Clinical findings in relation to mortality in non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections : patients with Mycobacterium avium complex have better survival than patients with other mycobacteria

We compared the clinical findings and survival in patients with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and other non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). A total of 167 adult non-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients with at least one positive culture for NTM were included. Medical records were reviewed. The patients were categorised according to the 2007 American Thoracic Society (ATS) criteria. MAC comprised 59 % of all NTM findings. MAC patients were more often female (70 % vs. 34 %, p <0.001) and had less fatal underlying diseases (23 % vs. 47 %, p = 0.001) as compared to other NTM patients. Symptoms compatible with NTM infection had lasted for less than a year in 34 % of MAC patients but in 54 % of other NTM patients (p = 0.037). Pulmonary MAC patients had a significantly lower risk of death compared to pulmonary other NTM (hazard ratio [HR] 0.50, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.33-0.77, p = 0.002) or subgroup of other slowly growing NTM (HR 0.55, 95 % CI 0.31-0.99, p = 0.048) or as rapidly growing NTM (HR 0.47, 95 % CI 0.25-0.87, p = 0.02). The median survival time was 13.0 years (95 % CI 5.9-20.1) for pulmonary MAC but 4.6 years (95 % CI 3.4-5.9) for pulmonary other NTM. Serious underlying diseases (HR 3.21, 95 % CI 2.05-5.01, p <0.001) and age (HR 1.07, 95 % CI 1.04-1.09, p <0.001) were the significant predictors of mortality and female sex was a predictor of survival (HR 0.38, 95 % CI 0.24-0.59, p <0.001) in the multivariate analysis. Pulmonary MAC patients had better prognosis than pulmonary other NTM patients. The symptom onset suggests a fairly rapid disease course.Peer reviewe

Transient modification of lin28b expression - Permanent effects on zebrafish growth

Recent genome-wide association studies and mouse models have identified LIN28B as a gene affecting several pubertal timing-related traits and vertebrate growth. However, the exact biological mechanisms underlying the associations remain unknown. We have explored the mechanisms linking LIN28B with growth regulation by combining human gene expression data with functional models. Specifically, we show that 1) pubertal timing-associated genetic variation correlates with LIN28B expression in the pituitary and hypothalamus, 2) downregulating lin28b in zebrafish embryos associates with aberrant development of kiss2-neurons, and 3) increasing lin28b expression transiently by synthetic mRNA injections during embryogenesis results in sustained enhancement of zebrafish growth. Unexpectedly, the mRNA injections resulted in advanced sexual maturation of female fish, suggesting that lin28b may influence pubertal timing through multiple developmental mechanisms. Overall, these results provide novel insight into LIN28B function in vertebrate growth regulation, emphasizing the importance of the gene and related genetic pathways for embryonic and juvenile development.Peer reviewe

Comparison of 'shallow' and 'deep' junction architectures for MBE-grown InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells

We report on the fabrication of InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells with high open circuit voltage by molecular beam epitaxy. `Shallow' and `deep' junction architectures were compared. The highest open circuit voltage of 0.94 V was obtained for the `shallow' junction configuration. The open circuit voltage of InAs quantum dot solar cells decreased only by ~40 mV compared to GaAs reference cells for both junction architectures indicating high quality quantum dots. The open circuit voltage of InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells was also found to be dependent on the size of quantum dots

DIOXIN CANCER RISK — EXAMPLE OF HORMESIS?

A recent case-control study implied an inverse correlation between the measured body burden of dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, PCDD/F) and the risk of soft tissue sarcoma in normal population exposed to dioxins mainly via food. The surprising result could not be explained by biases or confounding. There is no a priori confounding by occupational chemicals in a random sample from general population, but exposures to other lipid soluble chemicals with similar sources might be expected to associate with that of dioxins. One such group is polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Therefore three most relevant dioxin-like PCB compounds PCB 77, PCB 126, and PCB 169 were now analyzed from the same patients. Cases were 110 soft-tissue sarcoma patients undergoing surgery for their disease, and referents were 227 patients operated for appendicitis. Dioxin and PCB concentrations were analyzed from subcutaneous fat samples by high-resolution gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and TCDD equivalent concentrations (WHO-TEq) were calculated by using toxicity equivalency factors of WHO. The highest risk of sarcoma was found in the septile with the lowest body burden of sum WHO-TEq, and the differences of septiles 2 and 6 from septile 1 were statistically significant. If soft sarcoma risk is true at high occupational levels of dioxins, the provocative result suggests that a possibility of a J-shaped dose-response curve should be taken into consideration and studied further. This is also supported by the similar J-shaped dose responses in animal studies

Assessment of the structural validity of three foot and ankle specific patient-reported outcome measures

Background: The structural validity of the Lower extremity functional scale (LEFS), the Visual analogue scale foot and ankle (VAS-FA), and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) has not been compared earlier in patients after foot and ankle surgery. Methods: Altogether 165 previously operated patients completed the foot and ankle specific instruments, the 15D health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument, and general health (VAS). Results: The LEFS, the VAS-FA and the WOMAC had slight differences in their measurement properties. The VAS-FA had the best targeting and coverage. All three foot and ankle measures accounted for mobility and usual activities when compared to the different aspects of generic HRQoL. Conclusions: The LEFS, the VAS-FA and the WOMAC have relatively similar psychometric properties among foot and ankle patients, yet the VAS-FA provides the best targeting and coverage. (C) 2019 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Validation of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index in Patients Having Undergone Ankle Fracture Surgery

The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) is a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) that is widely used to evaluate the pain, stiffness, and physical function of patients with osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Although the WOMAC has also been used for patients after foot and ankle surgery, it has not been validated for this purpose. A total of 130 patients with surgically treated ankle fractures completed the WOMAC, Visual Analogue Scale Foot and Ankle (VAS FA), Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS), 15D Health-Related Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (15D), and Visual Analog Scale for General Health (VAS general health) after foot and ankle surgery. The structural validity of the WOMAC was assessed by using Cronbach's a, and convergent validity was tested between the WOMAC and reference outcome measures. Cronbach's a for the index score was 0.98 and 0.95, 0.86, and 0.98 for the Pain, Stiffness, and Physical Function subscales, respectively. The Spearman correlation coefficients were -0.84, -0.74, -0.58, and 0.55 for the VAS-FA, LEFS, 15D, and VAS general health, respectively. The relationships with the VAS-FA, LEFS, 15D, and VAS general health were strong. All relationships were statistically significant (p <.001). The WOMAC provides valid scores for assessing pain, stiffness, and physical function in patients having undergone ankle fracture surgery. (C) 2019 by the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Retrieval of ozone profiles from GOMOS limb scattered measurements

The GOMOS (Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars) instrument on board the Envisat satellite measures the vertical composition of the atmosphere using the stellar occultation technique. While the night-time occultations of GOMOS have been proven to be of good quality, the daytime occultations are more challenging due to weaker signal-to-noise ratio. During daytime GOMOS measures limb scattered solar radiation in addition to stellar radiation. In this paper we introduce a retrieval method that determines ozone profiles between 20–60 km from GOMOS limb scattered solar radiances. GOMOS observations contain a considerable amount of stray light at high altitudes. We introduce a method for removing stray light and demonstrate its feasibility by comparing the corrected radiances against those measured by the OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph &amp; Infra Red Imaging System) instrument. For the retrieval of ozone profiles, a standard onion peeling method is used. The first comparisons with other data sets suggest that the retrieved ozone profiles in 22–50 km are within 10% compared with the GOMOS night-time occultations and within 15% compared with OSIRIS. GOMOS has measured about 350 000 daytime profiles since 2002. The retrieval method presented here makes this large amount of data available for scientific use

Progress towards high efficiency thin-film III-V quantum dot solar cells for space

This work summarizes our results in the development of high efficiency III-V quantum dot (QD) solar cells, aimed at tackling with two of the most relevant issues posed by QD solar cells (QDSCs), namely the degradation of open circuit voltage and the weak photon harvesting by QDs. In particular, we report our latest achievements in: i) The molecular beam epitaxy growth of high-quality QDSCs, demonstrating Voc as high as 0.94 V and low penalty (~ 40 mV) with respect to the single-junction reference cell. ii) The development by nanoimprint lithography of metal/polymer back reflectors with high diffraction efficiency, enabling four times increase of the QD photogenerated current. Experimental results are discussed with the support of numerical simulations

Back Reflector with Diffractive Gratings for Light-Trapping in Thin-Film III-V Solar Cells

We report on the development of light-Trapping architectures applied to thin-film solar cells. In particular, we focus on enhancing the absorption at 1-eV spectral range for dilute nitride and quantum dot materials and report on the influence of planar back reflectors on the photovoltaic properties. Moreover, we discuss the properties of polymer diffraction gratings with enhanced light-Trapping capability pointing to advantageous properties of pyramidal gratings. In order to understand the suitability of these polymer grating architectures for space applications, we have performed an electron irradiation study (1 MeV) revealing the absence of reflectance changes up to doses of 1×1015 e-/cm