Contract Period Research Articles

Assessment of risk-forming factors of construction production in conditions of uncertainty

Many changes have occurred in the construction industry over the past few years as a result of the development of technologies and specifications of the materials used and modern technologies, which led to an increase in the accuracy and speed of implementation of various stages of the project life cycle, and it became important to anticipate external and internal risks of the project and plan a response to these risks, since they have the effect of an unaccounted price increase and an excess of the contract period. From this perspective, risk assessment was a necessary tool to determine the risks to which the project was exposed in order to find the best way to deal with them. The aim of the study is to identify the most significant types of risk factors faced by the construction industry, which lead to exceeding the specified time for implementation and to large losses, which helps stakeholders in this area to predict potential obstacles and be able to quickly make appropriate decisions. To achieve this goal, a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect information from specialists in the construction industry, as well as references in this field to express an opinion on the intensity of the impact of each studied risk factor. Thereafter, Monte Carlo simulations were used to assess the risk factors studied. The study found that Monte Carlo simulations, which depend on repeated scenarios hundreds or thousands of times, can provide an accurate estimate of the risks faced by investment and construction projects in conditions of uncertainty.

The action of aripiprazole and brexpiprazole at the receptor level in singultus.

The hiccup (Latin singultus) is an involuntary periodic contraction of the diaphragm followed by glottic closure, which can be a rare side effect of aripiprazole. In contrast to the structurally closely related aripiprazole, brexpiprazole was not associated with this particular adverse drug reaction. Having two very similar drugs that differ in their ability to induce hiccups represents a unique opportunity to gain insight into the receptors involved in the pathophysiology of the symptom and differences in clinical effects between aripiprazole and brexpiprazole. The overlap between maneuvers used to terminate paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia and those employed to terminate bouts of hiccups suggests that activation of efferent vagal fibers can be therapeutic in both instances. Recent work seems to support a pivotal role for serotonin receptors in such vagal activation. It is unlikely that a unique receptor-drug interaction could explain the different effects of the examined drugs on hiccup. The different effect is most likely the consequence of several smaller effects at more than one receptor. Brexpiprazole is a highly affine (potent) α2C antagonist and, therefore, also an indirect 5-HT1A agonist. In contrast, aripiprazole is a partial 5-HT1A agonist (weak antagonist) and an HT3 antagonist. Activation of 5-HT1A receptors enhances vagal activity while HT3 blockade reduces it. Vagus nerve activation is therapeutic for hiccups. A definitive answer continues to be elusive.

A Study on the House Size and Contract Period of Single-person Households - Focusing on Single-Person Households in Seoul, Korea -

A Study on the House Size and Contract Period of Single-person Households - Focusing on Single-Person Households in Seoul, Korea -

수도권 지역 주택가격 순환주기 변동의 영향요인 분석

The purpose of this study is to analyze the cycle variation of housing sales price in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon and the factors that influence them. For the purpose, the apartment sales price index, rent price index, 3-year corporate bond interest rate, currency volume, and consumer price index data from November 2003 to July 2020 were used to analyze HP filter and Bayesian VAR model. As a result of the analysis, the housing sales price were 4 cycle variations in Seoul and Gyeonggi and 3 cycle variations in Incheon. In Seoul, the expansion period lasted longer than the contraction period, but the contraction period was longer in Gyeonggi and Incheon. In addition, it was found that the rent price index, corporate bond yield, and currency volume had a significant influence on the cycle variation of housing sales price, and there were differences in influence factors by region. This suggests that the government's real estate policy needs to be subdivided and established by region rather than a consistent regulatory-oriented policy.

Regarding the Legal Issues in relation to Trial System or Proationary period in employment matters

Given the fact that dismissals are not easy, employers will try to use a trial system that allows employees to be hired after fully verifying the quality of their workforce rather than offering permanent employment. However, it is important to regulate the abuse of the system as it could lead to an increase in non-regular employment and unemployment among young people. In this thesis, we looked at the distinction between the trial period and the probationary period, the problem of the trial contract in the fixed-term employment contract, the length and progress of the trial period, the nature of the trial period, and the specific criteria for rejection of this continuing employment after the expiration of the trial period. First, the trial labour contract is a type of employment contract with employer’s termination right by observing and evaluating worker’s competence of work such as work ability, qualities, character, and sincerity, for a certain period of time after hiring as a trainee. In general, trial employment is used for the purpose of temporary employment before entering into permanent employment. On the contrary, the probation period refers to a period set for the purpose of training and training workers’ vocational skills after the official recruitment, and it is used in the sense that it has already been officially recruited, and there is no specific work adequacy evaluation to determine whether or not to be employed. Depending on whether the employment contract is trial or probation, it can result in a substantial difference to the employee, so it is necessary to interpret the employment contract by clearly distinguishing it conceptually. In addition, it is a matter of interpretation of the employment contract according to specific issues, as it is necessary to grasp what meaning is actually used through the employment contract or employment rules Second, employment disputes may arise as to whether it is a contract period or a trial period. In such cases, it is ultimately a matter of interpretation of the parties intention, but if it is interpreted that the purpose and purpose of the period is to evaluate and judge the employee s ability to work, etc. during that period, it should be interpreted as a possible period of use for the protection of the employee. In addition, it would not be easy to accept the position that it is not acceptable to include temporary work in part-time work contracts in consideration of the fact that it is difficult for an employee in a subordinate position to enter into a part-time work contract to claim to exclude them in the absence of clear application laws regarding the part-time work. Third, it can be interpreted as invalid in accordance with Article 103 of the Civil Act that although it may differ depending on the purpose and occupation of the setting, the period of use is generally appropriate for three months, and the period of unfair long-term use is feared to destabilize the status of employees. If there is no reasonable reason for not being able to determine the eligibility of employees during the first period of employment, the employer shall be deemed to be unable to extend the period of use, and if the employer does not actively express to the hirer that it is inappropriate as a full-time employee even though the specified period of use has passed, the hirer shall be deemed to acquire the status as a full-time employee. Fourth, the legal nature of the trial employment contract was regarded as a contract with the right to terminate. Therefore, in the case of a trial employment contract, the employer can terminate the employment contract by exercising the termination right reserved at the end of the trial period. However, as an employee during the trial period has an employment contract as well as a formal employee, exercising the right to terminate is equivalent to dismissal under the Labor Standards Act.

Evaluation of Wound Healing Activity of an Ethanolic Extract of Anacardiumoccidentale Leaves in Wistar Rats

BACKGROUND -This study undertaken to screen a potential wound healing activity of an ethanolic extract of Anacardiumoccidentale(Ao)leaves in Wistar rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS-Excision wound of 500mm2created on the back of Wistar rats. A total of thirty adult Wistar rats were prescreened and divided into five groups of six rats each.Group I and II rats were treated by normal saline (control) and povidone-iodine (standard drug), respectively. Group III and IV with 0.5% and 2%of Anacardiumoccidentale ointment (test drugs), respectively, and Group V rats treated with anti-wound healer drug dexamethasone, i.m. + 2% Anacardiumoccidentale. All drugs were applied topically except Inj. dexamethasone. In the model of excision wound, the wound healing effect was determined by parameters such as the percentage of wound contraction, duration of epithelialization, and histopathological examination. RESULT-All drugs, povidone-iodine, 0.5%, and 2% of the Ao ointment treated group of rats showed a statistically significant increase (P<0.05) in the % of wound contraction on 5th and 6thdays Vs.Control rats. In contrast,povidone-iodine, 2% Ao ointment and (dexamethasone + 2% Ao)treated rats decreased the period of epithelialization which was statistically significant (P<0.05) compared to the control.However, the standard povidone-iodine treated rats showed a maximum increase in the percentage of wound contraction and minimum period of epithelialization, followed by a higher dose of 2% Ao extract. The plant extract 0.5% and 2% of Ao showeda significant increase inthe rate of wound contraction as compared to the standard drug povidone-iodine also. The combination of (2%Aoextract+dexamethasone) drug-treated rats decreased the rate of wound contraction on 5th, 9th days; whereas, povidone-iodine increased on all days, i.e., 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th days,which was statistically significant (p<0.05) Vs.Normal saline. The povidone and 2% of Ao extract hastened the rate of wound healing activity, which was evident by maximum re-epithelialization and presence of the collagen fibers. CONCLUSION-In our study, the topical application of Anacardiumoccidentale leaf extract has shown promising wound healing activity; however, it failed to reverse the anti-wound healing property of steroids.

MEKANISME PENENTUAN MARGIN PADA TRANSAKSI PEMBIAYAAN MURABAHAH

Sharia banks, one of which activities are channeling funds with the principle of Murabahah (Buy-Sell), of course carry out these transactions in accordance with applicable regulations, namely in accordance with the DSN fatwa No. 04 / DSN-MUI / IV2000 regarding Murabahah, which is the contract used in the sale and purchase of goods by stating the cost of goods and the profit (margin) agreed upon by the seller and the buyer. In murabahah in Islamic banks, we as customers have agreed with the bank to buy goods, where the goods are first purchased by the Islamic bank, then sell them back to customers with a predetermined and mutually agreed rate of profit margin. At first glance, we do not see a difference in the amount of installments between installments at conventional banks and those in Islamic banks. What we need to underline here is the form / scheme of each type of channeling funds from the bank. For conventional banks, banks channel funds by providing credit / loans in the form of money. This means that here a conventional bank sells its money in the hope of a profit rate determined by interest. Meanwhile, Islamic banks distribute funds in the form of sale and purchase, where the BS buys an asset / asset which then sells it back to the customer at the level of profit that has been agreed at the beginning. Where according to PBI No. 7/46 / PBI / 2005 that "the agreement margin must be determined once at the beginning of the contract and does not change during the contract period". This shows that there will be no change in installments during the financing period with the Indonesian murabahah scheme

A real option-based valuation model for Shared Water Saving Management Contract

Abstract Water Saving Management Contract (WSMC) is believed as an efficient water-saving model and developed in recent years. However, because the high upfront investment cost and great uncertainty of WSMC, the static evaluation methods have defects in evaluating the return on investment of WSMC projects. Real option theory makes up for these defects and is applied in this paper with the expectation to evaluate the uncertainty of a Shared WSMC project and the economic feasibility of investing in the project. First, a new expression of volatility is presented based on the characteristics of Shared WSMC projects. The volatility contains uncertainties in water price, the amount of water-saving, waterborne fee, and operating & maintenance cost simultaneously. Then, it is assumed that the water saving service company is entitled options to abandon and expand the Shared WSMC project during the contract period. Based on the existing model, the exercise prices of the two options are improved. Furthermore, the real option value (ROV) of a Shared WSMC project is solved using the binomial tree option pricing model, and the economic feasibility of the project is comprehensively evaluated by combining with the static net present value and ROV organically. Finally, the Shared WSMC project of the Hebei University of Engineering in China is studied to verify the validity of the proposed method. The obtained results indicate that the economic value of the Shared WSMC project is expanded by the ROV, which means that additional value can be gained through flexible strategies and management in the context of uncertainty. Besides, the additional economic benefits of the two options vary significantly for different Shared WSMC projects. Expand option is particularly essential when Shared WSMC projects with a considerable return on investment. Conversely, the abandon option should be taken seriously. Especially when both options are considered together, the additional economic benefits are sub-additive.

Suitability of contract-based nature conservation in privately-owned forests in Germany

The successful implementation of contract-based nature conservation in privately-owned forests requires a framework of reasonable operational measures. Our study aimed at developing such a framework by; 1) defining forest conservation objects including structures, processes, and habitat types, 2) assessing their conservation value based on the need for, and worthiness of, protection, 3) reviewing the suitability of contract-based measures for conservation. Overall, we defined 67 conservation objects, with 8 of them used as case studies: deadwood, habitat trees, natural succession after large-scale disturbance, coppice-with-standards, bog and fen woodlands, dry sand pine forests, and beech forests. We considered contract-based conservation suitable if, within the contract period, outcomes of measures resulted in ecological upgrading or avoidance of value loss. We identified contract-based conservation suitable for 42 combinations of objects and measures. Our approach of assessing the potential of contract-based measures for forest conservation is novel with regards to its broad range of objects, defined criteria, and various contract periods. It can help to progress conservation and improve outcomes of measures, especially in privately-owned forests in Germany. Further prerequisites are sufficient financial resources, effective administration, consultancy and the mid- to long-term stability of funding programmes.

In vivo manipulation of muscle shape and tendinous stiffness affects the human ability to generate torque rapidly.

What is the central question of this study? What are the determinants of muscle belly gearing, and how does it affect the torque rise? What is the main finding and its importance? Change in muscle thickness of the gastrocnemius medialis is related to variations in belly gearing. Belly gearing has a key role in the rise of muscle torque and rate of torque development (RTD). Besides, the increase of tendinous tissue stiffness could increase the torque rise as well, and in turn, the RTD. However, changes in the tendinous tissue stiffness showed no effects on muscle fascicle behaviour, suggesting a possible uncoupling between muscle and tendon mechanical properties. During fixed-end contractions, muscles bulge in thickness and/or width to maintain a constant volume, whereas tendons lengthen over the entire contraction period. These dynamic changes play a key functional role in modulating the generated torque. However, the literature has revealed a limited understanding of in vivo dynamic muscle-tendon changes during rapid contractions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the determinants of belly gearing (belly velocity/fascicle velocity) and its effects on rapid torque production during in vivo fixed-end contractions. Twenty healthy males were recruited for the study. Muscle shape and tendon stiffness were manipulated by applying a transverse load (2-10kg) and an ankle rotation manoeuvre, respectively. Ultrafast-ultrasound was employed to quantify medial gastrocnemius architecture during evoked contraction and a dynamometer was used to measure the muscle torque and quantify the rate of torque development (RTD). Torque and RTD diminished by transverse load application, whereas they increased during the ankle rotation manoeuvre. Belly gearing declined with increasing transverse load but was unaffected by tendinous stiffness variations. Alterations in belly gearing were strongly related to variations in muscle thickness throughout any load applied and affected the torque rise rapidly. In contrast, changes in tendinous tissue stiffness affected the torque rise only but did not modify the muscle shape. These data may suggest that concurrent manipulation of the tendinous tissue stiffness and muscle shape does not affect the explosive rise in torque capacity, suggesting a possible uncoupling between mechanical properties of muscle and tendon.

Macao Gaming Concession System: Present and Future Direction

Macao gaming concession is about to expire in June 2022, and such issues as the number of concessions and contract period have attracted much attention. This article introduces the evolution of Macao gaming system with emphasis on its concession duration, legal limit on the number of concessions, asset disposal and tax rate. As a result of its gaming liberalization, Macao has developed into the world’s casino capital. The gaming situation in Macao and in the gaming jurisdictions nearby is different from what it was twenty years ago. Although the current law requires a new public tender for awarding concessions, the increased number of gaming jurisdictions to target Macao would entail adjustment in its public policies to keep its gaming industry competitive. Additionally, the evolution of the relevant public policies and their interactions with touristic, infrastructural, environmental and urban planning policies would likely lead to some changes in the core of the current Macao gaming legislation. The authors indicated that the emergence of subconcessions and satellite casinos, the fractioning of spaces and utilities by different entities regarding asset reversion to the government, and the relationship between concessionaires and junket operators are some major issues, which require an improved legal framework designed to react expeditiously and effectively to the fast-moving industry for a sustained and consistent upward regulatory trajectory. Following this, revising and improving the current concession model would be crucial, even though it implies changes to the core of the current Macao gaming legislation.

Determinants of Audit Quality

A public accountant has an obligation in providing good audit quality but with the case of freezing the license of the public accounting firm karana violation of SPAP, the public began to doubt the quality of the audit itself. The purpose of this study is to empirically test the quality of audits influenced by audit fees and audit quality influenced by the audit agreement period. The methods used are descriptive and verifikative. The population is 16 Public Accounting Firms in bandung area, using saturated sampling techniques or census, while the respondents are senior auditors, partners. Statistical testing uses correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, coefficient of determination and to test the hypothesis then used t test. The results showed that the quality of audit is influenced by the audit fee, between the quality of the audit and the audit fee has a positive relationship which means that when the audit fee is large, the quality becomes better. The quality of audit is also influenced by the period of auditor's alliance and has a negative relationship where when the alliance period becomes long, the audit quality becomes poor, the quality of the audit is also influenced by other factors that are not researched such as independence, competence, professionalism and so on. Based on the results of the study the authors suggest that when accepting work from clients, the approved audit fee must be adjusted to the audit fee structure so that the quality is better and the complexity of the services provided while the contracting period with the client should be the second year of auditing the auditing team of auditors in rotation to keep the audit quality good.

Wound Healing Effect of Acokanthera schimperi Schweinf (Apocynaceae) Methanol Leaf Extract Ointment in Mice and Its in-vitro Antioxidant Activity.

BackgroundAcokanthera schimperi is traditionally used for the treatment of wounds and various bacterial infections. Due to the ongoing escalation of antimicrobial resistance, there is an increasing demand for the appropriate wound care and hence, the present study was initiated to investigate the wound healing effects of the leaf extract ointments of A. schimperi in mice and its in-vitro antioxidant activity.MethodsThe crude extract was prepared as 5% and 10% w/w ointments for topical use in mice. Wound contraction and epithelialization period were determined in excision and infected models, whereas tensile strength was determined in an incision model. Besides, its antioxidant activity was evaluated using the DPPH method.ResultsIn this study, the 10% w/w extract ointment did not cause toxicity at the 2000 mg/kg limit dose. In the excision model, the 10% w/w ointment exhibited a significant wound contraction effect starting from day 6 to 14 with a complete epithelization shown on day 13. Besides, the 5%w/w ointment showed a significant wound contraction effect starting from day 6 onwards, and a significant decrease in the epithelization period observed on day 16. Conversely, both the 10% w/w and 5% w/w ointments showed significant wound contraction effects starting from day 4 and onwards in the infected model. However, a complete epithelization period was observed on days 14 and 18 in the 10%w/w and 5% w/w/extract ointment treated groups, respectively. In the incision model, the 10% (w/w) and 5% (w/w) extract ointments showed a significant increase in tensile strength by 36.80 and 32.23%, respectively. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of the extract was concentration-dependent with an IC50 value of 5.49± 0.38 µg/µL.ConclusionThe potential wound healing effects of this plant may provide a candidate source in the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of wounds.

AHA statement addresses growing list of drugs that induce arrhythmias

AHA statement addresses growing list of drugs that induce arrhythmias

Study on velocity and pressure characteristics of self-excited oscillating nozzle

The mechanism of the self-excited oscillation pulsed jet is still in a period of continuous improvement, and the application breadth and depth of the self-excited oscillation nozzle are significantly limited since the turbulent flow field inside the self-excited oscillation nozzle is exceptionally complex. In this study, computational fluid dynamics numerical simulation and experimental research methods are combined. By changing the structural parameters of self-excited oscillating nozzles, the velocity and pressure characteristics of the self-excited oscillating nozzles were compared and analyzed to determine the important factors that influenced the effect of pulsed jet. These findings demonstrated that the periodic expansion and contraction of the low-pressure vortex ring in the self-excited oscillation nozzle chamber will cause the pressure of the nozzle outlet section to change periodically. The periodic high-voltage blocking and low-pressure speedup of the outlet directly correlate with the pulsed jet. This study shows the reasonable size design range of the self-excited oscillation nozzle, which can guide the design and practical application of the nozzle, as well as provide the theoretical basis for perfecting the self-excited oscillation pulsed jet theory.

A Preferred Vendor Model Reduces the Costs of Sports Medicine Surgery

To report on our institution's first year of experience with a preferred vendor program for implants and disposables for sports medicine surgery. Cost and utilization data for implants and disposables were analyzed for knee and shoulder sports medicine surgeries performed during the 2-year period including the 12 months preceding the start of the contract (contract year 0 [CY0] and the first 12 months of the contract period (CY1). The costs of grafts and biological therapies were excluded. Utilization of the preferred vendor's products, operative time, and per-case costs were compared between the 2 time periods and adjusted for patient factors and case mix. Utilization of the preferred vendor's shavers (0% to 94%, P < .001) and radiofrequency ablation wands (0% to 91%, P < .001) increased significantly in CY1 (n= 5,068 cases) compared with CY0 (n= 5,409 cases), with a small but significant increase in use of the preferred vendor's implants (64% to 67%, P= .023). There was no significant difference in mean operative time between CY0 and CY1 (P= .485). Mean total per-case implant and disposable costs decreased by 12% (P < .001) in CY1 versus CY0. Our institution was able to reduce the costs of sports medicine surgery with the implementation of a preferred single-vendor program for implants and disposables. This program had widespread surgeon adoption and did not have any detrimental effect on operating room efficiency. III, retrospective comparative study.

EMG Signal Feature Extraction, Normalization and Classification for Pain and Normal Muscles Using Genetic Algorithm and Support Vector Machine

Electromyography (EMG) is the process of measuring neuromuscular activities generated during the contraction and expansion period of muscles throughout the body. The potential is recorded by inserting needle or by placing electrodes on the surface of body. In this research, an automatic EMG signal classification system is developed using machine learning oriented Support Vector Machine (SVM). The collected data is selected using Genetic Algorithm (GA). The purpose of GA is to select those rows from the dataset, which contains potential or electrical activities recorded while the patient is in motion. Furthermore, the selected features are neutralized using critic method. To improve the row selection cosine similarity is being used to determine an average value hence also helps for data reduction. Based on the average similarity values, SVM is trained and used for classification during the testing phase. The experiment has been performed in MATLAB tool and the classification accuracy for normal and pain EMG signal of 91.3% and 92.4% respectively is achieved.

Economic justification for development and operationalization of rail-freight-corridors between hub-seaports and inland container depots in Nigeria

The obsolesce and decay of rail transport infrastructure linking major seaports Cities to hinterland cargo origin and destination centers serviced via the seaports and the total lack of rail infrastructure connection between some hub seaports and the hinterland cargo centers in Nigeria induces enormous economic setback. Most rail routes from seaports to the inland container depots (ICDs) in all the geopolitical zones of the Country are currently inoperable. Government’s recent attempt to develop and make operable the rail routes is faced with funding challenges necessitating the need for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach in which government provides regulation and enablement while private sector operators fund the projects. This study was aimed at providing economic justification for private sector investment in developing, revitalizing and making operable, the rail-freight-corridors between hub-seaports and inland container depots in Nigeria. It estimated the operator-benefits and profitability potentials of investment in each of the ten rail-freight-corridors consisting of existing but inoperable and proposed rail routes from Lagos, Port-Harcourt/Onne, Warri and Calabar seaports to the Inland container depots in different geopolitical regions of Nigeria. Secondary data on the import and export (cargo generation) capacities of each of the ICD regions to and from the respectively connected hub-seaport were obtained from the Nigerian ports authority statistical report covering a period of two years (2018 – 2019) based upon which the annual expected revenue earnings of the operators (investment) were estimated as a product of the total annual TEU handled by each route and the price of delivering per TEU from the seaport to the ICD region. The cost of investment in developing and operating each rail-freight-corridor as determined in previous studies for the Nigerian Shippers Council for the same period were also obtained. Benefit-Cost-Ratio (BCR) and Net Present Value (NPV) tools were used to estimate the operator-benefits and profitability potentials of each rail route within the period using 10% interest rate. It was found that six of the rail routes have BCR &gt; 1; and NPV&gt;0; implying higher operator-benefits over costs within the period. The rail-routes from Lagos seaport to Gombe and Bauchi; Warri seaport to Aba; and Calabar seaport to Kano have BCR &lt;1; and NPV &lt;0; implying higher operator-costs over benefits and unprofitability of the routes within the first two years of service delivery. It was recommended that the PPP terms for rail freight corridors with BCR &lt;1 and NPV&lt;0, should have a higher contract period than the other routes to enable the private investor have a higher payback period to recoup the cost of investment and earn profit.

Enhanced Molecular Diagnosis of Bloodstream Candida Infection with Size-Based Inertial Sorting at Submicron Resolution.

Inertial microfluidics has been proven to be a powerful tool for high-throughput, size-based cell sorting in diverse biomedical applications. In the case of Candida-related sepsis, Candida species and major blood cells (i.e., red blood cells and white blood cells) have a size distribution of 3-5 and 6-30 μm, respectively. To effectively retrieve a majority of Candida species and remove most of the interfering blood cells for accurate molecular analysis, inertial sorting of micron-sized biological particles with submicron size difference is highly desired, but far unexplored till now. In this work, we present a new channel design for an inertial microfluidic sorting device by embedding microsquares to construct periodic contractions along a series of repeating curved units. This unique channel design allows us to enhance inertial lift force at the microsquare zone and produce localized secondary Dean flow drag force in addition to global Dean flow drag force. This inertial sorting device has successfully separated 5.5 μm particles from 6.0 μm particles with a recovery ratio higher than 80% and a purity higher than 92%, demonstrating a size-based inertial sorting at submicron resolution (i.e., 0.5 μm). We further applied this inertial sorting device to purify Candida species from whole blood sample for enhanced molecular diagnosis of bloodstream Candida infection and especially compared it with the commonly used lysis-centrifugation-based purification method (STEM method) by recovering two species of Candida (Cornus glabrata and Candida albicans) from Candida-spiked blood samples. Through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis, we found that our inertial sorting approach has nearly 3-fold improvement on the pathogen recovery than the STEM method at pathogen abundances of 103 cfu/mL and 102 cfu/mL. The present inertial sorting at submicron resolution provides a simple, rapid, and efficient pathogen purification method for significantly improved molecular diagnosis of bloodstream Candida infection.

In vitro Antioxidant and in vivo Wound Healing Activities of the 80% Methanol Extract and Solvent Fractions of Seeds of Brassica carinata A. Braun (Brassicaceae) in Mice.

BackgroundBrassica carinata is one of the traditional medicinal plants used in Ethiopia for the treatment of wounds and other diseases. However, the plant has not been scientifically validated, and thus the present study evaluated the in vitro anti-oxidant and the in vivo wound healing activity of the crude extract and solvent fractions of B. carinata seeds in mice.Materials and MethodsThe crude extract was prepared by maceration using 80% methanol and formulated as 5% and 10% w/w ointments for topical application. The acute dermal toxicity was performed in female albino rats based on Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guideline number 434. Excision and incision wound healing models were used to evaluate the wound healing activities of crude extract and solvent fractions ointments in mice. Wound healing parameters such as wound area contraction and the period of epithelialization were determined in an excision model, whereas tensile strength was determined in an incision model. Moreover, the crude extract and solvent fractions were evaluated for the free radical scavenging activities in DPPH assay.ResultsThe acute dermal toxicity test showed that a limit dose of 2,000 mg/kg of 10% w/w crude extract ointment did not cause dermal toxicity in mice. In the excision wound model, the data revealed that 10% w/w ointment exhibited a significant wound contraction (from day 6 to 16, P<0.001) effect with a significant decrease in epithelization period (at day 14, P<0.001). In addition, 5% ointment of the crude extract showed a significant effect in wound contraction (from day 8 onwards, P<0.01) and epithelization period (at day 16, P<0.01). Despite all fractions being shown to promote wound healing, 10% w/w aqueous and ethyl acetate fractions showed a significant wound contraction (P<0.001) effect starting from the 4th day onwards. Besides, the maximum antioxidant activity was seen in the aqueous fraction with an IC50 value of 3.45±0.12 mg/mL.ConclusionThe present study demonstrated that the 80% methanol extract and solvent fractions of the seeds of B.carinata possess potential wound healing and anti-oxidant effects, supporting the traditional use of the plant for wound management.