719 research outputs found
Comparison of the biotypes of Yersinia enterocolitica isolated from pigs, cattle and sheep at slaughter and from humans with yersiniosis in Great Britain during 1999-2000
Aims: To investigate the relationship between livestock carriage of Yersinia enterocolitica and human disease. The biotypes/serotypes of strains recovered from the faeces of pigs, cattle and sheep at slaughter during a national survey in Great Britain in 1999-2000, were compared with those of strains isolated from human cases of yersiniosis during the same period. Methods and Results: The faecal carriage of Y. enterocolitica by cattle, sheep and pigs at slaughter was 6.3, 10.7 and 26.1%, respectively. Yersinia enterocolitica biotype (BT) 1a was the most frequently isolated biotype from livestock (58%) and was the predominant biotype (53%) isolated from human cases over the same period. The main recognized pathogenic Y. enterocolitica biotype isolated from livestock was BT3 (O:5,27) (35% of sheep, 22% of pigs and 4% of cattle) but this biotype was not detected in any of the human isolates investigated. The major pathogenic biotypes of strains isolated from humans were BT3 (O:9) (24%) and BT4 (O:3) (19%) whereas of the veterinary isolates investigated, only pigs (11%) carried BT3 (O:9) strains. Conclusions: Because of significant overlaps in phenotypes of the veterinary and human strains it is not possible to comment on the correlation between host and pathogenicity, especially of biotype 1a. Significance and Impact of the Study: The data suggest that further investigations using methods with greater discriminatory power are required. However the data also suggests that pigs may be the primary reservoir for human pathogenic Y. enterocolitica infection
Bacterial expression of two human aryl sulfotransferases
The effect of replacing a single codon in the N-terminal of human aryl sulfotransferase (HAST) 1 and 3 with one that is more commonly found in E. coli genes was assessed. The pKK233-2 E. coli expression vector was employed and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to introduce the 5' nucleotide substitution, at the same time maintaining the fidelity of the amino acid sequence. The data indicates that this change had a minimal effect on protein production, subcellular localization or, in the case of HAST3, catalytic activity. In general, the pKK233-2 E. coli vector has been less than optimal for expressing human sulfotransferase cDNAs. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
Phase diagram of the extended Hubbard chain with charge-dipole interactions
We consider a modified extended Hubbard model (EHM) which, in addition to the
on-site repulsion U and nearest-neighbor repulsion V, includes polarization
effects in second-order perturbation theory. The model is equivalent to an EHM
with renormalized U plus a next-nearest-neighbor repulsion term. Using a method
based on topological quantum numbers (charge and spin Berry phases), we
generalize to finite hopping t the quantum phase diagram in one dimension
constructed by van den Brink et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4658 (1995)). At
hopping t=0 there are two charge density-wave phases, one spin density-wave
phase and one intermediate phase with charge and spin ordering, depending on
the parameter values. At t \neq 0 the nature of each phase is confirmed by
studying correlation functions. However, in addition to the strong-coupling
phases, a small region with bond ordering appears. The region occupied by the
intermediate phase first increases and then decreases with increasing t, until
it finally disappears for t of the order but larger than U. For small t, the
topological transitions agree with the results of second order perturbation
theory.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, two columns latex version. Accepted for
publication in Physical Review B. Mistaken reference 16 has been correcte
Three-dimensional lattice-Boltzmann simulations of critical spinodal decomposition in binary immiscible fluids
We use a modified Shan-Chen, noiseless lattice-BGK model for binary
immiscible, incompressible, athermal fluids in three dimensions to simulate the
coarsening of domains following a deep quench below the spinodal point from a
symmetric and homogeneous mixture into a two-phase configuration. We find the
average domain size growing with time as , where increases
in the range , consistent with a crossover between
diffusive and hydrodynamic viscous, , behaviour. We find
good collapse onto a single scaling function, yet the domain growth exponents
differ from others' works' for similar values of the unique characteristic
length and time that can be constructed out of the fluid's parameters. This
rebuts claims of universality for the dynamical scaling hypothesis. At early
times, we also find a crossover from to in the scaled structure
function, which disappears when the dynamical scaling reasonably improves at
later times. This excludes noise as the cause for a behaviour, as
proposed by others. We also observe exponential temporal growth of the
structure function during the initial stages of the dynamics and for
wavenumbers less than a threshold value.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
ERS statement on standardisation of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in chronic lung diseases
The objective of this document was to standardise published cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) protocols for improved interpretation in clinical settings and multicentre research projects. This document: 1) summarises the protocols and procedures used in published studies focusing on incremental CPET in chronic lung conditions; 2) presents standard incremental protocols for CPET on a stationary cycle ergometer and a treadmill; and 3) provides patients’ perspectives on CPET obtained through an online survey supported by the European Lung Foundation. We systematically reviewed published studies obtained from EMBASE, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library from inception to January 2017. Of 7914 identified studies, 595 studies with 26 523 subjects were included. The literature supports a test protocol with a resting phase lasting at least 3 min, a 3-min unloaded phase, and an 8- to 12-min incremental phase with work rate increased linearly at least every minute, followed by a recovery phase of at least 2–3 min. Patients responding to the survey (n=295) perceived CPET as highly beneficial for their diagnostic assessment and informed the Task Force consensus. Future research should focus on the individualised estimation of optimal work rate increments across different lung diseases, and the collection of robust normative data.The document facilitates standardisation of conducting, reporting and interpreting cardiopulmonary exercise tests in chronic lung diseases for comparison of reference data, multi-centre studies and assessment of interventional efficacy. http://bit.ly/31SXeB
CDMS, Supersymmetry and Extra Dimensions
The CDMS experiment aims to directly detect massive, cold dark matter
particles originating from the Milky Way halo. Charge and lattice excitations
are detected after a particle scatters in a Ge or Si crystal kept at ~30 mK,
allowing to separate nuclear recoils from the dominating electromagnetic
background. The operation of 12 detectors in the Soudan mine for 75 live days
in 2004 delivered no evidence for a signal, yielding stringent limits on dark
matter candidates from supersymmetry and universal extra dimensions. Thirty Ge
and Si detectors are presently installed in the Soudan cryostat, and operating
at base temperature. The run scheduled to start in 2006 is expected to yield a
one order of magnitude increase in dark matter sensitivity.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the 7th UCLA symposium on
sources and detection of dark matter and dark energy in the universe, Marina
del Rey, Feb 22-24, 200
A qualitative study of a food intervention in a primary school: Pupils as agents of change.
This study explored the impact of a school-based kitchen project at a large inner London school. Timetabled kitchen classroom sessions (90 min every fortnight) were held with all 7-9 year old pupils. Semi-structured focus group discussions (with 76 pupils, 16 parents) and interviews (with headteachers, catering managers and specialist staff) were conducted at the intervention school and a matched control school. Categories and concepts were derived using a grounded theory approach. Data analysis provided three main categories each with their related concepts: Pupil factors (enthusiasm and enjoyment of cooking, trying new foods, food knowledge and awareness, producing something tangible); School factors (learning and curriculum links, resource implications and external pressures) and Home factors (take home effects, confidence in cooking and self-esteem, parents' difficulties cooking at home with children). Children's engagement and the opportunity to cook supported increased food awareness, skills and food confidence. In the grounded theory that emerged, take home effects beyond the school gate dominate, as children act as agents of change and influence cooking and food choice at home. These short term outcomes have the potential to lead to longer term outcomes including changing eating behaviour and diet
Mitochondria-to-Nuclear Signaling Is Regulated by the Subcellular Localization of the Transcription Factors Rtg1p and Rtg3p
Comparação entre difração de raios X e "método do furo cego" para medição de tensões residuais em barras cilíndricas
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