High capacity, stable silicon/carbon anodes for lithium-ion batteries prepared using emulsion-templated directed assembly.

Silicon (Si) is a promising candidate for lithium ion battery anodes because of its high theoretical capacity. However, the large volume changes during lithiation/delithiation cycles result in pulverization of Si, leading to rapid fading of capacity. Here, we report a simple fabrication technique that is designed to overcome many of the limitations that deter more widespread adoption of Si based anodes.

High-repetition-rate three-dimensional OH imaging using scanned planar laser-induced fluorescence system for multiphase combustion.

Imaging dynamic multiphase combusting events is challenging. Conventional techniques can image only a single plane of an event, capturing limited details. Here, we report on a three-dimensional, time-resolved, OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (3D OH PLIF) technique that was developed to measure the relative OH concentration in multiphase combustion flow fields.

Pneumocystis jirovecii colonization is associated with enhanced Th1 inflammatory gene expression in lungs of humans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disease, the pathogenesis of which remains incompletely understood. Colonization with Pneumocystis jirovecii may play a role in COPD pathogenesis; however, the mechanisms by which such colonization contributes to COPD are unknown. The objective of this study was to determine lung gene expression profiles associated with Pneumocystis colonization in patients with COPD to identify potential key pathways involved in disease pathogenesis.

Carbon residence time dominates uncertainty in terrestrial vegetation responses to future climate and atmospheric CO2.

Future climate change and increasing atmospheric CO2 are expected to cause major changes in vegetation structure and function over large fractions of the global land surface. Seven global vegetation models are used to analyze possible responses to future climate simulated by a range of general circulation models run under all four representative concentration pathway scenarios of changing concentrations of greenhouse gases. All 110 simulations predict an increase in global vegetation carbon to 2100, but with substantial variation between vegetation models.

Detection and clinical relevance of Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage: an update.

Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage is a well-defined risk factor of infection with this bacterium. The increased risk of S. aureus infection in nasal carriers is supported by the fact that the strains isolated from both colonization and infection sites are indistinguishable in most of the cases.

A high-resolution approach to estimating ecosystem respiration at continental scales using operational satellite data.

A better understanding of the local variability in land-atmosphere carbon fluxes is crucial to improving the accuracy of global carbon budgets. Operational satellite data backed by ground measurements at Fluxnet sites proved valuable in monitoring local variability of gross primary production at highly resolved spatio-temporal resolutions. Yet, we lack similar operational estimates of ecosystem respiration (Re) to calculate net carbon fluxes.

Staphylococcal vaccine development: review of past failures and plea for a future evaluation of vaccine efficacy not only on staphylococcal infections but also on mucosal carriage.

Staphylococcal disease represents a universal burden including acute, life-threatening infections as well as chronic infections usually associated with foreign materials. Infections occur notably in permanent carriers of Staphylococcus aureus. To date, all the attempts to develop an efficacious vaccine against S.

A European approach to clinical investigator training.

A better education and training of clinical investigators and their teams is one of the factors that could foster the development of clinical research in Europe, a key objective of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). PharmaTrain (an IMI programme on training in medicines development), and European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN) have joined forces to address this issue. An advisory group composed of representatives of universities, pharmaceutical companies and other organisations met four times between June 2011 and July 2012.

HIV infection is associated with diffusing capacity impairment in women.

Respiratory dysfunction is common with HIV infection, but few studies have directly assessed whether HIV remains an independent risk factor for pulmonary function abnormalities in the antiretroviral therapy era. Additionally, few studies have focused on pulmonary outcomes in HIV+ women. We tested associations between risk factors for respiratory dysfunction and pulmonary outcomes in 63 HIV+ and 36 HIV-uninfected women enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study.

Infection due to Mycobacterium thermoresistibile: a case associated with an orthopedic device.

Mycobacterium thermoresistibile is a rapidly growing environmental nontuberculous mycobacterium, seldom reported in human infections. Here, we describe a rare case of tibial-nail-related osteomyelitis due to Mycobacterium thermoresistibile. We also review the literature about the infections caused by this pathogen.

Control of humoral immunity and auto-immunity by the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis in lupus patients following influenza vaccine.

Background: CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor with multiple effects on the immune system, upregulated in patients with SLE, and correlated with disease severity.

Objective: This study has investigated whether the levels of CXCR4 expressed on leucocyte subsets in lupus patients are correlated with the efficacy and the safety of the influenza vaccine.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients were vaccinated and vaccine immunogenicity and tolerance were evaluated.

Generation of HIV-1 potent and broad neutralizing antibodies by immunization with postfusion HR1/HR2 complex.

Background: The envelope glycoproteins are major targets for HIV vaccines. The N-terminal and the C-terminal regions of the gp41 interact to form six helix bundles that are responsible for the fusion between the viral and the target cell membranes. Monoclonal antibodies (Abs) able to disrupt the formation of this complex or to interfere with it could inhibit HIV fusion.

Secretory IgA specific for MPER can protect from HIV-1 infection in vitro.

This preliminary study was performed to assess the neutralization activity of anti-MPER-secretory IgA (SIgA) from parotid saliva in 88 HIV+ patients, in five exposed seronegative (ESN) and in five seronegative volunteers. 48.9% of the HIV+ patients and 100% of ESN patients showed antigp41 SIgA.

Evaluation of the new CE-IVD marked BD MAX Cdiff Assay for the detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile harboring the tcdB gene from clinical stool samples.

The evaluation of the fully automated BD MAX Cdiff assay on a panel of 100 stool samples characterized by the Xpert C. difficile assay reported a high concordance between the two molecular assays (kappa coefficient of 0.96), which makes this new assay suitable for routine detection of toxigenic Clostridium difficile.

Development of a combined pure rotational and vibrational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering system.

A combined pure rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (PRCARS) and vibrational CARS (VCARS) system has been developed. In this system two beams, a broadband beam centered at 607 nm and the frequency-doubled Nd:YAG output at 532 nm is used to generate the PRCARS signal. A second 532 nm beam is used along with the other two beams to simultaneously generate the N(2) VCARS signal using a standard phase-matching scheme.

Smoking is a risk factor of organ/space surgical site infection in orthopaedic surgery with implant materials.

Purpose: In recent guidelines, smoking is reported as a factor increasing the risk of surgical site infection (SSI). The accurate analysis of the literature shows that this recommendation relies on low level of evidence in orthopaedic surgery with material implantation (arthroplasty components or implants for internal fixation). This study aimed to assess the attributable risk of smoking on organ/space SSI in orthopaedic surgery with implants.

Performance of creatinine and cystatin C-based glomerular filtration rate estimating equations in a European HIV-positive cohort.

Objective: To validate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating equations in white HIV-infected patients based on serum creatinine and/or serum cystatin C.

Design: Single-center, cross-sectional evaluation of the predictive performance of GFR estimators.

Methods: GFR was measured by iohexol plasma clearance.

Contributors to diffusion impairment in HIV-infected persons.

Abnormal diffusing capacity is common in HIV-infected individuals, including never smokers. Aetiologies for diffusing capacity impairment in HIV are not understood, particularly in those without a history of cigarette smoking. Our study was a cross-sectional analysis of 158 HIV-infected individuals without acute respiratory symptoms or infection with the aim to determine associations between a diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (D(LCO)) % predicted and participant demographics, pulmonary spirometric measures (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and FEV1/forced vital capacity), radiographic emphysema (fraction of lung voxels < -950 Hounsfield units), pulmonary vascular/cardiovascular disease (echocardiographic tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide) and airway inflammation (induced sputum cell counts), stratified by history of smoking.

Contrast-enhanced transcranial two-dimensional ultrasound imaging using shear-mode conversion at low frequency.

The distortion and attenuation of transcranial ultrasound (US) signals are significant problems in US imaging of the brain. Of the variety of proposed solutions, shear-mode transmission through the skull is one of the more recent options and has been shown to reduce distortion of the US beam. This study examined the effects of transcranial shear-mode transmission on the images of a contrast-agent-filled polytetrafluoroethylene tube produced by a 32-element 750 kHz linear phased array transducer through an ex vivo human skull section.

AT2-receptor stimulation enhances axonal plasticity after spinal cord injury by upregulating BDNF expression.

It is widely accepted that the angiotensin AT2-receptor (AT2R) has neuroprotective features. In the present study we tested pharmacological AT2R-stimulation as a therapeutic approach in a model of spinal cord compression injury (SCI) in mice using the novel non-peptide AT2R-agonist, Compound 21 (C21). Complementary experiments in primary neurons and organotypic cultures served to identify underlying mechanisms.

Polarization suppression of the nonresonant background in femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering for flame thermometry at 5 kHz.

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectra are acquired at 5 kHz in steady and unsteady flames while suppressing the nonresonant background by polarization techniques. Broadband femtosecond (fs) pump and Stokes pulses efficiently excite many Raman transitions in diatomic nitrogen which subsequently interfere and decay. Single-laser-shot measurements are performed as the decay of the Raman coherence is mapped to the frequency of the CARS signal by a chirped-probe pulse (CPP).