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Gated Dissipative Vibrant Artificial Photosynthetic Product Systems.
Emergence of colistin-resistant bacteria harboring mobile colistin resistance genes (mcr genes) pose a threat for food-producing animals and humans. In this article, we aim to highlight the emergence of Escherichia fergusonii as an important new reservoir to mcr-1-harboring plasmid in poultry production. Three strains closely related were isolated from cloacal swabs. Their genome contains four plasmids, including a 182,869 bp IncHI2 plasmid harboring the colistin resistance gene mcr-1. These results will contribute to our understanding of plasmid-mediated mcr-1 gene presence and transmission in E. fergusonii.The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Maternal Role Perception Scale, a measure of motherhood, based on the perceptions of women. The 5-point Likert draft scale with 61 items was used. The data of 610 mothers were analyzed in the study. read more In the validity-reliability analysis of the scale, exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used. As a result of the factor analysis, the scale consists of 28 items and two factors explaining 55.741% of the total variance. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) of the scale was calculated as 0.952. The Maternity Role Perception Scale (MRPS) is a reliable and valid scale developed for Turkish women. Maternal role is affected by physical, psychological, social status and the life of the woman. It is recommended to apply MRPS on different samples.GPR84 is an inflammation-induced receptor highly expressed on immune cells, yet its endogenous ligand is still unknown. link2 This makes any interpretation of its physiological activity in vivo difficult. However, experiments with potent synthetic agonists have highlighted what the receptor can do, namely, enhance proinflammatory signaling and macrophage effector functions such as phagocytosis. Developing drugs to block these effects has attracted interest from the scientific community with the aim of decreasing disease activity in inflammatory disorders or enhancing inflammation resolution. In this review, we critically reassess the widely held belief that the major role of GPR84 is that of being a medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) receptor. While MCFAs have been shown to activate GPR84, it remains to be demonstrated that they are present in relevant tissues at appropriate concentrations. In contrast to four other "full-time" free fatty acid receptor subtypes, GPR84 is not expressed by enteroendocrine cells and has limited expression in the gastrointestinal tract. Across multiple tissues and cell types, the highest expression levels of GPR84 are observed hours after exposure to an inflammatory stimulus. These factors obscure the relationship between ligand and receptor in the human body and do not support the exclusive physiological pairing of MCFAs with GPR84. To maximize the chances of developing efficacious drugs for inflammatory diseases, we must advance our understanding of GPR84 and what it does in vivo.The detection and identification of biosignatures on planetary bodies such as Mars in situ is extremely challenging. Current knowledge from space exploration missions suggests that a suite of complementary instruments is required in situ for a successful identification of past or present life. For future exploration missions, new and innovative instrumentation capable of high spatial resolution chemical (elemental and isotope) analysis of solids with improved measurement capabilities is of considerable interest because a multitude of potential signatures of extinct or extant life have dimensions on the micrometer scale. link3 The aim of this study is to extend the current measurement capabilities of a miniature laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer (LIMS) designed for space exploration missions to detect signatures of microbial life. In total, 14 martian mudstone analogue samples were investigated regarding their elemental composition. Half the samples were artificially inoculated with a low number density ofiniature LIMS system designed for space exploration missions.The aim of this study was to compare the kinematic profile of on-water and on-ergometer kayaking during maximal paddling. Eleven elite junior female kayak athletes (Mean SD, age 16.8 ± 1.2 years; body mass 64.1 ± 8.1 kg) performed a 2-minute maximal kayaking exercise with their competition equipment on water, and a 2-minute maximal kayaking exercise on a standard ergometer. Kinematic data was recorded with an inertial motion capture system. Elbow, shoulder and knee angles and their respective angular velocities were extracted and normalised with respect to the stroke cycle. Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) was used to identify statistically significant differences between the two conditions. The stroke rate was significantly higher on ergometer (122.1 ± 6.8 strokes per minute) compared to on water (107.1 ± 4.6 strokes per minute, p  less then  0.05), with a difference of 8.4 ± 5.9 strokes per minute. Elite kayak female athletes exhibited differences in elbow, shoulder and knee kinematics when comparing on-ergometer to on-water performance. Moreover, the results demonstrated an increased range of motion in lateral bending in the thoracolumbar joint (p  less then  0.001). The current results support recent findings that a kayak ergometer may not replicate on-water kinematics.Rationale Recent trends in the care and outcomes of pleural infection are not well characterized.Objectives To investigate trends in hospital-based healthcare use, outcomes, and management of pleural infection across the United States.Methods We identified adult hospitalizations for pleural infection from 2005 through 2014 in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-National Inpatient Sample using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition Clinical Modification diagnosis codes. We calculated weighted estimates of national trends in hospitalization, hospital length of stay, hospital mortality, inflation-adjusted cost, and management practices. We tested trend significance using fitted regression models.Results Over one decade, there was a significant decline in hospitalizations (54.4 per million to 41.2 per million U.S. adult population), length of stay (13.5 ± 0.2 to 11.2 ± 0.2 d), mortality (4.2-2.6%), and costs ($32,829 to $29,458) (all P  less then  0.001). Both tube thoracostomy and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery saw an increase as the procedure of first choice, along with declining use of thoracotomy (all P  less then  0.001). Most patients who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (94%) or tube thoracostomy (64.9%) as the initial procedure did not require a second invasive procedure.Conclusions Over the 21st century's first decade and a half, inpatient costs, use, and mortality have improved among U.S. adults hospitalized with pleural infection. Simultaneously, there has been a shift toward less invasive interventions upfront.In ophthalmologic or otolaryngologic studies, bilateral correlated data often arise when observations involving paired organs (e.g., eyes, ears) are measured from each subject. Based on Donner's model , in this paper, we focus on investigating the relationship between the disease probability and covariates (such as ages, weights, gender, and so on) via the logistic regression for the analysis of bilateral correlated data. We first propose a new minorization-maximization (MM) algorithm and a fast quadratic lower bound (QLB) algorithm to calculate the maximum likelihood estimates of the vector of regression coefficients, and then develop three large-sample tests (i.e., the likelihood ratio test, Wald test, and score test) to test if covariates have a significant impact on the disease probability. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed fast QLB algorithm and three testing methods. A real ophthalmologic data set in Iran is used to illustrate the proposed methods.It is urgent to develop a high-efficient process for recycling the spent mercuric chlorides catalyst (SMC) from vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) production with the implementation of the 'Minamata Convention on mercury'. A ultrasound and microwave-assisted technology were developed to treat SMC in this study. Firstly, organic carbon deposition was separated from SMC by pretreatment (ultrasonic-assisted ethanol extraction). The optimized extraction conditions were ultrasonic time 2 h, ultrasonic power 700 W, extraction temperature 65°C, and liquid-solid ratio 71. Under these conditions, 90% of hazardous Cl-containing organics were separated from SMC. Then the pretreated SMC was treated by microwave heating for mercury removal. Residual mercury concentration of SMC decreased from original 1.33% to only 11.92 mg/kg at the preferred conditions of 500°C for 60 min and the treated SMC passed the Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test. Simultaneously, catalyst support activated carbon (AC) was regenerated with specific surface area increasing from original 263.85 to 627.5 m2/g. The organics from macropores and surface of AC was removed by pretreatment, intensifying the subsequent Hg removal and regeneration of AC as revealed by the comparative studies. Finally, SMC was subjected to water leaching for recovering metal values. 88.7% of Ba and 95.3% of Ce were leached with ultrasonic power 500 W and ultrasonic time 120 min. SMC was detoxified and valuable components Hg, AC, Ba, Ce were recovered by this new process, which may provide a new idea for industrial treatment of SMC.The stress-buffering effects of cotyledonary leaves of Ricinus communis and the protection thus offered to the true leaves upon exposure to copper stress was performed by analyzing bioaccumulation of Cu and associated metabolic processes in the presence and absence of cotyledonary leaves. One-month-old seedlings of R. communis were treated with various concentrations of CuSO4 for 6 d under hydroponics with quarter strength modified Hoagland medium. Even though the photosynthetic pigments showed a decreasing trend with an increase in CuSO4 concentration and days of exposure in cotyledonary and true leaves, it was significant in true leaves with excised cotyledonary leaves. The results of chlorophyll a fluorescence parameters indicated that toxic levels of CuSO4 do not impart any major negative effect on the photochemistry of true leaves along with cotyledonary leaves. The analysis of osmolality, malondialdehyde, and metabolites showed a significantly increasing trend in true leaves with excised cotyledonary leaves. The above observations were strongly supported by higher Cu bioaccumulation in true leaves with excised cotyledonary leaves. The results suggest that the cotyledonary leaves have got the potential to evade Cu toxicity and thereby R. communis can be effectively used for the phytoremediation of Cu contaminated lands.Soft robotics is a field of robotic system design characterized by materials and structures that exhibit large-scale deformation, high compliance, and rich multifunctionality. The incorporation of soft and deformable structures endows soft robotic systems with the compliance and resiliency that makes them well adapted for unstructured and dynamic environments. Although actuation mechanisms for soft robots vary widely, soft electrostatic transducers such as dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic (HASEL) actuators have demonstrated promise due to their muscle-like performance and capacitive self-sensing capabilities. Despite previous efforts to implement self-sensing in electrostatic transducers by overlaying sinusoidal low-voltage signals, these designs still require sensing high-voltage signals, requiring bulky components that prevent integration with miniature untethered soft robots. We present a circuit design that eliminates the need for any high-voltage sensing components, thereby facilitating the design of simple low cost circuits using off-the-shelf components.
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