bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular detection of DHFR gene polymorphisms in Pneumocystis jirovecii isolates from Indian patients
Authors: Singh Yogita , Mirdha Bijay Ranjan , Guleria Randeep , Khalil Shehla , Panda Ashutosh , Chaudhry Rama , Mohan Anant , Kabra Sushil Kumar , Kumar Lalit , Agarwal Sanjay Kumar
Published: November 2015

Introduction: Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is an opportunistic life-threatening infection, especially for immunocompromised individuals. A trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) combination is commonly used for the treatment of PCP, targeting both dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) enzymes. Several studies have already shown that polymorphisms in the DHPS gene are associated with drug resistance. The present study analyzed DHFR gene polymorphisms in Pneumocystis jirovecii recovered from clinical samples from patients admitted to a tertiary care health center in New Delhi, India. Methodology: Detection of P. jirovecii was performed using Gomori methenamine silver staining (GMS) and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting the mitochondrial large subunit ribosomal RNA (mt LSU rRNA) gene. The DHFR gene was amplified using nested PCR protocol and was sequenced for detection of polymorphisms. Results: Of 180 clinical samples, only 4% (7/180) were positive by GMS staining, and 10% (18/180) were positive by mt LSU rRNA PCR assay. Of these 18 positive samples, only 77% (14/18) were amplified by the DHFR gene PCR assay. A total of 16 nucleotide substitutions were observed in 42% (6/14) samples targeted for the DHFR gene, of which 8 nucleotide substitutions were synonymous and the rest were non-synonymous. Conclusions: The DHFR gene mutations found in this study may possibly indicate an association of process likely to contribute to therapeutic failure or an evolutionary process, and warrant continuous monitoring.
Monoclonal antibodies for characterization of rabies virus isolated from non-hematophagous bats in Brazil
Authors: Chaves Luciana Botelho , Achkar Samira Maria , Silva Andréa de Cássia Rodrigues da , Caporale Graciane Maria Medeiros , Cruz Paula Sônia , Batista Alexandre Mendes , Scheffer Karin Corrêa , Fernades Irene , Carrieri Maria Luiza , De Gaspari Elizabeth N
Published: November 2015

Introduction: In Brazil, various isolates of rabies virus (RABV) show antigenic profiles distinct from those established by the reduced panel of eight monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), utilized for the antigenic characterization of RABV in the Americas. The objective of this study was to produce MAbs from RABV isolates from insectivorous bats with an antigenic profile incompatible with the pre-established one. Methodology: An isolate of RABV from the species Eptesicus furinalis that showed an antigenic profile incompatible with the panel utilized was selected. Hybridomas were produced utilizing the popliteal lymph nodes of mice immunized with ribonucleoproteins purified from the isolate. Results: Two MAbs-producing clones were obtained, BR/IP1-3A7 and BR/IP2-4E10. Fifty-seven isolates of RABV from different species of animals and different regions of Brazil were analyzed utilizing the MAbs obtained. In the analysis of 23 RABV isolates from non-hematophagous bats, the MAbs cross-reacted with ten isolates, of which four were of the species Nyctinomops laticaudatus, one of the species Eptesicus furinalis, and five of the genus Artibeus. Of the nine isolates of non-hematophagous isolates that displayed an incompatible profile analyzed, characteristic of insectivorous bats, BR/IP1-3A7 reacted with five (55.55%) and BR/IP2-4E10 with four (44.44%). Conclusions: The MAbs obtained were able to recognize epitopes common between the three genera, Artibeus, Eptesicus, and Nyctinomops, thereby allowing the antigenic characterization of RABV isolates in Brazil.
Probiotic effect on calves infected with Salmonella Dublin: haematological parameters and serum biochemical profile
Authors: Soto L.P. , Astesana D.M. , Zbrun M.V. , Blajman J.E. , Salvetti N.R. , Berisvil A.P. , Rosmini M.R. , Signorini M.L. , Frizzo L.S.
Published: November 2015

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a probiotic/lactose inoculum on haematological and immunological parameters and renal and hepatic biochemical profiles before and during a Salmonella Dublin DSPV 595T challenge in young calves. Twenty eight calves, divided into a control and probiotic group were used. The probiotic group was supplemented with 100 g lactose/calf/d and 1010 cfu/calf/d of each strain of a probiotic inoculum composed of Lactobacillus casei DSPV318T, Lactobacillus salivarius DSPV315T and Pediococcus acidilactici DSPV006T throughout the experiment. The pathogen was administered on day 11 of the experiment, at an oral dose of 109 cfu/animal (LD50). Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), urea, red blood cells, haemoglobin, haematocrit, mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils, band neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils and the neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio were measured on days 1, 10, 20 and 27 of the experiment. In addition, animals were necropsied to evaluate immunoglobulin A (IgA) production in the jejunal mucosa. The most significant differences caused by the administration of the inoculum/lactose were found during the acute phase of Salmonella challenge (9 days after challenge), when a difference between groups in neutrophils/lymphocytes ratio were detected. These results suggest that the probiotic/lactose inoculum administration increases the calf’s ability to respond to the disease increasing the systemic immune response specific. No differences were found in haemoglobin, haematocrit, MCH, MCHC, AST, urea, GGT, band neutrophils, eosinophils, monocytes and IgA in the jejunum between the two groups of calves under the experimental conditions of this study. Further studies must be conducted to evaluate different probiotic/pathogens doses and different sampling times, to achieve a greater understanding of the effects of this inoculum on intestinal infections in young calves and of its mechanism of action.
Enhancement of bifidobacteria survival by Williopsis saturnus var. saturnus in milk
Authors: Yeo A.Y.Y. , Toh M.Z. , Liu S.Q.
Published: November 2015

The viability of three strains of probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis that were inoculated into UHT milk was examined with and without the presence of the yeast, Williopsis saturnus var. saturnus NCYC 22, in polypropylene tubes at 30 °C. The B. lactis viable cell count for strains HN019 and BB-12 remained above 6.0 Log cfu/ml, while strain B94 had 5.7 Log cfu/ml after six weeks of incubation in the presence of the co-inoculated yeast. Incubating the bifidus milk without added yeast under anaerobic condition did not improve the survival of B. lactis HN019, indicating that oxygen removal may not be responsible for W. saturnus NCYC 22’s viability enhancing property. The addition of yeast supernatant or non-viable yeast also did not show any stabilising effects, suggesting that physical contact and/or interaction between viable W. saturnus and B. lactis plays an important role in sustaining the viability of the probiotic. W. saturnus NCYC 22 could increase the survival of B. lactis in bifidus milk under ambient temperature regardless of the initial concentration of yeast cells inoculated due to yeast growth. This study demonstrated the viability enhancing effect of viable W. saturnus NCYC 22 on B. lactis HN019, which could help towards extending the shelf-life of dairy beverages containing probiotic bifidobacteria.
Impulse Noise Filtering
Authors: Chandra Abhijit , Maity Srideep
Published: November 2015

Digital images are often corrupted by various types of noises amongst which impulse noise is most prevalent. Impulse noise appears during transmission and/or acquisition of images. Intrusion of impulse noise degrades the quality of the image and causes the loss of fine image details. Reducing the effect of impulse noise from corrupted images is therefore considered as an essential task to be performed before letting the image for further processing. However, the process of noise reduction from an image should also take proper care towards the preservation of edges and fine details of an image. A number of efficient noise reduction algorithms have already been proposed in the literature over the last few decades which have nurtured this issue with utmost importance. Design and development of new two dimensional (2D) filters has grown sufficient interest amongst the researchers. This chapter attempts to throw enough light on the advancement in this field by illustratively describing existing state-of-the-art filtering techniques along with their capability of denoising impulse noises.
Anomaly Detection in Hyperspectral Imagery
Authors: Ettabaa Karim Saheb , Ben Salem Manel
Published: November 2015

In this chapter we are presenting the literature and proposed approaches for anomaly detection in hyperspectral images. These approaches are grouped into four categories based on the underlying techniques used to achieve the detection: 1) the statistical based methods, 2) the kernel based methods, 3) the feature selection based methods and 4) the segmentation based methods. Since the first approaches are mostly based on statistics, the recent works tend to be more geometrical or topological especially with high resolution images where the high resolution implies the presence of many materials in the same geographic area that cannot be easily distinguished by usual statistical methods.
Face Recognition in Unconstrained Environment
Authors: Kumar Santosh , Pandey Ramesh Chand , Tiwari Shrikant , Singh Sanjay Kumar
Published: November 2015

Research emphasizes in face recognition has shifted towards recognition of human from both still images and videos which are captured in unconstrained imaging environments and without user cooperation. Due to confounding factors of pose, illumination, image quality, and expression, as well as occlusion and low resolution, current face recognition systems deployed in forensic and security applications operate in a semi-automatic manner. This book chapter presents a comprehensive review of face recognition approaches in unconstrained environment. The objective of this book chapter is to address issues, challenges and recent advancement in face recognition algorithms which may help novel researchers to do innovative research in unconstrained environment. Finally, this chapter provides the stepping stone for future research to unveil how biometrics approaches can be deployed in unconstrained face recognition systems.
Intelligence-Based Adaptive Digital Watermarking for Images in Wavelet Transform Domain
Authors: Santhi V. , Acharjya D. P.
Published: November 2015

Advances in technologies facilitate the end users to carry out unauthorized manipulation and duplication of multimedia data with less effort. Because of these advancements, the two most commonly encountered problems are (1) copyright protection and (2) unauthorized manipulation of multimedia data. Thus a scheme is required to protect multimedia data from those two above said problems. Digital Watermarking is considered as one of the security mechanisms to protect copyrights of multimedia data. The literature review reveals that the calculation of scaling and embedding parameters are not completely automated. In order to automate the procedure of calculating scaling and embedding parameters the computational intelligence need to be incorporated in the watermarking algorithm. Moreover the quality of the watermarked images could also be preserved by combining computational intelligence concepts. Thus watermarking schemes utilizing computational intelligence concepts could be called as intelligence based watermarking schemes and it is presented in this chapter in detail.
Feature Extraction Techniques
Authors: Elnemr Heba Ahmed , Zayed Nourhan Mohamed , Fakhreldein Mahmoud Abdelmoneim
Published: November 2015

The feature extraction is the process to represent raw image in a reduced form to facilitate decision making such as pattern detection, classification or recognition. Finding and extracting reliable and discriminative features is always a crucial step to complete the task of image recognition and computer vision. Furthermore, as the number of application demands increase, an extended study and investigation in the feature extraction field becomes very important. The goal of this chapter is to present an intensive survey of existing literatures on feature extraction techniques over the last years. All these techniques and algorithms have their advantages and limitations. Thus, in this chapter analysis of various techniques and transformations, submitted earlier in literature, for extracting various features from images will be discussed. Additionally, future research directions in the feature extraction area are provided.
Improved Lymphocyte Image Segmentation Using Near Sets for ALL Detection
Authors: Chhawchharia Shiwangi , Mohapatra Subrajeet , Sahoo Gadadhar
Published: November 2015

Light microscopic examination of peripheral blood smear is considered vital for diagnosis of various hematological disorders. The objective of this paper is to develop a fast, robust and simple framework for blood microscopic image segmentation which can assist in automated detection of hematological diseases i.e. acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A near set based clustering approach is followed for color based segmentation of lymphocyte blood image. Here, a novel distance measure using near sets has been introduced. This improved nearness distance measure has been used in a clustering framework for achieving accurate lymphocyte image segmentation. The nearness measure determines the degree to which two pixels resemble each other based on a defined probe function. It is essential as image segmentation is considered here as a colour based pixel clustering problem. Lymphocyte image segmentation algorithm developed here labels each pixel into nucleus, cytoplasm or background region based on the nearness measure.
Harvard Style
Authors: Retna Kala S
Published: November 2015

Over the years, there has been an increased interest among educators and researchers that today's students need new skills to excel in the highly globalised world. This resulted in looking for new pedagogies to prepare students for academic and professional life. This research builds on Gardner's (2006) framework of disciplined, synthesising, creating, respectful and ethical mindsets, which would develop capacities and skills required for the future. Qualitative research, using in-depth interviews was conducted in a New Zealand university to understand how students from two disciplines react to the five mindsets. The findings suggest that though there were some similarities and differences in perceptions by the students, the ethical mindset was strongly demonstrated by all respondents. Implications for educators and future research are discussed in this chapter.
Teaching Amidst Unexpected Unknowns
Authors: Sinha Sachin , Sinha Deepti
Published: November 2015

Globalisation, technology, migration, competition, changing markets and transnational environmental and political challenges have added a new urgency to develop the skills and knowledge needed in the 21st century. Educators, governments, foundations, employers and researchers refer to these abilities as ‘higher-order thinking skills' ‘deeper learning outcomes' and ‘complex thinking and communication skills'. We need to understand how students today are different from those of yesteryears. Although everyone believes that the knowledge and skills that students need today are different from what they needed yesterday, terminology differs from country to country, as does the composition of knowledge, skills and values. This chapter is broadly divided into four sections. The main objectives of the narrative are to understand the growth and evolution of teaching, to develop an understanding of the differences between the teaching of the East and that of the West, to explore teaching as an art and a skill and finally to prepare ourselves for the burgeoning demands of digital-age teaching.
Effective Change in Educational Institutions
Authors: Theodotou Evgenia , Papastathopoulos Avraam , Koutsouvelis Panagiotis
Published: November 2015

This chapter discusses the theoretical framework of management and leadership of change, focusing on the construct of power in educational institutions. Managers and leaders in educational institutions can adopt different models to apply change in the existing organisational procedures. According to the model they follow, they use their power differently. This chapter argues that the manner managers and leaders utilise their power strongly influences effective organisational change and their role in the organisation. Relevant managerial and leadership models of change are analysed in relation to different forms of power, with regard to the theoretical and research literature. The argument is further illuminated with a change event in a school in Greece in order to create a link between theory and everyday practice.
Failure to Launch
Authors: Sarosa Samiaji , Tatnall Arthur
Published: November 2015

One of the main causes of delayed and failed information systems project development is scope creep. The increasing number of features demanded by stakeholders to be built into the applications within a fixed time limit is a recipe for failure. This article looks into the process of a web application development failure, where scope creep was deemed as the main cause. An in depth look into the time line of the project also reveal another cause, which was the failure of the application itself along with the platform (hardware and software) to actually execute the software. It is believed that an Actor-Network Theory framework is appropriate to analyse this case where a number if both human and non-human actors were involved. Data for this research was collected using participative observation. An analysis was conducted to find patterns of negotiations and communications between all the stakeholders during the design process. Actor-Network Theory was used to explain the power plays between actors. A model was constructed showing all the actors (stakeholders) and how the interplay among them developed.
Strategizing E-Government Development Using an Actor-Network Theory Perspective
Authors: Priyatma Johanes Eka , Polina Agnes Maria , Hernawan Agung
Published: November 2015

The potential benefits of e-government are not easily manifested due to its many implementation failures. These failures partly come from inappropriate strategy to implement it as a socio-technical entity. The paper proposes a strategy for e-government development based on Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The proposed strategy was developed from one important tenet of ANT in perceiving reality as a network of actors using a translation process. The strategy is then critically reviewed using an e-government development to support a regency administration. The review concluded that the proposed strategy was qualified as appropriate and relevant.
The Internet of Things and Beyond: Rise of the Non-Human Actors
Authors: Tatnall Arthur , Davey Bill
Published: November 2015

In the past, it was rare for non-humans to interact with each other without any involvement by humans, but this is changing. The Internet of Things (IoT) involves connections of physical things to the Internet. It is largely about the relationships between things, or non-humans actors. In other cases the ‘Things' seem to have inordinate power. The authors will ask: where does this leave humans? Are the things taking over? As a consideration of interactions like this must be a socio-technical one, in this article the authors will make use of Actor-Network Theory to frame the discussion. While the original applications for IoT technology were in areas such as supply chain management and logistics, now many more examples can be found ranging from control of home appliances to healthcare. It is expected that the ‘Things' will become active participants in business, information and social processes and that they will communicate among themselves by exchanging data sensed from the environment, while reacting autonomously. The Things will continue to develop identities and virtual personalities. In the past non-human actors have needed humans to interact with each other, but this is not the case anymore. In this perhaps provocative and rather speculative article we will look not just at the Internet of Things, but other related concepts such as artificial intelligence and robotics and make use of scenarios from science fiction to investigate the Rise of the Non-Human Actors and where this may lead in the future.
Measuring Service Quality of the Muslim Friendly Hotels in England and its Impact on Behavioural Intention
Authors: Abdelkader Ali Ahmed
Published: November 2015

This study aims to investigate the size of gap between Muslim visitors' perceptions and expectations of the Muslim friendly hotels service quality in England, as well as to describe and analyse the relationship between the perceived service quality and behavioural intentions. To accomplish these objectives, two-stage cluster sampling of 400 subjects was selected from a population of Muslim visitors in England. The Parasuraman et al., 1988 SERVQUAL scale for measuring service quality was used after developing it to suit the Muslim friendly hotels service quality by adding a new dimension pertaining to Islamic law. Results revealed that there is a significant differences gap between the Muslim visitors' perceptions and expectations for the whole score of the Muslim friendly hotels service quality. There is a negative insignificant differences gap between the Muslim visitors' perceptions and expectations in empathy, responsiveness, assurance, and reliability domains. Additionally, there is a negative significant difference gap between the Muslim visitors' perceptions and expectations in the Shari'a compliant amenities domains. However, there is a positive insignificant difference gap between the Muslim visitors' perceptions and expectations in tangible domains. Also, the findings reveal that there is a significant relationship between the perceived service quality and behavioural intentions. These results substantiate the importance of the provision of high quality of service provided to promote the Muslim visitors' behavioural intentions.
Factors Promoting Social CRM
Authors: Bailey Ainsworth Anthony
Published: November 2015

The principal focus of this paper is the development of a conceptual model that incorporates personality variables and service provider-related social media characteristics to propose their impact on consumers' perceptions of the usefulness of social CRM and user satisfaction with a service provider's social CRM efforts, as well as the impact of these perceptions on subsequent intentions and behaviors such as intention to continue social engagement, social engagement with the brand, and electronic word-of-mouth generation. The model proposes positive and significant relationships among the personality variables and perceptions of usefulness and user satisfaction with a service provider's social CRM efforts. In addition, social media platform characteristics also have positive and significant on these variables, which in turn positively and significantly impact consumer social engagement and e-WOM generation. The conceptual model needs validation. Survey data can be obtained and SEM can be used to assess the proposed links in the model.
A Corpus-Stylistic Approach of the Treatises of St. Athanasius about Idolatry
Authors: Alexandropoulos Georgios
Published: November 2015

This research focuses on the corpus stylistic analysis of the treatises of Saint Athanasius. In this interdisciplinary study classical texts are approached through linguistic tools and the main purpose is to describe the style of Saint Athanasius in these treatises, after having extracted all these quantitative data utilizing computational tools. The language Saint Athanasius uses is a language that expresses intensely his speculations on the achievement of religious change and restructuration. His language expresses his religious ideology. His speeches are persuasive, ideological and represent the rhetorician's opinion. They are based on the speaker's intentionality; it directs him to the specific rhetorical framework, since he aims at one and unique inspirational result, that is, persuasion.
Discourse and Creativity Issues in EFL Creative Writing on Facebook
Authors: Al-Jarf Reima
Published: November 2015

Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have been used by young Arabs for many purposes such as reporting breaking news, posting special events, launching political campaigns, announcing family gatherings and sending seasons' greetings. Another emerging type of timeline posts is creative writing in English. Some Arab Facebook users post lines of verse, short anecdotes or points of view, express emotions, personal experiences, and/or inspirational stories or sayings written in literary style. A sample of Facebook creative writing pages/clubs, and creative timeline posts was collected and analyzed to find out the forms and themes of creative writing texts. A sample of Facebook Arab creative writers was also surveyed to find out the reasons for their creative writing activities in English. This article describes the data collection and analysis procedures, and reports results quantitatively and qualitatively. Implications for developing creative writing skills in foreign/second language learners using Facebook are given.
Land transformation and its implication for biodiversity integrity and hydrological functioning from 1944 to 1999, Karkloof catchment, South Africa
Authors: Weyer Vanessa D. , Granger James E. , Hill Trevor R. , O'Connor Tim G.
Published: November 2015

Background and objectives: Land transformation of the Karkloof catchment is described for the period 1944–1999, together with implications for biodiversity integrity and hydrological functioning.Method: Maps of land categories were generated by using aerial photographs and a geographical information system. Property ownership and extent were mapped based on title deed searches and analysis of property grants. Implications of land transformation on biodiversity integrity and hydrological functioning were determined according to an expert approach using the analytic hierarchy process.Results: More than half (54%) of the natural grassland area has been transformed to commercial timber plantations (427% increase) and commercial agricultural cropping (311% increase). Loss of grassland in the Karkloof catchment is considered to be representative of the general trend in the moist eastern portion of the Grassland Biome of South Africa. Both combined forest and woodland and areas of dense alien vegetation increased (26% and 397%, respectively), whereas the area under subsistence cultivation decreased (98%). Land ownership has changed from private individuals to private business entities (31%) and corporate forestry (26%). Biodiversity integrity of the catchment is estimated to have decreased by 326% and hydrological functioning for the support of aquatic biodiversity by 166%.Conclusion: Continued pressure to change patterns of ownership and land use is expected. This is likely to occur within the global context of climate change, population growth and shortages of land and its products. Immense pressure on the land areas, and specifically water services and biodiversity, is likely to occur, with associated environmental impacts.
Everyday hazards and vulnerabilities amongst backyard dwellers: A case study of Vredendal North, Matzikama Municipality, South Africa
Authors: Zweig Patricia J.
Published: November 2015

The populations of many small towns in South Africa continue to expand unmatched by parallel economic growth, entrenching high levels of poverty. The town of Vredendal, located close to the national route between Namibia and Cape Town in South Africa, is a West Coast development node and an emergent industrial and processing area that continues to attract an influx of people seeking economic opportunities. This is challenging the capacity of the local municipality, which has a waiting list for state-provided low-cost housing units, whilst the provision of adequate infrastructure to meet growing local need is also a developmental concern. In the suburb of Vredendal North this has resulted in the proliferation of unplanned informal dwellings in the backyards of formalised low-cost housing areas. Largely overlooked by urban researchers, little is known or understood about small town backyard populations. This prompted a brief study of Vredendal North backyard dwellers commissioned by the local municipality to identify their everyday hazards and livelihood vulnerabilities to inform future development planning. A community workshop identified critical development needs and suggested that backyard dwellers in small towns experience similar living conditions and hazards to those in the cities, although underlain by some unique differences.
Sense of coherence and burnout in the energy and chemicals industry: The moderating role of age
Authors: Van der Westhuizen Sanet , Horn Charmaine , Viljoen Alana
Published: November 2015

Orientation: Organisations are accommodating four different social generations in the working environment. This poses a challenge for Human Resources departments to manage these diverse age cohorts in the workforce, as they are likely to have different needs, values and variables affecting their wellness.Research purpose: The objective of the present study was to assess whether various age groups differ with regard to their sense of coherence and burnout, and whether age significantly moderates the relationship between sense of coherence and burnout.Motivation for the study: Although the literature review suggests that age groups may differ with regard to their sense of coherence and burnout, the findings seem to be somewhat inconclusive in this regard. There also seems to be a paucity of research examining the interaction effect between sense of coherence, burnout and age. Research approach, design and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey approach was used. A nonprobability convenience sample of adults (N = 246) – employed in South Africa by an international integrated energy and chemicals company – participated in the study. Correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to achieve the objectives of the study.Main findings: The results showed that employees between the ages of 51 and 60 years of age experienced higher levels of comprehensibility and lower levels of reduced professional efficacy than their younger counterparts. The relationship between sense of coherence and exhaustion was also stronger for employees between 51 and 60 years old than for younger age categories.Practical/managerial implications: The results of the study can be useful when planning human resource interventions to enhance the well-being of employees from different age groups.Contribution: The results of the study add new insights to the well-being literature by showing that employees’ age is important to consider when addressing their sense of coherence and burnout levels.
Biodegradation of gas-to-liquids synthetic diesel, biodiesel and their blends
Authors: Albertus Randal M.C. , Reinecke Adriaan J.
Published: November 2015

Sustainable renewable alternatives to petroleum fuels are being investigated because of the growing demand for transportation fuel. Synthetic fuels like diesel are produced from natural gas and coal feed stocks, via the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process. Biodiesel can be an attractive alternative to petroleum-derived diesel because its physical properties are similar to those of petrodiesel and it can be transported by and stored in existing infrastructure. The biodegradability of synthetic diesel and biodiesel blends were determined, using respirometry to establish whether the biodiesel could enhance the biodegradability of the blends when compared to the synthetic petroleum diesel. In addition, a model was developed to estimate the biodegradability of the diesel and diesel/biodiesel blends using the molecular composition of the fuels and a prediction software program. The addition of biodiesel to synthetic diesel enhanced the biodegradability of the blends. Less than 1% biodiesel addition improved the degradability classification from inherently biodegradable to readily biodegradable. The addition of biodiesel to petroleumderived diesel could promote the use of renewable alternatives because the blends have superior biodegradability compared to petroleum diesel. The benefit of using biodiesel to enhance the remediation of hydrocarbon contamination was also confirmed.
The ethical implications of 2 John 10�11
Authors: Van der Watt Jan
Published: November 2015

The imperative in 2 John 10�11 not to receive a visitor with a false doctrine into one�s house is one of the most controversial prohibitions in the New Testament, especially in light of the commandment of love, ancient hospitality conventions, and modern-day expectations of open discussion. This raises the question what this prohibition is specifically about and whether hospitality is really asked for. This question is considered in some detail in this article. A widely held view is that the prohibition in 2 John 10 is not in line with generally accepted Christian ethics, since it militates against the attitude of love, care, and hospitality. This view is dominant in commentaries. This article aims at countering this view by proposing that the issue is not hospitality but endangering the identity and tradition of the group. This should be regarded as a positive Christian value.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: I challenge theological readings of 2 John 10�11 that regard the text as unchristian in its exhortation. The results of the research show that hospitality is not the communicative centre of the text, but protection of the group, which was a common feature, not only in Christianity, but also in the ancient world in general. The future discourse should now move from focusing on moral issues related to hospitality to issues related to preserving tradition within a religion.
Giant Unruptured Sinus of Valsalva Aneurysm: An Unusual Cause of Right Heart Failure
Authors: Jugpal Tejeshwar Singh , Dixit Rashmi , Lohchab Samta , Garg Anju
Published: November 2015

Aneurysm of sinus of Valsalva is a rare cardiac abnormality. Unruptured aneurysm of sinus of Valsalva is usually asymptomatic and often discovered incidentally. However, a large aneurysm can, in rare cases, cause compression of the ventricular outflow tract. We report a case of 17-year-old male with congestive right heart failure with a large, partially thrombosed unruptured aneurysm of the right sinus of Valsalva. The aneurysmal sac was compressing the right ventricular outflow tract causing marked dilatation of the right ventricle and atrium that was confirmed on contrast-enhanced computed tomography imaging. Unruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm causing right heart failure in adolescence has been rarely reported in literature.
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Single Coronary Artery from Right Sinus: Radial Route is Right
Authors: Mahla Rakesh , Mahla Himanshu , Choudhary Dinesh , Nahata Pintu
Published: November 2015

We present percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using radial approach in a rare case of single coronary artery originating from the right sinus. Although these anomalies and stenosis of anomalous vessels have been described previously, treatment of atherosclerotic lesions by PCI has rarely been reported. There is a definite procedural risk during PCI in patients with a single ostium because dissection with the guiding catheter would result in a catastrophic event. Additionally, technical difficulties may occur due to the ostial configuration and course of the branch to be stented. The patient suffered an acute coronary syndrome-inferior wall STEMI, and was thrombolysed elsewhere within a window period of 4 h. He had post myocardial infarction (MI) angina and was referred to our center after 3 days of thrombolysis. We present this technically challenging and rare case in which PCI of right coronary artery was performed through the radial route.
SUMAC: Constructing Phylogenetic Supermatrices and Assessing Partially Decisive Taxon Coverage
Authors: Freyman William A.
Published: November 2015

The amount of phylogenetically informative sequence data in GenBank is growing at an exponential rate, and large phylogenetic trees are increasingly used in research. Tools are needed to construct phylogenetic sequence matrices from GenBank data and evaluate the effect of missing data. Supermatrix Constructor (SUMAC) is a tool to data-mine GenBank, construct phylogenetic supermatrices, and assess the phylogenetic decisiveness of a matrix given the pattern of missing sequence data. SUMAC calculates a novel metric, Missing Sequence Decisiveness Scores (MSDS), which measures how much each individual missing sequence contributes to the decisiveness of the matrix. MSDS can be used to compare supermatrices and prioritize the acquisition of new sequence data. SUMAC constructs supermatrices either through an exploratory clustering of all GenBank sequences within a taxonomic group or by using guide sequences to build homologous clusters in a more targeted manner. SUMAC assembles supermatrices for any taxonomic group recognized in GenBank and is optimized to run on multicore computer systems by parallelizing multiple stages of operation. SUMAC is implemented as a Python package that can run as a stand-alone command-line program, or its modules and objects can be incorporated within other programs. SUMAC is released under the open source GPLv3 license and is available at https://github.com/wf8/sumac .
A New Field of ‘Fetal Sono-ophthalmology’ by 3D HDlive Silhouette and Flow
Authors: Pooh Ritsuko K
Published: November 2015

Diagnostic ultrasound technology has remarkably evolved and contributed to accurate prenatal diagnosis and management. HDlive silhouette and HDlive flow are new applications of threedimensional (3D) ultrasound technology. The algorism of HDlive silhouette creates a gradient at organ boundaries where an abrupt change of the acoustic impedance exists within tissues. HDlive silhouette and flow can be called as ‘see-through fashion’. The advantages of this ‘see-through fashion’ imaging are comprehensive orientation and persuasive localization of inner structure as well as of fetal angiostructure inside the morphological structure. Picture of the month demonstrates the fetal eye at 19 weeks of gestation. The lens, vitreous body and hyaloid artery inside the vitreous humor are well demonstrated. The hyaloid artery is retrogressing during pregnancy and no remnant hyaloid artery is visible in most of mature neonates. Therefore, hyaloid artery can be observed in only young fetuses and immature neonates. HDlive silhouette and flow has enabled us to depict fetal eye and ocular vascularity three-dimensionally. This new technology has a great potential to open a new field of ‘fetal 3D sono-ophthalmology’, which has been never invented by conventional ultrasound technology.

How to cite this article

Pooh RK. A New Field of ‘Fetal Sonoophthalmology’ by 3D HDlive Silhouette and Flow. Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(3):221-222.
Challenges in Sonographic Detection of Fetal Major Structural Abnormalities at the First Trimester Anomaly Scan
Authors: Antsaklis Panos , Antsaklis Aris , Paulescu Daniela , Tudorache Stefania , Ceausu Iuliana , Novac Liliana , Cernea Nicolae , Iliescu Dominic , Cara Monica
Published: November 2015

First-trimester (FT) ultrasound examination appears to have a very good sensitivity in the detection of fetal abnormalities, especially when an extended protocol that is achievable with reasonable resources of time, personnel and ultrasound equipment, is used. It has been shown that the efficiency of the routine anomaly scan varies widely between the studies performed both in early or mid-pregnancy. The analysis of technique and study designs reveals that in each gestational age, the extension of the investigational protocol is the most important factor in modulating the detection rate. Moreover, the use of similar basic checklists at the FT and second trimester (ST) examinations revealed comparable anomaly detection rates in large population groups. First trimester combined test have been demonstrated as a useful screening tool for genetic syndromes and consecutively the FT ultrasound scan became a routine examination in most prenatal diagnostic centers. Its performance in structural abnormalities detection has been communicated in high-, medium-risk populations or unselected low-risk variable number of patients and compared to the ST anomaly scan effectiveness. A detailed first-trimester anomaly scan using an extended protocol is an efficient screening method to detect major fetal structural abnormalities in low-risk pregnancies. It is a method that it is feasible at 12 to 13 + 6 weeks with ultrasound equipment and personnel already used for routine first-trimester screening. Rate of detection of severe malformations is greater in early- than in mid-pregnancy and on postnatal evaluation. Early heart investigation could be improved by an extended protocol involving use of color Doppler.

How to cite this article

Iliescu D, Cara M, Tudorache S, Antsaklis P, Ceausu I, Paulescu D, Novac L, Cernea N, Antsaklis A. Challenges in Sonographic Detection of Fetal Major Structural Abnormalities at the First Trimester Anomaly Scan. Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(3):239-259.
Invasive Procedures in Monochorionic Twins
Authors: Antsaklis Aris
Published: November 2015

Monochorionic twin pregnancies (MC) are less frequent but they are considered higher risk pregnancies compared to dichorionic pregnancies. As a result, determining the chorionicity of a twin pregnancy is of vital importance for the surveillance and management of the pregnancy. The problem originates from the fact that monochorionic twins have one placenta, and as a result the circulation of the two fetuses is closely related to each other mainly through anastomosis of the placenta. The number and type of anastomosis is of great importance for the course of the pregnancy. Diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities in such pregnancies requires excellent knowledge of invasive procedures and good clinical skills. Monochorionic twins are at increased risk for unique complications including twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR), and twin-reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence. Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome is a very well known and described complication of monochorionic twin pregnancies and must be considered and checked in each monochorionic pregnancy. Selective feticide is not a method used very commonly in MC pregnancies, but may be applied in selected cases. For TTTS laser treatment of the anastomosis is a method of choice, but should be performed in centers with experience.

How to cite this article

Antsaklis A, Antsaklis P. Invasive Procedures in Monochorionic Twins. Donald School J Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015;9(3):280-292.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Probes Analyses for the Detection of Periodontal Pathogens
Authors: Yahfoufi Zoubeida AL , Hadchiti Wahib , Berberi Antoine
Published: November 2015

Background

In clinical microbiology several techniques have been used to identify bacteria. Recently, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based techniques have been introduced to detect human microbial pathogens in periodontal diseases. Deoxyribonucleic acid probes can detect bacteria at a very low level if we compared with the culture methods. These probes have shown rapid and cost-effective microbial diagnosis, good sensitivity and specificity for some periodontal pathogens in cases of severe periodontitis.

Materials and methods

Eighty-five patients were recruited for the study. Twenty-one subjects ranging between 22 and 48 years of age fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Seventy-eight samples became available for DNA probe analysis from the deepest pockets in each quadrant.

Results

All 21 patients showed positive results for Prevotella intermedia; also, Prevotella gingivalis was identified in 19 subjects, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in 6 subjects. P. intermedia was diagnosed positive in 82% of the subgingival samples taken, 79% for P. gingivalis, and 23% for A. actinomycetemcomitans.

Conclusion

This study shows a high frequency of putative periodontal pathogens by using DNA probe technology, which is semi-quantitative in this study. Deoxyribonucleic acid probes can detect bacteria at very low level about 103 which is below the detection level of culture methods. The detection threshold of cultural methods.

Clinical significance

The three types of bacteria can be detected rapidly with high sensitivity by using the DNA probe by general practitioners, and thus can help in the diagnosis process and the treatment.

How to cite this article

Yahfoufi ZAL, Hadchiti W, Berberi A. Deoxyribonucleic Acid Probes Analyses for the Detection of Periodontal Pathogens. J Contemp Dent Pract 2015;16(9): 727-732.
An Analysis of the Stress Induced in the Periodontal Ligament during Extrusion and Rotation Movements: A Finite Element Method Linear Study Part I
Authors: Raghuveer HP , Hemanth M , Rani MS , Hegde Chathura , Vedavathi B , Chaithra D
Published: November 2015

Background

Orthodontic tooth movement occurs due to various biomechanical changes in the periodontium. Forces within the optimal range yield maximum tooth movement with minimum deleterious effects. Among various types of tooth movements, extrusion and rotational movements are seen to be associated with the least amount of root resorption and have not been studied in detail. Therefore in this study, the stress patterns in the periodontal ligament (PDL) were evaluated with extrusion and rotational movements using the finite element method FEM.

Materials and methods

A three-dimensional (3D) FEM model of the maxillary incisors was generated using SOLIDWORKS modeling software. Stresses in the PDL were evaluated with extrusive and rotational movements by a 3D FEM using ANSYS software with linear material properties.

Results

It was observed that with the application of extrusive load, the tensile stresses were seen at the apex, whereas the compressive stress was distributed at the cervical margin. With the application of rotational movements, maximum compressive stress was distributed at the apex and cervical third, whereas the tensile stress was distributed on cervical third of the PDL on the lingual surface.

Conclusion

For extrusive movements, stress values over the periodontal ligament was within the range of optimal stress value as proposed by Lee, with a given force system by Profitt as optimum forces for orthodontic tooth movement using linear properties. During rotation there are stresses concentrated at the apex, hence due to the concentration of the compressive forces at the apex a clinician must avoid placing heavy stresses during tooth movement.

How to cite this article

Hemanth M, Raghuveer HP, Rani MS, Hegde C, Kabbur KJ, Vedavathi B, Chaithra D. An Analysis of the Stress Induced in the Periodontal Ligament during Extrusion and Rotation Movements: A Finite Element Method Linear Study Part I. J Contemp Dent Pract 2015;16(9):740-743.