Channel-forming leucotoxins from Staphylococcus aureus cause severe inflammatory reactions in a rabbit eye model

Seven families, multiply affected by bipolar mood disorder, have been collected from the Irish population and have been genotyped with microsatellite markers from the pericentromeric region of chromosome 18, a region that has been implicated as a site for a susceptibility gene for this relative common psychiatric disorder. The families significantly excluded linkage of bipolar disorder to this region under various models. Although the data provided no evidence of linkage heterogeneity among families, the number of families investigated may be too small to exclude completely the possibility of linkage in a small number of families.     

Development of a Molecular Aptamer Beacon Applied to Magnetic-Assisted RNA Extraction for Detection of Dengue and Zika Viruses Using Clinical Samples

Limitations in the detection of cocirculating flaviviruses such as Dengue and Zika lead us to propose the use of aptameric capture of the viral RNA in combination with RT-PCR (APTA-RT-PCR). Aptamers were obtained via SELEX and next-generation sequencing, followed by colorimetric and fluorescent characterizations. An APTA-RT-PCR assay was developed, optimized, and tested against the viral RNAs in 108 serum samples. After selection, sequence APTAZC10 was designed as a bifunctional molecular beacon (APTAZC10-MB), exhibiting affinity for the viral targets. APTA-RT-PCR was able to detect Dengue and Zika RNA in 43% and 8% of samples, respectively. Our results indicate that APTAZC10-MB and APTA-RT-PCR will be useful to improve the detection of Dengue and Zika viruses in a fast molecular assay for the improvement of infectious disease surveillance.     

Identification of Potential New Aedes aegypti Juvenile Hormone Inhibitors from N-Acyl Piperidine Derivatives: A Bioinformatics Approach

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmit several human pathogens that cause millions of deaths worldwide, mainly in Latin America. The indiscriminate use of insecticides has resulted in the development of species resistance to some such compounds. Piperidine, a natural alkaloid isolated from Piper nigrum, has been used as a hit compound due to its larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti. In the present study, piperidine derivatives were studied through in silico methods: pharmacophoric evaluation (PharmaGist), pharmacophoric virtual screening (Pharmit), ADME/Tox prediction (Preadmet/Derek 10.0^®), docking calculations (AutoDock 4.2) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation on GROMACS-5.1.4. MP-416 and MP-073 molecules exhibiting ΔG binding (MMPBSA −265.95 ± 1.32 kJ/mol and −124.412 ± 1.08 kJ/mol, respectively) and comparable to holo (ΔG binding = −216.21 ± 0.97) and pyriproxyfen (a well-known larvicidal, ΔG binding= −435.95 ± 2.06 kJ/mol). Considering future in vivo assays, we elaborated the theoretical synthetic route and made predictions of the synthetic accessibility (SA) (SwissADME), lipophilicity and water solubility (SwissADME) of the promising compounds identified in the present study. Our in silico results show that MP-416 and MP-073 molecules could be potent insecticides against the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.     

Supraomohyoid neck dissection in the treatment of T1/T2 squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity

BACKGROUND: Recent studies in patients with previously untreated T1 and T2 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue and floor of the mouth have shown a relationship between tumor thickness, neck metastasis, and survival. Our study was conducted to determine the indication of elective neck dissection in patients with early oral cavity SCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-seven patients were stratified by stage (T1 and T2 NO), and those in each stage were randomized to receive one of two types of treatment; resection alone (RA) or resection plus elective supraomohyoid neck dissection (RSOND). Fifty-two patients (78%) were men and 15 (22%) were women. The median age was 57 years old (range 34 to 95). RESULTS: Twenty-six (39%) patients had tumor in the floor of the mouth and 41 (61%), in the tongue. Using the criteria of the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC), 1987, we classified 31 tumors (46%) as T1 lesions and 36 (54%) as T2 lesions. Thirty patients had a tumor thickness < or = 4 mm and 37 had a tumor thickness > 4 mm. Thirty-three (49%) patients were treated with RA, and 34 patients (51%) were treated with RSOND. Seven (21%) patients of the RSOND group had occult cervical metastasis. There were recurrences in 14 (42%) patients of the RA group and 8 (24%) patients of the RSOND group. The disease-free survival rates at 3.5 years for RA and RSOND patients were 49%, and 72%, respectively. The impact of sex, age, site, cancer stage, and tumor thickness was assessed by the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square procedure. Later stage (P = 0.05) and increased tumor thickness (P = 0.005) were significantly associated with treatment failures. CONCLUSION: Neck dissection remains mandatory in the early stage of oral SCC, because of better survival rates compared to RA and the poor salvage rate. In particular, patients with tumor thickness > 4 mm treated with RSOND had significant benefit on disease-free survival.     

Early organizations of biomedical engineering in the US

The author provides some facts about the early history of the Institute for Radio Engineers Professional Group on Medical Electronics, which later became today's IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, to supplement the information given in a 1959 article by L.H. Montgomery, which is reprinted in ibid., vol.12, no.3, p.30-3 (1993)     

Lastknotenspezifische Erfassung von Versorgungsunterbrechungen und deren Anwendungsmöglichkeiten im liberalisierten Markt

The liberalization process of the electricity market leads to an increased cost pressure on power system operators. This will also have negative effects on the quality of supply. However, a high quality of supply is requested also in liberalized markets. In this context, the detailed knowledge of e.g. supply reliability in the power system is an important basis for different technical and economic decisions. Correspondingly, the importance of an efficient statistic of incidents is growing. This paper describes the new requirements of an Austrian distribution system operator, and the appropriate extension and implementation of the outage statistic and the related software tools in the company. Especially, the registration of outages in medium voltage systems considering individual stations affected by supply interruptions and failure affected equipment is described. Of course, the MV outage registration increases the effort for the statistic, but the overview of and the insight into the power system performance improve significantly.     

A quasi-resonant quadratic boost converter using a single resonant network

This paper presents a quadratic boost converter using a single quasi-resonant network to reach soft commutation. A resonant inductor, a resonant capacitor, and an auxiliary switch form the resonant network and the main switch operates in a zero-current-switching way. A complete analysis of this converter is presented. According to the simulation and experimental results, this quadratic boost converter provides a larger conversion ratio than that provided by the conventional boost converter (for a given duty ratio D), and presents optimum performance, which operates with soft-switch commutation using a single resonant network.     

Biomedical engineering: University of Pennsylvania-from researchlaboratory to a leader in educational institutions for bioengineering

The evolution of the Electromedical Laboratory of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania into a biomedical engineering department is summarized. Administrative and educational details for the period when the author served as head and chair (1952-1973) are related.