Equations for filling factor estimation in opal matrix

We consider two equations for the filling factor estimation of infiltrated zinc oxide (ZnO) in silica (SiO_2) opal and gallium nitride in ZnO opal. The first equation is based on the effective medium approximation, while the second one - on Maxwell-Garnett approximation. The comparison between two filling factors shows that both equations can be equally used for the estimation of the quantity of infiltrated nanocrystals inside opal matrix.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Addendum to the article: http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/050815

An outbreak of Clostridium difficile infections due to new PCR ribotype 826

__Objectives:__ To investigate an unusual outbreak of five patients with a total of eight episodes of a Clostridium difficile infection on a gastrointestinal surgical ward of a Dutch tertiary-care, university-affiliated hospital. __Methods:__ Clinical case investigations and laboratory analyses were performed. Laboratory analyses included PCR ribotyping, multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis typing, toxin typing, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole genome sequencing. __Results:__ The outbreak was associated with recurrent and severe disease in two of five patients. All episodes were due to a unique ribotype that was not recognized in the collection of an international network of reference laboratories and was assigned PCR ribotype 826. PCR ribotype 826 is a toxin A-, toxin B- and binary toxin-positive ribotype which according to molecular typing belongs to clade 5 and resembles the so-called hypervirulent ribotype 078. The presence of a clonal outbreak was confirmed by whole genome sequencing, yet the source of this newly identified ribotype remained unclear. __Conclusions:__ This newly identified C. difficile PCR ribotype 826 is part of clade 5 and might also have increased virulence. The recognition of this outbreak highlights the need for ongoing C. difficile infection surveillance to monitor new circulating ribotypes with assumed increased virulence

Selection and characterization of conditionally active promotors in Lactobacillus plantarum, using alanine racemase as a promotor probe

This paper describes the use of the alr gene, encoding alanine racemase, as a promoter-screening tool for the identification of conditional promoters in Lactobacillus plantarum. Random fragments of the L. plantarum WCFS1 genome were cloned upstream of the promoterless alr gene of Lactococcus lactis in a low-copy-number plasmid vector. The resulting plasmid library was introduced into an L. plantarum Deltaalr strain (MD007), and 40,000 clones were selected. The genome coverage of the library was estimated to be 98%, based on nucleotide insert sequence and restriction analyses of the inserts of randomly selected clones. The library was screened for clones that were capable of complementing the D-alanine auxotroph phenotype of MD007 in media containing up to 10, 100, or 300 mug of the competitive Air inhibitor D-cycloserine per ml. Western blot analysis with polyclonal antibodies raised against lactococcal Air revealed that the Air production level required for growth increased in the presence of increasing concentrations Of D-cycloserine, adding a quantitative factor to the primarily qualitative nature of the alr complementation screen. Screening of the alr complementation library for clones that could grow only in the presence of 0.8 M NaCl resulted in the identification of eight clones that upon Western blot analysis showed significantly higher Air production under high-salt conditions than under low-salt conditions. These results established the effectiveness of the alanine racemase complementation screening method for the identification of promoters on their conditional or constitutive activity

Online multifactorial prevention programme has no effect on the number of running-related injuries: a randomised controlled trial

Objective To examine the effect of a multifactorial, online injury prevention programme on the number of running-related injuries (RRIs) in recreational runners. Methods Adult recreational runners who registered for a runnin

Preventing running-related injuries using evidence-based online advice: The design of a randomised-controlled trial

Introduction Running-related injuries (RRIs) are frequent and can lead to cessation of health promoting activities. Several risk factors for RRIs have been identified. However, no successful injury prevention programme has been developed so far. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of an evidence-based online injury prevention programme on the number of RRIs. Methods and analysis The INSPIRE trial is a randomised-controlled trial with a 3-month follow-up. Both novice and more experienced runners, aged 18 years and older, who register for a running event (distances 5 km up to 42.195 km) will be asked to participate in this study. After completing the baseline questionnaire, participants will be randomised into either the intervention group or control group. Participants in the intervention group will get access to the online injury prevention programme. This prevention programme consists of information on evidence-based risk factors and advices

Effectiveness of a high volume injection as treatment for chronic Achilles tendinopathy

Objective To study whether a high volume injection without corticosteroids improves clinical outcome in addition to usual care for adults with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy. Design Patient and assessor blinded, placebo controlled randomised clinical trial. Setting Sports medicine department of a large district general hospital, the Netherlands. Participants 80 adults (aged 18-70 years) with clinically diagnosed chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy and neovascula

Incidence of midportion Achilles tendinopathy in the general population

Background Achilles tendon disorders, like Achilles tendinopathy, are very common among athletes. In the general population, however, knowledge about the incidence of Achilles tendinopathy is lacking. Desi

Rapid And Durable Responses With The Syk/Jak Inhibitor Cerdulatinib In A Phase 2 Study In Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma—Alone Or In Combination With Rituximab

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149541/1/hon30_2629.pd

Discourse Semantics for the Analysis of Change in Language

This paper purports to elaborate and address several issues which lie at the intersection of computational linguistics and psychology. The first issue addressed is that of the interaction between discourse and semantics by virtue of empirical linguistic and psychotherapeutic evidence. This paper then gives a formal account of the knowledge representation and reasoning processes involved in the construction of an XML knowledge base for use in the sematic analysis of psychotherapeutic transcripts. Computational methods for the automatic mark-up and inference of the psychotherapeutic phenomena under investigation are detailed in order to further develop intuitions behind a particular pragmatic theory of language known as the Metamodel. The work presented here ultimately aims to produce a sustainable system for the evaluation of the effectiveness of any given psychotherapeutic technique. The possibility exists for such a system to recognise successful therapeutic mechanisms and further still, to infer new ones, or suggest improvements, or offer novel explanations as to the success or failure of the therapy itself. The work discussed here stems from research in computational linguistics, psychotherapy, and philosophy. The corpus used is a culmination of client transcripts taken before, during, and after therapy. The particular therapeutic technique used here is known as the Metamodel (Bandler and Grinder, 1975). The Metamodel was originally proffered as a method of language analysis suitable for use by practitioners of any psychotherapeutic technique. It theorises that speech utterances are related to a clients deep structure through three primary mechanisms, namely generalisation, deletion, and distortion. Previous hand tagging of our data has proven support for such claims. It is our aim to automate the identification and reasoning process. The issues and processes involved in the automation of such tagging are discussed here. Architectural and philosophical issues relating syntax (or grammar), semantics (Larson and Segal, 1995), and pragmatics (Grice, 1989; Searle, 1969) are raised. Discourse Representation Theory (Kamp, 1981; Asher and Lascarides, 1995) is discussed and used here in order to infer discourse relations.Hosted by the Scholarly Text and Imaging Service (SETIS), the University of Sydney Library, and the Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (RIHSS), the University of Sydney