Lipoic acid is an essential prosthetic group of four mitochondrial enzymes involved in the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate, α-ketoglutarate, and branched chain amino acids and in the glycine ...cleavage. Lipoic acid is synthesized stepwise within mitochondria through a process that includes lipoic acid synthetase. We identified the homozygous mutation c.746G>A (p.Arg249His) in LIAS in an individual with neonatal-onset epilepsy, muscular hypotonia, lactic acidosis, and elevated glycine concentration in plasma and urine. Investigation of the mitochondrial energy metabolism showed reduced oxidation of pyruvate and decreased pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activity. A pronounced reduction of the prosthetic group lipoamide was found in lipoylated proteins.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health concern, especially the extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing (ESBL) Escherichia coli bacteria are emerging as a global human health hazard. ...This study characterized extended-spectrum β-lactamase Escherichia coli (ESBL-E. coli) isolates from farm sources and open markets in Edo State, Nigeria. A total of 254 samples were obtained in Edo State and included representatives from agricultural farms (soil, manure, irrigation water) and vegetables from open markets, which included ready-to-eat (RTE) salads and vegetables which could potentially be consumed uncooked. Samples were culturally tested for the ESBL phenotype using ESBL selective media, and isolates were further identified and characterized via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for β-lactamase and other antibiotic resistance determinants. ESBL E. coli strains isolated from agricultural farms included 68% (17/25) from the soil, 84% (21/25) from manure and 28% (7/25) from irrigation water and 24.4% (19/78) from vegetables. ESBL E. coli were also isolated from RTE salads at 20% (12/60) and vegetables obtained from vendors and open markets at 36.6% (15/41). A total of 64 E. coli isolates were identified using PCR. Upon further characterization, 85.9% (55/64) of the isolates were resistant to ≥ 3 and ≤ 7 antimicrobial classes, which allows for characterizing these as being multidrug-resistant. The MDR isolates from this study harboured ≥1 and ≤5 AMR determinants. The MDR isolates also harboured ≥1 and ≤3 beta-lactamase genes. Findings from this study showed that fresh vegetables and salads could be contaminated with ESBL-E. coli, particularly fresh produce from farms that use untreated water for irrigation. Appropriate measures, including improving irrigation water quality and agricultural practices, need to be implemented, and global regulatory guiding principles are crucial to ensure public health and consumer safety.
During its lifetime, a space-borne ocean color sensor provides world-wide information about important biogeochemical properties of the upper ocean every 2 to 4 days in cloudless regions. Merging ...simultaneous or complementary data from such sensors to obtain better spatial and temporal coverage is a recurring objective, but it can only be reached if the consistency of the sensor-specific products, as delivered by the various Space Agencies, has first been carefully examined. The goal of the present study is to provide a procedure for establishing a coherency of open ocean (Case-1 waters) data products, for which the various data processing methods are sufficiently similar. The development of the procedure includes a detailed comparison of the marine algorithms used (after atmospheric corrections) by space agencies for the production of standard products, such as the chlorophyll concentration, Chl, and the diffuse attenuation coefficient,
K
d. The MODIS-Aqua, SeaWiFS and MERIS Chl products agree over a wide range, between ∼
0.1 and 3 mg m
−
3
, whereas increasing divergences occur for oligotrophic waters (Chl (from 0.02 to 0.09 mg m
−
3
). For the
K
d(490) coefficient, different algorithms are in use, with differing results. Based on a semi-analytical reflectance model and hyperspectral approach, the present work proposes a harmonization of the algorithms allowing the products of the various sensors to be comparable, and ultimately, meaningfully merged (the merging procedures themselves are not examined). Additional potential products, obtained by using Chl as an intermediate tool, are also examined and proposed. These products include the thickness of the layer heated by the sun, the depth of the euphotic zone, and the Secchi disk depth. The physical limitations in the predictive skill of such downward extrapolations, made from information concerning only the upper layer, are stressed.
Unsupervised feature learning refers to the problem of learning useful feature extraction functions from unlabeled data. Despite the great success of deep learning networks in this task in recent ...years, both for static and for sequential data, these systems can in general still not compete with the high performance of our brain at learning to extract useful representations from its sensory input. We propose the Neocortex-Inspired Locally Recurrent Neural Network: a new neural network for unsupervised feature learning in sequential data that brings ideas from the structure and function of the neocortex to the well-established fields of machine learning and neural networks. By mimicking connection patterns in the feedforward circuits of the neocortex, our system tries to generalize some of the ideas behind the success of convolutional neural networks to types of data other than images. To evaluate the performance of our system at extracting useful features, we have trained different classifiers using those and other learnt features as input and we have compared the obtained accuracies. Our system has shown to outperform other shallow feature learning systems in this task, both in terms of the accuracies achieved and in terms of how fast the classification task is learnt. The results obtained confirm our system as a state-of-the-art shallow feature learning system for sequential data, and suggest that extending it to or integrating it into deep architectures may lead to new successful networks that are competent at dealing with complex sequential tasks.
A diamond Schottky p-i-n diode (SPIND) with the highest reported current density to date of ~116 kA/cm 2 is demonstrated, carrying a total current of ~1.32 A through a <inline-formula> <tex-math ...notation="LaTeX">50-\mu \text {m} </tex-math></inline-formula> wide pseudo-vertical diode structure. The diamond SPIND also provides a maximum power handling capacity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{1.85}~ \text {MW/c}\text {m}^{{2}} </tex-math></inline-formula> and a low specific ON-resistance <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{R}_{ \mathrm{ON}}S </tex-math></inline-formula> of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{0.05}~ \text {m}\Omega \cdot \text {cm}^{{{2}}} </tex-math></inline-formula> at a forward bias of ~16 V. The diamond Schottky p-i-n (SPIN) diode also shows excellent rectification characteristics with a current ON- OFF-ratio of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\sim {6} \times {10}^{{12}} </tex-math></inline-formula>. An analytical model including thermionic emission and space charge limited (SCL) current is presented together with Silvaco ATLAS Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) simulations to accurately reproduce the experimental <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{J} </tex-math></inline-formula>-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{V} </tex-math></inline-formula> characteristics using multiple single-trap levels and other physical models emulating a real device. Theoretical calculations from the analytical model show that further improvement in the device turn on voltage and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{R}_{ \mathrm{ON}}{S} </tex-math></inline-formula> can be achieved by reducing the defect density and contact resistance in order to approach the ultimate performance in the Mott-Gurney SCL current regime.
The ocular skeleton is composed of the scleral cartilage and the scleral ossicles. Teleost scleral cartilage is composed of a single layer of chondrocytes embedded in the sclera of the eye. The ...teleost scleral cartilage ring can vary in depth across teleost families and species, from a narrow ring a few cells wide to a deeper ring that resembles a cup and surrounds the entire sclera. However, very little research has been conducted on the development and morphology of teleost scleral cartilage. Thus, this study aims to characterize the development of the scleral cartilage in the zebrafish and Mexican tetra, with respect to the timing of emergence, depth throughout development, and positioning within the eye. We hypothesized that the scleral cartilage would first emerge in the scleral tissue closely abutting the ora serrata, and that growth would proceed in an anterior‐to‐posterior direction, resulting in differences in scleral cartilage depth between different fish species. We found that the scleral cartilage ring does not develop uniformly along its circumference, and that its relationship to the ora serrata varies between the rostral and caudal regions. Furthermore, distinct differences in the growth trajectory of the scleral cartilage indicate that the deep scleral cartilage of the Pachón cavefish is the result of both decreased eye size and prolonged cartilage growth. A significant difference in the size of the scleral chondrocytes was also noted. Overall, this study provides the first characterization of early scleral cartilage development in teleost fish and indicates that some aspects of scleral cartilage development and morphology are highly conserved while others are not.
First appearance of the scleral cartilage, growth rate and chondrocyte size varies in the teleost species examined in this study.
Background
The eyes of some birds of prey (Strigiformes and some eagles) are tubular in shape, which contrasts strongly with those in others, which are more globose (e.g., Galliformes) or flat (most ...diurnal birds). Regardless, all birds have an ocular skeleton composed of a ring of ossicles (annulus ossicularis sclerae) and a cartilage cup within the sclera.
Results
We show that the tubular eye of the barn owl, Tyto furcata, grows substantially in length to achieve its long axial length several weeks after hatching, well after the period when the visual input adjusts the optical system and when the scleral ossicles mineralize. This is in contrast to the chicken. The conjunctival papillae are morphologically different in each species, however, they are present for about 3 days in both birds before they degenerate.
Conclusions
Our data shows a heterochronic shift in the timing of scleral cartilage development and ossicle mineralization (but not induction) to later in development compared to in the chicken. These shifts likely relate to the altricial vs precocial nature of these birds and suggests that the scleral ossicles are likely functionally important bones for vision in owls and possibly other altricial species.
Key Findings
Scleral cartilage development in the barn owl is later than in the chicken embryo.
Mineralisation of the scleral ossicles is delayed to after hatching in the barn owl unlike the chicken embryo.
Scleral ossicle induction is not delayed.
The scleral ossicles are likely functionally important for vision.
With increasing demands for ocean color (OC) products with improved accuracy and well characterized, per-retrieval uncertainty budgets, it is vital to decompose overall estimated errors into their ...primary components. Amongst various contributing elements (e.g., instrument calibration, atmospheric correction, inversion algorithms) in the uncertainty of an OC observation, less attention has been paid to uncertainties associated with spatial sampling. In this paper, we simulate MODIS (aboard both Aqua and Terra) and VIIRS OC products using 30m resolution OC products derived from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) aboard Landsat-8, to examine impacts of spatial sampling on both cross-sensor product intercomparisons and in-situ validations of Rrs products in coastal waters. Various OLI OC products representing different productivity levels and in-water spatial features were scanned for one full orbital-repeat cycle of each ocean color satellite. While some view-angle dependent differences in simulated Aqua-MODIS and VIIRS were observed, the average uncertainties (absolute) in product intercomparisons (due to differences in spatial sampling) at regional scales are found to be 1.8%, 1.9%, 2.4%, 4.3%, 2.7%, 1.8%, and 4% for the Rrs(443), Rrs(482), Rrs(561), Rrs(655), Chla, Kd(482), and bbp(655) products, respectively. It is also found that, depending on in-water spatial variability and the sensor's footprint size, the errors for an in-situ validation station in coastal areas can reach as high as ±18%. We conclude that a) expected biases induced by the spatial sampling in product intercomparisons are mitigated when products are averaged over at least 7km×7km areas, b) VIIRS observations, with improved consistency in cross-track spatial sampling, yield more precise calibration/validation statistics than that of MODIS, and c) use of a single pixel centered on in-situ coastal stations provides an optimal sampling size for validation efforts. These findings will have implications for enhancing our understanding of uncertainties in ocean color retrievals and for planning of future ocean color missions and the associated calibration/validation exercises.
•Simulation of uncertainties in ocean color products using Landsat-derived products•7×7 averaging filters reduce effects of sampling in product intercomparisons.•The biases due to spatial mismatch can reach as large as ±18%.•Improvements in spatial sampling size reduces uncertainties in validation efforts.
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