Draft Genome Sequences of Four NDM-1-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae Strains from a Health Care Facility in Northern California.

We report the draft genome sequences of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains from four patients at a northern California health care facility. All strains contained the New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM1) carbapenemase with extended antibiotic resistance, including resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporins, imipenem, ertapenem, and meropenem. NDM gene alignments revealed that the resistance was plasmid encoded

Phase equilibria in the Fe-Mo-Ti ternary system at 1000 °C

An isothermal section of the Fe-Mo-Ti ternary system at 1000 °C has been constructed using data acquired from a series of seven alloys. The limit of solubility of Fe in the continuous A2 phase field between Ti and Mo has been determined, as have the extents to which Mo may be accommodated in the B2 TiFe phase, and Ti in the D8$_5$ Fe$_7$Mo$_6$ phase. The B2, D8$_5$ and C14 Fe$_2$ (Ti, Mo) intermetallics were found to have limited tolerance for non-stoichiometric compositions. The positions of the A2 + B2 + C14 and A2 + C14 + D8$_5$ three-phase fields were determined, along with the extents of the A2 + B2, A2 + D8$_5$, A2 + C14, C14 + B2 and C14 + D8$_5$ two-phase fields. No ternary phases were observed in any of the alloys studied.This work was support by the Rolls-Royce/EPSRC Strategic Partnership under EP/H022309/1, EP/H500375/1 and EP/M005607/1.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2016.07.00

Effect of root canal irrigant (sodium hypochlorite & saline) delivery at different temperatures and durations on pre-load and cyclic-loading surface-strain of anatomically different premolars

Aim: To evaluate the effect of NaOCl (5%) and saline (control) irrigant delivery at different temperatures and durations on pre-load and cyclic-loading tooth-surface-strain (TSS) on anatomically different premolars. Methodology: Single-rooted premolars (n = 36), root-canal-prepared in standard manner, were randomly allocated to six irrigation groups: (A1) NaOCl-21 °C; (A2) NaOCl-60 °C; (A3) saline-21 °C then NaOCl-21 °C; (A4) saline-60 °C then NaOCl-21 °C; (A5) saline-21 °C then NaOCl-60 °C; (A6) saline-60 °C then NaOCl-60 °C. A1-2 received nine 10-min irrigation periods (IP) with NaOCl; A3-6 received nine 10-min IP with saline, followed by 9 IP with NaOCl at different temperature combinations. Premolars (n = 56) with single, fused or double roots prepared by standard protocol, were stratified and randomly allocated to: (B1) saline-21 °C; (B2) saline-80 °C; (B3) NaOCl-21 °C; (B4) NaOCl-80 °C. TSS (μє) was recorded pre-irrigation, post-irrigation and pre-load for each IP and during cyclic loading 2 min after each IP, over 30–274 min, using strain-gauges. Generalised linear mixed models were used for analysis. Results: Baseline TSS in double-rooted premolars was significantly (p=0.001) lower than in single/fused-rooted-premolars; and affected by mesial-wall-thickness (p=0.005). There was significant increase in loading-TSS (μє) after NaOCl-21 °C irrigation (p=0.01) but decrease after NaOCl-60 °C irrigation (p=0.001). TSS also increased significantly (p = 0.005) after Saline-80 °C irrigation. Pre-load “strain-shift” was noted only upon first saline delivery but every-time with NaOCl. Strain-shift negatively influenced loading-TSS after saline or NaOCl irrigation (A3-6) but was only significant for saline-21 °C. Conclusions: Tooth anatomy significantly affected its strain characteristics, exhibiting limits within which strain changes occurred. Intra-canal introduction of saline or NaOCl caused non-random strain shifts without loading. Irrigation with NaOCl-21 °C increased loading tooth strain, as did saline-80 °C or NaOCl-80 °C but NaOCl-60 °C decreased it. A “chain-link” model was proposed to explain the findings and tooth biomechanics

Data on a Laves phase intermetallic matrix composite in situ toughened by ductile precipitates

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled “Laves phase intermetallic matrix composite in situ toughened by ductile precipitates” (Knowles et al.) [1]. The composite comprised a Fe2(Mo, Ti) matrix with bcc (Mo, Ti) precipitated laths produced in situ by an aging heat treatment, which was shown to confer a toughening effect (Knowles et al.) [1]. Here, details are given on a focused ion beam (FIB) slice and view experiment performed on the composite so as to determine that the 3D morphology of the bcc (Mo, Ti) precipitates were laths rather than needles. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (S(TEM)) micrographs of the microstructure as well as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) maps are presented that identify the elemental partitioning between the C14 Laves matrix and the bcc laths, with Mo rejected from the matrix into laths. A TEM selected area diffraction pattern (SADP) and key is provided that was used to validate the orientation relation between the matrix and laths identified in (Knowles et al.) [1] along with details of the transformation matrix determined

Singular values of a real rectangular tensor

Real rectangular tensors arise from the strong ellipticity condition problem in solid mechanics and the entanglement problem in quantum physics. In this paper, we systematically study properties of singular values of a real rectangular tensor, and give an algorithm to find the largest singular value of a nonnegative rectangular tensor. Numerical results show that the algorithm is efficient

Naturally Acquired Human Plasmodium knowlesi Infection, Singapore

Naturally Acquired Human Plasmodium knowlesi Infection, Singapor

Biological impact of nanodiamond particles – label free, high-resolution methods for nanotoxicity assessment

Current methods for the assessment of nanoparticle safety that are based on 2D cell culture models and fluorescence-based assays show limited sensitivity and they lack biomimicry. Consequently, the health risks associated with the use of many nanoparticles have not yet been established. There is a need to develop in vitro models that mimic physiology more accurately and enable high throughput assessment. There is also a need to set up new assays that offer high sensitivity and are label-free. Here we developed ‘mini-liver’ models using scaffold-free bioprinting and used these models together with label-free nanoscale techniques for the assessment of toxicity of nanodiamond produced by laser-assisted technology. Results showed that NDs induced cytotoxicity in a concentration and exposure-time dependent manner. The loss of cell function was confirmed by increased cell stiffness, decreased cell membrane barrier integrity and reduced cells mobility. We further showed that NDs elevated the production of reactive oxygen species and reduced cell viability. Our approach that combined mini-liver models with label-free high-resolution techniques showed improved sensitivity in toxicity assessment. Notably, this approach allowed for label-free semi-high throughput measurements of nanoparticle-cell interactions, thus could be considered as a complementary approach to currently used methods

The protein corona determines the cytotoxicity of nanodiamonds: implications of corona formation and its remodelling on nanodiamond applications in biomedical imaging and drug delivery

The use of nanodiamonds for biomedical and consumer applications is growing rapidly. As their use becomes more widespread, so too do concerns around their cytotoxicity. The cytotoxicity of nanodiamonds correlates with their cellular internalisation and circulation time in the body. Both internalisation and circulation time are influenced by the formation of a protein corona on the nanodiamond surface. However, a precise understanding of both how the corona forms and evolves and its influence on cytotoxicity is lacking. Here, we investigated protein corona formation and evolution in response to two classes of nanodiamonds, pristine and aminated, and two types of proteins, bovine serum albumin and fibronectin. Specifically, we found that a corona made of bovine serum albumin (BSA), which represents the most abundant protein in blood plasma, reduced nanodiamond agglomeration. Fibronectin (FN9-10), the second most abundant protein found in the plasma, exhibited a significantly higher nanodiamond binding affinity than BSA, irrespective of the nanodiamond surface charge. Finally, nanodiamonds with a BSA corona displayed less cytotoxicity towards nonphagocytic liver cells. However, regardless of the type of corona (FN9-10 or BSA), both classes of nanodiamonds induced substantial phagocytic cell death. Our results emphasise that a precise understanding of the corona composition is fundamental to determining the fate of nanoparticles in the body

Plasmodium knowlesi in Human, Indonesian Borneo

Plasmodium knowlesi is now established as the fifth Plasmodium species to cause malaria in humans. We describe a case of P. knowlesi infection acquired in Indonesian Borneo that was imported into Australia. Clinicians need to consider this diagnosis in a patient who has acquired malaria in forest areas of Southeast Asia

Sortase-mediated labelling of lipid nanodiscs for cellular tracing

Lipid nanodiscs have broad applications in membrane protein assays, biotechnology and materials science. Chemical modification of the nanodiscs to expand their functional attributes is generally desirable for all of these uses. We present a method for site-selective labelling of the N-terminus of the nanodisc’s membrane scaffold protein (MSP) using the Sortase A protein. Labelling of the MSP was achieved when assembled within the lipid nanodisc architecture, demonstrating that this method can be used as a retrofit approach to modification of preformed nanodiscs before or during application. We label the MSP with a fluorescent fluorescein moiety and use them to image nanodisc uptake into HeLa cells. The Sortase A labelling method could be employed as a general approach to labelling nanodiscs with application-specific functionalities