The overarching goals of treatments for orthopedic conditions are generally to improve or restore function and alleviate pain. Results of clinical trials are generally used to determine whether a ...treatment is efficacious; however, a statistically significant improvement may not actually be clinically important, i.e., meaningful to the patient. To determine whether an intervention has produced clinically important benefits requires a two-step process: first, determining the magnitude of change considered clinically important for a particular measure in the relevant population and, second, applying this yardstick to a patient's data to determine whether s/he has benefited from treatment. Several metrics have been devised to quantify clinically important differences, including the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) and clinically important difference (CID). Herein, we review the methods to generate the MCID and other metrics and their use and interpretation in clinical trials and practice. We particularly highlight the many pitfalls associated with the generation and utilization of these metrics that can impair their correct use. These pitfalls include the fact that different pain measures yield different MCIDs, that efficacy in clinical trials is impacted by various factors (population characteristics, trial design), that the MCID value is impacted by the method used to calculate it (anchor, distribution), by the type of anchor chosen and by the definition (threshold) of improvement. The MCID is also dependent on the population characteristics such as disease type and severity, sex, age, etc. For appropriate use, the MCID should be applied to changes in individual subjects, not to group changes. The MCID and CID are useful tools to define general guidelines to determine whether a treatment produces clinically meaningful effects. However, the many pitfalls associated with these metrics require a detailed understanding of the methods to calculate them and their context of use. Orthopedic surgeons that will use these metrics need to carefully understand them and be aware of their pitfalls.
The magnetic‐field‐dependent spin ordering of strained BiFeO3 films is determined using nuclear resonant scattering and Raman spectroscopy. The critical field required to destroy the cycloidal ...modulation of the Fe spins is found to be significantly lower than in the bulk, with appealing implications for field‐controlled spintronic and magnonic devices.
Different aspects of the interaction between droplets and flame propagation have been studied. First, flammability limits of H2/air/steam mixtures at 100kPa for 3 temperatures between 358 and 383K. ...the flammability domain was marginally modified by increasing the temperature. The mixtures were not flammable for H2O mol%55. The presence of water mist in initially dry H2/air mixtures at 100kPa and 298K did not shift the lower flammability limit as long as the droplets density number was below a critical value. The slight shift in the limit was essentially due to the saturated water vapor pressure. The effect of dispersed large droplets (SMD=200-250 mu m) on laminar H2/air flames was also marginal except when the droplet velocity is of the same order of magnitude as the flame speed in the same direction. Non-flammable H2/air/steam mixtures at 358K and 383K were made explosive by aspersion with cold water spray. However, the pressure increase was limited when ignition occurred for mixtures close to the flammability limit. In this case, the burned gas bubble was rapidly dragged downward by the spray. The water mist effect on the deflagration of H2/air mixtures were studied for various equivalence ratios. With droplets diameter <10 mu m, the violence of explosion was mitigated except for lean mixtures in the domain where the combustion was not complete. In this case, the turbulence generated by the spray was sufficient to increase the combustion rate.
At the end of a rush lasting over half a century, in which CMOS technology has been experiencing a constant and breathtaking increase of device speed and density, Moore's law is approaching the ...insurmountable barrier given by the ultimate atomic nature of matter. A major challenge for 21st century scientists is finding novel strategies, concepts and materials for replacing silicon-based CMOS semiconductor technologies and guaranteeing a continued and steady technological progress in next decades. Among the materials classes candidate to contribute to this momentous challenge, oxide films and heterostructures are a particularly appealing hunting ground. The vastity, intended in pure chemical terms, of this class of compounds, the complexity of their correlated behaviour, and the wealth of functional properties they display, has already made these systems the subject of choice, worldwide, of a strongly networked, dynamic and interdisciplinary research community.
Oxide science and technology has been the target of a wide four-year project, named Towards Oxide-Based Electronics (TO-BE), that has been recently running in Europe and has involved as participants several hundred scientists from 29 EU countries. In this review and perspective paper, published as a final deliverable of the TO-BE Action, the opportunities of oxides as future electronic materials for Information and Communication Technologies ICT and Energy are discussed. The paper is organized as a set of contributions, all selected and ordered as individual building blocks of a wider general scheme. After a brief preface by the editors and an introductory contribution, two sections follow. The first is mainly devoted to providing a perspective on the latest theoretical and experimental methods that are employed to investigate oxides and to produce oxide-based films, heterostructures and devices. In the second, all contributions are dedicated to different specific fields of applications of oxide thin films and heterostructures, in sectors as data storage and computing, optics and plasmonics, magnonics, energy conversion and harvesting, and power electronics.
The laminar burning rate, the explosion peak pressure, and the pressure rise coefficient have been measured for the first time for silane-nitrous oxide-argon mixtures using the spherically expanding ...flame technique in a constant volume combustion chamber. For these three parameters, the values obtained were higher than for hydrogen-nitrous oxide-argon and typical hydrocarbon-based mixtures. A maximum burning rate of 1800 g/m2 s was measured at 101 kPa, whereas under similar conditions, a maximum burning rate around 950 g/m2 s has been reported for hydrogen-nitrous oxide-argon mixtures. To better understand the chemical dynamics of flames propagating in SiH4–N2O–Ar mixtures, a detailed reaction model from the literature was improved using collision limit violation analysis and updated thermodynamic properties calculated with a high-level ab initio approach. The reaction model predicts the burning rate within 14% on average but demonstrates error close to 50% for the richest mixtures. The chemistry of the H–O–N system is important under all the conditions presently studied. The chemistry of the Si–H–O–N system demonstrates an increasing importance under rich conditions. In particular, the reactions (i) forming SiOx(s); (ii) describing the interaction of Si-species with N2O; and (iii) involving silicon hydrides, have an important role for the heat release dynamics. The condensed combustion products formed in the silane-nitrous oxide-argon flames were sampled and characterized using electron micrograph, electronic diffraction, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction. For all equivalence ratios, silica spherical particles with a mean diameter in the range 200–300 nm were observed. In addition, for mixtures with Φ ≥ 2.2, silicon nanowires were formed. X-ray diffraction experiments showed that the silicon nanowires are composed of metal silicon characterized by a cubic structure (lattice parameter: a=5.425Å) with the Fm-3m space group.
Supporting or shaping a porous powder is important for industrial applications as optimized structure with high mass transfer, low pressure drop and high mechanical and chemical stability can be ...obtained. A new class of geopolymer-hydrotalcite composites with suitable mechanical and thermal properties were conceived as shaped materials for CO2 adsorption applications at intermediate temperature (200–400 °C). Composite monoliths were produced mixing different commercial hydrotalcite-type (HyT) powders with a metakaolin-based geopolymer matrix with a molar ratio SiO2:Al2O3 = 4.0. The compressive strength at room temperature and 500 °C ranged between 10 and 35 MPa, mainly depending on HyT powder morphology and composite total porosity. The composites were characterized and tested in term of CO2 uptake. After calcination to convert HyT into an amorphous Mg:Al mixed solid oxide able to absorb CO2, the composites were tested in the CO2 adsorption at 200 °C, with cycles of adsorption/desorption performed with intermediate regeneration at 500 °C. CO2 adsorption capacity was in the range 0.375–0.461 mmol g−1 for HyT and between 0.109 and 0.145 mmol g−1 for composites, being 0.052 mmol g−1 the value for the geopolymer matrix. A partial deactivation of the HyT phases was also detected.
•Geopolymer-hydrotalcite composites were developed for CO2 uptake at 200 °C.•A partial deactivation of the hydrotalcite-type phases occurred in composites.•The contribution of physical reversible adsorption was ∼50% in composites.•The composites showed compressive strength at r.t. and 500 °C in the rage of 10–35 MPa.
Marine mollusk aquaculture has more than doubled over the past twenty years, accounting for over 15% of total aquaculture production in 2016. Infectious disease is one of the main limiting factors to ...the development of mollusk aquaculture, and the difficulties inherent to combating pathogens through antibiotic therapies or disinfection have led to extensive research on host defense mechanisms and host-pathogen relationships. It has become increasingly clear that characterizing the functional profiles of response to a disease is an essential step in understanding resistance mechanisms and moving towards more effective disease control. The Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum, is a main cultured bivalve species of economic importance which is affected by Brown Ring disease (BRD), an infection induced by the bacterium Vibrio tapetis.
In this study, juvenile Manila clams were subjected to a 28-day controlled challenge with Vibrio tapetis, and visual and molecular diagnoses were carried out to distinguish two extreme phenotypes within the experimental clams: uninfected (“RES”, resistant) and infected (“DIS”, diseased) post-challenge. Total protein extractions were carried out for resistant and diseased clams, and proteins were identified using LC-MS/MS. Protein sequences were matched against a reference transcriptome of the Manila clam, and protein intensities based on label-free quantification were compared to reveal 49 significantly accumulated proteins in resistant and diseased clams. Proteins with known roles in pathogen recognition, lysosome trafficking, and various aspects of the energy metabolism were more abundant in diseased clams, whereas those with roles in redox homeostasis and protein recycling were more abundant in resistant clams.
Overall, the comparison of the proteomic profiles of resistant and diseased clams after a month-long controlled challenge to induce the onset of Brown Ring disease suggests that redox homeostasis and maintenance of protein structure by chaperone proteins may play important and interrelated roles in resistance to infection by Vibrio tapetis in the Manila clam.
•Diseased Ruditapes philippinarum show higher abundance of proteins associated with pathogen recognition and neutralization.•Proteins associated with energy production metabolisms are more abundant in diseased clams.•Healthy clams post-challenge showed higher abundance of proteins associated with redox homeostasis.•Resistance to Brown Ring disease may be linked to a balanced redox response and protein structure stability.
The future upgrades of the LHC experiments will increase the beam luminosity leading to a corresponding growth of the amounts of data to be treated by the data acquisition systems. To address these ...needs, the GBT (Giga-Bit Transceiver optical link 1,2) architecture was developed to provide the simultaneous transfer of readout data, timing and trigger signals as well as slow control and monitoring data. The GBT-SCA ASIC, part of the GBT chip-set, has the purpose to distribute control and monitoring signals to the on-detector front-end electronics and perform monitoring operations of detector environmental parameters. In order to meet the requirements of different front-end ASICs used in the experiments, it provides various user-configurable interfaces capable to perform simultaneous operations. It is designed employing radiation tolerant design techniques to ensure robustness against SEUs and TID radiation effects and is implemented in a commercial 130 nm CMOS technology. This work presents the GBT-SCA architecture, the ASIC interfaces, the data transfer protocol, and its integration with the GBT optical link.
Aims
Brown ring disease (BRD) is an infection of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum due to the pathogen Vibrio tapetis. During BRD, clams are facing immunodepression and shell biomineralization ...alteration. In this paper, we studied the role of pH on the growth of the pathogen and formulated hypothesis on the establishment of BRD by V. tapetis.
Methods and Results
In this study, we monitored the evolution of pH during the growth of V. tapetis in a range of pH and temperatures. We also measured the pH of Manila clam haemolymph and extrapallial fluids (EPFs) during infection by V. tapetis. We highlighted that V. tapetis modulates the external pH during its growth, to a value of 7·70. During the development of BRD, V. tapetis also influences EPFs and haemolymph pH in vitro in the first hours of exposure and in vivo after 3 days of infection.
Conclusions
Our experiments have shown a close interaction between V. tapetis CECT4600, a pathogen of Manila clam that induces BRD, and the pH of different compartments of the animals during infection. These results indicate that the bacterium, through a direct mechanism or as a consequence of physiological changes encountered in the animal during infection, is able to interfere with the pH of Manila clam fluids. This pH modification might promote the infection process or at least create an imbalance within the animal that would favour its persistence. This last hypothesis should be tested in future experiment.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This study is the first observation of pH modifications in the context of BRD and might orient future research on the fine mechanisms of pH modulation associated with BRD.
Several studies have suggested that anxiety may play a role in motion sickness susceptibility (MSS) variability. This study aimed to assess motion sickness susceptibility in healthy subjects and ...chronic vestibular patients and to investigate its relationship to gender, age and trait-anxiety. Healthy subjects (n=167) and chronic dizzy patients with various vestibulopathies (n=94), aged from 20 to 92 years old, were asked to complete Motion Sickness Susceptibility questionnaire (MSSQ) and trait-anxiety questionnaire (STAI-B). When patients were divided into those who had vestibular loss (n=51) vs. patients without vestibular loss (n=43), the MSSQ scores (mean ± SD) for patients with vestibular loss (18.8 ± 30.9) were lower than healthy subjects (36.4 ± 34.8), who were lower than vestibular patients without vestibular loss (59.0 ± 39.7). These significant differences could not be explained by gender, age, trait-anxiety, or interaction. Women had higher MSS than men, and MSS declined with age for healthy subjects and vestibular patients. The overall relationship between anxiety and MSS scores was weak and only reached significance in healthy subjects. These results support the conclusion that the vestibular system is heavily involved in MSS and that trait-anxiety may play a role in MSS but only in healthy subjects.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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