Port Flow Test System

Solar Turbines Gas Compressor Engineering Division of San Diego, California called upon the Mechanical Engineering students of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo to provide recommendations for optimization of compressor end cap port design. Various sizes of compressors have end caps with numerous ports that exchange fluids between the inside and outside of the working fluid pressure vessel. Because so many ports must exist on the end caps, unusual flow paths are created to supply the appropriate location within the compressor. These flow paths commonly consist of a drilled inlet hole which intersects with a sudden expansion. The sudden expansion is deemed the “fly cut” because of its semicircular shape. Sudden expansions in general cause very high energy losses in fluid flow. This is one of the primary concerns when designing the compressor end cap port layout. Due to the unusual nature of the fly cuts found in Solar Turbines’ end caps, published information on the pressure losses for this particular flow path do not exist. For this reason, Solar Turbines were required to base their port design on the best information available, including: historical compressor design methods, conservative design analysis estimates, and computational fluid mechanics software. Of these options, the computational method could provide the best estimate but only if validated experimentally. In response to this problem, PreFlow Systems was formed and investigated the solution of designing, building, and testing a scaled experimental test apparatus. This report outlines the details involved in every aspect of the project, including: technical specifications and objectives, design conceptualization, engineering analysis, manufacturing, testing, and results. Each of these phases was crucial in creating the final flow test apparatus which simulated the gas port flow of Solar Turbines’ compressor end caps. This apparatus ultimately provided an experimental basis for concluding that computation fluid mechanics software is a reasonable aide in end cap port design

Restriction of meat, fish, and poultry in omnivores improves mood: A pilot randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Omnivorous diets are high in arachidonic acid (AA) compared to vegetarian diets. Research shows that high intakes of AA promote changes in brain that can disturb mood. Omnivores who eat fish regularly increase their intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), fats that oppose the negative effects of AA in vivo. In a recent cross-sectional study, omnivores reported significantly worse mood than vegetarians despite higher intakes of EPA and DHA. This study investigated the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on mood.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Thirty-nine omnivores were randomly assigned to a control group consuming meat, fish, and poultry daily (OMN); a group consuming fish 3-4 times weekly but avoiding meat and poultry (FISH), or a vegetarian group avoiding meat, fish, and poultry (VEG). At baseline and after two weeks, participants completed a food frequency questionnaire, the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales. After the diet intervention, VEG participants reduced their EPA, DHA, and AA intakes, while FISH participants increased their EPA and DHA intakes. Mood scores were unchanged for OMN or FISH participants, but several mood scores for VEG participants improved significantly after two weeks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Restricting meat, fish, and poultry improved some domains of short-term mood state in modern omnivores. To our knowledge, this is the first trial to examine the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on mood state in omnivores.</p

Eclipsing binaries in the Magellanic Clouds. uvby CCD light curves and photometric analyses for HV982 (LMC), HV12578 (LMC), HV1433 (SMC), and HV11284 (SMC)

We present new accurate CCD uvby light curves for the LMC eclipsing binaries HV982 and HV12578, and for the SMC systems HV1433 and HV11284 obtained at the Danish 1.5m telescope at ESO, La Silla. The light curves were derived from DoPHOT photometry, and typical accuracies are between 0.007 and 0.012 mag per point. Standard uvby indices have also been established for each binary, primarily for determination of interstellar reddening and absorption. For HV982 and HV12578, accurate photometric elements have been established. Both systems consist of two detached components of comparable sizes in an eccentric orbit. Adopting the spectroscopic elements given by Fitzpatrick et al. 2002 for HV982, we derive absolute dimensions of its components which agree well with their results. A distance modulus of V_0-M_V = 18.63 +/- 0.08 is obtained, corresponding to a distance of 52.6 +/- 2.0 kpc, which is in formal agreement with (although slightly larger than) their determination. HV1433 and HV11284 both consist of two rather close, deformed and quite different stars. As the mass ratios between the components (and their rotation rates) are not known, definitive photometric elements can not yet be obtained, but we present a sample of possible photometric solutions. In a series of forthcoming papers we will combine our uvby observations with high-dispersion spectra from the UVES spectrograph on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and present absolute dimensions, chemical abundances and distances for selected LMC and SMC systems, including HV12578 and refined results for HV982.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, 40 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The prevalence of suicidal ideation identified by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in postpartum women in primary care: findings from the RESPOND trial

<p>1 Abstract</p> <p>1.1 Background</p> <p>Suicide is a leading cause of perinatal maternal deaths in industrialised countries but there has been little research to investigate prevalence or correlates of postpartum suicidality. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is widely used in primary and maternity services to screen for perinatal depressive disorders, and includes a question on suicidal ideation (question 10). We aimed to investigate the prevalence, persistence and correlates of suicidal thoughts in postpartum women in the context of a randomised controlled trial of treatments for postnatal depression.</p> <p>1.2 Methods</p> <p>Women in primary care were sent postal questionnaires at 6 weeks postpartum to screen for postnatal depression before recruitment into an RCT. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to screen for postnatal depression and in those with high levels of symptoms, a home visit with a standardised psychiatric interview was carried out using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised version (CIS-R). Other socio-demographic and clinical variables were measured, including functioning (SF12) and quality of the marital relationship (GRIMS). Women who entered the trial were followed up for 18 weeks.</p> <p>1.3 Results</p> <p>9% of 4,150 women who completed the EPDS question relating to suicidal ideation reported some suicidal ideation (including hardly ever); 4% reported that the thought of harming themselves had occurred to them sometimes or quite often. In women who entered the randomised trial and completed the EPDS question relating to suicidal ideation (n = 253), suicidal ideation was associated with younger age, higher parity and higher levels of depressive symptoms in the multivariate analysis. Endorsement of 'yes, quite often' to question 10 on the EPDS was associated with affirming at least two CIS-R items on suicidality. We found no association between suicidal ideation and SF-12 physical or mental health or the EPDS total score at 18 weeks.</p> <p>1.4 Conclusions</p> <p>Healthcare professionals using the EPDS should be aware of the significant suicidality that is likely to be present in women endorsing 'yes, quite often' to question 10 of the EPDS. However, suicidal ideation does not appear to predict poor outcomes in women being treated for postnatal depression.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN16479417">ISRCTN16479417</a>.</p

Detection of the Small Magellanic Cloud in gamma-rays with Fermi/LAT

The flux of gamma rays with energies >100MeV is dominated by diffuse emission from CRs illuminating the ISM of our Galaxy through the processes of Bremsstrahlung, pion production and decay, and inverse-Compton scattering. The study of this diffuse emission provides insight into the origin and transport of CRs. We searched for gamma-ray emission from the SMC in order to derive constraints on the CR population and transport in an external system with properties different from the Milky Way. We analysed the first 17 months of continuous all-sky observations by the Large Area Telescope of the Fermi mission to determine the spatial distribution, flux and spectrum of the gamma-ray emission from the SMC. We also used past radio synchrotron observations of the SMC to study the population of CR electrons specifically. We obtained the first detection of the SMC in high-energy gamma rays, with an integrated >100MeV flux of (3.7 +/-0.7) x10e-8 ph/cm2/s, with additional systematic uncertainty of <16%. The emission is steady and from an extended source ~3{\deg} in size. It is not clearly correlated with the distribution of massive stars or neutral gas, nor with known pulsars or SNRs, but a certain correlation with supergiant shells is observed. The observed flux implies an upper limit on the average CR nuclei density in the SMC of ~15% of the value measured locally in the Milky Way. The population of high-energy pulsars of the SMC may account for a substantial fraction of the gamma-ray flux, which would make the inferred CR nuclei density even lower. The average density of CR electrons derived from radio synchrotron observations is consistent with the same reduction factor but the uncertainties are large. From our current knowledge of the SMC, such a low CR density does not seem to be due to a lower rate of CR injection and rather indicates a smaller CR confinement volume characteristic size.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Allelic Variation and Differential Expression of the mSIN3A Histone Deacetylase Complex Gene Arid4b Promote Mammary Tumor Growth and Metastasis

Accumulating evidence suggests that breast cancer metastatic progression is modified by germline polymorphism, although specific modifier genes have remained largely undefined. In the current study, we employ the MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse model and the AKXD panel of recombinant inbred mice to identify AT–rich interactive domain 4B (Arid4b; NM_194262) as a breast cancer progression modifier gene. Ectopic expression of Arid4b promoted primary tumor growth in vivo as well as increased migration and invasion in vitro, and the phenotype was associated with polymorphisms identified between the AKR/J and DBA/2J alleles as predicted by our genetic analyses. Stable shRNA–mediated knockdown of Arid4b caused a significant reduction in pulmonary metastases, validating a role for Arid4b as a metastasis modifier gene. ARID4B physically interacts with the breast cancer metastasis suppressor BRMS1, and we detected differential binding of the Arid4b alleles to histone deacetylase complex members mSIN3A and mSDS3, suggesting that the mechanism of Arid4b action likely involves interactions with chromatin modifying complexes. Downregulation of the conserved Tpx2 gene network, which is comprised of many factors regulating cell cycle and mitotic spindle biology, was observed concomitant with loss of metastatic efficiency in Arid4b knockdown cells. Consistent with our genetic analysis and in vivo experiments in our mouse model system, ARID4B expression was also an independent predictor of distant metastasis-free survival in breast cancer patients with ER+ tumors. These studies support a causative role of ARID4B in metastatic progression of breast cancer

Neutrophils in cancer: neutral no more

Neutrophils are indispensable antagonists of microbial infection and facilitators of wound healing. In the cancer setting, a newfound appreciation for neutrophils has come into view. The traditionally held belief that neutrophils are inert bystanders is being challenged by the recent literature. Emerging evidence indicates that tumours manipulate neutrophils, sometimes early in their differentiation process, to create diverse phenotypic and functional polarization states able to alter tumour behaviour. In this Review, we discuss the involvement of neutrophils in cancer initiation and progression, and their potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets

Overdiagnosis and overtreatment of early detected prostate cancer

Early detection of prostate cancer is associated with the diagnosis of a considerable proportion of cancers that are indolent, and that will hardly ever become symptomatic during lifetime. Such overdiagnosis should be avoided in all forms of screening because of potential adverse psychological and somatic side effects. The main threat of overdiagnosis is overtreatment of indolent disease. Men with prostate cancer that is likely to be indolent may be offered active surveillance. Evaluation of active surveillance studies and validation of new biological parameters for risk assessment are expected