To provide standardized confidence limits of the transient pattern electroretinogram (tPERG) P50 and N95 and steady state pattern electroretinogram (ssPERG) amplitudes in normal controls as compared ...to ocular hypertension (OHT), glaucoma suspect (GS), or early manifest glaucoma (EMG) eyes.
The identification of standardized confidence limits in the context of pattern electroretinogram (PERG) might overcome the high intrinsic variability of the measure, and it might lead to a more intuitive understanding of the results as well as to an easier comparison of data from multiple tests, sites, and operators.
The study protocol was prospectively registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (ID: CRD42022370032). A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Studies comparing PERG raw data in normal control eyes as compared to OHT, GS, or EMG were included. The risk of bias was assessed using the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence quality assessment tool. The main outcome was the P50, N95, and ssPERG amplitude difference between the control and the study groups’ eyes. The standardized mean difference was calculated as a measure of the effect size for the primary outcome. A subanalysis was conducted based on the type of electrodes adopted for the PERG measurements (invasive vs. noninvasive).
Of the 4580 eligible papers, only 23 were included (1754 eyes). Statistically significant amplitude differences were found in the P50, N95, and ssPERG amplitudes between normal controls and OHT, GS, and EMG eyes. The highest standardized mean difference values were observed in the ssPERG amplitude in all 3 sets of comparison. The subanalysis did not reveal any statistically significant differences between invasive and noninvasive recording strategies.
The use of standardized values as the main outcome measures in the context of the PERG data analysis is a valid approach, normalizing several confounding factors which have affected the clinical utility of PERG both for individual patients and in clinical trials. Steady state PERG apparently better discriminates diseased eyes compared to tPERG. The adoption of skin-active electrodes is able to adequately discriminate between healthy and diseased statuses.
Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.
Heart transplantation is the definitive treatment for refractory, end-stage heart failure. The number of patients awaiting transplantation far exceeds available organs. In an effort to expand the ...donor pool, donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart transplantation has garnered renewed interest. Unlike donation after brain death, DCD donors do not meet the criteria for brain death and are dependent on life-sustaining therapies. Procurement can include a direct strategy or a normothermic regional perfusion, whereby there is restoration of perfusion to the organ before explantation. There are new developments in cold storage and ex vivo perfusion strategies. Since its inception, there has been a steady improvement in post-transplant outcomes, largely attributed to advancements in operative and procurement strategies. In this narrative review, the authors address the unique considerations of DCD heart transplantation, including withdrawal of care, the logistics of procuring and resuscitating organs, outcomes compared with standard donation after brain death, and ethical considerations.
Conventional 3D printers automatically create complex continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite structures with excellent specific strength and specific stiffness. However, such ...printing is performed at a constant thickness, which neither provides design freedom in the thickness direction nor an optimal arrangement of CFRP filaments. This study experimentally verified a high-degree-of-freedom 3D printing method in which the layer thickness and path width were controlled by changing the nozzle height during the CFRP printing. From the basic verification of changing the layer thickness, the range where the thickness change is possible was determined. In addition, the fiber orientation and layer thickness were optimized based on the stress distribution for the open-hole tensile problem. Three types of specimens based on constant-thickness straight-line (CTSL) model, optimized fiber path model, and optimized fiber path and thickness (OFPT) model, were prepared and their weight and tensile properties were evaluated. The results showed that the OFPT model successfully reduced the weight by 4.51% and increased the strength by 15.3% compared to the CTSL model.
Orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) improves survival in eligible patients. Organ scarcity necessitates extensive clinical and psychosocial evaluations before listing. The Stanford Integrated ...Psychosocial Assessment for Transplant (SIPAT) predicts risk for poor psychosocial outcomes and morbidity in the first year post-transplant, yet it is unknown whether it predicts long-term outcomes.
Blinded examiners obtained data from a retrospective cohort of 51 OHT recipients from a high-volume center. Patients with “Excellent” or “Good” SIPAT score indicating low psychosocial risk for transplant (E/G) were compared with those who met “Minimum Acceptable Criteria” or were “High Risk” (MAC/HR). Associations were examined between SIPAT group and outcomes.
MAC/HR versus E/G recipients had significantly reduced survival in the 10 years post-OHT (mean 6.7 vs 8.8 years, p = 0.027; 55% vs 82% survival proportions, p = 0.037). MAC/HR patients were more likely to live in a county with greater income inequality (p = 0.025) and have psychiatric history pre-OHT (p = 0.046). Both groups had otherwise similar demographics and medical history. A lower proportion of MAC/HR patients adhered to medications post-OHT and a greater proportion had psychiatric illness, though differences were not significant.
Higher-risk SIPAT scores predict reduced long-term survival post-OHT. Further efforts are crucial to improve outcomes in higher-risk patients.
•Higher-risk SIPAT scores associated with increased long-term mortality post-OHT.•Patients with higher-risk scores have almost 25% lower mean survival post-OHT.•These patients are more likely to live in areas with greater income inequality.•Patients with higher-risk SIPAT scores may have worsened psychosocial outcomes.
To provide standardized confidence limits of the transient pattern electroretinogram (tPERG) P50 and N95 and steady state pattern electroretinogram (ssPERG) amplitudes in normal controls as compared ...to ocular hypertension (OHT), glaucoma suspect (GS), or early manifest glaucoma (EMG) eyes.
The identification of standardized confidence limits in the context of pattern electroretinogram (PERG) might overcome the high intrinsic variability of the measure, and it might lead to a more intuitive understanding of the results as well as to an easier comparison of data from multiple tests, sites, and operators.
The study protocol was prospectively registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (ID: CRD42022370032). A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Studies comparing PERG raw data in normal control eyes as compared to OHT, GS, or EMG were included. The risk of bias was assessed using the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence quality assessment tool. The main outcome was the P50, N95, and ssPERG amplitude difference between the control and the study groups' eyes. The standardized mean difference was calculated as a measure of the effect size for the primary outcome. A subanalysis was conducted based on the type of electrodes adopted for the PERG measurements (invasive vs. noninvasive).
Of the 4580 eligible papers, only 23 were included (1754 eyes). Statistically significant amplitude differences were found in the P50, N95, and ssPERG amplitudes between normal controls and OHT, GS, and EMG eyes. The highest standardized mean difference values were observed in the ssPERG amplitude in all 3 sets of comparison. The subanalysis did not reveal any statistically significant differences between invasive and noninvasive recording strategies.
The use of standardized values as the main outcome measures in the context of the PERG data analysis is a valid approach, normalizing several confounding factors which have affected the clinical utility of PERG both for individual patients and in clinical trials. Steady state PERG apparently better discriminates diseased eyes compared to tPERG. The adoption of skin-active electrodes is able to adequately discriminate between healthy and diseased statuses.
Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.
In this study, the fatigue-healing-fatigue (FHF) test is conducted to investigate influence pattern of temperature and thermal oxidative aging on the self-healing ability of styrene-butadiene-styrene ...(SBS) modified bitumen (SBS-MB) and polyethylene (PE) modified bitumen (PE-MB). Results display that the optimum healing temperature (OHT) of each bitumen (wherever unaged or aged) is in the phase transition (PT) zone, and is lower than its softening point, followed by its Newtonian flow temperature. Two types of healing crossover temperature points are found in the healing-temperature curves of polymer modified bitumen (PMB) samples with various aging degrees, indicating the complexity of self-healing transition phenomenon in the aged PMB samples. Hence, the evaluation of aging effects on the self-healing ability of PMBs should be performed in a wide temperature range. Furthermore, the self-healing ability of PMBs is gradually weakened with the deepening of aging extents. Notably, the thermal oxidative aging imparts totally different effects to the self-healing ability of SBS-MB and PE-MB at lower temperatures. Moreover, the results of softening point test, fluorescence microscopy test, frequency sweep test and differential scanning calorimeter test convey that the altered phase structure and polymer distribution of PMBs during aging elicit the healing-temperature curves shift and self-healing transition.
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•The optimum healing temperature of bitumen is lower than the softening point, followed by the Newtonian flow temperature.•Aging effects on healing ability of polymer modified bitumen should be examined in a wide temperature range.•Self-healing abilities of SBS bitumen and PE bitumen are gradually weakened with aging.•Thermal oxidative aging imparts various effects to healing abilities of SBS bitumen and PE bitumen at lower temperatures.•Altered phase structure and polymer distribution of modified bitumens during aging elicit healing curves shift and healing transition.
The most common cause of diseases in swimming pools is the lack of sanitary control of water quality; water may contain microbiological and chemical contaminants. Among the people most at risk of ...infection are children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised people. The origin of the problem is a need to develop a system that can predict the formation of chlorine water disinfection by-products, such as trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs are volatile organic compounds from the group of alkyl halides, carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, and bioaccumulating. Long-term exposure, even to low concentrations of THM in water and air, may result in damage to the liver, kidneys, thyroid gland, or nervous system. This article focuses on analysis of the kinetics of swimming pool water reaction in analytical device reproducing its circulation on a small scale. The designed and constructed analytical device is based on the SIMATIC S7-1200 PLC driver of SIEMENS Company. The HMI KPT panel of SIEMENS Company enables monitoring the process and control individual elements of device. Value of the reaction rate constant of free chlorine decomposition gives us qualitative information about water quality, it is also strictly connected to the kinetics of the reaction. Based on the experiment results, the value of reaction rate constant was determined as a linear change of the natural logarithm of free chlorine concentration over time. The experimental value of activation energy based on the directional coefficient is equal to 76.0 kJ×mol−1. These results indicate that changing water temperature does not cause any changes in the reaction rate, while it still affects the value of the reaction rate constant. Using the analytical device, it is possible to constantly monitor the values of reaction rate constant and activation energy, which can be used to develop a new way to assess pool water quality.
For the design of composite structures with circular cut-outs analytical, experimental and numerical methods are available. This paper investigates numerous exact analytical methods introduced in ...literature as an example of the Airbus Industries Test Method for determination of open hole tensile strength, conforming to AITM 1-0007. Experimental testing accompanied by digital image correlation of unidirectional 0° and 90° laminates as well as quasi-isotropic CFRP laminates with width-to-diameter (w/d) ratios of 3 and 5 is conducted. In addition, 3D finite element models of the test specimens are created for detailed analysis on lamina level. A preliminary study on numerous analytical methods introduced in literature shows that application of any of those methods results in one of two possible stress distributions. A qualitative comparison of 2D strain fields on laminate level reveals the high prediction quality of the analytical solutions. Furthermore, a detailed stress analysis on lamina level by comparison to a validated FE model is conducted. The results show that exact analytical solutions exhibit a satisfactory stress prediction quality for w/d ratios as low as 3 and thus can be recommended for preliminary design purposes.
This paper investigates damage progression during Open-Hole Tension (OHT) test of carbon fibre-reinforced composites with different Quasi-Isotropic (QI) layups. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and ...in-situ edge microscopy are utilized simultaneously to detect damage on the specimen’s surface and in the inner plies, respectively. It is found that damage does not always initiate in the 90° plies, but also in the surface 45° plies, depending on the orientation of the adjacent ply. DIC resulting strain field on the surface does not necessarily have the same butterfly-shape concentration around the hole, in all layups. Some laminates show large free edge delaminations at 45°/90° interfaces. This study adds in-situ evidences to the existing data on damage during OHT test of QI laminates, providing quantitative and comparative information on different damage modes, and reveals new features of the damage phenomena.
Abstract
The OHT system is a transport device used for intra- or inter-plant transport in a fab or other factory, the load-bearing part of the goods stored under the trolley generates longitudinal ...vibration and lateral oscillation due to inertia force When the OHT in the air starts or stops. Firstly, the trolley dynamic model under the action of lateral thrust and longitudinal tensile force need to be established. secondly, the coupling analysis of horizontal oscillation and longitudinal oscillation on the model is carried out. Thirdly, aiming at the lateral swing and longitudinal vibration of the carriage, a double closed-loop vibration control strategy with tension control as inner loop and speed control as outer loop and carry out the simulation analysis of longitudinal vibration control is proposed. In the experiment of the ground trolley, the control strategy is applied. The simulation and experimental results show that the control method can quickly restrain the longitudinal vibration of the trolley bearing plate, reduce the pulling force of the trolley on the lifting steel belt, and avoid the large displacement of the bearing plate in the air.
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