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•Amount of H2O2 generated from urushiol increased under basic pH conditions.•Curing time of Urushi increased following addition of H2O2 or NaOH.•Urushi could be enzymatically cured ...under basic conditions by addition of peroxidase.•A mechanism for Urushi curing by addition of base and peroxidase was proposed.
Urushi (Oriental lacquer) is an environmentally friendly material obtained from the sap of lacquer trees. Under natural pH conditions (acidic–near neutral) Urushi curing is achieved by polymerization of the phenolic compound urushiol, a main component of Urushi. Curing is initiated by urushiol oxidation catalyzed by a specific laccase (UL) contained in the Urushi. However, Urushi cannot be cured by this enzyme under the strong basic pH conditions resulting from the addition of alkaline compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate why Urushi is not cured under strong basic pH conditions and find a way to solve this problem. H2O2 was generated in a mixture of urushiol and water, particularly in conditions of basic pH, that H2O2 inhibited UL activity, and that addition of H2O2 or NaOH substantially increased the curing time of Urushi. Addition of horseradish peroxidase (HRP), an enzyme catalyzing H2O2 decomposition, causes Urushi to be cured even in the strong basic conditions obtained following addition of NaOH. HRP’s main role in this system was inferred to be to prevent UL inhibition by H2O2. This achievement is expected to foster new uses of Urushi in the presence of basic compounds.
Mucormycosis is a fungal infection caused by fungi of order mucorales. It is most commonly seen in patients with an impaired immune system due to any cause. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis is the least ...frequent type and may be a primary disease or a feature of generalized mucormycosis. Angioinvasion is the hallmark feature of mucormycosis, leading to bowel infarction which is the responsible for the most common clinical complaint of pain, and is also responsible for most of the imaging findings in this disease. The stomach is most commonly involved organ in the gastrointestinal tract and pneumatosis and lack of gastric wall enhancement are the most common imaging findings. Areas of bowel wall thickening and/ or lack of enhancement are seen in small bowel mucor and perforation can occur due to ischemia. Colonic mucor can present with mural thickening, or complete lack of definition or ‘disappearance’ of bowel wall with associated air containing collections. Mucormycosis affecting the bowel has a high mortality rate and early recognition and intervention may improve patient outcomes significantly. It should be suspected in immunosuppressed patients with imaging findings of unexplained bowel ischemia, infarction and/or pneumatosis without any obvious visible vascular thrombus.
•Women struggle with access to information at the right time and in the right format.•Clinicians play a key role in facilitating access to information for patients.•Women with breast cancer want to ...learn more from others’ experiences.•Too often, women face situations where they didn’t know what they should have known.
To explore how women describe efforts to seek, appraise and interpret information during the diagnostic phase of her breast cancer care.
Qualitative interviews with 35 women with breast cancer across Canada, using audio/video recording. Thematic analysis was used to identify topics important to participants (original results published: www.healthexperiences.ca). Secondary analysis of transcripts to identify how women described information flow, content, and management strategies.
Women adopt different strategies to optimize access to information, while acknowledging the negative effects of information overload and lack of relevant information. They propose small steps towards gathering and managing information, and to focus initially on understanding their illness.
Different strategies can help to ensure that women have the right information, in the right format, at the right time. Some of these strategies include developing guidance on how to ‘handle’ information, helping healthcare professionals identify patient’s information preferences, improving the availability, quality and access to experiential information, and facilitating acces to electronic information that can tailor information. Further research to understand how women handle information can inform strategies to help newly-diagnosed patients navigate available information.
Healthcare professionals can work in partnership with patients to tailor reliable information to support informed decision-making.
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), astrocytes are considered key players in some non-cell non-neuronal autonomous mechanisms that underlie motor neuron death. However, it is unknown how much of ...these deleterious features were permanently acquired. To assess this point, we evaluated if the most remarkable features of neurotoxic aberrant glial phenotypes (AbAs) isolated from paralytic rats of the ALS model G93A Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) could remain upon long lasting cultivation. Real time PCR, immunolabelling and zymography analysis showed that upon many passages, AbAs preserved the cell proliferation capacity, mitochondrial function and response to different compounds that inhibit some key astrocyte functions but decreased the expression of parameters associated to cell lineage, homeostasis and inflammation. As these results are contrary to the sustained inflammatory status observed along disease progression in SOD1G93A rats, we propose that the most AbAs remarkable features related to homeostasis and neurotoxicity were not permanently acquired and might depend on the signaling coming from the injuring microenvironment present in the degenerating spinal cord of terminal rats.
Eating disorders (EDs) are severe psychiatric conditions characterised by malnutrition, dysfunctional behaviours, and hypovitaminosis D. In various psychiatric conditions, including EDs, preliminary ...evidence has correlated impulsivity to a low level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D. This study aims to reinforce this evidence by examining different facets, both behavioural and psychological, of the impulsivity construct in patients with ED.
A sample of 119 women was evaluated with a validated questionnaire and computerised neuropsychological tasks: the UPPS-P impulsive behaviour scale, a go/no-go task, and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). A clinical evaluation for EDs and blood sample collection were also performed to assess specific psychopathology and determine the serum level of 25(OH)D.
Significant correlations were found between serum levels of 25(OH)D and BART scores (
= 0.012) and lack of perseverance (
= 0.034). Moreover, regression analyses showed that higher BART scores may be explained by hypovitaminosis D and higher levels of lack of perseverance in patients with EDs.
The specific aspect of impulsivity linked to goal strategy and behaviours may be explained in patients with EDs by hypovitaminosis D. A possible connection to the brain inflammatory system is also discussed, along with possible directions for future research.
•The overlap welded joint of 18Cr-9Ni austenitic stainless steel with leakage was analysed.•δ-ferrite correct phase composition.•No hot crack or microcracks in the weld.•Macroscopic examination ...revealed lack of fusion.•Weld shrinkage leads to displacement of the tubes relative to each other.
Stainless steel X2CrNi18-9 (304L) radiators were analysed. During detailed examination we proved that tube overlap fillet joint was welded incorrectly and had leaks. Wrong designed jig, incorrect robot movements and non-central tubes position let mounted parts move during welding operation. Shrinkage of the weld caused the tubes to move relative to each other with the formation of a larger gap on one side. Lack of correction of the robot arm movement and fixed stick-out created inadequate fusion into the tube with a smaller cross-section.
Identification of non-compliance based on standard NDT methods such as visual inspection, liquid or dye penetrant inspection or X-ray was not possible. Also, destructive methods such as high-pressure water test was not be able to show this type of defect.
Only innovative HLT helium leak testing method was able to show non-compliance of the joint. Helium is the ideal element to detect micro cracks in weld as it is an insert gas made up to tiny atoms and has low viscosity, so little atoms can travel fast. This method has a very big potential in the welding industry as a precise and fast NDT test on highest quality requirements.
An untargeted strategy aiming at identifying non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) migrating from coatings was developed. This innovative approach was applied to two polyester-polyurethane ...lacquers, for which suppliers previously provided the identity of the monomers involved. Lacquers were extracted with acetonitrile and analyzed by liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Data, acquired in the full scan mode, were processed using an open-source R-environment (
xcms
and
CAMERA
packages) to list the detected features and deconvolute them in groups related to individual compounds. The most intense groups, accounting for more than 85% of cumulated feature intensities, were then investigated. A homemade database, populated with predicted polyester oligomer combinations from a relevant selection of diols and diacids, enabled highlighting the presence of 14 and 17 cyclic predicted polyester oligomers in the two lacquers, including three mutual combinations explained by common known monomers. Combination hypotheses were strengthened by chromatographic considerations and by the investigation of fragmentation patterns. Regarding unpredicted migrating substances, four monomers were hypothesised to explain several polyester or caprolactam oligomer series. Finally, considering both predicted and tentatively elucidated unpredicted oligomers, it was possible to assign hypotheses to features representing up to 82% and 90% of the cumulated intensities in the two lacquers, plus 9% and 3% (respectively) originating from the procedural blank.
Graphical abstract
Elucidation of non-intentionally added substances
Previous research has provided evidence for a relationship between illusory pattern perception and irrational beliefs. A common assumption is illusory pattern perception increases with an increasing ...feeling of lack of control. Delusion-like experiences include some of the behaviors related to irrational beliefs. Since no direct association between DLE and illusory pattern perception has been established, in this study we investigated the relationship between delusion-like experiences and illusory pattern perception for images with visual noise in a condition in which the participants were manipulated to lack control while controlling for another assumption which is jumping to conclusions bias on a bead task is predicted by delusion-like experiences. Results showed participants with delusion-like experiences produced more illusory pattern perception and false positive recognition for visually ambiguous stimuli. Participants who were manipulated to lack control produced more false positive recognition than the control group. A high level of delusion-like experiences predisposes vulnerability for increasing pattern seeking behavior under lack of control manipulation.
Pairing-friendly curves with the lack of twists, such as BW13-P310 and BW19-P286, have been receiving attention in pairing-based cryptographic protocols as they provide fast operation in the first ...pairing subgroup G1 at the 128-bit security level. However, they also incur a performance penalty for hashing to G2 simultaneously since G2 is totally defined over a full extension field. Furthermore, the previous methods for hashing to G2 focus on pairing-friendly curves admitting a twist, which can not be employed for our selected curves.
In this paper, we propose a general method for hashing to G2 on curves with the lack of twists. More importantly, we further optimize the general algorithm on curves with non-trivial automorphisms, which is certainly suitable for BW13-P310 and BW19-P286. Theoretical estimations show that the latter would be more efficient than the former. For comparing the performance of the two proposed algorithms in detail, high speed software implementation over BW13-P310 is also provided on a 64-bit processor. Experimental results show that the general algorithm can be sped up by up to 88% if the computational cost of cofactor multiplication for G2 is only considered, while the improved method is up to 71% faster than the general one for the whole process.
Die vorliegende Arbeit verteidigt die von Richard Foley entwickelte Wissenstheorie, der zufolge propositionales Wissen nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger als adäquate Information ist. Wissen ist ...eine Funktion der Güte von Informationszuständen. Glaubt ein Subjekt wahrerweise, dass p, ohne zu wissen, dass p, so fehlt dem Subjekt mindestens eine wichtige Information im Umfeld der Zielüberzeugung. Die Adäquatheitstheorie ist eine minimalistische und pragmatische Wissenstheorie. Sie ist minimalistisch, weil es über wahre Überzeugung hinausgehend keiner weiteren epistemischen Schlüsseleigenschaft bedarf. Sie ist pragmatisch, weil Adäquatheit epistemische Signifikanz voraussetzt. Klassische Zusatzbedingungen für Wissen, beispielsweise Rechtfertigung oder verlässliche Meinungsbildung, sind lediglich Begleitphänomene.
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