A Comparative Study Between Alcoholics of Koraga Community, Alcoholics of General Population and Healthy Controls for Antioxidant Markers and Liver Function Parameters

Objectives: It is well established that long-term alcohol consumption leads to liver cirrhosis and other related disorders. Sufficient work has been done on biochemical markers of liver damage and antioxidant status of chronic alcoholics in general population. In the current study chronic alcoholics from a community called Koraga are analysed for the same parameters in a view to assess the extent of liver damage as compared to healthy controls and other alcoholics. Methods: Serum and urine samples from Koraga alcoholics (n=28), general alcoholics (n=30) and healthy controls (n=31) were analysed for liver function parameters and antioxidant markers. Liver function parameters were determined by automated analyzer. Markers of antioxidant status were estimated spectrophotometrically. The data was analysed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: There was significant increase in serum AST, serum ALT, serum GST and urine GST in both general and Koraga alcoholics when compared to healthy controls (p<0.0001). Serum ALT, serum GST and urine GST activity was significantly higher in general alcoholics when compared to Koraga alcoholics (p<0.001). Serum and urine total thiol levels were significantly lower in general alcoholics when compared to healthy controls and Koraga alcoholics (p<0.0001). We have observed no difference in total thiols level between healthy controls and Koraga alcoholics, in fact, there was significant increase in urine total thiols level in Koraga alcoholics compared to healthy controls (p<0.001). On Pearson’s correlation serum AST, serum ALT correlated positively with serum and urine GST (p<0.0001) and negatively with serum total thiols (p<0.0001). Serum GST correlated negatively with serum total thiols (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Results of our study possibly indicate that the extent of alcohol induced liver damage in Koraga subjects is comparatively lower than general alcoholics, even though the alcohol consumption is found to be higher in them. There may be some mechanism that is rendering them resistant to alcoholic liver damage which needs to be explored through further studies at molecular level

An investigation into usability and exclusivity issues of digital programmable thermostats

This is the pre-print version of the Article - Copyright @ 2011 Taylor & FrancisWith nearly 60% of domestic energy consumption relating to space heating, the interaction between users and their heating controls is crucial in reducing consumption. Yet, many heating controls are complex and exclude people due to the demands placed upon their capabilities in terms of vision, reach, dexterity and thinking. This study explores the scale of and reasons for user exclusion in relation to digital programmable thermostats. The Exclusion Calculator was used to estimate the percentage of the population excluded from the use of three products. Full user testing was then conducted to elicit specific usability problems of the devices. The participants were a group of 14 younger users (aged 24–44) and 10 older users (aged 62–75). The exclusion calculations underestimated the actual exclusion significantly for both age ranges (p<0.05). None of the older users were able to complete the programming of the thermostats. Additionally, the cognitive demands of these systems were considered using a subjective workload assessment method, based on the NASA Task Load Index, and were found to be excessive. In conclusion, this study makes recommendations to facilitate the design of more inclusive digital programmable thermostats. It is argued that such changes could result in reductions in domestic heat energy consumption.This work is funded by the ESPRC and Buro Happold

Relationship between the molecular composition, visible light absorption, and health-related properties of smoldering woodsmoke aerosols

Organic aerosols generated from the smoldering combustion of wood critically impact air quality and health for billions of people worldwide; yet, the links between the chemical components and the optical or biological effects of woodsmoke aerosol (WSA) are still poorly understood. In this work, an untargeted analysis of the molecular composition of smoldering WSA, generated in a controlled environment from nine types of heartwood fuels (African mahogany, birch, cherry, maple, pine, poplar, red oak, redwood, and walnut), identified several hundred compounds using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and nano-electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) with tandem multistage mass spectrometry (MSn). The effects of WSA on cell toxicity as well as gene expression dependent on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and estrogen receptor (ER) were characterized with cellular assays, and the visible mass absorption coefficients (MACvis) of WSA were measured with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The WSAs studied in this work have significant levels of biological and toxicological activity, with exposure levels in both an outdoor and indoor environment similar to or greater than those of other toxicants. A correlation between the HRMS molecular composition and aerosol properties found that phenolic compounds from the oxidative decomposition of lignin are the main drivers of aerosol effects, while the cellulose decomposition products play a secondary role; e.g., levoglucosan is anticorrelated with multiple effects. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are not expected to form at the combustion temperature in this work, nor were they observed above the detection limit; thus, biological and optical properties of the smoldering WSA are not attributed to PAHs. Syringyl compounds tend to correlate with cell toxicity, while the more conjugated molecules (including several compounds assigned to dimers) have higher AhR activity and MACvis. The negative correlation between cell toxicity and AhR activity suggests that the toxicity of smoldering WSA to cells is not mediated by the AhR. Both mass-normalized biological outcomes have a statistically significant dependence on the degree of combustion of the wood. In addition, our observations support the fact that the visible light absorption of WSA is at least partially due to charge transfer effects in aerosols, as previously suggested. Finally, MACvis has no correlation with toxicity or receptor signaling, suggesting that key chromophores in this work are not biologically active on the endpoints tested

Missense mutations in the perforin (PRF1) gene as a cause of hereditary cancer predisposition

Perforin, a pore-forming toxin released from secretory granules of NK cells and CTLs, is essential for their cytotoxic activity against infected or cancerous target cells. Bi-allelic loss-of-function mutations in the perforin gene are invariably associated with a fatal immunoregulatory disorder, familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 2 (FHL2), in infants. More recently, it has also been recognized that partial loss of perforin function can cause disease in later life, including delayed onset FHL2 and haematological malignancies. Herein we report a family in which a wide range of systemic inflammatory and neoplastic manifestations have occurred across three generations. We found that disease was linked to two missense perforin gene mutations (encoding A91V, R410W) that cause protein misfolding and partial loss of activity. These cases link the partial loss of perforin function with some solid tumours that are known to be controlled by the immune system, as well as haematological cancers. Our findings also demonstrate that perforin gene mutations can contribute to hereditary cancer predisposition

Phonon arithmetic in a trapped ion system

Single-quantum level operations are important tools to manipulate a quantum state. Annihilation or creation of single particles translates a quantum state to another by adding or subtracting a particle, depending on how many are already in the given state. The operations are probabilistic and the success rate has yet been low in their experimental realization. Here we experimentally demonstrate (near) deterministic addition and subtraction of a bosonic particle, in particular a phonon of ionic motion in a harmonic potential. We realize the operations by coupling phonons to an auxiliary two-level system and applying transitionless adiabatic passage. We show handy repetition of the operations on various initial states and demonstrate by the reconstruction of the density matrices that the operations preserve coherences. We observe the transformation of a classical state to a highly non-classical one and a Gaussian state to a non-Gaussian one by applying a sequence of operations deterministically

Tetrisation of triangular meshes and its application in shape blending

The As-Rigid-As-Possible (ARAP) shape deformation framework is a versatile technique for morphing, surface modelling, and mesh editing. We discuss an improvement of the ARAP framework in a few aspects: 1. Given a triangular mesh in 3D space, we introduce a method to associate a tetrahedral structure, which encodes the geometry of the original mesh. 2. We use a Lie algebra based method to interpolate local transformation, which provides better handling of rotation with large angle. 3. We propose a new error function to compile local transformations into a global piecewise linear map, which is rotation invariant and easy to minimise. We implemented a shape blender based on our algorithm and its MIT licensed source code is available online

Fluoride in Drinking Water: a Comparison Between Two Areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Background: The fluoridation of drinking water is a systemic approach by health authorities to eradicate dental-related problems among the population at large. However, numerous studies have shown that consumption of high levels of fluoride from unchecked or untested sources may lead to dental fluorosis, which, in severe form, leads to brownish mottling of the teeth. Children aged between 6 months to 2 years who are exposed to high levels of fluoride (more than 1.5 mg/L) may suffer from this abnormality. Fluoride levels in a few Malaysian states were above the recommended levels and this may be a factor contributing to the higher prevalence of dental fluorosis among the population. This study aimed to determine levels of fluoride in drinking water between two areas, one in Selangor (Seri Serdang) and the other in Kuala Lumpur (Kampung Pandan). Subjects and Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in Seri Serdang, Selangor and Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur involving a total of 111 water samples (71 from Seri Serdang, 40 from Kampung Pandan). Samples were analyzed using a HACH brand direct reading spectrophotometer model DR 1900. Results: Mean fluoride levels in drinking water for both areas did not exceed the recommended range (0.4 – 0.6 mg/L). Mean fluoride level in Seri Serdang was 0.49 + SD 0.12 mg/L, while in Kampung Pandan, it was 0.35 + SD 0.01 mg/L. Conclusion: Mean level of fluoride was low or within the stipulated range. A more thorough study is needed to determine other intakes of fluoride that may influence the formation of dental fluorosis. Keywords: fluoride, drinking water, Seri Serdang, Kampung Panda