Color Stability of Elastomers for Maxillofacial Appliances

The color stability of polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, and silicone polymers for maxillofacial applications was determined after accelerated aging using reflectance spectrophotometry. On the basis of color stability after accelerated aging, and ease of processing, several silicone materials were the most promising.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67056/2/10.1177_00220345780570090401.pd

Machine learning classification of OARSI-scored human articular cartilage using magnetic resonance imaging

SummaryObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of machine learning to discriminate between magnetic resonance images (MRI) of normal and pathological human articular cartilage obtained under standard clinical conditions.MethodAn approach to MRI classification of cartilage degradation is proposed using pattern recognition and multivariable regression in which image features from MRIs of histologically scored human articular cartilage plugs were computed using weighted neighbor distance using compound hierarchy of algorithms representing morphology (WND-CHRM). The WND-CHRM method was first applied to several clinically available MRI scan types to perform binary classification of normal and osteoarthritic osteochondral plugs based on the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) histological system. In addition, the image features computed from WND-CHRM were used to develop a multiple linear least-squares regression model for classification and prediction of an OARSI score for each cartilage plug.ResultsThe binary classification of normal and osteoarthritic plugs yielded results of limited quality with accuracies between 36% and 70%. However, multiple linear least-squares regression successfully predicted OARSI scores and classified plugs with accuracies as high as 86%. The present results improve upon the previously-reported accuracy of classification using average MRI signal intensities and parameter values.ConclusionMRI features detected by WND-CHRM reflect cartilage degradation status as assessed by OARSI histologic grading. WND-CHRM is therefore of potential use in the clinical detection and grading of osteoarthritis

Parsimonious modeling of skeletal muscle perfusion: connecting the stretched exponential and fractional Fickian diffusion

Purpose To develop an anomalous (non-Gaussian) diffusion model for characterizing skeletal muscle perfusion using multi-b-value DWI.Theory and methods Fick's first law was extended for describing tissue perfusion as anomalous superdiffusion, which is non-Gaussian diffusion exhibiting greater particle spread than that of the Gaussian case. This was accomplished using a space-fractional derivative that gives rise to a power-law relationship between mean squared displacement and time, and produces a stretched exponential signal decay as a function of b-value. Numerical simulations were used to estimate parameter errors under in vivo conditions, and examine the effect of limited SNR and residual fat signal. Stretched exponential DWI parameters, alpha and D, were measured in thigh muscles of 4 healthy volunteers at rest and following in-magnet exercise. These parameters were related to a stable distribution of jump-length probabilities and used to estimate microvascular volume fractions.Results Numerical simulations showed low dispersion in parameter estimates within 1.5% and 1%, and bias errors within 3% and 10%, for alpha and D, respectively. Superdiffusion was observed in resting muscle, and to a greater degree following exercise. Resting microvascular volume fraction was between 0.0067 and 0.0139 and increased between 2.2-fold and 4.7-fold following exercise.Conclusions This model captures superdiffusive molecular motions consistent with perfusion, using a parsimonious representation of the DWI signal, providing approximations of microvascular volume fraction comparable with histological estimates. This signal model demonstrates low parameter-estimation errors, and therefore holds potential for a wide range of applications in skeletal muscle and elsewhere in the body.Radiolog

Magic, Emotion and Practical Metabolism:Affective Praxis in Sartre and Collingwood

This article develops a new way of understanding the integration of emotions in practical life and the practical appraisal of emotions, drawing on insights from both J-P. Sartre and R. G. Collingwood. I develop a concept of ‘practical metabolism’ and show that emotions need to be understood not only as transformations from determinate to indeterminate practical intuitions, but also as transformations in the reverse direction. Firstly, I provide a new conception of the dynamic phenomenal structure of the emotions that can resolve significant tensions in the Sartre’s theory. Secondly, I develop that theory to shed light on the diverse socially mediated roles of emotions in practical life by drawing on Collingwood’s philosophy of magic. Thirdly, I deploy the notion of practical metabolism to address the appraisal of emotions, setting out a framework for understanding the various ways in which emotional expression is subject to structural breakdown

Prototype ATLAS IBL Modules using the FE-I4A Front-End Readout Chip

The ATLAS Collaboration will upgrade its semiconductor pixel tracking detector with a new Insertable B-layer (IBL) between the existing pixel detector and the vacuum pipe of the Large Hadron Collider. The extreme operating conditions at this location have necessitated the development of new radiation hard pixel sensor technologies and a new front-end readout chip, called the FE-I4. Planar pixel sensors and 3D pixel sensors have been investigated to equip this new pixel layer, and prototype modules using the FE-I4A have been fabricated and characterized using 120 GeV pions at the CERN SPS and 4 GeV positrons at DESY, before and after module irradiation. Beam test results are presented, including charge collection efficiency, tracking efficiency and charge sharing.Comment: 45 pages, 30 figures, submitted to JINS

Comprehensive lung injury pathology induced by mTOR inhibitors

Molecular Targets in Oncology[Abstract] Interstitial lung disease is a rare side effect of temsirolimus treatment in renal cancer patients. Pulmonary fibrosis is characterised by the accumulation of extracellular matrix collagen, fibroblast proliferation and migration, and loss of alveolar gas exchange units. Previous studies of pulmonary fibrosis have mainly focused on the fibro-proliferative process in the lungs. However, the molecular mechanism by which sirolimus promotes lung fibrosis remains elusive. Here, we propose an overall cascade hypothesis of interstitial lung diseases that represents a common, partly underlying synergism among them as well as the lung pathogenesis side effects of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors

The burden of unintentional drowning: Global, regional and national estimates of mortality from the Global Burden of Disease 2017 Study

__Background:__ Drowning is a leading cause of injury-related mortality globally. Unintentional drowning (International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 codes W65-74 and ICD9 E910) is one of the 30 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive causes of injury-related mortality in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. This study's objective is to describe unintentional drowning using GBD estimates from 1990 to 2017. __Methods:__ Unintentional drowning from GBD 2017 was estimated for cause-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs), age, sex, country, region, Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile, and trends from 1990 to 2017. GBD 2017 used standard GBD methods for estimating mortality from drowning. __Results:__ Globally, unintentional drowning mortality decreased by 44.5% between 1990 and 2017, from 531 956 (uncertainty interval (UI): 484 107 to 572 854) to 295 210 (284 493 to 306 187) deaths. Global age-standardised mortality rates decreased 57.4%, from 9.3 (8.5 to 10.0) in 1990 to 4.0 (3.8 to 4.1) per 100 000 per annum in 2017. Unintentional drowning-associated mortality was generally higher in children, males and in low-SDI to middle-SDI countries. China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh accounted for 51.2% of all drowning deaths in 2017. Oceania was the region with the highest rate of age-standardised YLLs in 2017, with 45 434 (40 850 to 50 539) YLLs per 100 000 across both sexes. __Conclusions:__ There has been a decline in global drowning rates. This study shows that the decline was not consistent across countries. The results reinforce the need for continued and improved policy, prevention and research efforts, with a focus on low-and middle-income countries

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe