Search results for: collagen type IV α3 chain

Authors: Hamid Hossein Khezri, Afsaneh Javdani-Mallak

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Fast inhibitory neurotransmission in the mammalian nervous system is largely mediated by GABAA receptors, chloride-selective members of the superfamily of pentameric Cys-loop receptors. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the members of cannabinoid compounds found in cannabis. CBD and Cannabinol (CBN), as the other extract of plant Cannabis were able to reduce myofascial pain in rats with immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we accomplished protein-protein BLAST, and the sequence was found to be for Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subunit alpha-1 (GBRA1) chain A and its 3D structure was subsequently downloaded from Protein Data Bank. The structures of the ligands, cannabinol, and cannabidiol, were obtained from PubChem. After the necessary process of the obtained files, AutoDock Vina was used to perform molecular docking. Docking between the ligands and GBRA1 chain A revealed that cannabinol has a higher affinity to GBRA1 (binding energy = -7.5 kcal/mol) compared to cannabidiol (binding energy = -6.5 kcal/mol). Furthermore, cannabinol seems to be able to interact with 10 residues of the protein, out of which 3 are in the neurotransmitter-gated ion-channel transmembrane domain of GBRA1, whereas cannabidiol interacts with two other residues. Although the results of this project do not indicate the activating /or inhibitory capability of the studied compounds, it suggests that cannabinol can act as a relatively strong ligand for GBRA1.

Keywords: protein-ligand docking, cannabinol, cannabidiol, GBRA1

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Authors: Sari Aouatef, Larabi Amina

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First-principles calculations within density functional theory based are used to investigate the influence of doped rare earth elements on some properties of perovskite systems Dy₀.₀₆₂₅Y₀.₉₃₇₅FeO₃ and Dy₀.₁₂₅ Y₀.₈₇₅ FeO₃. The electronic and magnetic properties are studied by means of the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method with Vasp code. The calculated densities of states presented in this work identify the semiconducting behavior for Dy₀.₁₂₅ Y₀.₈₇₅ FeO₃, and the semi-metallic behavior for Dy₀.₀₆₂₅Y₀.₉₃₇₅ FeO₃. Besides, to investigate magnetic properties of several compounds, four magnetic configurations are considered (ferromagnetic (FM), antiferromagnetic type A (A-AFM), antiferromagnetic type C (C-AFM) and antiferromagnetic type G (G-AFM). By doping the Dy element, the system shows different changes in the magnetic order and electronic structure. It is found that Dy₀.₀₆₂₅Y₀.₉₃₇₅ FeO₃ exhibits the strongest magnetic change corresponding to the transition to the ferromagnetic order with the largest magnetic moment of 4.997.

Keywords: DFT, Perovskites, multiferroic, magnetic properties

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Authors: Tae Ho Kim

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Using the center of gravity method, we intend to find the center of gravity of Eurasia and North America, focusing on the local population, and study economic development plans in Eurasia and North America. By analyzing the strengths and opportunities of an industrial location for each region, we find ways for the country to grow and develop. Through economic cooperation and support between countries, we want to reduce the cause of conflict and dispute through economic growth in countries or regions. Furthermore, we want to create conditions for peaceful and happy regions or countries. Eurasia and North America are rich in resources, have great growth potential in terms of global supply chains, and have a good position to develop further. By analyzing intimacy between countries using REM, a CRM method, we intend to transform it into a region where a hopeful future of peace and prosperity begins. The future can be transformed through positive thinking or love for humanity. Indicators of intimacy between countries or regions can also be created anew if they change how they view each other. The Earth we live on is facing great risks, such as climate change and war. In order to reduce this crisis and maintain peace and prosperity, we must cooperate with each other in new directions.

Keywords: supply chain economy, REM, Indicators of intimacy, peace and prosperity

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Authors: Gupta Amit, Kumar Ramesh, P. C. Tewari

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Globalization is putting enormous pressure on the business organizations specially manufacturing one to rethink the supply chain in innovative manners. Inventory consumes major portion of total sale revenue. Effective and efficient inventory management plays a vital role for the successful functioning of any organization. Selection of inventory policy is one of the important purchasing activities. This paper focuses on selection and ranking of alternative inventory policies. A deterministic quantitative model-based on Distance Based Approach (DBA) method has been developed for evaluation and ranking of inventory policies. We have employed this concept first time for this type of the selection problem. Four inventory policies Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), Just in Time (JIT), Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and monthly policy are considered. Improper selection could affect a company’s competitiveness in terms of the productivity of its facilities and quality of its products. The ranking of inventory policies is a multi-criteria problem. There is a need to first identify the selection criteria and then processes the information with reference to relative importance of attributes for comparison. Criteria values for each inventory policy can be obtained either analytically or by using a simulation technique or they are linguistic subjective judgments defined by fuzzy sets, like, for example, the values of criteria. A methodology is developed and applied to rank the inventory policies.

Keywords: inventory policy, ranking, DBA, selection criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 390

Authors: Vikram Chowdhary, Marek Vins

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The profitability of the pharmaceutical drug business has attracted considerable interest, but it also faces significant challenges. Counterfeiters take advantage of the industry's vulnerabilities, which are further exacerbated by the globalization of the market, online trading, and complex supply chains. Governments and organizations worldwide are dedicated to creating a secure environment that ensures a consistent and genuine supply of pharmaceutical products. In 2019, the European authorities implemented regulation EU 2016/161 to strengthen traceability and transparency throughout the entire drug supply chain. This regulation requires the addition of enhanced security features, such as serializing items to the saleable unit level or individual packs. Despite these efforts, the incidents of pharmaceutical counterfeiting continue to rise globally, with regulated territories being particularly affected. This paper examines the effectiveness of the drug serialization system implemented by European authorities. By conducting a systematic literature review, we assess the implementation of drug serialization and explore the potential benefits of integrating emerging digital technologies, such as RFID and Blockchain, to improve traceability and management. The objective is to fortify pharmaceutical supply chains against counterfeiters and manipulators and ensure their security.

Keywords: blockchain, counterfeit drugs, EU drug serialization, pharmaceutical industry, RFID

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Authors: Gak-Gyu Kim, Won Il Jung

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According to a remarkable development of science and technology, function and role of the system of engineering fields has recently been diversified. The system has become increasingly more complex and precise, and thus, system designers intended to maximize reliability concentrate more effort at the design stage. This study deals with the reliability redundancy optimization problem (RROP) for k-out-of-n: G system configuration with cold standby and warm standby components. This paper further intends to present the optimal mathematical model through which the following three elements of (i) multiple components choices, (ii) redundant components quantity and (iii) the choice of redundancy strategies may be combined in order to maximize the reliability of the system. Therefore, we focus on the following three issues. First, we consider RROP that there exists warm standby state as well as cold standby state of the component. Second, as eliminating an approximation approach of the previous RROP studies, we construct a precise model for system reliability. Third, given transition time when the state of components changes, we present not simply a workable solution but the advanced method. For the wide applicability of RROPs, moreover, we use absorbing continuous time Markov chain and matrix analytic methods in the suggested mathematical model.

Keywords: RROP, matrix analytic methods, k-out-of-n: G system, MTTF, absorbing continuous time Markov Chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Ngozi N. Sydney-Agbor, Chioma N. Ihegboro

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Stress and personality as factors influencing nurses’ aggressive behaviour were investigated. The participants comprised of one hundred and fifty nurses selected through convenience sampling technique from four (4) private hospitals in Imo State, Nigeria; namely: Eastern Summit Specialist Clinics and Maternity, St. David Hospital, New Cross Hospital, and Christian Teaching Hospital. The nurses were all females with ages between 20–35 and a mean age of 25.10 years and a standard deviation of 4.15. The participants were administered with Job Related Tension Scale, Type A Behaviour Scale and Buss- Perry Aggressive Behaviour Scale. Two hypotheses were postulated and tested. Cross- sectional survey and Regression Analysis were adopted as design and statistics respectively. Results showed that as stress increased, nurses aggression also increased. Personality also predicted nurses aggressive behaviour with Type As’ exhibiting higher aggression than Type Bs’.The study recommended that hospital management board should improve the welfare of the nurses and their morale should be boosted by involving them in policy-making concerning their welfare and care of their patients, this will help minimise situations capable of increasing aggressive behaviour. There should also be sensitization on the negative impact of aggressive behaviour to patients especially amongst the personality Type A’s who are more susceptible to aggression.

Keywords: aggressive behaviour, nurses, personality, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Nicanor Garcia Alvarez, Belarmino Adenso-Diaz, Laura Calzada Infante

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In recent years, researchers have shown an interest in modelling maritime traffic as a complex network. In this paper, we propose a bipartite weighted network to model maritime traffic and detect port maritime communities. The bipartite weighted network considers two different types of nodes. The first one represents Spanish ports, while the second one represents the countries with which there is major import/export activity. The flow among both types of nodes is modeled by weighting the volume of product transported. To illustrate the model, the data is segmented by each type of traffic. This will allow fine tuning and the creation of communities for each type of traffic and therefore finding similar ports for a specific type of traffic, which will provide decision-makers with tools to search for alliances or identify their competitors. The traffic with the greatest impact on the Spanish gross domestic product is selected, and the evolution of the communities formed by the most important ports and their differences between 2019 and 2009 will be analyzed. Finally, the set of communities formed by the ports of the Spanish port system will be inspected to determine global similarities between them, analyzing the sum of the membership of the different ports in communities formed for each type of traffic in particular.

Keywords: bipartite networks, competition, infomap, maritime traffic, port communities

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Wararit Panichkitkosolkul

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The unit root tests based on the robust estimator for the first-order autoregressive process are proposed and compared with the unit root tests based on the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimator. The percentiles of the null distributions of the unit root test are also reported. The empirical probabilities of Type I error and powers of the unit root tests are estimated via Monte Carlo simulation. Simulation results show that all unit root tests can control the probability of Type I error for all situations. The empirical power of the unit root tests based on the robust estimator are higher than the unit root tests based on the OLS estimator.

Keywords: autoregressive, ordinary least squares, type i error, power of the test, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Mohamed Amin Mekheimer

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This study aimed to investigate the effects of paper-based monolingual, pop-up and type-in electronic dictionaries on improving reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention in an EFL context. It tapped into how computer-mediated dictionaries may have facilitated/impeded reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Findings showed differential effects produced by the three treatments compared with the control group. Specifically, it revealed that the pop-up dictionary condition had the shortest average vocabulary searching time, vocabulary and text reading time, yet with less than the type-in dictionary group but more than the book dictionary group in terms of frequent dictionary 'look-ups' (p<.0001). In addition, ANOVA analyses also showed that text reading time differed significantly across all four treatments, and so did reading comprehension. Vocabulary acquisition was reported as enhanced in the three treatments rather than in the control group, but still with insignificant differences across the three treatments, yet with more differential effects in favour of the pop-up condition. Data also assert that participants preferred the pop-up e-dictionary more than the type-in and paper-based groups. Explanations of the findings vis-à-vis the cognitive load theory were presented. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research were forwarded at the end.

Keywords: computer-mediated dictionaries, type-in dictionaries, pop-up dictionaries, reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition

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Authors: Fatemeh Aghamohammadzadeh, Mahdi Asghari Ozma

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SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted from animals to humans in China and through air transport to almost all world countries, including Iran, creating the first pandemic of the 21st century. The virus was spread through droplets from sneezing, coughing, loud talking, and exhalation of sick and asymptomatic people, even during incubation. It was transmitted from human to human directly by inhalation of viruses in droplets or indirectly through contact with infected surfaces, resulting in the death of a significant number of patients, especially the elderly and those with underlying diseases. The virus is more likely to be transmitted in places with high population densities. The chain of transmission of infection can be broken by observing the following: risk perception, reduced travel, complete quarantine in a particular area, home quarantine, social distancing, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), prevention of gatherings, cleaning and disinfection of public utilities and busy places, identifying, isolating and treating infected people, tracking calls, continuing health education, following health principles by people, especially in poor areas, and washing their hands frequently with soap and water or disinfecting them with 70% ethanol.

Keywords: COVID-19, transmission, population density, home quarantine, social distancing

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Hwei Voon Lee, N. Asikin-Mijana, Y. H. Taufiq-Yap, J. C. Juan, N. A. Rahman

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Cracking–Deoxygenation process is one of the important reaction pathways for the production of bio-fuel with desirable n-C17 hydrocarbon chain via removal of oxygen compounds. Calcium-based catalyst has attracted much attention in deoxygenation process due to its relatively high capacity in removing oxygenated compounds in the form of CO₂ and CO under decarboxylation and decarbonylation reaction, respectively. In the present study, deoxygenation of triolein was investigated using Ca(OH)₂ nanocatalyst derived from low cost natural waste shells. The Ca(OH)₂ nanocatalyst was prepared via integration techniques between surfactant treatment (anionic and non-ionic) and wet sonochemical effect. Results showed that sonochemically assisted surfactant treatment has successfully enhanced the physicochemical properties of Ca(OH)₂ nanocatalyst in terms of nanoparticle sizes (∼50 nm), high surface area(∼130 m²g⁻¹), large porosity (∼18.6 nm) and strong basic strength. The presence of superior properties from surfactant treated Ca(OH)₂ nanocatalysts rendered high deoxygenation degree, which is capable of producing high alkane and alkene selectivity in chain length of n-C17(high value of C17/(n-C17+ n-C18)ratio = 0.88). Furthermore, both Ca(OH)₂–EG and Ca(OH)₂–CTAB nanocatalysts showed high reactivity with 47.37% and 44.50%, respectively in total liquid hydrocarbon content of triolein conversion with high H/C and low O/C ratio.

Keywords: clamshell, cracking, decarboxylation-decarbonylation, hydrocarbon

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Authors: Yuri V. Bykov, V. A. Baturin

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Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to perform a comparative analysis of the levels of autoantibodies (AAB) to the S-100 protein as well as to the dopamine and NMDA receptors in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) in therapeutic remission. Materials and methods: Blood serum obtained from 42 children ages 4 to 17 years (20 boys and 22 girls) was analyzed. Twenty-one of these children had a diagnosis of type 1 DM and were in therapeutic remission (study group). The mean duration of disease in children with type 1 DM was 9.6±0.36 years. Children without DM were included in a group of "apparently healthy children" (21 children, comparison group). AAB to the S-100 protein, the dopamine, and NMDA receptors were measured by ELISA. The normal range of IgG AAB was specified as up to 10 µg/mL. In order to compare the central parameters of the groups, the following parametric and non-parametric methods were used: Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U test. The level of significance for inter-group comparisons was set at p<0.05. Results: The mean levels of AAB to the S-100B protein were significantly higher (p=0.0045) in children with DM (16.84±1.54 µg/mL) when compared with "apparently healthy children" (2.09±0.05 µg/mL). The detected elevated levels of AAB to NMDA receptors may indicate that in children with type 1 DM, there is a change in the activity of the glutamatergic system, which in its turn suggests the presence of excitotoxicity. The mean levels of AAB to dopamine receptors were higher (p=0.0082) in patients comprising the study group than in the children of the comparison group (40.47±2.31 µg/mL and 3.91±0.09 µg/mL). The detected elevated levels of AAB to dopamine receptors suggest an altered activity of the dopaminergic system in children with DM. This can also be viewed as indirect evidence of altered activity of the brain's glutamatergic system. The mean levels of AAB to NMDA receptors were higher in patients with type 1 DM compared with the "apparently healthy children," at 13.16±2.07 µg/mL and 1.304±0.05 µg/mL, respectively (p=0.0021). The elevated mean levels of AAB to the S-100B protein may indicate damage to brain tissue in children with type 1 DM. A difference was also detected between the mean values of the measured AABs, and this difference depended on the duration of the disease: mean AAB values were significantly higher in patients whose disease had lasted more than five years. Conclusions: The elevated mean levels of AAB to the S-100B protein may indicate damage to brain tissue in the setting of excitotoxicity in children with type 1 DM. The discovered elevation of the levels of AAB to NMDA and dopamine receptors may indicate the activation of the glutamatergic and dopaminergic systems. The observed abnormalities indicate the presence of central nervous system damage in children with type 1 DM, with a tendency towards the elevation of the levels of the studied AABs with disease progression.

Keywords: autoantibodies, brain damage, children, diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Safeer Hussain Khan, H. Fukhar-ud-Din

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The concept of quasi-contractive type operators was given by Berinde and extended by Imoru and Olatinwo. They named this new type as contractive-like operators. On the other hand, Xu and Noo introduced a three-step-one-mappings iterative process which can be seen as a generalization of Mann and Ishikawa iterative processes. Approximating common fixed points has its own importance as it has a direct link with minimization problem. Motivated by this, in this paper, we first extend the iterative process of Xu and Noor to the case of three-step-three-mappings and then prove a strong convergence result using contractive-like operators for this iterative process. In general, this generalizes corresponding results using Mann, Ishikawa and Xu-Noor iterative processes with quasi-contractive type operators. It is to be pointed out that our results can also be proved with iterative process involving error terms.

Keywords: contractive-like operator, iterative process, common fixed point, strong convergence

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Authors: P. A. Broodryk, A. F. Van Der Merwe, H. W. J. P. Neomagus

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The production of the clear liquid fertilizer ammonium polyphosphate (APP) is best achieved by the pyrolysis of urea phosphate, as it produces a product that is free from any of the impurities present in the raw phosphoric acid it was made from. This is a multiphase, multi-step reaction that produces carbon dioxide and ammonia as gasses and ammonium polyphosphate as liquid products. The polyphosphate chain length affects the solubility and thus the applicability of the product as liquid fertiliser, thus proper control of the reaction conditions is thus required for the use of this reaction in the production of fertilisers. This study investigates the reaction kinetics of the aforementioned reaction, describing a mathematical model for the kinetics of the reaction along with the accompanying rate constants. The reaction is initially exothermic, producing only carbon dioxide as a gas product and ammonium diphosphate, at higher temperatures the reaction becomes endothermic, producing ammonia gas as an additional by-product and longer chain polyphosphates, which when condensed too far becomes highly water insoluble. The aim of this study was to (i) characterise the pyrolysis reaction of urea phosphate by determining the mechanisms and the associated kinetic constants, and (ii) to determine the optimum conditions for ammonium diphosphate production. A qualitative investigation was also done to find the rate of hydrolysis of APP as this provides an estimate of the shelf life of an APP clear liquid fertiliser solution.

Keywords: ammonium polyphosphate, kinetics, pyrolysis, urea phosphate

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Authors: Baljinder Singh, Navneet Sharma

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Chromium is an essential nutrient involved in normal carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. It influences glucose metabolism by potentiating the action as taking part in insulin signal amplification mechanism. A placebo-controlled single blind, prospective study was carried out to investigate the effect of chromium supplementation on blood glucose, HbA1C and lipid profile in newly onset patients with type-2 diabetes. Total 40 newly onset type-2 diabetics were selected and after one month stabilization further randomly divided into two groups viz. study group and placebo group. The study group received 9 gm brewer’s yeast (42 μ Cr) daily and the other placebo group received yeast devoid of chromium for 3 months. Subjects were instructed not to change their normal eating and living habits. Fasting blood glucose, HbA1C and lipid profile were analyzed at beginning and completion of the study. Results revealed that fasting blood glucose level significantly reduced in the subjects consuming yeast supplemented with chromium (197.65±6.68 to 103.68±6.64 mg/dl; p<0.001). HbA1C values improved significantly from 9.51±0.26% to 6.86±0.28%; p<0.001 indicating better glycaemic control. In experimental group total cholesterol, TG and LDL levels were also significantly reduced from 199.66±3.11 to 189.26±3.01 mg/dl; p<0.02, 144.94±8.31 to 126.01±8.26; p<0.05 and 119.19±1.71 to 99.58±1.10; p<0.001 respectively. These data demonstrate beneficial effect of chromium supplementation on glycaemic control and lipid variables in subjects with newly onset type-2 diabetes.

Keywords: type-2 diabetes, chromium, glucose, HbA1C

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Authors: Dalia. G. Aseel, E. E. Hafez, S. M. Hammad

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Viral RNAs of both potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) and potato virus Y (PVY) were extracted from infected potato leaves collected from different Egyptian regions. Differential Display Polymerase Chain Reaction (DD-PCR) using (Endogluconase, β-1,3-glucanases, Chitinase, Peroxidase and Polyphenol oxidase) primers (forward strand) for was performed. The obtained data revealed different banding patterns depending on the viral type and the region of infection. Regarding PLRV, a 58 up regulated and 19 down regulated genes were detected, while, 31 up regulated and 14 down regulated genes were observed in case of PVY. Based on the nucleotide sequencing, variable phylogenetic relationships were reported for the three sequenced genes coding for: Induced stolen tip protein, Disease resistance RPP-like protein and non-specific lipid-transfer protein. In a complementary approach, using the quantitative Real-time PCR, the expressions of PRs genes understudy were estimated in the infected leaves by PLRV and PVY of three potato cultivars (Spunta, Diamont and Cara). The infection with both viruses inhibited the expressions of the five PRs genes. On the contrary, infected leaves by PLRV or PVY elevated the expression of some defense genes. This interaction also may be enhanced and/or inhibited the expression of some genes responsible for the plant defense mechanisms.

Keywords: PLRV, PVY, PR genes, DD-PCR, qRT-PCR, sequencing

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Authors: Muneeba Butt

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One of the most important physical evidence which leaves suspects at the crime scene is footprints. Analysis of footprints, which can provide useful information for personal identification, is helpful in crime scene investigation. For the current study, 200 samples collected (144 male and 56 female) from Pakistani population with a consent form. The footprints were collected by using black ink with an ink pad. The entire samples were photographed, and then the magnifying glass was used for visualization of individual characteristics including detail of toes, humps, phalange mark, and flat foot cracks in footprint patterns. The descriptive results of individualizing characteristics features were presented in tabular form with respective frequency and percentage. In the result in the male population, the prevalence of tibialis type (T-type) is highest. In the female population, the prevalence of midularis type (M-type) is highest. Humps on the first toe are more found in the male population rather than other humps. In the female population, humps on the third toe are more found rather than other humps. In the male population, the prevalence of phalange mark by toe 1 is highest followed by toe 3, toe 5, toe 2, toe 4 and in female population the prevalence of phalange mark by toe 1 is highest followed by toe 5, 4, 3 and 2. Creases marks are found highest in male population as compared to the female population.

Keywords: foot prints, toes, humps, cracks

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Authors: Hyeonuk Shin, Hun Song, Yongsik Chu, Jongkyu Lee, Dongcheon Park

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Although much current research has been devoted to reusing concrete in the form of recycled aggregate, insufficient attention has been given to researching the utilization of waste concrete powder, which constitutes 20 % or more of waste concrete and therefore the majority of waste cementitious powder is currently being discarded or buried in landfills. This study consists of foundational research for the purpose of reusing waste cementitious powder in the form of recycled cement that can answer the need for low carbon green growth. Progressing beyond the conventional practice of using the waste cementitious powder as inert filler material, this study contributes to the aim of manufacturing high value added materials that exploits the chemical properties of the waste cementitious powder, by presenting a pre-treatment method for the material and an optimal method of proportioning the mix of materials to develop a low carbon type of recycled cement.

Keywords: Low carbon type cement, Waste cementitious powder, Waste recycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 464

Authors: Hamid Hossein Khezri, Afsaneh Javdani-Mallak

Abstract:

Fast inhibitory neurotransmission in the mammalian nervous system is largely mediated by GABAA receptors, chloride-selective members of the superfamily of pentameric Cys-loop receptors. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the members of cannabinoid compounds found in cannabis. CBD and Cannabinol (CBN), as the other extract of plant Cannabis, were able to reduce myofascial pain in rats with immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we accomplished protein-protein BLAST and the sequence was found to be for Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subunit alpha-1 (GBRA1) chain A and its 3D structure was subsequently downloaded from Protein Data Bank. The structures of the ligands cannabinol and cannabidiol were obtained from PubChem. After a necessary process of the obtained files, AutoDock Vina was used to performing molecular docking. Docking between the ligands and GBRA1 chain A revealed that cannabinol has a higher affinity to GBRA1 (binding energy = -7.5 kcal/mol) compared to cannabidiol (binding energy = -6.5 kcal/mol). Furthermore, cannabinol seems to be able to interact with 10 residues of the protein, out of which 3 are in the neurotransmitter-gated ion-channel transmembrane domain of GBRA1, whereas cannabidiol interacts with two other residues. Although the results of this project do not indicate the activating /or inhibitory capability of the studied compounds, it suggests that cannabinol can act as a relatively strong ligand for GBRA1.

Keywords: protein-ligand docking, cannabinol, cannabidiol, GBRA1

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Rajeshwar S. Matche, Subhash V. Pawde, Suraj P, Sachin R. Chaudhari

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Time Temperature Indicator’s (TTI) are trending approach in a food packaging that will be insightful to have safe and hygienic food products. Currently, available TTI in the market are mostly a product specific and sometime even difficult to handle especially in supply chain as these are pre-activated and require specific storage conditions. In the present study, research focus is on the development of a cost-effective lactic acid based TTI that can work over a wide range of temperature and can be activated at time of packaging or on demand. The correlation between activation energies of colour change of the developed indicator and packed pasteurized milk spoilage with respect to time and temperature was established. Developed lactic acid based TTI strips have range of activation energy from 10.13 to 24.20 KJ/mol. We found that the developed TTI strip’s with activation energy 12.42, and 14.41KJ/mol can be correlated with spoilage activation energy of packed pasteurized milk which was 25.71 KJ/mol with factor of 2 at storage temperature 4°C. The implementation of these TTI on packed pasteurized milk allow us see visual colour change during the storage and can be fruitful to monitoring quality of the milk and understand its freshness especially in a cold supply chain, viz distributor and road vendor etc.

Keywords: pasteurised packed milk, time temperature indicator, spoilage, freshness

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Authors: Flávio A. F. da Ponte, Jackson Q. Malveira, José A. S. Ramos Filho, Monica C. G. Albuquerque

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The vegetable oils have many applications in industrial processes and due to this potential have constantly increased the demand for the use of low-quality oils, mainly in the production of biofuel. This work aims to the physicochemical evaluation of babassu oil (Orbinya speciosa) and coconut (Cocos nucifera) of low quality, as well the obtaining the free fatty acids 6 to 16 carbon atoms, with intention to be used as raw material for the biofuels production. The babassu oil and coconut low quality, as well the fatty acids obtained from these oils were characterized as their physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition (using gas chromatography coupled to mass). The NMR technique was used to assess the efficiency of fractional distillation under reduced pressure to obtain the intermediate carbonic chain fatty acids. The results showed that the bad quality in terms of physicochemical evaluation of babassu oils and coconut oils interfere directly in industrial application. However the fatty acids of intermediate carbonic chain (C6 to C16) may be used in cosmetic, pharmaceutical and particularly as the biokerosene fuel. The chromatographic analysis showed that the babassu oil and coconut oil have as major fatty acids are lauric acid (57.5 and 38.6%, respectively), whereas the top phase from distillation of coconut oil showed caprylic acid (39.1%) and major fatty acid.

Keywords: babassu oil (Orbinya speciosa), coconut oil (Cocos nucifera), fatty acids, biomass

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Authors: Randa Alharbi, Vladislav Vyshemirsky

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Systems biology is an important field in science which focuses on studying behaviour of biological systems. Modelling is required to produce detailed description of the elements of a biological system, their function, and their interactions. A well-designed model requires selecting a suitable mechanism which can capture the main features of the system, define the essential components of the system and represent an appropriate law that can define the interactions between its components. Complex biological systems exhibit stochastic behaviour. Thus, using probabilistic models are suitable to describe and analyse biological systems. Continuous-Time Markov Chain (CTMC) is one of the probabilistic models that describe the system as a set of discrete states with continuous time transitions between them. The system is then characterised by a set of probability distributions that describe the transition from one state to another at a given time. The evolution of these probabilities through time can be obtained by chemical master equation which is analytically intractable but it can be simulated. Uncertain parameters of such a model can be inferred using methods of Bayesian inference. Yet, inference in such a complex system is challenging as it requires the evaluation of the likelihood which is intractable in most cases. There are different statistical methods that allow simulating from the model despite intractability of the likelihood. Approximate Bayesian computation is a common approach for tackling inference which relies on simulation of the model to approximate the intractable likelihood. Particle Markov chain Monte Carlo (PMCMC) is another approach which is based on using sequential Monte Carlo to estimate intractable likelihood. However, both methods are computationally expensive. In this paper we discuss the efficiency and possible practical issues for each method, taking into account the computational time for these methods. We demonstrate likelihood-free inference by performing analysing a model of the Repressilator using both methods. Detailed investigation is performed to quantify the difference between these methods in terms of efficiency and computational cost.

Keywords: Approximate Bayesian computation(ABC), Continuous-Time Markov Chains, Sequential Monte Carlo, Particle Markov chain Monte Carlo (PMCMC)

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Authors: L. Belkhiri, L. Mouni, A. Tiri, T.S. Narany

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In the present study, the self-organizing map (SOM) clustering technique was applied to identify homogeneous clusters of hydrochemical parameters in El Milia plain, Algeria, to assess the quality of groundwater for potable and agricultural purposes. The visualization of SOM-analysis indicated that 35 groundwater samples collected in the study area were classified into three clusters, which showed progressive increase in electrical conductivity from cluster one to cluster three. Samples belonging to cluster one are mostly located in the recharge zone showing hard fresh water type, however, water type gradually changed to hard-brackish type in the discharge zone, including clusters two and three. Ionic ratio studies indicated the role of carbonate rock dissolution in increases on groundwater hardness, especially in cluster one. However, evaporation and evapotranspiration are the main processes increasing salinity in cluster two and three.

Keywords: groundwater quality, self-organizing maps, drinking water, irrigation water

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Authors: Reza Aghayan

Abstract:

This paper illustrates that numerically invariant joint signatures suffer biases in the resulting signatures. Next, we classify the arising biases as Bias Type 1 and Bias Type 2 and show how they can be removed.

Keywords: Euclidean and affine geometries, differential invariant signature curves, numerically invariant joint signatures, numerical analysis, numerical bias, curve analysis

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Authors: Mohamed A. Hammad, Dzul Azri Mohamed Noor, Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman, Abeer Kharshid, Nor Azizah Aziz, Tarek M. Elsayed

Abstract:

Medication safety is always an issue. In 2015, the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau released a statement requesting all statins manufacturers in Malaysia to include the risk of diabetes information in the drug information leaflet in response to United States Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) report. However, the data regarding this warning label in Malaysia is limited, so there is still some uncertainty whether such risk can also be observed in the Malaysian population or not. The study aims to determine the effect of statins on HbA1c% in type 2 diabetic outpatients in endocrine clinics at Hospital Pulau Pinang between June 2015 and May 2016 in Malaysia. In a prospective cohort study, records of 400 type 2 diabetic patients (control group 104 patients not using statin and treatment group 296 patients using statin) were reviewed to identify demographic criteria and lab tests. The prevalence of glycemic control (Glycated hemoglobin, HbA1C ≤ 7% for patient < 65 years, and < 8% for patient ≥ 65 years) was estimated, according to American Diabetes Association guidelines 2015. The results were presented as descriptive statistics. From 296 patients with Type 2 diabetes using statins cohort with a mean age of 57.52 ± 12.2 years, only 81 (27.4%) cases had controlled glycemia, and 215 (72.6%) had uncontrolled glycemia, CI: 95% (6.3–11.1). While the control group 104 diabetic patients had a mean age 46.1 ± 18 years and distributed among 59 (56.7%) patients with controlled diabetes and 45 (43.3%) cases, had uncontrolled glycemia, CI: 95% (5.2–10.3). The relative risk (RR) of uncontrolled glycemia in diabetic patients used statins was 1.68, and the excessive relative risk (ERR) was 68%. The absolute risk (AR) was 29.3%, and the number needed to harm (NNH) was 4. Diabetic patients using statins have more risk of uncontrolled glycemia than the patients with Type 2 diabetes non-using statins.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, HbA1c, Malaysia, outpatients, statin, type 2, uncontrolled glycemia

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Authors: Meryem Imane Babaghayou, Asma Abdelhafidi, Salem Fouad Chabira, Mohammed Sebaa

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A challenge of plastics industries is the realization of materials that resist the degradation in its application environment, and that to guarantee a longer life time therefore an optimal time of use. Blown extruded films of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) supplied by SABIC SAUDI ARABIA blown and extruded in SOFIPLAST company in Setif ALGERIA , have been subjected to climatic ageing in a sub-Saharan facility at Laghouat (Algeria) with direct exposure to sun. Samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques after prescribed amounts of time up to 8 months. It has been shown via these two techniques the impact of UV irradiation on the morphological development of a plastic material, especially the crystallinity degree which increases with exposure time. The reason of these morphological changes is related to photooxidative reactions leading to cross linking in the beginning and to chain scissions for an advanced stage of ageing this last ones are the first responsible. The crystallinity degree change is essentially controlled by the secondary crystallization of the amorphous chains whose mobility is enhanced by the chain scission processes. The diffusion of these short segments integrates the surface of the lamellae increasing in this way their thicknesses. The results presented highlight the complexity of the involved phenomena.

Keywords: Low Density poly (Ethylene), crystallinity, ageing, XRD, DSC

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Authors: Sapan Mohan Saini

Abstract:

In this work, we report the calculations on the electronic and optical properties of YNi₄Si-type GdNi₅ compound. Calculations are performed using the full-potential augmented plane wave (FPLAPW) method in the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The Coulomb corrected local-spin density approximation (LSDA+U) in the self-interaction correction (SIC) has been used for exchange-correlation potential. Spin polarised calculations of band structure show that several bands cross the Fermi level (EF) reflect the metallic character. Analysis of density of states (DOS) demonstrates that spin up Gd-f states lie around 7.5 eV below EF and spin down Gd-f lie around 4.5 eV above EF. We found Ni-3d states mainly contribute to DOS from -5.0 eV to the EF. Our calculated results of optical conductivity agree well with the experimental data.

Keywords: electronic structure, optical properties, FPLAPW method, YNi₄Si-type GdNi₅

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Authors: Lo Kar Yin

Abstract:

In view of the increasing speed and quantity of the housing supply, building, and civil engineering infrastructure works triggered by the pandemic across the globe, contractors, professional services providers (PSP), including consultants (e.g., architect, project manager, civil/geotechnical/structural engineer, building services engineer, quantity surveyor/cost manager, etc.) and suppliers have faced tremendous challenges of the fierce market, limited manpower, and resources under contract prices fluctuation and competitive fee and price. With qualitative analysis, this paper is to review the available information from the industry stakeholders with a view to finding solutions for enhancing efficiency, safety, and quality of construction value chain services for public and private organizations/companies’ sustainable growth, not limited to checking the deliverables and data transfer from multi-disciplinary parties. Technology, contracts, and people are the key requirements for shaping the construction industry. With the integration of a modern engineering contract (e.g., NEC) collaborative approach, practical workflows are designed to address loopholes together with different levels of people employment/retention and technology adoption to achieve the best value for money.

Keywords: efficiency, safety, quality, technology, contract, people, sustainable solutions, construction, services, integration

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Authors: C. Iitake, K. Iitake

Abstract:

Background and Aims: The number of diabetic patients based on obesity is increasing drastically in Asia. Since most patients have multiple complications, if one medicine can treat those at the same time, it would contribute to financial savings and patients’ compliance. A Japanese-made DPP-4 inhibitor, Anagliptin is only sold in Japan and South Korea. It is said to have its unique aspect of lowering LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels together with lowering blood glucose. We have assessed 63 patients in our faculty to investigate this fact clinically and statistically. Method: Patients with type 2 diabetes who has been treated with Anagliptin for the first time was investigated changes in HbA1c, fasting and random blood glucose and LDL-C levels from the baseline at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year. Results: 29 patients (46.1%) were given DPP-4 inhibitors for the first time (original group), and 34 patients (53.9%) were using other DPP-4 inhibitors before Anagliptin (exchanged group). The change in HbA1c and fasting glucose from the baseline were -2.0% (P < 0.001) and -38.3mg/dl (P < 0.01) respectively with original group, -0.5% (P < 0.01) and -29.4mg/dl (P < 0.01) respectively with exchanged group. 23 patients (36.5%) were using statins or fibrates and 28 patients (44.4%) were using none, and its LDL-C change were -8.1mg/dl (P = 0.2582) and -10.1mg/dl(P < 0.05) respectively. 16 patients(25%) with LDL-C level ≥ 140mg/dl, change were -21.7mg/dl(P < 0.05). LDL-C change did not have a correlation coefficient (=-0.03238) with change in HbA1c and was not affected by other diabetic drugs. Conclusion: These findings indicate that Anagliptin is a potential treatment option for type 2 diabetes complicated by hyperlipidemia.

Keywords: DPP-4 inhibitors, anagliptin, LDL-cholesterol, type 2 diabetes

Procedia PDF Downloads 154