Inferring subjective states through the observation of actions

Estimating another person''s subjective confidence is crucial for social interaction, but how this inference is achieved is unknown. Previous research has demonstrated that the speed at which people make decisions is correlated with their confidence in their decision. Here, we show that (i) subjects are able to infer the subjective confidence of another person simply through the observation of their actions and (ii) this inference is dependent upon the performance of each subject when executing the action. Crucially, the latter result supports a model in which motor simulation of an observed action mediates the successful understanding of other minds. We conclude that kinematic understanding allows access to the higher-order cognitive processes of others, and that this access plays a central role in social interactions.     

Potential of fruit and vegetable wastes as novel biosorbents: summarizing the recent studies

Fruit and vegetable wastes produced in astronomical quantities from food processing and agriculture industries often cause nuisance in municipal landfills owing to their high biodegradability. Biosorption by these waste-based adsorbents can be used as a cost effective and efficient technique for the removal of toxic heavy metals and dyes from wastewater. Recently, many papers claiming the feasible use of these biosorbents for water decontamination, treatment of industrial and agricultural wastewater and valuable metal recovery have been published. The organic waste-based adsorbents, characterized by good uptake capacity and rapid kinetics are expected to be economically and ecologically viable. This paper presents a judicious and pragmatic review depicting the key advances in implications of the fruit and vegetable wastes in pollution mitigation, the underlying mechanisms, major challenges and the future implementations. This compilation is expected to provide an impetus to the bioremediation research and promote green technology.     

Improved stability of methanolic Wright's stain solution with dual additives

Degradation of methanolic Wright's stain solutions was greatly diminished with the addition of diethylamine hydrochloride and dimethylamine hydrochloride as costabilizers. Precipitation problems were eliminated by the dual additives. The stabilized stain solutions demonstrated good staining performance on blood smears. Methods for predicting the shelf life using calculated analytical parameters are described. Using these methods, the shelf life of a control stain solution was predicted to be 0.7 years; predicted shelf life was more than tripled with the addition of diethylamine hydrochloride and was increased approximately 27 times with the addition of both diethylamine hydrochloride and dimethylamine hydrochloride.     

The impact of aging on innate and adaptive immunity in the human female genital tract

Mucosal tissues in the human female reproductive tract (FRT) are primary sites for both gynecological cancers and infections by a spectrum of sexually transmitted pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), that compromise women''s health. While the regulation of innate and adaptive immune protection in the FRT by hormonal cyclic changes across the menstrual cycle and pregnancy are being intensely studied, little to nothing is known about the alterations in mucosal immune protection that occur throughout the FRT as women age following menopause. The immune system in the FRT has two key functions: defense against pathogens and reproduction. After menopause, natural reproductive function ends, and therefore, two overlapping processes contribute to alterations in immune protection in aging women: menopause and immunosenescence. The goal of this review is to summarize the multiple immune changes that occur in the FRT with aging, including the impact on the function of epithelial cells, immune cells, and stromal fibroblasts. These studies indicate that major aspects of innate and adaptive immunity in the FRT are compromised in a site‐specific manner in the FRT as women age. Further, at some FRT sites, immunological compensation occurs. Overall, alterations in mucosal immune protection contribute to the increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STI), urogenital infections, and gynecological cancers. Further studies are essential to provide a foundation for the development of novel therapeutic interventions to restore immune protection and reverse conditions that threaten women''s lives as they age.     

Growth and yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) as influenced by weed management practices and Rhizobium inoculation

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) productivity in India is low, because of many problems beset in its cultivation. One of the serious problems are weeds. Groundnut yield losses due to weeds have been estimated as high as 24 to 70 percent. This has created a scope for using herbicides in groundnut crop. A field investigation was carried out during kharif (rainy) season of 2001-2002 on a sandy loam soil at College Agronomy Farm, B.A. College of Agriculture, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand, India to study the effect of weed management practices and Rhizobium inoculation on growth and yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Ten weed control treatments, comprising four treatments of sole application of fluchloralin, pendimethalin, butachlor and metolachlor, respectively each applied at 1.0 kg ha(-1); four treatments comprising of an application of the same herbicides at the same levels coupled with one hand weeding at 30 DAS; one weed-free treatment (hand weedings at 15, 30, 45 DAS); and one unweeded control. All 10 treatmets were combined with and without Rhizobium inoculation (i.e. a total of 20 treatment combinations) under a factorial randomized complete block design (FRBD) with four replications. Minimum weed dry matter accumulation (70 kg/ha) with higher weed control efficiency (90.70%) was recorded under an integrated method i.e. pendimethalin at 1.0 kg ha(-1) + hand weeding at 30 DAS, which also resulted in maximum pod yield (1773.50 kg ha(-1)). This treatment was comparable to fluchloralin applied at 1.0 kg ha(-1) combined with hand- weeding at 30 DAS. Weedy conditions in the unweeded control treatment reduced pod yield by 29.90-35.95% as compared to integrated method. Significantly higher pod yield was obtained with Rhizobium inoculation than the mean value of all treatments without inoculation. For most agronomical parameters examined, Rhizobium inoculation and weed control treatments were independent in their effect.     

Hydrogen sulfide mediates vasoactivity in an O2-dependent manner

Hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) has recently been shown to have a signaling role in vascular cells. Similar to nitric oxide (NO), H(2)S is enzymatically produced by amino acid metabolism and can cause posttranslational modification of proteins, particularly at thiol residues. Molecular targets for H(2)S include ATP-sensitive K(+) channels, and H(2)S may interact with NO and heme proteins such as cyclooxygenase. It is well known that the reactions of NO in the vasculature are O(2) dependent, but this has not been addressed in most studies designed to elucidate the role of H(2)S in vascular function. This is important, since H(2)S reactions can be dramatically altered by the high concentrations of O(2) used in cell culture and organ bath experiments. To test the hypothesis that the effects of H(2)S on the vasculature are O(2) dependent, we have measured real-time levels of H(2)S and O(2) in respirometry and vessel tension experiments, as well as the associated vascular responses. A novel polarographic H(2)S sensor developed in our laboratory was used to measure H(2)S levels. Here we report that, in rat aorta, H(2)S concentrations that mediate rapid contraction at high O(2) levels cause rapid relaxation at lower physiological O(2) levels. At high O(2), the vasoconstrictive effect of H(2)S suggests that it may not be H(2)S per se but, rather, a putative vasoactive oxidation product that mediates constriction. These data are interpreted in terms of the potential for H(2)S to modulate vascular tone in vivo.     

Drosophila neuroglian: a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily with extensive homology to the vertebrate neural adhesion molecule L1

Drosophila neuroglian is an integral membrane glycoprotein that is expressed on a variety of cell types in the Drosophila embryo, including expression on a large subset of glial and neuronal cell bodies in the central and peripheral nervous systems and on the fasciculating axons that extend along them. Neuroglian cDNA clones were isolated by expression cloning. cDNA sequence analysis reveals that neuroglian is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. The extracellular portion of the protein consists of six immunoglobulin C2-type domains followed by five fibronectin type III domains. Neuroglian is closely related to the immunoglobulin-like vertebrate neural adhesion molecules and, among them, shows most extensive homology to mouse L1. Its homology to L1 and its embryonic localization suggest that neuroglian may play a role in neural and glial cell adhesion in the developing Drosophila embryo. We report here on the identification of a lethal mutation in the neuroglian gene.     

Covalent carcinogenic O6-methylguanosine lesions in DNA. Structural studies of the O6 meG X A and O6meG X G interactions in dodecanucleotide duplexes

High-resolution proton and phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance studies are reported on the self-complementary d(C1-G2-N3-G4-A5-A6-T7-T8-C9-O6meG10-C11-G12) duplexes (henceforth called O6meG X A 12-mer when N3 = A3 and O6meG X G 12-mer when N3 = G3), which contain symmetry-related A3 X O6meG10 and G3 X O6meG10 interactions in the interior of the helices. We observe inter-base-pair nuclear Overhauser effects (NOE) between the base protons at the N3 X O6meG10 modification site and protons of flanking G2 X C11 and G4 X C9 base-pairs, indicative of the stacking of N3 and O6meG10 bases in both O6meG X A 12-mer and O6meG X G 12-mer duplexes. We have assigned all the base and a majority of the sugar protons from two-dimensional proton-correlated and nuclear Overhauser effect experiments on the O6meG X A 12-mer duplex and O6meG X G 12-mer duplex in solution. The observed NOEs establish that the A3 and O6meG10 at the modification site and all other residues adopt the anti configuration about the glycosidic bond, and that the O6meG X A 12-mer forms a right-handed duplex. The interaction between the bulky purine A3 and O6meG10 residues in the anti orientation results in large proton chemical shift perturbations at the (G2-A3-G4) X (C9-O6meG10-C11) segments of the helix. By contrast, we demonstrate that the O6meG10 residue adopts a syn configuration, while all other bases adopt an anti configuration about the glycosidic bond in the right-handed O6meG X G 12-mer duplex. This results in altered NOE patterns between the base protons of O6meG10 and the base and sugar protons of flanking C9 and C11 residues in the O6meG X G 12-mer duplex. The phosphorus backbone is perturbed at the modification site in both duplexes, since the phosphorus resonances are dispersed over 2 parts per million in the O6meG X A 12-mer and over 1 part per million in the O6meG X G 12-mer compared to a 0.5 part per million dispersion for an unperturbed DNA helix. We propose tentative pairing schemes for the A3 X O6meG10 and G3 X O6meG10 interactions in the above dodecanucleotide duplexes.