Fretting damage of Ni-rich ultrafine grained NiTi superelastic wires

The effects of fretting on Ni-rich ultra-fine grained NiTi superelastic wires have been characterized. Fretting tests have been performed using wire on wire in 90° cross-cylinder configuration until 105 cycles in air at 25 °C. Constant displacement amplitude of 50 µm and normal loads of 10, 20 and 50 N were considered. For a normal load of 10 N, the tribosystem performed in Gross Slip Regime and the predominance of wear damage was observed. Mixed Fretting Regime was instead observed for normal loads of 20 N and 50 N. In these cases, the predominant damage mechanism was crack formation with the cracks oriented normal to the displacement direction. Occurrence of martensitic transformation in the contact region was inferred from the particular shape of the fretting loops. Due to their possible impact on biocompatibility, the debris detached from the tribosystem during the different experiments were collected and characterized by TEM. They consisted in agglomerations of nano-crystalline TiO2 (rutile) and NiO oxide particles sized between 10 and 20 nm.Fil: Soria, Sergio Raul. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Física de Metales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Callisaya Choque, Cynthia Esther. Universidad Mayor de San Simon. Centro de Estudios Superiores Universitarios.; BoliviaFil: Soul, Hugo Ramon. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Física de Metales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Claramonte, Simón Pedro. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Física de Metales; ArgentinaFil: Yawny, Alejandro Andres. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Física de Metales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentin

Processing of linguistic deixis in people with schizophrenia, with and without auditory verbal hallucinations

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a key symptom of schizophrenia (SZ) defined by anomalous perception of speech. Anomalies of processing external speech stimuli have also been reported in people with AVH, but it is unexplored which specific dimensions of language are processed differently. Using a speech perception task (passive listening), we here targeted the processing of deixis, a key dimension of language governing the contextual anchoring of speech in interpersonal context. We designed naturalistic speech stimuli that were either non-personal and fact-reporting (‘low-deixis’ condition), or else involved rich deictic devices such as the grammatical first and second persons, direct questions, and vocatives (‘high-deixis’). We asked whether neural correlates of deixis obtained with fMRI would distinguish patients with and without frequent hallucinations (AVH + vs AVH−) from controls and each other. Results showed that high-deixis relative to low-deixis was associated with clusters of increased activation in the bilateral middle temporal gyri extending into the temporal poles and the inferior parietal cortex, in all groups. The AVH + and AVH− groups did not differ. When unifying them, the SZ group as a whole showed altered activity in the precuneus, midline regions and inferior parietal cortex. These results fail to confirm deictic processing anomalies specific to patients with AVH, but reveal such anomalies across SZ. Hypoactivation of this network may relate to a cognitive mechanism for attributing and anchoring thought and referential speech content in context.This research was supported by CIBERSAM and the Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR) (2017SGR1265 to WH, and 2017SGR1271 to EP-C), and grants PID2019-105241GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (to WH) and FFI2016-77647-C2-2-P (to WH and PS-P) provided by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU) and the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI). Also by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-funded by the European Union (ERDF/ESF, “Investing in your future”): Sara Borrell contract (CD19/00149 to PF-C) and Research Project Grants (PI18/00880 to PM)

Drotrecogin alfa (Activated) in adults with septic shock

There have been conflicting reports on the efficacy of recombinant human activated protein C, or drotrecogin alfa (activated) (DrotAA), for the treatment of patients with septic shock.In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial, we assigned 1697 patients with infection, systemic inflammation, and shock who were receiving fluids and vasopressors above a threshold dose for 4 hours to receive either DrotAA (at a dose of 24 μg per kilogram of body weight per hour) or placebo for 96 hours. The primary outcome was death from any cause 28 days after randomization.At 28 days, 223 of 846 patients (26.4%) in the DrotAA group and 202 of 834 (24.2%) in the placebo group had died (relative risk in the DrotAA group, 1.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92 to 1.28; P=0.31). At 90 days, 287 of 842 patients (34.1%) in the DrotAA group and 269 of 822 (32.7%) in the placebo group had died (relative risk, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.90 to 1.19; P=0.56). Among patients with severe protein C deficiency at baseline, 98 of 342 (28.7%) in the DrotAA group had died at 28 days, as compared with 102 of 331 (30.8%) in the placebo group (risk ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.74 to 1.17; P=0.54). Similarly, rates of death at 28 and 90 days were not significantly different in other predefined subgroups, including patients at increased risk for death. Serious bleeding during the treatment period occurred in 10 patients in the DrotAA group and 8 in the placebo group (P=0.81).DrotAA did not significantly reduce mortality at 28 or 90 days, as compared with placebo, in patients with septic shock. (Funded by Eli Lilly; PROWESS-SHOCK ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00604214.)