Cryptococcosis is an important fungal disease in Asia with an estimated 140,000 new infections annually the majority of which occurs in patients suffering from HIV/AIDS. Cryptococcus neoformans ...variety grubii (serotype A) is the major causative agent of this disease. In the present study, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) using the ISHAM MLST consensus scheme for the C. neoformans/C. gattii species complex was used to analyse nucleotide polymorphisms among 476 isolates of this pathogen obtained from 8 Asian countries. Population genetic analysis showed that the Asian C. neoformans var. grubii population shows limited genetic diversity and demonstrates a largely clonal mode of reproduction when compared with the global MLST dataset. HIV-status, sequence types and geography were found to be confounded. However, a correlation between sequence types and isolates from HIV-negative patients was observed among the Asian isolates. Observations of high gene flow between the Middle Eastern and the Southeastern Asian populations suggest that immigrant workers in the Middle East were originally infected in Southeastern Asia.
Summary
Men with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity are often characterised by low testosterone (T). We aimed to determine whether exenatide (EXE) combined metformin (MET) treatment has a better ...effect on serum total testosterone (TT) levels than glimepiride (GLI) combined MET treatment in men with T2D and obesity. In a multicentre, 12‐week observational study, 176 obese T2D men with failed glycaemic control were included in the study: ninety men (mean age, 43.00 ± 8.50 years) in EXE + MET group and 86 men (mean age, 44.00 ± 7.00 years) in GLI + MET group. Serum TT levels were more significantly increased in EXE + MET group than GLI + MET group (121.72 ± 56.73 ng/dl versus 34.67 ± 16.30 ng/dl). The increasement of TT levels in those patients who lost body weight ≥5% was significantly greater than those who lost weight <5% in the two groups. The changes in TT levels are closely related to the changes in waist circumference (r = −.443, p < .001). Sexual function assessment of EXE + MET group was more significantly improved than GLI + MET group (p < .001). No serious adverse events were observed. In conclusion, short‐term combined treatment with EXE and MET is superior to GLI combined MET treatment in the improvement of serum TT levels, which could lead to an improvement of sexual hypofunction in patients with obesity and T2D.
Interindividual variation in the composition of the human gut microbiome was examined in relation to demographic and anthropometric traits, and to changes in dietary saturated fat intake and protein ...source. One hundred nine healthy men and women aged 21 to 65, with BMIs of 18 to 36, were randomized, after a two-week baseline diet, to high (15% total energy E)- or low (7%E)-saturated-fat groups and randomly received three diets (four weeks each) in which the protein source (25%E) was mainly red meat (beef, pork) (12%E), white meat (chicken, turkey) (12%E), and nonmeat sources (nuts, beans, soy) (16%E). Taxonomic characterization using 16S ribosomal DNA was performed on fecal samples collected at each diet completion. Interindividual differences in age, body fat (%), height, ethnicity, sex, and alpha diversity (Shannon) were all significant factors, and most samples clustered by participant in the PCoA ordination. The dietary interventions did not significantly alter the overall microbiome community in ordination space, but there was an effect on taxon abundance levels. Saturated fat had a greater effect than protein source on taxon differential abundance, but protein source had a significant effect once the fat influence was removed. Higher alpha diversity predicted lower beta diversity between the experimental and baseline diets, indicating greater resistance to change in people with higher microbiome diversity. Our results suggest that interindividual differences outweighed the influence of these specific dietary changes on the microbiome and that moderate changes in saturated fat level and protein source correspond to modest changes in the microbiome.
The microbiome has proven to influence health and disease, but how combinations of external factors affect the microbiome is relatively unknown. Diet can cause changes, but this is usually achieved by altering macronutrient ratios and has not focused on dietary protein source or saturated fat intake levels. In addition, each individual's unique microbiome profile can be an important factor during studies, and it has even been shown to affect therapeutic outcomes. We show here that the effects of individual differences outweighed the effect of experimental diets and that protein source is less influential than saturated fat level. This suggests that fat and protein composition, separate from macronutrient ratio and carbohydrate composition, is an important consideration in dietary studies.
Amorphous metallic plastic ZHANG, B; ZHAO, D. Q; PAN, M. X ...
Physical review letters,
05/2005, Volume:
94, Issue:
20
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We report cerium-based bulk metallic glasses with an exceptionally low glass transition temperature Tg, similar to or lower than that of many polymers. We demonstrate that, in near-boiling water, ...these materials can be repeatedly shaped, and can thus be regarded as metallic plastics. Their resistance to crystallization permits extended forming times above Tg and ensures an adequate lifetime at room temperature. Such materials, combining polymerlike thermoplastic behavior with the distinctive properties of metallic glasses, are highly unusual for metallic alloys and have great potential in applications and can also facilitate studies of the supercooled liquid state.
•Recent development in the application of BMGs is introduced.•The advantages of BMGs processes are discussed with other processing techniques.•An outlook for the future directions of BMGs is put ...forward.
Over the past decades, considerable efforts have been made in the commercial application of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). Despite great challenges faced by the industrial players, significant progress has been achieved, and millions of commercial products for various kinds of applications have been shipped around the world. Here in this paper, we shall present the alloys suitable for the actual products in the application and discuss the merits of the processing technique of BMGs over the existing processing techniques and materials. Most importantly we demonstrate the typical examples of products over the past few years. Finally, future directions of the industrialization of BMGs are also discussed.
We present improved germanium-based constraints on sub-GeV dark matter via dark matter-electron (χ-e) scattering using the 205.4 kg·day dataset from the CDEX-10 experiment. Using a novel calculation ...technique, we attain predicted χ-e scattering spectra observable in high-purity germanium detectors. In the heavy mediator scenario, our results achieve 3 orders of magnitude of improvement for m_{χ} larger than 80 MeV/c^{2} compared to previous germanium-based χ-e results. We also present the most stringent χ-e cross-section limit to date among experiments using solid-state detectors for m_{χ} larger than 90 MeV/c^{2} with heavy mediators and m_{χ} larger than 100 MeV/c^{2} with electric dipole coupling. The result proves the feasibility and demonstrates the vast potential of a new χ-e detection method with high-purity germanium detectors in ultralow radioactive background.
Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT)-based proxies are increasingly used in modern carbon cycling and palaeoenvironmental investigations. It is therefore crucial to examine the robustness ...(sources, transport and degradation) of all GDGT-based proxies in continental margins, where sedimentation rates and extent of carbon cycling are high. We have analyzed the distributions of GDGTs in surface sediments from the Lower Yangtze River and East China Sea (ECS) shelf. The results revealed multiple sources and complex shelf processes that govern the distributions. The isoprenoid GDGT-inferred sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are robust and reflect the satellite-derived annual mean SSTs on the shallow ECS shelf, confirming an origin from surface water column-dwelling crenarchaeota. The input from methanogen-sourced, isoprenoid GDGTs is significant in the river surface sediments but they are almost absent from the ECS shelf. Branched GDGTs are also abundant in the river sediments, but ca. 95% are degraded in the Yangtze estuary, a much greater extent than observed for other terrigenous organic matter (OM) proxies. There is also evidence for production of branched GDGTs in the oxic ECS shelf water column and the anoxic sediments/waters of the Lower Yangtze River. As a result, branched GDGT-based proxies in the lower river and ECS surface sediments do not reflect the catchment environmental conditions. The effective degradation in the estuary and widespread aquatic contributions of branched GDGTs improves our understanding of how to use branched GDGT-based proxies in marginal seas.
Understanding new superconductors requires high-quality epitaxial thin films to explore intrinsic electromagnetic properties and evaluate device applications. So far, superconducting properties of ...ferropnictide thin films seem compromised by imperfect epitaxial growth and poor connectivity of the superconducting phase. Here we report new template engineering using single-crystal intermediate layers of (001) SrTiO(3) and BaTiO(3) grown on various perovskite substrates that enables genuine epitaxial films of Co-doped BaFe(2)As(2) with a high transition temperature (T(c,rho=0) of 21.5 K, where rho=resistivity), a small transition width (DeltaT(c)=1.3 K), a superior critical current density J(c) of 4.5 MA cm(-2) (4.2 K) and strong c-axis flux pinning. Implementing SrTiO(3) or BaTiO(3) templates to match the alkaline-earth layer in the Ba-122 with the alkaline-earth/oxygen layer in the templates opens new avenues for epitaxial growth of ferropnictides on multifunctional single-crystal substrates. Beyond superconductors, it provides a framework for growing heteroepitaxial intermetallic compounds on various substrates by matching interfacial layers between templates and thin-film overlayers.
Statistically based experimental designs were applied to optimizing process parameters for hydrogen production from glucose by
Clostridium sp. Fanp2 which was isolated from effluent sludge of ...anaerobic hydrogen-producing bioreactor. The important factors influencing hydrogen production, which identified by initial screening method of Plackett–Burman, were glucose, phosphate buffer and vitamin solution. The path of steepest ascent was undertaken to approach the optimal region of the three significant factors. Box–Behnken design and response surface analysis were adopted to further investigate the mutual interaction between the variables and identify optimal values that bring maximum hydrogen production. Experimental results showed that glucose, vitamin solution and phosphate buffer concentration all had an individual significant influence on the specific hydrogen production potential (
P
s). Simultaneously, glucose and vitamin solution, glucose and phosphate buffer were interdependent. The optimal conditions for the maximal
P
s were: glucose 23.75
g/l, phosphate buffer 0.159
M and vitamin solution 13.3
ml/l. Using this statistical optimization method, the hydrogen production from glucose was increased from 2248.5 to 4165.9
ml H
2/l.
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