L-systems

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the clinical significance of increased fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) uptake on PET/CT in joints for evaluation of symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) and prediction of progression. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective study, shoulder, hip, and knee joints were imaged in 65 patients undergoing routine F-FDG PET/CT imaging. Patients completed the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaire to assess joint pain, stiffness, and physical function...

Structures of retinal blood vessels are of great importance in diagnosis and treatment of diseases that affect the eyes. Parametric Lindenmayer system (L-system) is one of the powerful rule-based methods that has a great capability for generating tree-like structures using simple rewriting rules. In this study, a novel framework, which can be used to model the retinal vasculature based on available images, has been proposed. This framework presents a solution to special instance of a general open problem, the L-system inverse problem, in which L-system rules should be obtained based on images representing a particular tree-like structure...

Previous reviews have quantified factors affecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Asian rice ( L.) systems, but not from rice systems typical for the United States, which often vary considerably particularly in practices (i.e., water and carbon management) that affect emissions. Using meta-analytic and regression approaches, existing data from the United States were examined to quantify GHG emissions and major practices affecting emissions. Due to different production practices, major rice production regions were defined as the mid-South (Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri) and California, with emissions being evaluated separately...

Transcriptome and metabolism analysis were performed to evaluate the scale-down of a CHO cell fed-batch process from a 10 L bioreactor to an ambr 15® (ambr) system. Two different agitation scale-down principles were applied, resulting in two different agitation rates in the ambr system: 1300 RPM based on the agitator tip speed, and 800 rpm based on the volumetric power input (P/V). Culture performance including cell growth, product titer, glycosylation, and specific consumption/production rates of metabolites was the same for both agitation rates in the ambr and was comparable to that of the 10 L system...

The development of chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation in the elderly (inflammaging) has been associated with increased incidence of chronic diseases, geriatric syndromes, and functional impairments. The aim of this study was to examine differences in habitual physical activity (PA), dietary intake patterns, and musculoskeletal performance among community-dwelling elderly men with low and elevated systemic inflammation. Nonsarcopenic older men free of chronic diseases were grouped as ‘low’ (LSI: n = 17; 68...

Amino acid transporters play an important role in cell growth and metabolism. MeAIB, a transporter-selective substrate, often represses the adaptive regulation of sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporter 2 (SNAT2), which may act as a receptor and regulate cellular amino acid contents, therefore modulating cellular downstream signaling. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of MeAIB to SNAT2 on cell proliferation, protein turnover, and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway in porcine enterocytes...

The toxicity of cadmium (Cd) has posed major public health concern in crops grown in the Cd-contaminated soils. The effects of five amendments, nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA) and it combined with lime, zeolite, bone mill and fly ash on Cd immobilization in soils and uptake in potatoes, were investigated in a contaminated soil by pot experiments. The result showed that the applications of combined amendments significantly decreased the bioavailable Cd concentrations extracted by TCLP, DTPA-TEA and MgCl2 in the contaminated soils, and changed the soluble and exchangeable and specifically sorbed fractions to oxide-bound and organic-bound fractions...

Early fertilizer nitrogen (N) application on cover crops or their residues during the off-season is a practice adopted in Brazil subtropical conditions under no-tillage corn (Zea mays L.) systems. However, the effect of early N application on yield, plant N content, and N recovery efficiency (NRE) for corn is not yet well documented. Five fertilizer N timings in an oat-corn system were evaluated in two studies utilizing an isotopic-labeled N determination, 15N isotope. The N fertilization timings were: (i) oat tillering, (ii) 15 days before corn planting time, over the oat residues, (iii) at corn planting time, (iv) in-season at the three-leaf growth stage (V3), and (v) in-season split application at V3 and six-leaf (V6) growth stages...

Background and Aims: Transport of carbohydrates and water are essential aspects of plant function. The aim of this study was to develop and test the methods for mechanistic modelling of quasi-stationary coupled phloem/xylem transport in the context of functional-structural plant modelling. Methods: The novelty of this approach is in combining analytical and computational methods. The plant structure is modelled at a metamer level with the internodes represented by conduit elements and the lateral organs represented by sources and sinks...

Soil organic matter (SOM) content and soil aggregation are essential components of soil structure, which plays an important role in soil quality and fertility. Also, the SOM content, aggregation, and humus substances in paddy field were affected by application of fertilization practices. However, there is still limited information about the effects of long-term different fertilization practices on soil aggregation and carbon content in the humic acid (C-HAF), fulvic acid (C-FAF), and humin (C-HUM) fractions under double-cropping rice (Oryza sativa L...

This work demonstrates a simple and one-step synthesis of polythiophene/gold nanoparticles (PT/Au) nanocomposite thin films, through a liquid-liquid (L/L) interfacial polymerization route. Starting from an aqueous solution of tetrachloroauric acid (acting both as metallic gold source and oxidizing agent to start the oxidative polymerization of thiophene), and a solution of thiophene in n-hexane, a biphasic L/L system was originated. In the following, the interface acted as a meeting-point for the reactants, and the polymerization reaction took place, leading to self-assembled PT/Au film between the two immiscible liquids...

AIM AND BACKGROUND: We present a typology of cacao agroforest systems in Colombian Amazonia. These systems had yet to be described in the literature, especially their potential in terms of biodiversity conservation. The systems studied are located in a post-conflict area, and a deforestation front in Colombian Amazonia. Cacao cropping systems are of key importance in Colombia: cacao plays a prime role in post conflict resolution, as cacao is a legal crop to replace illegal crops; cacao agroforests are expected to be a sustainable practice, promoting forest-friendly land use...

Lateral movements of the fingers in Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instabilities at the interface between two fluids are studied. We show that transverse movements appear when a physical boundary is present; these phenomena have not been explained until now. The boundary prevents one of the fluids from crossing it. Such frontiers can be buoyancy driven as, for example, the frontier to the passage of a less dense solution through a denser solution or when different aggregation states coexist (liquid and gaseous phases)...

A systematic study of the dependence of electrolyte activity coefficients on simulation system size has been undertaken. Using implicit-solvent simulations for which calculations with low statistical uncertainty are feasible, it was found that the chemical potential for a NaCl model depends strongly on simulation system size at concentrations up to about 0.3 mol/L; system-size effects at higher concentrations are much smaller. Similar trends were confirmed in systems with an explicit solvent. System-size effects on the chemical potential, when uncorrected, can lead to systematic errors in the activity coefficient greater than 10%...

The phase behavior of hard spherocylinders (HSCs) confined in cylindrical cavities is studied using Monte Carlo simulations in the canonical ensemble. Results are presented for different values of the particles' aspect ratio l/σ, where l and σ are the length and diameter of the cylinder and hemispherical caps, respectively. Finite cavities with periodic boundary conditions along the principal axis of the cavities have been considered, where the cavity's principal axis is along the z-direction. We first focus our study in the structure induced by varying the degree of confinement, determining the HSC phase diagram for aspect ratios l/σ = 3, 5, 7, and 9, at a fixed packing fraction η = 0...

Foliage echoes could play an important role in the sensory ecology of echolocating bats, but many aspects of their sensory information content remain to be explored. A realistic numerical model for these echoes could support the development of hypotheses for the relationship between foliage properties and echo parameters. In prior work by the authors, a simple foliage model based on circular disks distributed uniformly in space has been developed. In the current work, three key simplifications used in this model have been examined: (i) representing leaves as circular disks, (ii) neglecting shading effects between leaves, and (iii) the uniform spatial distribution of the leaves...

This work aimed to assess inter-rater reliability and agreement of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based Kellgren and Lawrence (K&L) grading for patellofemoral joint osteoarthritis (OA) and to validate it against the MRI Osteoarthritis Knee Score (MOAKS). MRI scans from people aged 45 to 75 years with chronic knee pain participating in a randomised clinical trial evaluating dietary supplements were utilised. Fifty participants were randomly selected and scored using the MRI-based K&L grading using axial and sagittal MRI scans...

Soil amendments, such as biochar, have been used to enhance the immobilization of heavy metals in contaminated soil. A pot experiment was conducted to immobilize the available cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in soil using peanut shell biochar (PBC) and wheat straw biochar (WBC), and to observe the accumulation of these heavy metals in rice (Oryza sativa L.). The application of PBC and WBC led to significantly higher pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) in paddy soil, while the content of MgCl2 -extractable Cd and Pb was lower than that of untreated soil...

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer formulations vary in their effects as substrates on nitrous oxide (NO) emissions. Mitigation of NO emissions can potentially be achieved through appropriate choice of N fertilizer sources combined with stabilizers. The effects of three N fertilizers and urease and nitrification inhibitors on NO emissions, crop N uptake, and yields were determined in a furrow-irrigated corn ( L.) system in Reiff loam soil in the Sacramento Valley of California for one growing season. Aqua ammonia (Aq...

Thyroxine (T4) enters the brain either directly across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) or indirectly via the choroid plexus (CP), which forms the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (B-CSF-B). In this study, using isolated perfused CP of the sheep by single-circulation paired tracer and steady-state techniques, T4 transport mechanisms from blood into lateral ventricle CP has been characterized as the first step in the transfer across the B-CSF-B. After removal of sheep brain, the CPs were perfused with (125)I-T4 and (14)C-mannitol...