乙醇生产的技术进步——新型酶技术给乙醇生料发酵生产带来的突破

由于能源价格的增长和乙醇的广泛应用,发酵乙醇日益具有竞争力。文中对发酵法生产乙醇的状况和技术进行了简单回顾,着重介绍了新型生料水解酶的作用原理及其研究进展,并对该项技术的使用和对生产带来的益处进行了分析。     

Correlations for timing consistency among tapping and drawing tasks: Evidence against a single timing process for motor control.

Three experiments were conducted to examine whether timing processes can be shared by continuous tapping and drawing tasks. In all 3 experiments, temporal precision in tapping was not related to temporal precision in continuous drawing. There were modest correlations among the tapping tasks, and there were significant correlations among the drawing tasks. In Experiment 3, the function relating timing variance to the square of the observed movement duration for tapping was different from that for drawing. The conclusions drawn were that timing is not an ability to be shared by a variety of tasks but instead that the temporal qualities of skilled movement are the result of the specific processes necessary to produce a trajectory. These results are consistent with the idea that timing is an emergent property of movement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of aminoglycoside-penicillin synergy against Enterococcus faecium using high-content aminoglycoside disks

Thirty-seven Enterococcus faecium strains were screened for high-level aminoglycoside resistance with an agar diffusion test using high-content aminoglycoside disks (300 micrograms of streptomycin and 120 micrograms of gentamicin, tobramycin, kanamycin or amikacin). The inhibition zones obtained were correlated with results of time-kill penicillin-aminoglycoside synergy studies. An 11 mm breakpoint differentiated strains susceptible or resistant to the synergy of streptomycin plus penicillin. Irrespective of the inhibition zones obtained with tobramycin and kanamycin disks, Enterococcus faecium strains never showed synergy with penicillin in combination with these aminoglycosides. Penicillin-amikacin synergy cannot be predicted by the amikacin disks. Nevertheless, even though kanamycin disks do not predict penicillin-kanamycin synergy, they can be used to predict penicillin-amikacin synergy. In summary, high-content streptomycin, gentamicin and kanamycin disks can be used to predict the susceptibility of Enterococcus faecium strains to the synergistic combination of penicillin plus one of the aminoglycosides (streptomycin, gentamicin or amikacin, respectively).     

An improved method to obtain highly differentiated monolayers of human bronchial epithelial cells

BACKGROUND: Image-guided percutaneous drainage has been shown to be a safe and effective alternative to surgery in the management of psoas abscess in adults and adolescents. There is little information on its use in children. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of US-guided percutaneous needle aspiration and catheter drainage of ilio-psoas abscesses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 14 children with 16 ilio-psoas abscesses (10 pyogenic and 4 tuberculous) who were treated by US-guided percutaneous needle aspiration (n = 5) or catheter drainage (n = 9) along with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. RESULTS: Percutaneous treatment was successful in 10 of the 14 patients; all showed clinical improvement within 24-48 h of drainage and subsequent imaging demonstrated resolution of the abscess cavities. Surgery was avoided in all of these ten patients except one, who underwent open surgical drainage of ipsilateral hip joint pus. Of the other four patients, two had to undergo surgical drainage of the ilio-psoas abscesses after failure of percutaneous treatment, one improved with antibiotics after needle aspiration failed to yield any pus, and one died of continuing staphylococcal septicaemia within 24 h of the procedure. There were no procedural complications. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous drainage represents an effective alternative to surgical drainage as a supplement to medical therapy in the management of children with ilio-psoas abscesses.     

Downregulation of the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 on bronchial epithelial cells by fenoterol, a beta2-adrenoceptor agonist

An effect of estrogen in the uterus of rats is the invasion of eosinophil granulocytes into the endometrium and the myometrium. Progesterone prevents the estrogen induced eosinophilia. In the uterus the eosinophils degranulate, probably mediated by steroid hormones. The extent of infiltration with eosinophils may allow estimation of the estrogen activity of drugs. The present study investigates the effects of a long-term treatment with the progesterone antagonists Onapristone and ZK 112.993 on the eosinophils in the uterus of intact mature rats. The visualization of the eosinophils was done immunohistochemically with an antiserum against the Major Basic Protein (MBP) localized in the secondary granules. The localization of this protein in the extracellular matrix immediately beneath the eosinophils in Carnoy-fixed uteri was taken as a marker for their degranulation (Duchesne and Badia 1992). Onapristone caused a strong infiltration by eosinophils which corresponds to those seen in ovariectomized rats treated with estrogen, while the effect of ZK 112.993 was clearly weaker. This is in agreement with the lower antiprogestational activity of ZK 112.993 also found with other endpoints. In uteri fixed in Bouin' solution the immunoreactivity of the eosinophils was strongest and restricted to these cells. However, after Carnoy' fixation the antibody reacted with the extracellular matrix beneath the eosinophils while the staining intensity of the cells was decreased. Our results do not support the idea of a substantial extracellular deposition of MBP in the uterus of rats but speak in favour of a permeabilization of the eosinophil membranes by alcohol containing fixatives allowing granule contents to leave the cell.     

The role of vision in repetitive circle drawing

Although most strategies of vaccination require immunopotentiation to induce efficient immune responses, the development of new adjuvants for human vaccines is highly limited by safety problems. In order to overcome this problem, we developed a new vaccine formulation based on the covalent linkage of protein or peptide to synthetic microspheres. In previous experiments performed in mice, we demonstrated that these particulate antigens induce strong antigen-specific CD4+ T cell proliferative responses in the absence of adjuvant. In the present study, we analyzed the immunogenicity in primate Saimiri sciureus monkeys of two different proteins linked to synthetic microspheres. Immune responses induced by these particulate proteins administered without adjuvant were compared to those stimulated by the soluble antigens injected with alum. We currently demonstrated that, in monkeys, particulate antigens administered without adjuvant, induced good PBMC proliferative response and antibody production. Furthermore, the analysis of antibody responses using mAbs specific for different Saimiri sciureus immunoglobulins showed that the antibody response profiles were different in monkeys immunized with soluble versus particulate form of antigens. Results of this study demonstrate that particulate form of antigen may stimulate qualitatively different immune responses as compared to alum and therefore suggest that this new antigen formulation could be an attractive candidate for the development of vaccines.     

Stimulation of blood mononuclear cells of atopic children with the relevant allergen induces the release of eosinophil chemotaxins such as IL-3, IL-5, and GM-CSF

Even among comprehensive local public mental health systems, there remain large gaps in continuity of care following discharge from inpatient settings. The authors describe a modification of the assertive community treatment (ACT) program model that links inpatients to ongoing community-based care, and provide preliminary evidence of its effectiveness as a component in a rationally organized comprehensive system of care. Given the recent trend toward managed Medicaid arrangements, there will be increased pressure to reduce clients' length of stay in ACT programs. State mental health authorities are cautioned to resist allowing managed care contractors to radically change the conditions under which ACT programs operate until there is greater evidence of the effectiveness of alternative approaches.