Replication of dimensions of locus of control.

Employed 120 male and 113 female undergraduates in a replication of H. L. Mirels's (see record 1970-10386-001) study which found 2 factors in analyzing responses to 23 items on Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale. The same polar dimensions of "luck" as the arbiter of life events as opposed to personal control were found as well as a 2nd dimension of degree of control over political and social institutions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

PET/EVA/PP ternary blends: An investigation of extended morphological properties

In this study, the effects of different parameters on the morphological properties of ternary blends were investigated. Therefore two systems (PET/H‐EVA/PP and PET/L ‐EVA/PP, H‐EVA and L ‐EVA are high and low viscosity, respectively) were prepared by melt mixing process. In all of the blends, poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) as the major phase‐ with poly propylene (PP) and two grades of poly (ethyl‐stat‐vinylacetate) (EVA) with different viscosities and subsequently different interfacial interactions was blended. Theoretical models predicted positive spreading coefficient for two grades of EVA and lower free energy for the samples consisting of EVA and PP as the shell and the core phases respectively. With changing core shell ratio, droplet size of samples containing L ‐EVA and H‐EVA increased and decreased, respectively. Subinclusion of shell into the core was observed in some blended samples. In systems containing H‐EVA, by thickening the shell phase; multi core morphology was observed which would be related to the coalescence phenomenon inter the droplets. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Bidirectional cell-surface anchoring function of C-terminal repeat region of peptidoglycan hydrolase of Lactococcus lactis IL1403

With the aim of constructing an efficient protein display system for lactic acid bacteria (LABs), the effect of fusion direction on the cell-surface binding activity of the C-terminal region of the peptidoglycan hydrolase (CPH) of Lactococcus lactis IL1403 was studied. CPH fused to the alpha-amylase (AMY) of Streptococcus bovis 148 either at its C-terminus (CPH-AMY) or at its N-terminus (AMY-CPH) was expressed intracellularly in Escherichia coli. This domain was able to direct binding of AMY to the surface of L. lactis ATCC 19435 in both constructs. However, the number of bound molecules per cell and the specific activity for starch digestion in the case of CPH-AMY were 3 and 14 times greater than those in the case of AMY-CPH, respectively. Of the LABs tested, L. lactis ATCC 19435 showed the highest binding capability for CPH-AMY, up to 6 x 10(4) molecules per cell, with a dissociation rate constant of 5.00 x 10(-5) s(-1). The binding of CPH-AMY to the surface of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ATCC 9649 cells was very stable with a dissociation rate constant of 6.96 x 10(-6) s(-1). The production of CPH-AMY in the soluble form increased 3-fold as a result of coexpression with a molecular chaperone, trigger factor. The results of this study suggest the usefulness of CPH as a bidirectional anchor protein for the production of cell-surface adhesive enzymes in E. coli. Furthermore, the importance of the fusion direction of CPH in determining cell-surface binding and enzymatic activities was shown.     

New strategy for enhancement of microbial viability in simulated gastric conditions based on display of starch-binding domain on cell surface

The C-terminal region of the peptidoglycan hydrolase (CPH) of Lactococcus lactis IL1403 fused to the linker region and the starch-binding domain (SBD) of the *-amylase of Streptococcus bovis 148 was produced intracellularly in Escherichia coli. The fusion protein (CPH-SBD) was able to bind to the cell surface of Lactobacillus casei NRRL B-441 and to corn starch. Therefore, adhesion of cells to corn starch was mediated by the fusion protein. At a cell density of 10(9) cfu/ml and a starch concentration of 5 mg/ml, CPH-SBD-displaying L. casei cells aggregated with corn starch, whereas the free cells of L. casei did not form any aggregates with corn starch. After incubation in simulated gastric juice (pH 3.0, 1 h), the survival percentages of free cells, amylose-coated free cells, and free cells mixed with corn starch were 0.074%, 7.2%, and 3.1% respectively. When CPH-SBD-displaying bacteria aggregated with corn starch, their survival percentage was 8% higher than that of free cells mixed with corn starch. The survival of the amylose-coated CPH-SBD-displaying L. casei cells was comparable to that of amylose-coated free cells, whereas the survival percentage of amylose-coated aggregates of CPH-SBD-displaying bacteria with corn starch was 28% higher than that of amylose-coated mixture of free cells with corn starch. These results demonstrate the potential usefulness of the cell-surface display technique for enhancement of the delivery of viable microorganisms to the intestinal tract.     

Nano-CuFe2O4@SO3H Catalyzed Efficient One-Pot Cyclo-Dehydration of Dimedone and Synthesis of Chromeno[4,3-b]chromenes

Chlorosulfonic acid immobilized on CuFe₂O₄ nanoparticles (nano-CuFe₂O₄@SO₃H) was evaluated as a recoverable catalyst for the one-pot cyclo-dehydration of dimedone and synthesis of chromeno[4,3-b]chromene derivatives by reaction of arylaldehydes, dimedone or 1,3-cyclohexanedione, with 3-hydroxycoumarine or 4-hydroxycoumarine in good to excellent yield. Also, 2,2′-Arylmethylene bis(3-hydroxy-5,5-dimethyl-2-cyclohexene-1-one) was synthesized by the reaction of aromatic aldehyde and dimedone using nano-CuFe₂O₄ in ethanol at room temperature. The catalyst could be recycled several times without significant loss of its catalytic activity. Clean methodologies, easy work-up procedure, high yield and simple preparation of the catalyst are some advantages of this procedure.     

Postpartum depression and vitamin D: A systematic review

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent mood disorder estimated to affect 20%–40% of women worldwide after childbirth. In recent studies, the effect of vitamin D on prevention of mood disorders and depression has been investigated, but it is still unclear how vitamin D may affect PPD. The evidence on the relevance between vitamin D deficiency and PPD is inconsistent, and assessment of the recent literature has not previously been carried out. Moreover, there are few clinical studies on PPD and vitamin D supplementation. Five studies have so far assessed the relationship between the levels of vitamin D and PPD. Findings from cohort studies suggest that vitamin-D deficiency is related to the incidence of PPD and vitamin D may play a significant role in the recovery of women with PPD, but it is uncertain whether these actions are the effect of vitamin D on the function of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the levels of estradiol, serotonin, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and/or of other mechanisms involved in PPD.     

The effect of adherent thickness on fatigue life of adhesively bonded joints

The effect of adherent thickness on the fatigue performance, fatigue limit, and failure mode of adhesively bonded thin aluminum single lap joint (SLJ) was experimentally and numerically investigated. High‐cycle fatigue tests were performed, and fatigue life was estimated using various fatigue criteria and finite element modeling. Based on the experimental results, increase in adherent thickness leads to increase in fatigue limit. In addition, failure location changes from adhesive to adherent by increasing the adherent thickness. It seems that in adherent failure, selecting a sheet with higher fatigue strength is required to achieve higher fatigue life. Also, based on the analysis of different fatigue criteria, Smith‐Watson‐Topper criterion could predict the joint fatigue life more accurately by considering the mean stress effect and the plastic strain. Finally, as an important result, an unsymmetrical SLJ specimen was evaluated as an industrial case study, and the empirical estimated life was consistent with the experimental results.     

Investigation of Methane and Carbon Dioxide Gases Permeability Through PEBAX/PEG/ZnO Nanoparticle Mixed Matrix Membrane

This paper presents a new kind of mixed matrix membrane using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as organic filler. In this mix, PEG and ZnO nanoparticles (as inorganic modifier) were added to a PEBAX polymer matrix at different concentration to study their effects on the morphology, permeability and selectivity of the membrane. To characterize the chemical structure of samples FTIR and for morphological characterization, XRD and SEM were employed. The permeability of pure gases CO₂ and CH₄ in PEBAX, and PEBAX/PEG/ZnO with different ZnO and PEG contents were determined by the constant pressure-variable volume method. Also influences of temperature and pressure on permeation properties of these membranes were studied. The results were indicative of an increase in gas permeability and enhancement which for neat PEBAX membrane, CO₂/CH₄ permeability of 44.6 and 2.193 Barrer and selectivity of 20.39 were obtained. The permeability of PEBAX/PEG (40 wt.%)/ZnO (4 wt.%) membrane was enhanced to 94.49 Barrer for CO₂ and 3.933 for CH₄. The selectivity of PEBAX/ZnO(4 wt.%) improved to 31.58 for the CO₂/CH₄ gas pair.     

Melatonin Modulates Plant Tolerance to Heavy Metal Stress: Morphological Responses to Molecular Mechanisms

Heavy metal toxicity is one of the most devastating abiotic stresses. Heavy metals cause serious damage to plant growth and productivity, which is a major problem for sustainable agriculture. It adversely affects plant molecular physiology and biochemistry by generating osmotic stress, ionic imbalance, oxidative stress, membrane disorganization, cellular toxicity, and metabolic homeostasis. To improve and stimulate plant tolerance to heavy metal stress, the application of biostimulants can be an effective approach without threatening the ecosystem. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), a biostimulator, plant growth regulator, and antioxidant, promotes plant tolerance to heavy metal stress by improving redox and nutrient homeostasis, osmotic balance, and primary and secondary metabolism. It is important to perceive the complete and detailed regulatory mechanisms of exogenous and endogenous melatonin-mediated heavy metal-toxicity mitigation in plants to identify potential research gaps that should be addressed in the future. This review provides a novel insight to understand the multifunctional role of melatonin in reducing heavy metal stress and the underlying molecular mechanisms.     

Novel aza peptide inhibitors and active-site probes of papain-family cysteine proteases

Recent characterization of multiple classes of functionalized azapeptides as effective covalent inhibitors of cysteine proteases prompted us to investigate O-acyl hydroxamates and their azapeptide analogues for use as activity-based probes (ABPs). We report here a new class of azaglycine-containing O-acylhydroxamates that form stable covalent adducts with target proteases. This allows them to be used as ABPs for papain family cysteine proteases. A second class of related analogues containing a novel O-acyl hydroxyurea warhead was found to function as covalent inhibitors of papain-like proteases. These inhibitors can be easily synthesized on solid support, which allows rapid optimization of compounds with improved selectivity and potency for a given target enzyme. We present here one such optimized inhibitor that showed selective inhibition of falcipain 1, a protease of the malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.