Comprehensive metabolite profiling of Plantaginis Semen using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry coupled with elevated energy technique

Plantaginis Semen is commonly used in traditional medicine to treat edema, hypertension, and diabetes. The commercially available Plantaginis Semen in China mainly comes from three species. To clarify the chemical composition and distinct different species of Plantaginis Semen, we established a metabolite profiling method based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry coupled with elevated energy technique. A total of 108 compounds, including phenylethanoid glycosides, flavonoids, guanidine derivatives, terpenoids, organic acids, and fatty acids, were identified from Plantago asiatica L., P. depressa Willd., and P. major L. Results showed significant differences in chemical components among the three species, particularly flavonoids. This study is the first to provide a comprehensive chemical profile of Plantaginis Semen, which could be involved into the quality control, medication guide, and developing new drug of Plantago seeds.

The peculiar Type Ia supernova iPTF14atg: Chandrasekhar-mass explosion or violent merger?

iPTF14atg, a subluminous peculiar Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) similar to SN 2002es, is the first SN Ia for which a strong UV flash was observed in the early-time light curves. This has been interpreted as evidence for a single-degenerate (SD) progenitor system, where such a signal is expected from interactions between the SN ejecta and the non-degenerate companion star. Here, we compare synthetic observables of multidimensional state-of-the-art explosion models for different progenitor scenarios to the light curves and spectra of iPTF14atg. From our models, we have difficulties explaining the spectral evolution of iPTF14atg within the SD progenitor channel. In contrast, we find that a violent merger of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs with 0.9 and 0.76 M⊙, respectively, provides an excellent match to the spectral evolution of iPTF14atg from 10 d before to several weeks after maximum light. Our merger model does not naturally explain the initial UV flash of iPTF14atg. We discuss several possibilities like interactions of the SN ejecta with the circumstellar medium and surface radioactivity from an He-ignited merger that may be able to account for the early UV emission in violent merger models.

New developmental stages for common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) using mass and age variables obtained by K-means algorithm and self-organizing maps (SOM)

LEÃO, Adriano de Castro; DÓRIA NETO, Adrião Duarte; SOUSA, Maria Bernardete Cordeiro de. New developmental stages for common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) using mass and age variables obtained by K-means algorithm and self-organizing maps (SOM). Computers in Biology and Medicine, v. 39, p. 853-859, 2009

Effects of time-controlled and continuous grazing on total herbage mass and ground cover

Grazing practices in rangelands are increasingly recognized as a management tool for environmental protection in addition to livestock production. Long term continuous grazing has been largely documented to reduce pasture productivity and decline the protective layer of soil surface affecting environmental protection. Time-controlled rotational grazing (TC grazing) as an alternative to continuous grazing is considered to reduce such negative effects and provides pasture with a higher amount of vegetation securing food for animals and conserving environment. To research on how the grazing system affects herbage and above ground organic materials compared with continuous grazing, the study was conducted in a sub-tropical region of Australia from 2001 to 2006. The overall results showed that herbage mass under TC grazing increased to 140% in 2006 compared with the first records taken in 2001. The outcomes were even higher (150%) when the soil is deeper and the slope is gentle. In line with the results of herbage mass, ground cover under TC grazing achieved significant higher percentages than continuous grazing in all the years of the study. Ground cover under TC grazing increased from 54% in 2003 to 73%, 82%, and 89% in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively, despite the fact that after the high yielding year of 2004 herbage mass declined to around 2.5 ton ha^(−1) in 2005 and 2006. Under continuous grazing however there was no significant increase over time comparable to TC grazing neither in herbage mass nor in ground cover. The successful outcome is largely attributed to the flexible nature of the management in which grazing frequency, durations and the rest periods were efficiently controlled. Such flexibility of animal presence on pastures could result in higher water retention and soil moisture condition promoting above ground organic material.

God and War: the Church of England and Armed Conflict in the Twentieth Century

Despite narratives of secularization, it appears that the British public persistently pay attention to clerical opinion and continually resort to popular expressions of religious faith, not least in time of war. From the throngs of men who gathered to hear the Bishop of London preach recruiting sermons during the First World War, to the attention paid to Archbishop Williams' words of conscience on Iraq, clerical rhetoric remains resonant. For the countless numbers who attended National Days of Prayer during the Second World War, and for the many who continue to find the Remembrance Day service a meaningful ritual, civil religious events provide a source of meaningful ceremony and a focus of national unity. War and religion have been linked throughout the twentieth century and this book explores these links: taking the perspective of the 'home front' rather than the battlefield. Exploring the views and accounts of Anglican clerics on the issue of warfare and international conflict across the century, the authors explore the church's stance on the causes, morality and conduct of warfare; issues of pacifism, obliteration bombing, nuclear possession and deterrence, retribution, forgiveness and reconciliation, and the spiritual opportunities presented by conflict. This book offers invaluable insights into how far the Church influenced public appraisal of war whilst illuminating the changing role of the Church across the twentieth century.

Effects of handling regime and sex on changes in cortisol, thyroid hormones and body mass in fasting grey seal pups

Survival of seal pups may be affected by their ability to respond appropriately to stress. Chronic stress can adversely affect secretion of cortisol and thyroid hormones, which contribute to the control of fuel utilisation. Repeated handling could disrupt the endocrine response to stress and/or negatively impact upon mass changes during fasting. Here we investigated the effects of handling regime on cortisol and thyroid hormone levels, and body mass changes, in fasting male and female grey seal pups (Halichoerus grypus). Females had higher thyroid hormone levels than males throughout fasting and showed a reduction in cortisol midway through the fast that was not seen in males. This may reflect sex-specific fuel allocation or development. Neither handling frequency nor cumulative contact time affected plasma cortisol or thyroid hormone levels, the rate of increase in cortisol over the first five minutes of physical contact or the pattern of mass loss during fasting in either sex. The endocrine response to stress and the control of energy balance in grey seal pups appear to be robust to repeated, short periods of handling. Our results suggest that routine handling should have no additional impact on these animals than general disturbance caused by researchers moving around the colony.

Effects of age and body mass on development of diving capabilities of gray seal pups: costs and benefits of the postweaning fast

Development of adequate diving capabilities is crucial for survival of seal pups and may depend on age and body size. We tracked the diving behavior of 20 gray seal pups during their first 3 mo at sea using satellite relay data loggers. We employed quantile analysis to track upper limits of dive duration and percentage time spent diving, and lower limits of surface intervals. When pups first left the breeding colony, extreme (ninety-fifth percentile) dive duration and percentage time spent diving were positively correlated with age, but not mass, at departure. Extreme dive durations and percentage time spent diving peaked at [Formula: see text] d of age at values comparable with those of adults, but were not sustained. Greater peaks in extreme percentage time spent diving occurred in pups that had higher initial values, were older at their peak, and were heavier at departure. Pups that were smaller and less capable divers when they left the colony improved extreme dive durations and percentage time spent diving more rapidly, once they were at sea. Minimum survival time correlated positively with departure mass. Pups that were heavier at weaning thus benefitted from being both larger and older at departure, but smaller pups faced a trade-off. While age at departure had a positive effect on early dive performance, departure mass impacted on peak percentage time spent diving and longer-term survival. We speculate that once small pups have attained a minimum degree of physiological development to support diving, they would benefit by leaving the colony when younger but larger to maximize limited fuel reserves, rather than undergoing further maturation on land away from potential food resources, because poor divers may be able to "catch up" once at sea.

Effects of mass and body composition on fasting fuel utilisation in grey seal pups (Halichoerus grypus Fabricius): an experimental study using supplementary feeding

This study used supplementary feeding to test the hypothesis that fuel partitioning during the postweaning fast in grey seal pups is affected by size and composition of energy reserves at weaning, and by extra provisioning. Mass and body composition changes were measured during suckling and fasting to investigate the effect of natural differences in energy reserves at weaning on subsequent allocation of fat and protein to energy use. We fed seven pups for 5 days after weaning, to investigate the effect of increased fuel availability, and particularly protein, on fuel utilisation. After correcting for protein used during the moult, the proportional contribution of fat was 86–99% of total energy use. Pups with greater energy reserves, i.e. those that were heavier and fatter at weaning, had higher rates of fat and energy use. There was no significant relationship between adiposity at weaning and proportional contribution of fat to energy use, perhaps due to a limited sample size or range of body masses and adiposity. Supplemented individuals used energy, specifically fat, much faster and utilised proportionally less of their endogenous protein by departure than non-supplemented individuals. Fat metabolism contributed a similar percentage to daily energy use in both groups. These findings show that pups spare protein, even when energy use is dramatically increased. Pups that receive greater maternal provisioning and lay down more protein may have increased survival chances at sea. This study highlights the importance of protein reserves in first year survival of grey seal pups.

New developmental stages for common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) using mass and age variables obtained by K-means algorithm and self-organizing maps (SOM)

LEÃO, Adriano de Castro; DÓRIA NETO, Adrião Duarte; SOUSA, Maria Bernardete Cordeiro de. New developmental stages for common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) using mass and age variables obtained by K-means algorithm and self-organizing maps (SOM). Computers in Biology and Medicine, v. 39, p. 853-859, 2009

Speciation analysis of Arsenic in fish and rice samples using liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Chemical speciation in foodstuffs is of uttermost importance since it is nowadays recognized that both toxicity and bioavailability of an element depend on the chemical form in which the element is present. Regarding arsenic, inorganic species are classified as carcinogenic while organic arsenic, such as arsenobetaine (AsB) or arsenocholine (AsC), is considered less toxic or even non-toxic. Coupling a High Performance Liquid Chromatographer (HPLC) with an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) combines the power of separation of the first with the selectivity and sensitivity of the second. The present work aims at developing a method, using HPLC-ICP-MS technique, to identify and quantify the chemical species of arsenic present in two food matrices, rice and fish. Two extraction methods, ultrasound and microwave, and different settings were studied. The best method was chosen based on recovery percentages. To ensure that no interconversion of species was occurring, individual spikes of each species of arsenic were made in both matrices and recovery rates were calculated. To guaranty accurate results reference material BCR-627 TUNA FISH, containing certified values for AsB and DMA, was analyzed. Chromatographic separation was achieved using an anion exchange column, HAMILTON-PRP X-100, which allowed to separate the four arsenic species for which standards were available (AsB, dimethylarsenic (DMA), arsenite (AsIII), arsenate (AsV). The mobile phase was chosen based on scientific literature and adjusted to laboratory conditions. Different gradients were studied. As a result we verified that the arsenic species present in both matrices were not the same. While in fish 90% of the arsenic present was in the form of arsenobetaine, in rice 80% of arsenic was present as DMA and 20% as inorganic arsenic.

Exploring complex chemical systems: insights from mass spectrometry, electrochemistry and continuous cell culture

The work presented herein covers a broad range of research topics and so, in the interest of clarity, has been presented in a portfolio format. Accordingly, each chapter consists of its own introductory material prior to presentation of the key results garnered, this is then proceeded by a short discussion on their significance. In the first chapter, a methodology to facilitate the resolution and qualitative assessment of very large inorganic polyoxometalates was designed and implemented employing ion-mobility mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the potential of this technique for ‘mapping’ the conformational space occupied by this class of materials was demonstrated. These claims are then substantiated by the development of a tuneable, polyoxometalate-based calibration protocol that provided the necessary platform for quantitative assessments of similarly large, but unknown, polyoxometalate species. In addition, whilst addressing a major limitation of travelling wave ion mobility, this result also highlighted the potential of this technique for solution-phase cluster discovery. The second chapter reports on the application of a biophotovoltaic electrochemical cell for characterising the electrogenic activity inherent to a number of mutant Synechocystis strains. The intention was to determine the key components in the photosynthetic electron transport chain responsible for extracellular electron transfer. This would help to address the significant lack of mechanistic understanding in this field. Finally, in the third chapter, the design and fabrication of a low-cost, highly modular, continuous cell culture system is presented. To demonstrate the advantages and suitability of this platform for experimental evolution investigations, an exploration into the photophysiological response to gradual iron limitation, in both the ancestral wild type and a randomly generated mutant library population, was undertaken. Furthermore, coupling random mutagenesis to continuous culture in this way is shown to constitute a novel source of genetic variation that is open to further investigation.

Centre-of-mass motion in multi-particle Schrodinger-Newton dynamics

We investigate the implication of the nonlinear and non-local multi-particle Schrodinger-Newton equation for the motion of the mass centre of an extended multi-particle object, giving self-contained and comprehensible derivations. In particular, we discuss two opposite limiting cases. In the first case, the width of the centre-of-mass wave packet is assumed much larger than the actual extent of the object, in the second case it is assumed much smaller. Both cases result in nonlinear deviations from ordinary free Schrodinger evolution for the centre of mass. On a general conceptual level we include some discussion in order to clarify the physical basis and intention for studying the Schrodinger-Newton equation.

Faithful Genres: Rhetorics of the Civil Rights Mass Meeting

“Faithful Genres” examines how African Americans adapted the genres of the black church during the civil rights movement. Civil rights mass meetings, as the movement’s so-called “energy machine” and “heartbeat,” serve as the project’s central site of inquiry for these meetings were themselves adaptations of the genre of the black church service. The mass meetings served as the space to draw people into the movement, encourage people toward further activism, and testify to anyone watching that the African American community was working toward desegregation, voting rights, and racial equality. In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words, “Through these meetings we were able to generate the power and depth which finally galvanized the entire Negro community.” In these weekly or sometimes even nightly meetings, participants inhabited the familiar genres of the black church, song, prayer, and testimony. As they did, they remade these genres to respond directly to white supremacy and to enact the changes they sought to create. While scholars have studied the speeches men and women such as King, Ralph Abernathy, and Fannie Lou Hamer delivered at meetings (Wilson; Selby; Holmes; Brooks), scholars have yet to examine how civil rights mass meetings functioned through a range of genres and rhetors. My study addresses this absence and invigorates this discussion to demonstrate how the other meeting genres beyond the speech—song, prayer, and testimony—functioned to create energy, sustenance, and motivation for activists. Examining these collectively enacted genres, I show how rhetors adapted song, prayer, and testimony toward strategic interventions. I also examine how activists took these same genres up outside the meetings to circulate them in broader contexts for new audiences. By recovering and defining the mass meeting as a flexible repertoire of genres and then examining the redeployment of meeting genres outside the meeting, “Faithful Genres” contributes to histories of civil rights and African American rhetorics, genre studies, and histories of religious rhetorics.

Homozygosity for the E526V Mutation in Fibrinogen A Alpha-Chain Amyloidosis: The First Report

Systemic hereditary amyloidoses are autosomal dominant diseases associated with mutations in genes encoding ten different proteins. The clinical phenotype has implications on therapeutic approach, but it is commonly variable and largely dependent on the type of mutation. Except for rare cases involving gelsolin or transthyretin, patients are heterozygous for the amyloidogenic variants. Here we describe the first patient identified worldwide as homozygous for a nephropathic amyloidosis, involving the fibrinogen variant associated with the fibrinogen alpha-chain E526V (p.Glu545Val) mutation. In 1989, a 44-year-old woman presented with hypertension, hepatosplenomegaly, nephrotic syndrome, and renal failure. She started hemodialysis in 1990 and 6 years later underwent isolated kidney transplantation from a deceased donor. Graft function and clinical status were unremarkable for 16 years, despite progressively increased left ventricular mass on echocardiography. In 2012, 4 months before death, she deteriorated rapidly with severe heart failure, precipitated by Clostridium difficile colitis and urosepsis. Affected family members developed nephropathy, on average, nearly three decades later, which may be explained by the gene dosage effects on the phenotype of E526V (p.Glu545Val) fibrinogen A alpha-chain amyloidosis.

A deformation model of flexible, high area-to-mass ratio debris under perturbations and validation method

A new type of space debris was recently discovered by Schildknecht in near -geosynchronous orbit (GEO). These objects were later identified as exhibiting properties associated with High Area-to-Mass ratio (HAMR) objects. According to their brightness magnitudes (light curve), high rotation rates and composition properties (albedo, amount of specular and diffuse reflection, colour, etc), it is thought that these objects are multilayer insulation (MLI). Observations have shown that this debris type is very sensitive to environmental disturbances, particularly solar radiation pressure, due to the fact that their shapes are easily deformed leading to changes in the Area-to-Mass ratio (AMR) over time. This thesis proposes a simple effective flexible model of the thin, deformable membrane with two different methods. Firstly, this debris is modelled with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) by using Bernoulli-Euler theory called “Bernoulli model”. The Bernoulli model is constructed with beam elements consisting 2 nodes and each node has six degrees of freedom (DoF). The mass of membrane is distributed in beam elements. Secondly, the debris based on multibody dynamics theory call “Multibody model” is modelled as a series of lump masses, connected through flexible joints, representing the flexibility of the membrane itself. The mass of the membrane, albeit low, is taken into account with lump masses in the joints. The dynamic equations for the masses, including the constraints defined by the connecting rigid rod, are derived using fundamental Newtonian mechanics. The physical properties of both flexible models required by the models (membrane density, reflectivity, composition, etc.), are assumed to be those of multilayer insulation. Both flexible membrane models are then propagated together with classical orbital and attitude equations of motion near GEO region to predict the orbital evolution under the perturbations of solar radiation pressure, Earth’s gravity field, luni-solar gravitational fields and self-shadowing effect. These results are then compared to two rigid body models (cannonball and flat rigid plate). In this investigation, when comparing with a rigid model, the evolutions of orbital elements of the flexible models indicate the difference of inclination and secular eccentricity evolutions, rapid irregular attitude motion and unstable cross-section area due to a deformation over time. Then, the Monte Carlo simulations by varying initial attitude dynamics and deformed angle are investigated and compared with rigid models over 100 days. As the results of the simulations, the different initial conditions provide unique orbital motions, which is significantly different in term of orbital motions of both rigid models. Furthermore, this thesis presents a methodology to determine the material dynamic properties of thin membranes and validates the deformation of the multibody model with real MLI materials. Experiments are performed in a high vacuum chamber (10-4 mbar) replicating space environment. A thin membrane is hinged at one end but free at the other. The free motion experiment, the first experiment, is a free vibration test to determine the damping coefficient and natural frequency of the thin membrane. In this test, the membrane is allowed to fall freely in the chamber with the motion tracked and captured through high velocity video frames. A Kalman filter technique is implemented in the tracking algorithm to reduce noise and increase the tracking accuracy of the oscillating motion. The forced motion experiment, the last test, is performed to determine the deformation characteristics of the object. A high power spotlight (500-2000W) is used to illuminate the MLI and the displacements are measured by means of a high resolution laser sensor. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and multibody dynamics of the experimental setups are used for the validation of the flexible model by comparing with the experimental results of displacements and natural frequencies.