Rapid (<5 min) identification of pathogen in human blood by electrokinetic concentration and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

This study reports a novel microfluidic platform for rapid and long-ranged concentration of rare-pathogen from human blood for subsequent on-chip surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) identification/discrimination of bacteria based on their detected fingerprints. Using a hybrid electrokinetic mechanism, bacteria can be concentrated at the stagnation area on the SERS-active roughened electrode, while blood cells were excluded away from this region at the center of concentric circular electrodes. This electrokinetic approach performs isolation and concentration of bacteria in about three minutes; the density factor is increased approximately a thousand fold in a local area of ~5000 μm(2) from a low bacteria concentration of 5 × 10(3) CFU/ml. Besides, three genera of bacteria, S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa that are found in most of the isolated infections in bacteremia were successfully identified in less than one minute on-chip without the use of any antibody/chemical immobilization and reaction processes

Information System Development Team Collaboration Antecedents

Despite information system development companies have invested substantial resources to support the success of information system development (ISD) projects, the failure rate is still high. Extant studies indicated that the constant changes from socio-technical environments are the main causes of the low success rate. This study argues that team collaboration is a key factor to effectively cope with unexpected disruptions that would have negative effect on overall software product success. This study proposes a research model exploring factors that influence the development of team collaboration. These factors include the team commitment, transactive memory systems (TMS), and collective mind. In addition, the study suggests that the collective mind has an intermediate effect on the team commitment, TMS, and team collaboration. This study takes the information development teams of various companies in Taiwan as its subjects

Perturbative QCD analysis of B(B→Xlνˉ)B(B\to Xl\bar{\nu}), charm yield <nc><n_c> in B decay, and τ(Λb)/τ(Bd)\tau (\Lambda_b)/\tau (B_d)

We apply perturbative QCD factorization theorems to inclusive heavy hadron decays, and obtain simultaneously a low semileptonic branching ratio $B(B\to Xl\bar{\nu})=10.16$, the average charm yield $=1.17$ per $B$ decay, a small lifetime ratio $\tau(\Lambda_b)/\tau(B_d)=0.78$, and the correct absolute decay widths of the $B$ meson and of the $\Lambda_b$ baryon.Comment: 13 pages in a latex file, numerical results are revised, We obtain $B(B\to Xl\bar{\nu})=10.16$, $=1.17$, $\tau(\Lambda_b)/\tau(B_d)=0.78$, and the correct absolute decay widths of the $B$ meson and of the $\Lambda_b$ baryo

Current Approaches to the Treatment of Head Injury in Children

Head trauma is one of the most challenging fields of traumatology and demands immediate attention and intervention by first-line clinicians. Symptoms can vary from victim to victim and according to the victim's age, leading to difficulties in making timely and accurate decisions at the point of care. In children, falls, accidents while playing, sports injuries, and abuse are the major causes of head trauma. Traffic accidents are the main cause of disability and death in adolescents and adults. Injury sites include facial bones, muscles, ligaments, vessels, joints, nerves, and focal or whole-brain injuries. Of particular importance are cranial and intracranial injuries. A closed injury occurs when the head suddenly and violently hits an object but the object does not break through the skull. A penetrating injury occurs when an object pierces the skull and affects the brain tissue. Early diagnosis and proper management are crucial to treat patients with potentially life-threatening head and neck trauma. In this review, we discuss the different cases of traumatic brain injury and summarize the current therapies and neuroprotective strategies as well as the related outcomes for children with traumatic brain injury

cis-Tetra­aqua­bis­{5-[4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl-κN 3)phen­yl]tetra­zolido}manganese(II) dihydrate

In the title compound, [Mn(C10H7N6)2(H2O)4]·2H2O, the complex unit comprises an Mn2+ ion, coordinated by two imidazole N atoms from cis-related monodentate 5-[4-(imidazol-1-yl)phen­yl]tetra­zolide ligands and four water mol­ecules, together with two water mol­ecules of solvation. The Mn2+ ion lies on a twofold rotation axis and has a slightly distorted octa­hedral geometry. The mol­ecules are connected by O—H⋯N and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds involving both coordinated and solvent water mol­ecules, generating a three-dimensional structure. Two C atoms of the imidazole ring of the ligand are each disordered over two sites with occupancy factors of 0.75 and 0.25