Energy harvesting from train vibrations

In this paper, linear mechanical oscillators are designed to harvest energy from train-induced vibrations. The harvested energy could be used, for example, to charge sensors mounted on the rail track for structural health monitoring. The dominant frequencies due to a passing train are determined for a specific train and speed from a recorded acceleration time-history. Using a simple model of an oscillator, the total energy harvested for the passage of one train is calculated. The stiffness, and hence the tuning frequency of the device, is varied in simulations to determine the optimum frequency at which to tune the device for a constant value of mass and damping in the device. Further simulations are conducted to investigate the power that could be harvested from multiple oscillators tuned at several dominant frequencies, and their performances are analysed and compared. The constraint for maximum relative displacement is considered in the design of each harvester, and this is adopted to assure that the amplitude of the oscillation is finite and does not exceed the physical size of the device. The robustness of the harvester is also analysed for different train speeds

Effects of zinc supplementation on serum adiponectin concentration and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: Previous studies have suggested that zinc is involved in insulin homeostasis. Adiponectin is a well-known adipokine with anti-diabetic, anti-atherogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc supplementation on glycemic control, and the potential mediating role of adiponectin, in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial, 60 patients with diabetes, 30-60 years, were randomized to receive either 30 mg/d zinc (as zinc gluconate) or placebo for 12 weeks. Circulating levels of adiponectin, zinc, glucose homeostasis parameters, and lipid profiles, as well as anthropometric parameters and dietary intakes, were assessed. Results: About 53.3 of the patients had zinc insufficiency at baseline. Serum zinc levels improved significantly in the intervention than control group following 12 weeks supplementation (P < 0.001). Adiponectin (1.23 ± 2.23 μg/ml, P = 0.006) and insulin (3.6 ± 4.66 μIU/ml, P = 0.001) levels increased significantly compared to baseline in the zinc group; but this change was not significant compared with the control group. Following supplementation, there were no significant differences in glycemic control and anthropometric parameters between the two groups. Serum HDL levels increased significantly in the zinc (5.37 ± 14.8 mg/dl) compared to control (-1.53 ± 6.9 mg/dl) group following supplementation (P = 0.039). Conclusion: Despite a significant increase in serum zinc level, no improvement was observed in glycemic control, following 12 weeks supplementation with 30 mg/d zinc (as zinc gluconate). Zinc supplementation restored adiponectin concentrations partly within the intervention group, and increased HDL levels compared to the control group. The current findings did not support improvement in glucose homeostasis following zinc supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes under the present study design. © 2019 Elsevier Gmb

Expression profile of Wnt molecules in leukemic cells from Iranian patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia

Background: Wnt molecules play a key role in growth, proliferation and development of some embryonic and adult organs as well as hematopoietic stem cells. Wnt signaling pathways are aberrantly activated in many tumor types, including solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Objective: To investigate the expression profile of a large number of Wnt genes in leukemic cells from Iranian patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia. Methods: RT-PCR method was used to determine the Wnt genes expression in bone marrow (BM) and/or peripheral blood (PB) samples from 16 patients with AML and PB samples of 36 normal subjects. Results: Among 14 Wnt molecules included in this study, Wnt-7A and Wnt-10A were significantly down-regulated (p = 0.002 and p < 0.0001, respectively) and Wnt-3 was significantly over-expressed (p < 0.02) in AML patients compared to normal subjects. No significant association was found between Wnt expression and FAB classification of the patients. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated for the first time aberrant expression of Wnt-7A, Wnt-10A and Wnt-3 genes in Iranian AML patients. This may be of relevance to the tumorigenesis process in this malignancy

Mechanistic investigations of metallo-β-lactamase inhibitors: strong zinc binding is not required for potent enzyme inhibition

Microbial Biotechnolog

Cephalosporin prodrug inhibitors overcome metallo-β-lactamase driven antibiotic resistance

Microbial Biotechnolog

Evaluating the most common mutation in BRCAI and BRCA2 genes in women who had mothers with brest cancer and controls

Background and purpose: Breast Cancer is one of the health problems in every population. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of BRCA1 and BRCA2 common mutations in women whose mothers were diagnosed with breast cancer. Materials and methods: A case�control study was performed in 109 females (less than 40 years of age) who had mothers with breast cancer. For scanning of genomic mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, genes mutation analysis was done in BRCA1 (exon2, 20) and BRCA2 (exon11) using Real Time PCR test. We also studied 109 healthy controls without family history of breast cancer. Results: No any mutation was found in this population. Conclusion: This study showed no mutation in affected and control group. Therefore, other mutations and genes may have a role in breast cancer pathogenesis in our population. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Novel Cephalosporin conjugates display potent and selective inhibition of Imipenemase-type Metallo-β-Lactamases

Medicinal Chemistr

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02