Surface Activation Treatment of Wood and Its Effect on the Gel Time of Phenol-Formaldehyde Resin

Surface activation treatment of wood using hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, and sodium hydroxide was examined to assess its effect on the gel time of phenol-formaldehyde resin. Four wood species comprising both hardwoods and softwoods, two treatment levels, and two treatment conditions (activation and activation followed by drying) were examined in the study. The effect of surface activation on the gel time of phenol-formaldehyde resin varies for a particular surface activator according to treatment level and treatment condition. Surface activated treated wood decreases the gel time of phenol-formaldehyde resin with hydrogen peroxide treatment having the greatest effect followed by nitric acid and sodium hydroxide treatments

INSULIN RESISTANCE IS ASSOCIATED WITH ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY AND ACCELERATES THE RISK OF PROGRESSION TO DIABETES IN NON DIABETIC HEART FAILURE PATIENTS

Background: Heart failure is an insulin resistant state. Insulin resistance is highly prevalent in non-diabetic patients with heart failure. The impact of insulin resistance on the development of diabetes mellitus and mortality has not been fully defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether insulin resistance is associated with all-cause mortality in a group of non-diabetic patients with heart failure. We have also investigated the impact of insulin resistance on the conversion to diabetes mellitus in these patients. Methods: Insulin resistance, defined by fasting Insulin resistance index (FIRI≥2.7) was assessed in 121 consecutive CHF patients (69 ± 10, 22 % females, 81% ischemic, 61% insulin resistant and FIRI of 4.19 ± 3.8 at baseline) and was followed up for their most recent HbA1c/FPG measurements and mortality data using the electronic linkage system in Dundee, UK. The primary outcome for these cohorts of patients was all cause mortality and secondary outcome was the development of diabetes mellitus.). Cox proportional hazard models were used with FIRI as a continuous variable. Results: After a 6.6 years (IQR 4.7-6.9) median follow-up period, 46 (38%) patients died. A cox proportional hazard model adjusted for relevant covariates showed that the degree of insulin resistance, was significantly associated (HR 1.09, CI 95% 1.02- 1.16), p =0.008) with all-cause mortality. Of the 81 patients we followed up for the development of diabetes, 29% of Insulin resistant-heart failure patients developed diabetes, compared to 10% of non-Insulin resistant-CHF patients. Conclusion: In conclusion, higher FIRI relates to higher all-cause mortality in heart failure patients. We also found out that heart failure patients with IR are at high risk of developing diabetes

Tuning the structure of non-equilibrium soft materials by varying the thermodynamic driving force for crystal ordering

The official published version of the Article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Royal Society of ChemistryThe present work explores the ubiquitous morphological changes in crystallizing systems with increasing thermodynamic driving force based on a novel dynamic density functional theory. A colloidal ‘soft’ material is chosen as a model system for our investigation since there are careful colloidal crystallization observations at a particle scale resolution for comparison, which allows for a direct verification of our simulation predictions. We particularly focus on a theoretically unanticipated, and generic, morphological transition leading to progressively irregular-shaped single crystals in both colloidal and polymeric materials with an increasing thermodynamic driving force. Our simulation method significantly extends previous ‘phase field’ simulations by incorporating a minimal description of the ‘atomic’ structure of the material, while allowing simultaneously for a description of large scale crystal growth. We discover a ‘fast’ mode of crystal growth at high driving force, suggested before in experimental colloidal crystallization studies, and find that the coupling of this crystal mode to the well-understood ‘diffusive’ or ‘slow’ crystal growth mode (giving rise to symmetric crystal growth mode and dendritic crystallization as in snowflakes by the Mullins–Sekerka instability) can greatly affect the crystal morphology at high thermodynamic driving force. In particular, an understanding of this interplay between these fast and slow crystal growth modes allows us to describe basic crystallization morphologies seen in both colloidal suspensions with increasing particle concentration and crystallizing polymer films with decreasing temperature: compact symmetric crystals, dendritic crystals, fractal-like structures, and then a return to compact symmetric single crystal growth again.This work has been supported by the EU FP7 Collaborative Project ENSEMBLE under Grant Agreement NMP4-SL-2008-213669 and by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under contract OTKA-K-62588

Investigating possible ethnicity and sex bias in clinical examiners: an analysis of data from the MRCP(UK) PACES and nPACES examinations

Bias of clinical examiners against some types of candidate, based on characteristics such as sex or ethnicity, would represent a threat to the validity of an examination, since sex or ethnicity are 'construct-irrelevant' characteristics. In this paper we report a novel method for assessing sex and ethnic bias in over 2000 examiners who had taken part in the PACES and nPACES (new PACES) examinations of the MRCP(UK)

Noise and dynamical pattern selection

In pattern forming systems such as Rayleigh-Benard convection or directional solidification, a large number of linearly stable, patterned steady states exist when the basic, simple steady state is unstable. Which of these steady states will be realized in a given experiment appears to depend on unobservable details of the system's initial conditions. We show, however, that weak, Gaussian white noise drives such a system toward a preferred wave number which depends only on the system parameters and is independent of initial conditions. We give a prescription for calculating this wave number, analytically near the onset of instability and numerically otherwise.Comment: 12 pages, REVTEX, no figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Dusquetide: Reduction in Oral Mucositis Associated with Enduring Ancillary Benefits in Tumor Resolution and Decreased Mortality in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Innate immunity is a key component in the pathogenesis of oral mucositis, a universal toxicity of chemoradiation therapy (CRT). Dusquetide, a novel Innate Defense Regulator, has demonstrated both nonclinical and clinical efficacy in ameliorating severe oral mucositis (SOM). Long term follow-up studies from the Phase 2 clinical study evaluating dusquetide as a treatment for SOM in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients receiving CRT have now been completed. Extended analysis indicates that dusquetide therapy was well-tolerated and did not contribute to increased infection, tumor growth or mortality. Potential ancillary benefits of duquetide therapy were also identified

What doesn’t kill you will only make you more risk-loving: early life disasters and CEO behavior

The literature on managerial style posits a linear relation between a CEO's past experiences and firm risk. We show that there is a nonmonotonic relation between the intensity of CEOs’ early-life exposure to fatal disasters and corporate risk-taking. CEOs who experience fatal disasters without extremely negative consequences lead firms that behave more aggressively, whereas CEOs who witness the extreme downside of disasters behave more conservatively. These patterns manifest across various corporate policies including leverage, cash holdings, and acquisition activity. Ultimately, the link between CEOs’ disaster experience and corporate policies has real economic consequences on firm riskiness and cost of capital