Zika Virus Growth in Human Kidney Cells Is Restricted by an Elevated Glucose Level

Mosquito-borne Zika virus (ZIKV) became a real threat to human health due to the lack of vaccine and effective antiviral treatment. The virus has recently been responsible for a global outbreak leading to millions of infected cases. ZIKV complications were highlighted in adults with Guillain–Barré syndrome and in newborns with increasing numbers of congenital disorders ranging from mild developmental delays to fatal conditions. The ability of ZIKV to establish a long-term infection in diverse organs including the kidneys has been recently documented but the consequences of such a viral infection are still debated. Our study aimed to determine whether the efficiency of ZIKV growth in kidney cells relates to glucose concentration. Human kidney HK-2 cells were infected with different ZIKV strains in presence of normal and high glucose concentrations. Virological assays showed a decrease in viral replication without modifying entry steps (viral binding, internalization, fusion) under high glucose conditions. This decrease replication was associated with a lower virus progeny and increased cell viability when compared to ZIKV-infected HK-2 cells in normal glucose concentration. In conclusion, we showed for the first time that an elevated glucose level influences ZIKV replication level with an effect on kidney cell survival.     

Characterizations of friction welding joint interface for AISI 316

Because of heat amount is different from peripheral to central of friction welding interface, which is leaded to vary the characterizations along that interface. Current study, respectively, focused on the effect of different friction pressure on micro-structural and mechanical properties of that friction welding joint interface. Presently, these friction pressures are 110, 130, 150 and 170 MPa while kept all other conditions constant. The effects of different friction pressure on welding interface characterization were investigated by EDX, SEM, tensile, compression, impact and hardness tests. The tensile tests carried out on the standardized test piece with diameter 6 mm and 8 mm, thus, compression tests were extracted from the positions of 0°, 45° 90° with test specimen of 4 mm diameter and 6.5 mm length at weld center. Whereas, the impact test pieces were picked up in two positions, the first one is symmetrical, which it obtained to the respect of the rotation axis and the interface, on the other hand, the second one is non-symmetrical with the axis of rotation and symmetrical to the interface, for making the notch head coincide with the center of the welded joint, The obtained results showed that with reducing of friction pressure will present lack of bonding increasing from peripheral toward the welding center, which will responsible on reducing of the mechanical properties such as tensile, compression and impact strength.     

Assay of oral vaccination of dogs against rabies in Tunisia with the vaccinal strain SADBern

The possibility of immunizing dogs orally against rabies, using SADBern, an attenuated strain, was tested on dogs in the field in Tunisia. This strain induced high neutralizing antibody titres and conferred to all vaccinated dogs total resistance against a challenge with a Maghrebian strain. However, an excretion of virus of vaccinal origin was observed in one dog, hampering the use of SADBern in dogs. Nevertheless, this work demonstrates for the first time that dogs in developing countries, especially those which are inaccessible to parenteral vaccination, could be efficiently immunized against rabies by the oral route.     

Primitives for distributed computing in a heterogeneous local areanetwork environment

Epsilon is a testbed for monitoring distributed applications involving heterogeneous computers, including microcomputers, interconnected by a local area network. Such a hardware configuration is usual but raises difficulties for the programmer. First, the interprocess communication mechanisms provided by the operating systems are rather cumbersome to use. Second, they are different from one system to another. Third, the programmer of distributed applications should not worry about system and/or network aspects that are not relevant for the application level. The authors present the solution chosen in Epsilon. A set of high-level communication primitives has been designed and implemented to provide the programmer with an interface independent of the operating system and of the underlying interprocess communications facilities. A program participating in a distributed application can be executed on any host without any change in the source code except for host names     

A 3D unsplit-advection volume tracking algorithm with planarity-preserving interface reconstruction

A new volume tracking method is introduced for tracking interfaces in three-dimensional (3D) geometries partitioned with orthogonal hexahedra. The method approximates interface geometries as piecewise planar, and advects volumes in a single unsplit step using fully multidimensional fluxes that have their definition based in backward-trajectory remapping. By using multidimensional unsplit advection, the expense of high-order interface reconstruction is incurred only once per timestep. Simple departures from strict backward-trajectory remapping remove any need for consideration of volume computations involving shapes consisting of non-planar ruled surfaces. Second-order accuracy of the method is demonstrated even for vigorous 3D deformations.     

Hemoptysis caused by pulmonary arterial aneurysm, disclosing Beh?et disease. Apropos of 2 cases]

MCF7 and ZR75-1 breast cancer cells grow as adherent monolayers in tissue culture. Treatment with the serum serine protease plasmin causes them to detach and to grow as floating multicellular spheroids. Two plasmin activators, urokinase plasminogen activator and streptokinase, induce the same growth pattern changes in the presence of plasminogen. Serum contains also plasminogen activator inhibitors. Aged serum, deficient in plasminogen activator inhibitors, converts spontaneously monolayer breast cancer cells into multicellular spheroids which readily revert to monolayer growth after addition of fresh serum. Urokinase blocks the reversion. The formation of multicellular spheroids does not affect the proliferative rate of breast tumor cells but endows tumor cells with increased resistance to the chemotherapeutic drugs, doxorubicin and paclitaxel.     

Adaptive median filters: new algorithms and results

Based on two types of image models corrupted by impulse noise, we propose two new algorithms for adaptive median filters. They have variable window size for removal of impulses while preserving sharpness. The first one, called the ranked-order based adaptive median filter (RAMF), is based on a test for the presence of impulses in the center pixel itself followed by a test for the presence of residual impulses in the median filter output. The second one, called the impulse size based adaptive median filter (SAMF), is based on the detection of the size of the impulse noise. It is shown that the RAMF is superior to the nonlinear mean L(p) filter in removing positive and negative impulses while simultaneously preserving sharpness; the SAMF is superior to Lin's (1988) adaptive scheme because it is simpler with better performance in removing the high density impulsive noise as well as nonimpulsive noise and in preserving the fine details. Simulations on standard images confirm that these algorithms are superior to standard median filters.     

An Evaluation of Public Concerns About Water Management in the Palestinian Territory Pre,During, and Post the National Uprising

We have evaluated the extent of public concerns about water management in the Palestinian Territory (PT) through a survey of the main Palestinian newspaper over the last thirteen years divided in three periods: pre (1984–1987), during (1988–1991), and post national uprising period (1992–1996). The public concern in the PT about various water management aspects was clear and influenced by the prevailing political conditions indicating (1) poor concerns in the first and second period where full Israeli military control of the PT and harsh practices prevailed with relatively more emphasis on regional water issues and (2) extensive-strong concerns in the third period when the peace process started and a partial lift of some of the Israeli water practices took place, along with an increased freedom in expressing public concerns which was granted with more emphasis on local issues and problems. Lack and limitation of water available to Palestinians, alternative solutions, and water quality and pollution control constituted the overwhelming majority of the topics of concern to the public for the three periods studied. Palestinian concerns were always greater than regional ones for the three periods and all of the topics considered. Public concern in the PT about all other water management aspects was poor and negligible especially in the first two periods. A massive increase in public concern has been observed in the third period in which the public expressed their concern over most water management aspects, indicating a possible change in public attitude toward water and water management and reflecting the change of the political status by the start of the peace process and the signing of the peace agreements.     

Characterisation of aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna withthick ground plane

The feasibility of using a thick ground plane with an aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna while maintaining reasonable antenna performance is demonstrated using moment method and reciprocity analyses in the spectral domain. The thick ground plane, which may serve as a heatsink for active MMIC circuitry, or as a mechanical support for thin substrates, is particularly advantageous in millimetre wave phased array applications. It is found that the effect of ground plane thickness is to reduce the level of coupling from the feed line to the patch