Prevalence of Group B Streptococcus maternal colonization, serotype distribution, and antimicrobial resistance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Group B Streptococcus (GBS)-associated maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity disproportionately affects Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to address the estimated prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility, and serotype distribution of GBS isolates in SSA.

Methods: This study was done according to PRISMA guidelines.

Antenatal care and determinants of obstetric danger signs awareness of immediate postpartum women at Buea Regional Hospital, Cameroon.

Introduction: a significant proportion of pregnancy related deaths result from delay in decision to seek care and this often stems from failure to identify obstetric danger signs earlier. Early identification of these danger signs will therefore reduce maternal mortality. However, studies on obstetric danger signs awareness are lacking in Cameroon.

Real-time synchronous measurement of curing characteristics and polymerization stress in bone cements with a cantilever-beam based instrument.

An instrumentation capable of simultaneously determining degree of conversion (DC), polymerization stress (PS), and polymerization exotherm (PE) in real time was introduced to self-curing bone cements. This comprises the combination of an in situ high-speed near-infrared spectrometer, a cantilever-beam instrument with compliance-variable feature, and a microprobe thermocouple. Two polymethylmethacrylate-based commercial bone cements, containing essentially the same raw materials but differ in their viscosity for orthopedic applications, were used to demonstrate the applicability of the instrumentation.

Polymerization stress evolution of a bulk-fill flowable composite under different compliances.

Objective: To use a compliance-variable instrument to simultaneously measure and compare the polymerization stress (PS) evolution, degree of conversion (DC), and exotherm of a bulk-fill flowable composite to a packable composite.

Methods: A bulk-fill flowable composite (Filtek Bulk-fill, FBF) and a conventional packable composite (Filtek Z250, Z250) purchased from 3M ESPE were investigated. The composites were studied using a cantilever-beam based instrument equipped with an in situ near infrared (NIR) spectrometer and a microprobe thermocouple.

Simultaneous measurement of polymerization stress and curing kinetics for photo-polymerized composites with high filler contents.

Objectives: Photopolymerized composites are used in a broad range of applications with their performance largely directed by reaction kinetics and contraction accompanying polymerization. The present study was to demonstrate an instrument capable of simultaneously collecting multiple kinetics parameters for a wide range of photopolymerizable systems: degree of conversion (DC), reaction exotherm, and polymerization stress (PS).

Methods: Our system consisted of a cantilever beam-based instrument (tensometer) that has been optimized to capture a large range of stress generated by lightly-filled to highly-filled composites.

Economic implications of reducing carbon emissions from energy use and industrial processes in Brazil.

This study assesses the economy-wide impacts of cutting CO2 emissions on the Brazilian economy. It finds that in 2040, the business-as-usual CO2 emissions from energy use and industrial processes would be almost three times as high as those in 2010 and would account for more than half of total national CO2 emissions. The current policy aims to reduce deforestation by 70 percent by 2017 and lower emissions intensity of the overall economy by 36-39 percent by 2020.

Hebbian self-organizing integrate-and-fire networks for data clustering.

We propose a Hebbian learning-based data clustering algorithm using spiking neurons. The algorithm is capable of distinguishing between clusters and noisy background data and finds an arbitrary number of clusters of arbitrary shape. These properties render the approach particularly useful for visual scene segmentation into arbitrarily shaped homogeneous regions.

Local thickness and anisotropy approaches to characterize pore size distribution of three-dimensional porous networks.

Two image-analysis approaches for pore size distribution (PSD) of porous media are proposed. The methods are based on the skeleton representation of a porous object. One approach gives the local thickness of the pore object to represent the pore size corresponding to a lower limit of PSD.

Using ITS2 secondary structure to create species-specific oligonucleotide probes for fungi.

Oligonucleotide microarray based on ITS2 rDNA sequences would be extremely useful in identifying fungi within soil samples. However ITS2 contains phylogenetic information and duplication of sequences among taxa make false positive detections likely unless a way could be found to identify taxon-specific portions of the ITS2 sequence a priori. Examination of component ITS2 sequences suggested one method of identifying species-specific probes.

A new model of carbon and phosphorus transfers in arbuscular mycorrhizas.

Existing models of nutrient transfer in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbioses are inadequate as they do not explain the range of real responses seen experimentally. A computer simulation model was used to evaluate the novel hypotheses that mycorrhizal nutrient transfers were based solely on symbionts' internal needs, and that carbon and phosphorus transfers were quantitatively unlinked. To be plausible, simulated mycorrhizal plants would show a +/-50% variation in weight vs nonmycorrhizal controls, with a normal response distribution (mimicking a real data set).

Material model measurements and predictions for a random pore poly(epsilon-caprolactone) scaffold.

We investigated material models for a polymeric scaffold used for bone. The material was made by co-extruding poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL), a biodegradable polyester, and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). The water soluble PEO was removed resulting in a porous scaffold.

Quantifying the directional parameter of structural anisotropy in porous media.

A new method has been developed to define the directional parameter and characterize the structural anisotropy of a highly porous structure with extensive pore interconnectivity and surface area, such as scaffolds in tissue engineering. This new method called intercept segment deviation (ISD) was validated through the comparison of structural anisotropy from ISD measurements with mechanical anisotropy from finite-element stress analysis. This was carried out on a generated two-dimensional (2D) image of a two-phase material and a real three-dimensional (3D) image of a tissue scaffold.

Tissue engineering scaffolds based on photocured dimethacrylate polymers for in vitro optical imaging.

Model tissue engineering scaffolds based on photocurable resin mixtures with sodium chloride have been prepared for optical imaging studies of cell attachment. A photoactivated ethoxylated bisphenol A dimethacrylate was mixed with sieved sodium chloride (NaCl) crystals and photocured to form a cross-linked composite. Upon soaking in water, the NaCl dissolved to leave a porous scaffold with desirable optical properties, mechanical integrity, and controlled porosity.

Combinatorial investigation of the structure-properties characterization of photopolymerized dimethacrylate networks.

The effects of co-monomer composition and irradiation time in a model two-component dimethacrylate dental resin blend were evaluated using combinatorial methods to determine the degree of methacrylate conversion and resulting mechanical properties. 2-Dimensional gradient samples varying in monomer composition and light exposure time were fabricated. The conversion was measured using near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and the mechanical properties (i.

The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizae and light on Wisconsin (USA) sand savanna understories 2. Plant competition.

Wisconsin (USA) oak savannas are endangered plant communities that have remarkably high plant species diversity. To investigate factors underlying this richness, we experimentally investigated the potentially interacting effects of light gradients and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on plant competition in the greenhouse, using a fully randomized block design. We used four plant species, soil, and AMF from a remnant sand savanna, under two light and five AMF treatments.

The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizae and light on Wisconsin (USA) sand savanna understories 1. Plant community composition.

To explain the complex community composition found in Wisconsin (USA) oak savannas, we investigated potentially interacting effects of light gradients and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on community composition in the greenhouse, using a fully randomized block experimental design. We used plant species, soil, and AMF from a remnant sand savanna in setting up the experiment, using two light and five AMF treatments. Eleven plant species were seeded into 80 microcosms, and they were grown together for 20 weeks.

Microstructure determination of AOT + phenol organogels utilizing small-angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy.

Dry reverse micelles of the anionic twin-tailed surfactant bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) dissolved in nonpolar solvents spontaneously form an organogel when p-chlorophenol is added in a 1:1 AOT:phenol molar ratio. The solvents used were benzene, toluene, m-xylene, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane), decane, dodecane, tetradecane, hexadecane, and 2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane (TMPD). The proposed microstructure of the gel is based on strands of stacked phenols linked to AOT through hydrogen bonding.

Late relapse of pulmonary blastomycosis after adequate treatment with amphotericin B. Case report.

A 53-year-old man experienced relapse of pulmonary blastomycosis 9 years after having been treated successfully with amphotericin B and responded satisfactorily to retreatment. Relapse of blastomycosis after adequate treatment with amphotericin B is apparently uncommon. However, published reports include relatively few patients who have had long-term follow-up.

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis: an increasing clinical problem.

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis is being recognized with increasing frequency in the United States. The characteristics of the disease are recurrent pyrexia, cough, wheezing, sputum plugs containing aspergilli, fleeting pulmonary infiltrates, eosinophilia, dual skin reactions (immediate and late), and antibodies to the fungus in the blood. The pathogenetic mechanism is believed to involve type I and type III hypersensitivity reactions.

Reactivation of pulmonary tuberculosis due to trauma.

A 53-year-old man developed pulmonary tuberculosis, presumably reactivation, with ten days of sustaining multiple fractured ribs. Tuberculous bronchopneumonia developed in the right lung adjacent to the site of injury and spread to the contralateral lung. Sputum smears were positive for acid-fast bacilli three weeks after trauma.