Differentiation of Foot-and-Mouth Disease-Infected pigs from Vaccinated Pigs Using Antibody-Detecting Sandwich ELISA

The presence of serum antibodies for nonstructural proteins of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) can differentiate FMDV-infected animals from vaccinated animals. In this study, a sandwich ELISA was developed for rapid detection of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) antibodies; it was based on an Escherichia coli-expressed, highly conserved region of the 3ABC nonstructural protein of the FMDV O/TW/99 strain and a monoclonal antibody derived from the expressed protein. The diagnostic sensitivity of the assay was 98.4%, and the diagnostic specificity was 100% for naïve and vaccinated pigs; the detection ability of the assay was comparable those of the PrioCHECK and UBI kits. There was 97.5, 93.4 and 66.6% agreement between the results obtained from our ELISA and those obtained from the PrioCHECK, UBI and CHEKIT kits, respectively. The kappa statistics were 0.95, 0.87 and 0.37, respectively. Moreover, antibodies for nonstructural proteins of the serotypes A, C, Asia 1, SAT 1, SAT 2 and SAT 3 were also detected in bovine sera. Furthermore, the absence of cross-reactions generated by different antibody titers against the swine vesicular disease virus and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was also highlighted in this assay's specificit

Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Mortality in Patients with Meningitis Caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations Against These Isolates

Background/PurposeBacterial meningitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus is uncommon but has a high mortality rate. The aims of this study were to better understand the clinical manifestations of S. aureus meningitis, to identify the risk factors for mortality in the affected patients, and to determine the levels of vancomycin minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against these pathogens.MethodsA retrospective study of patients with S. aureus meningitis hospitalized between December 2000 and December 2008 was made, and vancomycin MICs against S. aureus isolates was determined using Etest.ResultsAmong 37 patients with S. aureus meningitis, fever was most commonly observed. Twenty-six patients (70.3%) had received prior neurosurgery, and 24 (64.9%) patients were suffering from methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections. The vancomycin MIC of 2 μg/mL was found in 23 (74.2%) of 31 S. aureus isolates available for testing. Excluding three patients who did not receive antibiotics for their S. aureus meningitis the mortality rate was 35.3% in the 34 remaining patients, with concurrent infective endocarditis an independent risk factor for mortality (odds ratio = 21.00; 95% confidence interval, 1.834-240.515; p = 0.01).ConclusionPatients with S. aureus meningitis and concurrent infective endocarditis were at a higher risk of mortality. A vancomycin MIC of 2 μg/mL against a substantial number of S. aureus isolates that grew from the cerebrospinal fluid suggests the importance of obtaining trough vancomycin concentrations of 15-20 μg/mL for the treatment of MRSA meningitis

THE DESIGN MODEL OF MICRO END-MILLS MADE BY USING THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

The green processing technology has been brought to the focus of attention around the world. The development and application of green cutting depend on the machine and cutting tool technology progress, in so far as the development of cutting tool technology has quite a big influence. The study was focused on the simulation analysis model for micro milling SKD61 tool steel developed by the finite element method. First, because the impact of the effective rake angle on the oblique cutting model is equivalent to that of the rake angle on the orthogonal cut model, the complex tool geometry of an end-mill will be simplified to the orthogonal cutting model. Using the Taguchi method, the FEM simulation of orthogonal cutting operation was performed under different cutting speeds, cutting depths, effective rake angles and relief angles were modified. The cutting force, tool maximum temperature, tool maximum temperature and tip distance, and the contact length of tool and chip are the major performance indexes of micro milling process. Finally, the multiple cutting performance characteristic resulting from the grey relational analysis reveals that the influencing priority ranks for micro end-mills made of SKD61 tool steel are cutting speed, effective rake angle, relief angle, and cutting depth. The FEM model is suitable for simulating the cutting performance of micro cutting process, and can also be used as a design base for micro endmills

Effects of implementation of an online comprehensive antimicrobial-stewardship program in ICUs: A longitudinal study

AbstractBackground/purposeThe long-term effects of antimicrobial-stewardship programs in the intensive care units (ICUs) have not been adequately examined. We evaluated the impact of an online comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship program (OCASP) on the outcomes of patients in 200-bed medical/surgical ICUs over the course of 11 years.MethodsWe analyzed the records of adult patients admitted to ICUs during the 5 years before (n = 27,499) and the 6 years after (n = 33,834) implementation of an OCASP. Antimicrobial consumption, expenditures, duration of treatment, incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), prevalence of HAIs caused by antimicrobial-resistant strains, and crude or sepsis-related mortality of patients were analyzed. Segmented regression analyses of interrupted time series were used to assess the significance of changes in antimicrobial use.ResultsCompared to the patients in the pre-OCASP period, the patients in the post-OCASP period were older, had greater disease severity, longer ICU stays, and were more likely to receive antimicrobials, but had lower antimicrobial expenditures and crude and sepsis-related mortality. The trend of overall antimicrobial use [slope of defined daily dose/1000 patient-days vs. time) increased significantly before OCASP implementation (p < 0.001), but decreased significantly after implementation (p < 0.01). The administration duration of all classes of antibiotics were significantly shorter (p < 0.001) and the incidences of HAIs were significantly lower (p < 0.001) after implementation. However, there was an increase in the proportion of HAIs caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii relative to all A. baumannii infections.ConclusionImplementation of an OCASP in the ICUs reduced antimicrobial consumption and expenditures, but did not compromise healthcare quality

IDENTIFYING GAIT ASYMMETRY USING DIGITAL SENSORS

The purpose of this study was to determine which phases and kinematics were easier to identify gait asymmetry by using digital sensors. Sixteen participants were recruited in this study. The participants were requested to walk naturally under two conditions (with or without asymmetrical load). Four digital sensor sets were attached on 4 limbs to collect kinematics data. The results showed that only the AS1 of Medial-Later acceleration of upper limb on the stance phase significantly different between unloading and loading conditions; on the lower limb were AS1 of Superior-Inferior acceleration and Flex/Extension angular velocity on the swing phase. The digital sensors that attach on upper and lower limbs both can detect gait asymmetry, but the asymmetrical phase and kinematics are different on upper and lower limbs

Structural study in Highly Compressed BiFeO3 Epitaxial Thin Films on YAlO3

We report a study on the thermodynamic stability and structure analysis of the epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films grown on YAlO3 (YAO) substrate. First we observe a phase transition of MC-MA-T occurs in thin sample (<60 nm) with an utter tetragonal-like phase (denoted as MII here) with a large c/a ratio (~1.23). Specifically, MII phase transition process refers to the structural evolution from a monoclinic MC structure at room temperature to a monoclinic MA at higher temperature (150oC) and eventually to a presence of nearly tetragonal structure above 275oC. This phase transition is further confirmed by the piezoforce microscopy measurement, which shows the rotation of polarization axis during the phase transition. A systematic study on structural evolution with thickness to elucidate the impact of strain state is performed. We note that the YAO substrate can serve as a felicitous base for growing T-like BFO because this phase stably exists in very thick film. Thick BFO films grown on YAO substrate exhibit a typical "morphotropic-phase-boundary"-like feature with coexisting multiple phases (MII, MI, and R) and a periodic stripe-like topography. A discrepancy of arrayed stripe morphology in different direction on YAO substrate due to the anisotropic strain suggests a possibility to tune the MPB-like region. Our study provides more insights to understand the strain mediated phase co-existence in multiferroic BFO system.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Journal of Applied Physic