One- and Two-Photon Uncaging: Carbazole Fused o-Hydroxycinnamate Platform for Dual Release of Alcohols (Same or Different) with Real-Time Monitoring

A one- and two-photon activated photoremovable protecting group (PRPG) was designed based on a carbazole fused o-hydroxycinnamate platform for the dual (same or different) release of alcohols. The mechanism for the dual release proceeds through a stepwise pathway and also monitors the first and second photorelease in real time by an increase in fluorescence intensity and color change, respectively. Further, its application in staining live neurons and ex vivo imaging with two-photon excitation is shown.

IDENTIFYING PREDICTORS OF SUBSTANCE USE AND RECIDIVISM OUTCOME TRAJECTORIES AMONG DRUG TREATMENT COURT CLIENTS

Drug treatment court (DTC) is a diversion program for individuals with drug-related crimes. However, the DTC literature is conflicting with regard to substance use and recidivism outcomes. This study examines factors associated with improved client outcome trajectories among a multisite, national DTC sample. We conducted a secondary analysis of 2,295 participants using the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs assessment tool. Participants in community-based treatment comprised a nonequivalent comparison group. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression examined client sociodemographics in relation to substance use and rearrest at 6-month follow-up. Employed DTC clients were more likely to abstain from substances, but among all study participants, higher baseline use, male gender, and employment predicted substance use. Similarly, among DTC clients, older age and employment predicted no rearrests, but among all study participants, older and employed individuals had worse arrest outcome trajectories. Future work is needed to better understand how client characteristics may inform individualized treatment approaches.

T cell developmental arrest in former premature infants increases risk of respiratory morbidity later in infancy

The inverse relationship between gestational age at birth and postviral respiratory morbidity suggests that infants born preterm (PT) may miss a critical developmental window of T cell maturation. Despite a continued increase in younger PT survivors with respiratory complications, we have limited understanding of normal human fetal T cell maturation, how ex utero development in premature infants may interrupt normal T cell development, and whether T cell development has an effect on infant outcomes. In our longitudinal cohort of 157 infants born between 23 and 42 weeks of gestation, we identified differences in T cells present at birth that were dependent on gestational age and differences in postnatal T cell development that predicted respiratory outcome at 1 year of age. We show that naive CD4+ T cells shift from a CD31-TNF-α+ bias in mid gestation to a CD31+IL-8+ predominance by term gestation. Former PT infants discharged with CD31+IL8+CD4+ T cells below a range similar to that of full-term born infants were at an over 3.5-fold higher risk for respiratory complications after NICU discharge. This study is the first to our knowledge to identify a pattern of normal functional T cell development in later gestation and to associate abnormal T cell development with health outcomes in infants.

Impact of prematurity and nutrition on the developing gut microbiome and preterm infant growth

BACKGROUND

Identification of factors that influence the neonatal gut microbiome is urgently needed to guide clinical practices that support growth of healthy preterm infants. Here, we examined the influence of nutrition and common practices on the gut microbiota and growth in a cohort of preterm infants.

RESULTS

With weekly gut microbiota samples spanning postmenstrual age (PMA) 24 to 46 weeks, we developed two models to test associations between the microbiota, nutrition and growth: a categorical model with three successive microbiota phases (P1, P2, and P3) and a model with two periods (early and late PMA) defined by microbiota composition and PMA, respectively. The more significant associations with phase led us to use a phase-based framework for the majority of our analyses. Phase transitions were characterized by rapid shifts in the microbiota, with transition out of P1 occurring nearly simultaneously with the change from meconium to normal stool. The rate of phase progression was positively associated with gestational age at birth, and delayed transition to a P3 microbiota was associated with growth failure. We found distinct bacterial metabolic functions in P1-3 and significant associations between nutrition, microbiota phase, and infant growth.

CONCLUSION

The phase-dependent impact of nutrition on infant growth along with phase-specific metabolic functions suggests a pioneering potential for improving growth outcomes by tailoring nutrient intake to microbiota phase.

Correlation between magnetic and micro-structural properties of low energy ion irradiated and un-irradiated Zn0.95Mn0.05O films

The emergence of strong ferromagnetism with significant reduction of antiferromagnetism by Ar ion irradiation induced micro-structural transformation of Mn ions.

Binary information propagation in circular magnetic nanodot arrays using strain induced magnetic anisotropy

Nanomagnetic logic has emerged as a potential replacement for traditional Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) based logic because of superior energy-efficiency (Salahuddin and Datta 2007 Appl. Phys. Lett. 90 093503, Cowburn and Welland 2000 Science 287 1466-68). One implementation of nanomagnetic logic employs shape-anisotropic (e.g. elliptical) ferromagnets (with two stable magnetization orientations) as binary switches that rely on dipole-dipole interaction to communicate binary information (Cowburn and Welland 2000 Science 287 1466-8, Csaba et al 2002 IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 1 209-13, Carlton et al 2008 Nano Lett. 8 4173-8, Atulasimha and Bandyopadhyay 2010 Appl. Phys. Lett. 97 173105, Roy et al 2011 Appl. Phys. Lett. 99 063108, Fashami et al 2011 Nanotechnology 22 155201, Tiercelin et al 2011 Appl. Phys. Lett. 99 , Alam et al 2010 IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 9 348-51 and Bhowmik et al 2013 Nat. Nanotechnol. 9 59-63). Normally, circular nanomagnets are incompatible with this approach since they lack distinct stable in-plane magnetization orientations to encode bits. However, circular magnetoelastic nanomagnets can be made bi-stable with a voltage induced anisotropic strain, which provides two significant advantages for nanomagnetic logic applications. First, the shape-anisotropy energy barrier is eliminated which reduces the amount of energy required to reorient the magnetization. Second, the in-plane size can be reduced (∼20 nm) which was previously not possible due to thermal stability issues. In circular magnetoelastic nanomagnets, a voltage induced strain stabilizes the magnetization even at this size overcoming the thermal stability issue. In this paper, we analytically demonstrate the feasibility of a binary 'logic wire' implemented with an array of circular nanomagnets that are clocked with voltage-induced strain applied by an underlying piezoelectric substrate. This leads to an energy-efficient logic paradigm orders of magnitude superior to existing CMOS-based logic that is scalable to dimensions substantially smaller than those for existing nanomagnetic logic approaches. The analytical approach is validated with experimental measurements conducted on dipole coupled Nickel (Ni) nanodots fabricated on a PMN-PT (Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate) sample.

An Exploratory Statistical Analysis of the effect of Demographic risk factors on uterine Cervical squamous Intraepithelial Lesion

Pap Smear test (Pap test), a cytological screening test of the cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) is a widely accepted screening technique for uterine cervical cancer (UCC). UCC is a major canter burden for Indian women. In this article, we present an in-depth exploratory analysis on various statistical relationships between the Pap test and a set of demographic risk factors, such as Age, Age at consummation of marriage [ACM], parity [PAR] etc. The data had been collected from the Calcutta Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on 308 subjects. Major statistical findings in this article include a possible Age dependent association between PAR and the SIL-status. It seems that a high value of parity at a relatively young age is an important risk factor for developing SIL in future. This finding may be useful in relating to overall female helath issues in developing and underdeveloped country-senario.

AMS (2000) Subject Classification: Primary 62-07, 62Pl0, 92C60, Secondary 92C50, 62F03, 62F10.

Super-giant magnetoresistance at room-temperature in copper nanowires due to magnetic field modulation of potential barrier heights at nanowire-contact interfaces

We have observed a super-giant (∼10 000 000%) negative magnetoresistance at 39 mT field in Cu nanowires contacted with Au contact pads. In these nanowires, potential barriers form at the two Cu/Au interfaces because of Cu oxidation that results in an ultrathin copper oxide layer forming between Cu and Au. Current flows when electrons tunnel through, and/or thermionically emit over, these barriers. A magnetic field applied transverse to the direction of current flow along the wire deflects electrons toward one edge of the wire because of the Lorentz force, causing electron accumulation at that edge and depletion at the other. This lowers the potential barrier at the accumulated edge and raises it at the depleted edge, causing a super-giant magnetoresistance at room temperature.

Molecular signature of extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from bovine milk in eastern and north-eastern India

The present study reports on 23 extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP), isolated from milk samples (n=340) of healthy cows (n=129) and cows with subclinical (n=159) and clinical (n=52) mastitis, from three different states of India viz. West Bengal, Jharkhand and Mizoram. Seven of them were AmpC type β-lactamase producers, as well. The ESBL producing KP were significantly (P=0.006, χ2=10.04, df=2) and more frequently detected in milk samples of mastitic cows than healthy ones. The β-lactamase genes - blaCTX-M, blaTEM and blaSHV were detected in 19, 8 and 3 isolates, respectively. In all but one CTX-M positive isolates, the genetic platform - ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-orf477 was detected. Ten of the isolates carried plasmid mediated quinolone resistance gene - qnrS and 1 isolate possessed qnrB. Again 11 of them were found to have sulfonamide resistance gene - sul1 and 12 possessed class I integron. Sequencing of the class 1 integron revealed the presence of dfrA12/dfrA17 and aadA2/aadA5 gene cassettes conferring resistance to trimethoprim and aminoglycosides, respectively. All the isolates, characterized by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) PCR, yielded distinct fingerprinting profile. However, most of the isolates from Jharkhand were clustered along with two isolates each from West Bengal and Mizoram indicating their clonal relatedness even though isolated from geographically different areas. Isolation of ESBL producing KP from bovine milk samples implies its public health significance; as such pathogens may enter the human food chain causing severe health hazards.

Impact Modification of Isotactic Polypropylene with Ethylene-Propylene Diene Monomer Rubber

The present work was done to improve the impact property of isotactic polypropylene (PP), especially at low temperatures, by incorporating ethylene propylene diene monomers (EPDM). This was done by ensuring compatibility between the two polymers with phase modifiers polyethylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA) and initiator dicumyl peroxide (DCP). In addition, attempts were also made to understand the fundamentals of impact toughening as well as fracture toughness, and to correlate the results with that of morphological evidences obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. Varying the ratios of all blend composition, mechanical properties were studied. It was observed that as the rubber fraction increased, the impact property as well as fracture toughness increased. All these tests also showed promising results when PE-g-MA was added, leading to more improvement in all the mechanical properties including increase in crystallite size. It had shown plasticization effect on the compositions, which could be further confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) compared to the uncompatibilized ones. But when DCP was added, it behaved like an initiator which directly reacted with the PP matrix, decreasing the molecular weight of the blend with decreasing size of the crystallites.

Investigation of Fe doped ZnO thin films by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

XANES and EXAFS studies have been carried out on Fe doped ZnO thin films having different Fe doping concentration ranging from 1% to 10% and the observed ferromagnetism in the samples is explained in the light of XANES and EXAFS observations.

Molecular characterization and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of caprine Shiga toxin producing-Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates from India

The present study was conducted to detect the occurrence, serotype, genotype, phylogenetic relationship and antimicrobial resistance pattern of STEC from healthy goats of West Bengal, India. From the 125 faecal samples collected from healthy goats, 245 isolates were identified as Escherichia coli. The E. coli harbouring any gene for Shiga toxins (stx 1/stx 2) was detected in 36 (14.7%) of the 245 E. coli isolates. These STEC strains belonged to 22 different serogroups (O2, O5, O20, O21, O22, O25, O41, O44, O45, O60, O71, O76, O84, O85, O87, O91, O103, O112, O113, O120, O156, and O158) and three were untypeable. The stx 1 and stx 2 was detected in 26 (72.2%) and 21 (58.3%) of Shiga toxin producing-E. coli (STEC) isolates, respectively. Further, E. coli harbouring eaeA only (Enteropathogenic E. coli) and ehxA was detected in 22 (61.1%) and 28 (77.7%) isolates, respectively. Whereas the saa was present in 8 (22.2%) E. coli isolates. The subtyping of the 26 E. coli strains possessing stx 1 showed that 73.% (19/26) of these isolates were positive for stx 1C subtype. Of the 21 isolates with the stx 2 gene, 42.8% (9/21) were positive for stx 2C, and 38.1% (8/21) were positive for stx 2d gene. The phylogenetic analysis of STEC strains after RAPD reveals eight major clusters. However, no serogroup specific cluster was observed. Resistance was observed most frequently to erythromycin (80.5%), amikacin (52.7%), cephalothin (50%), kanamycin (41.6%), neomycin (36.1%) and gentamycin (36.1%) and less frequently to norfloxacin (2.7%), enrofloxacin (2.7%), and ciprofloxacin (2.7%). Multidrug resistance was observed in eleven STEC isolates.

Multifaceted core–shell nanoparticles: superparamagnetism and biocompatibility

A facile method for the synthesis of Ni_coreAg_shell and Ni_coreAu_shell nanoparticles with suitable surface modification for the latter has been demonstrated with potential applications.

Giant increase in the metal-enhanced fluorescence of organic molecules in nanoporous alumina templates and large molecule-specific red/blue-shift of the fluorescence peak

The fluorescence of organic fluorophore molecules is enhanced when they are placed in contact with certain metals (Al, Ag, Cu, Au, etc.) whose surface plasmon waves couple into the radiative modes of the molecules and increase the radiative efficiency. Here, we report a hitherto unknown size dependence of this metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) effect in the nanoscale. When the molecules are deposited in nanoporous anodic alumina films with exposed aluminum at the bottom of the pores, they form organic nanowires standing on aluminum nanoparticles whose plasmon waves have much larger amplitudes. This increases the MEF strongly, resulting in several orders of magnitude increase in the fluorescence intensity of the organic fluorophores. The increase in intensity shows an inverse superlinear dependence on nanowire diameter because the nanowires also act as plasmonic "waveguides" that concentrate the plasmons and increase the coupling of the plasmons with the radiative modes of the molecules. Furthermore, if the nanoporous template housing the nanowires has built-in electric fields due to space charges, a strong molecule-specific red- or blue-shift is induced in the fluorescence peak owing to a renormalization of the dipole moment of the molecule. This can be exploited to detect minute amounts of target molecules in a mixture using their optical signature (fluorescence) despite the presence of confounding background signals. It can result in a unique new technology for biosensing and chemical sensing.

Elevated postinjury thrombospondin 1-CD47 triggering aids differentiation of patients' defective inflammatory CD1a+dendritic cells

A subset of Pts develops dysfunctional MO to inflammatory DC differentiation and immunosuppression. MDDC, a newly described DC subset, is pivotal in initiating antibacterial responses. Endogenous proteins are known to alter MO to MDDC differentiation. In particular, trauma-elevated TSP-1, a protein that is known to affect MO functions, could trigger MDDC differentiation defects. We hypothesized that TSP-1-deranged differentiation of inflammatory CD1a(+)MDDC would negatively alter activation of immune functions, thereby increasing the risk of postinjury infections. Post-trauma increased TSP-1 levels in patients' plasma and MO correlated with two distinct MDDC differentiation dysfunctions: the previously described decreased CD1a(+)DC yields but also, development of an immunoincompetent CD1a(+)MDDC. The Pts' development of Dysf DC correlated to increased infectious complications. TSP-1 triggered its inhibitory receptor, CD47, activating an inhibitory phosphatase, SHP-1. Increased pSHP-1, decreased antigen processing, and depressed T cell stimulation characterized Pt Dysf DC. TSP-1 mimics added during Cnt MDDC differentiation depressed CD1a(+)DC yields but more importantly, also induced defective CD1a(+)MDDC, reproducing Pts' MDDC differentiation dysfunctions. CD47 triggering during Cnt MDDC differentiation increased SHP-1 activation, inhibiting IL-4-induced STAT-6 activation (critical for CD1a(+)MDDC differentiation). SHP-1 inhibition during MDDC differentiation in the presence of TSP-1 mimics restored pSTAT-6 levels and CD1a(+)MDDC immunogenicity. Thus, postinjury-elevated TSP-1 can decrease CD1a(+)DC yields but more critically, also induces SHP-1 hyperactivity, deviating MDDC differentiation to defective CD1a(+) inflammatory MDDCs by inhibiting STAT-6.