Escherichia coli of sequence type 3835 carrying blaNDM-1, blaCTX-M-15, blaCMY-42 and blaSHV-12

New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) represents a serious challenge for treatment and public health. A carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli clinical strain WCHEC13-8 was subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests, whole genome sequencing and conjugation experiments. It was resistant to imipenem (MIC, >256 μg/ml) and meropenem (MIC, 128 μg/ml) and belonged to ST3835. blaNDM-1 was the only carbapenemase gene detected. Strain WCHEC13-8 also had a plasmid-borne AmpC gene (blaCMY-42) and two extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes (blaCTX-M-15 and blaSHV-12). blaNDM-1 and blaSHV-12 were carried by a 54-kb IncX3 self-transmissible plasmid, which is identical to plasmid pNDM-HF727 from Enterobacter cloacae. blaCMY-42 was carried by a 64-kb IncI1 plasmid and blaCTX-M-15 was located on a 141-kb plasmid with multiple F replicons (replicon type: F36:A4:B1). blaCMY-42 was in a complicated context and the mobilisation of blaCMY-42 was due to the transposition of IS Ecp1 by misidentifying its right-end boundary. Genetic context of blaNDM-1 in strain WCHEC13-8 was closely related to those on IncX3 plasmids in various Enterobacteriaceae species in China. In conclusion, a multidrug-resistant ST3835 E. coli clinical strain carrying blaNDM-1, blaCTX-M-15, blaCMY-42 and blaSHV-12 was identified. IncX3 plasmids may be making a significant contribution to the dissemination of blaNDM among Enterobacteriaceae in China

Protein Structure Prediction: The Next Generation

Over the last 10-15 years a general understanding of the chemical reaction of protein folding has emerged from statistical mechanics. The lessons learned from protein folding kinetics based on energy landscape ideas have benefited protein structure prediction, in particular the development of coarse grained models. We survey results from blind structure prediction. We explore how second generation prediction energy functions can be developed by introducing information from an ensemble of previously simulated structures. This procedure relies on the assumption of a funnelled energy landscape keeping with the principle of minimal frustration. First generation simulated structures provide an improved input for associative memory energy functions in comparison to the experimental protein structures chosen on the basis of sequence alignment

Is There Only One Solution of the Dyson-Schwinger Equation for Quark Propagator in the Case of Non-zero Current Quark Mass

In this letter it is shown on general ground that there exist two qualitatively distinct solutions of the Dyson-Schwinger equation for the quark propagator in the case of non-zero current quark mass. One solution corresponds to the ``Nambu-Goldstone'' phase and the other one corresponds to the ``Wigner'' phase in the chiral limit.Comment: 7 page

Hybrid Chaplygin gas and phantom divide crossing

Hybrid Chaplygin gas model is put forward, in which the gases play the role of dark energy. For this model the coincidence problem is greatly alleviated. The effective equation of state of the dark energy may cross the phantom divide $w=-1$. Furthermore, the crossing behaviour is decoupled from any gravity theories. In the present model, $w<-1$ is only a transient behaviour. There is a de Sitter attractor in the future infinity. Hence, the big rip singularity, which often afflicts the models with matter whose effective equation of state less than -1, is naturally disappear. There exist stable scaling solutions, both at the early universe and the late universe. We discuss the perturbation growth of this model. We find that the index is consistent with observations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, V3: discussions on the perturbation growth added, V4: minor corrections, to match the published versio

WKB Wave Functions with the Induced Gravity Theory

The Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the induced gravity theory is constructed in the minisuperspace approximation, and then solved using the WKB method under three types of boundary condition proposed respectively by Hartle & Hawking (``no boundary''), Linde and Vilenkin (``tunneling from nothing''). It is found that no matter how the gravitational and cosmological ``constants'' vary in the classical models, they will acquire constant values when the universe comes from quantum creation, and that, in particular, the resulting tunneling wave function under the Linde or Vilenkin boundary condition reaches its maximum value if the cosmological constant vanishes.Comment: 10 pages, no figure, LaTex fil

Preparing Teacher Candidates to Address Academic Language for the edTPA: A Collaborative Teacher Educator’s Self Study

One of the more challenging skills that preservice teachers will need to master in order to pass the edTPA–the new performance-based assessment that measures teacher candidates’ readiness to teach–is academic language. Academic language consists of several components- vocabulary, functions, discourse, and syntax, and in order to successfully complete the edTPA tasks, teacher candidates will need to be able to demonstrate how they will plan the opportunities (functions) for students to use language (vocabulary, syntax, and discourse) in their learning activities. The presenters–teacher educators who have piloted edTPA in clinical settings–will help participants better understand the components of academic language and will demonstrate strategies (in language arts, science, math, and social studies) that will support the effective use of academic language in their candidates’ learning activities

Double scaffold networks regulate edible Pickering emulsion gel for designing thermally actuated 4D printing

3D and 4D printing of emulsion gels can be achieved by controlling the continuous phase and the interface. Edible high internal phase water-in-oil Pickering emulsion gels (PEGs) with a tunable double scaffold network structure are designed and prepared by food-grade phytosterol nanoparticles (PPs). In PEGs, PPs through hydrogen bonding enable binding of emulsion droplets to form the first scaffold network, giving PEGs high viscoelasticity for 3D printing. In the continuous oil phase, palm kernel stearin (PKST) can crystallize forming the second scaffold network of crystals to reinforce 3D printed objects of PEGs. The PEG can be used as a biocompatible template to engineer edible and rigid porous materials with adjustable strength and pore size depending on the degree of curing. 4D printing of PEGs is achieved by the thermal response of the PKST crystal network, leading to the unlimited potential of highly biocompatible PEGs in many applications

Numerical framework for transcritical real-fluid reacting flow simulations using the flamelet progress variable approach

An extension to the classical FPV model is developed for transcritical real-fluid combustion simulations in the context of finite volume, fully compressible, explicit solvers. A double-flux model is developed for transcritical flows to eliminate the spurious pressure oscillations. A hybrid scheme with entropy-stable flux correction is formulated to robustly represent large density ratios. The thermodynamics for ideal-gas values is modeled by a linearized specific heat ratio model. Parameters needed for the cubic EoS are pre-tabulated for the evaluation of departure functions and a quadratic expression is used to recover the attraction parameter. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the ability to account for pressure and temperature variations from the baseline table. Cryogenic LOX/GH2 mixing and reacting cases are performed to demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach in multidimensional simulations. The proposed combustion model and numerical schemes are directly applicable for LES simulations of real applications under transcritical conditions.Comment: 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Dallas, T

Complementary Constraints on Brane Cosmology

The acceleration of the expansion of the universe represents one of the major challenges to our current understanding of fundamental physics. In principle, to explain this phenomenon, at least two different routes may be followed: either adjusting the energy content of the Universe -- by introducing a negative-pressure dark energy -- or modifying gravity at very large scales -- by introducing new spatial dimensions, an idea also required by unification theories. In the cosmological context, the role of such extra dimensions as the source of the dark pressure responsable for the acceleration of our Universe is translated into the so-called brane world (BW) cosmologies. Here we study complementary constraints on a particular class of BW scenarios in which the modification of gravity arises due to a gravitational \emph{leakage} into extra dimensions. To this end, we use the most recent Chandra measurements of the X-ray gas mass fraction in galaxy clusters, the WMAP determinations of the baryon density parameter, measurements of the Hubble parameter from the \emph{HST}, and the current supernova data. In agreement with other recent results, it is shown that these models provide a good description for these complementary data, although a closed scenario is always favored in the joint analysis. We emphasize that observational tests of BW scenarios constitute a natural verification of the role of possible extra dimensions in both fundamental physics and cosmology.Comment: 6 Pages, 4 Figures, LaTe

The Calculation of Vacuum Properties from the Global Color Symmetry Model

A modified method for calculating the non-perturbative quark vacuum condensates from the global color symmetry model is derived. Within this approach it is shown that the vacuum condensates are free of ultraviolet divergence which is different from previous studies. As a special, the two-quark condensate and the mixed quark-gluon condensate are calculated. A comparision with the results of the other nonperturbative QCD approaches is given.Comment: 17 page