Generalized tetanus in a 4-year old boy presenting with dysphagia and trismus: a case report

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Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Blood activation by cardiopulmonary bypass and endotoxin

With the development of open heart surgery in the last decades the life expectance and the quality of life of patients with congenital or aquired heart diseases improved substantially. However, all patients are still at risk for a post perfusion syndrome (PPS), due to a whole body inflammatory reaction induced by the blood surface interaction of the extracorporeal circuit. By the blood surface interaction the contact and complement system are activated. Contact system activation is related with the impaired hemostasis during and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), whereas the activation of the complement system correlates with the organ dysfunction following CPB. This thesis evaluates the material independent blood activation during CPB and the role of this activation process on the development of the post perfusion syndrome. We especially investigated the release of endotoxin, its effect on the whole body inflammatory reaction and the protective effect of corticosteroids on this reaction. ... Zie: Summary.

Oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction mechanisms investigation of the non-noble bifunctional electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolyte

Metal-air batteries have attracted plenty of attentions because of their high theoretical energy densities. They are considered to be the next generation of energy storage devices for the electric vehicles. However, right now there still some challenges restrict the practical application of rechargeable metal-air batteries, the main challenges is the intrinsic sluggish reaction kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during discharge and charge, resulting in a limited practical energy densities. Because extra energy required overcoming the high-activation barriers, which limit the energy conversion in an electrochemical process, the extent of the barrier is defined by the overpotential. The overpotentials from both ORR and OER significantly lead to the low power output and poor round-trip efficiency of rechargeable metal-air batteries. Therefore, development of efficient bifunctional and cost effective electrocatalysts for ORR and OER is the critical issue for rechargeable metal-air batteries. Transition metal oxides and transition metal oxide-carbon hybrids are found to be the promising candidate as bifunctional electrocatalysts among plent of catalysts. The electrocatalytic activity of the catalyst generally depends on the electronic structure properties of the catalyst, which in turn is impacted by the defect structure of the material. In this thesis, a series of MnOx/C composites and perovskite structured (La0.65Sr0.3)xFeO3-δ catalysts with different A-site stoichiometry are designed and prepared at different temperatures, their properties are investigated by several characterization methods. The influence of the preparation temperature on the properties of the MnOx/C composites, and the influences of the preparation temperatures and A-site stoichiometry on the properties of the perovskite structured (La0.65Sr0.3)xFeO3-δ catalysts are studied in detail. The MnOx/C 120°C composite performs a better ORR and OER activity than the other two composites, because of its smaller particle size, larger electrochemical active surface area (ECSA), more content of reactive active sites and more efficient electron transfer pathway. The ORR and OER mechanisms on the surfaces of the MnOx/C composites are investigated by rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) technique. Most of the O2 is reduced through a direct 4-electron pathway catalytic by the MnOx/C composites; only a small part of O2 is reduced through an indirect 2×2-electron pathway with the generation of intermediate H2O2. The OER catalyzed by the MnOx/C composites are through direct 4-electron pathway. For the LSF catalysts with the same A-site stoichiometry, the higher ORR and OER activity are obtained at lower calcination temperature; because the content of reaction active site and the content of oxygen vacancy are decreasing with the increasing of the calcination temperature. For the LSF catalysts with same calcination temperature, the best ORR activity is obtained at moderate content of oxygen vacancy. While the best OER activity is obtained at highest content of oxygen vacancy. Their ORR and OER mechanisms are also investigated by RRDE technique. All of the LSF catalysts possess two ORR potential ranges. The first ORR range is in the low potential values, and the O2 is reduced through the indirect 2×2-electron pathway. In the second ORR range with high potential values, the O2 is reduced through the direct 4-electron pathway. The selection of the two ORR mechanisms on the surface of the transition metal oxide is mainly decided by the electron transport efficiency and the O2 adsorption model on the active site. The OER catalytic by LSF catalysts are through 4-electron pathway. This direct 4-electron pathway on the surface of the transition metal oxide is occurred under the synergistic effect of two-reaction active sites of M3+. The electrocatalytic activities of the LSF catalysts towards ORR and OER are affected seriously by the conductivities, adding some highly conductive carbon into the LSF catalysts can improve their ORR and OER activities, because the electron transport during the ORR and OER is important for the catalytic activity of the material. In this work, the influence factors of the transition metal oxide and transition metal oxide/carbon hybrid towards ORR and OER are found, and their mechanisms of ORR and OER in alkaline media are studied