Properties of elastomeric materials based on polychloroprene/chlorosulfonated polyethylene rubber blends

In this work the elastomeres based on polychloroprene/chlorosulphonated polyethylene rubber blends (CR/CSM) intended for rubber-metal bonding has been studied. The rheographs and curing characteristics of blends reinforced by active precipitated silica and diatomaceous earth were obtained using a Monsanto rheometer. Crosslinking has been performed by sulphur at 160 °C up to optimum cure time. Temperature dependence of storage modulus (E’), tanδ and glass transition temperature were determinated by mechanical spectroscopy. Adhesion strength has been measured by two methods. It was concluded that a adhesion strength value can be increased by using nano fillers as reinforcing agensPhysical chemistry 2004 : 7th international conference on fundamental and applied aspects of physical chemistry; Belgrade (Serbia); 21-23 September 200

Authenticity and drug resistance in a panel of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cell lines

Cell lines are important models for drug resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), but are often criticised as being unrepresentative of primary disease. There are also doubts regarding the authenticity of many lines. We have characterised a panel of ALL cell lines for growth and drug resistance and compared data with that published for primary patient specimens. In contrast to the convention that cell lines are highly proliferative, those established in our laboratory grow at rates similar to estimates of leukaemic cells in vivo (doubling time 53–442 h). Authenticity was confirmed by genetic fingerprinting, which also demonstrated the potential stability of long-term cultures. In vitro glucocorticoid resistance correlated well with that measured ex vivo, but all lines were significantly more sensitive to vincristine than primary specimens. Sensitivity to methotrexate was inversely correlated to that of glucocorticoids and L-asparaginase, indicating possible reciprocity in resistance mechanisms. A cell line identified as highly methotrexate resistant (IC50 >8000-fold higher than other lines) was derived from a patient receiving escalating doses of the drug, indicating in vivo selection of resistance as a cause of relapse. Many of these lines are suitable as models to study naturally occurring resistance phenotypes in paediatric ALL

Studium przypadku wpływu siłowego i wytrzymałościowego treningu na lokalną redukcję podskórnej tkanki tłuszczowej

The possibility of local reduction of subcutaneous fatty tissue was investigated in the project discussed in this article. Only one male participated in the experiment. During the experiment the participant trained his abdomen doing additional cardio training for two weeks, while in the following two weeks the abdomen was not trained at all. Instead of abdomen training, only cardio training was performed. This was repeated until the end of the experiment which lasted 9 weeks. The sum of thickness of all 7 observed skin folds was counted. Then, percentage of thickness of abdomen skin folds in relation to all skin folds was calculated. Each successive measurement was compared with the previous one to assess the decrease or increase of abdomen skin fold percentage in relation to all measured skin folds. We put the decreases and increases into a contingency table and calculated probability by using the Fisher’s exact test. Statistical significance was determined at 0.05 level. The local reduction of subcutaneous fatty tissue at abdomen was proven. However, the problem needs more scientific results to conclude this question completely.W artykule przedstawiono możliwości redukcji lokalnej podskórnej tkanki tłuszczowej. Badania przeprowadzono na jednym przedstawicielu płci męskiej. Podczas eksperymentu badany trenował mięśnie brzucha w kombinacji z treningiem aerobowym przez dwa tygodnie. Następne dwa tygodnie mężczyzna wykonywał tylko trening wytrzymałościowy i nie trenował w ogóle mięśni brzucha. Powtarzano to do czasu zakończenia eksperymentu, który trwał przez dziewięć tygodni. Obliczono całkowitą grubość obserwowanych 7 fałdów skórnych. Następnie obliczono wartość procentową tworzoną przez grubość fałdu skórnego na brzuchu względem sumy wszystkich fałdów skóry. Każdy kolejny pomiar porównywano z poprzednim, aby sprawdzić, czy stosunek procentowy grubości fałdu skórnego na brzuchu do grubości wszystkich fałdów skóry wzrośnie czy zmaleje. Wyniki pomiarów zestawiono w tabeli, a prawdopodobieństwo błędu obliczono przy pomocy testu Fiszera. Jako istotną statystycznie przyjęto wartość 0,05. Badania wykazały lokalną redukcję podskórnej tkanki tłuszczowej na brzuchu, ostateczne rozstrzygnięcie przedmiotowej kwestii wymaga jednakże dalszych badań

Addressing the System-on-a-Chip Interconnect Woes Through Communication-Based Design

Communication-based design represents a formal approach to systemon -a-chip design that considers communication between components as important as the computations they perform. Our "network-on-chip" approach partitions the communication into layers to maximize reuse and provide a programmer with an abstraction of the underlying communication framework. This layered approach is cast in the structure advocated by the OSI Reference Model and is demonstrated with a reconfigurable DSP example. The Metropolis methodology of deriving layers through a sequence of adaptation steps between incompatible behaviors is illustrated through the Intercom design example. In another approach, MESCAL provides a designer with tools for a correct-by-construction protocol stack

Quality of life and parental styles assessed by adolescents suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases and their parents

Daniela Jelenova,1 Jan Prasko,1 Marie Ociskova,1 Klara Latalova,1 Eva Karaskova,2 Radovan Hruby,3 Dana Kamaradova,1 Vladimir Mihal21Department of Psychiatry, 2Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University, University Hospital, Olomouc, Czech Republic; 3Private Practice, Martin, Slovak RepublicBackground: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) in adolescents are chronic medical conditions with a substantial influence on the quality of life (QoL) of the families.Methods: A total of 27 adolescents suffering from IBD, 39 healthy adolescents, and their parents were included in the cross-sectional study. The adolescents completed the questionnaires ADOR (parenting styles), KidScreen-10 (QoL), SAD (The Scale of Anxiety in Children), and CDI (Children’s Depression Inventory). The parents completed the BAI (Beck Anxiety Inventory), BDI-II (Beck Depression Inventory, second version), and PedsQL (Pediatrics Quality of Life) Family Impact Module.Results: The parental styles of the parents of the IBD adolescents and controls were without significant differences. The only exception was that fathers’ positive parental style was significantly higher in the fathers of the controls. There were no statistically significant differences between the IBD children and controls in the QoL assessed using KidScreen-10. However, the QoL of the parents of the ill children was significantly lower than that of the parents of the controls (PedsQL total scores in mothers 66.84±14.78 vs 76.17±14.65 and in fathers 68.86±16.35 vs 81.74±12.89, respectively). The mothers of the IBD adolescents were significantly more anxious (BAI scores 9.50±10.38 vs 5.26±4.75) and the fathers more depressed (BDI-II scores 7.23±6.50 vs 3.64±3.51) than the parents of the controls, but there was no difference in the levels of anxiety or depression between the IBD adolescents and the controls. The positive parental style of both the parents of the children suffering from IBD positively correlated with the QoL of the adolescents evaluated by KidScreen-10. The positive parental style of the fathers negatively correlated with the children’s state and trait anxiety and negatively correlated with the severity of childhood depression.Conclusion: The fathers of the IBD adolescents may exhibit low levels of positive parenting style and be mildly depressed, and the mothers tend to exhibit higher levels of anxiety.Keywords: ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, parenting style, quality of life, anxiety, depressio

The readiness of emergency and trauma care in low- and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional descriptive study of 42 public hospitals in Albania

BACKGROUND: Traumatic injuries have become a substantial but neglected epidemic in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but emergency rooms (ERs) in these countries are often staffed with healthcare providers who have minimal emergency training and experience. The aim of this paper was to describe the specialized training, available interventions, and the patient management strategies in the ERs in Albanian public hospitals. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 42 ERs in the Republic of Albania between September 5, 2014, and December 29, 2014 was performed. Assessment subcategories included the following: (1) specialized training and/or certifications possessed by healthcare providers, (2) interventions performed in the ER, and (3) patient management strategies. RESULTS: Across the 42 ERs surveyed, less than half (37.1–42.5 %) of physicians and one third of nurses (7.1–26.0 %) working in the ERs received specialized trauma training. About half (47.9–57.1 %) of the ER physicians and one fifth of the nurses (18.3–22.9 %) possessed basic life support certification. This survey demonstrated some significant differences in the emergency medical care provided between primary, secondary, and tertiary hospitals across Albania (the significance level was set at 0.05). Specifically, these differences involved spinal immobilization (p = 0.01), FAST scan (p = 0.04), splinting (p = 0.01), closed reduction of displaced fractures (p = 0.02), and nurses performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (p = 0.01). Between 50.0 and 71.4 % of the facilities cited a combined lack of training and supplies as the reason for not offering interventions such as rapid sequence induction, needle thoracotomy, chest tube insertion, and thrombolysis. Mass casualty triage was utilized among 39.1 % primary hospitals, 41.7 % of secondary, and 28.6 % of tertiary. CONCLUSIONS: The emergency services in Albania are currently staffed with inadequately trained personnel, who lack the equipment and protocols to meet the needs of the population