Feedbacks in Non-equilibrium Oxidative Plasma Reacting with Polyethylene

The experimental results on studies of loading effect at the action of a glow DC discharge in oxygen and air on polyethylene film are presented. At the increase in a polymer amount under a treatment the specific rates of etching and CO2, CO, H2O, H2 product formation rates are decreased. The gas temperature is changed slightly. The reduced electric field strength is increased in oxygen plasma and decreased in air plasma

Mathematical modelling of the spatial network of bone implants obtained by 3D-prototyping

In this paper, the mathematical model suitable for bone implants 3D-prototyping is proposed. The composite material with the spatial configuration of reinforcement with matrix of hydroxyapatite and titanium alloys fibers is considered. An octahedral cell is chosen as an elementary volume. The distribution of reinforcing fibers is described by textural parameters. Textural parameters are integrated characteristics that summarize information on the direction of reinforcing fibers and their volume fractions. Textural parameters, properties of matrix and reinforcing fibers allow calculating effective physical and mechanical properties of the composite material. The impact of height and width of the octahedral reinforcement cells on textural parameters of the composite material is investigated in this work. The impact of radius of fibers is also analyzed. It is shown that the composite becomes quasi-isotropic under certain geometrical parameters of cell. © 2016 Author(s)

Tumor microenvironment: the formation of the immune profile

Tumor microenvironment (TME) is formed as a result of interaction and cross-linking between the tumor cell and different types of surrounding cells. Recent studies have shown that the tumor reprograms the microenvironment so that TME promotes the development of primary tumors, their metastasis and becomes an important regulator of oncogenesis. Under the influence of the tumor, the immune profile in the TME undergoes significant changes, “editing". An immunosuppressive network is formed, which suppresses the activity of the main effector of cellular immunity — T lymphocytes. T cells in TMA are in a state of anergy and exhaustion. T cells in TME are characterized by increased expression of inhibitory receptors, decreased secretion of cytokines and cytolytic activity. Blocking inhibitory receptors with specific antibodies can lead to the restoration of the functions of exausted T cells. Therefore, the restoration of the functional activity of T lymphocytes is one of the important strategies in cancer immunotherapy. The formation of the immune profile is influenced by genetic aberrations accumulating in the tumor. They play an important role in creating a specific, characteristic only for this tumor immune environment in the TME. Genetic changes in tumor cells lead to phenotypic and functional rearrangements of lymphocytes, which allows the tumor to escape the reaction of immune cells. Since many tumors occur after prolonged inflammation or exhibit characteristics of chronic inflammation as they progress, inflammation is considered an important factor in the formation of immune profile in TME. Immune infiltrates from different human tumors associated with inflammation may contain valuable prognostic and pathophysiological information. Macrophages in the TME now began to be regarded as descriptive marker and as a therapeutic target. One of the main mechanisms by which tumor cells reprogram surrounding cells is the release of exosomes — small vesicles that carry and deliver proteins and nucleic acids to other cells. When exosomal cargo is absorbed, molecular, transcriptional and translational changes occur in the recipient non-tumor cells in the TME. Therefore, tumor exosomes are an effective means by which the functions of immune cells in TME are purposefully changed. Thus, along with individual molecular and genomic testing of the tumor, attention should be paid to a deeper analysis of the immune profile of TME. It is a large resource of biomarkers and targets for immunotherapy

A new approach to use of oral mucosa in reconstructive urethral surgery: micrografts

Introduction. Treatment of patients with complex urethral strictures is an actual problem of reconstructive urology. After multi-staged urethral surgery with multiple revisions the new reconstruction is limited by paucity of plastic material (for grafts and flaps). In-thing, new materials for urethral reconstruction (various auto, allo and xenografts) are still being developed in reconstructive urethral surgery.Purpose of the study. To study the possibility of using oral mucosa micrografts to form the urethral plate in the multi-stage surgery for patients with extended urethral strictures.Materials and methods. In the experimental study, male Wistar rats (22 individuals) weighing 300 – 400 g underwent a full-thickness skin wound after intramuscular sedation. We used the wound chamber (12 mm diameter) to exclude the wound contraction. The oral mucosa graft was harvested (6 mm in diameter). After pre-fabrication, the graft was minced to fragments < 1 mm2. Micrografts with fibrin-thrombin glue were applied to the wound. By day 45, the epithelial plate was excised for histological examination. In the clinical study, 4 patients with recurrent penile urethral strictures were treated with staged urethroplasty with urethral plate formation using oral mucosa micrografts. The average length of the stricture was 7.5 ± 1.2 cm (with extremely narrow and obliteration sites). The urethral plate was formed as the first stage. The preparation of the graft bed and oral mucosa grafts harvesting was carried out according to the standard procedure. Micrografts preparation and implantation was carried out as in experimental part of this study. After 6 months, neourethra tubularization was performed. The patients were evaluated every 3 months after the final stage of urethroplasty (uroflowmetry, ultrasound, X-ray, PROM-USS). The median follow-up was 9 months (3 – 18 months).Results. On day 15, in the experimental study, in 16 of 22 (72.7%) rats, the wound chambers had focal growth of the oral mucosa epithelium. On day 45, the wounds healed completely healed with oral mucosa. The final area of the plate was 78 ± 12 mm2. In the clinical study, 6 months after the first stage, all patients (n = 4) had a urethral plate covered with an oral mucosa epithelium without scar formation and sufficient for neurethra tubularization. All patients underwent urethral tubularization. After catheter removal, all men urinated. After 9 months (median follow-up, n = 3), the Qmax was 22.7 ± 4.2 ml/s, the post-void residual urine was 34.8 ± 2.2 ml, the total PROM-USS score was 7.4 ± 1.2, urethral lumen is preserved. All patients showed high satisfaction with the treatment.Conclusion. The oral mucosa micrografts showed good take in heterotopic transplantation (72.7%) with the formation of an epithelial layer on the wound surface. The final mucosal plate area 3 times exceeded the initial micrografts area. This initial clinical experience of using oral mucosa micrografts shows the new possibility of this technology in reconstructive urethral surgery, especially in patients with complex urethral strictures

Soft elasticity in biaxial smectic and smectic-C elastomers

Ideal (monodomain) smectic-$A$ elastomers crosslinked in the smectic-$A$ phase are simply uniaxial rubbers, provided deformations are small. From these materials smectic-$C$ elastomers are produced by a cooling through the smectic-$A$ to smectic-$C$ phase transition. At least in principle, biaxial smectic elastomers could also be produced via cooling from the smectic-$A$ to a biaxial smectic phase. These phase transitions, respectively from $D_{\infty h}$ to $C_{2h}$ and from $D_{\infty h}$ to $D_{2h}$ symmetry, spontaneously break the rotational symmetry in the smectic planes. We study the above transitions and the elasticity of the smectic-$C$ and biaxial phases in three different but related models: Landau-like phenomenological models as functions of the Cauchy--Saint-Laurent strain tensor for both the biaxial and the smectic-$C$ phases and a detailed model, including contributions from the elastic network, smectic layer compression, and smectic-$C$ tilt for the smectic-$C$ phase as a function of both strain and the $c$-director. We show that the emergent phases exhibit soft elasticity characterized by the vanishing of certain elastic moduli. We analyze in some detail the role of spontaneous symmetry breaking as the origin of soft elasticity and we discuss different manifestations of softness like the absence of restoring forces under certain shears and extensional strains.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure

APPLICATION OF TEXTURE PARAMETERS TO CALCULATE THE EFFECTIVE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYCRYSTALLINE AND TWO-PHASE COMPOSITE MATERIALS

In the Ural Federal University, samples are obtained by the method of 3D-printing based on the agglomeration of Ti powders under the preclinical study of osseointegration with the use of an innovative implant. This paper presents a technique for calculating texture parameters for a textured polycrystal and for a composite material with a spatial reinforcement scheme. Also it presents a comparison of elastic properties of materials exemplified by vectorial models characterizing the dependence of Young's modulus on direction and crystalline texture

BUILDING A TOMOGRAPHIC VELOCITY MODEL FOR SAMOYLOV ISLAND AREA (LENA DELTA) FROM LOCAL SEISMOLOGICAL DATA FOR THE PERIOD OF 2019–2021

In our paper we present the results of seismotomographic inversion for the local seismological monitoring data obtained in the area of the Samoylov Island (Lena River delta) in 2019–2021. Tomographic velocity model was used for refining hypocenter locations of local earthquakes and for geological interpretation. The results are shown as maps of anomalies of seismic waves and Vp /Vs ratios for the 5 and 10 km depths. The velocity anomalies structure made it possible to interpret low Vp /Vs ratio as rocks related to the Siberian platform, and to compare between the boundary of the low Vp /Vs area and the trace of the known geological fault running along the Olenekskaya Channel

The Effects of Fourth Generation on the double Lepton Polarization in B \rar K \ell^+ \ell^- decay

This study investigates the influence of the fourth generation quarks on the double lepton polarizations in B \rar K \ell^+ \ell^- decay. Taking |V_{t's}V_{t'b}|\sim \{0.01-0.03\} with phase about 100^\circ, which is consistent with the b\to s\ell^+\ell^- rate and the B_s mixing parameter Delta m_{B_s}$, we obtain that the double lepton(muon and tau) polarizations are quite sensitive to the existence of fourth generation. It can serve as a good tool to search for new physics effects, precisely, to indirect search for the fourth generation quarks(t', b').Comment: 30 pages, 27 figure

Aerodynamic investigations of ventilated brake discs.

The heat dissipation and performance of a ventilated brake disc strongly depends on the aerodynamic characteristics of the flow through the rotor passages. The aim of this investigation was to provide an improved understanding of ventilated brake rotor flow phenomena, with a view to improving heat dissipation, as well as providing a measurement data set for validation of computational fluid dynamics methods. The flow fields at the exit of four different brake rotor geometries, rotated in free air, were measured using a five-hole pressure probe and a hot-wire anemometry system. The principal measurements were taken using two-component hot-wire techniques and were used to determine mean and unsteady flow characteristics at the exit of the brake rotors. Using phase-locked data processing, it was possible to reveal the spatial and temporal flow variation within individual rotor passages. The effects of disc geometry and rotational speed on the mean flow, passage turbulence intensity, and mass flow were determined. The rotor exit jet and wake flow were clearly observed as characterized by the passage geometry as well as definite regions of high and low turbulence. The aerodynamic flow characteristics were found to be reasonably independent of rotational speed but highly dependent upon rotor geometry