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•Linezolid resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (LRCNS) emerged in Vietnam.•The two LRCNS carry mutations in ribosome components, as well as transferrable linezolid resistance gene, cfr(chloramphenicol/florfenicol resistance).•The cfrgene locates on plasmids closely related to pLRSA417 previously found in China.•Dissemination of the cfrgene among staphylococcal species is anticipated.

γ-rays irradiation, is a powerful method for the preparation of colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Three different AgNPs with average particle size of 5, 10 and 15 nm were synthesized and stabilized by chitosan (1%), and demonstrated a significant in vitroactivities against Phytophthora capsiciwith 62.5, 84.3 and 100%, inhibition efficacy, respectively. An improved antifungal activity of 10 nm size AgNP was noticed by increasing the initial silver concentration with maximum inhibition efficiency of 92.9% at 100 ppm. The in vivostudy performed for fungicidal effect of AgNPs in pepper plants showed that pretreatment of 1–10 ppm AgNPs effectively reduced P. capsiciinfection leading to enhanced rate of non-disease-outbreak of 53.3 and 95.0%, respectively. On the other hand plants treated with AgNPs after fungus infection displayed 60.0 and 91.7% non-disease-outbreak after the treatment at 10 and 50 ppm concentration, respectively. The results specify the potential role of γ-irradiation synthesized AgNPs for controlling the pathogen P. capsicion black peppers.Moreover, the environmental friendly production of AgNPs and its high effectiveness against fungi prove it a safe and alternative against the conventional antifungal agents.

We report on the fabrication of all-chemical YBa2Cu3O7 coated conductors on IBAD-YSZ (IBAD stands for ion beam assisted deposition; YSZ is yttrium stabilized zirconia) stainless steel substrates. YBCO films were grown by the trifluoroacetates route on top of CeO2 buffer layers made by metal–organic decomposition. The achievement of atomically flat CeO2 surfaces is found to be a key factor for obtaining clean interfaces with YBCO and high performance. Coated conductors with percolative critical currents of JcGB(65 K) = 1.8 MA cm−2 were achieved. The determination of the intra-grain critical current JcG from inductive measurements suggests that the limiting factor for JcGB is the YBCO in-plane texture, which is already of higher quality than that of the IBAD-YSZ cap layer.

The interface melting process of melt-textured Y Ba2Cu3O7 induced by Ag foils has been investigated in view of developing a large area welding technology. The influence of the processing methodology and the initial microstructure of the melt-textured ceramics has been considered. High temperature quench experiments have shown that the interface molten region can become inhomogeneous due to microstructural features of the initial ceramics such as the pre-existing cracks. It is found that while thick Ag foils () can lead to severe liquid Ag migration, the artificial welds performed with thinner foils () in non-oxygenated melt textured Y Ba2Cu3O7 samples free of cracks are of high quality in large areas. High critical currents through welded interfaces have been demonstrated by means of Hall probe magnetic imaging and Biot–Savart inversion calculations.

To reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with unrelated donor bone marrow (BM) transplantation and potentially extend the pool of suitable donors, cryopreserved unrelated donor umbilical cord blood was considered as an alternate source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. Patients with leukemia, BM failure syndrome, or inborn error of metabolism were eligible for a phase I clinical trial designed to estimate the risk of graft failure and severe acute graft-versus- host disease after transplantation of umbilical cord blood from unrelated donors. As of December 21, 1995, unrelated donor umbilical cord blood was used to reconstitute hematopoiesis in eighteen patients aged 0.1 to 21.3 years weighing 3.3 to 78.8 kg with acquired or congenital lympho-hematopoietic disorders or metabolic disease. Patients received either HLA-matched (n = 7) or HLA-1 to 3 antigen disparate (n = 11) grafts collected and evaluated by the New York Blood Center (New York, NY). The probability of engraftment after unrelated donor umbilical cord blood transplantation was 100% with no patient having late graft failure to date. The probability of grade III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease at 100 days was 11%. With a median follow-up of 6 months (range, 1.6 to 17 months); the probability of survival at 6 months is 65% in this high risk patient population. We conclude that cryopreserved umbilical cord blood from HLA-matched and mismatched unrelated donors is a sufficient source of transplantable hematopoietic stem cells with high probability of donor derived engraftment and low risk of refractory severe acute graft-versus-host disease. Limitations with regard to recipient size and degree of donor HLA disparity remain to be determined.

We have studied the outcome of 211 consecutive unrelated donor (URD) bone marrow transplants (BMT) performed at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) between May 1985 and December 1992. Ninety patients (43%) received marrow matched serologically at HLA A, B, and DR loci; 86 (41%) received marrow with a major and 32 (15%) marrow with a minor serologic mismatch at the HLA A or B locus. Multivariate analysis revealed that older age had an adverse effect on survival. In younger (age less than 18 years) recipients, survival after fully matched (A, B, and DR sub-type) or major mismatched (A or B locus), DR subtype- matched donor BMT was not significantly different (P = .4; survival: 53% v 41%, respectively, at 3 years). For adults, survival after matched donor BMT was significantly better than that with mismatched donors (P < .01; survival: 30% v 10%, respectively, at 3 years). Formal quality of life assessment by telephone interview demonstrated similar functional status in survivors of URD and related donor (RD) BMT at least 2 years post-BMT. URD BMT provides effective therapy for a variety of lethal hematopoietic diseases that rivals outcome of RD transplant in some cases. Use of URD marrow with a major mismatch at one HLA A or B locus is well tolerated in young, but not in older, recipients. These observations should be used to improve donor selection and counseling for URD BMT candidates.

Infectious complications are a major cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We have evaluated the incidence of late infections (beyond day +50) in recipients of related (RD) and unrelated donor (URD) allogeneic BMT, factors associated with increased risks of infection, and the impact of the late infections on survival. Between 1989 and 1991, 249 patients received an RD (n = 151) or URD (n = 98) allogeneic BMT at the University of Minnesota and all late infections were investigated. Three hundred sixty-seven late infectious events developed in 162 patients between 50 days and 2 years after BMT. The incidence of any late infection was greater in URD versus RD recipients (84.7% v 68.2%, respectively; P = .009). In multivariate analysis, advanced graft- versus-host disease (GVHD) was significantly associated with late infections. The effect of GVHD was apparent only in RD recipients (relative risk [RR], 2.29; P = .003), whereas URD recipients, with or without GVHD, had more late infections compared with RD recipients without GVHD. Multivariate analysis showed that late posttransplantation infections were the dominant independent factor associated with increased nonrelapse mortality (RR, 5.5; P = .0001), resulting in improved 3-year survival for RD versus URD recipients (49.9% +/- 8% v 34.4% +/- 10%; P = .004). In this study, we observed that late infections are more frequent in URD recipients, resulting in substantially higher nonrelapse mortality. This prolonged period of increased infectious risk in URD recipients suggests the need for aggressive surveillance and therapy of late infections and perhaps prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis for all URD BMT recipients.