LIM-kinases (LIMKs) play crucial roles in various cell activities, including migration, division, and morphogenesis, by phosphorylating and inactivating cofilin. Using a bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay to detect the actin-cofilin interaction, we screened LIMK1 inhibitors and identified two effective inhibitors, damnacanthal (Dam) and MO-26 (a pyrazolopyrimidine derivative). These...

Leakage is a major safety issue that, if left unchecked, may result in dam failure by various mechanisms. There is enormous pressure on dam operators to repair leaks without significant delays. Frequently, the need to reduce the risk of failure or control water loss has led to costly remedial repairs that are planned and executed without a complete understanding of the problem. A lack of approp...

How to accurately determine the mechanical parameters of rockfill is one of the key issues of concrete-face rockfill dams. Parameter back-analysis using internal or external monitoring data has been proven to be an efficient way to solve this problem. However, traditional internal or external monitoring methods have limitations in efficiency and long-term monitoring. In this paper, the displace...

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that more recently developed rubber dam systems (OptraDam ® Plus and OptiDam™) are faster and easier to handle, and that the quality of isolation is not decreased. The rubber dam systems were applied in standard conditions on a dental simulator in several model clinical situations. The time of preparation, application and removal were measure...

Background. DNA adenine methylation plays an important role in several critical bacterial processes including mismatch repair, the timing of DNA replication and the transcriptional control of gene expression. The dependence of bacterial virulence on DNA adenine methyltransferase (Dam) has led to the proposal that selective Dam inhibitors might function as broad spectrum antibiotics. Methodology...

We examine how historic flooding in 2011 affected the geomorphic adjustments created by dam regulation along the approximately 120 km free flowing reach of the Upper Missouri River bounded upstream by the Garrison Dam (1953) and downstream by Lake Oahe Reservoir (1959) near the City of Bismarck, ND, USA. The largest flood since dam regulation occurred in 2011. Flood releases from the Garrison D...

This study investigated whether the prenatal maternal environment in dairy cattle influences the postnatal milking performance of the resulting daughters and grand-daughters. Linear mixed models were used to analyse whole season milk production from ∼ 46,000 Jersey and ∼ 123,000 Holstein Friesian cows in their 1st and 2nd lactations. Variation in the prenatal environment was associated with a s...

Indian Himalayan basins are earmarked for widespread dam building, but aggregate effects of these dams on terrestrial ecosystems are unknown. We mapped distribution of 292 dams (under construction and proposed) and projected effects of these dams on terrestrial ecosystems under different scenarios of land-cover loss. We analyzed land-cover data of the Himalayan valleys, where dams are located. ...

The World Commission on Dams (WCD) report documented a number of social and environmental problems observed in dam development projects. The WCD gave particular emphasis to the challenges of properly resettling populations physically displaced by dams, and estimated the total number of people directly displaced at 40-80 million. Less attention has been given, however, to populations living down...

Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) techniques and, specifically, Advanced Differential InSAR techniques (A-DInSAR) are becoming, in last years, a powerful tool for the investigation of ground and structure deformations, also thanks to new space missions with last generation sensors able to provide high spatial resolution (about 3x3 m), high displacement accuracy and high ...