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A large amount of hazardous materials and equipment has been extensively employed to produce useful chemicals for our daily lives, but many serious accidents, such as fires, explosions, toxic releases, and so on, that harm hum an beings and impact the environment have occurred during preparation, operation, and transportation of these chemicals, On 17 May 2007, a toxic release from a boiler explosion in a chemical firm triggered a large amount of xylene (7 ton), isopropanol (8 ton), phosphorus trichloride (44.7 ton), and dimethyl formamide (DMF) (1.37 ton) to he released to the atmosphere with total damages of 2000m² level ground. Through concerted efforts from the Yunlin Emergency Response Information Center (YERIC), sponsored by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) of Taiwan and other government sectors, this accident was eventually well controlled after 37 h with 107 people being involved in the rescue action. This study could be applied to lessen the degree of hazard for relevant accidents with an emergency response plan (ERP), and, via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and photo ionization detector (PID) the toxic concentrations of airborne chemicals that occurred in the industrial area could be analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • The multi-pass PIV approach to granular flows is systematically investigated. • Various granular media and flow geometries are studied by open-source code PIVlab. • The influence of the interrogation windows sizes on PIV estimations is investigated. • The accuracy of velocity and granular temperature estimations is assessed. • Homogeneous guidelines about the most reliable PIV settings emerge from experiments. Abstract Measuring velocity fields plays a crucial role in investigating the dynamics of granular flows, which can improve the modeling of hazardous geophysical flows (e.g. avalanches and debris flows) and the control of powder flows in industrial applications. Non-invasive optical methods are invaluable tools for estimating this physical quantity at the laboratory scale. Despite the recent improvements of particle image velocimetry (PIV) algorithms, the employment of PIV to granular flows is still a non-trivial application, where there are several specific aspects to be carefully addressed. Here, we address the main challenges of granular PIV applications and systematically test the open-source window deformation multi-pass code, PIVlab [Thielicke and Stamhuis, J. Open Res. Soft. , 2014], for dry granular flows in rotating drum and chute flow experiments. Three granular media (glass spheres, Ottawa sand and acetalic resin beads) with different optical properties are used as a broad test bench for validating the PIV approach. As well, comparisons between the estimations by PIVlab and those obtained by the commercial code, IDT ProVision-XS, are reported, where the advantages of the multi-pass approach are highlighted. This extensive experimental investigation allowed the evaluation of the accuracy of PIVlab in granular flow applications and also helped to assess the reliability of measurements of second-order statistics, such as the granular temperature. Finally, a guideline for setting a reliable PIV arrangement is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives We studied paediatric patients with human adenovirus (HAdV) infection during the 2011 outbreak in northern Taiwan to define the clinical features of different HAdV genotypes in children. Methods Between January and December 2011, 637 patients <19 years of age exhibited culture-confirmed adenoviral infection in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and provided specimens available for genotyping by multiplex real-time PCR. Clinical data were collected retrospectively. Results Excluding five cases with multiple genotypes, 632 cases were included for analysis. Three genotypes were identified, including HAdV-3 (429/632; 67.6%), HAdV-7 (144/632; 22.6%) and HAdV-2 (59/632; 9.8%). Median age was 4.58 years (range 2 months to 18 years), with children infected with HAdV-3 significantly older (82.9% >3 years; p <0.001). Of the 621 inpatients, 98.2% had fevers and all exhibited respiratory symptoms, 75 patients (12.1%) had lower respiratory tract infections, 20 (3.2%) required intensive care (HAdV-2: 1; HAdV-3: 8; and HAdV-7: 11), and three died (all HAdV-7-infected). HAdV-3-infected patients were significantly more likely to have upper respiratory symptoms and a high serum C-reactive protein level >100 mg/L, whereas leucocytosis (white blood cell count >15 000/mm 3 ) was more common in HAdV-2-infected patients (p 0.007). HAdV-7 infections were significantly associated with a longer duration of fever, leucopenia (white blood cell count <5000/mm 3 ), thrombocytopenia (platelet count <150 000/mm 3 ), lower respiratory tract infections, a longer length of hospital stay, and requiring intensive care (all p <0.001). Conclusion Childhood HAdV-2, HAdV-3 and HAdV-7 infections may exhibit different clinical manifestations. Although HAdV-3 was the most prevalent genotype observed during the 2011 Taiwan outbreak, HAdV-7 caused more severe disease characteristics and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two different types of fluxes, namely sodium based and chloride based fluxes were used to grow Cr substituted barium and strontium hexaferrite ferrite crystals, (Sr,Ba)Fe 12 − x Cr x O 19 at comparatively low temperatures of about 1300 °C. The sodium based flux led to growth of larger crystals up to 5 mm, but with only minor Cr contents x ≤ 0.07. From the chloride based flux the obtained Cr contents are significantly higher with x = 5.7 (Sr) and x = 3.4 (Ba), however, crystals reach only sizes in the sub-mm range. X-ray absorption spectroscopy data support exclusively isovalent substitution of Fe 3+ by Cr 3+ even for very low Cr contents. 57 Fe Mößbauer spectroscopy reveals Cr to preferentially occupy the six-fold by oxygen coordinated site at 12 k and, to a lower degree, 2 a and 4 f 2 in space group P 6 3 / mmc . All characteristic magnetic properties drop upon Cr substitution, e. g., the Curie temperature from 728 K for pure BaFe 12 O 19 to 465 K for BaFe 8.6 Cr 3.4 O 19 , the saturation magnetization from 71 emu/g to 29.7 emu/g and the coercive field from 363 Oe to 45 Oe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co49Pt51 alloy films with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) have been most often grown on either single crystal or glass substrates with deposition temperature of about 350°C using Pt/Ru as an underlayer. In contrast, in this study, 5-nm thick Co49Pt51 alloy films with significant PMA were fabricated on glass substrates at room temperature (RT) using a combination of Ta and Pt underlayers. The structural and magnetic properties of the Co49Pt51 films obtained at RT (RT-CoPt) were compared with that of those produced by the conventional high-temperature route (HT-CoPt). The x-ray diffraction studies showed the evolution of highly textured Pt (111) peak accompanied by a CoPt (222) shoulder for the RT-CoPt films, similar to that of the HT-CoPt films. The microstructural studies revealed extremely smooth surface with root mean square roughness (R rms) of 0.5nm for the RT-CoPt films, while the HT-CoPt films showed wavy surface with R rms of 2.4nm. The out-of-plane and in-plane hysteresis loops demonstrated the existence of strong PMA for both the RT-CoPt and HT-CoPt films. The estimated magnetic parameters for the RT-CoPt films such as squarness ratio, SQR (0.96), perpendicular coercivity, H c⊥ (822Oe) and magneto-crystalline anisotropy constant, K u (6.4×106 erg/cm3) was found to be comparable to that of those obtained with the HT-CoPt films (SQR=0.96, H c⊥=1810Oe and K u=7.1×106 erg/cm3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rituximab has been associated with hepatitis B virus reactivation (HBV-R). However, the characteristics and scope of this association remain largely undefined.Methods: We completed a comprehensive literature search of all published rituximab-associated HBV-R cases and from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) MedWatch database. Literature and FDA cases were compared for completeness, and a meta-analysis was completed.Results: One hundred and eighty-three unique cases of rituximab-associated HBV-R were identified from the literature (n = 27 case reports, n = 156 case series). The time from last rituximab to reactivation was 3 months (range 0–12), although 29% occurred >6 months after last rituximab. Within FDA data (n = 118 cases), there was a strong signal for rituximab-associated HBV-R [proportional reporting ratio = 28.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 23.9–34.1; Empiric Bayes Geometric Mean = 26.4, 95% CI 21.4–31.1]. However, the completeness of data in FDA reports was significantly inferior compared with literature cases (P < 0.0001). Among HBV core antibody (HBcAb(+)) series, the pooled effect of rituximab-based therapy showed a significantly increased risk of HBV-R compared with nonrituximab-treated patients (odds ratio 5.73, 95% CI 2.01–16.33; Z = 3.33, P = 0.0009) without heterogeneity (χ2 = 2.12, P = 0.5473).Conclusions: The FDA AERS provided strong HBV-R safety signals; however, literature-based cases provided a significantly more complete description. Furthermore, meta-analysis of HBcAb(+) series identified a more than fivefold increased rate of rituximab-associated HBV-R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Insoluble, pure protein particles could be advantageous as single-entity vaccines or as carriers for small peptide epitopes. Dense gas anti-solvent precipitation was employed to produce pure protein particles which were found to be insoluble in water. As particulate and multimerized antigens are more immunogenic and hence more advantageous for vaccination, particles were produced via this method using ovalbumin as a model antigen. The particles produced had a mean diameter of ∼300nm, and remained as discrete particles at low pH. At neutral pH or in the presence of electrolyte, the particles exhibited predictable flocculation behaviour to produce aggregates 1–5μm in diameter. Immunisation of mice with these flocculates elicited specific ovalbumin antibody production, T-cell proliferation and a cytotoxic T-cell response, all in the absence of adjuvant. Thus, dense gas processing could be used as a generic method to produce pure protein particulate vaccines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A simple hydrothermal method was used to synthesize crystalline sodium hexaniobate nanorods of high purity in gram quantity by treating Nb2O5 powder in 10M NaOH at 150°C without utilizing template molecules. The molecular composition of such material was identified as Na6H2Nb6O19·2H2O. SEM revealed that the majority of these hexaniobate rods had a diameter distribution of 200–450nm and a length distribution of 40–60μm, though finer rods with a diameter of 50–100nm could also be found in the product mixture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]