1,111 research outputs found
Usefulness of a specialized "tattoo" consultation in a tertiary care hospital : a one-year experience
Non peer reviewe
Structural Characterization and Numerical Modeling of Historic Quincha Walls
Quincha is a construction technique found in upper stories of many historic residential buildings on the coast of Peru, consisting of a timber frame with a woven cane and mud infill. This article presents the methodology for the development of a numerical model of the quincha system. The quincha walls have been subdivided into three components, the timber frame, bracing, and infill, and the modeling of each component is calibrated separately using experimental and analytical techniques. The resulting numerical model is found to successfully reproduce the behaviour of test specimens. The developed model can be used to assess the global seismic behavior of historic buildings containing quincha of varying geometries. This is demonstrated by modeling a portion of one of the facades of a well-known casona in Lima, Hotel el Comercio
Analogy of the slow dynamics between the supercooled liquid and the supercooled plastic crystal states of difluorotetrachloroethane
Slow dynamics of difluorotetrachloroethane in both supercooled plastic
crystal and supercooled liquid states have been investigated from Molecular
Dynamics simulations. The temperature and wave-vector dependence of collective
dynamics in both states are probed using coherent dynamical scattering
functions . Our results confirm the strong analogy between molecular
liquids and plastic crystals for which -relaxation times and
non-ergodicity parameters are controlled by the non trivial static correlations
as predicted by the Mode Coupling Theory. The use of infinitely thin
needles distributed on a lattice as model of plastic crystals is discussed
Onset of slow dynamics in difluorotetrachloroethane glassy crystal
Complementary Neutron Spin Echo and X-ray experiments and Molecular Dynamics
simulations have been performed on difluorotetrachloroethane (CFCl2-CFCl2)
glassy crystal. Static, single-molecule reorientational dynamics and collective
dynamics properties are investigated. The orientational disorder is
characterized at different temperatures and a change in nature of rotational
dynamics is observed. We show that dynamics can be described by some scaling
predictions of the Mode Coupling Theory (MCT) and a critical temperature
is determined. Our results also confirm the strong analogy between
molecular liquids and plastic crystals for which -relaxation times and
non-ergodicity parameters are controlled by the non trivial static correlations
as predicted by MCT
Identification of potential insect vectors of the Cape Saint Paul Wilt Disease of coconut in Ghana by PCR
The vector of the phytoplasma responsible for the coconut lethal yellowing disease in West Africa is unknown to date. However, it is known that phytoplasmas are transmitted by leafhoppers and planthoppers, which are supposed to be the only ones able to inject the phytoplasma in the phloem. Whereas the presence of phytoplasma in the insect does not prove its capacity to transmit the disease. We have tested a large number of insects for the presence of phytoplamas by PCR (direct PCR and Nested PCR) using both primer pairs specific for all phytoplasmas and those specific for the coconut lethal yellowing disease phytoplasma. In effect the evidence of one or several species carrying the phytoplasma would direct us on the insects to focus on in our transmission cages trials. (Résumé d'auteur
Acute occupational phosphine intoxications : a retrospective study by the Belgian Poison Centre
C
Is there something of the MCT in orientationally disordered crystals ?
Molecular Dynamics simulations have been performed on the orientationally
disordered crystal chloroadamantane: a model system where dynamics are almost
completely controlled by rotations. A critical temperature T_c = 225 K as
predicted by the Mode Coupling Theory can be clearly determined both in the
alpha and beta dynamical regimes. This investigation also shows the existence
of a second remarkable dynamical crossover at the temperature T_x > T_c
consistent with a previous NMR and MD study [1]. This allows us to confirm
clearly the existence of a 'landscape-influenced' regime occurring in the
temperature range [T_c-T_x] as recently proposed [2,3].Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX
The OPFOS microscopy family: High-resolution optical-sectioning of biomedical specimens
We report on the recently emerging (Laser) Light Sheet based Fluorescence
Microscopy field (LSFM). The techniques used in this field allow to study and
visualize biomedical objects non-destructively in high-resolution through
virtual optical sectioning with sheets of laser light. Fluorescence originating
in the cross section of the sheet and sample is recorded orthogonally with a
camera. In this paper, the first implementation of LSFM to image biomedical
tissue in three dimensions - Orthogonal-Plane Fluorescence Optical Sectioning
microscopy (OPFOS) - is discussed. Since then many similar and derived methods
have surfaced (SPIM, Ultramicroscopy, HR-OPFOS, mSPIM, DSLM, TSLIM...) which we
all briefly discuss. All these optical sectioning methods create images showing
histological detail. We illustrate the applicability of LSFM on several
specimen types with application in biomedical and life sciences.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Anatomical Research
International (Hindawi
Molecular characterization of corona radiata cells from patients with diminished ovarian reserve using microarray and microfluidic-based gene expression profiling
BACKGROUND: Diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) is one of the causes of infertility in young women. In this prospective study, gene expression profiling (GEP) of corona radiata cells (CRC) was performed to identify genes deregulated in DOR patients. METHODS: Microarray-based GEP of CRC isolated from eight women undergoing IVF was performed to identify genes differentially expressed between patients with normal ovarian reserve and DOR patients. Microfluidic-based quantitative RT-PCR assays were used to validate selected transcripts on 40 independent patients. A principal component analysis was used to identify more homogeneous subgroups of DOR patients. In silico analyses focusing on cis-regulation were performed to refine the interactions between patient\u27s biological characteristics and their GEP. RESULTS: Forty-eight transcripts were differentially expressed, including CXXC finger protein 5 (CXXC5), forkhead box C1 (FOXC1) (down-regulated in DOR) as well as connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3), prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) and suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) (up-regulated in DOR). According to these transcripts, two DOR patients\u27 subgroups (DOR Gr1 and Gr2) were identified. In DOR Gr2 patients, C-terminal domain 2 (CITED2), CTGF, growth arrest-specific 1 (GAS1), insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2), PTGS2, SOCS2 and Versican (VCAN) were expressed at significantly higher levels and CXXC5, FOXC1, guanylate-binding protein 2 (GBP2) and zinc finger MIZ-domain containing 1 (ZMIZ1) at significantly lower levels. Higher baseline estradiol (E(2)) levels were observed in DOR Gr2 patients (P < 0.006). The in silico analyses suggested that all 11 genes differentially expressed between DOR Gr1 and DOR Gr2 subgroups could be transcriptional targets of estrogen. CONCLUSIONS: Despite small sample size limitations, 12 genes deregulated in the CRC of DOR patients were identified, which could be involved in DOR pathogenesis. A DOR patient\u27s subgroup with high baseline E(2) levels and deregulated estrogen-responsive genes was also identified
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