Ammopemphix Lacustris N.sp. (Foraminiferida) From Lac des Allemands, Louisiana

Ammopemphix lacustris, n.sp., is recorded from Lac des Allemands, a fresh to brackish water lake located on the upper deltaic plain of the Mississippi Delta.  The new species is compared to, and differentiated from, other species assigned to this genus.  The relationship of this genus to a homeomorphic Paleozoic genus is discussed

Machine learning-based design exploration of clamshell telescope enclosure structure

This study presents an innovative procedure using generative design in combination with machine learning. A new workflow is developed to approximate the responses of individual model evaluations and combine them in a unified environment from which design solutions are searched. This ensures that all design considerations, constraints and objectives are taken into account simultaneously. The proposed workflow is validated on the design of the enclosure for the New Robotic Telescope (NRT), the world's largest robotic, fully autonomous, optical telescope of the four-metre-class. The proposed design for the enclosure is a curved clamshell structure with a 19-metre internal floor diameter, consisting of six segments, three on each side. The results of the study have provided insights into the behaviour of the structure and made it possible to propose final solutions that show significant improvements over the concept design in terms of total mass and operating forces

Dynamic calibration of slab track models for railway applications using full-scale testing

Research and development of technology for railways has found new impetus as society continues to search for cost effective and sustainable means of transport. This tasks engineers with using the state-of-the-art science and engineering for rolling stock development and advanced technologies for building high performance, reliable and cost-effective rail infrastructures. The main goal of this work is to develop detailed and validated three-dimensional slab track models using a finite element formulation, which include all components of the infrastructure. For this purpose, the parameters of the computational models are identified by performing full-scale tests of the fastening system and of the slab track, including all its material layers. The computational model proposed here is calibrated using this approach and a good agreement is obtained between experimental and numerical results. This work opens good perspectives to use this reliable track model to study the interaction with railway vehicles in realistic operation scenarios in order to assess the dynamic behaviour of the trains and to predict the long-term performance of the infrastructure and of its components

Tracking the journey: Europium-doped polystyrene nanoplastics distribution in a model invertebrate (terrestrial isopod, Porcellio scaber, Crustacea) upon dietary exposure

Environmental Biolog

Association between loop diuretic dose changes and outcomes in chronic heart failure: observations from the ESC-EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry

[Abstract] Aims. Guidelines recommend down-titration of loop diuretics (LD) once euvolaemia is achieved. In outpatients with heart failure (HF), we investigated LD dose changes in daily cardiology practice, agreement with guideline recommendations, predictors of successful LD down-titration and association between dose changes and outcomes. Methods and results. We included 8130 HF patients from the ESC-EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry. Among patients who had dose decreased, successful decrease was defined as the decrease not followed by death, HF hospitalization, New York Heart Association class deterioration, or subsequent increase in LD dose. Mean age was 66±13 years, 71% men, 62% HF with reduced ejection fraction, 19% HF with mid-range ejection fraction, 19% HF with preserved ejection fraction. Median [interquartile range (IQR)] LD dose was 40 (25–80) mg. LD dose was increased in 16%, decreased in 8.3% and unchanged in 76%. Median (IQR) follow-up was 372 (363–419) days. Diuretic dose increase (vs. no change) was associated with HF death [hazard ratio (HR) 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12–2.08; P = 0.008] and nominally with cardiovascular death (HR 1.25, 95% CI 0.96–1.63; P = 0.103). Decrease of diuretic dose (vs. no change) was associated with nominally lower HF (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.33–1.07; P = 0.083) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 0.62 95% CI 0.38–1.00; P = 0.052). Among patients who had LD dose decreased, systolic blood pressure [odds ratio (OR) 1.11 per 10 mmHg increase, 95% CI 1.01–1.22; P = 0.032], and absence of (i) sleep apnoea (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.09–0.69; P = 0.008), (ii) peripheral congestion (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.29–0.80; P = 0.005), and (iii) moderate/severe mitral regurgitation (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.37–0.87; P = 0.008) were independently associated with successful decrease. Conclusion. Diuretic dose was unchanged in 76% and decreased in 8.3% of outpatients with chronic HF. LD dose increase was associated with worse outcomes, while the LD dose decrease group showed a trend for better outcomes compared with the no-change group. Higher systolic blood pressure, and absence of (i) sleep apnoea, (ii) peripheral congestion, and (iii) moderate/severe mitral regurgitation were independently associated with successful dose decrease

Sex- and age-related differences in the management and outcomes of chronic heart failure: an analysis of patients from the ESC HFA EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry

Aims: This study aimed to assess age- and sex-related differences in management and 1-year risk for all-cause mortality and hospitalization in chronic heart failure (HF) patients. Methods and results: Of 16 354 patients included in the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry, 9428 chronic HF patients were analysed [median age: 66 years; 28.5% women; mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 37%]. Rates of use of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) were high (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists: 85.7%, 88.7% and 58.8%, respectively). Crude GDMT utilization rates were lower in women than in men (all differences: P\ua0 64 0.001), and GDMT use became lower with ageing in both sexes, at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT prescription; however, age >75 years was a significant predictor of GDMT underutilization. Rates of all-cause mortality were lower in women than in men (7.1% vs. 8.7%; P\ua0=\ua00.015), as were rates of all-cause hospitalization (21.9% vs. 27.3%; P\ua075 years. Conclusions: There was a decline in GDMT use with advanced age in both sexes. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT or adverse outcomes. However, age >75 years independently predicted lower GDMT use and higher all-cause mortality in patients with LVEF 6445%

Interrogating melodic similarity:a definitive phenomenon or the product of interpretation?

The nature of melodic similarity is interrogated through a survey of the different means by which the phenomenon has been studied, examination of methods for measuring melodic similarity, a Monte Carlo analysis of data from the experiment which formed the basis for the ‘ground truth’ used in the MIREX 2005 contest on melodic similarity, and examples of interest in the music of Mozart. Melodic similarity has been studied by a number of means, sometimes quite contrasting, which lead to important differences in the light of the finding that similarity is dependent on context. Models of melodic similarity based on reduction show that the existence of multiple possible reductions forms a natural basis for similarity to depend on interpretation. Examination of the MIREX 2005 data shows wide variations in subjects’ judgements of melodic similarity and some evidence that the perceived similarity between two melodies can be influenced by the presence of a third melody. Examples from Mozart suggest that he deliberately exploited the possibilities inherent in recognising similarity through different interpretations. It is therefore proposed that similarity be thought of not as a distinct and definite function of two melodies but as something created in the minds of those who hear the melodies

Extracellular matrix from hiPSC-mesenchymal progenitors modulates the three-lineage differentiation of human bone marrow stromal cells

Mesenchymal stromal cells from the bone marrow (BMSCs) exhibit a functional decline during aging. We previously found that extracellular matrix (ECM) engineered from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal progenitors enhances the osteogenic capacity of BMSCs. In the current study, we investigated how this ECM affects the three-lineage differentiation and secretory activity of BMSCs. BMSCs were seeded on the ECM layer and osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic lineages were induced in monolayer or micromass cultures. Differentiation responses were compared to controls on tissue culture plastic after 21 days, and secretion of interleukin 6 was evaluated after 3 and 21 days of culture. We found a significant increase in BMSC growth on the ECM in all three differentiation media compared with controls. Osteogenic cultures on the ECM resulted in significantly higher alkaline phosphatase activity, osteogenic gene expression, collagen deposition, and matrix mineralization. In adipogenic cultures, a significant decline in adipocyte formation was found on the ECM. Chondrogenic induction on the ECM resulted in significantly increased chondrogenic gene expression, glycosaminoglycans deposition and collagen type II deposition, and no significant increase in collagen type X gene expression compared to control. Secretion of interleukin 6 was modulated by the three differentiation media and culture surface, and was reduced after 21 days of osteogenic and chondrogenic induction on the ECM. Together, our data suggest that engineered ECM modulates BMSCs trilineage differentiation toward enhanced osteogenesis and chondrogenesis, and reduced adipogenesis. Thus, our ECM might provide a bioactive component for enhancing osteochondral regeneration in older patients