184 research outputs found
Pulmonary Tuberculosis with Delayed Tuberculosis Infection of Total Knee Arthroplasty
Tuberculous prosthetic joint infection is rare. While early diagnosis is critical for treatment, it is usually delayed. Here, we present the case of a 72-year-old patient who underwent total knee arthroplasty for his right knee due to degenerative arthritis 4 years ago. Three years after arthroplasty, pulmonary tuberculosis was found and he hesitated on starting antituberculosis chemotherapy. He suffered from progressive pain and swelling of the right prosthetic knee for 2 months before this admission. The pathologic report of the debridement of the right prosthetic knee was caseous granulomatous inflammation with positive acid-fast staining bacilli. The culture of the debridement also yielded Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He died due to aspiration pneumonia with multiorgan dysfunction. This case is a reminder of the possibility of tuberculosis while dealing with prosthetic joint infection. [J Formos Med Assoc 2007;106(1):82-85
Strangelets at finite temperature: nucleon emission rates, interface and shell effects
We investigate the properties of strangelets at finite temperature , where
an equivparticle model is adopted with both the linear confinement and
leading-order perturbative interactions accounted for using density-dependent
quark masses. The shell effects are examined by solving the Dirac equations for
quarks in the mean-field approximation, which diminish with temperature as the
occupation probability of each single-particle levels fixed by the Fermi-Dirac
statistics, i.e., shell dampening. Consequently, instead of decreasing with
temperature, the surface tension extracted from a liquid-drop formula increases
with until reaching its peak at -40 MeV with vanishing shell
corrections, where the formula roughly reproduces the free energy per baryon of
all strangelets. The curvature term, nevertheless, decreases with despite
the presence of shell effects. The neutron and proton emission rates are fixed
microscopically according to the external nucleon gas densities that are in
equilibrium with strangelets, which generally increase with (
MeV) for stable strangelets but decrease for those that are unstable against
nucleon emission at . The energy, free energy, entropy, charge-to-mass
ratio, strangeness per baryon, and root-mean-square radius of -stable
strangelets obtained with various parameter sets are presented as well. The
results indicated in this work are useful for understanding the products of
binary compact star mergers and heavy-ion collisions
High speed self-testing quantum random number generation without detection loophole
Quantum mechanics provides means of generating genuine randomness that is
impossible with deterministic classical processes. Remarkably, the
unpredictability of randomness can be certified in a self-testing manner that
is independent of implementation devices. Here, we present an experimental
demonstration of self-testing quantum random number generation based on an
detection-loophole free Bell test with entangled photons. In the randomness
analysis, without the assumption of independent identical distribution, we
consider the worst case scenario that the adversary launches the most powerful
attacks against quantum adversary. After considering statistical fluctuations
and applying an 80 Gb 45.6 Mb Toeplitz matrix hashing, we achieve a
final random bit rate of 114 bits/s, with a failure probability less than
. Such self-testing random number generators mark a critical step
towards realistic applications in cryptography and fundamental physics tests.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figure
Genetic mapping of AhVt1, a novel genetic locus that confers the variegated testa color in cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and its utilization for marker-assisted selection
IntroductionPeanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important cash crop worldwide. Compared with the ordinary peanut with pure pink testa, peanut with variegated testa color has attractive appearance and a higher market value. In addition, the variegated testa represents a distinct regulation pattern of anthocyanin accumulation in integument cells.MethodsIn order to identify the genetic locus underlying variegated testa color in peanut, two populations were constructed from the crosses between Fuhua 8 (pure-pink testa) and Wucai (red on white variegated testa), Quanhonghua 1 (pure-red testa) and Wucai, respectively. Genetic analysis and bulked sergeant analysis sequencing were applied to detect and identify the genetic locus for variegated testa color. Marker-assisted selection was used to develop new variegated testa peanut lines.ResultsAs a result, all the seeds harvested from the F1 individuals of both populations showed the variegated testa type with white trace. Genetic analysis revealed that the pigmentation of colored region in red on white variegated testa was controlled by a previous reported gene AhRt1, while the formation of white region (un-pigmented region) in variegated testa was controlled by another single genetic locus. This locus, named as AhVt1 (Arachis hypogaea Variegated Testa 1), was preliminary mapped on chromosome 08 through bulked sergeant analysis sequencing. Using a secondary mapping population derived from the cross between Fuhua 8 and Wucai, AhVt1 was further mapped to a 1.89-Mb genomic interval by linkage analysis, and several potential genes associated with the uneven distribution of anthocyanin, such as MADS-box, MYB, and Chalcone synthase-like protein, were harbored in the region. Moreover, the molecular markers closely linked to the AhVt1 were developed, and the new variegated testa peanut lines were obtained with the help of marker-assisted selection.ConclusionOur findings will accelerate the breeding program for developing new peanut varieties with ācolorfulā testa colors and laid a foundation for map-based cloning of gene responsible for variegated testa
Early Administration of Glutamine Protects Cardiomyocytes from Post-Cardiac Arrest Acidosis
Postcardiac arrest acidosis can decrease survival. Effective medications without adverse side effects are still not well characterized. We aimed to analyze whether early administration of glutamine could improve survival and protect cardiomyocytes from postcardiac arrest acidosis using animal and cell models. Forty Wistar rats with postcardiac arrest acidosis (blood pH < 7.2) were included. They were divided into study (500 mg/kg L-alanyl-L-glutamine, = 20) and control (normal saline, = 20) groups. Each of the rats received resuscitation. The outcomes were compared between the two groups. In addition, cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells were exposed to HBSS with different pH levels (7.3 or 6.5) or to culture medium (control). Apoptosis-related markers and beating function were analyzed. We found that the duration of survival was significantly longer in the study group ( < 0.05). In addition, in pH 6.5 or pH 7.3 HBSS buffer, the expression levels of cell stress (p53) and apoptosis (caspase-3, Bcl-xL) markers were significantly lower in cardiomyocytes treated with 50 mM L-glutamine than those without Lglutamine (RT-PCR). L-glutamine also increased the beating function of cardiomyocytes, especially at the lower pH level (6.5). More importantly, glutamine decreased cardiomyocyte apoptosis and increased these cells' beating function at a low pH level
Novel intronic microRNA represses zebrafish myf5 promoter activity through silencing dickkopf-3 gene
A strong, negative cis-element located at the first intron +502/+835 (I300) of zebrafish myf5 has been reported. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying this repression network, we microinjected zebrafish single-cell embryos with I300 RNA, resulting in the dramatic reduction of luciferase activity driven by the myf5 promoter. Within this I300 segment, we identified an intronic microRNA (miR-In300) located at +609/+632 and found that it was more highly expressed in the older mature somites than those newly formed, which negatively correlated with the distribution of zebrafish myf5 transcripts. We proved that miR-In300 suppressed the transcription of myf5 through abolishing myf5 promoter activity, and we subsequently identified the long isoform of the Dickkopf-3 gene (dkk3) as the target gene of miR-In300. We further found that injection of the dkk3-morpholinos (MOs) resulted in downregulation of myf5 transcripts in somites, whereas co-injection of myf5 mRNA with dkk3-MO1 enabled rescue of the defects induced by dkk3-MO1 alone. Finally, injection of miR-In300-MO enhanced both myf5 transcripts in somites and the level of Dkk3 protein in zebrafish embryos. Based on these findings, we concluded that miR-In300 binds to its target gene dkk3, which inhibits the translation of dkk3 mRNA and, in turn, suppresses zebrafish myf5 promoter activity
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