As the solvent hyper‐resistant Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 106 experiences limited growth with solvents, a strategy is therefore needed to allow better growth to broaden its performance in biotechnological ...applications. Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 106 was cultivated in a medium supplemented with 0·05 mol l⁻¹ trehalose, and the cell survival was observed during subsequent growth with 1% (v/v) toluene. Exogenously added trehalose was transported into the cells and conferred protection against toluene stress. BCNU 106 grown in the presence of exogenous trehalose showed higher solvent tolerance, it can thus have more potential for biotransformation and biodegradation. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study shows that exogenously supplemented trehalose confers protection against toluene stress and enhances the bacterial cell growth in the presence of toluene. This is of importance to the mass cultivation of solvent‐tolerant bacteria, where some of the growth‐related limitations of solvent‐tolerant bacteria can be overcome, and their performance in biotechnological applications for biotransformation and biodegradation broadened.
Initial performance of the COSINE-100 experiment Adhikari, G.; Adhikari, P.; de Souza, E. Barbosa ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
02/2018, Volume:
78, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
COSINE is a dark matter search experiment based on an array of low background NaI(Tl) crystals located at the Yangyang underground laboratory. The assembly of COSINE-100 was completed in the summer ...of 2016 and the detector is currently collecting physics quality data aimed at reproducing the DAMA/LIBRA experiment that reported an annual modulation signal. Stable operation has been achieved and will continue for at least 2 years. Here, we describe the design of COSINE-100, including the shielding arrangement, the configuration of the NaI(Tl) crystal detection elements, the veto systems, and the associated operational systems, and we show the current performance of the experiment.
The detection of insomnia in patients with COPD is assumed to be significantly lower than the actual prevalence. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of insomnia and the relationship between ...insomnia and health status in patients with COPD using two fairly simple and straightforward questionnaires: COPD assessment test (CAT) and insomnia severity index (ISI).
A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from patients undergoing treatment for COPD at St Paul's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, between December 2015 and August 2016. Patients were classified into three groups according to the ISI score: a "clinical insomnia" group (ISI≥15), a "subthreshold insomnia" group (ISI 8-15), and a "non-insomnia" group (ISI<8). Clinical parameters including past medical history, pulmonary function tests, and questionnaire data were collected and analyzed.
A total of 192 patients were recruited, of which 25.0% were found to have clinical insomnia (ISI≥8). Insomnia severity was related to all CAT component items except for cough, and patients with higher CAT scores generally had more severe insomnia. Logistic regression analysis revealed that CAT score was significantly associated with insomnia in these patients (odds ratio, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.13-1.34;
<0.0001). CAT score was also a significant predictor of insomnia (area under receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.779;
<0.001). The optimal predictive cutoff value was a CAT score >14, giving a sensitivity and specificity of 66.7% and 71.5%, respectively.
CAT score was closely related to insomnia severity in patients with COPD. The use of CAT scores to assess for the presence and severity of insomnia in these patients may allow for better detection and management and improve clinical practice.
A new design concept of a wideband radar absorbing structure consisting of load-bearing glass/MWCNT added epoxy composite and having low density/lightweight characteristics for C- to X-band and X- to ...Ku-band radar is presented. The proposed radar absorbing structures have triple layers which are the low density and light weight layer to reduce the total weight, covering layers to protect the foam layer from humidity absorption, and a load-bearing layer as the actual structural layer. The proposed designs satisfied −10 dB absorption in the C-band to X-band and X-band to Ku-band using only two different materials. Moreover, from a practical point of view, since thickness control of absorbing structures is an important factor for the absorbing performance, the proposed structures could minimise fabrication errors (precise thickness controls) by employing multiple layers for wideband absorbing performance.
Magnetic resonance is considered to be a necessary condition for metamaterial perfect absorbers, and dual-band absorbers can be composed of a pair of metallic layers with anti-parallel surface ...currents. We designed and fabricated a tunable dual-band perfect absorber based on extraordinary-optical-transmission (EOT) effect and Fabry-Perot cavity resonance. The idea and the mechanism are completely different from the absorber based on the near-field interaction. The important advantage of our structure is that we can switch a single-band absorber to a dual-band absorber by changing the distance between two metallic layers and/or incident angle. The peak originating from the EOT effect becomes significantly narrower, resulting in an increase of the Q-factor from 16.88 to 49. The dual-band absorber can be optimized to be insensitive to the polarization of the incident electromagnetic wave by slightly modifying the absorber structure.
The COSINE-100 dark matter search experiment is an array of NaI(Tl) crystal detectors located in the Yangyang Underground Laboratory (Y2L). To understand measured backgrounds in the NaI(Tl) crystals ...we have performed Monte Carlo simulations using the Geant4 toolkit and developed background models for each crystal that consider contributions from both internal and external sources, including cosmogenic nuclides. The background models are based on comparisons of measurement data with Monte Carlo simulations that are guided by a campaign of material assays and are used to evaluate backgrounds and identify their sources. The average background level for the six crystals (70 kg total mass) that are studied is 3.5 counts/day/keV/kg in the (2–6) keV energy interval. The dominant contributors in this energy region are found to be
210
Pb and
3
H.
OBJECTIVES
The optimal age for the repair of pectus excavatum using minimally invasive technique has yet to be determined. We hypothesized that the early repair of pectus excavatum may contribute in ...preserving chest wall integrity and also in enhancing patients' growth. The purpose of our present study was to verify a potential advantage of the early repair of pectus excavatum by using a minimally invasive technique.
METHODS
For our study on minimally invasive pectus excavatum repair, 1571 patients from the period 1999 to 2011 were enrolled. Our strategy was to carry out routine repairs in patients older than 3 years of age. To examine the age factor on the results of the repairs the patients were divided into different age groups: Group 1 (≤5 years, 618 (39.3%)), Group 2 (6-11 years, 322 (20.5%)), Group 3 (12-20 years, 401 (25.5%)) and Group 4 (>20 years, 230 (14.6%)). A comparative analysis was performed for factors such as complication rates; growth-percentile scores of height, weight and body mass index (BMI); incidence of asymmetry and costal flare score to determine the potential to resume the normal chest wall conformation by earlier repair.
RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 10.2 years (16 months to 51 years). The incidence of asymmetry was found to be lowest in Group 1 (24.3, 45.5, 58.7, 48.4%, respectively, P < 0.001). The complication rate after repair was also lowest in Group 1 (7.6, 11.5, 16.3, 19.1%, respectively, P < 0.001). The growth of body weight was significant in Groups 1 and 2 (0.53 ± 1.02, P < 0.001). The costal flare score was found to have decreased in Groups 1 and 2 (Group 1: from 1.6 to 0.12, P < 0.001; Group 2: from 1.44 to 0.14, P < 0.001). In Groups 3 and 4, there was no improvement in costal flare after repair.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that routine early repair of pectus excavatum in patients older than 3 years of age is safe and effective. We would recommend early repair to avoid asymmetry transformation of the deformity and to enhance the patients' growth potential.
This study explored the impact of genetic polymorphisms in cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes and transporters on the plasma trough concentration of imatinib mesylate (IM) and clinical response in chronic ...myeloid leukemia (CML).
In total, 82 patients with CML who had been administered 400 mg IM daily for over 6 months were genotyped for 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in nine genes (CYP3A4, CYP3A5, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, ABCB1, SLC22A1, SLC22A2 and ABCG2) using blood samples. The trough imatinib concentration and clinical responses were assessed 6 months after the initiation of IM therapy.
The CC, CA and AA genotypes in ABCG2 421C>A gave significantly different frequencies for the major molecular response (MMR) (P = 0.02). However, no significant differences were found between the genotypes of the CYP enzymes and transporters identified in this study and the imatinib plasma trough concentrations and clinical response frequencies, except for the correlation of ABCG2 with MMR.
The results of the present study may indicate that the ABCG 421C>A genetic polymorphism influences the MMR of imatinib in patients with CML.
Scintillation crystals are commonly used for direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are suitable candidates for a particle dark matter. It is well known that the ...scintillation light yields are different for electron recoil and nuclear recoil. To calibrate the energies of WIMP-induced nuclear recoil signals, the quenching factor (QF) needs to be measured, which is the light yield ratio of the nuclear recoil to electron recoil. Measurements of the QFs for Na and I recoils in a small (2 cm × 2 cm × 1.5 cm) NaI(Tl) crystal are performed with 2.43-MeV mono-energetic neutrons generated by deuteron-deuteron fusion. Depending on the scattering angle of the neutrons, the energies of the recoiled ions vary in the range of 9–152 keV for Na and 19–75 keV for I. The QFs of Na are measured at 9 points with values in the range of 10–23% while those of I are measured at 4 points with values in the range of 4–6%.
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