Towards a definition of PLM-integrated dimensional measurement

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) enables knowledge about products to be captured and reused. Since dimensional measurement is used to determine the size and shape of the products about which PLM is centered, we contend that it is an important process to integrate. Building on emerging industry-accepted standards, a framework was developed in an effort to define what integrating dimensional measurement with PLM involves. Following a survey of the state-of-the-art against this framework and a critical review, technology gaps are identified, and key challenges and research priorities are highlighted. © 2013 The Authors

Insights into the Ecological Roles and Evolution of Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase-Containing Hot Spring Archaea

Several recent studies have shown the presence of genes for the key enzyme associated with archaeal methane/alkane metabolism, methyl-coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), in metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) divergent to existing archaeal lineages. Here, we study the mcr-containing archaeal MAGs from several hot springs, which reveal further expansion in the diversity of archaeal organisms performing methane/alkane metabolism. Significantly, an MAG basal to organisms from the phylum Thaumarchaeota that contains mcr genes, but not those for ammonia oxidation or aerobic metabolism, is identified. Together, our phylogenetic analyses and ancestral state reconstructions suggest a mostly vertical evolution of mcrABG genes among methanogens and methanotrophs, along with frequent horizontal gene transfer of mcr genes between alkanotrophs. Analysis of all mcr-containing archaeal MAGs/genomes suggests a hydrothermal origin for these microorganisms based on optimal growth temperature predictions. These results also suggest methane/alkane oxidation or methanogenesis at high temperature likely existed in a common archaeal ancestor

Enhanced anti-inflammatory effects of nanoencapsulated diclofenac

This study was conducted to compare the anti-inflammatory efficacy of nanoencapsulated and free-form diclofenac in rat. Diclofenac-loaded liposomes were prepared using the proliposome method. The anti-inflammatory effects of nanoencapsulated and free diclofenac were evaluated using the carrageenan-induced paw edema, formalin-induced paw licking and cotton-pellet-induced granuloma tests in vivo. For carrageenan-induced paw edema, 2 and 20 mg/kg liposome-encapsulated diclofenac showed significant paw volume reduction compared to free form diclofenac of equivalent dosage groups. In the formalin test, significant reduction in paw-licking time was observed in late phase for both liposome-encapsulated and free-form diclofenac (2 and 20 mg/kg) with the percentage of inhibition of 28.62, 60.17% for free-form diclofenac and 31.45, 78.84% for liposome-encapsulated diclofenac, respectively. In cotton-pellet-induced granuloma test 20 mg/kg free-form diclofenac showed significant reduction in the size of granuloma in both transudative and granuloma weight with percentage of inhibition of 42.93 and 49.26%, respectively, when compared to controls. Interestingly, 20 mg/kg nanoencapsulated diclofenac showed a larger reduction of the parameter with percentage of inhibition of 48.43 and 63.55%, respectively. Collectively, these results indicated that nanoencapsulated diclofenac exhibited statistically higher efficacy than free-form diclofenac when orally administered. Hence, clinical dosage may be reduced thereby reducing the drug's adverse effects

Rapid spectrophotometric determination, characterization and anti-inflammatory efficacy evaluation of nanoencapsulated diclofenac sodium

This study was aimed to develop a simple and reproducible spectrophotometric method for the characterization of diclofenac sodium (DS) and to evaluate the efficacy of orally administered liposome encapsulated as well as free form DS in animal model. A simple, rapid and economical spectrophotometric analytical procedure with estimation in UV-visible region was performed on DS using dimethyl sulfoxide as solvent. Parameters such as time, temperature and types of solvent were studied for 20 μg/mL DS solution at 295 nm. All parameters and results of analysis were statistically validated. Liposome-encapsulated and free form DS samples were subjected to characterization study that includes entrapment efficacy determination and particle size analysis. Drug samples were further tested for their in vivo anti-inflammatory efficacy using histamine-induced paw edema test. Under optimized parameters, the Beer’s law is obeyed in range of 0.625-40 μg/mL at λmax 295 nm. A linear working range of 5-35 μg/mL with regression coefficient of 0.9978 was obtained by using seven triplicate analyses of drug samples at seven different concentrations. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation was 1.19 and 3.62 μg/mL, respectively. Result of characterization study showed that the optimum formulation, which has high entrapment efficacy of 87 %, homogenous in size (polydispersity index 0.27), stable and reproducible, were obtained by using the Pro-Lipo Duo with 10 h hydration time and 16 mg/g DS. The liposome encapsulated DS resulted in significant (P < 0.05) inhibition up to 86 % in histamine-induced paw edema test. Present study successfully demonstrated an optimized procedure as per ICH guidelines in detection and evaluation of DS. In addition, nano-encapsulation of DS using liposome was found to demonstrate a potential enhancement in therapeutic efficacy

Vibration-Controlled Transient Elastography Scores to Predict Liver-Related Events in Steatotic Liver Disease

Importance Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is currently the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. It is important to develop noninvasive tests to assess the disease severity and prognosis.Objective To study the prognostic implications of baseline levels and dynamic changes of the vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE)–based scores developed for the diagnosis of advanced fibrosis (Agile 3+) and cirrhosis (Agile 4) in patients with MASLD.Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study included data from a natural history cohort of patients with MASLD who underwent VCTE examination at 16 tertiary referral centers in the US, Europe, and Asia from February 2004 to January 2023, of which the data were collected prospectively at 14 centers. Eligible patients were adults aged at least 18 years with hepatic steatosis diagnosed by histologic methods (steatosis in ≥5% of hepatocytes) or imaging studies (ultrasonography, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, or controlled attenuation parameter ≥248 dB/m by VCTE).Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was liver-related events (LREs), defined as hepatocellular carcinoma or hepatic decompensation (ascites, variceal hemorrhage, hepatic encephalopathy, or hepatorenal syndrome), liver transplant, and liver-related deaths. The Agile scores were compared with histologic and 8 other noninvasive tests.Results A total of 16 603 patients underwent VCTE examination at baseline (mean [SD] age, 52.5 [13.7] years; 9600 [57.8%] were male). At a median follow-up of 51.7 (IQR, 25.2-85.2) months, 316 patients (1.9%) developed LREs. Both Agile 3+ and Agile 4 scores classified fewer patients between the low and high cutoffs than most fibrosis scores and achieved the highest discriminatory power in predicting LREs (integrated area under the time-dependent receiver-operating characteristic curve, 0.89). A total of 10 920 patients (65.8%) had repeated VCTE examination at a median interval of 15 (IQR, 11.3-27.7) months and were included in the serial analysis. A total of 81.9% of patients (7208 of 8810) had stable Agile 3+ scores and 92.6% of patients (8163 of 8810) had stable Agile 4 scores (same risk categories at both assessments). The incidence of LREs was 0.6 per 1000 person-years in patients with persistently low Agile 3+ scores and 30.1 per 1000 person-years in patients with persistently high Agile 3+ scores. In patients with high Agile 3+ score at baseline, a decrease in the score by more than 20% was associated with substantial reduction in the risk of LREs. A similar trend was observed for the Agile 4 score, although it missed more LREs in the low-risk group.Conclusions and Relevance Findings of this study suggest that single or serial Agile scores are highly accurate in predicting LREs in patients with MASLD, making them suitable alternatives to liver biopsy in routine clinical practice and in phase 2b and 3 clinical trials for steatohepatitis

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV

The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.) +(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic