Comparison of Predicted and Experimental Behaviour of RC Slabs Subjected to Blast using SDOF Analysis

Explosions emanating from terrorist attacks or military weapons cause damage to civilian and military facilities. Understanding the mechanical behaviour of reinforced concrete structures subjected to blast is of paramount importance for minimizing the possible blast damage. A full-scale experimental program consisting of six reinforced concrete slabs with compressive strengths of 60 MPa, 50 MPa and 40 MPa, measuring 1.0 m × 1.0 m × 0.08 m, and subjected to 2.7 kg of non-confined plastic bonded explosive, was conducted in blast test area of Science and Technology Aerospace Department (Brazilian Air Force). This paper compares experimentally measured peak displacement values with theoretical values. Theoretical analysis was carried out using single degree of freedom (SDOF) models. The comparison showed that SDOF analysis worked very well in predicting the reinforced concrete slab peak displacement against blast effects. Qualitative analysis after the experiments showed that the blast wave shape generated by the cylindrical explosive was not uniformly distributed on the slabs for the standoff distance of 0.927 m∕kg1/3

Effects of alcohol preload on attentional bias towards cocaine-related cues

Background Drug and alcohol users have an ‘attentional bias’ for substance-related cues, which is likely to reflect the incentive-motivational properties of those cues. Furthermore, administration of an alcohol preload increases attentional bias for alcohol and tobacco-related cues in heavy drinkers and tobacco smokers, respectively. The present study investigated attentional bias for cocaine cues in cocaine users and non-users following administration of either alcohol or placebo. Method Thirty-two regular cocaine users and 40 non-users took part. Participants were administered alcohol or placebo, and administration was double blind. After drink administration, a Visual Probe task and Modified Stroop task were used to assess attentional bias. Subjective craving and alcohol outcome expectancies were also measured. Results There was a significant interaction between group and drink type on the visual probe task indicating that cocaine users who had received alcohol had increased attentional bias for cocaine pictures compared to non-users and cocaine users who received placebo. The cocaine Stroop revealed no differences between cocaine users and non-users, and no effects of alcohol in either group. Conclusions Alcohol preload in regular cocaine users increases attentional bias for cocaine cues. However, cocaine users who received placebo did not show attentional bias for cocaine stimuli. Future research should investigate the effects of alcohol preload on attentional bias in cocaine-dependent individuals

Attentional Processing of Food Cues in Overweight and Obese Individuals

The incentive sensitization model of obesity hypothesizes that obese individuals in the western world have acquired an enhanced attention bias to food cues, because of the overwhelming exposure to food. This article gives an overview of recent studies regarding attention to food and obesity. In general, an interesting approach-avoidance pattern in food-related attention has been found in overweight/obese individuals in a number of studies. However, it should be noted that study results are contradictory. This might be due to methodological issues, such as the choice of attention measurements, possibly tapping different underlying components of information processing. Although attention research is challenging, researchers are encouraged to further explore important issues, such as the exact circumstances in which obese persons demonstrate enhanced attention to food, the directional relationship between food-related attention bias, overeating and weight gain, and the underlying involvement of the reward system. Knowledge on these issues could help improve treatment programs

Dental Fear: One Single Clinical Question for Measurement

A new dental fear measurement instrument, the Short Dental Fear Question (SDFQ), was developed and tested for clinical practice purposes. The correlations of the SDFQ with the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) and the Dental Fear Survey (DFS) were tested in 15-16-year-old adolescents. The Spearman correlations (rs) between the dental fear measurement instruments were: SDFQ – DFS: rs = 0.79, n = 26; DFS – DAS: rs = 0.72, n = 26; SDFQ– DAS: rs = 0.69, n = 27. DAS and DFS mean scores were clearly higher in the SDFQ fear group than SDFQ in the relaxed group. The SDFQ is a short and compact instrument which might be convenient for the measurement of dental fear in clinical practice

Altered Neurocircuitry in the Dopamine Transporter Knockout Mouse Brain

The plasma membrane transporters for the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine modulate the dynamics of these monoamine neurotransmitters. Thus, activity of these transporters has significant consequences for monoamine activity throughout the brain and for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gene knockout (KO) mice that reduce or eliminate expression of each of these monoamine transporters have provided a wealth of new information about the function of these proteins at molecular, physiological and behavioral levels. In the present work we use the unique properties of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to probe the effects of altered dopaminergic dynamics on meso-scale neuronal circuitry and overall brain morphology, since changes at these levels of organization might help to account for some of the extensive pharmacological and behavioral differences observed in dopamine transporter (DAT) KO mice. Despite the smaller size of these animals, voxel-wise statistical comparison of high resolution structural MR images indicated little morphological change as a consequence of DAT KO. Likewise, proton magnetic resonance spectra recorded in the striatum indicated no significant changes in detectable metabolite concentrations between DAT KO and wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, alterations in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex to the mesocortical limbic system, an important brain component intimately tied to function of mesolimbic/mesocortical dopamine reward pathways, were revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI). Analysis of co-registered MEMRI images taken over the 26 hours after introduction of Mn^(2+) into the prefrontal cortex indicated that DAT KO mice have a truncated Mn^(2+) distribution within this circuitry with little accumulation beyond the thalamus or contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, WT littermates exhibit Mn^(2+) transport into more posterior midbrain nuclei and contralateral mesolimbic structures at 26 hr post-injection. Thus, DAT KO mice appear, at this level of anatomic resolution, to have preserved cortico-striatal-thalamic connectivity but diminished robustness of reward-modulating circuitry distal to the thalamus. This is in contradistinction to the state of this circuitry in serotonin transporter KO mice where we observed more robust connectivity in more posterior brain regions using methods identical to those employed here

Distinct functions of HTLV-1 Tax1 from HTLV-2 Tax2 contribute key roles to viral pathogenesis

While the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), to date, its close relative HTLV-2 is not associated with ATL or other types of malignancies. Accumulating evidence shows that HTLV-1 Tax1 and HTLV-2 Tax2 have many shared activities, but the two proteins have a limited number of significantly distinct activities, and these distinctions appear to play key roles in HTLV-1 specific pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize the functions of Tax1 associated with cell survival, cell proliferation, persistent infection as well as pathogenesis. We emphasize special attention to distinctions between Tax1 and Tax2

TBK1 Kinase Addiction in Lung Cancer Cells Is Mediated via Autophagy of Tax1bp1/Ndp52 and Non-Canonical NF-kappa B Signalling

K-Ras dependent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells are 'addicted' to basal autophagy that reprograms cellular metabolism in a lysosomal-sensitive manner. Here we demonstrate that the xenophagy-associated kinase TBK1 drives basal autophagy, consistent with its known requirement in K-Ras-dependent NSCLC proliferation. Furthermore, basal autophagy in this context is characterised by sequestration of the xenophagy cargo receptor Ndp52 and its paralogue Tax1bp1, which we demonstrate here to be a bona fide cargo receptor. Autophagy of these cargo receptors promotes non-canonical NF-κB signalling. We propose that this TBK1-dependent mechanism for NF-κB signalling contributes to autophagy addiction in K-Ras driven NSCLC

Facile Preparation of Organic Nanoparticles by Interfacial Cross-Linking of Reverse Micelles and Template Synthesis of Subnanometer Au−Pt Nanoparticles

A single- and a double-tailed cationic surfactant with the triallylammonium headgroup formed reverse micelles (RMs) in heptane/chloroform containing a small amount of water. The reverse micelles were cross-linked at the interface upon UV irradiation in the presence of a water-soluble dithiol cross-linker and a photoinitiator. The resulting interfacially cross-linked reverse micelles (ICRMs) of the single-tailed surfactant aggregated in a solvent-dependent fashion, whereas those of the double-tailed were identical in size as the corresponding RMs. The ICRMs could extract anionic metal salts, such as AuCl4− and PtCl62−, from water into the organic phase. Au and Pt metal nanoparticles were produced upon reduction of metal salts. The covalent nature of the ICRMs made the template synthesis highly predictable, with the size of the metal particles controlled by the amount of the metal salt and the method of reduction. Nanoalloys were obtained by combining two metal precursors in the same reaction. Reduction of the ICRM-entrapped aurate also occurred without any external reducing agents, and the gold nanoparticles differed dramatically from those obtained through sodium borohydride reduction. The same template allowed the preparation of luminescent Au4, Au8, and Au13−Au23 clusters, as well as gold nanoparticles several nanometers in size, simply by using different amounts of gold precursor and reducing conditions