Oxidative stress may contribute to the pathogenesis of congenital heart defects, but the role of dynamic thiol/disulphide homeostasis has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to assess whether there are changes in thiol/disulphide homeostasis and nitric oxide levels in children with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and ventricular septal defect (VSD). A total of 47 children with congenital heart defects (24 TOF and 23 VSD) and 47 healthy age- and sex-matched controls were included in this study. Serum total thiol and native thiol levels were measured using a novel automatic spectrophotometric method. The amount of dynamic disulphide bonds and related ratios were calculated from these values. Serum nitric oxide levels were detected using a chemiluminescence assay. We found that the average native thiol, total thiol, and disulphide levels were decreased in patients with VSD when compared with healthy individuals (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.01, respectively). While native thiol levels were decreased (p < 0.01), disulphide levels were elevated in the TOF group (p < 0.05). We observed marked augmentation of disulphide/native thiol (p < 0.001) and disulphide/total thiol ratios (p < 0.01) in the TOF group. However, there was a significant decrease in native thiol/total thiol ratio in patients with TOF. No significant changes in these ratios were noted in the VSD group. We detected significant elevations in serum nitric oxide levels in children with TOF and VSD (p < 0.001 for all). These results are the first to demonstrate that thiol/disulphide homeostasis and nitric oxide are associated with TOF and VSD in children.

New excavations at the Jebel Moya cemetery in Sudan reveal extensive evidence for Meroitic-era occupation, providing valuable data on contemporaneous diet, migration, exchange and population composition in sub-Saharan Africa.

Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) is a well-known method for depositing polymers that are used in chemical, biological, and electrical applications. It is a variation of hot filament deposition and can used to produce conformal coatings of polymer films at relatively low reaction temperatures. It is also a solventless technique in which thin polymeric films are deposited by introducing controlled ratios of monomer and initiator gasses into the reaction chamber. Low temperatures in the reaction chamber allow the deposition of polymer films on a wide variety of substrates that include biological substrates.

We have simulated the growth of a monolayer of polymer films on two-dimensional surfaces using Monte Carlo simulation. We saw the formation of polymer chains over a time scale on the order of microseconds. We have assumed the substrate to be at room temperature while the reactor pressure close of 800 mTorr.

The grid on which we have simulated this polymer growth is represented by a 100x100 matrix, on which a series of specialized functions are executed in each time-step, or iteration. These functions can be divided into three categories: population, translation, and polymerization.

The goal of this simulation is to observe the initial growth of the iCVD surface reaction. We have obtained favorable results with the simulation and we are now looking to compare these results with experimental results for initiation growth.

To evaluate the action mode of Berberis vulgaris root extract in the alleviation of oxidative stress, female Japanese quails (n 180, aged 5 weeks) were reared, either at 22°C for 24 h/d (thermoneutral, TN) or 34°C for 8 h/d (heat stress, HS), and fed one of three diets: diets containing 0, 100 or 200 mg of B. vulgaris root extract per kg for 12 weeks. Exposure to HS depressed feed intake by 8·5 % and egg production by 12·1 %, increased hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) level by 98·0 % and decreased hepatic superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities by 23·5, 35·4 and 55·7 %, respectively (P< 0·001 for all). There were also aggravations in expressions of hepatic NF-κB and heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) by 42 and 43 %, respectively and suppressions in expressions of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and haeme-oxygenase 1 (HO-1) by 57 and 61 %, respectively, in heat-stressed quails (P< 0·001 for all). As supplemental B. vulgaris extract increased, there were linear increases in performance parameters, activities of antioxidant enzymes and hepatic Nrf2 and HO-1 expressions (P< 0·001 for all) and linear decreases in hepatic MDA level and NF-κB and HSP70 expressions at a greater extent in quails reared under TN condition and those reared under HS condition. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of B. vulgaris root extract to quails reduces the detrimental effects of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation resulting from HS via activating the host defence system at the cellular level.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate anti-diabetic effects of chromium picolinate (CrPic) and biotin supplementations in type 2 diabetic rats. The type 2 diabetic rat model was induced by high-fat diet (HFD) and low-dose streptozotocin. The rats were divided into five groups as follows: (1) non-diabetic rats fed a regular diet; (2) diabetic rats fed a HFD; (3) diabetic rats fed a HFD and supplemented with CrPic (80 μg/kg body weight (BW) per d); (4) diabetic rats fed a HFD and supplemented with biotin (300 μg/kg BW per d); (5) diabetic rats fed a HFD and supplemented with both CrPic and biotin. Circulating glucose, cortisol, total cholesterol, TAG, NEFA and malondialdehyde concentrations decreased (P< 0·05), but serum insulin concentrations increased (P< 0·05) in diabetic rats treated with biotin and CrPic, particularly with a combination of the supplements. Feeding a HFD to diabetic rats decreased PPAR-γ expression in adipose tissue and phosphorylated insulin receptor substrate 1 (p-IRS-1) expression of liver, kidney and muscle tissues, while the supplements increased (P< 0·001) PPAR-γ and p-IRS-1 expressions in relevant tissues. Expression of NF-κB in the liver and kidney was greater in diabetic rats fed a HFD, as compared with rats fed a regular diet (P< 0·01). The supplements decreased the expression of NF-κB in diabetic rats (P< 0·05). Results of the present study revealed that supplementing CrPic and biotin alone or in a combination exerts anti-diabetic activities, probably through modulation of PPAR-γ, IRS-1 and NF-κB proteins.

In spring 2009 a new strain of influenza A(H1N1) emerged and caused a worldwide pandemic. This study utilized a large collection of respiratory specimens from suspected cases of influenza A(H1N1) in the UK West Midlands during the pandemic in order to investigate which other respiratory viruses were circulating and whether they played any role in the increased hospitalization rates seen during that period. Study specimens were selected from community and hospitalized patients positive and negative for influenza A(H1N1) and tested by PCR for other respiratory viruses. A number of infections diagnosed as influenza during the summer influenza outbreak were found to be due to other virus infections (most commonly rhinovirus). No statistically significant difference was found between the rates of respiratory virus co-infection with H1N1 in patients from community or hospital locations suggesting underlying factors were likely to be more significant than viral co-infections in determining severity of influenza A(H1N1) disease.

Certain influenza outbreaks, including the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic, can predominantly affect school-age children. Therefore the use of school absenteeism data has been considered as a potential tool for providing early warning of increasing influenza activity in the community. This study retrospectively evaluates the usefulness of these data by comparing them with existing syndromic surveillance systems and laboratory data. Weekly mean percentages of absenteeism in 373 state schools (children aged 4–18 years) in Birmingham, UK, from September 2006 to September 2009, were compared with established syndromic surveillance systems including a telephone health helpline, a general practitioner sentinel network and laboratory data for influenza. Correlation coefficients were used to examine the relationship between each syndromic system. In June 2009, school absenteeism generally peaked concomitantly with the existing influenza surveillance systems in England. Weekly school absenteeism surveillance would not have detected pandemic influenza A(H1N1) earlier but daily absenteeism data and the development of baselines could improve the timeliness of the system.

The reproductive biology of the commercial seabait polychaete species Perinereis nuntia brevicirris, Lumbrineris funchalensis and Halla parthenopeia was investigated from samples obtained from the Suez Canal, Egypt, to determine sex-ratio, reproductive maturity stages, spawning season, and fecundity. Samples were collected monthly from January 2002 to February 2003. The results of sex-ratio indicated that males of the three studied worms outnumbered females through the whole study period. Based upon histological features of the coelomic contents, four maturity stages were described in females of P. nuntia brevicirris, three stages were described for females of L. funchalensis and three stages for females of H. parthenopeia. The spawning season of P. nuntia brevicirris was found to take place during spring and L. funchalensis does not have a defined breeding season, while H. parthenopeia has two reproductive periods, one in May and the second in November and lasted to January. Fecundity was estimated by counting the number of oocytes per each female—it showed that P. nuntia brevicirris is more fecund (mean = 208.358 ±2080 oocyte/female) than L. fanchalensis and H. parthenopeia (mean = 2660 ±654 and 142,068 ±2005 oocyte/female respectively). This study is the first to document aspects of the reproductive biology of the highly commercial polychaetes in the Suez Canal and adds to our knowledge for understanding their reproductive patterns and strategies.

1. A series of experiments have been carried out with Drosophila melanogaster in order to improve further a population, highly selected for a quantitative character, by introducing genetic material from an inferior population. The effects of selecting the latter before crossing to the selected line, of waiting after crossing before restarting selection and of varying the intensity of selection after crossing have been studied. The inferior population used was the large random breeding population from which the selected line had been produced by selecting downwards for sternopleural bristles.

2. There proved to be some incompatibility between the conditions necessary to achieve the two criteria of success—the time to surpass the selected line and the extent by which it was eventually exceeded. The lines which surpassed it soonest had not been selected before crossing and had been selected intensely immediately afterwards. Those which surpassed it most had had the greatest amount of selection before crossing followed by the most intense selection afterwards.

3. Crossing-over did not appear to be a limiting factor after crossing. Neither a period of relaxation after crossing nor a lower intensity of selection after crossing increased the chance of success.

4. Genetic analyses were made of several lines which had exceeded the original selected line. In separate lines, second, third and fourth chromosomes were found which were superior to the chromosomes of the selected line. This and other evidence shows that the limits in such lines with a small number of parents are not in any way absolute but artefacts of the selection programme. The extreme third and fourth chromosomes were both recessive to that of the selected line in the effect on bristle score.

5. A theoretical discussion of such selection programmes is given, assuming that the character is controlled by independently segregating loci. It is shown that, if two alleles at different loci have an equal but small chance of fixation in the initial selection, one because it is rare and the other because, though frequent, it has little effect on the character, such a programme will tend to pick up the former rather than the latter. Of two such rare alleles with an equal initial chance of fixation, the one additive and the other recessive, the chance of fixation of the latter will be greater in a crossing programme.

Measurement of extremely new phenomena during the interaction of laser pulses with terawatt and higher power and picoseconds with plasmas arrived at drastically different anomalies in contrast to the usual observations if the laser pulses were very clean with a contrast ratio higher than 108. This was guaranteed by the suppression of prepulses during less than dozens of ps before the arrival of the main pulse resulting in the suppression of relativistic self-focusing. This anomaly was confirmed in many experimental details, and explained and numerically reproduced as a nonlinear force acceleration of skin layers generating quasi-neutral plasma blocks with ion current densities above 1011 A/cm2. This may support the requirement to produce a fast ignition deuterium tritium fusion at densities not much higher than the solid state by a single shot PW-ps laser pulse. With the aim to achieve separately studied ignition conditions, we are studying numerically how the necessary nonlinear force accelerated plasma blocks may reach the highest possible thickness by using optimized dielectric properties of the irradiated plasma. The use of double Rayleigh initial density profiles results in many wavelength thick low reflectivity directed plasma blocks of modest temperatures. Results of computations with the genuine two-fluid model are presented.

Acute mastoiditis, a destructive bacterial infection of the mastoid bone and air cell system, is relatively uncommon today but remains a potentially serious condition. There is a lack of information in the literature regarding the long term otological problems that children may face following an episode of this condition.