PRACTICAL EXPLORATION OF LOW-COST YET HIGHLY ACCURATE 3D MAPPING TECHNIQUES FOR DOCUMENTATION AND CONSERVATION OF AN EGYPTIAN TOMB (THEBAN TOMB 45)

This research presents the initial endeavour to perform geo-referenced 3D reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian tomb located on the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor, evaluating low-cost techniques. This study uses low-cost equipment in conjunction with simple geodetical principles to accurately map a tomb in 3D to empower archaeological teams with limited budgets to efficiently and effectively map their projects. Emphasizing the project goals of both high detail and high accuracy, one of our chosen techniques is photogrammetry with a standard system camera. Additionally, 3D mapping with a modern smartphone was explored in the tomb and was compared with results from the photogrammetry process. Geo-referencing the underground map in a global grid was also part of the project goals. This research shows that, within certain reasonable constraints, the chosen low-cost techniques successfully achieved all goals of producing a highly detailed, highly accurate, and georeferenced 3D map of the selected tomb (Theban Tomb 45). In this first season of mapping the tomb in 3D, various mapping methods were used and tried and where possible compared. Digitally mapping an ancient, underground Egyptian tomb requires a planned approach. In order to better plan when using low-cost scanning equipment, preliminary research was done for mapping a mostly underground, relatively small but complex to survey ancient Egyptian tomb. Data have been collected with the use of both devices and also with a total station, a laser distance meter and a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) datalogger

Antimicrobial susceptibility of organisms causing community-acquired urinary tract infections in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Background. Patients with community-acquired urinary tract infections (UTIs) frequently present to healthcare facilities in South Africa (SA).Aim. To provide information on UTI aetiology and antimicrobial susceptibility of pathogens.Methods. We recruited women with UTI-related symptoms, who tested positive for .2 urine dipstick criteria (proteinuria, blood, leucocytes or nitrites) at 1 public and 5 private primary healthcare facilities in 2011. Demographic and clinical data were recorded and mid-stream urine (MSU) specimens were cultured. UTI pathogens were Gram-stained and identified to species level. Etest-based antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cefixime, cefuroxime,  ciprofloxacin, fosfomycin, levofloxacin, nitrofurantoin, norfloxacin and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole.Results. Of the 460 women recruited, 425 MSU samples were processed and 204 UTI pathogens were identified in 201 samples. Most pathogens were Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) (182; 89.2%) and 22 (10.8%) were Gram-positive cocci (GPC). Escherichia coli was the most frequent GNB (160; 79.6%), while Enterococcus faecalis was the predominant GPC (8; 4.0%). The UTI pathogens had similar susceptibility profiles for fosfomycin (95.5%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 92.6 - 98.4), the 3 fluoroquinolones (94.1%; 95% CI 90.8 - 97.4), nitrofurantoin (91.7%; 95% CI 87.8 - 95.6), cefuroxime (90.1%; 95% CI 86.0 - 94.3) and cefixime (88.2%; 95% CI 83.7 - 92.6). UTI pathogens were less susceptible to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (82.8%; 95% CI 77.5 - 88.0) when compared with fluoroquinolones and fosfomycin. Trimethoprim/ sulphamethoxazole was the least efficacious antimicrobial agent (44.3% susceptible; 95% CI 37.4 - 51.2).Conclusion. This study provides relevant data for the empirical treatment of community-acquired UTIs in SA

The Association between Pathological Internet Use and Comorbid Psychopathology: A Systematic Review

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eIF2alpha Confers Cellular Tolerance to S. aureus alpha-Toxin

We report on the role of conserved stress-response pathways for cellular tolerance to a pore forming toxin. First, we observed that small molecular weight inhibitors including of eIF2alpha-phosphatase, jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK), and PI3-kinase sensitized normal mouse embryonal fibroblasts (MEFs) to the small pore forming S. aureus alpha-toxin. Sensitization depended on expression of mADAM10, the murine ortholog of a proposed high-affinity receptor for alpha-toxin in human cells. Similarly, eIF2alpha (S51A/S51A) MEFs, which harbor an Ala knock-in mutation at the regulated Ser51 phosphorylation site of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha, were hyper-sensitive to alpha-toxin. Inhibition of translation with cycloheximide did not mimic the tolerogenic effect of eIF2alpha-phosphorylation. Notably, eIF2alpha-dependent tolerance of MEFs was toxin-selective, as wild-type MEFs and eIF2alpha (S51A/S51A) MEFs exhibited virtually equal sensitivity to Vibrio cholerae cytolysin. Binding of S. aureus alpha-toxin to eIF2alpha (S51A/S51A) MEFs and toxicity in these cells were enhanced as compared to wild-type cells. This led to the unexpected finding that the mutant cells carried more ADAM10. Because basal phosphorylation of eIF2alpha in MEFs required amino acid deprivation-activated eIF2alpha-kinase 4/GCN2, the data reveal that basal activity of this kinase mediates tolerance of MEFs to alpha-toxin. Further, they suggest that modulation of ADAM10 is involved. During infection, bacterial growth may cause nutrient shortage in tissues, which might activate this response. Tolerance to alpha-toxin was robust in macrophages and did not depend on GCN2. However, JNKs appeared to play a role, suggesting differential cell type and toxin selectivity of tolerogenic stress responses. Understanding their function or failure will be important to comprehend anti-bacterial immune responses

Heparanase Levels Are Elevated in the Urine and Plasma of Type 2 Diabetes Patients and Associate with Blood Glucose Levels

Heparanase is an endoglycosidase that specifically cleaves heparan sulfate side chains of heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Utilizing an ELISA method capable of detection and quantification of heparanase, we examined heparanase levels in the plasma and urine of a cohort of 29 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), 14 T2DM patients who underwent kidney transplantation, and 47 healthy volunteers. We provide evidence that heparanase levels in the urine of T2DM patients are markedly elevated compared to healthy controls (1162±181 vs. 156±29.6 pg/ml for T2DM and healthy controls, respectively), increase that is statistically highly significant (P<0.0001). Notably, heparanase levels were appreciably decreased in the urine of T2DM patients who underwent kidney transplantation, albeit remained still higher than healthy individuals (P<0.0001). Increased heparanase levels were also found in the plasma of T2DM patients. Importantly, urine heparanase was associated with elevated blood glucose levels, implying that glucose mediates heparanase upregulation and secretion into the urine and blood. Utilizing an in vitro system, we show that insulin stimulates heparanase secretion by kidney 293 cells, and even higher secretion is observed when insulin is added to cells maintained under high glucose conditions. These results provide evidence for a significant involvement of heparanase in diabetic complications

Bayesian timing analysis of giant flare of SGR 1806-20 by RXTE PCA

By detecting high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and estimating frequencies of them during the decaying tail of giant flares from Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs) useful constraints for the equation of state (EoS) of superdense matter may be obtained via comparison with theoretical predictions of eigenfrequencies. We used the data collected by the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE/XTE) Proportional Counter Array (PCA) of a giant flare of SGR 1806-20 on 2004 Dec 27 and applied a Bayesian periodicity detection method (Gregory & Loredo, 1992) for the search of oscillations of transient nature. In addition to the already detected frequencies, we found a few new frequencies (f_{QPOs} ~ 16.9, 21.4, 36.4, 59.0, 116.3 Hz) of oscillations predicted by Colaiuda et al. (2009) based on the APR_{14} EoS (Akmal et al., 1998) for SGR 1806-20.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, A&A accepte