Bragg Grating Corrosion Sensor

Historically, corrosion has not been included in the calculation of the life expectancy of aircraft. It is well known how stress-corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue can significantly reduce the life expectancy of structures. Therefore, it can be correctly assumed that some aircraft flying near their expected life might actually be flying well beyond their “safe life”. Furthermore, due to DoD present tight budget requirements, its is expected that some defense aircraft might not be retired at their original expected life but will be reconditioned to fly beyond that time. All of these considerations indicate that early detection, quantification and prevention of corrosion is of critical importance for military aircraft. This is particularly true for Navy aircraft which fly in the most corrosive environment of all services

TiO2/graphene and TiO2/graphene oxide nanocomposites for photocatalytic applications: A computer modeling and experimental study

Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://dx. doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2018.03.015.This work reports a computational study, focused on graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) interfaces with titanium dioxide (TiO2), and an experimental assay on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2/G and TiO2/GO nanocomposites in the degradation of two different pollutants: methylene blue and ciprofloxacin. Both carbon nanostructures were compared due to their different chemical structure: GO is a G derivative with oxygen functional groups which should promote a closer chemical interaction with TiO2 nanoparticles. Computational models of the fundamental properties of the composites indicated potentially improved photocatalytic activity compared to TiO2, namely lower band gaps and charge carrier segregation at the interfaces. These fundamental properties match qualitatively experimental results on methylene blue, which was more effectively degraded by TiO2/G and TiO2/GO nanocomposites than by pure TiO2 under UV light. In contrast, the same nanocomposites were found to be less efficient to degrade ciprofloxacin than pure TiO2 under visible and UV light. Therefore, this work showcases the relevance of an efficient matching between the catalyst and the molecular properties and structure of the pollutant.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Project PESTC/FIS/UI607/2014 and PEST-C/QUI/UIO686/2014 and the CICECO Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (FCT ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013). Access to computing facilities provided by the Project “Search-ON2: Revitalization of HPC infrastructure of UMinho” (NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000086) is also acknowledged. P. M. Martins and Luciana Pereira thanks the FCT for grants SFRH/BD/98616/2013 and SFRH/BPD/110235/2015, respectively. MMF for a program Ciência 2008 fellowship. The authors thank financial support from the Basque Government Industry Department under the ELKARTEK Program. P.A.A.P. Marques thanks the grant IF/00917/2013/CP1162/ CT0016. Acknowledges also to FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-010145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm: Genomics mark epigenetic dysregulation as a primary therapeutic target

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare and aggressive hematologic malignancy for which there is still no effective B therapy. In order to identify genetic alterations useful for a new treatment design, we used whole-exome sequencing to analyze 14 BPDCN patients and the patient-derived CAL-1 cell line. The functional enrichment analysis of mutational data reported the epigenetic regulatory program to be the most significantly undermined (P<0.0001). In particular, twenty-five epigenetic modifiers were found mutated (e.g. ASXL1, TET2, SUZ12, ARID1A, PHF2, CHD8); ASXL1 was the most frequently affected (28.6% of cases). To evaluate the impact of the identified epigenetic mutations at the gene-expression and Histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation/acetylation levels, we performed additional RNA and pathology tissue-chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing experiments. The patients displayed enrichment in gene signatures regulated by methylation and modifiable by decitabine administration, shared common H3K27-acetylated regions, and had a set of cell-cycle genes aberrantly up-regulated and marked by promoter acetylation. Collectively, the integration of sequencing data showed the potential of a therapy based on epigenetic agents. Through the adoption of a preclinical BPDCN mouse model, established by CAL-1 cell line xenografting, we demonstrated the efficacy of the combination of the epigenetic drugs 5’-azacytidine and decitabine in controlling disease progression in vivo

An Expanded 2D Fused Aromatic Network with 90-Ring Hexagons

Two-dimensional fused aromatic networks (2D FANs) have emerged as a highly versatile alternative to holey graphene. The synthesis of 2D FANs with increasingly larger lattice dimensions will enable new application perspectives. However, the synthesis of larger analogues is mostly limited by lack of appropriate monomers and methods. Herein, we describe the synthesis, characterisation and properties of an expanded 2D FAN with 90-ring hexagons, which exceed the largest 2D FAN lattices reported to date

On the Milnor formula in arbitrary characteristic

The Milnor formula $\mu=2\delta-r+1$ relates the Milnor number $\mu$, the double point number $\delta$ and the number $r$ of branches of a plane curve singularity. It holds over the fields of characteristic zero. Melle and Wall based on a result by Deligne proved the inequality $\mu\geq 2\delta-r+1$ in arbitrary characteristic and showed that the equality $\mu=2\delta-r+1$ characterizes the singularities with no wild vanishing cycles. In this note we give an account of results on the Milnor formula in characteristic $p$. It holds if the plane singularity is Newton non-degenerate (Boubakri et al. Rev. Mat. Complut. (2010) 25) or if $p$ is greater than the intersection number of the singularity with its generic polar (Nguyen H.D., Annales de l'Institut Fourier, Tome 66 (5) (2016)). Then we improve our result on the Milnor number of irreducible singularities (Bull. London Math. Soc. 48 (2016)). Our considerations are based on the properties of polars of plane singularities in characteristic $p$.Comment: 18 page

Biogeography of key mesozooplankton species in the North Atlantic and egg production of Calanus finmarchicus

Here we present a new, pan-North-Atlantic compilation of data on key mesozooplankton species, including the most important copepod, Calanus finmarchicus. Distributional data of eight representative zooplankton taxa, from recent (2000–2009) Continuous Plankton Recorder data, are presented, along with basin-scale data of the phytoplankton colour index. Then we present a compilation of data on C. finmarchicus, including observations of abundance, demography, egg production and female size, with accompanying data on temperature and chlorophyll. This is a contribution by Canadian, European and US scientists and their institutions: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.820732, http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.824423, http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.828393 (please also see Melle et al., 2013; Castellani and Licandro, 2013; Jónasdóttir et al., 2014)

Dual targeting of the DNA damage response pathway and BCL-2 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Standard chemotherapies for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), based on the induction of exogenous DNA damage and oxidative stress, are often less effective in the presence of increased MYC and BCL-2 levels, especially in the case of double hit (DH) lymphomas harboring rearrangements of the MYC and BCL-2 oncogenes, which enrich for a patient’s population characterized by refractoriness to anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Here we hypothesized that adaptive mechanisms to MYC-induced replicative and oxidative stress, consisting in DNA damage response (DDR) activation and BCL-2 overexpression, could represent the biologic basis of the poor prognosis and chemoresistance observed in MYC/BCL-2-positive lymphoma. We first integrated targeted gene expression profiling (T-GEP), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis, and characterization of replicative and oxidative stress biomarkers in two independent DLBCL cohorts. The presence of oxidative DNA damage biomarkers identified a poor prognosis double expresser (DE)-DLBCL subset, characterized by relatively higher BCL-2 gene expression levels and enrichment for DH lymphomas. Based on these findings, we tested therapeutic strategies based on combined DDR and BCL-2 inhibition, confirming efficacy and synergistic interactions in in vitro and in vivo DH-DLBCL models. These data provide the rationale for precision-therapy strategies based on combined DDR and BCL-2 inhibition in DH or DE-DLBCL

Corruption Kills: Estimating the Global Impact of Corruption on Children Deaths

BACKGROUND: Information on the global risk factors of children mortality is crucial to guide global efforts to improve survival. Corruption has been previously shown to significantly impact on child mortality. However no recent quantification of its current impact is available. METHODS: The impact of corruption was assessed through crude Pearson's correlation, univariate and multivariate linear models coupling national under-five mortality rates in 2008 to the national "perceived level of corruption" (CPI) and a large set of adjustment variables measured during the same period. FINDINGS: The final multivariable model (adjusted R(2)= 0.89) included the following significant variables: percentage of people with improved sanitation (p.value<0.001), logarithm of total health expenditure (p.value = 0.006), Corruption Perception Index (p.value<0.001), presence of an arid climate on the national territory (p = 0.006), and the dependency ratio (p.value<0.001). A decrease in CPI of one point (i.e. a more important perceived corruption) was associated with an increase in the log of national under-five mortality rate of 0.0644. According to this result, it could be roughly hypothesized that more than 140000 annual children deaths could be indirectly attributed to corruption. INTERPRETATIONS: Global response to children mortality must involve a necessary increase in funds available to develop water and sanitation access and purchase new methods for prevention, management, and treatment of major diseases drawing the global pattern of children deaths. However without paying regard to the anti-corruption mechanisms needed to ensure their proper use, it will also provide further opportunity for corruption. Policies and interventions supported by governments and donors must integrate initiatives that recognise how they are inter-related