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A polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) conico-cylindrical flask (CCF) with an inner arrangement consisting of eight equidistantly spaced rectangular strips mounted radially on a circular disk to provide additional surface area for microbial attachment was employed for protease production by two biofilm-forming bacteria, an intertidal gamma-Proteobacterium (DGII) and a chicken meat isolate, Virgibacillus pantothenticus. The flask design allowed comparison of protease production during cultivation with a hydrophilic (glass) or hydrophobic (PMMA) surface. Compared to the Erlenmeyer flask, the CCF allowed protease production that was 30% and 35% higher and growth that was 20% and 345% higher for DGII and V. pantothenticus, respectively. Protease production increased by 202% and 22% and growth by 19,275% and 940% for DGII and V. pantothenticus, respectively, in the presence of a hydrophobic as compared to a hydrophilic surface. This investigation pioneers the application of a vessel beyond the traditional shake-flask for enhancing protease production by biofilm-formers.

In hierarchical sensor networks, higher powered relay nodes can be deployed to act as cluster heads. The lifetime of such a network is primarily determined by the lifetime of the relay nodes. Recently, it has been shown that the use of a Mobile Data Collector (MDC), which moves through the sensor network to collect data, can improve the performance of the network in a number of ways. We propose a model for hierarchical networks using a MDC, where the MDC travels along a pre-determined trajectory at a known speed, and collects data from each relay node. In this model, the relay nodes need to buffer their data until they can be uploaded to the MDC. To reduce the buffer size, as well as the delay for the data communication, it is desirable to minimize the length of the trajectory. In our model the MDC "visits" a relay node, to collect data, at any point within the permitted transmission distance of the relay node. There is a trade-off in this approach, as a large permitted transmission distance means that the relay node will expend higher energy, and hence, have a reduced lifetime. In this paper, we present two formulations for computing the minimal trajectory of the MDC. Our approaches allow us to control the transmission distances of the relay nodes and hence, achieve the lifetime objectives. Minimizing the length of the trajectory reduces the buffer size requirements at each node as well as the delay between successive visits.

Naturally occurring new iridoids and secoiridoids published during 2005-2008 are reviewed with available physical and spectral data: mp, [alpha](D), UV, IR, (1)H- and (13)C-NMR and plant source. The works on biological and pharmacological activity of naturally occurring iridoids and secoiridoids reported during 2005-2008 are also reviewed. Bioactivities like antibacterial, anticancer, anticoagulant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiprotozoal, hepatoprotective and neuroprotective activities are highlighted.

A novel reactor system, the rotating disk bioreactor (RDBR), was used to mimic the niche environmental conditions of three salt-tolerant estuarine actinobacteria isolated from the Sundarbans region off the Bay of Bengal, designated MS310 (99% similar in its 16S rRNA gene sequence to Streptomyces parvallus), MS3/20 and MS1/7. The RDBR, operated at a rotational speed of one revolution per day, 50% submergence of discs, aeration rate of 1.0 vvm, and with a sucrose-containing medium, faithfully mimicked the intertidal estuarine habitat of these marine isolates, and supported biofilm formation and production of antimicrobial metabolites—in particular, actinomycin D by MS310. Onset of antibiotic production by MS310 occurs at 20 h in the RDBR compared to 55 h in a conventional stirred-tank bioreactor (STBR). Furthermore, peak antimicrobial activity is attained much earlier in the RDBR with MS310 (at 45 h) than that reported with a terrestrial strain of S. parvallus grown in a STBR (at 144 h). Peak antimicrobial activity of metabolites produced by MS1/7 and MS3/20 were also attained earlier in the RDBR (at 25 and 12 h, respectively) than in a STBR (at 80 and 28 h, respectively). Antibiotic synthesis in the three isolates, in general, appears to be associated with their growth. Overall, the RDBR may be considered the preferred alternative to the STBR for production of antimicrobials by biofilm-forming estuarine bacteria for its much higher surface/volume ratio, lower costs, and easy operability.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the preferences of ICT tools by the Upazila Agricultural Officers, Bangladesh for the exchange of information. Data were collected using distributed questionnaires among the respondents. The findings showed that majority of the respondents (93.8%) had highly favorable attitude towards ICTs while 6.3% percent had moderately favorable attitude and there was no respondent had slightly favorable attitude towards ICTs. It also found that the highly preferred ICT tool by the UAOs is cell phone (1.76) and the second highly preferred tool is tab with the mean value 1.74, and on the other hand, internet (1.31) is the least preferred tools by the respondents. Correlation showed that age, job duration, personality characteristics, ambition and access to ICT tools showed significant relationship with the preferences of ICT tools by the UAOs. Challenges in using ICTs revealed that load shedding problem (2.21), lack of training facilities (2.19) and indifferences of farmers to get information through ICT (2.19) are the major challenges faced by the Upazila Agriculture Officers. Thus, it can be recommended that more ICT tools should be made available to the respondents with properly addressing the challenges so that they will be able to choose from various alternatives and also be able to gather and disseminate useful information to the farmers.

Ischaemia modified albumin (IMA) is a recently developed biomarker of transient myocardial ischaemia.1 Circulating IMA is increased in patients with myocardial ischaemia, after percutaneous coronary intervention,2,3 or in acute coronary syndromes.4 The test has recently been licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration for diagnostic use in suspected myocardial ischaemia. IMA is serum albumin in which the N-terminus has been chemically modified. The diagnostic albumin Co2+ binding (ACB) test is based for IMA on the observation that the affinity of serum albumin for Co2+ is reduced after N-terminus modifications. It has been proposed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide (•O2−) and hydroxyl (•OH) radicals generated during myocardial ischaemia–reperfusion modify the N-terminus of serum albumin resulting in IMA formation but, so far, direct evidence to support this is scarce. We hypothesised that ROS generation causes the formation of IMA. Our objective was to model the formation of IMA in vitro by using chemically generated ROS and the •OH radical scavenger mercaptopropionylglycine (MPG). All reagents were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (Poole, Dorset, UK) and normal human serum from the North London Transfusion Service (London, UK). Serum pH was 7.35–7.45 at 37°C and was unaltered by any of the reactants during the 15 minute experimental time course. Five millilitre serum aliquots (eight replicate experiments per group) were randomly selected for the following incubations for 15 minutes at 37°C. Group 1, peroxide treated (H2O2): serum was incubated with H2O2 100 μM. Group 2, superoxide treated (•O2−): serum was incubated with a xanthine-xanthine oxidase •O2− generating system consisting of 100 μM xanthine plus 0.05 U/ml xanthine …

Background: Ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) is a new marker of myocardial ischemia, there is concern that IMA concentrations may be affected by ischemia occurring in tissues other than the myocardium. Methods: We assessed 23 consecutive patients (15 males; mean age, 67 years) with typical leg claudication and documented peripheral vascular disease (PVD). All patients underwent both treadmill-exercise stress testing to induce leg ischemia and dobutamine stress echocardiography 1 week apart for the assessment of myocardial ischemia. Blood samples for IMA measurements were obtained at baseline, immediately after peak exercise/stress, and 1 h after exercise/stress. Statistical analysis was performed with the ANOVA repeated-measures test. Results: Compared with baseline, mean (SD) IMA was significantly lower after the induction of skeletal muscle ischemia and returned to baseline values at 1 h: baseline, 74.6 (15.6) kilounits/L; peak stress, 69.5 (14.0) kilounits/L (P Conclusions: The relationship between disease severity (of a noncardiac origin) and baseline IMA values is an important and novel finding. IMA is significantly lower immediately after exercise-induced leg ischemia in patients with PVD and is related to disease severity. IMA concentrations can therefore be affected by the development of skeletal muscle ischemia, and this may have implications regarding the ability of IMA to detect myocardial ischemia in PVD patients.

Background Diagnosis of cardiac ischaemia in patients attending emergency departments (ED) with symptoms of acute coronary syndromes is often difficult. Cardiac troponin (cTn) is sensitive and specific for the detection of myocardial damage but may not rise during reversible myocardial ischaemia. Ischemia Modified Albumin (IMA) has recently been shown to be a sensitive and early biochemical marker of ischaemia. Methods and results This study evaluated IMA in conjunction with ECG and cTn in 208 patients presenting to the ED within three hours of acute chest pain. At presentation, a 12-lead ECG was recorded and blood taken for IMA and cardiac troponin T (cTnT). Patients underwent standardised triage, diagnostic procedures, and treatment. Results of IMA, ECG, and cTnT, alone and in combination, were correlated with final diagnoses of non-ischaemic chest pain, unstable angina, ST segment elevation, and non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. In the whole patient group, sensitivity of IMA at presentation for an ischaemic origin of chest pain was 82%, compared with 45% of ECG and 20% of cTnT. IMA used together with cTnT or ECG, had a sensitivity of 90% and 92%, respectively. All three tests combined identified 95% of patients whose chest pain was attributable to ischaemic heart disease. In patients with unstable angina, sensitivity of IMA used alone was equivalent to that of IMA and ECG combined. Conclusions IMA is highly sensitive for the diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia in patients presenting with symptoms of acute chest pain.

This study compared ischemia-modified albumin levels, a marker of ischemia in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Ischemia-modified albumin levels were significantly lower in patients with collateral circulation compared with those without collateral circulation.

The results in this study confirm and expand previous reports that ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) is an early marker of ischemia in the setting of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We observed that IMA levels are related to the number of inflations, inflation pressure, and duration of inflations. It is therefore likely that IMA reflects the magnitude and duration of ischemia induced during PCI.

This paper highlights some examples of contributions from the selected ICCAD papers to Synopsys. We do not attempt to be exhaustive. Given the breadth of the topics addressed at ICCAD and the number of products offered by Synopsys this would be very difficult. We also try not to make any value judgments on the importance of a topic: In terms of (current) economic relevance markets speak for themselves, predicting future relevance accurately is impossible, and judgment on the technical relevance is subjective. So the given examples merely reflect the papers and products the authors are most familiar with. We hope however, that they do illustrate what it takes to create practical design technology (tools) starting from outstanding ideas.

Five herbs namely Trigonella foenum-graecum (Methi), Acacia concina (Shikakai), Trachyspermum ammi (Ajwain), Cinnamomum tamla (Tejpatta) and Aloe barbadanis (Aloe vera ) were added at the rate of 1.5%, 2.5% and 4.0% of ration . The rumen fermentation parameters and digestibility of feed was studied with buffalo rumen liquor using in vitro gas production test. The addition of these herbs had no adverse effect on rumen pH. There was significant (Pit can be concluded that Trigonella foenum-graecum (Methi) and and Aloe barbadanis (Aloe vera ) had the potential to improve the feed digestibility however in vivo trials are essential before its recommendation to dairy farmers.

We read with interest the recent study by Sbarouni et al. ([1][1]) which adds to the growing body of evidence regarding ischemia-modified albumin (IMA). Interestingly, in their study, the IMA levels dropped significantly at peak exercise in both patients with positive and negative exercise stress

In a recent editorial, Bagwe et al. 1 discussed the role of cardiac biomarkers regarding treatment and outcomes of patients with evolving myocardial infarction (MI) in the context of the SYNERGY trial.2 High-risk acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients with elevated cardiac troponin (cTnT) benefit from early invasive therapy, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, combined anti-platelet agent treatment, and the use of low molecular-weight heparins. However, while cTnT measurement has represented a useful tool for the management of acute chest pain in both the emergency department (ED) and the coronary care unit, it is known that a sizeable proportion of patients present with negative cTnT levels. Moreover, patients with unstable angina, i.e. acute chest pain, myocardial ischaemia, and negative TnT measurements, have been shown to have a high incidence (6–8%) of MI at 30 days, even …

In a recent paper, Sbarouni et al. 1 report that unlike cardiac troponin, ischaemia modified albumin (IMA) plasma levels did not change significantly in patients undergoing radiofrequency (RF) ablation. They interpret these findings as an expression of RF induced myocardial necrosis without preceding ischaemia. Previous studies from our group have shown that IMA levels increase after RF ablation.2 The discrepancies between the two studies, which included relatively similar patients, are intriguing and deserve further explanation. In our study,2 IMA levels increased significantly after 30 min and returned to baseline at 8 h. We obtained an early (30 min) sample as previous data from our group indicated that IMA levels increase within 30 min following balloon inflation …

We read with interest the article by Giannitsis and Katus1 on markers of myocardial ischaemia. Although their comments are authoritative and scholarly, we feel that the authors failed to objectively summarize the evidence available for ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) as a marker of myocardial ischaemia. Research from our unit has shown that IMA is an early marker of ischaemia in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty.2 We have also shown that IMA has a higher sensitivity than the 12-lead ECG and cardiac troponin (cTn) T levels for the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in chest pain patients attending the …

A generalized methodology for estimation of the relative segregation rate, ( p ), in a recombinant cell culture has been presented that does not require the a priori assumption of a constant ‘ p ’. Moreover, measurement of no other variable in addition to those conventionally monitored, viz. overall culture concentration and fraction plasmid-bearing cells is necessary.

The effect of blending two different materials with a medium density polyethylene for use as pipe coatings is presented. The influence of such blending on properties such as cathodic disbondment (CD) and wet adhesion on steel is investigated. The components blended include a functionalised polyethylene (PE) containing the polar functionality, maleic anhydride (MAH) and an amorphous elastomer, ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM). It was found that modification of PE with small amount (2.5–3 wt%) of either blended MAH-g-PE or EPDM resulted in a significant improvement in CD performance and wet adhesion strength. The mode of failure and disbondment mechanism was investigated using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The greater resistance of migration of sodium ions increases with the incorporation of the modifiers, and it is proposed that this results in an increase in CD performance.

Polyethylene is one of the most widely used corrosion-protection thermoplastic coating materials that protects steel by providing a barrier to oxygen, water, and corrosive ions and performs very well. In order to further improve medium density polyethylene (MDPE) properties with regard to cathodic disbondment (CD), i.e., the loss of adhesion that takes place in the presence of cathodic protection (CP), various blends with functionalized polyethylenes containing polar functional groups such as maleic anhydride-grafted-polyethylene (MAH-g-PE) and other thermoplastic elastomers such as EPDM have been formulated to increase CD performance. Using compression molding and strew coating, the above modified polyethylenes have been applied on steel plate and pipe, respectively. The CD performance and 90° peel strength (dry and wet) of these formulations are investigated in this study. It is observed that dry bond strength does not correlate with CD performance. The improvement of CD performance for compression-molded materials and strew-coated samples is demonstrated. Also discussed, for comparison, is the performance of MDPE applied by a commercially relevant fluidized bed technique. Wet adhesion strength is shown to be an important parameter in assessing the CD performance of coatings. The disbondment mechanism of failed polymer surfaces has also been investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which allows us to monitor the mass transfer of the sodium cations along the crevice during CD. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 21: 44–58, 2002; DOI 10.1002/adv.10010