Background: Postoperative morbidity in patients with obstructive jaundice remains high because of increased susceptibility to endotoxin and the inflammatory cascade. Aims: An experimental study was designed to investigate the efficacy of protegrin peptide IB-367, an antimicrobial positively charged peptide, in neutralising Escherichia coli 0111:B4 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in bile duct ligated r...

Methods Open, prospective, single-center study. All consecutive patients in whom treatment with MER or TZP was indicated from October 2014 to March 2015 were included. A 2g (MER) or 4g (TZP) loading dose was given followed by a 6g (MER) or 16-24g (TZP) continuous infusion over 24 hours. Serum concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HLPC) 1 hour, 24 hours and 3-...

Growth in plants is modulated by a complex interplay between internal signals and external cues. Although traditional mutagenesis has been a successful approach for the identification of growth regulatory genes, it is likely that many genes involved in growth control remain to be discovered. In this study, we used the phenotypic variation between Bay-0 and Shahdara, two natural strains (accessi...

Zirconia is now favored over titanium for use in dental implant materials because of its superior aesthetic qualities. However, zirconia is susceptible to degradation at lower temperatures. In order to address this issue, we have developed modified zirconia implants that contain tantalum oxide or niobium oxide. Cells attached as efficiently to the zirconia implants as to titanium-based material...

Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZP) have proved to be important structural ceramics. High strength and fracture toughness make them attractive candidates for a number of demanding applications. It was established that these advantageous properties are strongly influenced by the ceramic microstructure [1]. The relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties ...

The mechanical properties of layered Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composites with laminate and cellular morphologies have been investigated. The strength and toughness increase as the layer thickness decreases, and the amount of transformation in the Ce-TZP layer increases discontinuously at the laminate/cellular transition. Very high strengths (1.1 GPa) and toughnesses (16 MPa?m1/2) have been obtained in some...

A commercially available Y-TZP ceramic powder was fabricated under four different sintering profiles in order to investigate the effects of conventional single-stage sintering (SSS) with dwell times of 1 min and 2 h, respectively, compared with two-stage sintering (TSS), on the physical and mechanical properties of Y-TZP. Sintering was performed up to 1400 o C at a ramp rate of 10 o C/min. It w...

Shrinkage behavior and crack formation during firing have been investigated for Al2O3/Ce-TZP composites that have been fabricated by colloidal rolling and folding. These composites show improved sinterability and sinter isotropically after repeated rolling. Interface instability in rolling creates corrugated interfaces with large layer waviness; therefore, rolling can substantially alleviate th...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the friction and wear behavior of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) against 3Y-TZP and a novel 3Y-TZP/niobium (Nb) biocomposite. The ceramic and the biocomposite materials were subjected to an accelerated aging process to evaluate the changes in the tribological behavior after this treatment. To carry out the tribological tests, a reciprocat...

Abstract Background Resistance to β-lactams amongst PSA is common with roughly 20% of isolates demonstrating resistance TZP. This can lead delays in the time appropriate empiric therapy. While rapid diagnostics identify at earlier points, they fail detect β-lactam mechanisms this pathogen. Though risk factors for TZP (TZP-R) have been identified, co-resistance traditional anti-PSA common, so de...