Large intestine obstruction complicated with perforation: a rare manifestation of Schistosoma mansoni infection

The authors report a case of a 25 year old Brazilian man with a history of crampy abdominal pain in the left iliac fossa for 2 weeks, abdominal distention, mucous diarrhea and anorexia. The patient presented signs of hemodynamic instability and a hard mass palpated in the left iliac fossa presented peritoneal irritation. At laparotomy, fecal peritonitis and a punched-out perforation of the midsigmoid colon were found. A left hemicolectomy was performed with terminal colostomy. Specimen examination revealed a thickened rectosigmoid wall, narrow lumen and multiple mucosal polyps. Microscopically, chronic granulomatous colitis with Schistosoma mansoni eggs confirmed the etiology. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of obstruction complicated with perforation due to mansoni schistosomiasis reported in the literature.     

Dewatering Cofferdam for Construction of Olmsted Locks

Twin 110-ft×1,200-ft (SI unit conversions are provided in the Appendix) locks and a dam are being constructed in the Ohio River near Olmsted, IL. Construction of these locks required digging a 1,200-ft-wide and 2,200-ft-long excavation in the Ohio River to 100 ft below the design river stage. The size of the cofferdam required for lock construction, and the depth of excavation, made control of groundwater of paramount importance to excavation safety. The work included removing and/or controlling all ground and surface water within the cofferdam; controlling seepage through or beneath the coffercells and from the open cut along the Illinois bank; reducing the artesian head in an underlying stratum of highly jointed, indurated clayey silt and/or siltstone; and lowering the water level in the coffercells. The dewatering was accomplished by installing and pumping deep wells with submersible pumps, with vacuum, within the cofferdam area. The dewatering system was pump tested and evaluated before unwatering the excavation. Evaluation of the pump test data showed that the dewatering system as designed and installed would be adequate for the maximum design river stage with the addition of a few wells in the bottom of the excavation.     

Linear and branched polyoxide‐based copolymers: Methods to determine the CMC

Evaluation of the physical–chemical properties of aqueous solutions of nonionic surfactants based on polyoxides can be performed by different methods. Depending on the technique used, there can be a significant variation in the critical micelle concentration (CMC) found. This is related to the sensitivity of the technique regarding the unimers and micelles present in the solution as well as the structure of the surfactant evaluated. In this work, the CMC values of aqueous solutions of linear and branched poly(ethylene oxide‐polypropylene oxide) (PEO‐PPO) block copolymers were determined by tensiometry, fluorescence, and particle size analysis, using copolymers having adjacent structures (that is, hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments located adjacently in the copolymer) and alternating structures. Tensiometry was used to measure the surface tension as a function of the copolymer concentration in aqueous solution. Fluorescence was used to determine the fluorescence intensity of pyrene to plot the graphs of the I₁/I₃ and I_E/I_M relations according to the surfactant concentration. Finally, particle size analysis was used to determine the diffusion coefficient of the particles. The results showed that the fluorescence and particle size techniques provide lower (and mutually concordant) CMC values and can be considered more precise because these methods directly analyze the bulk of the solution. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Proteolysis of the phage lambda CII regulatory protein by FtsH (HflB) of Escherichia coli

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that the expression of psychosis may reflect an active morbid process that is associated with increasingly poor outcome unless ameliorated by antipsychotic drugs. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 48 in-patients with schizophrenia, many of whom had been admitted before the introduction of antipsychotic drugs to rural Irish psychiatric hospitals in the late 1950s. Each patient was assessed for positive and negative symptoms, and for general and executive (frontal) cognitive function. RESULTS: After controlling for age and for duration and continuity of subsequent antipsychotic treatment, current severity both of negative symptoms and of general cognitive impairment was predicted strongly by increasing duration of initially untreated psychosis; duration of illness following initiation of antipsychotic medication failed to predict the severity thereof. Neither of these indices of illness duration predicted the severity of positive symptoms or of executive dyscontrol. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing duration of initially untreated psychosis was associated specifically with heightened accrual of prominent negative symptoms and general cognitive impairment. Executive dyscontrol, though also prominent in these patients, may be 'locked-in' at an earlier phase of the illness.     

Dual‐port MIMO dielectric resonator antenna for WLAN applications

A dual‐port multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for 5 GHz IEEE (802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax) is discussed in this article. Two prototypes of single feed DRA and dual feed MIMO DRA are fabricated and measured results are compared with the simulated data. The proposed single feed DRA and dual feed MIMO DRA exhibits wide impedance bandwidth (IBW). Antennas have been fabricated on Rogers RT Duroid substrate with Eccostock made DRA placed over the substrate. DRAs are excited by aperture coupled feed to achieve wide bandwidth and high efficiency. The measured IBW of uniport DRA and dual‐port MIMO DRA are 26.6% (4.75‐6.21 GHz) and 27.5% (4.7‐6.2 GHz) respectively. Maximum gain of the antenna is 7.4 dBi. The results of the antennas are in good agreement with simulated data and they are suitable for WLAN applications. These antennas are also compact with area of substrate 32.8 cm².     

Complement C4 Is Reduced in iPSC-Derived Astrocytes of Autism Spectrum Disorder Subjects

In recent years, accumulating evidence has shown that the innate immune complement system is involved in several aspects of normal brain development and in neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although abnormal expression of complement components was observed in post-mortem brain samples from individuals with ASD, little is known about the expression patterns of complement molecules in distinct cell types in the developing autistic brain. In the present study, we characterized the mRNA and protein expression profiles of a wide range of complement system components, receptors and regulators in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural progenitor cells, neurons and astrocytes of individuals with ASD and neurotypical controls, which constitute in vitro cellular models that recapitulate certain features of both human brain development and ASD pathophysiology. We observed that all the analyzed cell lines constitutively express several key complement molecules. Interestingly, using different quantification strategies, we found that complement C4 mRNA and protein are expressed in significantly lower levels by astrocytes derived from ASD individuals compared to control astrocytes. As astrocytes participate in synapse elimination, and diminished C4 levels have been linked to defective synaptic pruning, our findings may contribute to an increased understanding of the atypically enhanced brain connectivity in ASD.     

Aqueous Phase Glycerol Reforming with Pt and PtMo Bimetallic Nanoparticle Catalysts: The Role of the Mo Promoter

The turnover rate (TOR, normalized to sites measured by CO chemisorption before reaction) and selectivity for the aqueous phase reforming of glycerol have been determined for Pt/C and PtMo/C catalysts. While the TOR of PtMo/C is higher than that of Pt/C by about 4 times at comparable conversion, the selectivity to C–O bond cleavage is higher, thus reducing the H₂ yield at high conversion. Under reaction conditions on Pt/C, CO is observed as the most abundant Pt surface species with a fractional coverage of about 0.6 using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Since there is little CO in the effluent (CO₂:CO ratios > 100:1, when CO is detected), it is thought that surface CO is converted to H₂ and CO₂ by the water gas shift reaction. DFT calculations suggest that the role of metallic Mo is to alter the electronic properties of Pt lowering the binding energy of CO and reducing the activation energies of dehydrogenation and C–O bond cleavage. Because the activation energy for C–O cleavage is lowered more than for dehydrogenation, the selectivity for C–O bond cleavage is increased, ultimately lowering the H₂ yield compared to Pt/C.     

Brief Review of Endometriosis and the Role of Trace Elements

Endometriosis is a chronic, estrogen-dependent, inflammatory condition that is defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside the uterine cavity. Despite the progress in research into the mechanisms leading to the development of endometriosis, its cause has not yet been established. It seems to be possible that the formation of oxidative stress may be one of the main causes of the development of endometriosis. There is much research that studies the potential role of trace elements in the appearance of endometrial-like lesions. Most studies focus on assessing the content of selected trace elements in the blood, urine, or peritoneal fluid in women with endometriosis. Meanwhile, little is known about the content of these elements in endometrial-like implants, which may be helpful in developing the theory of endometriosis. Investigations that are more comprehensive are needed to confirm a hypothesis that some trace elements play a role in the pathomechanism of endometriosis.     

Application of GC, GC-MSD, ICP-MS and Spectrophotometric Methods for the Determination of Chemical Composition and In Vitro Bioactivities of Chroogomphus rutilus: The Edible Mushroom Species

Chemical composition of Chroogomphus rutilus, the edible mushroom species, was analyzed by using gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MSD) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The silylated extract affords 19 components. Xylitol (56.28 %), glucitol (11.08 %), fumaric acid (10.92 %) and mannitol (6.79 %) were identified as the major compounds. The methylated extract possessed 13 fatty acids, and linoleic acid (41.61 %) and oleic acid (35.87 %) were the majors. In addition, the mineral and the heavy metal contents were tested for nine minerals and 12 heavy metals by using ICP-MS. In addition, the extracts were evaluated for cholinesterase inhibitory effects against acetyl-cholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase which are the chief enzymes of Alzheimer’s disease. The antioxidative effect of the extracts was also determined by using five complimentary assays. Moreover, the hexane extract (IC₅₀, 2.22?±?0.13 μg/ml) and the ethyl acetate extract (IC₅₀, 2.28?±?0.18 μg/ml) exhibited a good lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity while the methanol extract demonstrated good butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activity (IC₅₀, 45.5?±?1.1 μg/ml). In addition, total phenol and flavonoid contents of the extracts were also determined as pyrocatechol and quercetin equivalents, respectively. Because of its high antioxidant activity, C. rutilus might protect people against lipid peroxidation and free radical damage when consumed. It can be also used in food industry as preservative agents or extension of the shelf-life of foods. Since methanol extract indicated remarkable inhibitory activity being close to that of galantamine, it may be also useful as moderate cholinesterase inhibitory agents, particularly against butyrylcholinesterase.