Heavy Ion Testing at the Galactic Cosmic Ray Energy Peak

A 1 GeV/u Fe-56 ion beam allows for true 90deg tilt irradiations of various microelectronic components and reveals relevant upset trends for an abundant element at the GCR flux energy peak

Development and Evaluation of a Lewis Acid-Base Tutorial for Use in Postsecondary Organic Chemistry Courses

A well-developed understanding of the Lewis acid-base model is highly important for the understanding of organic chemistry. As such, students should receive instruction and be assessed on use of the model. Online tutorials and constructed-response items provide a means for confirming that students have a well-developed conceptualization of the Lewis acid-base model. In a prior study, a predictive logistic regression model was presented that can be used with constructed-response assessment items to determine use of a Lewis acid-base model in written responses. In this study, we use that predictive model to evaluate the effectiveness of a tutorial designed to promote meaningful understanding of the Lewis acid-base model in three different instructional contexts: first-semester organic chemistry students before summative assessment, first-semester organic chemistry students after summative assessment, and second-semester organic chemistry students. Additionally, we evaluated the learning gains of one set of first-semester students after a three-week time delay. McNemarâ s test results suggest that the tutorial had a net positive impact in all three instructional contexts, with the most significant impact observed with the second-semester students. This work has implications for further development of literature-based tutorials to promote meaningful understanding of organic chemistry reaction mechanisms assessed by constructed-response items.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Draft programmatic environmental impact statement : the grizzly bear in northwestern Montana /

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Grizzly bear environmental impact statement : preliminary draft /

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Final programmatic environmental impact statement : the grizzly bear in northwestern Montana, summary /

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Association of Schistosomiasis and HIV infection in Tanzania.

Animal and human studies suggest that Schistosoma mansoni infection may increase risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition. Therefore, we tested 345 reproductive age women in rural Tanzanian villages near Lake Victoria, where S. mansoni is hyperendemic, for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and schistosomiasis by circulating anodic antigen (CAA) serum assay. Over one-half (54%) had an active schistosome infection; 6% were HIV-seropositive. By univariate analysis, only schistosome infection predicted HIV infection (odds ratio [OR] = 3.9, 95% confidence interval = [1.3-12.0], P = 0.015) and remained significant using multivariate analysis to control for age, STIs, and distance from the lake (OR = 6.2 [1.7-22.9], P = 0.006). HIV prevalence was higher among women with more intense schistosome infections (P = 0.005), and the median schistosome intensity was higher in HIV-infected than -uninfected women (400 versus 15 pg CAA/mL, P = 0.01). This finding suggests that S. mansoni infection may be a modifiable HIV risk factor that places millions of people worldwide at increased risk of HIV acquisition

Evaluation of banked urine samples for the detection of circulating anodic and cathodic antigens in Schistosoma mekongi and S. japonicum infections : a proof-of-concept study

In Asia, Schistosoma japonicum is the predominant schistosome species, while Schistosoma mekongi is confined to limited foci in Cambodia and Lao People's Democratic Republic. While the People's Republic of China has been successful in controlling schistosomiasis, the disease remains a major public health issue in other areas. In order to prioritise intervention areas, not only accurate diagnosis is important but also other factors, such as practicality, time-efficiency and cost-effectiveness, since they strongly influence the success of control programmes. To evaluate the highly specific urine-based assays for the schistosome circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) and the circulating anodic antigen (CAA), banked urine samples from Cambodia (n=106) and the Philippines (n=43) were examined by the upconverted phosphor lateral flow (UCP-LF) CAA assay and the point-of-care (POC)-CCA urine assay. Based on 250μl urine samples, UCP-LF CAA sensitivity outcomes surpassed a single stool examination by the Kato-Katz technique. The banked urine samples in the current study did not allow the evaluation of larger volumes, which conceivably should deliver considerably higher readings. The sensitivity of a single urine POC-CCA was in the same order as that of a single Kato-Katz thick smear examination, while the sensitivity approached that of triplicate Kato-Katz when a combination of both CAA and CCA assays was used. The promising results from the current proof-of-concept study call for larger investigations that will determine the accuracy of the urine-based CCA and CAA assays for S. mekongi and S. japonicum diagnosis

An ultra-sensitive assay targeting the circulating anodic antigen for the diagnosis of Schistosoma japonicum in a low-endemic area, People's Republic of China

The downward trend in prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma japonicum infection in the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) has reached a level where accurate methods are required for monitoring the national schistosomiasis control programme and to verify whether transmission has been interrupted. We have assessed the prevalence of active S. japonicum infection by use of an up-converting phosphor lateral-flow (UCP-LF) assay for determination of circulating anodic antigens (CAA) in urine and serum, and compared the findings with those of the Kato-Katz technique for egg detection in stool and an immunohaemagglutination assay (IHA) for specific antibodies in serum. The study was carried out in three villages located in a remaining S. japonicum-endemic area in P.R. China. Overall, 423 individuals were investigated by Kato-Katz, 395 by IHA, 371 with the UCP-LF CAA assay adapted for urine and 178 with the UCP-LF CAA assay applied on serum. The IHA showed the highest number of positive results (n=107, 27.1%). The UCP-LF CAA urine assay detected 36 CAA positives (9.7%) and the serum-based CAA assay 21 positives (11.8%). The Kato-Katz technique revealed only six positive stool samples (1.4%). Among those 166 individuals with complete data records, sensitivities of the different assays were determined versus a combined 'gold' standard, showing the highest sensitivity for the urine CAA assay (93%), followed by the serum CAA (73%) and IHA (53%), whilst triplicate Kato-Katz thick smears had a very low sensitivity (13%). Serum CAA concentrations were about 10-fold higher than in urine and were significantly correlated. Highest prevalences as determined by CAA were found in older age groups (<40 years). Half of the CAA- or egg-positive cases were negative for antibodies by IHA, thereby revealing an important obstacle for the effectiveness of the current schistosomiasis control and elimination efforts. The significantly higher prevalence of active schistosome infection as shown by the urine and serum UCP-LF CAA assays has implications for the national control and elimination programme in P.R. China, particularly in respect to case-finding and intervention strategies