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Summary Background Peginterferon-α–based therapy frequently leads to neutropenia. It remains unclear whether neutropenia is associated with bacterial infection in chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Aim To evaluate the risk of bacterial infection and neutropenia in patients with CHC treated with peginterferon-α/ribavirin. Methods In all, 207 patients with CHC with (group A, n = 30) and without (group B, n = 177) baseline neutropenia were treated with peginterferon-α/ribavirin. Results Group A had significantly higher rates of moderate (

Two weed samples, G52 from Ageratum conyzoides and G87 from Malvastrum coromandelianum, showing leaf curling and vein thickening symptoms were collected in Nanning, Guangxi Province, China. The complete nucleotide sequences of DNA-A-like molecules of G52 and G87 were determined to be 2735 and 2745 nucleotides respectively. Both DNA-A molecules have a genomic organization typical of begomoviruses and share 73.4% sequence identity with each other. Sequence comparisons showed that the DNA-A of G52 and G87 were most closely related to those of Ageratum yellow vein virus (AYVV; 85% sequence identity) and Tobacco leaf curl Yunnanvirus (75.7% sequence identity) respectively. Further sequence comparisons showed that G52 has arisen by recombination among viruses related to AYVV, Papaya leaf curl China virus and an unidentified Begomovirus species. The molecular data suggest that G52 and G87 are two distinct begomoviruses, for which the names Ageratum leaf curl virus for G52 and Malvastrum leaf curl virus for G87 are proposed. The satellite DNAβ molecule was only found to be associated with G87. G87 DNAβ consists of 1354 nucleotides, and shares the highest nucleotide sequence identity (68.9%) with that associated with Sida yellow vein China virus. A defective DNAβ molecule was also found to be associated with G87.

The deformation and fracture behavior under uniaxial tension was characterized for P(VDF-TrFE) 68/32 mol % copolymer films prepared under two different processing conditions. It was found that the copolymer films prepared by solution casting and then annealing show a typical polymeric brittle fracture feature. For the copolymer films prepared by stretching the solution-cast films and then annealing process, a typical linearly strengthening stage occurs in the stress–strain curve after yielding, and the polymer film samples fracture at a much larger maximum strain and a higher tensile strength than those prepared by the former process. SEM observation and XRD analysis were carried out to examine the morphology and microstructure change during uniaxial tension. The results show that for the stretched film samples, the polymer chains undergo slipping or further reorientation during uniaxial tension, causing the increase of the peak intensity in the X-ray diffraction pattern. For the directly annealed ones, no yielding phenomenon is observed and there is no apparent X-ray diffraction intensity change. It was suggested that the highly-oriented fibril structure of the stretched film samples contributes to the linearly strengthening stage after yielding in the stress–strain curve. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 3255–3260, 2005

In this paper we will outline our progress towards developing flexible electronics. The basic function of this flexible device is timepiece. The ultra thin flexible electronic device (e-skin IT device).with TFTs made by CMOS type low temperature poly-Silicon thin film process, bear the characteristics of high mobility and low power consumption. The display part of device is made by plastic top substrate, VA mode LC and 50 μm of glass bottom substrate. In order to fit the flexible requirement, we use 4 μm of photo spacer to replace ball spacer. 3 rechargeable polymer Li-ions batteries are bonded on this cell module via a FPC to make a complete, independent electronic device. The weight of e-skin IT device is merely 6g with ultra-thin, ultra-light, flexible character.