The Nile 2002: The Vision Toward Cooperation in the Nile Basin

ABSTRACT

The Nile 2002 conference series started in February 1993 in Aswan, Egypt and was followed by the second in Khartoum, Sudan in January 1994. Both conferences dealt with the same general theme of “Comprehensive Water Resources Development of the Nile Basin.” The Khartoum conference dealt with forty-two papers, including nine country papers from the Nile Basin, and several discussion sessions. The main feature of these papers is the emphasis on the need for cooperation among the co-basin countries and assistance from external support agencies and internal organizations. A comprehensive set of cooperation modalities, principles, and areas of potential support for external support agencies is identified. Institutional aspects are also examined emphasizing the complementary role of governmental, international support agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.     

Characterization of a new isolate of Lactobacillus fermentum IFO 3956 from Egyptian Ras cheese with proteolytic activity

More than 200 isolates were obtained from 15 Egyptian traditional dairy products (Domiatti cheese, Ras cheese and Rayeb milk) collected from local markets of Alexandria, Tanta and Kafr El-Sheikh. Examination with optical microscope of these dairy samples allowed to classify 92 bacilli, 64 of which were identified as lactobacilli. The proteolytic activity of lactobacilli isolates was tested on skim milk agar. Eight isolates showing a high proteolytic activity were further tested on UHT skim milk. The strain showing the highest proteolytic activity was purified and identified as Lactobacillus fermentum IFO 3656. The specific proteolytic activity of this strain and the factors affecting it (pH, temperature and presence of inhibitors) were studied. The proteolysis targeted mainly caseins (73% of whole casein), especially β-casein (85%). Smaller portions of whey proteins were proteolyzed (20%) essentially β-lactoglobulin. The proteolysis process gave rise to medium-sized peptide populations. The optimum conditions for the proteolysis activity of the studied strains were pH 6.5 and 37 °C. Proteolytic activities were very slightly affected by the increase of the temperature to 42 °C or the pH to 8.2. The protease system of Lactobacillus fermentum IFO 3956 is most probably composed from a high amount of metalloproteases and small amount of cysteine and serine proteases.     

Review of The Core Program: A cognitive behavioural guide to depression.

Reviews the book, The Core Program: A cognitive behavioural guide to depression by Randy J. Paterson, Lynn E. Alden, and William J. Koch (Narrated by Randy J. Paterson). Depression is one of the most common mental health concerns, and efforts to alleviate its burden are truly commendable. Emerging from the Changeways Clinic in Vancouver, this book is one of such recent efforts. This program, developed by Paterson and his colleagues, is delivered in both audio and text formats, with the audio portion narrated by Paterson. The program guides the reader to listen to the audio segment then read through its complementary section in the manual, but it emphasises the importance of working through the examples and completion of the provided worksheets. Overall, the Core Program is a well-developed manual for the treatment of depression. It uses the knowledge derived from cutting-edge research in the field of cognitive science, as well as sound evidence-based practise methods, to provide a valuable tool in the fight against depression. It is replete with pertinent examples and homework assignments, and clearly reflects the authors’ collective expertise in the field of clinical psychology. This program is recommended for use by depressed and/or anxious clients during the course of formal therapy and under the supervision of a licensed practitioner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interlaminar shear stress distribution between nested layers of plain weave composites

During the manufacture of woven fabric composites, fabric layup and lateral compression may cause fabric layers to nest with each other and compact altering the mechanical behavior of the composite. In this work, nesting and layer compaction were geometrically defined and their mechanistic impact on the interlaminar shear distribution was analyzed. Neighboring layers of plain weaves were geometrically modeled to nest with one another via a relative in‐plane horizontal translation, an out‐of‐plane vertical translation, forcing them into valleys of neighboring layers, and vertical compaction. The normal stress distribution within each layer was mapped and used to obtain the interlaminar shear stress distribution between layers utilizing a strain energy density approach. Four‐point flexural tests were carried out and the average value of the normal stress in different layers at failure was used to evaluate the interlaminar shear strength. It was found that nesting reduces the interlaminar shear stress between layers, while compaction of nested layers reduces the variation in the stress distribution within the layer itself. Failure occurs when the interlaminar shear stress exceeds the shear strength of the matrix material between the layers. POLYM. COMPOS., 31:1838–1845, 2010. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Heterogeneity in retinal disease and the computational model of the human-rod response

Abnormal rod-receptor activity can be quantitatively assessed in humans by fitting a computational model of the rod's response to the leading edge of the a wave of the electroretinogram. One purpose of the present study was to compare two procedures for fitting the model to the electroretinogram. A computationally simpler method gives comparable results to the more labor-intensive method used previously. This finding holds for both normal observers and patients with retinodegenerative disease that affects the receptors unevenly. A second purpose of the present study was to consider the effects of a heterogeneous disease process on the parameters of the model. a waves from a heterogeneous retina are computer simulated and are fitted with the receptor model. This analysis suggests that the model will overestimate the change in the healthiest rods and will underestimate the percentage of the rods that are significantly affected.     

Multifocal rod electroretinograms

PURPOSE: To assess the feasibility of obtaining reliable multifocal rod electroretinograms (ERGS) and to compare them to full-field ERGs. METHODS: Multifocal rod ERGs were recorded using a stimulus array of 61 hexagons. The minimum number of dark, blank frames between flashes was varied from 0 (a minimum of 13.3 msec between flashes) to 21 (a minimum of 293 msec between flashes). Full-field ERGs were obtained using trains of flashes designed to simulate the multifocal sequences. Flashes were blue (W47B), except in a few cases in which red (W26) was used to check for cone intrusion. Flash intensities varied from -1 to 1.7 log scot td-s. RESULTS: Dark-adapted, multifocal ERGs to blue flashes had a small, early component followed by a larger, late component. The early component showed little change in amplitude with increasing intensity. Comparisons with the full-field ERGs indicated that the early component was the focal response. The larger, late component was the response to stray light, and it can be suppressed with the addition of a surround. The focal response was from a relatively circumscribed retinal region. This is shown by comparing the multifocal rod responses from a patient with retinitis pigmentosa to her behaviorally measured rod visual field. CONCLUSIONS: By choosing conditions (namely, flashes of moderate intensity with a surround) to minimize the effects of stray light, multifocal rod ERGs can be recorded with sufficient localization to be clinically useful. However, the signal-to-noise ratio of these multifocal rod ERGs was poorer than for multifocal cone responses for comparable recording periods because of the need for blank frames and the slower recovery of the rods to successive presentations.     

Characterization of new strain Lactobacillus paracasei I-N-10 with proteolytic activity: Potential role in decrease in β-casein immuno-reactivity

The proteolytic activity of thirty-three LAB isolates from Mongolian tarag was tested on skimmed milk. The strain displaying the highest proteolytic activity was purified and presented by 16S rDNA sequencing 99.9?% homology with Lactobacillus paracasei 1-4-2A. It was named L. paracasei I-N-10. Proteases of L. paracasei I-N-10 hydrolyze predominately ??-casein and in some level ??_S2-casein; hydrolysis of ??_S1-casein was not observed. Proteolytic activity was optimal at 42?°C and neutral pH. Proteases of L. paracasei I-N-10 were inhibited by serine- and metalloproteases inhibitors. PCR amplification revealed the presence of prtP gene, which was identical to prtP gene of L. paracasei genus. Mass spectrometry analysis of ??-casein hydrolysate allowed to characterize 7 peptides resulting from proteolysis by L. paracasei I-N-10. The isolated strain was able to cleave ??-casein in different sites including 2 of the major linear epitopes implicated in its allergenicity. Being sensitive to main antibiotics classes, L. paracasei I-N-10 could be considered as safe and used as starter culture with a potential role in decreasing ??-casein immuno-reactivity.     

Effect of Pure Lipids and Natural Oils on the Production of Antibiotics by Microorganism

Adding 10–50 mg/l of synthetic unsaturated lipids or natural oils to the nutrient media during antibiotic fermentation increases the yield of antibiotics 10 to 20 fold. Very high concentrations of lipids are sometimes inhibitory to antibiotic production.