A panel of experts was convened by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) to update the 2010 clinical practice guideline on ...Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in adults. The update, which has incorporated recommendations for children (following the adult recommendations for epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment), includes significant changes in the management of this infection and reflects the evolving controversy over best methods for diagnosis. Clostridium difficile remains the most important cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea and has become the most commonly identified cause of healthcare-associated infection in adults in the United States. Moreover, C. difficile has established itself as an important community pathogen. Although the prevalence of the epidemic and virulent ribotype 027 strain has declined markedly along with overall CDI rates in parts of Europe, it remains one of the most commonly identified strains in the United States where it causes a sizable minority of CDIs, especially healthcare-associated CDIs. This guideline updates recommendations regarding epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, infection prevention, and environmental management.
Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) has been implicated in numerous neurological conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases, multiple sclerosis, and CNS injury. Early studies on the role of TG2 in ...neurodegenerative conditions focused on its ability to 'crosslink' proteins into insoluble aggregates. However, more recent studies have suggested that this is unlikely to be the primary mechanism by which TG2 contributes to the pathogenic processes. Although the specific mechanisms by which TG2 is involved in neurological conditions have not been clearly defined, TG2 regulates numerous cellular processes through which it could contribute to a specific disease. Given the fact that TG2 is a stress-induced gene and elevated in disease or injury conditions, TG2 inhibitors may be useful neurotherapeutics.
Overview of TG2 and different TG2 inhibitors. A brief review of TG2 in neurodegenerative diseases, multiple sclerosis and CNS injury and inhibitors that have been tested in different models. Database search:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
prior to 1 July 2021.
Currently, it appears unlikely that inhibiting TG2 in the context of neurodegenerative diseases would be therapeutically advantageous. However, for multiple sclerosis and CNS injuries, TG2 inhibitors may have the potential to be therapeutically useful and thus there is rationale for their further development.
Halide perovskite solar cells containing a mixture of A-site cations are attracting considerable interest due to their improved stability and high power conversion efficiencies. Ionic transport is ...known to be an important predictor of perovskite behaviour, but the impact of partial A-site substitution on iodide ion diffusion is poorly understood. Here, we combine
ab initio
modelling, impedance spectroscopy and muon spin relaxation to investigate the effect on iodide ion transport of incorporating a low concentration of each of seven different sized cations (from small rubidium to large guanidinium) into methylammonium lead iodide. Experimental and simulation results are in good agreement, indicating that these cation substitutions increase the activation energy for iodide ion diffusion. We show for the first time that partial guanidinium substitution into methylammonium lead iodide strongly suppresses iodide ion transport. The insights gained from this multi-technique study are important for the future design of mixed-cation perovskite solar cells with enhanced performance.
Perovskite solar cells containing a mixture of A-site cations show increased activation energies for iodide diffusion.
At a time of growing concern over the rising costs and long-term environmental impacts of the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, wind energy has become an increasingly important sector of the ...electrical power industry, largely because it has been promoted as being emission-free and is supported by government subsidies and tax credits. However, large numbers of bats are killed at utility-scale wind energy facilities, especially along forested ridgetops in the eastern United States. These fatalities raise important concerns about cumulative impacts of proposed wind energy development on bat populations. This paper summarizes evidence of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in the US, makes projections of cumulative fatalities of bats in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands, identifies research needs, and proposes hypotheses to better inform researchers, developers, decision makers, and other stakeholders, and to help minimize adverse effects of wind energy development.
Sum rules provide useful insights into transition strength functions and are often expressed as expectation values of an operator. In this letter I demonstrate that non-energy-weighted transition sum ...rules have strong secular dependences on the energy of the initial state. Such non-trivial systematics have consequences: the simplification suggested by the generalized Brink–Axel hypothesis, for example, does not hold for most cases, though it weakly holds in at least some cases for electric dipole transitions. Furthermore, I show the systematics can be understood through spectral distribution theory, calculated via traces of operators and of products of operators. Seen through this lens, violation of the generalized Brink–Axel hypothesis is unsurprising: one expects sum rules to evolve with excitation energy. Furthermore, to lowest order the slope of the secular evolution can be traced to a component of the Hamiltonian being positive (repulsive) or negative (attractive).
In a randomized trial, the addition of atezolizumab to carboplatin and etoposide resulted in significantly longer overall survival than carboplatin and etoposide alone (12.3 months vs. 10.3 months).
Linkage maps are an integral resource for dissection of complex genetic traits in plant and animal species. Canonical map construction follows a well-established workflow: an initial discovery phase ...where genetic markers are mined from a small pool of individuals, followed by genotyping of selected mapping populations using sets of marker panels. A newly developed sequence-based marker technology, Restriction site Associated DNA (RAD), enables synchronous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker discovery and genotyping using massively parallel sequencing. The objective of this research was to assess the utility of RAD markers for linkage map construction, employing barley as a model system. Using the published high density EST-based SNP map in the Oregon Wolfe Barley (OWB) mapping population as a reference, we created a RAD map using a limited set of prior markers to establish linakge group identity, integrated the RAD and prior data, and used both maps for detection of quantitative trait loci (QTL).
Using the RAD protocol in tandem with the Illumina sequence by synthesis platform, a total of 530 SNP markers were identified from initial scans of the OWB parental inbred lines--the "dominant" and "recessive" marker stocks--and scored in a 93 member doubled haploid (DH) mapping population. RAD sequence data from the structured population was converted into allele genotypes from which a genetic map was constructed. The assembled RAD-only map consists of 445 markers with an average interval length of 5 cM, while an integrated map includes 463 RAD loci and 2383 prior markers. Sequenced RAD markers are distributed across all seven chromosomes, with polymorphic loci emanating from both coding and noncoding regions in the Hordeum genome. Total map lengths are comparable and the order of common markers is identical in both maps. The same large-effect QTL for reproductive fitness traits were detected with both maps and the majority of these QTL were coincident with a dwarfing gene (ZEO) and the VRS1 gene, which determines the two-row and six-row germplasm groups of barley.
We demonstrate how sequenced RAD markers can be leveraged to produce high quality linkage maps for detection of single gene loci and QTLs. By combining SNP discovery and genotyping into parallel sequencing events, RAD markers should be a useful molecular breeding tool for a range of crop species. Expected improvements in cost and throughput of second and third-generation sequencing technologies will enable more powerful applications of the sequenced RAD marker system, including improvements in de novo genome assembly, development of ultra-high density genetic maps and association mapping.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Health physics workforce in the United States Noska, Michael A.; Borrás, Caridad; Holahan, E. Vincent ...
Journal of applied clinical medical physics,
December 2022, Letnik:
23, Številka:
S1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The field grew steadily in size to meet the growing uses of nuclear technology until reaching a peak in the mid-1990s. 1 Subsequent shrinkage has been attributed mainly to attrition due to retiring ...baby boomers, a chronic decline in the number of replacement workers emerging from health physics education programs, and a reduced demand for health physics work in the nuclear power industry. Broadly, health physics may be considered an allied health profession with a diverse scope of practice, including essential activities in medicine, research, industry, education, emergency preparedness, radioactive waste management, environmental protection, regulation, and many other niche fields, such as radiation protection for national defense, civil aviation, and spaceflight. Many HPs ensure the safe and secure use of nuclear materials in the nuclear fuel cycle, including the mining and milling of uranium; uranium enrichment; reactor fuel fabrication; electric power generation; the transport, storage, and disposal of used fuel; and the final decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The training and experience requirements for a hospital RSO are described in Title 10 (Energy) of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR 35.50).
Psychiatric patients have increased comorbid physical illness. There is less information, however, on dental disease, especially tooth decay, despite life-style risk factors or psychotropic-induced ...dry mouth in this population. Importantly, poor oral health can predispose people to chronic physical disease leading to avoidable admissions to hospital for medical causes.
Using MEDLINE, PsycInfo, EMBASE, and article bibliographies, we undertook a systematic search for studies from the last 25 years regarding the oral health of people with severe mental illness (SMI). Results were compared with the general population. The two outcomes were total tooth loss (edentulism) and dental decay measured through the following standardized measures: the mean number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth or surfaces.
We identified 25 studies that had sufficient data for a random-effects meta-analysis. These covered 5076 psychiatric patients and 39,545 controls, the latter from either the same study or community surveys. People with SMI had 2.8 the odds of having lost all their teeth compared with the general community (95% confidence interval CI = 1.7-4.6). They also had significantly higher decayed, missing, and filled teeth (mean difference = 5.0, 95% CI = 2.5-7.4) and surfaces scores (mean difference = 14.6, 95% CI = 4.1-25.1).
The increased focus on the physical health of people with SMI should encompass oral health. Possible interventions could include oral health assessment conducted using standard checklists that can be completed by non-dental personnel, help with oral hygiene, management of iatrogenic dry mouth, and early dental referral.
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