The Practical Application of Ozone Gas as an Anti-fungal (Anti-mold) Agent

We evaluated the ability of a portable ozone generating machine (Viroforce 1000) to inactivate 13 different species of environmental fungi. Samples, prepared as wet or dried films, were subjected to one or two cycles of treatment (35 ppm ozone for 20 minutes, with a short burst of?>90%?relative humidity), and measured for residual viability. Treatments could inactivate 3 log₁₀ cfu (colony forming units) of most of the fungi, both in the laboratory and in simulated field conditions, on various surfaces. We conclude that the ozone generator would be a valuable decontamination tool for mold removal in buildings.     

Effects of 28 days of resistance exercise and consuming a commercially available pre-workout supplement, NO-Shotgun?, on body composition, muscle strength and mass, markers of satellite cell activation, and clinical safety markers in males

Purpose  

This study determined the effects of 28 days of heavy resistance exercise combined with the nutritional supplement, NO-Shotgun^?, on body composition, muscle strength and mass, markers of satellite cell activation, and clinical safety markers.     

A discussion of thermo–hydro–mechanical (THM) processes associated with nuclear waste repositories

The design of a nuclear waste repository involves modeling a complex system of physical mechanisms that operate over a long period of time. The perturbations caused by both the engineering excavation and the waste heat have to be modeled, taking into account the short and long term thermo–hydro–mechanical (THM) processes. In this paper, we discuss the approach philosophy and we comment on heterogeneity, multi-stage data needs and modeling phases.     

OOPS: a toolkit supporting mediation techniques for resolving ambiguity in recognition-based interfaces

Recognition technologies are being used extensively in both commercial and research systems. Recognizers are still error-prone however, and this results in performance problems and brittle dialogues, creating barriers to the acceptance and usefulness of recognition systems. Better interfaces to systems using recognition, which can help to reduce the burden of recognition errors, are difficult to build because of lack of knowledge about the ambiguity inherent in recognition. We present a survey of the design of correction techniques in interfaces which make use of recognizers. Based on this survey, we have created a user interface toolkit, OOPS (organized option pruning system) (Mankoff et al., Proceedings of ACM CHI 2000 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2000, pp. 368–375). OOPS consists of a library of reusable error correction, or mediation, techniques drawn from the survey, combined with necessary architectural extensions to model and to provide structured support for ambiguity at the input event level of a GUI toolkit. The resulting infrastructure makes it easier for application developers to support error handling, thus helping to reduce the negative effects of recognition errors, and allowing us to explore new types of interfaces for dealing with ambiguity.     

Regioselectivity of nitroglycerin denitration by flavoprotein nitroester reductases purified from two Pseudomonas species

Two species of Pseudomonas capable of utilizing nitroglycerin (NG) as a sole nitrogen source were isolated from NG-contaminated soil and identified as Pseudomonas putida II-B and P. fluorescens I-C. While 9 of 13 laboratory bacterial strains that presumably had no previous exposure to NG could degrade low concentrations of NG (0.44 mM), the natural isolates tolerated concentrations of NG that were toxic to the lab strains (1.76 mM and higher). Whole-cell studies revealed that the two natural isolates produced different mixtures of the isomers of dinitroglycerol (DNG) and mononitroglycerol (MNG). A monomeric, flavin mononucleotide-containing NG reductase was purified from each natural isolate. These enzymes catalyzed the NADPH-dependent denitration of NG, yielding nitrite. Apparent kinetic constants were determined for both reductases. The P. putida enzyme had a Km for NG of 52 +/- 4 microM, a Km for NADPH of 28 +/- 2 microM, and a Vmax of 124 +/- 6 microM x min(-1), while the P. fluorescens enzyme had a Km for NG of 110 +/- 10 microM, a Km for NADPH of 5 +/- 1 microM, and a Vmax of 110 +/- 11 microM x min(-1). Anaerobic titration experiments confirmed the stoichiometry of NADPH consumption, changes in flavin oxidation state, and multiple steps of nitrite removal from NG. The products formed during time-dependent denitration reactions were consistent with a single enzyme being responsible for the in vivo product distributions. Simulation of the product formation kinetics by numerical integration showed that the P. putida enzyme produced an approximately 2-fold molar excess of 1,2-DNG relative to 1,3-DNG. This result could be fortuitous or could possibly be consistent with a random removal of the first nitro group from either the terminal (C-1 and C-3) positions or middle (C-2) position. However, during the denitration of 1,2-DNG, a 1.3-fold selectivity for the C-1 nitro group was determined. Comparable simulations of the product distributions from the P. fluorescens enzyme showed that NG was denitrated with a 4.6-fold selectivity for the C-2 position. Furthermore, a 2.4-fold selectivity for removal of the nitro group from the C-2 position of 1,2-DNG was also determined. The MNG isomers were not effectively denitrated by either purified enzyme, which suggests a reason why NG could not be used as a sole carbon source by the isolated organisms.     

Local-circuit neurones in the medial prefrontal cortex (areas 25, 32 and 24b) in the rat: morphology and quantitative distribution

This paper is a light microscopical study describing the detailed morphology and quantitative distribution of local circuit neurones in areas 25, 32, and 24b of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the rat. Cortical interneurones were identified immunocytochemically by their expression of calretinin (CR), parvalbumin (PV), and calbindin D-28k (CB) immunoreactivity. Neurones immunoreactive for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were also investigated, as were interneurones containing reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) diaphorase activity. Several distinct classes of CR+, PV+, and CB+ neurones were identified; the most frequent were: bipolar/bitufted CR+ cells in upper layer 3; multipolar PV+ neurones in layers 3 and 5; and bitufted/multipolar CB+ neurones in lower layer 3. CB+ neurones resembling Martinotti and neurogliaform cells were also present in layers 5/6. The morphologies and depth distributions of each cell type were consistent across the three areas of mPFC studied. Seven classes of diaphorase-reactive mPFC neurone are described; these cells were composed about 0.8% of the total neurone population and had a peak distribution located in mid- to lower layer 5 in each area. In areas 32 and 25, three defined bands of diffuse NADPH diaphorase staining were located in layer 2 and in upper and deep layer 5. Diaphorase reactivity was very infrequently colocalised with either CR, PV, or CB immunoreactivities. The numerical densities of neurones (N(V), number of cells per mm3) in each layer were calculated stereologically. The mean total neuronal N(V) estimate for areas 25, 32, and 24b was 51,603 +/- 3,324 (mean +/- S.D.; n = 8). Significant interareal differences were detected. From cortical thickness data and neuronal N(V) estimates, the absolute number of neurones under 1 mm2 of cortical surface (N(C)) have been derived. The mean N(C) value for areas 25, 32, and 24b was 57,328 +/- 7,505 neurones. In immunolabelled Nissl-stained sections, CR+ neurones constituted an overall 4.0%, PV+ cells 5.6%, and CB+ 3.4% of the total neurone populations in mPFC. GABA+ cells represented a mean of 16.2% (14.8-17.2%) of neurones in areas 25, 32 and 24b. The absolute numbers of CR+, PV+, CB+, and GABA+ neurones within individual layers in a column of cortex under 1 mm2 of cortical surface (N(L)) have also been derived, with significant interareal differences in N(L) values being detected. The data provide the structural basis for a qualitative and quantitative definition of local cortical circuits in the rat mPFC.