Quantifying Relationship between Infill Percentage and Tensile Strength of Fused Deposition Modeled Thermoplastic Polyurethane

With the advent of additive manufacturing (AM), understanding the effects of changing 3D printing settings is critical for engineering pursuits. One of the most widespread methods, known as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), has been well-researched by consumer hobbyists and members of the general public. However, an empirical analysis is needed for scientific research and projects, and few have been performed to prove the relationship between a printing setting and material strength quantitatively. This lack of literature is partly due to the breadth of printers and factors that can affect an FDM model’s printability. This project tensile tested one Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) brand at various infills. It analyzed the effects of infill percentage on the tensile strength and moduli of elasticity. Additionally, it interprets the data and details further testing to validate a hypothesis formed from the study results. The data used will also be showcased with another group who will use it to help validate their study. This study aims to clearly show that the process of printing a part is as imperative to the success of a project as creating a design and choosing materials

Tensile Testing of 3D Printed TPU Samples for Pediatric Biomaterial Applications

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has, in recent years, become one of the most widespread and preferred prototyping methods. The most popular additive manufacturing method is Fused Deposition Modeling. FDM’s popularity is primarily attributed to its 3 major strengths of rapid prototyping, variability in material choice, and subject specific nature. The medical industry is one of the larger industries that has benefited from 3D printing especially in the terms of medical trainers. Unfortunately, most medical trainers that are developed (either being 3d printed or through traditional manufacturing processes) are poor substitutes for the human body. This can be attributed to either a poor design or poor material choice. FDM printing is the obvious solution to these issues, but one of the largest problems in 3D printing for engineers is that the properties of most filaments after extrusion are not well-known. Additionally, 3D prints are rarely 100% solid in FDM which makes assuming the material properties of the base materials inaccurate. This project seeks to test 3D printed samples at numerous different infills of a common 3D printing material known as Thermoplastic Polyurethane of TPU using ASTM D638. The test samples will be printed across numerous printers with the same settings to determine whether different printers influence the material properties after a print. Once tensile testing has been completed the curves will be imported into an FEA software to be tested on numerous bone geometries to determine if TPU is a suitable material to use to mimic pediatric bones

Using Machine Learning to Diagnose Misaligned CT Scans

The usage of machine learning has grown exponentially in recent years; However, its applicable uses for medical diagnosis are still in an early stage. Conditions such as Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH), Cerebral Palsy (CP), and Femoracetabular Impingement (FAI) rely heavily on imaging techniques such as Ultrasound and Computed Tomography (CT) scans. Radiologists use multiple manually computed metrics using these images to diagnose conditions. This is time-intensive and requires an aligned image to get accurate diagnoses. The proposed application uses a deep learning detection algorithm to assist in the metric computation process. The algorithm is implemented using MATLAB R2023A and is trained on CT data gathered from 60 healthy participants. The algorithm performed well on images aligned according to the standard anteroposterior alignment used for radiological measurement. However, the variance of the metrics computation significantly increases when faced with severe misalignment in the craniocaudal or mediolateral axes. Additional algorithm improvements must be made to overcome this increased variance

En[dj]uring [ʧ]unes or ma[tj]ure [ʤ]ukes? Yod-coalescence and yod-dropping in the Eighteenth-Century English Phonology database

Yod-coalescence involving alveolar consonants before LateModern English /uː/ from earlier /iu > juː/ is still variable and diffusing in Present-day English. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives both (/tj dj/) and (/ʧ ʤ/) British English pronunciations for tune (/tjuːn/, /tʃuːn/), mature (/mǝˈtjʊǝ/, /mǝˈʧʊǝ/), duke (/djuːk/, /dʒuːk/) and endure (/ᵻnˈdjʊə/, /εnˈdjʊə/, /ᵻnˈdʒʊə/, /εnˈdʒʊə/, /ᵻnˈdjɔː/, /εnˈdjɔː/, /ᵻnˈdʒɔː/, /εnˈdʒɔː/). Extensive variability in yod-coalescence and yod-dropping is not recent in origin, and we can already detect relevant patterns in the eighteenth century from the evidence of a range of pronouncing dictionaries. Beal (1996, 1999) notes a tendency for northern English and Scottish authors to be more conservative with regard to yod-coalescence. She concludes that we require ‘a comprehensive survey of the many pronouncing dictionaries and other works on pronunciation’ (1996: 379) to gain more insight into the historical variation patterns underlying Present-day English. This article presents some results from such a ‘comprehensive survey’: the Eighteenth- Century English Phonology Database (ECEP). Transcriptions of all relevant words located are compared across a range of eighteenth-century sources in order to determine the chronology of yod-coalescence and yod-dropping as well as internal (e.g. stress, phoneme type, presence of a following /r/) and external (e.g. prescriptive, geographical, social) motivations for these developments

Has education lost sight of children?

The reflections presented in this chapter are informed by clinical and personal experiences of school education in the UK. There are many challenges for children and young people in the modern education system and for the professionals who support them. In the UK, there are significant gaps between the highly selective education provided to those who pay privately for it and to the majority of those educated in the state-funded system. Though literacy rates have improved around the world, many children, particularly boys, do not finish their education for reasons such as boredom, behavioural difficulties or because education does not ‘pay’. Violence, bullying, and sexual harassment are issues faced by many children in schools and there are disturbing trends of excluding children who present with behavioural problems at school whose origins are not explored. Excluded children are then educated with other children who may also have multiple problems which often just make the situation worse. The experience of clinicians suggests that school-related mental health problems are increasing in severity. Are mental health services dealing with the consequences of an education system that is not meeting children’s needs? An education system that is testing- and performance-based may not be serving many children well if it is driving important decisions about them at increasingly younger ages. Labelling of children and setting them on educational career paths can occur well before they reach secondary schools, limiting potential very early on in their developmental trajectory. Furthermore, the emphasis at school on testing may come at the expense of creativity and other forms of intelligence, which are also valuable and important. Meanwhile the employment marketplace requires people with widely different skills, with an emphasis on innovation, creativity, and problem solving. Is education losing sight of the children it is educating

On the link between ocean biota emissions, aerosol, and maritime clouds: Airborne, ground, and satellite measurements off the coast of California

Surface, airborne, and satellite measurements over the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of California during the period between 2005 and 2007 are used to explore the relationship between ocean chlorophyll a, aerosol, and marine clouds. Periods of enhanced chlorophyll a and wind speed are coincident with increases in particulate diethylamine and methanesulfonate concentrations. The measurements indicate that amines are a source of secondary organic aerosol in the marine atmosphere. Subsaturated aerosol hygroscopic growth measurements indicate that the organic component during periods of high chlorophyll a and wind speed exhibit considerable water uptake ability. Increased average cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) activity during periods of increased chlorophyll a levels likely results from both size distribution and aerosol composition changes. The available data over the period of measurements indicate that the cloud microphysical response, as represented by either cloud droplet number concentration or cloud droplet effective radius, is likely influenced by a combination of atmospheric dynamics and aerosol perturbations during periods of high chlorophyll a concentrations

Mutations in GPAA1, Encoding a GPI Transamidase Complex Protein, Cause Developmental Delay, Epilepsy, Cerebellar Atrophy, and Osteopenia.

Approximately one in every 200 mammalian proteins is anchored to the cell membrane through a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor. These proteins play important roles notably in neurological development and function. To date, more than 20 genes have been implicated in the biogenesis of GPI-anchored proteins. GPAA1 (glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor attachment 1) is an essential component of the transamidase complex along with PIGK, PIGS, PIGT, and PIGU (phosphatidylinositol-glycan biosynthesis classes K, S, T, and U, respectively). This complex orchestrates the attachment of the GPI anchor to the C terminus of precursor proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we report bi-allelic mutations in GPAA1 in ten individuals from five families. Using whole-exome sequencing, we identified two frameshift mutations (c.981_993del [p.Gln327Hisfs∗102] and c.920delG [p.Gly307Alafs∗11]), one intronic splicing mutation (c.1164+5C>T), and six missense mutations (c.152C>T [p.Ser51Leu], c.160_161delinsAA [p.Ala54Asn], c.527G>C [p.Trp176Ser], c.869T>C [p.Leu290Pro], c.872T>C [p.Leu291Pro], and c.1165G>C [p.Ala389Pro]). Most individuals presented with global developmental delay, hypotonia, early-onset seizures, cerebellar atrophy, and osteopenia. The splicing mutation was found to decrease GPAA1 mRNA. Moreover, flow-cytometry analysis of five available individual samples showed that several GPI-anchored proteins had decreased cell-surface abundance in leukocytes (FLAER, CD16, and CD59) or fibroblasts (CD73 and CD109). Transduction of fibroblasts with a lentivirus encoding the wild-type protein partially rescued the deficiency of GPI-anchored proteins. These findings highlight the role of the transamidase complex in the development and function of the cerebellum and the skeletal system

CSF1R inhibitor JNJ-40346527 attenuates microglial proliferation and neurodegeneration in P301S mice

Neuroinflammation and microglial activation are significant processes in Alzheimer's disease pathology. Recent genome-wide association studies have highlighted multiple immune-related genes in association with Alzheimer's disease, and experimental data have demonstrated microglial proliferation as a significant component of the neuropathology. In this study, we tested the efficacy of the selective CSF1R inhibitor JNJ-40346527 (JNJ-527) in the P301S mouse tauopathy model. We first demonstrated the anti-proliferative effects of JNJ-527 on microglia in the ME7 prion model, and its impact on the inflammatory profile, and provided potential CNS biomarkers for clinical investigation with the compound, including pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics and efficacy assessment by TSPO autoradiography and CSF proteomics. Then, we showed for the first time that blockade of microglial proliferation and modification of microglial phenotype leads to an attenuation of tau-induced neurodegeneration and results in functional improvement in P301S mice. Overall, this work strongly supports the potential for inhibition of CSF1R as a target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other tau-mediated neurodegenerative diseases

A Genome Wide Association Scan of Bovine Tuberculosis Susceptibility in Holstein-Friesian Dairy Cattle

peer-reviewedBackground: Bovine tuberculosis is a significant veterinary and financial problem in many parts of the world. Although many factors influence infection and progression of the disease, there is a host genetic component and dissection of this may enlighten on the wider biology of host response to tuberculosis. However, a binary phenotype of presence/absence of infection presents a noisy signal for genomewide association study. Methodology/Principal Findings: We calculated a composite phenotype of genetic merit for TB susceptibility based on disease incidence in daughters of elite sires used for artificial insemination in the Irish dairy herd. This robust measure was compared with 44,426 SNP genotypes in the most informative 307 subjects in a genome wide association analysis. Three SNPs in a 65 kb genomic region on BTA 22 were associated (i.e. p,1025, peaking at position 59588069, p = 4.0261026) with tuberculosis susceptibility. Conclusions/Significance: A genomic region on BTA 22 was suggestively associated with tuberculosis susceptibility; it contains the taurine transporter gene SLC6A6, or TauT, which is known to function in the immune system but has not previously been investigated for its role in tuberculosis infection

Inflammatory biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease plasma

Introduction: Plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis/stratification are a \u201cHoly Grail\u201d of AD research and intensively sought; however, there are no well-established plasma markers. Methods: A hypothesis-led plasma biomarker search was conducted in the context of international multicenter studies. The discovery phase measured 53 inflammatory proteins in elderly control (CTL; 259), mild cognitive impairment (MCI; 199), and AD (262) subjects from AddNeuroMed. Results: Ten analytes showed significant intergroup differences. Logistic regression identified five (FB, FH, sCR1, MCP-1, eotaxin-1) that, age/APO\u3b54 adjusted, optimally differentiated AD and CTL (AUC: 0.79), and three (sCR1, MCP-1, eotaxin-1) that optimally differentiated AD and MCI (AUC: 0.74). These models replicated in an independent cohort (EMIF; AUC 0.81 and 0.67). Two analytes (FB, FH) plus age predicted MCI progression to AD (AUC: 0.71). Discussion: Plasma markers of inflammation and complement dysregulation support diagnosis and outcome prediction in AD and MCI. Further replication is needed before clinical translation