An unusually competitive Senate race in Maryland went down to the wire Tuesday night with Democrat Angela Alsobrooks hoping her robust polling lead turned into victory against Republican Larry Hogan, a former two-term governor banking on his popularity to fuel an upset win the deep-blue state.

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks won the Senate race in deep-blue Maryland on Tuesday over Republican Larry Hogan, a former two-term governor who failed to convert his popularity into an upset win.

En la siguiente entrevista, la autora nicaragüense Hada María Morales, presenta su nuevo libro "A Mamá le va de maravilla y al hogar también". En él, describe la importancia de que la mujer tenga un alta autoestima dentro de su hogar, pues ...

Salem, OR — Oregon OSHA has launched a Spanish-language online training course on bloodborne pathogens for health care, emergency response, hospitality and other industries.

Baltimore — Hog farm workers who regularly wear facemasks on the job may significantly protect themselves and those in their households from exposure to the antibiotic-resistant bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This white paper contains detailed advice on this subject from J. J. Keller’s workplace safety experts, covering topics such as the meaning of bloodborne pathogens, applicability of the OSHA standard, required training elements, trainer qualifications and more.

Atlanta – Multiple cases of melioidosis – a bacterial infection that has potentially fatal consequences – reinforce the need for researchers in laboratories to follow proper safety procedures when working with unknown pathogens, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Boston — Intended to give small health care employers an “easy-to-use format” for a written exposure control plan, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has published sample written plans for a respiratory protection program and bloodborne pathogen exposure control.

The study sought to better understand the ecology of human pathogens in the environment in the Southwest agricultural region, particularly how pathogens survive, move and possibly contaminate produce prior to harvest

A new cleaning tool has been under development at Cornell University, which uses superheated steam to kill bacteria on production surfaces.

The post Exploratory Studies to Investigate Mechanisms of HIV infection, Replication, Latency, and/or Pathogenesis in the Context of Substance Use Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) [Letter of Intent Due Date: July 14] was curated by information for practice.

[Domestic] :
The nation has confirmed its first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza so far this fall season at a poultry farm in Gangwon Province.  Quarantine authorities said Wednesday that the birds at the farm in Donghae had the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus. The farm, which raises some 700 ...

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Conjugation is the process by which plasmids, including those that carry antibiotic-resistance genes, are mobilized from one bacterium (the donor) to another (the recipient). The conjugation efficiency of IncF-like plasmids relies on the formation of mating-pair stabilization via intimate interactions between outer membrane proteins on the donor (a plasmid-encoded TraN isoform) and recipient bacteria. Conjugation of the R100-1 plasmid into Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) recipients relies on pairing between the plasmid-encoded TraNα in the donor and OmpW in the recipient. Here, the crystal structure of K. pneumoniae OmpW (OmpWKP) is reported at 3.2 Å resolution. OmpWKP forms an eight-stranded β-barrel flanked by extracellular loops. The structures of E. coli OmpW (OmpWEC) and OmpWKP show high conservation despite sequence variability in the extracellular loops.

In the realm of X-ray ptychography experiments, a considerable amount of ptychography scans are typically performed within a field of view encompassing the target sample. While it is crucial to obtain overlapping scans in small increments over the region of interest for achieving high-resolution sample reconstruction, a significant number of these scans often redundantly measure the empty background within the wide field of view. To address this inefficiency, an innovative algorithm is proposed that introduces automatic guidance for data acquisition. The algorithm first directs the scan point to actively search for the object of interest within the field of view. Subsequently, it intelligently scans along the perimeter of the sample, strategically acquiring measurements exclusively within the boundary of the region of interest. By employing this approach, a reduction in the number of measurements required to obtain high-resolution reconstruction images is demonstrated, as compared with conventional raster scanning methods. Furthermore, the automatic guidance provided by the algorithm offers the added advantage of saving valuable time during the reconstruction process. Through practical implementation on real experiments, these findings showcase the efficacy of the proposed algorithm in enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of X-ray ptychography experiments. This novel approach holds immense potential for advancing sample analysis and imaging techniques in various scientific disciplines.

X-ray ptychography is a coherent diffraction imaging technique based on acquiring multiple diffraction patterns obtained through the illumination of the sample at different partially overlapping probe positions. The diffraction patterns collected are used to retrieve the complex transmittivity function of the sample and the probe using a phase retrieval algorithm. Absorption or phase contrast images of the sample as well as the real and imaginary parts of the probe function can be obtained. Furthermore, X-ray ptychography can also provide spectral information of the sample from absorption or phase shift images by capturing multiple ptychographic projections at varying energies around the resonant energy of the element of interest. However, post-processing of the images is required to extract the spectra. To facilitate this, ProSPyX, a Python package that offers the analysis tools and a graphical user interface required to process spectral ptychography datasets, is presented. Using the PyQt5 Python open-source module for development and design, the software facilitates extraction of absorption and phase spectral information from spectral ptychographic datasets. It also saves the spectra in file formats compatible with other X-ray absorption spectroscopy data analysis software tools, streamlining integration into existing spectroscopic data analysis pipelines. To illustrate its capabilities, ProSPyX was applied to process the spectral ptychography dataset recently acquired on a nickel wire at the SWING beamline of the SOLEIL synchrotron.

Synchrotron light sources can provide the required spatial coherence, stability and control to support the development of advanced lithography at the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray wavelengths that are relevant to current and future fabricating technologies. Here an evaluation of the optical performance of the soft X-ray (SXR) beamline of the Australian Synchrotron (AS) and its suitability for developing interference lithography using radiation in the 91.8 eV (13.5 nm) to 300 eV (4.13 nm) range are presented. A comprehensive physical optics model of the APPLE-II undulator source and SXR beamline was constructed to simulate the properties of the illumination at the proposed location of a photomask, as a function of photon energy, collimation and monochromator parameters. The model is validated using a combination of experimental measurements of the photon intensity distribution of the undulator harmonics. It is shown that the undulator harmonics intensity ratio can be accurately measured using an imaging detector and controlled using beamline optics. Finally, the photomask geometric constraints and achievable performance for the limiting case of fully spatially coherent illumination are evaluated.

X-ray ptychography and ptychographic computed tomography have seen a rapid rise since the advent of fourth-generation synchrotrons with a high degree of coherent radiation. In addition to quantitative multiscale structural analysis, ptychography with spectral capabilities has been developed, allowing for spatial-localized multiscale structural and spectral information of samples. The SWING beamline of Synchrotron SOLEIL has recently developed a nanoprobe setup where the endstation's first spectral and resonant ptychographic measurements have been successfully conducted. A metallic nickel wire sample was measured using 2D spectral ptychography in XANES mode and resonant ptychographic tomography. From the 2D spectral ptychography measurements, the spectra of the components of the sample's complex-valued refractive index, δ and β, were extracted, integrated along the sample thickness. By performing resonance ptychographic tomography at two photon energies, 3D maps of the refractive index decrement, δ, were obtained at the Ni K-edge energy and another energy above the edge. These maps allowed the detection of impurities in the Ni wire. The significance of accounting for the atomic scattering factor is demonstrated in the calculation of electron density near a resonance through the use of the δ values. These results indicate that at the SWING beamline it is possible to conduct state-of-the-art spectral and resonant ptychography experiments using the nanoprobe setup.

Developing semiconductor devices requires a fast and reliable source of strain information with high spatial resolution and strain sensitivity. This work investigates the strain in an axially heterostructured 180 nm-diameter GaInP nanowire with InP segments of varying lengths down to 9 nm, simultaneously probing both materials. Scanning X-ray diffraction (XRD) is compared with Bragg projection ptychography (BPP), a fast single-projection method. BPP offers a sufficient spatial resolution to reveal fine details within the largest segments, unlike scanning XRD. The spatial resolution affects the quantitative accuracy of the strain maps, where BPP shows much-improved agreement with an elastic 3D finite element model compared with scanning XRD. The sensitivity of BPP to small deviations from the Bragg condition is systematically investigated. The experimental confirmation of the model suggests that the large lattice mismatch of 1.52% is accommodated without defects.

X-ray ptychography is a lensless imaging technique that visualizes the nano­structure of a thick specimen which cannot be observed with an electron microscope. It reconstructs a complex-valued refractive index of the specimen from observed diffraction patterns. This reconstruction problem is called phase retrieval (PR). For further improvement in the imaging capability, including expansion of the depth of field, various PR algorithms have been proposed. Since a high-quality PR method is built upon a base PR algorithm such as ePIE, developing a well performing base PR algorithm is important. This paper proposes an improved iterative algorithm named CRISP. It exploits subgradient projection which allows adaptive step size and can be expected to avoid yielding a poor image. The proposed algorithm was compared with ePIE, which is a simple and fast-convergence algorithm, and its modified algorithm, rPIE. The experiments confirmed that the proposed method improved the reconstruction performance for both simulation and real data.

Ptychography is a powerful computational imaging technique with microscopic imaging capability and adaptability to various specimens. To obtain an imaging result, it requires a phase-retrieval algorithm whose performance directly determines the imaging quality. Recently, deep neural network (DNN)-based phase retrieval has been proposed to improve the imaging quality from the ordinary model-based iterative algorithms. However, the DNN-based methods have some limitations because of the sensitivity to changes in experimental conditions and the difficulty of collecting enough measured specimen images for training the DNN. To overcome these limitations, a ptychographic phase-retrieval algorithm that combines model-based and DNN-based approaches is proposed. This method exploits a DNN-based denoiser to assist an iterative algorithm like ePIE in finding better reconstruction images. This combination of DNN and iterative algorithms allows the measurement model to be explicitly incorporated into the DNN-based approach, improving its robustness to changes in experimental conditions. Furthermore, to circumvent the difficulty of collecting the training data, it is proposed that the DNN-based denoiser be trained without using actual measured specimen images but using a formula-driven supervised approach that systemically generates synthetic images. In experiments using simulation based on a hard X-ray ptychographic measurement system, the imaging capability of the proposed method was evaluated by comparing it with ePIE and rPIE. These results demonstrated that the proposed method was able to reconstruct higher-spatial-resolution images with half the number of iterations required by ePIE and rPIE, even for data with low illumination intensity. Also, the proposed method was shown to be robust to its hyperparameters. In addition, the proposed method was applied to ptychographic datasets of a Simens star chart and ink toner particles measured at SPring-8 BL24XU, which confirmed that it can successfully reconstruct images from measurement scans with a lower overlap ratio of the illumination regions than is required by ePIE and rPIE.

In a new study, Siva Umapathy and Deepak Kumar Saini’s teams have demonstrated another application for this combination: Quickly identifying bacterial pathogens in different types of clinical samples.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has simplified the workflow for the SureTect PCR System, by introducing streamlined handling and fail-safe color-coded plates and reagents, to smart, intuitive software and instrumentation.

Outstanding Foods turns to Crisp for a more efficient and effective way to look at its data.

Validated 3rd party study confirms an average 5.40 log reduction of pathogens in wheat temper with the Guardian System.

Tastykake has teamed up with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to unveil all-new packaging.

Dr. Sukhdeep S. Bhogal is an esteemed figure in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular disease

Sip N' Nails Spa is a small business offering a wide range of beauty services beyond nails, including PMU-brow services, lip blushing, lash extensions, make-up application, waxing, electrolysis, chemical peels, skincare, and facials.

Activated Water Performs with Higher Kill Rates in Less Time than Chemicals

Henry Oghogho Ogedegbe Jr. is recognized for his expert leadership of Quincy Labs

Any kind of marketing approach that gives you a deeper insight into your customers has the potential to help you make stronger connections with them. Psychographic segmentation is a perfect example. Unlike demographic or behavioral segmentation, it goes into depth about what makes your customers tick, which means you can better understand how to reach...

The post What Is Psychographic Segmentation and How Can It Boost Engagement? appeared first on noupe.

Two new research studies are addressing the rising threat of fungal infections, which can be very difficult to treat. One study has examined ...

Two new research studies are addressing the rising threat of fungal infections, which can be very difficult to treat. One study has examined ...

Our skin is a crucial, protective barrier that is considered to be a major part of our immune defenses. When pathogens try to infect us, they have to get ...