Noninvasive, Transient and Selective Blood-Brain Barrier Opening in Non-Human Primates In Vivo

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a specialized vascular system that impedes entry of all large and the vast majority of small molecules including the most potent central nervous system (CNS) disease therapeutic agents from entering from the lumen into the brain parenchyma. Microbubble-enhanced, focused ultrasound (ME-FUS) has been previously shown to disrupt noninvasively, selectively, and transiently the BBB in small animals in vivo. For the first time, the feasibility of transcranial ME-FUS BBB opening in non-human primates is demonstrated with subsequent BBB recovery. Sonications were combined with two different types of microbubbles (customized 4–5 µm and Definity®). 3T MRI was used to confirm the BBB disruption and to assess brain damage

Analysis of the Disc Dressing Effects on Grinding Performance—Part 1: Simulation of the Disc Dressed Wheel Surface

This article is in two parts describing the analysis and simulation of the disc dressing process and its effect on grinding performance. This part is concerned with the generation of the wheel surface by a diamond disc dresser. A new stochastic model of the prediction of wheel topography by diamond disc dresser is developed. It predicts the number of active grains per unit area and average slope of grains of the alumina grinding wheel. This model is based on the fracture of grits and it considers the kinematical influences of the disc dressing process on wheel surface. It is possible to analyze the effects of changing dressing parameters on the wheel topography. The topography that is generated from this model provides a basis for further prediction of the grinding performance

Common Best Proximity Points for Cyclic φ-Contraction Maps

The purpose of this paper is to introduce new types of contraction condition for a pair of maps $(S,T)$ in metric spaces. We give convergence and existence results of best proximity points of such maps in the setting of uniformly convex Banach spaces. Moreover, we obtain existence theorems of best proximity points for such contraction pairs in reflexive Banach spaces. Our results generalize, extend and improve results on the topic in the literature

The emergence of metronidazole and vancomycin reduced susceptibility in Clostridium difficile isolates in Iran

OBJECTIVES: Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the main causative agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) and pseudomembranous colitis. The accumulation of antimicrobial resistance in C. difficile strains can drive C. difficile infection (CDI) epidemiology. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antimicrobial resistance patterns of toxigenic C. difficile isolates cultured from diarrhoeal stool samples of hospitalised patients with suspected CDI in three tertiary care hospitals in Tehran, Iran. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty diarrhoeal stool samples were investigated by toxigenic culture using cycloserine-cefoxitin-fructose agar and the VERO cell line. Antimicrobial susceptibility to metronidazole, vancomycin, clindamycin, tetracycline, and moxifloxacin was performed by disk diffusion and Etest methods on Brucella Blood Agar supplemented with hemin and vitamin K. RESULTS: Thirty-five stool samples (14.0) proved positive using C. difficile toxigenic culture. According to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute breakpoints, the following resistance was identified in C. difficile isolates: metronidazole (2 of 35); moxifloxacin (7 of 35); clindamycin (18 of 35); and tetracycline (5 of 35). Using European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing breakpoints, three of 35 isolates showed reduced-susceptibility for vancomycin and 14 of 35 for metronidazole. In addition, the results showed a good correlation between the inhibition zone diameter (disk diffusion) and MIC values (Etest); Pearson correlation coefficient 0.7400.95 (P< 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Multidrug resistance was observed in Iranian clinical toxigenic C. difficile isolates, including reduced susceptibility to first-line CDI treatment drugs. In addition, disk diffusion can be used as a cost-effective option for the antimicrobial susceptibility testing of C. difficile isolates

STRUCTURAL AND MORPHOLOGY OF NANOPOWDERS COPPER-STABILIZED ZIRCONIA

The structural and morphology of copper-stabilized zirconia samples prepared by sol–gel techniques in different calcination time and temperature are reported. This research work has been proposed and verified that the calcination temperature and time strongly influenced the morphology as well as interaction between the active species and the support. The results obtained from the laboratory test indicate that cubic ZrO2 and copper oxide are present in the structure if the calcination temperature is under 400°C. Cubic ZrO2, tetragonal ZrO2 with small amount of monoclinic ZrO2, and CuO are formed after calcination at 500°C. Heating under 500°C will result in amorphous compounds being formed, suggesting that 500°C could be a phase transition point. The effect of calcination time is investigated by morphology and structural changes of CuO–ZrO2 at 600°C during 2, 3.5, 5.5, 7.5, and 10 h. Incorporation of copper in ZrO2 lattice results in a loss of order in the ZrO2 structure when it is calcined. A further increase in the temperature of calcination leads to the phase changes in ZrO2 structure.Raman, calcination, nanocomposites, stabilized-zirconia, sol–gel

Spark plasma effect on microstructure and mechanical properties of alumina-nickel-cobalt composite

Abstract Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is an advanced process of sintering materials at low temperatures and short time by creating spark plasma at very high temperatures in the small points and short times, by which materials with high sintering temperature can sinter at lower temperatures. In this study, alumina-nickel-cobalt composites were sintered by SPS and RHP (rapid hot press) methods to investigate the effects of electric pulse on their microstructure and mechanical properties. To this end, sample powders containing alumina, nickel-cobalt aluminate spinel, and aluminum were sintered at 1380 °C under 30 MPa pressure for 10 min by SPS and RHP and then investigated. The densities of both samples were about 98% of theoretical density. Also, hardness and fracture toughness of both samples were about 11 GPa and 14 MPa.m0.5, respectively. The bending strengths of the SPS and RHP samples were 380 and 336 MPa, respectively

Introducing a Dental Caries Marking Software and Evaluate Radiologists’ Disagreement in Caries Detection Using this Software

Statement of Problem: Bitewing radiograph is the main reference for diagnosis of proximal and recurrent caries. There is no software for gathering and analyzing radiologists’ opinion in the field of caries detection on digital bitewing radiograph (DBR). Objectives: The main aim of this study is to introduce the first windows application that could be used for marking caries on DBR. This software is called Dental Caries Marking Software (DCMS). The second aim is to create the first DBR caries dataset to be used for future software development projects in the field of automatic caries detection; also gathering and documenting the disagreements and critiques regarding DCMS. Materials and Methods: DCMS has been designed and implemented by the researchers of this study. This software is divided into two parts. The first part is DCMS writer that is used for gathering the user’s opinion and The second part is DCMS analyzer that is used for reading and analyzing the user’s opinion file. Eight radiologists with different experiences used DCMS for marking dental caries on 200 DBR, 50 of which were repeated twice for assessing the accuracy of each radiologist. Results: A total of 3833 points were marked by 8 users on 150 non repetitive DBR. Only 35 points were marked similarly by 8 users; in other words, 8 users totally agreed with 4% of the caries points. According to 50 repetitive DBR, the maximum accuracy of users was 69% and the minimum was 50%. Conclusions: There is significant debate over the diagnosis of caries on DBR; therefore, for unifying the radiologist’s opinions, the need for intelligent caries detection software is apparent. DCMS is useful software for gathering caries data. Moreover, the use of conventional display monitor has negative impacts on accurate diagnosis of caries on DBR