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The self-concepts of young men who are either technically or non-technically educated and employed or unemployed are studied. Results show that technically and non-technically educated employed young men had higher self-concepts than their unemployed counterparts. However, unemployed young men tended to give themselves high ratings for certain attributes while all groups except the non-technically educated employed showed levels of social conflict.

A redox-mediated decrease in N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function contributes to psychiatric diseases and impaired cognition during aging. Inflammation provides a potential source of reactive oxygen species for inducing NMDA receptor hypofunction. The present study tested the hypothesis that the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin, which improves spatial episodic memory in aging rats, would enhance NMDA receptor function through a shift in the redox state. Male F344 young and aged rats were prescreened using a 1-day version of the water maze task. Animals were then treated with the indomethacin or vehicle, delivered in a frozen milk treat (orally, twice per day, 18 days), and retested on the water maze. Indomethacin treatment enhanced water maze performance. Hippocampal slices were prepared for examination of CA3-CA1 synaptic responses, long-term potentiation, and NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses. No effect of treatment was observed for the total synaptic response. Long-term potentiation magnitude and NMDA receptor input-output curves were enhanced for aged indomethacin-treated animals. To examine redox regulation of NMDA receptors, a second group of aged animals was treated with indomethacin or vehicle, and the effect of the reducing agent, dithiothreitol ([DTT], 0.5 mM) on NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses was evaluated. As expected, DTT increased the NMDA receptor response and the effect of DTT was reduced by indomethacin treatment. The results indicate that indomethacin acted to diminish the age-related and redox-mediated NMDA receptor hypofunction and suggest that inflammation contributes to cognitive impairment through an increase in redox stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Use of EEG signals to facilitate the design of an emotionally efficient human–computer interface system. • Three subject-independent emotion detection systems: EDS1, EDS2, and EDS3, are designed. • Wavelet-based on Atomic Functions feature extraction technique is used to investigate the EEG signals. • The principal component analysis technique is used to reduce high data dimensionality, and Machine Learning hyperparameters are optimized using the "Optuna" technique. • The Machine Learning hyperparameters are optimized using the "Optuna" technique. • The designed EDS1 and EDS2 show improved performance, and EDS3 detect the highest number of discrete emotions compared with existing literature. This work aims to develop a subject-independent Emotion Detection System (EDS) based on EEG signals and the 3D Valence-Arousal-Dominance (VAD) model. The DEAP database physiological signals are considered for the system design. A multi-domain feature extraction is performed using the Wavelet-based Atomic Function time–frequency domain technique; and various time and frequency domain feature extraction techniques. Further, principal component analysis reduces the data dimensionality and redundancy in the obtained feature set. The minimal feature set is analysed using machine learning classifiers, i.e., gradient boosting, decision tree, and random forest. Additionally, the hyperparameters of machine learning algorithms are tuned using Optuna to improve the performance of the proposed model. Three EDS are designed in this work; EDS1 considers the 3D VAD model for three class classifications. 2D VA model is used in EDS2 to determine 9 discrete emotions, and EDS3 detects 12 discrete emotions using the 3D VAD model. Results reveal the highest classification accuracy of about 99% with EDS1, whereas an average accuracy of 99.82% and 98.44% is obtained with EDS2 and EDS3, respectively. The results reveal that both EDS1 and EDS2 show improvement as compared to the existing literature. Also, the proposed EDS3 provides the classification of the highest number of discrete emotions, which may facilitate the design of an efficient human–computer interface system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is the most popular signal used for diagnosis of brain disorders. A good quality EEG signal provides the proper interpretation and identification of physiological and pathological phenomena. However, these recordings are often corrupted by different kinds of noise. As Savitzky Golay smoothing filter (SGSF) preserves the peaks and minimize the signal distortion, its use in cascade may further enhance this capability. Therefore in the present work cascaded SGSF (CSGSF) is proposed to filter the noisy EEG signals. The CSGSF combines two successive Savitzky Golay filters. For comparative analysis, other cascaded arrangements like cascaded moving average filter (CMAF), MAF-SGSF, SGSF-Binomial and single stage SGSF are also designed. These filters are tested on artificial EEG signals added with white Gaussian noise and non Gaussian noise. These filters are also tested on real time EEG signals. The filtered signals are assessed through signal to noise ratio (SNR), signal to signal plus noise ratio (SSNR), SNR improvement (SNRI), mean square error (MSE) and correlation coefficient (COR). It is revealed from the results that CSGSF outperforms the other designed filters in case of artificial and real time EEG signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The product quality of a fermentation process depends on a number of factors such as temperature, pH, nutrient balance, dilution rate, dissolved oxygen and CO 2 concentration etc. The present work focuses on the precise temperature control of the process and to achieve desired product quality. Therefore a novel control algorithm, which is an amalgamation of fractional mathematics and IMC-PID, having less design parameters is proposed. A fractional order IMC-PID is designed and then modified (MFOIMC-PID) by incorporating an extra control loop with proportional gain to reduce the offset error. A nature inspired optimization technique i.e. water cycle algorithm is utilized for estimation of optimum design parameters of proposed controller which leads to WMFOIMC-PID controller. Fractional order PID (FOPID) and conventional PID are also designed for comparative study. Simulation results show that the proposed controller reduces integral absolute error (IAE) by 57% and 72% in comparison to FOPID and PID respectively for set-point tracking. Similar reduction of IAE is observed for disturbance rejection and noise suppression. Thus WMFOIMC-PID proves to be more robust and efficient in comparison to the other designed controllers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the development of inferential control scheme based on Adaptive linear neural network (ADALINE) soft sensor for the control of fermentation process. The ethanol concentration of bioreactor is estimated from temperature profile of the process using soft sensor. The prediction accuracy of ADALINE is enhanced by retraining it with immediate past measurements. The ADALINE and retrained ADALINE are used along with PID and 2-DOF-PID leading to APID, A2PID, RAPID and RA2PID inferential controllers. Further the parameters of 2-DOF-PID are optimized using Non-dominated sorted genetic algorithm-II and used with retrained ADALINE soft sensor which leads to RAN2PID inferential controller. Simulation results demonstrate that performance of proposed RAN2PID controller is better in comparison to other designed controllers in terms of qualitative and quantitative performance indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have established that a complex community of microbes colonize the human urinary tract; however, their role in kidney transplant patients treated with prophylactic antibiotics remains poorly investigated. Our aim was to investigate the urinary microbiome of kidney transplant recipients. Urine samples from 21 patients after kidney transplantation and 8 healthy controls were collected. All patients received prophylactic treatment with the antibiotic combination trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Metagenomic DNA was isolated from urine samples, sequenced using shotgun sequencing approach on Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform, and analyzed for microbial taxonomic and functional annotations. Our results demonstrate that the urine microbiome of kidney transplants was markedly different at all taxonomic levels from phyla to species, had decreased microbial diversity, and increased abundance of potentially pathogenic species compared with healthy controls. Specifically, at the phylum level, we detected a significant decrease in Actinobacteria and increase in Firmicutes due to increases in Enterococcus faecalis. In addition, there was an increase in the Proteobacteria due to increases in Escherichia coli. Analysis of predicted functions of the urinary metagenome revealed increased abundance of enzymes in the folate pathway including dihydrofolate synthase that are not inhibited by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, but can augment folate metabolism. This report characterizes the urinary microbiome of kidney transplants using shotgun metagenomics approach. Our results indicate that the urinary microbiota may be modified in the context of prophylactic antibiotics, indicating that a therapeutic intervention may shift the urinary microbiota to select bacterial species with increased resistance to antibiotics. The evaluation and development of optimal prophylactic regimens that do not promote antibiotic resistance is an important future goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin film oxides have attracted attention in implementations of gas sensors, notably NO 2 , owing to their unique physical, optical, and chemical properties. While the properties are presumed to be strongly dependent on the surface conditions of the thin films, it is not yet clear how surface properties of the thin film gas sensor affect its analyte sensing response. Here, we report the influence of surface carbon contamination and roughness on the NO 2 sensing properties of TiO 2 thin film sensors. The TiO 2 thin films were prepared by rf-sputtering. The surface of the films were intentionally contaminated and damaged with organic polymers (photolithography resist) and microwave plasma, respectively. The surface chemistry of the films was assessed by high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy was exploited to obtain the morphology of the fabricated sensors. The work aims to improve the long-term efficacy of gas sensors by studying the reasons for degradation in performance. Our results indicate that the carbon residue and surface roughness of the TiO 2 based sensor prolong the NO 2 response time by roughly threefold and fivefold, respectively. The recovery rate of the sensor is deteriorated by the poor surface conditions as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Design of a non-invasive blood glucose estimation system using photoplethysmography (PPG) signal and physiological parameters. • The Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) of the PPG signal are used as features. • The extreme gradient boost regression (XGBR) model achieves a high correlation coefficient for the predicted glucose values. • The feature selection based on XGBR provides the best 5 features. • The model with selected 5 features improves the value of the correlation coefficient. • The XGBR model with the 5 features achieves clinically acceptable results with less complexity. The inconvenience and risk associated with the regular use of invasive blood glucose measurements has led to tremendous research in this area. This paper proposes the design of a non-invasive blood glucose estimation system using novel Mel frequency cepstral coefficients features of wristband photoplethysmogram signal and physiological parameters. A dataset from 217 participants of a hospital in Cuenca Ecuador is used to validate the proposed model. The support vector regression (SVR) and extreme gradient boost regression (XGBR) techniques are used to estimate blood glucose levels (BGL). The XGBR technique achieves the least value for the standard error of prediction (SEP), 9.78 mg/dL. Further, 5 features are selected from the feature set based on the feature importance in XGBR. The XGBR model with the reduced feature set results in further reduction of SEP value (5.53 mg/dL) with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. Standard Clarke error grid analysis and Bland-Altman analysis shows that the predicted glucose values are in the clinically acceptable region. The results of the proposed model demonstrate the potential of wearable BGL monitoring technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radon causes lung cancer when it is trapped inside the lungs. Therefore it is very important to analyze the radon concentration in water and soil samples. In the present investigation, water and soil samples collected from 20 different locations of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts of Northern Rajasthan, India have been studied by using RAD7. The measured radon concentration in water samples varies from 0.5 to 15 Bq l −1 . The observed values lie within the safe limit as set by UNSCEAR, 2008. The total annual effective dose due to radon in water corresponding to all studied locations has been found to be well within the safe limit of 0.1 mSv y −1 as recommended by World Health Organization ( WHO, 2004 ) and European Council ( EU, 1998 ). The measurements carried out on radon concentration in soil samples reveal a variation from 1750 to 9850 Bq m −3 . These results explore that the water of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts is suitable for drinking purpose without posing any health hazard but soil hazards depend upon its permeability and radon concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital watermarking is an efficient technique to protect copyright and ownership of digital information. But in traditional methods of digital image watermarking, the texture of original image gets distorted more or less. In this paper, a zero-watermarking based copyright protection scheme is proposed. Watermark is not embedded in the host image rather it is encrypted with the host image. Two schemes are proposed, the basic idea behind both the schemes is making use of Discrete Wavelet Transformation and Singular Value Decomposition to extract robust features of host image. The first approach consists of dividing the host image into overlapping sub images of size 8 × 8. Each block is further decomposed up to level-one using Discrete Wavelet Transform followed by Singular Value Decomposition. In the second approach the image is first subject to DWT, then the approximation part is chosen and later it is divided into overlapping sub-images of size 4 × 4. The further steps are same for both the algorithms. The encryption of the secret image with the host image is done by generating two shares: the master share and the ownership share. The master share is generated by differential classification of features extracted. The ownership share is generated with the help of master share and secret image. The two shares separately do not give any clue of the secret image but when put together they reveal the encrypted secret image. Experimental results show how the proposed algorithm is successful in resisting some common image processing and geometrical attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Diabetes, self-monitoring of blood glucose is crucial for effective treatment since it can help to identify and prevent unwanted episodes of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Aim of the present work is to design and develop a non invasive gluco-meter using near infrared LED (940 nm). Three different designs of probes (arm, finger and ear lobe) were fabricated to measures in-vivo blood glucose. In addition, we also carried out experiments to study the interaction with glucose molecules in solution under plane polarized light. The polarizers were used at three different angles(450, 900 and 1800) to know the behavior of glucose interaction with polarized light of 640 nm and 740 nm with varying concentration of glucose in the solution. The polarization results showed that at 1800 the glucose has maximum polarization (1.12) and at 900 and 450 it has comparatively less polarization values 0.9 and 0.35 respectively. The polarization results helped us to design the probes. Therefore, we placed photodiodes at three angles (450, 900 and 1800). The results as expected were better at 1800 by showing maximum variation in photodiode voltage output. The results were in the correlation of the polarization studies. A comparative study of three measurement sites has also been carried out. The primary result of current sensor system is promising and with further improvement a robust system for glucose sensing can be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present investigation, 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K analysis has been carried out in the soil samples collected from different locations of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts of Northern Rajasthan, India using gamma ray spectroscopy. The measured activity concentration ranges from 13±8 to 36±9 Bq kg −1 , 40±9 to 71±11 Bq kg −1 and 294±125 to 781±159 Bq kg −1 with the mean value of 24±9 Bq kg −1 , 55±11 Bq kg −1 and 549±141 Bq kg −1 for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K, respectively. The radium equivalent activity of all the soil samples ranges from 114 to 157 Bq kg −1 with an average value of 141 Bq kg −1 , which is lower than the safe limit 370 Bq kg −1 as set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The total absorbed dose of all the investigated samples varies from 56 to 77 nGy h −1 with an average value of 68 nGy h −1 . The overall annual effective dose ranges from 0.34 to 0.47 mSv with the average value of 0.41 mSv. The corresponding values of external and internal hazard index of all the soil samples ranges from 0.32 to 0.43 and 0.37 to 0.53 with an average value of 0.39 and 0.45 respectively. It was observed that the soil of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts is suitable for construction purpose without posing any health hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder which can lead to severe complications and affect all vital organs. The occurrence of complications due to diabetes can be prevented by regular monitoring and maintaining the blood glucose level in the normal range. Most of the commercially available devices for glucose measurement are invasive or minimally invasive. Invasive devices used for blood glucose monitoring are inconvenient and painful whereas minimal invasive devices have limited time span and stability. Thus, there is a need of an economic, compact, painless and convenient non-invasive device which can promote frequent blood testing which help in control of blood glucose level. In this paper various methods of glucose monitoring are reviewed and overall emphasis is laid on the development of NIRS (near-infrared spectroscopy) based non-invasive glucose monitoring. The motivation of this review is to demonstrate the prospects, limitations and technical challenges for development of NIRS based non-invasive blood glucose measurement system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma-rays interaction parameters with six polymer and plastic materials have been computed and investigated for their shielding behaviours in the experimental energy range 10–1400 keV. Low mass-density and ability to transform into thin-sheets of H-containing plastic and polymer materials generate the curiosity for present study. Gamma Ray Interaction Coefficients (GRIC)-toolkit: a computer program designed in MS-Excel, 2007 for the investigation. The toolkit has the capability to compute different parameters linked to shielding properties of the sample-material such that; mass attenuation coefficients ( μ / ρ ), mass energy absorption coefficients ( μ en / ρ ), equivalent atomic number ( Z eq ), KERMA (kinetic energy released per unit mass). Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) seems to be the best shield for gamma radiations in energy range 10–110 keV. The interaction parameters for selected samples have been computed and provided in the extended energy range 0.015–15 MeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present work is aimed at the design of Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) and adaptive linear network (ADALINE) based soft sensors and their application in inferential control of a multicomponent distillation process. Further the ADALINE sensor is trained online using past measurements, to adapt the changes in the inputs and is termed as dynamic ADALINE (D-ADALINE) sensor. The soft sensors are then used in the control loop to obtain LM based inferential controller (LMIC), ADALINE based inferential controller (ADIC) and D-ADALINE based inferential controller (DADIC) for the process. The performance of dynamic controller is also analyzed for different inputs and sampling intervals. The comparison of results shows the efficient and robust prediction capability of D-ADALINE sensor and hence DADIC proves to be the best controller. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper proposes a new neural tree (NT) architecture, balanced neural tree (BNT), to reduce tree size and improve classification with respect to classical NTs. To achieve this result, two main innovations have been introduced: (a) perceptron substitution and (b) pattern removal. The first innovation aims to balance the structure of the tree. If the last-trained perceptron largely misclassifies the given training set into a reduced number of classes, then this perceptron is substituted with a new perceptron. The second novelty consists of the introduction of a new criterion for the removal of tough training patterns that generate the problem of over-fitting. Finally, a new error function based on the depth of the tree is introduced to reduce perceptron training time. The proposed BNT has been tested on various synthetic and real datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed BNT leads to satisfactory results in terms of both tree depth reduction and classification accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Microbial community structure of two distinct effluent treatment plants (ETPs) of pesticide and pharmaceutical industries was assessed and defined by (i) culture dependent and culture independent approaches on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing, (ii) diversity index analysis – operational taxonomic units (OTUs). A total of 38 and 44 bacterial OTUs having 85–99% similarity with the closest match in the database were detected among pharmaceutical and pesticide sludge samples, respectively. Fifty percent of the OTUs were related to uncultured bacteria. These OTUs had a Shannon diversity index value of 2.09–2.33 for culturables and in the range of 3.25–3.38 for unculturables. The high species evenness values of 0.86 and 0.95 indicated the vastness of microbial diversity retrieved by these approaches. The dominant cultured bacteria indicative of microbial diversity in functional ETPs were Alcaligenes, Bacillus and Pseudomonas. Brevundimonas, Citrobacter, Pandoraea and Stenotrophomonas were specific to pesticide ETP and Agrobacterium, Brevibacterium, Micrococcus, Microbacterium, Paracoccus and Rhodococcus were specific to pharmaceutical ETP. These microbes can thus be maintained and exploited for efficient functioning and maintenance of ETPs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Estrogen, which influences both classical genomic and rapid membrane-associated signaling cascades, has been implicated in the regulation of hippocampal function, including spatial learning. Gene mutation studies suggest that estrogen effects are mediated by estrogen receptor-α (ER-α); however, because gonadal steroids influence the organization of the hippocampus during development, it has been difficult to distinguish developmental effects from those specific to adults. In this study we show that lentiviral delivery of the gene encoding ER-α to the hippocampus of adult ER-α-knockout (ER-αKO) mice restores hippocampal responsiveness to estrogen and rescues spatial learning. We propose that constitutive estrogen receptor activity is important for maintaining hippocampus-dependent memory function in adults.Molecular Therapy (2008) 16 9, 1587–1593 doi:10.1038/mt.2008.140 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Aims: Type 2 diabetes, which is common in India and is bound to become more common, is a lifestyle disease, which requires to be managed by the health care team and the family. We evaluated support and parameters of psychological aspects of adults with diabetes in a Diabetes Centre in India. Methods: We employed the following instruments: ATT39, ATT19, barriers to self-care, social support, quality of life and well-being questionnaires. Results: There were gender differences in all the parameters studied: compared to women, men had better adjustment with disease, coped better, integrated better, had better quality of life and well-being. The social support was focussed on the nuclear family (spouse principally, and children to a lesser extent). Conclusions: In management of type 2 diabetes in our setting, cost-effective focus can be placed on the nuclear family as a unit in managing diabetes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 226Ra, 232Th and 40K analysis has been carried out in soil samples collected from some areas of Himachal Pradesh, India using γ-ray spectrometry. The measured activity in soil ranges from 42.09 to 79.63Bqkg−1, 52.83 to 105.81Bqkg−1 and 95.33 to 160.30Bqkg−1 for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K with the mean values of 57.34, 82.22 and 135.75Bqkg−1, respectively. The measured activity concentration of 226Ra and 232Th in soil samples collected from these areas is higher and for 40K is lower than the world average. The radium equivalent activity in all the soil samples is lower than the safe limit set in the OECD report (370Bqkg−1). The value of the external exposure dose has been determined from the content of these radionuclides in soil. It has been observed that on the average, the outdoor terrestrial gamma air absorbed dose rate is about 83.28nGyh−1. The study yields an annual effective dose in the range of 0.07–0.13mSv. The average value of annual effective dose lies in the global range of outdoor radiation exposure given in United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) [(2000). Effects and risks of ionizing radiations. UN, NY]. The activity concentration of 238U has also been determined using fission track technique and the values range from 3.26 to 7.71mgkg−1 with a mean value of 4.38mgkg−1. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The activity concentrations and the gamma-absorbed dose rates of the terrestrial naturally occurring radio nuclides viz. 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were determined in soil samples collected from some areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, using gamma ray spectrometry. The soil activity ranges from 18.22 to for 226Ra, 34.80 to for 232Th and 80.42 to for 40K with mean values of 57, 87 and , respectively. The concentrations of these radionuclides are compared with the available data from other countries. The measured activity concentration of 226Ra and 232Th in soil is higher and for 40K is lower than the world average. Radium equivalent activities are calculated for the analyzed samples to assess the radiation hazards arising due to the use of these soil samples in the construction of dwellings. All the soil samples have radium equivalent activities lower than the limit set in the OECD report (). The overall mean outdoor terrestrial gamma dose rate is and the corresponding outdoor annual effective dose is 0.11mSv. The activity concentration of 238U has also been determined using fission track technique and the values range from 1.18 to 5.12ppm with mean value of 2.13ppm. The content of radioactive elements in the soil of Palmpur area is found to be more compared with the samples from the other study areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Aged (20–22 months) male Fischer 344 rats were randomly assigned to sedentary (A-SED), environmentally-enriched (A-ENR), or exercise (A-EX) conditions. After 10–12 weeks of differential experience, the 3 groups of aged rats and young sedentary controls were tested for physical and cognitive function. Spatial discrimination learning and memory consolidation, tested on the water maze, were enhanced in environmentally-enriched compared with sedentary. A-EX exhibited improved and impaired performance on the cue and spatial task, respectively. Impaired spatial learning in A-EX was likely due to a bias in response selection associated with exercise training, as object recognition memory improved for A-EX rats. An examination of senescent hippocampal physiology revealed that enrichment and exercise reversed age-related changes in long-term depression (LTD) and long-term potentiation (LTP). Rats in the enrichment group exhibited an increase in cell excitability compared with the other 2 groups of aged animals. The results indicate that differential experience biased the selection of a spatial or a response strategy and factors common across the 2 conditions, such as increased hippocampal activity associated with locomotion, contribute to reversal of senescent synaptic plasticity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Knee pain is a leading cause of disability in the aging population and may indirectly accelerate biological aging processes. Chronological aging increases the risk of developing of knee pain and knee pain reduces physical function; however, limited data exist on how epigenetic aging, a known hallmark of biological aging shown to predict health span and mortality, may influence this relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine whether decreased physical performance associated with knee pain is mediated by markers of epigenetic aging. Participants (57.91 ± 8.04 years) with low impact knee pain (n = 95), high impact knee pain (n = 53) and pain-free controls (n = 26) completed self-reported pain, a blood draw and a short physical performance battery (SPPB) that included balance, walking, and sit to stand tasks. We employed an epigenetic clock previously associated with knee pain and shown to predict overall mortality risk (DNAmGrimAge). Bootstrapped-mediation analyses were used to determine associations of DNAmGrimAge and SPPB between pain groups. Those with high impact and low impact pain had a biologically older epigenetic age (5.14y ± 5.66 and 1.32y ± 5.41, respectively). However, while there were direct effects of pain on overall physical performance, these were not explained by epigenetic aging. Epigenetic aging only mediated the effect of pain on balance performance. Future work is needed to examine pain's impact on biological aging processes including epigenetic aging and its ultimate effect on physical function measures known to predict health span and mortality. • DNAmGrimAge is an epigenetic clock associated with pain and physical function. • An older epigenome is related to worse physical function, particularly balance. • Epigenetic aging mediated the effect of pain on balance performance. • Future work should examine pain's impact on biological aging and physical function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative study on various deterministic methods and formulae of double layered transmission exposure buildup factors (DLEBF) for point isotropic gamma-ray sources has been performed and the results are provided here. This investigation has been performed on some commonly available engineering materials for the purpose of gamma-ray shielding. In reality, the presence of air around the gamma-ray shield motivated to focus this study on exposure buildup factor (EBF). DLEBF have been computed at four energies viz. 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 MeV for various combinations of the chosen five samples taken two at a time with combined optical thickness up to 8 mean free path (mfp). For the necessary computations for DLEBF, a computer program (BUF-toolkit) has been designed. Comparison of Monte Carlo (EGS4-code) and Geometric Progression (G.P.) fitting point kernel methods were done for DLEBF computation. It is concluded that empirical formula given by Lin and Jiang using EBF computed by G.P. fitting formula is the most accurate and easiest method for DLEBF computations. It was observed that DLEBF values at selected energies for two layered slabs with an orientation (low- Z material followed by high- Z material) were lower than the opposite orientation. For optical thickness up to 8 mfp and chosen energy range (0.5–3.0 MeV), Aluminum-Lime Stone shield, appears to provide the best protection against the gamma-rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shielding is an integral part of any radiation facility, it is the method used for radiation protection. Safe storage of nuclear waste materials has become an important issue after Fukushima event. In Japan and France surface facilities are being considered for the storage of low-activity radioactive wastes. At these surface facilities, compacted clay liner obtained from clayey soil has been used as a cap barrier. The purpose of clay liner is to minimize the permeation of moisture, especially due to rainfall, through the barrier up to the radioactive material. Thereby it also reduces the emanation probability of undesirable radon gas and gamma-rays into the atmosphere. The brainchild behind the present investigation is to find the possibility of the burnt clay bricks to be used in these surface storage facilities. The present study aims to evaluate the gamma-ray shielding behaviour of burnt clay bricks in energy range 0.001–15 MeV. The samples of bricks were collected from four local brick-factories located near Bathinda-Ferozpur road, Punjab (India). An existing computer programme, Gamma Ray Interaction Coefficients (GRIC)-toolkit was modified for theoretical calculations of some interaction parameters for selected sample. Mineralogical study using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) followed by Rietveld refinement (XRD-R) has been found in good agreement with Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (WDXRF) investigation of samples for chemical compositions. XRD-R could be an interesting tool to recognize the radiation attenuation characteristics of materials. It has been concluded that local burnt clay bricks own the moderate gamma-ray shielding abilities while brick of clay (M-0) shows comparatively superior shielding behaviour. Thus brick of clay is the suitable candidate in the construction of environmentally-safe storage facilities for radioactive waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Overexpression of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) in the hippocampus results in age-dependent impaired cognition and altered synaptic plasticity suggesting a possible model for examining the role of oxidative stress in senescent neurophysiology. However, it is unclear if SOD1 overexpression involves an altered redox environment and a decrease in N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) synaptic function reported for aging animals. Viral vectors were used to express SOD1 and green fluorescent protein (SOD1 + GFP), SOD1 and catalase (SOD1 + CAT), or GFP alone in the hippocampus of middle-aged (17 months) male Fischer 344 rats. We confirm that SOD1 + GFP and SOD1 + CAT reduced lipid peroxidation indicating superoxide metabolites were primarily responsible for lipid peroxidation. SOD1 + GFP impaired learning, decreased glutathione peroxidase activity, decreased glutathione levels, decreased NMDAR-mediated synaptic responses, and impaired long-term potentiation. Co-expression of SOD1 + CAT rescued the effects of SOD1 expression on learning, redox measures, and synaptic function suggesting the effects were mediated by excess hydrogen peroxide. Application of the reducing agent dithiolthreitol to hippocampal slices increased the NMDAR-mediated component of the synaptic response in SOD1 + GFP animals relative to animals that overexpress SOD1 + CAT indicating that the effect of antioxidant enzyme expression on NMDAR function was because of a shift in the redox environment. The results suggest that overexpression of neuronal SOD1 and CAT in middle age may provide a model for examining the role of oxidative stress in senescent physiology and the progression of age-related neurodegenerative diseases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Strategies combatting cognitive decline among the growing aging population are vital. We tested whether environmental enrichment could reverse age-impaired rapid spatial search strategy acquisition concomitantly with hippocampal neurogenesis in rats. Young (5–8 months) and aged (20–22 months) male Fischer 344 rats were pair-housed and exposed to environmental enrichment (n = 7 young, 9 aged) or housed individually (n = 7 young, 7 aged) for 10 weeks. After 5 weeks, hidden platform trials (5 blocks of 3 trials; 15 m inter-block interval), a probe trial, and then visible platform trials (5 blocks of 3 trials; 15 m inter-block interval) commenced in the water maze. One week after testing, rats were given 5 daily intraperitoneal bromodeoxyuridine (50 mg/kg) injections and perfused 4 weeks later to quantify neurogenesis. Although young rats outperformed aged rats, aged enriched rats outperformed aged individually housed rats on all behavioral measures. Neurogenesis decreased with age but enrichment enhanced new cell survival, regardless of age. The novel correlation between new neuron number and behavioral measures obtained in a rapid water maze task among aged rats, suggests that environmental enrichment increases their ability to rapidly acquire and flexibly use spatial information along with neurogenesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Aging was associated with increased oxidation of DNA, RNA, and lipids in the cerebellum of male rats. DNA and lipid oxidation was reduced by lifelong (94 weeks) voluntary exercise on a running wheel. A reduction in cerebellar lipid oxidation, but not RNA or DNA oxidation, was observed following 3 months of moderate exercise or dietary supplementation of vitamin E, initiated at 18 months of age. The level of lipid oxidation correlated with measures of forelimb grip strength. The results indicate that lifelong exercise attenuates multiple molecular markers of age-related oxidative damage in the cerebellum. In addition, modest exercise initiated late in life can have a beneficial effect on lipid oxidation and motor function. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The expression of microRNA (miRNA) is influenced by ongoing biological processes, including aging, and has begun to play a role in the measurement of neurodegenerative processes in central nervous system. The purpose of this study is to utilize machine learning approaches to determine whether miRNA can be utilized as a blood-based biomarker of cognitive aging. A random forest regression combining miRNA with biological (brain volume), clinical (comorbid conditions), and demographic variables in 115 typically aging older adults explained the greatest level of variance in cognitive performance compared to the other machine learning models explored. Three miRNA (miR-140-5p, miR-197-3p, and miR-501-3p) were top-ranked predictors of multiple cognitive outcomes (Fluid, Crystallized, and Overall Cognition) and past studies of these miRNA link them to cellular senescence, inflammatory signals for atherosclerotic formation, and potential development of neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Alzheimer's disease). Several novel miRNAs were also linked to age and multiple cognitive functions, findings which together warrant further exploration linking these miRNAs to brain-derived metrics of neurodegeneration in typically aging older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compositional changes in the microbiome are associated with the development of bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) after lung transplantation (LTx) in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). The association between the lower airway bacterial community and BO after LTx in children with CF remains largely unexplored and is possibly influenced by frequent antibiotic therapy. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between bacterial community dynamics and the development of BO and analyze antibiotic resistance trends in children after LTx for CF. For 3 years from the time of transplant, 12 LTx recipients were followed longitudinally, with 5 subjects developing BO during the study period. A total of 82 longitudinal bronchoalveolar lavage samples were collected during standard of care bronchoscopies. Metagenomic shotgun sequencing was performed on the extracted microbial DNA from bronchoalveolar lavage specimens. Taxonomic profiling was constructed using WEVOTE pipeline. The longitudinal association between development of BO and temporal changes in bacterial diversity and abundance were evaluated with MetaLonDA. The analysis of antibiotic resistance genes was performed with the ARGs-OAP v2.0 pipeline. All recipients demonstrated a Proteobacteria -predominant lower airways community. Temporal reduction in bacterial diversity was significantly associated with the development of BO and associated with neutrophilia and antibiotic therapy. Conversely, an increasing abundance of the phylum Actinobacteria and the orders Neisseriales and Pseudonocardiales in the lower airways was significantly associated with resilience to BO. A more diverse bacterial community was related to a higher expression of multidrug resistance genes and increased proteobacterial abundance. Decreased diversity within bacterial communities may suggest a contribution to pediatric lung allograft rejection in CF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty five bacterial isolates from diverse environmental sources such as contaminated food, nitrogen rich soil, activated sludges from pesticide and oil refineries effluent treatment plants were found to belong to Bacillus, Bordetella, Enterobacter, Proteus, and Pseudomonas sp. on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Under dark fermentative conditions, maximum hydrogen (H2) yields (mol/mol of glucose added) were recorded to be 0.68 with Enterobacter aerogenes EGU16 followed by 0.63 with Bacillus cereus EGU43 and Bacillus thuringiensis EGU45. H2 constituted 63–69% of the total biogas evolved. Out of these 35 microbes, 18 isolates had the ability to produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which varied up to 500mg/l of medium, equivalent to a yield of 66.6%. The highest PHB yield was recorded with B. cereus strain EGU3. Nine strains had high hydrolytic activities (zone of hydrolysis): lipase (34–38mm) –Bacillus sphaericus strains EGU385, EGU399 and EGU542; protease (56–62mm) –Bacillus sp. strains EGU444, EGU447 and EGU445; amylase (23mm) –B. thuringiensis EGU378, marine bacterium strain EGU409 and Pseudomonas sp. strain EGU448. These strains with high hydrolytic activities had relatively low H2 producing abilities in the range of 0.26–0.42mol/mol of glucose added and only B. thuringiensis strain EGU378 had the ability to produce PHB. This is the first report among the non-photosynthetic microbes, where the same organism(s) –B. cereus strain EGU43 and B. thuringiensis strain EGU45, have been shown to produce H2 – 0.63mol/mol of glucose added and PHB – 420–435mg/l medium. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Retinal pigment epithelium-specific protein 65 kDa (RPE65) is a protein responsible for isomerization of all-trans-retinaldehyde to its photoactive 11-cis-retinaldehyde and is essential for the visual cycle. RPE65 mutations can cause severe, early onset retinal diseases such as Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). A naturally occurring rodent model of LCA with a recessive nonsense Rpe65 mutation, the rd12 mouse, displays a profoundly diminished rod electroretinogram (ERG), an absence of 11-cis-retinaldehyde and rhodopsin, an overaccumulation of retinyl esters in retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells, and photoreceptor degeneration. rd12 mice were injected subretinally at postnatal day 14 with rAAV5-CBA-hRPE65 vector. RPE65 expression was found over large areas of RPE soon after treatment. This led to improved rhodopsin levels with ERG signals restored to near normal. Retinyl ester levels were maintained at near normal, and fundus and retinal morphology remained normal. All parameters of restored retinal health remained stable for at least 7 months. The Morris water maze behavioral test was modified to test rod function under very dim light; rd12 mice treated in one eye performed similar to normally sighted C57BL/6J mice, while untreated rd12 mice performed very poorly, demonstrating that gene therapy can restore normal vision-dependent behavior in a congenitally blind animal.Molecular Therapy (2006) 13, 565–572; doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2005.09.001 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]