Background Leptospirosis diagnoses have increased in Sarawak, Malaysia in recent years. Methods T... more Background Leptospirosis diagnoses have increased in Sarawak, Malaysia in recent years. Methods To better understand the burden of disease and associated risk factors, we evaluated 147 patients presenting with clinical leptospirosis to local hospitals in Sarawak, Malaysia for the presence of Leptospira and associated antibodies. Sera and urine specimens collected during the acute illness phase were assessed via a commercially available rapid diagnostic test (Leptorapide, Linnodee Ltd., Antrim, Northern Ireland), an ELISA IgM assay (Leptospira IgM ELISA, PanBio, Queensland, Australia) and a pan-Leptospira real-time PCR (qPCR) assay to estimate disease prevalence and diagnostic accuracy of each method. Microagglutination testing was performed on a subset of samples. Results Overall, 45 out of 147 patients (30.6%) showed evidence of leptospires through qPCR in either one or both sera (20 patients) or urine (33 patients), and an additional ten (6.8%) were considered positive through ser...
Streptococcus mutans is the causative agent of dental caries, a significant concern for human hea... more Streptococcus mutans is the causative agent of dental caries, a significant concern for human health, and therefore an attractive target for therapeutics development. Previous work in our laboratory has identified a homodimeric, manganese-dependent repressor protein, SloR, as an important regulator of cariogenesis and has used site-directed mutagenesis to map functions to specific regions of the protein. Here we extend those studies to better understand the structural interaction between SloR and its operator and its effector metal ions. The results of DNAse I assays indicate that SloR protects a 42-base pair region of DNA that shares overlap with the sloABC promoter on the S. mutans UA159 chromosome, while electrophoretic mobility shift and solution binding assays indicate that each of two SloR dimers bind to this region. Semi-quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments were used to determine the individual base pairs that contribute to SloR-DNA-binding specificity. Solution s...
ABSTRACT The transport phenomenon between a fluid in movement and a wall is strongly affected by ... more ABSTRACT The transport phenomenon between a fluid in movement and a wall is strongly affected by the permeability of the wall. The application of a correction factor standing for the transpiration effect will be required whenever a heat transfer model is based either on the use of heat, mass or momentum analogies or on the use of empirical correlations for the computation of the heat transfer coefficient.The suction factor commonly used when solving as a function of either mass or molar fractions is called the Bird suction factor. The validity of this factor rests on the hypothesis of the film theory or Couette flow.This paper reviews the Bird suction factor in laminar regime, extending the analysis to turbulent flow conditions and finding thereby that Bird's equation can overestimate the suction factor under turbulent condensation conditions in the gas phase.Finally, an alternative formulation for the suction factor under turbulent condensation conditions has been proposed and compared with Bird's original formulation. In doing this, both data and models developed by other authors and the UW-Madison test facility database have been used.The results show the suitability of the alternative formulation when calculating the condensation rate in turbulent natural circulation scenarios, whereas Bird's formulation seems to be more appropriate for laminar regimes.
A 25kDa SloR metalloregulatory protein in Streptococcus mutans modulates the expression of multip... more A 25kDa SloR metalloregulatory protein in Streptococcus mutans modulates the expression of multiple genes, including the sloABC operon that encodes essential Mn(2+) transport and genes that promote cariogenesis. In this study, we report on SloC- and SloR-deficient strains of S. mutans (GMS284 and GMS584, respectively) that demonstrate compromised survivorship compared to their UA159 wildtype progenitor and their complemented strains (GMS285 and GMS585, respectively), when challenged with streptonigrin and/or in growth competition experiments. The results of streptonigrin assays revealed significantly larger zones of inhibition for GMS584 than for either UA159 or GMS585, indicating weakened S. mutans survivorship in the absence of SloR. Competition assays revealed a compromised ability for GMS284 and GMS584 to survive peroxide challenge compared with their SloC- and SloR-proficient counterparts. These findings are consistent with a role for SloC and SloR in S. mutans aerotolerance. W...
Additional file 1: Table S1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria checklist used by medical officers ... more Additional file 1: Table S1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria checklist used by medical officers while assessing patients for enrollment eligibility. Table S2. Demographic characteristics and exposure variables reported upon enrollment among patients hospitalized with pneumonia at Sibu and Kapit hospitals, between June 2017 and May 2018. Table S3. All specimens positive by one or more molecular method demonstrating discrepancies across adenovirus (AdV) assays. Table S4. All specimens positive by one or more molecular method demonstrating discrepancies across enterovirus (EV) assays. Table S5. All specimens positive by one or more molecular method demonstrating discrepancies across coronavirus (CoV) assays. Table S6. Comparison of positivity of panspecies conventional PCR versus real-time PCR for AdV. Table S7. Comparison of positivity of panspecies conventional PCR versus real-time PCR for EV. Table S8. Comparison of positivity of panspecies conventional PCR versus real-time PCR for...
Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines, 2020
Background In a year-long pneumonia etiology study conducted June 2017 to May 2018 in Sarawak, Ma... more Background In a year-long pneumonia etiology study conducted June 2017 to May 2018 in Sarawak, Malaysia, 599 patients’ nasopharyngeal swab specimens were studied with real-time polymerase chain reaction (rPCR)/ reverse-transcription (rRT-PCR) assays for respiratory pathogens known to contribute to the high burden of lower respiratory tract infections. The study team sought to compare real-time assay results with panspecies conventional molecular diagnostics to compare sensitivities and learn if novel viruses had been missed. Methods Specimens were studied for evidence of adenovirus (AdV), enterovirus (EV) and coronavirus (CoV) with panspecies gel-based nested PCR/RT-PCR assays. Gene sequences of specimens positive by panspecies assays were sequenced and studied with the NCBI Basic Local Alignment Search Tool software. Results There was considerable discordance between real-time and conventional molecular methods. The real-time AdV assay found a positivity of 10.4%; however, the AdV ...
OBJECTIVE Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are often measured up to 2 years after surgery; howeve... more OBJECTIVE Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are often measured up to 2 years after surgery; however, prospective collection of longitudinal outcomes for 5 years postoperatively can be challenging due to lack of patient follow-up. The aim of this study was to determine whether PROs collected at 2-year follow-up accurately predict long-term PROs 5 years after complex spinal fusion (≥ 5 levels). METHODS This was an ambispective study of 118 adult patients (≥ 18 years old) undergoing ≥ 5-level spinal arthrodesis to the sacrum with iliac fixation from January 2002 to December 2011. Patient demographics and radiographic parameters as well as intraoperative variables were collected. PRO instruments (Scoliosis Research Society [SRS]-22r function, self-image, mental health, pain, and Oswestry Disability Index [ODI]) were completed before surgery then at 2 and 5 years after surgery. Primary outcome investigated in this study was the correlation between SRS-22r domains and ODI collected at 2- a...
SummaryThe Strange-tailed TyrantAlectrurus risora(Aves: Tyrannidae) is an endemic species of sout... more SummaryThe Strange-tailed TyrantAlectrurus risora(Aves: Tyrannidae) is an endemic species of southern South American grasslands that suffered a 90% reduction of its original distribution due to habitat transformation. This has led the species to be classified as globally Vulnerable. By the beginning of the last century, populations were partially migratory and moved south during the breeding season. Currently, the main breeding population inhabits the Iberá wetlands in the province of Corrientes, north-east Argentina, where it is resident all year round. There are two remaining small populations in the province of Formosa, north-east Argentina, and in southern Paraguay, which are separated from the main population by the Parana-Paraguay River and its continuous riverine forest habitat. The populations of Corrientes and Formosa are separated by 300 km and the grasslands between populations are non-continuous due to habitat transformation. We used mtDNA sequences and eight microsatell...
Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, 2014
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing in prevalence and is associated with cardiovascular ev... more Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing in prevalence and is associated with cardiovascular events and mortality in asymptomatic and vascular surgery populations. This study aimed to determine the role of CKD in stratifying peri- and postoperative risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with nonmetastatic disease undergoing elective curative resection. Patients diagnosed with nonmetastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma and undergoing surgical resection between 2006 and 2011 were identified from a prospectively collated database. Further information on survival and cause of death was gathered from a regional cancer registry. Estimated glomerular filtration rates were calculated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed for disease-free and overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to determine the role of CKD after stratification by several clinicopathological factors. Seven-hundred and eight c...
ABSTRACT ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance t... more ABSTRACT ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
ABSTRACT An extension of the Mie [Ann. Phys. 25, 377 (1908) ] theory for the calculation of optic... more ABSTRACT An extension of the Mie [Ann. Phys. 25, 377 (1908) ] theory for the calculation of optical absorption spectra in bimetallic nanoparticles has been developed. The nanoparticle dielectric function is assumed to be a weighted linear combination of dielectric functions for single particles. Accordingly, analytical expressions for the resonance light absorption frequency, the spectrum maximum value, and the full width at half maximum have been derived, taking into account the interband transitions in the dielectric functions. Experiments have been performed on polymer-embedded Ag/Au nanoparticles prepared by reducing the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) at room temperature. Experimental absorption spectra have been compared to numerical curves derived by the model in the case of Ag/Au systems at different relative compositions, and they are in good agreement. The time dependence of both Ag/Au nanoparticle size and chemical composition during the growth process has also been investigated.
Background Leptospirosis diagnoses have increased in Sarawak, Malaysia in recent years. Methods T... more Background Leptospirosis diagnoses have increased in Sarawak, Malaysia in recent years. Methods To better understand the burden of disease and associated risk factors, we evaluated 147 patients presenting with clinical leptospirosis to local hospitals in Sarawak, Malaysia for the presence of Leptospira and associated antibodies. Sera and urine specimens collected during the acute illness phase were assessed via a commercially available rapid diagnostic test (Leptorapide, Linnodee Ltd., Antrim, Northern Ireland), an ELISA IgM assay (Leptospira IgM ELISA, PanBio, Queensland, Australia) and a pan-Leptospira real-time PCR (qPCR) assay to estimate disease prevalence and diagnostic accuracy of each method. Microagglutination testing was performed on a subset of samples. Results Overall, 45 out of 147 patients (30.6%) showed evidence of leptospires through qPCR in either one or both sera (20 patients) or urine (33 patients), and an additional ten (6.8%) were considered positive through ser...
Streptococcus mutans is the causative agent of dental caries, a significant concern for human hea... more Streptococcus mutans is the causative agent of dental caries, a significant concern for human health, and therefore an attractive target for therapeutics development. Previous work in our laboratory has identified a homodimeric, manganese-dependent repressor protein, SloR, as an important regulator of cariogenesis and has used site-directed mutagenesis to map functions to specific regions of the protein. Here we extend those studies to better understand the structural interaction between SloR and its operator and its effector metal ions. The results of DNAse I assays indicate that SloR protects a 42-base pair region of DNA that shares overlap with the sloABC promoter on the S. mutans UA159 chromosome, while electrophoretic mobility shift and solution binding assays indicate that each of two SloR dimers bind to this region. Semi-quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments were used to determine the individual base pairs that contribute to SloR-DNA-binding specificity. Solution s...
ABSTRACT The transport phenomenon between a fluid in movement and a wall is strongly affected by ... more ABSTRACT The transport phenomenon between a fluid in movement and a wall is strongly affected by the permeability of the wall. The application of a correction factor standing for the transpiration effect will be required whenever a heat transfer model is based either on the use of heat, mass or momentum analogies or on the use of empirical correlations for the computation of the heat transfer coefficient.The suction factor commonly used when solving as a function of either mass or molar fractions is called the Bird suction factor. The validity of this factor rests on the hypothesis of the film theory or Couette flow.This paper reviews the Bird suction factor in laminar regime, extending the analysis to turbulent flow conditions and finding thereby that Bird's equation can overestimate the suction factor under turbulent condensation conditions in the gas phase.Finally, an alternative formulation for the suction factor under turbulent condensation conditions has been proposed and compared with Bird's original formulation. In doing this, both data and models developed by other authors and the UW-Madison test facility database have been used.The results show the suitability of the alternative formulation when calculating the condensation rate in turbulent natural circulation scenarios, whereas Bird's formulation seems to be more appropriate for laminar regimes.
A 25kDa SloR metalloregulatory protein in Streptococcus mutans modulates the expression of multip... more A 25kDa SloR metalloregulatory protein in Streptococcus mutans modulates the expression of multiple genes, including the sloABC operon that encodes essential Mn(2+) transport and genes that promote cariogenesis. In this study, we report on SloC- and SloR-deficient strains of S. mutans (GMS284 and GMS584, respectively) that demonstrate compromised survivorship compared to their UA159 wildtype progenitor and their complemented strains (GMS285 and GMS585, respectively), when challenged with streptonigrin and/or in growth competition experiments. The results of streptonigrin assays revealed significantly larger zones of inhibition for GMS584 than for either UA159 or GMS585, indicating weakened S. mutans survivorship in the absence of SloR. Competition assays revealed a compromised ability for GMS284 and GMS584 to survive peroxide challenge compared with their SloC- and SloR-proficient counterparts. These findings are consistent with a role for SloC and SloR in S. mutans aerotolerance. W...
Additional file 1: Table S1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria checklist used by medical officers ... more Additional file 1: Table S1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria checklist used by medical officers while assessing patients for enrollment eligibility. Table S2. Demographic characteristics and exposure variables reported upon enrollment among patients hospitalized with pneumonia at Sibu and Kapit hospitals, between June 2017 and May 2018. Table S3. All specimens positive by one or more molecular method demonstrating discrepancies across adenovirus (AdV) assays. Table S4. All specimens positive by one or more molecular method demonstrating discrepancies across enterovirus (EV) assays. Table S5. All specimens positive by one or more molecular method demonstrating discrepancies across coronavirus (CoV) assays. Table S6. Comparison of positivity of panspecies conventional PCR versus real-time PCR for AdV. Table S7. Comparison of positivity of panspecies conventional PCR versus real-time PCR for EV. Table S8. Comparison of positivity of panspecies conventional PCR versus real-time PCR for...
Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines, 2020
Background In a year-long pneumonia etiology study conducted June 2017 to May 2018 in Sarawak, Ma... more Background In a year-long pneumonia etiology study conducted June 2017 to May 2018 in Sarawak, Malaysia, 599 patients’ nasopharyngeal swab specimens were studied with real-time polymerase chain reaction (rPCR)/ reverse-transcription (rRT-PCR) assays for respiratory pathogens known to contribute to the high burden of lower respiratory tract infections. The study team sought to compare real-time assay results with panspecies conventional molecular diagnostics to compare sensitivities and learn if novel viruses had been missed. Methods Specimens were studied for evidence of adenovirus (AdV), enterovirus (EV) and coronavirus (CoV) with panspecies gel-based nested PCR/RT-PCR assays. Gene sequences of specimens positive by panspecies assays were sequenced and studied with the NCBI Basic Local Alignment Search Tool software. Results There was considerable discordance between real-time and conventional molecular methods. The real-time AdV assay found a positivity of 10.4%; however, the AdV ...
OBJECTIVE Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are often measured up to 2 years after surgery; howeve... more OBJECTIVE Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are often measured up to 2 years after surgery; however, prospective collection of longitudinal outcomes for 5 years postoperatively can be challenging due to lack of patient follow-up. The aim of this study was to determine whether PROs collected at 2-year follow-up accurately predict long-term PROs 5 years after complex spinal fusion (≥ 5 levels). METHODS This was an ambispective study of 118 adult patients (≥ 18 years old) undergoing ≥ 5-level spinal arthrodesis to the sacrum with iliac fixation from January 2002 to December 2011. Patient demographics and radiographic parameters as well as intraoperative variables were collected. PRO instruments (Scoliosis Research Society [SRS]-22r function, self-image, mental health, pain, and Oswestry Disability Index [ODI]) were completed before surgery then at 2 and 5 years after surgery. Primary outcome investigated in this study was the correlation between SRS-22r domains and ODI collected at 2- a...
SummaryThe Strange-tailed TyrantAlectrurus risora(Aves: Tyrannidae) is an endemic species of sout... more SummaryThe Strange-tailed TyrantAlectrurus risora(Aves: Tyrannidae) is an endemic species of southern South American grasslands that suffered a 90% reduction of its original distribution due to habitat transformation. This has led the species to be classified as globally Vulnerable. By the beginning of the last century, populations were partially migratory and moved south during the breeding season. Currently, the main breeding population inhabits the Iberá wetlands in the province of Corrientes, north-east Argentina, where it is resident all year round. There are two remaining small populations in the province of Formosa, north-east Argentina, and in southern Paraguay, which are separated from the main population by the Parana-Paraguay River and its continuous riverine forest habitat. The populations of Corrientes and Formosa are separated by 300 km and the grasslands between populations are non-continuous due to habitat transformation. We used mtDNA sequences and eight microsatell...
Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, 2014
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing in prevalence and is associated with cardiovascular ev... more Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing in prevalence and is associated with cardiovascular events and mortality in asymptomatic and vascular surgery populations. This study aimed to determine the role of CKD in stratifying peri- and postoperative risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with nonmetastatic disease undergoing elective curative resection. Patients diagnosed with nonmetastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma and undergoing surgical resection between 2006 and 2011 were identified from a prospectively collated database. Further information on survival and cause of death was gathered from a regional cancer registry. Estimated glomerular filtration rates were calculated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed for disease-free and overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to determine the role of CKD after stratification by several clinicopathological factors. Seven-hundred and eight c...
ABSTRACT ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance t... more ABSTRACT ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
ABSTRACT An extension of the Mie [Ann. Phys. 25, 377 (1908) ] theory for the calculation of optic... more ABSTRACT An extension of the Mie [Ann. Phys. 25, 377 (1908) ] theory for the calculation of optical absorption spectra in bimetallic nanoparticles has been developed. The nanoparticle dielectric function is assumed to be a weighted linear combination of dielectric functions for single particles. Accordingly, analytical expressions for the resonance light absorption frequency, the spectrum maximum value, and the full width at half maximum have been derived, taking into account the interband transitions in the dielectric functions. Experiments have been performed on polymer-embedded Ag/Au nanoparticles prepared by reducing the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) at room temperature. Experimental absorption spectra have been compared to numerical curves derived by the model in the case of Ag/Au systems at different relative compositions, and they are in good agreement. The time dependence of both Ag/Au nanoparticle size and chemical composition during the growth process has also been investigated.
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