3,928 research outputs found
The Significance of Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus Aureus and the Incidence of Postoperative Wound Infection
Staphylococcus aureus infections are associated with considerable morbidity and, in certain situations, mortality. The association between the nasal carriage of S. aureus and subsequent infection has been comprehensively established in a variety of clinical settings, in particular, patients undergoing haemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), and in patients undergoing surgery. Postoperative wound infections are associated with a high degree of morbidity and represent an important medical issue. Until recently, eradication of S. aureus nasal carriage by various topical and systemic agents had proved unsuccessful. Mupirocin is a novel topical antibiotic with excellent antibacterial activity against staphylococci. Recent studies have demonstrated that intranasal administration of mupirocin is effective in eradicating the nasal carriage of S. aureus and in reducing the incidence of S. aureus infections in haemodialysis and CAPD patients. It has been suggested that sufficient evidence now exists to test the hypothesis that eradication of the carrier state in surgical patients preoperatively may reduce the incidence of S. aureus postoperative wound infections
Search for Free Fractional Electric Charge Elementary Particles
We have carried out a direct search in bulk matter for free fractional
electric charge elementary particles using the largest mass single sample ever
studied - about 17.4 mg of silicone oil. The search used an improved and highly
automated Millikan oil drop technique. No evidence for fractional charge
particles was found. The concentration of particles with fractional charge more
than 0.16e (e being the magnitude of the electron charge) from the nearest
integer charge is less than particles per nucleon with 95%
confidence.Comment: 10 pages,LaTeX, 4 PS figures, submitted to PR
A New Method for Searching for Free Fractional Charge Particles in Bulk Matter
We present a new experimental method for searching for free fractional charge
in bulk matter; this new method derives from the traditional Millikan liquid
drop method, but allows the use of much larger drops, 20 to 100 mm in diameter,
compared to the traditional method that uses drops less than 15 mm in diameter.
These larger drops provide the substantial advantage that it is then much
easier to consistently generate drops containing liquid suspensions of powdered
meteorites and other special minerals. These materials are of great importance
in bulk searches for fractional charge particles that may have been produced in
the early universe.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures in a singl PDF file (created from WORD Doc.).
Submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument
Visualizing Clinical Evidence: Citation Networks for the Incubation Periods of Respiratory Viral Infections
Simply by repetition, medical facts can become enshrined as truth even when there
is little empirical evidence supporting them. We present an intuitive and clear
visual design for tracking the citation history of a particular scientific fact
over time. We apply this method to data from a previously published literature
review on the incubation period of nine respiratory viral infections. The
resulting citation networks reveal that the conventional wisdom about the
incubation period for these diseases was based on a small fraction of available
data and in one case, on no retrievable empirical evidence. Overall, 50%
of all incubation period statements did not provide a source for their estimate
and 65% of original sources for incubation period data were not
incorporated into subsequent publications. More standardized and widely
available methods for visualizing these histories of medical evidence are needed
to ensure that conventional wisdom cannot stray too far from empirically
supported knowledge
Continuous in-line monitoring of electrolyte concentrations in extracorporeal circuits for individualization of dialysis treatment
One objective of dialysis treatment is to normalize the blood
plasma electrolytes and remove waste products such as urea and creatinine
from blood. However, due to a shift in plasma osmolarity, a rapid or
excessive change of the electrolytes can lead to complications like
cardiovascular instability, overhydrating of cells, disequilibrium syndrome
and cardiac arrhythmias. Especially for critical ill patients in intensive
care unit with sepsis or multi-organ failure, any additional stress has to be
avoided. Since the exchange velocity of the electrolytes mainly depends on
the concentration gradients across the dialysis membrane between blood and
dialysate, it can be controlled by an individualized composition of dialysate
concentrations. In order to obtain a precise concentration gradient with the
individualized dialysate, it is necessary to continuously monitor the plasma
concentrations. However, with in-line sensors, the required hemocompatibility
is often difficult to achieve. In this work, we present a concept for
continuous in-line monitoring of electrolyte concentrations using
ion-selective electrodes separated from the blood flow by a dialysis
membrane, and therefore meeting the fluidic requirements for
hemocompatibility. First investigations of hemocompatibility with
reconfigured human blood show no increased hemolysis caused by the measuring
system. With this concept, it is possible to continuously measure the plasma
concentrations with a relative error of less than 0.5 %.</p
Cumulative Effects of Neonatal Hyperoxia on Murine Alveolar Structure and Function
Background
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) results from alveolar simplification and abnormal development of alveolar and capillary structure. Survivors of BPD display persistent deficits in airflow and membrane and vascular components of alveolar gas diffusion. Despite being the defining feature of BPD, various neonatal hyperoxia models of BPD have not routinely assessed pulmonary gas diffusion.
Methods
To simulate the most commonly-utilized neonatal hyperoxia models, we exposed neonatal mice to room air or ≥90% hyperoxia during key stages of distal lung development: through the first 4 (saccular), 7 (early alveolar), or 14 (bulk alveolar) postnatal days, followed by a period of recovery in room air until 8 weeks of age when alveolar septation is essentially complete. We systematically assessed and correlated the effects of neonatal hyperoxia on the degree of alveolar–capillary structural and functional impairment. We hypothesized that the degree of alveolar–capillary simplification would correlate strongly with worsening diffusion impairment.
Results
Neonatal hyperoxia exposure, of any duration, resulted in alveolar simplification and impaired pulmonary gas diffusion. Mean Linear Intercept increased in proportion to the length of hyperoxia exposure while alveolar and total lung volume increased markedly only with prolonged exposure. Surprisingly, despite having a similar effect on alveolar surface area, only prolonged hyperoxia for 14 days resulted in reduced pulmonary microvascular volume. Estimates of alveolar and capillary structure, in general, correlated poorly with assessment of gas diffusion.
Conclusion
Our results help define the physiological and structural consequences of commonly-employed neonatal hyperoxia models of BPD and informtheir clinical utility
Dynamic Critical Phenomena of Polymer Solutions
Recently, a systematic experiment measuring critical anomaly of viscosity of
polymer solutions has been reported by H. Tanaka and his co-workers
(Phys.Rev.E, 65, 021802, (2002)). According to their experiments, the dynamic
critical exponent of viscosity y_c drastically decreases with increasing the
molecular weight. In this article the kinetic coefficients renormalized by the
non-linear hydrodynamic interaction are calculated by the mode coupling theory.
We predict that the critical divergence of viscosity should be suppressed with
increasing the molecular weight. The diffusion constant and the dynamic
structure factor are also calculated. The present results explicitly show that
the critical dynamics of polymer solutions should be affected by an extra
spatio-temporal scale intrinsic to polymer solutions, and are consistent with
the experiment of Tanaka, et al.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, to be published in J.Phys.Soc.Jp
Proteogenomics analysis of CUG codon translation in the human pathogen Candida albicans
Abstract Background: Yeasts of the CTG-clade lineage, which includes the human-infecting Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Candida tropicalis species, are characterized by an altered genetic code. Instead of translating CUG codons as leucine, as happens in most eukaryotes, these yeasts, whose ancestors are thought to have lost the relevant leucine-tRNA gene, translate CUG codons as serine using a serine-tRNA with a mutated anticodon, tRNASer CAG . Previously reported experiments have suggested that 3–5% of the CTG-clade CUG codons are mistranslated as leucine due to mischarging of the tRNA Ser CAG . The mistranslation was suggested to result in variable surface proteins explaining fast host adaptation and pathogenicity. Results: In this study, we reassess this potential mistranslation by high-resolution mass spectrometry-based proteogenomics of multiple CTG-clade yeasts, including various C. albicans strains, isolated from colonized and from infected human body sites, and C. albicans grown in yeast and hyphal forms. Our data do not support a bias towards CUG codon mistranslation as leucine. Instead, our data suggest that (i) CUG codons are mistranslated at a frequency corresponding to the normal extent of ribosomal mistranslation with no preference for specific amino acids, (ii) CUG codons are as unambiguous (or ambiguous) as the related CUU leucine and UCC serine codons, (iii) tRNA anticodon loop variation across the CTG-clade yeasts does not result in any difference of the mistranslation level, and (iv) CUG codon unambiguity is independent of C. albicans’ strain pathogenicity or growth form. Conclusions: Our findings imply that C. albicans does not decode CUG ambiguously. This suggests that the proposed misleucylation of the tRNA Ser CAG might be as prevalent as every other misacylation or mistranslation event and, if at all, be just one of many reasons causing phenotypic diversity
The Search for Stable, Massive, Elementary Particles
In this paper we review the experimental and observational searches for
stable, massive, elementary particles other than the electron and proton. The
particles may be neutral, may have unit charge or may have fractional charge.
They may interact through the strong, electromagnetic, weak or gravitational
forces or through some unknown force. The purpose of this review is to provide
a guide for future searches - what is known, what is not known, and what appear
to be the most fruitful areas for new searches. A variety of experimental and
observational methods such as accelerator experiments, cosmic ray studies,
searches for exotic particles in bulk matter and searches using astrophysical
observations is included in this review.Comment: 34 pages, 8 eps figure
Low Energy Pion-Hyperon Interaction
We study the low energy pion-hyperon interaction considering effective
non-linear chiral invariant Lagrangians including pions, rho mesons, hyperons
and corresponding resonances. Then we calculate the S- and P-wave phase-shifts,
total cross sections, angular distributions and polarizations for the momentum
in the center-of-mass frame up to k=400 MeV. With these results we discuss the
CP violation in the csi-> pi-lambda and omega-> pi-csi weak decays.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure
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