We defined the basal levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in normal donors in neat (whole unprocessed) semen specimens, and in mature and immature spermatozoa isolated by a double-density gradient technique. In addition, we demonstrated that the ROS levels were significantly lower in neat semen compared with washed spermatozoa. The reference values of ROS in neat semen and mature spermatozoa...

In bacteria, laterally acquired genes are often concentrated within chromosomal regions known as genomic islands. Using a recently developed zebrafish infection model, we set out to identify unique factors encoded within genomic islands that contribute to the fitness and virulence of a reference urosepsis isolate-extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli strain CFT073. By screening a series o...

Solvation dynamics in a neat ionic liquid, 1-pentyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetra-flouroborate ([pmim][BF4]) and its microemulsion in Triton X-100 (TX-100)/benzene is studied using femtosecond up-conversion. In both the neat ionic liquid and the microemulsion, the solvation dynamics is found to depend on excitation wavelength (lambda(ex)). The lambda(ex) dependence is attributed to structural hete...

The rise in obesity is associated with a decline in the amount of physical activity in which people engage. The energy expended through everyday non-exercise activity, called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), has a considerable potential impact on energy balance and weight gain. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the central mechanisms of energy expenditure and how decrea...

   In this study, effect of asymmetric functionalized graphene oxide (Janus GO) on Young′s modulus and glass transition temperature of Polysulfone (PSf) ultrafiltration membranes was investigated. The membranes were prepared via phase inversion method and GO nanosheets were dispersed in casting solution by sonication. Results showed that the Normalized Young’s modulus (on the basis of neat ...

Bacillus anthracis is a sporulating Gram-positive bacterium that is the causative agent of anthrax and a potential weapon of bioterrorism. The U.S.-licensed anthrax vaccine is made from an incompletely characterized culture supernatant of a nonencapsulated, toxigenic strain (anthrax vaccine absorbed [AVA]) whose primary protective component is thought to be protective antigen (PA). AVA is effec...

Administration of leptin to rodents results in weight loss through decreased food intake and increased energy expenditure that occurs in part through increased spontaneous activity. In humans, low levels of spontaneous physical activity and below normal plasma leptin concentrations predict subsequent excess weight gain. We recently found that failure to increase nonexercise activity thermogenes...

Nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), the most variable component of energy expenditure, can account for differential capacities for human weight gain. Also highly variable, spontaneous physical activity (SPA) may similarly affect weight balance in animals. In the following study, we utilized the rat model of obesity, the diet-induced obese (DIO) rat, as well as the diet-resistant (DR) rat...

Robot soccer is an active research area that offers a challenging research domain to investigate a large spectrum of issues relevant to the development of complete autonomous agents. We used a two‐ and three‐agent robotic soccer simulation to study a coevolutionary learning technique: NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (NEAT). Our aim is to figure out a good fitness function for the robot ...