Influence of the C/O ratio on titanium and vanadium oxides in protoplanetary disks

Context. The observation of carbon-rich disks have motivated several studies questioning the influence of the C/O ratio on their gas phase composition in order to establish the connection between the metallicity of hot-Jupiters and that of their parent stars. Aims. We to propose a method that allows the characterization of the adopted C/O ratio in protoplanetary disks independently from the determination of the host star composition. Titanium and vanadium chemistries are investigated because they are strong optical absorbers and also because their oxides are known to be sensitive to the C/O ratio in some exoplanet atmospheres. Methods. We use a commercial package based on the Gibbs energy minimization technique to compute the titanium and vanadium equilibrium chemistries in protoplanetary disks for C/O ratios ranging from 0.05 to 10. Our calculations are performed for pressures ranging from 1e-6 to 1e-2 bar, and for temperatures ranging from 50 to 2000 K. Results. We find that the vanadium nitride/vanadium oxide and titanium hydride/titanium oxide gas phase ratios strongly depend on the C/O ratio in the hot parts of disks (T > 1000 K). Our calculations suggest that, in these regions, these ratios can be used as tracers of the C/O value in protoplanetary disks.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Autogenous shrinkage properties of high performance cement based products

Yüksek performanslı ve yüksek dayanımlı betonların üretimiyle, otojen rötre kavramı büyük bir önem kazanmıştır. Çimento miktarı yüksek, su/çimento oranı çok düşük seviyelerde olan bu betonlarda yeterince su bulunmamasından dolayı otojen rötrenin salt kimyasal faktör dışında kendiliğinden kurumanın yol açtığı bir fiziksel etkiyle de arttığı gözlenmiştir. Otojen rötrenin yüksek performanslı betonlarda, kuruma rötresi mertebesine erişmesiyle konu ilgi çekmeye başlamış ve konu üzerindeki araştırmalar yoğunlaşmıştır. Çimentoların çeşitli bileşenlerinin, kimyasal ve mineral katkıların bu rötre üzerindeki etkilerinin araştırıldığı çok sayıda araştırma mevcuttur. Portland çimentolarının minör bileşenleri olan alkalilerin, çok düşük miktarlarına karşın betonların işlenebilme, dayanım, dürabilite ve rötre özeliklerini önemli ölçüde etkilediği bilinmektedir. Bu deneysel çalışmada yüksek performanslı betonların otojen rötreleri üzerinde çimento bileşenlerinin (özellikle çözünen alkali içeriğinin) ve süperakışkanlaştırıcı katkının etkileri araştırılmış, bu iki faktörün hidratasyon süreci üzerindeki etkileri üzerine yoğunlaşılmıştır. Çalışmada değişik kimyasal bileşenlere sahip çimentolar kullanılarak hamur numuneler üretilmiş, bu numunelerin otojen rötreleri belirlenmiştir. Bu çimentoların hidratasyon aşamaları da çeşitli yöntemlerle takip edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak çimento bileşenlerinin (özellikle çözünen alkali içeriğinin) ve süperakışkanlaştırıcı kullanımının otojen rötre üzerindeki etkileri belirlenmiştir. Elde edilen ana sonuç şöyle özetlenebilir; çimentolardaki çözünen alkali miktarları FKOR büyüklüğünü arttırma yönünde etkinlik taşımktadır. Bunun yanında C3A, C4AF, (SO3/çözünen alkali oranı) ve incelik parametreleri de FKOR’yi etkileyen etkenler arasında dikkate alınmalıdır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Yüksek performasnlı beton, otojen rötre, hidratasyon, çözünen alkali. Autogenous shrinkage concept has started to gain more importance since the high performance-high strength concretes were began to be utilized for structural purposes. These concretes are generally designed with high cementitious materials contents and low water to cementitious material ratios. It is observed that, due to lack of water in capillary pores in these concretes, autogenous shrinkage increases under the effects of not only the chemical factors but also the physical effects. Autogenous shrinkage has started to draw attention with having the same magnitude of drying shrinkage, and the research dealing with this concept has been intensified.  There are numbers of investigations focusing on the effects of various components of cements, chemical and mineral admixtures on this shrinkage. It is well known that, alkalis, which are the minor components of Portland cements, affect the workability, strength, durability, and shrinkage properties of concretes drastically despite their low percentage in cement. These components also affect the hydration process of Portland cement crucially. Therefore, it is inevitable that the soluble alkalis existing in cement will have an effect on the autogenous shrinkage which became more important due to its use in the production of high performance concretes (HPC). Superplasticizers are indispensable ingredients of HPCs. Besides reducing the water to cement ratio, these admixtures also affect the hydration rate and morphology of the hydration products. In this experimental study; effects of cement components (especially soluble alkali content) and superplasticizers on the autogenous shrinkage were investigated. The effects of these two factors on the hydration process were also focused on.  Moreover, discussions were done on the definition of autogenous shrinkage. "Physicochemical Autogenous Shrinkage" term was attributed as to define this shrinkage which is mainly caused by physicochemical effects. Cement paste specimens were produced using cements having different chemical compositions. Autogenous shrinkages of these specimens were obtained by means of volumetric measurement technique. Measurements of volumetric changes was taken in water by means of Archimet balance. Hydration degree of these paste specimens were obtained by non-evaporable water technique. Heat of hydration values were also measured by means of semi-adiabadic calorimeter. The rate of hydration reaction was determined. Capillary pore size distributions were also obtained with Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter (MIP) technique. As a result, the effects of cement components (especially soluble alkali content) and superplasticizers on the autogenous shrinkage of HPC's were determined. Moreover, critical time periods for physcochemical autogenous shrinkage were obtained and the characteristic behavior of this shrinkage were exlained by hydration kinetics. Relations between capillary pore ratio and physcochemical autogenous shrinkage were determined. The main results obtained from this experimental study can be drawn as following: 1) Physicochemical autogenous shrinkage has three main phases for the pastes with low water to cement ratios containing superplasticizer. Generally, these stages were not observed for the specimens which do not contain superplasticizer. However, as an exceptional case, some specimens which do not include superplasticizer could show similar steps as the specimens having superplasticizer. 2) Although, lower hydration heats and hydration degrees were obtained for the lower water to cement ratio specimens, higher values of physicochemical autogenous shrinkage were measured. It was determined that the most effective factor in gaining the physicochemical shrinkage was the released heat values which show the rate of hydration. Higher physicochemical autogenous shrinkage values are measured for the cement pastes which have the higher values of released heat. Microporosity test results have shown that the increasing ratio of capillary pores to total pores causes to increase in physicochemical autogenous shrinkage. Soluble alkali contents were also found to be effective on the. Cements having higher soluble alkali contents exhibited higher physicochemical autogenous shrinkage. It was also concluded that besides the soluble alkali contents in cement, C3A, C4AF contents and SO /soluble alkali ratio are effective parameters and they should be taken into consideration.  Keywords: High performance concrete, autogenous shrinkage, hydration, soluble alkali

Systematic bias in real-world tonometry readings based on laterality?

AIMS: In research settings, the first eye examined tends to have a higher intraocular pressure (IOP) than the second. We sought to verify whether clinicians in Yorkshire, UK, measure IOP in right eyes before left and whether such behavioural factors affect IOP readings at the population level. METHODS: We observed 128 IOP measurements taken by 28 ophthalmologists using Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) over a 4-month period in 2018, recording which eye was examined first. All IOP measurements on electronic patient records for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK, between January 2002 and June 2017 were extracted, yielding IOP readings for 562,360 eyes, analysed for evidence of systematic bias in IOP measurement. RESULTS: Right eye IOP was measured before left in 112/128 observations (87.5% (95% CI: 75.2%-94.2%)). For IOP measured by GAT, there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.121) between right and left eye IOP (mean IOP 16.95 and 16.96 mmHg, respectively). Even values of IOP were reported more frequently than odd values (136,503/214,628 (63.6%) were even). Identical IOP readings for both eyes were recorded in 124,392/254,380 patients (48.9%) who had both eyes measured. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found no IOP difference based on laterality, but strong evidence of certain trends associated with IOP measurement by GAT, such as a preference for even values and the same IOP being recorded for both left and right eyes. Such effects may be explained by behavioural aspects of GAT and suggest that there are substantial opportunities for improvement in the way GAT is utilised in real world settings

Adult infiltrating gliomas with WHO 2016 integrated diagnosis: additional prognostic roles of ATRX and TERT

The “integrated diagnosis” for infiltrating gliomas in the 2016 revised World Health Organization (WHO) classification of tumors of the central nervous system requires assessment of the tumor for IDH mutations and 1p/19q codeletion. Since TERT promoter mutations and ATRX alterations have been shown to be associated with prognosis, we analyzed whether these tumor markers provide additional prognostic information within each of the five WHO 2016 categories. We used data for 1206 patients from the UCSF Adult Glioma Study, the Mayo Clinic and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) with infiltrative glioma, grades II-IV for whom tumor status for IDH, 1p/19q codeletion, ATRX, and TERT had been determined. All cases were assigned to one of 5 groups following the WHO 2016 diagnostic criteria based on their morphologic features, and IDH and 1p/19q codeletion status. These groups are: (1) Oligodendroglioma, IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted; (2) Astrocytoma, IDH-mutant; (3) Glioblastoma, IDH-mutant; (4) Glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype; and (5) Astrocytoma, IDH-wildtype. Within each group, we used univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models to assess associations of overall survival with patient age at diagnosis, grade, and ATRX alteration status and/or TERT promoter mutation status. Among Group 1 IDH-mutant 1p/19q-codeleted oligodendrogliomas, the TERT-WT group had significantly worse overall survival than the TERT-MUT group (HR: 2.72, 95% CI 1.05–7.04, p = 0.04). In both Group 2, IDH-mutant astrocytomas and Group 3, IDH-mutant glioblastomas, neither TERT mutations nor ATRX alterations were significantly associated with survival. Among Group 4, IDH-wildtype glioblastomas, ATRX alterations were associated with favorable outcomes (HR: 0.36, 95% CI 0.17–0.81, p = 0.01). Among Group 5, IDH-wildtype astrocytomas, the TERT-WT group had significantly better overall survival than the TERT-MUT group (HR: 0.48, 95% CI 0.27–0.87), p = 0.02). Thus, we present evidence that in certain WHO 2016 diagnostic groups, testing for TERT promoter mutations or ATRX alterations may provide additional useful prognostic information

Surgical and conservative treatment of patients with congenital scoliosis: α search for long-term results

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In view of the limited data available on the conservative treatment of patients with congenital scoliosis (CS), early surgery is suggested in mild cases with formation failures. Patients with segmentation failures will not benefit from conservative treatment. The purpose of this review is to identify the mid- or long-term results of spinal fusion surgery in patients with congenital scoliosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Retrospective and prospective studies were included, reporting on the outcome of surgery in patients with congenital scoliosis. Studies concerning a small numbers of cases treated conservatively were included too. We analyzed mid-term (5 to 7 years) and long-term results (7 years or more), both as regards the maintenance of the correction of scoliosis and the safety of instrumentation, the early and late complications of surgery and their effect on quality of life.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A small number of studies of surgically treated patients were found, contained follow-up periods of 4-6 years that in the most cases, skeletal maturity was not yet reached, and few with follow-up of 36-44 years. The results of bracing in children with congenital scoliosis, mainly in cases with failure of formation, were also studied.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Spinal surgery in patients with congenital scoliosis is regarded in short as a safe procedure and should be performed. On the other hand, early and late complications are also described, concerning not only intraoperative and immediate postoperative problems, but also the safety and efficacy of the spinal instrumentation and the possibility of developing neurological disorders and the long-term effect these may have on both lung function and the quality of life of children.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Few cases indicate the long-term results of surgical techniques, in the natural progression of scoliosis. Similarly, few cases have been reported on the influence of conservative treatment.</p> <p>In conclusion, patients with segmentation failures should be treated surgically early, according to the rate of deformity formation and certainly before the pubertal growth spurt to try to avoid cor- pulmonale, even though there is lack of evidence for that in the long-term. Furthermore, in patients with formation failures, further investigation is needed to document where a conservative approach would be necessary.</p

The effect of ω-fatty acids on mrna expression level of PPARγ in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma

Background: The antineoplastic role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) ligandshas previously been demonstrated in several gastric cancer cell lines. Activation of PPARγ by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) inhibits growth and proliferationof tumor cells. In this double-blind clinical study, we evaluate the effect of PUFAs on PPARγ mRNA expression in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. Materials and Methods: A total of 34 chemotherapy-naive patients diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma were enrolled in the present study. According to treatment strategies, all subjects were divided into two groups, the first group (17 individuals) received cisplatin without supplements and the second group (17 individuals) received cisplatin plus orally administered PUFAs supplements for 3 weeks. The gastric biopsy samples were obtained from all participants before and after treatment, and PPARγ mRNA expression levels were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction using validated reference genes. Results: Our findings revealed that PPARγ mRNA expression is significantly upregulated in group II afterreceiving cisplatin plus orally administered PUFAs supplements for three weeks (p < 0.0001), whereas PPARγ mRNA expression did not show significant alteration in group I after receiving cisplatin alone. Conclusion: The results of the study evidence that PPARγ may act as a potential target for the therapy of human gastric adenocarcinoma