Thermal infrared spectra taken by the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) on-board Mission (EMM) spacecraft are well suited for retrieval of surface temperatures, atmospheric temperature profile from to ∼40 km, and column abundance dust aerosols, water ice clouds, vapor. A constrained linear inversion routine that includes multiple scattering has been developed optimized this purpose. H...

Serotype M1 group A Streptococcus, the most common cause of invasive disease in many case series, generally have resisted extensive molecular subtyping by standard techniques (e.g., multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis). We used automated sequencing of the sic gene encoding streptococcal inhibitor of complement and of a region of the chromosome with direct repeat ...

PURPOSE To describe the corneal and anterior segment determinants of posterior corneal arc length (PCAL) and posterior corneal curvature (PCC). METHODS Cross-sectional, population-based study of 1069 subjects (1069 eyes) aged 40-80 years, from three major Asian ethnic groups. All underwent anterior segment optical coherence tomography imaging and analysis with Zhongshan Angle Assessment Progr...

BACKGROUND HLA Matchmaker is a computer algorithm developed to evaluate donor/receptor compatibility comparing sequences of polymorphic aminoacids (eplets) present in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of HLA Matchmaker for patient and graft survival, graft survival free of rejection, and the presence of anti HLA antibodies. MET...

BACKGROUND D-alanylated lipoteichoic acid is a virtually ubiquitous component of gram-positive cell walls. Mutations in the dltABCD operon of numerous species exhibit pleiotropic effects, including reduced virulence, which has been attributed to increased binding of cationic antimicrobial peptides to the more negatively charged cell surface. In this study, we have further investigated the effec...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The incidence of group A streptococcal (GAS) invasive infections have been increasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to characterize clinical and microbiological features of isolates obtained from invasive GAS infections in North Queensland, Australia between 1996 and 2001. METHODS Clinical and demographic data were collected prospectively. Isolates were biotyped...

Surveillance of group A streptococcal (GAS) infections was undertaken as a major component of the European Commission-funded project on severe GAS disease in Europe (strep-EURO). One aim of strep-EURO was to improve the quality of GAS characterization by standardization of methods. An external quality assurance study (EQA) was therefore carried out to evaluate current global performance. Eleven...

High-fat diets and chronic alcohol consumption (CAC) can both induce a low-grade inflammation. We report that when CAC (16.6% of total calories) is administered in combination with the Lieber-DeCarli high-fat diet an additive myeloid response is induced. This increase in inflammation included hepatic and splenic EMM as assessed by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and a colony forming unit-g...

BACKGROUND The incidence of invasive group A Streptococcus (GAS) disease can vary over time and geographic region, possibly reflecting the population's susceptibility to particular strains but also variation in the predominant M/emm types. Canadian surveillance documented an epidemic of an uncommon M/emm59 type from 2006 to 2009. METHODS Invasive GAS isolates are submitted by Public Health La...