Comparative Nationalism: Imperial Legacies and the Strength of Nationalism: The Case of China and India since the 1990s

Since the 1990s, there have been strong displays of nationalism in China, while in India the once dominant ‘secular’ nationalism has been challenged by a fragmentation of national identity along ethno--‐religious lines. This thesis seeks to explain why Chinese nationalism, since the 1990s, appears to be stronger and indeed more prevalent than nationalism in India. The phenomenon of nationalism in India and China has been extensively researched, yet there remains a deficiency in comparative research. Thereby, this thesis takes a historical Comparative approach through which five explanatory hypotheses are evaluated; these are entitled: direct rule, types of foreign rule, regime type, foreign threat, and diversity. The findings of this thesis suggest that China’s nationalism remains more prevalent since the 1990s, due to its experience of informal imperialism, a strong centralized Chinese state, and higher levels of militarized inter--‐state disputes. Simply, it is illustrated that because the experience of informal imperialism has centrally defined Chinese nationalism, it reacts Intensely to foreign threats that are equated to imperial acts, while the unified nature of nationalism is reinforced by a strong centralized state

Burkholderia fungorum Septicemia

We report the first case of community-acquired bacteremia with Burkholderia fungorum, a newly described member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. A 9-year-old girl sought treatment with septic arthritis in her right knee and ankle with soft tissue involvement. Commercial identification systems did not identify the causative microorganism

Burkholderia fungorum Septicemia

We report the first case of community-acquired bacteremia with Burkholderia fungorum, a newly described member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. A 9-year-old girl sought treatment with septic arthritis in her right knee and ankle with soft tissue involvement. Commercial identification systems did not identify the causative microorganism

Epidemiology of airway colonization by Scedosporium apiospermum during cystic fibrosis

With a frequency of about 10%, species of the Scedosporium apiospermum complex (which comprises at least five distinct species with different antifungal susceptibility patterns) rank the second among the filamentous fungi colonizing the airways in cystic fibrosis (CF). Additionally, it is clearly established that these fungi may disseminate in case of immunodeficiency and that a chronic colonization of the airways by these pathogens may hinder the success of lung transplantation. In this study, we develop a new genotyping method to investigate the epidemiology of the airway colonization by these fungi. 63 multiple and sequential isolates of S. apiospermum collected from 9 CF patients, and selected among those previously studied by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD), were analyzed using the automated typing system DiversiLab (bioMérieux) based on PCR amplification of repetitive sequences. The DiversiLab Aspergillus rep-PCR kit which uses specific primers designed for Aspergillus fumigatus, was compared with the pan-fungus DiversiLab Fungal kit. Amplification products were separated by capillary electrophoresis on Agilent B2100 bioanalyzer, leading to single profiles for each isolate which were then compared using the DiversiLab software. In addition, species identification of these isolates was clarified by sequencing the betatubulin gene. Results obtained with both kits were comparable. Nevertheless, differentiation was easier using the DiversiLab Fungal kit. Additionally, rep-PCR usually confirmed the colonization patterns described by RAPD. Only two patients showed distinct genotypes. For Patient 2, two isolates were analyzed which were undistinguishable by RAPD, but rep-PCR revealed that they belonged to distinct genotypes, suggesting a transient colonization. For Patient 8 which showed by RAPD two distinct genotypes, 5 genotypes were found by rep-PCR with a dominant one represented by 5 isolates and two very close genotypes (corresponding to 3 isolates), while 4 other isolates belonged to two distant genotypes. In conclusion, the automated typing system DiversiLab proved to be an easy and efficient method to investigate the molecular epidemiology of the airway colonization by S. apiospermum in CF. Our results also confirm the capacity of the different species from the S. apiospermum complex to chronically colonize the airways of CF patients

Molecular dynamics simulations of oxide memory resistors (memristors)

Reversible bipolar nano-switches that can be set and read electronically in a solid-state two-terminal device are very promising for applications. We have performed molecular-dynamics simulations that mimic systems with oxygen vacancies interacting via realistic potentials and driven by an external bias voltage. The competing short- and long-range interactions among charged mobile vacancies lead to density fluctuations and short-range ordering, while illustrating some aspects of observed experimental behavior, such as memristor polarity inversion.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Candida dubliniensis candidemia in patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and bone marrow transplantation.

The recently described species Candida dubliniensis has been recovered primarily from superficial oral candidiasis in HIV-infected patients. No clinically documented invasive infections were reported until now in this patient group or in other immunocompromised patients. We report three cases of candidemia due to this newly emerging Candida species in HIV-negative patients with chemotherapy-induced immunosuppression and bone marrow transplantation

Second-Trimester Pregnancy Loss at an Urban Hospital

Objectives: Second-trimester spontaneous pregnancy losses are less common than first-trimester losses, and are often associated with ascending infection and/or acute chorioamnionitis. A Medline search revealed only two large studies published in the recent literature, reporting incidences of chorioamnionitis of 39.3% and 58.2%, respectively. These studies did not address the use of histopathology for the identification of organisms. Since ascending infection is likely to be a significant cause of second-trimester loss in the inner-city population at the University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, we sought to evaluate the usefulness of stains for microorganisms, which are rarely utilized on these specimens. Methods: Retrospective review of the medical records and pathologic material for cases of spontaneous abortions seen at the University Hospital in Newark between January 1999 and March 2001 was undertaken. Stains for microorganisms were performed on archival placental tissue for cases with histologic acute chorioamnionitis. Results: A total of 67 cases were available for review, of which 38 cases (56.7%) showed histologic acute chorioamnionitis, similar to the rates in one previous study, but significantly higher than those in the other (p = 0.01). Of 25 cases with histological chorioamnionitis for which appropriate fetal material was available, 13 cases (52%) showed polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) in the fetal lungs, one case (4%) showed PMNs in the fetal stomach, and seven cases (28%) showed PMNs in both the lung and the stomach. Of the 38 cases with chorioamnionitis, Gram stains showed Gram-positive cocci in six cases, two of which were culture positive for group B streptococcus. Warthin–Starry stains showed filamentous organisms consistent with Fusobacterium sp. in the placenta in three cases. Conclusions: Acute chorioamnionitis is associated with second-trimester pregnancy loss at this inner-city hospital, and may be related to the high incidence of risk factors in this population. A small proportion of cases can be further characterized by the inclusion of Gram and Warthin–Starry stains in the evaluation. Selection of cases with histologic acute chorioamnionitis for further study with special stains may provide additional information on the causative organism