Tuberculous lymphadenitis caused by Mycobacterium bovis

According to the literature, bovine tuberculosis in man has been an illness of minor importance in Norway, unlike in Sweden and Denmark. This situation cannot be explained, since in former days infected cattle were a problem in the southeastern part of the country in particular. No case of bovine tuberculosis in humans has been reported in Norway since 1940. Recently we have observed a 29-year-old female immigrant from India with cervical lymph node tuberculosis caused by M. bovis. A second case is a 77-year-old Norwegian male. In the 1920s, at the age of ten, he was infected in Norway by drinking raw milk from tuberculous cattle. He developed tuberculosis of the mesenterial lymph nodes. Neither of these patients had tuberculosis in any other part of their body. Previous Norwegian reports, covering eight cases, are summarized.     

Characterization and material model definition of toughened adhesives for finite element analysis

Some toughened adhesives used for structural joints are characterised by non-linear behaviour prior to failure that may significantly influence the entire joint response. The determination of appropriate and accurate material models for use in analysis and design phases covering both nonlinearities and final material rupture constitutes one of the main challenges for the utilisation of adhesives and for offering designers the same confidence level as that offered by other joining techniques.The present research proposes the utilisation of both elasto-plastic and continuum damage models as a combination that can fully reproduce the mechanical response of toughened adhesives in finite element (FE) analysis. In this context, the Drucker-Prager exponential model has demonstrated to provide accurate fits with the nonlinearities of these materials, allowing the real plastic behaviour of the adhesives to be adjusted in the computational models with a high degree of correlation. On the other hand, a continuum damage model has been proposed to simulate the final material failure process introducing a displacement-based damage parameter into the constitutive equation of the damaged material. The definition of the parameters associated with the mentioned models has been carried out through the execution of an experimental programme combining traction and torsion tests, described in the present paper as part of the study developed. The research is finally completed with an experimental and FE analysis of a specific bonded joint that allows the operation of the material model to be checked in a real application.     

Influence of Ni and Co doping on the stability of the ErMnO3 perovskites processed by mechanochemical synthesis

Mechanosynthesis in tungsten carbide vessels and planetary mill is an effective method to prepare materials with ErMnO₃ derived compositions and perovskite-type structure. In this work, the effect of the doping with low contents of Co and Ni cations on the stability of such oxides is studied. The obtained perovskites are highly distorted for all compositions. The transition to the more stable hexagonal phase occurs at lower temperatures for Co-doped materials, due to the presence of Co³⁺ cations that do not involve any change of oxidation state for Mn³⁺ Jahn-Teller cations. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was carried out at 900 °C or 950 °C and 120 MPa to obtain dense ceramics, keeping the perovskite-type structures. The magnetic properties of the obtained materials are also shown.     

Thermal conductivity studies on ceramic floor tiles

Thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and specific heat of several materials used as floor tiles have been measured using the laser flash method. Natural stones, particularly granite, porcelain stoneware and red stoneware materials of low water absorption, are more effective thermal conductors than white stoneware and vinyl, which have thermal conductivities below 1 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹. Therefore, last two should not be recommended for radiant floor heating applications. Enhancement of thermal conductivity of red and porcelain stoneware has been achieved by adding Al₂O₃ of certain characteristics to the ceramic paste. In this way, thermal diffusivity increases of up to 50% have been obtained by adding 20 wt.% of Al₂O₃ particles.     

Effects of a Pt/Ce0.68Zr0.32O2 catalyst and NO2 on the kinetics of diesel soot oxidation from thermogravimetric analyses

In this study, the reactivity of well-characterized diesel soot samples is investigated by thermogravimetry under different kinds of oxidizing atmospheres (20% O₂ or 10% O₂ + 700 ppm NO₂) either under catalyzed or non-catalyzed conditions. Whatever the atmosphere used, the catalyst Pt/ceria-zirconia was able to lower significantly the ignition temperature of soot, but the catalytic effect was found to be more pronounced when the oxidation process was assisted by NOx. This is due mainly to the efficiency of both catalyst components (the noble metal and the OSC material) in recycling the NO released after attack of the soot by NO₂. By contrast, the NO₂ is of very limited use in the absence of catalyst under our experimental conditions. The global kinetic parameters representative of the carbonaceous matrix oxidation are determined using a methodological approach combining thermogravimetric experiments and non-linear multivariate regression. The kinetic parameters obtained are consistent both with the literature results and the postulated mechanistic pathways for soot oxidation assisted or not by NOx.     

On Multigrid Convergence of Local Algorithms for Intrinsic Volumes

Local digital algorithms based on n×?×n configuration counts are commonly used within science for estimating intrinsic volumes from binary images. This paper investigates multigrid convergence of such algorithms. It is shown that local algorithms for intrinsic volumes other than volume are not multigrid convergent on the class of convex polytopes. In fact, counter examples are plenty. On the other hand, for convex particles in 2D with a lower bound on the interior angles, a multigrid convergent local algorithm for the Euler characteristic is constructed. Also on the class of r-regular sets, counter examples to multigrid convergence are constructed for the surface area and the integrated mean curvature.     

Treatment effects on serum lipoprotein lipids, apolipoproteins and low density lipoprotein particle size and relationships of lipoprotein variables to progression of coronary artery disease in the Bezafibrate Coronary Atherosclerosis Intervention Trial (BECAIT)

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the mechanisms by which bezafibrate retarded the progression of coronary lesions in the Bezafibrate Coronary Atherosclerosis Intervention Trial (BECAIT), we examined the relationships of on-trial lipoproteins and lipoprotein subfractions to the angiographic outcome measurements. BACKGROUND: BECAIT, the first double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized serial angiographic trial of a fibrate compound, showed that progression of focal coronary atherosclerosis in young survivors of myocardial infarction could be retarded by bezafibrate treatment. METHODS: A total of 92 dyslipoproteinemic men who had survived a first myocardial infarction before the age of 45 years were randomly assigned to treatment for 5 years with bezafibrate (200 mg three times daily) or placebo; 81 patients underwent baseline and at least one post-treatment coronary angiography. RESULTS: In addition to the decrease in very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol (-53%) and triglyceride (-46%) and plasma apolipoprotein (apo) B (-9%) levels, bezafibrate treatment resulted in a significant increase in high density lipoprotein-3 (HDL3) cholesterol (+9%) level and a shift in the low density lipoprotein (LDL) subclass distribution toward larger particle species (peak particle diameter +032 nm). The on-trial HDL3 cholesterol and plasma apo B concentrations were found to be independent predictors of the changes in mean minimum lumen diameter (r=-0.23, p < 0.05), and percent (%) stenosis (r = 0.30, p < 0.01), respectively. Decreases in small dense LDL and/or VLDL lipid concentrations were unrelated to disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the effect of bezafibrate on progression of focal coronary atherosclerosis could be at least partly attributed to a rise in HDL3 cholesterol and a decrease in the total number of apo B-containing lipoproteins.