Dose/frequency: A critical factor in the administration of glucan as immunostimulant to Indian white shrimp Fenneropenaeus indicus

The immunostimulatory effect of an alkali insoluble glucan extracted from marine yeast isolate Candida sake S165 was tested in Fenneropenaeus indicus. Post larvae (PL) of F. indicus, fed glucan incorporated diet at varying concentrations (0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 g glucan/100 g feed) for 21 days were challenged orally with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). Maximum survival was observed in PL fed the 0.2% glucan incorporated diet. Subsequently the feed incorporated with 0.2% glucan was fed to F. indicus post larvae at different feeding intervals, i.e. daily, once every two days, once every five days, once every seven days and once every ten days. After 40 days, the prawns were challenged orally with WSSV and post challenge survival was recorded. Shrimp feed containing 0.2% glucan when administered once every seven days gave maximum survival. This was supported by haematological data obtained from adult F. indicus, i.e. total haemocyte count, phenoloxidase activity and nitroblue tetrazolium reduction (NBT). The present observation confirms the importance of dose and frequency of administration of immunostimulants in shrimp health management

Thymus transplantation, a critical factor for correction of autoimmune disease in aging MRL/+mice.

MRL/MP-+/+ (MRL/+) mice develop pancreatitis and sialoadenitis after they reach 7 months of age. Conventional bone marrow transplantation has been found to be ineffective in the treatment of these forms of apparent autoimmune disease. Old MRL/+ mice show a dramatic thymic involution with age. Hematolymphoid reconstitution is incomplete when fetal liver cells (as a source of hemopoietic stem cells) plus fetal bone (FB; which is used to recruit stromal cells) are transplanted from immunologically normal C57BL/6 donor mice to MRL/+ female recipients. Embryonic thymus from allogeneic C57BL/6 donors was therefore engrafted along with either bone marrow or fetal hematopoietic cells (FHCs) plus fragments of adult or fetal bone. More than seventy percent of old MRL/+ mice (> 7 months) that had been given a fetal thymus (FT) transplant plus either bone marrow or FHCs and also bone fragments survived more than 100 days after treatment. The mice that received FHCs, FB, plus FT from allogeneic donors developed normal T cell and B cell functions. Serum amylase levels decreased in these mice whereas they increased in the mice that received FHCs and FB but not FT. The pancreatitis and sialoadenitis already present at the time of transplantations were fully corrected according to histological analysis by transplants of allogeneic FHCs, FB and FT in the MRL/+ mice. These findings are taken as an experimental indication that perhaps stem cell transplants along with FT grafts might represent a useful strategy for treatment of autoimmune diseases in aged humans.

APRIL is critical for plasmablast survival in the bone marrow and poorly expressed by early-life bone marrow stromal cells.

The persistence of serum IgG antibodies elicited in human infants is much shorter than when such responses are elicited later in life. The reasons for this rapid waning of antigen-specific antibodies elicited in infancy are yet unknown. We have recently shown that adoptively transferred tetanus toxoid (TT)-specific plasmablasts (PBs) efficiently reach the bone marrow (BM) of infant mice. However, TT-specific PBs fail to persist in the early-life BM, suggesting that they fail to receive the molecular signals that support their survival/differentiation. Using a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL)- and B-cell activating factor (BAFF) B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS)-deficient mice, we demonstrate here that APRIL is a critical factor for the establishment of the adult BM reservoir of anti-TT IgG-secreting cells. Through in vitro analyses of PB/plasma cell (PC) survival/differentiation, we show that APRIL induces the expression of Bcl-X(L) by a preferential binding to heparan sulfate proteoglycans at the surface of CD138(+) cells. Last, we identify BM-resident macrophages as the main cells that provide survival signals to PBs and show that this function is slowly acquired in early life, in parallel to a progressive acquisition of APRIL expression. Altogether, this identifies APRIL as a critical signal for PB survival that is poorly expressed in the early-life BM compartment.

Critical Control Points for Profitability in the Cow-Calf Enterprise

Financial, economic, and biological data collected from cow-calf producers who participated in the Illinois and Iowa Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) programs were used in this study. Data used were collected for the 1996 through 1999 calendar years, with each herd within year representing one observation. This resulted in a final database of 225 observations (117 from Iowa and 108 from Illinois) from commercial herds with a range in size from 20 to 373 cows. Two analyses were conducted, one utilizing financial cost of production data, the other economic cost of production data. Each observation was analyzed as the difference from the mean for that given year. The independent variable utilized in both the financial and economic models as an indicator of profit was return to unpaid labor and management per cow (RLM). Used as dependent variables were the five factors that make up total annual cow cost: feed cost, operating cost, depreciation cost, capital charge, and hired labor, all on an annual cost per cow basis. In the economic analysis, family labor was also included. Production factors evaluated as dependent variables in both models were calf weight, calf price, cull weight, cull price, weaning percentage, and calving distribution. Herd size and investment were also analyzed. All financial factors analyzed were significantly correlated to RLM (P < .10) except cull weight, and cull price. All economic factors analyzed were significantly correlated to RLM (P < .10) except calf weight, cull weight and cull price. Results of the financial prediction equation indicate that there are eight measurements capable of explaining over 82 percent of the farm-to-farm variation in RLM. Feed cost is the overriding factor driving RLM in both the financial and economic stepwise regression analyses. In both analyses over 50 percent of the herd-to-herd variation in RLM could be explained by feed cost. Financial feed cost is correlated (P < .001) to operating cost, depreciation cost, and investment. Economic feed cost is correlated (P < .001) with investment and operating cost, as well as capital charge. Operating cost, depreciation, and capital charge were all negatively correlated (P < .10) to herd size, and positively correlated (P < .01) to feed cost in both analyses. Operating costs were positively correlated with capital charge and investment (P < .01) in both analyses. In the financial regression model, depreciation cost was the second critical factor explaining almost 9 percent of the herd-to-herd variation in RLM followed by operating cost (5 percent). Calf weight had a greater impact than calf price on RLM in both the financial and economic regression models. Calf weight was the fourth indicator of RLM in the financial model and was similar in magnitude to operating cost. Investment was not a significant variable in either regression model; however, it was highly correlated to a number of the significant cost variables including feed cost, depreciation cost, and operating cost (P < .001, financial; P < .10, economic). Cost factors were far more influential in driving RLM than production, reproduction, or producer controlled marketing factors. Of these cost factors, feed cost had by far the largest impact. As producers focus attention on factors that affect the profitability of the operation, feed cost is the most critical control point because it was responsible for over 50 percent of the herd-to-herd variation in profit.

La época de raleo como factor de rentabilidad en duraznos conserveros de maduración temprana

Del total de la superficie implantada con duraznos conserveros en la provincia de Mendoza, el 27% corresponde a cultivares de maduración temprana, en los que el raleo de frutos es un factor crítico de manejo. Para determinar la incidencia de diferentes épocas de raleo sobre la rentabilidad del cultivo se realizó un ensayo en un monte comercial de durazneros cvs. Fortuna y Carson. Se utilizaron árboles injertados sobre portainjerto Nemaguard, conducidos en vaso tipo californiano e implantados a 6 m entre hileras y a 5 m entre plantas, que fueron raleados en tres épocas diferentes: a los 40 días después de plena floración, en inicio de endurecimiento de carozo y 10 días después, en la fecha de referencia. Se realizaron evaluaciones de producción por planta y calidad de frutos. También se determinó el valor de la producción y la relación entre éste y las distintas fechas de raleo. En ambos cultivares, los árboles raleados en época temprana obtuvieron mayor peso de frutos, producción total y producción destinada a mitades. En el cv. Fortuna, este tratamiento produjo un aumento significativo del porcentaje de frutos con carozo partido.El raleo temprano de frutos aumentó significativamente el valor de la cosecha, logrando un incremento de $ 3636.ha-1 y $ 3441.ha-1en los cvs. Fortuna y Carson, respectivamente, en relación con el tratamiento en fecha de referencia.

Whole life performance assessment: critical success factors

Whole life costing (WLC) has become the best practice in construction procurement and it is likely to be a major issue in predicting whole life costs of a construction project accurately. However, different expectations from different organizations throughout a project's life and the lack of data, monitoring targets, and long-term interest for many key players are obstacles to be overcome if WLC is to be implemented. A questionnaire survey was undertaken to investigate a set of ten common factors and 188 individual factors. These were grouped into eight critical categories (project scope, time, cost, quality, contract/administration, human resource, risk, and health and safety) by project phase, as perceived by the clients, contractors and subcontractors in order to identify critical success factors for whole life performance assessment (WLPA). Using a relative importance index, the top ten critical factors for each category, from the perspective of project participants, were analyzed and ranked. Their agreement on those categories and factors were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation. All participants identify “Type of Project” as the most common critical factor in the eight categories for WLPA. Using the relative index ranking technique and weighted average methods, it was found that the most critical individual factors in each category were: “clarity of contract” (scope); “fixed construction period” (time); “precise project budget estimate” (cost); “material quality” (quality); “mutual/trusting relationships” (contract/administration); “leadership/team management” (human resource); and “management of work safety on site” (health and safety). There was relatively a high agreement on these categories among all participants. Obviously, with 80 critical factors of WLPA, there is a stronger positive relationship between client and contactor rather than contractor and subcontractor, client and subcontractor. Putting these critical factors into a criteria matrix can facilitate an initial framework of WLPA in order to aid decision making in the public sector in South Korea for evaluation/selection process of a construction project at the bid stage.

La Ciberseguridad como factor crítico en la Seguridad de la Unión Europea

El ciberespacio es un escenario de conflicto altamente complejo al estar en constante evolución. Ni la Unión Europea ni ningún otro actor del sistema internacional se encuentra a salvo de las amenazas procedentes del ciberespacio. Pero los pasos dados desde la UE en el mundo de la ciberseguridad no son en absoluto suficientes. Europa necesita que su Estrategia de ciberseguridad sea realmente capaz de integrar a las diferentes Estrategias nacionales. Es urgente una mayor determinación, unos mayores recursos y unos mejores instrumentos que permitan a la Unión implementar una gestión de crisis y una prevención de ciberconflictos verdaderamente eficaz.

Vectorial Competence of Larvae and Adults of Alphitobius diaperinus in the Transmission of Salmonella Enteritidis in Poultry

Introduction: The ingestion of food products originating from poultry infected with Salmonella spp. is one of the major causes of food poisoning in humans. The control of poultry salmonellosis is particularly difficult since birds are asymptomatic and numerous factors may expedite the maintenance of bacteria in poultry production facilities. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the vectorial capacity of adults and larvae of Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in the experimental transmission of Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 4 to 1-day-old specific pathogen-free White Leghorn chicks. Methods: Adult insects and larvae were starved for 1 day, fed for 24 h or 7 days on sterile ration that had been treated with Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 4, and the levels of bacterial infection were determined. Infected adult insects and larvae were fed to groups of day-old chicks, after which bacteria were recovered from cecum, liver, and spleen samples over a 7-day period. Results: Infected larvae were more efficient than adult insects in transmitting Salmonella Enteritidis to chicks. Higher concentrations of bacteria could be reisolated from the cecum, liver, and spleen of chicks that had ingested infected larvae compared with those that had ingested infected adults. Conclusions: The control of A. diaperinus, and particularly of the larvae, represents a critical factor in the reduction of Salmonella spp. in poultry farms.

EFFECTS OF A POTENT PEROXYNITRITE DECOMPOSITION CATALYST IN MURINE MODELS OF ENDOTOXEMIA AND SEPSIS

Excessive free-radical production due to various bacterial components released during bacterial infection has been linked to cell death and tissue injury. Peroxynitrite is a highly reactive oxidant produced by the combination of nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide anion, which has been implicated in cell death and tissue injury in various forms of critical illness. Pharmacological decomposition of peroxynitrite may represent a potential therapeutic approach in diseases associated with the overproduction of NO and superoxide. In the present study, we tested the effect of a potent peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst in murine models of endotoxemia and sepsis. Mice were injected i.p. with LPS 40 mg/kg with or without FP15 [Fe(III) tetrakis-2-(N-triethylene glycol monomethyl ether) pyridyl porphyrin] (0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, or 10 mg/kg per hour). Mice were killed 12 h later, followed by the harvesting of samples from the lung, liver, and gut for malondialdehyde and myeloperoxidase measurements. In other subsets of animals, blood samples were obtained by cardiac puncture at 1.5, 4, and 8 h after LPS administration for cytokine (TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, and IL-10), nitrite/nitrate, alanine aminotransferase, and blood urea nitrogen measurements. Endotoxemic animals showed an increase in survival from 25% to 80% at the FP15 doses of 0.3 and 1 mg/kg per hour. The same dose of FP15 had no effect on plasma levels of nitrite/nitrate. There was a reduction in liver and lung malondialdehyde in the endotoxemic animals pretreated with FP15, as well as in hepatic myeloperoxidase and biochemical markers of liver and kidney damage (alanine aminotransferase and blood urea nitrogen). In a bacterial model of sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture, FP15 treatment (0.3 mg/kg per day) significantly protected against mortality. The current data support the view that peroxynitrite is a critical factor mediating liver, gut, and lung injury in endotoxemia and septic shock: its pharmacological neutralization may be of therapeutic benefit.

Generalized quasi mode theory of macroscopic canonical quantization in cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum optics I. Theory

The quasi mode theory of macroscopic quantization in quantum optics and cavity QED developed by Dalton, Barnett and Knight is generalized. This generalization allows for cases in which two or more quasi permittivities, along with their associated mode functions, are needed to describe the classical optics device. It brings problems such as reflection and refraction at a dielectric boundary, the linear coupler, and the coupling of two optical cavities within the scope of the theory. For the most part, the results that are obtained here are simple generalizations of those obtained in previous work. However the coupling constants, which are of great importance in applications of the theory, are shown to contain significant additional terms which cannot be 'guessed' from the simpler forms. The expressions for the coupling constants suggest that the critical factor in determining the strength of coupling between a pair of quasi modes is their degree of spatial overlap. In an accompanying paper a fully quantum theoretic derivation of the laws of reflection and refraction at a boundary is given as an illustration of the generalized theory. The quasi mode picture of this process involves the annihilation of a photon travelling in the incident region quasi mode, and the subsequent creation of a photon in either the incident region or transmitted region quasi modes.

Characterization of micro-mesoporous carbon media

A simple method to characterize the micro and mesoporous carbon media is discussed. In this method, the overall adsorption quantity is the sum of capacities of all pores (slit shape is assumed), in each of which the process of adsorption occurs in two sequential steps: the multi-layering followed by pore filling steps. The critical factor in these two steps is the enhancement of the pressure of occluded 'free' molecules in the pore as well as the enhancement of the adsorption layer thickness. Both of these enhancements are due to the overlapping of the potential fields contributed by the two opposite walls. The classical BET and modified Kelvin equations are assumed to be applicable for the two steps mentioned above, with the allowance for the enhanced pore pressure, the enhanced adsorption energy and the enhanced BET constant,all of which vary with pore width. The method is then applied to data of many carbon samples of different sources to derive their respective pore size distributions, which are compared with those obtained from DFT analysis. Similar pore size distributions (PSDs) are observed although our method gives sharper distribution. Furthermore, we use our theory to analyze adsorption data of nitrogen at 77 K and that of benzene at 303 K (ambient temperature). The PSDs derived from these two different probe molecules are similar, with some small differences that could be attributed to the molecular properties, such as the collision diameter. Permeation characteristics of sub-critical fluids are also discussed in this paper. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The impact of genotyping error on haplotype reconstruction and frequency estimation

The choice of genotyping families vs unrelated individuals is a critical factor in any large-scale linkage disequilibrium (LD) study. The use of unrelated individuals for such studies is promising, but in contrast to family designs, unrelated samples do not facilitate detection of genotyping errors, which have been shown to be of great importance for LD and linkage studies and may be even more important in genotyping collaborations across laboratories. Here we employ some of the most commonly-used analysis methods to examine the relative accuracy of haplotype estimation using families vs unrelateds in the presence of genotyping error. The results suggest that even slight amounts of genotyping error can significantly decrease haplotype frequency and reconstruction accuracy, that the ability to detect such errors in large families is essential when the number/complexity of haplotypes is high (low LD/common alleles). In contrast, in situations of low haplotype complexity (high LD and/or many rare alleles) unrelated individuals offer such a high degree of accuracy that there is little reason for less efficient family designs. Moreover, parent-child trios, which comprise the most popular family design and the most efficient in terms of the number of founder chromosomes per genotype but which contain little information for error detection, offer little or no gain over unrelated samples in nearly all cases, and thus do not seem a useful sampling compromise between unrelated individuals and large families. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of large-scale LD mapping projects such as the proposed genome-wide haplotype map.

Functional significance of a highly conserved glutamate residue of the human noradrenaline transportere

The aim of the study was to investigate the role of glutamate residue 113 in transmembrane domain 2 of the human noradrenaline transporter in determining cell surface expression and functional activity. This residue is absolutely conserved in all members of the Na+- and Cl--dependent transporter family. Mutations to alanine (hE113A), aspartate (hE113D) and glutamine (hE113Q) were achieved by site-directed mutagenesis and the mutants were expressed in transfected COS-7 or HEK-293 cells. Cell surface expression of IIE113A and hE113D, but not hE113Q, was markedly reduced compared with wild type, and functional noradrenaline uptake was detected only for the hE113Q mutant. The pharmacological properties of the hE113Q mutant showed very little change compared with wild type, except for a decrease in V-max values for noradrenaline and dopamine uptake of 2-3-fold. However, the hE113D mutant showed very marked changes in its properties, compared with wild type, with 82-260-fold decreases in the affinities of the substrates, noradrenaline, dopamine and MPP+, and increased Na+ affinity for stimulation of nisoxetine binding. The results of the study show that the size and not the charge of the 113 glutamate residue of the noradrenaline transporter seems to be the most critical factor for maintenance of transporter function and surface expression.

Constitutively active signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 can replace the requirement for growth hormone in adipogenesis of 3T3-F442A preadipocytes

Although it is the best characterized in vitro model of GH action, the mechanisms used by GH to induce differentiation of murine 3T3-F442A preadipocytes remain unclear. Here we have examined the role of three transcriptional regulators in adipogenesis. These regulators are either rapidly induced in response to GH [Stra13, signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) 3] or of central importance to GH signaling (Stat5). Retroviral transfection of 3T3-F442A preadipocytes was used to increase expression of Stra13, Stat3, and Stat5a. Only Stat5a transfection increased the expression of adipogenic markers peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, CCAAT enhancer binding protein (C/EBP)alpha, and adipose protein 2/fatty acid-binding protein in response to GH, as determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Transfection with constitutively active Stat3 and Stat5a revealed that constitutively active Stat5a but not Stat3 was able to replace the GH requirement for adipogenesis. Constitutively active Stat5a but not Stat3 was able to increase the formation of lipid droplets and expression of alpha-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase toward levels seen in mature adipocytes. Constitutively active Stat5a was also able to increase the expression of transcripts for C/EBPalpha to similar levels as GH, and of C/EBPbeta, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, and adipose protein 2/fatty acid-binding protein transcripts to a lesser extent. An in vivo role for GH in murine adipogenesis is supported by significantly decreased epididymal fat depot size in young GH receptor-deleted mice, before manifestation of the lipolytic actions of GH. We conclude that Stat5 is a critical factor in GH-induced, and potentially prolactin-induced, murine adipogenesis.

Impact of a 1755-like tsunami in Huelva, Spain

Coastal areas are highly exposed to natural hazards associated with the sea. In all cases where there is historical evidence for devastating tsunamis, as is the case of the southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, there is a need for quantitative hazard tsunami assessment to support spatial planning. Also, local authorities must be able to act towards the population protection in a preemptive way, to inform 'what to do' and 'where to go' and in an alarm, to make people aware of the incoming danger. With this in mind, we investigated the inundation extent, run-up and water depths, of a 1755-like event on the region of Huelva, located on the Spanish southwestern coast, one of the regions that was affected in the past by several high energy events, as proved by historical documents and sedimentological data. Modelling was made with a slightly modified version of the COMCOT (Cornell Multi-grid Coupled Tsunami Model) code. Sensitivity tests were performed for a single source in order to understand the relevance and influence of the source parameters in the inundation extent and the fundamental impact parameters. We show that a 1755-like event will have a dramatic impact in a large area close to Huelva inundating an area between 82 and 92 km(2) and reaching maximum run-up around 5 m. In this sense our results show that small variations on the characteristics of the tsunami source are not too significant for the impact assessment. We show that the maximum flow depth and the maximum run-up increase with the average slip on the source, while the strike of the fault is not a critical factor as Huelva is significantly far away from the potential sources identified up to now. We also show that the maximum flow depth within the inundated area is very dependent on the tidal level, while maximum run-up is less affected, as a consequence of the complex morphology of the area.