A research on asymptomatic bacteriuria in 14- to 17-year-old female students

Urinary tract infections, which are more common in women than in men, are especially seen in young asymptomatic females who don't obey the general rules of hygiene. This research has been carried out on 14- to 17-year-old young females from several high schools, 966 specimens in total. 3.3% of them had bacteriuria and 75% of the isolated bacteria was Escherichia coli. Copyright © 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Modeling of electro-kinetic motion of Janus droplet

Electro-kinetic manipulation Janus particles and droplets has attracted attention in recent years due to their potential application in microfluidics. Due to the presence of two different zone on the surface of particles with different charge distribution, the motion of the Janus particles are quite different than the that of regular particles. Therefore; the fundamental understanding of this motion is the key element for the further development of the microfluidic systems with Janus particles. In present study, electro-kinetic motion of Janus droplets inside a micro-channel is modeled using boundary element formulation. 2D formulation is verified against the reported experimental data in the literature. Results show that the 2D boundary element formulation is successful for the prediction of the electrophoretic velocity of the Janus droplets. The current formulation has a potential to model non-spherical particles and to study particle-particle and particle-wall interactions. © 2017 ASME The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

FINE: Fisher Information Non-parametric Embedding

We consider the problems of clustering, classification, and visualization of high-dimensional data when no straightforward Euclidean representation exists. Typically, these tasks are performed by first reducing the high-dimensional data to some lower dimensional Euclidean space, as many manifold learning methods have been developed for this task. In many practical problems however, the assumption of a Euclidean manifold cannot be justified. In these cases, a more appropriate assumption would be that the data lies on a statistical manifold, or a manifold of probability density functions (PDFs). In this paper we propose using the properties of information geometry in order to define similarities between data sets using the Fisher information metric. We will show this metric can be approximated using entirely non-parametric methods, as the parameterization of the manifold is generally unknown. Furthermore, by using multi-dimensional scaling methods, we are able to embed the corresponding PDFs into a low-dimensional Euclidean space. This not only allows for classification of the data, but also visualization of the manifold. As a whole, we refer to our framework as Fisher Information Non-parametric Embedding (FINE), and illustrate its uses on a variety of practical problems, including bio-medical applications and document classification.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figure

Thoracolumbar injury classification and severity score: a new paradigm for the treatment of thoracolumbar spine trauma

BACKGROUND: Contemporary understanding of the biomechanics, natural history, and methods of treating thoracolumbar spine injuries continues to evolve. Current classification schemes of these injuries, however, can be either too simplified or overly complex for clinical use. METHODS: The Spine Trauma Group was given a survey to identify similarities in treatment algorithms for common thoracolumbar injuries, as well as to identify characteristics of injury that played a key role in the decision-making process. RESULTS: Based on the survey, the Spine Trauma Group has developed a classification system and an injury severity score (thoracolumbar injury classification and severity score, or TLICS), which may facilitate communication between physicians and serve as a guideline for treating these injuries. The classification system is based on the morphology of the injury, integrity of the posterior ligamentous complex, and neurological status of the patient. Points are assigned for each category, and the final total points suggest a possible treatment option. CONCLUSIONS: The usefulness of this new system will have to be proven in future studies investigating inter- and intraobserver reliability, as well as long-term outcome studies for operative and nonoperative treatment methods

Association among SNAP-25 gene DdeI and MnlI polymorphisms and hemodynamic changes during methylphenidate use: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

Objective: To investigate the interaction of treatment-related hemodynamic changes with genotype status for Synaptosomal associated protein 25 (SNAP-25) gene in participants with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on and off single dose short-acting methylphenidate treatment with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Method: A total of 15 right-handed adults and 16 right-handed children with DSM-IV diagnosis of ADHD were evaluated. Ten milligrams of short-acting methylphenidate was administered in a crossover design. Results: Participants with SNAP-25 DdeI T/T genotype had decreased right deoxyhemoglobin ([HHb]) with treatment. SNAP-25 MnlI genotype was also associated with right deoxyhemoglobin ([HbO2]) and [HHb] changes as well as left [HHb] change. When the combinations of these genotypes were taken into account, the participants with [DdeI C/C or T/C and MnlI G/G or T/G] genotype had increased right [HHb] with MPH use whereas the participants with [DdeI T/T and MnlI T/T] or [DdeI T/T and MnlI G/G or T/G] genotypes had decreased right prefrontal [HHb]. Conclusions: These results suggested that SNAP-25 polymorphism might be associated with methylphenidate induced brain hemodynamic changes in ADHD participants. © 2011 SAGE Publications

Single-cell immune profiling reveals markers of emergency myelopoiesis that distinguish severe from mild respiratory syncytial virus disease in infants

Whereas most infants infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) show no or only mild symptoms, an estimated 3 million children under five are hospitalized annually due to RSV disease. This study aimed to investigate biological mechanisms and associated biomarkers underlying RSV disease heterogeneity in young infants, enabling the potential to objectively categorize RSV-infected infants according to their medical needs. Immunophenotypic and functional profiling demonstrated the emergence of immature and progenitor-like neutrophils, proliferative monocytes (HLA-DRLow, Ki67+), impaired antigen-presenting function, downregulation of T cell response and low abundance of HLA-DRLow B cells in severe RSV disease. HLA-DRLow monocytes were found as a hallmark of RSV-infected infants requiring hospitalization. Complementary transcriptomics identified genes associated with disease severity and pointed to the emergency myelopoiesis response. These results shed new light on mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and development of severe RSV disease and identified potential new candidate biomarkers for patient stratification

Being tolerated and being discriminated against:Links to psychological well-being through threatened social identity needs

We investigated whether and how the experience of being tolerated and of being discriminated against are associated with psychological well‐being in three correlational studies among three stigmatized groups in Turkey (LGBTI group members, people with disabilities, and ethnic Kurds, total N = 862). Perceived threat to social identity needs (esteem, meaning, belonging, efficacy, and continuity) was examined as a mediator in these associations. Structural equation models showed evidence for the detrimental role of both toleration and discrimination experiences on positive and negative psychological well‐being through higher levels of threatened social identity needs. A mini‐meta analysis showed small to moderate effect sizes and toleration was associated with lower positive well‐being through threatened needs among all three stigmatized groups

P06.06 Enhancing trafficking and resistance to immunosuppression of synthetic agonistic receptor-transduced T cells in solid tumor models

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