Natural Biological Processes Research Articles

The combination of rhytidoplasty and fractional CO2 laser therapy in the treatment of facial aging.

Facial aging is a natural biological process with symptoms such as sagging tissue, accentuated lines, furrows, wrinkles, dyschromias, and loss of facial volume. Rhytidectomy alone often fails to achieve a patient's expected goals, which is why there is a high demand for adjunct laser skin treatment. From January 2007 to February 2013, a total of 80 patients with skin types Fitzpatrick I-IV underwent large undermined cutaneous flap rhytidectomy and superficial muscular aponeurotic system (SMAS) plicature plus hyaluronic acid injection on the nasolabial folds and lips and concomitant Lumenis UltraPulse CO2 Active FX total ablation mode resurfacing of nonundermined skin. The undermined skin was treated with a fractional laser using different energies depending on the type of skin. Patients were evaluated at 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, and 90 days after the operation. At the last evaluation patients completed a specific questionnaire about satisfaction. Complications included expansive hematomas (5 %), partial necrosis (1.25 %), bacterial infection (1.25 %), herpetic infection (1.25 %), hypertrophic scar (1.25 %), and spot hyperchromia (1.25 %). 95 % of patients were extremely satisfied, 3.75 % were satisfied, and only 1.25 % were unsatisfied. The combination of subcutaneous flap rhytidectomy and SMAS plicature with fractional laser resurfacing plus hyaluronic acid injection is a safe procedure with low incidence of major complications and improves patient satisfaction.

Evolvability of Real Functions

We formulate a notion of evolvability for functions with domain and range that are real-valued vectors, a compelling way of expressing many natural biological processes. We show that linear and fixed-degree polynomial functions are evolvable in the following dually-robust sense: There is a single evolution algorithm that, for all convex loss functions, converges for all distributions. It is possible that such dually-robust results can be achieved by simpler and more-natural evolution algorithms. Towards this end, we introduce a simple and natural algorithm that we call wide-scale random noise and prove a corresponding result for the L 2 metric. We conjecture that the algorithm works for a more general class of metrics.

Reduction of Heavy Metals from Waste Water by Wetland

Constructed wetlands are artificial wastewater treatment systems consisting of shallow ponds or channels which have been planted with aquatic plants, and which rely upon natural microbial, biological, physical and chemical processes to treat wastewater. They typically have impervious clay or synthetic liners, and engineered structures to control the flow direction, liquid detention time and water level. Depending on the type of system, they may or may not contain an inert porous media such as rock, gravel or sand. Constructed wetlands have been used to treat a variety of wastewaters including urban runoff; municipal, industrial, agricultural and acid mine drainage. In this regard’s an attempted has been made to reduce the heavy metal present in waste water

Physical and Biochemical Insights on DNA Structures in Artificial and Living Systems

CONSPECTUS: Highly specific DNA base-pairing is the basis for both fulfilling its genetic role and constructing novel nanostructures and hybrid conjugates with inorganic nanomaterials (NMs). There exist many remarkable differences in the physical properties of single-stranded (ss) and double-stranded (ds) DNA, which play important roles in regulation of biological processes in nature. Rapid advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology pose new questions on how DNA and DNA structures interact with inorganic nanomaterials or cells and animals, which should be important for their biological and biomedical applications. In this Account, we intend to provide an overview on many facets of DNA and DNA structures in artificial and living systems, with the focus on their properties and functions at the interfaces of inorganic nanomaterials and biological systems. ssDNA, dsDNA, and DNA nanostructures interact with NMs in different ways. In particular, gold nanoparticles and graphene oxide exhibit strikingly different affinity toward ssDNA and dsDNA. Such binding differences can be coupled with optical properties of NMs. For example, DNA hybridization can effectively modulate the plasmonic and catalytic properties of gold nanoparticles. By exploitation of these interactions, there have been many ways for sensitive transduction of biomolecular recognition for various sensing applications. Alternatively, modulation of the properties of DNA and DNA structures with NMs has led to new tools for genetic analysis including genotyping and haplotyping. Self-assembled DNA nanostructures have emerged as a new type of NMs with pure biomolecules. These nanostructures can be designed in one, two, or three dimensions with various sizes, shapes, and geometries. They also have characteristics of uniform size, precise addressability, excellent water solubility, and biocompatibility. These nanostructures provide a new toolbox for biophysical studies with unparalleled advantages, for example, NMR-based protein structure determination and single-molecule studies. Also importantly, DNA nanostructures have proven highly useful in various applications including biological detection, bioreactors, and nanomedicine. In particular, DNA nanostructures exhibit high cellular permeability, a property that is not available for ssDNA and dsDNA, which is required for their drug delivery applications. DNA and DNA structures can also form hybrids with inorganic NMs. Notably, DNA anchored at the interface of inorganic NMs behaves differently from that at the macroscopic interface. Several types of DNA-NM conjugates have exerted beneficial effects for bioassays and in vitro translation of proteins. Even more interestingly, hybrid nanoconjugates demonstrate distinct properties under the context of biological systems such as cultured cells or animal models. These unprecedented properties not only arouse great interest in studying such interfaces but also open new opportunities for numerous applications in artificial and living systems.

Reduction of Heavy Metals from Waste Water by Wetland

Constructed wetlands are artificial wastewater treatment systems consisting of shallow ponds or channels which have been planted with aquatic plants, and which rely upon natural microbial, biological, physical and chemical processes to treat wastewater. They typically have impervious clay or synthetic liners, and engineered structures to control the flow direction, liquid detention time and water level. Depending on the type of system, they may or may not contain an inert porous media such as rock, gravel or sand. Constructed wetlands have been used to treat a variety of wastewaters including urban runoff; municipal, industrial, agricultural and acid mine drainage. In this regard’s an attempted has been made to reduce the heavy metal present in waste water

Assessment of Knowledge on Signs and Symptoms of Menopause among Premenopausal Women

Menopause is a natural biologic process not an estrogen deficiency disease. It represents the permanent cessation of menses resulting from the loss of ovarian follicular function. Some may think of menopause as the change of Many women will begin to experience the signs and symptoms of approaching menopause around 50 years of age. The objective of the study is to assess the level of knowledge regarding signs and symptoms of menopause among women in premenopausal period,and determine the association between the level of knowledge and demographic variables.A descriptive design was chosen to assess the level of knowledge on signs and symptoms of menopause among women in premenopausal period. Setting- selected hospital in Thiruvallur.Sampling Technique - convenient sampling technique.Sample Size - 30 samples.Major Findings Of The Study-Among 30 women 17(56%) had inadequate knowledge, 11(37%) had moderate adequate knowledge and only 2(7%) had adequate knowledge about menopause.Conclusion-Many women feel that this is a subject that should not be discussed as it is embarrassing. However by keeping quiet, we may serve to frighten the women about what is happening to their bodies. So knowledge and awareness can be co-ordinated together to maintain complete health and fitness. I. Introduction Menopause is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility, defined as occurring 12 months after the last menstrual period. Menopause is a natural biological process, not a medical illness. Even so, the physical and emotional symptoms of menopause can disrupt your sleep, sap your energy and -at least indirectly- trigger of sadness and loss. Menopause, the time when a woman stops having menstrual periods, is not a disease or an illness. It is a transition between two phases of a woman's life. Menopause is the time in a female's life when she gets a formal, official signal from her body that she is getting older. This is the time when her menstruation is on the verge of a complete die down. The hot flashes, irritation, mood swings, insomnia, fatigue, etc. are some symptoms of menopause, and there are many more. These symptoms can be unpleasant and tedious to manage Many women experience a variety of symptoms as a result of the hormonal changes associated with the transition through menopause. Around the time of menopause, women often lose bone density and their blood cholesterol levels may worsen, increasing their risk of heart disease. According to National Institute on Aging (2010) usually menopause happens naturally, but some women develop symptoms of menopause and stop having menstrual cycles much earlier than expected. Before age 40,a menopause-like condition can happen for no known reason, or it can be caused by radiation treatment, some medicines like those used in chemotherapy, an autoimmunity (some of a women's own body cells attacking her ovary or ovaries),or genetic errors. Radiation can make the ovaries stops workings, as can some treatments like chemotherapy for cancer. Need for the study Sharda sidhu,Avneet KaurandMandeepSidhu(2005)reported in their cross sectional study determined the median age at menopause and frequency of various related clinical symptoms among 539 educated womenbetween 40-50 years of Amritsar district of Punjab. (47.50%) of the study population were classified as postmenopausal, i.e., having no vaginal bleeding during the last 12months, and 283 women (52.50%) were perimenopausal, i.e., having irregular vaginal bleeding during the last 12 months. Median age at menopause was 47.54±2.31 years which is close to the estimates from other Punjabi populations. The most common clinical symptoms associated with menopause were hot flushes and night sweats(55.08%), insomnia (53.12%), headache and body-aches (38.28%), fatigue (42.18%), irritability (35.15%), perspiration(34.76%), palpitation (22.26%), short breath (20.31%), nervous tension (10.56%) and depression (8.20%). Nusrat N,Nishat Z,Gulfareen H,Aftab M,Asia N(2008)reported in their studythat among 863women680(78.79%)had inadequate knowledge,137(15.8%)know the symptoms of menopause.Frequently reported symptoms were Backache in 653(75.66%),Insomnia in544(63.44%),vasomotor symptomsin 513(59.4%)andnight sweat in 390(45.19%).Loss of memory in536(62.10).

A cancer cell-activatable aptamer-reporter system for one-step assay of circulating tumor cells.

The current antibody-mediated numeration assays of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) require multiple steps and are time-consuming. To overcome these technical limitations, a cancer cell-activatable aptamer-reporter was formulated by conjugating a biomarker-specific aptamer sequence with paired fluorochrome-quencher molecules. In contrast to the antibody probes, the intact aptamer-reporter was optically silent in the absence of cells of interest. However, when used in an assay, the aptamer selectively targeted cancer cells through interaction with a specific surface biomarker, which triggered internalization of the aptamer-reporter and, subsequently, into cell lysosomes. Rapid lysosomal degradation of the aptamer-reporter resulted in separation of the paired fluorochrome-quencher molecules. The released fluorochrome emitted bright fluorescent signals exclusively within the targeted cancer cells, with no background noise in the assay. Thus, the assays could be completed in a single step within minutes. By using this one-step assay, CTCs in whole blood and marrow aspirate samples of patients with lymphoma tumors were selectively highlighted and rapidly detected with no off-target signals from background blood cells. The development of the cancer cell-activatable aptamer-reporter system allows for the possibility of a simple and robust point-of-care test for CTC detection, which is currently unavailable.

Environmental Bioremediation: A Low Cost Nature’s Natural Biotechnology for Environmental Clean-up

Setting up of new industries or expansion of existing industrial establishments resulted in the disposal of industrial effluents, which discharge untreated effluents causing air, water, soil and solid waste pollution. Bioremediation is an ecologically sound and state-of-the-art technique that employs natural biological processes employing microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition. Compared with other technologies, such as thermal desorption and incineration, thermally enhanced recovery, chemical treatment, and in situ soil flushing (which may require further management of the flushing water), bioremediation may enjoy a cost advantage. Not all contaminants, however, are easily treated by bioremediation using microorganisms. While bioremediation can’t degrade inorganic contaminants, can be used to change the valence state of inorganic and cause adsorption, immobilization onto soil particulates, precipitation, uptake, accumulation, and concentration of inorganic in micro or microorganisms. This manuscript delineates the general processes of bioremediation within the soil environment, factors of bioremediation strategies, genetic engineering approaches, monitoring bioremediation, and further, the pros & cons of the technique, limitations and potential of both ex situ and in situ bioremediation as viable alternatives to conventional remediation are explained and addressed.

A bio-inspired approach for in situ synthesis of tunable adhesive

Inspired by the strong adhesive produced by English ivy, this paper proposes an in situ synthesis approach for fabricating tunable nanoparticle enhanced adhesives. Special attention was given to tunable features of the adhesive produced by the biological process. Parameters that may be used to tune properties of the adhesive will be proposed. To illustrate and validate the proposed approach, an experimental platform was presented for fabricating tunable chitosan adhesive enhanced by Au nanoparticles synthesized in situ. This study contributes to a bio-inspired approach for in situ synthesis of tunable nanocomposite adhesives by mimicking the natural biological processes of ivy adhesive synthesis.

Medicalización de la vida en la consulta: ¿hacia dónde caminamos?

The power of medicine has lately enhanced the idea of medicalizing any aspects of life that can be perceived as medical problems. Medicine sometimes creates false needs and there is nowadays an increasing number of situations are medicalized with the pretext of treating fake diseases such as spring fatigue, shyness o natural biological processes like menopause.Despite the better life conditions, we now attend more people that complain about discomfort that may have more to do with «feeling sick» than with authentic disease. There is an endless list: sadness, hyperactive children, anorexia, bulimia, vigorexia or problematic teenagers, amongst others. In this article we revise some interventions that, contribute to promote these situations also from the own doctor's office. Everyday adversity acquires today the status of disease, hence the remarkable increase in these consultations in the diverse sanitary services.

Microbial Anaerobic Digestion (Bio-Digesters) as an Approach to the Decontamination of Animal Wastes in Pollution Control and the Generation of Renewable Energy

With an ever increasing population rate; a vast array of biomass wastes rich in organic and inorganic nutrients as well as pathogenic microorganisms will result from the diversified human, industrial and agricultural activities. Anaerobic digestion is applauded as one of the best ways to properly handle and manage these wastes. Animal wastes have been recognized as suitable substrates for anaerobic digestion process, a natural biological process in which complex organic materials are broken down into simpler molecules in the absence of oxygen by the concerted activities of four sets of metabolically linked microorganisms. This process occurs in an airtight chamber (biodigester) via four stages represented by hydrolytic, acidogenic, acetogenic and methanogenic microorganisms. The microbial population and structure can be identified by the combined use of culture-based, microscopic and molecular techniques. Overall, the process is affected by bio-digester design, operational factors and manure characteristics. The purpose of anaerobic digestion is the production of a renewable energy source (biogas) and an odor free nutrient-rich fertilizer. Conversely, if animal wastes are accidentally found in the environment, it can cause a drastic chain of environmental and public health complications.

Improving Winter Performance of Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment in Northern China: A Review

Constructed wetlands are engineered systems relying on natural microbial, biological, physical and chemical processes to treat wastewater. Treatment performance tends to decrease in colder temperatures, so that ways to enhance the performance in northern climates has been sought. In China, the first constructed wetland was built in China in 1987 and since then, about 450 systems have been constructed throughout the country. At least 67 constructed wetlands are located in northern China and have reported significant seasonal changes of treatment efficiencies. This paper reviews current engineering practices including case studies showing ways to increase winter treatment effectiveness in cold climates. These measures include: (1) internal improvement of system design and setup of the system, (2) optimization of winter operation, and (3) external incorporation of pre- and post-treatment technologies. Various measures to raise the temperatures of these systems in the winter were compared in several constructed wetlands (40 and 50°N). For example, plastic film mulch can be used with thermal insulation; however, the operators of constructed wetlands often use ice to cover the system due to lower cost and maintenance. This review demonstrates that the effectiveness of constructed wetlands in cold climates can be improved through better operation strategies.

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles from Schizophyllum radiatum HE 863742.1: their characterization and antimicrobial activity.

Development of reliable and eco-friendly process for synthesis of silver nanoparticles is an important step in the field of application in nanotechnology. One of the options to achieve this objective is to use natural biological processes. They have an advantage over conventional methods involving chemical agents associated with environmental toxicity. This study demonstrates the extra-cellular synthesis of stable silver nanoparticles using the white rot fungus, Schizophyllum radiatum with GenBank Accession no HE 863742.1. The supernatant of the seed media obtained after separating the cells has been used for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The morphology and structure of synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized using FT-IR, XRD, UV–visible spectrum of the aqueous medium containing silver ion showed a peak in the range of 420–430 nm corresponding to the Plasmon absorbance of silver nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy micrograph showed formation of well-dispersed silver nanoparticles in the range of 10–40 nm. The effect of different carbon sources and the time taken for formation particles and the anti-microbial activity of synthesized nanoparticles were carried and compared with silver nitrate solution and with standard streptomycin. The process of reduction being extra-cellular and fast may lead to the development of an easy bioprocess for synthesis of silver nanoparticles.

51. Antiapoptotic signaling as a cytoprotection mechanism during Mammalian hibernation

Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is an essential natural biological process. A synergy between proapoptotic and antiapoptotic proteins, interacting at several signalling crossroads determines a cell’s commitment to mitochondria-activated apoptosis. We proposed that changes in expression of antiapoptotic proteins may aid cytoprotection during hibernation of thirteen-lined ground squirrels ( Spermophilus tridecemlineatus ) to cope with events including low body temperatures, changes in metabolic requirements, ischemia–reperfusion, muscle disuse, etc. Immunoblotting was used to analyse expression of proteins associated with apoptosis in three tissues. In brown adipose Bcl-2, cIAP and xIAP decreased significantly during torpor (compared with euthermia) whereas p-Bcl-2 (Thr 56), p-Bcl-2 (Ser 70), Bcl-X L , Bcl-3, Mcl-1, and BI-1 were unaltered. In skeletal muscle only xIAP levels were altered during hibernation. In heart, most proteins increased significantly, except for Bcl-X L (significant decrease) and xIAP/BI-1 (unchanged). The data show that antiapoptotic pathways have organ-specific responses in hibernators with a prominent potential role in heart. Funded by NSERC Canada. For more information go to: www.carleton.ca/∼kbstorey .

Rehabilitation of abandoned saltworks to maximize conservation, ecotourism and water treatment potential

Numerous saltworks have been abandoned throughout the Greek islands and mainland as operations have decreased in number and increased in size. Such areas have great potential for serving the broader society if rehabilitated correctly. Changes in landscape uses recently, especially agricultural practices and rapid expansion of vacation homes and resorts in the islands, have increased nutrient and sediment loading to coastal bays. Previously, streams were diverted around saltworks on the coast to avoid contamination of the salt produced. Rehabilitation of saltworks to accept stream input has great potential to treat nutrient and other contamination from the landscape via natural biological processes of the ecosystem, thus reduce loading to coastal areas and potential contamination of resort beaches. Successfully rehabilitated saltworks will also provide enhanced nature conservation areas that can become part of regional networks of ecotourism opportunities. Examples of the potential for integrating rehabilitated saltworks within both the landscape and regional economy of Greece will be discussed.

Dispatches

Dispatches

Design Approach for Sub-surface Flow Constructed Wetlands

Constructed Wetlands are an engineered wastewater treatment system that tries to mimic the natural biological, physical and chemical processes to treat wastewater. It is emerging as a cost-effective decentralized wastewater treatment solution in the communities where there is availability of inexpensive lands and lack of skilled operators. Different design approaches have been followed and design parameters based on different literatures have been chosen to design a Sub-surface Flow Constructed Wetlands. A simplified design approach well suited to climatic needs to be developed to maintain the cost effectiveness of the system. The kinetic parameters involved in the treatment should be selected properly in order to get the effective design of the system.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v10i0.7102 Hydro Nepal Vol.10 January 2012 42-47

Molecular response in one-photon absorption via natural thermal light vs. pulsed laser excitation

Photoinduced biological processes occur via one-photon absorption in natural light, which is weak, continuous wave, and incoherent, but are often studied in the laboratory using pulsed coherent light. Here, we compare the response of a molecule to these two very different sources within a quantized radiation field picture. The latter is shown to induce coherent time evolution in the molecule, whereas the former does not. As a result, the coherent time dependence observed in the laboratory experiments will not be relevant to the natural biological process. Emphasis is placed on resolving confusions regarding this issue that are shown to arise from aspects of quantum measurement and from a lack of appreciation of the proper description of the absorbed photon.

Resilience of a beef cow-calf farming system to variations in demographic parameters1

Beef cow-calf farming systems are assumed to be resilient to biological disturbances that induce variations in herd demography; however, this hypothesis has not been fully investigated to date. Modeling is an interesting approach to study farming system resilience and to evaluate the impact of biological disturbances, taking into account interactions between system components, including biological variability and management practices. Our objective was to evaluate the resilience of beef cow-calf farming systems to variations in fertility and mortality using a modeling approach. We studied the direct effect of variations in demographic parameters on production objectives without explicitly representing the causes of the variations. We developed a stochastic model to represent the population dynamics of a beef cow-calf herd with breeding by natural service and biological processes occurring at the animal level. The model was validated by comparing observed and simulated distributions of the calving-to-calving interval, which were found to be consistent. Resistance was evaluated by the proportion of simulations where the objective in terms of number of weaned calves is reached even when there is a disturbance that persists for 10 yr. Reversibility was evaluated by the time needed to return to the predisturbance production level. Beef cow-calf farming systems did not appear to be resistant to variations in mortality and infertility rates except when increases in the infertility rates were low (0.02 for cows and 0.03 for heifers). Critical situations, consequently, may emerge with regard to farm production if management practices are not adapted. Reversibility was observed for disturbances that persist for up to 5 yr. However, the system needed 2 to 3 yr to recover its predisturbance production level and up to 4 yr after an increase in cow infertility of 0.12.

Bioremediation and Environmental Sustainability in Nigeria

Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to degrade or remove waste materials contaminants (sewage, domestic and industrial effluents) into non-toxic or less toxic materials by natural biological processes. The issue of environmental degradation through the disposal of domestic and industrial waste materials is assuming an alarming proportion in Nigeria. Wastes are dumped indiscriminately without considering the health and environmental implications. The present waste disposal and treatment method does not seem to solve the problem of environmental degradation the state is experiencing. There is need to seek alternative means of treating the contaminants. Bioremediation seems the best option. It is less costly and an environmentally friendly way of addressing the environmental issues arising from current waste treatment methods. This paper reviews some bioremediation technologies and their applications..