Comparative studies on fermentation products of cocoa beans

The maximum amounts of acetic acid produced by ripe and unripe cocoa beans were 157 mg and 110 mg/10 g wet wt of cotyledon, respectively. The unripe beans had a lower pH than the ripe beans after 6 days' fermentation. About 40% of ripe beans achieved a chocolate colour compared with 27% of unripe beans.O. Abdul Samah, N. Ibrahim and H. Alimon are with the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology and M.I. Abdul Karim is with the Department of Food Science, both of the University of Agriculture, Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Malaysia     

Retraction Statement: Comparative molecular docking and molecular-dynamic simulation of wild-type- and mutant carboxylesterase with BTA-hydrolase for enhanced binding to plastic

Retraction: ‘Comparative molecular docking and molecular-dynamic simulation of wild-type- and mutant carboxylesterase with BTA-hydrolase for enhanced binding to plastic ’, by Fatana Lameh, Abdul Qadeer Baseer, and Abubakar Garba Ashiru, Eng Life Sci. 2021; 13-29: The above article, published online on 15 November 2021 in Wiley Online Library ( https://doi.org/10.1002/elsc.202100083 ), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal's Editors in Chief, Prof. Dr. Ralf Takors and Prof. Dr. An-Ping Zeng, and Wiley-VCH GmbH. The retraction has been agreed because the copyright owner, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, does not consent to publication of the research.     

Structural diversity and geographical distribution of halogenated secondary metabolites in red algae,Laurencia nangii Masuda (Rhodomelaceae,Ceramiales), in the coastal waters of North Borneo Island

The red algae genus Laurencia (Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiales) is known as a prolific producer of halogenated secondary metabolites with a high level of species diversity and geographical distribution. In North Borneo Island, Malaysia, there are four main Laurencia species: Laurencia snackeyi, Laurencia majuscula, Laurencia similis and L. nangii. Although the chemistry of Laurencia is well studied, the diversity of compounds in L. nangii has not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, we studied the chemical constituents of seven populations of L. nangii from Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (two populations), Dinawan Island (one population), Tun Mustapha Marine Park (two populations) and Tun Sakaran Marine Park (two populations). Halogenated compounds were isolated and the structures determined via spectroscopic methods. A total of 20 metabolites belonging to the classes of sesquiterpenes, acetylenes, bromoallenes, diterpenes and triterpenes were identified. Populations from Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park and Dinawan Island contained non-chamigrane-type sesquiterpenes, acetylenes and diterpenes. Populations from Tun Mustapha Marine Park contained chamigrane-type sesquiterpenes, acetylenes and diterpenes. However, the chemical compositions of populations from Tun Sakaran Marine Park were found to differ significantly, containing chamigrane-type and non-chamigrane-type sesquiterpenes, bromoallenes and triterpenes. This investigation has revealed the presence of interesting chemotaxonomical markers in populations of L. nangii and the existence of chemical races in this species.     

Book review

Book reviewed in this article: Talhouk , Abdul Mon'im S. Insects and Mites Injurious to Crops in Middle Eastern Countries. Avidov , Z. and Harpaz , I. Plant pests of Israel. Appendix to foregoing Book reviews     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Analytic Studies in Plant Respiration . By the late F. F. Blackman.
Man and the Vertebrates. By A. S. Romer.
Researches on Plant Diseases of the Punjab. By Abdus Sattar and Abdul Hafiz.     

Filament formation in Clostridium acidiurici under conditions of elevated temperatures

Terry, David R. (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah), Abdul Gaffar, and Richard D. Sagers. Filament formation in Clostridium acidiurici under conditions of elevated temperatures. J. Bacteriol. 91:1625-1634. 1966.-Vegetative cells of Clostridium acidiurici, when grown at temperatures up to 42 C, are straight rods varying from 2.5 to 4 mu in length. When grown at 43 C, the cells show a definite tendency to elongate, and, when grown at 44 C, filaments are formed, often exceeding 500 mu in length. Only an occasional cross wall is apparent in the heat-induced long forms, but as the temperature is lowered they readily form cross walls and fragment into short, single cells. Chromatin material is distributed in evenly spaced clusters throughout the length of the filaments. The filaments grown at 44 C are gram-negative, whereas cells grown at 37 C are gram-positive. However, filament formation and gram-negativity apparently are not due to magnesium deficiency, since the gram-negative filaments are formed in concentrations of magnesium ranging from 10(-6) to 10(-2)m. The rapid transition from filaments to single cells upon lowering the temperature from 44 to 37 C suggests that the temperature-related repression of the cross wall-forming system is a phenotypic response rather than the selection of specific mutants which produce the observed phenomena.     

Amino acid compostion of walls from single and filamentous cells of Clostridium acidiurici

Gaffar, Abdul (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah), David R. Terry, and Richard D. Sagers. Amino acid composition of walls from single and filamentous cells of Clostridium acidiurici. J. Bacteriol. 91:1618-1624. 1966.-The walls from single and filamentous cells of Clostridium acidiurici were shown to contain 11 amino acids: aspartic acid, serine, glutamic acid, proline, d-alanine, glycine, valine, methionine, valine, leucine, phenylalanine, and lysine. In the walls from cells grown at 37 C, d-alanine was the amino acid present in largest quantity, but in the walls from cells grown at 44 C there was a 50% reduction in the d-alanine content while the levels of the other amino acids were unchanged. Filamentous cells grown at 44 C, then brought to 37 C and transferred to fresh medium, fragmented into short cells within 30 min. Alanine racemase activity was the same in extracts from cells grown at both 37 and 44 C, suggesting that this enzyme was not the major controlling factor in the low content of d-alanine in filaments grown at 44 C. Spent medium from cultures grown at 44 C contained a significant amount of d-alanine, whereas there was no evidence of this amino acid in the spent medium from cultures grown at 37 C.     

Inside Back Cover: Optimizing interstitial photodynamic therapy with custom cylindrical diffusers (J. Biophotonics 1/2019)

Interstitial photodynamic therapy (iPDT) planning aims to minimize the damage to organs‐at‐risk (OAR), while maximizing dose coverage of the tumor by optimizing the number of light diffusers, their positions and their allocated powers. The cover describes a new degree of freedom to optimize upon in iPDT, namely diffusers' power emission profiles. The tool generates manufacturable customized emission profiles that lead to better conformation to brain tumor shapes, resulting in 50% further minimization of damage to OAR. Background image is taken from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Further details can be found in the article by Abdul‐Amir Yassine, Lothar Lilge, and Vaughn Betz ( e201800153 ).

     

Effect of social media use on learning,social interactions,and sleep duration among university students

BackgroundSocial networking sites are widely used by university students. This study investigated the purposes for which social networking sites are used and their effects on learning, social interaction, and sleep duration.Material and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 300, 17–29-year-old female students at Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz University. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Chi-squared (Fisher’s exact test) test was used to analyze the data.ResultsThe results showed that 97% of the students used social media applications. Only 1% of them used social media for academic purposes. Whereas 35% of them used these platforms to chat with others, 43% of them browsed these sites to pass time. Moreover, 57% of them were addicted to social media. Additionally, 52% of them reported that social media use had affected their learning activities, 66% of them felt more drawn toward social media than toward academic activities, and 74% of them spent their free time on social media platforms. The most popular applications (i.e., based on usage) were Snapchat (45%), Instagram (22%), Twitter (18%), and WhatsApp (7%). Further, 46% and 39% of them reported going to bed between 11 pm and 12 am and between 1 am and 2 am, respectively. Finally, 68% of them attributed their delayed bedtime to social media use, and 59% of them reported that social media had affected their social interactions.ConclusionsA majority of the participants reported prolonged use of social networking sites for nonacademic purposes. These habitual behaviors can distract students from their academic work, adversely affect their academic performance, social interactions, and sleep duration, and lead to a sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity, which in turn can render them vulnerable to non-communicable diseases and mental health problems.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Towards an Archaeology of Mind . An Inaugural Lecture Delivered Before the University of Cambridge on 30 November, 1982. By Colin Renfrew Claude Levi-Strauss. The Bearer of Ashes . By David Pace Other Tribes, Other Scribes: Symbolic Anthropolog in the Comparative Study of Cultures. Histories. Religions, and Texts . By James A. Boon World View . By Michael Kearney. Chandler & Sharp Fantasy and Symbol. Studies in Anthropological Interpretation . Edited by R.H. Hook Consciousness and Causality: A Debate on the Nature of the Mind . By D.M. Armstrong and Norman Malcolm The Logic of Culture. Advances in Structural Theory and Methods . Edited by Ino Rossi Michael Foucaull and the Subversion of Intellect. By Karlis Racevskis Bones, Ancient Men and Modern Myths . By Lewis R. Binford Shipwreck Anthropology . Edited by Richard A. Gould. A School of American Research Book Quaternary Coastlines and Marine Archaeology Towards the Prehistory of Land Bridges and Continental Shelves . Edited by P.M. Masters and N.C. Flemming The Hunger for Salt. An Anthropological, Physiological and Medical Analysis . By Derek Denton, Springer Verlag Climate and History. Studies in Past Climates and Their Impact on Man . Edited by T.M.L. Wigley, M.J. Ingram, G. Farmer Climatic Change in Later Prehistory . Edited by Antony Harding Short and Long-Term Changes in Climate . Volume I & II by Felix G. Sulman Social Science Research and Climate Change. An Interdisciplinary Appraisal . Edited by Robert S. Chen. Elise Boulding and Stephen H. Schneider Population and Society: A Sociological Perspective . By Carl F. Grindstaff Growth and Structure of Human Population in the Presence of Migration . By M. Sivamurthy Ethnographic Atlas of Ifugao. A Study Environment, Culture, and Society in Northern Luzon . By Harold C. Conklin World View. By Michael Kearney. Chandler & Sharp, Shingu. A Study of a Japanese Fishing Ccommunity . By Arne Kalland Sala'ilua. A Samoan Mystery . By Bradd Shore Parenthood and Social Reproduction. Fostering and Occupational Roles in West Africa . By Esther N. Goody Law As Process, An Anthropological Approach . By Sally Falk Moore Law and Social Change in Papua New Guinea . Edited by David Weisbrot, Abdul Paliwala and Akilagpa Sawyerr Aborigines and the Law: Essays in Memory of Elizabeth Egglestbn . Edited by Peter Hanks and Bryan Keon-Cohen The Firm and the Formless: Religion and Identity in Aboriginal Australia . By Hans Mol Gularabulu: Stories from the West Kimberley . By Paddy Roe. Edited by Stephen Muecke Banggaiyerri: The Story of Jack Sullivan as told to Bruce Shaw . By Bruce Shaw The Aboriginal Economy in Town and Country . By E. K. Fisk     

The semantics of pain in Indian culture and medicine

An interpretive perspective offers a counterpoint to the behavioral orientation in the social scientific literature on pain. The present paper develops a meaning-centered approach which focuses on three interconnected aspects of the experience of suffering: (l) the cultural construction of pain sensation; (2) the semiotics of pain expression; (3) the structure of pain's causes and cures. These connections are explored through a variety of linguistic and semiotic forms, including metaphors, etymologies, gestural codes, taxonomies, and semantic networks. The study of metaphor has special value in revealing the cultural construction of pain, especially its sensory qualities, such as temperature, weight, and movement. The concept of semantic network provides a complementary tool for understanding pain experience; the analysis makes pain sensation the center of the network and argues that multiple meanings attach to this sensory core.The paper examines these perspectives in the context of North Indian culture and medicine, specifically Unani Tibb, or Greco-Arab medicine. Pursuing questions of the fit between everyday belief and traditional medicine, the essay traces continuities in the language of pain in North Indian culture, classical Unani Tibb, and contemporary Unani clinical practice.[/ p]My research on Unani medicine in India was funded by a Senior Fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute from January to August 1983. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the Ninth European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Heidelberg University, July 9–12, 1986, for a panel organized by Dr. Beatrix Pfleiderer on The Cultural Context of Health Care in South Asia. I am grateful to Dr. Patricia Jeffery of the University of Edinburgh for presenting the paper for me. I would like to thank Mohammed Sultan Yar Khan and his family, Hakim Mohammed Razzack and Hakim Umul Fazl of the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, and Hakim Abdul Hameed of the Institute for History of Medicine and Medical Research, for their aid and advice in India. I would also like to acknowledge Arthur Kleinman for his comments on the paper, and Vandana Goswami, Vasavi Gowda, and Khalida Zaki for our discussions about pain in South Asia.     

pH regulation in anoxic plants

BACKGROUND: pH regulation is the result of a complex interaction of ion transport, H+ buffering, H+-consuming and H+-producing reactions. Cells under anoxia experience an energy crisis; an early response thereof (in most tissues) is a rapid cytoplasmic acidification of roughly half a pH unit. Depending on the degree of anoxia tolerance, this pH remains relatively stable for some time, but then drops further due to an energy shortage, which, in concert with a general breakdown of transmembrane gradients, finally leads to cell death unless the plant finds access to an energy source. SCOPE: In this review the much-debated origin of the initial pH change and its regulation under anoxia is discussed, as well as the problem of how tissues deal with the energy crisis and to what extent pH regulation and membrane transport from and into the vacuole and the apoplast is a part thereof. CONCLUSIONS: It is postulated that, because a foremost goal of cells under anoxia must be energy production (having an anaerobic machinery that produces insufficient amounts of ATP), a new pH is set to ensure a proper functioning of the involved enzymes. Thus, the anoxic pH is not experienced as an error signal and is therefore not reversed to the aerobic level. Although acclimated and anoxia-tolerant tissues may display higher cytoplasmic pH than non-acclimated or anoxia-intolerant tissues, evidence for an impeded pH-regulation is missing even in the anoxia-intolerant tissues. For sufficient energy production, residual H+ pumping is vital to cope with anoxia by importing energy-rich compounds; however it is not vital for pH-regulation. Whereas the initial acidification is not due to energy shortage, subsequent uncontrolled acidosis occurring in concert with a general gradient breakdown damages the cell but may not be the primary event.     

A peptidyl dipeptidase-4 from Pseudomonas maltophilia: purification and properties

A peptidyl dipeptidase-4 (bacterial PDP-4) was purified to near homogeneity from a supernatant of Pseudomonas maltophilia extracellular medium. Bacterial PDP-4 is a single-polypeptide-chain enzyme, 82 kDa, with an alkaline isoelectric point. Peptides susceptible to hydrolysis by bacterial PDP-4 include angiotensin 1, bradykinin, enkephalins, atriopeptin 2, and smaller synthetic peptides. N-acylated tripeptides are hydrolyzed, but free tripeptides are not. A free carboxy terminus is required for hydrolysis. Peptides with ultimate and penultimate Pro residues are not hydrolyzed. The enzyme does not require an anion for activity. Bacterial PDP-4 was inhibited by EDTA and the dipeptide Phe-Arg. Thiorphan was an inhibitor only at levels well above those required for inhibition of neutral metalloendopeptidase (NEP), an enzyme for which thiorphan is specific. A second NEP and thermolysin inhibitor, phosphoramidon, did not inhibit bacterial PDP-4. The potent angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor lisinopril was not inhibitory. Bacterial PDP-4 is distinguished from a similar enzyme from Escherichia coli, which is not susceptible to EDTA inhibition, and one from Corynebacterium equi, which hydrolyzes free tripeptides. These data indicate that the bacterial PDP-4 catalytic site is unlike those of other enzymes that function either wholly or in part as peptidyl dipeptidases.     

Cooperation should not be assumed

Evolutionary game theory provides a framework for explaining social interactions, including those between males and females. In a recent article, Roughgarden et al. discuss a new approach to sexual selection based on cooperative game theory and argue that cooperation rather than competition is fundamental in interactions between the sexes. However, compelling reasons for adopting this approach are not given and the authors do not adopt it consistently. We argue that non-cooperative game theory provides an adequate basis for understanding sexual selection, but that further work is needed to produce realistic models. We agree with Roughgarden and colleagues that bargaining is an important aspect of social interactions, but this is not a novel claim. Bargaining does not require the assumption of cooperation and does not necessarily lead to it.     

Revisiting matrix games: the concept of neighborhood invader strategies

We extend the concept of neighborhood invader strategy (NIS) to finite-dimensional matrix games and compare this concept to the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) concept. We show that these two concepts are not equivalent in general. Just as ESS's may not be unique, NIS's may also not be unique. However, if there is an ESS and a NIS then these strategies must be the same. We show that an ESNIS (an ESS and NIS) for any matrix game is unique and that a mixed ESS with full support is a NIS. Thus a mixed ESS with full support is not invadable by any pure or mixed strategy and it can invade any pure or mixed strategy. An ESS which is an ESNIS, therefore, has better chance of being established evolutionarily through dynamic selection.     

Lethal injection,autonomy and the proper ends of medicine

Gerald Dworkin has argued that it is inconsistent with the proper ends of medicine for a physician to participate in an execution by lethal injection. He does this by proposing a principle by which we are to judge whether an action is consistent with the proper ends of medicine. I argue: (a) that this principle, if valid, does not show that it is inconsistent with the proper ends of medicine for a physician to participate in an execution by lethal injection; and (b) that this principle is not valid, and this is because it mistakenly views the promotion of patient autonomy as one of the proper ends of medicine. Rather, I propose, we should view respect for a patient's autonomy as a constraint on the pursuit of the proper ends of medicine, rather than as one of the proper ends itself. With this revised understanding of the proper ends of medicine, we can conclude that it is inconsistent with the proper ends of medicine for a physician to participate in an execution by lethal injection.     

Expanding the catalytic repertoire of nucleic acid catalysts: simultaneous incorporation of two modified deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates bearing ammonium and imidazolyl functionalities.

Two nucleoside triphosphates, a pyrimidine modified with an ammonium functionality and a purine modified with an imidazolyl functionality are compatible with all conditions for a combinatorial selection of nucleic-acid catalysts. We believe that this work is the first to demonstrate the potential for using not one but two modified nucleotides in tandem. The potential for an enriched catalytic repertoire is envisioned.     

Learning from the voiceless

This article is concerned with understanding what is at stake in the everyday lives of family members facing Huntington's Disease (HD). The methodological and analytical point of departure is German critical psychology, particularly the category of conduct of everyday life (Holzkamp, 1995; Dreier, 1999). Specifically, I address questions of accessing and understanding the conduct of everyday life of persons facing HD who are not visibly active with respect to this circumstance. The question of access is not merely about getting in touch with persons who are not known to the research, professional and HD communities, but also about the consequences of establishing contact with persons who have not made an entry into any of these public areanas themselves. The question of understanding is about developing an analysis from a first-person perspective on the personal conduct of everyday life that is not visibly active. The development of such an understanding has broader implications, not just for further research and health care practices, but importantly also for the prevailing moral and ethical demands made on persons living at risk of hereditary diseases.     

Psychosocial adaptation to short stature - an indication for growth hormone therapy?

Although growth hormone does not clearly improve final height in non-growth-hormone-deficient children with short stature, it leads to a temporary acceleration of growth velocity. It is an ongoing discussion whether this effect supports psychosocial adaptation to short stature and therefore could be an indication for growth hormone treatment in children with short stature without growth hormone deficiency. We have reviewed recent literature concerning psychosocial consequences of short stature. Together with own data we can demonstrate that short people regularly adapt well to their height and have a good self-esteem. On the other hand, we focus on the problem that most studies on this subject suffer from methodical problems. A growth-related questionnaire that evaluates subjective and objective perceptions of being short in patients and peers is not at hand. As a consequence, psychosocial problems due to short stature have not been exactly classified yet and therefore do not represent an indication for growth hormone therapy.