Aducanumab for Alzheimer’s disease: the never‐ending story that nurses should know

In October 2019, the American pharmaceutical company Biogen stated intention to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the candidate drug aducanumab to be licenced as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). If approved, aducanumab would become the first new medication licenced specifically for the treatment of AD in the past decade; and approval in the US may be a precipitant for approval elsewhere

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome amongst patients with severe mental illness in the community in Hong Kong--a cross sectional study

Background: Patients with severe mental illness are at increased risk of developing metabolic disorders. The risk of metabolic syndrome in the Hong Kong general population is lower than that observed in western countries; however the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with severe mental illness in Hong Kong is unknown. Method: This cross-sectional study aimed to estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with severe mental illness in Hong Kong and to identify the relationships between metabolic syndrome and socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle factors. Results: A total of 139 patients with a diagnosis of severe mental illness participated in the study. The unadjusted prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 35%. The relative risk of metabolic syndrome in comparison with the general Hong Kong population was 2.008 (95% CI 1.59-2.53, p < 0.001). In a logistic regression model sleep disruption and being prescribed first generation antipsychotics were significantly associated with the syndrome, whilst eating less than 3 portions of fruit/vegetables per day and being married were weakly associated. Conclusion The results demonstrate that metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent and that physical health inequalities in patients with severe mental illness in Hong Kong are similar to those observed in western countries. The results provide sufficient evidence to support the need for intervention studies in this setting and reinforce the requirement to conduct regular physical health checks for all patients with severe mental illness

Dislocation interactions mediated by grain boundaries

The dynamics of dislocation assemblies in deforming crystals indicate the emergence of collective phenomena, intermittent fluctuations and strain avalanches. In polycrystalline materials, the understanding of plastic deformation mechanisms depends on grasping the role of grain boundaries on dislocation motion. Here the interaction of dislocations and elastic, low angle grain boundaries is studied in the framework of a discrete dislocation representation. We allow grain boundaries to deform under the effect of dislocation stress fields and compare the effect of such a perturbation to the case of rigid grain boudaries. We are able to determine, both analytically and numerically, corrections to dislocation stress fields acting on neighboring grains, as mediated by grain boundary deformation. Finally, we discuss conclusions and consequences for the avalanche statistics, as observed in polycrystalline samples.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Plate-impact loading of cellular structures formed by selective laser melting

Porous materials are of great interest because of improved energy absorption over their solid counterparts. Their properties, however, have been difficult to optimize. Additive manufacturing has emerged as a potential technique to closely define the structure and properties of porous components, i.e. density, strut width and pore size; however, the behaviour of these materials at very high impact energies remains largely unexplored. We describe an initial study of the dynamic compression response of lattice materials fabricated through additive manufacturing. Lattices consisting of an array of intersecting stainless steel rods were fabricated into discs using selective laser melting. The resulting discs were impacted against solid stainless steel targets at velocities ranging from 300 to 700 m s-1 using a gas gun. Continuum CTH simulations were performed to identify key features in the measured wave profiles, while 3D simulations, in which the individual cells were modelled, revealed details of microscale deformation during collapse of the lattice structure. The validated computer models have been used to provide an understanding of the deformation processes in the cellular samples. The study supports the optimization of cellular structures for application as energy absorbers. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd

Moist convection and its upscale effects in simulations of the Indian monsoon with explicit and parametrised convection

In common with many global models, the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) climate simulations show large errors in Indian summer monsoon rainfall, with a wet bias over the equatorial Indian Ocean, a dry bias over India, and with too weak low-level flow into India. The representation of moist convection is a dominant source of error in global models, where convection must be parametrised, with the errors growing quickly enough to affect both weather and climate simulations. Here we use the first multi- week continental-scale MetUM simulations over India, with grid-spacings that allow explicit convection, to examine how convective parametrisation contributes to model biases in the region. Some biases are improved in the convection-permitting simulations with more intense rainfall over India, a later peak in the diurnal cycle of convective rainfall over land, and a reduced positive rainfall bias over the Indian Ocean. The simulations suggest that the reduced rainfall over the Indian Ocean leads to an enhanced monsoon circulation and transport of moisture into India. Increases in latent heating associated with increased convection over land deepen the monsoon trough and enhance water vapour transport into the continent. In addition, delayed continental convection allows greater surface insolation and, along with the same rain falling in more intense bursts, generates a drier land surface. This increases land-sea temperature contrasts, and further enhances onshore flow. Changes in the low-level water vapour advection into India are dominated by these changes to the flow, rather than to the moisture content in the flow. The results demonstrate the need to improve the representations of convection over both land and oceans to improve simulations of the monsoon

Теоретичний аналіз динаміки розвитку творчої активності дошкільника

(uk) У статті проаналізовано динаміку розвитку творчої активності дошкільника. Зазначається, що процес формування особистості дошкільника досягається під час самореалізації її в творчій діяльності. Особлива увага приділена характеристиці етапів розвитку свідомості та творчій взаємодії «дитина – дорослий». Обґрунтовується необхідність створення сприятливих умов щодо творчої активності дошкільника.(ru) В статье проанализирована динамика развития творческой активности дошкольника. Отмечается, что процесс формирования личности дошкольника достигается во время самореализации ее в творческой деятельности. Особое внимание уделено характеристике этапов развития сознания и творческому взаимодействию «ребенок – взрослый». Обосновывается необходимость создания благоприятных условий относительно творческой активности дошкольника

Nanostructures in Ti processed by severe plastic deformation

Metals and alloys processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD) can demonstrate superior mechanical properties, which are rendered by their unique defect structures. In this investigation, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray analysis were used to systematically study the defect structures, including grain and subgrain structures, dislocation cells, dislocation distributions, grain boundaries, and the hierarchy of these structural features, in nanostructured Ti produced by a two-step SPD procedure-warm equal channel angular pressing followed by cold rolling. The effects of these defect structures on the mechanical behaviors of nanostructured Ti are discussed