Reduction of metal is an important defense mechanism in microorganisms as a way to manage metal toxicity. The inherent, clean, nontoxic and environmentally friendly ability of eukaryotic and prokaryotic microorganisms to form the metal nanoparticles is particularly important in the development of nanobiotechnology. New methods have been developed to control disparity, chemical composition, the size, and the shape to get the best particles which can be well applied in different fields of science.

Scientists searching for extraterrestrial life forms have recently begun to focus their attention on a group of icy bodies in the outer solar system. These satellites, particularly Europa, Enceladus, Titan and Triton, are thought to contain both organic molecules and liquid water, and, unlike the organic-rich comets and meteorites of the inner solar system, may also have suitable energy sources for simple organic chemistry to proceed.

Tobacco dependence in patients with schizophrenia is an increasing concern with few treatment options. Individuals with Schizophrenia have a cigarette smoking prevalence rate which is significantly higher than the general population. Consequently, patients also have a lower quit rate than the general population. The increased prevalence of tobacco use in this population complicates symptoms and also has adverse physiological effects on patients.

This study compares gender differences in attitudes towards prenatal testing, testing in minors, Huntington testing and the creation of designer babies and identifies how risk of genetic disease is perceived by both genders.

Community-acquired pneumonia is an important clinical problem, with high rates of misdiagnosis and mortality. Diagnoses are typically conducted using two-dimensional chest x-rays, which have shown to be generally time-consuming and inaccurate, so current diagnostic methods should be improved. The goal of this research was to utilize Micro-Computed Tomography (MicroCT) and image analysis software to develop a diagnostic algorithm to quantitatively assess the severity of pneumonia in mice. This method provides immediate, more precise, and more accurate diagnoses as opposed to the qualitative assessments done by radiologists at present. MicroCT provides opportunities for non-invasive radiographic endpoints for pneumonia studies

Manipulation of learning processes in the brain has proven to be experimentally challenging. Various studies have focused on specific components of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP), attempting to systematically regulate the learning progress through manipulation of its proposed elements. The manipulation of such elements is thought to result in a proportional change in the efficacy of the whole system. Based on the inadequate results of this approach, we hypothesized that changes implemented to a fraction of synapses in a network represented an incomplete investigation of LTP function.

The twenty first century is witnessing a shocking upsurge in the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndromes and other lifestyle related diseases. As a result there is a sharp escalation in the number of local fitness centers and health clubs, leading to a rampant employment of fitness trainers, who lack adequate knowledge and training.

Past studies on rodent population dynamics have narrowed down the mechanisms driving population fluctuations to single-factor theories such as the effects of resource pulses and top-down trophic cascades. The variation in rodent population dynamics across regional and climatic gradients, however, calls for a more holistic approach that takes into consideration mutiple site-specific factors. To that end, the effects of shelter availability and diversity of food-producing plants on Peromyscus activity were tested across three habitat types along a watershed in Big Sur, California.

In this article I will briefly describe meerkats and their social behaviours and then examine the possible mechanisms by which the cooperative raised guarding behaviour of the meerkats may have evolved.

Corneal diseases are one of the main causes of vision loss and blindness. Ocular morbidity in turn is mainly caused by Fungal Keratitis, throughout the world and especially in Asia. Isolation of the etiological agent and accurate diagnosis are important for the successful treatment of this disease. In extreme cases of infection the fungi penetrate the Descemet's membrane ultimately leading to tissue necrosis. Under such conditions, corneal transplantation is the most effective cure. The corneas that are excised are stored in Mc Carey Kaufmann (MK) media. The objective of this study was to analyze the epidemiological and microbiological features, pre disposing factors associated with Fungal Keratitis.

Although much work has focused on how the presence of an audience may influence aggression and mate choice, little is known about how this may impact other behaviors such as resource defense or habitat use. While the social behavior of guppies, Poecilia reticulata, has been extensively studied in the contexts of predator inspection and mate choice copying, the existence of true audience effects has not been investigated in this species. P. reticulata do not have a resource-based mating system, but males have been observed to form dominance hierarchies and compete for access to females. Male P. reticulata behavior may be altered when an audience is present to maintain access to females.

The gel-based electrophoretic assay described in this study measures the levels of DNA damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light, particularly UVB radiation, directly, in the absence of any possibility for DNA repair. The correlation between exposure to UV light, particularly UVB radiation, and increased skin cancer risk has necessitated the ability to easily assess DNA damage and the protective effects of certain UV absorbing chemicals. UV exposure followed by alkali treatment and gel electrophoresis reveals the extent of DNA Damage to be directly correlated with gel mobility.

Grafting to control soilborne diseases and nematodes is common in many horticultural crops. Vegetable grafting has become standard procedure for many greenhouse operations, and is gaining importance in field production. The grafting of Capsicum annuum L. seedlings (Early Jalapeno,' Keystone,' and NuMex Joe E. Parker' ) by hand onto Celebrity' tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) seedlings was evaluated.

Population immunity is described as the number of individuals in a given population that is sufficient to prevent the transmission of a disease from the infectious to the susceptible. Although high population immunity usually prevents epidemics, we have seen many epidemics that were caused by infectious agents such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Influenza type A H1N1 viruses.

Although the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was the most devastating in history, tsunamis are a recurring peril for all coastal communities. This experiment evaluated the possibility of using an undersea trench, offset from the shore, to physically reduce wave amplitude at the shoreline.

Dilute magnetic semiconductors are materials that couple useful magnetic and semiconductor properties. However, making them useful for electronic application requires them to have reliable ferromagnetism sustained all the way to room temperature and above. Understanding the clustering behavior of magnetic dopants in dilute magnetic semiconductors is very important since it can reveal the source of the magnetism.

How is the experience of pain altered by perceptions of its meaning? Does endurance or quality change with context? Work done by Melzack and Wall (1965) suggests that pain is as much a "top-down" process as it is "bottom-up". One of the many ways in which pain is shaped "top-down" is through an understanding of the meaning or purpose of the pain endured

Clinical lore in psychiatry has long suggested interactions between thyroid function and mood, with clinicians often reporting hypothyroidism accompanied by depressed mood in affected subpopulations. Researchers from an array of disciplines have sought to elucidate the shared pathophysiology, symptomalogy, and etiology underlying these thyroid-mood comorbidities. This review assembles recent findings in an effort to better understand the biological basis of thyroid-depression interactions.

Music has been used for thousands of years as a means of emotional expression. The goals of this paper are to (a) review current literature on how music induces emotion (b) explore the mechanisms of how this happens both physiologically and psychologically and (c) to look at the role of desired effect and musical preference to move towards a general conclusion of what drives listeners' musical choices.

Anthropogenic activities may influence rates of microbial activity through the increased concentrations of pollutants. One relatively understudied pollutant is lithium. In addition to natural sources of lithium, lithium is also derived from a variety of manufactured goods such as pharmaceuticals and electronic devices. Thus, environmental concentrations of lithium are increasing. We studied the effect of lithium on microbial activity measured as respiration, nutrient uptake, and nitrification rates.

An urban city can influence the aqueous geochemistry of the local streams and rivers. The City of Jonesboro, the largest city in northeast Arkansas, is a growing urban center surrounded by agriculture. Runoff from agriculturally dominated lands and industries can adversely impact local waterways through higher nutrient and metal inputs. We compared two local waterways, Big Creek and Lost Creek, as they were the largest creeks flowing through Craighead County and the City of Jonesboro, respectively.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), often referred to as the "deadly superbug" by the media, is currently a major epidemiological threat on a global scale. The adaptability of S. aureus to antibiotics led to the emergence of MRSA in 1961 in a hospital ward in the United Kingdom. S. aureus developed resistance to β-lactam antibiotics through the acquisition of the mecA gene, which is situated on a mobile genetic element known as staphylococcal cassette chromsome mec (SCCmec). The mecA gene encodes penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a), which has a significantly reduced affinity for β-lactam antibiotics, thereby conferring β-lactam resistance. Although the first MRSA clones were hospital-associated (HA-MRSA), community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) clones are now increasingly found throughout the world, affecting normally healthy individuals. MRSA accounts for greater than 50-80% of S. aureus isolates.