Significant Difference In Average Weight Research Articles

Abstract 5452: Pimozide suppresses the growth of brain tumor by targeting oncogenic pathways

Abstract Brain tumor is considered as one of the most aggressive and incurable form of cancer. Majority of the brain tumors have a median survival rate of only 12%. Even though advanced treatments such as surgical removal, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are available, brain tumor persists to be lethal. Obstacles associated with the current treatment options are: recurrence, development of resistance and inability to cross blood brain barrier (BBB). BBB restricts majority of drugs to reach the brain thus resulting in an ineffective treatment. Pimozide (PMZ) is an antipsychotic drug used for the treatment of schizophrenia and chronic psychosis. In this study, pimozide has shown significant reduction in the viability of U-87MG, U-251MG, DAOY and T98G cell lines with an IC50 ranging from 11µM to 20µM after 24 h of treatment. Pimozide induced apoptosis in these cell lines as evaluated by FITC/Annexin assay and further validated by the cleavage of caspase 3 as well as PARP by western blot analysis. Pimozide treatment resulted in the concentration dependent decrease in the expression of GLI1, OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG in U87MG, U251MG, DAOY and T98G brain cancer cell lines, depicting a reduction in the stem cell like property of these cell lines. In addition, pimozide treatment inhibited the expression of proto-oncogene c-Myc. Inhibition of Gli1 and c-Myc demonstrates that pimozide might also inhibit the growth of cancer cells by targeting SHH signaling. Our results further demonstrated that oral administration of pimozide (25mg/kg) inhibits the brain tumors in intracranial tumor model with no significant difference in average weight of critical organs. It is important to note that pimozide is an FDA approved drug with no considerable toxicity. Overall, this study depicts that pimizode is a potential candidate to target brain tumors. Citation Format: Itishree Kaushik, Alok Ranjan, Blake Schwettmann, Sanjay Srivastava. Pimozide suppresses the growth of brain tumor by targeting oncogenic pathways [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5452.

The use of soil cooling for growing temperate crops under tropical climate

Global climate changes have been reported to be affecting the already stressed agricultural ecosystem, especially temperate agriculture which is highly dependent on low soil temperature for optimum growth performance. The current trends of temperate agriculture include enclosed greenhouses or hydroponics techniques, but shown to be inadequate to produce temperate crops under hot and humid weather of tropical climate. This urges the need for a more sustainable farming system which is soil cooling method as described in this study. Soil cooling system cools the soils to temperate soil temperature ranges between 14.6 and 20.1 °C providing a conducive growth condition for temperate produce. The aim of this study is to confirm the usefulness of soil cooling for growing temperate crops under tropical climate. In this study, a model temperate crop, loose leaf lettuce, was grown in an enclosed greenhouse with soil cooling system for its 3-growth cycle. Air and soil temperatures were recorded during the lettuce growth. Lettuces were evaluated in terms of weight, height, number of leaves, leaf area and root length upon each harvest cycle. Under soil cooling, lettuces showed significant difference in average weight (p < 0.05) and positive development in the roots, shoot and leaves of lettuces for its 3-growth cycle. The findings showed that soil cooling approach was able to prepare soils to temperate soil temperature which serves as a potential alternative for growing temperate crops in the future, throughout the year under unpredictable climate changes.

Measuring the Consumption of Individual Solid and Liquid Bites Using a Table-Embedded Scale During Unrestricted Eating.

The universal eating monitor (UEM) is a table-embedded scale used to measure grams consumed over time while a person eats. It has been used in laboratory settings to test the effects of anorectic drugs and behavior manipulations such as slowing eating, and to study relationships between demographics and body weight. However, its use requires restricted conditions on the foods consumed and behaviors allowed during eating in order to simplify analysis of the scale data. Individual bites can only be measured when the only interaction with the scale is to carefully remove a single bite of food, consume it fully, and wait a minimum amount of time before the next bite. Other interactions are prohibited such as stirring and manipulating foods, retrieving or placing napkins or utensils on the scale, and in general anything that would change the scale weight that was not related to the consumption of an individual bite. This paper describes a new algorithm that can detect and measure the weight or individual bites consumed during unrestricted eating. The algorithm works by identifying time periods when the scale weight is stable, and then, analyzing the surrounding weight changes. The series of preceding and succeeding weight changes is compared against patterns for single food bites, food mass bites, and drink bites to determine if a scale interaction is due to a bite or some other activity. The method was tested on 271 subjects, each eating a single meal in a cafeteria setting. A total of 24101 bites were manually annotated in synchronized videos to establish ground truth as to the true, false, and missed detections of bites. Our algorithm correctly detected and weighed approximately 39% of bites with approximately one false positive (FP) per ten actual bites. The improvement compared to the UEM is approximately three times the number of true detections and a 90% reduction in the number of FPs. Finally, an analysis of bites that could not be weighed compared to those that could be weighed revealed no statistically significant difference in average weight. These results suggest that our algorithm could be used to conduct studies using a table scale outside of laboratory or clinical settings and with unrestricted eating behaviors.

Pumpkin Fruit Size and Quality Improve with Leaf Mulch

A key to profitability in many “u-pick” pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) farm operations is producing attractive, marketable fruit while maintaining suitable field conditions for consumer entry during periods of inclement autumn weather. The use of municipal leaves collected from urban areas may help improve fruit quality and field conditions in u-pick pumpkin operations. In 2005 and 2006, an experiment (randomized complete block design) was conducted to compare four different production systems on pumpkin yield and fruit quality. Treatments consisted of no leaf mulch (bare soil) plus herbicide with 25 lb/acre nitrogen (N) sidedressed (treatment 1), leaf mulch without herbicide with 25 lb/acre N sidedressed (treatment 2), no leaf mulch (bare soil) with herbicide with 75 lb/acre N sidedressed (treatment 3), and leaf mulch without herbicide with 75 lb/acre N sidedressed (treatment 4) during the production season. In 2005, there were no differences in the total number and weight of harvested fruit and weight of orange fruit between production systems. Although the presence of leaf mulch reduced the total number and percentage of orange fruit harvested, there were no significant differences in average weight of orange fruit between production systems. Average weight of orange fruit was significantly higher and similar at both sidedress N rates in both leaf mulch production systems compared with bare soil. In 2006, there were no differences in total number of fruit, number of orange fruit, and percentage of orange fruit at harvest between production systems. Total weight, weight of orange fruit, and average fruit weight of pumpkin fruit was significantly higher and similar at both sidedress N rates in both leaf mulch production systems compared with bare soil. Sidedress N should be applied in accordance to plant growth and environmental factors to overcome any expected N deficiency from N immobilization because of the presence of the leaf mulch and other environmental factors. Applying municipal leaves to the soil surface exhibited a marked advantage over bare soil in producing clean fruit. In both years, the percentage of clean fruit at harvest was higher in both leaf mulch production systems compared with bare soil.

Influência da densidade de estocagem no cultivo de juvenis de robalo-flecha mantidos em laboratório

O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a influência da densidade de estocagem no crescimento, conversão alimentar e sobrevivência de juvenis de robalo-flecha (Centropomus undecimalis). Os peixes foram coletados em ambiente natural e treinados a aceitar dietas artificiais. Os indivíduos, com comprimento total de 13±0,4 cm e peso de 23±0,3 g foram estocados em tanques circulares de fibra de vidro de 5 m³, com água do mar e aeração contínua, nas densidades de 3, 6 e 9 peixes/m³, por 180 dias. Os valores de amônia total (0 a 0,5 mg/L), temperatura da água (23,3 a 30,6ºC), salinidade (17 a 34 g/L), pH (7,8 a 8,4) e oxigênio dissolvido (4,8 a 6,9 mg/L) apresentaram padrão similar entre os tratamentos. A conversão alimentar (1,88, 2,06 e 2,31) e a sobrevivência (100%, 98,9% e 96,3%) foram significativamente melhores nos tratamentos com 3 e 6 peixes/m³. As médias finais de peso (110, 87 e 80 g) e comprimento total (20, 18,5 e 18 cm) apresentaram diferença significativa. A maior taxa de crescimento foi observada com 3 peixes/m³; entre as demais não houve diferença. Entretanto, a biomassa final (332, 511 e 703 g/m³) foi diretamente proporcional à densidade. A baixa densidade favorece o cultivo do robalo em relação ao crescimento, sobrevivência e conversão alimentar.

Once- versus Twice-Daily Feeding of Milk Replacer to Calves

The effects of once-daily as compared to twice-daily feeding of milk replacer, when fed at the rate of 10% of body weight with no supplemental water provided, were studied. Twenty-four Holstein heifer calves were allotted to the two experimental treatments. The results indicated there were no significant differences in average weight, heart girth, and wither height gains; and consumption of milk replacer, calf starter, and hay, from birth to weaning at 40 days of age. Likewise, there were no significant differences in average weight, heart girth, and wither height gains by three months of age. Once-daily as compared to twice-daily feeding did not cause increased numbers of digestive disorders and did not reduce the vigor of the calves.