Lysine fortification of wheat flour improves selected indices of the nutritional status of predominantly cereal-eating families in Pakistan

Wheat provides more than 50% of the protein and calorie intake of the population of Pakistan. Legumes and animal protein that could complement the amino acid pattern of wheat, in which lysine is the first limiting amino acid for utilization of protein, are not affordable by members of lower socioeconomic groups in developing countries. The purpose of the study was to determine whether lysine fortification of wheat flour would have a positive impact on populations consuming a predominantly wheat-based diet. A double-blind study was carried out for three months on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. Forty families received wheat flour fortified with lysine, and 40 families received wheat flour without lysine. Wheat provided 59% of the protein for men, 65% for women, and 58% for children. The weight and height of the children in both groups increased during the study, but the increase was significantly greater in the lysine group. Hemoglobin increased significantly in the women receiving lysine-fortified flour. Transferrin levels increased significantly in men, women, and children in the lysine group as compared with those in the control group. Prealbumin increased significantly in adults receiving additional lysine but decreased in children. Men, women, and children in the lysine-supplemented families had significant increases in CD4, CD8, and complement C3 as compared with controls. These results indicate that lysine fortification of wheat flour can significantly improve sensitive indicators of nutritional status in a population consuming a diet in which 58% to 65% of the protein, depending on age and sex, is supplied by wheat.     

Extracellular recordings from patterned neuronal networks using planar microelectrode arrays

Neuronal cell networks have been reconstructed on planar microelectrode arrays (MEAs) from dissociated hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Microcontact printing (microCP) and a photoresist-liftoff method were used to selectively localize poly-L-lysine (PLL) on the surface of MEAs. Haptotaxis led to the organization of the neurons into networks localized adjacent to microelectrodes. Various grids of PLL with 2-25-microm-wide lines spaced by 50-200 microm with 15-25-microm nodes at intersection points were used to guide cell body attachment and neurite outgrowth. Bursting activity with spike amplitude attenuation was observed, and multichannel recordings detected instances of coincident firing activity. Finally, we present here an extracellular recording from a approximately 2 microm bundle of guided neurites.     

Soft X-Ray Emission Optimization Study with Nitrogen Gas in a 1.2 kJ Plasma Focus

Measurement of soft x-ray emission from a low-energy plasma focus operated with nitrogen within the pressure range of 0.1–1.0 mbar is presented. The x-rays are detected by using an assembly of Quantrad Si PIN-diodes with differential filtering and with a multipinhole camera. In the 1.0–1.3 keV and 1.0–1.5 keV windows, the x-ray yield in 4 geometry is 1.03 J and 14.0 J, respectively, at a filling pressure of 0.25 mbar and the corresponding efficiencies are 0.04% and 1.22%. The total x-ray emission in 4 geometry is estimated at 21.8 J, which corresponds to the system efficiency of about 1.9%. The soft x-ray emission is found dominantly as a result of electron beam activity on the anode tip, which is confirmed by the images recorded by a pinhole camera.     

A survey on resource allocation in high performance distributed computing systems

An efficient resource allocation is a fundamental requirement in high performance computing (HPC) systems. Many projects are dedicated to large-scale distributed computing systems that have designed and developed resource allocation mechanisms with a variety of architectures and services. In our study, through analysis, a comprehensive survey for describing resource allocation in various HPCs is reported. The aim of the work is to aggregate under a joint framework, the existing solutions for HPC to provide a thorough analysis and characteristics of the resource management and allocation strategies. Resource allocation mechanisms and strategies play a vital role towards the performance improvement of all the HPCs classifications. Therefore, a comprehensive discussion of widely used resource allocation strategies deployed in HPC environment is required, which is one of the motivations of this survey. Moreover, we have classified the HPC systems into three broad categories, namely: (a) cluster, (b) grid, and (c) cloud systems and define the characteristics of each class by extracting sets of common attributes. All of the aforementioned systems are cataloged into pure software and hybrid/hardware solutions. The system classification is used to identify approaches followed by the implementation of existing resource allocation strategies that are widely presented in the literature.     

Scanning electron microscopy of bio‐fabricated Fe2O3 nanoparticles and their application to control brown rot of citrus

Citrus is the leading fruit crop of Pakistan and exported to different parts of the world. Due to suitable weather condition, this crop is affected by different biotic factors which seriously deteriorate its quality and quantity. During the months of November 2018 to January 2019, citrus brown rot symptoms were recurrently observed on sweet oranges in National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad. Causal agent of citrus brown rot was isolated, characterized, and identified as Fusarium oxysporum. For environment‐friendly control of this disease, leaf extract of Azadirachta indica was used for the green synthesis of iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were characterized before their application for disease control. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of these synthesized nanoparticles described the presence of stabilizing and reducing compounds like alcohol, phenol, carboxylic acid, and alkaline and aromatic compounds. X‐Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the crystalline nature and size (24 nm) of these nanoparticles. Energy dispersive X‐Ray (EDX) analysis elaborated the presence of major elements in the samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the spinal shaped morphology of prepared nanoparticles. Successfully synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated for their antifungal potential. Different concentrations of Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were used and maximum mycelial inhibition was observed at 1.0 mg/ml concentration. On the basis of these findings, it could be concluded that Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles, synthesized in the leaf extract of A. indica, can be successfully used for the control of brown rot of sweet oranges.     

Delay and link utilization aware routing protocol for wireless multimedia sensor networks

Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) consist of networks of interconnected devices involved in retrieving multimedia content, such as, video, audio, acoustic, and scalar data, from the environment. The goal of these networks is optimized delivery of multimedia content based on quality of service (QoS) parameters, such as delay, jitter and distortion. In multimedia communications each packet has strict playout deadlines, thus late arriving packets and lost packets are treated equally. It is a challenging task to guarantee soft delay deadlines along with energy minimization, in resource constrained, high data rate WMSNs. Conventional layered approach does not provide optimal solution for guaranteeing soft delay deadlines due to the large amount of overhead involved at each layer. Cross layer approach is fast gaining popularity, due to its ability to exploit the interdependence between different layers, to guarantee QoS constraints like latency, distortion, reliability, throughput and error rate. The paper presents a channel utilization and delay aware routing (CUDAR) protocol for WMSNs. This protocol is based on a cross-layer approach, which provides soft end-to-end delay guarantees along with efficient utilization of resources. Extensive simulation analysis of CUDAR shows that it provides better delay guarantees than existing protocols and consequently reduces jitter and distortion in WMSN communication.     

The impact of consanguinity and inbreeding on perinatal mortality in Karachi, Pakistan

Abnormal interaction between low density lipoprotein receptors (LDLR) and their ligands, apolipoprotein E and B, causes decreased catabolism of lipoproteins which carry these apolipoproteins (VLDL, IDL and/or LDL) and thereby increased plasma concentrations of these. In familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), abnormal interaction is due to mutations in the LDLR gene, and in type III hyperlipidemia due to mutations in the apo E gene. A few mutations in the apolipoprotein B (apo B) gene have been described, of which the apo B-3,500Arg-Gln seems by far the most frequent, that causes defective binding to normal LDLR. The metabolic disorder associated with these mutations has been named familial defective apolipoprotein B-100 (FDB). The frequency of the apo B-3,500Arg-Gln mutation is particularly high in Central Europe (Switzerland) with lower frequencies south of the Alpes, in Russia and in Scandinavia. We found an incidence of 1/1250 of the mutation in Denmark (III), employing a DNA based assay optimized to allow detection of the mutation in very small amounts of DNA (I). Since other mutations in the receptor binding domain of the apo B-100 have been described, we developed another DNA based assay, employing DGGE technique, to screen for other mutations in the region of amino acid 3,456 to 3,553 (II). However, no other mutations but the apo B-3,500Arg-Gln have so far been detected in Danish hypercholesterolemic patients. In a study of 5 Danish families with FDB (46 heterozygous FDB patients and 57 unaffected relatives) we found that FDB patients had significantly increased mean cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations, but with a wide range of variation and with approximately 30% having cholesterol concentrations below the 95th percentile for the general population (IV). This was confirmed in a compilation of data on 205 FDB patients from the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark (V). In this study we also compared the biochemical and clinical features of FDB with those of 101 Danish FH patients in whome FDB had been ruled out. Our data support, that the LDL cholesterol elevation is less pronounced in FDB than in FH and that the age-specific prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) is lower in FDB than in FH. In the compiled study of 205 FDB heterozygotes (V), we found that age, gender and genetic variation in the LDLR gene explained a considerable part of the between-individual variation in total and LDL cholesterol. We conducted a prospective study of the lipid lowering effect of pravastatin and gemfibrozil in 30 Danish FDB patients (VI). Together with other, retrospective, studies, we conclude that the cholesterol lowering effect of HMG-coA-reductase inhibitors, anion binding resins and nicotinic acid is fully comparable to that observed when treating FH patients and type IIa hypercholesterolemic patients, without clinical signs of FH.     

Preparation and characterization of starch-based composite films reinforced by apricot and walnut shells

Starch-based biodegradable films were prepared by using solution-casting method and reinforced by agricultural residues [apricot and walnut shell (APS and WNS) powder]. The powder of both shells was added in different ratios (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10%) to investigate the microstructures and performances (mechanical and thermal properties) of the starch-based film. Different techniques such as impact, tensile testing, scanning electron microscope, optical microscope (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), and dynamic mechanical analysis were applied to study the thermomechanical and barrier properties of the composite films. Results showed that the incorporation of both shells significantly improved the WVTR and mechanical properties of starch-based films. The shells powder was significantly increased the Young's modulus and tensile strength of the starch-based films. Both OM and SEM results showed reasonably good compatibility between starch and reinforced shells. OM and XRD indicated that the APS and WNS not only retained their crystalline structure in the film but they also strengthened the peak intensity of the film. This phenomenon can be used to explain the mechanism of mechanical reinforcement. Since all the components used in the preparation of the films are food grade ingredients, it is expected that the films developed in this work will be used for food packaging applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47978.