Cell fusion is essential for sexual reproduction and formation of muscles, bones, and placenta. Two families of cell fusion proteins (Syncytins and FFs) have been identified in eukaryotes. Syncytins have been shown to form the giant syncytial trophoblasts in the placenta. The FFs are essential to fuse cells in the skin, reproductive, excretory, digestive and nervous systems in nematodes. EFF-1 ...

Exclusive and safe formula feeding can eliminate the risk of vertical HIV transmission due to breastfeeding. Therefore, many countries advise all HIV-positive women to avoid breastfeeding their infants. However, little research explores the experiences of women attempting to exclusively formula feed in countries with free and universal access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Thi...

Developmentally programmed cell-cell fusion in Caenorhabditis elegans requires the EFF-1 protein, which is sufficient to cause normally non-fusing cells to fuse. EFF-1 localizes to fusion-fated membranes, implicating it as a direct fusogen.

Electron correlation effects in Fe are analysed using a first-principles linear combination of atomic orbitals scheme. In our approach, we first use a local orbital density functional solution to introduce a Hubbard Hamiltonian without fitting parameters. In a second step, we introduce a many-body solution to this Hamiltonian using a dynamical mean-field approximation. Our analysis shows that m...

The accuracy of regression model may have some warp when the observation data set exists outlier. We study to lessen the outlier effect in predicting GDP growth on the basis of fuzzy linear regression model in this paper. The result is eff ectively verified the performance of the model.

Control While many intervention techniques have been developed and applied with varying degrees of success, it remains clear that a comprehensive method for tick control still needs to be realised, especially for resource­constrained farmers. Conventional methods involve the use of commercial acaricides under intense dipping program­ mes. In Zimbabwe, the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS)...

Recognition that social, economic, political, and environmental factors directly aff ect HIV risk and vulnerability has stimulated interest in structural approaches to HIV prevention. Progress in the use of structural approaches has been limited for several reasons: absence of a clear defi nition; lack of operational guidance; and limited data on the eff ectiveness of structural approaches to t...

We reported a type-I difference-frequency generator (DFG), based on erbium doped GaSe (Er:GaSe) crystals as a coherent infrared source tunable from 2.4 mum to 28 mum. The two mixing beams used for the DFG are a tunable near infrared output (1.1-1.8 mum) from an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) and the fundamental beam of a picosecond Nd:YAG laser at 1.064 mum. The system can produce a maximum...

Process integration consists of numerous techniques that allow engineers to evaluate entire processes or sites, rather than focus on individual unit operations. It includes hierarchical design methods, knowledge-based systems, numerical and graphical techniques, and pinch analysis (1, 2). In the area of energy effi ciency, pinch methods dominate. Indeed, the terms pinch analysis and process int...