Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disorder characterized by the progressive obstruction of airflow and is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the world. ...The pathogenesis of COPD is thought to involve bacterial infections and inflammations. Owing to advancement in sequencing technology, evidence is emerging that supports an association between the lung microbiome and COPD. However, few studies have looked into the expression profile of the bacterial communities in the COPD lungs. In this study, we analyzed the sputum microbiome of four moderate and four severe COPD male patients both at the DNA and RNA level, using next generation sequencing technology. We found that bacterial composition determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing may not directly translate to the set of actively expressing bacteria as defined by transcriptome sequencing. The two sequencing data agreed on Prevotella, Rothia, Neisseria, Porphyromonas, Veillonella, Fusobacterium and Streptococcus being among the most differentially abundant genera between the moderate and severe COPD samples, supporting their association with COPD severity. However, the two sequencing analyses disagreed on the relative abundance of these bacteria in the two COPD groups, implicating the importance of studying the actively expressing bacteria for enriching our understanding of COPD. Though we have described the metatranscriptome profiles of the lung microbiome in moderate and severe COPD, further investigations are required to determine the functional basis underlying the relationship between the microbial species in the lungs and pathogenesis of COPD.
•A new high-performance micromixer via 3D Tesla structures was designed, fabricated and tested.•The mixing efficiency was up to 0.94 at the volumetric flow rate 0.015–15μL/s.•The immunofluorescence ...experiments showed the mixing efficacy of this micromixer.
Micromixers have been commonly utilized in the areas of biotechnical engineering, analytical chemistry, medical industry, and high-throughput synthesis because biological processes generally involve complicated chemical reactions that require useful reactant mixing for initiation. This paper reports the design, simulation, fabrication and test of a new high-performance micromixer via three-dimensional (3D) Tesla structures to realize the effective mixing process in the microfluidic devices for bio-applications. Both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations and experiments were conducted to study the flow and mixing characteristics in the development of 3D Tesla micromixers. The predicted and measured results of the proposed micromixer have illustrated excellent mixing performance for Reynolds numbers (Re) ranging from 0.1 to 100 (0.015–15μL/s) with its pressure drop less than 1054Pa at Re=100. We also showed the successful application of the proposed mixer to the immunofluorescence analysis of the EGF receptor L858R mutant specific rabbit mAb (as a cancer biomarker) recognized by anti-rabbit IgG-CFL555 and H1975 cells, revealing the mixing effectiveness of this microfluidic device in the binding reaction of antibodies for detecting antigens of lung cancer cellular surface.
Eight trichothecenes, including four new compounds
-
and four known entities
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, together with one known cyclonerane (
) were isolated from the solid-state fermentation of
NTU439 isolated from the ...marine alga
. The structures of
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were determined by 1D/2D NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), MS (mass spectrometry), and IR (infrared spectroscopy) spectroscopic data. All of the compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against HCT-116, PC-3, and SK-Hep-1 cancer cells by the SRB assay, and compound
showed promising cytotoxic activity against all three cancer cell lines with the IC
values of 3.3 ± 0.3, 5.3 ± 0.3, and 1.8 ± 0.8 μM, respectively. Compounds
-
,
-
, and
-
potently inhibited LPS-induced NO production, and compounds
and
showed markedly inhibited gelatinolysis of MMP-9 in S1 protein-stimulated THP-1 monocytes.
Mechanical power (MP) refers to the energy delivered by a ventilator to the respiratory system per unit of time. MP referenced to predicted body weight (PBW) or respiratory system compliance have ...better predictive value for mortality than MP alone in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Our objective was to assess the potential impact of consecutive changes of MP on hospital mortality among ARDS patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with severe ARDS receiving ECMO in a tertiary care referral center in Taiwan between May 2006 and October 2015. Serial changes of MP during ECMO were recorded.
A total of 152 patients with severe ARDS rescued with ECMO were analyzed. Overall hospital mortality was 53.3%. There were no significant differences between survivors and nonsurvivors in terms of baseline values of MP or other ventilator settings. Cox regression models demonstrated that mean MP alone, MP referenced to PBW, and MP referenced to compliance during the first 3 days of ECMO were all independently associated with hospital mortality. Higher MP referenced to compliance (HR 2.289 95% CI 1.214-4.314, p = 0.010) was associated with a higher risk of death than MP itself (HR 1.060 95% CI 1.018-1.104, p = 0.005) or MP referenced to PBW (HR 1.004 95% CI 1.002-1.007, p < 0.001). The 90-day hospital mortality of patients with high MP (> 14.4 J/min) during the first 3 days of ECMO was significantly higher than that of patients with low MP (≦ 14.4 J/min) (70.7% vs. 46.8%, p = 0.004), and the 90-day hospital mortality of patients with high MP referenced to compliance (> 0.53 J/min/ml/cm H
O) during the first 3 days of ECMO was significantly higher than that of patients with low MP referenced to compliance (≦ 0.53 J/min/ml/cm H
O) (63.6% vs. 29.7%, p < 0.001).
MP during the first 3 days of ECMO was the only ventilatory variable independently associated with 90-day hospital mortality, and MP referenced to compliance during ECMO was more predictive for mortality than was MP alone.
In this study, we examine the global existence of classical solutions for the gas flows near vacuum through ducts expanding with space and time. It is described by the initial-boundary value problem ...of compressible Euler equations together with a sufficiently small variable parameter, which can be viewed as a hyperbolic system of balance laws whose source is a non-dissipative term when Riemann invariants are applied. We prove a couple of global existence theorems of classical solutions under the suitable conditions of expanding ducts and the initial-boundary data whose C0 norms can be large. The analysis depends primarily on the local existence theorem and on uniform a priori estimates, which are obtained by giving the maximum principle and introducing new generalized Lax transformations. Furthermore, the limit behavior of expanding ducts at infinity and the long-time behavior of global classical solutions along all characteristic curves and vertical lines are also determined. Lastly, we explore the feasibility of the initial value problem for such expanding ducts.
We present a highly repeatable, lithography-free and mold-free method for fabricating flexible optical lenses by in situ curing liquid polydimethylsiloxane droplets on a preheated smooth surface with ...an inkjet printing process. This method enables us to fabricate lenses with a focal length as short as 5.6 mm, which can be controlled by varying the droplet volume and the temperature of the preheated surface. Furthermore, the lens can be attached to a smartphone camera without any accessories and can produce high-resolution (1 μm) images for microscopy applications.
This paper presents a novel single-ended disturb-free 9T subthreshold SRAM cell with cross-point data-aware Write word-line structure. The disturb-free feature facilitates bit-interleaving ...architecture, which can reduce multiple-bit upsets in a single word and enhance soft error immunity by employing Error Checking and Correction (ECC) technique. The proposed 9T SRAM cell is demonstrated by a 72 Kb SRAM macro with a Negative Bit-Line (NBL) Write-assist and an adaptive Read operation timing tracing circuit implemented in 65 nm low-leakage CMOS technology. Measured full Read and Write functionality is error free with V DD down to 0.35 V ( 0.15 V lower than the threshold voltage) with 229 KHz frequency and 4.05 μW power. Data is held down to 0.275 V with 2.29 μW Standby power. The minimum energy per operation is 4.5 pJ at 0.5 V. The 72 Kb SRAM macro has wide operation range from 1.2 V down to 0.35 V, with operating frequency of around 200 MHz for V DD around/above 1.0 V.
Maxillary sinus fungal balls (MSFBs) mostly occur in older individuals and demonstrate female predominance. Early diagnosis is important to avoid treatment delays. Intralesional hyperdensity (IH) ...indicates the presence of heavy metal deposition within fungal hyphae and has been the most specific characteristic of MSFB on computed tomography (CT). For those without IH on CT, the diagnosis of MSFB remains challenging. This study aimed to characterize clinical presentation of MSFB with and without IH and to study factors contributing to MSFB with no IH formation. We retrospectively identified 588 patients with MSFB. The clinical characteristics and CT findings were reviewed. Patients with unilateral MSFB had a mean age of 57.4 years and demonstrated female predominance (64.63%). The female-to-male ratio was highest at 51-60 years (2.02) and rose to 2.60 in MSFB with IH only. Compared to those with IH, MSFB without IH was significantly more common in males (OR = 2.49), in those with diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR = 1.87), adjacent maxillary odontogenic pathology (OR = 1.75). Complete opacification on CT was less common in MSFB without IH (OR = 0.60). Patients with MSFB without IH were more likely to have DM, no female predominance, adjacent maxillary odontogenic pathology, and partial opacification of the sinus, compared to those with IH. These may be helpful in better understanding of the formation of MSFBs without IH, early identification of them and prevention of post-operative recurrence.
The openness and extensibility of Android have made it a popular platform for mobile devices and a strong candidate to drive the Internet-of-Things. Unfortunately, these properties also leave Android ...vulnerable, attracting attacks for profit or fun. To mitigate these threats, numerous issue-specific solutions have been proposed. With the increasing number and complexity of security problems and solutions, we believe this is the right moment to step back and systematically re-evaluate the Android security architecture and security practices in the ecosystem. We organize the most recent security research on the Android platform into two categories: the software stack and the ecosystem. For each category, we provide a comprehensive narrative of the problem space, highlight the limitations of the proposed solutions, and identify open problems for future research. Based on our collection of knowledge, we envision a blueprint for engineering a secure, next-generation Android ecosystem.
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