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7, p  less then  0.0001). In this setting of enhanced inotropism, the linear VMax of BCG, rather than the VMax of SCG, is the metric which best explains the LV twist mechanics, in particular the rates of twisting and untwisting. PMax and iK metrics are strongly associated with the LVEF and account for 50% of the variance of the LVEF.Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is the only blood based protein biomarker at present, used for preoperative screening of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to determine the appropriate curative treatments and post-surveillance screening for tumour recurrence. Current diagnostics for CRC detection have several limitations and development of a highly sensitive, specific and rapid diagnostic device is required. The majority of such devices developed to date are antibody-based and suffer from shortcomings including multimeric binding, cost and difficulties in mass production. To circumvent antibody-derived limitations, the present study focused on the development of Affimer proteins as a novel alternative binding reagent for CEA detection. Here, we describe the selection, from a phage display library, of Affimers specific to CEA protein. Characterization of three anti-CEA Affimers reveal that these bind specifically and selectively to protein epitopes of CEA from cell culture lysate and on fixed cells. Kinetic binding analysis by SPR show that the Affimers bind to CEA with high affinity and within the nM range. LY2780301 research buy Therefore, they have substantial potential for used as novel affinity reagents in diagnostic imaging, targeted CRC therapy, affinity purification and biosensor applications.Bacillus genus produces several secondary metabolites with biocontrol ability against various phytopathogens. Bacillus velezensis AK-0 (AK-0), an antagonistic strain isolated from Korean ginseng rhizospheric soil, was found to exhibit antagonistic activity against several phytopathogens. To further display the genetic mechanism of the biocontrol traits of AK-0, we report the complete genome sequence of AK-0 and compared it with complete genome sequences of closely related strains. We report the biocontrol activity of AK-0 against apple bitter rot caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, which could lead to commercialization of this strain as a microbial biopesticide in Korea. To retain its biocontrol efficacy for a longer period, AK-0 has been formulated with ingredients for commercialization, named AK-0 product formulation (AK-0PF). AK-0PF played a role in the suppression of the mycelial growth of the fungicide-resistant pathogen C. gloeosporioides YCHH4 at a greater level than the non-treated control. Moreover, AK-0PF exhibited greater disease suppression of bitter rot in matured under field conditions. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of the AK-0 strain, which has a 3,969,429 bp circular chromosome with 3808 genes and a G+C content of 46.5%. The genome sequence of AK-0 provides a greater understanding of the Bacillus species, which displays biocontrol activity via secondary metabolites. The genome has eight potential secondary metabolite biosynthetic clusters, among which, ituD and bacD genes were expressed at a greater level than other genes. This work provides a better understanding of the strain AK-0, as an effective biocontrol agent (BCA) against phytopathogens, including bitter rot in apple.Air pollution is a global environmental problem, and its effects on human behavior, psychology, and health have been well studied. However, very few studies were done on if and how air pollution affects animal behavior, for example, social conflict. Many physiological and psychological evidences suggest a possible positive relationship between air pollution and animal social conflict, thus we established a multiple linear regression model using a captive monkey group to explore if monkeys behave more aggressively in polluted air. Our results confirmed that daily social fighting behaviors occurred more when air is polluted. Temperature has a nonlinear effect on monkey social conflict, with a fighting peak at 25-29 °C. To our knowledge, this is the first report that animal social conflict, like humans, is also affected by air pollution and temperature.Quantitative measurement of lung perfusion is a promising tool to evaluate lung pathophysiology as well as to assess disease severity and monitor treatment. However, this novel technique has not been adopted clinically due to various technical and physiological challenges; and it is still in the early developmental phase where the correlation between lung pathophysiology and perfusion maps is being explored. The purpose of this research work is to quantify the impact of pulmonary artery occlusion on lung perfusion indices using lung dynamic perfusion CT (DPCT). We performed Lung DPCT in ten anesthetized, mechanically ventilated juvenile pigs (18.6-20.2 kg) with a range of reversible pulmonary artery occlusions (0%, 40-59%, 60-79%, 80-99%, and 100%) created with a balloon catheter. For each arterial occlusion, DPCT data was analyzed using first-pass kinetics to derive blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV) and mean transit time (MTT) perfusion maps. Two radiologists qualitatively assessed perfusion maps for the pr findings demonstrate that lung DPCT enables quantification and stratification of pulmonary artery occlusion into three categories mild, moderate and severe. Severe (occlusion ≥ 80%) alters all perfusion indices; mild (occlusion  less then  55%) has no detectable effect. Moderate (occlusion 55-80%) impacts BF and MTT but BV is preserved.Acinetobacter baumannii is a highly antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacterium that causes life-threatening infections in humans with a very high mortality rate. A. baumannii is an extracellular pathogen with poorly understood virulence mechanisms. Here we report that A. baumannii employs the release of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) containing the outer membrane protein A (OmpAAb) to promote bacterial pathogenesis and dissemination. OMVs containing OmpAAb are taken up by mammalian cells where they activate the host GTPase dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1). OmpAAb mediated activation of DRP1 enhances its accumulation on mitochondria that causes mitochondrial fragmentation, elevation in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell death. Loss of DRP1 rescues these phenotypes. Our data show that OmpAAb is sufficient to induce mitochondrial fragmentation and cytotoxicity since its expression in E. coli transfers its pathogenic properties to E. coli. A. baumannii infection in mice also induces mitochondrial damage in alveolar macrophages in an OmpAAb dependent manner. We finally show that OmpAAb is also required for systemic dissemination in the mouse lung infection model. In this study we uncover the mechanism of OmpAAb as a virulence factor in A. baumannii infections and further establish the host cell factor required for its pathogenic effects.Bedload transport modelling in rivers takes into account the size and density of pebbles to estimate particle mobility, but does not formally consider particle shape. To address this issue and to compare the relative roles of the density and shape of particles, we performed original sediment transport experiments in an annular flume using molded artificial pebbles equipped with a radio frequency identification tracking system. The particles were designed with four distinct shapes and four different densities while having the same volume, and their speeds and distances traveled under constant hydraulic conditions were analyzed. The results show that particle shape has more influence than particle density on the resting time between particle displacement and the mean traveling distance. For all densities investigated, the particle shape systematically induced differences in travel distance that were strongly correlated (R2 = 0.94) with the Sneed and Folks shape index. Such shape influences, although often mentioned, are here quantified for the first time, demonstrating why and how they can be included in bedload transport models.Adverse experience in early life can affect the formation of neuronal circuits during postnatal development and exert long-lasting influences on neural functions that can lead to the development of a variety of psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Many studies have demonstrated that daily repeated maternal separation, an animal model of early-life stress, can induce impairments in emotional behaviours and cognitive function during adolescence and adulthood. However, the behavioural phenotypes of maternally separated mice under long-term group-housing conditions are largely unknown. In this study, we applied our newly developed assay system to investigate the effects of maternal separation on behaviours under group-housing conditions during four days of continuous observations. Using our system, we found that repeated maternal separation resulted in inappropriate social distance from cagemates, altered approach preferences to others, and induced a lower rank in the time spent on the running wheel under group-housing conditions in adult male mice. Focussing on these behavioural abnormalities that appear in an environment with a social context will be important insights to understand the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders.The pyrolysis process of oil shale is significantly affected by atmospheric conditions. In this paper, the pyrolysis experiments of oil shale under non-isothermal conditions are carried out using nitrogen and carbon dioxide as heat-carrying fluids. The results show that the activation energy of the second stage of oil shale pyrolysis under carbon dioxide is less than that under nitrogen. The thermodynamic analysis of the second stage of oil shale pyrolysis shows that Gibbs free energy, activation enthalpy and activation entropy are higher under carbon dioxide than those under nitrogen, which obeys the law of carbon dioxide promoting oil shale pyrolysis. In addition, the volatile release characteristics of oil shale in the second stage of pyrolysis were analyzed, which proves that the volatile release characteristics of oil shale under carbon dioxide are higher than that under nitrogen. Therefore, carbon dioxide is helpful to promote the pyrolysis of oil shale and increases the release of volatile substances during pyrolysis.Herein, a novel nanobiocomposite scaffold based on modifying synthesized cross-linked terephthaloyl thiourea-chitosan hydrogel (CTT-CS hydrogel) substrate using the extracted silk fibroin (SF) biopolymer and prepared Mg(OH)2 nanoparticles was designed and synthesized. The biological capacity of this nanobiocomposite scaffold was evaluated by cell viability method, red blood cells hemolytic and anti-biofilm assays. According to the obtained results from 3 and 7 days, the cell viability of CTT-CS/SF/Mg(OH)2 nanobiocomposite scaffold was accompanied by a considerable increment from 62.5 to 89.6% respectively. Furthermore, its low hemolytic effect (4.5%), and as well, the high anti-biofilm activity and prevention of the P. aeruginosa biofilm formation confirmed its promising hemocompatibility and antibacterial activity. Apart from the cell viability, blood biocompatibility, and antibacterial activity of CTT-CS/SF/Mg(OH)2 nanobiocomposite scaffold, its structural features were characterized using spectral and analytical techniques (FT-IR, EDX, FE-SEM and TG).