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BackgroundInborn errors of immunity (IEI) predispose patients to various infectious and non-infectious complications. Thanks to the development and expanding use of flow cytometry and increased awareness, the diagnostic rate of IEI has markedly increased in Algeria the last decade.AimThis study aimed to describe a large cohort of Algerian patients with probable IEI and to determine their clinical characteristics and outcomes.MethodsWe collected and analyzed retrospectively the demographic data, clinical manifestations, immunologic, genetic data, and outcome of Algerian IEI patients - diagnosed in the department of medical immunology of Beni Messous university hospital center, Algiers, from 2008 to 2021.ResultsEight hundred and seven patients with IEI (482 males and 325 females) were enrolled, 9.7% of whom were adults. Consanguinity was reported in 50.3% of the cases and a positive family history in 32.34%. The medium age at disease onset was 8 months and at diagnosis was 36 months. The median delay in diagnosis was 16 months. Combined immunodeficiencies were the most frequent (33.8%), followed by antibody deficiencies (24.5%) and well-defined syndromes with immunodeficiency (24%). Among 287 patients tested for genetic disorders, 129 patients carried pathogenic mutations; 102 having biallelic variants mostly in a homozygous state (autosomal recessive disorders). The highest mortality rate was observed in patients with combined immunodeficiency (70.1%), especially in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), Omenn syndrome, or Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class II deficiency.ConclusionThe spectrum of IEI in Algeria is similar to that seen in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, notably regarding the frequency of autosomal recessive and/or combined immunodeficiencies.

The beneficial effects of polyphenol intake such as improved nitrogen retention make them interesting feed supplements for ruminants. In contrast, dietary polyphenols may have adverse effects on the bioavailability of nutrients and palatability of the feed which might impair growth performance. The beneficial and adverse effects might differ between different ruminant species as well as between direct intake and intake of polyphenol metabolites via suckling when supplemented to lactating dams. This study investigated the effects of maternal and direct polyphenol supplementation via grape seed extract in sheep and goats on growth, slaughter performance, meat quality and fatty acid profile. The diet of lactating East Friesian Dairy sheep (n = 11) and Saanen goats (n = 9) and of their lambs (n = 16) and kids (n = 13), respectively, was supplemented either with grape seed extract (dams: 7.4% and offspring: 5.6%, P) or without (C). This resulted in four groups per species, namely maternalC/offspringC, maternalC/offspringP, maternalP/offspringC, and maternalP/offspringP. In lambs but not in goats, maternalP increased average daily gain and improved slaughter performance whereas offspringP had no effect. Maternal and offspring diet did not affect physicochemical meat quality in lambs, but direct intake of grape seed extract increased rancid aroma of burger patties. In goat kids, both maternal and offspring diets slightly affected meat colour. While groups of meat fatty acids (FAs) were not affected by diet in both species, maternalP in lambs as well as maternalP and offspringP in goat kids increased the meat n–6 to n–3 FA ratio compared to the respective control groups. In goat kid but not in lamb meat, direct intake of polyphenols affected the proportions of several rumen biohydrogenation intermediates. In conclusion, grape seed extract can be applied in both the maternal and offspring diets in sheep and goats while maintaining or even improving offspring growth performance and carcass quality. Only few species-specific effects of grape seed extract supplementation were observed, and additive effects were scarce. Larger studies are required to confirm the observed species-specific growth response to maternalP during lactation. The underlying reasons for this differential response need to be further evaluated.

Context. Climate and economic changes promote the encroachment of woody plants on marginal mountain pastures. In the Alps, the main woody invader is the nitrogen-fixing shrub Alnus viridis (green alder). Robust breeds of different ruminant species may perform well on these shrub-encroached pastures. Aims. To assess the effects of A. viridis encroachment levels of mountain pastures on the growth performance and carcass and meat characteristics of cattle and sheep. Methods. For 8-9 weeks, 22 15-month-old growing Dexter cattle and 20 7-month-old weaned Engadine sheep were grazed rotationally on pastures in a subalpine zone with four different levels of A. viridis encroachment (average: 0.8%, 28.7%, 50.3% and 67.8%). Following slaughter, the assessed carcass and meat characteristics (longissimus thoracis and biceps femoris) included physico-chemical meat quality, muscle fibre typing, fatty acid profiling (intramuscular and perirenal fat) and the sensory properties of patties. Key results. The shrub encroachment levels had only minor effects on the animals. Interactions with the animal species influenced some sensory and fatty acid characteristics. The average daily gains were 201 g in the Dexter cattle and 104 g in the Engadine sheep. Both species achieved satisfactory carcass and meat quality and favourably low n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratios (0.63 and 0.68 in the intramuscular fat of the cattle and sheep, respectively). The meat from the Dexter cattle had a slightly higher cooking loss and shear force and a slightly lower proportion of fatty acids relevant to human health. Flavour appreciation was in favour of the burgers prepared from the beef. Conclusions. Both robust breeds were suitable for producing meat on extensive pastures with A. viridis encroachment of up to 70%. Based on indirect evidence, it seems that neither species consumed significant quantities of leaves or bark from the trees. Implications. Our study provides detailed information on rare robust breeds of two animal species in the context of meat production according to customer preferences. To better explain the differences between the two animal species, particularly in terms of fatty acid profiles, the role of the A. viridis understory needs to be clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wnt/[beta]-catenin signaling is critical for a variety of fundamental cellular processes. Here, we investigated the implication of the Wnt/[beta]-catenin signaling in the in vivo regulation of [beta]-cell growth and regeneration in normal and diabetic rats. To this aim, TCF7L2, the distal effector of the canonical Wnt pathway, was knocked down in groups of normal and diabetic rats by the use of specific antisense morpholino-oligonucleotides. In other groups of diabetic rats, the Wnt/[beta]-catenin pathway was activated by the inhibition of its negative regulator GSK-3[beta]. GSK-3[beta] was inactivated by either LiCl or anti-GSK-3[beta] oligonucleotides. The [beta]-cell mass was evaluated by morphometry. [beta]-cell proliferation was assessed in vivo and in vitro by BrdU incorporation method. In vivo [beta]-cell neogenesis was estimated by the evaluation of PDXl-positive ductal cells and GLUT2-positive ductal cells and the number of [beta] cells budding from the ducts. We showed that the in vivo disruption of the canonical Wnt pathway resulted in the alteration of normal and compensatory growth of [beta]-cells mainly through the inhibition of [beta]-cell proliferation. Conversely, activation of the Wnt pathway through the inhibition of GSK-3[beta] had a significant stimulatory effect on [beta]-cell regeneration in diabetic rats. In vitro, GSK-3[beta] inactivation resulted in the stimulation of [beta]-cell proliferation. This was mediated by the stabilization of [beta]-catenin and the induction of cyclin D. Taken together, our results demonstrate the involvement of the canonical Wnt signaling in the neonatal regulation of normal and regenerative growth of pancreatic [beta]-cells. Moreover, we provide evidence that activation of this pathway by pharmacological maneuvers can efficiently improve [beta]-cell regeneration in diabetic rats. These findings might have potential clinical applications in the regenerative therapy of diabetes. diabetes; Wnt/[beta]-catenin pathway; glycogen synthetase kinase-[beta] doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00538.2009

This work deals with the preparation and the study of a new composite obtained from a thermoplastic polymer and a vegetal fiber. The polymer used is a recycled polyvinylchloride (PVC) and the fiber used was extracted from Agave americana, a plant which grows easily under Mediterranean type climates. Prior chemical treatment of the extracted fiber was necessary to modify the surface of the fiber in order to optimize the adhesion between this fiber and the recycled PVC during the preparation of composites from these materials. For this purpose, our investigations led us to attempt various reactions modification of the surface fiber. The method that gave the best results consists of an alkaline treatment followed by a reaction with acetic anhydride. Once completed chemicals treatments of fiber, the material is mixed with the recycled PVC which serves as a matrix to prepare composites at varying rates from 5% to 30% by weight of agave modified fibers. The effects of the incorporation of raw and processed agave fibers on the mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of PVC/agave fiber composites were examined and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) predispose patients to various infectious and non-infectious complications. Thanks to the development and expanding use of flow cytometry and increased awareness, the diagnostic rate of IEI has markedly increased in Algeria the last decade. Aim: This study aimed to describe a large cohort of Algerian patients with probable IEI and to determine their clinical characteristics and outcomes. Methods: We collected and analyzed retrospectively the demographic data, clinical manifestations, immunologic, genetic data, and outcome of Algerian IEI patients - diagnosed in the department of medical immunology of Beni Messous university hospital center, Algiers, from 2008 to 2021. Results: Eight hundred and seven patients with IEI (482 males and 325 females) were enrolled, 9.7% of whom were adults. Consanguinity was reported in 50.3% of the cases and a positive family history in 32.34%. The medium age at disease onset was 8 months and at diagnosis was 36 months. The median delay in diagnosis was 16 months. Combined immunodeficiencies were the most frequent (33.8%), followed by antibody deficiencies (24.5%) and well-defined syndromes with immunodeficiency (24%). Among 287 patients tested for genetic disorders, 129 patients carried pathogenic mutations; 102 having biallelic variants mostly in a homozygous state (autosomal recessive disorders). The highest mortality rate was observed in patients with combined immunodeficiency (70.1%), especially in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), Omenn syndrome, or Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class II deficiency. Conclusion: The spectrum of IEI in Algeria is similar to that seen in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, notably regarding the frequency of autosomal recessive and/or combined immunodeficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image time series, such as Satellite Image Time Series (SITS) or MRI functional sequences in the medical domain, carry both spatial and temporal information. In many pattern recognition applications such as image classification, taking into account such rich information may be crucial and discriminative during the decision making stage. However, the extraction of spatio-temporal features from image time series is difficult to handle due to the complex representation of the data cube. In this paper, we present a strategy based on Random Walk to build a novel segment-based representation of the data, passing from a 2D + t dimension to a 2D one, more easily manipulable and without losing too much spatial information. Such new representation is then used to feed a classical Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) in order to learn spatio-temporal features with only 2D convolutions and to classify image time series data for a particular classification problem. The influence of the way the 2D + t data are represented, as well as the impact of the network architectures on the results, are carefully studied. The interest of this approach is highlighted on a remote sensing application for the classification of complex agricultural crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, polymer-hybrid natural fibers composites were prepared using unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) as the matrix and a filler using date palm leaf fiber (DPLF) and orange peel fiber (OPF). The effect of DPLF and OPF on mechanical behavior (tensile strength and elongation at break), moisture absorption, UPR gel time (tgel) and peak exothermic temperature (Tpeak) were determined. The composites of UPR reinforced with DPLF and OPF were processed by hand lay-up technique. The UPR weight fraction was maintained at 90%, and DPLF/OPF proportions varied so that the percentage of natural fiber was 10 wt%. Seven (07) composites were prepared (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 and C7) with different DPLF:OPF ratios (0:0, 1:0, 0.75:0.25, 0.5:0.5, 0.33:0.67, 0.25:0.75, 0:1) respectively in order to screen the possible interactions. DPLF were surface modified using 6% Alkali treatment, OPF were used without surface modification. Unlike DPLF, OPF showed considerable increase of UPR tgel and Tpeak which act as natural inhibitor. Tensile strength and fracture strength were also impacted negatively and positively depending on the different fiber proportions. Absorption tests showed a decrease in the composites hydrophobicity which increases significantly with higher DPLF proportions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to study the structural and elastic properties of tetragonal lead dioxide (β-PbO2) material using first-principles calculations. Features such as lattice parameters, bulk modulus and its first pressure derivative, elastic constants, mechanical parameters, sound velocities, Debye temperature and melting temperature have been investigated, and their dependence on pressure in the range 0–1 GPa has been analyzed and discussed. Upon compression, the stiffness of the material of interest is found to become larger as compared to that at zero pressure. Moreover, its tetragonal structure fulfills the mechanical stability criteria in all studied pressure range. Besides, the analysis of Pugh's ratio shows that PbO2 behaves in a ductile manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the effects of feeding 450 g/day of rumen-protected fish oil (FO) compared to sunflower oil (SO) to Angus heifers (60 g/kg total intake) were quantified. Animal performance was not affected whereas the physico-chemical meat quality, assessed in three muscles, was slightly affected by diet. The oxidative shelf life of the perirenal fat declined with FO compared to SO. Despite the formerly shown increased n –3 fatty acid proportions of meat due to FO supplementation, a trained sensory panel identified an only slightly more intense fishy flavour in grilled steaks and beef patties from the FO compared to the SO group. In FO compared to SO patties, flavour intensity was more pronounced. The perception of off-flavours was negligible and differences between muscles were larger than between diets. In conclusion, supplementing ruminants with FO containing nutritionally beneficial n –3 fatty acids results in few side-effects on meat quality, restricted to quite faint off-flavours and a shorter fat shelf life. • Exchange of rumen-protected sunflower oil for fish oil was tested in beef heifers. • Effects on performance and physico-chemical quality of the beef were small. • The use of fish oil reduced the oxidative stability of the body fat by one third. • Grilled steaks and beef patties were perceived slightly more fishy with fish oil. • Sensory attributes differed more between muscles than between oil types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tenderness, flavour and colour are the most important quality traits of beef that are influenced by breed and age. Suckler calves (SC) produce very tender, high-quality meat. Extensively growing, small-framed breeds are known for high-quality beef, but information about the particularly small Dexter cattle (D) is yet unavailable. Eight D and seven Charolais-crossbreed SC were kept for 11 weeks on alpine pastures to be able to compare their meat quality. The SC were kept with their dams. The animals of the two breeds were slaughtered at different ages (D: 15 months and SC: 7 months) consistent with their respective production system conventions. Although this meant that age and breed effects were confounded, slaughter took place at the same carcass fatness score, thereby avoiding a confounding effect on meat quality. Quality of the carcass and of two muscles (M. biceps femoris , M. longissimus thoracis) was analysed. Despite being older, D had lower body and carcass weights, dressing percentage and bodyweight gains than SC. Dexter meat was darker than SC meat. Shear force did not differ between D and SC in the M. longissimus thoracis but was higher in the M. biceps femoris from D than from SC. Sensory analysis by a trained panel demonstrated an overall preference for D meat, associated with more favourable flavour and juiciness. Tenderness was not rated differently. Despite the unfavourable darker colour of D compared with SC meat, its characteristic flavour might attract consumers in a high-price niche market. For a more comprehensive characterisation, sensory evaluation of additional muscles is required. Additional measurements on a larger number of animals and muscles are required. Carcass and meat quality of Dexter cattle were analysed and compared with the high-quality standard meat produced by suckler calves. Dexter cattle had an inferior carcass quality and darker meat. Shear force of the M. longissimus thoracis of Dexter beef did not differ from that of Charolais-cross suckler calves. Sensory analysis confirmed the lack of a significant difference in tenderness between meat of Dexter cattle and that of suckler calves, but panellists clearly preferred the Dexter meat because of superior flavour and juiciness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Algerian Journal of Environmental Science & Technology is the property of Algerian Journal of Environmental Science & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND Compared with weaned calves, nursed calves benefit from access to milk as nutrient-dense feed and mentoring by their dams. Both may be decisive for growth under difficult conditions such as grazing on alpine pastures, where experience could play an essential role. These factors were investigated separately by comparing nursed calves with calves weaned at 3 months of age and grazing with or without a mentor cow ( n = 8 calves). RESULTS Weaned calves with mentor cows spent less time lying and walked more than nursed calves. Irrespective of whether they had a mentor cow or not, the weaned calves grew slower than the nursed calves (357, 428 and 1324 g day−1 respectively). This also adversely affected slaughter weight, dressing percentage, conformation and fat cover at slaughter. In general, mentoring had no effect. Meat quality did not differ whether weaned calves were mentored or not. Nursed calves were superior in intramuscular fat content, tenderness and water-holding capacity. CONCLUSION The availability of milk appeared to be much more important to the calves under demanding grazing conditions than did mentoring. The differences in growth rate were accompanied by unexpectedly large differences in meat quality, showing that early weaning was not suitable for this system.© 2016 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present a bimodal speaker identification method, which integrates both acoustic and visual features and where the two audiovisual stream modalities are processed in parallel. We also propose a fusion technique that combines the two modalities to make the final recognition decision. Experiments are conducted on an audiovisual dataset containing the 28 Arabic syllables pronounced by ten speakers. Results show the importance of the visual information that is provided by Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) in addition to the audio information corresponding to the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Perceptual Linear Predictive (PLP). Furthermore, some artificial neural networks such as Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) were investigated and tested successfully in this dataset by presenting good recognition performances with serial concatenation for the acoustic and visual vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organo-acid-activated bentonite (OAB) was prepared and characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR, pHPZC and BET. Then the OAB was employed as adsorbent for the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenol (TCP) from aqueous solutions. The adsorption performances of OAB were investigated by batch mode experiments with respect to pH, temperature, initial concentration, contact time and competitive adsorption. The Langmuir model describes better the results of BPA adsorption while the results of TCP are best fitted to Freundlich model. The maximum adsorption capacities are found to be 127.7 and 244.6 mg/g for BPA and TCP, respectively. The kinetic properties were well described by the pseudo-second-order equation.Thermodynamic parameters suggest that the adsorption process of BPA and TCP onto organoclay (OAB) are physisorption, spontaneous and exothermic. In binary solutions, BPA and TCP show competitive adsorption. Hydrophobic interaction play an important role during the sorption process. In addition, OAB could be regenerated and reused for adsorption of BPA/TCP again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present work is the study of the performances of dry cells containing the electrolytic MnO, natural MnO, or a mixture of both. The two components have been characterized by chemical analysis. The continuous discharge tests done on the dry cells based on EMD present a discharge time largely greater than that of the pure NMD; however, the cells containing a mixture present intermediate values of the discharge time. The value of the diffusion coefficient estimated by the GITT or impedance spectroscopy shows that the H diffuses more quickly in the EMD variety that in the NMD one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face recognition has received a great attention from a lot of researchers in computer vision, pattern recognition, and human machine computer interfaces in recent years. Designing a face recognition system is a complex task due to the wide variety of illumination, pose, and facial expression. A lot of approaches have been developed to find the optimal space in which face feature descriptors are well distinguished and separated. Face representation using Gabor features and discrete wavelet has attracted considerable attention in computer vision and image processing. We describe in this paper a face recognition system using artificial neural networks like multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF) where Gabor and discrete wavelet based feature extraction methods are proposed for the extraction of features from facial images using two facial databases: the ORL and computer vision. Good recognition rate was obtained using Gabor and DWT parameterization with MLP classifier applied for computer vision dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Technologies de Laboratoire is the property of Technop and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)