Welding wire pressure sensor assembly

The present invention relates to a device which is used to monitor the position of a filler wire relative to a base material being welded as the filler wire is added to a welding pool. The device is applicable to automated welding systems wherein nonconsumable electrode arc welding processes are utilized in conjunction with a filler wire which is added to a weld pool created by the electrode arc. The invention senses pressure deviations from a predetermined pressure between the filler wire and the base material, and provides electrical signals responsive to the deviations for actuating control mechanisms in an automatic welding apparatus so as to minimize the pressure deviation and to prevent disengagement of the contact between the filler wire and the base material

Comparison of the performance of photonic band-edge liquid crystal lasers using different dyes as the gain medium

The primary concern of this work is to study the emission characteristics of a series of chiral nematic liquid crystal lasers doped with different laser dyes (DCM, pyrromethene 580, and pyrromethene 597) at varying concentrations by weight (0.5-2 wt %) when optically pumped at 532 nm. Long-wavelength photonic band-edge laser emission is characterized in terms of threshold energy and slope efficiency. At every dye concentration investigated, the pyrromethene 597-doped lasers exhibit the highest slope efficiency (ranging from 15% to 32%) and the DCM-doped lasers the lowest (ranging from 5% to 13%). Similarly, the threshold was found to be, in general, higher for the DCM-doped laser samples in comparison to the pyrromethene-doped laser samples. These results are then compared with the spectral properties, quantum efficiencies and, where possible, fluorescence lifetimes of the dyes dispersed in a common nematic host. In accordance with the low thresholds and high slope efficiencies, the results show that the molar extinction coefficients and quantum efficiencies are considerably larger for the pyrromethene dyes in comparison to DCM, when dispersed in the liquid crystal host.open191

Transcriptional profiling of MnSOD-mediated lifespan extension in Drosophila reveals a species-general network of aging and metabolic genes.

BACKGROUND: Several interventions increase lifespan in model organisms, including reduced insulin/insulin-like growth factor-like signaling (IIS), FOXO transcription factor activation, dietary restriction, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) over-expression. One question is whether these manipulations function through different mechanisms, or whether they intersect on common processes affecting aging. RESULTS: A doxycycline-regulated system was used to over-express manganese-SOD (MnSOD) in adult Drosophila, yielding increases in mean and maximal lifespan of 20%. Increased lifespan resulted from lowered initial mortality rate and required MnSOD over-expression in the adult. Transcriptional profiling indicated that the expression of specific genes was altered by MnSOD in a manner opposite to their pattern during normal aging, revealing a set of candidate biomarkers of aging enriched for carbohydrate metabolism and electron transport genes and suggesting a true delay in physiological aging, rather than a novel phenotype. Strikingly, cross-dataset comparisons indicated that the pattern of gene expression caused by MnSOD was similar to that observed in long-lived Caenorhabditis elegans insulin-like signaling mutants and to the xenobiotic stress response, thus exposing potential conserved longevity promoting genes and implicating detoxification in Drosophila longevity. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that MnSOD up-regulation and a retrograde signal of reactive oxygen species from the mitochondria normally function as an intermediate step in the extension of lifespan caused by reduced insulin-like signaling in various species. The results implicate a species-conserved net of coordinated genes that affect the rate of senescence by modulating energetic efficiency, purine biosynthesis, apoptotic pathways, endocrine signals, and the detoxification and excretion of metabolites.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Preclinical Evaluation of Novel Fatty Acid Synthase Inhibitors in Primary Colorectal Cancer Cells and a Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of Colorectal Cancer

Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN), a key enzyme of de novo lipogenesis, is upregulated in many cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC); increased FASN expression is associated with poor prognosis. Potent FASN inhibitors (TVBs) developed by 3-V Biosciences demonstrate anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo and a favorable tolerability profile in a Phase I clinical trial. However, CRC characteristics associated with responsiveness to FASN inhibition are not fully understood. We evaluated the effect of TVB-3664 on tumor growth in nine CRC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and investigated molecular and metabolic changes associated with CRC responsiveness to FASN inhibition. CRC cells and PDXs showed a wide range of sensitivity to FASN inhibition. TVB-3664 treatment showed significant response (reduced tumor volume) in 30% of cases. Anti-tumor effect of TVB-3664 was associated with a significant decrease in a pool of adenine nucleotides and alterations in lipid composition including a significant reduction in fatty acids and phospholipids and an increase in lactosylceramide and sphingomyelin in PDXs sensitive to FASN inhibition. Moreover, Akt, Erk1/2 and AMPK were major oncogenic pathways altered by TVBs. In summary, we demonstrated that novel TVB inhibitors show anti-tumor activity in CRC and this activity is associated with a decrease in activation of Akt and Erk1/2 oncogenic pathways and significant alteration of lipid composition of tumors. Further understanding of genetic and metabolic characteristics of tumors susceptible to FASN inhibition may enable patient selection and personalized medicine approaches in CRC

The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma renal injury grading scale: Implications of the 2018 revisions for injury reclassification and predicting bleeding interventions.

BackgroundIn 2018, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) published revisions to the renal injury grading system to reflect the increased reliance on computed tomography scans and non-operative management of high-grade renal trauma (HGRT). We aimed to evaluate how these revisions will change the grading of HGRT and if it outperforms the original 1989 grading in predicting bleeding control interventions.MethodsData on HGRT were collected from 14 Level-1 trauma centers from 2014 to 2017. Patients with initial computed tomography scans were included. Two radiologists reviewed the scans to regrade the injuries according to the 1989 and 2018 AAST grading systems. Descriptive statistics were used to assess grade reclassifications. Mixed-effect multivariable logistic regression was used to measure the predictive ability of each grading system. The areas under the curves were compared.ResultsOf the 322 injuries included, 27.0% were upgraded, 3.4% were downgraded, and 69.5% remained unchanged. Of the injuries graded as III or lower using the 1989 AAST, 33.5% were upgraded to grade IV using the 2018 AAST. Of the grade V injuries, 58.8% were downgraded using the 2018 AAST. There was no statistically significant difference in the overall areas under the curves between the 2018 and 1989 AAST grading system for predicting bleeding interventions (0.72 vs. 0.68, p = 0.34).ConclusionAbout one third of the injuries previously classified as grade III will be upgraded to grade IV using the 2018 AAST, which adds to the heterogeneity of grade IV injuries. Although the 2018 AAST grading provides more anatomic details on injury patterns and includes important radiologic findings, it did not outperform the 1989 AAST grading in predicting bleeding interventions.Level of evidencePrognostic and Epidemiological Study, level III

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer: Present and Future

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an airborne passive microwave radiometer designed to provide high resolution, wide swath imagery of surface wind speed in tropical cyclones from a low profile planar antenna with no mechanical scanning. Wind speed and rain rate images from HIRAD's first field campaign (GRIP, 2010) are presented here followed, by a discussion on the performance of the newly installed thermal control system during the 2012 HS3 campaign. The paper ends with a discussion on the next generation dual polarization HIRAD antenna (already designed) for a future system capable of measuring wind direction as well as wind speed

Comparing Unmet Needs between Community-Based Palliative Care Patients with Heart Failure and Patients with Cancer

Background: As the role of palliative care (PC) has yet to be clearly defined in patients with heart failure (HF), such patients may face barriers regarding PC referral. In order to maximally meet the needs of HF patients, it is necessary to understand how they compare to the classic PC population: patients with cancer

Making science at home: visual displays of space science and nuclear physics at the Science Museum and on television in postwar Britain

The public presentation of science and technology in postwar Britain remains a field open to exploration. Current scholarship on the topic is growing but still tends to concentrate on the written word, thus making theorizing, at this stage, difficult. This paper is an attempt to expand the literature through two case studies that compare and synthesize displays of scientific and technological knowledge in two visual media, the Science Museum and television, in the 1950s and 1960s. The topics of these case studies are space exploration and nuclear energy. The thesis this paper explores is that both media fleshed out strategies of displays based on the use of categories from everyday life. As a result, outcomes of large-scale public scientific and technological undertakings were interwoven within audiences’ daily life experiences, thus appearing ordinary rather than extraordinary. This use of symbols and values drawn from private life worked to alleviate fears of risk associated with these new fields of technological exploration and at the same time give them widespread currency in the public sphere