The prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus (hbv) infection in a large multi-ethnic haemodialysis cohort.

Haemodialysis patients are at increased risk of exposure to blood borne viruses. To reduce transmission in the UK, all haemodialysis patients are regularly screened, and if susceptible to Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, vaccinated

Synthesis of visible light driven TiO2 coated carbon nanospheres for degradation of dyes

Herein, we report the successful synthesis of visible light driven metal doped TiO2 coated carbon nanospheres (CNS) via a facile hydrothermal approach. The synthesized materials were characterized by standard analytical techniques, such as XRD, SEM-EDS-mapping, TEM, FTIR, PL, Raman and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The effect of dopants on the band gap energy, crystallite size and photocatalytic properties of the TiO2 coated CNS was investigated systematically. The incorporation of dopants in TiO2 matrix found to significantly extend the absorption edge toward visible region and efficient separation of charge carriers on excitation. The photodegradation of two different organic dyes were investigated to evaluate the activity of the photocatalyst under different conditions such as dopant percentage, catalyst dose, different quenchers and calcination temperature. The best photocatalytic activity was observed with 3.0% Ce, doped TiO2 coated CNS with 1.5gL-1 concentration calcined at 400°C. We also performed the antibacterial activity of pure and doped-TiO2 coated CNS against pathogenic gram negative and gram positive bacteria. The doped-TiO2 coated CNS exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against both bacteria

Assessment of Influence and Inter-Relationships of Soil Properties in Irrigated Rice Fields of Bangladesh by GIS and Factor Analysis

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 9 (2007): Assessment of Influence and Inter-Relationships of Soil Properties in Irrigated Rice Fields of Bangladesh by GIS and Factor Analysis. Manuscript LW 07 022. Vol. IX. November, 2007

Liquid Metal-Elastomer Soft Composites with Independently Controllable and Highly Tunable Droplet Size and Volume Loading

Soft composites are critical for soft and flexible materials in energy harvesting, actuators, and multifunctional devices. One emerging approach to create multifunctional composites is through the incorporation of liquid metal (LM) droplets such as eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) in highly deformable elastomers. The microstructure of such systems is critical to their performance, however, current materials lack control of particle size at diverse volume loadings. Here, we present a fabrication approach to create liquid metal-elastomer composites with independently controllable and highly tunable droplet size (100 nm ≦ D ≦ 80 μm) and volume loading (0 ≦ φ ≦ 80%). This is achieved through a combination of shear mixing and sonication of concentrated LM/elastomer emulsions to control droplet size and subsequent dilution and homogenization to tune LM volume loading. These materials are characterized utilizing dielectric spectroscopy supported by analytical modeling which shows a high relative permittivity of 60 (16x the unfilled elastomer) in a composite with φ = 80%, a low tan δ of 0.02, and a significant dependence on φ and minor dependence on droplet size. Temperature response and stability are determined using dielectric spectroscopy through temperature and frequency sweeps and with DSC. These results demonstrate a wide temperature stability of the liquid metal phase (crystallizing \u3c -85 °C for D \u3c 20 μm). Additionally, all composites are electrically insulating across a wide frequency (0.1 Hz - 10 MHz) and temperature (-70°C to 100°C) range even up to φ = 80%. We highlight the benefit of LM microstructure control by creating all soft matter stretchable capacitive sensors with tunable sensitivity. These sensors are further integrated into a wearable sensing glove where we identify different objects during grasping motions. This work enables programmable LM composites for soft robotics and stretchable electronics where flexibility and tunable functional response are critical

Effect of cuscuta reflexa stem and calotropis procera leaf extracts on glucose tolerance in glucose-induced hyperglycemic rats and mice

Cuscuta reflexa (whole plant) and Calotropis procera (leaves) are used in folk medicine of Bangladesh to control blood sugar in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus. The hypoglycemic effects of methanol and chloroform extracts of whole plants of Cuscuta reflexa, and methanol extract of leaves of Calotropis procera were investigated in oral glucose tolerance tests in Long Evans rats and Swiss albino mice, respectively. Both methanol and chloroform extracts of Cuscuta reflexa whole plant demonstrated significant oral hypoglycemic activity in glucose-loaded rats at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight. The methanol extract of leaves of Calotropis procera, when tested at doses of 100 and 250 mg/kg body weight did not demonstrate any oral hypoglycemic effect when tested in glucose-loaded mice.Key words: Cuscuta reflexa, Calotropis procera, hypoglycemic activity, oral glucose tolerance test

Performance of high-throughput DNA quantification methods

BACKGROUND: The accuracy and precision of estimates of DNA concentration are critical factors for efficient use of DNA samples in high-throughput genotype and sequence analyses. We evaluated the performance of spectrophotometric (OD) DNA quantification, and compared it to two fluorometric quantification methods, the PicoGreen(® )assay (PG), and a novel real-time quantitative genomic PCR assay (QG) specific to a region at the human BRCA1 locus. Twenty-Two lymphoblastoid cell line DNA samples with an initial concentration of ~350 ng/uL were diluted to 20 ng/uL. DNA concentration was estimated by OD and further diluted to 5 ng/uL. The concentrations of multiple aliquots of the final dilution were measured by the OD, QG and PG methods. The effects of manual and robotic laboratory sample handling procedures on the estimates of DNA concentration were assessed using variance components analyses. RESULTS: The OD method was the DNA quantification method most concordant with the reference sample among the three methods evaluated. A large fraction of the total variance for all three methods (36.0–95.7%) was explained by sample-to-sample variation, whereas the amount of variance attributable to sample handling was small (0.8–17.5%). Residual error (3.2–59.4%), corresponding to un-modelled factors, contributed a greater extent to the total variation than the sample handling procedures. CONCLUSION: The application of a specific DNA quantification method to a particular molecular genetic laboratory protocol must take into account the accuracy and precision of the specific method, as well as the requirements of the experimental workflow with respect to sample volumes and throughput. While OD was the most concordant and precise DNA quantification method in this study, the information provided by the quantitative PCR assay regarding the suitability of DNA samples for PCR may be an essential factor for some protocols, despite the decreased concordance and precision of this method

Characterization of organic aerosols from a Chinese megacity during winter: predominance of fossil fuel combustion

PM2.5 aerosol samples were collected from the Chinese megacity of Nanjing (32.21∘&thinsp;N, 118.73∘&thinsp;E) during winter and analyzed for a total of 127 compounds from 12 organic compound classes. The most abundant classes of compounds were n-alkanes (mean concentration of 205&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), followed by fatty acids (76.3&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; 64.3&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), anhydrosugars (56.3&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), fatty alcohols (40.5&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3) and phthalate esters (15.2&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), whereas hydroxy-/polyacids (8.33&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), aromatic acids (7.35&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), hopanes (4.19&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), primary sugars and sugar alcohols (4.15&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), lignin and resin products (2.94&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3), and steranes (2.46&thinsp;ng&thinsp;m−3) were less abundant. The carbon preference index of n-alkanes (0.83–1.38) indicated that they had a strong fossil fuel combustion origin. Diagnostic concentration ratios of organic tracers suggested that PAHs and hopanes originated mostly from coal burning and traffic emissions, respectively, in the Nanjing urban area. Positive matrix factorization analysis demonstrated that fossil fuel combustion was the major pollution source (28.7&thinsp;%), followed by emissions from biomass burning (17.1&thinsp;%), soil dust (14.5&thinsp;%) and plastic burning (6.83&thinsp;%) for Nanjing winter aerosols, although the contribution of secondary oxidation products (32.9&thinsp;%) was the most abundant. Most of the compounds generally showed higher concentrations at nighttime compared with daytime; this was due to the accumulation process associated with inversion layers and the enhancement of emissions from heavy trucks at night. We conclude that fossil fuel combustion largely influences the winter organic aerosols in urban Nanjing. Based on the comparison of this study's results with previous research, we found that pollution levels in organic aerosols have decreased in the urban Nanjing atmosphere over the last decade.</p

Conservation agriculture with optimum fertilizer nitrogen rate reduces GWP for rice cultivation in floodplain soils

Wetland rice cultivation contributes significantly to global warming potential (GWP), an effect which is largely attributed to emissions of methane (CH4). Emerging technologies for wetland rice production such as conservation agriculture (CA) may mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the effects are not well defined. Investigations were carried out in an irrigated rice (Boro rice) field in the fifth crop after conversion of conventional tillage (CT) to strip tillage (ST). Two crop residue levels (low versus high, LR versus HR) and three nitrogen (N) application rates (N1 = 108, N2 = 144, and N3 = 180 kg N ha−1) were laid out in a split-plot experiment with three replicates. Yield-scaled GHG emissions and GWP were estimated to evaluate the impacts of CA on mitigating CH4 and N2O emissions in the rice paddy field. There was a 55% higher N2O emission in ST with HR coupled with N3 than that in CT with LR coupled with N1. The N2O emission factors ranged from 0.43 to 0.75% in ST and 0.45 to 0.59% in CT, irrespective of the residue level and N rate. By contrast, CH4 emissions were significantly lower in CA than in the conventional practices (CT plus LR). The ST with LR in N2 reduced the GWP by 39% over the GWP in CT with HR in N1 and 16% over the conventional practices. Based on our investigation of the combination of tillage, residue, and N rate treatments, the adoption of CA with high and low residue levels reduced the GWP by 10 and 16%, respectively, because of lower CH4 and N2O emissions than the current management practices. The relatively high N2O emission factors suggest that mitigation of this GHG in wetland rice systems needs greater attention