Peptide sequences are known to recognize and bind different nanomaterial surfaces, which has resulted in the screening and identification of hundreds of peptides with the ability to bind to a wide ...range of metallic, metal oxide, mineral, and polymer substrates. These biomolecules are able to bind to materials with relatively high affinity, resulting in the generation of a complex biointerface between the biotic and abiotic components. While the number of material-binding sequences is large, at present, quantitative materials-binding characterization of these peptides has been accomplished only for a relatively small number of sequences. Moreover, it is currently very challenging to determine the molecular-level structure(s) of these peptides in the materials adsorbed state. Despite this lack of data related to the structure and function of this remarkable biointerface, several of these peptide sequences have found extensive use in creating functional nanostructured materials for assembly, catalysis, energy, and medicine, all of which are dependent on the structure of the individual peptides and collective biointerface at the material surface. In this Review, we provide a comprehensive overview of these applications and illustrate how the versatility of this peptide-mediated approach for the growth, organization, and activation of nanomaterials could be more widely expanded via the elucidation of biointerfacial structure/property relationships. Future directions and grand challenges to realize these goals are highlighted for both experimental characterization and molecular-simulation strategies.
Delays in time to treatment initiation (TTI) for new cancer diagnoses cause patient distress and may adversely affect outcomes. We investigated trends in TTI for common solid tumors treated with ...curative intent, determinants of increased TTI and association with overall survival.
We utilized prospective data from the National Cancer Database for newly diagnosed United States patients with early-stage breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, renal and pancreas cancers from 2004-13. TTI was defined as days from diagnosis to first treatment (surgery, systemic or radiation therapy). Negative binomial regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used for analysis. The study population of 3,672,561 patients included breast (N = 1,368,024), prostate (N = 944,246), colorectal (N = 662,094), non-small cell lung (N = 363,863), renal (N = 262,915) and pancreas (N = 71,419) cancers. Median TTI increased from 21 to 29 days (P<0.001). Aside from year of diagnosis, determinants of increased TTI included care at academic center, race, education, prior history of cancer, transfer of facility, comorbidities and age. Increased TTI was associated with worsened survival for stages I and II breast, lung, renal and pancreas cancers, and stage I colorectal cancers, with hazard ratios ranging from 1.005 (95% confidence intervals CI 1.002-1.008) to 1.030 (95% CI 1.025-1.035) per week of increased TTI.
TTI has lengthened significantly and is associated with absolute increased risk of mortality ranging from 1.2-3.2% per week in curative settings such as early-stage breast, lung, renal and pancreas cancers. Studies of interventions to ease navigation and reduce barriers are warranted to diminish potential harm to patients.
Summary Topical and oral antibiotics are routinely used to treat acne. However, antibiotic resistance is increasing, with many countries reporting that more than 50% of Propionibacterium acnes ...strains are resistant to topical macrolides, making them less effective. We reviewed the current scientific literature to enable proposal of recommendations for antibiotic use in acne treatment. References were identified through PubMed searches for articles published from January, 1954, to March 7, 2015, using four multiword searches. Ideally, benzoyl peroxide in combination with a topical retinoid should be used instead of a topical antibiotic to minimise the impact of resistance. Oral antibiotics still have a role in the treatment of moderate-to-severe acne, but only with a topical retinoid, benzoyl peroxide, or their combination, and ideally for no longer than 3 months. To limit resistance, it is recommended that benzoyl peroxide should always be added when long-term oral antibiotic use is deemed necessary. The benefit-to-risk ratio of long-term antibiotic use should be carefully considered and, in particular, use alone avoided where possible. There is a need to treat acne with effective alternatives to antibiotics to reduce the likelihood of resistance.
Despite growing recognition of the importance of ecosystem services and the economic and ecological harm caused by invasive species, linkages between invasions, changes in ecosystem functioning, and ...in turn, provisioning of ecosystem services remain poorly documented and poorly understood. We evaluate the economic impacts of an invasion that cascaded through a food web to cause substantial declines inwater clarity, a valued ecosystem service. The predatory zooplankton, the spiny water flea (Bythotrephes longimanus), invaded the Laurentian Great Lakes in the 1980s and has subsequently undergone secondary spread to inland lakes, including Lake Mendota (Wisconsin), in 2009. In Lake Mendota, Bythotrephes has reached unparalleled densities compared with in other lakes, decreasing biomass of the grazer Daphnia pulicaria and causing a decline in water clarity of nearly 1 m. Time series modeling revealed that the loss in water clarity, valued at US$140 million (US$640 per household), could be reversed by a 71% reduction in phosphorus loading. A phosphorus reduction of this magnitude is estimated to cost between US$86.5 million and US$163 million (US$430–US$810 per household). Estimates of the economic effects of Great Lakes invasive species may increase considerably if cases of secondary invasions into inland lakes, such as Lake Mendota, are included. Furthermore, such extreme cases of economic damages call for increased investment in the prevention and control of invasive species to better maximize the economic benefits of such programs. Our results highlight the need to more fully incorporate ecosystem services into our analysis of invasive species impacts, management, and public policy.
Non-maturation and post-maturation venous stenosis are the primary causes of failure within arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs). Although the exact mechanisms triggering failure remain unclear, abnormal ...hemodynamic profiles are thought to mediate vascular remodelling and can adversely impact on fistula patency.
The review aims to clarify the role of shear stress on outward remodelling during maturation and evaluate the evidence supporting theories related to the localisation and development of intimal hyperplasia within AVFs.
A systematic review of studies comparing remodelling data with hemodynamic data obtained from computational fluid dynamics of AVFs during and after maturation was conducted.
Outward remodelling occurred to reduce or normalise the level of shear stress over time in fistulae with a large radius of curvature (curved) whereas shear stress was found to augment over time in fistulae with a small radius of curvature (straight) coinciding with minimal to no increases in lumen area. Although this review highlighted that there is a growing body of evidence suggesting low and oscillating shear stress may stimulate the initiation and development of intimal medial thickening within AVFs. Further lines of evidence are needed to support the disturbed flow theory and outward remodelling findings before surgical configurations and treatment strategies are optimised to conform to them. This review highlighted that variation between the time of analysis, classification of IH, resolution of simulations, data processing techniques and omission of various shear stress metrics prevented forming pooling of data amongst studies.
Standardised measurements and data processing techniques are needed to comprehensively evaluate the relationship between shear stress and intimal medial thickening. Advances in image acquisition and flow quantifications coupled with the increasing prevalence of longitudinal studies commencing from fistula creation offer viable techniques and strategies to robustly evaluate the relationship between shear stress and remodelling during maturation and thereafter.
Abstract
The identification of the first mobile colistin resistance (MCR) gene, mcr-1, in 2015 triggered a rash of mcr screening reports. Subsequently, nine MCR-family genes and their variants have ...been described. However, a comprehensive overview concerning the epidemiology of the whole MCR family, which is essential for facilitating rational interventions against mcr dissemination, is lacking. Here, based on the National Database of Antibiotic Resistant Organisms and published studies, we have summarized the latest epidemiological characteristics of the mcr genes.
N-jettiness subtractions for NNLO QCD calculations Gaunt, Jonathan R.; Stahlhofen, Maximilian; Tackmann, Frank J. ...
The journal of high energy physics,
09/2015, Letnik:
2015, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A
bstract
We present a subtraction method utilizing the
N
-jettiness observable,
T
N
, to perform QCD calculations for arbitrary processes at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). Our method employs ...soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) to determine the IR singular contributions of
N
-jet cross sections for
T
N
→ 0, and uses these to construct suitable
T
N
-subtractions. The construction is systematic and economic, due to being based on a physical observable. The resulting NNLO calculation is fully differential and in a form directly suitable for combining with resummation and parton showers. We explain in detail the application to processes with an arbitrary number of massless partons at lepton and hadron colliders together with the required external inputs in the form of QCD amplitudes and lower-order calculations. We provide explicit expressions for the
T
N
-subtractions at NLO and NNLO. The required ingredients are fully known at NLO, and at NNLO for processes with two external QCD partons. The remaining NNLO ingredient for three or more external partons can be obtained numerically with existing NNLO techniques. As an example, we employ our results to obtain the NNLO rapidity spectrum for Drell-Yan and gluon-fusion Higgs production. We discuss aspects of numerical accuracy and convergence and the practical implementation. We also discuss and comment on possible extensions, such as more-differential subtractions, necessary steps for going to N
3
LO, and the treatment of massive quarks.
Understanding of the factors driving global antimicrobial resistance is limited. We analysed antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic consumption worldwide versus many potential contributing factors.
...Using three sources of data (ResistanceMap, the WHO 2014 report on antimicrobial resistance, and contemporary publications), we created two global indices of antimicrobial resistance for 103 countries using data from 2008 to 2014: Escherichia coli resistance—the global average prevalence of E coli bacteria that were resistant to third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, and aggregate resistance—the combined average prevalence of E coli and Klebsiella spp resistant to third-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and carbapenems, and meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antibiotic consumption data were obtained from the IQVIA MIDAS database. The World Bank DataBank was used to obtain data for governance, education, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, health-care spending, and community infrastructure (eg, sanitation). A corruption index was derived using data from Transparency International. We examined associations between antimicrobial resistance and potential contributing factors using simple correlation for a univariate analysis and a logistic regression model for a multivariable analysis.
In the univariate analysis, GDP per capita, education, infrastructure, public health-care spending, and antibiotic consumption were all inversely correlated with the two antimicrobial resistance indices, whereas higher temperatures, poorer governance, and the ratio of private to public health expenditure were positively correlated. In the multivariable regression analysis (confined to the 73 countries for which antibiotic consumption data were available) considering the effect of changes in indices on E coli resistance (R2 0·54) and aggregate resistance (R2 0·75), better infrastructure (p=0·014 and p=0·0052) and better governance (p=0·025 and p<0·0001) were associated with lower antimicrobial resistance indices. Antibiotic consumption was not significantly associated with either antimicrobial resistance index in the multivariable analysis (p=0·64 and p=0·070).
Reduction of antibiotic consumption will not be sufficient to control antimicrobial resistance because contagion—the spread of resistant strains and resistance genes—seems to be the dominant contributing factor. Improving sanitation, increasing access to clean water, and ensuring good governance, as well as increasing public health-care expenditure and better regulating the private health sector are all necessary to reduce global antimicrobial resistance.
None.
Aims.
Two-dimensional spectroscopic data for the whole extent of the NGC 3132 planetary nebula have been obtained. We deliver a reduced data-cube and high-quality maps on a spaxel-by-spaxel basis for ...the many emission lines falling within the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) spectral coverage over a range in surface brightness >1000. Physical diagnostics derived from the emission line images, opening up a variety of scientific applications, are discussed.
Methods.
Data were obtained during MUSE commissioning on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope and reduced with the standard ESO pipeline. Emission lines were fitted by Gaussian profiles. The dust extinction, electron densities, and temperatures of the ionised gas and abundances were determined using Python and
PyNeb
routines.
Results.
The delivered datacube has a spatial size of ~63′′× 123′′, corresponding to ~0.26 × 0.51 pc
2
for the adopted distance, and a contiguous wavelength coverage of 4750–9300 Å at a spectral sampling of 1.25 Å pix
−1
. The nebula presents a complex reddening structure with high values (
c
(H
β
) ~ 0.4) at the rim. Density maps are compatible with an inner high-ionisation plasma at moderate high density (~1000 cm
−3
), while the low-ionisation plasma presents a structure in density peaking at the rim with values ~700 cm
−3
. Median
T
e
, using different diagnostics, decreases according to the sequence N
II
, S
II
→S
III
→ O
I
→ He
I
→ Paschen Jump. Likewise, the range of temperatures covered by recombination lines is much larger than those obtained from collisionally excited lines (CELs), with large spatial variations within the nebula. If these differences were due to the existence of high density clumps, as previously suggested, these spatial variations would suggest changes in the properties and/or distribution of the clumps within the nebula. We determined a median helium abundance He/H = 0.124, with slightly higher values at the rim and outer shell. The range of measured ionic abundances for light elements are compatible with literature values. Our kinematic analysis nicely illustrates the power of 2D kinematic information in many emission lines, which sheds light on the intrinsic structure of the nebula. Specifically, our derived velocity maps support a geometry for the nebula that is similar to the diabolo-like model previously proposed, but oriented with its major axis roughly at PA ~ −22°. We identified two low-surface brightness arc-like structures towards the northern and southern tips of the nebula, with high extinction, high helium abundance, and strong low-ionisation emission lines. They are spatially coincident with some extended low-surface brightness mid-infrared emission. The characteristics of the features suggest that they could be the consequence of precessing jets caused by the binary star system. A simple 1D Cloudy model is able to reproduce the strong lines in the integrated spectrum of the whole nebula with an accuracy of ~15%.
Conclusions.
Together with similar work with MUSE on NGC 7009, the present study illustrates the enormous potential of wide field integral field spectrographs for the study of Galactic planetary nebulae.
Summary Background Not all patients infected with NDM-1-positive bacteria have a history of hospital admission in India, and extended-spectrum β-lactamases are known to be circulating in the Indian ...community. We therefore measured the prevalence of the NDM-1 gene in drinking water and seepage samples in New Delhi. Methods Swabs absorbing about 100 μL of seepage water (ie, water pools in streets or rivulets) and 15 mL samples of public tap water were collected from sites within a 12 km radius of central New Delhi, with each site photographed and documented. Samples were transported to the UK and tested for the presence of the NDM-1 gene, blaNDM-1 , by PCR and DNA probing. As a control group, 100 μL sewage effluent samples were taken from the Cardiff Wastewater Treatment Works, Tremorfa, Wales. Bacteria from all samples were recovered and examined for blaNDM-1 by PCR and sequencing. We identified NDM-1-positive isolates, undertook susceptibility testing, and, where appropriate, typed the isolates. We undertook Inc typing on blaNDM-1 -positive plasmids. Transconjugants were created to assess plasmid transfer frequency and its relation to temperature. Findings From Sept 26 to Oct 10, 2010, 171 seepage samples and 50 tap water samples from New Delhi and 70 sewage effluent samples from Cardiff Wastewater Treatment Works were collected. We detected blaNDM-1 in two of 50 drinking-water samples and 51 of 171 seepage samples from New Delhi; the gene was not found in any sample from Cardiff. Bacteria with blaNDM-1 were grown from 12 of 171 seepage samples and two of 50 water samples, and included 11 species in which NDM-1 has not previously been reported, including Shigella boydii and Vibrio cholerae . Carriage by enterobacteria, aeromonads, and V cholera was stable, generally transmissible, and associated with resistance patterns typical for NDM-1; carriage by non-fermenters was unstable in many cases and not associated with typical resistance. 20 strains of bacteria were found in the samples, 12 of which carried blaNDM-1 on plasmids, which ranged in size from 140 to 400 kb. Isolates of Aeromonas caviae and V cholerae carried blaNDM-1 on chromosomes. Conjugative transfer was more common at 30°C than at 25°C or 37°C. Interpretation The presence of NDM-1 β-lactamase-producing bacteria in environmental samples in New Delhi has important implications for people living in the city who are reliant on public water and sanitation facilities. International surveillance of resistance, incorporating environmental sampling as well as examination of clinical isolates, needs to be established as a priority. Funding European Union.
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