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Although wild chimpanzees and other African great apes live in regions endemic for African sleeping sickness, very little is known about their trypanosome infections, mainly due to major difficulties in obtaining their blood samples. In present work, we established a diagnostic ITS1-based PCR assay that allows detection of the DNA of all four Trypanosoma brucei subspecies (Trypanosoma brucei brucei, Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, and Trypanosoma brucei evansi) in feces of experimentally infected mice. Next, using this assay we revealed the presence of trypanosomes in the fecal samples of wild chimpanzees and this finding was further supported by results obtained using a set of primate tissue samples. Phylogenetic analysis of the ITS1 region showed that the majority of obtained sequences fell into the robust T. brucei group, providing strong evidence that these infections were caused by T. b. rhodesiense and/or T. b. gambiense. The optimized technique of trypanosome detection in feces will improve our knowledge about the epidemiology of trypanosomes in primates and possibly also other endangered mammals, from which blood and tissue samples cannot be obtained. Finally, we demonstrated that the mandrill serum was able to efficiently lyse T. b. brucei and T. b. rhodesiense, and to some extent T. b. gambiense, while the chimpanzee serum failed to lyse any of these subspecies.

A neural network-assisted molecular dynamics method is developed to reduce the computational cost of open boundary simulations. Particle influxes and neural network-derived forces are applied at the boundaries of an open domain consisting of explicitly modeled Lennard-Jones atoms in order to represent the effects of the unmodeled surrounding fluid. Canonical ensemble simulations with periodic boundaries are used to train the neural network and to sample boundary fluxes. The method, as implemented in the LAMMPS, yields temperature, kinetic energy, potential energy, and pressure values within 2.5% of those calculated using periodic molecular dynamics and runs two orders of magnitude faster than a comparable grand canonical molecular dynamics system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study uses the molecular dynamics computational technique to investigate the thermal conductivity of solid thin films in the direction perpendicular to the film plane. The results show that the molecular dynamics applied under the correct conditions is a viable tool for calculating the thermal conductivity of solid thin films.

Plasma‐polymerized films (interlayers) of tetravinylsilane in mixture with oxygen gas (oxygen fraction 0‐0.71) were coated on glass fibers (GF) used as reinforcements in GF/polyester composite. Oxygen atoms of increased concentration (0‐18 at.%) were partly incorporated into the plasma polymer network, forming SiOC/COC bonding species and partly forming side polar (hydroxyl, carbonyl) groups with enhanced oxygen fraction. The amount of oxygen in plasma coatings influenced the Young's modulus, interfacial adhesion, and surface free energy of the interlayer. To determine the interfacial shear strength, a microindentation test was implemented for individual glass fibers on a cross‐section of GF/polyester composite. The interfacial shear strength for oxidized plasma coatings was up to 21% higher than that for the non‐oxidized interlayer, indicating a direct chemical effect of oxygen atoms on interphase properties. The interphase shear failure was controlled by the shear strength at the interlayer/fiber interface as follows from experimental and model data. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:E186–E193, 2019. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insulin resistance associated with dyslipidemia enhances cardiovascular risk. Several atherogenic indexes have been suggested to give more precise information about the risk. The aim of our study was to estimate, which atherogenic index correlates better with parameters of insulin resistance. Furthermore, we compared the parameters of lipid metabolism and insulin resistance between smokers and non-smokers. In our cross-sectional study we enrolled 729 patients with dyslipidemia which were divided into two groups - non-smokers (586) and smokers (143). We measured lipid profile, parameters of Insulin resistance (fasting glycemia, insulin, HOMA-IR, C-peptide, proinsulin) and calculated atherogenic indexes - atherogenic index of plasma (log (TAG/HDL-C), AIP), ApoB/ApoAl index and nonHDL-C. AIP was found out to show stronger correlations with parameters of insulin resistance (p<0.001, correlation coefficients ranging between 0.457 and 0.243) than other indexes (ApoB/ApoAl or nonHDL cholesterol). AIP correlated with parameters of insulin resistance both in smokers and nonsmokers, but after adjustment (for age, body mass index, waist circumference) persisting only in non-smokers. Smokers had a wider waist circumference and a proatherogenic lipid profile. Smoking increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. AIP can be used in daily praxis for predicting insulin resistance in patients with dyslipidemia, predominantly in non-smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]