784 research outputs found
Design-for-test structure to facilitate test vector application with low performance loss in non-test mode.
A switching based circuit is described which allows application of voltage test vectors to internal nodes of a chip without the problem of backdriving. The new circuit has low impact on the performance of an analogue circuit in terms of loss of bandwidth and allows simple application of analogue test voltages into internal nodes. The circuit described facilitates implementation of the forthcoming IEEE 1149.4 DfT philosophy [1]
Self-assembling nanoparticles containing dexamethasone as a novel therapy in allergic airways inflammation.
Nanocarriers can deliver a wide variety of drugs, target them to sites of interest, and protect them from degradation and inactivation by the body. They have the capacity to improve drug action and decrease undesirable systemic effects. We have previously developed a well-defined non-toxic PEG-dendritic block telodendrimer for successful delivery of chemotherapeutics agents and, in these studies, we apply this technology for therapeutic development in asthma. In these proof-of-concept experiments, we hypothesized that dexamethasone contained in self-assembling nanoparticles (Dex-NP) and delivered systemically would target the lung and decrease allergic lung inflammation and airways hyper-responsiveness to a greater degree than equivalent doses of dexamethasone (Dex) alone. We found that ovalbumin (Ova)-exposed mice treated with Dex-NP had significantly fewer total cells (2.78 ± 0.44 à 10(5) (n = 18) vs. 5.98 ± 1.3 à 10(5) (n = 13), P<0.05) and eosinophils (1.09 ± 0.28 à 10(5) (n = 18) vs. 2.94 ± 0.6 à 10(5) (n = 12), p<0.05) in the lung lavage than Ova-exposed mice alone. Also, lower levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-4 (3.43 ± 1.2 (n = 11) vs. 8.56 ± 2.1 (n = 8) pg/ml, p<0.05) and MCP-1 (13.1 ± 3.6 (n = 8) vs. 28.8 ± 8.7 (n = 10) pg/ml, p<0.05) were found in lungs of the Dex-NP compared to control, and they were not lower in the Dex alone group. In addition, respiratory system resistance was lower in the Dex-NP compared to the other Ova-exposed groups suggesting a better therapeutic effect on airways hyperresponsiveness. Taken together, these findings from early-stage drug development studies suggest that the encapsulation and protection of anti-inflammatory agents such as corticosteroids in nanoparticle formulations can improve efficacy. Further development of novel drugs in nanoparticles is warranted to explore potential treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma
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Sexually transmitted infections (STI) in men who have sex with men (MSM)
The impact of increasingly efficient antiretroviral therapy (ART) on survival and general well-being has contributed to a "business as usual" attitude to sex among men who have sex with men (MSM). There has been a recent marked increase of sexually transmitted infections (STI) including syphilis, LGV and Hepatits C among MSM. STIs located in the oral cavity or rectum are asymptomatic in over 80% and 50%, respectively and these sites must be seen as important reservoirs. On the other hand severe proctitis may be mistreated as inflammatory bowel disease without adequate medical history and testing. Due to the reappearance of syphilis, all genital ulcers, non-itching exanthema and severe disease symptoms (e.g. fever, fatigue, lymphadenopathy, hepato-splenomegaly, increased liver enzymes, neurological and ophthalmologic symptoms without other explanations) should lead to testing for syphilis. There is a marked association between STIs and HIV. Syphilis, LGV and Hepatits C are strongly overrepresented in HIV positive MSM, while gonorrhoea, LGV and syphilis increase the HIV susceptibility. Syphilis leads to increased viral load in HIV positive. The major risk factors for Hepatitis B are number of sex partners and receptive anal intercourse. High grade Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) anal lesions can progress to cancer. There is a 30 fold increase risk for anal cancer among MSM, a risk that is doubled in HIV infection, making anal cancer one of the most common non-AIDS tumors. All MSM should be offered Hepatitis A and B vaccination and the inclusion of boys in HPV vaccination programs must be considered. The aim of this article is to describe asymptomatic and symptomatic bacterial and viral STIs of the oral cavity, penis/urethra and rectum and the sexually transmittable viral Hepatitis and HIV in MSM and to inspire the medical establishment to adhere to testing guidelines in this group. This article is built on a review of published findings, the presentation of own data on Gonorrhoea and chlamydia and our own experience in treating all STIs including HIV in MSM since 1982 at a Gay Men's Health Clinic (VenhÀlsan) at Stockholm South General Hospital, Sweden
Nucleon Electromagnetic Form Factors from Lattice QCD using 2+1 Flavor Domain Wall Fermions on Fine Lattices and Chiral Perturbation Theory
We present a high-statistics calculation of nucleon electromagnetic form
factors in lattice QCD using domain wall quarks on fine lattices, to
attain a new level of precision in systematic and statistical errors. Our
calculations use lattices with lattice spacing a=0.084 fm for
pion masses of 297, 355, and 403 MeV, and we perform an overdetermined analysis
using on the order of 3600 to 7000 measurements to calculate nucleon electric
and magnetic form factors up to 1.05 GeV. Results are shown
to be consistent with those obtained using valence domain wall quarks with
improved staggered sea quarks, and using coarse domain wall lattices. We
determine the isovector Dirac radius , Pauli radius and
anomalous magnetic moment . We also determine connected contributions
to the corresponding isoscalar observables. We extrapolate these observables to
the physical pion mass using two different formulations of two-flavor chiral
effective field theory at one loop: the heavy baryon Small Scale Expansion
(SSE) and covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory. The isovector results
and the connected contributions to the isoscalar results are compared with
experiment, and the need for calculations at smaller pion masses is discussed.Comment: 44 pages, 40 figure
Nucleon structure from mixed action calculations using 2+1 flavors of asqtad sea and domain wall valence fermions
We present high statistics results for the structure of the nucleon from a
mixed-action calculation using 2+1 flavors of asqtad sea and domain wall
valence fermions. We perform extrapolations of our data based on different
chiral effective field theory schemes and compare our results with available
information from phenomenology. We discuss vector and axial form factors of the
nucleon, moments of generalized parton distributions, including moments of
forward parton distributions, and implications for the decomposition of the
nucleon spin.Comment: 68 pages, 47 figures. Main revision points: improved discussion of
chiral fits and systematic uncertainties, several minor refinements. Accepted
for publication in Phys.Rev.
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Lipoatrophy of the footpad in HIV-treated patients is associated with increased PAI-1
Purpose: To describe lipoatrophy of the plantar pedis fat pads in HIV patients with or without long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART); to compare the characteristics of ART patients with and without plantar pedis lipoatrophy; and to examine the effects of HIV and metabolic/cardiovascular risk parameters and treatment history on plantar pedis lipoatrophy.
Design: One hundred and thirty four patients who started PI-ART in 1996 and 49 treatment naĂŻve patients, recruited 2004, were examined and graded for lipoatrophy of five body compartments including the plantar fat pads eight years after start of ART. Baseline HIV- and ART-related factors were documented together with follow up metabolic/cardiovascular risk parameters.
Results: Plantar pedis lipoatrophy occurred more often among ART patients (60%) than among treatment naĂŻve patients (12%; p <0.001). ART patients with plantar lipoatrophy were older, had higher PAI-1 values, a higher prevalence of lipoatrophy in other body compartments, and longer stavudine and didanosine treatment history as compared to patients without plantar lipoatrophy. In multiple logistic regression, the best predictive model for plantar lipoatrophy was increased PAI-1 when HIV and metabolic/cardiovascular risk parameters were studied and treatment with didanosine when treatment history was studied. Increased PAI-1 was not associated to lioatrophy in any other location.
Conclusions: Plantar lipoatrophy is common among patients on long-term ART and, although often overlooked, may cause significant discomfort. The association to PAI-1, a well known marker of increased cardiovascular risk, is intriguing and further focuses on the need of an active approach to evaluating and lowering cardiovascular risk factors in long-term HIV treatment
Quantitative basic residue requirements in the cleavage-activation site of the fusion glycoprotein as a determinant of virulence for Newcastle disease virus
Newcastle disease virus exhibits a wide range of pathogenicity and virulence which, as with all paramyxoviruses, is directly related to the cleavability of a precursor (F0) of the fusion glycoprotein by cellular proteases. Sequence analyses of the cleavage site of several virulent and avirulent isolates of the Newcastle disease virus serotype reveal a correlation between virulence or pathogenicity and a high content of basic amino acid residues at the cleavage site. A similar correlation has been seen for other paramyxoviruses
Nucleon Generalized Parton Distributions from Full Lattice QCD
We present a comprehensive study of the lowest moments of nucleon generalized
parton distributions in N_f=2+1 lattice QCD using domain wall valence quarks
and improved staggered sea quarks. Our investigation includes helicity
dependent and independent generalized parton distributions for pion masses as
low as 350 MeV and volumes as large as (3.5 fm)^3, for a lattice spacing of
0.124 fm. We use perturbative renormalization at one-loop level with an
improvement based on the non-perturbative renormalization factor for the axial
vector current, and only connected diagrams are included in the isosinglet
channel.Comment: 40 pages, 49 figures; Revised chiral extrapolations in sections A-K,
main conclusions unchange
Brane universes tested by supernovae
We discuss observational constrains coming from supernovae Ia
\cite{Perlmutter99} imposed on the behaviour of the Randall-Sundrum models. In
the case of dust matter on the brane, the difference between the best-fit
general relativistic model with a -term \cite{Perlmutter99} and the
best-fit brane models becomes detectable for redshifts . It is
interesting that brane models predict brighter galaxies for such redshifts
which is in agreement with the measurement of the supernova
\cite{Riess01} and with the New Data from the High Z Supernovae Search Team
\cite{schmit02}. We also demonstrate that the fit to supernovae data can also
be obtained, if we admit the "super-negative" dark energy
on the brane, where the dark energy in a way mimics the influence of the
cosmological constant. It also appears that the dark energy enlarges the age of
the universe which is demanded in cosmology. Finally, we propose to check for
dark radiation and brane tension by the application of the angular diameter of
galaxies minimum value test.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX4, amended versio
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