A coupled phase-field and reactive-transport framework for fracture propagation in poroelastic media.

We present a novel approach to model hydro-chemo-mechanical responses in rock formations subject to fracture propagation within chemically active rock formations. The framework developed integrates the mechanisms of reactive transport, fluid flow and transport in porous media, and phase-field modelling of fracture propagation in poroelastic media. The solution approach integrates the geochemical package PHREEQC with a finite-element open-source platform, FEniCs.

A modular microfluidic bioreactor to investigate plant cell-cell interactions.

Plants produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites, which often are of interest to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industry. Plant-cell cultures allow producing these metabolites in a standardised manner, independently from various biotic and abiotic factors difficult to control during conventional cultivation. However, plant-cell fermentation proves to be very difficult, since these chemically complex compounds often result from the interaction of different biosynthetic pathways operating in different cell types.

The effect of particle shape on discharge and clogging.

Granular flow is common across different fields from energy resource recovery and mineral processing to grain transport and traffic flow. Migrating particles may jam and form arches that span constrictions and hinder particle flow. Most studies have investigated the migration and clogging of spherical particles, however, natural particles are rarely spherical, but exhibit eccentricity, angularity and roughness.

Development of a microtiter plate-based assay for the detection of lipase-catalyzed transesterifications in organic solvents.

A microtiter plate-based assay was developed to evaluate the ability of lipases to perform transesterifications when employed in different organic solvents. A 4-nitrophenol assay was carried out employing seven different lipase formulations and two fatty acid methyl esters with different chain lengths in a total of six organic solvents with logP values approximately between 1 and -1. This assay delivered results within comparatively short times measured by a color reaction and thus facilitates the choice of an enzyme-solvent combination for the synthesis of glycolipids.

Qualitative assessment of the integration of HIV services with infant routine immunization visits in Tanzania.

Background: In 2009, a project was implemented in 8 primary health clinics throughout Tanzania to explore the feasibility of integrating pediatric HIV prevention services with routine infant immunization visits.

Methods: We conducted interviews with 64 conveniently sampled mothers of infants who had received integrated HIV and immunization services and 16 providers who delivered the integrated services to qualitatively identify benefits and challenges of the intervention midway through project implementation.

Findings: Mothers' perceived benefits of the integrated services included time savings, opportunity to learn their child's HIV status and receive HIV treatment, if necessary.

Evaluation of using routine infant immunization visits to identify and follow-up HIV-exposed infants and their mothers in Tanzania.

Background: Without treatment, approximately half of HIV-infected infants die by age 2 years, and 80% die before age 5 years. Early identification of HIV-infected and HIV-exposed infants provides opportunities for life-saving interventions. We evaluated integration of HIV-related services with routine infant immunization in Tanzania.

Cost-effectiveness of routine rapid human immunodeficiency virus antibody testing before DNA-PCR testing for early diagnosis of infants in resource-limited settings.

Background: Infants born to HIV-infected women should receive HIV testing to allow early diagnosis and treatment. Recommendations for resource-limited settings stress laboratory-based virologic assays. While effective, these tests are logistically complex and expensive.

Hospitalization and mortality among primarily nonbreastfed children during a large outbreak of diarrhea and malnutrition in Botswana, 2006.

Background: In 2006, a pediatric diarrhea outbreak occurred in Botswana, coinciding with heavy rains. Surveillance recorded a 3 times increase in cases and a 25 fold increase in deaths between January and March. Botswana has high HIV prevalence among pregnant women (33.

A randomized, open-label trial comparing methadone and Levo-Alpha-Acetylmethadol (LAAM) in maintenance treatment of opioid addiction.

Introduction: Levo-Alpha-Acetylmethadol (LAAM) is a synthetic opioid analgesic with mu-agonistic activity and a long duration of action. There are several, almost exclusively US American studies showing the efficacy of LAAM as a maintenance drug which has the advantage that it needs to be administered only three times a week. LAAM is currently not marketed in EU countries due to cardiac complications.

Role of the laboratory in ensuring global access to ARV treatment for HIV-infected children: consensus statement on the performance of laboratory assays for early infant diagnosis.

A two day meeting hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was held in May 2006 in Entebbe, Uganda to review the laboratory performance of virologic molecular methods, particularly the Roche Amplicor DNA PCR version 1.

Auditory target processing in methadone substituted opiate addicts: the effect of nicotine in controls.

Background: The P300 component of the auditory evoked potential is an indicator of attention dependent target processing. Only a few studies have assessed cognitive function in substituted opiate addicts by means of evoked potential recordings. In addition, P300 data suggest that chronic nicotine use reduces P300 amplitudes.

Infant human immunodeficiency virus diagnosis in resource-limited settings: issues, technologies, and country experiences.

Diagnosing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in infants is difficult because maternal HIV antibodies cross the placenta, causing positive serologic tests in HIV-exposed infants for the first several months of life. Early definitive diagnosis of HIV requires virologic testing such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is the diagnostic standard in resource-rich settings but has been too complex and expensive for widespread use in most countries with high HIV prevalence. Early PCR testing can help HIV-infected infants access treatment, provide psychosocial benefits for families of uninfected infants, and help programs for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV monitor their effectiveness.

Cognitive-motor performance of methadone-maintained patients.

Fifty-four methadone-maintained patients and 54 healthy controls, matched for age, gender and educational attainment, completed a battery of six cognitive-psychomotor performance tests. Results of previous studies were replicated in four areas. An attention task was performed less well by patients [mean difference more than 0.

[Positive and negative symptoms in chronic schizophrenic patients under maintenance therapy with flupenthixol decanoate for a twelve month perioid].

62 chronic schizophrenics, who after a psychotic exacerbation were stabilized again, were randomized on 3 different maintenance dosages of flupentixol-decanoate and observed for 12 months. 15 (24.2%) patients had a relapse independently of the dose.

The efficacy of L-methadone and racemic methadone in substitution treatment for opiate addicts--a double-blind comparison.

In a two-week double-blind trial l-methadone and racemic methadone were compared for efficacy in substitution treatment for opiate addicts. Before the trial the twenty-six participants had been on stable doses of l-methadone. Patients with evidence of current serious psychological problems were excluded.

Replacement of (R)-methadone by a double dose of (R,S)-methadone in addicts: interindividual variability of the (R)/(S) ratios and evidence of adaptive changes in methadone pharmacokinetics.

Methods: Twenty-two patients receiving (R)-methadone maintenance treatment were switched to a double dose of (R,S)-methadone: blood samples were collected before and after the change, and the concentrations of the enantiomers were measured. In the second period, during racemic methadone treatment, important interindividual variability in the stereoselective disposition of the enantiomers of methadone was measured, with (R)/(S) ratios ranging from 0.63 to 2.

Immunoreactive leukotriene C4 levels in CSF of MS patients.

Using a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay levels of leukotriene (LT)C4-like material were estimated in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in comparison to control patients with or without inflammatory processes in the central nervous system (CNS). Levels of LTC4-like material were significantly elevated (p less than 0.01) in CSF from patients with inflammatory diseases such as meningitis, polyradiculitis or meningoencephalitis (57 +/- 53 pg/ml, n = 16) as compared to those from control patients without inflammatory or immunological CNS diseases (21 +/- 16 pg/ml, n = 42).