A detailed understanding of the ultrafast dynamics of halogen-bonded materials is desired for designing supramolecular materials and tuning various electronic properties by external stimuli. Here, a prototypical halogen-bonded multifunctional material containing spin crossover (SCO) cations and paramagnetic radical anions is studied as a model system of photo-switchable SCO hybrid systems using ultrafast electron diffraction and two complementary optical spectroscopic techniques. Our results reveal a sequential dynamics from SCO to radical dimer softening, uncovering a key transient intermediate state.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClassical homocystinuria is a hereditary defect of the enzyme cystathionine beta synthase, which is produced in the liver. If this enzyme fails, the synthesis pathway of cysteine from methionine is interrupted, leading to the accumulation of homocysteine in the blood plasma and homocysteine in the urine. After birth, the children are unremarkable except for the characteristic laboratory findings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLancet Reg Health West Pac
November 2022
Background: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly used by tuberculosis (TB) programs to monitor () transmission. We aimed to characterise the molecular epidemiology of TB and transmission in the low-incidence setting of Victoria, Australia, and assess the utility of WGS.
Methods: WGS was performed on all first isolates from TB cases from 2017 to 2020.
Thin single organic crystals (≤1 μm) with large area (≥100 × 100 μm) are desirable to explore photoinduced processes using ultrafast spectroscopy and electron-diffraction. Here, we present a general method based on spatial confinement to grow such crystals using the prototypical proton transfer system, 1,5-dihydroxyanthraquinone, as an example, and provide the protocol for optically characterizing structural dynamics to enable proper assignments using diffraction methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquaculture plays a pivotal role in covering dietary animal protein demands and restocking endangered fish populations. However, high mortality takes place at the earliest life stages: prior and immediately after hatching. Improving growth and health parameters by immunostimulants is widely used in older fish, but rarely studied in larvae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ultrafast dynamics of unsubstituted spironaphthopyran (SNP) were investigated using femtosecond transient UV and visible absorption spectroscopy in three different solvents and by semi-classical nuclear dynamics simulations. The primary ring-opening of the pyran unit was found to occur in 300 fs yielding a non-planar intermediate in the first singlet excited state (S1). Subsequent planarisation and relaxation to the product ground state proceed through barrier crossing on the S1 potential energy surface (PES) and take place within 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The use of complementary medical treatment in wound management has continued to grow throughout the world. There is a large body of evidence that supports the use of honey as a wound dressing for a wide range of wound types. The authors present an update of present knowledge about honey as a form of complementary medicine in paediatric wound management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Buruli Ulcer (BU) is caused by the environmental microbe Mycobacterium ulcerans. Despite unclear transmission, contact with a BU endemic region is the key known risk factor. In Victoria, Australia, where endemic areas have been carefully mapped, we aimed to estimate the Incubation Period (IP) of BU by interviewing patients who reported defined periods of contact with an endemic area prior to BU diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The role of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) in pediatrics has considerably increased in the last years. The knowledge about potential side effects and possible interactions with conventional drugs is still limited, and often pediatricians do not know whether their patients use CAM. This can be critical, as in order to diagnose and treat illnesses properly physicians need to know about the full extent of the self-administered therapy of their patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe two-component regulatory system CiaRH of Streptococcus pneumoniae controls 25 genes, five of which specify homologous small non-coding csRNAs (cia-dependent small RNAs). The csRNAs were predicted to act regulatory as base-pairing sRNAs, but their targets have not been identified. By csRNA gene inactivations we established that the major phenotypes associated with a hyperactive CiaRH system, enhanced β-lactam resistance and prevention of genetic competence, are dependent on the csRNAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe main characteristic of infantile hemangioma is that it grows rapidly after birth and mostly regresses spontaneously. It is a common practice for only a small part of the hemangioma to be treated, as they can be extremely disfiguring and destructive to normal tissue as well as possibly being life-threatening. Recent studies have discovered that the use of topical 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Parental satisfaction with a pediatric day center is essential for the medical treatment of children, since it is closely related to compliance. In order to ascertain factors which predict parental satisfaction as well as to discover possible weak points, we developed a questionnaire.
Methods: 127 parents visiting the pediatric day center from October to November 2010 were asked to respond to a questionnaire.
Benzocaine is a widely used topical anaesthetic and has been reported to cause toxic methaemoglobinaemia in otherwise healthy individuals with no predisposing risk factors. This article reports on a rare case of benzocaine-induced methaemoglobinaemia following adenotonsillectomy in a 5-year-old girl. Topical benzocaine was applied orally for the relief of postoperative wound pain on the eighth postoperative day.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF