Immune Modulation as a Treatment for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

In the United States, over 200,000 new patients are diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) each year. Consequently, over 40,000 highly morbid aortic reconstructions are performed each year to prevent aneurysm rupture, a catastrophic event associated with near-certain mortality. No pharmaceutical currently exists to slow aneurysm growth, but a 50% reduction in diameter growth per annum could halve the number of aortic reconstructions required. Therefore, successful use of cell therapy to modulate chronic inflammation hallmark to AAA to slow diameter expansion represents a potentially paradigm-altering treatment

Health informatics education for clinicians and managers - What's holding up progress?

This paper reports outcomes of a national survey of health informatics (HI) education and training carried out in the UK. A questionnaire to elicit details of HI and IT skills teaching was derived from a national consensus document (Learning to Manage Health Information, LtMHI). Forms were sent to all pre-qualification medical and nursing schools and to a stratified sample of postgraduate and post-registration programmes. Three case studies were carried out in acute hospital trusts to gain insight into opportunities for continuing professional development in health informatics and IT. Our evidence suggests that in the UK, health informatics is not yet integrated into the clinical curriculum. Nearly all the pre-qualification courses made some provision for teaching IT skills. Nonetheless, many respondents felt that students did not receive sufficient training. There was considerable variation in the amount of HI teaching provided in the different educational sectors. The case studies suggested very little HI training was provided for clinical staff and take-up of provision was not monitored. A number of factors are holding up progress, the most important being a lack of staff with the knowledge and skills to provide academic leadership. The paper outlines some steps that need to be taken to ensure health informatics is embedded in all clinical curricula. © 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Development of a fiber optic high temperature strain sensor

From 1 Apr. 1991 to 31 Aug. 1992, the Georgia Tech Research Institute conducted a research program to develop a high temperature fiber optic strain sensor as part of a measurement program for the space shuttle booster rocket motor. The major objectives of this program were divided into four tasks. Under Task 1, the literature on high-temperature fiber optic strain sensors was reviewed. Task 2 addressed the design and fabrication of the strain sensor. Tests and calibration were conducted under Task 3, and Task 4 was to generate recommendations for a follow-on study of a distributed strain sensor. Task 4 was submitted to NASA as a separate proposal

Aerosol hygroscopicity in the marine atmosphere: a closure study using high-time-resolution, multiple-RH DASH-SP and size-resolved C-ToF-AMS data

We have conducted the first airborne hygroscopic growth closure study to utilize data from an Aerodyne compact Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (C-ToF-AMS) coupled with size-resolved, multiple-RH, high-time-resolution hygroscopic growth factor (GF) measurements from the differential aerosol sizing and hygroscopicity spectrometer probe (DASH-SP). These data were collected off the coast of Central California during seven of the 16 flights carried out during the MASE-II field campaign in July 2007. Two of the seven flights were conducted in airmasses characterized by continental origin. These flights exhibited elevated organic volume fractions (VF_(organic)=0.56±0.19, as opposed to 0.39±0.20 for all other flights), corresponding to significantly suppressed GFs at high RH (1.61±0.14 at 92% RH, as compared with 1.91±0.07 for all other flights), more moderate GF suppression at intermediate RH (1.53±0.10 at 85%, compared with 1.58±0.08 for all other flights), and no measurable GF suppression at low RH (1.31±0.06 at 74%, compared with 1.31±0.07 for all other flights). Organic loadings were slightly elevated in above-cloud aerosols, as compared with below-cloud aerosols, and corresponded to a similar trend of significantly suppressed GF at high RH, but more moderate impacts at lower values of RH. A hygroscopic closure based on a volume-weighted mixing rule provided good agreement with DASH-SP measurements (R^2=0.78). Minimization of root mean square error between observations and predictions indicated mission-averaged organic GFs of 1.22, 1.45, and 1.48 at 74, 85, and 92% RH, respectively. These values agree with previously reported values for water-soluble organics such as dicarboxylic and multifunctional acids, and correspond to a highly oxidized, presumably water-soluble, organic fraction (mission-averaged O:C=0.92±0.33). Finally, a backward stepwise linear regression revealed that, other than RH, the most important predictor for GF is VF_(organic), indicating that a simple emperical model relating GF, RH, and the relative abundance of organic material can provide accurate predictions (R^2=0.77) of hygroscopic growth for the California coast

Review of meteoroid-bumper interaction studies at McGill University

Experimental investigation of meteoroid-bumper impact, debris cloud expansion, and second surface pressure loadin

Making automation pay - cost & throughput trade-offs in the manufacture of large composite components

The automation of complex manufacturing operations can provide significant savings over manual processes, and there remains much scope for increasing automation in the production of large scale structural composites. However the relationships between driving variables are complex, and the achievable throughput rate and corresponding cost for a given design are often not apparent. The deposition rate, number of machines required and unit production rates needed are interrelated and consequently the optimum unit cost is difficult to predict. A detailed study of the costs involved for a series of composite wing cover panels with different manufacturing requirements was undertaken. Panels were sized to account for manufacturing requirements and structural load requirements allowing both manual and automated lay-up procedures to influence design. It was discovered that the introduction of automated tape lay-up can significantly reduce material unit cost, and improve material utilisation, however higher production rates are needed to see this benefit

Hydrogen solubility in zirconium intermetallic second phase particles

The enthalpies of solution of H in Zr binary intermetallic compounds formed with Cu, Cr, Fe, Mo, Ni, Nb, Sn and V were calculated by means of density functional theory simulations and compared to that of H in {\alpha}-Zr. It is predicted that all Zr-rich phases (formed with Cu, Fe, Ni and Sn), and those phases formed with Nb and V, offer lower energy, more stable sites for H than {\alpha}-Zr. Conversely, Mo and Cr containing phases do not provide preferential solution sites for H. In all cases the most stable site for H are those that offer the highest coordination fraction of Zr atoms. Often these are four Zr tetrahedra but not always. Implications with respect to H-trapping properties of commonly observed ternary phases such as Zr(Cr,Fe)2, Zr2(Fe,Ni) and Zr(Nb,Fe)2 are also discussed.Comment: manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Nuclear Materials (2013

An important role for Myb-MuvB and its target gene KIF23 in a mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma

The conserved Myb-MuvB (MMB) multiprotein complex has an important role in transcriptional activation of mitotic genes. MMB target genes are overexpressed in several different cancer types and their elevated expression is associated with an advanced tumor state and a poor prognosis. This suggests that MMB could contribute to tumorigenesis by mediating overexpression of mitotic genes. However, although MMB has been extensively characterized biochemically, the requirement for MMB in tumorigenesis in vivo has not been investigated. Here we demonstrate that MMB is required for tumor formation in a mouse model of lung cancer driven by oncogenic K-RAS. We also identify a requirement for the mitotic kinesin KIF23, a key target gene of MMB, in tumorigenesis. RNA interference-mediated depletion of KIF23 inhibited lung tumor formation in vivo and induced apoptosis in lung cancer cell lines. Our results suggest that inhibition of KIF23 could be a strategy for treatment of lung cancer

A two-compartment mechanochemical model of the roles of\ud transforming growth factor β and tissue tension in dermal wound healing

The repair of dermal tissue is a complex process of interconnected phenomena, where cellular, chemical and mechanical aspects all play a role, both in an autocrine and in a paracrine fashion. Recent experimental results have shown that transforming growth factor−β (TGFβ) and tissue mechanics play roles in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and the production of extracellular materials. We have developed a 1D mathematical model that considers the interaction between the cellular, chemical and mechanical phenomena, allowing the combination of TGFβ and tissue stress to inform the activation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. Additionally, our model incorporates the observed feature of residual stress by considering the changing zero-stress state in the formulation for effective strain. Using this model, we predict that the continued presence of TGFβ in dermal wounds will produce contractures due to the persistence of myofibroblasts; in contrast, early elimination of TGFβ significantly reduces the myofibroblast numbers resulting in an increase in wound size. Similar results were obtained by varying the rate at which fibroblasts differentiate to myofibroblasts and by changing the myofibroblast apoptotic rate. Taken together, the implication is that elevated levels of myofibroblasts is the key factor behind wounds healing with excessive contraction, suggesting that clinical strategies which aim to reduce the myofibroblast density may reduce the appearance of contractures