Study of the Dynamic Performance of Pantograph at Speeds Close to the Critical Speed on Soft Catenary System

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FR8RAIL: Development of functional requirements for sustainable and attractive European rail freight

The modal share of intra-EU rail freight transport is less than 20% of the freight transport sector. The current rail"br" freight situation is not only due to the existence of legal barriers restricting competition (including the track access"br" regime, taxation, etc.), but also due to limitations of operational and technical nature, which impact the overall"br" capacity and performance of the sector."br" In order to overcome these issues, Shift2Rail set a specific Innovation Programme 5 (IP5) focused on Technologies"br" for Sustainable & Attractive European Rail Freight. In this context, the FR8RAIL project, is working on the"br" “Development of Functional Requirements for Sustainable and Attractive European Rail”."br" To overcome these limitations, a holistic approach involving several technical areas, that form the backbone of the"br" project approach. The outcomes of FR8RAIL will positively contribute to and support the Shift2Rail goals to"br" strengthen the role of the freight rail transport

Doppler ultrasound improves diagnostic accuracy for testicular torsion

Background: Doppler ultrasound can diagnose testicular torsion with high sensitivity and specificity but may delay surgical treatment. This study aims to assess whether the use of doppler ultrasound, in cases with intermediate clinical suspicion of testicular torsion, can improve diagnostic accuracy compared to clinical assessment alone. Methods: We implemented a new clinical algorithm where patients with intermediate suspicion of testicular torsion undergo doppler ultrasound within 60 min. This study compared the patients that presented within one year prior to the implementation (group 1) to the patients who presented within one year after the implementation (group 2). The primary outcome measure was failure to confirm testicular torsion upon surgical exploration (negative surgical exploration). Missed testicular torsion was one of the secondary endpoints. Results: 590 consecutive patients were included. 322 (55%) in group 1 and 268 (45%) in group 2. There were 9 (2.8%) testicular torsions in group 1 vs 9 (3.4%) in group 2 (p = 0.69) and 2 (0.6%) missed testicular torsions in group 1 vs 0 in group 2 (p = 0.50). Doppler ultrasound was performed in 65 patients (24.2%) in group 2 vs 0 in group 1 (p < 0.01). Negative surgical exploration was performed in 27 (8.4%) patients in group 1 vs 8 (3.0%) in group 2 (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Doppler ultrasound assessment of patients at intermediate clinical risk of testicular torsion significantly reduced the frequency of negative surgical explorations without increased rate of missed testicular torsions

Traumatic axonal injury in the mouse is accompanied by a dynamic inflammatory response, astroglial reactivity and complex behavioral changes

Background Diffuse traumatic axonal injury (TAI), a common consequence of traumatic brain injury, is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Inflammatory processes may play an important role in the pathophysiology of TAI. In the murine central fluid percussion injury (cFPI) TAI model, the neuroinflammatory and astroglial response and behavioral changes are unknown. Methods Twenty cFPI-injured and nine sham-injured mice were used, and the neuroinflammatory and astroglial response was evaluated by immunohistochemistry at 1, 3 and 7 days post-injury. The multivariate concentric square field test (MCSF) was used to compare complex behavioral changes in mice subjected to cFPI (n = 16) or sham injury (n = 10). Data was analyzed using non-parametric statistics and principal component analysis (MCSF data). Results At all post-injury time points, beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP) immunoreactivity revealed widespread bilateral axonal injury and IgG immunostaining showed increased blood--brain barrier permeability. Using vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry, glial cell reactivity was observed in cortical regions and important white matter tracts peaking at three days post-injury. Only vimentin was increased post-injury in the internal capsule and only GFAP in the thalamus. Compared to sham-injured controls, an increased number of activated microglia (MAC-2), infiltrating neutrophils (GR-1) and T-cells (CD3) appearing one day after TAI (P&lt;0.05 for all cell types) was observed in subcortical white matter. In the MCSF, the behavioral patterns including general activity and exploratory behavior differed between cFPI mice and sham-injured controls. Conclusions Traumatic axonal injury in mice resulted in marked bilateral astroglial and neuroinflammatory responses and complex behavioral changes. The cFPI model in mice appears suitable for the study of injury mechanisms, including neuroinflammation, and the development of treatments targeting traumatic axonal injury

Complex behavioral alterations after diffuse traumatic axonal injury in mice are normalized by post-injury neutralization of interleukin-1β

Abstract Wide-spread traumatic axonal injury (TAI), clinically known as diffuse axonal injury, results in brain network dysfunction which commonly leads to persisting cognitive and behavioral impairments following traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI induces a complex neuroinflammatory response, frequently located at sites of axonal pathology. The role of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in TAI has not been established. An IL-1β-neutralizing or a control antibody was administered intraperitoneally at 30 min following central fluid percussion injury (cFPI) in mice, a model of wide-spread TAI. Animals subjected to moderate cFPI (n=41) were compared to sham-injured controls (n=20) and untreated, naive animals (n=9). The anti-IL-1β antibody reached the target brain regions in adequate therapeutic concentrations (up to ~30µg /g brain tissue) at 24h post-injury in both cFPI-injured (n=5) and sham-injured animals (n=3) whereas at 72 h post-injury (n=3 cFPI-injured), the antibody concentration was lower (up to ~18µg /g brain tissue). Functional outcome was analyzed using the multivariate concentric square field™ (MCSF) test at 2 and 9 days post-injury and the Morris water maze (MWM) at 14-21 days post-injury. Following TAI, the IL-1β-neutralizing antibody resulted in an improved behavioral outcome, including normalized behavioral profiles in the MCSF test, and improved performance in the MWM probe (memory) trial, although without influencing MWM learning. The IL1β neutralizing treatment did not influence cerebral ventricle size or the number of activated microglia at 21 days post- injury. These findings support the hypothesis that IL-1β is an important contributor to the processes causing complex cognitive and behavioral disturbances following TAI. Keywords: Interleukin 1β, central fluid percussion injury, mice, multivariate concentric square field test, Morris water maze, microglia, traumatic brain injury, traumatic axonal injury, diffuse axonal injury, behavioral outcom