Chulalongkorn University

About: Chulalongkorn University is a education organization based out in Bangkok, Thailand. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 20156 authors who have published 34324 publications receiving 647815 citations. The organization is also known as: Chula & CU.

Geographic tongue: clinical characteristics of 188 cases.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and assess other factors associated with geographic tongue in Thailand. One hundred and eighty-eight Thais with geographic tongue and 188 controls were interviewed regarding their medical history, symptoms, and the nature and migratory pattern of their lesions. Variations in the clinical appearance, lesion location, and any associated tongue fissures were recorded. The age range for the 188 subjects was 9 to 79 years. The highest incidence (39.4%) occurred in the 20-29 age group. Women were affected more than men (1.5:1). The leading group of medical conditions consisted of allergy-related disorders; however, the incidence of these problems among both subjects and controls was not significantly different (55.2% vs. 44.8%). Our results demonstrated a significant co-existence of geographic tongue and fissured tongue. Most of the geographic tongue lesions manifested a typical appearance consisting of a central atrophic area bounded by a raised white circinate line (69.1%) with multiple tongue sites affected (62.8%). The most common locations were at the lateral margins and tip of the tongue. The majority of our subjects (75.5%) were asymptomatic. The results of this study correspond with the findings of previous geographic tongue studies in other populations.

Estimation of environment-related properties of chemicals for design of sustainable processes: development of group-contribution+ (GC+) property models and uncertainty analysis.

Abstract: The aim of this work is to develop group-contribution(+) (GC(+)) method (combined group-contribution (GC) method and atom connectivity index (CI) method) based property models to provide reliable estimations of environment-related properties of organic chemicals together with uncertainties of estimated property values. For this purpose, a systematic methodology for property modeling and uncertainty analysis is used. The methodology includes a parameter estimation step to determine parameters of property models and an uncertainty analysis step to establish statistical information about the quality of parameter estimation, such as the parameter covariance, the standard errors in predicted properties, and the confidence intervals. For parameter estimation, large data sets of experimentally measured property values of a wide range of chemicals (hydrocarbons, oxygenated chemicals, nitrogenated chemicals, poly functional chemicals, etc.) taken from the database of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and from the database of USEtox is used. For property modeling and uncertainty analysis, the Marrero and Gani GC method and atom connectivity index method have been considered. In total, 22 environment-related properties, which include the fathead minnow 96-h LC(50), Daphnia magna 48-h LC(50), oral rat LD(50), aqueous solubility, bioconcentration factor, permissible exposure limit (OSHA-TWA), photochemical oxidation potential, global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, acidification potential, emission to urban air (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic), emission to continental rural air (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic), emission to continental fresh water (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic), emission to continental seawater (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic), emission to continental natural soil (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic), and emission to continental agricultural soil (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic) have been modeled and analyzed. The application of the developed property models for the estimation of environment-related properties and uncertainties of the estimated property values is highlighted through an illustrative example. The developed property models provide reliable estimates of environment-related properties needed to perform process synthesis, design, and analysis of sustainable chemical processes and allow one to evaluate the effect of uncertainties of estimated property values on the calculated performance of processes giving useful insights into quality and reliability of the design of sustainable processes.

Carriage of Antibiotic-Resistant Pneumococci among Asian Children: A Multinational Surveillance by the Asian Network for Surveillance of Resistant Pathogens (ANSORP)

Abstract: To investigate the nasal carriage of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci by children, anterior nasal swabs were done for 4963 children <5 years old in 11 countries in Asia and the Middle East. In total, 1105 pneumococci isolates (carriage rate, 22.3%) were collected, 35.8% of which were found to be nonsusceptible to penicillin. Prevalence of penicillin nonsusceptibility was highest in Taiwan (91.3%), followed by Korea (85.8%), Sri Lanka (76.5%), and Vietnam (70.4%). Penicillin resistance was related to residence in urban areas, enrollment in day care, and a history of otitis media. The most common serogroups were 6 (21.5%), 23 (16.5%), and 19 (15.7%). The most common clone, as assessed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, was identical to the Spanish 23F clone and to strains of invasive isolates from adult patients. Data in this study documented the high rate of penicillin or multidrug resistance among isolates of pneumococci carried nasally in children in Asia and the Middle East and showed that this is due to the spread of a few predominant clones in the region.