Preparation and characterization of flax, hemp and sisal fiber-derived mesoporous activated carbon adsorbents

The first aim of this study was to investigate mesoporous activated carbon adsorbents from sisal, hemp, and flax fibers by cost-effective methods. Fibers were impregnated with low concentration (20 wt.%) phosphoric acid. Carbonization temperatures were defined by thermal analysis. Bast fibers (hemp, flax) decompose at lower temperatures (419.36℃, 434.96℃) than leaf fibers (sisal, 512.92℃). The second aim was to compare bast and leaf fibers-derived activated carbon adsorbents by determining physical adsorption properties, chemical compositions, scanning electron microscope, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that natural fibers have good candidates to prepare mesoporous activated carbon adsorbents with high surface area (1186–1359 m2/g), high mesopore percentage (60–72%), and high C content (80–86%). Even though leaf-derived activated carbon developed more mesoporous structure (72%), bast-derived activated carbons provided higher surface areas (Shemp = 1359 m2/g; Sflax = 1257 m2/g) and C content. Fourier transform infrared spectra for bast fibers-derived activated carbon adsorbents were quite similar while leaf fiber-derived activated carbon adsorbent had a different spectrum

Assessment of the requisites of microbiology based infectious disease training under the pressure of consultation needs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Training of infectious disease (ID) specialists is structured on classical clinical microbiology training in Turkey and ID specialists work as clinical microbiologists at the same time. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical skills and knowledge required by clinical microbiologists.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was carried out between June 1, 2010 and September 15, 2010 in 32 ID departments in Turkey. Only patients hospitalized and followed up in the ID departments between January-June 2010 who required consultation with other disciplines were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 605 patients undergoing 1343 consultations were included, with pulmonology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, dermatology, haematology, and endocrinology being the most frequent consultation specialties. The consultation patterns were quite similar and were not affected by either the nature of infections or the critical clinical status of ID patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of our study show that certain internal medicine subdisciplines such as pulmonology, neurology and dermatology appear to be the principal clinical requisites in the training of ID specialists, rather than internal medicine as a whole.</p

Active and Passive Immunization Protects against Lethal, Extreme Drug Resistant-Acinetobacter baumannii Infection

Extreme-drug-resistant (XDR) Acinetobacter baumannii is a rapidly emerging pathogen causing infections with unacceptably high mortality rates due to inadequate available treatment. New methods to prevent and treat such infections are a critical unmet medical need. To conduct a rational vaccine discovery program, OmpA was identified as the primary target of humoral immune response after intravenous infection by A. baumannii in mice. OmpA was >99% conserved at the amino acid level across clinical isolates harvested between 1951 and 2009 from cerebrospinal fluid, blood, lung, and wound infections, including carbapenem-resistant isolates, and was ≥89% conserved among other sequenced strains, but had minimal homology to the human proteome. Vaccination of diabetic mice with recombinant OmpA (rOmpA) with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant markedly improved survival and reduced tissue bacterial burden in mice infected intravenously. Vaccination induced high titers of anti-OmpA antibodies, the levels of which correlated with survival in mice. Passive transfer with immune sera recapitulated protection. Immune sera did not enhance complement-mediated killing but did enhance opsonophagocytic killing of A. baumannii. These results define active and passive immunization strategies to prevent and treat highly lethal, XDR A. baumannii infections

The emerging problem of bacterial resistance in cancer patients; proceedings of a workshop held by MASCC “Neutropenia, Infection and Myelosuppression” Study Group during the MASCC annual meeting held in Berlin on 27–29 June 2013

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Kuzey yarı Ege Bölgesi topraklarında izole edilen fusarium LINK türlerinin taksonomi, ekoloji ve fizyolojileri üzerinde araştırmalar

Kuzey yarı Ege Bölgesi topraklarında 1968-1972 yılları arasında yapılan bu araştırmamızda 27 istasyondan 108 toprak numunesi alınarak incelenmiştir. "Toprağı Sulandırma" ve "Toprağın Petri Kaplarına Konulması" metodlarıyla 21 Fusarium türü izole edilmiştir. Bu türler Patates-Dekstroz agar ve yulaf unu agarı ortamlarında taksonomik özellikler yönünden incelendi. Kültürler 26+-1 cantigrad dereceye ayarlı ve ışığın girmesi için dış kapakları açık tutulan bir inkübatürde geliştirildi. Araştırma konusu topraklarda Fusarium soloni (MART.)SACC. em.SNYD ve HANS.'in en fazla yayılış alanına sahip oldukları görülmüştür. Kuzey yarı Ege Bölgesi topraklarında Fusarium LİNK. sayısı 1 gr. Fırın kurusu toprakta 10.000 ile 1.000 arasında değişmiş olup en fazla sayıda Sonbahar, ikinci Yazın, üçüncü İlkbahar en az da Kışın izole edilmiştir. Araştırma sahalarımızın 1500 metreye kadar olan yükseklikleri Fusarium LİNK. türleri ve sayıları üzerine önemli bir etki yapmamıştır. Toprağın organik madde miktarı ve su tutma kapasitesi ile mikrofungus populasyonu arasında Yazın, Fusarium LİNK. populasyonu ise Yaz ve İlkbaharda gerçek bir ilgi bulunmuştur. Bundan başka toprağın pH'sı ile mikrofungus ve Fusarium LİNK. populasyonu arasında Yazın toprağın Potasyum miktarı ile mikrofungus ve Fusarium LİNK. populasyonu arasında Sonbahar gerçek bir ilgi tespit edilmiştir. Beş Fusarium LİNK. türünde kuru misel ağırlıklarına en etkin karbon kaynağı Dekstrin, azot kaynağı ise KNO3 tür. Isı denemesinde 25-30 cantigrad dereceler ile pH 5.5-6'nın kuru misel ağırlığına yine beş türde de etkin olduğu görülmüştür