Personalities and alimentary behaviors in obese patients

The ability of lonidamine (LND), an energolytic derivative of indazole-carboxylic acid, to modulate the cytotoxic activity of cisplatin (CDDP) and epidoxorubicin (EPI), singly or in combination, was investigated in two human breast cancer cell lines (MCF7 and T47D). A 72-hr post-incubation with a non-cytotoxic concentration of LND (75 microM) increased the activity of a 1-hr CDDP treatment as well as that of a 1 to 16-hr EPI treatment. A different pattern of interaction among the drugs and modulator was observed as a function of the sequence of drug treatment. Specifically, supra-additive or additive effects of the combination were obtained in the two cell lines according to the different treatment schemes. In particular, the maximum potentiation was observed in MCF7 cells simultaneously exposed to CDDP, EPI and LND for 1 hr and then post-incubated with LND for 72 hr, and in T47 first exposed to EPI and LND, then to CDDP and LND, and finally post-incubated with LND. Flow cytometric analysis of MCF7 cell distribution in the different cycle phases showed that combined treatment with EPI/CDDP/LND was able to stabilize cell cycle perturbations (mainly G2M accumulation) induced by individual agents. The ability of LND to potentiate CDDP and EPI cytotoxicity, and the consideration that LND causes side effects different from those caused by alkylating agents and anthracyclines, make this compound an attractive candidate for multidrug combination therapy in breast cancer.     

Improvement in phenolic composites for special construction needs

The use of fibre reinforced composites in the construction industry is well established. However, if the proper technology is capable of handling all situations from a mechanical/architectural point of view, it is recognised that the fire hazard required a critical survey to be made of the use of polymer materials. The selection is quickly made today and only retains special engineering thermoplastics and phenolic thermosets. The latter, obviously much cheaper, suffered long from bad opinions due to their brittleness and ugly appearance. Different achievements support the opinion that some phenoli-based glass fibre reinforced plastics lend themselves both, technically and economically, to sound applications in the construction industry.     

Sources and variations of mercury in tuna

While the bulk of human exposure to mercury is through the consumption of marine fish, most of what we know about mercury methylation and bioaccumulation is from studies of freshwaters. We know little of where and how mercury is methylated in the open oceans, and there is currently a debate whether methylmercury concentrations in marine fish have increased along with global anthropogenic mercury emissions. Measurements of mercury concentrations in Yellowfin tuna caught off Hawaii in 1998 show no increase compared to measurements of the same species caught in the same area in 1971. On the basis of the known increase in the global emissions of mercury over the past century and of a simple model of mercury biogeochemistry in the Equatorial and Subtropical Pacific ocean, we calculate that the methylmercury concentration in these surface waters should have increased between 9 and 26% over this 27 years span if methylation occurred in the mixed layer or in the thermocline. Such an increase is statistically inconsistent with the constant mercury concentrations measured in tuna. We conclude tentatively that mercury methylation in the oceans occurs in deep waters or in sediments.     

Estimation of energy balance at the individual and herd level using blood and milk traits in high-yielding dairy cows

This study aimed to estimate individual and herd-level energy balance (EB) using blood and milk traits in 90 multiparous high-yielding Holstein cows, held on a research farm, from wk 1 to 10 postpartum (p.p.) and to investigate the precision of prediction with successively decreased data sets simulating smaller herd sizes and with pooled samples. Dry matter intake, milk yield, and BW were measured daily from parturition through wk 10 p.p. Milk composition was determined 4 times per week, and milk acetone was measured weekly. Blood samples for the determination of metabolites, hormones, electrolytes, and enzyme activities were taken weekly from wk 1 to 10 p.p. between 0730 and 0900. Body condition scores and ultrasonic measurements of backfat thickness and fat depth in the pelvic area were evaluated in wk 1, 4, and 8 p.p. Concentrations of glucose, cholesterol, urea, insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine (T4) in blood plasma and of lactose and urea in milk were positively correlated with EB, whereas concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), creatinine, albumin, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and growth hormone and enzyme activities in blood, and concentrations of fat, protein, fat:lactose ratio, and acetone in milk were negatively correlated with EB. Leptin concentration was not correlated to EB over the first 10 wk p.p. To estimate EB linear mixed-effects, models were developed by backward selection procedures. The most informative traits for estimation of EB were the fat:lactose ratio in milk and NEFA and T4 concentrations in blood. The precision of estimation of EB in individual cows was low. Using blood in addition to milk traits did not result in higher precision of estimation of herd-level EB, and decreasing sample sizes considerably lowered the precision of EB prediction. Estimation of overall mean herd-level EB over the first 10 wk p.p. using pooled samples was precise even with small sample sizes, but does not consider the level of EB in particular weeks. In conclusion, estimation of herd-level EB at individual weeks using milk traits only has practical implication with herd sizes of > or = 100 cows if calving is highly seasonal and of or = 400 cows if calving is uniformly distributed. Using blood in addition to milk traits does not improve precision of estimation of herd-level EB, regardless of sample size.     

Traceability and management of dispersed product knowledge during design and manufacturing

Product development processes comprise highly creative and knowledge-intensive tasks that involve extensive information exchange and communication among geographically distributed teams. Due to the geographical and institutional separation between the different systems involved in the product lifecycle, product knowledge sharing is becoming a key issue in the information systems of extended enterprises. This paper addresses the issue and challenges of product knowledge traceability during the product development. The aim of this research effort is to enhance the sharing and use of product knowledge acquired during the development process using traceability information.A standardized approach is proposed to trace and share product knowledge and key constructs to support traceability during the product development process are identified and formalized. This research effort is based on the premise that an important step towards achieving product knowledge sharing is providing traceability across various product knowledge elements that are used in product development phases, i.e. design and manufacturing. Two disjointed but complementary case studies illustrating the benefit of traceability are presented. The potential role of traceability is described, first to support the decision making process during engineering change management (ECM), and second to support product-oriented modelling for knowledge sharing and exchanging to meet the quality requirements. The proposed approach has been implemented using the MEGA Suite tool and applied to each of the case studies and could be integrated to PLM systems currently in use.     

Association of syntaxin with SNAP-25 and VAMP (synaptobrevin) during axonal transport

Cluster headache is characterized by regular periodicity, high frequency during a cluster period, relative brevity, and extreme intensity. Lancinations, as in trigeminal neuralgia, are rare. An important behavioral difference between migraine and cluster headache is that the patient is usually hyperactive during a cluster headache, whereas the migraineur retreats to a dark, quiet room. Cluster headache is more common in middle-aged men; migraine is more common in young women. Intermediate or overlap syndromes occur. Many of the same prophylactic and abortive treatments are effective in both, although in cluster headache there is a premium on rapid action.     

Perspectives of application of anti-CD4 antibodies in the treatment of autoimmune diseases

Escherichia coli JM83 [F- ara delta(lac-proAB) rpsL [phi 80d delta (lacZ)M15]] in midlog growth phase at 30 degrees C were exposed to 60 Hz sinusoidal magnetic field of 3 mT of nonuniform diverging flux, inducing a nonuniform electric field with a maximum intensity of 32 microV/cm using an inductor coil. Exposed and unexposed control cells were maintained at 30.8 +/- 0.1 degrees C and 30.5 +/- 0.1 degrees C, respectively. Quadruplicate samples of exposed and unexposed E. coli cells were simultaneously radiolabeled with 35S-L-methionine at 10 min intervals over 2 hr. Radiochemical incorporation into proteins was analyzed via liquid scintillation counting and by denaturing 12.5% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results showed that E. coli exposed to a 60 Hz magnetic field of 3 mT exhibited no qualitative or quantitative changes in protein synthesis compared to unexposed cells. Thus small prokaryotic cells (less than 2 microns x 0.5 micron) under constant-temperature conditions do not alter their protein synthesis following exposure to 60 Hz magnetic fields at levels at 3 mT.     

Photo-DSC I: A new tool to study the semi-crystalline polymer accelerated photo-ageing

Photo-DSC was used, to study, in situ, the photo-ageing of polycyclo-octene which is a semi-crystalline elastomer. The ‘crystallizability’, which is the ability of the polymer to crystallize, was tightly dependent on the exposure time and was used to follow the photo-ageing.The irradiation system of photo-DSC was also compared with a usual accelerating device and no difference was detected in the chemical alteration of the polymeric matrix. Meanwhile, with photo-DSC, the photo-ageing was accelerated compared to a usual accelerating device. By using photo-DSC, atmosphere, exposure time, light intensity and ageing temperature were accurately controlled.     

A Biaxial Fatigue Specimen for Uniaxial Loading

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a novel un‐notched fatigue test specimen in which a biaxial stress state is achieved using a uniaxial loading condition. This allows the problem of multi‐axial fatigue to be studied using relatively common one‐axis servo‐hydraulic testing machines. In addition the specimen presented here is very compact and can be made using a small volume of material (100 × 40 × 4.5 mm). For this specimen, the degree of biaxiality, defined by the parameter is equal to approximately 0.45. The specimen geometry was optimised using the Dang Van multi‐axial fatigue criterion. In addition to use as a fatigue specimen, it has been demonstrated that the biaxial specimen presented here is also suitable for biaxial tensile tests, to determine the rupture strength of a material in a biaxial stress state. Two different materials have been investigated: The first was wrought aluminium 2024‐O in the form of 5 mm sheets. The second was a cast aluminium‐silicon alloy AlSi7Cu0.5Mg0.3, commonly used in automotive and aeronautical applications. The fatigue strengths were determined at 2 × 10⁶ cycles and at various R‐ratios using a staircase procedure. For the aluminium 2024, it is shown that the biaxial stress state increases the maximum permissible first principal stress when compared to the uniaxial condition. However, in terms of the cast aluminium alloy, it has been demonstrated that this type of fatigue specimen is not suitable for materials containing casting defects, in particular micro‐shrinkage pores, because the volume of material, in which the stress state is biaxial, is not large enough.