Modeling meat yield based on measurements of body traits in genetically improved giant freshwater prawn (GFP) Macrobrachium rosenbergii

A single-generation dataset consisting of 1,730 records from a selection program for high growth rate in giant freshwater prawn (GFP, Macrobrachium rosenbergii) was used to derive prediction equations for meat weight and meat yield. Models were based on body traits [body weight, total length and abdominal width (AW)] and carcass measurements (tail weight and exoskeleton-off weight). Lengths and width were adjusted for the systematic effects of selection line, male morphotypes and female reproductive status, and for the covariables of age at slaughter within sex and body weight. Body and meat weights adjusted for the same effects (except body weight) were used to calculate meat yield (expressed as percentage of tail weight/body weight and exoskeleton-off weight/body weight). The edible meat weight and yield in this GFP population ranged from 12 to 15 g and 37 to 45 %, respectively. The simple (Pearson) correlation coefficients between body traits (body weight, total length and AW) and meat weight were moderate to very high and positive (0.75–0.94), but the correlations between body traits and meat yield were negative (−0.47 to −0.74). There were strong linear positive relationships between measurements of body traits and meat weight, whereas relationships of body traits with meat yield were moderate and negative. Step-wise multiple regression analysis showed that the best model to predict meat weight included all body traits, with a coefficient of determination (R 2) of 0.99 and a correlation between observed and predicted values of meat weight of 0.99. The corresponding figures for meat yield were 0.91 and 0.95, respectively. Body weight or length was the best predictor of meat weight, explaining 91–94 % of observed variance when it was fitted alone in the model. By contrast, tail width explained a lower proportion (69–82 %) of total variance in the single trait models. It is concluded that in practical breeding programs, improvement of meat weight can be easily made through indirect selection for body trait combinations. The improvement of meat yield, albeit being more difficult, is possible by genetic means, with 91 % of the variation in the trait explained by the body and carcass traits examined in this study.

Do motor vehicle crashes arise from single or multiple unique risk processes? An inquiry into crash causes and modelling

Crashes at any particular transport network location consist of a chain of events arising from a multitude of potential causes and/or contributing factors whose nature is likely to reflect geometric characteristics of the road, spatial effects of the surrounding environment, and human behavioural factors. It is postulated that these potential contributing factors do not arise from the same underlying risk process, and thus should be explicitly modelled and understood. The state of the practice in road safety network management applies a safety performance function that represents a single risk process to explain crash variability across network sites. This study aims to elucidate the importance of differentiating among various underlying risk processes contributing to the observed crash count at any particular network location. To demonstrate the principle of this theoretical and corresponding methodological approach, the study explores engineering (e.g. segment length, speed limit) and unobserved spatial factors (e.g. climatic factors, presence of schools) as two explicit sources of crash contributing factors. A Bayesian Latent Class (BLC) analysis is used to explore these two sources and to incorporate prior information about their contribution to crash occurrence. The methodology is applied to the state controlled roads in Queensland, Australia and the results are compared with the traditional Negative Binomial (NB) model. A comparison of goodness of fit measures indicates that the model with a double risk process outperforms the single risk process NB model, and thus indicating the need for further research to capture all the three crash generation processes into the SPFs.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in clinics: Fantasy or reality for cancer?

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been classically used for dissecting various human complex disorders using candidate gene studies. During the last decade, large scale SNP analysis i.e. genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided an agnostic approach to identify possible genetic loci associated with heterogeneous disease such as cancer susceptibility, prognosis of survival or drug response. Further, the advent of new technologies, including microarray based genotyping as well as high throughput next generation sequencing has opened new avenues for SNPs to be used in clinical practice. It is speculated that the utility of SNPs to understand the mechanisms, biology of variable drug response and ultimately treatment individualization based on the individual’s genome composition will be indispensable in the near future. In the current review, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the clinical utility of genetic variants in disease risk-prediction, prognosis, clinical outcome and pharmacogenomics. The lessons and challenges for the utility of SNP based biomarkers are also discussed, including the need for additional functional validation studies.

Label-free isolation of a prostate cancer cell among blood cells and the single-cell measurement of drug accumulation using an integrated microfluidic chip

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are found in the blood of patients with cancer. Although these cells are rare, they can provide useful information for chemotherapy. However, isolation of these rare cells from blood is technically challenging because they are small in numbers. An integrated microfluidic chip, dubbed as CTC chip, was designed and fabricated for conducting tumor cell isolation. As CTCs usually show multidrug resistance (MDR), the effect of MDR inhibitors on chemotherapeutic drug accumulation in the isolated single tumor cell is measured. As a model of CTC isolation, human prostate tumor cells were mixed with mouse blood cells and the labelfree isolation of the tumor cells was conducted based on cell size difference. The major advantages of the CTC chip are the ability for fast cell isolation, followed by multiple rounds of single-cell measurements, suggesting a potential assay for detecting the drug responses based on the liquid biopsy of cancer patients.

High microwave susceptibility of NaH2PO4 center dot 2H(2)O: Rapid synthesis of crystalline and glassy phosphates with NASICON-type chemistry

High microwave susceptibility of NaH2PO4 . 2H(2)O has been discovered, This hydrated acid phosphate of sodium can be heated upto 1000 K or more when exposed to 2.45 GHz microwaves. Using this, a novel microwave-assisted preparation of a number of important crystalline and glassy materials with NASICON-type chemistry has been accomplished in less than 8 min which is only a fraction of the time required for conventional synthetic procedures, The present single-shot approach to the preparation of phosphates is attractive in terms of its simplicity, rapidity, and general applicability, A ''step-ladder'' heating mechanism has been proposed to account for the high microwave absorbing ability of NaH2PO4 . 2H(2)O.

Characteristics of road factors in multi and single vehicle motorcycle crashes in Queensland

Motorcyclists were involved in 6.4% of all police-reported crashes and 12.5% of all fatal crashes in Queensland during 2004-2011. Of these crashes, 43% were single-vehicle (SV) and 57% were multi-vehicle (MV). The overall reduction in motorcycle crashes in this period masked different trends: single-vehicle crashes increased while MV motorcycle crashes decreased. However, little research has been undertaken to understand the similarities and differences between SV and MV motorcycle crashes in Queensland and the factors underlying these diverging trends. The descriptive analyses and regression model developed here confirm international research findings regarding the greater role of road infrastructure factors in SV crashes. In particular, road geometric factors such as horizontal and vertical alignment and road surface factors such as sealed/unsealed and wet/dry were more important in SV than MV crashes.

Vortex dynamics at rf frequencies in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 single crystals

We have studied the low magnetic field high temperature region of the H-T phase diagram of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 single crystals using the technique of non-resonant rf response at a frequency of 20 MHz. With H(rf)parallel to a, H parallel to c, the isothermal magnetic field scans below T-c show that the frequency f(H) of the tank circuit decreases continuously with increase in H before saturating at H similar to H-D(T). Such a decrease in f(H) reflects increasing rf penetration into the weakly screened region between CuO bilayers. The saturation of f(H) at its lowest value for H similar to H-D(T) indicates complete rf penetration land hence the disappearance of field dependence) due to the vanishing of the screening rf currents I-rf(c) in those regions or equivalently when the phase coherence between adjacent superconducting layers vanishes. Therefore H,(T) represents the decoupling of the adjacent superconducting bilayers, and hence also a 3D to 2D decoupling transition of the vortex structure. Simultaneous monitoring of the field dependent rf power dissipation P(H) shows a maximum in dP/dH at H-D(T). The observed H-D(T) line in many crystals is in excellent agreement with the (l/t-1) behavior proposed for decoupling.

Fluctuations in protein synthesis from a single RNA template: Stochastic kinetics of ribosomes

Proteins are polymerized by cyclic machines called ribosomes, which use their messenger RNA (mRNA) track also as the corresponding template, and the process is called translation. We explore, in depth and detail, the stochastic nature of the translation. We compute various distributions associated with the translation process; one of them-namely, the dwell time distribution-has been measured in recent single-ribosome experiments. The form of the distribution, which fits best with our simulation data, is consistent with that extracted from the experimental data. For our computations, we use a model that captures both the mechanochemistry of each individual ribosome and their steric interactions. We also demonstrate the effects of the sequence inhomogeneities of real genes on the fluctuations and noise in translation. Finally, inspired by recent advances in the experimental techniques of manipulating single ribosomes, we make theoretical predictions on the force-velocity relation for individual ribosomes. In principle, all our predictions can be tested by carrying out in vitro experiments.

Phase transitions and rare-earth magnetism in hexagonal and orthorhombic $DyMnO_{3}$ single crystals

The floating-zone method with different growth ambiences has been used to selectively obtain hexagonal or orthorhombic DyMnO3 single crystals. The crystals were characterized by x-ray powder diffraction of ground specimens and a structure refinement as well as electron diffraction. We report magnetic susceptibility, magnetization and specific heat studies of this multiferroic compound in both the hexagonal and the orthorhombic structure. The hexagonal DyMnO3 shows magnetic ordering of Mn3+ (S = 2) spins on a triangular Mn lattice at T-N(Mn) = 57 K characterized by a cusp in the specific heat. This transition is not apparent in the magnetic susceptibility due to the frustration on the Mn triangular lattice and the dominating paramagnetic susceptibility of the Dy3+ (S = 9/2) spins. At T-N(Dy) = 3 K, a partial antiferromagnetic order of Dy moments has been observed. In comparison, the magnetic data for orthorhombic DyMnO3 display three transitions. The data broadly agree with results from earlier neutron diffraction experiments, which allows for the following assignment: a transition from an incommensurate antiferromagnetic ordering of Mn3+ spins at T-N(Mn) = 39 K, a lock-in transition at Tlock-in = 16 K and a second antiferromagnetic transition at T-N(Dy) = 5 K due to the ordering of Dy moments. Both the hexagonal and the orthorhombic crystals show magnetic anisotropy and complex magnetic properties due to 4f-4f and 4f-3d couplings.

Single 2×1 domain orientation on Si(001) surfaces using aperiodic Bi line arrays

Studies of Bi heteroepitaxy on Si(001) have shown that lines grow to lengths of up to 500nm if the substrate is heated to above the Bi desorption temperature (500°C) during or after Bi deposition. Unlike many other nanoline systems, the lines formed by this nonequilibrium growth process have no detectable width dispersion. Although much attention has been given to the atomic geometery of the line, in this paper, we focus on how the lines can be used to create a majority 2×1 domain orientation. It is demonstrated that the Bi lines can be used to produce a single-domain orientation on Si(001) if the lines are grown on Si(001) surfaces with a regular distribution of single height steps. This is a compelling example of how a nanoscale motif can be used to modify mesoscopic surface structure on Si(001).

Growth and characterization of pure and doped single crystals of $CuGeO_{3}$

Good quality single crystals of copper metagermanite, CuGeO3, are grown by flux technique. Growth is carried out at relatively low temperatures by using Bi2O3 along with CuO in an optimal flux ratio. Besides rendering the procedure simple, lower growth temperature reduces growth defect concentration. Single crystals of Cu1 - xCoxGeO3 and CuGe1 - yGayO3 are grown by the same method for different values of x and y to investigate the influence of in-chain and off-chain doping on spin-Peierls (SP) transition. Change in color, morphology and surface features as a result of doping are briefly discussed. Spin-Peierls transition of these crystals is studied by susceptibility measurements on a commercial SQUID magnetometer. Cationic substitution resulted in reduction of spin-Peierls transition temperature (T-SP) of CuGeO3. Substitution of magnetic impurity cobalt in-chain site caused more pronounced effects such as suppression of SP phase.

A Simple and Convenient One Step Method for the Reductive Deoxygenation of Aryl Ketones to Hydrocarbons

A one step, clean and efficient, conversion of arylaldehydes, ketones and ketals into the corresponding hydrocarbon using ionic hydrogenation conditions employing sodium cyanoborohydride in the presence of two to three equivalents of BF3. OEt(2) is described.

Orchestration of Haemophilus influenzae RecJ Exonuclease by Interaction with Single-Stranded DNA-Binding Protein

RecJ exonuclease plays crucial roles in several DNA repair and recombination pathways, and its ubiquity in bacterial species points to its ancient origin and vital cellular function. RecJ exonuclease from Haemophilus influenzae is a 575-amino-acid protein that harbors the characteristic motifs conserved among RecJ homologs. The purified protein exhibits a process 5'-3' single-stranded-DNA-specific exonuclease activity. The exonuclease activity of H. influenzae RecJ (HiRecJ) was supported by Mg2+ or Mn2+ and inhibited by Cd2+ suggesting a different mode of metal binding in HiRecJ as compared to Escherichia coli RecJ (EcoRecJ). Site-directed mutagenesis of highly conserved residues in HiRecJ abolished enzymatic activity. Interestingly, substitution of alanine for aspartate 77 resulted in a catalytically inactive enzyme that bound to DNA with a significantly higher affinity as compared to the wild-type enzyme. Noticeably, steady-state kinetic studies showed that H. influenzae single-stranded DNA-binding protein (HiSSB) increased the affinity of HiRecJ for single-stranded DNA and stimulated its exonuclease activity. HiSSB, whose C-terminal tail had been deleted, failed to enhance RecJ exonuclease activity. More importantly, HiRecJ was found to directly associate with its cognate single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB), as demonstrated by various in vitro assays, Interaction studies carried out with the truncated variants of HiRecJ and HiSSB revealed that the two proteins interact via the C-terminus of SSB protein and the core-catalytic domain of RecJ. Taken together, these results emphasize direct interactio between RecJ and SSB, which confers functional cooperativity to these two proteins. In addition, these results implicate SSB as being involved in the recruitment of RecJ to DNA and provide insights into the interplay between these proteins in repair and recombination pathways.

Solar powered high voltage energization for vehicular exhaust cleaning: A step towards possible retrofitting in vehicles

This paper proposes a novel way of generating high voltage for electric discharge plasma in controlling NOx emission in diesel engine exhaust. A solar powered high frequency electric discharge topology has been suggested that will improve the size and specific energy density required when compared to the traditional repetitive pulse or 50 Hz AC energization. This methodology has been designed, fabricated and experimentally verified by conducting studies on real diesel engine exhaust.

Influence of cobalt doping on superconducting transition in as-grown YBCO single crystals

The role of a charge buffer layer in the superconductivity of high-T-c materials is best studied by cationic substitutions. In this work, the chain copper in YBCO single crystals is substituted by Co3+ ion and consequent effect on superconducting transition temperature (T-c) studied. The T-c is measured using non-resonant Microwave Absorption technique, which is a highly sensitive and contactless method. It is seen that T-c of as-grown crystals is considerably enhanced by cobalt doping in low concentration regime. In contrast, higher T-c is achieved in undoped crystals only after extended oxygen anneal. When dopant concentration increases beyond an optimal value, T-c decreases and the system does not show superconductivity when cobalt content is high (x > 0.5 in YBa2Cu3-xCOxO7+/-delta). This behaviour consequent to cobalt substitution is discussed with reference to the apical oxygen model. Optimal cobalt doping can be thought of as an alternative to extended oxygen anneal in as-grown crystals of YBCO.