Moisture Adsorption and Transport by Wood Due to a Thermal Gradient Caused by Air-to-Air Thermal Differences

An experiment was conducted in which a thermal gradient was established in wood by air-to-air temperature differences. A walnut board and a redwood board, each 3/4 inch thick and approximately 4 inches wide, were installed in a 1-inch-thick sheet of wood fiber insulation board employed as the lid of a chest-type freezer. The narrow edges of the boards were exposed to room air and freezer air, respectively. The MC profiles were periodically determined by removing cross sections from the boards and reducing them to thin slices. Moisture moved down the temperature gradient and against the concentration gradient. The average MC of the walnut and redwood boards increased 21% and 2%, respectively, during the 53-day test. The results showed that when wood is used as a thermal barrier, water vapor will enter the wood from the warm air and can be condensed in the wood if the necessary temperature profile exists. In certain applications of wood, this raises the possibility for free water accumulation in wood and the associated hazards. Moisture movement down a temperature gradient in wood is hypothesized to be a causative factor in the ceiling/partition separation problem with trusses in residential housing

Multimodality Imaging of Abnormal Vascular Perfusion and Morphology in Preclinical 9L Gliosarcoma Model

This study demonstrates that a dynamic susceptibility contrast-magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) perfusion parameter may indicate vascular abnormality in a brain tumor model and reflects an effect of dexamethasone treatment. In addition, X-ray computed tomography (CT) measurements of vascular tortuosity and tissue markers of vascular morphology were performed to investigate the underpinnings of tumor response to dexamethasone.One cohort of Fisher 344 rats (N = 13), inoculated intracerebrally with 9L gliosarcoma cells, was treated with dexamethasone (i.p. 3 mg/kg/day) for five consecutive days, and another cohort (N = 11) was treated with equal volume of saline. Longitudinal DSC-MRI studies were performed at the first (baseline), third and fifth day of treatments. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) was significantly reduced on the third day of dexamethasone treatment (0.65 ± .13) as compared to the fifth day during treatment (1.26 ±.19, p < 0.05). In saline treated rats, relative CBV gradually increased during treatment (0.89 ±.13, 1.00 ± .21, 1.13 ± .23) with no significant difference on the third day of treatment (p>0.05). In separate serial studies, microfocal X-ray CT of ex vivo brain specimens (N = 9) and immunohistochemistry for endothelial cell marker anti-CD31 (N = 8) were performed. Vascular morphology of ex vivo rat brains from micro-CT analysis showed hypervascular characteristics in tumors, and both vessel density (41.32 ± 2.34 branches/mm(3), p<0.001) and vessel tortuosity (p<0.05) were significantly reduced in tumors of rats treated with dexamethasone compared to saline (74.29 ± 3.51 branches/mm(3)). The vascular architecture of rat brain tissue was examined with anti-CD31 antibody, and dexamethasone treated tumor regions showed reduced vessel area (16.45 ± 1.36 µm(2)) as compared to saline treated tumor regions (30.83 ± 4.31 µm(2), p<0.001) and non-tumor regions (22.80 ± 1.11 µm(2), p<0.01).Increased vascular density and tortuosity are culprit to abnormal perfusion, which is transiently reduced during dexamethasone treatment

Plasma intact fibroblast growth factor 23 levels in women with anorexia nervosa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)23 is a novel phosphaturic factor associated with inorganic phosphate homeostasis. Previous human studies have shown that serum FGF23 levels increase in response to a high phosphate diet. For anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, inorganic phosphate homeostasis is important in the clinical course, such as in refeeding syndrome. The purpose of this study was to determine plasma levels of intact FGF23 (iFGF23) in restricting-type AN (AN-R) patients, binge-eating/purging-type AN (AN-BP) patients, and healthy controls.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The subjects consisted of 6 female AN-R patients, 6 female AN-BP patients, and 11 healthy female controls; both inpatients and outpatients were included. Plasma iFGF23, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)₂D), and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) levels were measured. Data are presented as the median and the range. A two-tailed Mann-Whitney U-test with Bonferroni correction was used to assess differences among the three groups, and a value of p < 0.017 was considered statistically significant.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no differences between AN-R patients and controls in the iFGF23 and 1,25-(OH)₂D levels. In AN-BP patients, the iFGF23 level (41.3 pg/ml; range, 6.1–155.5 pg/ml) was significantly higher than in controls (3.8 pg/ml; range, not detected-21.3 pg/ml; p = 0.001), and the 1,25-(OH)₂D was significantly lower in AN-BP patients (7.0 pg/ml; range, 4.2–33.7 pg/ml) than in controls (39.7 pg/ml; range, 6.3–58.5 pg/ml; p = 0.015). No differences in plasma 25-OHD levels were observed among the groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This preliminary study is the first to show that plasma iFGF23 levels are increased in AN-BP patients, and that these elevated plasma FGF23 levels might be related to the decrease in plasma 1,25-(OH)₂D levels.</p

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VII. The First Fully Uniform Catalog Based on The Entire 48 Month Dataset (Q1-Q17 DR24)

We present the seventh Kepler planet candidate catalog, which is the first to be based on the entire, uniformly processed, 48 month Kepler dataset. This is the first fully automated catalog, employing robotic vetting procedures to uniformly evaluate every periodic signal detected by the Q1-Q17 Data Release 24 (DR24) Kepler pipeline. While we prioritize uniform vetting over the absolute correctness of individual objects, we find that our robotic vetting is overall comparable to, and in most cases is superior to, the human vetting procedures employed by past catalogs. This catalog is the first to utilize artificial transit injection to evaluate the performance of our vetting procedures and quantify potential biases, which are essential for accurate computation of planetary occurrence rates. With respect to the cumulative Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) catalog, we designate 1,478 new KOIs, of which 402 are dispositioned as planet candidates (PCs). Also, 237 KOIs dispositioned as false positives (FPs) in previous Kepler catalogs have their disposition changed to PC and 118 PCs have their disposition changed to FP. This brings the total number of known KOIs to 8,826 and PCs to 4,696. We compare the Q1-Q17 DR24 KOI catalog to previous KOI catalogs, as well as ancillary Kepler catalogs, finding good agreement between them. We highlight new PCs that are both potentially rocky and potentially in the habitable zone of their host stars, many of which orbit solar-type stars. This work represents significant progress in accurately determining the fraction of Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The full catalog is publicly available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 30 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables. We make the DR24 robovetter decision code publicly available at http://github.com/JeffLCoughlin/robovetter, with input and output examples provided using the same data as contained in the full paper's table

Improved Leakage Correction for Single-Echo Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast Perfusion MRI Estimates of Relative Cerebral Blood Volume in High-Grade Gliomas by Accounting for Bidirectional Contrast Agent Exchange

Background and purposeContrast agent extravasation through a disrupted blood-brain barrier potentiates inaccurate DSC MR imaging estimation of relative CBV. We explored whether incorporation of an interstitial washout rate in a leakage-correction model for single-echo, gradient-echo DSC MR imaging improves relative CBV estimates in high-grade gliomas.Materials and methodsWe modified the traditional model-based postprocessing leakage-correction algorithm, assuming unidirectional contrast agent extravasation (Boxerman-Weisskoff model) to account for bidirectional contrast agent exchange between intra- and extravascular spaces (bidirectional model). For both models, we compared the goodness of fit with the parent leakage-contaminated relaxation rate curves by using the Akaike Information Criterion and the difference between modeled interstitial relaxation rate curves and dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging by using Euclidean distance in 21 patients with glioblastoma multiforme.ResultsThe bidirectional model had improved Akaike Information Criterion versus the bidirectional model in &gt;50% of enhancing tumor voxels in all 21 glioblastoma multiformes (77% ± 9%; P &lt; .0001) and had reduced the Euclidean distance in &gt;50% of enhancing tumor voxels for 17/21 glioblastoma multiformes (62% ± 17%; P = .0041). The bidirectional model and dynamic contrast-enhanced-derived kep demonstrated a strong correlation (r = 0.74 ± 0.13). On average, enhancing tumor relative CBV for the Boxerman-Weisskoff model exceeded that for the bidirectional model by 16.6% ± 14.0%.ConclusionsInclusion of the bidirectional exchange in leakage-correction models for single-echo DSC MR imaging improves the model fit to leakage-contaminated DSC MR imaging data and significantly improves the estimation of relative CBV in high-grade gliomas

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler V: Planet Sample from Q1-Q12 (36 Months)

The Kepler mission discovered 2842 exoplanet candidates with 2 years of data. We provide updates to the Kepler planet candidate sample based upon 3 years (Q1-Q12) of data. Through a series of tests to exclude false-positives, primarily caused by eclipsing binary stars and instrumental systematics, 855 additional planetary candidates have been discovered, bringing the total number known to 3697. We provide revised transit parameters and accompanying posterior distributions based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for the cumulative catalogue of Kepler Objects of Interest. There are now 130 candidates in the cumulative catalogue that receive less than twice the flux the Earth receives and more than 1100 have a radius less than 1.5 Rearth. There are now a dozen candidates meeting both criteria, roughly doubling the number of candidate Earth analogs. A majority of planetary candidates have a high probability of being bonafide planets, however, there are populations of likely false-positives. We discuss and suggest additional cuts that can be easily applied to the catalogue to produce a set of planetary candidates with good fidelity. The full catalogue is publicly available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.Comment: Accepted for publication, ApJ

Arginine deprivation alters microglia polarity and synergises with radiation to eradicate non arginine auxotrophic glioblastoma tumors

New approaches for the management of glioblastoma (GBM) are an urgent and unmet clinical need. Here, we illustrate that the efficacy of radiotherapy for GBM is strikingly potentiated by concomitant therapy with the arginine depleting agent ADI-PEG20 in a non-arginine auxotrophic cellular background (Arginine Succinate Synthetase 1 positive). Moreover, this combination led to durable and complete radiological and pathological response with extended disease-free survival in an orthotopic immune competent model of GBM with no significant toxicity. ADI-PEG20 not only enhances the cellular sensitivity of Arginine succinate synthetase 1 positive GBM to ionising radiation by elevated production of nitric oxide (NO) and hence generation of cytotoxic peroxynitrites, but also promotes glioma-associated macrophages/microglia infiltration into tumors and turns their classical anti-inflammatory (pro-tumor) phenotype into a pro-inflammatory (anti-tumor) phenotype. Our results provide an effective, well-tolerated and simple strategy to improve GBM treatment which merits consideration for early evaluation in clinical trials

Формування органів управління кінематографа в Україні (1919)

У статті розглядається процес створення та діяльність органів управління кінематографа в перші роки функціонування радянської влади в Україні.В статье рассматривается процесс создания и деятельность органов управления кинематографа в первые годы функционирования советской власти в Украине.The process of creating and functioning of the cinematography authorities in the early years of the Soviet Union in Ukraine is examined in the article