The recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean is the latest and most devastating natural disaster to highlight the value of mangrove forest and other natural defences in protecting vulnerable coastal communities.

Nowadays, the use of biodegradable and bio-derived plastics such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) cellulose in food packaging applications are replacing different more conventional oil-derived polymers that much expensive unsuitable for environment. However, their high transparency to ultraviolet (UV) radiation limits current commercialization. Therefore, this study focuses on deposition organic thin...

the study of soil seed bank provides useful information on management and restoration of natural ecosystems. in the arid environments, some perennial plants may cause accumulation of seed bank under their canopy, thereby protecting them against the livestock herbivory and the other environmental factors. this study was conducted with objective to investigate effect of perennial plants on densit...

Passage through the digestive tract exposes Salmonella enterica to high concentrations of bile salts, powerful detergents that disrupt biological membranes. Mutations in the wecD or wecA gene, both of which are involved in the synthesis of enterobacterial common antigen (ECA), render S. enterica serovar Typhimurium sensitive to the bile salt deoxycholate. Competitive infectivity analysis of wec...

Complex endourologic procedures may require the use of a combined ureteroscopic and percutaneous approach. Endoscopic removal of a retained 4-wire ureteral stone basket is particularly complex, as broken tines can potentially injure the ureter if the basket is removed in a retrograde manner. The patient in this case presented with a ureteral stone basket embedded within the urothelium of the up...