Empirical Administration of Doxycycline for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: A Case Report.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a tick-borne illness that can cause extreme sickness, even death, in otherwise healthy individuals. Sometimes, it is difficult to confirm the diagnosis as the rash often lags behind other symptoms of the illness and may not occur at all. Other symptoms of RMSF are nonspecific, such as fever, headache, and malaise.

Difference in presentation, outcomes, and hospital epidemiologic trend of COVID-19 among first, second, and third waves: a review of hospital records and prospective cohort study.

Unlabelled: This study aimed to examine the differences in epidemiologic and disease aspects among patients with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).

Methods: The authors reviewed the hospital records between April 2020 and September 2021 and followed up on the patients for post-COVID complications.

Findings: Older adult patients were predominantly affected during the third wave, and middle-aged patients were predominantly affected during the first and second waves.

Association of ORAI1 Genetic Polymorphism with Serum Calcium and Phosphorus Levels in Non-dialysis Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: A Case-control Study.

Background As chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent killer, it is now a global concern to find out the possible causes by genetic and biological markers. In the earlier stages of CKD, serum calcium and phosphorus levels fall down later on turned into hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia contributing high mortality in CKD. This study aimed to examine the serum calcium and phosphorus levels in non-dialysis CKD patients and healthy controls to find out their association with ORAI1 genetic polymorphism.

Acute Isolated Hyperbilirubinemia as a Presentation of Alcoholic Liver Disease: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Isolated hyperbilirubinemia as a manifestation of alcoholic liver disease without significant liver abnormalities is seen very rarely. We report such a case where a patient with chronic alcoholism presented to the ER with acute jaundice with bilirubin of 24.8 mg/dl, predominantly conjugated in nature along with mild elevation of AST (76 IU/L).

Drastically Enhancing Moduli of Graphene-Coated Carbon Nanotube Aerogels via Densification while Retaining Temperature-Invariant Superelasticity and Ultrahigh Efficiency.

Lightweight open-cell foams that are simultaneously superelastic, possess exceptionally high Young's moduli (Y), exhibit ultrahigh efficiency, and resist fatigue as well as creep are particularly desirable as structural frameworks. Unfortunately, many of these features are orthogonal in foams of metals, ceramics, and polymers, particularly under large temperature variations. In contrast, foams of carbon allotropes including carbon nanotubes and graphene developed over the past few years exhibit these desired properties but have low Y due to low density, ρ = 0.

Length-dependent intracellular bundling of single-walled carbon nanotubes influences retention.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are increasingly being investigated for biomedical imaging, sensing, and drug delivery. Cell types, cellular entry mechanisms, and SWCNT lengths dictate SWCNT uptake, subsequent intracellular trafficking, and retention. Specialized immune cells known as macrophages are capable of two size-dependent entry mechanisms: endocytosis of small particles (diameter < 200 nm) and phagocytosis of large particles (diameter > 500 nm).

Superelastic Pseudocapacitors from Freestanding MnO-Decorated Graphene-Coated Carbon Nanotube Aerogels.

In recent years, the demand for emerging electronic devices has driven efforts to develop electrochemical capacitors with high power and energy densities that can preserve capacitance under and after recovery from mechanical deformation. We have developed superelastic pseudocapacitors using ∼1.5 mm thick graphene-coated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) aerogels decorated with manganese oxide (MnO) as freestanding electrodes that retain high volumetric capacitance and electrochemical stability before, under, and after recovery from 50% compression.

Nano-Photoelectrochemical Cell Arrays with Spatially Isolated Oxidation and Reduction Channels.

Photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy is explored for many diverse applications but suffers from poor efficiencies due to limited solar absorption, inadequate charge carrier separation, redox half-reactions occurring in close proximity, and/or long ion diffusion lengths. We have taken a drastically different approach to the design of photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) to spatially isolate reaction sites at the nanoscale to different materials and flow channels, suppressing carrier recombination and back-reaction of intermediates while shortening ion diffusion paths and, importantly, avoiding mixed product generation. We developed massively parallel nano-PECs composed of an array of open-ended carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with photoanodic reactions occurring on the outer walls, uniformly coated with titanium dioxide (TiO), and photocathodic reactions occurring on the inner walls, decorated with platinum (Pt).

Dispersed single wall carbon nanotubes do not impact mitochondria structure or function, but technical issues during analysis could yield incorrect results.

Mitochondria are the organelles of cells that generate a majority of the cell's energy through ATP and are involved in programmed cell death through apoptosis. An understanding of non-specific targeting of nanomaterials, including single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), to organelles is important in trying to modulate cell function or determine the cellular toxicity with long term exposure. Here, we examine the impact of SWCNTs dispersed with Pluronic F127 and protein on mitochondria using a battery of standard tests.

Creep- and fatigue-resistant, rapid piezoresistive responses of elastomeric graphene-coated carbon nanotube aerogels over a wide pressure range.

Lightweight, flexible piezoresistive materials with wide operational pressure ranges are in demand for applications such as human physical activity and health monitoring, robotics, and for functional interfacing between living systems and wearable electronics. Piezoresistivity of many elastomeric foams of polymers and carbon allotropes satisfies much of the required characteristics for these applications except creep and fatigue resistance due to their viscoelasticity, critically limiting the reliability and lifetime of integrated devices. We report the piezoresistive responses from aerogels of graphene-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), made using a facile and versatile sol-gel method.

Polymer-based protein engineering grown ferrocene-containing redox polymers improve current generation in an enzymatic biofuel cell.

Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) are capable of generating electricity from physiologically present fuels making them promising power sources for the future of implantable devices. The potential application of such systems is limited, however, by inefficient current generation. Polymer-based protein engineering (PBPE) offers a unique method to tailor enzyme function through tunable modification of the enzyme surface with functional polymers.

Solar photothermochemical alkane reverse combustion.

A one-step, gas-phase photothermocatalytic process for the synthesis of hydrocarbons, including liquid alkanes, aromatics, and oxygenates, with carbon numbers (Cn) up to C13, from CO2 and water is demonstrated in a flow photoreactor operating at elevated temperatures (180-200 °C) and pressures (1-6 bar) using a 5% cobalt on TiO2 catalyst and under UV irradiation. A parametric study of temperature, pressure, and partial pressure ratio revealed that temperatures in excess of 160 °C are needed to obtain the higher Cn products in quantity and that the product distribution shifts toward higher Cn products with increasing pressure. In the best run so far, over 13% by mass of the products were C5+ hydrocarbons and some of these, i.

Enhanced intracellular delivery of small molecules and drugs via non-covalent ternary dispersions of single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Albumins are used biologically and pharmacologically as transport proteins to deliver molecules to cells. Albumins also efficiently coat single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and promote their entry into mammalian and immune cells by the millions. Here, we show SWCNTs dispersed with bovine serum albumin (BSA) that are pre-loaded with rhodamine B (RB), small hydrophobic dye molecules that we consider here as models for drugs, drastically increase delivery of RB to HeLa cells and macrophages in culture.

Delivering Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes to the Nucleus Using Engineered Nuclear Protein Domains.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have great potential for cell-based therapies due to their unique intrinsic optical and physical characteristics. Consequently, broad classes of dispersants have been identified that individually suspend SWCNTs in water and cell media in addition to reducing nanotube toxicity to cells. Unambiguous control and verification of the localization and distribution of SWCNTs within cells, particularly to the nucleus, is needed to advance subcellular technologies utilizing nanotubes.

Distribution of single wall carbon nanotubes in the Xenopus laevis embryo after microinjection.

Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are advanced materials with the potential for a myriad of diverse applications, including biological technologies and large-scale usage with the potential for environmental impacts. SWCNTs have been exposed to developing organisms to determine their effects on embryogenesis, and results have been inconsistent arising, in part, from differing material quality, dispersion status, material size, impurity from catalysts and stability. For this study, we utilized highly purified SWCNT samples with short, uniform lengths (145 ± 17 nm) well dispersed in solution.

Differential sub-cellular processing of single-wall carbon nanotubes via interfacial modifications.

Strategies for cell-specific targeting and delivery of carbon nanotubes have made significant advancements over recent years. However, control of sub-cellular localization, an important criterion for many biomedical applications, remains largely unexplored. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate how different molecules that are used to non-covalently suspend hydrophobic SWCNTs in aqueous conditions also influence cellular processing and localization.

Compressible elastomeric aerogels of hexagonal boron nitride and single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Lightweight porous ceramic materials that can recover their shapes after mechanical deformation have numerous applications. However, these types of materials tend to be highly fragile and often crack when compressed. Here, we report on the fabrication and characterization of highly porous, freestanding composites of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) of density 13-15 mg mL(-1), which corresponds to a volume fraction of 0.

Developing Xenopus embryos recover by compacting and expelling single wall carbon nanotubes.

Single wall carbon nanotubes are high aspect ratio nanomaterials being developed for use in materials, technological and biological applications due to their high mechanical stiffness, optical properties and chemical inertness. Because of their prevalence, it is inevitable that biological systems will be exposed to nanotubes, yet studies of the effects of nanotubes on developing embryos have been inconclusive and are lacking for single wall carbon nanotubes exposed to the widely studied model organism Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog). Microinjection of experimental substances into the Xenopus embryo is a standard technique for toxicology studies and cellular lineage tracing.

Subcellular Partitioning and Analysis of Gd3+-Loaded Ultrashort Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is of vast clinical utility, with tens of millions of scans performed annually. Chemical contrast agents (CAs) can greatly enhance the diagnostic potential of MRI, and ∼50% of MRI scans use CAs. However, CAs have significant limitations such as low contrast enhancement, lack of specificity, and potential toxicity.

Preformed nanoporous carbon nanotube scaffold-based multifunctional polymer composites.

Multifunctional polymer nanocomposites that simultaneously possess high modulus and strength, high thermal stability, novel optical responses, and high electrical and thermal conductivity have been actively researched. Carbon nanotubes are considered an ideal additive for composites because of their superlative physical, electronic and optical properties. While nanotubes have successfully added electrical conductivity, thermal stability, and novel optical responses to polymers, mechanical reinforcements, although substantial, have been well below any theoretical estimations.

Ultracompressible, high-rate supercapacitors from graphene-coated carbon nanotube aerogels.

Emerging applications for electrochemical energy storage require devices that not only possess high power and energy, but also are capable of withstanding mechanical deformation without degradation of performance. To this end, we have constructed electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), also referred to as supercapacitors, using thick, ultracompressible graphene-coated carbon nanotube aerogels as electrodes. These electrodes showed a high capacitance in both aqueous and room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) electrolytes, achieving between 60 and100 F/g, respectively, with the performance stable over hundreds of charge/discharge cycles and at high rates exceeding 1 V/s.

Membrane/mediator-free rechargeable enzymatic biofuel cell utilizing graphene/single-wall carbon nanotube cogel electrodes.

Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) utilize enzymes to convert chemical energy present in renewable biofuels into electrical energy and have shown much promise in the continuous powering of implantable devices. Currently, however, EBFCs are greatly limited in terms of power and operational stability with a majority of reported improvements requiring the inclusion of potentially toxic and unstable electron transfer mediators or multicompartment systems separated by a semipermeable membrane resulting in complicated setups. We report on the development of a simple, membrane/mediator-free EBFC utilizing novel electrodes of graphene and single-wall carbon nanotube cogel.

Actin reorganization through dynamic interactions with single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been widely used for biological applications in recent years, and thus, it is critical to understand how these inert nanomaterials influence cell behavior. Recently, it has been observed that cellular phenotypes such as proliferation, force generation and growth change upon SWCNT treatment, and SWCNTs directly affect the organization and redistribution of the actin cytoskeleton. However, the interactions between SWCNTs and actin at the molecular level or how this interaction changes actin structure remain largely unknown.

Treatment with phenylbutyrate in a pre-clinical trial reduces diarrhea due to enteropathogenic Escherichia coli: link to cathelicidin induction.

Treatment of shigellosis in rabbits with phenylbutyrate reduces clinical severity and counteracts down-regulation of cathelicidin (CAP-18) in the large intestinal epithelia. We aimed to further evaluate whether in a rabbit model of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) diarrhea, CAP-18 is down-regulated in the small intestine and if oral phenylbutyrate treatment affects CAP-18 expression, clinical recovery, shedding of EPEC in stool and virulence properties of the isolated colonies. EPEC-induced diarrhea down-regulated CAP-18 in the small intestinal epithelia as revealed by immunohistochemistry.