Visualization of expanding warm dense gold and diamond heated rapidly by laser-generated ion beams.

With the development of several novel heating sources, scientists can now heat a small sample isochorically above 10,000 K. Although matter at such an extreme state, known as warm dense matter, is commonly found in astrophysics (e.g., in planetary cores) as well as in high energy density physics experiments, its properties are not well understood and are difficult to predict theoretically. This is because the approximations made to describe condensed matter or high-temperature plasmas are invalid in this intermediate regime. A sufficiently large warm dense matter sample that is uniformly heated would be ideal for these studies, but has been unavailable to date. Here we have used a beam of quasi-monoenergetic aluminum ions to heat gold and diamond foils uniformly and isochorically. For the first time, we visualized directly the expanding warm dense gold and diamond with an optical streak camera. Furthermore, we present a new technique to determine the initial temperature of these heated samples from the measured expansion speeds of gold and diamond into vacuum. We anticipate the uniformly heated solid density target will allow for direct quantitative measurements of equation-of-state, conductivity, opacity, and stopping power of warm dense matter, benefiting plasma physics, astrophysics, and nuclear physics.

Raman based hepatocellular carcinoma biomarker detection.

Highly sensitive and selective biomarker detection is required for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Disease progression has been shown to correlate with specific fucosylation of a validated HCC serum glycoprotein biomarker, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) Carbohydrate binding proteins, such as lectins, can be used as diagnostic indicators for monitoring glycosylation changes during disease progression in hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients. We prepared surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates, which provide controllable, well-organized nanoparticles on the surface, for the analysis of a fucose binding lectin AAL. The SERS based assay provides fast (<10 s), and reproducible (<5% variation) detection.

[Cryptosporidiosis: an emerging zoonosis]. / Criptosporidiosis: una zoonosis emergente.

The genus Cryptosporidium, responsible for producing cryptosporidiosis, includes several species. Humans and livestock are the main sources of infection. Waterborne cryptosporidiosis outbreaks are associated with drinking water. The infective parasite stage is the oocyst, which is resistant to conventional potabilization treatments. In immunocompetent hosts it produces acute, self-limiting diarrhoea. In immunocompromised people, it could develop severe, life-threatening pattern forms of the infection. People with AIDS are especially susceptible to these clinical forms. Cryptosporidium infections are also considered a major cause of morbimortality in calves, which leads to important economic losses. In the last years, there has been an increase of patients suffering from different causes of immunosuppression, and the need to find an effective therapy against Cryptosporidium has become greater. In spite of the many attempts of the pharmaceutical industry to develop an effective antiparasitic agent to treat cryptosporidiosis, this infection and its clinical consequences still constitute a major public health problem. This article analizes the taxonomy, morphology, biology and life cycle of Cryptosporidium. Clinical, immunological, epidemiological features and diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis are also included. Treatment and prevention of the infection are discussed, and future tendencies are suggested for this emerging parasitic infection.

Distribution of intestinal parasitoses in relation to environmental and sociocultural parameters in La Plata, Argentina.

Environmental parameters influencing the distribution of parasite species in three neighbourhoods of differing socioeconomic conditions in La Plata, Argentina were analysed. Coproparasitological screenings were performed in children up to 14 years old from a marginal zone (100), a suburban neighbourhood (101), and an urban area (91) in 1999--2000. The presence of parasite species in environmental samples (water and soil) and the degree of association among parasite communities was documented and evaluated. The prevalence of infection in each population was 73.0%, 54.4% and 35.2%, respectively. The frequencies of helminths and pathogenic protozoa were both higher in the marginal zone, where sanitary and environmental conditions were significantly inferior compared with the other zones. The high prevalence of intestinal parasites in this infantile population was related to parasitic contamination of the soil and water sources in addition to deficient sanitary and sociocultural conditions. Calculation of an equitability index revealed that the specific richness was less equitable once socioeconomic conditions and hygienic practices were improved. This study demonstrates the need to implement management practices for the control of intestinal parasitoses in accordance with the environmental and sociocultural characteristics of a given ecosystem.

Resistance to antibiotics in injured coliforms isolated from drinking water.

We studied the antibiotic sensitivity of injured coliforms isolated from drinking water of La Plata, Argentina. The antibiotic sensitivity test by the agar diffusion method were proved in: Klebsiella oxytoca (14 strains), Enterobacter aerogenes (4 strains) and Enterobacter cloacae genomic group 3 (14 strains). We found that while these impaired total coliforms were sensitive to piperacillin-tazobactam (TAZ), netilmicin (NTL), ofloxacin (OFLX), and norfloxacin (NFLX) (100%), they had resistant to aminopenicillin-sulbactam (AMS) and nitrofurantoin (NIT) (100%). The resistance to antibiotics demonstrated in these strains would point to the need to promote a rational and judicious use of antimicrobial agents while at the same time implementing a program of active vigilance aimed at ensuring the highest quality of drinking water throughout the system.

[Isolation and characterization of injured coliforms from the drinking water distribution network of La Plata, Argentina]. / Aislamiento y caracterización de coliformes injuriados provenientes de la red de distribución de agua de bebida de La Plata, Argentina.

We screened the La Plata drinking water distribution network for fecal and total coliform bacterial indicator by purification procedures, cultivating 66 membrane-filtered samples from the two networks on m-T7 agar. Subterranean and river-derived water yielded 13 and 18 confirmed gram-negative bacillus isolates, with 54% and 72% representing total coliforms, respectively. Those from the former source were Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter aerogenes and from the latter Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter cloacae, genomic group 3. Since 58% of the samples were positive using m-T7 medium it is suggested that the inclusion in standard quality control protocols should be implemented.

Aislamiento y caracterización de coliformes injuriados provenientes de la red de distribución de agua de bebida de La Plata, Argentina / Isolation and characterization of injured coliforms from the drinking water distribution network of La Plata, Argentina

We screened the La Plata drinking water distribution network for fecal and total coliform bacterial indicator by purification procedures, cultivating 66 membrane-filtered samples from the two networks on m-T7 agar. Subterranean and river-derived water yielded 13 and 18 confirmed gram-negative bacillus isolates, with 54 and 72 representing total coliforms, respectively. Those from the former source were Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter aerogenes and from the latter Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter cloacae, genomic group 3. Since 58 of the samples were positive using m-T7 medium it is suggested that the inclusion in standard quality control protocols should be implemented.

Aislamiento y caracterización de coliformes injuriados provenientes de la red de distribución de agua de bebida de La Plata, Argentina / Isolation and characterization of injured coliforms from the drinking water distribution network of La Plata, Argentina

We screened the La Plata drinking water distribution network for fecal and total coliform bacterial indicator by purification procedures, cultivating 66 membrane-filtered samples from the two networks on m-T7 agar. Subterranean and river-derived water yielded 13 and 18 confirmed gram-negative bacillus isolates, with 54 and 72 representing total coliforms, respectively. Those from the former source were Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter aerogenes and from the latter Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter cloacae, genomic group 3. Since 58 of the samples were positive using m-T7 medium it is suggested that the inclusion in standard quality control protocols should be implemented.(AU)

Aislamiento y caracterización de coliformes injuriados provenientes de la red de distribución de agua de bebida de La Plata, Argentina. / [Isolation and characterization of injured coliforms from the drinking water distribution network of La Plata, Argentina]

We screened the La Plata drinking water distribution network for fecal and total coliform bacterial indicator by purification procedures, cultivating 66 membrane-filtered samples from the two networks on m-T7 agar. Subterranean and river-derived water yielded 13 and 18 confirmed gram-negative bacillus isolates, with 54

and 72

representing total coliforms, respectively. Those from the former source were Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter aerogenes and from the latter Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter cloacae, genomic group 3. Since 58

of the samples were positive using m-T7 medium it is suggested that the inclusion in standard quality control protocols should be implemented.

[Medications, who takes them?]. / Fármacos, quién los toma?

UNLABELLED: Patients with chronic renal insufficiency treated with hemodialysis are generally heavily medicated. To know whether patients o a dialysis unit are taking their medications as prescribed, a study was designed to find out. OBJECTIVES: To profile which patients do or do not complete their medication instructions. To compare which actions taken by health care workers insures a better percentage of compliance. To confirm the adequacy of the methods used to evaluate the pharmacological treatment.

Characterization and quantitation of parasite species in the effluents of the Berisso main sewage channel, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Outbreaks of disease can be caused by pathogenic intestinal parasites in drinking water. La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is located on the La Plata River; a principal tributary receiving the raw sewage from the city's 500,000 inhabitants via the Berisso main septic channel at an estimated volume of 108,390 m3/day (4516.3m3/h). To determine the parasite-contamination level of the La Plata River, we obtained 18 sewage effluents from the Berisso main septic channel at its point of discharge into the river and concentrated these samples by filtration. This approach detected the following parasites at the indicated average levels (cysts/m3): members of the flagellate genus Giardia, more than 9000; representatives of the amoebic species Entamoeba histolytica, slightly more than 800 and Entamoeba coli, 5000; other amoebic forms, up to 23,000. These data clearly illustrate the degree of contamination within the La Plata River caused by the Berisso septic channel. Pollution of the La Plata River to this extent thus presents a high health risk for people who drink the water from this river even after conventional processing as well as for those who use the water from this portion of the river for recreation.