•The Fe plate covered with SiO2 layer was heated for fabrication of Fe oxide whiskers.•A high number of Fe oxide whiskers grew due to stress-induced migration.•Optimal SiO2 layer thickness for ...fabrication of thicker Fe oxide whiskers exists.•Fe oxide whiskers of 0.6 μm diameter were obtained by heating at 750 °C for 2 h.
The current study aims to fabricate thick and long Fe oxide whiskers using the process of stress-induced migration. Heating a polished Fe plate covered with a SiO2 layer at 750 °C causes Fe oxide whiskers to grow on the surface, whose diameter and length continue to increase along with increasing SiO2 layer thickness up to 53 nm and decrease for thicker layers. An optimal discharge resistance of the SiO2 layer was considered responsible for the formation of thick and long whiskers as it allows for a large accumulation of Fe below the SiO2 layer; discharge is observed at weak spots in cases where the driving force is the highest. Consequently, the Fe oxide whiskers of 0.57 μm diameter and 14.3 μm length were obtained after 2 h of heating.
In the field of gas-turbine engineering, entropy waves and fluctuations in fuel–air mixing are of significant importance. The impact of either mechanism on thermoacoustic stability of the engine and ...combustion noise considerably depends on how they are convected in the combustion chamber. In this work, a novel method is employed to analyse their convection. Both effects are modelled using a transport equation of a passive scalar linearized around the mean field. The linearized transport equation is discretized using finite elements. It is shown that turbulent passive scalar transport can be described by an eddy diffusivity in the linear framework. The method is furthermore validated against direct numerical simulation (DNS) of passive scalar transport in a turbulent channel flow. Taking the mean flow from the DNS as input, the method reproduces transport of periodic passive scalar fluctuations with high accuracy at negligible numerical expense. Previous studies investigated destructive interference of the passive scalar due to a non-uniform mean flow profile, a process termed mean flow shear dispersion. The method introduced in this study, however, allows us to additionally quantify the impact of molecular and turbulent diffusion. For the channel flow under investigation, mean flow shear dispersion is the dominant mechanism at low frequencies while, at higher frequencies, turbulent diffusion needs to be accounted for to reproduce the DNS results. Molecular diffusion, however, only has a minor effect on the overall convection in the turbulent channel flow.
Assemble is an intuitive graphical interface to analyze, manipulate and build complex 3D RNA architectures. It provides several advanced and unique features within the framework of a semi-automated ...modeling process that can be performed by homology and ab initio with or without electron density maps. Those include the interactive editing of a secondary structure and a searchable, embedded library of annotated tertiary structures. Assemble helps users with performing recurrent and otherwise tedious tasks in structural RNA research. Availability and Implementation: Assemble is released under an open-source license (MIT license) and is freely available at http://bioinformatics.org/assemble. It is implemented in the Java language and runs on MacOSX, Linux and Windows operating systems. Contact: f.jossinet@ibmc-cnrs.unistra.fr
Cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis, and senescence are widely accepted as the major mechanisms by which p53 inhibits tumor formation. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether they are the rate-limiting ...steps in tumor suppression. Here, we have generated mice bearing lysine to arginine mutations at one (p53K117R) or three (p533KR; K117R+K161R+K162R) of p53 acetylation sites. Although p53K117R/K117R cells are competent for p53-mediated cell-cycle arrest and senescence, but not apoptosis, all three of these processes are ablated in p533KR/3KR cells. Surprisingly, unlike p53 null mice, which rapidly succumb to spontaneous thymic lymphomas, early-onset tumor formation does not occur in either p53K117R/K117R or p533KR/3KR animals. Notably, p533KR retains the ability to regulate energy metabolism and reactive oxygen species production. These findings underscore the crucial role of acetylation in differentially modulating p53 responses and suggest that unconventional activities of p53, such as metabolic regulation and antioxidant function, are critical for suppression of early-onset spontaneous tumorigenesis.
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► K120 acetylation of p53 is essential for p53-mediated apoptosis ► The p533KR/3KR mutant is deficient in cell-cycle arrest, senescence, and apoptosis ► This mutant nonetheless retains tumor suppression activity ► Unconventional p53 function is critical for suppression of spontaneous tumorigenesis
Abolishing the ability of p53 to promote cell-cycle arrest, senescence, and apoptosis surprisingly does not disrupt its ability to suppress tumor formation. Instead, evidence suggests that p53's regulation of glucose metabolism and ROS levels are critical for its tumor suppression activity.
Mask ventilation is an essential element of airway management that has rarely been studied as the primary outcome. The authors sought to determine the incidence and predictors of difficult and ...impossible mask ventilation.
A four-point scale to grade difficulty in performing mask ventilation (MV) is used at the authors' institution. They used a prospective, observational study to identify cases of grade 3 MV (inadequate, unstable, or requiring two providers), grade 4 MV (impossible to ventilate), and difficult intubation. Univariate and multivariate analyses of a variety of patient history and physical examination characteristics were used to establish risk factors for grade 3 and 4 MV.
During a 24-month period, 22,660 attempts at MV were recorded. 313 cases (1.4%) of grade 3 MV, 37 cases (0.16%) of grade 4 MV, and 84 cases (0.37%) of grade 3 or 4 MV and difficult intubation were observed. Body mass index of 30 kg/m or greater, a beard, Mallampati classification III or IV, age of 57 yr or older, severely limited jaw protrusion, and snoring were identified as independent predictors for grade 3 MV. Snoring and thyromental distance of less than 6 cm were independent predictors for grade 4 MV. Limited or severely limited mandibular protrusion, abnormal neck anatomy, sleep apnea, snoring, and body mass index of 30 kg/m or greater were independent predictors of grade 3 or 4 MV and difficult intubation.
The authors observed the incidence of grade 3 MV to be 1.4%, similar to studies with the same definition of difficult MV. Presence of a beard is the only easily modifiable independent risk factor for difficult MV. The mandibular protrusion test may be an essential element of the airway examination.
Although emergency services have already recognized the importance of citizen-initiated activities during disasters, still questions with regard to the coordination of spontaneous volunteers and ...their activities arise. Within our article, we will present a technological approach based on public displays which aims to foster situated crowdsourcing between affected citizens, spontaneous volunteers as well as official emergency services. We will address the research question: How can the situated tasks performed by spontaneous volunteers be supported by the use of public displays during disasters? First we will present the current state of the art with regard to the coordination practices of spontaneous volunteers and emergency services within disaster situations as well as related problems, potentials and specifics of situated crowdsourcing and public displays. To gain insight into actual coordination practices, we conducted an empirical study with 18 different stakeholders involved in disaster management. Based on the literature review and our empirical study, we have derived a technical concept that supports the task and activity management of spontaneous volunteers as well as the coordination both of the demands of affected people and the offers from spontaneous volunteers. We have implemented our concept as the public display application ‘City-Share’, which provides a robust communication infrastructure and encompasses situated crowdsourcing mechanisms for managing offers and demands of activities on-the-ground. Based on its evaluation with several users, we will discuss our findings with regard to the assignment of tasks on-the-ground and situated crowdsourcing during emergencies. We outline that City-Share can improve a community's disaster resilience, especially when focusing on the kind of collaborative resilience emerging between official stakeholders and spontaneous volunteers or affected citizens at a local level.
•Empirical study on coordination between emergency services and spontaneous volunteers.•Concept for situated task and activity management of spontaneous volunteers.•Public display application ‘City-Share’ for situated crowdsourcing on-the-ground.•City-Share combines physical presence, comforting words and getting together.
In this study, the tensile properties of unmodified A356 alloys with trace additions of Ni or V were investigated. The nominal concentrations of these elements were set at 600 and 1000ppm, ...respectively. Specimens obtained from sand and permanent mould casting in as-cast and T6 heat treated conditions were examined. It was found that the precipitation of Ni-rich intermetallics strongly influences the tensile properties of the sand cast A356 alloy in as-cast condition, leading to a reduction of both the yield strength (Rp0.2) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) by 87% and 37%, respectively. Conversely, the V addition increased Rp0.2 and UTS by 42% and 25% due to a solid solution strengthening effect. After T6 heat treatment, the sand cast A356 alloys containing V exhibited slightly higher mechanical properties as compared to the A356 reference alloy (≈18%), whereas the detrimental effect of Ni was eliminated. The cooling rate became the main parameter influencing the mechanical properties of permanent mould cast alloys: no significant differences in mechanical properties were observed between the reference alloy and Ni- or V-containing alloys in both as-cast and T6 conditions.
Objective
The majority of patients with a familial cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) referred for molecular screening do not show pathogenic variants in known genes. In this study, we aimed to ...identify novel CSVD causal genes.
Methods
We performed a gene‐based collapsing test of rare protein‐truncating variants identified in exome data of 258 unrelated CSVD patients of an ethnically matched control cohort and of 2 publicly available large‐scale databases, gnomAD and TOPMed. Western blotting was used to investigate the functional consequences of variants. Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging features of mutated patients were characterized.
Results
We showed that LAMB1 truncating variants escaping nonsense‐mediated messenger RNA decay are strongly overrepresented in CSVD patients, reaching genome‐wide significance (p < 5 × 10−8). Using 2 antibodies recognizing the N‐ and C‐terminal parts of LAMB1, we showed that truncated forms of LAMB1 are expressed in the endogenous fibroblasts of patients and trapped in the cytosol. These variants are associated with a novel phenotype characterized by the association of a hippocampal type episodic memory defect and a diffuse vascular leukoencephalopathy.
Interpretation
These findings are important for diagnosis and clinical care, to avoid unnecessary and sometimes invasive investigations, and also from a mechanistic point of view to understand the role of extracellular matrix proteins in neuronal homeostasis. ANN NEUROL 2021;90:962–975
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the result of an autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells. The cellular and molecular defects that cause the disease remain unknown. Pluripotent cells generated from ...patients with T1D would be useful for disease modeling. We show here that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated from patients with T1D by reprogramming their adult fibroblasts with three transcription factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4). T1D-specific iPS cells, termed DiPS cells, have the hallmarks of pluripotency and can be differentiated into insulin-producing cells. These results are a step toward using DiPS cells in T1D disease modeling, as well as for cell replacement therapy.
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