Abstract: Aldehyde oxidase is molybdo-flavoenzyme involved in the oxidation of hundreds of endogenous and exogenous and N-heterocyclic compounds and environmental pollutants. Uncharged N-heterocyclic aromatic compounds such phenanthridine are commonly distributed pollutants in soil, air, sediments, surface water and groundwater, and in animal and plant tissues. Phenanthridine as uncharged N-heterocyclic aromatic compound was incubated with partially purified aldehyde oxidase from rainbow trout fish liver. Reversed-phase HLPC method was used to separate the oxidation products from phenanthridine and the metabolite was identified. The 6(5H)-phenanthridinone was identified the major metabolite by partially purified aldehyde oxidase from fish liver. Kinetic constant for the oxidation reactions were determined spectrophotometrically and showed that this substrate has a good affinity (Km = 78 ± 7.6µM) for hepatic aldehyde oxidase, will be a significant pathway. This study confirms that partially purified aldehyde oxidase from fish liver is indeed the enzyme responsible for the in vitro production 6(5H)-phenanthridinone metabolite as it is a major metabolite by mammalian aldehyde oxidase, coupled with a relatively high oxidation rate (0.77± 0.03 nmol/min/mg protein). In addition, the kinetic parameters of hepatic fish aldehyde oxidase towards the phenanthridine substrate indicate that in vitro biotransformation by hepatic fish aldehyde oxidase will be a significant pathway. This study confirms that partially purified aldehyde oxidase from fish liver is indeed the enzyme responsible for the in vitro production 6(5H)-phenanthridinone metabolite as it is a major metabolite by mammalian aldehyde oxidase.
Abstract: In this study, a physically-based, modeling framework was developed to predict saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) dynamics in the Clear Creek Watershed (CCW), Iowa. The modeling framework integrated selected pedotransfer functions and watershed models with geospatial tools. A number of pedotransfer functions and agricultural watershed models were examined to select the appropriate models that represent the study site conditions. Models selection was based on statistical measures of the models’ errors compared to the Ksat field measurements conducted in the CCW under different soil, climate and land use conditions. The study has shown that the predictions of the combined pedotransfer function of Rosetta and the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) provided the best agreement to the measured Ksat values in the CCW compared to the other tested models. Therefore, Rosetta and WEPP were integrated with the Geographic Information System (GIS) tools for visualization of the data in forms of geospatial maps and prediction of Ksat variability in CCW due to the seasonal changes in climate and land use activities.
Abstract: Surgical team consists of variety types of medical specialists possessing different kind of knowledge, motivations, personalities or abilities. This together with poor knowledge transfer, lack of information and communication technologies (ICT) implementations in hospitals can cause protraction of patient care processes and even jeopardize patient safety. There is presented in the article the outcomes of studies on communication and workflow in surgical team in the background of different collaboration levels in healthcare system. As a result the five determinants of improving workflow and communication within surgical team were indicated as well as knowledge-based tools and supporting information technology were proposed.
Abstract: According to synthetic plastics obtained from petroleum cause some environmental problems. Therefore, degradable plastics become widely used and studied for replacing the synthetic plastic waste. A biopolymer of poly hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) is subgroups of a main kind of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Naturally, PHBV is hard, brittle and low flexible while natural rubber (NR) is high elastic latex. Then, they are blended and the biodegradation of the blended PHBV and NR films were examined in soil environment. The results showed that the degradation occurs predominantly in the bulk of the samples. The order of biodegradability was shown as follows: PHBV> PHBV/NR> NR. After biodegradation, the blended films were characterized by appearance analysis such as Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). It was found that the biodegradation mainly occurred at the polymer surface.
Abstract: This paper used a fuzzy kohonen neural network for medical image segmentation. Image segmentation plays a important role in the many of medical imaging applications by automating or facilitating the diagnostic. The paper analyses the tumor by extraction of the features of (area, entropy, means and standard deviation).These measurements gives a description for a tumor.
Abstract: Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the hydrologic cycle and its accurate estimation is essential for hydrological studies. In past, various estimation methods have been developed for different climatological data, and the accuracy of these methods varies with climatic conditions. Reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) is a key variable in procedures established for estimating evapotranspiration rates of agricultural crops. Values of ET0 are used with crop coefficients for many aspects of irrigation and water resources planning and management. Numerous methods are used for estimating ET0. As per internationally accepted procedures outlined in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization-s Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56(FAO-56), use of Penman-Monteith equation is recommended for computing ET0 from ground based climatological observations. In the present study, seven methods have been selected for performance evaluation. User friendly software has been developed using programming language visual basic. The visual basic has ability to create graphical environment using less coding. For given data availability the developed software estimates reference evapotranspiration for any given area and period for which data is available. The accuracy of the software has been checked by the examples given in FAO-56.The developed software is a user friendly tool for estimating ET0 under different data availability and climatic conditions.
Abstract: Adenylate kinase (AK) catalyse the phosphotransferase
reaction plays an important role in cellular energy homeostasis. The
inhibitors of bacterial AK are useful in the treatment of several
bacterial infections. To the novel inhibitors of AK, docking studies
performed by using the 3D structure of Bacillus stearothermophilus
adenylate kinase from protein data bank (IZIP). 46 Quinoxaline
analogues were docked in 1ZIP and selected the highly interacting
compounds based on their binding energies, for further studies
Abstract: Power transformers are among the most important and
expensive equipments in the electric power systems. Consequently
the transformer protection is an essential part of the system
protection. This paper presents a new method for locating
transformer winding faults such as turn-to-turn, turn-to-core, turn-totransformer
body, turn-to-earth, and high voltage winding to low
voltage winding. In this study the current and voltage signals of input
and output terminals of the transformer are measured, which the
Fourier transform of measured signals and harmonic analysis
determine the fault's location.
Abstract: Neural networks are well known for their ability to
model non linear functions, but as statistical methods usually does,
they use a no parametric approach thus, a priori knowledge is not
obvious to be taken into account no more than the a posteriori
knowledge. In order to deal with these problematics, an original way
to encode the knowledge inside the architecture is proposed. This
method is applied to the problem of the evapotranspiration inside
karstic aquifer which is a problem of huge utility in order to deal
with water resource.
Abstract: In this study three commercial semiconductor devices
were characterized in the laboratory for computed tomography
dosimetry: one photodiode and two phototransistors. It was evaluated
four responses to the irradiation: dose linearity, energy dependence,
angular dependence and loss of sensitivity after X ray exposure. The
results showed that the three devices have proportional response with
the air kerma; the energy dependence displayed for each device
suggests that some calibration factors would be applied for each one;
the angular dependence showed a similar pattern among the three
electronic components. In respect to the fourth parameter analyzed,
one phototransistor has the highest sensitivity however it also showed
the greatest loss of sensitivity with the accumulated dose. The
photodiode was the device with the smaller sensitivity to radiation,
on the other hand, the loss of sensitivity after irradiation is negligible.
Since high accuracy is a desired feature for a dosimeter, the
photodiode can be the most suitable of the three devices for
dosimetry in tomography. The phototransistors can also be used for
CT dosimetry, however it would be necessary a correction factor due
to loss of sensitivity with accumulated dose.
Abstract: Artemisinin is a potential antimalarial drug effective
against the multidrug resistant forms of Malarial Parasites. The
current production of artemisinin is insufficient to meet the global
demand. In the present study microbial biotransformation of
arteannuin B, a biogenetic precursor of artemisinin to the later has
been investigated. Screening studies carried out on several soil borne
microorganisms have yielded one novel species with the
bioconversion ability. Crude cell free extract of 72h old culture of the
isolate had shown the bioconversion activity. On incubation with the
substrate arteannuin B, crude cell free extract of the isolate had
shown a bioconversion of 18.54% to artemisinin on molar basis with
a specific activity of 0.18 units/mg.
Abstract: Saturated hydraulic conductivity is one of the soil
hydraulic properties which is widely used in environmental studies
especially subsurface ground water. Since, its direct measurement is
time consuming and therefore costly, indirect methods such as
pedotransfer functions have been developed based on multiple linear
regression equations and neural networks model in order to estimate
saturated hydraulic conductivity from readily available soil
properties e.g. sand, silt, and clay contents, bulk density, and organic
matter. The objective of this study was to develop neural networks
(NNs) model to estimate saturated hydraulic conductivity from
available parameters such as sand and clay contents, bulk density,
van Genuchten retention model parameters (i.e. r
θ , α , and n) as well
as effective porosity. We used two methods to calculate effective
porosity: : (1) eff s FC φ =θ -θ , and (2) inf φ =θ -θ eff s , in which s
θ is
saturated water content, FC θ is water content retained at -33 kPa
matric potential, and inf θ is water content at the inflection point.
Total of 311 soil samples from the UNSODA database was divided
into three groups as 187 for the training, 62 for the validation (to
avoid over training), and 62 for the test of NNs model. A commercial
neural network toolbox of MATLAB software with a multi-layer
perceptron model and back propagation algorithm were used for the
training procedure. The statistical parameters such as correlation
coefficient (R2), and mean square error (MSE) were also used to
evaluate the developed NNs model. The best number of neurons in
the middle layer of NNs model for methods (1) and (2) were
calculated 44 and 6, respectively. The R2 and MSE values of the test
phase were determined for method (1), 0.94 and 0.0016, and for
method (2), 0.98 and 0.00065, respectively, which shows that method
(2) estimates saturated hydraulic conductivity better than method (1).
Abstract: Investigation of soil properties like Cation Exchange
Capacity (CEC) plays important roles in study of environmental
reaserches as the spatial and temporal variability of this property
have been led to development of indirect methods in estimation of
this soil characteristic. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) provide an
alternative by estimating soil parameters from more readily available
soil data. 70 soil samples were collected from different horizons of
15 soil profiles located in the Ziaran region, Qazvin province, Iran.
Then, multivariate regression and neural network model (feedforward
back propagation network) were employed to develop a
pedotransfer function for predicting soil parameter using easily
measurable characteristics of clay and organic carbon. The
performance of the multivariate regression and neural network model
was evaluated using a test data set. In order to evaluate the models,
root mean square error (RMSE) was used. The value of RMSE and
R2 derived by ANN model for CEC were 0.47 and 0.94 respectively,
while these parameters for multivariate regression model were 0.65
and 0.88 respectively. Results showed that artificial neural network
with seven neurons in hidden layer had better performance in
predicting soil cation exchange capacity than multivariate regression.
Abstract: Calcium [Ca2+] dynamics is studied as a potential form
of neuron excitability that can control many irregular processes like
metabolism, secretion etc. Ca2+ ion enters presynaptic terminal and
increases the synaptic strength and thus triggers the neurotransmitter
release. The modeling and analysis of calcium dynamics in neuron
cell becomes necessary for deeper understanding of the processes
involved. A mathematical model has been developed for cylindrical
shaped neuron cell by incorporating physiological parameters like
buffer, diffusion coefficient, and association rate. Appropriate initial
and boundary conditions have been framed. The closed form solution
has been developed in terms of modified Bessel function. A computer
program has been developed in MATLAB 7.11 for the whole
approach.
Abstract: To assess the effects of functional protein on osteoblast, Large quantity of high-purity osteoblasts had been cultivated successfully by adopting sequential enzyme digestion. The growth curve of osteoblasts was protracted by cell counting. Proliferation of osteoblasts was assessed by MTT colorimetry. The experimental results show the functional protein can enhance proliferation, the properties of adhesion and discuss the effect of osteopontin on osteoblast.
Abstract: Photoplethysmography is a simple measurement of the
variation in blood volume in tissue. It detects the pulse signal of heart
beat as well as the low frequency signal of vasoconstriction and
vasodilation. The transmission type measurement is limited to only a
few specific positions for example the index finger that have a short
path length for light. The reflectance type measurement can be
conveniently applied on most parts of the body surface. This study
analyzed the factors that determine the quality of reflectance
photoplethysmograph signal including the emitter-detector distance,
wavelength, light intensity, and optical properties of skin tissue.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) with four different visible
wavelengths were used as the light emitters. A phototransistor was
used as the light detector. A micro translation stage adjusts the
emitter-detector distance from 2 mm to 15 mm.
The reflective photoplethysmograph signals were measured on
different sites. The optimal emitter-detector distance was chosen to
have a large dynamic range for low frequency drifting without signal
saturation and a high perfusion index. Among these four wavelengths,
a yellowish green (571nm) light with a proper emitter-detection
distance of 2mm is the most suitable for obtaining a steady and reliable
reflectance photoplethysmograph signal
Abstract: The possible therapeutic effect of cannabidiol, the major non-psychotropic Cannabis constituent, was investigated against acute hepatotoxicity induced by a single oral dose of acetaminophen (500mg/kg) in mice. Cannabidiol (two intraperitoneal injections, 5mg/kg, each) was given 1 hour and 12 hours following acetaminophen administration. Acetaminophen administration caused significant elevations of serum alanine aminotransferase, and hepatic malondialdehyde, and nitric oxide levels, and a significant decrease in hepatic reduced glutathione. Cannabidiol significantly attenuated the deterioration in the measured biochemical parameters resulted from acetaminophen administration. Also, histopathological examination showed that cannabidiol markedly attenuated ameliorated acetaminophen-induced liver tissue damage. These results emphasize that cannabidiol represents a potential therapeutic option to protect against acetaminophen hepartotoxicity which is a common clinical problem.
Abstract: This paper presents a pulse doubling technique in a 12-pulse ac-dc converter which supplies direct torque controlled motor drives (DTCIMD-s) in order to have better power quality conditions at the point of common coupling. The proposed technique increases the number of rectification pulses without significant changes in the installations and yields in harmonic reduction in both ac and dc sides. The 12-pulse rectified output voltage is accomplished via two paralleled six-pulse ac-dc converters each of them consisting of three-phase diode bridge rectifier. An autotransformer is designed to supply the rectifiers. The design procedure of magnetics is in a way such that makes it suitable for retrofit applications where a six-pulse diode bridge rectifier is being utilized. Independent operation of paralleled diode-bridge rectifiers, i.e. dc-ripple re-injection methodology, requires a Zero Sequence Blocking Transformer (ZSBT). Finally, a tapped interphase reactor is connected at the output of ZSBT to double the pulse numbers of output voltage up to 24 pulses. The aforementioned structure improves power quality criteria at ac mains and makes them consistent with the IEEE-519 standard requirements for varying loads. Furthermore, near unity power factor is obtained for a wide range of DTCIMD operation. A comparison is made between 6- pulse, 12-pulse, and proposed converters from view point of power quality indices. Results show that input current total harmonic distortion (THD) is less than 5% for the proposed topology at various loads.
Abstract: Effect of oral administration of “Gadagi" tea on liver
function was assessed on 50 healthy male albino rats which were
grouped and administered with different doses(mg/kg) i.e low dose
(380mg/kg, 415mg/kg, 365mg/kg, 315mg/kg for “sak", “sada" and
“magani" respectively), standard dose ( 760mg/kg, 830mg/kg,
730mg/kg for “sak-, “sada" and “magani" respectively) and high dose
(1500mg/kg, 1700mg/kg and 1460mg/kg for “sak--,"sada" and
“magani" groups respectively) for a period of four weeks. Animals
that were not administered with the tea constituted the control group.
At the end of fourth week, the animals were sacrificed and their
serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase
(AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein (TP), albumin
(ALB), and globulins (GLO) were determined. Mean serum ALT and
ALP activities were significantly higher (P
Abstract: Computerized lip reading has been one of the most
actively researched areas of computer vision in recent past because
of its crime fighting potential and invariance to acoustic environment.
However, several factors like fast speech, bad pronunciation,
poor illumination, movement of face, moustaches and beards make
lip reading difficult. In present work, we propose a solution for
automatic lip contour tracking and recognizing letters of English
language spoken by speakers using the information available from
lip movements. Level set method is used for tracking lip contour
using a contour velocity model and a feature vector of lip movements
is then obtained. Character recognition is performed using modified
k nearest neighbor algorithm which assigns more weight to nearer
neighbors. The proposed system has been found to have accuracy
of 73.3% for character recognition with speaker lip movements as
the only input and without using any speech recognition system in
parallel. The approach used in this work is found to significantly
solve the purpose of lip reading when size of database is small.