Risk factors associated with death due to severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in hospitalized Korean patients (2018–2022)

Objectives Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) has no vaccine or treatment and an extremely high fatality rate. We aimed to analyze and evaluate the risk factors for death associated with SFTS. Methods Among reports from 2018 to 2022, we compared and analyzed 1,034 inpatients aged 18 years or older with laboratory-confirmed SFTS who underwent complete epidemiological investigations. Results Most of the inpatients with SFTS were aged 50 years or older (average age, 67.6 years). The median time from symptom onset to death was 9 days, and the average case fatality rate was 18.5%. Risk factors for death included age of 70 years or older (odds ratio [OR], 4.82); agriculture-related occupation (OR, 2.01); underlying disease (OR, 7.20); delayed diagnosis (OR, 1.28 per day); decreased level of consciousness (OR, 5.53); fever/chills (OR, 20.52); prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (OR, 4.19); and elevated levels of aspartate aminotransferase (OR, 2.91), blood urea nitrogen (OR, 2.62), and creatine (OR, 3.21). Conclusion The risk factors for death in patients with SFTS were old age; agriculture-related occupation; underlying disease; delayed clinical suspicion; fever/chills; decreased level of consciousness; and elevated activated partial thromboplastin time, aspartate aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen, and creatine levels

Comparison of spatial distributions of Intracluster light and Dark Matter

In a galaxy cluster, the relative spatial distributions of dark matter, member galaxies, gas, and intracluster light (ICL) may connote their mutual interactions over the cluster evolution. However, it is a challenging problem to provide a quantitative measure for the shape matching between two multi-dimensional scalar distributions. We present a novel methodology, named the {\em Weighted Overlap Coefficient (WOC)}, to quantify the similarity of 2-dimensional spatial distributions. We compare the WOC with a standard method known as the Modified Hausdorff Distance (MHD). We find that our method is robust, and performs well even with the existence of multiple sub-structures. We apply our methodology to search for a visible component whose spatial distribution resembled with that of dark matter. If such a component could be found to trace the dark matter distribution with high fidelity for more relaxed galaxy clusters, then the similarity of the distributions could also be used as a dynamical stage estimator of the cluster. We apply the method to six galaxy clusters at different dynamical stages simulated within the GRT simulation, which is an N-body simulation using the galaxy replacement technique. Among the various components (stellar particles, galaxies, ICL), the ICL+ brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) component most faithfully trace the dark matter distribution. Among the sample galaxy clusters, the relaxed clusters show stronger similarity in the spatial distribution of the dark matter and ICL+BCG than the dynamically young clusters. While the MHD results show weaker trend with the dynamical stages.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted in ApJ

Fuel temperature and injection pressure influence on the cold start GDI sprays

Cold start in gasoline direct injection engines (GDI) is a critical issue that significantly impacts fuel consumption and emissions. Therefore, it is essential to investigate and improve the spray and air-fuel mixing processes during cold starts. This study employed a complimentary set of optical diagnostic techniques, including line-of-sight(extinction, Schlieren, and long-distance microscopy) and 3D computed tomography (CT), to characterize and understand the cold-start spray dynamics under various fuel temperature and injection pressure conditions. The experiments were conducted in a constant volume spray vessel and the fuel temperature was varied using a coolant circulator, with temperatures reaching as low as -7 °C to simulate cold-start conditions. The cold fuel exhibited longer liquid/vapor penetration lengths compared to hot fuel under low injection pressure conditions. This deterioration in spray characteristics was attributed to the attenuated fuel evaporation and reduced entrainment of ambient air. The 3D spray visualization obtained through the CT algorithm, particularly the cut plane images, revealed that plumes with low fuel temperatures had narrower individual plume widths, resulting in minimized plume-to-plume interaction. Microscopic imaging further confirmed this observation which showed separate plumes in the near-nozzle region for cold fuel conditions. Meanwhile, hot fuel under high injection pressure conditions exhibited complete plume collapsing, leading to a significant amount of liquid fuel remaining in the spray core. The liquid penetration reached 70 mm during the injection period, potentially can cause wall wetting on the piston top or cylinder wall. Based on the experimental findings, this study suggests the application of multiple injections with a moderate level of injection pressure for optimized engine performance and reduced emissions during cold starts

Density Functional Investigation of Graphene Doped with Amine-Based Organic Molecules

To improve the electronic properties of graphene, many doping techniques have been studied. Herein, we investigate the electronic and molecular structure of doped graphene using density functional theory, and we report the effects of amine-based benzene dopants adsorbed on graphene. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to determine the role of amine-based aromatic compounds in graphene doping. These organic molecules bind to graphene through long-range interactions such as π-π interactions and C-H⋯π hydrogen bonding. We compared the electronic structures of pristine graphene and doped graphene to understand the electronic structure of doped graphene at the molecular level. Also, work functions of doped graphene were obtained from electrostatic potential calculations. A decrease in the work function was observed when the amine-based organic compounds were adsorbed onto graphene. Because these systems are based on physisorption, there was no obvious band structure change at point K at the Fermi level after doping. However, the amine-based organic dopants did change the absolute Fermi energy levels. In this study, we showed that the Fermi levels of the doped graphene were affected by the HOMO energy level of the dopants and by the intermolecular charge transfer between the adsorbed molecules and graphene

Why Does Dimethyl Carbonate Dissociate Li Salt Better Than Other Linear Carbonates? Critical Role of Polar Conformers

The marked difference in the ionic conductivities of linear carbonate (LC) electrolyte solutions despite their similar viscosities and permittivities is a long-standing puzzle. This study unraveled the critical impact of solvent conformational isomerism on salt dissociation in 0.1-3.0 M LiPF6 dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), and diethyl carbonate (DEC) solutions using Raman and dielectric relaxation spectroscopies. The extent of salt dissociation in the LC solutions, which decreased in the order DMC > EMC > DEC, is closely related to the fraction of polar cis-trans LC conformers, as this conformer participates in Li ion solvation more readily than the nonpolar cis-cis counterpart. Our first-principles calculations corroborated that the cis-trans conformer facilitates free ion formation more than the cis-cis conformer, and the extent of this effect decreased in the order DMC > EMC > DEC. This study provides an avenue for the design of highly conductive electrolytes by exploiting the conformational isomerism of solvent molecules.11Nsciescopu

Panel strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae for beta-lactam antibiotic evaluation: their phenotypic and genotypic characterization

Klebsiella pneumoniae is responsible for numerous infections caused in hospitals, leading to mortality and morbidity. It has been evolving as a multi-drug resistant pathogen, acquiring multiple resistances such as such as horizontal gene transfer, transposon-mediated insertions or change in outer membrane permeability. Therefore, constant efforts are being carried out to control the infections using various antibiotic therapies. Considering the severity of the acquired resistance, we developed a panel of strains of K. pneumoniae expressing different resistance profiles such as high-level penicillinase and AmpC production, extended spectrum beta-lactamases and carbapenemases. Bacterial strains expressing different resistance phenotypes were collected and examined for resistance genes, mutations and porin alterations contributing to the detected phenotypes. Using the Massive parallel sequencing (MPS) technology we have constructed and genotypically characterized the panel strains to elucidate the multidrug resistance. These panel strains can be used in the clinical laboratory as standard reference strains. In addition, these strains could be significant in the field of pharmaceuticals for the antibiotic drug testing to verify its efficiency on pathogens expressing various  resistances

Boiling characteristics on the reduced graphene oxide films

The graphene has been interested world-widely for the superb mechanical and electrical properties. Among them, the thermal conductivity of graphene was often reported as the 500-5000 W/mK. We tried to apply the graphene to the thermal application of boiling heat transfer through the graphene coating. The graphene was used for the reduced graphene oxide flakes in water (RGO colloid). The RGO colloid boiling on silicon-dioxide heater (substrate) showed both the boiling heat transfer and the critical heat flux enhancement as 65% and 70%, respectively. After RGO colloid boiling, the base graphene layer (BGL) with 10-100 nm thickness below the self-assembled foam-like graphene (SFG) was observed. In order to confirm the effect of BGL on the enhanced boiling performance, the only water boiling on an artificial graphene multilayers (RGO film) coated heater was conducted, and shows the similar result with the RGO colloid boiling. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.X1187Nsciescopu