As a promising strategy for the successful regeneration of articular cartilage, tissue engineering has received increasing recognition of control release. Two kinds of functional poly (alanine ethyl ester-co-glycine ethyl ester) phosphazene microspheres with different ratios of side-substituent groups were synthesized by emulsion technique. The rate of degradation/hydrolysis of the polymers was...

Diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus), is a notorious pest of brassica crops worldwide and is resistant to all groups of insecticides. The insect system harbors diverse groups of microbiota, which in turn helps in enzymatic degradation of xenobiotic-like insecticides. The present study aimed to determine the diversity of gut microflora in DBM, quantify esterase activity and elu...

The diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L), has been recorded in Malaysia since 1925. From 1941, it has been the major pest of crucifers grown in the Cameron Highlands and in the lowlands. The insect occurs in high numbers in the drier periods of the year and control has been mainly with the use of insecticides. The indiscriminate use of insecticides on DBM has led to the development o...

The present study aims to assess coculture of allogenic decalcified bone matrix (DBM) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in the knee joint cavity of rabbits for cartilage tissue engineering. Rabbits were assigned to an in vitro group, an in vivo group, and a blank control group. At the 4th, 8th, and 12th week, samples from all groups were collected for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stainin...

BACKGROUND In nature, insects have evolved behavioural and physiological adaptations to cope with short term exposure to extreme temperatures. Extreme heat events may increase as a result of climate change; this in turn will affect insect population dynamics. We examined the effect of abrupt and ecologically relevant gradual exposure to high temperatures on the survival and hsp70 gene expressio...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to compare osteoblast behavior on zirconia and titanium under conditions cultured with bone morphogenetic protein-2. METHODS MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on sandblasted zirconia and sandblasted/etched titanium discs. At 24 hours after seeding MC3T3-E1, the demineralized bone matrix (DBM) gel alone and the DBM gel with bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) were...

Even though the last 30 y has witnessed a remarkable increase in worldwide efforts to understand agricultural origins (OA), Gremillion et al. (1) find fault with the vast majority of this work, which they label as “particularism” and argue that it lacks sufficient inclusion of theory in the initial formulation of OA explanations. This label of particularism is applied to a remarkably broad spec...

We modelled the population phenology of the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.) (Yponomeutidae) with a simple degree day model implemented using DYMEX, a population dynamics modelling program. Predicted and observed developmental periods of DBM reared under field conditions during the months of October 1999 to February 2000 at Forthside Research Station, Tasmania (which is in the t...

A fiber based bend sensor using a uniquely designed Bend-Sensitive Erbium Doped Fiber (BSEDF) is proposed and demonstrated. The BSEDF has two core regions, namely an undoped outer region with a diameter of about 9.38 μm encompassing a doped, inner core region with a diameter of 4.00 μm. The doped core region has about 400 ppm of an Er2O3 dopant. Pumping the BSEDF with a conventional 980 nm lase...