Bostonia: The Boston University Alumni Magazine. Volume 33

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

BUMC Annual Report

Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center

BUMC Annual Report

Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center

Establishing the Tolerability to Turkeys of Nonanoic Acid at Practical Levels of Use as a Feed Flavoring

Objective: Nonanoic acid (NA) is one of a series of straight-chain aliphatic alcohols, aldehydes, acids and their derivatives with a well-documented history of use as a synthetic flavoring in human food. As part of a safety evaluation of NA for use as a flavoring in animal feed, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the ability of turkeys to tolerate NA at levels relevant to practical feeding practices. Materials and Methods: A total of 594-day-old BUT Premium turkeys (300 males and 294 females) were allocated at random to 40 floor pens containing either 15 males or 13 to 15 females. Poults were fed one of 4 treatment diets in crumble (0 to 14 days) or pellet (15 to 59 days) form containing 0 (control), 100, 300 or 1000 mg NA/kg complete feed for 59 days. General health and performance were monitored for the duration of the study. At days 57 and 59 of age, blood samples were taken and birds were sacrificed and necropsied for histopathological examination of the digestive tract. Significant differences were considered at P ≤ 0.05 and near-significant trends at P ≤ 0.10. Results: NA had no effect on mortality (Pχ2 = 0.54), average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P = 0.11), average daily gain (ADG) (P = 0.12) or feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P = 0.45) in poults over the 56-day feeding period. No treatment-related effects on blood parameters or tissue pathology were observed. Conclusion: The results of the study support the safety and tolerance of NA to turkeys at dietary levels of up to 1000 mg/kg which will provide a considerable margin of safety compared to anticipated practical conditions of use as a feed flavoring.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Effect of Topical Fluoride on Dental Caries Experience in Adult Females of a Military Population

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66668/2/10.1177_00220345550340011801.pd

Effect of slurry composition on the chemical mechanical polishing of thin diamond films

Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) thin films grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) have an intrinsic surface roughness, which hinders the development and per- formance of the films' various applications. Traditional methods of diamond polishing are not effective on NCD thin films. Films either shatter due to the combination of wafer bow and high mechanical pressures or produce uneven surfaces, which has led to the adaptation of the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) technique for NCD films. This process is poorly understood and in need of optimisation. To compare the effect of slurry composition and pH upon polishing rates, a series of NCD thin films have been polished for three hours using a Logitech Tribo CMP System in conjunction with a polyester/polyurethane polishing cloth and six different slurries. The reduction in surface roughness was measured hourly using an atomic force microscope. The nal surface chemistry was examined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and a scanning electron microscope. It was found that of all the various properties of the slurries, including pH and composition, the particle size was the determining factor for the polishing rate. The smaller particles polishing at a greater rate than the larger ones

Analysis of coupled heat and moisture transfer in masonry structures

Evaluation of effective or macroscopic coefficients of thermal conductivity under coupled heat and moisture transfer is presented. The paper first gives a detailed summary on the solution of a simple steady state heat conduction problem with an emphasis on various types of boundary conditions applied to the representative volume element -- a periodic unit cell. Since the results essentially suggest no superiority of any type of boundary conditions, the paper proceeds with the coupled nonlinear heat and moisture problem subjecting the selected representative volume element to the prescribed macroscopically uniform heat flux. This allows for a direct use of the academic or commercially available codes. Here, the presented results are derived with the help of the SIFEL (SIimple Finite Elements) system.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

Efficacy of sodium bicarbonate ingestion strategies for protecting blinding

Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO) is a widely researched ergogenic aid, but the optimal blinding strategy during randomised placebo-controlled trials is unknown. In this multi-study project, we aimed to determine the most efficacious ingestion strategy for blinding NaHCO research. During study one, 16 physically active adults tasted 0.3 g kg body mass NaHCO or 0.03 g kg body mass sodium chloride placebo treatments given in different flavour (orange, blackcurrant) and temperature (chilled, room temperature) solutions. They were required to guess which treatment they had received. During study two, 12 recreational athletes performed time-to-exhaustion (TTE) cycling trials (familiarisation, four experimental). Using a randomised, double-blind design, participants consumed 0.3 g kg body mass NaHCO or a placebo in 5 mL kg body mass chilled orange squash/water solutions or capsules and indicated what they believed they had received immediately after consumption, pre-TTE and post-TTE. In study one, NaHCO prepared in chilled orange squash resulted in the most unsure ratings (44%). In study two, giving NaHCO in capsules resulted in more unsure ratings than in solution after consumption (92 vs 33%), pre-TTE (67 vs. 17%) and post-TTE (50 vs. 17%). Administering NaHCO in capsules was the most efficacious blinding strategy which provides important implications for researchers conducting randomised placebo-controlled trials

Observational study of the association of first insulin type in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes with macrovascular and microvascular disease

<p>Aims: To compare the risk of vascular disease, HbA1c and weight change, between first prescribed insulins in people with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods: People included in THIN United Kingdom primary care record database who began insulin (2000–2007) after poor control on oral glucose-lowering agents (OGLD) were grouped by the number of OGLDs in their treatment regimen immediately before starting insulin (n = 3,485). Within OGLD group, Cox regression compared macrovascular (all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome and stroke) and microvascular disease (peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy) between insulin type (basal, pre-mix or Neutral Protamine Hagedorn, NPH) while ANCOVAs compared haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and weight change.</p> <p>Results: Mean follow-up was 3.6 years. Rates of incident macrovascular events were similar when basal insulin was compared to pre-mix or NPH, adjusted hazard ratio versus basal: pre-mix 1.08 (95% CI 0.73, 1.59); NPH 1.00 (0.63, 1.58) after two OGLDs, and pre-mix 0.97 (0.46, 2.02); NPH 0.77 (0.32, 1.86) after three OGLDs. An increased risk of microvascular disease in NPH versus basal after 3 OGLDs, adjusted hazard ratio1.87 (1.04, 3.36), was not seen after two agents or in comparisons of basal and pre-mix. At one year, after two OGLDs, weight increase was less with basal compared with pre-mix. After three OGLDs, mean HbA1c had reduced less in basal versus pre-mix or NPH at 6–8 and at 9–11 months, and versus pre-mix at 12–14 months.</p> <p>Conclusion: We found no difference in the risk of macrovascular events between first insulins in the medium term when started during poor glycaemia control. The increased risk of microvascular events with NPH warrants further study. In certain groups, first use of basal insulin was associated with less gain in weight and decrease in HbA1c compared to other insulins.</p&gt

Realizing square and diamond lattice S =1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet models in the α and β phases of the coordination framework, KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O

Provision of a PhD studentship to A.H.A. by the University of Liverpool and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is gratefully acknowledged. The work of T.L. was funded by the University of St Andrews and China Scholarship Council (CSC) joint scholarship (201606280032). A.T. was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the Sofja Kovalevskaya Award of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Work at St Andrews was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2013-343).We report the crystal structures and magnetic properties of two pseudopolymorphs of the S=1/2 Ti3+ coordination framework, KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O. Single-crystal x-ray and powder neutron diffraction measurements on α−KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O confirm its structure in the tetragonal I4/mcm space group with a square planar arrangement of Ti3+ ions. Magnetometry and specific heat measurements reveal weak antiferromagnetic interactions, with J1≈7 K and J2/J1=0.11 indicating a slight frustration of nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions. Below 1.8 K, α−KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O undergoes a transition to G-type antiferromagnetic order with magnetic moments aligned along the c axis of the tetragonal structure. The estimated ordered moment of Ti3+ in α−KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O is suppressed from its spin-only value to 0.62(3) μB, thus verifying the two-dimensional nature of the magnetic interactions within the system. β−KTi(C2O4)2⋅2H2O, on the other hand, realizes a three-dimensional diamondlike magnetic network of Ti3+ moments within a hexagonal P6222 structure. An antiferromagnetic exchange coupling of J≈54 K—an order of magnitude larger than in α−KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O—is extracted from magnetometry and specific heat data. β−KTi(C2O4)2⋅2H2O undergoes Néel ordering at TN=28 K, with the magnetic moments aligned within the ab plane and a slightly reduced ordered moment of 0.79 μB per Ti3+. Through density-functional theory calculations, we address the origin of the large difference in the exchange parameters between the α and β pseudopolymorphs. Given their observed magnetic behaviors, we propose α−KTi(C2O4)2⋅xH2O and β−KTi(C2O4)2⋅2H2O as close to ideal model S =1/2 Heisenberg square and diamond lattice antiferromagnets, respectively.PostprintPeer reviewe