Analysis of rs7526084 polymorphism in 3′ downstream of the sestrin 2 gene as an informative marker for molecular diagnosis of kidney stone disease

Background: Kidney stone disease is one of the most common disorders of urinary tract, manifesting with high clinical and genetic heterogeneity in population. Sestrin 2 is involved in many essential processes, especially oxidative and genotoxic stress. Regarding the importance of oxidative stress pathway deregulation in systemic diseases such as kidney disorders, this study was conducted to investigate the association between rs7526084 3′ downstream polymorphism of the sestrin 2 gene and risk of kidney stone in south Iranian patients. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 150 patients with kidney stone disease and 180 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals were participated from March to December 2015. Genotyping of the rs7526084 polymorphism was performed using the T-ARMS PCR method. Results: Frequency of the G allele was higher in controls than in cases, and a reduced risk of the disease was shown in the presence of this allele (OR: 0.66, 95CI: 0.48-0.91, P=0.01). Also, the risk of the disease was reduced in the presence of heterozygote CG (OR: 0.49, 95CI: 0.30-0.80, P=0.004) and homozygote GG (OR: 0.47, 95CI: 0.23-0.96, P=0.04) genotypes. Under the dominant genetic model for the G allele (GG+GC vs. CC), this allele significantly reduced the risk of the disease (OR: 0.49, 95CI: 0.31- 0.78, P= 0.002). Conclusion: Reduced risk of kidney stone in the presence of the G allele of the sestrin 2 gene polymorphism might provide the evidence in favor of the involvement of the oxidative stress pathway in the pathogenesis of kidney stone disease

The effects of Zataria multiflora on inhibition of polyphenoloxidase and melanosis formation in shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Shrimp melanosis (black spot) is an important surface discoloration caused by polyphenol oxidase (tyrosinase) enzyme, which oxidizes phenols and leads to insoluble black pigments, the melanins. Sulphiting agents are widely used as melanosis inhibitors; but, the hazards related to sulphated foods, such as allergic reactions and severe disorders in asthmatic patients have created a necessity to find the effective natural alternatives. The current study was accomplished to assay the in vitro antityrosinase effect of Z. multiflora EO as well as its capability to retard the melanosis formation in shrimp during iced storage. According to GC/MS results, carvacrol, thymol and p-cymene were the major components of Z.multiflora EO, representing 50.8, 14.4 and 10.6, respectively. DPPH radical scavenging activity of EO was 0.8±0.02 mg/ml and 63.2% of tyrosinase activity decreased when EO with a concentration of 0.25% was applied. Furthermore, it has been observed that immersing the shrimps in 1% EO aqueous suspension retarded the melanosis formation in shrimp during 10 days of iced storage. It can be concluded that Z. multiflora EO could be used as an effective natural processing aid to increase the shrimp shelf-life during iced storage

Theoretical rationalisation for the mechanism of N-heterocyclic carbene-halide reductive elimination at CuIII, AgIII and AuIII

Reductive elimination of imidazolium salts from CuIII is extremely sensitive to the anionic ligand (X or Y) type on Cu (e.g. ΔG‡ ranges from 4.7 kcal mol-1 to 31.8 kcal mol-1, from chloride to benzyl). Weakly σ-donating ligands dramatically accelerate reductive elimination. Comparison with Ag/Au shows that the HOMO energy, strength of M-NHC and M-Y bonds and inherent stability of MIII with respect to MI are critical to governing reaction feasibility

Exact Histogram Specification Optimized for Structural Similarity

An exact histogram specification (EHS) method modifies its input image to have a specified histogram. Applications of EHS include image (contrast) enhancement (e.g., by histogram equalization) and histogram watermarking. Performing EHS on an image, however, reduces its visual quality. Starting from the output of a generic EHS method, we maximize the structural similarity index (SSIM) between the original image (before EHS) and the result of EHS iteratively. Essential in this process is the computationally simple and accurate formula we derive for SSIM gradient. As it is based on gradient ascent, the proposed EHS always converges. Experimental results confirm that while obtaining the histogram exactly as specified, the proposed method invariably outperforms the existing methods in terms of visual quality of the result. The computational complexity of the proposed method is shown to be of the same order as that of the existing methods. Index terms: histogram modification, histogram equalization, optimization for perceptual visual quality, structural similarity gradient ascent, histogram watermarking, contrast enhancement

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Version 6 Cloud Products

The version 6 cloud products of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) instrument suite are described. The cloud top temperature, pressure, and height and effective cloud fraction are now reported at the AIRS field-of-view (FOV) resolution. Significant improvements in cloud height assignment over version 5 are shown with FOV-scale comparisons to cloud vertical structure observed by the CloudSat 94 GHz radar and the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Cloud thermodynamic phase (ice, liquid, and unknown phase), ice cloud effective diameter D(sub e), and ice cloud optical thickness () are derived using an optimal estimation methodology for AIRS FOVs, and global distributions for 2007 are presented. The largest values of tau are found in the storm tracks and near convection in the tropics, while D(sub e) is largest on the equatorial side of the midlatitude storm tracks in both hemispheres, and lowest in tropical thin cirrus and the winter polar atmosphere. Over the Maritime Continent the diurnal variability of tau is significantly larger than for the total cloud fraction, ice cloud frequency, and D(sub e), and is anchored to the island archipelago morphology. Important differences are described between northern and southern hemispheric midlatitude cyclones using storm center composites. The infrared-based cloud retrievals of AIRS provide unique, decadal-scale and global observations of clouds over portions of the diurnal and annual cycles, and capture variability within the mesoscale and synoptic scales at all latitudes

Oxidation behaviour of SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites in air

Oxidation of silicon melt infiltrated SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMC) was studied in air at 1200–1400 °C for 1, 5, 24 and 48 h. Weight gain and oxide layer thickness measurements revealed the oxidation follows parabolic reaction kinetics with increase in temperature and time. XRD showed the extent of oxide layer (SiO2) formation was greatest after 48 h at 1400 °C: an observation confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. Oxide layer thickness varied from 1 μm after 48 h at 1200 °C to 8 μm after 48 h at 1400 °C. Oxidation of SiC/SiC composites is both temperature and time dependent with an activation energy of 619 kJ mol−1. BN coatings around SiC fibres showed good resistance to oxidation even after 48 h at 1400 °C

Current perspectives in fragment based lead discovery (FBLD)

It is over 20 years since the first fragment-based discovery projects were disclosed. The methods are now mature for most ‘conventional’ targets in drug discovery such as enzymes (kinases and proteases) but there has also been growing success on more challenging targets, such as disruption of protein–protein interactions. The main application is to identify tractable chemical startpoints that non-covalently modulate the activity of a biological molecule. In this essay, we overview current practice in the methods and discuss how they have had an impact in lead discovery – generating a large number of fragment-derived compounds that are in clinical trials and two medicines treating patients. In addition, we discuss some of the more recent applications of the methods in chemical biology – providing chemical tools to investigate biological molecules, mechanisms and systems

Design and Trajectory Planning of Bipedal Walking Robot with Minimum Sufficient Actuation System

This paper presents a new type of mechanism and trajectory planning strategy for bipedal walking robot. The newly designed mechanism is able to improve the performance of bipedal walking robot in terms of energy efficiency and weight reduction by utilizing minimum number of actuators. The usage of parallelogram mechanism eliminates the needs of having an extra actuator at the knee joint. This mechanism works together with the joint space trajectory planning in order to realize straight legged walking which cannot be achieved by conventional inverse kinematics trajectory planning due to the singularity. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is confirmed by computer simulation results

Development of mechatronics engineering degree program: challenges and prospects

It is now becoming common practice to include some courses in mechatronics in the traditional electrical and mechanical engineering programs. Whilst many engineering faculties have realized the need for a full-fledged multidisciplinary mechatronics engineering program, only in very few places have such programs been developed along the lines of other engineering programs. The justification for the mechatronics engineering program becomes evident, as today's engineers must be acquainted with subjects that are not taught or given much emphasis in the traditional engineering curriculum. A good knowledge in those subjects, is however required if our graduate engineers are to be relevant to industry with time. The challenges in developing such program in terms of curriculum planning, laboratory facility needs and staff requirements are discussed in this paper. Whilst there are immense advantages of such a discipline, its success depends on a balanced curriculum with good laboratory facilities and appropriate industrial links, positive attitudes and well-oriented academic staff as well as students having the ability to cope with diversified subjects

Advanced glycoxidation and lipoxidation end products (AGEs and ALEs): an overview of their mechanisms of formation

Advanced lipoxidation end products (ALEs) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have a pathogenetic role in the development and progression of different oxidative-based diseases including diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurological disorders. AGEs and ALEs represent a quite complex class of compounds that are formed by different mechanisms, by heterogeneous precursors and that can be formed either exogenously or endogenously. There is a wide interest in AGEs and ALEs involving different aspects of research which are essentially focused on set-up and application of analytical strategies (1) to identify, characterize, and quantify AGEs and ALEs in different pathophysiological conditions ; (2) to elucidate the molecular basis of their biological effects ; and (3) to discover compounds able to inhibit AGEs/ALEs damaging effects not only as biological tools aimed at validating AGEs/ALEs as drug target, but also as promising drugs. All the above-mentioned research stages require a clear picture of the chemical formation of AGEs/ALEs but this is not simple, due to the complex and heterogeneous pathways, involving different precursors and mechanisms. In view of this intricate scenario, the aim of the present review is to group the main AGEs and ALEs and to describe, for each of them, the precursors and mechanisms of formation