Iron nutrition and possible lead toxicity: an appraisal of geophagy undertaken by pregnant women of UK Asian communities

A cultural transfer of geophagy is evident in the UK, with soils imported from Bengal being deliberately consumed mainly by pregnant Asian women. Two samples purchased from ethnic shops were subjected to a 2-part acid–alkaline in vitro physiologically based extraction test (PBET) procedure, representing the stomach and small intestine of the human digestive system respectively, to determine the bioaccessibility of elements. Despite the low bioaccessibility of Fe, with the quantity of soil consumed one sample can provide 41–54% of this mineral nutrient required by a 15–18 year old female, with the other sample providing 90–119%. Significant amounts of Ca, Cu and Mn are also supplied to the consumer, whilst further research investigating the possible effects of Pb toxicity on the geophagist would seem to be justifie

Plastic Deformation of Hafnium under Uniaxial Compression

The plastic behavior of polycrystalline hafnium (Hf) was investigated over a range of strain rates under uniaxial compression. Hafnium exhibited considerable ductility and a moderately rate-sensitive plastic behavior. The stress-strain response consisted of initial yielding followed by parabolic hardening. Microstructural observations on quasistatically deformed specimens revealed that yielding occurred by dislocation activity and that hardening was dominated by twinning on {1012} planes and by slip/twin interactions. A considerable reduction in dislocation and twinning activity was observed in specimens deformed at high strain rates. Failure occurred by shear localization and void growth and coalescence within the shear bands. Measurement of the temperature rise during high strain rate deformation was also made. From these measurements, the fraction of work converted to heat as a function of strain was determined and found to decrease with increasing strain

Influence of cold rolling and strain rate on plastic response of powder metallurgy and chemical vapor deposition rhenium

The plastic response of two kinds of rhenium processed via powder metallurgy (PM) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) were investigated under uniaxial compression over a range of strain rates. The PM rhenium, further cold rolled to 50 and 80 pet of the original thickness, was also investigated to assess the influence of cold work on the plastic behavior. A strong basal texture was detected in all the preceding materials as a result of processing and cold work. Both CVD and PM rhenium exhibited an increase in yield strength and flow stress with increasing strain rate. In PM rhenium, cold work resulted in an increase in hardness and yield strength and a decrease in the work hardening rate. The deformed microstructures revealed extensive twinning in CVD rhenium. At large strains, inhomogeneous deformation mode in the form of classical cup and cone fracture was noticed

Circulating microRNAs in sera correlate with soluble biomarkers of immune activation but do not predict mortality in ART treated individuals with HIV-1 infection: A case control study

10.1371/journal.pone.0139981PLoS ONE1010e013998