background: acanthamoeba spp . are free-living amebas found in a wide variety of natural habitats. the high percentage of acanthamoeba in different environmental sources represents a sanitary risk for public health especially contact lens users and immunocompromised patients. the aim of this study was to determine the presence of acanthamoeba spp. in different environments such as water, soil, ...

The aim of the present study was to optimize the polyethylenimine (PEI)-mediated transfection method in order to simplify the efficient production of lentiviral vectors (LvVs), and to compare the CaPO4- and PEI-mediated transfection methods for producing LvVs. Different titration methods of LvV stocks, as well as different culture media, culture durations, cell densities and DNA quantities were...

The human corneal basement membrane has a rich felt-like surface topography with feature dimensions between 20 nm and 200 nm. On the basis of these findings, we designed lithographically defined substrates to investigate whether nanotopography is a relevant stimulus for human corneal epithelial cells. We found that cells elongated and aligned along patterns of grooves and ridges with feature di...

the activated sludge process simply involves bringing together wastewater and a mixed culture of microorganisms under aerobic conditions. the system usually includes a secondary treatment given to the settled sewage, and requires an environment in which active microorganisms are maintained in intimate contact with wastewater in the presence of sufficient oxygen. in this study, the treatment of ...

The initiation of monolayer mass cell cultures from adult human biopsies has revealed a striking abnormality in the growth and development pattern of muscle cultures from Duchenne-type dystrophy. This abnormality in cell behaviour was seen as early as 4 days in culture, well before myotube formation or confluence, and consisted of areas where cells clustered together in a multilayered mass rath...

Tim Lewis, The Open University Thierry Chanier, Université Blaise Pascal Bonnie Youngs, Carnegie Mellon University This special issue of Language Learning & Technology gathers five studies that deal with a recent development in CALL: multilateral online exchanges for learning language and culture. Multilateral exchanges reflect the changing reality of language learning in a globalized world whe...

To ascertain the microbiology of skin abscesses, emergency department records were reviewed to identify patients with debrided skin abscesses. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 255 (67.6%) of 377 culture samples from episodes in the adult cohort and from 145 (79.7%) of 182 culture samples from episodes in the pediatric cohort. Thus, empirical use of contact precautio...

Current standards, based on cell culture assay, indicate that poliovirus is inactivated by 0.5 mg of free chlorine per liter after 2 min; however, integrated cell culture-PCR detected viruses for up to 8 min of exposure to the same chlorine concentration, requiring 10 min for complete inactivation. Thus, the contact time for chlorine disinfection of poliovirus is up to five times greater than p...

B. megatherium cultures contain a few cells per hundred million which are able to grow in the presence of terramycin. Growth of the other cells is inhibited by the antibiotic with the result that the resistant cells overgrow the culture. The resistant cells are present in the culture, without contact with terramycin, and are able to grow in the presence of terramycin, without further modificati...

With the accelerated globalization, domestic and international communications become more frequent than ever before. As the major media of international communication, languages contact with each other more actively by day. And in the active contact any language would gradually develop and change. Pidgin language is a unique linguistic phenomenon resulted from the frequent language contact. By ...