Games |
- Hitting the mall: Westfield Vancouver celebrates yearlong remodel
- Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12023-12036: Synergistic Antibacterial Activity of the Essential Oil of Aguaribay (Schinus molle L.)
- Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 13753-13780: Italian Contributions to the Development of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Sensors for Diabetes Management
- Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 13736-13752: On-Site Sensor Recalibration of a Spinning Multi-Beam LiDAR System Using Automatically-Detected Planar Targets
- Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 13720-13735: Computational Design of a Carbon Nanotube Fluorofullerene Biosensor
- Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 13694-13719: Spectral Regression Based Fault Feature Extraction for Bearing Accelerometer Sensor Signals
- Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 13681-13693: In Tube Integrated Electronic Nose System on a Flexible Polymer Substrate
- IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 13134-13139: A Tumor Surveillance Model: A Non-Coding RNA Senses Neoplastic Cells and Its Protein Partner Signals Cell Death
- IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 13118-13133: Inhibition of Enzyme Activity of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Triosephosphate Isomerase and BME26 Cell Growth by Monoclonal Antibodies
- Dark Arcana: The Carnival
- IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 13104-13117: Disease Progression Mediated by Egr-1 Associated Signaling in Response to Oxidative Stress
- IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 13079-13103: Pyrosequencing-Based Transcriptome Analysis of the Asian Rice Gall Midge Reveals Differential Response during Compatible and Incompatible Interaction
- IJMS, Vol. 13, Pages 13065-13078: Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction of Flavonoids from Pomelo (Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck) Peel and Their Antioxidant Activity
- Sponsored: Hitman Sniper Challenge Week 11 winners
- Genes, Vol. 3, Pages 634-650: Factors Behind Junk DNA in Bacteria
- Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12015-12022: Nukuhivensiums, Indolo[2,3-a]quinoliziniums from the Marquesan Plant Rauvolfia nukuhivensis
- Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12003-12014: Synthesis and Antiplasmodial Activity of Betulinic Acid and Ursolic Acid Analogues
- Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 11990-12002: In Vitro and in Vivo Metabolism of Verproside in Rats
- Forza Horizon Review
- Video Review - Forza Horizon
| Hitting the mall: Westfield Vancouver celebrates yearlong remodel Posted: 12 Oct 2012 02:56 AM PDT What was once a rendering is now real-life as Westfield Vancouver mall celebrates its "multi-million-dollar" renovation that helped it attract new tenants and keep shoppers from straying over the bridge to Oregon malls. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Schinus molle L. (aguaribay, aroeira-falsa, “molle”, family Anacardiaceae), a native of South America, produces an active antibacterial essential oil extracted from the leaves and fruits. This work reports a complete study of its chemical composition and determines the antibacterial activity of Schinus molle L. essential oil and its main components. The results showed that the crude extract essential oil has a potent antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, a strong/moderate effect on Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and moderate/weak one on Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Monitoring glucose concentration in the blood is essential in the therapy of diabetes, a pathology which affects about 350 million people around the World (three million in Italy), causes more than four million deaths per year and consumes a significant portion of the budget of national health systems (10% in Italy). In the last 15 years, several sensors with different degree of invasiveness have been proposed to monitor glycemia in a quasi-continuous way (up to 1 sample/min rate) for relatively long intervals (up to 7 consecutive days). These continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensors have opened new scenarios to assess, off-line, the effectiveness of individual patient therapeutic plans from the retrospective analysis of glucose time-series, but have also stimulated the development of innovative on-line applications, such as hypo/hyper-glycemia alert systems and artificial pancreas closed-loop control algorithms. In this review, we illustrate some significant Italian contributions, both from industry and academia, to the growth of the CGM sensors research area. In particular, technological, algorithmic and clinical developments performed in Italy will be discussed and put in relation with the advances obtained in the field in the wider international research community. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT This paper presents a fully-automated method to establish a calibration dataset from on-site scans and recalibrate the intrinsic parameters of a spinning multi-beam 3-D scanner. The proposed method has been tested on a Velodyne HDL-64E S2 LiDAR system, which contains 64 rotating laser rangefinders. By time series analysis, we found that the collected range data have random measurement errors of around ±25 mm. In addition, the layered misalignment of scans among the rangefinders, which is identified as a systematic error, also increases the difficulty to accurately locate planar surfaces. We propose a temporal-spatial range data fusion algorithm, along with a robust RANSAC-based plane detection algorithm to address these issues. Furthermore, we formulate an alternative geometric interpretation of sensory data using linear parameters, which is advantageous for the calibration procedure. The linear representation allows the proposed method to be generalized to any LiDAR system that follows the rotating beam model. We also confirmed in this paper, that given effective calibration datasets, the pre-calibrated factory parameters can be further tuned to achieve significantly improved performance. After the optimization, the systematic error is noticeable lowered, and evaluation shows that the recalibrated parameters outperform the factory parameters with the RMS planar errors reduced by up to 49%. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Carbon nanotubes offer exciting opportunities for devising highly-sensitive detectors of specific molecules in biology and the environment. Detection limits as low as 10−11 M have already been achieved using nanotube-based sensors. We propose the design of a biosensor comprised of functionalized carbon nanotube pores embedded in a silicon-nitride or other membrane, fluorofullerene-Fragment antigen-binding (Fab fragment) conjugates, and polymer beads with complementary Fab fragments. We show by using molecular and stochastic dynamics that conduction through the (9, 9) exohydrogenated carbon nanotubes is 20 times larger than through the Ion Channel Switch ICSTM biosensor, and fluorofullerenes block the nanotube entrance with a dissociation constant as low as 37 pM. Under normal operating conditions and in the absence of analyte, fluorofullerenes block the nanotube pores and the polymer beads float around in the reservoir. When analyte is injected into the reservoir the Fab fragments attached to the fluorofullerene and polymer bead crosslink to the analyte. The drag of the much larger polymer bead then acts to pull the fluorofullerene from the nanotube entrance, thereby allowing the flow of monovalent cations across the membrane. Assuming a tight seal is formed between the two reservoirs, such a biosensor would be able to detect one channel opening and thus one molecule of analyte making it a highly sensitive detection design. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Bearings are not only the most important element but also a common source of failures in rotary machinery. Bearing fault prognosis technology has been receiving more and more attention recently, in particular because it plays an increasingly important role in avoiding the occurrence of accidents. Therein, fault feature extraction (FFE) of bearing accelerometer sensor signals is essential to highlight representative features of bearing conditions for machinery fault diagnosis and prognosis. This paper proposes a spectral regression (SR)-based approach for fault feature extraction from original features including time, frequency and time-frequency domain features of bearing accelerometer sensor signals. SR is a novel regression framework for efficient regularized subspace learning and feature extraction technology, and it uses the least squares method to obtain the best projection direction, rather than computing the density matrix of features, so it also has the advantage in dimensionality reduction. The effectiveness of the SR-based method is validated experimentally by applying the acquired vibration signals data to bearings. The experimental results indicate that SR can reduce the computation cost and preserve more structure information about different bearing faults and severities, and it is demonstrated that the proposed feature extraction scheme has an advantage over other similar approaches. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT The fabrication of electronic devices, such as gas sensors on flexible polymer substrates, enables the use of electronics in applications where conventional devices on stiff substrates could not be used. We demonstrate the development of a new intra-tube electronic-nose (e-nose) gas sensor device with multiple sensors fabricated and integrated on a flexible substrate. For this purpose, we developed a new method of fabricating a sensor array of four gas sensors on a flexible polymer substrate. The method allowed the use of lithography techniques to pattern different polymers with a broad range of solubility parameters. Conductive polymer composites were used as a gas sensitive layer due to the high stretchability of the material. Each of the 30 e-nose devices on one substrate was designed to fit on a polymer strip with a width of 2 mm. A single e-nose strip was successfully integrated into the inlet tube of a gas-measurement apparatus with an inner-tube diameter of 3 mm. Using the e-nose, we were able to differentiate between four different volatile solvent vapors. The tube-integrated e-nose outperformed a chamber-integrated e-nose of the same type in terms of response time and flow-rate influences. The sensor array inside the tube showed a faster response time and detected short pulses of analyte exposure compared to the same sensor array outside of the tube. We measured gas flow rates from 1,000 to 30 sccm without significant changes in sensor performance using this intra-tube e-nose prototype. The tube could be bent to radii |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT nc886 (= pre-miR-886 or vtRNA2-1) is a non-coding RNA that has been recently identified as a natural repressor for the activity of PKR (Protein Kinase R). The suppression of nc886 activates PKR and thereby provokes a cell death pathway. When combined with the fact that nc886 is suppressed in a wide range of cancer cells, the nc886-PKR relationship suggests a tumor surveillance model. When neoplastic cells develop and nc886 decreases therein, PKR is released from nc886 and becomes the active phosphorylated form, which initiates an apoptotic cascade to eliminate those cells. The nc886-PKR pathway is distinct from conventional mechanisms, such as the immune surveillance hypothesis or intrinsic mechanisms that check/proofread the genomic integrity, and thus represents a novel example of tumor surveillance. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT In the present work, we produced two monoclonal antibodies (BrBm37 and BrBm38) and tested their action against the triosephosphate isomerase of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (RmTIM). These antibodies recognize epitopes on both the native and recombinant forms of the protein. rRmTIM inhibition by BrBm37 was up to 85% whereas that of BrBrm38 was 98%, depending on the antibody-enzyme ratio. RmTIM activity was lower in ovarian, gut, and fat body tissue extracts treated with BrBm37 or BrBm38 mAbs. The proliferation of the embryonic tick cell line (BME26) was inhibited by BrBm37 and BrBm38 mAbs. In summary, the results reveal that it is possible to interfere with the RmTIM function using antibodies, even in intact cells. |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2012 08:20 PM PDT Platform: Windows —  Search through the mirrored dimension, where the ordinary world is twisted and unsettling, on a quest to stop a romantic tragedy from unleashing an evil pact. During your adventure through a surreal realm, you'll encounter an intriguing assortment of strange sights as well as plenty of interactive hidden object scenes and puzzles until you reach the final confrontation with an ancient evil power. Will you discover the secrets of the dark carnival? Tagged as: adventure, affiliate, artifexmundi, casual, demo, download, game, hiddenobject, horror, hybrid, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-y, windows |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT When cellular reducing enzymes fail to shield the cell from increased amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS), oxidative stress arises. The redox state is misbalanced, DNA and proteins are damaged and cellular transcription networks are activated. This condition can lead to the initiation and/or to the progression of atherosclerosis, tumors or pulmonary hypertension; diseases that are decisively furthered by the presence of oxidizing agents. Redox sensitive genes, like the zinc finger transcription factor early growth response 1 (Egr-1), play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of these diseases. Apart from inducing apoptosis, signaling partners like the MEK/ERK pathway or the protein kinase C (PKC) can activate salvage programs such as cell proliferation that do not ameliorate, but rather worsen their outcome. Here, we review the currently available data on Egr-1 related signal transduction cascades in response to oxidative stress in the progression of epidemiologically significant diseases. Knowing the molecular pathways behind the pathology will greatly enhance our ability to identify possible targets for the development of new therapeutic strategies. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT The Asian rice gall midge (Orseolia oryzae) is a major pest responsible for immense loss in rice productivity. Currently, very little knowledge exists with regard to this insect at the molecular level. The present study was initiated with the aim of developing molecular resources as well as identifying alterations at the transcriptome level in the gall midge maggots that are in a compatible (SH) or in an incompatible interaction (RH) with their rice host. Roche 454 pyrosequencing strategy was used to develop both transcriptomics and genomics resources that led to the identification of 79,028 and 85,395 EST sequences from gall midge biotype 4 (GMB4) maggots feeding on a susceptible and resistant rice variety, TN1 (SH) and Suraksha (RH), respectively. Comparative transcriptome analysis of the maggots in SH and RH revealed over-representation of transcripts from proteolysis and protein phosphorylation in maggots from RH. In contrast, over-representation of transcripts for translation, regulation of transcription and transcripts involved in electron transport chain were observed in maggots from SH. This investigation, besides unveiling various mechanisms underlying insect-plant interactions, will also lead to a better understanding of strategies adopted by insects in general, and the Asian rice gall midge in particular, to overcome host defense. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction of flavonoids from pomelo (Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck) peel and their antioxidant activity were investigated. Box-Behnken design combined with response surface methodology was employed to maximize the extraction yield of flavonoids. Correlation analysis of the mathematical-regression model indicated that a quadratic polynomial model could be used to optimize the SC-CO2 extraction of flavonoids. The optimal conditions for obtaining the highest extraction yield of flavonoids from pomelo peel were a temperature of 80 °C, a pressure of 39 MPa and a static extraction time of 49 min in the presence of 85% ethanol as modifier. Under these conditions, the experimental yield was 2.37%, which matched positively with the value predicted by the model. Furthermore, flavonoids obtained by SC-CO2 extraction showed a higher scavenging activity on hydroxyl, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radicals than those obtained by conventional solvent extraction (CSE). Therefore, SC-CO2 extraction can be considered as a suitable technique for the obtainment of flavonoids from pomelo peel. |
| Sponsored: Hitman Sniper Challenge Week 11 winners Posted: 12 Oct 2012 01:34 AM PDT The rooftop assassination fun never stops with the ongoing Hitman Sniper Challenge continuing to attract some disturbingly efficient long-range projectile |
| Genes, Vol. 3, Pages 634-650: Factors Behind Junk DNA in Bacteria Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Although bacterial genomes have been traditionally viewed as being very compact, with relatively low amounts of repetitive and non-coding DNA, this view has dramatically changed in recent years. The increase of available complete bacterial genomes has revealed that many species present abundant repetitive DNA (i.e., insertion sequences, prophages or paralogous genes) and that many of these sequences are not functional but can have evolutionary consequences as concerns the adaptation to specialized host-related ecological niches. Comparative genomics analyses with close relatives that live in non-specialized environments reveal the nature and fate of this bacterial junk DNA. In addition, the number of insertion sequences and pseudogenes, as well as the size of the intergenic regions, can be used as markers of the evolutionary stage of a genome. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT The first phytochemical inspection of the Marquesan endemic plant Rauvolfia nukuhivensis led to the isolation and structure characterization of two new indolo[2,3‑a]quinolizinium derivatives named nukuhivensium (1) and N12-methyl-nukuhivensium (2). They feature an aromatic indolo[2,3-a]quinolizinium core, substituted at C-2 by a n-propyl group, which is unusual in this family of alkaloid derivatives. The structure elucidation was performed on the basis of NMR spectroscopy and especially by interpretation of 2D HMBC correlations. A biosynthetic pathway is proposed on the basis of known enzymatic transformations for this family of natural products. These compounds exhibited low antimicrobial activities. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT More than 40% of the World population is at risk of contracting malaria, which affects primarily poor populations in tropical and subtropical areas. Antimalarial pharmacotherapy has utilised plant-derived products such as quinine and artemisinin as well as their derivatives. However, worldwide use of these antimalarials has caused the spread of resistant parasites, resulting in increased malaria morbidity and mortality. Considering that the literature has demonstrated the antimalarial potential of triterpenes, specially betulinic acid (1) and ursolic acid (2), this study investigated the antimalarial activity against P. falciparum chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 strain of some new derivatives of 1 and 2 with modifications at C-3 and C-28. The antiplasmodial study employed flow cytometry and spectrofluorimetric analyses using YOYO-1, dihydroethidium and Fluo4/AM for staining. Among the six analogues obtained, compounds 1c and 2c showed excellent activity (IC50 = 220 and 175 nM, respectively) while 1a and b demonstrated good activity (IC50 = 4 and 5 μM, respectively). After cytotoxicity evaluation against HEK293T cells, 1a was not toxic, while 1c and 2c showed IC50 of 4 μM and a selectivity index (SI) value of 18 and 23, respectively. Moreover, compound 2c, which presents the best antiplasmodial activity, is involved in the calcium-regulated pathway(s). |
| Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 11990-12002: In Vitro and in Vivo Metabolism of Verproside in Rats Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Verproside, a catalpol derivative iridoid glycoside isolated from Pseudolysimachion rotundum var. subintegrum, is a biologically active compound with anti-inflammatory, antinociceptic, antioxidant, and anti-asthmatic properties. Twenty-one metabolites were identified in bile and urine samples obtained after intravenous administration of verproside in rats using liquid chromatography-quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Verproside was metabolized by O-methylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and hydrolysis to verproside glucuronides (M1 and M2), verproside sulfates (M3 and M4), picroside II (M5), M5 glucuronide (M7), M5 sulfate (M9), isovanilloylcatalpol (M6), M6 glucuronide (M8), M6 sulfate (M10), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (M11), M11 glucuronide (M12), M11 sulfates (M13 and M14), 3-methyoxy-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (M15), M15 glucuronides (M17 and M18), M15 sulfate (M20), 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoic acid (M16), M16 glucuronide (M19), and M16 sulfate (M21). Incubation of verproside with rat hepatocytes resulted in thirteen metabolites (M1–M11, M13, and M14). Verproside sulfate, M4 was a major metabolite in rat hepatocytes. After intravenous administration of verproside, the drug was recovered in bile (0.77% of dose) and urine (4.48% of dose), and O-methylation of verproside to picroside II (M5) and isovanilloylcatalpol (M6) followed by glucuronidation and sulfation was identified as major metabolic pathways compared to glucuronidation and sulfation of verproside in rats. |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Forza Horizon's untethered love for the open road makes it a terrific spinoff to this racing franchise.
Score: 8.5 / great Get the full article at GameSpot "Forza Horizon Review" was posted by Shaun McInnis on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:00:30 -0700 |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT Shaun McInnis put the pedal to the metal on this video review for Forza Horizon.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot "Video Review - Forza Horizon" was posted by JimM on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:00:25 -0700 |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Games To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий