Activation of the tcpPH promoter on the Vibrio pathogenicity island by AphA and AphB initiates the Vibrio cholerae virulence cascade and is regulated by quorum sensing through the repressive action of HapR on aphA expression. To further understand how the chromosomally encoded AphA protein activates tcpPH expression, site-directed mutagenesis was used to identify the base pairs critical for Aph...

In this study the effect of extenders and temperatures on sperm viability and fertilizing capacity of boar sperm during long-term storage was investigated. Acrosomal integrity, membrane integrity, motility and hypo-osmotic resistance were evaluated by fluorescence and light microscopy. An in vitro fertilization test was performed to assess the fertilizing capacity of stored spermatozoa. The fiv...

Conservation triage focuses on prioritizing species, populations or habitats based on urgency, biodiversity benefits, recovery potential as well as cost. Population Viability Analysis (PVA) is frequently used in population focused conservation prioritizations. The critical nature of many of these management decisions requires that PVA models are repeatable and reproducible to reliably rank spec...

In this study microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was oxidized by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation. The treated cellulose slurry was mechanically homogenized to form a transparent dispersion which consisted of individual cellulose nanofibers with uniform widths of 3-4 nm. Bio-nanocomposite films were then prepared from a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-chitosan (CS) ...

We produced functional nanowebs, containing vanillin, having prolonged shelf-life and high temperature stability facilitated by cyclodextrin (CD) inclusion complexation. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanowebs incorporating vanillin/cyclodextrin inclusion complex (vanillin/CD-IC) were produced via electrospinning technique. The vanillin/CD-IC was prepared with three types of CDs; a-CD, b-CD and c-CD t...

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and transarterial embolization (TAE) have improved the survival rates of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the optimal TACE/TAE embolic agent has not yet been identified. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of two different embolic agents such as microspheres (ME) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on survival, tumor ...

Molecular activity and diffusion coefficients of solvents are important and find wide range of applications to analyze in many problems including polymers, such as polymerization, separation, devolatilization, vacuum/gas stripping and drying. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a hydrophilic polymer membrane material, which was used extensively in the pervaporation process for dehydration. But due t...

Population viability analysis (PVA) is widely used to assess the extinction risk of threatened species and to evaluate different management strategies. However, conventional PVA neglects important biotic interactions and therefore can fail to identify important threatening processes. We designed a new PVA approach that includes species interactions explicitly by networking species models within...

In this study, a mixture of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) was electrospun with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to produce fibrous mats for use in wound healing. The AgNPs were reduced by COS prior to electrospinning or Ag(+) was reduced via ultraviolet irradiation in nanofibers. The morphologies of the PVA/COS/AgNO3 and PVA/COS-AgNP nanofibers were analyzed by scann...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CN) were used to reinforce nanofibers in composite mats produced via electrospinning of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with two different concentrations of acetyl groups. Ultrathin cross-sections of the obtained nanocomposites consisted of fibers with maximum diameters of about 290 nm for all the CN loads investigated (from 0 to 15% CN loading). The electrospinning process di...