Geogrid-Reinforced Soil Mat for Temporary Support of Heavy Equipment

Concrete blocks were used in a temporary storage facility to support replacement steam generators for a nuclear power plant. From the subsurface investigation, it was found that direct ground support of these concrete blocks was not feasible. In order to avoid the use of piles and associated concrete pile cap, which would be costly and take longer to build, a geogrid-reinforced soil mat foundation was adopted. The concrete blocks were put on a steel plate, which in turn rested on the geogrid-reinforced soil mat. Upon completion of the geogrid-reinforced structural fill mat, the replacement steam generators were moved into the temporary storage facility. Settlement monitoring of the concrete blocks proceeded for more than five months and disclosed settlements that were larger than those calculated. However, the measured settlements were still relatively small and the geogrid-reinforced soil mat foundation performed satisfactorily

Design and Installation of Foundations in Various Ground Conditions at Four Power Stations in the U.K.

The design and installation of safe and economic foundation solutions for large projects is of great importance in contributing to commercial success. On four recent power projects in the U.K., a variety of foundation solutions have been adopted, driven largely by the particular ground conditions encountered at each location. All four projects were gas fired combined cycle power station facilities and each location provided unique challenges in both the design and installation of the foundations. The variety of foundation soils encountered was diverse; soft alluvial peat and clay, loose to medium dense silty sands and moderately weak to moderately strong Triassic rock. Foundation solutions included shallow spread options, reinforced earth/rock fill, ground improvement and bearing piles. Various technical difficulties were overcome at each of the sites and important lessons have been learnt from these. All four power stations are similar in their design and bearing pressure requirements. The foundation solutions are all different and were selected to suit local ground conditions

Micropiles for Support of Heavy Crane Ring Foundation

The replacement of a steam generator at a nuclear power plant was accomplished with the use of a massive crane, believed to be one of the largest available cranes in the world market. Four steam generators were replaced, with each generator weighing 3.2 MN. The crane used for the job had a circular support that required a ring foundation. The crane support imposed huge loads on the ring foundation. Because of the presence of soft to medium stiff clayey fill on one side of the ring foundation, the load-sensitive nature of existing underground safetyrelated duct banks, and the nature of the loads applied to the foundation, it was necessary to support the ring foundation on piles. In order to minimize vibrations next to the containment building (the plant was operational while the piles were being installed), micropiles were selected. A total of 80 micropiles were installed, most of them at a batter of 10o from vertical, to provide the required vertical and lateral load resistance. Despite significant challenges imposed by space constraints, subsurface conditions, buried utilities, and design changes, the micropiles were installed within schedule, and performed as designed

Physical and technical performances are not associated with tactical prominence in U14 soccer matches

The aim of this study was to analyse the association between physical/technical variables and the tactical prominence variables in U14 soccer matches. Twenty-two young amateur soccer players (13.5 0.5 years old, 5.4 0.5 years of practice, 163.3 9.8 cm in body height) from two teams of the Portuguese regional league volunteered for the study. Our results showed positive and moderate correlation between dribbling test and betweenness centrality (r = 0.324; p = 0.142), and negative moderate correlation between %fatigue index and betweenness centrality (r = −0.390; p = 0.073). Physical and technical variables had no statistical differences among tactical positions. Nevertheless, when tactical prominence of players from four tactical positions were compared, significant differences were found in terms of degree prestige (p = 0.001) and degree centrality (p = 0.002). This pilot study did not find strong correlations between physical/technical levels and tactical prominence in soccer matches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Abscisic acid promotes plant acclimation to the combination of salinity and high light stress

Plants encounter combinations of different abiotic stresses such as salinity (S) and high light (HL). These environmental conditions have a detrimental effect on plant growth and development, posing a threat to agricultural production. Metabolic changes play a crucial role in enabling plants to adapt to fluctuations in their environment. Furthermore, hormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) have been previously identified as regulators of plant responses to different abiotic stresses. Here we studied the response of Arabidopsis wild type (Col and Ler) plants and mutants impaired in hormone biosynthesis (aba2-11 and aba1-1 in ABA, aos in JA and sid2 in SA) to the combination of S and HL (S + HL). Our findings showed that aba2-11 plants displayed reduced growth, impaired photosystem II (PSII) function, increased leaf damage, and decreased survival compared to Col when subjected to stress combination. However, aos and sid2 mutants did not display significant changes in response to S + HL compared to Col, indicating a key role for ABA in promoting plant tolerance to S + HL and suggesting a marginal role for JA and SA in this process. In addition, we revealed differences in the metabolic response of plants to S + HL compared to S or HL. The analysis of altered metabolic pathways under S + HL suggested that the accumulation of flavonoids is ABA-dependent, whereas the accumulation of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and proline is ABA-independent. Therefore, our study uncovered a key function for ABA in regulating the accumulation of different flavonoids in plants during S + HL.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347 Modulates Immune Responses in a Gliadin-Induced Enteropathy Animal Model

Coeliac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten proteins (gliadin) that involves innate and adaptive immunity. In this study, we hypothesise that the administration of Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347, previously selected for reducing gliadin immunotoxic effects in vitro, could exert protective effects in an animal model of gliadin-induced enteropathy. The effects of this bacterium were evaluated in newborn rats fed gliadin alone or sensitised with interferon (IFN)-γ and fed gliadin. Jejunal tissue sections were collected for histological, NFκB mRNA expression and cytokine production analyses. Leukocyte populations and T-cell subsets were analysed in peripheral blood samples. The possible translocation of the bacterium to different organs was determined by plate counting and the composition of the colonic microbiota was quantified by real-time PCR. Feeding gliadin alone reduced enterocyte height and peripheral CD4+ cells, but increased CD4+/Foxp3+ T and CD8+ cells, while the simultaneous administration of B. longum CECT 7347 exerted opposite effects. Animals sensitised with IFN-γ and fed gliadin showed high cellular infiltration, reduced villi width and enterocyte height. Sensitised animals also exhibited increased NFκB mRNA expression and TNF-α production in tissue sections. B. longum CECT 7347 administration increased NFκB expression and IL-10, but reduced TNF-α, production in the enteropathy model. In sensitised gliadin-fed animals, CD4+, CD4+/Foxp3+ and CD8+ T cells increased, whereas the administration of B. longum CECT 7347 reduced CD4+ and CD4+/Foxp3+ cell populations and increased CD8+ T cell populations. The bifidobacterial strain administered represented between 75–95% of the total bifidobacteria isolated from all treated groups, and translocation to organs was not detected. These findings indicate that B. longum attenuates the production of inflammatory cytokines and the CD4+ T-cell mediated immune response in an animal model of gliadin-induced enteropathy

Cervical intramedullary schwannoma: a case report and review of the literature

Intramedullary schwannomas unrelated with neurofibromatosis are uncommon tumors, but if correctly diagnosed and properly treated they may have a good prognosis

Multidisciplinary consensus on the therapeutic recommendations for iatrogenic hyperprolactinemia secondary to antipsychotics

Hyperprolactinemia is an underappreciated/unknown adverse effects of antipsychotics. The consequences of hyperprolactinemia compromise therapeutic adherence and can be serious. We present the consensus recommendations made by a group of experts regarding the management of antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia. The current consensus was developed in 3 phases: 1, review of the scientific literature; 2, subsequent round table discussion to attempt to reach a consensus among the experts; and 3, review by all of the authors of the final conclusions until reaching a complete consensus. We include recommendations on the appropriate time to act after hyperprolactinemia detection and discuss the evidence on available options: decreasing the dose of the antipsychotic drug, switching antipsychotics, adding aripiprazole, adding dopaminergic agonists, and other type of treatment. The consensus also included recommendations for some specific populations such as patients with a first psychotic episode and the pediatric-youth population, bipolar disorder, personality disorders and the elderly population