755 research outputs found
Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in a Sentinel Surveillance Population
We conducted a population-based study to assess demographic and risk-factor correlates for the most frequently occurring Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes from tuberculosis (TB) patients. The study included all incident, culture-positive TB patients from seven sentinel surveillance sites in the United States from 1996 to 2000. M. tuberculosis isolates were genotyped by IS6110-based restriction fragment length polymorphism and spoligotyping. Genotyping was available for 90% of 11,923 TB patients. Overall, 48% of cases had isolates that matched those from another patient, including 64% of U.S.-born and 35% of foreign-born patients. By logistic regression analysis, risk factors for clustering of genotypes were being male, U.S.-born, black, homeless, and infected with HIV; having pulmonary disease with cavitations on chest radiograph and a sputum smear with acid-fast bacilli; and excessive drug or alcohol use. Molecular characterization of TB isolates permitted risk correlates for clusters and specific genotypes to be described and provided information regarding cluster dynamics over time
Unconventional motional narrowing in the optical spectrum of a semiconductor quantum dot
Motional narrowing refers to the striking phenomenon where the resonance line
of a system coupled to a reservoir becomes narrower when increasing the
reservoir fluctuation. A textbook example is found in nuclear magnetic
resonance, where the fluctuating local magnetic fields created by randomly
oriented nuclear spins are averaged when the motion of the nuclei is thermally
activated. The existence of a motional narrowing effect in the optical response
of semiconductor quantum dots remains so far unexplored. This effect may be
important in this instance since the decoherence dynamics is a central issue
for the implementation of quantum information processing based on quantum dots.
Here we report on the experimental evidence of motional narrowing in the
optical spectrum of a semiconductor quantum dot broadened by the spectral
diffusion phenomenon. Surprisingly, motional narrowing is achieved when
decreasing incident power or temperature, in contrast with the standard
phenomenology observed for nuclear magnetic resonance
Stabilität von Herzglykosiden in wässrigen bzw. wässrig fermentierten Extrakten aus der Meerzwiebel (Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn)
In der vorliegenden Studie wurden ein rein wässriger Extrakt und ein wässrig fermentierter Extrakt, hergestellt nach dem Homöopathischem Arzneibuch (HAB), aus der Meerzwiebel (Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn) bei unterschiedlichen Temperatur- und Lichtbedingungen gelagert. In regelmäßigen Abständen wurde die Stabilität der Herzglykoside in diesen Extrakten mittels HPLC-DAD-MSn bewertet. Die geringsten Abbauraten der Einzelkomponenten wurden bei einer Lagerung im Dunkeln bei 5 °C ermittelt. Schon eine Temperaturerhöhung auf 20 °C beschleunigte den Abbau bzw. die Metabolisierung der Bufadienolide. Die geringste Stabilität wurde unter Belichtung bei 20 °C ermittelt. Außerdem war ein deutlicher Unterschied zwischen den auf unterschiedliche Weisen gewonnenen Extrakten beobachtbar. So wiesen die Herzglykoside im Extrakt, der nach HAB hergestellt wurde, eine deutliche höhere Stabilität unter allen Lagerbedingungen auf. Stichwörter: Meerzwiebel, Herzglykoside, Stabilität, Belichtung, Pflanzenextrakt, Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn Stability of cardiac glycosides in aqueous and fermented aqueous extracts from sea squill (Drimia maritima L. Stearn)In the present study an aqueous and a fermented aqueous extract, obtained according to the German Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia (GHP), from sea squill (Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn) were stored under different light and temperature conditions. Stability of cardiac glycosides in these extracts was evaluated periodically by HPLC-DAD-MS. Lowest degradation rates of individual compounds were observed upon storage at 5 °C in the dark. Increasing the temperature at 20 °C accelerated compound degradation and the formation of bufadienolide metabolites. Poorest stability was found upon storage at 20 °C with light exposure. Furthermore, clear-cut differences were observed between the extracts obtained according to different protocols. Stability of cardiac glycosides in the extract obtained according to the GHP was generally improved, irrespective of the storage conditions. Keywords: sea squill, cardiac glycosides, stability, light exposure, plant extract, Drimia maritima (L.) Stear
Treating clinical mastitis in dairy cows with essential oils
Clinical mastitis is the main concern in dairy farming today, but there are very few drugs that are compatible with organic specifications. Our study was conducted in order to evaluate the therapeutic efficiency of the intramammary infusion of three essential oils, Thymus vulgaris, Rosmarinus verbenone and Laurus nobilis. Fifty-five cases of mastitis were treated with 10 ml of a mixture of the three oils (1.5% each in sunflower oil). Forty-five others were treated with 10 ml of a mixture of Thymus vulgaris and Rosmarinus verbenone (6% of each in sunflower oil or in water). The recovery rate was only 40%, which is deemed unsatisfactory
Time-temperature superposition in viscous liquids
Dielectric relaxation measurements on supercooled triphenyl phosphite show
that at low temperatures time-temperature superposition (TTS) is accurately
obeyed for the primary (alpha) relaxation process. Measurements on 6 other
molecular liquids close to the calorimetric glass transition indicate that TTS
is linked to an high-frequency decay of the alpha loss, while
the loss peak width is nonuniversal.Comment: 4 page
Energy landscape - a key concept for the dynamics of glasses and liquids
There is a growing belief that the mode coupling theory is the proper
microscopic theory for the dynamics of the undercooled liquid above a critical
temperature T_c. In addition, there is some evidence that the system leaves the
saddlepoints of the energy landscape to settle in the valleys at this critical
temperature. Finally, there is a microscopic theory for the entropy at the
calorimetric glass transition T_g by Mezard and Parisi, which allows to
calculate the Kauzmann temperature from the atomic pair potentials.
The dynamics of the frozen glass phase is at present limited to
phenomenological models. In the spirit of the energy landscape concept, one
considers an ensemble of independent asymmetric double-well potentials with a
wide distribution of barrier heights and asymmetries (ADWP or Gilroy-Phillips
model). The model gives an excellent description of the relaxation of glasses
up to about T_g/4. Above this temperature, the interaction between different
relaxation centers begins to play a role. One can show that the interaction
reduces the number of relaxation centers needed to bring the shear modulus down
to zero by a factor of three.Comment: Contribution to the III Workshop on Nonequilibrium Phenomena in
Supercooled Fluids, Glasses and Amorphous Materials, 22-27 September 2002,
Pisa; 14 pages, 3 figures; Version 3 takes criticque at Pisa into account;
final version 4 will be published in J.Phys.: Condens.Matte
Health services research into postnatal depression : results from a preliminary cross-cultural study
Background: Little is known about the
availability and uptake of health and
welfare services by women with postnatal
depression in different countries.
Aims: Within the context of a cross-
cultural research study, to develop and
test methods for undertaking quantitative
health services research in postnatal
depression.
Method: Interviews with service
planners and the collation of key health
indicators were used to obtain a profile of
service availability and provision. A service
use questionnaire was developed and
administered to a pilot sample in a number
of European study centres.
Results: Marked differences in service
access and use were observed between
the centres, including postnatal nursing
care and contacts with primary care
services.Rates of use of specialist services
were generally low.Common barriers to
access to care included perceived service
quality and responsiveness. On the basis of
the pilot work, a postnatal depression
version of the Service Receipt Inventory
was revised and finalised.
Conclusions: This preliminary study
demonstrated the methodological
feasibility of describing and quantifying
service use, highlighted the varied and
often limited use of care in this population,
and indicated the need for an improved
understanding of the resource needs and
implications of postnatal depression
Analysis of inositol phosphate metabolism by capillary electrophoresis electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
The analysis of myo-inositol phosphates (InsPs) and myo-inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs) is a daunting challenge due to the large number of possible isomers, the absence of a chromophore, the high charge density, the low abundance, and the instability of the esters and anhydrides. Given their importance in biology, an analytical approach to follow and understand this complex signaling hub is desirable. Here, capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is implemented to analyze complex mixtures of InsPs and PP-InsPs with high sensitivity. Stable isotope labeled (SIL) internal standards allow for matrix-independent quantitative assignment. The method is validated in wild-type and knockout mammalian cell lines and in model organisms. SIL-CE-ESI-MS enables the accurate monitoring of InsPs and PP-InsPs arising from compartmentalized cellular synthesis pathways, by feeding cells with either [13C6]-myo-inositol or [13C6]-D-glucose. In doing so, we provide evidence for the existence of unknown inositol synthesis pathways in mammals, highlighting the potential of this method to dissect inositol phosphate metabolism and signalling
From Teamchef Arminius to Hermann Junior: glocalised discourse about a national foundation myth
If for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the ‘Battle of the Teutoburg Forest’, fought in 9 CE between Roman armies and Germanic tribes, was predominantly a reference point for nationalist and chauvinist discourses in Germany, the first decade of the twenty-first century has seen attempts to link public remembrance with local/regional identities on the one hand and international/intercultural contact on the other. In the run up to and during the ‘anniversary year’ of 2009, German media, sports institutions and various other official institutions articulating tourist, economic and political interests attempted to create a new ‘glocalised’ version of the public memory of the Teutoburg battle. Combining methods of Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper analyses the narrative and argumentative topoi employed in this re-orientation of public memory, with a special emphasis on hybrid, post-national identity-construction. Das zweitausendjährige Gedenkjahr der „Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald“ im Jahr 2009 bot eine günstige Gelegenheit, die bis in die zweite Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts dominante Tradition nationalistisch–chauvinistischer Deutungen des Sieges von germanischen Stämmen über drei römische Legionen zu korrigieren und zu überwinden. Der Aufsatz analysiert mit Hilfe diskurslinguistischer Methoden die Anstrengungen regionaler Institutionen und Medien, die nationale Vereinnahmung des historischen Gedenkens kritisch zu thematisieren sowie neue, zum eine lokal situierte, zum andern international orientierte Identifikationsangebote anzubieten. Die Analyse zeigt, dass solche „de-nationalisierten“ Identifikationsangebote zwar teilweise auch früher verwendet wurden, aber heutzutage rekontextualisiert und auf innovative Weise in den Vordergrund gestellt werden
Generic Mechanism of Emergence of Amyloid Protofilaments from Disordered Oligomeric aggregates
The presence of oligomeric aggregates, which is often observed during the
process of amyloid formation, has recently attracted much attention since it
has been associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's diseases. We provide a description of a sequence-indepedent
mechanism by which polypeptide chains aggregate by forming metastable
oligomeric intermediate states prior to converting into fibrillar structures.
Our results illustrate how the formation of ordered arrays of hydrogen bonds
drives the formation of beta-sheets within the disordered oligomeric aggregates
that form early under the effect of hydrophobic forces. Initially individual
beta-sheets form with random orientations, which subsequently tend to align
into protofilaments as their lengths increases. Our results suggest that
amyloid aggregation represents an example of the Ostwald step rule of first
order phase transitions by showing that ordered cross-beta structures emerge
preferentially from disordered compact dynamical intermediate assemblies.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
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