We use optical, photocurrent and photothermal deflection spectroscopies to study defects in microcrystalline silicon Ž . mc-Si thin films and diamond layers. Enhanced light absorption in mc-Si films and solar cells is due to several contributions: light scattering, change in the optical transition probability for strained and surface atoms and residual Ž y1 amorphous fraction. Low defect densit...

Posttransplantation diabetes (PTD) contributes to cardiovascular disease and graft loss in renal transplant recipients (RTR). Current recommendations advise fasting blood glucose (FBG) as the screening and diagnostic test of choice for PTD. This study sought to determine (1) the predictive power of FBG with respect to 2-h blood glucose (2HBG) and (2) the prevalence of PTD using FBG and 2HBG com...

Expression of cellular receptors determines viral tropism and limits gene delivery by viral vectors. Protein transduction domains (PTDs) have been shown to deliver proteins, antisense oligonucleotides, liposomes, or plasmid DNA into cells. In our study, we investigated the role of several PTD motifs in adenoviral infection. When physiologically expressed, a PTD from human immunodeficiency virus...

Background The Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) approached People that Deliver (PtD) for support in addressing supply chain management (SCM) workforce challenges at its central and regional medical stores (CMS/RMS). PtD leveraged the expertise of member organizations CapacityPlus and SCMS to provide technical assistance in planning, deployment, training and retention of th...

The absolute absorption spectra of low-loss optical waveguides, together with their intrinsic and extrinsic scatterings, were measured in the near infrared. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy was used to measure the full absorption spectra of a series of fluorinated cross-linked polymers. Assignment of —CH3, —CH2—, and —OH overtones as well as of combinations of overtones were made by use of ...

The aim of this study was to measure the efficacy of a positional therapy device (PTD) at reducing proton pump inhibitor (PPI) refractory nocturnal GERD symptoms. Among patients with GERD, nocturnal symptoms are very common. A recent study demonstrated a decrease in nocturnal acid exposure and reflux episodes in healthy volunteers who slept using a PTD. This is a single-center prospective trial...

The objective of this case-control study was to evaluate whether occupational conditions during pregnancy are associated with preterm delivery (PTD). Women whose work conditions changed following the use of a legally justified preventive measure (withdrawal from work or job reassignment) were also compared with those whose work conditions did not change. Cases (n = 1,242) and controls (n = 4,51...

Superoxide dismutases (SOD) are able to remove the superoxide anion free radicals produced by environmental stress and thereby protect cells from being injured by reactive oxygen species. However, SOD is unable to transduce automatically across cell membranes. Protein transduction domains (PTDs) are peptides able to mediate protein delivery into cells and were first observed in the HIV‑1 Tat pr...

Compared with adults, pediatric mastocytosis has a relatively favorable prognosis. Interestingly, a difference was also observed in the status of c-kit mutations according to the age of onset. Although most adult patients have a D(816)V mutation in phosphotransferase domain (PTD), we have described that half of the children carry mutations in extracellular domain (ECD). KIT-ECD versus KIT-PTD m...

Objective: Assessment of relevance of IL-6 (-174G>C, -596G>A) genes polymorphisms in the etiology of preterm delivery (PTD). Material and methods: Study group: 150 women with PTD (22+0 36 + 6 gw.); controls: 150 women who delivered > 37 gw. Genetical analysis was performed by PCR/RLFP method. Results: In PTD group -596GA genotype (48.6 vs. 42.7%) and -596AA genotype (24.7 vs. 21.3%) occurred mo...