Pore Narrowing and Formation of Ultrathin Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Layers in Ceramic Membranes by Chemical Vapor Deposition/Electrochemical Vapor Deposition

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and electrochemical vapor deposition (EVD) have been applied to deposit yttria-stabilized-zirconia (YSZ) on porous ceramic media. The experimental results indicate that the location of YSZ deposition can be varied from the surface of the substrates to the inside of the substrates by changing the CVD/EVD experimental conditions, i.e., the concentration ratio of the reactant vapors. The deposition width is strongly dependent on the deposition temperature used. The deposition of YSZ inside the pores resulted in pore narrowing and eventually pore closure, which was measured by using permpor-ometry. However, deposition of YSZ on top of porous ceramic substrates (outside the pores) did not result in a reduction of the average pore size. Ultrathin, dense YSZ layers on porous ceramic substrates can be obtained by suppressing the EVD layer growth process after pore closure

Goodpasture’s Syndrome with Negative Anti-glomerular Basement Membrane Antibodies

A young male patient with rapidly progressive and life-threatening pulmonary haemorrhage due to anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) antibody disease without renal involvement repeatedly tested negative for serum anti-GBM antibodies. Although rare, antiGBM antibody disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with life-threatening pulmonary haemorrhage due to isolated diffuse alveolar haemorrhage. Enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing for anti-GBM antibodies in anti-GBM antibody disease can give false-negative results. A negative serum anti-GBM antibody test is therefore insufficient to exclude the diagnosis. Thus, a kidney or lung biopsy should be considered in any case with a high clinical suspicion but negative anti-GBM antibody test to confirm or rule out the diagnosis

Localization and electrical characterization of interconnect open defects

A technique for extracting the electrical and topological parameters of open defects in process monitor lines is presented. The procedure is based on frequency-domain measurements performed at both end points of the line. The location as well as the resistive value of the open defect are derived from attenuation and phase shift measurements. The characteristic defect-free impedance of the line and its propagation constant are considered to be unknowns, and their values are also derived from the above measurements. In this way, the impact of process parameter variations on the proposed model is diminished. The experimental setup required to perform the characterization measurements and a simple graphical procedure to determine the defect and line parameters are presented. Experimental results show a good agreement between the predicted location of the open and its real location, found by optical beam induced resistance change inspection. Errors smaller than 2% of the total length of the line have been observed in the experiments.Postprint (published version

Unusual specificity of the androgen receptor in the human prostate tumor cell line LNCaP: High affinity for progestagenic and estrogenic steroids

Abstract LNCaP tumor cells, derived from a metastatic lesion of a human prostatic carcinoma, are androgen-sensitive in cell culture. Although increase in growth rate is observed with low doses of progestagens or estradiol, these cells contain exclusively androgen receptors. In the present study the binding affinity of different ligands for both non-DNA- and DNA-binding (transformed) forms of the androgen receptor were analyzed. The cytosolic (non-transformed) form of the receptor displayed an abnormal high affinity for progestagens and estradiol when compared with the cytosolic androgen receptor from other sources. Subsequently the non-transformed forms of the androgen receptor obtained from LNCaP cell nuclei was studied. A high binding affinity was found not only for dihydrotestosterone, but also for progesterone and the synthetic progestagen R5020 (relative binding affinity 42% and 10% of dihydrotestosterone). The binding characteristics of the transformed androgen receptor were examined in intact cells at 37°C. LNCaP cells were compared in this respect with COS cells containing the cloned human androgen receptor, normal human skin fibroblasts and PC3 (prostate) and NHIK (cervix) human tumor cell lines. The affinity of the transformed androgen receptors for the progestagen R5020 in LNCaP cells was significantly higher than in the other cell systems, although the differences were less pronounced than for the non-transformed receptor form. In conclusion: the LNCaP tumor cells contain an androgen receptor with an abnormal binding site. This might be due to a mutation and/or a post-transcriptional effect

Regulation of androgen receptor mRNA and protein in the rat testis by testosterone

__Abstract__ Adult rats were treated with ethane dimethane sulphonate (EDS), an agent that destroys Leydig cells. Within 5 days after EDS treatment, the levels of testosterone (T) in the circulation and in the testis were decreased to very low values, which makes it possible to manipulate the testicular T concentration through administration of exogenous T. Spermatogenesis was not markedly affected within 5 days after EDS treatment, also not in the absence of T administration. In testes of EDS-treated rats, the androgen receptor mRNA (ARmRNA) level remained unaltered for 5 days. In ventral prostate, however, this treatment caused a pronounced upregulation of the level of ARmRNA, which could be counteracted by implantation of silastic T implants immediately after EDS treatment. In EDS-treated rats carrying a T implant and in untreated rats, the same number of specific [3H]R1881 binding sites was observed using a total testis nuclear fraction (Scatchard analysis). In testes from EDS-treated rats without T implants, androgen receptors (AR) did not fractionate into the nuclear fraction; however, the total testicular AR content in these animals (measured by nuclear [3H]R1881 binding after receptor transformation through injection of a high dose of T, 2 h before killing the rats) remained unaltered. Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting using anti N-terminal antibodies seemed to indicate that the total testicular amount of AR protein in the EDS-treated rats was very low as compared to that in EDS-treated rats carrying T implants and in untreated rats. Even after receptor retransformation (by injection of a high dose of T) the receptors were not quantitatively detected by immunoprecipitation and Western blotting. This may point to a structural modification of the AR that occurs in the prolonged absence of androgens

A Geographically-Restricted but Prevalent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strain Identified in the West Midlands Region of the UK between 1995 and 2008

Background: We describe the identification of, and risk factors for, the single most prevalent Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain in the West Midlands region of the UK.Methodology/Principal Findings: Prospective 15-locus MIRU-VNTR genotyping of all M. tuberculosis isolates in the West Midlands between 2004 and 2008 was undertaken. Two retrospective epidemiological investigations were also undertaken using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis. The first study of all TB patients in the West Midlands between 2004 and 2008 identified a single prevalent strain in each of the study years (total 155/3,056 (5%) isolates). This prevalent MIRU-VNTR profile (32333 2432515314 434443183) remained clustered after typing with an additional 9-loci MIRU-VNTR and spoligotyping. The majority of these patients (122/155, 79%) resided in three major cities located within a 40 km radius. From the apparent geographical restriction, we have named this the "Mercian" strain. A multivariate analysis of all TB patients in the West Midlands identified that infection with a Mercian strain was significantly associated with being UK-born (OR = 9.03, 95% CI = 4.56-17.87, p 65 years old (OR = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.09-0.67, p < 0.01). A second more detailed investigation analyzed a cohort of 82 patients resident in Wolverhampton between 2003 and 2006. A significant association with being born in the UK remained after a multivariate analysis (OR = 9.68, 95% CI = 2.00-46.78, p < 0.01) and excess alcohol intake and cannabis use (OR = 6.26, 95% CI = 1.45-27.02, p = .01) were observed as social risk factors for infection.Conclusions/Significance: The continued consistent presence of the Mercian strain suggests ongoing community transmission. Whilst significant associations have been found, there may be other common risk factors yet to be identified. Future investigations should focus on targeting the relevant risk groups and elucidating the biological factors that mediate continued transmission of this strain

Different paths to the modern state in Europe: the interaction between domestic political economy and interstate competition

Theoretical work on state formation and capacity has focused mostly on early modern Europe and on the experience of western European states during this period. While a number of European states monopolized domestic tax collection and achieved gains in state capacity during the early modern era, for others revenues stagnated or even declined, and these variations motivated alternative hypotheses for determinants of fiscal and state capacity. In this study we test the basic hypotheses in the existing literature making use of the large date set we have compiled for all of the leading states across the continent. We find strong empirical support for two prevailing threads in the literature, arguing respectively that interstate wars and changes in economic structure towards an urbanized economy had positive fiscal impact. Regarding the main point of contention in the theoretical literature, whether it was representative or authoritarian political regimes that facilitated the gains in fiscal capacity, we do not find conclusive evidence that one performed better than the other. Instead, the empirical evidence we have gathered lends supports to the hypothesis that when under pressure of war, the fiscal performance of representative regimes was better in the more urbanized-commercial economies and the fiscal performance of authoritarian regimes was better in rural-agrarian economie

Understanding adherence to reactive treatment of asymptomatic malaria infections in The Gambia.

The impact of different types of reactive case detection and/or treatment strategies for malaria elimination depends on high coverage and participants' adherence. However, strategies to optimise adherence are limited, particularly for people with asymptomatic or no infections. As part of a cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the effect of reactive treatment in The Gambia, all residents in the compound of a diagnosed clinical malaria patient received dihydro-artemisinin-piperaquine (DP). Using a mixed method approach, we assessed which factors contribute to adherence among the contacts of malaria cases that showed no symptoms. Adherence was defined as the proportion of compound members that (1) returned all medicine bags empty and (2) self-reported (3-day) treatment completion. Among the 273 individuals from 14 compounds who received DP, 227 (83.1%) were available for and willing to participate in the survey; 85.3% (233/273) returned empty medicine bags and 91.6% (208/227) self-reported treatment completion. Although clinical malaria was not considered a major health problem, reported adherence was high. The drivers of adherence were the strong sense of responsibility towards protecting the individual, compound and the village. Adherence can be optimised through a transdisciplinary implementation research process of engaging communities to bridge the gap between research goals and social realities

Control of tuberculosis in large cities in developed countries: an organizational problem

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a serious public health issue, even in large cities in developed countries. Control of this old disease is based on complicated programs that require completion of long treatments and contact tracing. In an accompanying research article published in BMC Public Health, Bothamley and colleagues found that areas with a ratio lower than one nurse per forty notifications had increased rates with respect to TB notifications, smear-positive cases, loss to follow-up and treatment abandonment across the UK. Furthermore, in these areas there was less opportunity for directly observed therapy, assistance with complex needs, educational outreach and new-entrant screening. In this commentary, we discuss the importance of improving organizational aspects and evaluating TB control programs. According to Bothamley and colleagues, a ratio of one nurse per forty notifications is an effective method of reducing the high TB incidences observed in London and in other cities in developed countries, or to maintain the decline in incidence in cities with lower incidences. It is crucial to evaluate TB programs every year to detect gaps early

A semi-supervised decision support system to facilitate antibiotic stewardship for urinary tract infections

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are among the most frequently occurring infections in the hospital. Urinalysis and urine culture are the main tools used for diagnosis. Whereas urinalysis is sufficiently sensitive for detecting UTI, it has a relatively low specificity, leading to unnecessary treatment with antibiotics and the risk of increasing antibiotic resistance. We performed an evaluation of the current diagnostic process with an expert-based label for UTI as outcome, retrospectively established using data from the Electronic Health Records. We found that the combination of urinalysis results with the Gram stain and other readily available parameters can be used effectively for predicting UTI. Based on the obtained information, we engineered a clinical decision support system (CDSS) using the reliable semi-supervised ensemble learning (RESSEL) method, and found it to be more accurate than urinalysis or the urine culture for prediction of UTI. The CDSS provides clinicians with this prediction within hours of ordering a culture and thereby enables them to hold off on prematurely prescribing antibiotics for UTI while awaiting the culture results