Titanium based cranial reconstruction using incremental sheet forming

In this paper, we report recent work in cranial plate manufacturing using incremental sheet forming (ISF) process. With a typical cranial shape, the ISF process was used to manufacture the titanium cranial shape by using different ISF tooling solutions with and without backing plates. Detailed evaluation of the ISF process including material deformation and thinning, geometric accuracy and surface finish was conducted by using a combination of experimental testing and Finite Element (FE) simulation. The results show that satisfactory cranial shape can be achieved with sufficient accuracy and surface finish by using a feature based tool path generation method and new ISF tooling design. The results also demonstrate that the ISF based cranial reconstruction has the potential to achieve considerable lead time reduction as compared to conventional methods for cranial plate manufacturing. This outcome indicates that there is a potential for the ISF process to achieve technological advances and economic benefits as well as improvement to quality of life

Association of a 31 bp VNTR in the CBS gene with postload homocysteine concentrations in the Framingham Offspring Study.

Contains fulltext : 50783.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Elevated total plasma homocysteine concentrations (tHcy), both fasting and post-methionine load, have been established as risk factors for vascular disease. Recently, we described the association of a 31 bp variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) in the cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) gene with both CBS enzyme activity and tHcy concentrations. In the present study, we determined the 31 bp VNTR genotypes in 2598 individuals of the Framingham Offspring Study and studied the association between this genotype and fasting, 2-h post-methionine load and delta (ie increase upon methionine loading) tHcy concentrations in 1416 subjects. We observed a positive association between the number of repeat units of the CBS 31 bp VNTR and both postload and delta tHcy concentrations. Adjustment for possible effect modifying factors like age, sex and vitamin (B6, B12 and folate) status did not change this observation. We hereby confirm the results of our earlier study, in which we found that this 31 bp VNTR is a genetic determinant of post-methionine load tHcy concentrations. Since also post-methionine load tHcy concentrations are found to be associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), this 31 bp VNTR may be considered a risk factor for CVD