Skinnersellers2705

Crosslinked polymeric materials based on a quaternary trimethylammonium compound were developed and evaluated as potential antifouling coatings. For this purpose, two water-soluble random copolymers, poly(4-vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride-co-acrylic acid) P(VBCTMAM-co-AAx) and poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-glycidylmethacrylate) P(DMAm-co-GMAx), were synthesized via free radical polymerization. A water based approach for the synthesis of P(VBCTMAM-co-AAx) copolymer was used. Coatings of the complementary reactive copolymers in different compositions were obtained by curing at 120 °C for one day and were used to coat aquaculture nets. These nets were evaluated in respect to their release rate using Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Total Nitrogen (TN) measurements. Finally, the antifouling efficacy of these newly-composed durable coatings was investigated for 14 days in accelerated conditions. The results showed that this novel polymeric material provides contact-killing antifouling activity for a short time period, whereas it functions efficiently in biofouling removal after high-pressure cleaning.BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension are considered risk factors for developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study aims to assess steatosis and fibrosis severity in a cohort of T2DM patients, using vibration controlled transient elastography (VCTE) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). MATERIAL AND METHOD We performed a prospective study in which, in each patient, we aimed for 10 valid CAP and liver stiffness measurements (LSM). To discriminate between fibrosis stages, we used the following VCTE cut-offs F ≥ 2-8.2 kPa, F ≥ 3-9.7 kPa, and F4 - 13.6 kPa. To discriminate between steatosis stages, we used the following CAP cut-offs S1 (mild) - 274 dB/m, S2 (moderate) - 290dB/m, S3 (severe) - 302dB/m. RESULTS During the study period, we screened 776 patients; 60.3% had severe steatosis, while 19.4% had advanced fibrosis. Female gender, BMI, waist circumference, elevated levels of AST, total cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, and high LSM were associated with severe steatosis (all p-value less then 0.05). BMI, waist circumference, elevated levels of AST, HbA1c, and CAP were associated with advanced fibrosis (all p-values less then 0.05). CONCLUSION Higher BMI (obesity) comprises a higher risk of developing severe steatosis and fibrosis. Individualized screening strategies should be established for NAFLD according to different BMI.Data concerning the prevalence of developmental enamel defects and their association with dental caries in individuals with intellectual disability are scarce. This paper aims to evaluate the prevalence and distribution of developmental enamel defects and dental caries in the permanent dentition of special-care school children from Poznan (Poland). Out of 1091 students attending all special-care schools in the city, the study covered 268 subjects with intellectual disability (mild, moderate, severe, and profound) with permanent dentition, aged 10-20. One calibrated dentist performed dental examinations. The Statistica Software v10 was used for statistical analysis, assuming the level of statistical significance p ≤ 0.05. Among the subjects of the study, 19.40% presented developmental enamel defects. The number of teeth with changes ranged from 1 to 28, with maxillary incisors most frequently affected. Students without developmental enamel defects had more teeth observed with active caries compared to those with such changes (10.92% vs. 7.82%, p less then 0.01). The highest number of students with developmental defects of enamel was observed in the group of individuals with mild intellectual disabilities. The present study revealed that in special-care students from Poznan, enamel defects and dental caries were frequently observed. However, individuals with developmental enamel defects did not show higher dental caries indices.Previous studies reported that Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the main cell receptor of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. It plays a key role in the access of the virus into the cell to produce the final infection. In the present study we investigated in silico the basic mechanism of ACE2 in the lung and provided evidences for new potentially effective drugs for Covid-19. Specifically, we used the gene expression profiles from public datasets including The Cancer Genome Atlas, Gene Expression Omnibus and Genotype-Tissue Expression, Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analysis to investigate the main functions of ACE2-correlated genes. We constructed a protein-protein interaction network containing the genes co-expressed with ACE2. Finally, we focused on the genes in the network that are already associated with known drugs and evaluated their role for a potential treatment of Covid-19. Our results demonstrate that the genes correlated with ACE2 are mainly enriched in the sterol biosynthetic process, Aryldialkylphosphatase activity, adenosylhomocysteinase activity, trialkylsulfonium hydrolase activity, acetate-CoA and CoA ligase activity. We identified a network of 193 genes, 222 interactions and 36 potential drugs that could have a crucial role. Among possible interesting drugs for Covid-19 treatment, we found Nimesulide, Fluticasone Propionate, Thiabendazole, Photofrin, Didanosine and Flutamide.In this paper, the feasibility of applying a multi-branch equivalent model employing first- and second-order Cauer circuits for the analysis of electromagnetic transducers used in systems of wireless power transfer is discussed. NSC125066 A method of formulating an equivalent model (EqM) is presented, and an example is shown for a wireless power transfer system (WPTS) consisting of an air transformer with field concentrators. A method is proposed to synthesize the EqM of the considered transducer based on the time-harmonic field model, an optimization algorithm employing the evolution strategy (ES) and the equivalent Cauer circuits. A comparative analysis of the performance of the considered WPTS under high-frequency voltage supply calculated using the proposed EqM and a 3D field model in the time domain using the finite element method (FEM) was carried out. The selected results of the conducted analysis are presented and discussed.