Ambient vibration survey of the Bosporus Suspension Bridge

This is the peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at DOI 10.1002/eqe.4290180210. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Traffic and wind excitation has been used to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the first Bosporus (Bogazici) Suspension Bridge. Structural symmetry and the absence of suspended side-spans allowed attention to be focused on the main span and the Asian tower. For the main span, 18 vertical and 20 lateral modes were obtained, including torsional modes. For the tower, 12 longitudinal and 12 lateral modes were identified. All these models lie in the range 0–1-1 Hz. A detailed comparison is given between these modes and corresponding calculated modes, obtained by use of a three-dimensional finite element model which includes a geometric stiffness matrix. Of particular interest is the validity of the theoretical model used for the box-deck, because of its subsequent use in response studies of asynchronous seismic excitation. Comparison with a more limited study made in 1973 shows that the bridge continues to behave as it was designed to behave, particularly with regard to the deck-tower interface. From natural frequency measurements of two hangers, the load which they carry was assessed

Prise En Charge Des Plaies Pénétrantes De L’abdomen À L’hôpital National De Niamey

Objectif : rapporter les résultats de la prise en charge des plaies pénétrantes de l’abdomen à l’hôpital national de Niamey au Niger. Patients et méthodes : il s’agissait d’une étude rétrospective et descriptive sur une période de 2 ans. L’étude a concerné tous les patients de tout âge pris en charge à l’hôpital national de Niamey pour plaie pénétrantes de l’abdomen. Résultats : l’étude incluait 51 patients, soit 0,88% des traumatismes. Il s’agissait de 6 femmes et 45 hommes, soit un sex ratio de 7,5. L’âge moyen des patients était de 28 ans [±10,2]. Le délai moyen d’admission était de 4,86 heures [±2,08]. Dans 84,32% des cas les patients étaient transportés à l’hôpital dans un véhicule non médicalisé. Les agressions représentaient 78,44% des circonstances de survenue et la plaie abdominale s’intégrait dans un contexte de polytraumatisme chez 21,53% des patients. Une éviscération était présente chez 31,37% des patients. Le traitement était opératoire chez 90,19% des patients avec 19,56% de laparotomie non thérapeutique. L’organe le plus lésé était l’intestin grêle dans 31,37% des cas suivi du colon dans 23,52% des cas. La morbidité globale était de 33,37% dominée par les hémorragies postopératoires dans 8,69% des cas. La mortalité était de 13,73% avec 50,14% de décès en postopératoire immédiat par hémorragie secondaire ; 28,58% de décès par retard de l’hémostase chirurgicale et 14,28% de décès par défaut de compensation des pertes sanguines en urgence.Conclusion : les plaies de l’abdomen sont fréquentes chez l’adulte jeune de sexe masculin. Elles sont souvent dues à une agression par armes blanches avec un taux élevé de décès. Objective: to report the results of the management of the penetrating abdominal wounds at the national hospital of Niamey. Patients and method: it was a retrospective and descriptive study over 2 years. The study included the patients of all ages managed for penetrating abdominal wounds at national hospital of Niamey in Niger. Results: the study includes 51 patients whether 0.88 % of trauma. They were 45 men and 6 women, with a sex ratio of 7.5. The average age was 28 [±10.2] years old. The average intake time was 4.86 [2.08] hours. In 84. 32% of cases, patients were transported to the hospital in non-medical vehicle. The assault accounted for 78.44% of the circumstances of the occurrence and the penetrating abdominal wound was integrated into a polytrauma in 21.53% of cases. An evisceration was present in 31.37 % of cases. The management was operative in 90.19% of cases with 19.56% of non-therapeutic laparotomy. The most injured organ was the small intestine in 31.37% of cases followed by the colon in 23.52% of cases. The overall morbidity was 33.37%, dominated by postoperative hemorrhages in 8.69% of cases. The mortality was 13.73% with 50.14% of immediate deaths by secondary hemorrhage, 28.58% of deaths by delay of the surgical hemostasis and 14.28% of deaths by a failure of compensation of the blood losses in emergency room. Conclusion: the penetrating abdominal wounds are common in young adult males. They are often due to a stabbing assault with a high death rate

Comparison of Dermatophytes and Other Agents of Human Dermatitis between Males and Females in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Dermatophytes are a group of three genera of fungi namely Microsporum spp, Trichophyton spp and Epidermophyton spp that commonly cause infections of the skin, hair and nails due to their ability to utilize keratin in both man and animals. Dermatophytes and other agents of human dermatitis are believed to have gender predisposition because of the anatomical and physiological nature of these genders. A study was undertaken to compare the distribution of dermatophytes and other agents of human dermatitis in patients who visited the Dermatophilosis Research Laboratory, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau State of Nigeria. A total of 1551 patients were involved in this study from 2003 to 2007; 823 of whom were males and 728 females. Samples collected were skin scrapping, nails, hair and pus exudates. They were processed according to standard procedures. Nine hundred and thirty two (60%) were positive for dermatophytes and other agents. Sporothrix schenckii (138 (12.4%)), Aspergillus flavus (128 (11.5%)), and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (112 (10.1%)), Mucor sp (105 (9.5%)) were the most commonly isolated fungi. Aspergillus flavus occurred more in males (74 (6.7%)) while Sporothrix schenckii was more in females (71 (6.4%)). More isolation was made from the head in males (185 (19.8%)) while in females more isolation was made from their limbs (150 (16.1%)). Males generally were more affected with skin infections than females

Wilson Loop Renormalization Group Flows

The locally BPS Wilson loop and the pure gauge Wilson loop map under AdS/CFT duality to string world-sheet boundaries with standard and alternate quantizations of the world-sheet fields. This implies an RG flow between the two operators, which we verify at weak coupling. Many additional loop operators exist at strong coupling, with a rich pattern of RG flows.Comment: 10 p, 2 figures. v3: Title change, expanded treatment of RG flow

Sulfur geochemistry of hydrothermal waters in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA. III. An anion-exchange resin technique for sampling and preservation of sulfoxyanions in natural waters

A sampling protocol for the retention, extraction, and analysis of sulfoxyanions in hydrothermal waters has been developed in the laboratory and tested at Yellowstone National Park and Green Lake, NY. Initial laboratory testing of the anion-exchange resin Bio-Rad™ AG1-X8 indicated that the resin was well suited for the sampling, preservation, and extraction of sulfate and thiosulfate. Synthetic solutions containing sulfate and thiosulfate were passed through AG1-X8 resin columns and eluted with 1 and 3 M KCl, respectively. Recovery ranged from 89 to 100%. Comparison of results for water samples collected from five pools in Yellowstone National Park between on-site 1C analysis (U.S. Geological Survey mobile lab) and IC analysis of resin-stored sample at SUNY-Stony Brook indicates 96 to 100% agreement for three pools (Cinder, Cistern, and an unnamed pool near Cistern) and 76 and 63% agreement for two pools (Sulfur Dust and Frying Pan). Attempts to extract polythionates from the AG1-X8 resin were made using HCl solutions, but were unsuccessful. Bio-Rad™ AG2-X8, an anion-exchange resin with weaker binding sites than the AG1-X8 resin, is better suited for polythionate extraction. Sulfate and thiosulfate extraction with this resin has been accomplished with KCl solutions of 0.1 and 0.5 M, respectively. Trithionate and tetrathionate can be extracted with 4 M KCl. Higher polythionates can be extracted with 9 M hydrochloric acid. Polythionate concentrations can then be determined directly using ion chromatographic methods, and laboratory results indicate recovery of up to 90% for synthetic polythionate solutions using AG2-X8 resin columns

Elevated Paracellular Glucose Flux across Cystic Fibrosis Airway Epithelial Monolayers Is an Important Factor for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Growth.

People with cystic fibrosis (CF) who develop related diabetes (CFRD) have accelerated pulmonary decline, increased infection with antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and increased pulmonary exacerbations. We have previously shown that glucose concentrations are elevated in airway surface liquid (ASL) of people with CF, particularly in those with CFRD. We therefore explored the hypotheses that glucose homeostasis is altered in CF airway epithelia and that elevation of glucose flux into ASL drives increased bacterial growth, with an effect over and above other cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-related ASL abnormalities. The aim of this study was to compare the mechanisms governing airway glucose homeostasis in CF and non-CF primary human bronchial epithelial (HBE) monolayers, under normal conditions and in the presence of Ps. aeruginosa filtrate. HBE-bacterial co-cultures were performed in the presence of 5 mM or 15 mM basolateral glucose to investigate how changes in blood glucose, such as those seen in CFRD, affects luminal Ps. aeruginosa growth. Calu-3 cell monolayers were used to evaluate the potential importance of glucose on Ps. aeruginosa growth, in comparison to other hallmarks of the CF ASL, namely mucus hyperviscosity and impaired CFTR-dependent fluid secretions. We show that elevation of basolateral glucose promotes the apical growth of Ps. aeruginosa on CF airway epithelial monolayers more than non-CF monolayers. Ps. aeruginosa secretions elicited more glucose flux across CF airway epithelial monolayers compared to non-CF monolayers which we propose increases glucose availability in ASL for bacterial growth. In addition, elevating basolateral glucose increased Ps. aeruginosa growth over and above any CFTR-dependent effects and the presence or absence of mucus in Calu-3 airway epithelia-bacteria co-cultures. Together these studies highlight the importance of glucose as an additional factor in promoting Ps. aeruginosa growth and respiratory infection in CF disease

Validation and justification of the phylum name Cryptomycota phyl. nov.

The recently proposed new phylum name Cryptomycota phyl. nov. is validly published in order to facilitate its use in future discussions of the ecology, biology, and phylogenetic relationships of the constituent organisms. This name is preferred over the previously tentatively proposed “Rozellida” as new data suggest that the life-style and morphology of Rozella is not representative of the large radiation to which it and other Cryptomycota belong. Furthermore, taxa at higher ranks such as phylum are considered better not based on individual names of included genera, but rather on some special characteristics – in this case the cryptic nature of this group and that they were initially revealed by molecular methods rather than morphological discovery. If the group were later viewed as a member of a different kingdom, the name should be retained to indicate its fungal affinities, as is the practice for other fungal-like protist groups

Discourse stylistics and detective fiction:A case study

Pedagogical stylistics concerns itself with the practice of teaching stylistics in the classroom. The principal aim of such teaching is to make students aware of language use in the texts chosen for study. What characterizes pedagogical stylistics is that classroom activities are interactive between the text and the (student) reader, with both the texts and the activities usually chosen by the teacher (see Clark 1996; Clark and Zyngier 2003; Clark and McRae 2004; Simpson 2004). Part of this self-same process of improving students’ linguistic sensibilities has to include placing greater emphasis upon the text as action: the mental processing which is such a proactive part of reading and interpretation, and how all these elements – pragmatic and cognitive as well as linguistic – function within quite specific social and cultural contexts

GATA2 regulates the erythropoietin receptor in t(12;21) ALL.

The t(12;21) (p13;q22) chromosomal translocation resulting in the ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene is the most frequent structural cytogenetic abnormality in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The erythropoietin receptor (EPOR), usually associated with erythroid progenitor cells, is highly expressed in ETV6/RUNX1 positive cases compared to other B-lineage ALL subtypes. Gene expression analysis of a microarray database and direct quantitative analysis of patient samples revealed strong correlation between EPOR and GATA2 expression in ALL, and higher expression of GATA2 in t(12;21) patients. The mechanism of EPOR regulation was mainly investigated using two B-ALL cell lines: REH, which harbor and express the ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene; and NALM-6, which do not. Expression of EPOR was increased in REH cells compared to NALM-6 cells. Moreover, of the six GATA family members only GATA2 was differentially expressed with substantially higher levels present in REH cells. GATA2 was shown to bind to the EPOR 5'-UTR in REH, but did not bind in NALM-6 cells. Overexpression of GATA2 led to an increase in EPOR expression in REH cells only, indicating that GATA2 regulates EPOR but is dependent on the cellular context. Both EPOR and GATA2 are hypomethylated and associated with increased mRNA expression in REH compared to NALM-6 cells. Decitabine treatment effectively reduced methylation of CpG sites in the GATA2 promoter leading to increased GATA2 expression in both cell lines. Although Decitabine also reduced an already low level of methylation of the EPOR in NALM-6 cells there was no increase in EPOR expression. Furthermore, EPOR and GATA2 are regulated post-transcriptionally by miR-362 and miR-650, respectively. Overall our data show that EPOR expression in t(12;21) B-ALL cells, is regulated by GATA2 and is mediated through epigenetic, transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms, contingent upon the genetic subtype of the disease