Fracture Toughness and Micro-Strain of Y-TZP Nanoceramics at Different Sintering Temperature

الهدف من هذا البحث هو دراسة تاثير درجة حرارة التلبيد على الخواص الميكانيكية و الانفعال المرن للزركونيا المثبتة باليتريا النانوية. حيث تم تلبيد العينات المكبوسة عند درجات (1500 – 1550 – 1600م⁰) في الهواء لمدة ساعتين , ثم بعد التلبيد تم صقلها لغرض اجراء فحص الصلادة المايكروية و لفحص متانة الكسر بواسطة جهاز فكرز (من 60 كغم الى 100غم). تم استخدام جهاز المجهر الذري  لايجاد التغير في حجم و شكل الحبيبات في العينات , و تم فحصها بواسطة الاشعة السينية لتحديد نوع الطور الناتج و لتحديد قيمة الانفعال المايكروي للعينات. لقد بينت النتائج انه عند زيادة درجة التلبيد سوف يزداد الحجم الحبيبي مع زيادة الانفعال المايكروي. ان الطور السائد الناتج بعد التلبيد هو الطورالرباعي , مع زيادة ابعاد المشبك نتيجة للانفعال المرن , و مع زيادة درجة التلبيد تزداد الصلادة المايكروية مع زيادة متانة الكسر.  The objective of this research is to study the effect of sintering temperature on the mechanical properties and micro-strain of yttria tetragonal zirconia polycrystalls (Y-TZP) nanostructure.   Where green disk formed by uniaxially press, sintered at (1500 – 1550 – 1600⁰C) in air for 2hr then polished to mirror shape for fracture toughness and micro-hardness measurement by Vickers indenter at (60 kg to 100gm) loads. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique was use to measure the change in grain size and shape of the samples, X-ray diffraction (XRD) evaluated to identify the phases and to measure the micro-strain of the samples.          The Results show that increasing sintering temperature will increase the grain size with increasing the average of micro-strain. Tetragonal  phase is the prevailing phase with small amount of cubic phase and the amount of monoclinic phase was under detection limite after sintering but there is increas in lattice dimension according to micro-strain calculation and grinding process produce micro-strain. With increasing the sintering temperature micro-hardness and fracture toughness will increas

Frontiers in Non-invasive Cardiac Mapping: Rotors in Atrial Fibrillation-Body Surface Frequency-Phase Mapping

[EN] Experimental and clinical data demonstrate that atrial fibrillation (AF) maintenance in animals and groups of patients depends on localized reentrant sources localized primarily to the pulmonary veins (PVs) and the left atrium(LA) posterior wall in paroxysmal AF but elsewhere, including the right atrium (RA), in persistent AF. Moreover, AF can be eliminated by directly ablating AFdriving sources or “rotors,” that exhibit high-frequency, periodic activity. The RADAR-AF randomized trial demonstrated that an ablation procedure based on a more target-specific strategy aimed at eliminating high frequency sites responsible for AF maintenance is as efficacious as and safer than empirically isolating all the PVs. In contrast to the standard ECG, global atrial noninvasive frequency analysis allows non-invasive identification of high-frequency sources before the arrival at the electrophysiology laboratory for ablation. Body surface potential map (BSPM) replicates the endocardial distribution of DFs with localization of the highest DF (HDF) and can identify small areas containing the high-frequency sources. Overall, BSPM had a sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 100% for capturing intracardiac EGMs as having LARA DF gradient. However, raw BSPM data analysis of AF patterns of activity showed incomplete and instable reentrant patterns of activation. Thus, we developed an analysis approach whereby a narrow band-pass filtering allowed selecting the electrical activity projected on the torso at the HDF, which stabilized the projection of rotors that potentially drive AF on the surface. Consequently, driving reentrant patterns (“rotors”) with spatiotemporal stability during >70% of the AF time could be observed noninvasibly after HDFfiltering. Moreover, computer simulations found that the combination of BSPM phase mapping with DF analysis enabled the discrimination of true rotational patterns even during the most complex AF. Altogether, these studies show that the combination of DF analysis with phase maps of HDF-filtered surface ECG recordings allows noninvasive localization of atrial reentries during AF and further a physiologically-based rationale for personalized diagnosis and treatment of patients with AF.Study supported in part by the Spanish Society of Cardiology (Becas Investigacio´ n Clı´nica 2009); the Universitat Polite` cnica de Vale`ncia through its research initiative program; the Generalitat Valenciana Grants (ACIF/2013/021); the Ministerio de Economia y Competividad, Red RIC; the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (proyecto CNIC-13); the Coulter Foundation from the Biomedical Engineering Department (University of Michigan); the Gelman Award from the Cardiovascular Division (University of Michigan); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grants (P01-HL039707, P01-HL087226 and R01-HL118304), and the Leducq FoundationAtienza, F.; Climent, A.; Guillem Sánchez, MS.; Berenfeld, O. (2015). Frontiers in Non-invasive Cardiac Mapping: Rotors in Atrial Fibrillation-Body Surface Frequency-Phase Mapping. Cardiac Electrophysiology Clinics. 7(1):59-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccep.2014.11.002S59697

Understanding the evolution of immune genes in jawed vertebrates

Driven by co-evolution with pathogens, host immunity continuously adapts to optimize defence against pathogens within a given environment. Recent advances in genetics, genomics and transcriptomics have enabled a more detailed investigation into how immunogenetic variation shapes the diversity of immune responses seen across domestic and wild animal species. However, a deeper understanding of the diverse molecular mechanisms that shape immunity within and among species is still needed to gain insight into-and generate evolutionary hypotheses on-the ultimate drivers of immunological differences. Here, we discuss current advances in our understanding of molecular evolution underpinning jawed vertebrate immunity. First, we introduce the immunome concept, a framework for characterizing genes involved in immune defence from a comparative perspective, then we outline how immune genes of interest can be identified. Second, we focus on how different selection modes are observed acting across groups of immune genes and propose hypotheses to explain these differences. We then provide an overview of the approaches used so far to study the evolutionary heterogeneity of immune genes on macro and microevolutionary scales. Finally, we discuss some of the current evidence as to how specific pathogens affect the evolution of different groups of immune genes. This review results from the collective discussion on the current key challenges in evolutionary immunology conducted at the ESEB 2021 Online Satellite Symposium: Molecular evolution of the vertebrate immune system, from the lab to natural populations

Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEX-SM10): Overview and Preliminary Results

The Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEx-SM10) was carried out in Saskatchewan, Canada from 31 May to 16 June, 2010. Its main objective was to contribute to Soil Moisture and Ocean salinity (SMOS) mission validation and the pre-launch assessment of Soil Moisture and Active and Passive (SMAP) mission. During CanEx-SM10, SMOS data as well as other passive and active microwave measurements were collected by both airborne and satellite platforms. Ground-based measurements of soil (moisture, temperature, roughness, bulk density) and vegetation characteristics (Leaf Area Index, biomass, vegetation height) were conducted close in time to the airborne and satellite acquisitions. Besides, two ground-based in situ networks provided continuous measurements of meteorological conditions and soil moisture and soil temperature profiles. Two sites, each covering 33 km x 71 km (about two SMOS pixels) were selected in agricultural and boreal forested areas in order to provide contrasting soil and vegetation conditions. This paper describes the measurement strategy, provides an overview of the data sets and presents preliminary results. Over the agricultural area, the airborne L-band brightness temperatures matched up well with the SMOS data. The Radio frequency interference (RFI) observed in both SMOS and the airborne L-band radiometer data exhibited spatial and temporal variability and polarization dependency. The temporal evolution of SMOS soil moisture product matched that observed with the ground data, but the absolute soil moisture estimates did not meet the accuracy requirements (0.04 m3/m3) of the SMOS mission. AMSR-E soil moisture estimates are more closely correlated with measured soil moisture

A Randomised Trial to Compare the Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of Three Drug Combinations for Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Children

BACKGROUND: Results from trials of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) in infants and children have shown that IPT provides significant protection against clinical malaria. Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) given alone or in combination with other drugs has been used for most IPT programmes. However, SP resistance is increasing in many parts of Africa. Thus, we have investigated whether SP plus AQ, SP plus piperaquine (PQ) and dihydroartemisinin (DHA) plus PQ might be equally safe and effective when used for IPT in children in an area of seasonal transmission. METHODS: During the 2007 malaria transmission season, 1008 Gambian children were individually randomized to receive SP plus amodiaquine (AQ), SP plus piperaquine (PQ) or dihydroartemisinin (DHA) plus PQ at monthly intervals on three occasions during the peak malaria transmission season. To determine the risk of side effects following drug administration, participants in each treatment group were visited at home three days after the start of each round of drug administration and a side effects questionnaire completed. To help establish whether adverse events were drug related, the same questionnaire was administered to 286 age matched control children recruited from adjacent villages. Morbidity was monitored throughout the malaria transmission season and study children were seen at the end of the malaria transmission season. RESULTS: All three treatment regimens showed good safety profiles. No severe adverse event related to IPT was reported. The most frequent adverse events reported were coughing, diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. Cough was present in 15.2%, 15.4% and 18.7% of study subjects who received SP plus AQ, DHA plus PQ or SP plus PQ respectively, compared to 19.2% in a control group. The incidence of malaria in the DHA plus PQ, SP plus AQ and SP plus PQ groups were 0.10 cases per child year (95% CI: 0.05, 0.22), 0.06 (95% CI: 0.022, 0.16) and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.02, 0.15) respectively. The incidence of malaria in the control group was 0.79 cases per child year (0.58, 1.08). CONCLUSION: All the three regimens of IPT in children were safe and highly efficacious TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00561899

A Randomised, Double-Blind, Controlled Vaccine Efficacy Trial of DNA/MVA ME-TRAP Against Malaria Infection in Gambian Adults

BACKGROUND: Many malaria vaccines are currently in development, although very few have been evaluated for efficacy in the field. Plasmodium falciparum multiple epitope (ME)– thrombospondin-related adhesion protein (TRAP) candidate vaccines are designed to potently induce effector T cells and so are a departure from earlier malaria vaccines evaluated in the field in terms of their mechanism of action. ME-TRAP vaccines encode a polyepitope string and the TRAP sporozoite antigen. Two vaccine vectors encoding ME-TRAP, plasmid DNA and modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), when used sequentially in a prime-boost immunisation regime, induce high frequencies of effector T cells and partial protection, manifest as delay in time to parasitaemia, in a clinical challenge model. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A total of 372 Gambian men aged 15–45 y were randomised to receive either DNA ME-TRAP followed by MVA ME-TRAP or rabies vaccine (control). Of these men, 296 received three doses of vaccine timed to coincide with the beginning of the transmission season (141 in the DNA/MVA group and 155 in the rabies group) and were followed up. Volunteers were given sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine 2 wk before the final vaccination. Blood smears were collected weekly for 11 wk and whenever a volunteer developed symptoms compatible with malaria during the transmission season. The primary endpoint was time to first infection with asexual P. falciparum. Analysis was per protocol. DNA ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP were safe and well-tolerated. Effector T cell responses to a non-vaccine strain of TRAP were 50-fold higher postvaccination in the malaria vaccine group than in the rabies vaccine group. Vaccine efficacy, adjusted for confounding factors, was 10.3% (95% confidence interval, −22% to +34%; p = 0.49). Incidence of malaria infection decreased with increasing age and was associated with ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: DNA/MVA heterologous prime-boost vaccination is safe and highly immunogenic for effector T cell induction in a malaria-endemic area. But despite having produced a substantial reduction in liver-stage parasites in challenge studies of non-immune volunteers, this first generation T cell–inducing vaccine was ineffective at reducing the natural infection rate in semi-immune African adults

Busulphan is active against neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma xenografts in athymic mice at clinically achievable plasma drug concentrations

High-dose busulphan-containing chemotherapy regimens have shown high response rates in children with relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma, Ewing's sarcoma and medulloblastoma. However, the anti-tumour activity of busulfan as a single agent remains to be defined, and this was evaluated in athymic mice bearing advanced stage subcutaneous paediatric solid tumour xenografts. Because busulphan is highly insoluble in water, the use of several vehicles for enteral and parenteral administration was first investigated in terms of pharmacokinetics and toxicity. The highest bioavailability was obtained with busulphan in DMSO administered i.p. When busulphan was suspended in carboxymethylcellulose and given orally or i.p., the bioavailability was poor. Then, in the therapeutic experiments, busulphan in DMSO was administered i.p. on days 0 and 4. At the maximum tolerated total dose (50 mg kg−1), busulphan induced a significant tumour growth delay, ranging from 12 to 34 days in the three neuroblastomas evaluated and in one out of three medulloblastomas. At a dose level above the maximum tolerated dose, busulphan induced complete and partial tumour regressions. Busulphan was inactive in a peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) xenograft. When busulphan pharmacokinetics in mice and humans were considered, the estimated systemic exposure at the therapeutically active dose in mice (113 μg h ml−1) was close to the mean total systemic exposure in children receiving high-dose busulphan (102.4 μg h ml−1). In conclusion, busulphan displayed a significant anti-tumour activity in neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma xenografts at plasma drug concentrations which can be achieved clinically in children receiving high-dose busulphan-containing regimens. 1999 Cancer Research Campaig