A square experimental arena with vegetation on one interior side was deployed in a Sharjah, United Arab Emirates desert. Individual darkling beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) Akis subtricostata Redtenbacher, 1850 and Trachyderma philistina Reiche and Saulcy, 1857 were placed inside the arena at temperatures ranging between 27 - 49°C. Whether they chose the vegetated side of the arena or not was recorded, as well as how long it took for them to reach the vegetated side, if they chose it. Both species preferred the vegetated side at all temperatures, and the chance of them choosing the vegetated side increased significantly with increasing temperature (logistic regression, p = 0.0096 and p = 0.0003 for

Five subsurface sections covering the entire length of the Jeribe Limestone Formation (Early Middle Miocene) were studied from four oilfields in northern Iraq. It is hoped to unravel this formation microfacies ; depositional environment; diagenetic attributes and their parental processes; and the relationship between these processes and the observed porosity patterns. The microfacies were found to include mudstone, wackestone, packstone, and grainstone, which have been deposited respectively in open platform, restricted platform, and edge platform which represent the lagoonal environment, while the deposits of the lower parts of the Jeribe formation especially in well Hamrin- 2 reflect a deeper fore slope environment. By using the lithofac

A (b,t)-blocking set B in PG(2,q) is set of b points such that every line of PG(2,q) intersects B in at least t points and there is a line intersecting B in exactly t points. In this paper we construct a minimal (b,t)-blocking sets, t = 1,2,3,4,5 in PG(2,5) by using conics to obtain complete arcs and projective codes related with them.

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic processes are widely applied as ecofriendly technology for degrading organic pollutants. Establishing photocatalytic heterojunctions with Z-type photocarriers transfer pathways is projected to be a superb strategy to enhance photocatalytic behavior. In this paper, novel and stable (0D/2D) heterojunctions of CoS-embedded boron-doped g-C3N4 (CoS/BCN) with a high rate of charges transfer/separation were assembled for degradation of malachite green dye (MG). The CoS/BCN photocatalyst achieves a photodegradation efficiency of 96.9 % within 1 h of LED illumination, which is 2.5 and 1.4-fold enhancement compared with bare g-C3N4 and BCN, respectively. Besides, the results of species-trapping trials exhibited that

Chitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42 

The objective of this study was to investigate the prophylactic roles of human enteric derived Lactobacillus plantarum L1 (Ll) and Lactobacillus paracasei L2 (L2), on EHEC O157:H7 infection in rodent models (In vivo). The Lactobacillus suspensions (L1 and L2) were individually and orally administered to experimental rats at a daily two consecutives of 100 μl (108 CFU/ ml/rat) for up to two weeks.  Thereafter, on the 8th day of experiment rats were orally challenged with one dose infection of EHEC (105 CFU/ml/rat). Animals mortality and illness symptoms have been monitored. There was no fatal EHEC infection in rats that had been pre‑colonized with the Lactobacillus strains, while most of EHEC infected rats were died (90%).  The

In this work, the preparation of new multidentate Schiff-base lig and and its metal complexes are described. The formation of the lig and{ 2,2`((5-methyl-1,3-phenylene)-bis-(oxy))-bis-N`(E`)-2- hydroxybenzylideneacetohydrazide}[H2L] was prepared from the reaction {2,2-((5-methyl-1,3-phenylene)-bis-(oxy))- di-(acetohydrazide)}[M]precursor and salicylaldehyde in a 1:2 mole ratio, respectively. The reaction of the lig and [H2L] with (Cr+3 , Mn+2 and Fe+2 )metal ions in a 1:2 (L:M) mole ratio. Ligand and complexes were characterised via spectroscopic analyses; [FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy,(C.H.N) microanalysis, chloride content, thermal analysis(TG), electrospray mass, magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements. The characterisation d

Erratum for Organic acid concentration thresholds for ageing of carbonate minerals: Implications for CO2 trapping/storage.

Biosorption of lead, chromium, and cadmium ions from aqueous solution by dead anaerobic biomass (DAB) was studied in single, binary, and ternary systems with initial concentration of 50 mg/l. The metal-DAB affinity was the same for all systems. The main biosorption mechanisms were complexation and physical adsorption of metallic cations onto natural active functional groups on the cell wall matrix of the DAB. It was found that biosorption of the metallic cations onto DAB cell wall component was a surface process. The main functional groups involved in the metallic cation biosorption were apparently carboxyl, amino, hydroxyle, sulfhydryl, and sulfonate. These groups were part of the DAB cell wall structural polymers. Hydroxyle groups (–O