OBJECTIVES To investigate the diversity of integrons and extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) among Enterobacteriaceae from chickens and swine in Portugal and analyse the clonal relationships between Portuguese ESBL-producing isolates of animal and human origin. METHODS We analysed samples from faeces of healthy swine (HSF, n = 35), from uncooked chicken carcasses (CM, n = 20) and from f...

Surface conditions produced by manufacturing processes are known to significantly affect the fatigue strength of metallic materials. However, tests on planar specimens usually present onset crack in a specimen edge, where superposition different machining techniques and subsequent operations can hide effects studied process. This study deals with design test able reliably assess high cycle any ...

An efficiency-enhanced procedure to treat continuous-time, high-cycle fatigue (HCF) constraints in topology optimization is presented. The HCF model predicts the evolution of damage at each point design domain using a system ordinary differential equations. We employ gradient-based and sensitivities are determined adjoint sensitivity analysis. As predicted has history dependence, variables solv...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of microstructure on the susceptibility to high-cycle fatigue (HCF) failure in Ti–6Al–4V following foreign-object damage (FOD), specifically by comparing a fine-grained bi-modal microstructure with a coarse grained lamellar microstructure. FOD was simulated by high-velocity impacts of steel spheres on a flat surface. This caused a marked...

Many health care facilities (HCF) in developing countries lack access to reliable hand washing stations and safe drinking water. To address this problem, we installed portable, low-cost hand washing stations (HWS) and drinking water stations (DWS), and trained healthcare workers (HCW) on hand hygiene, safe drinking water, and patient education techniques at 200 rural HCFs lacking a reliable wat...

OBJECTIVES This study analyzes and compares exposures to prescription opioids among children and adolescents younger than 20 years old in the United States. METHODS Data from the National Poison Data System for 2000 through 2015 were analyzed. RESULTS Poison control centers received reports of 188 468 prescription opioid exposures among children aged <20 years old from 2000 through 2015. Th...

Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is an immunopathologic disease triggered by infection of the cornea with HSV. Key events in HSK involve the interaction between cornea-infiltrating inflammatory cells and resident cells. This interaction, in which macrophages, producing IL-1 and TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma-producing Th1 cells play a crucial role, results in the local secretion of immune-modulatory ...

PURPOSE To study the effects of collagen matrix and fibroblasts on the growth and development of human bulbar conjunctival epithelial cells. METHOD Human bulbar conjunctival epithelial cells were cultured on three-dimensional collagen gels containing either normal human conjunctival fibroblasts (HCF), Swiss 3T3 cells, or no cells. After 1 week of culturing, half of the cultures were raised to...

The heavy-vehicle automotive industry is constantly subjected to higher demands. In particular, new European emission standards are formulated with the intention of improving the environmental friendliness of newly-produced vehicles through reduced exhaust emission. In one way or another, this implies a successive improvement of the engine efficiency, which in turn, inevitably will require a hi...