Nano and viscoelastic Beck's column on elastic foundation

Beck's type column on Winkler type foundation is the subject of the present analysis. Instead of the Bernoulli-Euler model describing the rod, two generalized models will be adopted: Eringen non-local model corresponding to nano-rods and viscoelastic model of fractional Kelvin-Voigt type. The analysis shows that for nano-rod, the Herrmann-Smith paradox holds while for viscoelastic rod it does not

Selection of local extremophile lactic acid bacteria with high capacity to degrade lactose: Potential use to reduce intolerance to lactose in vitro

This study is related to the isolation and identification of strains of local thermophilic lactic acid bacteria belonging to the species, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. These bacteria can exist under extreme conditions of the digestive tract (acidity and high concentration of bile salts) and have a high capacity to degrade lactose. The aim is to produce yoguort with the bacteria that remain viable and active in the digestive tract, so as to enhance lactase activity at the intolerant lactose. The results also show considerable variations between genera, species and strains of the same species in the decomposition of lactose in pure and mixed cultures (Sc.t5 and Sc.t3, respectively, with 48 and 42%) (YSLB2, YSLB4 and YSLB1, respectively, with 90.44, 87.22 and 84.28%) of initial lactose after 6 h of incubation at 37°C while keeping a level of viability higher than 107 cells/ ml. In the presence of pH (2.5, 4.5 and 6.5), put with or without 0.3% of bile salts, the results are also unmatched. The best cultures will be used to manufacture fermented milks (yoghurts) in order to correct intolerance with lactose in man after having to test them, in a second part, in vivo

The impact of vascular burden on late-life depression.

Small vessel pathology and microvascular lesions are no longer considered as minor players in the fields of cognitive impairment and mood regulation. Although frequently found in cognitively intact elders, both neuroimaging and neuropathological data revealed the negative impact on cognitive performances of their presence within neocortical association areas, thalamus and basal ganglia. Unlike cognition, the relationship between these lesions and mood dysregulation is still a matter of intense debate. Early studies focusing on the role of macroinfarct location in the occurrence of post-stroke depression (PSD) led to conflicting data. Later on, the concept of vascular depression proposed a deleterious effect of subcortical lacunes and deep white matter demyelination on mood regulation in elders who experienced the first depressive episode. More recently, the chronic accumulation of lacunes in thalamus, basal ganglia and deep white matter has been considered as a strong correlate of PSD. We provide here a critical overview of neuroimaging and neuropathological sets of evidence regarding the affective repercussions of vascular burden in the aging brain and discuss their conceptual and methodological limitations. Based on these observations, we propose that the accumulation of small vascular and microvascular lesions constitutes a common neuropathological platform for both cognitive decline and depressive episodes in old age

Web Service Discovery in a Semantically Extended UDDI Registry: the Case of FUSION

Service-oriented computing is being adopted at an unprecedented rate, making the effectiveness of automated service discovery an increasingly important challenge. UDDI has emerged as a de facto industry standard and fundamental building block within SOA infrastructures. Nevertheless, conventional UDDI registries lack means to provide unambiguous, semantically rich representations of Web service capabilities, and the logic inference power required for facilitating automated service discovery. To overcome this important limitation, a number of approaches have been proposed towards augmenting Web service discovery with semantics. This paper discusses the benefits of semantically extending Web service descriptions and UDDI registries, and presents an overview of the approach put forward in project FUSION, towards semantically-enhanced publication and discovery of services based on SAWSDL

Immunosuppressive therapy for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: a retrospective study and review of literature

BACKGROUND: Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease is an idiopathic autoimmune disease which targets melanin-containing tissues such as the uvea, meninges, ear and skin. This typically presents in the eye with acute findings of granulomatous anterior uveitis, diffuse choroidal thickening, multiple focal areas of sub-retinal fluid and, in severe cases, optic nerve involvement with bullous serous retinal detachment can occur. Early initiation of treatment has been advocated to prevent progression to the chronic stage of the disease, which can result to a sunset glow fundus with devastatingly poor visual outcome. Treatment is usually initiated with corticosteroids followed by an early introduction of immunosuppressive treatment (IMT) to achieve immediate response after disease presentation, although the choice of IMT for VKH can vary. MAIN FINDINGS: We conducted a retrospective case-series to investigate the management trend of treating VKH over a 20-year period. Twenty-six patients were included and we found a shift from steroid monotherapy to combined IMT/low-dose steroid for the management of acute initial-onset of VKH in the last 10 years. Our average time from diagnosis to initiation of IMT was 2.1 months. 81% (21 of 26 patients) of our patients treated with combined IMT/steroid were able to achieve disease stability with significant good visual outcome at 24 months (Median VApre-IMT = 0.3 Logmar vs VApost-IMT = 0.0 Logmar, p = 0.0001). MMF monotherapy was the most common IMT used and it was well-tolerated by our patients. Even so, 50% of our patients who were treated with MMF did not achieve disease control. We then performed a literature review to identify any IMT which could be superior in the treatment of VKH. We also share our experience (where applicable) on the various treatment options found from the literature review. SHORT CONCLUSION: Our study found that patients with VKH who were treated with combined IMT/low-dose steroids achieved significantly better visual improvement at 24 months compared to steroid monotherapy. We frequently chose MMF and this appears to be well tolerated by our patients. Since its introduction, anti-TNF agents are increasingly becoming a popular choice of treatment for VKH as these have been shown to be safe and effective. However, more data is required to provide evidence that anti-TNF agents can be used as first-line treatment and as monotherapy