Concatenation of convolutional and block codes Final report

Comparison of concatenated and sequential decoding systems and convolutional code structural propertie

Deviating from IDSA treatment guidelines for non-purulent skin infections increases the risk of treatment failure in emergency department patients

The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) publishes guidelines regularly for the management of skin and soft tissue infections; however, the extent to which practice patterns follow these guidelines and if this can affect treatment failure rates is unknown. We observed the treatment failure rates from a multicentre retrospective ambulatory cohort of adult emergency department patients treated for a non-purulent skin infection. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the role of IDSA classification and whether adherence to IDSA guidelines reduced treatment failure. A total of 759 ambulatory patients were included in the cohort with 17.4% failing treatment. Among all patients, 56.0% had received treatments matched to the IDSA guidelines with 29.1% over-treated, and 14.9% under-treated based on the guidelines. After adjustment for age, gender, infection location and medical comorbidities, patients with a moderate infection type had three times increased risk of treatment failure (adjusted risk ratio (aRR) 2.98; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-7.74) and two times increased risk with a severe infection type (aRR 2.27; 95% CI 1.25-4.13) compared with mild infection types. Patients who were under-treated based on IDSA guidelines were over two times more likely to fail treatment (aRR 2.65; 95% CI 1.16-6.05) while over-treatment was not associated with treatment failure. Patients 70 years of age had a 56% increased risk of treatment failure (aRR 1.56; 95% CI 1.04-2.33) compared with those \u3c 70 years. Following the IDSA guidelines for non-purulent SSTIs may reduce the treatment failure rates; however, older adults still carry an increased risk of treatment failure

A Family of Putative Receptor-Adenylate Cyclases from Leishmania donovani

Leishmania parasites are exposed to pronounced changes in their environment during their life cycle as they migrate from the sandfly midgut to the insect proboscis and then into the phagolysosomes of the vertebrate macrophages. The developmental transformations that produce each life cycle stage of the parasite may be signaled in part by binding of environmental ligands to receptors which mediate transduction of extracellular signals. We have identified a family of five clustered genes in Leishmania donovani which may encode signal transduction receptors. The coding regions of two of these genes, designated rac-A and rac-B, have been sequenced and shown to code for proteins with an NH2-terminal hydrophilic domain, an intervening putative transmembrane segment, and a COOH-terminal domain that has high sequence identity to the catalytic domain from adenylate cyclases in other eukaryotes. We have expressed the receptor-adenylate cyclase protein (RAC)-A protein in Xenopus oocytes and demonstrated that it functions as an adenylate cyclase. Although RAC-B exhibits no catalytic activity when expressed in oocytes, co-expression of RAC-A and RAC-B negatively regulates the adenylate cyclase activity of RAC-A, suggesting that these two proteins interact in the membrane. Furthermore, a truncated version of RAC-A functions as a dominant negative mutant that inhibits the catalytic activity of the wild type receptor. The rac-A and rac-B genes encode developmentally regulated mRNAs which are expressed in the insect stage but not in the mammalian host stage of the parasite life cycle

Irrigation cutoff on 'BRS Clara' seedless grapevines during berry ripening stage.

The seedless table grape cultivar 'BRS Clara' (Vitis vinifera L.) presents yellowish-green berries and was developed for growing in tropical regions. In Brazilian tropical areas irrigation is usually an essential tool. Irrigation cutoff during berry ripening stage is sometimes adopted by grape growers to reduce water application and to increase water use efficiency. This study aimed to evaluate the response of 'BRS Clara' grapevines to irrigation cutoff during ripening stage. The experiment was carried out in Jales, SP, Brazil (20º16'S, 50º33'W, 483m), from June to October 2010, using ?BRS Clara? plants grafted on ?IAC-572? and conducted in a overhead trellis system. The vineyard was irrigated by microsprinklers and covered with polyethylene screen, that is a common practice in the region to protect the grapes against bat and bird attacks. The soil moisture conditions were monitored employing tensiometers installed at 15 cm and 45 cm deep. The experimental design was completely randomized with two treatments, with irrigation (CI) and without irrigation (SI) during fruit ripening. Production and fruit quality variables were evaluated including berry and bunch mass, yield per plant, diameter and length of berries, soluble solids and titratable acidity. There was no difference between treatments for all parameters evaluated. In irrigation treatment (CI) it was applied 41.9 mm during the ripening period, representing 16.1% of total irrigation. The soil water potential in the CI treatment stayed near field capacity, whereas the treatment without irrigation (SI) showed a decrease trend during part of the period, reaching values closed to 70kPa. This reduction did not affect subsequent culture performance. It must be considered, however, that rainfall occurrence was registered since the last week of September and during October, rewetting the soil and approaching the soil water potential values in both treatments.Resumo expandido apresentado no 18º Simpósio Internacional GiESCO, 7 a 11 de julho de 2013, Porto