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The present study evaluated raw milk samples from dairy farms and urban areas in Lahore District, Pakistan, for the measurement of chemical composition, presence of adulterants, total microbial, and heavy metals loads. Measurements of chemical composition and physicochemical properties of the raw milk samples collected from urban areas showed the following mean values of 2.76 ± 0.29, 2.62 ± 0.18, 1.27 ± 0.08, 7.13 ± 0.30, 6.46 ± 0.26, and 0.47 ± 0.02 for lactose, fat, protein, total solids, pH, and ash, respectively, while milk samples collected from dairy farms achieved the mean values of 4.82 ± 0.32, 5.02 ± 0.39, 3.36 ± 0.18, 13.19 ± 0.66, 6.67 ± 0.27, and 0.75 ± 0.05 for lactose, fat, protein, total solids, pH, and ash, respectively. Mean values of total plate count were 5.21 ± 0.28 CFU/ml for urban areas raw milk samples and 4.67 ± 0.27 CFU/ml for the dairy farm milk samples. Heavy metal mean concentrations for Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Ni in urban areas milk samples from milk shop were 0.024 ± 0.005, 0.021 ± 0.006, 1.22 ± 0.25, 2.42 ± 0.57, and 0.044 ± 0.006 ppm, respectively. Conclusively, strategies should be adopted in order to prevent the heavy metal contamination in milk to further minimizes the health risks associated with heavy metal consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to compare the physical and mechanical performance of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and nylon 6 fabricated using fused deposition modeling (FDM) and conventional injection molding. It is found that different processing methods did not affect the viscosity of the samples, and the percentage difference for the density measurement is less than 4%. Water absorption of FDM samples is approximately 108% higher compared to those fabricated using the injection molding. The results also revealed that the FDM method did not strongly affect the degree of crystallinity of ABS, but it increased the degree of crystallinity of PLA and nylon 6. The tensile strength, Young's modulus, elongation at break, and impact strength of FDM samples were approximately 48%, 50%, 48%, and 78%, lower compared with the injection molded samples. The results presented can provide a guide to manufacturing the final products using FDM with the desired performance. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gallstone ileus is an uncommon presentation among acute surgical patients. Its diagnosis is often delayed due to its non-specific clinical presentation. We report the case of an 81-year-old gentleman with a 2-day history of small bowel obstruction (SBO). He had a history of gallstone disease and no past surgical history. Plain abdominal radiography was consistent with SBO. A computed tomography (CT) abdomen scan would be warranted given the presentation of SBO in a virgin abdomen. However, this case emphasizes the importance of early CT imaging in a case of suspected gallstone ileus given that the diagnosis could not be made on plain abdominal radiography. CT abdomen is superior in detecting small amounts of gas and at discriminating soft tissue density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of lignin in fruit has a significant negative impact on the quality of fruit-producing trees, and in particular the lignin formation stimulates the development of stone cells in pear fruit. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential for lignin polymerization. However, knowledge of the RBOH family, a key enzyme in ROS metabolism, remains unknown in most fruit trees. In this study, a total of 40 RBOHs were identified from five fruit-producing trees (Pyrus bretschneideri, Prunus persica, Citrus sinensis, Vitis vinifera, and Prunus mume), and 10 of these sequences came from Pyrus bretschneideri. Multiple sequence alignments revealed that all 10 PbRBOHs contained the NADPH_Ox domain and the six alpha-helical transmembrane domains (TM-I to TM-VI). Chromosome localization and interspecies phylogenetic tree analysis showed that 10 PbRBOHs irregularly distributed on 8 chromosomes and 3 PbRBOHs (PbRBOHA, PbRBOHB, and PbRBOHD) are closely related to known lignification-related RBOHs. Furthermore, hormone response pattern analysis showed that the transcription of PbRBOHs is regulated by SA, ABA and MeJA. Reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and transcriptome sequencing analysis showed that PbRBOHA, PbRBOHB, and PbRBOHD accumulated high transcript abundance in pear fruit, and the transcriptional trends of PbRBOHA and PbRBOHD was consistent with the change of stone cell content during fruit development. In addition, subcellular localization revealed that PbRBOHA and PbRBOHD are distributed on the plasma membrane. Combining the changes of apoplastic superoxide (O2.−) content and spatio-temporal expression analysis, these results indicate that PbRBOHA and PbRBOHD, which are candidate genes, may play an important role in ROS metabolism during the lignification of pear stone cells. This study not only provided insight into the molecular characteristics of the RBOH family in fruit-producing trees, but also lays the foundation for studying the role of ROS in plant lignification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enterprising of nematicons has procured considerable recognition during the last few years due to its utilization in crystal technology. This research work contains some new exact traveling waves solutions in nematic liquid crystals. The modified simple equation method is employed to extract new traveling wave solutions. Two types of nonlinear mediums are investigated in this paper. New singular, periodic-singular and spatial solitons in liquid crystal are obtained by using analytical approach. The constraints fall out as the byproduct that guarantee their existence. The solutions are also highlighted graphically. This paper is leading to explore some unaccustomed results into this area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection remains elusive and requires a comprehensive assessment through laboratory and clinical investigation. In this study, a diagnostic algorithm based on paired serum samples and clinical data was developed and evaluated.Methods: A total of 1267 suspected cases of Toxoplasma infection were enrolled in this study from January 2016 to December 2016. The cases were screened for anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG by electrochemiluminiscence immunoassay (ECLIA) method. Based on the serological profiles, all cases with first seropositive serum samples were considered as suggestive cases of Toxoplasma infection. Thus, second serum samples were obtained after an interval of 2 weeks. The diagnosis was made based on laboratory results and clinical data.Results: A total of 482 T. gondii seroreactive cases were selected. The patient's records were traced and the data were analysed. Accordingly, 152 cases were diagnosed as clinically confirmed cases; 198 cases were clinically asymptomatic and 132 cases were newborn babies or infants who did not have toxoplasmosis and only acquired passive immunity from their mothers. The paired serum algorithm allowed classifying the seroreactive cases as follows: early (0.6%), acute (1.9%), reactivation (13.5%), recent (1.5%), passive immunity from mother (27.3%) and possible congenital infections (1.2%). In addition, cases of reactivated toxoplasmosis were detected among the pregnant mothers (13/82; 15.8%), children aged above 1 year (2/8; 25.0%) and immunocompetent mothers (5/135; 3.7%). Furthermore, the application of the paired serum analysis resulted in remarkably improved treatment initiation.Conclusions: Toxoplasmosis diagnosis and treatment can be improved through the use of paired serum diagnostic algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MADS-box transcription factors widely regulate all aspects of plant growth including development and reproduction. Although the MADS-box gene family genes have been extensively characterized in many plants, they have not been studied in closely related species. In this study, 73 and 74 MADS-box genes were identified in European pear (Pyrus communis) and Chinese pear (Pyrus bretschneideri), respectively. Based on the phylogenetic relationship, these genes could be clustered into five groups (Mα, Mβ, Mr, MIKCC, MIKC*) and the MIKCC group was further categorized into 10 subfamilies. The distribution of MADS-box genes on each chromosome was significantly nonrandom. Thirty-seven orthologs, twenty-five PcpMADS (P. communis MADS-box) paralogs and nineteen PbrMADS (P. bretschneideri MADS-box) paralogs were predicted. Among these paralogous genes, two pairs arose from tandem duplications (TD), nineteen from segmental duplication (SD) events and twenty-three from whole genome duplication (WGD) events, indicating SD/WGD events led to the expansion of MADS-box gene family. The MADS-box genes expression profiles in pear fruits indicated functional divergence and neo-functionalization or sub-functionalization of some orthologous genes originated from a common ancestor. This study provided a useful reference for further analysis the mechanisms of species differentiation and biodiversity formation among closely related species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ripening affects the nutritional contents and quality of fleshy fruits, and it plays an important role during the process of fruit development. Studies have demonstrated that ubiquitin-conjugating (UBC or E2) genes can regulate fruit ripening, but the characterization of UBCs in pear is not well documented. The recently published genome-wide sequences of Pyrus bretschneideri and Pyrus communis have allowed a comprehensive analysis of this important gene family in pear. Using bioinformatics approaches, we identified 83 (PbrUBCs) and 84 (PcpUBCs) genes from P. bretschneideri and P. communis, respectively, which were divided into 13 subfamilies. In total, 198 PbrUBC paralogous, 215 PcpUBC paralogous, and 129 orthologous gene pairs were detected. Some paralogous gene pairs were found to be distributed on the same chromosome, suggesting that these paralogs may be caused by tandem duplications. The expression patterns of most UBC genes were divergent between Pyrus bretschneideri and Pyrus communis during pear fruit development. Remarkably, the transcriptome data showed that UBC genes might play a more important role in fruit ripening for further study. This is the first report on the systematic analysis of two Pyrus UBC gene families, and these data will help further study the role of UBC genes in fruit development and ripening, as well as contribute to the functional verification of UBC genes in pear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant P-type H+-ATPase (P-ATPase) is a membrane protein existing in the plasma membrane that plays an important role in the transmembrane transport of plant cells. To understand the variety and quantity of P-ATPase proteins in different cotton species, we combined four databases from two diploid cotton species (Gossypium raimondii and G. arboreum) and two tetraploid cotton species (G. hirsutum and G. barbadense) to screen the P-ATPase gene family and resolved the evolutionary relationships between the former cotton species. We identified 53, 51, 99 and 98 P-ATPase genes from G. arboretum, G. raimondii, G. barbadense and G. hirsutum, respectively. The structural and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the gene structure was consistent between P-ATPase genes, with a close evolutionary relationship. The expression analysis of P-ATPase genes showed that many P-ATPase genes were highly expressed in various tissues and at different fiber developmental stages in G. hirsutum, suggesting that they have potential functions during growth and fiber development in cotton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungal laccases play important roles in the degradation of lignocellulose. Although some PoLacs have been reported in several studies, still no comprehensive bioinformatics study of the LAC family in Pleurotus ostreatus has been reported. In this study, we identified 12 laccase genes in the whole genome sequence of P. ostreatus and their physical characteristics, gene distribution, phylogenic relationships, gene structure, conserved motifs, and cis-elements were also analyzed. The expression patterns of 12 PoLac genes at different developmental stages and under different culture substrates were also analyzed. The results revealed that PoLac2 and PoLac12 may be involved in the degradation of lignin and the formation of the fruiting body, respectively. Subsequently, we overexpressed PoLac2 in P. ostreatus by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) method. The transformants’ laccase activity increased in varying degrees, and the gene expression level of PoLac2 in transformants was 2–8 times higher than that of the wild-type strain. Furthermore, the lignin degradation rate by transgenic fungus over 30 days was 2.36–6.3% higher than that of wild-type. Our data show that overexpression of PoLac2 significantly enhanced the lignin degradation of cotton-straw. To our knowledge, this study is the first report to demonstrate the functions of PoLac2 in P. ostreatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite Image Classification is the problem of classifying satellite images into their corresponding classes. Using supervised deep learning, we provide an efficient classification mechanism of earth observation imagery captured by satellite. Promising classification results were obtained through Convolution Neural Network. Two sets of experiments were carried out. In the first set, the traditional pre-deep learning era approach was followed: features were extracted first which were then given as input to Support Vector Machines (SVM). In the second set of experiments, the images were directly provided as input to Convolution Neural Networks and the output features were then used as input to the SVM. The proposed schemes were tested on satellite images datasets AID, UC-merced and WHU-RS, having varied classes and heterogeneous image dimensions. We show that our model, with Convolution Neural Network, achieves 92% accuracy on the AID dataset and outperforms the previously reported best accuracy of 89.64% (Xia et al. in CoRR, , 2016).Satellite Image Classification is the problem of classifying satellite images into their corresponding classes. Using supervised deep learning, we provide an efficient classification mechanism of earth observation imagery captured by satellite. Promising classification results were obtained through Convolution Neural Network. Two sets of experiments were carried out. In the first set, the traditional pre-deep learning era approach was followed: features were extracted first which were then given as input to Support Vector Machines (SVM). In the second set of experiments, the images were directly provided as input to Convolution Neural Networks and the output features were then used as input to the SVM. The proposed schemes were tested on satellite images datasets AID, UC-merced and WHU-RS, having varied classes and heterogeneous image dimensions. We show that our model, with Convolution Neural Network, achieves 92% accuracy on the AID dataset and outperforms the previously reported best accuracy of 89.64% (Xia et al. in CoRR, , 2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Gastro-Colic Fistula: A Rare Complication of Diverticular Disease," by Basher M. Atiquzzaman, Tahsina Atiquzzaman, Poneh Rahimi, Celia Quinnonez, and Muhammad Abdullah is presented.