The differential hormonal milieu of morning versus evening, may have an impact on muscle hypertrophic potential

Substantial gains in muscle strength and hypertrophy are clearly associated with the routine performance of resistance training. What is less evident is the optimal timing of the resistance training stimulus to elicit these significant functional and structural skeletal muscle changes. Therefore, this investigation determined the impact of a single bout of resistance training performed either in the morning or evening upon acute anabolic signalling (insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), myogenic index and differentiation) and catabolic processes (cortisol). Twenty-four male participants (age 21.4±1.9yrs, mass 83.7±13.7kg) with no sustained resistance training experience were allocated to a resistance exercise group (REP). Sixteen of the 24 participants were randomly selected to perform an additional non-exercising control group (CP) protocol. REP performed two bouts of resistance exercise (80% 1RM) in the morning (AM: 0800 hrs) and evening (PM: 1800 hrs), with the sessions separated by a minimum of 72 hours. Venous blood was collected immediately prior to, and 5 min after, each resistance exercise and control sessions. Serum cortisol and IGFBP-3 levels, myogenic index, myotube width, were determined at each sampling period. All data are reported as mean ± SEM, statistical significance was set at P≤0.05. As expected a significant reduction in evening cortisol concentration was observed at pre (AM: 98.4±10.5, PM: 49.8±4.4 ng/ml, P0.05). Timing of resistance training regimen in the evening appears to augment some markers of hypertrophic potential, with elevated IGFBP-3, suppressed cortisol and a superior cellular environment. Further investigation, to further elucidate the time course of peak anabolic signalling in morning vs evening training conditions, are timely

Effects of Once-Weekly Exenatide on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.

Abstract BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo. (Funded by Amylin Pharmaceuticals; EXSCEL ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01144338 .)

Entwicklung, Aufbau und Validierung eines Endeffektors zum kontinuierlichen Widerstandsschweißen faserverstärkter Thermoplaste (Masterarbeit)

Aufgrund zunehmender Bemühungen thermoplastische faserverstärkte Kunststoffe (engl. CFR-TP) in Flugzeugstrukturen der kommenden Generationen einzusetzen steht die Untersuchung von Fügeverfahren für diese Werkstoffe im Fokus der aktuellen Forschung. Thermoplastische Faserverbundwerkstoffe zeigen gegenüber duromerer Faserverbundwerkstoffe Vorteile bei der Fügetechnologie, da diese z. B. eine Gewichtsreduktion aufgrund wegfallender Bolzen, kürzere Assemblyzeiten und dünnere Lagenaufbauten der Einzelstrukturen aufgrund einer Neudefinition der Laminatschichtung mit wegfallenden Lochleibungslaminaten ermöglicht. Das elektrische Widerstandsschweißen gilt als vielversprechender Fügeprozess für CFR-TPs, da bei diesem die Wärme direkt in der Fügezone generiert wird, ohne dass die gesamte Struktur aufgeschmolzen werden muss. Um große Strukturen wie Rumpfhalbschalen zu Fügen, bedarf es einer Skalierung von bisherigen Schweißversuchen auf Probenniveau hin zu Prozessen für reale Bauteile. Die Skalierbarkeit des statischen Widerstandsschweißprozesses ist jedoch durch Anforderungen an die elektrische Schweißleistung und den Konsolidierungsdruck begrenzt. Für große Strukturen mit langen Fügenähten ergibt sich deshalb die Notwendigkeit einer Unterteilung des Schweißvorgangs in kleine Teilschritte. Dies kann durch die Verwendung eines kontinuierlich geführten Prozesses, der sich flexibel an die Geometrie der Fügeteile anpassen lässt, erreicht werden. Zu diesem Zweck werden im Rahmen dieser Arbeit unterschiedliche Konzeptansätze zur Umsetzung eines kontinuierlichen Schweißverfahrens erarbeitet sowie durch experimentelle Untersuchungen bewertet und verglichen. Aus den Konzepten wird das Design für einen Endeffektor abgeleitet, der komplexe Fügenähte auf einem Roboter- oder Gantrysystem im kontinuierlichen Verfahren verschweißt. Zum Einsatz kommt dabei eine Kombination aus rollenden Kontakt- und flächiger Konsolidierungseinheiten. Die Einsatzfähigkeit des Endeffektors wird durch Schweißversuche validiert und der Einfluss von Prozessparametern auf die Ergebnisse diskutiert

Machine condition prognosis based on regression trees and one-step-ahead prediction

Predicting the degradation of working conditions of machinery and trending of fault propagation before they reach the alarm or failure threshold is extremely important in industry to fully utilize the machine production capacity. This paper proposes a method to predict the future conditions of machines based on one-step-ahead prediction of time-series forecasting techniques and regression trees. In this study, the embedding dimension is firstly estimated in order to determine the necessarily available observations for predicting the next value in the future. This value is subsequently utilized for the predictor which is generated by using regression tree technique. Real trending data of low methane compressor acquired from condition monitoring routine are employed for evaluating the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method offers a potential for machine condition prognosis

Microstructure Analysis and Determination of Material Characteristics of PU Foams with Varying Densities

An algorithmic material characterisation and selection based on digital tools provide numerous possibilities to implement innovative leight-weight solutions into future projects. Cellular materials offer tremendous potential with regard to weight reduction of load-bearing structural components. Therefore a profound understanding of the materials composition and its influence on the global mechanical properties is necessary. In the following thesis polyurethane foams are characterised regarding their microstructural composition and global mechanical properties to identify and evaluate microstructural parameters influencing the foams behaviour. In order to so, several mechanical test series are conducted including varying test parameters such as foam density, sample positioning, orientation, and loading type. Additionally digital microstructural analyses of samples from different positions are going to depict the microstructural foam composition. The results prove the influence of the foams density on its properties. This can be seen in the microstructure and the mechanical tests. The influence of the sample positioning couldn’t be proved based on the collected data, however, the mechanical results clearly depict the effects of the sample orientation on the global foam properties. The derived correlations show the influence of the microstructure on the foams macroscopic behaviour. In order to use the results as a learning foundation for digital systems further examinations have to be conducted

TOWARDS CONTINUOUS RESISTANCE WELDING FOR FULL-SCALE AEROSPACE COMPONENTS

This paper presents the preliminary stages of the collaboration between the National Research Council Canada (NRC) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). A study demonstrating the current status of continuous resistance welding and the efforts to increase the process maturity is presented. Furthermore a continuous resistance welding end-effector concept developed at the DLR’s Center for Lightweight Production Technology (ZLP) Augsburg is discussed in this work