An Electronic-Nose Sensor Node Based on a Polymer-Coated Surface Acoustic Wave Array for Wireless Sensor Network Applications

This study developed an electronic-nose sensor node based on a polymer-coated surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor array. The sensor node comprised an SAW sensor array, a frequency readout circuit, and an Octopus II wireless module. The sensor array was fabricated on a large K2 128° YX LiNbO3 sensing substrate. On the surface of this substrate, an interdigital transducer (IDT) was produced with a Cr/Au film as its metallic structure. A mixed-mode frequency readout application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) was fabricated using a TSMC 0.18 μm process. The ASIC output was connected to a wireless module to transmit sensor data to a base station for data storage and analysis. This sensor node is applicable for wireless sensor network (WSN) applications

Comparison of pulmonary arterial flow phenomena in spiral and Lecompte models by computational fluid dynamics

AbstractObjectives: The transposed great arteries are simply reversed by means of a conventional arterial switch operation with the Lecompte maneuver without resumption of their spiral relationship. We seek to clarify the functional implications of the spiral relationship of the great arteries by means of mathematic modeling. Methods: Computational fluid dynamics is used to compare flow phenomena of the spiral and Lecompte (nonspiral) models under various body surface areas. Results: The velocity profile and wall-shear stress distribution are more uniform for the spiral than for the Lecompte model. The pressure drop and power loss ratio are smaller for the spiral than the Lecompte model for all the body surface areas investigated. The power loss ratio increases abruptly starting from 0.43 m2 of body surface area for the Lecompte model. At that specific stage, after arterial switch operation with the Lecompte maneuver, suprapulmonary stenoses occur most frequently. Conclusions: Reconstructing the great arteries in spiral fashion might be recommended because the blood flow patterns are more streamlined than those of the Lecompte maneuver. Initiation of stenosis might be minimized to some extent

NMD-12: A New Machine-Learning Derived Screening Instrument to Detect Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

Introduction Using machine learning techniques, we developed a brief questionnaire to aid neurologists and neuropsychologists in the screening of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Methods With the reduction of the survey size as a goal of this research, feature selection based on information gain was performed to rank the contribution of the 45 items corresponding to patient responses to the specified questions. The most important items were used to build the optimal screening model based on the accuracy, practicality, and interpretability. The diagnostic accuracy for discriminating normal cognition (NC), MCI, very mild dementia (VMD) and dementia was validated in the test group. Results The screening model (NMD-12) was constructed with the 12 items that were ranked the highest in feature selection. The receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) in the test group was 0.94 for discriminating NC vs. MCI, 0.88 for MCI vs. VMD, 0.97 for MCI vs. dementia, and 0.96 for VMD vs. dementia, respectively. Discussion The NMD-12 model has been developed and validated in this study. It provides healthcare professionals with a simple and practical screening tool which accurately differentiates NC, MCI, VMD, and dementia

Genome evolution driven by host adaptations results in a more virulent and antimicrobial-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 14

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>serotype 14 is one of the most common pneumococcal serotypes that cause invasive pneumococcal diseases worldwide. Serotype 14 often expresses resistance to a variety of antimicrobial agents, resulting in difficulties in treatment. To gain insight into the evolution of virulence and antimicrobial resistance traits in <it>S. pneumoniae </it>from the genome level, we sequenced the entire genome of a serotype 14 isolate (CGSP14), and carried out comprehensive comparison with other pneumococcal genomes. Multiple serotype 14 clinical isolates were also genotyped by multilocus sequence typing (MLST).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparative genomic analysis revealed that the CGSP14 acquired a number of new genes by horizontal gene transfer (HGT), most of which were associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance and clustered in mobile genetic elements. The most remarkable feature is the acquisition of two conjugative transposons and one resistance island encoding eight resistance genes. Results of MLST suggested that the major driving force for the genome evolution is the environmental drug pressure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The genome sequence of <it>S. pneumoniae </it>serotype 14 shows a bacterium with rapid adaptations to its lifecycle in human community. These include a versatile genome content, with a wide range of mobile elements, and chromosomal rearrangement; the latter re-balanced the genome after events of HGT.</p

Heparinization on pericardial substitutes can reduce adhesion and epicardial inflammation in the dog

AbstractObjective: Primary concerns about currently available pericardial substitutes include adhesion and epicardial reaction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate host reaction to pericardial substitutes with and without incorporating slow heparin release. Methods: To avoid biologic variation among these pericardial patches, we made a composite of six membranes. The composite membrane consisted of epoxy-fixed patches with (1) or without (2) ionically bound heparin, a glutaraldehyde-fixed patch with (3) or without (4) ionically bound heparin, an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch (5), and a polyester polymeric patch (6). Ten recipient dogs weighing from 12 to 19 kg (mean 13.6 kg) were used to assess the composite membranes as pericardial substitutes. The implanted composite membranes were retrieved 1 week (one dog), 2 weeks (one dog), 4 weeks (one dog), 8 weeks (one dog), and 12 weeks (six dogs) after implantation. Results: Overall, the synthetic patches had a more notable inflammatory reaction than the biologic patches with or without ionically bound heparin. The heparin-bound patches caused significantly less inflammation than their nonheparinized counterparts. The heparinized porcine patches cross-linked with different compounds were found to have less fibrous formation than the nonheparinized patches and the synthetic patches. Conclusions: Heparinized pericardial substitutes may cause less adhesion and inflammatory reaction than nonheparinized material. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;115:1111-20

Complete Genome and Transcriptomes of Streptococcus parasanguinis FW213: Phylogenic Relations and Potential Virulence Mechanisms

Streptococcus parasanguinis, a primary colonizer of the tooth surface, is also an opportunistic pathogen for subacute endocarditis. The complete genome of strain FW213 was determined using the traditional shotgun sequencing approach and further refined by the transcriptomes of cells in early exponential and early stationary growth phases in this study. The transcriptomes also discovered 10 transcripts encoding known hypothetical proteins, one pseudogene, five transcripts matched to the Rfam and additional 87 putative small RNAs within the intergenic regions defined by the GLIMMER analysis. The genome contains five acquired genomic islands (GIs) encoding proteins which potentially contribute to the overall pathogenic capacity and fitness of this microbe. The differential expression of the GIs and various open reading frames outside the GIs at the two growth phases suggested that FW213 possess a range of mechanisms to avoid host immune clearance, to colonize host tissues, to survive within oral biofilms and to overcome various environmental insults. Furthermore, the comparative genome analysis of five S. parasanguinis strains indicates that albeit S. parasanguinis strains are highly conserved, variations in the genome content exist. These variations may reflect differences in pathogenic potential between the strains

The genome sequence of Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis, a highly invasive and resistant zoonotic pathogen

Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis (S.Choleraesuis), a highly invasive serovar among non-typhoidal Salmonella, usually causes sepsis or extra-intestinal focal infections in humans. S.Choleraesuis infections have now become particularly difficult to treat because of the emergence of resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents. The 4.7 Mb genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant S.Choleraesuis strain SC-B67 was determined. Genome wide comparison of three sequenced Salmonella genomes revealed that more deletion events occurred in S.Choleraesuis SC-B67 and S.Typhi CT18 relative to S.Typhimurium LT2. S.Choleraesuis has 151 pseudogenes, which, among the three Salmonella genomes, include the highest percentage of pseudogenes arising from the genes involved in bacterial chemotaxis signal-transduction pathways. Mutations in these genes may increase smooth swimming of the bacteria, potentially allowing more effective interactions with and invasion of host cells to occur. A key regulatory gene of TetR/AcrR family, acrR, was inactivated through the introduction of an internal stop codon resulting in overexpression of AcrAB that appears to be associated with ciprofloxacin resistance. While lateral gene transfer providing basic functions to allow niche expansion in the host and environment is maintained during the evolution of different serovars of Salmonella, genes providing little overall selective benefit may be lost rapidly. Our findings suggest that the formation of pseudogenes may provide a simple evolutionary pathway that complements gene acquisition to enhance virulence and antimicrobial resistance in S.Choleraesuis

Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? De novo assembly strategies for bacterial genomes based on paired-end sequencing

Number of misassemblies for different assembly strategies. Number of misassemblies for the de novo assembly results for E. coli DH1 and S. Parasanguinis FW213 are shown together with their standard errors of the mean. Group A [PE] and Group A [SE] represent all reads assembled as paired-end reads and single end reads, respectively. Group A [PE + SE] represents all the non-overlapped paired-end reads assembled together with merged reads. Group M [PE] and Group M [SE] represent Group M reads assembled as paired-end reads and single end reads, respectively. The numbers of misassemblies fluctuate a lot when depths of read number are low and gradually decreases until they reach a steady number. The paired-end reads (Group A [PE] and Group M [PE]) in S. Parasanguinis FW213 gave the lowest number of misassemblies when depths of read number are high. (TIFF 669 kb

Gender Difference in the Relationship of Albuminuria and Arterial Stiffness in Chinese Adults - a 6.6-Year Follow-Up Longitudinal Study

Background/Aims: Brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) reflects the stiffness of muscular arteries. Albuminuria is recognized as a marker of vascular dysfunction. We assessed the association between arterial stiffness and albuminuria in a population-based longitudinal study. Methods: 1116 adults aged ≥ 40 years in the Taichung Community Health Study (TCHS) in 2004 attended a follow-up visit in 2011. Albuminuria was defined as an urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) ≥ 30 mg/g. Arterial stiffness was defined as BaPWV ≥ 1540 cm/sec in males and BaPWV ≥ 1480 cm/sec in females, respectively. ∆baPWV was calculated as baPWV at follow-up minus baPWV at baseline, while ∆UACR was calculated as UACR at follow-up minus UACR at baseline. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used to explore the relationship between albuminuria and arterial stiffness. Results: Among 652 subjects without arterial stiffness at baseline, 209 (32%) subjects developed incident arterial stiffness after an average of 6.6 years. In male subjects, baseline albuminuria was associated with development of arterial stiffness (odds ratio: 4.47, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04–19.31) and ∆baPWV was modestly positively associated with ∆UACR. Conclusion: Our results indicated that male adults with albuminuria had an increased risk for developing arterial stiffness