Selected aspects of infectious bursal disease – the current state of knowledge

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is a highly infectious and contagious immunosuppressive viral disease of chickens with a worldwide economic significance to the poultry industry. Over fifty years have passed since the first confirmed occurrence of the disease, and the virus has spread all over world and evolved into multiple genetic, antigenic and pathotypic variants, becoming a serious threat to the poultry industry. The primary tool in IBD eradication is the maintenance of strict biosecurity in poultry farms and implementation of vaccination programmes which should take into account the current epidemiological knowledge about the IBDV strains circulating in the field. This review article presents the current state of knowledge about the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) with special regard to the molecular biology of the virus, immunological aspects, as well as current and future prevention strategies.

Biopolymers: A comprehensive review

Biopolymers are compounds prepared by using various living organisms, including plants. These are composed of repeated units of the same or similar structure (monomers) linked together. Rubber, starch, cellulose, proteins and DNA, RNA, chitin, and peptides are some of the examples of natural biopolymers. Biopolymers are a diverse and remarkably versatile class of materials that are either produced by biological systems or synthesize from biological sources. Biopolymers are used in pharmaceutical industry and also in food industry.Naturally derived polymers are also used for conditioning benefits in hair and skin care. Biopolymers have various applications in medicine, food, packaging, and petroleum industries. This review article is focused on various aspects of biopolymers with a special emphasis on role of biopolymers in green nanotechnology and agriculture.

Understanding psychosis: diagnosis and clinical presentation (updates for clinicians)

Psychosis is understood as the brightest manifestations of mental illness, in which the patient's mental activity does not correspond to the surrounding reality, the reflection of the real world in consciousness is sharply distorted, which manifests itself in behavioral disorders, abnormal pathological symptoms and syndromes. Psychosis is a combination of biological (genetic, neuroanatomical, neurophysiological), psychological and social factors in various proportions. Psychoses are classified according to their origin (etiology) and reasons (pathogenetic mechanisms of development) into endogenous (including endogenous psychoses include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, some psychotic forms of affective disorders), organic, somatogenic, psychogenic (reactive, situational), intoxication, withdrawal and post-withdrawal. Most often, psychoses develop in the framework of so-called endogenous disorder. The concepts of psychosis and schizophrenia are often equated, which is incorrect as psychotic disorders can occur in a number of mental illnesses: Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, chronic alcoholism, drug addiction, epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, etc. Other types of psychosis, such as infectious, somatic and intoxication psychoses are quite often find among patients in non-psychiatric practices. This review article is a good educational material for medical and psychological practitioners whose goal is to improve knowledge and diagnostic processes of psychosis and its related disorders.

Understanding psychosis: treatment and rehabilitation (updates for clinicians)

Psychosis is a group of psychotic disorders. Its manifestation depends on the specific type of functional violation. However, this is characterized by a gradual increase in clinical signs and a change in behavior. Symptoms of psychosis can be recognized by the following manifestations: hallucinations, delusional ideas, movement disorders, mood disorders including manic and depressive disorders and changes in emotional sphere. Psychosis occurs due to problems in the functioning of neurons. Due to the violation of bonds in the molecules, they do not receive nutrition and they are deficient in oxygen. This leads to the fact that neurons cannot transmit nerve impulses; multiple dysfunctions occur in the central nervous system. The type of psychosis depends on a part of the brain suffered from the hunger strike. The causes of this disorder are of 3 types: endogenous, associated with internal processes, exogenous or external and organic, when the causes of psychosis are changes in the brain such as tumors, trauma or hemorrhage. Psychosis is usually treated in a hospital setting. Such patients require urgent admission as they cannot control their actions, they can harm themselves and others. Psychosis is a relapse-prone disease. With timely and comprehensive treatment, the prognosis will be favorable. This review article is a good educational material for medical and psychological practitioners whose goal is to improve knowledge of treatment and rehabilitation processes of psychosis and its related disorders.

A review on synthesis methods of tricyclic 1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocarbazoles

In this review article, we discussed old to new synthetic methods used for the preparation of 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydrocarbazole (THCz) based on reported literature. Around the worldwide, various researchers energetically reported new synthetic methods for tetrahydrocarbazoles preparation using conventional method or microwave method or use of catalyst. This review will be helpful to synthetic and medicinal chemist to find selective method for the preparation of 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydrocarbazoles with good percentage yield and less time. This review will also useful to medicinal chemist to design new biologically active tetrahydrocarbazoles based on reported synthetic methods.

Analysing authorial identity construction in the review article genre in Applied Linguistics

Authorial identity construction is one of many professional rhetorical strategies employed by authors in academic review genres. Authors usually create a persona to represent themselves, their seniority in the field, and the community to which they belong. The author’s visibility is made possible through several rhetorical devices. Perhaps the most remarkable way of such authorial identity construction in the review article genre is self-mentions. The aims of this research are (1) to find out what types of self-mention are frequently used in review articles, (2) to determine the frequency of use and distribution of self-mentions in the review articles, and (3) to investigate the rhetorical function of self-mentions in the different analytical sections of the review articles. The data, drawn from a randomly selected corpus of thirty-two review articles, were analysed using WordSmith Tools Version 6. The findings indicated that first-person plural pronouns were more frequently used than singular pronouns in the whole corpus except in the two review texts. It was also observed that the frequency of occurrence for the exclusive and inclusive pronouns was very close to each other. Most importantly, the inclusive pronouns were used not only as a politeness strategy to appreciate the readers and keep the writers’ claims balanced but also as a persuasive tool to seek the readers’ agreement in the evaluation of research developments. This study revealed that authors construct various professional personas as a rhetorical strategy to carve their authorial identity and credibility in the review article genre. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications in the field of academic writing in applied linguistics as well as other disciplines.

The CMS Magnetic Field Measuring and Monitoring Systems

This review article describes the performance of the magnetic field measuring and monitoring systems for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. To cross-check the magnetic flux distribution obtained with the CMS magnet model, four systems for measuring the magnetic flux density in the detector volume were used. The magnetic induction inside the 6 m diameter superconducting solenoid was measured and is currently monitored by four nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes installed using special tubes at a radius of 2.9148 m outside the barrel hadron calorimeter at ±0.006 m from the coil median XY-plane. Two more NRM probes were installed at the faces of the tracking system at Z-coordinates of −2.835 and +2.831 m and a radius of 0.651 m from the solenoid axis. The field inside the superconducting solenoid was precisely measured in 2006 in a cylindrical volume of 3.448 m in diameter and 7 m in length using ten three-dimensional (3D) B-sensors based on the Hall effect (Hall probes). These B-sensors were installed on each of the two propeller arms of an automated field-mapping machine. In addition to these measurement systems, a system for monitoring the magnetic field during the CMS detector operation has been developed. Inside the solenoid in the horizontal plane, four 3D B-sensors were installed at the faces of the tracking detector at distances X = ±0.959 m and Z-coordinates of −2.899 and +2.895 m. Twelve 3D B-sensors were installed on the surfaces of the flux-return yoke nose disks. Seventy 3D B-sensors were installed in the air gaps of the CMS magnet yoke in 11 XY-planes of the azimuthal sector at 270°. A specially developed flux loop technique was used for the most complex measurements of the magnetic flux density inside the steel blocks of the CMS magnet yoke. The flux loops are installed in 22 sections of the flux-return yoke blocks in grooves of 30 mm wide and 12–13 mm deep and consist of 7–10 turns of 45 wire flat ribbon cable. The areas enclosed by these coils varied from 0.3 to 1.59 m2 in the blocks of the barrel wheels and from 0.5 to 1.12 m2 in the blocks of the yoke endcap disks. The development of these systems and the results of the magnetic flux density measurements across the CMS magnet are presented and discussed in this review article.

Catalytic Hydrofunctionalization Reactions of 1,3-Diynes

Metal-catalyzed hydrofunctionalization reactions of alkynes, i.e., the addition of Y–H units (Y = heteroatom or carbon) across the carbon–carbon triple bond, have attracted enormous attention for decades since they allow the straightforward and atom-economic access to a wide variety of functionalized olefins and, in its intramolecular version, to relevant heterocyclic and carbocyclic compounds. Despite conjugated 1,3-diynes being considered key building blocks in synthetic organic chemistry, this particular class of alkynes has been much less employed in hydrofunctionalization reactions when compared to terminal or internal monoynes. The presence of two C≡C bonds in conjugated 1,3-diynes adds to the classical regio- and stereocontrol issues associated with the alkyne hydrofunctionalization processes’ other problems, such as the possibility to undergo 1,2-, 3,4-, or 1,4-monoadditions as well as double addition reactions, thus increasing the number of potential products that can be formed. In this review article, metal-catalyzed hydrofunctionalization reactions of these challenging substrates are comprehensively discussed.

Economic analysis of the environmental sustainability of agriculture: recent studies using quasi-experimental methods

PurposeThe purpose of this review article is to demonstrate how the quasi-experimental approach has been used to study environmental and natural resource issues related to agricultural production.Design/methodology/approachThis review article first provides a short introduction to the quasi-experimental approach using the potential outcomes framework and then uses studies on the environmental sustainability of agricultural production to illustrate how quasi-experimental methods have been applied. Papers reviewed consist of studies that estimate the environmental externalities from agricultural production, evaluate agri-environmental and other related policies and programs, and demonstrate issues related to on-farm resource use and climate adaptation.FindingsDifference-in-differences (DID) and two-way fixed effects methods that utilize the spatial and temporal variation in panel data are widely used to estimate the causal impact of changes in agricultural production and policy on the environment. Utilizing the discontinuities and limits created by agricultural policies and regulations, local treatment effects on land and other input use are estimated using regression discontinuity (RD) or instrumental variable (IV) methods with cross-sectional data.Originality/valueChallenges faced by the food systems have made agricultural sustainability more critical than ever. Over the past three decades, the quasi-experimental approach has become the powerhouse of applied economic research. This review article focuses on quasi-experimental studies on the environmental sustainability of agriculture to provide methodological insights and to highlight gaps in the economics literature of agricultural sustainability.