The temperature effect on electrokinetic properties of the silica–polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) system

The influence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) adsorption on the structure of the diffuse layer of silica (SiO2) in the temperature range 15–35 °C was examined. The microelectrophoresis method was used in the experiments to determine the zeta potential of the solid particles in the absence and presence of the polymer. The adsorption of PVA macromolecules causes the zeta potential decrease in all investigated SiO2 systems. Moreover this, decrease is the most pronounced at the highest examined temperature. Obtained results indicate that the conformational changes of adsorbed polymer chains are responsible for changes in electrokinetic properties of silica particles. Moreover, the structure of diffuse layer on the solid surface with adsorbed polymer results from the following effects: the presence of acetate groups in PVA chains, the blockade of silica surface groups by adsorbed polymer and the shift of slipping plane due to macromolecules adsorption

Harbour porpoises react to low levels of high frequency vessel noise

Cetaceans rely critically on sound for navigation, foraging and communication and are therefore potentially affected by increasing noise levels from human activities at sea. Shipping is the main contributor of anthropogenic noise underwater, but studies of shipping noise effects have primarily considered baleen whales due to their good hearing at low frequencies, where ships produce most noise power. Conversely, the possible effects of vessel noise on small toothed whales have been largely ignored due to their poor low-frequency hearing. Prompted by recent findings of energy at medium- to high-frequencies in vessel noise, we conducted an exposure study where the behaviour of four porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in a net-pen was logged while they were exposed to 133 vessel passages. Using a multivariate generalised linear mixed-effects model, we show that low levels of high frequency components in vessel noise elicit strong, stereotyped behavioural responses in porpoises. Such low levels will routinely be experienced by porpoises in the wild at ranges of more than 1000 meters from vessels, suggesting that vessel noise is a, so far, largely overlooked, but substantial source of disturbance in shallow water areas with high densities of both porpoises and vessels

Analysis of the course and treatment of toxocariasis in children—a long-term observation

Toxocariasis is a helminthozoonotic disease caused by ascarid larvae of Toxocara genus: Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati. In the reported study, the clinical course of toxocariasis and administered therapy were evaluated in 103 children. The majority of the children (68.9%) were from the rural environment, with a prevalence of boys (62.1%). At diagnosis of infection, 36 (35%) children reported recurrent abdominal pain, 19 (18.4%) headache, 6 (5.8%) loss of appetite, 2 subfebrile conditions, and 2 arthralgia, Moreover, 23 (22.3%) children demonstrated symptoms of atopic diseases; in 30 (29.1%) children, moderate enlargement of lymphatic nodes was noted. In five children (4.9%), ophthalmic examination revealed unilateral changes in the eye: in two cases retinitis; in one case fibrotic lesions in the vitreous body, complicated 1 year from diagnosis by retinal detachment; and in other children parafoveal lesions and cataract. Only two children with ocular changes at diagnosis reported visual disorders. In 64.3% of children, eosinophilia was observed. A covert form of the disease was diagnosed in 95.1% of the children and an ocular form in 4.9%. In all the children, antiparasitic treatment was implemented, repeated several times in some of them. After therapy, the mean titer of specific antibodies, the number of children with abdominal pains and enlarged lymphatic nodes were decreased, while headaches maintained at unchanged levels. In approximately one fourth of the children with negative results of antibodies after the therapy, the symptoms of the disease were still reported. Evaluation of the efficacy of treatment is not easy due to non-characteristic symptoms and low kinetics of specific anti Toxocara IgG decrease; however, high IgG titers suggest non-effective treatment of concomitant infection requiring subsequent therapy. Due to risk of ocular form, which may develop in any stage of the disease, irrespectively of specific antibodies concentrations, it seems justified to implement antiparasitic treatment in all children infected with T. canis

Leptin-induced endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of peripheral arteries in lean and obese rats: role of nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide.

Published onlineJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tAdipose tissue hormone leptin induces endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation mediated by nitric oxide (NO) and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors (EDHF). Previously it has been demonstrated that in short-term obesity the NO-dependent and the EDHF-dependent components of vascular effect of leptin are impaired and up-regulated, respectively. Herein we examined the mechanism of the EDHF-dependent vasodilatory effect of leptin and tested the hypothesis that alterations of acute vascular effects of leptin in obesity are accounted for by chronic hyperleptinemia. The study was performed in 5 groups of rats: (1) control, (2) treated with exogenous leptin for 1 week to induce hyperleptinemia, (3) obese, fed highly-palatable diet for 4 weeks, (4) obese treated with pegylated superactive rat leptin receptor antagonist (PEG-SRLA) for 1 week, (5) fed standard chow and treated with PEG-SRLA. Acute effect of leptin on isometric tension of mesenteric artery segments was measured ex vivo. Leptin relaxed phenylephrine-preconstricted vascular segments in NO- and EDHF-dependent manner. The NO-dependent component was impaired and the EDHF-dependent component was increased in the leptin-treated and obese groups and in the latter group both these effects were abolished by PEG-SRLA. The EDHF-dependent vasodilatory effect of leptin was blocked by either the inhibitor of cystathionine γ-lyase, propargylglycine, or a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) scavenger, bismuth (III) subsalicylate. The results indicate that NO deficiency is compensated by the up-regulation of EDHF in obese rats and both effects are accounted for by chronic hyperleptinemia. The EDHF-dependent component of leptin-induced vasorelaxation is mediated, at least partially, by H2S.The study was supported by the EU Project “The equipment of innovative laboratories doing research on new medicines used in the therapy of civilization and neoplastic diseases” within the Operational Program Development of Eastern Poland 2007 - 2013, Priority Axis I Modern Economy, Operations I.3 Innovation Promotion. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Ecophysiology and dynamics of nitrogen removal bacteria in a sequencing batch reactor during wastewater treatment start‑up

Nitrogen removal communities performing wastewater treatment consist of ammonia oxidisers, nitrite oxidisers, denitrifiers, and anammox bacteria, and the proportion and activity of particular microbial groups depend not only on the physiochemical parameters of the bioreactor, but also on the composition of the inoculum. Nitrifiers and denitrifiers usually dominate in conventional wastewater treatment systems due to the fact that nitrification and denitrification are the most commonly used nitrogen removal processes. However, from the economical point of view in case of wastewater with high ammonia concentrations, anammox-based technologies are desirable for their treatment. The disadvantage of such systems is slow anammox bacteria growth, which extends an effective technological start-up. Thus, in this study, a fast start-up of the anammox process supported with an anammox-rich inoculum was performed in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Using anammox inoculation of SBR laboratory system, the start-up can be fastened to 85 days with 84.5% of nitrogen removal efficacy. The spatial distribution of nitrogen removal bacteria analysed with fluorescent in situ hybridisation revealed that anammox and nitrifiers are located side by side in the flocs and the relative number of ammonia and nitrite oxidisers decreased after 85 days of the experiment

Aspekty neurologiczne rozpoznawania i różnicowania okresowych zaburzeń przytomności

W artykule przedstawiono neurologiczną klasyfikację zaburzeń świadomości oraz znaczenie badań neurofizjologicznych w diagnostyce okresowych zaburzeń przytomności

Transcriptome-Wide Comparisons and Virulence Gene Polymorphisms of Host-Associated Genotypes of the Cnidarian Parasite Ceratonova shasta in Salmonids

Ceratonova shasta is an important myxozoan pathogen affecting the health of salmonid fishes in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Ceratonova shasta exists as a complex of host-specific genotypes, some with low to moderate virulence, and one that causes a profound, lethal infection in susceptible hosts. High throughput sequencing methods are powerful tools for discovering the genetic basis of these host/virulence differences, but deep sequencing of myxozoans has been challenging due to extremely fast molecular evolution of this group, yielding strongly divergent sequences that are difficult to identify, and unavoidable host contamination. We designed and optimized different bioinformatic pipelines to address these challenges. We obtained a unique set of comprehensive, host-free myxozoan RNA-seq data from C. shasta genotypes of varying virulence from different salmonid hosts. Analyses of transcriptome-wide genetic distances and maximum likelihood multigene phylogenies elucidated the evolutionary relationship between lineages and demonstrated the limited resolution of the established Internal Transcribed Spacer marker for C. shasta genotype identification, as this marker fails to differentiate between biologically distinct genotype II lineages from coho salmon and rainbow trout. We further analyzed the data sets based on polymorphisms in two gene groups related to virulence: cell migration and proteolytic enzymes including their inhibitors. The developed single-nucleotide polymorphism-calling pipeline identified polymorphisms between genotypes and demonstrated that variations in both motility and protease genes were associated with different levels of virulence of C. shasta in its salmonid hosts. The prospective use of proteolytic enzymes as promising candidates for targeted interventions against myxozoans in aquaculture is discussed. We developed host-free transcriptomes of a myxozoan model organism from strains that exhibited different degrees of virulence, as a unique source of data that will foster functional gene analyses and serve as a base for the development of potential therapeutics for efficient control of these parasites.Fil: Alama Bermejo, Gema. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro de Investigación Aplicada y Transferencia Tecnológica en Recursos Marinos "Almirante Storni". - Provincia de Río Negro. Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca. Centro de Investigación Aplicada y Transferencia Tecnológica en Recursos Marinos "Almirante Storni". Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet Centro Nacional Patagónico. Centro de Investigación Aplicada y Transferencia Tecnológica en Recursos Marinos "Almirante Storni"; Argentina. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República Checa. State University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Meyer, Eli. Oregon State University; Estados UnidosFil: Atkinson, Stephen D.. Oregon State University; Estados UnidosFil: Holzer, Astrid S.. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República ChecaFil: Wiśniewska, Monika M.. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República ChecaFil: Kolísko, Martin. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República Checa. University of South Bohemia; República ChecaFil: Bartholomew, Jerri. Oregon State University; Estados Unido

Development of High Technologies as an Indicator of Modern Industry in the Eu

The article tries to classify the EU states in terms of the advancement of structural changes in their industries on the basis of the increase in the share of advanced technologies in total industrial production, labour, added value, and surplus. In the times of the knowledge-based economy the ability to produce high-tech goods, the demand for which is growing much faster than for traditional goods, indicates the level of modernity of industry. The dynamic growth of the demand for knowledge-based high-tech goods results from the evolution of consumer habits, which are predominantly driven by educated and rich societies who demand that their sophisticated needs met. An important role in stimulating this demand is played by modern media as they instantly deliver information on the latest technical developments and are very efficient in transferring patterns of consumerism. The ability to adapt the structure of production to the needs of the market is crucial in defining a state's position in the international exchange of goods. This is due to the fact that the national technology is tightly interwoven with export abilities

Common variants of ZNF750, RPTOR and TRAF3IP2 genes and psoriasis risk

Psoriasis vulgaris is a genetically heterogenous disease with unclear molecular background. We assessed the association of psoriasis and its main clinical phenotypes with common variants of three potential psoriasis susceptibility genes: ZNF750, RPTOR and TRAF31P2. We genotyped 10 common variants in a cohort of 1,034 case–control individuals using Taqman genotyping assays and sequencing. Minor alleles of all four TRAF3IP2 variants were more frequent among cases. The strongest, significant association was observed for rs33980500 (OR = 2.5, p = 0.01790). Minor allele of this SNP was always present in two haplotypes found to be associated with increased psoriasis risk: rs13196377_G + rs13190932_G + rs33980500_T + rs13210247_A (OR = 2.7, p = 0.0054) and rs13196377_A + rs13190932_A + rs33980500_T + rs13210247_G (OR = 1.8, p = 0.0008). Analyses of clinically relevant phenotypes revealed association of rs33980500 with pustular psoriasis (OR = 1.2, p = 0.0109). We observed significant connection of severity of cutaneous disease with variation at rs13190932 and suggestive with three remaining TRAF3IP2 SNPs. Another positive associations were found between age of onset and familial aggregation of disease: smoking and younger age of onset, smoking and occurrence of pustular psoriasis, nail involvement and arthropatic psoriasis, nail involvement and more severe course of psoriasis. We found no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of the examined variants of RPTOR and ZNF750 genes among our cases and controls. We have replicated the association of TRAF3IP2-_rs33980500 variant with the susceptibility to psoriasis. We have found new associations with clinically relevant subphenotypes such as pustular psoriasis or moderate-to-severe cases. We ascertain no connection of RPTOR and ZNF750 variants with psoriasis or its subphenotypes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00403-013-1407-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

The use of spa and phage typing for characterization of clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk, Poland

The emergence of spa types and spa–clonal complexes (CC) among clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates collected from the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk between 2008 and 2009 were investigated. Phage typing was used as the initial screening in the study. The basic set of phages and the additional set of phages were used. Most of the isolates (56 %) belonged to the phage group III. With the additional set of phages, eight types were found, with predominant one MR8 (50 %). Sixteen distinct spa types were observed. The most frequent were t003 (22 %), t151 (16 %), and t008 (12 %). The spa types were clustered into two spa-CC and eight singletons. The predominant CC010 (50 %) consisted of six types, with the most common t003 (36.7 %) and t151(26.7 %), and in 80 % was identified as staphylococcal chromosomal casette mec (SCCmec) type II. The second cluster has no founder (12 %) with only two spa types: t037 belonging to SCCmec type III and t029. In the most frequent singleton, spa type t008 alone was clustered in 12 % of the isolates. All singletons correspond to SCCmec type IV. The CC010 was distributed in most of the hospital wards, corresponded to Multilocus sequence typing type ST5/ST225 and was constantly present throughout the observed period. The isolates of CC010 generally belonged to the phage group III, and most of them (53.3 %) were resistant to erythromycin, clindamycin, and ciprofloxacin. The concordance between spa-clone and phage type was very high, but the same phage type MR8 was observed within different spa types of the predominant clone