Analytical and Quantitative Aspects of Surface Moisture Transport and Plastic Shrinkage Cracking

The drying rate of porous materials such as hydrating cement paste during early hydration stages is studied using analytical and experimental procedures. Effects of micro and macro fibers as they change the nature of restrained shrinkage cracking are also documented. A methodology based on vacuum drying experiments is developed to measure the rate of evaporation from the surface of fresh paste and mortar mixtures that leads to restrained shrinkage cracking. Stages of microcrack coalescence due to plastic shrinkage cracking are quantitatively analyzed using digital image correlation. A model for internal moisture transfer simulates initial constant drying rate followed by a vapor diffusion transport phenomena. A fluid mechanics approach for water evaporation from the boundary-layer in terms of mass transfer, diffusion, and convection is used. Effect of temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity are studied. Results of these two experiments are then integrated with an analytical approach for the restrained ring specimen which correlates the moisture diffusion in the specimen with the rate of evaporation and shrinkage strain. The model incorporates key influential parameters of diffusion, evaporation, shrinkage, creep, aging, and microcracking, in the stress analysis of a restrained concrete section. The formulation addresses the effect of geometry of the specimen, the humidity and shrinkage conditions, and the restraint offered by stiffness of the steel ring. Finally the modelling is extended to simulate a slab on ground and predict multiple transverse cracking as well as slab curling using a finite difference model

Exosomes From The Tumor Microenvironment Promote Breast Cancer Progression And Therapy Resistance Through Unshielded Non-Coding Rna

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type amongst women in the United States and will account for approximately 7% of all cancer-related deaths each year. For most breast cancer patients, conventional genotoxic therapy is the standard of the care. Unfortunately, as breast cancer progresses it becomes treatment resistant and incurable. Therefore, understanding mechanisms of treatment response and resistance are of paramount importance. Stromal communication with cancer cells is a major determinant of progression and treatment response. We show that stromal and breast cancer (BrCa) cells utilize paracrine and juxtacrine signaling to drive progression and conventional therapy resistance. Upon heterotypic interaction, exosomes are unidirectionally transferred from stromal to breast cancer cells. Breast cancer cells stimulate stromal cell upregulation of RNA polymerase III through activation of stromal NOTCH1 and MYC. This results in a subsequent increase in stromal 5’triphosphate RN7SL1, an SRP RNA, in exosomes. Unlike cytoplasmic RN7SL1 that is shielded by RNA binding proteins (RBPs), RN7SL1 in exosomes produced after breast cancer cell interaction lack RBPs like SRP9 and SRP14. Consequently, unshielded stromal RN7SL1 in exosomes, which is also found in cancer patients, is transferred to breast cancer cells to stimulate the pattern recognition receptor RIG-I and activate STAT1-dependent anti-viral signaling. In parallel, stromal cells also activate NOTCH3 on breast cancer cells. The paracrine anti-viral and juxtacrine NOTCH3 pathways converge as STAT1 facilitates transcriptional responses to NOTCH3 and expands therapy resistant tumor-initiating cells. Primary human and mouse breast cancer analysis support the role of anti-viral and NOTCH3 pathway crosstalk in maximal activation of NOTCH signaling and stromal-mediated resistance. Stromal-mediated therapy resistance can be overcome by combination of conventional therapy with γ-secretase inhibitors. Thus, RBPs shield endogenous POL3-driven RNA from RIG-I, a process circumvented when breast cancer cells coerce stromal cells to propagate anti-viral signaling through exosomes. Anti-viral and NOTCH3 signaling then converge to enhance tumor growth, metastasis, and therapy resistance

Trends of obesity and abdominal obesity in Tehranian adults: a cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Considering the increasing trend of obesity reported in current data, this study was conducted to examine trends of obesity and abdominal obesity among Tehranian adults during a median follow-up of 6.6 years.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Height and weight of 4402 adults, aged 20 years and over, participants of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS), were measured in 1999-2001(phase I) and again in 2002-2005(phase II) and 2006-2008 (phase III). Criteria used for obesity and abdominal obesity defined body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 and waist circumference ≥ 94/80 cm for men/women respectively. Subjects were divided into10-year groups and the prevalence of obesity was compared across sex and age groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of obesity was 15.8, 18.6 and 21% in men and 31.5, 37.7 and 38.6% in women in phases I, II and III respectively (p < 0.001). The prevalence of abdominal obesity in men was 36.5, 57.2 and 63.3% and in women was 76.7, 83.8 and 83.6% in the three periods mentioned (p < 0.001). Men aged between 20-29 years had highest increase rates of obesity and abdominal obesity in phase III in comparison with phase I (with a respective rates of 2.2- and 3.3-fold). In both sexes, an increased trend was observed between phases I and II, whereas between phases II and III, this trend was observed in men, but not in women.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrates alarming rises in the prevalences of both obesity and abdominal obesity in both sexes especially in young men, calling for urgent action to educate people in lifestyle modifications.</p

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among a southern U.S. population indicates limited asymptomatic spread under physical distancing measures

Characterizing the asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2 is important for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was aimed at determining asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a suburban, Southern U.S. population during a period of state restrictions and physical distancing mandates. This is one of the first published seroprevalence studies from North Carolina and included multicenter, primary care, and emergency care facilities serving a low-density, suburban and rural population since description of the North Carolina state index case introducing the SARS-CoV-2 respiratory pathogen to this population. To estimate point seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic individuals over time, two cohort studies were examined. The first cohort study, named ScreenNC, was comprised of outpatient clinics, and the second cohort study, named ScreenNC2, was comprised of inpatients unrelated to COVID-19. Asymptomatic infection by SARS-CoV-2 (with no clinical symptoms) was examined using an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)-approved antibody test (Abbott) for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG. This assay as performed under CLIA had a reported specificity/sensitivity of 100%/99.6%. ScreenNC identified 24 out of 2,973 (0.8%) positive individuals among asymptomatic participants accessing health care during 28 April to 19 June 2020, which was increasing over time. A separate cohort, ScreenNC2, sampled from 3 March to 4 June 2020, identified 10 out of 1,449 (0.7%) positive participants. IMPORTANCE This study suggests limited but accelerating asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2. Asymptomatic infections, like symptomatic infections, disproportionately affected vulnerable communities in this population, and seroprevalence was higher in African American participants than in White participants. The low, overall prevalence may reflect the success of shelter-in-place mandates at the time this study was performed and of maintaining effective physical distancing practices among suburban populations. Under these public health measures and aggressive case finding, outbreak clusters did not spread into the general population

Expected Performances of the NOMAD/ExoMars instrument

NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery) is one of the four instruments on board the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, scheduled for launch in March 2016. It consists of a suite of three high-resolution spectrometers – SO (Solar Occultation), LNO (Limb, Nadir and Occultation) and UVIS (Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer). Based upon the characteristics of the channels and the values of Signal-to-Noise Ratio obtained from radiometric models discussed in [Vandaele et al., Optics Express, 2015] and [Thomas et al., Optics Express, 2015], the expected performances of the instrument in terms of sensitivity to detection have been investigated. The analysis led to the determination of detection limits for 18 molecules, namely CO, H2O, HDO, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, H2CO, CH4, SO2, H2S, HCl, HCN, HO2, NH3, N2O, NO2, OCS, O3. NOMAD should have the ability to measure methane concentrations <25 parts per trillion (ppt) in solar occultation mode, and 11 parts per billion in nadir mode. Occultation detections as low as 10 ppt could be made if spectra are averaged [Drummond et al., Planetary Space and Science, 2011]. Results have been obtained for all three channels in nadir and in solar occultation

Water Vapor Vertical Profiles on Mars in Dust Storms Observed by TGO/NOMAD

It has been suggested that dust storms efficiently transport water vapor from the near‐surface to the middle atmosphere on Mars. Knowledge of the water vapor vertical profile during dust storms is important to understand water escape. During Martian Year 34, two dust storms occurred on Mars: a global dust storm (June to mid‐September 2018) and a regional storm (January 2019). Here we present water vapor vertical profiles in the periods of the two dust storms (Ls = 162–260° and Ls = 298–345°) from the solar occultation measurements by Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) onboard ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). We show a significant increase of water vapor abundance in the middle atmosphere (40–100 km) during the global dust storm. The water enhancement rapidly occurs following the onset of the storm (Ls~190°) and has a peak at the most active period (Ls~200°). Water vapor reaches very high altitudes (up to 100 km) with a volume mixing ratio of ~50 ppm. The water vapor abundance in the middle atmosphere shows high values consistently at 60°S‐60°N at the growth phase of the dust storm (Ls = 195°–220°), and peaks at latitudes greater than 60°S at the decay phase (Ls = 220°–260°). This is explained by the seasonal change of meridional circulation: from equinoctial Hadley circulation (two cells) to the solstitial one (a single pole‐to‐pole cell). We also find a conspicuous increase of water vapor density in the middle atmosphere at the period of the regional dust storm (Ls = 322–327°), in particular at latitudes greater than 60°S