Aromatic-hydroxyl interaction of an alpha-aryl ether lignin model-compound on SBA-15, present at pyrolysis temperatures.

An aromatic alpha-aryl ether compound (a benzyl phenyl ether analogue) was covalently grafted to mesoporous silica SBA-15, to create BPEa-SBA-15. The BPEa-SBA-15 was subjected to successive heating cycles up to 600 °C, with in situ monitoring by DRIFTS. It was found that the toluene moiety coordinates to SBA-15 surface silanol hydroxyl groups via an aromatic-hydroxyl interaction. This interaction is evidenced by a red-shift of the aromatic C-H stretches, as well as a red-shift and broadening of the surface hydroxyl O-H stretches, which are features characteristic of a hydrogen bond. These features remain present during heating until ∼400 °C whereupon the ether linkage of BPEa-SBA-15 is cleaved, accompanied by loss of the toluene moiety.

Short- and long-term outcomes of children with complex regional pain syndrome type I treated with exercise therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To report the initial and long-term outcome after an intensive exercise therapy program for childhood complex regional pain syndrome, type I (CRPS). DESIGN: Prospective follow-up. SETTING: A children's hospital. SUBJECTS: We followed 103 children (87 girls; mean age = 13.0 years) with CRPS. Forty-nine subjects were followed for more than 2 years (mean = 5 years 3 months). INTERVENTIONS: An intensive exercise program (most received a daily program of 4 hours of aerobic, functionally directed exercises, 1-2 hours of hydrotherapy, and desensitization). No medications or modalities were used. All had a screening psychological evaluation, and 79 (77%) were referred for psychological counseling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcomes included pain, presence of physical dysfunction, or recurrent episodes of CRPS or other disproportional musculoskeletal pain. RESULTS: The mean duration of exercise therapy was 14 days, but over the past 2 years has decreased to 6 days. Ninety-five children (92%) initially became symptom free. Of those followed for more than 2 years, 43 (88%) were symptom free (15, or 31 %, of these patients had had a reoccurrence), 5 (10%) were fully functional but had some continued pain, and 1 (2%) had functional limitations. The median time to recurrence was 2 months; 79% of the recurrences were during the first 6 months after treatment. CONCLUSION: Intense exercise therapy is effective in initially treating childhood CRPS and is associated with low rate of long-term symptoms or dysfunction.

Assessment of archived paraffin-embedded cervical condyloma tissues for mycoplasma-conserved DNA using sensitive PCR-ELISA.

Clinically, it is important to detect mycoplasmas because these organisms have been implicated in gastric and ovarian cancer, pneumonia, postabortal fever, pelvic inflammatory disease, pyelonephritis, endometritis, urethritis, perinatal mortality, arthritis, spontaneous abortion, infertility and interference with sperm development and they act as cofactors catalyzing the HIV disease state. Recently, the combined polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method targeting the consensus DNA of over 15 species of mycoplasmas was shown to be superior for the detection of mycoplasmas. The objective was to determine if there was an association between mycoplasmas and cervical neoplasia. Cervical tissues, histopathologically categorized by cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade, flat or exophytic, and acanthosis or koilocytotic, were used. The results showed that mycoplasmas DNA were present in 21.4% of the condyloma tissues and in 33.3% of condyloma tissues with CIN. In contrast, mycoplasmas DNA were not detected when there were no CIN. The presence or absence of human papillomavirus (HPV) did not make a difference. Mycoplasmas DNA were present in 40.0 and 12.5% of the exophytic and flat condylomas, respectively. A higher percentage of cervical tissues graded with slight koilocytosis had (P = 0.05) mycoplasmas DNA compared with tissues graded with moderate koilocytosis. The detection of mycoplasmas DNA in archived cervical condyloma tissues with CIN corroborated previous reports of an association between mycoplasmas and CIN. However, the association between mycoplasmas and the presence of HPV could not be made in this study.