Chemical Studies of Multicomponent Kidney Stones Using the Modern Advanced Research Methods.

Defining the kidney stone composition is important for determining a treatment plan, understanding etiology and preventing recurrence of nephrolithiasis, which is considered as a common, civilization disease and a serious worldwide medical problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the morphology and chemical composition of multicomponent kidney stones. The identification methods such as infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron microscopy with the EDX detector were presented.

Floral colour variation of Nicotiana glauca in native and non-native ranges: Testing the role of pollinators' perception and abiotic factors.

Invasive plants displaying disparate pollination environments and abiotic conditions in native and non-native ranges provide ideal systems to test the role of different ecological factors driving flower colour variation. We quantified corolla reflectance of the ornithophilous South American Nicotiana glauca in native populations, where plants are pollinated by hummingbirds, and in populations from two invaded regions: South Africa, where plants are pollinated by sunbirds, and the Balearic island of Mallorca, where plants reproduce by selfing. Using visual modelling we examined how corolla reflectance could be perceived by floral visitors present in each region.

Industrial Shared Wireless Communication Systems-Use Case of Autonomous Guided Vehicles with Collaborative Robot.

Dedicated fieldbuses were developed to provide temporal determinisms for industrial distributed real-time systems. In the early stages, communication systems were dedicated to a single protocol and generally supported a single service. Industrial Ethernet, which is used today, supports many concurrent services, but usually only one real-time protocol at a time.

Flower Diversification Across "Pollinator Climates": Sensory Aspects of Corolla Color Evolution in the Florally Diverse South American Genus (Solanaceae).

Flower phenotype may diverge within plant lineages when moving across "pollinator climates" (geographic differences in pollinator abundance or preference). Here we explored the potential importance of pollinators as drivers of floral color diversification in the nightshade genus , taking into account color perception capabilities of the actual pollinators (nocturnal hawkmoths vs. saprophilous flies) under a geographic perspective.

Helix-loop-helix peptide foldamers and their use in the construction of hydrolase mimetics.

De novo designed helix-loop-helix peptide foldamers containing cis-2-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid residues were evaluated for their conformational stability and possible use in enzyme mimetic development. The correlation between hydrogen bond network size and conformational stability was demonstrated through CD and NMR spectroscopies. Molecules incorporating a Cys/His/Glu triad exhibited enzyme-like hydrolytic activity.

Immunoglobulin A and Protein Content of Low-Fat Human Milk Prepared for the Treatment of Chylothorax.

Background: Several case studies report successful recovery from chylothorax while infants were fed low-fat human milk. The reported growth rates were inadequate despite milk supplementation with added medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). The objective was to determine the effect that various human milk fat separating methods, refrigerated centrifuge, room temperature centrifuge, and refrigeration have on the loss of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and protein in the preparation of low-fat human milk.

Revision of "Aemilia" pagana Species-Group (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae), with a Description of a New Endemic Species and Comments on the Conservation Status.

A taxonomical rearrangement of "Aemilia" pagana species-group is proposed: Leucanopsis pagana (Schaus in Proc Zool Soc London 1894:225-243, 1894) comb. nov. and L.

Evaluation of fat separation and removal methods to prepare low-fat breast milk for fat-intolerant neonates with chylothorax.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare 2 methods (syringe and spoon methods) of removing the fat from the low-fat milk portion and compare 3 methods (refrigerated centrifuge, nonrefrigerated centrifuge, and refrigeration method) of separating breast milk into the fat and low-fat milk components.

Methods: Human milk was divided into 24 aliquots using the 3 separating methods, and 2 methods (syringe, spoon) were compared to extract the low-fat milk. Thirty-one human milk samples were separated into fatty and low-fat milk layers using 3 methods: 24-hour refrigerator storage (2°C), centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 minutes at room temperature, and spun in the refrigerated-centrifuge at 3000 rpm for 15 minutes at 2°C.

Loss of expression of DNA mismatch repair proteins is rare in pancreatic and small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors.

Context: Two recent studies have identified a high rate of microsatellite instability (MSI) in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs). Microsatellite instability is rare in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). It is unclear why there is discordance in the frequency of MSI in the 2 studies of pNETs and why this mechanism is comparatively rare in small intestinal tumors.

Immunohistochemical expression and prognostic value of ER, PR and HER2/neu in pancreatic and small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors.

Background And Aims: There has been limited study of estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER/PR) expression in gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors (GINETs) despite emerging evidence of hormone receptor regulation of pancreatic islet cells. Beta cells express PR and progesterone has been implicated in the pathogenesis of gestational diabetes. There is conflicting information regarding HER2/neu protein overexpression in GINETs.

Reexamination of the activation of yeast proteinase B at pH 5: loss of inhibition effect of proteinase B inhibitors.

The activation of yeast proteinase B at pH 5 has been suggested to be due to the degradation of a specific inhibitor for the enzyme, IB, by proteinase A. However, we found that when pepstatin, which completely inhibits proteinase A, was included in the pH 5 activation mixture, the same time-dependent activation of proteinase B was observed. Furthermore, proteinase B preparations that were void of proteinase A activity were still activated by incubation at pH 5.