Three-dimensional in situ observations of compressive damage mechanisms in syntactic foam using X-ray microcomputed tomography

Royal Society Grant number RG140680 Lloyd's Register Foundation (GB) Oil and Gas Academy of Scotland Open access via Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Representative volume element (RVE) based crystal plasticity study of void growth on phase boundary in titanium alloys

Author is thankful to University of Aberdeen for the award of Elphinstone Scholarship which covers the tuition fee of PhD study of author.Peer reviewedPostprin

Parental occupational exposure to pesticides and risk of childhood cancer in Switzerland: a census-based cohort study.

Pesticide exposure is a suspected risk factor for childhood cancer. We investigated the risk of developing childhood cancer in relation to parental occupational exposure to pesticides in Switzerland for the period 1990-2015. From a nationwide census-based cohort study in Switzerland, we included children aged < 16 years at national censuses of 1990 and 2000 and followed them until 2015. We extracted parental occupations reported at the census closest to the birth year of the child and estimated exposure to pesticides using a job exposure matrix. Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for potential confounders, were fitted for the following outcomes: any cancer, leukaemia, central nervous system tumours (CNST), lymphoma, non-CNS solid tumours. Analyses of maternal (paternal) exposure were based on approximately 15.9 (15.1) million-person years at risk and included 1891 (1808) cases of cancer, of which 532 (503) were leukaemia, 348 (337) lymphomas, 423 (399) CNST, and 588 (569) non-CNS solid tumours. The prevalence of high likelihood of exposure was 2.9% for mothers and 6.7% for fathers. No evidence of an association was found with maternal or paternal exposure for any of the outcomes, except for "non-CNS solid tumours" (High versus None; Father: adjusted HR [95%CI] =1.84 [1.31-2.58]; Mother: 1.79 [1.13-2.84]). No evidence of an association was found for main subtypes of leukaemia and lymphoma. A post-hoc analysis on frequent subtypes of "non-CNS solid tumours" showed positive associations with wide CIs for some cancers. Our study suggests an increased risk for solid tumours other than in the CNS among children whose parents were occupationally exposed to pesticides; however, the small numbers of cases limited a closer investigation of cancer subtypes. Better exposure assessment and pooled studies are needed to further explore a possible link between specific childhood cancers types and parental occupational exposure to pesticides

Simultaneous Anaerobic and Aerobic Ammonia and Methane Oxidation under Oxygen Limitation Conditions

Methane and ammonia have to be removed from wastewater treatment effluent in order to discharge it to receiving water bodies. A potential solution for this is a combination of simultaneous ammonia and methane oxidation by anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) bacteria and nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (N-damo) microorganisms. When applied, these microorganisms will be exposed to oxygen, but little is known about the effect of a low concentration of oxygen on a culture containing these microorganisms. In this study, a stable coculture containing anammox and N-damo microorganisms in a laboratory scale bioreactor was established under oxygen limitation. Membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) was used to directly measure the in situ simultaneous activity of N-damo, anammox, and aerobic ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms. In addition, batch tests revealed that the bioreactor also harbored aerobic methanotrophs and anaerobic methanogens. Together with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and metagenomics, these results indicate that the combination of N-damo and anammox activity under the continuous supply of limiting oxygen concentrations is feasible and can be implemented for the removal of methane and ammonia from anaerobic digester effluents. IMPORTANCE Nitrogen in wastewater leads to eutrophication of the receiving water bodies, and methane is a potent greenhouse gas; it is therefore important that these are removed from wastewater. A potential solution for the simultaneous removal of nitrogenous compounds and methane is the application of a combination of nitrite/ nitrate-dependent methane oxidation (N-damo) and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (annamox). In order to do so, it is important to investigate the effect of oxygen on these two anaerobic processes. In this study, we investigate the effect of a continuous oxygen supply on the activity of an anaerobic methane- and ammonia-oxidizing coculture. The findings presented in this study are important for the potential application of these two microbial processes in wastewater treatment

Spor yaralanmaları üst ekstremite yaralanmaları kapsamında omuz yaralanmaları ve tedavi yöntemleri

Her spor dalında sporcu yaralanma ile karşılaşmaktadır. Spor yaralanması çeşitlidir. Yaralanma vücudun her bölgesinde meydana gelebilir. Spor yaralanması hem sporcunun geleceği, hem de tıbbi açıdan önemsenmelidir. Yaralanma riski, sporcuların uygun forma ve kondisyona sahip olmasıyla ve sezon dışında, öncesinde ve içindeki önleyici yaklaşımlarla asgari düzeye indirilebilir. Bu bildiride sporcuların yaralanması sonucu üst ekstremite kapsamında omuz yaralanmaları ve tedavi yöntemlerinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Omuz ekleminin anatomik yapısı ve sık kullanılan bir eklem olması yaralanmaya zemin hazırlamaktadır. Bu durum, kişinin hayat kalitesini ve iş gücünü azaltması bakımında toplumsal bir sorun olabilmektedir. Omuz yaralanmalarının tedavisinde birçok metod bulunmaktadır. Bunların bazıları klinik pratikte gelenekselleşmiş durumda iken (fizik tedavi modaliteleri, enjeksiyon vb.) bazıları son yıllarda oldukça popüler hale gelmiştir

Fiziksel şiddet gören kadınlarda ortopedik Travmalar ve şiddete uğrayan kadınların şiddet Algısının toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği kavramı Açısından uygulamalı bir örneği,

Gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan birçok dünya ülkesinde kadına uygulanan fiziki şiddet artık önüne geçilemez bir hal almıştır. Bugün Türkiye’de her 100 kadından 97’si eşinden, kardeşinden, babasından, yakınından ve hatta kendi çocuğundan şiddet görmektedir. Kadına yönelik şiddet sadece fiziksel şiddetle sınırlı değildir; sözel, psikolojik, cinsel, ekonomik ve sosyal şiddet türleri de bulunmaktadır. Türkiye’de şiddetin en önemli nedeni, kadın ve erkeğin pek çok alanda eşit fırsatlara sahip olması anlamına gelen toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği kavramına gereken önemin verilmemesi ve toplumun her katmanında ataerkil erkek egemen bir bakış açısının hakim olmasıdır. Bu bağlamda fiziksel şiddete maruz kalan kadınlarda ortaya çıkan ortopedik travmalar ve şiddet algısının toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği kavramı bakımından değerlendirilmesi ve bazı değişkenler açısından irdelenmesi çalışmanın amacını oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma yaklaşık olarak 9 ay sürmüştür. Araştırma kapsamında özellikle şiddete maruz kalan kadınlarda ortaya çıkan travmalar üzerinde çalışmalar gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmaya şiddete maruz kalan toplam (N=1254) kadın katılım sağlamıştır. Araştırmada 5’li likert ölçekten oluşan bir anket uygulanmıştır. Kullanılan anket iki bölümden oluşmaktadır. Birinci bölüm katılımcıların demografik özelliklerinin belirlenmesine yönelik sorulardan oluşmaktadır. İkinci bölümde ise 5’li likert ölçekten oluşan sorular yer almaktadır. Genel araştırma sonucunda güvenirlilik analizi Cronbach Alfa sonucunda ise 0.916 kat sayısı elde edilmiştir. Ayrıca uygulamada frekans tabloları, betimleyici istatistikler, bağımsız örneklem, t testi, pearson korelasyon analizi, tek yönlü varyans analizi ve Tukey testlerinden de faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda araştırmaya katılan şiddet mağduru kadınların büyük çoğunluğunun eğitim seviyesinin düşük olduğu görülmüştür. Birçoğunun ekonomik özgürlüğünün olmadığı, coğrafi yaşam koşullarının ise oldukça kötü olduğu belirlenmiştir. Yine şiddet mağduru olan kadınların fiziksel olarak ciddi travmalar yaşadığı, ortopedik açıdan kısa ve uzun vadeli tedavi gördüğü saptanmıştır. Katılımcıların büyük çoğunluğunun fiziki şiddet nedeniyle ortaya çıkan kalıcı ortopedik ya da sağlık açısından sorun yaratan tıbbi sorunlar yaşadığı gözlenmiştir. Bu nedenle şiddetin daha çok fiziksel açıdan uygulandığı gözlenmiştir. Ayrıca katılımcıların çoğunun iyi eğitim almalarına rağmen kendilerine uygulanan şiddete boyun eğdikleri ve uğradıkları şiddeti dile getiremedikleri için fiziksel şiddet nedeniyle ciddi travmalar yaşadıkları sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Bu bulgu da toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği kavramının henüz tam olarak kavranamadığının bir göstergesi niteliğindedir

Targeting Telomere Biology in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Increased cell proliferation is a hallmark of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and genetic alterations driving clonal proliferation have been identified as prognostic factors. To evaluate replicative history and its potential prognostic value, we determined telomere length (TL) in lymphoblasts, B-, and T-lymphocytes, and measured telomerase activity (TA) in leukocytes of patients with ALL. In addition, we evaluated the potential to suppress the in vitro growth of B-ALL cells by the telomerase inhibitor imetelstat. We found a significantly lower TL in lymphoblasts (4.3 kb in pediatric and 2.3 kb in adult patients with ALL) compared to B- and T-lymphocytes (8.0 kb and 8.2 kb in pediatric, and 6.4 kb and 5.5 kb in adult patients with ALL). TA in leukocytes was 3.2 TA/C for pediatric and 0.7 TA/C for adult patients. Notably, patients with high-risk pediatric ALL had a significantly higher TA of 6.6 TA/C compared to non-high-risk patients with 2.2 TA/C. The inhibition of telomerase with imetelstat ex vivo led to significant dose-dependent apoptosis of B-ALL cells. These results suggest that TL reflects clonal expansion and indicate that elevated TA correlates with high-risk pediatric ALL. In addition, telomerase inhibition induces apoptosis of B-ALL cells cultured in vitro. TL and TA might complement established markers for the identification of patients with high-risk ALL. Moreover, TA seems to be an effective therapeutic target; hence, telomerase inhibitors, such as imetelstat, may augment standard ALL treatment

Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard

Growing practice interest in smart cities has led to calls for a less technology-oriented and more citizen-centric approach. In response, this articles investigates the citizenship mode promulgated by the smart city standard of the British Standards Institution. The analysis uses the concept of citizenship regime and a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to discern key discursive frames defining the smart city and the particular citizenship dimensions brought into play. The results confirm an explicit citizenship rationale guiding the smart city (standard), although this displays some substantive shortcomings and contradictions. The article concludes with recommendations for both further theory and practice development

Constraints on instantaneous ozone production rates and regimes during DOMINO derived using in-situ OH reactivity measurements

In this study air masses are characterized in terms of their total OH reactivity which is a robust measure of the reactive air pollutant loading . The measurements were performed during the DOMINO campaign (Diel Oxidant Mechanisms In relation to Nitrogen Oxides) held from 21/11/2008 to 08/12/2008 at the Atmospheric Sounding Station - El Arenosillo (37.1° N-6.7° W, 40 m a.s.l.). The site was frequently impacted by marine air masses (arriving at the site from the southerly sector) and air masses from the cities of Huelva (located NW of the site), Seville and Madrid (located NNE of the site). OH reactivity values showed strong wind sector dependence. North eastern continental air masses were characterized by the highest OH reactivities (average: 31.4 ± 4.5 s−1; range of average diel values: 21.3-40.5 s−1), followed by north western industrial air masses (average: 13.8 ± 4.4 s−1; range of average diel values: 7-23.4 s−1) and marine air masses (average: 6.3 ± 6.6 s−1; range of average diel values: below detection limit −21.7 s−1), respectively. The average OH reactivity for the entire campaign period was ~18 s−1 and no pronounced variation was discernible in the diel profiles with the exception of relatively high values from 09:00 to 11:00 UTC on occasions when air masses arrived from the north western and southern wind sectors. The measured OH reactivity was used to constrain both diel instantaneous ozone production potential rates and regimes. Gross ozone production rates at the site were generally limited by the availability of NOx with peak values of around 20 ppbV O3 h−1. Using the OH reactivity based approach, derived ozone production rates indicate that if NOx would no longer be the limiting factor in air masses arriving from the continental north eastern sector, peak ozone production rates could double. We suggest that the new combined approach of in-situ fast measurements of OH reactivity, nitrogen oxides and peroxy radicals for constraining instantaneous ozone production rates, could significantly improve analyses of upwind point sources and their impact on regional ozone levels