Bactericidal Performance of Visible-Light Responsive Titania Photocatalyst with Silver Nanostructures

BACKGROUND: Titania dioxide (TiO(2)) photocatalyst is primarily induced by ultraviolet light irradiation. Visible-light responsive anion-doped TiO(2) photocatalysts contain higher quantum efficiency under sunlight and can be used safely in indoor settings without exposing to biohazardous ultraviolet light. The antibacterial efficiency, however, remains to be further improved. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using thermal reduction method, here we synthesized silver-nanostructures coated TiO(2) thin films that contain a high visible-light responsive antibacterial property. Among our tested titania substrates including TiO(2), carbon-doped TiO(2) [TiO(2) (C)] and nitrogen-doped TiO(2) [TiO(2) (N)], TiO(2) (N) showed the best performance after silver coating. The synergistic antibacterial effect results approximately 5 log reductions of surviving bacteria of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii. Scanning electron microscope analysis indicated that crystalline silver formed unique wire-like nanostructures on TiO(2) (N) substrates, while formed relatively straight and thicker rod-shaped precipitates on the other two titania materials. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggested that proper forms of silver on various titania materials could further influence the bactericidal property

Number Sense Performance of Gifted and General Fourth Graders in Taiwan

The study was designed to enable researchers the opportunities to investigate the number sense performance and methods used by both the gifted and general students. A mixed-method design was used, and 48 gifted students and 95 general students in fourth grade from two elementary schools in Southern Taiwan were selected. The sample was chosen using a convenience sampling method. Nine students in each group were randomly selected and interviewed. The results showed that the gifted students performed significantly higher than the general students on the whole test and in each component of number sense. The contributions of this study based on the findings are discussed

Small B cell lymphocytic lymphoma presenting as obstructive sleep apnea

BACKGROUND: Most lymphomas that involve the tonsil are large B cell lymphomas. Large B-cell lymphoma is a high grade malignancy which progresses rapidly. Tonsillar lymphoma usually presents as either a unilaterally enlarged palatine tonsil or as an ulcerative and fungating lesion over the tonsillar area. Small lymphocytic lymphomas (SLL) of the Waldeyer's ring are uncommon. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a 41-year-old male who presented with a ten-year history of snoring. Physical examination revealed smooth bilateral symmetrically enlarged tonsils without abnormal surface change or cervical lymphadenopathy. Palatal redundancy and a narrowed oropharyngeal airway were also noted. The respiratory disturbance index (RDI) was 66 per hour, and severe obstruction sleep apnea (OSA) was suspected. No B symptoms, sore throat, odynophagia or dysphagia was found. We performed uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) and pathological examination revealed incidental small B-cell lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). CONCLUSION: It is uncommon for lymphoma to initially present as OSA. SLL is an indolent malignancy and is not easy to detect in the early stage. We conclude that SLL may be a contributing factor of OSA in the present case

H9N2 avian influenza virus in a Mediterranean gull

International audienc

Concurrent Papillary Thyroid Cancer with Pituitary ACTH-secreting Tumor

Concomitant thyroid cancer with pituitary tumor is uncommon. This study reports a case of advanced papillary thyroid carcinoma with pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting tumor. A 58-year-old male patient had thyroid cancer in 1991 and presented with headache caused by pituitary tumor with apoplexy in 1993. Due to hypopituitarism, the patient underwent radioactive iodide (131I) for detection and treatment of metastatic thyroid cancer after the use of recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone (rhTSH) in 2000. During follow-up for thyroid cancer 201thallium scan proved to be an effective tool for detecting metastatic thyroid cancer in the patient without pituitary TSH reserve. Pituitary ACTH-secreting tumor was confirmed in 2001 based on the high serum ACTH level and positive immunohistochemical stain for ACTH. The patient had no Cushingoid features. Moreover, serum ACTH levels were 337 and 232 pg/mL with normal serum cortisol and urine-free cortisol. Although the patient underwent three operations and a total of 370 mCi 131I therapy for recurrent thyroid cancer, the cancer continued to progress. Finally, the patient died of pneumonia with septic shock 12 years after the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. [J Formos Med Assoc 2007;106(4):330-335

Sialylation of vasorin by ST3Gal1 facilitates TGF-β1-mediated tumor angiogenesis and progression.

ST3Gal1 is a key sialyltransferase which adds α2,3-linked sialic acid to substrates and generates core 1 O-glycan structure. Upregulation of ST3Gal1 has been associated with worse prognosis of breast cancer patients. However, the protein substrates of ST3Gal1 implicated in tumor progression remain elusive. In our study, we demonstrated that ST3GAL1-silencing significantly reduced tumor growth along with a notable decrease in vascularity of MCF7 xenograft tumors. We identified vasorin (VASN) which was shown to bind TGF-β1, as a potential candidate that links ST3Gal1 to angiogenesis. LC-MS/MS analysis of VASN secreted from MCF7, revealed that more than 80% of its O-glycans are sialyl-3T and disialyl-T. ST3GAL1-silencing or desialylation of VASN by neuraminidase enhanced its binding to TGF-β1 by 2- to 3-fold and thereby dampening TGF-β1 signaling and angiogenesis, as indicated by impaired tube formation of HUVECs, suppressed angiogenesis gene expression and reduced activation of Smad2 and Smad3 in HUVEC cells. Examination of 114 fresh primary breast cancer and their adjacent normal tissues showed that the expression levels of ST3Gal1 and TGFB1 were high in tumor part and the expression of two genes was positively correlated. Kaplan Meier survival analysis showed a significantly shorter relapse-free survival for those with lower expression VASN, notably, the combination of low VASN with high ST3GAL1 yielded even higher risk of recurrence (p = 0.025, HR = 2.967, 95% CI = 1.14-7.67). Since TGF-β1 is known to transcriptionally activate ST3Gal1, our findings illustrated a feedback regulatory loop in which TGF-β1 upregulates ST3Gal1 to circumvent the negative impact of VASN

Optical Properties and Enhanced Photothermal Conversion Efficiency of SiO2/A-Dlc Selective Absorber Films for A Solar Energy Collector Fabricated by Unbalance Sputter

AbstractSolar energy could become the most attractive alternative energy source. In this study we test an attractive new candidate material for solar energy collectors. It can be found that the higher the gas pressure is, the higher the sp2/sp3 area ratio, the greater the sputtering rate and the greater the optical absorption. The photothermal conversion efficiency of a SiO2 coating on the amorphous diamond-like carbon (a-DLC) selective absorber films deposited on the Cr/mirror like Al substrate is 93.2% as the film thickness of a SiO2 coating is 105nm. The coatings also increase the protective properties for a longer service life. This makes the SiO2 coated a-DLC film a promising new candidate material for solar selective absorber films. The SiO2/a-DLC selective absorber films also were deposited on the Al extrusion substrates

Quasi-exactly solvable cases of the N-dimensional symmetric quartic anharmonic oscillator

The O(N) invariant quartic anharmonic oscillator is shown to be exactly solvable if the interaction parameter satisfies special conditions. The problem is directly related to that of a quantum double well anharmonic oscillator in an external field. A finite dimensional matrix equation for the problem is constructed explicitly, along with analytical expressions for some excited states in the system. The corresponding Niven equations for determining the polynomial solutions for the problem are given.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX4. A discussion on the N=1 case has been added with the boundary condition properly treate

Development of an Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor Based Urea Biosensor with Solid State Reference Systems

Ion sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) based urease biosensors with solid state reference systems for single-ended and two-ended differential readout electronics were investigated. The sensing membranes of the biosensors were fabricated with urease immobilized in a conducting polymer-based matrix. The responses of 12.9∼198.1 mV for the urea concentrations of 8∼240 mg/dL reveal that the activity of the enzyme was not significantly decreased. Biosensors combined with solid state reference systems were fabricated, and the evaluation results demonstrated the feasibility of miniaturization. For the differential system, the optimal transconductance match for biosensor and reference field-effect transistors (REFET) pair was determined through the modification of the membranes of the REFETs and enzyme field-effect transistors (EnFETs). The results show that the transconductance curve of polymer based REFET can match with that of the EnFET by adjusting the photoresist/Nafion™ ratio. The match of the transconductance curves for the differential pairs provides a wide dynamic operating measurement range. Accordingly, the miniaturized quasi-reference electrode (QRE)/REFET/EnFET combination with differential arrangement achieved similar urea response curves as those measured by a conventional large sized discrete sensor