The influence of section size on the mechanical properties of heat treated pressure vessel steels

The magnitude of differences in the cooling rates, with use of commercial spray quenching, prompted the Pressure Vessel Research Committee of the American Welding Society to sponsor a program at Lehigh University. In addition to the cooling rate program, previously reported mechanical property data have been complemented by additional data and are reported herein

Ecological Distribution and Oenological Characterization of Native Saccharomyces cerevisiae in an Organic Winery

The relation between regional yeast biota and the organoleptic characteristics of wines has attracted growing attention among winemakers. In this work, the dynamics of a native Saccharomyces cerevisiae population was investigated in an organic winery. In this regard, the occurrence and the persistence of native S. cerevisiae were evaluated in the vineyard and winery and during spontaneous fermentation of two nonconsecutive vintages. From a total of 98 strains, nine different S. cerevisiae biotypes were identified that were distributed through the whole winemaking process, and five of them persisted in both vintages. The results of the oenological characterization of the dominant biotypes (I and II) show a fermentation behavior comparable to that exhibited by three common commercial starter strains, exhibiting specific aromatic profiles. Biotype I was characterized by some fruity aroma compounds, such as isoamyl acetate and ethyl octanoate, while biotype II was differentiated by ethyl hexanoate, nerol, and β-damascenone production also in relation to the fermentation temperature. These results indicate that the specificity of these resident strains should be used as starter cultures to obtain wines with distinctive aromatic profiles

IMPACT OF WII-FIT TRAINING ON NEURO-MUSCULAR CONTROL

INTRODUCTION: In the past year, the interactive exercise video game Wii Fit (Nintendo, Tokyo, Japan) has achieved worldwide popularity. This system could be a potential asset for both training and physical therapy purposes; however, there is a lack of scientific validation to justify such applications. As a first step in ascertaining the advantages of the Wii Fit system, the present study is focused on the neuromuscular control changes that occur after 8 weeks of daily training. METHOD: Two healthy subjects (25.5±2.1 years, 177.8±14.37 cm, 71.5±16.26 kg) trained for 30 minutes a day for 8 consecutive weeks using standard Wii Fit strength training, aerobic, and yoga exercises. Before and after the training period, a series of tests were performed (gait, hop, isometric, and one leg stability) while collecting EMG data from the quadriceps (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis), the hamstrings (biceps femoris and semitendinosus), and the grastrocnemii (lateralis and medialis). The EMG data was linear-enveloped and normalized by a maximum isometric voluntary contraction (MVIC). Similarly to Lloyd et al. (2005), the electromyographic activations were then summed by muscle group to calculate the co-contraction ratio (CCR), which is a value between 0 and 1 that indicates equalizing activation as it increases. RESULTS: Only the right leg data is being reported in this paper. Table 1 displays the CCR for the antagonist coactivations of the hamstrings and quadriceps and also the synergistic activations of the knee flexor muscle groups. It is worth noting that during gait and hopping motions, the ratios are decreased after training, while during the stability tests they increased. Finally, no trend emerged for the isometric data. Table 1 Co-contraction Ratio Maximums (Ext 60 and Flex 60 refer to isometric extesion and flexion at 60°)– values in italics are reciprocals Ext 60 Flex 60 Gait Hop Stability Ham/Quad Coactivation Pre 0.21 0.41 0.17 0.20 0.06 Post 0.46 0.47 0.02 0.06 0.88 Ham/Gast Synergy Pre 0.34 0.47 0.02 0.08 0.04 Post 0.47 0.28 0.01 0.08 0.35 DISCUSSION: After training, the CCR data for dynamic activity indicated more focused muscle control. During the stability tests, much higher CCR values were reported, indicating the muscles were doing a better job achieving a intra-articular equilibrium. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results indicate a promising use of the Wii Fit system for training and physical therapy as on a small population they demonstrated neuromuscular control improvement during dynamic and static trials. REFERENCES: Lloyd, D. G., Buchanan, T. S., and Besier, T. F. (2005). Neuromuscular Biomechanical Modeling to Understand Knee Ligament Loading. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 37, 1939-1947

Celecoxib inhibits proliferation and survival of chronic myelogeous leukemia (CML) cells via AMPK-dependent regulation of β-catenin and mTORC1/2.

CML is effectively treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, the efficacy of these drugs is confined to the chronic phase of the disease and development of resistance to TKIs remains a pressing issue. The anti-inflammatory COX2 inhibitor celecoxib has been utilized as anti-tumour drug due to its anti-proliferative activity. However, its effects in hematological malignancies, in particular CML, have not been investigated yet. Thus, we tested biological effects and mechanisms of action of celecoxib in Philadelphia-positive (Ph+) CML and ALL cells.We show here that celecoxib suppresses the growth of Ph+ cell lines by increasing G1-phase and apoptotic cells and reducing S- and G2-phase cells. These effects were independent of COX2 inhibition but required the rapid activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and the consequent inhibition mTORC1 and 2. Treatment with celecoxib also restored GSK3β function and led to down-regulation of β-catenin activity through transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms, two effects likely to contribute to Ph+ cell growth suppression by celecoxib.Celecoxib inhibited colony formation of TKI-resistant Ph+ cell lines including those with the T315I BCR-ABL mutation and acted synergistically with imatinib in suppressing colony formation of TKI-sensitive Ph+ cell lines. Finally, it suppressed colony formation of CD34+ cells from CML patients, while sparing most CD34+ progenitors from healthy donors, and induced apoptosis of primary Ph+ ALL cells.Together, these findings indicate that celecoxib may serve as a COX2-independent lead compound to simultaneously target the mTOR and β-catenin pathways, key players in the resistance of CML stem cells to TKIs

Integration of 3G connectivity in planetlab Europe :A step of an evolutionary path towards heterogeneous large scale network testbeds

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DPYD IVS14+1G>A and 2846A>T genotyping for the prediction of severe fluoropyrimidine-related toxicity: a meta-analysis.

Aim: In the present study we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data to quantify the impact of the DPYD IVS14+1G>A and 2846A>T variants on the risk of fluoropyrimidine-related toxicities and to determine sensitivity and specificity testing for DPYD variants. Methods: Relevant studies were identified through PubMed and Web of Knowledge databases, studies included were those published up until to May 2012. Study quality was assessed according to the HuGENET guidelines and Strengthening the Reporting of Genetic Association (STREGA) recommendations. Results: Random-effects meta-analysis provided evidence that carriers of DPYD IVS14+1G>A are at higher risk of ≥3 degrees of overall grade toxicity, hematological toxicity, mucositis and diarrhea. In addition, a strong association was also found between carriers of the DPYD 2846T allele and overall grade ≥3 toxicity or grade ≥3 diarrhea. An inverse linear relationship was found in prospective studies between the odds ratio of DPYD IVS14+1G>A and the incidence of overall grade ≥3 toxicity, indicating an higher impact in cohorts in which the incidence of severe toxicity was lower. Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis confirm clinical validity of DPYD IVS14+1G>A and 2846A>T as risk factors for the development of severe toxicities following fluoropyrimidine treatment. Furthermore, the sensitivity and specificity estimates obtained could be useful in establishing the cost-effectiveness of testing for DPYD variants. Original submitted 4 March 2013; Revision submitted 17 June 2013