The aspect ratio (AR) of filler particles is one of the most critical determinants for the mechanical properties of particle-reinforced polymer composites. However, it has been challenging to solely ...study the effect of particle AR due to the difficulties of controlling AR without altering the physical and chemical properties of the particle. Herein, we synthesized PCN-222, a zirconium-based porphyrinic metal–organic framework (MOF) with preferential longitudinal growth as a series of particles with ARs increasing from 3.4 to 54. The synthetic MOF conditions allowed for the chemical properties of the particles to remain constant over the series. The particles were employed as reinforcers for poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). MOF–polymer composite films were fabricated using doctor-blading techniques, which facilitated particle dispersion and alignment in the PMMA matrix, as revealed by optical microscopy and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. Mechanical measurements showed that both elastic and dynamic moduli increased with particle AR and particle concentrations but started to decrease as particle loading increased beyond 0.5 wt % (1.12 vol %). The data obtained at low particle loadings were fitted well with the Halpin–Tsai model. In contrast, the percolation model and the Cox model were unable to adequately fit the data, indicating the mechanical reinforcement in our system mainly originated from efficient load transfer between particles and the matrix in the particle orienting direction. Finally, we showed that the thermal stability of composite films increased with the addition of MOF particles because of the high thermal degradation temperature and restricted polymer chain mobility.
We numerically model the ablation process of a 25-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula>-thick aluminum foil driven by a pulsed-power machine that ...provides a 1-MA peak current in a 100-ns zero-to-peak rise time. The extended magnetohydrodynamics simulation is a discontinuous Galerkin code with Cartesian coordinates in 3-D and with 25-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> spatial resolution. We investigate the influence of an external magnetic field normal to the foil surface, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">B_{z} </tex-math></inline-formula>. During the foil ablation, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">B_{z}=1 </tex-math></inline-formula> T causes more nonuniform distributions of density and current compared to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">B_{z}=0 </tex-math></inline-formula> T. <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">B_{z}=4 </tex-math></inline-formula> T delays the generation of surface plasma relative to the 0- and 1-T cases. The understanding of a material's ablation as it undergoes transition from the solid to plasma phases requires detailed knowledge of a material's equation of state and conductivity. This paper of warm dense matter and how instabilities propagate from a solid material to plasma motivates improvements to both numerical simulations and experimental diagnostics.
Men and women in early modern Europe experienced their bodies very differently from the ways in which contemporary men and women do. In this challenging and innovative book, Gail Kern Paster examines ...representations of the body in Elizabethan-Jacobean drama in the light of humoral medical theory, tracing the connections between the history of the visible social body and the history of the subject's body as experienced from within.
In most countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the fall of communism opened up the possibility for individuals to acquire land. Based on Katherine Verdery's extensive fieldwork ...between 1990 and 2001, The Vanishing Hectare explores the importance of land and land ownership to the people of one Transylvanian community, Aurel Vlaicu. Verdery traces how collectivized land was transformed into private property, how land was valued, what the new owners were able to do with it, and what it signified to each of the different groups vying for land rights. Verdery tells this story about transforming socialist property forms in a global context, showing the fruitfulness of conceptualizing property as a political symbol, as a complex of social relations among people and things, and as a process of assigning value. This book is a window on rural life after socialism but it also provides a framework for assessing the neo-liberal economic policies that have prevailed elsewhere, such as in Latin America. Verdery shows how the trajectory of property after socialism was deeply conditioned by the forms property took in socialism itself; this is in contrast to the image of a tabula rasa that governed much thinking about post-socialist property reform.
Emerging evidence suggests that poor dietary quality is an important risk factor for disability. However, few studies have compared adherence to dietary patterns with disability and none among Puerto ...Rican adults.
This study was designed to examine relationships between 3 dietary patterns—including Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Mediterranean dietary score (MeDS), and Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010—and ∼6-y incidence of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disability and to assess potential mediation by handgrip strength.
Data are from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, a longitudinal cohort of Puerto Rican adults aged 45–75 y (N = 1502). Adherence to dietary pattern variables were derived from food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data averaged at baseline and ∼2 y. Handgrip strength was assessed at baseline. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess longitudinal associations between DASH, MeDS, and HEI-2010 and incident ∼6-y ADL (and subscales) and IADL disability. Mediation by handgrip strength was also tested.
Participants with higher adherence DASH had lower risk of ADL, ADL mobility, and ADL manual dexterity disabilities (hazards ratio HR: 0.96; 95% confidence interval CI: 0.91, 0.98; HR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.92, 0.99; and HR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92, 0.98, respectively). Higher adherence to MeDS was associated with lower risk of ADL and ADL mobility disabilities (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.98; HR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.82, 1.00), and higher adherence to HEI with lower risk of ADL manual dexterity (HR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.97, 0.99) in fully adjusted models. Only DASH tended to be associated with IADL (HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.94, 1.00). Baseline handgrip strength was a mediator between HEI and ADL manual dexterity (23.7% of the indirect effect was explained through handgrip strength).
Higher adherence to a healthy diet pattern may decrease risk of disability and may be an important prevention strategy for ADL and IADL disability associated with aging.
Life sciences are yielding huge data sets that underpin scientific discoveries fundamental to improvement in human health, agriculture and the environment. In support of these discoveries, a plethora ...of databases and tools are deployed, in technically complex and diverse implementations, across a spectrum of scientific disciplines. The corpus of documentation of these resources is fragmented across the Web, with much redundancy, and has lacked a common standard of information. The outcome is that scientists must often struggle to find, understand, compare and use the best resources for the task at hand.Here we present a community-driven curation effort, supported by ELIXIR-the European infrastructure for biological information-that aspires to a comprehensive and consistent registry of information about bioinformatics resources. The sustainable upkeep of this Tools and Data Services Registry is assured by a curation effort driven by and tailored to local needs, and shared amongst a network of engaged partners.As of November 2015, the registry includes 1785 resources, with depositions from 126 individual registrations including 52 institutional providers and 74 individuals. With community support, the registry can become a standard for dissemination of information about bioinformatics resources: we welcome everyone to join us in this common endeavour. The registry is freely available at https://bio.tools.
Background. Studies suggest that statins and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors might be beneficial for the treatment of infections. Our purpose was to examine the association of statin, ...ACE inhibitor, and angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) use with pneumonia-related outcomes. Methods. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using Department of Veterans Affairs data of patients aged > 65 years hospitalized with pneumonia. We performed propensity-score matching for 3 medication classes simultaneously. Results. Of 50 119 potentially eligible patients, we matched 11 498 cases with 11 498 controls. Mortality at 30 days was 13%; 34% used statins, 30% ACE inhibitors, and 4% ARBs. In adjusted models, prior statin use was associated with decreased mortality (odds ratio OR, 0.74; 95% confidence interval CI, .68-.82) and mechanical ventilation (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 70-.94), and inpatient use with decreased mortality (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, .59-78) and mechanical ventilation (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, .60-.90). Prior (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, .80-.97) and inpatient (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, .48-.69) ACE inhibitor use was associated with decreased mortality. Prior (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, .58-.92) and inpatient ARB use (OR, 0.47; 95% CI, .30-.72) was only associated with decreased mortality. Use of all 3 medications was associated with reduced length of stay. Conclusions. Statins, and to a lesser extent ACE inhibitors and ARBs, are associated with improved pneumonia-related outcomes. Prospective cohort and randomized controlled trials are needed to examine potential mechanisms of action and whether acute initiation at the time of presentation with these infections is beneficial.
In developing melanocytes and in melanoma cells, multiple paralogs of the Activating-enhancer-binding Protein 2 family of transcription factors (TFAP2) contribute to expression of genes encoding ...pigmentation regulators, but their interaction with Microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF), a master regulator of these cells, is unclear. Supporting the model that TFAP2 facilitates MITF's ability to activate expression of pigmentation genes, single-cell seq analysis of zebrafish embryos revealed that pigmentation genes are only expressed in the subset of mitfa-expressing cells that also express tfap2 paralogs. To test this model in SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells we deleted the two TFAP2 paralogs with highest expression, TFAP2A and TFAP2C, creating TFAP2 knockout (TFAP2-KO) cells. We then assessed gene expression, chromatin accessibility, binding of TFAP2A and of MITF, and the chromatin marks H3K27Ac and H3K27Me3 which are characteristic of active enhancers and silenced chromatin, respectively. Integrated analyses of these datasets indicate TFAP2 paralogs directly activate enhancers near genes enriched for roles in pigmentation and proliferation, and directly repress enhancers near genes enriched for roles in cell adhesion. Consistently, compared to WT cells, TFAP2-KO cells proliferate less and adhere to one another more. TFAP2 paralogs and MITF co-operatively activate a subset of enhancers, with the former necessary for MITF binding and chromatin accessibility. By contrast, TFAP2 paralogs and MITF do not appear to co-operatively inhibit enhancers. These studies reveal a mechanism by which TFAP2 profoundly influences the set of genes activated by MITF, and thereby the phenotype of pigment cells and melanoma cells.
Determine 1) frequency and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) after in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) in the Therapeutic Hypothermia after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest In-Hospital (THAPCA-IH) ...trial and associated outcomes; 2) impact of temperature management on post-IHCA AKI.
Secondary analysis of THAPCA-IH; a randomized controlled multi-national trial at 37 children’s hospitals.
Serum creatinine (Cr) within 24 h of randomization.
Prevalence of severe AKI defined by Stage 2 or 3 Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes Cr criteria. 12-month survival with favorable neurobehavioral outcome. Analyses stratified by entire cohort and cardiac subgroup. Risk factors and outcomes compared among cohorts with and without severe AKI.
Subject randomization: 159 to hypothermia, 154 to normothermia.
Overall, 80% (249) developed AKI (any stage), and 66% (207) developed severe AKI. Cardiac patients (204, 65%) were more likely to develop severe AKI (72% vs 56%,p = 0.006). Preexisting cardiac or renal conditions, baseline lactate, vasoactive support, and systolic blood pressure were associated with severe AKI. Comparing hypothermia versus normothermia, there were no differences in severe AKI rate (63% vs 70%,p = 0.23), peak Cr, time to peak Cr, or freedom from mortality or severe AKI (p = 0.14). Severe AKI was associated with decreased hospital survival (48% vs 65%,p = 0.006) and decreased 12-month survival with favorable neurobehavioral outcome (30% vs 53%,p < 0.001).
Severe post-IHCA AKI occurred frequently especially in those with preexisting cardiac or renal conditions and peri-arrest hemodynamic instability. Severe AKI was associated with decreased survival with favorable neurobehavioral outcome. Hypothermia did not decrease incidence of severe AKI post-IHCA.
PDF
