The objective was to evaluate the distribution of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) involved in periprosthetic-joint infections (PJIs) and to describe their susceptibility profile to antibiotics. We conducted a multicentre retrospective study in France, including 215 CNS PJIs between 2011 and 2015. CNS PJIs involved knees in 54% of the cases, hips in 39%, other sites in 7%. The distribution of the 215 strains was: Staphylococcus epidermidis 129 (60%), Staphylococcus capitis 24 (11%), Staphylococcus lugdunensis 21 (10%), Staphylococcus warneri 8 (4%), Staphylococcus hominis 7 (3%), Staphylococcus haemolyticus 7 (3%). More than half of the strains (52.1%) were resistant to methicillin, 40.9% to ofloxacin, 20% to rifampicin. The species most resistant to antibiotics were S. hominis, S. haemolyticus, S. epidermidis, with 69.7% of the strains resistant to methicillin and 30% simultaneously resistant to clindamycin, cotrimoxazole, ofloxacin and rifampicin. No strain was resistant to linezolid or daptomycin. In this study on CNS involved in PJIs, resistance to methicillin is greater than 50%. S. epidermidis is the most frequent and resistant species to antibiotics. Emerging species such S. lugdunensis, S. capitis and Staphylococcus caprae exhibit profiles more sensitive to antibiotics. The antibiotics most often active in vitro are linezolid and daptomycin.

A coronal mass ejection (CME) event was observed on December 23, 1996 with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer in both ultraviolet and visible light channels at 0.5 R⊙ over the solar limb. The CME was followed during its evolution in the bright lines of Lyα (1216Å), Lyβ (1026Å), Lyγ (972Å), C III (977Å) and the OVI doublet (1032, 1037Å) and in several weaker lines. The Lyα peak intensity shows an excursion of two orders of magnitude during the CME evolution, and blue shifts up to 0.8Å (~200 km/sec). The data provide the emission measure in the Log T range 4.0–5.5 with a 0.3 sampling. Line intensities and profiles have been measured, providing important diagnostics for a detailed study of the CME’s physical and dynamical parameters.

In recent years, several types of human adenovirus (HAdV) have arisen from the recombination between two or more previously known HAdV types, but their epidemiology is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the circulation of HAdV-58, a recently described HAdV isolated from an HIV-positive patient in Córdoba city, Argentina. For this purpose, a 30-month survey was conducted to study the presence of this type of adenovirus in sewage samples collected at the inlet from a wastewater treatment plant in Córdoba city, Argentina. Complementarily, the virus was sought in stools of HIV-positive patients. Although HAdVs were detected in human stool samples and in a high percentage of sewage samples, no evidence of HAdV-58 circulation was detected. We suggest that there is no endemic circulation of HAdV-58 in the geographical local area. The trend is that the number of identified HAdVs increases over time. In this context, understanding the current circulating HAdVs may be biologically relevant.

The discovery of progesterone (P4) and elucidation of the mechanisms of P4 action have an important place in the history of endocrinology and reproduction. Circulating P4 concentration is determined by a balance between P4 production, primarily by the corpus luteum (CL), and P4 metabolism, primarily by the liver. The volume of luteal tissue and number and function of large luteal cells are primary factors determining P4 production. Rate of P4 metabolism is generally determined by liver blood flow and can be of critical importance in determining circulating P4 concentrations, particularly in dairy cattle. During timed artificial insemination (AI) protocols, elevations in P4 are achieved by increasing number of CL by creating accessory CL or by supplementation with exogenous P4. Dietary manipulations can also alter circulating P4, although practical methods to apply these techniques have not yet been reported. Elevating P4 before the timed AI generally decreases double ovulation and increases fertility to the timed AI. Near the time of AI, slight elevations in circulating P4, possibly due to inadequate luteal regression, can dramatically reduce fertility. After AI, circulating P4 is critical for embryo growth and establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Many studies have attempted to improve fertility by elevating P4 after timed AI. Our recent meta-analysis and manipulative study indicated small fertility benefits (3% to 3.5%) mostly in primiparous cows. Thus, previous research has provided substantial insight into mechanisms regulating circulating P4 concentrations and actions. Understanding this prior research can focus future research on P4 manipulation to improve reproductive success.

Despite the widespread adoption of hormonal synchronization protocols that allow for timed artificial insemination (AI), detection of estrus plays an important role in the reproductive management program on most dairies in the United States. Increased physical activity is a secondary sign of estrus in dairy cattle, and a new generation of electronic systems that continuously monitor physical activity to predict timing of AI have been developed and marketed to the dairy industry. A variety of management and physiologic challenges inhibit detection of behavioral estrus on farms, but the prevalence of anouvular cows near the end of the voluntary waiting period is particularly problematic. Only 70% of lactating Holstein cows were detected in estrus when using an activity monitoring system, with the remaining 20% of cows classified as anovular and 10% ovulating without showing signs of activity. Mean time of AI in relation to ovulation based on the activity monitoring system was acceptable for most of the cows with increased activity, however, variability in the duration of estrus and timing of AI in relation to ovulation could result in poor pregnancy outcomes in some cows. Use of a Presynch–Ovsynch protocol for submission of cows for first AI has been widely adopted by dairies in the United States, and a combined approach in which AI based on activity is followed by submission of cows not detected with activity to timed AI after synchronization of ovulation may be an effective strategy for submission of cows to first AI. Based on a field trial on a large commercial dairy in the United States, the activity monitoring system detected 70% of cows with increased activity after the second PGF2α injection of a Presynch–Ovsynch protocol, however, cows inseminated to increased activity had fewer pregnancies per AI (P/AI) compared with cows with increased activity after the second PGF2α injection that received timed AI after completing the Presynch–Ovsynch protocol. Based on an economic model comparing reproductive management programs with varying levels of AI to estrus v. timed AI, the rate of estrus detection and the P/AI to inseminations based on AI to detected estrus v. timed AI affected the decision to inseminate based on activity v. timed AI. In conclusion, an activity monitoring system detected increased activity in about 70% of lactating Holstein cows on a large commercial dairy in the United States, however, synchronization of ovulation and timed AI was beneficial to inseminate cows not detected with increased activity by the activity monitoring system.

Little is known about long-lasting measles protective immunity when exposure to wild-type or vaccine measles virus precedes HIV infection. The results obtained suggest that measles immunity wanes and the lowest measles geometric mean titres (GMT) were significantly associated with measles vaccine-induced immunity in individuals that later developed HIV infection (86% prevalence, GMT 164 mIU/ml) compared to naturally induced immunity in HIV-infected adults (100% prevalence, GMT 340 mIU/ml, P = 0·0082) or non-HIV infected adults (100%, GMT 724 mIU/ml, P = 0·0001), and vaccine-induced immunity in non-HIV-infected adults (100%, GMT 347 mIU/ml, P = 0·017). The study was conducted in an area without wild-type virus circulation since 2000. The absence of virus circulating may alter the paradigm of lifelong immunity to measles virus after vaccination. As the proportion of HIV-infected individuals possessing only vaccine-induced immunity continues to grow, checking the status of measles immunity in this group is strongly recommended.

A fully instrumented microscale shock tube, believed to be the smallest to date, has been fabricated and tested. This facility is used to study the transmission of a shock wave, produced in a large (37 mm) shock tube, into a 34  $\mathrm{\mu} \mathrm{m} $ hydraulic diameter and 2 mm long microchannel. Pressure microsensors of a novel design, with gigahertz bandwidth, are used to obtain pressure–time histories of the microchannel shock wave at five axial stations. In all cases the transmitted shock wave is found to be weaker than the incident shock wave, and is observed to decay both in pressure and velocity as it propagates down the microchannel. These results are compared with various analytical and numerical models, and the best agreement is obtained with a Navier–Stokes computational fluid dynamics computation, which assumes a no-slip isothermal wall boundary condition; good agreement is also obtained with a simple shock tube laminar boundary layer model. It is also found that the flow developing within the microchannel is highly dependent on conditions at the microchannel entrance, which control the mass flux entering into the device. Regardless of the micrometre dimensions of the present facility, shock wave propagation in a microchannel of that scale exhibits a behaviour similar to that observed in large-scale facilities operated at low pressures, and the shock attenuation can be explained in terms of accepted laminar boundary models.

The power laser has been applied to the surface melting of a high-carbon alloy steel with laser operating parameters leading to structures which cannot be produced by the usual heat-treatments. The subsequent annealing of these structures has also been investigated. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy have been used as methods of analysis.

We present a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study, performed at different elevated temperatures, on the influence of Sb surface segregation on the morphology of the (111) surface of a Cu-0.45 at.% Sb solid-solution single-crystal; the surface was initially cleaned at room temperature by Ar+ ion sputtering. Unexpectedly, when the temperature is increased from room temperature to 380°C, the typical (111) surface morphology, obtained after sputtering, evolves in two very different manners that depend on the heating rate. If the heating rate is rapid (approximately a few minutes), it evolves to a structure with large terraces, whereas if it is slow (about 10 hours) the morphology does not evolve -- i.e., it is frozen. These unexpected results are interpreted in terms of excess subsurface point defects (vacancies and self-interstitials) created during ion bombardment, which are mobile and can mediate Sb diffusion at low temperatures. This is mainly on step edges, but the point defects can precipitate out of solution, for a rapid heating rate, thereby forming small secondary clusters in the near-surface region, in which Sb atoms are trapped.

We have deposited and investigated thin films of lanthanum hexaborate with 1% of the lanthanum replaced by cerium. In bulk single-crystalline form, this material has, due to the Kondo-mechanism, the highest known Seebeck coefficient at sub-K temperatures. Thus it is a good candidate for several thermoelectric applications at very low temperatures. We are studying the kinetic properties of thin films such as the conductivity and Seebeck coefficient as a function of temperature and the dependence of these properties on film thickness, substrate material and deposition conditions. The consequent theoretical performance limits on the device applications of these films are considered with a focus on detectors and refrigerators.

In amphibian oocytes meiosis, the transition from G2 to M phase is regulated by the maturation promoting factor (MPF), a complex of the cyclin-dependent kinase p34/cdc2 and cyclin B. In immature oocytes there is an inactive complex (pre-MPF), in which cdc2 is phosphorylated on both Thr-161 and Thr-14/Tyr-15 residues. The dephosphorylation of Thr-14/Tyr-15 is necessary for the start of MPF activation and it is induced by the activation of cdc25 phosphatase. Late, to complete the activation, a small amount of active MPF induces an auto-amplification loop of MPF stimulation (MPF amplification). Dehydroleucodine (DhL) is a sesquiterpenic lactone that inhibits mammalian cell proliferation in G2. We asked whether DhL interferes with MPF activation. For this question, the effect of DhL (up to 30 μM) on the resumption of meiosis was evaluated, and visualized by germinal vesicle break down (GVBD), of Bufo arenarum oocytes induced in vitro by either: (i) removing follicle cells; (ii) progesterone stimulation; (iii) VG-content injection; or (iv) injection of mature cytoplasm. The results show that DhL induced GVBD inhibition, in a dose-dependent manner, in spontaneous and progesterone-induced oocyte maturation. Nevertheless, DhL at the doses assayed had no effect on GVBD induced by mature cytoplasm injection, but exerted an inhibitory effect on GVBD induced by GV content. On the basis of these results, we interpreted that DhL does not inhibit MPF amplification and that the target of DhL is any event in the early stages of the cdc25 activation cascade.

In the current cosmological scenario, part of the linearly polarized emission of the CMB is expected to be rotational (B-modes). This component is due to tensor perturbations of the metric produced by primordial gravitational waves, which are generated a split-second after the Big Bang. The signal expected is of the order of ≲ 0.1 μK, well below the non-rotational component of the polarization signal (E-modes), and beyond the sensitivity of present generation instruments. New, more sensitive instruments are developed in several labs, with the goal to measure the B-modes. Control of systematics and foregrounds will be the key to make the results of these experiments believable. In this paper we shortly outline BRAIN, a bolometric interferometer devoted to B-modes research, and its pathfinder experiment, devoted to test the Dome-C site.


In 1999, the US Food and Nutrition Board revised the Adequate Intake (AI) for calcium in pregnancy and recommended 1000 mg/day for adult pregnant women and 1300 mg/day for adolescent women (<19 years). Our interest, from the perspective of an international health organization, was to assess if pregnant women globally meet those requirements. This is particularly important because, among the various biological functions of calcium, the potential protective effect of adequate calcium intake in pregnancy on the risk of pre-eclampsia may have major public health implications, pre-eclampsia being one of the most important causes of maternal and perinatal mortality world-wide. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of studies, published from 1991 to 2004, that assessed calcium dietary intake in pregnant women. In addition, we conducted a multicentre survey of calcium dietary intake during pregnancy among nulliparous women attending antenatal care in developing countries. This survey was conducted before starting a large calcium supplementation multicentre trial: the WHO Calcium Supplementation Trial in Low Calcium Intake Women for the Prevention of Pre-eclampsia. This article presents the results of the systematic review and of the multicentre survey.

Sufficient conditions are provided in order that some classes of finite soluble groups, defined by properties of the Sylow normalisers, are saturated formations.