Isolation of indigenous strains of Paecilomyces lilacinus with antagonistic activity Meloidogyne incognita.

Ten indigenous isolates of Paecilomyces lilacinus (PL), were isolated from two black pepper farms in Sarawak heavily infested with root-knot nematodes (RKN) as an initiative to control RKN problem. All isolates showed varying degree in colonizing female nematodes. In the female nematode bioassay on water agar, both indigenous strains of PL namely PLA, PLB, and a commercial strain, PLM (as positive control) demonstrated highly significant colonization (>90%, P≤0.01) on female. In egg parasitism test, spore suspension (105 spore/mL) of the strains PLA, PLB and PLM exhibited 78.8%, 66.0% and 73.4% parasitism on eggs, respectively. Meanwhile, hatching of nematode eggs incubated in spore suspension of PLA, PLB and PLM for seven days were significantly reduced; 88-89% of eggs were hatch-inhibited as compared to control (26%). This illustrated both local isolates, PLA and PLB are comparable with PLM as biological control agents for managing RKN infestation on black pepper vines

Children learn to read and write Chinese analytically

Recent progress in psycholinguistic research on written Chinese allows us to develop a\ud new approach to investigate the Chinese reading acquisition process. We\ud hypothesized that Chinese children, much like children learning an alphabetic script,\ud do not simply learn written words by rote. As they are taught words to be learned by\ud rote, they develop an implicit understanding of the formal and functional\ud characteristics of written Chinese. The formal characteristics refer to the graphic\ud structure and the positioning of the stroke-patterns, and the functional characteristics\ud refer to the semantic and phonological information conveyed in the stroke-patterns.\ud The studies reported were designed to investigate the nature of children's learning of\ud written Chinese. In two series of studies, a total of 236 children from Hong Kong, aged\ud four to nine, created and decoded novel Chinese compound words. Results showed\ud that young Chinese children attended to both the formal and functional constraints in\ud reading and writing tasks. In the judging task, 4-year-olds were able to identify the\ud type of orthographic elements - the stroke-patterns, but they could not place them in\ud legitimate positions. The 6-years-olds were able to refer both to the position and the\ud correct type of orthographic elements in differentiating pseudowords from nonwords.\ud In the writing and reading tasks, four and five-year-olds were unable to utilize the\ud semantic radicals to represent meaning, nor could they use the phonological\ud components for pronunciation; six-year-olds could use the semantic radicals to\ud represent meaning and only nine-year-olds could both use semantic radicals correctly\ud and systematically referred to the phonological components for pronunciation. A\ud significant age difference was found in all the experiments. The studies provide strong\ud evidence that learning compound words in Chinese is not a simple matter of\ud memorizing but involves the understanding of formal and functional constraints in the\ud script. A possible application of these findings lies in the new direction offered for\ud reading instruction where the non-generative, rote view of learning to read and write in\ud Chinese can be safely abandoned

Mayaro Virus: An Emerging Alphavirus in the Americas

Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an arbovirus first isolated in Trinidad and Tobago in 1954. MAYV is the causative agent of Mayaro fever, which is characterised by high fever, maculopapular rash, myalgia and arthralgia. The potential for chronic arthralgia is of particular clinical concern. Currently, MAYV outbreaks are restricted to South and Central America, with some cases reported in Africa as well as several imported cases in Europe. However, in recent years, MAYV has become a growing global concern due to its potential to emerge into urban transmission cycles. Challenges faced with diagnostics, as well as a lack of specific antivirals or licensed vaccines further exacerbate the potential global health threat posed by MAYV. In this review, we discuss this emerging arboviral threat with a particular focus on the current treatment and vaccine development efforts. Overall, MAYV remains a neglected arbovirus due to its limited area of transmission. However, with the potential of its urbanisation and expanding circulation, the threat MAYV poses to global health cannot be overlooked. Further research into the improvement of current diagnostics, as well as the development of efficacious antivirals and vaccines will be crucial to help prevent and manage potential MAYV outbreaks

Imagining Fictional Faces

Fictional characters loom large in cultural traditions throughout recorded history, and are commonly portrayed in literature and visual arts. The persistence of these traditions demonstrates that information concerning the appearance of fictional characters - including facial appearance - can be preserved and shared among individuals. The current thesis is an attempt to understand the cognitive processes underlying mental imagery for fictional faces. It was already established that mental representations of real faces undergo qualitative change as visual exposure leads to familiarity. Fictional faces are never seen directly, though they may be represented in various ways. If fictional faces can acquire the psychological hallmarks of familiar faces, this would suggest alternative routes to face learning, besides natural visual exposure. To date however, this possibility has been largely ignored. The experiments in this thesis addressed learning of fictional faces by examining familiarity effects for fictional faces, and by assessing the consequences of reading descriptions on mental imagery for fictional characters. The main findings indicate that face representations and face learning may be more adaptable than previously assumed, accommodating photographic images, different types of drawings, and written descriptions. All of these representations can be quantified and compared using the common currency of social inference ratings. Written descriptions of physical and character attributes both contribute to mental imagery for faces, and these complementary types of information can converge on specific facial identities. As well as enriching our psychological understanding of face processing, the current thesis forms a bridge between the scientific study of faces, and portrayals of faces in the arts

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Beverage intake and obesity in Australian children

Extent: 11p.BACKGROUND: There have been increases in the obesity and overweight rates in Australian children over the past 25 years and it has been suggested that sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) have played a role in this increase. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine SSB intakes in the 2007 Australian Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (2) relate SSB intake to rates of overweight and obesity, socio-economic status (SES), TV viewing time, and activity levels and (3) compare 2007 SSB intakes with data from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey. DESIGN: A computer assisted 24 h dietary recall in 4,400 children aged 2-16 years was performed. RESULTS: In the 2007 survey 47% of all children reported drinking SSBs with 25% consuming sugar sweetened soft drinks on the day of the survey. The mean consumption of soft drink was 436 g/d/consumer. Activity levels were unrelated to SSB consumption. Television viewing was positively related to soft drink consumption with a difference of 55 g/day from bottom to top tertile of time spent TV viewing (p = 0.015) in children aged 9-16 years. 55% of SSB consumption occurred at home and 10% occurred at school. Lower SES status was associated with a greater prevalence of SSB consumption- 30% for the lowest SES quartile vs 19% in the highest quartile. The proportion of overweight who consumed SSBs (which excludes 100% fruit) was not different from the nonoverweight children although the proportion of SSB consumers in the 6% of children who were obese was significant compared with the non-overweight children (59% vs 47%, p < 0.05). In the 2007 survey 23% of children were overweight (17%) or obese (6%) while in the 1995 survey this figure was 21%. The proportion of children consuming SSBs in 1995 and 2007 for selected age groups were: 2-3 years - 25.8% and 12.8% respectively and 4-7 years - 33.6% and 20.5% respectively (p < 0.001 for both). CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional data set provides evidence that SSB consumption for Australian children is still high despite the decrease since 1995 in some age groups. It provides little support to conclude that overweight in children is currently being driven by excessive SSB consumption although it may be factor in some obese children. Conclusions are limited by the cross sectional nature of the study.Peter M. Clifton, Lily Chan, Chelsea L. Moss, Michelle D. Miller and Lynne Cobia

Equilibrium shape of nano-cavities in H implanted ZnO

Thermally equilibrated nano-cavities are formed in ZnO by H implantation and subsequent high temperature annealing to determine the relative surface formation energies and step energies of ZnO from reverse Wulff construction and related analysis. H adsorption, vicinal surfaces, and surface polarity are found to play an important role in determining the final thermal equilibrium shape of the nano-cavities. Under H coverage, the O-terminated surface shows a significantly lower surface formation energy than the Zn-terminated surface

ANALISIS PERSEPSI KONSUMEN DALAM MENYUSUN STRATEGI MENINGKATKAN KUALITAS PRODUK DI CAFE FEELTER

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menganalisis persepsi konsumen terhadap harga, kualitas produk dan suasana di cafe Feelter. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kuantitatif deskriptif dengan 65 responden yang pernah membeli dan datang ke cafe Feelter akan tetapi tidak datang kembali, dan menggunakan teknik judgemental sampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa berdasarkan nilai mean, persepsi pelanggan di Cafe Feelter terhadap kualitas produk masih kurang baik. Berdasarkan analisis button two boxes dapat diketahui bahwa persepsi konsumen terhadap kualitas produk adalah kurang baik karena mayoritas indikator menunjukan tidak puas dibanding sangat puas. Kata Kunci: Persepsi, Kualitas Produk

Impacts and measures covid-19 pandemic and tourism industry in Sabah

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant adverse influence on the country’s economic and social situation, especially with regard to the tourism industry. This study examines the implications of the global pandemic on the tourism industry in Sabah, the study will consider the impact of the movement control order (MCO) and other mitigating measures adopted by tourism industry players. The survey and focus group findings indicate that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the tourism industry in the state, compelling operators and policymakers to re-evaluate current response strategies. The adoption of the MCO in response to the pandemic has resulted in business interruptions and income loss for tourism industry service-providers, with most of them losing more than 80% of their revenues. Diversification is one of the strategies used by operators in the industry to ensure long- and short-term viability. Meanwhile, a government vaccination program is a long-term strategy aimed at ensuring that the tourism sector in Sabah can return to normalcy. As with any study, this study too has limitations in terms of the number of industry sectors studied and sample size used to collect data