Bacillary Angiomatosis by Bartonella Quintana in an HIV-Infected Patient

Bacillary angiomatosis and bacillary peliosis are opportunistic infections caused by Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana, which occur in patients with late-stage infection. We report a case of bacillary angiomatosis in an HIV-infected patient with skin, bone, and probably liver involvement, The identification of the agent (B quintana ) was done by polymerase chain reaction in the skin specimen. The patient had complete regression of all lesions after a 6-month regimen of oral erythromycin

HISTÓRIA DA ELETRORRETINOGRAFIA

The eye and its diseases have been studied since the time of the ancient Egypt; therefore, ophthalmology is recognized as one of the first medical specialties to ever exist. Along the years many advances in this area occurred, as the invention of the ophthalmoscope during the 19th Century and other ancillary methods in the 20th Century. After the invention of the ophthalmoscope, the observation and study of the retina, the anatomic part of the eye that transforms light energy into electric energy (phototransduction) stimulating the brain to form an image. Electroretinography is an ophthalmic examination that captures this electrical response generated by cells of the retina when stimulated by light. This is an excellent tool for studying the function of the retina, yet it is still a modestly widespread practice in the Brazilian veterinary medicine scenario. This paper aims to review the history of this valuable method of diagnosis.O olho juntamente com suas doenças vem sendo estudado desde o Egito antigo, sendo a oftalmologia, portanto, considerada como uma das primeiras especialidades médicas a existir. Com a invenção do oftalmoscópio no século XIX bem como de outros métodos de exames diagnósticos no século XX, iniciou-se a observação e o estudo da retina, tecido nervoso que realiza fototransdução e faz a passagem do estímulo elétrico para o cérebro, formando a imagem. A eletrorretinografia é um capítulo peculiar na história da oftalmologia. Trata-se de um exame oftálmico funcional que capta a resposta elétrica produzida pelas células da retina quando estimuladas. Tornou-se uma excelente ferramenta para estudar a funcionalidade da retina de animais e seres humanos, porém seu uso ainda encontra-se pouco difundido na Medicina Veterinária brasileira. O trabalho presente tem o objetivo de revisar a história deste valioso método de diagnóstico

Carbon K-edge x-ray emission spectroscopy of gas phase ethylenic molecules

We report on the C K-edge x-ray absorption spectra and the resonant (RXES) and non-resonant (NXES) x-ray emission spectra of ethylene, allene and butadiene in the gas phase. The RXES and NXES show clear differences for the different molecules. Overall both types of spectra are more structured for ethylene and allene, than for butadiene. Using density functional theory–restricted open shell configuration interaction single calculations, we simulate the spectra with remarkable agreement with the experiment. We identify the spectral features as being due to transitions involving localised 1s orbitals. For allene, there are distinct spectral bands that reflect transitions predominantly from either the central or terminal carbon atoms. These results are discussed in the context of ultrafast x-ray studies aimed at detecting the passage through conical intersections in polyatomic molecules

Femtosecond X-ray emission study of the spin cross-over dynamics in haem proteins

In haemoglobin (consisting of four globular myoglobin-like subunits), the change from the low-spin (LS) hexacoordinated haem to the high spin (HS) pentacoordinated domed form upon ligand detachment and the reverse process upon ligand binding, represent the transition states that ultimately drive the respiratory function. Visible-ultraviolet light has long been used to mimic the ligand release from the haem by photodissociation, while its recombination was monitored using time-resolved infrared to ultraviolet spectroscopic tools. However, these are neither element- nor spin-sensitive. Here we investigate the transition state in the case of Myoglobin-NO (MbNO) using femtosecond Fe Kalpha and Kbeta non-resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) at an X-ray free-electron laser upon photolysis of the Fe-NO bond. We find that the photoinduced change from the LS (S = 1/2) MbNO to the HS (S = 2) deoxy-myoglobin (deoxyMb) haem occurs in ca. 800 fs, and that it proceeds via an intermediate (S = 1) spin state. The XES observables also show that upon NO recombination to deoxyMb, the return to the planar MbNO ground state is an electronic relaxation from HS to LS taking place in ca. 30 ps. Thus, the entire ligand dissociation-recombination cycle in MbNO is a spin cross-over followed by a reverse spin cross-over process

Differential effects of antigens from L. braziliensis isolates from disseminated and cutaneous leishmaniasis on in vitro cytokine production

BACKGROUND: Disseminated leishmaniasis is an emerging infectious disease, mostly due to L. braziliensis, which has clinical and histopathological features distinct from cutaneous leishmaniasis. METHODS: In the current study we evaluated the in vitro production of the cytokines IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-5 and IL-10 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 15 disseminated leishmaniasis and 24 cutaneous leishmaniasis patients upon stimulation with L. braziliensis antigens genotyped as disseminated leishmaniasis or cutaneous leishmaniasis isolates. RESULTS: Regardless of the source of L. braziliensis antigens, PBMC from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients produced significantly higher IFN-γ than PBMC from disseminated leishmaniasis patients. Levels of TNF-α by PBMC from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients were significantly higher than disseminated leishmaniasis patients only when stimulated by genotyped cutaneous leishmaniasis antigens. The levels of IL-5 and IL-10 production by PBMC were very low and similar in PBMCs from both disseminated leishmaniasis and cutaneous leishmaniasis patients. The immune response of each patient evaluated by the two L. braziliensis antigens was assessed in a paired analysis in which we showed that L. braziliensis genotyped as disseminated leishmaniasis isolate was more potent than L. braziliensis genotyped as cutaneous leishmaniasis isolate in triggering IFN-γ and TNF-α production in both diseases and IL-5 only in cutaneous leishmaniasis patients. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that antigens prepared from genotypically distinct strains of L. braziliensis induce different degrees of immune response. It also indicates that both parasite and host play a role in the outcome of L. braziliensis infection

Jahn-Teller effects in initial and final states: high-resolution X-ray absorption, photoelectron and Auger spectroscopy of allene

Carbon K-edge resonant Auger spectra of gas-phase allene following excitation of the pre-edge 1s → π* transitions are presented and analysed with the support of EOM-CCSD/cc-pVTZ calculations. X-Ray absorption (XAS), X-ray photoelectron (XPS), valence band and non-resonant Auger spectra are also reanalysed with a series of computational approaches. The results presented demonstrate the importance of including nuclear ensemble effects for simulating X-ray observables and as an effective strategy for capturing Jahn-Teller effects in spectra

Coupled motion of Xe clusters and quantum vortices in He nanodroplets

Citation: Jones, C. F., Bernando, C., Tanyag, R. M. P., Bacellar, C., Ferguson, K. R., Gomez, L. F., . . . Vilesov, A. F. (2016). Coupled motion of Xe clusters and quantum vortices in He nanodroplets. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 93(18). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.93.180510Additional Authors: Erk, B.;Foucar, L.;Hartmann, R.;Neumark, D. M.;Epp, S. W.;Englert, L.;Siefermann, K. R.;Weise, F.;Rudek, B.;Sturm, F. P.;Ullrich, J.;Bostedt, C.;Gessner, O.;Vilesov, A. F.Single He nanodroplets doped with Xe atoms are studied via ultrafast coherent x-ray diffraction imaging. The diffraction images show that rotating He nanodroplets about 200 nm in diameter contain a small number of symmetrically arranged quantum vortices decorated with Xe clusters. Unexpected large distances of the vortices from the droplet center (?0.7-0.8 droplet radii) are explained by a significant contribution of the Xe dopants to the total angular momentum of the droplets and a stabilization of widely spaced vortex configurations by the trapped Xe clusters. © 2016 American Physical Society

Distributive thermometer: A new unary encoding for weightless neural networks

The binary encoding of real valued inputs is a crucial part of Weightless Neural Networks. The Linear Thermometer and its variations are the most prominent methods to determine binary encoding for input data but, as they make assumptions about the input distribution, the resulting encoding is sub-optimal and possibly wasteful when the assumption is incorrect. We propose a new thermometer approach that doesn’t require such assumptions. Our results show that it achieves similar or better accuracy when compared to a thermometer that correctly assumes the distribution, and accuracy gains up to 26.3% when other thermometer representations assume an unsound distribution.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pruning weightless neural networks

Weightless neural networks (WNNs) are a type of machine learning model which perform prediction using lookup tables (LUTs) instead of arithmetic operations. Recent advancements in WNNs have reduced model sizes and improved accuracies, reducing the gap in accuracy with deep neural networks (DNNs). Modern DNNs leverage “pruning” techniques to reduce model size, but this has not previously been explored for WNNs. We propose a WNN pruning strategy based on identifying and culling the LUTs which contribute least to overall model accuracy. We demonstrate an average 40% reduction in model size with at most 1% reduction in accuracy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Randomized Trial Evaluating Prosaptide™ for HIV-Associated Sensory Neuropathies: Use of an Electronic Diary to Record Neuropathic Pain

Objectives: To examine the efficacy and safety of Prosaptide™ (PRO) for the treatment of painful HIV-associated sensory neuropathies (HIV-SN). Design: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study in participants with sensory neuropathy. Pain modulating therapy was discontinued prior to baseline. Participants were stratified by sural sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitude. Participants were trained to use an electronic diary (ED) to record pain. Setting: Peripheral neuropathies are common complications of HIV infection. The pathogenesis is unknown and currently treatments are restricted to symptomatic measures. We examined PRO against placebo (PBO) for treatment of painful HIV-SN and performed a post-hoc evaluation of an electronic diary (ED) to record HIV-associated neuropathic pain. Participants: Eligible participants included adults with neurologist-confirmed painful HIV-SN.Interventions 2, 4, 8, or 16 mg/d PRO or PBO administered via subcutaneous (SC) injection for six weeks. Neurotoxic antiretroviral drug usage was held constant.Outcome Measures Changes from baseline in the weekly average of evaluable daily random prompts measuring pain using the Gracely pain scale and adverse events. Results: 237 participants were randomized. The study was stopped after a planned futility analysis. There were no between-group differences in the frequency of adverse events or laboratory toxicities. The 6-week mean (sd) Gracely pain scale changes were −0.12 (0.23), −0.24 (0.35), −0.15 (0.32), −0.18 (0.34), and −0.18 (0.32) for the 2, 4, 8, 16 mg, and PBO arms respectively. A similar variability of pain changes recorded using the ED were noted compared to previous trials that used paper collection methods.Conclusions 6-week treatment with PRO was safe but not effective at reducing HIV-associated neuropathic pain. Use of an ED to record neuropathic pain is novel in HIV-SN, resulted in reasonable compliance in recording pain data, but did not decrease the variability of pain scores compared to historical paper collection methods. Trial Registration: Current Controlled Trials NCT0028637