López-Calderón MJ¹, U Figueroa-Viramontes^2*, M Fortis-Hernández¹, G Núñez-Hernández², E Ochoa-Martínez², JI Sanchez-Duarte²

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.84, No.1, pp. 8-13, 2015, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2015.84.008

Abstract An experiment with increasing rates of fertilizer and manure in silage corn was established to evaluate the agronomic crop response and to estimate the manure nitrogen availability. The treatments were designed to deliver 0, 67, 100 and 133% of the crop nitrogen requirements (CNR), using ammonium sulphate and manure as N source. Dry matter (DM) yield was similar among treatments receiving N, but those values were greater than those found in the control. Nitrogen extraction at harvest was not statistically different in treatments with fertilizer or manure, but it was higher in these treatments than… More >

Jiménez-Juárez JA^1,2, G Arámbula-Villa³, E de la Cruz-Lázaro^1*, MA Aparicio-Trapala¹

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.84, No.1, pp. 1-7, 2015, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2015.84.001

Abstract Maize (Zea mays L.) tortilla is the major staple food for the Mexican population. Nine tropical maize genotypes were evaluated. All samples had white grains, a common characteristic in tropical maize, and therefore they were appropriate for nixtamalized flour industry. Grain, flour, masa and tortilla characteristics of each maize genotype were evaluated. Length, width, thickness, weight of 1000 grains and hardness of grain were determined. Moisture content, proteins, fat, ash, mean particle size, water absorption index, enthalpy, and flour temperature were also evaluated. Adhesiveness and cohesiveness were evaluated in masa. Moisture content, protein, capacity to puff… More >

Orlando J. CASTEJÓN^*

BIOCELL, Vol.39, No.2-3, pp. 33-40, 2015, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2015.39.033

Abstract Twenty one days old Swiss albino mice that received diphenylhydantoin (25 mg/kg, i.p., daily for 15 days) progressively developed gait alterations, changes of behavior and cerebellar ataxia. Cerebellar slices were processed by conventional transmission electron microscopy. The body of Purkinje cells exhibited fragmented limiting plasma membranes, dilated nuclear envelopes, swelling and disassembly of nuclear pores, enlargement of rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum and a notable detachment of membrane associated ribosomes, together with distorted vacuoles of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, bizarre shaped and swollen mitochondria with dilated cristae, as well as disrupted limiting lysosomal membranes. Degenerated… More >

Weiyu FU¹, Hongyu LU², Li LI³, Kefeng WU³, Yanping LI³, Yi LIU^3,*, Jianli HU^4,*

BIOCELL, Vol.39, No.2-3, pp. 25-32, 2015, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2015.39.025

Abstract Objective: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of serum GPC3 versus alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for HCC by using the method of system review.
Methods: PubMed and EMBASE were searched from its inception to 20, April 2014 for studies that compared diagnostic accuracy of serum GPC3 with AFP for HCC. Sensitivity, specificity and other measures were pooled using random-effects models. Summary receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to summarize the overall test performance.
Results: Fourteen studies were included in this meta-analysis. Summary estimates for serum GPC3 and AFP in diagnosing HCC were as follows: sensitivity, 69% (95% confidence… More >

Gonzalo RODRÍGUEZ-LOMBARDI¹, Luciana REYNA², María Susana VITALI¹, Susana GENTI-RAIMONDI²

BIOCELL, Vol.39, No.2-3, pp. 15-24, 2015, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2015.39.015

Abstract A competitive internal control (IC) adapted to RT-PCR in-house assay was developed for HCV RNA detection in human pooled plasma. Also, it was applied in a multiplex RT-PCR for the HIV-1 and HCV RNA screening in human pooled plasma and plasma-derived products. A 258-bp PCR product from the 5´noncoding region of HCV genome was obtained. A competitive IC template was constructed by inserting a 52-bp double strand sequence into the NheI site of the 258-bp amplicon. This sequence was cloned and the obtained plasmid was used to generate a synthetic RNA. The IC/RNA was incorporated… More >

Odin RAMÍREZ-FERNÁNDEZ^1,*, Rafael GODÍNEZ¹, Esmeralda ZUÑIGA-AGUILAR¹, Luis E. GÓMEZ-QUIROZ², María C. GUTIÉRREZ-RUIZ², Juan MORALES³, Roberto OLAYO³

BIOCELL, Vol.39, No.2-3, pp. 9-14, 2015, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2015.39.009

Abstract We have designed and evaluated a radial-flow bioreactor for three-dimensional liver carcinoma cell culture on a new porous coated scaffold. We designed a culture chamber where a radial flow of culture medium was continuously delivered through it. Once this system was established, flow was simulated using flow dynamics software based on numeric methods to solve Navier-Stockes flow equations. Perfusion within cell culture scaffolds was simulated using a flow velocity of 7 mL/min and found that cell culture medium was distributed unhindered in the bioreactor chamber. Afterwards, the bioreactor was built according to the simulated design More >

Rafael Martins de OLIVEIRA, Carolina Bernardi STEFANI, Angélica Aparecida Antoniellis SILVEIRA, Marcelo Lima RIBEIRO, José PEDRAZZOLI Jr., Alessandra GAMBERO^*

BIOCELL, Vol.39, No.2-3, pp. 5-8, 2015, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2015.39.005

Abstract Adenosine acts as a gastroprotective factor decreasing inflammation and reducing gastric acid secretion. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to determine the expression of the adenosine receptor genes (A1AR, A2AAR, A2BAR and A3AR) and that of the gastrin receptor B gene (CCKBR) in isolated, short-term cultured enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells. Both the A1AR and the CCKBR genes were expressed at a level higher than the other genes. Also, the effect of 2-chloroadenosine, a stable agonist of A1 and A2A receptors, was explored on ECL cells, with a resulting inhibition of both basal and gastrin-stimulated histamine release. Also, dipropylcyclopentylxanthine (DPCPX), a More >

Cao Zhengzheng¹, Zhou Yuejin^1,2, Zhang Qi¹, Wang Erqian¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.47, No.3, pp. 203-215, 2015, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2015.047.203

Abstract Gas fracturing technology is the key to the exploration for unconventional petroleum resources and other engineering industries, so the research on the coupled gas-solid-thermal model during rock damage has the important significance to the development of gas fracturing technology. By introducing rock damage variable, the coupled gas-solid-thermal model during rock damage is established in this paper, besides, the rock damage constitutive is written with MATLAB software, which is embedded in the multi-physics coupling software COMSOL in the process of numerical computation. Based on this, the damage rule of rock mass around drilling under high pressure… More >

M. Dehghan¹, M. Abbaszadeh², A. Mohebbi³

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.107, No.6, pp. 481-516, 2015, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2015.107.481

Abstract In the current paper the two-dimensional time fractional Klein-Kramers equation which describes the subdiffusion in the presence of an external force field in phase space has been considered. The numerical solution of fractional Klein-Kramers equation is investigated. The proposed method is based on using finite difference scheme in time variable for obtaining a semi-discrete scheme. Also, to achieve a full discretization scheme, the Kansa's approach and meshless local Petrov-Galerkin technique are used to approximate the spatial derivatives. The meshless method has already proved successful in solving classic and fractional differential equations as well as for… More >

Jianhang Du^1,2,3, Liang Wang⁴

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.12, No.4, pp. 249-263, 2015, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2015.012.249

Abstract Growing evidences suggest that long-term enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) treatment can inhibit the initiation of atherosclerotic lesion by improving the hemodynamic environment in aortas. However, whether this kind procedure will intervene the progression of advanced atherosclerotic plaque remains elusive and causes great concern in its clinical application presently. In the current paper, a pilot study combining animal experiment and numerical simulation was conducted to investigate the acute mechanical stress variations during EECP intervention, and then to assess the possible chronic effects. An experimentally induced hypercholesterolemic porcine model was developed and the basic hemodynamic measurement was… More >