Search

Reflux scintigraphy is often used to diagnose gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, the efficacy of this study remains controversial. Our aim was to determine the role of reflux scintigraphy in diagnosing GERD by comparing it to 24 h combined pH-impedance study as the gold standard. Adult patients who presented for investigations of reflux symptoms were prospectively recruited into the study. All patients underwent high resolution esophageal manometry and those with major motor disorders of the esophagus were excluded. Eligible patients immediately underwent reflux scintigraphy following insertion of the pH-impedance catheter. Thirty patients were included in the study. Using a total acid exposure time (AET) of >4.2% as the reference for abnormal acid reflux, reflux scintigraphy had a sensitivity and specificity of 62.5 and 68.2%, respectively, in detecting acid reflux. When compared to AET >6%, reflux scintigraphy had a sensitivity and specificity of 66.7 and 62.5%, respectively, and a positive predictive value of 30.8% and a negative predictive value of 88.2%. There were no associations between outcomes of reflux scintigraphy and total AET (p =.46), total (acid or non-acid) reflux events (p = 0.11), proximal AET (p =.33) or the number of proximal reflux episodes (p =.75) on 24 h pH-impedance study. Reflux scintigraphy has limited role in diagnosing GERD when compared to 24 h combined pH-impedance monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3) is a key regulator of innate immunity and acquired immunity, and has a salient anti-viral role. 2. In this experiment, the duck TRAF3 (DuTRAF3) gene was cloned according to the Anas platyrhynchosTRAF3 sequence to explore its function. The TRAF3 open reading frame contains 1704 bp that encode a protein of 567 amino acids, which contain a RING finger domain, two zinc finger motifs, a coiled-coil region, and a MATH domain. 3. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction showed that DuTRAF3 was expressed in all the examined tissues, with a comparatively higher expression in the spleen and brain tissues. 4. In HEK293T cells, DuTRAF3 overexpression resulted in a significantly increased NF-κB activity and interferon (IFN)-β promoter activation. 5. Following resiquimod (R848) and poly(I:C) stimulation of duck peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), the expressions of TRAF3 and IFN-β were significantly upregulated; in addition, following R848 stimulation, the mRNA levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 were also significantly upregulated. After infection with the Newcastle Disease Virus LaSota vaccine strain, the mRNA levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly upregulated, while that of TRAF3 was downregulated. 6. These results suggest that DuTRAF3 has an important role to play in innate antiviral immune responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the safety of scleral-lens designs, we model and clinically assess central corneal edema induced by scleral-lens wear for healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: Central corneal swelling during scleral-lens wear is measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Transport resistances are modeled for oxygen diffusion through the scleral lens and post-lens tear-film (PoLTF), and into the cornea. Oxygen deficiency in the cornea activates anaerobic metabolic reactions that induce corneal edema. Oxygen permeability, carbon-dioxide permeability, settled-lens PoLTF thickness, and scleral-lens thickness are varied in the calculations to mimic different lens fits. Results: Transport modeling predicts that for open eyes, increasing PoLTF thickness from 50 to 400 µm increases central corneal swelling by approximately 1-1.5% when oxygen transmissibility (Dk/L) is greater than 10 hBarrer/cm (i.e., hectoBarrer/cm). Although swelling is larger for oxygen Dk/L < 10 hBarrer/cm, PoLTF thickness has minimal impact in this range. For open eye, oxygen transmissibility of the lens plays a significant role in corneal edema, but is negligible when oxygen Dk/L is > 40 hBarrer/cm. For closed eye, central corneal swelling is greater than 5% for an oxygen Dk/L range of 0-100 hBarrer/cm with typical lens-fitting parameters. For carbon-dioxide transmissibilities increasing from 50 to 250 hBarrer/cm and with a fixed oxygen Dk/L of 25 hBarrer/cm, calculated swelling diminishes by an additional 0.5%. Comparison of model calculations to clinical-swelling data is within the error range of the clinical measurements. Conclusions: Oxygen/metabolite transport calculations for open-eye scleral-lens wear show that typical PoLTF thicknesses fitted by clinicians (i.e., PoLTF thicknesses < 400 µm) with modern scleral lenses (i.e., oxygen Dk/L > 25 hBarrer/cm) produce corneal swelling of less than 2% in agreement with experiment. Therefore, scleral lenses prescribed today evoke less than physiological hypoxic swelling (i.e., less than 4%) for healthy corneas during open-eye. Closed-eye wear, however, appears clinically unsafe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isopentytransperase (IPT) gene, coupled to theSAG12promoter, was successfully transferred into the eggplant (Solanum melongenaL.) mediated byAgrobacterium tumefaciens. Four PSAG12IPT overexpressing transgenic plants were identified by Southern blotting. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction revealed thatIPTwas expressed in senescent leaves under the control ofSAG12promoter. Compared with wild type eggplants, the leaf senescence was significantly delayed and tolerance to drought and cold stress was enhanced in the T1generation of PSAG12-IPT transgenic eggplants. The contents of chlorophyll, indoleacetic acid, zeatin riboside, and gibberellic acid in the transgenic eggplants were higher than those in the wild type eggplants. The activities of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes in the transgenic eggplants were also higher than those in the wild type eggplants. Abscisic acid and malondialdehyde levels were lower in the transgenic plants than in the wild type plants. Also the vegetative growth rate and yield of the transgenic plants were higher than those of the wild type eggplant. Our study suggests that the PSAG12-IPT expression cassette may be suitable for the genetic improvement of eggplant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune dysfunction can be either at the humoral or cellular levels and is mediated by a myriad of factors including virus-induced immunosuppression. Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) affects domesticated poultry and causing health problems mainly due to prolonged immunosuppression. Destruction of the immunoglobulin-producing cells is the principal cause of IBDV-induced immunosuppression, which leads to significant impairment of the primary antibody responses. Due to these effects, IBDV infection not only increases the susceptibility of poultry to other viral infections but predisposes the host to several other bacteria of variable pathologies. The IBDV-induced immune-suppression is well-known phenomenon, however, recently there have been significant advancements in understanding the molecular mechanisms of this immune-suppression. This review discuss current updates regarding the immunotoxic and immunosuppressive nature of IBDV in the poultry and highlights areas requiring future research attentions that may help to establish foundations for effective and improved vaccines against IBDV. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ZSM-5/MCM-41 composites with tailored properties have been receiving great attention nowadays; however, their low-cost preparation process remains a challenge. The present study offered a low-cost synthesis of ZSM-5/MCM-41 composite using diatomite as silica source by monitoring the re-crystallisation time in a two-step crystallisation process. The obtained samples were characterised by X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It was shown that the resulting ZSM-5/MCM-41 composite possessed a well-ordered mesoporous MCM-41 phase and ZSM-5 microporous phase. The composite was also compared with the mechanical mixture of ZSM-5 and MCM-41 and the results showed that the structure of both materials was different. In addition, the effect of re-crystallisation time on the synthesis of ZSM-5/MCM-41 composite was also investigated in detail. The experimental results indicated that the re-crystallisation time was a key factor for the formation of the composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the conversion of VO2(B) nanobelts under the hydrothermal condition in the absence/presence of dopant was studied. The synthetic conditions, such as the reaction temperature, reaction time, quantity of the dopants and kinds of dopants, were briefly discussed to prepare VO2(A) and W doped VO2(M) solid solution. It was found that the dopant played a crucial role in controlling VO2 polymorph, and the results showed that VO2(A) was obtained in the absence of dopant, whereas W doped VO2(M) was obtained in the presence of tungstenic acid. The transformation mechanism from VO2(B) to VO2(A) and W doped VO2(M) was discussed in detail. The phase transition temperature ( Tc) of VO2(A) and W doped VO2(M) was evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry. It is found that doped atoms can be successfully doped into the crystal lattice of VO2(M) matrix, and the Tc of W doped VO2(M) can be reduced by W doping. The optical switching properties were studied by the variable temperature infrared spectra, and it was found that the as obtained VO2(A) and W doped VO2(M) had outstanding thermochromic characters and optical switching properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of Nb content on the lattice parameters and relative stability of α, β and ω phases in Ti1-xNbx (0< x≤0·30) alloys was investigated using the exact muffin-tin orbitals method in combination with the coherent potential approximation. For ω phase, the value of a increases and c/ a decreases almost linearly with increasing Nb concentration. Whereas in the case of α phase, the lattice constant a and the value of c/ a increase with the increasing Nb content. The critical Nb concentration for the complete stabilisation of β phase at 0 K is 26 at-%. An approximate composition range in which the ω phase exist is between 17 and 26 at-%Nb. The Nb addition enhances the stability of β phase relative to ω and α. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure of the simultaneous switching noise (SSN) suppression mechanism and coplanar EBG structure equivalent circuit model, a novel structure of Meander-L Bridge is proposed for SSN suppression in high-speed circuits. Simulation and measurement results show that the stopband ranging from 210MHz to 20GHz at −30 dB suppression of the bandgap depth. Furthermore, the suppression bandwidth is more than 19.79GHz to achieve the ultra-wideband SSN suppression. Moreover, time-domain simulation results show that the structure in high-speed circuits is met with signal integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]