Linkage of DFNB1 to non-syndromic neurosensory autosomal-recessive deafness in Mediterranean families

A study involving the immediate loading of Br?nemark implants in the edentulous mandibles of 10 patients is reported. The design involved the immediate loading of four widely distributed implants with a transitional fixed implant-supported prosthesis at first-stage surgery, avoiding the need for a removable prosthesis. A sufficient number of additional implants are allowed to heal in the conventional manner to provide sufficient support for a definitive fixed prosthesis even if all of the immediately loaded implants fail. Preliminary results have been favorable, with all patients functioning with a fixed implant prosthesis from the day of first-stage surgery.     

Post-impact behaviour of aerospace composites for high-temperature applications: experiments and simulations

The post-impact performance of different carbon-fabric-reinforced composite materials were studied experimentally and analytically. Three types of thermosetting matrix were considered: conventional epoxy, high-temperature curing epoxy and epoxy-isocyanate. Experimental testing consisted of impacting rectangular specimens at different energy levels by using a spring-driven impact apparatus that was able to impart velocities of up to 5 m s⁻¹ to masses of 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 kg travelling horizontally. After impact, coupons were non-destructively inspected by means of opaque-enhanced dye-penetrant X-radiography and tested in static compression to correlate impact energy, damage extent and residual strength. Epoxy composites contain damage within a narrow region, while epoxy-isocyanate materials propagate the damage far away from impact point. Epoxy composites show an asymptotically decreasing failure strength with impact energy up to a lower threshold (0.3–0.4 times that of the undamaged material), while epoxy-isocyanate material shows a trend of ever decreasing residual strength. An analytical study was performed by means of the finite element code PAM-FISS, used to simulate the compression-after-impact (CAI) tests. Type, size and location of damage, as well as the mechanisms leading to final failure, were reproduced quite well by the finite element analysis (FEA), while some discrepancies between FEA and experimental CAI residual strength tests were found (7% for undamaged specimens and 10% for blister-delaminated specimens); higher errors were found in the case of completely delaminated specimens, mainly owing to the inability of the present software and hardware to conveniently model the complete state of damage.     

General review of developments in Acoustic Emission methods

The ability of Acoustic Emission (AE) to detect, with high sensitivity, the mechanical energy released by flow evolution, may be used to get information about crack growth, onset of new defects and their dynamic behaviour, during the first hydrotest and later requalification testing of nuclear components and continuous monitoring of power plant operation.

In this review, the most recent developments in AE for nuclear component monitoring are examined. Suitable AE equipment for logging high rates of AE data, real-time source location and parametric analysis are here discussed.

In recent years many AE processes (deformation, slow crack growth, fatigue processes, intergranular stress corrosion cracking, leak monitoring) have been studied and considerable effort has been made in preparing guidelines, recommended practices and standard procedures based on AE.

In this paper all these aspects are considered and the main results are reported.     

An evolutionary approach for automatically extracting intelligible classification rules

The process of automatically extracting novel, useful and ultimately comprehensible information from large databases, known as data mining, has become of great importance due to the ever-increasing amounts of data collected by large organizations. In particular, the emphasis is devoted to heuristic search methods able to discover patterns that are hard or impossible to detect using standard query mechanisms and classical statistical techniques. In this paper an evolutionary system capable of extracting explicit classification rules is presented. Special interest is dedicated to find easily interpretable rules that may be used to make crucial decisions. A comparison with the findings achieved by other methods on a real problem, the breast cancer diagnosis, is performed.     

Nanostructured Guidance for Peripheral Nerve Injuries: A Review with a Perspective in the Oral and Maxillofacial Area

Injury to peripheral nerves can occur as a result of various surgical procedures, including oral and maxillofacial surgery. In the case of nerve transaction, the gold standard treatment is the end-to-end reconnection of the two nerve stumps. When it cannot be performed, the actual strategies consist of the positioning of a nerve graft between the two stumps. Guided nerve regeneration using nano-structured scaffolds is a promising strategy to promote axon regeneration. Biodegradable electrospun conduits composed of aligned nanofibers is a new class of devices used to improve neurite extension and axon outgrowth. Self assembled peptide nanofibrous scaffolds (SAPNSs) demonstrated promising results in animal models for central nervous system injuries, and, more recently, for peripheral nerve injury. Aims of this work are (1) to review electrospun and self-assembled nanofibrous scaffolds use in vitro and in vivo for peripheral nerve regeneration; and (2) its application in peripheral nerve injuries treatment. The review focused on nanofibrous scaffolds with a diameter of less than approximately 250 nm. The conjugation in a nano scale of a natural bioactive factor with a resorbable synthetic or natural material may represent the best compromise providing both biological and mechanical cues for guided nerve regeneration. Injured peripheral nerves, such as trigeminal and facial, may benefit from these treatments.     

Static concentrators for two-sided photovoltaic solar cells

The use of cylindrical mirrors to concentrate radiant energy onto a two-sided photovoltaic absorber has been studied. Both theoretical and experimental results for the illumination intensity at the exit aperture were obtained for such a concentrator. A mathematical approach was devised to obtain the theoretical intensity distribution. Experimental intensity distribution was measured for a set of different mirrors. The mirrors all had the same profile but were made of different materials and had different reflecting surfaces.The main conclusion was that the intensity distribution at the exit aperture is very inhomogeneous. The concentration was very low (less than 3) for a certain zone of the absorber, regardless of the light rays incidence angle. Another important conclusion was the effect of truncating the mirror, which was found to be a reduction in the average number of reflections of the incident light.Finally, an arrangement, different from the theoreticalone, is presented for the placement of the absorber in the concentrator.     

Beyond the hydrogen wave: new frontier in the detection of trace elements by stripping voltammetry

Stripping voltammetry is limited in acidic conditions to relatively high deposition potentials because of the interfering effects of the hydrogen produced at the working electrode. We report here a simple procedure to perform reliable and sensitive trace metal analysis in such conditions. Measurements are made at a gold microwire electrode. After applying a simple electrochemical conditioning procedure, hydrogen does not block the electrode, allowing reproducible analysis and smooth stripping signals to be obtained. Advantages of working inside the hydrogen wave are exemplified through the detection of the often considered electroinactive antimony(V). Sb(V) is detected in relatively low acidic conditions (pH ≤ 1) using low deposition potentials (≤-1.8 V). The detection limit is 5 pM (0.63 ppt), the lowest ever reported for an electroanalytical technique and one of the lowest analytical methods. The method is simple, robust, and free from the common arsenic interference due to selective electrochemical hydride generation of arsine over stibine during the deposition step. Analytical methods were optimized and tested on mineral, river, tap, and coastal seawater. Results favorably compare against Certified Reference Materials data (NASS-4 and SLRS-3) and ICPMS analysis. Deposition well below the hydrogen wave pushes the frontier of stripping voltammetry, and new analytical applications in this combined range of acidity and deposition potential are to be expected.