Cancer rates and mortality in people with severe mental illness: Further evidence of lack of parity

Background: Severe mental illness (SMI) is associated with poorer physical health, however the relationship between SMI and cancer is complex and previous study findings are inconsistent. Low incidence of cancer in those with SMI has been attributed to premature mortality, though evidence for this is lacking. We aimed to investigate the relationship between SMI and cancer incidence and mortality, and to assess the effect of premature mortality on cancer incidence rates. / Methods: In this UK-wide matched cohort study using primary care records we calculated incidence and mortality rates of all-cancer, and bowel, lung, breast or prostate cancer, in patients with SMI, compared to matched patients without SMI. We used competing risks regression to account for mortality from other causes. / Findings: 69,632 patients had an SMI diagnosis. The rate of all-cancer diagnoses was reduced in those with SMI (Hazard ratio (HR):0·95; 95%CI 0·93–0·98) compared to those without SMI, and particularly in those with schizophrenia (HR:0·82; 95%CI 0·77–0·88) compared to those without SMI. When accounting for the competing risk of premature mortality, incidence remained lower only in patients with schizophrenia. All-cause mortality after cancer was increased in the SMI group, and cancer-specific mortality was increased in those with schizophrenia (hazard ratio: 1.96; 95%CI 1.57–2.44). / Interpretation: Patients with schizophrenia have lower rates of cancer diagnosis but higher all-cause and cancer-specific mortality rates following diagnosis compared to those without SMI. Premature mortality does not explain these differences, suggesting the findings reflect barriers to cancer diagnosis and treatment, which need to be identified and addressed

Guidelines for diagnosis and management of the cobalamin-related remethylation disorders cblC, cblD, cblE, cblF, cblG, cblJ and MTHFR deficiency

BACKGROUND: Remethylation defects are rare inherited disorders in which impaired remethylation of homocysteine to methionine leads to accumulation of homocysteine and perturbation of numerous methylation reactions. OBJECTIVE: To summarise clinical and biochemical characteristics of these severe disorders and to provide guidelines on diagnosis and management. DATA SOURCES: Review, evaluation and discussion of the medical literature (Medline, Cochrane databases) by a panel of experts on these rare diseases following the GRADE approach. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS: We strongly recommend measuring plasma total homocysteine in any patient presenting with the combination of neurological and/or visual and/or haematological symptoms, subacute spinal cord degeneration, atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome or unexplained vascular thrombosis. We strongly recommend to initiate treatment with parenteral hydroxocobalamin without delay in any suspected remethylation disorder; it significantly improves survival and incidence of severe complications. We strongly recommend betaine treatment in individuals with MTHFR deficiency; it improves the outcome and prevents disease when given early

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017

This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud 2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

A Deployable tensegrity structure, especially for space applications

The invention relates to a deployable tensegrity structure comprising, in the deployed state, a support structure (100) having a ring shape around a longitudinal axis and comprising : - a first flexible tension member (101 ) defining a first contour of said ring shape and a second flexible tension member (102) defining a second contour of said ring; - a first plurality of rigid compression members (103, 103', 103") extending between said first and second contours (101, 102), one end (1030,1030') of each rigid compression member of the first plurality being mounted on the first contour (101 ) whereas the other end (1031,1031 ") is not mounted on a contour and; a second plurality of rigid compression members (104, 104') extending between said first and second contours (101, 102), one end (1040') of each rigid compression member of the second plurality being mounted on the second contour (102) whereas the other end (1041, 1041 ') is not mounted on a contour; said first and second plurality of rigid compression members (103, 103', 103" 104, 104') being arranged with a repetitive crossing pattern around the ring; - a first plurality of flexible tension members (105, 106, 107, 110, 111 ) linking each end (1030, 1030',1040') of a compression member mounted on one of said contours (101,102) to an end of another compression member which is not mounted on one of said contours and, a second plurality of flexible tension members (108, 109, 112) linking each end (1031, 1031 ", 1041, 1041 ') of a compression member which is not mounted on a contour to an end of another compression member which is also not mounted on a contour

Tensegrity rings for deployable space antennas: Concept, design, analysis, and prototype testing

In this paper, an extended version of Zolesi et al. (Proceedings of the 42nd ICES (AIAA 2012-3601), San Diego, CA, 2012), we describe a tensegrity ring of innovative conception for deployable space antennas. Large deployable space structures are mission-critical technologies for which deployment failure cannot be an option. The difficulty to fully reproduce and test on ground the deployment of large systems dictates the need for extremely reliable architectural concepts. In 2010, ESA promoted a study focused on the pre-development of breakthrough architectural concepts offering superior reliability. This study, which was performed as an initiative of ESA Small Medium Enterprises Office by Kayser Italia at its premises in Livorno (Italy), with Università di Roma TorVergata (Rome, Italy) as sub-contractor and consultancy from KTH (Stockholm, Sweden), led to the identification of an innovative large deployable structure of tensegrity type, which achieves the required reliability because of a drastic reduction in the number of articulated joints in comparison with non-tensegrity architectures. The identified target application was in the field of large space antenna reflectors. The project focused on the overall architecture of a deployable system and the related design implications. With a view toward verifying experimentally the performance of the deployable structure, a reduced-scale breadboard model was designed and manufactured. A gravity off-loading system was designed and implemented, so as to check deployment functionality in a 1-g environment. Finally, a test campaign was conducted, to validate the main design assumptions as well as to ensure the concept’s suitability for the selected target application. The test activities demonstrated satisfactory stiffness, deployment repeatability, and geometric precision in the fully deployed configuration. The test data were also used to validate a finite element model, which predicts a good static and dynamic behavior of the full-scale deployable structure

A Deployable tensegrity structure, especially for space applications

The invention relates to a deployable tensegrity structure comprising, in the deployed state, a support structure (100) having a ring shape around a longitudinal axis and comprising : - a first flexible tension member (101 ) defining a first contour of said ring shape and a second flexible tension member (102) defining a second contour of said ring; - a first plurality of rigid compression members (103, 103', 103") extending between said first and second contours (101, 102), one end (1030,1030') of each rigid compression member of the first plurality being mounted on the first contour (101 ) whereas the other end (1031,1031 ") is not mounted on a contour and; a second plurality of rigid compression members (104, 104') extending between said first and second contours (101, 102), one end (1040') of each rigid compression member of the second plurality being mounted on the second contour (102) whereas the other end (1041, 1041 ') is not mounted on a contour; said first and second plurality of rigid compression members (103, 103', 103" 104, 104') being arranged with a repetitive crossing pattern around the ring; - a first plurality of flexible tension members (105, 106, 107, 110, 111 ) linking each end (1030, 1030',1040') of a compression member mounted on one of said contours (101,102) to an end of another compression member which is not mounted on one of said contours and, a second plurality of flexible tension members (108, 109, 112) linking each end (1031, 1031 ", 1041, 1041 ') of a compression member which is not mounted on a contour to an end of another compression member which is also not mounted on a contour

European sounding rocket experiment on hypersonic deployable re-entry demonstrator

The Italian and European Space Agencies (ASI and ESA) are supporting the IRENE research programme, developed in Campania region (South of Italy) by a cluster of industries, research organizations and universities, on a low-cost deployable re-entry system, to enable future space missions, including payloads return on Earth from the ISS and/or recoverable scientific experiments in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Deployable systems could be also applied to future robotic exploration missions or, in perspective, to future manned space systems, requiring planet atmosphere entry or Earth re-entry. They can be accommodated in the selected launcher in folded configuration (optimizing the available volume) and, when foreseen by the mission profile, the aerobrake can be deployed in order to increase the surface exposed to the hypersonic flow and therefore to reduce the ballistic parameter. In this way the reentry trajectory of the ballistic capsule is characterized by deceleration at relatively high altitudes, by relatively low heat fluxes, mechanical loads and final descent velocity. This technology offers also an interesting potential for aerobraking/aerocapture and for de-orbiting without the need of a dedicated propulsive subsystem. The deployable surface can be modulated for the aerodynamic control of the de-orbit trajectory in order to correctly target the capsule towards the selected landing site. The dramatic reduction of the ballistic coefficient shall even provide the opportunity to aerocapture and land very large payloads also on planets surrounded by thin atmospheres. This paper summarizes the results of these activities, including mission analyses, aerodynamic studies, prediction of thermal and mechanical loads, thermal and structural analyses. A technology “ground demonstrator” of the umbrella-like structure has been developed to test on ground the most critical functions (kinematics of the deployment system, configuration of the flexible structure, efficiency of the selected actuators, etc.) and the mechanical stresses expected in flight