Antianaerobic Antimicrobials: Spectrum and Susceptibility Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Wexler, Hannah M.; Goldstein, Ellie J. C.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Susceptibility testing of anaerobic bacteria recovered from selected cases can influence the choice of antimicrobial therapy. The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has standardized many laboratory procedures, including anaerobic susceptibility testing (AST), and has published documents for AST. The standardization of testing methods by the CLSI allows comparisons of resistance trends among various laboratories. Susceptibility testing should be performed on organisms recovered from sterile body sites, those that are isolated in pure culture, or those that are clinically important and have variable or unique susceptibility patterns. Organisms that should be considered for individual isolate testing include highly virulent pathogens for which susceptibility cannot be predicted, such as Bacteroides, Prevotella, Fusobacterium, and Clostridium spp.; Bilophila wadsworthia; and Sutterella wadsworthensis. This review describes the current methods for AST in research and reference laboratories. These methods include the use of agar dilution, broth microdilution, Etest, and the spiral gradient endpoint system. The antimicrobials potentially effective against anaerobic bacteria include beta-lactams, combinations of beta-lactams and beta-lactamase inhibitors, metronidazole, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, macrolides, tetracyclines, and fluoroquinolones. The spectrum of efficacy, antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, and resistance patterns against these agents are described. PMID:23824372

Measurements of temperature dependence of 'localized susceptibility'

CERN Document Server

Shiozawa, H; Ishii, H; Takayama, Y; Obu, K; Muro, T; Saitoh, Y; Matsuda, T D; Sugawara, H; Sato, H

2003-01-01

The magnetic susceptibility of some rare-earth compounds is estimated by measuring magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of rare-earth 3d-4f absorption spectra. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility obtained by the MCD measurement is remarkably different from the bulk susceptibility in most samples, which is attributed to the strong site selectivity of the core MCD measurement.

TRIGRS Application for landslide susceptibility mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Sugiarti, K.; Sukristiyanti, S.

2018-02-01

Research on landslide susceptibility has been carried out using several different methods. TRIGRS is a modeling program for landslide susceptibility by considering pore water pressure changes due to infiltration of rainfall. This paper aims to present a current state-of-the-art science on the development and application of TRIGRS. Some limitations of TRIGRS, some developments of it to improve its modeling capability, and some examples of the applications of some versions of it to model the effect of rainfall variation on landslide susceptibility are reviewed and discussed.

Absolute method of measuring magnetic susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Thorpe, A.; Senftle, F.E.

1959-01-01

An absolute method of standardization and measurement of the magnetic susceptibility of small samples is presented which can be applied to most techniques based on the Faraday method. The fact that the susceptibility is a function of the area under the curve of sample displacement versus distance of the magnet from the sample, offers a simple method of measuring the susceptibility without recourse to a standard sample. Typical results on a few substances are compared with reported values, and an error of less than 2% can be achieved. ?? 1959 The American Institute of Physics.

Susceptibility of Staphylococcus species and subspecies to teicoplanin.

Science.gov (United States)

Bannerman, T L; Wadiak, D L; Kloos, W E

1991-01-01

Twenty-four Staphylococcus species and their subspecies were examined for their susceptibilities to teicoplanin by disk diffusion (30-micrograms disk) and agar dilution for the determination of MICs. Moderately susceptible and resistant clinical strains were further tested for their susceptibilities to oxacillin and vancomycin. Teicoplanin resistance was not observed in the reference strains of the various Staphylococcus species isolated from healthy volunteers or animals. However, the novobiocin-resistant species Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus xylosus, Staphylococcus arlettae, Staphylococcus kloosii, and Staphylococcus gallinarum were less susceptible to teicoplanin (MIC, 2 to 8 micrograms/ml) than most of the novobiocin-susceptible species were (MIC, 0.5 to 4 micrograms/ml). Clinical isolates of coagulase-negative species were generally less susceptible to teicoplanin than were reference strains. Seven percent of the Staphylococcus epidermidis clinical strains were moderately susceptible (MIC, 16 micrograms/ml) to teicoplanin. Of these strains, 70% were oxacillin resistant. For Staphylococcus haemolyticus strains, 11% were resistant (MIC, greater than 16 micrograms/ml) and 21% were moderately susceptible to teicoplanin. Of these strains, 95% were oxacillin resistant, No strains of S. epidermidis or S. haemolyticus were intermediate or resistant to vancomycin. Teicoplanin appears to be less active in vitro against oxacillin-resistant S. haemolyticus. However, teicoplanin is an effective antimicrobial agent against many Staphylococcus species. PMID:1835340

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping: Contrast Mechanisms and Clinical Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chunlei; Wei, Hongjiang; Gong, Nan-Jie; Cronin, Matthew; Dibb, Russel; Decker, Kyle

2016-01-01

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a recently developed MRI technique for quantifying the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility within biological tissues. It first uses the frequency shift in the MRI signal to map the magnetic field profile within the tissue. The resulting field map is then used to determine the spatial distribution of the underlying magnetic susceptibility by solving an inverse problem. The solution is achieved by deconvolving the field map with a dipole field, under the assumption that the magnetic field is a result of the superposition of the dipole fields generated by all voxels and that each voxel has its unique magnetic susceptibility. QSM provides improved contrast to noise ratio for certain tissues and structures compared to its magnitude counterpart. More importantly, magnetic susceptibility is a direct reflection of the molecular composition and cellular architecture of the tissue. Consequently, by quantifying magnetic susceptibility, QSM is becoming a quantitative imaging approach for characterizing normal and pathological tissue properties. This article reviews the mechanism generating susceptibility contrast within tissues and some associated applications. PMID:26844301

Storm-Induced Slope Failure Susceptibility Mapping

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

A pilot study was conducted to characterize and map the areas susceptible to slope failure using state-wide available data. The objective was to determine whether it would be possible to provide slope-failure susceptibility mapping that could be used...

High-frequency, transient magnetic susceptibility of ferroelectrics

Science.gov (United States)

Grimes, Craig A.

1996-10-01

A significant high-frequency magnetic susceptibility was measured both in weakly polarized and nonpolarized samples of barium titanate, lead zirconate titanate, and carnauba wax. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were made from 10 to 500 MHz using a thin film permeameter at room temperature; initial susceptibilities ranged from 0.1 to 2.5. These values are larger than expected for paramagnets and smaller than expected for ferromagnets. It was found that the magnetic susceptibility decreases rapidly with exposure to the exciting field. The origin of the magnetic susceptibility is thought to originate with the applied time varying electric field associated with the susceptibility measurements. An electric field acts to rotate an electric dipole, creating a magnetic quadrupole if the two moments are balanced, and a net magnetic dipole moment if imbalanced. It is thought that local electrostatic fields created at ferroelectric domain discontinuities associated with grain boundaries create an imbalance in the anion rotation that results in a net, measurable, magnetic moment. The origin of the magnetic aftereffect may be due to the local heating of the material through the moving charges associated with the magnetic moment.

SCC susceptibility evaluation of plastic deformed austenitic stainless steels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaneshima, Yoshiari; Totsuka, Nobuo; Arioka, Koji [Inst. of Nuclear Safety System Inc., Mihama, Fukui (Japan)

2002-09-01

Slow strain rate temperature (SSRT) tests were carried out to evaluate the SCC susceptibility of deformed SUS316 stainless steel in simulated primary water of pressurized water reactor (PWR). The influence of material hardness and temperature on SCC susceptibility was studied. From these tests following results were obtained. (1) Both of the total SCC and IGSCC susceptibilities increased as the hardness of deformed specimens increased. Especially over 250{approx}300HV area, this tendency remarkably increased. (2) The reduction ratio showed a plateau under 300HV area. However, over 300HV area, it decreased remarkably as the hardness increased, that is, the SCC susceptibility remarkably increased. (3) Based on the SSRT test results conducted at 320, 340 and 360degC, the total SCC susceptibility dependence on temperature was small and the IGSCC susceptibility was dependent on the temperature. From these results, the TGSCC susceptibility dependence on temperature was also small. The activation energy of total SCC and IGSCC susceptibility were calculated. (author)

Ancestral susceptibility to colorectal cancer

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Huhn, S.; Pardini, Barbara; Naccarati, Alessio; Vodička, Pavel (ed.); Hemminki, K.; Försti, A.

2012-01-01

Roč. 27, č. 2 (2012), s. 197-204 ISSN 0267-8357 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA310/07/1430; GA ČR GAP304/10/1286 Grant - others:EU FP7(XE) HEALTH-F4-2007-200767 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50390512 Keywords : cancer susceptibility * molecular epidemiology * genetic susceptibility Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.500, year: 2012

Mean magnetic susceptibility regularized susceptibility tensor imaging (MMSR-STI) for estimating orientations of white matter fibers in human brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xu; van Zijl, Peter C M

2014-09-01

An increasing number of studies show that magnetic susceptibility in white matter fibers is anisotropic and may be described by a tensor. However, the limited head rotation possible for in vivo human studies leads to an ill-conditioned inverse problem in susceptibility tensor imaging (STI). Here we suggest the combined use of limiting the susceptibility anisotropy to white matter and imposing morphology constraints on the mean magnetic susceptibility (MMS) for regularizing the STI inverse problem. The proposed MMS regularized STI (MMSR-STI) method was tested using computer simulations and in vivo human data collected at 3T. The fiber orientation estimated from both the STI and MMSR-STI methods was compared to that from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Computer simulations show that the MMSR-STI method provides a more accurate estimation of the susceptibility tensor than the conventional STI approach. Similarly, in vivo data show that use of the MMSR-STI method leads to a smaller difference between the fiber orientation estimated from STI and DTI for most selected white matter fibers. The proposed regularization strategy for STI can improve estimation of the susceptibility tensor in white matter. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Salmonella species

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

ABSTRACT. Treatment of enteric fever is increasingly becoming very challenging due to the increasing wave of antibiotic resistance. This study is a review of the contemporary antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of. Salmonella species. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Salmonella species to a wide range of.

The Havriliak-Negami susceptibility as a nonlinear and nonlocal process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miskinis, Paulius

2009-01-01

A theoretical substantiation of the Cole-Cole, Cole-Davidson and Havriliak-Negami types of susceptibilities is presented. These types of susceptibility are shown to be a manifestation of weak nonlocality and nonlinearity. The Debye susceptibility corresponds to linear and local relaxation, the Cole-Cole susceptibility being linear and nonlocal; the Cole-Davidson susceptibility is nonlinear and local and the Havriliak-Negami susceptibility corresponds to nonlinear and nonlocal relaxation.

Landslide susceptibility map: from research to application

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorucci, Federica; Reichenbach, Paola; Ardizzone, Francesca; Rossi, Mauro; Felicioni, Giulia; Antonini, Guendalina

2014-05-01

Susceptibility map is an important and essential tool in environmental planning, to evaluate landslide hazard and risk and for a correct and responsible management of the territory. Landslide susceptibility is the likelihood of a landslide occurring in an area on the basis of local terrain conditions. Can be expressed as the probability that any given region will be affected by landslides, i.e. an estimate of "where" landslides are likely to occur. In this work we present two examples of landslide susceptibility map prepared for the Umbria Region and for the Perugia Municipality. These two maps were realized following official request from the Regional and Municipal government to the Research Institute for the Hydrogeological Protection (CNR-IRPI). The susceptibility map prepared for the Umbria Region represents the development of previous agreements focused to prepare: i) a landslide inventory map that was included in the Urban Territorial Planning (PUT) and ii) a series of maps for the Regional Plan for Multi-risk Prevention. The activities carried out for the Umbria Region were focused to define and apply methods and techniques for landslide susceptibility zonation. Susceptibility maps were prepared exploiting a multivariate statistical model (linear discriminant analysis) for the five Civil Protection Alert Zones defined in the regional territory. The five resulting maps were tested and validated using the spatial distribution of recent landslide events that occurred in the region. The susceptibility map for the Perugia Municipality was prepared to be integrated as one of the cartographic product in the Municipal development plan (PRG - Piano Regolatore Generale) as required by the existing legislation. At strategic level, one of the main objectives of the PRG, is to establish a framework of knowledge and legal aspects for the management of geo-hydrological risk. At national level most of the susceptibility maps prepared for the PRG, were and still are obtained

Ertapenem susceptibility of extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing organisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Selby Edward B

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Infections caused by multiply drug resistant organisms such as extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are increasing. Carbapenems (imipenem and meropenem are the antibiotics commonly used to treat these agents. There is limited clinical data regarding the efficacy of the newest carbapenem, ertapenem, against these organisms. Ertapenem susceptibility of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae clinical isolates were evaluated and compared to imipenem to determine if imipenem susceptibility could be used as a surrogate for ertapenem susceptibility. Methods 100 ESBL isolates (n = 34 E. coli and n = 66 K. pneumoniae collected from 2005–2006 clinical specimens at WRAMC were identified and tested for susceptibility by Vitek Legacy [bioMerieux, Durham, NC]. Ertapenem susceptibility was performed via epsilometer test (E-test [AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden]. Results 100% of ESBL isolates tested were susceptible to ertapenem. 100% of the same isolates were also susceptible to imipenem. Conclusion These results, based on 100% susceptibility, suggest that ertapenem may be an alternative to other carbapenems for the treatment of infections caused by ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Clinical outcomes studies are needed to determine if ertapenem is effective for the treatment of infection caused by these organisms. However, due to lack of resistant isolates, we are unable to conclude whether imipenem susceptibility accurately predicts ertapenem susceptibility.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns Of Salmonella Species In ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

% susceptible to cefepime and carbapenem, 91% to azithromycin, 82.1% to cefixime and 73% to quinolones. Also susceptibility to chloramphenicol, erythromycin, streptomycin, ampicillin, gentamicin, co-trimoxazole, augmentin and amikacin ...

Susceptibility of Staphylococcus species and subspecies to fleroxacin.

Science.gov (United States)

Bannerman, T L; Wadiak, D L; Kloos, W E

1991-01-01

Twenty-four Staphylococcus species or subspecies were examined for their susceptibilities to the fluoroquinolone fleroxacin (Ro 23-6240) by disk diffusion (5-micrograms disk) and by agar dilution for the determination of MICs. Resistant strains were further tested for their susceptibilities to oxacillin and the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. Reference strains of the novobiocin-resistant species (Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus xylosus, Staphylococcus arlettae, and Staphylococcus gallinarum) had an intrinsic intermediate susceptibility (MIC, 4 micrograms/ml) to fleroxacin. Fleroxacin resistance was not observed in the reference strains of the novobiocin-susceptible species (MIC, 0.5 to 2.0 micrograms/ml). Clinical isolates of coagulase-negative species were generally less susceptible to fleroxacin than were reference strains. Seven percent of the Staphylococcus epidermidis clinical strains were resistant (MIC, greater than or equal to 8 micrograms/ml) to fleroxacin. Of these strains, 77% were resistant to oxacillin and 50% were resistant to ciprofloxacin. Thirty-four percent of the Staphylococcus haemolyticus clinical strains were resistant to fleroxacin, and 9% had intermediate susceptibility. Of the resistant strains, 95% were resistant to oxacillin and 77% were resistant to ciprofloxacin, while 23% had intermediate susceptibility to ciprofloxacin. Fleroxacin is an effective antimicrobial agent against most staphylococci. PMID:1759838

Nanotoxicity overview: nano-threat to susceptible populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Zhang, Yi; Yan, Bing

2014-02-28

Due to the increasing applications of nanomaterials and nanotechnology, potential danger of nanoparticle exposure has become a critical issue. However, recent nanotoxicity studies have mainly focused on the health risks to healthy adult population. The nanotoxicity effects on susceptible populations (such as pregnant, neonate, diseased, and aged populations) have been overlooked. Due to the alterations in physiological structures and functions in susceptible populations, they often suffer more damage from the same exposure. Thus, it is urgent to understand the effects of nanoparticle exposure on these populations. In order to fill this gap, the potential effects of nanoparticles to pregnant females, neonate, diseased, and aged population, as well as the possible underlying mechanisms are reviewed in this article. Investigations show that responses from susceptible population to nanoparticle exposure are often more severe. Reduced protection mechanism, compromised immunity, and impaired self-repair ability in these susceptible populations may contribute to the aggravated toxicity effects. This review will help minimize adverse effects of nanoparticles to susceptible population in future nanotechnology applications.

Nanotoxicity Overview: Nano-Threat to Susceptible Populations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Li

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Due to the increasing applications of nanomaterials and nanotechnology, potential danger of nanoparticle exposure has become a critical issue. However, recent nanotoxicity studies have mainly focused on the health risks to healthy adult population. The nanotoxicity effects on susceptible populations (such as pregnant, neonate, diseased, and aged populations have been overlooked. Due to the alterations in physiological structures and functions in susceptible populations, they often suffer more damage from the same exposure. Thus, it is urgent to understand the effects of nanoparticle exposure on these populations. In order to fill this gap, the potential effects of nanoparticles to pregnant females, neonate, diseased, and aged population, as well as the possible underlying mechanisms are reviewed in this article. Investigations show that responses from susceptible population to nanoparticle exposure are often more severe. Reduced protection mechanism, compromised immunity, and impaired self-repair ability in these susceptible populations may contribute to the aggravated toxicity effects. This review will help minimize adverse effects of nanoparticles to susceptible population in future nanotechnology applications.

Effects of Inventory Bias on Landslide Susceptibility Calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Stanley, T. A.; Kirschbaum, D. B.

2017-01-01

Many landslide inventories are known to be biased, especially inventories for large regions such as Oregon's SLIDO or NASA's Global Landslide Catalog. These biases must affect the results of empirically derived susceptibility models to some degree. We evaluated the strength of the susceptibility model distortion from postulated biases by truncating an unbiased inventory. We generated a synthetic inventory from an existing landslide susceptibility map of Oregon, then removed landslides from this inventory to simulate the effects of reporting biases likely to affect inventories in this region, namely population and infrastructure effects. Logistic regression models were fitted to the modified inventories. Then the process of biasing a susceptibility model was repeated with SLIDO data. We evaluated each susceptibility model with qualitative and quantitative methods. Results suggest that the effects of landslide inventory bias on empirical models should not be ignored, even if those models are, in some cases, useful. We suggest fitting models in well-documented areas and extrapolating across the study region as a possible approach to modeling landslide susceptibility with heavily biased inventories.

Differential Susceptibility to Parenting in Middle Childhood : Do Impulsivity, Effortful Control and Negative Emotionality Indicate Susceptibility or Vulnerability?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slagt, Meike|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/357402871; Dubas, Judith|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/155382195; van Aken, Marcel A G|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/081831218

2016-01-01

In this longitudinal study, we examined whether children differ in their susceptibility to harsh and responsive parenting as reflected in their externalizing and prosocial behaviour two years later. We focused on three potential susceptibility markers assessed during middle childhood: Negative

Susceptibility Breakpoint for Enrofloxacin against Swine Salmonella spp.

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Haihong; Pan, Huafang; Ahmad, Ijaz; Cheng, Guyue; Wang, Yulian; Dai, Menghong; Tao, Yanfei; Chen, Dongmei; Peng, Dapeng; Liu, Zhenli

2013-01-01

Susceptibility breakpoints are crucial for prudent use of antimicrobials. This study has developed the first susceptibility breakpoint (MIC ≤ 0.25 μg/ml) for enrofloxacin against swine Salmonella spp. based on wild-type cutoff (COWT) and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) cutoff (COPD) values, consequently providing a criterion for susceptibility testing and clinical usage of enrofloxacin. PMID:23784134

Susceptibility of ternary aluminum alloys to cracking during solidification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Jiangwei; Kou, Sindo

2017-01-01

The crack susceptibility map of a ternary Al alloy system provides useful information about which alloy compositions are most susceptible to cracking and thus should be avoided by using a filler metal with a significantly different composition. In the present study the crack susceptibility maps of ternary Al alloy systems were calculated based on the maximum |dT/d(f S ) 1/2 | as an index for the crack susceptibility, where T is temperature and f S fraction solid. Due to the complexity associated with ternary alloy solidification, commercial thermodynamic software Pandat and Al database PanAluminum, instead of analytical equations, were used to calculate f S as a function of T and hence the maximum |dT/d(f S ) 1/2 | for ternary Al-Mg-Si, Al-Cu-Mg and Al-Cu-Si alloy systems. A crack susceptibility map covering 121 alloy compositions was constructed for each of the three ternary alloy systems at each of the following three levels of back diffusion: no back diffusion, back diffusion under a 100 °C/s cooling rate, and back diffusion under 20° C/s. The location of the region of high crack susceptibility, which is the most important part of the map, was shown in each of the nine calculated maps. These locations were compared with those observed in crack susceptibility tests by previous investigators. With back diffusion considered, either under 20 or 100 °C/s, the agreement between the calculated and observed maps was good especially for Al-Mg-Si and Al-Cu-Mg. Thus, the maximum |dT/d(f S ) 1/2 | can be used as a crack susceptibility index to construct crack susceptibility maps for ternary Al alloys and to evaluate the effect of back diffusion on their crack susceptibility. - Graphical abstract: The crack susceptibility map of a ternary alloy system indicates the composition range most susceptible to cracking, which should be avoided in welding or casting. The crack susceptibility maps of ternary Al alloy systems Al-Mg-Si, Al-Cu-Mg and Al-Cu-Si were calculated based

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping in Parkinson's Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Langkammer, Christian; Pirpamer, Lukas; Seiler, Stephan; Deistung, Andreas; Schweser, Ferdinand; Franthal, Sebastian; Homayoon, Nina; Katschnig-Winter, Petra; Koegl-Wallner, Mariella; Pendl, Tamara; Stoegerer, Eva Maria; Wenzel, Karoline; Fazekas, Franz; Ropele, Stefan; Reichenbach, Jürgen Rainer; Schmidt, Reinhold; Schwingenschuh, Petra

2016-01-01

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and R2* relaxation rate mapping have demonstrated increased iron deposition in the substantia nigra of patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the findings in other subcortical deep gray matter nuclei are converse and the sensitivity of QSM and R2* for morphological changes and their relation to clinical measures of disease severity has so far been investigated only sparsely. The local ethics committee approved this study and all subjects gave written informed consent. 66 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 58 control subjects underwent quantitative MRI at 3T. Susceptibility and R2* maps were reconstructed from a spoiled multi-echo 3D gradient echo sequence. Mean susceptibilities and R2* rates were measured in subcortical deep gray matter nuclei and compared between patients with PD and controls as well as related to clinical variables. Compared to control subjects, patients with PD had increased R2* values in the substantia nigra. QSM also showed higher susceptibilities in patients with PD in substantia nigra, in the nucleus ruber, thalamus, and globus pallidus. Magnetic susceptibility of several of these structures was correlated with the levodopa-equivalent daily dose (LEDD) and clinical markers of motor and non-motor disease severity (total MDS-UPDRS, MDS-UPDRS-I and II). Disease severity as assessed by the Hoehn & Yahr scale was correlated with magnetic susceptibility in the substantia nigra. The established finding of higher R2* rates in the substantia nigra was extended by QSM showing superior sensitivity for PD-related tissue changes in nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways. QSM additionally reflected the levodopa-dosage and disease severity. These results suggest a more widespread pathologic involvement and QSM as a novel means for its investigation, more sensitive than current MRI techniques.

Landslides susceptibility mapping at Gunung Ciremai National Park

Science.gov (United States)

Faizin; Nur, Bambang Azis

2018-02-01

In addition to agriculture, tourism became one of primary economic income for communities around Mount Ciremai, West, Java. Unfortunately, the landscape of West Java has many potential causes to disasters, mainly landslides. Mapping of disaster susceptibility area is needed as a consideration of tourism planning. The study was conducted in Gunung Ciremai National Park, West Java. This paper propose a methodology to map landslides susceptibilities based on spatial data. Using Geographic Information System tools, several environmental parameters such as slope, land use, elevation, and lithology are scored to build a landslide susceptibility map. Then, susceptibility map is overlaid with Utilization Zone.

Ocular TRUST: nationwide antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in ocular isolates.

Science.gov (United States)

Asbell, Penny A; Colby, Kathryn A; Deng, Sophie; McDonnell, Peter; Meisler, David M; Raizman, Michael B; Sheppard, John D; Sahm, Daniel F

2008-06-01

Ocular Tracking Resistance in U.S. Today (TRUST) annually evaluates in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae to ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, penicillin, azithromycin, tobramycin, trimethoprim, and polymyxin B in national samples of ocular isolates. Laboratory investigation. Prospectively collected ocular isolates (197 S. aureus, 49 S. pneumoniae, and 32 H. influenzae) from 35 institutions and archived ocular isolates (760 S. pneumoniae and 356 H. influenzae) from 34 institutions were tested by an independent, central laboratory. Mean minimum inhibitory concentrations that would inhibit growth of 90% of the tested isolates (MIC(90)) were interpreted as susceptible, intermediate, or resistant according to standardized breakpoints for systemic treatment. S. aureus isolates were classified as methicillin susceptible (MSSA) or methicillin resistant (MRSA). MSSA or MRSA susceptibility patterns were virtually identical for the fluoroquinolones, that is, MSSA susceptibility was 79.9% to 81.1% and MRSA susceptibility was 15.2%. Trimethoprim was the only agent tested with high activity against MRSA. All S. pneumoniae isolates were susceptible to gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin; 89.8% were susceptible to ciprofloxacin. H. influenzae isolates were 100% susceptible to all tested agents but trimethoprim. Ocular TRUST 1 data were consistent with the eight-year longitudinal sample of archived ocular isolates. The fluoroquinolones were consistently active in MSSA, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae. After more than a decade of intensive ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin use as systemic therapy, 100% of ocular S. pneumoniae isolates were susceptible to gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin; nonsusceptibility to ciprofloxacin was less than 15%. High-level in vitro MRSA resistance suggests the need to consider alternative therapy to fluoroquinolones when MRSA is a

Magnetic susceptibility in the edged topological disordered nanoscopic cylinder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faizabadi, Edris; Omidi, Mahboubeh

2011-01-01

The effects of edged topological disorder on magnetic susceptibility are investigated in a nanoscopic cylinder threaded by a magnetic flux. Persistent current versus even or odd number of electrons shows different signs in ordered and disordered cylinders and also in short or long ones. In addition, temperature-averaged susceptibility has only diamagnetic signs in strong regimes and it is associated with paramagnetic signs in ordered and weak disordered ones. Besides, in an edged topological disordered cylinder, the temperature-averaged susceptibility decreases by raising the temperature somewhat and then increasing initiates and finally at high temperature tends to zero as the ordered one. - Research highlights: → Magnetic susceptibility in one-dimensional topological disordered quantum ring. → Edged topological disorder effect on magnetic susceptibility in nanoscopic cylinder. → Edged topological disorder effect on temperature-averaged susceptibility in cylinder.

Nature of the magnetic susceptibility of dysprosium. Paramagnetic susceptibility of dysprosium - yttrium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demidov, V.G.; Levitin, R.Z.; Chistyakov, O.D.

1976-01-01

The paramagnetic susceptibility of single crystals of dysprosium-yttirum alloys is measured in the basal plane and along the hexagonal axis. It is shown that the susceptibility of the alloys obeys the Curie-Weiss law, the effective magnetic moments allong the different directions being the same and the paramagnetic Curie temperatures being different. The difference between the paramagnetic Curie temperatures in the basal plane and along the hexagonal axis is independent of the dysprosium concentration in the alloy. As a comparison with the theoretical models of magnetic anisotropy shows, this is an indication that the magnetic anisotropy of dysprosium - yttrium alloys is of a single-ion nature

Adolescent Susceptibility to Peer Influence in Sexual Situations.

Science.gov (United States)

Widman, Laura; Choukas-Bradley, Sophia; Helms, Sarah W; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2016-03-01

One consistent predictor of adolescents' engagement in sexual risk behavior is their belief that peers are engaging in similar behavior; however, not all youth are equally susceptible to these peer influence effects. Understanding individual differences in susceptibility to peer influence is critical to identifying adolescents at risk for negative health outcomes. The purpose of this project was to identify predictors of susceptibility to peer influence using a novel performance-based measure of sexual risk taking. Participants were 300 early adolescents (Mage = 12.6 years; 53% female; 44% Caucasian) who completed (1) a pretest assessment of demographics, sexual attitudes, and hypothetical scenarios measuring the likelihood of engaging in sexual risk behavior and (2) a subsequent experimental procedure that simulated an Internet chat room in which youth believed that they were communicating with peers regarding these same hypothetical scenarios. In reality, these "peers" were computer-programmed e-confederates. Changes in responses to the sexual scenarios in the private pretest versus during the public chat room provided a performance-based measure of peer influence susceptibility. In total, 78% of youth provided more risky responses in the chat room than those in pretest. The most robust predictor of this change was gender, with boys significantly more susceptible to peer influence than girls. Significant interactions also were noted, with greater susceptibility among boys with later pubertal development and African-American boys. Results confirm that not all youth are equally susceptible to peer influence. Consistent with sexual script theory, boys evidence greater susceptibility to social pressure regarding sexual behavior than girls. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Magnetic susceptibility of YbN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Y.; Bowen, S.P.; Koelling, D.D.; Monnier, R.

1991-01-01

Applying the Zwicknagl, Zevin, and Fulde (ZZF) approximation for the spectral densities of the occupied and empty f states resulting from a degenerate-Anderson-impurity model, which incorporates crystal fields, we compute the low-temperature magnetic susceptibility of YbN. The model, in which each crystal-field level couples to the band states with its own hybridization function, has previously been successfully applied without the ZZF approximation to explain the specific-heat structure at low temperatures. The ZZF approximation removes the spurious zero-temperature behavior of the parent noncrossing approximation for the susceptibility. Surprisingly, even at the low crystal-field degeneracy (N=2) of YbN, the Shiba relation is very nearly satisfied. The appropriate experimental impurity susceptibility for comparison is extracted from the measurement by removing an empirical exchange interaction. The resultant Kondo temperature (T 0 =8.49 K) is consistent with previous specific-heat estimates (10--11 K), and the agreement with experiment is good

Acoustic investigation of magnetic susceptibility of liquid metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tekuchev, V.V.; Barashkov, B.I.; Ivanova, I.V.; Rygalov, L.N.

2008-01-01

An acoustic method is proposed for studying the specific magnetic susceptibility of metal melts. For the first time, magnetic susceptibilities of francium, beryllium, scandium, yttrium, vanadium, niobium, rhenium, palladium, and platinum in the liquid phase at their melting points, as well as temperature dependences of magnetic susceptibilities of cesium, yttrium, and vanadium over the temperature range from melting points to boiling points have been estimated [ru

Real-Time Optical Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fredborg, Marlene; Andersen, Klaus R; Jørgensen, Erik

2013-01-01

Rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing is in highly demand in health-care fields as antimicrobial resistant bacterial strains emerge and spread. Here we describe an optical screening system (oCelloScope), which based on time-lapse imaging of 96 bacteria-antibiotic combinations at a time......, introduces real-time detection of bacterial growth and antimicrobial susceptibility, with imaging material to support the automatically generated graphs. Automated antibiotic susceptibility tests of a monoculture showed statistically significant antibiotic effect within 6 minutes and within 30 minutes...... from multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. The oCelloScope system can be employed for a broad range of applications within bacteriology and may present new vistas as a point-of-care instrument in both clinical and veterinarian settings....

LANDSLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY ASSESSMENT THROUGH FUZZY LOGIC INFERENCE SYSTEM (FLIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Bibi

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Landslide is among one of the most important natural hazards that lead to modification of the environment. It is a regular feature of a rapidly growing district Mansehra, Pakistan. This caused extensive loss of life and property in the district located at the foothills of Himalaya. Keeping in view the situation it is concluded that besides structural approaches the non-structural approaches such as hazard and risk assessment maps are effective tools to reduce the intensity of damage. A landslide susceptibility map is base for engineering geologists and geomorphologists. However, it is not easy to produce a reliable susceptibility map due to complex nature of landslides. Since 1980s, several mathematical models have been developed to map landslide susceptibility and hazard. Among various models this paper is discussing the effectiveness of fuzzy logic approach for landslide susceptibility mapping in District Mansehra, Pakistan. The factor maps were modified as landslide susceptibility and fuzzy membership functions were assessed for each class. Likelihood ratios are obtained for each class of contributing factors by considering the expert opinion. The fuzzy operators are applied to generate landslide susceptibility maps. According to this map, 17% of the study area is classified as high susceptibility, 32% as moderate susceptibility, 51% as low susceptibility and areas. From the results it is found that the fuzzy model can integrate effectively with various spatial data for landslide hazard mapping, suggestions in this study are hope to be helpful to improve the applications including interpretation, and integration phases in order to obtain an accurate decision supporting layer.

Topological susceptibility from the overlap

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Del Debbio, Luigi; Pica, Claudio

2003-01-01

The chiral symmetry at finite lattice spacing of Ginsparg-Wilson fermionic actions constrains the renormalization of the lattice operators; in particular, the topological susceptibility does not require any renormalization, when using a fermionic estimator to define the topological charge....... Therefore, the overlap formalism appears as an appealing candidate to study the continuum limit of the topological susceptibility while keeping the systematic errors under theoretical control. We present results for the SU(3) pure gauge theory using the index of the overlap Dirac operator to study...

Susceptibility profiles of Nocardia isolates based on current taxonomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlaberg, Robert; Fisher, Mark A; Hanson, Kimberley E

2014-01-01

The genus Nocardia has undergone rapid taxonomic expansion in recent years, and an increasing number of species are recognized as human pathogens. Many established species have predictable antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, but sufficient information is often not available for recently described organisms. Additionally, the effectiveness of sulfonamides as first-line drugs for Nocardia has recently been questioned. This led us to review antimicrobial susceptibility patterns for a large number of molecularly identified clinical isolates. Susceptibility results were available for 1,299 isolates representing 39 different species or complexes, including 11 that were newly described, during a 6-year study period. All tested isolates were susceptible to linezolid. Resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) was rare (2%) except among Nocardia pseudobrasiliensis (31%) strains and strains of the N. transvalensis complex (19%). Imipenem susceptibility varied for N. cyriacigeorgica and N. farcinica, as did ceftriaxone susceptibility of the N. nova complex. Resistance to more than one of the most commonly used drugs (amikacin, ceftriaxone, TMP-SMX, and imipenem) was highest for N. pseudobrasiliensis (100%), N. transvalensis complex (83%), N. farcinica (68%), N. puris (57%), N. brasiliensis (51%), N. aobensis (50%), and N. amikacinitolerans (43%). Thus, while antimicrobial resistance can often be predicted, susceptibility testing should still be considered when combination therapy is warranted, for less well characterized species or those with variable susceptibility profiles, and for patients with TMP-SMX intolerance.

Magnetic susceptibility of transition metal alloys with a hcp structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volkenshtejn, N.V.; Galoshina, Eh.V.; Gorina, N.B.; Korenovskij, N.L.; Polyakova, V.P.; Savitskij, E.M.

1978-01-01

The angular dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of single crystals of Ru-Nb, Re-W and Os-Re alloys is investigated in the region of the hexagonal closely packed structure. The spin susceptibility is estimated on the basis of available data on the electron specific heat. The principal values of the orbital component of the susceptibility are determined under the assumption of isotopy of the spin contribution to the susceptibility. In Ru-Nb alloys the magnitudes of the orbital contributions and the susceptibility anisotropy are found to increase; in Re-W the spin contribution is noticeably greater whereas the orbital susceptibility is smaller, as is the anistropy. In the Os-Re alloy the orbital contributions increase and the susceptibility anisotropy is constant. It is suggested that the addition of the second component changes the overlapping of the d-electron wave functions

Hypnotic susceptibility in patients with conversion disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, K.; Hoogduin, C.A.L.; Keijsers, G.P.J.; Näring, G.W.B.; Moene, F.C.; Sandijck, P.

2002-01-01

Conversion disorder has been associated with hypnotic susceptibility for over a century and is currently still believed to be a form of autohypnosis. There is, however. little empirical evidence for the relation between hypnotic susceptibility and conversion symptoms. The authors compared 50

Extended spectrum of antibiotic susceptibility for tuberculosis, Djibouti.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouzid, Fériel; Astier, Hélène; Osman, Djaltou Aboubaker; Javelle, Emilie; Hassan, Mohamed Osman; Simon, Fabrice; Garnotel, Eric; Drancourt, Michel

2018-02-01

In the Horn of Africa, there is a high prevalence of tuberculosis that is reported to be partly driven by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strictu sensu strains. We conducted a prospective study to investigate M. tuberculosis complex species causing tuberculosis in Djibouti, and their in vitro susceptibility to standard anti-tuberculous antibiotics in addition to clofazimine, minocycline, chloramphenicol and sulfadiazine. Among the 118 mycobacteria isolates from 118 successive patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis, 111 strains of M. tuberculosis, five Mycobacterium canettii, one 'Mycobacterium simulans' and one Mycobacterium kansasii were identified. Drug-susceptibility tests performed on the first 78 isolates yielded nine MDR M. tuberculosis isolates. All isolates were fully susceptible to clofazimine, minocycline and chloramphenicol, and 75 of 78 isolates were susceptible to sulfadiazine. In the Horn of Africa, patients with confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis caused by an in vitro susceptible strain may benefit from anti-leprosy drugs, sulfamides and phenicol antibiotics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

Inflationary susceptibilities, duality and large-scale magnetic fields generation

CERN Document Server

Giovannini, Massimo

2013-01-01

We investigate what can be said about the interaction of scalar fields with Abelian gauge fields during a quasi-de Sitter phase of expansion and under the assumption that the electric and the magnetic susceptibilities do not coincide. The duality symmetry, transforming the magnetic susceptibility into the inverse of the electric susceptibility, exchanges the magnetic and electric power spectra. The mismatch between the two susceptibilities determines an effective refractive index affecting the evolution of the canonical fields. The constraints imposed by the duration of the inflationary phase and by the magnetogenesis requirements pin down the rate of variation of the susceptibilities that is consistent with the observations of the magnetic field strength over astrophysical and cosmological scales but avoids back-reaction problems. The parameter space of this magnetogenesis scenario is wider than in the case when the susceptibilities are equal, as it happens when the inflaton or some other spectator field is ...

Environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Nilsson, Eric E; Skinner, Michael K

2015-01-01

Environmental insults, such as exposure to toxicants or nutritional abnormalities, can lead to epigenetic changes that are in turn related to increased susceptibility to disease. The focus of this review is on the transgenerational inheritance of such epigenetic abnormalities (epimutations), and how it is that these inherited epigenetic abnormalities can lead to increased disease susceptibility, even in the absence of continued environmental insult. Observations of environmental toxicant specificity and exposure-specific disease susceptibility are discussed. How epimutations are transmitted across generations and how epigenetic changes in the germline are translated into an increased disease susceptibility in the adult is reviewed with regard to disease etiology. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distribution and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of methicillin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Distribution and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates in a university Teaching hospital in Nigeria. ... Amoxycillin clavunanic acid and ciprofloxacin were most active with MRSA isolates showing 97% and 93.9% susceptibility to the two drugs respectively. Eighteen (54.5%) ...

School connectedness and susceptibility to smoking among adolescents in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Azagba, Sunday; Asbridge, Mark

2013-08-01

Smoking susceptibility in early adolescence is strongly predictive of subsequent smoking behavior in youth. As such, smoking susceptibility represents a key modifiable factor in reducing the onset of smoking in young people. A growing literature has documented a number of factors that influence susceptibility to smoking; however, there is limited amount of research examining associations of susceptibility to smoking and school connectedness. The current study examines whether school connectedness has an independent protective effect on smoking susceptibility among younger adolescents. A nationally representative sample of 12,894 Canadian students in grades 6-8 (11-14 years old), surveyed as part of the 2010-2011 Youth Smoking Survey, was analyzed. Multilevel logistic regression models examined unadjusted and adjusted associations between school connectedness and smoking susceptibility. The impacts of other covariates on smoking susceptibility were also explored. Approximately 29% of never-smokers students in grades 6-8 in Canada were susceptible to future smoking. Logistic regression analysis, controlling for standard covariates, found that school connectedness had strong protective effects on smoking susceptibility (odds ratio [OR] 0.91, 95% CI 0.89-0.94). The finding that school connectedness is protective of smoking susceptibility, together with previous research, provides further evidence that improving school conditions that promote school connectedness could reduce risky behavior in adolescents. While prevention efforts should be directed at youth of all ages, particular attention must be paid to younger adolescents in the formative period of 11-14 years of age.

Genetic Susceptibility to Vitiligo: GWAS Approaches for Identifying Vitiligo Susceptibility Genes and Loci

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Changbing; Gao, Jing; Sheng, Yujun; Dou, Jinfa; Zhou, Fusheng; Zheng, Xiaodong; Ko, Randy; Tang, Xianfa; Zhu, Caihong; Yin, Xianyong; Sun, Liangdan; Cui, Yong; Zhang, Xuejun

2016-01-01

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease with a strong genetic component, characterized by areas of depigmented skin resulting from loss of epidermal melanocytes. Genetic factors are known to play key roles in vitiligo through discoveries in association studies and family studies. Previously, vitiligo susceptibility genes were mainly revealed through linkage analysis and candidate gene studies. Recently, our understanding of the genetic basis of vitiligo has been rapidly advancing through genome-wide association study (GWAS). More than 40 robust susceptible loci have been identified and confirmed to be associated with vitiligo by using GWAS. Most of these associated genes participate in important pathways involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. Many susceptible loci with unknown functions in the pathogenesis of vitiligo have also been identified, indicating that additional molecular mechanisms may contribute to the risk of developing vitiligo. In this review, we summarize the key loci that are of genome-wide significance, which have been shown to influence vitiligo risk. These genetic loci may help build the foundation for genetic diagnosis and personalize treatment for patients with vitiligo in the future. However, substantial additional studies, including gene-targeted and functional studies, are required to confirm the causality of the genetic variants and their biological relevance in the development of vitiligo. PMID:26870082

Antibiotic susceptibility of Atopobium vaginae

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Verschraegen Gerda

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous studies have indicated that a recently described anaerobic bacterium, Atopobium vaginae is associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV. Thus far the four isolates of this fastidious micro-organism were found to be highly resistant to metronidazole and susceptible for clindamycin, two antibiotics preferred for the treatment of BV. Methods Nine strains of Atopobium vaginae, four strains of Gardnerella vaginalis, two strains of Lactobacillus iners and one strain each of Bifidobacterium breve, B. longum, L. crispatus, L. gasseri and L. jensenii were tested against 15 antimicrobial agents using the Etest. Results All nine strains of A. vaginae were highly resistant to nalidixic acid and colistin while being inhibited by low concentrations of clindamycin (range: G. vaginalis strains were also susceptible for clindamycin ( 256 μg/ml but susceptible to clindamycin (0.023 – 0.125 μg/ml. Conclusion Clindamycin has higher activity against G. vaginalis and A. vaginae than metronidazole, but not all A. vaginae isolates are metronidazole resistant, as seemed to be a straightforward conclusion from previous studies on a more limited number of strains.

Materials with low DC magnetic susceptibility for sensitive magnetic measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khatiwada, R; Kendrick, R; Khosravi, M; Peters, M; Smith, E; Snow, W M; Dennis, L

2016-01-01

Materials with very low DC magnetic susceptibility have many scientific applications. To our knowledge however, relatively little research has been conducted with the goal to produce a totally nonmagnetic material. This phrase in our case means after spatially averaging over macroscopic volumes, it possesses an average zero DC magnetic susceptibility. We report measurements of the DC magnetic susceptibility of three different types of nonmagnetic materials at room temperature: (I) solutions of paramagnetic salts and diamagnetic liquids, (II) liquid gallium–indium alloys and (III) pressed powder mixtures of tungsten and bismuth. The lowest measured magnetic susceptibility among these candidate materials is in the order of 10 −9 cgs volume susceptibility units, about two orders of magnitude smaller than distilled water. In all cases, the measured concentration dependence of the magnetic susceptibility is consistent with that expected for the weighted sum of the susceptibilities of the separate components within experimental error. These results verify the well-known Wiedemann additivity law for the magnetic susceptibility of inert mixtures of materials and thereby realize the ability to produce materials with small but tunable magnetic susceptibility. For our particular scientific application, we are also looking for materials with the largest possible number of neutrons and protons per unit volume. The gallium–indium alloys fabricated and measured in this work possess to our knowledge the smallest ratio of volume magnetic susceptibility to nucleon number density per unit volume for a room temperature liquid, and the tungsten-bismuth pressed powder mixtures possess to our knowledge the smallest ratio of volume magnetic susceptibility to nucleon number density per unit volume for a room temperature solid. This ratio is a figure of merit for a certain class of precision experiments that search for possible exotic spin-dependent forces of Nature. (paper)

Magnetic susceptibility of molecular carbon: nanotubes and fullerite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ramirez, A P; Haddon, R C; Zhou, O; Fleming, R M; Zhang, J; McClure, S M; Smalley, R E [AT T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (United States)

1994-07-01

Elemental carbon can be synthesized in a variety of geometrical forms, from three-dimensional extended structures (diamond) to finite molecules (C[sub 60] fullerite). Results are presented here on the magnetic susceptibility of the least well-understood members of this family, nanotubes and C[sub 60] fullerite. (1) Nanotubes represent the cylindrical form of carbon, intermediate between graphite and fullerite. They are found to have significantly larger orientation-averaged susceptibility, on a per carbon basis, than any other form of elemental carbon. This susceptibility implies an average band structure among nanotubes similar to that of graphite. (2) High-resolution magnetic susceptibility data on C[sub 60] fullerite near the molecular orientational-ordering transition at 259 K show a sharp jump corresponding to 2.5 centimeter-gram-second parts per million per mole of C[sub 60]. This jump directly demonstrates the effect of an intermolecular cooperative transition on an intramolecular electronic property, where the susceptibility jump may be ascribed to a change in the shape of the molecule due to lattice forces.

Magnetic susceptibility characterisation of superparamagnetic microspheres

Science.gov (United States)

Grob, David Tim; Wise, Naomi; Oduwole, Olayinka; Sheard, Steve

2018-04-01

The separation of magnetic materials in microsystems using magnetophoresis has increased in popularity. The wide variety and availability of magnetic beads has fuelled this drive. It is important to know the magnetic characteristics of the microspheres in order to accurately use them in separation processes integrated on a lab-on-a-chip device. To investigate the magnetic susceptibility of magnetic microspheres, the magnetic responsiveness of three types of Dynabeads microspheres were tested using two different approaches. The magnetophoretic mobility of individual microspheres is studied using a particle tracking system and the magnetization of each type of Dynabeads microsphere is measured using SQUID relaxometry. The magnetic beads' susceptibility is obtained at four different applied magnetic fields in the range of 38-70 mT for both the mobility and SQUID measurements. The susceptibility values in both approaches show a consistent magnetic field dependence.

Cerebral malaria: susceptibility weighted MRI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vinit Baliyan

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Cerebral malaria is one of the fatal complications of Plasmodium falciparum infection. Pathogenesis involves cerebral microangiopathy related to microvascular plugging by infected red blood cells. Conventional imaging with MRI and CT do not reveal anything specific in case of cerebral malaria. Susceptibility weighted imaging, a recent advance in the MRI, is very sensitive to microbleeds related to microangiopathy. Histopathological studies in cerebral malaria have revealed microbleeds in brain parenchyma secondary to microangiopathy. Susceptibility weighted imaging, being exquisitely sensitive to microbleeds may provide additional information and improve the diagnostic accuracy of MRI in cerebral malaria.

E-Cigarette Use Among Adolescents Not Susceptible to Using Cigarettes

OpenAIRE

Kowitt, Sarah D.; Osman, Amira; Ranney, Leah M.; Heck, Courtney; Goldstein, Adam O.

2018-01-01

Introduction Research suggests that adolescents who use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), including adolescents not susceptible to smoking cigarettes (ie, those who have never smoked cigarettes and are not attitudinally susceptible to using cigarettes), are more likely to initiate using cigarettes or other combustible tobacco products than adolescents who do not use e-cigarettes. In this study, we examined correlates of e-cigarette use and susceptibility among adolescents not susceptible ...

Beyond network structure: How heterogeneous susceptibility modulates the spread of epidemics.

Science.gov (United States)

Smilkov, Daniel; Hidalgo, Cesar A; Kocarev, Ljupco

2014-04-25

The compartmental models used to study epidemic spreading often assume the same susceptibility for all individuals, and are therefore, agnostic about the effects that differences in susceptibility can have on epidemic spreading. Here we show that-for the SIS model-differential susceptibility can make networks more vulnerable to the spread of diseases when the correlation between a node's degree and susceptibility are positive, and less vulnerable when this correlation is negative. Moreover, we show that networks become more likely to contain a pocket of infection when individuals are more likely to connect with others that have similar susceptibility (the network is segregated). These results show that the failure to include differential susceptibility to epidemic models can lead to a systematic over/under estimation of fundamental epidemic parameters when the structure of the networks is not independent from the susceptibility of the nodes or when there are correlations between the susceptibility of connected individuals.

Preliminary soil-slip susceptibility maps, southwestern California

Science.gov (United States)

Morton, Douglas M.; Alvarez, Rachel M.; Campbell, Russell H.; Digital preparation by Bovard, Kelly R.; Brown, D.T.; Corriea, K.M.; Lesser, J.N.

2003-01-01

This group of maps shows relative susceptibility of hill slopes to the initiation sites of rainfall-triggered soil slip-debris flows in southwestern California. As such, the maps offer a partial answer to one part of the three parts necessary to predict the soil-slip/debris-flow process. A complete prediction of the process would include assessments of “where”, “when”, and “how big”. These maps empirically show part of the “where” of prediction (i.e., relative susceptibility to sites of initiation of the soil slips) but do not attempt to show the extent of run out of the resultant debris flows. Some information pertinent to “when” the process might begin is developed. “When” is determined mostly by dynamic factors such as rainfall rate and duration, for which local variations are not amenable to long-term prediction. “When” information is not provided on the maps but is described later in this narrative. The prediction of “how big” is addressed indirectly by restricting the maps to a single type of landslide process—soil slip-debris flows. The susceptibility maps were created through an iterative process from two kinds of information. First, locations of sites of past soil slips were obtained from inventory maps of past events. Aerial photographs, taken during six rainy seasons that produced abundant soil slips, were used as the basis for soil slip-debris flow inventory. Second, digital elevation models (DEM) of the areas that were inventoried were used to analyze the spatial characteristics of soil slip locations. These data were supplemented by observations made on the ground. Certain physical attributes of the locations of the soil-slip debris flows were found to be important and others were not. The most important attribute was the mapped bedrock formation at the site of initiation of the soil slip. However, because the soil slips occur in surficial materials overlying the bedrocks units, the bedrock formation can only serve as

Methicillin-Susceptible, Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Brazil

OpenAIRE

Panesso , Diana; Planet , Paul J.; Diaz , Lorena; Hugonnet , Jean-Emannuel; Tran , Truc T.; Narechania , Apurva; Munita , José M.; Rincon , Sandra; Carvajal , Lina P.; Reyes , Jinnethe; Londono , Alejandra; Smith , Hannah; Sebra , Robert; Deikus , Gintaras; Weinstock , George M

2015-01-01

International audience; We report characterization of a methicillin-susceptible, vancomycin-resistant bloodstream isolate of Staphylococcus aureus recovered from a patient in Brazil. Emergence of vancomycin resistance in methicillin-susceptible S. aureus would indicate that this resistance trait might be poised to disseminate more rapidly among S. aureus and represents a major public health threat.

Interventions on Metabolism: Making Antibiotic-Susceptible Bacteria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Baquero

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Antibiotics act on bacterial metabolism, and antibiotic resistance involves changes in this metabolism. Interventions on metabolism with drugs might therefore modify drug susceptibility and drug resistance. In their recent article, Martin Vestergaard et al. (mBio 8:e01114-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01114-17 illustrate the possibility of converting intrinsically resistant bacteria into susceptible ones. They reported that inhibition of a central metabolic enzyme, ATP synthase, allows otherwise ineffective polymyxin antibiotics to act on Staphylococcus aureus. The study of the intrinsic resistome of bacterial pathogens has shown that several metabolic genes, including multigene transcriptional regulators, contribute to antibiotic resistance. In some cases, these genes only marginally increase antibiotic resistance, but reduced levels of susceptibility might be critical in the evolution or resistance under low antibiotic concentrations or in the clinical response of highly resistant bacteria. Drug interventions on bacterial metabolism might constitute a critical adjuvant therapy in combination with antibiotics to ensure susceptibility of pathogens with intrinsic or acquired antimicrobial resistance.

Drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to fluoroquinolones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, I S; Larsen, A R; Sandven, P

2003-01-01

In the first attempt to establish a quality assurance programme for susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to fluoroquinolones, 20 strains with different fluoroquinolone susceptibility patterns were distributed by the Supranational Reference Laboratory in Stockholm to the other...

Brain Injury Lesion Imaging Using Preconditioned Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping without Skull Stripping.

Science.gov (United States)

Soman, S; Liu, Z; Kim, G; Nemec, U; Holdsworth, S J; Main, K; Lee, B; Kolakowsky-Hayner, S; Selim, M; Furst, A J; Massaband, P; Yesavage, J; Adamson, M M; Spincemallie, P; Moseley, M; Wang, Y

2018-04-01

Identifying cerebral microhemorrhage burden can aid in the diagnosis and management of traumatic brain injury, stroke, hypertension, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. MR imaging susceptibility-based methods are more sensitive than CT for detecting cerebral microhemorrhage, but methods other than quantitative susceptibility mapping provide results that vary with field strength and TE, require additional phase maps to distinguish blood from calcification, and depict cerebral microhemorrhages as bloom artifacts. Quantitative susceptibility mapping provides universal quantification of tissue magnetic property without these constraints but traditionally requires a mask generated by skull-stripping, which can pose challenges at tissue interphases. We evaluated the preconditioned quantitative susceptibility mapping MR imaging method, which does not require skull-stripping, for improved depiction of brain parenchyma and pathology. Fifty-six subjects underwent brain MR imaging with a 3D multiecho gradient recalled echo acquisition. Mask-based quantitative susceptibility mapping images were created using a commonly used mask-based quantitative susceptibility mapping method, and preconditioned quantitative susceptibility images were made using precondition-based total field inversion. All images were reviewed by a neuroradiologist and a radiology resident. Ten subjects (18%), all with traumatic brain injury, demonstrated blood products on 3D gradient recalled echo imaging. All lesions were visible on preconditioned quantitative susceptibility mapping, while 6 were not visible on mask-based quantitative susceptibility mapping. Thirty-one subjects (55%) demonstrated brain parenchyma and/or lesions that were visible on preconditioned quantitative susceptibility mapping but not on mask-based quantitative susceptibility mapping. Six subjects (11%) demonstrated pons artifacts on preconditioned quantitative susceptibility mapping and mask-based quantitative susceptibility mapping

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing by Australian veterinary diagnostic laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardefeldt, L Y; Marenda, M; Crabb, H; Stevenson, M A; Gilkerson, J R; Billman-Jacobe, H; Browning, G F

2018-04-01

The national strategy for tackling antimicrobial resistance highlights the need for antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary practice and for surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility in veterinary pathogens. Diagnostic laboratories have an important role in facilitating both of these processes, but it is unclear whether data from veterinary diagnostic laboratories are similar enough to allow for compilation and if there is consistent promotion of appropriate antimicrobial use embedded in the approaches of different laboratories to susceptibility testing. A cross-sectional study of antimicrobial susceptibility testing and reporting procedures by Australian veterinary diagnostic laboratories was conducted in 2017 using an online questionnaire. All 18 veterinary diagnostic laboratories in Australia completed the questionnaire. Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion was the method predominantly used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and was used to evaluate 86% of all isolates, although two different protocols were used across the 18 laboratories (CLSI 15/18, CDS 3/18). Minimum inhibitory concentrations were never reported by 61% of laboratories. Common isolates were consistently reported on across all species, except for gram-negative isolates in pigs, for which there was some variation in the approach to reporting. There was considerable diversity in the panels of antimicrobials used for susceptibility testing on common isolates and no consistency was apparent between laboratories for any bacterial species. We recommend that nationally agreed and consistent antimicrobial panels for routine susceptibility testing should be developed and a uniform set of guidelines should be adopted by veterinary diagnostic laboratories in Australia. © 2018 Australian Veterinary Association.

Susceptibility of anaerobic bacteria in Auckland: 1991-1996.

Science.gov (United States)

Shore, K P; Pottumarthy, S; Morris, A J

1999-11-12

To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of local anaerobic bacteria. The antimicrobial susceptibility of 357 obligate anaerobes collected between 1991 and 1997 was determined by a standard agar dilution method. Isolates tested included Bacteroides spp. 131, Fusobacterium spp. 12, Prevotella spp. 13, Veillonella spp. 5, Clostridium perfringens 27, other Clostridium spp. 29, Propionibacterium spp. 57, Actinomyces spp. 7, other non-sporing gram-positive bacilli 28 and Peptostreptococcus spp. 48. Ten antimicrobials were tested: penicillin, amoxycillin/ clavulanic acid, pipercillin/tazobactam, ceftriaxone, cefoxitin, cefotetan, imipenem, meropenem, clindamycin and metronidazole. Imipenem, pipercillin/tazobactam, meropenem and amoxycillin/clavulanic acid were active against virtually all anaerobes tested. Metronidazole was active against all anaerobic gram-negative bacteria and Clostridium spp., but had variable activity against other anaerobes. Cefoxitin was the most active cephalosporin against Bacteroides spp., with 76%, 64% and 15% of Bacteroides spp. being susceptible to cefoxitin, cefotetan and ceftriaxone, respectively. Penicillin had poor activity against anaerobic gram negative bacilli. Actinomyces and Propionibacterium spp. were susceptible to all antimicrobials tested except metronidazole. Variable results were obtained with other antimicrobial-organism combinations. Comparison of results with data from a previously published survey showed little change in susceptibility except for increased resistance of Bacteroides fragilis to ceftriaxone and Clostridium species (not C perfringens) to clindamycin. Our results update the local susceptibility profile of anaerobic bacteria and may be considered when choosing an antimicrobial agent for prophylaxis or treatment of anaerobic infections.

Global stability of a susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model on networks with individual awareness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Ke-Zan; Xu Zhong-Pu; Zhu Guang-Hu; Ding Yong

2014-01-01

Recent research results indicate that individual awareness can play an important influence on epidemic spreading in networks. By local stability analysis, a significant conclusion is that the embedded awareness in an epidemic network can increase its epidemic threshold. In this paper, by using limit theory and dynamical system theory, we further give global stability analysis of a susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) epidemic model on networks with awareness. Results show that the obtained epidemic threshold is also a global stability condition for its endemic equilibrium, which implies the embedded awareness can enhance the epidemic threshold globally. Some numerical examples are presented to verify the theoretical results. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

Tobacco Marketing, E-cigarette Susceptibility, and Perceptions among Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicksic, Nicole E; Snell, L Morgan; Rudy, Alyssa K; Cobb, Caroline O; Barnes, Andrew J

2017-09-01

Understanding the impact of tobacco marketing on e-cigarette (EC) susceptibility and perceptions is essential to inform efforts to mitigate tobacco product burden on public health. Data were collected online in 2016 from 634 conventional cigarette (CC) smokers and 393 non-smokers using a convenience sample from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Logistic regression models, stratified by smoking status and adjusted for socio-demographics, examined the relationship among tobacco advertisements and coupons, EC and CC susceptibility, and EC perceptions. Among non-smokers, increased exposure to tobacco advertising and receiving tobacco coupons was significantly related to measures of EC and CC susceptibility (p marketing reduce EC use by decreasing susceptibility.

Ciprofloxacin susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from keratitis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lomholt, JA; Kilian, Mogens

2003-01-01

keratitis, endophthalmitis, contact lens associated red eye (CLARE), and contact lens storage cases showed MIC values below 1 mg/l. Several allelic forms of gyrA and a single variation in the mexR gene product were detected in 10 ciprofloxacin susceptible strains. CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of eye......AIM: To examine the ciprofloxacin susceptibility of 106 Pseudomonas aeruginosa eye isolates from the United Kingdom, Denmark, India, the United States, and Australia, and to determine the molecular mechanisms of resistance. METHODS: Ciprofloxacin susceptibility was tested by an agar dilution method...... isolates of P aeruginosa from European countries are fully susceptible to ciprofloxacin and the concentration of ciprofloxacin eye drops used for local treatment (3000 mg/l) exceeds MIC values for strains recorded as resistant. Mutations in more than one target gene were associated with higher MIC values....

Ciprofloxacin susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from keratitis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lomholt, JA; Kilian, Mogens

2003-01-01

AIM: To examine the ciprofloxacin susceptibility of 106 Pseudomonas aeruginosa eye isolates from the United Kingdom, Denmark, India, the United States, and Australia, and to determine the molecular mechanisms of resistance. METHODS: Ciprofloxacin susceptibility was tested by an agar dilution method...... keratitis, endophthalmitis, contact lens associated red eye (CLARE), and contact lens storage cases showed MIC values below 1 mg/l. Several allelic forms of gyrA and a single variation in the mexR gene product were detected in 10 ciprofloxacin susceptible strains. CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of eye...... isolates of P aeruginosa from European countries are fully susceptible to ciprofloxacin and the concentration of ciprofloxacin eye drops used for local treatment (3000 mg/l) exceeds MIC values for strains recorded as resistant. Mutations in more than one target gene were associated with higher MIC values....

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus saprophyticus and urethral staphylococci.

Science.gov (United States)

Marrie, T J; Kwan, C

1982-01-01

The activity of eight antimicrobial agents was determined against 115 isolates of Staphylococcus saprophyticus. All were susceptible to ampicillin, cephalexin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and resistant to nalidixic acid and novobiocin. A bimodal pattern of susceptibility to erythromycin was observed: 80% were inhibited by 0.25 microgram/ml, whereas 13% required greater than or equal to 128 micrograms/ml. The following urethral staphylococci were susceptible to ampicillin, cephalexin, and nitrofurantoin but resistant to nalidixic acid: S. epidermidis, S. hominis, S. haemolyticus, S. warneri, S. simulans, and S. cohnii. PMID:6982679

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Brazilian Haemophilus parasuis field isolates

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Michela Miani

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Haemophilus parasuis is the etiological agent of Glässer’s disease (GD, an ubiquitous infection of swine characterized by systemic fibrinous polyserositis, polyarthritis and meningitis. Intensive use of antimicrobial agents in swine husbandries during the last years triggered the development of antibiotic resistances in bacterial pathogens. Thus, regular susceptibility testing is crucial to ensure efficacy of different antimicrobial agents to this porcine pathogen. In this study, 50 clinical isolates from South Brazilian pig herds were characterized and analyzed for their susceptibility to commonly used antibiotic. The identification and typing of clinical isolates was carried out by a modified indirect hemagglutination assay combined with a multiplex PCR. The susceptibility of each isolate was analyzed by broth microdilution method against a panel of 21 antimicrobial compounds. We found that field isolates are highly resistance to gentamycin, bacitracin, lincomycin and tiamulin, but sensitive to ampicillin, clindamycin, neomycin, penicillin, danofloxacin and enrofloxacin. Furthermore, an individual susceptibility analysis indicated that enrofloxacin is effective to treat clinical isolates with the exception of those classified as serovar 1. The results presented here firstly demonstrate the susceptibility of Brazilian clinical isolates of H. parasuis to antimicrobials widely used by swine veterinary practitioners and strengthen the need to perform susceptibility test prior to antibiotic therapy during GD outbreaks. In addition, because only six antimicrobial drugs (28.6% were found effective against field isolates, a continuous surveillance of the susceptibility profile should be of major concern to the swine industry.

Susceptibility for thin ideal media and eating styles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anschutz, Doeschka J; Engels, Rutger C M E; van Strien, Tatjana

This study examined the relations between susceptibility for thin ideal media and restrained, emotional and external eating, directly and indirectly through body dissatisfaction. Thin ideal media susceptibility, body dissatisfaction and eating styles were measured in a sample of 163 female students.

Landslide Susceptibility Assessment Using Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation Model in Rwanda

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Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Landslides susceptibility assessment has to be conducted to identify prone areas and guide risk management. Landslides in Rwanda are very deadly disasters. The current research aimed to conduct landslide susceptibility assessment by applying Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation Model with eight layers of causal factors including: slope, distance to roads, lithology, precipitation, soil texture, soil depth, altitude and land cover. In total, 980 past landslide locations were mapped. The relationship between landslide factors and inventory map was calculated using the Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation. The results revealed that susceptibility is spatially distributed countrywide with 42.3% of the region classified from moderate to very high susceptibility, and this is inhabited by 49.3% of the total population. In addition, Provinces with high to very high susceptibility are West, North and South (40.4%, 22.8% and 21.5%, respectively. Subsequently, the Eastern Province becomes the peak under low susceptibility category (87.8% with no very high susceptibility (0%. Based on these findings, the employed model produced accurate and reliable outcome in terms of susceptibility, since 49.5% of past landslides fell within the very high susceptibility category, which confirms the model’s performance. The outcomes of this study will be useful for future initiatives related to landslide risk reduction and management.

Landslide Susceptibility Assessment Using Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation Model in Rwanda

Science.gov (United States)

Nsengiyumva, Jean Baptiste; Luo, Geping; Nahayo, Lamek; Huang, Xiaotao; Cai, Peng

2018-01-01

Landslides susceptibility assessment has to be conducted to identify prone areas and guide risk management. Landslides in Rwanda are very deadly disasters. The current research aimed to conduct landslide susceptibility assessment by applying Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation Model with eight layers of causal factors including: slope, distance to roads, lithology, precipitation, soil texture, soil depth, altitude and land cover. In total, 980 past landslide locations were mapped. The relationship between landslide factors and inventory map was calculated using the Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation. The results revealed that susceptibility is spatially distributed countrywide with 42.3% of the region classified from moderate to very high susceptibility, and this is inhabited by 49.3% of the total population. In addition, Provinces with high to very high susceptibility are West, North and South (40.4%, 22.8% and 21.5%, respectively). Subsequently, the Eastern Province becomes the peak under low susceptibility category (87.8%) with no very high susceptibility (0%). Based on these findings, the employed model produced accurate and reliable outcome in terms of susceptibility, since 49.5% of past landslides fell within the very high susceptibility category, which confirms the model’s performance. The outcomes of this study will be useful for future initiatives related to landslide risk reduction and management. PMID:29385096

The magnetic susceptibility of soils in Krakow, southern Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Wojas, Anna

2017-06-01

Studies into the magnetic susceptibility have been used to assess the soils contamination in the Krakow area. The results of topsoil (over a 2 × 2 km grid), subsoil (37 shallow holes) and soil samples (112) measurements were presented as maps of soil magnetic susceptibility (both volume and mass) illustrating the distribution of parameters in topsoil horizon (0-10 cm) and differential magnetic susceptibility maps between topsoil horizon and subsoil (40-60 cm). All evidence leads to the finding that the highest values of magnetic susceptibility of soil are found exclusively in industrial areas. Taking into consideration the type of land use, the high median value (89.8 × 10-8 m3kg-1) was obtained for samples of cultivated soils and is likely to be connected with occurrence of fertile soil (chernozem). Moreover, enrichment of soils with Pb and Zn accompanies magnetic susceptibility anomalies in the vicinity of the high roads and in the steelworks area, respectively.

Prevalence and Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Panton-Valentine ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec typing by two standard multiplex PCR assay, revealed an uncharacterized resistance element. Overall antibiotic susceptibility pattern showed relatively high degree of susceptibility,however 1 isolate demostrated multidrug resistant pattern, 37(74.0%)resistant to only penicillin, 5 to ...

Effect of centrifugation on dynamic susceptibility of magnetic fluids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pshenichnikov, Alexander; Lebedev, Alexander; Lakhtina, Ekaterina; Kuznetsov, Andrey

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Six samples of magnetic fluid were obtained by centrifuging two base ferrocolloids. • Aggregates in magnetic fluids are main reason of dynamic susceptibility dispersion. • Centrifugation is an effective way of changing the dynamic susceptibility. - Abstract: The dispersive composition, dynamic susceptibility and spectrum of times of magnetization relaxation for six samples of magnetic fluid obtained by centrifuging two base colloidal solutions of the magnetite in kerosene was investigated experimentally. The base solutions differed by the concentration of the magnetic phase and the width of the particle size distribution. The procedure of cluster analysis allowing one to estimate the characteristic sizes of aggregates with uncompensated magnetic moments was described. The results of the magnetogranulometric and cluster analyses were discussed. It was shown that centrifugation has a strong effect on the physical properties of the separated fractions, which is related to the spatial redistribution of particles and multi-particle aggregates. The presence of aggregates in magnetic fluids is interpreted as the main reason of low-frequency (0.1–10 kHz) dispersion of the dynamic susceptibility. The obtained results count in favor of using centrifugation as an effective means of changing the dynamic susceptibility over wide limits and obtaining fluids with the specified type of susceptibility dispersion.

Effect of centrifugation on dynamic susceptibility of magnetic fluids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pshenichnikov, Alexander, E-mail: pshenichnikov@icmm.ru; Lebedev, Alexander; Lakhtina, Ekaterina; Kuznetsov, Andrey

2017-06-15

Highlights: • Six samples of magnetic fluid were obtained by centrifuging two base ferrocolloids. • Aggregates in magnetic fluids are main reason of dynamic susceptibility dispersion. • Centrifugation is an effective way of changing the dynamic susceptibility. - Abstract: The dispersive composition, dynamic susceptibility and spectrum of times of magnetization relaxation for six samples of magnetic fluid obtained by centrifuging two base colloidal solutions of the magnetite in kerosene was investigated experimentally. The base solutions differed by the concentration of the magnetic phase and the width of the particle size distribution. The procedure of cluster analysis allowing one to estimate the characteristic sizes of aggregates with uncompensated magnetic moments was described. The results of the magnetogranulometric and cluster analyses were discussed. It was shown that centrifugation has a strong effect on the physical properties of the separated fractions, which is related to the spatial redistribution of particles and multi-particle aggregates. The presence of aggregates in magnetic fluids is interpreted as the main reason of low-frequency (0.1–10 kHz) dispersion of the dynamic susceptibility. The obtained results count in favor of using centrifugation as an effective means of changing the dynamic susceptibility over wide limits and obtaining fluids with the specified type of susceptibility dispersion.

Incidence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Bacterial Isolates ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In vitro antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was susceptible to ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin while the enteric bacteria were generally more resistant to ceftazidime, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Conclusion: The findings show that there is a high rate of wound infection in Kano, ...

Improving the quark number susceptibilities for staggered fermions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gavai, Rajiv V.

2003-01-01

Quark number susceptibilities approach their ideal gas limit at sufficiently high temperatures. As in the case of other thermodynamic quantities, this limit itself is altered substantially on lattices with small temporal extent, N t = 4-8, making it thus difficult to check the validity of perturbation theory. Unlike other observables, improving susceptibilities or number densities is subject to constraints of current conservation and absence of chemical potential (μ) dependent divergences. We construct such an improved number density and susceptibility for staggered fermions and show that they approximate the continuum ideal gas limit better on small temporal lattices

High-field susceptibility in ferromagnetic NpOs2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunlap, B.D.; Aldred, A.T.; Lam, D.J.; Davidson, G.R.

1975-01-01

NpOs 2 is known to be a ferromagnet with a Curie temperature of 7.5 0 K. Previous bulk magnetization measurements indicated a field-induced magnetization even well below the transition temperature. By a measurement of the local high-field susceptibility, using the Moessbauer effect in 237 Np, a susceptibility of (1.2 +- 0.2) x 10 -2 emu/mole at 1.6 0 K is obtained, in general agreement with the bulk measurement. Such a large susceptibility is best understood by a model f itinerant magnetism, although other properties of the material indicate localized behavior

Intersite interactions and susceptibility in mixed valence systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiaoqian Wang; Gao Lin; Bingjian Ni; Fusui Liu.

1985-10-01

This paper considers the effect of intersite processes on the susceptibility in mixed valence system. The method of thermodynamical perturbation used in this paper can also be generalized to study other properties of mixed valence system. The general formula of partition function of two-site interactions for the mixed valence system is given. The numerical calculations show that the intersite interaction is large enough to explain the minimum of susceptibility discovered in experiments. The different types of our theoretical curves predict that the susceptibility should exhibit a rich variety of behaviour at low temperature for various materials. (author)

[Susceptibility and resistence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to antimicrobial agents].

Science.gov (United States)

Gamero Delgado, M C; García-Mayorgas, A D; Rodríguez, F; Ibarra, A; Casal, M

2007-06-01

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic microorganism that is frequently the cause of nosocomial infections. Multiple mechanisms are involved in its natural and acquired resistance to many of the antimicrobial agents commonly used in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to assess the susceptibility and resistance patterns of P. aeruginosa strains isolated in Hospital Reina Sofia between 2000 and 2005, as well as to analyze the differences between intrahospital and extrahospital isolates in 2005 and to compare the results with those obtained in other studies. A total of 3,019 strains of P. aeruginosa from different hospitals and nonhospital settings were evaluated, taking into consideration their degree of sensitivity to different antibiotics. The MICs were determined by means of the Wider I automated system (Soria Melguizo), taking into consideration the criteria of susceptibility and resistance recommended by MENSURA. Results of the analysis showed that P. aeruginosa maintained similar levels of antimicrobial susceptibility during the period 2000-2005, with increased susceptibility to amikacin, gentamicin and tobramycin. There were also important differences in the degree of susceptibility between intrahospital and extrahospital strains, except for imipenem and fosfomycin. The intrahospital difference in susceptibility was also evaluated, emphasizing the importance of periodically studying susceptibility and resistance patterns of P. aeruginosa in each setting in order to evaluate different therapeutic guidelines, as it is not always advisable to extrapolate data from different regions. These differences can be explained by the different use of antibiotics in each center and the geographic variations of the resistance mechanisms of P. aeruginosa.

Low-temperature susceptibility of concentrated magnetic fluids

Science.gov (United States)

Pshenichnikov, Alexander F.; Lebedev, Alexander V.

2004-09-01

The initial susceptibility of concentrated magnetic fluids (ferrocolloids) has been experimentally investigated at low temperatures. The results obtained indicate that the interparticle dipole-dipole interactions can increase the susceptibility by several times as compared to the Langevin value. It is shown that good agreement between recent theoretical models and experimental observations can be achieved by introducing a correction for coefficients in the series expansion of susceptibility in powers of density and aggregation parameter. A modified equation for equilibrium susceptibility is offered to sum over corrections made by Kalikmanov (Statistical Physics of Fluids, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2001) and by B. Huke and M. Lücke (Phys. Rev. E 67, 051403, 2003). The equation gives good quantitative agreement with the experimental data in the wide range of temperature and magnetic particles concentration. It has been found that in some cases the magnetic fluid solidification occurs at temperature several tens of kelvins higher than the crystallization temperature of the carrier liquid. The solidification temperature of magnetic fluids is independent of particle concentration (i.e., magneto-dipole interparticle interactions) and dependent on the surfactant type and carrier liquid. This finding allows us to suggest that molecular interactions and generation of some large-scale structure from colloidal particles in magnetic fluids are responsible for magnetic fluid solidification. If the magnetic fluid contains the particles with the Brownian relaxation mechanism of the magnetic moment, the solidification manifests itself as the peak on the "susceptibility-temperature" curve. This fact proves the dynamic nature of the observed peak: it arises from blocking the Brownian mechanism of the magnetization relaxation.

Assessing landslide susceptibility by applying fuzzy sets, possibility evidence-based theories

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Ibsen Chivatá Cárdenas

2008-01-01

Full Text Available A landslide susceptibility model was developed for the city of Manizales, Colombia; landslides have been the city’s main environmental problem. Fuzzy sets and possibility and evidence-based theories were used to construct the mo-del due to the set of circumstances and uncertainty involved in the modelling; uncertainty particularly concerned the lack of representative data and the need for systematically coordinating subjective information. Susceptibility and the uncertainty were estimated via data processing; the model contained data concerning mass vulnerability and uncer-tainty. Output data was expressed on a map defined by linguistic categories or uncertain labels as having low, me-dium, high and very high susceptibility; this was considered appropriate for representing susceptibility. A fuzzy spec-trum was developed for classifying susceptibility levels according to perception and expert opinion. The model sho-wed levels of susceptibility in the study area, ranging from low to high susceptibility (medium susceptibility being mo-re frequent. This article shows the details concerning systematic data processing by presenting theories and tools regarding uncertainty. The concept of fuzzy parameters is introduced; this is useful in modelling phenomena regar-ding uncertainty, complexity and nonlinear performance, showing that susceptibility modelling can be feasible. The paper also shows the great convenience of incorporating uncertainty into modelling and decision-making. However, quantifying susceptibility is not suitable when modelling identified uncertainty because incorporating model output information cannot be reduced into exact or real numerical quantities when the nature of the variables is particularly uncertain. The latter concept is applicable to risk assessment.

Effects of white matter microstructure on phase and susceptibility maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Wharton, Samuel; Bowtell, Richard

2015-03-01

To investigate the effects on quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and susceptibility tensor imaging (STI) of the frequency variation produced by the microstructure of white matter (WM). The frequency offsets in a WM tissue sample that are not explained by the effect of bulk isotropic or anisotropic magnetic susceptibility, but rather result from the local microstructure, were characterized for the first time. QSM and STI were then applied to simulated frequency maps that were calculated using a digitized whole-brain, WM model formed from anatomical and diffusion tensor imaging data acquired from a volunteer. In this model, the magnitudes of the frequency contributions due to anisotropy and microstructure were derived from the results of the tissue experiments. The simulations suggest that the frequency contribution of microstructure is much larger than that due to bulk effects of anisotropic magnetic susceptibility. In QSM, the microstructure contribution introduced artificial WM heterogeneity. For the STI processing, the microstructure contribution caused the susceptibility anisotropy to be significantly overestimated. Microstructure-related phase offsets in WM yield artifacts in the calculated susceptibility maps. If susceptibility mapping is to become a robust MRI technique, further research should be carried out to reduce the confounding effects of microstructure-related frequency contributions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Enterobacteriaceae susceptibility to piperacillin/tazobactam in a Chilean pediatric hospital].

Science.gov (United States)

Vega, Juan Rojas De la; Benadof, Dona; Veas, Abigail; Acuña, Mirta

2017-12-01

Enterobacteriaceae are a group of gram-negative rods that can cause serious infections in humans. A susceptibility in Klebsiella pneumoniae of 79.4% to piperacillin/tazobactam (PIP/TAZO) is reported in pediatric hospitals in Chile. There is no published data published to date regarding PIP/TAZO susceptibility to other Enterobacteriaceae species in this population. To measure the in vitro PIP/TAZO susceptibility in Enterobacteriaceae isolates from patients in a pediatric hospital in Chile. Descriptive and prospective study of Enterobacteriaceae positive cultures from patients assisting to the "Hospital de niños Roberto del Río" (HRRIO) between January 2013 and August 2014. PIP/TAZO susceptibility was established by gradient diffusion method (E-test®) according to the 2014 CLSI standards. 163 cases were included. The average age was 4 years and 15 days. 70.6% were female. 79.7% of samples were urine cultures. PIP/TAZO susceptibility in Enterobacteriaceae was 95.1% (n = 155). The intermediate susceptibility was 1.8% (n = 3). The isolates studied present high susceptibility to PIP/TAZO. This finding could be explained by the fact that this population has not been exposed to this antimicrobial therapy and also the low rates for ESBL in pediatric infections.

The relationship of motion sickness susceptibility to learned autonomic control for symptom suppression

Science.gov (United States)

Cowings, P. S.; Toscano, W. B.

1982-01-01

Twenty-four men were randomly assigned to four equal groups matched in terms of their Coriolis Sickness Susceptibility Index (CSSI). Two groups of subjects were highly susceptible to motion sickness, and two groups were moderately susceptible. All subjects were given six C551 tests at 5-d intervals. Treatment Groups I (highly susceptible) and II (moderately susceptible) were taught to control their autonomic responses, using a training method called autogenic-feedback training (AFT) before the third, fourth, and fifth CSSI tests. Control groups III (highly susceptible) and IV (moderately susceptible) received no treatment. Results showed that both treatment groups significantly improved performance on CSSI tests after training; neither of the control groups changed significantly. Highly and moderately susceptible subjects in the two treatment groups improved at comparable rates. Highly susceptible control group subjects did not habituate across tests as readily as the moderately susceptible controls.

Antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Listeria species isolated from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The antimicrobial susceptibility profile of L. monocytogenes and other Listeria species isolated from some ready-to-eat (RTE) foods sold in Kano metropolis, north-western Nigeria was carried out using disc-diffusion method. The results obtained showed that L. monocytogenes was moderately susceptible to all the ...

Genetic susceptibility of periodontitis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laine, M.L.; Crielaard, W.; Loos, B.G.

2012-01-01

In this systematic review, we explore and summarize the peer-reviewed literature on putative genetic risk factors for susceptibility to aggressive and chronic periodontitis. A comprehensive literature search on the PubMed database was performed using the keywords ‘periodontitis’ or ‘periodontal

Temperature-dependence of the QCD topological susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Kovacs, Tamas G.

2018-03-01

We recently obtained an estimate of the axion mass based on the hypothesis that axions make up most of the dark matter in the universe. A key ingredient for this calculation was the temperature-dependence of the topological susceptibility of full QCD. Here we summarize the calculation of the susceptibility in a range of temperatures from well below the finite temperature cross-over to around 2 GeV. The two main difficulties of the calculation are the unexpectedly slow convergence of the susceptibility to its continuum limit and the poor sampling of nonzero topological sectors at high temperature. We discuss how these problems can be solved by two new techniques, the first one with reweighting using the quark zero modes and the second one with the integration method.

Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacterial isolates from surgical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

S. aureus and Streptococcus spp. showed maximum susceptibility (100%) to linezolid and vancomycin. Maximum susceptibility of E. coli was observed to ciprofloxacin (75.7%), followed by gentamicin (54.5%); of Klebsiella spp. to ceftriaxone and gentamicin (66.6% each), of Proteus spp. to gentamicin (70%) followed by ...

The susceptibilities in the spin-S Ising model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ainane, A.; Saber, M.

1995-08-01

The susceptibilities of the spin-S Ising model are evaluated using the effective field theory introduced by Tucker et al. for studying general spin-S Ising model. The susceptibilities are studied for all spin values from S = 1/2 to S = 5/2. (author). 12 refs, 4 figs

Risky business: a longitudinal study examining cigarette smoking initiation among susceptible and non-susceptible e-cigarette users in Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Aleyan, Sarah; Cole, Adam; Qian, Wei; Leatherdale, Scott T

2018-05-26

Given that many adolescent e-cigarette users are never-smokers, the possibility that e-cigarettes may act as a gateway to future cigarette smoking has been discussed in various studies. Longitudinal data are needed to explore the pathway between e-cigarette and cigarette use, particularly among different risk groups including susceptible and non-susceptible never-smokers. The objective of this study was to examine whether baseline use of e-cigarettes among a sample of never-smoking youth predicted cigarette smoking initiation over a 2-year period. Longitudinal cohort study. 89 high schools across Ontario and Alberta, Canada. A sample of grade 9-11 never-smoking students at baseline (n=9501) who participated in the COMPASS study over 2 years. Participants completed in-class questionnaires that assessed smoking susceptibility and smoking initiation. Among the baseline sample of non-susceptible never-smokers, 45.2% of current e-cigarette users reported trying a cigarette after 2 years compared with 13.5% of non-current e-cigarette users. Among the baseline sample of susceptible never-smokers, 62.4% of current e-cigarette users reported trying a cigarette after 2 years compared with 36.1% of non-current e-cigarette users. Overall, current e-cigarette users were more likely to try a cigarette 2 years later. This association was stronger among the sample of non-susceptible never-smokers (AOR=5.28, 95% CI 2.81 to 9.94; pe-cigarette use may contribute to the development of a new population of cigarette smokers. They also support the notion that e-cigarettes are expanding the tobacco market by attracting low-risk youth who would otherwise be unlikely to initiate using cigarettes. Careful consideration will be needed in developing an appropriate regulatory framework that prevents e-cigarette use among youth. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless

Finite perturbation studies of magnetic susceptibility and shielding with GIAO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaucer, M.; Pumpernik, D.; Hladnik, M.; Azman, A.

1977-01-01

The magnetic susceptibility tensor and proton and fluorine magnetic shielding tensors are calculated for F 2 and (FHF) - using an ab initio finite perturbation method with gauge-invariant atomic orbitals (GIAO). The discussion of the basis set deficiency shows that the calculated values for the susceptibilities are reliable. Simple additivity (Pascal rule) for the susceptibility is confirmed. (orig.) [de

Susceptibility analysis of landslide in Chittagong City Corporation Area, Bangladesh

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Sourav Das

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In Chittagong city, landslide phenomena is the most burning issue which causes great problems to the life and properties and it is increasing day by day and becoming one of the main problems of city life. On 11 June 2007, a massive landslide happened in Chittagong City Corporation (CCC area, a large number of foothill settlements and slums were demolished; more than 90 people died and huge resource destruction took place. It is therefore essential to analyze the landslide susceptibility for CCC area to prepare mitigation strategies as well as assessing the impacts of climate change. To assess community susceptibility of landslide hazard, a landslide susceptibility index map has been prepared using analytical hierarchy process (AHP model based on geographic information system (GIS and remote sensing (RS and its susceptibility is analyzed through community vulnerability assessment tool (CVAT. The major findings of the research are 27% of total CCC area which is susceptible to landslide hazard and whereas 6.5 sq.km areas are found very highly susceptible. The landslide susceptible areas of CCC have also been analyzed in respect of physical, social, economic, environmental and critical facilities and it is found that the overall CCC area is highly susceptible to landslide hazard. So the findings of the research can be utilized to prioritize risk mitigation investments, measures to strengthen the emergency preparedness and response mechanisms for reducing the losses and damages due to future landslide events. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i2.12635 International Journal of Environment Vol.4(2 2015: 157-181

Antimicrobial susceptibility of anaerobic bacteria in New Zealand: 1999-2003.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Sally A; Shore, Keith P; Paviour, Susan D; Holland, David; Morris, Arthur J

2006-05-01

Routine susceptibility testing of all anaerobic organisms is not advocated, but it is useful for laboratories to test periodically for anaerobic organisms and provide local susceptibility data to guide therapy. This study reports the national trend of antibiotic susceptibility of clinically significant anaerobes in New Zealand. Clinical isolates were tested using standardized methods against a range of antibiotics commonly used to treat anaerobic infections. Susceptibility was determined using NCCLS criteria. The change in susceptibility trends between this study and earlier studies was measured by comparing the geometric mean of the MIC. A total of 364 anaerobes were tested. Penicillin had poor activity against Bacteroides spp., Prevotella spp., Eubacterium spp., Clostridium tertium and Veillonella spp. In general, Fusobacterium spp., Bacteroides ureolyticus, Propionibacterium spp., Clostridium perfringens and anaerobic streptococci isolates, with the exception of Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, were penicillin susceptible. Amoxicillin/clavulanate showed good activity against most anaerobes, but resistance was seen with Bacteroides fragilis group and P. anaerobius isolates. Cefoxitin was more active than cefotetan, particularly against non-B. fragilis species, Eubacterium spp. and P. anaerobius. Meropenem and imipenem showed good activity against all anaerobes, with only 2 and 4% of Bacteroides spp., respectively, showing resistance. With the exception of Propionibacterium acnes isolates, which are predictably resistant, metronidazole was active against all anaerobes tested. There has been little change in susceptibility since 1997. Metronidazole, cefoxitin, piperacillin/tazobactam and amoxicillin/clavulanate remain good empirical choices when anaerobes are expected in our setting. No clinically relevant changes in susceptibility over time were found.

Characteristics of Japanese inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility loci.

Science.gov (United States)

Arimura, Yoshiaki; Isshiki, Hiroyuki; Onodera, Kei; Nagaishi, Kanna; Yamashita, Kentaro; Sonoda, Tomoko; Matsumoto, Takayuki; Takahashi, Atsushi; Takazoe, Masakazu; Yamazaki, Keiko; Kubo, Michiaki; Fujimiya, Mineko; Imai, Kohzoh; Shinomura, Yasuhisa

2014-08-01

There are substantial differences in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) genetics depending on the populations examined. We aimed to identify Japanese population-specific or true culprit susceptibility genes through a meta-analysis of past genetic studies of Japanese IBD. For this study, we reviewed 2,703 articles. The review process consisted of three screening stages: we initially searched for relevant studies and then relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Finally, we adjusted them for the meta-analysis. To maximize our chances of analysis, we introduced proxy SNPs during the first stage. To minimize publication bias, no significant SNPs and solitary SNPs without pairs were combined to be reconsidered during the third stage. Additionally, two SNPs were newly genotyped. Finally, we conducted a meta-analysis of 37 published studies in 50 SNPs located at 22 loci corresponding to the total number of 4,853 Crohn's disease (CD), 5,612 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and 14,239 healthy controls. We confirmed that the NKX2-3 polymorphism is associated with common susceptibility to IBD and that HLA-DRB1*0450 alleles increase susceptibility to CD but reduce risk for UC while HLA-DRB1*1502 alleles increase susceptibility to UC but reduce CD risk. Moreover, we found individual disease risk loci: TNFSF15 and TNFα to CD and HLA-B*5201, and NFKBIL1 to UC. The genetic risk of HLA was substantially high (odds ratios ranged from 1.54 to 2.69) while that of common susceptibility loci to IBD was modest (odds ratio ranged from 1.13 to 1.24). Results indicate that Japanese IBD susceptibility loci identified by the meta-analysis are closely associated with the HLA regions.

Assessing the antibiotic susceptibility of freshwater cyanobacteria spp.

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Elsa eDias

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Freshwater is a vehicle for the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Cyanobacteria are ubiquitous in freshwater, where they are exposed to antibiotics and resistant organisms, but their role on water resistome was never evaluated. Data concerning the effects of antibiotics on cyanobacteria, obtained by distinct methodologies, is often contradictory. This emphasizes the importance of developing procedures to understand the trends of antibiotic susceptibility in cyanobacteria. In this study we aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of four cyanobacterial isolates from different genera (Microcystis aeruginosa, Aphanizomenon gracile, Chrisosporum bergii, Planktothix agradhii, and among them nine isolates from the same specie (M. aeruginosa to distinct antibiotics (amoxicillin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, kanamycine, gentamicine, tetracycline, trimethoprim, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin. We used a method adapted from the bacteria standard broth microdilution. Cyanobacteria were exposed to serial dilution of each antibiotic (0.0015-1.6 mg/L in Z8 medium (20 ± 1 ºC; 14/10 h L/D cycle; light intensity 16 ± 4 µEm-2 s-1. Cell growth was followed overtime (OD450nm/microscopic examination and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs were calculated for each antibiotic/isolate. We found that -lactams exhibited the lower MICs, aminoglycosides, tetracycline and norfloxacine presented intermediate MICs; none of the isolates were susceptible to trimethoprim and nalidixic acid. The reduced susceptibility of all tested cyanobacteria to some antibiotics suggests that they might be naturally non-susceptible to these compounds, or that that they might became non-susceptible due to antibiotic contamination pressure, or to the transfer of genes from resistant bacteria present in the environment.

Extended biofilm susceptibility assay for Staphylococcus aureus bovine mastitis isolates: evidence for association between genetic makeup and biofilm susceptibility.

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Melchior, M B; van Osch, M H J; Lam, T J G M; Vernooij, J C M; Gaastra, W; Fink-Gremmels, J

2011-12-01

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most prevalent causes of bovine mastitis. The antimicrobial treatment of this disease is currently based on antimicrobial susceptibility tests according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute standards. However, various authors have shown a discrepancy between the results of this standard susceptibility test and the actual cure rate of the applied antimicrobial treatment. Increasing evidence suggests that in vivo biofilm formation by Staph. aureus, which is not assessed in the antimicrobial susceptibility tests, is associated with this problem, resulting in disappointing cure rates, especially for infections of longer duration. Previous data obtained with a limited number of strains showed that the extended biofilm antimicrobial susceptibility (EBS) assay reveals differences between strains, which cannot be derived from a standard susceptibility test or from a 24-h biofilm susceptibility test. The objective of this study was to test a collection of Staph. aureus bovine mastitis strains in the EBS assay and to model the effect of antimicrobial exposure, duration of antimicrobial exposure, and genotype profile of the strains on antimicrobial susceptibility. With the results from a previous study with the same collection of strains, the effect of genotype represented by accessory gene regulator gene (agr-type), the presence of insertional sequence 257 (IS257), intercellular adhesion (ica), and the β-lactamase (blaZ) gene were entered as explanatory factors in a logistic regression model. The agr locus of Staph. aureus controls the expression of most of the virulence factors, represses the transcription of several cell wall-associated proteins, and activates several exoproteins during the post-exponential phase. The IS257 gene has been related to biofilm formation in vitro and was found earlier in 50% of the agr-type 2 strains. The ica gene cluster encodes for the production of an extracellular polysaccharide adhesin, termed

Calculation of the magnetic susceptibilities of transition metal monocarbides, mononitrides and monoxides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eibler, R.; Neckel, A.

1975-01-01

Results of Augmented Plane Wave (APW) band structure calculations are used to determine the magnetic susceptibilities of some transition metal monocarbides, mononitrides and monoxides (TiC, TiN, TiO, VC, VN, VO, NbC, NbN) assuming stoichiometric composition. Contributions to the susceptibility arising from the orbital para- and diamagnetism and the spin paramagnetism are determined separately. The orbital susceptibility terms are calculated by means of the model of Kubo and Obata. The calculated susceptibilities are compared with measured values. The approximations in the calculation of the orbital susceptibility terms are discussed especially with regard to the agreement between calculated and measured susceptibilities for the individual compounds. Similar calculations are performed for the susceptibilities of non-stoichiometric VCsub(x)-phase, for which APR-Virtual Crystal Approximation (VCA) band structure calculations are available. (author)

Antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility testing of anaerobic bacteria.

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Schuetz, Audrey N

2014-09-01

Infections due to anaerobic bacteria can be severe and life-threatening. Susceptibility testing of anaerobes is not frequently performed in laboratories, but such testing is important to direct appropriate therapy. Anaerobic resistance is increasing globally, and resistance trends vary by geographic region. An overview of a variety of susceptibility testing methods for anaerobes is provided, and the advantages and disadvantages of each method are reviewed. Specific clinical situations warranting anaerobic susceptibility testing are discussed. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Susceptibility of Some Stone and Pome Fruit Rootstocks to Crown Gall

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A. Rhouma

2005-12-01

Full Text Available The susceptibility of different fruit rootstocks to crown gall disease was investigated in greenhouse and field experiments with numerous strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens over three years. Plants were inoculated in the roots and shoots for pot experiments. Field experiments were performed in a naturally contaminated nursery plot. The genotypes Prunus dulcis and P. persica showed a high level of susceptibility to A. tumefaciens. Among the stone rootstocks, bitter almond was highly susceptible in all experiments. Apricot and Cadaman rootstocks displayed low susceptibility but larger galls, showing that there was no relation between rootstock susceptibility and gall size. Among pome rootstocks, quince BA29 was resistant to the disease, while MM106 was susceptible in potted trials; however, in the field essays, pome rootstocks did not become galled, possibly because the strains had selected for and adapted to stone rootstocks.

Epidemic spreading in annealed directed networks: susceptible-infected-susceptible model and contact process.

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Kwon, Sungchul; Kim, Yup

2013-01-01

We investigate epidemic spreading in annealed directed scale-free networks with the in-degree (k) distribution P(in)(k)~k(-γ(in)) and the out-degree (ℓ) distribution, P(out)(ℓ)~ℓ(-γ(out)). The correlation of each node on the networks is controlled by the probability r(0≤r≤1) in two different algorithms, the so-called k and ℓ algorithms. For r=1, the k algorithm gives =, whereas the ℓ algorithm gives =. For r=0, = for both algorithms. As the prototype of epidemic spreading, the susceptible-infected-susceptible model and contact process on the networks are analyzed using the heterogeneous mean-field theory and Monte Carlo simulations. The directedness of links and the correlation of the network are found to play important roles in the spreading, so that critical behaviors of both models are distinct from those on undirected scale-free networks.

Effect of structural transition on magnetic susceptibility of tantalum carbide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lipatnikov, V.N.; Gusev, A.I.; Rempel', A.A.; Shvejkin, G.P.

1987-01-01

Ordering of carbon atoms and vacancies in nonmetal sublattice of TaC y is investigated for the first time by methods of magnetic susceptibility and structural neutron diffraction analysis. Measurements of magnetic susceptibility were conducted on high-sensitive magnetic scales in temperature interval of 300 - 1300 K with holding at each temperature up to the establishment of constant, nonchanging in the course of time value of susceptibility x. When investigating x-hardened tantalum carbide within the interval of TaC 0.82 - TaC 0.85 compositions under the conditions of slow heating, it was observed nonrecorded earlier irreversible decrease of susceptibility at temperature of 960 - 1000 K. With further temperature increase T>T tr it was observed at first even and than uneven increase of x value at a temperature of T tr equal to 1090, 1130 and 1150 K for TaC 0.82 , TaC 0.83 and TaC 0.85 respectively. The measuring of magnetic susceptibility of the same samples at temperature decrease reveals the presence of susceptibility temperature hysteresis in the interval of 1070 - 1090, 1100 - 1130 and 1120 - 1150 for TaC 0.82 , TaC 0.83 and TaC 0.85 . Reversible susceptibility jump corresponding to the temperature hysteresis range at dependences of x(T), is connected with equilibrium structural phase transition of order-disorder

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping of Human Brain Reflects Spatial Variation in Tissue Composition

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Li, Wei; Wu, Bing; Liu, Chunlei

2011-01-01

Image phase from gradient echo MRI provides a unique contrast that reflects brain tissue composition variations, such as iron and myelin distribution. Phase imaging is emerging as a powerful tool for the investigation of functional brain anatomy and disease diagnosis. However, the quantitative value of phase is compromised by its nonlocal and orientation dependent properties. There is an increasing need for reliable quantification of magnetic susceptibility, the intrinsic property of tissue. In this study, we developed a novel and accurate susceptibility mapping method that is also phase-wrap insensitive. The proposed susceptibility mapping method utilized two complementary equations: (1) the Fourier relationship of phase and magnetic susceptibility; and (2) the first-order partial derivative of the first equation in the spatial frequency domain. In numerical simulation, this method reconstructed the susceptibility map almost free of streaking artifact. Further, the iterative implementation of this method allowed for high quality reconstruction of susceptibility maps of human brain in vivo. The reconstructed susceptibility map provided excellent contrast of iron-rich deep nuclei and white matter bundles from surrounding tissues. Further, it also revealed anisotropic magnetic susceptibility in brain white matter. Hence, the proposed susceptibility mapping method may provide a powerful tool for the study of brain physiology and pathophysiology. Further elucidation of anisotropic magnetic susceptibility in vivo may allow us to gain more insight into the white matter microarchitectures. PMID:21224002

Magnetic susceptibility of free charge carriers in bismuth tellurides (Bi2Te3)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guha Thakurta, S.R.; Dutta, A.K.

1977-01-01

Principal magnetic susceptibilities of both p- and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 crystals have been measured over the range of temperature 90 deg K to 650 deg K. The observed susceptibilities are diamagnetic and temperature dependent. This temperature dependence has been attributed to the contribution of the free charge carriers to the susceptibilities. From the observed susceptibilities the carrier-susceptibilities have been separately obtained which are found to be paramagnetic. From the total carrier-susceptibilities, the susceptibilities of the carriers which are thermally liberated in the intrinsic region have been separated. From an analysis of the carrier-susceptibilities the band gap and its temperature coefficient have been found out and these compare favourably with those obtained from electrical measurements. (author)

Brain Potentials and Personality: A New Look at Stress Susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

1987-09-01

disinhibition (Dis) measures a hedonistic , extraverted lifestyle including drinking, parties, sex, and gambling; boredom susceptibility (BS) indicates an...adventure seeking; ES = Experience seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom susceptibility. 1 14 I N i*5’ Table 4 Correlation of Auditory Evoked...20. aTAS = Thrill and adventure seeking; ES = Experience seeking; Dis = Disinhibition; BS = Boredom susceptibility. < .05. 15 I The present study

Effect of feeding broilers diets differing in susceptible phytate content

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Natalie K. Morgan

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Measurements of total phytate phosphorus content of diets may be deceptive as they do not indicate substrate availability for phytase; it may be that measurements of phytate susceptible to phytase effects are a more accurate measure of phosphorus (P availability to the bird. To verify this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted to compare diets formulated to contain either high or low susceptible phytate, supplemented with either 0 or 500 FTU/kg phytase. Susceptible phytate was determined by exposing the feed samples to conditions that mimicked the average pH of the proximal gastrointestinal tract (pH 4.5 and the optimum temperature for phytase activity (37 °C and then measuring phytate dissolved. Ross 308 birds (n = 240 were fed one of 4 dietary treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design; 2 diets with high (8.54 g/kg, 57.90% of total phytate or low (5.77 g/kg, 46.33% of total phytate susceptible phytate, containing 0 or 500 FTU/kg phytase. Diets were fed to broilers (12 replicate pens of 5 birds per pen from d 0 to 28 post hatch. Birds fed diets high in susceptible phytate had greater phytate hydrolysis in the gizzard (P < 0.001, jejunum (P < 0.001 and ileum (P < 0.001 and resulting greater body weight gain (BWG (P = 0.015 and lower FCR (P = 0.003 than birds fed the low susceptible phytate diets, irrespective of phytase presence. Birds fed the high susceptible diets also had greater P solubility in the gizzard and Ca and P solubility in the jejunum and ileum (P < 0.05 and resulting greater tibia and femur Ca and P (P < 0.05 content than those fed the low susceptible diets. All the susceptible phytate was fully degraded in the tract in the absence of added phytase, suggesting the assay used in this study was able to successfully estimate the amount of total dietary phytate that was susceptible to the effects of phytase when used at standard levels. No interactions were observed between susceptible phytate and phytase on

Harmonic and static susceptibilities of YBa2Cu3O7

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, T.; Goldfarb, R.B.; Okayasu, S.; Kazumata, Y.; Franz, J.; Arndt, T.; Schauer, W.

1993-01-01

Intergranular properties of the sintered superconductor YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 have been studied in terms of complex harmonic magnetic susceptibility χ n χ n ' - iχ n '' (n integer) as well as DC susceptibility χ dc . As functions of temperature T, χ 1 ' and χ 1 '' depend on both the AC magnetic-field amplitude H ac and the magnitude of a superimposed DC field H dc . Only odd-harmonic susceptibilities are observed below the critical temperature, T c , for zero H dc while both odd and even harmonics are observed for nonzero H dc . With T constant, odd-harmonic susceptibilities are even functions of H dc , whereas even-harmonic susceptibilities are odd functions of H dc . Experimental intergranular characteristics of χ n ' and χ n '' are in good agreement with theoretical predictions from a simplified Kim model of magnetization. In contrast, even-harmonic susceptibilities measured for a GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 thin film and an YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 single crystal are not prominent due to missing weak links, whereas odd-harmonic susceptibilities are remarkable. A survey of several models for the harmonic response of superconductors is presented. The DC susceptibility curve for the zero-field-cooled YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 sample, χ ZFC (T), has a two-step structure arising from intra- and inter-granular components, similar to χ 1 '. DC susceptibility measured upon warming, χ FCW (T), shows a negative peak near T c for the sample cooled rapidly in small DC fields. DC susceptibility measured upon cooling, χ FCC (T), does not show a peak. A negative peak is not seen in measurements on a powdered sample. The negative peak can be explained by intergranular flux depinning upon warming. (orig.)

Tigecycline in-vitro susceptibility and antibiotics fitness forgram-negative pathogens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arya, Subhash C.; Agarwal, N.

2008-01-01

Objective was to determine the tigecycline in-vitro susceptibility ofnaive gram-negative pathogens from serious infections in Delhi, India. DuringJuly to October 2007 investigations were carried out to determine thetigecycline in vitro susceptibility of 50 consecutive gram-negative pathogensfrom serious infections at the Sant Parmanand Hospital, Delhi, India. Minimumtigecycline inhibitory concentrations were determined employing the E testmethod (AB Biodisk). Twenty-four percent of isolates were found to betigecycline resistant or partly susceptible. Susceptibility of the isolateswere lower than meropenem but similar to piperacillin-tazobactum,amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and amikacin. Tigecycline resistance wasprevalent in the gram-negative isolates from serious infections prior to itsmarketing in India. The choice of any recently marketed antibiotic for apilot treatment against serious gram-negative infections should not beautomatic. In the initial phase of its marketing, it should be evaluated inparallel with the antibiotics with excellent local susceptibility profiles.(author)

Susceptibility of Aeromonas Hydophila Isolates to Antimicrobial Drugs

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Igor Stojanov

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Aeromonas hydrophila is a microorganism widely distributed in nature: in water, soil, food. It is also part of the normal bacterial flora of many animals. As an opportune microorganism it is a secondary biological agent that contributes to the occurrence of a fish disease and its deterioration. Frequently, its presence is an indication of bad zoohygiene and zootechnical conditions in fish ponds. Reduced quality and quantity of feed, mechanical injuries, parasitosis, seasonal oscillation in temperature present some of the factors that produce favorable conditions for bacterial proliferation of aeromonas in fish ponds, so clinical symptoms of the disease occur. Aeromonas is almost always present in clinical isolates and may be unjustly accused for bad health of fish. Antibiotic therapy is applied even when the clinical findings are clear, what certainly effects the susceptibility to chemotherapeutics. The subject of our work was bacteriological examination of the material obtained from the carps with the observed skin changes and the carps without these changes. Also, antimicrobial susceptibility of Aeromonas hydrophila was tested. The aim of this research was to determined the presence of Aeromonas hydrophilia in the carp ponds and to test antibiotic susceptibility. The material consisted of the samples from the fish ponds where the carps were with and without changed skin. The method the isolation of Aeromonas hydrophila was used. The diffusion disk technique was used for testing antibiotic susceptibility. The isolates were tested for their susceptibility to Florephenikol, Flumequine, Olaqindox and Oxitetracycline. The obtained results point that antimicrobial susceptibility was the same regardless of the origin of the samples, i.e. the resistance was the same for both groups of samples (the strains isolated from the fish with skin changes and the strains from fish without changes on skin. The strains were highly resistant: 35% were resistant to

Magnetic susceptibilities of integrable quantum ladders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Soo A; Lee, K.

2001-01-01

As an extension of previous studies, we consider the magnetic susceptibilities of a coupled spin chain model at low temperature and of a more realistic model at low temperature and of a more realistic model having a t-J ladder structure at zero temperature. The magnetic susceptibilities for both models are obtained numerically when the coupling constant is greater than its critical value. In this region, the ladders behave as a single chain for H c and as two independent chains for H>H c , showing a divergence at H c . This divergence is expected to smear out at a finite temperature

Large-scale association analysis identifies new lung cancer susceptibility loci and heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across histological subtypes

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, James D.; Hung, Rayjean J.; Han, Younghun; Zong, Xuchen; Carreras-Torres, Robert; Christiani, David C.; Caporaso, Neil E.; Johansson, Mattias; Xiao, Xiangjun; Li, Yafang; Byun, Jinyoung; Dunning, Alison; Pooley, Karen A.; Qian, David C.; Ji, Xuemei; Liu, Geoffrey; Timofeeva, Maria N.; Bojesen, Stig E.; Wu, Xifeng; Le Marchand, Loic; Albanes, Demetrios; Bickeböller, Heike; Aldrich, Melinda C.; Bush, William S.; Tardon, Adonina; Rennert, Gad; Teare, M. Dawn; Field, John K.; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Lazarus, Philip; Haugen, Aage; Lam, Stephen; Schabath, Matthew B.; Andrew, Angeline S.; Shen, Hongbing; Hong, Yun-Chul; Yuan, Jian-Min; Bertazzi, Pier Alberto; Pesatori, Angela C.; Ye, Yuanqing; Diao, Nancy; Su, Li; Zhang, Ruyang; Brhane, Yonathan; Leighl, Natasha; Johansen, Jakob S.; Mellemgaard, Anders; Saliba, Walid; Haiman, Christopher A.; Wilkens, Lynne R.; Fernandez-Somoano, Ana; Fernandez-Tardon, Guillermo; van der Heijden, Henricus F.M.; Kim, Jin Hee; Dai, Juncheng; Hu, Zhibin; Davies, Michael PA; Marcus, Michael W.; Brunnström, Hans; Manjer, Jonas; Melander, Olle; Muller, David C.; Overvad, Kim; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Tumino, Rosario; Doherty, Jennifer A.; Barnett, Matt P.; Chen, Chu; Goodman, Gary E.; Cox, Angela; Taylor, Fiona; Woll, Penella; Brüske, Irene; Wichmann, H.-Erich; Manz, Judith; Muley, Thomas R.; Risch, Angela; Rosenberger, Albert; Grankvist, Kjell; Johansson, Mikael; Shepherd, Frances A.; Tsao, Ming-Sound; Arnold, Susanne M.; Haura, Eric B.; Bolca, Ciprian; Holcatova, Ivana; Janout, Vladimir; Kontic, Milica; Lissowska, Jolanta; Mukeria, Anush; Ognjanovic, Simona; Orlowski, Tadeusz M.; Scelo, Ghislaine; Swiatkowska, Beata; Zaridze, David; Bakke, Per; Skaug, Vidar; Zienolddiny, Shanbeh; Duell, Eric J.; Butler, Lesley M.; Koh, Woon-Puay; Gao, Yu-Tang; Houlston, Richard S.; McLaughlin, John; Stevens, Victoria L.; Joubert, Philippe; Lamontagne, Maxime; Nickle, David C.; Obeidat, Ma’en; Timens, Wim; Zhu, Bin; Song, Lei; Kachuri, Linda; Artigas, María Soler; Tobin, Martin D.; Wain, Louise V.; Rafnar, Thorunn; Thorgeirsson, Thorgeir E.; Reginsson, Gunnar W.; Stefansson, Kari; Hancock, Dana B.; Bierut, Laura J.; Spitz, Margaret R.; Gaddis, Nathan C.; Lutz, Sharon M.; Gu, Fangyi; Johnson, Eric O.; Kamal, Ahsan; Pikielny, Claudio; Zhu, Dakai; Lindströem, Sara; Jiang, Xia; Tyndale, Rachel F.; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Beesley, Jonathan; Bossé, Yohan; Chanock, Stephen; Brennan, Paul; Landi, Maria Teresa; Amos, Christopher I.

2017-01-01

Summary While several lung cancer susceptibility loci have been identified, much of lung cancer heritability remains unexplained. Here, 14,803 cases and 12,262 controls of European descent were genotyped on the OncoArray and combined with existing data for an aggregated GWAS analysis of lung cancer on 29,266 patients and 56,450 controls. We identified 18 susceptibility loci achieving genome wide significance, including 10 novel loci. The novel loci highlighted the striking heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across lung cancer histological subtypes, with four loci associated with lung cancer overall and six with lung adenocarcinoma. Gene expression quantitative trait analysis (eQTL) in 1,425 normal lung tissues highlighted RNASET2, SECISBP2L and NRG1 as candidate genes. Other loci include genes such as a cholinergic nicotinic receptor, CHRNA2, and the telomere-related genes, OFBC1 and RTEL1. Further exploration of the target genes will continue to provide new insights into the etiology of lung cancer. PMID:28604730

Differential susceptibility to parenting and quality child care.

Science.gov (United States)

Pluess, Michael; Belsky, Jay

2010-03-01

Research on differential susceptibility to rearing suggests that infants with difficult temperaments are disproportionately affected by parenting and child care quality, but a major U.S. child care study raises questions as to whether quality of care influences social adjustment. One thousand three hundred sixty-four American children from reasonably diverse backgrounds were followed from 1 month to 11 years with repeated observational assessments of parenting and child care quality, as well as teacher report and standardized assessments of children's cognitive-academic and social functioning, to determine whether those with histories of difficult temperament proved more susceptible to early rearing effects at ages 10 and 11. Evidence for such differential susceptibility emerges in the case of both parenting and child care quality and with respect to both cognitive-academic and social functioning. Differential susceptibility to parenting and child care quality extends to late middle childhood. J. Belsky, D. L. Vandell, et al.'s (2007) failure to consider such temperament-moderated rearing effects in their evaluation of long-term child care effects misestimates effects of child care quality on social adjustment.

Antifungal susceptibility testing method for resource constrained laboratories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khan S

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: In resource-constrained laboratories of developing countries determination of antifungal susceptibility testing by NCCLS/CLSI method is not always feasible. We describe herein a simple yet comparable method for antifungal susceptibility testing. Methods: Reference MICs of 72 fungal isolates including two quality control strains were determined by NCCLS/CLSI methods against fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, amphotericin B and cancidas. Dermatophytes were also tested against terbinafine. Subsequently, on selection of optimum conditions, MIC was determined for all the fungal isolates by semisolid antifungal agar susceptibility method in Brain heart infusion broth supplemented with 0.5% agar (BHIA without oil overlay and results were compared with those obtained by reference NCCLS/CLSI methods. Results: Comparable results were obtained by NCCLS/CLSI and semisolid agar susceptibility (SAAS methods against quality control strains. MICs for 72 isolates did not differ by more than one dilution for all drugs by SAAS. Conclusions: SAAS using BHIA without oil overlay provides a simple and reproducible method for obtaining MICs against yeast, filamentous fungi and dermatophytes in resource-constrained laboratories.

Integration of landslide susceptibility products in the environmental plans

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorucci, Federica; Reichenbach, Paola; Rossi, Mauro; Cardinali, Mauro; Guzzetti, Fausto

2015-04-01

Landslides are one of the most destructive natural hazard that causes damages to urban area worldwide. The knowledge of where a landslide could occur is essential for the strategic management of the territory and for a good urban planning . In this contest landslide susceptibility zoning (LSZ) is crucial to provide information on the degree to which an area can be affected by future slope movements. Despite landslide susceptibility maps have been prepared extensively during the last decades, there are few examples of application is in the environmental plans (EP). In this work we present a proposal for the integration of the landslide inventory map with the following landslide susceptibility products: (i) landslide susceptibility zonation , (ii) the associated error map and (iii) the susceptibility uncertainty map. Moreover we proposed to incorporate detailed morphological studies for the evaluation of landslide risk associated to local parceling plan. The integration of all this information is crucial for the management of landslide risk in urban expansions forecasts. Municipality, province and regional administration are often not able to support the costs of landslide risk evaluation for extensive areas but should concentrate their financial resources to specific hazardous and unsafe situations defined by the result of the integration of landslide susceptibility products. Zonation and detail morphological analysis should be performed taking into account the existing laws and regulations, and could become a starting point to discuss new regulations for the landslide risk management.

Effect of fuel rod design on SCC susceptibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, H.W.; Yoon, K.K.; Baty, D.L.

1979-01-01

Laboratory tests were conducted to compare the relative susceptibility of three different zircaloy cladding types to iodine stress corrosion cracking. Two types of tests were conducted which had different characteristics. A substantial dependency of failure susceptibility on cladding type was noted. The differences in behavior were attributed to one or a combination of three cladding characteristics: cladding crystallographic texture, stress relaxation rates, and cladding inner diameter surface condition. The failure susceptibility was qualitatively consistent with the theoretical predictions of crystallographic texture dependencies. A separate series of tests were performed to quantify the differences in stress relaxation between the material types. Results of an analytical calculation are presented which evaluates the applicability of the test results to in-reactor performance

Health Psychological Constructs as Predictors of Doping Susceptibility in Adolescent Athletes

Science.gov (United States)

Blank, Cornelia; Schobersberger, Wolfgang; Leichtfried, Veronika; Duschek, Stefan

2016-01-01

Background Doping is a highly relevant problem in sport, even in adolescent athletes. Knowledge of the psychological factors that influence doping susceptibility in young elite athletes remains sparse. Objectives This study investigated the predictive potential of different health-psychological constructs and well-being on doping susceptibility. The main hypotheses to be tested were positive associations of fear of failure, external locus of control, and ego-oriented goal orientation as well as negative associations of confidence of success, task orientation, internal locus of control, and performance motivation with doping susceptibility. Low levels of well-being are furthermore expected to be associated with doping susceptibility. Methods Within this cross-sectional study, 1,265 Austrian junior athletes aged between 14 and 19 years responded to a paper-pencil questionnaire. Results Performance motivation was a negative, while depressive mood, self-esteem, fear of failure and ego-oriented goal orientation were positive predictors of doping susceptibility. In addition, participants who were offered performance enhancing substances in the past were particularly susceptible to doping. Conclusions The study corroborates the predictive value of classical psychological constructs in doping research, initially analyzed in view of adult athletes, also for adolescents’ doping susceptibility. PMID:28144408

Health Psychological Constructs as Predictors of Doping Susceptibility in Adolescent Athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Blank, Cornelia; Schobersberger, Wolfgang; Leichtfried, Veronika; Duschek, Stefan

2016-12-01

Doping is a highly relevant problem in sport, even in adolescent athletes. Knowledge of the psychological factors that influence doping susceptibility in young elite athletes remains sparse. This study investigated the predictive potential of different health-psychological constructs and well-being on doping susceptibility. The main hypotheses to be tested were positive associations of fear of failure, external locus of control, and ego-oriented goal orientation as well as negative associations of confidence of success, task orientation, internal locus of control, and performance motivation with doping susceptibility. Low levels of well-being are furthermore expected to be associated with doping susceptibility. Within this cross-sectional study, 1,265 Austrian junior athletes aged between 14 and 19 years responded to a paper-pencil questionnaire. Performance motivation was a negative, while depressive mood, self-esteem, fear of failure and ego-oriented goal orientation were positive predictors of doping susceptibility. In addition, participants who were offered performance enhancing substances in the past were particularly susceptible to doping. The study corroborates the predictive value of classical psychological constructs in doping research, initially analyzed in view of adult athletes, also for adolescents' doping susceptibility.

Glioblastomas vs. lymphomas. More diagnostic certainty by using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peters, S.; Knoess, N.; Wodarg, F.; Cnyrim, C.; Jansen, O. [Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel (Germany). Inst. fuer Neuroradiologie

2012-08-15

Purpose: It can be difficult to differentiate glioblastomas from lymphomas using only standard MR images. There are references suggesting that it might be possible to differentiate these tumors using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). The purpose of this study is to prove the diagnostic benefit using susceptibility-weighted images. Material and Methods: Three neuroradiologists tried to differentiate 4 histologically verified lymphomas from 11 glioblastomas in retrospect. They first viewed the conventional MR images and declared a diagnosis with a grade of certainty. Afterwards they additionally reviewed the susceptibility-weighted images. Results: Glioblastomas have a clearly higher grade of susceptibility signals than lymphomas. By additionally using susceptibility-weighted images, the radiologists determined the correct diagnosis in 82.2 % of the cases. Without susceptibility-weighted images, the diagnosis was correct in 75.5 % of the cases. The subjective gain of certainty was 16.5 %. If there were no intratumoral susceptibility signals (ITSS) (grade 1), the sensitivity for diagnosing a lymphoma was 70 % and the specificity was 100 %. The sensitivity for diagnosing a glioblastoma was 90.5 % and the specificity was 100 % if there was a high rate of intratumoral susceptibility signals (grade 3). Conclusion: Susceptibility-weighted images are an additional tool in clinical practice for determining the correct diagnosis. The differentiation between glioblastomas and lymphomas and the certainty of the determined diagnosis are better. Therefore, we recommend adding susceptibility-weighted imaging to the clinical MR tumor protocol. (orig.)

Glioblastomas vs. lymphomas: more diagnostic certainty by using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI).

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, S; Knöß, N; Wodarg, F; Cnyrim, C; Jansen, O

2012-08-01

It can be difficult to differentiate glioblastomas from lymphomas using only standard MR images. There are references suggesting that it might be possible to differentiate these tumors using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). The purpose of this study is to prove the diagnostic benefit using susceptibility-weighted images. Three neuroradiologists tried to differentiate 4 histologically verified lymphomas from 11 glioblastomas in retrospect. They first viewed the conventional MR images and declared a diagnosis with a grade of certainty. Afterwards they additionally reviewed the susceptibility-weighted images. Glioblastomas have a clearly higher grade of susceptibility signals than lymphomas. By additionally using susceptibility-weighted images, the radiologists determined the correct diagnosis in 82.2 % of the cases. Without susceptibility-weighted images, the diagnosis was correct in 75.5 % of the cases. The subjective gain of certainty was 16.5 %. If there were no intratumoral susceptibility signals (ITSS) (grade 1), the sensitivity for diagnosing a lymphoma was 70 % and the specificity was 100 %. The sensitivity for diagnosing a glioblastoma was 90.5 % and the specificity was 100 % if there was a high rate of intratumoral susceptibility signals (grade 3). Susceptibility-weighted images are an additional tool in clinical practice for determining the correct diagnosis. The differentiation between glioblastomas and lymphomas and the certainty of the determined diagnosis are better. Therefore, we recommend adding susceptibility-weighted imaging to the clinical MR tumor protocol. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Glioblastomas vs. lymphomas. More diagnostic certainty by using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peters, S.; Knoess, N.; Wodarg, F.; Cnyrim, C.; Jansen, O.

2012-01-01

Purpose: It can be difficult to differentiate glioblastomas from lymphomas using only standard MR images. There are references suggesting that it might be possible to differentiate these tumors using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). The purpose of this study is to prove the diagnostic benefit using susceptibility-weighted images. Material and Methods: Three neuroradiologists tried to differentiate 4 histologically verified lymphomas from 11 glioblastomas in retrospect. They first viewed the conventional MR images and declared a diagnosis with a grade of certainty. Afterwards they additionally reviewed the susceptibility-weighted images. Results: Glioblastomas have a clearly higher grade of susceptibility signals than lymphomas. By additionally using susceptibility-weighted images, the radiologists determined the correct diagnosis in 82.2 % of the cases. Without susceptibility-weighted images, the diagnosis was correct in 75.5 % of the cases. The subjective gain of certainty was 16.5 %. If there were no intratumoral susceptibility signals (ITSS) (grade 1), the sensitivity for diagnosing a lymphoma was 70 % and the specificity was 100 %. The sensitivity for diagnosing a glioblastoma was 90.5 % and the specificity was 100 % if there was a high rate of intratumoral susceptibility signals (grade 3). Conclusion: Susceptibility-weighted images are an additional tool in clinical practice for determining the correct diagnosis. The differentiation between glioblastomas and lymphomas and the certainty of the determined diagnosis are better. Therefore, we recommend adding susceptibility-weighted imaging to the clinical MR tumor protocol. (orig.)

Low-field susceptibilities of rare earth spin glass alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarkissian, B.V.B.

1977-01-01

Static susceptibility in various applied fields and AC susceptibility data on Sc 13% Gd and Sc 4.5% Tb spin glass alloys are reported. The data show that the sharp peak at the freezing temperature, Tsub(g), normally observed in the low-field susceptibility of spin glasses containing 3d magnetic impurities is observed here in the case of Gd, which is an S state solute, but not for Tb. On the contrary, for the Sc-Tb alloy a rather rounded maximum is observed which becomes slightly sharper with increasing applied magnetic fields. (author)

Cracking susceptibility of stainless steel subjected to plasma disruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madarame, H.

1995-01-01

The similarities and differences in the cracking susceptibility between welding and resolidification after plasma disruption were examined experimentally using a number of primary candidate alloy samples with different chemical compositions. The product of the number density and the average depth of the cracks was measured after simulated disruption, employing a hydrogen ion beam as the heat source, and was compared with the Varestraint test result. An adequate correlation was observed between them, which indicates that the cracking susceptibility during plasma disruption can be well estimated from the welding cracking susceptibility. (orig.)

Susceptibility Of Five Cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) Varieties To ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Susceptibility Of Five Cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) Varieties To Attack By Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) ... in Ghana were screened for susceptibility to the cowpea beetle, C. maculatus, in storage for a period of 30 days in the laboratory at an ambient temperature of 27.5 ± 0.9oC and relative humidity of 64.6 ± 2%.

Disinfectant-susceptibility of multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noriko Shinoda

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been an important problem in public health around the world. However, limited information about disinfectant-susceptibility of multi-drug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis was available. Findings We studied susceptibility of several Japanese isolates of multi-drug-resistant M. tuberculosis against disinfectants, which are commonly used in clinical and research laboratories. We selected a laboratory reference strain (H37Rv and eight Japanese isolates, containing five drug-susceptible strains and three multi-drug-resistant strains, and determined profiles of susceptibility against eight disinfectants. The M. tuberculosis strains were distinguished into two groups by the susceptibility profile. There was no relationship between multi-drug-resistance and disinfectant-susceptibility in the M. tuberculosis strains. Cresol soap and oxydol were effective against all strains we tested, regardless of drug resistance. Conclusions Disinfectant-resistance is independent from multi-drug-resistance in M. tuberculosis. Cresol soap and oxydol were effective against all strains we tested, regardless of drug resistance.

Genetic control of susceptibility to apoptosis of thymocytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mori, N.; Okumoto, M.; Morimoto, J.; Imai, S.; Matsuyama, T.; Takamori, Y.; Yagasaki, O.

1992-01-01

Genetic control of the susceptibility of thymocytes to radiation-induced apoptosis in mice was investigated by counting dead cells in a selected area of thymic cortex on histological specimens after whole-body X-irradiation. The number of dead cells increased almost linearly with doses in BALB/cHeA and STS/A mice. However, dead cell counts in BALB/cHeA mice were more than twice those in STS/A mice at each dose. C57BL/6N and B10.BR mice exhibited a sensitive phenotype similar to BALB/cHeA mice, while C3H/HeMsNrs and NFS/N mice showed a resistant phenotype similar to STS/A mice. Sex difference in the susceptibility of thymocytes to cell death was not recognized in BALB/cHeA and STS/A mice. Resistance was dominant over susceptibility in the progenies of reciprocal crosses between the two strains, indicating an autosomal inheritance. The segregation ratio of susceptible to resistant phenotype in the backcrosses of (BALB/cHeA X STS/A)F 1 with BALB/cHeA was not significantly different from 1 : 1 and all backcrosses of (BALB/cHeA X STS/A)F 1 with STS/A exhibited a resistant phenotype. The results demonstrated that the difference in the susceptibility of thymocytes to radiation-induced apoptosis in the two strains of mice is due to one major autosomal allele. (author)

Quantitative susceptibility mapping of human brain at 3T: a multisite reproducibility study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, P-Y; Chao, T-C; Wu, M-L

2015-03-01

Quantitative susceptibility mapping of the human brain has demonstrated strong potential in examining iron deposition, which may help in investigating possible brain pathology. This study assesses the reproducibility of quantitative susceptibility mapping across different imaging sites. In this study, the susceptibility values of 5 regions of interest in the human brain were measured on 9 healthy subjects following calibration by using phantom experiments. Each of the subjects was imaged 5 times on 1 scanner with the same procedure repeated on 3 different 3T systems so that both within-site and cross-site quantitative susceptibility mapping precision levels could be assessed. Two quantitative susceptibility mapping algorithms, similar in principle, one by using iterative regularization (iterative quantitative susceptibility mapping) and the other with analytic optimal solutions (deterministic quantitative susceptibility mapping), were implemented, and their performances were compared. Results show that while deterministic quantitative susceptibility mapping had nearly 700 times faster computation speed, residual streaking artifacts seem to be more prominent compared with iterative quantitative susceptibility mapping. With quantitative susceptibility mapping, the putamen, globus pallidus, and caudate nucleus showed smaller imprecision on the order of 0.005 ppm, whereas the red nucleus and substantia nigra, closer to the skull base, had a somewhat larger imprecision of approximately 0.01 ppm. Cross-site errors were not significantly larger than within-site errors. Possible sources of estimation errors are discussed. The reproducibility of quantitative susceptibility mapping in the human brain in vivo is regionally dependent, and the precision levels achieved with quantitative susceptibility mapping should allow longitudinal and multisite studies such as aging-related changes in brain tissue magnetic susceptibility. © 2015 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Seasonal fluctuation in susceptibility to insecticides within natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. II. Features of genetic variation in susceptibility to organophosphate insecticides within natural populations of D. melanogaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyo, Takahiro; Oguma, Yuzuru; Charlesworth, Brian

2006-08-01

To elucidate genetic variation in susceptibility to organophosphate insecticides within natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster, we conducted an analysis of variance for mortality data sets of isofemale lines (10-286 lines) used in the previous studies. Susceptibility of isofemale lines to the three organophosphate insecticides was continuously distributed within each natural population, ranging from susceptible to resistant. Analysis of variance showed highly significant variation among isofemale lines in susceptibility to each insecticide for each natural population. Significant genetic variances in susceptibility to the three chemicals were estimated for the Katsunuma population; 0.0529-0.2722 for malathion, 0.0492-0.1603 for prothiophos, and 0.0469-0.1696 for fenitrothion. Contrary to the consistent seasonal tendency towards an increase in mean susceptibility in the fall, reported in the previous study, genetic variances in susceptibility to the three organophosphates did not change significantly in 1997 but tended to increase by 2- to 5-times in 1998. We tested whether both the observed situations, maintenance and increase in genetic variance in organophosphate resistance, can be generated under circumstances in which the levels of resistance to the three organophosphates tended to decrease, by conducting a simulation analysis, based on the hypothesis that resistant genotypes have lower fitnesses than susceptible ones under the density-independent condition. The simulation analysis generally explained the pattern in the mean susceptibility and genetic variances in susceptibility to the three organophosphates, observed in the Katsunuma population of D. melanogaster. It was suggested that the differences in the frequencies of resistance genes in the summer population could affect the patterns in genetic variance in organophosphate resistance in the fall population.

Genetic susceptibility to Grave's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hong; Chen, Qiuying

2013-06-01

The variety of clinical presentations of eye changes in patients with Graves' disease (GD) suggests that complex interactions between genetic, environmental, endogenous and local factors influence the severity of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO). It is thought that the development of GO might be influenced by genetic factors and environmental factors, such as cigarette smoking. At present, however, the role of genetic factors in the development of GO is not known. On the basis of studies with candidate genes and other genetic approaches, several susceptibility loci in GO have been proposed, including immunological genes, human leukocyte antigen (HLA), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), regulatory T-cell genes and thyroid-specific genes. This review gives a brief overview of the current range of major susceptibility genes found for GD.

Susceptibility of pathogenic and nonpathogenic Naegleria ssp

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whiteman, L.Y.

1988-01-01

The susceptibility of four species of Naegleria amoebae to complement-mediated lysis was determined. The amoebicidal activity of normal human serum (NHS) and normal guinea pig serum (NGPS) for Naegleria amoebae was measured by an in vitro cytotoxicity assay. Release of radioactivity from amoebae labeled with 3 H-uridine and visual observation with a compound microscope were used as indices of lysis. Susceptibility or resistance to complement-mediated lysis in vitro correlated with the in vivo pathogenic potential. Nonpathogenic Naegleria amoebae were lysed at a faster rate and at higher cell concentrations than were pathogenic amoebae. Electrophoretic analysis of NHS incubated with pathogenic or nonpathogenic Naegleria spp. demonstrated that amoebae activate the complement cascade resulting in the production of C3 and C5 complement cleavage products. Treatment with papain or trypsin for 1 h, but not with sialidase, increase the susceptibility of highly pathogenic, mouse-passaged N. fowleri to lysis. Treatment with actinomycin D, cycloheximide or various protease inhibitors for 4 h did not increase susceptibility to lysis. Neither a repair process involving de novo protein synthesis nor a complement-inactivating protease appear to account for the increase resistance of N. fowleri amoebae to complement-mediated lysis. A binding study with 125 I radiolabeled C9 indicated that the terminal complement component does not remain stably bound to the membrane of pathogenic amoebae

Comparison of the landslide susceptibility models in Taipei Water Source Domain, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

WU, C. Y.; Yeh, Y. C.; Chou, T. H.

2017-12-01

Taipei Water Source Domain, locating at the southeast of Taipei Metropolis, is the main source of water resource in this region. Recently, the downstream turbidity often soared significantly during the typhoon period because of the upstream landslides. The landslide susceptibilities should be analysed to assess the influence zones caused by different rainfall events, and to ensure the abilities of this domain to serve enough and quality water resource. Generally, the landslide susceptibility models can be established based on either a long-term landslide inventory or a specified landslide event. Sometimes, there is no long-term landslide inventory in some areas. Thus, the event-based landslide susceptibility models are established widely. However, the inventory-based and event-based landslide susceptibility models may result in dissimilar susceptibility maps in the same area. So the purposes of this study were to compare the landslide susceptibility maps derived from the inventory-based and event-based models, and to interpret how to select a representative event to be included in the susceptibility model. The landslide inventory from Typhoon Tim in July, 1994 and Typhoon Soudelor in August, 2015 was collected, and used to establish the inventory-based landslide susceptibility model. The landslides caused by Typhoon Nari and rainfall data were used to establish the event-based model. The results indicated the high susceptibility slope-units were located at middle upstream Nan-Shih Stream basin.

SeqAPASS: Predicting chemical susceptibility to threatened/endangered species

Science.gov (United States)

Conservation of a molecular target across species can be used as a line-of-evidence to predict the likelihood of chemical susceptibility. The web-based Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility (SeqAPASS; https://seqapass.epa.gov/seqapass/) application was devel...

Perceived Flavored Smokeless Tobacco Ease-of-use and Youth Susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaffee, Benjamin W; Urata, Janelle; Couch, Elizabeth T; Gansky, Stuart A

2017-07-01

Beliefs that flavored smokeless tobacco (ST) is more pleasant, less potent, or otherwise easier to use could contribute to youth initiation. We evaluated associations between perceived ease-of-use of flavored ST (moist snuff and chewing tobacco) and ST initiation susceptibility in a representative sample of US youth. Among 7,718 tobacco never-users in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study (age: 12-17; collected: 2013-2014), we compared 4 ST susceptibility items (curiosity, expectation, willingness to try, and a composite) according to whether participants reported flavored ST to be "easier to use" than unflavored ST. We calculated marginal prevalences of ST susceptibility and odds ratios adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics, tobacco advertisement receptivity, warning label exposure, and sensation seeking. ST susceptibility was greatest among tobacco never-users who perceived flavored ST as easier to use. Adjusted odds of potential ST susceptibility (≥1 item) were 1.5-fold higher (95% confidence interval: 1.2, 1.8) among adolescents who perceived flavored ST as easier to use than unflavored ST. ST flavors could contribute to perceptions that facilitate youth initiation. Alternatively, youth susceptible to ST use may perceive flavored varieties differently. Prospective studies are warranted to strengthen causal evidence and measure ST initiation according to perceived ease-of-use.

Effects of phase constitution of Zr-Nb alloys on their magnetic susceptibilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nomura, Naoyuki; Tanaka, Yuko; Suyalatu; Kondo, Ryota; Doi, Hisashi; Tsutsumi, Yusuke; Hanawa, Takao

2009-01-01

The magnetic susceptibilities and microstructures of Zr-Nb binary alloys were investigated to develop a new metallic biomaterial with a low magnetic susceptibility for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The magnetic susceptibility was measured with a magnetic susceptibility balance, and the microstructure was evaluated with an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), an optical microscope (OM), and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Zr-Nb alloys as-cast showed a minimum value of magnetic susceptibility between 3 and 9 mass% Nb, and the value abruptly increased up to 20 mass% Nb, followed by a gradual increase with the increase of the Nb content. XRD, OM, and TEM revealed that the minimum value of the susceptibility was closely related to the appearance of the athermal ω phase in the β phase. Since the magnetic susceptibility of Zr-3Nb alloy consisting of an α' phase was as low as that of Zr-9Nb alloy consisting of the β and ω phases, that of the ω phase was lower than that of the α' and β phases. When Zr-16Nb alloy was heat-treated, the isothermal ω phase appeared, and, simultaneously, the magnetic susceptibility decreased. Therefore, the ω phase contributes to the decrease of the magnetic susceptibility, independently of the formation process of the ω phase. The magnetic susceptibility of the Zr-3Nb alloy as-cast was almost one-third that of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, which is commonly used for medical implant devices. Zr-Nb alloys are useful for medical devices used under MRI. (author)

Evaluation of Local Wheat Cultivars Susceptibility to infection with Black Stem Rust

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batta, Y.A.

2007-01-01

The present study was conducted to assess the susceptibility of seven local wheat cultivars from Palestine to infection with black stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. Two techniques of disease inoculation were applied during bioassays: global inoculation of entire wheat plants with urediospores and localized inoculation with urediospores and localized inoculation with urediospores on wheat leaf-pieces incubated under humid conditions. Susceptibility of tested cultivars was evaluated according to disease scale based on number and size of typical unredial pustules that appeared after inoculation on entire plants or leaf pieces. Results obtained on bioassay of susceptibility and disease rating on entire plants indicated that Anbar, Kamata and Hetiya safra cultivars were the least susceptible to P. g. tritici infection, whereas Debiya beda cultivar was the most susceptible. The other tested cultivars such as Nab-El-Jama, sawda and Senf 870 were moderately susceptible. On leaf-pieces, Anbar and Kamatat were the least susceptible cultivars, whereas Debiya beda and Nab-El-Jamal were the most susceptible cultivars. The other tested cultivars such as Debiya swada, Senf 870 and Hetiya safra were moderately susceptible. Significant reductions were obtained for the size of unredial postules formed on leaf-pieces when inoculated in an unwounded state compared to the wounded indicating the importance of wounds during inoculation. The global results indicated the possibility of using above method of disease inoculating, scaling and rating for evaluation of wheat cultivars susceptibility for the eventual use in breeding program for resistant varieties in Palestine. (author)

High temperature magnetic susceptibility of the Nb-H system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welter, J.-M.

1983-01-01

The magnetic susceptibility chi(T,x) of various NbHsub(x) specimens with 0 - 5 to 1.25 x 10 - 5 cm 3 g - 1 in this hydrogen concentration range and exhibits a marked break at x approximately 0.6. An estimate of the Pauli paramagnetic spin susceptibility chisub(P) for the two limiting concentrations allowed the evaluation of the orbital paramagnetic susceptibility chisub(O). For x = 0 and x approximately 0.8 the values of chisub(P) are 1.05 x 10 - 5 cm 3 g - 1 and 0.39 x 10 - 5 cm 3 g - 1 respectively and the values of chisub(O) are 1.73 x 10 - 5 cm 3 g - 1 and 1.08 x 10 - 5 cm 3 g - 1 respectively. The magnetic susceptibility decreases by approximately 10% on going from the concentrated solid solution to the monohydride. (Auth.)

Exposure to automotive pollution increases plasma susceptibility to oxidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharman, James E; Coombes, Jeff S; Geraghty, Dominic P; Fraser, David I

2002-01-01

Low-density lipoprotein oxidation is implicated in the development of atherosclerosis. Plasma susceptibility to oxidation may be used as a marker of low-density lipoprotein oxidation and thus predict atherosclerotic risk. In this study the authors investigated the relationship between plasma susceptibility to oxidation and exposure to automotive pollution in a group of automobile mechanics (n = 16) exposed to high levels of automotive pollution, vs. matched controls (n = 13). The authors induced plasma oxidation by a free radical initiator and they determined susceptibility to oxidation by (1) change in absorbance at 234 nm, (2) lag time to conjugated diene formation, and (3) linear slope of the oxidation curve. Mechanics had significantly higher values (mean +/- standard error) for change in absorbance (1.60 +/- 0.05 vs. 1.36 +/- 0.05; p automotive pollutants increases plasma susceptibility to oxidation and may, in the long-term, increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis.

CISH and susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Khor, Chiea C; Vannberg, Fredrik O; Chapman, Stephen J; Guo, Haiyan; Wong, Sunny H; Walley, Andrew J; Vukcevic, Damjan; Rautanen, Anna; Mills, Tara C; Chang, Kwok-Chiu; Kam, Kai-Man; Crampin, Amelia C; Ngwira, Bagrey; Leung, Chi-Chiu; Tam, Cheuk-Ming; Chan, Chiu-Yeung; Sung, Joseph J Y; Yew, Wing-Wai; Toh, Kai-Yee; Tay, Stacey K H; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Lienhardt, Christian; Hien, Tran-Tinh; Day, Nicholas P; Peshu, Nobert; Marsh, Kevin; Maitland, Kathryn; Scott, J Anthony; Williams, Thomas N; Berkley, James A; Floyd, Sian; Tang, Nelson L S; Fine, Paul E M; Goh, Denise L M; Hill, Adrian V S

2010-06-03

The interleukin-2-mediated immune response is critical for host defense against infectious pathogens. Cytokine-inducible SRC homology 2 (SH2) domain protein (CISH), a suppressor of cytokine signaling, controls interleukin-2 signaling. Using a case-control design, we tested for an association between CISH polymorphisms and susceptibility to major infectious diseases (bacteremia, tuberculosis, and severe malaria) in blood samples from 8402 persons in Gambia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malawi, and Vietnam. We had previously tested 20 other immune-related genes in one or more of these sample collections. We observed associations between variant alleles of multiple CISH polymorphisms and increased susceptibility to each infectious disease in each of the study populations. When all five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (at positions -639, -292, -163, +1320, and +3415 [all relative to CISH]) within the CISH-associated locus were considered together in a multiple-SNP score, we found an association between CISH genetic variants and susceptibility to bacteremia, malaria, and tuberculosis (P=3.8x10(-11) for all comparisons), with -292 accounting for most of the association signal (P=4.58x10(-7)). Peripheral-blood mononuclear cells obtained from adult subjects carrying the -292 variant, as compared with wild-type cells, showed a muted response to the stimulation of interleukin-2 production--that is, 25 to 40% less CISH expression. Variants of CISH are associated with susceptibility to diseases caused by diverse infectious pathogens, suggesting that negative regulators of cytokine signaling have a role in immunity against various infectious diseases. The overall risk of one of these infectious diseases was increased by at least 18% among persons carrying the variant CISH alleles. 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society

Reactivating dynamics for the susceptible-infected-susceptible model: a simple method to simulate the absorbing phase

Science.gov (United States)

Macedo-Filho, A.; Alves, G. A.; Costa Filho, R. N.; Alves, T. F. A.

2018-04-01

We investigated the susceptible-infected-susceptible model on a square lattice in the presence of a conjugated field based on recently proposed reactivating dynamics. Reactivating dynamics consists of reactivating the infection by adding one infected site, chosen randomly when the infection dies out, avoiding the dynamics being trapped in the absorbing state. We show that the reactivating dynamics can be interpreted as the usual dynamics performed in the presence of an effective conjugated field, named the reactivating field. The reactivating field scales as the inverse of the lattice number of vertices n, which vanishes at the thermodynamic limit and does not affect any scaling properties including ones related to the conjugated field.

Landslide Susceptibility Assessment Using Frequency Ratio Technique with Iterative Random Sampling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyun-Joo Oh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper assesses the performance of the landslide susceptibility analysis using frequency ratio (FR with an iterative random sampling. A pair of before-and-after digital aerial photographs with 50 cm spatial resolution was used to detect landslide occurrences in Yongin area, Korea. Iterative random sampling was run ten times in total and each time it was applied to the training and validation datasets. Thirteen landslide causative factors were derived from the topographic, soil, forest, and geological maps. The FR scores were calculated from the causative factors and training occurrences repeatedly ten times. The ten landslide susceptibility maps were obtained from the integration of causative factors that assigned FR scores. The landslide susceptibility maps were validated by using each validation dataset. The FR method achieved susceptibility accuracies from 89.48% to 93.21%. And the landslide susceptibility accuracy of the FR method is higher than 89%. Moreover, the ten times iterative FR modeling may contribute to a better understanding of a regularized relationship between the causative factors and landslide susceptibility. This makes it possible to incorporate knowledge-driven considerations of the causative factors into the landslide susceptibility analysis and also be extensively used to other areas.

Clay mineralogy and magnetic susceptibility of Oxisols in geomorphic surfaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Livia Arantes Camargo

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Studies analyzing the variability of clay minerals and magnetic susceptibility provide data for the delineation of site-specific management areas since many of their attributes are important to agronomy and the environment. This study aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of clay minerals, magnetic susceptibility, adsorbed phosphorus and physical attributes in Oxisols of sandstones in different geomorphic surfaces. For that purpose, soil samples were collected every 25 m along a transect located within the area where the geomorphic surfaces were identified and mapped. The transect occupied the central portion of 500 ha, where it was also sampled for density purposes with one sample per six hectares. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0.0-0.2 m. The results of the physical, chemical, mineralogical and magnetic susceptibility analyses were subjected to statistical and geostatistical analyses. The nature of the clay minerals and magnetic susceptibility was dependent on the variation of the soil parent material. High values of magnetic susceptibility were associated with the presence of maghemite and magnetite of coarse size. The spatial variability of crystallinity and the content of Fe oxides, as well as magnetic susceptibility, were dependent on the age of the geomorphic surfaces. The youngest surface had greater spatial variability of these attributes. The iron (goethite and hematite and aluminum (gibbsite oxides in the youngest geomorphic surface influenced the low values of soil density and high values of total pore volume, micropores and P adsorption. The characterization of the spatial variability of Fe oxides and susceptibility allowed for the delineation of homogeneous areas.

Fidelity susceptibility as holographic PV-criticality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Momeni, Davood, E-mail: davoodmomeni78@gmail.com [Eurasian International Center for Theoretical Physics and Department of General & Theoretical Physics, Eurasian National University, Astana 010008 (Kazakhstan); Faizal, Mir, E-mail: mirfaizalmir@googlemail.com [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4 (Canada); Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, University of British Columbia – Okanagan, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, British Columbia V1V 1V7 (Canada); Myrzakulov, Kairat, E-mail: kairatmyrzakul@gmail.com [Eurasian International Center for Theoretical Physics and Department of General & Theoretical Physics, Eurasian National University, Astana 010008 (Kazakhstan); Myrzakulov, Ratbay, E-mail: rmyrzakulov@gmail.com [Eurasian International Center for Theoretical Physics and Department of General & Theoretical Physics, Eurasian National University, Astana 010008 (Kazakhstan)

2017-02-10

It is well known that entropy can be used to holographically establish a connection among geometry, thermodynamics and information theory. In this paper, we will use complexity to holographically establish a connection among geometry, thermodynamics and information theory. Thus, we will analyze the relation among holographic complexity, fidelity susceptibility, and thermodynamics in extended phase space. We will demonstrate that fidelity susceptibility (which is the informational complexity dual to a maximum volume in AdS) can be related to the thermodynamical volume (which is conjugate to the cosmological constant in the extended thermodynamic phase space). Thus, this letter establishes a relation among geometry, thermodynamics, and information theory, using complexity.

In Vitro Antibiotic Susceptibility Studies Of Bacteria Associated With ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In vitro tests of the susceptibility of isolates of bacterial keratitis pathogens to antibiotics were carried out in this study. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently isolated organisms followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Antibiotic sensitivity testing showed a high susceptibility to ...

An Evolutionary Perspective on Family Studies: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Sarah; Belsky, Jay

2016-12-01

An evolutionary perspective of human development provides the basis for the differential-susceptibility hypothesis which stipulates that individuals should differ in their susceptibility to environmental influences, with some being more affected than others by both positive and negative developmental experiences and environmental exposures. This paper reviews evidence consistent with this claim while revealing that temperamental and genetic characteristics play a role in distinguishing more and less susceptible individuals. The differential-susceptibility framework under consideration is contrasted to the traditional diathesis-stress view that "vulnerability" traits predispose some to being disproportionately affected by (only) adverse experiences. We raise several issues stimulated by the literature that need to be clarified in further research. Lastly, we suggest that therapy may differ in its effects depending on an individual's susceptibility. © 2015 Family Process Institute.

[Susceptibility of enterococci to natural and synthetic iron chelators].

Science.gov (United States)

Lisiecki, Paweł; Mikucki, Jerzy

2002-01-01

A total of 79 strains of enterococci belonging to 10 species were tested for susceptibility to natural and synthetic iron chelators. All strains produced siderophores. These enterococci were susceptible to three synthetic iron chelators only: 8-hydroxyquinoline, disodium versenate (EDTA) and o-phenanthroline. They were resistant to all other synthetic chelators: ethylenediamine-di(o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) (EDDHA), nitrilotriacetate, 2,2'-bipiridyl, salicylic acid, 8-hydroxy-5-sulphonic acid and to all natural chelators: ovotransferrine, human apotransferrine, horse apoferritine, desferrioxamine B, ferrichrome and rhodotorulic acid. The relations between susceptibility/resistance, iron assimilation and structure and stability constants of iron chelators were discussed.

Interpretive criteria of antimicrobial disk susceptibility tests with flomoxef.

Science.gov (United States)

Grimm, H

1991-01-01

320 recently isolated pathogens, 20 strains from each of 16 species, were investigated using Mueller-Hinton agar and DIN as well as NCCLS standards. The geometric mean of the agar dilution MICs of flomoxef were 0.44 mg/l for Staphylococcus aureus, 0.05 mg/l (Klebsiella oxytoca) to 12.6 mg/l (Enterobacter spp.) for enterobacteriaceae, 33.1 mg/l for Acinetobacter anitratus, 64 mg/l for Enterococcus faecalis, and more than 256 mg/l for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. For disk susceptibility testing of flomoxef a 30 micrograms disk loading and the following interpretation of inhibition zones using the DIN method were recommended: resistant-up to 22 mm (corresponding to MICs of 8 mg/l or more), moderately susceptible-23 to 29 mm (corresponding to MICs from 1 to 4 mg/l), and susceptible-30 mm or more (corresponding to MICs of 0.5 mg/l or less). The respective values for the NCCLS method using the American high MIC breakpoints are: resistant--up to 14 mm (corresponding to MICs of 32 mg/l or more), moderately susceptible--15 to 17 mm (corresponding to MICs of 16 mg/l), and susceptible--18 mm or more (corresponding to MICs of 8 mg/l or less).

Susceptibility of Porphyromonas gingivalis in biofilms to amoxicillin, doxycycline and metronidazole

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, T.

2002-01-01

Biofilm, Porphyromonas gingivalis, susceptibility testing, amoxicillin, doxycycline, metronidazole......Biofilm, Porphyromonas gingivalis, susceptibility testing, amoxicillin, doxycycline, metronidazole...

An in-depth characterization of the major psoriasis susceptibility locus identifies candidate susceptibility alleles within an HLA-C enhancer element.

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Alex Clop

Full Text Available Psoriasis is an immune-mediated skin disorder that is inherited as a complex genetic trait. Although genome-wide association scans (GWAS have identified 36 disease susceptibility regions, more than 50% of the genetic variance can be attributed to a single Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC locus, known as PSORS1. Genetic studies indicate that HLA-C is the strongest PSORS1 candidate gene, since markers tagging HLA-Cw*0602 consistently generate the most significant association signals in GWAS. However, it is unclear whether HLA-Cw*0602 is itself the causal PSORS1 allele, especially as the role of SNPs that may affect its expression has not been investigated. Here, we have undertaken an in-depth molecular characterization of the PSORS1 interval, with a view to identifying regulatory variants that may contribute to disease susceptibility. By analysing high-density SNP data, we refined PSORS1 to a 179 kb region encompassing HLA-C and the neighbouring HCG27 pseudogene. We compared multiple MHC sequences spanning this refined locus and identified 144 candidate susceptibility variants, which are unique to chromosomes bearing HLA-Cw*0602. In parallel, we investigated the epigenetic profile of the critical PSORS1 interval and uncovered three enhancer elements likely to be active in T lymphocytes. Finally we showed that nine candidate susceptibility SNPs map within a HLA-C enhancer and that three of these variants co-localise with binding sites for immune-related transcription factors. These data indicate that SNPs affecting HLA-Cw*0602 expression are likely to contribute to psoriasis susceptibility and highlight the importance of integrating multiple experimental approaches in the investigation of complex genomic regions such as the MHC.

Magnetic Susceptibilities as they appeared to me - An Amperian approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van den Bosch, A.

2008-08-15

Starting from scratch, the book narrates a systematic story of the basic ideas you need for understanding quasi static magnetic susceptibilities. The story leans on the authors 25 year experience measuring susceptibilities following the Faraday technique (related with solid state physics, radiation effects, materials and magneto chemistry). The base of magnetism, the current-current interaction, is the linkage between the topics treated. The number of mathematical equations are reduced to a minimum and can be skipped without losing the thread of the story. The story is positive towards the sound bases of magnetism. However, room is left for the interpretation of measuring data. As the word susceptibility covers different meanings, the story answers for different situations the question: what is susceptible to what for creating what?

Magnetic Susceptibilities as they appeared to me - An Amperian approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van den Bosch, A.

2008-01-01

Starting from scratch, the book narrates a systematic story of the basic ideas you need for understanding quasi static magnetic susceptibilities. The story leans on the authors 25 year experience measuring susceptibilities following the Faraday technique (related with solid state physics, radiation effects, materials and magneto chemistry). The base of magnetism, the current-current interaction, is the linkage between the topics treated. The number of mathematical equations are reduced to a minimum and can be skipped without losing the thread of the story. The story is positive towards the sound bases of magnetism. However, room is left for the interpretation of measuring data. As the word susceptibility covers different meanings, the story answers for different situations the question: what is susceptible to what for creating what?

A Specific Autistic Trait that Modulates Visuospatial Illusion Susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Elizabeth; Dassonville, Paul; Bochsler, Tiana M.

2009-01-01

Although several accounts of autism have predicted that the disorder should be associated with a decreased susceptibility to visual illusions, previous experimental results have been mixed. This study examined whether a link between autism and illusion susceptibility can be more convincingly demonstrated by assessing the relationships between…

Microbicide excipients can greatly increase susceptibility to genital herpes transmission in the mouse

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Sun Mianmian

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Several active ingredients proposed as vaginal microbicides have been shown paradoxically to increase susceptibility to infection in mouse genital herpes (HSV-2 vaginal susceptibility models and in clinical trials. In addition, "inactive ingredients" (or excipients used in topical products to formulate and deliver the active ingredient might also cause epithelial toxicities that increase viral susceptibility. However, excipients have not previously been tested in susceptibility models. Methods Excipients commonly used in topical products were formulated in a non-toxic vehicle (the "HEC universal placebo", or other formulations as specified. Twelve hours after exposure to the excipient or a control treatment, mice were challenged with a vaginal dose of HSV-2, and three days later were assessed for infection by vaginal lavage culture to assess susceptibility. Results The following excipients markedly increased susceptibility to HSV-2 after a single exposure: 5% glycerol monolaurate (GML formulated in K-Y® Warming Jelly, 5% GML as a colloidal suspension in phosphate buffered saline, K-Y Warming Jelly alone, and both of its humectant/solvent ingredients (neat propylene glycol and neat PEG-8. For excipients formulated in the HEC vehicle, 30% glycerin significantly increased susceptibility, and a trend toward increased HSV-2 susceptibility was observed after 10% glycerin, and 0.1% disodium EDTA, but not after 0.0186% disodium EDTA. The following excipients did not increase susceptibility: 10% propylene glycol, 0.18%, methylparaben plus 0.02% propylparaben, and 1% benzyl alcohol. Conclusions As reported with other surfactants, the surfactant/emulsifier GML markedly increased susceptibility to HSV-2. Glycerin at 30% significantly increased susceptibility, and, undiluted propylene glycol and PEG-8 greatly increased susceptibility.

Antifungal susceptibility and phylogeny of opportunistic members of the order mucorales.

Science.gov (United States)

Vitale, Roxana G; de Hoog, G Sybren; Schwarz, Patrick; Dannaoui, Eric; Deng, Shuwen; Machouart, Marie; Voigt, Kerstin; van de Sande, Wendy W J; Dolatabadi, Somayeh; Meis, Jacques F; Walther, Grit

2012-01-01

The in vitro susceptibilities of 66 molecularly identified strains of the Mucorales to eight antifungals (amphotericin B, terbinafine, itraconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole, caspofungin, micafungin, and 5-fluorocytosine) were tested. Molecular phylogeny was reconstructed based on the nuclear ribosomal large subunit to reveal taxon-specific susceptibility profiles. The impressive phylogenetic diversity of the Mucorales was reflected in susceptibilities differing at family, genus, and species levels. Amphotericin B was the most active drug, though somewhat less against Rhizopus and Cunninghamella species. Posaconazole was the second most effective antifungal agent but showed reduced activity in Mucor and Cunninghamella strains, while voriconazole lacked in vitro activity for most strains. Genera attributed to the Mucoraceae exhibited a wide range of MICs for posaconazole, itraconazole, and terbinafine and included resistant strains. Cunninghamella also comprised strains resistant to all azoles tested but was fully susceptible to terbinafine. In contrast, the Lichtheimiaceae completely lacked strains with reduced susceptibility for these antifungals. Syncephalastrum species exhibited susceptibility profiles similar to those of the Lichtheimiaceae. Mucor species were more resistant to azoles than Rhizopus species. Species-specific responses were obtained for terbinafine where only Rhizopus arrhizus and Mucor circinelloides were resistant. Complete or vast resistance was observed for 5-fluorocytosine, caspofungin, and micafungin. Intraspecific variability of in vitro susceptibility was found in all genera tested but was especially high in Mucor and Rhizopus for azoles and terbinafine. Accurate molecular identification of etiologic agents is compulsory to predict therapy outcome. For species of critical genera such as Mucor and Rhizopus, exhibiting high intraspecific variation, susceptibility testing before the onset of therapy is recommended.

Large-scale association analysis identifies new lung cancer susceptibility loci and heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across histological subtypes.

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, James D; Hung, Rayjean J; Han, Younghun; Zong, Xuchen; Carreras-Torres, Robert; Christiani, David C; Caporaso, Neil E; Johansson, Mattias; Xiao, Xiangjun; Li, Yafang; Byun, Jinyoung; Dunning, Alison; Pooley, Karen A; Qian, David C; Ji, Xuemei; Liu, Geoffrey; Timofeeva, Maria N; Bojesen, Stig E; Wu, Xifeng; Le Marchand, Loic; Albanes, Demetrios; Bickeböller, Heike; Aldrich, Melinda C; Bush, William S; Tardon, Adonina; Rennert, Gad; Teare, M Dawn; Field, John K; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Lazarus, Philip; Haugen, Aage; Lam, Stephen; Schabath, Matthew B; Andrew, Angeline S; Shen, Hongbing; Hong, Yun-Chul; Yuan, Jian-Min; Bertazzi, Pier Alberto; Pesatori, Angela C; Ye, Yuanqing; Diao, Nancy; Su, Li; Zhang, Ruyang; Brhane, Yonathan; Leighl, Natasha; Johansen, Jakob S; Mellemgaard, Anders; Saliba, Walid; Haiman, Christopher A; Wilkens, Lynne R; Fernandez-Somoano, Ana; Fernandez-Tardon, Guillermo; van der Heijden, Henricus F M; Kim, Jin Hee; Dai, Juncheng; Hu, Zhibin; Davies, Michael P A; Marcus, Michael W; Brunnström, Hans; Manjer, Jonas; Melander, Olle; Muller, David C; Overvad, Kim; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Tumino, Rosario; Doherty, Jennifer A; Barnett, Matt P; Chen, Chu; Goodman, Gary E; Cox, Angela; Taylor, Fiona; Woll, Penella; Brüske, Irene; Wichmann, H-Erich; Manz, Judith; Muley, Thomas R; Risch, Angela; Rosenberger, Albert; Grankvist, Kjell; Johansson, Mikael; Shepherd, Frances A; Tsao, Ming-Sound; Arnold, Susanne M; Haura, Eric B; Bolca, Ciprian; Holcatova, Ivana; Janout, Vladimir; Kontic, Milica; Lissowska, Jolanta; Mukeria, Anush; Ognjanovic, Simona; Orlowski, Tadeusz M; Scelo, Ghislaine; Swiatkowska, Beata; Zaridze, David; Bakke, Per; Skaug, Vidar; Zienolddiny, Shanbeh; Duell, Eric J; Butler, Lesley M; Koh, Woon-Puay; Gao, Yu-Tang; Houlston, Richard S; McLaughlin, John; Stevens, Victoria L; Joubert, Philippe; Lamontagne, Maxime; Nickle, David C; Obeidat, Ma'en; Timens, Wim; Zhu, Bin; Song, Lei; Kachuri, Linda; Artigas, María Soler; Tobin, Martin D; Wain, Louise V; Rafnar, Thorunn; Thorgeirsson, Thorgeir E; Reginsson, Gunnar W; Stefansson, Kari; Hancock, Dana B; Bierut, Laura J; Spitz, Margaret R; Gaddis, Nathan C; Lutz, Sharon M; Gu, Fangyi; Johnson, Eric O; Kamal, Ahsan; Pikielny, Claudio; Zhu, Dakai; Lindströem, Sara; Jiang, Xia; Tyndale, Rachel F; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Beesley, Jonathan; Bossé, Yohan; Chanock, Stephen; Brennan, Paul; Landi, Maria Teresa; Amos, Christopher I

2017-07-01

Although several lung cancer susceptibility loci have been identified, much of the heritability for lung cancer remains unexplained. Here 14,803 cases and 12,262 controls of European descent were genotyped on the OncoArray and combined with existing data for an aggregated genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis of lung cancer in 29,266 cases and 56,450 controls. We identified 18 susceptibility loci achieving genome-wide significance, including 10 new loci. The new loci highlight the striking heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across the histological subtypes of lung cancer, with four loci associated with lung cancer overall and six loci associated with lung adenocarcinoma. Gene expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis in 1,425 normal lung tissue samples highlights RNASET2, SECISBP2L and NRG1 as candidate genes. Other loci include genes such as a cholinergic nicotinic receptor, CHRNA2, and the telomere-related genes OFBC1 and RTEL1. Further exploration of the target genes will continue to provide new insights into the etiology of lung cancer.

Novel disease susceptibility factors for fungal necrotrophic pathogens in Arabidopsis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobón, Albor; Canet, Juan Vicente; García-Andrade, Javier; Angulo, Carlos; Neumetzler, Lutz; Persson, Staffan; Vera, Pablo

2015-04-01

Host cells use an intricate signaling system to respond to invasions by pathogenic microorganisms. Although several signaling components of disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens have been identified, our understanding for how molecular components and host processes contribute to plant disease susceptibility is rather sparse. Here, we identified four transcription factors (TFs) from Arabidopsis that limit pathogen spread. Arabidopsis mutants defective in any of these TFs displayed increased disease susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina, and a general activation of non-immune host processes that contribute to plant disease susceptibility. Transcriptome analyses revealed that the mutants share a common transcriptional signature of 77 up-regulated genes. We characterized several of the up-regulated genes that encode peptides with a secretion signal, which we named PROVIR (for provirulence) factors. Forward and reverse genetic analyses revealed that many of the PROVIRs are important for disease susceptibility of the host to fungal necrotrophs. The TFs and PROVIRs identified in our work thus represent novel genetic determinants for plant disease susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal pathogens.

Earthquake-induced landslide-susceptibility mapping using an artificial neural network

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S. Lee

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to apply and verify landslide-susceptibility analysis techniques using an artificial neural network and a Geographic Information System (GIS applied to Baguio City, Philippines. The 16 July 1990 earthquake-induced landslides were studied. Landslide locations were identified from interpretation of aerial photographs and field survey, and a spatial database was constructed from topographic maps, geology, land cover and terrain mapping units. Factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as slope, aspect, curvature and distance from drainage were calculated from the topographic database. Lithology and distance from faults were derived from the geology database. Land cover was identified from the topographic database. Terrain map units were interpreted from aerial photographs. These factors were used with an artificial neural network to analyze landslide susceptibility. Each factor weight was determined by a back-propagation exercise. Landslide-susceptibility indices were calculated using the back-propagation weights, and susceptibility maps were constructed from GIS data. The susceptibility map was compared with known landslide locations and verified. The demonstrated prediction accuracy was 93.20%.

Novel disease susceptibility factors for fungal necrotrophic pathogens in Arabidopsis.

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Albor Dobón

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Host cells use an intricate signaling system to respond to invasions by pathogenic microorganisms. Although several signaling components of disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens have been identified, our understanding for how molecular components and host processes contribute to plant disease susceptibility is rather sparse. Here, we identified four transcription factors (TFs from Arabidopsis that limit pathogen spread. Arabidopsis mutants defective in any of these TFs displayed increased disease susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea and Plectosphaerella cucumerina, and a general activation of non-immune host processes that contribute to plant disease susceptibility. Transcriptome analyses revealed that the mutants share a common transcriptional signature of 77 up-regulated genes. We characterized several of the up-regulated genes that encode peptides with a secretion signal, which we named PROVIR (for provirulence factors. Forward and reverse genetic analyses revealed that many of the PROVIRs are important for disease susceptibility of the host to fungal necrotrophs. The TFs and PROVIRs identified in our work thus represent novel genetic determinants for plant disease susceptibility to necrotrophic fungal pathogens.

c-axis ac susceptibility in high-Tc superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waldmann, O.; Lichtschlag, G.; Talalaevskii, A.; Kleiner, R.; Mueller, P.; Steinmeyer, F.; Gerhaeuser, W.

1996-01-01

We have investigated the angle and magnetic field dependence of the ac susceptibility in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 and YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 single crystals at low external fields. The ac field was applied perpendicular to the CuO 2 planes. The first and third harmonics of the ac susceptibility exhibit remarkably sharp features when the dc field component perpendicular to the CuO 2 planes passes a threshold field H th . H th is strongly temperature dependent, but is independent of the parallel field component. We propose a simple model which excellently explains the data. Within this model the peak structures are related to the irreversibility line. We discuss the implications of the model for the interpretation of the ac susceptibility. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Genetic architecture for susceptibility to gout in the KARE cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Jimin; Kim, Younyoung; Kong, Minyoung; Lee, Chaeyoung

2012-06-01

This study aimed to identify functional associations of cis-regulatory regions with gout susceptibility using data resulted from a genome-wide association study (GWAS), and to show a genetic architecture for gout with interaction effects among genes within each of the identified functions. The GWAS was conducted with 8314 control subjects and 520 patients with gout in the Korea Association REsource cohort. However, genetic associations with any individual nucleotide variants were not discovered by Bonferroni multiple testing in the GWAS (P>1.42 × 10(-7)). Genomic regions enrichment analysis was employed to identify functional associations of cis-regulatory regions. This analysis revealed several biological processes associated with gout susceptibility, and they were quite different from those with serum uric acid level. Epistasis for susceptibility to gout was estimated using entropy decomposition with selected genes within each biological process identified by the genomic regions enrichment analysis. Some epistases among nucleotide sequence variants for gout susceptibility were found to be larger than their individual effects. This study provided the first evidence that genetic factors for gout susceptibility greatly differed from those for serum uric acid level, which may suggest that research endeavors for identifying genetic factors for gout susceptibility should not be heavily dependent on pathogenesis of uric acid. Interaction effects between genes should be examined to explain a large portion of phenotypic variability for gout susceptibility.

Dielectric susceptibility of classical Coulomb systems. II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choquard, Ph.; Piller, B.; Rentsch, R.

1987-01-01

This paper deals with the shape dependence of the dielectric susceptibility (equivalently defined, in a canonical ensemble, by the mean square fluctuation of the electric polarization or by the second moment of the charge-charge correlation function) of classical Coulomb systems. The concept of partial second moment is introduced with the aim of analyzing the contributions to the total susceptibility of pairs of particles of increasing separation. For a disk-shaped one-component plasma with coupling parameter γ=2 it is shown, numerically and algebraically for small and large systems, that (1) the correlation function of two particles close to the edge of the disk decays as the inverse of the square of their distance, and (2) the susceptibility is made up of a bulk contribution, which saturates rapidly toward the Stillinger-Lovett value, and of surface contribution, which varies on the scale of the disk diameter and is described by a new law called the arc sine law. It is also shown that electrostatics and statistical mechanics with shape-dependent thermodynamic limits are consistent for the same model in a strip geometry, whereas the Stillinger-Lovett sum rule is verified for a boundary-free geometry such as the surface of a sphere. Some results of extensive computer simulations of one- and two-component plasmas in circular and elliptic geometries are shown. Anisotropy effects on the susceptibilities are clearly demonstrated and the arc sine law for a circular plasma is well confirmed

CISH and Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases

Science.gov (United States)

Khor, Chiea C.; Vannberg, Fredrik O.; Chapman, Stephen J.; Guo, Haiyan; Wong, Sunny H.; Walley, Andrew J.; Vukcevic, Damjan; Rautanen, Anna; Mills, Tara C.; Chang, Kwok-Chiu; Kam, Kai-Man; Crampin, Amelia C.; Ngwira, Bagrey; Leung, Chi-Chiu; Tam, Cheuk-Ming; Chan, Chiu-Yeung; Sung, Joseph J.Y.; Yew, Wing-Wai; Toh, Kai-Yee; Tay, Stacey K.H.; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Lienhardt, Christian; Hien, Tran-Tinh; Day, Nicholas P.; Peshu, Nobert; Marsh, Kevin; Maitland, Kathryn; Scott, J. Anthony; Williams, Thomas N.; Berkley, James A.; Floyd, Sian; Tang, Nelson L.S.; Fine, Paul E.M.; Goh, Denise L.M.; Hill, Adrian V.S.

2013-01-01

Background The interleukin-2 (IL2)-mediated immune response is critical for host defence against infectious pathogens. CISH, a suppressor of cytokine signalling, controls IL2 signalling. Methods We tested for association between CISH polymorphisms and susceptibility to major infectious diseases (bacteremia, tuberculosis and severe malaria) in 8402 persons from the Gambia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malawi, and Vietnam using a case-control design. We have previously tested twenty other immune-related genes in one or more of these sample collections. Results We observed associations between variant alleles of multiple CISH polymorphisms and increased susceptibility to each infectious disease in each of the study populations. When all five SNPs (CISH −639, −292, −163, +1320 and +3415) within the CISH-associated locus were considered together in a multi-SNP score, we found substantial support for an effect of CISH genetic variants on susceptibility to bacteremia, malaria, and tuberculosis (overall P=3.8 × 10−11) with CISH −292 being “responsible” for the majority of the association signal (P=4.58×10−7). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of adult volunteers carrying the CISH −292 variant showed a muted response to IL2 stimulation — in the form of 25-40% less CISH — when compared with “control” cells lacking the −292 variant. Conclusions Variants of CISH are associated with susceptibility to diseases caused by diverse infectious pathogens, suggesting that negative regulators of cytokine signalling may play a major role in immunity against various infectious diseases. The overall risk of having one of these infectious diseases was found to be increased by at least 18 percent in individuals carrying the variant CISH alleles. PMID:20484391

Anaerobic bacteraemia revisited: species and susceptibilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Lily S Y; Kwang, Lee Ling; Rao, Suma; Tan, Thean Yen

2015-01-01

This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the frequency of anaerobic bacteraemia over a 10-year period, and to provide updated antibiotic susceptibilities for the more clinically relevant anaerobes causing blood stream infection. Data were retrieved from the laboratory information system for the period 2003 to 2012. During this time, blood cultures were inoculated in Bactec™ Plus vials (BD, USA) and continuously monitored in the Bactec™ 9000 blood culture system (BD, USA). Anaerobic organisms were identified using commercial identification kits, predominantly API 20 A (bioMérieux, France) supplemented with Vitek ANC cards (bioMérieux, France) and AN-Ident discs (Oxoid, United Kingdom). A representative subset of isolates were retrieved from 2009 to 2011 and antimicrobial susceptibilities to penicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, clindamycin, imipenem, moxifloxacin, piperacillin-tazobactam and metronidazole were determined using the Etest method. Anaerobes comprised 4.1% of all positive blood culture with 727 obligate anaerobes recovered over the 10-year period, representing a positivity rate of 0.35%. The only significant change in anaerobe positivity rates occurred between 2003 and 2004, with an increase of 0.2%. The Bacteroides fragilis group (45%) were the predominant anaerobic pathogens, followed by Clostridium species (12%), Propioniobacterium species (11%) and Fusobacterium species (6%). The most active in vitro antibiotics were imipenem, piperacillin-tazobactam, amoxicillin-clavulanate and metronidazole, with susceptibilities of 95.0%, 93.3%, 90.8% and 90.8% respectively. Resistance was high to penicillin, clindamycin and moxifl oxacin. However, there were apparent differences for antibiotic susceptibilities between species. This study indicates that the anaerobes comprise a small but constant proportion of bloodstream isolates. Antibiotic resistance was high to some antibiotics, but metronidazole, the beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitors and

Structural properties and magnetic susceptibility of iron-intercalated titanium ditelluride

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pleshchev, V.G.; Titov, A.N.; Titova, S.G.; Kuranov, A.V.

1997-01-01

Structural peculiarities and magnetic susceptibility of titanium ditelluride, intercalated by iron, are studied. It is established that the basic motive of crystal structure by intercalation is preserved and the iron atoms are locates in the van der Waals gaps in positions with octahedral coordination. It is shown that the magnetic susceptibility of the Fe 0.25 TiT 2 sample increases approximately by 20 times. The magnetic susceptibility for the Fe 0.33 TiTe 2 samples becomes even much higher

Genetic variation between susceptible and non-susceptible snails to Schistosoma infection using random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis (RAPDs Variação genética entre moluscos susceptíveis e não susceptíveis à infecção pelo Schistosoma através da análise do DNA polimórfico amplificado aleatóriamente (RAPDs

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Abdel-Hamid Zaki ABDEL-HAMID

1999-09-01

Full Text Available Susceptibility of snails to infection by certain trematodes and their suitability as hosts for continued development has been a bewildering problem in host-parasite relationships. The present work emphasizes our interest in snail genetics to determine what genes or gene products are specifically responsible for susceptibility of snails to infection. High molecular weight DNA was extracted from both susceptible and non-susceptible snails within the same species Biomphalaria tenagophila. RAPD was undertaken to distinguish between the two types of snails. Random primers (10 mers were used to amplify the extracted DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE and silver staining. The results suggest that RAPD represents an efficient means of genome comparison, since many molecular markers were detected as genetic variations between susceptible and non-susceptible snails.A susceptibilidade de moluscos à infecção por certos trematódeos e a sua capacidade como hospedeiro para o contínuo desenvolvimento é o problema mais deslumbrante nas relações parasita hospedeiro. O presente trabalho, focaliza nosso interesse na genética dos moluscos para determinar quais genes ou produtos gênicos são especificamente responsáveis pela susceptibilidade do molusco à infecção. DNA de alto peso molecular, foi extraído de ambos moluscos susceptíveis e não susceptíveis da espécie Biomphalaria tenagophila. Iniciadores aleatórios com 10 pares de bases foram usados na amplificação aleatória (RAPD de ambos os DNAs e análise por eletroforese em gel de poliacrilamida e coloração com prata. Os resultados mostram que a amplificação aleatória do DNA representa um eficiente caminho para a comparação dos genomas desde que marcadores moleculares foram detectados como variantes genéticos entre os moluscos susceptíveis e não susceptíveis.

Evaluation of semisolid agar method for antifungal susceptibility test of T. rubrum

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Sultana Razia

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background: With increasing fungal disease many newer antifungal drugs are available with different spectrum of activ­ity. Antifungal susceptibility test will help clinicians for selection of effective drug and thereby treatment of patient. Objective: The study was undertaken to perform a simple screening drug susceptibility test of T. rnbrum by Semi Solid Agar Antifungal Susceptibility (SAAS Method: Perfonnance of susceptibility method was assessed by comparing the MICs of three commonly prescribed antifungal agents namely- tluconazole (FCZ, itraconazole (ITZ and terbinafine (TER to the CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute recommended M-38, a broth microdilution method. Results: In SAAS method, among twenty nine T. rubrum, twenty five (86.2% were susceptible (MIC range 0.5-64 µg/ml to Fluconazole (FCZ and four (13.7% were resistant (MIC value >64 µg/ml. In broth microdilution method, among twenty nine T. rubrum, twenty six (89.6% were susceptible (MIC range 0.3-64 µg/ml to FCZ and three (10.3% were resistant (MIC value >64 µg/ml. In case of both ITZ and TER, all were susceptible (MIC range 0.3-64 µg/ml to both methods. The SAAS method demonstrated the susceptibility pattern of T. rubrum against FCZ, ITZ and TER usually within 72 to 96 hours after organism isolation and results were concordance with the results of CLSI broth microdilution method. Conclusion: Though it is a newer method with proper standardization of the test method, SAAS method is simple and easily applicable screening method for susceptibility testing of antifungal agents against dermatophytes in any microbiology laboratories.

Insecticide susceptibility of Aedes aegypti populations from Senegal and Cape Verde Archipelago.

Science.gov (United States)

Dia, Ibrahima; Diagne, Cheikh Tidiane; Ba, Yamar; Diallo, Diawo; Konate, Lassana; Diallo, Mawlouth

2012-10-22

Two concomitant dengue 3 (DEN-3) epidemics occurred in Cape Verde Archipelago and Senegal between September and October 2009. Aedes aegypti was identified as the vector of these epidemics as several DEN-3 virus strains were isolated from this species in both countries. The susceptibility to pyrethroids, organochlorine, organophosphates and carbamate was investigated in two field strains of Aedes aegypti from both countries using WHO diagnostic bioassay kits in order to monitor their the current status of insecticide susceptibility. The two tested strains were highly resistant to DDT. The Cape Verde strain was found to be susceptible to all others tested insecticides except for propoxur 0.1%, which needs further investigation. The Dakar strain was susceptible to fenitrothion 1% and permethrin 0.75%, but displayed reduced susceptibility to deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and propoxur. As base-line results, our observations stress a careful management of insecticide use for the control of Ae. aegypti. Indeed, they indicate that DDT is no longer efficient for the control of Ae. aegypti populations in Cape Verde and Dakar and further suggest a thorough follow-up of propoxur susceptibility status in both sites and that of deltamethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin in Ae. aegypti populations in Dakar. Thus, regular monitoring of susceptibility is greatly needed as well as the knowing if this observed resistance/susceptibility is focal or not and for observed resistance, the use of biochemical methods is needed with detailed comparison of resistance levels over a large geographic area. Aedes aegypti, Insecticides, Susceptibility, Cape Verde, Senegal.

Probing white-matter microstructure with higher-order diffusion tensors and susceptibility tensor MRI

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chunlei; Murphy, Nicole E.; Li, Wei

2012-01-01

Diffusion MRI has become an invaluable tool for studying white matter microstructure and brain connectivity. The emergence of quantitative susceptibility mapping and susceptibility tensor imaging (STI) has provided another unique tool for assessing the structure of white matter. In the highly ordered white matter structure, diffusion MRI measures hindered water mobility induced by various tissue and cell membranes, while susceptibility sensitizes to the molecular composition and axonal arrangement. Integrating these two methods may produce new insights into the complex physiology of white matter. In this study, we investigated the relationship between diffusion and magnetic susceptibility in the white matter. Experiments were conducted on phantoms and human brains in vivo. Diffusion properties were quantified with the diffusion tensor model and also with the higher order tensor model based on the cumulant expansion. Frequency shift and susceptibility tensor were measured with quantitative susceptibility mapping and susceptibility tensor imaging. These diffusion and susceptibility quantities were compared and correlated in regions of single fiber bundles and regions of multiple fiber orientations. Relationships were established with similarities and differences identified. It is believed that diffusion MRI and susceptibility MRI provide complementary information of the microstructure of white matter. Together, they allow a more complete assessment of healthy and diseased brains. PMID:23507987

Pediatric hemiplegic migraine: susceptibility weighted and MR perfusion imaging abnormality

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Altinok, Deniz; Agarwal, Ajay [Children' s Hospital of Michigan, Department of Radiology, Detroit, MI (United States); Ascadi, Gyula; Luat, Aimee; Tapos, Daniela [Children' s Hospital of Michigan, Department of Neurology, Detroit, MI (United States)

2010-12-15

We report on an 11-year-old girl suffering from a typical attack of hemiplegic migraine with characteristic abnormalities in perfusion MR and susceptibility-weighted MR imaging findings. The imaging abnormalities were resolved 48 h after the attack. Susceptibility-weighted MR imaging findings correlated well with the MR perfusion, thus it can be used along with conventional MRI for evaluation of children with complex migraine attacks. Susceptibility-weighted MR imaging might have a diagnostic role in assessing the vascular events in hemiplegic migraine. (orig.)

Pediatric hemiplegic migraine: susceptibility weighted and MR perfusion imaging abnormality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altinok, Deniz; Agarwal, Ajay; Ascadi, Gyula; Luat, Aimee; Tapos, Daniela

2010-01-01

We report on an 11-year-old girl suffering from a typical attack of hemiplegic migraine with characteristic abnormalities in perfusion MR and susceptibility-weighted MR imaging findings. The imaging abnormalities were resolved 48 h after the attack. Susceptibility-weighted MR imaging findings correlated well with the MR perfusion, thus it can be used along with conventional MRI for evaluation of children with complex migraine attacks. Susceptibility-weighted MR imaging might have a diagnostic role in assessing the vascular events in hemiplegic migraine. (orig.)

Effects of electron transitions on the susceptibility of Cd3Mg

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sereda, Yu.P.

1988-01-01

The monotone susceptibility component has been examined at 4.2-420 K for Cd 1-x Mg x ordering single crystals for 0.18 < x < 0.33. The temperature and concentration curves for the susceptibility components show features related to structural and electronic topological transitions. The susceptibility anomalies at the electron-transition points are correlated with the boundaries to the existence of the allotropic forms

Etest Cannot Be Recommended for In Vitro Susceptibility Testing of Mucorales

OpenAIRE

Caramalho, Rita; Maurer, Elisabeth; Binder, Ulrike; Araújo, Ricardo; Dolatabadi, Somayeh; Lass-Flörl, Cornelia; Lackner, Michaela

2015-01-01

Amphotericin B and posaconazole susceptibility patterns were determined for the most prevalent Mucorales, following EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) broth microdilution guidelines. In parallel, Etest was performed and evaluated against EUCAST. The overall agreement of MICs gained with Etest and EUCAST was 75.1%; therefore, Etest cannot be recommended for antifungal susceptibility testing of Mucorales. Amphotericin B was the most active drug against Mucorales...

NALP3 inflammasome functional polymorphisms and gout susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Zhi-Min; Zhao, Shi-Hua; Yan, Sheng-Li; Li, Chang-Gui; Wang, Yan-Gang; Meng, Dong-Mei; Zhou, Li; Mi, Qing-Sheng

2009-01-01

Gout is the most common autoinflammatory arthritis characterized by elevated serum urate and recurrent attacks of intra-articular crystal deposition of monosodium urate (MSU). Although the pathogenesis of gout is still unclear, accumulated studies indicate that genetic factors trigger gout development, including some susceptibility genes that control the production and clearance of urate and lead to hyperuricemia. However, the epidemiological evidence suggests that only less than 10% of hyperuricemia patients develop gout, indicating that other genes unrelated to the urate metabolism may also contribute to the diseases susceptibility. Accumulated evidences have implied that MSU crystal-induced inflammation is a paradigm of innate immunity and that NALP3 inflammasome, an innate immune complex containing NALP3, ASC and CARD-8, is involved in gout development. Recent studies suggest that NALP3 and CARD-8 functional mutations contribute to the development of autoinflammatory diseases including hereditary periodic fever syndrome, arthritis as well as hypertension susceptibility. Taking into account these genetic findings, here we would like to propose a novel hypothesis that functional mutations in NALP3 inflammasome may make NALP3 inflammasome as attractive susceptibility candidates and genetic markers for gout. Further clinical genetic studies need to be performed to confirm the role of NALP3 inflammasome in the etiology of gout.

Discrete time Markov chains (DTMC) susceptible infected susceptible (SIS) epidemic model with two pathogens in two patches

Science.gov (United States)

Lismawati, Eka; Respatiwulan; Widyaningsih, Purnami

2017-06-01

The SIS epidemic model describes the pattern of disease spread with characteristics that recovered individuals can be infected more than once. The number of susceptible and infected individuals every time follows the discrete time Markov process. It can be represented by the discrete time Markov chains (DTMC) SIS. The DTMC SIS epidemic model can be developed for two pathogens in two patches. The aims of this paper are to reconstruct and to apply the DTMC SIS epidemic model with two pathogens in two patches. The model was presented as transition probabilities. The application of the model obtain that the number of susceptible individuals decreases while the number of infected individuals increases for each pathogen in each patch.

Reducing Susceptibility to Courtesy Stigma.

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Bachleda, Catherine L; El Menzhi, Leila

2018-06-01

In light of the chronic shortage of health professionals willing to care for HIV/AIDS patients, and rising epidemics in many Muslim countries, this qualitative study examined susceptibility and resistance to courtesy stigma as experienced by nurses, doctors, and social workers in Morocco. Forty-nine in-depth interviews provided rich insights into the process of courtesy stigma and how it is managed, within the context of interactions with Islam, interactions within the workplace (patients, other health professionals), and interactions outside the workplace (the general public, friends, and family). Theoretically, the findings extend understanding of courtesy stigma and the dirty work literature. The findings also offer practical suggestions for the development of culturally appropriate strategies to reduce susceptibility to courtesy stigmatization. This study represents the first to explore courtesy stigma as a process experienced by health professionals providing HIV/AIDS care in an Islamic country.

A fast, simple method for screening radiation susceptibility genes by RNA interference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuji, Atsushi B.; Sudo, Hitomi; Sugyo, Aya; Otsuki, Marika; Miyagishi, Makoto; Taira, Kazunari; Imai, Takashi; Harada, Yoshi-nobu

2005-01-01

Radiotherapy can cause unacceptable levels of damage to normal tissues in some cancer patients. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying radiation-induced physiological responses, and to be able to predict the radiation susceptibility of normal tissues in individual patients, it is important to identify a comprehensive set of genes responsible for radiation susceptibility. We have developed a simple and rapid 96-well screening protocol using cell proliferation assays and RNA interference to identify genes associated with radiation susceptibility. We evaluated the performance of alamarBlue-, BrdU-, and sulforhodamine B-based cell proliferation assays using the 96-well format. Each proliferation assay detected the known radiation susceptibility gene, PRKDC. In a trial screen using 28 shRNA vectors, another known gene, CDKN1A, and one new radiation susceptibility gene, ATP5G3, were identified. Our results indicate that this method may be useful for large-scale screens designed to identify novel radiation susceptibility genes

Landslide Susceptibility Statistical Methods: A Critical and Systematic Literature Review

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Mihir, Monika; Malamud, Bruce; Rossi, Mauro; Reichenbach, Paola; Ardizzone, Francesca

2014-05-01

Landslide susceptibility assessment, the subject of this systematic review, is aimed at understanding the spatial probability of slope failures under a set of geomorphological and environmental conditions. It is estimated that about 375 landslides that occur globally each year are fatal, with around 4600 people killed per year. Past studies have brought out the increasing cost of landslide damages which primarily can be attributed to human occupation and increased human activities in the vulnerable environments. Many scientists, to evaluate and reduce landslide risk, have made an effort to efficiently map landslide susceptibility using different statistical methods. In this paper, we do a critical and systematic landslide susceptibility literature review, in terms of the different statistical methods used. For each of a broad set of studies reviewed we note: (i) study geography region and areal extent, (ii) landslide types, (iii) inventory type and temporal period covered, (iv) mapping technique (v) thematic variables used (vi) statistical models, (vii) assessment of model skill, (viii) uncertainty assessment methods, (ix) validation methods. We then pulled out broad trends within our review of landslide susceptibility, particularly regarding the statistical methods. We found that the most common statistical methods used in the study of landslide susceptibility include logistic regression, artificial neural network, discriminant analysis and weight of evidence. Although most of the studies we reviewed assessed the model skill, very few assessed model uncertainty. In terms of geographic extent, the largest number of landslide susceptibility zonations were in Turkey, Korea, Spain, Italy and Malaysia. However, there are also many landslides and fatalities in other localities, particularly India, China, Philippines, Nepal and Indonesia, Guatemala, and Pakistan, where there are much fewer landslide susceptibility studies available in the peer-review literature. This

Susceptibility and triggering scenarios at a regional scale for shallow landslides

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Gullà, G.; Antronico, L.; Iaquinta, P.; Terranova, O.

2008-07-01

The work aims at identifying susceptible areas and pluviometric triggering scenarios at a regional scale in Calabria (Italy), with reference to shallow landsliding events. The proposed methodology follows a statistical approach and uses a database linked to a GIS that has been created to support the various steps of spatial data management and manipulation. The shallow landslide predisposing factors taken into account are derived from (i) the 40-m digital terrain model of the region, an ˜ 15,075 km 2 extension; (ii) outcropping lithology; (iii) soils; and (iv) land use. More precisely, a map of the slopes has been drawn from the digital terrain model. Two kinds of covers [prevalently coarse-grained (CG cover) or fine-grained (FG cover)] were identified, referring to the geotechnical characteristics of geomaterial covers and to the lithology map; soilscapes were drawn from soil maps; and finally, the land use map was employed without any prior processing. Subsequently, the inventory maps of some shallow landsliding events, totaling more than 30,000 instabilities of the past and detected by field surveys and photo aerial restitution, were employed to calibrate the relative importance of these predisposing factors. The use of single factors (first level analysis) therefore provides three different susceptibility maps. Second level analysis, however, enables better location of areas susceptible to shallow landsliding events by crossing the single susceptibility maps. On the basis of the susceptibility map obtained by the second level analysis, five different classes of susceptibility to shallow landsliding events have been outlined over the regional territory: 8.9% of the regional territory shows very high susceptibility, 14.3% high susceptibility, 15% moderate susceptibility, 3.6% low susceptibility, and finally, about 58% very low susceptibility. Finally, the maps of two significant shallow landsliding events of the past and their related rainfalls have been

Linezolid susceptibility in Helicobacter pylori, including strains with multidrug resistance.

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Boyanova, Lyudmila; Evstatiev, Ivailo; Gergova, Galina; Yaneva, Penka; Mitov, Ivan

2015-12-01

Only a few studies have evaluated Helicobacter pylori susceptibility to linezolid. The aim of the present study was to assess linezolid susceptibility in H. pylori, including strains with double/multidrug resistance. The susceptibility of 53 H. pylori strains was evaluated by Etest and a breakpoint susceptibility testing method. Helicobacter pylori resistance rates were as follows: amoxicillin, 1.9%; metronidazole, 37.7%; clarithromycin, 17.0%; tetracycline, 1.9%; levofloxacin, 24.5%; and linezolid (>4 mg/L), 39.6%. The linezolid MIC50 value was 31.2-fold higher than that of clarithromycin and 10.5-fold higher than that of levofloxacin; however, 4 of 11 strains with double/multidrug resistance were linezolid-susceptible. The MIC range of the oxazolidinone agent was larger (0.125-64 mg/L) compared with those in the previous two reports. The linezolid resistance rate was 2.2-fold higher in metronidazole-resistant strains and in strains resistant to at least one antibiotic compared with the remaining strains. Briefly, linezolid was less active against H. pylori compared with clarithromycin and levofloxacin, and linezolid resistance was linked to resistance to metronidazole as well as to resistance to at least one antibiotic. However, linezolid activity against some strains with double/multidrug resistance may render the agent appropriate to treat some associated H. pylori infections following in vitro susceptibility testing of the strains. Clinical trials are required to confirm this suggestion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae isolated from 21 Polish farms.

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Zmudzki, J; Szczotka, A; Nowak, A; Strzelecka, H; Grzesiak, A; Pejsak, Z

2012-01-01

Swine dysentery (SD) is a common disease among pigs worldwide, which contributes to major production losses. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of B. hyodysenteriae, the etiological agent of SD, is mainly performed by the agar dilution method. This method has certain limitations due to difficulties in interpretation of results. The aim of this study was the analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae (B. hyodysenteriae) Polish field isolates by broth microdilution procedure. The study was performed on 21 isolates of B. hyodysenteriae, collected between January 2006 to December 2010 from cases of swine dysentery. VetMIC Brachyspira panels with antimicrobial agents (tiamulin, valnemulin, doxycycline, lincomycin, tylosin and ampicillin) were used for susceptibility testing of B. hyodysenteriae. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by the broth dilution procedure. The lowest antimicrobial activity was demonstrated for tylosin and lincomycin, with inhibition of bacterial growth using concentrations > 128 microg/ml and 32 microg/ml, respectively. In the case of doxycycline, the MIC values were < or = 2.0 microg/ml. No decreased susceptibility to tiamulin was found among the Polish isolates and MIC values for this antibiotic did not exceed 1.0 microg/ml. The results of the present study confirmed that Polish B. hyodysenteriae isolates were susceptible to the main antibiotics (tiamulin and valnemulin) used in treatment of swine dysentery. Further studies are necessary to evaluate a possible slow decrease in susceptibility to tiamulin and valnemulin of B. hyodysenteriae strains in Poland.

Immunogenetics and genetic susceptibility in the pathogenesis of autoimmune hepatitis

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Das Anup K

2014-11-01

Full Text Available vAutoimmune hepatitis is a progressive liver disease. Its pathogenesis is unclear, but needs a ‘trigger’ to initiate the disease in a genetically susceptible person. The susceptibility is partly related to MHCII class genes, and more so with human leukocyte antigen (HLA. Several mechanisms have been proposed which, however, cannot fully explain the immunologic findings in autoimmune hepatitis. The susceptibility to any autoimmune disease is determined by several factors where genetic and immunological alterations, along with, environmental factor are active. MHCII antigens as a marker for AIH, or a predictor of treatment response and prognosis has been investigated. Since MHCII antigens show significant ethnic heterogeneity, mutations in MHCII may merely act as only precursors of the surface markers of immune cells, which can be of significance, because the changes in HLA and MHC are missing in certain populations. One such marker is the CTLA-4 (CD152 gene mutation, reported in the phenotypes representing susceptibility to AIH. Other candidate genes of cytokines, TNF, TGF-beta1 etc, have also been investigated but with unvalidated results. Paediatric AIH show differences in genetic susceptibility. Genetic susceptibility or resistance to AIH may be associated with polypeptides in DRB1 with certain amino-acid sequences. Understanding which genes are implicated in genesis and/or disease progression will obviously help to identify key pathways in AIH and provide better insights into its pathogenesis. But studies to identify responsible genes are complex because of the complex trait of AIH.

In vitro susceptibilities of Brucella melitensis isolates to eleven antibiotics

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Loukaides Feidias

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Brucellosis is an endemic disease present in many countries worldwide, but it is rare in Europe and North America. Nevertheless brucella is included in the bacteria potentially used for bioterrorism. The aim of this study was the investigation of the antibiotic susceptibility profile of brucella isolates from areas of the eastern Mediterranean where it has been endemic. Methods The susceptibilities of 74 Brucella melitensis isolates derived from clinical samples (57 and animal products (17 were tested in vitro. The strains originate from Crete (59, Cyprus (10, and Syria (5. MICs of tetracycline, rifampicin, streptomycin, gentamicin, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and erythromycin were detected by E-test method. The NCCLS criteria for slow growing bacteria were considered to interpret the results. Results All the isolates were susceptible to tetracycline, streptomycin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and levofloxacin. Two isolates presented reduced susceptibility to rifampicin (MIC value: 1.5 mg/l and eight to SXT (MIC values: 0.75–1.5 mg/l. Erythromycin had the highest (4 mg/l MIC90value and both norfloxacin and erythromycin the highest (1.5 mg/l MIC50 value. Conclusion Brucella isolates remain susceptible in vitro to most antibiotics used for treatment of brucellosis. The establishment of a standardized antibiotic susceptibility method for Brucella spp would be useful for resistance determination in these bacteria and possible evaluation of bioterorism risks.

New Genetic Susceptibility Factors for Sjögren's Syndrome Revealed

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... Spotlight on Research Spotlight on Research New Genetic Susceptibility Factors for Sjögren’s Syndrome Revealed By Kirstie Saltsman, ... swallowing and speaking. “The identification of these genetic susceptibility factors opens up new avenues for understanding how ...

Field-impressed anisotropy of susceptibility in iron-terbium thin films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephenson, A.; Booth, N.A.

1995-01-01

Two thin films of Fe 1-x Tb x where x=0.17 and 0.23 are shown to exhibit the effect of field-impressed anisotropy. After application of a direct field of 80 mT, which gives them an isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) in their plane, the anisotropy of initial susceptibility differs from that measured after the films have been tumble-demagnetized. By subtracting the susceptibility results of the tumble-demagnetized state from those obtained after the application of the 80 mT direct field, it is shown that the effect of this field is to decrease the susceptibility measured along the former applied field direction and to increase the susceptibility at right angles to this. The effect is almost certainly due to changes in domain alignment. Even though these films contain many domains, the above results are similar to those previously obtained for single-domain γFe 2 O 3 and magnetite particles. The sense of the effect is opposite to that for multi-domain magnetite particles where the susceptibility has been found to increase along the previously applied field direction. ((orig.))

Polymyxin susceptibility testing, interpretative breakpoints and resistance mechanisms: An update.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakthavatchalam, Yamuna Devi; Pragasam, Agila Kumari; Biswas, Indranil; Veeraraghavan, Balaji

2018-03-01

Emerging multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial pathogens are a great threat. Polymyxins, an old class of cationic polypeptide antibiotic, are considered as last-resort drugs in treating infections caused by MDR Gram-negative bacteria. Increased use of polymyxins in treating critically ill patients necessitates routine polymyxin susceptibility testing. However, susceptibility testing both of colistin and polymyxin B (PMB) is challenging. In this review, currently available susceptibility testing methods are briefly discussed. The multicomponent composition of colistin and PMB significantly influences susceptibility testing. In addition, poor diffusion in the agar medium, adsorption to microtitre plates and the synergistic effect of the surfactant polysorbate 80 with polymyxins have a great impact on the performance of susceptibility testing methods This review also describes recently identified chromosomal resistance mechanisms, including modification of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with 4-amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinose (L-Ara4-N) and phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) resulting in alteration of the negative charge, as well as the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance determinants mcr-1, mcr-1.2, mcr-2 and mcr-3. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Chemotherapy of Infection and Cancer. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectroscopic AC susceptibility imaging (sASI) of magnetic nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ficko, Bradley W.; Nadar, Priyanka M.; Diamond, Solomon G.

2015-01-01

This study demonstrates a method for alternating current (AC) susceptibility imaging (ASI) of magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) using low cost instrumentation. The ASI method uses AC magnetic susceptibility measurements to create tomographic images using an array of drive coils, compensation coils and fluxgate magnetometers. Using a spectroscopic approach in conjunction with ASI, a series of tomographic images can be created for each frequency measurement set and is termed sASI. The advantage of sASI is that mNPs can be simultaneously characterized and imaged in a biological medium. System calibration was performed by fitting the in-phase and out-of-phase susceptibility measurements of an mNP sample with a hydrodynamic diameter of 100 nm to a Brownian relaxation model (R 2 =0.96). Samples of mNPs with core diameters of 10 and 40 nm and a sample of 100 nm hydrodynamic diameter were prepared in 0.5 ml tubes. Three mNP samples were arranged in a randomized array and then scanned using sASI with six frequencies between 425 and 925 Hz. The sASI scans showed the location and quantity of the mNP samples (R 2 =0.97). Biological compatibility of the sASI method was demonstrated by scanning mNPs that were injected into a pork sausage. The mNP response in the biological medium was found to correlate with a calibration sample (R 2 =0.97, p<0.001). These results demonstrate the concept of ASI and advantages of sASI. - Highlights: • Development of an AC susceptibility imaging model. • Comparison of AC susceptibility imaging (ASI) and susceptibility magnitude imaging (SMI). • Demonstration of ASI and spectroscopic ASI (sASI) using three different magnetic nanoparticle types. • SASI scan separation of three different magnetic nanoparticles samples using 5 spectroscopic frequencies. • Demonstration of biological feasibility of sASI

Susceptibility to eating disorders among collegiate female student-athletes.

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McLester, Cherilyn N; Hardin, Robin; Hoppe, Stephanie

2014-01-01

Research has suggested that the prevalence of young women with eating disorders (EDs) is increasing, but determining the exact prevalence of EDs within the female student-athlete (FS-A) population is difficult. Looking at certain traits may help us to identify their level of susceptibility to developing an ED. To determine the susceptibility of FS-As to EDs in relation to self-concept, including self-esteem and body image. Cross-sectional study. Athletic training and health centers at National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, II, and III institutions via e-mail questionnaire correspondence. A total of 439 FS-As from 17 participating institutions completed the questionnaires. The sample was primarily white (83.1%) and underclass (61.8%). The questionnaire consisted of 4 parts: 3 subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Body Cathexis Scale, and demographic items. A total of 6.8% of FS-As were susceptible to anorexia and 1.8% were susceptible to bulimia. The majority of FS-As (61%) reported normal self-esteem levels, whereas 29.4% had high self-esteem. Overall, 64.5% were satisfied and 23% were very satisfied with their body image. These results are generally positive in that they suggest FS-As have high levels of self-concept and are at low risk to develop EDs. However, these findings do not mean that all concerns should be dismissed. Although more than 90% of the respondents were not susceptible to an ED, there are still FS-As who may be. Athletic departments should evaluate their FS-As' levels of self-concept so that their susceptibility to EDs can be addressed. The emotional aspect of health care should be included in providing holistic care for student-athletes. Athletic trainers often are the primary health care providers for FS-As, so they should be made aware of this concern.

Soil magnetic susceptibility as indicator of radioactive contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curda, S.

2006-01-01

Measurement of magnetic susceptibility is a method, which is used in many areas of research. The locality Ak-Tjuz is typical example of old ecological load. One of the negative effects represents radioactive contamination. This situation is caused by environmental disaster in 1964. For useful reparation it is really necessary to determinate the surface range of contamination. And measurement of the magnetic susceptibility could be the suitable method for that kind of monitoring. (author)

Linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities in a laterally coupled quantum-dot–quantum-ring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeng, Zaiping; Garoufalis, Christos S.; Baskoutas, Sotirios

2014-01-01

Linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities in a laterally coupled quantum-dot–quantum-ring system have been theoretically studied. In general, we find that the structure parameters of the coupled system significantly affect the optical susceptibilities. The enhancement of the coupling effects between the dot and ring is found to increase considerably the optical susceptibilities and redshift drastically the transition energies. Comparing to the linear susceptibility, the nonlinear optical susceptibility is found to be more sensitive to the variation of the structure parameters. A comprehensive analysis of the electron probability density movement with respect to the modification of the structure parameters is provided, which offers a unique perspective of the ground-state localization. - Highlights: • Optical susceptibilities in a quantum-dot–quantum-ring system are studied. • The structure parameters significantly affect the optical susceptibilities. • The enhancement of the coupling effects increases the optical susceptibilities. • The nonlinear susceptibility is more sensitive to the change in structure parameters. • A comprehensive analysis of the electron probability density movement is provided

Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae susceptibility to Deltamethrin in Madagascar.

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Sebastien Boyer

Full Text Available The incidence of bubonic plague in Madagascar is high. This study reports the susceptibility of 32 different populations of a vector, the flea Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae, to the insecticide Deltamethrin. Despite the use of Deltamethrin against fleas, plague epidemics have re-emerged in Madagascar. The majority of the study sites were located in the Malagasy highlands where most plague cases have occurred over the last 10 years. X. cheopis fleas were tested for susceptibility to Deltamethrin (0.05%: only two populations were susceptible to Deltamethrin, four populations were tolerant and 26 populations were resistant. KD50 (50% Knock-Down and KD90 (90% Knock-Down times were determined, and differed substantially from 9.4 to 592.4 minutes for KD50 and 10.4 min to 854.3 minutes for KD90. Susceptibility was correlated with latitude, but not with longitude, history of insecticide use nor date of sampling. Combined with the number of bubonic plague cases, our results suggest that an immediate switch to an insecticide other than Deltamethrin is required for plague vector control in Madagascar.

Effect of centrifugation on dynamic susceptibility of magnetic fluids

Science.gov (United States)

Pshenichnikov, Alexander; Lebedev, Alexander; Lakhtina, Ekaterina; Kuznetsov, Andrey

2017-06-01

The dispersive composition, dynamic susceptibility and spectrum of times of magnetization relaxation for six samples of magnetic fluid obtained by centrifuging two base colloidal solutions of the magnetite in kerosene was investigated experimentally. The base solutions differed by the concentration of the magnetic phase and the width of the particle size distribution. The procedure of cluster analysis allowing one to estimate the characteristic sizes of aggregates with uncompensated magnetic moments was described. The results of the magnetogranulometric and cluster analyses were discussed. It was shown that centrifugation has a strong effect on the physical properties of the separated fractions, which is related to the spatial redistribution of particles and multi-particle aggregates. The presence of aggregates in magnetic fluids is interpreted as the main reason of low-frequency (0.1-10 kHz) dispersion of the dynamic susceptibility. The obtained results count in favor of using centrifugation as an effective means of changing the dynamic susceptibility over wide limits and obtaining fluids with the specified type of susceptibility dispersion.

Patient Susceptibility to Candidiasis—A Potential for Adjunctive Immunotherapy

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Linda; Netea, Mihai G.; Kullberg, Bart Jan

2018-01-01

Candida spp. are colonizing fungi of human skin and mucosae of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract, present in 30–50% of healthy individuals in a population at any given moment. The host defense mechanisms prevent this commensal fungus from invading and causing disease. Loss of skin or mucosal barrier function, microbiome imbalances, or defects of immune defense mechanisms can lead to an increased susceptibility to severe mucocutaneous or invasive candidiasis. A comprehensive understanding of the immune defense against Candida is essential for developing adjunctive immunotherapy. The important role of underlying genetic susceptibility to Candida infections has become apparent over the years. In most patients, the cause of increased susceptibility to fungal infections is complex, based on a combination of immune regulation gene polymorphisms together with other non-genetic predisposing factors. Identification of patients with an underlying genetic predisposition could help determine which patients could benefit from prophylactic antifungal treatment or adjunctive immunotherapy. This review will provide an overview of patient susceptibility to mucocutaneous and invasive candidiasis and the potential for adjunctive immunotherapy. PMID:29371502

Patient Susceptibility to Candidiasis—A Potential for Adjunctive Immunotherapy

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Linda Davidson

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Candida spp. are colonizing fungi of human skin and mucosae of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract, present in 30–50% of healthy individuals in a population at any given moment. The host defense mechanisms prevent this commensal fungus from invading and causing disease. Loss of skin or mucosal barrier function, microbiome imbalances, or defects of immune defense mechanisms can lead to an increased susceptibility to severe mucocutaneous or invasive candidiasis. A comprehensive understanding of the immune defense against Candida is essential for developing adjunctive immunotherapy. The important role of underlying genetic susceptibility to Candida infections has become apparent over the years. In most patients, the cause of increased susceptibility to fungal infections is complex, based on a combination of immune regulation gene polymorphisms together with other non-genetic predisposing factors. Identification of patients with an underlying genetic predisposition could help determine which patients could benefit from prophylactic antifungal treatment or adjunctive immunotherapy. This review will provide an overview of patient susceptibility to mucocutaneous and invasive candidiasis and the potential for adjunctive immunotherapy.

Human Gut Microbiota Predicts Susceptibility to Vibrio cholerae Infection.

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Midani, Firas S; Weil, Ana A; Chowdhury, Fahima; Begum, Yasmin A; Khan, Ashraful I; Debela, Meti D; Durand, Heather K; Reese, Aspen T; Nimmagadda, Sai N; Silverman, Justin D; Ellis, Crystal N; Ryan, Edward T; Calderwood, Stephen B; Harris, Jason B; Qadri, Firdausi; David, Lawrence A; LaRocque, Regina C

2018-04-12

Cholera is a public health problem worldwide and the risk factors for infection are only partially understood. We prospectively studied household contacts of cholera patients to compare those who were infected with those who were not. We constructed predictive machine learning models of susceptibility using baseline gut microbiota data. We identified bacterial taxa associated with susceptibility to Vibrio cholerae infection and tested these taxa for interactions with V. cholerae in vitro. We found that machine learning models based on gut microbiota predicted V. cholerae infection as well as models based on known clinical and epidemiological risk factors. A 'predictive gut microbiota' of roughly 100 bacterial taxa discriminated between contacts who developed infection and those who did not. Susceptibility to cholera was associated with depleted levels of microbes from the phylum Bacteroidetes. By contrast, a microbe associated with cholera by our modeling framework, Paracoccus aminovorans, promoted the in vitro growth of V. cholerae. Gut microbiota structure, clinical outcome, and age were also linked. These findings support the hypothesis that abnormal gut microbial communities are a host factor related to V. cholerae susceptibility.

Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of anaerobic pathogens in The Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Veloo, A C M; van Winkelhoff, A J

2015-02-01

The antibiotic susceptibility profile of the Bacteroides fragilis group, Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC), Fusobacterium spp., Prevotella spp., Veillonella spp. and Bilophila wadsworthia for amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, clindamycin and metronidazole was determined. Human clinical isolates were isolated between 2011 and 2013 at the Microbiological Diagnostic Laboratory of the University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands and subjected to MALDI-TOF MS identification and susceptibility testing using E-test for MIC determination. Differences in clindamycin susceptibility between species of the B. fragilis group and GPAC were observed, with Bacteroides ovatus and Peptoniphilus harei having the highest resistance rates. Compared to other European countries, in The Netherlands the MIC90 for clindamycin of fusobacteria is low. Metronidazole resistance was first encountered in the genus Prevotella in 2013, but not in species of GPAC as reported in Belgium and Bulgaria. The differences in clindamycin resistance between the different European countries and reports of metronidazole resistance within the genera Prevotella and GPAC warrant more extensive susceptibility studies on anaerobic pathogens. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Polymyxins: Antimicrobial susceptibility concerns and therapeutic options

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V Balaji

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogens such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae poses a great challenge to the treating physicians. The paucity of newer effective antimicrobials has led to renewed interest in the polymyxin group of drugs, as a last resort for treatment of gram-negative bacterial infections. There is a dearth of information on the pharmacological properties of colistin, leading to difficulties in selecting the right dose, dosing interval, and route of administration for treatment, especially in critically-ill patients. The increasing use of colistin over the last few years necessitates the need for accurate and reliable in vitro susceptibility testing methods. Development of heteroresistant strains as a result of colistin monotherapy is also a growing concern. There is a compelling need from the clinicians to provide options for probable and possible colistin combination therapy for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections in the ICU setting. Newer combination drug synergy determination tests are being developed and reported. There are no standardized recommendations from antimicrobial susceptibility testing reference agencies for the testing and interpretation of these drug combinations. Comparison and analysis of these reported methodologies may help to understand and assist the microbiologist to choose the best method that produces accurate results at the earliest. This will help clinicians to select the appropriate combination therapy. In this era of multidrug resistance it is important for the microbiology laboratory to be prepared, by default, to provide timely synergistic susceptibility results in addition to routine susceptibility, if warranted. Not as a favour or at request, but as a responsibility.

Further characterization of porcine Brachyspira hyodysenteriae isolates with decreased susceptibility to tiamulin.

Science.gov (United States)

Karlsson, M; Aspán, A; Landén, A; Franklin, A

2004-04-01

Brachyspira hyodysenteriae is the causative agent of swine dysentery, a severe diarrhoeal disease in pigs. Few drugs are available to treat the disease, owing to both antimicrobial resistance and withdrawal of drugs authorized for use in pigs. Tiamulin is the drug of choice in many countries, but isolates with decreased susceptibility have recently been reported. The mechanism of tiamulin resistance in B. hyodysenteriae is not known and this facet is essential to understand the dissemination of the trait. To study the resistance epidemiology of B. hyodysenteriae, further characterization of a set of isolates from Germany (n = 16) and the UK (n = 6) with decreased susceptibility to tiamulin was performed. The relatedness between the isolates was studied by comparing PFGE patterns, and the in vitro susceptibility to five other antimicrobials (aivlosin, doxycycline, salinomycin, chloramphenicol and avilamycin) was also determined. For comparison of the antimicrobial-susceptibility pattern, Swedish (n = 20) and British (n = 4) tiamulin-susceptible isolates were tested. The German isolates represented several different PFGE patterns, indicating that tiamulin usage has been sufficient to select clones with decreased tiamulin susceptibility at different farms in Germany. The PFGE pattern for the six British isolates with decreased tiamulin susceptibility was identical to that of the German isolates, and they had a similar antimicrobial-susceptibility pattern, except for resistance to aivlosin, which was only found in a few German isolates. No other co-resistance with tiamulin was found.

Susceptibility of Eikenella corrodens to Newer Beta-Lactam Antibiotics

OpenAIRE

1981-01-01

In vitro susceptibility testing of 28 strains of Eikenella corrodens by the agar dilution technique showed that all strains were uniformly susceptible to penicillin, ticarcillin, cefoxitin, cefotaxime, N-formimidoyl thienamycin, and moxalactam and resistant to clindamycin and cefadroxil. Cefoperazone, piperacillin, and mezlocillin showed good activity, with some strains relatively resistant. Bacampicillin and cefamandole showed relatively poor activity.

Calcium handling by platelets from normal and malignant hyperthermia-susceptible pigs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, K.E.; Brooks, R.R.; Bonk, K.R.; Carpenter, J.F.

1991-01-01

Platelets from normal and malignant hyperthermia (MH)-susceptible pigs were evaluated for differences in 45 calcium uptake in the absence or presence of caffeine, halothane, or halothane and caffeine together. There were no statistically significant differences in basal or halothane-inhibited calcium uptake by platelets from either source. There was a small statistically significant difference in calcium uptake between platelets from normal and MH-susceptible pigs in the presence of 16 mM caffeine and 0.5% halothane. Calcium uptake by platelets from one pedigree of MH-susceptible pigs were stimulated in a concentration-dependent manner by caffeine. These data suggest that exposure of platelets to caffeine may have potential for identifying MH-susceptibility

Pauli Paramagnetic Susceptibility of an Ideal Anyon Gas within Haldane Fractional Exclusion Statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin Fang; Chen Jisheng

2012-01-01

The finite-temperature Pauli paramagnetic susceptibility of a three-dimensional ideal anyon gas obeying Haldane fractional exclusion statistics is studied analytically. Different from the result of an ideal Fermi gas, the susceptibility of an ideal anyon gas depends on a statistical factor g in Haldane statistics model. The low-temperature and high-temperature behaviors of the susceptibility are investigated in detail. The Pauli paramagnetic susceptibility of the two-dimensional ideal anyons is also derived. It is found that the reciprocal of the susceptibility has the similar factorizable property which is exhibited in some thermodynamic quantities in two dimensions.

Susceptibility Testing of Medically Important Parasites.

Science.gov (United States)

Genetu Bayih, Abebe; Debnath, Anjan; Mitre, Edward; Huston, Christopher D; Laleu, Benoît; Leroy, Didier; Blasco, Benjamin; Campo, Brice; Wells, Timothy N C; Willis, Paul A; Sjö, Peter; Van Voorhis, Wesley C; Pillai, Dylan R

2017-07-01

In the last 2 decades, renewed attention to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has spurred the development of antiparasitic agents, especially in light of emerging drug resistance. The need for new drugs has required in vitro screening methods using parasite culture. Furthermore, clinical laboratories sought to correlate in vitro susceptibility methods with treatment outcomes, most notably with malaria. Parasites with their various life cycles present greater complexity than bacteria, for which standardized susceptibility methods exist. This review catalogs the state-of-the-art methodologies used to evaluate the effects of drugs on key human parasites from the point of view of drug discovery as well as the need for laboratory methods that correlate with clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

In silico site-directed mutagenesis informs species-specific predictions of chemical susceptibility derived from the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility (SeqAPASS) tool

Science.gov (United States)

The Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility (SeqAPASS) tool was developed to address needs for rapid, cost effective methods of species extrapolation of chemical susceptibility. Specifically, the SeqAPASS tool compares the primary sequence (Level 1), functiona...

The Aging Kidney: Increased Susceptibility to Nephrotoxicity

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xinhui; Bonventre, Joseph V.; Parrish, Alan R.

2014-01-01

Three decades have passed since a series of studies indicated that the aging kidney was characterized by increased susceptibility to nephrotoxic injury. Data from these experimental models is strengthened by clinical data demonstrating that the aging population has an increased incidence and severity of acute kidney injury (AKI). Since then a number of studies have focused on age-dependent alterations in pathways that predispose the kidney to acute insult. This review will focus on the mechanisms that are altered by aging in the kidney that may increase susceptibility to injury, including hemodynamics, oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation and decreased repair. PMID:25257519

Landslide susceptibility mapping using a neuro-fuzzy

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, S.; Choi, J.; Oh, H.

2009-12-01

This paper develops and applied an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based on a geographic information system (GIS) environment using landslide-related factors and location for landslide susceptibility mapping. A neuro-fuzzy system is based on a fuzzy system that is trained by a learning algorithm derived from the neural network theory. The learning procedure operates on local information, and causes only local modifications in the underlying fuzzy system. The study area, Boun, suffered much damage following heavy rain in 1998 and was selected as a suitable site for the evaluation of the frequency and distribution of landslides. Boun is located in the central part of Korea. Landslide-related factors such as slope, soil texture, wood type, lithology, and density of lineament were extracted from topographic, soil, forest, and lineament maps. Landslide locations were identified from interpretation of aerial photographs and field surveys. Landslide-susceptible areas were analyzed by the ANFIS method and mapped using occurrence factors. In particular, we applied various membership functions (MFs) and analysis results were verified using the landslide location data. The predictive maps using triangular, trapezoidal, and polynomial MFs were the best individual MFs for modeling landslide susceptibility maps (84.96% accuracy), proving that ANFIS could be very effective in modeling landslide susceptibility mapping. Various MFs were used in this study, and after verification, the difference in accuracy according to the MFs was small, between 84.81% and 84.96%. The difference was just 0.15% and therefore the choice of MFs was not important in the study. Also, compared with the likelihood ratio model, which showed 84.94%, the accuracy was similar. Thus, the ANFIS could be applied to other study areas with different data and other study methods such as cross-validation. The developed ANFIS learns the if-then rules between landslide-related factors and landslide

Co-trimoxazole susceptibility tests improved with separate trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole disks.

OpenAIRE

Amyes, S G

1981-01-01

It is impossible to test accurately bacterial susceptibility to the trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole combination co-trimoxazole with a single combined susceptibility disk. However, a variety of factors still affect the result even when separate trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole disks are used. Experiments with separate disks showed that the optimum conditions for testing the susceptibilities of enterobacteria to these drugs were to flood-seed an agar plate with an inoculum of 10(4) to 10(5) orga...

Temporal percolation of the susceptible network in an epidemic spreading.

Science.gov (United States)

Valdez, Lucas Daniel; Macri, Pablo Alejandro; Braunstein, Lidia Adriana

2012-01-01

In this work, we study the evolution of the susceptible individuals during the spread of an epidemic modeled by the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) process spreading on the top of complex networks. Using an edge-based compartmental approach and percolation tools, we find that a time-dependent quantity ΦS(t), namely, the probability that a given neighbor of a node is susceptible at time t, is the control parameter of a node void percolation process involving those nodes on the network not-reached by the disease. We show that there exists a critical time t(c) above which the giant susceptible component is destroyed. As a consequence, in order to preserve a macroscopic connected fraction of the network composed by healthy individuals which guarantee its functionality, any mitigation strategy should be implemented before this critical time t(c). Our theoretical results are confirmed by extensive simulations of the SIR process.

Susceptibility and reactivity in polysensitized individuals following controlled induction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bangsgaard, Nannie; Carlsen, Berit C; Johansen, Jeanne Duus

2010-01-01

It is uncertain whether polysensitized patients acquire multiple allergies only because of a high degree of exposure to environmental allergens, or because of being highly susceptible to developing contact allergy.......It is uncertain whether polysensitized patients acquire multiple allergies only because of a high degree of exposure to environmental allergens, or because of being highly susceptible to developing contact allergy....

No support for HLA-DQ encoded susceptibility in rheumatoid arthritis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Vries, N. [=Niek; van Elderen, C.; Tijssen, H.; van Riel, P. L.; van de Putte, L. B.

1999-01-01

To test predictions based on data from immunogenetic and peptide-binding studies of collagen-induced arthritis in mice, in which it has been suggested that susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) might be determined by the interaction between susceptibility alleles at the HLA-DQ locus and

Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Easton, Douglas F.; Pooley, Karen A.; Dunning, Alison M.; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Thompson, Deborah; Ballinger, Dennis G.; Struewing, Jeffery P.; Morrison, Jonathan; Field, Helen; Luben, Robert; Wareham, Nicholas; Ahmed, Shahana; Healey, Catherine S.; Bowman, Richard; Meyer, Kerstin B.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Kolonel, Laurence K.; Henderson, Brian E.; Le Marchand, Loic; Brennan, Paul; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Gaborieau, Valerie; Odefrey, Fabrice; Shen, Chen-Yang; Wu, Pei-Ei; Wang, Hui-Chun; Eccles, Diana; Evans, D. Gareth; Peto, Julian; Fletcher, Olivia; Johnson, Nichola; Seal, Sheila; Stratton, Michael R.; Rahman, Nazneen; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Bojesen, Stig E.; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Axelsson, Christen K.; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Brinton, Louise; Chanock, Stephen; Lissowska, Jolanta; Peplonska, Beata; Nevanlinna, Heli; Fagerholm, Rainer; Eerola, Hannaleena; Kang, Daehee; Yoo, Keun-Young; Noh, Dong-Young; Ahn, Sei-Hyun; Hunter, David J.; Hankinson, Susan E.; Cox, David G.; Hall, Per; Wedren, Sara; Liu, Jianjun; Low, Yen-Ling; Bogdanova, Natalia; Schürmann, Peter; Dörk, Thilo; Tollenaar, Rob A. E. M.; Jacobi, Catharina E.; Devilee, Peter; Klijn, Jan G. M.; Sigurdson, Alice J.; Doody, Michele M.; Alexander, Bruce H.; Zhang, Jinghui; Cox, Angela; Brock, Ian W.; MacPherson, Gordon; Reed, Malcolm W. R.; Couch, Fergus J.; Goode, Ellen L.; Olson, Janet E.; Meijers-Heijboer, Hanne; van den Ouweland, Ans; Uitterlinden, André; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Milne, Roger L.; Ribas, Gloria; Gonzalez-Neira, Anna; Benitez, Javier; Hopper, John L.; McCredie, Margaret; Southey, Melissa; Giles, Graham G.; Schroen, Chris; Justenhoven, Christina; Brauch, Hiltrud; Hamann, Ute; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Beesley, Jonathan; Chen, Xiaoqing; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kataja, Vesa; Hartikainen, Jaana; Day, Nicholas E.; Cox, David R.; Ponder, Bruce A. J.

2007-01-01

Breast cancer exhibits familial aggregation, consistent with variation in genetic susceptibility to the disease. Known susceptibility genes account for less than 25% of the familial risk of breast cancer, and the residual genetic variance is likely to be due to variants conferring more moderate

QCD vacuum tensor susceptibility and properties of transversely polarized mesons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakulev, A.P.; Mikhajlov, S.V.

1999-01-01

We re-estimate the tensor susceptibility of QCD vacuum, χ, and to this end, we re-estimate the leptonic decay constants for transversely polarized ρ-, ρ'- and b 1 -mesons. The origin of the susceptibility is analyzed using duality between ρ- and b 1 -channels in a 2-point correlator of tensor currents and disagree with [2] on both OPE expansion and the value of QCD vacuum tensor susceptibility. Using our value for the latter we determine new estimations of nucleon tensor charges related to the first moment of the transverse structure functions h 1 of a nucleon

School bullying and susceptibility to smoking among never-tried cigarette smoking students.

Science.gov (United States)

Azagba, Sunday

2016-04-01

Bullying involvement has been linked with substance use; however, less is known about its relationship with pre-initiation stages of adolescent cigarette smoking behavior. This study examined the association between bullying involvement and smoking susceptibility among never tried or experimented with cigarette smoking students. Susceptibility to cigarette smoking in adolescence is a strong predictor of subsequent smoking initiation. A cross-sectional data on Canadian adolescent and youth were drawn from the 2012/2013 Youth Smoking Survey (n=28,843). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between bullying and smoking susceptibility among never-smoking students. About 21% self-reported involvement in bullying (as a bully, victim or both). Middle school students (grades 6-8) reported more involvement in bullying (24%) than those in grades 9-12 (16%). The multivariable analyses showed that the association between bullying and smoking susceptibility was significantly different by grade level. Middle school students involved in bullying had higher odds of smoking susceptibility compared to uninvolved students (bully, adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.54, 95% CI=1.73-3.74; victim, AOR=1.29, 95% CI=1.11-1.48; bully-victim, AOR=2.19, 95% CI=1.75-2.74). There were no significant associations between all subgroups of bullying and smoking susceptibility for grades 9-12 students. Students involved in bullying were more susceptible to smoking, although patterns of association varied by grade level. In particular, the findings highlight that non-smoking middle school students involved in bullying were susceptible to future smoking. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quantitative measurements of brain iron deposition in cirrhotic patients using susceptibility mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Shuang; Zheng, Gang; Shen, Wen; Liu, Saifeng; Zhang, Long Jiang; Haacke, E Mark; Lu, Guang Ming

2015-03-01

Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) has been used to detect micro-bleeds and iron deposits in the brain. However, no reports have been published on the application of SWI in studying iron changes in the brain of cirrhotic patients. To compare the susceptibility of different brain structures in cirrhotic patients with that in healthy controls and to evaluate susceptibility as a potential biomarker and correlate the measured susceptibility and cadaveric brain iron concentration for a variety of brain structures. Forty-three cirrhotic patients (27 men, 16 women; mean age, 50 ± 9 years) and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (22 men, 12 women; mean age, 47 ± 7 years) were included in this retrospective study. Susceptibility was measured in the frontal white matter, basal ganglia, midbrain, and dentate nucleus and compared with results gathered from two postmortem brain studies. Correlation between susceptibility and clinical biomarkers and neuropsychiatric tests scores was calculated. In cirrhotic patients, the susceptibility of left frontal white matter, bilateral caudate head, and right substantia nigra was higher than that in healthy controls (P brain study (r = 0.835, P = 0.01) in eight deep grey matter structures and another in five brain structures (r = 0.900, P = 0.03). The susceptibility of right caudate head (r = 0.402) and left caudate head (r = 0.408) correlated with neuropsychological test scores (both P brain regions appears to reflect neurocognitive changes. © The Foundation Acta Radiologica 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Dynamic insecticide susceptibility changes in Florida populations of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Siddharth; Killiny, Nabil; Stelinski, Lukasz L

2013-02-01

Five field populations of Diaphorina citri Kuwayama from various regions of Florida were evaluated in 2011 for resistance to commonly used insecticides. Three diagnostic doses (LD50, LD75, and LD95), developed in 2009 using a laboratory susceptible population, were used to measure changes in susceptibility levels of field-collected populations as compared with a susceptible laboratory population. Further reductions in the susceptibility levels of D. citri to chlorpyriphos and fenpropathrin were determined, compared with results obtained in 2010. Mean percent mortality obtained from all five locations was significantly lower than observed with the laboratory susceptible population for all insecticides tested. Previously, expression of five CYP4 genes was implicated in contributing to insecticide metabolism in D. citri. In the current study, we compared the relative expression of these five CYP4 genes and their associated levels of protein expression among field-collected and laboratory susceptible populations. Expression of all CYP4 genes investigated was higher in field-collected populations when normalized against the laboratory susceptible population. There was an increased signal of a band corresponding to a 45 kDa protein in four of the five field populations as measured by the Western blot assay, which suggests increased production of cytochrome P450 enzymes. The current results indicate that insecticide resistance continues to increase in Florida populations ofD. citri, particularly to chlorpyriphos and fenpropathrin. However, there was no further decrease in susceptibility of Florida populations of D. citri to neonicotinoid insecticides in 2011 as compared with previous years.

Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and plasmid-mediated ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

negative Staphylococci (CoNS) were isolated from clinical samples and isolates subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing, plasmid curing and plasmid DNA isolation. Result: The highest percentages isolates were recovered from urine samples and ...

Serological Susceptibility to Varicella Among U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainees.

Science.gov (United States)

Varan, Aiden K; Lederman, Edith R; Stous, Shanon S; Elson, Diana; Freiman, Jennifer L; Marin, Mona; Lopez, Adriana S; Stauffer, William M; Joseph, Rachael H; Waterman, Stephen H

2018-01-01

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for detaining unauthorized aliens during immigration proceedings. During 2014 to 2015, adult ICE detainees at a California facility were invited to complete a survey concerning self-reported varicella history and risk factors. Participants underwent serological testing for varicella-zoster virus (VZV) IgG; susceptible individuals were offered varicella vaccination. Among 400 detainees with available serology results, 48 (12%) were susceptible to varicella. Self-reported varicella history was negatively associated with susceptibility (adjusted odds ratio = 0.16; 95% confidence interval [0.07, 0.35]). Among 196 detainees reporting a positive history, 95% had VZV IgG levels suggestive of varicella immunity. Among 44 susceptible detainees offered vaccination, 86% accepted. Given relatively high varicella susceptibility, targeted screening and vaccination among ICE detainees lacking a positive history might reduce varicella transmission risks.

Review of magnetic susceptibility logging and its application to uranium exploration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

George, D.C.; Scott, J.H.

1982-01-01

Borehole measurement of magnetic susceptibility can show anomalies associated with mineralization or alteration. The detection of small anomalies is necessary, so efforts have been made in recent years to improve the sensitivity and the stability of magnetic susceptibility logging tools. Typical tools contain a single coil constructed as a solenoid wound on ferrite rods about 30cm long. The coil is heated to a constant temperature to reduce drift, and careful design is necessary to optimize temperature control and to maximize sensitivity. Measurements of coil resistance and inductance, which indicate conductivity and susceptibility, are made using a Maxwell bridge circuit. Circuit analysis shows that conductivity measurements are difficult and that stringent requirements are placed on phase stability of measurement circuitry. Corrections to the observed log are necessary to account for borehole size. The response of the tool to a thin zones of anomalous susceptibility is double peaked and a set of curves has been developed for interpretation. Calibrations of the tools are made by measuring the tool's response in models of known susceptibility

Novel Gentic Variations Contributing to Asthma Susceptability in Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

2014-04-13

Collection of Clinical Data That Will be Used in This Study and Will Form a Data Bank for Asthma in Saudi Arabia; Identify Known and NOVEL Genetic Risk Factors Contributing to Asthma Susceptibility; Study the Mechanistic Roles of the Genetic Variants Within Major Asthma Susceptibility Genes

Agar dilution method for susceptibility testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta C de Castillo

1996-12-01

Full Text Available The antibiotic susceptibilities of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates obtained from patients attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases in Tucumán, Argentina, were determined by the agar dilution method (MIC. 3.5% of the isolates produced ²-lactamase. A total of 96.5% of ²-lactamase negative isolates tested were susceptible to penicillin (MIC < 2 µgml-1; 14.03% of the tested isolates were resistant to tetracycline (MIC < 2 µgml-1, and 98% of the tested isolates were susceptible to spectinomycin (MIC < 64 µgml-1. The MICs for 95% of the isolates, tested for other drugs were: < 2 µgml-1 for cefoxitin, < 0.06 µgml-1 for cefotaxime, < 0.25 µgml-1 for norfloxacin, < 10 µgml-1 for cephaloridine, < 10 µgml-1 for cephalexin, and < 50 µgml-1 for kanamycin. Antibiotic resistance among N. gonorrhoeae isolates from Tucumán, Argentina, appeared to be primarily limited to penicillin and tetracycline, which has been a general use against gonorrhoeae in Tucumán since 1960. Periodic monitoring of the underlying susceptibility profiles of the N. gonorrhoeae strains prevalent in areas of frequent transmission may provide clues regarding treatment options and emerging of drug resistance.

Host Phenology and Leaf Effects on Susceptibility of California Bay Laurel to Phytophthora ramorum.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Steven F; Cohen, Michael F; Torok, Tamas; Meentemeyer, Ross K; Rank, Nathan E

2016-01-01

Spread of the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, causal agent of the forest disease sudden oak death, is driven by a few competent hosts that support spore production from foliar lesions. The relationship between traits of a principal foliar host, California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), and susceptibility to P. ramorum infection were investigated with multiple P. ramorum isolates and leaves collected from multiple trees in leaf-droplet assays. We examined whether susceptibility varies with season, leaf age, or inoculum position. Bay laurel susceptibility was highest during spring and summer and lowest in winter. Older leaves (>1 year) were more susceptible than younger ones (8 to 11 months). Susceptibility was greater at leaf tips and edges than the middle of the leaf. Leaf surfaces wiped with 70% ethanol were more susceptible to P. ramorum infection than untreated leaf surfaces. Our results indicate that seasonal changes in susceptibility of U. californica significantly influence P. ramorum infection levels. Thus, in addition to environmental variables such as temperature and moisture, variability in host plant susceptibility contributes to disease establishment of P. ramorum.

Diamagnetic susceptibility of a confined donor in inhomogeneous quantum dots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahmani, K; Zorkani, I; Jorio, A

2011-01-01

The binding energy and diamagnetic susceptibility χ dia are estimated for a shallow donor confined to move in GaAs-GaAlAs inhomogeneous quantum dots. The calculation was performed within the effective mass approximation and using the variational method. The results show that the binding energy and the diamagnetic susceptibility χ dia depend strongly on the core radius and the shell radius. We have demonstrated that there is a critical value of the ratio of the inner radius to the outer radius which may be important for nanofabrication techniques. The binding energy E b shows a minimum for a critical value of this ratio depending on the value of the outer radius and shows a maximum when the donor is placed at the center of the spherical layer. The diamagnetic susceptibility is more sensitive to variations of the radius for a large spherical layer. The binding energy and diamagnetic susceptibility depend strongly on the donor position.

Defense response of susceptible and resistant Biomphalaria alexandrina snails against Schistosoma mansoni infection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iman F. Abou-El-Naga

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In Egypt, Biomphalaria alexandrina is the intermediate host for Schistosoma mansoni. The fates of Schistosoma miracidia in the snails varies between different species of Biomphalaria. The internal defense system is one of the factors that influence the susceptibility pattern of the snails. The interaction between Biomphalaria snails and S. mansoni needs to be identified for each species, and even between the members of the same species with different degrees of susceptibility. In the present study, the first generation of susceptible and resistant parents of B. alexandrina was examined histologically at the 30th day post exposure. The study includes the characterization of the immune response, as expressed by tissue reactions, of susceptible and resistant B. alexandrina snails against S. mansoni. It was also designed to determine the impact of the resistance increase in parent snails, on the mechanisms of interaction of their offspring against infection. The results showed that the infection rate of the offspring from the susceptible parents was 92%. No susceptible offspring was produced from the resistant parents. When the parents were of equal number of susceptible and resistant snails, they gave an offspring with an infection rate of 20%. Susceptible snails that had susceptible parents showed a higher degree of susceptibility than those that had both susceptible and resistant parents. A common feature of the resistant snails was the absence of any viable parasites. The tissue reactions of the resistant snails having only resistant parents occurred at the site of miracidial penetration. In resistant snails for which susceptible ones were included in their parents, the reactions occurred in the deep tissues. These results characterized the immune response of B. alexandrina snails against Schistosoma infection which was found to occur by two different mechanisms. One type of defense occurs in highly resistant snails, and employs direct

Influence of deformation on SCC susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel in PWR primary water

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaneshima, Yoshiari; Totsuka, Nobuo; Nakajima, Nobuo [Institute of Nuclear Safety System Inc., Mihama, Fukui (Japan)

2001-09-01

Slow strain rate tests (SSRT) were carried out to evaluate the SCC susceptibility of four types of austenitic stainless steels (SUS304, SUS316, SUS304L and SUS316L) in PWR primary water. The influence of deformation on SCC susceptibility of SUS316 was studied. All types of stainless steel were susceptible to SCC, and the SCC susceptibility varied depending on the steel type. The comparison of the SSRT results and tensile test in air based on the reduction of area measurement showed that the SCC susceptibility increased with increasing the degree of deformation. For explaining the influence of deformation on SCC susceptibility, it is necessary to evaluate both intergranular and transgranular fractures. (author)

Low signal-to-noise FDEM in-phase data: Practical potential for magnetic susceptibility modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Delefortrie, Samuël; Hanssens, Daan; De Smedt, Philippe

2018-05-01

In this paper, we consider the use of land-based frequency-domain electromagnetics (FDEM) for magnetic susceptibility modelling. FDEM data comprises both out-of-phase and in-phase components, which can be related to the electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility of the subsurface. Though applying the FDEM method to obtain information on the subsurface conductivity is well established in various domains (e.g. through the low induction number approximation of subsurface apparent conductivity), the potential for susceptibility mapping is often overlooked. Especially given a subsurface with a low magnetite and maghemite content (e.g. most sedimentary environments), it is generally assumed that susceptibility is negligible. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of the near surface and the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on the soil can cause sufficient variation in susceptibility for it to be detectable in a repeatable way. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to study the potential for susceptibility mapping due to systematic errors, an often poor low signal-to-noise ratio, and the intricacy of correlating in-phase responses with subsurface susceptibility and conductivity. Alongside use of an accurate forward model - accounting for out-of-phase/in-phase coupling - any attempt at relating the in-phase response with subsurface susceptibility requires overcoming instrument-specific limitations that burden the real-world application of FDEM susceptibility mapping. Firstly, the often erratic and drift-sensitive nature of in-phase responses calls for relative data levelling. In addition, a correction for absolute levelling offsets may be equally necessary: ancillary (subsurface) susceptibility data can be used to assess the importance of absolute in-phase calibration though hereby accurate in-situ data is required. To allow assessing the (importance of) in-phase calibration alongside the potential of FDEM data for susceptibility modelling, we consider an experimental

Hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of laser-hardened 4140 steel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsay, L.W.; Lin, Z.W. [Nat. Taiwan Ocean Univ., Keelung (Taiwan). Inst. of Mater. Eng.; Shiue, R.K. [Institute of Materials Sciences and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan (Taiwan); Chen, C. [Institute of Materials Sciences and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan (Taiwan)

2000-10-15

Slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests were performed to investigate the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement of laser-hardened AISI 4140 specimens in air, gaseous hydrogen and saturated H{sub 2}S solution. Experimental results indicated that round bar specimens with two parallel hardened bands on opposite sides along the loading axis (i.e. the PH specimens), exhibited a huge reduction in tensile ductility for all test environments. While circular-hardened (CH) specimens with 1 mm hardened depth and 6 mm wide within the gauge length were resistant to gaseous hydrogen embrittlement. However, fully hardened CH specimens became susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement for testing in air at a lower strain rate. The strength of CH specimens increased with decreasing the depth of hardened zones in a saturated H{sub 2}S solution. The premature failure of hardened zones in a susceptible environment caused the formation of brittle intergranular fracture and the decrease in tensile ductility. (orig.)

Spatial distribution of topsoil magnetic susceptibility in Sawahlunto City, West Sumatera

Science.gov (United States)

Afdal; Wahyuni, E. S.

2018-03-01

A research to determine the spatial distribution of top soil magnetic suceptibility at Sawahlunto City, West Sumatra has been conducted. The top soil samples were taken at four locations ie the downtown area, the steam power plant area, the agricultural area, and coal mine area. At each location, the soil samples were taken at 10 points at a depth of 20 cm. Magnetic susceptibility were measured using Bartington MS2B Magnetic Susceptibility Meter. The topsoil samples from Sawahlunto city have relatively low average value of the magnetic susceptibility that is 67.0×10-8 m3/kg. The magnetic susceptibility of topsoil samples from downtown area have the average and the highest value of magnetic susceptibility (100.6×10-8 and 259.9×10-8 m3/kg), and followed by sample from the steam power plant area (98.4×10-8 and 258.0×10-8 m3/kg), the agricultural area (56.2×10-8 and 83.7×10-8 m3/kg), and coal mine area (12.9×10-8 and 26.8×10-8 m3/kg). Soil samples from the steam power plant area have the widest range of magnetic susceptibility value range from 0.3 × 10-8 to 258.0 × 10-8 m3/kg.

Sex-specific differences in pathogen susceptibility in honey bees (Apis mellifera).

Science.gov (United States)

Retschnig, Gina; Williams, Geoffrey R; Mehmann, Marion M; Yañez, Orlando; de Miranda, Joachim R; Neumann, Peter

2014-01-01

Sex-related differences in susceptibility to pathogens are a common phenomenon in animals. In the eusocial Hymenoptera the two female castes, workers and queens, are diploid and males are haploid. The haploid susceptibility hypothesis predicts that haploid males are more susceptible to pathogen infections compared to females. Here we test this hypothesis using adult male (drone) and female (worker) honey bees (Apis mellifera), inoculated with the gut endoparasite Nosema ceranae and/or black queen cell virus (BQCV). These pathogens were chosen due to previously reported synergistic interactions between Nosema apis and BQCV. Our data do not support synergistic interactions between N. ceranae and BQCV and also suggest that BQCV has limited effect on both drone and worker health, regardless of the infection level. However, the data clearly show that, despite lower levels of N. ceranae spores in drones than in workers, Nosema-infected drones had both a higher mortality and a lower body mass than non-infected drones, across all treatment groups, while the mortality and body mass of worker bees were largely unaffected by N. ceranae infection, suggesting that drones are more susceptible to this pathogen than workers. In conclusion, the data reveal considerable sex-specific differences in pathogen susceptibility in honey bees and highlight the importance of ultimate measures for determining susceptibility, such as mortality and body quality, rather than mere infection levels.

[Susceptibility of natural populations of dengue vector to insecticides in Colombia].

Science.gov (United States)

Santacoloma, Liliana; Chaves, Bernardo; Brochero, Helena Luisa

2012-09-01

Physiological resistance of natural population of Aedes aegypti to insecticides contribute to the decreased efficacy of chemical control as a main control strategy during dengue outbreaks. The susceptibility status of Ae. aegypti was assessed for the carbamate propoxur, the adulticide malathion and the larvicide temephos on 13 natural populations of Ae. aegypti immature forms were taken from 8 Colombian localities. These included the following: Bucaramanga (1), Sabana de Torres (2), Girardot (2), La Mesa (2), Villavicencio (2), Puerto López (2), San José del Guaviare (1) and Florencia (1). Susceptibility tests mainly consisted of the standardized bioassay outlined by WHO (1981) and CDC bottles (1998). Colorimetric tests were undertaken to determine enzyme levels possibly responsible for the reduction of susceptibility to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides. All specimens demonstrated susceptibility to malathion and propoxur insecticides. Four of the 13 populations revealed susceptibility to the temephos larvicide. Seven of 11 populations showed a limited increase in values for nonspecific esterase enzymes. The Bucaramanga population was the only one which showed an increase in the cytochrome P450 monooxygenases enzymes. Neither population was found with modified acetilcolinesterase. The widespread susceptibility to organophosphates used as adulticides indicated that malathion, the most used insecticide in Colombia, remains effective in interrupting the transmission of dengue. Physiological resistance to insecticides occurring in communities of a single township proved to be a localized phenomenon.

Mapping Landslides Susceptibility in a Traditional Northern Nigerian City

Science.gov (United States)

Oluwafemi, Olawale A.; Yakubu, Tahir A.; Muhammad, Mahmud U.; Shitta, Nyofo; Akinwumiju, Akinola S.

2018-05-01

As a result of dearth of relevant information about Landslides Susceptibility in Nigeria, the monitoring and assessment appears intractable. Hence, the study developed a Remote Sensing approach to mapping landslides susceptibility, landuse and landcover analysis in Jos South LGA, Plateau State, Nigeria. Field Observation, SPOT 5 2009 and 2012, ASTER DEM 2009, Geological Map 2006, Topographical Map 1966 were used to map Landslide Susceptibility and Landuse /Lancover Analysis in the study area. Geospatial Analytical Operations employed using ArcGIS 10.3 and Erdas Imagine 2014 include Spatial Modeling, Vectorization, Pre-lineament Extraction, Image Processing among others. Result showed that 72.38 % of the study area is underlain by granitic rocks. The landuse/cover types delineated for the study area include floodplain (29.27 %), farmland (23.96 %), sparsely vegetated land (15.43 %), built up area (13.65 %), vegetated outcrop (8.48 %), light vegetation (5.37 %), thick vegetation (2.39 %), water body (0.58 %), plantation (0.50 %) and mining pond (0.37 %). Landslide Susceptibility Analysis also revealed that 87 % of the study area is relatively at low to very low risk of landslide event. While only 13 % of the study area is at high to very high risk of landslide event. The study revealed that the susceptibility of landslide event is very low in the study area. However, possible landslide event in the hot spots could be pronounced and could destabilize the natural and man-made environmental systems of the study area.

Prion protein and scrapie susceptibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, M.A.; Bossers, A.; Schreuder, B.E.C.

1997-01-01

This article presents briefly current views on the role of prion protein (PrP) in Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies or prion diseases and the effect of PrP polymoryhisms on the susceptibility to these diseases, with special emphasis on sheep scrapie. The PrP genotype of sheep apears to be a

Antifungal susceptibilities of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Science.gov (United States)

Archibald, Lennox K; Tuohy, Marion J; Wilson, Deborah A; Nwanyanwu, Okey; Kazembe, Peter N; Tansuphasawadikul, Somsit; Eampokalap, Boonchuay; Chaovavanich, Achara; Reller, L Barth; Jarvis, William R; Hall, Gerri S; Procop, Gary W

2004-01-01

Susceptibility profiles of medically important fungi in less-developed countries remain uncharacterized. We measured the MICs of amphotericin B, 5-flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, and ketoconazole for Cryptococcus neoformans clinical isolates from Thailand, Malawi, and the United States and found no evidence of resistance or MIC profile differences among the countries.

India, Genomic diversity & Disease susceptibility

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Table of contents. India, Genomic diversity & Disease susceptibility · India, a paradise for Genetic Studies · Involved in earlier stages of Immune response protecting us from Diseases, Responsible for kidney and other transplant rejections Inherited from our parents · PowerPoint Presentation · Slide 5 · Slide 6 · Slide 7.

Non-susceptible landslide areas in Italy and in the Mediterranean region

Science.gov (United States)

Marchesini, I.; Ardizzone, F.; Alvioli, M.; Rossi, M.; Guzzetti, F.

2014-08-01

We used landslide information for 13 study areas in Italy and morphometric information obtained from the 3-arcseconds shuttle radar topography mission digital elevation model (SRTM DEM) to determine areas where landslide susceptibility is expected to be negligible in Italy and in the landmasses surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The morphometric information consisted of the local terrain slope which was computed in a square 3 × 3-cell moving window, and in the regional relative relief computed in a circular 15 × 15-cell moving window. We tested three different models to classify the "non-susceptible" landslide areas, including a linear model (LNR), a quantile linear model (QLR), and a quantile, non-linear model (QNL). We tested the performance of the three models using independent landslide information presented by the Italian Landslide Inventory (Inventario Fenomeni Franosi in Italia - IFFI). Best results were obtained using the QNL model. The corresponding zonation of non-susceptible landslide areas was intersected in a geographic information system (GIS) with geographical census data for Italy. The result determined that 57.5% of the population of Italy (in 2001) was located in areas where landslide susceptibility is expected to be negligible. We applied the QNL model to the landmasses surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and we tested the synoptic non-susceptibility zonation using independent landslide information for three study areas in Spain. Results showed that the QNL model was capable of determining where landslide susceptibility is expected to be negligible in the validation areas in Spain. We expect our results to be applicable in similar study areas, facilitating the identification of non-susceptible landslide areas, at the synoptic scale.

Waterpipe Use and Susceptibility to Cigarette Smoking Among Never-Smoking Youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Veeranki, Sreenivas P; Alzyoud, Sukaina; Kheirallah, Khalid A; Pbert, Lori

2015-10-01

Susceptibility to cigarette smoking, defined as the lack of a firm decision against smoking, is a strong predictor of regular smoking and addiction. Several modifiable risk factors have been identified among never cigarette smokers, and one potential factor of interest is waterpipe use. The purpose of this study is to determine the association of waterpipe use with susceptibility to cigarette smoking among never-smoking youth. In a pooled analysis of 17 Arab nations with nationally representative Global Youth Tobacco Surveys conducted during 2002-2011, tobacco-related information was obtained from 30,711 never-smoking adolescents representing 4,962,872 youth. Study outcome was susceptibility to cigarette smoking, and primary exposure was waterpipe use. Data were analyzed in 2014 using weighted logistic regression models, including stratified models by gender, to determine the odds of susceptibility to cigarette smoking with waterpipe use, adjusting for confounders. Overall, 20% of never-smoking youth were susceptible to cigarette smoking, ranging from 13.1% in Oman to 32.6% in Somalia; 5.2% currently used waterpipe, ranging from 0.3% in Morocco to 23.5% in Kuwait. The estimated odds of susceptibility to cigarette smoking were 2.5 (95% CI=1.9, 3.4) times higher for adolescents who used waterpipe in the past month compared with those who did not, controlling for confounders. Estimates were similar when stratified by gender. Waterpipe use is associated with susceptibility to cigarette smoking. Study findings identify a novel risk factor for never smokers to initiate smoking and will help the public health community develop and implement policies around waterpipe use prevention. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of porcine brachyspira hyodysenteriae isolates from Switzerland

OpenAIRE

Kirchgässner, Constanze

2016-01-01

The anaerobic spirochaete Brachyspira (B.) hyodysenteriae is the causative agent of swine dysentery (SD), a severe mucohaemorrhagic diarrheal disease in pigs worldwide. Currently, no data for antimicrobial susceptibility of B. hyodysenteriae from Switzerland are available and though antimicrobial treatment is the main therapy, no standardised methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing are established. Therefore, a broth microdilution test was performed for 30 Swiss porcine field isolate...

Topological susceptibility from twisted mass fermions using spectral projectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cichy, K. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Poznan Univ. (Poland). Faculty of Physics; Garcia-Ramos, E. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin (Germany); Jansen, K. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Shindler, A. [Forschungszentrum Juelich (Germany). IAS; Forschungszentrum Juelich (Germany). IKP; Forschungszentrum Juelich (Germany). JCHP; Collaboration: European Twisted Mass Collaboration

2013-12-15

We discuss the computation of the topological susceptibility using the method of spectral projectors and dynamical twisted mass fermions. We present our analysis concerning the O(a)- improvement of the topological susceptibility and we show numerical results for N{sub f}=2 and N{sub f}=2+1+1 flavours, performing a study of the quark mass dependence in terms of leading order chiral perturbation theory.

Magnetic susceptibility of Gd/sub 3/Ga/sub 2/

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hacker, H Jr; Gupta, R M [Duke Univ., Durham, N.C. (USA). Dept. of Electrical Engineering

1976-03-01

The magnetic susceptibility of the intermetallic compound Gd/sub 3/Ga/sub 2/ has been measured by the Faraday method over the range 8 - 300 K. The data indicate antiferromagnetic behavior below 53 K. Above 100 K, the mass susceptibility obeys the Curie-Weiss law, chisub(g)=4.45X10/sup -2//(T+23)emu/gOe. The corresponding effective moment is 8.51 Bohr magnetons.

Ductility dip cracking susceptibility of Inconel Filler Metal 52 and Inconel Alloy 690

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikel, J.M.; Parker, D.M.

1998-01-01

Alloy 690 and Filler Metal 52 have become the materials of choice for commercial nuclear steam generator applications in recent years. Filler Metal 52 exhibits improved resistance to weld solidification and weld-metal liquation cracking as compared to other nickel-based filler metals. However, recently published work indicates that Filler Metal 52 is susceptible to ductility dip cracking (DDC) in highly restrained applications. Susceptibility to fusion zone DDC was evaluated using the transverse varestraint test method, while heat affected zone (HAZ) DDC susceptibility was evaluated using a newly developed spot-on-spot varestraint test method. Alloy 690 and Filler Metal 52 cracking susceptibility was compared to the DDC susceptibility of Alloy 600, Filler Metal 52, and Filler Metal 625. In addition, the effect of grain size and orientation on cracking susceptibility was also included in this study. Alloy 690, Filler Metal 82, Filler Metal 52, and Filler Metal 625 were found more susceptible to fusion zone DDC than Alloy 600. Filler Metal 52 and Alloy 690 were found more susceptible to HAZ DDC when compared to wrought Alloy 600, Filler Metal 82 and Filler Metal 625. Filler Metal 52 exhibited the greatest susceptibility to HAZ DDC of all the weld metals evaluated. The base materials were found much more resistant to HAZ DDC in the wrought condition than when autogenously welded. A smaller grain size was found to offer greater resistance to DDC. For weld metal where grain size is difficult to control, a change in grain orientation was found to improve resistance to DDC

AC susceptibility and NQR measurements on CeCu6 below 5 mK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin, C.; Lee, D.M.; Pollack, L.; Smith, E.N.; Markert, J.T.; Maple, M.B.; Hinks, D.G.

1994-01-01

We have measured the zero field ac magnetic susceptibility of single and polycrystalline CeCu 6 samples down to 100 μK. For the single crystal sample, the susceptibility shows pronounced anisotropic behavior with respect to the crystal orientation. At ∼3 mK the susceptibility along two different crystal orientations shows a broad peak, and at 500 μK the susceptibility shows a second peak along one orientation and a plateau along the other. The susceptibility of the polycrystalline sample has a similar peak at 3 mK. NQR measurements are under way to study the Cu nuclear spin system in this compound in order to gain additional information about the nature of the peaks. (orig.)

Susceptibility to Eating Disorders Among Collegiate Female Student–Athletes

Science.gov (United States)

McLester, Cherilyn N.; Hardin, Robin; Hoppe, Stephanie

2014-01-01

Context: Research has suggested that the prevalence of young women with eating disorders (EDs) is increasing, but determining the exact prevalence of EDs within the female student–athlete (FS-A) population is difficult. Looking at certain traits may help us to identify their level of susceptibility to developing an ED. Objective: To determine the susceptibility of FS-As to EDs in relation to self-concept, including self-esteem and body image. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Athletic training and health centers at National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, II, and III institutions via e-mail questionnaire correspondence. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 439 FS-As from 17 participating institutions completed the questionnaires. The sample was primarily white (83.1%) and underclass (61.8%). Main Outcome Measure(s): The questionnaire consisted of 4 parts: 3 subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Body Cathexis Scale, and demographic items. Results: A total of 6.8% of FS-As were susceptible to anorexia and 1.8% were susceptible to bulimia. The majority of FS-As (61%) reported normal self-esteem levels, whereas 29.4% had high self-esteem. Overall, 64.5% were satisfied and 23% were very satisfied with their body image. Conclusions: These results are generally positive in that they suggest FS-As have high levels of self-concept and are at low risk to develop EDs. However, these findings do not mean that all concerns should be dismissed. Although more than 90% of the respondents were not susceptible to an ED, there are still FS-As who may be. Athletic departments should evaluate their FS-As' levels of self-concept so that their susceptibility to EDs can be addressed. The emotional aspect of health care should be included in providing holistic care for student–athletes. Athletic trainers often are the primary health care providers for FS-As, so they should be made aware of this concern. PMID:24762233

Comparison of antibiotic susceptibility of Escherichia coli in urinary isolates from an emergency department with other institutional susceptibility data.

Science.gov (United States)

Zatorski, Catherine; Jordan, Jeanne A; Cosgrove, Sara E; Zocchi, Mark; May, Larissa

2015-12-15

The antibiotic susceptibility of Escherichia coli in isolates from patients with uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) in an emergency department (ED) was compared with susceptibility data from the associated hospital. Patients eligible for study participation included women age 18-65 years with one or more symptoms consistent with a UTI for whom a urine dipstick, urinalysis, or urine culture was ordered. Clinical decision-making, including the decision to order a urine culture, was at the discretion of the individual healthcare provider; however, a deidentified urine culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed for those study participants for whom a urine culture was not ordered. We compared the E. coli-specific antibiogram for uncomplicated UTI to the antibiogram based on all urine cultures in the ED regardless of patient disposition, non-intensive care unit (ICU) hospital inpatients, and the hospitalwide antibiogram. Of the 578 ED patients screened for study eligibility, 119 met the inclusion criteria. E. coli, detected in 53 (74%) of the 72 pathogen-positive cultures, was the most common pathogen isolated. For E. coli, ciprofloxacin nonsusceptibility was significantly less common in isolates from ED patients with uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis than in isolates from non-ICU inpatients or from the hospitalwide population. E. coli nonsusceptibility to ciprofloxacin was significantly less common in ED isolates from patients with uncomplicated UTI than in isolates from all ED patients with clinician-ordered urine cultures. Antibiotic susceptibility of E. coli in an ED and its associated hospital depended on factors such as whether patients were hospitalized and whether ED isolates were from patients with uncomplicated UTI. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Color preferences in participants with high or low hypnotic susceptibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu E

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Enyan Yu,1,2 Junpeng Zhu,1,2 Yunfei Tan,1,2 Zhengluan Liao,1,2 Yaju Qiu,1,2 Bingren Zhang,3 Chu Wang,3 Wei Wang3 1Department of Psychiatry, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Psychiatry, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry/School of Public health, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China Purpose: Color preferences vary among normal individuals and psychiatric patients, and this might be related to their different levels of hypnotic susceptibility. We hypothesized that individuals with higher hypnotic susceptibility prefer more arousing colors such as red.Patients and methods: Out of 440 participants, we selected 70 with higher (HIGH and 66 with lower (LOW hypnotic susceptibilities, and asked them to undergo the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSSC test, then to order their preferences of 11 colors.Results: The HIGH group preferred red more and scored higher on the total SHSSC. The preference order of black was negatively predicted by the SHSSC Taste hallucination but positively by Arm rigidity, and the preference of yellow was positively predicted by Posthypnotic amnesia and Taste hallucination in the HIGH group.Conclusion: The red preference and the SHSSC associations with black and yellow preferences in participants with high hypnotic susceptibility help to clarify the individual difference of color preference and provide research hints for behavioral studies in normal individuals and psychiatric patients. Keywords: color perception, healthy people, the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSSC

Magnetic susceptibility measuring probe utilizing a compensation coil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonnet, Jean; Fournet, Julien.

1978-01-01

This invention concerns a magnetic susceptibility measuring probe. It is used, inter alia, in logging, to wit continuous logging of the magnetic susceptibility of the ground throughout the length of a bore hole. The purpose of this invention is to increase the sensitivity of this type of probe by creating a side focusing effect . To this end, it provides for the use of a compensation winding, coaxial with the measurement winding and arranged symmetrically to the latter with respect to the centre of the induction windings [fr

Antimicrobial susceptibility in community-acquired bacterial ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objectives: To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, two bacterial pathogens commonly associated with communityacquired pneumonia. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Bacterial isolates were obtained from adults suspected to have ...

Antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria in Ontario, 2010-2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchand-Austin, Alex; Rawte, Prasad; Toye, Baldwin; Jamieson, Frances B; Farrell, David J; Patel, Samir N

2014-08-01

The local epidemiology of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in anaerobic bacteria is important in guiding the empiric treatment of infections. However, susceptibility data are very limited on anaerobic organisms, particularly among non-Bacteroides organisms. To determine susceptibility profiles of clinically-significant anaerobic bacteria in Ontario Canada, anaerobic isolates from sterile sites submitted to Public Health Ontario Laboratory (PHOL) for identification and susceptibility testing were included in this study. Using the E-test method, isolates were tested for various antimicrobials including, penicillin, cefoxitin, clindamycin, meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam and metronidazole. The MIC results were interpreted based on guidelines published by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Of 2527 anaerobic isolates submitted to PHOL, 1412 were either from sterile sites or bronchial lavage, and underwent susceptibility testing. Among Bacteroides fragilis, 98.2%, 24.7%, 1.6%, and 1.2% were resistant to penicillin, clindamycin, piperacillin-tazobactam, and metronidazole, respectively. Clostridium perfringens was universally susceptible to penicillin, piperacillin-tazobactam, and meropenem, whereas 14.2% of other Clostridium spp. were resistant to penicillin. Among Gram-positive anaerobes, Actinomyces spp., Parvimonas micra and Propionibacterium spp. were universally susceptible to β-lactams. Eggerthella spp., Collinsella spp., and Eubacterium spp. showed variable resistance to penicillin. Among Gram-negative anaerobes, Fusobacterium spp., Prevotella spp., and Veillonella spp. showed high resistance to penicillin but were universally susceptible to meropenem and piperacillin-tazobactam. The detection of metronidazole resistant B. fragilis is concerning as occurrence of these isolates is extremely rare. These data highlight the importance of ongoing surveillance to provide clinically relevant information to clinicians for empiric management of

Speciation and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of coagulase-negative staphylococci.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, D J; Kaplan, R L; Landau, W; Trenholme, G M

1982-08-01

During a six month period, 191 isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci from blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid and heart valves were identified to species level and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility. Seventy-one percent of isolates were Staphylococcus epidermidis, 8% Staphylococcus warneri, 7% Staphylococcus hominis, 7% Staphylococcus haemolyticus, 4% Staphylococcus capitis, 2% Staphylococcus saprophyticus and 1% Staphylococcus cohnii. Approximately 4% of isolates were felt to be associated with infection. Overall, 18% of isolates were susceptible to penicillin G, 61% oxacillin, 98% cephalothin, 98% cefamandole, 72% cefotaxime, 95% cefsulodin, 76% gentamicin, 64% clindamycin and 98% rifampicin. All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin. Vancomycin, rifampicin, cephalothin and cefamandole showed excellent activity against oxacillin-resistant isolates. With one exception, speciation was not helpful in determining whether or not an isolate was associated with infection.

Study of the magnetic susceptibilities of some plutonium derivatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raphael, G.

1969-06-01

We present a detailed description of an automatic recording apparatus for magnetic susceptibility measurement of radioactive samples in the temperature range 4 K - 1200 K. We have measured the magnetic susceptibility of various plutonium compounds: - PuO 2 , Pu 2 O 3 , PuO 2-x , - PuS, Pu 2 S 3 , Pu 3 S 4 , (U x Pu 1-x )S - PuN - PuC 1-x (N,O,H,vacancy), Pu 2 C 3 , (U 0.85 Pu 0.15 )C. The curves of susceptibilities versus temperature show many magnetic transitions. The interpretation of these results shows the existence of magnetic moments carried by the 5 f electrons and localized on the metallic sites as well as the great influence of the 'crystal field' in all these compounds. (author) [fr

Investigation of odd-order nonlinear susceptibilities in atomic vapors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yan, Yaqi [Key Laboratory for Physical Electronics and Devices of the Ministry of Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Information Photonic Technique, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Teaching and Research Section of Maths and Physics, Guangzhou Commanding Academy of Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, Guangzhou, 510440 (China); Wu, Zhenkun; Si, Jinhai; Yan, Lihe; Zhang, Yiqi; Yuan, Chenzhi; Sun, Jia [Key Laboratory for Physical Electronics and Devices of the Ministry of Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Information Photonic Technique, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Zhang, Yanpeng, E-mail: ypzhang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory for Physical Electronics and Devices of the Ministry of Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Information Photonic Technique, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China)

2013-06-15

We theoretically deduce the macroscopic symmetry constraints for arbitrary odd-order nonlinear susceptibilities in homogeneous media including atomic vapors for the first time. After theoretically calculating the expressions using a semiclassical method, we demonstrate that the expressions for third- and fifth-order nonlinear susceptibilities for undressed and dressed four- and six-wave mixing (FWM and SWM) in atomic vapors satisfy the macroscopic symmetry constraints. We experimentally demonstrate consistence between the macroscopic symmetry constraints and the semiclassical expressions for atomic vapors by observing polarization control of FWM and SWM processes. The experimental results are in reasonable agreement with our theoretical calculations. -- Highlights: •The macroscopic symmetry constraints are deduced for homogeneous media including atomic vapors. •We demonstrate that odd-order nonlinear susceptibilities satisfy the constraints. •We experimentally demonstrate the deduction in part.

Magnetic susceptibility of sodium disilicate glasses containing PuO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aldred, A.T.

1979-01-01

A solubility limit of approx. 6 mol % PuO 2 in sodium disilicate (Na 2 O.2SiO 2 ) glass has been determined. Magnetic susceptibility measurements on these glasses yield approximate Curie-Weiss behavior, in contrast to the temperature-independent susceptibility of crystalline PuO 2 . This result is interpreted to indicate that the local site symmetry around the Pu ion in the sodium disilicate glass is much different than in crystalline PuO 2 . The effective paramagnetic moments determined from the temperature dependence of the susceptibility are found to be consistent with calculated free-ion values based on the most likely 5f electron configurations

Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain with reduced susceptibilities to extended-spectrum cephalosporins.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Duylinh; Gose, Severin; Castro, Lina; Chung, Kathleen; Bernstein, Kyle; Samuel, Micheal; Bauer, Heidi; Pandori, Mark

2014-07-01

The spread of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with reduced susceptibility to extended-spectrum cephalosporins is an increasing public health threat. Using Etest and multiantigen sequence typing, we detected sequence type 1407, which is associated with reduced susceptibilities to extended-spectrum cephalosporins, in 4 major populated regions in California, USA, in 2012.

Comparative drug susceptibility study of five clonal strains of Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Hemantkumar Somabhai Chaudhari; Prati Pal Singh

2011-01-01

Objective: To produce comparative data on a group of Trichomonas vaginalis clonal strains with varied drug responses using identical methods and materials. Methods: Five clonal strains of Trichomonas vaginalis were isolated from reference strain using agar plate technique. The variability of growth kinetic and susceptibility of clonal strain to metronidazole, tinidazole, satranidazole and nitazoxanide were observed in 96 well microtitre plate. Results: Among these clonal strains there was a good correlation between rates of growth with the relative susceptibility of the strains to drugs in vitro. Regarding metronidazole, tinidazole and satranidazole susceptibility, different degrees of susceptibility were determined. However, no difference in nitazoxanide susceptibility was found between the clonal strain tested and a reference strain.Conclusions: This is the first description of biological variability in clonal stock of Trichomonas vaginalis. Different degrees of drug susceptibility were determined among clonal strains tested. Further studies will be necessary to ascertain the importance of this variability in clinical infection.

antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Salmonella species

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

GLOBAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE VOL. 2 NO. 1 & 2 2009: 5 - ... This study is a review of the contemporary antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of. Salmonella species. ... south-east Asia, parts of Latin America, the. Caribbean, and ...

Susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemics on networks with general infection and cure times

Science.gov (United States)

Cator, E.; van de Bovenkamp, R.; Van Mieghem, P.

2013-06-01

The classical, continuous-time susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) Markov epidemic model on an arbitrary network is extended to incorporate infection and curing or recovery times each characterized by a general distribution (rather than an exponential distribution as in Markov processes). This extension, called the generalized SIS (GSIS) model, is believed to have a much larger applicability to real-world epidemics (such as information spread in online social networks, real diseases, malware spread in computer networks, etc.) that likely do not feature exponential times. While the exact governing equations for the GSIS model are difficult to deduce due to their non-Markovian nature, accurate mean-field equations are derived that resemble our previous N-intertwined mean-field approximation (NIMFA) and so allow us to transfer the whole analytic machinery of the NIMFA to the GSIS model. In particular, we establish the criterion to compute the epidemic threshold in the GSIS model. Moreover, we show that the average number of infection attempts during a recovery time is the more natural key parameter, instead of the effective infection rate in the classical, continuous-time SIS Markov model. The relative simplicity of our mean-field results enables us to treat more general types of SIS epidemics, while offering an easier key parameter to measure the average activity of those general viral agents.

The BTNL2 G16071A gene polymorphism increases granulomatous disease susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Xiang; Ma, Yao; Niu, Xundong; Yan, Zhipeng; Liu, Sitong; Peng, Bo; Peng, Shifeng; Fan, Hong

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective: The butyrophilin-like 2 (BTNL2) G16071A gene polymorphism has been implicated in the susceptibility to granulomatous diseases, but the results were inconclusive. The objective of the current study was to precisely explore the relationship between BTNL2 G16071A gene polymorphism and granulomatous disease susceptibility by the meta-analysis including false-positive report probability (FPRP) test. Methods: A systematic literature search in the PubMed, Embase, and Wanfang databases, China National Knowledge Internet, and commercial Internet search engines was conducted to identify studies published up to April 1, 2016. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the effect size. Statistical analysis was conducted using the STATA 12.0 software and FPRP test sheet. Results: In total, all 4324 cases and 4386 controls from 14 eligible studies were included in the current meta-analysis. By the overall meta-analysis, we found a significant association between BTNL2 G16071A gene polymorphism and granulomatous disease susceptibility (A vs G: OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.07–1.45, P = 0.005). The meta-regression analyses showed that a large proportion of the between-study heterogeneity was significantly attributed to the ethnicity (A vs G, P = 0.013) and the types of granulomatous diseases (A vs G, P = 0.002). By the subgroup meta-analysis, the BTNL2 G16071A gene polymorphism was associated with granulomatous disease susceptibility in Caucasians (A vs G: OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.18–1.58, P susceptibility (A vs G: OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.39–1.66, P susceptibility (A vs G, FPRP susceptibility among Caucasians (A vs G, FPRP susceptibility, especially increasing the sarcoidosis susceptibility. In addition, the polymorphism may be greatly associated with likelihood of granulomatous diseases among Caucasians. PMID:27472712

Susceptibility to hypoxia and breathing control changes after short-term cold exposures

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Lyudmila T. Kovtun

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Background . Hypoxia is the reduction of oxygen availability due to external or internal causes. There is large individual variability of response to hypoxia. Objective . The aim of this study was to define individual and typological features in susceptibility to hypoxia, its interrelation with hypoxic and hypercapnic ventilatory responses (HVR and HCVR, respectively and their changes after cold acclimation. Design . Twenty-four healthy men were tested. HVR and HCVR were measured by the rebreathing method during hypoxic and hypercapnic tests, respectively. These tests were carried out in thermoneutral conditions before and after cold exposures (nude, at 13°C, 2 h daily, for 10 days. Susceptibility to hypoxia (sSaO2 was determined as haemoglobin saturation slope during hypoxic test. Results . It was found that HVR and HCVR significantly increased and susceptibility to hypoxia (sSaO2 tended to decrease after cold acclimation. According to sSaO2 results before cold exposures, the group was divided into 3: Group 1 – with high susceptibility to hypoxia, Group 2 – medium and Group 3 – low susceptibility. Analysis of variances (MANOVA shows the key role of susceptibility to hypoxia and cold exposures and their interrelation. Posterior analysis (Fisher LSD showed significant difference in susceptibility to hypoxia between the groups prior to cold acclimation, while HVR and HCVR did not differ between the groups. After cold acclimation, susceptibility to hypoxia was not significantly different between the groups, while HCVR significantly increased in Groups 1 and 3, HVR significantly increased in Group 3 and HCVR, HVR did not change in Group 2. Conclusions . Short-term cold exposures caused an increase in functional reserves and improved oxygen supply of tissues in Group 1. Cold exposure hypoxia has caused energy loss in Group 3. Group 2 showed the most appropriate energy conservation reaction mode to cold exposures. No relation was found between

Etest cannot be recommended for in vitro susceptibility testing of mucorales.

Science.gov (United States)

Caramalho, Rita; Maurer, Elisabeth; Binder, Ulrike; Araújo, Ricardo; Dolatabadi, Somayeh; Lass-Flörl, Cornelia; Lackner, Michaela

2015-01-01

Amphotericin B and posaconazole susceptibility patterns were determined for the most prevalent Mucorales, following EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) broth microdilution guidelines. In parallel, Etest was performed and evaluated against EUCAST. The overall agreement of MICs gained with Etest and EUCAST was 75.1%; therefore, Etest cannot be recommended for antifungal susceptibility testing of Mucorales. Amphotericin B was the most active drug against Mucorales species in vitro, while the activities of posaconazole were more restricted. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Possible individual variation in susceptibility to radiation-induced genetic changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gentner, N.E.; Walker, J.A.

1990-01-01

Several studies have shown variation between individuals in radiosensitivity. A person could have a high level of cytogenetic indicator because of high exposure or high susceptibility. To relate spontaneous cytogenetic end-points to dose it is advisable to have a measure of both the spontaneous level and of induced susceptibility. These end points need to be compared in irradiated persons who have developed cancer versus those who have not, as a guide to what end points are appropriate for susceptibility to radiogenic cancer. The use of inbred rodent strains may not be appropriate to derive specific locus mutation data relevant to the human situation, in which large differences in susceptibility appear to exist. Variability in response because of differential DNA repair capacity should be kept in mind when evaluating existing human data. For accident situations, using acute exposures for testing susceptibility may be appropriate, but to be relevant to low dose, low dose rate exposures, more use of protracted dose delivery in testing is recommended. There is a need for international collaborative study where these different tests are done on the same donors at the same time. It might now be prudent for radiation protection to take into account the occurrence of critical groups in the population on the basis of their increased radiation sensitivity. (12 refs., 3 figs.)

Autolysis of methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.

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Gustafson, J E; Berger-Bächi, B; Strässle, A; Wilkinson, B J

1992-01-01

The autolytic activities, including unstimulated, Triton X-100-stimulated, and daptomycin-induced, of various sets of methicillin-resistant and related methicillin-susceptible strains were compared. Faster rates of autolysis were noted in two heterogeneous methicillin-resistant transductants than in their methicillin-susceptible parental recipients, in a heterogeneous resistant strain than in a susceptible derivative created by chemical mutagenesis, and in a homogeneous resistant strain than in a derivative that had decreased methicillin resistance and was created by transposon Tn551 mutagenesis. These results suggest that the presence of the methicillin resistance region, mec, either directly or indirectly through an interaction with other host genes, confers a faster rate of autolysis on strains. Various auxilliary genes are known to affect methicillin resistance expression, and one of these genes, femA, was necessary for the expression of this faster rate of autolysis. These differences in autolytic activities were not observed in isolated crude cell walls retaining autolytic activities, suggesting different modes of regulation of autolysins in intact cells and isolated walls. In contrast, one homogeneous, highly resistant strain, DU4916, had a lower autolytic activity than did derived heterogeneous resistant and susceptible strains created by chemical mutagenesis and a strain that had decreased resistance and was created by transposon mutagenesis. Our observations suggest that methicillin resistance expression is associated with an enhanced rate of autolysis, in heterogeneous resistant strains at least. Images PMID:1320363

Effects of tissue susceptibility on brain temperature mapping.

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Maudsley, Andrew A; Goryawala, Mohammed Z; Sheriff, Sulaiman

2017-02-01

A method for mapping of temperature over a large volume of the brain using volumetric proton MR spectroscopic imaging has been implemented and applied to 150 normal subjects. Magnetic susceptibility-induced frequency shifts in gray- and white-matter regions were measured and included as a correction in the temperature mapping calculation. Additional sources of magnetic susceptibility variations of the individual metabolite resonance frequencies were also observed that reflect the cellular-level organization of the brain metabolites, with the most notable differences being attributed to changes of the N-Acetylaspartate resonance frequency that reflect the intra-axonal distribution and orientation of the white-matter tracts with respect to the applied magnetic field. These metabolite-specific susceptibility effects are also shown to change with age. Results indicate no change of apparent brain temperature with age from 18 to 84 years old, with a trend for increased brain temperature throughout the cerebrum in females relative for males on the order of 0.1°C; slightly increased temperatures in the left hemisphere relative to the right; and a lower temperature of 0.3°C in the cerebellum relative to that of cerebral white-matter. This study presents a novel acquisition method for noninvasive measurement of brain temperature that is of potential value for diagnostic purposes and treatment monitoring, while also demonstrating limitations of the measurement due to the confounding effects of tissue susceptibility variations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Back to the Future: Penicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.

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Cheng, Matthew P; René, Pierre; Cheng, Alexandre P; Lee, Todd C

2016-12-01

Widespread penicillin usage rapidly resulted in the emergence of penicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. However, new data suggest that penicillin susceptibility may be in a period of renaissance. The objective of our study was to quantify penicillin resistance in methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteremia. We retrospectively reviewed all adult MSSA bacteremia from April 2010 to April 2015 at the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal, QC, Canada). Susceptibility to penicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) was determined in accordance with the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. There were 324 unique episodes of MSSA bacteremia. Ninety (28%) isolates were susceptible to penicillin, 229 (71%) to erythromycin, 239 (74%) to clindamycin, and 317 (98%) to TMP-SMX. Isolates that were penicillin resistant were more likely to also be resistant to other antibiotics, but a statistically significant association was apparent only for erythromycin resistance (76/234, 32.2% vs 19/90, 21.1%, P = .04). The median age of patients was 67.5 years (interquartile range 52-78) and overall in-hospital 30-day mortality was 16.3% (53 deaths). After adjustment for patient age, there was no association between penicillin resistance and either intensive care unit admission or death. More than one-quarter of patients with MSSA bacteremia potentially could be treated with parenteral penicillin, which may offer pharmacokinetic advantages over other beta-lactam drugs and potentially improved outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genetic architecture of intrinsic antibiotic susceptibility.

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Hany S Girgis

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Antibiotic exposure rapidly selects for more resistant bacterial strains, and both a drug's chemical structure and a bacterium's cellular network affect the types of mutations acquired.To better characterize the genetic determinants of antibiotic susceptibility, we exposed a transposon-mutagenized library of Escherichia coli to each of 17 antibiotics that encompass a wide range of drug classes and mechanisms of action. Propagating the library for multiple generations with drug concentrations that moderately inhibited the growth of the isogenic parental strain caused the abundance of strains with even minor fitness advantages or disadvantages to change measurably and reproducibly. Using a microarray-based genetic footprinting strategy, we then determined the quantitative contribution of each gene to E. coli's intrinsic antibiotic susceptibility. We found both loci whose removal increased general antibiotic tolerance as well as pathways whose down-regulation increased tolerance to specific drugs and drug classes. The beneficial mutations identified span multiple pathways, and we identified pairs of mutations that individually provide only minor decreases in antibiotic susceptibility but that combine to provide higher tolerance.Our results illustrate that a wide-range of mutations can modulate the activity of many cellular resistance processes and demonstrate that E. coli has a large mutational target size for increasing antibiotic tolerance. Furthermore, the work suggests that clinical levels of antibiotic resistance might develop through the sequential accumulation of chromosomal mutations of small individual effect.

Evaluation of Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Enterobacteriaceae Causing Urinary Tract Infections in Africa

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Tansarli, Giannoula S.; Athanasiou, Stavros

2013-01-01

Our objective was to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility of Enterobacteriaceae causing urinary tract infections (UTIs) in adults in Africa. The PubMed database was systematically searched to identify relevant studies published after 2000. Google, World Health Organization, and African Field Epidemiology networks were also searched. Twenty-eight studies, accounting for 381,899 urine isolates from 14 African countries, met the inclusion criteria. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., and Proteus spp. were the most commonly encountered uropathogens. Cefotaxime, imipenem, fosfomycin, and ciprofloxacin were the antibiotics with the highest activity against E. coli isolates from outpatients, with susceptibility being 92 to 99, 100, 100, and 68 to 91%, respectively. The susceptibility among Klebsiella spp. isolates from outpatients varied from 80 to 100% for amikacin and from 53 to 100% for ciprofloxacin, while susceptibility was 74 to 78, 97, and 77% for ciprofloxacin, amikacin, and fosfomycin, respectively, among Klebsiella species isolates from inpatients or patients with hospital-acquired UTIs. With regard to Proteus spp., the highest activity was observed among fluoroquinolones; 71 to 100% of the P. mirabilis isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin in four studies, and 74 to 100% of the P. vulgaris isolates were susceptible to ofloxacin in two studies. The currently available evidence suggests that the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Enterobacteriaceae uropathogens in African countries were similar to those in countries of southeast Europe. Further original studies are warranted from African countries for which there is limited published data. PMID:23689709

Can motor imagery and hypnotic susceptibility explain Conversion Disorder with motor symptoms?

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Srzich, Alexander J; Byblow, Winston D; Stinear, James W; Cirillo, John; Anson, J Greg

2016-08-01

Marked distortions in sense of agency can be induced by hypnosis in susceptible individuals, including alterations in subjective awareness of movement initiation and control. These distortions, with associated disability, are similar to those experienced with Conversion Disorder (CD), an observation that has led to the hypothesis that hypnosis and CD share causal mechanisms. The purpose of this review is to explore the relationships among motor imagery (MI), hypnotic susceptibility, and CD, then to propose how MI ability may contribute to hypnotic responding and CD. Studies employing subjective assessments of mental imagery have found little association between imagery abilities and hypnotic susceptibility. A positive association between imagery abilities and hypnotic susceptibility becomes apparent when objective measures of imagery ability are employed. A candidate mechanism to explain motor responses during hypnosis is kinaesthetic MI, which engages a strategy that involves proprioception or the "feel" of movement when no movement occurs. Motor suppression imagery (MSI), a strategy involving inhibition of movement, may provide an alternate objective measurable phenomenon that underlies both hypnotic susceptibility and CD. Evidence to date supports the idea that there may be a positive association between kinaesthetic MI ability and hypnotic susceptibility. Additional evidence supports a positive association between hypnotic susceptibility and CD. Disturbances in kinaesthetic MI performance in CD patients indicate that MI mechanisms may also underlie CD symptoms. Further investigation of the above relationships is warranted to explain these phenomena, and establish theoretical explanations underlying sense of agency. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Vector Susceptibility of QCD Vacuum from an Effective Quark-Quark Interaction

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZONG Hong-Shi; QI Shi; CHEN Wei; WU Xiao-Hua

2003-01-01

.A new approach for calculating vacuum susceptibilities from an effective quark-quark interaction model is derived. As a special case, the vector vacuum susceptibility is calculated. A comparison with the results of the previous approaches is given.

Retrieval of high-order susceptibilities of nonlinear metamaterials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Zhi-Yu; Qiu Jin-Peng; Chen Hua; Mo Jiong-Jiong; Yu Fa-Xin

2017-01-01

Active metamaterials embedded with nonlinear elements are able to exhibit strong nonlinearity in microwave regime. However, existing S -parameter based parameter retrieval approaches developed for linear metamaterials do not apply in nonlinear cases. In this paper, a retrieval algorithm of high-order susceptibilities for nonlinear metamaterials is derived. Experimental demonstration shows that, by measuring the power level of each harmonic while sweeping the incident power, high-order susceptibilities of a thin-layer nonlinear metamaterial can be effectively retrieved. The proposedapproach can be widely used in the research of active metamaterials. (paper)

A major genetic component of BSE susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Juling, Katrin; Schwarzenbacher, Hermann; Williams, John L; Fries, Ruedi

2006-01-01

Background Coding variants of the prion protein gene (PRNP) have been shown to be major determinants for the susceptibility to transmitted prion diseases in humans, mice and sheep. However, to date, the effects of polymorphisms in the coding and regulatory regions of bovine PRNP on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) susceptibility have been considered marginal or non-existent. Here we analysed two insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphisms in the regulatory region of bovine PRNP in BSE affected animals and controls of four independent cattle populations from UK and Germany. Results In the present report, we show that two previously reported 23- and 12-bp insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphisms in the regulatory region of bovine PRNP are strongly associated with BSE incidence in cattle. Genotyping of BSE-affected and control animals of UK Holstein, German Holstein, German Brown and German Fleckvieh breeds revealed a significant overrepresentation of the deletion alleles at both polymorphic sites in diseased animals (P = 2.01 × 10-3 and P = 8.66 × 10-5, respectively). The main effect on susceptibility is associated with the 12-bp indel polymorphism. Compared with non-carriers, heterozygous and homozygous carriers of the 12-bp deletion allele possess relatively higher risks of having BSE, ranging from 1.32 to 4.01 and 1.74 to 3.65 in the different breeds. These values correspond to population attributable risks ranging from 35% to 53%. Conclusion Our results demonstrate a substantial genetic PRNP associated component for BSE susceptibility in cattle. Although the BSE risk conferred by the deletion allele of the 12-bp indel in the regulatory region of PRNP is substantial, the main risk factor for BSE in cattle is environmental, i.e. exposure to feedstuffs contaminated with the infectious agent. PMID:17014722

A major genetic component of BSE susceptibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Williams John L

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Coding variants of the prion protein gene (PRNP have been shown to be major determinants for the susceptibility to transmitted prion diseases in humans, mice and sheep. However, to date, the effects of polymorphisms in the coding and regulatory regions of bovine PRNP on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE susceptibility have been considered marginal or non-existent. Here we analysed two insertion/deletion (indel polymorphisms in the regulatory region of bovine PRNP in BSE affected animals and controls of four independent cattle populations from UK and Germany. Results In the present report, we show that two previously reported 23- and 12-bp insertion/deletion (indel polymorphisms in the regulatory region of bovine PRNP are strongly associated with BSE incidence in cattle. Genotyping of BSE-affected and control animals of UK Holstein, German Holstein, German Brown and German Fleckvieh breeds revealed a significant overrepresentation of the deletion alleles at both polymorphic sites in diseased animals (P = 2.01 × 10-3 and P = 8.66 × 10-5, respectively. The main effect on susceptibility is associated with the 12-bp indel polymorphism. Compared with non-carriers, heterozygous and homozygous carriers of the 12-bp deletion allele possess relatively higher risks of having BSE, ranging from 1.32 to 4.01 and 1.74 to 3.65 in the different breeds. These values correspond to population attributable risks ranging from 35% to 53%. Conclusion Our results demonstrate a substantial genetic PRNP associated component for BSE susceptibility in cattle. Although the BSE risk conferred by the deletion allele of the 12-bp indel in the regulatory region of PRNP is substantial, the main risk factor for BSE in cattle is environmental, i.e. exposure to feedstuffs contaminated with the infectious agent.

Computational Integration of Human Genetic Data to Evaluate AOP-Specific Susceptibility

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There is a need for approaches to efficiently evaluate human genetic variability and susceptibility related to environmental chemical exposure. Direct estimation of the genetic contribution to variability in susceptibility to environmental chemicals is only possible in special ca...

Possible origins of the susceptibility contrast in the brain. Presidential award proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukunaga, Masaki; Li, T.Q.; Lee, J.; Matsuura, Eiji; Gelderen, P.V.; Zwart, J.A. de; Merkle, H.; Duyn, J.H.

2011-01-01

The magnetic susceptibility contrast derived from high resolution T 2 *-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at ultra high field strength has been used to reveal laminar contrast in the gray matter (GM) and fiber bundle-like structure in the white matter (WM) of the human brain. This contrast has been attributed to subtle variations in the magnetic properties of brain tissue, which possibly reflect varying iron and myelin content and haemoglobin in the microvasculature. To investigate the origin of this contrast, MRI data from postmortem brain samples were compared with histological staining for iron and myelin. The laminar susceptibility variations in GM strongly correlate with local iron content, which generally co-localized with myelin. On the other hand, fiber bundles in white matter, shows strong susceptibility contrast in the absence of iron while myelin is high. The results suggest that iron contributes significantly to susceptibility contrast across the cortical GM, but myelin is the dominant source of susceptibility in WM bundles. (author)

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci isolated from Bovine Mastitis

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Kaliwal B.B.

2011-08-01

Full Text Available The study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci isolated from Bovine Mastitis in and around Dharwad region. A total of 310 samples were screened and 180 confirmed Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci were obtained. The antimicrobial susceptibility of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci against 10 antimicrobial agents was tested using the disc diffusion method. The highest numbers of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci were susceptible to ceftriaxone 83.88% followed by cefotaxime 79.41%, methicillin 76.47%, ciprofloxacin 73.52%, erythromycin 70.05%, amikacin 66.11%, gentamycin 42.94%, amoxicillin 36.76%, ampicillin 29.41%, and the lowest susceptibility was shown in penicillin 23.23% . The results indicated that the increase in prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of the Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci isolated from bovine mastitis exhibited the highest degree of susceptible to ceftriaxone of all the tested antimicrobial agents. [Vet. World 2011; 4(4.000: 158-161

Pre-Use Susceptibility to Ceftaroline in Clinical Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Germany: Is There a Non-Susceptible Pool to be Selected?

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Birgit Strommenger

Full Text Available Ceftaroline is a new cephalosporin active against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA. Based on a representative collection of clinical S. aureus isolates from Germany, supplemented with isolates of clonal lineages ST228 and ST239, we demonstrate the in-vitro susceptibility towards ceftaroline prior to its introduction into clinical use for a total of 219 isolates. Susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution, disc diffusion and Etest, respectively. Results were interpreted according to EUCAST guidelines and showed considerable variance in dependence on clonal affiliation of the isolates tested. Among isolates of widespread hospital-associated lineages we found a high proportion of clinical isolates with MICs close to the EUCAST breakpoint (MIC50/90 1.0/1.5 mg/L; currently, interpretation of these "borderline" MICs is complicated by a lack of concordant susceptibility testing methods and reasonable breakpoint determination. Isolates of clonal lineages ST228 and ST239 demonstrated increased MIC50/90 values of 2.5/3.33 mg/L. Sequencing of mecA revealed no association of resistance to a specific mecA polymorphism, but rather reveals two regions in the non-penicillin-binding domain of PbP2a which displayed different combinations of mutations putatively involved in resistance development. This study provides national baseline data to (i adjust susceptibility testing methods and current breakpoints to clinical and epidemiological requirements, (ii evaluate current breakpoints with respect to therapeutic outcome and (iii monitor further resistance evolution.

Assessment of antibiotic susceptibilities, genotypic characteristics ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Jane

2011-09-28

Sep 28, 2011 ... Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella Typhimurium ... This study was designed to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibilities, genotypic characteristics and ..... Distribution of reference and virulence genes among antibiotic-sensitive S. aureus (SAS), .... environmental factors such as temperature, water activity,.

Topological susceptibility from the overlap

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Del Debbio, Luigi; Pica, Claudio

2004-01-01

The chiral symmetry at finite lattice spacing of Ginsparg-Wilson fermionic actions constrains the renormalization of the lattice operators; in particular, the topological susceptibility does not require any renormalization, when using a fermionic estimator to define the topological charge. Therefore, the overlap formalism appears as an appealing candidate to study the continuum limit of the topological susceptibility while keeping the systematic errors under theoretical control. We present results for the SU(3) pure gauge theory using the index of the overlap Dirac operator to study the topology of the gauge configurations. The topological charge is obtained from the zero modes of the overlap and using a new algorithm for the spectral flow analysis. A detailed comparison with cooling techniques is presented. Particular care is taken in assessing the systematic errors. Relatively high statistics (500 to 1000 independent configurations) yield an extrapolated continuum limit with errors that are comparable with other methods. Our current value from the overlap is χ 1/4 = 188±12±5MeV (author)

Prevalence & susceptibility to fluconazole of Candida species causing vulvovaginitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohanty, Srujana; Xess, Immaculata; Hasan, Fahmi; Kapil, Arti; Mittal, Suneeta; Tolosa, Jorge E

2007-09-01

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is an important cause of morbidity in women of reproductive age. This study was carried out to determine the species prevalence and susceptibility pattern to fluconazole of yeasts isolated from the vagina of symptomatic women. This prospective study was conducted in a rural primary health care center of north India from May 2003 to April 2004 and included 601 married, sexually active women (18-49 yr) with the self reported symptoms of vaginal discharge and/or genital itching and/or genital burning. Specific aetiology of the genitourinary symptoms including candidal infection were determined. Specimens from the lateral wall of vagina were subjected to direct wet mount microscopy and fungal culture on Sabouraud's dextrose agar. Susceptibility testing to fluconazole was carried out using broth microdilution method. Yeasts were isolated in 111 (18.5%) women and these consisted of Candida glabrata (56, 50.4%), C. albicans (39, 35.1%), C. tropicalis (12, 10.8%), C. krusei (3, 2.7%) and C. parapsilosis (1, 0.9%). Susceptibility testing carried out on 30 representative isolates (15 C. glabrata, 10 C. albicans, 4 C. tropicalis and 1 C. parapsilosis) revealed that 21 isolates (70%) were susceptible (MIC, < or = 8 microg/ml) to fluconazole while 9 (30%) were susceptible-dose dependent (S-DD, MIC 16-32 microg/ml). Our findings suggest a low prevalence of fluconazole resistance in vaginal candida isolates in our population. However, a high prevalence of non-albicans candida species and increased dose-dependent resistance in these isolates necessitates vigilance since this may warrant a change in the optimal therapy of non-albicans candida vaginitis.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Brachyspira Species Isolated in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Jih-Ching; Lo, Dan-Yuan; Chang, Shao-Kuang; Kuo, Hung-Chih

2018-03-13

Some members of the Brachyspira genus cause diseases such as swine dysentery (SD) and porcine intestinal (or colonic) spirochetosis. Severe economic losses are caused by decreased feed intake and increased feed conversion ratio, as well as costs associated with treatment and death. A loss of clinical efficacy of some antimicrobial agents authorized for treating SD has been observed in many countries. The aim of this study was to analyze the antimicrobial susceptibility of Brachyspira isolated from Taiwan and to investigate the mechanism of decreased susceptibility to macrolides. A total of 55 Brachyspira isolates obtained from the grower-finisher period were evaluated in this study. These isolates included B. hyodysenteriae (n = 37), B. murdochii (n = 11), B. pilosicoli (n = 5), B. intermedia (n = 1), and B. innocens (n = 1). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed to examine 12 selected antimicrobial agents. The results showed that the 50% and 90% minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the tested macrolides were all >256 μg/ml. The MIC 50 of lincomycin, tiamulin, carbadox, olaquindox, ampicillin, amoxicillin, doxycycline, oxytetracycline, and gentamicin were 32, 1, ≤0.125, ≤0.125, 0.5, 0.25, 2, 2, and 2 μg/ml. The genetic basis of the decreased susceptibility to tylosin and lincomycin in Brachyspira spp. was investigated and the results showed a possible connection to the mutations at position A2058 and G2032 of the 23S rRNA gene. These findings demonstrated that, in Taiwan, there may be a decrease in susceptibility of Brachyspira spp. to antimicrobials commonly used for the treatment of SD.

Constraints on iota→γγ provided by the topological susceptibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milton, K.A.

1986-01-01

The chiral Ward identities for the pseudoscalar nonet including the glueball candidate iota(1450), together with the requirement that the topological susceptibility be positive, imply that Γ(iota→γγ) is typically small (<1 keV), in agreement with recent experimental values. The topological susceptibility is, as expected, much smaller than pure-gauge-field estimates

Susceptibility testing of fish cell lines for virus isolation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ariel, Ellen; Skall, Helle Frank; Olesen, Niels Jørgen

2009-01-01

and laboratories, but also between lineages of the same cell line. To minimise the occurrence of false negatives in a cell culture based surveillance system, we have investigated methods, to select cell lineages that are relatively superior in their susceptibility to a panel of virus isolates. The procedures...... cell lineages, we increased the number of isolates of each virus, propagated stocks in a given cell line and tested all lineages of that line in use in the laboratory. Testing of relative cell line susceptibility between laboratories is carried out annually via the Inter-laboratory Proficiency Test...... sensitivity for surveillance purposes within a cell line and between laboratories.In terms of economic and practical considerations as well as attempting to approach a realistic test system, we suggest the optimal procedure for susceptibility testing of fish cell lines for virus isolation to be a combination...

Tricking the guard: exploiting plant defense for disease susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorang, J; Kidarsa, T; Bradford, C S; Gilbert, B; Curtis, M; Tzeng, S-C; Maier, C S; Wolpert, T J

2012-11-02

Typically, pathogens deploy virulence effectors to disable defense. Plants defeat effectors with resistance proteins that guard effector targets. We found that a pathogen exploits a resistance protein by activating it to confer susceptibility in Arabidopsis. The guard mechanism of plant defense is recapitulated by interactions among victorin (an effector produced by the necrotrophic fungus Cochliobolus victoriae), TRX-h5 (a defense-associated thioredoxin), and LOV1 (an Arabidopsis susceptibility protein). In LOV1's absence, victorin inhibits TRX-h5, resulting in compromised defense but not disease by C. victoriae. In LOV1's presence, victorin binding to TRX-h5 activates LOV1 and elicits a resistance-like response that confers disease susceptibility. We propose that victorin is, or mimics, a conventional pathogen virulence effector that was defeated by LOV1 and confers virulence to C. victoriae solely because it incites defense.

Magnetic-susceptibility and heat-capacity measurements on PrRhSb

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malik, S.K.; Takeya, H.; Gschneidner, K.A. Jr.

1994-01-01

Magnetic-susceptibility (ac and dc) and heat-capacity measurements have been carried out on the compound PrRhSb. These measurements reveal two magnetic transitions in this compound---one at about 18 K and the other around 6 K. In the dc susceptibility the 18-K transition is evident as the temperature below which a magnetic correlation sets in and the susceptibility is found to be field dependent. The lower transition manifests as a peak in the susceptibility of zero-field-cooled samples which were measured in low applied fields. The electronic-specific-heat coefficient, γ, is found to be 33 mJ/mol K 2 between 40 and 70 K after correcting for the lattice contribution taken to be the same as in its La analog. The γ value is fairly large for a Pr compound and may be indicative of moderately heavy quasiparticles. A Kondo-type interaction of the Pr 4f electrons with the conduction electrons may be responsible for high-magnetic-ordering temperatures and the moderately large γ value in this compound

Anisotropy of susceptibility in rocks which are magnetically nonlinear even in low fields

Science.gov (United States)

Hrouda, František; Chadima, Martin; Ježek, Josef

2018-06-01

Theory of the low-field anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) assumes a linear relationship between magnetization and magnetizing field, resulting in field-independent susceptibility. This is valid for diamagnetic and paramagnetic minerals by definition and also for pure magnetite, while in titanomagnetite, pyrrhotite and hematite the susceptibility may be clearly field-dependent even in low fields used in common AMS meter. Consequently, the use of the linear AMS theory is fully legitimate in the former minerals, but in principle incorrect in the latter ones. Automated measurement of susceptibility in 320 directions in variable low-fields ranging from 5 to 700 A m-1 was applied to more than 100 specimens of various pyrrhotite-bearing and titanomagnetite-bearing rocks. Data analysis showed that the anisotropic susceptibility remains well represented by an ellipsoid in the entire low-field span even though the ellipsoid increases its volume and eccentricity. The principal directions do not change their orientations with low-field in most specimens. Expressions for susceptibility as a function of field were found in the form of diagonal tensor whose elements are polynomials of low order. In a large proportion of samples, the susceptibility expressions can be further simplified to have one common skeleton polynomial.

Migraine aura: retracting particle-like waves in weakly susceptible cortex.

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Markus A Dahlem

Full Text Available Cortical spreading depression (SD has been suggested to underlie migraine aura. Despite a precise match in speed, the spatio-temporal patterns of SD observed in animal cortex and aura symptoms mapped to the cortical surface ordinarily differ in aspects of size and shape. We show that this mismatch is reconciled by utilizing that both pattern types bifurcate from an instability point of generic reaction-diffusion models. To classify these spatio-temporal pattern we suggest a susceptibility scale having the value sigma = 1 at the instability point. We predict that human cortex is only weakly susceptible to SD (sigma1, and potentially silent aura occurring below a second bifurcation point at sigma = 0 on the susceptible scale.

Susceptibility tensor imaging and tractography of collagen fibrils in the articular cartilage.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Hongjiang; Gibbs, Eric; Zhao, Peida; Wang, Nian; Cofer, Gary P; Zhang, Yuyao; Johnson, G Allan; Liu, Chunlei

2017-11-01

To investigate the B 0 orientation-dependent magnetic susceptibility of collagen fibrils within the articular cartilage and to determine whether susceptibility tensor imaging (STI) can detect the 3D collagen network within cartilage. Multiecho gradient echo datasets (100-μm isotropic resolution) were acquired from fixed porcine articular cartilage specimens at 9.4 T. The susceptibility tensor was calculated using phase images acquired at 12 or 15 different orientations relative to B 0 . The susceptibility anisotropy of the collagen fibril was quantified and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was compared against STI. 3D tractography was performed to visualize and track the collagen fibrils with DTI and STI. STI experiments showed the distinct and significant anisotropic magnetic susceptibility of collagen fibrils within the articular cartilage. STI can be used to measure and quantify susceptibility anisotropy maps. Furthermore, STI provides orientation information of the underlying collagen network via 3D tractography. The findings of this study demonstrate that STI can characterize the orientation variation of collagen fibrils where diffusion anisotropy fails. We believe that STI could serve as a sensitive and noninvasive marker to study the collagen fibrils microstructure. Magn Reson Med 78:1683-1690, 2017. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Meta-analysis and genome-wide interpretation of genetic susceptibility to drug addiction

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Classical genetic studies provide strong evidence for heritable contributions to susceptibility to developing dependence on addictive substances. Candidate gene and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have sought genes, chromosomal regions and allelic variants likely to contribute to susceptibility to drug addiction. Results Here, we performed a meta-analysis of addiction candidate gene association studies and GWAS to investigate possible functional mechanisms associated with addiction susceptibility. From meta-data retrieved from 212 publications on candidate gene association studies and 5 GWAS reports, we linked a total of 843 haplotypes to addiction susceptibility. We mapped the SNPs in these haplotypes to functional and regulatory elements in the genome and estimated the magnitude of the contributions of different molecular mechanisms to their effects on addiction susceptibility. In addition to SNPs in coding regions, these data suggest that haplotypes in gene regulatory regions may also contribute to addiction susceptibility. When we compared the lists of genes identified by association studies and those identified by molecular biological studies of drug-regulated genes, we observed significantly higher participation in the same gene interaction networks than expected by chance, despite little overlap between the two gene lists. Conclusions These results appear to offer new insights into the genetic factors underlying drug addiction. PMID:21999673

Phase transition of the susceptible-infected-susceptible dynamics on time-varying configuration model networks

Science.gov (United States)

St-Onge, Guillaume; Young, Jean-Gabriel; Laurence, Edward; Murphy, Charles; Dubé, Louis J.

2018-02-01

We present a degree-based theoretical framework to study the susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) dynamics on time-varying (rewired) configuration model networks. Using this framework on a given degree distribution, we provide a detailed analysis of the stationary state using the rewiring rate to explore the whole range of the time variation of the structure relative to that of the SIS process. This analysis is suitable for the characterization of the phase transition and leads to three main contributions: (1) We obtain a self-consistent expression for the absorbing-state threshold, able to capture both collective and hub activation. (2) We recover the predictions of a number of existing approaches as limiting cases of our analysis, providing thereby a unifying point of view for the SIS dynamics on random networks. (3) We obtain bounds for the critical exponents of a number of quantities in the stationary state. This allows us to reinterpret the concept of hub-dominated phase transition. Within our framework, it appears as a heterogeneous critical phenomenon: observables for different degree classes have a different scaling with the infection rate. This phenomenon is followed by the successive activation of the degree classes beyond the epidemic threshold.

Source-water susceptibility assessment in Texas—Approach and methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Ulery, Randy L.; Meyer, John E.; Andren, Robert W.; Newson, Jeremy K.

2011-01-01

Public water systems provide potable water for the public's use. The Safe Drinking Water Act amendments of 1996 required States to prepare a source-water susceptibility assessment (SWSA) for each public water system (PWS). States were required to determine the source of water for each PWS, the origin of any contaminant of concern (COC) monitored or to be monitored, and the susceptibility of the public water system to COC exposure, to protect public water supplies from contamination. In Texas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) was responsible for preparing SWSAs for the more than 6,000 public water systems, representing more than 18,000 surface-water intakes or groundwater wells. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) worked in cooperation with TCEQ to develop the Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) approach and methodology. Texas' SWAP meets all requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and ultimately provides the TCEQ with a comprehensive tool for protection of public water systems from contamination by up to 247 individual COCs. TCEQ staff identified both the list of contaminants to be assessed and contaminant threshold values (THR) to be applied. COCs were chosen because they were regulated contaminants, were expected to become regulated contaminants in the near future, or were unregulated but thought to represent long-term health concerns. THRs were based on maximum contaminant levels from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. For reporting purposes, COCs were grouped into seven contaminant groups: inorganic compounds, volatile organic compounds, synthetic organic compounds, radiochemicals, disinfection byproducts, microbial organisms, and physical properties. Expanding on the TCEQ's definition of susceptibility, subject-matter expert working groups formulated the SWSA approach based on assumptions that natural processes and human activities contribute COCs in quantities that vary in space

Machine learning modelling for predicting soil liquefaction susceptibility

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P. Samui

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This study describes two machine learning techniques applied to predict liquefaction susceptibility of soil based on the standard penetration test (SPT data from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake. The first machine learning technique which uses Artificial Neural Network (ANN based on multi-layer perceptions (MLP that are trained with Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation algorithm. The second machine learning technique uses the Support Vector machine (SVM that is firmly based on the theory of statistical learning theory, uses classification technique. ANN and SVM have been developed to predict liquefaction susceptibility using corrected SPT [(N₁₆₀] and cyclic stress ratio (CSR. Further, an attempt has been made to simplify the models, requiring only the two parameters [(N₁₆₀ and peck ground acceleration (a_max/g], for the prediction of liquefaction susceptibility. The developed ANN and SVM models have also been applied to different case histories available globally. The paper also highlights the capability of the SVM over the ANN models.

A landslide susceptibility map of Africa

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Broeckx, Jente; Vanmaercke, Matthias; Duchateau, Rica; Poesen, Jean

2017-04-01

Studies on landslide risks and fatalities indicate that landslides are a global threat to humans, infrastructure and the environment, certainly in Africa. Nonetheless our understanding of the spatial patterns of landslides and rockfalls on this continent is very limited. Also in global landslide susceptibility maps, Africa is mostly underrepresented in the inventories used to construct these maps. As a result, predicted landslide susceptibilities remain subject to very large uncertainties. This research aims to produce a first continent-wide landslide susceptibility map for Africa, calibrated with a well-distributed landslide dataset. As a first step, we compiled all available landslide inventories for Africa. This data was supplemented by additional landslide mapping with Google Earth in underrepresented regions. This way, we compiled 60 landslide inventories from the literature (ca. 11000 landslides) and an additional 6500 landslides through mapping in Google Earth (including 1500 rockfalls). Various environmental variables such as slope, lithology, soil characteristics, land use, precipitation and seismic activity, were investigated for their significance in explaining the observed spatial patterns of landslides. To account for potential mapping biases in our dataset, we used Monte Carlo simulations that selected different subsets of mapped landslides, tested the significance of the considered environmental variables and evaluated the performance of the fitted multiple logistic regression model against another subset of mapped landslides. Based on these analyses, we constructed two landslide susceptibility maps for Africa: one for all landslide types and one excluding rockfalls. In both maps, topography, lithology and seismic activity were the most significant variables. The latter factor may be surprising, given the overall limited degree of seismicity in Africa. However, its significance indicates that frequent seismic events may serve as in important

In Vitro Susceptibility Test of Different Clinical Isolates against Ceftriaxone

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Syed Hakim Masood

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Because of the prevailing penicillin resistance in microorganisms, broad spectrum cephalosporins are used empirically specially in developing countries. The aim of this study is to determine the susceptibility pattern of different gram positive and gram negative pathogens against third generation cephalosporin-ceftriaxone to explore the existing effectiveness of this antibiotic.Methods: 180 clinical isolates of different gram positive and gram negative pathogens including P.mirabilis, S. typhi P.aeruginosa, E. coli, S. aureus and Klebsiella were collected from blood and urine samples of in-patients. 30 isolates of all species were tested against each of six brands of ceftriaxone using in vitro sensitivity tests by disc diffusion method (NCCLS criteria. The susceptibility limit was ≥21 mm zone of inhibition, while moderately susceptible was considered at 20-14 mm, and those isolates which showed >13 mm or no zone of inhibition were resistant to this antibacterial drug.Results: Ceftriaxone was found most effective against S. aureus. While 96.1% of the isolates showed susceptibility towards ceftriaxone, followed by E. coli (95%, P. aeruginosa (92.7%, K. pneumonia (89.4% and S. typhi (87.2%. P. mirabilis showed lowest susceptibility amongst all the test organisms (83.8%.Conclusion: Ceftriaxone can be used as a drug of choice in infections caused by S. aureus, E. coli, P. aurigenosa, K. pneumonia and S. typhi. However, it should be used with other antimicrobial agents in order to increase its effectiveness against P. mirabilis.

Phosphorylcholine impairs susceptibility to biofilm formation of hydrogel contact lenses.

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Selan, Laura; Palma, Stefano; Scoarughi, Gian Luca; Papa, Rosanna; Veeh, Richard; Di Clemente, Daniele; Artini, Marco

2009-01-01

To compare silicone-hydrogel, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA), and phosphorylcholine-coated (PC-C) contact lenses in terms of their susceptibility to biofilm formation by Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Laboratory investigation. Biofilm formation on colonized test lenses was evaluated with confocal microscopy and in vitro antibiotic susceptibility assays. The results of the latter assays were compared with those performed on planktonic cultures of the same organism. For both microorganisms, sessile colonies on silicone-hydrogel and pHEMA lenses displayed lower antibiotic susceptibility than their planktonic counterparts. In contrast, the susceptibility of cultures growing on PC-C lenses was comparable with that for planktonic cultures. In particular, minimum inhibitory concentration for Tazocin (piperacillin plus tazobactam; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Aprilia, Italy; S. epidermidis) and gentamicin (P. aeruginosa) was identical, either in the presence of PC-C support or in planktonic cultures (Tazocin, aeruginosa) was two-fold higher for PC-C lenses (0.4 mug/ml) with respect to planktonic cultures (0.2 mug/ml). Confocal microscopy of lenses colonized for 24 hours with P. aeruginosa green fluorescent protein-expressing cells revealed a sessile colonization on silicone-hydrogel lens and a few isolated bacterial cells scattered widely over the surface of the PC-C lens. An increase in antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial cultures was associated with diminished bacterial adhesion. Our results indicate that PC-C lenses seem to be more resistant than silicone-hydrogel and pHEMA lenses to bacterial adhesion and colonization. This feature may facilitate their disinfection.

Repetitive immunization enhances the susceptibility of mice to peripherally administered prions.

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Juliane Bremer

Full Text Available The susceptibility of humans and animals to prion infections is determined by the virulence of the infectious agent, by genetic modifiers, and by hitherto unknown host and environmental risk factors. While little is known about the latter two, the activation state of the immune system was surmised to influence prion susceptibility. Here we administered prions to mice that were repeatedly immunized by two initial injections of CpG oligodeoxynucleotides followed by repeated injections of bovine serum albumin/alum. Immunization greatly reduced the required dosage of peripherally administered prion inoculum necessary to induce scrapie in 50% of mice. No difference in susceptibility was observed following intracerebral prion challenge. Due to its profound impact onto scrapie susceptibility, the host immune status may determine disease penetrance after low-dose prion exposure, including those that may give rise to iatrogenic and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Extended Spectrum ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Purpose: To evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of various bacterial pathogens including extended spectrum betalactamase (ESBL) producers in Kano, Nigeria. Method: A total of 604 consecutive clinical samples obtained from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano between January and July 2010 were ...

Heritable susceptibility factors for the development of cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Au, William W.

2006-01-01

High frequencies of inherited DNA sequence variations (polymorphisms) are found in the human population. The involvement of polymorphic genes (especially for chemical metabolism and DNA repair) in the development of cancer is under intensive investigation. In our studies, we have irradiated blood lymphocytes from normal non-smokers with γ-rays or UV-light to investigate genotypes and DNA repair functions. We found that XRCC1 399Gln and XRCC3 241Met were deficient in the repair of γ-ray- but not UV-light-induced DNA damage that led to the expression of chromosome aberrations; therefore the variant genotypes are defective in base excision repair. The reverse was found with XPD 312Asn and XPD 751Gln; therefore they are defective in nucleotide excision repair. XRCC1 194Trp, OGG1 326Cys and APE1 148Glu had no DNA repair deficiency based on our experimental conditions. In another study, we investigated the role of some of these genes on the development of lung cancer. We found a significant increase of chromosome aberrations in patients and controls that had the XPD 751Gln and GSTM1 null genotypes, indicating a mechanistic causation of the disease. Therefore, inheritance of susceptibility genes can have significant impact on disease burden in the population. On the other hand, there are many questions that need to be addressed in order to evaluate the impact of susceptibility on cancer. These questions include the understanding of combinations of different polymorphic genes for susceptibility and of specific disease susceptibility for different ethnic populations. (author)

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE WITH APPLICATIONS IN SUSCEPTIBLE-INFECTIOUS-SUSCEPTIBLE MODELS.

Science.gov (United States)

Ilea, M; Turnea, M; Arotăriţei, D; Rotariu, Mariana; Popescu, Marilena

2015-01-01

Practical significance of understanding the dynamics and evolution of infectious diseases increases continuously in contemporary world. The mathematical study of the dynamics of infectious diseases has a long history. By incorporating statistical methods and computer-based simulations in dynamic epidemiological models, it could be possible for modeling methods and theoretical analyses to be more realistic and reliable, allowing a more detailed understanding of the rules governing epidemic spreading. To provide the basis for a disease transmission, the population of a region is often divided into various compartments, and the model governing their relation is called the compartmental model. To present all of the information available, a graphical user interface provides icons and visual indicators. The graphical interface shown in this paper is performed using the MATLAB software ver. 7.6.0. MATLAB software offers a wide range of techniques by which data can be displayed graphically. The process of data viewing involves a series of operations. To achieve it, I had to make three separate files, one for defining the mathematical model and two for the interface itself. Considering a fixed population, it is observed that the number of susceptible individuals diminishes along with an increase in the number of infectious individuals so that in about ten days the number of individuals infected and susceptible, respectively, has the same value. If the epidemic is not controlled, it will continue for an indefinite period of time. By changing the global parameters specific of the SIS model, a more rapid increase of infectious individuals is noted. Using the graphical user interface shown in this paper helps achieving a much easier interaction with the computer, simplifying the structure of complex instructions by using icons and menus, and, in particular, programs and files are much easier to organize. Some numerical simulations have been presented to illustrate theoretical

Investigation into the prevalence and antibacterial susceptibility ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Investigation into the prevalence and antibacterial susceptibility patterns of aeromonas and plesiomonas species isolated from children with diarrhoea in Amuwo-Odofin and Surulere Local Government areas of Lagos, Nigeria.

The third order nonlinear susceptibility of InAs at infrared region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musayev, M.A.

2008-01-01

Nonlinear susceptibilities of the third order and coefficient of nonlinear absorption in InAs n-type with a different degree of a doping have been measured. The values of the third order nonlinear susceptibilities have derived from these measurements essentially exceed the values calculated on the basis of model featuring nonlinear susceptibility of electrons, being in conduction-band nonparabolicity. It has been shown that the observable discrepancy has been eliminated, if in calculation a dissipation of energy of electrons has been considered. Growth of efficiency at four-wave mixingin narrow-gap semiconductors has been restricted to nonlinear absorption of interacting waves

Receptivity to Tobacco Advertising and Susceptibility to Tobacco Products.

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, John P; Sargent, James D; White, Martha M; Borek, Nicolette; Portnoy, David B; Green, Victoria R; Kaufman, Annette R; Stanton, Cassandra A; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Strong, David R; Pearson, Jennifer L; Coleman, Blair N; Leas, Eric; Noble, Madison L; Trinidad, Dennis R; Moran, Meghan B; Carusi, Charles; Hyland, Andrew; Messer, Karen

2017-06-01

Non-cigarette tobacco marketing is less regulated and may promote cigarette smoking among adolescents. We quantified receptivity to advertising for multiple tobacco products and hypothesized associations with susceptibility to cigarette smoking. Wave 1 of the nationally representative PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study interviewed 10 751 adolescents who had never used tobacco. A stratified random selection of 5 advertisements for each of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, smokeless products, and cigars were shown from 959 recent tobacco advertisements. Aided recall was classified as low receptivity, and image-liking or favorite ad as higher receptivity. The main dependent variable was susceptibility to cigarette smoking. Among US youth, 41% of 12 to 13 year olds and half of older adolescents were receptive to at least 1 tobacco advertisement. Across each age group, receptivity to advertising was highest for e-cigarettes (28%-33%) followed by cigarettes (22%-25%), smokeless tobacco (15%-21%), and cigars (8%-13%). E-cigarette ads shown on television had the highest recall. Among cigarette-susceptible adolescents, receptivity to e-cigarette advertising (39.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 37.9%-41.6%) was higher than for cigarette advertising (31.7%; 95% CI: 29.9%-33.6%). Receptivity to advertising for each tobacco product was associated with increased susceptibility to cigarette smoking, with no significant difference across products (similar odds for both cigarette and e-cigarette advertising; adjusted odds ratio = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.09-1.37). A large proportion of US adolescent never tobacco users are receptive to tobacco advertising, with television advertising for e-cigarettes having the highest recall. Receptivity to advertising for each non-cigarette tobacco product was associated with susceptibility to smoke cigarettes. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Short Communication Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern and Beta ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Keywords: Antibiotic susceptibility, β-lactamase, Recurrent furunculosis, Staphylococcus ... processes ranging from localised abscess which can ... In this study, isolates of S.aureus from cases ... buffered penicillin G. The bacterial suspension.

Multidisciplinary approach to evaluate landslide susceptibility along highway in northern Calabria, Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Muto, Francesco; Conforti, Massimo; Critelli, Salvatore; Fabbricatore, Davide; Filomena, Luciana; Rago, Valeria; Robustelli, Gaetano; Scarciglia, Fabio; Versace, Pasquale

2014-05-01

The interaction of landslides with linear infrastructures is often the cause of disasters. In Italy landslide impact on roads, railways and buildings cause millions of Euro per year in damage and restoration as well. The proposed study is aimed to the landslide susceptibility evaluation using a multidisciplinary approach: geological and geomorphological survey, statistical analysis and GIS technique, along a section of highway "A3 (Salerno-Reggio Calabria)" between Cosenza Sud and Altilia, northern Calabria. This study is included in a wider research project, named: PON01-01503, Landslides Early Warning-Sistemi integrati per il monitoraggio e la mitigazione del rischio idrogeologico lungo le grandi vie di comunicazione - aimed at the hydrogeological risk mitigation and at the early warning along the highways. The work was first based on air-photo interpretations and field investigations, in order to realize the geological map, geomorphological map and landslide inventory map. In the study area the geomorphology is strongly controlled by its bedrock geology and tectonics. The bedrock geology consists of Neogene sedimentary rocks that cover a thick stack of allochthonous nappes. These nappes consist of crystalline rocks mainly gneiss, phyllite and schist. A total of 835 landslides were mapped and the type of movement are represented mainly by slides and complex and subordinately flow. In order to estimate and validate landslide susceptibility the landslides were divided in two group. One group (training set) was used to prepare susceptibility map and the second group (validation set) to validate the map. Then, the selection of predisposing factors was performed, according with the geological and geomorphological settings of the study area: lithology, distance from tectonic elements, land use, slope, aspect, stream power index (SPI) and plan curvature. In order to evaluate landslide susceptibility Conditional Analysis was applied to Unique Conditions Units (UCUs

Perfusion imaging with magnetic-susceptibility contrast media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosen, B.R.; Belliveau, J.W.; Betteridge, D.; Cohen, M.S.; Weisskoff, R.M.; Vevea, J.M.; Rzedzian, R.P.; Brady, T.J.

1989-01-01

In animal models, transient signal los on T2-weighted images has been well documented following intravenous injection of high-magnetic-susceptibility contrast agents that are compartmentalized within the brain intravascular space. These signal changes have been correlated with physiologic parameters, such as blood flow and volume. The advent of whole-body single-shot imaging capability, coupled with the approval of paramagnetic contrasts agents for human use, has enabled the authors to demonstrate susceptibility contrast in the human brain, allowing for generation of functional images. With use of a 1.5-T imaging system gradient-echo images (TE = 60 msec) were acquired in 75 msec. Sequential single-sections images were sampled every 1 second following bolus administration of 0.1 mmol/kg of Gd-DTPA

Effectiveness of clean-up procedures on stain susceptibility of different orthodontic adhesives

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Swati Pundlik Mane

2014-01-01

Conclusion: Chemical-cure adhesive showed higher stain susceptibility than light-cure adhesive in all clean-up procedures. Both adhesives would show less stain susceptibility with polishing step with rubber cup and pumice.

Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of oral pathogens

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veloo, A. C. M.; Seme, K.; Raangs, Gerwin; Rurenga, P.; Singadji, Z.; Wekema - Mulder, G.; van Winkelhoff, A. J.

2012-01-01

Periodontitis is a bacterial disease that can be treated with systemic antibiotics. The aim of this study was to establish the antibiotic susceptibility profiles of five periodontal pathogens to six commonly used antibiotics in periodontics. A total of 247 periodontal bacterial isolates were tested

Initial magnetic susceptibility of the diluted magnetopolymer elastic composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borin, D.Yu.; Odenbach, S.

2017-01-01

In this work diluted magnetopolymer elastic composites based on magnetic microparticles are experimentally studied. Considered samples have varied concentration of the magnetic powder and different structural anisotropy. Experimental data on magnetic properties are accomplished by microstructural observations performed using X-Ray tomography. Influence of the particles amount and structuring effects on the initial magnetic susceptibility of the composites as well as the applicability of the Maxwell-Garnett approximation, which is widely used in considerations of magnetopolymer elastic composites, are evaluated. It is demonstrated that the approximation works well for diluted samples containing randomly distributed magnetic particles and for the diluted samples with chain-like structures oriented perpendicular to an externally applied field, while it fails to predict the susceptibility of the samples with structures oriented parallel to the field. Moreover, it is shown, that variation of the chains morphology does not significantly change the composite initial magnetic susceptibility. - Highlights: • The Maxwell-Garnet prediction works well for the diluted isotropic composites. • The Maxwell-Garnet prediction can be used for composites with structures oriented perpendicular to an applied field. • Chains oriented parallel to an applied field significantly increase the composite initial magnetic susceptibility. • The number and thickness of chains is not of the highest importance for the diluted composites. • The crucial reason of the observed effect is expected to be the demagnetisation factor of the chains.

AC susceptibility of thin Pb films in intermediate and mixed state

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janu, Zdenek, E-mail: janu@fzu.cz [Institute of Physics of the AS CR, v.v.i., Na Slovance 2, CZ-182 21 Prague 8 (Czech Republic); Svindrych, Zdenek [Institute of Physics of the AS CR, v.v.i., Na Slovance 2, CZ-182 21 Prague 8 (Czech Republic); Trunecek, Otakar [Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ke Karlovu 3, CZ-121 16 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Kus, Peter; Plecenik, Andrej [Komenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics, Mlynska dolina, 842 48 Bratislava 4 (Slovakia)

2011-12-15

Thickness dependent transition in AC susceptibility between intermediate and mixed state in type-I superconducting films. The temperature induced crossover between reversible and irreversible behavior was observed in the thicker film. The temperature dependence of the AC susceptibility in mixed state follows prediction of model based on Bean critical state. The temperature dependence of the harmonics of the complex AC susceptibility in the intermediate state is explained. Thin films of type I superconductors of a thickness comparable or less than a flux penetration length behave like type II superconductors in a mixed state. With decreasing film thickness normal domains carrying a magnetic flux get smaller with smaller number of flux quanta per domain and finally transform into single quantum flux lines, i.e. quantum vortices similar to those found in type II superconductors. We give an evidence of this behavior from the measurements of the nonlinear response of a total magnetic moment to an applied AC magnetic field, directly from the temperature dependence of an AC susceptibility.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM): Decoding MRI data for a tissue magnetic biomarker

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Liu, Tian

2015-01-01

In MRI, the main magnetic field polarizes the electron cloud of a molecule, generating a chemical shift for observer protons within the molecule and a magnetic susceptibility inhomogeneity field for observer protons outside the molecule. The number of water protons surrounding a molecule for detecting its magnetic susceptibility is vastly greater than the number of protons within the molecule for detecting its chemical shift. However, the study of tissue magnetic susceptibility has been hindered by poor molecular specificities of hitherto used methods based on MRI signal phase and T2* contrast, which depend convolutedly on surrounding susceptibility sources. Deconvolution of the MRI signal phase can determine tissue susceptibility but is challenged by the lack of MRI signal in the background and by the zeroes in the dipole kernel. Recently, physically meaningful regularizations, including the Bayesian approach, have been developed to enable accurate quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) for studying iron distribution, metabolic oxygen consumption, blood degradation, calcification, demyelination, and other pathophysiological susceptibility changes, as well as contrast agent biodistribution in MRI. This paper attempts to summarize the basic physical concepts and essential algorithmic steps in QSM, to describe clinical and technical issues under active development, and to provide references, codes, and testing data for readers interested in QSM. Magn Reson Med 73:82–101, 2015. © 2014 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society of Medicine in Resonance. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. PMID:25044035

A Microfluidic Channel Method for Rapid Drug-Susceptibility Testing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

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Yoshimi Matsumoto

Full Text Available The recent global increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and lack of development of new therapeutic agents emphasize the importance of selecting appropriate antimicrobials for the treatment of infections. However, to date, the development of completely accelerated drug susceptibility testing methods has not been achieved despite the availability of a rapid identification method. We proposed an innovative rapid method for drug susceptibility testing for Pseudomonas aeruginosa that provides results within 3 h. The drug susceptibility testing microfluidic (DSTM device was prepared using soft lithography. It consisted of five sets of four microfluidic channels sharing one inlet slot, and the four channels are gathered in a small area, permitting simultaneous microscopic observation. Antimicrobials were pre-introduced into each channel and dried before use. Bacterial suspensions in cation-adjusted Mueller-Hinton broth were introduced from the inlet slot and incubated for 3 h. Susceptibilities were microscopically evaluated on the basis of differences in cell numbers and shapes between drug-treated and control cells, using dedicated software. The results of 101 clinically isolated strains of P. aeruginosa obtained using the DSTM method strongly correlated with results obtained using the ordinary microbroth dilution method. Ciprofloxacin, meropenem, ceftazidime, and piperacillin caused elongation in susceptible cells, while meropenem also induced spheroplast and bulge formation. Morphological observation could alternatively be used to determine the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to these drugs, although amikacin had little effect on cell shape. The rapid determination of bacterial drug susceptibility using the DSTM method could also be applicable to other pathogenic species, and it could easily be introduced into clinical laboratories without the need for expensive instrumentation.

Grey matter correlates of susceptibility to scams in community-dwelling older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Duke Han, S; Boyle, Patricia A; Yu, Lei; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; James, Bryan D; Fleischman, Debra A; Bennett, David A

2016-06-01

Susceptibility to scams is a significant issue among older adults, even among those with intact cognition. Age-related changes in brain macrostructure may be associated with susceptibility to scams; however, this has yet to be explored. Based on previous work implicating frontal and temporal lobe functioning as important in decision making, we tested the hypothesis that susceptibility to scams is associated with smaller grey matter volume in frontal and temporal lobe regions in a large community-dwelling cohort of non-demented older adults. Participants (N = 327, mean age = 81.55, mean education = 15.30, 78.9 % female) completed a self-report measure used to assess susceptibility to scams and an MRI brain scan. Results indicated an inverse association between overall grey matter and susceptibility to scams in models adjusted for age, education, and sex; and in models further adjusted for cognitive function. No significant associations were observed for white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, or total brain volume. Models adjusted for age, education, and sex revealed seven clusters showing smaller grey matter in the right parahippocampal/hippocampal/fusiform, left middle temporal, left orbitofrontal, right ventromedial prefrontal, right middle temporal, right precuneus, and right dorsolateral prefrontal regions. In models further adjusted for cognitive function, results revealed three significant clusters showing smaller grey matter in the right parahippocampal/hippocampal/fusiform, right hippocampal, and right middle temporal regions. Lower grey matter concentration in specific brain regions may be associated with susceptibility to scams, even after adjusting for cognitive ability. Future research is needed to determine whether grey matter reductions in these regions may be a biomarker for susceptibility to scams in old age.

Features of magnetic susceptibility and inhomogeneous magnetic state in La-Sr manganites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dovgij, V.T.; Linnik, A.I.; Kamenev, V.I.; Prokopenko, V.K.; Mikhajlov, V.I.; Khokhlov, V.A.; Kadontseva, A.M.; Linnik, T.A.; Davydejko, N.V.; Turchenko, V.A.

2007-01-01

Anomalous magnetic susceptibility has been observed in mono- and polycrystalline (ceramic) samples of La-Sr manganites. The oscillations of the magnetic susceptibility observed for monocrystal samples in the vicinity of the Curie temperature (and in the paramagnetic region) are explained by the existence of magnetic clusters. The appearance of susceptibility oscillations in ceramic samples is attributed to the formation of magnetic clusters, which may occur both in grains (at the interface between ferro- and antiferromagnetic phases) and at the grain boundaries [ru

Reduced susceptibility to praziquantel among naturally occurring Kenyan isolates of Schistosoma mansoni.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra D Melman

2009-08-01

Full Text Available The near exclusive use of praziquantel (PZQ for treatment of human schistosomiasis has raised concerns about the possible emergence of drug-resistant schistosomes.We measured susceptibility to PZQ of isolates of Schistosoma mansoni obtained from patients from Kisumu, Kenya continuously exposed to infection as a consequence of their occupations as car washers or sand harvesters. We used a an in vitro assay with miracidia, b an in vivo assay targeting adult worms in mice and c an in vitro assay targeting adult schistosomes perfused from mice. In the miracidia assay, in which miracidia from human patients were exposed to PZQ in vitro, reduced susceptibility was associated with previous treatment of the patient with PZQ. One isolate ("KCW" that was less susceptible to PZQ and had been derived from a patient who had never fully cured despite multiple treatments was studied further. In an in vivo assay of adult worms, the KCW isolate was significantly less susceptible to PZQ than two other isolates from natural infections in Kenya and two lab-reared strains of S. mansoni. The in vitro adult assay, based on measuring length changes of adults following exposure to and recovery from PZQ, confirmed that the KCW isolate was less susceptible to PZQ than the other isolates tested. A sub-isolate of KCW maintained separately and tested after three years was susceptible to PZQ, indicative that the trait of reduced sensitivity could be lost if selection was not maintained.Isolates of S. mansoni from some patients in Kisumu have lower susceptibility to PZQ, including one from a patient who was never fully cured after repeated rounds of treatment administered over several years. As use of PZQ continues, continued selection for worms with diminished susceptibility is possible, and the probability of emergence of resistance will increase as large reservoirs of untreated worms diminish. The potential for rapid emergence of resistance should be an important

Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci

Science.gov (United States)

Easton, Douglas F.; Pooley, Karen A.; Dunning, Alison M.; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Thompson, Deborah; Ballinger, Dennis G.; Struewing, Jeffery P.; Morrison, Jonathan; Field, Helen; Luben, Robert; Wareham, Nicholas; Ahmed, Shahana; Healey, Catherine S.; Bowman, Richard; Meyer, Kerstin B.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Kolonel, Laurence K.; Henderson, Brian E.; Marchand, Loic Le; Brennan, Paul; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Gaborieau, Valerie; Odefrey, Fabrice; Shen, Chen-Yang; Wu, Pei-Ei; Wang, Hui-Chun; Eccles, Diana; Evans, D. Gareth; Peto, Julian; Fletcher, Olivia; Johnson, Nichola; Seal, Sheila; Stratton, Michael R.; Rahman, Nazneen; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Bojesen, Stig E.; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Axelsson, Christen K.; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Brinton, Louise; Chanock, Stephen; Lissowska, Jolanta; Peplonska, Beata; Nevanlinna, Heli; Fagerholm, Rainer; Eerola, Hannaleena; Kang, Daehee; Yoo, Keun-Young; Noh, Dong-Young; Ahn, Sei-Hyun; Hunter, David J.; Hankinson, Susan E.; Cox, David G.; Hall, Per; Wedren, Sara; Liu, Jianjun; Low, Yen-Ling; Bogdanova, Natalia; Schürmann, Peter; Dörk, Thilo; Tollenaar, Rob A. E. M.; Jacobi, Catharina E.; Devilee, Peter; Klijn, Jan G. M.; Sigurdson, Alice J.; Doody, Michele M.; Alexander, Bruce H.; Zhang, Jinghui; Cox, Angela; Brock, Ian W.; MacPherson, Gordon; Reed, Malcolm W. R.; Couch, Fergus J.; Goode, Ellen L.; Olson, Janet E.; Meijers-Heijboer, Hanne; van den Ouweland, Ans; Uitterlinden, André; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Milne, Roger L.; Ribas, Gloria; Gonzalez-Neira, Anna; Benitez, Javier; Hopper, John L.; McCredie, Margaret; Southey, Melissa; Giles, Graham G.; Schroen, Chris; Justenhoven, Christina; Brauch, Hiltrud; Hamann, Ute; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Beesley, Jonathan; Chen, Xiaoqing; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kataja, Vesa; Hartikainen, Jaana; Day, Nicholas E.; Cox, David R.; Ponder, Bruce A. J.; Luccarini, Craig; Conroy, Don; Shah, Mitul; Munday, Hannah; Jordan, Clare; Perkins, Barbara; West, Judy; Redman, Karen; Driver, Kristy; Aghmesheh, Morteza; Amor, David; Andrews, Lesley; Antill, Yoland; Armes, Jane; Armitage, Shane; Arnold, Leanne; Balleine, Rosemary; Begley, Glenn; Beilby, John; Bennett, Ian; Bennett, Barbara; Berry, Geoffrey; Blackburn, Anneke; Brennan, Meagan; Brown, Melissa; Buckley, Michael; Burke, Jo; Butow, Phyllis; Byron, Keith; Callen, David; Campbell, Ian; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Clarke, Christine; Colley, Alison; Cotton, Dick; Cui, Jisheng; Culling, Bronwyn; Cummings, Margaret; Dawson, Sarah-Jane; Dixon, Joanne; Dobrovic, Alexander; Dudding, Tracy; Edkins, Ted; Eisenbruch, Maurice; Farshid, Gelareh; Fawcett, Susan; Field, Michael; Firgaira, Frank; Fleming, Jean; Forbes, John; Friedlander, Michael; Gaff, Clara; Gardner, Mac; Gattas, Mike; George, Peter; Giles, Graham; Gill, Grantley; Goldblatt, Jack; Greening, Sian; Grist, Scott; Haan, Eric; Harris, Marion; Hart, Stewart; Hayward, Nick; Hopper, John; Humphrey, Evelyn; Jenkins, Mark; Jones, Alison; Kefford, Rick; Kirk, Judy; Kollias, James; Kovalenko, Sergey; Lakhani, Sunil; Leary, Jennifer; Lim, Jacqueline; Lindeman, Geoff; Lipton, Lara; Lobb, Liz; Maclurcan, Mariette; Mann, Graham; Marsh, Deborah; McCredie, Margaret; McKay, Michael; McLachlan, Sue Anne; Meiser, Bettina; Milne, Roger; Mitchell, Gillian; Newman, Beth; O'Loughlin, Imelda; Osborne, Richard; Peters, Lester; Phillips, Kelly; Price, Melanie; Reeve, Jeanne; Reeve, Tony; Richards, Robert; Rinehart, Gina; Robinson, Bridget; Rudzki, Barney; Salisbury, Elizabeth; Sambrook, Joe; Saunders, Christobel; Scott, Clare; Scott, Elizabeth; Scott, Rodney; Seshadri, Ram; Shelling, Andrew; Southey, Melissa; Spurdle, Amanda; Suthers, Graeme; Taylor, Donna; Tennant, Christopher; Thorne, Heather; Townshend, Sharron; Tucker, Kathy; Tyler, Janet; Venter, Deon; Visvader, Jane; Walpole, Ian; Ward, Robin; Waring, Paul; Warner, Bev; Warren, Graham; Watson, Elizabeth; Williams, Rachael; Wilson, Judy; Winship, Ingrid; Young, Mary Ann; Bowtell, David; Green, Adele; deFazio, Anna; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Gertig, Dorota; Webb, Penny

2009-01-01

Breast cancer exhibits familial aggregation, consistent with variation in genetic susceptibility to the disease. Known susceptibility genes account for less than 25% of the familial risk of breast cancer, and the residual genetic variance is likely to be due to variants conferring more moderate risks. To identify further susceptibility alleles, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study in 4,398 breast cancer cases and 4,316 controls, followed by a third stage in which 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for confirmation in 21,860 cases and 22,578 controls from 22 studies. We used 227,876 SNPs that were estimated to correlate with 77% of known common SNPs in Europeans at r2>0.5. SNPs in five novel independent loci exhibited strong and consistent evidence of association with breast cancer (P<10−7). Four of these contain plausible causative genes (FGFR2, TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1). At the second stage, 1,792 SNPs were significant at the P<0.05 level compared with an estimated 1,343 that would be expected by chance, indicating that many additional common susceptibility alleles may be identifiable by this approach. PMID:17529967

Abundance and antibiotic susceptibility of Vibrio spp. isolated from microplastics

Science.gov (United States)

Laverty, A. L.; Darr, K.; Dobbs, F. C.

2016-02-01

In recent years, there has been a growing concern for `microplastics' (particles pieces, paired seawater samples, and from them cultured 44 putative Vibrio spp. isolates, 18 of which were PCR-confirmed as V. parahaemolyticus and 3 as V. vulnificus. There were no PCR-confirmed V. cholerae isolates. We used the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test to examine the isolates' response to six antibiotics: chloramphenicol (30μg), gentamicin (10μg), ampicillin (10μg), streptomycin (10μg), tetracycline (30μg), and rifampin (5μg). Vibrio isolates were susceptible to three or more of the six antibiotics tested and all were susceptible to tetracycline and chloramphenicol. There were no apparent differences between the antibiotic susceptibilities of vibrios isolated from microplastics compared to those from the water column. In every instance tested, vibrios on microplastics were enriched by at least two orders of magnitude compared to those from paired seawater samples. This study demonstrates that microplastic particles serve as a habitat for Vibrio species, in particular V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus, confirming the conjecture of Zettler et al. (2013) that plastics may serve as a vector for these and other potentially pathogenic bacteria.

[Susceptibility of birds other than chickens to infectious laryngotracheitis].

Science.gov (United States)

Hilbink, F W

1985-06-01

Susceptibility to infectious laryngotracheitis virus was studied in peafowl (Pavo cristatus), various species of pheasant (Phasianus colchicus, Lophura swinhoeii, Lophophorus impejanus), guinea-fowl (Numida meleagris), canaries (Serinus canaria), budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) and Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnic japonica). Apart from clinical observations, experiments were evaluated in terms of histopathology, immunofluorescence, serology and recovery of virus. Only peafowl and pheasants were found to be susceptible, pheasants responding more strongly than chickens to ocular vaccination and intratracheal inoculation. The other species were found to be refractory.

Implementation of landslide susceptibility maps in Lower Austria as part of risk governance

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Rainer; Petschko, Helene; Bauer, Christian; Glade, Thomas; Granica, Klaus; Heiss, Gerhard; Leopold, Philip; Pomaroli, Gilbert; Proske, Herwig; Schweigl, Joachim

2013-04-01

Landslides frequently cause damage to agricultural land and infrastructure in Lower Austria - a province of Austria. Also settlements and people are threatened by landslides. To reduce landslide risks and to prevent the establishment of new settlements in highly landslide prone areas, the project "MoNOE" (Method development for landslide susceptibility modeling in Lower Austria) was set up by the provincial government. The main aim of the project is the development of methods to model rock fall and slide susceptibility for an area of approx. 15,900 km2 and to implement the resulting susceptibility maps into the spatial planning strategies of the state. Right from the beginning of the project a close cooperation between the involved scientists and the stakeholders from the Geological Survey of Lower Austria and the Department of Spatial Planning and Regional Policy of Lower Austria was established to ensure that method development and final susceptibility maps meet exactly the needs and demands of the stakeholders. This posed huge challenges, together with its realization in the large study area and a (heterogeneous) complex geological situation,. Limitations were given by restricted data availability (e.g. for geology or landslide inventories) in such a large study area. Rock fall susceptibility was modeled by a combined approach of determining rock fall release areas by empirical slope thresholds (dependent on geology) followed by empirical run-out modeling. Slide susceptibility was modeled based on the statistical approaches of weights of evidence (WofE) and generalized additive models (GAM) by two different research groups. Huge efforts were spent on the validation of all susceptibility models. In a later stage of the project we found that the best scientific maps are not necessarily the best maps to be implemented in spatial planning strategies. Thus, in close cooperation with the stakeholders, decisions had to be taken to find the best resolution of the maps

Suitable reference tissues for quantitative susceptibility mapping of the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Straub, Sina; Schneider, Till M; Emmerich, Julian; Freitag, Martin T; Ziener, Christian H; Schlemmer, Heinz-Peter; Ladd, Mark E; Laun, Frederik B

2017-07-01

Since quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) quantifies magnetic susceptibility relative to a reference value, a suitable reference tissue has to be available to compare different subjects and stages of disease. To find such a suitable reference tissue for QSM of the brain, melanoma patients with and without brain metastases were measured. Twelve reference regions were chosen and assessed for stability of susceptibility values with respect to multiple intra-individual and inter-individual measurements, age, and stage of disease. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the internal capsule and one region in the splenium of the corpus callosum are the regions with the smallest standard deviations of the mean susceptibility value. The mean susceptibility is 0.010 ± 0.014 ppm for CSF in the atrium of the lateral ventricles (csf post ), -0.060 ± 0.019 ppm for the posterior limb of the internal capsule (ci2), and -0.008 ± 0.019 ppm for the splenium of the corpus callosum. csf post and ci2 show nearly no dependence on age or stage of disease, whereas some other regions, e.g., the red nucleus, show moderate dependence on age or disease. The internal capsule and CSF appear to be the most suitable reference regions for QSM of the brain in the melanoma patients studied. Both showed virtually no dependence on age or disease and small variations among patients. Magn Reson Med 78:204-214, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Antibiotic susceptibility of periodontal Streptococcus constellatus and Streptococcus intermedius clinical isolates.

Science.gov (United States)

Rams, Thomas E; Feik, Diane; Mortensen, Joel E; Degener, John E; van Winkelhoff, Arie J

2014-12-01

Streptococcus constellatus and Streptococcus intermedius in subgingival dental plaque biofilms may contribute to forms of periodontitis that resist treatment with conventional mechanical root debridement/surgical procedures and may additionally participate in some extraoral infections. Because systemic antibiotics are often used in these clinical situations, and little is known of the antibiotic susceptibility of subgingival isolates of these two bacterial species, this study determined the in vitro susceptibility to six antibiotics of fresh S. constellatus and S. intermedius clinical isolates from human periodontitis lesions. A total of 33 S. constellatus and 17 S. intermedius subgingival strains, each recovered from separate patients with severe chronic periodontitis (n = 50) before treatment, were subjected to antibiotic gradient strip susceptibility testing with amoxicillin, azithromycin, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, and doxycycline on blood-supplemented Mueller-Hinton agar and to the inhibitory effects of metronidazole at 16 mg/L in an enriched Brucella blood agar dilution assay. Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing interpretative standards were used to assess the results. Clindamycin was the most active antibiotic against S. constellatus (minimum inhibitory concentration at 90% [MIC90] 0.25 mg/L), and amoxicillin was most active against S. intermedius (MIC90 0.125 mg/L). A total of 30% of the S. constellatus and S. intermedius clinical isolates were resistant in vitro to doxycycline, 98% were only intermediate in susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, and 90% were resistant to metronidazole at 16 mg/L. Subgingival S. constellatus and S. intermedius exhibited variable antibiotic susceptibility profiles, potentially complicating empirical selection of periodontitis antibiotic therapy in patients who are species positive.

Ranking alloys for susceptibility to MIC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, P.J.B.; Davies, M.; Goldie, J.

1991-01-01

This paper reports that laboratory experiments demonstrate that alloys containing 6 to 9% Mo are susceptible to microbiologically influenced corrosion attack. They also demonstrate that corrosion behavior in batch cultures do not correlate well with standard ferric chloride and pitting potential tests of the same alloys. In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the incidence of plant equipment failures caused by microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). This has led to the search for suitable testing techniques to look for MIC, which, in turn, has expanded the list of known susceptible alloys. Faced with field failures, the normal response has been to upgrade the alloy of construction. There is, for example, a common belief that the addition of more molybdenum to austenitic stainless steels conveys immunity (or at least increased resistance) to MIC. The basis for this is an extrapolation of localized corrosion data. The supposed correlation between molybdenum content and resistance to MIC has not yet been supported by a comprehensive testing program

A two-hour antibiotic susceptibility test by ATP-bioluminescence.

Science.gov (United States)

March Rosselló, Gabriel Alberto; García-Loygorri Jordán de Urries, María Cristina; Gutiérrez Rodríguez, María Purificación; Simarro Grande, María; Orduña Domingo, Antonio; Bratos Pérez, Miguel Ángel

2016-01-01

The antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) in Clinical Microbiology laboratories is still time-consuming, and most procedures take 24h to yield results. In this study, a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test using ATP-bioluminescence has been developed. The design of method was performed using five ATCC collection strains of known susceptibility. This procedure was then validated against standard commercial methods on 10 strains of enterococci, 10 staphylococci, 10 non-fermenting gram negative bacilli, and 13 Enterobacteriaceae from patients. The agreement obtained in the sensitivity between the ATP-bioluminescence method and commercial methods (E-test, MicroScan and VITEK2) was 100%. In summary, the preliminary results obtained in this work show that the ATP-bioluminescence method could provide a fast and reliable AST in two hours. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica. All rights reserved.

Susceptibility of Phelipanche and Orobanche species to AAL-toxin.

Science.gov (United States)

de Zélicourt, Axel; Montiel, Grégory; Pouvreau, Jean-Bernard; Thoiron, Séverine; Delgrange, Sabine; Simier, Philippe; Delavault, Philippe

2009-10-01

Fusarium and Alternaria spp. are phytopathogenic fungi which are known to be virulent on broomrapes and to produce sphinganine-analog mycotoxins (SAMs). AAL-toxin is a SAM produced by Alternaria alternata which causes the inhibition of sphinganine N-acyltransferase, a key enzyme in sphingolipid biosynthesis, leading to accumulation of sphingoid bases. These long chain bases (LCBs) are determinant in the occurrence of programmed cell death (PCD) in susceptible plants. We showed that broomrapes are sensitive to AAL-toxin, which is not common plant behavior, and that AAL-toxin triggers cell death at the apex of the radicle as well as LCB accumulation and DNA laddering. We also demonstrated that three Lag1 homologs, encoding components of sphinganine N-acyltransferase in yeast, are present in the Orobanche cumana genome and two of them are mutated leading to an enhanced susceptibility to AAL-toxin. We therefore propose a model for the molecular mechanism governing broomrape susceptibility to the fungus Alternaria alternata.

Bacteriological profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were ... setting and there are antibiotic-resistant uropathogens among the studied population. ... used antibiotics must be a continuous process so as to provide physicians with up ...

GIS Supported Landslide Susceptibility Modeling at Regional Scale: An Expert-Based Fuzzy Weighting Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christos Chalkias

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this paper is landslide susceptibility assessment using fuzzy expert-based modeling. Factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as elevation, slope, aspect, lithology, land cover, precipitation and seismicity were considered. Expert-based fuzzy weighting (EFW approach was used to combine these factors for landslide susceptibility mapping (Peloponnese, Greece. This method produced a landslide susceptibility map of the investigated area. The landslides under investigation have more or less same characteristics: lateral based and downslope shallow movement of soils or rocks. The validation of the model reveals, that predicted susceptibility levels are found to be in good agreement with the past landslide occurrences. Hence, the obtained landslide susceptibility map could be acceptable, for landslide hazard prevention and mitigation at regional scale.

Assessment of Groundwater Susceptibility to Non-Point Source Contaminants Using Three-Dimensional Transient Indexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yong; Weissmann, Gary S; Fogg, Graham E; Lu, Bingqing; Sun, HongGuang; Zheng, Chunmiao

2018-06-05

Groundwater susceptibility to non-point source contamination is typically quantified by stable indexes, while groundwater quality evolution (or deterioration globally) can be a long-term process that may last for decades and exhibit strong temporal variations. This study proposes a three-dimensional (3- d ), transient index map built upon physical models to characterize the complete temporal evolution of deep aquifer susceptibility. For illustration purposes, the previous travel time probability density (BTTPD) approach is extended to assess the 3- d deep groundwater susceptibility to non-point source contamination within a sequence stratigraphic framework observed in the Kings River fluvial fan (KRFF) aquifer. The BTTPD, which represents complete age distributions underlying a single groundwater sample in a regional-scale aquifer, is used as a quantitative, transient measure of aquifer susceptibility. The resultant 3- d imaging of susceptibility using the simulated BTTPDs in KRFF reveals the strong influence of regional-scale heterogeneity on susceptibility. The regional-scale incised-valley fill deposits increase the susceptibility of aquifers by enhancing rapid downward solute movement and displaying relatively narrow and young age distributions. In contrast, the regional-scale sequence-boundary paleosols within the open-fan deposits "protect" deep aquifers by slowing downward solute movement and displaying a relatively broad and old age distribution. Further comparison of the simulated susceptibility index maps to known contaminant distributions shows that these maps are generally consistent with the high concentration and quick evolution of 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP) in groundwater around the incised-valley fill since the 1970s'. This application demonstrates that the BTTPDs can be used as quantitative and transient measures of deep aquifer susceptibility to non-point source contamination.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Clostridium difficile isolated in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Papanin Putsathit

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Exposure to antimicrobials is the major risk factor associated with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI. Paradoxically, treatment of CDI with antimicrobials remains the preferred option. To date, only three studies have investigated the antimicrobial susceptibility of C. difficile from Thailand, two of which were published in the 1990s. This study aimed to investigate the contemporary antibiotic susceptibility of C. difficile isolated from patients in Thailand. Methods A collection of 105 C. difficile isolated from inpatients admitted at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok in 2015 was tested for their susceptibility to nine antimicrobials via an agar incorporation method. Results All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin, metronidazole, amoxicillin/clavulanate and meropenem. Resistance to clindamycin, erythromycin and moxifloxacin was observed in 73.3%, 35.2% and 21.0% of the isolates, respectively. The in vitro activity of fidaxomicin (MIC50/MIC90 0.06/0.25 mg/L was superior to first-line therapies vancomycin (MIC50/MIC90 1/2 mg/L and metronidazole (MIC50/MIC90 0.25/0.25 mg/L. Rifaximin exhibited potent activity against 85.7% of the isolates (MIC ≤0.03 mg/L, and its MIC50 (0.015 mg/L was the lowest among all antimicrobials tested. The prevalence of multi-drug resistant C. difficile, defined by resistance to ≥3 antimicrobials, was 21.9% (23/105. Conclusions A high level of resistance against multiple classes of antimicrobial was observed, emphasising the need for enhanced antimicrobial stewardship and educational programmes to effectively disseminate information regarding C. difficile awareness and appropriate use of antimicrobials to healthcare workers and the general public.

Assessments on landslide susceptibility in the Tseng-wen reservoir watershed, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yu-Chin; Chen, Yung-Chau; Chen, Wen-Fu

2014-05-01

Typhoon Morakot under the strong influence of southwestern monsoon wind struck Taiwan on 8 August 2009, and dumped record-breaking rains in southern Taiwan. It triggered enormous landslides in mountains and severe flooding in low-lying areas. In addition, it destroyed or damaged houses, agricultural fields, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure facilities, causing massive economic loss and, more tragically, human casualties. In order to evaluate landslide hazard and risk assessment, it is important to understand the potential sites of landslide and their spatial distribution. Multi-temporal satellite images and geo-spatial data are used to build landslide susceptibility map for the post-disaster in the Tseng-wen reservoir watershed in this research. Elevation, slope, aspect, NDVI (normalized differential vegetation index), relief, roughness, distance to river, and distance to road are the considered factors for estimating landslide susceptibility. Maximum hourly rainfall and total rainfall, accompanied with typhoon event, are selected as the trigger factors of landslide events. Logistic regression analysis is adopted as the statistical method to model landslide susceptibility. The assessed susceptibility is represented in 4 levels which are high, high-intermediate, intermediate, and low level, respectively. Landslide spatial distribution can be depicted as a landslide susceptibility map with respect to each considered influence factors for a specified susceptible level. The landslide areas are about 358 ha and 1,485 ha before and after typhoon Morakot. The new landslide area, induced by typhoon Morakot, is as almost 4 times as the landslide area before typhoon Morakot. In addition, there is about 44.56% landslide area elevation ranging from 500m to 1000m and about 57.22% average slope ranging from 30° to 45° of landslide area. Furthermore, the devastating landslides were happened at those sites close to rivers, exposed area, and area with big land cover change

Studies on maize inbred lines susceptibility to herbicides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefanović Lidija

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the analysis of results obtained during long- term studies on the response of maize inbred lines to herbicides. Under the agroecological conditions of Zemun Polje the response (reaction of maize inbred lines to herbicides of different classes was investigated. Biological tests were performed and some agronomic, morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters were determined when the response of maize inbred lines to herbicides was estimated. The use of active ingredients of herbicides from triazine, acetanilide, thiocarbamate to new chemical groups (sulfonylurea etc., have been resulted in changes in weed suppression and susceptibility of inbred lines. Obtained results show that effects of herbicides on susceptible maize genotypes can be different: they can slowdown the growth and development and affect the plant height; they can also affect the stages of the tassel and ear development and at the end they can reduced grain yield of the tested inbreds. Numerous studies confirmed the existence of differences in susceptibility level of maize genotypes in relation to herbicides. According to gained results the recommendations for growers are made on the possibility of the application of new herbicides in the hybrid seed production.

Antimicrobial susceptibility and tetracycline resistance determinant genotyping of Gallibacterium anatis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bojesen, Anders M.; Vazquez, Maria E.; Bager, Ragnhild J.

2011-01-01

no determinant was identified.This is the first study to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of Gallibacterium anatis by MIC revealing that multidrug resistance is very common among G. anatis field isolates. tet(B) was by far the most common determinant identified but future work should aim at identifying......The present investigation was undertaken to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of a collection of 58 Gallibacterium isolates. All strains were tested by the broth dilution method using the veterinary fastidious medium. A total of 46 field strains were tested, whereof 23 were clinical isolates....... Multidrug resistance (resistance towards≥three drugs) was observed for 65% of the field strains and only two strains were susceptible to all compounds. Most prominently, resistance to tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole was observed in 92% and 97% of the field strains, respectively. For comparison...

Measurement of complex RF susceptibility using a series Q-meter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kisselev, Yu.F.; Dulya, C.M.; Niinikoski, T.O.

1995-01-01

In this paper we have for the first time derived closed form expressions for the nuclear magnetic susceptibility in terms of the series Q-meter output voltage. We discuss the corrections involved in determining nuclear polarization from NMR signals by using the deuteron and proton spin systems as examples. Deuteron signals are shown to exhibit a false asymmetry, while proton signals have substantial shape distortions. Moreover, for the first time the importance of making a phase correction is demonstrated. We conclude that the series Q-meter with real part detection is not sufficient to produce an output voltage from which the nuclear susceptibility can be determined. An additional phase-sensitive detector is proposed for obtaining the imaginary part of the signal required for unambiguous extraction of the complex RF susceptibility. ((orig.))

Bacteriuria and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacterial ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bacterial isolates and drug susceptibility patterns of urinary tract infection among ... Key words: Urinary tract infection, pregnant women, antimicrobial drug ..... and premature labour as well as adverse outcome for the unborn child (Raz, 2003).

Antimicrobial susceptibility among clinical Nocardia species identified by multilocus sequence analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

McTaggart, Lisa R; Doucet, Jennifer; Witkowska, Maria; Richardson, Susan E

2015-01-01

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of 112 clinical isolates, 28 type strains, and 9 reference strains of Nocardia were determined using the Sensititre Rapmyco microdilution panel (Thermo Fisher, Inc.). Isolates were identified by highly discriminatory multilocus sequence analysis and were chosen to represent the diversity of species recovered from clinical specimens in Ontario, Canada. Susceptibility to the most commonly used drug, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, was observed in 97% of isolates. Linezolid and amikacin were also highly effective; 100% and 99% of all isolates demonstrated a susceptible phenotype. For the remaining antimicrobials, resistance was species specific with isolates of Nocardia otitidiscaviarum, N. brasiliensis, N. abscessus complex, N. nova complex, N. transvalensis complex, N. farcinica, and N. cyriacigeorgica displaying the traditional characteristic drug pattern types. In addition, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of a variety of rarely encountered species isolated from clinical specimens are reported for the first time and were categorized into four additional drug pattern types. Finally, MICs for the control strains N. nova ATCC BAA-2227, N. asteroides ATCC 19247(T), and N. farcinica ATCC 23826 were robustly determined to demonstrate method reproducibility and suitability of the commercial Sensititre Rapmyco panel for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Nocardia spp. isolated from clinical specimens. The reported values will facilitate quality control and standardization among laboratories. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Epidemiological evidence of higher susceptibility to vCJD in the young

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Valleron Alain-Jacques

2004-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The strikingly young age of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD cases remains unexplained. Age dependent susceptibility to infection has been put forward, but differential dietary exposure to contaminated food products in the UK population according to age and sex during the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE epidemic may provide a simpler explanation. Methods Using recently published estimates of dietary exposure in mathematical models of the epidemiology of the new variant Creutzfeldt Jacob disease (vCJD, we examine whether the age characteristics of vCJD cases may be reproduced. Results The susceptibility/exposure risk function has likely peaked in adolescents and was followed by a sharp decrease with age, evocative of the profile of exposure to bovine material consumption according to age. However, assuming that the risk of contamination was proportional to exposure, with no age dependent susceptibility, the model failed to reproduce the observed age characteristics of the vCJD cases: The predicted cumulated proportion of cases over 40 years was 48%, in strong disagreement with the observed 10%. Incorporating age dependent susceptibility led to a cumulated proportion of cases over 40 years old of 12%. Conclusions This analysis provides evidence that differential dietary exposure alone fails to explain the pattern of age in vCJD cases. Decreasing age related susceptibility is required to reproduce the characteristics of the age distribution of vCJD cases.

Do parasitic trematode cercariae demonstrate a preference for susceptible host species?

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Brittany F Sears

Full Text Available Many parasites are motile and exhibit behavioural preferences for certain host species. Because hosts can vary in their susceptibility to infections, parasites might benefit from preferentially detecting and infecting the most susceptible host, but this mechanistic hypothesis for host-choice has rarely been tested. We evaluated whether cercariae (larval trematode parasites prefer the most susceptible host species by simultaneously presenting cercariae with four species of tadpole hosts. Cercariae consistently preferred hosts in the following order: Anaxyrus ( = Bufo terrestris (southern toad, Hyla squirella (squirrel tree frog, Lithobates ( = Rana sphenocephala (southern leopard frog, and Osteopilus septentrionalis (Cuban tree frog. These host species varied in susceptibility to cercariae in an order similar to their attractiveness with a correlation that approached significance. Host attractiveness to parasites also varied consistently and significantly among individuals within a host species. If heritable, this individual-level host variation would represent the raw material upon which selection could act, which could promote a Red Queen "arms race" between host cues and parasite detection of those cues. If, in general, motile parasites prefer to infect the most susceptible host species, this phenomenon could explain aggregated distributions of parasites among hosts and contribute to parasite transmission rates and the evolution of virulence. Parasite preferences for hosts belie the common assumption of disease models that parasites seek and infect hosts at random.

Taxonomy and antifungal susceptibility of clinically important Rasamsonia species

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Houbraken, J.; Giraud, S.; Meijer, M.

2013-01-01

In recent years, Geosmithia argillacea has been increasingly reported in humans and animals and can be considered an emerging pathogen. The taxonomy of Geosmithia was recently studied, and Geosmithia argillacea and related species were transferred to the new genus Rasamsonia. The diversity among...... reported clinical isolates from animal or human patients. Susceptibility tests showed that the antifungal susceptibility profiles of the four members of the R. argillacea complex are similar, and caspofungin showed significant activity in vitro, followed by amphotericin B and posaconazole. Voriconazole...

3D and 4D magnetic susceptibility tomography based on complex MR images

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zikuan; Calhoun, Vince D

2014-11-11

Magnetic susceptibility is the physical property for T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (T2*MRI). The invention relates to methods for reconstructing an internal distribution (3D map) of magnetic susceptibility values, .chi. (x,y,z), of an object, from 3D T2*MRI phase images, by using Computed Inverse Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CIMRI) tomography. The CIMRI technique solves the inverse problem of the 3D convolution by executing a 3D Total Variation (TV) regularized iterative convolution scheme, using a split Bregman iteration algorithm. The reconstruction of .chi. (x,y,z) can be designed for low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass features by using a convolution kernel that is modified from the standard dipole kernel. Multiple reconstructions can be implemented in parallel, and averaging the reconstructions can suppress noise. 4D dynamic magnetic susceptibility tomography can be implemented by reconstructing a 3D susceptibility volume from a 3D phase volume by performing 3D CIMRI magnetic susceptibility tomography at each snapshot time.

Expert opinion on landslide susceptibility elicted by probabilistic inversion from scenario rankings

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Katy; Dashwood, Claire; Lark, Murray

2016-04-01

For many natural hazards the opinion of experts, with experience in assessing susceptibility under different circumstances, is a valuable source of information on which to base risk assessments. This is particularly important where incomplete process understanding, and limited data, limit the scope to predict susceptibility by mechanistic or statistical modelling. The expert has a tacit model of a system, based on their understanding of processes and their field experience. This model may vary in quality, depending on the experience of the expert. There is considerable interest in how one may elicit expert understanding by a process which is transparent and robust, to provide a basis for decision support. One approach is to provide experts with a set of scenarios, and then to ask them to rank small overlapping subsets of these with respect to susceptibility. Methods of probabilistic inversion have been used to compute susceptibility scores for each scenario, implicit in the expert ranking. It is also possible to model these scores as functions of measurable properties of the scenarios. This approach has been used to assess susceptibility of animal populations to invasive diseases, to assess risk to vulnerable marine environments and to assess the risk in hypothetical novel technologies for food production. We will present the results of a study in which a group of geologists with varying degrees of expertise in assessing landslide hazards were asked to rank sets of hypothetical simplified scenarios with respect to land slide susceptibility. We examine the consistency of their rankings and the importance of different properties of the scenarios in the tacit susceptibility model that their rankings implied. Our results suggest that this is a promising approach to the problem of how experts can communicate their tacit model of uncertain systems to those who want to make use of their expertise.

Reappearance and treatment of penicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus in a tertiary medical centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Chabot, Matthew R; Stefan, Mihaela S; Friderici, Jennifer; Schimmel, Jennifer; Larioza, Julius

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to describe trends in the prevalence and treatment patterns of penicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (SA) infections. This was a cross-sectional study of MSSA isolates from blood cultures at a tertiary-care centre between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2012. All blood cultures positive for MSSA drawn during the study period were used to calculate the prevalence of penicillin-susceptible SA. Repeat cultures were excluded if they were isolated within 6 weeks of the index culture. The analysis was then restricted to inpatient blood cultures to assess treatment patterns. Antibiotics administered 48-96 h after the culture were analysed. A total of 446 blood cultures positive for MSSA were included in the analysis. There was a distinct trend showing an increase in the percentage of penicillin-susceptible SA over 10 years from 13.2% (95% CI 4.1%-22.3%) in 2003 to 32.4% (95% CI 17.3%-47.5%) in 2012 (P trend penicillin use for penicillin-susceptible SA bacteraemia increased from 0.0% in 2003-04 to 50.0% in 2011-12 (P trend = 0.007). Over a decade, there was an ∼3-fold increase in penicillin susceptibility among MSSA blood cultures at a large tertiary-care facility. Although treatment with penicillin increased over the study period, only 50% of penicillin-susceptible SA was treated with penicillin in the final study period. This study suggests that while susceptibility to penicillin appears to be returning in SA, the use of penicillin for penicillin-susceptible SA bacteraemia is low. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A GIS-based extended fuzzy multi-criteria evaluation for landslide susceptibility mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Feizizadeh, Bakhtiar; Shadman Roodposhti, Majid; Jankowski, Piotr; Blaschke, Thomas

2014-12-01

Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is making increasing use of GIS-based spatial analysis in combination with multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) methods. We have developed a new multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method for LSM and applied it to the Izeh River basin in south-western Iran. Our method is based on fuzzy membership functions (FMFs) derived from GIS analysis. It makes use of nine causal landslide factors identified by local landslide experts. Fuzzy set theory was first integrated with an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in order to use pairwise comparisons to compare LSM criteria for ranking purposes. FMFs were then applied in order to determine the criteria weights to be used in the development of a landslide susceptibility map. Finally, a landslide inventory database was used to validate the LSM map by comparing it with known landslides within the study area. Results indicated that the integration of fuzzy set theory with AHP produced significantly improved accuracies and a high level of reliability in the resulting landslide susceptibility map. Approximately 53% of known landslides within our study area fell within zones classified as having "very high susceptibility", with the further 31% falling into zones classified as having "high susceptibility".

Susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry and fear for contracting Lyme disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogel, Joshua; Chawla, Gurasees S

Risk perception and psychological concerns are relevant for understanding how people view Lyme disease. This study investigates the four separate outcomes of susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear for contracting Lyme disease. University students (n=713) were surveyed about demographics, perceived health, Lyme disease knowledge, Lyme disease preventive behaviors, Lyme disease history, and Lyme disease miscellaneous variables. We found that women were associated with increased susceptibility and fear. Asian/Asian-American race/ethnicity was associated with increased worry and fear. Perceived good health was associated with increased likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear. Correct knowledge was associated with increased susceptibility and likelihood to be diagnosed. Those who typically spend a lot of time outdoors were associated with increased susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear. In conclusion, healthcare providers and public health campaigns should address susceptibility, likelihood to be diagnosed, worry, and fear about Lyme disease, and should particularly target women and Asians/Asian-Americans to address any possible misconceptions and/or offer effective coping strategies. Copyright © 2016 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mannose-binding lectin genotypes: lack of association with susceptibility to thoracic empyema

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Moore Catrin E

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The role of the innate immune protein mannose-binding lectin (MBL in host defence against severe respiratory infection remains controversial. Thoracic empyema is a suppurative lung infection that arises as a major complication of pneumonia and is associated with a significant mortality. Although the pathogenesis of thoracic empyema is poorly understood, genetic susceptibility loci for this condition have recently been identified. The possible role of MBL genotypic deficiency in susceptibility to thoracic empyema has not previously been reported. Methods To investigate this further we compared the frequencies of the six functional MBL polymorphisms in 170 European individuals with thoracic empyema and 225 healthy control individuals. Results No overall association was observed between MBL genotypic deficiency and susceptibility to thoracic empyema (2 × 2 Chi square = 0.02, P = 0.87. Furthermore, no association was seen between MBL deficiency and susceptibility to the Gram-positive or pneumococcal empyema subgroups. MBL genotypic deficiency did not associate with progression to death or requirement for surgery. Conclusions Our results suggest that MBL genotypic deficiency does not associate with susceptibility to thoracic empyema in humans.

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Haemophilus parasuis from pigs in the United Kingdom and Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

de la Fuente, A J Martín; Tucker, A W; Navas, J; Blanco, M; Morris, S J; Gutiérrez-Martín, C B

2007-02-25

A total of 30 British and 30 Spanish Haemophilus parasuis isolates were tested for their susceptibility to 19 of the antimicrobials currently used in swine practice with a broth microdilution method in order to know the emergence of resistance against these compounds in this porcine pathogen. All the British isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ceftiofur, erythromycin, tilmicosin, enrofloxacin, and florfenicol, and most of them were susceptible to the remaining antimicrobials (the highest resistance rate found was of 20% to neomycin). In contrast, all the Spanish isolates were susceptible exclusively to florfenicol, and high proportions of resistance were encountered for penicillin, ampicillin, oxytetracycline, erythromycin, tilmicosin, tiamulin and trimethoprim+sulphamethoxazole; in addition, a bimodal or multimodal distribution, or tailing of Spanish isolates over the MIC range was observed for clindamycin, sulphonamides and tylosine tartrate, suggesting the development of acquired resistance. In addition, several multiresistance patterns were found among the Spanish isolates, 23.3% of them being resistant to at least eight antimicrobials, the same rate as that encountered for those being susceptible to all antimicrobials tested. This study showed that in general British H. parasuis isolates are susceptible to antimicrobial agents routinely used for treatment of porcine respiratory diseases; however, the Spanish isolates need a more continuous surveillance of their susceptibility patterns.

Effect of Chemical Composition on Susceptibility to Weld Solidification Cracking in Austenitic Weld Metal

Science.gov (United States)

Kadoi, Kota; Shinozaki, Kenji

2017-12-01

The influence of the chemical composition, especially the niobium content, chromium equivalent Creq, and nickel equivalent Nieq, on the weld solidification cracking susceptibility in the austenite single-phase region in the Schaeffler diagram was investigated. Specimens were fabricated using the hot-wire laser welding process with widely different compositions of Creq, Nieq, and niobium in the region. The distributions of the susceptibility, such as the crack length and brittle temperature range (BTR), in the Schaeffler diagram revealed a region with high susceptibility to solidification cracking. Addition of niobium enhanced the susceptibility and changed the distribution of the susceptibility in the diagram. The BTR distribution was in good agreement with the distribution of the temperature range of solidification (Δ T) calculated by solidification simulation based on Scheil model. Δ T increased with increasing content of alloying elements such as niobium. The distribution of Δ T was dependent on the type of alloying element owing to the change of the partitioning behavior. Thus, the solidification cracking susceptibility in the austenite single-phase region depends on whether the alloy contains elements. The distribution of the susceptibility in the region is controlled by the change in Δ T and the segregation behavior of niobium with the chemical composition.

Defense response of susceptible and resistant Biomphalaria alexandrina snails against Schistosoma mansoni infection

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Iman F. Abou-El-Naga

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In Egypt, Biomphalaria alexandrina is the intermediate host for Schistosoma mansoni. The fates of Schistosoma miracidia in the snails varies between different species of Biomphalaria. The internal defense system is one of the factors that influence the susceptibility pattern of the snails. The interaction between Biomphalaria snails and S. mansoni needs to be identified for each species, and even between the members of the same species with different degrees of susceptibility. In the present study, the first generation of susceptible and resistant parents of B. alexandrina was examined histologically at the 30th day post exposure. The study includes the characterization of the immune response, as expressed by tissue reactions, of susceptible and resistant B. alexandrina snails against S. mansoni. It was also designed to determine the impact of the resistance increase in parent snails, on the mechanisms of interaction of their offspring against infection. The results showed that the infection rate of the offspring from the susceptible parents was 92%. No susceptible offspring was produced from the resistant parents. When the parents were of equal number of susceptible and resistant snails, they gave an offspring with an infection rate of 20%. Susceptible snails that had susceptible parents showed a higher degree of susceptibility than those that had both susceptible and resistant parents. A common feature of the resistant snails was the absence of any viable parasites. The tissue reactions of the resistant snails having only resistant parents occurred at the site of miracidial penetration. In resistant snails for which susceptible ones were included in their parents, the reactions occurred in the deep tissues. These results characterized the immune response of B. alexandrina snails against Schistosoma infection which was found to occur by two different mechanisms. One type of defense occurs in highly resistant snails, and employs direct

Chromosomally Encoded mcr-5 in Colistin non-susceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Snesrud, Erik; Maybank, Rosslyn; Kwak, Yoon I; Jones, Anthony R; Hinkle, Mary K; Mc Gann, Patrick

2018-05-29

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of historical Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates identified a chromosomal copy of mcr-5 within a Tn 3 -like transposon in P. aeruginosa MRSN 12280. The isolate was non-susceptible to colistin by broth microdilution and genome analysis revealed no mutations known to confer colistin resistance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mcr in colistin non-susceptible P. aeruginosa .

Antimicrobial Susceptibilities of Geographically Diverse Clinical Human Isolates of Leptospira▿

OpenAIRE

Ressner, Roseanne A.; Griffith, Matthew E.; Beckius, Miriam L.; Pimentel, Guillermo; Miller, R. Scott; Mende, Katrin; Fraser, Susan L.; Galloway, Renee L.; Hospenthal, Duane R.; Murray, Clinton K.

2008-01-01

Although antimicrobial therapy of leptospirosis has been studied in a few randomized controlled clinical studies, those studies were limited to specific regions of the world and few have characterized infecting strains. A broth microdilution technique for the assessment of antibiotic susceptibility has been developed at Brooke Army Medical Center. In the present study, we assessed the susceptibilities of 13 Leptospira isolates (including recent clinical isolates) from Egypt, Thailand, Nicarag...

In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Mycoplasma bovis isolated in Israel from local and imported cattle.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerchman, Irena; Levisohn, Sharon; Mikula, Inna; Lysnyansky, Inna

2009-06-12

Monitoring of susceptibility to antibiotics in field isolates of pathogenic bovine mycoplasmas is important for appropriate choice of treatment. Our study compared in vitro susceptibility profiles of Mycoplasma bovis clinical strains, isolated during 2005-2007 from Israeli and imported calves. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined for macrolides by the microbroth dilution test, for aminoglycosides by commercial Etest, and for fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines by both methods. Notably, although correlation between the methods was generally good, it was not possible to determine the MIC endpoint for enrofloxacin-resistant strains (MIC > or =2.5 microg/ml in the microtest) by Etest. Comparison of antibiotic susceptibility profiles between local and imported M. bovis strains revealed that local strains were significantly more resistant to macrolides than most isolates from imported animals, with MIC(50) of 128 microg/ml vs. 2 microg/ml for tilmicosin and 8 microg/ml vs. 1 microg/ml for tylosin, respectively. However, local strains were more susceptible than most imported strains to fluoroquinolones and spectinomycin. Difference in susceptibility to tetracycline, doxycycline and oxytetracycline between local and imported strains was expressed in MIC(90) values for imported strains in the susceptible range compared to intermediate susceptibility for local strains. The marked difference in susceptibility profiles of M. bovis strains isolated from different geographical regions seen in this study emphasizes the necessity for performing of the antimicrobial susceptibility testing periodically and on a regional basis.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Environmental Streptococci Recovered from Bovine Milk Samples in the Maritime Provinces of Canada

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Marguerite Cameron

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Determination of antimicrobial susceptibility of bovine mastitis pathogens is important for guiding antimicrobial treatment decisions and for the detection of emerging resistance. Environmental streptococci are ubiquitous in the farm environment and are a frequent cause of mastitis in dairy cows. The aim of the study was to determine patterns of antimicrobial susceptibility among species of environmental streptococci isolated from dairy cows in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. The collection consisted of 192 isolates identified in milk samples collected from 177 cows originating from 18 dairy herds. Results were aggregated into: 1 Streptococcus uberis (n = 70, 2 Streptococcus dysgalactiae (n = 28, 3 other Streptococci spp. (n = 35, 4, Lactococcus spp. (n = 32, and 5 Enterococcus spp. (n = 27. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC were determined using the Sensititre microdilution system and mastitis plate format. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyze the data, with antimicrobial susceptibility as the outcome. The proportion of susceptible Streptococcus uberis ranged from 23% (for penicillin to 99% (for penicillin/novobiocin, with a median of 82%. All Streptococcus dysgalactiae were susceptible to all antimicrobials except for penicillin (93% susceptible and tetracycline (18% susceptible. The range of susceptibility for other Streptococcus spp. was 43% (for tetracycline to 100%, with a median percent susceptibility of 92%. Lactococcus spp. isolates displayed percent susceptibilities ranging from 0% (for penicillin to 97% (for erythromycin, median 75%. For the antimicrobials tested, the MIC were higher for Enterococcus spp. than for the other species. According to the multilevel models, there was a significant interaction between antimicrobial and bacterial species, indicating that susceptibility against a particular antimicrobial varied among the species of environmental streptococci and vice versa. Generally

Antibiotic Susceptibilities and Serotyping of Clinical Streptococcus Agalactiae Isolates

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Altay Atalay

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B streptococci, GBS are frequently responsible for sepsis and meningitis seen in the early weeks of life. GBS may cause perinatal infection and premature birth in pregnant women. The aim of this study was to serotype GBS strains isolated from clinical samples and evaluate their serotype distribution according to their susceptibilities to antibiotics and isolation sites. Material and Methods: One hundred thirty one S. agalactiae strains isolated from the clinical samples were included in the study. Of the strains, 99 were isolated from urine, 20 from soft tissue, 10 from blood and 2 from vaginal swab. Penicillin G and ceftriaxone susceptibilities of GBS were determined by the agar dilution method. Susceptibilities to erythromycin, clindamycin, vancomycin and tetracycline were determined by the Kirby-Bauer method according to CLSI criteria. Serotyping was performed using the latex aglutination method using specific antisera (Ia, Ib, II-VIII. Results: While in 131 GBS strains, serotypes VII and VIII were not detected, the most frequently isolated serotypes were types Ia (36%, III (30.5% and II (13% respectively. Serotype Ia was the most frequently seen serotype in all samples. All GBS isolates were susceptible to penicilin G, ceftriaxone and vancomycin. Among the strains, tetracycline, erythromycin and clindamycin resistance rates were determined as 90%, 14.5%, and 13% respectively. Conclusion: Penicillin is still the first choice of treatment for the infections with all serotypes of S. agalactiae in Turkey.

An Improved Information Value Model Based on Gray Clustering for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping

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Qianqian Ba

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Landslides, as geological hazards, cause significant casualties and economic losses. Therefore, it is necessary to identify areas prone to landslides for prevention work. This paper proposes an improved information value model based on gray clustering (IVM-GC for landslide susceptibility mapping. This method uses the information value derived from an information value model to achieve susceptibility classification and weight determination of landslide predisposing factors and, hence, obtain the landslide susceptibility of each study unit based on the clustering analysis. Using a landslide inventory of Chongqing, China, which contains 8435 landslides, three landslide susceptibility maps were generated based on the common information value model (IVM, an information value model improved by an analytic hierarchy process (IVM-AHP and our new improved model. Approximately 70% (5905 of the inventory landslides were used to generate the susceptibility maps, while the remaining 30% (2530 were used to validate the results. The training accuracies of the IVM, IVM-AHP and IVM-GC were 81.8%, 78.7% and 85.2%, respectively, and the prediction accuracies were 82.0%, 78.7% and 85.4%, respectively. The results demonstrate that all three methods perform well in evaluating landslide susceptibility. Among them, IVM-GC has the best performance.

Original Paper Multicenter study on antibiotic susceptibility ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Multicenter study on antibiotic susceptibility/resistance trends in the western region of Cameroon ... antibiotic era, IDs used to be serious threats because of lack or insufficient ...... antimicrobial use in livestock; AMR. Control., 116-122. Vandini ...

acetyltransferases: Influence on Lung Cancer Susceptibility

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Lung cancer remains a major health challenge in the world. It is the commonest cause of cancer mortality in men, it has been suggested that genetic susceptibility may contribute to the major risk factor, with increasing prevalence of smoking. Lung cancer has reached epidemic proportions in India. Recently indoor air ...

Antibiotic susceptibility profiles for group B streptococci isolated from neonates, 1995-1998

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lin, FYC; Azimi, PH; Weisman, LE; Philips, JB; Regan, J; Clark, P; Rhoads, GG; Clemens, J; Troendle, J; Pratt, E; Brenner, RA; Gill, [No Value

Antibiotic susceptibility profiles were analyzed for 119 invasive and 227 colonizing strains of group B streptococci isolated from neonates at 6 US academic centers, All strains were susceptible to penicillin, vancomycin, chloramphenicol, and cefotaxime, The rate of resistance to erythromycin was

Van Vleck temperature independent susceptibilities in the rare earth double nitrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Commander, R.J.; Finn, C.B.P.

1978-01-01

Measurements of the magnetic susceptibilities between 4.2 and 1.1 K of the rare earth zinc nitrates are reported. It is shown that the results for the Van Vleck temperature independent susceptibilities for cerium magnesium nitrate and cerium zinc nitrate are consistent with the published low lying level schemes for these two salts. (author)

Carbapenem susceptibilities and non-susceptibility concordance to different carbapenems amongst clinically important Gram-negative bacteria isolated from intensive care units in Taiwan: results from the Surveillance of Multicentre Antimicrobial Resistance in Taiwan (SMART) in 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Jean, Shio-Shin; Hsueh, Po-Ren; Lee, Wen-Sen; Yu, Kwok-Woon; Liao, Chun-Hsing; Chang, Feng-Yi; Ko, Wen-Chien; Wu, Jiunn-Jong; Chen, Yen-Hsu; Chen, Yao-Shen; Liu, Jien-Wei; Lu, Min-Chi; Liu, Cheng-Yi; Lam, Carlos; Chen, Ray-Jade

2013-05-01

To investigate the in vitro susceptibilities to various carbapenems amongst clinical Gram-negative bacteria isolated from patients in intensive care units of ten major teaching hospitals in Taiwan in 2009, a survey was conducted to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of ertapenem, imipenem, meropenem and doripenem against isolates of Enterobacteriaceae (n = 594), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 185), Acinetobacter baumannii (n = 192) and Burkholderia cepacia (n = 23) using the agar dilution method. Susceptibilities were determined according to 2009, 2011 and 2012 MIC breakpoints recommended by the CLSI as well as 2012 MIC breakpoints recommended by EUCAST. Based on CLSI 2012 criteria, the ertapenem susceptible rate was 93%, 81%, 68% and 92% for Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae and Serratia marcescens, respectively. All Proteus mirabilis and Morganella morganii isolates were susceptible to ertapenem; however, 64% of P. mirabilis and all M. morganii isolates were non-susceptible to imipenem. Meropenem and doripenem had better activities than imipenem against ertapenem-non-susceptible Enterobacteriaceae isolates. E. coli, K. pneumoniae and E. cloacae with ertapenem MICs≥4 mg/L were synchronously not susceptible to imipenem, meropenem and doripenem. Imipenem susceptibility was 65% and 29% for P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii, respectively. Additionally, P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii isolates with imipenem MICs≥8 mg/L were also not susceptible to meropenem and doripenem. These data provide a better understanding of choosing appropriate carbapenem agents to treat infections caused by ertapenem-non-susceptible Enterobacteriaceae as well as P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii isolates with imipenem MICs≥4 mg/L. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

Carcinogen susceptibility is regulated by genome architecture and predicts cancer mutagenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Nieto, Pablo E; Schwartz, Erin K; King, Devin A; Paulsen, Jonas; Collas, Philippe; Herrera, Rafael E; Morrison, Ashby J

2017-10-02

The development of many sporadic cancers is directly initiated by carcinogen exposure. Carcinogens induce malignancies by creating DNA lesions (i.e., adducts) that can result in mutations if left unrepaired. Despite this knowledge, there has been remarkably little investigation into the regulation of susceptibility to acquire DNA lesions. In this study, we present the first quantitative human genome-wide map of DNA lesions induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the ubiquitous carcinogen in sunlight that causes skin cancer. Remarkably, the pattern of carcinogen susceptibility across the genome of primary cells significantly reflects mutation frequency in malignant melanoma. Surprisingly, DNase-accessible euchromatin is protected from UV, while lamina-associated heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery is vulnerable. Many cancer driver genes have an intrinsic increase in carcinogen susceptibility, including the BRAF oncogene that has the highest mutation frequency in melanoma. These findings provide a genome-wide snapshot of DNA injuries at the earliest stage of carcinogenesis. Furthermore, they identify carcinogen susceptibility as an origin of genome instability that is regulated by nuclear architecture and mirrors mutagenesis in cancer. © 2017 The Authors.

Fidelity Susceptibility Made Simple: A Unified Quantum Monte Carlo Approach

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Lei Wang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The fidelity susceptibility is a general purpose probe of phase transitions. With its origin in quantum information and in the differential geometry perspective of quantum states, the fidelity susceptibility can indicate the presence of a phase transition without prior knowledge of the local order parameter, as well as reveal the universal properties of a critical point. The wide applicability of the fidelity susceptibility to quantum many-body systems is, however, hindered by the limited computational tools to evaluate it. We present a generic, efficient, and elegant approach to compute the fidelity susceptibility of correlated fermions, bosons, and quantum spin systems in a broad range of quantum Monte Carlo methods. It can be applied to both the ground-state and nonzero-temperature cases. The Monte Carlo estimator has a simple yet universal form, which can be efficiently evaluated in simulations. We demonstrate the power of this approach with applications to the Bose-Hubbard model, the spin-1/2 XXZ model, and use it to examine the hypothetical intermediate spin-liquid phase in the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice.

SUSCEPTIBILITY TEST FOR FUNGI: CLINICAL AND LABORATORIAL CORRELATIONS IN MEDICAL MYCOLOGY

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Ana ALASTRUEY-IZQUIERDO

2015-09-01

Full Text Available SUMMARYDuring recent decades, antifungal susceptibility testing has become standardized and nowadays has the same role of the antibacterial susceptibility testing in microbiology laboratories. American and European standards have been developed, as well as equivalent commercial systems which are more appropriate for clinical laboratories. The detection of resistant strains by means of these systems has allowed the study and understanding of the molecular basis and the mechanisms of resistance of fungal species to antifungal agents. In addition, many studies on the correlation of in vitro results with the outcome of patients have been performed, reaching the conclusion that infections caused by resistant strains have worse outcome than those caused by susceptible fungal isolates. These studies have allowed the development of interpretative breakpoints for Candida spp. and Aspergillus spp., the most frequent agents of fungal infections in the world. In summary, antifungal susceptibility tests have become essential tools to guide the treatment of fungal diseases, to know the local and global disease epidemiology, and to identify resistance to antifungals.

Crystal structure and magnetic susceptibility of UOSe single crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaczorowski, D.; Muenster Univ.; Poettgen, R.; Jeitschko, W.; Gajek, Z.; Zygmunt, A.

1993-01-01

The crystal structure and magnetic susceptibility behaviour of UOSe single crystals have been studied. UOSe crystalizes in the tetragonal PbFC1-type structure (space group P4/nmm) with the lattice parameters: a = 390.38(5) pm and c = 698.05(9) pm. It orders antiferromagnetically at T N =100±2 K and exhibits a very strong anisotropy in the susceptibility vs temperature variation. The magnetic and thermodynamic properties of UOSe are successfully interpreted in the framework of a perturbative ab initio crystal field approach. (Author)

Crystal structure and magnetic susceptibility of UOSe single crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaczorowski, D. (Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw (Poland). Inst. for Low Temperature and Structure Research Muenster Univ. (Germany). Anorganisch-Chemisches Inst.); Poettgen, R.; Jeitschko, W. (Muenster Univ. (Germany). Anorganisch-Chemisches Inst.); Gajek, Z.; Zygmunt, A. (Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw (Poland). Inst. for Low Temperature and Structure Research)

1993-01-01

The crystal structure and magnetic susceptibility behaviour of UOSe single crystals have been studied. UOSe crystalizes in the tetragonal PbFC1-type structure (space group P4/nmm) with the lattice parameters: a = 390.38(5) pm and c = 698.05(9) pm. It orders antiferromagnetically at T[sub N]=100[+-]2 K and exhibits a very strong anisotropy in the susceptibility vs temperature variation. The magnetic and thermodynamic properties of UOSe are successfully interpreted in the framework of a perturbative ab initio crystal field approach. (Author).

antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of urinary pathogens isolated ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

boaz

Conclusion: This study justifies the necessity to treat patients with UTI based on antimicrobial susceptibility test result in order ... colonization of the urine and symptomatic infection ... indicated a high incidence of UTIs (54%) in pregnant women ...

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Brachyspira Species Isolated from Swine Herds in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Mirajkar, Nandita S.; Davies, Peter R.

2016-01-01

Outbreaks of swine dysentery, caused by Brachyspira hyodysenteriae and the recently discovered “Brachyspira hampsonii,” have reoccurred in North American swine herds since the late 2000s. Additionally, multiple Brachyspira species have been increasingly isolated by North American diagnostic laboratories. In Europe, the reliance on antimicrobial therapy for control of swine dysentery has been followed by reports of antimicrobial resistance over time. The objectives of our study were to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility trends of four Brachyspira species originating from U.S. swine herds and to investigate their associations with the bacterial species, genotypes, and epidemiological origins of the isolates. We evaluated the susceptibility of B. hyodysenteriae, B. hampsonii, Brachyspira pilosicoli, and Brachyspira murdochii to tiamulin, valnemulin, doxycycline, lincomycin, and tylosin by broth microdilution and that to carbadox by agar dilution. In general, Brachyspira species showed high susceptibility to tiamulin, valnemulin, and carbadox, heterogeneous susceptibility to doxycycline, and low susceptibility to lincomycin and tylosin. A trend of decreasing antimicrobial susceptibility by species was observed (B. hampsonii > B. hyodysenteriae > B. murdochii > B. pilosicoli). In general, Brachyspira isolates from the United States were more susceptible to these antimicrobials than were isolates from other countries. Decreased antimicrobial susceptibility was associated with the genotype, stage of production, and production system from which the isolate originated, which highlights the roles of biosecurity and husbandry in disease prevention and control. Finally, this study also highlights the urgent need for Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute-approved clinical breakpoints for Brachyspira species, to facilitate informed therapeutic and control strategies. PMID:27252458

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Brachyspira Species Isolated from Swine Herds in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirajkar, Nandita S; Davies, Peter R; Gebhart, Connie J

2016-08-01

Outbreaks of swine dysentery, caused by Brachyspira hyodysenteriae and the recently discovered "Brachyspira hampsonii," have reoccurred in North American swine herds since the late 2000s. Additionally, multiple Brachyspira species have been increasingly isolated by North American diagnostic laboratories. In Europe, the reliance on antimicrobial therapy for control of swine dysentery has been followed by reports of antimicrobial resistance over time. The objectives of our study were to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility trends of four Brachyspira species originating from U.S. swine herds and to investigate their associations with the bacterial species, genotypes, and epidemiological origins of the isolates. We evaluated the susceptibility of B. hyodysenteriae, B. hampsonii, Brachyspira pilosicoli, and Brachyspira murdochii to tiamulin, valnemulin, doxycycline, lincomycin, and tylosin by broth microdilution and that to carbadox by agar dilution. In general, Brachyspira species showed high susceptibility to tiamulin, valnemulin, and carbadox, heterogeneous susceptibility to doxycycline, and low susceptibility to lincomycin and tylosin. A trend of decreasing antimicrobial susceptibility by species was observed (B. hampsonii > B. hyodysenteriae > B. murdochii > B. pilosicoli). In general, Brachyspira isolates from the United States were more susceptible to these antimicrobials than were isolates from other countries. Decreased antimicrobial susceptibility was associated with the genotype, stage of production, and production system from which the isolate originated, which highlights the roles of biosecurity and husbandry in disease prevention and control. Finally, this study also highlights the urgent need for Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute-approved clinical breakpoints for Brachyspira species, to facilitate informed therapeutic and control strategies. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Predictors of youth e-cigarette use susceptibility in a U.S. nationally representative sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Elizabeth; Seo, Dong-Chul; Lin, Hsien-Chang; Chen, Zhongxue

2018-07-01

Given that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances and that adolescents who are exposed to nicotine via e-cigarettes can progress to conventional cigarette smoking, there is a need to identify youth who are susceptible to e-cigarette use and prevent them from initiating e-cigarette use. Susceptibility to e-cigarette use, defined as the absence of a firm decision not to use e-cigarettes, is a useful concept that can be used to predict e-cigarette initiation and identify youth who have high risk of initiating e-cigarettes. This study was conducted to investigate factors that affect youth susceptibility to e-cigarette use. Youth who have never smoked conventional cigarettes and who had seen or heard of e-cigarettes but never used them (N = 9853) were drawn from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Wave 1 youth dataset collected from 2013 to 2014. Data were analyzed using logistic regression to investigate intrapersonal and environmental determinants of youth susceptibility to e-cigarette use. Overall, 24.2% (n = 2410) of youth who have never used e-cigarettes were susceptible to e-cigarette use. Psychological problems and rebelliousness were associated with increased susceptibility. Ever use of alcohol, marijuana, and other substances and household secondhand smoke exposure were found to be risk factors. Perceptions of e-cigarettes as addictive and harmful worked as protective factors. The results revealed determinants of e-cigarette use susceptibility. Multi-level intervention approach is needed to prevent youth from being susceptible to e-cigarette initiation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discussion of Various Susceptibilities within Thermal and Dense Quantum Chromodynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Shu-Sheng; Shi Yuan-Mei; Yang You-Chang; Cui Zhu-Fang; Zong Hong-Shi

2015-01-01

It is commonly accepted that the system undergoes a crossover at high temperature and low chemical potential beyond the chiral limit case, and the properties of the crossover region are important for researchers to understand the nature of strong interacting matters of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Since at present there is no exact order of parameters of the phase transitions beyond the chiral limit, QCD susceptibilities are widely used as indicators. In this work various susceptibilities are discussed in the framework of Dyson–Schwinger equations. The results show that different kinds of susceptibilities give the same critical end point, which is the bifurcation point of the crossover region and the first order phase transition line of QCD. Nevertheless, different pseudocritical points are found in the temperature axis. We think that defining a critical band is more suitable in the crossover region. (paper)

Investigation of the susceptibility to solidification cracking in copper alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warren, Richard [Avesta Sheffield R and D, Avesta (Sweden)

2000-04-01

A test procedure has been developed at LuTH for investigating the susceptibility to cracking at high temperatures in weldments. It has been proposed to adapt this testing procedure to investigate the cracking susceptibility at high temperatures during strip casting of certain copper alloys. Six different materials were selected for investigation - OFHC copper, tellurium containing copper, 4% tin bronze, 6% tin bronze, 30% zinc brass and 35% zinc brass. The aim of the investigation was to characterize the cracking susceptibility of the candidate materials so as to be able to rank and compare them in a quantitative manner. A further aim of the work was to study the suitability of using the data on the cracking indices generated in the present work in thermomechanical models of the casting process to optimize the casting parameters for each of the materials.

In vitro susceptibility of Candida spp. to fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole and the correlation between triazoles susceptibility: Results from a five-year study.

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Lei, J; Xu, J; Wang, T

2018-06-01

Candida spp. is a common cause of invasive fungal disease. The aim of this study was to examine the susceptibility of Candida spp. to fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole and explore the correlation between triazoles susceptibility. The antifungal susceptibility in the present study was measured by ATB Fungus 3 method, and the potential relationship was examined by obtaining the correlation of measured minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of Candida spp. isolates. A total of 2099 clinical isolates of Candida spp. from 1441 patients were analyzed. The organisms included 1435 isolates of Candida albicans, 207 isolates of Candida glabrata, 65 isolates of Candida parapsilosis, 31 isolates of Candida krusei, 268 isolates of Candida tropicalis. Voriconazole and itraconazole were more active than fluconazole and against Candida spp. in vitro. The fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole MIC 90 (MIC for 90% of the isolates) for all Candida spp. isolates was 4mg/L, 1mg/L and 0.25mg/L, respectively. There was a moderate correlation between the fluconazole MIC s for Candida spp. isolates and this for voriconazole (R 2 =0.475; P<0.01) and itraconazole (R 2 =0.431; P<0.01). Voriconazole MICs for the Candida spp. isolates also correlated with those for itraconazole (R 2 =0.401; P<0.01). These observations suggest that the in vitro susceptibility of Candida spp. to fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole exhibits a moderate correlation. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Application of Physically based landslide susceptibility models in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho Vieira, Bianca; Martins, Tiago D.

2017-04-01

Shallow landslides and floods are the processes responsible for most material and environmental damages in Brazil. In the last decades, some landslides events induce a high number of deaths (e.g. Over 1000 deaths in one event) and incalculable social and economic losses. Therefore, the prediction of those processes is considered an important tool for land use planning tools. Among different methods the physically based landslide susceptibility models having been widely used in many countries, but in Brazil it is still incipient when compared to other ones, like statistical tools and frequency analyses. Thus, the main objective of this research was to assess the application of some Physically based landslide susceptibility models in Brazil, identifying their main results, the efficiency of susceptibility mapping, parameters used and limitations of the tropical humid environment. In order to achieve that, it was evaluated SHALSTAB, SINMAP and TRIGRS models in some studies in Brazil along with the Geotechnical values, scales, DEM grid resolution and the results based on the analysis of the agreement between predicted susceptibility and the landslide scar's map. Most of the studies in Brazil applied SHALSTAB, SINMAP and to a lesser extent the TRIGRS model. The majority researches are concentrated in the Serra do Mar mountain range, that is a system of escarpments and rugged mountains that extends more than 1,500 km along the southern and southeastern Brazilian coast, and regularly affected by heavy rainfall that generates widespread mass movements. Most part of these studies used conventional topographic maps with scales ranging from 1:2000 to 1:50000 and DEM-grid resolution between 2 and 20m. Regarding the Geotechnical and hydrological values, a few studies use field collected data which could produce more efficient results, as indicated by international literature. Therefore, even though they have enormous potential in the susceptibility mapping, even for comparison

Drug susceptibility of fungi isolated from ICU patients

Science.gov (United States)

Modrzewska, Barbara D; Kurnatowska,, Anna J; Khalid, Katarzyna

Candida species can be a reason of infections associated with high morbidity and mortality. The risk of invasive candidosis for patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) is increased due to immunosuppressive states, prolonged length of stay, broad-spectrum antibiotics and Candida colonization. The aim of the study was to determine selected properties of fungi isolated from patients treated in the ICUs of hospitals in Lodz. The materials were collected from the oral cavity, the tracheostomy or endotracheal tube and urine from 16 children and 35 adult. In total, 127 samples were examined to differentiate the fungal strains with used morphological and biochemical methods. Candida species were isolated from adult patients (82.9%), but were not isolated from any of the children; C. albicans was the predominant fungus (61.7%), much less frequent were C. glabrata (12.8%), C. tropicalis (6.4%) and C. kefyr, C. dubliniensis (4.3% each).The susceptibility of fungi to antimycotic drugs revealed that almost all of the strains were susceptible to nystatin (97.9%) and to amphotericin B (72.3%), and resistant to fluconazole (72.3%) and ketoconazole (57.5%). No isolation of fungi from children remaining in ICU may be an evidence of high sanitary regime at these wards; fungi from the genus Candida are the etiological factors for ICU infections; 3/5 of them are caused by C. albicans, mostly of the code 2 576 174, characteristic for strains isolated from hospitalized patients; it is necessary to determine the species of the fungus and its susceptibility to drugs, which allows to conduct effective therapy; prophylactic administration of fluconazole leads to an increase in the number of strains resistant to this chemotherapeutic agent; in the antifungal local treatment, nystatin should be a drug of choice as the drug to which most fungi are susceptible.

The study of past damaging hydrogeological events for damage susceptibility zonation

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O. Petrucci

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Damaging Hydrogeological Events are defined as periods during which phenomena, such as landslides, floods and secondary floods, cause damage to people and the environment.

A Damaging Hydrogeological Event which heavily damaged Calabria (Southern Italy between December 1972, and January 1973, has been used to test a procedure to be utilised in the zonation of a province according to damage susceptibility during DHEs. In particular, we analyzed the province of Catanzaro (2391 km², an administrative district composed of 80 municipalities, with about 370 000 inhabitants.

Damage, defined in relation to the reimbursement requests sent to the Department of Public Works, has been quantified using a procedure based on a Local Damage Index. The latter, representing classified losses, has been obtained by multiplying the value of the damaged element and the percentage of damage affecting it.

Rainfall has been described by the Maximum Return Period of cumulative rainfall, for both short (1, 3, 5, 7, 10 consecutive days and long duration (30, 60, 90, 180 consecutive days, recorded during the event.

Damage index and population density, presumed to represent the location of vulnerable elements, have been referred to Thiessen polygons associated to rain gauges working at the time of the event.

The procedure allowed us to carry out a preliminary classification of the polygons composing the province according to their susceptibility to damage during DHEs. In high susceptibility polygons, severe damage occurs during rainfall characterised by low return periods; in medium susceptibility polygons maximum return period rainfall and induced damage show equal levels of exceptionality; in low susceptibility polygons, high return period rainfall induces a low level of damage.

The east and west sectors of the province show the highest susceptibility, while polygons of the N-NE sector show the lowest

Magnetic susceptibility of 244Cm metal and 249Cf metal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujita, D.K.; Parsons, T.C.; Edelstein, N.; Noe, M.; Peterson, J.R.

1975-07-01

The first magnetic susceptibility measurements made on the expanded fcc phase of 249 Cf metal are reported. Further measurements are needed on other Cf metal phases. Another measurement of the magnetic susceptibility of 244 Cm metal in a limited temperature range has been reported. The result does not agree with previously reported values. Further work is continuing on the synthesis of 244 Cm metal and 248 Cm metal and magnetic measurements on these samples. (auth)

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus suis isolated from clinically healthy swine in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Taíssa Cook Siqueira; Paes, Antonio Carlos; Megid, Jane; Ribolla, Paulo Eduardo Martins; Paduan, Karina dos Santos; Gottschalk, Marcelo

2014-04-01

Streptococcus suis is an important pathogen in the swine industry. This study is the first to report on the antimicrobial susceptibility of S. suis isolated from clinically healthy pigs in Brazil; the fourth major pork producer in the world. The antimicrobial susceptibility of 260 strains was determined by disc diffusion method. Strains were commonly susceptible to ceftiofur, cephalexin, chloramphenicol, and florfenicol, with more than 80% of the strains being susceptible to these antimicrobials. A high frequency of resistance to some of the antimicrobial agents was demonstrated, with resistance being most common to sulfa-trimethoprim (100%), tetracycline (97.69%), clindamycin (84.61%), norfloxacin (76.92%), and ciprofloxacin (61.15%). A high percentage of multidrug resistant strains (99.61%) were also found. The results of this study indicate that ceftiofur, cephalexin, and florfenicol are the antimicrobials of choice for empirical control of the infections caused by S. suis.

Real-time and quantitative isotropic spatial resolution susceptibility imaging for magnetic nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Pi, Shiqiang; Liu, Wenzhong; Jiang, Tao

2018-03-01

The magnetic transparency of biological tissue allows the magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) to be a promising functional sensor and contrast agent. The complex susceptibility of MNPs, strongly influenced by particle concentration, excitation magnetic field and their surrounding microenvironment, provides significant implications for biomedical applications. Therefore, magnetic susceptibility imaging of high spatial resolution will give more detailed information during the process of MNP-aided diagnosis and therapy. In this study, we present a novel spatial magnetic susceptibility extraction method for MNPs under a gradient magnetic field, a low-frequency drive magnetic field, and a weak strength high-frequency magnetic field. Based on this novel method, a magnetic particle susceptibility imaging (MPSI) of millimeter-level spatial resolution (<3 mm) was achieved using our homemade imaging system. Corroborated by the experimental results, the MPSI shows real-time (1 s per frame acquisition) and quantitative abilities, and isotropic high resolution.

21 CFR 866.1640 - Antimicrobial susceptibility test powder.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES IMMUNOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY DEVICES Diagnostic Devices § 866.1640 Antimicrobial... clinical laboratories for determining in vitro susceptibility of bacterial pathogens to these therapeutic...

Biomarkers of susceptibility: State of the art and implications for occupational exposure to engineered nanomaterials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iavicoli, Ivo; Leso, Veruscka; Schulte, Paul A.

2016-01-01

Rapid advances and applications in nanotechnology are expected to result in increasing occupational exposure to nano-sized materials whose health impacts are still not completely understood. Scientific efforts are required to identify hazards from nanomaterials and define risks and precautionary management strategies for exposed workers. In this scenario, the definition of susceptible populations, which may be at increased risk of adverse effects may be important for risk assessment and management. The aim of this review is to critically examine available literature to provide a comprehensive overview on susceptibility aspects potentially affecting heterogeneous responses to nanomaterials workplace exposure. Genetic, genotoxic and epigenetic alterations induced by nanomaterials in experimental studies were assessed with respect to their possible function as determinants of susceptibility. Additionally, the role of host factors, i.e. age, gender, and pathological conditions, potentially affecting nanomaterial toxicokinetic and health impacts, were also analysed. Overall, this review provides useful information to obtain insights into the nanomaterial mode of action in order to identify potentially sensitive, specific susceptibility biomarkers to be validated in occupational settings and addressed in risk assessment processes. The findings of this review are also important to guide future research into a deeper characterization of nanomaterial susceptibility in order to define adequate risk communication strategies. Ultimately, identification and use of susceptibility factors in workplace settings has both scientific and ethical issues that need addressing. - Highlights: • To define susceptible populations is important for risk assessment and management; • Genetic susceptibility may influence the individual response to nanomaterial exposure; • Susceptibility factors in workplace settings have both scientific and ethical issues.

Biomarkers of susceptibility: State of the art and implications for occupational exposure to engineered nanomaterials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iavicoli, Ivo, E-mail: ivo.iavicoli@unina.it [Department of Public Health, Division of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Naples (Italy); Leso, Veruscka, E-mail: veruscka@email.it [Institute of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome (Italy); Schulte, Paul A., E-mail: pas4@cdc.gov [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-14, Cincinnati, OH 45226 (United States)

2016-05-15

Rapid advances and applications in nanotechnology are expected to result in increasing occupational exposure to nano-sized materials whose health impacts are still not completely understood. Scientific efforts are required to identify hazards from nanomaterials and define risks and precautionary management strategies for exposed workers. In this scenario, the definition of susceptible populations, which may be at increased risk of adverse effects may be important for risk assessment and management. The aim of this review is to critically examine available literature to provide a comprehensive overview on susceptibility aspects potentially affecting heterogeneous responses to nanomaterials workplace exposure. Genetic, genotoxic and epigenetic alterations induced by nanomaterials in experimental studies were assessed with respect to their possible function as determinants of susceptibility. Additionally, the role of host factors, i.e. age, gender, and pathological conditions, potentially affecting nanomaterial toxicokinetic and health impacts, were also analysed. Overall, this review provides useful information to obtain insights into the nanomaterial mode of action in order to identify potentially sensitive, specific susceptibility biomarkers to be validated in occupational settings and addressed in risk assessment processes. The findings of this review are also important to guide future research into a deeper characterization of nanomaterial susceptibility in order to define adequate risk communication strategies. Ultimately, identification and use of susceptibility factors in workplace settings has both scientific and ethical issues that need addressing. - Highlights: • To define susceptible populations is important for risk assessment and management; • Genetic susceptibility may influence the individual response to nanomaterial exposure; • Susceptibility factors in workplace settings have both scientific and ethical issues.

Magnetic susceptibility as a method of investigation of short-range order in strongly nonstoichiometric carbides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazarova, S.Z.; Gusev, A.I.

2001-01-01

Magnetic susceptibility in disordered and ordered carbides of transition metals (M = Ti, Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta) was studied, the results are generalized. It was ascertained that the change in carbide susceptibility induced by deviation from stoichiometry stems from specific features of electronic spectra of the compounds. The use of magnetic susceptibility for determining structural disorder-order transitions is discussed. It is shown that change in the contribution made by orbital paramagnetism, resulting from short-range order formation, is the reason of decrease in susceptibility of nonstoichiometric carbides during the ordering. Experimentally obtained data on susceptibility permitted evaluating short- and far-range order parameters in NbC y , TaC y , TiC y and HfC y carbides [ru

Comparison of Magnetic Susceptibility Tensor and Diffusion Tensor of the Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wei; Liu, Chunlei

2013-10-01

Susceptibility tensor imaging (STI) provides a novel approach for noninvasive assessment of the white matter pathways of the brain. Using mouse brain ex vivo , we compared STI with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), in terms of tensor values, principal tensor values, anisotropy values, and tensor orientations. Despite the completely different biophysical underpinnings, magnetic susceptibility tensors and diffusion tensors show many similarities in the tensor and principal tensor images, for example, the tensors perpendicular to the fiber direction have the highest gray-white matter contrast, and the largest principal tensor is along the fiber direction. Comparison to DTI fractional anisotropy, the susceptibility anisotropy provides much higher sensitivity to the chemical composition of the white matter, especially myelin. The high sensitivity can be further enhanced with the perfusion of ProHance, a gadolinium-based contrast agent. Regarding the tensor orientations, the direction of the largest principal susceptibility tensor agrees with that of diffusion tensors in major white matter fiber bundles. The STI fiber tractography can reconstruct the fiber pathways for the whole corpus callosum and for white matter fiber bundles that are in close contact but in different orientations. There are some differences between susceptibility and diffusion tensor orientations, which are likely due to the limitations in the current STI reconstruction. With the development of more accurate reconstruction methods, STI holds the promise for probing the white matter micro-architectures with more anatomical details and higher chemical sensitivity.

Magnetic susceptibility imaging with a nonionic contrast agent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cacheris, W.; Rocklage, S.M.; Quay, S.; Dow, W.; Love, D.; Worah, D.; Lim, K.

1988-01-01

The magnetic susceptibility mechanism for MR imaging contrast enhancement has the advantage of providing useful information, such as cerebral blood flow, without crossing the blood-brain barrier. In this paper the authors report the use of a highly effective, relatively nontoxic chelate as a magnetic susceptibility agent. Dy-DTPA-bis(methylamide) (Dy-DTPA-BMA) has an extremely low acute toxicity (LD-50, intravenous, mice ∼ 40 mmol/kg). Doses of 1 mmol/kg and 2 mmol/kg Dy-DTPA-BMA lowered the initial signal intensity 63% to 57%, respectively. The utility of this technique in detecting areas of reduced blood flow within the brain was demonstrated by imaging a rabbit with a cerebral perfusion deficit

Susceptibility of SCADA systems and the energy sector

Science.gov (United States)

Goike, Lindsay

The research in this paper focused on analyzing SCADA systems in the energy sector for susceptibility to cyber attacks, in furtherance of providing suggestions to mitigate current and future cyber attacks. The research will be addressing the questions: how are SCADA systems susceptible to cyber attacks, and what are the suggested ways to mitigate both current and future cyber attacks. The five main categories of security vulnerabilities facing current SCADA systems were found to be: connectivity to the Internet, failure to plan, interdependency of sectors, numerous different types of threats, and outdated software. Some of the recommendations mentioned to mitigate current and future risks were: virtual private networks, risk assessments, increased physical security, updating of software, and firewalls.

Accessing the topological susceptibility via the Gribov horizon

Science.gov (United States)

Dudal, D.; Felix, C. P.; Guimaraes, M. S.; Sorella, S. P.

2017-10-01

The topological susceptibility, χ4 , following the work of Witten and Veneziano, plays a key role in identifying the relative magnitude of the η' mass, the so-called U (1 )A problem. A nonzero χ4 is caused by the Veneziano ghost, the occurrence of an unphysical massless pole in the correlation function of the topological current Kμ. In this paper, we investigate the topological susceptibility, χ4, in S U (3 ) and S U (2 ) Euclidean Yang-Mills theory using an appropriate Padé approximation tool and a nonperturbative gluon propagator, within a Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin invariant framework and by taking into account Gribov copies in a general linear covariant gauge.

Large-scale association analysis identifies new lung cancer susceptibility loci and heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across histological subtypes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mckay, James D.; Hung, Rayjean J; Han, Younghun; Zong, Xuchen; Carreras-Torres, Robert; Christiani, David C.; Caporaso, Neil E.; Johansson, Mattias; Xiao, Xiangjun; Li, Yafang; Byun, Jinyoung; Dunning, Alison; Pooley, Karen A.; Qian, David C.; Ji, Xuemei; Liu, Geoffrey; Timofeeva, Maria N.; Bojesen, Stig E.; Wu, Xifeng; Le Marchand, Loic; Albanes, Demetrios; Bickeboeller, Heike; Aldrich, Melinda C.; Bush, William S.; Tardon, Adonina; Rennert, Gad; Teare, M. Dawn; Field, John K.; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Lazarus, Philip; Haugen, Aage; Lam, Stephen; Schabath, Matthew B.; Andrew, Angeline S.; Shen, Hongbing; Hong, Yun-Chul; Yuan, Jian-Min; Bertazzi, Pier Alberto; Pesatori, Angela C.; Ye, Yuanqing; Diao, Nancy; Su, Li; Zhang, Ruyang; Brhane, Yonathan; Leighl, Natasha; Johansen, Jakob S.; Mellemgaard, Anders; Saliba, Walid; Marcus, Michael W.; Timens, Wim

Although several lung cancer susceptibility loci have been identified, much of the heritability for lung cancer remains unexplained. Here 14,803 cases and 12,262 controls of European descent were genotyped on the OncoArray and combined with existing data for an aggregated genomewide association

Ising model on tangled chain - 2: Magnetization and susceptibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mejdani, R.

1993-05-01

In the preceding paper we have considered an Ising model defined on tangled chain to study the behaviour of the free energy and entropy, particularly in the zero-field and zero-temperature limit. In this paper, following the main line and basing on some results of the previous work, we shall study in the ''language'' of state configurations the behaviour of the magnetization and the susceptibility for different conditions of the model, to understand better the competition between the ferromagnetic bonds along the chain and the antiferromagnetic additional bonds across the chain. Particularly interesting is the behaviour of the susceptibility in the zero-field and zero-temperature limit. Exact solutions for the magnetization and susceptibility, generated by analytical calculations and iterative algorithms, are described. The additional bonds, introduced as a form of perfectly disorder, indicate a particular effect on the spin correlation. We found that the condition J=-J' between the ferromagnetic interaction J along the chain and the antiferromagnetic interaction J' across the chain is somewhat as a ''transition-region'' condition for this behaviour. (author). 16 refs, 14 figs

Spectrum of Uropathogens and its Antibiotic Susceptibility in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Spectrum of Uropathogens and its Antibiotic Susceptibility in Pregnant Women with Symptomatic Urinary Tract Infection in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital. Running headline: Urinary Tract Infection in Pregnancy.

Clinical applications of susceptibility weighted MR imaging of the brain - a pictorial review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, Bejoy; Somasundaram, Sivaraman; Thamburaj, Krishnamoorthy; Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan; Kumar Gupta, Arun; Bodhey, Narendra K.; Raman Kapilamoorthy, Tirur

2008-01-01

Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a novel magnetic resonance (MR) technique that exploits the magnetic susceptibility differences of various tissues, such as blood, iron and calcification. This pictorial review covers many clinical conditions illustrating its usefulness. SWI consists of using both magnitude and phase images from a high-resolution, three-dimensional fully velocity-compensated gradient echo sequence. Phase mask is created from the MR phase images, and multiplying these with the magnitude images increase the conspicuity of the smaller veins and other sources of susceptibility effects, which is depicted using minimal intensity projection (minIP). The phase images are useful in differentiating between diamagnetic and paramagnetic susceptibility effects of calcium and blood, respectively. This unique MR sequence will help in detecting occult low flow vascular lesions, calcification and cerebral microbleed in various pathologic conditions and aids in characterizing tumors and degenerative diseases of the brain. This sequence also can be used to visualize normal brain structures with conspicuity. Susceptibility-weighted imaging is useful in differentiating and characterizing diverse brain pathologies. (orig.)

Transfer of innate resistance and susceptibility to Leishmania donovani infection in mouse radiation bone marrow chimaeras

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crocker, P.R.; Blackwell, J.M.; Bradley, D.J. (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK))

1984-07-01

Reciprocal radiation bone marrow chimaeras were made between H-2-compatible strains of mice innately resistant or susceptible to visceral leishmaniasis. In initial experiments, susceptibility but not resistance to Leishmania donovani could be transferred with donor bone marrow into irradiated recipients. In subsequent experiments it was possible to transfer both resistance and susceptibility. This was achieved either by selecting more radiosensitive mouse strains as susceptible recipients, or alternatively by increasing the irradiation dose for the susceptible recipients used in the initial experiments. Using the higher irradiation dose, successful transfer of resistance and susceptibility between congenic mice carrying the Lshsup(r) and Lshsup(s) alleles on the more radioresistant B10 genetic background provided firm evidence that the results obtained in this study were specifically related to expression of the Lsh gene. It is concluded that Lsh gene-controlled resistance and susceptibility to L. donovani is determined by bone marrow-derived cells. The cell type(s) involved is likely to be of the macrophage lineage.

Transfer of innate resistance and susceptibility to Leishmania donovani infection in mouse radiation bone marrow chimaeras

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crocker, P.R.; Blackwell, J.M.; Bradley, D.J.

1984-01-01

Reciprocal radiation bone marrow chimaeras mere made between H-2-compatible strains of mice innately resistant or susceptible to visceral leishmaniasis. In initial experiments, susceptibility but not resistance to Leishmania donovani could be transferred with donor bone marrow into irradiated recipients. In subsequent experiments it was possible to transfer both resistance and susceptibility. This was achieved either by selecting more radiosensitive mouse strains as susceptible recipients, or alternatively by increasing the irradiation dose for the susceptible recipients used in the initial experiments. Using the higher irradiation dose, successful transfer of resistance and susceptibility between congenic mice carrying the Lshsup(r) and Lshsup(s) alleles on the more radioresistant B10 genetic background provided firm evidence that the results obtained in this study were specifically related to expression of the Lsh gene. It is concluded that Lsh gene-controlled resistance and susceptibility to L. donovani is determined by bone marrow-derived cells. The cell type(s) involved is likely to be of the macrophage lineage. (author)

MULTI-CRITERIA ANALYSIS APPLIED TO LANDSLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY MAPPING

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Mariana Madruga de Brito

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the application of a multi-criteria analysis (MCA tool for landslide susceptibility assessment in Porto Alegre municipality, southern Brazil. A knowledge driven approach was used, aiming to ensure an optimal use of the available information. The landslide conditioning factors considered were slope, lithology, flow accumulation and distance from lineaments. Standardization of these factors was done through fuzzy membership functions, and evaluation of their relative importance for landslide predisposition was supported by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP, based on local expert knowledge. Finally, factors were integrated in a GIS environment using the weighted linear combination (WLC method. For validation, an inventory, including 107 landslide points recorded between 2007 and 2013 was used. Results indicated that 8.2% (39.40 km² of the study area are highly and very highly susceptible to landslides. An overall accuracy of 95% was found, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve of 0.960. Therefore, the resulting map can be regarded as useful for monitoring landslide-prone areas. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the proposed method is effective for susceptibility assessment since it yielded meaningful results and does not require extensive input data.

Landslide Susceptibility Index Determination Using Aritificial Neural Network

Science.gov (United States)

Kawabata, D.; Bandibas, J.; Urai, M.

2004-12-01

The occurrence of landslide is the result of the interaction of complex and diverse environmental factors. The geomorphic features, rock types and geologic structure are especially important base factors of the landslide occurrence. Generating landslide susceptibility index by defining the relationship between landslide occurrence and that base factors using conventional mathematical and statistical methods is very difficult and inaccurate. This study focuses on generating landslide susceptibility index using artificial neural networks in Southern Japanese Alps. The training data are geomorphic (e.g. altitude, slope and aspect) and geologic parameters (e.g. rock type, distance from geologic boundary and geologic dip-strike angle) and landslides. Artificial neural network structure and training scheme are formulated to generate the index. Data from areas with and without landslide occurrences are used to train the network. The network is trained to output 1 when the input data are from areas with landslides and 0 when no landslide occurred. The trained network generates an output ranging from 0 to 1 reflecting the possibility of landslide occurrence based on the inputted data. Output values nearer to 1 means higher possibility of landslide occurrence. The artificial neural network model is incorporated into the GIS software to generate a landslide susceptibility map.

Susceptibility of Several Northeastern Conifers to Fusarium circinatum and Strategies for Biocontrol

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Jorge Martín-García

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Fusarium circinatum, the causal of pine pitch canker disease (PPC, is now considered among the most important pathogens of Pinaceae in the world. Although in Europe PPC is only established in the Iberian Peninsula, the potential endangered areas cover over 10 million hectares under the current host distribution and climatic conditions. It is therefore a priority to test the susceptibility of those species and their provenances, within Central and Northern Europe and find biological control agents (BCAs against the disease. In this study, the susceptibility of Pinus sylvestris, P. mugo and Picea abies Romanian provenances to F. circinatum was tested using three inoculum doses. In parallel, the potential use of Trichoderma atroviride and Trichoderma viride as BCAs against F. circinatum was also tested. This study has demonstrated, for the first time, the susceptibility of P. mugo to F. circinatum. Likewise, the susceptibility of P. abies was also confirmed. The fact that the Romanian provenance of P. sylvestris has not been susceptible to F. circinatum suggests genetic resistance as a potential tool to manage the disease. This, together with the apparent effectiveness of Trichoderma species as BCAs, seems to indicate that an integrated management of the disease might be feasible.

Epstein–Barr Virus Susceptibility in Activated PI3Kδ Syndrome (APDS Immunodeficiency

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Jean-Marie Carpier

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Activated PI3Kδ Syndrome (APDS is an inherited immune disorder caused by heterozygous, gain-of-function mutations in the genes encoding the phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta (PI3Kδ subunits p110δ or p85δ. This recently described primary immunodeficiency disease (PID is characterized by recurrent sinopulmonary infections, lymphoproliferation, and susceptibility to herpesviruses, with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV infection being most notable. A broad range of PIDs having disparate, molecularly defined genetic etiology can cause susceptibility to EBV, lymphoproliferative disease, and lymphoma. Historically, PID patients with loss-of-function mutations causing defective cell-mediated cytotoxicity or antigen receptor signaling were found to be highly susceptible to pathological EBV infection. By contrast, the gain of function in PI3K signaling observed in APDS patients paradoxically renders these patients susceptible to EBV, though the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. At a cellular level, APDS patients exhibit deranged B lymphocyte development and defects in class switch recombination, which generally lead to defective immunoglobulin production. Moreover, APDS patients also demonstrate an abnormal skewing of T cells toward terminal effectors with short telomeres and senescence markers. Here, we review APDS with a particular focus on how the altered lymphocyte biology in these patients may confer EBV susceptibility.

Phylogeny, life history, and ecology contribute to differences in amphibian susceptibility to ranaviruses.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoverman, Jason T; Gray, Matthew J; Haislip, Nathan A; Miller, Debra L

2011-09-01

Research that identifies the potential host range of generalist pathogens as well as variation in host susceptibility is critical for understanding and predicting the dynamics of infectious diseases within ecological communities. Ranaviruses have been linked to amphibian die-off events worldwide with the greatest number of reported mortality events occurring in the United States. While reports of ranavirus-associated mortality events continue to accumulate, few data exist comparing the relative susceptibility of different species. Using a series of laboratory exposure experiments and comparative phylogenetics, we compared the susceptibilities of 19 amphibian species from two salamander families and five anurans families for two ranavirus isolates: frog virus 3 (FV3) and an FV3-like isolate from an American bullfrog culture facility. We discovered that ranaviruses were capable of infecting 17 of the 19 larval amphibian species tested with mortality ranging from 0 to 100%. Phylogenetic comparative methods demonstrated that species within the anuran family Ranidae were generally more susceptible to ranavirus infection compared to species from the other five families. We also found that susceptibility to infection was associated with species that breed in semi-permanent ponds, develop rapidly as larvae, and have limited range sizes. Collectively, these results suggest that phylogeny, life history characteristics, and habitat associations of amphibians have the potential to impact susceptibility to ranaviruses.

Weights of Evidence Method for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in Takengon, Central Aceh, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Pamela; Sadisun, Imam A.; Arifianti, Yukni

2018-02-01

Takengon is an area prone to earthquake disaster and landslide. On July 2, 2013, Central Aceh earthquake induced large numbers of landslides in Takengon area, which resulted in casualties of 39 people. This location was chosen to assess the landslide susceptibility of Takengon, using a statistical method, referred to as the weight of evidence (WoE). This WoE model was applied to indicate the main factors influencing the landslide susceptible area and to derive landslide susceptibility map of Takengon. The 251 landslides randomly divided into two groups of modeling/training data (70%) and validation/test data sets (30%). Twelve thematic maps of evidence are slope degree, slope aspect, lithology, land cover, elevation, rainfall, lineament, peak ground acceleration, curvature, flow direction, distance to river and roads used as landslide causative factors. According to the AUC, the significant factor controlling the landslide is the slope, the slope aspect, peak ground acceleration, elevation, lithology, flow direction, lineament, and rainfall respectively. Analytical result verified by using test data of landslide shows AUC prediction rate is 0.819 and AUC success rate with all landslide data included is 0.879. This result showed the selective factors and WoE method as good models for assessing landslide susceptibility. The landslide susceptibility map of Takengon shows the probabilities, which represent relative degrees of susceptibility for landslide proneness in Takengon area.

The differential susceptibility to media effects model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Valkenburg, P.M.; Peter, J.

2013-01-01

In this theoretical article, we introduce the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM), a new, integrative model to improve our understanding of media effects. The DSMM organizes, integrates, and extends the insights developed in earlier microlevel media-effects theories. It

Pregnancy and Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases

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Elisabeth Sappenfield

2013-01-01

Full Text Available To summarize the literature regarding susceptibility of pregnant women to infectious diseases and severity of resulting disease, we conducted a review using a PubMed search and other strategies. Studies were included if they reported information on infection risk or disease outcome in pregnant women. In all, 1454 abstracts were reviewed, and a total of 85 studies were included. Data were extracted regarding number of cases in pregnant women, rates of infection, risk factors for disease severity or complications, and maternal outcomes. The evidence indicates that pregnancy is associated with increased severity of some infectious diseases, such as influenza, malaria, hepatitis E, and herpes simplex virus (HSV infection (risk for dissemination/hepatitis; there is also some evidence for increased severity of measles and smallpox. Disease severity seems higher with advanced pregnancy. Pregnant women may be more susceptible to acquisition of malaria, HIV infection, and listeriosis, although the evidence is limited. These results reinforce the importance of infection prevention as well as of early identification and treatment of suspected influenza, malaria, hepatitis E, and HSV disease during pregnancy.

Degree of susceptibility of industrial gases of tree and shrub species

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dobrovoljskii, I A

1952-01-01

The trees and shrubs of the iron smelting region of Krivoi Rog, in the Ukraine, were surveyed to determine susceptibility to air pollution damage. Most of the observations were made in parks and green belts in industrial areas. A classification of tree and shrub species is presented; they are separated into three classes according to their susceptibility to air pollutant injury.

Wave Vector Dependent Susceptibility at T>Tc in a Dipolar Ising Ferromagnet

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Als-Nielsen, Jens Aage; Holmes, L. M:; Guggenheim, H. J.

1974-01-01

The wave-vector-dependent susceptibility of LiTbF4 has been investigated by means of neutron scattering. The observations show a singularity of the susceptibility near wave vector Q=0 which is characteristic of the dipolar Coulomb interaction and good agreement with theory is obtained...

Selection of media for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of fish pathogenic bacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dalsgaard, Inger

2001-01-01

3, Diagnostic Sensitivity Test Agar) have been used in addition to media (Brain Heart Infusion Agar, Heart Infusion Agar, Columbia Blood Agar) normally utilized for cultivating fastidious bacteria. When testing marine pathogens, sodium chloride or seawater has been included in the media. Media...... pattern in fish pathogenic bacteria. The American guideline from The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) recommends Mueller-Hinton Agar for susceptibility testing of human pathogens and this validated medium appears to be adequate for the rapidly growing fish pathogens. Following......The available data concerning antimicrobial susceptibility testing of fish pathogens showed that there is no consensus to the basal medium currently being employed. Different media recommended for susceptibility testing of human pathogens (Mueller-Hinton Agar, Tryptone Soya Agar, Antibiotic Medium...

Selection of media for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of fish pathogenic bacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dalsgaard, Inger

2001-01-01

The available data concerning antimicrobial susceptibility testing of fish pathogens showed that there is no consensus to the basal medium currently being employed. Different media recommended for susceptibility testing of human pathogens (Mueller-Hinton Agar, Tryptone Soya Agar, Antibiotic Medium...... 3, Diagnostic Sensitivity Test Agar) have been used in addition to media (Brain Heart Infusion Agar, Heart Infusion Agar, Columbia Blood Agar) normally utilized for cultivating fastidious bacteria. When testing marine pathogens, sodium chloride or seawater has been included in the media. Media...... normally used for cultivation of pathogens with specific growth requirements like Flavobacterium species and Renibacterium salmoninarum have been used for susceptibility testing. The Mueller-Hinton Agar and different modifications of this medium was used most frequently in published studies on resistant...

Six-year susceptibility trends and effect of revised Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute breakpoints on ciprofloxacin susceptibility reporting in typhoidal Salmonellae in a tertiary care paediatric hospital in Northern India

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R Saksena

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The antimicrobial trends over 6 years were studied, and the effect of revised Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI breakpoints (2012 for ciprofloxacin susceptibility reporting in typhoidal Salmonellae was determined. A total of 874 (95.4% isolates were nalidixic acid-resistant (NAR. Using the CLSI 2011 guidelines (M100-S21, 585 (66.9% isolates were ciprofloxacin susceptible. The susceptibility reduced to 11 (1.25% isolates when interpreted using 2012 guidelines (M100-S22. Among the forty nalidixic acid susceptible (NAS Salmonellae, susceptibility to ciprofloxacin decreased from 37 isolates (M100-S21 to 12 isolates (M100-S22. The 25 cases which appeared resistant with newer guidelines had a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC range between 0.125 and 0.5 μg/ml. MIC50 for the third generation cephalosporins varied between 0.125 and 0.5 μg/ml over 6 years whereas MIC90 varied with a broader range of 0.19–1 μg/ml. The gap between NAR and ciprofloxacin-resistant strains identified using 2011 guidelines has been reduced; however, it remains to be seen whether additional NAS, ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates are truly resistant to ciprofloxacin by other mechanisms of resistance.

Evaluation of SCC susceptibility of alloy 800 under CANDU SG secondary-side conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, S.; Lu, Y.

2006-01-01

As part of a coordinated program, AECL is developing a set of tools to aid with the prediction and management of steam generator performance. Although stress corrosion cracking (of Alloy 800) has not been detected in any operating steam generator, for life management it is necessary to develop mechanistic models to predict the conditions under which stress corrosion cracking is plausible. Therefore, constant extension rate tests were carried out for Alloy 800 under various steam generator crevice chemistry conditions at applied potentials. These tests were designed to evaluate the stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of Alloy 800 under CANDU( steam generator operating conditions. Based on the experimental results, the recommended electrochemical corrosion potential/pH zone for Alloy 800 determined by electrochemical polarization measurements was verified with the respect of stress corrosion cracking susceptibility. The effects of lead contamination on the stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of Alloy 800 tubing were also evaluated. The experimental results from constant extension rate tests obtained under applied potentials suggest that Alloy 800 has good performance inside much of a previously recommended electrochemical corrosion potential/pH zone determined by electrochemical analysis. Alloy 800 is not susceptible to stress corrosion cracking under normal CANDU steam generator operating conditions. However, Alloy 800 may be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking under near-neutral crevice chemistry conditions in the presence of oxidants. In addition, stress corrosion cracking susceptibility is increased by lead contamination. This observation suggests that the previously defined electrochemical corrosion potential limit under near-neutral crevice conditions could be modified to minimize stress corrosion cracking of Alloy 800. The test results from this work also suggest that the pH dependency of the stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of Alloy 800

STrategically Acquired Gradient Echo (STAGE) imaging, part I: Creating enhanced T1 contrast and standardized susceptibility weighted imaging and quantitative susceptibility mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yongsheng; Liu, Saifeng; Wang, Yu; Kang, Yan; Haacke, E Mark

2018-02-01

To provide whole brain grey matter (GM) to white matter (WM) contrast enhanced T1W (T1WE) images, multi-echo quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), proton density (PD) weighted images, T1 maps, PD maps, susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI), and R2* maps with minimal misregistration in scanning times creating enhanced GM/WM contrast (the T1WE). The proposed T1WE image was created from a combination of the proton density weighted (6°, PDW) and T1W (24°) images and corrected for RF transmit field variations. Prior to the QSM calculation, a multi-echo phase unwrapping strategy was implemented using the unwrapped short echo to unwrap the longer echo to speed up computation. R2* maps were used to mask deep grey matter and veins during the iterative QSM calculation. A weighted-average sum of susceptibility maps was generated to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). The proposed T1WE image has a significantly improved CNR both for WM to deep GM and WM to cortical GM compared to the acquired T1W image (the first echo of 24° scan) and the T1MPRAGE image. The weighted-average susceptibility maps have 80±26%, 55±22%, 108±33% SNR increases across the ten subjects compared to the single echo result of 17.5ms for the putamen, caudate nucleus, and globus pallidus, respectively. STAGE imaging offers the potential to create a standardized brain imaging protocol providing four pieces of quantitative tissue property information and multiple types of qualitative information in just 5min. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Interpretive criteria for mupirocin susceptibility testing of Staphylococcus spp. using CLSI guidelines.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Creagh, S

2012-02-03

Mupirocin is an antimicrobial agent commonly used to treat staphylococcal infection or to eliminate persistent carriage. To date, interpretive criteria have not been established to define susceptibility or resistance when performing mupirocin susceptibility testing. In this evaluation, using CLSI guidelines, a total of 502 staphylococci comprising 219 methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, 222 methicillin-resistant S. aureus and 61 coagulase-negative staphylococci are tested by broth microdilution, disc diffusion and E-test. Disc diffusion using 5 microg mupirocin discs was found to be a reliable method to distinguish susceptible and resistant strains. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination was required to differentiate low-level and high-level resistance to mupirocin. E-test was found to be an accurate alternative to broth microdilution for the routine determination of MIC values of staphylococci to mupirocin. Broth microdilution and disc-diffusion results were plotted on a scattergram, and error rates were calculated. No errors were found using susceptibility criteria of < 4 microg\\/mL (MIC) and > 19 mm (zone diameter).

RSRC1 and CPZ gene polymorphisms with neuroblastoma susceptibility in Chinese children.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Jue; Liu, Wei; Zhu, Jinhong; Zhang, Jiao; Wang, Feng-Hua; Liang, Jiang-Hua; Zeng, Jia-Hang; Wang, Hui; Xia, Huimin; He, Jing

2018-07-01

Two new neuroblastoma susceptibility loci at 3q25 (RSRC1 rs6441201 G > A) and 4p16 (CPZ rs3796725 T > C and rs3796727 A > G) were identified by a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving Italians, African Americans and European Americans. In this case-control study with 393 neuroblastoma cases and 812 controls, we investigated the association between these three polymorphisms and neuroblastoma susceptibility in Chinese population. We found that participants harboring the RSRC1 rs6441201A allele were associated with an increased risk of neuroblastoma (AA vs. GG: adjusted OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.03-2.34, P = 0.036). No significant association between the CPZ polymorphisms (rs3796725 T > C and rs3796727A > G) and neuroblastoma susceptibility was observed. In conclusion, our results confirm that the RSRC1 rs6441201A allele is associated with neuroblastoma susceptibility in Chinese population. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of the factor V Leiden mutation on infectious disease susceptibility and outcome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Benfield, Thomas L; Dahl, Mortens; Nordestgaard, Borge G

2005-01-01

The effect of the coagulation factor V Leiden mutation on infectious disease susceptibility and outcome is controversial.......The effect of the coagulation factor V Leiden mutation on infectious disease susceptibility and outcome is controversial....

Integrating Expert Knowledge with Statistical Analysis for Landslide Susceptibility Assessment at Regional Scale

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Christos Chalkias

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, an integration landslide susceptibility model by combining expert-based and bivariate statistical analysis (Landslide Susceptibility Index—LSI approaches is presented. Factors related with the occurrence of landslides—such as elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, lithology, land cover, Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP and Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA—were analyzed within a GIS environment. This integrated model produced a landslide susceptibility map which categorized the study area according to the probability level of landslide occurrence. The accuracy of the final map was evaluated by Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC analysis depending on an independent (validation dataset of landslide events. The prediction ability was found to be 76% revealing that the integration of statistical analysis with human expertise can provide an acceptable landslide susceptibility assessment at regional scale.

Low-field susceptibilities of rare-earth spin glass alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarkissian, B.V.B.

1978-01-01

The low-field AC susceptibilities of the dilute rare-earth spin glass alloys Sc-Gd, Sc-Tb, Pr-Tb and Pr-Gd are reported and compared with low-field DC susceptibilities of the same samples. The similarities between their behaviour and that of Au-Fe spin glass alloys is also considered. When single-ion anisotropy is important, this can cause a dramatic broadening of the sharp peak. Broadening in the AC peak has also observed as the frequency of the deriving field is increased. These data can be qualitatively discussed in terms of a recent magnetic-cluster model for spin glasses. (author)

Candidaemia and antifungal susceptibility testing in a teaching hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Tzar, M N; Shamim, A S

2009-03-01

We reviewed cases of candidaemia at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre from 1st January 2005 to 30th June 2006. All blood cultures positive for Candida species or its teleomorphs within the study period were identified and antifungal susceptibility testing was performed. Out of 50 blood isolates, 20 (40%) were identified as Candida albicans, 16 (32%) C. tropicalis, five (10%) C. parapsilosis, three (6%) C. famata, two (4%) C. glabrata, two (4%) Pichia ohmeri, one (2%) C. krusei and one (2%) P. etchell/carsonii. Susceptibility to amphotericin B was 100%, fluconazole 90%, itraconazole 40%, ketoconazole 88%, 5-flucytosine 98% and voriconazole 98%.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Enteric Gram Negative Facultative Anaerobe Bacilli in Aerobic versus Anaerobic Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Amachawadi, Raghavendra G.; Renter, David G.; Volkova, Victoriya V.

2016-01-01

Antimicrobial treatments result in the host’s enteric bacteria being exposed to the antimicrobials. Pharmacodynamic models can describe how this exposure affects the enteric bacteria and their antimicrobial resistance. The models utilize measurements of bacterial antimicrobial susceptibility traditionally obtained in vitro in aerobic conditions. However, in vivo enteric bacteria are exposed to antimicrobials in anaerobic conditions of the lower intestine. Some of enteric bacteria of food animals are potential foodborne pathogens, e.g., Gram-negative bacilli Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica. These are facultative anaerobes; their physiology and growth rates change in anaerobic conditions. We hypothesized that their antimicrobial susceptibility also changes, and evaluated differences in the susceptibility in aerobic vs. anaerobic conditions of generic E. coli and Salmonella enterica of diverse serovars isolated from cattle feces. Susceptibility of an isolate was evaluated as its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) measured by E-Test® following 24 hours of adaptation to the conditions on Mueller-Hinton agar, and on a more complex tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood (BAP) media. We considered all major antimicrobial drug classes used in the U.S. to treat cattle: β-lactams (specifically, ampicillin and ceftriaxone E-Test®), aminoglycosides (gentamicin and kanamycin), fluoroquinolones (enrofloxacin), classical macrolides (erythromycin), azalides (azithromycin), sulfanomides (sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim), and tetracyclines (tetracycline). Statistical analyses were conducted for the isolates (n≥30) interpreted as susceptible to the antimicrobials based on the clinical breakpoint interpretation for human infection. Bacterial susceptibility to every antimicrobial tested was statistically significantly different in anaerobic vs. aerobic conditions on both media, except for no difference in susceptibility to ceftriaxone on BAP agar. A satellite experiment

Prevalence and bacterial susceptibility of hospital acquired urinary tract infection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dias Neto José Anastácio

2003-01-01

Full Text Available PURPOSE: Urinary tract infection is the most common nosocomially acquired infection. It is important to know the etiology and antibiotic susceptibility infectious agents to guide the initial empirical treatment. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of bacterial strains and their antibiotic susceptibility in nosocomially acquired urinary tract infection in a university hospital between January and June 2003. METHODS: We analyzed the data of 188 patients with positive urine culture (= 10(5 colony-forming units/mL following a period of 48 hours after admission. RESULTS: Half of patients were male. Mean age was 50.26 ± 22.7 (SD, range 3 months to 88 years. Gram-negative bacteria were the agent in approximately 80% of cases. The most common pathogens were E. coli (26%, Klebsiella sp. (15%, P. aeruginosa (15% and Enterococcus sp. (11%. The overall bacteria susceptibility showed that the pathogens were more sensible to imipenem (83%, second or third generation cephalosporin and aminoglycosides; and were highly resistant to ampicillin (27% and cefalothin (30%. It is important to note the low susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (42% and norfloxacin (43%. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that if one can not wait the results of urine culture, the best choices to begin empiric treatment are imipenem, second or third generation cephalosporin and aminoglycosides. Cefalothin and ampicillin are quite ineffective to treat these infections.

Optimal control in a model of malaria with differential susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Hincapié, Doracelly; Ospina, Juan

2014-06-01

A malaria model with differential susceptibility is analyzed using the optimal control technique. In the model the human population is classified as susceptible, infected and recovered. Susceptibility is assumed dependent on genetic, physiological, or social characteristics that vary between individuals. The model is described by a system of differential equations that relate the human and vector populations, so that the infection is transmitted to humans by vectors, and the infection is transmitted to vectors by humans. The model considered is analyzed using the optimal control method when the control consists in using of insecticide-treated nets and educational campaigns; and the optimality criterion is to minimize the number of infected humans, while keeping the cost as low as is possible. One first goal is to determine the effects of differential susceptibility in the proposed control mechanism; and the second goal is to determine the algebraic form of the basic reproductive number of the model. All computations are performed using computer algebra, specifically Maple. It is claimed that the analytical results obtained are important for the design and implementation of control measures for malaria. It is suggested some future investigations such as the application of the method to other vector-borne diseases such as dengue or yellow fever; and also it is suggested the possible application of free software of computer algebra like Maxima.

Increased LDL susceptibility to oxidation accelerates future carotid artery atherosclerosis

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Aoki Toshinari

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We analyzed the causal relationship between LDL susceptibility to oxidation and the development of new carotid artery atherosclerosis over a period of 5 years. We previously described the determinants related to a risk of cardiovascular changes determined in a Japanese population participating in the Niigata Study, which is an ongoing epidemiological investigation of the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Methods We selected 394 individuals (169 males and 225 females who underwent a second carotid artery ultrasonographic examination in 2001 - 2002 for the present study. The susceptibility of LDL to oxidation was determined as the photometric absorbance and electrophoretic mobility of samples that had been collected in 1996 - 1997. The measurements were compared with ultrasonographic findings obtained in 2001 - 2002. Results The multivariate-adjusted model showed that age (odds ratio (OR, 1.034; 95% confidence interval (95%CI, 1.010 - 1.059, HbA1c (OR, 1.477; 95%CI, 0.980 - 2.225, and photometric O/N (OR, 2.012; 95%CI, 1.000 - 4.051 were significant variables that could independently predict the risk of new carotid artery atherosclerosis. Conclusion The susceptibility of LDL to oxidation was a significant parameter that could predict new carotid artery atherosclerosis over a 5-year period, and higher susceptibility was associated with a higher incidence of new carotid artery atherosclerosis.

Responses of Nasonovia ribisnigri (Homoptera: Aphididae) to susceptible and resistant lettuce.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yong-Biao; McCreight, James D

2006-06-01

Nymphs and alates of aphid Nasonovia ribisnigri (Mosley) (Homoptera: Aphididae) were tested on 10 lettuce cultivars with N. ribisnigri resistance gene Nr and 18 cultivars without the resistance gene in various bioassays. Bioassays used whole plants, leaf discs, or leaf cages to determine susceptibility of commercial lettuce cultivars to N. ribisnigri infestation and to evaluate screening methods for breeding lettuce resistance to N. ribisnigri. Resistant and susceptible plants were separated in 3 d when using whole plant bioassays. Long-term (> or =7 d) no-choice tests using leaf cages or whole plants resulted in no survival of N. ribisnigri on resistant plants, indicating great promise of the Nr gene for management of N. ribisnigri. Effective screening was achieved in both no-choice tests where resistant or susceptible intact plants were tested separately in groups or individually and in choice tests where susceptible and resistant plants were intermixed. Leaf discs bioassays were not suitable for resistance screening. All lettuce cultivars without the resistance gene were suitable hosts for N. ribisnigri, indicating the great importance of this pest to lettuce production and the urgency in developing resistant lettuce cultivars to manage N. ribisnigri.

Prevalence And Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern Of Methicillin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important nosocomial pathogen. We report the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of MRSA in Amravati, Maharashtra state (India). A total of 150 healthcare-associated (HA) sources (doctors mobiles phone and wound/pus swabs), and 160 ...

GIS-based assessment of landslide susceptibility using certainty ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tion systems (GIS) using different models. Many of these ... as spatial multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach ... 2013), support vec- ... Landslide susceptibility assessment using mathematical methods in GIS, Qianyang China 1401.

Species Distribution and Susceptibility to Azoles of Vaginal Yeasts Isolated Prostitutes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Norma T. Gross

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. We investigated the use of miconazole among female prostitutes in Costa Rica as well as the distribution of vaginal yeasts and the susceptibility pattern to azoles of strains obtained from this population. Our intention was to relate a frequent use of miconazole to occurrence of vaginal yeasts resistant to azoles. Methods. Vaginal samples were taken from 277 patients that have previously used azoles. Vaginal swabs were obtained for direct microscopy and culture. Yeast isolates were identified by germ tube test and assimilation pattern. Susceptibility testing was determined using a tablet diffusion method. Results. The number of clinical Candida isolates (one from each patient was 57 (20.6%. C. albicans was the predominant species (70%, followed by C. parapsilosis (12%, C. tropicalis (5.3%, C. glabrata and C. famata (3.5% each, C. krusei, C. inconspicua and C. guilliermondii (1.7% each. The majority of vaginal Candida isolates were susceptible to ketoconazole (91%, fluconazole (96.5%, and itraconazole (98%. A lower susceptibility of some isolates to miconazole (63% was observed as compared to the other azoles tested. Moreover, the strains, nonsusceptible to miconazole, were more often obtained from patients that have used this antifungal at least four times within the last year before taking the samples as compared to those with three or less treatments (P<.01. Conclusion. An indiscriminate use of miconazole, such as that observed among female prostitutes in Costa Rica, results in a reduced susceptibility of vaginal yeasts to miconazole but not to other azoles.

Effects of mineral nutrients on ozone susceptibility of Lemna minor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Craker, L E

1971-01-01

Susceptibility of Lemna minor L. to ozone injury was influenced by the mineral nutrients available to the Lemna plants. Additional nitrogen or additional iron in the nutrient media respectively enhanced or reduced chlorophyll loss of Lemna plants fumigated with ozone. Lemna plants growing on a nutrient medium lacking copper had significantly less injury from ozone fumigation than Lemna plants growing on a complete nutrient medium. There were apparent interactions among phosphorus and potassium nutrient levels in determing the Lemna plant's susceptibility to ozone.

Methodologies to assess PWSCC susceptibility of primary component Alloy 600 locations in pressurized water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rao, G.V.

1993-01-01

Methodologies to assess susceptibility to Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking (PWSCC) of Alloy 600 component locations in the Primary System of Pressurized Water Reactors are presented. The assessment methodologies are presented. The assessment methodologies are based on Relative Susceptibility Index (RSI) and Cumulative Susceptibility Index (CSI) models utilizing key contributing parameters such as service and residual stresses, yield strength, service temperature, material condition and microstructure, and the accumulated service time. To aid in the development of future inspection plans, a method of ranking of the assessed susceptibilities by 'bench marking' with respect to the susceptibility of a reference location of known PWSCC history of a reference location of known PWSCC history is presented. Means of utilizing the susceptibility ranking results in developing a prioritized inspection plan are discussed. A follow-up investigative plan to the initial inspection is proposed, which includes identification of critical sampling locations, sample extraction, sample investigations and testing to ensure that the potentially highest susceptibility locations are free from near term PWSCC and, further, to provide a basis for established schedules for future inspections. Finally, parametric considerations of the contributing factor are presented to help the utility choose suitable option to mitigate the PWSCC issue while minimizing the impact on continued service

NMR Spectroscopy Identifies Metabolites Translocated from Powdery Mildew Resistant Rootstocks to Susceptible Watermelon Scions.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmud, Iqbal; Kousik, Chandrasekar; Hassell, Richard; Chowdhury, Kamal; Boroujerdi, Arezue F

2015-09-16

Powdery mildew (PM) disease causes significant loss in watermelon. Due to the unavailability of a commercial watermelon variety that is resistant to PM, grafting susceptible cultivars on wild resistant rootstocks is being explored as a short-term management strategy to combat this disease. Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolic profiles of susceptible and resistant rootstocks of watermelon and their corresponding susceptible scions (Mickey Lee) were compared to screen for potential metabolites related to PM resistance using multivariate principal component analysis. Significant score plot differences between the susceptible and resistant groups were revealed through Mahalanobis distance analysis. Significantly different spectral buckets and their corresponding metabolites (including choline, fumarate, 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetate, and melatonin) have been identified quantitatively using multivariate loading plots and verified by volcano plot analyses. The data suggest that these metabolites were translocated from the powdery mildew resistant rootstocks to their corresponding powdery mildew susceptible scions and can be related to PM disease resistance.

Allele-specific DNA methylation of disease susceptibility genes in Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiba, Hirofumi; Kakuta, Yoichi; Kinouchi, Yoshitaka; Kawai, Yosuke; Watanabe, Kazuhiro; Nagao, Munenori; Naito, Takeo; Onodera, Motoyuki; Moroi, Rintaro; Kuroha, Masatake; Kanazawa, Yoshitake; Kimura, Tomoya; Shiga, Hisashi; Endo, Katsuya; Negoro, Kenichi; Nagasaki, Masao; Unno, Michiaki; Shimosegawa, Tooru

2018-01-01

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has an unknown etiology; however, accumulating evidence suggests that IBD is a multifactorial disease influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The influence of genetic variants on DNA methylation in cis and cis effects on expression have been demonstrated. We hypothesized that IBD susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) regulate susceptibility gene expressions in cis by regulating DNA methylation around SNPs. For this, we determined cis-regulated allele-specific DNA methylation (ASM) around IBD susceptibility genes in CD4+ effector/memory T cells (Tem) in lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMCs) in patients with IBD and examined the association between the ASM SNP genotype and neighboring susceptibility gene expressions. CD4+ effector/memory T cells (Tem) were isolated from LPMCs in 15 Japanese IBD patients (ten Crohn's disease [CD] and five ulcerative colitis [UC] patients). ASM analysis was performed by methylation-sensitive SNP array analysis. We defined ASM as a changing average relative allele score ([Formula: see text]) >0.1 after digestion by methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes. Among SNPs showing [Formula: see text] >0.1, we extracted the probes located on tag-SNPs of 200 IBD susceptibility loci and around IBD susceptibility genes as candidate ASM SNPs. To validate ASM, bisulfite-pyrosequencing was performed. Transcriptome analysis was examined in 11 IBD patients (seven CD and four UC patients). The relation between rs36221701 genotype and neighboring gene expressions were analyzed. We extracted six candidate ASM SNPs around IBD susceptibility genes. The top of [Formula: see text] (0.23) was rs1130368 located on HLA-DQB1. ASM around rs36221701 ([Formula: see text] = 0.14) located near SMAD3 was validated using bisulfite pyrosequencing. The SMAD3 expression was significantly associated with the rs36221701 genotype (p = 0.016). We confirmed the existence of cis-regulated ASM around

Allele-specific DNA methylation of disease susceptibility genes in Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Science.gov (United States)

Chiba, Hirofumi; Kakuta, Yoichi; Kinouchi, Yoshitaka; Kawai, Yosuke; Watanabe, Kazuhiro; Nagao, Munenori; Naito, Takeo; Onodera, Motoyuki; Moroi, Rintaro; Kuroha, Masatake; Kanazawa, Yoshitake; Kimura, Tomoya; Shiga, Hisashi; Endo, Katsuya; Negoro, Kenichi; Nagasaki, Masao; Unno, Michiaki; Shimosegawa, Tooru

2018-01-01

Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has an unknown etiology; however, accumulating evidence suggests that IBD is a multifactorial disease influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The influence of genetic variants on DNA methylation in cis and cis effects on expression have been demonstrated. We hypothesized that IBD susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) regulate susceptibility gene expressions in cis by regulating DNA methylation around SNPs. For this, we determined cis-regulated allele-specific DNA methylation (ASM) around IBD susceptibility genes in CD4+ effector/memory T cells (Tem) in lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMCs) in patients with IBD and examined the association between the ASM SNP genotype and neighboring susceptibility gene expressions. Methods CD4+ effector/memory T cells (Tem) were isolated from LPMCs in 15 Japanese IBD patients (ten Crohn's disease [CD] and five ulcerative colitis [UC] patients). ASM analysis was performed by methylation-sensitive SNP array analysis. We defined ASM as a changing average relative allele score (ΔRAS¯) >0.1 after digestion by methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes. Among SNPs showing ΔRAS¯ >0.1, we extracted the probes located on tag-SNPs of 200 IBD susceptibility loci and around IBD susceptibility genes as candidate ASM SNPs. To validate ASM, bisulfite-pyrosequencing was performed. Transcriptome analysis was examined in 11 IBD patients (seven CD and four UC patients). The relation between rs36221701 genotype and neighboring gene expressions were analyzed. Results We extracted six candidate ASM SNPs around IBD susceptibility genes. The top of ΔRAS¯ (0.23) was rs1130368 located on HLA-DQB1. ASM around rs36221701 (ΔRAS¯ = 0.14) located near SMAD3 was validated using bisulfite pyrosequencing. The SMAD3 expression was significantly associated with the rs36221701 genotype (p = 0.016). Conclusions We confirmed the existence of cis-regulated ASM around IBD

Individual behavioral characteristics of wild-type rats predict susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kavelaars, A; Heijnen, CJ; Tennekes, R; Bruggink, JE; Koolhaas, JM

1999-01-01

Neuroendocrine-immune interactions are thought to be important in determining susceptibility to autoimmune disease. Animal studies have revealed that differences in susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) are related to:reactivity in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.

Apparent competition in canopy trees determined by pathogen transmission rather than susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Richard Cobb; Ross Meentemeyer; David Rizzo

2010-01-01

Epidemiological theory predicts that asymmetric transmission, susceptibility, and mortality within a community will drive pathogen and disease dynamics. These epidemiological asymmetries can result in apparent competition, where a highly infectious host reduces the abundance of less infectious or more susceptible members in a community via a shared pathogen. We show...

Multiple drug-susceptibility screening in Mycobacterium bovis: new nucleotide polymorphisms in the embB gene among ethambutol susceptible strains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cinzia Marianelli

2015-04-01

Conclusion: All M. bovis isolates were sensitive to the most common antituberculosis drugs used for treatment. There was a good agreement between the d-REMA assay and the agar based reference method. Among ethambutol susceptible isolates, four new embB mutations were found.

Iota(1440), anomalous Ward identities, and topological susceptibility for QCD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, P.G.

1986-01-01

Anomalous Ward identities for QCD are comprehensively analyzed taking into account contributions of all known pseudoscalar mesons, including the iota(1440 MeV) which is a possible glueball candidate. Implications for the standard resolution of the U(1) problem are examined by imposing the important and crucial constraint of positivity for the topological susceptibility. The pure Yang-Mills susceptibility: a quantity relevant in quenched lattice calculations: is shown to increase quite considerably in the presence of the iota, while the total susceptibility is reduced and may even vanish. Allowed ranges for the axial couplings are delineated and two classes of solution emerge: one corresponding to an iota with suppressed singlet axial coupling; the other to a large eta'-like coupling. It may be possible to discriminate between these two alternatives by measurements of the branching ratio for iota→KK-barπ: values near 100% give suppressed couplings; values below 50% unsuppressed ones

[Analysis of antibiotic susceptibility of foodborne Listeria monocytogenes in China].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yang; Fu, Ping; Guo, Yunchang; Liu, Xiurmei

2008-03-01

To study the antibiotic susceptibility of foodborne Listeria monocytogenes in China. The susceptibilities of 476 strains of foodborne Listeria monocytogenes to antibiotics were determined in Broth Microdilution Susceptibility Testing in Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. The antibiotics of gentamicin, ampicillin, penicillin, tetracycline, doxycycline, imipenem, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, cephalothin, rifampin, vancomycin, chloramphenicol, Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ampicillin-sulbactam were used. The rates of antibiotic resistance in 467 is olates were 4.5%. Tetracycline resistance was most prevalent, accouting for 4.07% . The foods that the rates of antibiotic resistance were highest were vegetable (10%). Among 14 provinces, Jilin, Hubei and Hebei were the third top, the rate of which were 19.6% and 9.1% and 8%, respectively. It was suggested that antibiotic resistance exists in foodborne Listeria monocytogenes to a certain extent in China. It should pay more attention to the use of drugs in prevention and clinic treatment to reduce the antibiotic resistant strains.

Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Using Forward Laser Light Scatter Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayden, Randall T; Clinton, Lani K; Hewitt, Carolyn; Koyamatsu, Terri; Sun, Yilun; Jamison, Ginger; Perkins, Rosalie; Tang, Li; Pounds, Stanley; Bankowski, Matthew J

2016-11-01

The delayed reporting of antimicrobial susceptibility testing remains a limiting factor in clinical decision-making in the treatment of bacterial infection. This study evaluates the use of forward laser light scatter (FLLS) to measure bacterial growth for the early determination of antimicrobial susceptibility. Three isolates each (two clinical isolates and one reference strain) of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were tested in triplicate using two commercial antimicrobial testing systems, the Vitek2 and the MicroScan MIC panel, to challenge the BacterioScan FLLS. The BacterioScan FLLS showed a high degree of categorical concordance with the commercial methods. Pairwise comparison with each commercial system serving as a reference standard showed 88.9% agreement with MicroScan (two minor errors) and 72.2% agreement with Vitek (five minor errors). FLLS using the BacterioScan system shows promise as a novel method for the rapid and accurate determination of antimicrobial susceptibility. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Assessing MRI susceptibility artefact through an indicator of image distortion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Illanes Alfredo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Susceptibility artefacts in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI caused by medical devices can result in a severe degradation of the MR image quality. The quantification of susceptibility artefacts is regulated by the ASTM standard which defines a manual method to assess the size of an artefact. This means that the estimated artefact size can be user dependent. To cope with this problem, we propose an algorithm to automatically quantify the size of such susceptibility artefacts. The algorithm is based on the analysis of a 3D surface generated from the 2D MR images. The results obtained by the automatic algorithm were compared to the manual measurements performed by study participants. The results show that the automatic and manual measurements follow the same trend. The clear advantage of the automated algorithm is the absence of the inter- and intra-observer variability. In addition, the algorithm also detects the slice containing the largest artefact which was not the case for the manual measurements.

Relationship between antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical mastitis pathogens and treatment outcome in cows.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoe, Fernanda G H; Ruegg, Pamela L

2005-11-01

To determine whether there was any association between results of in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing of pathogens isolated from cows with mild or moderate clinical mastitis and outcome of treatment. Observational study. 133 cows with mild or moderate mastitis in a single quarter. Cows were treated by means of intramammary infusion of pirlimycin (50 mg) in the affected quarter once daily for 2 days; additional intramammary treatments with the same product were administered if the milk continued to appear abnormal. Duration of treatment and days until clinical cure were recorded. Bacterial isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by means of a broth micro-dilution technique. Environmental streptococci, coliforms, and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp were the most commonly isolated pathogens. Duration of treatment and days until clinical cure were not significantly different for cows from which pathogens that were susceptible or resistant to pirlimycin were isolated. Bacteriologic cure rates 14 and 21 days after treatment were not significantly different for cows with mastitis caused by susceptible or resistant bacteria. Similar results were found when data only from cows with mastitis caused by gram-positive isolates were analyzed. In the present study, differences in clinical outcome for cows with mild or moderate mastitis that could be attributed to differences in results of in vitro susceptibility testing were not identified. The use of in vitro susceptibility testing to guide intramammary mastitis treatment cannot be recommended on the basis of results of this study.

Computational Integration of Human Genetic and Toxicological Data to Evaluate AOP-Specific Susceptibility

Science.gov (United States)

Susceptibility to environmental chemicals can be modulated by genetic differences. Direct estimation of the genetic contribution to variability in susceptibility to environmental chemicals is only possible in special cases where there is an observed association between exposure a...

How heterogeneous susceptibility and recovery rates affect the spread of epidemics on networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Gou

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, an extended heterogeneous SIR model is proposed, which generalizes the heterogeneous mean-field theory. Different from the traditional heterogeneous mean-field model only taking into account the heterogeneity of degree, our model considers not only the heterogeneity of degree but also the heterogeneity of susceptibility and recovery rates. Then, we analytically study the basic reproductive number and the final epidemic size. Combining with numerical simulations, it is found that the basic reproductive number depends on the mean of distributions of susceptibility and disease course when both of them are independent. If the mean of these two distributions is identical, increasing the variance of susceptibility may block the spread of epidemics, while the corresponding increase in the variance of disease course has little effect on the final epidemic size. It is also shown that positive correlations between individual susceptibility, course of disease and the square of degree make the population more vulnerable to epidemic and avail to the epidemic prevalence, whereas the negative correlations make the population less vulnerable and impede the epidemic prevalence. Keywords: Networks, Heterogeneity, Susceptibility, Recovery rates, Correlation, The basic reproductive number, The final epidemic size

Group B streptococcal carriage, antimicrobial susceptibility, and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

None of the carriers had rectal colonization alone. All isolates (100%) were susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, cefepime, vancomycin, and linezolid. On the other hand, 43.4%, 28.3%, 22.6%, and 15% of isolates were resistant to levofloxacin, azithromycin, erythromycin, and clindamycin respectively.

Variability in Susceptibility to Anthracnose in the World Collection of Olive Cultivars of Cordoba (Spain).

Science.gov (United States)

Moral, Juan; Xaviér, Carlos J; Viruega, José R; Roca, Luis F; Caballero, Juan; Trapero, Antonio

2017-01-01

Anthracnose of olive ( Olea europaea ssp. europaea L.), caused by Colletotrichum species, is a serious disease causing fruit rot and branch dieback, whose epidemics are highly dependent on cultivar susceptibility and environmental conditions. Over a period of 10 years, there have been three severe epidemics in Andalusia (southern Spain) that allowed us to complete the assessment of the World Olive Germplasm Bank of Córdoba, one of the most important cultivar collections worldwide.A total of 308 cultivars from 21 countries were evaluated, mainly Spain (174 cvs.), Syria (29 cvs.), Italy (20 cvs.), Turkey (15 cvs.), and Greece (16 cvs.). Disease assessments were performed using a 0-10 rating scale, specifically developed to estimate the incidence of symptomatic fruit in the tree canopy. Also, the susceptibility of five reference cultivars was confirmed by artificial inoculation. Because of the direct relationship between the maturity of the fruit and their susceptibility to the pathogen, evaluations were performed at the end of fruit ripening, which forced coupling assessments according to the maturity state of the trees. By applying the cluster analysis to the 308 cultivars, these were classified as follows: 66 cvs. highly susceptible (21.4%), 83 cvs. susceptible (26.9%), 66 cvs. moderately susceptible (21.4%), 61 cvs. resistant (19.8%), and 32 cvs. highly resistant (10.4%). Representative cultivars of these five categories are "Ocal," "Lechín de Sevilla," "Arbequina," "Picual," and "Frantoio," respectively. With some exceptions, such as cvs. Arbosana, Empeltre and Picual, most of the Spanish cultivars, such as "Arbequina," "Cornicabra," "Hojiblanca," "Manzanilla de Sevilla," "Morisca," "Picudo," "Farga," and "Verdial de Huévar" are included in the categories of moderately susceptible, susceptible or highly susceptible. The phenotypic evaluation of anthracnose reaction is a limiting factor for the selection of olive cultivars by farmers, technicians, and breeders.

Something's missing: need fulfillment and self-expansion as predictors of susceptibility to infidelity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewandowski, Gary W; Ackerman, Robert A

2006-08-01

The present authors investigated whether an individual's motivations that are related to need fulfillment and self-expansion within a romantic relationship can predict self-reported susceptibility to infidelity. A sample of 109 college students (50 men, 59 women) who were in dating relationships completed questionnaires that assessed 5 types of variables of need fulfillment (i.e., intimacy, companionship, sex, security, and emotional involvement), 3 types of self-expansion variables (i.e., self-expansion, inclusion of the other in the self, and potential for self-expansion), and susceptibility to infidelity. As the present authors predicted, both sets of predictors (need fulfillment and self-expansion) significantly contributed to the variance in susceptibility to infidelity. The present findings indicated the possibility that, when a relationship is not able to fulfill needs or provide ample self-expansion for an individual, his or her susceptibility to infidelity increases.

Manifestation of a neuro-fuzzy model to produce landslide susceptibility map using remote sensing data derived parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, Biswajeet; Lee, Saro; Buchroithner, Manfred

Landslides are the most common natural hazards in Malaysia. Preparation of landslide suscep-tibility maps is important for engineering geologists and geomorphologists. However, due to complex nature of landslides, producing a reliable susceptibility map is not easy. In this study, a new attempt is tried to produce landslide susceptibility map of a part of Cameron Valley of Malaysia. This paper develops an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based on a geographic information system (GIS) environment for landslide susceptibility mapping. To ob-tain the neuro-fuzzy relations for producing the landslide susceptibility map, landslide locations were identified from interpretation of aerial photographs and high resolution satellite images, field surveys and historical inventory reports. Landslide conditioning factors such as slope, plan curvature, distance to drainage lines, soil texture, lithology, and distance to lineament were extracted from topographic, soil, and lineament maps. Landslide susceptible areas were analyzed by the ANFIS model and mapped using the conditioning factors. Furthermore, we applied various membership functions (MFs) and fuzzy relations to produce landslide suscep-tibility maps. The prediction performance of the susceptibility map is checked by considering actual landslides in the study area. Results show that, triangular, trapezoidal, and polynomial MFs were the best individual MFs for modelling landslide susceptibility maps (86

Antimicrobial susceptibility of listeria monocytogenes from food products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aarestrup, Frank Møller; Knöchel, Susanne; Hasman, Henrik

2007-01-01

for susceptibility to ceftiofur, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, florfenicol, penicillin, spectinomycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, tiamulin, trimethoprim, and co-trimoxazole, and the disinfectants benzalkonium chloride and triclosan, by determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). All...

Quark number density and susceptibility calculation with one correction in mean field potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, S. Somorendro

2016-01-01

We calculate quark number density and susceptibility of a model which has one loop correction in mean field potential. The calculation shows continuous increasing in the number density and susceptibility up to the temperature T = 0.4 GeV. Then the value of number density and susceptibility approach to the lattice result for higher value of temperature. The result indicates that the calculated values of the model fit well and the result increase the temperature to reach the lattice data with the one loop correction in the mean field potential. (author)

Spatially explicit shallow landslide susceptibility mapping over large areas

Science.gov (United States)

Bellugi, Dino; Dietrich, William E.; Stock, Jonathan D.; McKean, Jim; Kazian, Brian; Hargrove, Paul

2011-01-01

Recent advances in downscaling climate model precipitation predictions now yield spatially explicit patterns of rainfall that could be used to estimate shallow landslide susceptibility over large areas. In California, the United States Geological Survey is exploring community emergency response to the possible effects of a very large simulated storm event and to do so it has generated downscaled precipitation maps for the storm. To predict the corresponding pattern of shallow landslide susceptibility across the state, we have used the model Shalstab (a coupled steady state runoff and infinite slope stability model) which susceptibility spatially explicit estimates of relative potential instability. Such slope stability models that include the effects of subsurface runoff on potentially destabilizing pore pressure evolution require water routing and hence the definition of upslope drainage area to each potential cell. To calculate drainage area efficiently over a large area we developed a parallel framework to scale-up Shalstab and specifically introduce a new efficient parallel drainage area algorithm which produces seamless results. The single seamless shallow landslide susceptibility map for all of California was accomplished in a short run time, and indicates that much larger areas can be efficiently modelled. As landslide maps generally over predict the extent of instability for any given storm. Local empirical data on the fraction of predicted unstable cells that failed for observed rainfall intensity can be used to specify the likely extent of hazard for a given storm. This suggests that campaigns to collect local precipitation data and detailed shallow landslide location maps after major storms could be used to calibrate models and improve their use in hazard assessment for individual storms.

Hot tearing susceptibility of binary Mg–Y alloy castings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zhi; Huang, Yuanding; Srinivasan, Amirthalingam; Liu, Zheng; Beckmann, Felix; Kainer, Karl Ulrich; Hort, Norbert

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Quantitatively and qualitatively assessing hot tearing susceptibility for different alloys. ► Monitoring the hot tearing propagation process. ► Detecting the hot tearing initiation/onset temperature. ► Recording the stress and strain evolution during the casting solidification and the subsequent cooling. - Abstract: The influence of Y content on the hot tearing susceptibility (HTS) of binary Mg–Y alloys has been predicted using thermodynamic calculations based on Clyne and Davies model. The calculated results are compared with experimental results determined using a constrained rod casting (CRC) apparatus with a load cell and data acquisition system. Both thermodynamic calculations and experimental measurements indicate that the hot tearing susceptibility as a function of Y content follows the “λ” shape. The experimental results show that HTS first increases with increase in Y content, reaches the maximum at about 0.9 wt.%Y and then decreases with further increase the Y content. The maximum susceptibility observed in Mg–0.9 wt.%Y alloy is attributed to its coarsened columnar microstructure, large solidification range and small amount of eutectic at the time of hot tearing. The initiation of hot cracks is monitored during CRC experiments. It corresponds to a drop in load increment on the force curves. The critical solid fractions at which the hot cracks are initiated are in the range from 0.9 to 0.99. It is also found that it decreases with increasing the content of Y. The hot cracks propagate along the dendritic or grain boundaries through the interdendritic separation or tearing of interconnected dendrites. Some of the formed cracks are possible to be healed by the subsequent refilling of the remained liquids

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci: validation of susceptibility testing and in vitro activity of novel antibiotics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rathe, Mathias; Lise, Kristensen,; Ellermann-Eriksen, Svend

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci: validation of susceptibility testing and in vitro activity of novel antibiotics......Vancomycin-resistant enterococci: validation of susceptibility testing and in vitro activity of novel antibiotics...

Hyperinducibility of Ia antigen on astrocytes correlates with strain-specific susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massa, P.T.; ter Meulen, V.; Fontana, A.

1987-01-01

In search of a phenotypic marker determining genetically controlled susceptibility to delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions in the brain-in particular, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)- the authors have compared the γ-interferon (IFN-γ) induction of Ia molecules on astrocytes and macrophages from rat and mouse strains that are susceptible or resistant to this disease. They focused on Ia expression because DTH reactions to self or foreign antigens are largely mediated by lymphocytes restricted by class II (Ia) antigens of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The data demonstrate that Lewis (fully susceptible) and Brown Norway (BN) (fully resistant) rats are very different in that Lewis astrocytes express much higher levels of Ia than BN astrocytes. Similar data were obtained from an analysis of EAE-susceptible and -resistant mouse strains (SJL and BALB/c, respectively), which suggest that this phenomenon may be universal and not limited to only one mammalian species. At least one gene responsible for Ia hyperinduction is located outside the rat RT-1 or the mouse MHC locus. Animals congenic at the RT-1 or MHC locus of the resistant strain but with background genes of the susceptible strain exhibit intermediate levels of Ia compared to fully resistant and susceptible rodents, which fits well with the reduced EAE susceptibility of these congenic animals. Furthermore, hyperinduction of Ia is astrocyte specific, since peritoneal macrophages of susceptible and resistant strains exhibit identical profiles of Ia induction. Thus, astrocyte Ia hyperinducibility may be a major strain- and tissue-specific factor that contributes to Ia-restricted DTH reactions in the brain

Effects of mineral nutrients on ozone susceptibility of Lemna minor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Craker, L.E.

1971-01-01

Susceptibility of Lemna minor L. to ozone injury was influenced by the mineral nutrients available to the Lemna plants. Additional nitrogen or additional iron in the nutrient media respectively enhanced or reduced chlorophyll loss of Lemna plants fumigated with ozone. Lemna plants growing on a nutrient medium lacking copper had significantly less injury from ozone fumigation than Lemna plants growing on a complete nutrient medium. There were apparent interactions among phosphorus and potassium nutrient levels in determing the Lemna plant's susceptibility to ozone.

Antimicrobial resistance in methicillin susceptible and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius of canine origin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moodley, Arshnee; Damborg, Peter Panduro; Nielsen, Søren Saxmose

2014-01-01

and enrofloxacin amongst MSSP. The review highlights inconsistencies between studies as a result of several factors, for example the use of different antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods and interpretation criteria. We recommend that data on susceptibility in important companion animal pathogens...

Assessing Methods to Protect Susceptible Oak and Tanoak Stands from Sudden Oak Death

Science.gov (United States)

Tedmund Swiecki; Elizabeth Bernhardt

2010-01-01

Landowners and managers have been seeking ways to protect susceptible oak (Quercus) species and tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus) from sudden oak death (SOD) caused by Phytophthora ramorum. Because disease epidemiology differs between tanoaks and susceptible oaks, we are testing different control strategies...

Mapping Magnetic Susceptibility Anisotropies of White Matter in vivo in the Human Brain at 7 Tesla

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xu; Vikram, Deepti S; Lim, Issel Anne L; Jones, Craig K; Farrell, Jonathan A.D.; van Zijl, Peter C. M.

2012-01-01

High-resolution magnetic resonance phase- or frequency- shift images acquired at high field show contrast related to magnetic susceptibility differences between tissues. Such contrast varies with the orientation of the organ in the field, but the development of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) has made it possible to reproducibly image the intrinsic tissue susceptibility contrast. However, recent studies indicate that magnetic susceptibility is anisotropic in brain white matter and, as such, needs to be described by a symmetric second-rank tensor (χ¯¯). To fully determine the elements of this tensor, it would be necessary to acquire frequency data at six or more orientations. Assuming cylindrical symmetry of the susceptibility tensor in myelinated white matter fibers, we propose a simplified method to reconstruct the susceptibility tensor in terms of a mean magnetic susceptibility, MMS = (χ∥ + 2χ⊥)/3 and a magnetic susceptibility anisotropy, MSA = χ∥ − χ⊥, where χ∥ and χ⊥ are susceptibility parallel and perpendicular to the white matter fiber direction, respectively. Computer simulations show that with a practical head rotation angle of around 20°–30°, four head orientations suffice to reproducibly reconstruct the tensor with good accuracy. We tested this approach on whole brain 1×1×1 mm3 frequency data acquired from five healthy subjects at 7 T. The frequency information from phase images collected at four head orientations was combined with the fiber direction information extracted from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to map the white matter susceptibility tensor. The MMS and MSA were quantified for regions in several large white matter fiber structures, including the corona radiata, posterior thalamic radiation and corpus callosum. MMS ranged from −0.037 to −0.053 ppm (referenced to CSF being about zero). MSA values could be quantified without the need for a reference and ranged between 0.004 and 0.029 ppm, in line with

Magnetic hysteresis and complex susceptibility as measures of ac losses in a multifilamentary NbTi superconductor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldfarb, R.B.; Clark, A.F.

1985-01-01

Magnetization and ac susceptibility of a standard NbTi superconductor were measured as a function of longitudinal dc magnetic field. The ac-field-amplitude and frequency dependences of the complex susceptibility are examined. The magnetization is related to the susceptibility by means of a theoretical derivation based on the field dependence of the critical current density. Hysteresis losses, obtained directly from dc hysteresis loops and derived theoretically from ac susceptibility and critical current density, were in reasonable agreement

Gene-wide analysis detects two new susceptibility genes for Alzheimer's Disease

OpenAIRE

Escott-Price, Valentina; Bellenguez, Céline; Wang, Li-San; Choi, Seung-Hoan; Harold, Denise; Jones, Lesley; Holmans, Peter Alan; Gerrish, Amy; Vedernikov, Alexey; Richards, Alexander; DeStefano, Anita L.; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A.; Naj, Adam C.; Sims, Rebecca

2014-01-01

PUBLISHED BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease is a common debilitating dementia with known heritability, for which 20 late onset susceptibility loci have been identified, but more remain to be discovered. This study sought to identify new susceptibility genes, using an alternative gene-wide analytical approach which tests for patterns of association within genes, in the powerful genome-wide association dataset of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project Consortium, comprising over...

Topological susceptibility in lattice QCD with unimproved Wilson fermions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chowdhury, Abhishek; De, Asit K.; De Sarkar, Sangita; Harindranath, A.; Mondal, Santanu; Sarkar, Anwesa; Maiti, Jyotirmoy

2012-01-01

We address a long standing problem regarding topology in lattice simulations of QCD with unimproved Wilson fermions. Earlier attempt with unimproved Wilson fermions at β=5.6 to verify the suppression of topological susceptibility with decreasing quark mass (m q ) was unable to unambiguously confirm the suppression. We carry out systematic calculations for two degenerate flavours at two different lattice spacings (β=5.6 and 5.8). The effects of quark mass, lattice volume and the lattice spacing on the spanning of different topological sectors are presented. We unambiguously demonstrate the suppression of the topological susceptibility with decreasing quark mass, expected from chiral Ward identity and chiral perturbation theory.

The role of host genetics in susceptibility to influenza: a systematic review.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Horby

Full Text Available The World Health Organization has identified studies of the role of host genetics on susceptibility to severe influenza as a priority. A systematic review was conducted to summarize the current state of evidence on the role of host genetics in susceptibility to influenza (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42011001380.PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and OpenSIGLE were searched using a pre-defined strategy for all entries up to the date of the search. Two reviewers independently screened the title and abstract of 1,371 unique articles, and 72 full text publications were selected for inclusion. Mouse models clearly demonstrate that host genetics plays a critical role in susceptibility to a range of human and avian influenza viruses. The Mx genes encoding interferon inducible proteins are the best studied but their relevance to susceptibility in humans is unknown. Although the MxA gene should be considered a candidate gene for further study in humans, over 100 other candidate genes have been proposed. There are however no data associating any of these candidate genes to susceptibility in humans, with the only published study in humans being under-powered. One genealogy study presents moderate evidence of a heritable component to the risk of influenza-associated death, and while the marked familial aggregation of H5N1 cases is suggestive of host genetic factors, this remains unproven.The fundamental question "Is susceptibility to severe influenza in humans heritable?" remains unanswered. Not because of a lack of genotyping or analytic tools, nor because of insufficient severe influenza cases, but because of the absence of a coordinated effort to define and assemble cohorts of cases. The recent pandemic and the ongoing epizootic of H5N1 both represent rapidly closing windows of opportunity to increase understanding of the pathogenesis of severe influenza through multi-national host genetic studies.

Role of T cell receptor delta gene in susceptibility to celiac disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Roschmann, E; Wienker, T F; Volk, B A

1996-02-01

There is a strong genetic influence on the susceptibility to celiac disease. Although in the vast majority of patients with celiac disease, the HLA-DQ(alpha1*0501, beta1*0201) heterodimer encoded by the alleles HLA-DQA1*0501 and HLA-DQB1*0201 seems to confer the primary disease susceptibility, it cannot be excluded that other genes contribute to disease susceptibility, as indicated by the difference in concordance rates between monozygotic twins and HLA identical siblings (70% vs. 30%). Obviously other genes involved in the genetic control of T cell mediated immune response could potentially influence susceptibility to celiac disease. The density of T cells using the gammadelta T cell receptor (TCR) is considerably increased in the jejunal epithelium of patients with celiac disease, an abnormality considered to be specific for celiac disease. This suggests an involvement of gammadelta T cells in the pathogenesis of the disease. To ascertain whether the TCR delta (TCRD) gene contributes to celiac disease susceptibility we carried out an association study and genetic linkage analysis using a highly polymorphic microsatellite marker at the TCRD locus on chromosome 14q11.2. The association study demonstrated no significant difference in allele frequencies of the TCRD gene marker between celiac disease patients and controls; accordingly, the relative risk estimates did not reach the level of statistical significance. In the linkage analysis, performed in 23 families, the logarithm of the odds (LOD) scores calculated for celiac disease versus the TCRD gene marker excluded linkage, suggesting that there is no determinant contributing to celiac disease status at or 5 cM distant to the analyzed TCRD gene marker. In conclusion, the results of the present study provide no evidence that the analyzed TCRD gene contributes substantially to celiac disease susceptibility.

Landslide susceptibility analysis using Probabilistic Certainty Factor ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

done using many different methods and techniques. A detailed outline of .... of depressions where water is accumulated, espe- cially when the ..... The two decision rules that must be satisfied for a good landslide .... making the susceptibility zonation relative. This is ..... tional Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques,.

Helicobacter pylori : Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility among ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

patients, its relationship with gastric pathologies, and associated antibiotic susceptibility profiles, and compared two media to find the appropriate medium that enhances growth and expedites culture and isolation. Methods. Rapid urease and histological tests were used to screen for H. pylori. Culture was performed to test ...

Evaluation of a radiometric method for pyrazinamide susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarrand, J.J.; Spicer, A.D.; Groeschel, D.H.

1986-01-01

Pyrazinamide susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis requires an acid environment. By controlling the method of acidification and the quality and quantity of the inoculum, the test can be performed with the BACTEC radiometric system (Johnston Laboratories, Towson, Md.). We acidified BACTEC 7H12 medium with buffered phosphoric acid and adjusted the test inoculum to 1/10 of that usually employed in BACTEC protocols; after 5 days of growth we correctly identified 36 of 36 strains susceptible to 50 micrograms of pyrazinamide per ml. All 18 resistant strains were classified as pyrazinamide resistant. (Susceptibility or resistance had been determined by standard plate assays.) The test was able to detect small resistant populations in artificial mixtures of 1 or 2% resistant bacteria with a susceptible strain (10 mixtures each). We tested 70 M. tuberculosis strains in acidified BACTEC 7H12 medium and by the plate dilution test at pH 5.5. All strains grew in the BACTEC medium, but three strains failed to grow on plates and were not tested further; the results of both methods agreed for the remaining strains

Susceptibility-weighted imaging in stroke-like migraine attacks after radiation therapy syndrome

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khanipour Roshan, Sara; Salmela, Michael B.; McKinney, Alexander M. [University Of Minnesota, Department of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

2015-11-15

Stroke-like migraine attacks after radiation therapy (SMART) syndrome has a characteristic clinical presentation and postcontrast T1WI MRI appearance. Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) may help distinguish SMART from other disorders that may have a similar postcontrast MRI appearance. The MRI examinations of four patients with SMART syndrome are described herein, each of which included SWI, FLAIR, DWI, and postcontrast T1WI on the presenting and follow-up MRI examinations. In each, the initial SWI MRI demonstrated numerous susceptibility hypointensities <5 mm in size throughout the cerebrum, particularly within the periventricular white matter (PVWM), presumably related to radiation-induced cavernous hemangiomas (RICHs). By follow-up MRI, each postcontrast examination had demonstrated resolution of the gyriform enhancement on T1WI, without susceptibility hypointensities on SWI within those previously enhancing regions. These preliminary findings suggest that SWI may help identify SMART syndrome or at least help discriminate it from other disorders, by the findings of numerous susceptibility hypointensities on SWI likely representing RICHs, gyriform enhancement on T1WI, and postsurgical findings or appropriate clinical history. (orig.)

ANFIS modeling for the assessment of landslide susceptibility for the Cameron Highland (Malaysia)

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, Biswajeet; Sezer, Ebru; Gokceoglu, Candan; Buchroithner, Manfred F.

2010-05-01

Landslides are one of the recurrent natural hazard problems throughout most of Malaysia. In landslide literature, there are several approaches such as probabilistic, bivariate and multivariate statistical models, fuzzy and artificial neural network models etc. However, a neuro-fuzzy application on the landslide susceptibility assessment has not been encountered in the literature. For this reason, this study presents the results of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) using remote sensing data and GIS for landslide susceptibility analysis in a part of the Cameron Highland areas in Malaysia. Landslide locations in the study area were identified by interpreting aerial photographs and satellite images, supported by extensive field surveys. Landsat TM satellite imagery was used to map vegetation index. Maps of topography, lineaments, NDVI and land cover were constructed from the spatial datasets. Seven landslide conditioning factors such as altitude, slope angle, curvature, distance from drainage, lithology, distance from faults and NDVI were extracted from the spatial database. These factors were analyzed using an ANFIS to produce the landslide susceptibility maps. During the model development works, total 5 landslide susceptibility models were constructed. For verification, the results of the analyses were then compared with the field-verified landslide locations. Additionally, the ROC curves for all landslide susceptibility models were drawn and the area under curve values were calculated. Landslide locations were used to validate results of the landslide susceptibility map and the verification results showed 97% accuracy for the model 5 employing all parameters produced in the present study as the landslide conditioning factors. The validation results showed sufficient agreement between the obtained susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide areas. Qualitatively, the model yields reasonable results which can be used for preliminary land

Viscosity of magnetic fluids must be modified in calculations of dynamic susceptibility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lebedev, A.V., E-mail: lav@icmm.ru

2017-06-01

The frequency dependences of dynamic susceptibility were measured for a series of magnetic fluid samples with the same dispersed composition at different temperatures. Coincidence of normalized dynamic susceptibility curves plotted for different concentrations was obtained only after introducing correction for the value of dynamic viscosity of the magnetic fluid. The value of the correction coefficient doesn’t depend on temperature and is the universal function of the hydrodynamic concentration of particles. - Highlights: • Dynamic susceptibility was measured at different temperatures and concentrations. • Coincidence of curves requires a correction of value of viscosity in calculations. • This correction is function of the hydrodynamic concentration of particles. • With this function the rotation of particles are described correctly.

Azasordarins: Susceptibility of Fluconazole-Susceptible and Fluconazole-Resistant Clinical Isolates of Candida spp. to GW 471558

OpenAIRE

Cuenca-Estrella, Manuel; Mellado, Emilia; Díaz-Guerra, Teresa M.; Monzón, Araceli; Rodríguez-Tudela, Juan L.

2001-01-01

The in vitro activity of the azasordarin GW 471558 was compared with those of amphotericin B, flucytosine, itraconazole, and ketoconazole against 177 clinical isolates of Candida spp. GW 471558 showed potent activity against Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, and Candida tropicalis, even against isolates with decreased susceptibility to azoles. Candida krusei, Candida parapsilosis, Candida lusitaniae, and Candida guilliermondii are resistant to GW 471558 in vitro (MICs, >128 μg/ml).

Soil susceptibility to compaction under use conditions in southern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Mazurana

Full Text Available ABSTRACT The degree of soil compaction is intensified by its inadequate management, compaction being variable depending on soil type since even under identical management conditions, different types have different abilities to withstand load. The objective of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility to compaction of different classes of soils under no-tillage (NT croping system compared to the original condition. Thus, i soils with the same source material have distinct resistance to compression with increased NT adoption time; ii the most sensitive indicators of this change are the ratios mass:volume and volume:volume and; iii there is a relationship between resistance and compaction susceptibility with the amount and type of oxide. Soil samples were collected in areas under NT and under natural condition in order to assess the impact imposed by the NT on the attributes density and porosity, precompression stress and compressibility index and relate them to the oxide type of, and content in, the soils under study. The results show that the density and macroporosity were those most affected by the NT agricultural use, regardless of soil type, that is, its dynamic is related more to soil use and less to mineralogical characteristics. The soil resistance and compaction susceptibility were higher in soil developed in basalt, followed by those developed in sandstone and granite. Both the organic matter content and type and concentration of iron oxides were related to the soil resistance and susceptibility to compaction.

Association between rs6812193 polymorphism and sporadic Parkinson's disease susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Qiang; Li, Tao; Zhao, Peiqing; Wang, Lianqing

2015-08-01

Recently, the association of a single nucleotide polymorphism rs6812193 C/T with sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) susceptibility has been widely evaluated, but the results remained inconsistent. This association should be clarified because of the importance of it on human health and quality of life. We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis to evaluate the association between the rs6812193 polymorphism and sporadic PD. PubMed was used to retrieve articles published up to June 2014 for all studies evaluating the rs6812193 polymorphism and PD in humans. Ethnicity-specific subgroup analysis was also performed based on ethnicity susceptibility. A total of 17 independent study samples (15 Caucasians and 2 Asians) including 17,956 cases and 52,751 controls were used in the presented study. The MAFT (minor allele T frequency) in PD patients of European descent is obviously higher than Asian cases (p susceptibility among overall samples (OR 0.882, 95 % CI 0.856-0.908) and Caucasian population (OR 0.881, 95 % CI 0.856-0.907), but not in Asian samples (OR 0.918, 95 % CI 0.721-1.168). No evidence of publication bias was observed. Throughout our analysis, the rs6812193 polymorphism is significantly associated with sporadic PD susceptibility in Caucasian samples, and ethnicity might be the key point of inconsistency in rs6812193 studies. Further studies are warranted to re-examine the observed associations, especially in different ethnicities.

Gene-environment interaction involving recently identified colorectal cancer susceptibility loci

Science.gov (United States)

Kantor, Elizabeth D.; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Minnier, Jessica; Berndt, Sonja I.; Brenner, Hermann; Caan, Bette J.; Campbell, Peter T.; Carlson, Christopher S.; Casey, Graham; Chan, Andrew T.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chanock, Stephen J.; Cotterchio, Michelle; Du, Mengmeng; Duggan, David; Fuchs, Charles S.; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Gong, Jian; Harrison, Tabitha A.; Hayes, Richard B.; Henderson, Brian E.; Hoffmeister, Michael; Hopper, John L.; Jenkins, Mark A.; Jiao, Shuo; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Le Marchand, Loic; Lemire, Mathieu; Ma, Jing; Newcomb, Polly A.; Ochs-Balcom, Heather M.; Pflugeisen, Bethann M.; Potter, John D.; Rudolph, Anja; Schoen, Robert E.; Seminara, Daniela; Slattery, Martha L.; Stelling, Deanna L.; Thomas, Fridtjof; Thornquist, Mark; Ulrich, Cornelia M.; Warnick, Greg S.; Zanke, Brent W.; Peters, Ulrike; Hsu, Li; White, Emily

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND Genome-wide association studies have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Prior research has evaluated the presence of gene-environment interaction involving the first 10 identified susceptibility loci, but little work has been conducted on interaction involving SNPs at recently identified susceptibility loci, including: rs10911251, rs6691170, rs6687758, rs11903757, rs10936599, rs647161, rs1321311, rs719725, rs1665650, rs3824999, rs7136702, rs11169552, rs59336, rs3217810, rs4925386, and rs2423279. METHODS Data on 9160 cases and 9280 controls from the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO) and Colon Cancer Family Registry (CCFR) were used to evaluate the presence of interaction involving the above-listed SNPs and sex, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, smoking, aspirin use, post-menopausal hormone (PMH) use, as well as intake of dietary calcium, dietary fiber, dietary folate, red meat, processed meat, fruit, and vegetables. Interaction was evaluated using a fixed-effects meta-analysis of an efficient Empirical Bayes estimator, and permutation was used to account for multiple comparisons. RESULTS None of the permutation-adjusted p-values reached statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS The associations between recently identified genetic susceptibility loci and CRC are not strongly modified by sex, BMI, alcohol, smoking, aspirin, PMH use, and various dietary factors. IMPACT Results suggest no evidence of strong gene-environment interactions involving the recently identified 16 susceptibility loci for CRC taken one at a time. PMID:24994789

Magnetic susceptibility of scandium-hydrogen and lutetium-hydrogen solid-solution alloys from 2 to 3000K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stierman, R.J.

1982-12-01

Results for pure Sc show that the maximum and minimum in the susceptibility discovered earlier are enhanced as the impurity level of iron in scandium decreases. The Stoner enhancement factor, calculated from low-temperature heat capacity data, susceptibility data, and band-structure calculations show Sc to be a strongly enhanced paramagnet. Below 2 0 K, the magnetic anisotropy between the hard and easy directions of scandium decreases linearly with decreasing temperature, tending toward zero at 0 K. The large increase in the susceptibility of Sc at lower temperatures indicates magnetic ordering. Pure Lu and Lu-H alloys showed an anisotropy in susceptibility vs orientation; thus the samples were not random polycrystalline samples. Pure Lu shows the shallow maximum and minimum, but the increase in susceptibility at low temperatures is larger than previously observed. The susceptibility-composition dependence of the Lu-H alloys also did not match other data. The susceptibility-composition dependence does not match the composition dependence of the electronic specific heat constant below 150 K, showing the electronic specific heat is being affected by terms other than phonon-electron and pure electron-electron interactions

Field susceptibility of 13 scab-resistant apple cultivars to apple powdery mildew [Podosphaera leucotricha (Ell. et Ev. Salmon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zbigniew Borecki

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Field susceptibility of 13 scab-resistant apple cultivars to apple powdery mildew was evaluated in 1983-1986. Four groups of susceptibility were distinguished. None of the 13 tested scab-resistant apple trees exhibited complete field immunity to apple powdery mildew. Two cultivars, 'Prima' and 'Primula', were practically resistant. 'Liberty' and two numbered selections, NY-140-9 and NY-158-2, belonged to the group of lower susceptibility. Moderate susceptibility was shown by: 'Novamac', 'Freedom', 'Gavin', 'Prima' and 'Florina'. The group of apple trees most susceptible to Podosphaera leucotricha included: 'Macfree', 'Priscilla' and 'Nova Easygro'. It is not necessary to use chemical sprays to control powdery mildew on 'Prima' and 'Primula'. A reduced spraying program may be recommended only under high disease pressure on less susceptible apple cultivars. A regular spray schedule is needed on moderately susceptible apple trees, but improved chemical control is necessary on the most susceptible ones.

Susceptibility to β-lactams in β-hemolytic streptococci.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonofiglio, Laura; Gagetti, Paula; García Gabarrot, Gabriela; Kaufman, Sara; Mollerach, Marta; Toresani, Inés; Vigliarolo, Laura; von Specht, Martha; Lopardo, Horacio A

2018-03-13

Group A (GAS), B (GBS), C (GCS) and G (GGS) β-hemolytic streptococci are important human pathogens. They cause infections of different severity and frequency. Nowadays, after 70 years of use, penicillin is still universally active against GAS, GCS and GGS. However, therapeutic failures have been recorded in 2-28% of pharyngitis cases (median: 12%) attributable to different causes. By contrast, some GBS with reduced susceptibility to penicillin have been described, especially in Japan. In this group of bacteria, it is important to highlight that confirmation by reference methods is mandatory when decreased susceptibility to penicillin is suspected as well as checked for the detection of the mechanisms involved. Copyright © 2017 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Prediction Equations Overestimate the Energy Requirements More for Obesity-Susceptible Individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

McLay-Cooke, Rebecca T; Gray, Andrew R; Jones, Lynnette M; Taylor, Rachael W; Skidmore, Paula M L; Brown, Rachel C

2017-09-13

Predictive equations to estimate resting metabolic rate (RMR) are often used in dietary counseling and by online apps to set energy intake goals for weight loss. It is critical to know whether such equations are appropriate for those susceptible to obesity. We measured RMR by indirect calorimetry after an overnight fast in 26 obesity susceptible (OSI) and 30 obesity resistant (ORI) individuals, identified using a simple 6-item screening tool. Predicted RMR was calculated using the FAO/WHO/UNU (Food and Agricultural Organisation/World Health Organisation/United Nations University), Oxford and Miflin-St Jeor equations. Absolute measured RMR did not differ significantly between OSI versus ORI (6339 vs. 5893 kJ·d -1 , p = 0.313). All three prediction equations over-estimated RMR for both OSI and ORI when measured RMR was ≤5000 kJ·d -1 . For measured RMR ≤7000 kJ·d -1 there was statistically significant evidence that the equations overestimate RMR to a greater extent for those classified as obesity susceptible with biases ranging between around 10% to nearly 30% depending on the equation. The use of prediction equations may overestimate RMR and energy requirements particularly in those who self-identify as being susceptible to obesity, which has implications for effective weight management.

Distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress: recommendations for evaluating interaction effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Roisman, Glenn I; Newman, Daniel A; Fraley, R Chris; Haltigan, John D; Groh, Ashley M; Haydon, Katherine C

2012-05-01

This report describes the state of the art in distinguishing data generated by differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress models. We discuss several limitations of existing practices for probing interaction effects and offer solutions that are designed to better differentiate differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress models and quantify their corresponding implications. In addition, we demonstrate the utility of these methods by revisiting published evidence suggesting that temperamental difficulty serves as a marker of enhanced susceptibility to early maternal caregiving across a range of outcome domains in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. We find that, with the exception of mother reports of psychopathology, there is consistent evidence in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development that the predictive significance of early sensitivity is moderated by difficult temperament over time. However, differential susceptibility effects emerged primarily for teacher reports of academic skills, social competence, and symptomatology. In contrast, effects more consistent with the diathesis-stress model were obtained for mother reports of social skills and objective tests of academic skills. We conclude by discussing the value of the application of this work to the next wave of Gene × Environment studies focused on early caregiving experiences.

Mannose-binding lectin polymorphisms and susceptibility to infection in systemic lupus erythematosus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garred, P; Madsen, H O; Halberg, P

1999-01-01

To determine whether variant alleles in the coding portion of the mannose-binding lectin (MBL) gene are associated with increased susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and concomitant infections.......To determine whether variant alleles in the coding portion of the mannose-binding lectin (MBL) gene are associated with increased susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and concomitant infections....

Embryonic development of human lice: rearing conditions and susceptibility to spinosad

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gastón Mougabure Cueto

2006-05-01

Full Text Available The embryonic development of human lice was evaluated according to the changes in the morphology of the embryo observed through the transparent chorion. Based on ocular and appendage development, three stages of embryogenesis were established: early, medium, and late. Influence of temperature and relative humidity (RH on the laboratory rearing of Pediculus humanus capitis eggs was assessed. The optimal ranges for temperature and RH were 27-31°C and 45-75%. The susceptibility of human louse eggs to insecticide spinosad (a macrocyclic lactone was assessed by immersion method. The results showed similar susceptibility to spinosad in early, medium, and late stages of head lice eggs. In addition, this study showed similar susceptibility of head and body lice eggs to spinosad, an insecticide that has not been used as pediculicide in Argentina (lethal concentration 50: 0.01%.

A laboratory study of susceptibility of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bukhari, M.H.; Iqbal, N.; Naeem, S.; Qureshi, G.R.; Naveed, I.A.; Iqbal, A.; Khatoon, N.

2004-01-01

Objective: To study the mode of infection, incidence of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and their susceptibility against glycopeptides and fucidic acid, so that awareness may be created for consultants against such notorious rapidly spreading bacteria and recommendation can be made for their prevention and control. Methods: The specimens from various infections suspected on clinical ground were processed by standard methods and antibiotic susceptibility testing of all the 350 S. aureus and 135 MRSA isolates was done by using modified Kirby Bauer Disc diffusion technique. Results: Of 350 positive S.aureus cultures, 135 were found to be Methicillin resistant (38.5%) which showed susceptibility 96%, 94% and 86% to Vancomycin, Teicoplanin and Fucidic acid respectively. Conclusion: This study showed a high incidence of MRSA at Mayo Hospital Lahore, Glycopeptides and Fucidic acid were found to be valuable antibiotics against MRSA. (author)

Antimicrobial susceptibility and minimal inhibitory concentration of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from different animal species with septic ocular surface disease. Sixteen strains of P. aeruginosa were isolated from different species of animals (dog, cat, horse, penguin and brown bear) with ocular surface ...

Susceptibility of female Anopheles mosquito to pyrethroid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The detection of insecticides resistance status in a natural population of Anopheles vectors is a vital tool for malaria control intervention strategy against Anopheles gambiae sensu lato, which is the main malaria vector in Nigeria. This study was conducted to determine the susceptibility status of the female Anopheles ...

Individual Differences in Susceptibility to Inattentional Blindness

Science.gov (United States)

Seegmiller, Janelle K.; Watson, Jason M.; Strayer, David L.

2011-01-01

Inattentional blindness refers to the finding that people do not always see what appears in their gaze. Though inattentional blindness affects large percentages of people, it is unclear if there are individual differences in susceptibility. The present study addressed whether individual differences in attentional control, as reflected by…

Burst of virus infection and a possibly largest epidemic threshold of non-Markovian susceptible-infected-susceptible processes on networks

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiang; Van Mieghem, Piet

2018-02-01

Since a real epidemic process is not necessarily Markovian, the epidemic threshold obtained under the Markovian assumption may be not realistic. To understand general non-Markovian epidemic processes on networks, we study the Weibullian susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) process in which the infection process is a renewal process with a Weibull time distribution. We find that, if the infection rate exceeds 1 /ln(λ1+1 ) , where λ1 is the largest eigenvalue of the network's adjacency matrix, then the infection will persist on the network under the mean-field approximation. Thus, 1 /ln(λ1+1 ) is possibly the largest epidemic threshold for a general non-Markovian SIS process with a Poisson curing process under the mean-field approximation. Furthermore, non-Markovian SIS processes may result in a multimodal prevalence. As a byproduct, we show that a limiting Weibullian SIS process has the potential to model bursts of a synchronized infection.

Comprehensive assessment of rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility loci in a large psoriatic arthritis cohort.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Bowes, John

2012-08-01

A number of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) susceptibility genes have been identified in recent years. Given the overlap in phenotypic expression of synovial joint inflammation between RA and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), the authors explored whether RA susceptibility genes are also associated with PsA.