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Reference Units (reference + unit)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Prevalence of de- O -acetylated serogroup C meningococci before the introduction of meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccines in the United Kingdom

FEMS IMMUNOLOGY & MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
Ray Borrow
Abstract Meningococcal serogroup C conjugate (MCC) vaccines have been introduced in the UK to combat the rise in serogroup C meningococcal disease. Serogroup C meningococci may occur naturally expressing either O -acetylated (Oac+) or de- O -acetylated (Oac,) polysaccharide capsules. In a small study in the USA in the 1970s 15% of serogroup C meningococcal case isolates were reported to be Oac, though the prevalence of these Oac, isolates has not been recorded in the UK. This is of interest as the first MCC vaccines to be introduced are Oac+ and the potential impact of this on Oac, serogroup C isolates is unclear. Serogroup C isolates submitted to the Public Health Laboratory Service Meningococcal Reference Unit in January 1998 (n=113) and January 1999 (n=162) were investigated by dot blotting using monoclonals specific for Oac+ and Oac, serogroup C polysaccharides. This revealed 12% Oac, isolates for both January 1998 and January 1999. The proportion of fatal cases was found to similar for both Oac, and Oac+, 14 and 9% for 1998 and 5 and 3% for 1999, indicating that the pathogenic potential of these Oac, isolates is similar to Oac+. The acetylation status of serogroup C isolates needs to be monitored throughout and after the introduction of MCC vaccines. [source]

Wide-range length metrology by dual-imaging-unit atomic force microscope based on porous alumina

MICROSCOPY RESEARCH AND TECHNIQUE, Issue 3 2004
Dongxian Zhang
Abstract A new dual-imaging-unit atomic force microscope (DIU-AFM) was developed for wide-range length metrology. In the DIU-AFM, two AFM units were combined, one as a reference unit, and the other a test one. Their probes with Z piezo elements and tips were horizontally set in parallel at the same height to reduce errors due to geometric asymmetry. An XY scanner was attached to an XY block that was able to move in the X direction with a step of about 500 nm. A standard porous alumina film was employed as the reference sample. Both reference sample and test sample were installed at the center of the XY scanner on the same surface and were simultaneously imaged. The two images had the same lateral size, and thus the length of the test sample image could be accurately measured by counting the number of periodic features of the reference one. The XY block together with the XY scanner were next moved in the X direction for about 1.5 ,m and a second pair of reference and test images were obtained by activating the scanner. In this way, a series of pairs of images were acquired and could be spliced into two wide-range reference and test images, respectively. Again, the two spliced images were of the same size and the length of test image was measured based on the reference one. This article presents a discussion about the structure and control of the DIU-AFM system. Some experiments were carried out on the system to demonstrate the method of length calculation and measurement. Experiments show a satisfactory result of wide-range length metrology based on the hexagonal features of the porous alumina with a periodic length of several tens of nanometers. Using this method the DIU-AFM is capable of realizing nanometer-order accuracy length metrology when covering a wide range from micron to several hundreds of microns, or even up to millimeter order. Microsc. Res. Tech. 64:223,227, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

The Environmental Impact of Getting the News

JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3-4 2002
A Comparison of On-Line, Newspaper Information Delivery, Television
Summary The environmental impact associated with reading an on-line and a printed newspaper is analyzed and compared with respective parts of a television (TV) broadcast. Two reference units were chosen for comparison to account for differences between media in presentation and consumption (reading or watching a news item) and consumption of the daily news as a whole. The environmental impact is assessed using life-cycle assessment (LCA). Key drivers of the environmental impact for both electronic delivery systems are energy consumption and power generation. Not only do the manufacturing of the products and their use have an environmental impact, but so does the use of the necessary infrastructure, that is, energy consumption of the telephone network or data transfer via Internet. Printing of on-line information also turned out to be important. In the case of the printed newspapers, energy consumption is again important, here for the manufacturing of pulp and paper. Complete printed newspapers (the form in which they are typically purchased) have a very high environmental burden relative to watching the TV news or reading on-line news, even if the propensity to extend TV viewing is taken into consideration. [source]

Efficacy of interferon-, in patients with refractory bullous pemphigoid

THE JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 11 2007
Takekuni NAKAMA
ABSTRACT Bullous pemphigoid (BP) usually responds well to conventional therapies, although some severe cases show less response to various therapies or develop side-effects due to long-term drug administration using high doses. Most BP patients are elderly and are thus prone to systemic deterioration or unfavorable outcome. In the present study, we investigated the efficacy of interferon-, on severe BP patients resistant to conventional therapies. Interferon-, was administered to 10 severe BP patients at a dose of 2 million Japan reference units (JRU) once a day for 7 consecutive days by i.v. infusion in addition to oral corticosteroids. The degree of improvement in the clinical symptoms, serum interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, and plasma RANTES concentrations, as well as the results of indirect immunofluorescence and BP180 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay index values, were compared before and after the 7-day drug administration. Among the nine patients whose clinical symptoms were evaluated, an improvement was observed in all patients. Except for one patient, the serum IL-4 concentrations decreased and similar results were observed for the serum IL-5 concentration. All five patients in whom the plasma RANTES concentration was measured showed decreased levels. The indirect immunofluorescence titers decreased in only four patients. However, in seven patients in whom index values of BP180 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were evaluated, all patients showed significant decrease of the index values. These results suggest that, in severe BP patients refractory to conventional therapies, interferon-, in addition to oral corticosteroids is effective and thus should be considered for further clinical use. [source]