspec keywords: antibacterial activity, nanoparticles, silver, particle size, nanofabrication, nanomedicine, biomedical materials, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, optical microscopy, surface plasmon resonance, transmission electron microscopy, crystallites, X‐ray diffraction, microorganismsOther keywords: Diospyros assimilis root extract assisted biosynthesised silver nanoparticles, antimicrobial activity, silver acetate, methanolic root extract, UV‐visible absorption spectrum, biologically synthesised nanoparticles, surface plasmon peak, Ag NPs formation, metal ion concentration, reaction time, microscopic analysis, spectral analysis, structural analysis, transmission electron microscopy, metallic silver, FCC crystalline phase, average crystallite size, X‐ray diffraction analysis, pathogenic strains, Ag     

Identification of Indian languages using multi-level spectral and prosodic features

In this paper spectral and prosodic features extracted from different levels are explored for analyzing the language specific information present in speech. In this work, spectral features extracted from frames of 20 ms (block processing), individual pitch cycles (pitch synchronous analysis) and glottal closure regions are used for discriminating the languages. Prosodic features extracted from syllable, tri-syllable and multi-word (phrase) levels are proposed in addition to spectral features for capturing the language specific information. In this study, language specific prosody is represented by intonation, rhythm and stress features at syllable and tri-syllable (words) levels, whereas temporal variations in fundamental frequency (F ₀ contour), durations of syllables and temporal variations in intensities (energy contour) are used to represent the prosody at multi-word (phrase) level. For analyzing the language specific information in the proposed features, Indian language speech database (IITKGP-MLILSC) is used. Gaussian mixture models are used to capture the language specific information from the proposed features. The evaluation results indicate that language identification performance is improved with combination of features. Performance of proposed features is also analyzed on standard Oregon Graduate Institute Multi-Language Telephone-based Speech (OGI-MLTS) database.     

Recovery of Na2SO4·10H2O from a reverse osmosis retentate by eutectic freeze crystallisation technology

The increasing amount of waste water and effluent from South Africa's mining industry forms a growing problem, which processing requires sustainable solutions in which both the water and the dissolved component can be re-used. Eutectic freeze crystallisation (EFC) has been identified as a key technology that is not only energy efficient, but also produces ice and salt products of high quality. Unlike reverse osmosis membrane systems, EFC can treat both dilute and concentrated systems minimising waste water volumes. In this paper it is shown that freeze and eutectic freeze crystallisation can be used for the processing of a reverse osmosis retentate stream containing 4% NaSO₄ and a number of impurities (F, Cl, K, Li, Mg, Ca, NO₃ and NH₄), producing both pure water and NaSO₄·10H₂O crystals. The influence of the impurities on the eutectic point and on the crystal structure of mirabilite was investigated using EFC technology investigated for a pure binary system, for a synthetic reverse osmosis retentate as well as for a concentrated NaCl system. In addition, investigations into the recovery and purity of mirabilite for these streams were conducted.