Effect of Axial Loads on Radial Stress in Curved Beams

Radial tension failures have occurred in some curved glulam beams. Radial stresses in curved beams are generally computed using only the bending moment, e.g., Wilson's equation. This work was performed to provide additional insight into the effect on the radial stresses due to the axial loads that are present in the curved beams.Equations of tangential, radial, and shear stress were developed for curved beams under an axial load. The theory of elasticity with polar coordinates for plane stress applied to an orthotropic material was used. Two loblolly pine glulam specimens (orthotropic) and one aluminum specimen (isotropic) with sharp radii and high d/R ratios were tested for the purpose of verifying the theoretical tangential and radial stress distributions that were predicted by the equations. In the aluminum specimen test, theoretical and experimental values compare favorably. In the glulam specimem tests, a favorable agreement was obtained for the tangential stress between the theoretical and experimental values, while the experimental radial stress values were about 2 to 4 times larger than the theoretical values.The theoretical radial stresses predicted by Wilson's equation were verified by a rigorous theory of elasticity solution as both solutions gave almost identical results. Since the elasticity solution included the effect of axial load, we conclude that the effect of axial load on the radial stress in curved beams is small

Comparison of chemical profiles and effectiveness between Erxian decoction and mixtures of decoctions of its individual herbs : a novel approach for identification of the standard chemicals

Acknowledgements This study was partially supported by grants from the Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research (Project Number 201211159146 and 201411159213), the University of Hong Kong. We thank Mr Keith Wong and Ms Cindy Lee for their technical assistances.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Spectrum of Goldstini and Modulini

When supersymmetry is broken in multiple sectors via independent dynamics, the theory furnishes a corresponding multiplicity of "goldstini" degrees of freedom which may play a substantial role in collider phenomenology and cosmology. In this paper, we explore the tree-level mass spectrum of goldstini arising from a general admixture of F-term, D-term, and almost no-scale supersymmetry breaking, employing non-linear superfields and a novel gauge fixing for supergravity discussed in a companion paper. In theories of F-term and D-term breaking, goldstini acquire a mass which is precisely twice the gravitino mass, while the inclusion of no-scale breaking renders one of these modes, the modulino, massless. We argue that the vanishing modulino mass can be explained in terms of an accidental and spontaneously broken "global" supersymmetry.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; v2: typo corrected, references updated; v3: version to appear in JHE

Selective Over-Expression of Endothelin-1 in Endothelial Cells Exacerbates Inner Retinal Edema and Neuronal Death in Ischemic Retina

The level of endothelin-1 (ET-1), a potent vasoconstrictor, was associated with retinopathy under ischemia. The effects of endothelial endothelin-1 (ET-1) over-expression in a transgenic mouse model using Tie-1 promoter (TET-1 mice) on pathophysiological changes of retinal ischemia were investigated by intraluminal insertion of a microfilament up to middle cerebral artery (MCA) to transiently block the ophthalmic artery. Two-hour occlusion and twenty-two-hour reperfusion were performed in homozygous (Hm) TET-1 mice and their non-transgenic (NTg) littermates. Presence of pyknotic nuclei in ganglion cell layer (GCL) was investigated in paraffin sections of ipsilateral (ischemic) and contralateral (non-ischemic) retinae, followed by measurement of the thickness of inner retinal layer. Moreover, immunocytochemistry of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), glutamine synthetase (GS) and aquaporin-4 (AQP4) peptides on retinal sections were performed to study glial cell reactivity, glutamate metabolism and water accumulation, respectively after retinal ischemia. Similar morphology was observed in the contralateral retinae of NTg and Hm TET-1 mice, whereas ipsilateral retina of NTg mice showed slight structural and cellular changes compared with the corresponding contralateral retina. Ipsilateral retinae of Hm TET-1 mice showed more significant changes when compared with ipsilateral retina of NTg mice, including more prominent cell death in GCL characterized by the presence of pyknotic nuclei, elevated GS immunoreactivity in Müller cell bodies and processes, increased AQP-4 immunoreactivity in Müller cell processes, and increased inner retinal thickness. Thus, over-expression of endothelial ET-1 in TET-1 mice may contribute to increased glutamate-induced neurotoxicity on neuronal cells and water accumulation in inner retina leading to edema

Effects of electrical and optogenetic deep brain stimulation on synchronized oscillatory activity in Parkinsonian basal ganglia

poster abstractObjective. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of basal ganglia targets with high-frequency regular electrical pulses is used to treat Parkinsonian motor symptoms. In spite of positive treatment effects, it has a series of limitations. In contrast, optogenetic stimulation, a new but fast growing area, is not yet at a point of clinical testing. Nevertheless, it emerges as an alternative experimental stimulation technique to affect pathological network dynamics, which may be responsible for motor symptoms. This paper compares the effects of electrical and optogenetic stimulation of the basal ganglia on the pathological parkinsonian rhythmic neural activity. Approach. We utilized a conductance-based model of the subthalamo-pallidal circuitry, which reproduces experimentally-observed patterns of neural activity in Parkinson’s disease, and consider the network response to electrical stimulation, excitatory optogenetic stimulation, and inhibitory optogenetic stimulation. Main Results. We found that different simulation types exhibit different interactions with pathological rhythmic activity in the network. We study these interactions for different network and stimulation parameter values. We show that, in the considered model, optogenetic stimulation may be more efficient in suppressing beta oscillations than electrical stimulation. Significance. These results indicate that optogenetic control may be more efficacious than electrical control of a network’s dynamics because of the different ways of how stimulations interact with network dynamics

CD44+ cancer stem-like cells in EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

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Cytoplasmic Forkhead Box M1 (FoxM1) in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Significantly Correlates with Pathological Disease Stage

Abstract: Esophageal cancer is a deadly cancer with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) as the major type. Until now there has been a lack of reliable prognostic markers for this malignancy. This study aims to investigate the clinical correlation between Forkhead box M1 (FoxM1) and patients' parameters in ESCC. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed to investigate the expression and localization of FoxM1 in 64 ESCC tissues and 10 nontumor esophageal tissues randomly selected from 64 patients before these data were used for clinical correlations. Results: Cytoplasmic and nuclear expressions of FoxM1 were found in 63 and 16 of the 64 ESCC tissues, respectively. Low cytoplasmic expression of FoxM1 was correlated with early pathological stage in ESCC (P = 0.018), while patients with nuclear FoxM1 were younger in age than those without nuclear expression (P < 0.001). Upregulation of FoxM1 mRNA was found in five ESCC cell lines (HKESC-1, HKESC-2, HKESC-3, HKESC-4, and SLMT-1) when compared to non-neoplastic esophageal squamous cell line NE-1 using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Except for HKESC-3, all studied ESCC cell lines demonstrated a high expression of FoxM1 protein using immunoblot. A high mRNA level of FoxM1 was observed in all of the ESCC tissues examined when compared to their adjacent nontumor tissues using qPCR. Conclusion: Cytoplasmic FoxM1 was correlated with pathological stage and might be a biomarker for advanced ESCC. © 2011 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201