CMV quantitative PCR in the diagnosis of CMV disease in patients with HIV-infection – a retrospective autopsy based study

Background Patients with advanced HIV infection at the time of diagnosis and patients not responding to antiretroviral therapy are at risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease. Earlier studies of patients with HIV infection have demonstrated that the diagnosis is often first made post-mortem. In recent years new molecular biological tests have become available for diagnosis of CMV disease. Although clinical evaluation of tests for diagnosis of CMV disease in HIV-infected individuals is suboptimal without autopsy, no results from such studies have been published. The aim of this study was to explore the diagnostic utility of CMV quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in plasma from HIV and CMV seropositive patients who died during the period 1991–2002 and in whom autopsy was performed. Methods Autopsy was performed in all cases, as part of routine evaluation of HIV-infected cases followed at Ullevaal University Hospital. Of 125 patients included, 53 had CMV disease, 37 of whom were first diagnosed at autopsy. CMV disease was diagnosed either by ophthalmoscopic findings typical of CMV retinitis, biopsy or autopsy. One or two plasma samples taken prior to the first diagnosis of CMV disease (alive or at autopsy) or death without CMV disease were analysed by CMV quantitative PCR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated for different CMV viral load cut-offs and according to detection of viraemia in one versus two samples. Results Twenty-seven of 53 patients with CMV disease (51%) and 10 of 72 patients without CMV disease (14%) had detectable viraemia in at least one sample. Sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of the test, maximised with a cut-off at the test's limit of detection of CMV viraemia (400 copies/mL), were 47% and 70%, respectively. With cut-off at 10 000 copies/mL, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) were 100%. With a requirement for CMV viraemia in two samples, specificity and PPV were 100% in patients with CMV viraemia above the limit of detection. Conclusion Our results indicate that quantitative CMV PCR is best used to rule in, rather than to rule out CMV disease in HIV-infected individuals at high risk

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Population Structure Revisited

At present there are strong indications that Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits an epidemic population structure; clinical isolates are indistinguishable from environmental isolates, and they do not exhibit a specific (disease) habitat selection. However, some important issues, such as the worldwide emergence of highly transmissible P. aeruginosa clones among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and the spread and persistence of multidrug resistant (MDR) strains in hospital wards with high antibiotic pressure, remain contentious. To further investigate the population structure of P. aeruginosa, eight parameters were analyzed and combined for 328 unrelated isolates, collected over the last 125 years from 69 localities in 30 countries on five continents, from diverse clinical (human and animal) and environmental habitats. The analysed parameters were: i) O serotype, ii) Fluorescent Amplified-Fragment Length Polymorphism (FALFP) pattern, nucleotide sequences of outer membrane protein genes, iii) oprI, iv) oprL, v) oprD, vi) pyoverdine receptor gene profile (fpvA type and fpvB prevalence), and prevalence of vii) exoenzyme genes exoS and exoU and viii) group I pilin glycosyltransferase gene tfpO. These traits were combined and analysed using biological data analysis software and visualized in the form of a minimum spanning tree (MST). We revealed a network of relationships between all analyzed parameters and non-congruence between experiments. At the same time we observed several conserved clones, characterized by an almost identical data set. These observations confirm the nonclonal epidemic population structure of P. aeruginosa, a superficially clonal structure with frequent recombinations, in which occasionally highly successful epidemic clones arise. One of these clones is the renown and widespread MDR serotype O12 clone. On the other hand, we found no evidence for a widespread CF transmissible clone. All but one of the 43 analysed CF strains belonged to a ubiquitous P. aeruginosa “core lineage” and typically exhibited the exoS+/exoU− genotype and group B oprL and oprD alleles. This is to our knowledge the first report of an MST analysis conducted on a polyphasic data set

Influence of atmospheric pressure plasma jet processing parameters on the wettability and surface chemistry of polypropylene: relevance for adhesion phenomena

Atmospheric pressure plasma jet technology has been applied to surface treatment of polypropylene prior to its adhesive bonding to aluminium using structural adhesives. Surface modifications of polypropylene induced duringplasma treatments were investigated using surface free energy measurements, attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) analyses, and mechanical evaluation of epoxy and urethane bonded aluminium-polypropylene joints. On the basis of the surface free energy criterion, the influence of parameters describing plasma treatments (i.e. primary-to-secondary gas ratios, output power source, treatment speed, plasma-to-sample distance) was determined for each gas combination employed to generate the plasma (He with O\u2082, N\u2082, CO\u2082, N\u2082O or air). By submitting polypropylene to the optimised plasma conditions defined for each gas combination, it was found using ATR-IR analyses that a complex mixture of carbonyl functionalities are induced on the surface of processed materials. Using a fitting procedure of Gaussian bands, ATR-IR spectra were resolved into single C=O stretching vibrations. It was then found that regardless of the gas mixture injected in the plasma generator, different extents of amide and COO-based chemical functions (carboxylic acids and/or esters) were introduced onto polypropylene surfaces. From the mechanical evaluation of joint strengths of adhesively bonded hybrid aluminiumpolypropylene assemblies, it was generally observed that the surface chemistry induced by the plasma plays a more important role in adhesion than the surface free energy parameter. Finally, using correlations established between Owens et al. and LWAB surface free energy theories, plasma modified polypropylene surfaces were found to be basic in nature.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Impact of H.E.S.S. Lidar profiles on Crab Nebula data

The H.E.S.S. experiment in Namibia is a high-energy gamma-ray telescope sensitive in the energy range from 30 GeV to a several tens of TeV, that uses the atmospheric Cherenkov technique to detect showers developed within the atmosphere. The elastic lidar, installed on the H.E.S.S. site, allows to reduce the systematic errors related to the atmospheric composition uncertainties thanks to the estimation of the extinction profile for the Cherenkov light (300-650 nm). The latter has a direct impact on the reconstructed parameters, such as the photon energy and the source flux. In this paper we report on physics results obtained on the Crab Nebula spectrum using the lidar profiles obtained at the H.E.S.S. site

Impact of H.E.S.S. Lidar profiles on Crab Nebula data

The H.E.S.S. experiment in Namibia is a high-energy gamma-ray telescope sensitive in the energy range from 30 GeV to a several tens of TeV, that uses the atmospheric Cherenkov technique to detect showers developed within the atmosphere. The elastic lidar, installed on the H.E.S.S. site, allows to reduce the systematic errors related to the atmospheric composition uncertainties thanks to the estimation of the extinction profile for the Cherenkov light (300-650 nm). The latter has a direct impact on the reconstructed parameters, such as the photon energy and the source flux. In this paper we report on physics results obtained on the Crab Nebula spectrum using the lidar profiles obtained at the H.E.S.S. site

A new approach for the reconstruction of axisymmetric refractive index fields from background-oriented schlieren measurements

Background-oriented schlieren (BOS) is an optical visualization technique that reconstructs a whole-field flow based on its density gradient. Thanks to the cost-effectiveness of its optical setup and its unlimited field of view, BOS has become an attractive technique for laboratory and large-scale experiments. In BOS, the reconstruction of the refractive index field involves various mathematical calculations, which depend on the flow geometry. In this context, the present study presents a new method for the reconstruction of three-dimensional axisymmetric refractive index fields. The proposed method takes advantage of the bi-sensitivity quality of BOS to gain more accuracy in the reconstructed fields. We demonstrate the method’s precision and robustness against experimental noise throughout a synthetic axisymmetric refraction index field. The application of this new approach is not restricted to the BOS technique but can be extended to several other measurement techniques such as moiré deflectometry, laser speckle photography, and rainbow schlieren.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Quantitative Investigation of Ballistics Flow Fields by Background Oriented Schlieren Technique

Abstract The ballistics field is known by the presence of several complex phenomena such as muzzles and flying projectiles flow fields. Consequently, numerical simulations are commonly used to model these complicated flows. However, the validation process of these codes has proven to be problematic due to the lack of experimental quantitative data. In this context, the present paper describes the application of the Background Oriented Schlieren technique (BOS) as a quantitative investigation tool in the ballistics field. We illustrate that BOS can accurately capture the main characteristics of the studied configurations: Firstly, we discuss the visualization and the density field reconstruction around a Bullet Simulated Projectile BSP flying at supersonic velocities and a sniper projectile flying at supersonic and transonic velocities. We demonstrate that these fields are in satisfactory agreement with the results of Taylor and Maccoll’s equation and numerical simulation. Then, the findings of the BOS visualization of the precursors and the propellant flow fields are presented. To this end, the salient features accurately captured by the BOS technique such as vortex rings, shock bottles, Mach, and blast wave are described both qualitatively and in terms of density profiles. Two improved approaches that are essential to the aforementioned analysis are proposed: the first is related to density field reconstruction based on Abel inversion and the second approach is a phase separation procedure.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Visualization of Muzzle Flow and Projectile in Flight Flow Using the Background Oriented Schlieren Technique

The present paper focuses on the development of a non-intrusive measurement technique and the implementation of a quantitative flow visualization method based on Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS). The gun muzzle flow, the aerodynamics, and the ambient airprojectile interaction are visualized. In BOS, the experimental set-up of conventional Schlieren (mirrors, lenses, and knife-edge) is replaced by a background pattern and a single digital camera. The proposed measurement technique and the implemented algorithm are first validated through the temperature measurement of a flame-induced distorted flow field. An acceptable accuracy is recorded, the measurement error being less than 3-5% of the full scale. Second, the muzzle flow and the flow field around a 5.56 mm projectile in free flight was captured and analyzed. The captured structures such as vortex, barrel shock, Mach disk, and blast wave show a good agreement with those issued from the conventional Schlieren set-upinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

On the Application of Background Oriented Schlieren Technique on Ballistics Field

The ballistics field is known by the presence of several complex phenomena such as muzzle and flying projectiles flow fields. Consequently, numerical simulations are commonly used to model these complicated flows. However, the validation process of these codes has proven to be problematic due to the lack of experimental quantitative data. In this context, the present paper describes the application of the Background Oriented Schlieren technique (BOS) as a quantitative investigation tool in the ballistics field. We illustrate that BOS can accurately capturethe main characteristics of the studied configurations: Firstly, we discuss the visualization and the density field reconstruction around a sniper projectile flying at supersonic and transonic velocities. We demonstrate that these fields are in satisfactory agreement with numerical simulation. Then, the findings of the BOS visualization of the precursors and the propellant flow fields are presented. To this end, the salient features accurately captured by the BOS technique such as vortex rings, shock bottles, Mach disk, and blast wave are described both qualitatively and in terms of density profiles. Two improved approaches that are essential to the aforementioned analysis are proposed: the first is related to density field reconstruction based on Abel inversion and the second approach is a phase separation procedure.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Visualization and analysis of muzzle flow fields using the Background-Oriented Schlieren technique

Several experimental and numerical studies on muzzle blast and flow fields have been performed. However, due to the extremely short duration and the spatiotemporal evolution of these flows, experimental quantitative techniques are limited. As a consequence, the number of validated numerical calculations is limited as well. On the other hand, despite the development of computer models that have succeeded in predicting the measured pressure and velocity, they show unrealistic temperatures and densities. Therefore, temperature and/or density measurements are required to validate these codes, thus the motivation of this research. The present paper focuses on the development of a density-sensitive and non-intrusive measurement technique and the implementation of a quantitative flow visualization method based on Background-Oriented Schlieren (BOS) combined with a high-speed camera. In BOS, the experimental setup of conventional Schlieren (mirrors, lenses, and knife-edge) is replaced by a background pattern and a single digital camera. The muzzle flow fields and the flow field around a 5.56-mm projectile in flight were successfully visualized. Indeed, the implemented experimental high-speed BOS setup has demonstrated its ability to capture clearly the salient features of the precursor and the propellant gas flow fields and their interactions. The captured structures such as vortex, barrel shock, Mach disk, and blast wave show a good agreement with that issued from a realized conventional Schlieren setup and the bibliography, confirming the BOS capability to visualize complex density flow fields.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe