Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection ar

Deposition of thick piezoelectric films by gas flow sputtering

Several applications require high-quality piezoelectric films in a thickness range between 5 μm and 50 μm, for example for powerful actors or resonant operation at a defined frequency. This is challenging both for thin-film (PVD, CVD) and for thick-film technologies (sintering), especially, if elevated temperatures cannot be tolerated by the substrate. PZT films with thicknesses above 25 μm have been deposited at a substrate temperature of 600 °C by means of Gas Flow Sputtering (GFS). This method, based on an intense hollow cathode glow discharge, allows for stable reactive sputter processes from metallic targets, a fine-tuning of mechanical film stresses, a good control over composition, microstructure, and crystallographic properties. A piezoelectric coefficient d33 of 500 pm/V has been reached and ultrasonic PZT arrays have been prepared on pre-structured Si substrates. Like other PVD methods, GFS results in a smooth, columnar and strain-tolerant microstructure with excellent adhesion. As a gas-flow-driven method, on the other side, GFS allows for local or internal coatings, comparable to spray coatings. Besides PZT, also aluminum nitride is under investigation

Collaborative and Social Learning using Virtual Worlds: Preparing Students for Virtually Anything

"Teams, increasingly more than individuals, are charged with the most challenging and mission-critical projects. Leaders need to evaluate and motivate from a distance. And the makeup of teams is increasingly complex â?? they´re bigger, more diverse, more geographically distributed, composed more of specialists than generalists, and much more dependent on technology than in the past. And difficult economic times only accent these challenges." This statement made by Reeves and Read in their Book â??Total Engagemen

Pareto front identification from stochastic bandit feedback

We consider the problem of identifying the Pareto front for multiple objectives from a finite set of operating points. Sampling an operating point gives a random vector where each coordinate corresponds to the value of one of the objectives. The Pareto front is the set of operating points that are not dominated by any other operating point in respect to all objectives (considering the mean of their objective values). We use a confidence bound algorithm to approximate the Pareto front, and we prove problem specific lower and upper bounds, showing that the sample complexity is characterized by some natural geometric properties of the operating points. Experiments confirm the reliability of our algorithm. For the problem of finding a sparse cover of the Pareto front, we propose an asymmetric covering algorithm of independent interest.\u3cbr/\u3

Pizoelektrischer Stapelaktuator und Verfahren zur Herstellung desselben

Ein Verfahren (100) zur Herstellung eines piezoelektrischen Stapelaktuators (200), mit folgenden Schritten: Bereitstellen (110) einer piezoelektrischen Schicht (202), die eine säulenförmige Schichtstruktur aufweist, wobei aufgrund der säulenförmigen Schichtstruktur ausgehend von einem Oberflächenbereich (202a) der piezoelektrischen Schicht (202) Zwischenräume (206) mit Kanälen (206a) und Gräben (206b) zwischen benachbarten Säulen (204) in der piezoelektrischen Schicht (202) ausgebildet sind; Einbringen (120) einer leitfähigen Elektrodenstruktur (208) in die piezoelektrische Schicht (202), wobei sich die leitfähige Elektrodenstruktur (208) ausgehend von dem Oberflächenbereich (202a) der piezoelektrischen Schicht (202) in Kanäle (206a) der piezoelektrischen Schicht (202) erstreckt; Einbringen (130) eines Isolationsmaterials (210) in Zwischenräume (206) in der piezoelektrischen Schicht (202), um benachbarte Säulen (204) zumindest bereichsweise mechanisch miteinander zu koppeln; und Anordnen (140) einer Metallisierungsstruktur (212) an dem Oberflächenbereich (202a) der piezoelektrischen Schicht (202) in elektrischem Kontakt mit der leitfähigen Elektrodenstruktur (208)