Large-scale additive manufacturing processes for construction utilise computer-controlled placement of extruded cement-based mortar to create physical objects layer-by-layer. Demonstrated ...applications include component manufacture and placement of in-situ walls for buildings. These applications vary the constraints on design parameters and present different technical issues for the production process. In this paper, published and new work are utilised to explore the relationship between fresh and hardened paste, mortar, and concrete material properties and how they influence the geometry of the created object. Findings are classified by construction application to create a matrix of issues that identifies the spectrum of future research exploration in this emerging field.
To compare the efficacy and tolerability of fulvestrant (formerly ICI 182,780) with anastrozole in the treatment of advanced breast cancer in patients whose disease progresses on prior endocrine ...treatment.
In this double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group study, postmenopausal patients were randomized to receive either an intramuscular injection of fulvestrant 250 mg once monthly or a daily oral dose of anastrozole 1 mg. The primary end point was time to progression (TTP). Secondary end points included objective response (OR) rate, duration of response (DOR), and tolerability.
Patients (n = 400) were followed for a median period of 16.8 months. Fulvestrant was as effective as anastrozole in terms of TTP (hazard ratio, 0.92; 95.14% confidence interval CI, 0.74 to 1.14; P =.43); median TTP was 5.4 months with fulvestrant and 3.4 months with anastrozole. OR rates were 17.5% with both treatments. Clinical benefit rates (complete response + partial response + stable disease > or = 24 weeks) were 42.2% for fulvestrant and 36.1% for anastrozole (95% CI, -4.00% to 16.41%; P =.26). In responding patients, median DOR (from randomization to progression) was 19.0 months for fulvestrant and 10.8 months for anastrozole. Using all patients, DOR was significantly greater for fulvestrant compared with anastrozole; the ratio of average response durations was 1.35 (95% CI, 1.10 to 1.67; P < 0.01). Both treatments were well tolerated.
Fulvestrant was at least as effective as anastrozole, with efficacy end points slightly favoring fulvestrant. Fulvestrant represents an additional treatment option for postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer whose disease progresses on tamoxifen therapy.
In this paper, a suite of three Standard Reference Materials (SRM) for calibration of rotational rheometers that are used to characterize the flow of cement-based materials is described. These SRMs ...were designed to have rheological properties similar to those of a cement paste, mortar, and concrete but are stable for at least 7 days with no hydration. The SRMs for mortar and for concrete are unique because their certifed values are based largely on computer simulations. Indeed, this is the first time that a computer simulation-based SRM has been certifed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The authors were motivated to use a computational approach for creating these SRMs because physical measurements introduced a variety of flow artifacts, due to rheometer designs, that put the experimental results into question. The use of such SRMs for calibrating different rheometers, which typically provide measurements in terms of torque and rotational rate, will allow the user to obtain results in fundamental units. That is, different rheometers will provide consistent measurements of viscosity versus shear rate. In addition, this approach uses a universal scaling ansatz that allows one to establish a relationship between the viscosity versus shear rate of a paste, mortar, or concrete to each other. Keywords: cement-based materials; computational fluid dynamics; non-Newtonian fluids; rheology; shear rate; smoothed particles dynamics; Standard Reference Materials (SRM); viscosity.
High similarity between yeast and human mitochondria allows functional genomic study of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to be used to identify human genes involved in disease. So far, 102 heritable ...disorders have been attributed to defects in a quarter of the known nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins in humans. Many mitochondrial diseases remain unexplained, however, in part because only 40-60% of the presumed 700-1,000 proteins involved in mitochondrial function and biogenesis have been identified. Here we apply a systematic functional screen using the pre-existing whole-genome pool of yeast deletion mutants to identify mitochondrial proteins. Three million measurements of strain fitness identified 466 genes whose deletions impaired mitochondrial respiration, of which 265 were new. Our approach gave higher selection than other systematic approaches, including fivefold greater selection than gene expression analysis. To apply these advantages to human disorders involving mitochondria, human orthologs were identified and linked to heritable diseases using genomic map positions.
Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) of wheat reduces the quality and economic value of grain, and increasing PHS tolerance is one of the most important traits in wheat breeding. Two new Vp-1B alleles related ...to PHS tolerance were identified on the 3BL chromosome of bread wheat and were designated Vp-1Bb and Vp-1Bc. Sequence analysis showed that Vp-1Bb has a 193 bp insertion and Vp-1Bc has a 83 bp deletion located in the third intron region of the Vp-1B gene, and that they shared 95.43% and 97.89% similarity, respectively, with the sequence of AJ400713 (Vp-1Ba) at the nucleotide level. Their sequences were deposited in the GenBank under the accession numbers DQ517493 and DQ517494. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that alternatively spliced transcripts of the Vp-1A, Vp-1B, and Vp-1D homologues were present and there were no differences in the splicing patterns or abundances of Vp-1A and Vp-1D from embryos 35 d after pollination between PHS-tolerant and -susceptible cultivars. Although Vp-1Ba, Vp-1Bb, and Vp-1Bc could each produce a set of transcripts, only one was correctly spliced and had the capacity to encode the full-length VP1 protein and was more highly expressed with Vp-1Bb and Vp-1Bc than with Vp-1Ba. Comparison of the expression patterns of Vp-1Ba, Vp-1Bb, and Vp-1Bc on different days after pollination also revealed that the expression of these genes was developmentally regulated. Furthermore, genotypes with different levels of tolerance to PHS respond differently to ABA exposure and differences in transcript levels of Vp-1Ba, Vp-1Bb, and Vp-1Bc were observed after ABA treatment. The results indicated that insertion or deletion in the third intron region might affect the expression of the Vp-1B gene and its sensitivity to ABA, and thus resistance to PHS.
Perylene diimide discotic columnar liquid‐crystalline mesophases (see Figure) can show very high electron mobilities under ambient conditions. While the mobilities are strongly dependent on sample ...morphology and processing conditions, mobilities as high as 1.3 cm2 V–1 s–1 are measured, greater than that of amorphous silicon.
In certain communities patients may struggle to find access to adequate dental treatment. One proposed strategy to help meet population need is to train more dental hygiene-therapists. However, ...established attitudes and hierarchies, along with a lack of clear understanding of different roles within some general practice environments has led to underutilised shared-care approaches. Integrating dentists and dental hygiene-therapists in undergraduate education may be an effective approach to promote inter-professional education, dispel inappropriate biases and hierarchies, and nurture team working from an early career stage. As such, we have developed a novel BSc Dental Therapy and Hygiene (BDHT) curriculum, which is integrated with the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme.
The aim of this paper is to describe how two separate BDHT and BDS undergraduate programmes have been uniquely integrated, and to share areas of best practice.
The BDHT curriculum was developed based on our established BDS programme introduced in 2013 and is novel in two respects: BDHT students complete their academic and clinical training jointly with BDS students, and are assessed and trained to the same standards; and our patient-centred, primary care clinical training model is designed to prepare BDHT graduates to work under direct access.
Key success indicators of the integrated BDHT-BDS programmes are: award of GDC sufficiency; 100% BDHT graduate employment; and 100% BDHT final year pass rate.
Inter-professional education is an established pedagogic approach to inhibit the formation of hierarchy and barriers that impede collaborative care. Our BDHT programme is the first of its kind to embed inter-professional education through the entirety of both the BDHT and BDS course structures and be entirely integrated. Further studies are required to provide quantitative and qualitative data to validate the success of our new integrated training programme. This paper presents our curriculum journey, from conception, to design, implementation and review. It describes our vision and its relevance for the future of inter-professional dental education.
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