Semliki Forest Virus (SFV), a member of the Alphavirus genus in the Togaviridae family, is a small-enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) virus. The virus is spread by mosquitos and can infect humans, resulting in mild febrile disease with symptoms that include fever, myalgia, arthralgia, persistent headaches and asthenia. Virulent strains of SFV in mice cause lethal encephalitis by infecting neurons in the central nervous system. In on-going experiments in the research group using a focused siRNA screen we have investigated the role of deubiquitylases (DUBs) during SFV infection (as a model alphavirus) and monitored the effect of DUB depletion on cell viability after infection. We identified a group of DUBs that have a pro-viral effect. The DUB, USP5, from this screen was validated to determine its effect upon viral replication. Here, we show that depleted USP5 in HeLa cells resulted in SFV RNA and viral yield at 8 h post-infection being significantly reduced. In the multi-step viral growth curve assay, in the absence of USP5, similar yields of SFV were determined at 2 and 4 h post-infection. However, a significant reduction in the infectious viral particles release at 6, 8, 10 and 12 h post-infection was observed and this could be reversed by direct constraining viral replication. These results raise the potential for USP5 to play a distinct role in the replication of SFV, suggesting that USP5 may be a possible anti-viral therapy for alphavirus infection.
A piezoelectric cantilever beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This article introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester that increases the generated power without changing the resonance frequency of the harvester: the attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the efficient operation frequency. Five set-ups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle: theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffened harve
... Show MoreRotating blades are the important parts in gas turbines. Hence, an accurate mathematical estimation (F.E.M) of the stresses and deformations characteristics was required in the design applications to avoid failure. In recent year’s there are researchers interest in the effect of temperature on solid bodies has greatly increased, The main of this study investigated the thermal and rotational effects. So, the thermal stresses due to high pressure and temperature are studies, also determine the steady state stresses and deformations of rotating blades due to mechanical effect. Many parameters such as thickness and centre of rotating are investigated in this paper. The
... Show MoreReuse of spent hydrodesulphurization (HDS) of middle petroleum fractions catalyst CoMo/γAl2O3 was accomplished via removal of coke and contaminants such as vanadium, Iron, Nickel, and sulfur. Three processes were adopted; extraction, leaching, decoking. Soluble and insoluble coke was removed. Leaching step used three different solvents (oxalic acid, ammonium peroxydisulfate and oxalic acid + H2O2) in separate in order to remove contaminant metals (V, S, Ni and Fe).
The effect of soluble coke removal on leaching step was studied. It was found that the removal of soluble coke significantly enhances the leaching of contaminants and barely affected the removal of active metals
... Show MoreEpoxy resin has many chemical features and mechanical properties, but it has a small elongation at break, low impact strength and crack propagation resistance, i.e. it exhibits a brittle behavior. In the current study, the influence of adding kaolin with variable particle size on the mechanical properties (flexural modulus E, toughness Gc, fracture toughness Kc, hardness HB, and Wear rate WR) of epoxy resin was evaluated. Composites of epoxy with varying concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 weights %) of kaolin were prepared by hand-out method. The composites showed improved (E, Gc, Kc, HB, and WR) properties with the addition of filler. Also, similar results were observed with the decrease in particle size. In addition, in this study, mult
... Show MoreNecessary and sufficient conditions for the operator equation I AXAX n*, to have a real positive definite solution X are given. Based on these conditions, some properties of the operator A as well as relation between the solutions X andAare given.
The influence of silver doped n-type polycrystalline CdTe film with thickness of 200 nm and rate deposition of 0.3 nm.s -1 prepared under high vacuum using thermal co-evaporation technique on its some structural and electrical properties was reported. The X- ray analysis showed that all samples are polycrystalline and have the cubic zinc blend structure with preferential orientation in the [111] direction. Films doping with impurity percentages (2, 3, and 4) %Ag lead to a significant increase in the carrier concentration, so it is found to change from 23.493 108 cm -3 to 59.297 108 cm -3 for pure and doped CdTe thin films with 4%Ag respectively. But films doping with impurity percentages above lead to a significant decrease in the electrica
... Show MoreAdaptive responses in larval behavior may be of two kinds: Taxis: This involves a change in direction relative to source of a stimulus. Kinesis: Kinesis has no directional component, but involves change in the rate of performance in response to a stimulus. Drosophila larvae exhibited flexible behavioral responses associated with food acquisition and selection for different environmental conditions. In this investigation, we are concerned explosively with kinetic responses to food viability. Third instar larvae were subjected to test for thirty minutes in each of the following conditions i) in distilled water, ii) in Ringer's solution, iii) in glucose solution and on live yeast suspension. In each case the larva was in a thin layer of solu
... Show More