Evaluation of massive weight loss body contouring

Introduction: There is proven therapeutic benefit in bariatric surgery for obese patients. Consequently the National Institute of Clinical Excellence UK has provided referral guidelines for bariatric surgery. Successful bariatric surgery will result in massive weight loss and ptotic skin, which can cause significant functional and psychological problems. As the number of cases of bariatric surgery increases, a corresponding number of massive weight loss patients will require plastic surgery. In this novel field of post massive weight loss surgery there is a lack of understanding of the demographics, physical symptoms and psychological health of this new group of patients. The tools to assess them are few and not validated, the patient pathway is disjointed and there is no consensus on standardised provision. Method: A prospective multicentre, observational study of outcomes in 100 patients undergoing bariatric and post massive weight loss plastic surgery at 2 clinical sites was performed. Each patient followed a standard operating protocol. This included undergoing a semi structured interview, completing five patient-report outcome measures, having anthropometric measurements and clinical photographs taken. Conclusion: This observational study identified key psychosocial themes prevalent in massive weight loss patients, during their weight loss journey. It identified there are no validated patient reported outcome measures available specific to this cohort of patients. This work led to the development of a new validated tool for massive weight loss body contouring

Preparation and Study Hardness and Thermal Conductivity (Tc) to Polyester Resin Composite with (Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, Acrylonitril, Wood Flour Coconut

This study is attempt to improve thermal isolation through measuring thermal conductivity composite of on polyester resin with fillers of (TiO2, ZnO, Acrylonitril, wood flour Coconut (Wf). The grain size of the fillers is 200 µm. The number of samples is (16) in addition to the virgin sample; these samples are prepared by cast molding method for polyester with filler volume fractions (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). Shore hardness tests were used to measure the hardness and Lee disk method for thermal conductivity. The experimental results showed that the (20% ZnO) sample has the maximum value of thermal conductivity where (20% w.f) has minimum thermal conductivity .on the other hand (15% ZnO) sample give the maximum value of hardness where (20% w.f) sample gave the minimum value of hardness. From this study there is an important factor that should be observed that is the relationship between hardness and thermal conductivity. The study prove that the experimental results satisfy the theoretical assumptions in that the additive material (fillers) of metals base increase thermal conductivity where the material of cellulose base decrease the thermal conductivity and give good thermal isolation but with low hardness and all the result above the refry sample

Serum glucose concentration and lipid profile in racing horses

The aim of the present work was to evaluate serum glucose concentration and lipid profile in racing horses in Iraq. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein of 92 clinically healthy racing horses (males and females, Arabian and Cross bred), 2-8 years old at Equestrian Club, Baghdad. Investigations included serum measurements of glucose (sg) and lipid profile parameters; total cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein- cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-C) and the atherogenic ratio (LDL-C/HDL-C), in order to register the normal ranges and mean values of these measured parameters in Iraqi healthy racing horses. Results showed that the range and mean values ± standard error of sg were: 33.3 – 6.71 mmol/l and 5.17±0.07 mmol/l, respectively, whereas the TC was 2.07 – 4.22 mmol/l and 3.01±0.05 mmol/l, TG 0.6 – 1.47 mmol/l and 1.06±0.02 mmol/l, HDL-C 0.93 – 2.25 mmol/l and 1.50±0.03 mmol/l, LDL-C 0.10 – 2.12 mmol/l and 0.91±0.04 mmol/l, VLDL-C 0.31 -0.67 mmol/l and 0.55±0.02 mmol/l, respectively and the atherogenic ratio 0.66±0.03. The data present reference values and mean ± SE for sg and lipid profile parameters in healthy racing horses in Baghdad

A mobile-programmable smart mirror for ambient IoT environments

© 2017 IEEE. The purpose of this paper is to present a smart interactive mirror interface. In this paper, we describe the design and development of a futuristic mirror that offers simplified and customisable services to the home environment. On a par with the recent advances in the Internet of Things standards and applications, the mirror is designed to enable residents to control the household smart appliances and access personalised services; ensuring convenience in accessing these services with the slightest possible user intervention. The multipurpose user-friendly functionalities of the proposed mirror interface provide users with the versatility needed for better management and integration of daily tasks. A service oriented approach is adopted in the architecture of the proposed system. It consists mainly of two mobile applications devoted to the customisation of user profiles, which are displayed on the smart mirror interface once successfully paired. Moreover, in the proposed system, emphasis is particularly given to the user profile personalisation, as well as planned system interactivity and adaptability. Hence, the proposed system is set apart from others for its ease of use as well as its provision of various customised information services for user profile generation

Influence of Soffit Bonded CFRP Strips on Shear Capacity and Failure Type of RC Beams without Stirrups

Presented herein is an experimental investigation on the efficacy of soffit-bonded longitudinal CFRP strips in upgrading the load-carrying capacities of RC beams without steel stirrups, a necessary disposal when the wrapped or the side transverse CFRP strips bonding is impossible due to the inaccessibility of the beam sides. The program deals with testing eight RC beams destitute of web reinforcement and strengthened by various CFRP strips combinations of soffit-bonded strips frequently accompanied by longitudinal top-bonded ones, in addition to three unstrengthened beams one of which is provided by the minimum amount of steel stirrups. The purpose is to evaluate their prime performances (shear resistance and concrete fracture mechanism with CFRP failure modes) and complementary properties (stiffness, ductility and energy absorbability). Effects of the fiber orientation in the CFRP strips and the shear span-to-depth ratio are specially attended. Test results demonstrate the profitable role of the flat soffit-bonded CFRP strips in delaying shear failure, admitting additional deflection and elevating the energy absorbability by 22 %. They also manifest the effective role of the longitudinal full-length top CFRP strips in contributing the resistance to shear failure announced by its transverse rupture. The advantageous effect of the two narrow side “crooks” along the soffit-bonded CFRP strips appears in the substantial increase in the energy absorbability and ultimate resistance attributed to magnifications in the concrete fracture pattern and CFRP debonding. 

Experimental and Finite Element Investigation of Composite Beams Consisting of Reinforced Concrete Prisms Cast Into Steel Channels

Four reinforced concrete beams of rectangular crosssections and four corresponding composite ones consisting of reinforced concrete prisms cast into steel channels with shear connectors were manufactured, loaded, and tested in the laboratory to measure mid-span deflections, and to observe fracture criteria. The reinforced concrete prism of each of the four composite beams is of rectangular ross-section and identical to its corresponding reinforced concrete beam. Load-deflection behavior and fracture pattern at failure obtained experimentally for each of the eight beams were compared with those predicted by a nonlinear three-dimensional finite element analysis using the analysis system computer program (ANSYS V. 5.4) in which the reinforced concrete, the steel channel, and the interaction between reinforced concrete and steel channel were modeled by isoparametric eight-node brick elements, four-node shell elements ,and the five-node interface elements ,respectively. High agreement between the experimental tests and the numerical models was obtained for loaddeflection behavior represented by maximum differences of 11% and 7% for composite and noncomposite beams, respectively. In addition, a perfect coincidence in predicting fracture pattern at failure by the two methods was realized. Comparisons between flexural behaviors for each of the present four pairs of correspondent composite and non-composite beams show that introducing the integrated steel channels highly increases the ultimate load capacity by 155% to 500% -depending on the ratio of steel channel area to gross concrete area, and decreases the ductility ratio by 26.4% to 36.7% - depending on the ratio of steel channel area to tension reinforcement area. A parametric study on the effect of flange width of the steel channel show that a 40% increase in the ultimate load capacity can be realized by a one-third increase in that parameter with a slight decrease in ductility ratio

The Orthotropic Spline Finite Strip Technique in the Linear Analysis of Ribbed Bridge Decks

This study presents an efficient simplification on the utility of the spline finite strip method SFSM in the analysis of orthotropic and ribbed bridge decks by conducting two stages of analogy. The actual ribbed bridge deck (practically subjected to combined plate-bending and plane stress actions) is, first, converted into and equivalent orthotropic plate, which is subsequently divided into orthotropic finite strips submitted to plate-bending action only with the use of B3-spline function to express the displacement function in the longitudinal direction of strips. A programming code using MATLAB computer package is constructed for the analysis of orthotropic plates by the spline finite strip method, where the fewest admissible number of longitudinal sections and local B3-spline functions has been employed to check its efficiency. When applied to a ribbed RC bridge deck of four transverse diaphragms, the present orthotropic spline finite strip technique has proved its reliability in the analysis of such decking system where very high degrees of coincidence of its results with those of the finely meshed sophisticated finite element method attaining 98.4, 86.9 and 95.6 for midspan deflection and longitudinal and transvers bending moments, respectively, have been obtained

Assistenza linguistica e processo penale.

Il presente lavoro si occuperà di illustrare il ruolo dell'interprete sottolineando la sua importanza all'interno del processo penale alla luce delle indicazioni sovranazionali,nello specifico la direttiva europea 2010/64 UE ,con uno sguardo alla recezione della stessa nel nostro ordinamento

Clinical response to antipsychotic drug treatment:Association study of polymorphisms in six candidate genes

AbstractPharmacogenetic studies have demonstrated significant associations between several candidate genes (DRD2, DRD3, 5HTR2A and 5HTR2C, COMT and MTHFR) and antipsychotic drug response. The present study investigates the effect of nine polymorphisms in these genes for an association with antipsychotic treatment response. 329 Caucasian patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder using antipsychotics were included. All patients participated in the longitudinal GROUP-study in The Netherlands. We genotyped 9 SNPs in 6 candidate genes (DRD2: TaqI_A, -141C; DRD3: Ser9Gly; HTR2A: 102-T/C, His452Tyr; HTR2C: Cys23Ser; COMT: Val158Met; MTHFR: 677-C/T) using standard protocols. Polymorphisms were based on previous studies showing associations with positive symptoms treatment response. The Clinical Global Impression - Improvement (CGI-I) scale was used to assess improvement in positive psychotic symptoms since the start of current antipsychotic treatment. Ordinal regression was used for association analyses. Ninety percent of the patients used second generation antipsychotics, with olanzapine (28%) and risperidone (29%) being the most prescribed drugs. Ser9Gly of the dopamine D3 receptor gene (P value 0.034) and 677-C/T of MTHFR (P value 0.019) were tested statistically significant. Gly-carriers and T-carriers, respectively, showed more clinical improvement on the CGI-I. The other polymorphisms did not show a statistically significant association (P values>0.10). In conclusion, we replicated two out of nine of the previously reported associations between polymorphisms and treatment response. The direction and magnitude of the associations presented here in DRD3 (Ser9Gly) and MTHFR (677-C/T) are in line with previous association studies in Caucasian patients. These polymorphisms may be of value for predicting clinical response