Osteomyelitis is a devastating disease caused by microbial infection of bone. While the frequency of infection following elective orthopedic surgery is low, rates of reinfection are disturbingly high. Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for the majority of chronic osteomyelitis cases and is often considered to be incurable due to bacterial persistence deep within bone. Unfortunately, there is no consensus on clinical classifications of osteomyelitis and the ensuing treatment algorithm. Given the high patient morbidity, mortality, and economic burden caused by osteomyelitis, it is important to elucidate mechanisms of bone infection to inform novel strategies for prevention and curative treatment. Recent discoveries in this field have identified three distinct reservoirs of bacterial biofilm including: Staphylococcal abscess communities in the local soft tissue and bone marrow, glycocalyx formation on implant hardware and necrotic tissue, and colonization of the osteocyte-lacuno canalicular network (OLCN) of cortical bone. In contrast, S. aureus intracellular persistence in bone cells has not been substantiated in vivo, which challenges this mode of chronic osteomyelitis. There have also been major advances in our understanding of the immune proteome against S. aureus, from clinical studies of serum antibodies and media enriched for newly synthesized antibodies (MENSA), which may provide new opportunities for osteomyelitis diagnosis, prognosis, and vaccine development. Finally, novel therapies such as antimicrobial implant coatings and antibiotic impregnated 3D-printed scaffolds represent promising strategies for preventing and managing this devastating disease. Here, we review these recent advances and highlight translational opportunities towards a cure.

The Hall conductance σ xy of two-dimensional lattice electrons with random potential is investigated. The change of σ xy due to randomness is focused on. It is a quantum phase transition where the sum rule of σ xy plays an important role. By the string (anyon) gauge, numerical study becomes possible in sufficiently weak magnetic field regime which is essential to discuss the floating scenario in the continuum model. Topological objects in the Bloch wavefunctions, charged vortices, are obtained explicitly. The anomalous plateau transitions ( ∆σ xy = 2, 3, • • • > 1) and the trajectory of delocalized states are discussed.

A new state of matter “quantum valley Hall state” is observed by the nonlocal transport in a massive Dirac fermion.

Random Dirac fermions in a two-dimensional space are studied numerically. We realize them on a square lattice using the $\pi$-flux model with random hopping. The system preserves two symmetries, the time-reversal symmetry and the symmetry denoted by ${{\cal H},\gamma}=0$ with a $4\times 4$ matrix $\gamma $ in an effective field theory. Although it belongs to the orthogonal ensemble, the zero-energy states do not localize and become critical. The density of states vanishes at zero energy as $\sim E^{\alpha}$ and the exponent $\alpha$ changes with strength of the randomness, which implies the existence of the critical line. Rapid growth of the localization length near zero energy is suggested and the eigenstates near zero energy exhibit anomalous behaviour which can be interpreted as a critical slowing down in the available finite-size system. The level-spacing distributions close to zero energy deviate from both the Wigner surmise and the Poissonian, and exhibit critical behaviour which reflects the existence of critical states at zero energy.Comment: latex209, REVTEX, 6 figure

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Bubbles at the interface of two-dimensional layered materials in van der Waals heterostructures cause deterioration in the quality of materials, thereby limiting the size and design of devices. In this paper, we report a simple all-dry transfer technique, with which the bubble formation can be avoided. As a key factor in the technique, a contact angle between a picked-up flake on a viscoelastic polymer stamp and another flake on a substrate was introduced by protrusion at the stamp surface. Using this technique, we demonstrated the fabrication of high-quality devices on the basis of graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures with a large bubble-free region. Additionally, the technique can be used to remove unnecessary flakes on a substrate under an optical microscopic scale. Most importantly, it improves the yield and throughput for the fabrication process of high-quality van der Waals heterostructure-based devices.

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