A model of chronic situational stress and its effect on the rate of aging and the longevity of rats

In rat experiments a new model of situational chronic stress, with the use of multicomponent natural stimulating influences, has been elaborated. The study revealed two subpopulations with longer and shorter lifespan in the group of stressed rats vs. control group. The survival of stressed animals was correspondent with the changes of adaptive indices. Thus the situational chronic stress has the geropromotive or geroprotective effect which depends on the organism's adaptive capacities.     

Inhibition of potential food poisoning microorganisms by sorbic acid in cooked, uncured, vacuum packaged turkey products

Vacuum packaged, oven-roasted turkey breasts and sliced turkey breast luncheon meat were prepared with and without potassium sorbate or sorbic acid. Control and treated products were inoculated with one of the following organisms: Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus , or enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. The samples were vacuum packed and stored at 15°C for 10 days. The addition of 0.25% sorbate to the breasts and 0.12% sorbic acid in the slices provided excellent protection against the growth of Salmonella, E. coli , and S. aureus in uncured, cooked, vacuum packaged turkey.     

The 1.5-A crystal structure of plastocyanin from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The crystal structure of plastocyanin from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been determined at 1.5-A resolution with a crystallographic R factor of 16.8%. Plastocyanin is a small (98 amino acids), blue copper-binding protein that catalyzes the transfer of electrons in oxygenic photosynthesis from cytochrome f in the quinol oxidase complex to P700+ in photosystem I. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii plastocyanin is an eight-stranded, antiparallel beta-barrel with a single copper atom coordinated in quasitetrahedral geometry by two imidazole nitrogens (from His-37 and His-87), a cysteine sulfur (from Cys-84), and a methionine sulfur (from Met-92). The molecule contains a region of negative charge surrounding Tyr-83 (the putative distant site of electron transfer) and an exclusively hydrophobic region surrounding His-87; these regions are thought to be involved in the recognition of reaction partners for the purpose of directing electron transfer. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii plastocyanin is similar to the other plastocyanins of known structure, particularly the green algal plastocyanins from Enteromorpha prolifera and Scenedesmus obliquus. A potential "through-bond" path of electron transfer has been identified in the protein that involves the side chain of Tyr-83, the main-chain atoms between residues 83 and 84, the side chain of Cys-84, the copper atom, and the side chain of His-87.     

印花税上调对股市波动性影响的实证研究

以2007年5月30日印花税上调事件为研究对象,采用2007年上证综指和深成指日收益率数据,借鉴EGARCH模型进行建模．研究发现,从长期看,印花税自0．1％上调至0．3％后对市场波动性和交易量没有显著影响,反映出印花税是否调整或调整的幅度并非投资者改变投资策略的主要考虑因素．印花税作为调控市场的手段其作用是有限的．     

Conceptual graph-based knowledge representation for supporting reasoning in African traditional medicine

Although African patients use both conventional or modern and traditional healthcare simultaneously, it has been proven that 80% of people rely on African traditional medicine (ATM). ATM includes medical activities stemming from practices, customs and traditions which were integral to the distinctive African cultures. It is based mainly on the oral transfer of knowledge, with the risk of losing critical knowledge. Moreover, practices differ according to the regions and the availability of medicinal plants. Therefore, it is necessary to compile tacit, disseminated and complex knowledge from various Tradi-Practitioners (TP) in order to determine interesting patterns for treating a given disease. Knowledge engineering methods for traditional medicine are useful to model suitably complex information needs, formalize knowledge of domain experts and highlight the effective practices for their integration to conventional medicine. The work described in this paper presents an approach which addresses two issues. First it aims at proposing a formal representation model of ATM knowledge and practices to facilitate their sharing and reusing. Then, it aims at providing a visual reasoning mechanism for selecting best available procedures and medicinal plants to treat diseases. The approach is based on the use of the Delphi method for capturing knowledge from various experts which necessitate reaching a consensus. Conceptual graph formalism is used to model ATM knowledge with visual reasoning capabilities and processes. The nested conceptual graphs are used to visually express the semantic meaning of Computational Tree Logic (CTL) constructs that are useful for formal specification of temporal properties of ATM domain knowledge. Our approach presents the advantage of mitigating knowledge loss with conceptual development assistance to improve the quality of ATM care (medical diagnosis and therapeutics), but also patient safety (drug monitoring).     

Optimization of the integrated fleet-level imperfect selective maintenance and repairpersons assignment problem

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing - Industrial environments such as manufacturing and transportation industries usually involve fleets of identical systems that must carry out several missions...     

Immunohistochemical evaluation of Bcl-2 gene family expression in liver of hepatitis C and cirrhotic patients: a novel mechanism to explain the high incidence of hepatocarcinoma in cirrhotics

Malonyl coenzyme A (CoA) decarboxylase (E.C.4. 1.1.9) catalyzes the conversion of malonyl CoA to acetyl CoA. The metabolic role of malonyl CoA decarboxylase has not been fully defined, but deficiency of the enzyme has been associated with mild mental retardation, seizures, hypotonia, cardiomyopathy, vomiting, hypoglycemia, metabolic acidosis, and malonic aciduria. Here we report the isolation and sequencing of the human gene encoding malonyl CoA decarboxylase, and the identification of a mutation causing malonyl CoA decarboxylase deficiency. Human malonyl CoA decarboxylase cDNA sequences were identified by homology to the goose gene, and the intron/exon boundaries were determined by direct sequencing of a PAC clone containing the entire human gene. The 1479 basepair human cDNA is 70 percent identical to the goose sequence, and the intron/exon boundaries are completely conserved between the two species. The genetic mutation underlying malonyl CoA decarboxylase deficiency was determined in a patient with clinical features of this defect, malonic aciduria, and markedly reduced malonyl CoA decarboxylase activity.     

Stability and 2,4-dinitrotoluene response of organic field effect transistors based on π-conjugated thiophene oligomers

This paper reports on organic field effect transistors (OFETs) based on two π-conjugated oligomers derived from thiophenes and their use as sensors for the detection of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT). The detection mechanism relies on donor-acceptor interactions between the π-conjugated system (donor) and the nitrated molecule (acceptor). An important feature of sensors is the stability under operation, so, a large part of this work will be dealing with the behavior of OFETs under bias stress experiments as well as with the influence of temperature during operation. Most of results reported here are concerning hexyl capped tetra Thienylene–Vinylene (denominated 4-TV). Some preliminary results on the promising hexyl capped quinquethiophene derived from 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (denominated TETET) are also reported. Under a DNT contaminated air atmosphere ( 7 ppm), 4-TV based OFETs exhibit an increase of the drain current when DNT is present in the atmosphere as expected.