Hydrothermal Synthesis and Electrochemical Behavior of the SnO2/rGO as Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

In this work, the hydrothermal method was employed to produce SnO2/rGO as anode material. Nanostructured SnO2 was prepared to enhance reversibility and to deal with the undesirable volume changes during cycling. The SnO2/rGO hybrid exhibits long cycle life in lithium-ion storage capacity and rate capability with an initial discharge capacity of 1327 mAh/g at 0.1 C rate. These results demonstrate that a fabricated SnO2/rGO matrix will be a possible way to obtain high rate performance.

Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of MoS2/rGO/S Composite as a Cathode Material for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

To develop the next-generation energy storage systems, lithium-sulfur batteries represent an attractive option due to its high theoretical capacity, and energy density. In this work, MoS2/rGO (reduced graphene oxide) was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and sulfur added by the melt diffusion method. The as-prepared MoS2/rGO has strong polysulfides entrapping, high conductivity, large surface area, and high catalytic activity, consequently resulting in enhanced rate performance and cycling capability of Li-S batteries. The coin cells were constructed with the MoS2/rGO/S cathode material, exhibit a high reversible capacity of nearly 1380 mAh/g at 0.1 C, outstanding cycling stability with a low capacity fading rate. Present work reveals that the hierarchal MoS2/rGO/S cathodes are potential candidate materials for future high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

Sutureless scleral buckle in the management of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the anatomical and functional outcomes of sutureless scleral buckling for the repair of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD). DESIGN: Retrospective interventional case series. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 50 eyes of 49 patients with rhegmatogenous RD, who underwent sutureless scleral buckling from January 2009 to March 2013. RESULTS: Primary retinal re-attachment rate of 86% was achieved with single surgery, but final anatomical success was 94% with additional interventions in the form of intravitreal gas, buckle revision, and/or pars plana vitrectomy. Best corrected logarithm of minimum angle of resolution visual acuity improved from 1.44 ± 1.01 preoperatively to 0.50 ± 0.40 at a mean follow-up of 6.7 months.XS Conclusion: Sutureless scleral buckling achieves excellent anatomical and functional success in majority of the patients with rhegmatogenous RD.

Differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination of dinoseb and dinoterb at a modified electrode.

A sensitive adsorptive stripping voltammetric method for the determination of dinitrophenolic herbicides, dinoseb (DSB) and dinoterb (DTB) at a bare carbon paste electrode (CPE) and a clay modified carbon paste electrode (CMCPE) was developed. A systematic study of various experimental conditions, such as the pH, accumulation variables and composition of a modifier on the adsorptive stripping response, were examined by using differential pulse voltammetry. A significant improvement was observed in the sensitivity by using the present method with CMCPE. When CMCPE was used, a linear response was obtained over the concentration range 2 x 10(-10) to 3 x 10(-7) M and 6 x 10(-10) to 6 x 10(-7) M with lower detection limits of 1 x 10(-10) M and 5.4 x 10(-10) M for dinoseb and dinoterb, respectively, at an accumulation time of 100 s. The interference from other herbicides and ions on the stripping signals of both compounds was also evaluated. The described method was applied to estimate of the dinoseb and dinoterb in environmental samples.

Fundus imaging with a mobile phone: a review of techniques.

Fundus imaging with a fundus camera is an essential part of ophthalmic practice. A mobile phone with its in-built camera and flash can be used to obtain fundus images of reasonable quality. The mobile phone can be used as an indirect ophthalmoscope when coupled with a condensing lens. It can be used as a direct ophthalmoscope after minimal modification, wherein the fundus can be viewed without an intervening lens in young patients with dilated pupils. Employing the ubiquitous mobile phone to obtain fundus images has the potential for mass screening, enables ophthalmologists without a fundus camera to document and share findings, is a tool for telemedicine and is rather inexpensive.

Haemophilus influenzae infection of a prosthetic knee joint in a patient with CLL: a vaccine preventable disease.

A 71-year-old man was admitted with a 2-day history of the hot and swollen right knee in December 2012. He had undergone a primary cemented right total knee replacement (TKR) in 2002. He also had a history of chronic lymphatic leukaemia (CLL), haemolytic anaemia and splenomegaly, and was in partial remission following chemotherapy in 2008. He underwent arthroscopic washout of right TKR on admission. Blood cultures on admission and joint fluid specimen grew Haemophilus influenzae (Hi). The isolate was identified as a non-encapsulated Hi strain by the reference laboratory. Non-encapsulated Hi strains rarely cause invasive disease. CLL with splenomegaly may have predisposed our patient to severe invasive disease. A recently licensed 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine conjugated to the immunogenic outer membrane protein D of Hi could potentially prevent invasive Hi disease. Routine vaccination should be considered in all patients with prosthetic joints and predisposing comorbidities.

Evaluation of a Low-Cost Strategy for Enumerating CD4 Lymphocyte Absolute Count and Percentage Using the FACSCalibur Flow Cytometer in HIV-Infected Patients from a Resource-Limited Setting.

Enumeration of CD4 lymphocytes is essential for the clinical management of HIV-infected patients, but it can be difficult to afford in developing countries. In this study we evaluated a reagent reduction strategy for reducing the cost of enumerating CD4 cell absolute count and percentage using the FACSCalibur flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson). We compared the protocol recommended by the manufacturer with a protocol that used half of the usual amount of CD3/CD4/CD45 monoclonal antibody reagent in 100 samples from HIV-infected patients in a rural hospital in India. The concordance correlation coefficient between the two protocols was 0.976 for CD4 cell count and 0.984 for CD4 cell percentage. We did not find significant bias when performing Deming regression or Bland-Altman analysis. Sensitivity and specificity were 97% and 98.5% for identifying patients with less than 200 CD4 cells/ µ L, 98.1% and 93.8% for identifying patients with less than 350 CD4 cells/ µ L, and 100% and 94.7% for identifying patients with less than 25% CD4 cells, respectively. This reagent reduction strategy can be used for reducing the cost of enumerating CD4 lymphocytes in high-volume laboratories from resource-limited settings.

Rapid Diagnosis of Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Patients. Comparison of LED Fluorescent Microscopy and the GeneXpert MTB/RIF Assay in a District Hospital in India.

HIV-related tuberculosis is difficult to diagnose and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Recently, the World Health Organization has endorsed the GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) assay for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV-infected patients from developing countries, but information about the use of Xpert for the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is scarce. In this study, we compared the performance of light-emitting diode (LED) auramine fluorescent microscopy and the Xpert assay for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in HIV infected patients in a district hospital of India. Although at higher cost, Xpert outperformed LED fluorescent microscopy in all type of specimens, especially in cerebrospinal fluid where the number of positive results was increased 11 times. Pleural fluid, ascitic fluid, pus, and stool specimens also yielded positive results with the Xpert assay. When collecting two additional early-morning sputum samples, the increase of the number of positive results with the Xpert assay was lower than previously reported for HIV infected patients. Rifampicin resistance was observed in 2.2% of the cases. The results of this study show that the Xpert assay can dramatically improve the rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis and other types of extrapulmonary tuberculosis of HIV infected patients.

Epidemiology, antibiotic resistance trends and the cost of enteric fever in East London, 2005-2010.

INTRODUCTION: Enteric fever seen in the UK has usually been acquired abroad. The cost to the NHS of treating enteric fever cases is not known. Data on the epidemiology of enteric fever, inpatient treatment costs and the public health management is needed to make decisions regarding the cost benefit considerations of introducing targeted prevention strategies. METHODS: A retrospective study of laboratory confirmed enteric fever cases was conducted to estimate the cost of inpatient treatment and to determine antimicrobial resistance patterns at two hospitals in East London between January 2005 and the end of August 2010. RESULTS: 138 cases of enteric fever were identified during the study period (90 S.ser.Typhi and 48 S. ser. Paratyphi). 92% had a recent history of foreign travel, 57% had travelled to visit friends and relatives (VFRs), 26% sought pre-travel health advice and 26% of patients had received typhoid vaccination. The inpatient treatment cost of 138 cases to the NHS was £272,747. The proportion of isolates with high level ciprofloxacin resistance (MICs>1 mg/L) has increased from 10% in 2006 to 30% in 2010. Our data also shows the emergence of isolates with high azithromycin MICs (>32 mg/L); 60% (six out of ten) isolates tested in July-August 2010. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant direct cost of treating enteric fever cases on the NHS. Cost reduction measures are confined due to the lack of effective oral antibiotics following the emergence of high level resistance to ciprofloxacin and azithromycin. Outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy service and improved preventative public health measures aimed at VFR travellers in particular may be helpful in reducing costs.

Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from paraffin-embedded tissues by INNO-LiPA Rif.TB assay: retrospective analyses of Health Protection Agency National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory data.

Molecular diagnostic methods are of potential value in identifying tuberculosis (TB) and drug resistance where tissue specimens have been submitted for histology but not for microbiological culture. All paraffin-embedded tissue (PET) specimens (n=60) referred to a single national centre over a 42 month study period were analysed using the INNO-LiPA Rif.TB assay; 29/60 patients had been reported to the UK Enhanced Tuberculosis Surveillance database with a diagnosis of TB based on clinical, radiological and histological evidence. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) DNA was detectable in 5 out of 29 reported TB cases (17.2 %); 12 out of 29 of the reported TB cases had a positive MTB culture from a secondary clinical specimen and MTB DNA was detectable in 2 of the 12 (16.7 %) laboratory-confirmed TB cases. Referring clinicians should be aware of the limitations of this assay on PETs, and should request molecular testing only in patients with a high clinical probability of TB and when acid-fast bacilli are seen in tissue specimens.

A parallel combinatorial algorithm for subtle motifs.

In bioinformatics, motif finding is one of the most common problems. It is to locate recurring patterns in the sequence of nucleotides or amino acids. The main difficulty of the problem is that the patterns are not exact matches owing to biological mutations. It is NP-complete. Within the literature many solutions have been provided for this challenging problem. Nevertheless, they do not address certain subtleties. Among them, one is addressed by Hu (2003). In this paper, we propose a parallel combinatorial algorithm for subtle motif finding on a Shared Memory Multiprocessor model. We suggest a method of implementation for the same.

Cardiac arrest associated with febrile illness due to U.K. acquired Cyclospora cayetanensis.

This report describes a 43 yr old man diagnosed with U.K. acquired cyclospora cayetanensis infection resulting in fever and diarrhoea. In course of the febrile illness, he suffered an out of hospital cardiac arrest. Extensive cardiac investigation including a transthoracic echocardiogram, coronary angiogram, and cardiac electrophysiological studies failed to identify the cause. The possible links between cyclospora infection and cardiac arrest are explored. Fever has been reported as a precipitant for idiopathic ventricular fibrillation in patients with the Brugada syndrome but also rarely in individuals with normal hearts. Clinicians should be aware of a possible link between any febrile illness and potentially fatal ventricular dysrhythmia.

The superficial ulnar artery: development and clinical significance

The principal arteries of the upper limb show a wide range of variation that is of considerable interest to orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, radiologists and anatomists. We present here a case of superficial ulnar artery found during the routine dissection of right upper limb of a 50-year-old male cadaver. The superficial ulnar artery originated from the brachial artery, crossed the median nerve anteriorly and ran lateral to this nerve and the brachial artery. The superficial ulnar artery in the arm gave rise to a narrow muscular branch to the biceps brachii. At the elbow level the artery ran superficial to the bicipital aponeurosis where it was crossed by the median cubital vein. It then ran downward and medially superficial to the forearm flexor muscles, and then downward to enter the hand. At the palm, it formed the superficial and deep palmar arches together with the branches of the radial artery. The presence of a superficial ulnar artery is clinically important when raising forearm flaps in reconstructive surgery. The embryology and clinical significance of the variation are discussed.

As principais artérias do membro superior apresentam uma ampla variação, que é relativamente importante a cirurgiões ortopédicos e plásticos, radiologistas e anatomistas.Apresentamosumcaso de artéria ulnar superficial encontrada durante dissecção de rotina de membro superior direito de um cadáver masculino de 50 anos de idade.Aartéria ulnar superficial originava-se da artéria braquial, cruzava o nervo mediano anteriormente e percorria lateralmente esse nervo e a artéria braquial. A artéria ulnar superficial no braço deu origem a um ramo muscular estreito do músculo bíceps braquial. Ao nível do cotovelo, a artéria percorria superficialmente a aponeurose bicipital, onde era cruzada pela veia cubital mediana. Percorria, então, em sentido descendente e medialmente superficial aos músculos flexores do antebraço, e então descendia para entrar na mão. Na palma, essa artéria formava os arcos palmares superficial e profundo junto com os ramos da artéria radial.Apresença de uma artéria ulnar superficial é clinicamente importante ao levantar retalhos do antebraço em cirurgias reconstrutivas.Aembriologia e relevância clínica da variação são discutidas.