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Ilex paraguariensis, also known as ‘Yerba mate’, occurs naturally in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and is also grown in these countries with different intensities. Leaves and branches of this plant are used in the preparation of a stimulant beverage that beside social importance has notorious health impact. However, the cultivated herbs present low productivity, due to deficiencies in cultivation and harvesting techniques, as well as due to the abiotic stresses that this species is subject to. The discovery and characterization of cold response mechanisms in plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana, began research in order to unravel the physiological and molecular mechanisms in response to cold in other plant species. In this work, we studied the physiological response observed in Ilex paraguariensis plants submitted to low temperatures (0°C), with or without a pre-moderate acclimatization treatment period of (8°C). Our results suggest the existence of an acclimation response in Ilex paraguariensis, similar to that described in other species of the same temperature.

Stable reference genes are indispensable for ensuring the fidelity of determined gene expression levels. However, the expression levels of reference genes are unable to remain constant under all possible experimental conditions. Therefore, the stability determination of reference genes is necessary in an experimental system set. In the preset study, the stability of nine cucumber candidate reference genes (CsACT, CsUBQ, CsEF1α, CsCYP, CsαTU, CsCACS, CsTIP41, CsYSL8 and CsHEL) subjected to stresses from Phytophthora melonis(P. melonis) were determined using four different analysis methods, including Delta Ct, BestKeeper, NormFinder and GeNorm. The study results revealed that CsUBQ and CsCYP were the most stable genes suitable as internal control in cucumber plants under attack by P. melonis condition.

Canine Distemper have become a major concern within the veterinary clinical work. Thus, the appearance of many cases of canine distemper in adult animals with their vaccination plan up to date has alarmed veterinarians. Many cases of canine distemper have become a major concern within the clinical veterinary task. The purpose of this work was to detect the gene of hemagglutinin of the virus canine distemper, by using the Polymerase Chain Reaction associated with Reverse transcription (RT-PCR), as confirmation of the clinical diagnosis of disease. For this, peripheral blood samples of animals were used clinically patients and were grouped according to their date of extraction and using vaccines commercial as control. The results allow to demonstrate a high sensitivity of the technique, besides allowing the use of samples up to seven days of storage at 4°C, despite the fragility of RNA viral. Detection of canine distemper virus haemagglutinin gene in field samples and its high sensitivity, suggests studying its use as a diagnostic tool complementary to the clinical diagnosis of canine distemper in our country.

Two experimental feeding trials were conducted concurrently to study the growth response of African catfish Clarias gariepinus fingerlings to graded levels (0, 5, 10, 15 or 20%) of clupeids in Danish fish meal (DFM) based diets. Chemical analysis of the DFM and clupeids fish meal (CFM) was carried out. Completely randomized design with triplicated groups of fingerlings were used for both trials in an indoor and out-door concrete tanks for six and twelve weeks respectively. The study aimed at achieving a cost effective fish meal from local aquatic resources (clupeids fish) highly prolific and abundant in Nigeria water bodies to replace foreign fish meal in West Africa Region. A project supported by West African Agricultural Productivity Project (WAAPP) in NIFFR, Nigeria. The results of proximate, amino acid profile, mineral and fatty acid composition analysis of CFM indicated values which are very close to those of the DFM. The proximate analysis revealed CFM to contain 70.6% crude protein while DFM contains 72%. There were no significant difference between the treatments with respect to final weight, feed consumed, feed conversion ratio, digestibility and survival (P>0.05) although there was significant difference in specific growth rate (P<0.05) with the highest value obtained in the diets with both fish meal at ratio 1:1. There were no significant difference in haematological parameters (P>0.05). However the lymphocytes were high in all the groups which might not be particularly due to the treatments. The high proliferation of the body defence cells by the fish could be a mechanism of survival in the aqua-medium which is likely to be high in microbial load due to waste materials. Feed Cost/Kg for DFM was N260.16 while for CFM was N227.16. The results of chemical analysis and feeding trials indicated positive replacement of the DFM with CFM in fish feeds without negative effect on growth performance

The analysis of dependence of the length projection of Li vectors of biparametrical inhibited and activated (La) enzymatic reactions from the length projection of vectors of monoparametrical inhibited and activated enzymatic reactions on the basic σ0 plane in three-dimensional coordinate system, allows to deduct the quadratic forms of equations for the correction of the constants of inhibition (ki) and activation (Ka) of enzymes. Examples of correction of constants are given.

Background: We report a case of Peri-Partum Cardiomyopathy in a 28-year-old Primigravida, who came in labor and underwent a Caesarean Section in view of meconium-stained liquor, fetal distress. On day 4 post-partum, she complained of a sudden onset of shortness of breath, cough, and restlessness in the morning. The patient had no prior history of heart disease or respiratory disease. Patient developed sudden onset tachypnoea and tachycardia with bilateral crepitus. On further evaluation, she was diagnosed with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy. Results: The case was successfully managed by a multi-disciplinary team using dobutamine, diuretics, and Angiotensin receptor blockers. Conclusion: The case report aims to present a case of Peripartum cardiomyopathy with early diagnosis and successful management in a secondary care level hospital. Peripartum (postpartum) cardiomyopathy is the most common cardiomyopathy in pregnancy, defined as an idiopathic cardiomyopathy that presents with heart failure secondary to left ventricular systolic dysfunction toward the end of pregnancy or after delivery, in the absence of any other cause of heart failure.  It is a diagnosis of exclusion, and the majority are diagnosed postpartum. Although the LV may not be dilated, the ejection fraction is nearly always reduced below 45%. Incidence of PPCM is 1:3000 to 1:15000 pregnancies. It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality if diagnosis gets delayed; therefore, early diagnosis and timely management can affect patients’ long-term prognosis. This case report aims to raise awareness in health professionals about the possibilities of PPCM and its symptoms, as in our case.

Background: Disabling hearing loss is a prevalent public health issue, with significant impact on patients’ communication. The disability associated with hearing loss depends on the severity of the hearing loss. There are limited rehabilitative measures in resource challenged environment. This study assesses the incidence, the factors for hearing impairment and the management outcome. Methods: A descriptive three-year chart review of patients managed for hearing loss in a tertiary health center in a developing country. The data collected include demographic data, clinical presentation and risk factors for hearing loss, audiometric reports, rehabilitative measures and management outcome. Results: The patients with ear symptoms managed within the study period were 1350, of whom 498 (36.8%) had hearing loss of varying degrees. These included 145 (29.1%) males and 353 (70.9%) females with male to female ratio of 1:2.4. The age ranged from 8 to 80 years (median age of 35.7). Disabling hearing loss in the better-hearing ear occurred in 216 (43.4%) of cases. Increasing age and chronic supportive otitis media were associated with disabling hearing loss. The hearing thresholds improved with hearing aids and ear surgical procedures; nonetheless the patients’ rehabilitation was impaired by limited resources. Conclusion: There is poor rehabilitation of people with hearing loss, though management outcome is commendable in a few of them. Health education will reduce the risk factors for disabling hearing loss and improved rehabilitative measures are needed for these individuals.

Protein functional annotation requires time and effort, while sequencing technologies are fast and cheap. For this reason, the development of software tools aimed at predicting protein function from sequences can help in protein annotation. In this paper, we describe how to use our recently implemented Bologna Annotation Resource (BAR) version 3.0, a tool based on over 30 million protein sequences for protein structural and functional annotation. In BAR 3.0, sequences are arranged in a similarity graph and then clustered together when they share at least 40% sequence identity over 90% of sequence alignment, for a total of 1,361,773 clusters. Protein sequences with known function transfer their annotation to other sequences in the same cluster after statistical validation. Sequences with unknown function and new sequences entering in a cluster inherit its statistically validated annotations. The method well compares to other techniques in the Critical Assessment of protein Function Annotation algorithms (CAFA). The CAFA experiment tests the performances of different predictors on a dataset that accumulates annotations over time. BAR predictions have been submitted to all the instances of CAFA through the years (BAR Plus in CAFA, BAR++ in CAFA2 and BAR 3.0 in CAFA3). The benchmarking indicates that in the field improvement is still possible and that our BAR scores among the top performing methods. This work focuses on how the tool can transfer statistically significant features to poorly annotated or new sequences derived from transcrptomics or proteomics experiments. 

Background: Full-field Digital Mammography (FFDM) is essential for the early detection of breast cancer. Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) has improved cancer diagnosis and reduced false positives in mammography . This study evaluated DRLs for FFDM and DBT at various ranges of Compressed Breast Thickness (CBT).Material and methods: We evaluated the parameters like Average Glandular Dose (AGD), kVp, mAs, Entrance Surface Dose (ESD), and CBT in a retrospective analysis of FFDM and DBT. We computed the mean, median, range, and 75th percentile for Craniocaudal (CC) and Mediolateral Oblique (MLO) views at various breast thicknesses.Results: The DRLs were 0.70 mGy to 2.55 mGy for FFDM and 0.94 mGy to 3.67 mGy for DBT for breast thickness in the range from 20 mm to 89 mm.Conclusion: This analysis revealed that DRLs were significantly lower than international benchmarks . Mammography radiation dose optimisation enhances diagnostic accuracy and patient safety.

The bio-energy released by the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate, which relate to plenty of life activities and is transported in a solution, and its theory of transport are first stated and built in helix protein molecule. In order to confirm and verify the correctness of the transported theory we here systematically summarized and reviewed a great number of experimental investigation and evidences obtained by us and other researchers in past 30 years, involving the real existences of the solution and its features and lifetimes. In this survey we outlined and presented concretely the features of infrared spectra of absorption, Raman spectra and specific heat of the molecular crystal-acetanilide collagen, bivine serum albumin, myoglobin proteins and E.Coli. cell as well as the lifetimes of the solution in acetanilide and myoglobin measured by using pump-probe techniques and free-electron laser experiment, in which we give not only experimental data but also their comparisons with theoretical results. These experimental data and evidences provided here are enough to verify and affirm the true existences of the new solution, which can complete itself functions of bio-energy transport in the lifetime, and the correctness of the new theory of bio-energy transport in the acetanilide and protein molecule. Thus we can affirm the correctness of theory of the bio-energy transport in helix protein molecule, which can greatly promote the development of molecular biology.