The method for fast fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces was proposed to resist the formation of biofilm of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) for orthopedic and dental implants. Laser beam machining with nanosecond pulsed laser (Nd:YAG) was used to fabricate pit structure on Grade-5 Ti–6Al–4V alloy followed by annealing (at 300 °C with different time scales) in order to reduce the transition time from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic surface generation. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used to characterize the textured samples. The surface wettability of plain and textured samples was measured by the sessile drop method using goniometer. The biofilm formation was qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated by FE-SEM and crystal violet binding assay, respectively. The biofilm formation was observed on plain (hydrophilic) surface for both the types of bacteria, whereas significantly less biofilm formation was observed on the laser textured (superhydrophobic) surfaces. The proposed method helps in reducing the risk of infection associated with implants without using cytotoxic bactericidal agents.
The clinical course of HIV-1 varies greatly among infected individuals. Despite extensive research, virus factors associated with slow-progression remain poorly understood. Identification of unique HIV-1 genomic signatures linked to slow-progression remains elusive. We investigated CpG dinucleotide content in HIV-1 envelope gene as a potential virus factor in disease progression. We analysed 1808 HIV-1 envelope gene sequences from three independent longitudinal studies; this included 1280 sequences from twelve typical-progressors and 528 sequences from six slow-progressors. Relative abundance of CpG dinucleotides and relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) for CpG-containing codons among HIV-1 envelope gene sequences from typical-progressors and slow-progressors were analysed. HIV-1 envelope gene sequences from slow-progressors have high-CpG dinucleotide content and increased number of CpG-containing codons as compared to typical-progressors. Our findings suggest that observed differences in CpG-content between typical-progressors and slow-progressors is not explained by differences in the mononucleotide content. Our results also highlight that the high-CpG content in HIV-1 envelope gene from slow-progressors is observed immediately after seroconversion. Thus CpG dinucleotide content of HIV-1 envelope gene is a potential virus-related factor that is linked to disease progression. The CpG dinucleotide content of HIV-1 envelope gene may help predict HIV-1 disease progression at early stages after seroconversion.
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