Fluorosilicone and silicone o-ring aging study.

Fluorosilicone o-ring aging studies were performed. These studies examined the compressive force loss of fluorosilicone o-rings at accelerated (elevated) temperatures and were then used to make predictions about force loss at room temperature. The results were non-Arrhenius with evidence for a lowering in Arrhenius activation energies as the aging temperature was reduced. The compression set of these fluorosilicone o-rings was found to have a reasonably linear correlation with the force loss. The aging predictions based on using the observed curvature of the Arrhenius aging plots were validated by field aged o-rings that yielded degradation values reasonably close to the predictions. Compression set studies of silicone o-rings from a previous study resulted in good correlation to the force loss predictions for the fluorosilicone o-rings from this study. This resulted in a preliminary conclusion that an approximately linear correlation exists between compression set and force decay values for typical fluorosilicone and silicone materials, and that the two materials age at similar rates at low temperatures. Interestingly, because of the observed curvature of the Arrhenius plots available from longer-term, lower temperature accelerated exposures, both materials had faster force decay curves (and correspondingly faster buildup of compression set) at room temperature than anticipated from typical high-temperature exposures. A brief study on heavily filled conducting silicone o-rings resulted in data that deviated from the linear relationship, implying that a degree of caution must be exercised about any general statement relating force decay and compression set

Increased prevalence of precancerous changes in relatives of gastric cancer patients: critical role of H. pylori

Background & Aims:Helicobacter pylori is believed to predispose to gastric cancer by inducing gastric atrophy and hypochlorhydria. First-degree relatives of patients with gastric cancer have an increased risk of developing gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of atrophy and hypochlorhydria and their association with H. pylori infection in first-degree relatives of patients with gastric cancer. Methods:H. pylori status, gastric secretory function, and gastric histology were studied in 100 first-degree relatives of patients with noncardia gastric cancer and compared with those of controls with no family history of this cancer. Results: Compared with healthy controls, relatives of patients with gastric cancer had a higher prevalence of hypochlorhydria (27% vs. 3%) but a similar prevalence of H. pylori infection (63% vs. 64%). Relatives of cancer patients also had a higher prevalence of atrophy (34%) than patients with nonulcer dyspepsia (5%) matched for H. pylori prevalence. Among the relatives of cancer patients, the prevalence of atrophy and hypochlorhydria was increased only in those with evidence of H. pylori infection, was greater in relatives of patients with familial cancer than in relatives of sporadic cancer index patients, and increased with age. Eradication of H. pylori infection produced resolution of the gastric inflammation in each subject and resolution of hypochlorhydria and atrophy in 50% of the subjects. Conclusions: Relatives of patients with gastric cancer have an increased prevalence of precancerous gastric abnormalities, but this increase is confined to those with H. pylori infection. Consequently, prophylactic eradication of the infection should be offered to such subjects

Final report on reliability and lifetime prediction.

This document highlights the important results obtained from the subtask of the Goodyear CRADA devoted to better understanding reliability of tires and to developing better lifetime prediction methods. The overall objective was to establish the chemical and physical basis for the degradation of tires using standard as well as unique models and experimental techniques. Of particular interest was the potential application of our unique modulus profiling apparatus for assessing tire properties and for following tire degradation. During the course of this complex investigation, extensive relevant information was generated, including experimental results, data analyses and development of models and instruments. Detailed descriptions of the findings are included in this report

Publishing and sharing multi-dimensional image data with OMERO

Imaging data are used in the life and biomedical sciences to measure the molecular and structural composition and dynamics of cells, tissues, and organisms. Datasets range in size from megabytes to terabytes and usually contain a combination of binary pixel data and metadata that describe the acquisition process and any derived results. The OMERO image data management platform allows users to securely share image datasets according to specific permissions levels: data can be held privately, shared with a set of colleagues, or made available via a public URL. Users control access by assigning data to specific Groups with defined membership and access rights. OMERO’s Permission system supports simple data sharing in a lab, collaborative data analysis, and even teaching environments. OMERO software is open source and released by the OME Consortium at www.openmicroscopy.org

2nd Annual Computer & Technology Law Institute

Materials from the 2nd Annual Computer & Technology Law Institute held by UK/CLE in March 2000

Metadata management for high content screening in OMERO

High content screening (HCS) experiments create a classic data management challenge—multiple, large sets of heterogeneous structured and unstructured data, that must be integrated and linked to produce a set of “final” results. These different data include images, reagents, protocols, analytic output, and phenotypes, all of which must be stored, linked and made accessible for users, scientists, collaborators and where appropriate the wider community. The OME Consortium has built several open source tools for managing, linking and sharing these different types of data. The OME Data Model is a metadata specification that supports the image data and metadata recorded in HCS experiments. Bio-Formats is a Java library that reads recorded image data and metadata and includes support for several HCS screening systems. OMERO is an enterprise data management application that integrates image data, experimental and analytic metadata and makes them accessible for visualization, mining, sharing and downstream analysis. We discuss how Bio-Formats and OMERO handle these different data types, and how they can be used to integrate, link and share HCS experiments in facilities and public data repositories. OME specifications and software are open source and are available at https://www.openmicroscopy.org