Comparison between the Needle and Roller Electrospinning of Polyvinylbutyral

The effect of the concentration of polyvinylbutyral solution on the process throughput and fibre properties was studied in needle and roller electrospinning. Whereas the polymer throughput is an optional independent parameter in needle electrospinning, it is a dependent parameter that is affected by both the material and process parameters in roller electrospinning. Polymer throughput increases considerably with an increasing concentration of polymer solutions in roller electrospinning. The properties of the nanofibers and the quality of the nanofiber layers were also studied. Fibre diameters increase with an increasing concentration in both techniques. Fibre diameters produced by needle electrospinning are smaller than those produced by roller electrospinning. The distribution of fibre diameters is rather narrow and not significantly dependent on the concentration of solutions in either technique

Proteomics reveals multiple routes to the osteogenic phenotype in mesenchymal stem cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, we demonstrated that human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) stimulated with dexamethazone undergo gene focusing during osteogenic differentiation (<it>Stem Cells Dev </it>14(6): 1608–20, 2005). Here, we examine the protein expression profiles of three additional populations of hMSC stimulated to undergo osteogenic differentiation via either contact with pro-osteogenic extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (collagen I, vitronectin, or laminin-5) or osteogenic media supplements (OS media). Specifically, we annotate these four protein expression profiles, as well as profiles from naïve hMSC and differentiated human osteoblasts (hOST), with known gene ontologies and analyze them as a tensor with modes for the expressed proteins, gene ontologies, and stimulants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Direct component analysis in the gene ontology space identifies three components that account for 90% of the variance between hMSC, osteoblasts, and the four stimulated hMSC populations. The directed component maps the differentiation stages of the stimulated stem cell populations along the differentiation axis created by the difference in the expression profiles of hMSC and hOST. Surprisingly, hMSC treated with ECM proteins lie closer to osteoblasts than do hMSC treated with OS media. Additionally, the second component demonstrates that proteomic profiles of collagen I- and vitronectin-stimulated hMSC are distinct from those of OS-stimulated cells. A three-mode tensor analysis reveals additional focus proteins critical for characterizing the phenotypic variations between naïve hMSC, partially differentiated hMSC, and hOST.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The differences between the proteomic profiles of OS-stimulated hMSC and ECM-hMSC characterize different transitional phenotypes en route to becoming osteoblasts. This conclusion is arrived at via a three-mode tensor analysis validated using hMSC plated on laminin-5.</p

Secure Integrated Sensing and Communication

This work considers the problem of mitigating information leakage between communication and sensing in systems jointly performing both operations. Specifically, a discrete memoryless state-dependent broadcast channel model is studied in which (i) the presence of feedback enables a transmitter to convey information, while simultaneously performing channel state estimation; (ii) one of the receivers is treated as an eavesdropper whose state should be estimated but which should remain oblivious to part of the transmitted information. The model abstracts the challenges behind security for joint communication and sensing if one views the channel state as a sensitive attribute, e.g., location. For independent and identically distributed states, perfect output feedback, and when part of the transmitted message should be kept secret, a partial characterization of the secrecy-distortion region is developed. The characterization is exact when the broadcast channel is either physically-degraded or reversely-physically-degraded. The partial characterization is also extended to the situation in which the entire transmitted message should be kept secret. The benefits of a joint approach compared to separation-based secure communication and state-sensing methods are illustrated with binary joint communication and sensing models

Secure Joint Communication and Sensing

This work considers the problem of mitigating information leakage between communication and sensing in systems jointly performing both operations. Specifically, a discrete memoryless state-dependent broadcast channel model is studied in which (i) the presence of feedback enables a transmitter to convey information, while simultaneously performing channel state estimation; (ii) one of the receivers is treated as an eavesdropper whose state should be estimated but which should remain oblivious to part of the transmitted information. The model abstracts the challenges behind security for joint communication and sensing if one views the channel state as a sensitive attribute, e.g., location. For independent and identically distributed states, perfect output feedback, and when part of the transmitted message should be kept secret, a partial characterization of the secrecy-distortion region is developed. The characterization is exact when the broadcast channel is either physically-degraded or reversely-physically-degraded. The partial characterization is also extended to the situation in which the entire transmitted message should be kept secret. The benefits of a joint approach compared to separation-based secure communication and state-sensing methods are illustrated with a binary joint communication and sensing model

Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection Is More Effective than Hyaluronic Acid in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis Injekce plazmy obohacené destičkovým koncentrátem je efektivnější než kyselina hyaluronová v léčbě gonartrózy

ABSTRAcT PURPOSE OF THE STUDy There is increasing use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in orthopaedics as it is a simple, cheap and minimally invasive technique. This study aimed to compare the effects of the use of PRP and hyaluronic acid (HA) injections in the knee of patients diagnosed with and being followed-up for degenerative arthritis. MATERIALS AnD METHODS This prospective study included 90 patients with complaints of knee pain with findings of mild or moderate degenerative arthritis. In the PRP group (n = 45), one intra-articular injection was applied and in the HA group (n = 45), three doses of intra-articular injection were applied. Clinical evaluation was made by Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and a visual pain scale. RESULTS no severe adverse events was observed. Statistically significant better results in the KOOS score and visual pain scale was determined in PRP group than HA group at 3 months and 6 months follow up. The cost of the application for the PRP group was lower than that of the HA group. COnCLUSIOn The results of this study have shown the application of single dose PRP to be a safe, effective and low-cost method for treating OA. However, further studies are required for a more clear result

A reverse engineering approach to the suppression of citation biases reveals universal properties of citation distributions

The large amount of information contained in bibliographic databases has recently boosted the use of citations, and other indicators based on citation numbers, as tools for the quantitative assessment of scientific research. Citations counts are often interpreted as proxies for the scientific influence of papers, journals, scholars, and institutions. However, a rigorous and scientifically grounded methodology for a correct use of citation counts is still missing. In particular, cross-disciplinary comparisons in terms of raw citation counts systematically favors scientific disciplines with higher citation and publication rates. Here we perform an exhaustive study of the citation patterns of millions of papers, and derive a simple transformation of citation counts able to suppress the disproportionate citation counts among scientific domains. We find that the transformation is well described by a power-law function, and that the parameter values of the transformation are typical features of each scientific discipline. Universal properties of citation patterns descend therefore from the fact that citation distributions for papers in a specific field are all part of the same family of univariate distributions.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Supporting information files available at http://filrad.homelinux.or

Permeable biosorbent barrier for wastewater remediation

Chromium is one of the heavy metals that significantly affect water quality in Mongolia. The present study is focused on the remediation of surface water contaminated with chromium (III) by a permeable barrier in order to prevent sediment pollution. The adsorption capacity of the selected materials (13X zeolite and vermiculite) was investigated at different sorbent dosages, pH and initial Cr(III) concentration. The equilibrium adsorption studies showed that vermiculite has a higher Cr(III) removal efficiency in comparison with 13X zeolite. A fungal isolate obtained from the sediment samples collected near Tuul River (Mongolia) was selected from enriched Luria-Bertani medium, showing a good performance for Cr(III) removal (78.2\% for an initial concentration of 50 mg/L). The fungal isolate was genetically typed by DNA sequencing and was identified as belonging to the Alternaria alternata species. 13X zeolite showed the best performance for Cr removal in the permeable barrier assays compared to vermiculite, achieving a total removal of 96\\% and a global uptake of 2.49 mg/g. After 13 days of operation none of the barriers reached saturation with chromium.A previous version of the paper has been presented in the 2nd EWaS International Conference: BEfficient & Sustainable Water Systems Management toward Worth Living Development^, Chania, Crete, Greece, 1-4 June 2016. This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Bruna Silva is thankful to the FCT for the concession of a Post-Doc grant (SFRH/BPD/112354/2015). Sampling process was supported by the collaborative research grant of National Academy of Sciences of Taiwan and Science and Technology Foundation of Mongolia, project code NCS-NECS2013003 and co-funded by the Young Scientist Grant (SEAS-2015075) of National University of Mongolia. E. Tuuguu would like to acknowledge the Erasmus-Mundus AREAS+ program for the opportunity to conduct research at CEB-University of Minho.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

3D Modelling of Geometric Triangle Construction Elements in Indoor Spaces: A Case Study for Tahir and Zühre Masjid

Tahir and Zühre Masjid, which is one of the works of Konya and Anatolian Seljuk Period, serve daily from the 13th century and draw attention with its interior architecture. The Masjid is seated on a square plan and covered with a dome using triangular transitional elements. These artifacts are the most important proofs of the architectural perspectives and orientations of the past period. Demonstrating and documenting past architectural and engineering skills has become much easier with modern measurement and evaluation techniques at the present time. In this study, interior 3D modeling study of Tahir and Zühre Masjid was made by using close range photogrammetry. Also the triangular transitional elements between the square plan and the dome of the structure were picked out. As a result, it has b een observed that the method of close range photogrammetry for documentation and restoration works is not only successful in outdoor facade but also indoor modelling