Oral gram-negative rods and yeasts in hospitalized patients

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Cordyceps cicadae induces G2/M cell cycle arrest in MHCC97H human hepatocellular carcinoma cells: a proteomic study

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Transient resonance Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory investigation of iso-CHBr 2Cl and iso-CCl 3Br photoproducts produced following ultraviolet excitation of CHBr 2Cl and CCl 3Br

Two polyhalomethanes that contain bromine and chlorine atoms (CHBr 2Cl and CCl 2Br) were studied. Transient resonance Raman spectra were obtained for the photoproducts produced after ultraviolet excitation of CHBr 2Cl and CCl 3Br in room temperature solutions and density functional theory calculations for species proposed to be products of the photodissociation reactions in the solution phase. It was found that the iso-CHBrCl-Br and iso-CHClBr-Br species are formed following ultraviolet excitation of CHBr 2Cl and the iso-CCl 2Cl-Br species formed following ultraviolet excitation of CCl 3Br in the solution phase.published_or_final_versio

Protection of lethal toxicity of endotoxin by Salvia miltiorrhiza BUNGE is via reduction in tumor necrosis factor alpha release and liver injury

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been implicated as one of the major cause of Gram-negative bacteria-induced sepsis that are life-threatening syndromes occurring in intensive care unit patients. Many natural products derived from medicinal plants may contain therapeutic values on protecting endotoxemia-induced sepsis by virtue their ability to modulate multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines. In the present study, we show that Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) BUNGE or Danshen, used in treatment of various systemic and surgical infections in the hospitals of China, was able to block the lethal toxicity of LPS in mice via suppression of TNF-α release and protection on liver injury. The ability of SM to suppress LPS-induced TNF-α release is further confirmed by in vitro experiments conducted on human peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) and the RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry shows improved T-helper cell (CD4) and T-suppressor cells (CD8) ratio in SM-treated PBL and splenocytes of LPS-challenged mice. The drop in plasma glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (GPT) induced by LPS provides evidence that SM can protect hepatic damage. The present study explains some known biological activities of SM, and supports the clinical application of SM in the prevention of inflammatory diseases induced by Gram-negative bacteria. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.postprin

Solution structure of the dimerization domain of the eurkaryotic stalk P1/P2 complex reveals the structural organization of the eukaryotic stalk

Poster Presentation: abstract A01The lateral ribosomal stalk is responsible for the kingdom‐specific binding of translation factors and activation of GTP hydrolysis during protein synthesis. The eukaryotic stalk consists of the scaffold P0 protein which binds two copies of P1/P2 hetero‐dimers to form a P0(P1/P2)2 pentameric P‐complex. The structure of the eukaryotic stalk is currently not known. To provide a better understanding on the structural organization of eukaryotic stalk, we have determined the solution structure of the N‐terminal dimerization domain …postprin

Streptokinase is ineffective in restoring early myocardial reperfusion in Asian patients with acute myocardial infarction

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Quality of Care for Older Patients with Non-Cancer Diagnoses under the End-of-Life Care Program

Background: End-of-life (EOL) care is an important part of geriatric medicine in view of rapidly ageing populations in the world. Aim: We aimed to evaluate the quality of care for older patients with non-cancer terminal illnesses, who died in 2010, under the EOL care program of an academic medical unit in Hong Kong. This unit consisted of an acute hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) and a convalescence hospital (Shatin Hospital, SH). Methods: This was a retrospective hospital-based audit of clinical effectiveness of the EOL service. We reviewed the quality of patient care during the final seven days of life. The quality of care was evaluated based on the compliance rates of five selected goals and the adoption of futile life-sustaining procedures and treatments. Results: Case records of 129 patients in the EOL care program were analyzed. Two goals, including minimization of regular monitoring of vital signs and no blood taking, achieved over 70% compliance at SH and 0% at PWH. The compliance rates of discontinuation of non-essential medications were 46.4% in SH and 47.1% in PWH; and the compliance rates of switching essential medications to non-oral routes were 63.4% in SH and 70.6% in PWH (not statistically significant). The compliance rates of using as-required intravenous or subcutaneous medications were extremely low (<2%) at both hospitals. All futile life-sustaining procedures and treatments were initiated at the PWH. Conclusions: We demonstrated significant differences in the quality of EOL care between the acute hospital and convalescence hospital. Greater emphasis on specialist training and education with allocation of resources may improve the EOL care in both settings.published_or_final_versio

Flatband voltage control in p-metal gate metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor by insertion of TiO2 layer

Titanium oxide (TiO2) layer was used to control the flatband voltage (V-FB) of p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors. TiO2 was deposited by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) on hafnium oxide (HfO2) gate dielectrics. Comparative studies between TiO2 and Al2O3 as capping layer have shown that improved device properties with lower capacitance equivalent thickness (CET), interface state density (D-it), and flatband voltage (V-FB) shift were achieved by PE-ALD TiO2 capping layer.open111210sciescopu

A study on fire design accidental loads for aluminum safety helidecks

The helideck structure must satisfy the safety requirements associated with various environmental and accidental loads. Especially, there have been a number of fire accidents offshore due to helicopter collision (take-off and/or landing) in recent decades. To prevent further accidents, a substantial amount of effort has been directed toward the management of fire in the safety design of offshore helidecks. The aims of this study are to introduce and apply a procedure for quantitative risk assessment and management of fires by defining the fire loads with an applied example. The frequency of helicopter accidents are considered, and design accidental levels are applied. The proposed procedures for determining design fire loads can be efficiently applied in offshore helideck development projects