Use of additive manufacture and Stirling Engines as engineering education tools

The recent proliferation of low to medium cost additive manufacturing equipment opens a doorway to using the technology for aiding the education of many engineering principles. Stirling cycle engines are highly complex thermodynamic machines that, if delved into, demonstrate many mechanical engineering disciplines. Importantly fully functional engines, using safe hot and cold water as the energy source, can be made by polymer additive manufacture using commonly available materials and printing machines. This process somewhat negates the need to invest in high cost laboratory demonstration equipment. It also allows remote and poorly funded institutions or individuals to work with live equipment. This publication will demonstrate the use of additive manufactured Stirling Engines for effective teaching in creative design, optimization product development, thermodynamics, mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, live data acquisition, material science and additive manufacture

Dyslexia and cognitive impairment in adult patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1: a clinical prospective analysis

BACKGROUND Cognitive impairments in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) have often been described, however, there are only few studies differentiating between partial performance disorders and mental retardation in common. This study focused on the evaluation of reading performance and the frequency of dyslexia in adult DM1 patients. METHODS We performed a prospective cohort study including genetically confirmed adult DM1 patients registered in the DM registry of Germany or the internal database of the Friedrich-Baur-Institute, Munich, Germany. For the assessment of the patients' reading and spelling performance, we used the standardized and validated test 'Salzburger Lese- und Rechtschreibtest' (SLRT II). The 'CFT-20 R Grundintelligenztest Skala 2' in revised ("R") version (CFT 20-R), determining the intelligence level, was appropriate to differentiate between dyslexia and general mental retardation. The diagnosis of dyslexia, the combined reading and spelling disorder, was based on the guidelines for diagnosis and therapy of children and adolescents with dyslexia 2015 (S3-guideline) providing (1) the criterion of the divergence from age level and (2) the criterion of IQ-divergence. RESULTS Fifty-seven DM1 patients participated in our study. Evaluating the reading performance, 16 patients fulfilled the divergence criteria of the age level and 2 patients the IQ-divergence criteria. In total, the diagnosis of a reading disorder was given in 18 DM1 patients (31.6 %). In 11 out of these 18 patients with a reading disorder, a relevant impairment of spelling performance was observed with at least three spelling errors. As there are no normative values for adults in spelling performance, we assume a combined reading disorder and dyslexia, in those 11 DM1 patients (19.3 %). Regarding the separate analyses of the test procedures, in the SLRT II the performance was below average in 40.4 % of all patients for 'word reading' and in 61.4 % of all patients for 'pseudoword reading'. There was a significant positive correlation between the CTG expansion size and a reading disorder (p=0.027). The average IQ of 17 examined DM1 patients was in the lower normal range (86.1 ± 19.1). 54.5 % of patients with reading disorder had a normal IQ. CONCLUSION The calculated prevalence of dyslexia in the DM1 study cohort was 19.3 % and thus considerably increased compared to the normal German population. As dyslexia is not equivalent to a general cognitive impairment, it is important not to miss dyslexic features in cognitive inconspicuous DM1 patients. Case-by-case one should consider a differential diagnostic approach, as individualized therapies can be offered to support dyslexic patients in their performance

3D Printed Stirling Engines for Education of Machine Design and Analysis

The recent proliferation of low to medium cost additive manufacturing equipment opens a doorway to using the technology for aiding the education of many engineering principles. Stirling cycle engines are highly complex thermodynamic machines that, if delved into, demonstrate many mechanical engineering disciplines. Importantly fully functional engines, using safe hot and cold water as the energy source, can be made by polymer additive manufacture using commonly available materials and printing machines. This process somewhat negates the need to invest in high cost laboratory demonstration equipment. It also allows remote and poorly funded institutions or individuals to work with live equipment. This publication will demonstrate the use of additive manufactured Stirling Engines for effective teaching in creative design, optimization product development, thermodynamics, mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, live data acquisition, material science and additive manufacture

INDIACo m-2009 Co mputing For Nation Development

ABSTRAC

Seismic Behaviour of the Christchurch Women's Hospital

1-pageThe objective of this project is to collect perishable seismic response data from the baseisolated Christchurch Women's Hospital. The strong and continuing sequence of aftershocks presents a unique opportunity to capture high-fidelity data from a modern base-isolated facility. These measurements will provide quantitative information required to assess the mechanisms at play in this and in many other seismically-isolated structures

Prospective evaluation of host biomarkers other than interferon gamma in QuantiFERON Plus supernatants as candidates for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in symptomatic individuals

CITATION: Manngo, P. M. et al. 2019. Prospective evaluation of host biomarkers other than interferon gamma in QuantiFERON Plus supernatants as candidates for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in symptomatic individuals. Journal of Infection, 79(3):228-235, doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2019.07.007.The original publication is available at https://www.journalofinfection.comBackground: There is an urgent need for new tools for the diagnosis of TB. We evaluated the usefulness recently described host biomarkers in supernatants from the newest generation of the QuantiFERON test (QuantiFERON Plus) as tools for the diagnosis of active TB. Methods: We recruited individuals presenting at primary health care clinics in Cape Town, South Africa with symptoms requiring investigation for TB disease, prior to the establishment of a clinical diagnosis. Participants were later classified as TB or other respiratory diseases (ORD) based on the results of clinical and laboratory tests. Using a multiplex platform, we evaluated the concentrations of 37 host biomarkers in QuantiFERON Plus supernatants from study participants as tools for the diagnosis of TB. Results: Out of 120 study participants, 35(29.2%) were diagnosed with active TB, 69(57.5%) with ORD whereas 16(13.3%) were excluded. 14(11.6%) of the study participants were HIV infected. Although individ- ual host markers showed potential as diagnostic candidates, the main finding of the study was the identi- fication of a six-marker biosignature in unstimulated supernatants (Apo-ACIII, CXCL1, CXCL9, CCL8, CCL-1, CD56) which diagnosed TB with sensitivity and specificity of 73.9%(95% CI; 51.6–87.8) and 87.6%(95% CI; 77.2–94.5), respectively, after leave-one-out cross validation. Combinations between TB-antigen specific biomarkers also showed potential (sensitivity of 77.3% and specificity of 69.2%, respectively), with multi- ple biomarkers being significantly different between TB patients, Quantiferon Plus Positive and Quantif- eron Plus negative individuals with ORD, regardless of HIV status. Conclusions: Biomarkers detected in QuantiFERON Plus supernatants may contribute to adjunctive diag- nosis of TB.EDCTP , grant no: DRIA2014-311National Research FoundationICIDR (grant no: 5U01IA115619)Publisher's versio

Distribution of Major Health Risks: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study

BACKGROUND: Most analyses of risks to health focus on the total burden of their aggregate effects. The distribution of risk-factor-attributable disease burden, for example by age or exposure level, can inform the selection and targeting of specific interventions and programs, and increase cost-effectiveness. METHODS AND FINDINGS: For 26 selected risk factors, expert working groups conducted comprehensive reviews of data on risk-factor exposure and hazard for 14 epidemiological subregions of the world, by age and sex. Age-sex-subregion-population attributable fractions were estimated and applied to the mortality and burden of disease estimates from the World Health Organization Global Burden of Disease database. Where possible, exposure levels were assessed as continuous measures, or as multiple categories. The proportion of risk-factor-attributable burden in different population subgroups, defined by age, sex, and exposure level, was estimated. For major cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol, tobacco use, fruit and vegetable intake, body mass index, and physical inactivity) 43%–61% of attributable disease burden occurred between the ages of 15 and 59 y, and 87% of alcohol-attributable burden occurred in this age group. Most of the disease burden for continuous risks occurred in those with only moderately raised levels, not among those with levels above commonly used cut-points, such as those with hypertension or obesity. Of all disease burden attributable to being underweight during childhood, 55% occurred among children 1–3 standard deviations below the reference population median, and the remainder occurred among severely malnourished children, who were three or more standard deviations below median. CONCLUSIONS: Many major global risks are widely spread in a population, rather than restricted to a minority. Population-based strategies that seek to shift the whole distribution of risk factors often have the potential to produce substantial reductions in disease burden

Neutrophil degranulation, NETosis and platelet degranulation pathway genes are co-induced in whole blood up to six months before tuberculosis diagnosis

Data Availability: The full datasets can be obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) as GSE94438 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE94438) and GSE89403 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE89403). These details are also provided in the Methods. Additional data on PET-CT scores accompany the revised document as S1 Table (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278295#pone.0278295.s001).The authors acknowledge the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), South Africa, for providing computational resources to this research project.Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) causes tuberculosis (TB) and remains one of the leading causes of mortality due to an infectious pathogen. Host immune responses have been implicated in driving the progression from infection to severe lung disease. We analyzed longitudinal RNA sequencing (RNAseq) data from the whole blood of 74 TB progressors whose samples were grouped into four six-month intervals preceding diagnosis (the GC6-74 study). We additionally analyzed RNAseq data from an independent cohort of 90 TB patients with positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scan results which were used to categorize them into groups with high and low levels of lung damage (the Catalysis TB Biomarker study). These groups were compared to non-TB controls to obtain a complete whole blood transcriptional profile for individuals spanning from early stages of M.tb infection to TB diagnosis. The results revealed a steady increase in the number of genes that were differentially expressed in progressors at time points closer to diagnosis with 278 genes at 13–18 months, 742 at 7–12 months and 5,131 detected 1–6 months before diagnosis and 9,205 detected in TB patients. A total of 2,144 differentially expressed genes were detected when comparing TB patients with high and low levels of lung damage. There was a large overlap in the genes upregulated in progressors 1–6 months before diagnosis (86%) with those in TB patients. A comprehensive pathway analysis revealed a potent activation of neutrophil and platelet mediated defenses including neutrophil and platelet degranulation, and NET formation at both time points. These pathways were also enriched in TB patients with high levels of lung damage compared to those with low. These findings suggest that neutrophils and platelets play a critical role in TB pathogenesis, and provide details of the timing of specific effector mechanisms that may contribute to TB lung pathology.SM, EM, GT and GW were supported by the South African Tuberculosis Bioinformatics Initiative (SATBBI), a Strategic Health Innovation Partnership grant from the South African Medical Research Council (https://www.samrc.ac.za/) and South African Department of Science and Innovation (https://www.dst.gov.za/); no grant number. STM received funding from the EDCTP2 program (Grant Number CDF1576) supported by the European Union (http://www.edctp.org/projects-2/#). GW received funding from the South African National Research Foundation (SARChI TB Biomarkers #86535) and the South African Medical Research Council (https://www.samrc.ac.za/). SHEK, TJS and GW received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant Numbers OPP37772 & OPP1055806), (https://www.gatesfoundation.org/) GW received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant Number OPP51919) (https://www.gatesfoundation.org/) through the Catalysis Foundation for Health (https://catalysisfoundation.org/) AGL is supported by the NRF-CSUR (Grant Number CSUR60502163639) and by the Centre for Tuberculosis Research from the South African Medical Research Council (https://www.samrc.ac.za/). JAS is supported by a Clinician Scientist Fellowship (Grant Number MR/R007942/1) jointly funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC; https://www.ukri.org/about-us/mrc/) and the UK Department for International Development [DFID; replaced by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO); https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office] under the MRC/DFID Concordat agreement