A reliable measure of footwear upper comfort enabled by an innovative sock equipped with textile pressure sensors

Footwear comfort is essential and pressure distribution on the foot was shown as a relevant objective measurement to assess it. However, asperities on the foot sides, especially the metatarsals and the instep, make its evaluation difficult with available equipment. Thus, a sock equipped with textile pressure sensors was designed. Results from the mechanical tests showed a high linearity of the sensor response under incremental loadings and allowed to determine the regression equation to convert voltage values into pressure measurements. The sensor response was also highly repeatable and the creep under constant loading was low. Pressure measurements on human feet associated with a perception questionnaire exhibited that significant relationships existed between pressure and comfort perceived on the first, the third and the fifth metatarsals and top of the instep.

Practitioner Summary: A sock equipped with textile sensors was validated for measuring the pressure on the foot top, medial and lateral sides to evaluate footwear comfort. This device may be relevant to help individuals with low sensitivity, such as children, elderly or neuropathic, to choose the shoes that fit the best.     

Evolution of EPDM networks aged by gamma irradiation - Consequences on the mechanical properties

Different Ethylene-Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) elastomers with different crosslink densities have been processed in order to evaluate the influence of gamma irradiation on their properties. In the case of a major phenomenon of chain scissions, the consequences are a decrease in the modulus and also a decrease in the strain at break. This decrease in the strain at break is opposite to what is expected for materials with increasing average chain length between crosslinks. To gain more insight into the network architecture, which is presumed to be responsible for this behavior, Charlesby's approach is applied. In tandem, a computational model of the degradation is developed for improved prediction of the evolution of the elastic modulus. Using these calculations, a novel interpretation of the ultimate properties of the elastomer as a function of its architecture is proposed.     

Preliminary examination of tobacco withdrawal in adolescent smokers during smoking cessation treatment

Tobacco withdrawal symptoms have been shown to play a significant role in mediating relapse to smoking in adult smokers; however, few prospective studies have examined the course of tobacco withdrawal symptoms over time and their connection to lapse in adolescent smokers. Withdrawal symptoms were assessed weekly for 4 weeks in a sample of adolescent smokers participating in a pilot cessation intervention. Adolescent smokers experienced an exacerbation in overall withdrawal symptoms, particularly of cravings and restlessness, although symptoms were generally mild. The course of symptoms was different for boys and girls: Girls generally experienced a peak and subsequent decline in symptoms early in the establishment of abstinence, whereas boys experienced a constant level of symptoms that did not decline over the 4 weeks. Finally, withdrawal symptoms experienced on quit day were not related to lapse to smoking during the course of treatment for either boys or girls. These results suggest that although withdrawal symptoms may be uncomfortable, they may not be the most salient to a lapse to smoking for adolescent smokers attempting to quit. These findings have direct implications for the design and implementation of treatment of nicotine dependence in adolescent smokers.     

Reflective engagement in cultural history: a Lacanian perspective on Pasifika teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand

How do we understand our own cultural histories and how do these understandings impact on our senses of self? This paper addresses the case of Pacific islander migration into New Zealand. It is based on a study fuelled by a group of Pacific island teachers exploring their own experiences of becoming teachers in New Zealand schools. The paper raises some theoretical issues relating to cultural identity as understood in relation to educational practices at the interfaces of cultures. By examining how notions of Pacific cultural identity for individuals are held in place by particular self-images the paper asks how such identities might be seen as reaching out to possible futures. The paper concludes with some tentative thoughts on how an individual might work towards strengthening a historical sense of self and a more productive reflective/reflexive conception of engagement in a situation of cultural minority.     

Aggressive behaviors in adult SF-1 knockout mice that are not exposed to gonadal steroids during development.

Sex hormones are a major factor responsible for the development of sex differences. Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) is a key regulator of gonadal and adrenal development, and SF-1 knockout mice (SF-1 KO) are born without gonads and adrenal glands. Consequently, these mice are not exposed to gonadal sex steroids. SF-1 KO pups die shortly after birth due to adrenal deficiency. In the present study, SF-1 KO mice were rescued by neonatal corticosteroid injections followed by adrenal transplantations on day 7-8 postnatally. Control mice received corticosteroid injections and were gonadectomized prior to puberty. Mice were observed interacting with ovariectomized hormone primed females and gonad-intact males. In the absence of sex steroid replacement, adult SF-1 KO mice were significantly more aggressive than control mice in tests with stimulus females. After testosterone treatment, control males displayed significantly more aggression towards male intruders than control female mice, or male and female SF-1 KO mice, suggesting a developmental role of gonadal hormones in the expression of aggressive behavior and affirming SF-1 KO mice as a behavioral model to investigate affects of fetal gonad deficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biobanked Glioblastoma Patient-Derived Organoids as a Precision Medicine Model to Study Inhibition of Invasion

Glioblastoma (GBM) is highly resistant to treatment and invasion into the surrounding brain is a cancer hallmark that leads to recurrence despite surgical resection. With the emergence of precision medicine, patient-derived 3D systems are considered potentially robust GBM preclinical models. In this study, we screened a library of 22 anti-invasive compounds (i.e., NF-kB, GSK-3-B, COX-2, and tubulin inhibitors) using glioblastoma U-251 MG cell spheroids. We evaluated toxicity and invasion inhibition using a 3D Matrigel invasion assay. We next selected three compounds that inhibited invasion and screened them in patient-derived glioblastoma organoids (GBOs). We developed a platform using available macros for FIJI/ImageJ to quantify invasion from the outer margin of organoids. Our data demonstrated that a high-throughput invasion screening can be done using both an established cell line and patient-derived 3D model systems. Tubulin inhibitor compounds had the best efficacy with U-251 MG cells, however, in ex vivo patient organoids the results were highly variable. Our results indicate that the efficacy of compounds is highly related to patient intra and inter-tumor heterogeneity. These results indicate that such models can be used to evaluate personal oncology therapeutic strategies.     

Single-Cell Analysis to Better Understand the Mechanisms Involved in MS

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Although this disease is widely studied, many of the precise mechanisms involved are still not well known. Numerous studies currently focusing on multiple sclerosis highlight the involvement of many major immune cell subsets, such as CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and more recently B cells. However, our vision of its pathology has remained too broad to allow the proper use of targeted therapeutics. This past decade, new technologies have emerged, enabling deeper research into the different cell subsets at the single-cell level both in the periphery and in the central nervous system. These technologies could allow us to identify new cell populations involved in the disease process and new therapeutic targets. In this review, we briefly introduce the major single-cell technologies currently used in studies before diving into the major findings from the multiple sclerosis research from the past 5 years. We focus on results that were obtained using single-cell technologies to study immune cells and cells from the central nervous system.     

Prolyl Carboxypeptidase Activity Is Present in Human Adipose Tissue and Is Elevated in Serum of Obese Men with Type 2 Diabetes

Prolyl carboxypeptidase (PRCP) is involved in metabolic disorders by hydrolyzing anorexigenic peptides. A link between serum PRCP activity and obesity has been reported, but its origin/source is still unclear. Previously proven correlations between human serum PRCP activity and the amount of adipose tissue may suggest that adipose tissue is an important source of circulating PRCP. We investigated PRCP activity in visceral, subcutaneous adipose tissue (VAT and SCAT), skeletal muscle tissue and serum of lean and obese men with or without type 2 diabetes (T2D). Correlations between PRCP activity, metabolic and biochemical parameters and immune cell populations were assessed. PRCP activity was the highest in VAT, compared to SCAT, and was very low in skeletal muscle tissue in the overall group. Serum PRCP activity was significantly higher in T2-diabetic obese men, compared to lean and obese non-diabetic men, and was positively correlated with glycemic control. A positive correlation was observed between serum PRCP activity and VAT immune cell populations, which might indicate that circulating PRCP activity is deriving rather from the immune fraction than from adipocytes. In conclusion, PRCP activity was observed in human adipose tissue for the first time and serum PRCP activity is correlated with T2D in obese men.     

Optimal parametrizations for surface remeshing

We present different linear parametrization techniques for the purpose of surface remeshing: the energy minimizing harmonic map, the convex map, and the least square conformal map. The implementation of those mappings as well as the associated boundary conditions is presented in a unified manner and the issues of triangle flipping and folding that may arise with discrete linear mappings are discussed. We explore the optimality of these parametrizations for surface remeshing by applying several classical 2D meshing algorithms in the parametric space and by comparing the quality of the generated elements. We present various examples that permit to draw guidelines that a user can follow in choosing the best parametrization scheme for a specific topology, geometry, and characteristics of the target output mesh.