Simplified Treatment of Childhood Acute Bone and Joint Infections

Acute childhood osteomyelitis (OM), septic arthritis (SA), and their combination osteomyelitis with adjacent septic arthritis (OM+SA), are treated with long courses of antimicrobials and immediate surgery. We conducted a prospective multi-center randomized trial among Finnish children at age 3 months to 15 years in 1983-2005. According to the two-by-two factorial study design, children with OM or OM+SA received 20 or 30 days of antimicrobials, whereas those with SA were treated for 10 or 30 days. In addition, the whole series was randomized to be treated with clindamycin or a first-generation cephalosporin. Cases were included only if the causative agent was isolated. The treatment was instituted intravenously, but only for the first 2-4 days. Percutaneous aspiration was done to obtain a representative sample for bacteriology, but all other surgical intervention was kept at a minimum. A total of 265 patients fulfilled our strict inclusion criteria and were analyzed; 106 children had OM, 134 SA, and 25 OM+SA. In the OM group, one child in the long and one child in the short-term treatment group developed sequelae. One child with SA twice developed a late re-infection of the same joint, but the causative agents differed. Regarding surgery, diagnostic arthrocentesis or corticotomy was the only surgical procedure performed in most cases. Routine arthrotomy was not required even in hip arthritis. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) proved to be a reliable laboratory index in the diagnosis and monitoring of osteoarticular infections. The recovery rate was similar regardless of whether clindamycin or a first-generation cephalosporin was used. We conclude that a course of 20 days of these well-absorbing antimicrobials is sufficient for OM or OM+SA, and 10 days for SA in most cases beyond the neonatal age. A short intravenous phase of only 2-5 days often suffices. CRP gives valuable information in monitoring the course of illness. Besides diagnostic aspiration, surgery should be reserved for selected cases.

Stochastic analysis of epidemics on adaptive time varying networks

Many studies investigating the effect of human social connectivity structures (networks) and human behavioral adaptations on the spread of infectious diseases have assumed either a static connectivity structure or a network which adapts itself in response to the epidemic (adaptive networks). However, human social connections are inherently dynamic or time varying. Furthermore, the spread of many infectious diseases occur on a time scale comparable to the time scale of the evolving network structure. Here we aim to quantify the effect of human behavioral adaptations on the spread of asymptomatic infectious diseases on time varying networks. We perform a full stochastic analysis using a continuous time Markov chain approach for calculating the outbreak probability, mean epidemic duration, epidemic reemergence probability, etc. Additionally, we use mean-field theory for calculating epidemic thresholds. Theoretical predictions are verified using extensive simulations. Our studies have uncovered the existence of an ``adaptive threshold,'' i.e., when the ratio of susceptibility (or infectivity) rate to recovery rate is below the threshold value, adaptive behavior can prevent the epidemic. However, if it is above the threshold, no amount of behavioral adaptations can prevent the epidemic. Our analyses suggest that the interaction patterns of the infected population play a major role in sustaining the epidemic. Our results have implications on epidemic containment policies, as awareness campaigns and human behavioral responses can be effective only if the interaction levels of the infected populace are kept in check.

Computational framework to integrate the effect of antigen recognition on disease epidemiology outcome: multi-scale approach

Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) plays an important role, in presenting foreign pathogens to our immune system, there by eliciting early immune responses. HLA genes are highly polymorphic, giving rise to diverse antigen presentation capability. An important factor contributing to enormous variations in individual responses to diseases is differences in their HLA profiles. The heterogeneity in allele specific disease responses decides the overall disease epidemiological outcome. Here we propose an agent based computational framework, capable of incorporating allele specific information, to analyze disease epidemiology. This framework assumes a SIR model to estimate average disease transmission and recovery rate. Using epitope prediction tool, it performs sequence based epitope detection for a given the pathogenic genome and derives an allele specific disease susceptibility index depending on the epitope detection efficiency. The allele specific disease transmission rate, that follows, is then fed to the agent based epidemiology model, to analyze the disease outcome. The methodology presented here has a potential use in understanding how a disease spreads and effective measures to control the disease.

l(1)-K-SVD: A robust dictionary learning algorithm with simultaneous update

We develop a new dictionary learning algorithm called the l(1)-K-svp, by minimizing the l(1) distortion on the data term. The proposed formulation corresponds to maximum a posteriori estimation assuming a Laplacian prior on the coefficient matrix and additive noise, and is, in general, robust to non-Gaussian noise. The l(1) distortion is minimized by employing the iteratively reweighted least-squares algorithm. The dictionary atoms and the corresponding sparse coefficients are simultaneously estimated in the dictionary update step. Experimental results show that l(1)-K-SVD results in noise-robustness, faster convergence, and higher atom recovery rate than the method of optimal directions, K-SVD, and the robust dictionary learning algorithm (RDL), in Gaussian as well as non-Gaussian noise. For a fixed value of sparsity, number of dictionary atoms, and data dimension, l(1)-K-SVD outperforms K-SVD and RDL on small training sets. We also consider the generalized l(p), 0 < p < 1, data metric to tackle heavy-tailed/impulsive noise. In an image denoising application, l(1)-K-SVD was found to result in higher peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) over K-SVD for Laplacian noise. The structural similarity index increases by 0.1 for low input PSNR, which is significant and demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed method. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Drift Card Study in Monterey Bay, California, September 1971 to April 1973: Annual Report, Part 4, 1973

Drift cards were released in Monterey Bay, California, to detect seasonal variations in the California Current system, and seasonal and diurnal wind variations in the immediate vicinity of the bay. About 23% of the cards were recovered, although the recovery rate varied from about 5% in the winter to about 60% in the late summer. Drift card speeds ranged from 1 to 8 km/day, in the winter and summer months respectively. Good agreement was observed between geostrophic current, wind, drogue, and drift card data, although drift cards were observed to be primarily wind driven. A weekend bias in drift card recoveries was observed for the entire period of study; however, it was less pronounced for those cards released during the summer months. Two bogus releases were used to estimate the discovery lag time, reported position accuracy, and longshore drift currents. Diurnal winds were observed during a 24-hour study, and indicated daily variations in the wind field may be as important as seasonal changes in moving surface water. The drift card speed was observed to be about 3% of the wind velocity, and 1 m/sec was estimated as the minimum effective wind. The wind factor, ranging from 2.2% to 4.0%, was used to estimate the actual paths of drift cards and to examine the role of diurnal winds in affecting surface water movement. (PDF contains 79 pages)

Effects of sensing temperature on the NO2-sensing properties of octa-iso-pentyloxymetallonaphthalocyanine spin-coated films

A kind of 1,6,10,15,19,24,28,33-octa-iso-pentyloxy-2,3-metallonaphthalocyanines complexes MNc(iso-PeO)(8) (M = Co, Cu, Pd) are used as spincoating film-forming materials. The surface morphologies of the films prepared were studied first. These films were then used for the experiments of NO2 sensing. The effects of sensing temperature as well as the NO concentration on the sensing properties were studied. The experimental results showed that the three MNc(iso-PeO)(8) films were uniform, smooth and dense. Due to the different metal ions (M) on the center of naphthalocyanine, the CoNc(iso-PeO)(8) film had a higher film resistance and response-recovery rate in the NO2 sensing experiments. On the contrary, the response to NO2 of the PdNc(iso-PeO)(8) and CuNc(iso-PeO)(8) films were superior to that of CoNc(iso-PeO)(8). By varying the sensing temperature, it was found that the elevation of sensing temperature could improve the sensing response, recovery ratio, and sensitivity of the sensing films. At high concentrations of NO2, the response time became shorter. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On-farm trials with rice fish cultivation in the west Kano rice irrigation scheme, Kenya

The viability of integrating rice farming with fish culture was studied in ten (10) rice plots. The on-farm research was done during one rice-growing season starting May 2003. The rice variety used was IR 2793-80-1 while the fish species was the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. The fish culture period lasted 77 days. An average fish production of 132.4 kg/ha was obtained. The mean recovery rate of tilapia was 43 per cent. Total rice yield from the fields stocked with fish was lower than from unstocked fields. The net returns were not significantly different.

Mortality and movement of Yellowtail Flounder (Limanda ferruginea) tagged off New England

From 2003 to 2006, 44,882 Yellowtail Flounder (Limanda ferruginea) were captured and released with conventional disc tags in the western North Atlantic as part of a cooperative Yellowtail Flounder tagging study. From these releases, 3767 of the tags were recovered. The primary objectives of this tagging program were to evaluate the mortality and large-scale movement of Yellowtail Flounder among 3 stock areas in New England. To explore mortality, survival and recovery rate were estimated from traditional Brownie tag-recovery models fitted to the data with Program MARK. Models were examined with time and sex-dependent parameters over several temporal scales. The models with a monthly scale for both survival and recovery rate had the best overall fit and returned parameter estimates that were biologically reasonable. Estimates of survival from the tag-recovery models confirm the general magnitude of total mortality derived from age-based stock assessments but indicate that survival was greater for females than for males. In addition to calculating mortality estimates, we examined the pattern of release and recapture locations and revealed frequent movements within stock areas and less frequent movement among stock areas. The collaboration of fishermen and scientists for this study successfully resulted in independent confirmation of previously documented patterns of movement and mortality rates from conventional age-based analyses.

Culture of Amblypharyngodon mola in rice fields alone and in combination with Barbodes gonionotus and Cyprinus carpio

A rice-fish culture experiment with four treatments viz., T 1 with Amblyphmyngadan mala alone, T 2 with A. mala and Barbodes gonionotus, T3 with A. mala and Cyprinis carpio and T4 as control (without fish) was carried out in the rice fields during April through August1999. The recovery rate of A. mala were 42%, 37% and 42% in treatments 1, 2 and 3 respectively and the same recorded for B. gonionotus and C. cmpio were 62% and 55% respectively. Among the three species of fish, B. gonionotus showed much higher recovery rate than both of A. mala and C. carpio. The production of A. nwla was 12.50 kg/ha/3 months in monoculture, and 7.92 kglha/3 months and 8.86 kglha/3 months in combination with B. gonionotus and C. carpio, respectively. The production of B. gonionotus in T2 was 169.29 kg/ha/3 months and C. cmpio in T 3 was 252.92 kg/ha/3 months. The total fish production was 12.50 kg/ha/3 months, 175.21 kg/ha/3 months and 261.88 kg/ha/3 months in Tp T2 and T3, respectively. The highest yields of rice grain (5.78 ton/ha) and straw (7.83 ton/ha) were recorded in T3 and the lowest of the same was in T4 (grain 4.96 ton/ha and straw 6.62 ton/ha). Rice yield increased by about 12.10% in T1, 13.30% in T2 and 16.33% in T3 in context to T4, rice-alone culture. The results demonstrated that the culture of fish in rice fields had profound beneficial impact on the production of rice grain and straw.

Effect of stocking density on growth and yield of GIFT tilapia under rice-fish production system

The study was conducted at the Central Experimental Station, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Maligaya, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines during the wet season to determine the suitable stocking density(s) for better growth and yield of fish under rice-fish production systems. Recovery rate of GIFT tilapia in different stocking densities ranged from 75.74 to 83.47%. Among different treatments, rice +5,000 fingerlings/ha and rice +10,000 fingerlings/ha resulted in the highest recovery rate of 83.33% and 83.47%, respectively. The lowest recovery rate of 75.75% was obtained from rice +20,000 fingerlings/ha, but similar to that was obtained (78.56%) from rice +15,000 fingerlings/ha. Significantly higher rate of gain in body weight and that of specific growth rate were recorded in the treatment from rice +5,000 fingerlings/ha, while other treatments resulted in similar absolute and specific growth rate. Fish yield increased significantly with relatively higher stocking densities, but higher densities produced maximum number of smaller fishes and also lower recovery rate.

Lamproglena notopterai sp. nov.- a copepod parasite from a freshwater fish of Sindh, Pakistan

The study was conducted at the Central Experimental Station, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Maligaya, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines during the wet season to determine the suitable stocking density(s) for better growth and yield of fish under rice-fish production systems. Recovery rate of GIFT tilapia in different stocking densities ranged from 75.74 to 83.47%. Among different treatments, rice +5,000 fingerlings/ha and rice +10,000 fingerlings/ha resulted in the highest recovery rate of 83.33% and 83.47%, respectively. The lowest recovery rate of 75.75% was obtained from rice +20,000 fingerlings/ha, but similar to that was obtained (78.56%) from rice +15,000 fingerlings/ha. Significantly higher rate of gain in body weight and that of specific growth rate were recorded in the treatment from rice +5,000 fingerlings/ha, while other treatments resulted in similar absolute and specific growth rate. Fish yield increased significantly with relatively higher stocking densities, but higher densities produced maximum number of smaller fishes and also lower recovery rate.

Studies on the growth and production of six major and exotic carps in Nasti baor, Jhenaidah, Bangladesh

An investigation on growth, production and fishery of three Indian major carps: rohu, Labeo rohita, catla, Catla catla and mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala and three exotic carps: silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella, and common carp, Cyprinus carpio was carried out in Nasti baor during February to April months. In catch per unit effort (CPUE) study the highest catch/day/person (3.13 kg) and catch/day/gear (40.65 kg) was recorded in the month of March for kochal fishing. In komar fishing catch/day/person (15.08 kg) and catch/day/gear (1206 kg) was also found higher in March. Komar fishing was done only in March and April and its CPUE was greater in both the months than that of kochal. The average recovery rate (combination of all six species) was 37.80 considering the stocking from July month of the previous year. The recovery rate of common carp (54.1) was the highest and lowest (13.90) in case of silver carp. When the recovery was calculated on the basis of one year data and stocking, it was 55.6%. Analysis of production model revealed that the present production (54,806 kg/year) is less than both theoretical production (model I- 85,285 kg/year and model II -75,952 kg/year) estimated. Therefore, it may be concluded that the fish production from Nasti baor could still be increased from the present level of production.

微生物法沥取重金属污泥中铬的研究

本文研究了两种微生物及其组合沥取、回收用微生物法治理电镀铬废水产生的铬污泥中的铬。铬污泥富含C、N、O，含铬量为13%， 经X-光电子能谱分析铬以三价态(氢氧化铬)存在。二种微生物分别从一酸性矿水和酸性污泥中分离筛选得到，经鉴定为硫杆菌属 (Thiobacillus Beijerinek)的两个不同种，一为氧化亚铁硫杆菌(Thiobacillu ferrooxidans, TF), 另一为氧化硫硫杆菌 (Thiobacillus thiooxidans, TT)。研究并比较了不同微生物对污泥中铬的沥取能力，结果表明，TT菌沥取铬效率最高。振荡、动 态淋滤、静置等沥取方式经过研究表明动态淋滤为最佳，室温条件下(15-20℃)，污泥浓度为20g/L时，总铬沥出率达60%时所需时 间：动态淋滤为48.5h，振荡和静置方式分别为91.22，81.6h。研究了不同温度、不同起始PH、不同污泥浓度及非成熟菌液对微生 物沥取能力的影响：(1) 沥取前期，温度对铬的沥出影响较大；微生物沥取反应基本属一级反应；温度与反应速率的关系基本符合 Arrhenius方程，但沥取后期这一特点并不突出。(2) 沥取液最适起始PH为菌液自然PH；PH值的人为改变将使铬的沥出大大降低。 (3) 污泥浓度与铬的沥出呈正相关，但浓度高于30g/L时，铬的沥出量不再增加。(4) 非成熟菌液沥出铬的能力较差，但沥取液中 微生物生长繁殖较为活跃。总结微生物沥取反应最佳沥取条件为：TT成熟菌液、污泥浓度10g/L、温度25-36℃、动态淋滤方式，此 时铬几乎可100%从污泥中沥出。经扫描电镜分析，沥取开始时，微生物紧密吸附于污泥颗粒表面上，表面紧密吸附为微生物发挥功 能提供了基础。微生物沥取污泥中铬的反应机理推测为：硫细菌代谢产硫酸或氧化Fe2+成Fe3+，利用酸，Fe3+ 及自身氧化酶系统 氧化污泥中Cr3+为Cr6+,Cr6+溶出结晶为CrO3。This paper has studied bioleaching and recovery of Chronium(Cr)from electroplating sludge by two consortum of bacteria and their combination, with sludge produced by microbiological process treating electroplating wastewater containing Cr as material. The share of Cr is 13% and its state is Cr (OH)3 in the sludge. One of the bacteria in the paper was isolated from acid sewage sludge and the other was from acid mineral water. The former was tested and determined as Thiobacillus ferroxidans(TF) and the latter was Thiobacillus thiooxidans(TT). Different microorganisms, responsible for the metal leaching activity, have great influence on the efficiency of leaching. The results showed that TT has biggest power. Experiments were conducted to examined effects of three different ways of leaching(Shaking, Down-leaching, Static-leaching). When temperature was in-door's (15-20℃)and concentration of the sludge was 20g/L, the bioleaching time required to reach 60% of Cr solubilization with the above three ways were 91.2, 48.5, 81.6h respectively. Down-leaching was proved to be the most efficient. The influence of different temperature, initial PH, concentration of the sludge and non-mature inoculum had been studied. The results obtained reveal that: (1) The variation of temperature is important during the time from initial to middle of leaching. The reaction of bioleaching belongs to first-order. The relation between the bioleaching rate constant(In k)and temerature can be expressed by Arrhenius function. (2) The fittest initial PH is the nature PH of mature inoculum. Any alteration with it could cause clearly negative effection. (3) The concentration of the sludge can make strong influence on the bioleaching efficiency. But when the concentration is above 30g/L, the increasing of Cr in the solution is little. (4) If non-mature inoculum acts as the bioleachin microorganism, little quantity of Cr would be gained from the sludge. But the micormass in the solution is very active. The results from electron microscope showed that microorganisms adhered to the surface of the sludge and the adherence was the first stage of the bioleaching. Some salts of Cr can be obtained afer the water of the bioleaching solution being evaporated. By analysing the results of experiment with X-Ray spectroscopy, the salt was identified as CrO3. The recovery rate of Cr is 78.4%.

土壤类型和添加有机物料对铵态氮回收的影响

探讨NH4+-N回收率在不同因素下的变化规律。【方法】以黄土高原从北向南不同地区的典型土壤类型为对象,采用Bremner浸取法,研究了土壤类型、植被类型、施肥模式及添加有机物料对铵态氮回收率的影响。【结果】不同类型土壤及不同类型植被间NH4+-N回收率存在极显著差异(P<0.01)。黄土正常新成土的NH4+-N回收率最高(88.8%),极显著大于其他土壤,土垫旱耕人为土的NH4+-N回收率最低(81.0%),简育干润均腐土和干润砂质新成土介于二者之间;不同类型植被间,林地土壤的NH4+-N回收率(91.0%)极显著高于其他类型植被土壤,其他类型植被土壤的NH4+-N回收率表现为农田(85.5%)>裸地(83.8%)>草地(83.6%),但三者之间差异不显著。添加有机物料后,土壤NH4+-N回收率极显著增加(P<0.01),不添加有机物料对照土壤的NH4+-N回收率为84.3%,添加长毛草和苜蓿后的NH4+-N回收率分别为86.6%和85.9%。长期施肥对土壤NH4+-N的回收率无显著影响(P=0.436 5>0.05)。【结论】NH4+-N回收率与粘粒含量呈弱负相关,与有机质含量呈正相关,粘土矿物对N...

Isolation of fucoxanthin from the rhizoid of Laminaria japonica Aresch

Fucoxanthin was extracted from the intact rhizoid of Laminaria japonica Aresch with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and then recovered from the DMSO extract by partitioning into ethyl acetate and subsequent evaporation. Some isolation conditions such as solvent volume and extraction time were screened. The quantity and quality of the extracted fucoxanthin were determined by spectral analysis (absorption spectra and fluorescence emission spectra). The results indicated that: (1) the average total content of fucoxanthin was 122.1 mu g in 1 g of fresh L japonica rhizoid; (2) in comparison with the widely used organic solvent, acetone, DMSO was much more effective for the extraction of fucoxanthin; (3) both DMSO volume and extraction time influenced extraction efficiency such as the recovery rate and purity of fucoxanthin (1 g of fresh L. japonica rhizoid treated with 4 mL DMSO for 60 min, yielded > 88% of the total fucoxanthin with purity 0.63); (4) when (NH4)(2)SO4 concentration was in the range of 0.5- 1.0 mol/L, the pigments rapidly and entirely moved from DMSO into the ethyl acetate phase; (5) the ethyl acetate and DMSO were recycled using a rotary evaporator.