D structure

Topological indices play a significant role in chemical graph theory by providing quantitative measures of molecular structures. Most existing indices are focused on organic compounds, particularly hydrocarbons, with limited applicability to inorganic acids. In this work, we propose a novel graph-theoretical index, the Tareq Index (TI), specifically designed to reflect bonding patterns in inorganic acid molecules. This index incorporates bond multiplicity and molecular connectivity, capturing characteristics often overlooked by traditional indices like the Zagreb or Randić indices. A dataset of over 20 inorganic acids was analyzed, with the TI compared against pKa values and other topological descriptors. Preliminary trends indicate a potential correlation between TI values and acid strength. This contribution offers a new avenue for the structural interpretation of inorganic compounds and lays the foundation for further expansion into quantitative structure-activity/property relationships (QSAR/QSPR) involving inorganic systems.

Ternary PbTiOx films were deposited at 240°C on Pt-covered Si substrates using a combination of liquid injection atomic layer depositions of binary TiOx and PbO films. Ti(OC3H7)2(C11H19O2)2 [Ti(Oi−Pr)2(DPM)2] and Pb(C11H19O2)2 [Pb(DPM)2] dissolved in ethylcyclohexane and H2O were used as source materials. The deposition rates of Pb and Ti were enhanced in the ternary process compared to their binary processes under comparable deposition conditions. The Pb∕Ti ratio of PbTiOx films saturated with an increase in Ti precursor input, while it continued to increase with an increasing Pb precursor input. The self-regulated growth nature of the Pb–O layer in the binary film growth was lost in the mixed PbTiOx process as a result of interaction with the predeposited Ti–O layer. It was confirmed that for the PbTiOx film to grow on Pt substrates, an initial incubation period is required. Both Pb–O and Ti–O layers shared a common incubation period of up to ten sequences. The incubation period w...

ScS-S differential traveltimes of shear waves traversing the lowermost mantle beneath New Guinea and the Banda Sea, in nearly north-south and east-west directions for different sourcearray pairs, exhibit a pronounced fast shear-wave velocity anomaly at the western edge of the Pacific Large Low-Shear-Velocity Province (LLSVP). Forward modelling of the differential time residuals for both sets of ray paths reveals an increase in shear velocity of around 1 per cent adjacent to the LLSVP, which has a low-velocity anomaly of -1.5 per cent, at a lateral boundary at 137 • E. The marked increase in shear velocity at the edge of the LLSVP possibly indicates the presence of subducted slab material, which may reside adjacent to the LLSVP pile, resulting from pushing and sweeping of the pile into the region beneath the central Pacific.

We present the results of experiments investigating the interactions of ablations streams in aluminium and tungsten wire array z-pinches. These experiments were carried out on the 1.4MA, 240ns MAGPIE generator at Imperial College London. The primary diagnostics used for these studies were an optical Thomson scattering diagnostic and an end-on aligned, two colour, Mach-Zehnder imaging interferometer. In aluminum arrays, the interactions of the ablation flows produces a dense network of oblique shocks. Measurements of the geometry of these shocks allows us to place limits on the plasma parameters of the flows. In tungsten arrays the data shows a prolonged period of collisionless flow. No shock structures were observed, the flow densities varied smoothly between the ablation streams and the inter-wire regions. The region about the axis appears azimuthally isotropic, and Thomson scattering measurements indicate significant interpenetration of the flows in this region.

The spatial structure of β-amyloid peptide (25-35) was studied using circular dichroism spectroscopy in a medium with conditions similar to the membrane environment. The conformation preference of β-amyloid peptide (25-35) was fi rst studied in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) solution with and without cholesterol using circular dichroism spectroscopy. This peptide was found to adopt α-helix, β-sheet, and β-turn structures along with having irregular regions. The relative proportions of these structural segments were found to depend on the presence of cholesterol. The results of the spectral analysis of β-amyloid peptide (20-35) suggested the secondary structure of this peptide in a lipid solvent. Ordering of the secondary structure of β-amyloid peptide (20-35) was found in the DPPC solution, which has conditions most similar to the environment of the plasma membrane surface.

Generation of the alternative pathway C3-convertase, the central amplification enzyme of the complement cascade, initiates by the binding of factor B (fB) to C3b to form the proconvertase, C3bB. C3bB is subsequently cleaved by factor D (fD) at a single site in fB, producing Ba and Bb fragments. Ba dissociates from the complex, while Bb remains bound to C3b, forming the active alternative pathway convertase, C3bBb. Using single-particle electron microscopy we have determined the 3-dimensional structures of the C3bB and the C3bBb complexes at ≈27Å resolution. The C3bB structure shows that fB undergoes a dramatic conformational change upon binding to C3b. However, the C3b-bound fB structure was easily interpreted after independently fitting the atomic structures of the isolated Bb and Ba fragments. Interestingly, the divalent cation-binding site in the von Willebrand type A domain in Bb faces the C345C domain of C3b, whereas the serine-protease domain of Bb points outwards. The structu...

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) represents the only way to modify the natural history of allergic diseases. Unfortunately, AIT is not always followed by a reduction in symptoms. The main reasons for such failure can be inadequate diagnosis and/or the poor treatment. In both cases, an incomplete or insufficient understanding of the component(s) responsible for the IgE sensitization on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the lack of a steady and reliable allergen mixture to be used for the desensitization process, could explain unsuccessful treatment. A more comprehensive IgE reactivity profile evaluation of the patient can be achieved by means of a molecule-based diagnostic approach, in order to distinguish genuine from panallergen-driven antigen recognition. At the same time, a better delineation of AIT products by means of molecular dissection, can allow a stronger correlation between diagnostic findings and immunotherapeutic intervention, thus facilitating the right prescription to...

In this paper we present a complete pipeline for image based mod-eling of objects using a camcorder or digital camera. Our sys-tem takes an uncalibrated sequence of images recorded around a scene, it automatically selects a subset of keyframes and then it recovers the underlying 3D structure and camera path. The fol-lowing step is a volumetric scene reconstruction performed using a hardware accelerated voxel carving approach. From the recovered voxelized volume we obtain the depth images for each of the ref-erence views and then we triangulate them following a Restricted Quadtree meshing scheme. During rendering, we use a highly op-timized approach to combine the available information from mul-tiple overlapped reference images generating a generate a full 3D photo-realistic reconstruction. The final reconstructed models can be rendered in real time very efficiently, making them very suitable to be used to enrich the content of large virtual environments.

A model is presented of the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), constructed by use of an unbiased, objective method. The model is created directly from data derived from multiple sequence analysis, a low-resolution EMprojection map of rhodopsin, and the approximate membrane thickness. The model agrees well with available data concerning natural mutations of MC1Rs occurring in different species. A model is also presented of the most rigid ligand for this receptor, the cyclic pentapeptide cHFRWG, shown docked in the receptor model. The receptor-ligand complex model agrees well with available experimental data. The ligand is located between transmembrane region 1 (TM1), TM2, TM3, TM6, and TM7 of the receptor. Multiple interactions occur between ligand and receptor, including interactions with Leu-48 (TM1), Ser-52 (TM1), Glu-55 (TM1), Asn-91 (TM2), Glu-94 (TM2), Thr-95 (TM2) Ile-98 (TM2), Asp-121 (TM3), Thr-124 (TM3), Phe-257 (TM6), Phe-283 (TM7), Asn-290 (TM7), and Asp-294 (TM7) of the receptor.

Glaucoma is an eye disease characterized by weakening of nerve cells often resulting in a permanent loss of vision. Glaucoma progression can occur without any physical indication to patients. Hence, early diagnosis of Glaucoma is recommended for preventing the permanent damage to vision. Early Glaucoma is often characterized by thinning of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer which is commonly called as RNFL defect (RNFLD). Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) of eye diseases is popular and is based on automated analysis of fundus images. CAD solutions for diabetic retinopathy have reached more maturity than for glaucoma as the latter is more difficult to detect from fundus images. This is due to the fact that nerve damage appears in the form of subtle change in the background around optic disc. SD-OCT (Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography), a recently introduced modality, helps to capture 3D information of retina. Hence, it is more reliable for detecting nerve damage in retina compared ...

Capsular polysaccharides (CPSs) are essential virulence determinants of many pathogenic bacteria. Escherichia coli group 1 CPSs provide paradigms for widespread surface polysaccharide assembly systems in Gram-negative bacteria. In these systems, complex carbohydrate polymers must be exported across the periplasm and outer membrane to the cell surface. Group 1 CPS export requires oligomers of the outer membrane protein, Wza, for translocation across the outer membrane. Assembly also depends on Wzc, an inner membrane tyrosine autokinase known to regulate export and synthesis of group 1 CPS. Here, we provide a structural view of a complex comprising Wzc and Wza that spans the periplasm, connecting the inner and outer membranes. Examination of transmembrane sections of the complex suggests that the periplasm is compressed at the site of complex formation. An important feature of CPS production is the coupling of steps involved in biosynthesis and export. We propose that the Wza–Wzc comp...

We study ground, symmetric and central vortex states, as well as their energy and chemical potential diagrams, in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) analytically and numerically. We start from the three-dimensional (3D) Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) with an angular momentum rotation term, scale it to obtain a four-parameter model, reduce it to a 2D GPE in the limiting regime of strong anisotropic confinement and present its semiclassical scaling and geometrical optics. We discuss the existence/nonexistence problem for ground states (depending on the angular velocity) and find that symmetric and central vortex states are independent of the angular rotational momentum. We perform numerical experiments computing these states using a continuous normalized gradient flow (CNGF) method with a backward Euler finite difference (BEFD) discretization. Ground, symmetric and central vortex states, as well as their energy configurations, are reported in 2D and 3D for a rotating BEC. Through our numerical study, we find various configurations with several vortices in both 2D and 3D structures, energy asymptotics in some limiting regimes and ratios between energies of different states in a strong replusive interaction regime. Finally we report the critical angular velocity at which the ground state loses symmetry, numerical verification of dimension reduction from 3D to 2D, errors for the Thomas-Fermi approximation, and spourous numerical ground states when the rotation speed is larger than the minimal trapping frequency in the xy plane.

The Chicxulub impact feature, has been characterized as being relatively circular with a diameter of 180 Km, 240 Km, or 300 Km. To arrive at these characterizations the authors have relied for the most part upon gravity data, sparse well control, a few seismic lines and a ring of cenotes (sinkholes). We are better defining the feature by analysis of

Conventional lateral cephalograms utilize two-dimensional (2D) technology, which limits the information retrieved from the scan. The accuracy and reliability with 3D superimpositions, offer a useful method for evaluating orthodontic treatment changes, as well as growth in patients. Cephalometric evaluation lacks a defined gold standard and Traditional methods face errors and time issues, while digital approaches vary in efficiency. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the accuracy of manual, digital and CBCT-generated superimposition of cephalometric landmarks. Materials and Methods: The study consisted of 20 patients wherein two lateral cephalograms and two CBCT were taken for each patient. They were traced manually/digitally at the beginning and oneyear intervals. Reference landmarks marked on the anterior cranial base, maxilla, and mandible for superimposition of radiographs and CBCT. Radiographic tracings were superimposed manually, digital superimposition done with DOLPHIN software for radiographs and INVIVO SOFTWARE for CBCT scans. Subsequently, these superimpositions were compared for accuracy. Results: Maxillary and mandibular measurements showed improved 3D accuracy over manual and 2D methods in both the X and Y axes. Dentition measurements significantly improved in 2D and 3D compared to manual. Soft tissue measurements in 3D surpassed both manual and 2D, with no significant difference from 2D for mean soft tissue measurements. Conclusions: Compared to manually and digitally traced radiographs, all evaluated procedures were acceptable and dependable. The CBCT scans provided higher levels of accuracy and reliability.

To make river basins more climate resilient, provide a better living environment for people and other organisms, the EU encourages integrated river and floodplain management (RFM) and calls for restoration of 25,000 km of EU rivers to a free-flowing state in the EU Nature Restoration Law. To support decision making in this domain, there is a need for a holistic assessment framework. However, most policy appraisal studies in river management to date have a limited scope and focus on impacts of measures in a single domain, such as flood risk reduction or water quality. In this study we address this gap by using quantitative models to analyse the supply of 13 ecosystem services under various RFM strategies for the Rhine Branches in the Netherlands. We use a mix of biophysical and monetary indicators to quantitatively assess ecosystem services and the trade-offs involved in different RFM strategies. The results show that strongly regulated, mono-functional RFM has overall lower ES supply than more integrated, multifunctional RFM strategies with rehabilitated floodplains. The latter generally increase ES supply across all domains (provisioning, regulating, cultural), with the exception of crop and fodder production in the floodplains. Overall, our results can inform formulation and communication on RFM strategies in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Also, our approach serves as a demonstration of how the ES framework can be used to support quantitative impact assessment in this domain.

InterPro, an integrated documentation resource of protein families, domains and functional sites, was created to integrate the major protein signature databases. Currently, it includes PROSITE, Pfam, PRINTS, ProDom, SMART, TIGRFAMs, PIRSF and SUPERFAMILY. Signatures are manually integrated into InterPro entries that are curated to provide biological and functional information. Annotation is provided in an abstract, Gene Ontology mapping and links to specialized databases. New features of InterPro include extended protein match views, taxonomic range information and protein 3D structure data. One of the new match views is the InterPro Domain Architecture view, which shows the domain composition of protein matches. Two new entry types were introduced to better describe InterPro entries: these are active site and binding site. PIRSF and the structure-based SUPERFAMILY are the latest member databases to join InterPro, and CATH and PANTHER are soon to be integrated. InterPro release 8.0 contains 11 007 entries, representing 2573 domains, 8166 families, 201 repeats, 26 active sites, 21 binding sites and 20 post-translational modification sites. InterPro covers over 78% of all proteins in the Swiss-Prot and TrEMBL components of UniProt. The database is available for text-and sequencebased searches via a webserver (. ac.uk/interpro), and for download by anonymous FTP ().

Currently, the data mining and machine learning fields are facing new challenges because of the amount of information that is collected and needs processing. Many sophisticated learning approaches cannot simply cope with large and complex domains, because of the unmanageable execution times or the loss of prediction and generality capacities that occurs when the domains become more complex. Therefore, to cope with the volumes of information of the current realworld problems there is a need to push forward the boundaries of sophisticated data mining techniques. This thesis is focused on improving the efficiency of Evolutionary Learning systems in large scale domains. Specifically the objective of this thesis is improving the efficiency of the Bioinforma tic Hierarchical Evolutionary Learning (BioHEL) system, a system designed with the purpose of handling large domains. This is a classifier system that uses an Iterative Rule Learning approach to generate a set of rules one by one using consecutive Genetic Algorithms. This system have shown to be very competitive so far in large and complex domains. In particular, BioHEL has obtained very important results when solving protein structure prediction problems and has won related merits, such as being placed among the best algorithms for this purpose at the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) in 2008 and 2010, and winning the bronze medal at the HUMIES Awards for Human-competitive results in 2007. However, there is still a need to analyse this system in a principled way to determine how the current mechanisms work together to solve larger domains and determine the aspects of the system that can be improved towards this aim. To fulfil the objective of this thesis, the work is divided in two parts. In the first part of the thesis exhaustive experimentation was carried out to determine ways in which the system could be improved. From this exhaustive analysis three main weaknesses are pointed out: a) the problem-dependancy of parameters in BioHEL's fitness function, which results in having a system difficult to set up and which requires an extensive preliminary experimentation to determine the adequate values for these parameters; b) the execution time of the learning process, which at the moment does not use any parallelisation techniques and depends on the size of the training sets; and c) the lack of global supervision over the generated solutions which comes from the usage of the Iterative Rule Learning paradigm and produces larger rule sets in which there is no guarantee of minimality or maximal generality. The second part of the thesis is focused on tackling each one of the weaknesses abovementioned to have a system capable of handling larger domains. First a heuristic approach to v set parameters within BioHEL's fitness function is developed. Second a new parallel evaluation process that runs on General Purpose Graphic Processing Units was developed. Finally, post-processing operators to tackle the generality and cardinality of the generated solutions are proposed. By means of these enhancements we managed to improve the BioHEL system to reduce both the learning and the preliminary experimentation time, increase the generality of the final solutions and make the system more accessible for end-users. Moreover, as the techniques discussed in this thesis can be easily extended to other Evolutionary Learning systems we consider them important additions to the research in this field towards tackling large scale domains. vi

Bovine Amelogenin, a 170-residue, ~19 kDa extracellular, hydrophobic, phosphoprotein with an overall ellipsoidal shape, secreted by ameloblasts from bovine tooth enamel, contains a prima- ry structure which is unique in comparison to other known primary structures of mammalian proteins. lt is characterized by a large pro- portion of Leu, His, Met, Gln, and Pro residues and also contains a single

Impact property of composite material is influenced not only by the type of fiber/matrix, but also by the woven structure of the reinforcement. Presence of 3D fibers in reinforcement is reported to enhance the performance of textile composites in an impact event. This article attempts to study the influence of interlacements in the multilayer woven interlocked 3D structures on the impact properties of the composite material reinforced with them. Low velocity impact testing was carried out on an instrumented drop weight impact tester to obtain loadelongation-time plots of the impact event. It has been observed that increased interlacement in the structure improves the impact resistance of the multilayer textile composites. Further, damage area maps have been developed to understand and analyze the interlacement effect on the impact behavior.

Image-based modeling and rendering differs from traditional graphics in that both the geometry and appearance of the scene are derived from real photographs. The techniques often allow for shorter modeling times, faster rendering speeds, and unprecedented levels of photorealism. In this course we will explain and demonstrate a variety of ways of turning images into models and then back into renderings, including movie maps, panoramas, image warping, photogrammetry, light fields, and 3D scanning. This course overviews the ...

RATIONALE: To evaluate the effect of protein methylation on IgE binding of profilins Bet v 2, Art v 4 and Amb a 8. METHODS: ELISA and inhibition ELISA with recombinant birch, mugwort and ragweed profilins and their methylated counterparts were performed using sera from allergic rhinitis patients. The reductive methylation protocol led to modification of all profilin lysine residues. The methylation was confirmed using mass spectrometry. The crystal structure of methylated rAmb a 8 was determined. RESULTS: In 32 patients with positive ELISA the intensity of IgE binding to individual profilins was different. In 15 patients, IgE binding to rBet v 2 was significantly less (30-60%) than to mugwort or ragweed profilins. In those patients, soluble rBet v 2 abolished IgE binding to birch but only attenuated (30-50%) binding to mugwort or ragweed profilins. IgE binding to methylated profilins was significantly less (25-60%) than to the corresponding counterparts. Inhibition with rBet v 2 completely blocked IgE binding to all three methylated profilins. Amino acid sequence analysis revealed the unique substitution of Q37 in Bet v 2 by K37 in Art v 4 and Amb a 8. The analysis of 3D structures of profilins allowed for identification of highly conserved and variable fragments on the surface of these allergens. CONCLUSIONS: In profilins, lysines participate in formation of IgE epitopes. K37 may participate in formation of IgE epitopes specific for weeds. Mapping of the sequence conservation on profilin structure also suggests that a region of the molecule containing K54 may be responsible for binding species specific IgE's.

Linear gas stopping cells have been used successfully at NSCL to slow down ions produced by projectile fragmentation from the 100 MeV/u to the keV energy range. These 'stopped beams' have first been used for low-energy high precision experiments and more recently for NSCLs re-accelerator ReA. A gas-filled reverse cyclotron is currently under construction by the NSCL to complement the existing stopping cells: Due to its extended stopping length, efficient stopping and fast extraction is expected even for light and mediummass ions, which are difficult to thermalize in linear gas cells. The device is based on a 2.6 T maximum-field cyclotron-type magnet to confine the injected beam while it is slowed down in ≈100 mbar of LN 2 -temperature helium gas. Once thermalized, the beam will be transported to the center of the device by a traveling-wave RF-carpet system, extracted along the symmetry axis with an ion conveyor and miniature RF-carpets, and accelerated to a few tens of keV of energy for delivery to the users.

Self-assembly is a fundamental process that drives structural organization in both inanimate and living systems. It is in the course of self-assembly of cells and tissues in early development that the organism and its parts eventually acquire their final shape. Even though developmental patterning through self-assembly is under strict genetic control it is clear that ultimately it is physical mechanisms that bring about the complex structures. Here we show, both experimentally and by using computer simulations, how tissue liquidity can be used to build tissue constructs of prescribed geometry in vitro . Spherical aggregates containing many thousands of cells, which form because of tissue liquidity, were implanted contiguously into biocompatible hydrogels in circular geometry. Depending on the properties of the gel, upon incubation, the aggregates either fused into a toroidal 3D structure or their constituent cells dispersed into the surrounding matrix. The model simulations, which r...

With scanning confocal microscopy we obtained three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of the transverse tubular system (t-system) of rabbit ventricular cells. We accomplished this by labeling the t-system with dextran linked to fluorescein or, alternatively, wheat-germ agglutinin conjugated to an Alexa fluor dye. Image processing and visualization techniques allowed us to reconstruct the t-system in three dimensions. In a myocyte lying flat on a coverslip, t-tubules typically progressed from its upper and lower surfaces. 3D reconstructions of the t-tubules also suggested that some of them progressed from the sides of the cell. The analysis of single t-tubules revealed novel morphological features. The average diameter of single t-tubules from six cells was estimated to 448 6 172 nm (mean 6 SD, number of t-tubules 348, number of cross sections 5323). From reconstructions we were able to identify constrictions occurring every 1.87 6 1.09 mm along the principal axis of the tubule. The cross-sectional area of these constrictions was reduced to an average of 57.7 6 27.5% (number of constrictions 170) of the adjacent local maximal areas. Principal component analysis revealed flattening of t-tubular cross sections, confirming findings that we obtained from electron micrographs. Dextran-and wheat-germ agglutinin-associated signals were correlated in the t-system and are therefore equally good markers. The 3D structure of the t-system in rabbit ventricular myocytes seems to be less complex than that found in rat. Moreover, we found that t-tubules in rabbit have approximately twice the diameter of those in rat. We speculate that the constrictions (or regions between them) are sites of dyadic clefts and therefore can provide geometric markers for colocalizing dyadic proteins. In consideration of the resolution of the imaging system, we suggest that our methods permit us to obtain spatially resolved 3D reconstructions of the t-system in rabbit cells. We also propose that our methods allow us to characterize pathological defects of the t-system, e.g., its remodeling as a result of heart failure.

The perception of motion-in-depth is important for avoiding collisions and for the control of vergence eye-movements and other motor actions. Previous psychophysical studies have suggested that sensitivity to motion-in-depth has a lower temporal processing limit than the perception of lateral motion. The present study used functional MRI-informed EEG source-imaging to study the spatiotemporal properties of the responses to lateral motion and motion-in-depth in human visual cortex. Lateral motion and motion-in-depth displays comprised stimuli whose only difference was interocular phase: monocular oscillatory motion was either inphase in the two eyes (lateral motion) or in antiphase (motion-indepth). Spectral analysis was used to break the steady-state visually evoked potentials responses down into even and odd harmonic components within five functionally defined regions of interest: V1, V4, lateral occipital complex, V3A, and hMTϩ. We also characterized the responses within two anatomically defined regions: the inferior and superior parietal cortex. Even harmonic components dominated the evoked responses and were a factor of approximately two larger for lateral motion than motion-in-depth. These responses were slower for motion-in-depth and were largely independent of absolute disparity. In each of our regions of interest, responses at odd-harmonics were relatively small, but were larger for motion-in-depth than lateral motion, especially in parietal cortex, and depended on absolute disparity. Taken together, our results suggest a plausible neural basis for reduced psychophysical sensitivity to rapid motion-in-depth.

Melanomacrophage centers (MMC) within the thymus gland of air-breathing Climbing perch [Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792)] are critically examined under light and electron microscope. The distinct distributions of melanomacrophages (MM) within the primary lymphoid organ of climbing perch are strongly providing their structural and functional aspect within thymic stroma. The predominated thymocytes, epithelial cells, granulocytes, macrophages, plasma cells and integrated vascular networking system are very significant for lymphoid cell proliferation, maturation as well as thymocyte selection in fish. The large PAS (Periodic acid-Schiff) positive pigmented melanomacrophages centers are observed with cellular or sub-cellular debris. This frequent accumulation of melanomacrophages and cellular interconnection within the thymus gland under high resolution electron microscope are significantly influence the cellmediated thymic defense in a fragile aquatic ecosystem of fish (Anabas testudineus).

In this study firstly, we study with conchoid curves in Euclidean plane E2. We calculate the curvature of the conchoid curve and give some results. Furthermore, we consider the surface of revolution given with the conchoid curve in Euclidean 3-space E3. The Gaussian and mean curvature is calculated of these surfaces. Also we give some examples and plot their graphics. Finally we study conchoidal surface in Euclidean 3-space. We give some results for the conchoidal surface to become flat and minimal. We give an example and plot the garphics of the conchoidal surfaces.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is an important process in the field of micro machining. However, a number of issues remain to be solved in order to successfully implement it in an industrial environment. One of these issues is the processing time. This paper investigates the optimisation of machining parameters for rough and fine machining in micro EDM. In one case, the parameters are selected to achieve the highest material removal rate (MRR). In the other case, the best surface roughness is targeted. Some of the main difficulties linked with micro EDM are caused by the high wear occurring on the electrode. The study focuses on a specific combination of electrode and workpiece material and proposes a typical method for micro EDM process optimisation.

The microscopic morphology of the mandibular salivary gland of the adult African giant pouched rat was investigated. This study was carried out to provide the basic histology of this organ in the giant pouched rat, as there is a dearth of information of its microscopic architecture in available literature. This is of the most importance, as the possible use of this species of rodent is considered as a future laboratory animal instead of the Wistar rat because of its bigger size; also, for purposes of domestication and use as a ready source of animal protein. Hence the need to understand the digestive biology of this animal, to help animal nutritionists in the formulation of optimal feeding guidelines. Histological analysis revealed the presence of both serous and mucus secretory acini. Some mucous cells presented serous demilunes. Myoeithelial cells were seen around secretory cells and the intercalated ducts. The serous gland region with more relatively profuse intralobular ducts wa...

This paper presents a novel approach to integrate biological data from multiple resources into a single page using image object keying. In this interactive approach, a gel electrophoresis protein spot is selected by the user which initiates the retrieval of corresponding 3D structure of the protein. It provides a set of operators to access and to collect elements content of

In this work, a novel approach involving supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2 ) induced phase inversion technique was developed to produce chitosan devices using moderate temperatures and three very environmentally acceptable solvents (water, ethanol and CO 2 ). The morphology and three-dimensional (3D) structure were controlled by altering the co-solvent (ethanol) composition in the carbon dioxide nonsolvent stream during the demixing induced process. Microarchitectural analysis by scanning electron microscopy identified the production of particulate agglomerates when 10% of ethanol in the scCO 2 stream was used and the ability to make porous membranes with different morphologies and mechanical properties depending on the programmed gradient mode and the entrainer percentage (2.5-5%) added to the scCO 2 stream. These structures were characterized in terms of pure water flux, porosity, mechanical properties and biodegradability. These chitosan matrices exhibited low solubility at neutral pH conditions, with no further modifications. We also demonstrated that the current method allows for a single-step preparation of an implantable antibiotic release system by co-dissolving gentamicin with chitosan and the solvent. Finally, the cytotoxicity, as well as the ability of these structures to support the adhesion and proliferation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in vitro were also addressed. The studies described may provide a starting point for the "green" design and production of chitosan-based materials with potential applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, as well as drug delivery.

Self-assembled growth and nitridation of ultrathin Al nanoclusters on a stepped sapphire (0001) surface were studied by high-resolution X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). Upon room temperature deposition, in the coverage range of ∼ 0.79 to 2.3 monolayer (ML), Al nanoclusters were uniformly nucleated over the entire surface of defect-free atomically smooth terraces as well as step edges. Subsequent nitridation at elevated temperatures by ammonia did not alter the morphology of the nanoclusters. The global morphology of the stepped sapphire (0001) surface such as terrace width, step height and facet orientation had no obvious influence on the nucleation morphology of the nanoclusters in the given Al coverage range. However, local structural defects at the joints of short facets and step edges played a noticeable role on the local morphology of the nanoclusters and subsequently the nitridation chemistry. The Al nanoclusters were uniformly nitridated from surface and downwards through the 3D structures. The LEED pattern indicated a certain degree of crystallinity on the nitridated surface at a nominal Al coverage less than 2 ML, whereas at 2.3 ML Al coverage, the nitridated surface became amorphous. Thus there is a critical coverage for good surface order.

The goal of this study was to assess the accuracy and reliability of a low-cost portable scanner (Scanify) for imaging facial casts compared to a previously validated portable digital stereophotogrammetry device (Vectra H1). This in vitro study was performed using 2 facial casts obtained by recording impressions of the authors, at King's College London Academic Centre of Reconstructive Science. The casts were marked with anthropometric landmarks, then digitised using Scanify and Vectra H1. Computed tomography (CT) scans of the same casts were performed to verify the validation of Vectra H1. The 3-dimensional (3D) images acquired with each device were compared using linear measurements and 3D surface analysis software. Results: Overall, 91% of the linear Scanify measurements were within 1 mm of the corresponding reference values. The mean overall surface difference between the Scanify and Vectra images was <0.3 mm. Significant differences were detected in depth measurements. Merging multiple Scanify images produced significantly greater registration error. Conclusion: Scanify is a very low-cost device that could have clinical applications for facial imaging if imaging errors could be corrected by a future software update or hardware revision.

This work describes a novel methodology for automatic contour extraction from 2D images of 3D neurons (e.g. camera lucida images and other types of 2D microscopy). Most contour-based shape analysis methods can not be used to characterize such cells because of overlaps between neuronal processes. The proposed framework is specifically aimed at the problem of contour following even in presence of multiple overlaps. First, the input image is preprocessed in order to obtain an 8-connected skeleton with one-pixel-wide branches, as well as a set of critical regions (i.e., bifurcations and crossings). Next, for each subtree, the tracking stage iteratively labels all valid pixel of branches, up to a critical region, where it determines the suitable direction to proceed. Finally, the labeled skeleton segments are followed in order to yield the parametric contour of the neuronal shape under analysis. The reported system was successfully tested with respect to several images and the results from a set of three neuron images are presented here, each pertaining to a different class, i.e. alpha, delta and epsilon ganglion cells, containing a total of 34 crossings. The algorithms successfully got across all these overlaps. The method has also been found to exhibit robustness even for images with close parallel segments. The proposed method is robust and may be implemented in an efficient manner. The introduction of this approach should pave the way for more systematic application of contour-based shape analysis methods in neuronal morphology.

Telomere maintenance is key during cancer development. Malignant cells can either use telomerase or an alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT) pathway to maintain their telomere length. In Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL), the presence of telomerase activation is established. The activation of ALT has been reported recently. Our data confirm this notion describing co-localization of the phosphorylated form of telomeric repeat-binding factor 1 (pT371-TRF1) with ALT-associated promyelocytic leukemia bodies. Surprisingly, to our knowledge, there are no published studies targeting both telomere maintenance pathways in HL. Consequently, we investigated, for the first time, the effects of both telomerase and ALT inhibition on HL cell viability: We inhibited telomerase and/or ALT, given either individually, simultaneously, or consecutively. We report that the inhibition of telomerase using BIBR1532 followed by ALT inhibition, using trabectedin, caused a decrease of greater than 90% in cell viabil...

Objectives This in vivo study evaluated the reliability of digital impressions from intraoral scans compared to digital scans of plaster casts of the edentulous maxilla of infants with cleft lip and palate (CLP). Materials and methods To compare and evaluate the dimensional accuracy of digital and conventional impressions, 52 infants with CLP were selected. Conventional plaster and digital impressions were taken from each patient before surgical closure of the lips and/or palate. Plaster casts were digitized using the intraoral scanner. Eight linear distances were measured and 3D superimpositions were performed. Pearson's correlation, mean difference and root mean square were calculated to compare the two impression methods. Results Regardless of the form of CLP, the IOS and the plaster casts correlated very well. The measured linear dimensions of the IOS were greater than those of the digitized plaster casts. Although the linear measurements showed differences of up to 0.89 mm, superimpositions showed that the two impression methods did not differ in a clinically relevant way. Conclusions No clinically relevant difference in accuracy was found between IOS and the plaster casts. When investigating the accuracy, 3D analysis should always be preferred to 2D analysis. Clinical relevance This study confirms that IOS is a reliable and clinical valuable alternative for infants with CLP. IOS eliminates risks associated with traditional methods, providing a safer and more efficient workflow for PSIO. Despite minor differences in dimensional accuracy, these variations are clinically negligible and do not impact treatment planning or appliance fabrication.

Protein kinase CK2 is an antiapoptotic cancer-sustaining protein. Curcumin, reported previously as a CK2 inhibitor, is too bulky to be accommodated in the CK2 active site and rapidly degrades in solution generating various ATP-mimetic inhibitors; with a detailed comparative analysis, by means of both protein crystallography and enzymatic inhibition, ferulic acid was identified as the principal curcumin degradation product responsible for CK2 inhibition. The other curcumin derivatives vanillin, feruloylmethane and coniferyl aldehyde are weaker CK2 inhibitors. The high instability of curcumin in standard buffered solutions flags this compound, which is included in many commercial libraries, as a possible source of misleading interpretations, as was the case for CK2. Ferulic acid does not show any cytotoxicity and any inhibition of cellular CK2, due to its poor cellular permeability. However, curcumin acts as a prodrug in the cellular context, by generating its degradation products inside the treated cells, thus rescuing CK2 inhibition and consequently inducing cell death. Through the intracellular release of its degradation products, curcumin is expected to affect various target families; here, we identify the first bromodomain of BRD4 as a new target for those compounds. Structural data are available in the PDB database under the accession numbers 6HOP (CK2a/ curcumin), 6HOQ (CK2a/ferulic acid), 6HOR (CK2a/feruloylmethane), 6HOT (CK2a/ferulic aldehyde), 6HOU (CK2a/vanillin) and 6HOV (BRD4/ferulic acid).

Based on the 3D structure of the WW domain of human Yes-associated protein (hYAP-WW) in complex with a proline-rich peptide ligand, we have designed and synthesized a cyclic peptide covering a fragment of hYAP-WW that contains its primary contact residues for the interaction with the ligand. This peptide was found to specifically recognize a proline-rich ligand for hYAP-WW. Its conformation was calculated using molecular dynamics simulation, based on long-range NOEs identified by NMR spectroscopy, and indicates an arrangement of primary contact residues similar to hYAP-WW.

Combination of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) aspirin (1), ibuprofen (2) and meclofenamic acid (3) with lead(II) nitrate gave metal complexes of the composition ) and [Pb(C 14 H 10 Cl 2 NO 2 ) 2 ] n (6). The compounds have been characterized by IR and NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The complexes crystallized in the monoclinic and triclinic space groups P2 1 /n (4), P2 1 (5) and P 1 (6), respectively. All compounds are coordination polymers with a highly distorted coordination geometries. The polyhedra of the [PbO 7 ] (4 and 5) and [PbO 6 ] (6) cores are hemidirected as indicated by a vacant site, which can be attributed to an active inert pair of electrons.