No description available.

No description available.

The H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) has emerged, spread and established itself in poultry globally, in just under 30 years. During this time, multiple reassortants of H9N2 with increased zoonotic potential have been isolated in poultry and humans, causing a major threat to the economy and global health. Curiously, H9N2 appears to be compatible with multiple Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase subtypes, in nature. Here, the aim was to investigate the HA reassortment dynamics of the poultry adapted H9N2 AIV, in a laboratory setting. Firstly, HA subtypes from wild bird isolates were cloned, before being co-transfected with the backbone of a chicken H9N2 AIV. The rescued H9N2 reassortants were titred on cells before the replication kinetics of a subset of the HA reassortants was assessed. The cDNA sequence of seven HA subtypes induced extensive recombination in E. coli, but ultimately ten out of eleven available HA subtypes were successfully cloned. Further, the chicken H9N2 AIV was compatible with all ten HA subtypes, producing infectious viral particles after co-transfection. However, all HA reassortants displayed decreased replicative fitness in MDCK-2 cells, compared to the wild-type virus. Interestingly, HA subtypes with similar genotypes cluster into distinct HA clades and groups, but these HA clades did not correlate with the replicative fitness of the reassortants. This study suggests that poultry adapted H9N2 AIV is compatible with many HA subtypes, highlighting the importance of reducing its spread in poultry, to reduce reassortment opportunities.

Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum) is the bacteria that causes syphilis, which is a sexually transmitted disease that might give the carrier a multisystemic infection. A combination of serological tests is needed to put a diagnosis of T. pallidum infection, because the bacteria cannot be cultured in vitro. Serological tests categorize intro nontreponemal test and treponemal test, which both are needed for a correct diagnosis. The principle of a nontreponemal test is the measure of antibodies directed towards lipoid antigens, whereas the principle of a treponemal test is the measure of antibodies directed towards specific T. pallidum antigens. One kind of a treponemal test that are used are treponemal antibody test which is a manual agglutination test. At Sundsvall County hospital TP-PA was used for detection of antibodies, this kit is no longer available for purchase which means that a new kit must be validated to take its place. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible replacing kit, TP-HA. To validate TP-HA, ten positive serum samples were analyzed and compared with the two kits. A positive kit-control were also used to confirm the results of this study. The results showed that TP-PA was more sensitive than TP-HA according to a Wilxocon ranking test (p<0.05). Because TP-PA has to be replaced due to stricter in vitro diagnostic regulation (IVD-R laws), TP-HA will be taking its place even though it differs in sensitivity. This might effect tests with a lower titre, they might give a negative result even though the test has a low concentration of antibodies which needs to be further evaluated.

No description available.

A menudo surge la necesidad de reparar o reforzar un soporte de hormigón armado (HA). De entre las diferentes técnicas disponibles, el empleo de angulares y presillas metálicos es una de las soluciones más habituales, ampliamente extendida tanto en España como alrededor del mundo. Esta técnica se aplica principalmente sobre soportes de sección cuadrada o rectangular, y consiste en la disposición en cada esquina del soporte de un angular metálico, unidos entre sí mediante una serie de presillas soldadas. Aunque los soportes reforzados con angulares y presillas metálicos (SHARAPM) han demostrado ser efectivos, económicos y fáciles de ejecutar, hasta la fecha no han recibido una gran atención por parte de la comunidad científica. La mayor parte de las investigaciones desarrolladas se han centrado en el comportamiento de SHARAPM sometidos a cargas axiles. El caso de un esfuerzo de flexocompresión ha sido estudiado muy escasamente. Esta Tesis tiene como objetivo profundizar en el comportamiento a flexocompresión de un SHARAPM. El trabajo es parte de la investigación ¿Estudio experimental y numérico de nudos viga-soporte y losa-soporte en pilares de HA reforzados¿, financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España, con cargo al proyecto de investigación BIA 2008-06268, y desarrollado en el Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Hormigón (ICITECH) de la Universitat Politècnica de València. La Tesis Doctoral tiene una parte experimental y una parte numérica, teniéndose en cuenta en ambas la existencia e influencia del nudo viga-soporte. Se ensayan a flexocompresión un total de 20 SHARAPM a escala real, estudiándose 4 formas de resolver la conexión del refuerzo en la zona del nudo: mediante perfiles tubulares, con capiteles, con capiteles y tacos químicos, y con capiteles y barras de acero pasantes a través del nudo. La parte numérica desarrolla un modelo de elementos finitos, el cual es calibrado y validado a partir de los resultados experimentales. El modelo numérico se emplea para obtener el diagrama axil ¿ momento de un SHARAPM, así como para llevar a cabo un estudio paramétrico en el que se estudia la influencia de diversos factores en el comportamiento del SHARAPM. En total, en toda la parte experimental se ejecutan más de 700 modelos de elementos finitos. Los resultados obtenidos de forma experimental y numérica se comparan con tres propuestas de diseño existentes en la literatura. Puesto que ninguna de estas propuestas es capaz de representar satisfactoriamente el comportamiento a flexocompresión de un SHARAPM, se desarrolla una nueva propuesta de diseño. La nueva propuesta está basada en una Red Neuronal, herramienta matemática inspirada en el funcionamiento del cerebro humano, y que ha demostrado su utilidad para modelizar problemas ingenieriles complejos. Las nuevas expresiones así obtenidas son comparadas con los resultados experimentales y numéricos, así como con las otras propuestas de diseño, demostrándose el hecho de que las nuevas expresiones son capaces de reproducir de forma adecuada y precisa el comportamiento de un SHARAPM, siendo por tanto indicadas para ser usadas por profesionales de la ingeniería y arquitectura / Garzón Roca, J. (2013). Estudio del comportamiento a flexocompresión de soportes de hormigón armado reforzados con angulares y presillas metálicos [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/31642

In real life, immediately after joint replacement, the artificial joint is actually bathed in blood (and clotted blood) instead of synovial fluid. Blood contains large molecules and cells of size ~ 5 to 20 μm suspended in plasma and considered to be a non-Newtonian (pseudoplastic) fluid with density of 1060 Kg/m³ and viscosity ~ 0.01 Pas at shear rates of 3000 s⁻¹ (as obtained in this work). The effect of these properties on friction and lubrication is not fully understood and, so far to our knowledge, hardly any studies have been carried out regarding friction of metal-on-metal bearings with various clearances in the presence of lubricants such as blood or a fluid containing macromolecules such as hyaluronic acid (HA) which is a major component of synovial fluid increasing its viscosity and lubricating properties. In this work, therefore, we have investigated the frictional behaviour of a group of Smith and Nephew Birmingham Hip Resurfacing implants with a nominal diameter of 50mm and diametral clearances in the range ~ 80 μm to 300 μm, in the presence of blood (clotted and whole blood), a combination of bovine serum (BS) with hyaluronic acid (HA) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC, as gelling agent) adjusted to a range of viscosities (~0.001-0.2 Pas), and bovine serum with CMC adjusted to a similar range of viscosities. These results suggested that reduced clearance bearings have the potential to generate high friction especially in the presence of blood which is indeed the in vivo lubricant in the early weeks after implantation. Friction factors in higher clearance bearings were found to be lower than those of the lower clearance bearings using blood as the lubricant. Similar trends, i.e. increase in friction factor with reduction in diametral clearance, were found to be also the case using a combination of BS+CMC or BS+HA+CMC as lubricants having viscosities in the range 0.1-0.2 and 0.03-0.14 Pas, respectively. On the other hand, all the lubricants with lower viscosities in the range 0.001-0.0013 and 0.001-0.013 Pas for both BS+CMC and BS+HA+CMC, respectively, showed the opposite effect, i.e. caused an increase in friction factor with increase in diametral clearance. Another six large diameter (50mm nominal) BHR deflected prostheses with various clearances (~ 50-280μm after cup deflection) were friction tested in vitro in the presence of blood and clotted blood to study the effect of cup deflection on friction. It was found that the biological lubricants caused higher friction factors at the lower diametral clearances for blood and clotted blood as clearance decreased from 280μm to 50μm (after deflection). The result of this investigation has suggested strongly that the optimum clearance for the 50 mm diameter MOM BHR implants to be ≥150μm and <235μm when blood lubricant used, so as to avoid high frictions (i.e. avoid friction factors >0.2) and be able to accommodate a mixed lubrication mode and hence lower the risk of micro- or even macro-motion specially immediately after hip implantation. These suggested optimum clearances will also allow for low friction (i.e. friction factors of <0.2-0.07) and reasonable lubrication (dominantly mixed regime) for the likely cup deflection occurring as a result of press-fit fixation.

The thesis deals with important and festive days in the Jewish calendar. It studies their origin both in historical context and in the context of celebrations and customs observed during the festivals. It deals with the festivals both from the religious point of view, i.e. religious commands and orders, and from the societal point of view where it aims at mapping the customs and traditions which are followed but which are not based on religious texts or rabbi tradition. The scope of the text dedicated in the thesis to specific festivals does not strictly copy the religious importance or the popularity of a particular festival with Jewish population; rather, it is guided by the scope of historical background and customs followed in connection with the festival. As a result, some less popular festivals in the society are more prominent than it would have been expected judging by their importance. The thesis presents individual festivals in the chronological order of the religious year, with the exception of Shabbat which is observed every week and Rosh Chodesh celebrated monthly. These festivals were included before other festivals and make up a separate chapter. The broad scope of the thesis encompassing all festive days, including modern festivals, mostly established by the State of Israel, enables...

Next-generation sequencing technology provides high-resolution data for epidemiological surveillance of bacterial pathogens on local and global scales. This approach has been used for many species including Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In this thesis I demonstrate the utility of these data for understanding the spread of the globally disseminated clone MRSA ST239. I focus both on local and national-level epidemiology through sequence data of 71 isolates recovered from four hospitals representing three cities in Turkey; Istanbul (x2). Ankara and Izmir. I analyse whole genome sequence data from a further 33 ST239 isolates from global sources. These data were combined with previously published data for phylogenetic analysis based only on the core genome. I demonstrate how transmission events can be inferred from this approach on multiple levels; within hospital, between hospitals and between countries. The data pointed to a European origin of ST239, and independent introductions from Europe to Turkey, South America and East Asia. I also demonstrate how whole genome sequence data can be used to develop bespoke PCR assays, based on phage variation, for rapid local epidemiology. Finally, I consider how the sequence data might be used to explain variation in virulence potential, and describe the distribution and transfer of an important phage-borne virulence determinant, sasX, within Europe. Finally, I identified a single isolate with very strong biofilm forming ability likely due to the over-expression of the important adhesion SasG.

No description available.