Multiple radon survey in spa of Loutra Edipsou (Greece)

Various investigators are involved with radon research in Greece. Numerous measurements have been reported for different regions around the country. In this study we focus on the city of Loutra Edipsou, a spa centre of about 4000 inhabitants in the northern part of the island of Evia (Greece). This city is built on an area of high geothermal activity, a fact that served as a guide to our study. The aim was to estimate the dose delivered to inhabitants, the potential alpha energy exposure of bathers and spa personnel and to investigate the radon background in this area. The detectors used were of active type. Measurements are reported for dwellings, which were grouped into two different sets: one representing typical summer periods (July and August 2002) and the other typical winter periods (October and November 2002) The Potential Alpha Energy Exposure (PAEE) of the bathers during treatment lies in the range between (45 +/- 3) and (110 +/- 5) mWLM (1 WLM = 12.97 J s m(-3)). The PAEE of the working personnel lies in the range between (34 +/- 3) and (100 +/- 20) mWLM.     

Fragility assessment of wood sheathing panels and roof-to-wall connections subjected to wind loading

The performance of the wood-frame buildings after tornadoes has shown that the majority of the wind damage resulted from building envelope failure most typically due to the loss of the roof. To assess the performance and the reliability of low-rise wood-frame residential buildings with a focus on the roofs, fragility analysis can be used to estimate the probability of failure of a roof when constructed with specified nails and sheathing sizes. Thus, this paper examines the fragility of specific types of nails, roof-to-wall (RW) connection details, and sheathing sizes based on the damaged roofs that were previously assessed in the Dunrobin area in Ottawa (Ontario) that was hit with an Enhanced Fujita (EF3) tornado on September 21, 2018. The presented fragility analysis considers four scenarios, including different sheathing and nail sizes. Dead loads, wind loads, and resistance on the sheathing panels were compiled and analyzed to determine the failure of the examined roofs. The eight fragility models suggest that the safest roof sheathing (RS) is the 1.22 m × 1.22 m sheathing panel with 8 d nails, and the safest RW connections is achieved by using H2.5 hurricane clips.     

Anosognosia for motor impairment following left brain damage.

Anosognosia for motor impairment has been linked to lesions of the right hemisphere. However, left hemisphere damaged patients have often been excluded from investigation because of their associated language deficits. In this study we assessed anosognosia for motor disorders in a group of left hemisphere damaged patients using 2 tools that assess the presence of unawareness—a structured interview that is a common method of assessment of anosognosia in clinical settings, and a new tool, the Visual-Analogue Test for Anosognosia for Motor Impairment (VATAm; Della Sala, Cocchini, Beschin, & Cameron, in press). The structured interview relies heavily on language and enquires about general motor ability whereas the VATAm is less dependent on language abilities and enquires about specific motor tasks. Results suggest that the frequency of anosognosia in left brain damaged patients may have been underestimated due to methodological reasons, and that anosognosia for motor impairment can also be associated with lesions of the left hemisphere. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Critical Role of the Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) Catabolism-Regulating Enzymes,Branched-Chain Aminotransferase (BCAT) and Branched-Chain α-Keto Acid Dehydrogenase (BCKD), in Human Pathophysiology

Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), leucine, isoleucine and valine, are essential amino acids widely studied for their crucial role in the regulation of protein synthesis mainly through the activation of the mTOR signaling pathway and their emerging recognition as players in the regulation of various physiological and metabolic processes, such as glucose homeostasis. BCAA supplementation is primarily used as a beneficial nutritional intervention in chronic liver and kidney disease as well as in muscle wasting disorders. However, downregulated/upregulated plasma BCAAs and their defective catabolism in various tissues, mainly due to altered enzymatic activity of the first two enzymes in their catabolic pathway, BCAA aminotransferase (BCAT) and branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKD), have been investigated in many nutritional and disease states. The current review focused on the underlying mechanisms of altered BCAA catabolism and its contribution to the pathogenesis of a numerous pathological conditions such as diabetes, heart failure and cancer. In addition, we summarize findings that indicate that the recovery of the dysregulated BCAA catabolism may be associated with an improved outcome and the prevention of serious disease complications.     

Decentralised Functional Signatures

Mobile Networks and Applications - With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) a lot of critical information is shared however without having guarantees about the origin and...     

Isolation and structure elucidation of novel phenolic constituents from Sorbus domestica fruits

In the framework of the detailed phytochemical analysis of Sorbus domestica fruits at several maturity stages and additively to the phenolic compounds elucidated by LC-DAD-MS (ESI+), ten more, novel phenolic compounds were isolated after preparative work and their structure elucidation was achieved with UV–vis, NMR (¹H, ¹³C, COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY, TOCSY, ROESY), LC-DAD-MS (ESI+) and HR-NanoESI-QqTOF-MS/MS. The novel compounds belong to the categories of hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives (Compounds 1, 2, 3), polyphenolic phenylpropanoid derivative (Compound 4), quercetin glycosides (Compounds 5, 6), flavanol glycoside (Compound 7), quercetin dimmer (Compound 8) and biphenyls (Compounds 9, 10). Their structures were established as: Vannilic acid 4-O-α-L-rhamnoside (1), protocatechuic acid anhydrite (2), trivanilloyl-(1,3,4-trihydroxybenzol) ester (3), 3-{4-(bis[4-hydroxy-3-(5-hydroxypentanoyloxy) phenyl) methoxy]-3,5-dihydroxy phenyl} propanoic acid (4), quercetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl(1′′′→2′′)-α-L-rhamnosyl(1′′′′→3′′′)-α-L-rhamnosyl(1′′′′′→3′′′′)-α-L-arabinofuranoside, quercetin 3-O-α-L-rhamnosyl(1′′′→3′′)-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), 5,7,3′,6′-tetrahydroxyflavanol 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), (7-O-4′′′, 4′O-7′′) quercetin dimmer (8), [2,2′-dihydroxy, 4-(propionic acid hexyl ester), 4′-(propionic acid heptyl ester)] biphenyl (9) and [2,6,2′,6′-tetrahydroxy, 4,4′-bis-(propionic acid hexyl ester)] biphenyl (10).     

Genetic Variability and Phylogeny of High Risk HPV Type 16, 18, 31, 33 and 45 L1 Gene in Greek Women

The present study explores nucleotide variability, phylogeny and association with cervical neoplasia in high risk HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 45 collected from Greek women. Of the 1894 women undergoing routine cervical cytology examination, 160 samples test positive for single infections of HPV type 16 (n = 104), HPV 31 (n = 40), HPV 33 (n = 7), HPV 18 (n = 5), and HPV 45 (n = 4) were typed by microarrays method, amplified by PCR then sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. For HPV 16, 9 variants with nucleotide variations were included into the study. For HPV 31, 33, 18 and 45, nucleotide variations were identified in 6, 4, 2 and 3 variants, respectively. The Bayesian inference and Maximum Parsimony methods were used in order to construct the phylogenetic trees. When types were analyzed independently HPV 16 (European and non-European) and HPV 18 (African and non-African) formed distinct clades. The genomic characterization of HPV variants will be important for illuminating the geographical relatedness and biological differences and for the determination of their risk.     

Compressive and cyclic flexural response of double-hooked-end steel fiber reinforced concrete

Recent developments on high-performance double-hooked-end steel fibers have enhanced the wide applications of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC). This study presents the compressive properties and the cyclic flexural performance of the SFRC that were experimentally examined. Three different double-hooked-end steel fibers at 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% volume fractions were considered. All fiber types had similar length to diameter ratios, while the first two fiber types had similar anchorage mechanisms (4D) and tensile strength and the third type had different anchorage mechanism (5D) and a higher tensile strength. The increased volumetric ratio of the fibers increased the post-peak compressive strain (ductility), the tensile strength, and the cyclic flexural strength and cumulative energy dissipation characteristics of the SFRC. Among the 4D fibers, the mixtures with the larger steel fibers showed higher flexural strength and more energy dissipation compared to the SFRCs with smaller size fibers. For 1% steel fiber dosage, 4D and 5D specimens showed similar cyclic flexural responses. Finally, a 3D finite element model that can predict the monotonic and cyclic flexural responses of the double-hooked-end SFRC was developed. The calibration process considered the results obtained from the inverse analysis to determine the tensile behavior of the SFRC.     

A proposed enhanced scheme for the dynamic frequency hopping performance in the IEEE 802.22 standard

This paper presents an integrated scheme for the dynamic‐frequency‐hopping (DFH) technique provided in literature for the IEEE 802.22 standard supporting wireless regional area networks (WRANs). The performance of DFH is analyzed thoroughly for various channel models and for a multiple‐input multiple‐output systems. The core of this research is based on the coexistence of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting and the WRANs in the TV white space. The proposed technique aims at protecting the incumbent users from interfering with the cognitive broadband access in the TV spectrum. In order to achieve this, spectrum sensing is performed in the intended working channel in DFH while spectrum monitoring with an energy‐ratio (ER) algorithm is applied during the WRAN data transmission in the working channel. Hence, in the DFH‐ER algorithm, the reappearance of a digital terrestrial TV signal in a band occupied by the WRANs would be detected immediately. This will provide interference free performance for the licensed signal as well as reliable data transmission for the unlicensed ones. Both analyses and simulation results of the proposed DFH‐ER technique compared with the conventional DFH scenario exemplify the enhancement of the WRAN data transmission while protecting the digital terrestrial TV users. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.