The factor VII activating protease G511E (Marburg) variant and cardiovascular risk

A previous study had shown a strong relationship between a variant in factor VII activating protease (FSAP G511E) and advanced carotid atheroma. In-vitro, the variant has reduced fibrinolytic but normal pro-coagulant activity, which may constitute a prothrombotic state. The current study has addressed risk for coronary heart disease in a prospective study of cardio vascular disorders (Northwick Park Heart Study II). An interactive effect upon risk was found between the 511E allele and elevated levels of cholesterol and triglyceride. Fibrinogen could substitute for triglyceride levels in this risk-interaction analysis. The findings support the proposal that the FSAP 511E allele exacerbates atherosclerosis or its clinical sequelae

Elastic constants of 3-, 4- and 6-connected chiral and anti-chiral honeycombs subject to uniaxial in-plane loading

Finite Element models are developed for the in-plane linear elastic constants of a family of honeycombs comprising arrays of cylinders connected by ligaments. Honeycombs having cylinders with 3, 4 and 6 ligaments attached to them are considered, with two possible configurations explored for each of the 3- (trichiral and anti-trichiral) and 4- (tetrachiral and anti-tetrachiral) connected systems. Honeycombs for each configuration have been manufactured using rapid prototyping and subsequently characterised for mechanical properties through in-plane uniaxial loading to verify the models. An interesting consequence of the family of 'chiral' honeycombs presented here is the ability to produce negative Poisson's ratio (auxetic) response. The deformation mechanisms responsible for auxetic functionality in such honeycombs are discussed

Asymptotic Expansions for Stationary Distributions of Perturbed Semi-Markov Processes

New algorithms for computing of asymptotic expansions for stationary distributions of nonlinearly perturbed semi-Markov processes are presented. The algorithms are based on special techniques of sequential phase space reduction, which can be applied to processes with asymptotically coupled and uncoupled finite phase spaces.Comment: 83 page

Selenium poisoning in livestock: a review and progress

Selenium in certain soils may be taken up by plants in amounts to render them toxic. Seleniferous forage can be found in most of the western states. Intoxication of livestock by seleniferous plants has been classified as acute and chronic. Acute poisoning results from consumption of plants having high levels of Se; chronic Se poisoning has been described in two forms— alkali disease and blind staggers. Alkali disease is said to result from the consumption of seleniferous grains and grasses, and is manifest by loss of hair, lameness, and loss of weight. Blind staggers is slid to result from the consumption of Se indicator plants and is manifest by wandering, circling, loss of ability to swallow, and blindness. Some research casts doubt on the above classification of Se poisoning. Research using pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) indicates that the source of Se does not alter the type of lesion or signs of poisoning observed. There are data available that suggest that blind staggers is not related to Se poisoning

Surficial geology and performance assessment for a Radioactive Waste Management Facility at the Nevada Test Site

At the Nevada Test Site, one potentially disruptive scenario being evaluated for the Greater Confinement Disposal (GCD) Facility Performance Assessment is deep post-closure erosion that would expose buried radioactive waste to the accessible environment. The GCD Facility located at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) lies at the juncture of three alluvial fan systems. Geomorphic surface mapping in northern Frenchman Flat indicates that reaches of these fans where the RWMS is now located have been constructional since at least the middle Quaternary. Mapping indicates a regular sequence of prograding fans with entrenchment of the older fan surfaces near the mountain fronts and construction of progressively younger inset fans farther from the mountain fronts. At the facility, the oldest fan surfaces are of late Pleistocene and Holocene age. More recent geomorphic activity has been limited to erosion and deposition along small channels. Trench and pit wall mapping found maximum incision in the vicinity of the RWMS to be less than 1.5 m. Based on collected data, natural geomorphic processes are unlikely to result in erosion to a depth of more than approximately 2 m at the facility within the 10,000-year regulatory period

Modelling negative linear compressibility in tetragonal beam structures

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Mechanics of Materials. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Mechanics of Materials, Volume 46 (2012), DOI: 10.1016/j.mechmat.2011.12.007Most materials compress axially in all directions when loaded hydrostatically. Contrary to this, some materials have been discovered that exhibit negative linear compressibility and, as such, expand along a specific axis or plane. This paper analyses a fundamental mechanism by using a combination of finite element simulations and analytical derivations to show that negative linear compressibility can be found in a body-centred or face-centred tetragonal network of nodes connected by a network of beams. The magnitude and direction of this behaviour depends on the cross geometry in the network

The Influence of Minimalist Footwear on Knee and Ankle Load during Depth Jumping

Plyometric training is used by athletes to promote strength and explosive power. However plyometric activities such as depth jumping are associated with a high incidence of injuries. This study examined the influence of minimalist and conventional footwear on the loads experienced by the patellofemoral joint and Achilles tendon. Patellofemoral and Achilles tendon forces were obtained from ten male participants using an eight camera 3D motion capture system and force platform data as they completed depth jumps in both footwear conditions. Differences between footwear were calculated using paired t-tests. The results show that the minimalist footwear were associated with significantly lower patellofemoral contact force/ pressure and also knee abduction moment. It is therefore recommended based on these observations that those who are susceptible to knee pain should consider minimalist footwear when performing plyometric training

Multipole Analysis of Kicks in Collision of Binary Black Holes

Thorne and Kidder give expressions which allow for analytical estimates of the "kick", it i.e. the recoil, produced from asymmetrical gravitational radiation during the interaction of black holes, or in fact any gravitating compact bodies. (The Thorne-Kidder formula uses momentum flux calculations based on the linearized General Relativity of gravitational radiation.) We specifically treat kicks arising in the binary interaction of equal mass black holes, when at least one of the black holes has significant spin, a. Such configurations can produce very large kicks in computational simulations. We consider both fly-by and quasicircular orbits. For fly-by orbits we find substantial kicks from those Thorne-Kidder terms which are linear in a. For the quasi-circular case, we consider in addition the nonlinear contribution (O(a^2)) to the kicks, and provide a dynamical explanation for such terms. However, in the cases of maximal kick velocities, the dependence on spin is largely linear (reproduced in numerical results).Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. Version 2: Title refined, slight wording and typo changes, new reference. Version 3: Version in press at General relativity and Gravitatio