The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiology (location, microbial load, microbiome, presence/absence of biofilm and pathogens, including ESKAPE—Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, ...Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species, and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles) of the bacterial contamination on intensive care units (ICUs) surfaces. Fifty‐seven high‐touched surfaces were collected from adult, paediatric and neonatal ICUs from two large public Brazilian hospitals from central and north regions. Samples (c. 4 cm2) were subjected to culture (qualitative), qPCR targeting 16s rRNA gene (microbial load—bacteria per cm2), 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing (microbiome analysis) and scanning electron (SEM) or confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) (biofilm presence). Multidrug resistant organisms (MROs) were detected using specific chromogenic agar. The average bacterial load was 1·32 × 104 bacteria per cm2, container for newborn feeding bottles, stretcher mattress, humidicrib mattress filling and computer keyboards presented the higher bioburden. However, only 45·6% (26/57) were culture‐positive, including 4/26 with MROs. ESKAPE organisms were detected in 51·8% of the samples subjected to next‐generation sequencing. Viability staining and CLSM demonstrated live bacteria on 76·7% of culture‐negative samples. Biofilm was present on all surfaces subjected to microscopy (n = 56), demonstrating that current cleaning practices are suboptimal and reinforcing that MROs are incorporated into hospital surfaces biofilm.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Contamination of healthcare facilities surfaces has been shown to play a major role in transmission of pathogens. The findings of this study show that dry surface biofilms are widespread and can incorporate pathogens and multidrug‐resistant organisms (MROs). Biofilms on highly touched surfaces pose a risk to patients, as dry surface biofilms persist for long period and micro‐organisms within biofilm have been shown to be transmitted. This study also provides a better understanding of microbial populations in hospital environments, reinforcing that pathogens and MROs are found incorporated into biofilm, which impacts the difficulty in cleaning/disinfection.
Significance and Impact of the Study: Contamination of healthcare facilities surfaces has been shown to play a major role in transmission of pathogens. The findings of this study show that dry surface biofilms are widespread and can incorporate pathogens and multidrug‐resistant organisms (MROs). Biofilms on highly touched surfaces pose a risk to patients, as dry surface biofilms persist for long period and micro‐organisms within biofilm have been shown to be transmitted. This study also provides a better understanding of microbial populations in hospital environments, reinforcing that pathogens and MROs are found incorporated into biofilm, which impacts the difficulty in cleaning/disinfection.
Computational materials research is vital in improving our understanding of various class of materials and their properties, contributing valuable information that helps predict innovative structures ...and complement empirical investigations. In this context, DHQ-graphene recently emerged as a stable two-dimensional carbon allotrope composed of decagonal, hexagonal, and quadrilateral carbon rings. Here, we employ density functional theory calculations to investigate the mechanical, electronic, and optical features of its boron nitride counterpart (DHQ-BN). Our findings reveal an insulating band gap of 5.11 eV at the HSE06 level and good structural stability supported by phonon calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Moreover, DHQ-BN exhibits strong ultraviolet (UV) activity, suggesting its potential as a highly efficient UV light absorber. Its mechanical properties, including Young's modulus (230 GPa) and Poisson's ratio (0.7), provide insight into its mechanical resilience and structural stability.
The recent emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led society to live with a serious public health problem. In this sense, repositioning of antiretrovirals has ...captured the attention of the scientific community. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) is an antiretroviral compound that is used to treat acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and hepatitis B. In this short report, we present a scale-up investigation of TDF by in situ infrared spectroscopy monitoring and a forced degradation study to describe a new degradation product. Finally, we have evaluated TDF in vitro for SARS-CoV-2 for the first time foreseeing the using of this medicine in pre-clinical and clinical investigations for the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) treatment.
Since 2005, it has been known that mother-to-child transmission of the chikungunya virus is possible. Transmission generally occurs in the perinatal period. In the present study, we describe the ...brain lesions seen on MR imaging of 6 cases of perinatal chikungunya infection. Patients who underwent brain MR imaging in the acute phase presented with areas of restricted diffusion in the white matter, suggesting a perivascular distribution, whereas those in the subacute/late phase showed cystic lesions, also with a perivascular distribution, with or without brain atrophy. One patient also presented with scattered hemorrhages in the frontal and parietal lobes. Important differential diagnoses include rotavirus, Parechovirus, herpes simplex infection, and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, depending on the disease phase.
Laser spectroscopy of muonic deuterium Pohl, Randolf; Nez, François; Fernandes, Luis M. P. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
08/2016, Volume:
353, Issue:
6300
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The deuteron is the simplest compound nucleus, composed of one proton and one neutron. Deuteron properties such as the root-mean-square charge radius rd and the polarizability serve as important ...benchmarks for understanding the nuclear forces and structure. Muonic deuterium μd is the exotic atom formed by a deuteron and a negative muon μ⁻. We measured three 2S-2P transitions in μd and obtain rd = 2.12562(78) fm, which is 2.7 times more accurate but 7.5σ smaller than the CODATA-2010 value rd = 2.1424(21) fm. The μd value is also 3.5σ smaller than the rd value from electronic deuterium spectroscopy. The smaller rd, when combined with the electronic isotope shift, yields a "small" proton radius rp, similar to the one from muonic hydrogen, amplifying the proton radius puzzle.
LOPES, the LOFAR prototype station, was an antenna array for cosmic-ray air showers operating from 2003 to 2013 within the KASCADE-Grande experiment. Meanwhile, the analysis is finished and the data ...of air-shower events measured by LOPES are available with open access in the KASCADE Cosmic Ray Data Center (KCDC). This article intends to provide a summary of the achievements, results, and lessons learned from LOPES. By digital, interferometric beamforming the detection of air showers became possible in the radio-loud environment of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). As a prototype experiment, LOPES tested several antenna types, array configurations and calibration techniques, and pioneered analysis methods for the reconstruction of the most important shower parameters, i.e., the arrival direction, the energy, and mass-dependent observables such as the position of the shower maximum. In addition to a review and update of previously published results, we also present new results based on end-to-end simulations including all known instrumental properties. For this, we applied the detector response to radio signals simulated with the CoREAS extension of CORSIKA, and analyzed them in the same way as measured data. Thus, we were able to study the detector performance more accurately than before, including some previously inaccessible features such as the impact of noise on the interferometric cross-correlation beam. These results led to several improvements, which are documented in this paper and can provide useful input for the design of future cosmic-ray experiments based on the digital radio-detection technique.
Ionic liquids are a class of fluids that requires the attentions of experimentalist and theoreticians. In a new project on synthesis and characterization of new and not-so-new ionic liquids, the ...study of several thermophysical properties of these liquids was started, namely binary diffusion, electrical conductivity, heat capacity, surface tension, viscosity and thermal conductivity. Among others we will study 1-
n-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, (C
4mimNTf
2), 1-
n-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium dicyanamide, (C
4mimdca), 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium ethylsulfate, (C
2mimEtOSO
3) and methyltrialkylammonium dicyanamide Aliquat
®336-deriveddca, and in the case of diffusion, their mixtures with water.
It is the purpose of this paper to report data on the density, using vibrating tube densimetry, infinite dilution diffusion coefficients, using the Taylor dispersion method, heat capacity, using DSC equipment and surface tension, using the Wilhelmy plate method. Density measurements were performed at atmospheric pressure between 293 and 363
K and several isotherms, depending on the stability of the compound, up to 60
MPa, with an uncertainty of 0.4%. Measurements were performed at 298.03
K for the infinite dilution measurements, with an uncertainty of 1.3–3.5%, for temperatures between 300 and 370
K for heat capacity, with an uncertainty better than 1.5%, and between 292 and 395
K for surface tension, with an uncertainty of 1.5–1.8%.
A brief analysis of the potential of the fluids studied as engineering heat transfer fluids, namely its heat storage capacity was also performed.
Abstract
WikiPathways (https://www.wikipathways.org) is a biological pathway database known for its collaborative nature and open science approaches. With the core idea of the scientific community ...developing and curating biological knowledge in pathway models, WikiPathways lowers all barriers for accessing and using its content. Increasingly more content creators, initiatives, projects and tools have started using WikiPathways. Central in this growth and increased use of WikiPathways are the various communities that focus on particular subsets of molecular pathways such as for rare diseases and lipid metabolism. Knowledge from published pathway figures helps prioritize pathway development, using optical character and named entity recognition. We show the growth of WikiPathways over the last three years, highlight the new communities and collaborations of pathway authors and curators, and describe various technologies to connect to external resources and initiatives. The road toward a sustainable, community-driven pathway database goes through integration with other resources such as Wikidata and allowing more use, curation and redistribution of WikiPathways content.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
WikiPathways enables research communities to collaborate on molecular pathway curation to create reusable, machine-readable pathway models. The pathway collections are freely available and integrated with many analysis tools and resources.
Although the first mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines were derived 25 years ago using feeder-layer-based blastocyst cultures, subsequent efforts to extend the approach to other mammals, including ...both laboratory and domestic species, have been relatively unsuccessful. The most notable exceptions were the derivation of non-human primate ES cell lines followed shortly thereafter by their derivation of human ES cells. Despite the apparent common origin and the similar pluripotency of mouse and human embryonic stem cells, recent studies have revealed that they use different signalling pathways to maintain their pluripotent status. Mouse ES cells depend on leukaemia inhibitory factor and bone morphogenetic protein, whereas their human counterparts rely on activin (INHBA)/nodal (NODAL) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF). Here we show that pluripotent stem cells can be derived from the late epiblast layer of post-implantation mouse and rat embryos using chemically defined, activin-containing culture medium that is sufficient for long-term maintenance of human embryonic stem cells. Our results demonstrate that activin/Nodal signalling has an evolutionarily conserved role in the derivation and the maintenance of pluripotency in these novel stem cells. Epiblast stem cells provide a valuable experimental system for determining whether distinctions between mouse and human embryonic stem cells reflect species differences or diverse temporal origins.
Cancer‐related fatigue (CRF) is the most stressful and prevalent symptom in paediatric oncology patients. This integrative review aimed to identify, analyse and synthesise the evidence of ...non‐pharmacological intervention studies to manage fatigue and psychological stress in a paediatric population with cancer. Eight electronic databases were used for the search: PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, LILACS, EMBASE, SCOPUS, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library. Initially, 273 articles were found; after the exclusion of repeated articles, reading of the titles, s and the full articles, a final sample of nine articles was obtained. The articles were grouped into five categories: physical exercise, healing touch, music therapy, therapeutic massage, nursing interventions and health education. Among the nine studies, six showed statistical significance regarding the fatigue and/or stress levels, showing that the use of the interventions led to symptoms decrease. The most frequently tested intervention was programmed physical exercises. It is suggested that these interventions are complementary to conventional treatment and that their use can indicate an improvement in CRF and psychological stress.
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