Connexin 26 (Cx26) is a transmembrane protein that forms hexameric hemichannels that can function when unopposed or dock to form intercellular gap junction channels. Aberrantly functioning unopposed hemichannels are a common feature of syndromic deafness associated with mutations in Cx26. In this study, we examine two different mutations at the same position in the N-terminal domain of Cx26, N1...

The problem of food insecurity remains a challenge in developing countries, especially rural areas. Despite the rising level insecurity, COVID-19 set and was said to pose threat security globally if adequate measures are not quickly put place. This study, therefore, described socio-economic characteristics respondents; examined extent which households secure or otherwise during pandemic examine...

Abstract Background/Aims Many people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receive intramuscular (IM) or oral bridging glucocorticoids whilst methotrexate (MTX) takes effect. Little is known about the information needs and experiences of RA receiving when starting MTX. Methods Seventy-six adults referred for MTX counselling attending two rheumatology units in West Midlands were invited to ta...

A layer of harvest residues from the previous crop can reduce wasteful evaporation from the soil surface and thereby increase the efficiency of use of limited water resources for agricultural production. The practice of harvesting sugarcane green and leaving crop residues in the field, as opposed to burning the residue, has been re-adopted in many sugarcane industries worldwide. However, a bett...

The state of stress in the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) changed significantly because of the occurrence of the 1992 Mw 6.1 Joshua Tree and the Mw 7.3 Landers earthquakes. To quantify this change, focal mechanisms from the 1975 Galway Lake sequence, the 1979 Homestead Valley sequence, background seismicity from 1981 to 1991, and the 1992 Landers sequence are inverted for the state of str...

This paper presents an approach to model-based diagnosis that first compiles a first-order system description to a propositional representation, and then solves the diagnostic problem as a linear programming instance. Relevance reasoning is employed to isolate parts of the system that are related to certain observation types and to economically instantiate the theory, while methods from operati...