Effect of folic acid supplementation in pregnancy on preeclampsia: The folic acid clinical trial study

Copyright © 2013 Shi Wu Wen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Preeclampsia (PE) is hypertension with proteinuria that develops during pregnancy and affects at least 5% of pregnancies. The Effect of Folic Acid Supplementation in Pregnancy on Preeclampsia: the Folic Acid Clinical Trial (FACT) aims to recruit 3,656 high risk women to evaluate a new prevention strategy for PE: supplementation of folic acid throughout pregnancy. Pregnant women with increased risk of developing PE presenting to a trial participating center between 80/7 and 166/7 weeks of gestation are randomized in a 1: 1 ratio to folic acid 4.0 mg or placebo after written consent is obtained. Intent-to-treat population will be analyzed. The FACT study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in 2009, and regulatory approval from Health Canada was obtained in 2010. A web-based randomization system and electronic data collection system provide the platform for participating centers to randomize their eligible participants and enter data in real time. To date we have twenty participating Canadian centers, of which eighteen are actively recruiting, and seven participating Australian centers, of which two are actively recruiting. Recruitment in Argentina, UK, Netherlands, Brazil, West Indies, and United States is expected to begin by the second or third quarter of 2013. This trial is registered with NCT01355159. © 2013 Shi Wu Wen et al.The Canadian Institutes of Healt

Thermally Stable Nanocrystalline Steel

Abstract Two novel nanocrystalline steels were designed to withstand elevated temperatures without catastrophic microstructural changes. In the most successful alloy, a large quantity of nickel was added to stabilize austenite and allow a reduction in the carbon content. A 50 kg cast of the novel alloy was produced and used to verify the formation of nanocrystalline bainite. Synchrotron X-ray diffractometry using in situ heating showed that austenite was able to survive more than 1 hour at 773 K (500 °C) and subsequent cooling to ambient temperature. This is the first reported nanocrystalline steel with high-temperature capability.</jats:p

Intermetallic-strengthened nanocrystalline bainitic steel

A new thermally stable, nanocrystalline bainitic steel has been developed, rich in nickel and aluminium. During tempering, it is expected that a significant quantity of intermetallic precipitates will form. This was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry, scanning transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform analysis of atomic column images, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction. These are the first intermetallics to be produced in a nanocrystalline bainitic steel.This project was funded by Rolls-Royce plc and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for funding this work [grant number RG64823]

Bound states of spin-half particles in a static gravitational field close to the black hole field

We consider the bound-state energy levels of a spin-1/2 fermion in the gravitational field of a near-black hole object. In the limit that the metric of the body becomes singular, all binding energies tend to the rest-mass energy (i.e. total energy approaches zero). We present calculations of the ground state energy for three specific interior metrics (Florides, Soffel and Schwarzschild) for which the spectrum collapses and becomes quasi-continuous in the singular metric limit. The lack of zero or negative energy states prior to this limit being reached prevents particle pair production occurring. Therefore, in contrast to the Coulomb case, no pairs are produced in the non-singular static metric. For the Florides and Soffel metrics the singularity occurs in the black hole limit, while for the Schwarzschild interior metric it corresponds to infinite pressure at the centre. The behaviour of the energy level spectrum is discussed in the context of the semi-classical approximation and using general properties of the metric.Comment: 16 pages, 6 Figures. Submitted to General Relativity and Gravitatio

A tutorial on the implementations of linear image filters in CPU and GPU

This article presents an overview of the implementation of linear image filters in CPU and GPU. The main goal is to present a self contained discussion of different implementations and their background using tools from digital signal processing. First, using signal processing tools, we discuss different algorithms and estimate their computational cost. Then, we discuss the implementation of these filters in CPU and GPU. It is very common to find in the literature that GPUs can easity reduce computational times in many algorithms (straightforward implementations). In this work we show that GPU implementations not always reduce the computational time but also not all algorithms are suited for GPUs. We beleive this is a review that can help researchers and students working in this area. Although the experimental results are not meant to show which is the best implementation (in terms of running time), the main results can be extrapolated to CPUs and GPUs of different capabilities.XV Workshop de Computación Gráfica, Imágenes y Visualización (WCGIV).Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Designing steel to resist hydrogen embrittlement Part 2–precipitate characterisation

A novel, low-alloy steel has been designed for use in the oil and gas industry. Its high strength and hydrogen trapping potential are derived from a martensitic microstructure containing a dispersion of fine vanadium–molybdenum alloy carbides that evolve during tempering. In this second paper, the effect of quench rate from austenitisation and tempering conditions are investigated with respect to the microstructure. The alloy loses its tempering resistance following slow-cooling from austenitisation as a result of MC precipitation, leading to vanadium depletion and significant M(Formula presented.)C coarsening. This is predicted using computer simulation and confirmed by high energy X-ray diffraction, combined with electron microscopy.BP-ICA

Long- term outcome of paediatric patients with ANCA vasculitis

Background: Primary systemic vasculitis presenting in childhood is an uncommon but serious condition. As these patients transfer to adult clinics for continuing care, defining long term outcomes with emphasis on disease and treatment-related morbidity and mortality is important. The aim of this study is to describe the long-term clinical course of paediatric patients with ANCA vasculitis.Methods: The adult patients in our vasculitis clinics who had presented in childhood, with a follow up time of greater than 10 years were included. We also reviewed the literature for articles describing the clinical outcome of paediatric patients with ANCA vasculitis.Results: We describe the clinical course of 8 adults who presented in childhood with ANCA vasculitis. 7 patients had Wegener's granulomatosis and 1 had microscopic polyangiitis. The median age at presentation was 11.5 years, and follow up time ranged form 11 to 30 years. Induction therapy for all patients was steroids and/or cyclophosphamide. Maintenance therapy was with azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil. Biological agents were used in 3 patients for relapsed disease in adulthood only. Seven patients achieved complete remission. All patients experienced disease relapse, with a median of 4 episodes. Kidney function was generally well preserved, with median eGFR 76 ml/min. Only one patient developed end-stage renal failure and one patient died after 25 years of disease. Treatment-related morbidity rates were high; 7 suffered from infections, 4 were infertile, 2 had skeletal complications, and 1 developed malignancy.Conclusion: Close long-term follow up of paediatric patients with ANCA vasculitis is imperative, as this patient cohort is likely to live long enough to develop significant treatment and disease-related morbidities. Prospective cohort studies with novel therapies including paediatric patients are crucial to help us determine the best approach to managing this complex group of patients. In addition, although not yet observed in our series, late cardiovascular morbidity remains a major longer-term potential concern for adult survivors of paediatric vasculitis

Female economic dependence and the morality of promiscuity

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ The Author(s) 2014.In environments in which female economic dependence on a male mate is higher, male parental investment is more essential. In such environments, therefore, both sexes should value paternity certainty more and thus object more to promiscuity (because promiscuity undermines paternity certainty). We tested this theory of anti-promiscuity morality in two studies (N = 656 and N = 4,626) using U.S. samples. In both, we examined whether opposition to promiscuity was higher among people who perceived greater female economic dependence in their social network. In Study 2, we also tested whether economic indicators of female economic dependence (e.g., female income, welfare availability) predicted anti-promiscuity morality at the state level. Results from both studies supported the proposed theory. At the individual level, perceived female economic dependence explained significant variance in anti-promiscuity morality, even after controlling for variance explained by age, sex, religiosity, political conservatism, and the anti-promiscuity views of geographical neighbors. At the state level, median female income was strongly negatively related to anti-promiscuity morality and this relationship was fully mediated by perceived female economic dependence. These results were consistent with the view that anti-promiscuity beliefs may function to promote paternity certainty in circumstances where male parental investment is particularly important

Confirmatory factor analysis and examination of the psychometric properties of the eating beliefs questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: The Eating Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) is a 27-item self-report measure that assesses positive and negative beliefs about binge eating. It has been validated and its factor structure explored in a non-clinical sample. This study tested the psychometric properties of the EBQ in a clinical and a non-clinical sample. METHOD: A sample of 769 participants (573 participants recruited from the university and general community, 76 seeking treatment for an eating disorder and 120 participating in obesity research) completed a battery of questionnaires. A subset of clinical participants with a diagnosis of Bulimia Nervosa or Binge Eating Disorder completed the test-battery before and after receiving a psychological treatment (n = 27) or after allocation to a wait-list period (n = 28), and a subset of 35 community participants completed the test battery again after an interval of two-weeks. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed. RESULTS: CFA found a two-factor structure that provided a good fit to the data, supporting the solution presented in the development paper. Items with poor psychometric properties were removed, resulting in a 16 item measure. EBQ scores were found to correlate with binge eating episode frequency, increases in body mass index (BMI), and measures of eating disorder behaviours and related psychopathology. The EBQ was found to have excellent internal consistency (α = .94), good test-retest reliability (r = .91) and sensitivity to treatment. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that the EBQ is a psychometrically sound and clinically useful measure

In vivo activity of the dual PI3Kδ and PI3Kγ inhibitor duvelisib against pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia xenografts

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains one of the most common causes of cancer-related mortality in children. Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) are a family of lipid kinases, and aberrations in the PI3K pathway are associated with several hematological malignancies, including ALL. Duvelisib (Copiktra) is an orally available, small molecule dual inhibitor of PI3Kδ and PI3Kγ, that is Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma. Here, we report the efficacy of duvelisib against a panel of pediatric ALL patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). Procedures: Thirty PDXs were selected for a single mouse trial based on PI3Kδ (PIK3CD) and PI3Kγ (PIK3CG) expression and mutational status. PDXs were grown orthotopically in NSG (NOD.Cg-PrkdcscidIL2rgtm1Wjl/SzJAusb) mice, and engraftment was evaluated by enumerating the proportion of human versus mouse CD45+ cells (%huCD45+) in the peripheral blood. Treatment commenced when the %huCD45+ reached greater than or equal to 1%, and events were predefined as %huCD45+ greater than or equal to 25% or leukemia-related morbidity. Duvelisib was administered per oral (50 mg/kg, twice daily for 28 days). Drug efficacy was assessed by event-free survival and stringent objective response measures. Results: PI3Kδ and PI3Kγ mRNA expression was significantly higher in B-lineage than T-lineage ALL PDXs (p-values <.0001). Duvelisib was well-tolerated and reduced leukemia cells in the peripheral blood in four PDXs, but with only one objective response. There was no obvious relationship between duvelisib efficacy and PI3Kδ or PI3Kγ expression or mutation status, nor was the in vivo response to duvelisib subtype dependent. Conclusions: Duvelisib demonstrated limited in vivo activity against ALL PDXs