We assessed the association between diabetes mellitus and drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Among new patients, diabetes was significantly associated with any resistance to isoniazid excluding ...multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB; adjusted OR aOR 1.88, 95%CI 1.07-3.31), but not with
MDR-TB (aOR 0.95, 95%CI 0.34-2.68). Among previously treated patients, diabetes was also significantly associated with INH resistance (aOR 6.76, 95%CI 1.53-29.98) but not with MDR-TB (aOR 1.52, 95%CI 0.59-3.95). We concluded that diabetes was associated with INH resistance
and speculated that the sample size of retreatment cases was insufficient to confirm the association between diabetes and MDR-TB.
The first result of the pp2pp experiment at RHIC on elastic scattering of polarized protons at s=200 GeV is reported here. The exponential slope parameter b of the diffractive peak of the elastic ...cross section in the t range 0.010⩽|t|⩽0.019 (GeV/c)2 was measured to be b=16.3±1.6(stat.)±0.9(syst.) (GeV/c)−2.
The effects due to elevated temperatures on the surface plasmon (SP) at a metal–semiconductor interface are studied both experimentally and theoretically. In particular, a junction made of silver and ...amorphous silicon is fabricated and the interfacial plasmon is excited optically via the Kretschmann geometry. Both the reflectance and phase monitoring of the response of the junction have been studied as a function of temperature from 300 K to 380 K. Theoretical simulations have been carried out to understand the observed data, using a previously established model for the temperature-dependent optical constants of the metal, together with empirically fitted data for those of the semiconductor. Reasonable qualitative comparison between experimental data and simulation is obtained. It is found that the strength of the SP at the junction will decrease as temperature increases, and the methodology of the present experiment may provide a way to quantify such a decrease in the operation efficiency of the junction. In addition, it is shown that, by monitoring the resonance angle, such a junction may act as a temperature sensor with sensitivity possibly higher than the previous ones which employed a bare metal film in the Kretschmann geometry.
Prion diseases are induced by pathologically misfolded prion protein (PrPSc), which recruit normal sialoglycoprotein PrPC by a template-directed process. In this study, we investigated the expression ...of PrPC in a rat model of cerebral ischemia to more fully understand its physiological role. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that PrPC-immunoreactive cells increased significantly in the penumbra of ischemic rat brain compared with the untreated brain. Western blot analysis showed that PrPC protein expression increased in ischemic brain tissue in a time-dependent manner. In addition, PrPC protein expression was seen to colocalize with neuron, glial, and vascular endothelial cells in the penumbric region of the ischemic brain. Overexpression of PrPC by injection of rAd (replication-defective recombinant adenoviral)-PGK (phosphoglycerate kinase)-PrPC-Flag into ischemic rat brain improved neurological behavior and reduced the volume of cerebral infarction, which is supportive of a role for PrPC in the neuroprotective adaptive cellular response to ischemic lesions. Concomitant upregulation of PrPC and activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) under hypoxia-reoxygenation in primary cortical cultures was shown to be dependent on ERK1/2 phosphorylation. During hypoxia-reoxygenation, mouse neuroblastoma cell line N18 cells transfected with luciferase rat PrPC promoter reporter constructs, containing the heat shock element (HSE), expressed higher luciferase activities (3- to 10-fold) than those cells transfected with constructs not containing HSE. We propose that HSTF-1 (hypoxia-activated transcription factor), phosphorylated by ERK1/2, may in turn interact with HSE in the promoter of PrPC resulting in gene expression of the prion gene. In summary, we conclude that upregulation of PrPC expression after cerebral ischemia and hypoxia exerts a neuroprotective effect on injured neural tissue. This study suggests that PrPC has physiological relevance to cerebral ischemic injury and could be useful as a therapeutic target for the treatment of cerebral ischemia.
BACKGROUND: In Taiwan, an area with a very low incidence of cystic fibrosis (CF), we first screened for the most common mutations of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) ...gene and looked for clinical correlations in 27 patients with clinically diagnosed congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD). METHODS AND RESULTS: The clinical results showed that none of the 27 patients had CF symptoms. We did not detect any definite renal anomaly ultrasonographically. Mutation analysis was carried out on these 27 cases and 46 normal fertile males as controls. No mutations of ΔF508 or R117H were identified in any of the samples analysed. In the screening of IVS8‐poly T, five of the 27 CBAVD patients showed the homozygous genotype for 5T/5T, 14 showed the heterozygous genotype for 5T/7T and eight showed the homozygous genotype for 7T/7T. The frequency of 5T alleles was 44.4%, which was significantly higher than in the 46 normal fertile males, for which there was a 5T frequency of 5.4%. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of major mutations of CFTR genes could be related to the much lower CF incidence in Taiwan. Further investigations into differences in the mutation spectrum of other CFTR genes are needed for a better understanding of the development of Taiwanese‐Oriental CBAVD.
In advanced fabrication technology, the sub-wavelength lithography gap causes unwanted layout distortions. Even if a layout passes design rule checking (DRC), it still might contain process hotspots, ...which are sensitive to the lithographic process. Hence, process-hotspot detection has become a crucial issue. In this paper, we propose an accurate process-hotspot detection framework. Unlike existing DRC-based works, we extract only critical design rules to express the topological features of hotspot patterns. We adopt a two-stage filtering process to locate all hotspots accurately and efficiently. Compared with state-of-the-art DRC-based works, our results show that our approach can reach 100% success rate with significant speedups.
Inactivation of
E
scherichia
coli and
B
acillus
subtilis using the jet region of a parallel-plate air dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) driven by a distorted sinusoidal voltage power supply under ...atmospheric-pressure condition is reported. Various types of working gases, including pure N
2, pure O
2, and compressed air, were tested. Discharges were characterized electrically by measuring the discharge current, applied voltage and absorbed power, and optically by measuring the optical emission spectra in the UV–visible range and absorption spectra in the IR range. Results of survival rate show that both
E. coli and
B. subtilis cells (up to 10
7
CFU/mL) can be effectively inactivated using less than 18 passes (1.8
s of residence time in total) of exposure to the post-discharge jet region of compressed air and oxygen discharges at different treating distances in the range of 4–20
mm. Among these, the compressed-air discharge performs the best in inactivating both two types of the bacterial cells, because of the abundant ozone generation and probably through the assistance of nitrous oxide generated in the discharge. In summary, the post-discharge jet region of an oxygen-contained parallel-plate DBD driven by a distorted sinusoidal voltage power driven is very effective in inactivating both
E. coli and
B. subtilis cells under the present test conditions.
Direct integration of InGaN/sapphire LED with a cup-shaped copper heat spreader was proposed for enhancing light extraction and heat dissipation by self-aligned photolithography and copper ...electroforming techniques. Based on optical simulation results, geometric design for a copper heat spreader is crucial to luminous property of an LED chip. An InGaN/sapphire LED embedded with the optimized cup-shaped copper heat spreader was demonstrated to exhibit superior light output power than a conventional LED by a factor of 2.68 times at an injection current of 1 A. Moreover, the power efficiency is remarkably increased from 4.2% to 15.7% at the same driven current. The improved device performance can be attributed to both of the enhanced light extraction of the laterally emitted light from an LED chip and efficient heat dissipation by the highly reflective and excellently thermal conductive copper heat spreader. These results suggest an efficient alternative simultaneously with two functions of thermal management and light extraction for high-power InGaN/sapphire LEDs application from chip to package design.
The feasibility of using thin stillage from a rice-spirit distillery as a substrate for the production of acid protease by
Aspergillus niger was evaluated.
A. niger THA001 was selected from six ...strains. The protease formed was not parallel with mycelial growth and the pattern of product is the type of mixed-growth associated. The optimal initial pH and temperature were determined to be 4 and 30°C, respectively. In order to enhance the formation of acid protease, the composition of stillage medium was modified by adding carbon and nitrogen sources. The addition of soybean oil (4%) caused a twofold increase in enzyme activity in shake flask cultures whereas more additions (6%) caused an inhibitory effect. High surface aeration effectively shortened the lag phase of cell growth in shake flask cultures. Aeration and agitation had a great influence on the production of acid protease. Optimal levels in a jar-fermenter culture were determined to be 1 vvm and 500 rpm. Maximum activity of 200 U ml
−1 was achieved in an 8-day fermenter culture under the optimal conditions.
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