22 research outputs found

    Alternative shear reinforcement for reinforced concrete flat slabs

    Get PDF
    This paper presents the first series of validation tests for a patented shear reinforcement system for reinforced concrete flat slabs. The system, called “Shearband,” consists of elongated thin steel strips punched with holes, which undulate into the slab from the top surface. The main advantages of the new reinforcement system are structural effectiveness, flexibility, simplicity, and speed of construction. Four reinforced concrete slabs were tested in a specially designed test rig. The slabs reinforced in shear exhibited ductile behavior after achieving their full flexural potential, thus proving the effectiveness of the new reinforcement. This paper reviews briefly existing types of shear reinforcement and identifies the need for more efficient and economic solutions. Details of the experimental setup and results are given, including strain and deflection measurements as well as photographs of sections through the slabs. Finally, comparisons are made with the ACI 318 and BS8110 code predictions, which confirm that the system enabled the slabs to avoid punching shear failure and achieve their flexural potential. In addition, both codes are shown to lead to conservative estimates of flexural and punching shear capacities of reinforced concrete slabs

    Application of a risk-management framework for integration of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in clinical trials

    Get PDF
    Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). To incorporate sTILs into clinical trials and diagnostics, reliable assessment is essential. In this review, we propose a new concept, namely the implementation of a risk-management framework that enables the use of sTILs as a stratification factor in clinical trials. We present the design of a biomarker risk-mitigation workflow that can be applied to any biomarker incorporation in clinical trials. We demonstrate the implementation of this concept using sTILs as an integral biomarker in a single-center phase II immunotherapy trial for metastatic TNBC (TONIC trial, NCT02499367), using this workflow to mitigate risks of suboptimal inclusion of sTILs in this specific trial. In this review, we demonstrate that a web-based scoring platform can mitigate potential risk factors when including sTILs in clinical trials, and we argue that this framework can be applied for any future biomarker-driven clinical trial setting

    Application of a risk-management framework for integration of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in clinical trials

    Get PDF

    Pitfalls in assessing stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) in breast cancer

    Get PDF

    Application of a risk-management framework for integration of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in clinical trials

    Get PDF
    Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). To incorporate sTILs into clinical trials and diagnostics, reliable assessment is essential. In this review, we propose a new concept, namely the implementation of a risk-management framework that enables the use of sTILs as a stratification factor in clinical trials. We present the design of a biomarker risk-mitigation workflow that can be applied to any biomarker incorporation in clinical trials. We demonstrate the implementation of this concept using sTILs as an integral biomarker in a single-center phase II immunotherapy trial for metastatic TNBC (TONIC trial, NCT02499367), using this workflow to mitigate risks of suboptimal inclusion of sTILs in this specific trial. In this review, we demonstrate that a web-based scoring platform can mitigate potential risk factors when including sTILs in clinical trials, and we argue that this framework can be applied for any future biomarker-driven clinical trial setting

    Detection of virulence and multidrug resistance operons in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from Egyptian Baladi sheep and goat

    Get PDF
    Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pit of an enormous group of free-living bacteria that are able to live everywhere and suggested to be the causative agent of great scope of acute and chronic animal infections. Aim: The current study was carried out to illustrate the prevalence of P. aeruginosa in small ruminants and existence of some virulence operons as well as its antimicrobial resistance. Materials and Methods: A total of 155 samples from sheep and 105 samples from goats (mouth abscesses, fecal swabs, nasal, tracheal swabs, and lung tissue) were collected for bacteriological study, existence of some virulence expression operons with the study of their sensitivity to the antimicrobials using disc diffusion and presence of mexR operon which is responsible for multidrug resistance (MDR). Results: The bacteriological examination revealed that P. aeruginosa was isolated from nine out of 155 samples from sheep (5.8%) and four isolates out of 105 samples from goat (3.8%). It is found that 12 (92.3%), 10 (76.9 %), and 8 (61.5%) of P. aeruginosa isolates harbored hemolysin phospholipase gene (pclH), gene (exoS), and enterotoxin gene (toxA), respectively. The results of antibiotic sensitivity test showed that all tested isolates were resistant to ampicillin, bacitracin, erythromycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and tobramycin but sensitive to ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin. The MDR (mexR) operon was existed in all isolates. Conclusion: There is a growing risk for isolation of virulent MDR P. aeruginosa from sheep and goat illness cases, and this should be regarded in the efficient control programs
    corecore