The effect of disinfectant agents in eliminating the contamination of dental unit water

High concentrations of water-borne organisms cause multiple public health problems. Contamination of water exiting the dental unit water lines could be inhibited with the use of some disinfectants. The purpose of this investigation was to establish the effect of two disinfectants and to test their capacity to eliminate colony forming units (CFU) per mL. Vacuum lines of four chairs were treated for a total of 2 weeks. Two disinfectants (Bio(R) 2000 and Alpron(R)) were used as per manufacturer's instructions. Water samples for hetereothrophic counts from each unit's air/water syringe line were collected before treating the first patient of the day. Baseline, daily, first and second week samples of 10 mL were plated on blood agar plates and eosin ethylene blue agar. For meosifilic bacterial counts, Mueller Hinton agar plates with 1 mL direct and 1/10 were used in sterile serum and CFU were counted. The suspected colonies were further evaluated using API 20E and API 20NE. No Gram(-) opportunistic pathogens were found during the entire observation. Baseline contamination level (>102 CFU mL(-1)) without use of disinfectants was significantly higher (P <0.0001) than at both first and second weeks when disinfectants were used. No colony was formed when Bio 2000 was used after both first and second weeks, whereas small number of CFU mL(-1) was found at the end of the first week when Alpron

Articulation rate and its relationship to disfluency type, duration, and temperament in preschool children who stutter

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between articulation rate, frequency and duration of disfluencies of different types, and temperament in preschool children who stutter (CWS). In spontaneous speech samples from 19 children CWS (mean age = 3:9; years: months), we measured articulation rate, the frequency and duration of (a) sound prolongations; (b) soundsyllable repetitions; (c) single syllable whole word repetitions; and (d) clusters. Temperament was assessed with the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart et al., 2001). There was a significant negative correlation between articulation rate and average duration of sound prolongations (p\u3c0.01), and between articulation rate and frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) (p\u3c0.05). No other relationships proved statistically significant. Results do not support models of stuttering development that implicate particular characteristics of temperament as proximal contributors to stuttering; however, this is likely due to the fact that current methods, including the ones used in the present study, do not allow for the identification of a functional relationship between temperament and speech production. Findings do indicate that for some CWS, relatively longer sound prolongations co-occur with relatively slower speech rate, which suggests that sound prolongations, across a range of durations, may represent a distinct type of SLD, not just in their obvious perceptual characteristics, but in their potential influence on overall speech production at multiple levels

Articulation rate and its relationship to disfluency type, duration, and temperament in preschool children who stutter

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between articulation rate, frequency and duration of disfluencies of different types, and temperament in preschool children who stutter (CWS). In spontaneous speech samples from 19 children CWS (mean age = 3:9; years: months), we measured articulation rate, the frequency and duration of (a) sound prolongations; (b) soundsyllable repetitions; (c) single syllable whole word repetitions; and (d) clusters. Temperament was assessed with the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart et al., 2001). There was a significant negative correlation between articulation rate and average duration of sound prolongations (p\u3c0.01), and between articulation rate and frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) (p\u3c0.05). No other relationships proved statistically significant. Results do not support models of stuttering development that implicate particular characteristics of temperament as proximal contributors to stuttering; however, this is likely due to the fact that current methods, including the ones used in the present study, do not allow for the identification of a functional relationship between temperament and speech production. Findings do indicate that for some CWS, relatively longer sound prolongations co-occur with relatively slower speech rate, which suggests that sound prolongations, across a range of durations, may represent a distinct type of SLD, not just in their obvious perceptual characteristics, but in their potential influence on overall speech production at multiple levels

Thermal–electrical transport of high purity, melt impregnated, polycrystalline MgB2

In the polycrystalline superconductor MgB2 the fraction of cross section that carries electrical current was previously shown to be obtained from the normal state electrical resistivity. The latest single crystal measurements show the thermal transport properties of MgB2 to be dominated by electrical transport. For the first time we apply the electrical cross section to the thermal conductivity of three polycrystalline samples with different grain size and porosity. It is found that the results can be readily discussed in the context of granular thermal–electrical properties consisting of common temperature dependent transport properties independent of grain size and porosity. The result gives an alternative interpretation to the temperature dependent thermal transport than given in previous publications

A complete cellular manufacturing system design methodology based on axiomatic design principles

Bu makale, fonksiyonel olarak yerleştirilmiş &uuml;retim sistemini h&uuml;crelerden oluşan &uuml;retim sistemine d&ouml;n&uuml;şt&uuml;rmek isteyen tasarımcılar i&ccedil;in aksiyomlarla tasarım (AD) prensiplerine g&ouml;re hazırlanmış b&uuml;t&uuml;nsel bir y&ouml;ntemi sunmaktadır. Bağımsızlık aksiyomuna g&ouml;re geliştirilen bu y&ouml;ntem, h&uuml;cresel &uuml;retim sistemi d&ouml;n&uuml;ş&uuml;m s&uuml;recindeki t&uuml;m adımları sistematik bir bi&ccedil;imde sağlar. Ayrıca belirlenen performans &ouml;l&ccedil;&uuml;tlerine g&ouml;re h&uuml;cresel &uuml;retim sisteminin değerlendirilmesini ve geliştirilmesini sağlayan geri besleme sistemini de i&ccedil;ermektedir. Y&ouml;ntem al&uuml;minyum esaslı merdiven, rampa ve k&ouml;pr&uuml; &uuml;r&uuml;nleri &uuml;reten bir firmada uygulamaya alınmıştır. Uygulama sonucunda elde edilen gelişmeler&nbsp; yine &ccedil;alışma kapsamında g&ouml;sterilmektedir.&nbsp;Anahtar Kelimeler: Aksiyomlarla tasarım, h&uuml;cresel &uuml;retim, uygulama rehberi.Worldwide manufacturing companies should pay attention to the design of the manufacturing systems as well as the design of the products. If the manufacturing systems are not designed properly at the beginning, the target performance can not be achieved in spite of the effort during the planning and controlling. The condition of rivalry nowadays forces that an effective manufacturing system should be formed by cells. When the issues on the design of the cellular manufacturing systems are searched , it is seen that there is not any scientific guiding work about the whole design of the cellular manufacturing systems and their relations in themselves. This paper provides a framework and a road map for people who are ready to transform their traditional production system from process orientation to cellular orientation, based on Axiomatic Design (AD) principles. This guide, which are developed, based on the Independence Axiom, provide necessary steps in transforming an existing process oriented system into a cellular manufacturing systems. A feedback mechanism for continuous improvement is also suggested for evaluating and improving the cellular design against pre-selected performance criteria. A complete implementation of the proposed methodology at a local manufacturing company and resulting performance improvements are also provided. Keywords: Axiomatic design, cellular manufacturing, implementation guide

Plasma Proteome Profiling to Assess Human Health and Disease

SummaryProteins in the circulatory system mirror an individual’s physiology. In daily clinical practice, protein levels are generally determined using single-protein immunoassays. High-throughput, quantitative analysis using mass-spectrometry-based proteomics of blood, plasma, and serum would be advantageous but is challenging because of the high dynamic range of protein abundances. Here, we introduce a rapid and robust “plasma proteome profiling” pipeline. This single-run shotgun proteomic workflow does not require protein depletion and enables quantitative analysis of hundreds of plasma proteomes from 1 μl single finger pricks with 20 min gradients. The apolipoprotein family, inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein, gender-related proteins, and >40 FDA-approved biomarkers are reproducibly quantified (CV <20% with label-free quantification). Furthermore, we functionally interpret a 1,000-protein, quantitative plasma proteome obtained by simple peptide pre-fractionation. Plasma proteome profiling delivers an informative portrait of a person’s health state, and we envision its large-scale use in biomedicine

System-wide Perturbation Analysis with Nearly Complete Coverage of the Yeast Proteome by Single-shot Ultra HPLC Runs on a Bench Top Orbitrap

Yeast remains an important model for systems biology and for evaluating proteomics strategies. In-depth shotgun proteomics studies have reached nearly comprehensive coverage, and rapid, targeted approaches have been developed for this organism. Recently, we demonstrated that single LC-MS/MS analysis using long columns and gradients coupled to a linear ion trap Orbitrap instrument had an unexpectedly large dynamic range of protein identification (Thakur, S. S., Geiger, T., Chatterjee, B., Bandilla, P., Frohlich, F., Cox, J., and Mann, M. (2011) Deep and highly sensitive proteome coverage by LC-MS/MS without prefractionation. Mol. Cell Proteomics 10, 10.1074/mcp.M110.003699). Here we couple an ultra high pressure liquid chromatography system to a novel bench top Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Q Exactive) with the goal of nearly complete, rapid, and robust analysis of the yeast proteome. Single runs of filter-aided sample preparation (FASP)-prepared and LysC-digested yeast cell lysates identified an average of 3923 proteins. Combined analysis of six single runs improved these values to more than 4000 identified proteins/run, close to the total number of proteins expressed under standard conditions, with median sequence coverage of 23%. Because of the absence of fractionation steps, only minuscule amounts of sample are required. Thus the yeast model proteome can now largely be covered within a few hours of measurement time and at high sensitivity. Median coverage of proteins in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways with at least 10 members was 88%, and pathways not covered were not expected to be active under the conditions used. To study perturbations of the yeast proteome, we developed an external, heavy lysine-labeled SILAC yeast standard representing different proteome states. This spike-in standard was employed to measure the heat shock response of the yeast proteome. Bioinformatic analysis of the heat shock response revealed that translation-related functions were down-regulated prominently, including nucleolar processes. Conversely, stress-related pathways were up-regulated. The proteomic technology described here is straightforward, rapid, and robust, potentially enabling widespread use in the yeast and other biological research communities