MOL-Eye: A New Metric for the Performance Evaluation of a Molecular Signal

Inspired by the eye diagram in classical radio frequency (RF) based communications, the MOL-Eye diagram is proposed for the performance evaluation of a molecular signal within the context of molecular communication. Utilizing various features of this diagram, three new metrics for the performance evaluation of a molecular signal, namely the maximum eye height, standard deviation of received molecules, and counting SNR (CSNR) are introduced. The applicability of these performance metrics in this domain is verified by comparing the performance of binary concentration shift keying (BCSK) and BCSK with consecutive power adjustment (BCSK-CPA) modulation techniques in a vessel-like environment with laminar flow. The results show that, in addition to classical performance metrics such as bit-error rate and channel capacity, these performance metrics can also be used to show the advantage of an efficient modulation technique over a simpler one

International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Comparison of screw-fixation stabilities of first metatarsal shaft osteotomies: a biomechanical study

Objectives: Although metatarsal shaft osteotomies have become popular in the surgical treatment of moderate or advanced hallux valgus owing to better reduction and stability, they present fixation problems as the angular correction increases. The purpose of this biomechanical study was to evaluate the effects of widely used metatarsal shaft osteotomies and a newly defined osteotomy modification on the stability of screw fixation at greater angular corrections

A preliminary study on the distribution and morphology of microplastics in the coastal areas of Istanbul, the metropolitan city of Turkey: The effect of location differences

Microplastics (MP) pollution has emerged in the last 10 years as an interesting topic of research worldwide. However, microplastic pollution is a new multidisciplinary subject that encompasses many unknowns and enters different fields of science. Research carried out in Turkey on the subject is quite limited and remained on a small scale covering only several stations most of the time.This paper aims to study microplastics distribution, type, and color in 43 stations within the Marmara Sea. The novelty of this work is due to the selection of the stations which cover marine (MRN), pier (PIER), stream (STR), sea discharge (SD), and deep-sea discharge (DSD) stations. The effect of the seawater physicochemical characteristics on microplastics distribution was statistically studied using the Pearson's product momentum correlation coefficient. The highest microplastics abundance was for pier stations (3497.02 particle/km2) and the lowest was for marine stations (276.1857 particle/km2)

Investigation of radioulnocarpal joint load distribution effects of radial shortening osteotomy for the treatment of Kienbock disease: a biomechanical study

Objectives: We evaluated the effects of radial shortening osteotomy on the radiolunate joint load distribution

Development of Small Molecule MEIS Inhibitors that modulate HSC activity

Meis1, which belongs to TALE-type class of homeobox gene family, appeared as one of the key regulators of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal and a potential therapeutical target. However, small molecule inhibitors of MEIS1 remained unknown. This led us to develop inhibitors of MEIS1 that could modulate HSC activity. To this end, we have established a library of relevant homeobox family inhibitors and developed a high-throughput in silico screening strategy against homeodomain of MEIS proteins using the AutoDock Vina and PaDEL-ADV platform. We have screened over a million druggable small molecules in silico and selected putative MEIS inhibitors (MEISi) with no predicted cytotoxicity or cardiotoxicity. This was followed by in vitro validation of putative MEIS inhibitors using MEIS dependent luciferase reporter assays and analysis in the ex vivo HSC assays. We have shown that small molecules named MEISi-1 and MEISi-2 significantly inhibit MEIS-luciferase reporters in vitro and induce murine (LSKCD34(l)degrees (w) cells) and human (CD34(+), CD133(+), and ALDH(hi) cells) HSC self-renewal ex vivo. In addition, inhibition of MEIS proteins results in downregulation of Meis1 and MEIS1 target gene expression including Hif-1 alpha, Hif-2 alpha and HSC quiescence modulators. MEIS inhibitors are effective in vivo as evident by induced HSC content in the murine bone marrow and downregulation of expression of MEIS target genes. These studies warrant identification of first-in-class MEIS inhibitors as potential pharmaceuticals to be utilized in modulation of HSC activity and bone marrow transplantation studies

c-Myc Inhibitor 10074-G5 Induces Murine and Human Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Expansion and HDR Modulator Rad51 Expression

Background: c-Myc plays a major role in the maintenance of glycolytic metabolism and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) quiescence