945 research outputs found
PCR identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in a clinical sample from a patient with symptoms of tuberculous spondylodiscitis
A 42-year-old male complaining of thoracic spine pain was admitted to the hospital for evaluation. An X-ray and computer tomography of the thoracic spine showed spondylodiscitis of the L3 lumbar and L2-L3 intervertebral disk. The tuberculin skin test (PPD) was strongly positive. A radioscopy-guided fine needle aspirate of the affected area was cultured but did not reveal the cause of the disease. Two biopsy attempts failed to reveal the cause of the disease by culturing or by acid-fast-resistant staining (Ziehl Neelsen) of the specimens. A third biopsy also failed to detect the infectious agent by using microbiological procedures, but revealed the presence of a 245-bp amplicon characteristic of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex after PCR of the sample. The result demonstrates the efficacy of PCR for the identification of M. tuberculosis in situations in which conventional diagnosis by culturing techniques or direct microscopy is unable to detect the microorganism. Following this result the patient was treated with the antituberculous cocktail composed by rifampicin, pirazinamide and isoniazid during a six-month period. At the end of the treatment the dorsalgia symptoms had disappeared
Trust your guts? The effect of gut section on diet composition and impact of Mus musculus on islands using metabarcoding
Research Article1. DNA metabarcoding is widely used to characterize the diet of species, and it becomes
very relevant for biodiversity conservation, allowing the understanding
of trophic chains and the impact of invasive species. The need for cost-effective
biodiversity monitoring methods fostered advances in this technique. One question
that arises is which sample type provides a better diet representation.
2. Therefore, with this study, we intended to evaluate if there were differences
in diet estimates according to the section of the gastrointestinal tract analysed
and which section(s) provided the best diet representation. Additionally, we intended
to infer the ecological/economic impacts of an invader as a model of the
potential effects in an originally mammal-free
ecosystem.
3. We examined the gut contents of the house mouse Mus musculus introduced to
Cabo Verde, considering three sections: stomach, small intestine, and large intestine.
We applied a DNA-metabarcoding
approach using two genetic markers,
one specific for plants and another for invertebrates.
4. We showed that this invader consumed 131 taxa (73 plants and 58 invertebrates).
We obtained significant differences in the composition of two of the three sections,
with a higher incidence of invertebrates in the stomach and plants in the
intestines. This may be due to stomach inhibitors acting on plants and/or to faster
absorption of soft-body
invertebrates compared to the plant fibers in the intestines.
We verified that the impact of this invader in the ecosystem is predominantly
negative, as at least 50% of the ingested items were native, endemic, or
economically important taxa, and only 19% of the diet items were exotics 5. Overall, results showed the need to analyse only two gastrointestinal tract sections
to obtain robust diet data, increasing the cost-effectiveness
of the method.
Furthermore, by uncovering the native taxa most frequently preyed on by mice,
this DNA-metabarcoding
approach allowed us to evaluate efficiently which are
at the highest riskinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Exciton swapping in a twisted graphene bilayer as a solid-state realization of a two-brane model
It is shown that exciton swapping between two graphene sheets may occur under
specific conditions. A magnetically tunable optical filter is described to
demonstrate this new effect. Mathematically, it is shown that two turbostratic
graphene layers can be described as a "noncommutative" two-sheeted
(2+1)-spacetime thanks to a formalism previously introduced for the study of
braneworlds in high energy physics. The Hamiltonian of the model contains a
coupling term connecting the two layers which is similar to the coupling
existing between two braneworlds at a quantum level. In the present case, this
term is related to a K-K' intervalley coupling. In addition, the experimental
observation of this effect could be a way to assess the relevance of some
theoretical concepts of the braneworld hypothesis.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, final version published in European Physical
Journal
Development of electrospun photocatalytic TiO2-polyamide-12 nanocomposites
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) in different forms such as films, fibers or particles are being extensively studied
for removal of contaminants from aquatic environments due to its outstanding photocatalytic activity.
This work reports the development of TiO2-polyamide 12 electrospun fiber mats. A systematic study on
the influence of electrospun processing parameters on polymer fiber morphology was performed. It was
observed that the average fiber diameter is mainly influenced by polymer concentration and average
fiber diameters between 404 ± 82 nm and 1442 ± 360 nm were obtained. Polyamide-12 (PA-12) was
used as a polymer matrix and electrospun with 0, 10 and 20 wt% of TiO2. It was observed that the filler
does not change the average fiber diameter, being similar to that observed for neat PA-12 fibers processed
under the same experimental conditions. The TiO2 were particles dispensed not only in the bulk
of the polymeric matrix but also on the surface of the fibers, especially for the samples with higher filler
contents. Neat and nanocomposite electrospun samples show a hydrophobic behavior and a degree of
crystallinity of ~25%.
The photocatalytic performance of the processed samples was measured by following the degradation
capability of a chosen dye, methylene blue (MB). Results show that the nanocomposite samples have a
remarkable photocatalytic activity, especially the one with a higher load of TiO2 particles (20 wt%), with
all MB being removed from the solution after 100 min.This work was supported by FEDER through the COMPETE
Program and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Project PEST-C/FIS/
UI607/2014, and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
CientĂfico e Tecnol ogico e Brazil). The authors also thank funding
from âMatepro eOptimizing Materials and Processesâ, ref. NORTE-
07-0124-FEDER-000037â, co-funded by the âPrograma Operacional
Regional do Norteâ (ON.2 e O Novo Norte), under the âQuadro de
Refer^encia Estrat egico Nacionalâ (QREN), through the âFundo
Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regionalâ (FEDER). PM thanks the
FCT for the, SFRH/BD/98616/2013 grant. VS and SLM also thank
support from the COST Action MP1206 âElectrospun Nano-fibers for bio inspired composite materials and innovative industrial applicationsâ.
VS thanks the EIS Faculty at UOW for the starting grant
Source localization of EEG versus MEG: Empirical comparison using visually evoked responses and theoretical considerations
Produção e valor nutritivo da forragem de capim-elefante em dois sistemas de produção.
Esta pesquisa foi realizada com o objetivo de avaliar a produção e o valor nutritivo da forragem de capimelefante cultivado em sistemas convencional e agroecolĂłgico. No sistema convencional, o capim-elefante foi estabelecido em cultivo exclusivo, em linhas com espaçamento de 1,4 m e, no sistema agroecolĂłgico, em linhas afastadas 3 m. Nas entrelinhas, estabeleceu-se azevĂ©m no perĂodo hibernal para desenvolvimento de espĂ©cies de crescimento espontĂąneo no perĂodo estival. Avaliaram-se a massa, a produção e a composição botĂąnica e estrutural da forragem e a carga animal. Amostras de simulação de pastejo foram coletadas para determinação dos teores de proteĂna bruta e fibra em detergente neutro e da digestibilidade in vitro da matĂ©ria seca e matĂ©ria orgĂąnica. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado com dois tratamentos (sistemas convencional e agroecolĂłgico) e duas repetiçÔes (piquetes). Valores mais elevados para massa de forragem, produção de forragem, taxa de acĂșmulo diĂĄrio e carga animal foram observados no sistema convencional. A relação folha:colmo foi similar entre os sistemas. Valor mais elevado de proteĂna bruta foi observado no sistema agroecolĂłgico. O capim-elefante sob manejo convencional apresenta maior produção de forragem, com menores teores de proteĂna bruta. O sistema agroecolĂłgico apresenta melhor distribuição da produção de forragem no decorrer do ano
Molecular characterization of two rocio flavivirus strains isolated during the encephalitis epidemic in sĂŁo paulo state, brazil and the development of a one-step rt-pcr assay for diagnosis
InfluĂȘncia de safras agrĂcolas e tratamentos fungicidas no cafĂ© cereja descascado e bĂłia
Corneal Biomechanics in Ectatic Diseases: Refractive Surgery Implications.
BACKGROUND: Ectasia development occurs due to a chronic corneal biomechanical decompensation or weakness, resulting in stromal thinning and corneal protrusion. This leads to corneal steepening, increase in astigmatism, and irregularity. In corneal refractive surgery, the detection of mild forms of ectasia pre-operatively is essential to avoid post-operative progressive ectasia, which also depends on the impact of the procedure on the cornea.
METHOD: The advent of 3D tomography is proven as a significant advancement to further characterize corneal shape beyond front surface topography, which is still relevant. While screening tests for ectasia had been limited to corneal shape (geometry) assessment, clinical biomechanical assessment has been possible since the introduction of the Ocular Response Analyzer (Reichert Ophthalmic Instruments, Buffalo, USA) in 2005 and the Corvis ST (Oculus Optikgerate GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) in 2010. Direct clinical biomechanical evaluation is recognized as paramount, especially in detection of mild ectatic cases and characterization of the susceptibility for ectasia progression for any cornea.
CONCLUSIONS: The purpose of this review is to describe the current state of clinical evaluation of corneal biomechanics, focusing on the most recent advances of commercially available instruments and also on future developments, such as Brillouin microscopy.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Measurement of the branching fraction
The branching fraction is measured in a data sample
corresponding to 0.41 of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb
detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions
affecting the sin2 measurement from The
time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be . This is the most precise measurement to
date
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