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Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are products of microbial metabolism that exist as a complex of polymers found outside the cells and interior of cell aggregates. Microorganisms use EPS to protect themselves from toxic environment and this property enables the application of EPS in the treatment of wastewater. Removal of lead (II) and chromium (VI) from simulated wastewater by EPS from Penicillium expansumwas studied. Maximum uptake of lead (II) was 773.05 mg/g of EPS, while the maximum uptake of chromium (VI) was found to be 618.75 mg/g of EPS in the simulated wastewater under the same removal conditions of 180 rpm, 90 mg/L EPS, 100 min contact time, 5.0 pH, 40 °C temperature, 120 mg/L initial concentration of lead (II) and 100 mg/L initial concentration of chromium (VI). Thermodynamic analyses gave respective enthalpy values of − 1.093 kJ/mol and − 1.030 kJ/mol for lead (II) and chromium (VI), with corresponding entropy values of 2.673 kJ/mol/K and 1.896 kJ/mol/K, these values indicated that the metal uptake by EPS was exothermic and the process can occur spontaneously. Pseudo-second order was the predominant model in the kinetic studies, having the highest R2values of 0.997 for lead (II) and 0.992 for chromium (VI) compared to the other studied kinetic models. Out of the 5 adsorption isotherms considered in this study, the removal process by EPS for both lead (II) and chromium (VI) fitted into the 3 models which can be ranked based on the R2values as Redlich-Peterson, Temkin and Langmuir isotherms. The findings indicate the ability of EPS produced by P. expansumto remove lead (II) and chromium (VI) simultaneously from simulated wastewater which could be due to identical binding sites for both metals with possible involvement of chemical bonds in the stabilization of complexes formed between EPS and Pb2+or EPS and Cr6.

El implante de una prótesis de pene se considera un tratamiento de tercera línea y está indicada en pacientes que no responden adecuadamente a farmacoterapia o cuando el paciente desea una solución definitiva del problema. Actualmente los dispositivos más empleados son prótesis de 3 componentes, que actualmente suponen más del 90% de los implantes utilizados.

Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) has emerged as a promising tool for the preservation, viability assessment, and repair of deceased-donor kidneys prior to transplantation. These kidneys inevitably experience a period of ischemia during donation, which leads to ischemia-reperfusion injury when NMP is subsequently commenced. Ischemia-reperfusion injury has a major impact on the renal vasculature, metabolism, oxygenation, electrolyte balance, and acid-base homeostasis. With an increased understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, renoprotective strategies and therapeutic interventions can be devised to minimize additional injury during normothermic reperfusion, ensure the safe implementation of NMP, and improve kidney quality. This review discusses the pathophysiological alterations in the vasculature, metabolism, oxygenation, electrolyte balance, and acid-base homeostasis of deceased-donor kidneys and delineates renoprotective strategies and therapeutic interventions to mitigate renal injury and improve kidney quality during NMP.

This study is to determine the epidemiology of tobacco smoking in the adults' population of north-eastern Nigeria. We carried out a cross-sectional survey from June 2007 to July 2007 among 1793 adults in Yola, north-east Nigeria. An adapted WHO recommended interviewer questionnaire was used to collect information from subjects. Out of 1793 respondents, 37.9% had smoked tobacco in their lifetime, 31.9% were current smoker while 6.0% were former smoker of tobacco. The current male and female smoking prevalence was 45.3% and 18.4% respectively. The mean age for starting tobacco smoking was 18.6 [+ or -] 5.1 years and the mean cigarette consumption was 10 [+ or -] 2 sticks per day. Peer pressure was major reason for using tobacco accounting for 26.4 %. The male gender, age group 40-49, alcohol use, Margi, Hausa and Fulani ethnic tribes have significant association with tobacco smoking. The prevalence of tobacco smoking among adults population in north-eastern Nigeria was high. Keywords: Epidemiology, Tobacco, Smoking, North-East, Adult, Nigeria, Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion References Introduction Tobacco is an agricultural product from the fresh leaves of the plant in the genus Nicotiana, Tobacco is commercially available [...]

Purpose: To determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of various anti-tuberculosis drugs for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) strains isolated from clinical samples. Methods: Forty-nine human isolates of MAC were tested for [...]

Evaluar la idoneidad de la antibioterapia empírica en IRAS y los patrones de resistencia a antibióticos de los microorganismos responsables, así como la incidencia de mortalidad y factores de riesgo en relación con IRAS.

The effect of gamma irradiation with different doses (25–75 kGy) on TiO2thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition has been studied and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence measurements, ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, and impedance measurements. The XRD results for the TiO2films indicate an enhancement of crystallization after irradiation, which can be clearly observed from the increase in the peak intensities upon increasing the gamma irradiation doses. The UV–Vis spectra demonstrate a decrease in transmittance, and the band gap of the TiO2thin films decreases with an increase in the gamma irradiation doses. The Nyquist plots reveal that the overall charge-transfer resistance increases upon increasing the gamma irradiation doses. The equivalent circuit, series resistance, contact resistance, and interface capacitance are measured by simulation using Z-view software. The present work demonstrates that gamma irradiation-induced defects play a major role in the modification of the structural, electrical, and optical properties of the TiO2thin films.

Volatile organic compounds in hydrocarbon sludge are one of hazardous waste with the potential to contaminate water bodies. Immobilization is practically used to prevent uncontrolled released of toxic substances into the environment by bind into the inert materials like cement and admixtures. An oily component in the waste interferes the immobilization process by retarding the cementation reactions. This work explores immobilization techniques using OPC and zeolite with different water to cement (WC), cement to sludge ratios (CS) and the addition of 5 to 20 wt. % zeolite with the objective of reducing waste mobility. Immobilized sludge was measured by compressive strength, porosity and leachability of metals, and oil & grease. Immobilized sludge at WC 0.35 and CS of 40 achieved 52.55 MPa UCS. Zeolite addition contributes to the increase in accessible porosity but reduces the UCS to a maximum of 31.22 MPa. Incorporation of 10 wt. % zeolite successfully binds the waste indicated by only 0.2 ppm Fe had been released into the leachate. The oil & grease leachability was found below the permissible level while achieved the acceptable compressive strength value of 20.7 MPa.

La cirugía abierta sigue teniendo un papel fundamental en urología, y la infección de la herida quirúrgica es una de sus principales complicaciones. Nuestro objetivo fue analizar la infección de la herida quirúrgica en pacientes intervenidos por nuestro servicio de urología y valorar factores de riesgo, microorganismos y resistencias por tipo de cirugía.

This paper describes the development of a new geoid-based vertical datum from airborne gravity data, by the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia, on land and in the South China Sea out of the coast of East Malaysia region, covering an area of about 610,000 square kilometres. More than 107,000 km flight line of airborne gravity data over land and marine areas of East Malaysia has been combined to provide a seamless land-to-sea gravity field coverage; with an estimated accuracy of better than 2.0 mGal. The iMAR-IMU processed gravity anomaly data has been used during a 2014-2016 airborne survey to extend a composite gravity solution across a number of minor gaps on selected lines, using a draping technique. The geoid computations were all done with the GRAVSOFT suite of programs from DTU-Space. EGM2008 augmented with GOCE spherical harmonic model has been used to spherical harmonic degree N = 720. The gravimetric geoid first was tied at one tide-gauge (in Kota Kinabalu, KK2019) to produce a fitted geoid, my_geoid2017_fit_kk. The fitted geoid was offset from the gravimetric geoid by +0.852 m, based on the comparison at the tide-gauge benchmark KK2019. Consequently, orthometric height at the six other tide gauge stations was computed from HGPS Lev= hGPS- Nmy_geoid2017_.t_kk. Comparison of the conventional (HLev) and GPS-levelling heights (HGPS Lev) at the six tide gauge locations indicate RMS height difference of 2.6 cm. The final gravimetric geoidwas fitted to the seven tide gauge stations and is known as my_geoid2017_fit_east. The accuracy of the gravimetric geoid is estimated to be better than 5 cm across most of East Malaysia land and marine areas

We report the development of two epilayers namely the baseline highly strained channel and enhanced low gate leakage samples. The Hall data shows that the enhanced epilayer portraying higher sheet carrier concentration, but comparable carrier mobility in the 2-DEG layer, as compared to the baseline sample. The WinGreen simulation also conformed the enhanced epilayer advantages where wider Schottky barrier is observed and subsequently double carrier concentration is simulated in the channel. Both samples show low AuGe/Au Ohmic contact resistivity of approximately 0.16 Ω.mm. A tremendous advantage on 1 μm Schottky gate leakage is also recorded on enhanced epilayer where the leakage is more than seven times lower than that of the baseline sample. The resulted characteristics are much better than the reported submicron device, thus this device has find an important application in high-gain lossless transmission, especially in underwater optical communication system.

This paper presents the linear modelling of high breakdown InP pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors (pHEMT) that have been developed and fabricated at the University of Manchester (UoM) for low noise applications mainly for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. The ultra-low leakage properties of a novel InGaAs/InAlAs/InP pHEMTs structure were used to fabricate a series of transistor with total gate width ranging from 0.2 mm to 1.2 mm. The measured DC and S-Parameters data from the fabricated devices were then used for the transistors’ modelling. The transistors demonstrated to operate up to frequencies of 25 GHz. These transistors models are used in the design of Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) using fully Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology.

This paper aims to analyzing and probing the influences of power system harmonics on a differential relay used for distribution transformer protection. The increased use of nonlinear devices in industry, commercial and residential areas can lead to a significant increase the level of harmonic distortion in the power system. This harmonic has the significant effects to the differential protection systems components such as current transformer (CT) and relay. The CT tends to saturate due to the presence of current harmonics in power system, so it will produce magnitude secondary current error and make the differential relay to miss operations. The harmonic distortion effects on the differential protection have been investigated through laboratory test. To determine the CT errors when operates under harmonic condition, the CT has been test with certain level of THDi. The result of this testing was found that with increasing of the THDi, the magnitude of secondary current error increased and differential relay will operate at no fault conditions.

•Inappropriate antibiotic prescription is common in Nigeria.•There was frequent use of third-generation cephalosporins as empirical therapy, with de-escalation in only a handful of cases.•Antibiotic resistance among common bacterial isolates is common.•This highlights the need for introduction of antibiotic guidelines.

This paper studies the effect of periodical gravity modulation, or g-jitter induced magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) mixed convection flow past an inclined stretching sheet. Using appropriate non-dimensional variables, the governing partial differential equations are first transformed into non-dimensional form. The obtained non-dimensional equations are then solved numerically using Keller-box method. The features of the flow with heat transfer characteristics for different values of frequency, amplitude and magnetic parameters on the velocity and temperature profiles are analyzed and discussed. The behaviour of physical quantities such as skin friction and heat transfer coefficients are also investigated. To validate the present numerical results, comparison with published results is done and found to be in a good agreement.

Las infecciones del tracto urinario (ITU) suelen manejarse ambulatoriamente. Sin embargo, un pequeño porcentaje requiere ingreso hospitalario. Nuestro objetivo fue analizar los factores de riesgo y características microbiológicas de las infecciones urinarias adquiridas en la comunidad (ITU-AC) que requieren hospitalización.

Background:It is a common practice today in the UK that the majority of children are accompanied to the operating theatre by one or two parents. The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) recommends that this is offered to the parents as a recommended standard of care (AAGBI, 2010).Aim:To describe the lived experiences of parents whose children had been scheduled for induction of general anaesthesia.Methods:This study (n=13) adopted a single-method approach involving purposeful sampling to select the participants aged 18–75 years, recruited from the pre-assessment clinics. The use of in-depth interviews was used to generate data about the participant's personal experiences. It is based on a descriptive approach within a phenomenological framework.Results:The analysis of the interviews and narrations of the participants led to the extraction of five major themes consisting of emotional impact, views of the impact of their presence, professional issues, information need and coping strategies.Conclusion:The experience of parents witnessing their children in the anaesthetic room being placed under anaesthesia can be considered to be stressful for the parents. Intervention strategies are needed to reduce the stress for the parents during this period. Health professionals need to have a better understanding of the individual coping strategies to support each parent and the impacts on parents' wellbeing.

A “stone in the pond” strategy is a practical approach to investigating large-scale nosocomial tuberculosis (TB) exposures. Here, we describe such a risk-stratified approach to contact tracing after a TB exposure that occurred over 5 months in a pediatric inpatient ward in a country with a moderate TB burden.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol2017;38:1509–1511

Biodegradable carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) doped with various compositions of NH4Br biopolymer electrolytes (BE) were successfully prepared via a solution-cast technique. The ionic conductivity for the CMC-NH4Br BE system was measured by using impedance spectroscopy, and the highest ambient temperature conductivity was observed to be 1.12 × 10−4S cm−1for the sample containing 25-wt.% NH4Br. The temperature dependence of the ionic conductivity revealed that the BE system followed an Arrhenius behavior. Jonscher’s universal power law was applied to analyze the AC conductivity of the highest conducting sample in the BE system, and the results indicate that the conduction is due to small polaron hopping (SPH) caused by a non-adiabatic mechanism.

Abstract: The majority of plant expressed sequence tags (ESTs) available in the public databases are from non-woody species such as Arabidopsis, maize, soybean, and rice, with the exception of the model tree species, Populus. In this study, we report the first EST database constructed from the commercially important tree species Acacia. ESTs were generated from pooled RNA extracted from the mature, intermediate, and young inner bark tissues of an Acacia auriculiformis x Acacia mangium hybrid. Finally, 3,182 high-quality ESTs were analyzed representing a total of 1,982 unique transcripts (663 contigs and 1,319 singletons) for the inner bark cDNA library. A total of 1,053 unigenes (1,750 ESTs) showed similarities with protein sequences in public database where 867 were significant matches (E value ≤ e−10). Further analysis performed on unigenes with significant matches and known functions identified 231 genes including genes involved in cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose biosynthesis. For cDNA library validation, quantitative real-time RT-PCR was performed to study the expression levels of the cellulose and lignin genes identified from this EST database in the phloem tissue of A. mangium, A. auriculiformis, and A. auriculiformis x A. mangium hybrid. All the seven candidate genes were expressed in all the individuals studied confirming the dependability of the EST database. The cDNA library and the EST database constructed are valuable resources for forest tree research aiming towards understanding the genetic control of wood formation and in the future endeavors to modify wood and fiber profile through marker-assisted breeding programs.

The lack of an intracranial human glioma model that recapitulates the extensive invasive and hypervascular features of glioblastoma (GBM) is a major hurdle for testing novel therapeutic approaches against GBM and studying the mechanism of GBM invasive growth. We characterized a high matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expressing U1242 MG intracranial xenograft mouse model that exhibited extensive individual cells and cell clusters in a perivascular and subpial cellular infiltrative pattern, geographic necrosis and infiltrating tumor-induced vascular proliferation closely resembling the human GBM phenotype. MMP-9 silencing cells with short hairpin RNA dramatically blocked the cellular infiltrative pattern, hypervascularity, and cell proliferation in vivo, and decreased cell invasion, colony formation, and cell motility in vitro, indicating that a high level of MMP-9 plays an essential role in extensive infiltration and hypervascularity in the xenograft model. Moreover, epidermal growth factor (EGF) failed to stimulate MMP-9 expression, cell invasion, and colony formation in MMP-9-silenced clones. An EGF receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitor, a RasN17 dominant-negative construct, MEK and PI3K inhibitors significantly blocked EGF/EGFR-stimulated MMP-9, cell invasion, and colony formation in U1242 MG cells, suggesting that MMP-9 is involved in EGFR/Ras/MEK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway-mediated cell invasion and anchorage-independent growth in U1242 MG cells. Our data indicate that the U1242 MG xenograft model is valuable for studying GBM extensive invasion and angiogenesis as well as testing anti-invasive and anti-angiogenic therapeutic approaches.

Purpose:To determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of various anti-tuberculosis drugs for Mycobacterium aviumcomplex (MAC) strains isolated from clinical samples. Methods:Forty-nine human isolates of MAC were tested for susceptibility to nine chemotherapeutic agents. All isolates were from Indian patients suffering from chronic pulmonary mycobacteriosis. Drug susceptibility was performed both by agar dilution and MIC method. MIC values were analysed, both visually and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reader. Results:More than 40% of the MAC isolates were sensitive to ciprofloxacine (48.98%), amikacin (46.94%) and roxithromycin (42.86%) by the MIC method. In contrast, the isolates showed high degree of resistance to the first line antituberculosis drugs: only 28.6% were sensitive to rifampicine, 22.85% to isoniazid and ethambutol each and 36.7% were sensitive to streptomycin. In addition, 22.85% of the strains were sensitive to clofazimine and 34.7% to kanamycin. Conclusions:Results of the study confirm the suitability of the rapid broth micro dilution (MIC) method as a simple yet reliable method to assay for the drug susceptibility of nontuberculosis mycobacterium.

The complete resection of pituitary adenomas (PAs) is unlikely when there is an extensive local dural invasion and given that the molecular mechanisms remain primarily unknown. DNA microarray analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed genes between nonfunctioning invasive and noninvasive PAs. Gene clustering revealed a robust eightfold increase in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expression in surgically resected human invasive PAs and in the (nonfunctioning) HP75 human pituitary tumor-derived cell line treated with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate; these results were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction, gelatin zymography, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, immunohistochemistry, and Northern blot analyses. The activation of protein kinase C (PKC) increased both MMP-9 activity and expression, which were blocked by some PKC inhibitors (Gö6976, bisindolylmaleimide, and Rottlerin), PKC-α, and PKC-δ small interfering (si)RNAs but not by hispidin (PKC-β inhibitor). In a transmembrane invasion assay, phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (100 nmol/L) increased the number of invaded HP75 cells, a process that was attenuated by PKC inhibitors, MMP-9 antibody, PKC-α siRNA, or PKC-δ siRNA. These results demonstrate that MMP-9 and PKC-α or PKC-δ may provide putative therapeutic targets for the control of PA dural invasion.

This work exposes the study of the nucleation and growth of gold nanoparticles at a temperature of 25 °C induced by the spontaneous oxidation at room temperature of the ZrAu crystallized alloy. In this rich gold original system, the starting gold nuclei are produced by the degradation of the ZrAu crystal structure by atmospheric oxygen (selective oxidation of zirconium). The nucleation-growth mechanism has been followed by X-ray diffraction and described with the Johnson−Mehl−Avrami−Kolmogorov (JMAK) model. From the JMAK calculation and the Rietveld analysis, it has been shown that this mechanism could be decomposed in two steps:  a nucleation regime followed by a thickening of the particles formed during the first step. The growth model interpretation by the Avrami analysis has been verified thanks to the study of the evolution of crystallite dimensions during 1 year at room temperature and also by transmission electron microscopy obervations. Microstructural analysis has allowed a determination of the mean size of gold nanoparticles (about 3 nm in diameter after 10 days). This association of very fine particles of ZrO2 and Au could open plenty of perspectives in the field of catalysis sensors because of the nanosized scale.

The inhibition of gene expression by RNA interference harbors a high potential for application in the therapy of human diseases. However, while exogenous application of siRNAs efficiently inhibits gene expression, these effects are only transient in mammalian cells. We designed a short hairpin RNA-expression cassette to target the bcr-abl oncogene that was then introduced into the nonviral vector system pEPI-1, which replicates episomally in the absence of selection in the bcr-abl–positive cell line K562. Forty-two days after transfection the bcr-abl– but not the cytokine-dependent growth rate was found to be drastically reduced in K562 cells. Western analysis revealed a more than 90% reduction in the expression of the fusion protein bcr-abl while the expression of the bcr protein remained unaffected. In addition, we show that the level of bcr-abl mRNA was specifically reduced in these cells for more than 90%. These results demonstrate that the vector system pEPI-1 allows specific and efficient long term gene suppression by using a short hairpin RNA transcription unit.

Gliomas are the most common major subgroup of primary CNS tumours. Approximately 17,000 new cases are reported each year and, of these, 11,500 patients die. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is highly proliferative and typically invades distal portions of the brain, thereby making complete surgical resection of these tumours nearly impossible. Moreover, GBMs are often resistant to current chemotherapy and radiation regimens. Therefore, there is a need for better therapeutic interventions. One class of proteins that is involved in the formation of malignant brain tumours is protein kinase C (PKC) and these kinases have not been thoroughly explored for their chemotherapeutic value in GBMs. The PKC isozyme, PKCη (PKC-eta) increases cell proliferation and resistance to radiation of GBM cell lines. These properties make PKCη an attractive target for chemotherapeutic intervention in the management of GBMs.

In order to analyze epigenetic factors involved in the regulation of DNA replication in higher eukaryotic cells, minimal systems have to be established. We have recently constructed a non-viral episomal vector system which replicates episomally in mammalian cells and is stably maintained in the cell in the absence of selection. The potential functional elements contained in this construct are an expression cassette upstream of a chromosomal S/MAR sequence and the SV40 origin of replication. In this report we describe that an active transcription upstream of the S/MAR running into this sequence is required and probably sufficient for episomal replication. We propose a model for the activation of replication in this system which may be the basis for further analysis of replication control in other systems.

The spontaneous oxidation of crystallized ZrAu at room temperature leads to the formation of ultrafine monoclinic zirconia (MZ) particles (about 3.6 nm in diameter). The presence of tetragonal phase (TZ), generally observed in very small zirconia particles, was investigated by X-ray diffraction and Raman experiments but was not observed. Thermodynamical calculations considering the finite size effects in zirconia were introduced to explain the formation of pure MZ considering experimental and theoretical surface energies. The results of these calculations associated with the near equilibrium conditions used for synthesis demonstrate that the monoclinic structure is the stable crystallographic structure of zirconia nanocrystals at room temperature.

In this study we first report the elaboration of gold and zirconia clusters (ranging from 3.5 to 7 nm in size) obtained by air oxidation of crystallized ZrAu at 25 °C within a few hours. This transformation was observed using X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy (transmission and DRIFTS), and electron microscopy (SEM and HREM) techniques. This solid-state nanostructuration is interpreted as a consequence of combined mechanisms:  adsorption and diffusion of oxygen, segregation of gold atoms from ZrAu alloy onto Au clusters, and acceleration of the process by internal residual stress and percolation of the electronic current via gold-cluster chains. The gaseous species adsorption by very small gold clusters supported by zirconia formed at the initial step of this oxidation could induce “catalytically assisted nanostructuring oxidation”. Large amounts of gold and zirconia nanoparticles are obtained at the end of this process.

Both increased cell proliferation and apoptosis play important roles in the malignant growth of glioblastomas. We have demonstrated recently that the differential expression of protein kinase C (PKC)-eta increases the proliferative capacity of glioblastoma cells in culture; however, specific functions for this novel PKC isozyme in the regulation of apoptosis in these tumors has not been defined. In the present study of several glioblastoma cell lines, we investigated the role of PKC-eta in preventing UV- and gamma-irradiation-induced apoptosis and in caspase-dependent signaling pathways that mediate cell death. Exposure to UV or gamma irradiation killed 80% to 100% of PKC-eta-deficient nonneoplastic human astrocytes and U-1242 MG cells, but had little effect on the PKC-eta-expressing U-251 MG and U-373 MG cells. PKC-eta appears to mediate resistance to irradiation specifically such that when PKC-eta was stably expressed in U-1242 MG cells, more than 80% of these cells developed resistance to irradiation-induced apoptosis. Reducing PKC-eta expression by transient and stable expression of antisense PKC-eta in wild-type U-251 MG cells results in increased sensitivity to UV irradiation in a fashion similar to U-1242 MG cells and nonneoplastic astrocytes. Irradiation of PKC-eta-deficient glioblastoma cells resulted in the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and a substantial increase in subdiploid DNA content that did not occur in PKC-eta-expressing tumor cells. A specific inhibitor (Ac-DEVD-CHO) of caspase-3 blocked apoptosis in PKC-eta-deficient U-1242 MG cells. The data demonstrate that resistance to UV and gamma irradiation in glioblastoma cell lines is modified significantly by PKC-eta expression and that PKC-eta appears to block the apoptotic cascade at caspase-9 activation.

An outbreak of encephalitis primarily affecting pig farmers occurred during 1998-1999 in Malaysia and was linked to a new paramyxovirus, Nipah virus, which infected pigs, humans, dogs, and cats. Because five abattoir workers were also affected, a survey was conducted to assess the risk of Nipah infection among abattoir workers.