Effect of spatial relationship between curves on crash severity at horizontal curves in a mountainous terrain.

The study aimed to model the effect of spatial relationship between adjacent curves on the severity of curve-based crashes along with driver and crash causal characteristics, reflecting driver's short-term expectancy. The crash and other associated data was retrieved from the web-based Road Accident Data Management System available in Himachal Pradesh, India, and curvature attributes were extracted using GIS. Overall, the study included 1113 curve based crashes.

Evaluation of a Hydrogel-Based Diagnostic Approach for the Point-of-Care Based Detection of .

Eleven primer pairs were developed for the identification of . The sensitivity and specificity of these primers were evaluated by Real Time (RT)-PCR melt curve analyses with DNA from 145 isolates and 40 other or non- species. Three primer pairs were further evaluated in a hydrogel-based RT-PCR detection platform, using DNA extracted from 50 cultures.

Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay for Simultaneous Identification of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Its Ciprofloxacin Susceptibility Status.

A real-time PCR (RT-PCR) assay was designed for the simultaneous identification of and its ciprofloxacin susceptibility status. A SYBR green-based multiplex RT-PCR format was used; it comprised two different forward primers and a common reverse primer to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in of The primer pairs were evaluated for their sensitivity and specificity using genomic DNA from 254 isolates (82 were ciprofloxacin susceptible and 172 were ciprofloxacin resistant) and 23 non- species isolates. The performance of the primers was validated using genomic DNA from 100 different isolates (46 were ciprofloxacin susceptible and 54 were ciprofloxacin resistant) and 52 non- isolates.

Anti-A and anti-B titers in donor plasma, plasma pools, and immunoglobulin final products.

Background: High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatments are implicated in hemolytic events in some patients receiving treatment. The passive transfer of IgG anti-A and anti-B agglutinin is thought to play a role in the development of these events. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of high-titer IgG anti-A and anti-B in plasma donors and investigate if there is any advantage of excluding these donors from the donor pool to limit anti-A and anti-B content in IVIG product.

Suppression of ERK activation in urethral epithelial cells infected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and its isogenic minD mutant contributes to anti-apoptosis.

In gonococci-infected transduced human urethral epithelial cells (THUEC), the role of ERK, a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), in apoptosis is unknown. We observed lowering of ERK activation in THUEC following infection with anti-apoptosis-inducing Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain CH811. An isogenic cell division mutant of this strain, Ng CJSD1 (minD deficient), which is large and abnormally shaped, reduced ERK phosphorylation levels even more than its parental strain in THUEC.