Application of multireflection grazing incidence method for stress measurements in polished Al–Mg alloy and CrN coating

Multi-reflection grazing incidence geometry, referred to as MGIXD, characterized by a small and constant incidence angle, was applied to measure low surface stresses in very thin layers of Al–Mg alloy and CrN coating. These two materials were selected in order to deal with the low and high levels of residual stress, respectively. The influence of different mechanical treatments on residual stresses was studied for Al–Mg samples. It was found that both rolling and mechanical polishing influence the distribution and amplitude of residual stress in surface layers. In the case of CrN coating, a very high compressive stress was generated during the deposition process. The stress distributions determined by the MGIXD method is in good agreement with the classic sin2 technique results for all studied samples. In performing stress measurements for a powder sample, it was found that the application of the Göbel mirror in the incident beam strongly reduces statistical and misalignment errors. Additionally, the root mean square values of the third order lattice strain within diffracting grains were determined

Bilateral double-layered patella in a patient with advanced knee osteoarthritis

Double layered patella (DLP) is a rare anomaly of the patella that may go undiagnosed, especially in patients with progressive knee dysfunction and early degenerative changes. Clinical symptoms such as motion-dependent pain and anterior knee pain most typically occur in adolescents or young adults; however, gradually increasing pain and early generalised degenerative changes have also been seen in patients over 40 years old. Diagnosis of DLP could be difficult, especially in cases with coexisting arthrosis. DLP is considered to be pathognomonic for the diagnosis of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia and usually coexists with other anomalies seen in this syndrome, such as hip dysplasia. In extremely rare cases, DLP can occur as a solitary disorder. The prevalence of such cases, however, is unknown, and they could be easily misdiagnosed. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are the most sensitive radiological methods used in DLP diagnosis. This case report presents a case of a bilateral DLP incidentally found in a 47-year-old patient with advanced arthritis referred for arthroplasty because of increasing symptoms of knee joint failure with no other abnormalities recorded. An important goal of our case study is to raise the awareness of this abnormality with radiologists and orthopaedic surgeons

Learning and generation of long-range correlated sequences

We study the capability to learn and to generate long-range, power-law correlated sequences by a fully connected asymmetric network. The focus is set on the ability of neural networks to extract statistical features from a sequence. We demonstrate that the average power-law behavior is learnable, namely, the sequence generated by the trained network obeys the same statistical behavior. The interplay between a correlated weight matrix and the sequence generated by such a network is explored. A weight matrix with a power-law correlation function along the vertical direction, gives rise to a sequence with a similar statistical behavior.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Decreased levels of the gelsolin plasma isoform in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction Gelsolin is an intracellular actin-binding protein involved in cell shape changes, cell motility, and apoptosis. An extracellular gelsolin isoform, plasma gelsolin circulates in the blood of healthy individuals at a concentration of $200 \pm 50$ mg/L and has been suggested to be a key component of an extracellular actin-scavenging system during tissue damage. Levels of plasma gelsolin decrease during acute injury and inflammation, and administration of recombinant plasma gelsolin to animals improves outcomes following sepsis or burn injuries. In the present study, we investigated plasma gelsolin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Methods Circulating and intra-articular levels of plasma gelsolin were measured in 78 patients with rheumatoid arthritis using a functional (pyrene-actin nucleation) assay and compared with 62 age- and gender-matched healthy controls.Results Circulating plasma gelsolin levels were significantly lower in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with healthy controls ($141 \pm 32$ versus $196 \pm 40$ mg/L, P = 0.0002). The patients' intra-articular plasma gelsolin levels were significantly lower than in the paired plasma samples ($94 \pm 24$ versus $141 \pm 32$ mg/L, P = 0.0001). Actin was detected in the synovial fluids of all but four of the patients, and immunoprecipitation experiments identified gelsolin-actin complexes.Conclusions The plasma isoform of gelsolin is decreased in the plasma of patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with healthy controls. The reduced plasma concentrations in combination with the presence of actin and gelsolin-actin complexes in synovial fluids suggest a local consumption of this potentially anti-inflammatory protein in the inflamed joint

Application of multireflection grazing incidence method for stress measurements in polished Al–Mg alloy and CrN coating

Multi-reflection grazing incidence geometry, referred to as MGIXD, characterized by a small and constant incidence angle, was applied to measure low surface stresses in very thin layers of Al–Mg alloy and CrN coating. These two materials were selected in order to deal with the low and high levels of residual stress, respectively. The influence of different mechanical treatments on residual stresses was studied for Al–Mg samples. It was found that both rolling and mechanical polishing influence the distribution and amplitude of residual stress in surface layers. In the case of CrN coating, a very high compressive stress was generated during the deposition process. The stress distributions determined by the MGIXD method is in good agreement with the classic sin2 technique results for all studied samples. In performing stress measurements for a powder sample, it was found that the application of the Göbel mirror in the incident beam strongly reduces statistical and misalignment errors. Additionally, the root mean square values of the third order lattice strain within diffracting grains were determined

A toy model of the five-dimensional universe with the cosmological constant

A value of the cosmological constant in a toy model of the five-dimensional universe is calculated in such a manner that it remains in agreement with both astronomical observations and the quantum field theory concerning the zero-point fluctuations of the vacuum. The (negative) cosmological constant is equal to the inverse of the Planck length squared, which means that in the toy model the vanishing of the observed value of the cosmological constant is a consequence of the existence of an energy cutoff exactly at the level of the Planck scale. In turn, a model for both a virtual and a real particle-antiparticle pair is proposed which describes properly some energetic properties of both the vacuum fluctuations and created particles, as well as it allows one to calculate the discrete "bare" values of an elementary-particle mass, electric charge and intrinsic angular momentum (spin) at the energy cutoff. The relationships between the discussed model and some phenomena such as the Zitterbewegung and the Unruh-Davies effect are briefly analyzed, too. The proposed model also allows one to derive the Lorentz transformation and the Maxwell equations while considering the properties of the vacuum filled with the sea of virtual particles and their antiparticles. Finally, the existence of a finite value of the vacuum-energy density resulting from the toy model leads us to the formulation of dimensionless Einstein field equations which can be derived from the Lagrangian with a dimensionless (naively renormalized) coupling constant.Comment: 52 pages, 1 figure; a post-final, rewritten version with a number of new remarks and conclusion

Strigolactones inhibit auxin feedback on PIN-dependent auxin transport canalization

Directional transport of the phytohormone auxin is a versatile, plant-specific mechanism regulating many aspects of plant development. The recently identified plant hormones, strigolactones (SLs), are implicated in many plant traits; among others, they modify the phenotypic output of PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin transporters for fine-tuning of growth and developmental responses. Here, we show in pea and Arabidopsis that SLs target processes dependent on the canalization of auxin flow, which involves auxin feedback on PIN subcellular distribution. D14 receptor- and MAX2 F-box-mediated SL signaling inhibits the formation of auxin-conducting channels after wounding or from artificial auxin sources, during vasculature de novo formation and regeneration. At the cellular level, SLs interfere with auxin effects on PIN polar targeting, constitutive PIN trafficking as well as clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Our results identify a non-transcriptional mechanism of SL action, uncoupling auxin feedback on PIN polarity and trafficking, thereby regulating vascular tissue formation and regeneration