Childrearing style of anxiety-disordered parents

FSW - Self-regulation models for health behavior and Psychopathology - Ou

A Virtual Testing Approach for Laminated Composites Based on Micromechanics

International audienceThe chapter deals with a crucial question for the design of composite structures: how can one predict the evolution of damage up to and including final fracture? Virtual testing, whose goal is to drastically reduce the huge number of industrial tests involved in current characterization procedures, constitutes one of today’s main industrial challenges. In this work, one revisits our multiscale modeling answer through its practical aspects. Some complements regarding identification, kinking, and crack initiation are also given. Finally, the current capabilities and limits of this approach are discussed, as well as the computational challenges that are inherent to “Virtual Structural Testing.

Associations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes

In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because reproduction between close relatives is both rare and frequently associated with confounding social factors. Here, using genomic inbreeding coefficients (FROH) for >1.4 million individuals, we show that FROH is significantly associated (p < 0.0005) with apparently deleterious changes in 32 out of 100 traits analysed. These changes are associated with runs of homozygosity (ROH), but not with common variant homozygosity, suggesting that genetic variants associated with inbreeding depression are predominantly rare. The effect on fertility is striking: FROH equivalent to the offspring of first cousins is associated with a 55% decrease [95% CI 44–66%] in the odds of having children. Finally, the effects of FROH are confirmed within full-sibling pairs, where the variation in FROH is independent of all environmental confounding

Isogeometric analysis for modelling of failure in advanced composite materials

Isogeometric analysis (IGA) has recently received much attention in the computational mechanics community. The basic idea is to use splines as the basis functions for finite-element calculations. This enables the integration of computer-aided design and numerical analysis and allows for an exact representation of complex, curved geometries. Another feature of isogeometric basis functions, their higher-order continuity, is even more important for the development of shell and continuum shell elements to analyse structural stability and damage in thin-walled composite structures. The higher-order shape functions can be used to implement relatively straightforward but powerful shell elements. In addition, these shape functions contribute to a better representation of stresses in continuum elements. Finally, interfaces and delaminations can be modelled by reducing the order of the isogeometric shape functions by knot-insertion. In this chapter, we will give an overview of the recent developments in IGA for shell and continuum shell formulations

Homocysteine Levels, Haemostatic Risk Factors and Restenosis after Carotid Thrombendarterectomy

AbstractObjectives. To investigate the effect of elevated serum homocysteine and haemostatic as well as clinical risk factors on the tendency to restenosis after carotid artery thrombendarterectomy.Design. A prospective, observational study.Patients and methods. In the period from October 1999 to October 2002, 86 patients were subjected to 96 carotid endarterectomies because of internal carotid artery stenoses. The carotid stenoses were symptomatic in 86 cases (90%). Fasting plasma homocysteine, fibrinogen, D-dimer and activated protein C resistance were measured the day before surgery. Follow-up was done 1, 3, 6, 12 and 18 months postoperatively and yearly thereafter with clinical assessment and triplex ultrasonography. The median follow-up time was 17 months (range 9–42 months). Freedom from restenosis was estimated with Kaplan–Meier curves, using log-rank test for comparison between groups. Variables found to be significantly related to restenosis rates were included in a multivariate analysis performed with the Cox proportional hazards model. Comparison of means of continuous data between two groups was done with Student's t-test and more than two groups with one-way analysis of variance.Results. Restenoses within 12 months of the operation occurred in 11 cases (11%). Univariate analysis revealed that plasma homocysteine values ≤10μmol/l and freedom from ischaemic heart disease were both significantly associated with an increased risk of restenosis (p=0.0076 and 0.0059). However, multivariate analysis showed that only plasma homocysteine values <10μmol/l were independently and significantly associated with an increased risk of restenosis (p=0.046). There were no associations between the degree of atherosclerotic affection of the precerebral circulation or symptoms on one hand and the levels of homocysteine, fibrinogen, D-dimer and activated protein C resistance on the other.Conclusion. There seems to be an independent, significant association between homocysteine values within the lower two thirds of the normal range and restenosis after carotid endarterectomy. Studies on the biological properties of human endothelial cells from different types of vasculature and different locations, specifically with respect to homocysteine metabolism and its effect, are warranted