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The A. parasiticus fas-1A gene encodes a fatty acid synthetase that produces a part of the polyketide backbone of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). The gene is cloned by genetic complementation of an A. parasiticus mutant strain with blockages in the AFB1 biosynthetic pathway. The disruption of the fas-1A gene sequence reduces norsolorinic acid formation and increases sclerotium development. The amino acid sequence of the fas-1A gene is similar to the enoyl reductase, and malonyl/palmityl transferase functional regions in the beta-subunit of yeast FAS.

A study of the effect of the new fish oil preparation, K-85, on the levels of plasma lipids and lipoproteins in hypertriglyceridaemia patients showed that K-85 can reduce the level of serum triglycerides by bringing about a decrease in very low-density lipoprotein level. K-85 has greater potency than other fish oils as a major portion of its total fatty acids consists of omega-3 fatty acids. The study also reveals the effectiveness of fish oil preparation in the pharmacological treatment for hyperlipidaemia.

Experimental studies on the influence of neem leaf volatiles on submerged cultures of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus parasiticus show that volatile components of neem leaves affect fungal growth and aflatoxin production in A. parasiticus. Gas spectroscopy-mass spectroscopic study of the neem volatiles reveals the presence of 68 compounds and 10% of the total headspace volatiles constitute C3 to C9 alkenals, which are toxic to aflatoxigenic. A. spp, explaining the reduced biomass in neem-treated cultures due to bioactivity.

Two Aspergillus homologous genes, afl2 and apa2, regulate aflatoxin biosynthesis and are termed aflR genes. The aflR codes for a protein that contains a zinc cluster DNA-binding motif are present in various fungal transcriptional regulatory proteins. Genes with DNA sequences similar to aflR are expressed in the species. The A. oryzae and A. sojae aflR locus encodes an antisense transcript whose accretion destabilizes mRNA.

The volatile compounds produced by atoxigenic and toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed a correlation between aflatoxin biosynthesis and the production of sesquiterpenes. Moreover, a decline in aflatoxin concentration also resulted in the decline of emitted volatile sesquiterpenes. These results have implications in the molecular regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis.

The conversion of sterigmatocystin (ST) to O-methylsterigmatocystin (OMST) is the last level in the aflatoxin bosynthetic pathway of the filamentous fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. Five soft-gel chromatographic steps were used to carry out the purification of the reaction catalyst, S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase. A second enzyme that can convert ST to OMST in vitro was characterized from the purification process.

The complementation of an aflatoxin-nonproducing mutant with a wild-type genomic plasmid library of Aspergillus flavus for the isolation of a gene involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis is discussed. A cosmid clone containing the afl-2 gene was identified as its ability to complement the mutated afl-2 locus in A. flavus established its involvement in aflatoxin biosynthesis. The effectivity of the pathway mutant complementation method was demonstrated.

Being planar and having many applications of microstrip patch antennas, nowadays these also have applications in biomedical field (for detection of cancer). As EM radiations are hazardous so direct experiments on human body and EM radiation are impossible. So this paper is focused on a breast model to detect the presence of tumor inside it along with antenna structure as a radiation source. HFSS simulation software is used for designing and simulation part. Antenna is resonating at 2.46 GHz in frequency range 2.41-2.5 GHz of ISM band suitable for medical purpose. Two models, one of which has microstrip patch antennas along with breast model without tumor and the other with tumor, are designed and simulated, and their radiation properties are compared. For cancer detection near E-field results are important, so near Efield plots for both models are shown in this paper. The differences in these results of two models can be used to diagnose tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influencing customers' perception of service quality through service interaction is becoming imperative for organizations to sustain competitive advantage. As a result, the critical challenge before many organizations is to retain employees in service occupations and promote their well-being. This study examined the relationship of organizational identification and emotional dissonance with turnover intention and well-being among a sample of 468 medical representatives in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Drawing from the conservation of resource theory, this study shows that apart from its direct effect, emotional dissonance has a mediating effect on the relationship of organizational identification with turnover intention and emotional well-being. Contributions of this study to the theory and practice of human resource management (HRM) are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]