The influences of dietary deficiencies of folic acid or zinc on rotaviral disease infant mice were studied. Preliminary studies indicated that bovine and simian rotaviruses, but not porcine rotavirus, caused diarrhea in infant mice. Bovine and porcine rotaviruses were not, however, sufficiently infectious to replace murine rotavirus in studies utilizing the murine model. It was also determined that murine rotavirus purified by a cesium chloride gradient was highly infectious and useful for subsequent studies on nutritional influences of rotaviral disease. In dietary studies, female Swiss Webster mice were fed diets containing deficient, moderately deficient, or adequate levels of folic acid or zinc. The quantity of s[specific nutrient added to the tow diets were 0, 0.125, and 0.50 ug of folic acid per gram of diet, and 4, 12, and 60 ug of zinc per gram of diet. The infants from these mice were orally inoculated with approximately 100 ID of purified murine rotavirus with sterile diluent as a control. Uninfected infants from dams fed the lowest folic acid diet gained weight at a significantly reduced rate compared with the two groups fed the higher dietary folic acid levels. Infants from the same low folic acid group had significantly less folate levels in their livers which indicated that a deficiency was achieved. A moderate enhancement of rotaviral disease was seen in these folic acid-deprived infants as determined by their decreased ability to gain weight, increased incidences of diarrhea, and an increased number which exhibited high rotaviral antigen titers in their intestines. Serum rotaviral antibody titers were below detectable levels in a significant number of animals fed the lowest folic acid diet. Zinc deficiency in the infant mice was evidenced by significantly reduced thymus weight, inability to gain body weight, lower zinc concentration in whole infant mice, alopecia and presence of skin rashes. The zinc deficiency produced in this study did not significantly affect weight gained by the infants, presence of diarrhea, titers of virus recovered from the intestine, rotaviral specific antibody in sera, rotaviral specific antibody in milk, ratio of intestine wieght to whole mouse weight, and serum sodium levels. Since zinc deficiency did not alter the rotaviral diesease, studies with athymic nude mice were done. After per os rotaviral exposure none of the athymic mice, while all of the mice with thumuses, had serum antibodies specific to rotavirus, demonstrating that elicitation of rotaviral specific antibodies was T-cell dependent.

The following eight stories make up Out the Valley, a collection of short fiction. Each story stands independently as a single work, though together they are bound by ties to California's Central Valley. The places the characters inhabit range widely in socio-economic class systems, from the gang-ruled streets of Fresno in Beautiful, Smart, Talented, to upper middle class suburbia, looking back over one man's life in My Mary. Each character is dealing with their own set of deficiencies, so to speak. In Dominoes, Ross recalls his first love from prison. In Be Thou My Vision, a mother takes a trip to understand the life of her daughter in the wake of her murder. The Bare of Our Chests circles truth in a series of frames as the main character, Maynard, tries to confront the past while mourning his mother. A More Interesting Story shows Joni attempt to find freedom in her world of mental restrictions. In A Well Matched Man, Ephram's superficiality keeps him from finding and recognizing love. The title story, Deficiencies, follows a college-aged young man, Erol, as he learns to write despite dyslexia and the onslaught of obsessive love for his tutor. These are stories that the main characters wish they were not telling--events they cannot face in truth, and so view instead through their own flawed lenses.

The modern school realizes that education is not a mere matter of gaining knowledge; it is a matter of life and growth, with this idea of education in mind, the health of the school child became of great importance. The primary purpose of this investigation is to make an analysis of the visual testing program in the common school districts of Denton County, list the results or outcomes, and make recommendations for future action. A secondary purpose is a review of literature to emphasize the responsibility of the school to discover visual deficiencies, to stress the part that good vision plays in the learning process, and to describe some satisfactory visual teaching devices.

CoenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) functions as an electron carrier in mitochondria transporting electrons from CI and CII to CIII in the respiratory chain (RC) for normal cellular energy (ATP) production. Mutations in genes of a complicated and not yet well understood CoQ10 biosynthesis cause primary CoQ10 deficiency, a rare autosomal recessive mitochondrial disorder (MD) with diverse heterogeneous clinical phenotypes. Although the major function of CoQ10 is to serve as electron transfer molecule it furthermore possesses multiple metabolic functions which can result in secondary CoQ10 deficiency. Five main clinical phenotypes are associated with CoQ10 deficiency although distinct genotype-phenotype associations are still absent due to the limited molecular genetic diagnoses of most reported CoQ10 deficiency cases. A correlation was found between reduced levels of CoQ10 in muscle tissue and deficient CII + III RC enzyme activities in a South African patient cohort, the current indicators for potential CoQ10 deficiency. The aim of the study was therefore to identify nuclear-encoded mutations in genes associated with CoQ10 deficiencies in a cohort of South African patients diagnosed with respiratory chain deficiencies (RCDs). A high throughput target enrichment strategy was performed in order to identify previously reported and/or possible novel CoQ10-assosciated disease-causing variants using Ion Torrent next generation sequencing (NGS) and an in-house developed bioinformatics pipeline. The data obtained were compared to clinical presentations of the patients to interpret the results of the identified variants considered to be possibly pathogenic. Targeted genes associated with primary CoQ10- and secondary CoQ10 deficiency was successfully sequenced in 24 patients, identifying 16 possible disease-causing variants. Of these variants three compound heterozygous variants were identified in three patients in genes ETFDH, COQ6 and COQ7, which were considered to be pathogenic according to the available data provided. Further validation of these three variants supported its pathogenicity in at least two of these variants (ETFDH and COQ6). In conclusion: This study contributed to better understanding the aetiology of a South African cohort of patients diagnosed with MDs. It also highlighted the valuable role of NGS for such investigations, and furthermore identified areas in the biochemical and molecular diagnostic strategy where improvements could be made in the future. / MSc (Biochemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

CoenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) functions as an electron carrier in mitochondria transporting electrons from CI and CII to CIII in the respiratory chain (RC) for normal cellular energy (ATP) production. Mutations in genes of a complicated and not yet well understood CoQ10 biosynthesis cause primary CoQ10 deficiency, a rare autosomal recessive mitochondrial disorder (MD) with diverse heterogeneous clinical phenotypes. Although the major function of CoQ10 is to serve as electron transfer molecule it furthermore possesses multiple metabolic functions which can result in secondary CoQ10 deficiency. Five main clinical phenotypes are associated with CoQ10 deficiency although distinct genotype-phenotype associations are still absent due to the limited molecular genetic diagnoses of most reported CoQ10 deficiency cases. A correlation was found between reduced levels of CoQ10 in muscle tissue and deficient CII + III RC enzyme activities in a South African patient cohort, the current indicators for potential CoQ10 deficiency. The aim of the study was therefore to identify nuclear-encoded mutations in genes associated with CoQ10 deficiencies in a cohort of South African patients diagnosed with respiratory chain deficiencies (RCDs). A high throughput target enrichment strategy was performed in order to identify previously reported and/or possible novel CoQ10-assosciated disease-causing variants using Ion Torrent next generation sequencing (NGS) and an in-house developed bioinformatics pipeline. The data obtained were compared to clinical presentations of the patients to interpret the results of the identified variants considered to be possibly pathogenic. Targeted genes associated with primary CoQ10- and secondary CoQ10 deficiency was successfully sequenced in 24 patients, identifying 16 possible disease-causing variants. Of these variants three compound heterozygous variants were identified in three patients in genes ETFDH, COQ6 and COQ7, which were considered to be pathogenic according to the available data provided. Further validation of these three variants supported its pathogenicity in at least two of these variants (ETFDH and COQ6). In conclusion: This study contributed to better understanding the aetiology of a South African cohort of patients diagnosed with MDs. It also highlighted the valuable role of NGS for such investigations, and furthermore identified areas in the biochemical and molecular diagnostic strategy where improvements could be made in the future. / MSc (Biochemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Bakgrund: Ur en logistisk synvinkel är order-till-leveransprocessen en av de viktigaste processerna ett företag förfogar över, då processen inkluderar flera aktörer och samarbetet mellan dessa är av stor vikt. Ett företags processer bör granskas så att kvalitetsbrister kan identifieras för att sedan eliminera dubbelaktiviteter samt icke-värdeadderande aktiviteter som återfinns i processerna. En processkartläggning underlättar identifieringen av kvalitetsbrister i en process samt att den skapar en förståelse hur företagets olika delar hänger ihop för att skapa det slutliga kundvärdet. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att genom en processkartläggning av JGAs order-till-leveransprocess identifiera kvalitetsbrister som uppstår från godshämtning av sågat och torkat virke till avsändning mot kund. Vidare kommer syftet ta fram grundläggande orsaker till kvalitetsbristerna i JGAs produktförädling samt ge rekommendationer till hur dessa kan minimeras. Metod: Studien är en fallstudie för JGAs order-till-leveransprocess med ett positivistiskt synsätt och deduktivt angreppsätt. Den empiri som studien bygger på har samlats in genom semi- och ostrukturerade intervjuer, deltagande observationer samt en fokusgrupp. Teorin kring processkartläggning, kvalitetsbrister och orsak-verkandiagram har samlats in från litteratur från Linneuniversitetets bibliotek och genom databaser. Urval för intervjupersoner har skett genom ett snöbollsurval. Slutsatser: Kvalitetsbrister i JGAs order-till-leveransprocess har identifierats med hjälp av den processkartläggning som gjorts för studien. Dessa kvalitetsbrister har tillsammans med JGA diskuterats för att se vad som krävs för att åtgärda dessa och vilken effekt de skulle få för verksamheten. För varje kvalitetsbrists har författarna listat flera förbättringsförslag som de rekommenderar för JGA. / Background: Form a logistics point of view the order-to-delivery process is one of the most important processes in a company. Due to the number of operators included in the process, cooperation between them is of great importance. Company’s processes should be evaluated in order to identify quality defects and to eliminate dual activities and non-value adding activities. A process mapping help the company to identify quality defects within the process and to create a better understanding on how the company’s different activities connect in order to create value for the customer. Purpose: The purpose of this study is through a process mapping of JGA’s order-to-delivery process identify quality defects arising within the process, starting with sawed and dried lumber to delivery to customer. Furthermore, the purpose is to identify the cause to the defects within the process and give recommendations on how these can be minimized. Method: This study is a case study on JGA’s order-to-delivery process with a positivistic and deductive approach. The empirical data has been collected though semi and unstructured interviews, participant observation and a focus group. The theory regarding process mapping, quality deficiencies and cause-effect has been collected from literature from Linnaeus University library and different databases. Selections of interviewees have been through a snowball selection. Conclusions: Quality deficiencies within JGAs order-to-delivery process has been identified though the process mapping that has been done in the study. These quality deficiencies have been discussed together with JGA to se what effort it takes to solve them and the effect it would have on the business. For each quality deficiency the authors have listed a number of improvement proposals that they recommend to JGA.

There are four primary objectives of this study. First, it examines the association between the disclosure of the Internal Control Deficiencies (ICDs), as a proxy for the internal control quality, and information asymmetry (IA) in the secondary loan market. Second, it identifies which types of ICDs exacerbate conditions of information asymmetry in the secondary loan market. Third, it investigates whether firms that remediate or take corrective actions to address ICDs lead to a reduction in information asymmetry in the market. Finally, it examines the effect of the loan specific characteristics such as debt covenants, credit rating and number of lenders (syndication) in the secondary loan market on the association between ICDs and IA. Results suggest that firms that disclose ICDs have significant positive association with IA and that ICDs reported under section 302 have significant positive association with IA. Although results on the association between the severity rank of ICDs by using Internal Control Material Weaknesses (ICMWs) as a proxy and IA are not supported, the use of Company Level (CL) internal control as a proxy for the severity rank of ICDs shows a significant positive association with IA. Overall, firms that remediate their ICDs have significant negative association with IA. Overall, there is a statistical negative association between the interaction term of ICDs and number of lenders (syndication) and IA. Same negative significant association is documented between the interaction term of ICDs and credit rating, and IA and the interaction term of ICDs and debt covenants and IA. The latter result suggests that the secondary loan market unique characteristics mitigate the negative consequences of the disclosure of ICDs and reduce the information asymmetry between lender and multiple arrangers. My results are consistent with prior studies’ (Bryan and Lilien, 2005; Ge and McVay, 2005; Doyle, Ge and McVay 2007 a,b; Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, and Kinney, 2007, Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, Kinney, and LaFond, 2008), which suggest that firms with reported ICDs are generally small, poor performing, financially weaker, and characterized by higher market risk than firms with effective internal control system.

O desenvolvimento infantil tem sido considerado como um processo, que envolve modificabilidade, transformação e interação com o ambiente social. A trajetória desse desenvolvimento, mesmo antes do nascimento, pode ser exposta a múltiplos e contínuos eventos adversos, os fatores de risco, que podem e, normalmente, ocorrem em conjunto, potencializando a gravidade das suas conseqüências. Entre os fatores de risco mais estudados, estão as carências nutricionais, enfoque do presente estudo, cujos objetivos foram: 1- avaliar o desenvolvimento mental e psicomotor de crianças com carências nutricionais, através das Escalas Bayley de Desenvolvimento Infantil; 2- verificar se existe relação entre os resultados nas escalas mental e psicomotora das Escalas Bayley, com alguns fatores potenciais de risco ao desenvolvimento infantil. A amostra foi constituída por 59 crianças de ambos os sexos, com faixa etária entre 4 e 42 meses, que freqüentavam duas creches do município de Ribeirão Preto. Foram realizadas entrevistas individuais com os pais ou responsáveis e as crianças foram submetidas às avaliações clínico-nutricional, hematológica, e do desenvolvimento infantil, utilizando-se as Escalas Bayley de Desenvolvimento Infantil - Segunda Edição. De acordo com a avaliação clínico-nutricional e hematológica as crianças foram distribuídas em dois grupos: Controle e Carente Nutricional, segundo o z-escore proposto pela Organização Mundial de Saúde e níveis sanguíneos de hemoglobina. A análise dos dados mostrou que desnutrição e anemia ferropriva são ocorrências comuns para uma grande proporção (46%) destas crianças. A análise estatística demonstrou não haver diferença significante entre os índices médios dos dois grupos, tanto na avaliação do desenvolvimento mental, quanto psicomotor. Os valores médios do Índice de Desenvolvimento Mental (IDM) e Índice de Desenvolvimento Psicomotor (IDP), de ambos os grupos, encontraram-se na classificação de desenvolvimento normal. No entanto, em ambos os grupos, metade das crianças apresentou desempenho prejudicado na avaliação mental e, cerca de um terço, também mostrou prejuízo na avaliação psicomotora. Entre os antecedentes selecionados para análise (escolaridade do pai e da mãe; número de habitantes na casa; número de filhos; ordem de nascimento da criança; idade da mãe na época da gestação; problemas durante a gestação; condições alimentares da mãe durante a gestação; duração do período de amamentação; condições alimentares da criança em sua residência; condições de saúde da criança), as crianças cujos pais tinham maior nível de escolaridade, apresentaram valores de IDM maiores. O fator escolaridade pode estar relacionado à maior estimulação ambiental, ao maior acesso à informação, gerando também melhores cuidados oferecidos às crianças. Os dados obtidos, no presente estudo, sugerem que nutrição e ambiente estão em interação, sendo que os prováveis efeitos do insulto nutricional são dependentes do contexto sócio-ambiental em que ocorrem. Além disso, demonstram que vários fatores ambientais e sócio-econômicos podem, por si só, levar a prejuízos no desenvolvimento infantil. Tais fatores, associados a alguma carência nutricional, podem se mostrar poderosos confundidores dos resultados na avaliação do desenvolvimento infantil / The child development has been considered as a process that involves modification, transformation and interaction with the social environment. The trajectory of development, even before the birth, can be exposed to multiples and continuous adverse events, the risk factors, that cannot and, usually, happen together, increasing the severity of its consequences. Among the studied risk factors, there are the nutritional deficiences, focus of the present study, whose objectives were: 1 - to evaluate the mental and psychomotor development of children with nutritional deficiences, through the Bayley Scales of Infant Development; 2 - to verify relationship among the results in the mental and psychomotor scales of the Bayley Scales, with some potential factors of risk to the child development.The sample was constituted by 59 children of both gender, from 4 to 42 months of age, that have attended at two day care of the municipal district of Ribeirão Preto. Individual interviews were accomplished with the parents or responsible person, and the children were submited to the evaluations clinical-nutritional, hematological, and of the child development, through Bayley Scales of Infant Development - Second Edition. In agreement with the clinical-nutritional and hematological evaluation, the children were distributed in two groups: Control and Nutritional Deficient, according to the z-score proposed by the World Organization of Health and hemoglobin values.The analysis of the data showed that malnutrition and iron-deficiency anemia are common occurrences for a great proportion (46%) of these children. The statistical analysis demonstrated no significant difference among the medium indexes of the two groups, so much in the evaluation of the mental development, as psicomotor. The medium values of Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI), of both groups, met in the classification of normal development. However, in both groups, the children\'s half presented mildly delayed performance in the mental evaluation and, about a third, also presented delayed in the psicomotor evaluation. Among the antecedents selected for analysis (level of education of the parents; number of inhabitants in the house; number of children; order from birth of the child; the mother\'s age at the time of the gestation; problems during the gestation; the mother\'s alimentary conditions during the gestation; duration of the breast-feeding period; the child\'s alimentary conditions in its residence; conditions of the child\'s health), the children whose parents had larger level of education, presented values of larger MDI. The factor level of education can be related to the largest environmental stimulation, to the largest access to the information, also generating better cares offered to the children. The obtained data, in the present study, they suggest that nutrition and environment are in interaction, and the probable effects of the nutritional insult are dependent of the social and environmental context in that happen. Furthermore, they demonstrate that several environmental and socioeconomic factors can, by itself, to take the damages of the child development. Such factors, associated to some nutritional lack, can be shown powerful confounders of the results in the evaluation of the child development

O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar o efeito da desnutrição proteica em humanos e em modelo animal por meio de medidas comportamentais e bioquímicas. Participaram desse estudo 60 crianças com idade de 7 a 10 anos, sendo 20 eutróficas (grupo controle, GC), 20 com desnutrição atual (grupo experimental atual, GEa) e 20 com desnutrição pregressa (grupo experimental pregresso, GEp). Esses três grupos foram replicados em modelo animal, sendo cada grupo composto por 6 ratos wistar. A acuidade visual (AV) e a sensibilidade ao contraste (SC) foram medidas por meio do método psicofísico em humanos (experimento I) e em ratos (experimento II). Para a medida comportamental com animais foi desenvolvido o Labirinto de Imagens. As análises bioquímicas foram realizadas por meio da técnica de imunohistoquímica e de morfometria da retina de 5 animais de cada grupo (experimento III). Os resultados dos testes comportamentais em humanos e em animais mostraram prejuízos no desempenho dos grupos desnutridos, principalmente no GEp, mesmo com recuperação nutricional. O Labirinto de Imagens se mostrou uma ferramenta útil para medida de parâmetros visuais em roedores. Entretanto, as análises histológicas não apresentaram diferenças significantes entre os grupos, o que provavelmente se deve ao nível de análise não ser capaz de medir componentes sinápticos, arborização dendrítica ou do sistema de neurotransmissão / Not informed by the author

Um sistema de visão artificial (SVA) para diagnose nutricional de milho, baseado em análise de imagens de folhas foi recentemente proposto pelo GCC-IFSC e Agrárias-FZEA/USP. O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o estado nutricional do milho cultivado em casa de vegetação em solução nutritiva, com deficiência e suficiência nutricionais induzidas de nitrogênio (N), fósforo (P), potássio (K) e manganês (Mn) utilizando visão artificial, e posteriormente em campo visando validar o diagnóstico pelo sistema de visão artificial desenvolvido. As doses dos nutrientes foram constituídas pela omissão, 1/5, 2/5 e a dose completa, combinadas em três estádios de desenvolvimento do milho (V4, V7 e R1), com quatro repetições. O experimento foi individual para cada elemento. Em cada época foram coletadas imagens de folhas indicativas do estádio (FI), folhas velhas (FV) para o N, P e K e folhas novas para o Mn, que foram primeiramente digitalizadas em 1200 dpi, e em seguida encaminhadas para serem analisadas quimicamente. Também foram avaliadas nas plantas, as variáveis biométricas (altura, diâmetro do colmo e número de folhas) e determinar as produções de massa seca da parte aérea e do sistema radicular, além da determinação dos teores de nutrientes. A omissão de N, P e K proporcionaram deficiências nutricionais características nas folhas do milho, quando cultivado em casa de vegetação. As modificações nas folhas do milho, com as doses dos nutrientes estudadas, possibilitaram a obtenção de imagens necessárias para o desenvolvimento do SVA, em casa de vegetação. A utilização das imagens da casa de vegetação para treinar o SVA visando à validação de imagens do campo, gerou confusão na interpretação, levando a erros de classificação, entretanto, o uso desta tecnologia para diagnose nutricional do milho, tanto em casa de vegetação, como no campo, é promissora. / An artificial vision system (AVS) for nutrient diagnosis of corn, based on analysis of images of leaves was recently proposed by SCG-IFSC and Agrarian-FZEA/USP. The objective was evaluate the nutritional status of maize grown in a greenhouse in nutrient solution with induced nutritional deficiency and sufficiency of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and manganese (Mn) using artificial vision, and correlate the results obtained with foliar analysis, and then the field in order to validate the diagnosis by artificial vision system developed. Doses of nutrients were established by omission, 1/5, 2/5 and full dose, combined into three developmental stages of corn (V4, V7 and R1), with four replications. The experiment was for each individual element. Images of leaves were collected in each epoch indicating the stage (FI), old leaves (FV) for N, P and K and Mn for new leaves, which were first scanned at 1200 dpi, then sent to be analyzed chemically. The biometric variables (height, stem diameter and number of leaves) were also evaluated, and the dry matter production of shoots and roots was determined, besides the determination of nutritional content. The omission of N, P and K caused typical nutrient deficiencies provided in the leaves of maize when grown in a greenhouse. The changes in the leaves of maize, with doses of nutrients studied, allowed the imaging necessary for training SVA in a greenhouse. The use of images of the greenhouse to train the SVA aiming to validate images of the field has led to confusion in the interpretation leading to errors of classification, however the use of this technology for nutrient diagnosis of corn, both in the greenhouse and in the field, is promising.