Micro Soft Tissues Visualization Based on X-Ray Phase-Contrast Imaging

The current imaging methods have a limited ability to visualize microstructures of biological soft tissues. Small lesions cannot be detected at the early stage of the disease. Phase contrast imaging (PCI) is a novel non-invasive imaging technique that can provide high contrast images of soft tissues by the use of X-ray phase shift. It is a new choice in terms of non-invasively revealing soft tissue details. In this study, the lung and hepatic fibrosis models of mice and rats were used to investigate the ability of PCI in microstructures observation of soft tissues. Our results demonstrated that different liver fibrosis stages could be distinguished non-invasively by PCI. The three-dimensional morphology of a segment of blood vessel was constructed. Noteworthy, the blood clot inside the vessel was visualized in three dimensions which provided a precise description of vessel stenosis. Furthermore, the whole lung airways including the alveoli were obtained. We had specifically highlighted its use in the visualization and assessment of the alveoli. To our knowledge, this was the first time for non-invasive alveoli imaging using PCI. This finding may offer a new perspective on the diagnosis of respiratory disease. All the results confirmed that PCI will be a valuable tool in biological soft tissues imaging

Does Time Since Immigration Modify Neighborhood Deprivation Gradients in Preterm Birth? A Multilevel Analysis

Immigrants’ health is jointly influenced by their pre- and post-migration exposures, but how these two influences operate with increasing duration of residence has not been well-researched. We aimed to examine how the influence of maternal country of birth and neighborhood deprivation effects, if any, change over time since migration and how neighborhood effects among immigrants compare with those observed in the Canadian-born population. Birth data from Ontario hospital records (2002–2007) were linked with an official Canadian immigration database (1985–2000). The outcome measure was preterm birth. Neighborhoods were ranked according to a neighborhood deprivation index developed for Canadian urban areas and collapsed into tertiles of approximately equal size. Time since immigration was measured from the date of arrival to Canada to the date of delivery, ranging from 1 to 22 years. We used cross-classified random effect models to simultaneously account for the membership of births (N = 83,233) to urban neighborhoods (N = 1,801) and maternal countries of birth (N = 168). There were no differences in preterm birth between neighborhood deprivation tertiles among immigrants with less than 15 years of residence. Among immigrants with 15 years of stay or more, the adjusted absolute risk difference (ARD%, 95% confidence interval) between high-deprived (tertile 3) and low-deprived (tertile 1) neighborhoods was 1.86 (0.68, 2.98), while the ARD% observed among the Canadian-born (N = 314,237) was 1.34 (1.11, 1.57). Time since migration modifies the neighborhood deprivation gradient in preterm birth among immigrants living in Ontario cities. Immigrants reached the level of inequalities in preterm birth observed at the neighborhood level among the Canadian-born after 14 years of stay, but neighborhoods did not influence preterm birth among more recent immigrants, for whom the maternal country of birth was more predictive of preterm birth

IL6 and CRP haplotypes are associated with COPD risk and systemic inflammation: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Elevated circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6 and fibrinogen (FG) have been repeatedly associated with many adverse outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To date, it remains unclear whether and to what extent systemic inflammation is primary or secondary in the pathogenesis of COPD.</p> <p>The aim of this study was to examine the association between haplotypes of <it>CRP</it>, <it>IL6 </it>and <it>FGB </it>genes, systemic inflammation, COPD risk and COPD-related phenotypes (respiratory impairment, exercise capacity and body composition).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighteen SNPs in three genes, representing optimal haplotype-tagging sets, were genotyped in 355 COPD patients and 195 healthy smokers. Plasma levels of CRP, IL-6 and FG were measured in the total study group. Differences in haplotype distributions were tested using the global and haplotype-specific statistics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Raised plasma levels of CRP, IL-6 and fibrinogen were demonstrated in COPD patients. However, COPD population was very heterogeneous: about 40% of patients had no evidence of systemic inflammation (CRP < 3 mg/uL or no inflammatory markers in their top quartile). Global test for haplotype effect indicated association of <it>CRP </it>gene and CRP plasma levels (P = 0.0004) and <it>IL6 </it>gene and COPD (P = 0.003). Subsequent analysis has shown that <it>IL6 </it>haplotype H2, associated with an increased COPD risk (p = 0.004, OR = 4.82; 1.64 to 4.18), was also associated with very low CRP levels (p = 0.0005). None of the genes were associated with COPD-related phenotypes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that common genetic variation in <it>CRP </it>and <it>IL6 </it>genes may contribute to heterogeneity of COPD population associated with systemic inflammation.</p

Multiphysics and Thermodynamic Formulations for Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Interactions: Non-linear Finite Elements Applied to Multi-coupled Active Materials

[EN] Combining several theories this paper presents a general multiphysics framework applied to the study of coupled and active materials, considering mechanical, electric, magnetic and thermal fields. The framework is based on thermodynamic equilibrium and non-equilibrium interactions, both linked by a two-temperature model. The multi-coupled governing equations are obtained from energy, momentum and entropy balances; the total energy is the sum of thermal, mechanical and electromagnetic parts. The momentum balance considers mechanical plus electromagnetic balances; for the latter the Abraham rep- resentation using the Maxwell stress tensor is formulated. This tensor is manipulated to automatically fulfill the angular momentum balance. The entropy balance is for- mulated using the classical Gibbs equation for equilibrium interactions and non-equilibrium thermodynamics. For the non-linear finite element formulations, this equation requires the transformation of thermoelectric coupling and conductivities into tensorial form. The two-way thermoe- lastic Biot term introduces damping: thermomechanical, pyromagnetic and pyroelectric converse electromagnetic dynamic interactions. Ponderomotrix and electromagnetic forces are also considered. The governing equations are converted into a variational formulation with the resulting four-field, multi-coupled formalism implemented and val- idated with two custom-made finite elements in the research code FEAP. Standard first-order isoparametric eight-node elements with seven degrees of freedom (dof) per node (three displacements, voltage and magnetic scalar potentials plus two temperatures) are used. Non-linearities and dynamics are solved with Newton-Raphson and New- mark-b algorithms, respectively. Results of thermoelectric, thermoelastic, thermomagnetic, piezoelectric, piezomag- netic, pyroelectric, pyromagnetic and galvanomagnetic interactions are presented, including non-linear depen- dency on temperature and some second-order interactions.This research was partially supported by grants CSD2008-00037 Canfranc Underground Physics, Polytechnic University of Valencia under programs PAID 02-11-1828 and 05-10-2674. The first author used the grant Generalitat Valenciana BEST/2014/232 for the completion of this work.Pérez-Aparicio, JL.; Palma, R.; Taylor, R. (2016). Multiphysics and Thermodynamic Formulations for Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Interactions: Non-linear Finite Elements Applied to Multi-coupled Active Materials. Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering. 23:535-583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11831-015-9149-9S53558323Abraham M (1910) Sull’elettrodinamica di Minkowski. Rend Circ Mat 30:33–46Allik H, Hughes TJR (1970) Finite elment method for piezoelectric vibration. Int J Numer Methods Eng 2:151–157Antonova EE, Looman DC (2005) Finite elements for thermoelectric device analysis in ANSYS. In: International conference on thermoelectricsAtulasimha J, Flatau AB (2011) A review of magnetostrictive iron–gallium alloys. Smart Mater Struct 20:1–15Ballato A (1995) Piezoelectricity: old effect, new thrusts. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 42(5):916–926Baoyuan S, Jiantong W, Jun Z, Min Q (2003) A new model describing physical effects in crystals: the diagrammatic and analytic methods for macro-phenomenological theory. J Mater Process Technol 139:444–447Bargmann S, Steinmann P (2005) Finite element approaches to non-classical heat conduction in solids. Comput Model Eng Sci 9(2):133–150Bargmann S, Steinmann P (2006) Theoretical and computational aspects of non-classical thermoelasticity. Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 196:516–527Bargmann S, Steinmann P (2008) Modeling and simulation of first and second sound in solids. Int J Solids Struct 45:6067–6073Barnett SM (2010) Resolution of the Abraham–Minkowski dilemma. Phys Rev Lett 104:070401Benbouzid MH, Meunier G, Meunier G (1995) Dynamic modelling of giant magnetostriction in Terfenol-D rods by the finite element method. IEEE Trans Magn 31(3):1821–1824Benbouzid MH, Reyne G, Meunier G (1993) Nonlinear finite element modelling of giant magnetostriction. IEEE Trans Magn 29(6):2467–2469Benbouzid MH, Reyne G, Meunier G (1995) Finite elment modelling of magnetostrictive devices: investigations for the design of the magnetic circuit. IEEE Trans Magn 31(3):1813–1816Besbes M, Ren Z, Razek A (1996) Finite element analysis of magneto-mechanical coupled phenomena in magnetostrictive materials. IEEE Trans Magn 32(3):1058–1061Biot MA (1956) Thermoelasticity and irreversible thermodynamics. J Appl Phys 27(3):240–253Bisio G, Cartesegna M, Rubatto G (2001) Thermodynamic analysis of elastic systems. Energy Convers Manag 42:799–812Blun SL (1974) Materials for radiation detection. National Academy of Sciences, WashingtonBonet J, Wood RD (1997) Nonlinear continuum mechanics for finite element analysis. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeBorovik-Romanov AS (1960) Piezomagnetism in the antiferromagnetic fluorides of cobalt and manganese. Sov Phys 11:786Bowyer P (2005) The momentum of light in media: the Abraham–Minkowski controversy. http://bit.ly/1M7wyATBrauer JR, Ruehl JJ, MacNeal BE, Hirtenfelder F (1995) Finite element analysis of Hall effect and magnetoresistance. IEEE Trans Electron Devices 42(2):328–333Bustamante R, Dorfmann A, Ogden RW (2009) On electric body forces and Maxwell stresses in nonlinearly electroelastic solids. Int J Eng Sci 47:1131–1141Callen HB (1948) The application of Onsager’s reciprocal relations to thermoelectric, thermomagnetic, and galvanomagnetic effects. Phys Rev 73(11):1349–1358Callen HB (1985) Thermodynamics and an introduction to thermostatistics. Wiley, New YorkCarter JP, Booker JR (1989) Finite element analysis of coupled thermoelasticity. Comput Struct 31(1):73–80Cattaneo C (1938) Sulla conduzione del calore. Atti Semin Mat Fis Univ Modena 3:83–1013Chaplik AV (2000) Some exact solutions for the classical Hall effect in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. JETP Lett 72:503Chen PJ, Gurtin ME (1968) On a theory of heat conduction involving two temperatures. J Z Angew Math Phys ZAMP 19(4):614–627Chu LJ, Haus HA, Penfield P (1966) The force density in polarizable and magnetizable fluids. In: Proceedings of the IEEEClin Th, Turenne S, Vasilevskiy D, Masut RA (2009) Numerical simulation of the thermomechanical behavior of extruded bismuth telluride alloy module. J Electron Mater 38(7):994–1001Coleman BD (1964) Thermodynamics of materials with memory. Arch Ration Mech Anal 17:1–46de Groot SR (1961) Non-equilibrium themodynamics of systems in an electromagnetic field. J Nucl Energy C Plasma Phys 2:188–194de Groot SR, Mazur P (1984) Non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Dover, MineolaDebye P (1913) On the theory of anomalous dispersion in the region of long-wave electromagnetic radiation. Verh dtsch phys Ges 15:777–793del Castillo LF, García-Colín LS (1986) Thermodynamic basis for dielectric relaxation in complex materials. Phys Rev B 33(7):4944–4951Delves RT (1964) Figure of merit for Ettingshausen cooling. Br J Appl Phys 15:105–106Dorf RC (1997) The electrical engineering handbook. CRC Press, UKEarle R, Richards JFC (1956) Theophrastus: on stones. Ohio State University, ColumbusEbling D, Jaegle M, Bartel M, Jacquot A, Bottner H (2009) Multiphysics simulation of thermoelectric systems for comparison with experimental device performance. J Electron Mater 38(7):1456–1461El-Karamany AS, Ezzat MA (2011) On the two-temperature Green–Naghdi thermoelasticity theories. J Therm Stress 34:1207–1226Eringen AC (1980) Mechanics of continua. Robert E Krieger, MalabarEringen AC, Maugin GA (1990) Electrodynamics of continua I. Springer, New YorkErsoy Y (1984) A new nonlinear constitutive theory for conducting magnetothermoelastic solids. Int J Eng Sci 22(6):683–705Ersoy Y (1986) A new nonlinear constitutive theory of electric and heat conductions for magnetoelastothermo-electrical anisotropic solids. Int J Eng Sci 24(6):867–882Ferrari A, Mittica A (2013) Thermodynamic formulation of the constitutive equations for solids and fluids. Energy Convers Manag 66:77–86Galushko D, Ermakov N, Karpovski M, Palevski A, Ishay JS, Bergman DJ (2005) Electrical, thermoelectric and thermophysical properties of hornet cuticle. Semicond Sci Technol 20:286–289Gao JL, Du QG, Zhang XD, Jiang XQ (2011) Thermal stress analysis and structure parameter selection for a Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric module. J Electron Mater 40(5):884–888Gaudenzi P, Bathe KJ (1995) An iterative finite element procedure for the analysis of piezoelectric continua. J Intell Mater Syst Struct 6:266–273Gavela D, Pérez-Aparicio JL (1998) Peltier pellet analysis with a coupled, non-linear 3D finite element model. In: 4th European workshop on thermoelectricsGoudreau GL, Taylor RL (1972) Evaluation of numerical integration methods in elastodynamics. Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 2:69–97Griffiths DJ (1999) Introduction to electrodynamics. Prentice-Hall Inc, Upper Saddle RiverGros L, Reyne G, Body C, Meunier G (1998) Strong coupling magneto mechanical methods applied to model heavy magnetostrictive actuators. IEEE Trans Magn 34(5):3150–3153Gurtin ME, Williams WO (1966) On the Clausius–Duhem inequality. J Z Angew Math Phys ZAMP 17(5):626–633Hamader VM, Patil TA, Chovan SH (1987) Free vibration response of two-dimensional magneto-electro-elastic laminated plates. Build Mater Sci 9:249–253Hausler C, Milde G, Balke H, Bahr HA, Gerlach G (2001) 3-D modeling of pyroelectric sensor arrays part I: multiphysics finite-element simulation. IEEE Sens J 8(12):2080–2087He Y (2004) Heat capacity, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion of barium titanate-based ceramics. Thermochimica 419:135–141Hernández-Lemus E, Orgaz E (2002) Hysteresis in nonequilibrium steady states: the role of dissipative couplings. Rev Mex Fís 48:38–45Hinds EA (2009) Momentum exchange between light and a single atom: Abraham or Minkowski? Phys Rev Lett 102:050403Hirsinger L, Billardon R (1995) Magneto-elastic finite element analysis including magnetic forces and magnetostriction effects. IEEE Trans Magn 31(3):1877–1880Huang MJ, Chou PK, Lin MC (2008) An investigation of the thermal stresses induced in a thin-film thermoelectric cooler. J Therm Stress 31:438–454IEEE Standards Board (1988) IEEE standard on piezoelectricity. ANSI/IEEE Std 176-1987. doi: 10.1109/IEEESTD.1988.79638IEEE Standards Board (1991) IEEE standard on magnetostrictive materials: piezomagnetic nomenclature. IEEE Std 319-1990. doi: 10.1109/IEEESTD.1991.101048Ioffe Institute (2013) INSb—indium antimonide. Ioffe Institute. www.ioffe.rssi.ru/SVA/NSM/Semicond/InSb/index.htmlJackson JD (1962) Classical electrodynamics. Wiley, New YorkJaegle M (2008) Multiphysics simulation of thermoelectric systems—modeling of Peltier—cooling and thermoelectric generation. In: Proceedings of the COMSOLJaegle M, Bartel M, Ebling D, Jacquot A, Bottner H (2008) Multiphysics simulation of thermoelectric systems. In: European conference on thermoelectrics ECT2008Jiménez JL, Campos I (1996) Advanced electromagnetism: foundations, theory and applications, chapter The balance equations of energy and momentum in classical electrodynamics. World Scientific Publishing, SingaporeJohnstone S (2008) Is there potential for use of the Hall effect in analytical science? Analyst 133:293–296Jou D, Lebon G (1996) Extended irreversible thermodynamics. Springer, BerlinKaltenbacher M, Kaltenbacher B, Hegewald T, Lerch R (2010) Finite element formulation for ferroelectric hysteresis of piezoelectric materials. J Intell Mater Syst Struct 21:773–785Kaltenbacher M, Meiler M, Ertl M (2009) Physical modeling and numerical computation of magnetostriction. Int J Comput Math Electr Electron Eng 28(4):819–832Kamlah M, Bohle U (2001) Finite element analysis of piezoceramic components taking into account ferroelectric hysteresis behavior. Int J Solids Struct 38:605–633Kannan KS, Dasgupta A (1997) A nonlinear Galerkin finite-element theory for modeling magnetostrictive smart structures. Smart Mater Struct 6:341–350Kiang J, Tong L (2010) Nonlinear magneto-mechanical finite element analysis of Ni–Mn–Ga single crystals. Smart Mater Struct 19:1–17Kinsler P, Favaro A, McCall MW (2009) Four Poynting theorems. Eur J Phys 30:983–993Klinckel S, Linnemann K (2008) A phenomenological constitutive model for magnetostrictive materials and ferroelectric ceramics. Proc Appl Math Mech 8:10507–10508Kosmeier D (2013) Hornets: Gentle Giants! Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. www.hornissenschutz.de/hornets.htmLahmer T (2008) Forward and inverse problems in piezoelectricity. PhD thesis, Universität Erlangen-NürnbergLandau LD, Lifshitz EM (1982) Mechanics. Butterworth-Heinemann, OxfordLandau LD, Lifshitz EM (1984) Electrodynamics of continuous media. Pergamon Press, OxfordLandis CM (2002) A new finite-element formulation for electromechanical boundary value problems. Int J Numer Methods Eng 55:613–628Díaz Lantada A (2011) Handbook of active materials for medical devices: advances and applications. CRC Press, Boca RatonLebon G, Jou D, Casas-Vázquez J (2008) Understanding non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Springer, BerlinLinnemann K, Klinkel S (2006) A constitutive model for magnetostrictive materials—theory and finite element implementation. Proc Appl Math Mech 6:393–394Linnemann K, Klinkel S, Wagner W (2009) A constitutive model for magnetostrictive and piezoelectric materials. Int J Solids Struct 46:1149–1166Llebot JE, Jou D, Casas-Vázquez J (1983) A thermodynamic approach to heat and electric conduction in solids. Physica 121(A):552–562Lu X, Hanagud V (2004) Extended irreversible thermodynamics modeling for self-heating and dissipation in piezoelectric ceramics. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 51(12):1582–1592Lubarda VA (2004) On thermodynamic potentials in linear thermoelasticity. Int J Solids Struct 41:7377–7398Mansuripur M (2012) Trouble with the lorentz law of force: incompatibility with special relativity and momentum conservation. Phys Rev Lett 108:193901Maruszewski B, Lebon G (1986) An extended irreversible thermodynamic description of electrothermoelastic semiconductors. Int J Eng Sci 24(4):583–593McMeeking RM, Landis CM (2005) Electrostatic forces and stored energy for deformable dielectric materials. J Appl Mech 72:581–590McMeeking RM, Landis CM, Jimenez MA (2007) A principle of virtual work for combined electrostatic and mechanical loading of materials. Int J Non Linear Mech 42:831–838MELCOR (2000) Thermoelectric handbook. Melcor, a unit of Laird Technologies. http://www.lairdtech.comMinkowski H (1908) Nachr. ges. wiss. Gottingen 53Naranjo B, Gimzewski JK, Putterman S (2005) Observation of nuclear fusion driven by a pyroelectric crystal. Nature 28(434):1115–1117Nédélec JC (1980) Mixed finite elements in $${R}^3$$ R 3 . Numer Math 35:314–345Nettleton RE, Sobolev SL (1995) Applications of extended thermodynamics to chemical, rheological, and transport processes: a special survey part I. approaches and scalar rate processes. J Non-Equilib Thermodyn 20:205–229Nettleton RE, Sobolev SL (1995) Applications of extended thermodynamics to chemical, rheological, and transport processes: a special survey part II. vector transport processes, shear relaxation and rheology. J Non-Equilib Thermodyn 20:297–331Nettleton RE, Sobolev SL (1996) Applications of extended thermodynamics to chemical, rheological, and transport processes: a special survey part III. wave phenomena. J Non-Equilib Thermodyn 21:1–16Newmark N (1959) A method of computation for structural dynamics. ASCE J Eng Mech 85:67–94Newnham RE (2005) Properties of materials: anisotropy, symmetry, structure. Oxford University Press, OxfordNour AE, Abd-Alla N, Maugin GA (1990) Nonlinear equations for thermoelastic magnetizable conductors. Int J Eng Sci 27(7):589–603Nowacki A (1962) International series of monographs in aeronautics and astronautics. Pergamon Press, OxfordOkumura H, Hasegawa Y, Nakamura H, Yamaguchi S (1999) A computational model of thermoelectric and thermomagnetic semiconductors. In: 18th international conference on thermoelectricsOkumura H, Yamaguchi S, Nakamura H, Ikeda K, Sawada K (1998) Numerical computation of thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects. In: 17th international conference on thermoelectricsOliver X, Agelet C (2000) Continuum mechanics for engineers. Edicions UPC, Barcelona. http://hdl.handle.net/2099.3/36197Shankar K, Kondaiah P, Ganesan N (2013) Pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects on multiphase magneto-electro-elastic cylindrical shells for axisymmetric temperature. Smart Mater Struct 22(2):025007Palma R, Pérez-Aparicio JL, Bravo R (2013) Study of hysteretic thermoelectric behavior in photovoltaic materials using the finite element method, extended thermodynamics and inverse problems. Energy Convers Manag 65:557–563Palma R, Pérez-Aparicio JL, Taylor RL (2012) Non-linear finite element formulation applied to thermoelectric materials under hyperbolic heat conduction model. Comput Method Appl Mech Eng 213–216:93–103Palma R, Rus G, Gallego R (2009) Probabilistic inverse problem and system uncertainties for damage detection in piezoelectrics. Mech Mater 41:1000–1016Pérez-Aparicio JL, Gavela D (1998) 3D, non-linear coupled, finite element model of thermoelectricity. In: 4th European workshop on thermoelectricsPérez-Aparicio JL, Palma R, Taylor RL (2012) Finite element analysis and material sensitivity of Peltier thermoelectric cells coolers. Int J Heat Mass Transf 55:1363–1374Pérez-Aparicio JL, Sosa H (2004) A continuum three-dimensional, fully coupled, dynamic, non-linear finite element formulation for magnetostrictive materials. Smart Mater Struct 13:493–502Perez-Aparicio JL, Sosa H, Palma R (2007) Numerical investigations of field-defect interactions in piezoelectric ceramics. Int J Solids Struct 44:4892–4908Pérez-Aparicio JL, Taylor RL, Gavela D (2007) Finite element analysis of nonlinear fully coupled thermoelectric materials. Comput Mech 40:35–45Qi H, Fang D, Yao Z (1997) FEM analysis of electro-mechanical coupling effect of piezoelectric materials. Comput Mater Sci 8:283–290Pérez-Aparicio JL, Palma R, Abouali-Sánchez S (2014) Complete finite element method analysis of galvanomagnetic and thermomagnetic effects. Appl Therm Eng (submitted)Perez-Aparicio JL, Palma R, Moreno-Navarro P (2014) Elasto-thermoelectric non-linear, fully coupled, and dynamic finite element analysis of pulsed thermoelectrics. Appl Therm Eng (submitted)Ramírez F, Heyliger PR, Pan E (2006) Free vibration response of two-dimensional magneto-electro-elastic laminated plates. J Sound Vib 292:626–644Reitz JR, Milford FJ (1960) Foundations of electromagnetic theory. Addison-Wesley, BostonReng Z, Ionescu B, Besbes M, Razek A (1995) Calculation of mechanical deformation of magnetic materials in electromagnetic devices. IEEE Trans Magn 31(3):1873–1876Restuccia L (2010) On a thermodynamic theory for magnetic relaxation phenomena due to n microscopic phenomena described by n internal variables. J Non-Equilib Thermodyn 35:379–413Restuccia L, Kluitenberg GA (1988) On generalizations of the Debye equation for dielectric relaxation. Phys A 154:157–182Restuccia L, Kluitenberg GA (1992) On the heat dissipation function for dielectric relaxation phenomena in anisotropic media. Int J Eng Sci 30(3):305–315Riffat SB, Ma X (2003) Thermoelectrics: a review of present and potential applications. Appl Therm Eng 23:913–935Rinaldi C, Brenner H (2002) Body versus surface forces in continuum mechanics: is the Maxwell stress tensor a physically objective Cauchy stress? Phys Rev E 65:036615Rowe DM (ed) (1995) CRC handbook of thermoelectrics. CRC Press, UKRus G, Palma R, Pérez-Aparicio JL (2009) Optimal measurement setup for damage detection in piezoelectric plates. Int J Eng Sci 47:554–572Rus G, Palma R, Pérez-Aparicio JL (2012) Experimental design of dynamic model-based damage identification in piezoelectric ceramics. Mech Syst Signal Process 26:268–293Sadiku MNO (2001) Numerical techniques in electromagnetics. CRC Press LLC, Boca RatonSemenov AS, Kessler H, Liskowsky A, Balke H (2006) On a vector potential formulation for 3D electromechanical finite element analysis. Commun Numer Methods Eng 22:357–375Serra E, Bonaldi M (2008) A finite element formulation for thermoelastic damping analysis. Int J Numer Methods Eng 78(6):671–691Several. Wikipedia. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, SeveralSoh AK, Liu JX (2005) On the constitutive equations of magnetoelectroelastic solids. J Intell Mater Syst Struct 16:597–602Stefanescu DM (2011) Handbook of force transducers: principles and components. Springer, BerlinTamma KK, Namburu RR (1992) An effective finite element modeling/analysis approach for dynamic thermoelasticity due to second sound effects. Comput Mech 9:73–84Tang T, Yu W (2009) Micromechanical modeling of the multiphysical behavior of smart materials using the variational asymptotic method. Smart Mater Struct 18:1–14Taylor RL (2010) FEAP a finite element analysis program: user manual. University of California, Berkeley. http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/feapThurston RN (1994) Warren p. Mason (1900–1986) physicist, engineer, inventor, author, teacher. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 41(4):425–434Tian X, Shen Y, Chen C, He T (2006) A direct finite element method study of generalized thermoelastic problems. Int J Solids Struct 43:2050–2063Tinder RF (2008) Tensor properties of solids: phenomenological development of the tensor properties of crystals. Morgan and Claypool, San RafaelTruesdell C (1968) Thermodynamics for beginners, in irreversible aspects of continuum mechanics. Springer, BerlinTzou HS, Ye R (1996) Pyroelectric and thermal strain effects of piezoelectric (PVDF and PZT) devices. Mech Syst Signal Process 10(4):459–469Walser R (1972) Application of pyromagnetic phenomena to radiation detection

Tracing Changes in Families Who Participated in the Home-Start Parenting Program: Parental Sense of Competence as Mechanism of Change

The present study aimed to (1) determine the long-term effectiveness of Home-Start, a preventive parenting program, and (2) test the hypothesis that changes in maternal sense of competence mediate the program’s effects. Participants were 124 mothers (n = 66 intervention, n = 58 comparison). Four assessments took place during a 1-year period. Latent growth modeling showed that Home-Start enhanced growth in maternal sense of competence and supportive parenting, and led to a decrease in the use of inept discipline. Results of mediational and cross-lagged analyses were consistent with the hypothesized model: Participation in Home-Start was related to the changes in maternal sense of competence, which in turn predicted changes in parenting. The results affirm the importance of directly targeting parental sense of competence in the context of prevention work with parents

Gut Microbiota, Probiotics and Diabetes

Diabetes is a condition of multifactorial origin, involving several molecular mechanisms related to the intestinal microbiota for its development. In type 2 diabetes, receptor activation and recognition by microorganisms from the intestinal lumen may trigger inflammatory responses, inducing the phosphorylation of serine residues in insulin receptor substrate-1, reducing insulin sensitivity. In type 1 diabetes, the lowered expression of adhesion proteins within the intestinal epithelium favours a greater immune response that may result in destruction of pancreatic β cells by CD8+ T-lymphocytes, and increased expression of interleukin-17, related to autoimmunity. Research in animal models and humans has hypothesized whether the administration of probiotics may improve the prognosis of diabetes through modulation of gut microbiota. We have shown in this review that a large body of evidence suggests probiotics reduce the inflammatory response and oxidative stress, as well as increase the expression of adhesion proteins within the intestinal epithelium, reducing intestinal permeability. Such effects increase insulin sensitivity and reduce autoimmune response. However, further investigations are required to clarify whether the administration of probiotics can be efficiently used for the prevention and management of diabetes

History of clinical transplantation

The emergence of transplantation has seen the development of increasingly potent immunosuppressive agents, progressively better methods of tissue and organ preservation, refinements in histocompatibility matching, and numerous innovations is surgical techniques. Such efforts in combination ultimately made it possible to successfully engraft all of the organs and bone marrow cells in humans. At a more fundamental level, however, the transplantation enterprise hinged on two seminal turning points. The first was the recognition by Billingham, Brent, and Medawar in 1953 that it was possible to induce chimerism-associated neonatal tolerance deliberately. This discovery escalated over the next 15 years to the first successful bone marrow transplantations in humans in 1968. The second turning point was the demonstration during the early 1960s that canine and human organ allografts could self-induce tolerance with the aid of immunosuppression. By the end of 1962, however, it had been incorrectly concluded that turning points one and two involved different immune mechanisms. The error was not corrected until well into the 1990s. In this historical account, the vast literature that sprang up during the intervening 30 years has been summarized. Although admirably documenting empiric progress in clinical transplantation, its failure to explain organ allograft acceptance predestined organ recipients to lifetime immunosuppression and precluded fundamental changes in the treatment policies. After it was discovered in 1992 that long-surviving organ transplant recipient had persistent microchimerism, it was possible to see the mechanistic commonality of organ and bone marrow transplantation. A clarifying central principle of immunology could then be synthesized with which to guide efforts to induce tolerance systematically to human tissues and perhaps ultimately to xenografts

A statistical framework for cross-tissue transcriptome-wide association analysis

Transcriptome-wide association analysis is a powerful approach to studying the genetic architecture of complex traits. A key component of this approach is to build a model to impute gene expression levels from genotypes by using samples with matched genotypes and gene expression data in a given tissue. However, it is challenging to develop robust and accurate imputation models with a limited sample size for any single tissue. Here, we first introduce a multi-task learning method to jointly impute gene expression in 44 human tissues. Compared with single-tissue methods, our approach achieved an average of 39% improvement in imputation accuracy and generated effective imputation models for an average of 120% more genes. We describe a summary-statistic-based testing framework that combines multiple single-tissue associations into a powerful metric to quantify the overall gene–trait association. We applied our method, called UTMOST (unified test for molecular signatures), to multiple genome-wide-association results and demonstrate its advantages over single-tissue strategies