Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering studies on templating nanopores in networked polymer thin films with a multi-armed porogen

The mechanism of thermal pore generation in organosilicate thin films loaded with a six-armed star-shaped poly(epsilon-caprolactone) porogen was quantitatively investigated by using in-situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and thermogravimetry. These analyses found that the blend components have a limited miscibility that depends on the compositionfor porogen loadings up to only 20 wt%, molecularly miscible blend films were obtained. Even for the miscible blend films, heating the films produced a curing reaction of the precursor matrix component, leading to the phase separation of the porogen component. This phase separation was found to begin at 393 K for 10 wt% porogen loaded films and at 373 K for 20 wt% porogen loaded films, and to continue for temperatures up to 423 K. The porogen aggregates remained and were confined within the matrix film without any further growth or movement until complete thermal decomposition above 564 K.ope

Normative data on regional sweat-sodium concentrations of professional male team-sport athletes

Background: The purpose of this paper was to report normative data on regional sweat sweat-sodium concentrations of various professional male team-sport athletes, and to compare sweat-sodium concentrations among sports. Data to this effect would inform our understanding of athlete sodium requirements, thus allowing for the individualisation of sodium replacement strategies. Accordingly, data from 696 athletes (Soccer, n = 270; Rugby, n = 181; Baseball, n = 133; American Football, n = 60; Basketball, n = 52) were compiled for a retrospective analysis. Regional sweat-sodium concentrations were collected using the pilocarpine iontophoresis method, and compared to self-reported measures collected via questionnaire. Results: Sweat-sodium concentrations were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in American football (50.4 ± 15.3 mmol·L-1), baseball (54.0 ± 14.0 mmol·L-1), and basketball (48.3 ± 14.0 mmol·L-1) than either soccer (43.2 ± 12.0 mmol·L-1) or rugby (44.0 ± 12.1 mmol·L-1), but with no differences among the N.American or British sports. There were strong positive correlations between sweat-sodium concentrations and self-reported sodium losses in American football (rs = 0.962, p < 0.001), basketball (rs = 0.953, p < 0.001), rugby (rs = 0.813, p < 0.001), and soccer (rs = 0.748, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The normative data provided on sweat-sodium concentrations might assist sports science/medicine practitioners in generating bespoke hydration and electrolyte-replacement strategies to meet the sodium demands of professional team-sport athletes. Moreover, these novel data suggest that self-reported measures of sodium loss might serve as an effective surrogate in the absence of direct measures; i.e., those which are more expensive or non-readily available

Waist-to-Height Ratio Is More Predictive of Years of Life Lost than Body Mass Index

Objective: Our aim was to compare the effect of central obesity (measured by waist-to-height ratio, WHtR) and total obesity (measured by body mass index, BMI) on life expectancy expressed as years of life lost (YLL), using data on British adults. Methods: A Cox proportional hazards model was applied to data from the prospective Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS) and the cross sectional Health Survey for England (HSE). The number of years of life lost (YLL) at three ages (30, 50, 70 years) was found by comparing the life expectancies of obese lives with those of lives at optimum levels of BMI and WHtR. Results: Mortality risk associated with BMI in the British HALS survey was similar to that found in US studies. However, WHtR was a better predictor of mortality risk. For the first time, YLL have been quantified for different values of WHtR. This has been done for both sexes separately and for three representative ages. Conclusion: This study supports the simple message ‘‘Keep your waist circumference to less than half your height’’. The use of WHtR in public health screening, with appropriate action, could help add years to life

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Regulation of microRNA biogenesis and turnover by animals and their viruses

Item does not contain fulltextMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a ubiquitous component of gene regulatory networks that modulate the precise amounts of proteins expressed in a cell. Despite their small size, miRNA genes contain various recognition elements that enable specificity in when, where and to what extent they are expressed. The importance of precise control of miRNA expression is underscored by functional studies in model organisms and by the association between miRNA mis-expression and disease. In the last decade, identification of the pathways by which miRNAs are produced, matured and turned-over has revealed many aspects of their biogenesis that are subject to regulation. Studies in viral systems have revealed a range of mechanisms by which viruses target these pathways through viral proteins or non-coding RNAs in order to regulate cellular gene expression. In parallel, a field of study has evolved around the activation and suppression of antiviral RNA interference (RNAi) by viruses. Virus encoded suppressors of RNAi can impact miRNA biogenesis in cases where miRNA and small interfering RNA pathways converge. Here we review the literature on the mechanisms by which miRNA biogenesis and turnover are regulated in animals and the diverse strategies that viruses use to subvert or inhibit these processes

Ectopic Expression of Vaccinia Virus E3 and K3 Cannot Rescue Ectromelia Virus Replication in Rabbit RK13 Cells

Citation: Hand, E. S., Haller, S. L., Peng, C., Rothenburg, S., & Hersperger, A. R. (2015). Ectopic Expression of Vaccinia Virus E3 and K3 Cannot Rescue Ectromelia Virus Replication in Rabbit RK13 Cells. Plos One, 10(3), 15. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119189As a group, poxviruses have been shown to infect a wide variety of animal species. However, there is individual variability in the range of species able to be productively infected. In this study, we observed that ectromelia virus (ECTV) does not replicate efficiently in cultured rabbit RK13 cells. Conversely, vaccinia virus (VACV) replicates well in these cells. Upon infection of RK13 cells, the replication cycle of ECTV is abortive in nature, resulting in a greatly reduced ability to spread among cells in culture. We observed ample levels of early gene expression but reduced detection of virus factories and severely blunted production of enveloped virus at the cell surface. This work focused on two important host range genes, named E3L and K3L, in VACV. Both VACV and ECTV express a functional protein product from the E3L gene, but only VACV contains an intact K3L gene. To better understand the discrepancy in replication capacity of these viruses, we examined the ability of ECTV to replicate in wild-type RK13 cells compared to cells that constitutively express E3 and K3 from VACV. The role these proteins play in the ability of VACV to replicate in RK13 cells was also analyzed to determine their individual contribution to viral replication and PKR activation. Since E3L and K3L are two relevant host range genes, we hypothesized that expression of one or both of them may have a positive impact on the ability of ECTV to replicate in RK13 cells. Using various methods to assess virus growth, we did not detect any significant differences with respect to the replication of ECTV between wild-type RK13 compared to versions of this cell line that stably expressed VACV E3 alone or in combination with K3. Therefore, there remain unanswered questions related to the factors that limit the host range of ECTV

Spatial navigation deficits — overlooked cognitive marker for preclinical Alzheimer disease?

Detection of incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) pathophysiology is critical to identify preclinical individuals and target potentially disease-modifying therapies towards them. Current neuroimaging and biomarker research is strongly focused in this direction, with the aim of establishing AD fingerprints to identify individuals at high risk of developing this disease. By contrast, cognitive fingerprints for incipient AD are virtually non-existent as diagnostics and outcomes measures are still focused on episodic memory deficits as the gold standard for AD, despite their low sensitivity and specificity for identifying at-risk individuals. This Review highlights a novel feature of cognitive evaluation for incipient AD by focusing on spatial navigation and orientation deficits, which are increasingly shown to be present in at-risk individuals. Importantly, the navigation system in the brain overlaps substantially with the regions affected by AD in both animal models and humans. Notably, spatial navigation has fewer verbal, cultural and educational biases than current cognitive tests and could enable a more uniform, global approach towards cognitive fingerprints of AD and better cognitive treatment outcome measures in future multicentre trials. The current Review appraises the available evidence for spatial navigation and/or orientation deficits in preclinical, prodromal and confirmed AD and identifies research gaps and future research priorities

Impact of an Infectious Disease Specialist on an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at a Resource-Limited, Non-Academic Community Hospital in Korea

BACKGROUND: Implementing a successful antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) is difficult for non-academic community (NAC) hospitals due to insufficient infrastructure. AIM: We evaluated the impact of an infectious disease specialist (IDS) on implementing an ASP in a resource-limited setting in Korea. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed at a NAC hospital between June 2015 and August 2018. An IDS has led an ASP at the hospital since June 2017. We used an interrupted time series analysis to evaluate longitudinal effects of the IDS-led ASP on the amount of antibiotic use and incidence of multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) acquisition. FINDINGS: Total antibiotic use changed from 698.82 +/- 74.41 to 602.09 +/- 69.94 defined daily dose/1000 patient-days (PDs) after intervention. An immediate reduction in the use of carbapenems, glycopeptides, penicillins, and other antibiotics followed the IDS-led ASP. The 3rd/4th generation cephalosporins and carbapenems prescription rates decreased in slope after the intervention. Incidence of MDRO acquisition changed from 1.38, 0.78, and 0.21/1000 PDs to 1.06, 0.15, and 0.32/1000 PDs in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. The incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii acquisition immediately decreased following intervention. CONCLUSION: An IDS can implement a successful ASP by reducing antibiotic consumption and MDRO acquisition at resource-limited NAC hospitals