Growth, voluntary food intake and digestion in farmed temperate and tropical deer

Growth and voluntary feed intake (VFI) in grazing temperate farmed deer species are influenced by the feeding value of the forage and the stage of the deer's seasonal cycle. Liveweight gain (LWG) of growing red deer was greater when perennial ryegrass (0.80)/white clover (0.20) pasture was grazed at 10 cm than 5 cm surface height, but venison production by one year of age was still low. Chicory and red clover were of superior feeding value for deer than perennial ryegrass-based pastures, increasing LWG of young red and hybrid (0.25 elk; 0.75 red deer) deer during summer and autumn, due to higher VFI and to higher organic matter digestibility. Relative to perennial ryegrass, chicory disintegrated faster in the rumen, with very low rumination time and faster rumen outflow rates of liquid and particulate matter. Inputs of red clover and chicory substantially increased venison carcass weights at one year of age from grazing red and hybrid stags. In indoor pen feeding studies, red deer were shown to have a seasonal cycle of digestive function, with greater rumen mean retention time (MRT) and greater rates of rumen ammonia production in summer than in winter. It was deduced that the purpose of the digestive cycle was to maintain apparent digestibility constant as VFI increased during summer. Tropical sambar deer were also shown to have seasonal cycles in growth and VFI that were of reduced amplitude compared with red deer. Peak VFI and growth occurred in autumn and minimum VFI and growth occurred in spring. Feed conversion (kg DM eaten/kg LWG) was more efficient for sambar than for red deer, due to lower VFI and lower heat production, but there was no difference between species in digestive efficiency.     

Mechanism of irreversible inactivation of phosphomannose isomerases by silver ions and flamazine

Silver ions and silver-containing compounds have been used as topical antimicrobial agents in a variety of clinical situations. We have previously shown that the enzyme phosphomannose isomerase (PMI) is essential for the biosynthesis of Candida albicans cell walls. In this study, we find that PMI can be inhibited by silver ions. This process is shown to be irreversible, and is a two-step process, involving an intermediate complex with a dissociation constant, Ki, of 59 +/- 8 microM, and a maximum rate of inactivation of 0.25 +/- 0.04 min-1 in 50 mM Hepes buffer, pH 8.0 at 37 degrees C. The enzyme can be protected against this inactivation by the substrate mannose 6-phosphate, with a dissociation constant of 0.31 +/- 0.04 mM, close to its Km value. Flamazine (silver sulfadiazine) is a silver-containing antibiotic which is used clinically as a topical antimicrobial and antifungal agent. We compared the ability of silver sulfadiazine and two other silver-containing compounds to irreversibly inactivate C. albicans PMI. The addition of the organic moiety increased the affinity of the compounds, with silver sulfadiazine showing a Ki of 190 +/- 30 nM. In all cases, the maximum inhibition rate was similar, implying a similar rate-determining step. Silver sulfadiazine does not inhibit Escherichia coli PMI, and this suggests a role of the only free cysteine, Cys-150, in the inactivation process. To confirm this, we mutated this residue to alanine in C. albicans PMI. The resultant Cys150 --> Ala mutant protein showed similar Vm and Km values to the wild-type enzyme.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Evaluation of the proline-rich antigen of Coccidioides immitis as a vaccine candidate in mice

We have expressed the proline-rich antigen (PRA) from Coccidioides immitis in Escherichia coli and evaluated its potential as a vaccine candidate. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the recombinant protein (rPRA) revealed two bands, which exhibited virtually identical primary amino acid sequences. T cells from rPRA-immunized BALB/c mice showed a significant in vitro proliferative response to rPRA. A small but statistically significant proliferative response was also induced by rPRA in T cells from mice immunized with whole-cell coccidioidal vaccines. BALB/c mice immunized with rPRA and challenged intraperitoneally with virulent C. immitis had a greatly reduced fungal burden in their lungs and spleens compared to unvaccinated mice. The number of organisms in the lungs was reduced 500-fold, and similar reductions were observed in the spleens of immunized mice. These studies support the continued development of rPRA as a candidate vaccine for prevention of coccidioidomycosis.     

A Simple D 2-Sampling Based PTAS for k-Means and Other Clustering Problems

Given a set of points \(P \subset\mathbb{R}^{d}\) , the k-means clustering problem is to find a set of k centers \(C = \{ c_{1},\ldots,c_{k}\}, c_{i} \in\mathbb{R}^{d}\) , such that the objective function ∑ _x∈P e(x,C)², where e(x,C) denotes the Euclidean distance between x and the closest center in C, is minimized. This is one of the most prominent objective functions that has been studied with respect to clustering. D ²-sampling (Arthur and Vassilvitskii, Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA’07, pp. 1027–1035, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2007) is a simple non-uniform sampling technique for choosing points from a set of points. It works as follows: given a set of points \(P \subset\mathbb{R}^{d}\) , the first point is chosen uniformly at random from P. Subsequently, a point from P is chosen as the next sample with probability proportional to the square of the distance of this point to the nearest previously sampled point. D ²-sampling has been shown to have nice properties with respect to the k-means clustering problem. Arthur and Vassilvitskii (Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA’07, pp. 1027–1035, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2007) show that k points chosen as centers from P using D ²-sampling give an O(logk) approximation in expectation. Ailon et al. (NIPS, pp. 10–18, 2009) and Aggarwal et al. (Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques, pp. 15–28, Springer, Berlin, 2009) extended results of Arthur and Vassilvitskii (Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA’07, pp. 1027–1035, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2007) to show that O(k) points chosen as centers using D ²-sampling give an O(1) approximation to the k-means objective function with high probability. In this paper, we further demonstrate the power of D ²-sampling by giving a simple randomized (1+?)-approximation algorithm that uses the D ²-sampling in its core.     

Forensic image analysis using inconsistent noise pattern

With the advancement of image acquisition devices and social networking services, a huge volume of image data is generated. Using different image and video processing applications, these image data are manipulated, and thus, original images get tampered. These tampered images are the prime source of spreading fake news, defaming the personalities and in some cases (when used as evidence) misleading the law bodies. Hence before relying totally on the image data, the authenticity of the image must be verified. Works of the literature are reported for the verification of the authenticity of an image based on noise inconsistency. However, these works suffer from limitations of confusion between edges and noise, post-processing operation for localization and need of prior knowledge about an image. To handle these limitations, a noise inconsistency-based technique has been presented here to detect and localize a false region in an image. This work consists of three major steps of pre-processing, noise estimation and post-processing. For the experimental purpose two, publicly available datasets are used. The result is discussed in terms of precision, recall, accuracy and f1-score on the pixel level. The result of the presented work is also compared with the recent state-of-the-art techniques. The average accuracy of the proposed work on datasets is 91.70%, which is highest among state-of-the-art techniques.

     

Performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing based M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation in asymmetrical dual-hop mixed RF-FSO transmission system

This paper investigates the performance of a dual-hop mixed relay system with radio frequency (RF) and free-space optics (FSO) communication under the effect of pointing error (PE) and atmospheric turbulence (AT). This paper considers a system where RF and FSO links are cascaded. The RF link is modeled by Nakagami-m fading, and the FSO link is modeled as gamma–gamma (G-G) fading channel. Both the channel models use orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The expressions for probability density function, cumulative distribution function, signal-to-noise ratio, and ergodic capacity are derived. The moment generating function (MGF) of fading and the bit error rate (BER) of the OFDM-based M-ary QAM scheme is derived in terms of Meijer's G-function. It has been observed that, in fixed gain relay systems, the modulation scheme's BER is dominated by the SNR of the RF link. While in a variable gain relay system, the turbulence conditions of the FSO system affect the SNR and the BER of the modulation method. The feasibility of heterodyne detection and intensity modulation direct detection (IM/DD) is analyzed in terms of outage probability and ergodic capacity. The results can be used to choose the optimal modulation order and relay system for QAM-OFDM-based optical wireless systems.     

Comparison of osteoconductivity and absorbability of beta-tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite in clinical scenario of opening wedge high tibial osteotomy

The purpose of this study was to compare the osteoconductivity, and absorbability of hydroxyapatite or beta-tricalcium phosphate in clinical scenario of opening wedge high tibial osteotomy Total 41 knees of 40 patients with follow up period of more than 1 year were enrolled. These patients were divided into two groups, Group I (22 knees, 21 patients) used hydroxyapatite and Group II (19 knees, 19 patients) used beta-tricalcium phosphate as a substitute in the opening gap. According to proven method, the osteoconductivity was assessed radiographically by the extent of new bone formation at osteotomy space and absorbability was evaluated by measuring the area occupied by substitute at immediate postoperative, postoperative 6 months and 1 year. Regarding preoperative demographic data, no significant differences were found between two groups. No statistically significant differences were found between two groups regarding lower limb alignment (mechanical femorotibial angle, weight-bearing line%) and posterior tibial slope at postoperative and final follow up radiographs. Concerning the osteoconductivity, there were no significant differences between two groups in any zone. However, the absorption rate was significantly greater in the Group II than in Group I at 6 months (Group I: 13.7?±?6.8, group II: 35.3?±?15.8, P?=?0.001) and 1 year (Group I: 24.2?±?6.3, Group II: 49.6?±?14.3, P?<?0.0001). The complications related to bone substitutes were not observed. Both hydroxyapatite and beta-tricalcium phosphate showed satisfactory gap healing without complications and can be successfully used as alternative healing materials in opening wedge high tibial osteotomy. Our study showed that beta-tricalcium phosphate has superior absorbability than hydroxyapatite. But osteoconductivity showed no significant difference.     

Experimental deformation analysis of an adhesively bonded multi-material joint for marine applications

The strength and deformation of full-scale adhesively bonded multi-material joints is studied in this paper. Four joints with a thick layer of methyl methacrylate adhesive (MMA) have been manufactured in shipyard conditions. In two specimens, cracks have been introduced at steel–adhesive and composite–adhesive interfaces. One cracked and one un-cracked specimen were subjected to quasi-static tensile testing; the two remaining specimens were stepwise loaded/unloaded with increasing load until failure. The strain in the adhesive layers was measured with digital image correlation (DIC). This showed a predominant shear deformation and dissimilar shear strain patterns for different bond lines. Fibre Bragg (FBG) sensors were used to monitor strains at steel and composite constituents and to detect the onset and evolution of damage in the un-cracked specimen. Strains measured by FBG sensors correspond well with DIC results at nearby regions. All specimens failed by delamination of the composite panel near the composite–adhesive interface.     

A chondroitin sulfate/keratan sulfate proteoglycan, PG-1000, forms complexes which are concentrated in the reticular laminae of electric organ basement membranes

Previously, we identified PG-1000 as part of a disulfide-linked complex of two large proteoglycans (PG-1000 and the beta component) and three smaller proteins purified from the extracellular matrix of elasmobranch electric organ (Iwata and Carlson, 1991, J. Biol. Chem. 266: 323-333). PG-1000 is a chondroitin sulfate/keratan sulfate proteoglycan with a molecular mass of about 1.2 x 16(6) daltons. When visualized in the electron microscope, PG-1000 has the typical "bottle-brush" appearance expected for a proteoglycan with an average total length of about 345 nm and about 20 chains of approximately 110 nm (Carlson and Wight, 1987, J. Cell Biol. 105: 3075-3086). Using immunocytochemical methods, we now demonstrate that PG-1000 is a component of the interstitial extracellular matrix of the electric organ. PG-1000 immunoreactivity is found throughout the interstitial matrix, but it is highly concentrated in that region of the matrix immediately adjacent to the basal lamina, the reticular lamina. The reticular and basal laminae together form the basement membrane. PG-1000 immunoreactivity is especially apparent on basal laminae that surround nerve fibers and nerve terminals. When the disulfide-linked PG-1000 complexes are purified and examined in the electron microscope following rotary shadowing, they appear as bottle-brush structures which are often attached at a central region and radiate like spokes of a wheel. These aggregates contain two to six proteoglycan monomers. We hypothesize that the PG-1000 complexes are disulfide-stabilized parts of an extended network of linked proteoglycans in the reticular lamina.     

Distortion in a 2-D scan pattern generated by combining a plane mirror and a regular polygon scanner

The distortion in a 2-D scan pattern generated by a system of a plane mirror and a regular polygon scanner was investigated using the matrix formulation of reflection by plane mirrors. A particular configuration involving the two scan elements was identified which does not introduce any distortion in its 2-D scan pattern.