Mechanical analysis of encapsulated metal interconnects under transversal load

Novel insights regarding the ability of encapsulated metal interconnections to deform due to bending are presented. Encapsulated metal interconnections are used as electric conductor or measurement system within a wide range of applications fields, e.g. biomedical, wearable, textile applications. Nevertheless the mechanical analysis remains limited to reliability investigation of these configurations. Different papers and research groups claim that meander-shaped metal interconnections are predisposed for these applications fields due to their deformability while, to the author’s knowledge, no reports are found about this ability. An analysis based on the work needed to bend interconnections to a certain curvature will be used to compare different interconnection configurations with each other. The experimental as well as the simulation setup is based on PDMS encapsulated PI-enhanced Cu tracks. The results and conclusions are specific for this type of interconnections, but can be extended to a global conclusion about stretchable interconnections. From the obtained insights it is proven that periodically meander-shaped interconnections need significant less work, up to more than 10 times less, to bend the interconnection to the same curvature compared to straight interconnection lines. Furthermore it shows out, for the meander-shaped interconnection, that per increase of 250µm encapsulation thickness the work raises with a factor 2. For straight interconnection lines the work in function of the encapsulation thickness is limited to 20%/250µm. The bendability of the straight interconnection lines is determined by the shape of the interconnection, where for meandered tracks the encapsulation will determine this factor, for an encapsulation thickness of maximum 1mm. For encapsulations > 1mm, the encapsulation thickness will become the predominant factor which determines the deformability for both interconnection shapes

A novel network architecture for train-to-wayside communication with quality of service over heterogeneous wireless networks

In the railway industry, there are nowadays different actors who would like to send or receive data from the wayside to an onboard device or vice versa. These actors are e.g., the Train Operation Company, the Train Constructing Company, a Content Provider, etc. This requires a communication module on each train and at the wayside. These modules interact with each other over heterogeneous wireless links. This system is referred to as the Train-to-Wayside Communication System (TWCS). While there are already a lot of deployments using a TWCS, the implementation of quality of service, performance enhancing proxies (PEP) and the network mobility functions have not yet been fully integrated in TWCS systems. Therefore, we propose a novel and modular IPv6-enabled TWCS architecture in this article. It jointly tackles these functions and considers their mutual dependencies and relationships. DiffServ is used to differentiate between service classes and priorities. Virtual local area networks are used to differentiate between different service level agreements. In the PEP, we propose to use a distributed TCP accelerator to optimize bandwidth usage. Concerning network mobility, we propose to use the SCTP protocol (with Dynamic Address Reconfiguration and PR-SCTP extensions) to create a tunnel per wireless link, in order to support the reliable transmission of data between the accelerators. We have analyzed different design choices, pinpointed the main implementation challenges and identified candidate solutions for the different modules in the TWCS system. As such, we present an elaborated framework that can be used for prototyping a fully featured TWCS

Levels of C-peptide, body mass index and age, and their usefulness in classification of diabetes in relation to autoimmunity, in adults with newly diagnosed diabetes in Kronoberg, Sweden

Objective: C-peptide is a main outcome measure in treatment trials of diabetes. C-peptide also has a role in the classification of diabetes, which is often difficult in adults and this is also increasingly recognised in adolescents and elders. Aim: We aimed to describe the levels of C-peptide in relation to age and body mass index (BMI) in a large population-based cohort of adults with newly diagnosed diabetes and compare the capabilities of C-peptide, age and BMI to discriminate between autoimmune and non-autoimmune diabetes. Subjects and methods: Blood samples from 1180 patients were analysed regarding islet cell antibody, glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody and fasting C-peptide (FCP). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were analysed to check the ability of age, BMI and C-peptide to discriminate between autoantibody-positive (Ab(+)) and -negative (Ab(-)) diabetes. Results: Mean FCP was 0.73 +/- 0.5 (range 0.13-1.80) nmol/l in the Ab(+) and 1.42 +/- 0.9 (range 0.13-8.30) nmol/l in the Ab(-). FCP was 0.02 nmol/l higher per year increase in age at diagnosis of diabetes. Mean BMI was 26.0 +/- 4.8 (range 18.0-39.0) kg/m(2) in the Ab(+) and 28.9 +/- 5.3 (range 15.5-62.6) kg/m(2) in the Ab(-). FCP increased with age also within each BMI group. The highest area under the curve (AUC) in the ROC analysis was found for C-peptide, followed by age and BMI (0.78, 0.68 and 0.66 respectively). Conclusions: At diagnosis of diabetes, C-peptide was superior to age and BMI in discriminating between autoimmune and non-autoimmune diabetes. C-peptide increased significantly with BMI and age, latter also within each BMI group. Most of the adults had normal or high levels of C-peptide at presentation of diabetes among the autoimmune patients

Модификации арефлюксного холедохоеюноанастомоза с восстановлением пассажа желчи в двенадцатиперстную кишку

Разработаны модификации формирования холедохоеюноанастомоза, способствующие восстановлению желчетока с пассажем желчи в двенадцатиперстную кишку, что предупреждает развитие в ней пептической язвы. Предложена специальная методика мобилизации отключенного по Ру сегмента тощей кишки, обеспечивающая его полноценную моторику.Modifications of forming choledochoanastomosis promoting restoration of bile passage to the duodenum, which prevented development of peptic ulcer, were worked out. A special technique for mobilization of the switched off segment of the jejunum according to Roux promoting an adequate motility was suggested

Diagnosed with a rare cancer: Experiences of adult sarcoma survivors with the healthcare system—results from the survsarc study

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of rare cancer patients with the healthcare system and examine differences between age groups (adolescents and young adults (AYA, 18–39 years), older adults (OA, 40–69 years) and elderly (≥70 years)). Dutch sarcoma patients, 2–10 years after diagnosis, completed a questionnaire on their experience with the healthcare sys-tem, satisfaction with care, information needs, patient and diagnostic intervals (first symptom to first doctor’s visit and first doctor’s visit to diagnosis, respectively) and received supportive care. In total, 1099 patients completed the questionnaire (response rate 58%): 186 AYAs, 748 OAs and 165 elderly. Many survivors experienced insufficient medical and non-medical guidance (32% and 38%), although satisfaction with care was rated good to excellent by 94%. Both patient and diagnostic intervals were >1 month for over half of the participants and information needs were largely met (97%). AYAs had the longest patient and diagnostic intervals, experienced the greatest lack of (non-)medical guidance, had more desire for patient support groups and used supportive care most often. This nationwide study among sarcoma survivors showed that healthcare experiences differ per age group and identified needs related to the rarity of these tumors, such as improvements concerning (non-)medical guidance and diagnostic intervals

Effect of sitagliptin on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Data are lacking on the long-term effect on cardiovascular events of adding sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind study, we assigned 14,671 patients to add either sitagliptin or placebo to their existing therapy. Open-label use of antihyperglycemic therapy was encouraged as required, aimed at reaching individually appropriate glycemic targets in all patients. To determine whether sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo, we used a relative risk of 1.3 as the marginal upper boundary. The primary cardiovascular outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, there was a small difference in glycated hemoglobin levels (least-squares mean difference for sitagliptin vs. placebo, -0.29 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.32 to -0.27). Overall, the primary outcome occurred in 839 patients in the sitagliptin group (11.4%; 4.06 per 100 person-years) and 851 patients in the placebo group (11.6%; 4.17 per 100 person-years). Sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.09; P<0.001). Rates of hospitalization for heart failure did not differ between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.20; P = 0.98). There were no significant between-group differences in rates of acute pancreatitis (P = 0.07) or pancreatic cancer (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, adding sitagliptin to usual care did not appear to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, hospitalization for heart failure, or other adverse events

Integration of the Reconfigurable Self-Healing eDNA Architecture in an Embedded System

In this work we describe the first real world case study for the self-healing eDNA (electronic DNA) architecture by implementing the control and data processing of a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) on an eDNA prototype. For this purpose the eDNA prototype has been ported from a Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA to an embedded system consisting of a PowerPC and a Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA. The FTS instrument features a novel liquid crystal waveguide, which consequently eliminates all moving parts from the instrument. The addition of the eDNA architecture to do the control and data processing has resulted in a highly fault-tolerant FTS instrument. The case study has shown that the early stage prototype of the autonomous self-healing eDNA architecture is expensive in terms of execution time