Sir, Bio®lm, macroscopically visible as greenuyellowish deposit of ¯uid pipes, is commonly present in dialysis modules and parts of the water treatment system. Bio®lm consists of a ®ne ®brillar meshwork of bacterial origin, with trapped microorganisms w1x. The presence of bio®lm in dialysis systems is a point of concern, ®rst because bio®lms continuously release bacterial components such as pep...

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a food-borne pathogen responsible for human listeriosis, an invasive infection with high mortality rates. Lm has developed efficient strategies for survival under stress conditions such as starvation and wide variations in temperature, pH, and osmolarity. Therefore, Lm can survive in food under multiple stress conditions. Detailed studies to determine the mode of ...

Optimal immunity to the Gram-positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes (LM) requires both CD8+ and CD4+ antigen-specific T cell responses. Understanding how CD4+ T cells function in an immune response to LM and how bacterial proteins are processed to peptide/MHC class II complexes in infected cells requires identification of these proteins. Using LacZ-inducible, LM-specific CD4+ T cells as probe...

BACKGROUND To study the relationship between collagen amount and degree of emphysema as assessed by mean linear intercept (Lm) and correlating these with lung function test workup in patients with and without COPD. METHODS Lung function tests were assessed in 16 smokers or ex-smokers and 1 non-smoker in order to separate them into two groups: COPD (FEV1/FVC lower than 70%) and non-COPD. A pie...

The protective role of iron carbonate fi lms deposited on steel surfaces as by-products of carbon dioxide (CO2) corrosion may be hindered by mechanical fi lm removal due to hydrodynamic forces. Damage to the fi lm is frequently accompanied by severe corrosive attack, which may ultimately result in costly equipment failure. The present work reports on experimental investigations of mechanical fi...

This paper derives several Lagrange Multiplier tests for the panel data regression model wih spatial error correlation. These tests draw upon two strands of earlier work. The Þrst is the LM tests for the spatial error correlation model discussed in Anselin (1988, 1999) and Anselin, Bera, Florax and Yoon (1996), and the second is the LM tests for the error component panel data model discussed in...

Spatial navigation is influenced by landmarks, which are prominent visual features in the environment. Although previous research has focused on finding advantages of landmarks on wayfinding via experimentation; however, less attention has been given to identifying the key attributes of landmarks that facilitate wayfinding, including the study of neural correlates (involving electroencephalogra...

BACKGROUND The emerging field, Lifestyle Medicine (LM), is the evidence-based practice of assisting individuals and families to adopt and sustain behaviors that can improve health. While competencies for LM education have been defined, and undergraduate curricula have been published, there are no published reports that address graduate level fellowship in LM. This paper describes the process of...

PURPOSE Extraocular muscle (EOM) has a distinct skeletal muscle phenotype. The hypothesis for the study was that fibroblasts support the unique EOM phenotype and that perimysial fibroblasts derived from EOM have properties that distinguish them from fibroblasts derived from other skeletal muscle. METHODS Perimysial fibroblasts from leg muscle (LM-Fibro) and EOM (EOM-Fibro) of mice were derive...

The goal of this study was to describe the demographic, histologic, and prognostic features of children with low-grade neuroepithelial tumors (LGN) of the CNS presenting with leptomeningeal metastases (LM) at diagnosis. We identified 528 newly diagnosed LGN children, 13 (3%) of whom had LM at diagnosis. LM was defined by neuroimaging, clinical evidence, and/or biopsy. The charts were reviewed a...