The pathogenesis of fetal death associated with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is hypothesized to be a consequence of PRRS virus-induced apoptosis at the maternal-fetal interface (MFI). The objectives of this study were to evaluate distribution and degree of apoptosis in the uterine and fetal placental tissues during the experimental type 2 PRRS virus (PRRSV) infection and...

The permeability of reverse osmosis membranes is limited by the diffusive transport of water across a non-porous polyamide active layer. Alternatively, fabricating a microporous active layer capable of rejecting salt ions while allowing for water transport would increase the permeability while maintaining high salt rejection. Zeolites provide a model porous network which is capable of performin...

We propose a hitless flexible coherent transceiver enabled by a novel modulation format identification (MFI) scheme for dynamic agile optical networks. The modulation format transparent digital signal processing (DSP) is realized by a block-wise decision-directed least-mean-square (DD-LMS) equalizer for channel tracking, and a pilot symbol aided superscalar phase locked loop (PLL) for carrier p...

BACKGROUND Exposure to ozone activates innate immune function and causes neutrophilic (PMN) airway inflammation that in some individuals is robustly elevated. The interplay between immuno-inflammatory function and genomic signaling in those with heightened inflammatory responsiveness to ozone is not well understood. OBJECTIVES Determine baseline predictors and post exposure discriminators for...

The expression of P53, Bcl-2, Bax, Bag-1, and Mcl-1 proteins in CD5/CD20-positive B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells from 30 typical CLL patients was evaluated before and after 48 h of incubation with 10(-6) M fludarabine using multiparametric flow cytometric analysis. Protein expression was correlated with annexin V expression, Rai modified clinical staging, lymphocyte doubling time,...

BACKGROUND Fatigue is common in both Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and can restrict functioning. AIMS We tested the convergent validity of the Profile of Fatigue (ProF) using the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) in SS and RA. METHODS The 16-item ProF and the 20-item MFI were completed by 82 White-British women aged 35-79 years (mean 60.4 years). Thirty-four h...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the expression of CD64 and CD163 on neutrophils and monocytes in SIRS with/without sepsis and to compare the diagnostic accuracy of CD64 and CD163 molecules expression determined as (1) mean fluorescence intensities (MFI) of CD64 and CD163; and (2) the ratio (index) of linearized MFI to the fluorescence signal of standardized beads. PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifty-six critica...

OBJECTIVE To determine the abnormal patterns of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in male factor infertility (MFI) patients and to define the ROS reference values in such patients. DESIGN A retrospective study. SETTING Male infertility clinic at a tertiary healthcare center. PATIENT(S) We examined 132 MFI patients (all normal sperm parameters, n = 24, and all abnormal sperm paramet...

Using hydrothermal synthesis process a series of Mobil Five (MFI) zeolites were synthesized with silica to alumina ratio (SAR) of 50, 100 and 200. The synthesized MFI zeolites were used to exchange with 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% Ca(NO3)2 solutions for modification of MFI zeolites to Ca-MFI zeolite. The formation of MFI zeolite phases was identified by XRD and FT-IR analysis. TGA...