The most frequent cause of pseudomembranous colitis is Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection. This type of colitis is characterized by an endoscopic pattern of numerous small, yellowish or whitish plaques diffusely distributed, which typically compromises the rectum extending to proximal colon. Occasionally, the pseudomembranes compromise only the transverse or right...
The increased severity of Clostridium difficile infection is primarily attributed to the appearance of an epidemic strain characterized as PCR ribotype 027. The only report that identified epidemic C. difficile ribotype 027 in an American country outside of North America comes from Costa Rica, raising the possibility that strains 027...
Clostridium difficile is an important nosocomial pathogen that has become a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
There is a general consensus that C. difficile spores play an important role in C. difficile pathogenesis, contributing to infection,
persistence, and transmission. Evidence has demonstrated that C. difficile spores have an outermost layer,...
Bipedal locomotion is a complex phenomenon to understand and control, making it difficult for legged robots to achieve the speed, agility, efficiency, and robustness of their animal counterparts. This thesis argues for the use of numerical optimization to investigate and implement bipedal control as it applies to biology, dynamical models,...
Understanding the processes involved in the transport of dissolved gas plumes in groundwater aquifers is essential for comprehending the effect that these transport processes can have on site characterization and remedial design applications. Previous laboratory and field studies have indicated that dissolved gas transport in groundwater can be greatly affected...
Metal and hydrogen ion acidity and extreme nitrate concentrations typical of
Department of Energy (DOE) legacy waste sites pose formidable challenges to
successful implementation of in situ bio-immobilization. Intermediate-scale (~ 2.5 m),
flow through models of an in situ bio-barrier were constructed to investigate U and Tc
removal from groundwater...
The Bcl-2 family of proteins regulate cell survival and are targets for cancer therapy. This protein family has also been implicated in chemotherapeutic resistance, the cause of approximately 90% of treatment failure in advanced cancer. We analyzed the expression and the role of the Bcl-2 proteins in chemotherapy resistant breast...
Nuclear Factor, Erythroid Derived 2, Like 2 (NFE2L2 or Nrf2) is the primary transcription factor in cellular defense against oxidative and xenobiotic stresses in higher eukaryotes. This basic leucine zipper transcription factor regulates over 200 antioxidant, detoxification, and lipid metabolizing genes by binding to the Antioxidant Response Element (ARE; a...
The FLEX/REFLEX paradigm is applied to the description of a computer program system. The paradigm is shown to be relevant and appropriate to computer program systems and to advantageously display and structure the general hierarchical characteristics of computer program systems. Program systems characterized in the paradigm are described both holistically...