480 research outputs found
The use of wastewater analysis in forensic intelligence: drug consumption comparison between Sydney and different European cities
© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Academy of Forensic Science. Wastewater analysis offers objective and complementary information to illicit drug agencies by monitoring patterns of illicit drug consumption. In this study, wastewater samples from three different wastewater treatment plants in Sydney, Australia were collected in March 2016. Ten targeted drugs were analysed and temporal and geographical analyses were performed to obtain a better understanding of the type and amount of illicit drugs consumed in Sydney in comparison with similar studies conducted around Australia and in Europe. Among the targeted drugs, methamphetamine was consumed the most, followed by cocaine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Weekly patterns were observed where a peak during the weekend was present. The geographical analysis showed differences between the regions targeted. This observation may be related to socio-demographic aspects. The comparison of our study to other data sources from Australia showed a high consumption of methamphetamine in Sydney and Western Australia. The comparison between Sydney and different European cities revealed a difference in consumption, which is in line with traditional market indicators. The information obtained through wastewater analysis provides complementary information regarding illicit drug consumption, the size, and the evolution of the illicit drug market. This, ultimately, will assist authorities in making informed decisions
Toward the First Nonpeptidic Molecular Tong Inhibitor of Wild-Type and Mutated HIV-1 Protease Dimerization
Modeling interstellar amorphous solid water grains by tight-binding based methods: comparison between GFN-XTB and CCSD(T) results for water clusters
One believed path to Interstellar Complexes Organic Molecules (iCOMs)
formation inside the Interstellar Medium (ISM) is through chemical
recombination at the surface of amorphous solid water (ASW) mantle covering the
silicate-based core of the interstellar grains. The study of these iCOMs
formation and their binding energy to the ASW, using computational chemistry,
depends strongly on the ASW models used, as different models may exhibit sites
with different adsorbing features. ASW extended models are rare in the
literature because large sizes require very large computational resources when
quantum mechanical methods based on DFT are used. To circumvent this problem,
we propose to use the newly developed GFN-xTB Semi-empirical Quantum Mechanical
(SQM) methods from the Grimme's group. These methods are, at least, two orders
of magnitude faster than conventional DFT, only require modest central memory,
and in this paper we aim to benchmark their accuracy against rigorous and
resource hungry quantum mechanical methods. We focused on 38 water structures
studied by MP2 and CCSD(T) approaches comparing energetic and structures with
three levels of GFN-xTB parametrization (GFN0, GFN1, GFN2) methods. The
extremely good results obtained at the very cheap GFN-xTB level for both water
cluster structures and energetic paved the way towards the modeling of very
large AWS models of astrochemical interest.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to LNCS (Springer) ICCSA202
Inflammatory myopathy and severe rhabdomyolysis induced by leuprolide acetate therapy for prostate cancer: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Leuprolide acetate is a synthetic analog of gonadotropin-releasing hormone used for the treatment of prostate cancer. Its side effects are hot flashes, nausea, and fatigue. We report a case of a patient with proximal inflammatory myopathy accompanied by severe rhabdomyolysis and renal failure following the second application of leuprolide acetate. Drug withdrawal and steroid therapy resulted in remission within six weeks of the diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, our case report describes the second case of leuprolide acetate-induced inflammatory myopathy and the first case of severe leuprolide acetate-induced rhabdomyolysis and renal failure in the literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 64-year-old Swiss Caucasian man was admitted to the hospital because of progressive proximal muscle weakness, dyspnea, and oliguria. He had been treated twice with leuprolide acetate in monthly doses. We performed a muscle biopsy, which excluded other causes of myopathy. The patient's renal failure and rhabdomyolysis were treated with rehydration and steroid therapy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The aim of our case report is to highlight the rare but severe side effects associated with leuprolide acetate therapy used to treat patients with inflammatory myopathy: severe rhabdomyolysis and renal failure.</p
The study of the negative pion production in neutron-proton collisions at beam momenta below 1.8 GeV/c
A detailed investigation of the reaction np -> pp\pi^{-} has been carried out
using the data obtained with the continuous neutron beam produced by charge
exchange scattering of protons off a deuterium target. A partial wave
event-by-event based maximum likelihood analysis was applied to determine
contributions of different partial waves to the pion production process. The
combined analysis of the np -> pp\pi^{-} and pp -> pp\pi^{0} data measured in
the same energy region allows us to determine the contribution of isoscalar
partial waves (I=0) in the momentum range from 1.1 up to 1.8 GeV/c. The decay
of isoscalar partial waves into (^1S_0)_{pp}\pi$ channel provides a good tool
for a determination of the pp S-wave scalar scattering length in the final
state which was found to be a_{pp}=-7.5\pm 0.3 fm.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Observation of strong final-state effects in pi+ production in pp collisions at 400 MeV
Differential cross sections of the reactions and have been measured at MeV by detecting the charged
ejectiles in the angular range . The
deduced total cross sections agree well with those published previously for
neighbouring energies. The invariant mass spectra are observed to be strongly
affected by production and final-state interaction. The data are
well described by Monte Carlo simulations including both these effects. The
ratio of and cross sections also compares
favourably to a recent theoretical prediction which suggests a dominance of
-production in the relative -state.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Single \pi^- production in np collisions for excess energies up to 90 MeV
The quasifree reaction np\to pp\pim was studied in a kinematically complete
experiment by bombarding a liquid hydrogen target with a deuteron beam of
momentum 1.85 GeV/c and analyzing the data along the lines of the spectator
model. In addition to the three charged ejectiles the spectator proton was also
detected in the large-acceptance time-of-flight spectrometer COSY-TOF. It was
identified by its momentum and flight direction thus yielding access to the
Fermi motion of the bound neutron and to the effective neutron 4-momentum
vector which differed from event to event. A range of almost 90
MeV excess energy above threshold was covered. Energy dependent angular
distributions, invariant mass spectra as well as fully covered Dalitz plots
were deduced. Sizeable FSI effects were found as were contributions of
and partial waves. The behavior of the elementary cross section
close to threshold is discussed in view of new cross section
data. In comparison with existing literature data the results provide a
sensitive test of the spectator model.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJ
Destabilization of the TAR hairpin affects the structure and function of the HIV-1 leader RNA
The TAR hairpin of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA genome is essential for virus replication. TAR forms the binding site for the transcriptional trans-activator protein Tat and multiple additional TAR functions have been proposed. We previously constructed an HIV-1 variant in which the TAR-Tat transcription control mechanism is replaced by the components of the Tet-ON regulatory system. In this context, the surprising finding was that TAR can be truncated or even deleted, but partial TAR deletions that destabilize the stem structure cause a severe replication defect. In this study, we demonstrate that the HIV-1 RNA genome requires a stable hairpin at its 5′-end because unpaired TAR sequences affect the proper folding of the untranslated leader RNA. Consequently, multiple leader-encoded functions are affected by partial TAR deletions. Upon evolution of such mutant viruses, the replication capacity was repaired through the acquisition of additional TAR mutations that restore the local RNA folding, thus preventing the detrimental effect on the leader conformation
Controlled assembly of SNAP-PNA-fluorophore systems on DNA templates to produce fluorescence resonance energy transfer
The SNAP protein is a widely used self-labeling tag that can be used for tracking protein localization and trafficking in living systems. A model system providing controlled alignment of SNAP-tag units can provide a new way to study clustering of fusion proteins. In this work, fluorescent SNAP-PNA conjugates were controllably assembled on DNA frameworks forming dimers, trimers, and tetramers. Modification of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) with the O6-benzyl guanine (BG) group allowed the generation of site-selective covalent links between PNA and the SNAP protein. The modified BG-PNAs were labeled with fluorescent Atto dyes and subsequently chemo-selectively conjugated to SNAP protein. Efficient assembly into dimer and oligomer forms was verified via size exclusion chromatography (SEC), electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and fluorescence spectroscopy. DNA directed assembly of homo- and hetero-dimers of SNAP-PNA constructs induced homo- and hetero-FRET, respectively. Longer DNA scaffolds controllably aligned similar fluorescent SNAP-PNA constructs into higher oligomers exhibiting homo-FRET. The combined SEC and homo-FRET studies indicated the 1:1 and saturated assemblies of SNAP-PNA-fluorophore:DNA formed preferentially in this system. This suggested a kinetic/stoichiometric model of assembly rather than binomially distributed products. These BG-PNA-fluorophore building blocks allow facile introduction of fluorophores and/or assembly directing moieties onto any protein containing SNAP. Template directed assembly of PNA modified SNAP proteins may be used to investigate clustering behavior both with and without fluorescent labels which may find use in the study of assembly processes in cells
Prevalence of fibromyalgia in France: a multi-step study research combining national screening and clinical confirmation: The DEFI study (Determination of Epidemiology of FIbromyalgia)
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fibromyalgia is a common disease, but little is known on its real prevalence in France. This epidemiological study aimed to assess fibromyalgia (FM) prevalence in the French metropolitan population, based on a multi-step sampling analysis, combining national screening and clinical confirmation by trained specialists.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>a sampling method on the entire national territory was used: patients over 18 years of age accepting to take part in the study were contacted by telephone using the LFES Questionnaire, a screening test for FM. The, for patients detected by the LFESQ, a visit with a FM-trained rheumatologist was proposed to confirm FM, based on 1990 ACR criteria. Each detected patient completed the following self-questionnaires: SF36, HADS, stress VAS, Co-morbidities and Regional pain score.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>3081 patients were contacted in 5 representative French regions, of which 232 patients were screened for FM. A fibromyalgia diagnosis was then confirmed by rheumatologist in 20 cases (17 female and 3 male, 56.9 ± 13.2 years). The final estimated FM prevalence was 1.6 (CI95: 1.2%; 2.0%). No significant difference was detected between the patients accepting (CS+) and refusing (CS-) rheumatologist visit for the SF36 score, regional pain score, stress VAS scale and co-morbidities. In patients detected for FM by the LFESQ, we found a statistically significant decrease in quality of life and a statistically significant increase in stress level in patients with a confirmed diagnosis (FM+) (6.3 ± 1.9) compared to patients with an invalidated diagnosis (FM-) (4.4 ± 2.8; p = 0.007). The study also demonstrated a significant association, independently of ACR criteria, between the diagnosis of FM and several factors such as regional pain score > 10, elevated stress level, low SF36 scale score and presence of gastro-intestinal disorder co-morbidities.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Fibromyalgia is a common condition; the 1.6% prevalence calculated in the French population in our study corroborates the figures published in the European literature. Our results also suggest that criteria such as regional pain score, stress level or SF36 quality of life, could represent useful tools in fibromyalgia diagnosis.</p
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