127 research outputs found

    Carbonization over PFA-protected dispersed platinum: An effective route to synthesize high performance mesoporous-carbon supported Pt electrocatalysts

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    An alternative and effective route of synthesizing mesoporous carbon supported Pt nanoparticles is introduced. In reverse order to the conventional synthetic route, carbonization occurs after dispersion of platinum. In this process, H2PtCl6 acts as a Pt source and also serves as a catalyst for the polymerization of furfuryl alcohol (FA). The polymerized FA around the H2PtCl6 nanoparticles functions as a protecting agent and prevents the growth of Pt nanoparticles in the later high temperature carbonization step. The resulting Pt nanoparticles are highly dispersed in the mesoporous carbon structure, CMK3, and give a much higher methanol oxidation current when compared with Pt/CMK3 electrocatalysts prepared via the conventional route. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011.postprin

    A Systematic Review of Recreation Therapy for Depression in Older Adults

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    Background: Recreation therapy (RT) provides a flexible and powerful treatment for depression associated with aging. This article reviewed the effectiveness of RT to treat depression in older adults. Method: Five electronic databases were employed to identify interventional studies on RT in depressed older adults: Pubmed, PsycINFO, ProQuest, Academic Search Premier and ERIC. Articles were screened against inclusion criteria and assessed with respect to methodological quality. Results: A systematic literature review included 18 articles. Fourteen studies reported improvement in depression but 6 studies lack adequate significance in the positive effect of RT. Methodological quality assessment of 13 randomizedcontrolled trials and 5 non-controlled studies indicated an overall mean of 5.67 ± 1.94 points out of 9. Conclusion: There were positive findings that RT is effective in improving geriatric depression. Future investigation is encouraged to explore the mechanism between physical activity RT and depression improvement

    Peripartum tuberculosis as a form of immunorestitution disease

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    The aim of this study was to assess the clinical spectrum of peripartum tuberculosis from the perspective of immunorestitution disease. Of 29 patients with peripartum tuberculosis, 27 (93.1%) had extrapulmonary tuberculosis, 20 (69%) of whom were affected in the central nervous system. Twenty-two (75.9%) patients had no clinical features suggestive of tuberculosis during pregnancy. The median time from delivery to the onset of immunorestitution was 4 days, but treatment with antituberculous therapy was delayed for a median time of 27 days after the onset of symptoms. Despite therapy, 11 (38%) patients died and 4 (13.8%) had residual functional deficits. Peripartum tuberculosis is an important differential diagnosis of postpartum fever (of unknown origin) without localized signs.postprin

    A brief group intervention using a cognitive-behavioural approach to reduce postnatal depressive symptoms: a randomised controlled trial

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    Key Messages: 1. Postnatal women preferred psychotherapy to pharmacotherapy for reduction of postnatal depression. ; 2. A brief, cognitive-behavioural, group intervention with 6 weekly sessions significantly reduced depressive symptoms and was well received by postnatal women. ; 3. This brief group intervention could be further tested as an integral part of postnatal care to complement existing services and reduce waiting time

    Mesoporous lithium titanate - carbon composite with controlled microstructure

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    Session: Lithium-Ion Battery: Anode 10 - Miscellaneous Systems: abstract no. 1148The Conference abstracts' website is located at https://ecs.confex.com/ecs/224/webprogram/Paper24169.htmlLithium titanate, particularly Li4Ti5O12 has attracted a great deal of attention recently as a promising anode material for lithium secondary batteries. [1-2] The high discharge rate performance is limited by the low electronic conductivity of the material (< 10-11 Sm-1), addition of carbon is one of the effective way in enhancing the rate performance. [3] In this study, carbon with hollow core and mesoporous shells of controlled dimensions were …postprin

    Clinical and molecular epidemiological features of coronavirus HKU1-associated community-acquired pneumonia

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    Background. Recently, we described the discovery of a novel group 2 coronavirus, coronavirus HKU1 (CoV-HKU1), from a patient with pneumonia. However, the clinical and molecular epidemiological features of CoV-HKU1-associated pneumonia are unknown. Methods. Prospectively collected (during a 12-month period) nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) from patients with community-acquired pneumonia from 4 hospitals were subjected to reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, for detection of CoV-HKU1. The epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of patients with CoV-HKU1-associated pneumonia were analyzed. The pol, spike (S), and nucleocapsid (N) genes were also sequenced. Results. NPAs from 10 (2.4%) of 418 patients with community-acquired pneumonia were found to be positive for CoV-HKU1. All 10 cases occurred in spring and winter. Nine of these patients were adults, and 4 had underlying diseases of the respiratory tract. In the 6 patients from whom serum samples were available, all had a 4-fold change in immunoglobulin (Ig) G titer and/or presence of IgM against CoV-HKU1. The 2 patients who died had significantly lower hemoglobin levels, monocyte counts, albumin levels, and oxygen saturation levels on admission and had more-extensive involvement visible on chest radiographs. Sequence analysis of the pol, S, and N genes revealed 2 genotypes of CoV-HKU1. Conclusions. CoV-HKU1 accounts for 2.4% of community-acquired pneumonia, with 2 genotypes in the study population. Without performance of diagnostic tests, the illness was clinically indistinguishable from other community-acquired pneumonia illnesses. © 2005 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

    Development of a multi-locus sequence typing scheme for Laribacter hongkongensis, a novel bacterium associated with freshwater fish-borne gastroenteritis and traveler's diarrhea

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Laribacter hongkongensis is a newly discovered, facultative anaerobic, Gram-negative, motile, sea gull-shaped rod associated with freshwater fish borne gastroenteritis and traveler's diarrhea. A highly reproducible and discriminative typing system is essential for better understanding of the epidemiology of <it>L. hongkongensis</it>. In this study, a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) system was developed for <it>L. hongkongensis</it>. The system was used to characterize 146 <it>L. hongkongensis </it>isolates, including 39 from humans and 107 from fish.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fragments (362 to 504 bp) of seven housekeeping genes were amplified and sequenced. Among the 3068 bp of the seven loci, 332 polymorphic sites were observed. The median number of alleles at each locus was 34 [range 22 (<it>ilvC</it>) to 45 (<it>thiC</it>)]. All seven genes showed very low <it>d</it><sub><it>n</it></sub>/<it>d</it><sub><it>s </it></sub>ratios of < 0.04, indicating that no strong positive selective pressure is present. A total of 97 different sequence types (STs) were assigned to the 146 isolates, with 80 STs identified only once. The overall discriminatory power was 0.9861. eBURST grouped the isolates into 12 lineages, with six groups containing only isolates from fish and three groups only isolates from humans. Standardized index of association (<it>I</it><sup><it>S</it></sup><sub><it>A</it></sub>) measurement showed significant linkage disequilibrium in isolates from both humans and fish. The <it>I</it><sup><it>S</it></sup><sub><it>A </it></sub>for the isolates from humans and fish were 0.270 and 0.636, indicating the isolates from fish were more clonal than the isolates from humans. Only one interconnected network (<it>acnB</it>) was detected in the split graphs. The P-value (P = 0) of sum of the squares of condensed fragments in Sawyer's test showed evidence of intragenic recombination in the <it>rho, acnB </it>and <it>thiC </it>loci, but the P-value (P = 1) of maximum condensed fragment in these gene loci did not show evidence of intragenic recombination. Congruence analysis showed that all the pairwise comparisons of the 7 MLST loci were incongruent, indicating that recombination played a substantial role in the evolution of <it>L. hongkongensis</it>. A website for <it>L. hongkongensis </it>MLST was set up and can be accessed at <url>http://mlstdb.hku.hk:14206/MLST_index.html</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A highly reproducible and discriminative MLST system was developed for <it>L. hongkongensis</it>.</p
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