Functionally graded concrete: Design objectives, production techniques and analysis methods for layered and continuously graded elements

The pressing need to reduce global carbon emissions together with recent advances in automated manufacturing have driven a growing interest in functionally graded concrete. In functionally graded concrete, the material composition is spatially varied to meet performance demands that differ within regions of a structural element. This offers significant potential to reduce cement consumption. Step-wise layered and continuously graded concrete systems are introduced and investigations of concrete mix combinations to achieve durability, fracture resistance, strength, ductility, cost saving, weight reduction or lower embodied energy improvements are discussed. Production techniques for horizontally layered and vertically layered structural elements in the context of fresh-on-hardened and fresh-on-fresh casting as well as emerging continuously graded processes are presented. Challenges associated with fresh-state deformations, layer interfaces and the need for appropriate fresh and hardened-state modelling tools are critically assessed.EPSRC - EP/N017668/

Sensitive detection of circulating breast cancer cells by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of maspin gene

Background: Maspin, a recently identified protein related to the family of serpins, is believed to play a role in human breast cancer. In an effort to improve the present methods of detection, we have developed a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for maspin transcript to identify small numbers of mammary carcinoma cells in the peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with breast cancer. Patients and methods: Five non-neoplastic mammary tissue samples, 13 breast cancer specimens as well as 17 peripheral blood and 4 bone marrow samples from normal subjects were screened for the presence of maspin mRNA by RT-PCR. The same assay was applied to peripheral blood or bone marrow samples obtained from 29 patients with stages I to IV breast cancer. Results: By RT-PCR it was possible to amplify maspin mRNA in all of the primary and metastatic breast cancer specimens, but in none of the normal hemopoietic samples from healthy donors. Thus, detection of maspin transcript in the peripheral blood or marrow of a patient known to have breast cancer is indicative of the presence of mammary carcinoma cells. In reconstitution experiments, maspin RT-PCR reliably detected 10 mammary carcinoma cells in 1 million normal peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). None of the 9 patients with stages I, II, or III breast cancer had maspin transcript in peripheral blood. Of note, 3 of 9 patients with stage TV breast cancer receiving systemic therapy at the time of sample collection, but only I of 11 patients with stage IV not receiving therapy, had detectable maspin transcript in peripheral blood. Moreover, 3 marrow specimens from stage TV patients tested positive by this assay. Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that maspin RT-PCR assay is a sensitive, specific and sufficiently rapid method for detection of small numbers of circulating cells and marrow micrometastases in breast cancer patients. The possibility of applying this assay in the detection of tumor cell contamination of both marrow and stem-cell apheresis harvests of breast cancer patients merits further investigation

Metabolic responses to high pCO2 conditions at a CO2 vent site in juveniles of a marine isopod species assemblage

We are starting to understand the relationship between metabolic rate responses and species' ability to respond to exposure to high pCO2. However, most of our knowledge has come from investigations of single species. The examination of metabolic responses of closely related species with differing distributions around natural elevated CO2 areas may be useful to inform our understanding of their adaptive significance. Furthermore, little is known about the physiological responses of marine invertebrate juveniles to high pCO2, despite the fact they are known to be sensitive to other stressors, often acting as bottlenecks for future species success. We conducted an in situ transplant experiment using juveniles of isopods found living inside and around a high pCO2 vent (Ischia, Italy): the CO2 'tolerant' Dynamene bifida and 'sensitive' Cymodoce truncata and Dynamene torelliae. This allowed us to test for any generality of the hypothesis that pCO2 sensitive marine invertebrates may be those that experience trade-offs between energy metabolism and cellular homoeostasis under high pCO2 conditions. Both sensitive species were able to maintain their energy metabolism under high pCO2 conditions, but in C. truncata this may occur at the expense of [carbonic anhydrase], confirming our hypothesis. By comparison, the tolerant D. bifida appeared metabolically well adapted to high pCO2, being able to upregulate ATP production without recourse to anaerobiosis. These isopods are important keystone species; however, given they differ in their metabolic responses to future pCO2, shifts in the structure of the marine ecosystems they inhabit may be expected under future ocean acidification conditions

Italian guidelines for primary headaches: 2012 revised version

The first edition of the Italian diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for primary headaches in adults was published in J Headache Pain 2(Suppl. 1):105–190 (2001). Ten years later, the guideline committee of the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches (SISC) decided it was time to update therapeutic guidelines. A literature search was carried out on Medline database, and all articles on primary headache treatments in English, German, French and Italian published from February 2001 to December 2011 were taken into account. Only randomized controlled trials (RCT) and meta-analyses were analysed for each drug. If RCT were lacking, open studies and case series were also examined. According to the previous edition, four levels of recommendation were defined on the basis of levels of evidence, scientific strength of evidence and clinical effectiveness. Recommendations for symptomatic and prophylactic treatment of migraine and cluster headache were therefore revised with respect to previous 2001 guidelines and a section was dedicated to non-pharmacological treatment. This article reports a summary of the revised version published in extenso in an Italian version

Functionally graded concrete: Design objectives, production techniques and analysis methods for layered and continuously graded elements

The pressing need to reduce global carbon emissions together with recent advances in automated manufacturing have driven a growing interest in functionally graded concrete. In functionally graded concrete, the material composition is spatially varied to meet performance demands that differ within regions of a structural element. This offers significant potential to reduce cement consumption. Step-wise layered and continuously graded concrete systems are introduced and investigations of concrete mix combinations to achieve durability, fracture resistance, strength, ductility, cost saving, weight reduction or lower embodied energy improvements are discussed. Production techniques for horizontally layered and vertically layered structural elements in the context of fresh-on-hardened and fresh-on-fresh casting as well as emerging continuously graded processes are presented. Challenges associated with fresh-state deformations, layer interfaces and the need for appropriate fresh and hardened-state modelling tools are critically assessed

Hepatitis C virus genotype distribution in B-Cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

No abstract availabl

Human Herpesvirus 8 strain variability in clinical conditions other than Kaposi’s sarcoma

No abstract availabl

"In vitro" tests to assess human sperm fertilizing ability.

No abstract availabl