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Cellulose and hemicellulose (xylans and mannans) are biopolymers present in plant biomass that can be bio-converted to ethanol. The challenge of hemicellulose fraction utilization for this process is its heterogeneous polymeric nature and low fermentability, resulting in wastage. However, this fraction contains mannan polysaccharides which can be converted using appropriate pretreatments before fermentation. This work was designed to produce bioethanol from pretreated mannan substrates that are abundant in our local environment. Mannan substrates palm kernel cake (PKC) and copra meal (CM) were pretreated with alkali, autohydrolysis and acid, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis using the mannan-degrading enzymes (MDES) at 10% (v/w) optimum enzyme loading. The hydrolysates were fermented to ethanol using Saccharomyces cerevisiae SCPW17 and results compared with theoretical values. Autohydrolysis gave the highest reducing sugar concentrations of 0.68±0.02 g/L (PKC) and 0.64±0.02 g/L (CM). Hydrolysis of substrates with a combination of MDEs gave the highest sugar yield of 81.7±1.36% (PKC) and 88.5±0.53% (CM). Ethanol concentrations of 4.1±0.032 and 4.9±0.094 g/L were produced within 36–48 h of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of PKC and CM, respectively. Highest ethanol yield (g/g) of 0.45±0.005 (PKC) and 0.47±0.02 (CM) at 20% (w/v) substrate concentration was significantly higher than yields at 15% and 25% (w/v) for both substrates and comparable to the estimated 0.51 g/g theoretical yield from lignocellulose substrates. PKC and CM are viable substrates for bioethanol production because their ethanol yield compared favourably to theoretical value.

A brief background discussion. Nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX) has been developed under the concept of improved drug delivery. nab-PTX has been shown to significantly increase progression-free survival compared with solvent-based paclitaxel (PTX) in metastatic breast cancer. However, the long-term outcomes of nab-PTX induced peripheral neuropathy (nPIPN) have not yet been fully elucidated. Trial design: observational cohort study (UMIN20852) Primary objective: The long-term outcome of nPIPN Secondary objectives (1)The validity of the Neuropathic Pain Screening Questionnaire (Japan–Q, Ishikawa et al. Pain Research 2016 ) (2) To evaluate the effect of frozen gloves and elastic stockings for nPIPN nPIPN was assessed by the Japan-Q (J-Q) and Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events ver 4.0 (CTC). The J-Q is an assessment tool for patient-reported pain severity, which consists of seven items, each rated on a five-point scale 0-4; grade 0 (no symptoms) to grade 4 (verysevere symptoms). Pricking pain, electric shock pain, burn like pain, tingling pain with numbness, allodynia, reduced or hyper sensitivity and hand-foot syndrome. Assessment was performed every day during chemotherapy, six months and one year after completion of nab-PTX therapy. Total of 28 points for each day and 588 points for each cycle, higher point correlates with severity. Frozen gloves during administration of nab-PTX and/or elastic stockings were optionally used. Statistical methods Kruskal Wallis test was used and p RESULTS: Between May 2013, and April 2016, 105 patients were enrolled from 7 hospitals. In 73 patients (69.5%) nab-PTX was administered as primary and in 32 patients (30.5%) as adjuvant therapy. Forty three (41.0%) patients received nab-PTX as first line and 62 (59.0%) received after anthracycline contained regimen. Trastuzumab was administered as combination therapy with nab-PTX for Her2 positive patients. Both frozen gloves and stockings were used in 21 patients (20.0%) and frozen gloves only were used in 21 patients (20.0%) according to patient preference. One hundred patients (95.2%) completed four courses, and overall relative dose intensity was 91.4%. During chemotherapy, J-Q scores go elevated from day 1 to day 5 and gradually declined throughout the rest of the cycle. Without using frozen gloves, there was a significant increase according to courses (1st: 45.0 ± 5.7, 2nd: 76.7 ± 8.6, 3rd: 94.3 ± 11.8, 4th: 95.4 ± 11.8). Using frozen gloves, there was a significant increase from 1st course to 2nd, but no further increase was observed(1st: 37.4 ± 8.1, 2nd: 61.9 ± 12.4, 3rd: 62.9 ± 10.4, 4th: 55.3 ± 10.6). After six month and one year, the scores were significantly lower compared with the last day of the fourth cycle (4.28 ± 0.50, 2.53 ± 0.25, 2.85 ± 0.39, respectively). CTC, grade 2 or more sensory disturbance was observed in 57.9% after four cycles, but improved to 9.5% and 5.4% after six month and one year respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-reported nPIPN was significantly getting worse without frozen gloves during chemotherapy, however be largely reversible within 1 year of PST or adjuvant treatment. The J-Q findings support that nab-PTX treatment is tolerable. Citation Format: Yoshidome K, Morimoto T, Matsunami N, Tsunashima R, Tsukamoto F, Ryo T, Nishida Y, Shimo T, Anno K, Shimada M, Udo M, Kagawa M, Morishima H, Oda N. Nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients receiving neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-11-17.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women toward prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV infection have not been evaluated in any tertiary health facility in the Northeast region of Nigeria.A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from 172 women that consecutively attended the antenatal clinic of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital to determine their level of knowledge, practice and attitude toward HIV/AIDS issues with respect to PMTCT.The survey revealed a high level of knowledge on modes of transmission, risks behaviours and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among the pregnant women. However, the use of breast milk substitute (BMS) by HIV positive nursing mothers and use of condom during sexual intercourse did not receive very encouraging responses from 42 (24.4%) and 58 (33.7%) of the women respectively. Those that do not encourage use of BMS indicated spouse dislike as a major reason and the fact that the community places higher premium on breastfeeding than BMS. Majority of those that discouraged condom use 28 (48.3%), said the practice was against their religions beliefs while a few believes withdrawal before ejaculation and use of antibiotics after sex can equally prevent HIV infection. Majority of the respondents, 106 (61.6%) admit their willingness to support their spouses that tested positive for HIV.The pregnant women accepted PMTCT as a veritable means of preventing infants from HIV infection as well as an opportunity to know ones HIV status through voluntary testing. Majority implored greater involvement of their male partners and other significant family members during PMTCT counselling sessions to guard against ejection, stigma and discrimination if tested HIV positive. Staff training, awareness creation and community mobilization were identified as key to success of PMTCT programmes and fight against stigma and discrimination.

Microbiological and biochemical analyses of 59 breast nipple swab samples and 15 manually expressed breast milk samples of lactating mothers aged 15 to 40 years, was carried out using standard procedures. The incidence of bacterial species in swab samples was Staphylococus aureus (63.8%), Streptococcus sp (25.5%), Escherichia coli (6.4%) and Klebsiella sp (4.26%), indicating the poor sanitary status of the lactating mothers. S. aureus was recovered from only 1 (6.7%) of the milk samples, indicating that breast milk is relatively sterile. The nutritional values for the breast milk were 22.5 mg/ml (protein), 0.3 mg/ml (calcium), 3.5 mg/ml (sugar) and 300 microg/ml (vitamin A) in age group 15-20 years, and 16.4 mg/ml (protein), 0.16 mg/ml (calcium), 1.8 mg/ml (sugar) and 100 microg/ml (vitamin A) in the age group 36-40 years. In conclusion, the nutritive and antimicrobial properties of breast milk decrease with increasing age of lactating mothers. The need for public health enlightenment of lactating mothers regarding hygiene, and the provision of oral vitamin A supplement to infants, is discussed.

In 1991 a cholera epidemic occurred in Nigeria. The features of this cholera outbreak in a single hospital in Cross River, Nigeria, were examined. Microbiologic techniques included the use of thiosulphate citrate bile-salts sucrose (TCBS) medium for culture of all stool specimens. Vibrio isolates from diarrheic patients included V. cholerae-O1 (75), V. cholerae non-O1 (10) and V. parahaemolyticus (21). The illnesses were diverse, ranging from mild to severe, and in most instances requiring hospitalization, rehydration as well as antibiotic treatment. Eighty patients were hospitalized and six died mainly from hypovolemic shock and acute renal failure arising from excessive fluid loss. The low vibrio-associated mortality observed in this outbreak may have been influenced by the proximity and easy transit access to the health care facilities offered by the teaching hospital. This contrasts with the high mortality figures reported by Health Centers in the rural areas during the same period. Some features of vibrio diarrheas were comparable with those of other enteric pathogens. Poorly developed water and sewage disposal systems, contact with sea water, consumption of fishery products and leftover foods were the main risk factors identified.

DELPHI is a 4π detector with emphasis on particle identification, three-dimensional information, high granularity and precise vertex determination. The design criteria, the construction of the detector and the performance during the first year of operation at the large electron positron collider (LEP) at CERN are described. © 1991 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland).

This paper presents a recently developed low-power analog power system simulator with increased operability and precision over conventional simulators. The simulator is composed of miniature models of actual equipment with characteristics as close as possible to those of actual power systems. Reactors, capacitors and resistors are carefully designed and used in combination to simulate transmission lines, filters and loads. Since miniature models of machines such as synchronous generators can not produce accurate characteristics, equivalent electronic circuits representing the machines are developed. Generally, loss in the simulator's circuits is larger than that in an actual network. Therefore, network components realized by electronic circuits, such as circuit breakers and thyristors, are designed to compensate the voltage drop. Saturation elements for generator models and transformer models, and non-linear elements for arrester models are incorporated. A computer is used to improve operability in parameter selection, simulation control and data processing all through menu selection. Simulation results are described in comparison to EMTP calculation results.

This paper presents a recently developed low-power analog power system simulator with increased operability and precision over conventional simulators. The simulator is composed of miniature models of actual equipment with characteristics as close as possible to those of actual power systems. Reactors, capacitors and resistors are carefully designed and used in combination to simulate transmission lines, filters and loads. Since miniature models of machines such as synchronous generators can not produce accurate characteristics, equivalent electronic circuits representing the machines are developed. Generally, loss in the simulator's circuits is larger than that in an actual network. Therefore, network components realized by electronic circuits, such as circuit breakers and thyristors, are designed to compensate the voltage drop. Saturation elements for generator models and transformer models, and non-linear elements for arrester models are incorporated. A computer is used to improve operability in parameter selection, simulation control and data processing all through menu selection. Simulation results are described in comparison to EMTP calculation results.

The eigenvalue method, Routh—Hurwitz method and other conventional methods used for steady-state stability analysis are not suited for a multimachine system consisting of several hundred machines with automatic voltage regulators and speed governors. This paper shows that the frequency response method is very useful for such a large-scale system. The critical stability condition obtained by the proposed method is compared with that obtained by conventional simulation and it is shown that the proposed method is sufficiently accurate and efficient. This algorithm is applicable to a decomposing system.

It has earlier been established that in a number of motor nuclei la inhibition can be evoked from several muscles. It has now been investigated if this convergence takes place already at the interneuronal level or if the la inhibition from the different muscles is exerted through separate interneuronal pools which then converge at motoneuronal level. With intracellular recording from motoneurones and utilizing the technique of spatial facilitation it has been demonstrated that when activity in la afferents from several muscles can evoke inhibition in a given motoneurone a convergence of these la afferents does occur onto common interneurones.

The recurrent effects from motor axon collaterals have been examined on inhibitory transmission to motoneurones from the cortico-, rubro- and vestibulospinal tracts and a pathway descending in the medial longitudinal fasciculus. Disynaptic vestibulospinal IPSPs in knee flexor motoneurones were always considerably decreased by conditioning antidromic volleys. No recurrent effects were found on disynaptic IPSPs evoked from the medial longitudinal fasciculus or from the red nucleus in knee extensor motoneurones. The transmission of polysynaptic cortical and rubral IPSPs was sometimes recurrently inhibited but more efficiently in flexor motoneurones than in extensor motoneurones. Susceptibility to recurrent depression is taken to indicate that the descending IPSPs are mediated by Ia inhibitory interneurones since impulses in motor axon collaterals, via Renshaw cells, give rise to a selective inhibition of these interneurones. Those IPSPs which are unaffected by ventral root stimuli are assumed to be transmitted through other interneurones.

Large cells in the red nucleus of cats were impaled with glass microelectrodes. Under light Nembutal anesthesia it was found that stimulation of the cerebellar cortex produced hyperpolarization in their membrane. Unlike the inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, this hyperpolarization decreased when the membrane was depolarized by passage of currents through the microelectrode, and it increased during application of hyperpolarizing currents: Hence the hyperpolarization is presumed to be produced by removal of tonically impinging excitatory postsynaptic potentials, in the manner of “disfacilitation”. In accordance with the above view, spontaneously arising small EPSPs disappeared during the phase of the hyperpolarization. The source of tonic impingement of excitatory impulses onto the red nucleus was found in the interpositus nucleus. The cells in this nucleus were discharging impulses at frequencies of 50–100/sec which were suppressed after the cerebellar stimulation, presumably via Purkinje cell axons, a depression in the excitability of the interpositus neurones being revealed at the same time. Following the depression, the excitability and impulse discharges of the interpositus neurones were enhanced, and correspondingly there was a late depolarization in the red nucleus neurones. During stimulation of the inferior olive and even of the spinal cord, disfacilitation and late facilitation occurred similarly through the interpositus nucleus, though with longer latencies.

This paper related to a method for selection of timing of separation between interconnected power system following large disturbance. The proposed method is based on the calculated energy function to be stored in each subsystem after separation. The value of energy function of interconnected power system, consisting of kinetic energy of generator and potential energy stored in networks, is kept constant after fault clearance if the system damping can be neglected and system interconnection is maintained. However, its value to be stored in the subsystem after separation should fluctuate during the interconnection is maintained. Equation is derived to show that the value should vary with power swing before separation.

Publisher Summary This chapter investigates the neuronal mechanisms of the cerebellar control of locomotion, using a stepping preparation where the 4 limbs of cats are decerebrated at the thalamic level. Any electrical stimulation to induce locomotion is avoided as it might give artificial signals to the neuronal circuitry concerning coordinative control of stepping. In the stepping preparations, the activity of Deiters' neurones projecting to the ipsilateral lumbosacral cord (L-Deiters' neurones), the EMGs of hindlimb muscles, and limb movements are analyzed before, during, and after local cooling of the cerebellar cortex. During each cycle of quadrupedal stepping, most L-Deiters' neuroncs show two peaks of impulse discharges—the first (A peak) in the stance phase and the second (B peak) in the swing phase of the ipsilateral hindlimb. The A peak often starts rising shortly before the ipsilateral hindlimb is placed. When movements of either hind- or forelimbs are stopped, this frequency modulation in Deiters' neurones is greatly depressed. It is indicated that coordinated movements of fore- and hindlimbs are essential in building up the frequency modulation in L-Deiters' neurones.

In anaesthetized cats, electric pulse stimuli were applied at various lateralities to the anterior lobe of the cerebellum. In dorsal Deiters neurones delayed IPSPs with latencies of 3–6 msec were evoked from the entire area of the culmen including the paravermis bilaterally. The delayed IPSPs had a summit time of about 2 msec and a duration of about 7 msec. They showed a marked temporal facilitation and subsequent depression with double shock stimulation. Corticovestibular fibers were penetrated within the nucleus of Deiters and showed delayed, labile responses to cortical stimulation, corresponding to the delayed IPSPs in Deiters neurones. During stimulation of the anterior lobe at any laterality, field potentials recorded in the cerebellar cortex further revealed that there was activation, presumably through axon collaterals of mossy fibers, of granule cells and subsequently of Purkinje cells in the vermal cortex. Cortical events exhibited a prominent temporal facilitation and subsequent depression, in parallel with that observed for the delayed IPSPs in Deiters neurones. The delayed IPSPs in Deiters neurones arising from a wide area of the cerebellar cortex thus were attributed to activation through mossy fiber-granule cell pathway of Purkinje cells of the corticovestibular projection.

When recording intracellularly from cat's Deiters neurones, stimulation of the anterior lobe of the cerebellar cortex produced excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) monosynaptically, in addition to the inhibitory ones (IPSPs) that were identified previously as being produced via Purkinje cell axons. The EPSPs were induced bilaterally from a wide area of the anterior and posterior lobes of the cerebellum, in contrast to the IPSPs that were evoked only ipsilaterally, mainly from the vermal cortex. The latency of the EPSPs was slightly, but significantly, shorter than that of the IPSPs. The presynaptic impulses responsible for these EPSPs were represented by the discrete field potentials and also by unit spikes of individual fibres. The pathway for these EPSPs and presynaptic impulses was pursued by testing their interference, in the manner of impulse collision and refractoriness, with those induced from various spots within or outside the cerebellum. It is found that the excitatory fibres for Deiters neurones extend transversely, and probably longitudinally too, over the culmen and pass out of the cerebellum through cerebellar peduncles. The major portion of them appears to originate from the medulla and a minority from the spinal cord. It is postulated that cerebellar afferents from these structures have synapses with Deiters neurones via their collateral branches, through which a kind of axon reflex occurs to Deiters neurones during stimulation of the cerebellar cortex.

Stimulation of the red nucleus evokes a two-component descending discharge in the contralateral dorsal quadrant of the spinal cord; the first component is caused by direct and the second by synaptic activation of rubrospinal neurones projecting to the lumbosacral cord. Threshold maps for direct and synaptic activation are given. The low threshold focus for direct activation covers not only the hindlimb region of the red nucleus where the antidromic field potential is large but also the medial part of the nucleus where the axons leave. Direct activation can also be evoked from a region extending caudally from the medial part of the red nucleus. Synaptic activation of rubrospinal neurones, evoked at very low threshold from the ventro-medio-caudal border zone of the red nucleus, is due to stimulation of interposito-rubral efferents. The threshold, indicated by unitary EPSPs in rubral cells and antidromic activation of cells in interpositus, is about 1 μA, which is 1/10 of the strength required for direct activation of rubrospinal neurones. There is neither evidence that rubral stimuli activate collaterals of corticospinal axons to the lumbosacral cord, nor that antidromic activation of interposito-rubral fibres evokes descending effect via their collaterals to the reticular formation.

Discharges evoked by mesencephalic stimulation have been recorded from the contralateral dissected dorsal and ventral quadrants in the lower thoracic region of the spinal cord in cats. The effect of this activity on different spinal cord mechanisms was analysed.