Dialkylcarbamoyl chloride (DACC)-coated dressings in the management and prevention of wound infection: A systematic review

Objective: Dialkylcarbomoyl chloride (DACC)-coated dressings (Leukomed Sorbact and Cutimed Sorbact) irreversibly bind bacteria at the wound surface that are then removed when the dressing is changed. They are a recent addition to the wound care professional's armamentarium and have been used in a variety of acute and chronic wounds. This systematic review aims to assess the evidence supporting the use of DACC-coated dressings in the clinical environment. Method: We included all reports of the clinical use of DACC-coated dressings in relation to wound infection. Medline, Embase, CENTRAL and CINAHL databases were searched to September 2016 for studies evaluating the role of DACC-coated dressings in preventing or managing wound infections. Results: We identified 17 studies with a total of 3408 patients which were included in this review. The DACC-coating was suggested to reduce postoperative surgical site infection rates and result in chronic wounds that subjectively looked cleaner and had less bacterial load on microbiological assessments. Conclusion: Existing evidence for DACC-coated dressings in managing chronic wounds or as a surgical site infection (SSI) prophylaxis is limited but encouraging with evidence in support of DACC-coated dressings preventing and treating infection without adverse effects

Genome-wide co-expression analysis in multiple tissues

Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) represent genetic control points of gene expression, and can be categorized as cis- and trans-acting, reflecting local and distant regulation of gene expression respectively. Although there is evidence of co-regulation within clusters of trans-eQTLs, the extent of co-expression patterns and their relationship with the genotypes at eQTLs are not fully understood. We have mapped thousands of cis- and trans-eQTLs in four tissues (fat, kidney, adrenal and left ventricle) in a large panel of rat recombinant inbred (RI) strains. Here we investigate the genome-wide correlation structure in expression levels of eQTL transcripts and underlying genotypes to elucidate the nature of co-regulation within cis- and trans-eQTL datasets. Across the four tissues, we consistently found statistically significant correlations of cis-regulated gene expression to be rare (<0.9% of all pairs tested). Most (>80%) of the observed significant correlations of cis-regulated gene expression are explained by correlation of the underlying genotypes. In comparison, co-expression of trans-regulated gene expression is more common, with significant correlation ranging from 2.9%-14.9% of all pairs of trans-eQTL transcripts. We observed a total of 81 trans-eQTL clusters (hot-spots), defined as consisting of > or =10 eQTLs linked to a common region, with very high levels of correlation between trans-regulated transcripts (77.2-90.2%). Moreover, functional analysis of large trans-eQTL clusters (> or =30 eQTLs) revealed significant functional enrichment among genes comprising 80% of the large clusters. The results of this genome-wide co-expression study show the effects of the eQTL genotypes on the observed patterns of correlation, and suggest that functional relatedness between genes underlying trans-eQTLs is reflected in the degree of co-expression observed in trans-eQTL clusters. Our results demonstrate the power of an integrative, systematic approach to the analysis of a large gene expression dataset to uncover underlying structure, and inform future eQTL studies

Towards a systemic view on rebound effects:Modelling the feedback loops of rebound mechanisms

Rebound Effects (RE) are systemic responses that are relentlessly hindering the achievement of sustainability actions’ intended effects. Despite the wide recognition of RE, the limited understanding of the underlying causal structures sustaining their occurrence hampers the ability to anticipate, prevent, and tackle them. To explore how feedback thinking can explain the occurrence of RE, this paper describes the structure of 26 rebound mechanisms based on qualitative system dynamics (SD) modelling using causal loop diagrams (CLD). Apart from a comprehensive catalogue of mechanisms, the elicitation of two generic rebound mechanisms reveals that RE are either the result of (1) reinforcing loops acting against quick fixes to control local resource consumption or (2) balancing reactions in the opposite direction of attempts to control local resource consumption leading to escalation behaviour. Four contributions highlight how this research supports a systemic view on RE, the natural evolutionary step required to understand and manage its occurrence

Chemical composition of different morphological parts from ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ banana plant and their potential as a non-wood renewable source of natural products

The study on chemical composition and structure of components from different morphological parts of ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ banana plant (petioles/midrib, leaf blades, floral stalk, leaf sheaths and rachis) have been carried out aiming to evaluate their potential as eventual raw materials for the chemical processing. Macromolecular components were analysed using solid-state NMR, ATR-FTIR and wet chemistry methods. Mineral components were assessed by ICP analysis of ashes obtained after raw material calcinations. It was verified that chemical composition of the studied fractions of banana plant varies significantly. The major extremes were found in the contents of cellulose (37.3% in leaf sheaths and only 15.7% in floral stalk), starch (26.3 in floral stalk and 0.4% in petioles/midrib), lignin (24.3% in leaf blades and 10.5% in rachis) and lipophilic extractives (5.8% in leaf blades and 1.2% in petioles/midrib). All morphologic parts of banana plant contained considerable amounts of ashes (from 11.6 to 26.8%) composed mainly by potassium, calcium and silicium salts. The hemicelluloses in banana plant are proposed to be mainly glucuronoxylan and xyloglucan (from 5.5% in floral stalk to 21.5% in petioles/midrib). Rather significant amount of proteins was found in leaf blades (8.3%). Lignin analysis revealed that it is of HGS type with H:G:S proportion ranged of (5–17):(18–54):(35–71). The significant variation of lignin structure among the different morphological parts of banana plant was highlighted. Results of this study allowed some propositions about possible applications of banana plant residues as non-wood renewable source of natural products.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Large Eddy Simulation study on the structure of turbulent flow in a complex city

Abstract Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of atmospheric flows has become an increasingly popular modelling approach within the last years, as it has the potential to provide deeper insight into unsteady flow phenomena. LES can be improved and validated using specifically designed and well documented wind tunnel datasets. In this work, we evaluate the performance of LES against a wind tunnel experiment in a semi-idealized city (Michel-Stadt; CEDVAL-LES database) and use the LES results to study the structure of the turbulent flow at the particular urban area. The first, second and third order statistics are presented, as well as velocity frequency distributions and energy spectra. The results compare well with the experimental values. Information about special features of the flow field is also provided. A particular focus of this work is put on the influence of grid resolution on the results. Five different grids are examined and the required resolution for turbulent flow within the canopy layer is evaluated. This study reveals the strong potential of LES for urban flow simulations. It is shown that LES can assess highly non-Gaussian flow behaviour in street canyons, which has implications for urban ventilation, wind comfort assessment and urban design

Steryl glucosides from banana plant Musa acuminata Colla var cavendish

The chemical composition of the dichloromethane extracts of several vegetal fractions of banana plant, Musa acuminata Colla var cavendish have been studied by GC–MS. Several bioactive steryl glucosides, namely campesteryl 3- -d-glucopyranoside, stigmasteryl 3- -d-glucopyranoside and sitosteryl 3- -d-glucopyranoside were identified as the major components of the ex tracts, accounting for 838.4–1824.3 mg/kg of the plant fractions dry weight. The high abundance of these compounds might be an important contribution to the valorization of banana plant agricultural residues.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On Orthogonal and Symplectic Matrix Ensembles

The focus of this paper is on the probability, $E_\beta(0;J)$, that a set $J$ consisting of a finite union of intervals contains no eigenvalues for the finite $N$ Gaussian Orthogonal ($\beta=1$) and Gaussian Symplectic ($\beta=4$) Ensembles and their respective scaling limits both in the bulk and at the edge of the spectrum. We show how these probabilities can be expressed in terms of quantities arising in the corresponding unitary ($\beta=2$) ensembles. Our most explicit new results concern the distribution of the largest eigenvalue in each of these ensembles. In the edge scaling limit we show that these largest eigenvalue distributions are given in terms of a particular Painlev\'e II function.Comment: 34 pages. LaTeX file with one figure. To appear in Commun. Math. Physic